The testimony of the Apostolical Fathers is,
unquestionably, most interesting and valuable as
far as it goes ; their very silence on some points
recently agitated is full of instruction ; but its
value is chiefly of a negative kind : for they es-
tablish little, but disprove a good deal. Even on
some of the cardinal doctrines of the faith the
testimony of the earliest, and in some respects
the most eminent among them is so far from
being distinct that Photius questioned the ortho-
doxy of Clement of Rome on the doctrine of
the Trinity; though knowing as we do how
firmly the doctrine was held by the Church at
Rome in his day, the absence of a dogmatic
assertion on the subject tends rather to shew that
this epistle was written before the Churches of
Rome or Corinth had been distracted by formal
controversy on this vital point. So with regard
to the Supreme authority of Scripture, we have
not direct assertions of its exclusive claim to be



76 LECTURE III.
