TRADITION, is the Word of God not written in the Holy Books, but is delivered down by uninterrupted Succession, and as it were from hand to hand, from the time of the Apostles. The certain and infallible Rule of the Church, to distinguish between true and false Traditions, is, that the Church receives as Apostolical Traditions, only such as are generally taught and practised by the whole Church, and of which the Beginning is not known.
The Jews did not commit their Traditions to Writing, before the Wars that the Romans made against them, first under Vespasian, and afterwards under Adrian and Severus. Then the Rabbin Judas, surnamed the Holy, composed the Mishna; which is as much as to say, the second Law; which is the most ancient Collection of Traditions that the Jews have.
To this were added the Gemara of Jerusalem, and that of Babylon, which, together with the Mishna, form the Talmud of Jerusalem, and that of Babylon; which are as the Supplement and the Explication of the Mishna, or of the principal Code of their Traditions.
Jesus Christ, in the Gospel, has often declared against the false Traditions of the Pharisees. He reproaches them with preferring these Traditions to the Law itself; and that for the Observation of these they even violated the Commandments of God.1 For, laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men. ---- Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. He gives several Examples of their Falsifications of the Law, of their superstitious adherence to vain Observances, while they neglected more essential things. He tells them, that they might indeed observe those smaller matters, provided for this they did not omit the more important Precepts. From this time ever since, the Pharisees and other Jews have not at all abated of their supercilious Zeal for the Traditions of their Fathers; and those that have not a blind Respect for them, and an unlimited Submission to them, are looked upon as Hereticks among them. ‘Tis thus they behave towards the Caraites, who adhere only to the Text of Scripture, and who admit of no Traditions, but such as are well approved, and are found agreeable to the Words and Intention of the Lawgiver.
The Jews call their Traditions The Oral Law, pretending that God delivered them to Moses by word of mouth upon Mount Sinai, at the same time that he gave him the written Law; that this Lawgiver taught them to the Elders of the People, and committed them to them as a Trust, which they were to convey down to their Successors, and so on. ‘Tis through this Canal that the Jews pretend to have received all the Traditions, which are read at this Day in their Talmuds. And from hence proceeds that extravagant Veneration they have for them; and which is carried so far, as to make them prefer them before the most express Texts of Scripture.
The Christians also have their Traditions, which they have received from Jesus Christ and his Apostles. They look upon them, with good Reason, as a sacred and inviolable Depositum, and as an infallible Rule of Faith and Obedience, since they are derived from the same Fountain, and from the same Spirit that dictated the Scriptures themselves. St. Paul in his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, ii. 15. says, Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. The Council of Trent has plainly shewed the Respect wich is due to Traditions,a when it says, that the Truth and Discipline of the Catholick Church are comprehended, both in the sacred Books, and in the Traditions which have been received from the Mouth of Jesus Christ himself, or of his Apostles, and which have been preserved and transmitted to us, by an uninterrupted Chain and Succession. The ancient Fathers2 have spoke of them in the same manner: They have acknowleged the Truth and Authority of the Apostolical Traditions, as well written as not. But they have not pretended that we must blindly receive as Apostolical Traditions all that may be put upon us as such. The Use of Reason and Discretion is given us to distinguish the true from the false. We are obliged to admit of none, but such as are approved of and authorized by the Church, and by the general Consent of the Body of Pastors.
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