Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-25
TRADITIONS PART
IN BIBLE MAKING
BISHOP C0NATY CONTINUES
BIBLE STORIES
Shows How the Scriptures Admit Ira
dltions Transmitted by Word Of
Mouth and Their Relation
to Rule OF Faith

Ollie and Episcopal churches yesterday
At the former palms were blessed be
fore the masses and distributed anon,
: the congregations.
Il AT the Cathedral OF st. Vibian,
.. Bishop Conaty preached last night. /
. was the fifth sermon in his course o
Lenten sermons on "Tho Bible" HI
said I'm part
: The rule of faith ia the criterion
|, or standard by which the true faith o.
. Christ is infallbly discerned and know
from the faith that Is false. II Is tn,
dlvining rod by which the true gold o
divine faith Is distinguished from al
: others. Commonly II is said by Cath.
olics to be the infallible authority OF
the church, theoretically and more ac-
curately 1t is defined as the Bible and
tradition interpreted by the church
According to the formula of the coun-
ell of Verona AN that and only that
is of Catholic faith, to be believed as
, divine, which is revealed in the word
of God and proposed TO all the faith.
full by the church.
The word of God includes not only
the written word but also the unwrit-
ten, that Is to say that outside the
Bible there are divine truths which
have been either written or transmitted
to us by word of mouth and these con-
stitute what is known as the divine AMI
apostolic traditions. The Bible and
| tradition constitute what is called the
remote rule of faith, or in other worus,
the sources of faith, while the proxi-
mate rule of faith, or that which makes
| the truths of God known to us, Is the
church proposing them for our belief
| Tradition In relation to the rule of faith
means a sacred truth of religion re-
| ceived from God and not found in the
sacred writings but handed down by
| Na-N, g1F. a.
generation and accepted in the old law
by the synagogue and in the new law
by Christ and his church which placed
upon it the seal of divine authority
and constituted it one of the sources
| of divine faith Those traditions only
which are recognized by the church as
apostolical and divine constitute with
the written word of God the Catholic
rule of faith.
Tradition Required
The complete system of faith requires
tradition as we'll as the Scriptures. for
without it we are at sea and the Scrip
lures have no authority. We cannot
authenticate them or prove the canon
of Scripture or the text of Scripture
except by tradition in some form OF
the other Those who admit the Bible
as the only rule of faith admit par
deny to it any divine character and re-
fuse to give it authority as one of the
elements in the rule of faith. The
Catholic church maintains that tradi-
ton has the same authority as the
Scriptures. Unless it has, what GER
tainty have we as to the accuracy oil
faith? If tradition be necessary to de-
eide the Scriptures for us it would be
useless unless it decided them beyond
all question and
be vested with the divine character and
the authority of Christ. According LoI
the teaching of the church the sacred
Scriptures form the written word and
the divine apostolic tradition the I'M
written, and both are equally author
ltat1Ve, for both constitute the word of |
God. BY the unwritten word of God we
mean a body of doctrine which was not |
committed in the first instance to writ |
ing but delivered by Christ to his
apostles and by them to their sue
cessors. We remember that Christ said |
1 have yet many things to say to you |
but you cannot bear them now; but |
when he, the Spirit of Truth. is come |
ne Will teach you all truth Jesus
Christ revealed to his disciples by word
of mouth the divine truths which God
was PLEASED to communicate to man
kind, All things whatsoever 1 have
heard of my Father have made known
to you. We believe that the holy spirit
of God guides the church. teaches her
truth and remains with her.
we obtain light upon this question
II we make comparison between the
old and new law regarding the rule of
faith. The Jews received a written
law, and there was an express COM
mand or God to write it. Moses was
ordered to register all the precepts
which God had given, and this law was
to be read to the people in the most
solemn manner every seventh year at
the FEAST of the tabernacles. The daily
lie or the Jews was so outlined by God
that the law entered into all their
actions, and consequently great care
was taken in the reading of the law and
the people were made familiar with
every part of it. If this were to be
the mode of procedure in the new law
one would naturally look for some pre-
cept of Christ that the moral code or
the law of Christ should be written
carefully in all it's details and it's rec
ord preserved from all danger But we
ind nothing of that kind in the New
Testament and we know that If it were
not for false doctrine and the adyo-
cacy of principles at variance with the
received traditions we would not have
had many of the New Testament writ
lngs, for nearly all that the apostles
wrote We're written to answer difficult
ties, to settle doubts and more care
FULLY explain the doctrine which the
had received from the lips of
Christ. The very way in which the
word of God in the New Testament was
written would argue against any
definite plan for a book as the only
rule of faith or for a complete code Of
laws written for mankind. Besides
this, 1t is well to remember that even
in the old law there was a mass of
precepts not written but committed 10
the keeping of the priesthood and by
them gradually diffused among the
people. The doctrine of future state
and resurrection were fully believed
and taught, and we have reason to
agree that such doctrines were handed
down by tradition. We know also that
there were sects among the Jews, such,
for instance, as the Sadducees, who re-
jected traditional doctrines such as the
resurrection of the dead and the ex-
istence of the spiritual soul in man.
st. Paul who became a Pharisee. ac-
ia