Taken from:
Joseph
Gallegos, "Appendix 1: A Dossier of Church Fathers on Scripture and
Tradition," in Not By Scripture Alone: A Catholic Critique of the
Protestant Doctrine of Sola Scriptura, ed., Robert A. Sungenis (2d ed.;
State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc., 2013), 502-8
“You lay
down a prescription that this faith has its solemnities ‘appointed’ by the
Scriptures or the tradition of the ancestors; and that no further addition in
the way of observance must be added, on account of the unlawfulness of
innovation. Stand on that ground, if you can… Besides, throughout the provinces
of Greece there are held in definite localities those councils gathered out of
the universal Churches, by whose means not only all the deeper questions are
handled for the common benefit, but the actual representation of the whole
Christian name is celebrated with great veneration.” [203]
“After such
a fashion as this, I suppose you have had, O Marcion, the hardihood of blotting
out the original records (of the history) of Christ that His flesh may lose the
proofs of its reality. But, prithee, on what grounds (do you do this)? Show me
your authority. If you are a prophet, foretell us a thing; if you are an apostle,
open your message in public; if a follower of apostles, side with apostles in
thought; if you are only a (private) Christian, believe what has been handed
down to us: if, however, you are nothing of all this, then (as I have the best
reason to say) cease to live…Now that which had been handed down was true,
inasmuch as it had been transmitted by those whose duty it was to hand it down.
Therefore, when rejecting that which had been handed down, you rejected that
which was true. You had no authority for what you did.” [204]
“As for us,
although we must still seek, and that always, yet where ought our search to be
made? Amongst the heretics, where all things are foreign and opposed to our own
verity, and to whom we are forbidden to draw near?... No man gets instruction
from that which tends to destruction. No man receives illumination from a
quarter where all is darkness. Let our ‘seeking’, therefore be in that which is
our own, and from those who are our own: and concerning that which is our
own—that, and only that, which can become an object of inquiry without
impairing the rule of faith.” [205]
“Now, with
regard to this rule of faith—that we may from this point acknowledge what it is
which we defend—it is, you must know, that which prescribes the belief that
there is one only God, and that He is none other than the Creator of the world,
who produced all things out of nothing through His own Word, first of all sent
forth; that this Word is called His Son, and under the name of God, was seen
‘in diverse manners’ by the patriarchs, heard at all times in the prophets, at
last brought down by the Spirit and Power of the Father into the Virgin Mary,
was made flesh in her womb, and, being born of her, went forth as Jesus Christ;
thenceforth He preached the new law and the new promise of the kingdom of
heaven, worked miracles; having been crucified, He rose again the third day;
(then) having ascended into the heavens, He sat at the right hand of the
Father; sent instead of Himself the Power of the Holy Ghost to lead such as believe;
will come with glory to take the saints to the enjoyment of everlasting life
and of the heavenly promises, and to condemn the wicked to everlasting fire,
after the resurrection of both these classes shall have happened, together with
the restoration of their flesh. This rule, as it will be proved, was taught by
Christ, and raises amongst ourselves no other questions than those which heresies
introduce, and which make men heretics” [206]
“‘Thy
faith,’ He says, ‘hath saved thee’ not observe your skill in the Scriptures.
Now, faith has been deposited in the rule; it has a law, and (in the observance
thereof) salvation. Skill, however, consists in curious art, having for its
glory simply the readiness that comes from knack. Let such curious art give
place to faith; let such glory yield to salvation. At any rate, let then either
relinquish their noisiness, or else be quiet. To know nothing in opposition to
the rule (of faith), is to know all things.” [207]
“We are
therefore come to (the gist of ) our position; for at this point we were
aiming, and for this we were preparing in the preamble of our address (which we
have just completed)—so that w may now join issue on the contention to which
our adversaries challenge us. They put forward the Scriptures, and by this
insolence of theirs they at once influence some. In the encounter itself,
however, they weary the strong they catch the weak, and dismiss waverers with a
doubt. Accordingly, we oppose to them this step above all others of not
admitting them to any discussion of the Scriptures. If in these lie their
resources, before they can use them, it ought to be clearly seen to whom
belongs the possession of the Scriptures, that none may be admitted to the use
thereof who has no title at all to the privilege.” [208]
“Immediately,
therefore, so did the apostles, whom this designation indicates as ‘the sent.’
Having, on the authority of a prophecy, which occurs in a psalm of David,
chosen Matthias by lot as the twelfth, into the place of Judas, they obtained
the promised power of the Holy Ghost for the gift of miracles and of utterance;
and after first bearing witness to the faith in Jesus Christ throughout Judaea,
and founding churches (there), they next went forth into the world and preached
the same doctrine of the same faith to the nations. They then in like manner
rounded churches in every city, from which all the other churches, one after
another, derived the tradition of the faith, and the seeds of doctrine, and are
every day deriving them, that they may become churches. Indeed, it is on this
account only that they will be able to deem themselves apostolic, as being the
offspring of apostolic churches. Every sort of thing must necessarily revert to
its original for its classification. Therefore the churches, although they are
so many and so great, comprise but the one primitive church, (rounded) by the
apostles, from which they all (spring). In this way all are primitive, and all
are apostolic, whilst they are all proved to be one, in (unbroken) unity, by
their peaceful communion, and title of brotherhood, and bond of hospitality—privileges
which no other rule directs than the one tradition of the selfsame mystery.”
[209]
“Not so; for
in all cases truth precedes its copy, the likeness succeeds the reality. Absurd
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 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.’ [210]
“Come now,
you who would indulge a better curiosity, if you would apply it to the business
of your salvation, run over the apostolic churches, in which the very thrones
of the apostles are still pre-eminent in their places, in which their own
authentic writings are read, uttering the voice and representing the face of
each of them severally Achaia is near you, (in which) you find Corinth. Since
you are not far from Macedonia, you have Philippi; (and there too) you have the
Thessalonians. Since you are able to cross to Asia, you get Ephesus. Since,
moreover, you are close upon Italy, you have Rome, from which there comes even
into our own hands the very authority (of the apostles themselves). How happy
is its church, on which apostles poured forth all their doctrine along with
their blood! where Peter endures a passion like his Lord’s! where Paul wins his
crown in a death like John’s!” [211]
“But what
shall I say concerning the ministry of the word, since they make it their
business not to convert the heathen, but to subvert our people? This is rather
the glory which they catch at, to compass the fall of those who stand, not the
raising of those who are down. Accordingly, since the very work which they
purpose to themselves comes not from the building up of their own society, but
from the demolition of the truth, they undermine our edifices, that they may
erect their own. Only deprive them of the law of Moses, and the prophets, and
the divinity of the Creator, and they have not another objection to talk about.
The consequence is, that they more easily accomplish the ruin of standing
houses than the erection of fallen ruins. It is only when they have such
objects in view that they show themselves humble and bland and respectful.
Otherwise they know no respect even for their own leaders. Hence, it is
[supposed] that schisms seldom happen among heretics, because, even when they
exist, they are not obvious. Their very unity, however, is schism. I am greatly
in error if they do not amongst themselves swerve even from their own
regulations, forasmuch as every man, just as it suits his own temper, modifies
the traditions he has received after the same fashion as the man who handed them
down did, when he moulded them according to his own will. The progress of the
matter is an acknowledgement at once of its character and of the manner of its
birth. That was allowable to the Valentinians which had been allowed to
Valentinus; that was also fair for the Marcionites which had been done by
Marcion—even to innovate on the faith, as was agreeable to their own pleasure.
In short, all heresies, when thoroughly looked into, are detected harbouring
dissent in many particulars even from their own founders. The majority of them
have not even churches. Motherless, houseless, creedless, outcasts, they wander
about in their own essential worthlessness.” [212]
“[S]o that
no other teaching will have the right of being received as apostolic than that
which is at the present day proclaimed in the churches of apostolic foundation.
You will, however, find no church of apostolic origin but such as reposes its
Christian faith in the Creator. But if the churches shall prove to have been
corrupt from the beginning, where shall the pure ones be found? Will it be
amongst the adversaries of the Creator? Show us, then, one of your churches,
tracing its descent from an apostle, and you will have gained the day.” [213]
“[T]hat is
from the beginning which has the apostles for its authors, then it will
certainly be quite as evident, that that comes down from the apostles, which
has been kept as a sacred deposit in the churches of the apostles… For although
Marcion rejects his Apocalypse, the order of bishops (thereof), when traced up
to their origin, will rest on John as their author…” [214]
“An easy
thing it is at once to demand where it is written that we should not be
crowned. But is it written that we should be crowned? Indeed, in urgently
demanding the warrant of Scripture in a different side from their own, men
prejudge that the support of Scripture ought no less to appear on their part.
For if it shall be said that it is lawful to be crowned on this ground, that
Scripture does not forbid it, it will as validly be retorted that just on this
ground is the crown unlawful, because the Scripture does not enjoin it. What
shall discipline do? Shall it accept both things, as if neither were forbidden?
Or shall it refuse both, as if neither were enjoined? But ‘the thing which is
not forbidden is freely permitted’ should rather say that what has not been
freely allowed is forbidden.” [215]
“In the
course of time, then, the Father forsooth was born, and the Father suffered,
God Himself, the Lord Almighty, whom in their preaching they declare to be
Jesus Christ. We, however, as we indeed always have done (and more especially
since we have been better instructed by the Paraclete, who leads man indeed
into all truth), believe that there is one only God, but under the following
dispensation, or oikonomia, as it is called, that this one only God has also a
Son, His Word, who proceed from Himself, by whom all things were made, and
without whom nothing was made. Him we believe to have been sent by the Father
into the Virgin, and to have been born of her—the being both Man and God, the
Son of Man and the Son of God, and to have been called by the name of Jesus
Christ; we believe Him to have suffered, died, and been buried, according to
the Scriptures, and, after He had been raised again by the Father and taken back
to Heaven, to be sitting at the right hand of the Father, and that He will come
to judge the quick and the dead; who sent also from heaven the Father,
according to His own promise, the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, the sanctifier of
the faith of those who believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy
Ghost. That this rule of faith has come down to us from the beginning of the
gospel, even before any of the older heretics, much more before Praxeas, a
pretender of yesterday, will be apparent both from the lateness of date which
marks all heresies, and also from the absolutely novel character of our
new-fangled Praxeas. In this principle also we must henceforth find a
presumption of equal force against all heresies whatsoever—that whatever is
first is true, whereas that is spurious which is later in date. But keeping
this prescriptive rule inviolate, still some opportunity must be given for
reviewing (the statements of heretics), with a view to the instruction and
protection of divers persons; were it only that it may not seem that each
perversion of the truth is condemned without examination, and simply prejudged;
especially in the case of this heresy, which supposes itself to possess the
pure truth, in thinking that one cannot believe in One Only God in any other
way than by saying that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are the very
selfsame Person.” [216]
“But I must
take some further pains to rebut their arguments, when they make selections
from the Scriptures in support of their opinion, and refuse to consider the
other points, which obviously maintain the rule of faith without any infraction
of the unity of the Godhead… But in their contention they only act on the
principle of all heretics. For, inasmuch as only a few testimonies are to be
found (making for them) in the general mass, they pertinaciously set off the
few against the many, and assume the later against the earlier. The rule,
however, which has been from the beginning established for every case, gives
its prescription against the later assumptions, as indeed it also does against
the fewer.” [217]
“[W]hether there
is room for maintaining that the Paraclete has taught any such thing as can
either be charged with novelty, in opposition to catholic tradition, or with
burdensomeness, in opposition to the ‘light burden’ of the Lord. Now concerning
each point the Lord Himself has pronounced. For in saying, ‘I still have many
things to say unto you, but ye are not yet able to bear them: when the Holy
Spirit shall be come, He will lead you into all truth,’ He sufficiently, of
course, sets before us that He will bring such (teachings) as may be esteemed
like a novel, as having never before been published, and finally burdensome, as
if that were the reason why they were not published. ‘It follows,’ you say,
‘that by this line of argument, anything you please which is novel and
burdensome may be ascribed to the Paraclete, even if it have come from the
adversary spirit.’ No, of course. For the adversary spirit would be apparent
from the diversity of his preaching, beginning by adulterating the rule of
faith, and so (going on to) adulterating the order of discipline; because the
corruption of that which holds the grist grade, (that is, of faith, which is
prior to discipline,) comes first. A man must of necessity hold heretical views
of God first, and then of His institution. But the Paraclete, having many things
to teach fully which the Lord deferred till He came, (according to the
pre-definition), will begin by bearing emphatic witness to Christ, (as being)
such as we believe (Him to be), together with the whole order of God the
Creator, and will glorify Him, and will ‘bring to remembrance’ concerning Him.
And when He has thus been recognised (as the promised Comforter), on the ground
of the cardinal rule, He will reveal those ‘many things’ which appertain to
disciplines…” [218]
References
for the Above:
203 Tertullian, On Fasting, 13
(c.A.D. 208) ANF IV:111.
204
Tertullian, On the Flesh of Christ, 2 ANF III:522.
205 Tertullian, On Prescription
against the Heretics, 12, ANF III:249.
206 Ibid., 13 ANF III:249.
207
Ibid., 14 ANF III:250.
208 Ibid., 15 ANF III:250.
209
Ibid., 20 ANF III:252.
210 Ibid., 29 ANF III:256-257.
211
Ibid., 36 ANF III:260.
212 Ibid., 42 ANF III:263-264.
213 Tertullian, Against Marcion,
I:21 (inter A.D.207-212) ANF III:286.
214
Ibid., 4:5 ANF III:349-350.
215 Tertullian, The Chaplet, the
Soldier’s Crown, 2 (A.D. 211) ANF III:94
216
Tertullian, Against Praxeas, 2 (post A.D. 213) ANF III:598.
217 Ibid., 20 ANF III:615.
218 Tertullian, Monogamy, 2,
ANF IV:59-60. Here Tertullian, a Montanist, argues against
the traditional argument and for novelty.
