Unnatural as it may appear, it is notwithstanding true that we find much less clear ideas in regard to the canon of Holy Scripture in the earlier ages than in the later. The word scripture was used, as we shall see, in a latitude with which no church or party in later times has used it.
Irenæus quotes all the books which we of the Church of England esteem canonical, except Ruth, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Obadiah, Nahum, Zephaniah, and Haggai. But the mere circumstance of his not citing them cannot, of course, imply any doubt as to their inspiration or canonicity. He had no occasion to do so for the purposes of his argument. It is only wonderful that he thought himself obliged to quote so largely upon such a subject.
But besides the writings which we esteem canonical, he quotes others which we reject from the [pg 125] canon. He not only repeats sentiments from them, as when he introduces a sentiment which occurs in the book of Wisdom292, or the story of Susanna293, without, however, mentioning the books themselves; he also quotes the story of Bel and the Dragon294 as truly relating the words of the prophet Daniel, and the book of Baruch295 as truly recording those of Jeremiah, and uses the latter as inspired. In short, Irenæus quoted from the Septuagint version of the Scriptures; and he consequently read the stories of Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon, as part of the book of Daniel, and the book of Baruch as a continuation of that of Jeremiah. There is, in fact, great reason to think that he believed in the inspiration (in some sense) of the whole of the books contained in that version. But if so, that does not prove (as we shall see presently), that they were all esteemed by the Church as canonical.
[pg 126]But then there is a circumstance which must prevent the Church of Rome from appealing to him with success in support of the canonicity of any of the books of the Apocrypha; and that is, that he quotes, under the express name of Scripture, a work which the whole Church, from not long after his time, has agreed to regard as merely human, if not altogether spurious—I mean the Shepherd of Hermas296. It is true that he is not singular in so speaking; for Clement of Alexandria directly ascribes inspiration to Hermas297. And yet Tertullian, who was contemporary with Clement, affirms298 that the Italian Churches had in express councils declared his book apocryphal.
I argue thus on the supposition that his single authority is appealed to. If he is adduced, with other writers of his age, to show that the Church acknowledged the apocryphal books as canonical, then one reply is, that even if this were true of the [pg 127] Church of that age, we are not bound by the decision of a single age. Massuet, indeed299, reasons as though the canonicity of the books the Church of Rome receives were established by the authority of “all churches, or at least the greater part of them, and those of distinguished rank.” Now it so happens that we have quite a chain of evidence on the opposite side. Melito300, contemporary with Irenæus, after diligent inquiry in Palestine, reckons up, as canonical, the same books of the Old Testament which we acknowledge, and no others: for the Σοφία301, which (according to one reading) comes in after the Proverbs, is merely another name for that book; and Ezra, it is well known, included Nehemiah and Esther. Origen302, in the middle of the third century, [pg 128] and Athanasius303, Epiphanius304, Gregory of Nazianzum305, and Jerome306, successively in the fourth—and what is more, the council of Laodicea307, in the third century, whose acts were recognised by the sixth synod of Constantinople and Pope Adrian308—all agree in receiving a canon of the Old Testament much more like ours than like that of Rome. It is true that Origen adds the Maccabees, but he states that they are not in the canon. Athanasius, Epiphanius, and the Council of Laodicea reckon Baruch as part of the book of Jeremiah; Athanasius and the Council add the epistle of Jeremiah; Athanasius alone reckons Susanna and Bel and the Dragon. On the other hand, they all, together with Gregory of Nazianzum, Jerome, and Ruffinus, who entirely [pg 129] agree with us, reject all the other books which the Church of Rome has since admitted into the canon. Epiphanius309 says that Christians and Nazoræi agreed in receiving the Jewish books, so that he could not have been aware that the Jews did not admit Baruch. So that how many soever may agree in quoting the apocryphal books, the weight of authority is clearly against their reception as canonical.
From all that has been said, it must be clear that we can make but little use of Irenæus in settling the canon of Scripture. But from the number of books and of passages which he has quoted, he is of great value in establishing the genuineness of our present copies; all the passages bearing as near a resemblance to the corresponding parts of our MSS. as can be expected from a writer who evidently quotes from memory.
He likewise bears direct testimony to the authenticity of the four Gospels and the Revelation of St. John; affirming that St. Matthew wrote his in Hebrew for the use of the Jews, at the time when St. Peter and St. Paul conjointly were preaching and establishing the Church at Rome310; that after their [pg 130] departure, St. Mark committed to writing what he had heard from St. Peter, and St. Luke what he had heard from St. Paul311; that St. John wrote his Gospel at Ephesus, to oppose the errors of Cerinthus312, and that he was likewise the author of the Revelation which bears his name313, the visions of which he saw towards the close of the reign of Domitian314.
[pg 131]It is curious that Irenæus quotes a passage as written either by Isaiah or Jeremiah, which does not appear in our present copies315. Justin Martyr had quoted it before him, and asserted that it had been wilfully erased by the Jews from the Hebrew copies316. Now, however, it does not appear even in the Septuagint. He likewise records a saying or two as our Lord's which do not appear in the New Testament317: [pg 132] the latter of which indeed few persons will believe to have been spoken by our Lord.
He informs us that the Ebionites use only St. Matthew's Gospel, and reject St. Paul318; that Marcion curtailed St. Luke, and in effect the whole Gospel319; that Cerinthus used St. Mark, and the Valentinians [pg 133] St. John320, and invented a Gospel of their own; and that the Montanists reject St. John's Gospel and St. Paul321. It appears, however, that the Gnostics did in fact quote, at least when arguing with Christians, the self-same books which we now have; for all the passages of Scripture which Irenæus brings forward as perverted by them correspond with our present copies.
Irenæus was of opinion that the whole of the sacred books of the Old Testament were lost during the Babylonish captivity, and that Ezra restored them by divine inspiration322.
[pg 134]He likewise fully believed the fable of Aristeas concerning the translation of the Septuagint by the direction of one of the Ptolemies, whom he names the son of Lagus323. He does not relate it with all the particularity of Josephus; but he relates the separation of the seventy interpreters from each other, and their miraculous agreement in the same words and phrases from beginning to end. It is [pg 135] clear, therefore, that he believed in the inspiration of the Septuagint, so far as it is a translation of the Hebrew; and no wonder that he was unable to avoid extending the same feeling to the other books which commonly accompany the translated portion.
He likewise mentions Theodotion of Ephesus, and Aquila of Pontus, both Jewish proselytes, as having wrongly translated Isaiah vii. 14324. Theodotion was the contemporary of Irenæus, and must have published his version so recently, that it is wonderful that Irenæus should have seen it.
Lastly, he mentions and distinguishes between the genuine and ancient copies of the Scriptures and the incorrect ones325.
Having noticed all the external matter, let us come to the opinions of Irenæus in regard to the use and value of the holy Scriptures, and the method of understanding them. Although here his example is more forcible than his precepts, it is satisfactory that he speaks very definitely, and to the purpose.
[pg 136]For instance, he informs us that, after the Apostles had preached the Gospel orally, they took care that the substance of their preaching should be put in writing, to be the ground and pillar of our faith326. It is very remarkable that he should use this very phrase in speaking of the Gospel, which St. Paul had used in speaking of the Church itself; showing apparently that it was by the custody of the Scriptures that the Church was to sustain its office. Indeed he expresses this in so many words in another passage, when he says that the truth is preserved by the keeping and reading of the Scripture, and preaching consistently with it327.
His own practice is perfectly consistent with his principles. When he enters into controversy, his first appeal, indeed, in the particular case in hand, was to common sense, as showing the extreme absurdity and glaring contradiction of the Gnostic [pg 137] theories328. But as they claimed revelation for their authority, he then goes to the Scripture, as the only authentic record of revelation329; and it is evident that, on his own account, he would never have appealed to any other authority in support of the great and leading doctrines he has to deal with. When he does bring in tradition as an independent and collateral witness of revelation, he does so because the Gnostics themselves appealed to tradition330 as something more certain than Scripture. And having met them upon this ground, he goes on331, in the large remaining portion of his treatise, to refute their systems by the induction of passages from the successive portions of the Old and New Testaments.
[pg 138]Clearly, therefore, his disposition, where the question was what God had revealed, would be to go, first of all, and entirely, if possible, to Scripture; for whereas the heretics held that the inspired volume was obscure and uncertain332, he maintained that there were truths contained in it without any doubt or obscurity, and that those were the things in which the sound-minded and pious would chiefly meditate333. [pg 139] And with regard to those things which are obscure and doubtful, he taught that we should endeavour to explain them by those parts which are unambiguous334.
There was, however, another aid which he looked upon as of the most certain and most important utility, so far as it extended, and that was the baptismal creed, which he regarded as infallible for leading to the right sense of Scripture upon fundamental points, and according to which he thought all Scripture ought to be interpreted335. It is evident, therefore, that he regarded the tradition of the Church, to that extent, as divine and infallible.
[pg 140]A third aid was to be found in the assistance of the elders of the Church, who preserve the doctrine of the Apostles336, and, with the order of the priesthood, keep sound discourse and an inoffensive life337, who have the succession from the Apostles, and, together with the episcopal succession, have received the sure gift of truth338. He who in this way studies the Scriptures will judge (or condemn) all who are in error339.
It is obvious that he means the bishops of the Churches, who were the chief preachers of those times. And it is observable that he does not think the succession a perfect guarantee of the truth being preserved, otherwise he would not have added the qualifications of sound discourse and a holy life. He does not therefore support the idea that the truth is necessarily preserved in any one Church by the succession, or that any one bishop of any particular Church (the Bishop of Rome, for instance,) is capable of deciding the sense of Scripture authoritatively. [pg 141] And, in point of fact, it is only upon fundamentals that he recommends an appeal to the bishops, as sure to guide the inquirer into truth.
It is obvious, moreover, that, although no doubt God will aid and bless his ordinance of the ministry at all times to the faithful soul, yet that the aid of one's own particular pastor or bishop must be much less capable of settling the mind now that Christ's true pastors are opposed to each other, than in the time of Irenæus, when they held all together. In his time no such thing had occurred as a bishop of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Rome, or Constantinople, acknowledged by general consent to have fallen into great and important error.
In short, we have no approach in Irenæus to the idea of an interpreter so infallible as shall take away from the private Christian all responsibility but that of ascertaining him and following his decisions. He points out means of arriving at truth; but he does not speak of them as unfailing, except in the case of those foundation truths which are now acknowledged by the body of every ancient Church under heaven.
It was controversy which elicited from Irenæus a declaration of his views as to the nature and use of tradition. The Gnostics taught a different doctrine from the Catholics on the nature and attributes of God, the incarnation and life of Christ, and the whole scheme of the divine dispensations. Against them he takes up three different lines of argument: from common sense, from tradition, and from Scripture. The argument from common sense he carries on through the first and second books, showing the inconsistencies, contradictions, and absurdities of the various Gnostic systems. It is evident, from his own words, that it was his intention to rest his remaining argument principally on the Scriptures; for in the preface to the third book, in announcing the plan of the rest of his work, he says that in that book he shall bring forward his proofs from Scripture, without mentioning tradition; but since they demurred to its authority, asserting340 that it was imperfect and [pg 143] self-contradictory, and, in short, that it was impossible for any to learn the truth from it but those who possessed the true tradition, (which they contended was preserved amongst themselves, having been communicated to them orally, and being, in fact, that hidden wisdom which had been imparted by the Apostles only to the perfect,) Irenæus likewise appeals to tradition.
I cannot take leave of this passage without noticing the extraordinary comments made upon it by the Benedictine editor, Massuet, in the second of his prefatory dissertations, art. iii. § 14.
He says, “Ex quibus hæc liquido sequuntur; 1, ipsos omnium hæreticorum pessimos agnovisse et confessos fuisse, Scripturas varie dictas esse, id est, interdum obscuras esse, variosque iis subesse sensus: 2, obscurorum locorum sensum a traditione petendum esse, non ea, quæ per literas tradita sit, sed per vivam vocem: hæc non reprehendit Irenæus, immo in sequentibus probat, ut mox videbitur: 3, traditionem latius patere scripturis, et ab iis distingui, utpote quæ earum sit interpres; quod et hæc Irenæi conclusio demonstrat: Evenit itaque, neque scripturis jam neque traditioni consentire eos.”
I will take his conclusions in their order:—
[pg 144]1. So far is Irenæus from applauding the Gnostics for admitting (not the variety of senses which the Scripture may afford, but) the inconsistency of different Scriptural statements, that it is evident that he is blaming them for wishing to escape from the obvious meaning of Scripture under this pretence. I am not saying that he would have denied that various senses of particular passages may appear equally natural; but that is not the case as between Irenæus and the Gnostics. He is evidently asserting what he believes to be written throughout the Scriptures as with a sunbeam, and brings in tradition, not to explain the Scripture, but to confirm his view of it.
2. It is very true that Irenæus would evidently have gone to tradition to explain the obscurities of Scripture, if in any point it could be so explained; but that does not appear from this passage: on the contrary, it is the heretics who are here for appealing to it, and not to such a tradition as he approved, but to one which was capable of no proof that it was apostolical. And with regard to the tradition he appealed to being an unwritten tradition; in the first place, he does appeal to written tradition when he can, viz. to the epistles of St. Clement and St. Polycarp; and in regard to the unwritten tradition which he adduces, the only tradition of that kind to which both he and the Romanist writers agree to appeal is [pg 145] the Baptismal Creed (as will be shown presently); for on two of the other points on which he adduces a different kind of unwritten tradition, viz. the millenium and the age of Christ at his crucifixion, his views are rejected by the Roman Church.
3. That primitive tradition must originally have been wider than Scripture (at least upon points not of faith), must be true from the very nature of the case. But this does not by any means follow from Irenæus's distinguishing between Scripture and tradition, because what he means is simply this, that the Gnostic tenets were at variance with apostolical truth, whether gathered from Scripture or handed down by tradition. The traditional truth he brings forward against them is identical with what he deduces from the written word.
Having shown, then, that really apostolical tradition unequivocally opposed the Gnostic tenets, he returns again to the Scriptures, and goes on in the large remaining portion of his work (which, contrary to his intention, spread itself into a fourth, and even a fifth book,) to show how inconsistent they were with the Scriptures, first of the Old, and afterwards of the New Testament, and how important to our salvation those verities were which they impugned.
It is perfectly evident, therefore, that the mind of [pg 146] Irenæus naturally went to Scripture, either to prove doctrine or to refute error; and that he regarded it as being, to all orthodox Christians, the natural standard of appeal. With regard to the Gnostics, he evidently thought that they were past conviction from either reason, tradition, or Scripture; because, whatever criterion was produced, they had something to say against it or to turn it aside341: but to single-minded Christians he felt that the written word must be the great authority, and arguments drawn from it the most perfectly conclusive. He speaks of some things in it as admitting no doubt; he points to an obvious aid to the interpretation of ambiguities, by calling in plainer things to explain the doubtful; he speaks of the New Testament as the ground and pillar of our faith; and he declares that the truth is preserved by the keeping, reading, and consistent exposition of the Scriptures.
In what way, then, does he appeal to tradition? In this part of his work he calls it in as establishing the same general views, which he confirms more at length from Scripture; as preparing the mind to [pg 147] believe that the view he takes of Scripture is the true one; as a separate and independent witness to the selfsame truths which he is preparing to confirm by an adduction of multiplied passages of Holy Writ. He does not bring it forward to establish any thing not hinted at in the Bible; neither, on the other hand, does he bring it forward to show what others had gathered out of the Scriptures; but he adduces it as a separate testimony, emanating originally from the same source as the Scriptures342, and therefore, so far as it went, a fitting criterion of their meaning.
I have chosen to adduce the opening of the third book first of all, because Irenæus enters more professedly there into his motives for appealing to tradition; but he had made the appeal, as may have been seen, in an early part of the first book343. The manner of the appeal is somewhat different in the two places: in the first book he appeals to it to show the strong contrast between the inconsistencies and contradictions of the Gnostics and the unity and consistency of catholic teaching; in the latter, to confirm his own views of Scripture. It is true that in both these cases the appeal is in some sense of a negative character, i. e. it is for the purpose of proving that such and such doctrines are not to be [pg 148] received; but in other cases he makes a directly positive use of it, viz. to prove particular doctrines which do not appear to have been explicitly disputed.
What, then, is the tradition to which Irenæus assigns this important function? It is that faith which the Church received from the Apostles, and distributes to her children344; which may be seen in every Church345; which is handed down by the bishops in all the several Churches346; which is taught to every person when he is baptized347; which was in his time preserved in the Church of Rome, in particular, by the confluence of the faithful from every side348; in the Church of Smyrna by S. Polycarp and his successors; in the Church of Ephesus, founded by St. Paul, and watched over by St. John; and in the rest of the Asiatic Churches349; which may likewise be learnt in the first epistle of S. Clement, and in the epistle of S. Polycarp to the Philippians350; which was one and the same throughout the Churches, so that ability cannot increase its efficacy, nor weakness diminish it; so that knowledge may add to it the explanation of difficulties, but cannot [pg 149] change the faith351; and so that wisdom interprets Scripture conformably to it352.
It is obvious, from these quotations, that the particular tradition which Irenæus adduces against the Gnostics is the substance of the baptismal creed; and thence, perhaps, it may be inferred that he would confine tradition altogether to the creed. But it must be remembered that, in declining to go to Gnostic tradition, and choosing in preference that which is truly apostolical, the principle of his appeal is this: that the Apostles delivered the doctrines of the Gospel by preaching, &c. to the different Churches, and by individual instruction to the particular persons whom they made bishops of the Churches; that the bishops had delivered down the same mass of truths to the Churches they presided over, and to their successors; and that the truth might be ascertained by discovering what was universally received in all the apostolical sees353. But [pg 150] this truth was not confined to the creed, for there are other truths as certain as those in the creed, which are not specified in it; and the very creed itself was variable, or rather was variously stated at different times354.
But we are not left to inference alone to learn the views of Irenæus; he instances the epistles of Clement and Polycarp as containing true traditions, and they exhibit other truths beyond those of the creed. Again, the faith, which, if the Apostles had left no writings, he affirms must have been kept up by tradition, and which was, in fact, kept up in barbarous nations without the aid of writing355, must have been something more extensive than the mere elementary points of belief. Nay, his assertion that when we are in doubt, even upon trifling points, it is a duty to have recourse to the most ancient Churches356, shows at once that the province of tradition, in his mind, was far wider than the transmission of simply fundamental points; it was a great system of doctrine, discipline, and practice, which such an observation looked at; and there can be but little doubt that, although his subject in his great [pg 151] Treatise leads him to adduce it formally, only on the subject of doctrine, that he found himself bound by it upon all points which appeared to be thus universally handed down in the Churches.
But then it must be confessed that Irenæus stood in a position with regard to this tradition very different from that in which we stand. It was a thing which lived about him in all the daily intercourse of life, and respecting which there was scarcely a possibility of a doubt; whereas to us it is a thing which has to be established by evidence, which does not come to our minds unsought. It was a thing then which the most unlearned knew thoroughly; for it was the very atmosphere in which he breathed: to us learning is required, and actual application to the subject. The Church then testified directly to the individual: now we have to ascertain the Church's testimony by the further testimony of individuals. It is impossible, therefore, that apostolical tradition should have the same evidence to men's minds now which it had then; although we may think it ought to be reverently followed, wherever and by whomsoever it can be ascertained.
Again, we have seen that the medium through which Irenæus believed pure tradition to be transmitted was the bishops of the Churches; but it does not follow that he thought every bishop, or the [pg 152] bishops of any particular Church, an unerring depository of such tradition. He supposed the case of a bishop who was in the succession, but yet did not hold fast the Apostles' doctrine357, and he evidently implies that such a person was not to be adhered to; it is, therefore, not any individual bishop, or the bishop of any particular see, that he would appeal to, but the aggregate of the bishops of the universal Church.
It is remarkable how strong is the resemblance between the positions occupied by the Gnostics and Irenæus respectively, and those taken up by Romanists and the Church of England. Both that ancient father and ourselves think Scripture perfectly clear upon the fundamental points to the singleminded, go first and last to Scripture upon all doctrinal points, and make tradition only auxiliary and subordinate to it. Both the Gnostics and the Romanists complain of the insuperable difficulties of the Scripture without tradition, and thus make tradition practically set aside Scripture; and the tradition they appeal to turns out, when examined, to be nothing more nor less than their own teaching.
But besides this public tradition, extant throughout all the Churches, there is another kind of tradition [pg 153] he brings forward, viz. that kept up by a direct line from the Apostles by the testimony of individuals. This he brings forward under various forms of expression, as “I have heard from an elder, who had heard from those who had seen and been instructed by the Apostles;” “Wherefore the elders, who are disciples of the Apostles, say,” &c.; “As the elders, who saw John, the Lord's disciple, remember that they heard of him;” “And all the elders, who associated with John, the Lord's disciple, testify that John taught them this; for he remained with them down to the time of Trajan.” He appeals to it on the subject of Christ's descent into hell358, which did not enter into the earliest creeds; on the place of the saints departed359; on the millennium360; as well as on the fact that Jesus continued his teaching till past forty years of age361.
[pg 154]It is evident that such testimony, carried down in one chain, unchecked by any other similar chain, must be liable to great deterioration. An instance of this may be seen in the last-mentioned case in which he quotes this kind of evidence; viz. his idea that Jesus continued his teaching till past forty years of age362. All other writers who speak on the subject are agreed that Irenæus, or some person through whom this assertion came, must have made some mistake; that our Lord, in fact, began his teaching shortly after his baptism, and continued it through three passovers, and no more. And yet we have apparently very strong evidence for the assertion of Irenæus; for he declares that all the elders who companied with John the Apostle affirmed it, and that some of them declared that they had it from other Apostles. The probability is, that Irenæus, who was quite a youth when acquainted with these persons, had misunderstood what he had heard in their conversations with each other, or remembered it incorrectly after a long lapse of years, being biassed by his own view of a passage of Scripture which he quotes in confirmation363, and which may be the real foundation of the opinion in question.
It is likewise evident that this tradition in regard to mere facts not connected with any important doctrine, [pg 155] and depending upon the correctness of the memory of an individual, is of very different character from that of important facts and doctrines, and points of discipline, kept up publicly in all Christian Churches and witnessed to by him as actually subsisting in his own day or at the very time of his writing. At the same time they may be received, as we receive other historical facts, when not contradicted by other evidence.
And something of the same degree of uncertainty must in like manner hang about the transmission of doctrines or opinions by such a channel. And it is to be remembered that Irenæus, when he testifies of these, is not in the same position as when he speaks of public doctrine, discipline, or customs. There he is the witness of the combined teaching of many lines of apostolical succession; here, for all that appears, of only one: and that one requires to be checked or confirmed by other evidence before it can gain our full assent. If what is gained in this way fall in with Scripture, or explains or carries out more fully the meaning of Scripture in a manner not inconsistent with other Scripture, then we may feel that it is to be treasured up, as being in all probability a fragment of apostolical tradition. If, again, it is confirmed by other sufficient testimony, it may be looked upon in the same light, in proportion to the degree of evidence: for although Irenæus unquestionably [pg 156] quoted these latter traditions as undoubted truths, it is impossible that they should, upon his single testimony, appear so to our minds.
There is, however, one general remark which applies to all the various instances in which he appeals to tradition, and that is, that he does not appear to have known any thing of a transmitted comment on the text of Scripture. The only way in which he applies tradition to the interpretation of Scripture is, by laying down certain facts of our Lord's history, which were universally acknowledged or handed down by sufficient testimony, or certain doctrines of religion or general principles which were universally received as of apostolical authority, and bringing them forward in confirmation of the views which he himself deduced from a comparison and accumulation of texts.