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okaJc.L'^
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A HISTORY
OF
CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.
BY
WILLIAM
G. T.
SHEDD, D.D.
IN
TWO VOLUMES,
VOL.
I.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER,
124
GRAND
STREET.
1863.
Tj,
I
1^^
/
,
244887
A8TOR, LENOX AND TlLDEN FQy^DArl0^^8. 1 9C~
CHARLES SCEIBNER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Soathern District
of
New
York.
JOHN
F.
TROW,
PREFACE.
The
History of Christian Doctrine here given to
is
the public
Seminary
the
first
at
Andover, Massachusetts.
As
this
is
all
the
had no mod-
own method.
Upon
field, it
by
itself,
starting
from the
it,
first
beginnings of scienla-
tific
reflection
upon
test
T^'
'^'hod,
*^
*^self
con-
IV
PREFACE.
ing out of
follows,
tlie
and strong
impression.
Such a method
itself.
is
harmony with
follows a
The reader
in
it
stream from
all
its
its
rise
its
head-waters
itself,
through
windings, until
discharges
immenso
ore, into
the sea.
The
and composed
all
defences
common
remark, that
a powerful statement
is
a powerful argument.
Christianity.
This
is
true of the
dogmas of
But there
clear, connectit
obtains in
by
and
how how
by necessary
conse-
quence
at
car-
the Church
still
revelation,
how,
in
PEEFACE.
short, the trinitarian
itself
dogma,
as
described
by the
apostle,
"
being
fitly
joined together,
^let
this process
will
be
is
and absolute
truth.
It cannot
upon a
fiction
and figment.
itself
The symbol
in
which
this thinking
embodied
Such
is
of a reality.
is
ultimately,
its
own
best defence.
life, it is is
beautiful
;
uni-
unanswerable
and so
the
At
a time
when
it is
seasonable
dogmas
construction.
If he
is
capable of con-
VI
PEEFACE.
liis
mind
is is
at all ac-
customed to
will
higli
problems, before he
aware he
mind or
not,
The
history
mind
as that of
exemplifies this.
To what degree
by the
many
known only
con-
tempt
mind has
tion
up out of the
was no
its
feeling of his.
too
vast in
scope,
might be a
but
it
was
a splendid failure.
is
upon.
The
PREFACE.
Vll
To
Germany
;
am
greatly indebted
and
not
less so to
These
latter
have been
of
fertility
Though comprising no
con-
often-
Hooker
and
Bull, of Pearson
The
learning
is
is
as
logical grasp
as powerful,
than equal.
To
two man-
uals of Baumgarten-Crusius
as well
ancient, mediaeval,
it
and
has been
my
the
my own
mind.
Per-
work
for
is,
that
it
a historical production.
VIU
PREFACE.
to the ortliodox than to the latituis
more attention
plain.
It is impossible
to
compose an encyclopaedic
this
history.
in
Every work of
directions,
some
than in others.
my
de-
partures.
To what
be
left to
More
is
leisure
it.
But
the
it
committed, with
imperfections, to
common
it
and
aspiration,
that
may
des-
New
York,
iV"oy.
4ih, 1863.
CONTENTS
OF THE FIEST VOLUME.
INTRODUCTION.
1. Methodology,
2.
...... ....
.
PAGE
1
7
15
.11
6.
.18
.
23
.25
..
..
28
BOOK
FIRST.
CHAPTER
I.
3.
...
70-254,
.
51
60
.
Philosophy
in the
Apologetic Period
:
a. d.
62
4.
a. d. 254-730,
68
CO]!fTENTS.
CHAPTER
n.
:
A.D. 730-1517.
PAGB
.
.75
.
81
against
the
.
85
CHAPTER m.
Philosophical Infiuences in the
Modern Church: A.
....
I).
1517-1850.
89
.
...
92
95
BOOK SECOND.
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES,
CHAPTER
I.
Preliminary Statements,
5. Recapitulatory Survey,
..... .....
.
103
106
.113
117 131
replies,
CHAPTER
n.
:
1.
A. D. 254-730.
.
Preliminaty Statements,
.133
.
.
2. 3.
Mutual relations of Revelation and Reason, Mutual relations of Faith and Science,
.
135
154
.
4.
164
170
5. Recapitulatory Survey,
CONTENTS.
XI
CHAPTER
ni.
:
1.
A. D. 730-1517.
FAGB
. .
Preliminary Statements,
2. Apologetics of
3.
Apologetics of Abelard,
CHAPTER
Modem
2. Intellectual
Defences of Christianity
1. Preliminary Statements,
3. Materialistic
.177
179
186
IV.
:
A. D. 1517-1850.
190 192
196
203 216
BOOK THIRD.
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY (TBINITARIANISM) AND CHRI8T0L0GY.
CHAPTER L
General Doctrine of the Divine Existence.
1.
2.
Name
of the deity,
in
4. Divine Attributes,
5.
.... .....
the Church,
.
.228
225
229 240
The Pagan
Trinity,
248
CHAPTER
II.
Ante-27ieene Trinitarianism.
1.
Preliminary Statements,
2.
Classes of Anti-Trinitarians,
246
253
261
288
xu
COj^TENTS.
CHAPTER
III.
Nicene Trinitarianism.
PAGE
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Preliminary Statements,
306 308
315
Holy Ghost,
.
Nicene controversy,
CHAPTER
IV.
Post-Nicene Trinitarianism.
1 2.
Mediaeval Trinitarianism,
3.
Unitarianism,
Churches,
...... ......
and Germ fin
.376
.
378
383
385
CHAPTER
V.
Heresies in Christology,
392 399
2.
i:r^TEODUOTIO]^.
1.
Methodology.
Des Cartes Dissertatio de Methodo (English translation published by Sutherland, Edinburgh, 1850). Coleridge: Essays on Method, Works II. 408-472, Harper's Ed. "Whewell History of Induc:
Agassiz
on
Classification).
Befoee proceeding
Doctrine,
it is
to investigate
tlie
several
a History of Christian
necessary to
tlie
make preliminary
state-
ments, respecting
Meth-
fruit,
than when
it
when
as
it
Treating,
mode
of approaching and
it
is
of jphilosophia prima,
or philosophy of
>
IKTEODUCTIOK
searcli of.
THs, in
;
their view,
kind of science
fined to
science
some one portion of truth, as a specific is, but is an instrument by which truth
universally
may be
reached.
It
denominated an organon^
an
implement whereby
Logic does
any
paruni-
ticular truths,
versal
reasoning,
by which
now,
particular truths,
in
may
be discovered,
and defended.
If,
we
conceive of a science of
same
rela-
to reasoning generally,
we
shall
;
and
it is
one form
were seeking
for.
difficult
problem that
;
human mind
because,
It
it
was
great
number of
as the goal,
which should be continually kept in view, by the And they would measure the progphilosopher.
JIETnODOLOGY.
ress of pliilosophic
3
age,
ttouglit,
from age to
by
it.
the
approximation
if
that
Even
the
regrets, that
and that thinkhad confined themselves to mere parts of truth. " Another error," he remarks, in enumerating the " peccant humors " of learning, " is, that after the distribution of particular arts and sciences, men have abandoned universality, or philosophia prima which cannot but cease and stop all progression. For no perfect discovery can be made upon
from
it,
'
'
flat
or level, neither
is it
you and
The
science of
Method
mode
of investigation.
it
and stands in the same relation whole encyclopaedia of human inquiry, that
all
a master-key does to
Its uses are evident
;
it
opens.
for if the
method, or plan of
the
investigation,
is
the avenue
by which
human
upon
mind makes
its intrinsic
its
4
tlie
UTTRODUCTION'.
whole success of
tlie
inquiry.
If tlie metliod
tlie
be a truly
examination of
and thoroughBut if it be arbitrary and capricious, the inquirer commences with an eri'or, which, like a
topic proceeds with ease, accuracy,
ness.
itself,
every step
of the way.
Methodology
the metliod
mode
of inves-
tigation
which
By
corresponds with
the internal
Each
department of
order,
human
detect,
a thorough and
The world
as the
intellectual
of
mind
as regular,
;
and
all
architectural,
world of matter
and hence
branches of
modes
of investigation,
De CandoUe
to the
so
cuts across,
it
out
The
science of
Method
IVIETHODOLOGY.
aids in discovering sucli a
mode
of investigation,
and tends
mental
tact,
by
wliich
lie
instinctively approaches
he slate
its struc-
quarryman lays
ture,
it
and
its
fracture.
closely allied to
inspired
osity,
by
it
while
it
" I
Angelo,"
" at
work
many
have
scales
three
or four hom'S,
a
I
thing
who had
not actually
fire,
witnessed
it.
almost
upon
his
it,
would have been a danger of ruining the whole since any such injury, unlike the case of works in plaster or stucco, would have been irreparable." ^ Such is the bold, yet safe power, of a mind that works by an idea, and methodically. The importance of a philosophic method is
'
IIabfoed
Lile of Angelo.
INTEODUCnON".
in the
department
The
and
and
upon each
other,
yet,
And
in
no
more
difficult to attain to
it is
and
it
is
many
of
them
escape.
And
even when
we
separate
subject, such as
it
Dogmatic
the same
by
itself,
Such questions
as the following
immediately arise.
tian doctrine
be described together, in
;
origin
and
gradual formation
or shall a single
by itself ?
If the first
dogma be semode
at
the
be chosen,
we
trine
upon
doctrine,
and
'^vhole, in
securing those of
A multiwhen
the
arises,
It only
is
possible to
The grade of
its
excellence can be
known
IDEA,
AND DEFIiaTION OF
Just so far as
it
HISTORY.
only by
trial.
proves
itself to
be
it
prove
its
author to be
method
first
in
Dogmatic History,
is,
it is
step to be taken
to
enun-
History in
its
own
And
inasmuch
dis-
Dogmatic History
is
a branch of Sacred, in
it
tinction
will
become necessary to discriminate these two latter species from each other, so that the special subject
of om^ investigations
real
fore,
its
to its
definition, there-
cede,
for,
the distribution of
we
are to analyze,
and combine.
2.
Idea^
its
and definition of
abstract
History.
History, in
and
distinctive nature,
It is a
we
'
define to
be a development}
gradual ex-
The reader
views exhibited more at length, in his Lectures upon the Philosophy of History, Andover,
thor's
1856, and also in his Discourses and Essays, pp. 113-180, Andover, 1856.
INTRODUCTION.
tlie
more
visible
and
metaphysical form.
The development
of a tree
Here the
evolution, or expansion,
invisible principle
fabric
potentially.
For Cowper's
:
Oak
"
play with
down
Thy
And
The
is
identical
In thinking of
one,
we unavoidably
through several
a final terminus,
In bringing
moral
idea,
it
IDEA,
AND
DEFINITIOlSr
OF HISTOEY.
tlie
sphere of mind,
and of freedom, that works in the kingdom of matter and necessity. There is a growth of the mind, as truly and strictly as a growth of the body. The hasis from which the one proceeds is, indeed, very different from that which lies at the foundation
of the other.
The
is
germ
an organically connected
The
histoiy of matter,
are alike in
movement.
be
it
The
that of
Nature or of Man,
motive process.
it is
The germ
all
slowly unfolding, as
do.
the nature of
germs to
A corn
and
of
Egyptian wheat
ing of a
in the swathes
fold-
by
germinal
substance.
was
created to grow,
and notwithlife,
the
it is
mummy, and
mind
of
In like
progress,
it is
and
none the
10
less in existence,
INTRODIICTIOIir.
and a
reality.
It is all tlie
wMle
who should throw it out of the account would misconceive, and misrepresent, the entire
historic process.
An
idea of
reappearance,
its
long
the
is
most impressive of
existence in
all proofs,
that
it
has a necessaiy
destined to be
human
nature,
and
is
developed.
of justification
by
mind
and
by Divine
sal
revelation,
and
is
destined to an univer-
influence,
historical
development,
in
through the church; notwithstanding that some branches and ages of the church have lost it out of
their religious experience.
In brief, whatever has been constitutionally inlaid either in matter or in mind, by the Creator of both, is destined by Him,
and of
particle
all
it
in the
we may
;
will
be annihilated
full
pass
development.
And
this
history.
11
3.
The
hence
it
Development
lias
been greatly
misconceived, especially in
modern
speculation,
it
and
still
more carefully. Theorists have handled it in such a manner as to invalidate the principles of both
natural and revealed religion.
In the
first place,
supernatural
welfare.
and remedial
methods
for
human
There are no two conceptions more diverse from each other, than those of Creation and Development.
other.
Development
development
is
Creation
is
from nothing
'
the senses in which the dictum, " ex nihilo nihil fit," may be understood.
Q.^from
the cre-
Works
III.
90 (Tegg's
Ed.)
also Anselm's Monologium, Caput VIII. (Ed. Migne); also Mosheim's Dissertation on creation out of nothing, in Cudworth's Intellectual System, III.
;
ated product made. The old objection, " de nihilo nihil fit,"
springs out of
this
proneness.
140 sq. (Tegg's Ed.). The clause " de niliilo " is vital in defining a
creative
act.
For
tlie
human
Nothing comes from nothing, by the method of development, it is true but not by the method of The early fathers, owcreation. ing to the prevalence of the Gnostic theory of world-making, were
;
differ-
12
ESTTEODUCTION.
from something.
Creation
is
made.
This would be
The
Creator,
when he a beam or
entity into
new
is,
of necessity, inexplipossi-
is
composed.
are
creation, there
Develop-
It
supposes that a
ac-
terse
lively
" Audi
Theophi-
Jubentis
(Ad Autolycum, 11. 4) remarks " Et 6 3eos ayiPVT)Tos Koi v\r] ayevinjTOS, ovk en 6 Seov noiTjrrjs
:
non
aestimantis.
Imperat
naturae,
perat,
Ieenaeus (Ad-
pondus exanimat. Voluntas ejus mensura rerum est. Sermo ejus Aquinas's defifinis est operis."
nition
(Summa
I.
Quaest. Ixv. 3)
AuGrsTijTK (Confessiones,
vii),
same strain remarks: " Fecisti coelum et terram non de te, nam esset aequale uniXII.
in the
creatum."
" Creation,"
remarks
an idea
is
unde faceres ea, et ideo non de nihilo fecisti coehim et terram." Ambrose (Hexaemeron, II. 2) teaches the same truth in a
erat,
only
nipotence."
13
It
counted
for,
and
niliilo.
For there is nothing more absurd, than the pantheistic notion of an eternal potentiality, or, which
is
is
subject to the
pass,
and must
by the method of development, from less perfect, to more perfect (yet ever imperfect) stages of existence, and in this manner originate the worlds. The
idea of an absolute perfection implies, that the Be-
ing to
whom
it
belongs,
is
immutable,
the
same
yesterday, to-day,
of ancient
has
a postulate
The
was passing from less to more perfect stages of existence, and would thus bring him within the realm of the relative and imperfect.
All latency
is
by
and metaphysical
whereby
shadow of
14
turning."
INTEODUCTIOIS-.
is
incapable of
created uni-
tlie
is
the
the question which and ever returns How does the potential basis which lies at the bottom of every finite developof his sheer
:
fiat.
To
ment,
itself
come
into existence
to what, or to
whom, do these germs of future and ceaseless processes owe their origin ? the theist gives but one
answer.
He
For
A development
is
is
it,
but
is
merely the
All
Mere
its
de-
new
thing.
A germ can
only protrude
one.
own
la-
tency,
The
signifi-
by
the most torturing experiments of baffled theothat one species never expands into another,
rists,
15
be accounted
only by
power of God.
if
The
ex-
carried
on
through
all
the cycles
upon
it
and
sition,
come
forth, that
has never
been put
4.
Of
ment.
equal importance
is
it,
to discriminate the
The
it
merely
describes
movement be upward, or downward from good to better, or from bad to worse. This depends upon
;
expanding process
issues.
velopment.
legiti-
and of the
entire
human
race.
By this
revolu-
16
tionaiy act, the
tory, whicli
INTEODUCTION.
first
potential basis of
Imman
his-
man
can
basis,
now
conceive
of,
wMcli likewise
all
false
along
It must,
how-
method of development.
Sin was a
the finite will.
was new
It
by
had no
evil antecedents,
and was
in the strictest
it is
As
impossible
is
and a
possibility of self-ruin.
Under
is
out of nothing.
For
for,
by
itself
can be.
and
sin.
must be by an absolutely originant act of self will which act, subject only to the limitations and condition above;
; ;
DEVELOPMENT AND
is strictly
is,
niPEOVE^VIENT.
IT
creative
from
notliiiig.
The
origin of sin
tlius, tlie
origination of a
new
historic
germ, and
creating, in
such
self-
denoted hj
t]iQ
by
Adam.
The
ment of
by
the
will of the
it
in the secular
human
generations, bring to
born
fact of apostacy
is
knowledge what he
development
of, viz.
concerned,
corruption
;
and
decline, as well as
with improvement
that the
those of decay
life.
and death,
there
is
as well as those of
bloom and
alone,
For
no more reason
than with
No
particular truth
is
told,
when
it is
a process of development
This
is
granted upon
a^^^
On
necessary, in order to
any
definite
and valr^
statement, to determine
it is
by actual
;
observatior
it
that
is
being expanded
whether
is
'
P^^^^*
18
tive potentiality
nniiiODucTioN.
originated
by the
Creator, or a
of
of development
is
equally applicable.
5.
and
Seciiuxr
development,
for the
hetween Sacred
and Secular
History.
Had
human history proceeded from the original basis, laid by the Creator, in the holiness and happiness of an imfallen humanity, human development would have been identical with human improvement. The evolution of the primitive histhe course of
toric
germ would have exhibited a normal and perfect career, like that of the unfallen angels, and like that of the beautiful and perfect growths in the natiu'al world. But we know, as matter of fact, that the unfolding of humanity does not now proceed from this first and proper point of departure. The creative idea, by the Creator's permission, is not realized by the free agent. The law of man's being is not obeyed, and his true end and destinawji is not attained. The original historic germ
the crowded out
by a second
false one,
from which
iUeq-Jctual career of
man now
proceeds.
But
this
and co^^*
of a
career, or
development of a secondary
The depravation
of
19
humanity
lias
common
tate
centre, as is to
The
world
history of aposevil,
man
is
as truly a
development of moral
is
a development
of moral good.
And
by
common
philo-
and universal mind, and not of a particular sophical school, is well denominated profane.
secular career of
gations,
The
In
man
is
and of a divinely-established
to
it is
reference
creation of man,
a sacrilege.
It displays
down-
ward
acting
and
other,
by
the same
The
and
ci^dlizations
the slow
to
and
and return
barbarism
vir-
is
by the supernatural
though
nected,
it is
intervention of his
Creator,
is,
yet,
as organically con-
and
as strict
upward tendency,
started in
20
LNTKODUCTION.
is
It
from the corrupted human nature, than this conniption itself can be a development of the pure and
holy humanity.
As we have
upon the
pai't
tulating an absolutely
of the creature
is
new
recu-
foundation which
upward and
be accounted
energy
is
for,
This
its
This super-
relations,
and
new
and endowed.
Sacred History
is
its
we
merely
human and
sinful, to
21
For we do not
church
of
renewed man,
any evidence of a
special
and
direct
intercommunication, between
find only the ordinary
dark
stain.
We
can,
hand of an overruling Providence throughout this realm, employed chiefly in restraining the wrath of man, but through the whole long course of false development, we see no
indeed, perceive the
signs, or products, of
in-
arts
and
dreams his
elicits
men. Empires rise and bloom and decay the poet dream of the ideal, and the philosopher
sciences
;
reason
and
still,
and
not
It is
communication
is
God
it is
not until
by miracle and by revelation, by incarnation and by the Holy Ghost, that a new order of ages, and a new species
to earth,
down
of history begins.
This
new and
new and
is
the
22
INTKODUCTION.
Tlie basis of fact, in the
becomes extraordinary.
of
term.
In tbe
first place,
from
tlie
expulsion
age, a
power
under
tlie series
indi-
cating, like
we
was constantly being T^TOught in human character, by which the Church was called out from the mass of men, and made to live and grow in the midst of an ignorant, or a cultivated
change
that
heathenism
if
we
of the Chm^ch,
we
find that
we
from that of
There
is
intercormnunication,
between the
constitutes
more hopeful and beautiful, than that of the natm-al man, and the secular world.
purer, far
USES OF THESE
DEELtflTIOjS'S.
23
6.
we
find
For
tMs portion of
tlie
The germ,
or base
scriptures of the
gift
Old and
New
Testaments.
In the
body of dogma was by no means fully apprehended, by the ecclesiastical mind, in the
But
this
outset.
is
Its scientific
of the narrower
the
work of
Doctrine
is
vealed truth has obtained, through the endeavor of the Church universal to understand
its
meaning,
and to evince
its self-consistence, in
opposition to
The
we
in-
branch of
and
at
it
24
rOTEODUCTION.
pantlieism wliicli have too often invaded the province of history, in connection with the doctrine of
development.
The
distinction
between a creation
and an
by the
histo-
both
the supernatural
its
of development, that
commences
And
the distinction
firmly
Sacred
History, if
grasped, likewise yields to the historical investigator all the advantages of the theory of connected
and gradual
protects
same time,
it
him
who
overlook
the fact of
see
human
apostasy,
historical
world,
that,
The
man upon
;
not
now
a single current
that the
was parted in the garden of Eden, and became two fountainheads, which have flowed on, each in its own channel and direction, and will continue to do so forevermore and that there are now two kingdoms, two courses of development, two histories, in
stream of
history, originally one,
;
human
man on
the globe,
viz.
25
World.1
7.
Relation of doctrinal
to
external Tiistory.
to
the materials
Our methodi-
now mark
Church, in accord-
These
divi-
be
inves-
our analysis,
it
is
worthy of
notice, that
doctrinal history
of
Church can be
distin-
The
and
religious
all
ex-
the work-
'The
assertion,
is
As
in History,"
God
is
tween sacred and secular history, the church and the world. God is in secular history by his providence only; but he is in sacred history by an inward efficiency,
the supernatural agency of his
Spirit.
is
portion of unregenerate
ity.
human-
will
ure," can
be said that
;
God
is z?i
the process
can find
In the
first
instance, he
ment
in the latter,
life,
he
is
its in-
Kome.
spiring
26
ings of
tlie
INTKODUCTION.
Cliristian
mind and
heart,
exert
upon the outward aspects of Christianity, and show themselves in them. Improveleads to improvement sphere in the ment in one
direct influence
other
and deterioration
The
construction of a creed
The
scientific
in
active missionary
enterprises,
and
the
heathen population.
and
effec-
nay
hisdisit
and in the
tory of man.
Still, it
plain that
we must
with
once,
success.
He who
and to
is
acted out,
and going
human
all
its
powers.
parts
cloud, " it
going on
all
27
Mission-
cannot be written
all at once.
on their
logians
are
constructing
their doctrinal
systems,
persecutors are
all this,
and an infinitude
period of time
this
whole simultaneous movement, with perfect success ? He who would sketch an outline of such
all
thought,
felt,
and done,
Church,
single
human mind
up.^
The
pletely
work
is is
divided
among
special,
many
laborers,
made a
and perhaps
single mind.
object
of attention,
by
And
it is
student must not rest satisfied with perusing a general history of the Christian religion
He
and
special
;
of Polities
the
this, in his
equal, in
first,
ico-historical section.
28
LNTEODUCTION.
Monograplis, or sketches of
history of Missions
historic individuals.
By
and by itself, the mind obtains a more complete and symmetrition of the great subject, at a time
cal
understanding of
it,
than
is
possible, in case
Year
up the mind, mode and style, in which it has pleased the Head of the Chm-ch to spread his religion, and establish his kingdom upon the earth. The individual repeats in his own culof special parts of the subject builds
in very
much
and the
result is a
8.
Sjjeciflcation
of
the
Method
adopted.
The Doctrinal Histoiy of the Church, in the method which we shall adopt, divides into the following topics
I.
The
first
PJiilosopJiical Systems^
upon
the
construction of
Christian Doctrine,
We
history of Christianity, with the exhibition of philosophical opinions, because they have always exerted
We
account, because
we
find
it
at
SPECLFICATION" OF
THE METHOD.
2\)
work
exert
in the history
itself.
We
The
have no concern
fact,
human
and particularly, upon the construction of doctrines and symbols and actual fact is the
;
and
staple
of
Moreover,
we
in-
fluence of Philosophy
this influence
upon
Christianity, because
shows
is
itself at
receives ChiTstianity,
is
and
offered to
it
by the
which
is
human
divine.
first
which
is
spiritual:
natural,
Men
made
saints
and they
its
ophers before
Christianity
When
fullest
it
was
and
fonn,
by
Word,
human
nists,
philosophy.
or Stoics,
30
INTRODUCTION
and Jewish
revela-
Old Testament,
we
find that
there
minds of men, an existing system of natural religion and ethics, which w^as for that
elder secular world w^hat
those
Grecian philoso-
A natural
human
ence
is
actually existing
and apparent
at the begin-
finds
it
human
culture, into
which
and begins
it
it is
Usually
instances
by
it.
But
human knowledge
of Christianity,
W'
of Philosophical Systems.
II.
The second
division, in the
method we have
fences of Cliristianity.
We
manner
in
by the
speculative understanding of
man,
after
having
first
influ-
interpretation
and
state-
31
ment.
to the
For
first.
supplementary
The
defence of Christianity
upon
As
matter of
fact,
we
find that, so
make
he
is
And
having done
this, his
work
is at
an end.
But
tion
whole
truth.
For the
rela-
is also
that of
The endeavor to defend Christianity very often elicits a more profoundly philosophic statement of it. The defence of the doctrine
action
and
reaction.
had heretofore prevailed. The subtle objections, and dangerous half-truths of the Tridentine divines, were the occasion of a more accurate statement of
the doctrine of justification
by
faith
without works,
In-
than
is
Power of
Hence,
statement
power of argument.
It precludes mis-
representations.
It connects misstatements.
we
embody a
Scripis
great
ture doctrine
upon
Christianity.
In
this,
32
as
INTKODUCTIOK
we
sliall
we
and interaction of
its
di\dsions
and elements.
Again,
we
History of Defences immediately after that of Philosophical Influences, from the fact, that both divisions
alike involve the relation of reason to revelation.
In the
first division,
;
revealed truth
in
maintains and
functions can
defends
it.
be
the
by
im-
plication,
determining what
finite to
of each.
The
Comparing the parts of the plan with each other, this is the most interesting and important
of
all.
and
the
by
It is the
Bible
itself,
Church
*By
meant,
the
universal.^
church
universal
is
all in
They denied
that the
For the
test of ecclesiasti-
cal catholicity is
an agreement in
33
of every age,
revelation.
necessary to analyze
it
more
particularly.
The History
sions:
1.
of Doctrines contains
two
2.
subdivi-
General Dogmatic
History j
Special
Dogmatic History.
The
first treats
dii'ec-
and
is,
in reality,
subject.
historic
time in
march and movement, and to periodize the which they occur. It is found for illustraone age, or one church, had a particular
sys-
tion, that
work to perform, in constructing the Christian tem out of the contents of revelation, and that
mind
of that age or church.
fij'st
this
Eome had
remarks
falsified
communion
in the sacraments,
doctrine of God.
(Instit.
Thus, Calvin
ii.
IV.
12), ""While
an agree-
we
ment
in
doctrine.
Daniel
and
Papists the
of the church,
among them,
We
8Jb
INTRODUCTIOI^.
sequently,
tlie
general
di'ift
of
its
speculation was
narrower sense of
the term.
centuries,
The Latin Church, in the fifth and sixth was occupied with the subject of sin, in
anthropological.
faith
The
doc-
trine of justification
by
theme
Protestant speculation
cification,
was
The
spe-
and exhibition of
instance,
Dogmatic History takes the doctrines how they were formed, and
by the controversies in the church and out of it, or by the private study of theologians without reference to any particular controversy. The doctrines of Christianity, as we now find them
stated in scientific
structed
con-
out of the
phraseology very
gradually.
and worded,
as
we now have
it.
sys-
and all of them were a slow and gradual formation. The account of this formative process, in each particular instance, constitutes Special
tory.
Dogmatic His-
We cannot
35
His-
tory,
briefly discriminated,
than by presenting examples of some of the methods that have been employed
rians.
by dogmatic
histo-
Hagenbach
entific
in doctrinal
the
sci-
They
it
are as
follows
1.
The Age of
against
Ai^ologies
when
was the
main
Christianity
church.
70A.
D. 254.
Controversies
theological
when
it
John of Damascus
A. D. 254
A.
D.
730.
3.
Tlie
Age of
word.
It
Eefonnation: A. D.
730A.
D. 1517.
It
4. TJie Age of Creed Controversy in Germany. extends from the Reformation, to the time of the
:
A. D.
1517A.
D.
1720.
5.
ity.
36
Illation,
INTKODUCTION".
Baumgarten-Ceusius
finds
;
two
eral
is
The
;
first
gen-
tendency
is
that of construction
;
the second
that of i^uri-
that of estahlisliment
the third
is
fication.
establishing as authoritative,
sys-
tem of Christian
three principal
finds in
doctrine, determine
rale the
stages
which Baumgarten-Crusius
dogmatic history.
we have
the
fol-
First Period :
doctrine,
of Christian
by pure
extends to the
Nicene council
2.
A. D. 325.
The
fourtli
and
fifth
of these
to his national
feeling,
in
con-
tendencies
are
not
suflBciently
strncting
modern
history,
both
They
to
are
limited
very
relations to the
Teutonic
Mediaeval
much
the
German Church,
race.
and do not comprehend the spirit of universal Christendom since theEeformation. Hagenbach, like his countrymen generally, yields
for
Church
adopted
and we have
some extent.
3Y
tlie
council of Clialce-
Period : Establishment of the system of Christian doctrine, as authoritative, through the It extends, from the council of Chalhierarchy.
Tliird
451A.
D. 1073.
Fourth Period : Establishment of the system of Christian doctrine, through the church philosophy and scholasticism. It extends, from Gregory
VII
to the Reformation: A. D.
1073 A.
D. 1517.
5.
and
controversies.
It extends,
from
A. D.
6.
1517 A.
D. 1700.
and speculation.
the present.
It extends,
from A. D. 1700 to
pecateis
The
is
first
represented
period
represented
is
The second by
that of
The
is
third period
and
represented
by the Protestant
first
Church.
ExYgelhardt's method finds the
period, to
be that of analytic
talent,
38
tlie
INTRODUCTION.
marked by two
tic,
and mys-
and extending:
ormation
A. D. 850
A. D. 1517
the
The method
several.
a combination of
His
by
the
by the Greek
His second pe-
riod
bols
is
characterized
by
by
the
Roman
and with a prevailing anthi'opological tendency. His tliird period is marked by the perfecting of
doctrines
acterized
by
bols, confined to
special
tendency.
The following
at a glance.
1. 2.
3.
Greek
Anlaytic
Synthetic
Roman
Protestant
?
Theloogy. Anthropology.
Soteriology.
Systematic
?
4.
Church.
39
be
main tendencies,
wliicli
appear in
tlie
principal aeras
finds a veiy
and
I'icli
periods,
amount of material.
It exhibits tlie
genius and
spirit of particular
complained of in some
ished,
great
currents,
;
One age
fends
analytic
another
synthetic
another
another
defines
purifies
;
and
authorizes
is
another
eliminates
critical.
and
another
destructive and
and the student who follows these courses and movements of the Ecclesiastical
upon a grand
Mind
that
globe,
feels
an influence
experienced
by
down
the
Amazon
at
During
viz.
atizing, etc.,
the
theological
mind
;
also traverses
40
illustration,
tlie
nmioDUCTioN.
Polemic period, in Hagenbach's
the death of Origen, to
John of Damascus,
the principal
was polemic
theo-
The
yet
most of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity were more or less didactically investigated, and systematically constmcted,
age,
dming
five
this
controversial
centuries (A. D.
topics in Theology
254
A. D.
The various
and
and Christology :
ogy
viz.,
the doctrines of
;
sin,
:
predestination
justification
;
in Soteriology
atonement, and
and
in Eschatology^ together
with the
doctrines of the
these various,
all
and
were sub-
jects of reflection
Yet not all to an equal The two divisions of Theology and Anthropology were by far the most prominent that of Soteriology being least considered. Thus we find special tendencies, in the midst of the great
this controversial period.
general one
In the Greek Church, the polemic mind was most engaged with Theology. The doctrine
onward.
41
owes its systematic form to tlie subtle profundity of the Greek theologians. In tlie Latin Chiu'ch, Antkropology excited most attention. The doctrines
of
sin, free will,
and
grace,
awakened
its
in the Occi-
dental
mind a preeminent
interest, so
that this
thinking.
suffice,
The ultimate
thorization,
and
enough
by
infidelity,
define
and
establish
them
for,
against
heresy,
and by
has
its
origin
partly in a scientific temper, and satisfies an intellectual want, is nevertheless intended to subserve
The church
science.
is
not
It is not
It
in order that
it
may
influence,
re-
42
vealed
trutli, is
INTRODUCTIOIS".
tlie
dnu'cli
may
and above
all
employed
of symbols of faith.
The account of
these
Confessions,
Sy7nbolws,
as
it
is
at different periods,
by
council, or
by
and the
the-
and
practice.
It ex-
Augsburg
Confession,
the
Thirty-Nine
the
creeds of Dort and Westminster, the Boston Confession of 1688, the Cambridge and Saybrook Platforms.
If
now we
take
in, at
field
SPECIFICATION^ OF
THE METHOD.
43
fourtli
we
To
liave
adopted,
we
worthy
trace
spirit of the
all
and
con-
religious
character
to do
all
this
prehensiveness,
is
enthusiasm of the
human mind.
and
last division, in the
V. The
fifth
method
to
History of Doctrines. This presents sketches of those historic individuals, who, like Athanasius, Ansehn, and Calvin,
in-
who
are,
consequently,
A
is
historic personage is
is
one in
whom
more concenhis-
He
This division,
it
is
44
INTRODUCTION.
immediately impressive
others.
qualities,
of
tlie
Indeed,
if
tion of the
wide
and
would be
is
that of biogi-aphy.
The
lights
more
tion,
stiikingly
more
we have been
describing.
Biographic history,
also,
more regard
throw a
of poetry, of
which
grace,
The
influence
art,
and of
science, in
moulding and
far
be exhibited
more
ual,
an indiWd-
development.
flexibility
and gracefulness
the
possible
in
Christian science.
There
is
also an inexpressible
charm
in the bioit
when
passing to
We
have
been
following the
imper-
single living
man,
and a
The
had begun
45
and weighty,
is
now
felt
to
have an intensely
vitality.
human
central
interest,
and a vivid
Pass
for
illustration,
movement
the
life
and character of
sentative Anselm,
subtlety and exhaustive analysis, which, contemplated, in the abstract, had begun to oppress the
mind, while
it
astonished
it,
is
now found
in
al-
an individuality as
to the
of attention for
Beginning
mth
with
its
and
practical
workings in the
solm,
tain
veins
of
information
his-
Redkpejoiinq's
lbb's
dogmatic
torj.
46
INTKODUCTION.
mind and heart of those great men who have been raised up by Providence, each in his own time and place, to do a needed work in the church. And while he is not to set up any one of them as the model without imperfection, and beyond which
no man can
go,
all
of those
who
that
are
worthy to be
something
him of
Head
of the Church,
reflects
who made
something
them what they were, and who of His o\^Ti eternal wisdom and
in their finite,
infinite excellence,
Such men were Athanasius and Augustine of the Ancient Church Anselm and Aquinas of the Medi;
aeval Church
Church.
Each pair
a dual man.
The
six are
those
Lake
of con-
and
purification.
But we
movement,
Rhone
in
Geneva.
to biographic history.
Such
;
two
;
Gregories,
Polemic period
4Y
Scliolastic
and Hugli
St.
Victor, of tlie
period
tory period.
Such,
it
is
conceived,
is
And
may be
is
study
and
investigation.
it
Upon
examination,
it
will
be
and in each of
The
entire his-
tory in
its
general aspects
may be made
The
may be
it
se-
lected,
find matter
enough in
to
occupy him a
What
is
an interest would
who
in
God
men and
ment,
e.
large libraries,
by
collecting about
him
upon the
from the
and present periods, and making them his study for a few hours every week. What a varied, yet substantially identical soteriology
would pass
slowly,
and spon-
48
i]!n:EODUcno]S'.
body of dogmatic literatm'e lias been expanded, what a determined strength, and broad comprehensiveness of theological character would be gradually and solidly
matter, out of whicli this
built up, like a coral
isle,
may
it
solemnly bound to
No
ment of
literature, or in
any profession or
department.
comes
is
off
It is a safe and generous influence that upon the mind from History and there
;
down
in the outset a
method that
self expand-
and
ing.
may
work backwards,
along the
line,
or forwards
contemj^late
the
He
\
\
BOOK FIKST.
HISTORY
INFLUENCE OF PHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEMS,
LITEKATURE.
xii
AuGirsTrNirs
:
De Civitate Dei, Lib. VULl, Cap. iii CuDWORTH Intellectual System of the Universe. Gale Court of the Gentiles.
:
:
STrLLENGFLEET
Origines Sacrae.
;
RiTTER RiTTER
translated
by Morrison. by As-
AcKERMAXK The
bury.
translated
Baur Das
:
Lewis
Butler
Ullmantt
Hampden
Haureati
De
:
la Philosopliie Scolastique.
Whew ELL
losophy).
Chaltbaus Historical Survey of Speculative Philosophy from Kant to Hegel translated by Tulk.
:
;
CHAPTER
A. D.
I.
1A. D. 730.
1.
In
investigating
tlie
influence
wliicli
secular
we
are shut
human
made themselves
two
felt
We shall,
sysre-
and
These two
sys-
worthy of
some
52
examination of
In the
first
place,
upon the intellectual methods of men, taking in the whole time since their appearance, than all other systems combined. They certainly influenced the Greek mind, and Grecian culture,
influence
more than
as
all
the other
in the
philosophical
systems.
They reappear
Plato, Aristotle,
Roman
philosophy,
so
far
philosophy.
We
and
Cicero, exerted
more
influence
than
upon the
great-
and upon the theologians of the Reformation, Calvin and Melancthon. And if
Schoolmen
;
we
it
has been
we
modern
theistic schools
much
them
Bacon, Des
Cartes,
and Kant, so
intellectual
student
who
Academy
and Lycaeum
very
little
that
may
substance,
53
we
are, therefore,
Secondly, these
all
two philosophies
contain
They
human mind,
fact,
systems.
to
They
be employed
;
man mind
in forming
;
and
fixing its
methods of
in the in-
intellectual inquiry
and
in guiding
it
sented to
ly,
it
it.
will be noticed.
human with
things
human
is free
systems of
finite
reason
with systems of
finite reason.
Neither Platonism
errors.
nor Aristotelianism
in
from grave
Plato,
some
of moral
in deriving
it
from the
vXr],
and
re-
garding
which
Aristotle indi-
man
to sin,"
remarks Ackermann (Christian element in Plato, p. 265), "his subjection to its power and dominion, is with Plato not so much
(as
man
has
merely from
ignorance."
this.
according to
the Christian
view) one
not
vol-
untary
evil.
For no one
is
; ;
64
rectly fosters
and in denying
immortality of
[leu
tlie
yap Ikwv
Chap.
v.
man becomes
Bohn'sEd.p.
saying, that
'
68).
"But as
to the
evil
no person is willingly
it
body
Tos),
and an
ill-regulated
train-
ing,"
Timaeiis, 8Q. d.
"He'W'ho
the
seems partly true and partly false for no one is unwillingly happy,
but vice
islators
is
commends
truth, but
justice
speaks
voluntary
Leg-
he who disparages it says nothing sound and salutary nor does he disparage intelligently Let what he disparages
ignorance
they appear to
us then mildly persuade him, for he does not willingly err (ov yap
(Kbnv aiJ.apTavfi)y
be the cavse of their own ignorance just as the punishment is double for drunken people for
;
;
the principle
since
it
is
in
themselves,
De
BepiiiUca,
was
in their
own power
IX. 589. d,
"
And
who
know
who
TivodV
(cor
ovrtx^v
eKovTfs
KUKCi
noioiaiv).
about of the opinion that no wise mar supposes that any one errs wii ingly (tKovra e'^a-
For
am
and likewise in all other which men appear to be ignorant through negligence upon the ground that it was in their
;
cases in
or willingly commits base and wicked acts but that all men well know that those
fiapravtiv),
;
own power
for they to
not to be ignorant
in their own
had it
power
pay attention to it But if any one by an uncompelled ignorance does unjust acts, he is
unjust voluntarily
;
Protagoras, 345.
it is
d.
At the
nevertheless
same
time,
needless to remind
he
whenever he
sick his
pleases.
For the
upon
contradiction with
happen that he is voluntarily owing to a debauched life, and from disobedience to physiso
ill,
cians.
At the
time, therefore,
it
55
to
mind
Yet both
and
The
Greek theism,
as represented in these
its defects,
two
systems,
notwithstanding
in his
own power
ill, it
not to be
soul,
but
when be
become
them.
self to
in his
own power
just as
no longer it is no
man who
it
and yet the throwing and casting was in his own power; and thus i/i the beginning it was in the power of the unjust and the intemperate man not to become such and therefore they are so voluntarily but when they have become so, it is no longer in their own power to avoid being so."
it
; ;
not as ex-
soul's immortality.
System,
^
Book
I.
Ch.
xlv.,
and
Mosheim's Note.)
The
The
the
with the
new
religion in
is
Pelagian
controversy, that
preme Being.
stitutiones,
I. 5),
It
is
(Ancient Philosophy,
in holding that the soul
648)
ter
special
it
ex-
preme deity, affirms that the betpagan philosophers agree with them in this. " Aristotle," he says, " although he disagrees with himself, and says many things
that
are
self-contradictory, yet
testifies
mind
perishable.
who
and
denied
osopher of them
plainly
56
theory of
life.
Hence we
are,
are justi-
two systems
compara-
openly defends the doctrine of a divine monarchy, and denominates the supreme being, not
ether, nor reason, nor nature, but
gods,
upon
single divinities
as he
is,
him
this perfect
and admirable
And
Cicero
and worship are dependent?'" Augustine takes the same ground (De Civitate Dei, IV. 24, 25, 31 VIL 6.). Plato (Euthyphron, 6.
b. c) represents Socrates as
asking
him the
on
supreme being, in
the Laws.
his treatise
Furthermore,
when
he
Euthyphron: " Do you then think that there is in reality war among the gods one with another, and fierce enmities and battles, and
he argues that the world is governed by this supreme deity Nothin the following manner
gods,
:
many
'
ing
is
more
it
therefore
must be
that the
and with representations of which by good painters the temples have been decorated ? Must we
say that these things are true,
world is governed by him. Hence god is not obedient or subject to any other existence of any kind consequently, he governs all other existences.' What god is, he thus
;
Euthyphron ? "
The charge of
his
On
be
Consolaare
'
The
deity
whom we
theism.
Plutarch (De
sera nu-
speaking of cannot
defined
otherwise than as a free and unrestrained intelligence (mens soluta quaedam, et libera), distinct
the singular or
from
all
mortal concretion
or
the mythological gods, Jupiter, Apolas subordinate to a higher power, and not as sharing a divided empire over the world.
lo, etc.,
He
also speaks of
Seneca
also,
who was
man
stoics,
how
:
often does he
For a
ence
full
account of the
differ-
For
when he
is
speaking of premature
'
death he says
Cudwokth's
I.
Intellec-
tual System,
iv.
24, et passim;
I.
5T
by
all
secondary and
upon
is
Christianity.
oui'
A third
advantage in confining
attention
to these
two systems,
evident
upon
testing each
by
the great
In reference to
There
is
as mind, in dis-
tinction
origin of ideas
But
Ch.
ii;
;
Stillingfleet's Origines
Sacrae
Grotii
De veritate
;
Chris-
tianae religionis
tutiones
;
Episcopii Insti-
Horsley's Prophecies
The
ii.
devils are
19.)
among
monotheists (James,
there
is
Harvey's Preliminary Essay to Irenaeus Gladstone's Homer, H. 1 sq. Morgan's Trinity of Plato and PhiNagelsbaou's Holo, p. 93 sq.
; ;
great condemning
if,
in the doctrine,
as
case with
pagan world, "when they knew God, they glorified him not as God " (Rom. i. 21).
tlio
58
INFLUENCE OF PHILOSOPHICAL
SYSTEJIS.
of Plato and
and
lie
same
;
of
moral law
reality of right
and wrong.
that
The
man
and
Noticing
who
passes from
but
is all
the while
and
'
spiritualism.^
distinguished from
Nature],
p.
same
(1)
Ar-
sophy."
Plato's
arguments
is
against
the
philosophy, viz.
tle,
Logic (Aristo-
Eleatic
School, which
asserted
as true as anothis
(Aristotle, Politics)
no absolute
carefully
truth at
p. 75.
(6) Aristotle
generally^
like
Plato,
ground of all things, science, and that this universal principle upon which
ultimate
alone,
is
from
ulty
is
the
all
ideas of reason,
which
latter fac-
indifferently
denominated
writers.
vovs or bidvoia
by both
duction"]
is
necessary, and
not
Aristotle,
(3) Plafirst
so
wide a separation
between
sought
this
necessary
ground or
;
and Aristotle
at least
it
only apparent, or
as distinguished
is
gent] matter,
[i.
e.
of subordinate interest.
Upon
all
59
The metliod
tlie
of eacli
tlie
is
indeed
different, thougli
matter remains
same.
And
inasmucli as
it is
upon looking too exclusively at men and schools at the end of the line, and after this difference between the two methods has been aggravated and exaggerated by time and mental temperaments, he is strongly inclined to believe, that there must be an essential diversity between the two systems themselves. The synthesis and poetry of Plato, for illustration, at one extreme, become Gnosticism, while the analthe divergence of
ysis
and
logic of Aristotle, at
become extravagant subtilty, and minute ScholasAnd inasmuch as but little resemblance ticism. can be traced between Gnosticism and Scholasticism,
it
is
be no
which they sprang, and by the abuse of which they came into existence. For we shall find that the
evil
phil-
unanimcoin-
yet
so
much,
I think,
may
be
"With this,
Cudworth
cides.
"Though
the genius of
and
others)
these
ent,
philosophies are
tellectual
tlie
System,
I.
Ed.)
60
and
its sole
employment
system.
in philosophizing
upon
Christianity,
of the system
which served to
alone.
fill
out and
In this way,
and Aristotelianism,
^both sys-
contributing to
With
we
pass to consider the extent to which these philosophies have prevailed in the church, and the
esti-
held.
2.
Philosophy at
the time
of the Advent.
At
was
cor-
ruption.
Philosophy, like
other departments of
human
condition of mankind,
was
at
extensively prevalent
is
61
character
is
more
easily
by
the masses.
Epicureanism
when
and with
least resistance,
from
religion,
when the Eternal Word became and dwelt among men, the system that exupon the nobler class of minds The Jewish Philo, and the Pagan
are representatives of a class
men
who
could
and Sensualism in speculation. We cannot call them Platonists in the strictest use of the term; for Philo and Plutarch were New-Platonists,^ and Pliny was of the Stoic school. Still, employing the term in a wide signification, to denote a great
philosophical tendency opposed
to
Epicureanism
and Sensualism, these men belonged to one and the same general division in philosophy, that of the
Grecian Theism.
had
degenerated
has
'
side of ethics
much
in
common with
tem,
Mosheim com-
62
in the century
was moulding the minds of the most thoughtful and earnest men, and that these
men, although a very small minority, yet like such
minorities
generally,
were destined
to
exert
greater influence
3.
Pliihsophy in
the Apologetic
Period : A. D.
YOA.
D. 254.
we
find the
fol-
lows
Philosophy
tarch s, Pliny s,
is
now
In
Plu-
it
The
;
and
Philos,
and
little
or nothing to do
In this period,
we
been adopted
by the
is
Pagan
it
now more
secular
more
legit-
The
PHILOSOPHY
IN"
63
wMcli we are speaking, in attacking Christianity while the ecclesiastical mind employs it to repel
theii' attacks.
curean
Platonism/
and Porph}Ty was a New-Platonist and the substance of the attack upon Christianity, in this period,
latter
minds.
is
The consequence
own
higher purposes.
He
Platonic
natural religion
rean,
that
all
it
undermine
and
therefore insists,
and with
it
is
of revealed truth.^
Neandee (I.
by
that
means
work
could
with
greatest
confidence
and encounter
it
but also
they
of
wig-Af-
be understood, would,
serve most plausibly
all others,
to defend the
The
the
approached nearest to Christianity and the truth (however, it might by accident therefore prove
heathen
idolatry.
deities,
and the
folly of
64
tlie
correct,
but whether
it
was
that
man needed
first princi-
ples of ethics
valid,
and natural
religion are
is
true and
able to secure
a question which
skepticism and
as
gist
moment,
much
as
it
did in the
first
man philosophy, the Greek theism, upon being brought into the church and employed in defending
Christianity, received a
more exact
definition,
it
and
a more
legitimate
application,
than
obtained
which
totle.
was first promulgated by Plato and ArisLet any one examine the philosophical po-
and even that earnest hater of philosophy Tertullian, and he will see that
sitions of Justin, Origen,
there
is
much
closer
and
Aristotle, than
between these
latter
skeptics.
was
65
rendering
the
the
was enlarged by deductions that were illegitimate, and by additions that were alien to its true meaning and substance
Hence
so that
human system
re-
sulted
is
The
difference
between Pla-
the
system.
Bacon (Advance-
been often overlooked, notwithstanding that writers of high authority have directed attention to
it.
Bruckek
II.
(Historia Philoso-
Hence
it
hath
come
first
phiae
ma
Platonicum adulterandum, et
aliis
but in
sci-
rupteth.
we
see,
artillery,
tonis imagine
Nie-
sailing, printing,
grossly
managed
but
re-
in
saying, that
"the
which Newtowards Christianity introduced something downright untrue into the Platonic philosophy, which was now made to prop up paganism." Besides this motive which the New-Platonic skeptic found in
[hostile] relation in
Platonism placed
itself
system as taught by the disciple, who is always an inferior mind compared with the originator of
and by time degenerate and embased whereof the reason is no other, but that in the formersmany wits and industries havecontributed in one and in thelatter, many wits and industries' have been spent about the wit of some one, whom many times' they have rather depraved than illustrated." The opposition of New-Platonism to Christianity,
first,
;
66
The
period
fact
tlien, in
relation
to
the Apologetic
is,
was the dominant philosophy, so far as the theologian made any use of human speculation. To use the smmnary conclusion of Baumgarten-Crusius,
"
the chiu'ch adhered to Platonism, notmthstanding the varied and injurious influences that were ex-
all
which was not only the most extensively to be most akin, in its
^
con-
siderable influence
as a system sufficient to
meet the
Coleridge (Works V. 267) remarks that, " from the confounding of Plotindivines
fell
by
Porpliyry,
Julian,
(2)
Proclus,
and Plotinus.
By exaggerated
pagan
as
.sketches of distinguished
in
the
such
anticipa-
Jambliohus's
Philostratns's
of Pythagoras,
of Apolloni'is
were but
is
its
echoes.
which The
life
inference
table,
as perilous as inevi-
of Tyana.
(3)
By
f )rged writings
Biblical
containing
some
errors,
ideas
to
teries of
needed no
mixed with
which were
aided reason."
'
with reference to
this latter
Dograengeschichte,
I.
13.
67
may be
It was,
how-
ever, the
So
Aristotelianism
is
concerned,
was, as
we have
but so
far
work
the
in the general
mind
of this period
it
now began
for
by the leading
ecclesias-
minds.
Platonic spirit
elsewhere, were
telianism, as
particulai'ly
But the writings themselves of Aristotle were not much known, and as a consequence both adherents and opponents proceeded
understood
it.
from an
the
imperfect apprehension
of
his
system.
centuries Aristotelianism
was almost
sy-
nonymous
mth
sophistry,
"
and
hair-splitting.
Ire-
characteristic of Aristotelian-
Tei-tullian,
who
The
illis
fact
seems
14.
lem qui
!
dialecticam instituit,
"Minutiloquium,etsubtilitas circa
quaestiones, Aristotclicum est."
^
artificem
struendi et destruendi
versipcllem,
tractiintcm,
taverit."
omnia
ne quid oinnino
re-
De
praescriptionibus haeretivii.
trac-
corum,
68
to have
been
tliat
2d
and 3d
retical
centuries,
was employed
by
the he-
mind/ merely
Among
4.
Philosophy in
the
Polemic Period.
D. TSO.
A. D. 254
A.
we
find the
philo-
As
the ecclesiastical
mind now
became more scientific than in the Apologetic age, it was natural that the Platonic philosophy should be still better understood, so that we find the
vagueness and fancifulness of New-Plat onism gradually disappearing, and giving place to a
more
cor-
The
of this
"
the Pla-
good deal with mathematics, dialectics, and criticism with the philosophy of Aristotle, and with Theophrastus TVe perceive here the different
selves a
monism."
Neander
I.
581.
69
by the
aspirations
lie
awakened during
discovered, as Plato
by anything
hu-
man.
"
"writers,"
he
says, " I
said,
desire,
'
Come
me
all
I vsdll
give you
In his Confessions, he
him
by
insuffi-
ciency to
thus displayed,
of
For
it
is
one
he
says, in that
deep-toned eloquence of
which
" for it is
and
find
strive
towards
it,
deserters,
and another
my
soul,
'
He read Plato
lation.
*
Confessions
Vn.
ix.
Augustine (Confessions,
VIL
God
is
ix) discriminates
lightening every
man
that comi.
9),
He
finds the
flesh died
TO
The
Polemic period.
called
closely connected
soul.
The
doctrine of innate
In
those
that
ex-
theologians
who
the final creed-statement, had been disciplined the Greek intellectual methods.
by
Athanasius, Basil,
and the two Gregories, were themselves of Greek extraction, and their highly metaphysical intellects
had been trained in Grecian schools. Athanasius was a reverent student of Origen, though by no means a servile recipient of all of Origen's opinions
'
Confessions,
VII.
I
xxi.
"
To
(a
Simplicianus
spiritual
then
went, the
father of
Ambrose
had not
fallen
upon
bishop now),
and
whom Am-
wanderings.
tioned that I
To full of fallacies and deceits afmazes of my tor the rudiments of this world, But when I men- whereas the Platonists many had read cert ir.\ ways lead to the belief in God,
"Word."
Confessions,
books of the Platonists, whL^i'^'^Vnd His rheti^ V^^^ylH. ii. Victorinus, sometime
professor at
da
^^
71
and Basil, Gregory Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianzen, were thorouglily versed in classical antiquity. Such
a discipline as
tliis
was
felt
But
as
we
we
put
is
upon Platonism,
mind
is
and
In con-
of Christ, the
mind of an Athanasius
compelled
definition,
and
which has perhaps even more affinity with the dialectic spirit and method of Aristotle, than with
that of Plato.
tion, at a
illustra-
commonly
Symholum Quicumque.
A few positions
'Dans
Chretiens
Lkib-
Theodicee, Ed.
Erdmann,
use of the
p. 481.
The
heretical mind, in
vogue
alors.
Feu
made
Aristotelian
logic.
Aetius, the
m6me
Sookates
Eccl.
Ilist. II.
xxxv.
Y2
taken from
ical
should contain
to
employ that niceness of discrimination, and sharpness of distinction, which is so characteristic of the
Aristotelian system.
"
This
is
that
in a trinity,
and a
trinity
in a unity.
Here the
logical concep-
and
distinguished.
the person of
one
of the
Holy
son
"
Spirit is one."
is
" essence,"
persons.
of
by the affirmation that there are three But of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the divinity is one, the glory
"
Such
as is the Father,
Holy
Spirit.
The Father
is
is
un-
created, the
Son
is
uncreated.
The Father
is infinite.
is infinite,
the Son
is infinite,
the Spirit
is eternal,
The Father
is eternal,
the Son
the
Holy
Spirit is eternal."
the persons
enunciated.
"
And
eter-
beingy
sence "
is
but one uncreated and one infinite Here, the conception of " being " or " esdiscriminated again from that of " person,"
by the
but one
being.
Y3
No
tliese state-
ments involving such logical conceptions as "confusion," " division," " essence," " person," etc., or can
follow
tlie
other,
mind had not derived this subtlety fi'om the study of Aristotle in any very formal manner, it had nevertheless felt the influence of that close and powerful method which is to be seen in the more dialectic dialogues of Plato, and which was carried to a still greater energy of abstraction, and power
of analysis, in the writings of his successor.^
In this manner,
we
think, the
combined system
said to have
of Platonico-Aristoteliamsm
may be
when
entire
were forming.
We
do
works of Aristotle were translated, commented upon, and taught by distinguished men in
the church, during this period, as
next.
we
shall in the
So
far as a text
was
still
were beginning to
be-
We
dialectics as sharp
ting,
made
lian
and a metaphysics
los?;ic.
Augustine,
i)assing in
or TTegel.
review his early studies, and contrasting the meagreness and in-
74
ginnings
reaches
that
formal
Aristotelianism
wliich
its
may be
traced in
mind
in this contro-
human knowledge
and understood
it
IV. xvi)
"What
scarce
did
it
profit
me, that
twenty
call-
"
name
hung, as on something
in
the
church
my
rhetoric
CHAPTER
II.
1.
Platonism of
the
Mystic Theologians.
Jolm Damascene to the Reformation, we enter into a sphere of more intense pliilosophical activity than any in the history of the church. Even the speculative movement of the
extendino; from
German mind
though
it
for the
last
halfcentury, confined
become
Prob-
which Scripture and theology will be contemplated so exclusively from a philosophical point of view
in
76
and overmas-
We
are, therefore,
and hence
it
In the outset
relation to
it
may be
remarked, as
it
was in
as formed and fixed by Plato and was the prevalent system. We shall indeed find here and there tendencies to a pantheistic philosophy in individual minds but the weight and authority of both intellectual and moral character is almost entirely upon the side of the Grecian theism. But instead of the collocation employed in speaking of the two previous periods, we must now change the position of the two philosophies, and say that the general philosophical system of this Scholastic period was Anstotelo-Platonism^ instead of Platonico-Aristotelianism. The basis of speculation was now the Aristotelian analysis, with more or less of the Platonic synthesis superinduced and interfused while in the Apologetic and Polemic periods, the ground form was the Platonic idea, more or less analyzed and cleared up by the Aristotelian conception. But in both cases, it was the one general system of theism and spiritual-
Greek philosophy,
Aristotle,
ism, as
naturalism,
and sensualism.
detecting the presence
we had
,,
77
For we find
In
tlie
:
it
formally
and
distinctly existing.
first
half of the
Systematizing period,
cus to
viz.
stiU
wane
before
Platonism, says
by formal and
established Aristotelianism
It
is,
re-
which affirms Ages men were given up solely to the Aristotelian philosophy. The foundation of An-
marks
selm's
mode
free
was a
itself
Platonism in the
Augustine.^
Theology.
analysis
and
form
men
satisfaction, in contem-
and
religion,
than in
Hagenbach
DogmengeRittkk:
phie,
VII.
schichto,
150;
Ge-
Cbusius:
97.
1.
Battmgarten70 Dogmengeschichte, I.
;
78
pliilosopliizing
upon tliem, especially iu tliat extremely analytic manner in which the mind of the Such men discovered in the period delighted. and more particularly in the writings of Plato,
more
ethical
and
a philosophy that
plative, they
cast of
mind, and favoured their contemplative disposition. But although they were predominantly contem-
must
who
a]3peared in the
who
tific spirit
con-
whom we
are speaking,
and
whom
w^e
have so denominated
was dominant in the schools so that while by their -writings and teachings they helped to check the excessive subtilty and speculation of the period, by keeping in view the more practical and contem;
plative
selves
of
'
reliscion,
and
PLATONISM OF
TIIE MYSTIC
THEOLOGIANS.
Y9
For it is important to discriminate between tlie two species of Mysticism which appeared not only in the Middle Ages, but appear more or less in In itself, and al^stractly considered, every age. Mysticism was a healthful reaction against the extremely speculative character of Scholasticism.
served to direct attention to the fact that religion
It
is
life,
as well as a truth.
that
all
Christian
dogma
is
genuine Christian
is
no
trust-
worthy
grounded in
The mystic
of this species disparaged discriminating and accurate statements of biblical doctrine, and
scientific
The first
Mystic Scholastics,
by a contemplative and
method; yet not to the entire exclusion of the speculative and scientific. Such men were Bernard (f 1153), Hugh St. Victor (f 1141), Richard
Victor (f 1173), William of (t 1121), Bonaventura (f 1274).
St.
all
Champeaux
the pas-
Latin
Christianity,
iii.
Book XIY.
Milman
Chap.
80
who
rejected, in
common
The
representative of the
Erigena (f 880),
from
the use of a
De
Representatives of the
second subdivision are Eckart (f 1329), and Ruysbrock (f 1384), who likewise laj^sed into pantheistic
side,^
by
the rejection of
all logical
feelings
and
and
conceptions.
Scholastics
who partook
Some
:
were the
deus
fuit,
fol-
lowing
cito
Quani
cito
tam
est
mundimi
creavit.
Deus
est.
formaliter
omne quod
Nos
homini justo et divino. Propter hoc iste homo operatur, quidquid deus operatur, et creavit una cum deo coelum et terram, et est generator Verbi aeterni et deus
;
convertimur in eum, simili modo sicut in sacramento panis convertitur in corpus Ohristi.
et
schichte, 505.
divinae
81
of both.
catholic system.
The
and the doctrine of justification, in particular, were misconceived and The best representatives sometimes overlooked.
piacular
work
of
this
class
are
Von
Colin
(f 1329),
Tauler
(t 1361), Suso (t 1365), Gerson (f 1429), Thomas k Kempis (f 1471), and the author of the work
which goes under the title of " Theologia Germanica." These writers, though the harbingers of
the Reformation, and in general sympathy with the
evangelical system, are not complete representatives
2.
But while there was this very considerable amount of Platonism in the Systematic period, Aristotle's method was by far the most influential. The Cnisades had opened a communication with the East, and had made the Western Church acquainted with the Arabic translations of Aristotle, and commentaries upon him. The study of Aristotle commenced with great vigor, and notwithstanding the
prohibition of the church, the system of the Stagirite
neb's
Hugo
St. Victor.
82
took possession of
of all
hibits
tlie
leading minds.
in
its
Scholasticism
form.
Minds
(f 1280), and Thomas Aquinas (f 12T4), employ the Aristotelian analysis in the defence of the traditional orthodoxy of the church.
for the faith of the
Their reverence
when it
revelation
so that although
we
tings
intense
we
discern in
ism.
of pantheism or naturalprinciples
of ethics, and
Christian theism, have found no more powerful defenders than the great Schoolmen of the thirteenth
century.
But this moderation in the use of Aristotle's method did not long continue. In the 14th century and onward, we find a class of Schoolmen who are characterized by more or less of departure from the doctrines of revelation, and an extreme subtilIt is from izing and refinement in ratiocination.
this class that Scholasticism
its
bad reputation
in
modern
Minds
like
Duns Scotus (f
1347), and Gabriel 1308), Biel (f 1495),^ not content with analysing truth
Occam (f
down
'
Compare the
and
lively
by Milman
Latin Christianity,
iii.
83
for
were
them no strictly first principles, but everything must undergo division and subdivision indefinitely/
Distinctions without differences, innumerable distinctions that
had no existence
things,
An
;
influx of bar-
distinction.
Dialectic ingenuity
was expended
" Is it
in
possible questions.
:
Such queries
as the following
were raised
God
God
the Son
Is it possible for
God
to substitute
ass, for
a gourd, for a
flint
Then, again,
says
Erasmus,
"innumerable
quibblings
relations,
and
formalitations,
and
'
quiddities,
and
haecceities,
"
Bon," remarks
rea-
'
Pol.
things do utterly overthrow reaIn every kind of knowledge some such grounds there are, as that being proposed, the mind doth presently embrace them as
son.'
Book
selves
Chap,
viii),
;
apparent
make
nothing
away
all
possibility of
knowing
is
free
ror,
from
clear
all
possibility of
er-
anything.
And
and
manifest
with-
mark of Theophrastus
out proof."
84
follow out
lynx, wliioli
it
is
said to
be
able,
iu
the
thickest
^
The
analysis
14t}i
its
The Aristotelian
the
logic
and
now
persistent manner,
dogmas
of the
:iribrded
Papd
oppor-
Church,
it.
o'L
Such doctrines
sins
as abso-
by
and
par-
In his reasoning, he
stance of Aristotelianism.
The
logic of Aristotle
his metaphysics
and
all
and only
make
intellect of the
to
defend
Thus we find, in the 14th century. the system of Aristotle employed in the same onesided and merelv formal manner in which we have
have defended.
^
Erasmt
Stultitiae Ls:i.^
85
2d and 3d
sense,
being
3.
Literature.
But
and
not
last,
this
intellect,
Even
in
dis-
of which
tics,
we have spoken,
warm
devoutness
of the
period.
Such men
as
Von
Colin (tl329), Tauler (f 1361), and Henry Suso (f 1365), with much less of that scientific spirit
which we have seen to have coexisted with the contemplative tendency in the Bernards and St. Victors,
Sermons
and
tracts
86
by k Kempis, were composed and spread abroad, during the close of the 14th and beginning
of the 15th centuries.
We
dawn
more contemplative method, and a more devout and practical apprehension and use of Christian doctrine.
by
15th centuries.
tonists
who awakened
tures
a wonderful enthusiasm
by
his lec-
Academy.
Though the
its
were favorable to a
of
Papal system.^
is
The
Italian literature
also
'
tablished at Florence by
Academy esCosmo
de Medici, who placed Ficinus at the head of it, was much involved in New-Platonism. Its apprehension of Christianity was very
inadequate, and
its
Pagan
for
the
doctrine
of Redemption."
See Haefobd's
I.
leaders,
had
ARISTOTELIANISM.
87
Boccaccio
his friend
what
is
more noticeable
still,
from the
of
came
age.
Sidney,
all,
Herbert,
either directly
less
from
them.
In the
13th
century,
Dante
(f 1321) composed a poem which from beginning to end is luminous and distinct with the metaphysics of Aquinas, and the abstraction of Aristotle.
This
poem
;
also, like
Papacy
is
uous and
within the
Papal church
of
the
itself,
16th
century.
The
English Wickliffe
(f 1384), the "morning star" of Protestantism, had been trained up in the most rigorous scholasticism.
He was
intense
most
dialecticians
the
14th century.
ac-
88
writings of Augustine,
self
tlie
The
influence
of these studies
inalism of
apparent.
He
rejected the
nomthe
life,
From
religious
and
He
promotion of the
political
and educational
(f 1400) exerted that wonderfully creative and vivifying influence upon the English mind, lan-
yet
And
whole
Baxjmgabten-Okusius
Dogmengeschichte,
I.
115.
CHAPTER
III.
1.
We
down
to the
two cognate philosophical systems of Plato and Aristotle, upon Christian theology. The Reformers were Platoyiico- Aristotelian^ so far as they employed any system of human speculation. In this age we find the basis reversed from
of the
what
two The
was during the Systematic period, and perceive the same general order and proportion of the
it
elements, that
theological
we saw
in the
Polemic period.
mind once more proceeds from the contemplative and practical side of the Grecian
its
theism, as
its
con-
90
troversies, especially,
logic
and
analysis.
than a
scientific one,
and we do not
find his
mind
human
science.
The abuse
Scotuses, the Occams, and the more Biels, and the employment of it in the defence of the formalism and ungodliness of the Papacy, excited in his mind such a strong aversion
Aristotelian,
still
by the
to Aristotle, that he
ably, to
liis
is said,
sound of
the Greek
had not been a man, he should have taken him to be the devil himself. But the deep and real sentiment of Luther, in regard to philosophy, as well as in regard to revelation itself, must be derived from
a comparison of
all his
be taken
exponent of
his ulterior
modern
inspired
really
is,
rationalist,
who
insists
Canon to the
as
tests of
an individual opinion,
the Epistle of James
he claims to be, a
who threw
Apocalypse.
But
As Luther
did
91
whose normal
human mind,
to
to
be employed
revelation.
itself,
in building it
Even
in
reference
he remarks
read
do not
reject everything
in these
visible
very
and marked.
whole
intellectual
method is the spontaneous product of a pure and genial sympathy with the philosophy of the Academy. Calvin, though less intensely and distinctively Platonic, because his mind was naturally more logical and dialectic, and this tendency had been strengthened by his early legal studies, exhibits a symmetrical union of the two systems whose
influence
first five
we
are describing.
first
No
chapters of the
book of the
nia probo.
LtrrnER's Works,
I.
92
had
itself
been formed
and
moulded, so far
2.
PJiilosopTiy
of
tlie
English
and Anglo-
American Churches.
Respecting the prevalence of Platonism and
Aristotelianism since the time of the Reformation,
ment.
divines,
Hooker
as
and
Howe
of the
we
any age of the church moulded the theological mind more pervasively and thoroughly, than in this instance. In Baxter and Owen, both of whom
were
also
we
perceive
more of the
system.^
to practical divinity,
no books so suited
as
with
my
Aquinas, Scotus,
Simon Grynaeus, the famous Platonist, was one of the most intimate friends and associates of
Calvin.
Durandus, Occam, and their disciples because I thought they narrowly searched after truth, and brought things out of the dark;
ness of confusion.
For
could
never from
my
first
studies en-
93
mind has
originated,
owes
its
Re-
and 19th
in
we
briefly
the Platonicoall
Aristotelian system.
reflection, if
a sensuous system,
and brings
it
was the
en-
The French
upon Locke's affirmation respecting the source of all ideas, and built up a system from which all spiritual ideas and
tury put this
strict construction
The Scotch
philosophers,
thought
till
equivocals
were explained, and definition and distinction led the way, I had
rather hold
could
and
learned
when
things,
about unexpounded
it, and see the parts and the conjunction of the parts, as they make up the whole. Distinction and method seemed to me of that necessity, that without them I could not he said to know and the disputes that forsook them, or abused
anatomize
distinctly,
and Times,
the Quid
ait,
or the
94
from "sensation,"
as
tlie
source of that
The system
school,
of Locke, as interpreted
itself
by the French
run
The
though
inlet of
only
by
making
it
pendent
knowledge.
theologies of the
felt
the influence of
Scotch school
religious
while
practical
spirit,
which
has
characterized
these
elements that
quarter of
still
remained in
it.
During the
last
the
present century,
both countries
have
felt
whose history we have been delineathat is growing deeper and stronger, and from which, if not allowed to become extreme to the neglect of the theological and pracelder system
ting,
an
interest
tical
religious
interests
of
the church
and the
may be
95
3.
Philosophy of
the
German
Church.
A very important
in the
and
influential
movement of
German theology
first
and the
We
it
are
in
we have
yet to see
its final
One
is
method of
theo-
logizing, it is
The Germanic mind has been influenced during by two entirely antagonistic systems of human speculation, that of Theism, and that of Pantheism. The former, as we have seen, has come down from Plato and Aristotle the latter, though not unknown to the ancient world, yet received its first scientific construction in the mind
the last hundred years,
The
in philosophy,
European mind
deep
par-
and of the
it
theological controversies
tially abated,
which followed
had
showed
itself in
tems of Des Cartes, Leibnitz, Wolff, and K^ott, All these systems are substantially thrvith the imreject
Sts
less
danger-
96
INFLUENCE OF PHILOSOPHICAL
SYSTEJIS.
mark tlie distinction between finite and inThey are all of them, in greater or finite Being. less degree, influenced by the systems of Plato
strongly
and
Aristotle,
and are
in the
same general
line of
philosophical speculation.
foundation for
But the deep and solid pantheism that had been laid by
upon
it,
Spinoza, and the imposing architectural superstructure which he himself had reared
origin to another,
gave
and
tendency and system of speculation. For although Des Cartes, Leibnitz, and Kant differ from each
and upon important points, yet their systems are all theistic, and therefore favorable to the principles of ethics and natural religion. The sysother,
They
;
are fundamen-
and
scientifically pantheistic
fii'st
principles of morals
By
only one Intelligence, only one Being, they annihilate all the fixed lines
and
distinctions of theism,
distinctions
like
physixial reality of an
fate, fi'om
each
and
irreconcilable op-
mind
of Ger-
influenced
by the
earlier
Germanic
97
it
and more
it
especially so far as
lias
the influence of
tlie
systems themselves,
theism, and
its
be traced primarily
life
itself,
to
to
the
re-
demption.
The
existence of a living,
and
practical
experience of
New
ly favored or hindered
by
if
it,
but upon
far deeper
it
and more
its
practical causes.
At
make
two such
an arid and
that system
frigid deism, or
ism,
it
which does not annihilate the first principles of ethics and practical morality, and which, if it does
not
the
accej^t a
human
An
sists
unevangelical,
though
serious-minded
Lord
in-
who
mutable
and
^vrong,
is
a less danger-
98
ous enemy to
theist,
gospel, tlian
an unevangelic pan-
who
and
all
by
affirming that
God
is
stance,
that has
been,
is,
and
manifestation.^
On
fied
looking at the
scientific
theology of Gerit
modi-
by both of these two great philosopical tenThe two systems of theism and pantheism
and intensity unequalled
;
mind
of
Germany
of opinions and
'
Even
in the
anti-
tive mind.
The numis
sometimes mediated and facilitated by the temporary reception of deistical views in the '' Mr. place of pantheistic ones.
tianity,
as
her
ble
who
Ballantine,"
says
the
Report,
which are instructive, and, for the most part, encouraging. (1.) The
progress of
deistical
and
is
principles
it
Hindooism
an
effect of education,
and
99
or spiritual
school, this
sition
is
between
be
seen.
tlie historical
to
The theology
it
upon
upon
Its
all
is char-
acterized
by a
Hence, while
we
per that
Christianity,
we
In
fact, this
phenomenon
in
the whole
Schleiermacher's definition of
feeling of deInfinite,"
religion, as
creation of
the world.
does
But
in a correspondence
with the
Speaking of the Mosaic account of creation, he remarks: "Jene ganze Frage setzt einen zeitlichen Anfang der Welt schon als entschieden voraus, allein unser nnmittelbares Abhangigkeitsgefuhl
findet in dieser
1850 (Heft
158-9), Schleierma-
Annahme
Schtipfung
is
keine
als in
cher expressly asserts, in answer to the inquiry of his correspondent, that the existence of this feel-
bestimmtere Befriedigung
einen
ewigen
der
Welt."
This quotation
not to
be found in the Berlin edition of 1852 but on page 200 (Vol. I.)
;
should be personal.
(Miinscher
following
it is
remarked, that
it is
indiffer-
from
(Glaubenslehre,
42), in
proof
adopted.
100
the phenomedistinctively
pantheistic, instrumental at
more
spiritual and Having served this purpose, however, its work is done, and it cannot, as the course of thinking now going on in Germany itself plainly indicates, con-
but must either be adopted in all its logical consequences, and thereby become the destruction of
evangelical religion, or else be rejected
and
left
ar-
New
it
was
instrumental,
in initiating.
by
The
final
ment of the German mind, must be held in reserve, until the final issue appears. The estimate which
the futm'e historian will form of
it, will be determined according as the German Church of the future shall draw nearer to the symbols of the Reformation, or shall recede fiu'ther fi-om them. But the same may be said of GeiTiian theologizing, that has been remarked of theoloo-ical science in the former
periods,
it
and in other
it
countries,
viz
that so
fai*
as
totelian systems,
ples
BOOK SECOND.
HISTORY
APOLOGIES.
LITEEATUEE.
TzsCHiBNER GescMchte der Apologetik (unfinished). RoszLER Bibliothek der Kircheu-Viiter. RiTTER Gescliiclite der Christlicben Philosopbie, I, 289-564. Ersch und Gruber Eucyklopadie (Artikel Apologetik).
: : :
:
Tholuck
Kayb
Ueber Apologetik (Vermischte Scbriften, I. 149-373), Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian.
: :
Bolton
of
its
:
Lechler Geschicbte des Englischen Deismus. Hagenbach: Kircbengeschichte des 18 und 19 Jahrhunderts. Leland View of the principal Deistical Writers.
:
Schlosser
translated by
Davison.
CHAPTER
I.
1.
Preliminary Statements.
is
The
History of Apologies
As we
proceed,
we
we
endeavour to har-
The
history of the
whence
to derive a true
philosophy
of Christianity.
As we
pass
same
replies are
made.
we
observe so striking
proverb that
man
is
the same
104
Infidelity
is
HJSTOEY OF APOLOGIES.
the same over and over again
forms,
it is
reap-
pearing in
new
appears, like
new
identical
with
itself, it
statements,
and
elicits
makes very much the same very much the same replies.
At
is
can be distinguished.
fidelity
;
at another
epicurean naturalism
in
At one time it is deistic inpantheistic. At one time an is the warm and steaming soil,
;
which
it
at another a frigid
and
is
intellectual rationalism.
And
Like meets
form of errour
is
counteracted
and
conflict rolls
onward.
period,
we
very proper-
ly denominated the
Age
of Apologies.
Christian
work
to be performed
by the
to repel attacks.
af-
system of
scrip-
its
apolo-
PEELIMLNARY STATEMENTS.
getic effort,
105
and
indirect, thougli
is
Judaism and Judaism held the doctrine of a special in common with Christianity, and conseit
raised
were of a
special
dif-
by a Pagan
The
philos-
and
attacks
upon
He did not,
it
pagan
but because
final
and conclusive than that first and ancient form whose authority he believed to be valid, and which he supposed was to be entfrely annihilated by the new religion. Hence the question between the Judaistic skeptic and the Christian apologist involved the whole subject of the relation of the New to the Old
Dispensation.
The Pagan opponent of Christianity, on the other hand, received neither the Old nor the
New
and
Testament as a divine revelation, and the objections which he urged related to the possibility,
reality of
any
special
106
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
It is to tliese
and
tlie
re})lies
apologist, that
we now
2.
Ehionite Skepticism^
first
and Christian
replies.
The
Old
Testa-
somewhat conflicting statements of the early fathers, was the The apostate Jewish-Christian of the 2d century. Jewish-Christian, originally evangelical, had by this
The
time lapsed
down
work
nature of Cln-istianity.
He
At the
'E/^icovdtoi
Se
o^oXoyoOo-t
top
to bo a
Kofffxov viTo
virgin
tion.
vai,Ta8( jv(p\Tbv\pi(TToi>6n(nu)STa
KT;piV3a)
XXX.
Km
3) represents
them
as regarding
Irenaeus: Adv. Ilaor. I. xxii.Ed. Harvoy. There seems to liavo been some variety in the views of the
Ebionites respecting the grade of
Ohrist's
him
ted
before
all
other
creatures,
being;
some regarding
exalted orea-
him
as a
much more
in
Orioen (Cont. Oelsum,V. Gl) distingni.shes two classes of El)ionites, one of which admitted the supernatural birth of Christ, and
the other denied
class
it
;
But
all
of
but neither
deity.
them agreed
and
admitted
his
One
ErsE-
portion,
27) describes
and that probably a small one, of the Ebionites were mystirather than literal in their
cal
REl'LIKri.
107
Mes-
same time,
he was
the
II(;
howcvc.-r,
he regarded JesuH as
;
tlie
Holy Spiiit, at the time of his baptism by John. made use of a Ilel^rew gosjx;!, now lost, which
witli
the omission
and
The remainder
of the
New
Testament canon he
genuine Christianity.
The Ebionite was thus pseudo- Jewish in all essential particulars. With the exception that he believed the Messiah to have made his appearance, and that Christ was he, he stood upon the same
position with the Pharisee
th(3
days of his
flesh,
found his
l>itterest enc^my.
of the
Old
cir-
view
Having
spirit.
by tho Apostolio
not
approaching
hut Namrenet,
Tlio Elcosaites
were
and existed down to tho rdoso of the 4th century. Comjiarc Nk-
Clirlntians
who
accepted
a.vdkr:
43
;
I.
fMl-.'ifjG;
(Jikimcke:
the evmiKeliral system, and at the same time adhered to their national ceremonial (as they
Oi.hhaijhen
xv. 1.
Commentary
on Acts
were
108
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
tlie
Ebi-
between
tlie
Christianity
On
the con-
tween them
so that one
its
was the
entire extinction
fibre.
of the other, to
He
New
now
enable us
by
The
Christ of the
as the
portraitures did
The person depictured in the four canonical Gospels was not the person described in the Jewish Scriptures. The Old Testament Messiah, the Ebionite contended, was not an incarnation of
a divine Person, but only a supernaturally born
The
Chi'ist of
was contradictory to the Old Testament conception of God. The divinity of Christ, it was contended, was incompatible with the monoonite asserted,
*
It will
be remembered that
who was
Testament,
EBIONITE SKEPTICISM,
AND CHKISTIAN
REPLIES.
109
The Ebionite
preferred
or as he
to
term
it,
the annulling of
the Old
tianity,
Testament
was
observance.
these objections proceeded from a defective
religion,
As
more
inward and
own
The moment
and
espe-
seen, its
essential
harmony with
catholic
Chris-
tianity
would appear, and the assertion of an irreconcilable hostility between the two systems would fall to the ground of itself. Hence the
Christian apologist replied as follows to the Ebio^
nite skeptic.
(1.)
The
:
apologist
was
it,
by such
sayings of
Our Lord
as
"
110
testify of me.
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me for lie wrote of me. But if ye believe not Ms writings, how shall ye believe my words" (John v. 39, 46, 47). He was also em;
by
by
Christ,
upon earth with his beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, he expounded unto them, in all the [Hebrew] Scriptures, the things concerning himself'' (Luke
when
disciples, "
xxiv. 27).
of a con-
ment and the Christ of the Gospels. The appeal was made directly to the Je^vish Scriptures, and
particularly to the prophecies in Isaiah respecting
promised Messiah.
The
monized
it
though he made
little
attempt
The second and further reply to the Ebionite was, that the Old Testament itself teaches and expects the future superseding of Judaism by Christianity, not however by annihilating that which was permanent and spiritual in Judaism, but by unfolding all this still more fully, and abro(2.)
EBIONITE SKEPTICISM,
gating only
tliat
it.
AND CHRISTIAN
REPLIES.
Ill
and
local in
which, was national, ceremonial The promise that all the nations
ham
description in
;
the prayer
upon a tender and contrite heart in comparison with a formal and hypocritical and the repeated assertion of offering of sacrifice Chiist that he came not to destroy, but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, all this set the Apologist upon the track of discovering the true relation of the two dispensations to each other, and imparted earnestness and confidence to the tone with which he made the counter-assertion. Furthermore, the terrible and unexpected dethe emphasis laid
;
was
all
cited
was destined to pass away. This was an argumeiitum adliominem that had, as such arguments generally have, even more weight than those which were drawn from a deeper source, and are of more value for all time. The actual demolition of the Jewish temple and overthrow of
the Jewish cultus, the destruction of a central
point where the nation could gather itself together
and maintain
antly cited
its religious
nationality,
and
its dis-
by the
112
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
one in
uments relating
to Ebionitism,
tions to Christianity,
sages
(3)
may be
seen to
some
Jew Trypho.
ticulars are
of the Messiah;
Elias
and
also
that
was
to be the precursor of
is
To
this Justin
to be observed.
by
to the
Jews on
ac-
foretold;
and
re-
ordinances,
its
sacrifices, its
commg, been
ac-
were designed
to counteract the
lived
who
lived
Sabbath, nor
offered
sacrifices,
although
to
them that they were righteous. (2) Trypho quotes Daniel vii, 9 to prove that the Messiah was to
be a great and glorious personage whereas the Messiah of the
;
and that before Christ's second advent, Elias would himself apFurthermore, Justin conpear. tends that the Messiah must have already come, because, after John the Baptist, no prophet had arisen among the Jews and they had lost their national independence
;
Trypho
calls
to
show, that
in
Christians
inglorious,
and fell under the extreme curse of the law. Justin's answer is, that the Scriptures of the Old Testament speak of two
whenunder-
ever in Scripture
appear to man,
God is we must
said to
GNOSTIC SKEPTICISM,
AKD CHKISTTAN
EEPLIES. 113
3.
Gnostic Skepticism^
and
Christian replies.
of op2iosition to Christianity,
period,
the Apologetic
which
also
like
New
to the
was a
to
as
when
at the
the
God appeared
to
Abraham
on account of his exact compliance with the Mosaic law, than to hazard the incredible assertion,
that
and to Joshua.
God
himself submitted to be
Jus-
show
er
Lord
and
8,
Creator of
the
and
i.
quotes Proverbs
26,
iii.
and Gen.
22, to
ence of Christ.
serts, that
Trypho
as-
was not to be born after the ordinary manner of men and Isaiah XXV, to show that the Messiah was to eflfect miraculous cures;
;
and Isaiah
vii,
which, he argues,
be recognized
and
He
Jewish teachers
(Christ) as
Trypho
at length says r
admit
passages of
Scripture
show
they
that even
who
it
tained
(6)
Trypho
New
which you have quoted apply to him and the name of .Jesus or Joshua, given to the son of Nun, inclines me somewhat to the opin;
Testament accounts respecting the birth of Christ could only be compared to the fables respecting the birth of Perseus from Danae, and the descent of Jupiter under the appearance of a shower of gold. It would be better at once
Messiah
upon the
cross, the
death of tliose
who
by
the law
me
with perplexity.'*
; ; ;
114
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
Tlie
tlie
same fundacontroversy
and in
which resulted as we have seen in the clear exhibition of the connection between Judaism and
Christianity,
was a reply to the Gnostic. The limits of this work do not, of course, permit amorphous system of .a detailed account of that speculation which sprang up in the second and
Justin answers that the curse applied only to
crucified
those
who were
;
on account of their personal transgressions whereas Christ was sinless, and submitted
to this ignominious death, in obe-
a thousand years in Jerusalem, which would be rebuilt, beauHe appeals tified, and enlarged.
in support of his opinion to Isaiah,
he might rescue the human race from the penalty due to their sins. Then, after quoting Ps. iii. 5, Is. Ixv. 2, and Is. liii. 9,
in order that
comes
shows
at considis
God, inasmuch as they fulfil the spiritual meaning of the law, and
de-
like the
They have
priests,
pho
inquires of Justin
whether
he really believed that Jerusalem would be rebuilt, and that all the Gentiles as well as the Jews and Proselytes would be collected there under the government of
the Messiah.
Justin, in answer,
this belief
of Malachi
admits that
universal
was not
Ohristians
Jield
promised to Abraham, because they have the faith of Abraham they are, in a word, the true Israel. See Kate's Justin Martyr, p. 24 sq.
would
rise
GNOSTIC SKEPTICISM,
AND CHRISTIAN
EEPLIES.
115
and a perverse perseverance of mental power, never Only excelled in the history of human errours.
the most general characteristics can be specified.
to be in possession of the
of
its teach-
The Judaizing Gnostic recognized the distinction spoken of by Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, and employed by the Christian Apologist
ings.
that, viz., of
Jew
he be
But
this distinction
He
all
regarded
it
to
Oriental ^philosophies
intellectual
manner
as to evacuate
of
and
of emanation, which
directly contrary
was
that
worshipping of angels and voluntary (or gratuitous) humility " against which St. Paul warns
116
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
tlie
beginning
This
Jews,
class
who attempted
interpretation of the
Hebrew
Hence
of departure.
Gnostics,
on
the
other
who
directly,
ished
a profound contempt
the whole
Old
Testament Dispensation.
They
tore
Judaism out
from
it
The
the
life
and
life-blood
of
Christianity,
doctrines of guilt
and atonement,
were
the
thrown
by which
and
sin
creation
was no longer
both of
its
forms,
EEPLIES.
117
was to be met most successfully, and overcome most triumplaantly, by tlie plain and
clear enunciation of tlie real relation of Christianity
to Judaism.
All
tlu-ee
come only by furnishing the true one. The thoroughness with which men like Irenaeus (f 202), TertuUian (f 220), Clement of Alexandria (f 212220), and Origen (f 254),^ investigated the Scriptm^es, in order to exhibit Judaism and Christianity
in the true light, and in their mutual connection
and harmony,
is
worthy of
is
all
admiration, and
it
may be added
For every
revival
somewhat exposed to a
among men
Old Testament
its
chiefly
upon
representations of
of
its
4.
Pagan
Skepticism^
and
Christian replies.
While the Christian apologist of this period was thus called to defend Christianity against objections that originated in a foiTaal
and unspiritual
Irenaeus
Teetxjlliantjs
Contra
Gnosticos
scorpiacum.
nem
De prescriptionibus
;
haeret;
icorum
Adversus
Valentinos
118
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
altogether on
the other, he
was
at the
infidelity,
common
and
altogether,
contradictory to them.
We
Pagan
in
These attacks,
no
Jewish nation, but were founded upon those \dews of human nature and of God, which belonged to the
entire heathen or Gentile world.
The principal objections urged against Christianity by such pagan philosophers and speculatists as Celsus (150), Porphyry (f 304), and Hierocles
(300), were the following
was irreligous was founded upon an anthropopathic idea of God, particularly in the Old Testament, and contained absurd representations
(1.)
and unethical
because
it
of
and
fall
man, the birth of Christ, his miracles, his death, and especially his resurrection. Porph^Ty and Celsus compared the account of the
life
and actions of
PAGAN
SKEPTICISM,
AND CHEISTIAN
EEPLIES.
119
and Roman
mytliologies,
and placed
existence,
and demi-gods.
it
his historical
his disciples
had
of a sincere
revealed religion
but revelation of
this species is
impossible
and
irrational.
The pagan
skeptic
reality
the
was chiefly of a practical character, and hence was met in a pracThe earliest detical manner by the apologist.
first
The
of these objections
enagoras (f 177),^ laid much stress upon the transforming power of Christianity ujDon the joyful
;
deaths of Christians
'The
apologists
safety
who
replied
with most
TiN
JusII
;
Martyh
:
Apologia
np6s
and
Tatian
Ad-yor
:
"EWrjvai
searching examination of the pagan mythologies Origen ConTektulliax Apotra Celsiim logeticus, De Idolatria Cyprian De idolorum vanitate MixuoiDS Felix Octavius. ScoGuericke:
;
:
DBINU8
Cohortatio ad Gentes, a
120
HISTOEY OF APOLOGIES.
it
should prove
be denied.
The charge
make an
assertion,
was
easily refuted
by a
life
With
respect to
Old and
ogists
New Testaments,
the
The
by
signedly or undesignedly
by the Pagan
skeptic,
and material
figurative
manner
means of communicating to a creature of time and sense the great spiritual idea with which it was
labouring.
first
Chris-
PAGAN
SKEPTICISM,
AND CHRISTIAN
REPLIES.
121
argument
has
The answer
gan opponent,
that revelation
is
contrary to
of the
reason, involved a
This
is
cism in
all ages,
after
ac-
little
Mind
to har-
So
may be remarked,
Christianity,
the
intrinsic
reasonableness
of
it
and
to defend
upon philosophic
it was not the favourite and predominant method with them. They feared philosophy as
TIN Martyr (Apologia I. Ch. 88), " could ever possibly have per-
Were we not
man
them ?
all
lation of Judea,
by
the
ancient
: ; ; :
^:-:
uisroKY OK
.vrv>u\;n:,s
tho
v:u'io\is
:uul
(.\>ntlu'tiuir
svstoius
.'U^
iho
;'Oiu\'os
of herosv."
thom
vlialootio art,
onnnin^j in building
up
arx>
triok-
siiitls
Uouoo iho *iMi&,' ami I kiKv uol what iufimt<i> '1tv>n!!^' ami ''Iho truvitj
bx
)>hJKvsv>|>l>Y.
guos<vs
iu
tirjiu-
mowtSv hus^Y iu
backwarnis
raisiiVirtHMitoutioiX!^
ilsolf.
o^wtrary ovou to
a^ul
ovx^rv slyo<ot so as,
do,vUg
of roan
'
a>xvt\Ut;5i to Valoivtiuu*
Ivxrwanls
rx\>ill\\
with
to
ilo^vl
ho w*s
gvnl
v>f
a rUtoiu^.
Uouvx^
tlio
with uouo
Alhous to do with
boh>i>^Hl
tk>
tho
StvMOis.
And
Iho
i
What
Churoh
Iho
I
Aoadoitty with
horoties
sohtiH>l
Iho
sonl die
hv tho K|)ieroan8
of tho rosurrwiion
iji
with
is
of
us,
^xf
and iho
doitia)
who him-
f tho KhIy
uuil<\l soh^vi
<>!'
tho philost-
wo
simplioiiT
1)
O|>hor*
Slid
mado
au^ht
ov|nal
tho dvHjtrJno of
hoart (Wistiom
sook
tli
who haT
i* allo^!od
>ttsi!itti^
oimuos in
i$
HowoUlu*.
Tho
iSimo maitor
and a Pialooiio Chris* Aokk.kmxxn (Christian Klojuent iu Plawv jv 24> remarks with uiuoh truth, that tho oarlj
lianity,"
tathor^i faYv>urx\l
or foaro<il
j>hiKvs>-
*ro inY\>lvod
i
TThonoo oomo$
ovil
ad whoroi
it
laioir
lv>
ojcplains tho
Itkot,
that
wo
s^>
often
whotuv
t^vnif
find in tho
xrii, tVv>Jtt a luonial ovv>luti^>u and an aborliw birth (ot.h\-mo*i t ootry>mato>. Wrotohod Am
cvuuradiotory
e<m-
ihom tho
123
it in <J<;f<;n;si}>lc
upon
mtioiiu]
H(m;ii,
j)riricip]<is.
Thoy
prof'orrcd, an
wc have
pra^;-
to
<;ifj];loy
ti(a)
Ih
argijii]';ijtH
This
posed
giHtH, ''J'ertullian
and Minucius
Felix.'
They
defined
and
itn
defe*nd(id
Christiarjity
more with
influence
I'clerence to
f)ractical natuie,
and
itn
upon private
an<l
lian,
public
life.
Still, (.'ven
"testimonium
in favour
its
to the witness of
is
says,
whether thou
remarks that one part of the church were more inclined to philosophize upon Christianity
S)
when
it
"
come, there-
point, whicli
even
our
own
a reason
enfjiiiry,
was yet doubted by all men whether lie were the Christ when as yet not even Peter had declared him to be the Son of God With good cause therefore was it then s.tid: Seek
and ye
shall find, seeing that
was yet
to be sought,
He who was
shall
Let
us
remember
124
HISTORY OF APOLOGrES.
art in
it is
from
ivliatever source,
and
in
and
testify.
But
summon
when formed
I address thee as
such as
the very
and rude, and unpolished, and unlearned they have thee who have nothing but thee
and
san}
since in
faith.
demand
carriest
learned to
know
either
from
thyself, or
from the
art not,
Thou
know, a Christian
soul
born a
Christians
themselves
'
"
By
philoso:
nor the Epicurean and Aristotelian. But whatever things have been properly said by each of
those sects, inculcating righteous-
phy."
1640.
Clemens Alexandrinus
I,
Stromata, Lib.
p. 288.
Ed. Paris,
ihi'n,
who
owu
fri<';j<l,
Ix'fon;
th<'<?,
for hatiuj^
v<'ry
at
u>^,
on
/ju^count
of
th<><;
thiugn
'
whi''h n<>w
'JhJH
<jtjil;j
thw
fiu<\
t}j<;
ifj
;w a puriy against
v<^h<;;;i<;nt
tjj^f;>,"
<'Jo'jij''nt
North
Airwrn
fath<?r apj><'alH in
warn*;
way
to
th<; Hj>ontaij?om*
c*>nvJdIonHof man,
" Oo<l,"
In;
io
b<?
Ij'^
(i'><i,
and
hy
lh?
yry
\)ii
fswX that
jh
known
d<^jty
to
aJJ nMli'>n;
for th<?
<;xiwt<fn<M5
of any oth<'r
than
havi U}
ihitnomU'dU'A,
'Iha
HDikni'A'mnunHH of
f*<;nJ
;
Oo<l
th<'/
tlj}
Hannj an<J
(lijf;rinj^ in
no
rmpwi
of
in F/^ypij
God
y<}
th<}
J<'wh
whonj
th<5
wtd^ of
ilm on<;
W<;
worwhi}) on<f
(io'l,
whom
aJJ
naturaJly
know,
1>1,
ya
tr<jm-
at who*K5 ]}(m*;iUM
ill''
ya
tvy/icji.
Wi)J
y<;
that w?
jMov*'
oij)
'livin*;
i^xinUiUw
by
th<i
wiUmm
by
th<;
\)y \>su]
of
t)j<;
i<4^<,')f,
prinon
trainalit
of
ih<;
body, allljouj^h
in{^,
Hli'Mi{^h
<'n;rvat<Ml
by
luntH
and immwun,
an
from a
Hijrf?it,
in
m froui
in
ii
a nbimbc'r,
projx'r con*
dilion of
Kf/iin<in<*Hi4, it
ralln (hxl
hwannti
'
it
i;*
th<}
'rKTiJj/MA M
}>*t
Umi'niKfitUf
lAfiniiiUfti
am "
Jnii,''
126
'
HISTOEY OF APOLOGIES.
'
Great God,'
dii]
'
God
grant
'
[deus
not
The
soul also
'
witnesses that
sees,'
'
He
is
its
judge,
'
commend
to God,'
me.'
O
it
;
[or monotheistic].
words
heaven
Roman
j)lace
it
of the true
^
God
descended."
who
in another
10
Apologeticus, 17.
The following
roborate these affirmations of Ter" There is a god (ei-t deus) heaven who hears and sees what we do." Plactus: Captivi. " Be of good cheer, my child, there is a great god (Zevi) in heaven who beholds and rules all
tullian
in
:
one
re-
God.
And
this
was wisely
''
AlciliafJes.
marked by Justin Martyr, who for this purpose wrote a book On the Monarchy of God,' in which he demonstrates, from nu'
to say?
(oTi
Socrates.
God
will
:
tav
Qebs
I.
e'SAT?)."
PlaTO
Alcibiades
135.
MrNTCius Fe-
nnity of God.
merous testimonies, that the unity of God was a principle universally impressed on the hearts of Tertullian (De Idolatria) men. also proves the same point from the common phraseology. But
since all men without exception have become vain in their under-
Calvin
(Institutes
I.
10) suras
up
standings,
all
their natural
per-
fol-
lowing manner " In almost all ages, religion has been generally
corrupted.
tilQ
name
of one supreme
God has
PAGAN
heretics,"
SKEPTICISM,
AND CHRISTIAN
REPLIES.
127
" fur-
the heretical
He
man
is
in
which Christianity
it
corroboration,
and describes
as a
power
not produced
by
study, but
generated by the
the
human
mind.'"*
to the partial
agreement
makes a
violent attack
upon
Socrates, in
which he
and Tatian, we
find philosophy
much more
ural
Occidental defences.
The
distinction
is
between
nat-
and revealed
all religious
it
religion
not
very carefully
inclined to
made by them.^
regard
and referred
This tendency
Lactantius,
is
very strong
the
'
in
of
polemic
religio
'
Adv. Hermogenem, 8). " Plato omnium haereticorum condimentarius " (De Anima, 23), *"Ingenium quod non studio
paratur, sed
period,
who
confounds
'
with
'
sapicntio
to such a degree,
of the gospel,
cum
128
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
human mind
left to its
is
spon-
communicated
by a special revelation. Sometimes we find the same mind passing from one view to the other
at first
to-
gether,
Justin
Martyr
gies,
an example of
this.
addressed to the
Homan
nizes
or
the
*
new
To
religion.^
But
aimed
we
to
"
lay before
peror] in short,
the bargain,
why
are
be
and what we have learned from Christ, and what we teach the
world, take
it
as follows: Plato
alike agreed as
that
mankind ? For in saying things were made in this beautiful order by God, what do we seem to say more than Plato ?
rest of
all
Rhadamanthus
When we
gration,
and Minos are his judges, Christ ours. And moreover we say that the souls of the wicked being reunited to the same bodies shall be consigned over to eternal torments, and not as Plato in the Timaeus will have it, to the period
of a thousand years only.
If
When we
assert
good
in a blissful
condition,
we
assert
no
lib.
more
x) said
then
we
When
that
'
Plato (Repub.
the blame
lies
at his
door
wills
among
you, and
who
God
others of a diviner strain, and far above out of their sight, and have demonstrations on our side into
Apol.
I.
Ch.
8,
18,
57.
The
129
against tliose
ethics
who
he takes
of the
come
to the Greeks
by
the
way
to be conducted
man
Some
modern
Logos, or the manifested Reason of God,. which appears so frequently in the apologetic writings of the
primitive fathers, was chiefly derived from the Platonic philosophy,
De
Clemfar as
illustrious glory it
that they
have worshipped one God, though under various names so that one might suppose cither that the Christians of the present day are
;
and that
Milti-
march
against
Ho
"traces the
first
idolatrous
Cohortatio, 15, in
Neaxder:
I,
hearing of the fiery and cloudy pillar that went before the people of God." Bolton; Evidences, pp.
82, 118, 123.
Augustine
130
Philo.
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
But
it is
who
is
not led to
by any merely
theological
New
influential in
time, than
phy
itself.
was one and the same Supreme Reason that communicated the knowledge in both
it
forms.
'
They
are
however
John derived the idea of the Logos, Neandkk (I. 574) remarks
St.
i/oOr,
as
the mediating
deity.
It
is,
as follows:
"The
title
'
Word
of
the
Old
arrived at within himself, independent of any outward tradition; and he would not have appropriated to his own purpose this
title,
Testament term lan this Old Testament moreover, which led Testament idea of the
intermediate step
and
it
was
conception,
to the
Logos.
New An
current in certain
is formed by what is said in the epistle to the Hebrews concerning a Divine Word (See Bleeck's Commenta-
not offered
befitting
him, as the
ry)
and thus
epistle
we
find
in
the the
form of expression for that which filled his own soul. But this word itself is certainly
not derived, any more than the
idea originally
latest epistles
first
of Paul from
to
the Corinthians
expressed in
it,
from the Platonic philosophy, which could furnish no occasion whatever for the choice of tliis particular expression. The Pla-
ment of the
trine."
apostolic Logos-doc-
RECAPITULATORY SURVEY.
the unwritten revelation
is
131
imperfect, sporadic,
and
sin-
inadequate to meet
ful race,
all
perfect, full,
and
sufficient.^
5.
Hecapitulatory Survey.
Having thus sketched the course of apologetic thinkino; durino^ the second and first half of the
third centuries,
we
fol-
lowing recapitulation.
mind of the Church, so far as it contended with Ebionitism and Gnosticism, was occupied chiefly with a clear and consistent exhibition of the real natm'e of Judaism, and of its
scientific
The
essential
form of special
was of itself a refutation of those arguments which attempted to prove, either that Christianity was in hostility to all preceding special revelations fi'om God, and that therefore it must be rejected, or else that there had l)een no preceding special revelations, and that therefore it must expel and annihilate every element of Judaism from
itself.
And so far as the Church had to contend with Pagan philosophy, which derived its arguments wholly from the operations of the human mind, and
rejected both of the special
*
is
132
stance of
its
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
counter-argument was, that even
if tlie
but really
mind, when
vealed,
rec^uii^ed
among men
that the
own human
re-
real
was most probable that this natural religion itself was the remains of a primitive revelation, which had
Tertullian states
more than
all, it
CHAPTEK
II.
1.
Prdimina/ry Statements.
We
we
In
this age
found and
borne.
scientific character,
has hitherto
We
and science, which is renewed in every age, and in some form or other will probably continue
faith
to the end of
human
history.
Even
and science, the supernatural and the natural, began to be drawn with more clearness. The controversy between Origen and Celsus, the
ablest
upon both
134
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
first
occurred in these
distinctions
centuries,
in
which
for the
earlier defences,
parties to see
scientific dis-
more
precise
and
settle
two
had existed
feeling.
on the form of
scientific
mencement
all ages,
is
seen
it
first
of
all in
against
the skeptic.
Origen at
first
its
dawn
in the Polemic
As
abundant and various, and the defences more systematic and elaborate, it will facilitate the investigation of the apologetic history of this period, to dis-
tribute
fication
it
:
classi-
and
^
reason.
The distinction between revelation (2.) The distinction between faith and
work
that of Origen
The
principal apologetic
of the
first
period
is
confidence of victory, and with a most comprehensive knowledge of the nature and history of Christianity, as well as of
the skepti-
cism of
ita
opponents."
135
The
distinction
relation
we
view the
For the
science,
and reason,
faith
and
2.
Mutual
relations of Revelation
and Reason.
re-
1.
ciprocal
the
strictly
what proceeds from a supernatural and what from a natural source. All truth, provided it was truth, was conceived as coming from God, in some form or other. This view was sometimes expressed, even by the Christian apologist, in such a strong
'
For
with
are
indebted to the
very excellent
we
manual of Baumqaktkn-Okdsius.
136
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
as to expose Christianity
it.
Justin Martyr,
in his
Apology addressed
to the
:
Koman
"
emperor,
live
expresses himself as
follows
They who
such for
He
as-
ii.
14)
re-
marks
that, "
Gentiles,
is
any categorical
affirma-
made
pagan man
is
repre-
God (Rom.
iii.
19, 20),
instances of Socrates
what he could not know, that in the and Heraclitus there had been
'Apologia
I.
61.
13
right-
Hence
it
became necessary
to distinguisli be-
tween those spontaneous workings of tlie human mind which are to be seen in the Pagan philosophy
and theology, and those higher phenomena of the human soul which appear only after it has felt the influence of a higher manifestation of truth and spiritual influences.
distinction
and to a demarcation of that which issues from man left to himself, from that which proceeds in a special and peculiar manner from the Divine Mind.^ As the Christian apologist was compelled to a still more close and rigorous defence, by an increasingly close and rigorous attack, he found it necessary to draw some lines that had not been dra^vn before, and to score more deeply some lines that had been but faintly described. Revelation now began to be taken in
tion, to
its stricter
and narrower
significa-
inspiration,
scriptures,
which
in the New Testament canon, had by the beginning of the Polemicperiod been determined and fixed by the authority
latter
of the Church.
The
its-
now to
disappear, so that
use of
the
term
Dog-
matik,
I.
320 (Note).
138
became, what
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
it
since,
on the
2.
other.
by the
skeptic,
and of
by
the apologist.
and
one.
infidelity in
modern
times, is
wholly a
modern
The
any
revelation from
God
Spinoza,
and has been followed with more vigour and acuteness by Hume, than by any other succeeding mind.
But in this age of the Church, both parties acknowledged the possibility and reality of a revelaThe testimony of the Greek tion of some sort.
philosophers, particularly Plato, to the need of a
overhanging
human
life
was frequently cited by the Christian apologist, and admitted by the skeptical opponent. The confession of Plato in the Timaeus,^ " to find the maker and father of all this universe
cleared away,
'
Toi' \xiv
oiv
pears
that
now
it
is
eh
Trdi/raj
c.
dSuvarov \iyfiv.
Timaeus, 28
What
we
very few men to be perfectly happy and blessed." Epinomis, Ch. 13.
excepting a
139
is
when
lie
is
is
impossible to describe
him
to tlie mass
of mankind,"
cited
was a
classical
passage,
and often
by the
is
early fathers.
it is
"
human
find
na-
God and
him
vno
{/litj
(^oyid-rid^tlaa
TOV ^urovf-ibvov).
So far therefore as the acknowledgment of the need and possibility of a revelation is concerned, the apologist of this period was not required to elaborate a defence in this reference.
was
more general
were not
A
the
meet the wants of sinful man. certain and reliable knowledge was craved by
sufficient to
human soul respecting some subjects about which the human mind of a Socrates or a Plato
could
hopes.^
'
give
The
'
immor-
seeing
17
that
the
soul
tality
seems
to
be immortal
to
{{nelirfp
of a future
was accompanied
less of
u'^auarov ye
with more or
"
appears
ality.
(jcaXos
To
aflBrm positively^
me most fitting to be believed, and worthy the hazard for one who trusts in the reFor the hazard
is
noble
man
of sense,
But that,
of the kind,
140
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
lutely clear
and
by the
testimony of one
eternity,
who
like Christ
it
;
God
who
before.
Hence
great
made
make them
which the
its faith,
absolutely certain,
species of proof
modem
soul respecting
natural religion
was
Whether the
was to continue on from century to century in sin and sorrow and suffering, as it had for centuries and ages before, or whether any remedial system would be introduced, to interrupt this natural developement downward, and start a new order of ages, and begin a new species of history, about such questions as these, which were far more vital and important than any others, the Christian apologist
race
141
reason,
human
and
were
totally silent.
man must be
special
left
Such a
answer to
It
was
con-
New Testa-
confined.
A third
The
this period
strict sense, as
an
human
mind.
faith,
idea of an infallible
norm
or rule of
enunciated.
mind of the church, now begins to be more clearly The conception of a special and pecuof infallibility.
Revela-
tion, in the
signification in which,
we have
seen, it
earlier apologists,
and misconception.
of
truth which
its
God makes
constitution
human mind,
reliable to a
through
own
is
of errour
though
For
corIt
is
ruption,
142
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
it
was
in the beginning,
i.
(Rom.
18-25), that
in a natural
manner
and by natural reason has not been retained in its While thereoriginal simplicity and genuineness.
fore the Christian apologist
human
reason
its
the
same time
norm or
it
rule.
consciousness,
was
consciousness, and to
sciousness,
at
at another
mixed
and mingled with the most crude and absurd notions and opinions, as in the vagaries of New-Platonism, and the fanciful dreams of the Gnostic philosophers.
Hence the
apologist
maintained that
by
writteri form.
In this way,
it
would be exempt
and would go
fallible.
from
liability to corruption
fluctuations of
human
consciousness,
143
particularly,
under the
and pracIt
the doctrine of
human
was therefore a
mained
relative necessity.
Had man
conre-
his
Creator that no special and written revelation would have been needed, but the spontaneous operations of his mind, and the holy communion of his
heart with God, would have afforded
ious
all
the religas
knowledge necessary.
But inasmuch
he had
apostatized,
was called
for, to clear
up and
rectify his
now
only
still
conceptions, and
more
now
as-
more
from the
Church was now a more definite and influential one than it had been. The infallibility of the scriptures was urged in connection with the growing authority of the one
fact that the idea of the
This connection
praescript.
we
shall find in
the one
Tertttllian (De
36.), in
traces the
doctrine of
Ch,
144
HISTOKY OF APOLOGIES.
The beginnings
may be
of the Polemic period, but not in the first half. The theology of the 4th and 5th centuries was too
much
controlled
by Augustine
revelation.^
Much
as
that powerful
mind was
meaning
he never
conflict,
human
opinion.
A
by
Roman
catholic
Church moved
and the elder
(had moved)
me
to.'"'
Calvin, Bucer,
I.
xxxvii.
God
the
" Evangelio
non crederem,
nisi
me
ecclesiae catholicae
auctoritas.''
commo:
and the resurrection of the flesh, She joins the law and the prophets with the writings of the evangelists
veret
Augustine
Contra Epistolam Fundament!, Ch. v. (Ed. Migne, VIII. 176). Pe Compare also, Tertullian praescriptionibus, Ch. 28.
:
scriptura-
145
as affirmino:
faith,
upon to embrace the gospel as the infallible truth of God, till he was convinced by the authority of
the Church."
into
^
In other words,
if
when examining
be the abso-
the claims of
Christianity to
lute religion,
disputing
scripture
within
upon which this religion professed to be founded, and also in respect to the cardinal doctrines of Christianity contained in this canon,
he
as
would not have received a book, and a system, respecting which those who professed to adopt it were constantly wrangling. But the entire
matter, and
mined him
in their favour.
Had
saw
among
have found
rest in
it.
The
Calvin:
Institutes,
I. vii.
3.
as much,
yo?^, for
LuTHKK (Table
teristic
Talk,
"Of
the
not
to
ye are damned heretics, but I believe and hold with the Church,,
the spouse of Christ.' "
so,
serve his
St.
own
on
See
al-
he
&c.
what
it
Religion,, Pt.
I.
Ch. viL
spoke
10
146
HISTOKY OF APOLOGIES.
its
passage read in
connections in
tlie
argument,
and interpreted
view of
revelation which,
we have
seen,
Augustine did so
affirms, in the
much towards
establishing,
merely
words of Hagenbach,^
versal,
" a subjective
dependence of
Bible
The
individual, in
What
ryphal?
tained
and what
the
doctrinal
system con-
them ?
contended, that the Church universal had an authority higher than that of any one
higher, particularly, than a
member
and
man
like
Manichaeus
who
When
rejecting
certain
portions of
had been, and still were, deemed canonical by the Church at large,^ and in deriving from the portions
'
Dogmengescliichte, 119.
bus,
c.
remarks
that,
'
He began
" heresy does not receive certain of the scriptures, and whatever
it
"Manichaeus apostolus Jesu Chrisprovidentia Dei I^atris. Haec sunt salutaria verba de perenni et vivo fonte." Augustine: Cont.
ti,
does receive,
it
cording
to
its
own
plan
it
purpose, by adding to
tracting from
it.
Ep. Fundamenti,
'
c. 5.
And
to
certain extent
it
scripture
by heretical
;
parties, see
by deit
EusEBius, V. 28
Neandkr I.
582.
per-
Tebtullian (De
praescriptioni-
verts them.
An
adulteration
by
147
and nature of
lic
Church did not find in the scriptures, when the individual, and the heretical party, in this way
opposed their private judgment to the catholic judgment, Augustine denies the reasonableness of
the procedure.
He
of the correctness of the Catholic Mind, in comparison with the Heretical or Schismatic Mind,
and
thereby the
autlioritij
absolute infallibility^
an
attribute
which
The
Church
sustains to the
individual
Now we
ourselves,
(John
42).
The
individual
body of believers
But
se-
by the pen." Clemens AlexANDRixus (Stromata, VII. xvi) makes the same charge. " But if some of those who follow after heresies venture to employ the
tion
what
employing the
also, IrbII.
first
bare letter."
Compare
they do not employ all of them; and in the second place, they do not employ them as a
naeus
x. 1.
Adversus Ilaereses,
148
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
verifies
it
for himself.
He
respecting the
and
apocryphal books,
and
contents.
He
ment
This
is
which has
At
confidence in
own
the same time they went and saw, and heard for
They came into agreement with her by an active, and not by a passive method. In
themselves.
employing
tion
this illustration,
and authority.
The
Papist's
method of
is
agree-
catholic
judgment
passive.
He
may
intelligently verify
Church
is
infallible^
is
no
is
The
The
is
individual
therefore shut
uj) to
the other hand, though afiSrming the high probability that the general
judgment
It is con-
149
the Church
may
err.
beyond
dispute.
" Neither
ought I to
Maximianum Arianum
II.
you that of Ariminum, in o'rder to prejudge the case. I ought not to be bound (detentum) by the authority of the latter, nor you by
that of the former.
Scriptures,^ not those received
Under the authority of the by particular sects, by all in common,^ let the dis-
I.
90)
remarks, that
oil
down
to the coun-
swering opponents men did not endeavour to prove [merely] tliat the council was oecumenical, but
[also] that its decision
was true
very cause need the authority of Holy Writ, I began to believe that Thou wouldest never have given
such excellency of authority to Scripture in all lands, hadst Thou
and believed
in
It is
no
was much
influenced by the
vain and empty thing, that the excellent dignity of the authority
of the Christian faith hath overspread the whole world." Confessions,
and the
of the world.
He
argued that
God would
VI. v. xi. Tekthllian: (De praescriptionibus, c. 28, 29) employs the same reasoumg. " Is
150
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
Chiefly then tlirougli the stricter definition and
and partly
felt, in
by
the apologist
this
of
this
Polemic period.
Ever
since
time, the
Church has
recognized the
Old and
New
Testaments as
own
province.
to this
is
found
Roman
ecclesiastical
But
this portion of
Church History
is
the
history of a corruption.
infallibility of the
Church
infallibility
Both
it
possible that so
many
churches,
olic tradition
Is
it
probable
that
and so great ones, should have gone astray into the same erroneous belief ? Never is there one
result
was preach;
among many
chances.
In
many thousands
of
thousands were baptized into erthat so many works of faith and miracles were wrought by error and finally that so many martyrdoms in behalf of error were erroneously crowned?"
churches were error there must have been variety in its forms and statements. But where one and the same thing is found amongst many, this is not error but oath-
ror
151
on
tlie
part of the
finite
mind,
doctrine
fourth
characteristic of
is
the
Apologetic
the
fact,
each other.
in distinguishing revealed
from natural
religion,
and
and ope-
human mind, he
steadily refused to
intrinsically irrational.
It
was one
it
has
the
principles
of
all
understanding of
alternative
man
admitted.
dilemma was accepted by the Apologist. He denied that there is any inward and necessary contradiction between revelation and reason, or that the
adoption of the evangelical system
involves
the
and
On the con-
152
demonstrate
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
it.
The Church by this time had a philosophy of its own and henceforward we find
;
Heathendom but
theological
;
in Christendom.
The
cultivation of
science
proceeded
is
and which cannot be made good without evincing this agreement. The assertion that whatever is
contradictory to Christianity
is
irrational, necessais
reasonable.
Single passages
Fathers
and
vice versa.
and right
as
Augustine denounces an
Single
error
scripture or the
passages
Christian
may
also
apologist
'
nomiura,
p. 63.
...
Ed. Par.):
'Atto
Sei'aj ^coi/^f
Stai/.
(K Xoyia-fioyv ukoKovlit.
AuGrsTi::n:s (Gen. ad
:
phus
est
amator
del.
:
Epiphanius
YII. xxiv)
toritas
(Haer.
LXX. iii)
vel
ratio
si
(De
sapi-
Civitate, VIII.
Porro
153
as inimical
to
revelation.
But such
the argument.
Such
expressions, dis-
may be put
(1) Those in which reason is taken in its least extensive sense, to denote the reason of a particular
system, party or school
is
;
which
in
torical opinions,
which reason
is
against reason
signification, against
in-
which
as
much
veigh as
it
is
and Augustine of
On
by
made
to
them
most legitimately and purely from them, are employed by the Christian Mind in developing and
establishing the truths of revelation.
'
BArMGARTEN-CRFsrcs
II. 15.
Dog-
'
Compare
Tertullian's appeal,
mengeschichte,
miie, p. 124.
154
HISTOEY OF APOLOGIES.
The most powerful and grandest endeavour of the Apologetic Mind of this period to evince the harmony of revelation and reason is seen in the De This is a treatise conCivitate Dei of Augustine.
sisting of
twenty-two books
the
first
ten of which
principles
and
their influence,
and the
twelve
powers.^
work which merits the study of the modern theologian perhaps more than any other
It is a
sing-le treatise
whether we
contents, the
looked
at.
3.
Mutual
pass
relations of Faith
and
Science.
We
presents
now
which
itself
Polemic period,
the
distinction,
namely, between
is
may
x
;
See a synopsis of
it
in
III.
and
Fleuet: XXXIII.
155
This form of
faith,
though indispensable
certitude.
for,
It
differs
mind by being accompanied with humility, virtue which was unknown to the Pao^an ethics, and which is so generally expelled from the human mind by the conscious increase of knowledge, whose
ular
tendency
it
is
In the scriptures,
a practical, and
moreover, faith
and
of
it
will,
of
life
and
feeling.
It
is
And
this
view
this period,
and
we may add
During
stress
xi. 1.:
periods.
this
upon the
"Faith
Hebrews,
an immove-
quod
'Aft
TTicTTtyfLV
I. ii.
156
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
vides."^
non
The
;
object of
is
faitli is
not cognizable
by
the senses
for this
The
therefore inapprehensible
by
any or
all
of the
is
Faith therefore
which
tests
everything
by
a sensuous experience,
at all except
upon a sensuous
is
knowledge of
an
objects.
Faith
as the
is
intellectual act,
and
etymology denotes,
;
and eternal
is fealty
to the inIt
is
the
most
real
and
important of
all objects,
maintained that
soul.
This
is
We find in
disposition
this, as in
of revealed religion in
all its
soul,
which Christianity
constitutes the
ix.
Tractatus
XL.
ia
Joannem, Cap.
15*7
very
life
and heart of
this
religion, is
not the
Hence the
dation of
the foun-
human
society, argues
Augustine;
we
and shut up to it.^ Origen prethe same view in his argument against the
Polycarp, in the very twi-
skepticism of Celsus.^
light of the controversy
calls
between
faith
all."^
and
unbelief,
faith
"the mother of us
Nonnus, in
similar
phraseology,
terms faith
"the boundless
relate, it
These expressions
be understood, to
faith in its
most
general signification.
and
it
by which
the justifying
;
is
appropriated
though,
and
invisible things,
which
required of man,
in order that
he
may apprehend
them.
The
apol-
the
Ad Joann. i. 7:
Arepfiom fnjre-
'
pa
pf^rrip
Koajjiov.
'Epist.
'H
ni(TTis
irdvTUiU Tjniov.
158
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
human mind.
to
what belongs
from
his
second apostate
in
nature,
the
Apologete maintained,
opposition
to the skeptic, that Christian faith does no violence to the constitution of a rational spirit, but
on the
contrary
ties,
falls in
is
with
its
and
and
satisfies
the origIt
is
society.
the
who
like
man
invisible world,
eter-
And
as
matter of
fact, so
we begin to exercise faith in some form or other, as soon as we begin to exist, either physically or morally. The child is the exhibitor and the symbol of
this characteristic (Matt, xviii.
2-4)
and
in
ma-
ture
life
those
who
cease
and
faith of childhood,
infidel,
run counter to the conductions of the maIn this sense, and by such and
is
jority of mankind.
similar tokens, faith
unbelief unnatural.
is
'
Calvin'8 Institutes,
II.
i.
I.
xv. 1,
"natural,"
sense of the
and
11.
maybe
159
attained.^
The
distinction itself
by
the
Alexandrine
school.
The
down
the poin
knowledge
the order of
nature.
Though
distinguishing so
ledge in the Christian Church, thereby doing violence to the spirit of Christianity,
which has no
pagan philoso-
room within
its
communion,
like the
though
dis-
its
dues,
Origen
is
ulative
versa,
grounded
it is
and that
science out of
are furnished
Christian
of Christianity.
We
find this
osopliical systems.
See Pascal,
e. g.
pas-
/
J
IGO
kiiowledijo.
scicnfifiv act.
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
Faith
is
an iutoUiiJout
act,
but not a
The
Faith,''
" is
it
more
is
ohMnontary than
knowhnlge
the
In
it
''the test
and
criterion
is
science
represented by these highly adventurous and speculating Alexandrines as merely the develo}H"ment
and
expansion of
faith,
is
as the exact
and
logical open-
ing up of what
tical
Augustine agreed
erally,
church gen-
during
tlie
Folemic period.
was
atVirnied
to
exist
less
between
faith
and
mind which we
per-
'
VII.
x.)
mata,
o-viTojttor yvSxris.
niaTis
aiiuoiii.
....
tp7jrif
nX7j3f ('aj
(Stromata,
presents the
view.
161
all
Supernatural-
most
definite
its
and
intel-
ablest
and
postin
in
Augustine.
He
knowledge
to faith,
and recognizes
human mind
to submit
cognition of the
man from
God had not accommodated himself to the finite, and "cum populari quadam dementia" humbled the Divine intellect even to the human nature and the human body.^
The following extracts from the great leader of opinions in the Western Church in this and succeeding ages, show the attitude of his mind towards the problems of faith and reason, and sound the key note to the harmony of philosophy and religion.
" It
cannot be that
us, in
God
reason in
we
way
we had
act,
rational minds.
therefore
a reasonable
salvation,
which we are not able to completely understand as yet, but which we shaU be able to
'
Dogmcngeschichto,
116.
11
162
HISTOEY OF APOLOGIES.
understand some time or other, our faith precedes our reason, and so purifies the heart that we become
capable of the light of the perfect and supreme
Keason.
(Is. vii. 9,
Thus
it is
Sept. Ver.)
'
not understand.'
here two
first
things, faith
to believe,
Without doubt he distinguishes and reason, and counsels us that we may then be able to underFaith should precede
stand what
we
believe
dere debet).
Man
and
kingdom
may
a
understandingly per-
form them.
but
oY faith
is
species of intelligence ;
scientific intelligence is
intellectus
autem
this to
meritum
all
fidei).
who
hastily
neglect faith.
vii. 9,
Sept. Ver.).
Ye
it
by which
If,
to
be done.
How perverse is
this
man, I
is
were able to show you here upon earth what invisible, I should not exhort you to believe
invigorated, so that
more knowledge. For there are some things which we cannot believe in unless we understand them and there are some things which
can obtain
still
;
163
believe in them.
we cannot
understand, unless
we
belief,
:
the prophet
'
(Is. vii.
Unless ye believe
intellect, therefore,
it
ye
is
Our
believes,
and
faith
it
understands."^
Whether
of nature, to science
philosophizing upon
be
be evaporated in the
If,
endeavour to exhibit
its
reasonableness.
is
on the
reversed, and
scientific
knowledge
is
is
made
as it
laid
down,
period, that
scientific
religion
desired
by the French
Director,
which
viz
the exist-
As
Epistolarum
II.
Sermonum CXXVI.
(Ed. Migne,
cxviii.
OXX.
3 (Ed. Migne,
453);
164
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
follow the history of Apologies
we
down
to the
present day,
we
been supernaturalists or
methods
tum
tine,
first
by Anselm,
the
In the former
the names of
class,
we
find the
names of Origen,
In the
latter,
men
Raymund
Lully, in
whom
and
in
some
fective.
tJie
The
third distinction,
by which we
are aided in
is
The same
The distinction became more clear and firm. The line that marked off the miracle from the ordinary course of nature grew more and more
Reason.
sharp,
and distinguishing.
In proportion as the
165
lie
led naturally
to insist
upon
Divine Power.
tinctions
Indeed,
all
by which we
are examining
and exhausting
them
all.
Pre-
genuine developement
affects
them
The mind
Supernatural
of the Church
is
now
and
insists that
the
it
so distinctive
peculiar, that
The miracle
is
not the
common and
is
ordi-
his extraordinary
The miraculous
an interven-
Omnipotence into the sphere of the finite^ and not precisely like the act of original creation
;
The
antithesis,
and steadfastly
and the same mode Each is a distinct and peculiar mode of the Divine efficiency, and neither
them
as one
So
positive
Mind
166
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
men
like
from the
rences in
still
later
Roman
tiplied the
number of supposed miraculous occurthe lives of the saints, and what was of
au-
thority to
it
attached
to
the
scriptural supernaturalism
itself.^
On
we
see in this
instance, as
we
wrought
so that
work
is
the
'
Upon
ecclesiastical
miracles,
CampBELL On Miracles, Douglass On Miracles, Newman's Essay, and Gkotius on Mark xvi.
eee Middleton's Inquiry,
"^
472) remarks
quaedam miracula edidisse." ^ Among modern theologians, no one has been more successful than Twesten in constructing a
philosophy of miracles that preserves the strictest supernatural-
Says Luther (Works XI. p. 1339, Ed. Walch), " how often has it
happened, and
ils
dev-
name of Christ
have been driven out in the also by the calling of his name, and prayer, that the
;
ism in union and fusion with the laws and elements of nature. See
his
Dogmatik, 24.
167
seen,
Hence
the assertion,
which
sometimes
nature but
is
not contrary to
all
only to nature as
Apologist of this
"
known
to us,
Polemic period.
all
We
are
are
coni/tmry to
For
how
contrary to nature,
by when the
the will of
The
to
not
take place
contrary to universal
nature, but
is
contrary only
nature so far as
it
hiown
to
us ; although,
known
it
not
who would carefully consider them, were that men are accustomed to wonder only
Lord Jesus
Christ,
at
That mir-
by which he made the water wine, is not wonderful to those who know that it was God who performed it. For He who made wine on that marriage day, in those six waterpots which he commanded to be filled with water,
makes wine
the
But
this latter
we do not wonder
at,
because
it
168
occurs
all
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
the year round.
lose our wonder."
By
^
formity
and not run the hazard of explaining away the Supernatural into the Natural, because he had started
from
the position
of siipernaturalism.
Had
he, as
made
the Nat-
and from
this as a point of
departure
would have been likely to end with the annihilation of all that is truly and distinctively Supernatural.
As
in the
gard to
this distinction
all
The truth
harmony
is
modes of the
AuGUSTrs-E
;
De
Civitate Dei,
for
way
itself.
to be natural to the
human mind.
Cowper
same
Book VI,
" Should
God
agrain,
^^ ^^^^
himself in his
life
of Sir
is
Thomas
mi-
Brown
" There
'
Of the undeviating and punctual sun, How would the world admire but speaks
l
doubtedly in which
raculous,
as
,
An
His
^. , ^ v. vnw know agency divine, to make moment when to sink, and when to
*' '^^^
mm
rise,
no connection
; \
ot ^f a succession
Age after nse, than to arrest his course , ...^ ^ .'jl J, we hehold IS miracle; but, seen All
.
r,
^ ^^^^^ ^n
ig
miracle in vain:'
169
by
first
of
all
and without any equivocation or mental reservation, to the possibility and the reality of a direct
interference of the Deity in the ordinary coui'se of
natural phenomena,
course of events
is
by which
the old
every-day
off,
is
con-
easy for
between
common
Being who
is
The
Christian
con-
so
much
;
so, that, as
we have
noticed
and hence
in the history of
Apologies.
It
is
its
modern
its
was not
until
modern Deism
le
170
HISTOEY OF APOLOGIES.
in this
to have found
in the
As
less
Apologete found a
inclined to that
:
"
Where
coming ? for
4).
'
5.
Recapitulatory Survey.
A brief
lemic age.
made by the
Mind gained
KECAPITULATOEY SUEVEY.
1.
iTl
In
more
distinct
and profound
knowledge of the
between
divine Revelation
and objections urged by the skeptic and the heretic compelled the Apologist to reflect more deeply, and to speak more predifficulties
The
room
for the
religion,
scientific
is
by
the exer-
of the unassisted
finite faculty is
distinguished
Here
progress.
It
diflference
there
it
is
between
in accurate
It is not
deny a fundamental
it
distinction.
The
earlier de-
but they
with that
exactitude which
is
controversy.
The
172
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
them someaccusa-
what
tion
brought against Christianity in the first two centuries was, that it was altogether alien to humanity, a
new and
and
had heretofore
known, and aiming to operate upon the mind and heart of man with a merely magical influence, and
with no appeal to his reason.
of Christianity with
It
human
show the point of contact between the human and Divine minds. He was led, consequently, to emphasize the resemblance that could be found in natural religion, as this
had unfolded
in the various
win the
atten-
pagan.
But when this ceased to be the state of the controversy, and the unbeliever now passed over to the
opposite extreme, and
asserted that
Christianity
its
contained nothing
new
or distinctively
own,^ and
ed by Origen (Cont. Celsum, lib. VII), " can place a Supreme Being above the world, and above
and approve of and sympathize in whatever may be taught of a spiritual, rather than material adoration of the
all
human
things,
to
its
guardian, to every
deit}'.
presiding
The
EECAPITULATOKY SURVEY.
that
all
1Y3
man
to
know
could
ethics, it
became necessary
ities
religion, exhibit
But
in doing
if
he admitted that each people its own gods, whom it must worsliip in a peculiar manner, achas
cording to their peculiar character
;
to be
the worship of
is
all
these dif-
did not
to vin-
ferent deities
reflected
back to
has ap-
who
dicate revealed
or the
them
as
it
who
serve
argue that
men
many
man weakness
God
he
is
is
su-
and
insult.
Reason
itself
might
the
established
and morality, which his scheme and to show that they had a real foundation in reason and nature. In this they certainly did good service to religion yet some of the enemies of revelation endeavored to take advantage of it, as if this showed that there is no other religion but the law of nature, and that any
tended to subvert
;
;
Supreme God can. produce only tliat which is immortal and imperishable, the existence
since the
extraordinary revelation
less
is
need-
and
useless.
Thus, on every
unless
we
distinguish
be no law
from him those inferior deities, and assert them to be the creators of mortal beings and of perishable things." Compare upon this point
Mii.man's History of Christianity,
of nature, no real difference in the nature of things between moral good and evil, virtue and vice, there is no such thing as religion
at
all,
Book
II.
Chap.
viii.
tian religion.
On
174
this,
HISTOEY OF APOLOGIES.
the Apologist unfolded the system of revealed
He
to the
and
scientific predecessors.
had been in the preceding period. The church had now wrought out a sounder philosophy of Christianity.
argu-
ment with the philosophical skeptic or the acute heretic, more successfully than had been done by the mind of Irenaeus, or even the mind of Origen. The apologetic writings of this period furnish more that can be used with advantage by the modern theologian, in the ever new and ever old conflict with infidelity, than he can derive from the more
ardent and glowing, but
less self-consistent
and pro-
felt
more acute and skilful foi'ms of attack, and the defence and repulse evoked from the Church, a depth of reflection, and a power of logic which it
in their
is
such
nature,
which
is
very
things,
nature
and that all mankind, and therefore they need no revelation to instruct them in it,
this alone is sufficient,
it is
clear
and obvious to
and agreeable to
it is
or assure them of
it."
reason, then
concluded that
EECAPrrULATOEY SUKVEr.
3.
175
with
between the Supernatural and the Natural. This fundamental distinction, which had indeed been
recognized in the Apologetic period, but which had
mind
tion
carries
the
^this
distinc-
and
Apol-
and heightened.
We
perceive then, that during this second peHistory, the principal topics
riod in Apologetic
During the
dis-
tinctions
upon
which
all
successful
defences of
shall not
We
That portion
from physical nature, has indeed made great progress since this period.
But
inas-
much
as
it is
176
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
lias
been made
science.
K
we
then,
we
may
CHAPTER
III.
A. D.
T30A-
D. 1617.
1.
Preliminary Statements,
includes 800 years
first
part of the
scientific unity.
Of
this period,
turies
the
theological mind.
and
by
and ignorance.
between John of Damascus and Anselm, also throws a pure and serene ray into the darkness of the dark
ages.
It
is
12
178
that
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
we
and
that same subtle analysis which in Athanasius conFor three centuries, structed the Nicene Symbol.
we
Church
collectively
and
con-
and
is
We shall
re-
The
existence, although
boasted
literary at-
more formidable
Defences were
now called
sometimes
it
it
was
and
exists
depths of
AlfSELM, AQUINAS,
AND BEENAED.
1T9
self to
reality only
In attemptrait.
Some
of
this.
Minds
like
of Dinanto, in attempting to discover and exhibit the true nature of the deity, and the relation be-
universe.
visible
These
scien-
in
Church,
There
is
reason to
They
they
were unconsciously
Christianity
skeptical.
Seeking to establish
scientific basis,
upon an absolutely
solid stratum
the stratum
profound
On
the
other
upon substantially the same grounds, and by the same methods, that we have seen to have been
tianity
2.
and Bernard.
180
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
it. His two and Proslogion, the Monologium indirectly
upon
this subject
with great
"I
I
desire
certainly to
understand
;
my
but but
believe,
I believe that I
the
may understand. For I believe truth, because if I am unbelieving I cannot [phiAgain he remarks, that
losophically] apprehend."
"
of consciousness or philosophical
contents
;
construction of
its
Anselm
is
as
careful as
was Augustine to
Domine, penetuam quia nul;
insist
upon the
;
intrinsic
'
"
Non
tento,
trare altitudinem
latenus comparo
illi
intellectum
non experietur et qui exnon intelliget. Nam quantum rei auditum superat experientia, tantum vincit audiderit,
tuam, quam
entis
cognitionem experientis
sci-
credit et
Neque
ere-
entia: et
non solum ad
intelli-
enim quaero
intelligere, ut
gendum
altiora prohibitur
mens
dam
sed credo,
et
ut intelligam.
nisi ere-
Nam
didero,
Nimirumhocipsum
non
crediderit,
quod
dico, qui
non
bona conscientia."
itatis,
De
fide Trin-
intelliget.
Nam
Cap.
ii.
181
In his tract
quires that
we
we presume
it is
to discuss
reason, yet
a neglect of
we
we do
If after
we
believe.^
we have
own
sciousness
we do
experience, and
consciousness,
we
more of indolence
and Anselm.
Aquinas takes the same general view of the
lation of faith to scientific
intellectual
re-
more of the
spirit.
He
as the
trinity,,
modern
videtur,
sumus
in fide,
Homo,
Lib.
I.
Cap.
ii.
182
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
In
classes of truths
being of God.
of
human
reason
such as that
God
is
is
one.
can attain to
eternal,
such as that
like,
God
one,
is infinite, is
and such
philoso-
phers have proved demonstratively, under the guiding light of natural reason."
truths,
Yet even
these latter
fuller
he
says,
power of a supernatural dispensation gradually departs from the popular mind, and beand
realizing
and sages; and because, furthermore, this philosophic knowledge in its best form is mixed with
theologians,
whom
we have
only with
less
scientific side.
These
were
less inclined
scientific
'
Summa
catholicae
I.
fidei
iii.
con-
non
Cap.
viii:
Hil-
pra rationem."
DKBERT, Tractatus
"Fides
AliTSELM,
AQUINAS,
AKD BERNARD.
183
by no means
Bernard
from him
is
minds
to
its
will serve
show
towards
Christian science in
upon
authority.
session of a sure
ence possesses
it
Faith
is
a sort of [Ger-
manice,
before
Ahnung] of truth that is not yet opened up the mind in clear analysis and outline. How
differ
is
from science
In
this,
namely,
yet
it is
but
it
what
faith
knows with
fides autlioritati.
Intellectusestrei cujuscunque
invisibilis certa et
titia
man ifesta
no-
dam et manifestam.
Fides est
184
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
Perhaps the relations of reason and faith have never been more concisely and accurately stated
than in the pregnant and epigrammatic Latin of
The
latent
much
is
that
is
and undeveloped.
Christian
beo-ins
of his
to examine the implications and involutions own personal and certain consciousness, he
finds that
of Christian science.
knowledge.
The
He
by
and rational
consti-
tution.
His
But the
its
instant he
immense
incarnate.
habet: aut
sed opinio.
intellectu
?
si
habet, fides
word "
vol-
Quid
igitur distat
Nempe quod
non
does
when he
defines poetry to be
quod non
intellectus."
De
iii.
taneously]
hers."
185
contained in this
overwhelmed by the multitude of its relations and the richness of its contents. His faith has actually and positively
grasped these ideas of
is
God and
the God-Man.
He
he
is
of any truth
whatever.
But
pregnant form.
science,
If now, he
would convert
intrinsic
faith into
he has only to
upon the
meaning
ideas, until
But
in
by
lect is
cognition,
as far as it
reaches,
is
by
The
relates to quality
tity,
itire
then
the infinite
as positive as his
finite.
knowledge of the
latter
terra,
is
In this
by a positive knowledge is meant an infinite or perfect knowledge that exhausts all the mystery of an object, then man cannot have a positive knowledge of even any finite thing. By if by positive is meant true and valid as far as
the cognition reaches,
time, and his apprehension of diis no more a negation than his apprehension of human justice. Man's knowledge of God,
vine justice
like his
is
it
if the
term
Ho
186
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
3.
Apologetics of Ahelard.
we have
in the
before
remarked, the
priority of faith
by
all
minds.
Men
The
dictum of Abelard
selm's "
(Intr.
ii.
3), "
non credendum,
the
interests
and claims of
It is
faith
by
"
knowledge," or
undoubtedly
true, as
in describing the
difference
faith
and the
knowledge of philosophy
Some
must
at first
know
the object of
its faith,
ively
qvaliit
He
a mere negation.
Biit
is
an all-comprehending definition
of time as he does of eternity, of
es-
There
is
for
man no
APOLOGETICS OF ABELARD.
(anticipatio, praelibatio), in distinction
187
ception
for
it.
is
Had Abelard
"knowledge
into agree-
come
ment
his opponents.
But, laying
down
his
were certain
to
be overborne by
theoretical
ac-
tually resulted in
A position though
erroneous,
qualifications,
by
first
author,
may
cause of truth.
tains
The element
con-
may be prominent
influence.
all, is
from view
principle,
its
and
after
to error,
devel-
opment goes
it is
contained in
grasped more
by a
less
end
it
shows
its real
of
all
The
men
of
whom
we
are speaking
an example.
Abelard himself
from
he passed the
unbelief,
chiefly
188
resentations
HISTOKY OF APOLOGIES.
tolerant,
demned his philosophical and theological opinions.^ The most serious defect in the Apologetics of
this
the the
growing
in-
expense of
spiritual theologians
truth,
and whose religious experience had been formed and established by revelation,
stantially scriptural,
attributed too
much weight
of Scripture.
They by no means denied the paramount authority of revelation, and both in practical
theoretical respects are at a great distance
and
from
its
in the articles of
yet
it
connections.
Scripture
ity,
first
is
which
and
revivifi-
by
fresh draughts at
at
in 1140.
APOLOGETICS OF ABELAED.
189
is
tliese
by
its
CHAPTER
lY.
A. D. 15 17A. D.
1.
Preliminary Statements.
themselves were too mucli occusys-
The Keformers
tem
against
little
material of an apologetic
namely which
The
by
political
and the
religious
world.
England was
PRELIlVnNAEY STATEMENTS.
191
Bill of
government
Rights.
in
great struggle
ical
by which the predominance of politpower passed from the Southern to the Central
nations,
The Lutheran
different kinds.
church, at the
close of the
influence of
two very
The
Pietists
infus-
warmth and
Brethren
ers
;
life
Moravian
and
sectaries
were breaking
in
come down from the days of Luther. formed Church there was more or
against the strict Calvinistic symbols
;
reaction
while in the
Contemporaneously with
this general
who with
Old and New Testaments as a revelation from God, and stood upon the principles of natural religion, though in some instances lapsing down from this
position into that of sensualism
and atheism.
192
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
2.
Intellectual
those
are taught
best form
it
would, there-
and of
after
ity,
;
indefinite
and
it
would
much more
of his successors.
religions that
ade-
the religious
wants of mankind.
1.
That there
is
2.
That he
is
to
be
worshipped.
That man should repent of sin, and that if he does so, God will pardon the good, and 5. That there are rewards for it. punishments for the evil, partly in this life, and
cipal part of his worship.
rNTELLECTFAL DEISM.
partly in a future state.^
193
These
articles
Lord Her-
obvious, at the
first
tem
and
but
is
much
in
English
infidelity.
mixture of truth
concerned;
That there
is
to
be
human mind.
by
all classes
Lord Herbert
represents.
first
On
the
truths of natfirst
truths
distinctly taught
by only a
esoteric
by
polytheistic views
With
Herbert: De
religione Gentilinm,
Caput
I.
13
194
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
many
of
tlie
pagan
writers
althougli, in
is
some
instances, as in that of
Plutarch, there
And
point.
this indefiniteness
tions of
Lord Herbert
himself,
upon
this
important
The fourth
taught neither
by
nat-
For
upon
pa-
justice.
Hence the
it
gan
tice
;
certain that
justice
had
With
all
yet more
it
of the
obla-
Jewish
sacrifices,
can
it
be said of
Pagan
tions, that
(Heb.
x. 1).
The
'
The
last
under Nemesis
first,
the
chief,
and most
mesis
is
terrible minister of
Ne-
The
fice
Erinnys, or Fvry,
punishes those
and
is
which are the more immediate effects of guilt. The second is Dihe (AiK-n), who punishes in the future world those who have been but partially punished by Poena in this. Her inflictions
penalties
means have She scourges her victims from place to place, and finally plunges them headlong into an abyss whose horrors no language
rigihle after the other
failed.
can describe.
rNTELLECTUAL DEISM.
" universal consent
'
195
fourth article in
for
it.
of mankind makes against the Lord Herbert's creed rather than of sacrifices in the pagan
earlier Grecian
felt
poets, goes to
the
and
by implication acknowledged the need of an atonement in order to its exercise. The possibility of a special revelation from God Lord Herbert denies, except in its immediate form
to each individual.
work he
says
fair
"
Being
in the
my
chamber, one
day
summer,
the south,
my my
book De
my hands,
these
and kneeling on
: '
words
thou
shines
now
all
inward illuminations, I do
goodness, to pardon a
infinite
make
am
satisfied enough, whether I shall publish this book if it be for thy glory, I beseech thee give some sign from heaven if not I shall suppress it.' I had no sooner spoken these words, but a loud, though yet gentle noise, came forth from the heav-
not
196
ens (for
it
HISTOEY OF APOLOGIES.
which did and comfort me, that I took my petition as granted, and that I had the sign demanded wherelike nothing
;
was
on earth)
so cheer
upon
my
am
since
book.
This,
how
strange soever
eternal God,
is
may
;
true
neither
stitiously deceived
herein;
not only
cloud, did, to
my
whence
came."
The deism
what
of which
it
of
spiritualized
by
sprung up.
He
among the purest expressions that have yet been made of the emotions and feelings of the penetry
is
itent heart.
And
to
scheme,
when
same conclusions
a serious and
humane tone in the writings of Lord Herbert that elevates them much above the general level of deism.
3.
Materialistic
showed themselves most energetically in that political and religious reaction which followed the Cromwellian period. Deism in its most extreme forms now arises, and is characterized
of
nature,
human
Y
;
19
by
both Established
of theological
clei'gy,
as the source
and supand
port of
And
England was
Thomas
Hobbes (f
16*79)
was a most
servile advocate of
He
is
somewhat guard-
"
Christians,
he holds,
infi-
bound
in conscience to
"
thought
is
free
but when
it
to say to
if
commanded
by
the sovereign,
if
;
may
words,
Christ
198
HISTOEY OF APOLOGIES.
of bis country."
Hobbes acknowledges tbe existence of God, but denies that we know any more of bim than tbat be
exists
is
;
by
agent
asserts
soul,
tbe
buman
and
as
body
Greeks
is
knew it supernatural! y, or tbat tbey knew tbose, tbat knew tbem, tbat knew others, that knew
it
supernaturally."
of his
bert.
Thus in tbe general principles system, Hobbes falls far below Lord HerHerbert is serious in maintaining the more
^
reject-
Hobbes
lays
down
and
atheism.
And
of Hobbism.
The
licentious
acre
of the second
by a
who bad no belief in God, or in man's accountability.^ From Hobbes downward, English Deism grows
more and more
materialistic
and sensual
for error
own
own
MATEPwIALISTIC
AND SENSUAL
DEISM.
199
in bis
work
Man, Man-
influence
upon mankind of a
ments.
of his
Toland (f 1722), a native of Ireland, in some works adopts the pantheism of Spinoza, and
by arguments
built
upon
the
first
centuries.
Collins (f 1*729)
combats the
which he represents
Woolston
(f 1733) seizes upon the allegorical method of interpreting the gospel narratives which many Christian
writers
it
as a
medium
of a
char-
Tindal (f 1733) composed a work in which he argues against the very idea and possibility of revelation,
the
earliest
work of the
kind,
ability
and
" as old
re-
as the creation,"
and
the "
Gospel "
is
only " a
The scheme of
His work
is
entitled
Chris-
Law
of Nature.
200
HISTOEY OF APOLOGIES.
Morgan (f 1T43)
general
princi23les,
to an attack
ligion of Moses.
Chubb
same position with Tindal and Morgan, so far as natural religion is concerned, and labors strenuously
show that true Christianity has been entirely misapprehended, and that it needs to be cleared of a class of doctrines which are foreign to it. In this reconstruction, or "True Gospel asserted," as he entitles his work, Chubb, as would be expected, reto
Bolingbroke
(f
ITSI)
1.
There
skill,
is
of almighty
power and
attributes distinct
from
his physical.
He
man
;
has no
as.
they exist in
and to
these attributes, or
God
in his
2.
moral attributes,
is
enthusiasm or blasphemy.
God made
at the
the world
beginning
affairs
of
The
soul
is
man
is
dissolved at death.
is
The
a
fiction,
4.
The
201
and therefore there is no need of a special revelation, and none has been made.
is sufficient,
5.
law of nature
history
it
and the
contains
other,
religion taught in
repugnant to
his perfections.
two
is
that
the
first
may be
garded
as a republication of the
law of nature, or
by
his
own
is
and punishments,
attributes of God.^
The sentiments
extent,
English theology
speculative
much shaped by
most
brilliant
Deism because Deism was opposed church and state, has yet left nothing
with
'
sympathy
in-
New
Testament Christianity.
:
In these
:
Compare Leland
Dcistical Writers
andLECHLEE
Englisches
Deismus.
202
stances, it
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
to charge an
;
avowed
dis-
for there
was none
and the
in the
and
ethics as
religious
necessities of
mankind,
The skepticism of England reached its fall developement in the system of David Hume (f 1T76). The views of this writer are too generally known
to need stating.
It is
sufficient to
say respecting
a system of uni-
the speculation of
Hume,
that
it is
Greek Pyrrho.
As
Hume
is
concludes
his
" Tlie
religion]
a riddle and an
inexplicable mystery
our
Cberbury.
'
It deteriorates
by
its
own law
of evo-
cannot he he-
as
is
archbishop Tillotson.
but
as nearly coincident
"
What
most remarkable
his
in Til-
lotson
is
almost
all
sermons, of
the
would be ready
to follow
him."
and
203
one by
one,
and
in its final
small element of
earlier forms,
ti^utli
he found
alone
it
in its
and by means of
wliicli
could
obtain
Had
appearance in
its last
form
bad
tlie
first
form of
have
would
But the process was a gradual one. The English infidel himself was prepared for the invalidation and rejection of all religion, only by the slow movement of more than
started back in alarm and disgust.
a hundred years.
4.
A brief
tises
writei*s.^
composed in opposition
attract
much
1783) publish-
first
Vices Public Benefits," in which he maintains that the luxury and voluptuousness of one class in society give
my, and
'
it
by a reference
sq.
port to another
It is
the
204
attention in
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
liis
own
century.
as a writer of learning
system.
entitled "
More
Veritate^
The
little
The scheme
His work
and revealed
The following
:
Lord Herbert's five articles are not so universally acknowledged as he represents. 2. The clearness with which some pagans have percipal positions
1.
is
own
Natural
rehgion
is
not
sufficient to secure
205
Human
corruption
is
A learned
by two
distinguished
Plato-
namely, Henry More (f 1678), and Ralph Cudworth The first-mentioned, in his "Antidote (t 1688).
against Atheism," and tract
upon the
"
Immortality
immateriality of the
ness
and ingenuity.
the Universe,"
by Cudworth, aims
position
and
in accom-
profoundly contemplative
requisition.
intellect, are
l)rought into
The
tenets of
Hobbes
an-
pagan
The primary
origin
religion
The Court
of the Gentiles."
all
By
a very
the theism
206
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
in the religions of
was correct
revelations,
that
" P}^thagoras's
College,
Academy,
and
watered with
rivulets,
which though
that " there
in themselves corrupt
were originally
;
"
and
effectual
door
and
light,
the Phenicians
It is
noteworthy that
this ref-
pagan world to Hebrew sources has also been adopted by one of the most profound modern investigators of the philosophy of
new, but as parts of an earlier knowledge confined to a definite portion of the race, and a particular locality.
my-
This esoteric
reli-
thology.
back to high-
following positions
The names
and was drawn dian systems from a point nearer the original
;
named
after the
source of
all
religion,
than the
were Phoenician, which language was substantially that of the Hebrews. Kegard therefore must be had to the Hebrew archives and
language, in investigating the Oabiric mysteries.
2.
ing to the
Greeks
themselves,
came
to
The
esoteric
Egypt
gerade eben
aus
AegyptrCn).
This statement
was
a and
priests of
Dodona, and
in part
;
in the
207
kinds, viz
and Mohammedans.
The
first
preacher
classical
upon
the
this foundation
who endeavoured
to
show
his metaphysical
mind
and
of
God by
In connection
the
truths of
any
by the English
infidelity of the
No
far
more
from
tlie
Hebrew
4.
the seriousness of
doctrine
to
its
is
the
esoteric
to restore everything
true
relations
again.
and childlike play of the poet's fancy, presents a mythological world of divinities, ho
in the naive
mono-
nevertholcss does
it
HISTOEY OF APOLOGIES.
Cliiistian Apologist
resources
religion
The
is
position of Tindal,
that
is
and that Christianity is therefore as old made it necescreation and the mind of man,
first,
precisely
what
re-
the difference
elements
contained in
the former.
Among
is
the
that
most
of
dal.
successful treatises
upon
this subject,
John Conybeare,^
It
is
ness
in
conception, a simplicity in
by a distinctthe mode of
presenting
a masterly per-
formance.
"natural"
that which
may
have, in the
"natural religion."
'
may
denote,
first,
London, 1732.
book
entituled
209
things, or,
founded
in the nature
is
and reason of
It
discoverahle
ing the two significations, and passing from one to the other, that Tindal, he shows,
is
led to attribute
Truth,
man's perception of
it
is
not necessarily
so.
Hence
Conybeare concedes a
human
religion,
word
" natural,"
is.
human mind
thing that
in everything that
understand
God, and the sense and practice of those duties which result from the knowledge we by our reason have of him and his perfections.' According to this account, natural
religion can reach no further than
reaches
doth
it
it
takes in
everytMng which
I
is
founded in
?
comprehends under it those duties only, which result from the knowledge we by our reason have of God.
us.
For
it
know
but one
way
to get over
by
asserting
roundly that
human
reason
is
mediately subjoins
'
So that the
Religion, p. 12.
14
210
HISTOPwY OF APOLOGIES.
mind is not absolutely perfect, since in this case it would be infallible and incapable of error. Natural
religion, consequently,
however
is
raucli validity
may
be attached to
religion,
it,
inasmuch
liable to
be vitiated by
medium through which it is apprehended, viz the powers of the human mind. Moreover, it must be remembered that this apprehension is itself only gradual and approximate. For we must distinguish between human reason as it is shared by all mankind, and human reason as it exists in single
the
indi\TLduals.
No
highest
The same
is
true in morals.
No
merely human individual has ever yet published a perfect and complete code of morality, or comIt is only pletely fathomed the sphere of ethics.
throuofh the successive and collective endeavours of
many
even an approximate
natural
religion
apis
prehension of
attained,
possible.
the truths of
is
sanctions
but
law of nature,
or natural
effective
religion, is manifestly
lies in
deficient.
The
in the
power of law
evil
the
good or
But
in
REPLIES TO ENGLISH
the actual course of events in
DEISIVR
211
often hapevil
tliis life, it
go unpunished.
It
was
the
after
upon earth. With regard, however, to the manner and amount of this future punishment, natural religion could give no authentic and infallible information from the Supreme Judge who appoints it. That absolute sanction of the moral law which consists in a precise statement of the nature and quantity of the penalty affixed to it
by
its
Author, the
human mind is unable to specify, however bold and impressive may be its intimations and exunassisted
human
apostasy as bringing
man
into
makes no
provision, because
natural religion
is
Man
is
a transgressor,
is
on the other.
212
HISTOKY OF APOLOGIES.
human
apostasy,
Cony-
The
Scriptures impart
and
earth,
which so
human
Rev-
human
by
intelligence.
imparts an
day of doom. And, lastly, the written revelation alone makes known a remedial plan adapted to that fallen and guilty condition of mankind, for which
the " light of nature " has no remedy.
Joseph Butler (f ITSS) published his " Analogy of Keligion, Natural and Revealed," in which he
answers the objections of infidelity to revealed
ligion,
re-
by the
The
ar-
gument is handled with great skill and fairness, and the work has had a more extensive circulation, and
exerted a greater influence than any other apologetic
treatise of the
Modern Church.
It supposes
how-
213
and natural
terialistic
religion,
and therefore
is
less effective
work
of Conybeare.
it
The purely
assumes, in
the
religion
rendering
plied to.
it
an exceedingly
difficult
one to be
re-
The
success with
very much upon the clearness and comprehensiveness of his views of revealed religion.
In case he
and redemption,
it
was a very
easy task to
religion contains
for
which natural
no supply.
is
The
that Christianity
by one who
guilt,
New
Testament Chris-
and
and
as
that
its
is
away the
But
if,
sometimes, the
Apologist himself
214
HISTOEY 0 APOLOGIES.
his
him
to
show that
by a low
the English Church, and an indistinct apprehension of the doctrine of the cross.
It
is
not surprising,
were made
but
little
pied almost entirely with those truths which revelation presupposes indeed,
it
by no
upon
means
stops.
silent
and in
this
was
in fact
merely de-
As an
example of an Apologist of
tioned
this class,
may be men-
Thomas
''
Sherlock,
who
in a "
Sermon before
ground,
that
Christ
came
into
to the state
and to
which continuated
215
its
first
by
according to the
It
is
not
how upon
mode
serious deist of
The
Canon
attacks of
The English
however,
falls far
behind the
Germany
ingenuity.
and
Toland
is
these
critics,
clearly exposed
by Samuel
Lardner.
The
latter, in his
work
entitled,
"The
the
History,"
evinces
genuineness of the
New
by
earliest authorities.
one portion of
it,
upon
216
HISTOEY OF APOLOGIES.
a line of criticism
called out
Remarks upon a late discourse of Free Thinking, by Phileleutherus Lipsiensis." This treatise of Bentley
is
"
The
immensity and accuracy of the learning, the searching thoroughness of the analysis, the keenness and
brilliancy of the retort,
work
class-
and
5.
lies
Germany will be all that will be attempted. The materialistic philosophy of Bolingbroke had
more affinity with, and exerted more influence upon the French mind, than any other one of the English But upon passing into the less skeptical theories. thoughtful French nation, this type of infidelity
immediately assumed an extremely
striking and
brilliant form,
superficial,
but
Helvetius (f 1771), and Condillac (f 1780) were the philosophers for the
217
and Voltaire (f 1778), and Eousseau (f 1778) were its litteratetirs. The " Systeme de la Nature "
published
in its
by Condillac in 1740 exhibits materialism grossest form. The distinction between mind
is
and matter
or, in
annihilated
all intellectual
and
spir-
purely sensational,
God
is
only a
name
for nature,
and
na-
The
and
political life,
was the task undertaken by the so-called Encyclopaedists, the chief of whom were d' Alembert
currency,
The " Encyclope(t 1783), and Diderot (f 1784). die on Dictionnaire Universel," j^ublished in 1751
and onward,
is
dium of universal knowledge by the theories of materialism and atheism, and thereby to inject infidel ideas into all the history and products of the
past.
The
literary treatment
and decoration of
this
scheme
taire
;
fell
and Vol-
the former of
whom by
it
timentality invested
the
ter,
by
the
it
sharpest
into the
and
hard
the
218
HISTOET OF APOLOGIES.
The
was concerned but the great and stunning reply was in the utter demoralization of social and political life, and the chaotic horrors of the French
;
Kevolution.
The
German mind
half of the
took in the
18th and
first
19th century
infidelity of France.
ticism generally.
it
In the philosopher Kant (f 1804), resembles the deism of the school of Herbert. In
such theologians as
Ammon
(f 1850), Wegscheider
(tl848), Eohr (tl848), and Paulus (f 1851), we observe the influence of Biblical education, and ecclesiastical
Yet
this intellectual
all
and ethical
upon the
interests of Christianity,
from the
very fact
sin
criticism attacked
loftily
maintained so
Had
it
theories of Bolingbroke
219
But the
sub-
by
reason
made
The
secret of
its final
impotence of the
human
will
were so earnestly
necessary for man.
set forth
as the
only religion
The
principles of ethics
and
natural religion
only through
regenerating
serious
influences of
revealed religion.
The
whose " muse was conscience " in the phrase of De Stael, and who presents one of the finest examples of a lofty and
and thoughtful
Schiller,
In a
Goethe
monotheistic systems,
lies in
it
does
laiv^
substitutes a free
and spontaneous
220
HISTORY OF APOLOGIES.
^
a sentiment coincident
is
vi.
15).
120.
BOOK THIRD.
HISTORY
OF
OHEISTOLOGT.
"
Which
Most
alipperiness, yet
Donne
The
Trinity.
LITERATUKE.
Athanasitjs
nae
;
Htlabius De Trinitate. AuGUSTrNus De Trinitate Contra Maximinum Haereticum. Akselmus De Trinitate et Incamatione De processione Spiritns
: ; : ;
Sancti.
Petavius
De
Theologicis Dogmatibus,
;
Tomus
II.
Bull
Peakson
Waterlakd
:
First
HoRSLEY Belief of the first Ages in our Lord's Divinity. Burton Testimonies of the Ante-Nicene Fathers to the
:
of Christ.
Dorner: Person
Meier
:
Christi;
logical Library.
Trinitatslehre.
CHAPTER
I.
1.
Name
of the Deity.
tlie
doctrine of
tlae
we
more general
aspects.
viz.,
the
the
amount of pantheism and dualism that has prevailed in connection with the development of the Christian doctrine of God the species of arguments that have
;
trinity.
In respect to the
name of
Him, the
Chrisfree-
been distinguished by
dom
we
224
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
and power to
certain
names of
tlie
some
particular one.
on the contrary,
found in
;
particular one
which
it
it
came
thereby
no particular virtue
single
name, and
more that no
term
is
sufficiently
infinite
is
con-
The
new
to the nation.
At
it
should be
its
re-
marked that
on account of
connecit
can,
Godhead which denotes his The Hebrew necessary and absolute existence. Jehovah was translated in two ways in the Greek version of the Old Testament 6 cov, and to 6v. The personal and the impersonal forms were both
that conception of the
:
employed
latter to denote
and
dependent
'
yavtoig^ or
emanation.
deus,is
So
far,
conse-
sical
iJfdy,
225
tlie
Old
made
chosen people.
2.
the Church.
we remark
the
fol-
eight
speaks of
the
God
as vTioGraOLg
navrav.
Hilary uses
anima mundi."
Some
of the
hymns
strain.
fol-
Thou
wilt have
an immortal body together with an imperishable Havsoul, and wilt receive the kingdom of heaven.
ing lived on earth, and having
known
the Heavenly
fel-
226
or sickness.
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
For thou hast become God ( ysyovas For whatever hardships thou hadst yccQ &t6g). to suffer when a man, He gave them to thee because
thou wast a
man
is
proper to
God
and
iTiaQatiolov&bl^
condition],
what pertains
to God's state
God has
when
thou shalt
be deified (orav
^
being born
again an immortal."
Yet such
expressions as these
knowledged
authors,
theistic
mode
theoretical
mind of
upon
ten-
a system that
is
indisputably pantheistic.^
is
dency to pantheism
tic age, in
Bunsen: Hippolytus, 1.184. evident from Hippolytus's own statement, that he does not mean to teach pantheism in these
It is
rejec-
some-
to have a " body together with an imperishable soul." The devout CowPER says
an
example of
'
this.
It is
contained in his
A soul in all
" there lives and works things, and that soul is God."
work De Ox-
ford 1681.
-The
Task, Book
vi.
Ohristlichen Philosophic,
206
the trinity.
It is noticeable that
-296.
227
for
But
in
while imagi-
by
form of
this
Modern Church.
et unica,"
so-called
by
his
fundamental posAll
of
mode
The
all
immaterial things
the
are
this
same
first
substance, in
mode
of cogitation.
physical world;
mental
world.
ulti-
There
is
effect,
all evil
and
in all good,
is
both
Schelling's system
Spinozism
228
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
i.
e.,
to
physical pantheism.
Hegel's system
stance theism.
as
is
cogitative, and
since the
middle of
syshisit, it
effects of
Too many of
the
modes of
Germany, are
lines of
The
personality
God
is
classes of theologians
who
;
nominated pantheists
open
and avowed pantheists have held position within the pale of the Lutheran Church. The English and
little
by
this
form of
most
consistent theism for the last century for within these churches.
must be sought
The
rienced but
Dualism.
This
is
All deviations from the true idea of the Deity minate either in a unity which
separates the universe from
identifies
God and
it
God
as to render
229
him.
But it was only the Ancient Church that was called to combat this latter form of error.^ During the prevalence of the Manichaean and Gnostic systems,
duahstic views were current, but since their disappearance, the Biblical doctrine of the
Godhead has
had to contend
chiefly
3.
The Ancient Church laid more stress upon faith, the Modern upon demonstration, in establishing the
fact of the
Divine Existence.
This
is
the natural
In proportion as science
is
developed, the
mind is more The Patristric arguments for the Divine Existence rest mainly upon the innate consciousness of
inclined to syllogistic reasoning.
the
human mind.
internal evi-
Common
terms to denote
his existence
which
it
itum (Arnobius).
"
anima naturaliter
The
influence
apparent in these
They imply
The
doc-
230
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
view of God.
God was
or Reason
conceived as
moral sense,
Word
who
in their
In their
God proved
his existence
by
his presence to
the mind.
this
much
insisted upon.
by a
direct opera-
an impinging
as it
PercuUsti
cor,
verbo
tuo
" is
But whenever a formal demonstration was atin the Patristic period, the a 'posteriori was the method employed. The physico-theological argument, derived from the harmony visible in the works of creation, was used by Irenaeus to prove
tempted
the doctrine of the unity and simplicity of the
the
The
from the
method
231
The
from the
It
in his Proslogion,
It
is
is
of Anselm with a depth of reflection, and a subtlety of metaphysical acumen, that places
them among
is
The
to
be found
taken in the
Proslogion.^
most
ence
is
contingent,
not the
who may or may not exist, is most perfect that we can conceive of. But
is
an
ac-
The Proslo2, and 4. and the objections of Gaunilo with Anselm's reply, have been translated by Maginnis, in the Bibliotheca Sacra, 1851. Both the Monologium and Proslogion
'
Cap.
by
BotrcHETTfi.
Compare Eit-
gion,
Philosophie, Th. Ill, 334 sq., and Bauk's Dreieinigkeitslehre, II. 374 sq., for a critique of Anselm's argument,
232
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
In conceiving, therefore, of a Bei^erfect
actual existence.
ing
who
;
is
more
than
all others,
the
mind
being
figure
in the
same manner
as in conceiving of a
having three
of
The
This
is
force of this
upon the
fect Being,
otlier heing.
ist,
the idea
of any
not ex-
may
;
or
may
able.
Their existence
is
is
contingent
First Perfect
is
necessary.
constructed out of
out of the idea of
peculiarities
is,
any
it
And
one of
its
that
cor-
respondent to
other idea.
itself.
This
When,
following
And I
another
method
;
than
that
which
we
init,
of
being
managed with
demonstrative evidence."
Living Temple, Pt.
I.
Howe
ii,
Ch.
8.
233
is
It
may be
it.
the idea
mind is not
the object.
But
we concede
as
we must
that the
mind
possesses the
idea of the most perfect Being conceivable, and also, that perfection of being involves necessity of being,
and
yet, at the
it
as
we do our
and
ideas of contingent
and imperfect
existences,
say that
it
respondent,
marks Anselm,^
be conceived, cannot
exist
it
For
if
we suppose
that
then
we can
greater
we can
and
If,
conceive of
is
a being
who
exists objectively,
this
therefore, that
wardly
Proslogion, Cap. 2.
234
msTOEY OF theology.
is
which
self-contra-
There
exists,
therefore,
reality, a
beyond doubt,
Anselm goes a step further, and argues that the mind cannot conceive of the non-existence of God^
without a logical contradiction.^
difference
and that of
other beings
is
apparent.
There
is
imply
But
to suppose
that a Being
who
is
ent
fore,
is
not in existence
absurd.
We
can, there-
we
In
Anselm argues
"
manner.
thing
is
when
;
designate
it
are conceived
in another sense,
when
the thing
itself is in its
own
comprehended.
God
fire
can be
and
AxsELM maintains
non
esse
esse, et
being
who
potest cogitari
non
....
id
ceived as non-existent
by
this
235
what water is, can conceive tliat fire is water though he may conceive this as to the mere sound and meaning of the words. In like manner, no one who understands what God is, and clearly comprehends that he
conceive that
is
God
is
non-existent,
although,
is
like
may
words,
'
There
no God.'
For God
that,
than
He who
it
understands therefore
He
who
understands that
God
exists as the
Thanks be to Thee, O Lord, thanks be to Thee, that what I at first believed through thine own endowment, I now understand through thine illumination so that even if I were
him
as a non-entity.
art, I
cannot remain
monk Gau-
little
work
entitled,
;
(A
'
The
fool
no God.'
he
"that
we have
it
does
I.
246.
236
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
This objection
by The mere
started
or of a chimaera,
it
kind
there
cies
fails
is
of ideas.
is
the Deity
there
is
no second idea
the
As Anselm remarks
in his
reply to Gaunilo,
most perfect
tiling conceivable^
then he would
insist
mind
would be evidence of the existence of the island itself.^ But the idea of the island does not, like the
idea of God, contain the elements of absolute perfection of being,
is
and
necessity of being.
The
it
inconceivable.
But the
all
it
and therefore
inin-
quis
liujus
meae argumentationis,
illi
veniam, et dabo
perditam
EVIDElSrCES
237
It
^aoig
aXXco ysvog,
transfer of
what
is
true of
As
if
is
mind
is
also.
wholly unique.
No other idea,
to
it
;
and therefore
ogy
fail.
who
The nature of
this
argument
be seen by throwing it into tlie following dialogue, " Anselm. I have the idea of the
of Anselm
may
an imaginary being is not the most i^erfect being that I can conceive
of.
sponds to
being.
most perfect being conceivable, Gaunilo. True but it is a mere idea, and there is no being corresponding to it. Anselm. But if there is no being answering to
:
my
me my
have the idea of the most perfect being conceivable, you concede
the existence of an actual being
my
idea,
then
my
idea of
the
correspondent to
it."
Another a
priori
argument for
238
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
priori
The a
istence
mode
for
two
In the
first place, it
harmonized
more scope
and
close
reasoning.
men had
them almost
in
order,
the argument
makes mere
in fact
it is
exist-
when
being
an element in the idea of the most " I have Thus perfect Being.
:
But
this is
an error.
Anexist-
And
this
is
an attribute or char-
imaginary one.
The idea of an
as
an
objective
correspondent,
hypo-
bounded by three
straight lines
" If there be
exist-
an actually
who
is
as illogical to
being
is
conceded
by
must be an
objections,
Two
day, but
in reference to the
own
by modern
first is,
critics of his
make
four.
thy of notice.
The
that
239
But
was impossible
in an age
when
the Ptole-
the earth
o'er,
is
very
earliest
God
is
known by being
reality of the
incontrovertible certainly to
form of
this
argument
elevated
is
of Kant,
who
it
degree of importance.
In the modern Protestant theology, both the
a priori and a posteriori methods of demonstrating
The
and
The
cultivation
advancement of natural science has furnished both matter and impulse to the evidences from design,
order,
and harmony
in creation.
Progress in the
240
is
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
argument
reit.
4.
The doctrine of
the Attributes.
by
itself,
was regarded
as un-
knowable by
the
finite
mind.
The
theologians of the
two centuries sometimes distinguished between the unrevealed and the revealed Deity. By the
simple substance of the
attributes, of
which
it
was
quently was beyond the ken of the human mind. They intended to keep clear of that vague idea of an abstract Monad without predicates, which figures in the Gnostic systems under the name of the Abyss (Bv&og)^ and which has re-appeared in the modern
systems of Schelling and Hegel, under the names
of the
JJrgrund, and
Das
JVichts,
They
to the
Nature
bottom by any
but in their
is
above
all
{vTitQovGcoQ,
and avov-
As
241
attributes-.
The
must
essence
is
in
tlie attributes,
too-ether.
and eternal
We
cannot follow
for this
would
by
one,
and their
A
In
be made
at this point.
clear
from pantheistic
the
contrary, as
proportion, on
which
become
pantheistic. to
It
man mind
attributes.
know may
e.
set
may
suppose
Deity.
But there
;
ground
there
is
is
no such Gnostic
in
The
and
are
Divine Nature
Nature.
attributes of
God
242
in tlie
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
Neither one
is
more
other.
may
it
essence
recognizes
The
bestowed but
little
reflection
upon the
has been
He
and
Attributes
and,
still
like
tice, truth,
little,
or none at
all,
Yet these
and hence
object of
attri-
These
it is
easy to
that theism
is
phrase, "
The
is
243
5.
The Pagan
Trinity.
Some
The
Being.
Divine Existence.
figurate
But the Pagan trinity is one of personification, and not of interior hypostatthe Divine Essence constituting
ical distinctions in
who may be
It
is
addressed in sup-
commonly constructed Either the Triad is made out, in one of two ways. by personifying three of the more fundamental facand worship.
ulties
lect,
and Will,
which
as Goodness, Intel-
is
Plato's
method
or else
'
CuDwoRTH attempts
to find a
Mor-
GAN
to,
" Plato is speaking merely of the law of harmony which prevails in the material universe and the
;
or hypostatical trinity
to
be
that he
is
speaking of an ab-
stract principle,
son."
hypostatical
"Each
[of
the
eight heavenly
powers (Suwi^etf) residing in the sun, moon, &c.] goes through its revolution, and completes the order {KotTfxov) which reason (Xoyoy), the most divine of all, has appointed to be visible."
Here, says
118, Ed,
Tauchnitz).
"As
re-
all, all
things
and he
in
is
the cause of
all
beauti-
ful things.
And there is
a second,
Morgan
244
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
by
as
In these schemes, the faculbrews first, and from them afterwards communicated to the Egyptians, and other nations." He
also distinguishes the genuine Pla-
things."
tellectual
According to Cudwokth (InSystem, II. 364 sq. Tegg's Ed.), Plato held a hypostatical
trinity,
i/oCf,
tonic
trinity
consisting of to
Platonists.
and "^vx^- These, he thinks, are what Plato meant hy his "king of all," "second," and "third," in his Epistle to
dya3or/,
with the
namely,
first
universal Mind,
ma-
ny secondary
all
particular minds,
Dionysius.
Eespecting the
first
the human.
and second hypostases, he contends that there can be no doubt that Plato held them to be uncreated and eternal subsistences. Re
-
and bringing
lower,
it
specting the third, the so-called " mundane soul," he concedes that
there
to
reason
make
to held to
self of the
eternity.
mundane, which is, as it were, the concrete form of this corporeal world [the plastic principle in naanother, supermundane, ture] which is not so much the form as
;
(De
affect. II.
" Plotinus
and
Numenius,
ex-
This
is
ly
Cudworth contends
and
is
the
beyond time, and eternal nameGood, Intellect, and the Soul of All." Plotinus (4 Ennead, iv.
:
" It
is
as
nal.
Cudworth
movby apcombi-
The Hindoo
creation
trinity is a
SfoXo-yi'a,
He-
(Brahma), preservation
THE PAGAN
ties,
TRUSriTY.
245
attributes,
There
is,
when
the ultimate
There
alities.
is
figurative
Church
The two
At
apprehensions of the
represent,
human mind,
as
as its
opponents
inasmuch
the
most
elaborate
and
groped towards
it,
it.
An
better
than none at
and although
it is
insufficient for
it is
yet a
and
adequate doctrine.
feit
The
And
dualism of Persia
made
the two
from the
Monad (Brahm).
One Su:
200,
Harper's Ed.
CHAPTEE
II.
1.
Preliminary Statements.
The
entific
may
exist without a
it.
sci-
This ability
necessi-
comes in only
tate the exact
which
theology.
how
unreasonable
it is
who
esies
Many
this
man
in the
day cherishes a
Wateeland
PEELIMINAEY STATEMENTS.
24T
re-
which
cipline
or
map
day.
The same
The
all
ability to
trines
make
scientific
demands
mind
is
directed towards
them.
We
do
two
much
as
fullness
definition
full
as in after ages,
much
The
Primitive
They
are sufficient
248
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
statements.
lifeless
They
are
satisfactory to a cold
it
and
the
rejects
an unbelieving
spirit,
with which
it
may be
its
own
real preconceptions
and prejudices.
is
The
ab-
characteristic,
Church History.
per-
The
difference
by
statement
creed
is
made.
when
constructed, becp,use
sees in it only
an
it
already holds in
The
it
when made,
and technical
therefore, the
because
it
knows that
it,
taught by
articles of the
creed preclude
equivocation or
ambiguity.
rejected them.
A recent
scientific
common
and the
and truth-
PEELIMINARY STATEMENTS.
ful
249
tliat
manner.
"
No
'
hypostatic,'
consubstantiality,' &c.
What promay be
fur-
portion of the whole multitude of perfectly orthodox believers on earth, even at this hour, habitually
use them, or have ever used
them ?
It
when
intellectually analysed
tions
may be
seen to be involved in
the distinct
expression of which
may become
;
thenceforth useful,
and that
until circumstances,
usually heresy, have led to this close intellectual survey, these relations, though involved in the existing belief,
common
Athanasian Creed
is
is
the princi]yle
history of theology.
Those,
to investi-
were
whose
single Divine
Name
tized,
to look on them habitually as Protecting Powers equally because infinitely above them, separate in their special titles, offices, and agency, and
One
supreme
little
worship
implied),
would
probably see
in
intel-
250
that worship.
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
They would
tradict explicitly
while
as the infinite
Holy Ghost,
that
us,
separate propositions
creed contains
the
'in
doctrine expressed
say)
terms
of
the
pure
if
any one were to reflect upon the quantity of minute and refined thought, and the extreme accuracy of
expression, required to fix
to discriminate
and
secure, so as at once
them from
all rival
hypotheses, some
merely of
all classes
of Christians,
civilized world.
For example, to
absolutely from,
fix:
Power
to
the Divine
Rectitude,
right; to deliver
PEELIMINAKY STATEMENTS.
existence of moral evil, &c.
251
On
all
such subjects,
which would
all
; '
at once
be
its
contradic-
he
;'
tells
'
you,
'
God made
things from
'
God makes God can never do wrong no man sin, it is the devil who tempts him, it is and yet it is man's own corrupt choice to do evil easy to conceive how very different an aspect these
nothing
:
'
Aihanasian creed of theism how novel might appear doctrines, before almost too universally recog;
necessary to exhibit
if it became them guarded at all points against the subtlety of some Arius or Sabellius of Natural Theology." ^ But although the doctrine of the trinity, like
other doctrines of the Christian system, did not obtain a technical construction in those
turies
and a
half,
its
single dogmas,
it
would be
The
sitated
some
more exact statements respecting the doctrine of the trinity but the defective and inadequate trinitarianism of certain men of this period, some of whom
;
errors, while
p.
Aboher Butleb
Letters on Romanism,
224.
252
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
still
some
heterodoxy, or because a
spirit
less
more than
one Essence.
Some
shadowy species of trinitarianism. But a church that was capable of grappling with the emanationism of the Gnostic, and saw the fatal error in the modal trinitarianism of the Patripassians, the most
subtle,
and
also the
most elevated of
all
the forms
of spurious trinitarianism,
The orthodoxy of the Primitive Church is demonstrated by the heterodoxy which it combatted and
refuted.
"
Had we no
we
its
other ways to
it,"
says
Sherlock, "
Church, by
condemned."
period which
We shall
and
construction of the
dogma
whose
'
historical
coram
ANTI-THmiTAEIANS.
253
2.
Classes of Anti-Trinitarians.
first
varieties
of
view and
an^
phraseology,
of
whom
were characterized by
trin-
most
instances, to
an attempt to
by
a process of
by
a comprehensive reflection
its
upon the
construction.^
As we
upon only a
in the revealed
word.
Some sought
to affirm,
and
deity of
Christ,
God
aspect or relationship.
identical, for
were
them
and
man
made two
probati manifesti
xi.
ample,
is
quite intelligible.
It is
a significant remark of
(Eccl.
Hooker
"the
19)."
AuGUSTiNcs
Confessiones
Pol.
I.
586),
that
VII. xix.
' In some instances, probably, there was a desire to explain the
more
it
of
its
mysex-
more
The modal
trinity, for
254
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
Holy Sphit.
Others
still,
held
Anti-Trinitarians of this
;
namely
and Humanitarians.
two
The
first class
Monad and
They
asserted the
was denominated God the Father but in incarnation, he was denominated God the Son.
;
God
when he comes
he therein
denomination
namely,
God
human body
of Christ
and
ANTI-TEINITAEIANS.
existence of a true
255
soul in the
denied
tlie
human
with a physical
or-
The principal Patripassians were the following 1. Praxeas of Asia Minor, originally, who ap:
pears at
Rome
by
Adversus Praxean.
The
"The
devil
is
Sometimes he
overthrow
it.
in order
by
defending, to
He
was
Jesus Christ."
his tractate.
Contra
He was
244, and
by an Arabian Synod,
in
by
whom
the
Compare Guerickb
Ohurcli
more
reliable
work than
that of
History, 56.
261
sq.,
281
sq.,
'
256
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
aid,
was convinced of
his
and renounced
his Patripassianism.
Accord-
The second
class of Anti-Trinitarians,
whom
divinity
The
and
is
former
The
latter
is
relative,
human
nature itself
who
to
tlie
Father
in the
himself
by means
of
as rays
one an illumi-
The
illumi-
nating
Power
is
the divine
Wisdom, or Reason, or
:
first,
the indwellis
communications to his creation (Xoyog nQocpogi^og). The enlivening Power is the Holy Spirit. With the
divine Logos, or the illuminating Power,
which
is
ANTI-TKnflTAEIANS.
257
from the
essential Deity,
and
as a
man
called
Trinitarians,
for
some time
man
love of show.
He was
but found
powerful support from Queen Zenobia, and continued to discharge the functions of his
oflSce.
On
new
preferring of charges
by the
A second
of Anti-Trinitarians
so far as he understands
Spirit
two Powers
EusEBius
258
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
class
and approximates to the Patripassians, in denying that Christ was merely an ordinary man upon whom the divine Logos only exerted a peculiar influence, and affirming that the
but departs from this
Logos-Power
itself
ality of Christ,
earthly
Christ's
this
life.
union with
it.
But
is
by
human
life
and con-
earthly existence,
was
into
at
again withdrawn
to the Triad,
thus
introducing
its
power of communicating
light, so in
the
problem,
heat and
sence
God we may
illuminating
the
Father to stand in the same relation to the Monad, that the Logos and Spirit do,
is
uncertain,
Nkander
(I.
595)
is
of opinion
power of the Logos, and the enlivening energy of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers." Neander (I. 596) also remarks that
Sabellius
He employed
"
the
assumed
occasions.
according
to
varying
As
in
Compare
EtisEBnjs
the sun
we may
distinguish its
Eccl. Hist.
VH.
vi
Epiphanhtb:
proper substance,
its
round shape,
Haereses, LXII.
\
\ V
ANTI-TEIIOTAEIANS.
Nature.^
259
down
into
Rome and
in
Mesopo-
The
whom
who
and
we denominate
asserted the
mere and
humanity of
Christ,
term
some of them holding, however, to an extraordinary humanity in Christ, and others only to an ordinary.^ The views of this class were so palpably
;
them.
'
It
parties
it.
who held
broached
DEE
598-9),
is
When
is
the purposes of
Carpocrates,
cies of
held to a
name
but only to
from the
man
is
He
Old
Testament no
of the
mention
connection between Christ and a superior being, which made his humanity an extraordinary one. These sects held that upon the mere and ordinary man Jesus, who was born by ordinary generation of Joseph and Mary, the aeon Christ descended at his
bnptisra, investing
made
'
of the Logos.
We
name
sects,
of Humanitarians
those
these representations
were
reject-
ed by Theodotus,
Christ
who
held that
dotians, Artemonites,
who
was
Water-
Neander (L
Luke
i.
580),
on the
planation of
31 to
show
man was
not
260
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
mind
en-
two
classes, in I'eference to
its
whom
weightiest
application,
Monarchians approached nearer to the revealed doctrine of the absolute deity of Christ than did the
Nominal
Trinitarians.
was
itself.
Neander remarks,
" the
feeling
who were
In respect to
truth, than
first class.
But
in respect to Trinita-
distinctions in the
Godhead.
unit,
Their Su-
without any
A trinality
:
in
Neandee
Churcli History,
I.
phraseology
yeyove rpias
fis
tj
fxovas TrXaTuj/Seto-a
t)
577.
'
'
fnXaTvv'iT]
fiovas
rptaSa.
IV.
the Monarfollowing
6)
he
describes
chian
theory in
the
261
was denied.
The Nominal
They admitted
three distinc-
some
sort.
the
common
faith of the
the Holy
monad,
sun,
which might be
in the
common
Both
alike denied a
trinity of essence^
But
said,
it
may be
side of Christology
Nominal
Trini-
tarianism nearest,
upon the
side of Trinitarianism.
3.
The foundation
and the doxologies
and
See Batik
I.
Dreieinig-
257
sq.
262
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
tlie apostle John. The creeddogma did not go beyond the The catechumen upon his these.
the Logos-doctrine of
statement of the
phraseology of
faith in "
God
Holy Ghost."
This
is
the
and
is
trinity as
was made
in
in
pre-
which resulted
definitions of the
Nicene Symbol.
The
started not so
much from
a consideration of the
most speculative dogma in the Christian system. The highly metaphysical doctrine of the trinity, as Guericke^ remarks, " had its origin, primarily, in a
living helief ; namely, in the practical faith
and
is
feel-
the cofact in
For
if
there
is
any
indisputable,
it is
and Primitive Church worshipped Jesus Christ. This was the distinctive characteristic of the adherents of the
well
new
religion.
Pliny's testimony
is
known, that the Christians as a sect were accustomed to meet before day-break, and sing a
responsive
hymn (carmen
'
Ohurch History,
PRISnTIVE TEINITARIAISTSM.
Christ, as to
liturgies
263
God
The
earliest
sacred
second and
middle Person.
andria,
The
liturgy of the
Church of Alex-
"
One
alone
is
One
Spirit."
Son; One alone is holy, the The religious experience of the Primitive Church was marked by joy at the finished work of
alone
is
holy, the
redemption; and
If regard be
this
had
as
and
invocations of the
generations of Christians,
there
is full
much
Son
its
as of the Father.
The
Person of the
upon the
in that early
to
the
living
presence
and teachings of
its
Founder.
The
coming man,
first
God
be-
This accounts
appear in
was, that
was conto be
it
Compare Eusebius
V.
28), for the proofs
264
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
The
actual
and
constantly
and the
Spirit
and
met-
The
faith
catholic heart
were
sufficient.
trinitarianism
compelled
it,
there was
no necessity of employing
clature,
^no
use for the terms " essence " and " hy"procession."
itself
postasis,"
"generation" and
Hence
with em-
bodying
its
Three, in
hymns and
its
formularies,
and
with employing in
The Apostolic Fatliei's lived before the rise of the two principal Anti-Trinitarian theories described
in a previous section,
spec-
Church of Christ to end sometimes prayers, and sermons always, with words of glory
(gloria Patri)
;
V.
xliii.
w^herein, as long
employed the words ''with the Son," and " hy the Son, in the
Spirit,"
felt
had honor. Arianism had made it a matter of great sharpness, and subas the blessed Trinity
till
compelled to allay
and
tlety
of
wit, to he
ing Christian,
rious
had unintentionally awakened in some minds, by writing his tracts upon the Trinity,
what
syllables or particles
PRIMITIVE TRINITARIANISM.
265
speak of Christ
in their
as divine
modes of thought and expression, between the deity of the Son and that of the Father. These immediate pupils of the Apostles enter into no speculative investigation of the doctrine of the Logos,
common
scientific
expressions
respecting
the
trinity.
In
statement
may be
discovered
and
it
is
who
The
sufficient to indicate
God
{Otog) to
who
is
by them.
11.
c.
Clement of
Rome
(Ep.
we ought to conceive of {cpgovtlv neqC) Jesus Christ as of God {ac, ntql d-tov)^ as of the judge of
the living and the dead."
his greeting, the
Ignatius addresses, in
elected
'
by a
Meiee
:
"
266
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
God"
(^Irjaov
/j/ucov).
Rome, he describes them, in his greeting, as " illuminated by the will of Him who willeth all things
that are according to the love of Jesus Christ our
God"
our
(z-fJ
&ia
iiixMv)
and
desires for
them
"
abun-
God" (rw
to
x^ta
ij/Licov).
He
also urges
them
(c. 3),
mind
for " the things that are seen are temporal, but the
(o
yag
is
d-tog
[i.
'hjoovg
in the Father,
e.
having ascend-
more glorified " [in the He eninvisible world than when upon earth]. joins it upon the Trallian Church (c. '7), to " continue inseparable from God, even Jesus Christ (d-aov 'hiGov Xqlotov) and says to the Smyrnaean
ed again to the Father]
;
Church,
(c. 1),
"I
con-
Yerum
tends for the genuineness of the " longer recension " of the Ignatian Epistles, rather than the " shorter recension," because the
latter
longiorem quoque
Christum
Deum nom-
dis-
deity, "while
nsam
da."
quo
sit
fit,
ut merito poste-
rioribus
temporibus tribuen:
more general form of the Ante-Nicene trinitarianism. To which Hefele replies, in favor of
in the
PEIMITIVE TRINITAEIANISM.
267
The
"
Have
we not one God, and one Christ ? Is there not one Spirit of grace, who is poured out upon us, and one
calling in
Christ
"
Letter of the
Smyrna Church
For
this,
and
and
to
with
whom
and
Amen."
Ignatius^ in his
Son
first in the
trinity
"
may
Holy
and
charity,
and
in the Father,
and
in the
following
13.
Paul in 2
Cor.
xiii.
ity in
Barnabas (Epist. c, 5) finds the trin" For this cause, the the Old Testament.
souls,
Lord endured to suffer for our was Lord of the whole earth,
us
although he
to
whom
he [the
:
'
Let
^
make man
Hefele
:
after our
likeness.' "
rum Opera,
tion
in locis.
compact account of the course of criticism upon these earhestChristian writings, after the close of
the Canon
tially
work
find
as this.
The reader
will
in-
268
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
tlie
Those of
at
all
upon the
andria (f about 220), whose literary activity falls between 150 and 250, represent the Greek trinitarianism
of the
second century
and Irenaeus
namely, unity of essence between the Father and Son, and distinction of persons}
Justin Martyr afiirms that the Person
to
the
17th,
That
much outweighs the learning of those who have affirmed the spuriousness.
dis-
are spurious
down
to every parafarther,
graph and
letter, is still
scholars as
and Dorner,
Compare Guericke Church Hist., 57; and Schaff Church Hist., 119. ' The text John x. 30 enunciates
: :
iyu>
km
6 iraTrjp tv (not
and
my
PROIITIVE TRmiTAEIANISM.
269
self-existent I
AM,
or
The
Eternal, he maintains
became incarnate
in Jesus
Christ.
Jew Trypho, he
And
the angel of
God spake
of Abra-
fire
am
God
Isaac,
God
up
of your fathers, go
down
into
my
Logos;
fire,
last
man by the
will of
salvation of mankind,
what the
fatuated Jews; who, notwithstanding that they have these express words in the writings of Moses
'
And
a flame of
am
that
God
ing
'
this, I say,
by God
:
the Father and Maker of all things. For which oversight the Prophetic Spirit thus charges them Israel hath not known me, my people have
'
not understood
me
'
:
'
and
as I
have
said, Jesus
taxed
them again for the same thing, while He was amongst them No man hath known the Father
270
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
tlie
whom
the
Son
will
reveal Him.'
it
The
maintaining that
who had
it,
iii.
by the Prophetic Spirit, and Christ himself, for knowing neither the Father nor the Son for they who affirm the Son to be the Father, are guilty
;
of not knowinsr that the Father of the universe has a Son, who, being the Logos, and first-begotten of
God,
is
God
{^tal
^toQ v:taQ^ti).
And He
it
is
fire,
and sometimes
in
Him."
God
savrov
Xoyc?ir]v)^
who
is
called
by
the
Holy
Spirit, the
,
will,
yet without
'
Martyr
St.
Apologia
Mauri,
I.
39, for
list
of the passages in
63 (Ed. Cong.
1742).
Par.
PRIMITIVE TRLNITAEIANISM.
271
tlie
For
in asserting that
God
he teaches that the Son's constitutional being is If the Father identical with that of the Father.
Son de
nihilo,
the
Son's sub-
would have been an entirely new and secondary one. Such phraseology is never applied either by Justin Martyr, or any of the Fathers,
to the act of pure creation.
Justin's idea of eternal
is
the direct
is
That which
eter-
ex dtoii havrov^
that which
is
in
And
created de
a certain
new substance willed into being from The statement that the Logos absolute nonentity. was generated from the Father " by his will " is
it is
some of the Post-Nicene trinitarians, and is capable of an explanation in harmony with the doctrine of the absolute deity of the second Person. For it is
qualified
by the
Justin
Maktyk
Dialogns
cum Tryphone,
Cong.
St.
272
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
It
must therefore be an
Essence; yet volun-
immanent
is
will,
which
are one.
"
This
ra-
Power
is
merely
dXXa xul
tnQov
rl
iavV)}
He
is
a sub-
sistence,
or emanation.
The
pre-existence
asserted
by
"
The
Son of the Father, even he who is properly called his Son, the Word, was with him, and begotten of
creation
(^Tigo
made and
disposed all
This Being who was really begotten of things." the Father, and proceeded from him, existed before
all
the
The passage
31
PKIMITIVE TEINITARIANISM.
in the First
273
Apology
(c.
the First-Be-
is
God "
In the Dialogue with Trypho, Justin remarks concerning Joshua, that he distributed to the Israelites
eternal,
God,
God "
Justin's
recognition of the
trinity appears
in
"
We
wor-
Again,
we
and who
for this
Jesus Christ,
end was born (jtwrjO-avra)^ even who was crucified under Pontius Pilate
is
truly
God
and
we esteem him in the second place (^^coQa). And that we with reason honor the Prophetic Spirit in. the third rank (ra^ti)^ we shall hereafter shew."
^
"
Christ,
We
we
are unbelievers
most true
God, the Father of righteousness and temperance, and of all other virtues, in whom is no mixture of evil. But we worship and adore Him, and his Son
'Dialogus
'Apologia
T.
18
2Y4
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
who
made
him
Prophetic Spirit
truth."
name
^
of
God
the
all,
Spirit."
Clement of Alexandria asserts unity of essence between the Father and the Logos in the most
explicit
manner.
says
:
Son, he
The two
are
one,
namely God."
most
describes
him
Word who
who
of
is
is
manifestly true
{i^iocox)'tiQ)
God
{ovtcjq ^tbg)^
equalized
he was
his Son,
is
Word
;
God
There
rules
who
one
over
^
(^TtavroxQccrcoQ)
and there
all
is
First-Begotten
Being,
by whom
things
were
made."
The
head
is
"
There
is
there
also
one
Word
is
Spiiit,
who
everywhere."
Oong.
Be
propitious to thy
'
Apologia I.
67, 6, 61 (Ed.
dagogus,
III.
;
Gentes, p. 68
(Ed. Potter).
PRIMITIVE TRESriTAKIANLSM.
children,
2*75
and Father both One, O Lord " (vu xul narTjQ, tv "Let us give thanks to the only ccfzcpo), pcvQLt).
Father and Son, Son and Father, our Teacher and
Master, together with the
Holy
Spirit,
one
God
through
all things, in
all
whom
by whom
alone are
forever.
things .... to
whom
Amen."'
nature,
mind of man,
the Father.
created a
They
new
and
this genera-
by
soul,
of images.
uttered,
is
The human
logos, or
word, they
human
without
its essence.
left
the Divine
The ray of
luminary
itself.
God
'
Clemens ALEXANDKiNT78:PaeI.
dagogus,
fine.
Paedagogus, sub
II.
2*76
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
it.
were not adequate to a complete statement of the doctrine of the trinity. They would serve for only
one part of the dogma
essence.
:
that
viz.
of the unity of
suffice to
show how the generation of the Son did not infringe upon the oneness of the Divine Nature but they would
Such
illustrations
would
The word
human being
;
but then
this
word has no
sun
is
These
would not
and
this,
is
full
for
were naturally and safely employed to guard against the notion, that the generation of the second Person
implied abscission or division of the one eternal
Upon the
and
tions
by the Early
Waterland
remarks.
"
(Second
Defence,
and
like,
light, fire
and
fire,
and such
The comparisons of
PEimTTVE TRINITAEIANISM.
sentations, moreover,
277
for tlie con-
prepared the
way
of the trinity.
They implied,
and, so far as
it
could
be done in
this
Son
tical
is,
respect,
different
And
these
two
But
and Arianism,
" essence "
and
were expressed
in a technical
;
lectical propositions
The
refer-
As
his
opponents
Christ, there
was no
him
Tertullian's
main force
to be so,
It is
devoted to the
certain
more
mere energy
I
Damascene).
co-eternity
say then,
fitly
thought
tial.
is
that
was more
know
278
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
tlie
Son and
In so doing,
lie
makes a
real contribution
ma.
In affirming sameness of
essence between
first
de-
a creature.
The
Patripassian
distinct personality.
con-
ceptions,
another respect.
The
positiveness
with
ap-
Having employed the examples of a river which is its source, and of a ray which
never separated from the sun, in order to
illus-
"Wherefore,
in
God and
;
his
Word,
For the root and the trunk are two things, and the fountain and stream are two phenomenal appearances (species),^ but undivided
Son.
but conjoined
and the sun and ray are two forms (formae), but
'The reader
-will
observe
how
which
his
mind was
full.
The
terms taken singly, and by tbemselves, are inadequate, like any and every other term; but the
PRIMITIVE TRINITAEIANISM.
colierent.
2Y9
another
EverythiDg that
is
issues
from
from which
it
it.
issues
but
it is
But where there is a second thing, there are two things and where there is a third thing, there are three. For the third is the Spirit, from God and the Son; as the fruit from
reason separate from
;
the trunk
(rivus)
is
and the
from the
third
for-
sun.
derives
its
properties.
(trinitas) flowing
down
economy (monarchiae
is
nihil
obstrepit,
et
Father
one, the
Son
is
another.
the Father
by
by
distri-
not another
by
division [of
;
because
the Father and Son are not one and the same [person], but one differs
special
whole
manner" (modulo).^
of
connection
thought
'
endeavoring
Tcrtullian's ean, Cap. 8, 9, 13. " distribution " [of essence] is the
same
as the
Nicene "coramuni-
cation" of essence.
280
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
On
"They
unity of
TertuUian
is
equally explicit.
that the
number and
;
is
is
ad-
ministered
by
it
deri-
sed admin-
who
the Father,
power from
it
the Father,
it
Divine monarchy
In this way,
On
is
One
One
is
by unity
less,
of substance, that
Whilst, neverthe-
Holy Ghost,
not in
and of one
i'''
which we
shall find
PRiMrrrvE teenitarianism.
others of the Nicene trinitarians.
It
281
is
the argu-
ment that the eternity of thej^^s"^ person is conditioned by that of the second, and vice versa. If there be a time when there is no second Person, there is a time when there is no first Person. First
and second are necessarily correlated to each
existence
other.
coar-
and correlationship
eternity of the
is
Son,
neces-
God
in order that
he himself
may be
God
the Father;
may be God
and another
esse).^
Yet
it is
one thing to
Jiame^
very
signifi-
and exerted much influence upon the subsequent developement of the doctrine. " Seine Trinitat fallt
nicht in die Sphare des Werdens, ohnehin nicht der
ytvTjra^
Der Sohn
ist
Gott
ist
ihm
non
tia,
nee substansubstantiae,
'Dorner
641.
Person
last
Ohristi,
is
I.
specie, unius
et
autem
Dorner, however,
mis-
taken in this
tullian's
remark.
Ter-
tatis,
Adv.
language
is,
"tres autem,
Praxean, Cap.
282
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
Irenaeus^ partly from his practical
spirit,
which
inclined
him
from
He
;
regards
him
as the
Jehovah of
attributes deity to
as an
him
as to
object of
worship.
He
the doctrine
The following
Irenaeus argues
of the Son
for
the
eternal pre-existence
as follows:
"Having shown
that the
"Word who existed in the beginning with God, by whom all things were made, and who was always
present to the
human
.
the objection
is
excluded
who
say
'
If Christ
was born
"Id
at that time,
Filius ejus
c. 13.
Verbum
(Ed. Harvey).
"In ever-
Sodomitarum scriptura ait 'EtpluitDominus super Sodomam et Gomorrham ignem et sulfur a Domino de coelo.' Filium enim hie significat, qui et Abrahae
sione
Mariam,
etc."
See
the
coUocutvs
sit,
a Patre accepisse
Oxford Library of
TCLLiAN
De
Praescriptionibus,
447. (Note).
PEIMinVE TEINITARIANISM.
then before that time he did not
exist.'
283
For we
with
existed
Wherefore, in the beginning, God Son of God formed Adam, not as though God needed man, but that he might have one upon whom he could beFor not ouly before Adam, but stow benefits.
before
all
creation (ante
omnem
conditionem), the
Word was
immanent
(manens) in
Him
and
He
by
'
me
The Jews departed from God, because they did not receive his Word, but supposed that they could know the Father alone by himself, without his Word, that is his Son; not knowing God who spake in a visible form (figura) to Abraworld
'
of
my
down to deliver them.'" After remarkini? that God does not need either men or angels as the medium by which to create, Irenaeus assigns as the reason, that He has as his medium, " his own offspring (progenies), and his own image (figuratio), viz: the Son and Holy Spirit, the Word and Wisdom to whom all angels are servants and subject." ^ The trinality in the Godhead is taught by
;
'
Irenaefs
IV.
Adversns Haereses
III.
Adv.
II.
(Ed.
Harvey),
1
;
xix.
IV.
also
xxxvii. 3
II. xlvii.
XXV.
xiv.
Compare
and Index,
284
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
"
But
if
we
is
we ought
not to seek
God than him who is God. For this is the highest impiety. But we should commit such things to God who made us, and gave us accurate knowlanother
Word
is
im-
He who
anoints,
He who
is
made.
is
The
the Son
who
as
anointed,
(Sermo) says
the
Word
of
spirit
and
flesh,
by
is
his
hands, that
Holy
Spirit, to
whom
one
he
also said
God the Father, in all and through all, and one Word, and one Son, and one Spirit, and one salva^ tion to all who believe in Him." Irenaeus testifies to the loorship of Christ by the
church, and against the Papal doctrine of saint-
is
only
"The Church
by
1, 5, 6,
12; IV.
III. xix.
V.
i.
IV.
xi. 5.
Compare
also,
Adv.
voce Trinity
PRIMITIVE TEINITAEIAlSriSM.
285
but directing
its
the Lord
who made
name
of the Lord
more frequently employing the term Son, in the discussion, and thereby introduce more of the
tyr, in
Distinguishing,
Nature, which
we find
For
and
essentiality of
personality, as
the term
Son.
Hence we
trinita-
shall find
2d century, and those of the Nicene period, to consist in the comparative disuse of the term Logos,
and the more common use of the term Son, to
nate the second hypostasis.
desig-
Hi^olytus^ the
plicitly teaches
the
doctrine of the
trinity,
and
Irenaeus
Adversus Haereses
II. xlix, 3.
'
Dornkr
Person
Christi,
I.
(Ed. Harvey),
600.
286
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
to
tions, in opposition
the
modalism of Noetus.
Having
all
Word by whom
this,
he proceeds
"we behold
;
the
Word
incarnate in
;
Him we understand the Father by him we bewe worship the Holy Ghost." ^ He lieve the Son
then encounters the argument of the Noetians,
cause they maintained that the Father
who
God, and
the Son
is
" I will
For the
the
Father
there
is
is
one
is
Holy Ghost
risen
his disciples,
'
The Word
charge to
baptizing
Go and
teach
all nations,
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' showing that whosoever omits one of these, does not fully glorify God. For through the trinity, the Father is glorified. The Father willed, the Son wrought, the Holy Spirit
manifested.
All
the
scriptures
proclaim
this."
The Word alone is God, of God himself Wherebeing the substance of God. But fore he is God
"
;
the world
is
of nothing; wherefore
'
it is
not God,
Hippolytus
In Noet.
c.
12.
'
PRIMITIVE TRnnTARIANISM.
287
The world
is
it,
when He
avrov
who
tt,
created
so wiEs,"
Aoyog
/lwvoq s^
'O hs xoOfiog
ovdtvog
'
dio ov S^tog.
We
and Post-Nicene
1.
divines.
God
2.
Divine
substance^
and applied
it
to the
Son
in this sense.
substance to be strictly
3.
They
confined
They
Had
in respect to substance,
<fec.,
uncreatedness,
they
for this
beyond
all
would have proved Son and Father are not But they never did.^
'
Waterland
First Defence,
Query
XXV.
288
HISTOKY OF THEOLOGY.
4.
OrigerHs Trinitarianism.
The
speculations of Origen
mark an epoch
in
we
left
off;
ulative method, in
guard
against,
and
con-
demn.
Origen seized upon the idea of Sonship, which
had shaped the views of his predecessors, and which it must be acknowledged is a more frequent idea in
the
New Testament
energy.
by
So
is
concerned,
past
all
it
in
He
intellectual
his
289
day
liad to
we have
already
noticed the
that
by
his logic
and learning he
brought
off
At
the
particularly of detecting
him up
to that higher
is
to
be
and adventurous
who
attempt more than they accomplish, and more, perhaps, than the
human mind
is
able to accomplish.
In
controversy,
he seems
and
to
his
whole
life
was a
^the
endeav-
Church
He
man
were to be found
in greater fulstill
in the com-
290
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
in
which
so
legitimate
is
in this
grand and
Arius
claimed him
when
and
his
own
scheme,
is finite
created.
The opponents
of Arius, on the
other
maintained the
tween generation and creation in such a manner as to uphold the true and proper deity of the Son
if
successful, the
be taken
Athanasius
tlie
See "Waterland's
specting the
pp.
Origen as against the Arians. Jerome at first defended him, but afterwards attacks his writings as unsound in which attack he was
;
ism in Origen's work Contra Celsum, is better than that in his other works; and Bull maintains his orthodoxy chiefly by citations from it. It has been supposed that Origen's writings have been
corrupted by interpolations, by
latitudinarian hands.
him.
Augustine (Haereses,
xliii.)
291
he
is
himself maintaining.^
But we
definition
it
is
of the trinity.
which he
started,
Inasmuch
as
Monarchi-
the
time of Origen,
it
his speculations
guard against
this.
Monarchianism, or Patripas-
trinality,
The
hypostatical distinctions
G odhead would consequently be the side of the subject that would be most considered, and urged by an opponent of Monarchianism. Origen's great endeavor, consequently, was to defend the real personality of both the Father and the
'De
Oap.
as tliough
inquiring,
and
exer-
vi.
27.
Athanasius, how-
had said some things that appeared to conever, implies that Origen
flict
who
For he remarks
gation.
Only what he
is
distinctly
declares
to be regarded as the
sentiment of the
{(piXonovos)
labour-loving
man."
292
HisTOEr OF theology.
which
Godhead.
as truly
It
was
his
Son was
and
Father, and that the personal pronouns could be applied as strictly and properly to one as to the
other.
In this particular, he
made a
positive ad-
by more sharply
^
an
expression that
employed,
and
he were only a
power proceeding from him, and working in Christ, as the Holy Spirit does in the believer. In Clement, the hypostatical distinction, though asserted, is not so definitely and energetically asserted, but that the Logos, somewhat as in the trinitarian writings
of Justin Martyr, runs some hazard of evaporating
into the conception of the Universal Eeason.^
Ori-
gen
is
and firmly
an-
nounces that the Father and Son are two real hypostases, or personal subsistences.
'
The Greek word rpias is found only twice: Tom. in Joann. vi. 133; in Matt. xv. 698, though
the translation by Rufinus employs trinitas oftener than this.
Clement sometimes fails to between the Son and Spirit, though reckoning them as two Persons in the
'
"
distinguish carefully
trinity."
MrxscnER-Vox Colln
I.
Dogmengeschichte,
183.
ORIGENS TRmiTARIANISM.
293
to
But how
tion,
is
Godhead
be
The
attempt to answer
In
fixed
its
doing a valuable
work
and
by
Son of God.
Origen endeavoured to harmonize the doctrine
of three Persons, with the doctrine of one Essence,
by employing the idea of eternal generation^ suggested by the term Son, which is so generally used
in the
New
dis-
tinction in the
But
first
He
It
is
explained his
necessary,
d-tog.
he
between
;
d'bO(;
and 6
Father alone
is
is
6 z^tog
the Son
is
^tog.
not
God
in the
and
i.
(John
1),
it
when he denominates the Logos God, but employs when speaking of the absolute God, in the same
294
verse.^
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
participate in the
self-
and therefore
it
He
is
God
only
by
virtue of the
may be termed
Person in the
{)^tog^
The The
first
trinity,
the
Godhead.
eternal
communicate
is
this to the
second Person.
That which
derived
by the Father
is
generation,
Father,
arsgog
hut ovGiav
3ta\
vnoxtl^bvov iariv
He
will
etc.,
but will
not
him avro&bog,
God
Truth
Father of
Wisdom
is
greater than
Wisdom
A few
mode
of
and
second Person.
the
*
'^AvTO&sog
is
God
per
se,
God with
article.
:
in his prayer
Oeigenes In Joann. Tom. II. Ed. Basil. " When the term God is employed in reference to the unbegotten (ingenitus) Author of all, he [John] uses the
p. 271.
608.
this
point,
II.
see
Redepenning
sq.
I.
;
Origenes,
304
Baur
197
sq.
Dreieinigkeitslehre,
:
article,
omitting
it
when
the
Word
"
is
denominated God."
:
Obigenes
De
Oratione, 222.
origen's trinitarianism.
to the Father, says
295
thee,
'
God.'
But whatsoever
is
deified
him who is denominated avTO&iog or God per se, by a participation and communion of that divinity, is not to be denominated God with the article, but more properly
(deificatum) over and beside
God without
the article
which
latter designation
first
attracted divinity to
who exist besides himself according as it is said God the Lord of gods spake and called the earth.' "^ " Him [Jesus], we afiirm to be the Son of God, of
'
employ the phrase of Celsus) we worship supremely (magnopere) and his Son we acknowledge as exalted (auctum) by the Father,
God, I
say,
whom
(to
by the
as
lievers,
greatest honours.
who
:
difiering
God
universe
we
certainly
do not do
we
be-
to the
Son
this
For we plainly
who formed
world
This
is
Son
himself,
^
we affirm, on the authority of the who says The Father who sent me is
: '
:
Obigenbs
In Joannem, Tom.
II. p.
296
greater than
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
I.'
Nor
is
Son of Man is the Lord Yet we ascribe divine authority (imperium) to him as the Word, Wisdom, Justice, and Truth of God, against all who are suspicious of him
mented
as to say, that the
of God.
under
this
God
the omnipo-
tent Father of
At
is
a creature.
but
"
he
is
of a nature
midway between
all creatures,"
navse-
Tcov cpvotcoq,?'
ries
As such he
is
For
who,
as
by
their
dei-
existence.
By
the more
in a
may be denominated
^
The
difference
is
Origenes
not that
VIII. pp.
793,
Ed. Basil,
From
but of
essence,
is
proved by his
Origen in cor-
And
and 6 3f or. "Oeigen: Contra Celsum, III. 34, p. 469 (Ed. La Rue), ' Neander Church History, I. 587. Neander also adds, that Ordistinction between Seoj
:
oeigen's teinitarianism.
297
Son and the created universe lies in the fact, that the Son derives his (secondary) divinity immediately from the absolute deity (o &t6g)^
between
tlie
meis
diately
who
the
is
first
all things.^
The Logos
God
life
God
has
in liimself^ and he
who
in liimself
is
capable of creating.^
igen argued for a certain necessity for polytheism, or the
wor-
This diflference
is
marked by
first
the
man,
by the use of
ordained by God.
'This position was afterwards
the article
is
when
its
the Unbegotten
meant, and
omission
when
This
Atiianarepresents
the Begotten
tion of the
is signified.
3.
diflference implies
the subordina-
them
Son
Son
to the Father, as
he
calls
"
We
consider
the
Son
avrocrocpia, avToaXrj'^fia,
that the
Son has
this prerogative
etc., he will not call him avTo'^em he interprets Matt. xix. 16 to mean
he alone was brought into existence by God alone, and all other things were created by God through the Son."
'
Baur
sq.)
(Dreieinigkeitslelire,
I,
and not God the Son, is " good ;" and holds that the sphere in which the Son acts is second to that in which the Father acts, and that of the Holy Ghost is
second to that of the Son, the Father's sphere being all-comprehending, including those of the
197
points in his
summary of Origen's
1.
trinitarianism.
Origen starts
with the
fact of difference
;
between
in other words,
298
1.
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
In this distinction between 6 d-tog and
first
-d^iogy
lies
the
Two
;
species of divinity
is
the simplest, as
the most
profound of
all ideas, is
made
a complex notion, so
as to include species
under a genus.
The
distinction
between the
that there
is
finite
and
infinite is
annihilated; so
and
eternal, as there
is
and
temporal.
conception of
Godhood
reality,
and leaves
it,
it,
Origen, in
brought over
speculation a poly-
Godhood,
in his
scheme, as in polytheism,
TJae Father possesses
it
is
a thing of degrees.
Logos
more
ex-
heavenly hierarchies.^
and
infinite is filled
;
intermediates
so
The gulf between the finite up by an interminable series of that when this theogony is subit is
tion,
Spirit's
agency
tri-
harmony
'
of will,
:
plicity to
121.
ORIGEN's TEESriTARIANISM.
299
found not to
tion-sclieme
2.
differ in
itself.
The second
Father.
There
Son proceeds froin the will of the is some dispute among writers
this
is
view
but
in favour of
we
Son
we must
momenta.
From
Son with the Father, was the dispeculiarity of the Western theology, and
'
Church History,
I.
lar
who
is
a participant
589.
'
ticipation "
indicated
in
the
is without doubt of one substance and one Every mind nature with him.
in the
same
thing,
De
Prln-
which
light
participates in intellectual
IV. 381.
is,
who
participates in
any particu-
mind
that
300
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
by the
will of
is
the
essence.
Baur
in his
of opinion
Origen really
the doctrine of
wavered
eration
by
an
in the apparently
mind
so desirous of
Meier agrees
from
all
by
a minute examispecifi-
the position that Origen did not hold that the existence of the second hypostasis
is
dependent upon
first.
Yet
Dorner himself
the Monad,
is
make
the Father
ical distinctions,
inal
and absolute
unity, in respect to
which the
who
unquestionably
ofioiova-ios,
manner
participates in
ness of essence
ofioovcnos.
not
intellectual
light."
But
this
is
Compare RedepenII.
plainly similarity,
king: Origenes,
345.
oeigen's teinitaeianism.
301
drew
from Ori-
gen's writings,
Dorner concedes, that as the SemiArians made the Father more than a single member
of the trinity,
^toTrjTog,
n)]yti
in
naar^g
so
Son
is
Tirjyr)
d-to-
663.
I.
112).
There
is
a passage in the
4) that
II,
De
Principiis
(I. ii.
seems
After
spiritus filius
extrinsecus, sed
be 6 vlos
natiira
filius est."
But
ture "
was
(Fragm. 1. iv. De Princ. 5. p. 80), " Origenes behauptet he adds nicht direct die Erzeugung des
:
Sohnes aus dem Wesen des Viiaber sucht doch hier, mehr, als eine Erzeugung durch einen einzelen WUlensact desselben, ein Erschaffen. So schwankt er denn
ters,
was a secondary naby the omission of the article. Yet it was a real nature, and not an effluence or emanation, and a highly exalted one so that Christ was the Son of God by more than a mere "adoption" of an ordinary huof God.
ture,
It
indicated
man
nature.
204, es angiebt
er will
nur
position, could
Und
Va-
ject the
wenn
theory
(Fid.
Hervorbringung
I.
Bull
112),
attempts to
in der
That das concentrirteste Geisteseben Wesenheit Gottes leben, selber." But by " will," Origen here means a volition, and not
He
relies
chiefly
upon
tlie fact,
that Origen clearly and often asserts the eternity of the Son.
But
itself.
His
is:
eternity of creation.
Nothing but
prove Ni-
I.
would be
sufficient to
302
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY,
But the
clearly see,
and firmly
an im-
manent
trinity, so far as
concerned,
is
found in
the Father.^
it
and incompatible with hypostatical the Deity but it was the duty of a
;
scientific theologian, as it
logical consistency of
three
essence.
While,
is
to
be
wanting.
is,
that
ad-
prayer
is
most
commonly
endeavours to explain
dressed to the
first
Person, and
that this is what Origen means by prayer " literally." Neandeb (I.
trinitarianism
and thanksgiving are to be sent up to the God over all, by the High Priest, who is above all angels, being the living Word, and God.
Origen's treatise
15), in
De Oratore
vious manner.
sirs
'
Compare Thoma-
Origenes, p. 128.
And we may
tions to the
intercession,
;
himself, and and thanksgiving, and prayer if we can understand the difference heticeen prayer lit" erally, and prayer figuratively
(irpoaevx^js
Word
KvpioXe'^ear
/cat
Kara-
Son of God. As the Son of God and the Holy Spirit are incom-
303
the catholic doctrine of the consubstantiality of the
scientific
merits must be
ar-
at
which he actually
and the
critical
dogma proceeded.
still
removed from the catholic type of doctrine. Those who would defend his orthodoxy in regard to the Son, hesitate to do so in regard to the Spirit. " Basil," remarks Waterthe trinity were
farther
land,^ "
marks that
the
to
first
Holy Ghost
it is
;"
is
but
peculiar
him to possess goodness by nature Holy Ghost is a creature in the literal sense of the term, the first creature made by the Father
" the
and that
ra^sc navTOjv
dice
(lege
nQcJTOv)
narqoz
XqiOtov
ysyevrj/xtvcov
(Tom.
We close
by summing up
parably exalted above
existences,
in
the
other
words of Meier.
' :
"
The
all
"Waterland Second Defence, Qnery XII. Redepenning Origenes, II. Compare also, Gueb317, 311.
:
Nean-
ioke
De Schola
Alexandrina, p.
DEK
I. 5'JO.
197
sq.
304
HISTOKY OF THEOLOGY.
in tlie hislie
in
as in its
and
relations,
is
and
general influence.
it
conducts to a deity
who
involved in a constant
doctrine which
is
process of developement,
ut-
Godhead.
first,
by
its
frequent use
the
second distinction,
and,
secondly,
by its strenuous
assertion of
Roman
and
De
decretis
it
synodi
appears that
hypotheses in
Dionysius of Alexandria,
Sabellianism,
at the time
when he
in
opposing
had
wrote; of which, three are rejected by Dionysius as heretical, and not received by the church, The^r^ theory was the Sabellian, which made the Son the Father, and the Father the Son. The
second
made
lead
him
to
tween them.
Rome
made
who,
lianism,
made
rpels
apx"ft three
Principles,
TOfir
and,
consequently,
^eVaj
nXXr'/Xwj'
Alexandria accepted
it
in
t/Trocrrdaftf
frag-
;:
ORIGEN
dependent
separate
TRINITAEIANISM.
that the
r]vunT^ai)
305
united (unified,
Hypostases
Word
says,
; '
is
with the
'1
'
God
over
all
For he
are one
and
I
my
Father
Fa-
condemned
as trithe-
and,
am
in the
ism.
Divine Trinity
( ^
So Sem
made the Father alone the one God, and reduced the Son and Spirit to the condition of
isni,
creatures.
is
the
following
it
phraseology
all
remarks that " The Divine "Word must of necessity be united (unified) with the God of the universe
:
Therefore
concerns us by
(jivooa'^ai
yap avayKrj
"if'iov
rco
;
3fc3 Ttov
Monad
(/xoi/a-
deities {"ifoTr^Tas),
and it is necessary that the Holy Spirit abide and be immanent in God and the Divine Trinity {rpidba)
oXcof Tov
\6yov)
but
Head
God
viz
the
God
of the uni-
verse, the
and
20
CHAPTEE
III.
NICENE TRINITARIANISM.
1.
Preliminary Statements.
to the examination of that
We
pass
now
more
completely
scientific
Nicene Symhol.
Origen,
we have
Son
is
In
DeOratione,
c.
15
(car ouo-i'av
olo^
vritli
the
Father,
" enim
id
illo
aporrhoea
est
ofxoovaios
videtur,
In
the Apologia
unius
substantiae
cum
term ofMoovaws is accepted, but illustrated by the "vapour" or "effluence" that radiates from any substance. The Son is ofxooC-
Princ.
I. c. ii.
671)
illustrating
PEELBIINAEY STATE.MENTS.
his
307
the
scheme,
" eternal
generation "
is
commucon-
The Son,
in
sequently, does
not
participate
the Father's
primary
is
essence.
It is
nature of creatures.
midway between
that of
God and
Son
ture,
is
is
strictly a crea-
first
of
all.^
The
dria,
This
He
agreed
by asserting
Son to the Father. Such phraseology would place Origen in the class of Nominal Trinitarians, who made the Son an effluence^ and
not a hypostasis.
*
and that tjv nore, ore ovk ^v. These were phrases that were in continual use during the whole
controversy, as
traries of the
the exact
con-
orthodox
yivvitjt,s ck
r^r ovclas.
God was
(| <wk
ovrav^
308
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
that, consequently, there
first
and
must be a perfect
by Origen, that the Son has only a temporal nature and existence, though running back indeed ages
upon ages into the past
as Logos, eternity,
Alexander
insisted
The Son
he
says,
must be
a being
we
find often
employed
in the controversy.
The views of Arius were condemned by the Synod of Alexandria in 321 but so many difficult
;
was impossible
all,
for a provincial
synod to answer
that
them
or
still
more
to construct a creed
and be generally authoritative. This led to the summoning of an oecumenical council at Nice, in
325
;
2.
Problem
to
hefore the
Nicene Council.
The problem
and
Heresy had
arisen, partly,
from incom-
plete exegesis.
Monarchianism, or Patripassianism,
NICEIS-E COUNCIL.
309
upon tliat class of texts whicli teacli the unity of God, and neglected that other class which imply His real and not modal trinality. This had
seized only
Or-
igenism and Arianism, at the other extreme, following the same one-sided exegesis, had asserted the
distinct personality of the Son, at the expense of his
now remained
employ an all-comprehending exegesis of the Biblical data, and assert hoth consubstantiality and hypostatical distinction
;
In doing
this,
made
which
use of
by
was
error, against
it
the term
conception of
consubstantialit}^.
God
is
On
tural
and orthodox.
fact,
The Nicene
trinitarians rec-
ognized this
that there
is
Hence the Nicene Council adopted that term very o/uoovOLog^ which the orthodox mind one hundred years before, in the controversy with Paul
or Being. of Samosata and the Anti-trinitarianism
lie
repre-
310
sented,
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
term.
had The
rejected
as
distinctively
heretical
persistence
with which
Athanasius
is
of
the very same substance with the Father, evinces the depth and subtlety of that remarkable mind,
scien-
church.^
Two
creeds, one
by Eusebius
of Nicomein-
Sou
is
The
position
is
Son
of
he
of
'
is
"
God
God
Upon
But the
ableness of a nature
midway
tlie
le-
non
est,
creat-
substantiae
est.
Omnis enim
cat,
suh-
which was the vice of Origenism, see Guericke's Church History, pp. 318 and 324 (Notes).
Athanasius argued, that because there is no middle essence, the
crcatvra
est,
et
Deu^
"
est.'"
ing
"This
first
offspring,
man
An-
He
Father]
GUSTiNE (De Trinitate, I. vi.) also argues the same point with Athanasius, id the
the perfect
/xa)
/^a??/Z2'-7f<??'Z;
(S7atoiVjy7-
sfrvcture
of the
"
Unde
liquido
apparet
ipsum
Wise."
that the
sunt omnia.
Son
is
KTiV/jd,
only of
311
human
soul
is
'''"lihe"
that of the
term ofxacovoiog that would imply that the essence of the Son differs in kind and grade from that of
made after the likeness of Deity. The time had now come, when silence on the highly
any
finite spirit
not be allowed.
technical
It
The term o^oovOioq could not by any ingenuity be made to teach anything but that the essence of the
Son
and
is
this placed
him
in the
I.
(IV. i.), Eusebius denies that any being wliatever is "from nothing." " God," he says, " propos-
" He who was from nothing would not truly be Son of God, as neither is any other of things
generate.''''
the
least, certainly
ed his
sort
own
production
and constitution of
it
is
not
the Father
'
is
the Son of
this
God
and, as tliough
that
is
takes
is,
its
being from
that I am.' "
were
all
that
was necessary,
am
312
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
The two
Eusebiuses, and
many
of
tlie
Oriental
this
upon
With some
from him.
of this party,
was
created, and
had
To draw the
this
versatile subtlety of
its
man from
concealment,
Most
certainly.'
Nay more,
the ancient
further,
Fathers
proceeded
they used of their own accord openly to declare that the Son of
God
God,
is
is
true God.
But
in
what
is,
sense ?
itself,
Here impiety openly discovered when the Arians began inveterately to hate and execrate
that
truly
He
the the
name
first
o^ooi^crtor.
But,
if in
instance, they
had
sin-
Son of God
cerely
and
cordially
confessed
Cal"
tion of
its
vin
Institutes,
4.
The
the Son of
creature
are,
God
all
is
not such a
as
other creatures
created by
they being
God
which the Catholics had adopted and used, either out of Scripture or from tradition, with the sole exception of the word ojuooi'o-ior as being a word of which the
precision and exactness preclud-
immediately as the Son himself. The word ofinovaios^ "of one substance," was the only expression which they could not in any way
reconcile
with
at
tlieir
11.
heresy."
i.
Bdli,
12, 13.
ed
all
attempt at equivocation.
The Arians
Antioch (A. D.
When
349) altered the Gloria Patri, substituting prepositions for the con-
they acknowledged that the Son was begotten of the Father Himself? they
junction
standing, as
plain, the
Son to
all
is,
and the
Father
it.
Spirit,
Inj
be of God
in such
sense as
have
TnEODORET
H.
313
as it afterin-
ward
volve
diffi-
some
extent.
They were afraid of Sabellianism,^ and supposed that by affirming a unity and sameness of essence between
the Father and the Son, they necessarily denied the
distinction of persons
between them.
This portion,
It is
class of Semi-Arians,
passed
over to
fore
error,
a.Tro8e)(OfJ.fvovs
ra
/xei*
rlWa
Trdvra
raiv iv 'SiKaiq
fjLOVov
ypacfievTcov^
nepl 8e
TO Ofioovamu dfKpijSdWovTas,
o)j Trpoi
^pf]
p-f]
f^^povs
Sta/ceicrSnt
own way,
by
his
yet he certainly
this
in his
KOI
yap
Koi
t'jfxfls
means
letter,
to imply all
fiavLTas^
Toiis
ovB
ws
fiax^opevovs
npoi
u>s
Tvartpas
ej/icTTa/xeSa,
aXX'
opoovcTinir^
And
8idvoiav e)(0VTaSi
and tha (k rJ]$- oumar. way, he got into a diflScultj; for while he was excusing himself, he went on to atin this
much
the Son
liis
(tem-
4,
Chap.
of Nic.
Def (comp.
also 5),
Athanasins says:
ing,
"And
suppos-
In his Nicaenae
II.
fidei
Defensio, Chap.
3,
is
he
re-
marks:
"And what
who had
strange
even after subscription, the Eusebians did change again, and return like dogs to their vomit,
do not the present gainsayers
followers of Acacius,
[the-
denied the
who had
saying
that
this
was the
formula was
o/ioior,
simply.
314
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
were the true representatives of Origen in this counOthers probably held low and latitudinarian cil.
views, and in reality desired that the council should
dissolve without a distinct
ism.
condemnation of Arian-
These mid-way statements were rejected by it was laid down as the scriptural
Son
God
God
),
of very
God
(d^tov
dhi&ivbv
[o
^toQ of Origen]
Father (ofnoovawv ra TiaTQl)^ ^ This last important clause was added to the preceding statement
that the
Son
is
"
God
nio-revo/xfi^ ...
eif
eva
Kvpiov
3eoii,
'irja-ovv Xpia-Tov,
jxovoyfvrj,
because
fK 3eoD, 00)5 fK
en Seoi)
0coT6y, Seov
aXrj'itvov
aXrj'^Lvnv,
yevvq-
in time,
Serra ov
rTaTp\
noirj'iiVTa^
6p.oov(Tiov
rw
fjv
w^<?,
when he was
The
"... Tovf
ovk
rjv^
Se
kcli
Xeyoirar
on
TTore ore
np\v yevvrfir]vai
ovK
J;
Tjv^
KCLL
ing that at
tlils
f^ irepas
17
ovaias
(f)(i(TKovTas (Tvai^
rj
ktkttov, Tpenrov
^aTi^fLr]Ka^o\iKi)(KK'Kri(Tin.
Three
denom-
statement.
1.
The son
is
misapprehension, particularly in
the Oriental Church,
preclude
temporal and
and
3.
The Nicene Symbol, while adopting from Monarchianism a conception and a term that had been vehemently opposed by Origen, at the same time
adopted with Origen the idea of eternal generation.
This idea, suggested
by the
of
by the clause
" begotten
not created^
upon the
it
was necessary
for the
two
among
their opponents.
In the
in this con-
Person would
;
and
316
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
And
this
would
re-
multiplication of
deities.
The second
is
from nothing.
defini-
term
mined by that of "generation," the "procession" of a Person would also be the same as making a And this would result in the creature de nihilo. degradation of the Son and Spirit to the rank
of creatures.
The Nicene
two
errors.
They
are
reso,
Divine Person.
They
They
two
distinct conceptions
to one of
trinality.
which unity
This being
lates,
unity of Essence could be combined with the generation of a Person, or with the procession of a Person,
without
any
self-contradiction.
Athanasius
and
They supposed
activities in
immanent
trini-
the Godhead
tarian mystery.
laid
At
down
; :
3lT
itself,
tlie
idea
The Nicene
1.
by
is
;
Eternal generation
eternal essence of
God
an origination
of a
tion
new
is
Eternal genera-
creation
3.
That which
eternally generated
;
is
of one
is
es-
created
The
substance of
that of
creature
God
the Son
is
God
is
The
God and
4.
Eternal generation
is
optional.
trinity
is
The
filiation
grounded
It
but
in the
Godhead,
creation.^
as that the
;
Godhead should be
there
is
eternal, or self-existent
5.
but
Eternal
generation
'
Respecting
creation,
Howk:
The be-
" I think
Infinite
it
demonstrable, that
one
ing of
God
is
318
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
creation
is
ever-existing essence
act,
an instantaneous
in
existence.^
By
is
excluded, for
in
the
The
idea of con-
tingency
is
a necessary act
Eternal gen-
working
"which
for
is,
that
perfection
who
is
God
giveth perfection
to that he doth.
Those natural,
not the world, or any portion of it. In the Oriental schemes, emanation
in the
is
mode
of accounting
of God, the generation of the Son, the proceeding of the Spirit, are
But
the
my
to
pres-
nal
generation
leaves
which
is
touch
Finite to be originated.
The be-
getting of the
tion of
Son
is
the genera-
an
Infinite Person,
who
wherewith
God
:
hath eternally decreed when and how they should be." Hooker
Ecclesiastical Polity,
ii.
'
its result
Book
I.
ch.
or personal hypostasis,
totally distinct
At
this point,
we may
also
specify the difference between the Nicene " eternal generation," and the Oriental "emanation." 1. That which is eternally generated is infinite, and not finite it is a
;
an impersonal, most a personified, cnergj/ or effluence^ which is one of the powers or principles of nature, a mere anima mundi.
deity, yields only
or at
319
Nicene theolo-
of deity by the first Person to the second Person, in a manner ineffable, mysterious, and abstracted from
all
earthly and
human
manner
peculiarities.
And
the pe-
culiarity in the
in
and
third Person
'
Peaeson,
thoroughly un-
Holy
and
is
conse-
accuracy and
acumen, remarks
that,
mode
in
"the communication of the divine essence by the Father was the true and proper generation by which he hath begotten the Son." This communication of essence, however, he proceeds to say, is free from the imperfections and
limitations of the finite.
from Adam. " Eve was produced out of Adam, and in the same nature with him, and yet was not born of him, nor was she truly the daughter of Adam whereas Seth proceeding from the same
;
In hu-
man
is
time
is
Adam. And this was not in the nature produced, but in the manner of production. The Holy Ghost
erly the son of difference
. . .
corporeal, and
by de-
same nature with him, the Word proceedeth from the same Person in the same similitude of nature
also;
is
generation
is
incorporeal and by
but the
Word
proceeding
is
not,
because the
the
is
procession
is
by
way
generation
is
the
commu-
not."
320
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
as correlates
no
and the
The Father
but
is
is
not, as in Origen's
scheme, a
Monad
Though
in re-
simply one
member
of the trinity.
The
characteristic
;
of Sonship
is
but so
and
in precisely the
in the eternal
head.
An
entire
affirmed.
The
and 6
d-toi; is
is
of the very
same
identical species
" very
God
of very God."
But when we dismiss the conception of constituent essence, and take up that of liypostatical character^ and mutual relatimiship^ Athanasius and the Nicene
trinitarians contend that subordination
may be
af-
of the Son.
The
is
filial
ijeculiariUj
essentiality
ternal.^
'
As
in the
human
sphere, father
and son
"
When we
so far as
is
concerned, neither
human
is
second in dignity to
and uncreated, God the Father and God the Son are on the same common level of eternal and necessary existence, both alike being of one and the same
essence or substance, while yet the latter stands
much
applied
we
to
that the
to
him
be
self-existent,
and
therefore call
cause;
but
sole first
distinctly
denoteshe-
between him
who was
and the Father, we justly represent him as originating from the Father." Calvin Institutes, I.
:
xiii. 19.
'
and therefore the word man does not signify the same thing, or carry the same idea in both cases, but is used in different senses.
the
"
is
that the
What
I assert
is,
that
word God
signifies or
denotes
Him who
and of
it
alone has
all
perfections in
plied to Father or
but
when
to both.
He
that
is
possessed of
denotes one
who
is
and sub-
Waterland
Query HI.
Second
Defence,
You might
as well say
21
322
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
phrases, ^x
ti]c,
upon the
and
ing
Let
is
;
it
be repeated," he
a created thing
who
creates
but a generation
nature.^
is
the proper
oflfepring
of the
substance, always
is,
whatever
;
is is
be and
this
For since the Father always proper to His substance must always his Word and his Wisdom. And that
is.
for
He
when he
^but for
the
Son not to be ever with the Father is a disparagement of the perfection of his substance." ^ In such
statements as these, which, in these Discourses against
the Arians, are repeated and enforced in a great
variety of ways, and with great earnestness, Athanasius
argues that as
it
is
eternal
Father, so
it
was
not necessary from the very nature of the Godhead, that there should be eternally a Creator, and eter.
nally a creation,
it
'
co-essential or consubstantial
with
Ep.
a house
stantial
co-essential or consub-
his
father."
Athanasius
:
ad Serapion.
"^
but
it
is is
Athanasius
I. viii.
Contra
Aria-
nos,
323
nature of the Godhead, that there should be eternally a Father, and eternally a Son.
by teaching the
The Arians
the Father,
Son
first
that
it
To
this
Athanasius
replies,
Son
it
is
in
and of the
tingent being.
Whatever
necessity
it,
because
are
in
and of
this
substance.
When,
is
Son
con-
and was
is
the ex-
attributes, or
even
When
God
is
good and
Him
by
if
by
optional will,
we must
He
is
good
if it
be
324
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
God
is
good and
by
have
them
[in
and mercy]
Therefore
by
not voluntarily,
God
is
good,'
and
'
'
Who
is it
that
ex-
Him ?
it
is
But
if it
be
and therefore
by nature
that
He
much more is He Father of the Son by naMoreover let the ture and not by optional will. Arians answer us this The Father himself, does He
good,
:
exist^ first
to
come
Father himself.
If,
what then was He before he counselled and willed, or what gained He after such counselling and option ? But if such a question be extravagant, and absurd, in reference
Father exists from optional
to the Father, will
it
will
and pleasure
it
is
For, as
enough
He
is
that
He
is [i. e.,
enough only
un-
to hear the
name
of the
Word,
is
to
know and
derstand that
He who
God
not by optional
by
optional will,
but by nature."
ploys
tlie
is
and nothing
was
'
in the
Athanasius
Contra
Aria-
make
will,
this distinction
between a
antecedent
concurrent
and
an
against
It
but says that the Son is generated by nature, and " nature
transcends
will
was
and
necessity
only
when
rated the will from the nature of God, that they denied that generation
is
proper Word, begotten from Him by nature, God did not counsel
beforehand
;
by
will.
If the will
be
for
in
Him, the
Godhead,
is
is
accord-
Father makes other things whatever he counsels." Cont. Arianos, Augustine (Trin. xv. 20) III. 61. speaks of the Son, as " voluntas de voluntate."
not compulsory.
those pasp.
Waterland,
in reference to the
and
and arbitrary
will
will,
and says
narpos
(Dial.
Suca/xet,
Koi
^ovkjj
avrov
tween
of approbation and
is
will of choice,
(2d Defence, Qu. VIII. p. 314). " Upon this ground or principle, of
God having an
arbitrary
all things,
(TvvSpofiOi
and
^fXrjcris TrpoTjyovixfvr)
(Cyril. Trin. ii p. 56, Par. Ed.), and say that the generation is by the former, and not the latter. Cyril also remarks that, " the Father
deavor to overthrow the divinity of the Son or Word. Because God must needs beget him unwillingly, unless
wills his
(<TTi
is,
;
own subsistence,
StXjjrijj
he begot him by an arbitrary contingent free will, which would make him have a
precarious existence, and to be
326
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
which,
we have
seen,
When
immanent
necessity are
combined with the idea of eternal generation, they so regulate and control it, as to preclude a degradation of the second Person in the
trinity, either to the level of a
secondary divinity,
or of a creature.
If,
Godhead,
would have
been impossible for Arius to have derived the doctrine of a created Son of God from his scheme. For
the absolute divine essence
is
confessedly uncreated,
pos-
and eternal
is
opposition hereunto,
maintain that
God
the Father
begot a Son not by arbitrary free wiU, but by way of natural emanation, incorporeal, and yet not
therefore
unwillingly,
or outshining splendour of
God
nor
yet
without will neither, hut his will a7id nature here concurring and leing the same ; it being both a
natural will and a willing nature.
but a necessary existence, and i3 undestroyable." Cudwobth On Free Will, pp. 50, 51. London, 1838. Compare Billroth: Re:
ligionsphilosophie, 80.
32*7
own
be-
ing
It
is
by
tliis
very
and
" verij
God."
so thought,
in the defective
scheme
of Origen, and which in later times, in some individual instances, has been misunderstood, and construed after the Origenistic, as distinguished from
With
by the
Biblical
first
hypostasis in the
A complete
judgment,
trini-
term
would, in their
They held that an exhaustive comprehension of the mode in which the Person subsists in the Essence is possible only to the Infinite Mind. The
Trinal Unity
is
self-contemplative,
and self-compre-
hending.
The more
so
I desired
Word,
much
itself
the more
from me
and
in
328
it,
HISTORY OF theology.
found myself to
fail
of doing
so.
Moreover, I
was
ed to myself to understand
wrote
was unequal
therefore,
siastes
:
to the imjoerfect
in
it
is
which existed
my
conceptions.
how
written in the
'
I said, I will
is far
be
off,
wise,
me
'
that which
it
shall find
out?' and
what
is
me
it is
I frequently de:
believe me, I
But
lest I
or
by my
who
I
myself to write
briefly,
what
For although a
is
per-
moved from
flesh
;
by reason
yet
it is
possible, as the
said, to perceive
having found
it,
it is
'
more
bitter than
death' (Eccles.
26).
and able to find it out, I have knowing that to the faithful, tlie detection of error is a sitficient information lulierein truth consists^ The Patristic statements, consequently, respecting the meaning of the term "generation"
son, as perceiving this,
written,
are
generally negative.
Says Cyril,
"How
tell;
the
only
we
insist
upon
its
that."^
trinity,
we can only
is,
say, it
is
know about
^
not to be known."
trinitarians did
make some
ap-
In the
" is
"
Son
employed
The Logos
is
eternally,
phorically or adoptively.
For the term "Father," they argued, denotes the eternal and real, and not
first
position conceded
is
by
their opponents.
correlative
to the
term
literal
is
godhood of the
is
first
hypostasis
not
invalidated
by
Father, neither
tasis vitiated
by
Son.
relied
upon
and
But
CYniLLus HiEKOsoL.
ii.
:
Gate-
positio
Fidei,
I.
iv.
Compare
:
cheses, XI.
'
AuQtJSTiNus
Ennar. in Ps.
xxvi, 8.
Johannes Damasoenus
Ex-
Dobson).
330
if
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
tionships,
to
signifies limitation
and
finiteness.
"Unto
the Son^
He
saith,
i.
thy throne
8).
"
O God
is
is
denominated
addressed as Deity.
unless
This could
Sonship
"
in
eternal.
To
a merely temporal
:
Thy throne
Son
;
O God
this
is
to be administered in the
name of the
but
would have been impious, had filiation in the Godhead denoted only a finite and created relation-
The candidate would, in this case, have been baptized into a name that designated nothing etership.
nal or divine
solemn sacramental
act, in
the eternal
of heretical baptism, the Church came to the decision that baptism in the
It
name
of Christ
is
not valid.
formula, in the
must be administered according to the Scriptural name of the Eternal Three. But if
solely, is
not
still less
would
if
it
be proper to baptize in
the
name
regarded Pater-
and
Filiation as iimnanent
and
necessary
relationsliips in the
ineffable di-
vine archetypes of
and generic
definition, is parti-
cipation in a
common
is
nature or essence.
is
brought about in
Godhead
spiritual,
and
;
in accordance
material,
alike,
and mediated by
sex.^
But
in
both spheres
of nature. The eternal Son is consubstantial with the eternal Father and the human son is consub;
stantial
For
this reason,
Sonship in the
all
Godhead
as
the
absolute
Sonship, of which
is
even as the
and
as
human
justice,
mercy, and
:
"I
bow my
Christ, of
whom
the
'
This, however,
is
not absoto
Adam
ty of sex.
man
sphere.
human nature
ly,
and complete-
participate in the
substance of
332
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
tlie
God
is
and that
all
created paternity
only
"It be-
Godhead
Father
is
;
{xvqicoi)
is
;
in the
for in them,
them
ever Father,
is
ever Son."^
The
eternity of the
be found
in the
Paternity and
filiation beis
God
not
God
without them.
But
is
There
as
world, and
man may
was
human,
Adam
moment
of his creation.
The
by
and
who
alone
denied
is
it.
There
iii.
;
who
true (Rom.
4)
so,
xxiii,
xxi.
Jerome remarks,
alone
is
imparts the
name
all,
of truth
"
As He who
alone
is
good (Luke
(1
He
xviii. 19)
the creator of
who
vi.
of substance to
all,
two senses, in whicli the Scripture employs the word son. The first is found in passages like Deuteronomy, xiii. 18, and John, i. 12: "When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God ye shall he children of the Lord your God." "As, many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." The other sense is that in which Isaac is the son of Abraham. If, now, the Son of God is a son only in the first sense, as the
are
. .
.
Arians
assert,
difier in his
nature
creature,
and could
To
the
by God alone, while all other things were created by God through the Son, Athanasius replies that this certainly could not be because God had exhausted
rest,
and so
all
But perhaps
it
was because
deity,
all
by
and transcendent
Asterius,
if
a reason assigned
by But
the
by
deity,
Son
(since
he
is
a creature)
would need a mediator to his creation. And this medium would also require a medium, and so on ad infinitum and thus there could be no creation
;
at
all.
The Son
of God,
is,
therefore, so called, in
334
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
Abraham, by nature and participation in the same substance. "What is naturally begotten from any one, and does not accrue to him from without, that, in the nature of things, is a son.^^ But the generation of
the Eternal Son differs from a
the following particulars.
human
generation, in
The
;
offipring of
men
are
But God
is
is
men
lose substance in
many
children.
neither loses
But God, being without parts, nor gains substance; and thus he is
"
Let every
hend the Son's genuine relation towards the Father, and the Word's individuality
to God,
to the light.
'
{idLcoTriTa) in reference
Offepring
'
and
no human
sense,
we hear
fall
the phrase,
'
one in substance,'
let us
not
upon human
senses,
and imagine
;
partitions
and
divisions of the
Godhead
NICElSrE
identity of light.
For
this
is
the individuality, or
Son
in relation to the
is
Father
and
in this
is
truly the
radiance
Who
will pre-
sume
to,
unlike,
and foreign
the sun
Kather,
who
'
in the sun, so
But
peculiarity
stance
'
And what
should
we
fittingly consider
dom?"^
Similar arguments and illustrations are also set
forth
by Athanasius, in his singularly logical and " powerful " Orations against the Arians."
We
'
must not understand," he says, " those words, I am in the Father, and the Father in me,' as if the Father and the Son were two distinct essences or
natures, blended or inlaid into one another
;
as if
call
that
is
to say, as if they
were
once
:
as if the
Athanasitts
x, xi,
xxiv.
336
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
as the Father.
The
Father's per;
infinitely perfect
is
and complete
and the
Son's personality
substance.
The Son has not his Sonship derived or communicated to him by any sort of intervention,
or mediation.
No
it is
Father
There
is
manner
as there
is
him the
is
know
in the
stance (pvoia)
Father
is
in
in the rays,
and the
be-
cannot but be
God
and
as
and
there-
and the Father are One, one in propriety and community of nature, and one in unity of God-
head.
Thus brightness
is
is
light
the splendour or
body of the
337
of
its
very substance.
It
is
not a secondit,
but
it
is
The
No man
after
off.
in
suppose them
their
communication
are not one
with
the
planet
is
cut
And
it
They
And
this is
divinity of the
is
They
They
and
And
and properly
Father
is
by
of sonsliip.
For no one
in a physical sense
be called
he has a son.
The
relationship of artist
or
maker
and therefore
God
But
lie
could
svh-
and
22
338
co-eternal
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
with
Ms
it is
Godhood.''''
'^
From
sucli reason-
ings as these,
and "procession"
as
necessary and immanent activities in the Eternal Essence, and held that the Godhead cannot be conceived of without them, any more than without the
activities of reason
and
will.
Cyril of Alexandria,
"
The generation
of the
his existence,
and that by
:
generation." ^
'
Athanasitjs
i,
Contra Arianos,
was),
to be styled
Besides, the
in.
"
iii,
iv, vi.
:
saurus,
into a note,
Acwas
cording to
Waterland (Second
after the
who had
ation,
some querying
Council
Nicene
Fathers,
among orthodox
whether the idea of generation could apply to the eternal and immanent relation of the Son to " Whether," says the Father. Waterland, " the Logos might be rightly said to be begotten in respect of the state which was antecedent to
the iTpo(\fv(Tii
weighed with the generality of the Catholics and so eternal generation came to be the more prevailing language, and has prevailed ever since." Water;
who doubted
respecting the
The only
was
it,
Athana-
argued
strenuously for
upon
ever
what-
he cites as doubtful are Hilary, " though he seems to have changed his language and sentiments Zeno Veron. too, afterward," (apud Bull, p. 200), Phaebadius (Contra Arianos), and Ambrose.
;;
1^CE]S:E
2.
rigorously
of "Sonship" and
It
is
which it is decided Son of God is Qeov tK Oeov, was approved by those catholic
Son in Creation and Redemption, the irpofXevais spoken of in the extract from Waterland above.
festation of the
doctors
who wrote
previously to
who wrote after it. For they all with one breath taught, that the Divine nature and perfections belong to the Father and Son, not
collaterally, or co-ordinately,
spoken of in the
patristic
but
writings.
The
first
and most
is
subordinately
ture in
that
is
to say, that
proper
filiation
and generation
common
In respect
the Ouli/-
but cojnmnnicated by the Father so that the Father alone has this Divine nature from himself, or from no other, but the Son has it from the Father and hence the
;
from the Father. His other generations were rather condescensions, first to creatures in general,
Father
divinity
is
tlie
fountain, origin,
and next to men in particular. His second generation was his condescension, manifestation, coming
forth (TTpoeXeuo-ty), as
it
The
were, from
and after the Nicene council, unanimously affirm that God the
Father
that
is
is
the Father (though never separated or divided from him), to create the worlds
;
greater than
God
the
Son even
nature, or
tion that
in regard to divinity
and
in this re-
spect properly he
to
may be thought
7ni(TT]i
any
essential perfec-
be
TVpCaTOTOKOS
KTLafCOi,
is in
first
before
since
the
was when he
from the Father, and not the Father from the Son. [Bull means, as is evident from his
Son
is
condescended to be born of a virgin, and to become man. Bull's theses are as follows 1. That decree of the Nicene
the Son.
Fatherhood
primal,
340
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
is
generated, bnt a
in like
And,
manner,
Spirit,
Holy
The term
ism,
the
is
is
Nicene
trinitarian-
which
to
is ^peculiar to
confined
him.
The Son
or,
is
not
The term
" generation,"
being
thus
rigorously
distin-
and
second Persons.^
It,
(principium)
of the
atter,
from
whom he is propagated
by an
interior
it is
(and
human father
son,
is
superior to
that, too,
and not
evident
exterior production),
human human
though one
is 3.
as truly
that
God
can properly be
denom
the
as the other.]
The
an-
the doc-
And
fathers be-
Son
ful
he very useand necessary because, in this mode, the divinity of the Son can he affirmed, and yet the unity of God, and the Divine monarchy, be kept intact. For though there are two, viz., the Father and the
Son, to
divinity of the Holy Spirit. " The truth is, the word
God
denotes
all
perfection,
and the
relation
whom
the Divine
name
inas-
of existing^ Waterland Second Defence, Query II. The hypostatical character is incommunicalle to the other Persons. The
:
filial
much
as the
former
is
the princi-
Son
the pa-
341
a subordination witli respect to the essence of the second Person, than it does with respect to the essence of the
first.
For
if
the Son
is
the generated,
the Father
is
the generator.^
The
ated," ifayepTiTos
the Son;
ated."
nor
filiation
Holy
Spirit.
in
18,
is
Hookee
to
(Eccles.
manuscript
V.
Ivi.),
certainly before
Eutychian
particular substances
whom
one general nature is common, but three that subsist by one substance,
was
quite
current in the
which
all
itself is
particular
earlier ages.
In the Apostolical
yet they
it, aud ways of having it are that which maketh their personal
three have
we
V(
their several
following:
Seoj
vroT/jp,
The Father posby paternity, the Son by filiation, the The docSpirit by procession.
distinction."
The Peshito
version renders the verse John i. 18, " the only God," showing that
3e6r
was
in the
Greek manuscript
from which
translation
fjLovoyevr]i
one Nature and three Persons, but of one Nature in three Persons.
lated,
was made, and that was imperfectly transor else that another word
its
'Hence the Father was often denominated God Unbegotten, and the Son God Begotten. The term nyffrjror, though etymologically a good one to apply to the
first
stood in
place.
In the early
trinitarian
literature, the
terms
"Unbegotten" and "Begotten" merely denote a peculiar modus existendi in one and the same
Eternal Essence.
son, the divine
In the
first
Per-
Nature
exists as
because
it
was
first
applied to
in the
The phrase
" the
Athanain
this
and consequently argues that the Son is not yevT)T6i because yfurjTos would mean " cre;
Unbegotten God" expresses no more than the phrase " God the F.ither;" and the phrase "the Begotten God" no more than
"God
the Son."
342
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
an application to the
;
first
is
and
if
there
upon the
trinity,
Person in the
then there
Hence Athanasius represents filiation in the Son as the necessary and eternal antithesis to paternity in the Father, and argues that the
second Person.
passivity, or the being a Son,
second hypostasis, no more infringes upon his participation in the essence of the
activity, or the
first
hypostasis, infringes
upon
Son
are of one
essence,
The
same
in
the
Nicene
phrase, the
first
consubstantiality
in
divine, because
;
as,
manity.
The category
;
grade of being.
is is
That which is of a divine substance divine and that which is of a human substance human. And the mere relationship in each case,
father,
in
man
is
as
is
Divine Son
"
as truly
God
as
is
We
" consisting of a
body
and a
(pvctcog
nature or essence
from the
Godhead,
and in
all
upon
it, it
it is
limited,
the
eternal essence.^
The
trinity
is is
Howe
View
&c.
be added to this illustration of Athanasius, that the wAoZe Nature or Essence is in the divine Person
siderations,
It
sence.
human person
is
an
should
individualized portion of
itj.
human-
but the
ture.
part of the
"Ambrose preached a sermon upon the Incarnation before the emperor Gratian. The emperor
" proposed to him an objection, upon which the Arians greatlj depended; namely, that the Son
admits no abscission or division of substance but gfinftration in the instanr-fl of the creature implies separation or division of es;
being begotten could not be of tbfi same nature wUli ii--^ T'other who is unbegotten. He therefore
344
first
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
But
alone.
tlie
generated, and
is
is
The same,
nnutatis mutandis^
" procession."
And
hy-
by
gotten,"
Tiypostatical
solely.
It sustains
no relation to the
trinity as a whole.
trinity.
He
is
not
Person.
He
is
So
cause
it is is
which
sessed
common
all
to,
by
three.
and posHence it
would
their personality."
Hist. B. xviii.
Fleuey
Eccl.
'"Non.
Pilato
trinitatem
et
natam
de virgine Maria,
criicifixam
sub Pontio
sepultam,
is
begotten.
It
et
coelum
Fil-
ascendisse, sed
tantummodo
begotten.
ium.
Nee
trinitatem de-
Essence does not beget essence, but person begets person other;
De Trinitate,
I. iv.
"The
is
Son
no
divine
yet there
essence."
be-
NICEIO: DOCTRESTE OF
son,
merely denotes
tliat
the individuality of
is
Person, or
which
first
Thus,
from
and
ical distinctions,
and have no
legitimate, or technical
trinity as a whole, or,
from
principle.
Hence,
it
follows that
Person to the Essence from Twesten's Dogmatik ( 42), The entire section is a fine specimen of " Since God is pure act analysis.
common
e. g.
of the Father, or
and life (actus purissimus) since by virtue of his absolute self-subsistence, and spontaneity, nothing
;
But
ten,
if
the Father
it
is
unbegot-
does
is
He
inis
of his
own act,
nothing externally
alone
necessary,
tions
Beings?
no
and
The
upon the two absolutely immanent actions, generation, and procession. These
activity,
viz:
refer to
subsistence;
and more-
God
the
and are
Son second, and the Spirit is third. The inequality does not
relate to time, for the three are
common
to
equally eternal
for this
is
nor to nature^
all
but only in so far as it subsists in each of the hypostatical determinations (Bestimmungen), must be lllcll outljeCb OF f>nnai/)a>'0<l aa
the same in
the Peridenti-
Essence
is
346
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
Perhaps
tlie
by Hooker,
in a sen-
Nicene controversy.
this property, to
it the property of proceeding from the other two, maketh the person of the Holy Ghost. So that in
is
one,
and
which
Each person hath his own subsistence (vTioOTaGig) which no other person hath,
from the other two.
.
As no man but
is,
Peter can
self-
and that the personality of the Spirit is grounded in the Father and Son, But does it not follow from
this that the
hite f
Father alone
is
abso-
nus
(scil.
No,
and
for absoluteness is an
indispensable
Essence,
mark
of the Divine
propter
cede an inequality,
that
tbfi
if
and necessarily to
There
is
F.atbor
ii
nnnstituted the
34*7
to a metaphysical defi-
and proces-
by the Mcene
theologians,
is
of "
intercommunion," and
" inter-agency."
A com-
as a suggestive rather
Tt&QLXwQriOig (circulatio^).
relative
'Hooker: Eccl. Pol. V. li. The term "property" in this extract must be taken in its etymological signification. Hooker means to denote by it, the individual peculiarity (iSicorr/f), and not that the
hypostasis
is
names,
and
therefore
another thing
to 'slave,'
ter
'
; '
'
'
'
'
'
'
Essence.
The following
in
son
'
to
'
'
father.'
I
When
imply a
I
'
speak
son
;'
from
Alouin (Quaestiones
Angustini
473,
De
of a
father,'
Trinitate,
Opera,
be-
VHI.
light
upon the
whom
he
we may
between the
first
why may we
Omnipo-
first
'
and three Infinites ? Because the terms God, Omnipotent, Eternal, and Infinite, are
'
Son of
'
the Father.'
of.
We may say,
Spirit
names
relating to the
of
We may
'
say,
hence they cannot be employed in the plural number, but only in the singular. Every term that
denotes the substance or essence of God must always be used in the singular number. But the
of the Spirit,'
for
this
it
by circumin(Intel.
Cuowuhih
Syst.
737,
348
HISTOKY OF THEOLOGY.
tlie
by
immanent
an
and
movement
in the
Godhead,
equally
and maintains
acter.
his
own
The Father begets, but is not begotten. The Son begets not, but is begotten. The Spirit neither
is
begets nor
Such
is
the
mystery of the eternal interaction, and intercommunion, which was conceived to be going
on in a Being
was fond
lifeless Unit.^
He
the Father in
works.' "
me and
;
the Father
one God,
For a
full
discussion
have same
all
lib. viii. p. 386) .... but also because they are physi-
Cont. Cels.
cally (if
we may so speak) one and have a mutual Trepix^pv(TLt, and evi'mnp^is, inbeing and permeation of one another, according to that of our Saviour I am in the Father, and Christ
also
;
The distinction between a unit and a unity is real and valid, The former denotes mere singlenese, and more properly pertains
'
'
349
employed this term ^isQixcoQrjOig^ to intimate that the Arian notion of singleness does not come up to the Scriptural idea of the Divine fullness and infinitude of being.
God, he claimed,
" in the
is
a plural Unit.
He
is
not
"
one
same sense
in
which an
is
in-,
" one."
The Deity
term
is
not a
member
is
inapplicable to him.
And
tri-
with
its species,
and
It
was to correct
of that Eternal
whose
finite
infinite
him above
theolo-
modes of
Mcene
gians,
when they were tempted as they sometimes were by the arithmetical rather than philosophical
in
the
is
self-conscious
essence.
1),
dico,
;
There
a plenitude of existence
is
quod Graece
gularitas
dicitur
sin-
in self-consciousness that
not
445, Tegg's
any pure
It
is
Ed.) marks
this
distinction,
by
unit in material
nature.
the phrases "general essence," and " singular essence," the for-
mer
The Unita;
the
distinct
and
single
" subsistence."
fide, v.
350
mSTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
upon some posemployed a term
and
definitions,
that hinted at the eternal and unchanging circumincession and intercoimmmion of the three Persons
in the
is all
in each,
is
and each
in
the Essence
The
catholic
its
in other
could not be
made good
;
truths of Christianity
the
The
creed,
last
which by
its
and
in
positive
clauses endeavoured,
vey some
abysmal truth.
351
The
so-called
Symholum Quicumque^
falsely ascribed
to Athauasius,
in
It runs as follows
we throw
into a
often quoted
casting light
doctrine,
the kingdom from God the Son. For the Father and Son, in respect to their nature and eternal relationship, are one. The text
Mark
xiii.
32,
and
specimens of
Au"
My
Father
is
and remarks that Christ in his estate of humiliation was inferior not only to the Father, but to Himself also. He might have said " The Eternal Word is greater than I." For
nature of Christ
:
human
mean, that the disclosure of the day and hour of judgment is the prerogative of the triune God, and is not a part of the Media"A man," tor's official work.
says Augustine, "is said not to
'
know
'
a thing,
when he keeps
illustration
he refers to Philip-
pians ii. 6, 7, where Christ is represented as having the " form of God," and the " form of a servant."
servant,
that,
Thus God said to Abrait. ham: 'Now I know that thou (Gen. xxii. 12). fearest God
ing
'
God, in the
that
strict sense,
When
Abraham
it
feared
he
tried
he could say that Father is greater than I," because this was merely saying that the "form of a servant" is inferior The text to the " form of God." 1 Cor. XV. 28, Augustine refers
to the Mediatorial character of
" the
know
making
of telling
fact, until
the temptation."
as
In like
manner, Christ
the Eternal
Word knew
of judgment
Christ.
When
he has completed
rial capacity
the
work
and bringing them into the beavision of God, he ceases to be Mediator any longer. Hence, says Augustine, we must not regard Christ as giving up the kingdom "to God and the Father,"
tific
he was not authorized to announce it, and as Mediator tells his disciples that he
it,
because
God-
head,
away
352
"1.
HISTOKY OF THEOLOGY.
Whoever would be
saved,
must
faith.
first
2.
of
all
Which,
he shall
is
inviolate,
3.
But
this
the
we worship
4.
one
God
in trinity,
and
trinity in unity.
For the
divinity
is
one
But the
Holy
equal.
is
Spirit, is
T.
Such
the
Holy
is
Spirit.
8.
Father
Spirit
uncreated, the
Son
uncreated, the
The Holy
the
is
uncreated.
9.
The Father
is infinite,
Son
infinite,
is
the
Father
eternal, the
11.
Holy Spirit infinite. 10. The Son eternal, and the Holy
Spirit eternal.
And
Being.^
As
(increati),
nor three
infinite
Beings
Being.
(infiniti),
but
infinite
13.
In like
And
three
Augustine,
"was not
authorized
really so, but hidden from the sight of men." Augustixtjs Opit is is
:
is
;
called ig-
VIII,
829-30,
857,
(Ed.
just as a
'
Migne).
'
sometimes called
blind,'
p. 347.
353
Thus the Father is God, the Son, God, and the Holy Spirit, God. 16. And yet, there are not three Gods (dii), but one God only. lY. The Father is Lord, the Son, Lord,
and the Holy Spirit, Lord. 18. And yet, there are 19. not three Lords (domini), but one Lord only. For
fess
as
we
are compelled
by
God and
20.
Lord,
we
are prohibited
by the
catholic religion to
made by none, nor created, nor be21. The Son is from the Father alone, not gotten. made, not created, but begotten. 22. The Holy Spirit is not created by the Father and Son, nor
The Father
is
is
one
one Holy
Spirit,
And
nothing greater or
lesser,
but
all
So that
26.
through
all
in trinity,
and
to
be adored.
let
Whoever
therefore
would be saved,
him thus
By
down
of positions, and
pushed
toO'
Sabellianism
23
and Arianism,
not
denying the
354
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
the opinion
first
two hypostases
is
Qidcwnque^ and he
more to be
said in the
is
way
statement, than
not
human
con-
mind
of
the
trinity
are
specified,
rejected,
and
;
demned,
symbol
while,
and enunbulwark
human mind
is
direction as
possible for
of the faith," he
human understanding
and to
up
all
inexorable
cliffs
and
rocks."
'
Hagenbach
Dogmengeschichte,
97.
3d Auflage.
SPIRIT.
355
4.
Nicene Doctrine of
is
the
Holy
Spirit.
remarkably reticent
re-
It con-
words
"
And we
believe in the
Holy
Spirit."
But
so little
Holy
Spirit,
and
who
God was
not, or that
Deity], or that he
able
:
all such,
anathematizes."
so
Son
in respect to the
Holy
by
his heresy
on
it
in their systematic
symbol.
Two
First,
them.
*
eternal generation
fore his
356
pelled to do
stract
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
so, to
and metaphysical discussion of the doctrine of the trinity with further matter and questions, at
had
been
Secondly,
it is
possible that
body
of Semi-Arian theolohesi-
whom we
the
logians,
Holy Spirit. Hence the leading Nicene theoknowing that the doctrine of the equal deity of the second hypostasis would logically lead
this part of the subject.
The Son
to view,
and
left
The consequence
Council the
opinions of
many
theologians
were
vague and
idefinite
in the trinity.
The mind
His
The
Athanasics's De-
fence of the Nicene Symbol is as follows " To God and the Father
:
ship, with his co-existent Son and Word, together with the AII-H0I7 and Life-giving Spirit, now and
is
" ;
SPIRIT.
357
written to prove
Spirit.
tlie
consubstantiality of the
Holy
endeavours to
held that the
who
Holy
is
Spirit
is
explicitly
no substance from
harmony with
also
not in
He
refers to
draws an argument from the Christian experience. " How can that," he says, " which is sanctified by
nothing other than
itself,
and which
is
itself
the
essence,
itself?
sanctified
by another than
in a divine life
if
So certainly
man
must
He
himself be one
Basil
the
Great (f
3*79)
divinity of the
Holy
Spirit, in
which he denomito
refers
passages of
358
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
His brother Gregory of Ny-ssa (f 394 ?), in the second chapter of his larger Catechism, employs the
comparison suggested and warranted by the ety-
mology of the word Spirit, and which had been much enlarged upon by earlier writers, particularly
Lactantius,
the
breath.
Unlike Lactantius,
though not
Word
and the
also,
Spirit,
but marks
the
Gregory
Nazianzen (f 390),
concede only a relative divinity to the Son (adopting the doctrine of resemblance or kindredness of
essence, o^oLovaiov)^
Holy name
God,
like
Spirit, in
The
leading
in
the Father
is
not a
Some
of the
SozoMKNTTs
xxvii.
'
cedonius " taught that the Son of God is not of the same suhstance
as the Father, but that
Theodoret
he resem-
vi.
SPIRIT.
359
wMcli the Macedoiiians made to the doctrine of the deity and hypostatical character of the Holy Spirit were of a frivolous, as well as blasphe-
mous
The following is a specimen of their " The Holy Ghost is either begotargumentation.
nature.
;
ten or unbegotten
if
he
is
two unoriginated beings (dvo ra avaQ/ji)^ namely, the Father and the Spirit; if he is begotten, he must be either from the Father, or the Son if he
;
is
Triad,
when
the ques-
but
grandson of God." ^
Such objections
as these
betray
is
is
moving
in the
rise
low range of
associates
ties,
existence,
and
unable to
Such a mind
with
;
head
and should
carry
its
mode
of conception
Nature,
polytheism.
Gkegoriiis Kaz.
I.
Oratio xxxi.
7.
Compare Athanasitts
Ad
Serapion,
xv.
360
in
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
guidance and influence
statements respecting
tlie
Holy
Spirit.
however,
creed
drawn up
at this time,
represented as proceeding
though the Holy Spirit is from the Father, and beclause rela-
"
And
is
[we be-
Holy
Spirit, the
who
who
to be wor-
was owing to
and the Son, by the use of the technical term ofioovGwv, that the Constantinopolitan Symbol was
not satisfactory to
all parties.
The
position of the
Holy
been established by
He
was acknowledged to
Son was
left indefinite.
asserted
did not
He
Son and yet the omission of the Son seemed to The arguments for and look in this direction. against the procession of the third Person from the
first
On
the one
SPIRIT.
361
the Father only^ and not from the Son, looked like
an
Son
to the Father
He
pro-
to place
his hypo-
of one. Son,
The endeavour to
by
Holy
Spirit
from
Him
Spirit
and conversely
The Greek
theologians, Athanasius,
of procession from the Son. Epiphanius, on the contrary, derived the Spirit from Father and Son,
with
whom
holding to a Sabellian
The Western
theologians,
and Son, and this statement established itself so firmly and generally in the West, that at the third
Synod of Toledo^
was added
to the Constantinopolitan
of the dogmatic grounds for the division between the Western and Eastern Churches,
the former of
which to
the
this
day
asserts,
and the
Holy
Spirit proceeds
362
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
5.
Terminology of
deity of the
the
Nicene Trinitarianism.
Spirit having thus
The
Son and
among
cific
Nice and Constantinople had reference to the sperelations of the three Persons to each other,
and
ject.
this controversy of
two hundred
define,
years'
duration,
estab-
which
success
it
and thereby
scientific authority.
The
construction of truth, be
as
much upon an
and firmly
ing
is
There may
the truth in
analysis,
by
and
That which
and
in
was seen
may be with
of Indue-
crystal clearness,
iind bleibt
'Whewell: History
Zierde,
und
mal,
einer
endlich auf
363
may
fail
to
pos-
session of
mankind
at large, because
not trans-
ferred from the individual to the general mind, by means of a precise phraseology, and a rigorous ter-
minology.
cious
Nothing
is
in its
own
;
and
and particularly
A con-
standing of the
man becomes
it
in the
which
it
first
came
up,
menclature employed in defining and fixing the oecumenical statement of the Doctrine of the Trinity
1. ^Ovo'ia,
with
its
equivalent
(pvoio,
to
which
cor-
and the
and
heing.
2. '^YTvoaraaig,
with
its
equivalents to
v:jo>etifiivov,
and
TiQoacoTtov; to
which correspond
j^er3.
The term
idicjrfjg
the
hyis
by which each
4.
divine Person
differentiated
tion
Ftwrjaig, genera-
364
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
immanent
5.
activity
by
its
the
to
first
Person
second.
;
essence
the
with
equivalent txTii^iptg,
proces-sio
and
7nissiOy
and mission.
'O V o i , or Essence^ denotes that
is
mon
It
denominates the
Deity,
substance, or constitutional
being, of the
which
is
The Essence
is
The terms
it.
and
do not apply to
is
'YzooTuacg^
was more
It denotes, not that
or Hijpostasis^
a term that
and
use,
than ovoia.
which
is
is
common
to the
Three
which
distinctive of
and peculiar
to them.
tasis,
The
by the Greek word Iduorrjg, and if we use our English word " individuality " somewhat loosely, it will
convey the idea sought to be attached to the Person
in distinction
Inasmuch
was more
difficult
to reach
than the
terminology em-
The
three-foldness
more
difficult
to
365
quite
all re-
human
understanding,
though when
examined they
prehension.
in
baffle a perfectly
metaphysical com-'
But the doctrine of a "subsistence" the substance of the Godhead brings to view a
is
so anomalous,
little
it
and unique,
that the
human mind
is
derives
or no aid from
The
tial
hypostasis
a real subsistence,
a
is
solid essen-
form of
existence,
energy, or manifestation,
but
it
intermediate
is
attributes.
It
not identi-
stances.
three
the
divine attributes.
We
" that
is
nor can
be so great
^
as to intrench
upon the
is
called
illus-
tration
by any
analogies.'^
'Howe:
T.
137. (N.
is
York
Ed.)
but that
.
'This remark
certainly true
the sphere oi
self-
conscious exist-
ence
ana-
366
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
The consequence of
this
term
uni-
seems to be
itself off
over against
it
itself, in
itself.
or-
and
less
doubted, as met-
der that
may
see
That
aphysical
psychology advances.
Some
in the
tive
found a trinity
now
human
spirit.
As
a tenta-
becomes two
is
definitudes, distinc-
effort in
this direction,
we
There
now
ject-ego.
tinction, but
an analogue
original being,
unity.
in
the primitive
and
go to prove that
is
trinity in unity
But
this is
necessary to self-consciousness
process.
We have not
in the
Godhead.
is
full self-consciousness.
In order
God
ture.
It
or tree, or any single thing in naHe is " one " like a person.
further, perceive
may be
presumed, therefore,
we
of
step of the
human
personality,
will
be
essence or being.
from the limitations of the finite. What, then, are these conditions?
In order to self-consciousness
in
For
if
the
human
first
spirit
viz.
the hudis-
man
two
must
;
first
become
act of merely distinguishing, and never took the second step of reuniting; if the mind never became aware that the object con-
one of which
is
templated in the
process
is
first
stage of the
no
other, as to essence,
contemplated object.
itself as
an obstep
self-
In this
first
becoming
spirit
sets
It would not perceive that had been contemplating self. Stopping with the first act of dis-
at all.
367
The distinction between ovaia and vtiootuocq^ though made in fact, was not always made in form, Some little time was by the first trinitarians.
tinguishing, the object-ego
would
essence
and being,
is
is,
as such,
not
diflfer,
for the
subject-ego,
from any other object, a tree or a stone e. g. and the knowledge which the mind would have of
;
consubstantial
itself as
an object would not differ from that which it has of objects in nature, or of the not me, generally.
It
be asked, why a fourth needed to perceive the unity of essence between the
If
it
third,
tions,
would not be
self-
"consciousness, consequently,
self-conscious-
It
object
must be seen
is
to be the essence of
has simply witnessed and noticed that the first distinction has made
the second distinction an object of contemplation. Hence there
is
no second
distinction,
supposi-
human
spirit,
which, in a
is
no
self-con-
There
From what
limita-
now full
self-consciousness. In
and by the two acts of perception, and the three resulting distinctions,
now, must they be freed, in order that they may be transferred to the Infinite Spirit
?
The
the
made
There
unity.
such,
itself
answer
is
has done
in
so.
finite
real
triplicity
the
as
For the
is
subject- ego,
which have been described, occur seriatim, and the unity comes to
self-consciousness only gradually,
such
and intermittently.
Man
is
not
perception of their
identity of
He
368
HISTOKY OF THEOLOGY.
its
own
idea.
Thus,
Symbol
is
itself
t^ hrtQUQ vrcoGTciotcog
ova lag.
"As
to those
who
was defined
at Nice, but
must not
feel as
of his self-intuition
degrees.
is
a thing of
No man
in God.
From
eternity to eter-
(The Father)
is
not
Holy
Spirit)
essential unity
God
forever.
The
modern
trine
pantheistic
speculation
and Son). Furthermore, the selfknowledge, in this instance, is an infinite, and fixed quantity. From
the fathomless depths of the Di-
of
gradual
self-evolution
from the sphere of the finite to that of the Infinite from the crea;
knowledge, a yet
tion,
fuller self-intui-
sine uUa potentialiThere never is nor can be anything potential and undeveloped in the Divine Essence. Hence, the above-mentioned con-
purissimus
tate.''''
templation from
everlasting.
to
The
and
immanency of these
activities in
by the
freed
from the limitations of time and degree. That self-consciousness which in man is the result of a deliberate effort, and
369
Son
is
ovaiag
f.ir}
s krsQag v
oor aa sag
:
they are not far from receiving the phrase Again, he remarks
is
"
Hypos-
(vnoaTuacg)
else
nothing
was to deny that the personal distinction in the Godhead is merely an energy or effluence, such as the Nominal Trinitarians mainsubstance''''
tained
it
to be.^
'
Athanasitts
Afros, iv.
De Synodis,
xli
Ad
^
regard to the question whether the Nicene Council made a technical distinction between the
were the Arians, and the former were the Semi- Arians. The SemiArians, in Bull's opinion, would concede that the Son was begotten of the Father's hypostasis in
a peculiar
two
terms.
Bull
term
6p.
ovalos,
were intended by the council to be designated by the terms ova-ia and i/TToirrao-is, and that they desired to
errorists,
that he
condemn two
is
classes of
ply to him the term 6fioovaios The Arians, on the other hand,
would deny both that the Son was begotten of the Father's suband the Father's hypostaand assert that he was created de nihilo. Petayius (De Trinistance,
sis,
tate,
word
inoff-
The
latter class
Taais, in the
nomenclature of the
24
370
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
Although the Latin trinitarians discriminated Person from Essence with full as much clearness as the Greek Nicene Fathers, yet there was some confusion of terms among them, owing to the poverty
of the Latin language.
substantia^
One and
and the
used from
ovaicc,
the very
first,
entirely
(as
the term
substance, in English,
was
left to
is
mode
of existence
attri-
which
two synonymes should be distinguished from each other, and one rigorously confined to one conception, and the other to the other.^ This however was not done at first, and the
butes, unless these
Nioene council, as only another term for ovcria, and contends that
the
The Anselm
'
following
extract
from
set off,
"Quod
each to
enim
dixi
summam
trinitatem
the council of Alexandria, in 362. " Vox hypostasis, non modo ante
ipsis
qua nos
tres personas in
eadem una
accepta
sit,
quam pro
rarissime
substantia.
in
Nam
hoc
significant
oi/cTia,
et
substantia,
ac
numerum
I. iii, 3).
faciente."
nologium (Praefatio).
(De Trinitate,
371
consequence was, that other terms came to be employed, occasionally, to hint at and
suggest the
distinction.
Such a
is
7iq6ocj:i;ov.
This term,
it is
common one
trinitarianism
in English,
and perhaps
is
in Protestant
generally,
not so well
adapted
Greek
does not with sufficient plainness indicate the subsistence in the Essence.
Spirit
are
Essence.
Now,
as
although those
who employed
full
and
solid a
meaning
they
yet
trinitarians,
the representation of
by terms
justify their
employment for popular and illustrative statements.^ That the distinction between Essence and Hy*
In
the
Serai-Arian
contro-
Trpdo-wTra,
New
Ni-
which sprung up between the Nicene and Constantinopolitan Councils, the " Old Nicenes " would only acknowledge three
versy,
cenes/'
rate,
tretr.
who were
372
postasis
HISTOEY OF THEOLOGY.
became a
in
fixed one,
in
was owing,
theologians
tises
a great
Augustine and Hilary, whose treaupon the doctrine of the trinity were the
Schoolmen
in
their
and
txTttfiipcg
ship of the
Spirit. They were derived from and John XV. 15, kindred passages. "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send {nkixxpco)
Holy
The attempt
less
to define the
term
was even
frequent than to
predicates,
eternal
define the
term
" generation."
The same
It
was an
It
was a necessary
6.
Critical Estimate
We
and establishment.
its
We have
own
im-
373
collate
them
into
Collation, combination,
as long
Kome
last a
to conquer
Italian tribes,
own
particular form,
still
and
other na-
as
Norman
acter
is,
which
more than even Rome has the past. These historic parallels are interesting and illustrative. Though
the processes are totally unlike,
is
whom
and
all
political,
mind and dazzling to the carnal eye, constituting the very splendor and glory of secular history, yet,
in
374
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
like a
away
is
morning vapor,
thougli
these
pro-
own
The
theological controver-
belief of
mind,
to the
mind that
is
absorbed in the
and making no comparisons between time and eternity. The sneer that this whole contest of five centuries
single
letter,
merely
o/noiov-
the feeling of
all its
many
a mind, for
which, notwithstanding
tions, the
invisible
is
less
But he who
feels
in their bearing
upon
man
as
upon these
section of merely
more veneration than upon any pagan and secular history, howThese bloodless meta-
'
The value of
a letter in an al-
the calculus,
is
ESTIMATE OF THE
NICEISrE
CONTEOVERSY.
375
tlie
Churcli Universal
a correct
fits
faith,
and obtained
truth,
real
and exact
and
CHAPTER
IV.
1.
The
pressed into
because this
Modern Churches can be coma brief statement, the more readily, doctrine, more than is the case with
After the
any
ment
year 600, expansion in theory, and technical accuracy in statement, can be detected
in Soteriology,
and even
in
Anthropology, than in
and Protestant systems have unfolded the doctrines of sin and redemption,
Theology.
Scholastic
far
The
trinity.
In the Middle Ages, the character of the investigation of the doctrine of the trinity
was deter-
mined by the general bent of the individual mind, or of his school. Men like Anselm, Bernard, and
377
Aquinas joined on upon tlie views of tlie past. The writings of tlie Western Latin trinitarians, particularly Hilary
and Augustine,
to,
as
we have already
class.
among
and
In regard to
Church,
it
may be summarily
remarked,
cen-
we
had occasion to allude in the history of Apologies, we find more or less deviation from the catholic creed and faith. That adventurous thinker of the
ninth century, Scotus Erigena, whose philosophizing
upon the general doctrine of the Deity was pantheistic, presented views of the trinity that were Sabellian. Abelard was charged with the same tendency. Koscellin was accused of tritheism, and Gilbert of Poictiers of Damian's old heresy of tetratheism.^ But
such opinions were regarded
by
those
who
con-
and by
the church
erodox.
'
itself as
Damian
was
ac-
one),
indi-
Monad
and One,
3Y8
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
upon
this doctrine,
Basils,
2.
Reformers.
At
Roman and
This
is
Protestant
The
anthro-
of Trent are different from those of the Reformers The Tridentine but its theology is the same.
sin,
teaches
purgatorial
But
it
down from
the
and
there
is
no
motive
theories.
That
because
proved by the
which
lies as
and which
3*79
the
doctrine of forgiveness
solely through
has
been remorselessly
by
it.
The Augsburg
three Persons, in
its
is
one
and
is
called God,
in
infinite
power
wisdom
all
and
three Persons, of the same essence and power, coeternal. Father, Son,
and Holy
as fair
Spirit."
The Second
Helvetic Confession^
is
drawn up by
Its teach-
Bullinger in 1564,
an expression of the
Reformed or Calvinistic doctrine as any. ing upon the doctrine of the trinity is
as follows
"We
sence,
and
indivisible in Es-
Holy
Spirit, so that
Son is begotten by an ineffable generation, but the Holy Spirit proceeds from each and that from eternity, and is to be adored together with each so that
the Father generates the Son from eternity, the
;
there are not three Gods, but three Persons, consubstantial, coeternal,
and coequal,
distinct as hy-
postases,
'
Hase
Libri Symbolici, p. 9
'
380
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
trinitarianism of Calvin^ as enunciated in
is
The
his Institutes,
upon the subject by the thinking of Hilary and Augustine, and by his own profound and patient study of the Scriptures.
that had been thrown
"What
denominate a Person," he
says,-'
is
"is a
which
related
an incommunicable property.
sistence
essence.
By
the
word
had no peculiar property, John had been guilty of impropriety in saying that he was always with God.
When
Word
also tvas
God without
with
subsisting in the Father, hence arises that subsistence, which, al though inseparably connected
by which
it is dis-
Now,
dis-
them by a peculiar property. We word relation (or comparisori) here, because when mention is made simply and indefinitely of God, this name pertains no less to the Son and Spirit, than to the Father. But whenever
tinguished from
particularly use the
the Father
is
other.
Calvin
Institutes, I. xiii. 6.
381
proper to
ascribed
We teach,"
is
he
essentially
and
Son and
is
the Spirit
first in
unbegotten.
But
order,
Wisis
dom, therefore,
been observed, he
indefinitely
whole Divinity.^
sons],
Thus God,
the
unbegotten
also is unbe-
The Deity
;
absolutely self-existent
whence we'
but
God, independently
is
self-existent
we
is
say, that
he
is
;
of the Father.
Thus
his
unoriginated
himself."
"^
Person
'
is
God
By this
is
Father
of his language,
fact,
is
proved by the
tain of the
statement
is
the essence
unbegotten.
is
lie
the fountain
means
that
hypostasis from
whom
tlie
second
issue.
That
Calvin
382
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
^Notwithstanding
tlie
clearness
and
explicitness
by
Caroli of both
He
defended himself
it
Caroli held
to
be
that Jehovah
who of himself,
said
always
self-existent.
" Certainly,"
Word
one
be attentively considered, we
is
If how-
Word be considered,
the Father, whatalso
He
is
one
God with
God may
be
ap-
in the glorious
is
Trinity
We
the
who
Father from
The Nicene
The Tliirty-Nine Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and ; eternity " and that the Son " is begotten from eterArticles teach that " in the unity of the
nity of the Father, very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father."
'^
30, 31.
"
Articles
I. II.
UNITARIANISM.
nity
383
God
the Father,
God
is
God
the
Holy Ghost.
ten,
The Father
;
nor proceeding
;
the Son
eternally begotten
eternally proceed^
of the Father
the
Holy Ghost
3.
Unitarianism.
"Westminster
II.
Confession, Chap.
II).
An
earn-
Chapter
The
trine
is
Samuel Hopkins
sq.),
293
Church
adopts
it,
in
later
New
elder
to
Edwards
receives
in
the "Westminster
tions
Congregational
churches.
The
churches of
1680,
New
England, repre-
have left in manuscript reflecupon the doctrine of the trinity, in the line of the Nicene trinitarianism. During the present century, some opposition to
the doctrine of the Eternal Son-
made
God
the
shown itself in a few England writers. The opposition, however, is founded upon an inadequate dogmatico-historical knowledge, the Origenistic
ship has
New
God
God
is
The Father
England
in
the last
nor
cene theologians.
384
Faustus),
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
by their
who agreed
in their rejection of
the stake,
a measure,
it
should be observed,
theologians of
all
by
both
Roman and
Protestant, and
was by no
means
One
of
and encouraged
it
in
many
ways.
It flourished to
The
writings of
the
in the
by them,
contain an explicit
and
logical
it
which
would be
modern
successors to adopt,
to examine.
must be sought for in that period of its history when it had both a creed and a catechism.^
This scheme of doctrine did not, however, attract
'
SoHOMANN
in
1591, Fattstus
vius
in
1625,
published
cate-
chisms.
LATITUDINARIAX TRIXITARIANISM.
385
was a
less
and Arianism which in the had compelled the theologian to employ his most extensive learning, and his subtlest thinking. As a consequence, it has been, and still
that
first
Sabellianism
centuries
is,
world.
Had
its
concep-
more elevated views of his nature and person which clung to Sabellianism, and even to Arianism, it would have been a more influential system. But merely reproducing that low humanitarian view of Christ which we found in the
tion of Christ those
the
Ebionites,
Artemonites,
Theodo-
and Alogi,
the
lift
4.
that
is
new.
centu>
the former
386
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
in a
by
Those of Samuel
Clarice^
who was
court preacher to
Queen Anne, and by her deposed from his office, were examined by Waterlaiid^ Master of Magdalen
College.
The supreme
all
is
Concerning
the
would be the highest blasphemy to affirm that he could possibly have become man or that he could possibly have suffered in any sense, in any supposition, in any capacity, in any circumstance, in
;
any
state,
With
the
who
ture.,
is
butes,
hut hy
an
all eter-
worlds
neither
is it
certain
es-
the Father, or
made out of
nothing.
Both are worthy of censure, who, on the one hand, affirm that the Son was made out of nothing or,
;
is
On
LATITUDINAEIAN TKINITARIANISM.
stance."
387
danger of presuming to be
able to define
tlie
particular metaphysical
manner
With
this
titles
ascribed to
him than
but
is
by
nature^
and by the
The
it,
to apply only
cites
He
even
such
high trinitarians as Athanasius and Hilary, as holding and teaching that the subordination of the Son
to the Father relates to the Son's essence.
The
'Nelson: Life of Bull, p. 276. Clarke, in his reply to Nelson (p. 4), in answering the complaint of Nelson that he (Clarke) had cited Bull to prove sentiments directly contrary to those " This which Bull held, says objection, you are sensible, I had by deendeavored to prevent daring beforehand, that I cited modern authors, and the Fathers
"
: ;
too,
not with
any intention to
the whole the
. . .
but
make
argument inferred my conclusion, whether the authors themselves made any such inference or
no."
388
terra "
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
unbegotten
"
he
also, held, as
to be a
synonyme with
"
term
ated."
"
^
begotten
must necessarily
The
Essence,
nor
is
begotten.
They
one and
in
In this use
signifies
uncreated
much
Begotten Son
as necessarily existent as
is
the seat
pos-
existence,
and
this
by
both,
latter
between
and necessary
important to notice.
maintains,
is
neces-
'
Olaeke
On the
Trinity, Pt.
I.
ch.
ii.
Pt.
II.
11, 12.
LATITUDINAEIAN- TRLNITARIANISM.
substance of the Godhead
ent,
389
but he
it,
is
not self-exist-
because he participates in
not
by and from
the Father.
himself, but
by communication from
is
The
first
Person
self-existent,
to
him by
two Per-
According to
" self existent "
this distinction
and discrimination,
" unbegotten."
simply means
which expresses a
;
not any
is
any
perfection.
Neither
things being
ters.
And
is
^f?f-existence, as distinct
from necessary
existence,
With
answer
difference
We
is
say the
Son
is
not xm-
You
it,
We
'
Waterland
ITI.
390
HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.
not the head or fountain, not the^<9^ Person
he
is
You take up the very same word, and zealously contend that the Son is not unorigiof the trinity.
nate, understanding
it
We
is
subordinate, meaning
^
of a sub-
ordination of order as
is
just
and proper.
You
also
word subordinate, and seem wonderfully pleased with it, but understanding by it an inferiority of nature. We say, that the Son is
lay hold of the
thereby that he
is
You
also take
in
inferior dependivill
depending
it."
*
on the
of the
On
has been most discussed, during the present century, within the
German Church.
The
Rationalists have
substantially that
Orthodox theology
it
of Socinianism.
So
far as the
by
towards the
The attempt
r
p^ ance
the
LATITUDLNARIAN TRINITARIAIOSM.
of the
Sabellian with the
catholic
391
scheme,
his school.
Some
of
essays
upon the
occasionally
trinity.
At
it is
worthy
Dorner or
enemy of the orthodox creed, from a a Baur, show very conclusively, by their
historical facts, that it is
or false,
Modern Church.
CHAPTER
V.
1.
Four
True and
3.
proper deity;
2.
The union of deity and humanity in one Person 4. The distinction of deity from humanity, in the
one Person, so that there be no mixture of natures.
If either of these
is is
an erroneous one.
The
heresies
which originated
the failure
in the
rise, in
to
combine
ment.
Some one
The
or
more of these
integral parts of
Christology
will, therefore,
siastical Polity,
HEEESLES IN CHRISTOLOGY.
I.
393
existence
of Jesus Christ.
Even
the Semi-Arians,
who
al-
with
it,
Redeemer of the world. That exalted and preexistent being who became incarnate in Christ, even upon the Semi-Arian theory could not be called God-rndiQ. with technical accuracy. But the Arian
Christ was confessedly lacking in a divine nature,
in every sense of the term.
God was
united with
Though the Son human nature, in the birth Son of God was a xrio^a. He
birth,
of
of
in-
The only
Arian construction of
this point the
Upon
fall
Nominal
Trinitarians.
Inasmuch
as, in
Son
is
from
it,
the divine nature^ or the very substance of the Godhead, with the humanity of Jesus.
A merely efflu-
394
the prophets.
in union
HISTORY OF CHEISTOLOGY.
The element of
The Monarcliians^
or Patripassians^ went
They
asserted
human
rational soul.
the
spirit as distinguished
from the
flesh.
(f 382),
who
to the scheme.
nature, into
(nv8vf.ia)^
name of Apollinarism The threefold division of human body (acj/xa)^ soul (x^v/Ji)^ and spirit
has given the
current,
had become
it
posed that
would be
if
by becoming an
But upon
itself
this
human
nature,
any more
cfirjal
According to SuiDAs (sub voce thought the human reason would be a superfluity in union with the Divine
htrftrivai
'ATToXXii/aptos), Apollinaris
dvKoros SeoO.
HERESIES IN CHRISTOLOGY.
395
The ma-
soul, or
upon
this theory,
defective
For
if
the ra-
tional part
son
but
it
is
no
the instant of
human
vital
part
is
{adjfj-a)^
with
its
principle
It is irrational,
The human
III.
factor, consequently,
was defective
in
The
arose
in
the
Ancient Church,
is
the Nestorian}
By this we mean the theory that was finally eliminated by the controversies between Nestorius and his opponents. Whether it was a theory which
Nestorius himself would have accepted in the open-
But Nestoultimately
Yvamsm was a
formed, and
is
scheme,
in
when
wanting
some
essential elements
and
features.
The
two
;
Compare Waloh
n. 150, 152
sq.
Ketzerhistorie
and Dollingeb
Church His-
tory,
396
HISTORY OF CHEISTOLOGY.
A true
and proper
But they
personality.
The Nestorian
and one human.
" nature "
Christ
one
divine,
tinction
between a
and a
is
is
not
two
self,
Instead
by
side,
The
is
result
is
There
is
humanity
unity of a
by
itself,
unblended in the
common
self-consciousness.
And
there
is
also
church of God, there was no difference, saving only that Nestorius imagined in Christ as well
man." Hookek: Eccles. Polity, Book V. Ch. liii. The anathemas which Nestorius uttered
against
the
doctrine
of
Cyril
a personal a divine
;
human
subsi:=tence, as
separate the
plainly.
He
humanity as
e.
Son of God
and resurrecII.
Milman
Book
Ch.
iii.
HERESIES IN CHEISTOLOGY.
397
is
There
is
is
man
but there
no
God-Man.
IV. The fourth of the ancient heresies in Christology
is
This
is
It asserts the,
Eutyches
nature
result-
human
was transmuted into the divine so that the ant was one person and one nature. For this the Eutychians held that it was accurate and
to say that "
reason, joroper
God
suffered,"
He
employed
was
God suffered
in man's nature.
"When
(1 Cor.
8),
the whole
indeed
is
when
13),
by the Son
Man must
r^f
necessarily be
Christ,
upon
of
earth, filled
heaven with
to that
^
Man
is
given him."
*HooKEn
EpcI.
liv.
398
HISTOEY OF CHRISTOLOGY.
The
councils of Nice
and Constantinople,
in de-
Person, indirectly.
So
was con-
But
it
make statements
other.
It
was
among
like Apollinaris,
These various
and
trine of Christ's
filled
Person were
Chalcedon^ in 451.
431,
had made some beginning towards the settlement of the questions involved; but this, though
summoned
council,
as such,
was not
strictly
an oecumenical
to yield a compre-
Cyril's
anathematizing
posi-
be-
tions,
which he succeeded in forcing upon the Council of Ephe8US, in 431, asserted that after the
tween the two natures no longer existed. This he afterwards tacitly retracted, though not formally.
399
2.
We
and perfect
as respects
manhood
that he
is
man
is
and a body
that he
us as to his humanity,
and
excepted.
He
but
in these
He
is
one Christ,
Church History, 89 Gieselee's Church History, I. 89. * The Catholics were tenacious
of this word as applied to the " person " in distinction from the "natures."
maintained,
posed of deity and humanity. as the God-Man may be properly denominated God, Mary
And
That
ture
her,
not
conceived,
the
theory of Crea-
As the
term
Sford/cor,
human mother
was
to teach, that
merely to the body, but to the whole person, which consists of a real and essential union of
the mother of a
would imply.
body and
ry,
soul, so the
Virgin Ma-
by a merely moral
human
per-
God-Man, who
is
a Person com-
400
existing in
Tcog),
HISTOKY OF CHRISTOLOGY.
without division
{dxcoQiarcjg)^
(adiacQSTCog)^
separation
natures
in
not
being
at
destroyed by
their union
(^IdicoTrjg)
being preserved,
(.T(>o(Jw.TOj^),
two natures
In the
first
Chalcedon
symbol, the uniting of the two natures in one personality does not confuse or
mix them,
in such a
man-
The
just as pure
it.
and simple
deity, after
And
the humanity
as
of Christ
that of
is
just as pure
Mary
his mother, or
indi-
The unifying
act,
by
The
human person alone^ Mary was the mother. The Chalcedon position was that the union of the two natures was embryonicy in
rate
God-Man
that
was
conceived,
Man
that
was born.
And
in de-
nominating Mary
that she
entire
"^foroKoi^ as
the
womb
of the Virgin, so
"of
was the mother of the Divine-human Person, she was the mother of Jesus
Christ.
401
human
neither
nature
is
human by mixing
is
the two,
neither
2.
third
human nor
The
incarnating
act,
while
it
makes no
qiiid^
a tertium
a resultant that
is
neither a
human
person, nor a
For, if
we have
Divine-human.
Contemplating him
is
not to be de-
nominated man
but he
is
to
be denominated GodChrist, as
distinit, is
Man.
The
guished from
compose
theanthropic person.
"Two
Word
was made
as
womb,
this
is
we may
which
is
neither think of
Him
own
is
as
God without
under
man, nor
man
God.
Each nature
actions,
certifies its
distinct
from connexion
Nothing
402
towards
tlie
HISTORY OF CHRISTOLOGY.
other;
there
is
entire
;
littleness
in
There
his
is
is
the glory.
He
God
is
in
is
infirmity
who
is
in
power
did
Him
into
in
him,
and
him
into
Himself, in
pity
and
power, that
either
nature
was
in
the
other,
and neither
own
prop-
erty."^
Ego may be
son.
illustrated
by
sonal constitution.
An
individual
man
is
one per-
But
this
The
per-
self-consciousness,
is
the resultant of
itself
Neither one of
makes
the person.
itself, is
not the
man
by
itself, is
is.
body and
soul, there is
The
706
sq.
Book V. Ch.
sq.
403
as a
body of a man
piece of granite
is
is
;
as truly
the
Godhead
itself.
by
;
itself,
and in separation,
otherwise, every
human
no ma-
individual would be
two persons
is
in juxtaposition.
There
is,
terial "
a mental
is
" nature,"
but no mental
The person
is
the union
not to be denominated
human.
its
In like man-
denomination of
the
human
nature alone,
of both natures
may
Person.
it is
If the Person
Christ
The
last
first
manity, which
the
is
attributable to the
characteristic of one
son.
If,
Person; and both alike are and the same theanthropic Per-
then
it is
before
Abraham and
404
HISTORY OF CHRISTOLOGY.
that
He
was David's
The
characteristics of the
finite
and of the
infinite
nature, belong
self,
which
is
them
both.^
this
God-Man was
suffered in his
and
is
ture
impassible.^
The God-Man
in his divine.
human
nature,
and not
For, although
attributed to
may be
The
seat
the
God-Man
is
and
his personality
as truly infinite as it
truly
finite.
Jesus Christ
really suffered
"
By
human and
divine, con-
joined in one and the same perof glory may be said have suffered death, as to have raised the dead from their graves the Son of Man as well to have made as redeemed the
son, the
So Christ is called and undefiled is said to have died, risen, and ascended up to heaven, with relahis mind.
holy, harmless,
God
tion to his
human
nature.
He
is
as well to
Hooker: Eccl. Pol. Book V. Ch. liii. "A man is called tall, fair, and healthy, from the state of his body and learned, wise, and good, from the qualities of
world."
;
his person,
On
the
II).
Compare Pearson
lA^).
On
the
Creed (Article
405
seat of suffering,
nature, which he
suffer.
had assumed
might
because
The
is
passion, therefore,
infinite
;
infinite
the Person
is
the
finite.
finite
existence fur-
A man
fire
;
and a brute
coal.
suffers
the
The
seat of the
is
a phys-
by the fire. The point of contact, and the medium of suffering, in each instance, is a material and fleshly substance. But the
of the
man
not burned
man,
;
is
the suffering of a
rational
it is
creature.
is
hrutish
is is
human agony
high up the
the latter
scale,
and the
"nature," in which
it is
is
the same
Now
the
" true
re-
man
406
HISTOEY OF CHRISTOLOGY.
It
medium
or " nature,"
by and through
which
it
was possible
And
as,
in
agony
is
human and
so, in
rational
suffering,
by
is
united
the instance
united
human agony is converted by reason of the divinwith the human soul and body, in
in the
Chalcedon
that
it
is the Divinity^
tvJiicJi
Christ s personality.
izing of deity,
The
incarnation
is
deification of humanity.
The second subsistence in the Divine Essence assumes human nature to itself; so that it is the Godhood, and not the manhood, which
is
prior and
results.
is
accomplished, not
Or more
strictly,
perhaps, to
part.
In the
in Christ's
suffer,
itself
human
but
conscious of a sufferitself is in
from aphysi-
immaterial part
The consciousness
divinity,
the
of
man
which
is
personality of the
God-Man
but
conscious of a painful
tion
occurring in the
material
in the humanity.
407
by fhe
It
tlie infinite,
finite.^
but by
man
the
nature.
An
individual
man was
not
first
con-
whom
Godhead then
of a Virgin
womb
angels,
Says Hooker
"
'
He
took not
Son of God had taken to himself a man noiv made and already perfected^ it would of necessity follow, that there are in Christ two persons, the one assuming, and the other assumed whereas the Son of God
but the seed of Abraham.'
If the
;
YRdixi's
and therewas
come
flesh
to have
The
to
gan both
there
his
that in Christ
from everlasting."
The
is
distinction
between a
" na-
of as great consequence
but ITis condescending
;
in
not rising
down
to them."
Ullmann
Sin-
greatness
'Hooker:
Eccl. Pol. B.
V. Ch.
408
HISTORY OF CHRISTOLOGY.
in Christology, as in Trinitarianism
to
combine
all
accepted
by
beyond which
is
its
the Trinity.
liii.
to
exists,
Hooker
"
The
283),
per-
person in the Trinity taken a human person, into union with himself,
sonality of
Hopkins: (Works
in in
his
"is
Christ,
divine
nature,
and
not
two
not one.
is
the
human.
Jesus
Christ
when
the
Jesus Christ
Hence, spoken of
etc.,
as being a
man,
'
from
in
man
Christ Jesus,'
the
adorable
Trinity.
The
human
person, the
and never teas, a distinct j;erson hy itself, and 2^ersonality cannot he ascribed to it, and does not belong to it, any othericise than as united to the Logos, the Word of God. The Word assumed the hu-
human
nature,
as
terms, He,
the
human
nature,
co)i-
man
self,
nature, not a
human person,
END OF VOL
I.