Nor is it only when arguing with the sceptic that we claim the testimony of modern research; we call the same witness to our aid when dealing with the errors of Rome and her imitators.
The most important of recent discoveries in the domain of early Christian literature is that made by the Greek Bishop Briennios in the library of the Holy Sepulchre in Constantinople.
The lost fragment of the Epistle of Clement is thus recovered, and with the aid of a recently discovered version of the name Epistle, learned men can now restore almost in its entirety the most venerable of uninspired Christian writings. [9]
Read that Epistle, and you find that it teaches plainly the doctrines of the Trinity, the Atonement, Justification by faith, and other distinctive doctrines of our Church. It is important for what it teaches; but it is almost equally important for what it does not teach. Silence is sometimes more eloquent than words; and certainly the fact that the Epistle of Clement is absolutely silent upon the prominent doctrines of modern Rome proves that those doctrines were unknown at the close of the first century. Is it possible that the doctrines of papal infallibility, transubstantiation, the sacrifice of the mass, the worship of the Virgin, and the like, could have existed in the days of Clement, and yet have been passed over by him in absolute silence? Whilst as regards those questions which agitate our own Church, the teaching of the epistle upon sacrifice, its freedom from sacerdotalism, the absence in it of all reference to priestly mediation and the confessional, strongly confirms the Protestant view of Christian faith and practice.
A sacred deposit of Christian truth existed then in the days of the apostles.
Timothy is solemnly charged to ‘preach’ it (2 Tim. iv. 1, 2); to ‘keep’ it (2 Tim. i. 14); to ‘hold it fast’ (v. 13); to guard it jealously against those who would tamper with its integrity, or substitute in its place the inventions of men. (1 Tim. i. 3; vi. 20.) Nor is he only to watch over it himself, he is to commit the teaching of it to trusty guardians: ‘The things which thou hast heard of me . . . the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.’ (2 Tim. ii. 2.)
If, then, the Christian bishop possesses a glorious heritage of Divine truth, a privilege indeed which he shares with the humblest believer, he assumes also a special responsibility. As ‘the steward of God,’ he is pledged in the fullest sense of the term to ‘give heed unto the doctrine.’
The principle thus set forth is a plain one; but the application of the principle in these modern times is attended with no common difficulties. Perhaps we may find some clue to their solution if we draw a distinction between a bishop’s own personal beliefs and acts, and the beliefs and acts of others; between the toleration which he extends to others, and the toleration which he metes out to himself.
Certainly in three of the chief functions of the episcopal office, in teaching, in ordaining, in promoting, the bishop may adhere, nay, he must adhere with the utmost rigour to what he believes to be the truth of God.
In his charges, in his sermons, in all his public and private utterances, he will speak with faithfulness and courage: he will give no needless offence; he will respect the conscientious opinions of those who differ from him; he will fully recognise the somewhat elastic boundaries of our national Church; but as far as he himself is concerned, he will keep back nothing that is profitable.