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1. "If any one, therefore, read the Scriptures attentively, he will find in them, discourse concerning Christ, and a prefiguration of a new vocation. For Christ is the treasure hidden in the field, that is, in this world (for the field is the world); but Christ is a treasure hidden in the Scriptures, because He was signified by types and parables. . . .Wherefore, as we have shown, if any one read the Scriptures (for so the Lord discoursed with the disciples after His resurrection from the dead, showing them, from the Scriptures themselves, that it behooved Christ to suffer and to enter into His glory, and that remission of sins should be preached in His name throughout the whole world), he will both be a perfect disciple and like unto a householder who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old.

2. "Therefore we ought to be obedient to those presbyters who are in the Church, to those who have the succession from Apostles, as we have shown; who, together with the succession of the episcopacy, have received, according to the good will of the Father, the sure gift of truth: but the others, who depart from the principal succession, and assemble in any place whatever, (we ought) to hold suspected either as heretics, and of evil opinion; or as schismatics, and proud, and as men pleasing themselves; or, again, as hypocrites, doing this for gain's sake and vain-glory. But all these have fallen away from the truth. And heretics indeed, who bring a strange fire to the altar of God, that is, strange doctrines, will be consumed by fire from Heaven, as Nadab and Abiud. Whilst they who rise up against the truth, and give advice to others against God's Church, dwell in Hell, swallowed up by the yawning earth, as they who surrounded Core, Dathan, and Abiron. But they who rend asunder and sever the unity of the Church, receive from God the same punishment as befell Jeroboam.

3. "But they who are indeed by many believed to be presbyters, but are enslaved to their pleasures . . . from all such we ought to keep aloof, but (4) to cling to those who both guard the doctrine of the Apostles, as we have already said, and, together with the order of the priesthood, present sound discourse, and an inoffensive life, for the confirmation and chastening of others. . . ."

5. "Such presbyters the Church nourishes. . . . Where, therefore, the gifts of God are placed, there we ought to learn the truth, (from those) with whom is that succession of the Church which is from the Apostles; and that which is sound and irreprovable in conversation, and unadulterated and incorruptible in discourse, abides. For they both guard that faith of ours in one God, who made all things, and increase our love towards the Son of God, who made such dispositions on our account; and they expound the Scriptures to us without danger, neither uttering blasphemy against God, nor dishonoring the patriarchs, nor contemning the prophets."

Adv. Hæres. l. iv. c. xxvi. n. 1-5, pp. 261-3.
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"If a man believe in one God, who also by His word made all things, as Moses saith, God said. "Let there be light, and there was light . . ." and likewise the Apostle Paul: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father, who is above all, and in us all, — he will first hold to tlie head . . . " (Colossians 2:19). Then, afterwards, also every discourse will be clear to him, if also he read the Scriptures diligently with (amongst) those who are presbyters in the Church, with whom is the apostolic doctrine, as we have demonstrated."

Adv. Hæres. l. iv. c. xxxii. n. 1,2, pp. 269-70.
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"He who preserves within him "that unvarying rule (canon) of faith which he received through" baptism, will indeed recognize the names which are from the Scriptures, and the sayings and the parables, but this their blasphemous argument he will not recognize." (*)

Adv. Hæres. l. i. c. ix. n. 4, pp. 46-7.
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(*) "It is evident that he (St. Irenæus) regarded the tradition of the Church to that extent (the Baptismal Creed) as divine and infallible."

— Beaven's Account of Irenæus, Lond. 1841.

Replying to the objection, that there were differences of opinion, or of faith, amongst Christians, Clement says:

"If a man violate his plighted faith, arid overstep that confession which is amongst us, shall we also abstain from the truth, on account of his having belied the confession? Rather, as it be incumbent upon on every upright man to avoid falsehood, and to violate in no one thing what he has promised, although others may overstep their pledged faith, so does it behoove us in no way whatever to overstep the ecclesiastical rule (canon); and we guard especially, whilst they overstep, the confession which refers to things of the greatest importance. Wherefore, credence is to be given to those who hold firmly to the truth.... As where there is one royal road, and also many other roads, some of which lead to a precipice, and others to an impetuous river, or to the deep sea, one would not be afraid, on account of that diversity, to journey on, but would use the one that is free from danger, and is the king's highway, and the frequented road; so also, when different men assert different things regarding the truth, we are not to withdraw; but the most accurate knowledge respecting the truth is to be the more carefully sought after. As, even with the garden-plants there spring up weeds; do the laborers therefore cease from their horticulture? We have, then, from nature, many incentives to an examination into the things that are spoken, and we ought to search out the coherence of the truth. Therefore also are we deservedly condemned, if we settle not down together with those who ought to be obeyed, and discriminate not what is repugnant and unbecoming and unnatural and false, from what is true and coherent and becoming and natural."

Strom, l. vii. pp. 887-8.
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"Therefore there must be no appeal to the Scriptures, nor must the contest be constituted in these things, in which the victory is either none or doubtful, or too little doubtful. For even though the debate on the Scriptures should not so turn out as to confirm each party, the order of things required that this question should be first proposed, which is now the only one to be discussed, "To whom belongs the very faith; whose are the Scriptures; by whom, and through whom, and when, and to whom, was that rule (discipline) delivered whereby men become Christians;" for wherever both the true Christian rule and faith shall be shown to be, there will be the true Scriptures, and the true expositions, and all the true Christian traditions. If these things be so, so that the truth be adjudged to us, as many as walk according to that rule which the Church has handed down from the Apostles, the Apostles from Christ, Christ from God, the reasonableness of our proposition is manifest, which determines that heretics are not to be allowed to enter upon an appeal to the Scriptures, whom we prove, without the Scriptures, to have no concern with the Scriptures."

De Praescr. n. 37.
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"Who shall understand the marrow of Scripture better than the school of Christ itself, whom the Lord hath adopted as His disciples, namely, to be taught all things, and set as masters over us, namely, to teach all things?"

Scorpiace, n.12, p. 497.
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"After having thus, as it were in passing, spoken on the inspiration of the divine writings, it is necessary to address myself to the manner of reading and of interpreting them; most errors having arisen from the many not having found the way in which it is necessary to proceed with the sacred lecture. ... To those who are convinced that the sacred books are not the composition of men, but that, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, by the will of the Father, they have been written, and have come down to us, we must point out the manifest ways (of interpretation) to those who hold to the rule (canon) of the heavenly Church of Christ, according to the succession from (of) the Apostles. And that, indeed, there are certain mystical dispensations indicated throughout the divine writings, all, even the most simple of those who have made progress in the word, have believed: but what those (dispensations) are, the humble and the upright confess that they know not."

Note: From passages quoting Origen on the Authority of the Church, it is clear that Origen's standard of truth and rule for discriminating between the doctrines of Christ and the false interpretations and the errors of heretics is, that the truth always accords with the teaching and tradition of the Church; whilst that teaching, tradition, and interpretation, can alone be accounted genuine and divine, which has been transmitted by an uninterrupted succession from the Apostles.

T. i. De Princip.pp. 164-6.
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"Let Basilides, and whosoever agrees with him, be left in their impiety. But for us, let us turn to the meaning of the Apostle, according to the piety of the ecclesiastical doctrine."

T. iv. In Ep. ad Rom. 1. 5, p. 349.
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Vindicating certain texts of Scripture from the misinterpretations of the Arians, he says,

"This then I consider the sense of this passage, and that a very ecclesiastical sense."

Orat. i. Contra Arian. n. 44, t. i. p. 353.
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Explaining St. Matthew 13:1:

"The reason why the Lord sat in the ship, and the crowds stood without, is derived from the subject-matter. For He was about to speak in parables; and by this kind of action He signifies that they who are placed without the Church, cannot attain to any understanding of the divine word. For the ship exhibits a type of the Church, the word of life placed and preached within which, they who are without, and lie near like barren and useless sands, cannot understand."

Comment. in Matthew. c.xiii. n. i. p. 734
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"But take thou and hold as a learner, and in profession, that faith only which is now delivered to thee by the Church, and is fenced round out of all the Scriptures,"

Catech. xviii. n. 22-28,
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"Whatsoever God says is true, although in a few declarations His meaning is not attained to by our understanding. To deny, therefore, that man was made to the image of God is not according to the faith, nor the holy Church of God. For undoubtedly every soul is clearly made after that image, and none who have their hopes God-ward will deny this; none but they who framing fables for themselves, are excluded from the Church, and the tradition of the fathers, from the prophets, and the law, the Apostles and the Evangelists. As, then, these men are, in this matter, of too contentious a disposition, they also go out of that tradition which is accordant with ecclesiastical teaching, which tradition holds that every human being is made after that image, but determines not in what that image consists."

Adv. Hæres. (70) p. 813.
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Having mentioned Origen's asserted errors concerning Christ, and those of the Valentinians, etc., he says:

"The Scripture is in every way true. But there needs wisdom to know God, to believe Him and His words, and what He has vouchsafed unto us. ... For every heresy is a deceiver, not having received the Holy Ghost, according to the tradition of the fathers in the holy Catholic Church of God."

T. ii. Ancor. n. 63, jy. 66.
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"They (heretics) are cut off from the body of the Church, and affect to meditate and to muse on the law of the Lord. But doing this they withdraw from the Lord who taught them in the Church."

T. vi. l. ii. Comm. in Osee.
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"Wherefore it is not lawful for any one to interpret the divine Scriptures, otherwise than as right reason permits . . . but those things are to be held, which the series of the divine Scriptures contains, and have been usefully determined by the priests."

Ad Synod, in Tolet. Civil, n. 6, col. 1278, 1. ii. Labb. Concil.
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"When we read the divine books, amidst such a multitude of true meanings, which are extracted from a few words, and (which meanings) are defended by the soundness of Catholic faith, let us by preference choose that which it shall appear certain that he meant whom we read; but if this escape us, that at all events which the context of Scripture prevents not, and which harmonizes with sound faith; but if the context of the Scripture also admits not of being thoroughly handled and sifted, at least that only which sound faith prescribes. For it is one thing not to distinguish what the writer chiefly meant, and another to err from the rule of piety. If both be avoided, the reader obtains the perfect fruit; but if both cannot be avoided, even though the mind of the writer be doubtful (to us), it is not useless to have extracted a meaning agreeable with the sacred faith."

T. iii. l. i. De Genes, ad Lit. n. 41, col. 222.
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[Having cited one of the usual evidences of Christianity, he adds:]

"When therefore we see such aid from God, so great progress and fruit, shall we hesitate to fling ourselves into the bosom of that Church which, even by the confession of mankind, has from the apostolic see, through successions of bishops, obtained the loftiest pinnacle of authority, the heretics barking around in vain, and condemned partly by the judgment of the very people, partly by the weight of councils, partly also by the majesty of miracles. To which Church to refuse to grant pre-eminent authority, is assuredly either the height of impiety, or of headlong arrogance. For, if for the minds of men there is no certain road to wisdom and salvation, save when faith teaches them antecedently to reason, what else is it but to be ungrateful to the divine aid and help, to strive so laboriously to resist the aforenamed authority? And if every art, however low and easy, require a teacher or a master, that it may be acquired; what more replete with rash pride than both to refuse to learn the books of the divine mysteries (sacraments) from their proper (own) interpreters, and to seek to condemn them unknown? Wherefore, if either my reasoning or my prayer has in any way moved you, and if, as I believe, you have a true solicitude for yourself, I pray you hear me, and place yourself, with pious faith, lively hope, simple love, under the care of good teachers of Catholic Christianity."

T. viii. De Util. Cred. n. 35, 36 (al. xvii. xviii.), col. 129-30.
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"I would not believe the Gospel, unless the authority of the Catholic Church moved me,"

T. viii. Contr. Ep. Manichaei, Fundam. n. 5, 6, col. 268-270.
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"If he (Manichaeus) say that these (sacred books of ours) are corrupted, he will impugn the faith of his own witnesses; whereas if he bring forward other works, and assert them to be by our Apostles, by what means will he give them an authority, which he has not received through the churches of Christ, founded by those same Apostles, that thence, with an assured commendation, it might now onward to their successors (or to posterity)? . . . Against you is the authority of our books, an authority confirmed by the agreement of so many nations, through successions of Apostles, of bishops, and of councils; whilst that of your books is none, seeing that it is maintained by so few, and by men who worship a mendacious God, and a mendacious Christ."

T. viii. l. xiii. Contr. Faust, n. 4, 5, col. 413-14.
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"Thou wilt instantly say that this narrative (of Christ's birth) is not by Matthew, though it is declared to be Matthew's by the universal Church, which has been brought down, by an undoubted succession, from the sees of the Apostles even to the present bishops. Are you about to read to me something to the contrary? Some books per chance by Manichaeus, wherein Jesus is denied to have been born of the Virgin. As, then, I believe that book to be by Manichaeus, because, from the time that Manichaeus lived in the flesh, it has been preserved and brought down, by means of his disciples, by an undoubted succession of your rulers to your days; so, in like manner, do you believe this book to be Matthew's, a book which, from the time that Matthew was living in the flesh, the Church, through an uninterrupted series of ages, by an un doubted and connected succession, has brought down, even to these days. . . . But, perhaps, you will produce some other book, which bears the name of some Apostle, whom Christ undoubtedly chose, and will therein read to me, that Christ was not born of Mary. Now as one of these books must needs be mendacious, to which, do you think, we ought, in preference, to give faith? To that which that Church which was begun by Christ Himself, and propagated by the Apostles, by an undoubted series of successions even to these our days, which Church has been spread throughout the whole world, acknowledges and approves of as having been transmitted and preserved from the very beginning? or, to that which that same Church repudiates as unknown to her even though it be produced by men so truthful, as to make it matter of praise in Christ that he was a deceiver?"

T. l. xxviii. Contr. Faust, n. 2, col. 675-6.
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"I have thus laid before you a sufficient refutation of the errors of these men, not from my own resources, and from myself, but, both out of the divine Scripture, and from the faith set down by the holy fathers who assembled at Nicaea."

Expos. Symb. in fine, n. 24, t. ix. Galland, p. 439.
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"He (Nestorius) holds even to this day the things which he has taught from the first; and he ceases not to utter his perversities. But let your holiness know this also, that the language of all the bishops here in the East is uniform, and especially that of the most religious bishops throughout Macedonia: and although he knows this, he thinks himself wiser than all; and that he alone understands the scope of the inspired Scripture, and the mystery of Christ. Yet how ought he not much rather be certified that whereas all the orthodox bishops and laymen throughout the world confess both that Christ was God, and that the Virgin that bore Him was the mother of God, he alone is in error who denies this? But he is swollen with pride,"

Ep. ad Caelestin. vol. 344, t. iii. Labb.
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"It is not lawful to differ, even by one word, from the evangelic and apostolic doctrine, or to think otherwise concerning the divine Scriptures than as the blessed Apostles, and our fathers learned and taught."

Ep. lxxxii. ad Marcion. Aug. p. 1044.
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"But let us proceed onwards, and come to the confession of the holy fathers; we, throughout obeying the evangelic and apostolic dogmas, in accordance with the tradition of the holy fathers, believe in the God-Word,"

T. iv. Libell. Contr. Nestor, p. 1046.
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"These things (adverse to Nestorius), have we learned both from the holy Scripture, and from the holy fathers who have interpreted it, Alexander and Athanasius, those illustrious heralds of the truth who have adorned that your apostolic throne, and from Basil and Gregory and the other lights of the world."

T. iv. Epist. lxxxiii. Dioscoro, Alex. Archiep. p. 1150.
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"Let, therefore, your friendliness vouchsafe, if there be any at all (for I do not believe there are such) who yield not assent to the apostolic dogmas, to close their lips, and to bring them back to a sound way of thinking in an ecclesiastical manner, and to teach to follow in the footsteps of the holy fathers, and to preserve inviolate the faith which was laid down at Nicaea in Bithynia, by the holy and blessed fathers."

T. iv. Ep. lxxxiv. Episcopis Ciliciae, p. 1153.
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"These things have been transmitted to us, not only by the Apostles and prophets, but also by those who have interpreted their writings, by Ignatius, Eustathius, Athanasius, etc., and the other lights of the universe, and before these, by the holy fathers who assembled at Nicaea, whose confession of faith we keep as a paternal inheritance, and we call those who dare transgress against the above, adulterate, and enemies of the truth."

T. iv. Epist. lxxxix. Florentio, p. 1160.
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"We adhere to the apostolic decrees and laws, and applying that faith which was laid down at Nicaea, by the holy and blessed fathers, as a kind of canon, and gnomon to our words, we so direct our teaching"

T. iv. Ep. xc. Lupicino. p. 1161.
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"But some one may say, If both the devil and his disciples, whereof some are false apostles, and false prophets, and false teachers, and all utterly heretics, do use the divine sayings, sentences, and promises, what shall Catholic men, and sons of our mother the Church, do? In what way shall they, in the holy Scriptures, discern truth from falsehood? They will, to wit, take very great care to do that which, in the beginning of this Commonitory, we have said that holy and learned men had delivered to us that they interpret the divine Scripture (canon) according to the traditions of the universal Church, and according to the rules of Catholic doctrine. Within which very Catholic and Apostolic Church it is necessary for them to follow universality, antiquity, consent. And if at any time a part have rebelled against universality, novelty against antiquity, the dissent of one or of a few fallen into error against the consent of all, or at all events of by far the greater number of Catholics, let them prefer the integrity of universality to the corruption of a part; in which same universality, let them prefer the religion of antiquity before the profaneness of novelty; and likewise, in antiquity itself, let them prefer, before the rashness of one, or of a very few, first of all, the general decrees, if there be any, of a universal council; next, if such a thing be not, let them follow that which is nearest to it, that is, the sentiments of many and great masters agreeing together; which things, with God s help, faithfully, soberly, carefully observed, we shall, without any great difficulty, detect all the mischievous errors of heretics as they arise.

The Faith of Catholics, Volume 1, Page 348-349

"We have said, in what is gone before, that this always has been, and also at this day is, the custom of Catholics, to approve the true faith in these two ways: first, by the authority of the divine Scripture (canon); secondly, by the tradition of the Catholic Church: not because the canon alone is not sufficient of itself for all things, but because very many interpreting the divine words according to their own pleasure, conceive various opinions and errors; and for this cause it is necessary that the interpretation of the heavenly Scripture be directed according to the one rule of the ecclesiastical sense, in those questions, to wit, especially upon which the foundations of the whole Catholic doctrine do depend."

Adv. Hæres. n. xxix.
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"Remove not the ancient landmarks which thy fathers set. (Proverbs 23) By the |ancient landmarks he means the landmarks of truth and of faith which the Catholic doctors have set from the beginning. This, therefore, does he enjoin, that no one understand (receive) the truth of sacred faith and of evangelic doctrine otherwise than as it has been transmitted by the holy fathers; or, this does he enjoin, that no one interpret the words of the holy Scriptures otherwise than in accordance with the meaning of each (sacred) writer. What are those riches of which he says, Lift not up thine eyes to riches which thou canst not have, because they shall make to themselves wings, and shall fly towards Heaven. (Proverbs 23)? . . . Those riches are the hidden things of the Godhead, and the secrets of the heavenly mysteries which thou canst not penetrate, nor art able to understand, because these things are patent to the eagles alone, that is, to the heavenly citizens only are they manifested. The Heaven above, and the earth beneath, and the heart of kings is unsearchable. (Proverbs 25) As the height of Heaven and the depth of earth cannot be comprehended by men, so neither is the capacity of our feebleness able to comprehend, or to penetrate the depths of the knowledge and meaning of the prophets and Apostles."

Expl. Myst. in Salom. Prov. p. 406, t. viii. Bib. Max. SS. PP.
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Applying Pslam 103 to Christ, he says:

"It was then He made His angels spirits. Angels are called in the Latin tongue "nuncii", messengers, and the Gospel is interpreted a good message. He, therefore, then made His angels, that is, the Apostles, spirits, when He said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit, and preach the Gospel to every creature." And He then made them a burning fire, when the Holy Spirit sat, as fire, on each of them. He then founded the earth on its own firmness, recalling, that is, the earthly minds of the Gentiles, which, in the building of the tower, had been divided, unto their own firmness. He strengthens them by that one word, Jesus Christ, and He so founds amongst them His Church upon this rock, as that it shall not be moved for ever and ever. Let philosophers keep to themselves their fruitless inquiries, and with mighty toil declare that they can discover that the earth has a deep beneath it, wherewith it is clothed as with a garment, but let us turn the point of our discourse to this earth which is founded on the firmness of the Church. For the deep encompasses it. For the depth of the riches of wisdom which encompasses it is fathomless, and above its waters shall the mountains stand. Who so have their hearts raised on high are mountains, and above them the waters stand. Above them stands the hallowing of Baptism; they stand in the right faith, they are not driven about by every wind of doctrine. . . . This great sea which stretches wide its arms, etc., — He would have us know that a great and wide sea, is the whole law of the Old and New Testament. There are creeping things without number; in the law the Jews; in the law the Samaritans; and in the law the Heretics; and in the law the Catholics; in the law, kings, etc.; in the law, little and great, there the ships go, the alone churches of all the provinces, (churches) which bear their passengers to the kingdom of Heaven, — from the cities of earth to the city of Jerusalem, our mother. But he that shall be found without a ship in this great sea, shall meet with the dragon which has been formed to make sport of them . . . with those, that is, who repudiate the ships, and deliver themselves up, like animals, to the waves and depths of the law, without a master who is a Catholic, and who derives the tradition of the law from the Apostles. Wherefore, because that they are without the Church, wandering about amongst creatures little and great, they meet with a dragon, that so makes sport of them, as that they fancy that they are wiser than the Catholics; and, according to their own fancies, they meet with the destruction of eternal death, when they have sunk into the depths. Let us, therefore, sing unto the Lord our God. . . . Sweet may our praise be unto Him, sweetened with Catholic doctrines, bringing with it nothing from the disease of the Jews, nothing from the disease of the heretics."

Com. in Ps. ciii. t. viii. Bib. Max. PP. pp. 294, 295.
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"This (heretic) has dared to say that we ought not to call Christ the Son of God, though this be agreeable to the divine appointment of the Saviour, and the tradition of the divine Scriptures, and the expositions of the fathers."

Epist. Zenoni,p. 1071, t. ii. Labi.
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