Collige aquam Christi, illam quæ laudet Dominum. Collige aquam de plurimis locis, quam effundunt nubes propheticæ. Quicumque colligit de montibus aquam, atque ad se trahit vel haurit e fontibus, et ipse rorat sicut nubes. Imple ergo gremium mentis tuæ ; ut terra tua humescat, et domesticis irrigetur fontibus. Ergo qui multa legit et intelligit, impletur; qui fuerit impletus alios rigat; ideòque Scriptura dicit, "Si impletæ fuerint nubes, pluvium in terram effundent." Epistola xlix. Classis i. tom. ii. p. 992. (Bened. edit. Parisiis, 1686.) AMBROSIUS SABINO.* The Scriptures are a paradise. Et nunc deambulat in paradiso Deus quando divinas Scripturas lego. Paradisus est Genesis liber, in quo virtutes pullulant patriarcharum; paradisus Deuteronomium in quo germinant legis præcepta; paradisus evangelium in quo arbor vitæ bonos fructus facit, et æternæ spei mandata diffundit per universos populos. True believers are commanded to go to the New Testament. Epistola xiii. Classis i. tom. ii. p. 1041. (Editio ut supra.) Ambrosius servus Christi vocatus episcopus, Vercellensi ecclesiæ et iis qui invocant nomen Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Utrumque advertis unius auctoris testamentum: vetus Scriptura quasi puteus profunda atque obscurior, unde cum labore haurias; non plena, quia adhuc qui impleret eum, non venerat. Denique postea ait: "Non veni legem solvere, sed implere." Ideò ad fluvium transire sanctus a Domino jubetur; quoniam qui de Novo Testamento biberit, non solùm flumen est, sed etiam flumina de ventre ejus fluent aquæ vivæ, flumina intellectus, flumina cogitationis, flumina spiritalia: quæ tamen perfidiæ aruerunt tempora, ne sacrilegi biberent, potarent perfidi. Ambrose is the most figurative of the Latin Fathers; his works abound with all sorts of figures, good, bad, and indifferent. TERTULLIAN. Adversus Hermogen. (Parisiis, 1675.) Scriptum esse doceat Hermogenis officina; si non est Scriptum timeat væ illud adjacentibus aut detrahentibus des tinatum. HILARY. Ad. Const. Aug. p. 244. (Parisiis, 1652.) Fidem, Imperator, quæris ? audi eam non de novis chartulis, sed de Dei libris. In Ps. cxviii. enarratio. (Editio ut supra.) Ad omnem igitur animæ nostræ pedem utamur Dei verbo ut lucernâ, sed lucernâ semper ardente, semper in officium suum per nostram prudentiam præparatâ. Verbum autem quod pedibus lucerna est, ipsum illud et semitis lumen est. In cxix. Ps. enarratio, p. 971. (Editio ut supra.) Psalmi enim non sui tantùm temporis res enunciant, neque in eas solùm ætates conveniunt, quibus scripti sunt, sed universis qui in vitam venirent Dei sermo consulit, universæ ætati ipse aptissimus in profectum. CYPRIAN Epist. 73. (Oxonii, 1682.) Cyprianus Jubaiano fratri salutem. Nec hoc, frater carissime, sine Scripturæ divinæ auctoritate proponimus, ut dicamus certâ lege ac propriâ ordinatione divinitùs cuncta esse disposita. In the same Epistle he speaks of Apostolic tradition, and Romanists quotes these expressions as favouring their views of tradition; but all the tradition which Cyprian quotes is from the Scriptures. Ibidem; "quare si rejectis humanæ contentionis erroribus ad apostolicam auctoritatem atque ad apostolicam traditionem sincerâ et religiosâ fide revertamur," &c. Epistola 74. p. 211. Cyprianus Pompeio fratri salutem. Nihil innovatur, inquit, nisi quod traditum est. Unde est ista traditio? Utrumne de Dominicâ et evangelicâ auctoritate decendens, an de apostolorum mandatis atque epistolis veniens? Ea enim facienda esse quæ scripta sunt, Deus testatur et proponit ad Jesum Nave, dicens ; non recedet liber legis hujus ex ore tuo, sed meditaberis in eo die ac nocte, ut observes facere omnia quæ scripta sunt in eo. Item Dominus apostolos suos mittens, mandat baptizari gentes et doceri, ut observent omnia quæcumque ille præcepit. Si ergo aut in Evangelio præcipitur, aut in apostolorum epistolis, aut actibus continetur, ut a quâcumque hæresi venientes non baptizentur, sed tantum manus illis imponatur in pœnitentiam; observetur divina illud hæc et sancta traditio. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM. The Scriptures are the standard of faith. (Oxonis, 1703.) Not even the least of the divine and holy mysteries of the faith ought to be handed down without the divine Scriptures. Do not simply believe me who tell you these things, unless you receive the proof of the things which are told from the divine Scriptures. For the preservation of our faith does not proceed from ingenuity of speech, but from the demonstration of the divine Scriptures. BASIL. Regulae, breviores, Resp. 95. tom. ii. p. 449. (Bened. edit. Parisiis, 1730.) Το γαρ προς την χρειαν εκαστον εκμανθανειν εκ του Θεοπνευστού γραφης ακολουθον και αναγκαιον εις τε πλη For it is both suitable and essential that every one should learn what is needful from the holy Scripture both * i. e. the written tradition of the Scriptures. ροφορίαν της Θεοσεβείας, και υπερ του μη προσεθεσθηναι ανθρωπιναις παραδόσεσιν. for the full certainty of godliness, and in order not to be accustomed to human traditions. Homilia in Ps. i. Tom. i. p. 90. (Editio ut supra.) Πασα γραφη θεόπνευστος και ωφέλιμος, δια τουτο συγγραφεισα παρα του πνεύματος, ιν' ώσπερ εν κοινω των ψυχων ιατρείω, πάντες άνθρωποι το αμα του οικείου παθους εκαστος εκλεγώμεθα. All Scripture is divinely inspired and profitable, and written for this purpose by the Spirit, that as in a common medicine-repository for souls, all of us men may choose a medicine each of us for his own disease. The Scriptures were constantly read in Christian assemblies. Hom. in Ps. lix. Tom. i. p. 190. (Editio ut supra.) Διο και ημετερα εισι τα θεια λόγια, και τη του Θεου εκκλησια, ως Θεοπέμπτα δωρα, καθ' εκαστον συλλογον, αναγινωσ οιον τις τροφη ψυχων χορηγούμενη δια του πνευμα κεται τος. Wherefore, also, the divine oracles are ours, and are read by the Church of God, as gifts sent by God, whenever she assembles together; as being a certain food for souls furnished by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit the interpreter of Scripture. Έχουσα δε την εκ των θείων γραφων παρακλησιν, ούτε ημων ούτε αλλου τινος δεήθηση προς το τα δέοντα συνοραν, αυταρχη την εκ του αγιου πνευματος έχουσα συμβουλιαν και οδηγιαν προς το συμφέρον. For having comfort from the holy Scriptures, you will neither want us nor any one else to discover what is needful to you, having a sufficient counsel and guidance from the Holy Spirit to profit by. Epist. 11. class. i. p. 72. Tom. iii. (Editio ut supra.) Μεγιστη δε οδος προς την του καθήκοντος ευρεσιν και η μελέτη των θεοπνεύστων γρα But the chief way to the discovery of what is fitting is the meditation of the divinely inspired Scriptures. For in if CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Glaphyr. in Gen. lib. ii. (Lutetiæ, 1638.) Ο γαρ ουκ ειρηκεν η θεια γραφη, τινα δε τρόπον παραδεξόμεθα, και εν τοις αληθως έχουσι καταλογισμεθα; But how shall we receive, and reckon among the things that are true, that which the divine Scripture has not said? Search the Scriptures. Ερευνατε τας γραφας τους Ιουδαίων δημοις προσφωνηκεν ο Χριστος. Ουχ ετέρως αν ισχυσαι της αιώνιας ζωης εφικέσθαι τινας, εναργεστατα λεγων, ει μη καθαπερ τινα θησαυρον ανορύττοντες το γραμμα το νο μικόν τον εν αυτω κεκρυμμενον περιεργάζοιντο μαργαρίταν, τουτέστι, Χριστον, εν ω παντες εἰσιν οι Θησαυροι της σοφίας και γνώσεως οι αποκρυφοι, κατα την του μακαριου Παύλου φωνην. Περί της ουτω σεπτης και αξιαγαστου σοφίας ητοι Lib. i. tom. i. Christ exclaimed to the Jewish people,— Search the Scriptures,” most clearly saying, that none could otherwise attain eternal life, unless, digging into the written law as for a certain treasure, we diligently search for the pearl which is in it, which is Christ, " in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” according to the saying of the blessed Paul. Solomon, also, somewhere says of this so much to be vene |