Page:Delineation of Roman Catholicism.djvu/123

 obligafio de  wod needs not be communicated to them by the priesthood. To ourselves the Iressage appears decidey to establish lhe For doubtless, u Ireneus justly remarks, xv it had so coUat ]mponed the apostles had le us no Scriptures, we should have been compelled, Uke believers in the patriarchal ages, to follow the order of tradition, either purely or'a], or unauthoritatively committe m writing by mere uninspired individuals like ourselves. But througk the good providence of God th apostles lucre left us the Scriptures. Therefore, by t/m leaving us the Scriptures, they have practically demonstrated to us the insufficiency and insecurity of tradition; for had oral tradition from age to age been sujcient, the written word would have been /uou, and therefore would never have been given. Should it be said that Ireneeus, in the case of the barbarians, speaks of oral tradition in terms of approbation, be it so; but was the oral tra- dition commended by him the san as that which the Council of Trent places upon an equal footing with Scripture ? Nothing of the sort. The oral tradition commended by Ireneus was simply an oral cata- chumenical communication of the precise truths contained in the written word: whereas the oral tradition enforced by the Council of Trent sets forth sundry matters not �onta/ned in the Bible, but, on the other hand, directly contrary to it. The oral tradition advocated by the ancient Gnostics was exactly the same in/rind and mality as the oral tradition of the Church of Rome. This will appear from the following quotation from our author, where he points out precisely modern Romanists under the character of the ancient heretics, who insisted on the authority of tradition in consequence of the supposed defects of the Scriptures "For when they (the heretics) argue from Scripture, they have recourse to the accusation of Scripture itself, as though it is not entirely correct nor of authority, and because it furnishes different modes of expression, �d because truth cannot be obtained from it by those who are ignorant of tradition. For the truth was not delivered by writing, but by the living voice; on account of which Paul also should have said, We spsak wisdom among them tlua are perj�t, but not tAe wisdom o.f tAis world. And each of them calls that wisdom which he derives from himself, �allhough it be only a fiction. But when we again recall those who are averse to tradition, to that tradition which is from the apesties, and which is preserved by succession of presbyters in the churches, they will say that they are not only wiser than the presbyters, but also than the apostles, andhave found out the unadulterated truth."* Thus, as Irenus condemned the Gnostics, so would he have also condemned the Tridentinc doctors and their followers, the present Romish priest- hood. And instead of being favourable to popish tradition, he directly, Oiaitized b, GOOcIC

�