interpretation; yet the position is not altogether incorrect. For if the liberty of setting forth expositions of Scripture be granted without reserve, it will follow either that confusion subversive of all order and unity must attend it, or that the consciences of the less resolute and bold shall be securely trampled upon, and so liberty be submerged in the overflowings of licentiousness. a I assert then that the Divinely ordained remedy against such disastrous contingencies is the Authority of the Church. in its judicial and testimonial relations. With the judicial authority of the Church I am not at present concerned; but must express my regret that such a verse of Scripture as that in S. Matthew, chap. xviii. v. 17, should have been injudiciously applied to establish the Church's authority in controversies of the Faith. Such crude dealing with the text of Scripture and shifting to the account of doctrine what so clearly belongs to discipline has supplied a weapon to the Latitudinarian for assailing the Church's authority altogether in matters of doctrine. Our business lies with the Authority of the Church in its traditional and testimonial aspect; by which I mean " that which consisteth in testifying the faith once delivered," not one that creates that which never was of force before. (Thorndike, Vol. II. Pt. II. p. 562.) They who maintain the sentence of the present Church to be the reason of believing must abandon tradition. And I am far from denying, that as the provinces of Doctrine and Discipline are most closely connected and frequently overlap each other, so the functions of the Church as a witness and keeper of the truth not infrequently are converted by the force of circumstances into those of a judge. For seeing that the Ministers of the Church are intrusted with the power of the keys and the dispensation of the Sacraments, and that the profession of orthodox belief hath ever been the tessera or token whereby Christians could claim their corporate rights in the Church, it naturally follows that excommunication or the exclusion from participation in the Sacraments should be the punishment awarded to such as failed to symbolize with the general Body for without the credentials of orthodoxy the • See Limborch, Theol. Christiana, L. i. c. 10. Of the existence of a general Ecclesiastical standard of interpreta tion of doc. trine,termed tradition. Sacraments of the Church would be robbed of their value, and their character as seals of Faith and pledges of Unity be virtually annulled. Hence, in a healthy condition of the Church, any flagrant departure from the line prescribed by her tradition calls for the exercise of her strictly judicial functions in the department of discipline. But this, as I have endeavoured to point out, is a consequence arising from a recognition of the corporate relations of individual Christians to one another as members of the Catholic Church. I propose then 1. to examine the testimonial Authority of the Church in matters of doctrine, which I would term Catholic Tradition in general, whether written or unwritten; 2. to remark on the force of this testimony as it relates to Scripture; 3. to inquire into the meaning of Apostolical traditions so-called, and the weight to be attached to them; 4. to review the various expressions of Catholic Tradition as exhibited a. in the Creeds, B. in Liturgies, 7. in the oral teaching of the Universal Episcopate, 8. in General and Provincial Councils, ɛ. in the written works of the Fathers or such as have been stamped with the public approbation of the Church; and, lastly, to show that the above claims to prescriptive authority are not to be so stringently pressed as to supersede the concurrent authority of the existing Church and the theological labours of later expositors. b §. 2. That the Doctrines of the Faith must have found some common expression which the primitive converts might mutually recognise, even before the Divine Spirit had sealed them in perpetuity, is evident from Scripture itself. S. Paul writes to the Thessalonians, "Hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle." And lest we should suppose that these traditions refer simply to Church customs and matters of discipline, he says further to Timothy, "Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in CHRIST JESUS." If the first Christians received the Gospel by oral delivery, the written monuments would be found in accordance with the doctrine which they had originally received. And as the design of the Sacred Writers was to fix the c saving Truths, which at first were permitted to float at large in the Church, the province of Oral Tradition in the absolute preservation of those truths would appear to terminate when the Apostolic Writings could be fairly known and studied. It would then be confined to the interpretation and application of the Sacred Canon; for it is absurd to suppose that the Sacred Truths were dealt at random to persons incapable of perceiving their just relations and harmony. S. Paul distinctly implies the existence of such knowledge in the persons whom he addresses; "I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say." "Let us prophesy according to the pro portion of faith.” e Tradition then is defined to be "Sacred Doctrine, accepted orally in the first instance, and confirmed by the use of the Faithful." Origen witnesses to the existence of a universal Ecclesiastical Tradition guarding the sense of Scripture, in these words: "Whereas there are many who think that they perceive the things of CHRIST, and some of them think differently from those who went before them, let the preaching of the Church handed down from the Apostles by the order of succession and remaining in the churches even to the present time be preserved; that alone is to be believed, which is in accordance with ecclesiastical tradition." But as time went on, the substance of this Ecclesiastical preaching and oral tradition naturally found expression in Creeds, Liturgies, the enactments of Councils, and the writings of Divines who obtained an extensive following in the Church. The earliest instance which I find, where the specific channels of Catholic Tradition are enumerated, is in a petition presented by the deacon Basil to the Third General Council of Ephesus, A.D. 431. And as it is important to mark the beginnings of what has since been the general practice of the Church, I here subjoin it. "Among GOD'S gifts," it says, "is true knowledge, and the hatred of knowledge falsely so-called; so that we should acknowledge the Faith delivered to the Catholic Church from the beginning d 1 Cor. x. 15. Rom. xii. 6. Dominicus Bannes, In Secun dam Secundæ S. Tho. qu. 1. Art. x. Peri Archon in Proem. circ. init. by the Apostles and Martyrs and Confessors and holy Bishops, with the co-operation also of most pious Emperors; first by Peter the Apostle, the president, (of the College of Apostles,) h that said according to revelation on behalf of those that came after, Thou art the CHRIST, the SON of the LIVING GOD;' by James Apostle and Archbishop, by John Apostle and Evangelist, and the other Evangelists, Martyrs, Confessors, Bishops, and all that have believed and that do believe in the consubstantial Trinity; by Irenæus, by Gregory bishop of Neocæsarea; by the holy Synod assembled at Antioch against Paul of Samosata, by the great and holy Synod of bishops at Nice; by Basil and Gregory, bishops; by Athanasius bishop of Alexandria; by Ephraim the Syrian; by Gregory, Ammon, Vitalius, Amphilochius, Paulus, Antiochus, Eustathius, Methodius, Optimus, Leporius, Ambrose of Milan; by the whole Synod in Africa; by John, Severian, Atticus bishop, by Cyril the bishop of Alexandria now alive and who follows the law of our religion." I have stated that upon the completion and publication of the Sacred Canon of Scripture the province of Catholic Tradition in matters of Faith is limited to the interpretation of the same. No writer so clearly asserts this, as the celebrated Vincentius of Lerins, who is prominent as a champion of Tradition. How, he asks, amidst the multiplied forms of novelty and error, how are Catholic men and sons of Mother Church to "discern truth from falsehood in the Holy Scriptures? Well, they shall earnestly strive to interpret the Divine Canon according to the traditions of the universal Church, and by the rules of Catholic dogma; in which Catholic and Apostolic Church they must needs follow universality, antiquity, consent." k He guards carefully against being supposed for an instant to put Scripture and Tradition on a par, or to regard them as two equal elements forming one Rule of Faith: "We have said above that this ever hath been and is to this day the custom of Catholics, to prove the true Faith by these two means; first by the authority of the κ τοῦ πρωτοστάτου. Chrysostom. J Conc. Ephes. Part 1. ap. Labbe. T. III. p. 426. * Cap. xxvii. Divine Canon, then by the tradition of the Catholic Church. Not that the Canon alone is not self-sufficient for all purposes; but because many persons interpreting the Divine Words according to their own judgment conceive various errors, therefore it is necessary that the understanding of the Scripture be applied to the one rule of ecclesiastical meaning, in those questions however chiefly on which rest the foundations of the entire Catholic dogma." Thorndike prefers Tradition of the whole Church, which may be evident, though that of the present Church fail: an argument for that Unity of the Church which should be, and so save private Christians the resolution of disputes, "the reasons whereof they are not able to manage." (Vol. II. Pt. II. p. 559.) Vincentius bids us prefer antiquity to novelty; and in antiquity prefer the decrees of a universal Council to those of a few; and in the next place, the sentiments of many and great teachers agreeing with each other." m It will be seen that this famous Rule labours under the disadvantage of presupposing knowledge and opportunities quite exceptional. This consent of Antiquity he declares to be not requisite in all cases, only in those cardinal dogmas which regulate the Faith: "Which ancient consent of the holy Fathers is to be followed by us not in all questions of the Divine Law, but principally in the rule of faith."n When we inquire about the conditions of our recourse to this testimonial authority of Catholic Tradition and Consent, we may be surprised to discover that its aid is to be invoked not so much for the conviction of inveterate errors, as for the excision of heresy in its early stages. The sole authority of the Written Word is the enduring witness against heretics, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear; and the past action of Catholic Bishops or Councils in excluding them from the sacraments of the Church is also irreversible in its operation, so long as they adhere to their errors. It may be even said to supersede the necessity of argument, as S. Paul saith, "A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted 1 Vincentius Lirinensis, Commonitorium, c. xxix. mlb. c. xxvii. |