Chapter XXI.—All Doctrine True Which Comes Through the Church from the Apostles, Who Were Taught by God Through Christ. All Opinion Which Has No Such Divine Origin and Apostolic Tradition to Show, is Ipso Facto False.

From this, therefore, do we draw up our rule. Since the Lord Jesus Christ sent the apostles to preach, (our rule is) that no others ought to be received as preachers than those whom Christ appointed; for “no man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.”212    Matt. xi. 27. Nor does the Son seem to have revealed Him to any other than the apostles, whom He sent forth to preach—that, of course, which He revealed to them. Now, what that was which they preached—in other words, what it was which Christ revealed to them—can, as I must here likewise prescribe, properly be proved in no other way than by those very churches which the apostles founded in person, by declaring the gospel to them directly themselves, both vivâ voce, as the phrase is, and subsequently by their epistles. If, then, these things are so, it is in the same degree213    Perinde. manifest that all doctrine which agrees with the apostolic churches—those moulds214    Matricibus. and original sources of the faith must be reckoned for truth, as undoubtedly containing that which the (said) churches received from the apostles, the apostles from Christ, Christ from God.  Whereas all doctrine must be prejudged215    Præjudicandam. [This then is Præscription.] as false216    De mendacio. which savours of contrariety to the truth of the churches and apostles of Christ and God. It remains, then, that we demonstrate whether this doctrine of ours, of which we have now given the rule, has its origin217    Censeatur. in the tradition of the apostles, and whether all other doctrines do not ipso facto218    Ex hoc ipso, “from this very circumstance.”proceed from falsehood. We hold communion with the apostolic churches because our doctrine is in no respect different from theirs. This is our witness of truth.

CAPUT XXI.

Hanc itaque dirigit alteram praescriptionem: non alios 0032C recipienbdos praedicatores, quam quos Christus instituit; et proinde eam doctrinam recipiendam, id sine dubio tenentem, quod Ecclesia ab Apostolis tam viva voce quam per Epistolas, Apostoli a Christo, Christus a 0033A Deo suscepit; hoc itaque testimonium veritatis doctrinae nostrae quod cum ecclesiis apostolicis communicemus.

Hinc igitur dirigimus praescriptionem: si Dominus Jesus Christus Apostolos misit ad praedicandum, alios non esse recipiendos praedicatores, quam Christus instituit; quia nec alius Patrem novit nisi Filius, et cui Filius revelavit, nec aliis videtur revelasse Filius, quam Apostolis quos misit ad praedicandum, utique quod illis revelavit. Quid autem praedicaverint, id est, quid illis Christus revelaverit, et hic praescribam non aliter probari debere, nisi per easdem ecclesias, quas ipsi Apostoli condiderunt, ipsi eis praedicando, tam viva, quod aiunt, voce, quam per epistolas postea. Si haec ita sunt, constat proinde 0033B omnem doctrinam quae cum illis ecclesiis apostolicis, matricibus et originalibus fidei, conspiret, veritati deputandam, sine dubio tenentem quod Ecclesiae ab Apostolis, Apostoli a Christo, Christus a Deo accepit; reliquam vero omnem doctrinam de mendacio praejudicandam, quae sapiat contra veritatem Ecclesiarum, et Apostolorum, et Christi, et Dei. Superest ergo uti demonstremus, an haec nostra doctrina, cujus regulam supra edidimus, de Apostolorum traditione censeatur, et hoc ipso, an caeterae de mendacio veniant. Communicamus cum ecclesiis apostolicis, quod nulli doctrina diversa: hoc est testimonium veritatis.