Tertullian, Prescription against Heretics 28
Go ahead: suppose everyone got it wrong. Suppose the Apostle was duped when he bore witness to certain people. Suppose the Holy Spirit never glanced back to guide anyone into truth, even though Christ sent Him for that very purpose and the Father dispatched Him to be the teacher of truth. Suppose the steward of God, the vicar of Christ, neglected his job and let the churches understand and believe something different in the meantime from what He Himself had preached through the Apostles. Is it really plausible that so many and such great churches all erred their way into a single faith? Among many events there is not a single outcome; the error of the churches' doctrine should have varied. Yet what is found to be one and the same among many is not an error—it is a tradition. So let anyone dare to claim that the ones who handed it down were wrong.
Latin
Age nunc, omnes erraverint; deceptus sit Apostolus de testimonio reddendo quibusdam; nullam respexerit Spiritus Sanctus, uti eam in veritatem deduceret, ad hoc missus a Christo, ad hoc postulatus de Patre, ut esset doctor veritatis; neglexerit officium Dei villicus, Christi vicarius, sinens Ecclesias aliter interim intelligere, aliter credere, quam ipse per Apostolos praedicabat: ecquid verisimile est, ut tot ac tantae in unam fidem erraverint? Nullus inter multos eventus unus est exitus: variasse debuerat error doctrinae Ecclesiarum. Caeterum, quod apud multos unum invenitur, non est erratum, sed traditum. Audeat ergo aliquis dicere illos errasse qui tradiderunt?