UNWRITTEN TRADITION AND INSUFFICIENCY OF THE WRITTEN WORD ALONE.
I SHALL next proceed to examine the Romish assertions respecting
Unwritten Tradition and the Insufficiency of the Written Word alone.
I. Although the Church of Rome, speaking through the Council of Trent,
claims the Written Word of God as a voucher for her doctrines; yet, as if
conscious, that, from Scripture ALONE, her peculiarities cannot be
established as a part of divine revelation, she asserts: that _Unwritten
Tradition ought to be __had in_ EQUAL _reverence with the Written Word_;
_so that_, _what cannot be proved from the Written Word_, _must be
received without hesitation_, _if it be propounded by Unwritten
Tradition_.
From this assertion it evidently results: that, _Without the concurrence
of a supplemental Unwritten Tradition_, _the Written Word or the Holy
Bible is defective and insufficient as a rule of faith and practice_.
_The Holy Synod_, say the doctors of the Council of Trent, _perceiving_,
_that this faith and discipline are contained_, _both in the Written
Books_, _and in the Unwritten Traditions which have descended to us from
Christ and his Apostles_, _receives and venerates_, _after the example of
the orthodox Fathers_, WITH AN EQUAL AFFECTION AND PIOUS REVERENCE, _both
all the Books of the Old and New Testaments_, _and likewise the
Traditions themselves_, _whether appertaining to faith or to morals_, _as
if orally dictated from Christ and the Holy Spirit_, _and as preserved by
continual succession in the Church Catholic_. {30}
II. Let us now hear what Scripture says on the topic at present under
discussion.
1. The unwritten traditions of the Rabbins, by which they made void the
Law of God, claimed to have been delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai by the
Lord himself: and their pretended authenticity rested precisely upon the
same mode of reasoning, as that employed, for their parallel unwritten
traditions, by the Clergy of the Roman Communion. Yet Christ reprobated
such vain unhallowed phantasies in language and on principles, which
equally apply to the antiscriptural unwritten traditions of the Latin
Church.
_He answered and said unto them_: _Why do ye also transgress the
commandment of God by your tradition_? _For God commanded_, _saying_:
_Honour __thy father and thy mother_; _and_: _He that curseth father or
mother_, _let him die the death_. _But ye say_: _Whosoever shall say to
his father or his mother_; _It is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be
profited by me_; _and honour not his father or his mother_, _he shall be
free_. _Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your
tradition_. {31a}
Now where is the perceptible difference, between the conduct of the
Jewish Rabbins, and the conduct of the Romish Clergy?
(1.) The Written Word commanded: that a man should honour his father and
mother.
But the Jewish Rabbins made this commandment of none effect by their
Unwritten Tradition: that, if a man vowed to dedicate his substance to
God, he was not bound to relieve out of it the necessities of his
parents.
(2.) The Written Word has prohibited the bowing down before graven
images and the invocation of any being save the Deity.
But the Romish Clergy have made this prohibition of none effect by their
Unwritten Tradition: that images may be worshipped relatively with the
worship due to their prototypes, that dead saints may be justifiably
invocated to give us their intercessory assistance, and that, provided
only we take care to denominate the worship of the Saints and the Virgin
_Dulia_ and _Hyperdulia_ while we rigidly style the worship of the Deity
_Latria_, we may laudably (after the precise manner of the old Pagan
idolaters {31b}) kiss and uncover our heads and fall prostrate before
their images, duly through each image (again on the exact avowed
principle of the same Old Pagan idolaters {31c}) referring to each being
represented by such image his own appropriate reverence and adoration.
{32a}
2. A similar admonition, against the vanity of following Unwritten
Tradition rather than the certainty of the Written Word, is given by the
Apostle St. Paul.
_As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord_, _so walk ye in
him_; _rooted and built up in him_, _and stablished in the faith_, _as ye
have been taught_, _abounding therein with thanksgiving_. _Beware_,
_lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit_, _after the
tradition of men_, _after the rudiments of the world_, _and not after
Christ_. {32b}
3. The romish pretence of _an_ EQUALLY _authoritative Unwritten
Tradition_ plainly involves an assertion of _the Insufficiency of the
Written Word_. But the written Word declares its own Sufficiency.
Therefore, on that precise ground, it condemns the romish pretence of an
EQUALLY authoritative concurrent Unwritten Tradition.
(1.) _Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you_, _neither
shall ye diminish ought from it_: _that ye may keep the commandments of
the Lord your God_, _which I command you_. {32c}
(2.) _To the law and to the testimony_: _if they speak not according to
this word_, _it is because there is no light in them_. {32d}
(3.) _Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached unto you_, _let him be accursed_. {32e}
(4.) _From a child_, _thou hast known the holy scriptures_, _which are
able to make thee wise unto salvation_, _through faith which is in Christ
Jesus_. _All scripture is given by inspiration of God_: _and is
profitable for doctrine_, _for reproof_, _for correction_, _for
instruction in righteousness_; _that the man of God may be perfect_,
_throughly furnished unto all good works_. {33a}
4. The Romish Clergy are wont to tell us, that their scheme of
concurrent Unwritten Tradition is recognised and enjoined even by
Scripture: because St. Paul speaks of a brother, walking disorderly, and
not after the TRADITION received from himself by the Thessalonians; {33b}
because the same St. Paul exhorts the same Thessalonians to stand fast
and hold the TRADITIONS which they had been taught whether by word or by
his epistle; {33c} and because still the same St. Paul praises the
Corinthians, for remembering him in all things, and for keeping the
TRADITIONS as he delivered to them. {33d}
Respecting this vain plea, which can only mislead the ignorant and the
incautious, we readily answer in manner following.
(1.) St. Paul must not be interpreted, so as to contradict both his Lord
and himself.
(2.) The Romish Clergy cannot prove, that _all_ the Traditions,
mentioned by the Apostle, were _unwritten_: for _some_ are distinctly
specified as taught by a _written_ epistle; and the simple word
_Tradition_ itself, which merely denotes _any thing handed down or
delivered or communicated_, has no necessary reference to what is
_unwritten_ rather than to what is _written_.
(3.) It is not known by the Romish Clergy: whether the _originally_ oral
unwritten traditions, mentioned by St. Paul, were not _finally_ committed
to durable writing in documents, composed _subsequently_ to those
epistles in which he mentions them, and _afterward_ added to the sacred
canon; so that, what were _once_ unwritten traditions, became
_ultimately_ a portion of our present written word: for the plain reader
may be usefully taught or reminded, that several portions of the New
Testament were written at a _later_ period than the epistles in which St.
Paul speaks of Traditions.
(4.) Whensoever the Romish Clergy shall _prove_ the unwritten traditions
of their Church to have been received from Christ and his apostles with
as much certainty, as the Thessalonians and Corinthians _knew_ what they
had personally received from the mouth of St. Paul: we will cheerfully
attend to them with all due reverence.
(5.) Both on the principle of our Lord’s own censure of the rabbinical
traditions, and likewise on the principle of plain common sense, we
cannot embrace oral traditions purporting to be God’s unwritten word;
when they are _palpably irreconcileable with_, and _grossly contradictory
to_, God’s own acknowledged written word.
III. We may now, in the way of historical testimony, go on profitably to
hear the ancient Fathers: those identical old orthodox Fathers to wit;
whom, in respect to the present question, the doctors of the Council of
Trent, as the reader may peradventure recollect, claim as being clearly
and indisputably quite their own.
1. Let us first attend to Irenèus in the second century.
(1.) The disposition of our salvation we know not through any other
persons, than those by whom the Gospel has come to us: which then,
indeed, they themselves orally preached; but which afterward, according
to the will of God, they traditionally handed down to us IN THE WRITTEN
WORD, as the future basis and column of our faith. {34}
(2.) When the Gnostics are confuted from SCRIPTURE, their answer is:
that, _By those who are ignorant of_ UNWRITTEN TRADITION, _truth cannot
be discovered from_ THE WRITTEN WORD; _for truth was __delivered_, _not_
(merely) _through letters_, _but through the living voice_. {35a}
2. Let us next hear Tertullian in the second and third centuries.
As for Hermogenes, let his shop produce THE WRITTEN WORD. If he be
unable to produce THE WRITTEN WORD in substantiation of his tenets; let
him dread that scriptural _Woe_, which is destined to those who either
add to it or detract from it. {35b}
3. Let us next hear Hippolytus in the third century.
There is one God, whom we know from no other authority, than THE HOLY
SCRIPTURES.—Whatsoever matters, then, THE DIVINE SCRIPTURES declare;
these let us learn: and, whatsoever matters they teach; these let us
recognise:—not according to our own humour or according to our own mind,
neither with any wresting of the things delivered from God; but, even as
he himself wished THROUGH THE HOLY SCRIPTURES to shew us, thus let us
learn. {35c}
4. Let us next hear Cyprian in the third century.
Whence is that pretended TRADITION? Does it descend from the authority
of the Lord and the Gospels: or does it come down from the mandates 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 (written) tradition be observed. {35d}
5. Let us next hear Cyril of Jerusalem in the fourth century.
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 foil
demonstration of the matters propounded. For the security of our faith
depends, not upon verbal trickery, but upon demonstration from THE HOLY
SCRIPTURES. {36a}
6. Let us next hear the great Athanasius in the fourth century.
(1.) The holy and divinely inspired SCRIPTURES are sufficient for the
declaration of the truth. {36b}
(2.) 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. {36c}
(3.) 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?
{36d}
(4.) These; namely, the canonical books of Scripture, from which the
apocryphal books are carefully excluded by the accurate Father: 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. {36e}
(5.) It is the part of mere triflers to propound and to speak THE THINGS
WHICH ARE NOT WRITTEN. {36f}
(6.) What THE WRITTEN WORD had never revealed, you will never be able to
discover. {37a}
7. Let us next hear Basil in the fourth century.
(1.) It is a manifest apostasy from the faith, and a clear proof of
arrogance, either to disregard any matter of THE THINGS WHICH ARE
WRITTEN, Or to introduce argumentatively any matter of THE THINGS WHICH
ARE NOT WRITTEN. {37b}
(2.) THE THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN believe: THE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT
WRITTEN Seek not after. {37c}
8. Let us next hear Jerome in the fourth and fifth centuries.
(1.) As we deny not THE THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN: SO THE THINGS WHICH
ARE NOT WRITTEN we reject. We believe, that God was born of a virgin;
BECAUSE WE READ IT: we believe not, that Mary was married after her
parturition; BECAUSE WE READ IT NOT. {37d}
(2.) Learn, then, in THE DIVINE SCRIPTURES, through which ALONE you can
understand the full will of God, that some things are prohibited and that
other things are commanded, that some things are granted and that other
things are persuaded. {37e}
9. Finally, let us hear Augustine in the fourth and fifth centuries.
Demonstrate, from any one of THE CANONICAL APOSTLES AND PROPHETS, the
truth of what Cyprian has written to Jubaianus: and I should then have no
room for contradiction. But now, since what you produce is NOT
CANONICAL; through the liberty, to which the Lord hath called us, I
receive not the decision. {37f}
IV. From the evidence now faithfully laid before him, the prudent
inquirer is invited to judge for himself: whether the romish doctrine, of
_the concurrent_ EQUAL _authority of Unwritten Tradition and the
insufficiency of the Written Word alone_, be warranted either by
Scripture or by the early Fathers.
Meanwhile the following questions may not be altogether unworthy of his
attention.
1. Do, or do not, the doctors of the Council of Trent, agreeably to
their own formal and distinct profession, follow the example of the old
orthodox Fathers, when they decide: that _the Written Word of God_, _and
the Unwritten Traditions of the Latin Church_, _are to be received by the
faithful with an_ EQUAL _affection and pious reverence_?
2. Do, or do not, the Romish Clergy imitate the Gnostics: who, when they
were confuted from Scripture, were accustomed to reply; that, _by those
who are ignorant of Unwritten Tradition_, _truth cannot be discovered
from the Written Word_.
3. Do, or do not, the Romish Clergy copy the example of Cyril of
Jerusalem: who declared, that, _respecting the faith_, NOT A TITTLE
_ought to be delivered without the authority of the Holy Scriptures_; and
who exhorted his Catechumens to _repose not_ THE SLIGHTEST CONFIDENCE _in
his assertions_, _unless they should receive from the Holy Scriptures
full demonstration of the matters propounded_?
4. Do, or do not, the Romish Clergy teach, with Athanasius: that, _the
Scriptures_ ALONE _are sufficient for the declaration of the truth_; and
that, _in the canonical Scriptures_ ALONE, _to the exclusion of the
Apocrypha_, _is the evangelical school of piety_?
5. Do, or do not, the Romish Clergy declare, with the same illustrious
Father: that _they will never be persuaded either to hear or to speak_ A
SINGLE SYLLABLE _beyond God’s written word_?
6. Do, or do not, the Romish Clergy pronounce, still with the great
Athanasius: that _it is the part of mere triflers to propound and to
speak the things which are not written_?
7. Do, or do not, the doctors of the Council of Trent, and after them
our present Romish Clergy, take up, and make their own, the ancient pithy
distinction of Jerome: _The things which are written we acknowledge_;
_the things which are not written we reject_?
8. Do, or do not, the Romish Clergy, make a point, with Tertullian, of
_always requiring the production of proof from the Written Word_: and do
they, or do they not, allow and maintain, with the same Father; that
_he_, _who is unable to produce the Written Word in substantiation of his
tenets_, _but who for that purpose resorts to Unwritten Tradition_, _may
well dread the awful Woe so justly denounced against those who either add
to it or detract from it_?
9. Finally, in their several estimates of Unwritten Tradition and the
Written Word, and in their several modes of conducting those theological
controversies which respect the authoritative rule of faith and practice,
do the Romish Clergy or the Reformed Clergy approximate most closely to
Holy Scripture and to the ancient orthodox Fathers?