Paul speaks, and to which the
Gnostics pretended. And, indeed, without formal proofs of the existence
and the authority in primitive times of an Apostolic Tradition, it is
plain that there must have been such a tradition, granting that the
Apostles conversed, and their friends had memories, like other men. It
is quite inconceivable that they should not have been led to arrange
the series of revealed doctrines more systematically than they record
them in Scripture, as soon as their converts became exposed to the
attacks and misrepresentations of heretics; unless they were forbidden
to do so, a supposition which cannot be maintained. Their statements
thus occasioned would be preserved as a matter of course; together with
those other secret but less important truths, to which S. Paul seems to
allude, and which the early writers more or less acknowledge, whether
concerning the types of the Jewish Church, or the prospective fortunes
of the Christian. And such recollections of apostolical teaching would
evidently be binding on the faith of those who were instructed in them;
unless it can be supposed that, though coming from inspired teachers,
they were not of divine origin."[150] In a part of the section dealing
with the allegorising method, he writes in reference to the sacrifice of
Isaac, &c., as "typical of the New Testament revelation": "In
corroboration of this remark, let it be observed, that there seems to
have been[151] in the Church a traditionary explanation of these
historical types, derived from the Apostles, but kept among the secret
doctrines, as being dangerous to the majority of hearers; and certainly
S. Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, affords us an instance of such a
tradition, both as existing and as secret (even though it be shown to be
of Jewish origin), when, first checking himself and questioning his
brethren's faith, he communicates, not without hesitation, the
evangelical scope of the account of Melchisedec, as introduced into the
book of Genesis."[152]

The social and political convulsions that accompanied its dying now
began to torture the vast frame of the Roman Empire, and even the
Christians were caught up in the whirlpool of selfish warring interests.
We still find scattered references to special knowledge imparted to the
leaders and teachers of the Church, knowledge of the heavenly
hierarchies, instructions given by angels, and so on. But the lack of
suitable pupils caused the Mysteries to