and letters of the Apostles? God testifies, that those things are to be done, which are WRITTEN-If, then, any such precept can be found, either in the Gospel, or in the Epistles and Acts of the Apostles:-let this divine and holy tradition be observed1.

(5.) We may next hear Cyril of Jerusalem. Respecting the divine and holy mysteries of the faith, not even a tittle ought to be delivered without the authority of the holy SCRIPTURES. Neither ought any thing to be propounded, on the basis of mere credibility, or through the medium of plausible ratiocination. Neither yet repose the slightest confidence in the bare assertions of me your Catechist, unless you shall receive from the holy SCRIPTURES full demonstration of the matters propounded. For the security of our faith depends, not upon verbal trickery, but upon demonstration from the holy SCRIPTURES 2.

(6.) Let us next hear the great Athanasius.

1 Unde est ista traditio? Utrumne de dominica et evangelica auctoritate descendens, an de Apostolorum mandatis atque epistolis veniens? Ea enim facienda esse quæ scripta sunt, Deus testatur-Si ergo aut in Evangelio præcipitur, aut in Apostolorum Epistolis aut Actibus continetur :-observetur divina hæc et sancta traditio. Cyprian. Epist. lxxiv. Oper. vol. ii. p. 211.

2 Δεῖ γὰρ, περὶ τῶν θείων καὶ ἁγίων τῆς πίστεως μυστηρίων, μηδὲ τὸ τυχὸν ἄνευ τῶν θείων παραδίδοσθαι γραφῶν· μηδὲ ἁπλῶς πιθανότητι καὶ λόγων κατασκευαῖς παραφέρεσθαι μηδὲ ἐμοὶ τῷ ταῦτά σοι λέγοντι ἁπλῶς πιστεύσῃς, ἐὰν τὴν ἀπόδειξιν τῶν καταγγελλομένων ἀπὸ τῶν θείων μὴ λάβῃς γραφῶν· ἡ σωτηρία γὰρ αὕτη τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν, οὐκ ἐξ ευρεσιλογίας, ἀλλὰ ἐξ ἀποδείξεως Twv Oɛiwv ¿orì ypapwv. Cyril. Hieros. Catech. iv. p. 30.

The holy and divinely inspired SCRIPTURES are sufficient for the declaration of the truth'.

Let a person solely learn the matters, which are set forth in the SCRIPTURES: for the demonstrations, contained in them, are, in order to the settling of this point, quite sufficient and complete".

If ye are disciples of the Gospels,-walk according to what is WRITTEN. But, if you choose to allege any other matters beyond what is WRITTEN : why do you contend against us, who will never be persuaded either to hear or to speak a single syllable beyond God's WRITTEN word?

These; namely, the canonical books of Scripture, from which the apocryphal books are carefully excluded: These are the fountains of salvation; so that he, who thirsts, may drink from the oracles contained in them. In these ALONE is the evangelical school of piety. Let no one add to them and let no one detract from them*.

1 Αυτάρκεις μὲν γὰρ εἰσὶν αἱ ἁγίαι καὶ θεόπνευστοι γραφαί, πρòs týν tñs áλŋ0ɛías åñayyeλíav. Athan. Orat. cont. gent. Oper. vol. i. p. 1.

2

Μόνον τὰ ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς μανθανέτω αὐτάρκη γὰρ καὶ ἱκανὰ τὰ ἐν αὐταῖς κείμενα περὶ τούτου παραδείγματα. Athan. ad Serap. Spirit. S. non esse creat. Oper. vol. i.

3

p.

359.

* Εἰ τοίνυν μαθηταί ἐστε τῶν εὐαγγελίων,—στοιχεῖτε τοῖς γεγραμμένοις καὶ γενομένοις. Εἰ δὲ ἕτερα παρὰ τὰ γεγραμμένα λαλεῖν βούλεσθε, τί πρὸς ἡμᾶς διαμάχεσθε, τοὺς μήτε ἀκούειν μήτε λέγειν παρὰ τὰ γεγραμμένα πειθομένους ; Athan. de incarn. Christ. Oper. vol. i. p. 484.

• Ταῦτα πηγαὶ τοῦ σωτηρίου, ὥστε τὸν διψῶντα ἐμφορεῖσθαι τῶν ἐν τούτοις λογίων. Ἐν τούτοις μόνοις τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας διδασ

decision even of a man, whose praise I cannot attain Luo, with rhone writings I presume not to compare my (za zvitizgi, whose genius I lore, with whose eloquence I am delighed, whose charity I admire, whose martyrdom I venerate1.

Why adduce you the authority of Cyprian for your schism, and yet reject his example for the peace of the Church? Who knows not, that the holy CANONICAL SCRIPTURE, whether of the Old or of the New Testament, is comprehended within its own certain limits? Who knows not, that, to all later episcopal letters, it is so preferred, as to exclude any permission of rising doubt or dispute, whether whatsoever is written in it be true or right? But, as for the letters of Bishops which either are written or were written after the confirmation of the Canon; if peradventure there be found in them any deviation from the truth, we may freely correct them, either by the weightier discourse of more skilful theologians, or by the better instructed prudence of other Bishops, or by the collective intervention of Councils. So again: national or provincial Councils

Ac per hoc, si ea, quæ commemorasti, ab illo ad Jubaianum scripta, de aliquo Apostolorum vel Prophetarum canonico recitares: quod omnino contradicerem, non haberem. Nunc vero, quoniam canonicum non est quod recitas, ea libertate ad quam nos vocavit Dominus, ejus viri, cujus laudem consequi non valeo, cujus multis literis mea scripta non comparo, cujus ingenium diligo, cujus ore delector, cujus charitatem miror, cujus martyrium veneror, hoc quod aliter sapuit non accipio. August. cont. Crescon. grammat. lib. ii. c. 32. Oper. vol. vii. p. 160.

ought, indisputably, to yield to the authority of plenary Councils, which are collected out of the whole Christian World: and plenary Councils themselves may often be AMENDED by later Councils; when, through better experience, that which was shut is opened, and that which lay hid is known'.

III. As the alleged infallibility of papally ratified Councils is, of plain necessity, altogether incompatible with the well ascertained occurrence of perpetual contradictions both to Scripture and to the primitive Church and to other Councils and even to themselves: so it is easy to perceive, how the Fathers, not only of the three first centuries but also of the fourth and fifth centuries,

1 Cur auctoritatem Cypriani pro vestro schismate assumitis, et ejus exemplum pro Ecclesiæ pace respuitis? Quis autem nesciat, sanctam Scripturam canonicam, tam Veteris quam Novi Testamenti, certis suis terminis contineri, eamque omnibus posterioribus episcoporum literis ita præponi, ut de illa omnino dubitari et disceptari non possit, utrum verum vel utrum rectum sit, quicquid in ea scriptum esse constiterit: episcoporum autem literas, quæ post confirmatum canonem vel scriptæ sunt vel scribuntur, et per sermonem forte sapientiorem cujuslibet in ea re peritioris, et per aliorum episcoporum graviorem auctoritatem doctioremque prudentiam, et per Concilia, licere reprehendi, si quid in eis forte a veritate deviatum est: et ipsa Concilia, quæ per singulas regiones vel provincias fiunt plenariorum Conciliorum auctoritati quæ fiunt ex universo orbe christiano, sine ullis ambagibus cedere: ipsaque plenaria sæpe priora posterioribus emendari; cum, aliquo experimento rerum, aperitur quod clausum erat, et cognoscitur quod latebat? August. de Baptism. cont. Donatist. lib. ii. c. 3. Oper. vol. vii. p. 37.

would have viewed the arrogant pretensions of the Roman Church to an inerrancy of deciding both doctrinal and practical points, not only upon her own dogmatical interpretation of canonical Scripture, and not only upon the insufficient authority of the uninspired and primitively rejected Apocrypha, but even upon an indigested chaotic mass of silly oral traditions vainly indicatory of matters respecting which God's written word is entirely silent.

The Bible ALONE, professedly shutting out the Apocrypha which the Tridentine Synod has presumptuously declared to be canonical, those early Fathers acknowledge, as the authoritative rule of faith and practice. Traditions or speculations, which set forth points unpropounded or contradicted by Scripture, they strenuously and systematically reject. To the Law and to the Testimony, is their constant language. Whatever cannot be proved from the written word of God, they pronounce to be undemonstrated and unobligatory. Cyril charges his Catechumens, not blindly and servilely to acquiesce in his statements, but to try by Scripture all that he advanced, and if found contrary to it to reject his lectures without the least ceremony or hesitation: Jerome, and the whole concurring chorus of those ancient theologians, avow themselves to receive only the things which are written; while the things, which are not written, they positively and uniformly throw aside and, as Augustine calls for demon