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whatsoever is without the holy Scripture, being not of faith, must needs be sin." Thus far St. Basil.

In like manner Gregory Nyssen, St. Basil's brother, layeth this for a ground, "which no man should contradict, that in that only the truth must be acknowledged, wherein the seal of the Scripture testimony is to be seen." And accordingly in another book, attributed also unto him, we find this conclusion made: "Forasmuch as this is upholden with no testimony of the Scripture, as false we will reject it."

Thus also St. Hierome disputeth against Helvidius. "As we deny not those things that are written; so we refuse those things that are not written. That God was born of a virgin, we believe; because we read it: that Mary did marry after she was delivered, we believe not; because we read it not."

"In those things," saith St. Augustine, "which are laid down plainly in the Scriptures, all those things are found, which appertain to faith and direction of life." And again: "Whatsoever" ye hear from the holy Scriptures, let that savour well unto you; whatsoever is without them, refuse, lest you wander in a cloud." And in another place: "All" those things which in times past our ancestors have mentioned to be done toward mankind, and have delivered unto us; all those things also which we see, and do deliver unto our posterity, so far as they appertain to the seeking

4 Κἄν τις ἂν ἀντείποι, μὴ οὐχὶ ἐν τούτῳ μόνῳ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τιθέσθω, ᾧ σφραγὶς ἐπέστι τῆς γραφικῆς μαρτυρίας. Greg. Nyss. dialog. de anima et resurrect. tom. 3. pag. 207.

r Cum id nullo Scripturæ testimonio suffultum sit, ut falsum improbabimus. lib. de cognit. Dei, cit. ab Euthymio in panoplia, tit. 8.

• Ut hæc quæ scripta sunt non negamus; ita ea quæ non sunt scripta renuimus. Natum Deum esse de virgine credimus, quia legimus: Mariam nupsisse post partum non credimus, quia non legimus. Hieron. advers. Helvid.

In iis quæ aperte in Scripturis posita sunt, inveniuntur illa omnia quæ continent fidem moresque vivendi. Augustin. de doct. Christ. lib. 2. cap. 9. op. tom. 3. pag. 24.

"Quicquid inde audieritis, hoc vobis bene sapiat: quicquid extra est respuite, ne erretis in nebula. Id. in. lib. de pastor. cap. 11. op. tom. 5. pag. 238.

Omnia quæ præteritis temporibus erga humanum genus majores nostri gesta esse meminerunt," nobisque tradiderunt; omnia etiam quæ nos videmus, et posteris tradimus, quæ tamen pertinent ad veram religionem quærendam et tenendam, divina scriptura non tacuit. Id. epist.232. op. tom. 2. pag. 843.

and maintaining of true religion, the holy Scripture hath not passed in silence."

"The holy Scripture," saith St. Cyril of Alexandria, "is sufficient to make them which are brought up in it wise, and most approved, and furnished with most sufficient understanding." And again: "That' which the holy Scripture hath not said, by what means should we receive, and account it among those things that be true?"

Lastly, in the writings of Theodoret we meet with these kind of speeches. "By the holy Scripture alone am I persuaded." "I am not so bold as to affirm any thing, which the sacred Scripture passeth in silence." "It is an idle and a senseless thing, to seek those things that are passed in silence." "We ought not to seek those things which are passed in silence; but rest in the things that are written."

By the verdict of these twelve men you may judge, what opinion was held in those ancient times, of such traditions as did cross either the verity, or the perfection, of the sacred Scripture: which are the traditions we set ourselves against. Whereunto you may add, if you please that remarkable sentence delivered by Eusebius Pamphili, in the name of the three hundred and eighteen fathers of the first general council of Nice: "Believed the things

* Sufficit divina scriptura ad faciendum eos, qui in illa educati sunt, sapientes et probatissimos, et sufficientissimam habentes intelligentiam. Cyril. 1. 7. contr. Jul.

4 ὃ γὰρ οὐκ εἴρηκεν ἡ θεία γραφὴ τίνα δὲ τρόπον παραδεξόμεθα, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀληθὼς ἔχουσι καταλογίουμεθα ; Cyril. Glaphyrorum, in Gen. lib. 2.

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Εγὼ γὰρ μόνη πείθομαι τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ. • Οὐ γὰρ οὕτως εἰμὶ θρασὺς, ὥστε φάναι γραφή Id. dial. 2. Ασύγχυτ.

Theod. dial. 1. Ατρεπτ. τι σεσιγημένον παρὰ τῇ θείᾳ

• Περιστὸν καὶ ἀνόητον τὸ τὰ σεσιγημένα ζητεῖν. Id. in Exod. quæst. 26. quod in Græcorum catena in pentateuchum, a Franc. Zephyro edita, ita expositum legimus: Impudentis est, quod a Scriptura reticetur, velle inquirere.

• Οὐ δεῖ ζητεῖν τὰ σεσιγημένα, στέργειν δὲ προσήκει τὰ γεγραμμένα. Theod. in Gen. quæst. 45.

· Τοῖς γεγραμμένοις πίστευε τὰ μὴ γεγραμμένα μὴ ἐννύει, μηδὲ ζήτει. Gelas. Cyzicen. act. concil. Nicæn. part. 2. cap. 19.

that are written: the things that are not written, neither think upon nor enquire after."

If now it be demanded, In what pope's days the contrary doctrine was brought in among Christians: I answer, that if St. Peter were ever pope, in his days it was, that some seducers first laboured to bring in will-worship into the Church; against whom St. Paul opposing himself", counteth it a sufficient argument to condemn all such inventions, that they were "the commandments and doctrines of men." Shortly after them started up other heretics, who taught, that "the truth could not be found out of the Scriptures, by those to whom tradition was unknown: forasmuch as it was not delivered by writing, but by word of mouth: for which cause St. Paul also should say; We speak wisdom among them that be perfect."

The very same text do the Jesuits allege, to prove the dignity of many mysteries to be such that they require silence; and that it is unmeet they should be opened in the Scriptures, which are read to the whole world, and therefore can only be learned by unwritten traditions. Wherein they consider not, how they make so near an approach unto the confines of some of the ancientest heretics, that they may well shake hands together. For howsoever some of them were so mad as to say, that they were wiser than the apostles themselves; and therefore made light account of the doctrine which they delivered unto the Church, either by writing or by word of mouth: yet all of them broke not forth into that open impiety; the same mystery of iniquity wrought in some of Antichrist's forerunners then, which is discovered in his ministers

e Coloss. chap. 2.

Quia non possit ex his inveniri veritas, ab his qui nesciant traditionem. Non enim per literas traditam illam, sed per vivam vocem: ob quam causam et Paulum dixisse; Sapientiam autem loquimur inter perfectos. Iren. contr. hæres. lib. 3. cap. 2.

g Bellarm. lib. 4. de verbo Dei, cap. 8.

h Dicentes, se non solum presbyteris, sed etiam apostolis existentes sapientiores, sinceram invenisse veritatem, &c. Evenit itaque neque scripturis jam, neque traditioni, consentire eos. Iren. ut supr.

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now. They confessed indeed," as witnesseth Tertullian, "that the apostles were ignorant of nothing, and differed not among themselves in their preaching; but they say they revealed not all things unto all men: some things they delivered openly and to all, some things secretly and to a few; because that Paul useth this speech unto Timothy: O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust. And again: that good thing which was committed unto thee keep :" which very texts the Jesuits likewise bring in, to prove that there are some traditions, which are not contained in the Scripture.

In the days of St. Hierome also, this was wont to be the saying of heretics: "We' are the sons of the wise men, which from the beginning have delivered the doctrine of the apostles unto us." But those things, saith that father, "which they of themselves find out, and fain to have received as it were by tradition from the apostles, without the authority and testimonies of the Scriptures, the sword of God doth smite." St. Chrysostom” in like manner giveth this for a mark of Antichrist, and of all spiritual thieves, that they come not in by the door of the Scriptures. "For the Scripture," saith he, "like unto a sure door, doth bar an entrance unto heretics, safeguarding us in all things that we will, and not suffering us to be deceived." Whereupon he concludeth, that "whoso

i Confitentur quidem nihil apostolos ignorasse, nec diversa inter se prædicasse ; sed non omnia illos volunt omnibus revelasse: quædam enim palam et universis, quædam secreto et paucis demandasse. quia et hoc verbo usus est Paulus ad Timotheum: O Timothee, depositum custodi. Et rursum: Bonum depositum custodi. Tertull. de præscript. advers. hæret. cap. 25.

k Bellarm. lib. 4. de verbo Dei, cap. 5.

1 Filii şumus sapientum, qui ab initio doctrinam nobis apostolicam tradideHieron. lib. 7. in Esa. cap. 19.

runt.

m Sed et alia quæ, absque auctoritate et testimoniis Scripturarum, quasi traditione apostolica sponte reperiunt atque confingunt, percutit gladius Dei. Id. in Aggeum. cap. 1.

n Chrysost. in Johan. cap. 10. hom. 59. op. tom. 8. pag. 346.

• Καθάπερ γὰρ τὶς θύρα ἀσφαλὴς, οὕτως ἀποκλείει τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς τὴν εἴσοδον, ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ καθιστῶσα ἡμᾶς περὶ ὧν ἂν βουλώμεθα πάντων, καὶ οὐκ ἐῶσα πλανᾶσθαι. Ibid.

ν ὁ γὰρ μὴ ταῖς γραφαῖς χρώμενος, ἀλλὰ ἀναβάνων ἀλλαχόθεν,

useth not the Scriptures, but cometh in otherwise, that is, betaketh himself to another and an unlawful way, he is a thief."

How this mystery of iniquity wrought, when Antichrist came unto his full growth, and what experiments his followers gave of their thievish entry in this kind, was well observed by the author of the book De unitate Ecclesiæ, thought by some to be Waltram bishop of Naumburg: who, speaking of the monks, that for the upholding of pope Hildebrand's faction brought in schisms and heresies into the Church, noteth this specially of them; that, "despising the tradition of God, they desired other doctrines, and brought in masteries of human institution." Against whom he allegeth the authority of their own St. Benedict, the father of the monks in the west, writing thus: "The' abbat ought to teach, or ordain, or command nothing, which is without the precept of the Lord: but his commandment or instruction should be spread, as the leaven of divine righteousness, in the minds of his disciples." Whereunto also he might have added the testimony of the two famous fathers of monastical discipline in the east; St. Antony, I mean, who taught his scholars that "the Scriptures were sufficient for doctrine;" and St. Basil, who unto the question, "Whether it were expedient that novices should presently learn those things that are in the Scripture," returneth this answer: "It is fit

τουτέστιν, ἑτέραν ἑαυτῷ καὶ μὴ νενομισμένην τέμνων ὁδὸν, οὗτος κλέπε Tns oriv. Chrysost. in Johan. cap. 10. hom. 59. op. tom. 8. pag. 346.

9 Quale mysterium iniquitatis prætendunt plures monachi in veste sua, per quos fiunt et facta sunt schismata atque hæreses in Ecclesia: qui etiam a matre filios segregant, oves a pastore sollicitant, Dei sacramenta disturbant: qui etiam, Dei traditione contempta, alienas doctrinas appetunt, et magisteria humanæ institutionis inducunt. Lib. de unitat. Eccles. tom. 1. script. Germanic. a M. Frehero edit. pag. 233.

Ideoque nihil debet abbas extra præceptum Domini quod sit (or rather, as it is in the manuscript which I use, quod absit) aut docere, aut constituere, vel jubere sed jussio ejus vel doctrina, ut fermentum divinæ justitiæ, in discipulorum mentibus conspergatur. Benedict. in regul.

• Τὰς γραφὰς ἱκανὰς εἶναι πρὸς διδασκαλίαν. Athanas. in vita Antonii : quod Evagrius Antiochenus presbyter reddidit; Ad omnein mandatorum disciplinam scripturas posse sufficere.

· Τὸ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν ἕκαστον ἐκμάνθανειν ἐκ τῆς θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς ἀκόλουθον καὶ ἀναγκαῖον, εἴς τε πληροφορίαν τῆς θεοσεβείας, καὶ ὑπερ VOL. III.

E

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