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| The Apostles Did in All Cases Teach the Whole Truth to the Whole Church. No Reservation, Nor Partial Communication to Favourite Friends. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter XXVI.—The
Apostles Did in All Cases Teach the Whole Truth to the Whole Church. No
Reservation, Nor Partial Communication to Favourite Friends.
Besides which, it must have followed, that, for
the man to whom he committed the ministration of the gospel, he would
add the injunction that it be not ministered in all places,2126 and without respect to persons,2127 in accordance with the Lord’s saying,
“Not to cast one’s pearls before swine, nor that which is
holy unto dogs.”2128 Openly did the Lord
speak,2129 without any
intimation of a hidden mystery. He had Himself commanded that,
“whatsoever they had heard in darkness” and in secret, they
should “declare in the light and on the
house-tops.”2130 He had Himself
foreshown, by means of a parable, that they should not keep back in
secret, fruitless of interest,2131 a single pound,
that is, one word of His. He used Himself to tell them that a
candle was not usually “pushed away under a bushel, but placed on
a candlestick,” in order to “give light to all who are in
the house.”2132 These things the
apostles either neglected, or failed to understand, if they fulfilled
them not, by concealing any portion of the light, that is, of the word
of God and the mystery of Christ. Of no man, I am quite sure, were they
afraid,—neither of Jews nor of Gentiles in their
violence;2133
2133 Literally, “the
violence of neither Jew nor Gentile.” | with all the
greater freedom, then, would they certainly preach in the church, who
held not their tongue in synagogues and public places. Indeed they
would have found it impossible either to convert Jews or to bring in
Gentiles, unless they “set forth in order”2134 that which they would have them
believe. Much less, when churches were advanced in the faith,
would they have withdrawn from them anything for the purpose of
committing it separately to some few others. Although, even supposing
that among intimate friends,2135
2135 Domesticos. [All this
interprets Clement and utterly deprives the Trent System of its appeal
to a secret doctrine, against our Præscription.] | so to speak, they
did hold certain discussions, yet it is incredible that these could
have been such as to bring in some other rule of faith, differing from
and contrary to that which they were proclaiming through the Catholic
churches,2136
2136 Catholice, or,
“which they were bringing before the public in catholic
way.” | —as if they
spoke of one God in the Church, (and) another at home, and described
one substance of Christ, publicly, (and) another secretly, and
announced one hope of the resurrection before all men, (and) another
before the few; although they themselves, in their epistles, besought
men that they would all speak one and the same thing, and that there
should be no divisions and dissensions in the church,2137 seeing that they, whether Paul or others, preached
the same things. Moreover, they remembered (the words): “Let your
communication be yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than this
cometh of evil;”2138 so that they were
not to handle the gospel in a diversity of
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