From the very first, that rule has been, as a matter of fact, that the Church should teach the truth, and then should appeal to Scripture in vindicaiton of its own teaching. And from the first, it has been the error of heretics to neglect the information thus provided for them, and to attempt of themselves a work to which they are unequal, the eliciting a systematic doctrine from the scattered notices of the truth which Scripture contains.
 
The ancient Church made the Apostoloic Tradition, as summed up in the Creed, and not the Bible the Regula Fidei, or Rule.
 
All quotes from the Newman A to Z are taken from The Quotable Newman, recently published by Sophia Institute Press.