Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-25

hold the traditions which you have
learned whether by word or by orr
epfstles,' showing that the unwritten
traditions Of the apostles are to be re-
ceived the same as their writings. To
Timothy st. Paul says, Hold the form
of sound words which thou hast heard
of me in faith; keep the good thing
committed to thy trust by the Holy
Ghost and dwelleth in u.s. and again,
In the things which thou hast heard
OF me by many witnesses the same
command to faithful men, From these
we may see that in the apostolic days
tradition was regarded as rule of
faith. In his epistle to Timothy, st.
Paul refers to James and Membres as
representing Moses, but we find no ref
erence to these names in the old testa-
ment nor do wes find in the old testa-
ment the prophecy of Hence which is
referred to by Judas. This book is re-
garded as apocryphal. The same is
true of Jude's reference to the battle
of Michael with Lucifer, st. Ireneus
condemned Valentine and Marcion as
heretics because they were opposed to
the apostolic traction which is from
the apostles, preserved, as he said, in
the churches through the succession of
presbyters.
I'VE ought not to forget that the
canon of the new testament cannot give
us more than part of the word of God,
for we recall st. Johns expression at
the end of his gospel, But there are
also many other things which Jesus
did which if they were written every
one, the world itself, think, would not
be able to contain the books which
should be written The early church
establishes very strongly tradition as
one of the sources of truth as may be
seen from words of Clement, Origen,
Tertullan and Augustine
Rule of Faith
1.-THE scriptures and tradition inter-
preted by the church give us a rule of
faith which has certainty about 1t be-
cause 1t is the voice OF the messenger
sent by Christ with his authority to
teach his gospel to all the nations. 1t
is beyond the realm of individual
opinion and is clothed with the unani-
NOUS authority of the great body of
the pastors of the church throughout
the world. 1t is not the private
opinion of an individual nor is 1t be-
lief in a mans own unaided judgment.
but it is doctrine grounded in the word
OF God and accepted as the truth be-
cause 1t has been taught by the church
which we believe to be the pillar and
ground of truth. We do not find in
the scriptures nor traditions that Christ
gave the apostles commission to write
or that any book was to contain the
deposit of faith. They were sent TO
teach and preach the gospel and it'was
by that method that the world was con-
verted to Christianity. What the apos-
ties wrote was for special purpose,
for some particular occasion, to give
consolation and advice to the disciples,
or to settle disputes. As we study the
history of the church we find fuller
explanation OF divine truth according
to the answers demanded by the differ
ent ages; while the definition is larger
and fuller. the truth is essentially the
same. The church has been very ten
acious In every age to oppose any at
tempt to alter or correct the received
doctrine and 1t would be impossible
that any essential change I'm any one
point of revealed truth could have been
made without a vigorous protest. The
spirit OF God guiding the church pre-
serves her from error teaches her truth
and remains with her forever, thus
guarding saeredly any variance Of doc
trine, Man may err and nations may
fall away from doctrine but the church
OF God abides forever"