In what way, then, does he appeal to tradition? In this part of his work he calls it in as establishing the same _general_ views, which he confirms more at length from Scripture; as preparing the mind to believe that the view he takes of Scripture is the true one; as a separate and independent witness to the selfsame truths which he is preparing to confirm by an adduction of multiplied passages of Holy Writ. He does not bring it forward to establish any thing not hinted at in the Bible; neither, on the other hand, does he bring it forward to show what others had gathered out of the Scriptures; but he adduces it as a separate testimony, emanating originally from the same source as the Scriptures(342), and therefore, so far as it went, a fitting criterion of their meaning. I have chosen to adduce the opening of the _third_ book first of all, because Irenæus enters more professedly there into his motives for appealing to tradition; but he had made the appeal, as may have been seen, in an early part of the _first_ book(343). The manner of the appeal is somewhat different in the two places: in the first book he appeals to it to show the strong contrast between the inconsistencies and contradictions of the Gnostics and the unity and consistency of catholic teaching; in the latter, to confirm his own views of Scripture. It is true that in both these cases the appeal is in some sense of a negative character, i. e. it is for the purpose of proving that such and such doctrines are _not_ to be received; but in other cases he makes a directly positive use of it, viz. to prove particular doctrines which do not appear to have been explicitly disputed. What, then, is the tradition to which Irenæus assigns this important function? It is that faith which the Church received from the Apostles, and distributes to her children(344); which may be seen in every Church(345); which is handed down by the bishops in all the several Churches(346); which is taught to every person when he is baptized(347); which was in his time preserved in the Church of Rome, in particular, by the confluence of the faithful from every side(348); in the Church of Smyrna by S. Polycarp and his successors; in the Church of Ephesus, founded by St. Paul, and watched over by St. John; and in the rest of the Asiatic Churches(349); which may likewise be learnt in the first epistle of S. Clement, and in the epistle of S. Polycarp to the Philippians(350); which was one and the same throughout the Churches, so that ability cannot increase its efficacy, nor weakness diminish it; so that knowledge may add to it the explanation of difficulties, but cannot change the faith(351); and so that wisdom interprets Scripture conformably to it(352).