The confession of the Scholastics and of certain Papists.
The confession of the Scholastics and of certain Papists.
§ 378. In the aforementioned commonplace [1610 Loci Theologici, locus 1, § 53] we quoted the confession of the Scholastics and the more recent Papists, to whose statements we can add the following:
The Lombard, 1, Sent., dist. 11, letter B: “The Gospel contains the whole faith.”
Thomas, In Dionys. libr. de div. nomin., c. 1, f. 181: “No one can speak or think truly about God except as much as God reveals. This divine revelation is contained in the Holy Scriptures.” Thomas, In Lombard. 3. Sent., dist. 3, q. 1, art. 1, quotes from Jerome: “Should you believe me if I tell you anything that cannot be held from the Old or New Testament?” Part 3, supplement to q. 6, art. 6: “Because the Church is founded on faith and on the sacraments, therefore it is not the responsibility of the ministers of the Church to publish new articles of faith nor to remove those that have been published, to establish new sacraments nor remove those that have been established. Rather, this belongs to the power and excellence that is owed to Christ alone, who is the foundation of the Church.” In Cat. aurea, on Luke 16, he asserts: “The faithful feed only on the crumbs, that is, the dogmas, that fall from the Lord’s sacred table, that is, from Holy Scripture.”
Scotus, in the preface to Lomb.: “It is clear that Scripture sufficiently contains the teaching that the pilgrim needs.”
Antoninus, Summ., part 1, title 1, c. 3, § 1: “True theology is contained fully in the Bible, which has been revealed by the Holy Spirit. Therefore it is utterly true.”
Hervaeus, preface to the Epistles of Paul, f. 1, col. 1: “In the Gospel, examples and precepts for living are most fully explained to us.”
Jacobus de Voragine, in his Vita, and Petrus Cantor, in Verb. abbreviat., report that Anthony the Hermit was asked by a disciple: “What shall I observe to please God?” Anthony responded: “Wherever you go, always keep your God before your eyes. In those things that you do, use the testimony of the Holy Scriptures.”
Alfonsus Tostatus, Defens., p. 2, c. 53: “All the foundations necessary for salvation, both in faith and in work, have been set down by Christ and His apostles in the writings that they left behind.” Alfonsus again, on Deuteronomy 4: “You shall neither add nor take away anything. Here the Law is recommended from its perfection, for one cannot add to the perfect nor should he take away from it, as is clear.” Again, Ind. 177, c. 3: “Holy Scripture agrees most perfectly in all its parts in such a way that it allows neither addition nor subtraction.”
Burgensis, response to a letter of the same: “It is evident that all things that are taught as necessary for salvation—to be believed or done—are found in the literal sense in the Holy Scriptures.”
Erasmus, Epistle ad Carondilet., which is prefixed to the works of Hilary: “Finally, it is the mark of theological erudition to define nothing outside of what has been recorded in the sacred writings, but instead to dispense in good faith what has been recorded.”
Acosta, De temp. noviss., bk. 3, c. 3:
Among the external aids, divine Scripture holds first place. No greater and stronger protection has been given by God to the Catholic Church than its invincible authority against the countless tricks and deceits of the Antichrist with which he misleads nations throughout the world. The lofty and insurmountable strength of the divine Word can detect every snare, can overcome every plot of the devil. “Every word of God is a fiery shield for those who place their hope in You,” Proverbs [30:5], and “The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit,” Ephesians 6[:17].
The Jesuits at the Colloquy of Regensburg, § 216, Speyer edition, recorded openly concerning the passage of Augustine in De unitate eccles., c. 16, which our people quoted, that they were “prepared to demonstrate their Church against the Lutherans solely on the basis of Holy Scripture; and, in fact, their articles of faith can be defended sufficiently on the basis of Scripture alone against those who do not admit the authority of the Church and of its councils.”
Didacus Stella, on Luke 4, p. 122: “Christ took all three responses to His three temptations from Deuteronomy to teach that Holy Scripture has the weapons against the adversaries and enemies of the truth.” Again, on Luke 16, on the words “They have Moses”: “He calls the Mosaic Law and prophetic Scripture ‘Moses and the prophets’ because the Law could teach them about works and the prophets about faith. The prophets told what we must believe; and the Law, what we must do. Therefore God provides sufficiently regarding those things that pertain to salvation.”
Johannes Driedo, Catal., bk. 1, c. 1: “Scripture is called an instrumentum [“testament, instruction”] because it instructs a man in what he should hope, believe, and do.”
Albertus Hungerus, in a disputation held at Ingolstadt in 1582 under the title Defensio Scripturae sacrae contra Pseudoscripturarios, concl. 14: “Holy Scripture is the tower of David, which is built with ramparts from which hang a thousand shields and all the weapons of the brave, Song of Songs 4[:4]. It is the stream from which David took the stones with which he slew the proud Goliath [1 Samuel 17].”
Bellarmine, De justif., bk. 3, c. 8: “Something cannot be certain with the certainty of faith unless it is contained immediately in the Word of God or is deduced from it through obvious consequence.”