That following ages, leaning on the past,
May rest upon the primitive at last.
Nor would I thence the word no rule infer,
But none without the church-interpreter;
Because, as I have urged before, 'tis mute,
And is itself the subject of dispute.
}
But what the apostles their successors taught, }
They to the next, from them to us is brought, }
The undoubted sense which is in scripture sought. }