The second Question also does very nearly relate to Conscience and it's conduct.* 1.1 viz. Since the Scripture is the perfect Rule of Conscience, and contains in it all the will of God, whether or no, and how far is a negative argu∣ment from Scripture to prevail?
The resolution of this depends upon the premisses.* 1.2 For if Scripture be the intire Rule of Faith, and of Manners, that is, of the whole service and worship of God, then nothing is an article of Faith, nothing can com∣mand a moral action, that is not it's whole kind set down in Scripture. This I proved by direct testimonies of Tertullian, S. Basil, S. Austin, S. Cyril, Theophilus Alexandrinus and S. Hierome, in the* 1.3 foregoing numbers. To which I adde these excellent words of S. Cyril of Jerusalem, speaking of the Jerusalem Creed, which he had recited and explicated and promis'd to prove from Scripture; he gives this reason, Nam Divino∣rum sanctorumque fidei mysteriorum nihil, ne minimum quidem, absque Di∣vinis Scripturis tradi debet, neque simplici probabilitate neque verborum ornatu traduci. Not the least part of the Divine and Holy mysteries of Faith must be delivered without the Divine Scriptures. Believe not me telling thee, unless I demonstrate what I say from the Divine Scripture. For the safety and conservation of our Faith relics upon the proof of the Divine Scriptures. But because there are some particulars and some variety in the practise of this rule, I am to consider it now to other purposes.
1. Nothing is necessary either to be believ'd or done unless it be in Scrip∣ture.* 1.4 Thus S. Gregory Nyssen argues,* 1.5 Ubinam dixit Deus in Evangeliis oportere credere in unum & solum verum Deum? Non possent ostendere nisi habeant ipsi novum aliquod Evangelium. Quae n. ab antiquis per tradi∣tionem ad haec usque tempora in Ecclesiis leguntur, hanc vocem non continent quae dicat, oportere credere vel baptizare in unum solum verum Deum, quem∣admodum