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,276    Passim. and without respect to persons,277    Inconsiderate. in accordance with the Lord’s saying, “Not to cast one’s pearls before swine, nor that which is holy unto dogs.”278    Matt. vii. 6. Openly did the Lord speak,279    John xviii. 20. 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.”280    Matt. x. 27. He had Himself foreshown, by means of a parable, that they should not keep back in secret, fruitless of interest,281    Luke xix. 20–24. 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.”282    Matt. v. 15. 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;283    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”284    Luke i. 1. 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  Much less, when churches were advanced in the faith, would they have withdrawn from them anything for the purpose of committing it separately to some few others.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,285    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,286    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,287    1 Cor. i. 10. 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;”288    Matt. v. 37. so that they were not to handle the gospel in a diversity of treatment.

CAPUT XXVI.

Quanquam non passim, nec inconsiderate omnibus praedicaverint Apostoli.

Porro consequens erat, ut cui demandabat Evangelii administrationem, non passim, nec inconsiderate administrandam, adjiceret secundum dominicam vocem, ne margaritam porcis, et sanctum canibus jactaret (Matth., VII, 6). Dominus palam edixit, sine ulla significatione alicujus tecti sacramenti. Ipse praeceperat, si quid in tenebris et in abscondito audissent, 0038Bin luce et in tectis praedicarent (Matth., X, 27). Ipse per similitudinem praefiguraverat, ne unam mnam, id est unum verbum ejus, sine fructu in abdito (Luc., XIX, 20) reservarent. Ipse docebat, lucernam non sub modioabstrudisolere, sed in candelabrum constitui, ut luceat omnibus qui in domo sunt (Matth., V, 15). Haec Apostoli, aut neglexerunt, aut minime intellexerunt , si non adimpleverunt abscondentes aliquid de lumine, id est, de Dei verbo et Christi sacramento. Neminem quod scio verebantur, non Judaeorum vim, non ethnicorum; quo magis utique in Ecclesia libere praedicabant, qui in synagogis et in locis publicis non tacebant. Imo neque Judaeos convertere, neque ethnicos inducere potuissent, nisi quod credi ab eis volebant 0038C ordine exponerent: multo magis jam credentibus Ecclesiis nihil subtraxissent, quod aliis paucis seorsum demandarent. Quanquam, etsi quaedam inter domesticos, ut ita dixerim, disserebant, non tamen ea fuisse credendum est, quae aliam regulam fidei superducerent, diversam et contrariam illi, quam Catholicae in medium proferebant; ut alium Deum 0039A in ecclesia dicerent, alium in hospitio; aliam Christi substantiam designarent in aperto, aliam in secreto; aliam spem resurrectionis apud omnes annuntiarent, aliam apud paucos: cum ipsi obsecrarent in Epistolis suis, ut idipsum et unum loquerentur omnes, et non essent schismata et dissensiones in Ecclesia (I Cor., I, 10), quia sive Paulus, sive alii, eadem praedicarent. Alioquin meminerant: Sit sermo vester, est, est; non, non; quod amplius, hoc a malo est (Matth., V, 37); ne scilicet Evangelium in diversitate tractarent.