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FROM-THE- LIBRARY-OP
TRIN1TYCOLLEGETORDNTO
SHORT EXPLANATION
NTCENE CREED,
FOR THE USE OF PERSONS BEGINNING THE
STUDY OF THEOLOGY.
BY
A. P. FORBES, D.C.L.
BISHOP OF BRECHIN.
Quoniam misertcordia Tua ante ocnlos meos semper :
Et complacui in veritate TnS.
OXFORD,
JOHN HENRY PARKER;
AND 377, STRAND, LONDON.
1852.
999
BAXTER. PRINTER, OXFOKD.
101132
SEP 2 6 1977
TO THE
REV. J. J. HORNBY, M.A.
THE MUNIFICENT RECTOR OF WINWICK,
TO WHOM THE AUTHOR OWES
MORE THAN HE CAN ADEQUATELY ACKNOWLEDGE,
THIS IS
AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
SOME apology is due for venturing on a
subject so mysterious, and on which so many
of the highest intellects have exercised them
selves. It seems no small presumption to
follow, at however respectful a distance, in
the footsteps of Bishop Pearson. My motive
for making this attempt has been to remedy
a defect which has met me in my own theo
logical reading, the want of some treatise a
little more technical and systematic than the
great " Exposition of the Creed." The Reform
ation being in some sense a reaction against
previous tendencies, the theology after that
did well in emancipating itself from the dry
unattractive form in which it was before that
presented to the reader. A dead language did
not hide it more effectually than the abstract
shape in which it was proposed. Accordingly,
VI PBEFACE.
the merit possessed by Hooker and Pearson,
and claimed by Burnet*, was to place the
dogmas of religion before men without " stiff
ness of method," " dark terms," " the niceties
of logic," or " artificial definitions," and to
make the science of theology easy and pleasing.
The debt which we owe to such authors cannot
be exaggerated.
But amid the great revival of the last twenty
years, as deeper views of God's truth have by
His mercy been accorded to our aching hearts,
a desire of a more systematic theology has
almost of necessity been engendered. Men
feel that an exact theology is at once the most
reverent and the most satisfactory ; the most
reverent, as the nearer we get to the very Truth
the better we serve Him ; the most satisfactory,
because a strict dogmatic theology tells us in
very plain language, that after the human
intellect is exhausted, it has not reached God.
Men also have felt, that in an exact theology
is the only sure guarantee for orthodoxy of
faith. Where matters have not been defined,
men have generally contented themselves with
the lower view. Therefore it was that
S. Athanasius was raised up by God to fight
Pref. xxxix Art.
PREFACE. Vll
for the "consubstantial ;" and we ourselves have
seen how the faith of our own Church, on the
subjects that were left as open questions, has
shrivelled and withered away. A definite ex
pression of doctrine embodied in the symbolic
books of a Church becomes the institution by
which the idea is preserved and perpetuated.
Had a dogmatic teaching been then prevalent,
the movement in the last century would in all
probability have taken a more satisfactory
direction, and the labours of the elder
Wilberforce, and the other good men who
then exercised so profound an influence on the
pious sentiment of England, might have ended
in a very different result from the Gorham
decision. Nay, it is not too much to say, that
the Wesleyan and Whitfield, schism might
have been prevented.
To supply those beginning the study of theo
logy, then, with a work a little more technical
than our present text books, has been my
desire. I began by using Suicer's work on the
Creed as a foundation, but have also applied to
other sources both from the Latin and Greek
Churches. I have suffered much from the
want of books, and have in many cases been
obliged to trespass on the indulgence of kind
Vlll PREFACE.
friends to verify quotations. Of these I beg
especially to express my thanks to the Reverend
Chas. Marriott, B.D. Fellow of Oriel College,
Oxford, who at great trouble to himself has
looked over the proof sheets ; and also to one,
to whom posterity will render that homage
which those who have the honour of knowing
him accord to him now, the distinguished
Regius Professor of Hebrew in the same
University.
And now, in presenting this little work with
all its faults to the public, it is my earnest
prayer that it may do good ; and I can send it
forth with no better aspiration than that of the
great St. Augustine, " Domine Deus unus,
Deus Trinitas, quaecumque dixi hie de Tuo,
agnoscant et Tui : si quae de meo et Tu ignosce
et Tui." Amen.
Dundee, Trinity Sunday,
June 6, 1852.
CONTENTS.
Page
THK CREED OF NIC^EA. . . . 1
I. Of Faith. . . . . .13
II. Of the Unity of the Divine Essence, and the
Trinity of Persons. . . .23
III. Of God the Father. ; . . 94
IV. Of Creation. . . . . 101
V. Of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . 115
VI. Of the Only-Begotten. . . . 124
VII. Of the Generation of the Son. . . 130
VIII. Of the Divinity of the Son of God. . 136
IX. The Son is not a Creature. . . 156
X. Of the term Consubstantial. . . 163
XI. Of the work of the Son in Creation. . 168
XII. Of the Incarnation of the Son. . .. 172
XIII. Of the Passion, Burial, and Resurrection. 211
XIV. Of the Ascension, Assession, Return, and
Reign of our Lord. . . . 236
XV. Of the Holy Spirit. .. . . 251
XVI. Of the Church. * . . . 271
XVII. Of the Remission of Sir,. -. , 294
XV IT I. Of the Resurrection. . -. . 307
XIX. Of the Life of the World to come. . 314
Index. 333
ERRATUM
P. 265. note p. /or Rich. S. Victor read Hugo de S. Victor.
THE
CREED OF NIC^A.
THE Creed of Nicsea, from the time of its first
promulgation, has always been regarded as the
bulwark of true Christianity. It has ever justly
been the great test of orthodoxy on all the sub
jects expressed by it. It is incorporated in the
daily devotional life of the Church, by being
said or sung at the celebration of the Holy
Eucharist, and contains the fullest revelation
vouchsafed to us of the incomprehensible nature
of Almighty God.
Now a Creed, so eminently authoritative in
matters of faith, found throughout the Christian
world in the most solemn part of its worship,
when mysteries which angels desire to look into
are placed within the reach of sinful men,
ought surely to become the reverent study of
the devout servant of his Lord ; and, indeed, it
becomes such an one to be very careful that
B
* THE CEEED OF NIOEA.
he knows all he can concerning the Creator,
Redeemer, and Sanctifier of his soul and body ;
for He is a jealous God, and wills not that the
evidences He gives us of His operation, or the
hints He affords us of His Nature, should not
be diligently studied by us. In the know
ledge of God standeth our eternal life, and that
knowledge is that which He has revealed to us.
In the spirit of lowliness then, actuated by a
sincere desire of seeing the wonderful things
out of God's law, let us approach the con
templation of this sublime and precious mani
festation of the Eternal Verity. And do Thou,
O Everlasting Truth, Incarnate Wisdom of the
Father, hear us when we call upon Thee.
Prostrate in spirit at the footstool of Thy
Majesty, we adore thine infinite perfections,'
rendering all glory, laud, and benediction to
Thee. We come to Thee in search of thine Own
Self, the Eternal Verity, to catch a ray from
Thee, the Light of the world, to walk in Thee
who art the Way, to live in Thee who art the
Life. Open Thou our hearts, that we may attend
to that which Thou hastrevealed of Thyself, thine
Everlasting Father, and thy Blessed Spirit. And
as by thine Incarnation new light has come to
us, lighten Thou our eyes, that we may see Thee,
THE CREED OF NIC^EA.
and let memory, will, and understanding, bow
down before thy mysteries. Domine Jesu
Christe, fidei Auctor et Consummator, qui nos
ad gremium sanctae ecclesise, sponsse Tuae et
matris nostrae, spretis multis millibus hominum
infidelium evocasti, et ad pusillum gregem, cui
complacuit Pater dareregnumcoeleste, pertinere
fecisti : auge in nobis scientiam et fidem a te
semel infusam, et sine ulla intermissione ser-
vatam, et vitam fidei et scientise aptam, scilicet
sanctam et Tui imitationem concede, ut ali-
quando tandem fidei consummationem, nempe
glorias claritatem assequamur. Amen.
The Creed which we are about to consider
comes to us on the authority of the first
General Council held at Nicaea A.D. 325,
in the reign of the Emperor Constantine,
and Papacy of St. Silvester. Yet we do not
recite it as it was there delivered, but as it
was afterwards enlarged at the second General
Council, held at Constantinople in the year 381,
when some fresh errors, which in the mean
time had sprung up, had to be condemned.
In this was embodied the traditional teaching
O
of the Church. " As we have received from
the Bishops that went before us, and as we
4 THE CREED OF NIC^EA.
learnt in our first instruction, and when we
received baptism ; also as we have learnt from
the sacred Scriptures, and as we have believed
and taught in the Priesthood, and in the Epis
copate ; so now believing, we propose this our
faith to you." The chief object of the Synod
in putting forth the Creed was to destroy the
poison of the heresy of Arius, and to establish
the orthodox faith concerning the Son of God.
The Emperor, naturally desirous of the welfare
of the Empire, and seeing how the agitation of
this question disturbed the minds of men,
convoked this (Ecumenical Synod on Friday,
the 19th of June, A. D. 325, when the Arian
heresy was condemned, the Creed promulgated,
and certain Canons, in number 20, were added,
council Never since the death of the Apostles, did the
Christian world behold a Synod with higher
claims to be considered universal and free, or
an assembly of Bishops more august and holy.
For at that Council, as Eusebius says, there
were assembled out of all the Churches which
had filled the whole of Europe, Asia, and
Africa, the very choicest from the ministers of
God ; and one sacred building, expanded as it
were by the Divine command, embraced at
once within its compass both Syrians and
THE CREED OF NIC.EA.
Cilicians, Phoenicians and Arabians, and Chris
tians of Palestine ; Egyptians too, Thebans and
Lybians, and some who came out of Mesopo
tamia. A Bishop also from Persia was present
at the Council; and even Scythia was not want
ing to that company. Pontus also and Galatia,
Pamphylia and Cappadocia, with Asia and
Phrygia, contributed their choicest Prelates.
Moreover, Thracians, Macedonians, Achaians,
and Epirotes, and inhabitants of still more
remote districts, were notwithstanding their
distance present. Even from Spain itself, that
most celebrated man (Hosius) took his seat
among the rest. The Prelate of the imperial
city (of Rome, that is) was indeed absent on
account of his advanced age, but Presbyters of
his were present to supply his place. Con-
stantine is the only Emperor from the beginning
of the world, who, by convening this vast assem
blage, an image, as it were, of the company of
the Apostles, presented to Christ his Saviour a
garland such as this, bound and knit together
by the bond of peace, as a sacred memorial of
his gratitude for the victory he had gained
over his foreign and domestic enemies *.
At this Council there were two sorts of
Bull, Def. Fid. Nic.
THE CREED OF NIC.EA.
decrees, Canons (ogoi) and Definitions (&-
rvTraxre^}. The first referred to discipline, the
second to doctrine; so that this Creed comes
under the last head. Hence in the Greek
Church, Patriarchs and Bishops have to recite
this symbol when they are invested with their
dignity; and since the days of Timotheus,
Archbishop of Constantinople, (A.D. 512,) it
has been always repeated at the time of the
Holy Communion, having previously to that
been said only on Good-Friday, when the
Bishop catechized b . So completely is this
Creed the standard of the Church's faith, that
the Emperor Justinian says, " We ordain that
the holy ecclesiastical Canons shall have the
force of laws, even those which have been laid
down by the four holy Synods, that is, of the
318 at Nicaea, of the 150 holy Bishops at
Constantinople, of the first of Ephesus, in
which Nestorius was condemned, and of Chal-
cedon, in which Eutyches was cursed along
with Nestorius. We receive the dogmas of
the aforesaid holy Synods as the sacred Scrip
tures, and observe their Canons as laws c ."
We said before, that the Creed as now re
peated is not that of Nicaea, but that of Con-
b Suicer de Symb. c Novell. 131.
THE CREED OF NHLEA. 7
stantinople, with the well-known addition of
the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the
Son. At an early time the Creed of Con
stantinople was called the Nicene Creed, as
in fact embodying the Nicene verities. Thus
the Master of the Sentences says d , " that Creed
which is sung at the Communion was put
forth in the Nicene Council." So also Du-
randus*. Bona's account of these Creeds is
as follows': " When this Creed was recited in
the same Synod (of Nicaea), we read that all
the Bishops exclaimed, ' This is the faith of
the Catholics ; we all believe in this ; into
this we were baptized, into this we do baptize.' "
After it was promulgated, all the Oriental
Churches received it, and gave it to be learned
by their faithful and their catechumens, so
that he was held an Arian who did not profess
it. But in the West, it was received by some
Churches earlier and some later, as they be
came earlier or later tainted with the Arian
heresy. But when new heresies arose, a second
(Ecumenical Synod was summoned at Con
stantinople, in the first session of which, a
second Creed was enunciated, which Mark of
d Lib. i. Dist. 2. Ration. Off. Div. lib. iv.
' Rer. Liturg. ii. viii.
THE CREED OF NIC.EA.
Ephesus, at the Council of Florence, said was
by the common consent of the Greek Fathers
attributed to S. Gregory Nazianzen. But
both the Nicene and Cons tan tinopoli tan have
always been held as one; and that which we
now sing in the solemnities of the Liturgy,
though it be that of Constantinople, is termed
by the Master of the Sentences and other
Schoolmen, the Nicene. The Fathers con
found these, because what was added at Con
stantinople was virtually in the Nicene." The
two Creeds are as follows :
NICLEA.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
the Maker of all things, visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, begotten of His Father, the Only-be
gotten, that is, of the Substance of the Father,
God of God, Light of Light, true God of
true God, Begotten, not made ; being of one
substance with the Father, by Whom all things
both in heaven and on earth were made.
Who for us men and for our salvation came
down, and was incarnate, and was made man ;
suffered and rose the third day; ascended into
THE CBEED OF NICLEA. 9
the heavens; shall come to judge the quick
and the dead.
And in the Holy Spirit.
And those who say that there was a time
when the Son of God was not, and that before
He was begotten He was not, and that He
was born out of the things that exist not, or
assert that He is of another nature (tnro<rr<x<ns)
or substance (ou<r/a) (from the Father), or that
He is mutable (Tgenrdv), or subject to change
(aXAojcorov), the Holy Catholic and Apostolic
Church holdeth accursed.
CONSTANTINOPLE.
We believe in one G od, the Father Almighty,
Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things,
visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-
begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father
before all ages, Light of Light, true God of
true God. Begotten, not made, consubstantial
with the Father, by Whom all things were
made. Who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven, and was incarnate by
the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary, and was
made man. And was crucified for us under
Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried,
10 THE CREED OF NIC.EA.
and rose on the third day according to the
Scriptures. And ascended into the heavens,
and sitteth at the right hand of the Father, and
shall come again with glory to judge the quick
and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no
end :
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver
of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father,
Who with the Father and the Son together is
worshipped and glorified, Who spake by the
prophets :
And in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic
Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the re
mission of sins :
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Now in comparing these two symbols, we
may observe, that some things in the Nicene
Creed were omitted by the Fathers of Con
stantinople, but that several additions were
made. The following omissions were made
by them, thinking perhaps that the truths they
asserted were in fact contained within the rest.
1. " God of God" was omitted, as contained in
" true God of true God." 2. In relating the
THE CBEED OF NICjEA. 1 1
creation, they passed over " both in heaven
and on earth," as expressed by, " By Whom all
things were made." 3. The explanation of the
Generation of the Son, that is, " of the Sub
stance of the Father," inasmuch as they saw
that it was found in the use of the word " Con-
substantial." 4. They missed out the Anathema
at the end.
They added, 1. In the account of the
Creation, " the Maker of heaven and earth."
2. In the Generation of the Son, " before all
ages." 3. On the Incarnation, of which the
Nicene Creed had simply said, " He came
down," they added, " from heaven." 4. After
" was Incarnate," they annexed, " by the Holy
Ghost and the Virgin Mary." 5. In asserting
the Passion, " and was crucified for us under
Pontius Pilate." 6. Of His Sepulture, it was
now said, " and was buried." 7. Of His
Assession, that He " sitteth at the right hand
of the Father." 8. Of the Judgment there is
added, that His coming shall be " with glory."
9. And of His reign, that it " shall have no
end." 10. The attributes and nature of the
Holy Spirit are described, as " the Lord, the
Life-giver, Who proceedeth from the Father,
Who with the Father and Son is worshipped
12 THE CREED OF NIC.EA.
and glorified, Who spake by the Prophets."
11. Of the Church it is said, " And in one Holy
Catholic and Apostolic Church." 12. Of the
Laver of regeneration, " We acknowledge one
baptism for the remission of sins." 13, Of the
rising again and future state, " We look for
the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the
world to come. Amen."
The Western Church uses the Creed of
Constantinople, with these three differences.
1. She has restored the Nicene expression,
" God of God." 2. She has rendered the ex
pression, " was incarnate by the Holy Ghost
and the Virgin Mary," by, " was incarnate by
(de) the Holy Ghost of (ex) the Virgin Mary."
And, 3. She has expressed the full and whole
truth upon the subject, by adding to tbe words,
" Who proceedeth from the Father," the
additional words, " and the Son," which shall
be discussed more at length, when we come to
treat of that portion of the Creed g .
s Vide Suicer de Symb. Con. Nic.
I.
OF FAITH. 3
I BELIEVE.
THE word belief, or faith, when applied to Various
defim-
the reception of divine knowledge, means a*i^ of
voluntary assent of the mind to certain truths
proposed to it on competent authority. " That
is faith," says St. Chrysostom, "when we be
lieve in those things which are not seen, turn
ing the mind to the trustworthiness of Him
who has announced them b ;" or, as he elsewhere
says, " That is faith, when we are not contented
with the bodily eyes, but when we picture to
ourselves by the eyes of the soul the things that
The following scheme, made out by the Schoolmen, may
serve to simplify our thoughts with regard to Faith,
The Object of Faith.
The Act of Faith. /External.
Faith.^ | Internal.
I Of the virtue itself.
I rm- TT T.-^ f-r* -iu Of those who have Faith.
I The Hablt of Faith ' Of the cause of Faith.
L I Of the effect of Faith.
b Horn. 36. in Gen. p. 370.
14 OP FAITH.
are not seen e ." This faith was called by the
ancients DOGMATIC FAITH, being that by which
we are convinced that the doctrine manifested
by the word of God is true. St. John Damas.
says, " Faith is twofold. For faith cometh by
hearing. Hearing the divine Scriptures, we
believe the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and it
(faith) is perfected in all things that are com
manded by Christ, by our believing indeed, and
acting religiously, and keeping the command
ments of Him who hath renewed us. For he
who believes according to the tradition of the
Church, yet communicates in the works of the
devil, is an infidel. There is moreover a faith
which is ' the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen,' the indubitable
and indisputable hope of those things which are
promised us by God, and of the obtaining our
petitions." " Not in the practice of virtue,
and in the observance of the commandments
only, but also in the narrow path of faith, is
the way steep and narrow that leadeth unto
life"?"
To believe is to think assentingly, without
vacillation and without actual sight 6 .
c Horn. 63. in Gen. p. 607. d S. John Damas. Orth.
Fid. iv. 11.. Senn. 5. Nativ. S. Leo. ' S. Thos.ii. 2. c. 1.
OF FAITH. 15
Faith is the first of the theological virtues in
the order of time, but not in the order of import
ance, because it belongs to the intellect, whose
action precedes that of the will, and because it
is the foundation of the rest of the virtues, and
the gate of spiritual good ; for we must believe
in God, before we can love Him, and obey His
commandments. It hath justly attributed to it
four results meditation, contemplation, con
tempt of the world, and purity of heart. For
whoso believeth, seeketh the knowledge of the
things believed, and this desire of knowledge
instigateth a search, which is meditation. But
pious search findeth the truth, and resteth
therein with joy, which is contemplation.
Then truth, when found, teacheth how worth
less the world is, and generateth a dislike for it,
which dislike of the world tendeth to that adhe
sion, whereby we cling to God, in which con-
sisteth purity of earth f .
Justifying faith (to speak accurately and
theologically) is nothing else than a pious and
sure assent of the mind, produced by the Holy
Ghost from the word, by which we acknowledge
all things revealed by God in the Scriptures,
and especially those concerning the redemption
f Alvarez de Exterm. Mai. p. 655.
16 OF FAITH.
and salvation wrought by Christ, to be most
true by reason of the authority of God, who
has revealed theme. Therefore, considered in
itself and in its essence, it is nothing else than
catholic (dogmatic) faith, which itself doubt
less justifies a man, if all other things which are
necessary to justification accompany it h .
Faith signifies not so much the act of thinking
or opining, as it has the sense of a firm obliga
tion, (contracted in virtue of a free act of sub
mission,) whereby the mind decisively, and per
manently, assents to the mysteries revealed by
God'.
It is the reunion with God in Christ, espe
cially by means of the faculties of knowledge,
illuminated and confirmed by grace, with which
the excitement of various feelings is more or less
connected. It is a divine light, whereby man
discerns, as well as recognises, the decrees of
God, and comprehends not only what God is
to man, but what man should be to God k .
From these various definitions we see, that
the word faith may be taken in several senses :
and this is evident from the Holy Scripture.
1 . Sometimes it is taken for fidelity in pro-
s Forbesii Consid. Mod. p. 17. h Ibid. ' Cat. Rom.
k Mohler.
OF FAITH. 17
raising, as, " Shall then unbelief make the
faith of God without effect 1 ?"
2. It is taken for the promises themselves,
as " having damnation, because they have cast
off their first faith m ."
3. It means sometimes conscience, as, " what
soever is not of faith is sin"."
4. It is used for confidence, as, " but let
him ask in faith, nothing wavering ."
5. It is used for the Christian religion, as,
"fight the good fight of faith"."
6. Lastly, it is taken for the assent of the
intellect, or the habit that inclines us to assent
on the authority of another ; if the authority
be human, it is human faith: if it be divine, it
is divine or theological faith : and this last, as
regards the truths taught by the Church, is
termed Catholic Faith.
Divine faith then is theologically defined Defim-
& J tion of
to be a gift of God, and a light, illuminated bye
which, men firmly assent to all things which
God has revealed, and which He proposes to
them by His Church to be believed, whether
written or unwritten.
It is termed 'a gift' of God, because it is
1 Rom. iii. 3. m 1 Tim. v 12. Rom. xiv. 23.
" James i. 6. Pi Tim. vi. 12.
18 OF FAITH.
freely given by God alone, and surpasses all
the natural powers. It is essentially super
natural. It is termed a * light,' because spi
ritually the intellect is raised and enlightened
so as to know and believe those things that are
of faith. The assent of the intellect must be
" firm," without any hesitation or fear of the con
sequences, for it rests upon the veracity of God
Himself. " The Church" being, as St. Paul says,
the pillar and ground of the truth, and having
authority in controversies of faith, is that
which is the motive of our faith, inasmuch as it
belongs to it to declare what is the object of
our belief.
Now the power of the soul in which faith
resides has been said to be the intellect, but it
is also connected with the will ; for being, ac
cording to the words of the Apostle, " the
evidence of things not seen," it does not rest
upon the intellect alone, but requires certain
pious affections and submissions of the will
towards the Supreme Truth ; as the same
Apostle says, " By whom we have received
grace and apostleship, for obedience to the
faith." Hence the virtue is not only specu
lative, but also practical, " working by love,"
causing to subdue kingdoms, to work righteous-
sions
OF FAITH. 19
ness, to obtain promises ; for " faith without
works is dead 9 ."
Now faith has been variously divided
theologians. It has been divided into habitual of faith
and actual ; into explicit and implicit ; into
internal and external ; into formed or living,
and unformed or dead.
Actual faith, is a firm and certain, though
not evident, assent to the things which are
revealed by God. In that it is firm and
certain, it differs from opinion, and exceeds it.
For the subject of opinion may, and often is,
false, and the assent to it is weak and uncertain ;
there is in it a fear and a hesitation with regard
to things opined of. In that faith is a not-
evident assent, both understanding, knowledge,
and wisdom exceed it, in that they are intel
lectual virtues, possessing clearness and sight.
Habitual faith is a certain intellectual habit,
whereby the intellect is inclined to actual faith p .
Explicit faith, is that by which we assent to
any doctrine which with its terms is known to
us.
Implicit faith, is that by which certain
truths are believed, not as recognised in them
selves, but as contained in some other great
P Vega de Justif. p. 717. 1 James ii. 20.
20 OF FAITH.
verity. This is the case of many ignorant
Christians.
Internal faith, is the assent in the mind.
External faith, is that inward assent evi
denced by some sign or outward profession.
Formed or living faith, is that which is in
formed by charity, which is the form and per
fection of all other virtues. It is faith working
by love.
Informed or dead faith, is the mere assent
of the mind without love, like the devils' belief
in God.
object The material object of faith, or ' what' we
offaith. J
are to believe, is twofold. Under this come all
those things which God has revealed to us.
He Himself and His attributes are the primary
and principal objects, while the Humanity of
Christ, the Sacraments, and all other things
necessary to salvation, are the secondary ones.
St. Thomas thus explains it r ; "The object of
faith is the first truth, as it is manifested to us in
the Scripture, and in the teaching of the Church."
The formal object of faith, or " why" we
should believe these things, is the supreme
veracity of Almighty God, Who of His infinite
wisdom cannot be deceived, and of His infinite
f II. ii. 5. 3.
OF FAITH. 21
goodness and perfection cannot deceive. What
we believe we receive as the voice of God Him
self, according to the words of the Apostle;
" For this cause also thank we God without
ceasing, because when ye received the word of
God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as
the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word
of God, which effectually worketh in you that
believe'."
The motives of faith are external and in- Motives
i mi i T T of faith.
ternai. Ine external motives are the authority
of the Church, the miracles performed by our
Lord and the disciples, the harmony of the
divine dispensations, the oracles of the Prophets,
the antiquity and universality of the faith, the
sanctity and purity of its doctrine, the con
stancy of those martyrs who have died for it,
the attestation of enemies, the conversion of
the world, and the wondrous power of faith
in converting the soul. The inward motives of
faith are twofold. The natural light of the under
standing, which so far accepts of the articles of
faith as true, when calmly and dispassionately
viewed, as to prepare for the other inward motive,
the light of faith, which is the supernatural, in
ternal instinct by which the intellect is inclined
1 Thess. xi. 13.
22 OF FAITH.
to accept of the truths proposed to it. This is
the habitual light of faith. The actual light of
faith is such an inward illumination in grace as
God communicated to Lydia, to attend to the
things that were said of Paul',
ofarti- An article of faith is a proposition or pri-
clesof . . .
faith, mary truth among things to be believed, having
its own difficulty of acceptance, and being
necessary to everlasting salvation. These articles
thrown together constitute the Symbol or
Creed.
1 Acts xvi. 14.
UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 23
II.
OF THE UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE, AND
THE TRINITY OF PERSONS 8 .
I BELIEVE IN ONE GOD.
THE Bishops of Nicaea confess that they
believe in One God, yet they make mention of
a As an exact terminology is most important in theology,
I have thought right to put down the Latin definitions of the
various words used in speaking of the Adorahle Trinity.
Essentia, quse ab esse dicitur, est id quo res quselibet in
suo esse constituitur, seu est id quod est. Sic essentia
hominis est id per quod homo est ; nihil ea prius excogitari
in qualibet re potest. Tria in earn concurrunt, 1, ut sit
quod primum in ente concipitur. 2, ut cseterorum quae in
eodem sunt, aut ab eo dimanant, radix sit ac fundamentum.
3, ut id sit, quo ab alia re qualibet distinguatur. Sic essentia
hominis est ut sit animal rationale.
Natura. 1, exprimit id quod ex alio ortum habuit ;
2, synonyma est essentise ut autem ab ea distinguatur,
natura defmiri solet Principium actionis divinse ab ipsa
tamen actione interiori minime sejunctum.
Substantia est id quod nullo alio indiget, cui inhsereat ad
existendum. Triplici autem sensu accipitur; 1, pro essentia;
2, pro eo quod accidentibus subest ; 3, pro re per se ex-
istente, qua postrema significatione tarn de Deo quam de
creaturis enunciari potest.
t
24 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. When they name the One, they
assert the unity of Substance ; when they
mention the Three, they mean a Trinity of
Persons.
By the word God, we mean a Being, than
which nothing better can be or be conceived.
Although, properly speaking, the existence of
God is the object of faith, yet this truth also
commends itself to the enlightened reason of
man.
Existentia definiri potest essentia in actu.
Subsistentia sumitur pro modo quo substantia qusedam
singularis tota et ultimo completa subsistit, suique juris
efficitur.
Suppositum, ' idem est ac subsistentia sed in concrete
existens :' seu, ' substantia ultimo completa, suique juris,'
seu substantia cum modo suo.
Persona, ' idem est ac suppositum sed ratione praeditum,'
seu ' rationalis naturae individua substantia.'
Origo, est emanatio unius ab alio.
Principium est id quod rationem continet cur illud sit
cujus dicitur principium quodque principiatum vocatur.
Causa, dicitur principium influens esse in aliud, seu, causa
generatim sumpta est id quo rationem continet cur aliquo
modo habeatur aliud natura distinctum.
Generatio, est origo viventis a principio vivente conjuncto
in similitudinem naturse.
Processio, est origo unius ab alio.
Relaiio, est ordo seu habitudo unius ad alterum.
Notio, est id quo valemus alteram ab altera person^ secer-
nere et internoscere.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 25
For instance : the world and every thing that Meta
physical
is in the world is finite, mutable, and can
no reason for its existence in itself or from itself. ?
Again, this universe consists of parts, and that
which is made up of parts cannot be infinite, else
it would at once be finite and infinite, or the
infinite would be made up of finite parts. So
every one must admit that this universe is sub
ject to change, and hence creation is not neces
sary, but contingent; it need be, or it need
not be. It were no absurdity to conceive of the
world and its parts as not existing. From this
it follows, that that which is finite and mutable,
and which has not the reason of its being in
itself, which indifferently may be or not be,
must be determined as to being by some other,
and must have the reason and cause of its ex
istence from some other ; for if not, then an
effect might be without a cause, and " being"
might be joined with " not being," which were
contradictory. But the Being which holds
within Himself the supreme reason of the
existence of things contingent, and is the cause
of these, must have His existence outside of
these and is "simply necessary." For if He were
contingent, the same argument would demand
a cause above Him, and so on ad infinitum.
26 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
There exists therefore a Being " simply neces
sary," absolutely unproduced, deriving His
Being from Himself, containing the cause of
His existence in Himself, by the very power
and necessity of His nature determined to be,
personal, and eternal. And this Being or Cause
of all things, supreme, necessary, unproduced,
and eternal, we call GoD b .
- The order of nature, with the disposition of
each thing in its proper place, and its fitness for
its proper ends, involves the idea of some One
who orders it: and the more perfect that order
is, and the greater simplicity it exhibits in its
multiplicity, the wiser must that One be. The
more that men contemplate and study the
universe, and ascertain the laws whereby the
physical worldis governed: the more they com
pare the relations each thing has with others
and with the universe : the more that wonder
ful order is recognised, which results from the
correspondence of the parts, the proportion of
means to their ends, from the simplicity and
stedfastness of the laws of nature, from the
subordination of final causes, and from the
universal harmony of creation : the more that
b See Aug. De Civit. Dei, lib. viii. Damas. De Orth. Fid.
lib. i. c. 3;
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 27
all this is considered, the more will the wisdom
of Him who ordains it shine forth. The
supremely wise and powerful Being, who
moreover is seen to be supremely good and bene
volent, that we call God. All nature testifies to
the being of a God.
" O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the
Lord, praise Him and magnify Him for ever."
" It is the Lord that commandeth the waters,
it is the glorious God that maketh the thunder.
It is the Lord that ruleth the sea. The voice
of the Lord is mighty in operation ." " For He
spake and it was done, He commanded and it
was created d ." " Thou shalt shew us wonderful
things in thy righteousness, O God of our
salvation; Thou that art the hope of all the
ends of the earth, and of them that remain in
the broad sea. Who by His strength setteth
fast the mountains, and is girded about with
power. Who stilleth the raging of the sea,
and the noise of the waves, and the madness of
the people. . . . Thou visitest the earth, and
blessest it, making it very plenteous 8 ." " O Lord,
how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast
Thou made them all : the earth is full of thy
riches. So is the great and wide sea also,
f Ps. xxix. 3, 4. d Ps. cxlviii. 5. c Ps. Ixv. 5 9,
28 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
wherein are things creeping innumerable, both
small and great beasts f ." " Let them praise the
Name of the Lord, for He spake the word,
and they were made ; He commanded, and they
were created V
Moral All mankind in every age have commonly
rthe consente( i in the belief of some God. Now
"^J ce there must be some cause for this common
consent, which is at once universal and every
. where, and that cause cannot be found, save in
an original primaeval tradition, or in the dictates
of the intelligent nature of man, or in a com
bination of both of these h .
And every man who really reflects will find
each of these arguments may be drawn from
himself. For unless he acknowledge God to
be the first cause of his own being, he can give
no reason for his existence ; and when he
comes to consider how the Divine Wisdom
shines forth in his own organization, both
physical and moral, and in addition to this,
listens to the inward voice within him, which
loudly proclaims the existence of the Deity; he
must acknowledge that there is a Supreme
Being, the Cause of all things, most wise and
f Ps. civ. 24. ? Ps. cxlviii. 5.
i See Cicero de Nat. Deorum, lib. i. c. 16.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 29
beneficent, appealing to the very inmost
depths of His nature.
Now even by the use of our reason, we The
' unity of
must perceive that the very idea of God im- God -
plies that He is one. We understand by God
something that is supreme. Now there can
not be two beings supreme, because they must
come into collision with each other, or, at least,
no one can be called supreme if another be
equal to Him. Tertullian says 1 , " Since God is
supremely great, rightly our truth declares,
that " if God is not one, He is not. Not as if
we doubted, in saying so, whether He is ; but
because, well assured that He is, we define
Him to be that which if He were not, He were
not God. For if He be not supremely great, He is
not God. But that whichissupremelygreatmust
be one. Therefore God will not be God other
wise than as the supremely great; nor will He be
supremely great, but as having no equal. Nor
will He be as having no equal, unless He be one."
St. Thomas draws three arguments for the
unity of God : 1. From His simple and un
divided nature. 2. From the infinity of His
perfections; that infinity implying incommuni-
cability. And, 3. From the unity of the
' Adv. Marcion, lib. i. c. 3.
30 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
world, which evidently suggests one ordaining
will.
And if natural religion tells us, that from the
very necessity of the case there must be one
God, Revelation confirms the same. " Hear,
O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord k ."
" I am the Lord ; that is my name, and my
glory will I not give to another 1 ." " And this
is life eternal, to know Thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."
" We know that an idol is nothing in the
world, and there is none other God but one.
For though there be that are called Gods,
whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be
Gods many and Lords many,) but to us there
is but one God, the Father, of Whom are all
things, and we in Him : and one Lord Jesus
Christ, by Whom are all things, and we by
Him"." " Have we not all one Father, hath
not one God created us ?" "Did not one
fashion us in the wombV " One Lord, one
faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of
all, who is above all, and through all, and in
you alK"
k Deut. vi. 4. Mark xi. 29. l Is. xlii. 8. m John xvii. 3.
" 1 Cor. viii. 46. Mai. ii. 10. P Job xxxi. 15.
n Eph. iv. 5, 6.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 8 1
Yet natural as this truth seems, we find it
corrupted in many ways ; for the belief in one
God is the peculiarity of the true religion, and
of those false ones which have corrupted or
borrowed from it.
I. There are the numberless Gods of the Poly
theism ,
Heathen, in which, as the patriarchal tradition * H ? a ~
theniam.
of the true God became obscured by the sin
and ignorance of men, deified heroes, and ab
stractions of the passions and virtues, and the
powers of nature, and the host of heaven, and
noxious animals, came to be adored. And in
spite of the horror with which we now, by the
grace of God, look upon the idolatries of the
earth, very winning were those ancient super
stitions. For, first of all, there was enough of
the true faith remaining in them to elevate the
aspiring part of man. Somewhat of the attri
butes of the true God might still be seen in
the base copies of the poet or hierophant, and
so beauteous is the face of God, that even His
counterfeit was amiable. And then there was
much that spoke to a lower part of man's nature ;
not to mention his fears propitiated by the
worship of the infernal deities, the furies, and
the symbolic serpent, his admiration of the
great and good was gratified by the devotion to
32 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
the demigods, as by the worship of the virtues.
And then the beauteous voice of nature, which
ever speaks so sweetly to the heart of man, to
the old heathen had another and more myste
rious significance. Every mountain had its
Oreads, every forest its Dryads, every sea and
lake its Nereids and Naiads. The mystic Pan
and his attendant nymphs peopled the leafy
solitudes, Diana and her huntresses gladdened
the echoing mountains with their horns, Ceres
shone over the yellowing fields of the husband
man, while the tower-crowned mother of the
gods at once blessed and typified the civiliza
tion of the earth. And then the passions of
man's nature, active and craving, demanded
the benediction of some religion, and so religion
shaped itself to the depraved heart of man, and
Aphrodite, and Eros, and the Graces, rose to sanc
tify indulgence, and to quench the small remains
of the quickly silenced conscience. Nor was this
all ; if disgusted with the fruits of a worship,
which, however lovely in its poetry, was hideous
and debasing in its practice, the wildered hea
then sought a purer faith, that was supplied
him in the rites of Mithra, and "in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians." Solemn Osiris,
' Greg. Naz. Oral. 39. p. C78.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 33
calm Serapis, gentle beneficent Isis, though even
this degenerated into the Isaicae sacraria lenas,
and in earlier times, the different Mysteries
symbolizing and preserving the remains of patri
archal truth held out their lures for his aching
heart, and in the excitement of the secret and in
the indulgence of the imaginative, he was taught
to forget the true. And all this clothed in the
beauteous forms of the perfection of human art,
sculpture, painting, architecture, joining to
minister to it ! Who, when he thinks of this,
can fail to recognise the supernatural mission of
that Christianity, which overthrew this mighty
structure, or to venerate that Cross which has
been planted upon its ruins !
II. There arose from a deeper philosophy, Dualism,
from the consideration of the conflict of good
and evil, which forms a trial to the faith even
of the enlightened and humble Christian, a
belief in two principles. Man could not fail
to see goodness, and mercy, and truth, and
beauty in creation, nor had he entirely for
gotten what his fathers had told him of the
true God ; but he also saw struggling with
good, and often overpowering it, that myste
rious element of evil, which the Catholic Chris
tian, enlightened by the Spirit, and overcome
D
34 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
by a sense of his own feebleness of intellect,
traces up to the Fall, and leaves there. To
solve the difficulty, he therefore betook himself
to the theory of DUALISM, that there exist a
good and an evil Principle, struggling with
each other. This was the faith of the Mani-
chees, but it seems far older than Manes, for
Ormuzd and Ahriman, the good and the evil
principle, have been adored and propitiated in
the eastern lands from a very early time. As
the Church extended eastward, we find that
she soon came into collision with this theory,
which, modified and altered by circumstances,
formed a fruitful source of heresy within her.
Of this nature was the error of Cerdon and
his followers, of whom St. Epiphanius 8 tells
us, that they said " there were two Gods, one
good and unknown by any, whom they called
the Father of Jesus, and one the Creator, who
was bad and known, who spoke in the Law and
appeared in the Prophets, and was often seen."
Of this nature seem also to have been the
heresies of Marcion, Valentinus, Marcus, and
Basilides. Against all these theories, which
now exist not formally, though a subtler
error infests the world, we may quote the
Hseres. vol. i. p. 300.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 35
words of Theodoret. " Both the Old and the
New Testament teach us, that there is one
Principle of all things, the God of all, the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, unbegotten,
indestructible, eternal, infinite, incomprehen
sible, interminate, uncompounded, without
body, invisible, simple, good, just, intelligent,
light, power commensurate only with the Divine
will." 'Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord,
and my servant whom I have chosen : that
ye may know and believe me, and understand
that I am He ; before me there was no God
formed, neither shall there be after me. I
even I am the Lord, and beside me there is
no Saviour*.' 'Thus saith the Lord, the King of
Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts ; I
am the first, and I am the last : and beside me
there is no GodV
It is difficult to find out the exact doctrine
of these ancient dualists. They were not always
consistent. Some seem to have held two ab
solute principles, one of good and one of evil,
independent of each other, and unproduced :
others seem to have maintained that the evil
principle was made by God, and so admitted the
unity of God. In either case, the difficulties
' Is. xliii. 10, 11. o Is. xliv. 6.
36 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
are greater than in the true belief; for the first
implies the contradiction that there may exist
two supreme Beings, which is absurd : and that
there is a supreme Being crowned with every
perfection, except good only. Besides, it in fact
destroys the idea of moral evil, which depends
upon freedom of the will. The second theory is
inconsistent, because the supposition that evil
is created by God, takes away from its being
a first principle, which the theory of dualism
requires, and in fact it only comes to be a
heretical way of stating a truth.
But the real difficulty of dualism is, that it
actually is inadequate to account for the origin
of evil, which has been the cause of its ex
istence. This applies both to the case of moral
and of physical evil. For physical evils are
not always absolutely evils, but only relatively ;
that is, what is evil to one is good to another.
Besides, evil may have the same immediate and
proximate cause which good may have. For
as the science of natural history teaches us,
that from the same law and the same cause,
phenomena apparently contradictory may be
exhibited; so the same causes may produce
either good or evil, pleasure or pain. The
same heat which contributes to vegetable and
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 37
animal life, produces many results which may
destroy or injure it.
In the case of moral evil, it must be remem
bered, that this originates from a nature intel
ligent, finite, and free. But a limitation of the
intelligence in every degree, and consequently
the possibility of deception on the part of the
free will, of necessity belongs to the creature.
Also the moral law and rule of practice is not
subjective but objective to the free and intelli
gent creature, wherefore it seu creatura may
come short in that law. And since these things
are so, it is evident that we cannot apply to any
principle in itself bad, to expound the origin of
moral evil. In fact, the question comes back
to this, (1) whether God could make a free and
intelligent creature or not, and (2} whether He
could or can permit any moral defect, or is
bound to prevent it: both which propositions
right reason affirms.
III. A further strange perversion of this Belief i
* ALons or
truth was found in another phase of the same Gnostic
ism.
oriental philosophy, which gave rise to du
alism. It was the belief in yons*. This
was taught by Valentinus and his school y , by
* See Epiph. Hseres. ii. p. 164. Aug. de Hseres. t. viii. p. 7.
i Milman, Hist. Christianity, p. 208.
38 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
Saturninus, Bardesanes, and Basilides. All
these teachers, though differing in details, may
be classed under the head of Gnostics. It is
true that they all maintained the existence of
the Primal Deity remaining aloof in His
Majesty, the unspeakable, ineffable, nameless,
and self-existent z . The Pleroma or fulness
of the Godhead extended itself in still out
spreading circles, and approached till it com
prehended the universe. From the Pleroma
emanated all spiritual being to be again re-
absorbed in it. But from the Primal Deity
proceeded seven beings, constituting the first
scale of intellectual beings, and inhabiting the
highest heaven, mind, reason, intelligence,
wisdom, power, justice, and peace. What we
call attributes, the Gnostics made deities.
Valentinus increased the number of ^Eons
to thirty, dwelling alone within the sacred and
invisible circle of the Pleroma ; they were all
in one sense manifestations of the Deity, all
purely intellectual. Buthos and Mixis, Age-
ratos and Henosis, Autophyes and Redone,
are samples of the male and female jEons of
this wild writer. Drawing from the imagin
ation as well as from the luxuriant supplies of
* Corresponding with Bram of the Orientals.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 39
oriental philosophy, the Gnostics varied very
much, and spread out into infinitely diversified
subdivisions ; and their poetic fancies revelled
in the creation of new systems, but all main
tained two dogmas common to all their vari
ations the incomprehensible nature of the
Supreme Being, and the malignity of matter
as opposed to spirit.
Now the Fathers of the Church had strongly The m
* narch
to insist upon the Unity of God. The aspect inGt>a
of Christianity from without seemed to give
colour to a suspicion, that its votaries believed
in a plurality of deities. When the heathen
heard the Christians insisting on the divinity of
Christ and of the Holy Ghost, it was natural
they should suppose that in their system the
Father was one God, and Christ another God,
and the Holy Spirit a third God. It was
therefore manifestly their duty to teach the
(jw-ovagp^/a) Monarchy; that is, the Single
Principle. It was their duty to shew, that
while in God there are three Persons, and
each of these three Persons by Himself is God
and Lord, so there is only one God, one Deity
embracing the three, one Deity, in which the
Father, the Fountain of the Godhead, begot
the Son, while from the Father and the Son
the Holy Spirit proceeds. To teach this more
40 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
clearly, they insisted very strongly on the other
description which God has given us of His
Son, viz. that He is His Word, His Reason,
and His Image, shewing thereby that the One
is inseparable from the Other, and that the One
cannot be thought of apart from the Other, or
as two identities and not one. And so with
regard to the Holy Spirit. Thus S t. Chrysostom
explaining the passage, as, " The Lord grant
that he may find mercy from the Lord in that
day," says, " Are there two Lords ? By no
means. To us there is one Lord Jesus Christ,
and one God. Those who are afflicted with
the disease of Marcion insult this saying. But
let them learn, that there is authority for this
in Scripture, and that frequently this form of
language is used; as where it is said, " The
Lord said unto my Lord ;" or again, " The
Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah
brimstone and fire from the Lord out of
heaven." Which passages shew, that the
Persons are of one substance, not that the
natures are different. For he says this, that
we must understand not two substances differ
ing from each other, but two persons each of
'Jit one and the same substance ."
to g the d Now to the doctrine of the unity of God,
nnity of
God. Chrys. Horn. iii. in 2 Tim.
Difficnl
ties w
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 41
various difficulties have been raised. Some
have inferred, from the use of the plural Elohim
in the first chapter of Genesis, that Monotheism
was an idea recently introduced, and taught to
root out Polytheism: that in Asia, and even
among the Hebrews, this misbelief was general :
that at best the latter worshipped a local God,
the God of Israel: that passages in the Bible,
like, "Letus make man;" and, "has become like
one of us," suggest the idea of Polytheism: that
our Lord uses the expression, "I said, ye are
Gods," and likens Himself to such Gods: and
lastly, that the Apostle speaks of Gods many
and Lords many*.
Now to obviate these difficulties, one must say,
in the first place, that Moses has elsewhere deter
mined the use of the word Elohim b , as applied
to the one God : that it is a mistake to say Poly
theism existed before Monotheism, because
Genesis being confessedly the oldest record we
have, we there read of the worship of the One
God, the Creator of heaven and earth, to whom
Cain, Abel, and Noah, offered sacrifice. So
also in Egypt, in the case of Pharaoh ; in
Canaan, in the cases of Abimelech, king of
Gerar, and Melchisedek, king of Salem, we
1 Cor. viii. 3. b Deut. xxxii. 17. c Gen. xii.
42 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
find a Monotheism afterwards supplanted by
Polytheism. Then as to the use of the plural,
as, "Let us make man," this expression was even
by the Cabbalists confined and applied to the
different persons in the Deity: nor can they be
understood otherwise; for Moses, the teacher
of a Monotheistic faith, would not have used
ambiguous phrases. Our Lord's was only an
argumentum ad hominem, shewing from the use
of the word in the Old Testament, that to apply
the word God to Himself, did not necessarily
imply blasphemy, when that term was given to
judges and great men. Lastly, St. Paul is
merely using popular language, which would be
understood by people living where heathenism
was the religion of the empire.
We have arrived' then at the definition of God,
as a Being than whom nothing can be or be
thought of better; and we have seen, that from
His very nature He must be one. It remains
for us, before considering the next clause in the
Creed, to dwell in reverence upon some of His
attributes.
Attri- The attributes of God are severally divided
butes of
God - by theologians either into absolute and relative,
the first belonging to the Divine Nature, the
second to the Divine Persons; or into negative
AND TBINITT OF PERSONS. 43
and affirmative. The first being those which,
though actually positive, are expressed by
words formed by a negative, as immensity, (the
not being measurable,) immutability, (the not
being liable to change,) &c. the latter being
those which are expressed by affirmative words,
such as goodness, justice, &c. To dwell upon
all these attributes, is rather the duty of the saint
in his chamber ; it is more profitable for us to
consider some of those concerning which doubts
have been suggested, or controversy arisen.
The first attribute which we must consider The sim
ple and
is what is termed in Latin, Simplicitas Dei; thencom-
potmded
fact that He is of a simple and uncompounded t| of
essence. This truth was anciently impugned
by the Anthropomorphites, and all idolaters, and
is now denied by the new sect of the Mormon-
ites, and by the Pantheists, who hold that God
is the universe which we see. These opinions
are all contrary to the words of Christ Him
self, who tells us, that "God is a Spirit, and
they that worship Him must worship Him in
spirit and in truth d ." Also to the words of the
Apostle, "The Lord is that Spirit 6 :" to which
may be added all those many texts which
attribute to God properties incompatible with
d John iv. 24 e 3 Cor. iii. 17.
44 UNITY OF THE DIVJNE ESSENCE,
physical composition; such as infinity, im
mensity, eternity. But not only do these
attributes attest the truth of this doctrine,
His very nature does so also : for naturally
"God is what He has;" and being a Being than
which nothing better can be conceived, He is
evidently not subject to composition, which
implies imperfection; and, lastly, the fact that
He is self-subsistent, and draws His being
from Himself, implies the same truth.
nitema- Were it not for the existence of Mormonism,
k 1 ' it would be hardly necessary to treat this
matter at all. The following extract from the
Latter Day Saints' Catechism, or Child's Ladder,
by Elder David Moffat, explains their ideas.
"28. What is God? He is a material, intelli
gent Personage, possessing both body and parts.
29. Could He be a Being without body or
parts? No, verily, no. 30. What form is He of?
He is in the form of man, or rather man is in
the form of God? Where do you find these
proofs ? In the Old and New Testament.
Can you prove then that man is in the form
of God? Yes: Gen. v. 1. 'In the likeness of
God created He him.' Can you mention the
parts of His Body from Scripture? Exod.
xxxiii. 22, 23. Exod. xxiv. 10. As the God
AND TRINITY OP PEKSONS. 45
of Heaven possesses parts, doth He also possess
powers ? Yes, He eats, He drinks, He loves,
He hates. Gen. xviii. 5. Mai. i. 2. Amos vi.
8. Can this Being, God, occupy two places at
once ? No. Can He move from planet to planet
with facility and ease? Yes. Gen. xi. 5." Now
with regard to these texts, we must remember, in
the first place, that the likeness to God in which
man was created was a likeness in the soul ; for
as God exists in a Trinity of Persons, so the soul
exists in a trinity of powers, memory, will, and
understanding. And then it must be recollected,
that the human parts and passions attributed to
God in the Bible are to be taken metaphori
cally and not literally, otherwise they would
contradict other texts; such as, "Do I not fill
heaven and earth f ?" or, " The Spirit of God hath
filled the world 8 ." Nay more, they would con
tradict the existence of those attributes which
are inseparable from the notion of God, im
mensity, infinity, &c. which notions moreover
seem to explain to us in what sense the word
Spirit (in itself doubtful) must be used with
reference to the Supreme.
Pantheism, the essence of which consists in panthe-
. . . istic ma-
admittmg but one substance, arose irom a mis-teriai-
isrn.
f Jerem. xxiii. 24. & Wisd. i. 7.
46 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
understanding of the dogma of creation that
God made all this universe out of nothing. It
prevailed extensively in the schools of the
Greek philosophy, and is the cardinal point of
the Vedanta and other Indian metaphysics.
Deeply infecting human nature, it lurked for
many ages unnoticed, till the great Jew of
Amsterdam, Spinoza, restored it to the rank
of philosophical methods, and now it prevails
extensively in Germany, and in one phase forms
the basis of all those theories of the perfec
tibility and progress of man which have affected
the politics of France. In fact, it is the natural
solution of the Question of Being, at which the
reason of man, unenlightened by any revelation,
arrives.
Now the fundamental error of this system is,
that it identifies the finite with the infinite,
classes limited with absolute intelligence, makes
God the same as the world, and, as we said
before, believes in the existence of one sub
stance. This theory has been divided into
rationalistic, spiritualistic, historical and mystic
Pantheism; or, by another division, into ema-
natistic, idealistic, and realistic.
Rationalistic Pantheism, the theory of Fichte
and Schelling, proceeds from rational principles
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 47
a priori, and transfers itself by immediate and
concrete intellectual intuition into the real
absolute Esse of all beings, whether nature or
spirit, ego or non-ego, subject or object, pure
thought or pure being. On this is founded
the theory of identity, nature being supposed
to be the foundation of the existence of God,
and that that in God is consubstantial with
Spirit, although it be different from it in the
form and external manifestation.
Spiritualistic Pantheism, introduced by Hegel,
has still many followers. He sought in God
Spirit only, and looked upon God as a Being
which is evolved, and which in the different steps
of its evolution constitutes diverse and successive
orders of existences or beings. Logically, God
is first thought of in Himself, in the eternity
of His fundamental essence ; but since He
cannot continue in that state, it is necessary
that He should evolve Himself out of Himself
in the external multiplicity of the things of
nature. He is the philosophy of nature.
But then He cannot continue in this state of
exteriority and transition ; by the necessity of
His being, He must recover Himself from the
multiplicity into the unity of His essence, and
Spirit be produced. Hence arises the philo-
48 UNITY OK THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
sophy of spirit. In the end, the absolute Being
acquires knowledge or consciousness of Himself,
and becomes an infinite Personality. From
this triple state arises the logical continual
Trinity of Hegel, a system which implies that
God would be incomplete without man and the
world.
Historical Pantheism springs necessarily from
the above. For if God, in the continual evolu
tion of Himself, of necessity manifests Himself
in the world and in humanity, it follows, that
all things which happen not only in the world
but in man, are so many necessary evolutions
of God, whether truth or errors, virtues or
vices. Hence every epoch and doctrine is
evolved by a necessary law, and hence the
theories of indefinite progress and the infinite
perfectibility of man.
Mystic Pantheism is that by which the
mind, as by a vague sentiment, immediately
apprehends that its life is consubstantial with
God, who, as infinite love, manifests Himself in
Spirit and in nature. This is the opinion of
the Saintsimonians.
It will easily be seen, that all these systems
are not only contrary to that truth which we
have been considering, the simple and uncom-
AND TRINITY OF PEESONS. 49
pounded nature of God, but also are hostile to
the very essence of the Christian faith, inas
much as they all destroy the very nature of
God, by identifying it with man and the uni
verse ; they require a priori an evolution of
God into man and the universe, which cannot
be proved: and lastly, they imply that Chris
tianity itself is only a passing manifestation of
God, to give place to a further and better one.
As the whole system of Pantheism rests in
the thought of unity of substance, by the
confusion of the idea of absolute substance
with that of relative, finite, and contingent
substance, which might be, and actually is,
produced out of nothing, it follows, that to
overthrow Pantheism, in whatever shape it
appear, it is sufficient to prove the double
existence of substance.
Now they who establish an absolute infinite
substance, whether real or ideal, do so from
arguments a priori ; but we neither know nor
can know the existence of any substance except
a posteriori, that is, from experience, either
mediately or immediately; but the same ex
perience tells us, that there must be granted
existences, finite, circumscribed, mutable, ac
tive, and passive, in one word, contingent,
E
50 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
which, since they can give no account of their
being in themselves, lead us to admit an
absolute necessary infinite free substance ; in
other words, God, a divine substance, mani
festly differing from contingent ones. And if,
as the Pantheists do, we join the finite with
the infinite substance, the necessary with the
contingent, we at once get into many difficulties.
We have a nature at once necessary and con
tingent : at once finite and infinite : at once
simple and compounded : at once capable and
incapable of change. We also have to infer,
that an absolute and infinite substance must of
necessity exclude the existence of any finite
existence distinct from itself; that an infinite
substance is a necessary but not free cause,
since it cannot create any thing out of nothing
outside of itself: and that all things, bad,
good, and indifferent, are nothing else, and can
be nothing else, but modifications of the one
infinite absolute substance, making itself ob
jective in the creation of things.
of the The attributes which we next have to con-
freedom
and nn- s i(j er are those which, to our finite understand-
cliange-
onsod 88 m g s > are ver y difficult to be reconciled, the
absolute freedom of God and His unchange-
ableness. Hermogenes is said to have held,
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 51
that God was so unchangeable as to exclude
the idea of freedom : on the other hand, the
Stoics denied the immutability of God, be
lieving Him to be obnoxious to change. Some
have maintained that God is immutable in His
substance, but mutable in His decrees and in
the acts of His will. The Church of God
maintains both truths, that God is absolutely
immutable, and also absolutely free, leaving
the reconcilement of these two apparently con-
trariant propositions to a solution in a higher
state of intelligence. By the idea of the
liberty of God, we understand strictly the
power of choice, and the consequent absence of
any extrinsic or intrinsic necessity or coaction;
so that God can will or not will, act or not act,
as He chooses: yet this liberty involves not
such imperfection as is found in creatures,
such as suspense or deliberation. The idea of
the liberty of God is in the order of our minds
an anterior idea to that of immutability, in
meditating upon His nature and attributes.
This truth is clearly announced in Scripture h :
" Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He
in heaven, and in earth, and in the sea, and in
all deep places." And so St. Paul': "Him
h Ps. cxxxviii. 6. ' Eph. i. 10.
52 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
who worketh all things after the counsel of
His own will."
By the idea of the immutability of God, we
imply nothing else than the negation of a
change from condition to condition, or of one
state of being to another, either in respect of
Himself, or of time, or of any extrinsic cir
cumstance. This also is a matter of Faith.
We have the Nicene Anathema. " And those
that say there was a time when the Son of
God was not, or that He is subject to change
or mutability, the Holy Catholic and Apostolic
Church holdeth accursed." And if this be true
of God the Son, a fortiori it is of God the
Father, and God the Holy Ghost. And this
also is affirmed by Holy Scripture k . " God is
not a man, that He should lie, neither the Son
of man, that He should repent: hath He said,
and shall He not do it ? or hath He spoken,
and shall He not make it good ?" " For I
am the Lord, I change not 1 ." " The Father of
lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning."
or the The three attributes of infinity, incompre-
infinity, * j
incom- hensibility, and eternity, may be fitly joined
'^'gfeV. together, inasmuch as they are held to flow
God. K Numb, xxiii. 19. ' MaT. iii. 6.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 53
from the principle which the Schoolmen term
aseitas, that is, that God is (a se) from Him
self. By infinity, we mean supreme and ab
solute perfection ; supreme, in so far as He
contains all perfection ; absolute, so far as He
exceeds it. God being from Himself and His
own essence, it follows, that He has in Himself
the fulness of being, to which nothing can be
added to make Him perfect. Were He not
so, He must have some limit either from Him
self or from some other source, neither of which
suppositions is reasonable. Nay, the very
definition of God as a Being, than which
nothing better or greater can be supposed,
implies this attribute. " Great is the Lord
and marvellous, worthy to be praised: there is
no end of His greatness 1 "."
And so with regard to the other attributes,
which are of faith. " The Father incompre
hensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the
Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Father
eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost
eternal. And yet there are not three eternals,
but one eternal. As also there are not three
incomprehensibles, but one incomprehensible n ."
Now as infinity implies a negation of any
m Ps. cxlv. 8. n Athan. Creed.
54 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
limit in essential perfection, so incomprehen
sibility implies the negation of any limit in
substantial presentiality or presence, (as the
Schools say,) so far as affects the mode of the
Divine existence in itself, as well as all things
real and possible. But incomprehensibility must
not be confused with ubiquity, for the first is
essential to God, the latter is contingent on
the existence of place, in other words, on
creation. Now with regard to this doctrine,
we must believe that God is in all things by
His power, in so far as all things are subject to
Him. He is in all things by His presence, in
so far as all things are naked and exposed to
His sight. He is in all things by His Being,
in so far as He is present in all things as the
cause of their being. " Do I not fill heaven
and earth ? saith the Lord ." " Whither shall
I go then from thy Spirit, and whither shall I go
then from Thy presence ? If I climb up into
heaven, Thou art there : if I go down into hell,
Thou art there also p ." " In Him we live, move,
and have our being q ." The idea of eternity in
the order of thought follows that of unchange-
ableness ; as the thought of time is consequent
upon that of motion. In the idea of the
Jerem.'xxiii. 24. P Ps. cxxxix. 6, 7. q Acts xvii. 28.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 55
eternity of God, no thought of time enters ; for
those passages in which He is described as
" the Ancient of days," or as " He who was,
and is, and is to come," are accommodations to
our finite understandings, which cannot conceive
of Him otherwise. " Before the mountains
were brought forth, or ever the earth and the
world were made, Thou art God from ever
lasting, and world without end 1 ." "Who alone
hath immortality 5 ."
There are two vital acts of the Divine Sub- The
stance, to know and to will. As the idea of ledge of
3 , God.
God, that He is supremely intelligent and all
mind, is deeply seated in human nature, there
are few who would doubt or deny the know
ledge of God. By this we mean a certain
evident and immediate cognition, and this
Holy Scripture declares to be in God. " For
God is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions
are weighed 1 :" and the Apostle says, " O the
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God"!" And reason shews us,
that not only must this exist in Him in the
r Psalm xc. 2.
1 Tim. vi. 10. See quotations from the Fathers, in
Petavius de Deo lib. iii. c. 4.
* 1 Sam. ii. 3. u Rom. xi. 33.
56 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
highest degree, but that it must partake of
His own attributes of uncompoundedness, im
mutability, and infinity, inasmuch as "for God
to know and to be are one"." But beyond the
mere fact of the existence of this attribute of
knowledge, it is a truth that this knowledge of
God is a cause of things, and by its nature effica
cious ; for it is written, " O Lord, how manifold
are Thy works, in wisdom hast Thou made
them all:" and, " He hath made the earth by
His power, He hath established the earth by
His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens
by His discretion y." On this St. Augustine
says', "All His creatures, both spiritual and
corporeal, not because they are, knoweth He,
but for that He knoweth them, they are : for
He was not ignorant of what He was about to
create, nor did He know His creatures when
made, otherwise than before making them." In
short, as the knowledge of the artificer is the
cause of his handywork, so the knowledge of
God is the efficacious cause of all things.
The object of the divine knowledge is
what God knows. God knows Himself, and
all things out of Himself. The one is the
primary, the other is the secondary, object.
x S. Aug. Trin. 15. c. 13. y Jer. x. 12. z loc. cit.
AND TBINITY OF PERSONS. 57
The secondary object, embracing all things
that are distinct, from the nature of God,
includes some things merely possible, others
present and future: and of things future, some
are necessary, some are free: and of these
again, some absolute, and others conditional.
Nor is this unreasonable, for to God there is
in fact no past nor future, but all things are to
Him ever present by His infinite power, whereby
all things are, as it were, extended before Him.
Every prophecy botn in the Old and New Tes
tament is proof of this ; and " the eyes of the
Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the
sun, beholding all the ways of men, and con
sidering the most secret parts. He knew all
things ere ever they were created, so also after
they were perfected He looked upon them all*."
" What is foreknowledge," asks St. Augustine,
"but the knowledge of the future ? What can
be future to God, who is above all time ? For if
the knowledge of God is of very things, they
are not future to Him but present, and therefore
it must be called ' knowledge,' not c foreknow
ledge 6 .' " To our frail minds this difficulty at
once occurs ; How can the foreknowledge of
God be reconciled with the freedom of man ?
* Ecclus. xxiii. 19. b Lib. ii. ad Simp. q. ii.
58 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
1. What is foreseen must necessarily happen.
2. If human liberty be the power of choosing
between two or more, and indifference as to
either, certainly before man chooses, his elec
tion cannot be known to God. We must there
fore either deny the prescience of God, or the
liberty of man.
To this it may be answered: that just as the
memory of past things has not compelled those
past things to have been, so the prescience of God
does not compel the future to be. Futurity is
not because God has foreseen it, but God has
foreseen it because it is to be c . And to carry
out this truth to its full extent, we must
believe that God also knows what may be
termed conditional futurity; that is, the things
of which the events depend upon some con
dition annexed to them, thus occupying a mid
dle place between things merely possible, and
absolutely future. They would be absolutely
future were the condition fulfilled. Thus,
granting that if our Lord had preached to the
people of Tyre and Sidon, they would have
been converted; their conversion was neither
merely probable nor absolutely future, but
would have taken place if Christ had preached
" c See St. Aug. cont. Faust. Man. c, 5.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 59
among them, which seeing He did not, neither
were they converted. Of this truth both reason
and feeling convince us, as may be seen by the
common topics of consolation, when adversity
or bereavement fall upon the Christian.
Will may be defined as the power of seeking
the good and avoiding the evil, recognised by
the mind. Since the will of God is identical
with His essence, it follows that that will must
be one perfect and infinite. Theologians divide
the will of God into two kinds, in so far as it
tends to different things. These are the will
of His good pleasure, (voluntas beneplaciti,) and
the will of His signs, (voluntas signi.) The
will of good pleasure is that will, properly
so called, which really is in God ; the will of
His signs is called so in a metaphorical sense,
seeing that properly it is only the sign of His
will, just as we call an instrument, digested by
a notary, the will of the testator. For the
sign to be true, it must express or signify that
will of Him who manifests it, otherwise it were
fallacious. Though there are many signs where
by God indicates His will to us, there are five
principal ones, i. e. precept, counsel, and ope
ration, in respect of good : prohibition, and per
mission, in respect of evil.
60 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
The will of good pleasure is divided into
two kinds; antecedent or first will, consequent
or second will. Antecedent will is that which
God has from Himself, without reference to any
cause connected with His creatures. Such is
His will to save the reprobate. His consequent
will is that which He has not from Himself,
but which is caused and occasioned by His
creatures, and it presupposes prescience, not
as a cause of the will, but as a reason for the
thing being willed (voliti). Such is His will of
condemning the reprobate, having foreseen their
final impenitence. This will of good pleasure
is moreover divided into efficacious and ineffi
cacious; efficacious, according to the words,
"For who hathresisted His will d :" inefficacious,
inasmuch as in some cases God wills something,
yet He does not hold Himself to overcome
every obstacle; as, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . .
how often would I have gathered thy children
together . and ye would not 6 !" And so we
may distinguish an absolute from a conditional
will of God.
The question concerning the will of God
which most concerns us is, His will with regard
to the destinies of mankind. The Jansenists
d Rom. ix. 19. Matt, xxxiii. 37.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 61
maintained, that God's will of good pleasure
is always fulfilled, and therefore concluded that
it was not by that will, but by a metaphorical
will, that He desires the salvation of all men.
Though they admitted the distinction of ante
cedent and consequent will, yet they main
tained that God had the will of saving all men
previous to the prevision of original guilt: that
consequent upon that prevision God only willed
to save the elect and predestinated : whence
it follows, that Christ died only for the elect ;
while for the salvation of the rest, God had
only a metaphorical will, and in this latter will
only Christ died for the reprobate.
Now the Church maintains, on the contrary,
that God, supposing the existence of original
sin, desires by the real and antecedent will of
His good pleasure the salvation of all men, and
that Christ died for all men. Thus the Apostle;
" I exhort therefore, that, first of all, sup
plications, prayers, intercessions, and eucharists,
be made for all men ; .... for this is good and
acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
who will have all men to be saved, and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is
one God, and one Mediator between God and
men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a
62 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
ransom for all, to be testified in due time f ."
Now this text seems quite sufficient to prove
our point, if we take St. Augustine's rule, that
the words of Scripture are to be taken in their
proper sense, and in all their extent, unless
other words of Scripture, or some evident reason
or tradition, should demand otherwise. But
this text is confirmed and strengthened by other
passages of Holy Scripture ; ' such as, " The
Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as
some men count slackness ; but is long suffering
to usward, not willing thatany should perish, but
that all should come to repentance 6 ." On which
text St. Augustine says h , " God wills that all
men should be saved, and come to the know
ledge of the truth, but not so as to take away
the free will, using which well or ill, they shall
be most justly judged." And St. Prosper, inter
preting the mind of Augustine, says, " Putting
aside the discretion which the Divine knowledge
contains within the secret place of His justice,
we must most sincerely believe and confess that
God wills that all men should be saved. For
verily the Apostle, whose opinion this is,
earnestly enjoins that which is most piously
f I Tim. ii. 1, 3. * 2 Pet. iii. 9. > De Spiritu
etLit.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 6$
preserved in all the Churches, that prayer
should be offered to God for all men. Con
sequently that many are lost, is the reward of
them that are lost : that many are saved, is the
free gift of Him who saveth them." The Council
of Quiercy, or Chiersy, A. D. 848, held under
the influence of Hincmar, against Gotheschal-
cus, affirms as its third Canon, that God wills
that all men should be saved ! .
As to the other part of the proposition, that
Christ died for all men, we may quote the
words of the Apostle : " Therefore as by the
offence of one, judgment came upon all men to
condemnation, even so by the righteousness of
one the free gift came upon all men unto justi
fication of life k :" and, " He is the propitiation
for our sins, and not for our sins only, but for
those of the whole world 1 ." As none was free
from guilt, so He came to save all. The Sun
of righteousness has risen on all, He came to
all, He suffered for all. He that believe th
not on Christ, defrauds himself of the general
good ; j ust as if a man were to shut out the
rays of the sun with shutters, yet the sun has
not the less risen upon all, because he excludes
! See Carranza Cone. p. 818. k Eom. v. 18. > 1 John
ii. 2.
64 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
the light. Thus has Christ died for all, but
all shall not receive benefit from His death :
they only to whom the merit of His Passion
is communicated.
This accounts for the apparent limitation of
these general promises in Scripture. Thus our
Lord says, that " He came to give His life a
ransom for many*" And, " this is the Cup of the
New Testament, which is shed for you and for
many ." Our Lord here alludes to what He
foresaw would be the result of His death for
all men, that only some would be saved. Christ
the Lord came to redeem the whole human
race, which was covered with guilt original and
actual, and so offered Himself a victim for the
sins of the whole world, and merited all the
necessary graces, cooperating with which man
can obtain everlasting life. Some obey this
grace, others resist it. They who obey are
saved, they who resist perish everlastingly. If
then we speak of Christ's intention and desire,
we say, He died for all men ; if we speak with
regard to the end, we say, for many.
dJnceof Connected with the knowledge and will of
Godt God is the thought of His Providence and
m l-Cor. viii. 11. Matt. xx. 28. Matt. xxvi. 28.
comp. Luke xxii. 20.
AND TEIN1TT OF PERSONS. 65
Predestination. Providence has been defined
as, " Ratio ordinis rerum in finem in Deo
existens." It includes two things, the ordina
tion of things to their end, and the execution
of that ordination by fitting means. The one
regards the intellect, the other the will. The
Bible is full of allusions to the providence of
God. Perhaps the strongest passages are
those in the Sermon on the Mount p , in which
our Lord distinctly says, that the birds of the
air, the lilies of the field, the grass, and the
hairs of our head, are so much the subjects of
the providence of God, that not one of them
alters its condition without His permission.
Hence even the most trifling circumstance in
human affairs is ordained or permitted by God.
Nor is this unreasonable ; for if God, being
possessed of infinite wisdom, does nothing by
chance, it is necessary that His providence should
extend as far as His actions, and both reach to
the most minute things. But yet God does not
always provide for things immediately, but acts
much by second causes and byway of means;
not from the deficiency of power, but from the
abundance of His goodness, as a holy man
says. And whichever way He may work,
P Matt. vi. 26. Luke xii.
66 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
either mediately or immediately, He ever ob
tains the general end, that is, His glory ; but
not always particular ends, for He does not
intend all things absolutely, but in some cases
conditionally.
And all this we must bear strongly in mind,
for there are very mysterious providences. The
success of the wicked was almost enough to
shake the faith of the Psalmist ; and the
question ever rises in the heart of man,
" Wherefore do the wicked live, become old,
yea, are mighty in power''?" Yet the very
unequal distribution of the goods of this life
helps to solve the question, inasmuch as it
forms a clear evidence, that there must be a
future state, and we should not in our calcu
lations look on this world without also taking
into consideration the next also. Hence the
sorrows, contumelies, and pains which vex the
just, are sent to them, either " to try their
patience for the example of others, or that
their faith may be found in the day of the
Lord, laudable, glorious, and honourable, to
the increase of glory, and endless felicity, or else
to correct and amend whatsoever in them may
offend the eyes of their Heavenly Father."
q Job xxi. 7.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 67
And as to the prosperity of the wicked, as
God rewards every good action, may not their
prosperity be the reward of the few good
actions they have performed ? And may not
God by His mercies be yet calling them to
Him before He abandons them for ever ?
Predestination is defined by St. Augustine orpre-
destiiia-
to be nothing else than " the prescience and tion -
preparation of the blessings of God, whereby
they are most certainly set free, who are set
free r ;" and St. Thomas * defines it as *' a certain
rule of ordination of certain persons to eternal
life, existing in the Divine mind." Thus, pre
destination embraces two things; an act of the
intellect, and an act of the will of God ; the
first is the prescience and providence, the
second is the work of mercy. Predestination
has been divided by theologians into adequate
and inadequate. Adequate predestination is a
free election to grace and glory, inadequate
predestination is an election to glory only.
The first of these predestinations must be
regarded, both as to intention and as to exe
cution, that is, in the ratio of principle and
of term. So far as regards the execution or
term of predestination, or, as the Schoolmen
r De Dono Perse v. c. 14. p. 1. q. 23. ar. 2,
68 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
say, in the concrete, two things are required,
the grace of God, and the cooperation of man ;
for eternal life, which is the term of pre
destination, is the reward and crown of righ
teousness, which is given only to those who
strive lawfully. As regards predestination as
to intention, or in the abstract, sound theolo
gians are divided. One class hold, that pre
destination is gratuitous in se, that is, that
God by a gratuitous decree, before foreseeing
any cooperation with grace, has elected certain
from the universal mass of perdition, into
which mankind have fallen by original sin ;
the others being left in this aforesaid mass of
perdition, and therefore negatively reprobated.
Then when this election is made, God has
decreed to give those graces, whereby the elect
or predestinate most certainly arrive at the
glory prepared for them. The other class of
theologians hold a predestination gratuitous
in causa, that is, they hold that God has first
elected men to grace, and then, from the foreseen
good or bad use of that grace, has decreed
some to glory and others to shame; or, in other
words, that predestination to glory is made
after the foreseen rewards of grace.
For the first view are quoted the texts,
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 69
" And as many as were ordained to eternal
life, believed 1 ." " According as He hath
chosen us in Him, before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love, having predes
tinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good
pleasure of His will"." Also the argument'
about Jacob and Esau; a similar case to which,
St. Augustine puts, in the matter of two
infants, of whom one is baptized, and the other
cannot attain to baptism.
For the latter view are quoted those texts,
which give no other account of the election of
some to glory, than a cooperation with grace.
As, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world : for I was an hungred, and ye
gave Me to eat"," &c. &c. Also the text,
" For whom He did foreknow, He did also
predestinate to be conformed to the image of
His Son y ." "Wherefore the rather, brethren,
give diligence to make your calling and elec
tion sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall
never fall z ."
4 Acts xiii. 48. u Eph. iv. 5. Rom. ix. 11.
* Matt. xxv. 34 et seq. r Rom. ix. 29. * 2 Pet. i. 10.
TO UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
Both these opinions are permissible, if we
admit a certain and immutable predestination
of God : we incline to the latter ; but be it ever
recollected, that this is a profound and im
penetrable mystery to our weakness. We
cannot search it out. Many of the dis
putes that have rent the vesture of Christ have
been on this subject. Well says St. Augus
tine 1 ", Jam si ad illam profunditatem scrutan-
dam quisquam nos coarctet, cur ille ita sua-
deatur ut persuadeatur, illi autem non ita ; duo
solum occuiTunt interim quae respondere mihi
placeat, 'O Altitudo divitiarum' et 'nunquid
iniquitas est apud Deum.' Cui ista responsio
displicet, quae rat doc ti ores, sed caveat ne inve-
niat praesumptiores.
To the doctrine of Predestination, there are
certainly many difficulties, and as held by
Calvinists it tends directly to lower Christianity.
Men may say, 1 . that it makes God a respecter of
persons, to elect some and reject others, in
dependently of their merit or demerit ; and men
may argue, (as many do argue,) 2. ' I am either
predestinated or not predestinated : if I am
predestinated, whatever I do I shall be saved :
if I am not predestinated, whatever Idol shall
Cf. Suarez de Effect. Predest. b De Sj>. et Lit. c. 34.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 71
be lost.' Thus the result is either presumption
or despair, and the whole inducements to
penitence and virtue are weakened. In answer
to (1) the first objection, it must be said, This
would be true, if God owed any thing to any
one ; but He does not. Moreover, inasmuch as
God confers grace on all men, lightening every
man that cometh into the world, on the theory
above mentioned, that predestination to glory
is after the cooperation with grace is foreseen,
it follows, that the sinner must ascribe his re
probation to his own abuse of the grace given.
As regards (2) the second objection on this theory,
it may be answ r ered, You shall be predestin
ated if you continue unto the end ; otherwise,
you shall be lost. So one may say to a sick
man, You shall be cured if you take medicine ;
if you refuse, you die. Since God wills the
salvation of all men, it is man's fault if he be
lost.
The final cause of Predestination is the glory
of God ; the efficient cause is the determination
of God to give grace and glory ; the meritorious
cause is the death of Christ ; the instrumental
cause, the cooperation with the grace given on
the part of the predestinate.
The effects of Predestination are vocation,
72 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
justification, and glorification. "For whom
He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to
be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them
He also called ; and whom He called, them He
also justified; and whom He justified, them
He also glorified (e8oao-e) c ." This glorification
may be taken in two senses ; either for the
blessedness in the world to come, or for the
collation of those gifts which make men
glorious. Among the effects of the divine
predestination are the gifts of genius, dis
position, &c. and all the sorrows of our pil
grimage here on earth, the chastisements of
God's fatherly hand.
or Re- The logical consequence of predestination
ti011 - unto life eternal, is a predestination to death,
or what divines call Reprobation ; and in a
certain sense it may be admitted, so far as it
implies the permission of sin, the refusal of
grace, and the decree of condemnation, and so
far as sin is the immediate cause of reproba
tion. But we must not hold with the Cal-
vinists, that God of His own good pleasure,
and before foreseeing their sins, has positively
c Rom. viii. 29, 30.
AND TRINITY OF PEESONS. 73
reprobated some men, that is, has destined
them from all eternity to everlasting punish
ment. The consequence of which theory is,
that God not only denies them grace, but
impels them to sin. Neither must we hold
with the same heretics, that the cause of this
reprobation is God's good pleasure, or with
Jansenius, that it is original sin ; which two
phases of belief are represented by the words,
Supralapsarian and Sublapsarian.
We hold, on the contrary, that it is impious
to assert, that God of His own good pleasure
has positively reprobated certain persons, and
destined them to everlasting punishment, with
out any prevision of foregoing sin. " Have I
any pleasure at all that the wicked should
die? saith the Lord God, and not that He
should return from His ways, and live d ?" If
this be so, how can we think He should
destine any to everlasting fire without the
foresight of their sins ? " The Lord . . . not
willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance c ." And in Scrip
ture, we find no cause of damnation but sin.
"Go from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire . . .
for I was an hungred, and ye gave Me not f ."
a Ezek. xviii. 23. 2 Pet. xviii. 9. f Matt, xxiii. 41.
ment of
74 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
" God is good," says St. Augustine ; " God is
just : He can save some without any merit, for
He is good : He cannot damn any except for
ill-deservings, for He is just g ." God destines
none to sin, else He were the author of sin.
Man's will is free. St. Prosper h ; " No one is
therefore made by God, that he may perish :
because there is one cause for being made,
another for perishing. The cause of men's being
made is the bounty of the Creator ; the cause
of their being lost is the reward of (Adam's) sin."
It ought to be noted, with regard to the
theRo- strong passages in the Epistle to the Romans,
that the whole scope of the Epistle is to prove
the gratuitous or free calling of men to faith.
When all men, both Jews and Gentiles, were
under sin, and in need of the grace of God, of
His own free bounty, without any antecedent
merits, He called the Gentiles to the faith, and
justly reprobated the Jews on account of their
unbelief. To confirm this, the Apostle adduces
the case of Esau and Jacob, in which God, so
far as a temporal blessing was concerned, pre
ferred the latter to the former in a like case ;
and so with regard to Pharaoh and Nebuchad
nezzar,. the one He hardened, and the other
8 Lib. Hi. cont. Jul. c. xviii. h Resp. 3. Vincent.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 75
He had compassion on. So with regard to
two sinners, if God has mercy on the one, and
leaves the other in his sins, all we can say
is, that in one case God exercises His mercy,
in the other His justice. But in any case it
is evident, that sin, and sin only, is the cause
of reprobation.
There are other attributes of God, such as
truth, goodness, felicity, and beauty, but they
are so closely connected with the idea of Him,
that we may pass on from them to the con
sideration of His nature.
Now besides these attributes which we have Adum-
n i o brat i n
mentioned, we find in the Scripture certain ofthe .
Doctrine
other peculiar attributes and manifestations (as f ^? t
they would seem) of the Godhead, more ob
scure than the former. Such is what is called
the Spirit of God, a word, denoting creative
energy, or preserving power, or gifts from on
high. And such is the wisdom of God, and
such the name, the word, and glory of God.
And something there is connected with the
mention of these, which shews that they are not
merely attributes ; the passages in which they
occur are strangely worded, and, as it were,
prepare us for the fresh light thrown upon
them in the New Testament, There we find
76 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
these manifestations of the Divine Essence
invested with personality, and concentrated,
and fixed in two, the Word and the Spirit.
The Word comes as often to be called the Son
of God, and to appear to possess such strict
personal attributes, as to be able to assume our
nature without ceasing to be what He was
before ; and the Spirit is declared not only to
have been seen twice, but has His Personality
and Office accurately revealed 1 .
J he . In the One God then, the Faith reveals to
doctrine
Tririty. us tnat tnere is a Trinity of Persons. That
theological term, though not found in Holy
Scripture, has been adopted by the Church to
express this divine mystery. " The Trinity
is not an enumeration of diverse things, but a
combination of things equal and of the same
value ; the name making those one, who by
nature are one, and not allowing those to be
separated numerically, who are not divided
in reality k . It was used at the Synod of Alex
andria, A. D. 317, though some think that it had
a prior authority.
If the Christian faith concerning the Trinity
consist in admitting three Persons, really distinct
in a numerical unity of essence ; it follows, that
1 Newman's Arians. k Greg. Naz. Orat. 23. p. 431.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 77
these Persons must be coeternal, coequal, and
consubstantial with each other: that the One
must proceed from the Other, the Son from the
Father by eternal generation : the Holy Spirit
by way of procession from the Father and the
Son, as from one principle.
And being convinced that the Three Persons
are mysteriously united in one nature from all
eternity, the believer is able to give a consistent
account of the other truths of Christianity.
He can consistently with this belief assert,
that one Person of the ever-blessed Trinity took
upon Him our nature, and remained undivided
from God, retaining His nature as God, and
His distinct personality, while He took the
manhood into God. By saying this, he neither
divides the substance of God, by saying,
that part of Him became incarnate, instead of
saying that one Person of the Godhead took
upon Him our nature : nor (as the Sabellians
do) confounds the Persons by calling them only
three different manifestations of the same
Person. By believing in a Trinity of Persons,
he is relieved from the necessity of the blas
phemy of the discerptibility of God, and by
believing in a unity of nature, from the folly
of dividing the essence of the Infinite. And
^8 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
when he asserts, that one Person of the all-
glorious Trinity took upon Him our nature,
he does not thereby assert His unchangeable
divine nature to be subject to our passions, or
diminish aught from His eternal perfections,
but that He through His divine nature made
flesh to be divine, seeing that He did not
destroy His body, but took it up to heaven,
where it now ministers to the Christian's good
in divers ways. To believe Him to have taken
into God our nature, is easier than to believe
that He is the soul of the world, (as the Stoics
said ;) and to believe that there are distinct
Persons in the Godhead, than that He sepa
rated all creatures from His own essence, (as
the Pantheists assert:) to believe that He has
now a human body in heaven, to which He will
liken the bodies of the saints at last, according
to His mighty working, is an easier task, than
that our bodies and all matter in the universe
are an unreality 1 .
In the Old Testament we find this doctrine
only shadowed forth. It exists there, so that,
we who now read the Scripture by the light of
the Church's faith and of the New Testament
can see. it plainly, but it was in mercy held
1 Morris's Prize Essay, p. 368.
AND TfclNITY OF PERSONS. 79
back from the people just redeemed from
Egypt, lest accustomed to the Polytheism of
Heathendom, they should in their recognition
of the Three Persons fall into that error m .
The doctrine was gradually developed, and no
doubt, though we find small record of it in the
Sacred Scriptures, there did exist a higher
amount of belief in the supernatural verities of
revelation than we should have gathered from
the letter of the Law and the Prophets. This is
confirmed by the Pharisaic belief in a future
state, which, though no where mentioned in
what is usually termed Canonical Scripture, is
borne witness to by the Apocrypha, and adopted
and subscribed to by the great Apostle
St. Paul.
St. Greg. Nazianzen" says, " The Old Testa
ment proclaimed the Father openly, the Son
more obscurely. For it was not safe, while the
Father's Godhead was not yet confessed, that
the Son should be openly proclaimed, or that,
while that of the Son was not received, the
m See St. Basil, de Mose. Orat. 9. p. 54. oface T^V rptaSa
Kripinreii' Kcupfa. See also Tkeodoret, Therap. Serm. ii. t. 4.
p. 469. ti> AiywjiTipavTovs irXeiffTov, &c. See Jobiusin Biblioth.
Photii, cod. 122. p. 612. Comment, lib. vii. chap. 27- cit. Suio.
Orat. 31. p. 572.
80 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
burden of a belief in the divinity of the Holy
Spirit should be laid on."
Of all the texts in the Old Testament, which
shadow forth the adorable Trinity, that in
Genesis i. " Let us make man in our image," is
the strongest. S. Greg. Nyssen says, " Thou
hast learnt that (here) there are two Persons,
one who speaketh, the other addressed. For
why did He not say ' make,' (TTOOJO-OV,) and not 'let
us make man,' TOJ^O-W^SV ? That thou mayest
understand a Lordship, lest recognising the
Father thou shouldest be ignorant of the Son :
that thou shouldest know that the Father
made all things by the Son, and that the Son
created by the will of the Father, and that
thou shouldest praise the Father in the Son,
and the Son in the Holy Spirit. Thus thou
thyself art their common work, that thou
mightest be the worshipper of both, not
severing the worship, but acknowledging the
Unity of Godhead." Theodoret beautifully
connects this truth with an ordinance that was
to be ordained in later times. Commenting
on this passage, he says, " And therefore in this
place, since God made a reasoning creature,
which after many generations He would restore,
by instituting holy Baptism in the invoca-
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 81
tion of the Holy Trinity, when He was going
to create that nature which was to receive that
mystery, He enigmatically revealed the unity
of Substance and the diversity of Persons. For
where it is written, " God said," the com
munion of the Divine Nature is indicated ; but
when it is added, " Let us make," the number
of Persons is expressed. So where the word
" image" is used in the singular, the oneness
of Nature is evidenced; but where "our" is
added to it, the number of Persons is declared .
Of a similar nature to this text are the
following :
" God blessed Noah and his sons, and said
unto them .... Whoso sheddeth man's blood,
by man shall his blood be shed: for in the
image of God made He man p ."
" Go to, let us go down, and there confound
their language* 1 ."
" Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and
upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the
Lord out of heaven r ."
" By the word of the Lord were the heavens
made, and all the host of them by the Spirit of
His mouth 8 ."
Quaest. 19. in Geii. p. 18. P Gen. ix. 6.
1 Gen. xi. 7. r Gen. xix. 24. Ps. xxxiii. 6.
82 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
" Behold, the man is become as one of us '."
" The seraphim cried to one another, Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth ."
" The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on
my right handV
Lastly, the eighteenth chapter of Genesis is
by some understood to reveal the Trinity.
The English Church, by reading the Lesson on
Trinity Sunday, seems to point that way ; but
though the phraseology is striking, yet there are
difficulties in this interpretation which make it
that, while it may tend to edify the Christian,
it is hardly safe to use it as an argument against
unbelievers.
In the New Testament the doctrine is more
clearly stated. Much stress has always been
placed upon the form of Baptism, " Baptizing
them in the Name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The Fathers
of the second (Ecumenical Council at Con
stantinople write thus concerning the Nicene
Faith. " This ought to be satisfactory to you,
and to us, and to all who do not pervert
the word of the true faith, as being most
ancient, and conformable to baptism, and teach
ing us to believe in the Name of the Father,
1 Gen. iii. 22. u Is. vi. 3. * Ps. ex. 1.
AND TRINITY OF PEBSONS. 83
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
so that clearly there shall be believed one
Godhead, Power, and Substance, of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, equal
dignity, and coeternal kingdom, in three per
fect hypostases, (viroaToi<reis,) or in three perfect
persons (7rg<xra>7ra y ). The very structure of
the original Greek was supposed to meet the
opposite heresies of Arius and Sabellius.
Our Lord also, teaching the same doctrine,
says, " When the Comforter is come, whom I
will send from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He
shall bear witness of Me z ." Here three distinct
Persons are named, and their common nature is
inculcated, for that which emanates from God
must be God; a truth further confirmed by
the text a , " I came forth from the Father,"
Thus again b , " I will pray the Father, and He
will send you another Comforter." And so to
Philip % " He that hath seen Me hath seen the
Father. Believe ye not that I am in the
Father and the Father in Me? The words
which I speak unto you I speak not of Myself;
>" Theodoret. Hist. Eccl. Lib. v. cap. 9. in p. 10-31. Hala
1771. z John xv. 26. John xvi. 28.
b Johnxiv. 16. c Ver. 8.
84 UNIT7 OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
the Father abiding in Me, He doeth the
works."
From these passages we learn, 1. That one
action and efficiency is attributed to the Father
and the Son, and therefore one nature. 2. A
communication between the Father and the Son,
(commeatio), which could only subsist with
identity of nature. 3. The fact, that seeing
One implies the seeing the Other, shews that
their substances cannot be diverse ; all which,
added to that which our Lord says of the Holy
Ghost, tend to prove, that one and the same
nature and substance is to be predicated of the
three Persons.
Another comparative argument from Scrip
ture are the words, " Hearing ye shall hear, and
shall not understand ;" which in Isaiah vi. 9.
are applied to the Father ; in John xii. 40. to
the Son ; and in Acts xxviii. 26. to the Holy
Ghost 6 .
But the strongest text is that of 1 John v. 7.
" There are three that bear record in heaven,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost;
and these three are one ;" concerning which
* For further Scriptural arguments, the reader is referred
to Jones of Nayland's Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity,
c. iii.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 85
there has been so much controversy. Uni
tarians and others maintain, that it has been
foisted into the text from being a gloss in
the margin. It is wanting in nearly all Greek
manuscripts. It does not occur in the old
Italic version, neither is it alleged by St.
Augustine against the Arian Maximinus. On
the other hand, it is quoted by Tertullian and
St. Cyprian, It is quoted in the fifth century
by a Council of African Bishops against the
Arian Vandals. St. Jerome gives it, and
therefore must have found it in the manu
scripts of Palestine; and Erasmus, R. Stepha-
nus, and the Complutensians, and in later times
Mill, Burgess, and Bengel, believe in its
genuineness.
The voice of Catholic antiquity on the
subject of the Holy Trinity is harmonious.
Although, before heresies sprung up, individual
Fathers may have used incautious or incom
plete language, yet no one can help admiring
the admirable consent which runs through
their works. St. Greg. Nazianzen f says,
" Teaching us to acknowledge one unbegotten
God, that is, the Father ; and one begotten
Lord, that is, the Son ; and one Holy Spirit,
f Orat. 25. p. 44fi.
86 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
which went forth or proceeded from the
Father, God to those who intelligently appre
hend what is before them." Elsewhere 8 , " We
adore the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit ; one Godhead ; God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Ghost ; one nature
in three individualities, (i&joT>)<n,) intelligent,
perfect, separately personal, distinct in num
ber, but not in Deity V " The Christian
must believe in a Trinity, consubstantial, of
equal honour, and of equal power, (opoQgovov,)
combined in one Godhead. We believe in the
Trinity in Unity ; we glorify the Unity in Trinity ;
the Trinity, as regarding the Godhead in three
persons or hypostases ; the Unity, in that these
are of one nature and divinity, and one G od. For
we believe in one God, though He is known in
the Trinity, and we acknowledge one Lord,
though He appears (tieixvuroti) in three Persons."
St. Epiphanius says ! , " All the brethren
salute you; do you also salute all the brethren
that are with you, that is, all faithful believers
of the true faith, who are opposed to pride,
who hate the communion of the Arians and
the frowardness of the Sabellians, who adore
8 Orat. 25. p. 441. h Harmenopulus de Fide Orthod.
' Heer. 78. p. 1056. ed. Petav.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 87
the Consubstantial Trinity, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, three hypostases, in one substance,
in one Godhead, and in general in one ascription
of praise, (xa) a7raa7rAa>j /xav 8ooAoy/av) : who
believe also rightly concerning the salutary
dispensation and incarnate presence of the
Saviour, believing perfectly the Incarnation of
Christ, the same perfect God and perfect man,
without sin, who assumed a body from Mary,
with a soul and spirit, and all things that
belong to man, save only sin : not two, but
one Christ, one God, one King, one High-
Priest, God and man, man and God, not two
but one, united not for confusion, nor for
annihilation (avwTra^/av), but for the great dis
pensation of love.
In meditating upon the adorable Trinitv, circum-
* session.
while we assert the distinction of Persons, we
must not only hold the bare truth of the
unity of Substance, but we must also reverently
fix upon our minds the truth of the existence
of the circumsession or commeation of the
three Persons. This word, sometimes termed
circumincession, and by the Greeks peri-
enchoresis, or perichoresisJ, is that property
i The term perichoresis is applied by authors after St.
Gregory of Nazianzum to the communicatio idiomatum.
88 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
by which the divine Persons, by reason of the
identity of their natures, communicate with
each other. It is the internal existence of one
Person in the other, without confusion of
person or of personality. In this sense,
St. Fulgentius k says, " The whole Father is in
the Son and in the Holy Spirit: the whole
Son is in the Father and in the Holy Spirit :
the whole Holy Spirit is in the Father and the
Son." It is to this that our Lord alludes,
" I am in the Father and the Father in Me 1 ."
This property tends very much to teach us at
once the distinction, and the consubstantiality
of the Persons. " If any one truly receive the
Son, he will find that He brings with Him, on
the one hand, the Father, on the other, the
Holy Spirit. For neither can He be severed
from the Father, who is ever of and in the
Father: nor again disunited from His own
Spirit, who operates all things by means of It ;
. . . for we must not conceive separation or
division in any way ; as if either the Son
could be conceived of without the Father, or
the Spirit disunited from the Son. For there
is discovered between them some ineffable
k Lib. de Fid. c. i. n. 4. ' John xiv. 11. See
St. Thomas, p. 1 . q. 2. ar. 3.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 89
and incomprehensible both union and dis
tinction m ."
The two chief errors into which men have
fallen with regard to the Adorable Trinity are
Sabellianism and Tritheism.
The first of these confounds the Persons, and Sabei
amtt
denies the Trinity, by asserting that they are
only three names or characters of one person.
Before Sabellius lived, Praxeas had given utter
ance to a similar error. He held, that " God the
Father Almighty was Jesus Christ ; that He
died and suffered, and sitteth at His own right
hand." This was anciently called vloTrctTogioc.
Hermogenes and Noetus followed in the same
steps. Of the opinions of Sabellius himself,
Theodore t remarks", " He said that the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, were one
hypostasis, and one person with a triple name.
And he called the Same, sometimes the Father,
sometimes the Son, and sometimes the Holy
Ghost; that He legislated in the Old Testa
ment as Father, was incarnate in the New as
Son, and came to the Apostles as the Holy
Ghost." St. Basil the Great had the acuteness
to observe a connexion, which may still be
traced among those of Sabellian tendency in
m S. Basil, cit. Newman. n Hseret. Fab. lib. ii. c. 9.
90 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
the present day. " Sabellianism is Judaism,
brought into evangelical teaching on a false
disguise of Christianity. For he who calls the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, one
thing of many names, and makes one of the
three Persons, what else does he do ? Does he
not deny the eternal essence of the Only-
Begotten which was before the world? He
denies the dispensation of His dwelling among
men, His descent into hell, the resurrection,
and the judgment. He denies also the sepa
rate energizings of the Spirit ." We have the
infection of this error in the Montanists,
Marcellus, and Paul of Samosata.
EpiphaniusP says, " For he, and his followers
the Sabellians, teach, that the same is Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, as if there were three
names to one person ; or as in man, there is
body, soul, and spirit ; the body is, so to speak,
the Father; the soul the Son; and as is the
spirit in man, so is the Holy Ghost in the
Deity." He uses the Catholic illustrations of
the sun and the ray, but distorts them. He
says, in the sun is a triple energy, i. e. the
power of giving light, the power of warming,
and a round figure of the sun itself, which we
Epist. 2 JO. p. 815. P Hser. 62.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 91
term the disk ; the power of warmth answers
to the Spirit, that of light to the Son, and the
Father is the form of the entire Person :
further, that the Son, sent forth as a ray at a
certain time, after the Gospel work was finished
returned to His Author, as a ray propagated
from the sun returns to the same. The Fathers
dwell on the otQeiot, the godless tendency of
Sabellianism, inasmuch that by destroying the
distinction of the Persons in the Deity,
they produce a confusion, which does not
tend so much to make all one as to make each
none.
The contrary error to Sabellianism is Tri-Tnthe-
theism, whereby men have held, that in the
Trinity are three substances in all things
similar, as if there were three deities. Severus,
Theodosius, and Johannes Philoponus, in the
time of the emperor Phocas, held this error.
And in the last century, it is believed that a
well-known sect, called the Hutchinsonians
earnest men, who did good service in their day
to the Church, and who counted among their
number many respected names held a doctrine
concerning three inoriginate Persons, which in
its legitimate consequences would have led to
a species of Tri theism.
92 UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE,
Theodoret also q mentions an obscure sect
called the Peratae, who maintained the doctrine
of three Gods. Philoponus r erred from ap
plying the word Person in too exclusively a
human sense. Person in things human refers
to the mode of existence, and implies perfect
individuality (ayroTeAcSf), but it is not so in the
Persons of God. It may be questioned, how
ever, whether Philoponus really accepted a
principle so subversive of all Christianity, or
whether Tritheism was the logical consequence
of his error fixed upon him by his opponents.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem 8 says, that Marcion first
of all said, that there were three Gods.
" Now we must neither distribute into three
Deities the awful and divine Unity, nor diminish
the infinite dignity and majesty of our Lord
by the notion of His being a creature ; but
we must put our trust in God the Father
Almighty, and in Christ Jesus His Son, and
in the Holy Spirit: and believe that the Word
is ever one by nature with the Supreme God.
For He says, 'I and the Father are One;' and,
' I am in the Father and the Father in Me.'
For thus the Divine Trinity and the holy
doctrine of the Unity will be safe." Dionysius
<J Lib. i. de User. r Petav. Trin. iv. q. 16. Cat. xvi.
AND TRINITY OF PERSONS. 93
of Rome says, " For it is of necessity that the
Divine Word should be united to the God of
all, and that the Holy Spirit should rest and
dwell in God, (r;v5cr0a ya.q avayx>) TOJ 0sw TCUV oXcov
TOV 0eToi/ Aoyov* l/A^uAo^copeTv 8e TCU &sa> xat lv5<aTa-
a-Qou 8s TO "Ay<ov Ilvsu/^a.)" Tertullian says,
" The union of the Father in the Son, and of the
Son in the Paraclete, implies Three conjoined,
which three are one thing, not one Person."
(" Connexus Patris in Filio et Filii in Para-
cleto, tres efficit cohaerentes, qui tres unum
sint, non unus.")
III.
OF GOD THE FATHER.
THE FATHER ALMIGHTY.
THE expression, Father, when applied to
God, may be taken in two ways. It may be
used either essentially for the Three Persons of
the Trinity, or it may be taken personally, as
applying to the First Person only.
Essentially, then, the word Father is applied
to God, 1 . in respect of all creatures, inasmuch
as He like a father made them, and sustains
them with a father's care. Even the heathen,
who in the idea of God understood an eternal
substance, from whom all things arose, and who
ruled all things by His providence, used this
expression of Father to describe Him, who was
the beneficent Maker and Guardian of all things.
And we find the Holy Scripture using the
same expression in this sense, when, in speaking
of God, they would indicate His creative
OP GOD THE FATHEK. 95
power, and admirable governance; as, " Is not
He thy Father that hath bought thee ? hath
He not made thee and established thee*?"
" Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abra
ham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge
usnot b ." 2. In respect of the faithful, whom
He has adopted as His children. "For it was
not unbecoming in God to be the Father of
them, whose brother Christ has made Himself,"
says S. Bernard. For indeed generally in the
New Testament, God is called the Father of
Christians, who have not "received the spirit of
bondage to fear, but have received the Spirit of
adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father ."
"For such love the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we should be called the sons of God ."
"And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ 6 ." "For which cause He
is not ashamed to call them brethren f ."
Personally, the word Father is applied to
God the Father; for this is His proper name.
A true confession of Him is to be found in a
letter of S. Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria,
in Theodoret g . "We believe in one unbegotten
Deut. xxxi. 6. b Is. Ixiii. 16. c Rom. viii. J5.
d 1 Johniii. 1. e Rom. viii. 17. f Heb. ii. 11.
Hist. Eccl. i. c. 3. vol. iii p. 742.
96 OF GOD THE FATHER.
Father, who hath no author of His existence,
unchangeable, unalterable, always the same,
suffering neither increase nor diminution, the
Giver of the Law and the Prophets and the
Gospels, the Lord of Patriarchs and Apostles,
and of all Saints."
He is termed the Father in respect of the
Son. "When thou hearest the word Father,
understand the Father of a Son who is the
image of the aforesaid substance. For as no
one is called Lord, unless he have a Lordship,
or a slave to order; and as no one is called
Master unless he have a disciple ; so the Father
can in no way be spoken of, but as having a
Son h ." " Father is not a name of substance nor
of action, but of relation. It indicates that
relation which the Father has to the Son, or
the Son to the Father 1 ." " The Father, is the
principle, (or "A^ij,) not only as regards His
creatures, which He shares with the other Per
sons of the Trinity, but He is also the principle
in the order of origin, in respect of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit. He is the fountain of the
supersubstantial Deity. Nay, He is termed the
cause, arna, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
the word cause being used not as instrumental,
h Ruf. in Expos. Symb. j S. Greg. Naz. Orat. 35.
OF GOD THE FATHER. 97
but as originative 1 ." He is also termed, the root
and head of the Son, and the 7rgo/3oA?uj of the
Holy Spirit. " We confess that the Father is
not begotten, nor created, but unbegotten. He
derives His origin from none, and from Him
the Son derives generation, and the Spirit
procession."
Yet when we term the Father the first Person,
we are not to use it as if in the adorable Trinity
there was any one before or after, any one
greater or less than another. The true religion
ascribes the same eternity, and the same majesty
and glory, to the Three Persons. Yet we call the
Father the first, because He is the principle
without principle.
That which distinguishes Him from the
other Persons of the adorable Trinity is, that
He is the Unbegotten. St. Cyril observes,
that this attribute of being unbegotten is not
necessarily consequent upon His Paternity, but
is predicated in contradistinction to the Filiation
of the Son. " I would say, if we would think
rightly, that He is unbegotten, but that He is
not necessarily unbegotten because He is the
Father, but because He has not been begotten
of any, but exists in an unbegotten way,
1 S. Chrys. Horn. x. ad 1 Cor. m Concil. Tolet. 11.
H
^8 OF GOD THE FATHER.
having, by generation, His own Son, of Himself
and in Himself"." To be unbegotten and to
be the Father then are not the same thing.
The name of the Father is applied to Him
rather than simply God ; as we say, " Our Father,
which art in Heaven, "as it is a higher attribute
to have begotten the Son, than to have made
the worlds. Wherefore our Lord says, " I
ascend unto my Father and your Father, and
to my God and your God," when He places
the Paternity first in order. The first here
refers to the Son, the latter to creatures. The
thought of the generation of the Son whereby
He is Father, is prior to that of the creation
of all things whereby He is God .
" The Father Almighty." The w^ord " Al
mighty" is found by those who accurately
investigate to mean nothing else in the divine
power, than the relation of the creative energy
to the phaenomena of the world. (>j TO Trgoj T TTW?
TJJV xgaDjTJX^v Taav ev TYJ XTIVH Qscogovp,evuiv
The word Almighty (TravTOXgarajg)
shews this. For as there would be no physician
were there no sick ; and as there would be
none merciful, and compassionate, and such
like, did none stand in need of them ; so there
- S. Cyr. Alex. t. v. 420. Cyr. t. v. 40.
OF GOD THE FATHER. 99
would be none Almighty unless creation re
quired one to control it, and to keep it in
being. Therefore, as the physician is for him
who needs a cure, so the Almighty is for that
which requires to be controlled. And as they
that are whole need not a physician but they
that are sick, so it may justly be inferred,
that that requires no control in which nature
is infallible and unchangeable. Therefore,
when we hear the word " Almighty," we un
derstand this, that God maintains in being all
things, whether they be things intellectual,
or are of the material nature. Therefore
holdeth He the circle of the earth : there
fore hath He in His hands the ends of the
earth : therefore holdeth He the heavens in
the palm of His hand: therefore measureth
He the waters with His hand : therefore con-
taineth He in Himself all the intelligent cre
ation, that all things may remain in their own
being, every way upheld by His encircling
power P.
It will be observed, that in this description
there is an additional meaning given to the
word which our language fails to convey. It
seems to imply not only all-powerful, but all-
P G. Nyss. Orat. 2. cont. Eunom.
100 OF GOD THE FATHEK.
containing. Hence one definition has been
given, " God is called by that name, because
He holds and contains all things ; for the
height of heaven, and the depth of the abyss,
and the ends of the earth, are in His hands V
Since the word omnipotent signifies a power
over all persons and things, it may properly
and personally be applied to the Father, for
from Him all things do proceed, and He is the
fountain and origin of all being, and by His
power, and as the principle of them, He com
prehends all things, both created and increate.
But this very power which containeth all
things, in so far as it is personal, He com
municates to the Son and to the Spirit, where
fore not less to both of these does the word
Almighty apply, though peculiarly it belongs
to the Father 1 . " So likewise the Father is
Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy
Ghost Almighty: and yet there are not three
Almighties, but one Almighty."
i Theoph. i. ad Autolyc. T Petav. Trin. vi. C.
IV,
OF CREATION.
THE MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, AND OV
ALL THINGS VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE.
WHEN one comes to think of it, there is
perhaps no greater mystery than that there should
be such a thing as creation. God has heen from
eternity. In comparison with the eternity of
God, creation is but of yesterday ; for if we fix
our minds upon it, we come to contemplate
the fact, that for millions and millions of ages,
God, the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost,
was alone, the only Existence that was. He was
in rest, He had nothing to care for. He had
none to govern, to correct, to bless. He was
good, but He had nothing to exercise His
benevolence on. He was great, but there was
none to fear Him. There was silence, for
there was nothing but God. And though thus
in rest, He was perfectly happy and self-suffi-
102 OF CREATION.
cient, for happiness and self-sufficience are of
the attributes of God, and so an eternity rolled
on, and ages upon ages passed. At length it
pleased God to change this, and to surround
Himself by creation, a creation beautiful in
deed in the beginning, but soon depraved,
which bears witness still to its original ad
mirable adaptation and order, but which also
gives too strong evidence of its subsequent
deterioration. Why should God have done
this ? Why should he have created beings,
some uncertain of their ultimate destiny, others
sure to fall ? Why did the all-sufficient God
make the Angels to sing His praises r or the
sons of men to take their seats upon the vacant
thrones in heaven ? Why did the all-merciful
God allow the devil to be, or make hell, and
death, and pain, and the never-dying worm ?
These are questions before which we must
bow in reverent submission, sure that not on this
side of the grave shall the reason be revealed
to us. Like the other great difficulty, the
existence and extent of evil, we must admit
the fact, and not seek reasons for it. Our daily
experience convinces us of the first, our finite
intellects forbid the second.
We know then that creation is ; we are a
OF CREATION. IDS'
part of it ; it touches us, and we touch it ; our
senses manifest to us one set of objects, and
our higher perceptions reveal to us another set,
and these are the " things visible and invisible 3 ."
And the Nicene Fathers here declare to us, that
God the Father is the " Maker of heaven and
earth, and of all things visible and invisible ;"
adding also, when they come to treat of the Son
of God, that by Him, the Father " made the
worlds." Now their reason for asserting this
was not only that due honour might be given to
Him who formed them ; (for indeed, in the words
of Theodoret b , " The beauty and the greatness
that appear in the heavens are alone sufficient
to declare the power of their Maker ; for if on
looking at a large and beautiful house we
wonder at the builder, or seeing a well-built
vessel we think of the shipwright, and as in
looking at a picture the recollection of the
painter is suggested to us ; much more so does
creation when beheld, lead those who view it
to the Creator." Or, as St. Basil says , " The
heavens declare the glory of God, not in that
a See Mr. Newman's Parochial Sermons : also new voL
Serm. v.
b In Ps. xix. Horn. i. p. 717.
c In Cap. v. &c.
104 OF CREATION.
they emit a voice audible to our perceptions,
but in that the mind accustomed to reason on
the construction of the world, and knowing
the disposition of all things in heaven, by
these as it were emitting a voice, is instructed
in the greatness of His glory who made them ;)
but there existed at this time very various
ideas with regard to the creation of the world.
The old heathenism was breaking up, rotten
to the core, and putrifying in its own abomi
nations. Few believed the ancient cosmogonies,
though they had preserved a good deal of the
primaeval truth. The old fables of Ouranos,
and Ops, and Rhea, had ceased to have a hold
on the people. The poet's work was over.
Even Jupiter was clung to, more as the type
and representative of a beautiful old system
that was dying out, than as a real solution of the
difficulty; but the intellect of man demanded
some answer to the great question of creation.
Some met the question by saying, that matter
was eternal that the world always had been
and always would be. So said the Stoics ; so
said some of the Manichees. Others, such as
Simon Magus, said that the world was be
gotten, and that by the operation of fire, as
Theodoret tells us. " Fire with him was the
Off CREA.TION. 105
primeval parent Deity, infinite power. From
this deity emanated his six ^Eons, male and
female, and these with the original, the Spirit
of God, which moved upon the face of the
waters, made up the mystic number seven."
Others, that it was made by angels; Menander,
Carpocrates, Cerinthus, and many Gnostics,
held this. Others, that it had been made by
the ^Eons, or inferior Dsmiurgi, or Creators.
It was to meet these and similar errors that
the Council declared their belief in God the
Father, the Maker of heaven and earth, and of
all things visible and invisible. And we must
not believe, that in the present day there
is less need of such a declaration. It is true
that the wild fancies of the early days of
Christianity have died out, and the beautiful
but deceptive theories of the Platonic schools
no longer influence the mass of men ; but are
there not in modern science many theories
against which the Nicsean dogma is a protest?
There are three classes of beings, to which
God by communicating being has manifested
His glory. The first of these are purely
spiritual, as are the holy Angels : the second
are purely corporeal, as are the material sub
stances of which the universe is made up : the
1 00 OF CREATION.
last are mixed, consisting partly of spirit and
partly of matter. Such is man.
Angels. With regard to the existence of the first of
these, although we have no express declaration
of their creation in the holy Scripture, yet we
have constant allusions to them; and as their
existence is a matter of pure revelation to us,
it is enough to direct the reader's attention to
the numerous passages in Holy Writ, where
their presence and offices are alluded to.
Rationalists deny their existence, and some
branches of Calvinists assert that they have no
duties to the sons of men ; but both are so
clearly written in the Bible, that they must
have laid aside their reverence for the sacred
volume, ere they have come to this conclusion ;
and beyond the words of Scripture, there is no
method of proving their existence. The being
and functions of the Angels, as well as their
creation by God, is purely a matter of faith.
The Not a few of recent physical, geological, and
world. f f .
astronomical speculations, have either in so
many words, or by implication, attacked the true
doctrine of the creation of the world. Unable
to reconcile their peculiar theory with revela
tion, their authors have attacked its truth. The
rationalists have gone so far as to style the
OF CREATION. 107
Mosaic records fables. Some have maintained
a pure idealism, others a pure materialism,
and a third party pure phenomenism ; just as
the ancients maintained the eternity of matter,
the soul of the world, pantheism and dualism.
Others again have maintained a theory of de-
velopement, that matter once determined
towards being, has by an inevitable law advanced
without any governing cause but the law of
its being; that man is only the perfection of an
inferior mammiferous animal, which in turn is
connected as by a chain with a lower organism.
Now by the world we mean that collection of
finite and contingent existences, or the uni
verse, which exists out of God. This Holy
Scripture declares to have been made out of
nothing: "In the beginning God created (made
out of nothing) the heaven and the earth d ."
" Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the
foundation of the earth, and the heavens are
the work of Thy hands 6 ." "For He spake, and
they were made; He commanded,, and they
were created f ."
And truly even our reason demands that the
world must have a Creator; for the world is
finite, composed of finite parts : if it be finite it
d Gen. i. I. Ps. cii. 25. ' Pa. xxxiii. 9.
108
OF CREATION.
must be contingent, mutable, and cannot hare
the cause of its being in itself: it must therefore
have been determined towards being by some
one distinct from itself, that is to say, by One
omnipotent and eternal. Seeing there is life,
it is most intelligible to suppose that life to be
the work of God. Life is something more than
the result of a combination of matter, and the
natural account is, that it with matter must
come from a living Power.
Mosaic God's will is the only solution which we can
cosmo- '
gonj. apply to the difficulties of creation; but when
we come to consider the matter in a teachable
spirit, we shall see that the difficulties which
the advance of science has raised up ought not
to shake the faith of the devout Christian. And
first of all, we should impress ourselves with a
very profound sense of the present ignorance
of man. Great as is the superiority of our
knowledge, both in astronomy and geology,
over that of our forefathers, we only know
enough to convince us, that the scavans of the
next century will probably look on us with the
same pitying eye with which we should re
gard the adherents of the Ptolemaic theory.
It is evident then that even if we can square
our present views with God's truth, it is no
OF CREATION. 109
reason that further discoveries may not disturb
our system. Now this thought is important,
because it brings us to consider this ; that in
the question of the truth of the Mosaic Records,
(on the supposition that they are not to be recon
ciled withmodern geology,) the balance of proba
bility lies between the truth of all Christianity,
on the one hand, and of one theory of a con
fessedly imperfect science, on the other. The
Mosaic account of the Creation is a part of the
Bible, which we believe on the authority of the
Church, from the witness of friends and enemies
and from much internal evidence, to be one
voice of God, speaking to His creatures; as
such, it is identified with all Christianity, and
therefore all Christianity must cohere or fail, as
the Mosaic cosmogony does so. If the one be an
error, the other is not God's truth. Now what
does this amount to ? it amounts to this, that
the Mosaic cosmogony, being identified with a
Christianity which has stood the assaults of nine
teen centuries, been evidenced by martyrdom,
been attacked by the scoffing infidel, and has
ever conquered, comes to us with a force, which
must necessarily, in every well-constituted
rnind, neutralize the effect which any one
theory of geology or astronomy may tend to
110 OF CREATION.
produce to the destruction of the Christian
Faith.
But while the Christian starts with the deter
mination, " Let God be true, and every man a
liar," he must not exact too much of the text
of the Bible, or fancy that every thing is to be
made clear to him. If the Bible were to solve
every difficulty in science, man would need
omniscience to understand it, and language
that would suit one state of advance in learning,
would be totally unintelligible to an earlier
stage. The whole tenor of the Bible is prac
tical; and even where it treats of matters not
immediately referring to ourselves, it does so
in a way that points to the relation of these
things to us. For instance, we have no
record of the creation of the Angels, though
their existence is a matter (we may humbly
suppose) quite as important in the Eyes of God
as our own is ; and when they are mentioned,
it is either to allude to their care of us, or to
stimulate us by their example to the continual
praise of the Most High. Or again, when the
history in an incidental way declares that God
" made the stars also," it is for our sakes that
it is said, that we might not fall into that error
iinto which the heathens fell, that .these bright
OF CKEATION. ill
orbs were intelligences, and themselves creators
and objects of worship,
Again, we must recollect that the Almighty.,
having ordained that man, unlike the brutes,
whose instinct is the same from one generation
to another, shall grow wise by the accretion of
one intellect after another, it was necessary
that whatever revelation was given to man,
should be made in terms which should be in
telligible to those to whom it was made;; and
even if the prevalent opinion on any subject
were in course of time proved to be false, the
first term would be the one naturally to be
used. For instance, it would have been un
natural in Moses not to speak about the sun
rising and the sun setting, though science now
knows, that the revolution of the earth on its
own axis is the reality of that term. We may
take a case : suppose science were to establish
that there is no such thing as substance and
accident, yet the term homousion, or transub-
stantiation, (supposing the doctrine true,) would
be the fittest word for describing the facts
implied by the defective terms. When infinite
intellect speaks to a finite one, there must be a
certain adaptation and economy.
But while the devout Christian feels very
112 OF CREATION.
anxious not to shape the word of God to meet
any theory of the day, however plausible or
probable it may be ; while he feels very certain,
that God in revelation speaks the same language
as the same God in nature, and therefore rather
shrinks from theories which seem to make
faith subservient to any empirical doctrine;
he rejoices in the additional evidence aiforded
to fallen man of the greatness and goodness
of the Creator, which all the sciences have
furnished. If the thought of " the sweet in
fluence of Pleiades," " the bands of Orion," and
" Arcturus with his sons," was enough to raise
the mind of the Arabian sage to the thought
of Him who had ordained them ; what emotions
shall be excited in the mind of the modern,
when he thinks of the millions of suns and
systems which the discovery of Galileo has
brought within his cognizance ? If the general
knowledge of trees, " from the cedar to the
hyssop," placed the goodness of God before
the eyes of the wisest of the sons of men, what
shall be said of that beauteous science, which
classes into genera, by " a law that cannot be
broken," the different kinds of the fair flowers
which carpet the earth, and finds evidence of
supernatural wisdom in the mechanism of the
OF CREATION.
113
meanest weeds, which spring up as it were to
mock the toil of man ? And so geology, by
revealing to man the mighty forces which have
been at work upon the crust of the earth, the
ages and ages which have passed since the first
creation of matter, the wondrous adaptation of
each sentient creation to the circumstances of
the primaeval earth in which it is found, and the
gradual perfecting and ennobling of the works
of God till the things of this earth are only a
little lower than the angels, has surely a mighty
power in increasing our idea of the greatness
of Omnipotence, and of quickening our sense
of the benevolence of the Supreme. The
argument of natural religion is commended to
us by the lips of our Maker Himself. " Consider
the lilies how they grow ;" and the same voice
which said this to us in revelation, says now to
us in science, Consider the foundations of the
earth how they are laid ; think upon the host
of heaven how they are ordained, and gather,
from the lessons you read there, arguments of
my Power and of my Beneficence. " Thy
Almighty hand, which is always one and the
same, created angels in heaven and worms upon
earth ; not higher in those, not lower in these.
For as no other hand could make an angel, so
i
114 OF CREATIOK.
neither could any other make a worm : as none
else could create Heaven, so neither could any
one else create the least leaf upon the tree ; as
none else could make a body, so neither can
any one else make an hair black or white ; but
only Thine Almighty hand, to which all things
are alike possible. For it is not more possible
to Him to create a worm than an angel, nor
more impossible to stretch out the heavens
than a leaf 8 ."
t S. Aug. Solil. 9.
V.
OF OUR LOKD JESUS CHRIST.
AND IN ONE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
WE have here three propositions. We are
to believe in our Lord, we are to believe in
Jesus, we are to believe in Christ.
Now the word Lord is attributed to the
Three Persons in the adorable Trinity. " So the
Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy
Ghost Lord. And yet there are not three
Lords, but one Lord." First, the word Lord is
attributed to God, and signifies the same thing.
The terms were so convertible, that the Jews,
who never dared out of reverence to pronounce
the sacred name of God, Jehovah, substituted
for it an equivalent term of Adonai, the Lord.
And indeed, as Theodoret tells us 1 , "The
terms God and Lord signify the Divine Nature,
rather than the distinction of Persons, but the
words Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are indi~
cative of separate personality."
* Qusest. 2. in Deut.
116 OF OUB LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Secondly, The word Lord is applied to the
Son of God. S. Greg. Naz. says b , "Define our
pious faith, teaching, that we acknowledge one
unbegotten God, that is the Father, and one
Begotten Lord, that is the Son, who indeed
is called God when He is spoken of by Him
self, but who is termed Lord when He is
mentioned with the Father. The first term is
given to Him on account of His Nature, the
latter on account of there being one principle in
the Deity, (/Muwggipt.}
Thirdly, It is attributed to the Holy Spirit, as
we see in the end of this Creed, " I believe in the
Holy Ghost, the Lord;" and, as St. Paul says,
"The Lord is that Spirit." CEcumenius says c ,
" The Spirit is Lord, and is of the same substance
and claims the same worship as the Father and
the Son."
Yet, generally speaking, in theological lan
guage, we apply the term ' Lord' to the Second
Person in the Trinity, according to the words
of St. Paul d , "For to us there is but one God,
the Father, of Whom are all things, and we in
Him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all
things, and we by Him e ." " Wherefore I giveyou
b Orat 28. p. 466. c 2 ad Cor. iii. d 1 Cor. viii. 6.
1 Cor. xii. 8.
OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 117
to understand, that no man speaking by the
Spirit of God called Jesus accursed, and that no
man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the
Holy Ghost." And when the first of these texts
was quoted by the Arians against our Lord's
divinity, they explained that the assertion of
the unity was made against them that were not
Gods, even the heathens', and not in contradis
tinction to the Son and the Spirit; nay, they
said, that if the literal meaning were pressed, it
would go to deny that God the Father was Lord,
as a belief in one Lord was also asserted.
Now the Lordship of Christ over His crea
tures is twofold. First, He is Lord essentially.
Secondly, He is Lord vicariously.
He is Lord essentially, inasmuch as He is
God, and He has dominion from everlasting in
common with the Father and the Spirit. Being
of one substance and power with Them, He has
the same relation to creation which They have.
He is Lord vicariously, inasmuch as He has
been incarnate, and to Him in His incarnate
Person has the kingdom of all worlds been
entrusted. " All power is given unto me in
heaven and earth ;" or, as it is written in
Ephes. i. 22. " and hath put all things under
His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all
118 OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.
things to the Church." It is in this sense that
He is made Heir of all things, that is, as refers
to the nature of man which He had taken.
P 16 We are to believe in Jesus. Not only did the
Name of *
je-us. Fathers of Nicaea feel desirous to embalm within
their symbol the sweet Name of Jesus, which
" is as unguent poured out," and " before
which every knee doth bow of things in heaven
and earth," but it was necessary, as it were, to
fix the description of His power and attributes
by a historical name. Authentic annals declared,
that some three hundred years before, One
had appeared among the sons of men, who had
borne this Sacred Name, and to describe Him,
and to assert the true doctrine respecting Him,
was the duty and desire of the Church.
Thus all Christianity, though it is not, as some
men have asserted, a system merely exacting a
belief in certain historical facts, does start
with one such. It is here that supernatural
faith meets and receives aid from the ordinary
facts of evidence. It is here that History, as
an handmaid, ministers to Theology.
Now the Jewish Scriptures had predicted
that the Messiah was to come, and certain
data were given as to the time and manner of
His appearing. It was prophesied that " the
OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 119
sceptre should not depart from Judah, nor a
lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh, or
the Messiah, comes." That He should be cut
off in threescore and two weeks, from a certain
date given by the prophet, and certain political
and religious events connected therewith are
minutely described*. And, lastly, that He
should come into a certain specified temple,
His presence therein being heralded by a pre
cursor '.
All these conditions are fulfilled in the
Lord Jesus. He came into the world at the
time when the temple and the city were still
standing, when the sceptre had departed from
Judah, being grasped by Herod the Idumean.
He appeared at the beginning of that last
week, and in the midst of it suffered, where
upon the political and religious events, i. e.
the cessation of the sacrifice, and the over
throw of the Aaronic Priesthood, as announced,
actually took place.
And as the time and epoch of the Messiah
corresponded with the coming of the Lord
Jesus, so the circumstances of His sacred life
accorded also with prophecy. First of all, He
( Gen. xlix. 8. h Dan. iz. 26. ' Hagg. ii. 4.
Mai. iii. 1.
120 OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.
was born of the tribe of Judah, as the two
pedigrees of Him in St. Mark and St. Luke
testify. Then He was born of a Virgin,
according to the words of Isaiah, " Behold, a
Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son k ;" and in
the city of Bethlehem, as Micah had declared ;
" And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, art the least
among the cities of Judah, but out of thee shall
come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in
Israel ; whose goings forth have been from
of old, from everlasting 1 ." Then He came
lowly, as Zechariah had foretold; a mighty
worker of miracles, as Isaiah had predicted " ;
and the circumstances of His death and rising
again, the manner of His entry into Jerusalem,
the price of His betrayal, the companions of
His punishment, the circumstances of His
Passion, the peculiarities of His sepulture,
were all declared in a manner so plain, yet
so apparently undesigned, that no candid
mind, admitting the genuineness of the pro
phecies and the authenticity of the history of
our Lord, can fail to apply them to the same
person.
Th We are to believe in Christ. Now the word
name of
k Isaiah vii. 14. ' Micah v. 2. m Zech. ix. 9.
* Isaiah xxxv. 6.
OF OUR LOBD JESUS CHRfST. 121
Christ, or Anointed, deriving its meanings from
Him who is properly and actually so, is applied
to many of those offices and conditions which
shadowed forth His office .
First of all, there were the three offices of
Prophet, Priest, and King, which, being typical
of our Lord, were invested by unction. Thus
Elijah anointed Elishaand Jehu, Moses anointed
Aaron, &c.
Secondly, in subordination to the unction of
Christ, it was applied to any one who had a
mission from God, as foreshadowing His mission,
" Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to
Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to
subdue nations before him p ."
Thirdly, As all men have in fact a mission
into the world, to do God's will in their place,
and as to do so requires the unction of the Holy
Spirit, the expression is also applied to all
Christians. " Touch not my christs, and do my
prophets no harm." " But ye have an unction
from the Holy One, and know all things V
" But the anointing which ye have received of
Him abideth in you r ."
But all these applications of the word are
See Lactantius, lib. iv. c. 7. v Isaiah xlv. 1.
i 1 John ii. 20. ' 1 John ii. 27.
122 OF OUR LOUD JESUS CHRIST.
only in derivation from " Christ," who is our
Lord and God. Now the unction wherewith
He was anointed was that " oil of gladness,"
wherewith God anointed Him above His
fellows'. It was the various gifts of the Holy
Spirit which were in all fulness poured upon
the human nature of our Lord. " How God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost
and with power'." As He is termed the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, (that
is, in anticipation,) so S. Cyril says that He was
called " Christ, not because He was anointed
by human hands, but because he was from
eternity consecrated by the Father to be an
High Priest over men u ." And not as Priest only,
for S. Greg. Nyssen tells us, that the name of
Christ, if translated into a clearer and easier
word, means 'King,' inasmuch as it is the use
of the Holy Scripture to describe the Royal
dignity by this term.
The word Christ is a name of person,
(hypostasis,) not used in one way only, but
indicative of His two natures. For He
anointed Himself as God, anointing His body
with His own Deity, and being anointed as
man. For He is both the one and other, and
Ps. xlv. 8. * Acts x. 31. Catech. x.
OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 1 23
the unction was that of the Deity on the Hu
manity. (XgjVlf Is Y) &BOTy$ TYjS V0ga>7TOT)JTOf x .)
And the reason why the man Christ is said to
have been anointed with the Holy Spirit is this,
that the work whereby the Son of God united
human nature to Himself, although common to
the three Persons, is properly attributed to the
Holy Spirit, whence He is said to have been
conceived by the Holy Ghost. And since by
that conception, and by the application of the
Divinity, the man Christ was sanctified, rightly
the unction of the Spirit, that is the grace and
holiness of the human nature of Christ, is
attributed to the same, who is believed to have
formed it in the womb of the Virgin, and to
have united it in one Person with the Word'.
1 Dam. Fid. Orth. 8. 8. T Petav. xi. 8. 5.
VI.
OF THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN.
THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD.
THE human intellect, in speculating upon
the Nature of God, could naturally conceive of
Him as having a thought or reason; it
could imagine Him contemplating Himself in
Himself, and so forming an image of Himself* :
it might have understood an exercise, both of
the intellect and of the will, on the part of the
Supreme ; it could believe Him to utter a
word ; but it could never go so far as to
invest that Thought, Reason, Image, or Word,
with the attributes of distinct personality,
or' to connect intellect and will with the
Son and the Spirit. Yet this is what the faith
reveals to us. Under the old law, these are
faintly alluded to. A peculiarity of expression
hints to us, that the Wisdom and Power attri-
One of the early Vedas introduces Brahm seeking for
the image of Himself. Maurice Boyle Lect.
OF THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN. 125
buted to God are something more than mere
attributes. For instance, in the eighth chapter
of the Proverbs, we find the Wisdom of God
thus describing herself. " I wisdom dwell
with prudence, and find out knowledge of
witty inventions V "Counsel is mine, and
sound wisdom : I am understanding, I have
strength. By me kings reign, and princes
decree justice ." " The Lord possessed me
in the beginning of His way, before His works
of old. I was set up from everlasting, from
the beginning, or ever the earth was. When
there were no depths, I was brought forth ;
when there were no fountains abounding with
water. Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills, was I brought forth, while
as yet He had riot made the earth, nor the
fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the
world. When He prepared the heavens, I
was there: when He set a compass upon the
face of the depth; when He established the
clouds above ; when He strengthened the
fountains of the deep ; when He gave to the
sea His decree, that the waters should not pass
His commandment; when He appointed the
foundations of the earth ; then I was by Him,
> Ver. 12. c Ver. 14.
126 OF THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN.
as one brought up with Him : and I was daily
His delight, rejoicing always before Him ;
rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth,
and my delights were with the sons of men d ."
And so in the Epistle to the Hebrews, which
some commentators think to have been one of
the earliest of the Epistles, we find the word
of God in the same way invested with a quasi
personality 6 . " For the word of God is living
and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow ; and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. Neither is there any
creature that is not manifest in His sight : but
all things are naked and opened unto the eyes
of Him with Whom we have to do." And so
the mind of man, as it were, was prepared for
the astounding fact, which it was reserved for
St. John to declare, that " the Word was God."
The word uttered which we use is generated
in and from the mind, and seems to be something
else from that which is revolved in the mind,
in so far as it is emitted from the mouth as
from darkness into light. It is also in it, and
similar to it in all things. For in speech is
d Prov. viii. 22. Heb. iv. 12.
OF THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN. 127
noted the thought of the heart, and again in
the heart is recognised the word yet unuttered.
So the Son of God inseparably proceeding
from the Father, is the express image and
figure of His property, (^ctgtxxr^g i<rn x
bpoicofjux. Trjj JSjoVrjTOj aurou), being the living
personal word of a living Father f .
But besides the fact, which supernatural
religion reveals to us, that the Word of God is
a separate Person, we are further informed,
that that divine Person has another relation
to Him, in that He is His Son. And this
is not a figure of speech, as if He had been
adopted, but by a real, natural, but mysterious
generation, the archetype of all sonship on earth.
" He is called Son, not because produced in
the way of adoption, but because naturally be
gotten s." He is called Son, because He is of
one substance with the Father, and more than
that, because He is from Him h ." These two
conditions being implied in sonship ; first, that
the Son is of the same kind with the Father :
and secondly, that He is produced from Him.
Indeed, from the appellation of Son, the
orthodox Fathers drew a strong argument
f Cyril Alex. t. v. 47. g S. Cyr. Cat. 10. . 4.
b Naz. Orat. 30. p. 553.
18 OF THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN.
against the Arians for the Consubstantiality of
the Father and the Word; for they said, " We
learn from the term ' Son,' that He partaketh
of the nature (of the Father), not formed by a
command (fl-po<rTayjw,ar<), but unintermittingly
shining forth from His Substance, eternally
united to the Father, equal in goodness, equal
in power, the sharer of His glory 1 ."
It is true, that in Scripture we find the word
" sons of God" used in more senses than one.
In Job i. 6. and xxxviii. 7. it is applied to the
holy Angels. In Gen. vi. 2. if not to them,
to the favoured race of Seth. In other places,
to great men k . And in the New Testament,
the faithful are described 1 as " born of God,"
and m " partakers of the Divine nature." Hence
the Fathers did not hesitate to use the term
Deification, to describe the eternal consum
mation of bliss, (fleoxriv, 7rofigaxrjv, SeOTrofycrjv,)
of the Saints. Damas. says", "God created
man, that he might be deified by the approach
to God:" and S. Athanasius , He (Christ) be
came Man, that we might be deified." And
without venturing on such terms, we have the
* Confer Basil. Orat. de Fide, t. ii. p. 227. " Ps. Ixxxii. 6.
i John i, 18. 2 Pet. i. 4. n Orth. Fid. 602. cap. 13.
Orat. de Incarn. c. 54.
OF THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN. 129
word of Scripture for such expressions as
' being born of the Spirit p ,' whereby we mean,
that in baptism we are transformed by the
Spirit into a new creature, and become the
sons of God by adoption. But all these terms
of sons of God, and the like, merely point
out to us that archetypal paternity and filia
tion, which they, as also all earthly relations
of this kind, shadow forth. In the absolute
sense God has only one Son, and therefore the
Creed adds to this description, that He is " the
Only-Begotten;" and St. John Damas. tells us q ,
"He is called Only -Begotten, because He alone,
in a way of His own, (p,ova)$,) is begotten
by the Father alone : nor is any other gene
ration likened to the generation of the Son of
God ; nor is there any other Son of God."
P John iii. 6. i Orth. Fid. lib. i. c. 9.
VII.
OF THE GENERATION OF THE SON.
BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER BEFOEE ALL WORLDS.
of the THE first draught of the Creed, as promul-
eternal
fion era g ate d at Nicaea, was fuller than this. It was
thus, " Begotten of the Father, that is, of the
substance of the Father, before all worlds."
There is perhaps no dogma of the faith more
mysterious than this; and the holy men of old
are ever warning us against letting our intellects
exercise themselves on this, as it transcends
the understanding of the very Angels of God.
" Exercise not thy reason, "says Nazianzen, "on
the generation of God, for it is not safe. For
even if thou knowest thine own generation, it
followeth not that thou must know that of God.
But if thine own be unknown to thee, how
shall that of God be known to thee ? For by
how much God is more difficult to be searched
out than man, by so much is the generation on
OF THE GENERATION OF THE SON. 131
high more unfathomable than thine"." Else
where he says, " Let the generation of God be
honoured by silence. It is a great thing for thee
to have learnt that He has been begotten. But
how, is not known either to the Angels or thee.
How, the Father who begat, and the Son who
was begotten, only know. All beyond this is
hidden in a cloud, and transcends the dimness
of our vision."
"Now as the not-being-begotten is the pro
perty of the Father, so the being-begotten is
that of the Son ; wherefore we must acknowledge
one God the Father, without beginning (avxg-
^ov) and without generation, one Son begotten of
the Father, and one Holy Ghost deriving His
substance from God, (I* sow ryv vTruggiv e%ov,)
yielding to the Father only in this, that He is
not unbegotten, and to the Son that He is not
begotten, but in every thing else, of one nature,
power, glory, and majesty 15 ."
Now the Fathers, while they assert the reality
of this generation, desire to remove from it all
earthly ideas; for be it recollected, that human
generation is the reflex of the divine genera
tion, not the divine of the human. Therefore
they have taken care to guard it by such epithets
Orat. 35. b Orat. 32.
1 32 OF THE GENERATION OF THE SON.
as 'that which is celestial/ 'that which is
beyond time,' 'that which is without body,'
'that which is unseen,' 'that which is without
passion.' And especially with regard to the
last of these, they appeal to the other descrip
tion of the Son, the Logos. In order that we
should not fall into human thoughts, and
believe that the Maker of all things was born
as we are, He is called the Word, teaching us
that His Birth was free from all passion. For
even the mind producing a thought, does so
of itself, and suffers no division, and being
perfect produces a perfect thought. Many of
the Fathers press this simile upon us, taking
care however to make us remember, that the
thought or word here is something more than
a mere accident of the mind, and therefore
terming it the Substantial Personal Word,
(evoucnoj, ou<7co>j, IvuTroVraTOj.) Thus the eternity
of the generation of the Son is established,
for when was God without His Word ?
or Pro- In the adorable Trinity there are two pro
cession. . /t . . , ._.
cessions; (1) generation, and (%) procession
simply so styled: there are also four relations,
Paternity, Filiation, Active Spiration, and
Passive Spiration. Scripture proves to us that
there are two processions ; that of the Son, as in
OF THE GENERATION OF THE SON. 133
Ps. ii. 7. " Thou art my Son, this day have I
begotten Thee;" and that of the Holy Spirit,
as in John xv. 26. " The Spirit of Truth which
proceedeth from the Father." The Father has
no origin, but is the supreme Fountain of all
other origins; wherefore He is termed by the
Greeks, the Primal Cause, (ctlrta. irgoKocra.^^,}
He is the unbegotten, the unproduced, the
innascible.
These processions take place by what is
termed the immanent action of God, subsisting
in Himself, in opposition to the transient action
of God, which terminates in the creature; and
these immanent actions are to know and to
will. Hence most theologians conclude, that
the proximate principle of the processions is
knowledge and will, so far as these properties
are notional d . Thus, holy Scripture and the
Church speak of the Son, as the word and wisdom,
which regard the intellect ; and of the Holy
Spirit, as love, charity, and grace, which refer
to the will. If then the Son be the adequate
term of the Divine intellect, so as exhausting it,
and the Spirit be the term of the Divine will
as completing it, it follows, that there can be
but two processions, as we have stated above.
d See definitions at p. 23, 24.
134 OF THE GENERATION OF THE SON.
But if the question arise, why the pro
cession of the Son is termed generation, and
that of the Holy Spirit not so, it may be
answered, that there is a difference in the mode
of their originations, as indicated to us. For
generation is the origin of a living existence
from a living principle, one with it in nature, and
it requires that the origin of the begotten shall
be from the begetter by an action which com
municates similarity ; but procession is gene
rally any emanation of one person from another,
and the exercise of the will is to love one's like,
not to produce likeness, it follows that the
procession of the Word will be generation,
but not that of the Spirit, who is love, and from
the will 6 . But these things are mysteries
beyond the ken of mortal man.
or Pro- The properties of each Person in the
perties,
* c- Godhead are termed notiones. " Notio" is the
character or mark, and distinguishing note,
whereby each person is distinguished. Pro
perty, relation, and notion are one and the same
thing. Five notiones are counted by theologians,
Paternity, Filiation, Active Spiration, Passive
Spiration, and Innascibility. And these re
lations and notions are true and real, otherwise
S. Thos. l m . 27. c. 4.
OF THE GENEKATION OF THE SON. 135
the Persons were not really distinguished ; for
if by nature they be one, they must be really
three persons by reason of real relations, as the
names imply. The names are not used as mere
names without corresponding realities, but
express accurately the proper hypostasis, and
glory, and order, of each of those that are
named f .
"Mission" is the procession of one person pfMi
from another in order to an end. As regards
procession, mission is eternal, immutable, and
necessary: as regards the end, it may be
temporal and contingent. Concerning both
respects our Lord says, " If God were your
Father, ye would love Me : for I proceeded
forth and came from God : neither came I of
Myself, but He sent Me g ." Now the Father is
never spoken of as sent, for He proceedeth
from none.
f Creed of Lucian cit. Bull. * John viii. 1 2.
VIII.
OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD.
GOD OF GOD, LIGHT OF LIGHT, VERY GOD OF
VEEY GOD.
A HOLY Saint tells us, that the confession of
the Divinity of the Son is the " Head of our
hope;" and indeed it is that which really
entitles a man to the name of Christian. It is
the touchstone of faith, inasmuch as if that be
admitted, all other admissions of the kind are
easy. We at once leave the province of reason,
and enter that of supernaturalism. It is the
crown of charity ; for " whosoever shall confess
that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth
in Him, and he in God*." Wilfully to con
trovert this truth, renders one liable to
damnation ; for " whosoever denieth the Son,
the same hath not the Father V
A point so important as regarding man's
salvation, so honourable from its divine Subject,
1 John iv. 15. b 1 John ii. 23.
OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD. 137
so intimately connected with the whole history
of the Church, well deserves our serious con
sideration ; the more so, because, alas ! the
denial of the Son is not among the number of
extinct heresies, but prevails fearfully in our
own days. Indeed, the idolatry of intellect,
and the dread of a belief in sacramental and
supernatural graces, which so distinguishes the
present time, make one have good grounds for
fearing, that even among those who are not
conscious to themselves of this deadly heresy,
and who perhaps have never fixed their minds
stedfastly on the thought, there exists a very
vague and unsatisfactory state of mind on the
subject ; so that while they would shrink from
denying the doctrine in so many words, they
are startled by some of the consequences of it ;
as that the Blessed Virgin should be called the
mother of God, or St. James and St. Jude,
the brethren of God ; or they are disturbed by
certain texts of Scripture, which apparently
assert the inferiority of the Son ; or when they
come to fix the mind closely and intently on
the human actions of our Lord, His hungering
and thirsting, and being weary, His growing
in wisdom and stature, they are so unhinged,
that they dare not look closely into that which
1 38 OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD.
is the delight of the Catholic Christian, His
perfect manhood, for fear of disturbing their
vague faith in His divinity.
Hardly had Christianity been preached any
where, before the devil began to sow the tares
of false doctrine amid the good seed. Before
the Apostles were dead, the Ebionites and
Cerinthians had begun to teach that the Son
was a mere man. Against these, St. Jerome
tells us, that St. John wrote his Gospel. In
the second century this error was renewed by
Theodotus, who was for this reason excom
municated by Pope Victor. In the time of
his successor Zephyrinus, Artemon repeated
the same blasphemy. Sixty years after this,
Paul of Samosata, Bishop of Antioch, em
braced this error, and his sect carried it out to
so full an extent, that they would not baptize
in the name of the Trinity; wherefore one of
the Canons of the Council of Nicaea desired,
that converts from the Paulianists, as they were
called, should be baptized. Then arose Arius,
of whose history we shall treat more fully
afterwards ; merely stating now, that the sting
of his heresy and of that of his followers, in
spite of all their equivocal and possibly sincere
expressions of honour to the sacred Person,
OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD. 139
whom in fact they blasphemed, lay in their
making Him a creature. How long Arianism
after its condemnation secretly affected the
Church, we know not, but from the close of
the sixth century till the Reformation it does
not attract the notice of the historian.
Now, though Unitarians have brought cri- DiT ct
Scriptu-
ticism to bear upon the sacred Scripture,
have endeavoured to overthrow the testimony
of some of the strongest texts, there is the
surest evidence in holy Scripture for this truth.
In fact, if this can be explained away, any
other dogma may be treated in the same way.
1 . The first text we meet is, that " the Word
was God c ." Here we have predicated of the
Word, 1. Eternity, "He was in the beginning."
2. Distinction of person from the person of the
father, " was with God." 3. Divinity, " was
God." And, lastly, creation, " All things were
made by Him." And this beginning of the
Gospel of St. John receives weight from all
the rest of it, which, coherent in connection
with the truths here enumerated, becomes con
fused when disjoined from them.
For in ch. i. 18. the Son is called the " Only-
Begotten of the Father." In ch. iii. 16, " the
c John i. 1.
140 OP THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD.
only-begotten Son" of God. Inch.iii. 13. Heisin
heaven while He speaks on earth. In ch. v. 18.
He calls God His Father, making Himself
equal with God. In ch. vi. 40. and elsewhere,
He claims to Himself the power of giving life.
In ch. vi. 38. He says He came down from heaven.
In ch. xvii. 8. and xvi. 27. that He came
out from God. In ch. v. 23. that He claims the
same honour as the Father. In ch. x. 30. that
He is one with the Father. In ch. x. 38. that He
is in the Father and the Father in Him. In
ch. viii. 58. that He was older than Abraham.
In ch. xvii. 5. that He was before the worlds.
In ch. xiv. 6. He declares Himself the Way, the
Truth, and the Life. In ch. ix. 38. He exacts
faith in Himself as the Son of God. In ch.
xi. 26. He allows Himself to be adored. And
the scope of the whole Gospel is, that we might
believe Him to be the Son of God d .
And other Scriptures confirm this. Our
Lord was condemned for blasphemy, because
He said He was the Son of God e . St. Paul
calls Him God's "own Son f :" " The Lord of
glory 8 :" " The great God and our Saviour 1 "."
d John xx. 35. Matt. xxvi. 64. Mark xiv. 60.
Luke xxii. 70. f Rom. viii. 3. 81 Cor. ii. 8.
h Tit. ii. 13.
OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD. 141
" His Son 1 ." " All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not any thing made which
was made." He does not say all things, but all
things that were made, i. e. all creation. Hence
it is evident, that He (the Word) was not
made, by Whom all things were made. There
fore if He be not a creature, He is of one sub
stance with the Father. For every substance
that is not God is a creature, and every thing
that is not a creature is God. And if the Son
be not of one substance with the Father, then
was His substance created; and if His sub
stance were created, all things were not made
by Him. But all things were made by Him,
therefore He is of one substance with the Father,
and therefore is not only God, but very God j .
2. The next striking text is, " Of Whom as
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over
all, God blessed for ever k ."
3. "And we know that the Son of God is
come, and hath given us an understanding, that
we may know Him that is true ; and we are in
Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God, and eternal life 1 ." The
Son of God is essentially His own eternal life,
' Gal. iv. 4. J S. Aug. Trin. i. 6. 9. k Horn. ix. 8.
1 1 John v. 20.
J42 OP THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD.
and causally that of men and angels ; for both
is He the material of everlasting life as the object
of divine contemplation, and also is He the cause
of eternal life by virtue of the merits of His
passion. And as He is the eternal life in
heaven, so is He the eternal life on earth ; "for
this is life eternal, that they may know Thee
the only true God, and Christ Jesus whom
Thou hast sent m ."
4. "And Thomas answered and said unto
Him, My Lord and my God n ." On this text
Theophylact remarks , " He who had before
been unbelieving, after touching the Lord's
Body, shewed himself to be the best divine : for
he asserted the twofold nature and one person
of Christ; by saying, My Lord, the human
nature ; by saying, My God, the divine ; and
by joining them both, confessed that one and
the same Person was God and Lord."
5. " Looking for that blessed hope, and the
glorious appearing of the great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ?." He calls Christ the
great God, to refute the blasphemy of heretics i.
6. " But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O
God, is for ever and ever r ." By this He clearly
m John xvii. n John xx. 28. Cat Aur. in loc.
P Tit. ii. 13. i Theod. ad loc. p. 706. t. iii. r Heb. i. 8.
OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD. 143
shews that the angels have a created nature, the
only-begotten Son, an incarnate and eternal one,
By " thy throne," &c. as by " He sitteth at the
right hand of the Majesty on high," He means
according to His manhood. As God, He hath
an eternal throne, without beginning or end,
yet even here the things of man are conjoined 3 .
7. "God was manifest in the flesh'." No
figures fulfilled the mystery of our recon
ciliation, ordained from all eternity, because
the Holy Spirit had not yet come over the
Virgin, nor the power of the Highest over
shadowed her, so that, Wisdom building herself
a house within her undefiled womb, the Word
was made flesh, and, the form of God being
united in one person with the form of a servant,
the Creator of time was born in time, and He
by Whom all things were made, Himself was
born amid all things".
8. " To feed the Church of God, which He
hath purchased with His own Blood x ." This
text is a most important one, as teaching what
theologians have termed the " communicatio
idiomatum," or communication of properties,
whereby from the union of the natures of
9 Theod. ad loc. p. 552. t. iii. ' 1 Tim. iii. 16.
S Leo. Ep. 13. * Acts xx. 28.
144 OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD.
God and man in the Person of God the Son,
the properties of either in the concrete may be
attributed to the other. Theophilus* says,
" Since Christ composed of two natures is one
hypostasis or person, the actions of man are
said of the "Word, and the actions of the Word
are attributed to man."
That (nature) of which He was, He humbled;
that which He was not, He assumed : not
becoming two, but condescending to become
one of the two. For either is God, both that
which did assume and that which was assumed ;
two natures concurring in one (person), not
two sons. Let not the union be denied 1 .
indirect Besides these direct texts distinctly asserting
Scriptu-
m<?nt rgu the di vm ity f the Son, there is another class
of them, viz. those which in the Old Testament
are spoken of JEHOVAH, and in the New Testa
ment are applied to Christ.
Thus, in Numb. xxi. 5, 6. the Lord is
said to have been tempted by the Israelites in
the desert; in reference to which St. Paul
says*, " Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of
them tempted Him, and perished by serpents."
In Malachi it is written b , " Behold, I will send
J In cap. 3. Job. z Greg. Naz. Orat. 31. See also
S. Leo, Ep. 10. 15. 1 Cor. x. 9. b Mai. iii. 1.
OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD, 145
my messenger, and he shall prepare the way
before Me, saith the Lord of Hosts." Our
Lord Himself interprets this passage of St.
John the Baptist , His precursor, evidently
shewing that He Himself is the Lord of Hosts,
who thus spake by His prophet.
In Isaiah d , the Lord of Hosts is said to be " for
a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence
to both houses of Israel ;" which is ascribed,
to Christ 6 our Lord in the New Testament.
In Ps. xcvii. 7. it is written of the true God
of Israel, "All the Angels of God shall worship
Him," and in Ps. cii. 26. " Thou, Lord, in the
beginning hast laid the foundation of the
earth, &c." which texts are quoted word for
word in the beginning of the Hebrews, in
proving the divinity of the Son.
We may gather a further argument for this
result from the attributes which, existing in the
Divine Nature, are applied to our Lord. e. g.
Eternity is a property which we cannot dis
sociate from our thoughts of the Deity; and
we find it applied to our Lord, " In the begin
ning was the Word f ." Immensity, and uncir-
c Matt. xi. 10. see also Mark i. 2. Luke vii. 27. d Is. viii.
13, 14, 15. ' Luke ii. 34. cf. Eom. ix. 33. and I Pet. ii. 6.
' John i. 1.
146 OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD.
cumscription, and supralocal existence, are the
qualities of the true God ; yet our Lord claims
these for Himself, in His conversation with
Nicodemuse; "And no man hath ascended up
to heaven but He that came down from heaven,
even the Son of Man which is in heaven."
From which we may infer, that while He was
in the body, personally united to it, He was as
Jjod filling all things. Yet neither, on the one
hand, did He come down from heaven as the
Son of Man, because He brought not flesh from
heaven, but took it of the Holy Virgin, of the
same kind and substance as ours: nor, on the
otherhand, when He conversed with Nicodemus,
was He bodily in heaven, but incorporeally,
in that He was God filling entirely heaven and
earth, and the regions above the heavens h .
Omniscience is the attribute of God. "Lord,
which knowest the hearts of all men 1 ." "And
God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them
witness 1 ." It is His peculiar privilege to know
all things, to be ignorant of nothing, either
past, present, or to come. Yet we are told of
our Lord 1 , "Jesus did not commit Himself unto
them, because He knew all."
s John iii. 13. b Severus Cat. in Johan. 'Acts i. 24.
k Acts xv. 8. ' John ii. 24.
OP THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD. 147
Closely connected with this, maybe reckoned
the performance of such works by Christ as
belong properly to God ; such as creation, of
which it is said, " By whom all things were
made m ;" the preservation and continuance of
that creation, of which He Himself said, " The
Father worketh hitherto, and I work" ;" the
performances of miracles, which extorted a
confession of His divinity even in the days o
His Flesh ; and, lastly, salvation, with all the
means to its attainment, remission of sin,
regeneration, and the free gift of eternal life.
" Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature p ." " For in Christ Jesus neither circum
cision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature 9 ." "From whence we look
also for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto His glorious body, accord
ing to the working whereby He is able even
to subdue all things unto Himself 1 ." " And this
is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one
which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may
have eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the
last day 8 ." " And I give unto them eternal life,
Johni. 1. n Uohn xiii. 1 4. Lukexii. 4. P 2 Cor. v. 17.
<i Gal. vi. 18. ' Phil. iii. 20, 21. John vi. 40.
148 OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD.
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand *."
There are two more epithets, which must not
be passed over by us.
1. Since the glory and majesty of the Father,
otherwise indefinable and invisible, shine forth
in the Son of God, He is termed "the brightness
of His glory ." And indeed no simile can more
fully express to us the double relation of the
Son, that He is at once in God and from God,
than this, for "brightness is both from fire
and in fire. It has fire for originating cause,
(amov,) but is inseparable from it; for whence
the fire, thence the brightness. If then it is
possible in that which can be perceived by the
senses, to be from something, and yet to exist
in it, do not doubt, (the Apostle says,) that
God the Word, the only-begotten Son of God,
both is begotten as Son, and coexists with
Him who begot Him as Word, which is the
brightness of His glory. For from whence the
glory, from thence the brightness ; the glory is
eternal, therefore the brightness is so also ; and
brightness is of the same nature as fire, there
fore the Son is the same nature as the Father 1 ."
' John i. 28. u Heb. i. 3. * Theodoret
in Cap. 1 . Heb. t. iii. p. 547 .
OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD. 149
The other epithet is "the express image of
His Person y," with which we may compare " the
light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God*," and " who is the image of the
invisible God"." All which passages are ratified
by the words of our Saviour Himself, " He
that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father." Now
the Greek word in the Bible, (tW<rra<nf,) may
be rendered either essence (oycr/a) or person
(T^OO-COTTOV), and the expression has been taken
by commentators in either way. Some hold
that the Apostle means that our Lord is the
express image of the Person of the Father, for
each is the same in essence ; but then it must
be recollected, that the word was not yet applied
to "person," and had not that acceptation in the
heathen schools. Others held with more pro
bability, that the Son is the figure and image
of the substance of the Father, for that He so
represents the Father, that the essence or nature
of the Father shines forth most perfectly in Him.
Nor does it follow that hereby the essence of the
Father is different from the essence of the Son :
for the Son represents the essence of the Father
as it is in the Father, not as in Himself,
although the essence of the Father and the
y Heb. i. 3. 2 Cor. iv. 4. Col. i. 15.
150 OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD,
Son is the same. For the Son is both the
figure of the essence of the Father, in as far as
He most perfectly represents the Substance of
the Father impressed on Himself by eternal
generation, and has the same essence Himself",
" God of God." In this there are two
propositions contained. 1. That our Lord is
G>so$, God, i. e. of the Divine Nature ; and
2. that He is Ix sou, from God, that He
is from the Father. Our Lord is one with,
yet personally separate from, God. This is
taught to us by the two descriptions of Him,
the "Word and the Son ; the title Word marking
His inseparable union with God, that of Son,
His distinction. We get as it were a double
idea of Him, as though He were so derived
from the simple unity of God, as in no respect
to be divided or extended from it, but to
inhere within His mysterious individuality.
We assert that He is " God," but we also
assert that He is "of or from God." It is the
clear declaration of Scripture, that the Son
and the Spirit are the one God, and He in
them. There is that remarkable passage which
says, that the " Son is in the bosom of the
Father;" and it is elsewhere said, that the Son
is in the Father, and the Father in the Son c .
b See Estius iu lac. Heb. c John xiv. 4.
OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD. (J51
On the other hand, Scripture traces up the
infinite perfections of the Son and the Spirit
to one principle, to Him whose Son and Spirit
they are, and the mind cannot rest till its con
ception with regard to them is referred to Him
in whom they centre. The very structure of
the Creeds, especially the Apostles' Creed,
shews this. The title of God stands against
the Father's name, while the Son and Spirit
are introduced as proceeding from and abiding
in the one eternal principle. The Nicene
Creed, though directed against the impugners
of the divinity of the Son and Spirit, observes
the same rule even in a stricter form, begin
ning with the confession of the one God.
Thus in worshipping one of the divine Persons,
we worship the other also. In praying to the
Father, we only arrive at the mysterious pre
sence through the Son and Spirit: and in
praying to the Son and Spirit, we are necessarily
carried on to the source of the Godhead from
which they are derived. St. Hippolytus says,
" When I say that the Son is distinct from the
Father, I do not speak of two Gods, but, as it
were, light from light, and the stream from
the fountain, and the ray from the sun d ."
d See Newman's Arians.
152 OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD.
" Light of Light." This expression very
strongly asserts the consubstantiality of the
Father and the Son, " for somewhere one of
the saints said of God the Father, that God is
light; and of the Son, that He is the true
light. Here then the Father is light, and
the Son is light, but true light is applied to
the Son only. The Father then would not be
the true light, since that is attributed by
John to the Son only : but I think no one
would be so mad as to hold this impious
opinion. If therefore when the Son really
is termed and is light, the Father is so also
. . . where there is identity of nature, there
there shall absolutely be consubstantiality 6 ."
"Very God of Very God." It has been
alleged, that some of the early Fathers use very
vague language with regard to the divinity of
the Son. This was natural, because until
error rose on this subject, the faith was as
much an instinct as a profession. Never having
been doubted, it was never denned. Yet it is
of importance, that we should see what can be
alleged on this subject'. "1. It has been asserted,
e Cyril Alex. t. v. p. 74.
f See Petavius de Trin. 1. i. c. 34. 5. Bulli Defens. Fid.
Nic. p. 12. 13. 17.
OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD. 153
that some of the Ante-Nicene Fathers held,
that the Word was not from everlasting, but
had been produced and begotten before other
things, and had been used by God as a minister
in the work of creation s. 2. Some of these
and others were said to teach, that the Son was
not perfectly Son till after the Incarnation; that
He was modulum divinae substantiae, whose
plenitude was in the Father alone. 3. Others
asserted, that the Son was He who had ap
peared to the patriarchs, because He was
neither incomprehensible nor invisible 11 ."
In answer to these objections it may be
said, that the Ante-Nicene Faith has been
triumphantly vindicated by Bishop Bull, and
that all that can be said is, that they were not
sufficiently accurate in their terminology.
Now with regard to the first difficulty it must
be said, that the ancients distinguish three
generations of the Word. 1. The eternal
generation. 2. The external manifestation
of the Word in creation. And, 3. The
assumption of human nature. And it is to the
8 Tertullian adv. Praxeam. Theoph. Ant. lib. ii. 19. Tatian.
Orat. con. Grsec. no. 5. Athenagoras in Apol. 10. Hippolytus
de Antich. no. 30.
h Justin, Theophilus, and Tertullian.
154 OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD.
second of these that the Fathers allude in the
objected passages.
We must measure these Fathers by other
passages in their works. Thus Tertullian, in
the very same treatise whence the objection is
taken, says, " The Word was always in the
Father, as He said, ' I in the Father ;' and was
always with God, as it is written, ' and the
Word was with God;' and was never separate
from the Father or different from Him, for, * I
and the Father are one 1 .'" Where He says,
that the Son was perfectly begotten, when
God said, Let there be light, applies to the
second generation. S. Hippolytus says k , that
this was the sentiment of the Fathers quoted
above, " seeing the Father had the Word in
Himself, and was invisible in the created world,
He made it visible, emitting His first voice,
and generating, as it were, light from light."
Again, where S. Hippolytus speaks of the
Son as being inferior to the Father, he means
in the order of origin, not of nature. He
merely alludes to that which the later Fathers
call derivation. " When I call the Son another
than the Father, (alium, not aliud,) I mean
not two Gods, but light from light, water
' Cont. Prax. 8. k Contr. Haeres. Noet. c. 10.
OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD. 155
from the fountain, a ray from the sun." So
where they speak of the Son being " minister,"
subject to the Father, and begotten by the
will and counsel of the Father, they mean that
creation of the world which the Son wrought.
IX.
THE SON IS NOT A CREATURE.
BEGOTTEN, NOT MADE.
THE Arian heresy first appeared in Antioch.
In that city, owing to political circumstances,
the Jews were powerful ; and even after Chris
tianity had begun to assert its power, the
influence of Jewish feeling was very con
siderable. Early in the third century, Lucian,
a presbyter, had uttered language indicative of
the same sentiments ; and Paul of Samosata, as
we have stated before, was Bishop of this See.
The immediate cause of the outbreak of this
heresy is as follows : Socrates 3 tells us, how that
once when Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria 11 ,
in the presence of his subject presbyters and
the rest of the Clergy, spoke freely on the
subject of the Holy Trinity, and asserted that
Hist Eccl. lib. i. c. 6.
b For some admirable arguments on the Arian controversy,
see a letter of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, in Socrates
lib. i. c. 6.
THE SON IS NOT A CKEATUBE. 157
"in the Unity there was a Trinity;" Arms,
one of the presbyters of that Church, accused
his Bishop of Sabellianism, and violently as
serted, that if the Father begat the Son, He
who was begotten had a beginning to His ex
istence ; whence it is manifest, that there was
a time when the Son was not, and as a con
sequence, that He had His Person out of
non-existence. In short, he asserted that
our Lord was a creature. In this all the
different shades of Arianism agreed, except
perhaps those Semiarians, who while they re
jected the word * Consubstantial' as a new term
in theology, taught in fact the true doctrine.
All the rest fell into this capital error.
The real secret strength of Arianism was,
that it was in fact rationalism. It was the
popular religion of the day, supported by the
influential and well-educated, defended by an
unscrupulous but able logic, and exacting little
of the obedience of faith. It was essentially
plausible. It appealed to the letter of Scrip
ture, from which it chiefly culled the following
arguments.
1. Where our Lord is termed " the firstborn
of every creature ," they maintained that this
Col. i. 15.
158 THE SON IS NOT A CREATURE.
implied that He also was a creature ; whereas
if we look at the context we find, that the
whole spirit of the passage is against this
interpretation, and that in fact it is merely an
expression implying that He was begotten
before all creatures.
2. They rested on a mistranslation of the
22d verse of the eighth chapter of Proverbs,
which used to be rendered, " The Lord created
Me in the beginning of His way;" which
passage, while all the Fathers, except Eusebius
the historian, agreed in applying it to the
eternal wisdom of God, yet some applied it
to His earthly birth, while others, such as
Epiphanius, Chrysostom, and Basil, had the
acuteness to find out the mistranslation of the
original d .
3. Another argument was from that mys
terious text, where it is said e , " But of that day
and that hour knoweth no man, no not the
angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but
the Father." Now the real meaning of this
text is, that as our Lord in addition to being
perfect God was also perfect man, he assumed,
in a way we know not, all the accidents of
d ticrhaa.ro for iwi<re, e Jtark xiii. 32. conf. Matt.
xxiv. 30.
THE SON IS NOT A CREATURE. 159
manhood, sin only excepted ; it follows, that
he therefore assumed that ignorance which is
the lot of man. As man then, He could be
ignorant of that which as God He must know.
He came to be in all things like unto us, and
therefore He came ignorant of the day of judg
ment as we are ; but being the Word and Wisdom
of God, He knew it. " If neither the truth can
deceive, nor God the Word be ignorant of the
day which He hath appointed, and in which
He shall judge the world, as having the
knowledge cf the Father, whose image in all
things alike He is, (it follows,) that the igno
rance is not that of the Word of God, but of
that form of a servant, which at that time
knew so much as the indwelling Godhead
revealed to it e ."
4. The passage in St. Luke f , where it is said,
" Jesus increased in stature and wisdom, and in
favour &c." supplied a fertile subject of attack
upon the true doctrine. It was perhaps only
fair to ask, How could the very Wisdom of God
increase in wisdom? The answer is the same
as that made to the last exception. " He did
not increase as He was the Word, but as He
e Theodoret ad 4 Cyrill. Anathem. t.iv. p. 713, 'Luke
ii. 52.
160 THE SON IS NOT A CREATURE.
was man, having a nature capable of doing
so ."' "The increase in stature and wisdom and
favour is recorded in Scripture, in order to
shew that our Lord was truly born of our sub
stance, so that they might have no grounds
for their error who assert, that instead of the
real manifestation of God in the flesh, a mere
phantasm, (Soxjjtnv,) had been begotten, which
assumed the human form. Wherefore the
Scripture does not hesitate to relate of Him
the actions which are proper to our nature,
such as eating, drinking, sleeping, being weary,
bringing up, advance of bodily stature, increase :
in short, all things whereby our nature is
characterized, propension to sin only being
excepted h ."
5. The passage, " The Father is greater
than I:" on this St. Augustine says 1 , "Some
things are so put in holy Scripture, to indicate
the unity and equality of substance of the Fa
ther and the Son ; as, 'I and my Father are one,'
and, * being in the form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God,' and the like.
There are other passages which describe Him
as less, on account of ( the form of a servant,'
Cyril. Alex, in Thesaur. Assert. 28. p. 249. b Greg.
Nyss. ad Eustath. p. 658. St. Aug. de Trin. ii. 13.
THE SON IS NOT A CEEATUEE. 161
i. e. on account of His assuming the creature
of a mutable and human substance, such as,
1 the Father is greater than I,' and, ' the Father
judgeth no man, but hath given all judgment to
the Son.' Afterwards He adds, 'and hath given
Him power to execute judgment, because He
is the Son of Man.' Again, there are other
passages, in which He is not shewn to be either
less or equal, but only that He is of the
Father; as, "As the Father hath life in Himself,
so hath He given to the Son to have life in
Himself;" and, "The Son can do nothing of
Himself, but what he seeth the Father do." These
passages are written because the life of the
Son like that of the Father is incommutable,
and yet He is of the Father : and the operation
of the Father and the Son is inseparable, and
yetthework of theSonisfrom Him, from Whom
He is, i. e. the Father. And the Son so seeth
the Father, inasmuch as thereby He is the Son k .
For it is the same thing to be from the Father,
i. e. to be born of the Father, as to see the
Father : and it is the same thing to see Him
working, as to work : but He does not work of
Himself, for He is not of Himself, &c. We
k Ut quo eum videt hoc ipso sit Filius.
M
162 THE SON IS NOT A CREATURE.
must hold this rule, that the Son is not inferior,
save as He is from the Father ; in which words
no inequality, but only generation, is ex
pressed."
X.
OP THE TERM CONSUBSTANTIAL.
BEING OF ONE SUBSTANCE WITH THE FATHER.
HAVING proceeded so far in considering the
nature of the Son of God, the Creed now de
clares, that He is of one substance with the
Father. The assertion of this became the test
of orthodoxy, though it is quite true that some
who shrunk from the term, were really sound
upon the subject.
By the term Homoousion, we mean of one sub
stance or essence; and when applied to the Son
of God, we mean that the Son has been born of
the substance of the Father, that in substance
He is the same as the Father, no human idea
regarding this ineffable truth being allowed to
enter the mind. And the term is very valu
able, as meeting both Arianism and Sabellianism ;
for as on the one hand it asserts that the Son is
If54 OF THE TERM CONSUB8TANT1AI,,
consubstantial with the Father, so condemning
Ariauism, the very expression implies comparison
with another, no person being able to be con-
substantial with himself. Thus the confusion
of persons which Sabellius taught is implicitly
contradicted.
Though this term was first authorized at
Nicaea, it had been used before. It occurs in
several writers in the end of the second and
beginning of the third century. But it had
not passed into use without serious doubts
as to its propriety; and at a Council at Antioch
(A.D. 278.) was said to have been disapproved of
in the sense that "substance" meant "person;"
but afterwards when it was explained and men
saw its value, it became the grand characteristic
of true Catholicity*. The objection, sincere in
some cases, that it was not a Scripture term,
was used much by the Arians. In various
of the Arian synods, such as Sirmium, Antioch
under Constantius, and others, this was pressed.
Yet the Fathers maintained, that though not in
very words, it was substantially in Scripture,
inasmuch as these holy records declare, that
the Father is God, the Son is God, that
there is but one God, implying therefore that
Newman's Arians, p. 205.
OF THE TEBM CONSUBSTANTIAL. 165
the Father and the Son are one God, and con
sequently of one substance.
Error is always multiform, while truth is one.
Accordingly we find the Arians split among
themselves into various shades of opinion-
Though we have before alluded to these things
in our general account of Arianism under the
last chapter, yet as we have here the symbol of
orthodoxy, it may be well even at the risk of
repetition to give a tabular view of the various
watchwords of heresy.
Aetius and Eudoxius maintained, that He was (heterusius)
of another substance.
Eunomius, disciple of Aetius, (anomoion^ dissimilar.
Eusebius and the Semiarians, (homoiousion) of a similar
substance.
These were divided into those who held,
Asterius, Eudoxius, Eat ousian homoion, (like as to being.)
Acacius, &c. (homoion,) similar.
But all shades of Arianism agreed in reject
ing the term Homoousion, which embodied the
truth, that the Father and the Son are consub-
stantial.
Ithas been objected, that the term Homoousion
implies a specific, and not a numerical, con-
substantiality; as Aristotle calls the stars of the
same substance with each other, or as men are
166 OF THE TEEM CONSUBSTANTIAL.
of the same substance with men. But it must
be recollected, that a word was necessary which
could denote the Christian's idea, which was
unknown to the heathen ; and in the mouth of
a Christian it can only have one sense. For
Christians have never admitted three individual
divine substances, so that the word consub-
stantial will endure no other sense than that of
numerical unity in a substance existing in three
Persons.
"When this term was used in relation to
the incommunicable essence of God, there was
obviously no abstraction possible in contem
plating Him, who is above all comparison with
His works. His nature is solitary, peculiar to
Himself, and one; so that whatever was ac
counted to be of one substance with Him, was
necessarily included in His individuality, by
all who would avoid recurring to the vague
ness of philosophy, and were cautious to dis
tinguish between the incommunicable essence
of Jehovah and all created intelligences.
Hence the fitness of the term to denote with
out metaphor, the relation which the Logos
bore in the orthodox creed to His eternal
Father V
b Newman's Arians, p. 204.
OF THE TERM CONSUBSTANTIAL. 167
It ought to be mentioned, that some authors
believe that the condemnation of the term at
Antioch is supposititious. 1. Because it is
not mentioned till the synod of Ancyra, in
A. D. 368, 90 years after that of Antioch.
2. On account of the great silence of the
Arians with regard to it. 3. That Eusebius
does not mention it. 4. Because SS. Athanasius,
Basil, and Hilary confess they had not seen
the Acts of the Council. 5. Because Dionysius
of Alexandria was accused before Dionysius of
Home for denying the Homoousion. 6. Because
S. Pamphilus has used it. And, 7. Because
the term was actually used in the Council.
XL
OF THE WORK OF THE SON IN CREATION.
BY WHOM ALL THINGS WERE MADE.
HOLY Scripture is very distinct in referring
creation to God the Son : " By the Word of
the Lord were the heavens made 3 ." "Who
by His excellent wisdom made the heavens V
" By Him were all things made, and without
Him was not any thing made which was made ."
" For by Him were all things created that are
in heaven and that are in earth, visible and
invisible V "God, who created all things by
Jesus Christ*." " By whom also He made the
worlds f ."
Neither must we regard the work of the
Son as merely ministerial, for the Word always
was in the Father, similar as to nature, par
ticipating in creation, and working along with
Ps. xxxiii. 6. b Ps. cxxxvi. 5. c John i. 8.
d Col. i. 16. Eph. iii. 9. ' Heb. i. 2.
OF THE WORK OF THE SON IN CREATION. 169
Him when that took place. " The expression,
* by Him,' in St. John's Gospel, is manifestly
shewn not to refer to ministration, but to
cooperation, and to be used in order that
nothing may be excepted from His creation,
in that he adds, ' And without Him was not
any thing made which was madeC "
" And when he says, ' All things were made
by Him,' we are not at all to suppose Him
ministrative (uTroo^yo?), and the servant of
another will, so that He is not naturally to be
considered a creator; but rather He alone,
being the substantial Power of God the Father,
as the only-begotten Son, does all these
things, the Father and the Holy Spirit mani
festly cooperating and coexisting with Him."
Indeed, " when the Father worketh, the Son
also shall work as His natural, essential, and
hypostatic (IvuTroVraToj) Power 11 ."
" Yet the Son can do nothing of Himself,
because He hath nothing different or foreign
from the Father, but in all things is like unto
Him ; and as He has not another substance,
so has He not another power or another
operation ; but because He has the same sub
stance, therefore He has the same power, and
t Theodor. Mops. Cat. in Joh. h Cyril. Alex, in loc. Job.
170 OF THE WORK OF THE SON IN CREATION.
therefore He does the same things, and can do
nothing but what the Father does. For He
has no other power, either greater or less than
the Father's, but there is one substance, power,
and operation of the Father and the Son 1 ."
This creation of the world by the Son is
theologically termed to have been done per
appropriationem, for both the Father and the
Holy Spirit created all things, yet creation is
peculiarly attributed to the Divine Wisdom.
St. Cyril of Alexandria 11 . " A. The divine
Moses, said, ' In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth ;' and mighty David,
acknowledging a power not foreign to God,
but in Him and from Him, that is, the
Son, said, ' By the word of the Lord were the
heavens made, and all the host of them by the
Spirit of His mouth :' Is not, I pray, you the
Word, who is from and in Him, personally
distinguished from God the Father? B. He is
indeed distinguished, for He subsists peculiarly
(ISjxwj), though He be consubstantial. A.
Seeing therefore the Father brought all things
into being and established the heavens, how
is the Word the Creator of them (Srjju-jowgyoj) ?
Tell me, who desire to learn this. B.
Theoph. ad loc. Job. * Dial. vi. De Trin. vol. v. 618.
OF THE WOKK OF THE SON IN CREATION. 171
Willingly. But this disquisition is acute and
subtle. The one nature of the Deity is
known by us and by the holy Angels, in the
holy and consubstantial Trinity. And the
Father is in His own Person most perfect, as
is the Son and the Spirit: for the creative
energy of one of those just now named, in
whatever thing it is exercised, is the efficacy
of that One, yet it permeates all the Deity,
and is the work (aTroTeAso-jU-a) of the uncreated
Substance, as if something in common, at the
same time, that singly it is appropriated to
each Person, so that through the three Persons
it should be peculiarly fitted to Each, every one
being complete in Itself. The Father therefore
worketh, but by the Son in the Spirit. And
the Son worketh as the Power of the Father,
being understood according to His own ex
istence to be in Him and from Him. And
the Spirit worketh, for He is the Spirit of the
Father and of the Son, the Maker of all
things."
XII.
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
WHO FOR US MEN AND FOR OUR SALVATION CAME
DOWN FROM HEAVEN, AND WAS INCARNATE OF
THE HOLY GHOST AND THE VIRGIN MARY, AND
WAS MADE MAN.
HITHERTO we have dwelt upon the original
glory and nature of the Eternal Son : we now
come to consider the adorable mystery of that
humiliation, which for us men and for our
salvation He underwent.
The Creed states, in the first place, that it
was on our account that this took place, " for
us men and for our salvation." It was not to
save the Angels, but us, the younger brethren
of creation, that He condescended to lower
Himself. Man, who had been formed for the
glory and honour of God, in His own Image,
to reign in Heaven with Him after due trial on
earth, had. ill responded to His gracious Cre
ator's intention, and in the sin of the first Adam
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. 173
and in those of all succeeding generations, had
frustrated the will of the Most High. Punish
ment, the just companion of sin, was due ; the
race which had commenced with so fair a
promise, had failed to fulfil it; the very phy
sical creation felt the effects of man's sin, and
while the earth, originally pronounced very
good by the lips of the Creator, began to yield
a reluctant increase, the noble being who had
been made a little lower than the Angels,
endowed with free will, original righteousness,
and all the beauties both of body and of soul,
was the doomed victim of death, crippled
in all the fair proportions of the soul, and the
object of the wrath of God. But His com
passions are unbounded ; the very first sin called
forth the wondrous scheme of its expiation ;
the fall was but the herald of the restoration.
Dark was the hour for the human race when
Adam sinned and Eve fell; but even then a
light dispelled the gloom, and the promised
Seed, Jesus the Son of Mary, was announced to
our contrite parents. And as time went on,
however lowering the clouds that hung over
the destinies. of mankind, this light never for
sook them, but in obscure tradition or in deeper
prophecy, in the solemn admonitions of tV-
1 74 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
seer, or in the cheering annunciations of the
Psalmist, " The Lord went before them by day
in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar
of fire to give them light." What then were
the means whereby mankind was released? "O
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His
judgments, and His ways past finding out."
" The Son, which is the Word of the Father,
begotten from everlasting of the Father, the
very and eternal God, and of one substance with
the Father, took man's nature in the womb of
the blessed Virgin, of her substance, so that two
whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the
Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in
one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one
Christ, very God and very man, who truly
suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, to
reconcile His Father to us, and to be a sacrifice,
not only for original guilt, but also for all actual
sins of men."
The incarnation is defined as " the hypostatic
union of the Divine Person of the Son with
human nature," or, what is the same, it is
" the union of the nature of man with that of
God in the one Person of the Word."
Now in approaching this awful subject, let
OF THE INCAKNATION OF THE SON. 175
our thoughts be chastened, and our words few ;
that God should condescend to ordain this
means of restoring the human race is very
merciful, and that it is so, should be sufficient
for us. We are not to speculate upon it, but
to thank God for it, and to live as becomes
those for whom so much has been done. But
as the more we dwell upon it, the more we see
its admirable fitness, and the more we medi
tate upon it, the more we come to comprehend
the abyss of love in the heart of God, we shall
not be doing wrong in putting before the devout
Christian somewhat of that which the Fathers
have said, regarding the means of man's salva
tion.
I. " It was becoming that our restitution to
the rank and dignity of sons of God, should be
effected by Him who is by nature the Son of
God, and that the Image of God, in which we
had been created and which had been defaced
by sin, should be restored in Him and by Him,
who is the express image of His Person*."
" None else could renew the image of God in
men, but the Image of God Himself, and none
else could again make the mortal immortal, but
He who is the Life itself, even our Lord Jesus
Athan. de Incar. Verb.
176 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
Christ For as, if a portrait becomes oblite
rated by filthy stains, it is necessary to have
recourse to him whose picture it is, that the
likeness may again be renewed on the same
pannel; so the all-holy Son of the Father, being
His likeness or image, came to us, that He might
restore man made after His own image*."
II. It was becoming, that He who had in
the beginning formed man, should be He that
should reform Him. " It was fitting that the
Creator and Maker should restore and renew
His broken work. For though creation is
attributed both to the Father and also to the
Holy Ghost, yet Scripture every where bears
witness, that by the Son all things were made.
It was fitting that the Fashioner, when His
work was spoilt, should take it again to
Himself and restore it b ." And Niceph. Bishop
of Constantinople, in the Acts of the Council
of Ephesus, says, that it was fitting " that the
Son and no other person should assume human
flesh, that from the source whence in His
infinite goodness we have received being, we
should be vouchsafed well-being also."
III. God, being infinite Goodness itself, it is
S. Atjian. 1. c. b Job. in Biblioth. Phot. cod.
2M. p. 581.
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. 177
natural that He should will to communicate
Himself to His creatures ; and though He could
have restored the human race in many other
ways, yet none appears so fitting as that com
munication of Himself in the incarnation of
His Word. For whether we consider man's
advance in faith, in hope, or love, this mystery
most directly procures it. By it our faith is
strengthened, inasmuch as the truth of God
itself, being His Son, having assumed flesh, has
constituted and founded our faith. And nothing
could so raise our hope, as that God should
shew how much He cares for us, by His own
Son becoming partaker of our nature. And
lastly, the coming of the Son of God has no
greater cause than to shew how much He loves
us. If we are slow to love, let us not be slow
to love in return* 1 ." When the divine Word
offered Himself to redeem man, it was within
the power of Omnipotence to do it either
by way of joy or by way of pain. But as
He came not only to deliver us from eternal
death, but also to draw to Himself all human
hearts, He rejected the way of glory, and chose
that of pain and lowliness; 'Who for the joy
that was set before Him endured the Cross, cle-
d S. Thos. Aq. 1. 1. 2.
N
178 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
spising the shame. For greater love than this
hath no man, than that he should lay down
his life for his friends.' ' God so loved the
world, that He sent His only-begotten Son.'
S. Augustine says, " Christ came into the world,
that men might learn how much God loved
them."
IV. "It was becoming, that as sin entered
into the world by man, by Man should enter
the remedy also ; and as by the pride of one
man, who being man, sought to be God, we
were lost ; so by the humility of one other Man,
who being the true God, condescended to
become true man, we should be restored. And
what could better pay our debts than the blood
of the Son of God, and what better ennoble
human nature than God becoming man ? Who
could better transact our affairs than the
very Son of God, and who better plead our
cause with the Almighty than the High Priest
of the eternal Father? Who could better
mediate between the discordant parties than
He who is both God and man ; as God and
Judge, preserving the interests of justice ; as
man and advocate procuring mercy for men ? As
man He took upon Him our debts, making
Himself liable and the principal debtor ; and
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. 179'
with the Divine Treasure He paid to God,
making use of the title of man to owe, and of
God to pay." St. Leo says, * Had He not been
the true God, He could not have afforded the
remedy : and had He not been true man, He
could not have given the example. As true
God He is the Redeemer, as true man our
Master and Teacher.' He came indeed to
ennoble us by taking our nature, to sanctify us
by His righteousness, to enrich us by His grace,
to teach us by His doctrine, to redeem us by
His blood, to give us life by His death. And
how could any better way be taken to shew us
the fulness of God's goodness and mercy, and
at the same time the severity of His justice,
when it took so much to prevent sin and to
pardon the sinner ? How could any thing more
clearly demonstrate the excellency of our souls,
the power of grace, the greatness of glory, the
beauty of truth, the foulness of sin, and the
dignity of man redeemed at such a price ? for
the value of each of these things shews itself
as measured by the excellence of the price of
Christ our Redeemer."
Again, to cure the many and great wounds
of our souls, what medicine could be as effi
cacious, and what better example could be
afforded, to cheer us or to shame us into our
180 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
duty, than that of Him who is God and Man ?
What could better cure the pride of man, than
the humility of God ? What better conquer
our avarice than His poverty, who being rich
for our sakes became poor ? What better
reprove our anger, than the patience of God
made man ? What more entirely confound
our disobedience, than the obedience of Christ
unto death? What better shame the wrongs
of the wantonness of our flesh, than the pains
and austerities of His ?
V. " The manifestation of the eternal Word
in the flesh had the acknowledged end, to
enable man to penetrate with undoubting
certainty into religious truths." Divine truth
is embodied in Jesus Christ, and it is in this
sense that we thank God, that a fresh light of
His glory has shone upon our eyes by the
mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, so
that from the actual sight of God in the flesh
we are raised to the contemplation of things
invisible. And this is what Dante means
when he says,
Matto e chi spera che la nostra ragione
Possa trascorrer 1' infinita via
Che tiene una sustanzia in tre Persone
State contenti umana gente al quia.
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. 181
Che si potato aveste vederi tutto
Mestier non era partorir Maria.
DANTE, Pur. iii. 33.
VI. The Incarnation of the Word took
place to complete the spiritual marriage be
tween Christ and the Church, to unite human
nature by the most intimate tie of consubstan-
tiality with the Creator. The Only-Begotten
having shone upon us from the very essence
of God the Father, and having in His own
nature all which the Father has, became flesh
according to the Scriptures, having, as it were,
mingled Himself with our nature, through the
ineffable concurrence and union with the Body
which is from the earth. Thus He, by nature
God, was truly called and became a heavenly
man, not bearing God, as some say, who do
not accurately understand the depth of the
mystery, but being in One, God and Man,
that having in a manner connected in Himself
what by nature was far apart, and alien from all
sameness of nature, He might make man to com
municate in and partake of the Divine Nature.
For the communication and abiding of the
Spirit passed through to us also, having taken
its beginning through Christ and in Christ first,
as man, anointed and sanctified, though by
nature God, as He appeared from the Father,
carna
tion.
182 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
Himself with His own Spirit hallowing His
own temple and the whole creation made
by Him, and whatsoever admits of being
hallowed'."
Now, although in many heathen nations we
find evident traces of the remains of the
patriarchal belief in the Incarnation, notwith
standing that the evil imagination of man has
in many instances made the traditions of it
either grotesque or impure, yet so totally is
this mystery above human comprehension, and
so incapable is man of appreciating the depth
of the love of God and the sinfulness of sin,
that it was only to be expected that much
secret unbelief, often evincing itself in the
shape of positive heresy, should exist upon
the subject. On the one hand, it was very
difficult to believe that a poor man, occupied
for the greater part of his life at a simple trade
in an obscure village, was the great God who
had made heaven and earth ; and on the other
hand, admitting that He was God, it was very
difficult to attribute to Him all the weaknesses
and accidents which a real participation in the
nature of man necessarily implied. Accord
ingly, we find many endeavours of the human
S. Cyr. in Joh.
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. 1 83
mind to escape from the dilemma implied in
these difficulties. Thus very early in the
history of the Church do we find men, who,
admitting more or less the facts of Christianity,
endeavoured by a theory to accommodate these
to their reason, instead of submitting their
reason to the faith.
I. First of all, were the Gnostics and Docetae,
represented by Simon Magus, Menander, Va-
lentinus, Marcion, Cerdo, Bardesanes, &c. who
in so many words denied the manhood of
Christ, maintaining that He appeared as man only
in appearance, not that He was really born so.
His manhood according to these was a phantastic
illusion, not a reality, so that He was not really
crucified, but merely the appearance of Him.
II. The next attempt of the human mind to
escape from the difficulties of the faith, was
that of Apollinaris, a presbyter of Laodicea,
in the time of the Emperors Valens and
Gratian. Dividing the invisible man into two,
the irrational and rational soul, as we would
say, the life and the soul, he denied that
our Lord had assumed the rational soul, and
maintained that the Word of God dwelling
in Him stood in the place of it. This was
met by arguments partly from the Holy
184 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
Scripture, partly from the necessity of the
case. The orthodox quoted the text, " Father,
into Thy hands I commend my Spirit," and,
" He increased in wisdom ;" and further main
tained, that " as the cause of the Incarnation
was the renewal of that nature which had been
destroyed by sin ; it was fitting that the whole
nature should be assumed, that the whole might
be cured ; for He did not assume the nature of
a body as a mere covering for His divinity, as
the Arians and Eunomians madly assert, but
He willed that the very nature which had been
conquered should overcome the adversary, and
carry off the victory. For this reason He took
both a body and a reasonable soul f ."
III. The next theory was that of Valentinus
and his followers, who maintained that Christ
was not in the substance of our bodies, but,
bringing some sort of body from heaven, had
passed through Mary without receiving ought
from her. " They foolishly held, that the flesh
united to the Word had not been compacted
of the pure blood of the Virgin, but came down
from somewhere on high." This heresy it will
be observed is like Eutychianism, in that these
maintained that the body of Christ was of one
f Theodoret.
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. 185
substance with His deity. Apollinaris seems
to have taught this error also.
IV. Apelles, a disciple of Marcion, main
tained, that our Lord received an aerial and
sidereal nature from the stars and substance
of the higher world, formed from the elements.
V. While the authors of these foregoing
heresies, though they acknowledged the super
natural fact of the Incarnation, required a
theory concerning it to accommodate it to their
reason, a coarser school met the difficulty by
taking away the supernaturalism of the event
altogether. The wicked Carpocrates, and before
him Cerinthus and Ebion, maintained, that the
Lord Jesus was the Son of Joseph and Mary,
born as other men are. This is the blasphemy
of the modern Socinians. The Fathers met it by
maintaining, that the whole is a miracle, quoting
the text, " Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and
bear a Son ;" and they embalmed this truth in
the appellation of aemoiQevo$, Ever- Virgin ap
plied to Mary, or, as we more commonly say, the
Virgin-Mother. S. Ambrose applies Ezek.
xliv. 2. to thiss; S. Chrysostom defends the
interpretation of Is. vii. 14 h : and S. Basil says,
" The same woman is at once maid and mother,
g De lust. Virg. c. viii. h Horn. V. on S. Matt.
186 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
remaining in the sanctity of virginity, yet sharing
in the blessing of maternity'." To the same
effect spake the General Council of Ephesus.
VI. They who held Sabellian views with
regard to the Blessed Trinity, naturally carried
out their false opinions into this other mys
tery, and maintained that the whole Trinity
had assumed flesh. S. Fulgentius says k , "The
entire Trinity did not assume flesh, nor did
the whole Trinity endure sufferings, nor did the
whole Trinity lie in the tomb, nor did the
whole Trinity descend into hell, or rise again
the third day. This doctrine, falsely imputed
to Catholics, belongs only to Sabellians, i. e.
Patripassians."
VII. The Arians, though they attributed to
the Word and Son alone the part of assuming
flesh, yet they maintained that His divinity was
both naturally and personally distinct from the
Father's, as has been shewn before.
VIII. Eutyches and his followers taught, that
though the two natures existed before their
union, yet that after that, only one remained ;
either one left by the extinction of the other, or
one, a third, formed by the union of the two.
' Horn. 25. cf. S. Aug. Serm. ex. clxxxiv. cxci. et passim.
* cont. Fastidiosum, c. ii.
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. 187
IX. Nestorius and his sect taught, that the
Word was not properly and substantially joined
to the flesh, but only accidentally and relatively.
It remains for us to consider the wonderful ofthe
hypp-
union of the two natures of Christ in one*^ of
Person : and it is the more to be dwelt upon, natures
because there exists a very great deal of latent
error upon this subject at present among reli
gious people. Now the union of the two natures
in Christ is not a mere relative (O^STJXJJ) union,
as the Divine nature indwelling in the saints
joins itself to their nature, but it is a natural,
essential, personal union, in which the Divine
nature has been wedded to human nature never
to be divided. And so close is the conjunction,
that by an ineffable mystery the two natures,
each retaining their identity, but communi
cating their properties, make one Christ 1 . " For
Christ hath two substances and natures, immut
able and complete, theG odhead and the manhood,
in one Person, perfect God and perfect man."
And in the reassertion of the truth, which
the Church after much disturbance effected by
means of that Spirit which was to guide the
Apostles and their successors into all truth, we
find that four truths were arrived at on this
mysterious subject. The union of the two
1 Athan. de Def. t. ii. p. 44.
188 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
natures in Christ was found to be, 1. indivisibly,
aSjai^eTcof : 2. immutably, atTgeirrcag : 3. uncon-
fusedly, acruy^yTws : 4. inseparably, /x^cal<rrcos m .
Our flesh, personally united to God the Word,
was not changed into the substance of the Word,
although it became the flesh of God ; nor was
the Word turned into flesh, although by dis
pensation He made it His own flesh. But
Christ is called and is one, and the things
whereof and wherein Christ is conceived of are
preserved, unchangeably and inseparably, not
one and another (person), God forbid, but one and
the same : (AX' sis pEY Aeyera* xai e<m Xg<rro j, <rco-
xa ev ol$ voslrcti Xprroj, oux aXXoj xai aXAoj, ju.^
yevoiro, aAA' el$ x.ai o aurof) .
Following the holy Fathers, with one consent
we confess one and the same Son, one Lord
Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead,
the same perfect in manhood; truly God,
truly man, with a reasonable soul and body ;
consubstantial with the Father according to
the Godhead, and consubstantial with us ac
cording to the manhood ; in all things like unto
us, sin only excepted . Saving the properties
m Concil. sub Menna. n Ephraem Theopolit. Pat.
Bib. Phot. cod. 229. p. 796. ut Suic. Cone. Chalc.
par. 2. ad 5.
OF THE INCABNATION OF THE SON. 189
of either nature, and combined in one Person,
humility was assumed by majesty, infirmity
by power, mortality by eternity. For each
nature retains its own nature without defect of
its properties ; and as the form of God taketh
not away the form of a servant, so neither doth
the form of a servant destroy that of God P.
He assumed what is mine, that He might
impart what is His ; He assumed not to confuse,
but to fulfil." The Greek formula of the truth
of this doctrine is, that ex quibus, in quibus, et
qua est Christus, I cov, xai ev oi$ xa a., referring
to the two natures.
" Confessing our Lord Jesus Christ to be
perfect God, we also assert that He is perfect
man, and hath all things that the Father hath,
except not-being-begotten (agennesia), and
also all things that the first Adam hath, sin
only excepted, that is, a body, a rational and
an intellectual soul. Moreover, in accordance
with these two natures, the twofold properties
of these natures, two natural wills, a human
and a divine will : and two natural energies or
operations, a human and a divine operation :
and two natural freedoms of will, a human
and divine: and two wisdoms and know-
p S. Leo.
190 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
ledges, human and divine. For being con-
substantial with God the Father, He wills
and acts freely as God ; and being consub-
stantial with us, He wills and acts freely as
man. For whose are the miracles, his are the
sufferings .
or the The Divine Word then is held to have as-
parts of
natures sume( ^ a ^ rue earthly body like unto our bodies.
assumed (( ]? orasmuc h then as the children are partakers
ord of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise
took part of the same r ." The human blood,
which being necessary to the completeness of
His inferior nature He took unto Himself
also, became by its union of infinite nay
supernatural merit. " The Blood of Jesus
Christ the Son cleanseth from all sin 8 ." He
also assumed a human rational soul, which was
united to the divinity by an immediate per
sonal union, as were the body and the blood also.
This implies that in Christ were two wills and
two operations, but these never contradicted
each other in Him. The sensitive appetite
though it shrunk from pain, was yet in perfect
subjection to the rational will, and that was in
perfect conformity with the Divine will.
In assuming human nature, the Word had
* Dam. Ortb. Fid. iii. 13. T Heb. ii. U. 1 John i. 7.
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. 191
to assume the defects incident to it, such as
the capacity of suffering hunger, thirst, pain.
" Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows '." These He assumed of His own
will, to give us an example of virtue, to shew
that He was true man, and to satisfy for us in
every kind sorrow and pain. But He did not
assume any personal defects, such as disease,
nor any thing that could dishonour His Person;
He did not assume concupiscence, or the first
motions of sin. He was totally free from all sin
whatsoever, as St. Peter says, " Who did no
sin u ." Indeed His human soul was impeccable :
1 . because, from the beginning of its existence
that human soul enjoyed the beatific sight of
God, which dispels all the deceits of sin, and
takes away the power of committing it. And,
2. on account of its hypostatic union with the
Person of the Word, in which case if the soul
of Christ had sinned, the Person of the Word
would have communicated with sin.
The two heresies, in opposition to which Errors
i i 11 -XT about
these mighty truths were evolved, were .Nes-thehy-
postatie
torianism and Eutychianism. Both sprung up union -
under the auspices of great names and solemn
offices. Nestorius was Archbishop of Constan-
' Is. liii. 4. 1 Pet. ii. 2.
192 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
tinople, Eutyches an Archimandrite of the
same Church.
So prevalent were these heresies, that at
one time Nestorianism and Eutychianism
numbered more adherents than the Catholic
Church 1 . It may be that the old opinion
of the purity of spirit and malignity of
matter, which gave rise to Mamchaeism as
well as to the old Persian faith, may have
tended to the spread of Nestorianism, which
seemed to inculcate a somewhat similar prin
ciple, or at least a principle that may be
traced to a similar feeling. Nestorius " cruelly
rent Christ," by maintaining that He had
two persons, one the person of the Son of
God, and the other the person of the Son of
Mary; that these persons were united acci
dentally ; and consequently that Mary was
not the mother of God, but of man. Of Nes
torius, Photius writes, "Nestorius has not
feared to divide and cut the one Lord Jesus
Christ into two persons ; the one mere man,
existing in his proper person without the Word
which assumed it, Trgoo-Aa/SoVroj : the other God,
ava jtx.egoj, xa yojxvov TOW Tr^ocrXijjajxaTOf *." "He
did not hold the union of the Word of God
1 Gibbon, Dec.c. 47.
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. 193
with man, but that there were two persons and
a division y." Nay, it was only the just result
of his views to say that he held " two separate
natures, and two persons, and two christs, and
two sons."
Of course, in this case he denied the true
birth of Christ ; and though when pressed he
admitted that Mary might be called the
Mother of Christ, yet it did not satisfy the
Council; for though the expression, Mother
of Christ, is a perfectly orthodox term, yet
it was inadequate, inasmuch as it did not
exclude the belief in the blasphemy we have
just recorded, and therefore the Fathers of the
Council decreed that she should be called
Theotokos, Deipara, or Mother of God, " not
as if the nature of the Word, or His Godhead,
took their beginning from the holy Virgin, but
because His holy body was born of her, and
assumed a rational soul ; and to this the Word
being personally joined, He is said to be born
according to the flesh z .
It is sad to think, that some modern divines The
tok
of eminence in the Anglican Church should
shrink from using this sacred term, commended
r Leontius de Sect. Bib. Patr. t. ix. p. SCO. z Cyril.
Alex. Act. Syn. Eph.
O
194 OF THE INCAENATION OF THE SON.
to them by the authoritative decree of a General
Council, and eminently conservative of " the
truth as it is in Jesus." But, " is there not a
cause?" Who that is familiar with the books of
devotion current among members of the Roman
Obedience, can have failed to have been struck
with the strong language used with regard to
the present office of intercession of the blessed
Virgin Mary? It is very painful to have to
object, when one desires to be at one ; it is
melancholy for those who strive and pray for
unity, to allude to a cause of unhappy division;
and yet when one comes to read of her being
immaculate in her conception, of her ' delegated
omnipotency,' and similar expressions, can one
wonder at any degree of reaction against such
exaggeration? But is there not as much loss
to the spiritual man, from a defect in dwelling
upon her wondrous privileges, as there is danger
from too highly exalting her? How few are
there that can now say with the good old
puritan Bishop Hall, "Blessed Mary, he does
not honour thee too much who maketh not a
goddess of thee :" and it is much to be feared,
that an inadequate respect for the dignity of
the Mother, too often results in an imperfect
faith in the natures and person of her Son.
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. 195
For Nestorianism is both historically and in
tellectually connected withArianism. Although
Nestorius was vehement against the Arianism
of his own time, which had developed itself
into its worst or Anomaean form, yet Diodorus
and Theodore were hoth of the school of the
martyr Lucian of Antioch; and it is remark
able, that its general prevalence was in Syria,
where Arianism had been so extensively incul
cated. Then intellectually Nestorianism was
only prevented from being Arian, by the Church
having accepted the Homoiisiori ; and therefore
its misbelief, instead of fixing itself on the
nature of God, attached itself to His Person.
To assert that Christ is a mere man, though in
words denied by Nestorius, is the just result of
of his system: for to assert that Christ was
man, joined to the Word of God by accident,
comes much to the same end. The faith of the
Church was well expressed in the Anathema-
tisms of S. Cyril, who was the instrument
raised up by God to subdue this heresy, as
S. Athanasius had been to suffer and to con
quer in the Arian times. As they are connected
with the Council of Ephesus, and so are of
great weight, we give them at length.
I. Whosoever confesseth not that Emmanuel
196 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
is God, and that therefore the holy Virgin is
the Mother of God; for according to the flesh
she brought forth the Word of God made flesh,
as it is written, " The Word was made flesh;"
let him be accursed.
II. Whosoever confesseth not, that the
Word of God the Father is substantially
united to flesh, and that there is one Christ
with His own flesh, and He both God and
man, let him be accursed.
III. Whosoever in the one Christ divideth
the Substances after they have been joined,
uniting them by connexion only, as if of the
mere worth, dignity, and power of the flesh,
and not by that union which comes from a
natural union, let him be accursed.
IV. Whosoever divideth into two persons
and hypostases those things which are contained
in the works of the Apostles and Evangelists,
and of the things that are said of Christ by
the Saints or by Himself, apply some severally
to the man beside the Word of God, and others,
as if worthy of God, to the Word of God the
Father alone, let him be accursed.
V. If any one dare to call Christ avSga
QeoQogov, a man bearing God (within him), and
not God in truth as being one, and the Son by
OF THE INCAENATION OF THE SON. 197
nature, in respect of the fact that the Word
was made flesh, and partook like us of flesh
and blood, let him be accursed.
VI. If any one say that the Word of God
the Father is the God or Lord of Christ, and
doth not rather confess Him to be both God
and man, for that the Word was made flesh,
according to the Scriptures, let him be ac
cursed.
VII. If any one say that the man Jesus
was by the operation of the Word of God
assisted, or was clothed with the glory of the
Only-Begotten as being another beside Him,
let him be accursed.
VIII. If any one dare to say that the
assumed manhood is to be adored along with
the Word of God, and together with God to
be named such and glorified, as if different
from Him, and does not with one worship
adore Him as Emmanuel, granting Him the
same glory, for that the Word was made flesh,
let him be accursed.
IX. If any one say that the one Lord Jesus
Christ was glorified by the Spirit ; as if He
used a virtue not his own, and received from
It power over unclean spirits, and the gift of
performing miracles before men, and doeth not
rather confess, that the Spirit was His own by
198 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
whom He performed the divine signs, let him
be accursed,
X. Holy Scripture relates, that Christ has
been made our High Priest, and the Apostle of
our faith. And that He offered Himself for
us, an offering to God for a sweet smelling
savour. If therefore any one say that the
Word of God did not become our High Priest
and Apostle, when the Word was made flesh
and man for us men ; but man born of a
woman was so, as one beside Him, severally :
or if any one say, that He offered His offering
for Himself too and not rather for us only,
seeing that He needed no oblation who had no
sin, let him be accursed.
XI. If any one confesseth not, that the flesh
of the Lord is lifegiving and belonging to the
very Word of God the Father, but asserts that
it is of another beside Him, joined to Him in
a union of dignity, and as a habitation of the
divinity, and that it is not lifegiving, inasmuch
as it is the property of the Word which hath
power to give life unto all things, let him be
accursed,
XII. .If any one confesseth not that the
Word of God suffered in the flesh, was cruci
fied in the flesh, tasted death in the flesh, and
became the first-born from the dead, because
OF THE INCABNATION OF THE SON. 199
He is the Life and the Lifegiver as God, let
him be accursed'.
XIII. There is a full definition of the Catholic
doctrine on this subject in a letter of S. Cyril to
Nestorius, approved by the Council of Ephesus b .
A reproduction of the Nestorian heresy Adopti-
' anisni.
took place in the ninth century in Adoptianism,
a mistake fostered by Felix and Elipandus in
Spain. These distinguished in Christ two
sons by reason of the double nature, one the
Son of God by nature, the other the Son of
God by adoption and grace. Against this the
Church taught, that Christ is naturally, and
not by adoption, the Son of God. This error
was condemned by the Council of Frankfort,
A.D. 794.
Now independently of the absolute sacred- Im i )0rt ;
ance ol a
ness of all God's truth, it must be borne inj^^
mind, that there is no truth so important as ims.
that which concerns the Natures and Person
of Christ. " The Son of God our Redeemer
is a distinct Being: He is what He is, and
none other, eternally like unto Himself, con
stantly one and the same. Not in vain do
See Petavius de Incarn. lib. vi. 16, 17.
b Cone. Eph. Pars i. cap. viii. Labbe, t. iii. 318. and
Cone. Chalc. Act. i. t. iv. 159. It is given by Carranza as
Can. xiii. of Ephesus, after the xii. Anathemas.
200 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SOX.
the Holy Scriptures connect all this with His
Person: the more they do this, the more im
portant is it to conceive of Him exactly as He
really was (is). Certain it is, that every error,
in relation to His Person, exercises a more or
less injurious effect on the piety and virtue of
its possessors: whereas a right knowledge of
His Person forms the surest and most solid
basis of a holy and happy lifeV
The tendency to a secret Nestorianism in the
present day, besides the shrinking from giving
due honour to her whom all generations call
blessed, shews itself in this: "there is a peculiar
spirit arising from an infirm grasp of our Lord's
divine personality, which leads men to speak of
His human actions in a painfully familiar
way, as if they were the actions of a man, as
any other men, and not of God made man."
We find commendations passed upon His con
duct, and epithets implying our approval of
Him, applied to Him Who is the great God of
heaven and earth. We have speculations as to
His motives, and an irreverent judgment upon
His actions, which is very revolting. Another
phase of this is, that practical Apollina-
rianism, which while it acknowledges the divinity
of the Son, cannot bear the thought of the
b Mohler.
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. '201
details of His human actions, and can hardly
face the individual! zation of every act of the
sacred manhood ; thus they form, as it were, two
conceptions of the second Person of the Trinity,
allowing each to dwell in the mind as it were
at different times, and so practically believing
in two Persons.
The opposite error to this is that of the Eut
ams
Eutychians, otherwise called Jacobites, Ace-
phali, or Monophysites. Nestorius, as we have
seen, having observed in Christ two natures,
fancied that they were two persons. Eutyches,
on the other hand, recognising one person,
imagined there was but one nature. " Our one
Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledged in His divine
and human nature, and worshipped in both,
they most audaciously and stupidly mingled
and confused into one nature." This implied
that His human nature was a phantasm. The
absurdities which this view imply are well
shewn forth by Photius". "If there be one
nature in Christ, it is either the divine or the
human nature: if it be only the divine nature,
where is the human? and if there be only
the human, you cannot escape from denying
the divine. But if it be something different
e Ep. i. Cont. Eutych. cit. Suic.
202 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
from these, (for this is the only other alter
native they have, and they seem to lean that
way,) how shall not in that case Christ be of a
different nature, both from His Father and
from us? Can any thing be more impious or
absurd to say that the Word of God, who is God,
became man, to the corruption of His own
Deity, and to the annihilation of the humanity
He assumed ? For this absolutely follows with
those who have dared to speak of Christ as of
neither nature, but of one besides these."
" The two natures were without conversion
or alteration joined together, and the divine
nature did not depart from its own simplicity,
nor did the nature of man turn into the nature
of God, nor was it deprived of existence, nor
was one composite nature made out of two.
For a composite nature cannot be consubstan-
tial with either of those natures from whence it
is compounded. If therefore, according to the
heretics, Christ exist, in one compounded nature
after the union, He is changed from a simple
into a compounded nature, and is not consub-
stantial with His Father, who is of a simple
nature, nor with His mother, for she is not
made up of the Godhead and manhood. And
He will be neither in the Godhead nor in the
OP THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. 203
manhood, nor will He be called God or man,
but Christ only ; and Christ will be the name not
of His person, but of His one nature, as they
deem. But we do not hold Christ to be of a com
posite nature, as the body and soul make the
man, but we believe and confess that He is of
the Godhead and manhood, perfect God and
perfect man, from and in two natures. Were
He of one nature, the same nature would
be at once created and increate, simple and
composite, mortal and immortal. And the
union of the two natures in Jesus Christ has
taken place, neither by disorder (Qvgpos) nor
by confusion, nor by mixture, (syncrasis or
anacrasis,) as Eutyches, Dioscorus (of Alex
andria), and'Severus say; neither is it personal
(7rgo<rnxov) nor relative, nor XO.T 0.%'iotv, nor
from identity of will, nor from equality of
honour, nor from the same name, as Nestorius,
Diodorus (of Tarsus), and Theodoras (of Mop-
suestia), said ; but by synthesis ; or personally,
(xa0' u7roW(nv,) immutably, inconfusedly, un
alterably, inherently, inseparably, in two perfect
natures in one person. And we term this union
essential (ou<no>8>]), that is, true and not phantas-
tic; essential,notinthatone nature ismadeof the
two, but that they are mutually united in truth
$04 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
into one composite Person of the Son of God.
And their substantial differences are preserved,
for that which is created remains created, and
that which is increate remains increate ; the
mortal remains mortal, the immortal abides
immortal. The one shines forth in miracles,
the other submits to injuries; and the Word
appropriates to Itself that which is of man.
For Its are the things that pertain to the Sacred
Flesh, and It gives its own properties to the
flesh, according to the law of the communica
tion of properties and the unity of person, for He
is the same who performs both the God-like and
the man-like actions in either form with the
communion of the other. Wherefore the Lord
of glory is said to be crucified, although the
Divine Nature did not suffer, and the Son of
man, even before His Passion, is confessed to be
in heaven, as the Lord Himself said d . For there
is one and the same Lord of glory, who is
naturally and in truth the Son of man, that is,
made man. We acknowledge both His miracles
and His sufferings, though the first were per
formed according to one nature, the latter
endured according to the other. Thus we know
that His one person and His two natures are
d John iii.
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. 205
preserved. By the difference of the natures
He is, on the one hand, one with the Father
and the Holy Ghost ; on the other hand, He is
one with His mother and with us. And these
two natures are joined in one composite person,
in which He differs as from the Father and the
Holy Ghost, so from His mother and us also 6 .
Now we have all a great tendency to Euty-
chianism. It gets over a great difficulty in the
reception of truth to believe the humanity of
our Lord destroyed. For faith now requires
of us to believe that the human body of Jesus
Christ still is, and that to It the Word is hy-
postatically joined, and that beyond the spheres
and systems of which we are cognizant, It,
partaking of our nature, is at the right hand of
God. This of course is a great trial to the faith.
But there is much connected with it. A true
belief with regard to the Resurrection, and an
orthodox faith in the Blessed Sacrament, both
depend upon our escaping a tendency to Euty-
chianism. Yet "it were blasphemy to assert that
He had destroyed that body, which being a real
body, He condescended to take on Him and to
speak from when on earth, in which also He will
e S. Joh. Dam. Fid. Orth. iii. 3. (abridged,)
206 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
judge us at the last day ; and to it He will liken
the bodies of His saints, according to the mighty
working whereby He is able to subdue all
things to Himself; and it is through the thought
of the eternity of Christ's body now in heaven,
that our flesh is able to rest in hope, trusting
that we shall see Him at the last day," as will
they also that pierced Him f ."
Mono- As Adoptianism is a reproduction of Nes-
I8m - torianism, so Monothelitism is a consequence
of the Monophysite error. Anastasius, patri
arch of the Jacobites, supported by Sergius of
Constantinople and Cyril of Photis, advocated
it : Sophronius, Archbishop of Jerusalem, op
posed it, and Pope Honorius was led by false
representations to give this error the sanction
of his name. It was however promptly con
demned in the Lateran Council, held under
S. Martin in A.D. 649, and in the sixth General
Council of Constantinople, A.D. 680, in the
reign of Constantine Pogonatus. The Monothe-
lites acknowledged only one will and operation
in our Lord Jesus Christ after the union of the
divine and human natures. This necessarily
destroyed the perfection of His human nature,
which was thereby deprived of will and ope-
f Morris, Prize Essay, p. 368.
OF THE INCABNATION OF THE SON. 207
ration, and it was impossible to maintain this
doctrine, and assert that our Lord was very
man.
Holy Scripture evidently shews, that there or the
rvi i i * wo P B '
were two operations in Christ, wherever they rations
. , . . ^ and wills
record His life. They exhibit our Lord utter- inChrist -
ing prophecies, and performing miracles, which
are the fruit of the Divine power only, and the
proofs of its manifestation. They reveal Him,
walking, speaking, refreshing Himself with
food and drink, hungering, thirsting, being
weary, rejoicing, sorrowing, weeping, suffering,
wounded, dying, all which things are human,
and ordained to demonstrate His humanity.
Hence there is a double operation in Him.
And hence as will is an operation of the mind,
there must be also a divine and a human will,
which is further proved from the sacred records.
All who believe in His divinity admit He had
a divine will, one with the Father's will ; but
we further see He had a human will, not adverse
but always subservient to the divine will, yet
distinct from it, and so far as a perfectly
innocent will can be different from the divine
will, different from it : as, ' Father, if it be pos
sible, let this cup pass from Me ; nevertheless
not My will but Thine be done, (not as I will
2 08 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
but as Thou wilt f .') ' I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of
Him that sent Me 8 .' The human will of our
Lord is also referred to in the Gospels h .
Operation being the substantial motion of
the nature and its essential note, (for a nature
cannot be conceived without its operation,) it
follows that there must be in Christ as many
operations as natures. And these are two.
So again, if the operation and will in Christ
were only one, it must be either simple or
composite : if simple, then it must be either
divine or human : if divine, Christ were not
man ; if human, He were not God. On
the other hand, if the nature be held to be
composite, the will and operate would be
composite also, that is, created and increate,
finite and infinite, which is impossible.
or th One consequence of the hypostatic union of
-
* wo natures * n Christ has already been
alluded to in Section VIII 1 . viz. the communi
cation of their respective properties. It is
termed by the Greeks antidosis (and also peri-
choresis), and we understand by it, that by
which either nature and the properties of
' Cf. Matt. xxvi. 39. Mark xiv. 30. with Luke xxii. 42.
g John vi. 38. h In Mark vi. 48. vii. 24. Matt, xxvii. 34.
1 p. 143.
commn-
OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON. 209
either nature are so spoken of Christ, that
what is human is applied to God, and what is
divine to man. It is necessary that this should
be carefully considered, as a neglect of it may
plunge us either into Eutychianism or Nesto-
rianism. The great rule to be observed is,
that the things which are mutually predicated
of the two natures shall be referred to His
Person ; in other words, they must be spoken
in the concrete and not in the abstract.
Now that the communication of properties
is in the concrete is clear, both from the Holy
Scriptures and from the Creeds; where, of one
and the same Christ it is said, that He is God,
and that He suffered and died. " On account
of the union of the flesh assumed, and the
divinity which assumed it, the names are
mutually changed, and what is human is attri
buted to the divine, what is divine to the
human'." Our LordJ calls Himself the Son of
Man, who k is declared to be in heaven, which
at that moment He was not as man, but only
as God: and St. Paul speaks of the Jews 1 as
crucifying the Lord of glory.
But this is not true in the abstract. The
1 Greg. Nysa. adv. Apoll. t. 2. J Matt. be. 6,
k John ui. 13. '1 Cor. ii. 8.
210 OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON.
Lutherans, to make out their rationalistic
theory of the Real Presence, have imagined the
ubiquity or omnipresence of Christ's manhood.
This comes near Eutychianism. Therefore we
may say, God, or the Son of God, died for us,
but we may not say, the Godhead died for us.
We may say God is man, the Son of God is the
Son of man, and we may say that the Eternal
One was born in time or that the Impassible
One suffered, but we may not say Impassibility
suffered, or that the Deity died. There are a
few expressions, which though justifiable as a
consequence of this truth, and capable of being
taken in an orthodox sense, are nevertheless
to be avoided ; e. g. " Christ is less than the
Father," on account of the Arians, unless we
add, " according to His manhood ;" or " Christ
is a Godbearing man" (Qe6$oo$), on account of
the Apollinarians, and the like.
XIII.
OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION.
AND WAS CRUCIFIED ALSO FOR US UNDER PONTIUS
PILATE; HE SUFFERED AND WAS BURIED, AND
THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN ACCORDING TO
THE SCRIPTURES.
THE last article which we have considered is Tbe
surely enough to warm the coldest heart; that
the great God of heaven and earth should, out
of pure love for us His erring creatures, descend
from His essential dignity, abandon His in
herent happiness, and take on Him the form of
a slave; that not content with exercising an
hourly care of His creation, and leading His
people as by the hand, that He should deign
to become part and portion of that creation, to
renew it, and to restore to man that happiness
and that paradise that he had forfeited by sin ; is
a thought that should make the Christian's heart
burn within him ; but the wonder of goodness
212 OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION.
and miracle of mercy is not yet completed ;
we have to contemplate the Son of God not
only in humiliation, but in suffering ; not only in
creation, but in pain ; not only in the form of a
servant, but obedient unto death. And what a
death ! They who have studied such things, and
have made the agonies that accompany the
separation of the soul from the body the
object of their enquiries, tell us, that the cup
which the Captain of our salvation had to drain
to the dregs, is the bitterest that can be
offered to the sons of men : and if to this
physical fact we add the thought, that our
Lord in taking to Himself human nature, took
it in its perfection, every nerve and sinew doing
its appointed work, we may conceive that the
capacity for suffering was there in its perfection
also. And who can conceive the abyss of
sorrow and of love within His sacred heart, the
agonies of mind and the unspeakable sufferings
which the expiation of our sins entailed upon
Him. By thine unknown sufferings, good
Lord, deliver us!
But it was not only that the Cross was the
cruellest death by which man could die, that the
Son of .God hung thereon. Every thought of
shame and ignominy that could attach to the
OP THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND BESUERECTION. 213
death of the vilest malefactor, was associated
with the gibbet of the Cross, It was the
punishment of the refuse of mankind, and the
earliest sentiment of unenlightened civiliz
ation had shrunk in horror from the thought of
it. Nay, the voice of God Himself had con
demned it, saying, Cursed is he that hangeth on
a tree. And so He who came to be a curse
for us, who came to bear the shame, and the
penance, and the remorse, and the malediction
which our sins had occasioned, did not refuse
to bear it even to this death.
Strange was it that the uninspired reason
of man should fix on this as the reward of
perfect virtue; yet one, wiser than any child
of earth, save him to whom the Lord gave
wisdom as a gift, when saying what would be
the fate of a perfectly good man on earth, pro
nounced the very fate which happened to our
Lord ; " He shall be scourged, He shall be
tormented, He shall be bound, He shall have
his eyes burnt out, and after suffering every
evil, He shall be crucified at a stake '."
Yet there was a peculiar fitness in the
circumstances of the Passion, which endeared
them, awful though they were, to the reverent
Plato, Eep. ii. p. 361. E.
214 OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION.
recollection of the Christian, for those sufferings
which the heathen soldiery inflicted are our life,
and His sorrows are our joy. It was seen, that,
raised from the earth, He fulfilled the type of
the healing serpent ; it was seen, that, according
to His own words, when lifted up He drew all
men to Him; it was seen, that on the Cross
He stretched out His hands all the day long to
a gainsaying and rebellious people; it was
seen, that as by the fruit of one tree sin had
entered into the world, so by another tree the
curse was taken away.
And such is the feeling of the Christian
now. Eighteen hundred years of reverent
admiration have divested the Cross of every
lowering thought. That which formerly bore
the worst of men, now glitters in the diadem of
kings. It is the sign of the Christian's hope,
it is the earnest of His triumph. Lowly
reverenced without, patiently borne within,
it is the transforming power whereby the
spirit of the world is changed within us into
the Spirit of Christ. Hear what the Fathers
say concerning it. "The Cross is our trophy
over the devil, the sword of sin, the weapon
wherewith Christ stung the serpent. The
Cross is the will of the Father, the glory of
OF THE PASSIOX, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION. 215
the Only-Begotten, the joy of the Spirit, the
ornament of Angels, the safety of the Church,
the glory of Paul, the fortress of the saints,
and the light of the whole worldV Or again,
" The Cross is the head of our hope, the
cause of infinite blessings. By it we, who
before this were dishonoured and disinherited,
have been restored to the relation of sons : by
it we no more wander, but know the truth :
by it we, who formerly worshipped wood and
stone, recognise the Maker of all things : by
it we, who were the slaves of sin, are
brought into the liberty of righteousness : by
it the very earth has become heaven. This
has freed us from error, led us to truth, re
conciled God and man, raised us from the
depths of sin, lifted us to the height of virtue,
destroyed the seductions of the devil, and over
thrown deceit ." Or hear how the Latin Church
sings in Passiontide.
Crux fidelis inter omnes,
Arbor una no bills:
Silva talem nulla profert,
Fronde, flore, germine,
Dulce ferrum, dulce lignum,
Dulce Pondus sustinent.
b Chrys. Horn. 81. Sav. t. v. Horn. 83. ib.
216 OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION.
And if this be so, is it to be wondered that
gentle and thoughtful minds should have re
marked in loving contemplation, how many
things in nature are marked with the Cross ?
how the patient beast, whereon our Master
rode in the solitary hour of His triumph, the
outstretched wings of birds, the yards of ships,
the branches of trees, and many other things,
bear this sacred impress? It is said, that cruci
form plants are never poisonous. We have on
record the aweful joy with which the first
mariners, who penetrated to the south, hailed
the constellation of the Cross, as it rose over
the stormy sea; and they who in early years
have been exiled to the lands whereon it
shines, or who have ploughed the halcyon
ocean beneath its beams, can still speak of
the holy calm which it inspired, and of the
elevating thoughts which it suggested.
Now, if we consider the theological reasons
wnv it became our Lord to die for us, we
come to this truth, that He has really and
actually satisfied the justice of God for us.
It is evident, 1. That no created thing was
able or fit to satisfy God, either for original or
actual sin, and therefore none but He who was
God could intervene. 2. The satisfaction of
OF THE PASSION, BUBIAL, AND BESUREECTION. 217
our Lord being His, the action of the incar
nate Word, it is therefore an infinite satisfac
tion, far exceeding what was necessary to
destroy all sin. And the way in which this
has taken place is fourfold. 1. As our High
Priest, He offered Himself as a victim of
expiation. 2. As our Sponsor or Surety, He
took upon Him all our sins, 3. He redeemed
us by His Blood. 4. As our Mediator, He has
reconciled us to God.
I. Our Lord from the moment of His in
carnation was a Priest, not of the order of
Levi, but of that of Melchizedek ; as David
clearly foreshewed d , " Thou art a Priest for
ever;" which passage is commented upon by
St. Paul 6 , where he shews, 1. in what Mel
chizedek prefigured Christ, viz. in name, per
son, and offering; and, 2. the preeminence of
the Priesthood of Christ over the Priest
hood of Aaron. He goes on to shew, how
that sacrifice and intercession being the chief
duties of this office, our Lord fulfilled both
in His life f . As the Jewish hierarch annually
entered the Holy of Holies, after slaying
the victim, to offer the outpoured blood ; so
Christ, having immolated the sacrifice of His
* Psalm ox. 4. e Heb. v. et seq. { Heb. ix. 11.
218 OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION.
life upon the Cross, entered into heaven
to offer His own Blood poured out on the
Cross.
II. As our Surety Christ took upon Him
all our sins. This we gather from the fifty-
third chapter of Isaiah, where it is said, that
He truly " bore our sorrows," and for this was
wounded and afflicted. So St. Peter, "Who
His own Self bare our sins upon the tree g ; that
we who were dead unto sin might live unto
righteousness ; by whose stripes we are healed."
So St. Paul b ; " He who knew no sin, for us
was made sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him'." And, " Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us ; as it is written, Cursed is
the man that hangeth on a tree."
III. That our Lord redeemed us by His
Blood, is not less clear in the holy volume.
We read, " Who gave Himself a redemp
tion (query, the price of the redemption)
for allV " He gave Himself for us, to
redeem us from all iniquity 1 ;" or, as St. Peter
more clearly says m , " Knowing that not with
the corruptible price of silver and gold are we
1 Pet. ii. 24. > 2 Cor. v. 21. ! Gal. iii. 13.
k 1 Tim. ii. 6. > 1 Tit ii. 14. ra 1 Pet, i. 18.
OF THE PASSION, BUKIAL, AND BESUERECTION. 219
redeemed from the vain conversation given to
you by your fathers, but with the precious Blood
of Christ, as of a spotless Lamb ;" implying, that
just as gold and silver are given in price for any
earthly thing, so the Blood of Christ has been
given as the payment for our redemption.
IV. God was well pleased with Christ as our
Mediator, and accepted His reconciliation of
us. Being angry with us for our sins, and
demanding their punishment, it became Him
to be reconciled to us, when Christ, to expiate
these, offered Himself to suffer in our place.
Thus St. Paul, " When we were enemies we
were reconciled to God by the death of His
Son m ." And, " In Him it pleased the fulness of
the Godhead to dwell, and by Him to reconcile
all things in Him, making peace by the Blood of
the Cross, of things, I say, in earth or in the
heavens n ."
Our Lord is mentioned to have "suffered" for Christ's
m suffer-
two reasons. First, to identify the suffering ing-
with the second Person of the adorable Trinity,
in opposition to that phase of the Sabellian
theory, which by maintaining the unity of
person, had held that it was the Father who suf
fered, and was hence called Patripassianism.
m Eom. x. 10. n Col. i. 19.
220 OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION.
These " dwelt with such exclusive zeal on
the Unity of the Godhead, as to absorb, as it
were, the whole Trinity into one undivided and
undistinguished Being. The one supreme and
impassible Father united to Himself the man
Jesus Christ by so intimate a conjunction, that
the Divine Unity was not destroyed;" a propo
sition, which though in one sense true, yet, as
understood by them, laid them open to the
blasphemous conclusion, that the Father must
have suffered on the Cross. They thought
that this specially belonged to the Father,
since they believed that the owo-j'a, or sub
stance, was the property of the Father, and
that the other two Persons were, as it were,
evepyeioti of Him.
Secondly, to controvert those heretics who
maintained, that our Lord only suffered in
semblance and not in in reality. Basilides and
his followers held this; and that Simon the
Cyrenian, who had been compelled to bear the
cross, had been crucified in His stead .
It is necessary that we should express our
selves accurately on this point. " The divine
Word endured all things in the flesh, His divine
nature only remaining impassible. For in the one
Irenseus, lib. i. adv. Haer. i. 33.
OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION. 221
Christ, compounded of the Godhead and Man
hood, existing in the Godhead and Manhood,
and suffering, that which was born to suffer
did suffer: but the impassible did not suffer. For
the passible soul existing in the body suffers
when it suffers, but the divinity being impassible
cannot suffer with the body. Hence we may
say, God suffered in the flesh, but we may not
say that the Godhead suffered in the flesh, or
that God suffered through the flesh p ."
Our Lord's "burial" is specially mentioned, Christ's
* Burial.
first, to oppose the Docetae, or Phantasiasts,
and those who asserted our Lord was only in
appearance dead. This error began in the
time of the Apostles, and it is against these
that St. John writes'', "Many false prophets
have gone out into the world," &c. Simon
Magus held this doctrine.
2dly, To give new thoughts with regard to
death, for the death and burial of Christ has
stripped death of many of its terrors, and it was
a sweet thought, but founded in truth, which
termed the Christian's grave a resting-place,
(ccemeterium,) and so St. Stephen fell on sleep :
and the day on which blessed Mary was re
moved from this world is, in the Eastern Church,
P Dam. Orth. Fid. iii. 26. i 1 John iv. 3.
222 OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION.
still called "The rest of the Virgin." S. Chry-
sostom says, " Before the coming of Christ, death
was called death, and not only death, but hell;
but when Christ came and died for the life of
the world, death was no longer called death,
but sleep and repose."
3dly and chiefly. The sepulture of Christ had
its own direct work in our salvation, as every
action of our Lord, being the action of God
the Word, is of infinite value by reason of the
greatness of the Agent. Each action of Christ
has, as it were, a sacramental influence in man's
salvation ; wherefore in the Litany we invoke
Him, " by the mystery of Thy holy incarnation,
by Thy holy nativity and circumcision, by Thy
Cross and Passion, by Thy precious death and
burial.'" Now the burial of our Lord has this
virtue, that as the death of the old man in
us, which is the inward work of the Spirit
gradually destroying the remains of the fall
in each one, emanates from the death of
Christ, so the burial of the old man, which is
effected in our baptism, is the fruit of His
sepulture. S. Augustine' says, "Whatever was
done on the Cross of Christ, at His burial, at
His rising the third day, at His ascension into
r in Enchir. ad Laur.
OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION. 223
heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God,
were so done, that mystically, not in words
only, but in actions, the Christian life here below
might be depicted. For on account of His
Cross it is written, " they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."
Of His burial, " we are buried with Him by
baptism unto death." Of His resurrection, that
as " Christ rose from the dead by the glory
of the Father, so we ought also to walk in
newness of life." Of His ascension, and seat at
the Father's right hand ; " If ye then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God s ."
4thly, The burial of our Lord helps much to
systematize our thoughts with regard to His
divine and human nature ; for God the Word
was hypostatically united both to body and
soul, and therefore the body that was in the
grave was as much the body of God as the soul
that descended into hell ; and yet we may not
say that the divinity was crucified, or that the
divinity was buried in the grave, which was
an error of the Eutychians. " Although He
died as a man, and His holy soul was separate
from His pure body, the inseparable divinity
See also Origen, lib. ii. adv. Cels.
224 OF THE PASSION, BUKIAL, AND RESURRECTION.
remained with both body and soul. And
even so the one Person was not divided into
two Persons. For both body and soul, (KO.TO.
TOIVTOV l otqxW)} at once and together from
the first, had their existence in the Person
of the Word; and when these were sepa
rated in death, each of them remained, having
the one Person of the Word. So that the
one Person of the Word was the Person both
of the Word, and of the soul, and of the
body. For never had the soul or body a person
of their own, but only that of the Word.
Hence, though the soul was locally separated
from the body, it was personally united to it
by the Word 1 ."
vi . tal . There are therefore in Christ two unions,
union in
Christ. tne p ersona i or hypostatic, and the vital union.
The divine Person of the Word was personally
united immediately to a soul, and also to a
body, and that soul was united to that body
by the vital union. Both these unions took
place at the same moment, at the time of the
Incarnation, when the blessed Virgin Mary
said, " Be it unto me according to thy word."
Both these unions lasted during the life of our
Lord, but in His death, the vital union between
1 Dam. Orth. Fid. lib. iii. 27.
OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION. 225
His body and soul was dissolved, and the soul
separated from the body, but the personal
union was never severed ; and therefore the
divine Person of the Word remained united to
the Body in the sepulchre, and also to the
Soul, which descended into hell.
" And the third day He rose again according to The R<--
the Scriptures," No confession of the Christian tion -
faith can be complete without an assertion of the
Resurrection, for that was the one fact on which
the early propagators of Christianity rested the
truth of their mission. If they could convince
their hearers, that a man, after undergoing a
public execution, and lying in the grave for
part of three days, had returned to life, and
been " seen of many," and that before His death
he had on many occasions announced that this
should take place, they had gone far to shew
that the person so spoken of was nothing short of
Divine. And however unlike Deity the rest of
the circumstances of his life were, that one fact
truly believed was sufficient to remove the
character and nature of the Subject out of the
common laws of nature and reason, and to
place It within the dominion of faith. Accord
ingly we find, in the Acts of the holy Apostles,
that to preach " Jesus and the Resurrection,"
Q
226 OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION.
was the burden of their mission, e. g. " To
whom also He shewed Himself alive after His
Passion by many infallible proofs, being seen
of them forty days"." "Whom God hath
raised up, having loosed the pains of death*."
" Unto you first, God having raised His Son
Jesus, sent Him to bless you y ." "And with
great power gave the Apostles witness of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus'." " Him God
raised up the third day, and shewed Him
openly*." " But God raised Him from the
dead b ." " Opening and alleging, that Christ
must needs have suffered, and risen again from
the dead ." " Of the hope and resurrection of
the dead I am called in question this day d ."
" Of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul
affirmed to be alive 6 ." "That Christ should
suffer, and that he should be the first that
should rise from the dead f ."
Now Christ rose again with His very body.
It is true that that glorified Body exhibited
properties, which our bodies possess not, which
revealed to us in holy Scripture, prepare our
Acts i. 3. Acts ii. 24. and 31. i Acts iii. 26.
also iv..lO. z Acts xviii. S3. a Acts x. 40.
b Acts xiii. 30. c Acts xvii. 3. also 31 and 32. d Acts
xxiii. 6. e Acts xxv, 19. f Acts xxvi. 23.
OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION. 227
minds for the supralocal Presence of His Body
in the Sacrament of the Altar. We find Him
passing through closed doors, conveying Him
self from place to place in an incredibly short
time, not requiring the ordinary supplies of
food, though eating to convince the disciples of
His identity, but still with the Body in which
He had lived He rose, and ascended into
heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the
Father. St. John Damascene says, " After His
resurrection from the dead, He laid down all
passions, that is to say, decay, hunger and
thirst, sleep and toil, and such like ; for
although He tasted food after His resur
rection, He did not do it by virtue of a law
of nature, (for He did not hunger,) but by
way of economy, to give faith in the truth of
His resurrection, and to prove that it was the
same flesh which suffered and rose again. He
put off no part of His nature, either body or
soul, but He possesses a body, and a rational
and intellectual soul, that can will and act.
And so He ascended into heaven, and so He
sitteth at the right hand of God, willing,
both as God and man, our salvation ; as God,
ordering the government, preservation, and
providence of all things ; as man, remembering
228 OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION.
His conversation upon earth, seeing and know
ing that He is adored by the whole reasoning
creation. His holy soul knoweth this, because
it is hypostatically joined to the Word of God,
and so is worshipped as the soul of God, and
not simply as soul. And the ascension into
heaven, and again His return and coming
again, are the actions of a circumscribed body.
" For so He will come to us, as ye have seen
Him go into heavens."
Now the dead had returned to life before
this ; God's saints had ere this been endowed
with power to recal the departed; our Lord
had done so Himself; but all those who had
come back from the unseen world, had come by
another's power and at another's will. In the
case of the Resurrection, our Lord did it by
His own power. " Therefore doth my Father
love Me, because I lay down my life, that I
may take it again. No man taketh it from
Me, but I lay it down Myself. I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it
again 11 ." On which St. Cyril remarks, " He
uses the word, I have power, to shew the con
sequences of His own nature, both that He
had power over the very bonds of death itself,
8 Fid. Orth. iv. 1. " John x. 17, 18.
OF THE PASSION, BUEIAL, AND RESUKRECTION. 229
and could easily change the nature of things,
which is the property of Him Who is by
nature God. And so He says, " Destroy this
temple, and in three days / will raise it up '."
And hence St. Paul adduces a proof of His
divinity k , " And declared to be the Son of God
with power, according to the Spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead:" as much as
to say, Had He not been consubstantial and of
one kind with the Father, He could not have
raised His flesh from the grave." Nor does
this truth militate against those texts of Scrip
ture, where it is said, that the Son was raised
by the Father ; for a holy Father 1 asks, " In
what does the Father work ? Surely in His own
Power. And who is the Power of the Father ?
No one else but Christ, who is the Power of
God and the Wisdom of God. Therefore the
Saviour raised Himself, though it be said the
Father raised Him." And another tells us m ,
" If sometimes the Divinity of the Only-Be
gotten be said to have raised the Body, and
sometimes the Father, there is no discrepancy,
for Holy Scripture often ascribes to the Father
what is done by the Son."
' John ii. 19. k Rom. i. 4. ' Greg. Nyss. de
Kesur. Orat. 2. p. 402. t. iii. m Theodoret on 2 Cor. xiii. 4.
230 OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION.
But in addition to the proof which the
Resurrection has furnished of the truth of
Christianity, it has itself a particular work in
the salvation of man. It is closely connected
with that part of man's redemption, which we
term justification, our being made righteous.
"Who was delivered for our offences, and raised
again for our justification." " For if the dead
rise not, then is not Christ raised ; and if Christ
be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in
your sins."
Justin- Justification consists in the remission of sin
cation.
and in the infusion of grace, and is thus both a
forensic act, and a spiritual process within the
soul. Yet these processes are not two but
one, as the illumination of space and the
dispersion of darkness is one and the same
thing. When man by the sin of Adam
lost his innocency, he became by nature the
child of wrath, and so crippled in his powers,
that neither Gentile by the law of nature, or
Jew by the law of Moses, could do good. In
this sad condition the Father of mercies and
God of all comfort in the fulness of time sent
His Son, whom He had promised, to redeem
the Jews that were under the law, to lead the
Gentiles which followed not after righteous-
OF THE PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION. 231
ness, and to receive all into the adoption of
sons. " Him God hath set forth to be a pro
pitiation through faith in His Blood, not only
for our sins, but for the sins of the whole
world." Yet though He died for all men, all
shall not receive the benefit of His death, but
they only to whom the merit of His Passion is
communicated; for as actually men, unless
they were born of the seed of Adam, would
not be born unrighteous, seeing that they con
tract unrighteousness by that very birth; so,
unless they are born again in Christ, they will
never be made righteous, seeing that with that
regeneration, by the merit of the Passion, that
grace whereby they become righteous is given
unto them. For this benefit the Apostle ever
exhorts us to " give thanks unto the Father,
Who hath given us to be partakers in the inherit
ance of the saints in light, and hath delivered
us from the power of darkness, and hath trans
lated us into the kingdom of His dear Son; in
whom we have redemption through His blood,
even the forgiveness of sins." These words
imply the justification of the sinner, inasmuch
as therein is the translation from the state in
which man is born as a child of Adam, into the
state of grace and adoption by the second
Adam, Jesus Christ our Saviour : which trans-
232 OF THE PASSION, BUBIAL, AND KESUKBECTION.
lation since the promulgation of the Gospel
cannot take place but by the laver of regene
ration, or by the desire of it at least ; as it is
written, " Except a man be born of water and
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of heaven." Justification in adults commences
from the preventing grace of God by Christ,
i. e. from His gracious call, whereby, from no
merit of their own, they are called : so that
they who by their sins were turned away from
God, are by His grace moved to cooperate with
that grace, so that God touching the heart of
man by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and
man not resisting it, they come to justification.
And this being so, aided by divine grace, and
obtaining faith by hearing, they are freely in
fluenced towards God, believing those things to
be true which He has revealed, especially that
justification is by Christ Jesus, and that there
fore in spite of their sins they may yet hope in
Him ; and so commencing to love God and to
hate sin, they propose to receive baptism, and
to lead a new life. On this preparation jus
tification follows, which is not only the remis
sion of sin, but also sanctification and renovation
of the inner man, by a voluntary reception of
grace, and the gifts of the Spirit. By this he
who was unrighteous becomes righteous, he who
OF THE PASSION', BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION. '233
was at enmity becomes the friend of God and
an heir of everlasting life.
" "We are justified by the Father, considered
as the principal cause, by the Son as the
meritorious purchaser, by the Spirit as the
immediate efficient, by baptism as the ordinary
instrument of conveyance, by faith as the
instrument of reception, by faith and holiness
as necessary qualifications and conditions for
the receipt and preservation of if." In other
words, The final cause of justification is the
glory of God, and eternal life. The efficient
cause is the merciful God, who freely works
and sanctifies. And the meritorious cause is
His only -begotten Son Jesus Christ. The
instrumental cause is the Sacrament of Baptism.
The formal cause is the righteousness of God,
not that whereby He is just, but that whereby
He makes us just, in that, His Spirit dwelling
in us, we are renewed in the spirit of our minds.
Faith also is the beginning, foundation, and root
of all our justification, and we are justified only
for the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
not for our own works and deservings.
But when once justified, and made the friends
and servants of God, we must go on from
strength to strength, and be daily renewed in
n See Waterland, ix. p. 5.
234 OF THE PASSION, BUBIAL, AND EESUEEECTION.
our minds, by mortifying the flesh, and putting
on the whole armour of righteousness. Then
we shall be more and more justified, as it is
written, " He that is righteous, let him be righ
teous still :" and it is this increase of justification
that we seek, when we pray unto God to give
us the increase of faith, hope, and charity.
Spiritual Besides this, our spiritual resurrection is
resur
rection. c l ose ly connected with the resurrection of our
Lord. In Baptism the catechumen descended
into the water, and came up again out of it, to
typify the death and resurrection of that Lord
to whom he was now mystically united. This holy
Sacrament ' represents unto us our profession,
which is to follow the example of our Saviour
Christ, and to be made like unto Him, that as
He died and rose again for us, so should we who
are baptized die from sin, (typified by descent
into the water,) and rise again unto righteous
ness,' which is signified by coming up out of the
same. Thus the resurrection of the Lord is
that which sanctifies the habitual state of
grace, and the regenerate condition of the
Christian. " If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above .... for ye
are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in
God."
n Coloss. iii. 1, 3.
OF THE PASSION, BORIAL, AND RESURRECTION. S35
Lastly, the resurrection of Christ is a pledge Pledge
of our
of ours. He is the first-fruits of them that resu . r -
rection.
slept, and this very rising is an earnest that we
shall rise also. " The Body shall follow the
Head." St. Thomas says, that the resurrection
of Christ as the cause of our resurrection,
working in the power of the Deity, extends
itself to the resurrection both of soul and
body. For it is of God that the soul lives by
grace, and the body by the soul. Wherefore
instrumentally the resurrection of Christ has
an effective power as to the resurrection of
man. By way of example, it effects the
resurrection of souls, because our souls should
be conformed to Christ risen from the dead ; as
the Apostle says, " That as Christ rose from
the dead by the glory of the Father, so we
also ought to walk in newness of life." And as
He rose from the dead, and dieth no more, so
we also ought to esteem ourselves dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through the
resurrection. And as to the resurrection of
our bodies, the humanity of Christ being
hypostatically joined to the divinity, has the
quickening power, in the firm hope and ex
pectation of which we calmly wait the end.
3. 66. 1. 3.
XIV.
OF THE ASCENSION, ASSESSION, RETURN,
AND REIGN OF OUR LORD.
AND ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN, AND SITTETH ON THE
RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHEK. AND HE SHALL
COME AGAIN TO JUDGE BOTH THE QUICK AND THE
DEAD, WHOSE KINGDOM SHALL HAVE NO END.
THE faith reveals to us, that forty days
after His resurrection, our Lord ascended into
heaven in sight of His disciples. Now though
God is every where, yet heaven is ascribed to
Him as His peculiar resting-place, as it is
written, ' Heaven is my throne.' And yet we
"are not to imagine any thing corporal about
this inhabitation, for God being uncircum-
scribed filleth all places, but inasmuch as He
rests in the holy spirits above, as in the saints,
therefore we say, Heaven is His throne and
dwelling-place "." As refers to the Deity then,
we use the expression " place" metaphorically.
Cyril. Alex, in Es. Ixvi. 1. &c.
OF THE ASCENSION, ASSESSION, RETURN, &C. 237
We talk about God being present or absent
only in a secondary sense; but this is not so
with regard to the Manhood of Christ. Of
that we are to believe that it is still subject to
certain of the laws of bodies; that while it is
sacramentally on every altar in Christendom,
it is locally and naturally in heaven, not every
where, as the Lutherans falsely teach, but in
that place of glory and majesty which is termed
the right hand of the Father. St. Chrysostom (?)
says, " If you hear that He ascended, do not
think that there is a bodily change of place in
God : for the Deity filleth all things, and is
omnipresent ; but He deigned to assume a
body of the same kind with us: that was taken
up on highV " He ascended to heaven, not
where God the Word was not before, for He
was always in heaven, and abode in the Father;
but where the Word made flesh had not sat
before."
Nor are we to believe that the flesh sits in
heaven senseless, like an empty scabbard with
Christ removed from it, but the two natures
are still undivided, and the Word still dwells
in human flesh, and that rests on the throne of
God.
b Horn. 161. Sav. t. v. and Ruff, in Symb. ap. Cypr.
288 OF THE ASCENSION, ASSESSION, RETURN,
Now the reasons for the ascension of Christ
are manifold. It was not fitting that He
should remain for ever on earth, and our con
dition required His ascension. Both our faith
and our hope required that He should ascend,
that we might be the more assured that the
work of our redemption was finished, and that
the kingdom of heaven was opened to all
believers. " The ascension of Christ, says
S. Leo, is our advancement, and whither the
glory of the Head hath preceded, thither the
hope of the body c ." Christ was taken into heaven
as the first-fruits of our nature. Christ has gone
before, and we shall surely follow. " Whither
the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus,
made an High Priest after the order of
Melchisedec d ." The ultimate destiny of the
human race was revealed in our ascended Lord.
The merciful intention of God in creation
was fulfilled. The pattern Man did what
was required of Him, and His end was that
for which man was made. To be gathered
unto God body and soul, and to become
one with Him, to live in eternal bliss,
such was the end of man, and such we
see it exemplified in our Forerunner. What
c S. Leo, Serm. i. in Ascens. c. 4. & Heb. vi. 20.
AND REIGN OF OUR LORD. 239
encouragement here for the Christian, to
be sure that there is a resting-place for the
body and soul of man in the bosom of
his Creator, and to know that as earnest
of his final end, Human Nature is already
there.
It is a consequence of the Ascension, that the Christ
Man Jesus Christ, the great High Priest of the "jgj^
new law, stands before the celestial altar, and
ever exercises His sacerdotal office, in shewing
forth to His Father His precious Passion, and
in offering the prayers and supplications of the
whole Church.
Now even heathenism was familiar with the
sacerdotal character of the Deity. In the
Hindoo system, the Deity is the Supreme Pontiff
of the universe. He is law, He is intelligence,
from whom all systems have been evolved.
The Brahmin is an emanation from him,
carrying to earth the attributes He pos
sesses in heaven. The Arians, through the
orientalism of Plato, adopted this sort of
idea, for they held that Christ as the Word
was an High Priest. The Church, on the con
trary, held, that, according to the prophecy,
" Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of
240 OF THE ASCENSION, ASSESSION, KETURN,
Melchizedech 6 ," that He assumed this office at
the moment of the Incarnation, not as God
but as man. S. Cyril, writing on the text of
St. Paul f , 'consider the Apostle and High
Priest of our profession Christ Jesus, who was
faithful to Him that appointed Him,' says,
" St. Paul is not here declaring the nature, but
the incarnation, of the Word. For when was
He made the High Priest of our profession ?
when the Apostle? When was He faithful to
Him that appointed Him ? Was it not when
for us men He was made man ? As St. John
writes, ' The Word was made flesh,' as man He
was made faithful to His Maker, performing
His work, as He Himself testifies. Then
became He the Apostle, sent on our behalf and
for us ; then became He the High Priest of
our confession, offering the acknowledgment
of our faith to the Father, and His own Body
as a pure offering to God, that He might
cleanse us all by Himself 8."
And His office is twofold. 1. That of in
tercession : as Augustine says h ; " What doth
the Priest for ever ? What doth He ? He
Ps. ex. 4. f Heb. iii. 1. t S. Cyril, t. \. p. 213.
b In Ps. .cix. (ex.) 4.
AND EEIGN OF OUR LORD. 241
is at the right hand of the Father, and in-
tercedeth for us, entering as a Priest the
inner courts, and the holy of holies, and the
secret places of heaven." 2. That of offering The
Eiicha-
gifts and sacrifices for sin 1 , even His own* 4 -
precious Body and sacred Blood. S. Epipha-
nius says k , " And this, that He is made a Priest,
means that in His Body He offered Himself
to the Father for the human race. He the
Priest, He the Victim, offered Himself, ex
ecuting the High Priest's office for the whole
creation ; then spiritually and gloriously ascend
ing into heaven, with the same Body He sat
down at the Father's right hand, having be
come a High Priest for ever, and entered into
the heavens." There also He offers the com
memoration of the One Bloody sacrifice, in
the unbloody sacrifice of the Eucharist, by
the hands of His servants on earth.
" First, therefore, the shadow preceded, the
image followed, the verity shall be. The
shadow was in the Law, the image then in the
Gospel, the truth in heavenly places. The
shadow of the Gospel and of the Church was
in the Law, the image of the future truth in
the Gospel, the truth in the judgment of God.
i Heb. v. 1. k User. 09. c. 39.
R
242 OF THE ASCENSION, ASSESSION, RETURN,
Therefore of the things which are now celebrated
in the Church, their shadow was in the words
of the Prophets, in the flood, in the Red sea,
when our fathers were baptized into the cloud
and into the sea ; in the rock, whence flowed
water, and which followed the people. Was
there not in the shadow the sacrament of this
holy mystery: was there not in the shadow
water from the rock, as if blood from Christ,
which followed the people who fled from it,
that they might drink, and not be thirsty ; that
they might be redeemed, and not perish. But
now the shadow of the night of darkness of
the Jews is past away, and the day of the
Church is at hand. Now we see good things
by an image, and we hold the good things of
the image. We see the King of High Priests
coming to us, we see and hear Him offering
for us His own blood: we follow Him as we
can, priests, that we may offer for the people
sacrifice, feeble indeed in our deservings, yet
honourable in our sacrifice, for though Christ is
not beheld offering, He is offered on earth,
when the Body of Christ is offered; indeed,
He is manifested offering in us, Whose word
sanctifies the sacrifice which is offered. And
He indeed stands by the Father as our Advo-
AND EEIGN OF DUE LOBD. 243
cate: yet now we see Him not, but we shall
see Him when the shadow has passed away,
and the truth has come. Then we shall not
see the things that are perfect through a glass,
but face to face 1 .
III. It was necessary also, that Christ as Christ
our King should enter into heaven. He had King.
conquered death and hell, He had borne the
burden of the heat of the day, and it was fit
that, having suffered, He should enter into His
glory, that He should triumph gloriously, coming
from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah,
that He should reign and sit upon the throne
of His Majesty. For Christ is not only King
in His original nature, but He is King in His
incarnate state. And as King He now sits
upon the throne of grace, as He shall hereafter
sit upon the throne of judgment. There is a
throne of grace, and there shall be a throne of
judgment ; and they who come now in sincere
faith to their King, will find acceptance and
mercy, for now is the accepted time.
As Priest and King then, Christ sitteth at the
right hand of the Father ; as it is written, " The
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right
1 S. Ambros. in Ps. xxxviii. (xxxix.) . 26. p. 852.
244 OF THE ASCENSION, A8SESSION, RETUBN,
hand ;" and that right hand means the highest
honour ; as a Greek Father says, " When you
hear of the right hand of God, do not describe
to yourself places and scenes of glory. For
right and left concern those things which
can be circumscribed, but God is uncreate
and undefined, formless and uncircumscribed.
Therefore understand by right hand, His glory
and honour." And S. Augustine explains the
right hand of the height of felicity, and plea
sures evermore. It is, in short, beatitude, the
final consummation of bliss. And S. Jerome
adds to this idea, the thought of power ; where
fore the Creed continues, "Whose kingdom
shall have no end." Indeed some of the Fathers
gathered an argument for the equality of the
Father and the Son from this. Theophylact
says," He sitteth at the right hand of the Majesty
on high, not because God is included in place,
but to shew that He is of equal honour with
the Father. For He has reached His Father's
throne, and as the Father is in heaven, so
is He."
The " And He shall come again to judge the
ment. quick and the dead." The Constantinopolitan
Fathers added, " with glory," to describe the
m Q. 45. de Parabol. Evaiig. ap. S. Athan. t. ii. p. 318.
AND BEION OF OUR LORD. 245
chief circumstance of that awful event. Now
a real belief in the Last Judgment is a great
grace from God. Many who have a vague idea
of a future retribution, (for a belief in that is
deeply written in the nature of man,) cannot
bring home to themselves the awful strictness
of its particulars. They imagine, that at the
end there will be a sort of balance struck, that
the bad will no doubt be punished and the
good rewarded, but this does not go much into
their practice. It goes so far as to make them
afraid when they have committed a great crime,
or it gives them a general uneasy sensation
when they take a general review of their lives ;
but it does not influence their actions, above
all it does not instigate them to holy action.
Conscience being mainly prohibitory requires
the addition of faith to stimulate it to righteous
exertion. Now if there be one point strongly
pressed, it is the strictness of that inquisition
which will take place in the Judgment; as it is
written, " For every idle word that men shall
speak, they shall give an account." "And I saw
all the dead, small and great, stand before God :
and the dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books, according to
their works."
246 OF THE ASCENSION, ASSESSION, RETURN,
Now having established the subject-matter
of the Judgment, that there is to be such an
awful day, the Creed has attached the office of
Judgment to the Son of God. In one sense
God absolutely is the Judge, and the last day is
called " that great day of God Almighty"," but
we are also told that He hath given all judg
ment to the Son, because He is the Son of man.
" Behold, He cometh in the clouds, and every eye
shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him."
It was fitting that He who is the Mediator of
the New Testament, the Priest, the Lord, the
Intercessor, the Brother, the Spouse, the Head,
should also be the Judge ; that He through
Whom all grace has been given, should be the
rewarder of cooperation with it, the punisher
of its despite ; that the Lord of Life should be
its apportioner ; that the Maker of man should
award his final destiny. " He shall come as
Judge, who once stood before the judge ; He
shall come in that form in which He was judged,
that they may see who pierced Him, and that
they who received Him not may know Him ."
And who are the objects of the Judgment ?
" The quick and the dead." Though some have
interpreted these terms of the souls and bodies,
Rev. xvi. 14. S. Aug.
AND REIGN OF OUR LORD. 247
others of the good and bad, yet it seems more
probable that the more literal meaning is the
true one, viz. those who are alive at the moment
of the Judgment, and the great mass of the de
parted. Next to the strictness of the great day,
its suddenness and unexpectedness are what are
most frequently insisted on in Holy Scripture.
The Son of Man shall come as a thief in the
night. The similes of the antediluvian world,
and the destruction of Sodom, all imply that the
world shall be going on just as it is now, when
the Judgment comes, and therefore the world
shall be peopled, and those alive shall be caught
up quick to judgment.
Lastly, the ends of the Judgment are, 1 . The
conclusion of that great scheme of probation,
whereby each child of Adam goes through his trial,
and as he fulfils his mission or fails in it, shall
be rewarded or punished accordingly. It is the
end of all those providences which are connected
with the free will of man. Each man's life is
a course of trial, and the end alone shews the
result. Now though as a matter of fact, a
particular judgment must needs be passed on
each one at the hour of death, to determine his
position in the intermediate state, yet it needs
the solemnity of the final day to declare it.
248 OF THE ASCENSION, ASSESSION, RETURN,
2. And next, it is the great means by which
the justice of God is made manifest. Here we
only see the end of the golden chain that hangs
between heaven and earth, and there are many
providences which we cannot fathom. We see
virtue crushed to the earth, and vice triumphing.
We see the most total disproportion of the lots
of men. Why should the lord have more than
the beggar? We see one man carried to the
grave after a life of uninterrupted success,
another the victim of the frowns of fortune.
Why is this? Though God occasionally gives
us hints of His justice, and shews us just enough
to convince us that it is well with the righteous
and ill with the wicked even here; yet to mark
the Christian dispensation, (unlike the earlier
times,) he has referred the ultimate retribution
both of good and bad to the future state. And
accordingly, when the great day comes, much
that is inscrutable to us now will be cleared up.
3. God has revealed to us the Judgment, that
by the thought of it we should be urged both to
piety and patience p . " Blessed is that soul, which
day and night hath no other care than how, in
the great day, when every creature shall stand
around the Judge to give an account of their
P S. Bas. p. 1050. Ep. 283 hod. 174.
AND REIGN OF OUR LORD. 249
works, she shall be able to relate her life. For
whosoever continually places that day and that
hour before his eyes, and ever thinks of his de
fence at that most just tribunal, is likely to com
mit no sin, or at least very few." Hence also
S. Chrys. says q , "Let us ever be saying to our
selves and to others, there is a resurrection, and
a terrible judgment awaiting us."
" Whose kingdom shall have no end." There
are two kingdoms of Christ which shall have an
end, bright and glorious though they be. The
kingdom of His power, which at this moment
extends to the utmost system, and embraces all
things, shall cease to be when God is all in all.
The kingdom of His grace, holy, pure, and
blessed though it be, shall cease when faith is
merged in sight, and hope in fruition, but the
kingdom of His glory shall have no end. It
shall last for ever.
The reason why this Article of the Creed
was declared was, that Origen believed that the
kingdom of Christ after many ages should end.
Marcellus of Ancyra thought that the office of
King was committed to Him temporarily, and
that He Himself, abandoned by the Word,
which was only transiently inhabiting Him,
i Horn. xlv. in Job. Sav. t. ii. p. 742.
250 OF THE ASCENSION, ASSESSION, RETURN, &C.
would be reduced to nothing. The Church, on
the other hand, held, that Christ as man
should reign for ever. Hence this dogma
implies also the eternity of the Incarnation.
"Wonder," says S. Chrysostom, "at the awful-
ness and ineffable nature of this mystery. He
shall for ever inhabit this tabernacle. He has
put on our flesh, not as if to lay it aside again,
but to have it ever with Himself. Forotherwise,
He would not have deemed it worthy of the
Royal Throne, nor would He have been adored,
wearing it, by all the heavenly host of Angels,
Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities,
and Powers 1 ."
r In Joan. Horn. xi. ver. fin.
XV.
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
AND IN THE HOLY GHOST, THE LORD, THE LIFE GIVER,
WHO PROCEEDETH FROM THE FATHER (AND THE
SON), WHO WITH THE FATHER AND THE SON IS
WORSHIPPED AND GLORIFIED, WHO SPAKE BY THE
PROPHETS.
THE very structure of the Creed here is
supposed to imply a confession of the Divinity
of the Holy Spirit, as reckoning Him with
the Father and the Son. "If the Spirit be a
creature, how can we believe in Him, or how
are we perfected in Him. It is not the same
to believe a thing and to believe in it. The
one appertains to the Deity, the other to any
thing"." Epiphanius points this out to us, and
says, that it means more than the mere asser
tion of His existence, implying also His con-
substantial unity with the Father and the Son.
Greg. Naz. Orat. 37. hod. 81. . 6.
252 OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
What then does the Faith reveal to us con-
ofthe
Holy cerning this Person in the adorable Trinity.
" The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father
and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and
glory with Them, very and eternal God. He is
the Comforter, the gift of God, and the eternal
subsisting love of the Father and the Son."
He is proved to be God, 1. because every
creature serves God, and the Spirit does not
serve Him, therefore the Spirit is not a crea
ture. 2. Every creature has a determinate
nature, but the Spirit is omnipresent. " Whither
shall I go then from Thy Spirit ? The Spirit
of the Lord hath filled the earth." 3. The
Spirit is not found to be created neither in
the first creation, or in the recreation in Christ,
or in the final creation, which is the resur
rection of the dead, but in each of these He
cooperates. 4. If we are the temples of the Holy
Spirit. Temples only belong to God. 5. And
lastly, the form of Baptism b is held to give
proof of the divinity of the Spirit, inas
much as He is mentioned similarly with the
Father and the Son. So also in the Apostolic
Benediction. "The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the commu
nion of the Holy Ghost, be with you."
b See S. BasD, Ep. 141. hod. 8. . 11.
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 253
Moreover, He must be truly and properly
God, to whom the name of God, the divine
properties and operations, divine worship,
honour, and dignity, and, lastly, divine origin
and procession, are attributed.
And first, as to the name of God, St. Peter
accusing Ananias says," Why hath Satan tempted
thine heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost? thou
hast not lied unto men, but unto God ."
Then as to properties; we have Omniscience
attributed to Him in the verse, " The Spirit
searcheth all things, even the hidden things
of God d ." "When the Spirit is come, He
will lead you into all truth 6 ." Omnipotence:
" The same S pirit which raised our Lord from the
dead, shall quicken your mortal bodies'." Om
nipresence, "The Spirit of the Lord hath filled
the earth 8 ." Inspiration: "Holy men of old
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
Creation : " Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they
are created 11 ." The working of miracles: "If I by
the finger of God cast out devils ... in the Spirit
of God 1 ." Operation of grace j . Gifts of Teaching
and Ministry 11 . Remission of sins, and regene-
c Acts v. 3. d 1 Cor. ii. 10. John xvi. 13.
f Rom. viii. 11. * Wisd. i. 7. h Ps. civ. 30.
i Matt. xii. 28. J Luke i. 38. k Is. hri.
254 OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
ration 1 . The good of the Church" 1 . Granting
of gifts". Sanctification . Resurrection P.
But some have objected, that the Holy Spirit
is not a Person in the Godhead, but a certain
power or influence of God metaphorically
impersonated, just as death, sin, the law, and
sacred Scripture, are sometimes in Scripture
invested with personal qualities' 1 .
To this we may answer, that the texts we
have adduced above prove not only the divinity
but the personal and hypostatical existence of
the Holy Ghost. For He is described as living
and working equally with the Father and the
Son. Moreover He is described as being sent,
as also the Son is sent. He is declared to be
" another" in comparison with the Father and
the Son: if then the Father and the Son be
two hypostases or subsistent persons, it follows
that the Holy Ghost is so also.
And as to the figures of speech, it must be said,
that in all these cases quoted it is quite clear that
the Apostle is speaking metaphorically; and to
push the argument to its legitimate consequence,
1 1 Cor. vi. 11. m Acts xiii. 2. "1 Cor. lii. 4.
SThess.ii. 12. andl Pet.i. 2. Rom. v. 5. PRom.viii.il.
1 Rom.v.2. James i. 15. Rom. vi 12. Rom. vii. 23. Gal. iii.
24. Gal. iii. 8.
OF THE HOLT SPIRIT. 255
it would turn every Scriptural personage into
allegory.
And He is described as being,
I. Holy r . St. Cyril ' says, " He is called holy,
and God is holy. Thus the celestial powers
celebrate Him, not as having an imparted
holiness; ... He is holy by nature, as being
from and in the naturally holy God." S. Atha-
nasius 1 says, "That which is not sanctified by
another, nor partaketh of holiness, but is Itself
that partaker of, and by which all creatures
are sanctified; how can He be one of these,
or apart of the nature of these things that
receive of Him." " The whole Trinity is one
Spirit, one love. But when the word holy is
added, when we speak of the love of the Father
and of the Son, then we speak of the Holy
Ghost only. For the Father is a Spirit, and the
Father is holy, but He is not the Holy Spirit 11 ."
II. The Lord, or " the Lordly." " He the
same is Lord, who is the Spirit of the Lord, that
is, He has called the Spirit of God Lord ; as
where the Apostle says, " The Lord is that
Spirit: and where is the Spirit of the Lord, there
' See S. Chrys. ? Horn. 72. t. 6. De Sp. t. v. p. 665.
Ad Serap. . 23. t. i. p. 671. u Rich. c. S. Viet.
p. 424. Sum. Sent. Tract, i. c. x.
256 OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
is liberty *. Wherefore you have the Holy Spirit
called Lord, for the Son and the Holy Spirit
are not one Person, but one thing*."
III. He is termed " Life-giving," as in the
Romans 1 He is termed the "Spirit of Life."
" By the Holy Spirit is given the restoration of
Paradise, the return into the kingdom of heaven,
the restoration of the adoption of sons, the
confidence of calling God our Father, the com
munion of the grace of Christ, the appellation
of sons of light, the participation of eternal
glory : in a word, the plenitude of benediction,
both in the present time, and in the future of
good things prepared for us a ." " The world had
not eternal life, because it had not received the
Spirit ; for where is the Spirit, there is eternal
life : for the Spirit is He who worketh eternal
life"."
Proces- IV. He is described in the original form of the
the Holy Creed as " proceeding from the Father." Pope
Spirit.
Sergius III. is supposed to have added, " and
the Son," in order to express the whole truth
on the subject. Baronius attributes this to
Pope Nicholas ; Binius to Benedict VII. c The
* 2 Cor. iii. 17. J S. Ambrose De Sp. S. ii. 1. p. 637.
z Rom. viii. 2. S. Bas. de Spir. S. c. 15. b S. Ambrose
De Sp. S. p. fi39. Vide not. B. n. ap. Labbe t. ii. p. 1156.
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 257
Holy Ghost is of the Father and the Son,
neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but
proceeding; while Christians must rejoice in
every full declaration of the faith of God, yet
it is sad to think that this is one of the subjects
which have rent the Christian world. The
Greek Church still maintains the incomplete
faith upon this subject. She asserts in the
very words of the Creed, that the Spirit pro-
ceedeth from the Father.
At what time this error sprung up in the
Church is doubtful. It is probable that it
arose at the time of the Macedonian and Arian
controversies. Theodoret first attacked S. Cyril,
because that in the eleventh Anathematism
against the Nestorians, he termed the Holy
Spirit, Spiritum Christi Proprium, the peculiar
Spirit of Christ. Also the Monothelites re
proached S. Martin I. for asserting the double
procession in his Synodical Letter d .
As we said, it is also doubtful at what time
the Filioque was inserted in the Creed. It is
agreed on all hands, that the Creed begun to be
sung with the addition in Spain, when the Arian
Goths were converted, A. D. 589. Through
Gaul and Germany this usage penetrated to
d S. Maximi, Epist. ad Marin. Gyp. Mansi, t. x. p. 696.
S
258 OF THE HOLT SPIRIT.
Italy. Leo III. allowed it,buthung up the Creed
on tablets without the addition. Benedict VIII.
allowed the Constantinopolitan Creed to be
sung at the Mysteries, and then with the
addition.
Now we believe that the Holy Spirit eter
nally proceedeth from the Father and the Son,
as from one principle and by one spiration.
This may be proved from the holy Scriptures,
" He shall glorify Me : for He shall receive of
mine : therefore said I, that He shall take of
mine, and shew it unto you 6 ." Here the Holy
Spirit receiveth of the Son, because what the
Son hath He hath from the Father, and of this
is Substance by generation; and this Substance
which is one with the Father and the Son, the
Holy Spirit receiveth.
As the Son has all things in common with
the Father, and the Spirit receives of the Son,
therefore the Spirit receives of the Father and
the Son, as from one principle.
Again, in the same chapter 1 , our Lord
promises to send the Spirit, and He is else
where called the Spirit of Truth, which is the
Words the Spirit of Christ 11 , and the Spirit
e John xvi. 13. f ver. 7. ver. 13. h Rom. viii. 9.
OF THE HOLT SPIRIT. '259
of the Son 1 . " The Spirit is not foreign (alie-
nus) to the Son, for He is called the Spirit of
Truth, and Christ is the Truth; and He pro
ceeds from Him as from God the Father V
It is not necessary l that one should speak of
Him, for He must be confessed as having
origin from the Father and the Son, (quia de
Patre et Filio auctoribus confitendus est.)
" Seeing that the Holy Spirit" 1 proceedeth
from the Father and the Son, He is not
separated from the Father or the Son." And ",
" As the Son is begotten of the Father, and
the Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the
Son, so the will is generated by the under
standing, and from both of these the memory
proceeds."
S. Augustine, in stating that the Spirit
proceeds from the Father principaliter, says,
" And therefore I have added principaliter, be
cause the Spirit is found to proceed from the
Son also. But this too His Father gave Him,
not as to one before in being, if not yet having.
But whatsoever He gave to the only-begotten
1 Gal. iv. 6. k S. Cyril. Ep. ad Nest. De Exc. . 10.
Con. Eph. i. 26. l See S. Hilary De Trinitate, lib. ii. 29.
m S. Ambros. de Spir. Sanct. c. i. 10. "In the book De
Dignitate Hum. Cond. c. xi. S. Aug. de Trin. b. xv. c. 17.
260 OF THE HOLT SPIRIT.
Word He gave in begetting. So He begat
Him, that from Him also the common gift
should proceed, and that the Holy Spirit
should be the Spirit of Both."
" There is One who begat, Another who was
begotten, and Another who proceedeth from
both P."
Among the Greeks, S. Athanasius say si,
" The Son is the Fountain of the Holy Spirit,"
and r , " He giveth to the Spirit, and whatever
the Spirit hath He hath from the Son."
S. Basil says', " Because He is called the
Spirit of Christ. As the Comforter He ex
presses in Himself the goodness of the (other)
Comforter by Whom He is sent, and exhibits in
His own dignity the glory of Him from Whom
He proceeds'."
SS. Epiphanius, Didymus, Cyril of Alexan
dria, and Greg. Nyssen, while they do not use
the complete formula, evidently teach the full
doctrine on the subject. The first says, " The
Holy Spirit only is termed from the Father
and the Son, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of
God, and the Spirit of Christ";" "a third light
P S. Leo Mag. Ep. xciii. i De Trin. xix. r Orat. 8.
cont. Arian'. lib. de Sp. S. c. 18. See Petavius de
Trinitate 00. vii. 3 et 4. Hser. Ixxiv. n. 9.
OF THE HOLT SPIEIT. 261
from the Father and the Son*." Greg. Nyssen?,
" The same thing must be said concerning the
Holy Spirit : the order only is different. For
as the Son is united to the Father, and having
being from Him, yet exists not after Him in
the order of time ; so again, the Holy Ghost
receives of the Only-Begotten, who is only in
thought, after the manner of a principle, con
templated before the existence of the Spirit.
For intervals of time have no place in that life
which is before all worlds, so that putting
aside the thought of origination (ahiot), the
Trinity in nothing differs from itself." S. Cyril
of Alexandria, proving to Palladius that the
soul of man is not the Spirit of God, because
it is subject to change, says, " In no way is the
Spirit of God mutable: for if it hath the
infinity of change, this taint would be referred
to the Divine Nature, eiirsg IOTI TOU 0eou, xai
IlaTPOf, xai /x.ijv xa TOU Tfou TO ouo~ia>aSf 1% ju,<po7v
eTrovv ex Hotrgo; 8' Tiou Trgo^eo'jtx-svov Ilvsujw,a.
There are many other passages in S. Cyril to
the same effect 2 .
It is true also that some Eastern divines hold
the true doctrine, but object to the interpo-
* Haer. Ixxiv. 8. i Adv. Eunom. lib. ad fin. * Petav.
Trin. Ivii. c. 3.
262 OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
lation of the Creed, thus transferring the
question from being a matter of faith to being
a matter of authority. Others connect the
procession, not with the eternal existence of
the Holy Spirit, but with the economy of
man's redemption ; but it is to be feared, that
the retention of the incomplete formula has
had its effect, and that very many of the or
thodox Easterns do hold the single procession.
" We assert that the Holy Spirit proceeds from
the Father, and is the Spirit of the Father ;
we do not assert that the Spirit proceeds from
the Son, but we term Him the Spirit of the
Son*." It is true that very many of the Fathers
do speak in language, which at first sight
justifies them. Thus S. Gregory Nazianzen
says b , " The Spirit is truly the Holy Spirit,
proceeding from the Father, not like a Son,
nor by way of generation, but by way of
procession." But elsewhere he says c ; "We
must believe in one God the Father, with
out beginning and unbegotten ; and one Son,
begotten of the Father ; and one Holy Spirit,
having His substance from God, yielding to
the Father only in not being unbegotten,
Dam. Orth. Fid. i. 9. b Orat. 39. . 12. p. 630.
c Orat 26. Hir. 32. . 5. p. 445.
OF THE HOLT SPIRIT. S63
and to the Son in not being begotten, but
in all things else of one nature, dignity,
glory, and honour." St. Epiphanius says,
" Always d has the Spirit proceeded from the
Father and received of the Son : for He is not
different from the Father and the Son, but is
from the same Essence, from the same Deity,
from the Father and the Son, with the Father
and Son."
Yet, after all, we may humbly hope, that the
discrepancy is one of words, for the Greeks
confess that the Spirit is not only the Spirit of
the Father, but of the Son; that He has the
same substance, divinity, and majesty as the
Father and the Son ; that He receives of the
Son, and so cannot speak of Himself ; that He
is manifested and given to us by the Son ; and
therefore we may charitably conclude, that
while from a veneration for the Councils of
Nicaea and Constantinople, they wish to keep
the Creed untouched, they do in fact maintain
that truth so necessary to salvation.
Besides these descriptions of the Spirit, we
learn that most mysteriously He is the eternal
Love of the Father and the Son, the bond of
union in the Adorable Trinity; whence He is
d Epiph. Haer. 62. c. 4.
264 OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
termed, Osculum Patris et Filii, and the
sweet Savour, the Breath of the Nostrils, the
Unguent, and the Seal. He is also called by
excellence, the Gift, the Finger of God, the
Ambassador, and the Director, alluding to the
Constantinopolitan expression, " the Lord."
As the Son is the manifestation of the In
tellect of the Deity, so the Spirit is that of His
Will. Hence His office in the work of the
Incarnation in which " God commended His
love" to us. As God is the first cause and
origin of all good, the fountain and principle of
it, He is the Summum Bonum : and therefore
blessedness can rest no where else but in It.
God then alone is properly and principally
blessed. But how can He be blessed, whom
the self-same thing that He is pleaseth not,
(cui idipsum non placet quod est) ? Whosoever
is blessed, both loveth Himself, and loveth
that which He is. If, therefore, the Father
and the Son, and the Love of the Father and
of the Son, are one thing, and are one God,
since in Him alone is perfect blessedness, each
must love Himself, and also each other. And
as by nature the Father and the Son, and the
Love of the Father and the Son, are one, so also
they cannot be not one in love and will also.
OF THE HOLY SPIEIT. 265
They love one another with one love, because
they are one: nor does the one love aught
else in the other than He loves in Himself;
that which Each is, is not from another source
than that which the Other is. What the
Father loves in the Son, the Son loves in
Himself. And what the Love of the Father
and the Son, loves in the Son, the Son loves in
Himself. What the Son loves in the Father,
the Father loves in Himself, and what the
Love of the Father and of the Son loves in the
Father, the Father loves in Himself. What
the Father and the Son love in their own love
by the Spirit, that the Love of the Father
and the Son loves in Himself. What the
Father loves in Himself, He loves in the Son
and in His Love. And what the Son loves
in the Father and in His Love, He loves in
Himself, and what the Love of the Father and
Son loves in Himself, He loves in the Father
and the Son; Who with the Father and the Son
together is worshipped and glorified f .
They who denied the divinity of the Holy
Spirit were,
I. The followers of Simon Magus, who
maintained that He was only an energy, not a
f Rich. S. Victor, vii. 23. p. 52.
266 OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
person in the Deity. This is plainly refuted
by 1 Cor. xii.
II, Those who made the Holy Spirit the
servant and minister of God, as the Mace
donians. Connected with which were those,
III. Who maintained that He was a creature.
This was the belief of the Arians, and in fact
of the Macedonians also. Eunomius main
tained that the Spirit was not personal, but
the creation of the Son.
The equality of the Spirit with the Father
and the Son is proved by these things, which
being the attributes of God, are in Holy
Scripture applied to It. As the fact that the
Son " came forth" from the Father is proof of
His consubstantiality, so that the Spirit pro-
ceedeth from Him proves the same. " If the
wisdom which proceedeth from the mouth of
God cannot be called created ; nor the Word
that is declared from His Heart, nor the Power
in which is the fulness of the Eternal Majesty;
so neither can the Spirit which is breathed
from the mouth of God, seeing that God so
declares His unity, as to say, that He poureth
forth of His own Spirit 1 ."
s Ambros. 1 Sp. S. c. 8.
OF THE HOLY SPIKIT. 267
The form of Baptism further shews this; "for
what community can exist between the Creator
and the creature? how shall that which is
made be numbered along with the Maker,
for the perfect initiation of all h ?" " God is
one, for we are not baptized unto the names
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
but into the name. When you hear one name,
there is one God 1 ."
" Who spake by the Prophets." Although inspira-
this expression clearly announces both the fact, * e P T
that God by His Spirit has been pleased to
vouchsafe some revelation of his will to the crea
tures of His Hand; and also, that that revelation
has in deed been conveyed by means of certain
persons called the Prophets, whose existence and
writings were recognised facts at the time of
the Council of Constantinople; yet neither of
these assertions are what the Fathers there
assembled intended to impose upon the Church
by this term. On the contrary, it seems clear
that the expression is used as a corroborative
proof of the divinity of the Holy Ghost; as
much as to say, since He who is worshipped and
glorified, together with the Father and the Son,
h Athan. Orat. ii. 41. cout. Arian. ' S. Aug. Tract, vi. 9.
Joan.
268 OF THE HOLT SPIRIT.
has also spoken by the Prophets, He is and must
be God. No one then doubted that God had
spoken by the Prophets, that is, by men sent by
Him ; although the Marcionites, and some sects
of the Manichees, held the Old Testament to
be the work of an inferior and malignant power.
There was a general belief among the faithful
in the inspiration of the Prophets ; there was
therefore no need of asserting this. And so,
the general inspiration of the prophetic works
was allowed by all sects; and in fact nothing was
said in the Council either about the canonicity
or inspiration of the sacred records. But it
was highly proper, that in supplying the faithful
with a form of truth concerning the third Person
of the Adorable Trinity, that this peculiar
energy of His should be dwelt on, both as
affording strong evidence of His divine nature,
and as inculcating the belief in one great sphere
of His operation, connected especially with the
next Article in the Creed, " I believe One
Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church."
It is difficult to trace the immediate motive of
this addition, either in the Acts of the Council, or
in the works of S. Gregory Nazianzen, to whom
this is attributed; but itwouldseem, that it was
the natural embodiment of the tradition of the
OF THE HOLY SPIEIT. 269
Church on the subject of the Holy Spirit, which
in an earlier time, rendered necessary by the
Marcionite heresy, had come to be intimately
connected with the Church's thought concerning
It, even when the immediate danger had passed
away. In earlier times, as in S. Justin k and
S. Clement 1 , we see that this was one of the
natural ideas connected with the Holy Spirit ;
and we find it is embodied in one of the earlier
Creeds, the Creed used in the Church of
Jerusalem.
And here one cannot fail remarking, how that
Holy Spirit, in putting into the minds of the
Fathers of Constantinople to assert this His
mighty operation, provided for the refutation
of heresies not then developed. It is fitting
that we should believe, that the authoritative
words of an (Ecumenical Council, being guided
by God, should possess that same power which
the written word of God possesses, of having a
meaning and significance far beyond the mind
of those who uttered it ; and therefore, though
the Constantinopolitan Fathers did not at the
time think that they were providing against a
future evil, they were in truth supplying the
Church with a weapon to be used in these last
k Apol. i. 6. 13. 31. 32. 33. 1 Psed.i. 5.
270 OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
days, when the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures
is being so ruthlessly attacked. This is not the
place to enter upon this question ; but it comforts
the mind to dwell upon the verity, that the
Church has in all ages been deeply convinced of
the truth, that the Holy Spirit has indeed in
spired the writers of the Sacred Volume, and
that to whatever degree He influenced them,
how far soever He may have employed their
peculiarities of nature, or overruled their iden
tities, what they have transmitted to us is the
undoubted word of God.
XVI.
OF THE CHURCH.
AND I BELIEVE ONE HOLY CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC
CHURCH.
THE word Church is derived from the
Greek word xw^axij, and teaches us thereby
that it belongs to the Lord God. It is His
House, His Servant, His chaste Spouse ; His
own, by purchase at the price of His own
Blood. It is expressed in Greek and Latin by
the word lxxX>jcn'a, from the word sxxaAsco,
teaching us that it implies a selection, and
means the congregation of the elect, " the
assembly of the saints, welded together (<rwy-
xexgOT^/Aevov), out of a true faith and a good
government 3 ."
Of the Church of God there be two parts,
The in-
one triumphant and one militant, one invisible * ible .
Church.
and the other visible. In the invisible Church
are all they who having finished their course in
faith, do now rest from their labours. In what-
Isid. Pels. Ep. lib. ii. 246.
272 OF THE CHURCH.
ever state or condition they may be, all are
members of the Catholic Church. Yet all
are not in the same state ; for our Lord says,
" In My Father's house are many mansions."
It is not for us to rend the veil which the
Providence of God has hung before the portal
of the place of departed spirits ; but this we
know, that " blessed are the dead that die in
the Lord, for they rest from their labours ;" and
to such to be " absent from the body," is to
be " present with the Lord ;" and some are
waiting till their change come b . But in
whatever state they are, each one has his
place assigned to him, according as he has
cooperated with the grace given unto him.
" Their works do follow them." All are
saved, all united to Christ, all one with
Him, yet " one star differeth from another
star in glory." They "who have not defiled
themselves," have a song which none but they
can sing, and they who have shed their blood
for Christ, are near Him " under the altar;" and
the Apostles sit on thrones judging the twelve
tribes of Israel, and she from whom He received
His human body, and who was more blessed
in that she heard the word and kept it, than
b Job xiv. 14.
OF THE CHUKCH. 273
that hers was the womb that bare Him, is
there, in the glory given to her as the Mother
of Him Who is God. For as His Manhood is
not lost in His Godhead, but is deified ; and
His Godhead and Manhood, joined together in
One Person, are never to be divided, so does she
remain for ever the Mother of Him, Who, being
before the worlds born of The Father, God the
Word, was in the last days incarnate and born,
as Man, of her. Nor are the holy angels,
with their nine wondrous orders, excluded from
the Church's pale. Though not the subjects of
redemption, yet are they in the Church of God e .
But high above all in this mighty republic, sits
enthroned amid ten thousand seraphs, Jesus
the Son of Mary, the King of saints, and the
Head of the holy Church. He it is Who is
the Joy and Bread of angels. He it is Who
communicates, as from a source, life and vigour,
by His Spirit through all His members. He
it is who is "set in the heavenly places far
above all principality, and power, and might,
and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but in that which is to
come;" under whose feet "all things are put,
and Who is head over all things to the Church V
c S. Nicet. Exp. Symb. Ang. Mai. vii. 336. d Eph. 1.20.
T
274 OF THE CHURCH.
He it is Who is "the Apostle and High
Priest of our profession, called of God, an
High Priest after the order of Melchizedech e ."
The And by the communion of saints all this
visible
church, extends to earth ; to us poor miserable creatures,
if so be that we are His. For by the visible
Church, we understand that Society, founded
by Him, in which, by means of an enduring
Apostolate, the deeds wrought by Him in
His mortal life, for the redemption and sanc-
tification of mankind, are, under the guidance
of the Holy Ghost, continued to the end of the
world. In other words, the Catholic Church
is the Body of Christ, " assumed f by the Word
made Flesh," "is ^joined to the Flesh of Christ,"
His h body, His temple, His house, His city,
whereof Christ is the Head and Indweller, and
Sanctifier, and King, and wherein He to the
end manifests Himself, so that ' the Head and
Body are whole Christ.'"
As Christ its Head is God and Man, so His
Body, the Church, has a visible human being
and an inward invisible Divine life, whereof
the Divine element, so to speak, pervades and
penetrates, rules and directs, nourishes and
Heb.'iii. I. v. 10. f S. Aug. in Ps. Hi. . 9.
Id. in J John i. . 3. h Id. in Ps. cxxxi. . 3.
OF THE CHURCH. 275
animates, the human, and, of both, makes one
body of Christ. The human part is only the
organ of the Divine. This oneness between
Christ and His Church is clearly shewn in the
Gospels and Epistles. " Inasmuch as ye did
it unto the least of these My brethren, ye have
done it unto Me 1 ." " For we are members of
His body, of His flesh, and of His bones k ."
" I in them, and Thou in Me 1 ."
Thus the Church is the living Body of Christ,
manifesting Himself, and working through all
ages. The Redeemer did not merely live
eighteen hundred years ago, so as since to have
disappeared and to exist only in history ; He is,
on the contrary, eternally living in the Church.
He is the abiding and the only teacher. His
are all the baptisms, absolutions, confirmations,
ordinations. The Church is not a lifeless corpse,
but His living body, instinct with, penetrated,
quickened, hallowed by His life. She renews
in image, and applies His redeeming acts,
when offering the sacrifice of His Body. In
fact, He is one person with His Church, as
S. Augustine says; "Christ and the Church
are both one person, (unus,) but the Word and
the flesh are not both one in substance, (unum.}
1 Matt. xxv. 40. kEpb.v. 30. * John xvii. 22.
276 OF THE CHURCH.
The Father and the Word are both one
substance, (unum,) Christ and the Church
are both one person, (unus) m ." " Whole Christ
consisteth of Head and Body 11 ." The Head is
the only-begotten Son of God ; the Body is
the Church ; the Bridegroom and the Bride, two
in one flesh.
The visible Church then is " the fulness,"
the complement , of Him that filleth all in all.
In it heaven and earth are blended together;
an immediate vital communication of man
with the Divine and the Eternal is vouchsafed
here on earth and now. The presence of God
through it makes itself felt, " for the kingdom
of God is within you." It is the outward visible
sign or Sacrament of the unseen realities of the
next world. Eternity crushes in upon time : the
divine takes into itself what is human, heaven
blends with earth, God's kingdom, legislative,
disciplinary, is set up among us.
Hence the importance of questions which
some Christians have despised as belonging to
the externals of religion, e. g. the Apostolic
succession. It is not a mere question what is
to be the constitution of the Church, as a
m S. Aug. in Ps. ci. Serm. i. 2. n In Ps. cxxxviii.
. 2. o S. Chrys. ad Eph. i. 24.
OF THE CHURCH. 277
convenience or edification, but the question is,
where do the promises of Christ rest, what is
the vehicle of His Presence, through what
earthly channel does He reign ?
The first attribute of the Church which the Unity.
Creed declares is, that it is one. As Christ is
one, and as His work is one, so there is one
truth, for He is the incarnate Truth. And if
there be one truth, there must needs be one
vehicle of it. That unity is the object and
the result of the Saviour's Prayer, and it finds
its model in the mysterious relation which
exists between the Father and the Son. It is
of so high and exalted a nature, that it is only
by the communication of a higher life that it
can exist. And as it is divine in its source, so
is it divine in its effect ; for by this unity men
the more believe the mission of Christ ; " that
the world may believe that Thou hast sent
Me."
Of unity S. Cyprian thus writes; " We read
of our blessed Lord saying to Peter, ' Thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it ; and I will give unto thee the keys
of the kingdom of heaven ; and whatsoever
thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
278 OF THE CHUKCH.
heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven.' And again,
after His resurrection, our Lord saith unto the
same Peter, ' Feed my sheep.' And though
we may observe Him giving the same power
to all His Apostles, when He saith, ' As my
Father sent me, so send I you,' yet to mani
fest His regard for unity, He took His rise
from one, and settled the whole upon that
foundation. The other Apostles were in truth
what Peter was, entitled to an equal share
with them of dignity and power; but I say
the process began in one, that the Church
might be considered as one; which one
Church, the Holy Ghost personating Christ,
hath described to us in Solomon's Song, saying,
" My dove, my undefiled is but one, she is the
only one of her mother. She is the choice
one of her that bare her p ." Again, "Thus
the Church of Christ, which is overspread with
light from heaven, diffuses its rays over the
face of the whole earth, and yet its light is
one and single which is thus diffused, nor is
the unity of its body in any way affected by
the number of its members, and it extends
indeed its fruitful branches throughout the
P S. Cypr. De Unit. Eccl. iii.
OF THE CHUECH. 279
whole world; its various streams are far and
near diffused, but you may trace them all
to a single fountain; they are all originally
derived from one head, having all one original,
and one fruitful mother was their common
parent."
This unity is very clearly taught in the
Holy Scriptures. First, in the prayer before
alluded to immediately before our Lord's
passion i; then in the expression, "one Lord,
one faith, one baptism';" also in the descrip
tion of its being our Lord's " Body," which
essentially implies unity, (" there is one body,
and one spirit .... until we come all to the unity
of the faith 8 ;") and, lastly, in the descriptions
of the Church, as His flock, His sheepfold, His
kingdom. For both unity of faith and unity
of society, which these expressions imply, are
symbolised in the unity of the Church. The
one truth requires one vehicle of its tradition,
the society which was visibly to bear the image
of the one Christ on earth.
Now unity may be divided into objective
and subjective. Objective unity is that in
wrought by our Head Jesus Himself, through
union with Himself. It is wrought on His
i John xvji. r Eph. iv. 2, 5. Eph. iv.
280 OF THE CHURCH.
side, by the communication of the " one Spirit,"
and by the Sacraments, making us all one
body in Him. It requires, on our part, con
tinuity of the commission which He gave to
His Apostles, and perseverance in the faith
which He committed to the Church. Sub
jective unity is unity of will, and intercom
munion with one another. Subjective unity
may be suspended, while objective unity is
maintained. Subjective unity was suspended
during the schism at Antioch, yet objective
unity was maintained, for the blessed Meletius
is a saint. Subjective unity was suspended
in the quarrels between the British and
Western Churches in the Saxon times, yet
nobody doubts of the salvation or sanctity of
S. Aidan or S. Cuthbert. Subjective unity
was suspended during the struggles of the
antipopes, yet no one considers the followers
of Peter de Luna as either heretics or schis
matics. And this must also apply to the
mighty dissension between the East and the
West, and between ourselves and the rest of
Christendom. It is deeply to be deplored that
the state of the Church is as it is ; but let us
hope, that the evil is not so great as it seems,
and that there is a fund of unity, if men only
OF THE CHURCH. 281
a
understood each other, that the fissures are
only surface ones, that the disorder is func
tional, not organic.
The next attribute of the Church is its Holiness,
holiness. The Church being one body with
Christ, it follows that it must partake in His
righteousness, to whom it is joined. As in the
natural body, the perfection of the head pre
pares us for a corresponding perfection in the
members, so the graces poured forth on the
human nature of our Lord are reflected and
imaged forth in His body. And indeed none
can doubt that sanctity is a note of Christ's
Church, for " He loved it, and gave Himself
for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it 4 ;"
and the end of His coming is elsewhere stated
to be, that " He might redeem us from all
iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works"." This holiness
may be considered as belonging to the Church
as a whole, or as to her individual members.
As a whole, the Church is holy, in that it
retains faithfully those means of sanctification
which Christ gave her, holy sacraments, holy
laws, holy teaching, so that, amid whatever
imperfection, her whole aim is, that the tendency
4 Eph. v. 26. u Tit. ii. 14.
282 OF THE CHURCH.
of her acts, and her teaching shall be to promote
holiness and the inward spiritual life. The
moral system of the Church will be such as to
exhibit this ; and accordingly we shall expect
to find not only the highest cultivation of that
which human nature is capable of, but also
evidence of the special graces of God, such as
our Lord promised should never be wanting to
His own. And this high moral culture will
be evidenced forth to us in the lives of holy
persons, so that God will " be glorified in His
saints, and admired in all them that believe ;"
and though the tares grow together to the
harvest, and the kingdom of heaven is a net
with both good and bad fishes in it, yet is there
such external evidence of the fruits of faith
and love, that the sanctity of its doctrine, of
its members, of its saints, may be pointed to
as external notes of the true bride of the
Lord. And so the Church is actually holy in
her individual members, in that those who
most truly belong to her are so through faith
and grace, and love of Christ, her Head.
An university is learned, or a city rich, which
abound in learning or riches, although there
may be many unlearned or poor, and although
the learned or rich may yet be short of the
OF THE CHURCH. 283
ideal of learning or wealth. So the Church
is holy in those her members, who, cleaving to
Christ, have from Him "a* real infused sanctity,"
to be perfected in that wholly spotless purity,
when, in the Resurrection, the Church, perfect
in her children, shall be so "joined to Christ,
that the Body too with the Head shall be full
of beauty, clothed with immortality, radiant
with brightness, blessed in fruition, established
in glory, in love, in truth, in eternity, in peace,
in praise, in exultation, in admiration, in
thanksgiving, in light y ."
The third note of the Church is Catholicity Catho-
licity.
or Universality. It was prophesied, that in
the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that
is, in Christ, all the nations should be blessed 2 .
And in the Book of Psalms, the Eternal Father
addresses the Son, " Desire of me, and I shall
give thee the inheritance of the heathen, and
the uttermost ends of the earth as thy
possession." In accordance with this, our
Lord prophesied that the Gospel should be
preached in all the world 8 . Therefore sent
He His Apostles " to preach the Gospel to
* Bp. Pearson. i S. Laur. Justinian. Lib. de Humil. fin.
2 Gen. xii. 3. xxii. 18. xxvi. 4. xxviii. 14. collat. Act. iii. 25.
Gal. iii. 9. Matt. xxvi. 13. Mark xiv. 9.
284 OF THE CHURCH.
every creature b ," so that " their sound went
forth into all lands, and their words unto the
ends of the earth'." Even in St. Paul's time,
he was able to speak of the Gospel, as being
that " which is come unto you as it is in all
the world d ."
" It (the Church) is called Catholic, because
it is throughout the world, from one end of
the earth to the other ; and because it teaches
universally and completely one and all the
doctrines which ought to come to men's know
ledge, concerning things both visible and
invisible, heavenly and earthly; and because
it subjugates in order to godliness every class
of men, governors and governed, learned and
unlearned; and because it universally treats
and heals every sort of sins, which are com
mitted by soul and body, and possesses in itself
every form of virtue which is named, both in
deeds and words, and in every kind of spiritual
gifts e ." " In this Holy Catholic Church, re
ceiving instruction and behaving ourselves
virtuously, we shall attain the kingdom of
heaven, and inherit eternal life; for which also
b Mark xvi. 15. Matt, xxviii. 19. c Rom. x. 18.
d Col. i. 6. e S. Cvril. Cat. xviii. 23.
OF THE CHURCH. 285
we endure all toils, that we may be partakers
of it in the LorcK"
This last note of Apostolicity is proved to A ogto
us by our Lord's words, in giving her com- hcity '
mission to His followers to found Churches
throughout the world ; " As my Father sent
me, so send I you 8 ." " Go, and make dis
ciples, baptizing them h ." And St. Paul ad
monishes the faithful as " being built upon
the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets,
Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner
stone 1 ." St. John also tells us, that he saw the
new Jerusalem, that is, the Church, " and the
wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in
them the names of the twelve Apostles of the
LambV It implies, that besides the doctrine
of the Apostles, there shall be a public
perpetual and uninterrupted succession from
the Apostles to us. From an early time this
has been the test of a true Church. Ter-
tullian 1 thus challenges the heretics of her
day, " Let them exhibit the origins of their
Churches, let them unfold the order of their
Bishops, successively coming down from the
beginning, so that their first Bishop should
' S. Cyril. Cat. xviii. 28. 8 John xx. 21. h Matth. xxviii.
1 Eph. ii. 20. k Apoc. xx. 14. ' De Prescript. 32.
286 OF THE CHURCH.
have as his author and predecessor one of the
Apostles, or of those Apostolic men who were
used to be with the Apostles. For in this
way the Apostolic Churches bring down their
lists."
And now it becomes us to say somewhat
concerning the present unhappy condition of
the Church of Christ. It is rent and torn.
" Vae nobis quia peccavimus." The East is
divided from the West, the Teutonic from the
Romanesque race. Egypt and the shrivelled
remains of Christianity in Southern Asia still
wither in the Nestorian and Jacobite heresies :
the active genius of the Greeks, in early times
so energetic, has been chrystalized into a cold
and lifeless ritualism. Russia, although yet
converting nations to the faith of Christ, and
yearly winning to Him heretics and heathens, is
itself under an iron despotism of this world ;
the Roman Obedience by its exclusive claims
has forced the rest of Christendom into an an
tagonistic position, from which itself too suffers:
while the domination of the Anglosaxon race
throughout the world, has perpetuated that
system of lax discipline, and, in her members,
often vague belief, which nevertheless has prac
tically done its work well, and in the providence
OF THE CHURCH. 287
of God seems to have a mission before it, which
we term Anglicanism. Neither in our elements
of Christianity must we entirely exclude those
bodies which though not formally of the Body
of Christ, yet profess the faith of Christ, and
which (we may humbly hope) are in some sense
of the soul of the Church, the great bodies of
the Reformed Confessions. What a contrast
is all this congeries of warring elements to
what we should have expected from the pro
phecy and prayer of the Divine Jesus ! What
are we to say with regard to it ? How are we
to justify it?
One common solution naturally suggests
itself. Each branch may declare itself to be
the only true Church, condemning all others as
heretics and schismatics. This has ever been
common to all results of conviction. Calvinists
regard all in the Greek and Roman Obedience
as idolaters. The Greeks maintain that they are
the one orthodox Apostolic Church, while the
claims of the Church of Rome to exclusive
Catholicity are too well known to be mentioned.
Nay, even members of the English Church, who
of all others, from circumstances, ought to desire
the widest fraternization, while they condemn
the Calvinists and Lutherans for want of a valid
288 OF THE CHURCH.
succession, and the Romans and Greeks for
want of what they term pure doctrine, seem to
make themselves the only true Church of Christ.
Now what is all this but the spirit of Donatism ?
Can this really satisfy the enlightened conscience
of the Christian ? How on this ground shall we
account for the evident good that exists beyond
our own system ? Shall the Roman Catholic
gainsay the grace which has been poured out on
the Greek Obedience, so that nations of hea
thens or of heretics have since the schism been
gathered into the faith in Christ ? Shall the
Anglican believe, that the merits of Carlo
Borromeo, the most perfect type of the Christian
bishop which the world ever saw, are as the evi
dence of grace in a man accidentally better than
his system ? Shall either Greek or Roman
speak of the devout Ken, or George Herbert, or
Launcelot Andrewes, as devils' blinds to keep
men by a simulated disguise of goodness from
what they term the true Church ? Nay, shall
men undervalue the unsacramental grace of
those, who like Spenerand Gerhard have adorned
systems, which in their logical consequences,
and generally in their practical results, have led
to the most miserable consequences ?
There is another practical solution, which
OF THE CHURCH. 289
equally satisfies the intellect at the expense of
the religious sense. It is, that all these religions
are indifferent. That different forms of belief
place no obstruction to real unity, and that the
idea of Christianity implies very great latitude
in the way in which truth presents itself to
each man. In fact, this implies that theory of
an invisible Church, which supposes that not
only God's elect are to be found every where
in all systems, but that the external communion
is a matter of no importance. Now this idea
is incompatible with a real belief in the In
carnation of the Word, for that Word has
been made manifest ; has become visible, and
therefore must energize in some definite visi
ble body. There are also distinct texts in
Scripture which attach salvation to belonging
to the One Body of Christ. There are certain
outward conditions, such as Baptism, the
Eucharist, common worship, and the like, which
necessarily imply some visible body.
The truth then must be somewhere between
these two theories. On the one hand, we
must avoid Donatism; on the other, Latitudi-
narianism. Holy Scripture sets forth, what
Christians, as individuals, or collectively as
the living Body of Christ, ought to be ; but it
u
290 OF THE CHUECH.
does not say what degree of short-coming shall
forfeit the blessings of the Gospel. The
Church and her children in her were purchased
by the Blood of God, that they should be
holy, the temple of the Holy Ghost, full of
love and peace and all other fruits of the
Spirit. It was said of individuals, " By this
shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if
ye have love one to another;" as much as it
was said of the whole Church, " that they may
be one as We are." It was said of every Priest,
"The lips of the Priest should keep knowledge;"
as much as it was said of the whole Church,
" Thy teachers shall not be removed into a
corner any more." Our Lord has promised,
" Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end
of the world ;" yet surely as much by the
Spirit of Holiness, as by wisdom and teaching.
Since then our Lord's promise was fulfilled in
that dreary and hateful tenth century, when
it was said, that although our Lord was in the
boat, men were afraid to wake Him up, but
rather wished that He might never awake to
judge them; so may it be fulfilled now, al
though the fulness of His Presence may be
abated through our divisions and want of love.
We bear separate witness still to the One
OF THE CHURCH. 291
Faith which He gave to His Church, the faith
of the Creeds ; we all look to Him, as truly
present in His Sacraments, truly giving His
own Body and Blood ; we all hold to the
Apostle's doctrine and fellowship, teaching
those same truths which they taught, and
holding sacred the descent from them. We
are One Body, through the One Spirit, and all
partaking of the One Body of Christ, all hold
ing to the One Head. The Body is mangled,
but, we believe, not severed, through loss of
intercommunion. We are one, we trust, in
One, although in some, even grave things, not
at one with one another. If the Gospel had its
full course, every priest should be holy, and
" all the children" of the Church " taught by
God." Our Lord has promised, "I am with
you alway, even to the end of the world ;" but
He has not promised to be always present in
the same degree or the same way. He is not
with us, as He was with the Apostles, in that
they were " full of the Holy Ghost," and they
spake as " moved by the Holy Ghost," so that
what they spake were the words of God, and
have been, ever since, a fountain of truth to
the Church of Christ, such as no words, since
292 OF THE CHURCH.
spoken through men, are or can be. He has been
with the Church, in different degrees, since,
according to her faithfulness. His Presence
was lessened, surely, when He gave over whole
Churches to the Moslem apostasy. His Pre
sence was lessened, when He had given a nation,
once the glory of the Church, to set up the
goddess of reason. Every where He is present,
in every office exercised in His Name; He
regenerates ; He confirms ; He absolves ; He
consecrates ; He ordains ; He preserves the
truth ; He teaches those who will receive it.
And even where the conditions of holy
Scripture are violated through invincible igno
rance, or from insufficient exposition of the
truth, or from constraining circumstances, we
may trust that the chalice of God's grace will
overflow. Even under the old law we see
men not in covenant with God, and not of His
Israel, the recipients of His grace, and the
objects of His favour. But though Job and
Melchizedech were not of the chosen seed, yet
" salvation was of the Jews," There was an
election, but others were blessed beyond it.
It is safer for us to widen the pale of God's
kingdom, than to deny the fruits of the Spirit.
OF THE CHtTKCH. 293
We are not called to judge any man. We have
to maintain our convictions, and to condemn
the error, while we love the erring.
It is best too to acknowledge our disjointed
and unhappy condition, rather than to shape
the Gospel into a theory that suits us. We
had better acknowledge, that for the sins of
Christendom, subjective unity is suspended, and
that while God has done great things for us,
we have not co-operated therewith. We should
not bandy the blame from one another, but we
should strive and pray to remedy it, every
good deed in all branches, and every venture
of faith tending to the reorganization of the
whole. Above all, making unity our daily
prayer, beseeching God of His infinite mercy to
behold and visit us, and to gather again His
scattered sheep in this naughty world, that
they may be saved through Christ for ever.
One effect of our unhappy divisions is, that we
cannot meet, even to heal them. Until we
long more for unity, we cannot take even the
first visible steps towards it, and union in heart
must precede union in visible act. As God's
Holy Spirit fills the river of God, it will, in
all its several channels, overflow its banks,
until they meet in one vast sea of the know
ledge and of the love of God.
XVII.
OF THE REMISSION OF SIN.
I ACKNOWLEDGE ONE BAPTISM FOR THE REMISSION
OF SINS.
THERE are here two propositions: 1. that
Baptism is one ; 2. that Baptism is for the
remission of sins.
The Fathers of Constantinople had to warn
the Church against the sacrilege of a repetition
of baptism. As the natural birth can only
take place once, so the spiritual birth cannot
be repeated. Baptism once conferred is in
delible ; it confers what is termed character,
which can never be effaced, however com
pletely the grace of regeneration may be
sinned away. A baptized man cannot become
unbaptized ; and if he sin unto death, his
baptismal character remains in condemnation
of him. His obligations last, though he may
OF THE REMISSION OF SINS. 295
have failed to perform them. He will not be
treated as an offending stranger, but as a per
jured friend.
But the mind of the Church was in doubt
as to what was true baptism or not. It was
questionable whether heretics could initiate
into the true Church. In early times this matter
perplexed the Church; and accordingly, we
find a canon of Nicaea commanding rebap-
tization in the case of the Paulianists and
Cataphrygians. So much hanging upon the
validity of an ordinance, which cannot and
must not be reiterated under pain of sacrilege,
the Church has wisely enacted a form of
conditional baptism, to be used in all doubtful
cases b .
Now this Article is one that has lately occu
pied much of the thoughts of English Church
men, as it has been the point upon which the
subservience of the English Church to the
State has been most clearly brought out.
A doctrine virtually disjoining the grace from
the Sacrament, has by the civil power, that is,
b The mind of the Greek Church leant rather to the
stricter side ; and it is the opinion of the learned Dr. Routh,
that this expression, " one baptism," is not an assertion against
rebaptization, but a mere enunciation of the words of
St. Paul's Epistle, " one baptism." See Opus c. vol. iii.
296 OF THE REMISSION OF SIN.
by the vis haereseos of a large body within
her pale, been forced upon the Church. It is
interesting to ask, how this error has obtained
so fatal a position among us, for it is an error
that finds little support from the divines of the
Reformation. No doubt, passages may be
found vague in expression, anticipating the
stronger statements of the Puritans; but the
language of the Reformers is in the main per
fectly orthodox on this subject. It is true
that they formed a most unholy connection
with the foreign Protestants, whose system had
within it the germs of all disbelief, but they
themselves firmly believed this doctrine 3 . How
then came the opposite error to creep so
stealthily among us ? Now much may be said
of the downward tendency of doctrine ; but
may it not have been, that they who held the
doctrine in the most orthodox form, have some
what to answer for in this matter. They
taught the truth, it is true, but they neither
traced the truth from on high, nor carried it
out into its legitimate practical consequences.
They could not tell " whence it came, or
whither it went." They did not trace the
doctrine from the one great Baptizer, Jesus
a See Britton's Horse Sacramentales.
OF THE REMISSION OF SIN. 297
Christ; they did not shew how spirit having
become joined to matter in the mystery of the
Incarnation, these two conjoined were to be
for the healing of the nations; they did not
teach in its fulness the great Sacramental
system, which forms the key to all the many
blessed ways in which the Almighty deals with
us ; and, on the other hand, they did not carry
out the doctrine to its necessary consequences.
They taught, that high grace was given in
baptism, but they did not teach how when lost
that grace was to be regained: they taught,
that the man was justified, but they did not
shew how that justification was preserved or re
stored : they taught, that we were made mem
bers of Christ, children of God, and inheritors
of the kingdom of heaven, but they did not
shew how when such an one had sinned, he
was to regain his lost privileges. In short,
they neglected to teach that penitence is the
second plank, whereon those who have been
washed off the ark of the Church may be
saved. To preach baptismal regeneration
without preaching penitence, was to preach a
doctrine either calculated to excite undue
hopes, or to plunge into undue despair. Either
one was so high, that there was no fear of a fall,
298 OF THE REMISSION OF SIN.
or there was nothing to save in the event of such
a catastrophe. The consequence was, that the
doctrine of baptismal regeneration ceased to be
practical, and the earnest but ignorant founders
of the Evangelical School, as it is called,
naturally threw over a system that impeded
them in their work, because misunderstood
both by themselves and their adherents. And
till these two points are more insisted on, on the
one hand, that Baptism is closely connected with
the Incarnation, and so intimately bound up in
the actions of the Son of God; and, on the
other hand, till more prominence is given to
penitence in all its forms and aspects, con
trition, confession, amendment, absolution,
fruits meet for repentance, corrective alms-
deeds, self-discipline, the bringing under of
the body, this doctrine will retain its unreal
aspect, and though the word of Scripture and
the express teaching of the Church may make it
impossible to be in so many words denied, yet
it will not be a living and life-giving truth.
Now Baptism is the origin of the spiritual
life, the gate whereby the Church is entered,
and that whereby a right is acquired to all the
privileges of Christianity. By it we become
members of Christ, children of God, and in-
OF THE REMISSION OF SIN. 299
heritors of the kingdom of heaven. As by sin
death hath passed upon all men, so unless we
be born again of water and the Holy Ghost,
we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.
It is termed in Scripture the laver of re
generation b , and is termed by the Fathers the
Sacrament of water, of the new life, of faith,
of illumination, of the second birth.
The principal cause of Baptism is the Holy
Trinity; the instrumental cause, he who ad
ministers it ; the matter is water ; and the form
is, " I baptize thee in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.'
These are the essentials of Baptism, and
without these, Baptism is not valid. S. Au
gustine* says, " What is the Baptism of Christ ?
It is the washing of water in the word. Take
away the water, it is not Baptism ; take away
the word, it is not Baptism."
As regards the matter, it is a matter of in
difference whether the water be cold or hot,
fresh or salt, so that it be natural water. It is
invalid if conferred with any other liquid.
Baptism was originally generally admin
istered by way of immersion ; the catechumen
was dipped three times' 1 .
b Tit. iii. e Tract, xv. in Job. x. 4. d Bingham, iii. p. 598.
800 OF THE REMISSION OF SIN.
But, although our Church still prescribes
immersion where the child can bear it, she is
satisfied to administer it by affusion or asper
sion. This has been permitted from the earliest
times in the baptism of clinics ; and although
these afterwards were ineligible to offices in
the Church, it was not from any doubt of the
validity of their baptism, but because it was
such a bad sign in a man putting off the responsi
bilities of the Christian state till late in life,
that such persons were prejudged not to have a
vocation for the Christian ministry. Since the
thirteenth century, affusion has been the uni
versal custom of the Western Church, except
in the diocese of Milan, and many early monu
ments of the Church shew the existence of the
practice'; and affusion should be trine, but
this is not of necessity to the validity of the
ordinance : it is however highly to be recom
mended, both as giving greater security for the
ablution, and also as symbolizing that adorable
Trinity into Whom the child is baptized.
The form of Baptism, as above mentioned, is
essential to the valid administration of the
ordinance': the only tolerated variation is that
Martene de Antiq. Rit. i. c. i. f S. Thos. iii. a. 66.
art. xiv. . 5. and art. xviii. ord. 17.
OF THE REMISSION OF SIN. 301
of the Greek Church. " N. the servant of
God, is baptized in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost :" this
seems to have been ordered to refute the error
of those who attributed the virtue of the
baptism to the administrator, as the chief cause,
in the spirit of the schismatical Corinthians,
who said, * I am of Paul, I am of Cephas.'
On these subjects there is little controversy, of the
tir 1-1 T i* ministe
We now come to a question which divides of Bap
tism.
orthodox divines within the Anglican Com
munion, who can be the administrator or
minister of Baptism ? Some learned theolo
gians maintain it to be a priestly act; others
maintain that any one may baptize. The ques
tion is eminently practical, for it involves the
question of the validity of the baptism of dis
senters and presbyterians, their so-called orders
being invalid, as lacking the Apostolic succession.
On the one hand it is urged, that the Church
being a society or corporation, no one can
initiate a member into it, but one of the proper
office bearers ; that the right to baptize implies
the right to teach ; that Scripture gives no
evidence of the permissibility ; that S. Cyprian,
Firmilian, and Basil, have by implication con
demned it. On the other hand, it is urged, that
302 OF THE REMISSION OF SIN.
in a question so necessary to salvation, the
widest permission is the most consonant with
the mercy of God ; that as in cases of necessity
a layman may teach, so he may baptize ; that
the silence of Scripture throws us necessarily
back upon the tradition of the Church, which
is in favour of the laxer practice. Tertullian*,
S. Jerome h , S. Augustine 1 , advocating it; and
even the Council of Elvira k , with two restric
tions, permitting it.
The validity of Baptism by women is more
doubtful. In cases of necessity, the Roman
Church allows it, justifying her practice by
the arguments before cited ; but then it must
be recollected, that Tertullian expressly forbids
it'. S. Epiphanius m condemns the Marcionites
and Pepuzians for practising it; and the 100th
canon of the fourth Council of Carthage, A. D.
436, at which S. Augustine himself was pre
sent, forbad it".
8 De Baptismo, 17. h Dial, contra Lucifer, n. 9.
1 Cont. Epist. Parmen. lib. ii. 29. k Can. 38.
1 De Virg. Velan. 9. but see note n. Her. 42. . 4.
p. 305.
n But perhaps the persons condemned may have practised
it, without reference to an emergency. In all cases where
immediate death is apprehended before a lawful minister
can be called, it is the safer side for any sufficiently informed
person to administer it.
OF THE KEMISSION OF SIN. 303
The question, who may be baptized, has ot the
agitated the Christian world since the Reform- " f "'"v-
tism.
ation. Anabaptists maintained, that infants,
because incapable of reason, and therefore of
faith, ought not to undergo this rite. They urge,
that there is no command for it in Scripture,
and that in the third and fourth centuries it was
usual to delay this ordinance. The Church, on
the other hand, has maintained the contrary,
believing that though not expressly mentioned
in Scripture, its use is insinuated, in the words,
" now are they holy," applied to Christian
children ; in the broad assertion, " Except a
man be born of water;" and in those places,
where whole households, such as that of Lydia,
Stephanus, and St. Paul's gaoler were illu
minated. The constant tradition of the Church
also is in its favour. S. Augustine says , " The
Church has always done this, always held it ; this
she received from the faith of the Fathers : this
she will keep stedfastly unto the end." Irenaeus
says, " Christ came to save all by Himself; all,
I say, who by Him are born again unto God,
infants, children, young men, and old ones P."
The great number of infants who die before * its
neces
sity.
Serm. 176. De Verb. Ap. 1 Tim. vi. P Haer. lib.ii. c. 22.
(al. 38.) . 4. So also S. Jerome, Dial. adv. Pelag. 1. iii. 17.
304 OF THE REMISSION OP SIN.
coming to the use of reason, and the strong
view which the Church has always taken with
regard to the absolute necessity of Baptism,
have no doubt been the reasons for the practice
of infant Baptism. Of that necessity there can
be no doubt. Our Lord's words are very
decided, " Go, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them q ." " He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved." So also', "Except
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God." And
St. "Thomas' gives a theological reason for
this, that no one can obtain salvation who is
not made a member of Christ ; and no one can
become a member of Christ, unless actually,
or in will at least, he have undergone Baptism.
For in regard to the absolute necessity of
Baptism, two important qualifications have
always been observed by the Church. Martyr
dom, or the Baptism of Blood, and that deter
mination and will to be baptized, joined with
a perfect contrition and conversion of the soul
to God, which is termed the Baptism of the
Spirit, have always been regarded as supplying
the place of the Baptism of water. How God
i Matt, xxviii. 19. Mark xvi. 2f>. r John iii. 5.
i 3. qu. 08. 1.
OF THE BEMISSION OF SIN. 305
will judge the heathen who know Him not, is
not for us to enquire: but what shall be said of
that sect among Christians, much distinguished
by outward decorum and sagacious practical
benevolence, who in the face of the clear in
junction of God, the practice of the early
Church, the consent of the whole Christian
world and the deep-rooted conviction of all who
know the name of Christ, deliberately deny the
necessity of the Sacrament of Baptism ?
That any external act should work a change or the
. * effect of
on the spiritual condition is no doubt a great Baptism.
trial of faith, and accordingly we find from
very early times doubts expressed as to the effi
cacy of baptism. The Manichees held, that it
brought no salvation to any one; and some Pro
testants have regarded it merely as an initiation
into the visible Church. Others, viewing it from
a different light, have held, that the graces ac
companying it cannot be lost. The Church
however holds, that the principal effects of
Baptism are fourfold. 1 . That therein is given
the grace of justification and sanctification,
whereby all sin, whether original or actual, is
remitted. 2. The remission of the punish
ment due to sin is entirely effected. 3. Our
adoption into membership in the Church,
x
306 OF THE REMISSION OF SIN.
whereby we require a right to the other ordi
nances of religion, is given to us. 4. A mark
or character is impressed upon us, so that we
cannot become unbaptized again, the impres
sion being indelible. A difference exists be
tween the Roman and Anglican Churches, as
to the degree of the destruction of original sin
in the regenerate. The former holds, that God
hates nothing in the regenerate, and that every
thing of the nature of sin (properly and truly)
is removed thereby. The latter holds, that the
infection of the nature remains even in the
regenerate. The difference is a verbal one; for
the Council of Trent allows, that the fomes
peccati, which it confessed, remained in the
baptized, is called sin by the Apostle, because
it proceeds from sin and leads to sin.
XVIII.
OF THE RESURRECTION.
I LOOK FOB THE BESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.
THE resurrection of the dead in other Creeds
is more emphatically termed, the resurrection
of the flesh; for this is the fact to which our
holy faith bears witness. Heathenism, corrupt
as it was, had preserved the tradition of an
immortality of the soul ; her pure etherial sub
stance carried within itself an argument for its
indestructibility; amid the islands of the blest,
fanned by ocean breezes, she was to pass a
tearless eternity, but it was reserved for Chris
tianity to proclaim the resurrection of the body;
that these dry bones should live ; that in our
flesh we should see God.
He who in the beginning made us out of the
dust of the earth, is not unable, when in obedi
ence to His command we are again resolved and
turned into earth, to raise us again from it. And
308 OF THE RESURRECTION.
it is the only solution of many difficulties with
regard to the providence of God. Were there
no resurrection, ' let us eat and drink, for to
morrow we die.' Were there no resurrection, in
what should we be better than the brutes that
perish. Were there no resurrection, God
were unjust; for we see the wicked on earth
flourishing like a green bay tree, and the holy
and the good the subjects of many calamities.
Were there no resurrection, we must doubt the
interference of a continual Providence. And
that this is not a resurrection of the soul only,
seems clear, first, that as the soul sinned or
obeyed in the body, it is fitting that it should
be rewarded or punished in the same. And this
is clear from Holy Scripture. For under the
patriarchal law we find God requiring or asking
back again the blood of each man, even from
the beasts': and so in Isaiah we are told, ' they
that are in the graves shall hear :' and so in
Ezekiel, we have the awful type of the dry
bones : and so in Daniel we read, ' many of them
that sleep in the dust shall arise.' And the
same thing is said by our Lord; and the re
surrection of Lazarus was especially given to
confirm the faith of believers in this, as it was
Gen. v.
OP THE RESURRECTION. 309
given at the time so near His Passion, to
strengthen the disciples in that trying hour.
But above all, His own resurrection is the
greatest proof of this mighty doctrine. For
the Lord is the first-fruits of them that slept.
Concerning which the Apostle says, "If the
dead rise not, then is not Christ risen : therefore
your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins : but
now is Christ risen from the dead, the first-
fruits of them that slept, and the firstborn from
the dead." And also, " If we believe that Jesus
is dead and is risen again, so will God bring
those that sleep by Jesus with Him." Our
resurrection then and Christ's resurrection are
similar. And that this was a real resurrection,
we find from our Lord's command to Thomas
to touch Him. But though our very bodies
shall rise again, they shall rise differently from
our present bodies, for they shall be as the
Lord's body; as the Apostle says, "our con
versation is in heaven, from whence we wait our
Saviour Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile
bodies into conformity with His glorious body,
according to His mighty working."
2. S. Thomas says, that beatitude being the
ultimate end of man, which he cannot attain in
this life, the Lord has ordained that he shall
310 OF THE RESURRECTION.
attain it in the next world, which is eternal.
But man to obtain beatitude must obtain it
in his integrity, and that integrity consisting
both of body and soul, he must obtain the end
of this being in body and soul also c . Now
this rising again is purely supernatural, pro
ceeding from the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
for all divine gifts are given to man by means
of the humanity of Jesus Christ ; so that as
we cannot be freed from the death of the Spirit
but by the gift of grace, given us from God
to man, (by the incarnation of the Word,
full of grace and truth,) so we cannot be de
livered from the death of the body but by a
resurrection caused by the Divine power. The
manhood of Christ will be the mighty instru
ment, whereby " bone to bone, and sinew to
sinew," the bodies of the dead shall be joined
together again, and reunited to the souls in
which they sinned or wrought righteousness,
and thus they shall stand before the tribunal
of God. " So shall it be in the end of the world ;
the holy Angels shall go forth, and separate the
bad from the good, and cast them into a furnace
f t ^ ie g enera l resurrection has
surrec- c Suppli qu 75> &rt 3- 64 d Matt. xiii. 9.
OF THE RESURRECTION. 311
naturally occupied much of the thoughts of
devout Christians. We learn from holy Scrip
ture, that this shall take place before the end
of the world. " This is the will of Him that
sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son,
and believeth on Him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up at the last day 6 ."
" The harvest is the end of the world f ." A verse
in the Apocalypse 8 has occasioned much con
troversy ; " And I saw the souls of them that
were beheaded for the witness of Christ . . .
and they lived and reigned with Christ a
thousand years." This has given rise to the
Millenarians, who hold that the first resur
rection should be that of those who were to
have a temporal reign witli Christ of a thousand
years. Some of the early Fathers of the Church
inclined to this view, and some modern sects
have made it a prominent point in their doc
trine. But as this is said in the Apocalypse to
precede the Judgment, which is mentioned after
this in the same chapter at v. 11, 12. it seems
safer, on the theory that the souls of those who
have died for Christ do already enjoy the
beatific vision, to understand by the thousand
-years an indefinite time between their death
e John vi. 40, f Matt. xiii. 39. Rev. xx. 4, 8,
312 OF THE KESURRECT1ON.
and the general resurrection. And this inter
pretation would also apply to the thousand
years in which Satan is said to be bound ;
meaning the time from the death of our Lord
to the consummation of the age ; it being
generally believed, that since the coming of
Christ, the manifestation of the diabolic powers
have not been so common.
These subjects, however, are involved in
great mystery ; and it is a peril to reverence,
and a scandal to religion, to mark out the dates
at which unfulfilled prophecy is to be accom
plished. Our own times have shewn the dis
comfiture of several popular theories on this
subject. The Christian should recollect, that
"it is not for us to know the times or the
seasons which the Father hath put in His own
power h ." Indeed, so mysterious are these things,
that we are told, " that of that day and of that
hour knoweth no man, no not the Angels in
heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only 1 ;"
which means, that even the Son, in that He
was man, knew not these things. Of one prac
tical thing, however, we are assured, that " the
Son of Man shall come as a thief in the night ;"
and that "as it was in the days of Noah, so it
h Acts i. 7. * Matt. xiii. 32.
OF THE KESURRECTION. 313
shall be" at His coming ; men shall be taken by
surprise in the midst of all their worldliness
and sin ; and though it may be that to those
who search diligently, some hints of His coming
may by revelation be vouchsafed, yet " of that
day and of that hour knoweth no man."
XIX.
OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME.
AND THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME. AMEN.
AFTER the judgment, there exist but two
states of being. They that have done good,
shall be in everlasting happiness; they that
have done evil, in everlasting fire. The first is
the reward of those who have cooperated with
the grace of Grod, the last is the desert of
those who by resisting it have incurred His
anger. There is then a heaven and a hell, and
each of these is everlasting.
Heii. Now by hell we understand in this sense
that state in which the devils and the repro
bates are eternally tormented. Two points
with regard to it are of faith, viz. its existence,
and its eternity; all other questions as to its
place, and as to the nature and quality of its
punishments, are matters of opinion 11 ; yet the
general sense of the Church inclines to believe
in a material fire.
See Petavius de Angelis, lib. iii. c. 5,
OF THE LIFE OF THE WOBLD TO COME. 315
The eternity of the punishments of the
future world hath been doubted by heretics
from a very early time. The disciples of
Origen, and some Misericordes, mentioned
by S. Augustine b , have been succeeded in
this belief by many Socinians and Protestants.
One sect, called the Universalists, maintain
it as their distinguishing dogma, and in re
action from the sternness of Calvinism, it has
worked itself out among some of the sects of
that error. As every heresy is said to be the
unhealthy action of some suppressed truth
working itself up to the surface, or the reaction
against a prevailing error, may not the pre
dominating doubt of the eternity of hell arise
either from men having denied too absolutely
any purifying process in the intermediate state,
or from the mind of man revolting against the
gloom of the Calvinian theory of predestination,
and betaking itself to the false sentimentalism
of this dangerous error ?
Origen's opinions on this subject are said to
have been condemned by the fifth General
Council of Constantinople, (A.D. 533,) and it
may be against him that the words of the
Athanasian Creed were directed, " They that
b Civ. Dei. Ixxi. 17.
316 OF THE LIFE OF THE WOULD TO COME.
have done good shall go into everlasting life, and
they that have done evil into everlasting fire."
Holy Scripture seems explicit enough on this
terrible truth. We have first the assertion of
the eternity of the punishment conveyed by the
use of the word aJowoj, as, " Many of those that
sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some
to everlasting life, and some to shame and to
everlasting contempt ." "Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil
and his angels d ." In all which passages it must
be observed, that the duration of pain is made
correlative with the duration of bliss.
Then we have those texts which imply the
negative of any termination of punishment.
" Their worm shall not die, nor their fire be
quenched 6 ."
Lastly, we have those texts which apply to
the immutability of the punishment. " If the
tree fall toward the south or toward the north,
in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall
be f ." " Whosoever shall speak a word against
the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him ; but
whosoever shall speak a word against the Holy
Ghost, it shall not be remitted, either in this
c Dan. xii. 2. d Matt. xxv. 41. cf. etiam 46.
Is. Ixvi. 24. Matt. iii. 13. Mark ix. 42. f Eccles. xi. 3.
OF THK LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME. 317
world, or in the world to come g ." And of the
same form are such expressions as, " vessels of
wrath;" "vessels fit for destruction;" "the
wrath of God remaineth on them ;" " they
shall not obtain the kingdom of God."
Although some others have followed a little
too closely in the steps of Origen, yet the
common consent of the tradition of the Church
is very clear on this subject. Clemens Romanus
says h , "The souls punished with a sempiternal
pain of unextinguishable fire, never dying to
their great misfortune, can find no end." So
Tertullian 1 .
As this error is very prevalent at present, Eternity
is supported by many grave authors, andnisii-
_ . ment.
commends itself to many amiable persons, who
allow their ideas of the love of God to efface
within their minds the recollection of His
justice, it is well to fix the mind upon some of
the difficulties that have been brought forward.
No doubt it is a startling truth, that God
should punish infinitely finite crimes, and all
our prepossessions would persuade us to deny
what it is so disagreeable to believe as this.
Accordingly we find very many objections
R Matt. x.ii. 32. h Ap. Damasc. in Eel. cit. Petav.
de Aug. iii. 8. cf. Recog. Clem. v. 28. > Apolog. c. 48.
318 OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME.
started. Some would understand by the eter
nity of hell, the total destruction and anni
hilation of the wicked, quoting such expressions
as, destruction and death, eternal death, &c.
But they who quote these expressions must
recollect, that there are other words, such as
fire, gnashing of teeth, outer darkness, and the
worm, which destroy the possibility of the
idea of annihilation. " Who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence
of the LordV And in the Apocalypse, the
second death is described to be " the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone 1 ."
Others maintain, that the word aio>voj, eternal,
merely means a very long time, as in St. Jude,
where the inhabitants of Sodom and Go-
morrha " are set forth for an example, suffering
the vengeance of eternal fire." But it must
be recollected, that the word does not stand
alone, but that various other epithets are
used which determine its signification ; as,
" without end," "unquenchable," " that never
dieth," and the like, while it must be re
collected, that it is the same word which is
applied to the bliss of the saints. It is true,
that the word is sometimes used for a very
k 2 Thess. i. 9. ' Rev. xxi. 8.
OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME. 319
long time, as in the place of Jude m ; but it is
so used, first, as applied to the eternal destruc
tion of the wicked inhabitants ; and, secondly,
to the indelible signs it has left to this day : in
both which respects it is a type of the eternal
punishment which awaits the wicked, as the
inspired author actually enforces on us.
Others have quoted the texts, " Will God
cut off for ever"?" " He will not always chide,
neither will He keep His anger for ever ."
" And they shall be gathered together as
prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be
shut up in the prison, and after many days
shall they be visited p ." In answer to this we
must say, that these texts must not be thus
applied ; they refer to the punishment of sinners
in this life, and to the vengeance which He
takes on earth in mercy, it being better for us
to be chastened here than hereafter. Besides,
it is very doubtful whether the visitation
alluded to in the last citation be not a visitation
of punishment.
Others have objected, why should a finite sin
have an infinite punishment? To this S. Thomas
answers, that all sin has something of infinity
in it, seeing that it is measured as an offence
m ver. 7. n Ps. Lxxvi. 7. Ps ciii. 9. P Is. xxiv. 22.
320 OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME.
against the infinite Majesty of God q ; and the
whole theory of the probation and trial of man
which this life is, and the analogy of the great
waste that takes place in physical nature, all
presuppose the eternity of the awards of the
next world'.
But some regarding the love of Christ, can
not understand His enduring the damnation of
any one soul which He had created. He was to
"see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied."
Can He be satisfied, while one poor wretch is
burning ? and the bright promises of the New
Testament " As in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive" " God shall be
all in air "the time of the restitution of all
things must come" "behold, I make all things
new" imply, that though God in His mercy
has threatened these punishments, yet He will
not surely exact them ? To this we must answer,
that the state of the lost excludes repentance,
which alone for the merits of Christ will recover
those who have been baptized and have sinned ;
the guilt of hell will be acontinually progressive
guilt, for " He that is filthy, shall be filthy still;"
and in Christ the merciful, we must also see Christ
the j ust. And the bright things that are here said,
i Suppl. 3. qu. 99. a. 1. r Butler's Analogy.
OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME. 6% I
are said of the new world of the saints, of that
blessed recreation of all things, in which be it
our daily prayer that we be made partakers.
All these theories arise from an inadequate
view of the attributes of God; we cannot tell
how He hates sin, and therefore we cannot
imagine how it can need eternal punishment.
Again, they rise from an improper idea of the
future pleasure and pain. If Beatitude con
sist in the enjoj^ment of God, damnation in the
loss of Him, how shall the wicked be able
to enter such a joy ? Man being free, actually by
sin unfits himself for the enjoyment of good,
and would not enjoy it even if it was placed
within his'reach ; how then, on the theory of a
temporary hell, in a state which is confessedly
only punitive and not purgatorial, can he acquire
those dispositions, which alone could make him
enjoy heaven? The guilt remains for ever, for
guilt cannot be remitted without grace, which
man cannot obtain after death, nor ought the
punishment to cease while the guilt remains 8 .
It is his own doing, as well as God's justice,
that his punishment is eternal. He has volun
tarily cast away from him good, and God in
His justice is not bound to restore it to him.
1 Summ. Theol. ad loc.
322 OF THE LIFE OF THE WOULD TO COME.
Opinions We said above, that only two points were of
tolTn f a *th on tne subject of hell, its existence, and
its eternity : yet reverent minds have enquired
both as to its place, and the nature of its punish
ments. Of the former of these, S. Chrys. says',
" But you will ask me in what place it is ?
Beyond all this world, as I think." S. Greg.
Nyssen held it to be in the darkness of this
world, of which the devils are rulers, according
to the words of the Apostle . Others, as St.
Thomas, hold, that it is under the earth";
a thought confirmed by Numbers xvi. 31.
Psalm xxx. 3.
On the subject of the nature of the pains of
hell, theologians generally divide these into the
pcena sensus and the pcena damni. The fire
which is the great instrument of the pcena
sensus has by some been supposed to be a
metaphor for the stings of conscience, but the
common opinion is, that it is a material fire.
" For as fire is kindled in mine anger, and
shall burn unto the lowesthell y ." " All darkness
shall be hid in his secret places, a fire not
blown shall consume him z ." " Who among
us shall dwell with the devouring fire ? Who
' Horn. 31. Ep. ad Kom. " Eph. vi. 12. * Opusc. 9.
art. 24. J Deut. xxxii. 22. * Job xi.
OF THE LIFE OF THE WOKLD TO COME. 3*23
among us shall dwell with everlasting burn
ings 2 ?" " I am tormented in this flame*."
" The fire is not quenched V " For the crea
ture that serveth Thee who art the Maker,
increaseth his strength against the unrighteous
for their punishment ." And God, who makes
Himself marvellous in sinners, will cause this
fire to affect ever the souls of the guilty, for
" in that one fire the wicked shall endure every
torment in hell."
And with this shall be the worm, which
some of the Fathers believe to be a material
Worm, others the remorse of conscience more
aweful than any fire or darkness. " And they,
repenting and groaning for anguish of speech,
shall say within themselves . . . Therefore have
we erred from the way of truth, and the light
of righteousness hath not shined upon us, and
the Sun of righteousness rose not on us. We
wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and
destruction . . . what hath pride profited us, or
what good hath riches with our vaunting
brought us d ?" And the devils will torment
them, and they shall be in " a land of darkness,
as darkness itself, and of the shadow of death,
z Is. xxxiii. 14. Luke xvi. 24. b Is. Ixvi. 24.
Wisd. xvi. 24. d Wisd. v. 3, 6, 7, 8.
324 OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME.
without any order, and where the light is as
darkness'." " And their stink shall come up
out of their carcases'." " And there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth."
But avveful as these pains may be, they are
as nothing to the poena damni, the loss of
God. Here we know not what it is to be
made for God, and to lose Him. There the
wicked shall learn what it is to be deprived of
Him. " As the highest happiness consists in
tellectually in the sight of God, and affectively
in the adherence of the will to the Supreme
Will, so the extreme of human misery will
consist in the mind being entirely deprived of
the Divine Light, and in the affection being
obstinately turned away from Gods." God
Himself, in Whom are all good things, is our
exceeding great reward, and separation from
Him is therefore the height of misery. Here
men blinded by sin care not to be near God :
Depart from us, say they, for we desire not a
knowledge of thy ways ; but in that day the
intellect will be so far enlightened, as to appre
hend the misery of having lost Him, of having
lost Him by their own will. Then with every
evil will, remaining obstinate in guilt, ever and
e Job x. 22. f Is. xxxiv. 3. S. Thos. Opusc. ii. c. 174.
OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME. 325
ever sinning, wishing for annihilation but ob
taining it not, they will hate and blaspheme
God for ever.
It remains for us to consider that other life Heaven,
of the world to come, which is in store for the
good, the end for which man was created.
Even natural religion and heathen philosophy
arrived at the conclusion, that there was an
end for which man was made. Some placed
it in the exercise of virtue, others in the pursuit
of pleasure ; some in living according to nature,
others in soaring above the world in the calm
regions of philosophic thought. A few placed
it in the conquest of the lower nature, and in
absorption into the Pantheistic God of nature ;
but none came nearer to the very truth, that
beatitude consists in the knowledge and pos
session, in the sight and love, of Him who is
the Supreme Good, who is the one end and
object of every intelligent nature, and who
alone can satisfy the longings of the soul.
Beatitude then must be taken in two senses ;
either as the object by the possession of which
we become blessed, or as the act by which we do
become so. In one sense God is Beatitude, in
the other sense to see and possess Him is so.
Now that the Blessed in their heavenly home
3'26 OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME.
do supernaturally by intuition behold the
essence of God, may be proved from Holy
Scripture. Our Lord says of little children 1 ",
" their angels do always behold the Face of my
Father which is in heaven ;" and of men in the
future life, that " they shall be as the angels of
God'," or, as it is written elsewhere k , they are
equal unto the angels. If then the angels see
God in the face, the saints do so also. Else
where S. Paul says 1 , " Now we see as in a glass
darkly, but then face to face."
S. Augustine says, "Man cannot see the face
of God, but the angels even of the least in the
Church always behold It ; and now we see as
in a glass and darkly, but then face to face,
when from men we are promoted to an equality
with angels."
Yet we may ask with S. Chrysostom n , How
can a created nature behold that which is
increate ? and our answer is, that It may be
seen by them, but not comprehended ; it may
be seen, not by the force of the created nature,
but by the light of glory, which some theologians
believe to be none other than the very Spirit
" Matt, xviii. 10. ! Matt. xxii. 30. k Luke xx. 36.
1 1 Cor. xiii. 12. m Ep. cxlviii. n. 7. n Horn. xv.
in S. Joan.
OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME. 327
of God, intimately enlightening the minds of
the Blessed. God is incomprehensible even by
the saints in glory, for " He is great in council
and mighty in work ," and " His ways are past
finding out p ." For to reach God by the mind
in the smallest degree is great bliss, but to
comprehend Him is entirely impossible.
And this vision of God will be brighter,
as we have cooperated with the grace that He
hath given us here. His glory has ever been
the same, for it is eternal ; He changes not, but
all shall not see Him in the same degree, but
as the light of glory is in divers degrees com
municated to each one : "In my Father's
house are many mansions' 1 ," " There is one
glory of the sun, another glory of the moon,
and another glory of the stars ; for one star
differeth from another star in glory : so is
the resurrection of the dead." On which pas
sages Tertullian thus comments 1 : "How are
there many mansions with the Father, if not
for the variety of desert ; how can one star differ
from another star, but by the variety of the
rays?" So also the Apostle"; "Every man
shall receive his own reward according to his
Jer. xxxii. 19. v Rom. xi. 33. 1 John xiv.2.
* Scorpiaco, c. 6. '1 Cor. iii. 8,
828 OF THE T.IFE OF THE WORLD TO COME.
own labour." And, "he that soweth little, shall
reap little; he that soweth bountifully, shall
reap also bountifully 1 ."
"And yet though the saints see God in divers
measures, yet one is not more blessed than
another, nor does one enjoy the supreme good
more than another, nor does one envy another;
for though there be different degrees of glory,
there is one degree of happiness; and all seek
only what they have, and all burn with perfect
charity, being plenarily conformed to the will of
God. God is to such a degree all in all, that
since He is love, what each one has is as it
were communicated to the rest. Each one has
what he has not, in that he has it in his brother;
and yet shall there be no envy of the divine
glory, since in all the unity of love shall reign"."
A question has arisen, when do the blessed
behold the Face of God ? Calvinists hold, that
all who are saved are immediately without any
intermediate condition placed in the highest
heavens*. The Roman Church asserts, that
they who have never sinned after their baptism,
and that they who either in the body or out of
the body have been cleansed from sin, are at
' Vulg. in benedictionibus. " Aug. * Confession
of Faith, 32, 1.
OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME. 329
once taken into heaven, and see the Triune God
as He is y . The Greek Church holds, that the
souls remain in a certain rest till after the day
of judgment, when in conjunction with their
risen bodies they attain everlasting bliss. The
Anglican Church, so far as it has any definite
opinion on the subject, seems to hold with this
last doctrine. A question similar to this was
agitated between the Dominicans and some
Minorites in the time of John XXII, the
latter holding that the blessed behold only the
manhood of Christ till after the resurrection.
The primary object then, which is beheld by Beatific
the saints in heaven, is the Beatific Vision of
God, " whom no man hath seen or can see," as
the Apostle says 2 . Not by the natural eye or by
the powers of nature is He seen, for He is a
pure Spirit, but "in His light shall we see light 3 ."
In this "we shall see Him as He is b ;" that is, we
shall see Him with all His attributes, absolute
and relative ; but besides this, all God's creatures
are secondary objects of the Beatific Vision,
which the saints see in God and in His Word.
And this the Fathers divide into the morning
and the vesper cognition ; the morning cogni-
T Cone. Flor. def. z 1 Tim. vi. 1C. S. Thos. Supp. q. 92.
a Ps. xxxvi. 9. b 1 John iii. 2. c Aug. de Civ, Dei, xi. 7-
330 OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME.
tion is that which they have of objects in the
Word and Wisdom of God; the vesper or
evening cognition, which is less clear, is that
which they have, out of God, by themselves
or by divine revelation ; such as are the mysteries
of faith, which here seen dimly, shall there
be made known; as it is written, "we all with
open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of
the Lord, are changed into the same image
from glory to glory," or their own condition,
for they see all things in the mirror of the
divinity, and what can they be ignorant of,
who in their degree know Him who knoweth
all things' 1 ; or the glories of their fellow citi
zens ; or the causes of the operations of nature ;
or our prayers'; or our fortunes f ; or ought else
which God reveals to them.
And such is God, that to see Him is to love
Him, and therefore Beatific Love is a con
straining necessity of the saints in heaven. So
wrapt are their wills, that a sweet and holy
need compels them ever to love Him; and they
" rest not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy,
Holy, Lord God Almighty, Who wast, and art,
and art to come 8 ." And this sight of God
d Greg. Dial. 1 1. 33. e Apoc. v. 8. ' Luke xv. 7.
1 Cor. xiii. 9. t Apoc. iv. 18.
OF THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME. 331
taketh away all power of sinning, for the deceit
which all sin implies is revealed by that Vision
of Truth, and joy shall be theirs for ever;
for happiness to be complete implies eternity,
and that happiness consists in the enjoyment
of Him who is eternal.
After this, it were needless to speak of the
gifts of body and soul accorded to the saints,
of the place of heaven which St. Paul describes
as the third heaven, above the air, and the starry
firmament ; neither shall we speak of the golden
crowns, the palm branches, nor yet of that
special prerogative, the Aureola, which crowns
the rest of all God's graces". All these things
surpass the intellect of man ; and " eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into
the thought of man to conceive, what things
God hath prepared for them that love ;" yet the
thought of them, faint and imperfect though
it be, is that which crowns virtue, dignifies
humility, gilds the lowliest lot, and turns the
saddest passages of life into a blessed pre
paration for heaven.
Non nostri jam dominatur corruptio morta-
liter viventibus, et cum ipsa aeterna vita
manentibus. Neque enim indigebimus illic
h Apoc. ziv. 4. vii. 14.
832 OF THE LIKE OF THE WOBLD TO COME.
vestimento, ubi erimus immortalitate vestiti ;
iiec cibus nobis deerit, quando Ipse Panis
vivus, Qui propter nos de caelo descendit Sui
prsesentia animas nostras satiabit ; nee potus
nobis deerit, praesenti Fonte vitae. " Saturabit
enim nos ab ubertate Domus suse, et torrente
deliciarum suarum corda nostra rigabit'."
^Estus illic non patiemur, illic est enim Re-
frigerium nostrum, qui sub umbra alarum
suarum protexit nos et protegit. Frigus illic
non patiemur, est enim ibi Sol justitiae, qui
Suo amore calefaciens corda nostra, radiis divi-
nitatis suae illuminet oculos nostros, ut videant
divinitatem et aequalitatem Patris et Filii et
Spiritus Sancti. Non ibi fatigabimur, nobis-
cum enim erit Virtus nostra, Cui nunc dici-
mus, ' Diligam Te Domine virtus mea.' Non
ibi dormiemus, non enim ibi sunt tenebrag,
quae excludere possint permanentem Diem,
Nulla ibi erit negociatio, nulla servitus, nullum
opus, et quid illic acturi sumus ? Fortasse
illud quod scriptum est c Vacate et Videte,
quoniam ego sum Deus V
1 Ps. xxxv. k Ps. xlviii. S. Aug. Serin, ad Catech. ii. 12.
INDEX.
A.
Bardesanes, 37.
Beatitude, 321, 325.
Beatific Vision, 329.
Benedict VI I. 256.
Body of Christ, 275.
Acephali, 201.
Action of God, 133.
Adoptianism, 199.
Adumbration of belief in the Bona, account of the Creed, 7.
Trinity, 75. Burial of our Lord, 221.
./Eons, 36.
Aetius, 165.
Affusion, 292. C.
Almighty, 94, 98, 100.
Anabaptists, 295. Calvinism, 70, 72.
Angels, 106. Cataphrygians, 287.
Antenicene statements of doc- Catholicity, 283.
Cerdon, 35.
trine, 152.
Antioch, Council of, 164, 166.
Apelles, 185.
Apollinaris, 183. 185.
Apostolate, 273, 276.
Apostolicity, 276, 284.
Arians, 128, 156, 186.
Arius, 138.
Artemon, 138.
Ascension, 236.
Assession, 243.
Cerinthus, 138.
Chiersy, Council of, 63.
Christ, 120123. His death,
216. His suffering, 219.
Church, 271.
Circumcession, 87.
Commuuicatio idiomatum, 87,
note, 143, 208.
Communion of Saints, 273.
Constantine, Emperor, 3.
Constantine Pogonatus, 206.
Asterius, 165.
Attributes of God, 41. of the Constantinople, 315.
Spirit, 255. Consubstantial, 163167.
Council of Antioch, 164 166.
Council of Lateran, 206.
B. Council of Nictjea, 3, 4.
Baptism, 232, 234, 286298.
Basilides, 33, 37, 220.
Council of Constantinople, 3,
315. sixth General, 206.
Constantinopolitan Creed, 9.
334
INDEX.
Creation, 101108, 168171.
Cross, the, 211.
Cyril's Anathematising, 195.
D.
Death of our Lord, theological
reasons for, 216.
Deification, 128.
Deipara, 193
Developement of doctrine, 78.
Difficulties of modern science,
108113.
Aorv7T(6<rew, 6.
Divinity of the Son, 136 155.
of the Spirit, 252254.
Docetse, 183, 221.
Dualism, 32.
E.
Ebion, 138.
Elvira, Council of, 294.
Eternity of punishment, 317.
Eucharist, Holy, 241.
Ever- Virgin, 185.
Evil, moral and physical, 35.
Eudoxius, 168.
Eunomius, 165.
Eusebius, 165. account of the
Council, 4.
Eutychianism, 186, 201, 210.
F.
Faith, 13,14, 1521.
Father, 94100.
Freedom of God, 50.
G.
Generation, the Eternal, 130,
135, 153.
Gnosticism, 36, 104, 183.
GOD, 23. metaphysical argu
ment for His existence, 24.
natural theological argu
ment, 25. moral argument,
27. His unity, 28, 40. His
monarchia, 39. His attri
butes, 41. The definition of
God, 41. His freedom and
unchangeableness, 50. His
infinity, incomprehensibility,
and eternity, 53. His know
ledge, 53. His will, 59.
Gotheschalcus, 63.
H.
Heathenism, 30.
Heaven, 317.
Hell, 314.
Holiness of the Church, 286.
Honorius, 206.
Human nature, parts of assumed
by Christ, 190. its impec
cability, 191.
Hutchinsonians, 91.
Hypostatic union, 187. error?
regarding, 191.
1.
Immersion, 291.
Incarnation of the Divine Word.
Its motives, 175, 182. errors
regarding it, 182. Its defini
tion, 174.
INDEX.
335
Incomprehensibility of God, 52.
Infinity of God, 52.
J.
Jacobites, 201.
Jansenism, 60, 73.
JESUS, the name of, 118.
John, S. Argument of Gospel,
139.
Judgment, 244.
Justification, 230.
Justinian, Emp. 6.
K.
Kingdom of Christ, 249.
Kingship of Christ, 243.
Knowledge of God, 55.
L.
Light of Glory, 326.
Lifegiver, 286.
Logos, 132.
Lord, The, 115118.
Lutheranism, 210.
M.
Manichees, 297.
Marcellus of Ancyra, 249.
Marcion, 33.
Marcus, 33.
Martin, 206.
Martyrdom, 296.
MARY, the blessed Virgin, 173,
193, 222.
Messiah, time and epoch of, 1 18.
Milleiiarians, 311.
Minister of baptism, 293.
Mission, 135.
Monarchia of God, 39.
Monothelitism, 206.
Mormonite materiality of God,
44.
Mosaic cosmogony, 108.
N.
Natural Theology, 113.
Natures in Christ, 202.
Nestorianism, 186, 192, 194. of
the present day, 200.
Nicaea Council, 4.
Nicene Creed, 8.
Notiones, 134.
O.
163 167.
Only-begotten, 124, 129.
Operations in Christ, 208.
Origen, 249.
Ormuzd, 33.
a /?
opoi, o.
p.
Pantheism, 44 50.
Part of human nature assumed
by the Word, 190.
Patripassianism, 186, 219, 220.
Paul of Samosata, 138.
Paulianists, 138, 287.
Penitence, 289.
Perichoresis, 87.
Phantasiasts, 221.
Philoponus, 92.
Poana Damni et Sensus, 322.
Polytheism, 30.
Praxeas, 89.
336
INDEX.
Predestination, 6772.
Presence ol ()<!, 54.
Priesthood of Christ, 23.
Procession, 132. the double,
256.
Properties, 134.
Providence, 68.
Q.
Quiercy, Council of, 68.
R.
Reformers, 288.
Regeneration, 232, 290.
Remission of sin, 287.
Reprobation, 72.
Resurrection of our Lord, 225.
of ourselves, 234, 299.
Romans, argument of Epistle
to, 74.
S.
Sabellianism, 89, 186.
Salvation of men, 61.
Saturninus, 37.
Sergius III. 256.
S. Silvester, 3.
Simon the Cyrenian, 220.
Simple nature of God, 42.
Simon Magus, 221.
Son of God, 127.
Son, the Creator, 168171,
Spiratiou, 132.
SPIRIT, the Holy, 251.
Suffering of our Lord, 216.
T.
Terminology regarding the
Blessed Trinity, 22.
Theodotus, 138.
Theotokos, 193.
Trinity, adumbration of belief
in, 78. doctrine of, 76. de-
velopement of, 78. Scriptural
argument, 80 87.
Tritheism,91.
U.
Ubiquitarians, 210.
Unitarians, 139.
Unity of the Church, 277280.
Universalists, 315.
Unchangeableness of God, 50.
Union of natures in Christ, 187-
vital ditto, 224.
Universal redemption, 60, 64.
V.
Valentinus, 33, 36, 37, 184.
Victor, P. 138.
Vital union in Christ, 224.
W.
Will of God, 59.
Wills in Christ, 207.
Word of God, 124127, 132.
World, 106.
Z.
Zephyrinus, 138.
BT
Forbes
H Hii
i' U e jtplct.iici L un
.F6 of the Nicene Creed
101132
DATE
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