Listen to me, people of all nations, men, women, and children, all of you who bear the Christian name: If any one preach to you something contrary to what the Catholic Church has received from the holy apostles and fathers and councils, and has kept down to the present day, do not heed him. Do not receive the serpent’s counsel, as Eve did, to whom it was death. If an angel or an emperor teaches you anything contrary to what you have received, shut your ears. I have refrained so far from saying, as the holy apostle said, “Let him be anathema,” (Gal. 1.8) in the hope of amendment.
But say those who do not enter into the mind of Scripture, God said, through Moses the law-giver: “Thou shalt not make to thyself the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath”; (Ex. 20.4) and through the prophet David: “Let them be all confounded that adore graven things, and that glory in their idols,” (Ps. 97.7) and many similar passages. Whatever they have quoted from Holy Scripture and the fathers is to the same intent.
Now, what shall we say to these things? What, if not that which God spoke to the Jews, “Search the Scriptures.” (Jn. 5.39)
Patriarchs through the prophets
It is good to examine the Scriptures, but let your mind be enlightened from the search. It is impossible, Beloved, that God should not speak truth. (Heb. 6.18) There is one God, one Lawgiver of the old and new dispensation, who “spoke of old in many ways to the patriarchs through the prophets, and in these latter times through His only begotten Son.” (Heb. 1.1) Apply your mind with discernment. It is not I who am speaking. The Holy Ghost declared by the holy apostle St Paul that God spoke of old in many different ways to the patriarchs through the prophets. Note, in many different ways.
A skilful doctor does not invariably prescribe for all alike, but for each according to his state, taking into consideration climate and complaint, season and age, giving one remedy to a child, another to a grown man, according to his age; one thing to a weak patient, another to a strong; and to each sufferer the right thing for his state and malady: one thing in the summer, another in the winter, another in the spring or autumn, and in each place according to its requirements. So in the same way the good Physician of souls prescribed for those who were still children and inclined to the sickness of idolatry, holding idols to be gods, and worshipping them as such, neglecting the worship of God, and preferring the creature to His glory. He charged them not to do this.
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