But there is no such enmity between God's
Word and His works; neither do they give honour to the Scriptures,
as they suppose, but much embase them. For to seek heaven and earth
in the Word of God, whereof it is said, "Heaven and earth shall
pass, but My word shall not pass," is to seek temporary things
amongst eternal: and as to seek divinity in philosophy is to seek
the living amongst the dead, so to seek philosophy in divinity is to
seek the dead amongst the living: neither are the pots or lavers,
whose place was in the outward part of the temple, to be sought in
the holiest place of all where the ark of the testimony was seated.
And again, the scope or purpose of the Spirit of God is not to
express matters of nature in the Scriptures, otherwise than in
passage, and for application to man's capacity and to matters moral
or divine. And it is a true rule, Auctoris aliud agentis parva
auctoritas. For it were a strange conclusion, if a man should use a
similitude for ornament or illustration sake, borrowed from nature
or history according to vulgar conceit, as of a basilisk, a unicorn,
a centaur, a Briareus, a hydra, or the like, that therefore he must
needs be thought to affirm the matter thereof positively to be true.
Pages:
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397