history: that they are one and the same thing under two names. This seems to be the πρῶτον ψεῦδος of their system; it is a tacit elimination of the supernatural, and of the Divine authority of the Church.
The tradition of the Church is not human in its origin, in its perpetuity, in its immutability. The matter of that tradition is Divine. But history, excepting so far as it is contained in the tradition of the Church, is not Divine but human, and human in its mutability, uncertainty, and corruption. The matter of it is human. Under the name 'tradition' come two elements altogether Divine; namely, that which is handed down as the Word of God written and unwritten, and the mode of handing it down, which is the 'magisterium' or teaching authority of the Church. But against neither the one nor the other of these things can human histories, written by men not inspired by the Spirit of God, not seldom inspired by any other than the Spirit of God, prevail; because against the Church the gates of hell cannot prevail. The visible Church itself is Divine tradition. It is also the Divine depository, and the Divine guardian of Faith. But this Divine tradition contains both the 'Ecclesia docens' and the 'Ecclesia discens;' both infallible, the latter passively, the former passively and actively, by the perpetual assistance of the Spirit of Truth. It contains also the Creed of the Universal Church, the decrees of Pontiffs, the definitions of Councils, the common and constant doctrine of the Church delivered by its living voice in all the world, of which our Divine Lord said, 'He that heareth you, heareth Me.'[1]
- ↑ See Appendix, p. 187.
