eived
from the Apostles, the Apostles from Christ, and Christ from God." In
chap. 36 we read: "Let us see what it (the Roman Church) has learned,
what it has taught, and what fellowship it has likewise had with the
African Churches. It acknowledges one God the Lord, the creator of the
universe, and Jesus Christ, the Son of God the creator, born of the
Virgin Mary, as well as the resurrection of the flesh. It unites the Law
and the Prophets with the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles. From
these it draws its faith, and by their authority it seals this faith
with water, clothes it with the Holy Spirit, feeds it with the
eucharist, and encourages martyrdom. Hence it receives no one who
rejects this institution." In chap. 32 the following challenge is
addressed to the heretics: "Let them unfold a series of their bishops
proceeding by succession from the beginning in such a way that this
first bishop of theirs had as his authority and predecessor some one of
the Apostles or one of the apostolic men, who, however, associated with
the Apostles."[21] From the consideration of these three passages it
directly follows that three standards are to be kept in view, viz., the
apostolic doctrine, the apostolic canon of Scripture, and the guarantee
of apostolic authority, afforded by the organisation of the Church, that
is, by the episcopate, and traced back to apostolic institution. It will
be seen that the Church always adopted these three standards together,
that is simultaneously.[22] As a matter of fact they originated in Rome
and gradually made their way in the other Churches. That Asia Minor had
a share in this is probable, though the question is involved in
obscurity. The three Catholic standards had their preparatory stages,
(1) in short kerygmatic creeds; (2) in the authority of the Lord and the
formless apostolic tradition as well as in the writings read in the
Churches; (3) in the veneration paid to apostles, prophets, and
teachers, or the "elders" and leaders of the individual communities.

A. _The Transformation of the Baptismal Confession into the Apostolic
Rule of Faith._

It has been explained (vol. I. p. 157) that the idea of the complete
identity of what the Churches possessed as Christian communities with
the doctrine or regulations of the twelve Apostles can already be shown
in the earliest Gentile-Christian literature. In the widest sense the
expression, [Greek: kanon tes paradoseos] (canon of tradition),