When the Scriptures are quoted, or alluded to, they are quoted with
peculiar respect, as books sui generis; as possessing an authority which
belonged to no other books, and as conclusive in all questions and
controversies amongst Christians.
Beside the general strain of reference and quotation, which uniformly
and strongly indicates this distinction, the following may be regarded
as specific testimonies:
I. Theophilus, (Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. i. p. 429.) bishop of
Antioch, the sixth in succession from the apostles, and who flourished
little more than a century after the books of the New Testament were
written, having occasion to quote one of our Gospels, writes thus:
"These things the Holy Scriptures teach us, and all who were moved by
the Holy Spirit, among whom John says, In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God." Again: "Concerning the righteousness which
the law teaches, the like things are to be found in the prophets and the
Gospels, because that all, being inspired, spoke by one and the same
Spirit of God." (Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. i. p. 448.) No words can
testify more strongly than these do, the high and peculiar respect in
which these books were holden.
II. A writer against Artemon, (Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. iii. p. 40.)
who may be supposed to come about one hundred and fifty-eight years
after the publication of the Scripture, in a passage quoted by
Eusebius, uses these expressions: "Possibly what they (our adversaries)
say, might have been credited, if first of all the Divine Scriptures did
not contradict them; and then the writings of certain brethren more
ancient than the times of Victor." The brethren mentioned by name are
Justin, Miltiades, Tatian, Clement, Irenaeus, Melito, with a general
appeal to many more not named. This passage proves, first, that there
was at that time a collection called Divine Scriptures; secondly, that
these Scriptures were esteemed of higher authority than the writings of
the most early and celebrated Christians.
III. In a piece ascribed to Hippolytus, (Lardner, Cred. vol. iii. p.
112.) who lived near the same time, the author professes, in giving his
correspondent instruction in the things about which he inquires, "to
draw out of the sacred-fountain, and to set before him from the Sacred
Scriptures what may afford him satisfaction." He then quotes immediately
Paul's epistles to Timothy, and afterwards many books of the New
Testament. This preface to the quotations carries in it a marked
distinction between the Scriptures and other books.
IV. "Our assertions and discourses," saith Origen, (Lardner, Cred. vol.
iii. pp. 287-289.) "are unworthy of credit; we must receive the
Scriptures as witnesses." After treating of the duty of prayer, he
proceeds with his argument thus: "What we have said, may be proved from
the Divine Scriptures." In his books against Celsus we find this
passage: "That our religion teaches us to seek after wisdom, shall be
shown, both out of the ancient Jewish Scriptures which we also use, and
out of those written since Jesus, which are believed in the churches to
be divine." These expressions afford abundant evidence of the peculiar
and exclusive authority which the Scriptures possessed.
V. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, (Lardner, Cred. vol. vi. p. 840.) whose
age lies close to that of Origen, earnestly exhorts Christian teachers,
in all doubtful cases, "to go back to the fountain; and, if the truth
has in any case been shaken, to recur to the Gospels and apostolic
writings."--"The precepts of the Gospel," says he in another place, "are
nothing less than authoritative divine lessons, the foundations of our
hope, the supports of our faith, the guides of our way, the safeguards
of our course to heaven."
VI. Novatus, (Lardner, Cred. vol. v. p. 102.) a Roman contemporary with
Cyprian, appeals to the Scriptures, as the authority by which all
errors were to be repelled, and disputes decided. "That Christ is not
only man, but God also, is proved by the sacred authority of the Divine
Writings."--"The Divine Scripture easily detects and confutes the frauds
of heretics."--"It is not by the fault of the heavenly Scriptures, which
never deceive." Stronger assertions than these could not be used.
VII. At the distance of twenty years from the writer last cited,
Anatolius (Lardner, Cred. vol. v. p. 146.), a learned Alexandrian, and
bishop of Laedicea, speaking of the rule for keeping Easter, a question
at that day agitated with much earnestness, says of those whom he
opposed, "They can by no means prove their point by the authority of the
Divine Scripture."
VIII. The Arians, who sprung up about fifty years after this, argued
strenuously against the use of the words consubstantial, and essence,
and like phrases; "because they were not in Scripture." (Lardner, Cred.
vol. vii. pp. 283-284.) And in the same strain one of their advocates
opens a conference with Augustine, after the following manner: "If you
say what is reasonable, I must submit. If you allege anything from the
Divine Scriptures which are common to both, I must hear. But
unscriptural expressions (quae extra Scripturam sunt) deserve no
regard."
Athanasius, the great antagonist of Arianism, after having enumerated
the books of the Old and New Testament, adds, "These are the fountain
of salvation, that he who thirsts may be satisfied with the oracles
contained in them. In these alone the doctrine of salvation is
proclaimed. Let no man add to them, or take anything from them."
(Lardner, Cred. vol. xii. p. 182.)
IX. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (Lardner, Cred. vol. viii. p. 276.), who
wrote about twenty years after the appearance of Arianism, uses these
remarkable words: "Concerning the divine and holy mysteries of faith,
not the least article ought to be delivered without the Divine
Scriptures." We are assured that Cyril's Scriptures were the same as
ours, for he has left us a catalogue of the books included under that
name.
X. Epiphanius, (Lardner, Cred. vol. viii. p. 314.) twenty years after
Cyril, challenges the Arians, and the followers of Origen, "to produce
any passage of the Old and New Testament favouring their sentiments."
XI. Poebadius, a Gallic bishop, who lived about thirty years after the
council of Nice, testifies, that "the bishops of that council first
consulted the sacred volumes, and then declared their faith." (Lardner,
Cred. vol. ix. p. 52.)
XII. Basil, bishop of Caesarea, in Cappadocia, contemporary with
Epiphanius, says, that "hearers instructed in the Scriptures ought to
examine what is said by their teachers, and to embrace what is agreeable
to the Scriptures, and to reject what is otherwise." (Lardner, Cred.
vol. ix. p. 124.)
XIII. Ephraim, the Syrian, a celebrated writer of the same times, bears
this conclusive testimony to the proposition which forms the subject of
our present chapter: "the truth written in the Sacred Volume of the
Gospel is a perfect rule. Nothing can be taken from it nor added to it,
without great guilt." (Lardner, Cred. vol. ix. p. 202.)
XIV. If we add Jerome to these, it is only for the evidence which he
affords of the judgment of preceding ages. Jerome observes, concerning
the quotations of ancient Christian writers, that is, of writers who
were ancient in the year 400, that they made a distinction between
books; some they quoted as of authority, and others not: which
observation relates to the books of Scripture, compared with other
writings, apocryphal or heathen. (Lardner, Cred. vol. x. pp. 123-124.)