THING ACCORDING TO HIS RULES; and that St. Augustine spake a great deal more to the purpose when he spake concerning ALL the writers of the church, that although they had never so much learning and sanctity he did not think it true because they thought so, but because they persuaded him to believe it true, either from the authority of Scripture or some probable reason." (p. 279, ed. 1665.) And in another part, he shows" how little certainty" there is " in his way of finding out traditions." (p. 247.) Now this rule is put forth by our opponents as the test of " apostolical tradition," and that which is supposed to stand this test is a divine informant, having authority over our consciences as supplementary to and interpretative of Scripture, and of this view Bishop Stillingfleet is continually quoted as the supporter, even from the very work from which we have given the above extracts.

Other instances of this the reader shall have in abundance hereafter.

Further, let us inquire how far their accuracy may be relied upon in their statements respecting antiquity and the views and doctrines of the Fathers, where the reader might suppose from the tone they have assumed, that their knowledge was of the most perfect kind, and that their statements were the result of long study and intimate acquaintance with the records of antiquity.

What does the reader think of the following passage? -"The baptismal confessions recorded in the Acts are of this nature, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God,'-' I believe in Jesus Christ,' and the like. But this elementary confession, thus brief and incomplete as far as the express words went, seems even before the apostles' death to have been expanded and moulded into form, and in that form or type it has remained up to this day in the baptismal service. I say this was done in the apostles' days, because history bears witness to the fact, calling it the Creed,' the Apostles' Creed,' the treasure and legacy of faith which the apostles had left to their converts, and which was to be preserved in the church to the end.

VOL. I.

F

6

Indeed, St. Paul, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, so speaks of it when quoting part of it, viz. as that which had been committed to him, and which he had committed in turn to his converts, (1 Cor. xv. 3.)" (pp. 260, 261.) This brief mode of settling everything is quite amusing. The Creed which we now have was certainly put into its present form by the apostles, for some writers who lived long after (for that is all the testimony we have) call it the Apostles' Creed, and if this is not a sufficient proof, remember St. Paul himself has quoted it in 1 Cor. xv. 3, though he does not say so.

Such a statement as this at the present day is really extraordinary; more especially from one who professes an intimate acquaintance with antiquity. But it is merely an echo of the statements of some Romish writers; and statements, be it remembered, which are repudiated by the more learned members even of that church. On this point, however, we shall have to speak at large in another place, to which therefore I refer the reader. (See c. 4.)

Let us now see how far we may depend upon the correctness of their quotations from the Fathers. It is a favorite observation with Mr. Newman and Mr. Keble, that "Tradition teaches, Scripture proves." On the correctness or incorrectness of this observation I say nothing here. My only concern now is with the following quotation from Athanasius introduced in proof of it. "Athanasius," says Mr. Newman, "in the following passage, distinguishes between Tradition as teaching, and Scripture as proving, verifying doctrine. Our faith is correct, and is derived from Apostolical teaching and the Tradition of the Fathers, being established out of the New and Old Testaments.' (Ad Adelph. §. 6.)" (p. 385.) Mr. Keble, still more boldly shaping the passage to his own mind, says," St. Athanasius more than once mentions a certain form or stamp of the faith of a Christian,' by recurrence to which doctrines may be best tried, and heresy repressed; and this form or stamp, he says, we receive by

tradition, but are able to demonstrate it by the Scriptures. Ep. ad Adelph. tom. i. 914. E;" adding part of the sentence in the original. (p. 124.) And in the next page he gives us this translation of the portion he refers to,-"To us belongs the right faith, setting out from the apostolical teaching and tradition of the Fathers, and confirmed both by the New and the Old Testament.' Could he have said more clearly, 'Tradition teaches, Scripture proves?' (p. 125.)

Now this passage with its context stands thus ;-- 'Hμwv δε ἡ πίστις εστιν ἡ ορθη, και εκ διδασκαλίας Αποστολων (or, Αποστολικής) όρμωμενη και παραδόσεως των πατέρων βεβαιουμενη εκ τε νέας και παλαιας διαθήκης των μεν προφητων λεγοντων Αποστείλον τον Λογον σου και την αληθειαν σου και, Ιδου ἡ Παρθενος εν γαστρι έξει. . ἡ δε Αποστολων παραδοσις διδασκει, του μεν Πετρου λεγοντος" Χριστου ουν ὑπερ ἡμων παθοντος σαρκι [1 Pet. iv. 1.] του δε Παυλου γραφοντος, Προσδεχομενοι την μαkapiaν exπida. . . . [Tit. ii. 13.]. Ep. ad Adelph. καριαν ελπιδα

I give the portion of this passage, quoted by Mr. Newman and Mr. Keble, stopped as in the editions preceding the Benedictine, and supported by the authority of the learned Peter Nannius, a Roman Catholic Professor at Louvain, I translate it thus,-" But our faith is the orthodox faith, both taking its rise from the teaching of the Apostles, and confirmed by the tradition of the Fathers, derived both from the New and Old Testament; the prophets saying, Send out thy Word and thy Truth, and, Behold a virgin shall be with child, &c.; and the tradition of the apostles teaches us, Peter saying, Christ therefore having suffered for us in the flesh,' and Paul writing, 'Looking for that blessed hope, &c.'"

This passage, however, the Benedictine editors have stopped so as to make it, if possible, speak the views of Romanism, by inserting a comma after areрwr, and thus connecting Beẞacovμern with what follows, and translating

1 Nostra contra fides recta est, et ex doctrina Apostolica et traditione Patrum confirmata, et Novo et Veteri Testamento, cum et Prophetæ clamant, &c. See edition of Athanasius, published, Colon. 1686. vol. i. p. 159.

the

passage according to this punctuation. Mr. Newman and Mr. Keble have followed in their wake; the latter "the having even gone so far as to translate the passage, apostolical teaching and tradition of the Fathers," as if it referred to the apostolical teaching of the Fathers, a translation which the very position of the words wholly forbids. Indeed I do not believe that they can point out any passage in the Fathers in which the words, "the teaching of the apostles," or "the apostolical teaching," are put for the report we derive of that teaching from the Fathers. Now whether the new Benedictine punctuation be correct or not, it is unnecessary here to inquire, though it seems to me quite inconsistent with the construction of the sentence. It is sufficient to observe, that the imme"the diate context shows what Athanasius means by teaching of the apostles," viz. that which "the TRADITION of the apostles TEACHES us," in their writings, the very passages from Peter and Paul to which he refers as "the tradition of the apostles" being pointed out; and therefore that the sense put upon his words by Mr. Newman and Mr. Keble is far from what he intended. But it is an old quotation of the Romanists against us, from whom our opponents appear to have borrowed it without even consulting the context. 1

The observation of Mr. Keble as to a certain form or stamp of faith being here referred to, and said to be re

The passage, according to the old punctuation, is precisely accordant with the view we defend, for that "the tradition of the Fathers" is a confirmatory argument for the truth of a doctrine derived from Scripture is what we maintain, and this is all for which this passage could be adduced. I would just observe also, that the word wаTEрwv is sometimes used for the writers of the Old Testament, a sense which would well suit the construction of this sentence. It is so used by Hyppolytus the Martyr, who, speaking of the prophets, says, δυτοι γαρ πνευματι προφητικω δι πατερες κατηρτισμένοι. (De Antichristo, §. 2. Op. ed. Fabr. 1716-18. vol. i. p. 5.) The word is also used in a very similar sense, i. e. of the writers of the Holy Scriptures generally, by Cyril of Alexandria, who speaks of those writings as, άi twv åyiwv tатeрwν σvyyрapai. (De S. Trin. Dial. 1.Op. Tom. 5. P. 1. p. 388.) And by Cyril of Jerusalem, Aorov de εις τας θείας γραφας επανελθωμεν, και πινωμεν ύδατα απο ημετερων αγγείων, ἁγιων TαTEрWV. Cat. 16. §. 5. ed. Milles. p. 228.

ceived by tradition, is perfectly unaccountable, for neither in the passage or the context is there anything of the kind, and not the less remarkable from his placing a few words of the Greek original at the foot of his page, as if he had really found his assertion in the original. Indeed Mr. Keble himself, referring to the same passage in the next page, tells us that the terms in question do not occur there. But unfortunately, again forgetting this, he in the following page recurs to his first assertion as correct, and makes it of considerable use to his argument, observing, "This same form of the faith,' for which as we have seen Athanasius looked to tradition, he affirms elsewhere to have been," &c. (p. 126.)

Poor Athanasius! This is indeed hard treatment of one who in every page with laborious reiteration refers to Scripture as that from which every individual is to satisfy himself of the truth. It is quite astonishing, indeed, how any one at all acquainted with the works of Athanasius can suppose that he is adducible in favour of the views advanced by Mr. Newman and Mr. Keble.

The reader will observe that in this passage of Athanasius the Scriptures of the apostles are called “the tradition of the apostles." The word tradition is constantly used by the Fathers in this sense, i. e. as significative of the Scriptures, and this, as may be supposed, has given rise to many perversions of their meaning, which makes it very necessary for us to be on our guard against being misled by scraps selected from their writings, in which the word tradition occurs, and which are adduced in proof of the value of ecclesiastical tradition, when in fact they are applicable only to the Scriptural tradition.

Thus Athanasius says,-" He that abides by the traditions (Toc Tapadoleto,) is safe. And we exhort you, as we exhort ourselves, to preserve the faith that has been delivered to us, (TMηy πapadoleiσav πOTIV, the traditional faith)." What a strong passage, it might be said, in favour of tradition! And thus it has been quoted by the Romanists. But when we take it with its context, we find that nothing