remains, then, that we demonstrate whether this doctrine of ours, of which we have now given the rule, has its origin '' in the tradition of the apostles, and whether all other doc- trifies do not ipso facto '* proceed from false- hood. We hold communion with the apostolic churches because our doctrine is in no respect 8 Communicatio pacis.
9 Contesseratio. [III. John 8.] lo Jura, "rights."
" That is, of the faith, or Christian creed.
»3 Perinde.
•4 Matricibus.
»5 Prajjudicandam. [This then is PrascriptUn.l '6 De mendacio.
'7 Censeatur.
'8 F.x hiM- ipso, " from this very circumstance."
CJIAP. XXIII. j ON PRESCRIPTION AGAINST HERETICS.
different from iJieirs. This is our witness of truth.
CHAP. XXII. — ATTEMPT TO INVALIDATE THIS RULE OF FAITH REBUTTED. THE APOSTLES SAFE TRANSMITTERS OF THE TRUTH. SUFFI- CIENTLY TAUGHT AT FIRST, AND FAITHFUL IN THE TRANSMISSION.
But inasmuch as the proof is so near at hand,' that if it were at once produced there would be nothing left to be dealt with, let us give way for a while to the opposite side, if they think that they can find some means of invalidating this rule, just as if no proof were forthcoming from us. They usually tell us •^ that the apostles did not know all things: (but herein) they are impelled by the same mad- ness, whereby they turn round to the very opposite point,' and declare that the apostles certainly knew all things, but did not deliver all things to all persons, — in either case ex- posing Christ to blame for having sent forth apostles who had either too much ignorance, or too little simplicity. What man, then, of "vsound mind can possibly suppose that they were ignorant of anything, whom the Lord ordained to be masters (or teachers), ^ keeping them, as He did, inseparable (from Himself) in their attendance, in their discipleship, in their society, to whom, "when they were alone, He used to expound " all things'* which were obscure, telling them that "to them it was given to know those mysteries," ^ which it was not permitted the people to understand? Was anything withheld from the knowledge of Peter, who is called " the rock on which the church should be built,"* who also obtained " the keys of the kingdom of heaven," "> with the power of " loosing and binding in heaven and on earth?"® Was anything, again, con- cealed from John, the Lord's most beloved disciple, who used to lean on His breast ^ to whom alone the Lord pointed Judas out as the traitor," whom He commended to Mary as a son in His own stead? " Of what could He have meant those to be ignorant, to whom He even exhibited His own glory with Moses and Elias, and the Father's voice moreover, from heaven? " Not as if He thus disapproved '^ of all the rest, but because " by three witnesses ' Expedita.
* Susum rursus convertun 3 Magristros.
5 Matt. xiii. II, 6 Matt. xvi. 18. [See Kaye p. 222, also Elucidation IL] »o John xiii. 25. [N.B. loco suo.3 "John xix. 26. "Matt. xvii. 1-8. '3 Reprobans.
must every word be established." '* After the same fashion, '= too, (I suppose,) were they ig- norant to whom, after His resurrection also, He vouchsafed, as they were journeying to- gether, " to expound all the Scriptures."'* No doubt"' He had once said, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot hear them now;" but even then He added, " When He, the Spirit of truth, shall come, He will lead you into all truth." '^ He (thus) shows that there was nothing of which they were ig- norant, to whom He had promised the future: attainment of all truth by help of the Spirit I of truth. And assuredly He fulfilled His promise, since it is proved in the Acts of the Apostles that the Holy Ghost did come down. Now they who reject that Scripture '' can neither belong to the Holy Spirit, seeing that they cannot acknowledge that the Holy Ghost has been sent as yet to the disciples, nor can they presume to claim to be a church them- selves ^ who positively have no means of prov- ing when, and with what swaddling-clothes*" this body was established. Of so much im- portance is it to them not to have any proofs for the things which they maintain, lest along with them there be introduced damaging ex- posures''^ of those things which they menda- ciously devise.
CHAP. XXIII. — THE APOSTLES NOT IGNORANT. THE HERETICAL PRETENCE OF ST. PETER's IMPERFECTION BECAUSE HE WAS REBUKED BY ' " ST. PAUL. ST. PETER NOT REBUKED FOR ERROR IN TEACHING.
Now, with the view of branding ''^ the apos- tles with some mark of ignorance, they put forth the case of Peter and them that were with him having been rebuked by Paul. "Something therefore," they say, "was wanting in them." (This they allege,) in order that they may from this construct that other position of theirs, that a fuller knowledge may possibly have afterwards come over (the apostles,) such as fell to the share of Paul when he rebuked those who preceded him. I may here say to those who reject The Acts of the Apostles: "It is first necessary that you shows us who this Paul was, — both what he was before he was an apostle, and how he be- came an apostle," — so very great is the use which they make of him in respect of other 14 Deut. xix. 15, and 2 Cor. xiii, i. '5 Itaque, ironical. '* Luke xxiv. 27. »7 Plane.
'9 See Tertullian s 20 Nee ecclesiam se dicant defend<r«. 2> Incunabulis, infant nursing. s'* Traductiones. 23 Suggillandam, ON PRESCRIPTION AGAINST HERETICS.
[chap. XXV.
questions also. It is true that he tells us himself that he was a persecutor before he became an apostle,' still this is not enough for any man who examines before he believes, since even the Lord Himself did not bear wit- ness of Himself. But let them believe with- out the Scriptures, if their object is to believe contrary to the Scriptures. ^ Still they should show, from the circumstance which they allege of Peter's being rebuked by Paul, that Paul added yet another form of the gospel besides that which Peter and the rest had previously set forth. But the fact is,^ having been con- verted from a persecutor to a preacher, he is introduced as one of the brethren to brethren, by brethren — to them, indeed, by men who had put on faith from the apostles' hands. Afterwards, as he himself narrates, he "went up to Jerusalem for the purpose of seeing Peter," ^ because of his office, no doubt,* and by right of a common belief and preaching. Now they certainly would not have been sur- prised at his having become a preacher instead of a persecutor, if his preaching were of some- thing contrary; nor, moreover, would they have " glorified the Lord," "> because Paul had presented himself as an adversary to Him. They accordingly even gave him " the right hand of fellowship," ^ as a sign of their agree- ment with him, and arranged amongst them- selves a distribution of office, not a diversity of gospel, so that they should severally preach not a different gospel, but (the same), to dif- ferent persons,^ Peter to the circumcision, Paul to the Gentiles. Forasmuch, then, as Peter was rebuked because, after he had lived with the Gentiles, he proceeded to separate himself from their company out of respect for persons, the fault surely was one of conversa- tion, not of preaching.'" For it does not ap- pear from this, that any other God than the Creator, or any other Christ than (the son) of Many, or any other hope than the resurrec- tion, was (by him) announced.
CHAP. XXIV. — ST. Peter's further vindica- tion. ST. PAUL NOT SUPERIOR TO ST. PETER IN TEACHING. NOTHING IMPARTED TO THE FORMER IN THE THIRD HEAVEN ENABLED HIM TO ADD TO THE FAITH. HERETICS BOAST AS IF FAVOURED WITH SOME OF THE SECRETS IMPARTED TO HIM.
I have not the good fortune," or, as I must 3 Ut credunt contra Scripturas.
4 Atquin.
* Scilicet.
9 The same verse- [Note Peter's restriction to Jews.]
«' Non mihi lam bene est.
rather say,'^ I have not the unenviable task,'» of setting apostles by the ears.'^ But, inas- much as our very perverse cavillers obtrude the rebuke in question for the set purpose of bring- ing the earlier '5 doctrine into suspicion, I will put in a defence, as it were, for Peter, to the effect that even Paul said that he was *' made all things to all men — to the Jews a Jew," to those who were not Jews as one who was not a Jew — " that he might gain all." '* Therefore it was according to times and persons and causes that they used to censure certain prac- tices, which they would not hesitate themselves to pursue, in like conformity to times and persons and causes. Just (e.g?) as if Peter too had censured Paul, because, whilst for- bidding circumcision, he actually circumcised Timothy himself. Never mind '' those who pass sentence on apostles! It is a happy fact that Peter is on the same level with Paul in the very glory '^ of martyrdom. Now, although Paul was carried away even to the third heaven, and was caught up to paradise,'' and heard certain revelations there, yet these cannot pos- sibly seem to have qualified him for (teaching) another doctrine, seeing that their very nature was such as to render them communicable to no human being. ^ If, however, that unspeakable mystery^' did leak out,^* and become known to any man, and if any heresy affirm?^ that it does itself follow the same, (then) either Paul must be charged with having betrayed the secret, or some other man must actually ** be shown to have been afterwards " caught up into paradise," who had permission to speak out plainly what Paul was not allowed (even) to mutter.
CHAP. XXV. THE APOSTLES DID NOT KEEP BACK ANY OF THE DEPOSIT OF DOCTRINE WHICH CHRIST HAD ENTRUSTED TO THEM. ST. PAUL OPENLY COMMITTED HIS WHOLE DOC- TRINE TO TIMOTHY.
But here is, as we have said,'* the same madness, in their allowing indeed that the apostles were ignorant of nothing, and preached not any (doctrines) which contra- dicted one another, but at the same time in- sisting that they did not reveal all to all men, for that they proclaimed some openly and to '= Immo.
13 Non mihi tarn male est.
'4 Ut committam.
'5 Superiorem, " that which Peter had preached."
•7 Viderint.
•8 Et in martyrio.
^"'Nulli hominuni.
2' Nescio quid ilhid.
» Emanavit.
24 Above, in chap. xxii. [Note the Gnostic tnadness ut vucn a plea, Kaye, p. 235 and Elucid^ion IV.]
CHAP. XXVI.]
ON PRESCRIPTION AGAINST HERETICS.
all the world, whilst they disclosed others (only) in secret and to a few, because Paul addressed even this expression to Timothy: " O Timothy, guard that which is entrusted to thee;"' and again: "That good thing which was committed unto thee keep."^ What is this deposit? Is it so secret as to be supposed to characterize 3 a new doctrine? or is it a part of that charge of which he says, " This charge I commit unto thee, son Timo- thy? " * and also of that precept of which he says, " I charge thee in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ, who witnessed a good confession under Pon- tius Pilate, that thou keep this command- ment? " s Now, what is (this) commandment, and what is (this) charge? From the preced- ing and the succeeding contexts, it will be manifest that there is no mysterious^ hint darkly suggested in this expression about (some) far-fetched' doctrine, but that a warning is rather given against receiving any other (doctrine) than that which Timothy had heard from himself, as I take it publicly: "Before many witnesess " is his phrase.^ Now, if they refuse to allow that the church is meant by these ' ' many witnesses, ' ' it matters nothing, since nothing could have been secret which was produced " before many witnesses." Nor, again, must the circumstance of his having wished him to " commit these things to faithful men, who should be able to teach others also," ' be construed into a proof of there being some occult gospel. For, when he says " these things," he refers to the things of which he is writing at the moment. In reference, however, to occult subjects, he would have called them, as being absent, those things y not these things, to one who had a joint knowledge of them with himself."
CHAP. XXVI. THE APOSTLES DID IN ALL CASES TEACH THE WHOLE TRUTH TO THE WHOLE CHURCH. NO RESERVATION, NOR PARTIAL COMMUNICATION TO FAVOURITE FRIENDS.
Besides which, it must have followed, that, for the man to whom he committed the minis- tration of the gospel, he would add the injunc- 3 Ut alterius doctrinx deputetur.
* Nescis quid.
7 Remotiore.
»o Apud conscientiam. [Clement of Alexandria is to be inter- preted by Teriullian, with whom he does not essentially differ. For Clement's Esoteric Doctrine (See Vol. II. pp. 302, 313, etc.) is Jeiined as perfecting the type of the Christian by the strong meat of Truth, of which the entire deposit is presupposed as common to all Christians. We must not blame Clement for the abuse of his teaching by per\-erters of Truth itself.]
tion that it be not ministered in all places," and without respect to persons," in accordance with the Lord's saying, "Not to cast one's pearls before swine, nor that which is holy unto dogs." "^ Openly did the Lord speak,'* ' without any intimation of a hidden mystery. He had Himself commanded that, "whatso- ever they had heard in darkness" and in secret, they should " declare in the light and on the house-tops." '5 He had Himself fore- shown, by means of a parable, that they should not keep back in secret, fruitless of interest,'* a single pound, that is, one word of His. He used Himself to tell them that a candle was not usually " pushed away under a bushel, but placed on a candlestick," in order to "give light to all who are in the house." '' These things the apostles either neglected, or failed to understand, if they fulfilled them not, by concealing any portion of the light, that is, of the word of God and the mystery of Christ. Of no man, I am quite sure, were they afraid, — neither of Jews nor of Gentiles in their violence;'^ with all the greater free- dom, then, would they certainly preach in the church, who held not their tongue in syna-, gogues and public places. Indeed they would have found it impossible either to convert Jews or to bring in Gentiles, unless they " set forth/ in order " '» that which they would have them believe. Much less, when churches were ad- vanced in the faith, would they have with- drawn from them anything for the purpose of committing it separately to some few others. Although, even supposing that among inti- mate friends, "" so to speak, they did hold cer- tain discussions, yet it is incredible that these could have been such as to bring in some other rule of faith, differing from and contrary to that which they were proclaiming through the Catholic churches,^' — as if they spoke of one God in the Church, (and) another at home, and described one substance of Christ, pub- licly, (and) another secretly, and announced one hope of the resurrection before all men, (and) another before the few; although they themselves, in their epistles, besought men that they would all speak one and the same thing, and that there should be no divisions and dissensions in the church,=" seeing that " Passim.
'2 Inconsiderate.
M John xviii. 20.
'8 Literally, " the violence of neither Jew nor Gentile.''
20 Domesticos. [AH this interprets Clement and utterly deprives the Trent System of its appeal to a secret doctrine, against our Pmscription^ 21 Catholice, or, " which they were bringing before the public in a catholic way."
ON PRESCRIPTION AGAINST HERETICS.
[CHAF. XXIX.
they, whether Paul or others, preached the same things. Moreover, they remembered (the words): "Let your communication be yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than this cometh of evil; " ' so that they were not to handle the gospel in a diversity of treatment.
CHAP. XXVII. GRANTED THAT THE APOSTLES TRANSMITTED THE WHOLE DOCTRINE OF TRUTH, MAY NOT THE CHURCHES HAVE BEEN UNFAITHFUL IN HANDING IT ON? INCONCEIVABLE THAT THIS CAN HAVE BEEN THE CASE.
Since, therefore, it is incredible that the apostles were either ignorant of the whole scope of the message which they had to de- clare,' or failed to make known to all men the entire rule of faith, let us see whether, while the apostles proclaimed it, perhaps, simply and fully, the churches, through their own fault, set it forth otherwise than the apostles had done. All these suggestions of distrust ^ you may find put forward by the heretics. They bear in mind how the churches were rebuked by the apostle: " O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?" * and, " Ye did run so well; who hath hindered you? " s and how the epistle actually begins: " I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him, who hath called you as His own in grace, to another gospel."* That they likewise (remember), what was written to the Corinthians, that they "were yet carnal," who "required to be fed with milk," being as yet "unable to bear strong meat;"'' who also "thought that they knew somewhat, whereas they knew not yet any- thing, as they ought to know." * When they raise the objection that the churches were rebuked, let them suppose that they were also corrected; let them also remember those (churches), concerning whose faith and knowl- edge and conversation the apostle "rejoices and gives thanks to God," which nevertheless, even at this day, unite with those which were rebuked in the privileges of one and the same institution.
CHAP. XXVIII. — THE ONE TRADITION OF THE FAITH, WHICH IS SUBSTANTIALLY ALIKE IN THE CHURCHES EVERYWHERE, A GOOD PROOF THAT THE TRANSMISSION HAS BEEN TRUE AND HONEST IN THE MAIN.
Grant, then, that all have erred; that the apostle was mistaken in giving his testimony; that the Holy Ghost had no such respect to " Plenitudinem prxdicationis.
3 Scrupulositatis.
4 Gal. lii. I.
7 I Cor. iii. i, and following verses.
any one (church) as to lead it into truth, al- though sent with this view by Christ,' and for this asked of the Father that He might be the teacher of truth; " grant,also,that He, the Stew- ard of God, the Vicar of Christ," neglected His office, permitting the churches for a time to understand differently, (and) to believe differ- ently, what He Himself was preaching by the apostles, — is it likely that so many churches, and they so great, should have gone astray into one and the same faith? No casualty distributed among many men issues in one and the same result. Error of doctrine in the churches must necessarily have pro- duced various issues. When, however, that which is deposited among many is found to be one and the same, it is not the result of error, but of tradition. Can any one, then, be reckless" enough to say that they were in error who handed on the tradition?
CHAP. XXIX. — THE TRUTH NOT INDEBTED TO THE CARE OF THE HERETICS; IT HAD FREE COURSE BEFORE THEY APPEARED. PRIORITY OF THE church's DOCTRINE A MARK OF ITS TRUTH.
In whatever manner error came, it reigned of course '^ only as long as there was an absence of heresies? Truth had to wait for certain Marcionites and Valentinians to set it free. During the inter\'al the gospel was wrongly '^ preached; men wrongly believed; so many thousands were wrongly baptized; so many works of faith were wrongly wrought; so many miraculous gifts, '^ so many spiritual endow- ments,'* were wrongly set in operation; so many priestly functions, so many ministries," were wrongly executed; and, to sum up the whole, so many martyrs wrongly received their crowns! Else, if not wrongly done, and to no purpose, how comes it to pass that the things of God were on their couise before it was known to what God they belonged? that there were Christians before Christ was found? that there were heresies before true doctrine? Not so; for in all cases truth precedes its ;Copy, the likeness succeeds the reality. Ab- surd enough, however, is it, that heresy should be deemed to have preceded its own prior doctrine, even on this account, because it is that (doctrine) itself which foretold that there " {^TertuUian knows no other Vicar of Christ than the Holy Spint. They who attribute infallibility to any mortal man be- come Montanists; they attribute the Paraclete's voice to their oracle.]
»« Audeat.
»3 Utique, ironical.
U Perperam.
•5 Virtutes, " potestatem edendi miracula " (Oehler), ''Charismata.
'7 Ministeria. Another reading has »iysteria," mysteries" or " sacraments."
CHAP. XXX.]
ON PRESCRIPTION AGAINST HERETICS.
should be heresies against which men would have to guard! To a church which possessed this doctrine, it was written — yea, the doctrine itself writes to its own church — " Though an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than that which we have preached, let him be accursed." ' CHAP. XXX. COMPARATIVE LATENESS OF HER- ESIES. MARCION's heresy, some PERSONAL FACTS ABOUT HIM. THE HERESY OF APELLES. CHARACTER OF THIS MAN; PHILUMENE; VALENTINUS; NIGIDIUS, AND HERMOGENES.
Where was Marcion theti, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus then, the disciple of Pla- tonism? For it is evident that those meiiHived not so long ago, — in the reign of Antoninus, for the most part,^ — and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the epis- copate of the blessed Eleutherus,^ until on ac- count of their ever restless curiosity, with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled. Marcion, indeed, [went] with the two hundred sesterces which which he had brought into the church, and,"* when banished at last to a permanent excom- munication, they scattered abroad the poisons of their doctrines. Afterwards, it is true, Mar- cion professed repentance, and agreed to the conditions granted to him — that he should re- ceive reconciliation if he restored to the church all the others whom he had been training for perdition: he was prevented, however, by death. It was indeed s necessary that there should be heresies;* and yet it does not fol- low from that necessity, that heresies are a good thing. As if it has not been necessary also that there should be evil! It was even necessary that the Lord should be betrayed; but woe to the traitor! "> So that no man may from this defend heresies. If we must like- wise touch the descent* of Apelles, he is far from being *' one of the old school," » like his instructor and moulder, Marcion; he rather forsook the continence of Marcion, by resort- ing to the company of a woman, and withdrew to Alexandria,out of sight of his most abstemi- ous '° master. Returning therefrom, after some years, unimproved, except that he was no 1 Gal. i. 8. [In this chapter (xxix.) the principle of Prescrip- tion is condensed and brought to the needle-point— C""'' semj^er. If you can't show that your doctrine was always taught, it is false: and this is " Prescription."]
2 Fere.
4 See adv. Marcion, iv. 4 infra. SEnim, profecto (Oehler).
SStemma. The reading of the Cod. Agobard. is "stigma," which gives very good sense.
pVetus.
'o Sanctissimi. This may be an ironical allusion to Marcion 's repudiation of raarnage.
longer a Marcionite, he clave " to another woman, the maiden Philumene (whom we have already" mentioned), who herself after- wards became an enormous prostitute. Hav- ing been imposed on by her vigorous spirit,"' he committed to writing the rei>elatio?is which he had learned of her. Persons are still liv-| ing who remember them, — their own actual disciples and successors, — who cannot there- fore deny the lateness of their date. But, in fact, by their own works they are convicted, even as the Lord said."* For since Marcioni separated the New Testament from the Old, he is (necessarily) subsequent to that which he separated, inasmuch as it was only in his power to separate what was (previously) united. Having then been united previous to its sepa- ration, the fact of its subsequent separation proves the subsequence also of the man who effected the separation. In like manner Val- entinus, by his different expositions and acknowledged '^ emendations, makes these changes on the express ground of previous faultiness, and therefore demonstrates the difference '* of the documents. These cor- rupters of the truth we mention as being more notorious and more public'^ than others. There is, however, a certain man"' named Nigidius, and Hermogenes, and several others, who still pursue the course '' of perverting the ways of the Lord. Let them show me by what authority they come! If it be some other God they preach, how comes it that they employ the things and he writings and the names of that God against whom they preach? If it be the same God, why treat Him in some other way? Let them prove themselves to be new apostles! ^ Let them maintain that Christ has come down a second time, taught in person a second time, has been twice cru- cified, twice dead, twice raised! For thus has the apostle described (the order of events in the life of Christ); for thus, too, is He" accustomed to make His apostles — to give them, (that is), power besides of working the same miracles which He worked Himself." I would therefore have their mighty deeds also brought forward; except that I allow their