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in expounding our Saviour's doctrine. "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name; he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.' John, xiv. 16, 26. St. Paul, speaking of both the unwritten and the written word, puts them upon a level, where he says, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the tradition ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle." 2 Thess. v. 13. Finally, St. Peter pronounces that "No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation." 2 Pet. i. 20.

III. That the apostles, and the apostolical men whom they formed, followed this method prescribed by their Master, is unquestionable; as we have positive proofs from Scripture, as well as from ecclesiastical history, that they did so. St. Mark, after recording the above-cited admonition of preaching the gospel, which Christ left to his apostles, adds, "And they went forth and preached everywhere; the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." Mark, xvi. 20. St. Peter preached throughout Judea and Syria, and last of all, in Italy and at Rome; St. Paul throughout Lesser Asia, Greece, and as far as Spain; St. Andrew penetrated into Scythia; St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew into Parthia and India, and so of the others; everywhere converting and instructing thousands, by word of mouth; founding churches, and ordaining bishops and priests to do the same. They ordained them priests in every church." Acts, xiv. 22. "For this cause," says St. Paul to Titus, "I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and shouldest ordain priests in every city, as I had appointed thee." Tit. i. 5. And to Timothy : "The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to those faithful men who shall be able to teach others also." 2 Tim. ii. 2. If any of them wrote, it was on some particular occasion, and, for the most part, to a particular person, or congregation, without either giving directions, or providing means of communicating their epistles or their gospels to the rest of the Christians throughout the world. Hence it happened, Hence it happened, as I have before remarked, that it was not till the end of the fourth century, that the canon of Holy Scriptures was absolutely settled as it now stands. True it is, that the apostles, before they separated to preach the gospel to different nations, agreed upon a short symbol or profession of faith, called "The Apostles' Creed," but even this they did not commit to writing:* and whereas they

* Ruffin. Inter Opera Hieron.

made this, amongst other articles of it, "I believe in the Holy Church," they made no mention at all of the Holy Scriptures. This circumstance confirms what their example proves, that the Christian doctrine and discipline might have been propagated and preserved by the unwritten word, or tradition, joined with the authority of the church, though the Scriptures had not been composed; however profitable these most certainly are "for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. 2 Tim. iii. 16. I have already quoted one of the ornaments of your church, who says, that "the canonical epistles (and he might have added the gospels) are not regular treatises upon the Christian religion :"+ and I shall have occasion to show from an ancient father, that this religion did prevail and flourish soon after the age of the apostles, among nations which were not even acquainted with the use of letters.

IV. However light Protestants of this age may make of the ancient fathers, as theological authorities, they cannot object to them as faithful witnesses of the doctrine and discipline of the church in their respective times. It is chiefly in the latter character that I am going to bring forward a certain number of them, to prove that, during the five first ages of the church, no less than in the subsequent ages, the unwritten word, or tradition, was held by her in equal estimation with the Scripture itself, and that she claimed a divine right of propounding and explaining them both.

I begin with the disciple of the apostles, St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch. It is recorded of him that, in his passage to Rome, where he was sentenced to be devoured by wild beasts, he exhorted the Christians, who got access to him, "to guard themselves against the rising heresies, and to adhere with the utmost firmness to the tradition of the apostles."§ The same sentiments appear in this saint's epistles, and also in those of his fellow-martyr, St. Polycarp, "the angel of the Church of Smyrna."||

One of the disciples of the last-mentioned holy bishop was St. Irenæus, who passing into Gaul became Bishop of Lyons.

* The title Catholic was afterwards added, when heresies increased. + Elements of Theology, vol. ii.

‡ Jewel, Andrews, Hooker, Morton, Pearson, and other Protestant divines of the 16th and 17th centuries, labored hard to press the fathers into their service, but with such bad success, that the succeeding controversial. ists gave them up in despair. The learned Protestant Casaubon, confessed that the fathers were all on the Catholic side; the equally learned Obrectcth testifies that, in reading their works, "he was frequently provoked to throw them on the ground, finding them so full of Popery;" while Middleton heaps every kind of obloquy upon them.

Euseb. Hist. 1. iii. c. 30.

Revel. ii. 8.

He has left twelve books against the heresies of his time, which abound with testimonies to the present purpose; some few of which I shall here insert. He writes, "Nothing is more easy to those who seek for the truth, than to remark in every church the tradition which the apostles have manifested to all the world. We can name the bishops appointed by the apostles in the several churches, and the successors of those bishops down to our own time, none of whom ever taught, or heard of such doctrines as these heretics dream of."* This holy father emphatically af firms that, "In explaining the Scriptures, Christians are to attend to the pastors of the church, who, by the ordinance of God, have received the inheritance of truth, with the succession of their sees." He adds, "The tongues of nations vary, but the virtue of tradition is everywhere one and the same: nor do the churches in Germany believe or teach differently from those in Spain, Gaul, the East, Egypt, or Lybia." "Since it would be tedious to enumerate the succession of all the churches, we appeal to the faith and tradition of the greatest, most ancient, and best known church-that of Rome, founded by the apostles, SS. Peter and Paul;-for, with this church all others agree, in as much as in her is preserved the tradition which comes down from the apostles."§ "SUPPOSING THE APOSTLES HAD NOT LEFT US THE SCRIPTURES, OUGHT WE NOT STILL TO HAVE FOLLOWED THE ORDINANCE OF TRADITION, which they consigned to those to whom they committed the churches? It is this ordinance of tradition which many nations of barbarians, believing in Christ, follow, without the use of letters or ink."||

Tertullian, who flourished 200 years after the Christian era, has left us, amongst his other works, one of the same nature, and almost the same title with that last cited. In this, speaking of the contemporary heretics, he says, "They meddle with the Scriptures, and adduce arguments from them; for, in treating of faith, they pretend that they ought not to argue upon any other ground than the written documents of faith: thus they weary the firm, catch the weak, and fill the middle sort with doubt. We begin, therefore, with laying it down as a maxim, that these men ought not to be allowed to argue at all from Scripture.-In fact these disputes about the sense of Scripture have generally no other effect than to disorder either the stomach or the brain.-It is, therefore, the wrong method to appeal to the Scriptures, since these afford either no decision, or, at most, only a doubtful one. And even if this were not

*Advers. Hæres. 1. iii. c. 5. § L. iii. c. 2.

† L. iv. c. 43.

+ L. i. c. 3.

L. iv. c. 64.

the case, still, in appealing to Scripture, the natural order of things requires that we should first inquire to whom the Scriptures belong? From whom and by whom, and on what occasion, and to whom, that tradition was delivered by which we became Christians? For where the truth of Christian discipline and faith is found, there is the truth of Scripture, and of the interpretation of it, and of all Christian traditions."* He elsewhere says, "That doctrine is evidently true which was first delivered on the contrary, that is false which is of a later date. This maxim stands immovable against the attempts of all late heresies.-Let such then produce the origin of their churches let them show the succession of their bishops from the apostles, or their disciples.-If you live near Italy, you see before your eyes the Roman Church: happy church! to which the apostles have left the inheritance of their doctrine with their blood! Where Peter was crucified, like his Master; where Paul was beheaded like the Baptist!-If this be so, it is plain, as we have said, that heretics are not to be allowed to appeal to Scripture, since they have no claim to it.-Hence it is proper to address them as follows: Who are you? Whence do you come? What business have you strangers with my property? By what right are you, Marcion, felling my trees? By what authority are you, Valentine, turning the course of my streams? Under what pretence are you, Apelles, removing my land-marks? The estate is mine: I have the ancient, the prior possession of it. I have the title-deeds delivered to me by the original proprietors. I am the heir of the apostles; they have made their will in my favor: while they disinherited and cast you off, as strangers and enemies."† In another of his works this eloquent father proves, at great length, the absolute necessity of admitting tradition no less than Scripture as the rule of faith, inasmuch as many important points, which he mentions, cannot be proved without it.

I pass by other shining lights of the third century, such as St. Clement, of Alexandria, St. Cyprian, Origen, &c., all of whom place apostolical tradition on a level with Scripture, and describe the church as the expounder of them both. I must, however, give the following words from the last-named great biblical scholar. He says: "We are not to credit those who, by citing real canonical Scripture, seem to say, 'Behold, the word is in your houses;' for we are not to desert our first ecclesiastical tradition, nor to believe otherwise than as the churches of God have, in their perpetual succession, delivered to us."

* Præscrip. Advers. Hæres. edit. Rhenan, pp. 36, 37. + Ibid. De Corona Milit.

Among the numerous and illustrious witnesses of the fourt age, I shall be content with citing St. Basil and St. Epiphaniu The former says, "There are many doctrines preserved an preached in the church, derived, partly from written documents partly from apostolical tradition, which have equally the sam force in religion, and which no one contradicts, who has th least knowledge of the Christian laws."* The last quoted fathe says, with equal brevity and force, "We must make use of tra dition, for all things are not to be found in Scripture."+

St. John Chrysostom flourished at the beginning of the fifth century; and, though he strongly recommends the reading of the Holy Scriptures, yet expounding the text, (2 Thess. ii. 14,) he says: "Hence it is plain that the apostles did not deliver to us every thing by their epistles, but many things without writing. These are equally worthy of belief. Hence let us regard the tradition of the church as the subject of our belief. Such and such a thing is a tradition: seek no further." It would fill a large volume to transcribe all the passages which occur in the works of the great St. Augustin, in proof of the Catholic rule, and the authority of the church in making use of it let, therefore, two or three of them speak for the rest. "To attain to the truth of the Scriptures," he says, 66 we must follow the sense of them entertained by the universal church, to which the Scriptures themselves bear testimony. True it is, the Scriptures themselves cannot deceive us; nevertheless, to prevent our being deceived in the question we examine by them, it is necessary we should advise with that church. which these certainly and evidently point out to us.§ This (the unlawfulness of rebaptizing heretics) is not evidently read either by you or by me; nevertheless, if there were any wise man, to whom Christ had borne testimony, and whom he had appointed to be consulted on the question, we could not fail to do so: now Christ bears this testimony to his church. Whoever, therefore, refuses to follow the practice of the church, resists Christ himself, who, by his testimony, recommends this church." Treating elsewhere the same subject, he says: "The apostles, indeed, have prescribed nothing about this; but the custom must be considered as derived from their tradition, since there are many things observed by the universal church, which are justly held to have been appointed by the apostles, though they are not written." It seems doing an injury to St. Vincent, of Lerins, who lived at the end of the fifth century, to quote a part of his celebrated Commonitorium, when the whole of it is so admirably

*In Lib. de Spir. Sanc.

† Παραδοσις ἐστι, μηδὲν πλεον ζήτει. § L. i. contra Crescon.

† De Hæres. N. 61.

De Util. Cred. De Bapt. contra Donat. 1.