2. To the historical tradition must be referred, as of first ac-
Philip Schaff
inwardism, an involuntary argument for the necessity of externalization.
2. To the historical tradition must be referred, as of first account, the testimonies of Christian antiquity on the genuineness and integrity of the sacred books, the time and place of their composition, and the settlement of the canon. This tradition the Lutheran and Reformed Churches hold to be of great account, and they have retained, as is known, the canon of the Catholic
Church. But still faith in the Scriptures is made to rest, in the end, not on these testimonies of the fathers, but on the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit, and is not allowed to have any true worth, while it continues a simple blind trust in authority.
Then again, these traditions are for Protestantism by no means infallible and binding, but simple historical testimonies only, whose worth is to be estimated, partly according to the general credibility of the writer concerned, and partly also, and mainly, according to the measure of their connection with the apostolic age. It is sufficient to show them not infallible, that before the Council of Hippo in the year 393, they are known not to agree with one another in relation to several books of the New Testament, the so-called antilegomena of Eusebius. The Church of Rome has so much the less room for casting reproach upon us here, since in open contradiction to the oldest and best accredited tradition, which we have once more restored to its rights, she has rejected the distinction of canonical and apocryphal books, and so invested with traditional authority this false coordination itself.
Under the same head, in a wider sense, may be reckoned exegetical tradition. The Council of Trent understands by this the pretended consent of the fathers; and it was ordained, in the fourth session, that this should govern the interpretation of the Scriptures.* This tradition also Protestantism prizes, without overvaluation. It is well pleased to find a church father in harmony with the true explanation of a passage; as may be sufficiently seen for instance, from Chemnitz' Examinis Concilit Tridentini, and *Ut nemo... contra unanimem consensum Patrum ipsam scripturam sacram interpretari audeat."