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of Alexandria : “Perfectly demonstrating out of the Scriptures themselves concerning themselves: βεβαιοῦν ἕκαστον τῶν ἀποδεικνυμένων κατὰ τὰς γραφὰς ἐξ αὐτῶν πάλιν τῶν ὁμοίων γραφῶν. "Confirming every thing from those things which are demonstrated from the Scriptures, out of those and the like Scriptures." To the same purpose are the words of St. Athanasius: "The knowledge of true and Divine religion. and piety does not much need the ministry of man, and he might abundantly draw this forth from the Divine books and letters." St. Paul's way of teaching us to expound Scripture is, that he that prophesies, should do it, nar' àvanoyíav TiσTEws, according to the analogy of faith;' the fundamental' proportions of faith are the measures by which we are to exact the sense and meaning of points more difficult and less necessary. This way St. Clement urges in other expressions. "Truth is not found in the translation of significations, for so they might overthrow all true doctrine: xxiv τῷ διασκέψασθαι, τί τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ τῷ παντοκράτορι Θεῷ τελείως οἰκεῖον τε καὶ πρέπον but in this, that every one consider what is perfectly agreeable to our Lord the almighty God, and what is decent or fit to be said of him."-If we follow this way close, our interpretations of Scripture can never be impious, and can never lead into dangerous error.

4. In pursuance of this, the ancient fathers took this way, and taught us to do so too; to expound difficult places by the plain. So St. Austin: "Maguificè et salubriter Spiritus Sanctus," &c. "The Holy Spirit hath magnificently and wholesomely qualified the Holy Scriptures, that in the more open (or plainer) places, provision is made for our hunger, (viz. for our need) and in the obscure there is nothing tedious (or loathsome): nihil enim ferè de illis obscuritatibus eruit, quod non planissimè dictum alibi reperiatur. For there is scarce any thing drawn from those obscure places, but the same, in other places, may be found spoken most plainly." Bellarmine observes, that St. Austin uses the word 'ferè,' 'almost;' meaning, that though, by plainer places, most of the obscure places may be cleared; yet not all.' And truly it is very probable, that St. Austin did mean so. But then

2 Stromat. lib. vii. p. 757, et 758. b Ubi suprà, p. 758.

a Contr. Gentil. in Initio.

c De Doctr. Christ. lib. ii. c. 6.

De Verbo Dei, lib. iii. c. 2. sect. Respondeo imprimis.

if there be any obscure places, that cannot be so enlightened, what is to be done with them? St. Austin says, that "in such places, let every one abound in his own sense, and expound as well as he can:" "Quæ obscurè vel ambiguè, vel figuratè dicta sunt, quisque sicut voluerit, interpretetur secundum sensum suum." But yet still he calls us to the rule of plain places; "Talia autem rectè intelligi exponique non possunt, nisi priùs ea quæ apertissimè dicta sunt, firma fide teneantur," the plain places of Scripture are the way of expounding the more obscure, and there is no other, viz. so apt, and certain.

And after all this; I deny not but there are many other external helps. God hath set bishops and priests, preachers and guides of our souls, over us; and they are appointed to teach others as far as they can, and it is to be supposed they can do it best; but then the way for them to find out the meaning of obscure places is that which I have now described out of the fathers, and by the use of that means they will be best enabled to teach others.

If any man can find a better way than the fathers have taught us, he will very much oblige the world by declaring it; and giving a solid experiment that he can do what he undertakes. But because no man, and no company of men, have yet expounded all hard places with certainty and without error, it is an intolerable vanity to pretend to a power of doing that, which no charity hath ever obliged them to do for the good of the church, and the glory of God, and the rest of inquiring souls.

I end this tedious discourse with the words of St. Austin, "Nolo humanis documentis, sed Divinis oraculis ecclesiam demonstrari." If you inquire where, or which is the church; from human teachings you can never find her: "She is only demonstrated in the Divine oracles."-" Therefore if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God."

e Lib. de Unit. Eccles. c. 16. f De Unit. Eccles. c. 3. 51 Pet. iv. 11.

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SECTION III.

Of Traditions.

TRADITION is any way of delivering a thing, or word to another; and so every doctrine of Christianity is by tradition. "I have delivered unto you," saith St. Paul," that Christ died for our sins.” Παράδοσις is the same with δόγμα, and παραδιδόναι is the same with διδάσκειν, say the grammarians; and the mapadobeira níoris in St. Jude, "the faith delivered," is the same which St. Paul explicates by saying Tapadóσels as ididaxonтs, the "traditions," that is, "the doctrines ye were taught."-And St. Irenæus calls it a tradition apostolical that "Christ took the cup," and said "it was his blood;" and "to believe in one God, and in Christ who was born of a virgin, was the old tradition;" that is, the thing delivered, and not at first written; which the barbarians kept diligently. But tradition signified either preaching or writing, as it happened. When it signified preaching, it was only the first way of communicating the religion of Jesus Christ: and until the Scriptures were written, and consigned by the full testimony of the apostles, and apostolical churches respectively; they, in the questions of religion, usually appealed to the tradition, or the constant retention of such a doctrine in those churches where the apostles first preached, and by the succession of bishops in those churches, who, without variety or change, had still remembered and kept the same doctrine, which at first was delivered by the apostles: so Irenæus", "If the apostles had not left the Scriptures to us, must not we (viz. in this case) have followed the order of tradition which they delivered to them, to whom they intrusted the church; to which ordination many nations of barbarians do assent?" And that which was true then, is also true now; for, if the apostles had never written at all, we must have followed tradition; unless God had 'provided for us some better thing.' But

a 1 Thes. ii. 15.

b Sic S. Basilius lib. iii. contr. Eunomium Touto σapõç μáderai rỹ xapadóosi τοῦ σωτηρίου βαπτίσματος.

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it is observable that Irenæus says, that this way is only in the destitution of Scripture.' But since God hath supplied not only the principal churches with the Scriptures, but even all the nations which the Greeks and Romans call barbarous; now to run to tradition, is to make use of a staff or wooden leg, when we have good leg of our own. The traditions at the first publication of Scriptures were clear, evident, recent, remembered, talked of by all Christians, in all their meetings, public and private; and the mistaking of them by those who carefully endeavoured to remember them, was not easy; and, if there had been a mistake, there was an apostle living, or one of their immediate disciples, to set all things right. And, therefore, until the apostles were all dead, there was no dispute considerable amongst Christians, but what was instantly determined, or suppressed; and the heresies that were, did creep and sting clancularly, but made no great show. But when the apostles were all dead; then that apostasy foretold', began to appear; and heresies, of which the church was warned, began to arise. But it is greatly to be remarked; there was then no heresy that pretended any foundation from Scripture; but from tradition many: for it was accounted so glorious a thing to have been taught by an apostle, that even good men were willing to believe any thing which their scholars pretended to have heard their masters preach; and too many were forward to say, they heard them teach what they never taught; and the pretence was very easy to be made by the contemporaries or immediate descendants after the apostles; and now that they were dead, it was so difficult to confute them, that the heretics found it an easy game to play, to say they heard it delivered by an apostle. Many did so, and some were at first believed, and yet were afterwards discovered; some were cried down at first, and some expired of themselves, and some were violently thrust away. But how many of those who did descend and pass on to custom, were of a true and apostolical original, and how many were not so, it will be impossible to find now; only, because we are sure there was some false dealing in this matter, and we

• Hegesip. apud Eccles. lib. xxxviii. c. 32. Græc. 26. Latin. f Acts, xx. 29, 30. 1 Tim. iv. 1, &c. 2 Tim. iii. 10, &c. and iv. 3. 2 Thes. ii. 3. 2 Pet. ii. 1, &c. 1 Joh. ii. 18, 19. Jude, iv. 5, &c.

know there might be much more than we have discovered, we have no reason to rely upon any tradition for any part of our faith; any more than we could do upon Scripture, if one book or chapter of it should be detected to be imposture. But there were two cases, in which tradition was then used: the one was, when the Scriptures had not been written, or communicated, as among divers nations of the barbarians. The other was, when they disputed with persons who received not all the Scriptures; as did the Carpocratians, of whom Irenæus & speaks. In these cases tradition was urged, that because they did not agree about the authority of one instrument, they should be admitted to trial upon the other. For as Antonius Marinarius said truly and wisely, 'The fathers served themselves of this topic only in case of necessity, never thinking to make use of it in competition against holy Scripture.'

But then it is to be observed, that in both these cases the use of tradition is not at all pertinent to the question now in hand; for, first, the question was not then, as now it is, between persons who equally account of Scriptures as the Word of God; and to whom the Scriptures have been from many generations consigned. For they that had received Scriptures at the first, relied upon them; they that had not, were to use tradition, and the topic of succession, to prove their doctrine to have come from the apostles: that is, they were fain to call witnesses, when they could not produce a will in writing. But secondly, in other cases the old heretics had the same question as we have now. For besides the Scripture, they said that "Jesus in mystery spake to his disciples and apostles some things in secret and apart, because they were worthy." And so Christ said, “I have many things to say, but ye cannot bear them now." For this place of "Scripture was to this purpose urged by the most foolish heretics:" just thus do the doctors of the church of Rome at this day. So Bellarminei; "They preached not to the people all things, but those which were necessary to them, or profitable, but other things they delivered apart to the more perfect." Here then is the popish

g Lib. i. c. 1, et c. 24.

h St. Irenæus, lib. i. c. 24. S. August. tract. 97. in Johan.
1 De verb. Dei non script. lib. iv. c. 11. Sect. Hic notatis.

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