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2. "io 



THEOLOGICAL TRANSLATION LIBRARY 



Edited by the Rev. T. K. CHEYNE, M.A., D.D., Oriel Professor 
OF Interpretation, Oxford ; and the late Rev. A. B. BRUCE 
D.D., Professor of Apologetics and New Testament Exegesis, 
Free Church College, Glasgow. 



VOL. XII. 
HARNACK^S HISTORY OF DOGMA. VOL. VII. 



e> 



HISTOEY OF DOGMA 



BY 



Dr. ADOLPH HARNACK 

ORDINARY PROF. OF CHURCH HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY, AND FELLOW OF 

THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, BERLIN 



TRANSLATED FROM THE THIRD GERMAN 

EDITION 



BY 



NEIL BUCHANAN 



VOL. VII. 






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BOSTON 

. LITTLE, BROWN. AND COMPANY 

1900 











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TRANSLATOR'S NOTE. 

The Translator deeply regrets that, in preparing this conclud- 
ing volume for publication, he enjoyed only to a limited extent 
the aid of the late lamented Professor Bruce, whose enfeebled 
state of health precluded the possibility of close and continuous 
scrutiny of the English rendering, — although he was engaged in 
examining proof-sheets within a few weeks of his death. In 
expressing the hope that the volume will not seriously suffer 
from appearing mainly on his own responsibility, the Translator 
may perhaps be permitted to bear testimony to the profound 
interest Dr. Bruce took in Harnack's great work, to his pains- 
taking and unwearied efforts to secure that it would be ade- 
quately presented to English readers, and to the singular 
geniality of his intercourse with those who had the honour 
of co-operating with him in his labours. 



-10 8^^ 




PART II. 

DEVELOPMENT OF ECCLESIASTICAI, I 
BOOK III. 

The Threefold Issue of the History of Dogma. 



CHAPTER I\~Hisiorical Situation - - - - 

In the Middle Ages the elements of the Augustlnian 

! Theology grew stronger, but also became dissociated 

( from one another ; Thomas made a further effort to 

1 maintain them in union - - - - - 

The Curialistic and opposing tendencies about ihe year 

iS°o 

]. I. Curialism ------- 

^^^^ The usages of the Roman Church are divine truths 
^^^^L Indeiiniteness of their extent - . . . 

^^^^P The Nominalistic Scholasticism and the^i^j- implicila are 

l^^^r Decline of the Old Dogma on-ing to this attitude ; it be- 
p comes simply legal order in the service of politics 

The Christian Element in the secularised notion of the 
\ Church ------- 

^^^a. The Opposition to Curialism - . . . 

^^^F The usages of the Roman Church are tyrannical, and 
^^^^H have the witness of ecclesiastical antiquity against them. 
^^^H Holy Scripture and the Old Dogma are the only founda- 

^^^B tions of the Church ..... 

W Uncertainty and unlenableness of this standpoint about 

f the year 1500 .-..-. 

I The general distru5t of theology, " Practical Christianity " 

( the watchword. Dogma as legal order - 

[ The general inward estrangement from the Old Dogma - 

f The attempted return to Augustine 

[ Individualism assumes manifold forms 

DitTerent possibilities as to the issue of the ecclesiastical 
crisis about 1500 -.---- 

1 The four chapters which make up this volume answer to Chajiteis I 
^art II., Book III., in the Original Gennan Edition. 



Vlll CONTENTS. 



Page 

The actual issues (a) in Tndentine Catholicism - - 22 

,, „ (b) in Socinianism - - - 23 

,, „ C^^ in the Reformation - - - 23 
In these issues the issues of Dogma are represented ; the 

problem of this last section to be defined accordingly. 27 
Addendum : Proof that the History of Dogma must not 
extend to the Form of Concord, but must close with 

Luther - - - - - - - 29 

CHAPTER IL — The Issues of Dogma in Roman Catholicism 35 — 117 

1. The Codification of Mediceval Doctrines in opposition to 

Protestantism (Decrees of Trent) - - - 35 — 72 
Introduction to the Decrees of Trent, influence of the 
Reformation, influence of Augustinianism, the attitude of 
the Curia, importance and unimportance of the Decrees 35 
Sources of knowledge and authorities. Scripture and tradi- 
tion - - - - - - - 40 

The Sacraments — - - - - - - 43 

Baptism ------- 46 

Eucharist - - - - - - -47 

Penance - - - -'- - -51 

Ordination to Priesthood, and Marriage - - 53 

Purgatory, Saints, Indulgences - - - - 54 

The decrees on sin, grace and justification - - 56 

Concluding statement - - - - - 7J 

2. Main Features of Dogmatic Development in Catholicism 

from i^6j to i8jo as preparing the way for Decrees of 

the Vatican ------ 72 — 109 

1. {a) Decline of Episcopalism and triumph of Curialism - T^ I 
The Professio fidei Tridentinae and the Catechismus j 

Romanus - - - - - - -74 

Gallicanism, the Four Propositions - - - 75 

Louis XIV ------- 75 

Napoleon I., the Concordat 1801, de Maistre, etc., Ultra- 

montanism in France - - - - - 11 

Febronius and the Punctation of Ems - - - 78 | 

Ultramohtanism in Germany - - - - 79 ' 

{b) Scripture and Tradition - - - - 80 
Holy Scripture - - - - - 81 
The New Gnostic and " enthusiastic " principle of Tradi- 
tion - - • -- - - - 82 

2. Decline of Augustinianism ----- 86 ^ 
Bajus ---..--87 I 

Lessius, Hamel, Molina ... - - 89 ( 

The congregatio de auxiliis - - - - - 90 

Jansen and Jansenism - - • - - 9' 

Quesnel and the Constitution Unigenitus - - - 96 
Decisive victory over Augustinianism, the Dogma of the 

Immaculate Conception of Mary - . - 99 



CONTENTS. 



Probabilism and the Jesuits . - . . 

Bartholomaus de Medina - - - - - 

Pascal, the struggle of the Popes against Probabilism 
Thyrsus Gonialei - - . . - - 

Alphonso Liguori ----.. 
The arbitrary decisions of the Curia in the nineteenth 

century .---.-- 
The Vatican Decrees ..... 

Papal infalhbility - - .... 

Prospects for the future, the necess it y of the Ecclesiastical 

State an "indubitable truth" .... 
Dogma in the hands of the Pope .... 



15 



CHAPTER III. — The Issues of DogJita in Antiirinilarianism 

and Socinianistn ------ 118—167 

1, Historical Introduction . _ _ . - nS — 137 
Character, origin and earlier stages of Socinianism - 1 ig 
The Pantheistic-Mystic tendency - - - - 122 
The Anabaptist Group . . - . . 124 
The Rationalistic Reformers - - - - 136 
The Pantheistic Rationalistic Reformers, Servede - 128 
The attitude toward Tradition and Scripture - - 129 
Antitrinitarianism : Sehwenkfeld, Wejgel, Bruno, Denck, 

Hatzer, Campanus, Joris, Hoffmann, the Italian Anti- 

trinitirians in Switzerland, Poland and Transylvania - 130 

Fausto SoKini in Poland - - - - - I3S 

2. The Socinian Doctrine ..... \yj-^if,-j 
The Christian religion is religion of the Book and rational 

theology of the New Testannent — the doctrine of 

Scripture -.--.-- 137 

The doctrine of the way of salvation ... 142 

The doctrine of God (rejection of the doctrine of the 

Trinity) .-.---. 144 

The doctrine of the Person of Christ . . - 146 

The doctrine of the Work of Christ (Sacraments, criticism 

of the doctrine of satisfaction) .... 149 

The doctrine of Faith - - - - - 159 

The doctrine of the Church _ . . . 163 

Estimate of Socinianism . - . - . 165 

CHAPTER IV.— The Issues of Dogma in Protestantism ■ 168—274 

1. Introduction - - - - - - 168 

General characterisation of Luther, his position in the 

■ History of Dogma a problem ; Luther as restorer of 

the Old Dogma and as reformer - - - - 169 

2. Luther's Cliristianily . _ , _ . 130 — 212 
The religious development of Luther . - _ igo 
The God of grace ----.. igj 
Reduction of the traditional material, faith as the being 

personally apprehended of God - - . - 183 



CONTENTS. 



5- 

■ 



Freedom -..-..- 
The Church ---...- 
Word of God and Church ----- 
Word of God and Christ - . - - - 

The Church, as community of believers, the Mother 
The new ideal of life . . - . - 

Sketch of Luther's theology - . . _ 

Doctrine of God, Trinity, the F irst Article of Faith 

Jesus Christ 

Sin (primitive state) . - - - . 

Predestination, bondage of the will 

Law and Gospel -.---- 

Justification ------- 

Luther's criticism of the ruling Ecclesiastical Tradition and 
of Dogma 

(1) Criltcism of the fundamenta.1 Dogmatic conceptions 

(2) Criticism of the ideal of life and of the notion of bles- 
sedness . . - . - 

Criticism of the Sacraments 

„ of the hierarchical system - 

„ of the prevailing form of worship - 

„ of the authorities. Tradition and Scriplui 

„ of the Dogmatic terminology 

Final conclusion : Luther's work is the setting up of Faith 

^ and the demolition of Dogma 

The Catholic elements retained by Luther along with and 

in his Christianity 
Limitations of Luther, due to his attitude as a reformer and 

to the spiritual condition of his e„ 
Limitations that were opposed to his peculiar character 

as a reformer - - - - 

Confusions and problems in " Dogmatic " that 1 
by him to subsequent times 

(1) The Gospel and the "Evangelical doctrine" 

(2) Evangelical Faith and the Old Dogma 

(3) The Word of God and holy Scripture - 
{4) The grace of God and Sacraments 

(a) Infant Baptism 

(b) Penance . . - - 

(c) Eucharist .... 
Danger of a r 

Lutheran ism. 



ERRATA. 

Page 9 ; line 2 from top, read beside in place of besides, and delete 

comma after this. 
Page 97 ; line 3 from top, read Paul in place of Plato, 



SECOND PART. 
DEVELOPMENT OF ECCLESIASTICAL DOGMA, 

THIRD BOOK. 

THE THREEFOLD ISSUE OF THE HISTORY 

OF DOGMA. 



** Also haben die Sophisten Christum gemalet, wie er Mensch 
und Gott sei, zahlen seine Beine und Arm, mischen seine beiden 
Naturen wunderlich in einander, welches denn nur eine 
sophistische Erkenntuiss des Herm Christi ist Denn Christus 
ist nicht darumb Christus genennet, dass er zwo Naturen hat. 
Was gehet mich dasselbige an ? Sondern er traget diesen 
herrlichen und trostlichen Namen von dem Ampt und Werk, so 
er -auf sich genommen hat ; dasselbige giebt ihm den Namen. 
Dass er von Natur Mensch und Gott ist, das hat er fiir sich ; 
aber dass er sein Ampt dahin gewendet und seine Liebe 
ausgeschiittet, und mein Heiland und Erloser wird, das 
geschieht mir zu Trost und zu Gut." (Luther, Erlang. Ausg. 
XXXV. S. 207 f.) 

" Adversarii, quum neque quid remissio peccatorum, neque 
quid fides neque quid gratia neque quid justitia sit, intelligant, 
misere contaminant locum de justificatione et obscurant gloriam 
et beneficia Christi et eripiunt piis conscientiis propositas in 
Christo consolationes." (Apologia confessionis IV. [ll.] init.) 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



CHAPTER I. 

HISTORICAL SITUATION. 

In the fourth section of Chapter IV., Vol. V. (p. 222 ff.), it 
has been shown that by Augu.stine the traditional dogma was 
on the one hand strengthened, i.c., the authoritative force of it, 
as the most important possession of the Church, was intensified, 
while on the other hand it was in many ways expanded and 
recast. That dogma which, in its conception and its construc- 
tion, was a work of the Hellenic spirit on the soil of the Gospel 
(see Vol. I., p. l^ ffi), continued to exist ; in thinking of dogma 
one thought of the knowledge of a supernatural world and 
history, a knowledge that was revealed by God, that was 
embodied in unalterable articles of doctrine, and that con- 
ditioned all Christian life ; but into its structure there were 
interwoven by Augustine in a marvellous way the principles of 
Christian life-experience, of the experience which he had passed 
through as a son of the Catholic Church and as a disciple of 
Paul and the Platonists, while the Roman Church thereafter 
gave to dogma the force of a great divine system of law for the 
individual and for Christian society. 

By these foregoing steps, of which the infiuence continued to 
be fundamental, the inner history of Western Christianity in the 
Middle Ages was determined. We have seen that no sub- 
stantially new element can be pointed to in the period of a 



thousand years intervening between Augustine and the fifteenth 
century. Yet the theme ivhich Augustine had given out was 
not merely reproduced and repeated with a hundred different 
variations, there was rather a real development and deepening 
of it. All the elements of that theme passed through a history ; 
they were strengthened. Just for that reason a crisis was bound 
to arise. The unity which for Augustine included dogma, the 
claims of the understanding, the legal regulations of the Church 
and the principles of individual Christian life, was destroyed ; it 
could not be maintained. Those claims and these legal re- 
gulations and principles betrayed more and more of a centrifugal 
force, and, as they grew stronger, asserted the claim to sole 
supremacy. Thomas, indeed, the greatest of the Schoolmen, 
.still set himself to solve the vast problem of satisfying under 
the heading and within the framework of a Church dogmatic all 
the claims that were put forward by the ecclesiastical antiquity 
embodied in dogma, by the idea of the Church as the living, 
present Christ, by the legal order of the Roman Church, by 
Augustine's doctrine of grace, by the science of Aristotle, and 
by the piety of Bernard and Francis. But the great work of 
this new Augustine certainly did not issue in lessening the 
strain of the mutually antagonistic forces and in securing a 
satisfying unity. So far as it aimed at this effect the under- 
takii^g was futile; to some degree indeed it produced the 
opposite result. The wealth of material employed in carrying 
it out only served to strengthen to the utmost all the forces 
that were to be kept controlled within the unity of the whole. 
Thomas was as much looked up to as a teacher by the rational 
criticism of Nominalism as by the Mysticism of Eckhart and 
the " Pre- Re formers," and if he undoubtedly laid the foundation 
for the most extravagant theories of the Curialists, yet on the 
other hand he strengthened the recollection of the Augustinian 
dictum, that in religion it i.s purely a question about God and 
the soul. 

The task is a difficult one, and can scarcely be carried out, of 
indicating in a i^vi of its characteristic features the inner state 
of Chri.stian religion in the West at the close of the fifteenth 
century ; for the picture this period presents is almost as com- 




CHAP. I.] HISTORICAL SITUATION, 

plicated as that exhibited by the second century of our era.^ 
After what has been stated in the foregoing Book, it must be 
enough for our purpose to specify briefly the most important 
currents in their relation to dogma. 

I. Curialism. — About the year 1500 a great party was in 
existence that treated Church and reh'gioii simply as an 
outward form of dominion, and sought to maintain and extend 
them by means of force, officialism, and an oppressive system of 
dues. The nations held that the chief seat of this party was to 
be sought for in Rome itself, at the papal court, and they were 
aware Chat the secularising of the Church, which had become a 
heavy burden, not only on consciences, but on all vigorous 
forces of life and on ail ideals, was carried on from Rome 
without shrinking or shame. It is a matter of no importance 
whether among those who in this way undertook to build up 
the Church of Christ there were some who in their hearts had 
continued inwardly devoted to the cause for which they 
ostensibly laboured ; for we have to do here only with the 
results which they had their share in producing. For this 
party of Church politicians there was at bottom only one 
dogma — that the use and wont of the Roman Church was divine 
truth. The old dogma had only value and importance in so far 
as it was of a piece with the usages of the Roman Church, 
There is implied in this that this party had the strongest 
interest in giving to the modern decisions and verdicts of the 
Curia entirely the same value and authority as belonged to 
dogma. As, on the one hand, it could never think of abrogating 
anything authoritative (if an old tradition, a passage of Scrip- 
ture, or a dogmatic distinction was inconvenient, any unwelcome 
consequence was obviated by the new rule that had now made 
its appearance, that only the Church, i.e., Rome, liad the right to 
expound), so on the other hand it had to see to it that the 
nations became accustomed to the startling novelty of attri- 
buting the same sacredness to papal decisions as to the decrees 
of the great Councils, About 1500 this quid pro quo had 

1 Cf, the introductions to the hislory of the Keformation by Kolde (Luther), v. 
Behold and Leni (Luther), and also Miiller's Bericht in Ihe VoilrSge der Giessener 



L 




$ HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. I. 

already succeeded up to a certain point, though the success was 
-Still far from being perfect. But the spirits of men were 
wearied and perplexed after the unhappy course of things 
during the period of the Councils fConstance, BSsle). Even 
the Councils had succumbed, or were rendered powerless. 
Somewhere, nevertheless, a fixed point had to be found. 
Accordingly, the Romanists succeeded in again persuading 
many that it was unquestionably to be found hi Rome, and 
there alone.^ The princes, moreover, intent only on maintain- 
ing secular rule over the churches in their own dominions, left the 
Curia to act in an irresponsible way in the provinces of faith, 
morals, and Church practice, and so on their part strengthened 
the presumption with regard to the religious (dogmatic) infalli- 
bility and sovereignty of the Roman Chair. The Curia, of course, 
could have no interest in gathering the papal decisions into a 
sacred code and placing this as a Church law-book side by side 
with the old dogma : for thereby the idea would only have been 
encouraged which there was a wish to combat — that the Pope, 
namely, was bound by a strictly defined dogmatic canon. 
What was desired rather was to accustom the nations to see 
invariably in the papal directions issued ad hoc, the decisions 
that were necessary and that terminated all di.scussion. Just 
on that account the Curia was only gratified when there still 
remained a certain dubiety about many questions that were 
stirred regarding dogma and Church polity ; such dubiet}' it 
deliberately fostered where a definite decision could not be 
1 See Ihe Bull of I'iu5 II., " Exectahilis," of the year 1459 {Dendnger, Enchiiidiun, 
5lh ed., p. 134) ; " Execiahilia e[ pristiois temporibus iimuditus tempeslale nostra 
inolevit abitsus, uc a Romano Pontiiice, Jesu Cliristi vicsrio . . . nonnulli spiritu 
rebellionis imbuti, ntin sunioris cupiditate Judicii, sed comiiiis;i evasione peccati ad 
futuium concilium provocaie prasumanl. . . ■ Volentes igitor hoc pestiferum virus 
a Christ! ecclesia procu! pellere et ovi-um nobis commissarutn saluti consulere, 
omnemque materiani scandal! ab ovili no^tri iinlvatoiis arceie . . ■ hujusmodi pia- 
vocalionea damnamus el lamquam errone-ns ac delcstabiles reprobamus." Bull of 
LeoX,, " Pastor iEtein us," of the year 1516 (Deozinger, p. 187): " Solum Romanimi 
Pontincem pro tempore existentem tamquam auctotilatetn super omnia concilia 
habentcm, lam concilioruni indicendonim transferendorum ac dissolvendorum plenum 
jus ac potestatem habere, nedum ex saci^ scripluio^ testimoniu, dictis sanctorum 
pattum ac aliurum Romanoruin Ponlificum etiam prxdec 
que caTionum decretis, sed piupria etiam eorunulem c 



reached without provoking considerable opposition. It had 
long been learned, too, from experience, that angling is better 
in troubled waters, and that uncertain souls are more easily 
ruled than souls that have a clear view of what is valid in the 
Church and has the support of truth. 

Very closely connected with this was the circumstance, that 
in Rome the advantages were more clearly seen which the once 
dreaded Noininalistic Scholasticism could furnish in Church 
affairs. A theology which, like the Thomistic, aimed at securing 
for believers an inner conviction of the things they had to be- 
lieve, could certainly also render the Church the greatest ser- 
vices, and these services the Church can never quite dispense 
with, so long as it does not wield an unlimited external power. 
But every theology that is directed towards awakening inner 
convictions and producing a unity of thought, will to some ex- 
tent also train its scholars in criticising what is at the time in 
force, and will therefore become dangerous to a Church system 
which forbids all scrutiny of its use and wont. It was other- 
wise with the Nominalistic Scholasticism. After a development 
for more than 150 years, it had reached the point of show- 
ing the irrationality, the (to human view) contingent and arbi- 
trary character of even the most important Church doctrines. 
Though an interest of faith might also be involved in this great 
critical process (see above Vol. Vi., p. i6z), yet its most manifest 
result was that there was a resolute surrender to the authority 
of the Church. The Church must know what the individual 
can never know, and its faculty for understanding reaches 
further than the intelligence of believers. That this result was 
bound to be welcome to the Curialists is very obvious; Innocent 
IV. indeed had been beforehand with the assertion, that the 
layman may satisfy himself with faith in God as requiting, if 
only he is obedient to the Church. They had no objection 
to urge, therefore, against that fides implicita, which is nothing 
but blind obedience, and .specially convenient for them must 
have been the dissolution of the Augustinian doctrine of grace 
which Nominalism had effected by laying stress on the miracle 
of the Sacraments and on merit But who, then, really believed 
still in the dogmas, and sought life on the ground of his belief? 



8 IIISTORV OF nO(.;MA. [CHAl'. I. 

Foolish question ! For the most thorough-going Romanism, so 
far as it rises to the question of salvation at all, the superior 
excellence of the Christian religion above all others consists just 
in this, that it is a system which, as an apparatus, produces 
under easily fulfilled conditions sanctification of life, up to the 
point of a man's being well-pleasing to God and having merit. 
Faith, which had always been regarded in Catholicism as some- 
thing merely preliminary, is here shrivelled up into submission 
to an apparatus. During the time immediately before the Re- 
formation many of those who served in working the machine in 
Rome had a Humanistic smile on their lips; but they never 
went so far as to express vigorous scorn ; for there was too 
much convenience in the system that had been built up, and 
those who maintained it had too little thought to admit of their 
jesting being ever taken seriously. 

There can be no doubt that this whole mode of procedure 
was a way of burying the old dogma ; not less doubtful is it 
that there developed itself here — with an alarming logical con- 
sistency certainly — an element that lay in the beginnings of 
Western Catholicism.^ Augustine, in his day, had thrown him- 
self into the arms of Church authority,* and declared the " cre- 
dere," as meaning blind submission to what the Church teaches, 
to be the starting-point in the inner process of the Christian life. 
But what a wealth of Christian experience he at the same time 
brought with him, and how well he understood how to make of 
his Church a home ! From this there had been a lapse, or it 
had come to be treated as a matter of indifference. To obey 
and submit to be trained! — but the training was provided for 
by the Sacrament, was provided for by the ludicrously small 

1 It has b5en repealedly poinled out in foregoing passages how there are betrayed 
already in Tettullian ibe elements of the later Catholicism, and even, indeed, of 
Scholasticism. It would be a fine piece of work to gather together and e3tima.te all 
the material relating to this : TcrtuUianns doctorum Romanorum piascursor. It is a 
lemarkable fact that among the old Catholic Fathers the man who most truly repre- 
sented primitive Christianity was at the same time the most modern. 

* He hiniBelf could certainly have no inkling of the shocking superstition, a defence 
of which would one day he sought for in his ill-omened proposition ; " Quod universa 
frequentat ecclesia, quin ita faciendum sit, disputare insolentissimie insania? est '' 
' ... - \ihieh the proof from the general usus of 




CHAI". I.] HISTORICAL SITUATION. 9 

offerings to which the Church could impart the worth belonging 
to moral acts. Beside^ thiythere was no longer a place for 
dogma in the old sense of the term, as the definitely outlined 
content of what is to constitute the inward conviction of a 
Christian and is to be vitalized within him. As dogma was en- 
cumbered by a hundred new definitions of which scarcely any 
one could take full account — these new definitions, again, being 
differentiated according to the form in which Rome had spoken, 
as absolutely binding, qualifying, probable, admissible, etc.— it 
also became bereft of its direct significance. It is the legal 
system of the Roman Church, but a legal sy.stem ever taking 
new shape through ever new arbitrary decisions : it is enough 
for the Christian to adhere to the institutions which it has 
brought into existence. If this course of things had gone on 
uninterruptedly and been victorious — victory seemed already to 
await it about 1500 — then dogma would have continued indeed 
to exist in an outward way, but inwardly both the old dogma 
and dogmatic Christianity in general would have disappeared, 
and their place would have been taken by a form of religion 
belonging to a lower stage. For the way in which Curialism 
placed \tie\i above dogma, merely showing respect to hs formal 
dignity, did not arise from the freedom of the Christian man, 
but only indicated the complete seculaiising of religion by poli- 
tics. The " tolerari potest " of the Curia and the " probabile " 
produce a still worse secularisation of the Church than the 
"anathema sit." And yet there was still inherent in this quite 
secularised notion of the Church a Christian element — although 
by that time its power to bless had almost entirely disappeared. 
That element was faith in the Kingdom of Christ on earth, in its 
presence and supremacy in the midst of the earthly and sinful. 
In having this faith, those who earnestly resisted all opposition 
were superior to their opponents ; for they felt that the men 
who opposed, aimed at building up a Church from beneath, that 
is to say, from the holiness of Christians. They represented a 
religious thought when they upheld the empire of the Pope ; or 
rather, .in protecting the Church against Mystics and Hussites, 
they involuntarily conserved the truth of the conviction that 
the Church of Christ is the reign of the gospel among sinful men. 



lO HrSTORV OF DOGMA. [CHAP. I- 

2. The Opposition to Curialism was not held together by an 
identity of thought; the motives, rather, which had prompted 
the opposition were very various. Men were influenced by 
political, social, religiou.s, and scientific co n side rat ion .s ; but they 
were agreed in the one point, that the usages of the Roman 
Church had grown into a tyranny, and that the testimony of 
ecclesiastical antiquity was against them. In connection with 
the observation of this the theses were maintained, that papal 
decisions had not the importance of articles of faith, that it was 
not competent to Rome alone to expound Scripture and the 
Fathers, that the Council, which is above the Pope, must reform 
the Church in its head and members, and that in view of the 
innovations in dogma, in cultus and in Church law which had 
emanated from Rome, the Church must return to her original 
principles and her original condition. These poi^itions were not 
only represented in the period before the appearance of Luther 
by Conventicles, Hussites, and Waldensians or wild sectaries ; 
they found their defenders still more in the ranks of the truest 
sons of the Roman Catholic Church. Bishops, theological 
faculties and monks of unquestionable orthodoxy gave expres- 
sion to them, and Luther was justified in appealing to such men 
at the beginning of his career as a reformer.^ Even against 
papal pronouncements to a different effect there was held to be 
a good Catholic right to maintain, that the basis of the Roman 
Catholic Church is to be found only in Scripture and in the dog- 
matic tradition of ecclesiastical antiquity.^ With a firmness 
that seems strange to us to-day this standpoint is still repre- 
sented in the Augsburg Confession ; ^ of course it will be im- 
possible to deny that, after what had taken place previous to 

■ From the year 1519 ; see also his speech at Worms. 

> Hence also Luther's appeal to the Greeks, who weie ceitainly no heretics. 

■ In Art. XXI. these terms are used ; " Uasc feie summa est doctrine spud suos, 
itt gun cemi potest nihil inesse, quad discrtpet a scripliirii vsl ab iccUsia Catialisa, 
Till a6 ecclesia Romatia, qualcnus ex scHpteriius nola est." The cautious mode of 
procedure of the Augsburg Confession has been made more apparent by F'icker's 
fine book on the Con futatio t Leipzig, iSgi). The Con futacores were unfortunately 
right in a number-vf their exposures of the defective candour of tbe Confession. 
Luther also was no longer so well salisiied with the book at midsummer, 1530, as he 
had been in May, and he had, to some extent, the same strictures to make as the 
Catholics .with regard to disaimuialiiin. 




CHAP. I.] HISTORICAL SITUATION, I I 

the year 1530, it couid .still be asserted there only from tactical 
considerations. But even the Emperor himself, as we know, 
applied the same criterion : in the acceptance or rejection of the 
"twelve articles," i.e., of the Apostolic Symbol as expounded in 
the early Church, he saw a profession of orthodoxy or heresy.^ 

How untenable, however, this standpoint wa.s, and what a 
lack of thought was implied in defending it in all seriousness ! 
In point of fact it was only the circumstance that no crisis of 
any gravity had as yet exposed it.s weakness that rendered de- 
ception possible as to its having grown frail; and, as the Em- 
peror himself was not really guided in his action by it, so none 
could maintain it any longer without qualification. Was it not 
the case, then, that since the time of Augustine there had 
entered into the iron composition of Western religion an im- 
mense mass of theological propositions and Christian experi- 
ences, which had never been authoritatively fixed, but which never- 
theless everj'one regarded as legitimate ? How many regulations 
there were which were generalSy recognized as salutary and 
proper, and which rested, notwithstanding, only on papal direc- 

' See ihe infocmalion given by j^icola, as quoted by Kawerau [Johann Agricola,. 
iSSl), p. 100: " It happened that in the Vigili of J uhn the Baptist the Emperor hel* 
a banquet in the garden. Now, when Queen Maria asked him what he thought of 
doing with the people, and with the Confession that had been delivered np, he gave 
the reply : Dear sister, since iny coming into the holy Empire, the great complaint 
has reached me that the people who profess this docirine are more wicked than the 
devil. But the Bishop of Seville gave me the advice that I should not think of acting 
tyrannically, but should ascertain whether the doctrine is at variance with the articles, 
of our Christian faith. This advice pleased me, and so I find that the people are 
not so devilish as had been represented ; nor is the subject of dispute the Twelve 
Articles, but a matter lying outside of them, which I have ihetefore handed over tck 
Ihe scholars. If their doctrine, however, had been in conRict with Ihe Twelve Articles, 
of our Christian faith, I should have been disposed to apply the edge of the sword." 
It is to be noted here that both Thomas a.nd Duns (see RitschI, Fides implidlay 
p. 15 f., 30) put down the contents of the symbol as the iheulc^a tevelala, of which 
the subject-m alter is distributed among two sets of seven propositions— seven upon 
God and seven upon the Incarnation (the myslery of the Godhead, the vi.sionofwhoni 
is blessedness, and the mystery of the humanity of Christ, which is the ground o£ 
attaining to the honour of God's sons). Not even is the Church included here, 
(Biel was the first to add it, without, however, bringing out the main Catholic feature, 
see p. 34 f.). Everything, on the other hand, thai is not included here belongs to- 
Natural Theology, and is subject to an estimate difiereiit from Ihat applied to the 
docttines of faith. 



lUfiTORi' OF i>oc;ma. [chap. I. 

tions or on the tradition of the immediately preceding centuries! 
What a readiness there was on all hands to acknowledge the 
decisive title of the Pope to interpret Scripture and tradition, in 
■cases where his pronouncements coincided with what was re- 
garded by one's self as correct ! How much doubt there was 
as to how far the Council was superior to the Pope, and what 
powers a Council had when it acted without the Pope or assumed 
an attitude of opposition towards him ! And what uncertain- 
ties prevailed as to what was really to be reformed, the abuses 
■or the usages, the outward condition of the Church — that is, its 
•constitution and ritual forms, or the administration of the Sacra- 
ments, or the Christian life, or the conception of the Church, as 
the kingdom established by God in which Christ reigns. We 
■derive a clear view of this host of uncertainties even from the 
line of action followed by Luther from the year 1517 till the 
year 1520. Although by that time he had already laid his hand 
on the helm and knew distinctly whither he was steering, what 
painful contradictions, compromises, and uncertainties, we at 
■once see to have marked his course in those years, when we 
observe what reforms he then contemplated, and what view he 
took of the powers belonging to the Church ! At that time he 
could almost in one breath acknowledge and repudiate the 
authority of the Church of Rome, cur.se the papacy and profess 
submission to itl 

And yet what is in itself untenable and full of contradictions 
can nevertheless be a power. This was true of the opposition to 
Curialism about the year 1500. We should, however, be very 
much mistaken were we to assume that the efforts of the 
■opposition, which appealed to ecclesiastical antiquity against the 
innovations of Curialism, exercised, or were even intended to 
exercise, any considerable influence on the shaping oK doctrine 
in the direction of a conscious return to the old ecclesiastical 
theology. The thought of such a return was almost entirely 
ab.sent, because the period generally was an untheological one. 
This distinguishing feature wh ich characterised the two genera- 
tions immediately preceding the Reformation — the develop- 
ment of which, moreover, had begun at an earlier date — has had 
little justice done to it hitherto in the formation of an estimate 



CHAP. 1.] HISTORICAL SITUATION. 1$ 

of the Reformation. The case can be briefly stated : about the 
year 1500 theology as such was discredited; no one expected 
anything from it, and it had itself ceased to have any real con- 
fidence in its work. Many factors had contributed to this. 
Nominalist Scholasticism had in a sense declared itself bankrupt, 
and had buried itself in subtleties that were the result of a 
systematic abuse of the Aristotelian philosophy. Humanism 
turned away from theology with complaint or with ridicule — in 
both cases mainly on the ground of a superficial criticism. The 
men of piety — they might be pious a.'^ Erasmus or pious as 
Staupitz — sought a remedy for the evils of the times, not in 
theology, but always still in mystic transcendentalism and in 
indifference to the worldly conditions that environ the bodily 
life of men ; that is, they sought it with St. Francis or the holy 
communists of the primitive Church of Jerusalem. Everywhere 
in the circles of the religiously awakened, the cry for " practical. 
Christianity" was united — as it is to-day — with a weary dislike 
of theology. Not that by any means there had as yet been a 
growing out of theology; but the anxieties, which were the 
results of the general revolution in the times, were enough — as 
they are to-day — to awaken the feeling that nothing more could 
really be done with doctrine as it was then expressed. Besides- 
all this, the active life had for two generations been insisting 
upon its rights, and accordingly a diminished worth was attached, 
to quietistic contemplation. This was the mightiest revolution 
in the spirit of the times. Even the Renaissance was only an 
element in it For religion and theology a crisis thus arose, a 
crisis the most severe they could pass through from the time of 
their origin ; for both of them were embedded in acosmistic 
Quietism. Either they must disappear along with this, or they 
must be forcibly severed from it and transferred into a new 
medium. 

Had the ecclesiastical "doctrine" been only science, it would,, 
under such circumstances, have run its course; it would have 
been obliged simply to step aside and give place, even outwardly, 
to another mode of thought. This result really followed among 
the Anabaptist-Antitrinitarian and among the Socinian groups, 
with whom all those elements connbined found lodgment which 




led on to " Illuminism." This will have to be dealt with later 
-on. But Christian doctrine is not merely "science," and durinc; 
the eighteen centuries of its existence Christendom as a whole 
'has never had the wish to break with history (even the most 
radical movement — Calvinism — represents no complete 
apostasy). Nay, it has felt as if every break, even with the most 
unhappy past, would mean self-dissolution. The past, however, 
was dogma and dogmatic theology. If there was neither the 
ability nor the will to become severed from the.se, and if, never- 
theless, there was an ever-increasing estrangement from them — 
as the cry for practical Christianity and the disregard for the 
theological element proved— the necessary consequence was that 
dogma was respected as a system of lazv, but put aside. That 
was really the state of things that had established itself also 
.among the ranks of the parties in opposition. Anyone who 
attacked dogma exposed himself to the risk of being set down 
as an anarchist. But anyone who sought a remedy for the 
times in return to dogmatic Christianity and in closer occupa- 
tion with its contents, and who aimed at getting quit of certain 
practical abuses by falling back on the old dogmatic theorj', was 
regarded as wrong-headed, as a creator of disturbance, nay. as 
a man to be suspected. Within the circles of higher-class 
science favourable to reform, and even within the circles of the 
silent opposition throughout the land, it was apt to be looked on 
as an instance of monkish squabbling when an attempt was 
made to proceed by means of theory against the indulgences, the 
unlimited worship of .saints, and the ritualistic extravagances of 
the Church system. But even such attempts were partial and 
infrequent. At the most there was a falling back upon 
Augustine — the age tolerated that up to a certain point, nay, 
demanded it; but where can we find, in those days, the man 
who turned back to Christology and the doctrine of God in order 
on the basis of these to revise and recast what was held as 
valid ? 

The ultimate cause of this lack and this incapacity is not 
indeed to be sought for in the desolating effects of Nominalism, 
of in the aesthetic spirit of the Humanists ;' it lay, rather, in the 
' cr, Drews, Humanismiis vmil Rerormiition, 18S7. 



CHAP. I.] HISTORICAL SITUATION. 1$ 

enormous disagreement that existed between the old dogma and 
the Christian intuitions that had taken shape in the Christian 
life of the time. This disagreement, which we have noted even 
in Augustine, and which is so plainly perceptible at the 
beginning uf the Middle Ages in Alcuin,^ had become even 
greater. Which out of the number of the old ecclesiastical 
dogmas, then, had still a directly intelligible meaning for piety 
in its then living form ? Which dogma, as traditionally under- 
.stood, had still a real motive power for Christian thought and 
life ? The doctrine of the Trinity ? But we only need to glance 
at the Scholastic doctrine of God, or at Anselm's doctrine of 
reconciliation, or at the books of devotion and the sermons of 
that period, in order to feel convinced that the time was past 
when the thought of the Trinity might, as in the days of 
Athanasius and the Cappadocians, form the main basis of 
edification for the Church, The doctrine of the two natures? 
But unless we are disposed to lend an ear to the .sophists, can 
we fail to hear the strong protests against this doctrine's power 
to edify, that came from Bernard's mystic devotion to the 
Bridegroom of the Soul, from the Jesus-love of St. Francis and 
Thomas a Kempis, and from the image of the man Jesus, whose 
sorrow- stricken features were prest:nted to view by every 
preacher in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries? Did not 
the doctrine of grace, whether we think of it in the Augustinian- 
Thomistic or the Scotistic form, did not the huge apparatus of 
the Sacraments presuppose quite a different Christ from that 
sharply-defined intellectual thought- structure of Leontius and 
John of Damascus, which glorified the triumph of the divine 
nature in the human, and sought to produce by mere contempla- 
tion of the union the feeling of a subjugation and redemption of 
ail flesh ? Here lay the ultimate cause of the inward estrange- 
ment from dogma. Thought was no longer Greek thought, 
though speculation might apparently succeed without special 
trouble in returning to these conceptions. But for speculation 
the conceptions were now only presuppositions, they were no 
longer Christianity itself. When, however, the old faith is no 
more the expression of inner conviction, a new faith shapes 
' Si;e Haiick, K.-Gesch. Deutschlamls II. I, pp. IJ2-136. 



l6 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. I- 

itself under the envelope of the old. All spheres in which 
Christian thought and life moved lay far apart from those 
spheres of thought in which there had once developed itseif the 
faith that might be held. It had now come to be a faith that 
must be held ; therein one had the merit of Christ, the 
Church, the Sacraments, one's own merit and the indulgences. 
Within these faith and Christian life moved. While one 
asserted that he stood on the old ground and had not departed 
from it by a hair's breadth, there had been advance — a glorious 
advance indeed ; but on the pathway there were gulfs that had 
not been avoided, and they led down to the deepest regions. 
There were not a few who observed this with terror and strong 
displeasure ; but how could it be helped, so long as it was not 
clearly seen how the condition had developed in which one 
found himself, at what point the error had really arisen, and 
where the height lay that one was required to reach ? 

We can understand how under such circumstances there 
should have been a going back to the authority that had at first 
pointed out the path by which one had travelled for a thousand 
years, and on which there had been the experience of a 
splendidly gratifying progress, but also of a deep fall^a going 
back, that is to say, to Augustine. In his works were to be 
found most powerfully expressed all the thoughts from which 
edification was derived ; and on the other hand it was believed 
that the grave abuses and errors were not to be found there 
which one lamented at the time. Hence the watchword : 
" Back to Augustinianism, as to the true Catholicism of the 
Fathers." In very different forms this watchword was given 
forth; in a comprehensive way by men like Wyclif, Huss, 
Wesel, Wessel, and Pupper of Goch ■} in the most cautious form 
by all those theologians who in the fifteenth century and at the 
transition from the fifteenth century to the sixteenth went back, 
in oppo.sition to the prevailing Nominalism, to the Thomistic 
doctrine of grace. There seems to have been not a few of them ; 

1 Very thorough work has been carried on by Dutchmen during the most recent 
dccennia on the Auguslinians of the Netherlands, A very eicellent monograph on 
Goch has ijuite l9.tely been produced by Otto Clemen (Leipzig, 1S96). On the relation 
of Goch to Augustinianism, see I.e., pp. 209-223. 




CHAP. I.] HISTORICAL SITUATION. 

but if they were few, the distinguished position of those who 
reverenced Thomas made up for the smallness of their number ; 
for some of them were to be found among the highest prelates, 
even in Italy. The importance of this retrograde theological 
movement at the beginning of the sixteenth century is not to be 
underestimated ; it became — no doubt under the strong pressure 
of the German Reformation — one of the most influential factors 
in the Romish Church, when the question arose in the middle of 
the sixteenth century as to the dogynatic position that was to be 
taken up towards Protestantism. But Augustine could give to 
no age more than he himself possessed. Even by him an 
artificial connection only could be formed with the old dogma, 
because he had in many respects inwardly grown out of it ; and 
on the other hand the germs of the abuses and errors of later 
times which there was a desire to discard were already deposited 
in him, whether one might observe it or not. To find in 
Augustine a remedy for the evils from which the Catholic 
Church suffered would at the best have been to secure a reform 
for a few generations. But the old abuses would inevitably have 
returned ; for their strong, though hidden, roots lie in Augus- 
tinianism itself. Had the Church been remodelled after his 
pattern, there would very soon have been a re-introduction of 
everything there was the wish to remove. This is no airy 
hypothesis ; it can be proved both from the Christianity of 
Augustine himself and from the history of the Catholic Church 
in more recent times. While the grave errors and abuses could 
only assert themselves powerfully by means of a disintegrating 
process on Augustinianism, yet they must be regarded as active 
influences of which the sources lay in Augustine's Christianity. 
But this observation, while it goes to the root of things, must 
not prevent our noticing very distinctly that ^^ genuine Augus- 
tinianism exercised a potent critical influence on what had be- 
come disintegrated, including Nominalism. It was a power full 
of blessing. It may very well be said that there never would 
have been a Reformation had there not been first a revival of 
Augustinianism. It may of course be asserted, on the other 
hand, that this revival would not even have resulted in such 
Decrees as those of Trent, had it not been strengthened by a 



l8 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. I. 

new force. But at any rate there was so great a gulf between 
the immoral, the irreligious, and even pagan mechanicaiism of 
the ruUng church system, and the piety of Augustine, that one 
cannot fail to observe the salutary reform that would have 
resulted, if, for example, the Christianity of Wyclif had become 
determinative in the Catholic Church. 

In addition to all this, there had developed itself, amid the 
decay of medieval institutions, and under the great change of 
existing conditions, one element which we find everj'where at 
the beginning of the Reformation period, and which animated 
in varying degrees the opposing parties. Along all lines of 
development there had been an ultimate arriving at it ; in all, 
indeed, it was the secret propelling force, which broke up the 
old and set itself to introduce something new. It is difficult to 
describe it in one word : subjectivism, individuality, the wish to 
be one's self, freedom, activity. It was the protest against the 
spirit of the centuries that had been lived through, and the 
beginning of a new attitude to the world generally. On a 
superficial view it appears most distinctly in the ideals of the 
Renaissance and Humanism; but it lived quite as much in the 
new politics of sovereigns and in the indignation of the laity at 
the old regulations in corporation and community, in Church 
and State. It was powerful in the Mystics' world of feeling, 
with their striving after practical activity ; nay, it is not undis- 
coverable even in the Nomina]istic Scholasticism, which, in its 
gloomy work of ruining the traditional theology, was not 
directed by the intellect only, but wrought from a dim impulse 
to restore religion to faith, and to bring to view faith's inde- 
pendent right and its freedom. The new element revealed 
itself everywhere as a two-edged principle : the age of Savo- 
narola was the age of Machiavelli ; in religion it comprehended 
all forms of individual religiousness, from the right of unbridled 
imagination and of prophetism to the right of liberty belonging 
to the conscience that is bound by the gospel. Within these 
extremes lay a whole graduated series of individual types; but 
at many points in the series the eager endeavour to come to 
one's self, to be and live and act and work as one's self, awakened 
the restless feeling : if thou art now thyself, and beginnest thy- 




CHAP. I.] HISTORICAL SITUATION. 19 

self to live as a man and as a Christian, where is the rock to 
which thou mast cling ; what is thy blessedness, and how art 
thou to become certain of it ? How canst thou be, and continue 
to be, at once a blessed and a free man? In this feeling of 
unrest the age pointed beyond itself; but we do not observe 
that even a single Christian could clearly understand the ques- 
tion that lay at the basis of this unrest, and give to it the 
answer. 



It certainly repays trouble to consider what would have 
become of dogma if the development had continued which we 
observe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and if no new 
factor had intervened. Issues of dogma there would assuredly 
have been ; but the question, of course, does not admit of being 
decided as to what issue would have remained victorious. We 
can conceive (i) that Curialism might have rapidly achieved a 
complete triumph and vanquished all refractory elements; in 
that case the sovereign papal will would have come to be the 
court of final appeal even in the domain of faith and morals, 
and the old dogma would have become a part of the papa! 
consuetudinary law, which would really have been modified 
ad libitum by arbitrary interpretations and decisions of the 
Pope. Under such circumstances, believers would have been 
obliged to become accustomed to tlie thought that fides implicita, 
that is, obedience, was a work of merit, imparting value to all 
their other doings, so far as the sacramental system imposed 
these upon them. In a material sense dogma would have come 
to an end ; the Church would have remained the institution 
authorised to grant salvation ; even though no one had beh'eved 
what it taught, yet all would have submitted to its regulations. 
There would thus have been a sinking to a lower stage of 
religious development. But it can also be conceived (2) that 
from the circles of the parties opposed to it a reform might 
have been forced upon the Church ; a reform which, within the 
field of ecclesiastical law, would have consisted in a reduction 
of the powers of the papacy in favour of an ecclesiastical oli- 
garchy, and, within the field of dogmatic, in an establishment 



20 HISTORY OF nOGMA. [CHAP. I. 

of the Augustim'an-Mystic Christianity. We can very welJ 
imagine that all the Augustinian-Mystic thoughts, which as yet 
had received no dogmatic symbolic definition whatever, but 
which formed the basis of the piety of the best Christians, 
would have come eventually to be strictly formulated. In this 
case two things would have been possible : the attempt might 
have been made to maintain the connection with the old dogma, 
as even Augustine had maintained it (even in that event it 
would at any rate have become clearly apparent that those 
dogmas were presuppositions that had been transcended), or it 
would have been shown that another view of the Godhead and 
another view of the God-man must be substituted for the old. 
But (3) there might also have been expected at the beginning 
of the sixteenth century a breaking up of the Church. One 
section would have advanced along the path described under i 
or 2, another would have taken its course from the illuminist 
directions that were given in the pantheistic Mysticism that 
neutralised historic Christianity, in the rationalistic criticism of 
dogma by Nominalism, and in the Humanistic conception of 
the world. If such a movement had taken shape, it would have 
been a question whether it would have .stopped short before 
Scripture, or whether it would not even have advanced beyond 
it One might be ready to expect both in observing the signs 
of the times about the year 1 500. In the one case a rationalistic 
or an enthusiastic Bible-Christianity would have been the issue, 
in the other case developments would have necessarily resulted 
which cannot be calculated. But in both cases the old dogma 
would have ceased to exist. But, lastly (4), one could have 
expected (though it is questionable whether, in view of the 
medijBval condition of things, such an expectation could have 
arisen had the Reformation not taken place) that out of the 
fermenting elements in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries a 
new and deeper type of religion would have developed itself 
That is to say, if we combine things that clearlj' present them- 
selves to view — that a number of the theologians (Dominican 
Mystics) were disposed to labour, even in theology, only at 
what was really ^r edification, that the point was being sought 
for in the spiritual nature of man that is at the same time the 



CHAP. I.] HISTORICAL SITUATION. 21 

seat of religion and the nucleus of the soul's life, that out of this 
nucleus there was to be formed by regeneration a new inner 
man, who must become certain of his blessedness 3.x\A freedom; 
if we add to this that Nominalism had taught the lesson that 
the endless efforts of speculation can produce no certainty, that 
certainty therefore must be sought for somewhere else; and if 
we then take into consideration what the general state of mind 
was — that men were then striving to free themselves from the 
spirit of the Middle Ages, to return to the sources, and to live 
henceforth as independent personalities, it is perhaps not too 
bold to expect in the province of religion, at the beginning of 
the sixteenth century, a new development that would include 
an evangelical reformation of all that constituted religion, but 
that would thereby also uproot and put an end to the old dogma, 
inasmuch as the new point of departure, the living faith in God 
as being gracious for Christ's sake, and the right to be free 
springing from that faith, could only allow what belonged to it 
to retain its place in theology. 



But the actual history did not exactly correspond with 
these expectations. This time, also, history did not connect the 
new epoch with the old as logic develops a new position from 
the refutation of an old. The real issues of dogma rather, in the 
.sixteenth century, continued to be burdened with contradictions, 
which raised for the period that followed important problems. 
For that reason one might be in doubt as to whether issues can 
really be spoken of; still, after what has been developed in the 
Prolegomena to the history of dogma (Vol I., i ff,), and what 
has been stated in the sequel, it will certainly be necessary to 
use this term. 

In the sixteenth century the crisis in the history of dogma 
took a threefold issue.' 

' The crisis in thi history of dogma — if we review the developmenl in connection 
with the whole movement of spiritual life we shull not 5pea.k of issues, nor shall we 
be satisfied with the movemenls in the history of dogma. In that case, rather, the 
historical reflections would have to he included, which Dillhey has so admirably 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. I- 

I. The old Church developed itself on the one hand more 
decidedly into the papal Church, and thereby struck out on the 
path indicated above (sub. i); but, on the other hand, it gave 
fixity to the Augustinian-Mediaeval doctrines, and added them 
to the old dogmas as equally legitimate portions of the system 
(see above, sub. 2). Although that took place at Trent in a way 
clearly indicating that the position taken up was not within 
dogma, but aiove it, and that on that account there was the 
decision to regulate it by the practical needs of the Church as 
an outward institution, yet one was obliged to make coinpromises ; 
for the Reformation forced even the old Church to judge 
spiritual things spiritually, or at least to adopt the appearance 
of a spiritual character. Just for that reason the Decrees of 
Trent still belong to the history of dogma ; for they are not 
merely products of the ecclesiastico-political skill of the Curia, 
although they do very really bear that character. So far, how- 
ever, as this is not the case, they prepared many difficulties for 
the Church, and checked its full development into Curialism. 
The discords and struggles within the Catholic Church during 
the following three centuries made this sufficiently plain. But 
these struggles resulted, step by step, in suppressing the elements 
of opposition, till at last, after the immeasurable service which 
the French Revolution and Napoleon I. rendered to Curialism, 
the complete victory of the papacy could be proclaimed in the 
dogma of Mary and in the Vatican Decrees. In this way that 
was at last attained which the Curia and its followers already 
developed in hiij disserUlions on "The Nalutal History of the Menial Sciences in 
the Seventeenth Century" (Archiv, f. Gesch. der Phaoaophie, Vol. V., p. 480 ff. : Vol. 
VI., pp. 6o-I?7, i3S-2$6, 347-379, 509-54-5); cf. also his essay on "The Autonomy 
of Thought, Constructive Rationalism, and Pantheistic Monism, viewed in their 
connectioti in the Seventeenth Century" (I.e. Vol. VII., pp. 28-91). Dilt hey dis- 
tinguishes between three great treniis in the theoloey of the sixteenth cenluiy, 
which in some minds, of course, crossed one another ; (t) The ecclesiastical lheol<^y, 
which adhered to the system of dogma (though with modifications) ; (?) the trans- 
cendental theology (Christianity as the fulfilment of the universal religious striving 
and slru^le that goes on everywhere and at all limes in humanity) — the school that 
deals with the universal that lies behind the religions and their forms ; (3) ihe ethical 
rationalism (expressed most definitely in Sociniaaism). The first tendency has its 
root in the more or less purified wc/ej/ai/jca/ tradition, the second in the intuition 
and feeling of an All-One that reveals itself in a variety of degrees in all that is 
individual, the third in the ideas of the Stoa. 




CHAP, l] historical situation. 

sought to reach in the sixteenth century ; as the Church became 
the handmaid of the Pope, so dogma also became subject to his 
sovereign rule. It is at the same time a matter of entire in- 
difference in what speculations CathoUc theologians indulged 
with regard to the relation of the papacy to dogma, when they 
asserted that the Pope was bound by Catholic doctrine ; for 
anyone who has the right to expound will always be able to 
find a way in which a new dogma which he creates can be set 
forth by him as an old one. The whole idea of dogma, how- 
ever, as the faith which ought to animate every Christian heart, 
and which makes the Christian a Christian, is in reality dis- 
carded so far as it is left to each individual to determine whether 
or not he can adopt the faith in its whole extent. If he succeeds 
(but who could succeed in view of the whole, half, and quarter 
dogmas, and the countless multitude of decisions ?), so much the 
better; if he fails, then no harm is done, if only he has the 
intention to believe what the Church believes. That we have 
here an issue of the history of dogma, whether more new dogmas 
are afterwards to be formulated or not, is a matter beyond 
doubt. 

2. In the sixteenth century Antitrinitarijin and Socinian 
Christianity developed itself It broke with the old dogma and 
discarded it. In view of the rapid decline of the Socinian com- 
munities it might be held that the consideration of their 
Christianity does not belong to the general history of the 
Church at all, and therefore also does not belong to the history 
of dogma ; yet, if we take into account with how much certainty 
Antitrinitarianism and Socinianism can be connected with the 
raedlKval development (Nominalism), with what energy the 
Protestant dogmatic of the seventeenth century grappled with 
them as its worst enemies, and finally, how closely in touch is 
the criticism applied to dogma by evangelical theologians in the 
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the Socinian criticism, 
we should be in conflict with history were we to think of ignor- 
ing the issue of the history of dogma that is presented in 
Socinianism. 

3. But a third issue is to be found in the Reformation itself, 
though certainly it is the most complicated, and in many re- 



24 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. I. 

spects the most indefinite one. Instructed by history itself, the 
Reformation obtained a new point of departure for the framing 
of Christian faith in the Word of God, and it discarded all 
forms of infallibility which could offer an external security for 
faith, the infallible organisation of the Church, the infallible 
doctrinal tradition of the Church, and the infallible Scripture 
codex.' In this way that view of Christianity from which 
dogma arose — Christian faith the sure knowledge of the ulti- 
mate causes of all things, and therefore also of the divine provi- 
sions for salvation — was set aside : Christian faith is rather the 
firm assurance of having received from God, as the Father of 

' With regard lii the firsl point a proof is unnecessary. With regard to the sei;ond 
lei Lulher's treatise be read, " Von den Conciliis und Kirchen " (1539) ; but along 
with this also Form. Concord. P. I. Epi-tome, p. 517 (ed. Miiller) ; " Reliqua vero 
sive pattum stve neoteiicorum scripts, quocunque vmiant tiamine, sacris litteris 
nequaquam sunt xquiparanda (not even the decrees of the Councils therefore) sed 
universa i/lis ita sub^tcietida sunt, ut alia ratione ncn rccipiantur, nisi tes/iuin loco, 
qui doceant, quod etiam post apostolomin tempora et in quibus paitibus orbis doctrimt 
ilia pTophetarum et apostolorum sincerior conservata sit. . . . Syinliola et alia scripta 
non obtinent aiictoritatem judicis." Also Ait. Smalcaid. II. 2, p. 303: "Verhum 
dd condit articulos fidei, et prieterea nemo, ne angelus quidem." Also " Etliche 
Aitikel, so M. Luthei; erhalten will wid«r die game Satansschule (1530, Erianger 
Ao^. XXXI. p. 122): "The Chtisliin Chuich bas no power to lay down any 
articles of faith, has never yet done so, nor will ever do so. . . . All articles of laith 
are sufficiently laid down in Holy Scripture, so that one has no liberty to lay down 
more. . . . The Christian Church ratifies the Gospel and Holy Scripture as a sub- 
ordinate ; it displays and confesses as a servant displays bis master's livery and coat- 
of-amis," and see other passages. With regard to the third point, later Protestantism 
narrowed its position. But, so far as is known, no Lutheran of any standing, with 
the exception of Kliefoth, has ventured to sever himself publicly from the Luther of 
the earlier years. If, however, the attitude is at least jttsHjiahle in Protestantism 
which Luther took up in his well-known prefaces to the New Testament books (see 
the remarks on the Epistle of James, the Epistleto the Hebrews, and the Apocalypse), 
that implies the discarding of the infallible Scripture canon. At the same time, 
while historically very important, it is essentially a matter of indiflerence that there 
are to be found in Luther, especially after the controversy on the Eucharist, many 
assertions that are to the effect that every letter of Scripture is a foundation of Christian 
feilh, for the flagrant contradiction thatsomething at the same time does not, and does, 
hold good, can only have the solution that it does not hold good. This, however, 
necessarily follows also from Luther's view of faith, for the basis of his view isthat&ith 
is wrought by the Holy Ghost through the preached Word of God. Moreover, there is 
a common admission at the present day in the widest circles in Protestantism that 
historic criticism of Scripture is not un evangelical. No doubt this admission extends 
only to the " principle." Many forbid themselves the application. 



CHAP. I.] HISTORICAL SITUATION. 

Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and of living under Him in 
His kingdom^nothing else. But from that dogma all supports 
were at the same time removed ; for how can it be unreformable 
and authoritative if men, with their limitations and entangle- 
ments in sin, sketched and formulated it, and if every security 
external to it is lacking? And yet the Reformers allowed the 
old dogma to remain ; nay, they did not even submit it to 
revision. No doubt it was not as a law of faith over and above 
faith, a law resting on certain outward guarantees, that they let 
it retain its force; their so acting was from the conviction, 
scarcely ever tested, that it exactly corresponded with the 
Gospel, the Word of God, and that it attests itself to everyone 
as the obvious and most direct meaning of the Gospel. They \ 
regarded it as a glorious confession of God, who has sent Jesus 
Christ, His Son, in order that we, being delivered from sins, 
may be made blessed and free. Because they found this witness 
in dogma, every motive disappeared for inspecting it more 
closely.^ It was not as dogma that it continued to them authori- 
tative, but as a confession of God the Lord, who is hidden from 
the wise, but revealed unto babes. But because it remained in 
force at all, it remained in a sense as dogma. The old dogma 
was certainly not merely an evangelic testimony to the God of 
grace, to Christ the Redeemer, and to the forgiveness of sins; 
indeed it reproduced these thoughts of faith only in an indefinite 
way ; it was, above all, knowledge of God and the world, and a 
law of faith. And the more strenuously the Reformation ac- 
centuated y^/V//, the more emphatically it represented it as the 
basis of all, in contrast with the uncertainties of the hierarchical, 
ritual, and monastic Christianity, the more disastrous did it 
necessarily become for it that it forced together, without observ- 
ing it, this faith and that knowledge of faith and law of faith. 
When in particular there was now added the pressure of the 
external situation, and, as the result of the storms that had 
arisen (Fanatics, Anabaptists), the courage disappeared to assert 
anything "that is at variance with the Catholic Church or the 
Church of Rome, so far as this Church is known from the 
writers of Scripture " {" quod discrepet ab ecclesia catholica vel 
' See Kaltenbusch, Luther's Stellung zu den okuraen. Symbolen, 1883. 



26 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. I- 

ab ecclesia Romana, quatenus ex scriptoribus nota est"), the 
movement issued in the Augsburg Confession, which does not 
indeed deny the principle of evangelical Christianity, but which 
at the same time began (yet compare already the Marburg 
Articles) to pour the new wine into the old bottles.^ Did the 
Reformation (in the sixteenth century) put an end to the old 
dogma? It is safer to answer this question negatively than 
positively. But if it is granted that it uprooted the foundations 
of dogma — as our Catholic opponents with perfect justice re- 
present — ,that it is a powerful principle and not a new system 
of doctrine, and that its history, throughout the periods of 
Orthodoxy, Pietism, and Rationalism, and down to the present 
day, is not an apostasy, but a necessary development, then it 
must also be granted that the entirely conservative attitude of 
the Reformation towards the old dogma belongs, not to the 
principle, but to the history. Therefore, the Reformation, as a 
continuously active movement, certainly represents an issue 
of the history of dogma, and, we hope, the right and proper 



1 That the gospel of the ReformKlion fo-und a mnslerly expression in the Confession 
of Augsburg (Loofs, D. Gesch., 3rd eci., p. 399 : he cautiously adds, cerlainly, 
" and in the Apology explaining it,") I cannot admit. The Augsburg Confession laid 
the basis for the doctrinal Church ; the blaioe very really lies with it of contracting 
the Reformation movement. Would anyone have so written before 1526, not to say 
tjefore 1529? Its arrangement is Scholastic, and, besides, is wanting in cleamess ; 
its statements at important paints are, po&itively and negatively, intentionally iucom- 
plete ; its diplomatic advances to the old Church are painful, and the way in which 
it treats the sectaries as naughty children, and flings out its " anathemas," is not^ioly 
loveless but unjust, dictated not merely by spiritual zeal, but also by worldly wisdom. 
Yet it must not be denied that at the most important points it struck the naii on the 
head, and that inlaid in this earthen vessel there are precious stones, with a simplicity 
and fitness of setting which we find in no other Reformation writing. We can 
already develop from the Augsburg Confession the Church of the Foim of Concoid, 
if not the particular doctrinal formula ; but we can also, by moving backwards, derive 
from it, and maintain, the freer evangelical fundamental thoughts, without which there 
never would have resulted a Reformation or an Aogsbui^ Confession. As regards 
its aathor, however, it may be said without hesitation that Melanchthon here under- 
took — and was required to undertake— a task to which his gifts and his character 
were not equal. 

* It is very instructive here to place together the testimonies of two men who were 
as diBerent as possible, but who, in their estimate of the Reformation, as regards its 
relation to the past and its relation to the present, are entirely at one. Neander writes 




CHAP. I.] HISTORICAL SITUATION. 

With a view to the delineation of our subject, the duty arises 
of describing more precisely the threefold issue of the history of 
dogma briefly sketched here. But just because they are issues, 
what is required of us is no longer an exhaustive statement : for 
in the issues of a thing it is no longer the thing itself that is the 
moving force — otherwise it would not take issue — but new 
factors intervene and come to occupy its place. For our pur- 
pose, therefore, it must be enough that we describe briefly the 
dogmatic development of the Romish Church till the time of the 
Vatican Decrees, without entering more minutely into political 
plans and complications, which must be left to Church history 
and the history of creeds ; that, further, we bring under notice the 

(in his Account of the part ta.ken by him in the^ Evangel. Kirchenzeitung, 1S30, 
p. 20): '--The spirit of the RtformaiUn. . . . did not attain quile at Ike begiiming to 
clear sitf-cimsciousness. So it happened that in an unobserved way many errors 
passed over from the old Caoon Law into Ihe new Church practice. To Ihis there 
was added, on the part of a number of the Calvinistic theologians, a mingling and 
confusing of the Old and New Testament points of view. Luther — who on so many 
sides towered above the development of his time — seUing out from the principle of 
the faith that unfolds itself freely and by its own inner divine force, reached here 
also consciousness of pure evangelicalism, but mvt'ng Ib the maaemettts conttecled 
■mith the Etaharist cenlrsversies, attd daring the Peasants' IVar, that pure censnous- 
ness became chntded again." The same scholarly and truthful man confessed publicly 
more than once thai, althoQgh he claimed personally to hold the full evangelical 
faith, he could by no means entirely identify himself with the Augsburg Confession, 
and, though with all modesty, yet he clearly indicated that that can be no longer 
done by any Christian of the nineteenth century who has learned from history. To 
the same effect Ritschl asserts (Gesch. des Pietismus I., p. 80 ff., 93 ff. ; II., p. 60 f., 
88 (.): "The Lutheran view of life did not continue to run in an open channel, but 
was hemmed in and obstructed by objective-dogmatic interests, and became less dis- 
tinctly visible. Protestantism was not delivered from the mediKvat womb of the 
Western Church in its complete power and equipment, as was Athene from the head 
of Zeus. The imperfect way in which it took its ethical bearinps, the breaking up of 
its comprehensive view of things into a set of separate dogmas, its preponderating 
CKpression of what it possessed in rigidly complete form, are defects which scxin 
made Protestantism appear at a disadvantage in contract with the wealth nf mediieval 
theology and asceticism. . . . The Scholastic form of the pure doctrine is really only 
the preliminary, and not the final, mould of Protestantism." That Protestantism, or 
Lulherauism, when measured by the Augsburg Confession, no longer possesses a 
common pare doctrine is simply a fact, which is not altered hy simply casting a vrff 
over it. Of the twenty-one articles of faith in the Augsbiu'g Confession, articles t-5, 
7-10, 17, 18, are in reality subjects of controversy even in the circles of those who 
still always act "on principle" as if nothing had become changed. In concreto 
the particular divergences are not only " tolera.ted " but permitted ; hut no one, to 




HISTORV OF DOGMA. [CHAP. I. 

Socinian criticism of dogma ; and that, finally, we come to 
understand tlie Reformation in such a way that its distinctive 
character, as contrasted with the dogmatic inheritance of the 
past, shall become as clear to us as the dogmatic contraction 
that was its more immediate issue, and as the main lines of its 
further development down to the present day. To give a full 
historic narrative down to the time of the Form of Concord and 
the Decrees of Dort, and then to break off, I regard as a great 
mistake, for by such procedure the prejudice is only strengthened 
that the dogmatic formulations of the Churches of the Reforma- 
tion in the sixteenth centurj'were their classic expression, while 
they can certainly be regarded only as points of transition.' 

use Luther's language, will bell the cat and publicly proclaim, and guide the Church 
in accordance with, what is unquestiona.bly a fact which can never again be changed. 
We do not lind ourselves in " a stale of distress " so far as the public expression of 
our faith is concerned, but the untruthfulness, the timidity, and indolence with which 
we confront the changes in knowledge — that is the "state of distress." Luther had 
hrst to lind the truth, a.nd, when he hs.d found it, he sold all that he had in order to 
purchase it for himself and Christendom. He sold Ihe most glorious thing which the 
age possessed — the unity of the Catholic Church ; without r^ard to the "weak," 
and at the cost of all his old ideals of heaven and earth, he reduced it lo ruins ; but 
bis Epigones are so faint and anxious-minded that they will not even admit to them- 
.■ielves any new thing they have learned, and are in danger of selling themselves to a 
tradition of yesterday, or, after flinging away all evangelical perceptions, of retiring 
upon Greek dogma. 

' Why I do not include the hiatorj' of old Protestant doctrine in the history of 
dc^ma may be gathered from Paulsen, Gesch. des geiehrten Unterrichts, 2nd cd.. 
Vol. L (1896), pp. 432-450. Add to this that the history of old Protestant doctrine 
is the German after-bloom of the essentially Romanic Scholaslidsm. What is of 
vaJue in it consists in some great fundamental perceptions, which, however, can he 
better studied at the fountain-head — that is, in the Reformers. The rest is without 
worlh, is even without historical interest of a higher kind, and, in spile of the 
authority which princes, professors, and consistories have given, and still give, to it, 
is antiquated, and, as a spiritual force, exhausted. The objection of Dilthey is a 
serious one (Atchiv. f. Gesch. d, Philos., Vol. V., Part 3, p. 353 ff.), that Luther's 
Chtistianitv is not an issue of the history of dogma because it has the old di^ma, and 
above all the doctrines of original sin and satis6.ction as its necessary pre-suppositions. 
I make the admission to Dilthey that one has to take his choice. There is much, it 
is true, that would justify us in continuing the history of dogma down to the present 
day ; but what has run its course in it from the end of the seventeenth century in 
Protestantism has certainly no longer a resemblance formally, nor to some ex 
materially, to the old history of dt^ma. Now, if we observe that this development in 
Proteslantiam is not an apocryphal one, but that it had one of its roots — in my opinion 
its strongest root— in the Reformation, we shall certainly have a right, in spile of the 



HISTORICAL SITUATION. 

Even Seeberg and Loofs break off with the Book of Concord 
and the Synod of Dort. In the case of the former, the adoption 
of this terminus is certainly intelligible ; one is only surprised not 
to find the Confession of Westminster, the most important Con- 
fession of the Calvinist Churches at the present day. On the 
other hand, it is difficult to understand how Loofs follows the 
view of the rejuvenated Lutheranisra, a view of which, never- 
theless, he himself disapproves in his closing section (p. 463), 
" Whoever looks with favour on the Union thereby acknowledges 
that the present must be so connected with the sixteenth cen- 

admission that the old dogma was the necessary pre-supposition of the Christianity of 
Luther, to regard Luthet as himself repiesenring the issue of the history of dc^ma — 
in the same way, let us say, in which Christ must be regarded as the end of the law, 
aithoi^h the law was not cancelled, but affirmed by Him. And here a fui ther remark 
must be made about the old dc^ma as the " necessary pie- supposition of the Chris- 
tianity of Luther." If it is in no sense admitted that the doctrine of original sin, the 
doctrine of satisfaction, and the doctrine of the "person and work" of Christ in 
general, have a rightful place in the pure, sjuritiiat religion, then certainly the matter 
is decided ; one must then say with Dilthey that Luther's doctrine of justification 
itself exists only as long as these, its pre-suppositions, exist — that is, they cannot be 
united with the piety that thinks. Bui these v^ery pre -suppositions, in my opinion, 
admit of a tiealment under which their core is slill preserved, and under which they 
still do what they did for Luther's experience of justification, while their mythological 
or melaphysico-transcendental form falls away. If that can be proved — the limits of this 
problem as regards proof I am fully conscious of— then it is possible to adhere to 
Luther's conviction of justification, leather with the objective positions that lie at the 
basis of it, without asserting these positions in the inflexible dogmatic form which 
they once received. But in that case it is here again made out that Luther represents 
an issue of the history of dogma. Dilthey's objection is at bottom the same as that 
of Kabel (Neue Kitchl. Zeitschr. 1891, p. 43, etc.) ; Since, according to Luther, 
the iodividual experience of fcith is unquestionably dependent on the structure of the 
old dogma, he belongs to the history of the old dc^Tna. But, in point of fact, 
it depends on a number of imporwnt motives, which found in the old d^^ma an im- 
perfect expression. (Something similar had to be noted already in Augustine, 
although in a lesser degree.) It will be objected that it is not motives that are in 
question, but the reality or unreality of alleged facts. That also is correct ; the ques- 
tion then will be, whether to these alleged facts (universal attribution of guilt, 6ehi in 
iraptl, sacrificial death of Christ) there does not correspond something real, although 
not, certainly, as explained and spun out by the Greeks, Augustine, and Anselm. 
Furthermore, in a second series of essays in the Archiv. f. Gesch. d. Philos., Vol. 
VL, Patts3, 4(seePreuss. Jahrb., Vol. LXXV., Pail 1, 1894), Dilthey has so firmly 
grasped the new religiousness of Luther and the Reformers, and has lifted it so high 
above the plane previously reached in history, that it can no longer be difiicult for 
him to acknowledge that Luther represents an issue of the history of dc^ma. On 
these articles sec below. 



30 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. 1. 



tury that tlie period of the Epigones is excluded. Now, as the 
orthodoxy of the Epigones in the sixteenth century has its root in 
this, that the Reformers still retained a number of Old Catholic 
presuppositions and dogmas which were not in agreement with 
tfieir own fandmnental titoughts, a convinced approval of the 
Union must lead one to see that it is the problem for the 
present to carry through the fundamental thoughts of the 
Reformers in a more thorough-going and all-sided way than was 
done, or could be done, in the sixteenth century." Very correct ; 
but in that case one has only the choice — either to continue the 
history of dogma down to the present day, or to content one's 
self with .setting forth the ground -thoughts of tiie Reformation. 
But the latter is, in my opinion, what is required, and that not 
merely becau.se the giving form to Protestantism has, notwith- 
standing the 3S0 years during which it has existed, not yet come 
to an end — the Augustinian-Roman Church needed still longer 
time — but, above all, because, as Loofs very correctly remarks, 
"the Reformers still retained a number of Old Catholic pre- 
suppositions and dogmas that were not in agreement with their 
fundamental thoughts, and in these the theology of the Epigones 
has its roots." Here, therefore, the distinctive character of the 
Reformation principle is recognised in this, that, looked at in its 
negative significance, it cancelled not only mediaeval doctrines, 
but Old Catholic prestippositions and dogmas. But there is no 
dogma down to the present day which is not Old Catholic, or 
derived from what is Old Catholic. Accordingly t}ie Reformation, 
that is, t/ie evangelical conception, faith, cancels dogma, unless 
one puts in the place of the real homogeneous dogma some 
thought-construction of what dogma might be. But that being 
so, it is a bad and dangerous case of connivance when within the 
history of dogma the history of the Reformation Churches is only 
considered so far as their doctrinal formulations kept within 
the lines of the old dogma, or were in complete dependence on it. 
The Reformation is the end of dogma in a sense similar to that 
in which the gospel is the end of the law. It shook off the law 
of faith, not with the view of declaring it to be sin, but as ex- 
pressing the thought that it increases sin, an assertion that was 
made of the Mosaic Law by Paul. It substituted for the demand 




A 



CHAP. I.] HISTORICAL SITUATION. 3 1 

for the act of faith, which answers to the law, the freedom of the 
children of God, who are not under the burden of a compulsion 
to believe, but have the Joy of a blessing bestowed upon them. 
And as the Apostle Paul said with reference to the law, it can 
say with reference to dogma, " Do we make void the law of 
faitk ? — na>-, we establish it ; " for it knows and teaches that 
the believing heart gives itself as a captive to Jesus Christ, and 
renders Him obedience. 

As the force and violence of the breach with the past was only 
imperfectly expressed in the symbolic formulations of Protes- 
tantism in the sixteenth century, we .should to-day be witnesses 
against ourselves and our Christianity if we were to judge these 
formulations finally complete. By this "we" there are to be 
understood not only some modern theologians, or the straight- 
fonvard adherents of the Evangelical Union — for them that is 
self-evident — but not less, nearly all Lutherans. " The general 
habit," Loofs is justified in saying, "is to speak of different 
Christian confessions : no man of modern orthodoxy is orthodox 
in the sense of the period that produced the last symbols, and 
almost nowhere is obligation to the symbols conceived of as it 
was then." But what a wretched state of things is the result of 
this attitude, when there is an unwillingness to admit to one's 
self that it is assumed ! One cannot go back ; neither is he 
willing to go fonvard : and thus the ruling power is exercised 
by the fancies with which the theologians of the Romantic 
epoch bridged over abysses and clo.sed up gulfs — is exercised by 
ecclesiastical ^stheticism ; is exercised by the fides impHcita of 
Nominalism, that is, byecclesiasticism and anxiety about schism. 
Each one regards the fancy of the other as false ; but it is 
reckoned to him for righteousness if he has closed up the gulf 
at all, no matter by what deceptive means it is done. In view 
of this, the history of dogma would find rest for itself were it to 
propagate the old prejudice that Protestantism stands to-day 
beside the Form of Concord and the Synod of Dort. Even if 
what we to-day discern, possess and assert — not in spite of our 
Christianity, but on the ground of it— the purity of faith as faith 
in the Father of Jesus Christ, the strict discipline of Christian 
knowledge, moderation in judging diverging Christian convic- 



32 HISTORY OK DOGMA. [CHAP. I. 

tions, entire freedom of historic investigation of Scripture, with 
a hundred other good things — even if these things could not be 
successfully derived by us from the Reformation itself — ^nothing 
else would remain for us but to testify that the Reformation was 
not the final thing, and that in the course of history we have 
passed through new purifications and received new good things 
as gifts. As evangelical Christians we are not bound to the 
Reformation, still less to the "entire Luther " and the "entire 
Calvin," to whom some, in melancholy despair of the clearness 
of the gospel and of their own freedom, in all seriousness point 
us, but to the gospel of Jesus Christ. But we do not depart 
from the plain testimony of history when we rediscover in the 
Christianity of Luther and in the initial positions of the Refor- 
mation that to which Protestantism has at the present day, in 
weakness and under restriction, developed itself, and when we 
hold also that Luther's conception of faith is still to-day the 
moving spirit of Protestantism, whether there be many 
or few who have made it their own. Just on that account 
the steps are to be warmly welcomed towards finding suc- 
cessors to the faith formulae of the Epigones of the Refor- 
mation period in Confessions that do not require to be 
submitted to under great distress and to be laboriously main- 
tained, but that can be adhered to with truthfulness as the 
evangelical faith. Failure, no doubt, followed the genuinely 
evangelical attempt in the year 1846 to introduce a new con- 
fession : the Union was too weak to be able to do more than 
proclaim itself; it appeared to collapse at thu moment when it 
was to confess what it really was. But the problem has 
remained unforgotten, and attention has recently been again 
directed to it in a very impressive way by an evangelical theo- 
It^ian, who describes himself as orthodox and pietistic. We 
do not need to di.spute about terras ; he makes the demand for 
a new " dogma " (Christliche Welt, 1889, Oct. and Nov.). He 
means a new Confession of evangelical faith, emancipated from 
dogma. But while among us, owing to a most melancholy 
blindedness, such a demand is at once regarded as in itself 
suspicious, and is met with scorn and the frivolous cry, " Beati 
possidentes," things begin to stir among our brethren across the 



t 



CHAP. I.] HISTORICAL SITUATION. 33 

Atlantic. Before me there lie a number of notices from the 
ranlis of the earnest Calvinists there, contemplating a revision of 
the Westminster Confession (the chief symbol), that is, a correc- 
tion of it in many points that were held in the seventeenth cen- 
tury to be the most important. At the head of this movement 
stands Professor Schaff(see his article, "The Revision of the 
Westminster Confession : A paper read before a special meeting, 
Nov. 4th, 1889, of the Presbytery of New York.") If any name, 
that of Schaff is a guarantee that nothing will be undertaken 
here that will not be carried through, and carried through, too, 
in the most prudent and gratifying way. [I allow these lines to 
stand, though his Church has been deprived of Schaff.] Schaff, 
and very many along with him, wish an alteration, or possibly 
an elimination, of Confess. C. III. 3, 4, 6, 7; VI. i ; X. 3, 4; 
XXV. 6; XXIV. 3. But they desire still more. The followii^ 
noteworthy words are employed (p. 10)1 — ". ... Or if this can- 
not be done without mutilating the document, then, in humble 
reliance upon the Holy Ghost, who is ever guiding the Church, 
let us take the more radical step, with or through the Pan- 
Presbyterian Council, of preparing a brief, simple, and popular 
creed, which shall clearly and tersely express for laymen as well 
as ministers only the cardinal doctrine of faith and duty, leaving 
metaphysics and polemics to scientific theology; a creed that 
can be subscribed, taught, and preached ex animo, without any 
mental reservation, or any unnatural explanation; a creed that 
is full of the marrow of the gospel of God's infinite love in Christ 
for the salvation of the world. Such a consensus-creed would 
be a bond of union between the different branches of the 
Reformed Church in Europe and America and in distant mission 
fields, and prepare the way for a wider union with other evan- 
gelical Churches. ... In conclusion, I am in favour of both a 
revision of the Westminster Confession by the General Assembly 
and an cecumenical Reformed Consensus to be prepared by the 
Pan -Presbyterian Council. If we cannot have both, let us at 
least have one of the two, and I shall be satisfied with either." 
To this height of freedom have those risen whom Lutherans are 
fond of speaking of as "legalistic" Calvinists! What would 
be said among us if a man of honour were to demand a revision 



34 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP- I. 

of the Augsburg Confession ? Of course the Calvinistic Churches 
of America possess something we do not possess — a freely 
organised Church, which gives laws to itself, and — courage! 
So we shall perhaps follow some day, if the Evangelicals in 
America go before with the torch. 

One thing at any rate is made apparent by these steps of 
progress, though it is clear already from the principle of the 
Reformation — namely, that the Confessional definitions in Pro- 
testantism are not regarded as infallible. There is, it is true, an 
eager search in Lutheranism for an intermediate notion between 
reformable and infallible ; but, 90 far as I see, no one as yet has 
been able to discover it. The old dogma, however, gave itself 
out as infallible ; nay, it was only dogma so far as it advanced 
this claim. The formulations of Protestantism in the sixteenth 
century are not dogmas in this sense. 




CHAPTER II. 

THE ISSUES OF DOGMA IN ROMAN CATHOLICISM. 

(i) The Codification of the MeduBval Doctrines in opposition 
to Protestantism {Decrees of Trent). 

A CODIFICATION of its doctrines was forced upon the Catholic 
Church by the Reformation. For long the effort was made in 
Rome to add to the condemnation of the Lutheran tenets a 
positive statement of Romish doctrine, or even to secure that 
addition through a Council. From the strictly Curialistic stand- 
point both the one thing and the other seemed as unnecessary 
as it was dangerous. That princes and peoples should have 
imperatively demanded both, and that a Council should really 
have come to be held, which, apart from its decrees for reform, 
that necessarily resulted in a considerable irhprovement in the 
state of the Church, gave fixed form to hitherto undefined 
doctrines, was a triumph of Protestantism. As it was under- 
stood by the princes, this Council was finally to solve a problem 
that had been previously dealt with, not without a real mutual 
approximation, at religious conferences, and which, for the time, 
appeared to have found a solution in the imperial Interim. 
But in point of fact the Curia brought it about that at Trent 
the opposition to Protestantism found its keenest expression. 
In this way the Curia rendered Protestantism very important 
service ; for what would have become of the Reformation after 
Luther's death — at least in Germany — -if there had been a 
greater inclination to come to terms at Trent? 

In framing the Decrees of Trent the best forces co-operated 
which the Church then had at its command. True piety and 
pre-eminent scholarship took part in the discussions. The 
renovated Thomism, made stronger in Italy by the Reforma- 
3S 



36 



[IISTORY OF DOGMA^ 



[chap, IIj 



tion itself, already held at the Council a place of equality with 
every other party. From Humanism and the Reformation the 
medieval spirit of the Church had derived power, had strength- 
ened and steeled itself for the conflict. This spirit, in union 
with the Curia, really governed the Council by which a regen- 
eration of the old Church was effected. This regeneration 
comes to view within the dogmatic sphere in the breach with 
the sceptical, critical elements of Scholasticism, and in the 
confidence thereby obtained in doctrine and theology} Not- 
withstanding what had happened before at the Council of 
Florence, it was unquestionably an immense undertaking to 
shape out ecclesiastical dogmas with a firm hand from the 
almost unlimited material which Scholasticism and Mysticism 
had provided, and to do so after a long period of silence ex- 
tending over centuries. Such a task would never have been 
thought of, and still less could it have been carried out, had not 
the Reformation gone before with its Augsburg Confession. 
The opposition to the Reformation, by which all schools repre- 
sented at the Council, otherwise so different in character, were 
bound together, determined both the selection of the dogmas to 
be defined and their formulation. At many points we can still 
see that at Trent the Augsburg Confession was followed ; in all 
tlie Decrees the opposition to the evangelical doctrine was the 
guiding motive, Tke dogmatic Decrees of Trent are the shadow 
of the Reformation. That it was given to Calfiolicism to under- 
stand itself, to give expression ta its distinctive dogmatic character, 
and thereby to rescue itself from the uncertainties of the Middle 
Ages, was a debt it owed to the Reformation.^ 

' In dogmatic and ethical Probabilism, it is Inie, Ihe Nominalislio scepticism 
retuioed, in a form very convenient for the Church. 

*Loofe (DoRraengesch, p. 333 f.) is right in enumerating the foUowing conditions 
and tendencies in Catholicism as presuppositions of Tridentinism : (1) The re- 
organisation in strict mediieval spirit of the Spanish Chnrch by the crown under 
Fe[dina.nd and Isabella ; (z) the restoration of Thomism (especially in the 
Dominican Order) ; (3) the zealous fostering (Mystic) of Catholic piety, especialiyin 
some new Orders and congregations for Reform ; (4) the Humanistic efforts for 
Reform and the ennobling of theology dae to Humanism (there were even 
Humanists who wished to return to Augustine) ; (5) the strengthening of the papacy 
and the reappearance of Curialisni ftom the middle of the fifteenth ccntuty i (6) the 
ecclesiastical interest of the secular sovereigns. 



CHAP. II.] COEIFICATION OF MEDIEVAL DOCTRINES, 37 

Yet Roman Catholicism was stili not able to give /a// expres- 
sion to itself in the Decrees of Trent. This must become 
apparent to everyone who compares the Decrees with the 
present-day condition and the present-day aims of the Church, 
and who thoroughly studies the Acts of the Council with the 
view of seeing what the strict Curialistic party wished even then 
to reach and did not yet reach. Not merely did the strain 
between Episcopalism and Papalism remain unrelieved — a 
cardinal ecclesiastical question for Roman Catholicism, indeed 
the decisive question — but to the recently strengthened Augus- 
tinian-Thomistic School also much greater scope had to be 
allowed within dogmatics than was permitted by a Church 
system based on the outward sacrament, on obedience, on 
merit, and on religion of the second order. The regard to the 
Augustinian-Thontiist School is to be explained on different 
grounds. First of all, if there was a wish publicly tc define 
dogmas like those of original sin, sin, election, and justification, 
the authority of Augustine could not be altogether passed by, 
even though at the time there was not a single voice raised on 
his behalf; secondly, the most capable bishops and theologians, 
men of true piety, were to be seen among the ranks of the 
Thomists ; finally, the fact could not be concealed that a need 
for reform, in opposition to the ecclesiastical mechanicalism, 
really existed in the widest circles, and that it could be met 
only by entering into the Augustinian thoughts. So it came 
about that the Roman Church in the sixteenth century derived 
more from Augustine to introduce into its dogma than we 
should be entitled to expect from the history through which it 
passed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. But the way 
in which it adopted Augustinianism at Trent was not without 
an element of untruthfulness. No doubt we ought not to 
reproach the Fathers of the Council if they laboriously turned 
and polished the separate Decrees and made constant correc- 
tions ; so long as dogmas are not proclaimed by prophets, but 
constructed by the members of a synod, it will be impossible to 
invent any other method than that by which the work was 
carried on at Trent. But the untruthfulness here lies in this, 
that one of the parties — and it was the party whose influence 



38 HISTORY OK DOGMA. [CHAP. II, 

was finally determinative — had no wish whatever for Augustini- 
anism, that it sought rather to establish as dogma the use and 
wont of the Roman Church, which was compatible only with 
Semi-Pelagian doctrine and sacramental mechanicalism. And 
yet this does not include all that must be said. The untruth- 
fulness lies still deeper. The ruling party, in league with 
Rome, and under direction from Rome, had no wish whatever 
for definitions, for it knew very well that its fundamental 
dogmatic principles, as they came to view in its practice, did 
not admit at all of being framed, and dared not at all be framed. 
It had accordingly, throughout the whole Council, the one end 
only in view — io emerge from (he purgatory of the Council as far 
as possible unchanged, (hat is, having with it all its customs, prac- 
tices, pretensions, and sins. In the formulation of the Tridentine 
dogmas this aim was reached by it, though it might be only 
indefinitely. Just on that account these dogmas are in part 
untrue and misleading,^ although a keen eye perceives even 
here what scope was left to " Probabilism," that deadly enemy 
of all religious and moral conviction. But it gained its end 
completely when it followed up the Decrees with the Professio 
Tridentina, and, at the same time, had it established that to the 
Pope alone the right is to be attributed to expound the Decrees, 
Thus it gathered figs of thorns and grapes of thistles ; for it 
now needed to fear no single turn in the Decrees, and, on the 
other hand, it enjoyed the advantage which so imposing a 
manifesto of the whole Church against Protestantism necessarily 
secured. 

How the Curia carried on its work at Trent we know, since 
we received the bitter account of Paolo Sarpi. Just for that 
reason we must include the Tridentinum within the history of 
the issues of dogma ; for a stronger power than the interest of 
faith, or the interest of pure doctrine, presided over the efforts 
of the Council, and directed them in its own spirit — the interest, 
' Even the self-designation of the Synod \i equivocal : " Hrec sacrosancta, 
lECumenica et geneialis Tiidentina Synodus in spiiitu sancto legitime congregata, in 
ea pKesidentibus (eisdem) tribus apostolicie sedis legalis" ; compare also the famous 
and frequently repeated addition ; " salva semper in omnibus sedis apostolicie 
auctoritate," As is well known, there was also obstinate discussion as to whethM 
there was to be given to the Council the liile: " univeisalem ecclesiom reprwsenlans," 




CHAP. II.] CODIFICATION OF MEDLEVAL DOCTRINES. 39 

viz., of the Roman Church to assert itself as the unreformabie 
institution that exercises rule and grants salvation. And if it 
is undeniable that at Trent, and in the Decrees of the Council, 
a devout faith also expressed itself, which knew no higher 
power above itself, yet it passed out of view in the general 
result. Through his prerogative to be the sole exponent of the 
Decrees, the Pope really made the whole dogmatic work at 
Trent uncertain and illusory, and the succeeding centuries 
proved distinctly enough that one would embrace the gravest 
errors regarding the practical and dogmatic interests of the 
Roman Church were he to think of forming a view of the faith 
of the Roman Church on the basis of the Tridentine Decrees 
alone (taken as they sound). Indeed, he would only discover 
here somewhat vaguely what at the present day is the real 
endeavour of the Roman Church in the region of dogma and 
was visible at Trent only behind the scenes — namely, to trans- 
form dogma into a dogmatic policy, to declare all traditions as 
they sound to be sacrosanct, while admitting, however, at every 
point conflicting probable opinions, and to debar the laity from 
faith and dogma, in order to accustom them to a religion of the 
second order — ^to the Sacraments, the saints, the amulets, and 
an idolatrous worship of the members of Christ's body. 

Under such circumstances there only remains an interest of 
a secondary kind in considering in detail the Decrees as they 
sound. If we have once made clear to ourselves the contradic- 
tory aims that were to be united in them, and feel certain that 
it is really a matter of indifference whether a Decree has more 
of an Augustinian ring or not, general history can only in a 
meagre way take to do with these laboriously refined and 
elaborated works of art. In the sequel, therefore, we shall 
restrict ourselves to what is most important.^ 

' Authorised edition of the Decrees, 1564 {ceptoduced in Strcilwolf und Klener, 
Libr. eymb. eccl. cath., I., 1846). The Masarellian Acta, edited by Theiner (Acta 
gcnoina. Aeram, 1B74, 2 vols.); numerous reports, etc., relating to the Council 
published by Le Plat (1781 ff.), Sickel (iSjo ff.), DBlHuger (1876 ff.), v. Draffe] 
(1884 f.), Pallavicini, (1656), Salig (1741 f.). Illualrationsby Raoke (Romische 
Pipste I., Deutsche Reformation V. ), Pastor {1879). An introduction to the Council 
form-s Bd. I. d. gesch. d. Kathol. Ref. by Mauienbtecher (iSSo). The same author 
afterwards began an exhaustive account in the " Histor. Taschenbucb," l8S5, 1888, 



40 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. II. 

The Synod, assembled to deliberate on " the extirpation of 
heresies and reform of morals " fde exstirpandis ha^resibus* et 
moribus reformandisj, begins, at the third session, with re- 
affirming the Constantinopolitan Symbol, including the " 61io- 
qae " ; this Symbol, moreover, ts introduced with the words 
"symbolum fidei, quo sancta R omana ecclesi^ utitur" (" Con- 
fession of faith which the holy Roman Church uses"). It then, 
at the fourth session, at once took up the question as to the 
sources of knowledge and the authorities for truth. For the 
first time in the Church it happened that this question was 
dealt with at a Council, Everything that had, from the days of 
the struggle against Gnosticism, been either established or 
asserted with some uncertainty in the consuetudinary law of 
the Church still needed final determination. All the more im- 
portant is the Decree. In its making the main point of the 
whole decision lie in preserving the " purity of the gospel " 
(puritas evangelii), it gives positive evidence of the influence 
of the Reformation ; but in its declaring the Apocrypha of the 
Old Testament canonical, in its placing tradition alongside 
Scripture as a second source of information, in its proclaiming 
the Vulgate to be authoritative, and in its assigning to the 
Church alone the right to expound Scripture, it defines most 
sharply the opposition to Protestantism.^ 

As regards the first point, the Reformation, by its re-adoption 
of the Hebrew canon, had given expression to its general postu- 
late, that there should be a going back everywhere to the 
ultimate and surest sources. In opposition to this the Triden- 



but it was not given to him to cany it further. TJie chief Protestant work a|piinsl 
llie Ttidentinuin from tie dogmatic point of view is Chemniti, exam. cone. Trid. 
1565 f, (extracts in German by Benedixen, 1884), ef. Kollnei, Symbolik d. roro.- 
katb. KJrche, 1844. On the question of the primacy in the Trid. see Griiar in the 
Zcitschr. r. KathoJ. Theol., 1S84, The number of investiEalions of points of detail 
is very great, and these have not yet been utilised for a new, comprehensive account, 
because there is still always new material to be expected, especially from the Vatican, 
but also from the archives of the States. 

"Or, "de confirmandis dogmatibus," See III. I fin. 

»The Lutheran Refornia!ion,besides, had not already expressed itself confession ally 
on the sources of knowledge and authorities, and, as is well known, did not even 



CHAP, ir.] CODIFICATION OF MEDI/EVAL DOCTRINES. 4I 

tinum sanctioned the current traditional view.' Yet the act of 
fixing was in itself of the greatest importance; strictly speaking, 
indeed, it was only through it that a point of rest was attained 
in the history of the canon within the Roman Church. Even 
at that time there were still Bible manuscripts belonging to the 
Church that contained 4th Book of Esra, Hermas, the Epistle 
to the Laodiceans, etc. This uncertain state of things was now 
finally terminated.^ 

As regards the second point, the important words run as 
follows : — " That truth and discipline are contained in the 
books of Scripture and in unwritten traditions which, having 
been received from Christ's own lips by the Apostles, or 
transmitted as it were manually by the Apostles themselves, 
under the dictation of the Holy Spirit, have come down even 
to us " * (or, " and also receives with an equal feeling of piety 
and reverence the traditions relating sometimes to faith, and 
sometimes to morals, as dictated either orally by Christ or by 
the Holy Spirit, and preserved in continuous succession within 
the Catholic Church ").* 

The entire co-ordination of Scripture and tradition was in 
many respects a novum (especially as regards discipline). A 
usage was here sanctioned — ^no doubt to meet the Protestant 
criticism, which could not be repelled from Scripture alone— 

' It is also nolewoilhy, that in the eiiumeralion of the New Testament books, llie 
Epistle to the Hebrews is counled in as the fourteenth Pauline epistle without remark. 

s The Tridentine Decree gaei back even at this place lo the Bulls of EuEcnc IV., 
which in general were among the most impoitant parts of the mateiial for the 
decisions of the Council. In the Bull pro Jacobitis " Cantate Domino " the most of 
the Apociyphal Books are already without distinction placed in a series with the 
Canonical Books, while ihe Epistle to the Hebrews is described as an Epistle of 
Paul. This reckoning follows the Canon of Innocent I. (Ep. 6 ad Exsuperintn 
Tolo&anum c 7). In approving this the Tridentinum originated the contradiction of 
on the one hand recognising the Alexandrian Canon of the Bible, and on the other 
hand following the Vulgate, while Jerome rejected the Apocrypha, or at least treated 
il qnile freely ; see Credner, Gesc-h. des Kanons, p. 300 f,, 320 ff. 

' " Veritatem et disciplinam continert in libiis sctiptis et sine scripto tiaditionibui, 
qus ah ipsius Cbristi ore ab apostolis acceptEC aut ab ipsis apostolis, spiritu sancto 
dictante, quasi per nianus tiadita: ad nos usque pervenerunt." 

* "Nee non Iradiliones ipsas turn ad jidem turn ad mores pertinentes Camqmun vel 
orelcnus a Cbristo vel a spiritu s. diclatas et conlinua suecessione in ecclesia catholica 
IS pari pietalis atfeclu ac rcverentia suscipit." 



42 HISTOKV OF DOGMA, [CHAP. 

that had as yet by no means been fully established in the 
Middle Ages, a,s was made clearly apparent at the deliberations 
connected with the framing of the Decree. Voices were raised 
demanding that priority should be given to Scripture ; but 
they failed to assert themselves. The defining tradition more 
precisely as traditio Christi and' traditio apostolorum (spiritu 
sancto dictante), without, however, indicating in any way what 
the two traditions embraced, and how they were distinguished, 
was a master-stroke of dogmatic policy, which clearly shows 
that the object in view was not to furnish a strong basis for that 
which constitutes Christianity. But the fact is extremely note- 
worthy that there is entire silence maintained here as to the 
authority of the Church and of the Pope. In this the untruth- 
fulness of the Decree reveals itself; for the ultimate concern of 
the Curia was to see that its arbitrary decisions were regarded 
as sources of knowledge and authorities on truth.' It was able 
to attain that by the help of this quite indefinite Decree ; but at 
that time it was unable as yet to give direct expression to 
it ; hence there was silence maintained with regard to the Pope 
and the Church. 

The proclaiming of the Vulgate ("that it shall be held as 
authoritative in public reading, disputation, preaching, and ex- 
position, and that no one shall dare or presume to reject it on 
any pretext whatever"^) was a violent measure, which could 
not be justified even by the law of custom, and was, besides, 
directly counter to the age in which one lived.* The same thing 
is to be said of the requirement, that everyone shall be obliged 
to adhere to the sense of Holy Scripture to which the Holy 
Mother-Church adheres (" to whom it belongs to judge of the 
true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures"^), and 

' Repeatedly at the Council speeches were delivered— especial iy by Jesuits, but also 
by others— the sum anti substance of which was, that as the Chuich could never ert 
in faith, its theory and practice were correct in all paiticulais (the Church, however, is 
Rome). But as there was not frankness enough to proclaim this position publicly, it 
did not come clearly to view in the decisions. 

* " Ut in publicis lectionibus, disputationibuE, pr^edicatlonibus el exposition] bus pro 
nuthentica habeatur, et ut nemoillara rejicere quovis prietextu audeat vel prffianmat." 

'"Herethe Church for ever broke with its own past, and with all that comes 
under the name of science." Credner, I.e., p. 314. 

*"Cujui est judicare de vero sensu et interpretation e scriptiirarum sacrarum," 



P. II. 



CHAP. II.] CODIFICATION OF MEDI.-EVAL DOCTRINES. 

that no one shall dare to set himself up against the " unanimis 
consensus patrum." This requirement, it is true, was not in 
itself new ; but it was new that the whole Church should abolish 
all historico-exegetical investigation of the foundations of re- 
ligion.^ The way in which, in the sequel, the use of Scripture 
generally is subjected to reservations, is also unprecedented ; 
the decision, moreover, that the Church alone possesses the 
right to expound Scripture is ambiguous when there is nothing 
said as to who the Church is. Here also there was not yet 
courage enough to represent that the Pope was the Church.^ 

At Sessions V. and VI, the Synod then dealt with original 
sin and justification. This order was due simply to the opposi- 
tion to Protestantism, and gives to the two Decrees an im- 
portance which does not really belong to them. A better 
course, therefore, is to consider the following Decrees first 
(Sessions VII.-XXV.) ; for in them (Sacraments VII., XIII., 
XIV., XXI., XXm., XXIV.; Mass XXII. ; purgatory, saints, 
images, indulgences XXV.) the determining interests of 
Catholicism found expression, and there was here no need 
to give one's self anxiety. 

That there was the wish to affirm of the Church that it was 
the Sacrament-Church is apparent from the proposition which 
is found in the prologue to the Decree of Session VII., and 
which fills the place of a whole dogmatic chapter ; " by means 
of the Sacraments all true righteousness either begins, or, 
having been begun, is increased, or, having been lost, is restored " 
("per sacramenta omnis vera justitia vel incipit vel ccepta 
augetur vel amissa reparatur"). Not a word is said as to how 
the Sacraments have that power, as to what relation they have 
to the Word and promises of God, and as to how they are 
related to faith. This silence is the thing of most significance ; 
for it shows that just the Sacrament itself as externally applied 
is to be regarded as the means of salvatioa Accordingly, 
without any determination of what the Sacrament in genere is, 

'"Cerlsmly in this way Scripture becomes consec rated, but it is reduced to a 
ninminy, which can no longer develop any kind of life." Cietner, I.e. 
' " See tin the whole Tridenline Decree Holtzraann, Kanon und Tradition, p. 24 ff. 
J. Delitisch, Das Leh rays tern der Kiimischcn Kirche I., p. 295 ff.,3s8ff,., 385. 



44 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



■ attempt. 

I divine et 

k 



[chap. II. 

there is a passing on at once to thirteen anathematisms, it 
being previously certified merely that all that follows is derived 
from the teaching of Holy Scripture, from the apostolic tradi- 
tions, the Councils, and the consensus patrum. Consequently the 
thirteen anathematisms contain a continuous series of defini- 
tions, in which the most recent use and wont in the Church, as ■ 
defined by the Schoolmen, is raised to the level of dogma, 
while all historic memories pointing in an opposite direction — 
whose testimony was certainly audible enough — were sup- 
pressed. These dogmas form-ulated in the thirteen anathematisms \ 
are really the protest against Protestantism. 

Canon i raises to the position of dogma the doctrine that I 
there are seven Sacraments — no more and no less — and that all \ 
the seven were instituted by Christ} Canon 4 rejects the doctrine | 
that man can be justified before God without the Sacraments (o: 
without a vow to receive the Sacraments [votum sacramenti]) 
by faith alone (per solam fidem). Canon 5 pronounces anathema 
on those who teach that the Sacraments are instituted for the 
sake of only nourishing faith (propter solam fidem nutriendam), 
and thus severs the exclusive connection of faith and Sacrament. 
Canon 6 formulates the Scholastic doctrine of the efficacy of 
the Sacraments ex opere operato (without, however, applying 
this expression here), and thereby excludes more decisively the 
necessity of faith, a mysterious power being attributed to the 
Sacraments.^ Canon 7 defines this efficacy of the Sacraments 
still more exactly, asserting that where they are received in due 

1 Here, no doubt, the question cao still always aj'ise, whether He instituted them 
all " immediate" ; but in view of the literal tenns of the Decree that would be a cose 
of sophistiy. 

" "Si quis dixerit, sacramenta novas legis non continere Eratiam, quam significant 
(see above, the Scholastic controversy. Vol. VI,, p. zo6f.), aut giatiam ipbam non 
ponentibus obicem (see above, Vol. VI., p. 213 f.) non confene, quasi signs 
tanCum externa sinl accepts per fidem gratife vel jusliti:e et notte quxdam Christians: 
professionis, quibus apud homines discernuntur fideles ab infidelibus, anathema sit," 
It is characteristic Chat (he Canon does not assume a third possibility between the 
Sacraments as vehicles and the Sacraments as signs. Such a possibility, too, is hard 
enough to conceive of, as is proved by the Lutheran doctrine, which makes the 
The Scotist doctrines with regard to the concomitance of the gracious 
ects and the rite are not expressly controverted by the Tridenlinum ; hut the 
jiloyed are unfavourable to them. 



CHAP. II.] CODIFICATION OF MEDIAEVAL DOCTRINES. 

form (rite), they communicate grace from God's side (ex parte 
dei) always, and to all receivers too. Canon 8 concludes this 
survey with the words : " if anyone shall say that grace Is not 
conveyed ex opere operato by the Sacraments of the New Law, 
but that faitk alone in the divine promise is sufficient for obtaining 
grace, let him be anathema.'" The 9th Canon raises to a 
dogma the doctrine of " character " (baptism, confirmation, and 
consecration to the priesthood), but is cautious in not defining 
this "character in anima" more exactly than as "a certain 
spiritual and indelible sign " {" signum quoddam spirituale et 
indelibile ").^ The 10th Canon pronounces anathema on those 
who assert that all Christians have the power to preach the 
Word and administer the Sacraments, and thus directs itself 
gainst the universal priesthood. The iith Canon raises to a 
dogma the doctrine of the intentio of the priest (" intention of 
at least doing what the Church does"^), without which the 
Sacraments are not Sacraments. Lastly, the 1 3th Canon gives 
fixity to all unratified customs of the Church connected 
with the celebration of the Sacraments, it being declared ; " If 
anyone shall say that the received and approved customs of 
the Catholic Church, which are usually applied in the solemn 
administration of the Sacraments, may either be despised or 
omitted by ministers as they please without sin, or changed into 
other new ones by any pastor of the Churches, let him be 
anathema." * 

As in all these statements the Council adopted only negative 
definitions, it succeeded in the happiest way in steering clear of 
all the reefs in Scholastic discussion of the Sacraments. Even in 

' "Si quia dixeril, per ipsa nov^ legis sacramenla ex opere operato nun conferri 
gratiam, sed solam (idem divinie promissionia ad gratiam conscquendani aufficcre, 

"Compare Cat. Roman. II., 1 Q. 19, where, however, little more is said than that 
the character " veluti insjgne quoddam anima: impressum eat, quod deleri numquam 
potest . . . et prteslat, turn ut apti ad aliquid sacri suscipiendum vel peragenduni 
i;fillciamur, turn ul aliqua nola alter ab altero intemoscatur. " 

> "Intentio saltern faciendi quod facit ecclesis." 

* " Si quis dixerit, receptos et approbatos ecclesias catholiise ritus in solemni sacra- 
meDlorum admin is tratione adhibeii consnetoE aut contenini aut sine peccato am" 
pro libito omitti, aut in novos alios per qnemcunque ecclesiarum pastorem m 



l»ss 






46 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CIIAP. 11 

the selection of what is negatively defined — how much would 
still remain to be defined — there is apparent an admirable skill. 
Generally speaking, what is here marked out is really the basis 
common to all the Schoolnnen. Hence, when the definitions 
are translated into a positive form, they come closest to | 
Thomism, while at the same time they do not exclude the , 
Scotist po.sitions. 

There now follow the Decrees on the Sacraments singly. 
Here the decretum pro Armenis in the Bull of Eugene IV., 
■' Exultate deo," ' had so prepared the way with its short and yet 
comprehensive definitions that the dogmatic determination 
offered no great difficulty to the Fathers. The character of ] 
the definitions of particulars is akin to that of the general 
definitions ; the most extreme, and therefore disputed. Scholastic 
theses of the Schools are trimmed down in the interest of unity 
of faith ; and thus a type is produced, which comes very close 
to the Thomistic, and yet does not make it impossible for 
the doctrines to be re-shaped in harmony with dogmatic 
Probabilism. 

Among the propositions relating to Baptism (Session VII.) 
the 3rd Canon (in introducing which no connection is indicated) 
is the most important, because by implication it makes all the 
rest unnecessary : " if anyone shall say that in the Church of 
Rome, which is the mother and mistress of all churches, there 
is not the true doctrine concerning the Sacrament of Baptism, 
let him be anathema."^ The gth and 10th Canons restrict the 
importance of baptism, in opposition to the evangelical view ; 
the loth is especially instructive from its putting together re- 
membrance and faith (recordatio and fides) in a way that depre- 
ciates faith, as well as from its limiting the efiTect of baptismal 
grace to former sins.^ As regards Confirmation, the history 
of the development of this observance is now finally expunged 
— history, that is to say, is transcended by dogma (Can. i) ; 

1 See Deniinger, Enchiridion, 5th ed., p. 172 f. 

» "Siquisdwerit, ineccleaia Rainana,qiisoniQiutnet:clesiarutn mater esl et niaf^stni, 
Don esse venm de bapLismi sacramenLo docLnnam, anathema sit." 

* "Si quis dixerit, peccata omnia, quEe post baptismam Gunt, sola rscordalions ct 
Jide suscepH iafitiimi vel dimilii vcl veiu^ia fieri, anathema sit." 



CHAP. II.] CODIFICATION OF MEDIEVAL DOCTRINES. 47 

moreover, it is henceforth an article oi faith, that the bishop 
alone is the minister ordinarius of this Sacrament (Can. 5). 

In dealing with the Eucharist (Session XIII.) the Council 
was not satisfied with Canons, but rose to a Decree. But this 
Decree, if one glances over the Scholastic questions of dispute, 
is certainly seen to be pretty vague. It is likewise known that 
there was here a coming together of opposing theological parties. 
In de6ance of history it is asserted (c. i) that it has always 
been unanimously confessed by all the Fathers that the God- 
man is present " truly, really, and substantially in this Sacra- 
ment under the form of things sensible." ^ In spite of imposing 
language about it, the effect of the Sacrament is really restricted 
to deliverance from daily (venial) sins and protection against 
mortal sins (c. 2). Then it is said (cap. 3), the old definition 
of the Sacrament in its entirety being adopted : "it is indeed 
common to the most holy Eucharist with the other Sacraments 
that it is the symbol of a sacred thing and the visible form of 
invisible grace ; but there is this point of pre-eminence and 
distinctiveness found in it,^ that the other Sacraments only have 
power to sanctify when someone uses them, while in the 
Eucharist the Sacrament is itself the author of sanctity previous 
to the use."" It had always (it was asserted) been the Catholic 
faith that the God-man is present immediately after consecra- 
tion, and wholly present, too, under both forms, in His Godhead, 
body and soul ; a more precise definition of this is then given— 
again as describing the faith that had always prevailed in the 
Church: "that by the consecration of bread and wine a con- 
version takes place of the entire substance of the bread into the 
substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the entire 
substance of the wine into the substance of His blood. Which 
conversion is fittingly and properly designated by the holy 



1 "Vere, realitet et subs lantiali let sub specie rerum sensibilium in 
>Cf. Cat. Rom. II., c. 4, Q. 39: the Eucharist is the fons of all Sacraments, which 
flow from it like brooks. 

'"Commune hoc qnideni est sanctissimiE eucbarislice cum ceteris sacramentis 
symbnium esse rei sacne et invisibilis graliie foimam visibilem \ verum illud in ea 
encellens et singulariter reperitur, quod reliqua sacramenta tunc primum sanclificnnrli 
vim habent, cum quis utitur, at in eucharistia ipse sanctitalis auctar ante usum est." 




HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. II. 

Catholic Church transubstantiation." ' Hence there is required 
for the Sacrament (c. 5) the worship of adoration (cultus latria) 
(including the festival of Corpus Christi), and the self-communi- 
cating of the priests is described as traditio apostolica (c. 8). 
The appended anathematisms are nearly all directed against 
Protestantism. Anyone is condemned who does not recognise 
the whole Christ corporeally in the Sacrament, who believes 
that the substance of the elements remains after the consecration, 
who denies that the whole Christ is in every part of each ele- 
ment, who regards the Sacrament as being Sacrament only ' 
use" ("in usu "), but not also before or after use ("ante vel 
post usum "), who rejects worship of the Host and the Corpus 
Christi festival, etc. But the worst Canons are 5 and 11; for 
the former condemns those who hold that the forgiveness of 
sins is the principal fruit of the Eucharist, and the latter runs: 
" if anyone shall say that faith alone is sufficient preparation 
for taking the Sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, let him 
be accursed."* Many demanded that lay-communion also 
sub utraque (under both forms) should be simply condemned, 
and a Decree to that effect was really imminent. But under 
the pressure of the princes and of public opinion the question 
was for a time delayed, and thereafter, there being influences at 
the Council itself that strongly asserted themselves in favour 
of granting the cup to the laity, it was decided — but only half- 
decided — by a Decree (Ses.sion XXI.) that betrays only too 
plainly the embarrassment felt. The granting of the cup to the 
laity was not forbidden — indeed the admission was found neces- 
sary here that " from the beginnintj of the Christian religion the 
use of both forms had not been infrequent," ^ but an anathema 
was pronounced on everyone who should demand the cup ex 
del prsecepto (as commanded by God), or who was not per- 
suaded that the Catholic Church denied it to him on good 



"Per 



nem fieri lotius substaatjie panis in 
tius subslantiaJ vini in substantiam 
proprie a sancta catholics ecclesia 



substandam corporis Christi da 
sanguinis ejus. Quse conversio 
tninsEubstantio est appellata." 
> "Si quis dixerit, solam fidem esse sufficientei 
X euchaTisti:e sacramenlum, anathema sil,'' 

Cliristianie tellgionis non infrcquens ulriusque specie! usus fuiaset. 






CHAP. II.] CODIFICATION OF MEDl.^A'AL DOCTRINES. 49 

5;rounds. The Scholastic doctrine of the whole Christ in either 
kind (totus Christus in qualibet specie) formed the dogmatic 
basis of the right to deny. From nothing can the perverted 
state of "science" in the Church be more plainly proved than 
from the fact that this " science " succeeded in its presuming to 
correct the institution of Christ. But of course science was 
really only the pretext ; for the motives were quite different 
that led the Church to withhold the cup from the laity.^ .A 
crowd of difficulties threatened to arise in connection with the 
question of the sacrifice of the Mass (Sessio XXII.), This was 
the most seriously assailed institution, and a theoretical vindi- 
cation of it could not be evaded; while on the other hand it was 
impossible to write volumes. Yet volumes would have been 
required in order to .solve ail the problems that had been 
handed down by Scholasticism, problems that had been much 
discussed, but had never been settled or reduced to precise 
formula. Indeed the questions regarding the relation of the 
sacrificial death of Christ to the Eucharist (above all to the first 
celebration), and again of the Mass to the first Eucharist and 
to the death on the Cross, were in a pre-eminent degree the real 
mysteries of the labyrinthine dogmatic, and here every doctrinal 
statement had only resulted in creating new difficulties ! Be- 
sides, there was entire vagueness as to how the significance and 
use of the Masses were to be theoretically understood. The 
evil state of practice taught that the Mass was the most im- 

'The Decree concludes wiih a remark which suggesls yielding to necessity: "Duos 
veio Riticiilos, alius {scil. Sess. XIH.) propositas, hos nondum tamen excussos, 
videliccl : An rotiones, qiiibus s. catholica ecclesia adducta fuil, ut communicaret 
laicoj atque etiam non celebrantes sacerdotes sub nna lantum panis specie, ita sint 
retinendxe, ut nulla latiune calicis usus cuiquam sit peimittendus, et An, si honestis 
et Cbrisliann^ caritati consentaneis rationibus concedendus alicui vel nationi 
vel regno calids u-ius videatur, sub aliquibus conditionibus coocedendus 
sit, et qusenam sint illse ; eadem s. synodus in aliud lenipus, oblata sibi quani- 
primuDi occasione, examinandos atque deliniendos reserval." With this is to be 
compared the Decree of the zjrd SesEion : "integrum Degutium ad sand issi mum 
dominum nostrum (sdl. the Pope) esse referendum, qui pro sub sinRulari prudenlia id 
efhcit, quod ulile republicie Christians et saUilare petentibus usum calicis fore 
judicaveril." That the decision could not be come to at Rome and in the Council 
to grant Ihe cup to the laity was an extremely happy circumstance fijr Protestantism, 
for many of those who had the fate of Ihe Protestant cause in their hand would have 
be:n induced by ihil ci 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. 11. 

portant function within religious and ecclesiastical life ; yet 
dogmatic theorj', which could not surrender the unique impor- 
tance of Baptism and the Sacrament of Penance, left only the 
most meagre room for the efficacy of the Mass. In a very skil- 
ful manner the Decree (c. i) glides over the gulfs in the historic 
proof for the establishment of the Mass (by ChristJ, while it 
defines in a way full of manifest contradictions the effect of the 
ordinance, this effect being described in c. i as " saving virtue 
for the remission of sins which are committed by us daily " 
{" salutaris virtus in rcmissionem peccatorum, qua a nobis 
quotidie committuntur "), in c. 2, on the other hand, as " a truly 
propitiatory sacrifice " (" sacrificium verc propitiatorium "), which 
cancels also the "crimes and heinous sins" (" crimina et ingentia 
peccata ") of the penitent (contriti) ; indeed the expositions here 
given can only be understood as meaning that in a way that is 
direct, and that includes all blessings, the Mass applies Christ's 
death on the Cross.^ For the rest, there is a thorough- going 
vindication (c. 4), although in a cautiously veiled form,^ of the 
whole evil practice of the Mass, as also a vindication of the 
Masses in honour of saints (in hotiorem .sanctorum, c. 3), and, 
finally, of the Roman Mass Canon^ down to the last word (c. 4), , 
Even the demand that the Mass shall be in the vernacular is 
rejected, nor is an)- proof given (c. 8).* The Canons pronounce 
anathema on everything that contradicts these doctrines, and so 
makes a sharp separation between the Church of the sacrifice of J 
the Mass and the Church of the Word.* 

' "Una enim eadenique est hostia, idem nunc ofTertns 
seipsuin lunc in ciuce obtulit, sola offerendi ralione divers; 
cruenUe fructua per hanc incruentarn ubemme petdpiiinli 
hanc quovis modo lierc^Wr." 

s "Quare non sotum pro fidelium vivonim peccatis, pcenis, satisfaclioQibus et aliii J 
necessitaiibus (in this way the whole disordered state of things is ranetioned), sed e 
pro defunclis in Chrislo, nondum ad plenum pui^atis, rite juita apostolonim tntdi- 
tionem (!) offertur." 

>"Qui constat ex ip^is doinini verbis, turn ex apostolorum iradilionibus ac s 
torum quoque poiitiiicain piis inEtitutionibus " — ^notice what are put tc^ether ben 

'"Nod expedire visum est patribua" ; see on this Gihr, Das hi. Messopfer, 
ed., p. 305 ff. In reading this work even a miki evangelical spirit must admit the 
Reformers' title to speak of the Mass a.B idoialry, 

' A certain influence of the Reformation is apparent in its being required (c. f 
the minister shall explain (in the vernacular) something of what is read in the Mass, 



Cujus quidem oblaliuni 
: tantum abest, ut illi per I 




CHAR II.] CODIFICATION OF MEDI^KVAL DOCTRINES. 

As might have been expected, the Decree concerning Penance 
(de ptenitentia, Sessio XIV.) is the fullest. As the chief parts 
of this Sacrament were settled matters for Scholastici.sm, and 
as the Tridentinum took over here the whole Scholastic work, 
it is not necessary to repeat in detail the positive definitions 
(see Vol. VI., p. 243 ff). The formulations are distinguished 
hy great clearness ; as we read, we have the feeling that we 
-Stand on firm ground, though it is on ground which the Church 
has created for itself Everj'thing here, down to the questions 
as to materia, quasi materia, forma, is developed with precision. 
It is to be pointed out as specially noteworthy, that the feeling 
of comfort and of relief of conscience that follows upon the 
reconciliatio is not described a.s a regular result of the Sacra- 
ment (c. 3). But still more noteworth)', on the other hand, is 
the influence which the Reformation exerted on the description 
of the penitent disposition that is requisite. The party which 
declared attritio to be enough for saving reception of the Sacra- 
ment did not succeed in asserting itself; in opposition, rather, 
to the teaching and practice of the two foregoing centur.et 
contritio was required, and attritio declared to be merely a 
salutary preparation ("ad dei gratiam impetrandam disponit," 
"viam ad justitiam parat"). Yet as attritio is called "contritio 
imperfecta," as it is described as "a gift of God and an impulse 
of the Holy Spirit, who, however, is not yet indwelling, but 
only moving,"* as the assertion is also made that the reconciliatio 
is not to be ascribed to coiitriiio " without a vow to receive the 
Sacrament" ("sine sacramenti voto"), and as a distinction 
again is drawn between contr ti 1 and contritio (caritate perfecta) 
itself, as, finally, in spite of all excellent things said about the 
feeling of sorrow, this feeling is not conjoined with fides, is not 
developed from fides, all the attempts to get clear of the 
mechanical view of penance were in vain, and it was shown by 

"ne oves Christi esuriant nevepatvuli paoem petani, et nun sit qui ftangat eis." So 
it is Doly the clearly-undeislood wni that seems la be bread 1 

■ It may be noted by the way llial in c, x ihe sentence occura : " Ecclesia in 
neminem )udicium exeicet, qui non pcius in ipsam per t>aptianii jsnuam fuerit 
ingressus," i.t., tlie baptised are a// placed under its jurisdiction. 

> " Donum dei et spiritussancti impulsum, nun adhucquideni inhahltantis sed lantuni 



lIISTOR\' Ol' DOGMA. [CHAl'. II. 

the subsequent development of the doctrine of penitence in the 
Church, that there was no serious intention to expel the 
attritio.' What the 4th Chap, of the Decree de pcenitentia really 
does is to throw dust in the eyes of Protestants. In the 5th 
Chap, stands the extravagant slalement, that " the whole Church 
has always understood that full confession of sins is required of 
all by divine law, because Christ has left behind him priests, 
representatives of himself, as overseers and judges to whom all 
mortal offences are to be made known"^ The old dispute as to 
whether the priest only pronounces forjiveness, or bestows it 
as a judge, is settled according to the latter alternative (c. 6). 
As the position is rejected, that God never forgives sins without 
also remitting the whole penalty, room is obtained for the 
satisfactiones : without these God accepts heathens, but not 
Christians who have lapsed. But in a remarkable way the 
satisfying penalties (satisfactorije pLeti^) are also presented 
under an aspect which is quite foreign to their original establish- 
ment within the institution of penance; by these, it is represented, 
we are made conformable (conformes) to Christ, who has 
rendered satisfaction for our sins, ("having from thence the 
surest pledge also, that if we suffer together we shall also be 
glorified together").^ That is an evangelical turn of thought, 
which falls outside the framework of the "penance."* The 15 
Canones de pcenitentia, however, leave nothing to be desired in , 
the way of rejection on principle of the evangelical view. Let 
the 4th only be brought under notice : " If anyone shall deny ' 
that, for full and perfect remi.ssion of sins, three acts are required 
in the penitent, forming, as it were, the material of the Sacra- 
ment of Penance, namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction, 
which are called the three parts of penance, or shall say that 

' That [he Tridentinuin attemplB to idealise Ihe altritio is on good ground pointed 
out by Sluekert, Die Kath. Lehre v. d. Reue (1896), p. 63. 

i " Universa ecclesia semper intellexit, inlegram peceatorum confesisionem omnibui 
jure divine necessariam e:(istere, quia. Chriatus sarerdoCes aui ipsius vicarios reliquit J 
lamquam prasides et judices, ad quos omnia morlalia ctimina deferantur." 

'"Cerlissimam quoque inde acrhani halientes, quod si compatimur, et canglori- 
ficabimui,*' c. 8. 

'Compare also what immediately ibllows ; the thought is evangelical r "neqiie 
vero ita est sa.tisfectio hffic — per ilium accept amur a patre." All the greater is 
cuntrasl preseuted by the series of propositions directly succeeding. 




fllAP, II.] CODIFICATION OK MEDI.EVAL DOCTRINES. 53 

there are only the two parts of penance, namely, terror struck 
home to the conscience through the knowledge of sin, and faith 
awakened by the Gospel or by the absolution through which 
one believes that his sins are remitted to him through Christ, let 
him be anathema." ' 

On the Sacrament of Extreme Unction (S. XIV.) it is not 
necessary to lose a word. The decisions, also, as to ordination 
to the priesthood (S. XXI II.) contain the Scholastic theses with- 
out any correction.s. They begin with the famous words : 
"Sacrifice and priesthood are so conjoined by the appointment 
of God that both exist in every law" ("sacrificium et sacer- 
dotium ita dei ordinatione conjuncta sunt, ut utrumque in omni 
lege exstiterit "). The Church of the sacrificial ritual asserts 
itself as also the Church of the priests, and it does the latter 
because it does the former. Along with sacrifice. Christ insti- 
tuted at the same time the priesthood ; the seven orders (ordines) 
have been in existence from "thevery beginning of the Church "- 
(c. 2). The old question of dispute as to the relation of the 
bishops to the priests (whether they, properly speaking, form an 
order), is not definitely decided. It is merely asserted that they 
are superior to the priests, as they have taken the place of the 
Apostles (c. 4).^ All co-operation of the laity at the ordination 
of the clergy is very strongly disapproved of at the close of the 
Decree.* The Decree as to marriage (Sessio XXIV.) has not 
understood how to give to this formless Sacrament any better 
dogmatic shape. A kind of homily must take the place of 

I "Si quis negaveril ad inlegtam et prrfeclam peccatotum remissionem reijuiri tves 
actus in prenitente, quasi materiam sacramenti pxnitentite, vid. cunttitionem, con- 
fessioneni el satisfactionem, quse tres pienilentite partes dicuntur, aut dii:erit, dnag 
tanCum esse piEnitentix panes, terrores scil, jncussos coDscientix agnilo peccato el 
fidEiii conceptam ex evangelio vel absolutiiine, qua cri^dit quis sibi pet Chnsluin 
lemissa peccala, nnathema sit." 

- "Ab ipso ecclesite initio." 

= The unceitaiiHy as to Ihe position of the bishops is still fiuther iocreascd by tlit 
6lh Canon, which is occupied, nut with enumerating the seven orders, but with 
treating o[ the " hierarchia divjna oidinatione instiluta, que constat t\ episcopis, 
prtsbyleris et ministris." How is the hierarchy related to Ihe seven orders? 

* The Canons reject the Protestant doctrine. Above all in c I the opinion is con- 
demned, that there is no sacerdotium extemani, and that the office is only the nudum 
miniislerium prEedicandi evangeliuni. The 8th Canon leaves the Pope free to create 
as many bLhops as he pleases. 



54 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CUAi: 11. 

theological development. Only in the anathematisms do the 
interests of the Church find expression.' 

Purgatory and the Saints were already referred to in passing 
in the Decree as to the Mass, They were expressly dealt with 
nt the 25th Session. The Decree as to purgatory contains the 
indirect admission that much mi.schief had been done in tlie 
Church in connection with it, and that it had led Christendom 
into .superstition ; there is allusion even to " base gain, scandals, 
and stumbling-blocks for the faithful " (turpe lucrum, scandala, 
fidelium offendicula). But just on that account the " sana 
doctrina de purgatorio " shall henceforward be strenuously in- 
sisted on. To more preci.se definitions, which would have had 
the spirit of the age against them, the Council did not proceed. 
So, likewise, there was only a quite rapid dealing with the 
invocation and worship of saints, as also with relics and 
pictures. The intercession of saints is established, and the 
Protestant view declared " impious." The worship of relics and 
pictures is also maintained,^ an appeal being made to the 
second Nicene Council. Anyone who is not acquainted with 
the practice of the Church might conclude from these calm 
definitions, which are adorned by no anathemas, that unimport- 
ant abuses were dealt with, especially as the Church did not 
omit here also to lament the abuses ("if any abuses, however, 
have crept into these holy and salutary observances, the holy 
Synod has the intensest desire that they be forthwith abolished, 
etc."^), and at the close really gives directions for checking the 
disorder— directions, however, which, as subsequent history has 
taught, really gave to the bishops, or ultimately, let us say, to 
the Pope alone, the title to perpetuate the old disorder, and to 
intensify it by his authority. The largest amount of reserve 

'The view is coniiemned (l) I hat mairiage " non graliam confert." The Church 
reserves lo ilself in the Canons the entire legislntion as to marriage, and sanctions sil 
ihal it hsd previously done in this province. In c. 10, in spite of marriaee being a. 
Sacrament, anyone Is condemned who does not regard the iinmnrried state as letter 
than the married. Hut why, then, is there no saciament of virginity? 

lYet with the addition: "Non quod credatui inesse aliqua in iis divinilas vel 
I, propter quaui sini colend^E." 

S"In has aulem sanclas et salutares odservationea si i^m abusus irrepserint, eos 
prorsus abuleri sancta synodvis vchenienter cupil," etc. 




. 11.] CODIFICATION OF MEDI.FA'AL UOCTklNES. 

and caution was shown in the way in which imlulgeiices were 
spoken of. The Scholastic theory of indulgences is not in any 
way touched ; the abuses are admitted, and their removal — 
"lest ecclesiastical discipline be weakened by too great facility"' 
is strongly insisted on.^ But with regard to the matter itself 
there is no yielding, even to the extent of an inch; for in- 
dulgences have a saving value for Christendom. What is 
needed is only that the business of granting holy indulgences 
be carried on in a pious and holy way on behalf of all believers ; 
everyone is to be condemned who declares them useless, or 
denies that it is competent to the Church to dispense them. 

Tlius the Church completed by the Tridentinum her course 
of distinct secularisation as the Church of sacrifice, priest, and 
sacrament' In her declaring to be true, saving, and divine all 
that the Church of Rome did, all the usages she adopted on her 
long progress through the Middle Ages, .she withdrew from the 
struggle which Luther's theses conjured up, the struggle to 
reach a true inward understanding of the Christian religion. 

1 "Ne nimia ra.cilitale ecclesiastica discipline enerveHTr." 

2 " Pravos quicBlus omnes pro his consequend is, unde plurima in Christiano populo 
abusuum causa Buxil." 

Jin odUiti.in to the indulgences (see Schneider, Die Abliisse, 7th ed., 1881) one 
must study the theory and practice of Ihe beniiUclion! and sacramentalia, in order to 
see how far the Catholic Church had drifted, not only from what is Christian, but 
even from spiritual religion. The dogmatic exposilions of the "hencdictio con- 
stitutiva" and the " consccratio," as distinguished from ihe "benedictio inroca- 
liva," are a veritable mocker», not only of Ihe Christian, bot of all spiritual 
religion. I gather out a few passages from a work of very high authority, 
Gihr, Das hi. Messopfer, 4lh ed., 1887, p. 220 : " However perfect as regards 
natural worth, artistic adornment, and beauty, the articles may be that are 
intended for use in the sacrificial celebration, they are certainly not on that account 
alone to be fonhwith employeJ in divine service : in addition to these qualities the 
most of the vessels used in worship require a previous benediction or consecration 
- . . ihiy musi become something saired (Ks fa.i^is.\. By the h'essing and the prayeis 
of Ihe Church the liturgical vessels liecome, net inirely lanctified, but aisa fitted te 
produce various saving effects in those -Jika use Ihem devoutly attd K he come into coniaet 
with them. The articles employed in worship which are blessed or consecrated are, 
as it were, tiansferted/nn« Iht domain of nature Jo the tingdam of grate ( — ^so we have a 
-cloth transferred to the kingdom of grace, a f!agun traniiferted to the kingdom of grace, 
etc. ! — ) and arc the special pioperty of God ; chey thus far bear in themselves some- 
iking divine, on the ground of which a certain religious veneration is due to them and 
must he paid to them." I", azo, n. 1 ; "The consecration (benediclio conslitutiva or 
n which holy oil is made use of) is essentially distinct from the ir 



t 



56 nisTOKv OF do<;ma. fLiiAr. 11. 

All discussions a.s to grace, freedom, sin, law, good works, etc., 
were at best relegated to the second place ; for they were only 
conducted on the assumption that under all circumstances the 
Church asserted itself as that which it had become— as the 
papal, sacrificial, and sacramental institution. In the Triden- 
tinum the Roman Church formally embodied its refusal to treat 
the question of religion at the level to which that question had 
been raised by Luther. It held firmly to the ancient medieval 
stage. That is pre-eminently the significance of the great 
Council. 

But, nevertheless, a discussion of the Reformation conception 
of Christianity on its merits dared not be avoided. That was 
demanded even by many Catholic Christians. Just at that 
time, indeed, there was a party influential in Catholicism who 
strongly accentuated the Augustinian-Mystic thoughts — they 
were a counterpoi.se to the sacramental system — and who set 
themselves to oppose the Pelagianism and Probabilism which 
are the co-efficients of the Sacrament Church. The two 
benediction on thi-s ground, that it imprtssts iipou ptrsens atid thijigs a higher, mfiet- 
nahiral charaitir, i.e., ii iransferE ihem peimanently inio Ibe state of sanctified and 
religious ohjecls." P. 300, n. 2 ; "In the case of the candles that are 4/Mierf there is 
still the lacramenlai clemenl lo be taken into account. That is to say, these candles 
are not merely religious symbols, which represent something supernatural, but are 
alse sacnd eijecls, viAich — in thtir own n-ay — fredute a certain supematiiral effect, 
inasoaick as Ihey impart to us an the ground tf, and by Tiirtue of the prayer ef the 
Church, divine blessing and preiecticm, especially against the spirits of darkness. " 
P. 360 ; " Incense that has been blessed is a sacramental ; as such, it does not merely 
represent lomethtng higher and mysterious, but tvorks also (in its way) spirituar, 
supernatural effects . . . it is the organ (vehicle) of divine protection eaid blessing, 
Thiough the sign of the cross and the prayer of the Church the incense receives a 
certain pernor to drive Satan from, or lo keep him from, the soul, etc. . . . It senvs 
(alio) to consecrate persons and objects. That is Ici say, with the incense-clouds there 
diffuses itself also the power of the blessing which the Cbuicb pronounces and means 
to bestow ; the incense-clouds bring all they touch into a consecrated atmosphere.'" 
Lei one read also the detestable section on the benediction of the priest's garments 
(p. 255 f.) and its allej^rtcal and moral signilicance. "The garments used in 
worship only lose their benediction from being mended when the new unconsecraled 
piece applied or inserted is larget than the consecrated piece, but not when it is 
smaller," etc. As in the indulgence the Church really, i.e. in praxi, created for 
itself a second Sacrament of Penance, so it created for itself in the " sacramentalia " 
new Sacraments, which are much more convenient, because they are entirely in the 
Church's power. In both cases it legitimised in Christianity Kabbinism and the 
y and practice p^f the Pharisees and Talmudisls. 



, 



t-'HAl'. 11.] CODrpEUATION OF MEDI.tVAL DOCTRINES. 57 

Decrees on original sin and justification are, on the one hand, 
the precipitate of the discussion with Protestant Christianity, 
and, on the other hand, a compromise between Thomism 
(Augustinianism) and Nominah'sm. The Decree on justifica- 
tion, although a product of art, is in many respects remarkably 
well constructed ; indeed, it may be doubted whether the 
Reformation would have developed itself if this Decree had 
been issued at the Lateran Council at the beginning of the 
century, and had really passed into the flesh and blood of the 
Church. But that is an idle reflection. That the Roman 
Church expressed itself on justification as the terms of that 
Decree represent, was itself a consequence of the Reformation. 
Just for that reason the Decree must not be over-rated. It was ' 
the product of a situation which never repeated itself, nor ever 
again will repeat itself, for the Roman Church. At that time 
this Church stood under the influence at once of Augustinian- 
ism and Protestantism, not as regards its Sacraments and 
institutions, but certainly as regards the spiritual conception of 
religion ; for it could not simply identify itself with the old 
Nominalistic Scholasticism ; but as yet the Jesuits had not 
found the way to adopt the critical and sceptical momenta of 
Nominalism, to translate them into momenta of Probabilism, 
and thus to create those elastic loci which adjusted themselves 
to every pressure and cverj- turn of Church politics. Against the 
Thomists, therefore, one was, up to a certain point, defenceless 
at Trent ; the Thomists, on the other hand, as the proceedings 
at the religious conferences had already shown, were not 
strongly averse to the Protestant doctrine of justification 
(looked at as a doctrine by itself), however decided they might 
be in their opposition to Protestantism. The deep distinction 
between Protestants and Augustinian Thomists is apparent 
enough from the fact, that just on account of the doctrine of 
justification the former combated as heretical the " usages " of 
the Roman Church, while the latter could not understand why 
it should be impos.sible to unite the two. Yet a clear percep- 
tion of the contrast of position was not arrived at, because even 
Protestantism was then already beginning to treat the doctrine 
of justification as a Scholastic doctrine, and in its deriving from 



58 



IIISTORV Of DOGMA. 



[C.I. 



justification the rifjlit to religious and spiritual freedom had 
become uncertain and narrow. So it could not but follow that 
an effort should be made to express the contrast in Scholastic 
■definitions, which are not without tlieir importance, which, 
indeed, arc highly important as setting forth the dififerent 
fundamental views, but which, nevertheless, rather conceal than 
elucidate the real distinction in its full extent. Or is the 
■difference between Catholicism and Protestantism really de- 
scribed when it is said that for the former justification is a 
process (!), for the latter a once-occurring event ; that by the 
former an infused grace (gratia infusa) is taught, by the latter 
an imputed righteousness (justitia imputativa) ; that for the 
former it is a question about faith and love, for the latter a 
■question about faith alone ; that the former includes in its think- 
ing the idea of conduct, while the latter thinks only of relation- 
ship ? These are ail merely half-truths, ailhough the contro- 
versy of creeds — especially later on — was carried on chiefly in 
■the line of these antitheses. It would stand hard with Protes- 
tantism if its view admitted of being expressed in these sharp 
formulje. 

On the other hand, if the Roman Church remains the Romail 
•Church — and at Trent the decision was formed to undertake no 
self-reformalion — it is a matter of comparative indifference 
■what it contemplated teaching with regard to justification and 
original sin ; for all the propositions here promulgated, whether 
iheirterms suggest Nominalism or AugustinianThomismoreven 
the Reformation,^ are only minor propositions under the major, 
that the use and wont of the Roman Church is the supreme 
Jaw. 

Having first made these necessary observations, let us 
■examine the two Decrees. In the Decree on original sin the 
flagrant Pelagianism, or Semi-Pelagianism, of Nominahsm is 
rejected in strong and gratifying terms ; but the positive pro- 
positions are so shrewdly coiisiructed that it is a\vfa.ys possible 
still to connect with them a meaning that widely diverges from 
that of Augustine. 

' Ab is well known ibere was at one lime a near apptoacli in Rome lo approval of 
■I he entire firsl half of ihe Augsburg Confcssiiin. 




CHAI', II,] CODIFICATION OK MEDL-JiVAL DOCTRINES. 

At the very beginning;, in Chapter I., it is said that Adam 
lost the holiness and righteousness " in which he had been con- 
stituted " (" in qua constitutus fuerat "). That is ambiguous : 
it can be understood as "creatus" (Thomistic ; increated 
righteousness) ; but it can also be understood as an added gift 
{Scotistic ; donum superadd! turn), and the latter interpretation 
is perhaps confirmed by the phrase "accepta a deo sanctitas et 
justitia" ("holiness and righteousness received from God"). 
So also there is ambiguity when it is said that by the Fall the 
whole Adam in body and soul was "changed for the worse" 
("in deterius commutatus"); for what does "for the worse" 
mean? In the 6th Decree there is substituted for this, " lost 
innocence" (" innocentiam perdidisse " c. i); but immediately 
afterwards it is declared that free will is by no means destroyed, 
but " weakened in force and perverted " (" in viribus attenuatum 
et inclinatum "). This definition teaches that " for the worse " 
("in deterius") is really to be understood as a comparative, and 
that there was no inclination to approve of Augustine's doctrine 
of sin and freedom. In the 2nd Chapter (cf. Chap. III.) 
inherited death and inherited sin are strictly taught, and there 
is set over against them the sole merit of Christ, communicated 
in baptism (infant baptism. Chap. IV.), by which merit the 
reatus originalis peccati, that is, guilt, is completely wiped out, 
so that there is now no longer anything hate-worthy in t'le 
man, and the way to heaven (ingressus in ccelum) sands open 
to him. But the Decree also says indirectly that all sin itself 
is at the same time abolished : "this holy Synod confesses and 
holds that concupiscence or slumbering passion remains in the 
baptized ; when this is exposed to conflict it cannot do injury 
to those who do not yield to, but strenuously resist it through 
the grace of Christ Jesus. . . . With regard to this concupis- 
cence, which the Apostle sometimes calls sin, the holy Council 
declares that the Catholic Church has never understood it to 
be called sin because it is truly and properly sin in the 
regenerate, but because it springs from sin and disposes to sin."^ 

^milem, hiec s. sj'nodus iatctur et 
consentientibus Tiriliter per Chrisli 
conciiiiisccntiam, quam aliquando 



6o 




With this very rationalistic Scholastic reflection about evil 
desire the religious standpoint for contemplating sin was 
abandoned, and room was again made for all questions of doubt 
that were bound to lead to Nominalistic (Pelagian) answers. 
Because in the whole Decree on original sin what was dealt 
with was not failh and unbelief, because therefore forgiveness of 
sin appeared as an external act, without mention being made 
of the medium in which alone men can win for themselves 
assurance of forgiveness, it was inevitable that the definitions — 
if there was a wish to avoid the magical^should issue in 
Pelagianism. If the process of the forgiveness of sins takes 
place outside of faith, evil desire cannot be sin ; for in that case 
baptism would be insufficient, since it would not secure what it 
is meant to secure, namely, the removal of sin. Further, as 
the continued existence of evil desire cannot be denied, nothing 
remains but to declare it a matter of indifference. Such an 
assumption, however, must necessarily have a reflex influence 
on the shaping of the doctrines of the primitive state and of 
free will ; concupiscence must be a.scribed to the nature of man, 
and accordingly holiness cannot express his true nature,^ but is 
a donum superadditum. The Decree, therefore, did not reach 
the height of the Protestant view, at which, without regard to- 
the earthly condition of man and the psychological questions, 
the problem of sin and freedom is identical with the problem of 
yodlessness and trust in God.' 

The " thorny doctrine of grace," as a modern Roman theolo- 
gian has in an unguarded moment styled it, occupied the Fathers 

apostolus peccalum appellat, s. synotlus decli 
inteliexisse peccatum appellari, quo" 
(juia. ex peccito est et ad peccatum ii 

1 It can do so, certninly, only on c 
divinely produced childlike trust in ( 

'That in spite of Ihe Augtistinian 
□Id position i« shown by the closing : 
esse sux intentionis compiEhendere 
beatam et immaculatam virginei 



iclini 



propne ii 

iditioD that by holiness there is understood the 

«l and the feat of (iod. 

n there was a wish to leave cverj-lhiog in the 
of the Decree: "Declarat synodus, 
hoc decieto, ubi de peccato oiiginali agituT^ 
im, dei genelricem sed obsetvandaa 



slitiitiones felids recordationis Xysti pape IV., sub poonis in eis coDstitulionibus. 
conlenlis, quaa innovat." There coutd, indce<l, be as yet no venturing be>i)nd these 
definitions "felicis recutdationis," witTiout raising a storm, for the opposition betwe 
Franciscans and Dominicans at this point was still unbroken. 



CHAT, n.] CODIFICATION OF MEDI.llVAL DOCTRINES. 6l 

for months. The Decree which finally took shape could — after 
all that had been written in the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- 
turies — ^have been gladly welcomed by the Protestants, on many 
things an understanding could easily have been come to, and 
other things might have been left to the Schools, had it not been 
necessary to say to one's self that here language frequently 
concealed thought, and that the authors of the Decree, in spite 
of their Biblical attitude and their edifying language, did not 
really know whRt/aii/i meant, as evangelically understood. In 
spite of all appearance to the contrary, the interest that really 
governs the whole Decree is the desire to show how there can 
be an attainment to good works that have weight in the sight of 
God. 

The voluminous Decree, which takes the place of the original 
sketch, falls into three parts (1-9, 10-13, 14-16). Almost every 
chapter contains compromises. 

Chap. I. describes the entire inability of the children of Adam 
to deliver themselves from "the dominion of sin, the devil, and 
death by means of natural power (per vim nature) or by means 
of the letter of the law of Moses (per litteram legis Moysis), Yet 
there is immediately added as a supplement, "Although free 
will is by no means extinguished in them, however it may be 
diminished in power and perverted " (" tamesti in eis iiberum 
arbitrium minime extinctum esset, viribus licet attenuatum et 
inclinatum "). Chap. II. declares that God has sent Christ in 
order that all men might receive adoption and become sons of 
God (Him hath God set forth as the propitiator through /at//i 
in His blood for our sins " ["hunc proposuit deus propitiatorem 
per fidem in sanguine ipsius pro peccatis nostris "]). Here, 
therefore, /bi/y4 seems to have its sovereign place given to it. 
Yet (Chap. III.) — all do not accept the benefit of the death of 
Christ, but only those to whom the merit of His suffering is im- 
parted. What follows leaves the question in obscurity whether 
an eternal election of grace must be thought of Yet so it would 
appear: those only are justified to whom regeneration through the 
merit of Christ's suffering is given by means of the grace through 
which they become righteous. A vague sentence indeed, which 
leaves it to everyone to determine the relation between election. 




IIISTORV OF DOGMA. [CIIAP. II. 

justification, and regeneration. In Chap. IV. justification is 
described in a fundamental way as justificatio impii. It is a trans- 
lation from the standing of the sinful Adam into the standing 
of grace and adoption (that has an evangelical ring), and, in the 
era of the gospel, is effected simply through baptism ("or the 
vow to receive it " [aut ejus voto]). But in the process of 
describing justification more exactly in Chap. V., the thought of 
"translation from one standing into another " (" ab uno statu in 
alteram ") becomes embarrassed and uncertain. It is here 
asserted, that is to say, that the beginning of justification is 
wrought by the gratia prsveniens, that is, the vocatio (by which 
adults are called in the absence of any merits of their own [" qua 
adulti nullis eorum existentibus meritis vocantur"] — this in op- 
position to the lax views of Nominalism) ; but its contemplated 
end is, "that those who have been alienated from God by their 
sins, may be disposed by His inciting and aiding grace, to con- 
vert themselves in order to tFieir own justification, by their freely 
assenting to, and co-operating with, the same grace."* In this 
way the Augu.stinian-Thomistic view is abandoned in favour of 
the laxer view ; but still there is no mention whatever of faith. 
Witli a view, however, to conciliate the Thomists, the Decree 
still further pruceeds: " in such a way that, when God touches 
the heart of man by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man 
neither docs nothing whatever himself in receiving that inspira- 
tion, since he can also reject it, nor, on the other hand, can he, of 
his free will, without the grace of God, bring himself into a posi- 
tion of righteousness before G^d'"^ But of what avail is this cnn- 
ciliation, if while a human activitv towards the good is asserted, 
no thought of faith is entertained? Even in this " preparation 
for the justification" (" pr^paratio ad justificationem ") the 
thought of merit must necessarily come in ;^ for the activity 

1 " Ut qui iier peccatn a. lieo aversi cranl, pet ejus excitantem atque adjuvan/em 
gtaliam ad converiendiim se ad maiu ipSBrum justificationem, eidem gtatize libere 
assentiendo et eB-oferandi), disponantur." 

« " Ita lit tangente deo car horoidis per spititus s. illumination em neque homo iprc 
nihil omnina agat, inspirationem illam lecipiens, quippe qui illsm et abiicere pote~l, 
sine gratia dei moverese sid justitiam coram illo libera voliinute possit." 
The Decree does not, indeed, say that " the letting one's Sflf be liisposed for 







exclude this vi 



CHAP. II.] CODIFICATION OF MEDIvtVAL DOCTRINES. 



63 



that knows itself to be entirely in-wrought, and therefore is at the 
same time "gifi," " virtue," and " reward of virtue" ("donum, 
virtus, prFEmium virtutis "), is faith alone. But just on that 
account also, faith forbids the breaking up of "justification," as 
"translation into the state of adoption," into various acts. 
Wherein the right "disposition" consists is shown in Chap. VI. 
It consists (i) in the "faith through hearing" ("fides ex 
auditu ") ; this is a free movement God-wards, inasmuch as one 
believes that the content of divine revelation is true, and believes 
this in particular of the reconciliation and justification through 
Christ, (2) in insight into the fact that one is a sinner, and 
accordingly, in fear of the divine righteousness, in reflection on 
the divine mercy, in the hope that springs from this that God 
will be favourably disposed for Christ's sake, and in incipient 
love to Him as the source of all righteousness, from which there 
arises " a certain hatred and horror " of sin, ' (3) in the entering,, 
in connection with the decision to receive baptism, upon a new 
life and course of obedience to the commandments of God- 
What has all that to do with justification? This description is 
certainly not sketched from the standpoint of one by 
whom justification has been experienced, but by one who, 
stands without, and reflects on what the course of justificationi 
must be if there is to be nothing to upset thought and nothing 
to be unintelligible. Will the justified man know of anything 
he can assert, prior to his experience of justification, regarding 
his incipient faith, incipient love, incipient hatred, incipient 
repentance? Will he not rather say with the apostle that he is 
dead in sins ? What is an incipient good from the standpoint of 
one who has the knowledge of Augustine i " for me the good is 
to cling to God"("niihi adhsrere deo botium est")? And 
what is the idea of faith involved, if it is nothing but the begin- 
ning of the beginning, a holding the divine revelation to be 
true! Here everything still belongs to the media-'val mode of 
view, which has no capacity for perceiving the personal ex- 
perience, that religion is a relation of person to person. Under 
the influence of the desire, legitimate in itself, that faith shall 
produce tife,z.A\xicX leap is taken by the contemplating mind from. 
' I.e., " per earn po^nitentiain quam ante baptismum agi oportet." 




64 niSTOKV OF DOGMA. [CHAP. II. 

assent to love, after the unhappy distinction has been made 
between "preparation for justification" and "justification 
itself," while " faith in the promise.s " (" fides promissionum ") is 
<]ealt with as an empty phrase. In Chap. VII, "justification 
itself" is now described in quite a Scholastic way. It is — this is 
the first statement made — not only the forgiveness of sins, but 
also sanctification and renewal of the inward man ; nay, that 
Augustine may nut be pronounced too much in the right, there 
is added, "renewal by t'c/««/rtrj/ acceptance of grace "(" reno- 
vatio per voluntariam su.sceptionem grati;E "). But how can a 
man be sanctified otherwise than by the wonderful assurance 
given him of forgiveness of sins ? It is characteristic again of 
genuine Medievalism that beyond thinking of forgiveness as the 
mechanical removal of sin, there is no ability to form any 
thoughts regarding it. But if in the matter of forgiveness 
all depends on its being believed as such, the question of chief 
importance relates to the inward condition and spirit of him 
who believes it. If this question is put, then the form of ex- 
pression "not only forgiveness of sins, but also renewal of the 
inner man " is simply absurd — unless forgiveness of sins be 
viewed as an act that takes place outside human consciousness 
and feeling, and that, certainly, is the presupposition of the 
■Catholic thesis. There now follow the definitions as to the 
""linal, efficient, meritorious, instrumental, and formal causes"' 
■of justification, which have little interest. The only thing of 
importance is that there is described as the "instrumental 
cause," not faith, but (in skilfully chosen words) the Sacrament 
■of Baptism, " which is the Sacrament of the faith without which 
no one has ever come to participate in justification " (" quod est 
sacramentum fidei, sine qua nulli umquam contigit justificatio"). 
This justification then brings it about that we are not only 
regarded as righteous, but are truly described as such, and are 
such, seeing that we receive into ourselves righteousness, "every- 
one according to his measure, which the Holy Spirit apportions 
to individuals as He wills, and according to each one's own dis- 
position and co-operation " (" unusquisque suam secundum men- 
luram, quam spiritus s. partitur singulis prout vult et secundum 

misn finalis, efficiens, meritoria, iriHtni menial is, farnialis." 



I 



propriam cujusque dispositionem et co-operationem "). Here 
we have the complete contradiction of the evangelical conception 
—and even, indeed, a flagrant contradiction of the terms " trans- 
lation into a new standing" ("translatio in novum statum"); for, 
strictly speaking, what is suggested here is not a translation into 
a new standing as a divinely-produced effect, but the being filled 
with righteousness, as if righteousness were a material, this being 
filled, moreover, being first of all gradual and different in the 
case of different individuals, and then determined by the measure 
of one's own disposition and co-operation. Here, therefore, not 
only the doctrine of the "meritum decongruo," but also theanti- 
Thomistic doctrine of the " meritum de congruoante justifica- 
tionem," are, by implication, left open at least. With greater 
precision the "receptio justitiie " is then described as "inherent 
diffusion of the love of God " (" diffasio cantatis dei inha:rens,") 
so that, along with the forgiveness of sins, a man receives as 
infused all these things — namely, faith, love, hope — through 
Jesus Christ, into whom he is engrafted. It is not the term 
" gratia infusa" that leads astray here — one might very well so 
express himself figuratively — but it is the incapacity again to 
get out of faith anything else than assent. Hence the further 
statement is forthwith made that without the addition of hope and 
love faith cannot perfectly unite with Christ But are not 
"faith," "hope," and "love" together what the evangelical 
Christian understands by "faith" alone? Certainly it would be 
possible to understand the Decree accordingly, and on this basis 
to effect a union with the Tridentine view. But the definite 
assertion that now follows — namely, that eternal life is only 
imparted to hope and love, shows that the controversy at 
this point is no dispute about words ; for the placing together 
of " love " and " eternal life " has its ultimate ground in the wish 
to derive eternal life also from man's own deeds, while that life 
is unquestionably given in the faith in forgiveness of sin itself 
and in that alone. 

In the 8th Chapter there is an embarrassed discussion of the 
Pauline principle, that justification is tied to faith and takes 
place gratuitously. Here there is a flat contradiction of the 
apostle, the principle being represented as meaning " that we are 




described as being justified by faith, because faith is the begin- 
ning, foundation, and root of human salvation" ("ut per 
fidem ideo justificari dicaraur, quia fides est humanse salutis 
initium, fundamentum et radix"). That is more than am- 
biguity. Equally lacking in truthfulness is the explanation of 
the "gratis"; for while it is represented here as meaning that 
nothing that precedes justification, neither faith nor works. 
merits the grace of justification, yet, according to what has been 
stated in Chap. V., that foregoing preparation .is absolutely neces- 
sary that justification may be obtained. At the close of this 
first section there now follows (Chap. IX.) the polemic against 
the empty " fiducia " of the heretics, the formulating of which 
gave the largest amount of trouble to the Fathers. Help was 
sought for in the end by transforming the opposing doctrine into 
a fictitious object of dread. Although one must believe that 
sins are, for Christ's sake, gratuitously forgiven by the divine 
mercy, "yet it must be said that to no one boasting o{ his trust 
and his Eissurance of the remission of his sins, and easily res ting \n 
that alone, are, or have been, his sins forgiven "(" tamen neraini 
fiduciam et certitudinem remissionis peccatorum suorumy(7c;«K// 
et in ea sola quiescenti peccata dimitti vel dimissa esse dicendum 
est").^ What the real aim of this self-evident statement is only 
appears from what follows. Here it is affirmed that certainty 
regarding one's own justification does not necessarily belong to | 
justification, that it is not needful that one should firmly believe J 
in the forgiveness of his sins in order to be really freed from his 
sins, and that it is an error to assume that forgiveness of sins 
and justification are effected only in faith ("as if anyone not 
believing this must have doubt about the promises of God, and 
about the efficacy of the death and resurrection of Christ " ^ ), 
In order that these propositions, which rob true faith of all I 
meaning — faith means simply nothing else than being, or having I 
the wish to be, a member of the Catholic Church — may not I 

>Also theaddidon, "cum apud hcereticos et schismalicoa 
[empestate til, et magna, contra, ecclesiam Calholi 



^"Qiiasi qui hoc non credit, de dei 
Christi efficacia dubitet." 



prsdicatuT vi 

el resurrectionis \ 



CHAP. II.] CODIFICATION OF MEDI^^VAL UOCTRIKES. 

appear too startling, there is added to them the proof, suggestive 
either of want of candour or want of understanding, that when 
man thinks of his weakness he must always continue to fear 
whether he has received grace, as if that had ever been denied 
by any serious-minded Christian, while undoubtedly the con- 
clusion drawn, that certainty of salvation is impossible, is entirely 
incompetent! 

The 2nd section treats of the " increase of justification " 
(" incrementum justification is.") Here it is taught (Chap. X.) 
that the justified are renewed from day to day by observing the 
commandments of God and of the Church, and that accordingly 
"' they grow in righteousness, _/'(«VA co-operating with good works, 
and are in a greater degree justified " (" in ipsa justitia cooperante 
fide bonis operibus crescunt atque magis justificantur'") Justi- 
fication, then, is here conceived of in its progress (not justifica- 
tion itself) as a process resting upon grace, faith, and good 
works. With regard to good works it is taught (Chap, XI.) that 
even the justified man is placed under the law of command- 
ments, and that these commandments are by no means incapable 
of being fulfilled. In hesitating terms it is affirmed that they 
are easy and sweet rather, because they can be fulfilled, or 
because one has to pray with a view to their fulfilment, and God 
gives help for this end. Moreover, the righteous do not cease 
to be righteous when they fall into daily sins ; for God does not 
forsake those who are already justified, if they do not forsake 
Him, But this view can give rest to no tender conscience, if it 
be the case that the maintenance of justification must be 
dependent in some way on one's own action. The Decree 
expressly observes that one must not rely on faith alone, but on 
faitb and the keeping of the commandments (observatio man- 
datorum), even though the latter be interrupted by small sins. 
In order, however, to conceal the laxness of this rule, a ^eru^uo-iy 
eh iiKko ycfof is employed, and the proposition is constructed 
thus : — " Therefore no one ought to flatter himself on the ground 
of faith alone, thinking that by faith alone he is made an heir 
and shall obtain the inheritance, even though he does not suffer 
■with Christ, that he may also be glorified with Him " (" Itaque 
nemo sibi in sola fideblandiri debet, putans fide solase heredem 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. II. 

esse constitutum hereditatemque consecuturum, etiatnsi Christo 
nort compatiatur, ut et conglorificetur'") To this it is added, that 
it is contrary to the teaching of the orthodox religion to say 
that the righteous cannot do a single good work that is not im- 
perfect ; still less can the assertion be tolerated, that all works 
deserve eternal penalty, and that there must be no looking at 
all to the eternal reward. In this last cautious turn the notion 
of desert, without the term describing it, is introduced. It was 
necessary for the Fathers to move here very warily, if they were 
to put matters right with all parties. In the I2th and 13th 
Chapters it is then taught, that, although justification grows, no 
one is entitled to become assured of his election and of the 
"gift of perseverance" (" donum perse ve ran t i te ") "except by 
special revelation" ("nisi ex speciali revelatione "). Yet here 
again, in Chapter XIII., there is an ambiguity, since only " the 
being assured with an absolute certainty" (" certum esse absoluta 
certituditie") is forbidden, while it is elsewhere said that one 
must base the surest hope on the " help of God " (" in dei 
auxilio," so not on grace), and since the Pauline sentence is 
suddenly woven in, that God works the willing and the perform- 
ing. Yet " labours, watchings, almsgiving, prayers, offerings, 
fastings, chastity" (" labores, vigilia;, eleemosynte, orationes, 
oblationes, jejunia, castitas") are requisite, for we are not yet 
regenerated " in glory " (" in gloria ") but " unto the hope of 
glory" ("in spem glorise "). Accordingly the whole penance 
system is recommended, that there may be progress in assur- 
ance. However noteworthy it is that all external legality and 
merit are here left out of consideration, still the fundamental 
view is retained, that eternal life and the assurance of justifica- 
tion are dependent also on good works, which, however, on the 
other hand, are to be regarded as the victorious struggle of the 
spirit with the flesh. The uncertainty of the whole conception 
is sufficiently indicated by the threefold view taken of good 
works: they are = " suffering together with Christ" (" compati 
Christo ") = " keeping the commandments of God " ("observatio 
mandatorum dei " ; in this sense meritorious, though that is not 
expressly said) and = " contending with the flesh, the world, and 
the devil " (" pugna cum carne, mundo et diabolo "). 




A 



CHAP. II.] CODIFICATION OF MEDI/EVAL DOCTRINES. 

In the last section the restoration of justification when it has 
been lost is dealt with. The restoration is effected {Chap. XIV.) 
by means of the Sacrament of Penance (" second plank after 
shipwreck " [" secunda post naufragium tabula."]) The penance 
of the lapsed must be different from that of the candidate for 
baptism ; the description of It follows the well-known scheme. 
Attritio is not thought of, but it is remarked that the Sacrament 
of Penance does not always, like baptism, cancel the temporal 
penalty, along with cancelling guilt and the eternal penalty ; 
hence satisfactions are needed. But it is not the case, as the 
opponents think, that justification come.s to be lost only through 
unbelief; it is lost rather through every mortal sin (Chap. XV.); 
nay, it can be lost through such sin, while faith continues to 
exist In no way could the inferior conception of faith enter- 
tained here be more plainly expressed. It is only here that the 
Decree now begins to speak explicitly (ex professo) of merit 
(Chap. XVI.), and it is roundly asserted that eternal life is at 
the same time fulfilment of the promise and reward, inasmuch 
as ultimately all depends only on "good works" ("bene 
operari ") : " and so to those -^ho perform good works on to the 
end, and who hope in God, there is to be offered eternal life, 
both as grace mercifully promised to the sons of God througli 
Christ Jesus, and as a reward to be faithfully rendered, in terms 
of the promise of God Himself, to their good works and 
merits" ^ But in order to remove from this view the appearance 
of self-righteousness, there follows a highly- pitched explanation 
which is Augustinian, and even goes beyond Augustine. " For 
since Christ Jesus continually pours virtue into the branches, a 
virtue which always precedes, accompanies, and follows their 
good works, and without which their good works could on no 
account be well-pleasing and meritorious before God, it must be 
believed that nothing further is lacking to the justified in order 
to its being held that by their good deeds, which are wrought in 
God, they have fully satisfied the divine law as regards their 

' " Atque ideo bene operantibus usque in linem et in deo sperantibus proponends 
csl vita Externa, el: Umqua,ni gratia Gitis dei per Chrislum Jesum misericorditei pro- 
missa, et lamquam merces ex ipsius dei promissione bonis ipsonira operibus ei 
mcrilis fideliter rcddendi." 



70 




HISTORV OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. IL 



state in this life, and have truly merited also the attainment of 
life eternal in its time, provided only they depart this life in 
grace . . . thus neither is our own righteousness set down as of 
our own origination, nor is the righteousness of God ignored or 
repudiated. For the righteousness that is called our own, 
because we are justified through its inhering in us, is at the 
same time the righteousness of God, because it is infused into 
us by God through the merit of Christ Nor must it be kept 
out of view that although in Holy Scripture there is so much 
attributed to good works that even to him who shall give to one 
of the least of His a cup of cold water, Christ promises that he 
shall not lose his reward . . . yet there must be no thought 
whatever of a Christian man's confiding or glorying in himself 
and not in the Lord, whose goodness toward all men is so great, 
that He wills that what are His gifts should be their merits."' 
If we might understand the Decree as meaning that all that it 
says of Justification is to be taken as relating to approval in the 
last judgment, or if we might introduce the evangelical notion 
of faith where it speaks of " faith " and " good works," we could 
very well make it the basis of conference with the Catholics. 
The correct interpretation of it, however, is that which lies not 
in the direction of Protestantism, but in the direction of the 
prevailing use and wont of the Roman Church, as is proved by 
the propositions regarding the " disposing of one's self for grace " 



1 "Cum enim ille ipse Christus Jesus lamquam caput in membra el lamquam vitts 
in palmites, in ipsos justificalos jugiter virtutem iniluat, quae virtus bona eorum operB i 
semper anteceilil, comitatur eC sabsequitur, et sine qua nuUn facto deo grata et { 
meritoTia esse possent, nihil ipsis justificatis Hmpliua deesse ciedendiim est, quon ~ 
plene illjs quidem operibus, qus in deo sunt Tacta, divine tegi pro hujus vitse statu 
sitisrecisse el vilam Leteinam suo etiam letnpore. si tamen in gratia decesserint, con- 
sequendam verc promcruisse censeantui . . . ita nequc propria nostra justitia ti 
quam ex nobis propria statuitur, neque ignoratur aut repudiatur justitia dei. Qua ] 
enim juslilia nnstra dicilur, quia per earn nobis inh^erentum justiRcamui, ilia ei 
dei esl, quia a deo nobis iofunditur per Chhsti meritum. Neqae vero illud omitlen- 
dum est. quod licet bonis operibus in sacria litteria usque adeo tribualur, ut elian 
uni e\ iDinimis suis potum aquie frigida: dederit, promittat Cbristus eum non ess 
mercede caritnrum . . . absit tamen, ut Chtistianus homo in se ipso vel confidat vel ' 
glorietur et non in domino, cujus taitla est erga omnes homines bonitas, ut ei 
velit esse merita, quas sunt ipsius dona. " 



CHAP, 11.] CODIFICAjrON OF MEDI/EVAL DOCTRINES. 71 

("se disponere ad gratiam ") and the thirty-three appended 
anathematisms,' 

The Decrees had the effect of binding the Catholic Church to 
the soi! of the Middle Age.s and of Scholasticism, and, at the 
yame time, of fencing it off from Protestantism ; but as the 
formulations adopted were ambiguous in all the questions to 
whicii the Church itself cannot wish an unmistakable answer, 
the necessary freedom of development was preserved in spite of 
the huge burden of dogmatic material. To this there was 
added, that the important doctrines about the Church and 
about the Pope were not touched — through stress of circum- 
stances they had to be left aside ; but this corrtpulsory reticence 
proved in subsequent times to be extremely favourable to the 
papacy. The medieval Church went forth from the Council of 
Trent as still substantially the ancient Church. It still included 
within it the great discords between world-renunciation and 
world-dominion, Sacrament and morality, and precisely through 
these'discords it asserted that elasticity and many-sided net-s 
which admitted of its holding within it such Cardinals as 
Richelieu and Borromeo, and enabled it to retain in connection 
with itself all obedient spirits. Its view was still so much 
directed in the last resort to the world beyond, that for it the 

I Of these anathematisma the first thiee are aimed at Felagianiam and Semi- 
Pelagian ism, as is also (he Zand. The remaining ag all direct themselves, and that 
loo with the greatest keenness, against Protestantism. What is most characteristic is 
the rejeclion of the following propositions : — " Opera omnia, qure antejustificationem 
fiunt, quacumque lalione facta sint, vereesse peccatavel odium dei mereri, autquantO 
vchementins quis nititur se disponere ad gratiam, tanto eum gravius peccarc" (7). 
" Gehenna: melum, per queni ad misericardiam dei de peccatis dolendo confugimus 
vel a peccato abslinemus, peccalum esse " (3). " Homines justificari vel sola impii- 
latione justJtiEB Christi vel sola peccatorum remissione exdusa giatia et caritate, qua; 
in cordibus eorum per spiritum sanctum diffundatur atque illis inh:creal, aut eliam 
gratiam, qua justificanur, esse tantum favorem dei" (11). " Fidem justificantem 
nihil aliad esse quara fidadam divin^e miserlcordiie peccata remittendis projjttr 
Christum, vel earn fiduciam siilam esse, qua justiRcamur " (12). " Hominein a 
peccatis absolvi ac justificari ex eo quod se absolvi ae justilicari certo credat, aul 
neminem vete esse justiScatum nisi qui credat se esse justificatum, et hac 
sola fide absolutionem et juslificationem perfici" {14). "Nihil prieceptum esse 
in evauRelio pncter fidem" (19). " Hominem justiticatum teneri tanlum 
ad ercdendum, quasi vero evnngelium sit nuda et absolula promissio vila: 
ietemK sine condiiione obseivalionis raandatorum " (20). " Justitiam acceptnm 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. II. 

enthusiast, wearing away his life in voluntary poverty, was the 
greatest saint : but at the same time it preached to men, that 
all its ideals lay hid in the visible ecclesiastical institution, and 
that obedience to the Church was the highest virtue. It had 
still no other thought than that beliei'mg is equivalent to " being 
Catholic," and consists in the willingness to hold as true (or, 
the willingness not to meddle with) incomprehensible doctrines. 
The restlessness that still remained here it sought partly to 
soothe away, partly to stimulate, by mean.s of the Sacraments, 
the indulgences, the Church service, and the ecclesiastical 
directions for mystico- monastic discipline. 



(2) The Main Features of tlu Dogmatic Develofitnent in Catholic- 
ism during the period between 1563 and 1870, as preparing 
the way for the Decrees of the Vatican. 

During the three centuries between the Council of Trent and 
the Council of the Vatican three great controversies stirred the 
Catholic Schools, and even became extremely dangerous to the 
whole Church. At Trent the opposing positions in which they 
took their rise were concealed ; just for that reason a discussion 

non canservari atque etjam non augeTJ corn.in deo pei buna opera, sed opera ipsa 
fructus solumTDodo el signa esse justificalionis adeptte, non aulem ipsius augendse 
causam " (24). " In quolibet bono opere justum sultem venialiler peccare nut raor- 
taliter, atque ideo piEnas a^ternas mereri tantumque ob id non damnari, quia deus e* 
opera non imputel ad damnalionem " <2S). " Jnstos non debere pro lionis operibos 
eispectare et speraie ^ternam retribulionem " (l6). " Nullum esse morlale pecca^ 
turn nisi infidelkatis " (27). " Sola lide amissam justiliam recuperari sine sacrameato 
psenitentise " (29). " Justificaluni peccare, dutn intuitu screrns mercedis bene 
operatur" (31). The Canones conclude with the words, " Si quis dixerit, per hanc 
doctrinam (seil. by this Decree) aliqua es parte gloriie dei vel meritis Jesu Cbristi 
demgari et non putius veritatem fidei nostne, dei denique ac Christi Jesa gloriaia 
lUustrari, anathema sit." It cannot be denied thai lo some extent the piopositioiis 
of Protestantism, which are condemned in the Canons, undei^o adjustment ; on the 
other hajid, raany weak points in the Protestant dectriae are hit npon ; but certainly 
the clearest impression we receive is that the Tridentine Fathers bad no understand- 
ing whatever of what Luther meant by the righteousness of God, faith, and the for- 
giveness of sins. He bore witness of the religion which had opened to his view in 
the gospel, and which governed and blessed hira as an indivisible power ; they sought 
to do justice at once to many points of view, religion, morality, the Sacrament, and 
the Church. 




CHAP. II.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1 563 TO 187O. 



73 



of them in the times that followed was inevitable. There was 
(i) the controversy between Curialism and Episcopalism, which 
parted into two questions, (d) ivhether the bishops had indepen- 
dent, divine rights apart from the Pope (and, in the Council, 
rights superior to the Pope), {b) whether tradition was to be 
understood in the sense of Vincentius of Lerinum, or whether 
the Pope was to be held as determining what is to be regarded 
as tradition ; (2) the controversy between Augustinianism and 
the Jesuitic (Scotistic) Pelagianism ; (3) the controversy re- 
garding Probabilism. These three controversies had the closest 
inward connection with each other ; at bottom they formed a 
unity, and on that account also the Vatican Council decided all 
three at one stroke. The party distinguished by its Curialistic, 
Pelagian, and Probabilistic, tendency proved the victor. 

(i) {a) The original Curialistic outline of the position of the 
Pope in the Church, which made the Pope the lord of the 
Church, and declared the bishops assistants, whom Christ's 
governor adopts " for purposes of oversight " (" in partem 
sollicitudinis ") could not be established at Trent. The recol- 
lections of the Council of Constance were, in spite of the Bull 
of Leo X. " Pastor £eternus," still too vivid. But neither could 
the contrary doctrine, that the Council stood above the Pope, 
and that every bishop, as a successor of the Apostles, had his 
power from Christ, be raised to a dogma. The sharply-opposed 
theses, "the Pope is the bishop, the universal bishop, the 
governor for Christ," and "the bishops have their power origni- 
ally from Christ, so that the Pope is only primus inter pares, 
representative of the unity of the Church, and custodian of its 
external order and uniformity," could in no way be reconciled. 
Hence the decision of this question at Trent had to be delayed. 
But owing to small observations interspersed throughout the 
text of the Tridentine decisions, and owing especially to the 
prominence given to the "ecclesia Romana,"^ a bias was 
already given to the question in favour of the Curialists, 
But what was bound to have an incomparably greater effect 
was that the Council, hurrying in a precipitate way to a close, 

' See also Sess. 6 de reform c. 1, where the Pope \i, sLyled " Ipsius de 




HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. II. 

not only left entirely in the hands of the Pope the confirmation 
of its Decrees and the adoption of measures for carrying them 
out, but even quietly accepted the Bull in which the Pope 
reserved the exposition of the Decrees exclusively to himself.^ 

The " Professio," which appeared immediately thereafter, 
mislcadingly styled the " Professio Fidei Tridentinae," set the 
seal to this modification of the Tridentine Decrees, in so far as 
it included obedience to the Pope within " faith " itself.* The 
way in which Rome manipulated the Professio from that time 
fohward, and by means of it brought all bishops under subjec- 
tion to itself, was a master-strolie of Curialistic politics. The 
Catechismus Romanus also, which the Pope took occasion from 
the Council to order and approve, was favourable to Curialism, 
although on the ground of its Thomistic doctrine of grace it 
was inconvenient to the Jesuits, who, on that account, attempted 
indeed to contest its authority.* Yet, leaving out of viewi 
isolated steps that were taken in all Catholic countries, therCj 

iSeeKdUner, l.c.pp. ri6ff. 

"See Kbllner, I.e., pp. 141-165. Tl 
fiiith ( I), run thus : " Sanctam catholjcam 
ecclcaiarum malrera et magistram ailgno: 
lolorum principis successori ac Jesu Chi 



e words of the Professio, 

et apostolicam Romanam ecclesiam 

CO, Rottianoque Ponlifici, beati Petri apos- 

isti vicaiio, veiam obedientiain spondeo ac. 



^ See Kiillner, i.e., pp. 166-190. On the atlaclis of ihe Jesuits on the Catechismf 
see p. 188, and Kocher, Katech.-Gcsch., pp. 127 ff, ; they sought to show, not merelr' 
Ihat it was partisan, but thit it was heretical also. The result of the attacks hft« 
been that the Catechism has been forced into the background in more recent limeg . 
The sections of it bearing upon the Church are strictly Thomistic. and thcreTow 
favourable to papal autocracy. Thus, in P. I., c. lo, q. 10, the unity of the Chnrcflj 
is proved from Ephes. IV. 5, and then it is further said : " Unus est etiam ejus rector, 
ae gubenia.tor, invisibilis quidem Chiistus, quern Kternus pater dedit caput saptt 
omnem ecclesiam, qure eat corpus ejus ; visibiUs autem is, qui Romanam cathedram, , 
Petri aposlolorum principis legilimus successor, tenet." It would have been impos- 
sible to secure general recognition of a. proposition of this kind at Tient. In Q. 11. 
there then follows a wocdy statement about the Pope, in which he is not described at^ 
represenlatiue of the unity of the Church and as its aulviard guide, but rather; 
" necessarium futl hoc visibile caput ad unitatem ecclesiam comtiltiendam 
dam." A still further step is represented by the words : *' Ut Chiisti 
singulorum sacrameotonim nou solum auctorem, sed intimum etiam 
habemus — nam ipse est, qui baptizat et qui absolvit, 



hominem s 






I is homines socia. 
sia?, quam ipse intimo spiritu regit, 
pifefccit ; nam cum visibilis ecclcsia 



^ 



A 



CHAP. II.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1 563 TO 1870. 75 

arose in France a powerful movenrient against Curialism, quite 
independent of Jansenism. France, indeed, never fully recog- 
nised the Tridentinum in a formal way, although in point of 
fact the Tridentine system of doctrine asserted itself among the 
clergy, and even among the Church authorities. From the end 
of the sixteenth century (Henry IV.), but, above ali, during the 
reign of Louis XIV., the Church of France, in its most impor- 
tant representatives (Bos suet), went back with decision to 
" Gallicanism." Yet the po.sitive programme was far from being 
clear. Some were opponents of Curialism in the interest of the 
unlimited power of their king, others in the interest of their 
nation, others, again, from their being E pis copal ists. But what 
did Episcopalism aim at? It had no greater clearness about 
itself in the seventeenth century than in the fifteenth. There 
was the admission that there belonged to the Pope a supremacy 
of rank ("suprematus ordinis "), but there was no common 
agreement as to whether this " suprematus " meant only the 
first place inter pares, or whether real prerogatives were con- 
nected with it. If there was a deciding for the latter, it was 
doubtful, again, whether these prerogatives were equivalent to a 
"cura ecclesia: universalis" committed to the Pope. If this was 
certain, the questions had again to be asked, whether he could 
exercise this cura only while consulting and co-operating with 
all the bishops, and what measures were to be adopted with the 
view of guarding the bishops against papal encroachments. 
The fixed point in the Episcopalist theory was simply this, that 
the bishops were not appointed by the Pope, that they were 
therefore not delegates and representatives of the Pope, but 
ruled their dioceses independently "jure divino," that the Pope 
consequently could exercise no direct power of jurisdiction in 
their dioceses. But how that could be united with the " supre- 
matus ordinis " of the Pope remained vague. It was clear also 
that an autocratic power of the Pope (infallibility, univer.sal 
episcopy) was rejected, and that the Council was regarded as 
superior to the Pope ; yet there was a vagueness as to the 
meaning to be attached to the position that was admitted, that 
the Pope stands at the head of the Council. These difficulties, 
however, finally issued in somewhat definite formulse, namely, 



y 



76 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. n. 



in the four Propositions of the Galilean Church (1862), '^ which 
have more of a Church-and-State than an Episcopalist char- 
acter : (i) In temporal matters the princes are subject to no 
ecclesiastical power, and can be neither directly nor indirectly 
deposed ; no power over temporal and civil affairs has been 
committed by God to the successors of Peter. (3} The Pope 
possesses, certainly, the " full power in spiritual things " (" plei 
potestas spiritLialium rerum "), yet in such a way "that the I 
decrees of the sacred tecumenical Synod of Constance regarding I 
the authority of general Councils are at the same time valid I 
and remain undisturbed" ;^ the Galilean Church disapproves of I 
those " who impair the force of those decrees, as if they were of 
doubtful authority and were less fully ratified, or who twist 
them into being merely deliverances of a Council for a time of 
schism."^ (3) The Pope, in the exercise of his power, is bound 
by the Canons, and must also have respect to the rules, customs 
and arrangements adopted in France. (4) The Pope has, no 
doubt, the highest authority {? partes) in matters of faith, and 
his decrees apply to all Churches and every Church in particular ; 

' See Collect. Lacensis I., p. 793. An. " Galliitanische Freiheilen " in Wetaer 
unil Welte's Kirchenlex, and ed. V., p. 66 ff. A century earlier Pithou(i594) gave 
an account of the liberties of the French Church, and already laid down the two funda- 
mental rules, that the Pope (1) has no voice in France in regard to civil and temporal 
matters, and that (2) in spiritual matters he is bound by the decisions of the Councils, 
and therefore by those of Constance also. These ideas were brought, as an ecclesi- 
astico- political programme, before King Henry IV., when he ascended the lliroae, < 
with the view of inaugurating Slate-Catholicism. See Mejer, Febronius (iSSo), p. 30)4 
" Under the protection of the Bourbons, who made the Gallican theory their own, r 
there flourished throughout the whole of Romanic Europe a rich literature in sappoit 'I 
of it : Peter de Marca, Thomassin, Bossuel, are names that will not be forgottea so I 
loi^ as there is a jurisprudence of ecclesiastical law. The scientific method of tliic '\ 
Gallican Episcopidism differs from that of the fifteenth century especially in 
things — first, in its deriving its proof from the history of law, a mode of proof that 1 
originated in France with the Hamanistic jurisprudence of Cujacius, and set itself to 
describe the Church constilnlion of the first centuries with the view of declaring the 
Inter constitution an abuse ; secondly, in this, that in connection therewith, and also \ 
with the traditional French practice, it vindicated for the French King somewhat tha ! 
same ruling ecclesiastical power as the Roman Emperor possessed according to the \ 
Justinian books of laws." 

* " Ut siniul valeant atque immola consistant S. GCcunienicie Synodi ConstantiensiB ' 
decreta de auctoritate conciliorum generalium." 

' " Qui eorum decretorum, quasi dubiie sint auctoritatis ac minus approbata, robur 
infringant, aut ad solum schismatis tempus concilii dicta detorqueant. " 




CHAP. ir.J CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1563 TO 1S70. 77 

" slill, his decision is not incapable of reform, unless the assent of 
the Church has been added."^ 

These propositions were rejected, first by Innocent X., then 
by Alexander VIII., as entirely worthless and invalid.^ Yet 
that would have been of little avail had not the all-powerful 
king, hemmed in by Jansenists and Jesuits, and ever and anon 
distressed about his soul's salvation, himself abandoned them. 
He very really betrayed himself and the Church of his country 
to the Pope, without formally withdrawing the four articles. 
In point of fact these rather remained in force during the 
eighteenth century, that is, the French clergy were for the most 
jiart trained in them, and thought and acted in accordance with 
them. But as the eighteenth century was passing into the 
nineteenth, a second monarch completed the betrayal 
of the French Church to the Pope — the same monarch who 
formally recognised the Gallican Articles and raised them to 
the place of a State-law — Napoleon I. The way in which the 
French Church and the French Church-order, really degraded 
already by the Revolution,^ was, zuith t/ie conse?it of the Pope, 
completely demolished by Napoleon, so that, with a disregard 
of all traditional order and right, he might reconstruct this 
Church in league ivith the Pope (Concordat of 1801), was an 
abandonment of the French Church to Curialism. This was 
not certainly Napoleon's idea. What he wished was to be 
master of the Church of his country, and the Pope, whom he 
had in his grasp, was, as high priest, to be his useful instrument. 
But he had not considered that Western Catholicism no longer 
allows any secular ruler to be forced upon it, and he had re- 
garded his own political power as invincible. Of his original 
intentions, therefore, nothing was realised, save the reducing to 
ruins of the old, relatively independent, French Episcopal 
Church. He thus laid the foundation of the French Ultramon- 

1 " Nee tamiii irrefennabilc cue Judkiain, niyi eidesia consemus accenerit." 

'-' See the strong coademtiatioD in Denzinger, Lc, p. 239 f. 

' Tha.t this degradation, and the reconstructian by means of the Civil ConstiCudon 
given to the clergy, were already favourable to the future Curialistic development of 
Catholicism has been recently shown by Ltnz in an able essay on tlie Catholic 
Church and the French Revolution (in the JonrnHl Cosmopolis, 1st year, 2nd 
numbi;t). 




HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CIIAP. IL 

tane Church (without knowing or intending it, the Assembly 
of 1789, in drawing up the Constitution, had prepared the way 
for this), and after the tyrant had been overthrown, Pius VII. 
knew very well what thanks he owed him. Romanticism (de 
Maistre, Bonald, Chateaubriand, Lacordaire, etc.) and the 
Restoration, in conjunction with the Jesuits, completed the 
work ; nay, even agitations for political freedom had to fall to 
the advantage of the Curia.' But, above all, the writings of de 
Maistre (" On the Pope "), in which the Catholic spirit of the 
Middle Ages, the spirit of St. Thomas, learned to speak in new 
tongues (even in the language of Voltaire and Rousseau), con- 
tributed to bury out of view Gallicanism and Episcopallsm. 
The great Savoyard, who introduced the Ultramontane 
" aper^u " into the writing of history, became the instructor of 
Gorres ; but he found a follower also in that boldest of all 
publicists, L. Veuillot, who understood how to recommend to 
the French clergy and their following as divine truths even the 
most audacious paradoxes. At the present day France, even 
Republican France, is the main support of Catholicism, of the 
Catholic propaganda and of Ultramontanism ; the French have 
become the Normans of the modern papacy.- 

In Germany the Episcopalist agitations were of little account 
till the middle of the eighteenth century. But at that time 
they broke out most powerfully in the work of the Suffragan 
Bishop, Nicolas von Hontheim (Febronii de statu ecclesi^ et 
legitima potestate Romani Pontificis, 1763). Different lines 

' Yet see the firm rejection of the positions of Lammennais by Gregory XVI. in 
ihe years 1832 and 1834 (Denzinger, I.e., p. 310 f.). Indifferentism and the demand | 
for freedom of conscience are iiere placed upon the same level : " Ei hoc putidissi 
indifferenlismi fonle ahsurda ilia fluit ac enonea sententia seu polius deliramoitum, . 
asserendam esse ac vindicandam cuilibet libertatem conscientire. Cui quidem pesti- 
lentissimo errori viam slemit plena ilia atque immoderata libertas opinionnio, q 
in sacrfe et dvilis rei labem late grassatur, dictitantibus per summam impndentiain J 
nonnullis, aliquid ex ea commodi in religionem promanare." 

^On the development of the French National Church into an Ultramontane Church, I 
see Mejer, Zur Gesch. der riimisch-deutschen Frage, Vol. I.; Friedrich, Oesch. de> I 
vatilt. Concils, Vol I.; Nielsen, Die Rom. K. im 19. Jahrh. Vol. I. (German, bf ' 
Nichelsen) ; the same author, Aus dem innerem Lcben der Kalhol. Kirche im 15 ' 
Jahrh., Vol. I. ; Nippold, Haxidbuch der nenesten K.-Gesch. 3rd ed.. Vols. 1 
and II. 




CHAP. 11.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1563 TO lS;o. 

converge in this boolt : Gallicanism, the natural-right theories 
regarding the State which had originated with Hugo Grotius 
(and the Roman-law theories regarding the emperor or the 
sovereign), the Dutch Humanism. Hontheim had studied at 
Louvain. The teachers there, who were under the influence of 
Van Espen, had taught him that Catholic and Papist were not 
the same thing, and that the actually existing state of papacy 
in Germany could not cancel the original order of things, which 
was involved in the divinely ordained Episcopal office on the 
one hand, and in the natural rights of the State on the other,' 
The primacy had only a human-historical development ; the 
Church was really represented and led by the Council, to which 
the Pope is subject. This state of things, which rested on the 
divinely ordained apostolicity and equality of all bishops as 
rulers of the Church, must again be established. In the end 
Hontheim let himself be forced to retract. But his ideas con- 
tinued to have influence, though not exactly in the direction he 
had intended. He was more a Galilean and an Episcopalist 
than a representative of the natural right of the State, which, in 
the eighteenth century, was becoming modified into the absolute 
right of the prince. But the ecclesiastical Electors who adopted 
his thoughts were interested in them primarily as sovereigns, 
only in a secondary way as bishops. This turn of things was 
disastrous. The Ems Punctation (1786),* the occasion of which 
was the grievance about the Nuncios, could not hold out any 
promise to the emperor and the sovereigns, who did not wish 
an independent Episcopal church, but a State Church in the 
strictest sense of the term. The opposition, hitherto concealed, 
between Episcopalism and State Churchism necessarily came to 
be al! the more strongly expressed, from the great bishops 
themselves, in their own interest, passing over to adopt the 
State Church thoughts. Owing to this opposition, and also to 
the divided state of Germany and the rivalry between Prussia 
and Austria, what was undertaken at Ems very rapidly proved 
a failure. Never, certainly, since the days of Constance and 



tSeeMejer,l.c,p. 20 f. ; cf. also, H. Schraid, Gi 
>. d Mine des 18 Jahrh. I., p. i ff. 
' On ihis, see Kollner, I.e. I., p. 430 ff.; Schmid, 



:Ii. der Kalhol. K. Deutschlands 
I-, p. IS ff. 




80 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. U. i 

B^le, was the sovereignty of the bishops and the unimportant 
position of the Pope more boldly formulated within Catholicism 
than by the German bishops at Ems a hundred years ago. But 
it was a childish illusion of the " philosophical " age to imagine 
that a structure like that of the papacy could be overthrown by 
decrees like those of Ems, and it was a vast deception to believe 
that Roman Catholicism was really weary of life, and had given 
final proof of its weakness by being forced to suppress the 
Jesuits. In the storm of the Revolution it became apparent 
that the old lion still lived, and in their alarm the princes then 
hastened to impart to it on their side still more vigour. The col- 
lapseof the Imperial Church, with which the State Church of Joseph 
II. alsodisappeared,' was a fortunate occurrence for Rome. How 
t lie Curia succeeded in suppressing what remained of Episcopalist 
and State Church thought in Germany, in constructing the 
Church anew by means of concordats, and in gradually training 
for itself an Ultramontane Episcopate and an Ultramontane 
-clergy, after the National Church tradition had, as in France, 
been abolished ; how in this work there co-operated not only the 
Jesuits, but above all the princes, the Romanticists, and the un- 
suspecting Liberals — has been fully narrated quite recently.' 
The Vatican Decrees were the culmination of this development.* 
(i) {b) Their opposition to the Protestant principle of Scrip- 
ture, and the Impossibility of really furnishing traditional proof 

iCf. K. Muiler in Herzog's R.-E., 2Qded., Art. " Josefinismus "; on the Synod i 
of Pistoja undei the direction of Ricci, see in the same work the article by Benralh. 
Against the adviser of Joseph II,, the Canonist Eybel, who hud made amost startling J 
impression with his book, " Was ist der Papst," see the Breve of Pius VI., " Supet I 
solidale" (Denzinger, l.c, p. 273). 

> See the accounts by Mejer, Scbmid, Nielsen, Friedrich, Nippold. We also pos- J 
scss excellent accounts of the history of the Catholic Church of the nineteenth c 
tury in separate German countries. Future hisloiians will compare the advance of 1 
Romaiiism in our century with that in the eleventh century ; it is more powerhil at 
any rale than that of the Counter- Reformation. See also Hase, Polemik, 3rd ed., 
isl Book. 

3 How little ability there was even in the year 1S44 to forecast on the Protestant 1 
ade the development of the papal system into thedoctrbeofinfellibilily is shown by I 
a. remark of Kijllner (I.e., p. 426), whose " Symbolik" cannot be charged with failiiM ' j 
to do justice to the Roman Church. "Quite unecclesiastical, and su^estive only of flje J 
fanaticism of particular Jesuits, is the view of the Pope in the Confessio Hungarica. 1 
Evangelis proposita. '. . . Papam caput esse ecclesiiCBefffTafe/orre.' " 




CHAl'. H.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1563 TO 1870. 81 

fur many doctrines and usages, led the Catholic theologians in 
the period that followed (i) to subordinate Scripture in an ever 
increasing degree to tradition, (2) to utilise more fully the dis- 
tinction drawn by the Tridentirium between two kinds of 
tradition (see above), as a distinction giving a title to regard 
some traditions as subject to no higher standard.^ As regards 
the first point, Jesuits in particular had done so much with their 
Rabbinic art in the way of planing all round the dogma of 
inspiration, and had produced so many different views of that 
dogma, that in the end almost nothing remained of it. Perrone, 
who enumerates all these forms in his dogmatic, mentions also 
the last, according to which inspiration does not imply a 
miraculous origination of Scripture, but is to be held as only 
meaning that the Holy Ghost has subsequently (in the Church) 
borne witness to the inerrancy of Scripture.^ Yet this theory, 
maintained by the Jesuits Lessius and Hamel (1586), did not 
succeed certainly in establishing itself; nay, the Vaticanum 
rejected it by declaring (Constit. de fide c. 2): "But the Church 
holds those books as sacred and canonical, not because, hating 
been composed by human industry alone, they were then 
authenticated by its authority, nor only because they contain 
revelation free from error, but because, being written under the 
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God for their author, 
and have been handed down as such to the Church itself."^ 
This formulation still leaves room certainly for a lax view of 
inspiration (" assistentia positiva"); but on the other hand, it 

' Cf. Holtzmann, Kanon und Tradilian, 1859. J. Delilzsch, Lehrsystem d. riim. 
K., I., p. 29S ff- Haae, I.e., pp. 63 ff. The Professio fidei TridentinEE hadalready 
taken B great step beyond the Tridentinum, inaSTnuch as it substituted the following 
for the Tridentine distinction between the tradiliones h Christo and the traditiones ab 
apostolis : — " Apostolicas et ecdesiasticas traditiones reliquasqueejusdem ecclesix ob- 
servationes et constituliones Gnnissime admillo et anipleetor." There is thus intro- 
duced here an entirely new leiminology, a circumstance to which Holtzmann was the 
first atrongly to direct attention (p. 253). It is only aitet this that mention is Bret 
made in the Professio of Holy Scripture ! 
■I Prelect, theol. Roma: ( 1840-42, Paris, 1842), Chap. II. , p. 1082 sq. 
* " Eo5 libros vero ecclesia pro sacris et canonicis habcl, non ideo, quod sola 
humana. industria concinnati sua deinde nuctoritate sint comprobati, nee ideo dum- 
taxat, quod revelalionein sine enore contineant, sed propteiea quod Spiritu 5. 
inspiranle conscript! deuni faabent auctorem atque ut tales ipsi ecclesia: traditi sunt." 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



is assuredly in the interests of Catholicism, apart from its op- 
position to Protestantism, that all that has been handed down 
as in the strictest form holy should be also preserved by it as 
such. The lax view, as is well known, made it possible that 
there should be the beginnings of an historic criticism of the 
Bible in the seventeenth century (Richard Simon). Yet the 
advantages derived from being able to think of one's self as a 
man of science are so seriously counterbalanced by the draw- 
backs which even the mildest criticism has for the Church, that 
even the most decided traditionalists — who have really no need 
for the Bible at all — prefer to content themselves with the mere 
appearance of Bible criticism.' What came to have much 
lieeper influence than this anti-Protestant mock fight about the 
Bible, was the further shaping of the notion of tradition in the 
post-Tridentine development. This course of formulation came 
to a head in the utterance of the first infallible Pope, the authen- 
ticity of which, so far as I know, has not been called in question 
— "The tradition is I" — after MohleV had in vain sought to 
recAncile the Catholic notion of tradition with history and 
criticism. 

As early as the seventeenth century the controversialists, in 
opposing Chemnitz, who had attacked the Roman "dis- 
putationes dc traditionibus " as " pandects of errors and super- 
stitions," laid special stress on the ecclesiastical traditions. 
As a matter of fact, in the time that followed, the Tridentine 
distinction between "traditiones a Christo" and ■' traditiones 
ab apostolis " almost entirely disappeared^t was handed over 
to the Schools ; on the other hand the distinction of the Pro- 
fessio between "traditiones apostolic^e " and "traditiones 
ecclesiastics " became fundamental. Bcllarmin was still timid in 
turning to account the ecclesiastical traditions; he still sought 
for the mo.st part to reach his point by means of the Tridentine 
definition, and treated the ecclesiastical traditions disparagingly ; 
yet the future principle of tradition, which quite sets itself above 
history, as well as above the Church Fathers, was already for- 1 

' Such an appeaiancB is very easily produced at the present day by letting tllQ a 
tiaditioD abuQt the Bible stand, while there is entwined around il a wieath furnished I 
by readings in Eeyp'o'i^Eyi A&synolt^y, and Greek and Roman literature. 



CHAP. H.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1563 TO 1870. 

mulated with admirable clearness by Cornelius Mussus, formerly 
a member of the Tridentine Council: " For my part, to speak 
frankly, I would have more reliance regarding those things that 
touch the mysteries of faith upon one supreme pontiff than 
upon a thousand Augustines, Jeromes, and Gregories."' There 
belongs to this connection also the remark of the Jesuits, which 
has almost a naive rin<; about it, " the more recent teachers are, 
the clearer they are" ("quo j'uniores, eo perspicaciores esse 
doctores ").^ It was the Jesuits entirely who put an end to the 
old notion of tradition represented by Cyprian and Vincentius, 
and secured a hold for a new one, which for a long time, cer- 
tainly, was really dominant, but is the opposite of the o!d. The 
unqualified deliverance that the Chu rch receives new revelations 
through the Pope was certainly avoided by cautious theologians 
of dogma ;^ yet for such a deliverance there was substituted 
the simple assertion, that "traditio ecclesiastica " is just that 
which the Church (the Pope) has formulated as an article of 
faith. How seriously this was held is apparent from the urgent 
directions, not to be in anxiety about the traditional proof 
(from history) in support of any more recent dogma ; even that 
is certain and original Church doctrine for which no proof can be 
furnished, if it is in force as Church doctrine.* In this connection 
are meant to be estimated the depreciatory judgments on the 
Councils that were pronounced in the seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries by the Jesuits, as also the freedom of the criticism 
applied to the Church Fathers. The Roman Church cannot, of 
course, part with the Councils, as little as with any other article 
of its venerable house-furnishings ; but it has no longer a real 
interest in them, and although during- the course of two centuries 

1 " Ego, ut iDEcnue fntcar, plus uni sutiimo pontiiici ctederem in his, quie fidei my- 
steria Ungunl, quam mille Auguslinis, Hietonymia, Gtegoriis." 
3 Passages tu be found in Holtzmann, p. 267. 

* Yet testimonies could be gathered to show that in authoritative quarters Iheie was 
no hedtalion in making such statements as that this or Ibat bad not yet been levealed 
to the Church. 

* Of course the historical proof is a beautiful adornment, but it is nolhing more ; 
nay, the undertaldng lo prove is even held as not without danger. One who uiidet- 
takes to prove anything is not sure that the proof wiii be perfectly successful, and 
that it will make an impression. 




f 



84 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. II. 

it has called to order more than one Jesuit who has recklessly 
handled the rea/ tradition, it cannot but be pleased when now 
and again it appears that on closer inspection everything in 
history show.s signs of uncertainty and is full of errors and 
forgeries. What have the Jesuits and their friends not taught 
us in this respect for two hundred years ! The letters of 
Cyprian falsified, Eusebius falsified, numberless writings of the 
Church Fathers interpolated, the Constantinopolitan Symbol 
falsified by the Greeks, the Councils convoked contrary to the 
intentions of Rome, the Acts of the Councils falsified, the Decrees 
of the Councils of no account, the most venerable Church 
Fathers full of heterodox views and without authority — only 
one rock in this ocean of error and forgery, tAe chair of Peter, 
and, making itself heard through history, only one sure note 
incapable of being mi.su nderstood, the testimony to the infalli- 
bility of tlu successor of Peter. And yet^the Pope is infallible 
even without this testimony ; the Church itself is the living 
tradition; the Church, however, is the Pope. Nothing changes 
in the Church, although it itself continually changes;^ for when 
any change is made by the Church (the Pope), it receives at 
once a certificate of antiquity, which carries it back to the time 
of the Apostles. The Pope can, at the present day, formulate a 
newdogma, and this was done by him in the year 1854 with regard 
to the immaculate conception of Mary, although one of his pre- 
decessors had declared that "the eternal wisdom had not yet 
disclosed the depths of this mystery to the Church," Much, 
therefore, may still lie hidden in the womb of the future, which 
the eternal wisdom will reveal to the Popes who are to come- 
but according to the terms of the Ultramontane dogmatic, new ' 
revelations do not take place. 

As compared with the conception of tradition that is accepted 
at the present day, how tame the Tridentine Decree regarding 
tradition appears ! It sounds already in our ears like a legend \ 
of the olden time : "that truth and discipline are contained in I 
the Scriptures and in the unv^-ritten traditions which have come 

' See the unguarded saying of Aichbishop Scherr, of Munich, in reply to Dtillinger, 
" Vooknow that there have always been changes in the Church and initsdoeti' 
D Ftiedrich, Tagebuch, and ed., p. 410 f. 



CHAP. II.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1563 TO 1870. 85 

down to us as having been received by the Apostles from Christ's 
own lips, or as being transmitted, as it were, from hand to hand 
by the Apostles themselves, the Holy Spirit having dictated 
them."' But unfortunately it cannot be asserted that this 
principle has gradually developed itself into the principle ac- 
cepted at the present day, for the latter was already in full force 
in the second half of the sixteenth century. It merely did not 
find expression, from the adverse force of circumstances (propter 
angustias temporum). Just on that account no history of the 
Roman conception of tradition from the Council of Trent to the 
Council of the Vatican can be written ; there can only be 
narratives furnished, which indicate the approaching complete 
victory of the revolutionary principle of tradition over the older 
principle.^ In this victory the de-Christianising and secularising 
of the Christian religion in Catholicism became complete. The 
Gnostic principle of tradition (secret apostolic tradition) and 
the " enthusiastic " principle, against which the Old Catholic 
principle was in its day set up, obtained entrance into the 
Church, and established themselves there, under cover of the 
latter. As judged strictly by the standard of the ancient Church 
the doctrine of tradition in force at the present day is heretical, 
because it is Gnostic and enthusiastic.^ But it is no longer 
attached to an elastic fellowship, in which the conflicting factors 
control and correct one another up to a certain point, but to a 
single Italian priest, who possesses the authority, and in part 
also the power, of the old Cssars. He is no longer checked by 
any restriction that arises from the historic nature of the 
Christian religion. Yet, hemmed in as he is by the cordon of 
the sacred college, by the traditions of his chair, and by the 
superstition of the faithful, he can scarcely formulate as a 

I " Vi:rita1em el disci plinani contineri in libcjis Ecriptis et sine scriplis tradilionibus, 
qti:t: all ipsius Christ! ore ab apostolis acceptu; aut a.b ipsis apostolis spirilu e. dictilante 
quasi per manus traiiita; ad nos usque pen^enenlnt. '* 

3 See the sections in Holtzmann, p. 31 T., 52 f., S3 f., 224 f., 231 f., 337 f., 2J0 f., 
260 f., a73t-i 283 f. 

' Hence there is great accuracy in the Articles of Schmalkald, F. III., a. S (p. 321, 
M^ler) : " Quid, quod eliam papatus simpliciter est merus entbusiasmus, tjuu papa 
glorialur, omnia jura'esse in scrinio sui pectoris, etquidquid ipse in ecclesiasua senlit 
et jubet, idspiritum et justum esse, etiamui sup la ct contra scriptnm et vocale verbunt 
aliquid statuat et praecipial." 



86 



HISTORY OK DOGMA. 



[CHAP. II. 

" traditional article of faith," anything that has against it the 
spirit of the thirteenth century or of the Counter-Reformation.' 
(3) In the CatechJsmus Romanu.s, published in 1566 by 
Pius v., the Thomist doctrine of grace, which had found only a 
fragmentary expression at Trent, was very distinctly stated. 
But this statement, so far as it was official, was the last of its 
kind. The Catechismus Romanus represents the grave of a 
doctrine which was maintained in the first half of the sixteenth 
century by the best Catholics, It brought to completion the 
Augustinian reaction, inasmuch as that reaction was not merely 
tolerated, or, for that part, contested, in the Church, but was 
recognised, and contributed very much to the regeneration of 
Catholicism. From that time there arose a struggle against 
Augustine, in which the " Churchmen " par excellence, the 
Jesuits, took the leading part. This struggle was not to cease 
till " the last enemy " lay on the field helpless, though not slain, 
and the worldly practice of the confessional could prescribe to 
dogmatic its law.'' Yet it would be unjust to assert that on the 
one side laxity merely prevailed, on the other side religious 
earnestness. In the ranks of the opponents of the Augustinians 
there were also men of pure Catholic piety, while many of the 
Augustinians struck out on courses which really diverged from 
the Catholic ecclesiasticism. 

The struggle about Augustinianism was waged, not in 
Germany, but on Romanic and Belgian soil. The first stage 
was represented by the names of Bajus and Molina.^ In 

1 In this connection the lellet of advice 15 very interesting whicli Bellarmin addressed 
to the Pope in the year 1602, see D<illinger, Beitrage III., p. 83, Dijlliiiger und 
Reusch, Selbstbiogiaphie des Cardinalsi Bellarmin, p. 260. This great CtuialiKt ven* 
lured — it was in a dogmatic question, no doubt, which concerned him very closely— 
to take the upper hand with the Pope, and to remind hiiri thai he might not decide 
the controversy on his own reiponsibility, otherwise there would be trouble both to 
the Church and himself. 

! Protestantism took almost no part whatever in this inner Catholic movement, 
I,e3.ving dwindling exceptions out of view, the Catliolic Augustinians of the sixteenth 
and seventeenth centuries adopted against Protestantism as decided an attitude of 
apposition and self.defence as the representatives of the prevailing Church practice ; 
nay, Augustine was even utilised with the view of being able to combat the Reforma- 

' Linsemanti, Michael Bajus und die Grundlegung des Jansenism, t867. Schnee- 
mann, Entstehung der thomistisch-moliDistischen Conlroverse (cf. also other relative 




CHAP. II.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1 563 TO 1870. 

different writings and in his lectures, Bajus, Professor in 
Louvain (1544-1589), without undertaking a strictly systematic 
development, presented in a sharply definite way the Augustinian 
doctrine of sin and unfreedom, with the view, not of coming to 
terms with Protestantism, but of combating it. As early as 
1560 the Sorbonne condemned a number of his propositions, 
which were submitted to it in manuscript. Thereafter he was 
arraigned before the Pope on the ground of smaller writings 
which he had made public. Jesuits and Franciscans were hi* 
enemies. They took offence above all at his unconditional 
rejection of the doctrine of the immaculate conception of Mary. 
In 1567 Pius V. issued the Bull " Ex omnibus afflictionibus,' 
which, without mentioning Bajus' name, rejected, or at least 
took objection to, 79 of his positions.' Only when he raised 
difficulties against yielding was the Bull published. Twice over 
was Bajus forced to retract, after the new Pope, Gregory XIII., 
had confirmed the adverse judgment of his predecessor. In 
Bajus Augustine himself was struck at in the sharpest possible 
way, though by means of the sentence, "although some opinions 
might possibly be sustained on a certain understanding,"^ the 
Curia had left a back door open for itself. A large number of 
the propositions censured were, in form and content, Augustinian, 
so that in their rejection the renunciation of the authority of the 
great African was apparent. The main thoughts of Bajus were,^ 
([) that grace is always only grace through Jesus Christ,* 
(2) that God could only create man good, and did create him 
such, that, consequently, everything "naturally" good would 
have fallen to him, had he continued in goodness, but that for 

works of Ibis Jesuil). Serry, Hist, congreg. de auiiliis, L. Meyer, I 
auxiliis, 2 vols., Dollinger und Reusch, Selbslbiographie Bellarm 
Scheeben, Wetzer und Weite, and ed., ist vol., " Bajus." 

1 " Quas quidem seotentias sliicto coram nobis examine ponderalas, yuaniguam 
nonnulln aliqao facto suslmeri fiessenl, in ligote et proprio verborum sensu ab 
assEitoribua intento hxieticas, enoneas, suspectas, temeiaiias, scandalo&as, el in pias 
aures offensionem immitlentes respective . . . damnamus " ; see Densinger, I.e., 
p. ZOS. 
^ *' (Juamqiiain nonnullx sententix aliquo pacto sustineri piesent." 
» I pa^ over anything pecDliu lo him that has no relation to Auguslinianism or 



156 ff. 




88 



HISTORV or DOGMA. 



[CHAP. II. 



that very reason the Fall entailed not only the loss of a " super- 
added gift" ("donum superadditum "), but the entire rum of 
human nature,^ (3) that through sin the will of man has become 
unfree, and hence man must necessarily sin, though with his 
will, is absolutely incapable of the good, and can produce 
nothing good out of himself,^ (4) that accordingly all works of 
unbelievers are sins, and the virtues of philosophers are vices,* 
(s) that original sin is real sin, and this is not less true of con- 
cupiscence/ (6) that all human beings, inclusive of Mary, are 
sinners, and suffer death by reason of their sins,* (7) that in no 
sense are there human merits in the sight of God ; God, rather, 
anticipates all merit by changing the bad will into a good, and 
thus producing Himself all good merits (through the merit of 
Christ)." In the doctrines of justification and the Sacraments 



1 See the Propos 






I, 31, 23 : "Abaurda est eonim setilentia, qui dicunt, 
nitio dono quodam supernalurali et gratuito, supra sonditionem uatune 
Italum, ut lide, spe et caiitate deum supeniaturaliter colerel," 24, 26, 

78- 

' See the Propos. 20 ; " Nullum est peccatumex natura suaveniale, sedomne pecc&- 
tum meretur pccnacn sternam." 27 : '* IJberura arbitrium sine gratis dei adjuCorio 
nonnisi ad peccandum valet," 28, yi, 35, 37, 39; " Qaod voluntarie fit etiamsi 
neces&ario fit, libera tamen tit." 40, 41 ; " Is libertati^ modus qui esl a necessitate, 
sub libertalis nomine non reperilur in scriptuiis, sed solum iiomen liberatis a peccato." 
46 : " Ad rationem el definitionem peccati non petlinet voluntarium, nee definitionis 
qnseslio est, sed causie et ariginis, utrum omne peccatuni debeat esse volantarium." 

65, 67. 

■ See Propos. 25 : " Omnia opera infidelium sunt peccata et philosophonim virtntes 

*See Propos. 47 : "Peccatum originis vere habet rationem peccati 5ine uUa ratione 
ac tespectu ad voluntatem, a qua origLnem habuit." 48, 49, 51 : " Concupiscent! a 
et prava ejus desideria, quae inviti sentiunt homiues, sunt vera legis inobedienlia." 
52. 53. 74, 75. 76. 

' See Propos. 73 ; " Nemo prater Christum est absque peccato originali : hinc b. 
vii^D Maria mortua est propter peccatuni ex Adam contraclum omnesque ejus aiSic- 
tiones peccati actualis vel oiiginalis." 72. 

"In rederaplis per gratiam Christi nullum inveniri potest bonum 



meritam, quod ni 






in viam justiti^e {he 
tinctio ilia duplicis 
gratuiti quo deus an 
viribus naturre exoi 



; gratis indigno coUatum." 10: " Solutio pcentB temporalis, 
> Eiepe manet, et corporis resurrectio ptoprie nonnisi merltis 
St." 22, 29 : " Non soli fures ii sunt et latrones, qui Christum 
lis et filie negant, sed etiam quicunque aliunde quam per ipsum 
; est aliquam juslitiam) conscendi posse docent." 34: " Dis- 
unoris, naturalis vid., quo deus amatur ut auctor naturae, et 
ilur ut beatificatoi, vana est." 36 : "Amor naturalis, qui ex 
lur, ex sola pbilosophia per relattonem pixsumptionis humanie 




CHAP. II.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1563 TO 18; 

Bajus held substantially to the prevailing ecclesiastical type. 



But althouL 
righteousness 
eight on forgi 



accordance with this type he recognised 
real perfection, yet he laid a much greater 
^iveness of sin than the Decrees of Trent allowed 
of; it is true, no doubt, that for him forgiveness of sin is ideal, 
and is really not righteousness, but in point of fact our active 
righteousness comes to exist only through constantly having as 
its complement the forgiveness of sins which God reckons as 
righteousness. Forgiveness of sins is for him not only an initial 
act, but a parallel to the "operation of virtue" ("operatio 
virtutum").^ That, however, is still Catholic. Augustine's 
doctrine of predestination Bajus seems to have rather thrown 
into the background. 

While not intending it, Bajus came close in his teaching to 
the fundamental evangelical thoughts, though these were 
strangely mixed up by him with Catholic doctrines. But 
Giving to his retractation, the effect of his far-reaching proposi- 
tions was lost. On the other hand, the opposition between 
Dominicans and Jesuits continued. The characteristic doctrines 
of the opponents were rejected from both sides (the " Directions 
for Study" of the Jesuit General Aquaviva rejected 17 
Thomistic propositions ; the Dominicans carried on an effective 
opposition against these Directions, and condemned the 
positions regarding predestination of two specially audacious 
Jesuits — Lessius and Hamel). But the controversy was only 
fanned into full flame when the Jesuit Luis Molina had, in the 
year 1588, published his work, " Liberi arbitrii cum gratia; donis, 
divina priescientia, providentia, praedestinatione et reprobatione 
Concordia."- This work starts with the power of the natural 
man to dispose himself for grace (see the Tridentine Decree), 
and with amazing Scholastic energy^ tries to unite the divine 

cum injuria crucis Christi defenditur a nonnullis doctoribus." 65, ^^ ; " Satis&c- 
tiones laboriosie justiiicatotum non valent expiate de condigno pcenam lemporalem 
lestantem post culpam condonatam." 

1 Remarkable theses on justification are found in 42, 43, 44, 63, 64, 6S, 69, 70. 
It 13 manifest that irrelevant material is introduced into the tbEses formulated regard- 
ing the Pope. 

» The secund edition, 1595, is substantially unaltered. 

3 The old efforts to find varieties in the knowledge of God were contimiecl by 



90 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. n. 



causality, and even the Augustinian theses, with Semi-Pelagian- 
ism, or to subordinate the former to the latter. That, of course, 
could not succeed. But the mere undertaking was, from his 
Church's point of view, meritorious, and everything can be 
forced together in words. In point of fact, Augustinianism was 
here discarded (God only aids), and that, too, in such an overt 
way that even Scotists took offence at the book. It cannot fall 
to us to describe the tragi-comedy which now followed in an 
unlimited succession of acts. Yet it illustrates in a very 
instructive way the fact that dogma, as dogma, had long been 
buried ; for the way in which this Thomistic-Molinistic contro- 
versy was carried through — or was not carried through — at 
Rome furnishes the clearest evidence that dogmatic interest had 
been supplanted by the interest of the holy Chair and of the 
various Orders. There was hesitation, a demanding of silence, 
a deciding, and a not deciding in so important a question, 
because the matter of main concern was not doctrine at all, but 
was the peace of the Church and the gratification of the 
ambition and lust of poiver of the parties. How far this last 
was carried is excellently shown by e.g., the attitude of 
Bellarmin. There was not only a threatening of the Pope and 
an endeavour to intimidate him when he seemed to favour the 
Dominicans too much ; the most zealous papists even laid 
hands on the central supports of the system. The Commission 
at first appointed, which characterised many positions of Molina 
as inadmissible, was obliged to give way to a new one, that 
famous " Congregatio de auxiliis gratia;," which continued its 
sittings from 1598 to 1607, and could never come to a decision, 
because Dominicans and Jesuits were represented on it. In 
this controversy the Scholastic terminology was added to in an 
Molina, HTiil he turned them to account in cariying out his task ; by help of tbe 
"scientia media" God foresees the possible, which, under given circumstances, 
becomes the actual. Into the iletails of Molilla's style of doctrij 
In judging of it, moreover, it must be Icppt in view that the Catholic Chuich w 
longer Augustinian, and that what Molina undertook was to give rational e 
lo what was actually held valid. If Molina is to be reproached for writing o^ti/ the- 
(iocliine— j'.e., for writing from the standpoint of the rational critic instead of describ- 
ing justification as the sinner has experienced it —that is not a reproach that (alls on. 
him alone; it also falls on the Tridentine Decree, and on official Catholicism in 



CHAP. H.] CATHOLIC DOGMA 1-HOM 1563 TO iS/O. 9^ 

immeasurable degree (" prredeterminatio physica," " gratia 
efficax efficacitate connexionis cum consensu." etc), though 
there was no success in making a dogma out of the contradictio 
in adjecto (contradiction in terms). In the sitting of 28th 
August, 1607, at which Paul V. himself presided, the Jesuits 
declared the doctrine of physical predetermination to be 
Calvinistic and Lutheran, hotly opposed a decision eventually 
come to to suspend Molina's book (" until it be corrected " 
[" donee corrigatur "]), and assailed the Dominican dogmatist 
Baftez as a heretic. Of the other members of the Congregation 
almost every one had a different opinion as to what was to be 
done. Thereupon, on the iSth September, the Pope, no doubt 
acting on the advice of the Jesuits, dissolved the assembly, 
declaring at the same time that he would, at his own time, give 
a decision ("at a fitting opportunity His Holiness would 
publicly give the declaration and decision that were expected"') ; 
till then no party must either " characterise " the other, or " visit 
it with any censure " {" aut qualificare aut censura quapiam 
notare"). Thus the controversy, which had really been long 
before decided — for it was the controversy between Augustine 
and Pelagius — ended with an admission of complete helpless- 
ness.^ 

In purer form than by Bajus, whose general theological posi- 
tion is a problem, Augustinianism was revived by Cornelius 
Jansen, Bishop of Ypres. The movement that is connected with 
his name, or with his work"Augustir]LS," published in 1640, after 
his death, entered deeply into French history in the seventeenth 
century, and carried its influence into the eighteenth and nine- 
teenth centuries ; it has still a living monument at the present day 

I " Foie ut sua sanctitas declmationeni et detcrminalionem, qute ejupectabatur, 
nppattuoe pTamulgant." 

5 See Dollioget u. Reusch, I.e., p. 273 f. In the jenr 1611 the Pope iniiuced ihe 
Inquisition to issue the order that all books that treated of the material de auxiliis 
should first of alt be submitted to it for its approbatian, ScbDcemanD, the Jesuit, is 
quite entitled to be proud of the fact that the Molini.stic iloctrine offrace really won 
the victory — the doctrine at which even Bellarmin took offence because it exalted 
human freedom far too much at the cost of pace, and which was adopted notwjthoul 
alteration even in the Decree of the Jesuit General Aquaviva of the fear 1613 (I.e., 
p. 274 (■)■ 



92 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. II. 



^^^ Heizog's 



in the old Catholic Church of Utrecht.' At one time the Hugue- 
nots had been the "Friends of Religion" in France, i.e., they 
included among them almost all who had a living sense of the 
seriousness of religion and who took a stand against the secul- 
arised Court- Church. Through the Counter- Reformation, 
Catholicism again became a spiritual power even in France. It 
was restored in such a way that the spirit of piety again found 
a home in it, in spite of Ultramontanism and Court Churchism. 
But with the lapse of time it became always the harder for this 
good Catholic, pious spirit to tolerate the lax morality which 
was really justified by the theology of the Jesuits, and which, 
through the confessional, poisoned both clergy and people. It 
was observed that this la.-^ morality was a consequence of that 
Nominal istic- Aristotelian Scholasticism which had already desol- 
ated the Church in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and 
which was of one blood with Pelagianism. But at the same time 
the earnestly disposed found it more difficult from year to year to 
reconcile themselves to that Court and State Christianity which 
again established itself in spite of the frightful struggles of the 
sixteenth century. This Christianity was at bottom the deadly 
foe of Jesuitism ; but it excelled it in frivolity and worldliness of 
spirit. Thus the pious Catholics saw the Church of Christ in i 
most lamentable position. Protestantism was threatening from I 
without; internally, the Church was devastated by two enemies, , 
united in their immorality and their endeavour to lead forth the 1 
Church into captivity, otherwise standing apart, the one agitating 
for a despicable Court Christianity, the other driving Christianity ] 
into blind dependence on the Roman confessional : " Behold the j 
Fathers, who take a^vay the sins of the world ! " (" Ecce patres 
qui toUunt peccata mundi ! "). 

From this state of things the powerful Jaosenist movement isl 
to be understood. As relates to the impulses of true piety, it | 

' The literature on Jansenism is verj abuniiant ; see Ranke, Frani. Geschichle, SU J 
Beuve, Port Royal, 1S40 f., Reuchlin, Gesch. von Port Royal, 2 vols., 1839 f., 
in Heizog's R.-E. the article Jansen ; further, the Monographs on Paschal and the- 1 
ArnauMs; Schil!, Die Constitution Unigenitus, 1876, Schott, Art. Port Royal ii 
Heizog's R.-E., Henke, Neuere Kirchengesch. II., p. 87 ff. For the eighteenth and,! 
nineteenth centuries the Church History ofNippold and Fiiedrich's Gesch. des Vatilc 1 
Condls. 



CHAP, ir.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1563 TO iS/O. 

was far superior to the French Conciliar movement of the isth 
century. When it sounded forth the appeal to return to the 
ancient Church, that which it thought of was not only— was, in 
the first instance, not at all — a change of constitution ; it was an 
J KWtfr regeneration of the Church through repentance and faith, 
religious awakening and asceticism, as these were understood by 
Augustine. Once again in the history of Cathoh'cism there was, 
in France, a dose adherence to the great African, after adverse 
judgment had been pronounced on Luther and Calvin. With 
the deepest sympathy we follow the effort, so full of blessing, 
and yet so devoid of any prospect of success, to emancipate the 
Church from the Church, faith from a Christianity of use and 
wont, the moral life from a subtly-refined and lax morality. As 
If that had been possible by a mere reaction in the lines of 
Augustine! Certainly, if Catholicism could be corrected by 
Catholicism, this would have taken place at that time in France, 
when the deepest, most earnest, and noblest spirits in the nation 
crowded together for reform, and one of the greatest orators and 
rhetoricians of all ages, Pascal, broke silence to awaken the 
conscience of the nations against the Society of Jesus. But in 
the end everything disappeared in the sand. It was not merely 
that the movement was violently suppressed; the movement 
itself ended, like every Catholic movement for reform, in the 
renunciation of opposition and in fanaticism. 

The work of describing the course of Jansenism falls to 
Church history. New factors requiring to be considered in the 
history of dogma did not make their appearance in the con- 
troversy ; hence in this connection the interest attaches mainly 
to the answer to be given to the question — In what measure did 
the official Catholicism see itself compelled, in face of this 
movement, to repudiate Augustine and to strengthen itself in its 
Nominalistic- Pelagian attitude? Immediately after the appear- 
ing of Jansen's "Augustine," the Jesuits did the shrewdest thing 
it was in their power to do ; though themselves the party 
assailed, they assumed the offensive. Jansen's book really con- 
tained pure Augustinianism, incomparably purer than in the 
restoration attempted by Bajus, while no concessions were made 



94 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CIIAl*. n 



to Protestantism.' Hence the doctrine of predestination certainly 
occupies a very prominent place in Jansen.* Through the 
influence of the Jesuits with the Curia, Urban VIII., after 
referring to the censure pronounced upon Bajus, confirmed the 
prohibition of the book, on the ground of its containing heresies. 
It was now that the struggle broke out in France — a struggle 
about religion, with, at the same time, the undercurrent of a 
struggle for the rights of personal conviction over against the 
despotism of the Pope and the papal Mamelukes. But these 
last-mentioned succeeded in obtaining from the Pope the Bull 
"Cum occasione" (1653), in which five propositions were 
described as subject to condemnation, and were, at the same 
time, represented — though not with entire clearness — as proposi- 
tions of Jansen. These are the terms of them :^—(i) "Some 
precepts of God cannot be fulfilled by good men, whose wish 
and effort are according to the measure of strength they at 
present possess; they have the further need of grace that shall 
render obedience possible." (2) " Inward grace is never resisted 
in the state of fallen nature." (3) " In order to the existence of 
merit and demerit in the state of fallen nature there is not 
required in man a liberty that is the absence of necessity; it is 
enough if there be the liberty that is the absence of constrainL" 
(4) "Semi-Pelagians admitted the necessity of inner prevenient 
grace for single acts, also for the origination of faith, and they 
were heretical in this, that they wished that grace to be of such 
a kind that it should be possible for the human will to resist or 
obey." (5) " It is Semi-Pelagian to say that Christ died, or that 
He shed His blood, for all men without exception."* Looked at 



'Jan 



itofji 



i strictly Catholic 

am unnecessary is ju 

o correctly reproduc 



is just that Augustine's doclrines 



s What makes an accf 
of sin, grace, and prede 

»See Deniinger, I.e., p. 212 1. 

'"Aliqua dei prxcepta honiinibus juslis volentibus et conantilius secundum 
pneseotea quas habent vires sunt impossibilia ; deest qucxjue illis gratia, qua possibilia 
liant," " Interior! gratis in statu naturffi lapsa: nnnquam resistilur." " Ad meren- 
dum et deinerendum in statu natune lapsa: non requirilur in homine libertas a. 
necesatate, sed sufficit Hbertas a coactione." " Semi-Pclagiani admittebant pwe- 
vcnientis gratiae ialeiioris necessitatem ad singulos actus, etiam ad initium lidei, et in 
hoc erant hiefetiei, quod vellent e:ini gratiam talem esse, cui posset humana voluntaE 
t obtemperare," " Semi- Pel agianum est dicerc, Christum pro omnibus 



omnino hominibus m 






A 



CHAP. II.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1563 TO 1870. 

apart from the roots from which they sprang, these propositions 
are not Jansenist, even though they can be almost literally 
established from Jansen, for dogmatic is not a series of equations 
from which one may select as he pleases. The Jansenists, there- 
fore, had certainly a right to raise the "question du fait," 
and to require proof that Jansen so taught. The real aim of 
their opponents was to separate off the extreme conclusions of 
Augustinianism and give them an isolated formulation, that 
thereby it might be possible to reject these without touching 
Augustine, but that thereby also Augustinianism might be slain. 
But the Jansenists were placed in an extremely unfavourable 
situation, because their Catholicism did not allow of their openly 
questioning the authority of the Pope in matters of doctrine. 
Their conceding that the Pope had a right to decide whether 
the question a^ fact was determined weakened their attitude; 
and where is the line to be drawn between questions of right 
and questions of fact? As early as the year 1S56 the declara- 
tion was made by Alexander VII. in the notorious Bull "Ad 
sanctam b. Petri sedem " : " We determine and declare that those 
five propositions extracted from the afore- mentioned book of 
Cornelius Jansen, and understood in the sense intended by the 
same Cornelius Jansen, have been condemned." ^ When the Chief 
Teacher declared in a cold-blooded way that he had also to 
decide in what sense something had been understood by someone, 
what objection could be raised, if there was the general admission 
made of his absolute authority? So the same Pope took the 
further step (1664) of issuing a formula for subscription, in which 
all clerics and teachers were not merely enjoined to reject the 
five propositions, but were required to confess upon oath that 
these were condemned " as meant to be understood by the same 
author "("in sensu ab eodem auctore intento"). In this way 
the Pope already ventured to lord it over consciences; and yet 
two more centuries had to run their course before his infallibility 
could be proclaimed. For the time, certainly, the Curia gave 
relief .so far to the Jansenists, by remaining satisfied with "sub- 
missive silence " (" silentium obsequiosum ") (Pax dementis IX., 

1 "Quinque illas proposilione* en libto priemeniomli cornelii Janscnii excerptaa ac 
in stHsu ad coiUm CortuliB JaHnnia intento damnatca fuUse, dtfinimas ct dularamtis." 




96 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. II. 



1668): but when the Crown began to view the Augustinian 
party, who certainly did not take the attitude of unqualiBed 
advocates of Gallican liberties, first with indifference, and then 
with deepening hatred, and finally made a sacrifice of them to 
the Jesuits, Clement XI., in the Bull " Vineam doraini Sabaoth" 
(■1705), gave fresh confirmation to all the severe Bulls of his 
predecessors against Jansenism, and again made the demand 
that there should be a recognition of the definition of Jansen's 
intention given by Alexander VII. Port Royal was now 
forcibly broken up. 

Vet once again, at the beginning of the eighteenth centuiy, 
there was a powerful revival of Augustinianism ; not yet had it 
been distinctly indicated that in attacking .'\ugustine, what was 
aimed at, and what was inevitably involved, was an attack on 
the Apostle Paul also. The Oratorian, Paschasius Quesnel, had 
published a " gnomon " to the French New Testament, which 
very rapidly found circulation as a book of devotion — inciting 
to meditation— and was highly prized on account of its simple 
Catholic piety. Even Pope Clement XI. had pronounced the 
most favourable judgment upon the book ; the great king, who 
was already assuming an unpleasantly pietistic air, had let him- 
self be touched by its warmth and simplicity ; the Cardinal 
Archbishop Noailles of Paris had recommended it. But this I 
very recommendation gave occasion to the Jesuits for preparing ' 
a double blow — for attacking at the same time the Cardinal 
whom they hated and the book that was offen.^ive to them from ' 
its inwardness of spirit. Agitations against the book, in which I 
the secret poison of Jansenism was said to lurk, were got up I 
among the clergy, and in the end a sketch of a damnatory Bull ' 
was sent to Rome. What seemed incredible succeeded. The ' 
feeble Pope, Clement XL, issued the "Constitution" Unigenitus 
(1713)1 in which Romanism repudiated for ever its Augustinian 
past. It was against all precedent to single out from a book 
like that under notice loi propositions, and to place these 
emphatically under ban, in a way, too, in re.'ipcct of form, 
extremely maladroit. But for the Church of the Jesuits the 
Bull Unigenitus has come to be of incalculable value ; for with 
this Bull in its hands it has been able to combat all attempts at 



CHAP, ir.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1563 TO 1870. 

an inner regeneration of the Church, and even in the future this 
manifesto of the infallible Pope wjll be capable of rendering the 
best service, if Augustine and Sate , who can never be quite 
slain, should venture again to threaten the serenity of the 
Church.^ The immediate effect of the movement was to create 

1 See the Constilution in Deniinger, p. 243 fF. This second last great pronounce- 
ment of the Roman Church is in every respect a miserable production. It reveals 
above alt the levitf of the procedure foilowed with regard to dogma (in tbe 
narrower sense), which had now become a corpus vile. It is characteristic that here 
as elsewhere — for it had already become use and wont — there is only a venturing now 
upon negative propositions. On the " thorny field of the doctrine of grace " the 
Church merely goes on to indicate what must not be believed. Whether between the 
contrary propositions that are rejected there still remains anything at all that can be 
believed, or is worthy of belief, is a question with which the Church takes little con- 
cern. As a matter of fact there has found expression in the conslitutiDn a system of 
feith that is no longer ^iVi, but a shrewd morality. Among the rejected theses the 
following may be singled ont :— Thesis z : " Jesn Chtisli gratia, principium efficax 
boni cujuscumque generis, necessaria est ad omne opus bonum ; absque ilia non solum 
nihil fit, sed nee fieri potest." 3 : "In vanum, domine pnecipis, si tu ipse non das, 
quod praedpis" (this is an unqualiRed condemnation of Aristotle). 4 : " Ita, domine, 
omnia possibilia sunt ei, cui omnia possibilia lac is, eadem operando in illo." Add to 
this Theses 5-7. Thesis 8 ■- " Nos non pertinemus ad novum ftedus, nisi in qaantnm 
participes sumus ipsius nova: grstiie, qux in nobis opeiatur id, quod dens nobis pise- 
cipil." 9: "Gratia Christi est gratia suprema, sine qua confiteri Christum nunquam 
possumus, et cum qua nunquam ilium abn^amus." 26: "Nulla; dantur gratia: nisi 
per lidem." 27 : " Fides est prima gratia et fona omnium aliarum." 2S ; " Prima 
gratia, qnam deusconcedit peccatoii, est peccatorum remissio. " 38: " Peccalor non 
est lilier, nisi ad malum, sine gratia liberatoris." 40 1 "Sine gratia nihil amare 
possumus, nisi ad noslramcondemnationem." 42 : "Sola gratia Christi reddk homj- 
nemaptum ad sacrificiura fidei." 44: "Non sunt nisi duo amores " (j.«., love for 
God and love for one's self). 46 : " Cupiditas aut caritas usum sensuum bonum ve! 
malum fadunt." 49 : " Ut nullum peccatum est sine amore tiostri, ita nullum est 
opus bonum sine amore del" 60: "5i solus supplicil timor acimat pienitentiam, 
quo hsec est magis violenta, eo magis ducit ad desperalionem. " 62 : " Qui a raalo 
non abstinet nisi timoie ptenx, illud committil in corde suo et jam eat reus coram 
deo." 611 : " Dei bonitas abbreviavil viam salutis, claudendo totum in tide et preci- 
bus" 69: " Fides est donum purae liberalitatis dei." 73; " Quid est ecclesia nisi 
coetus Rliorum dei. manentium in ejus sinu, adoptatoriim in Chtisto, sabsislentium in 
ejus persona, redemptorum ejus sanguine, viventium ejus spiritu agentiutn per ejus 
gratiam et exspeclantium gratiam fututi sxcaliP" 74: " EcctesiiC sive integer 
Christus incainatum verbum habel ut caput, omnes veresanctos ut membra." Theses 
79-S6 condemn the universal use of Holy Scripture. 91 : " Excommunicationis in- 
justae metus nunquam debet nos impedire ah iuiplendo debito nostro : nunquam exi- 
mus ab ecclesia, etiam quanilo hominum nequitia videmur ab ea expuisi, quando deo, 
Jcsu Christo atque ipsi ecclesise per catitatem atfixi sumui," (cf. 92). Thesis 94 : 
"Nihil pejoremde ecclesia opinionem ingerit ejus inimicis, quam videreillic domina- 



98 



HISTORY OF DOr.MA. 



[CHAP. II. 



a new, great crisis in France — it was the la.st. All who had 
stil] piety or a sense of shame bestirred themselves. Accept- 
ants and Appellants stood face to face with each other. The 
Appellants, however, were not Huguenots, but Catholics, whose 
conscience was troubled by every rebellion against the Pope, 
Thus by the law invariably regulating such change in the Middle 
Ages, the opposition was changed — into surrender, and into 
fanaticism and ecstacy. The iron fence of Catholicism allowed 
of no swerving aside. If one was unable to rise above it, that 
despair resulted which submits with wounded conscience or 
breaks out into wild fanaticism. As a note appended to the 
Bull Unigenitus, we read in Denzinger the dry historic account: 
" This dogmatic constitutio was confirmed by Clement XI. 
himself in the Bull against the Appellants, ' Pastoralis Officii," of 
date 28th August, 1718, in which he distinctly declares all 
Catholics to be aliens from the bosom of the Roman Church 
who do not accept the Bull ■ Unigenitus ' ; it was adopted by 
Innocent XIII., in the Decree of 8tli January, 1722, by Benedict 
XIII. and the Roman Synod in 1725, by Benedict XIV. in the 
Encyclical 'ex omnibus Christiani orbis regionibus,' of 16th 

lum exerceii supra, fidem lideliuin et foveri divisionea proplei r 
liT^DDt nee mores." 97 ; " Nimis sxpe contingit, membra ilia, qme magis sancCf ac 
iiiBgia stride unila eccleaiie sum, reapice a.lque tractari tamquam indigna, ut sint in 
ecclesia, vel tamquam ab ea sepai.ita sed Justus vivit ex tide et nnn ex opinione homi- 
num." It does not need, surely, to be specially emphasised for the first time, that \ 
even the Jesuits could not have publicly condemned these and similar propoaitionB,. II 
hod not Quesnel given expression in some passages to that August inian ism also oc J 
cording to which the graj;e of God is merged in His all-perviisive eHiciency. In thtf'l 
lijlht of this view, which is secretly present at the end and at the beginning of Augui- f 
tinianism, all these pro pnaitions could be interpreted, and d>v:la[ed heretical. Indeed) f 
we may go a step further. Does thorough -going Augustlnianisni not really disinte- I 
grate the Church ? It was bound to become evident in the end that the dilenuna J 
presented itself of either building a Church with Luther ot with the 
Jesaistic teachers. August! nianism contains in it an element which d 
that constitutes Church. On that account those doctores perspicuior 
who proved that Christ has left behind Him an institution, whose n 
function consists in this, that it procures even for the feeblest morality, providi 
sacrifice of obedience is offered, the highest merits. In Paschasius Quesnel's 
for the rest, pure Augustinianism does not find expression. His sharp diath 

rd and inward grace, and the attitude assumed by h 
empirical Catholic Church, carry him beyond Augastine, and bring 
Protestantism. 



^^^^L empirical C 

^^^^B Protestant!: 



CHAP. II.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1563 TO 1870. 99 

October, 1756, by the Gallican clergy in assemblies in 1723, 

1726, 1730, by councils at Avignon in 1725, and at Ebr^ne in 

1727, and by tfie whole Catlwlic world."'^ The author might 
have added that these confirmations and acceptances describe 
the history of the victory of the modern Jesuit dogmatic over 
the Augustinian, that they are the last word m the Catholic history 
cf dogma (in the sense of system of Christian doctrine), and that 
they represent at the same time the triumph of the Church over 
numberless consciences — over piety indeed — in France. The 
Huguenots were expelled, the Jansenists broken or annihilated ; 
the French people now belonged to Voltaire and the Ency- 
clopaedists. They hated the Jesuits; but as the fear of God 
can very well be driven out, but not anxious concern about 
God, this nation henceforward belonged to thatveryJesuitChurch 
which it hated and ridiculed. Besides, Benedict XIV. {1756} 
relaxed the fetters of the Constitution Unigenitus. Every one 
was to be regarded as a Catholic who should not offer s. public 
resistance to it. But this concession only came when the Bull 
had already done its work, and merely served to smooth the 
way of return for crushed spirits, when it was no longer to be 
feared that they could be troublesome. Jansenist clerics there 
have afterwards been in France, as there have been Gallican ; 
but the former have been of very much less account than the 
latter. Jansenism as a factor was already annihilated in the 
eighteenth, Gallicanism not until the nineteenth century. 
Under the reign of Pius IX. it was still held necessary to search 
out and dispose of the last remnants of the two parties. At 
the same time the new dogma of the immaculate conception of 
Mary (Constitution " Ineffabiiis deus," of 8th December, 1854) 
set the seal to the rejection of the Augustinian-Thomistic 



' " Hkc corstitulici Jogmalica confirmata esl ab ipso Clcmeme XI. per bullam 
'Pastoralis Officii' 5. Cal. Sept. 1718, conlra Appeilanlcs, in qaa quoscumque 
Catholicos, qui Bullam ' Utilgenitus ' non susciperenl, a Romam eccleaiie sinu plane 
alienos declarat; ab Innocentio XIII. decret. d. 3, Jan. 1723, n Benedicto XIII. 
el synodo Romano, 1725, a Benedicto WX. per encydicam ' Ek omiiibus Christian! 
iithis regionibus,' 16. Oct. 17S6, suscepta est a clcro Gallicano in comitiis 1723, 
1716, 1730, a conciliis Avenionensi 1725, ab Ebrcdunensi 1717, tt ab univerip 
in untie Calhdico," 



lOO HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. II. 

doctrine of sin and gracc.^ Henceforward Augustinianism was 

scarcely any longer possible in the Roman Church ; but that 
Mysticism cannot certainly be banished which at one time is 
called Quietism, at another time ■' Spurious JVIysticism " ; for 
the Church continually gives impulses towards the origination 
of this kind of Christianity, and can itself in no way avoid 
training it, up to a certain point,- Indeed, the Jesuit Order has 
made efforts that have not been fruitless to furnish occupation 
for the irrepressible tendency to inwardness, contemplation, and 
Christian independence by sensible means of all sorts, by play- 
things and miracles, as well as by brotherhoods, disciplinary 
exercises, and rules for prayer, and thereby to keep it bound to 
the Church. The " Spurious Mysticism " which adapts itself 
with painful reluctance to ecclesiasticism seems to become 
always rarer, just because there has been a learning to make the 
Church more of a home for it, and the Church Itself, unfortu- 
nately, as Catholic, has an innate tendency towards religious 
self-indulgence and towards miracle,^ The glorious revival and 
'The Catholics need have liltie hesitation in regarding Mary as free from or^nal 
sin ; fur whil is original sin lo them ? On ihe other hand, Iheie is something Ihat 
suggests pnlling on a bold ftont, when, a hundred limes over, they have recoun 
the apolt^etic device in dealing with Protestantism : " You modem men have least 
occasion lo stumble at our dogma, for you do not al all believe in original sin." The 
selling up of the new dogma in the year 1854 had three purposes, (1) to prepare the 
way for the Vatican Decrees, (2) to give the final despatch lo the Thomistic doctnnes 
of sin and giace, {3) to glorify Mary, to whom Pius IX. devoted an exIravBgont 
worship. The nev^ dogma runs in these terms, (Denanger, p. 324) : " Definimus 
doctrinam, qiue tenet, beatissimam virginem Mariam in primo instanti suae concep- 
tionis fuisse singulaii omnipotentis del gratia et privilegio, intuitu meritonun ChiislI 
Jesu salvatoris human i generis, ab omni origiualis culpie labe pra^servatam immunem, 
esse a deo revctatam (when ? to whom ?) alque idcirco ab omnibu! fidelibus (irmiter 
constanterque ciedendam." 

= It might seem advisable to deal here with the QiiicHstic movement which tbi^ 
parallel with the Jansenisl, with Molinos, Madame Guyon, with the controversy be- 
tween Bossuet and Fenelon, the Fropositiones LXVIII. M. de Moiinos damnahe ab 
Innocentio XI. ("Caleslis Pastor," ibS?), and the Catholic- Mystic movements <A 
the nineteenth century ; but they have had no palpable result within the history of 
The Church, loo, allows the most disorderly Quietislic courses on the part 
of Ihe monks, and even of the laily, provided no sovereign claims are set up in con- 
with Ihem, and they are pursued ad majorem eccIesisB gloriam. So it is not 
here a question of principles. 

3 Notice the course of development from Sailer to Clemens Brenlano, and — to 
Lourdes. 




CHAP. II.] CATHOLIC ilOGMA FROM 1 563 TO I S70. 101 

the lofty intuitions of the " awakened " in the present century 
ended with Anna Katharina Emmerich and the Holy Coat of 
Tr§ves.^ 

(3) The controversy with regard to Probabihsm belongs to the 
history of ethics. But ethics and dogmatics do not admit of 
being separated. The juristic-casuistic spirit of the Roman 
Church had already in the Middle Ages influenced ethics, and 
along with it dogmatics, in the most unfavourable way. The 
Nominalistic theology had one of its strong roots in juristic 
casuistry, i.e., in Probabilism. This was adopted by the Jesuits, 
and cultivated in such a way that the Popes at times, and even 
the members of the Order itself, were filled with alarm.^ It 
will perhaps be found impossible to convict the Jesuits of any 
single moral enormity which had not been already expressed 
by some medizeval casuist from the Mendicant Orders ; but the 
Jesuits have offered to hold themselves responsible in the 
world's history for having systematised and applied in the 
Church what existed before their time only in the shape of 
hesitating attempts, and was checked by strong counter influ- 
ences. By the aid of Probabilism this Order understood how in 
particular cases to transform almost all deadly sins into venial 
sins. It went on giving directions how to wallow in filth, to 
confound conscience, and, in the confessional, to wipe out sin 
with sin. The comprehensive ethical handbooks of the Jesuits 
are in part inonstra of abomination and storehouses of execrable 
sins and filthy habits, the description and treatment of which 
provoke an outcry of disgust. The most shocking things are 

' Vet ihere is blessing even in the Heart- of-Jesus worship, the adoration of Uaiy, 
etc., where they are carried on with humility, and with an upward look to ihe God 
wlio redeems. As, apart Trom the confessiooal, with its power to foster concern, 
ihey are the only embodiments of living piety, even sincere Christian feeling finds a 
refuge in these things 1 for the Church which transacts on equal footing with the 
Stales, and makes dupes of them, cannot certainly impart vigour to piety, but only 
to an undcvout air<^ance. As the heart that seeks to rise to God is not restrained 
by doctrinal formulie, but can transform even what is most alien to it into a means 
of cOTnfoTt, this same spirit cannot be quenched by idols, but changes ihem into 
gracious signs of the God who, in all signs, reveals nothing but His renewing grace. 

^See Dollinget u. Reusch, Gesch. der Moralstreitigkeiten in der romisch-catho. 
lischen Kirche seit dem 16 lahrhundert, z Bdd,, 1SE9, cf. Theot. Litl.-Z^. 18S9, 
col. 334- 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. 1 



here dealt with in a brazen-faced way by unwedded priests as 
men of special knowledge, not with the view of calling down 
with prophetic power upon the burden of horror a heavier 
burden of judgment, but often enough with the view of repre- 
senting the most disgraceful things as pardonable, and of show- 
ing to the most regardless transgressors a way in which they 
may still always obtain the peace of the Church. We are told 
that they were personally blameless, highly honourable, and 
even saintly men who gave the most revolting confessionary 
advices for ascertaining the most disgusting forms of vice and 
for cleverly pacifying conscience regarding fornication, adultery, 
theft, perjury, and murder That may have been so ; there 
were certainly excellent Christians even connected with this 
fraternity. But all the greater appears the confusing influence 
of the religious system of which they were the servants, when it 
was capable of producing such licentious subtleties and such a 
perverse estimate of the moral principles and the meannesses of 
their fellowmen ! And all this too in the name of Christ, the 
soothings of conscience as the fruit of His death upon the cross, 
and, what was almost worse still, for the greater glory of the 
Church ! (in majorem gloriam ecclesis), for one of the interests 
lying at the basis of this system of immorality — no one can 
deny it — was to maintain and strengthen the external grasp and 
power of ecclesiasticism. The only excuse, if there can be such 
here, is this,' that that casuistic mode of procedure had already 
had a long history in the Church, when the Jesuits raised it to a 
method for the entire guidance of souls, as well as for the 
theoretic and practical shaping of religion in general. As a 
good thing from becoming customary can thereby deprive itself 
of its power, so a bad thing that has become customary may 
delude the individual as to the force of error and sin that inheres 
in it. It might be said, indeed, that this Jesuit morality belongs 
to history and not to the system ! Much of what was most 

' Or may we assume in the case of some of the worst proposilions that they »^.^ 
the proJuct of a daring casuistic sport, which ha.d never any practical importance?' 
This solution will not apply, at any rale, to some of the very vile confessionary ad- 
iricea J for history teaches that they were translated into deeds. Or had overdrawn i 
reports found their way to the Pope ? Even this, alas, is not easily proved. 




CHAP. II.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1 563 TO 1870. 103 

revolting has really disappeared, and that an earnest and 
philanthropic spirit managed to intermingle itself with the most 
lamentable secrets of the confessionary directions is not to be 
denied. But the method has continued unchanged, and it 
exerts to-day its ruinous influence on dogmatics and ethics, on 
the consciences of those who receive, and of those who make 
confession, perhaps in a worse degree than at any period. Since 
the seventeenth century forgiveness of sins in the Catholic 
Church has become to a large extent a highly refined art ; one 
learns how to receive confession and give the fitting absolution, 
as one learns the art of speculation in the exchange. And yet 
— how imperishable this Church is, and how imperishable is a 
conscience that seeks for its God ! God can be found by such 
a conscience even in the idol, and it hears His voice even where 
it hears at the same time all the voices of hell ! ^ 

' The severe ciiticism of the casuistic morality, fostered chiefly hy the Jesuils, and 
of their confessionary counsels, muat not hinder the impartial hislorian from recog' 
nising what they have achieved, and still achieve. What would modern Catholicism 
be without them ? Tiej' are ike active squad of the Church, who work and reap [he 
fruit that is produced by all ■work. With the exception of aome outstanding German 
.'scholars, the Catholic authors who are not Jesuits are a quanlite negligeable. Tiit^ 
sohei judgment which Leibniz pronounced upon the Order 200 years ago is still sub- 
stantially correct: "That the Jesuits have so many enemies within their own 
communion [how far that still holds good lo-da.y, I leave undiscussed], is due, for the 
most pBjt, to the bet that they take a more prominent and influential position than 
others. ... It is not to be doubted that there are honourable and valiant people 
among them. At the same time, however, they are often too hot-headed, and many 
among ihem are bertt upon serving the Order per fas et oefas. Bot it is not other- 
wise all round ; only it is more noticeable anoong the Jesuits than among others, 
because Ihey, more than others, are before the eyes of people." But Leibniz did not 
observe tbat the Jesuits are still, at the present day, " Spanish priests," and are most 
strongly opposed to the German religious spirit. Their founder, on whom a German 
Protestant national economist, Cotheln, has uadoubledly written the most impartial 
and best book (if only the Jesuits would show freedom of spirit enough to write the 
most impartial book upon Luther, instead of leaving Luther to be scurrllonsly dealt 
with by narrow-minded and fanatical chaplains I), Ignatius de Loyola, impressed his 
Spanish spirit for all time upon the Order. Nothing great has been done by them 
In anything they have since added to or subtracted from this. Thai Spanish spirit, 
however, though outrun hy the development of spiritual culture in morality, religion, 
and science, still continues to he a dominant force in public and political life. In 
the war of 1S70 a celebrated man was right in saying; " We fight against Louis 
XIV." That war has come to an cud. But we have also the struggle to wage 
against the Jesuits and the Counter- Re formation, and the end of this war cannot he 
foieieen. 



104 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. 11. 

The Spanish Dominican, Bartholomaus de Medina, was the 
first to describe and defend Probabilism " scientifically," this 
being done by him in his Commentary on Thomas's Prima 
Secund^ (iS77). The thing itself had long exi.sted, but the 
formula for it had not yet been found. It ran in these terms : 
" If an opinion is probable, it is lawful to follow it, thqjigh the 
contrary opinion is more probable." ^ Seldom has a saying 
shown at once the kindling power of this one, and seldom has a 
saying continued to work so mightily : it was the emancipation 
of morality from morality, of religion from religion, in the 
name of morality and religion. Many Spanish Dominicans — 
Thomists, that is to say! — and Augustinians seized on the new 
watchword at once, and even in the last decennium of the 
sixteenth century several theologians could write, the Jesuit 
Gabriel Vasquez being among them, iAai Probabilism was the 
preuailing view among contemporary theologians? From that 
time onwards, down to the middle of the seventeenth century, 
Probabilism spread without opposition through the whole 
domain of ecclesiastical life. Within the province of faith it 
revealed its destroying influence (i) in '' Laxisin" with regard 
to the granting of absolution ; (2) in " Attritionism," that is, in 
the view that the fear of hell is enough in itself to secure for- 
giveness of sins through the Sacrament of Penance, that the love 
of God, therefore, is not requisite.^ With regard to both these 
points, Dominicans made common cause with Jesuits in show- 
ing that the defence of their Thomistic doctrine of grace was 
now only a duty imposed upon them by their Order, and was no 
longer the outcome of inward interest in the matter itself. 
What the fruits were that ripened from Probabilism — towards 
which the attitude of the Popes was that of easy toleration — 

1 " Si est opinio probabilis, licitum est earn sequi, licet opposila. sit probabilior." 
DolUneer u. Reusch, p. zS ff. 

"The watchword was not at once eagerly adopted by all Jesuits ; Bellarmin, £,f., 
viewed it with disfavour. For tbe attitude the Jesuits assume towards this fact see 

1.=. p. 31 f. 

> Attritionism, again, has itself different degrees, according as it is defined nega- 
tively or positively, or according as it relates to temporal or eternal penalties, to 
penalties or to stronij displeasure against sin itself, etc.; on its hisloiy cf. Stiickprt, 
Die Kath. L. v. d. Reue (1896), p. 53 ff., 58 ff., 62 ff. 




CHAP. II.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1563 TO iS/O. lOS 

on to the middle of the seventeenth century, has been recently 
described to uh in a simple but startling way. ^ Then Jansenism 
arose in France. Jesuistic Probabilism, even more than Semi- 
Pelagianism, was the enemy against which this movement 
directed itself. Against it Pascal raised his voice : the Provincial 
Letters represent the most formidable attack which a ruling 
ecclesiastical party has ever in history had to endure. It is not 
hard to convict the great man of the use of rhetorical devices- 
he was a Frenchman and a Catholic; we must not lay it down 
that he ought to have written as Luther did in the year 1520 ; 
but in their way the Letters are perfect. " That in the begin- 
ning of the second half of the seventeenth century a turn of 
things set in, and Probabilism ceased to be the reigning view, 
muft be placed in the first instance to the credit of Pascal — and 
of the unskilful attempts of the Jesuits to reply to the Letters, 
published by him in 1656 — and of his friends, especially 
Amauld and Nicole."^ 

There now followed a struggle, lasting for more than half a 
century, that seemed to terminate in a growing suppression of 
Probabilism.* Even by Innocent X. and Alexander VII- a 

1 Diillinger u. Reusch, I.e., pp. 97-rzo. 

= L.c,,p. 35 f. 

3 A number of vaiieties now developed themselves. BeginniDg wilh the most Ux, 
and passing on to the most strict, we hive the following :—{l) One may follow the 
less certain opinion, even when it ii, only lenuiter, nay, even when it is only dubie or 
probabiliter probabilis, that is to say, when there are only some Ett"""!* t" ^ 
adduced for it, or vihen it is not certain thai there are mrgroumis to be addutedforit, 
(the laiest Probabilism); (a) one may follow the less certain opinion, even though it is 
less probable, provided only it can be supported by good grounds (geouine Fio- 
babibsm) ; {3} one may follow the less certain opinion, if it is almost as probable as the 
contrary opinion (rigorous Probabilism) ; {4) one may follow the less certain opinion 
when il isaa probable as the more certain (lEquiptobabilism) ; (5) one may follow the 
certain o^nnioa even when it is less probable ; the less certain opinion may be followed 
only when it is more probable than the contrary opinion (Probabiliorism) ; (6) one 
may only follow the lei» Certain opinion when it is the most pmliable of all (lax 
Tutiorism) j (7) the less certain opinion is never to be followed, even if il is the most 
probable, i.e., id the case of doubt all action is to be avoided ; the conscience has 
always to give the verdict, even when the most probable reasons testify against what 
appears to be duty (strict Tmioristn) ; see I.e. , p. 4. ff. The last-menlioned view, 
which alone is moral, is regarded as Rigorism, and was expressly condemned by 
Alenandei VIH. un the 7th December, 1690 (see Deniinger, p. 136 ; "Non licet 
sequi opinionem vel inter probabiles probabilissiraam "). This Probabilistic method 



^^^^k potest q 



106 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IL 

number of books of lax theological morality were proscribed, 
some of them unconditionally, some of them " until they were 
corrected" ("donee corrigantur"). The latter even contem- 
plated the publication of a Bull against Probabilism. But he 
satisfied himself with condemning, in the years 1665 and 166^ 
a number of the worst positions of the Casuists,' and, with' 
regard to Attritionism, with dictating the already familiar 
course, namely, that the contending parties should not condemn 
each other, until the Holy Chair had come to some decision in 
this matter." His succes.sor, Innocent XI., condemned, in the 
year 1679, sixty-five other propositions of the Frobabilists, 
among which some samples of genuine villainy are to be found,*' 

recalls the monstrous haggling, thai is, the ProbabiUsm, of the Pharisees and TalmB' 
dists in the expounding of the !aw. That is probably not accidental, for the m^bof 

hud iti beginning in the thirteenth centniy, i.e., in a period in which Jewish sci 

probably exerciiied an influence on the theolc^ans of the Mendicant Orders. Gdde* 
mann (Jild. Litl.-Blalt, 31 Jahig., 29lh Oct., 1890) has laken offence because in tW 
first edition I had spoken of the " monstrous haggling about mor^l principles a.iiiaDe^ 
the Taimudists," whereas i; was only what was ritual that was in question. He wHl 
find now, in place of the expression objected to, the more general expression " about 
the law." But that hagglinR, moreover, had by no means to do merely with what 
was ritual, and was the ritual so different in Judaism of the old school from what 
was enjoined as moral ? 

1 SeeDenanger, p. 113 f. I refrain from reproducing these abominable theses, Iml 
direct attention to 1, z, 6, 15, 17, 18, 24, 15, 26, 28, 40, 41. 

= Decree of 5th May, 1667, in Deniinger, p. 217 ; " de materia attritionis non 
audeant alicujus theologicte censure alteriuave injuria? aut conlumeliie nota taxaic 
alterulram scntcntiam, sive negantem necessitatem aliqualis dilectionis dei in pne&ta 
attritione ex metu gehenns concepta, quae hodie inter scholasticoscommaniorvidehir, 
sive asserentem dict^ dilectionis necessitatem, donee ab hac sancta sede fuerit sliqnld 
hac in re definitum." 

* Deniinger, p. 2l8 f. ; one would need to sum up snd transcribe the whole of 
them in order to give a picture of this moral desolation. I content myself with 
adducing those relating to faith : — 4 : " Ab infidelitnte excusabilur intidelis non 
credens ductus opinione minus ptobabik." 5 : "An peccel mortaliter, qui actum, 
dilectionis dei semel tanlum in vita elicerel, condcmnate non audemus." 6 ; " Pn>- 
balnle est, ne singulis quidem rigoiose quinquenniis per se obligare prsceptum 
cttritatis erga deum." 7 : " Tunc solum obiigal, quando tenemur juslificari, et non 
habenius aliam viam, quajustificariandqua justilicari possimus." 10 : "Non tenemur 
prnximum deligere actu intemo et fbrmali."' 11 ; " Prrcceplo proximum diligendi 
salisfacere possumus per solos actus eKternos." 17 : " Satis est actum fidei semel in 
elicere." 19; " Voluntas non potest efficere, ut assensus fidei in 'ieipsositmagis 



firnius, quam mereatur pondu 
potest quis prudenter repudi: 



CHAP. 11.] CATHOLIC DOGMA FROM 1 563 TO iS/O. ID/ 

One must study the.se rejected propositions in order to see that 
among the Romanic peoples both the "morality" and the 
immorality of the eighteenth century had one of their strongest 
roots in the doctrine of the Je.suits. But the doctrine itself was 
worse than both ; it sought to show that the low-type moral 
code of cultivated society in the times of Louis XIV. was 
positive Christianity, provided only one did not renounce con- 
nection with the Church (by means of the confessional). Still, 
the worst extreme seemed to be now averted by the enactments 
of the Pope, by the complaints of the best Frenchmen, by the 
protests of many monks, and indeed of entire Orders. Within 
the Jesuit Order itself Thyrsus Gonzales took his stand against 
the Probabilist doctrine. And while his confreres succeeded, 
although Gonzales had become their General (16S7), in emascu- 
lating his great work against Probabilism before it was allowed 



gen ti liter vi 



cum notitia solum piobabili 
nan sit locuLus dens." 22 : 
medii, non autem explicita 
similive motivo ad 



" Assensus fidei supetnatu talis el utilis ad saluten 
revelationis, ima cum famiidine, qua quis Ibrmidi 
" Nonnisi fides unius dei necessaria videtur 

" Fides late dicla, ex testimonii 

a sufficit." 56: ",Frequens contessio et coram 

inl, est nota pnedestinationis." 57 : " Probabile 

lodo honeslam." iS: "Non tenemur confessario interrc^anli fateri 
peccati alicujus cansuetudineni." 60: " P3:mtenti hatienti consueludinem peccandi 
contra legem dei, natuiLC aut ecc]esi:e, etsi emendationis spee nulla appareal, nee est 
neganda nee difTerenda absolutio, dummodo ore profeiat, se dolere et proponere 
emendationem." 61 : " Potest aliqnando absolvi, qui in pioxima occasione peccandi 
veTsatur, quam potest et non vulc omittere, quinimo rlirecte et ex pioposito quseiit aut 
ei sei ingerit." 62 ; " Proxima occasio peccandi non est fugienda, quando causa 
aliqua utilis aut honesta non fugiendi occuitit." 63: " Licitum est qu^rere directe 
occasionem proximam peccandi, pro bono spirit uali vel temporal! nostro vel proximo." 
64 ; " Abselttlionis capax esl honiB, guatitunwis laborel ignerantia tnysleriontm Jidei, 
et etiarmiptr negligcatiam eliiaii ailfaiilem aisciat Biysleriuai sanitissima Iriiu'ta/is, 
« incarnationii domini tiostri /isu Chrisli." 65 : " Sufficililla mysteria semelcridi- 
litsse." If this is not a veritable "issue " of dt^ma, then there is no euch thing at 
ail. What did it matter that this particular thesis was rejected by Innocent if it was 
nevertheless the expression of a general view that was never rejected by the Popes > 
With regard to the 6ist thesis, it is to be rematked that Tamburini even imparts the 
advice to the father-confessor : " If thou observest that the penitent before thee is 
very much addicted to some sin, do not require of him an act of contrition for this 
special sin ; for there is a danger that, if be is expressly reminded of il, he wQl not 
abhor it from the heart, while he will have Utile or no difiiciilty in abhorrinB it in a 
general way, and when it is taken together with other sins " (Dollinger u. Reu.sch, 

p. 63r.i. 




to appear (1694), its power was broken at the beginning of the 
eighteenth century,' especially after Alexander VIII. in his 
Decree of August, 1690, had rejected two of the worst proposi- 
tions of the Probabilists (regarding philosophic sin).^ Yet at 
bottom Jansenism and Anti-Probabilism were solidarically 
united. If the former was struck down (Constitutio Unigenitus), 
it was only a question of time for Probabilism to raise its head 
again. And as for the doctrine of attritio, the Popes had only 
reached the point of neutrality regarding it. What did it avail, 
therefore, that in the first half, and in the middle, of the 
eighteenth century, Probabiliorism prevailed among the French 
clei^y and elsewhere — except in Spain ? From Attritionism as 
a source Probabilism was bound to issue forth again. " At the 
very time when the Society of Jesus was crushed, God raised 
up a new champion for Probabilism, and ensured for the Society a 
triumph in the future on which human foresight could not have 
reckoned." This champion was the founder of the Redemp- 
torists, Alphonso Liguori (1699-1787), the most influential 
Roman theologian since the days of the Counter- Reformation,* 
Liguori, the Blessed (iSrS), the Holy (1829), the Teacher of the 
Church (1871), is the true counterpart to Luther, and in modem 
Catholicism lu lias stepped inta the place of Augustine.* Through- 
out his whole life "a restless man of scruple.s " and a rigid 
ascetic, all doubts and all self- mortifications merely involved 
him more deeply in the conviction, that it is only in the 
absolute authority of a Father-Confessor — here the absolute - 
comes in then— that any conscience can find rest, but that the 
Father- Confessor must apply the holy law of God according to 
the principles of iEqui-Probabilism— as applied by Liguori, it is 
not different from Probabilism. By Liguori complete ethical 

' The purls referring to Gonzales have been treated with special fulness in 
published by Diillinger and Reusch. 

2 Dcnzinget, p. 235 f. It is true, on the other hand, that in theDecreeof December, J 
i6go, very excellent propositions are condemned (against Janaenism, but (hey v 
favour of the Probabilists) j see d. 3, 5-9, 10-15 (t4; " timor Behenna; non est ; 
naturalis"}. z6 : " Laus quie defertur Maria; ut Maris vana est." 

' Liguori and Voltaire were exactly contemporaries ; among the Romanic r 
they became the most influential men, the guides of souls. 

' Cf. the instructive section in Doliinger u. Keusch, pp. 356-476. 




scepticism was again established in the morality, and indirectly 
in the dogmatics, of the Church. Though Liguori does not go 
so far as the most shameless Probabilists of the seventeenth 
century, yet he fully accepted their method, and in a countless 
number of questions, inclusive even of adultery, perjury, and 
murder, he knew how to transform the vile into the venial. No 
Pascal took his stand against him in the nineteenth century ; 
there was a strengthening rather from decennium to decennium 
of the authority of Liguori, the new Augustine, and to-day 
he is supreme in all Orders, in all seminaries, in all manuals of 
doctrine.' Any remnants of Augustinianism that succeeded in 
surviving till the nineteenth century Liguori suppressed. The 
casuistic morals, together with Attritionism, have thrown 
dogmatic entirely into the background. Probabilism and 
Papalism have broken it up ; it is to-day, as circumstances may 
require, a rigid or an elastic legal order ^ — a prison from which, 
if the interests of the Church require it, one is not delivered 
until he has paid the last farthing, and again a building, into 
which one need never enter, if he only holds himself under 
dutiful subjection to the Church. 

' Cf. the most widely-used manual — that by Guiy. 

" This utilising according to inclination of given factors reveals itself in the numer- 
ous decisions of the Curia, with regard to theoEogical disputes of the nlneleentb cen- 
tury, especially in Germany, but also in France; compare the judicial processes recorded 
by Denzinger relating to Lammenais (p. 310 f, 311 f.), Hemes (p. 317 f., 3ZI f,], 
Bautain (p. 319 f.), the Traditionalists (p. 328 f.}, Giinlher {p. 329 f., 33° f., 33' f-i. 
Frohschammer and other German theologians (p. 332 f., 33S f.). Of greatest in lerest 
are the theses against " Traditionalism," i.e., sigainst faith, of Ilth Juoe, 1S55 (p. 
328 f.). Here the following is taught; " Ratiocinatio dci existentiam, animiE 
spiritual itatem, hominis Iibertatem cum certitudine probare potest. Fides posterior 
est tevelatione, proindeque ad probanduro dei esistentiam contra atheum, ad pro- 
bandum animsc rationalis spirilualitatem ac Iibertatem contra luturalismi ac Sialism! 
sectatorem aUegari convenientcr nrquit." " Rationis usas tidem pnecedit el ad earn 
hotninem ope revelationis et gratis conducit." " Methodus qua usi sunt Thomas, 
Bonavenlura. et alii post ipsos scholastici non ad ralionalismum ducit neque caus a fiiit, 
cur apud scholas hodiemas philosophia in naturalismum et panlheismum impingeret." 
Reason is brought into service when one needs it, and dismissed when it causes dis- 
turbance. The same course is followed with Holy Si;ripture, tradition, and faith. 




k 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. II. 



(3) The Vatican Decrees. 

After what has been set forth in the two foregoing sections, 
the proclamation of I'apal InfaUibiHty must appear as the 
necessary outcome of the development. If all authorities, the 
authority of the bishops, the authority of the Councils, the 
authority of tradition, the authority of Augustine, the authority 
of conscience, are detnoHshed, then in a Church that is based on 
authority a new authority must arise. That worlv of abolishing 
could only be carried on so victoriously because the new single 
authority was long held in petto, and there was an acting in 
view of it. All that was now required was that by a solemn 
act — an act of this kind could not, unfortunately, be avoided — 
the Universal Bishop, the living tradition, the Teacher of faith 
and morals who could not be deceived, the absolute Father- 
Confessor, should also be proclaimed as such. Those were 
mistaken who were strongly of opinion that the period was not 
yet ripe for such a proclamation; no, the time was fulfilled. 
All lines of development, those within and those from without, 
converged upon this goal. The former lines we have taken 
account of; the latter were given in the Romanticism and the 
reaction in the first deceniiia of the new century, In the timidity 
and weakness of those governing, in the indifference of those 
who were governed. With scarcely a word our century accepted 
what dared not have been offered to the spirit of any other 
century without calling into the lists an armed Europe, Catholic 
and Protestant.^ 

For students of the history of dogma the preparations for 
the Council of 1869-70, and the course followed at it, have no 
interest whatever. There were in Catholicism two parties ; the 
one was in favour of the infallibility of the Pope, the other was 
opposed to it, but did not know exactly what was to happen if 
it was rejected. That is the whole. Endless efforts of a 
political kind were at the same time put forth on both sides, 

1 The way had nlready been prepared l)y the Syllabus (Denzingei-, p. 345 ffi ), which 
condemned, in addition to many bad things, Ihc good spirit also of the nineteenth 



CHAP. II.] THE VATICAN DECREES. Ill 

instructive for the historian of politics, of no consequence for any 
one who wishes to follow the history of dogma.^ The Scheme 
of Faith of 24th April, 1870, contains in its introduction and 
four chapters nothing new; faith means the recognition of 
Scripture and of tradition, the holding all as true that is written 
therein, and the holding it as true in the sense in which it is 
understood by the Church, which alone has the right to 
expound. What was new was brought forward in the Scheme 
of the Church (iSth July, 1870) " Pastor ^eternus," or rather the 
formulating as dogma was new.'^ Christ has given to Peter a 
place above all the Apostles, that there may be a real unity in 
the Episcopate. The primacy of Peter and his successors is 
therefore real and direct ; it has not been committed to Peter 
by the Church. It is, further, a primacy of jurisdiction over the 
whole Church ; accordingly there belongs to Peter the " ordinary 
and direct power" (potestas ordinaria et immediata) as " plenary 
and supreme" (plena et suprema) over the whole Church and 
over each individual Christian. This "power of jurisdiction" is 
also in the full sense Episcopal, i.£., there belong to the Pope 
everywhere all Episcopalprerogatives(Chap.III.: "if any one shall 
say that the Roman pontiff has only the duty of inspection or 
direction, but not the plenary and supreme power of jurisdiction 
over the whole Church ... or that he has only the greater part, 
but not the entire measure of this supreme power, or that this 
power of his is not ordinary and direct over all the Churches 
and each one singly, or over all paators and believers and each 
one singly, let him be anathema."^) Thus the Pope is the 

'The proceedings of the Council have been summed up by Ftiedberg ; the fullest 
slatement has lieen given by Friedrich, 3 vols., 1877 ff. ; compare Frommann's, 
Hase's, and Nippold's descriptions. Interesting information in Friedrich's Journal, 
and in Lord Aclon's work, " On the History of the Valicao Council," 1871. For 
Ihe Council as viewed in the light of the history of dogma, see Janus, Der Papst und 
das Condi, 1369. Ultramontane account by Cardinal Manning (Getoian translation 
by Bender, 1S77). 

'Friedbeig, Proceedings, p. 740 ff. 

' " Si quis dixerit, Romsnum pnntilicem habere tantummodo (ifficium inspectinnis 
vel directionis, non autem plenam et supremam polestatem juiisdictiouis in univetsam 
ecclesiam. . . . aut euro habere tanlum poliores partes, non vero totam plenitudi- 
nem hujus supremie poteslatls, aut hanc ejus polestatem non esse ordinariam et im- 
medialam in omnes et singulas ecclesias, sive in omnes el singulos paslores el 
Melea, anathema sit," 




112 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CliAP. II. 

universal bishop ; he is the supreme judge, the infallible 
authority, " We teach and declare it to be a divinely revealed 
dogma : that the Roman pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, 
i.e., when, in discharging his office as pastor and teacher of all 
Christians (under what recognisable conditions is that the 
case?), he in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority defines, 
by the divine assistance promised to the blessed Peter, the 
doctrine regarding faith and morals that is to be held by the 
whole Church, exercises that infallibility by which the divine 
Redeemer wished His Church to be instructed in the definition 
of the doctrine regarding faith or morals, and therefore such 
definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves, but not 
through the assent of the Church, subject to no amendment. 
But if any one shall presume to contradict this our definition, 
which may God forbid, let him be anathema!" (Chap. IV.y 
The recollection of the past, the preparation of the Church's 
future, are thereby delivered over to the Pope, or rather to the 
papal Curia. Even dogma is by this Constitution reckoned, so 
to speak, to the papal domestic estate. What a victory ! All 
great controversies of the four preceding centuries are at one 
stroke waived aside, or at least condemned as of no importance. 
There is no longer any Episcopal ism, and whoever appeals to 
the old tradition as gainst the new is ipso facto condemned I 
All the conflicts that had at one time made up the life of 
mediaeval Catholicism are set aside, "they make a solitude and 
call it peace" (" solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant"). The 
Church has one infallible lord; it need concern itself no more 
about its history ; the living inan alone is in the right. 

History reaches its ends in strangely circuitous ways. Was 
this Constitution of the year 1870 perhaps to become in the 

1 "Docemus el divinilus revelatam dogma esse declaiamus : Romanum Pontificem, 
quum ex cathedra loquitur id est quum omninai Christianorum pastoris et doctoris 
munere fungens prosuprema sua apostolica auctorilate doclrinam de fldevel moribus 
ab nniversa ecclesia tenendam deiinit per assistentiam divinam, ipsi in bealo Petro 
promissaro, ea infallibilite poUere. qua divinus redemptdr ecclesiam suam in defini- 
enda doctrina de fide Tel moribus instructam esse Toluit, ideoque ejasmodi Romani 
pontificis definitiones ei sese, non autem ex consensu ecclesim irreformabiles esse, 
n huic nostras definitioni cantradicere, quod deus aveclat, pra^umpserit 




CHAP. IL] the VATICAN DECREES. II3 

future the means by which the Church should gradually free 
itself from the load of its past, from the Middle Ages and 
antiquity ? That would be an inversion of development such 
as is not unknown in history. Will the Constitution "Pastor 
jeternus" become perhaps the starting point of a new era of 
Catholicism, in which the media::val dogma that is already con- 
demned as of no importance, will more and more disappear, and 
there will develop itself from the Hcart-of-Jcsus worship and 
from the living devotion of believers, a new faith, which, again, 
may admit of being formulated without difficulty? On the 
basis of the complete reduction of all things to an ecclesiastical 
level, which the new dogma represents— for what is a bishop or 
archbishop to-day alongside the Pope, and on the other hand 
how much importance attaches to-day in Catholicism to a lay- 
man who has a warm feeling for his Church! — will there perhaps 
develop itself a living Christianity of the congregational order, 
such as the Church has never yet possessed? And will the 
Pope himself perhaps find a means, at the close of this develop- 
ment, for renouncing again the fictitious divine dignity, as a 
means was found in the sixteenth and in the nineteenth 
centuries for obtaining deliverance from the most sacred 
tradition?^ 

Foolish hopes, one will say; and certainly the signs of the 
times point in an entirely different direction. As yet the pro- 
cess does not seem to have run its course ; with infallibility, it 
appears rather to have reached only the beginning of the end. 
Not to refer to the fact that nothing whatever is said in the 
Decree of the personal qualities of the Pope ^ (can he not be 

J To that side of llie papal infellibilil)' on which it means Ihe authority of XXiefir- 
UMfl/ element as against the rigid aulhorily of the letter and of tradition, and, at the 
same time, represents the factor of proEtesS in the Church, I need surely onlyadTCrt. 
So long as the objective authority of the letter and of tradition is held to be divine, 
the personal element also must have the authority of the divine, that concurrence 
may be possible. 

'Gregory VII. already claimed for the individual Popes (not merely for the Roman 
Church) infallibility, nay, complete personal holiness ; for [hey possessed all that Peter 
bad. According to him the Pope's word is simply God's word (see Mitbt, Publicistik im 
Zeitallcr Grcgir'aVII., p. 565 f.). But at that time everything bad yet a certain un- 
certainty attaching to it, and even the absolute assertion had still something about 
it thai was not binding. 

H 



114 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. II. 

declared to be sinless, to be holy, can there not be ascribed to 
him a special miraculous power, can he not be regarded as a 
peculiar incarnation of the Godhead, can there not be attributed 
to him a connection of a unique kind with the Holy Virgin or 
with the Holy Joseph, etc.?) — at all events there lies in the 
"when he speaks ex cathedra" and in the " when he defines the 
doctrine concerning faith and morals to be held by the whole 
Church," a sting of uncertainty which must still be extracted. 
Many signs suggest that this is desired in authoritative quarters, 
and therefore may very well be done in the future. It is 
possible, nay necessary', that the " faith or morals " includes 
everything which the Pope according to his opinion needs in 
order to be Pope, that there is included, therefore, e.^., the 
ecclesiastical State. Let there be observed what in this regard 
the acute Jesuit, Paul Graf Hoensbroech, has stated in his book 
" Der Kirchenstaat in seiner dogmatischen (!) und historischen 
Bedeutung" (1S89), p. 74 f. :^ " . . . thus the entire teaching 
Church, Pope and bishops, solemnly announce r Under the 
circumstances of the present time the secular supremacy of the 
apostolic chair is necessary for the free guidance of the Church. 
To be in doubt of that, namely that this has been announced by 
the Pope and bishops, is impossible. As supreme pastor and 
teacher, the Pope addresses himself to the whole Church. The 
bishops of the entire earth accept the word of the teaching 
Pope and communicate it to believers ; and on the other hand 
as the supreme shepherd and teacher the Pope sanctions what 
the bishops have done. Hence we are entitled to conclude that 
this declaration of the necessity of worldly possession contains 
infallible truth ; consequently, every Catholic is forbidden to doubt 
this necessity, or to contest it." To one reader or another this 
conclusion may perhaps at first sight seem strange. The 
declaration as to the necessity of worldly possession is to contain 
infallible truth ? Does this necessity, then, belong to the treasury 
■of revealed truth, and will one raise the declarations of the 

■ I allow this quolaticn from the first edition to slatid, although the author has 
since become a Protestant ; in the disaertation there speaks, not Graf Hoensbroech, 
but the Order itself, although it does not r^;ard everything as necessary doctrine 
which the author has set forth. 




CHAP. II.] THE VATICAN DECREES. IIS 

Pope and the bishops regarding this to a dogma, to a real 
article of faith? Neither the one nor the other. But yet what 
we have said still holds true. To the Church of Christ there has 
been promised by its divine founder infallibility, inerrancy, in 
the case of all decisions that have as their subject the truth 
revealed by God by means of Scripture or tradition. To this 
truth of revelation contained in Scripture or tradition there does 
not belong~we repeat it — the declaration as to the necessity of 
earthly possessions ; and in so far as only a truth of revelation 
can become, properly speaking, an article of faith, a dogma, a 
decision as to this necessity never forms a dogmatic doctrinal 
position. But in order that the Church may be in a position to 
decide with infallible certainty on what are,properly speaking, truths 
of faith, it must evidently be able to pronounce its judgment with 
the same inerrancy upon everything which has an inner, necessary 
connection with these truths of faith. But the earthly possession 
of the Popes stands in such a connection with i/ie real truths of 
faith. For it is a truth of faith that to the Church, or, in other 
words, to the Pope, there rightfully belongs perfect freedom in 
guiding the flock committed to his care. But this freedom is, in 
its exercise, dependent on outward circumstances; it requires the 
use of outward means, and these means have therefore an 
inward, naturally necessary connection with the freedom itself 
Thus the Church can also with infallible certainly (note the fine 
distinction: "infallible certainty," not dogmatic infallibility I) 
specify those means which, according to the circumstances of the 
time, are useful or necessary, as the case may be, for the exercise of 
its divinely-intended freedom. Now for the present times the 
Church has declared earthly possessions to be necessary for 
maintaining the freedom that ought to belong to it, and the 
entire Catliolic world honours in this claim unerring truth'' * 

At the present time this last is not yet really done by the 
whole Catholic world ; but that is a matter of indifference. 
Unquestionably the "yes and no " of this argumentation leads 
up to the doctrinal position: "The Church places also the 

' Thus lliE "infallible certainty," or the "unerring truth," of papal claims, which is 
[tally equivnlent to dogmatic in&llibilily, is here made out even for provinces which 
are not de fide el moiitms. 




Il6 lUSTOKY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. II. 

outward and temporary means which it declares necessary for 
the exercise of its divinely-intended freedom under the pro- 
tection of the infallibility proclaimed in the year 1870." In this 
way the words " doctrine concerning faith and morals " 
("doctrina de fide et moribus ") are to be understood. What 
perspectives are not only opened up by but included in this in- 
terpretation, does not require to be demonstrated ; the Pope 
declares his politics to be infallible, and the Church-State comes, 
in a circuitous way, to be as much a dogma as the Trinity. 
This interpretation, which is a perfectly legitimate conclusion 
from the principle, has not yet been sanctioned in the highest 
quarters; but how much time must elapse ere it, too, shall be 
drawn ? What significance that has for dogma is quite obvious ; 
by the declaration of papal infallibility all dogmas are ideally 
threatened, by formally placing on a level " temporary " political 
requirements and doctrines of faith every dogma is materially 
emptied of its meaning. Of course it will always be added from 
that side ; " The Pope receives no new revelations," " faith and 
morals stand at an unattainably high stage," " the tradition and 
dogma of the Church remain unchangeably the same," "we 
speak only of ' infallible certainty,' not of dogmatic infallibility, 
when we declare the papal policy authoritative," etc. But what 
person of insight will drink poison for wine, because the labels 
of the bottles still retain the old inscriptions? There are still 
other dogmas in the air. If one will learn what they are, he 
must study the doctrines which the Jesuits foster as probable 
opinions of their Order. I arfi not aware, for example, that the 
opinion that all Jesuits will be saved has been departed from.^ 
Nor, so far as I know, has the report been contradicted that 
prayers to the Pope have appeared in print," 

We must not let ourselves be misled as to the true state of 
things by the Catholic systems of dogmatic which are still 
being constantly written, and by the general reflections on 
dogmas which may be read there. Besides, there constantly 
appear even there — in the assumption of implicit and quasi 

See DSUioger u. Reusch, Motalstreitigkeitcn, I., pp. 524-534. 
"By the Oratoii&D, Faber, if I am not mistaken. 



CHAP. II.] THE VATICAN DECREES, II7 

implicit dogmas (dogmata implicita et quasi implicita),' in the 
way in which a distinction is drawn between entire, half, and 
quarter dogmas, and, finally, in the scope given to the mere 
negation of doctrines — on the one hand scepticism, and on the 
other hand dogmatic politics. 

1 See the article "Dogma "by HeinHch <Wetzer und Weller III. z. Col. 1879 ff.): 
" Bolh in material and formal dogmas, whelher these truths be declared or not, other 
truths of &ith can be contained, and these tnilhs, so long as they are not in someway 
divested of their hidden character, or explicated, are called dogmata implicita. They 
are taught by the Church and believed by the faithful in the explicated dogmas, that 
is, they ate taught and believed implicitly. But there are two possible causes of the 
hidden character of such so-called enclosed dogmas ; the cause may lie in this, that 
while the truth in question is declared in Scripture and ecclesiastical tiadition, or is 
declared directly in a doctrinal deliverance of the Church, it is not declared with such 
clearness that every believer, or at least the well-instructed and discerning believer, is 
able to perceive it with ease and certainly. In this case this truth, while immediately 
revealed and set forth by the Church, is not revealed and set forth with sufficient clearness. 
There is here, as the theologians term it, arevelatioet propositioformaliset immediata, 
sed conhiia et obscura, ; such a truth has also been described as quasi implicita. For 
in the strictest and most proper sense implicita. dogmata ate those truths which are 
contained not directly and formally in revelation and ecclesiastical deliverance, but 
only as it were in their principle, from which they are . . . deduced by a logical 
operation. . . . On the question how far the infallibility of the Church extends in 
regard to such conclusions, and whether and how far such deductions drawn by the 
Chutch are the object of fides divina and therefore dogmas in the strictest sense," 
etc. Compare also the distinctions between propositiones hsereticie, erroneje, hxiesi 
le and fals^. 





CHAPTER III. 

THE ISSUES OF DOGMA IN ANTITRINITARIANISM AND 
SOCINIANISM. 

I, Historical Introduction. 

No Protestant Christian will read the prefaces that are prefixed 
to the Racovian Catechism (1609 lat, cf. the edition : IrenopoU 
post annum 1659) and to the German edition of that work 
(Rackavv, 1608, 1612) without being stirred to inward sympathy. 
The former certainly contains a splendid confession of the 
freedom of faith,' and the latter connects itself with the work 

1 "Catechesin scu Institutionem teligionis Christians, prouC earn ex sactis littctis 
haustam ptofitelur ecclesia nostra, damus in lacem. QuiE quia in non paucis al] 
alioTum Christ ianonim orbita disudit, non est quod quis putet, nos earn emittendo 
in publicum omaibas diversuni sendentibua, quasi misso feciali, bellum indicere aut 
dassicum canere sd pugnandum, Oitque, ut Poeta ait, ad 'Anna ciere vicos, 
Martemque accendere canlu.' . . . Non ijnmerito et bodie conqueruntur complures 
viri pii ac docti, confessiones ac catecheses, quie hisce temporibus eduntur editfeque 
sunt a variis Christianorum ecclesiis, nihii fere aliud ease, qnam poma Eiidos, quam 
tubas litium et vexilla immortaliura inter mortales odiorum alque factionum, Idque 
propterea, quod confessiones et catecheses ists ila proponanlur, ut its conscientix 
adstringantur, ut juEum imponatur hoitiinibus Christianis jiiiandi in verba atque 
senlenlias homiaum, utque e^e staluanlur pro fidei norma, a qui quisquis vel unquam 
transvefsum deflexerit, is continuo anathematis fulmine feriatus et pro hieretico, pro 
homlne deteriimo ac teterrima habeatur, c^loque proscriptus ad tartara detrudatur 
atque infernaiibus ignibus cruciandus adjudicetur. Absit a nobis ea mens, imo 
amentia, Dum catechesin scribimus, nemine qnicquam prcescribimus ; dum sententias 
nostras exprimimns neminem opprimimus. Cuique liberum esto suas mentis in 
leligione judicium : dummodo et nobis liceat aiiimi nostri sensa de rebus divinis citra 
cujusquam injuriara atque infectalionem depromere. Haw; enim eat aurea iUa pro- 
phelandi liberlas, quam sacne litters Novi lostrumenti nobis impense commendant, 
et in qua apostolorum primitiva ecclesia nobis exemplo suo facem prs^lulit . . . qui 
vero estis vos, homunciones, qui, in quibus hominihus deo visum est spiiitus sui ignem 
accendere, in iis eum extinguere ac suffocare connitamini ? . . . An vos soli geritis 
davem scientis, ut nihil clausum vobis sit in sacris litteris, nihil obsignatum : ut 
118 




CHAP. Ill,] HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 1 19 

of Luther, and gives a place to the Socinian Catechism in the 
history of the Reformation movement which began with 
Luther.' But both belong to that epoch in the development of 
the Socinian Church, during which it was already strongly 
influenced from without ; that Latin preface shows the influence 
of Arminianism, and the German preface does not represent the 
ortginai Attitude of the Unitarian-Socinian movement. 

Socinianism, however, is Itself a secondary product, and 
Faustus Sozzini was an Epigone; but an Epigone as Calvin 
and Menno Simons were Epigones. As Calvin was the first to 
give to the Romanic Reform movement its form, its force, and 
its attitude, and as Simons formed a Church out of the Baptist 
movement in the Netherlands and North-West Germany, so 
there belongs to Faustus Sozzini the great merit of introducing 
qviicquid occliiserilis, recludcre nemo queat et quicquid recliweiilis, nemo valeat, 
occludere ? Cut non meministis, unicum dumtaxat esse magis^Cnim nastium, i:ui isia 
competunt, Christum ; nos vero omnes fraties esse, quonim nulli potestas ac dominium 
in coii5cieiiCiB.ni alteiius cnncessum est? ECsi enim fratium alii uliis sint doccioreSi 
libertate tamen el jure filiationis omnea sequales sunt." On the Catechism having 
undergone changes since its first appearing, the redactors express themselves Ihns j 
" Non erubescendum putamus, si ecclesia. nostra in qnibnsdara proficiat. Non 
uliique clamandum credimus 'slo in filo, hie pedem jigo, hinc me dimoveri ne 

sententia pnefracte atqtie obstinato animo permanere. Christiaiii philosophi seu 
sapientisE illius supemae venientis atndidati est, fi-siSiju esse non aiOaSij, 
persuideri facilem esse, non pertinaciter sibi placenlcm, paratumque cedere senlentia, 
ubi alia viceiit melior. Hoc animo semper nostra edimiis." 

ipierace addressed to the illustrious University of Wittenberg: "For the further 
reason that we consider it proper, that the holy truth of the gospel, which originated 
in this illustrious University with the excellent man. Dr. Luther, end went forth from 
thence into the whole of Christendom, should return lo it with interest and in greater 
perfection and be laid before it for its consideration. But if anyone thinks (hat God 
was to repair In so few years, through Ur. Luther and others helping him, all the 
injury done by Antichrist during so many centuries, he fails to take account of God's 
way of acting and of His wisdom in all such matters — that all things, namely, are 
not revealed by Him at once, but that the revelation is by little and little, that human 
weakness may not be overturned and crushed by the perfection of His revelation, 
God revealed so much to men through Dr. Luther that devout hearts received great 
help. ■ . . But because beyond this many other doctrines still remained that may be 
great hindrances to men's obtaining the same salvation, it has been God's will 
gradually to point out these also through His servants, and in place of the detestable 
and wearisome error to bring to view more perfeclly from day to day His saring truth. 
We believe, moreover, that in accordance with His deep counsel He has used our 
congregations in Poland also," etc. 



120 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. HI. 

order into the wild, fermenting elements, and reducing them to 
the unity of Church life. 

) Viewed from the standpoint of Church history and the 
history of dogma, Socinianism has as its direct presuppositions 
the great medieval anti-ecclesiastical movements. Out of 
these it developed itself ; it clarified them, and combined them 
into a unity. It had itself, however, its main roots in the most 
sober and judicious critical movements of the past, just on 
that account it succeeded in bringing under restraint what was 
wild, extravagant, and fanciful. Anyone who examines even 
I rapidly the characteristic features of the Socinian system of 
\ doctrine will meet at once with a Scotistk- Pelagian and with a 
vcritico-Humanistic'^ element On closer inspection he will per- 
ceive also the remnants still of an Anabaptist element ; on the 
other hand there is an entire absence of Pantheistic, Mystical, 
Chihastic, and socialistic elements. 

That Socinianism represents an issue of the history of dogma 
will be disputed by no one. All that could be disputed is that 
it belongs to the universal history of dogma at all. This objec- 
tion has already been replied to above (p. 23J. A movement 
that was the precipitate of most of what had been occurring in 
vague form alongside the Church throughout centuries, but 
above all a movement in lifhich the critical thoughts of tlie 
ecclesiastical theology of the fourteenth and fifteetith centuries had 
come to unfold themselves freely, and which at the same time 
gathered into itself the impulses of the newer age [Renaissance) 
dare not be regarded as a movement of secondary importance. 
What is characteristic of the Antitrinitarian and Socinian move- 
ments of the sixteenth century lies in this, that they represent that 
destruction of Catholicism- which could be effected on the basis of 
what was furnished by Scholasticism and the Renaissance while 
there was no essential deepening or quickening of religion. In 
Antitrinitarianisra and Socinianism the Middle Ages and the 
newer period stretch forth hands to each other across the 
Reformation. That which was regarded in the fifteenth 
century as so incapable of being formed, an alliance between 

1 Even externally this flumanistic element is sliaped in an exlcemely chaiai 
my, e.g. in the Latin Preface quoted in part above. 




CHAP. III.] HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 121 

Scholasticism and the Renaissance, here appears concluded — 
in extremely different ways as regards particular points. Just 
for that reason there is inherent in these movements a prophetic 
element also. Much is already anticipated in them with 
wonderful definiteness, which appears, after brief advances, 
entirely suppressed within the Evangelical Churches for the 
time, because the interest in religion in the form that had been 
once adopted here absorbed everything for more than 150 years, 
and in an incredibly short time became enveloped in Schol- 
asticism. Historians of culture and philosophers for whom 
religion is a matter of indifference or a disturbing element, have 
therefore every reason to be deeply interested in the Antitrini- 
tarians and Socinians, in the " Enthusiasts " and pantheists, and, 
in contrast with them, to deplore the melancholy half-measures 
of the Reformers. But it does not follow from this that, on the 
other hand, one who recognises in the Reformation the true 
progress of history, is entitled to pass by these parties unsym- 
pathetically or with disapproval. The critical elements which 
they developed brought proBt not only to science, but ultimately 
to religion also, and they themselves only disappeared after 
Protestantism had included within itself in the eighteenth and 
nineteenth centuries all that they could furnish of abiding 
substance.^ 

We give in what follows a sketch from the point of view of tJie 
history of dogma of the religious movements which accompanied 
the Reformation in the sixteenth century, and conclude with an 
account of Socinianism (Unitarianism), which alone issued in the 
formation of a distinct Church.^ The breach with history, the 
despair about the Church as it already existed, the conviction 
regarding the divinely-given rights of the individual, were 
common to all the parties. Just on that account they cannot 
be sharply separated from each other. Starting from the most 

I The rapid developmenl of the Refotmalion .Stale Churches and National Churches 
— the friendiy altitude aS'^umed IQwaids the Lutheran Refonnatioii, tiist by the Eledoi 
of Saxon;, and then by other Princes — also brought it about, certainly, thai thete was 
a. rapid keeping clear of all that one was not necessarily obligetl to adopt. 

' The formation of the Mcnnonite Church docs not belong to the history of dogma, 
because in the matter ot Christian doctrine^it is otherwise as regards ethics— it fell 
back mainly on the definttioni of the Ancient Churches. 



122 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IIt_ 

different points (Chiliasni, M/sticism, Rationalism) they arrived 
not infrequently at the same results, because the spirit by which 
they were influenced in dealing with history was the same. 

I. One group of parties attached themselves to the pantheistic 
Mysticism of the Middle Age^, but at the same time to the new 
culture of the Renaissance, steeped in Platonism, and by havinf^ 
it as their aim to study, not words, but facts in religion and 
science, represented the extreme opposition to " Aristotle," i.e., 
to the hollow Nominalistic Scholasticism of the Church. They 
destroyed the old dogma formally and materially. Formally 
in so far as they not only abandoned respect for the decisions- 
of the Church, but also addressed themselves to setting aside 
the Bible as a law of doctrine (norma normansV and to adding 
to or placing above it the " inner light," i.e., the personally ex- 
perienced revelation of God and the speculation of the emanci- 
, pated spirit ; materially, inasmuch as the dogmas of the Church 
{Trinity, Chri.stology) began to be pantheistically re- interpreted 
by them, or to be allowed to drop as being erroneous. It is. 
well-known that that was not new; as long as ecclesiastical 
dogma had existed, i.e., from the fourth century, such tendencies 
had accompanied the Church, partly in concealed, partly in 
(-open, form. But it was new that among those representing 
( these tendencies, psychological observation, nay, experience in 
/ general, began to play an important part, and that there de- 
I veloped itself a distinctive self-consciousness (in the religious, 
the mora!, and the secular). In this way they attracted to 
themselves elements that raised their work high above what 
was merely fanciful. Certainly the most of those who are to be 

'That Augustine also (see Vol, V., p. 99 f., 125 f. note) exercised an influence 
here — at least on Seb. Franck — has been pointed out by Hegler in his Monograph, 
p. 283 f., nole. The same applies to the view stated by Thamer, that a thing is not 
trae because it is in the Bible, but via vend. But I cannot see that the right stand- 
point against verbal inspiration is found in the perception that "Scripture is an 
eternal allegory." That was already the view of very many Mystics of the ancient 
and niedixvaJ. Churches, and just on Iheir account an evangelical Reformation was 
necessary. That proposition, rather, is nothing hut the unveiling of the inspiration 
dogma. There is mote " historical criticism " involved in Luther's position towai-ds 
Scripture (" Prefaces") than in the attitude of the most enlightened enthuiiiasls who. 
reject the letter. While saying this, I have no wish to underrate the wonderful great- 
ness of the lonely thinker, Sebastian Fra.nck. 



IISTORICAL INTRODUCTrON. 



I2J 



CHAP. Hi.] 

included within this group knew as little as their Catholic op- 
ponents did of what evangelical religion is. They confounded 
it with the lofty flights of metaphysics, and just for that reason 
they still stood with one foot within the condemned circle of 
the dogma which they contested.' But in spite of their hostile 
attitude towards ecclesiastical Protestantism, some of them un- 
doubtedly came under the influence of Luther. Determined by 
him, but at the same time freed from the burden of the past^ 
rich and courageous in thought, possessed of strong and warm 
feelings, they were able in forward movements to raise themselves 
above ali their contemporaries. But their religion, as a rule, 
lacked the weight of simple and earnest simplicity ; their science 
— some of them were discoverers, but at the same time charlatans 
— lacked sobriety and restraint, and a restless temperament 
made it appear as if they were not to be confided in. With this 
group, which has a great importance in the history of philosophy, 
there were connected — nay, there directly belonged to it in part 
— on the one hand Schwenkfeld, Valentine Weigel, Giordano 
Bruno^the last mentioned shows by his appealing to the 
"divine" Cusanus, where the ultimate source is to be sought for 
—on the other hand, Sebastian Franck, the Reformer, strongly 
influenced by Luther, and, for a time, Theobald Thamer,^ the ' 
former in more than one respect citizen of a future Evan- 



1 At the dose of his life, Thamer really became a Catholic again, and Schwenkfeld 
would ralher have become Romish than Lutheran. That is significant. 

= Cf. Cairiere, Die philosophkche Weltanschauung det Reformat ionszeit, 2 Vols., 
2od ed., 1887, who deals very fully with Sebastian Franck, Weipel, Bohme, and, 
above all, Giordano Bruno. On Schwenkfeld see Hahn, Schwenkfeldii sent, de 
Chtisti persona Bt opere, 1847, Erbkam, Gesch, der protest. Secten, 1848, Kadelhach, 
Cesch. Scb.'s und der Schwenkfeld ianer, 1S61, Henke, Neuete Kirchengesch., I., 
p. 395 S. On Weigel see the Art. by H. Schmidt in Heizc^s R.-Encykl.' Vol, 
XVI. On Bruno compare the literature in Uebetweg-Heinie, Gesch. d. Philos. On 
Franck see Bischof, Seb. Franck, 1857, Hase, Seb. Franck, 1869 (Gottfried Arnold 
again discovered him) and Lalendorf, Franck's erite .Sprichwoiteisammlung, 1876, 
Weinkauff in the Zlschr. Alemannia. Jth Vol, (1877), p. 133 fT., Dilthey, Archiv. f. 
Gesch. d. Philos., 5th Vol., p. 389 ff. ; also the Art, by Men in Herzog's Real.- 
Encykl,', Vol. IV., Henke I., p. 399 ff., but, above all, the excellent monograph by 
H^let, Geist u. Schrifl bei S. Franclt, 1892. On Thamcr see Neander, Thamer, 
1842. On the younger spiritual kinsman of Franck, ihe Dutch Coomhett, Dihhey 
gives information : Archiv, f. Gesch. d. Philos., Vol. V., p. 487 ff. 



u 




124 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[chap. III. 

gelical Church that is to discard the Catholic law of the 
letter.' 

3. A second group, the limits of which cannot be determined, 
had its strength in its opposition to political and sacramental 
Catholicism, and brought into the field against this a new 
socio-political order of world and Church, Apocalypticism and 
,'Chiliasm, or contented itself with discarding everything "ex- 
I ternal," and adhering to a "Biblical Christianity" — but with a 
constitutional order for the true Christian communities. This 
group also simply continued the medisevat opposition to the 
Catholic Church, while it was evidently the ideal of the Fran- 
ciscan Spirituales, or the ideals akin to it of the Waldensians 
and Hussites that were regulative here.^ But the spirit of a 

■ Among other things, it is to be conceded to Dilthey Ibat the modern speculative 
tiieology (the religious universal theism and pantheistic deteiminism), which 
developed itself out of M3ratii:ism, has more distinct precursors in some sectaries of the 
Reformation period than in Luther wilh his " positiyistic penetration." But what, 
in my opinion, has more significance is that they drew practical and theoretical con- 
clusions from their piety to which Luther was unable lo force his way. What vra.s 
still held in common, the old dogma, he utilised with the view of showing Christians 
again the way to God. Of the fact that this common element was just at that lime 
beginning to be broken up through the operation of forces thai asserted themselves 
outside the doctrine of salvation, he had scarcely any inkling, or he phut himself 
entirely up from the impression of this. The tragedy of this historical fact is deeply 
moving ; but when did it happen otherwise in history? (see Dilthey, i.e. pp. 385 ff.). 

' RLtschl has directed attention to this. The regulative principles that Christianity 
must be realised as fellowship among the actively holy, that inability 10 sin may be 
attained, and that the Church has only a meaning as the product of the actively holy, 
derive their character from the Middle Ages, or say, from the andent Church. In 
numerous inves ligations, last of all in tlie dissertation, " Die Anfange der Refiirma- 
tion and die Ketierschulen " (Vortr. und Abhandl. aus der Comenius-Gesellschaft, 4. 
Jahrg. Stiiclt i u. 2, 1897), Keller has endeavoured to show that the Anabaptists and 
the kindred sects stood in direct and exclusive c 
(only the importance they attributed to late baptism is 
been a novelty). Along some lines he has really den 
not its exclusiveness, and, in my opinion, he bas also over-estimated the positive im- 
portance of the " Heretical Schools." A good and very complete sketch of the his- 
tory of the Baptists has been furnished by A. H. Newman, ' ' A History of Anti-Pedo- 
Eaptism fiom the Rise of Pedobaptism till 1609," Philadelphia, 1B97. One after 
another of these strong, worthy, martyr -spirited figures passes before us : most oi 
them contemplate joyfully the sure prospect of a violent death. Among the numerous 
monographs of which Newman gives a list, pp. 394-406, the works of Loserth are 



with the Waldensians 
■presented by him as having 
ted this 






; forthePre-Refotmat' 



e have a history of the Inquisi 




CHAP. III.] HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 13$ 

new age reveals itself among them, not only in their entertain- 
ment in many ways of Reformation thoughts, but also in the 
stress they lay on Christian independence. It is with this in 
view that their opposition to infant baptism is to be understood, 
which was a protest of the independent individual believer 
against the magic of redemption and the sacramental " char- 
acter." From the standpoint of the history of dogma this 
opposition was the main characteristic of the Anabaptists; for 
all other features do not belong to the whole group. With 
regard to dogma some of them are good Catholics, otliers are 
Lutheran or Zwinglian, others again are pantheistic and anti- 
trinitariau. It is very remarkable that the antitrinitarian ele- 
ment was not more strongly developed among them ; for it 
would seem as if the sharp antagonism to the reigning Church 
should necessarily have driven them to Antitrinitarianism, since 
the doctrine of the Trinity and Chrlstology form the chief part 
of the old detested Catholicism, and the discarding of infant 
baptism involves the dissolution of the Church as understood in 
ancient times. In this vastly great group also, which had its 
representatives during the sixteenth century in Germany, the 
Netherlands, Switzerland, Venice, Moravia, Poland, Livonia, 
and Sweden, and had connection with the Waldensians {and 
" Bohemians"), the modern spirit displayed itself in close asso- 
ciation with the mediaeval. Not only did the perception find 
frequent expression here also that the use of the Bible as a law- 
book is Catholic and a check upon religion — though, on the 
other hand, certainly, it was just among the Anabaptists that 
the most rigid Biblicism had its fanatical supporters — but even^ 
the simple evangelical spirit, which sought in religion for nothing 
but religion, and the conviction of the freedom of conscience, 
found a home in Anabaptist communities. We owe it to in- 
vestigations carried on during recent years that the pictures of 
excellent Christians, from the circles of the Anabaptists, have 
been presented to us, and not a few of these figures, so worthy of 



thirteenth to the seventeenth century, shall wc be able 
WIS carried on for well-nigh five hundred years againal 
by the Confessionitl Churches, 



126 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. III. 

honour and so full of character, have become more intelligible 
to us than the heroic Luther aiid the iron-willed Calvin.^ 

3. A third group — whose representatives are almost entirely 
men of learning, natives of Ttaly moreover — brings before us 
the thorough-going development of Nominalistic Scholasticism 
lunder the influence of Humanism. Only as long as Nominalistic 
Scholasticism maintained an attitude of submission to the 
Church, and just on that account sought with the one hand 
skilfully to rebuild, or to uphold, what with the other hand it 
Tiad demolished, was a union impossible with the critical 
culture of the Renaissance. But as soon as it withdrew from 
-the Catholic Church, and kept simply to its own points of 
■departure, independence of rational thought, theism, and 
autonomous morality, and thus really abandoned what its 
rational reflection had abandoned long before 'Catholic Dogma, 
Sacraments, etc.), modern culture could combine with it. That 
.culture contributed the historic element, the return to the 

1 Afier the Aoabaptists had sunk into oblivion, and even Gnttriied Aniold had not 
succeeded in awaking interest in, and intelligent appreciation of, their memory, the 
recollection of them 'ias been revived in our <Iays on different sides and in different 
wayii. In connection with this exaggerations were inevitable (Hagen, Deutschlands 
litL u. relig. Verhaltnisse i. Ref.-Zeitalter, 1841 ff. ; Keller, Die Reformation und 
dicalteren Retormparteien, 1885). Bat the estimate of them has certainly und eigone 
a change, having become much more favourable than it was in former time.s, and 
along with Cornelius, Kampschulte, and especially the historians of the Netherlands, 
Keller has contributed much to this. The more closely the history of the Reforma- 
tiOD in particular provinces and towns lias been studied, the more apparent has it 
become that these Baptists, entering frequently into alliance with Waldensian and 
Hussite elements, or falling back on former mediieval movements, formed the soil 
into which the Reformation was received, anii that for many dccennia they continued 
closely inter-connected with it in many regions. The strict conception of the evan- 
gelical principle which Ritschl has emphasised is certainly legitimate from a dogmatic 
point of -view ; but it must not be summarily applied to the phenomena of the Refor- 
mation period, otherwise the risk is run of choking the springs from which living 
water flowed. Again, we must not treat the " inner word " of the "enthusiasts" 
as a bugbear to be brought helplessly to the ground by the sword of the " Scripture- 
principle" ! for however certain it is that real "enthusiasm" promoted itself by 
means of the " inner word," it is equally certain that the " inner word " was also the 
expression for a religious freedom which Luther in his day knew very well, but of 
\ which he never so expressed the title that it became in his hands a dogmatic principle 
I limiting the Scriptui e- principle. The testimonium spiritns aancti internum which 
was left behind to the Epigones did not supply the want ; yet it is an important germ 
for a future that is still to be looked forward to in Protestantism. 




CHAP. Ill,] HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 127 

sources, the appreciation of philology, the respect for the 
classical in everything that comes under the category of 
antiquity. In no period have the Italians distinguished them- 
selves by a high degree of speculative capacity. So it is not to 
be wondered at that intellectual Humanism formed the means 
by which they delivered themselves from dogma in the 
sixteenth century. A real religious interest also was at work 
in this mode of emancipation ; where religion is not a concern 
for heart and conscience, there is no endeavour to improve its 
public expression. But the religious motive, in the strictest 
sense of the term, the motive that asserts itself within the 
Christian religion as the power of the living God, before whose 
Holy Spirit nothing that is one's own retains its independence, 
was'very remote from these Italians. Nor did they succeed in 
bringing about a popular movement even in their own native 
country; they continued to be officers without an army.' 



1 We have no exhaustive account of this entire school. Reference has srill to be 
made to Trechsel, Die protest, Aiititrinitarier vor F. Socin {2 voIe., 1839, 1844) and 
the special studies ia Socinianism. Yet see the valuable historic hints which Ritschl 
has given (RecQitrett. u. Veratihn., 1st ed., I., p. 311): "The fact that Fiustns 
ElSrmed of the hypothesis of Duns (God could also have redeemed us through a mere 
man) that it represented the real and neces&ary, presupposes a radical hreach with 
the universal faith of the Church. To this breach his uncle (Lelio), as nell as him- 
self and many other Italians, were led by the stale of Chtislian society in Italy. 
Here the empire had not recovered the authority it had lost in dealing with Gregory 
VII. and Innocent III. ; here the Roman Church appeared as the only possible form 
of Christian society. The Church dominated the masses of the people, whom 00 
expectation of ecclesiastical reform prepared for receiving the Reformation influences 
from Switzerland and Germany. It was for the most part only men of literary 
culture who were accessible to these influences, liut oviing to the state of public 
opinion and to the unbroken power of the ecclesiastical organs, these men were almost 
everywhere hindered from the beginning fnjm making a public appearance in the 
congregatiuns, and were forced to form themselves into secret societies. Their 
interest in the Reformation, even if it was originally directed to its ethical core, 
found there neither the requisite fostering nor the requisite control that are furnished 
by gi'^Tig piactical expression in public to the general religious consciousness. 
Hence it was that among so many Italians who attached themselves lo the Refonna- 
tioD, what was nourished was not the Church spirit, but, on the contrary, either the 
Anabaptist Sectarianism or the inclination to subject all dogmas to Scholastic criticism, 
or both together. For the Scholastic interest finds it as natural lo deal critically with 
the doctrines of the Trinity and reconciliation as to frame the correct notion of 
justification," 



128 



HISTORY OF DOGMA, 



[CHAP. III. 



4. The circles described under i and 3 represent in many 
' respects contrasted positions, in so far as the former had a 
strong leaning to speculative Mysticism, the latter to sober in- 
telligent thought. Yet not only did Humanistic interests 
throw a uniting bond around them, but out of speculative 
Mysticism there developed itself in connection with experience, 
to which value was attached, a pure thinking also ; and, on the 
other hand, the sober Italian thinkers threw off, under the in- 
fluence of the new culture, the bad habits of that conceptual 
, mythology in which the earlier Nominalism had indulged. 
\ Thus the two schools converged. The most important repre- 
sentative of this coalescence was the Spanish thinker — distin- 
guished also for his deeply pious spirit — Michael Servede. In 
him we see a union of the best of everything that came to 
maturity in the sixteenth century, if the Evangelical Reformation 
be left out of account. Servede had equal distinction as an 
empirical investigator, a critical thinker, a speculative philo- 
sopher, and a Christian Reformer in the best sense of the term. 
It is a paradox of history that Spain, the country that was least 
affected in the sixteenth century by the ideas of the newer age, 
and in which at the earliest date Catholicism was restored, 
produced this unique man.' 

Within the history of dogma there are two main points that 
must be kept in view in order to determine the importance of 
these movements : (i) their relation to the formal authorities of 
Catholicism; (2) their relation to the doctrines of the Trinity 
a.id of Christ.^ 

As to the first point, the statement can be quite brief: the 
authority of the presently existing Church as teacher and 
judge was renounced by them ; but they contested also the 
doctrinal power of the Church of former times. At the same 



1 On Servede see the numberle-s works \>y Tolliii, whnse intention was to illustiate 
the whole Reformation history " Serve tocenlrically " ; Kawerau in the Theol. Stud, 
u. Krit., 1878, III. i Riggenbach in Herzog's R.-Eiicjkl.=, Vol. XIV. ; Trechsel, 
Lc. I., p. 61 ff. 

* It is important also lo observe that a. large number of the Reformers had a leaning 
to Apolalastasis, and that they most hotly contested the Catholic notion of the 
Sacrament-i. 




CHAP. III.] HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 129 

time the relation to Holy Scripture continued almost every- 
where vague. On the one hand Scripture was ranged against 
Church tradition^nay, there was here and there a clinging with 
unprecedented legalism to the letter ; on the other hand, the 
authority of Scripture was .subordinated to that of the inner 
revelation, indeed, as a law for faith it was even entirely set 
aside. Nevertheless, it can easily be seen that the efforts that 
were made to discard, along with the authority of the Church, 
the absolute authority of the Bible, continued without any con- 
siderable result. Even those who brought forward the "spirit" 
against the " letter " had no thought in many cases of takings 
objection to the unique validity of Holy Scripture, but only ' 
wished to introduce a spiritual interpretation of Scripture, and to 
secure recognition for the good title belonging to the free spirit 
that is guided by the Spirit of God, The absolute authority of 
Scripture passed forth victorious in the end from all the move- 
ments that accompanied the Reformation and the Counter- 
Reformation. After some slight hesitation, Socinianism took 
its stand firmly on the ground of Scripture. There was no 
serious attempt made by the Reformers of the sixteenth century 
to shake this rock — if we keep out of view some excellent men. 
who really understood what the freedom of a Christian man is.' 
It was not due, or at least not in the first instance due, to them 
therefore, if a relation of greater freedom towards Scripture was 
subsequently secured in the Evangelical Church. This was'i 
rather a fruit of the inner development of Protestantism ; the 1 
continued influence of the ideas of Franck, Weigel, and Bohme I 
scarcely had to do with this result. By their holding to the ' 
Scriptures, as gathered together and made the subject of 
' Here Hans Denck, and above all Seb. Franck, are to be mentiuned with tionouri 
on Denck compare Keller, Ein Apostel der Wiedertaiifer, 1882, p. 83 IT., and else- 
where. Denck holds fast to the word of God jn Holy Scriptuie, but disputes the legiil 
suthority of the letter, and is of opinion that only the spirit can discern the spirit of 
the divine word. Franck treated the whole question tviih still greater thoroughness 
and freedom, see Hegler, I.e., p. 63 If., Henke, Neuere K.-Gesch. L, p. 403 : " In 
(he rejection of the * formal principle ' there was much thit was more scriptural than 
ihe doctrine that the Spirit is only given through the verbum externum." This is 
correct ; but Luther did not contend for the historical Christ under the rigid integu- 
ment of the verbum esletnum. The "innerword" nnd the Christus ei sciiptura 
sacra pnedicatus are not mutually exclusive. 



tiO' HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAT, III. 

preaching by the Church, the Reformers gave testimony to 
their common ecclesiastical character ; but they certainly 
shattered the foundations of the dogma ; for this rests, not on 
Scripture alone, but on the doctrinal authority of the Church, 
and on the sole right of the Church to expound Scripture, 
While the Reformers vindicated this right for themselves and 
for every Christian man, yet even on their part there was no 
passing (here, certainly, they went hand in hand with early 
Protestantism) beyond the contradiction, of asserting the 
authority of an extensive collection of books as an absolute 
norm, while the understanding of these books was left by them 
to the efforts of individuals. 
■. As to the second point : in all the four groups described 
jabove, Antitrinitarianism developed itself, but in different 
■ways.^ In the first group it was not aggressive, but rather 
latitudinarian. A latitudinarian Antitrinitarianism of the 
kind, however, was not wanting in the ancient Church also, and 
■even, indeed, among the Fathers of dogma ; it belongs in a 
certain sense to dogma itself. To soften by mystic pantheistic 
means the rigid dogma, to reduce the Trinity to " modes " 
■(" modi ") and to intertwine it with the thought of the world, to 
see in Christology a special instance of a constantly repeated 
occurrence, to contemplate the union of the divine and human 
natures in Christ as a perfect fusion, which has its ultimate 
ground in metaphysics, to recognise in 3.\\ dogmas encasements o( 
■truth, etc.— all these things were no novelties,^ Therefore even 

' Trechicl, I.e., whose meihod and classification, however, leave much to be 
■desired. The Antitrinilarians are dealt with also by Baur and Dornei in their works 
■on the history of the doctrines of the Trinity and Christology (cf., also the latter's 
■Gesch. d. protest. Theol. and ed., 1867). 

^ Even a proposition like that of Seb, Fianck, who, by the nay, was in no sense an 
Antitrinitarian : "The Christ after the flesh has served His time," had nn had meaniog 
.attaching to it, and has not the old ecclesiastical tradition against it (see also St. 
Bernard, Vol. VI., p. tj). P'ranch, who entered very deeply into speculation aboot 
the "fiesh" of Christ, only intended to suggest by this that we must not abide by ihe 
flesh. Hut must lay hold of the Spirit, the deity (see Hegler, I.e., p. 185 ff., 190 IT.). 
Many similar statements are to be found among the Reformers, and it is with injustice 
that they are frequently construed as heresies. That the spiritualistic tendency makes 
itdclf felt also in connection with the Christological dogma is not 10 be denied, yet 
there was really no injury done by lliis. Taken as a whole, the criticism of the two- 
nature doctrine was cautious and mild ; radical criticism was alnayi the exception. 




CHAP. III.] HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. I3I 

Schwenkfeld, Weigel, G. Bruno, and their followers were not 
Antitrinitarians in the strictest sense of the term, although 
their doctrines, by continuing to work as a ferment, served to 
break up the old dogma. ^ — Within the second group Anti- 
trinitarianism forms only one factor in the opposition to the 
state of things in the Church — which is entirely identified with 
Babylon — a factor, moreover, which for long did not make its 
appearance everywhere, and which, even where it asserted itself 
in conjunction with the rejection of infant baptism and with 
spiritualism and the doctrine of the apokatastasis, had very 
different motives underlying it Denck, perhaps the most 
excellent of the Anabaptists, scarcely touched upon Anti- 
trinitarianism in his book, " Ordnung Gottes und der Creaturen 
Werk " (God's order and the work of His creatures). He was 
concerned about more important things than the polemic 
against the doctrine of the Trinity; of the deity of Christ he 
never had any doubt. If he says in one place : " Omnipotence, 
goodness, and righteousness — these constitute the threefoldness, 
unity, and trinity in unity of God," this assertion is certainly 
not to be understood as directly Antitrinitarian. It was 
merely his purpose, as it was Melanchthon's in the first edition 
of his ** Loci," to withdraw attention from the Scholastic forms 
and fix it on the matter itself.^ His associate, Hatzer, a man 
of impure life, spoke incidentally of the " superstition of the 
deity of Christ," God being only one ; but it would seem that 
he himself afterwards attached little weight to this divergence, 
and his denial exercised no influence.^ The doctrine of the 

^ Just as the men to be mentioned in the following group carried on a polemic 
against the "external" conceptions of reconciliation (the satisfaction dogma); cf. 
Ritschl, Rechtfert. u. Versohnung, ist ed., I., pp. 305-311. Miinzer accentuated in 
a genuinely mediaeval way only the example of Christ, but was silent as to what was 
meant by His being the Reconciler. Denck's misunderstanding of a doctrine of 
Luther became the occasion of his entirely rejecting the idea of a general reconcilia- 
tion by Christ. Hence in his circle the doctrine of the deity of Christ became open 
to question. 

2 See Keller, I.e., p. 90. Trechsel, l.c. I., p. 13 if. Yet Trechsel's account has 
come to be out of date since Keller wrote. Henke I., p. 418 if. 

s Trechsel, l.c. I., p. 13 fF. Keim in the Jahrbb. f. deutsche Theol., 1856, II., 
and in Herzog's R.-E.2, VoL V. One who shared the views of Hatzer was Kautz 
of Bockenheim. 



132 



HISTORY OF JJOGMA. 



[CHAP. III. 



Trinity was more strenuously combated by Campanus in his 
book, "Wider alle We!t nach den Aposteln " ("With the 
Apostles against all the world "), a book that led Melanchthon 
to declare that the author deserved to be strung up (des " lichten 
Galgens" fiir wiirdig erkliiren). Yet the positive discussion of 
the question (" Divine and Holy Scripture restored and 
amended"), in which the doctrine of two divine Persons was 
maintained, the Son being declared consubstantial with the 
Father, and yet subordinate to Hira, remained a singular 
jphenomenon.^ In connection with a philosophy of history 
I (three Ages), David joris subjected the Trinity to a Sabellian 
I treatment, representing it as a threefold revelation of God.^ 
The restless traveller, Melchior Hoffmann, drew up a system of 
Christology resembling that of Valentinian,^ while the Venetian 
Anabaptist, Piclro Manelfi, proclaimed Christ to be the divine 
man, the child of Joseph and Mary,^ and succeeded in securing 
acceptance for this doctrine at an Anabaptist Synod (1550).* 
This happened in Italy; for there alone (in some measure also 
in Southern France, under the influence of Servede) was there 
freally a development of Antitrinitarianism. There alone did 
I it come to be, not one moment in conjunction with other 
Imoments, but the really critical moment. That took place 
/within the third group described above. The union of Humanism 
•with the Nominalistic Pelagian tradition in theology gave a place 
in Italy to Antitrititarianism as an actual factor in the historic 
movement.'^ Here the doctrine of the Trinity was broken up ; 
indeed, the discarding of it wa^ regarded as the most important 
means for securing purity and freedom for religion. Its place 
was taken by the doctrines of the one God and the created 

iTrechsel, I.e., pp. 16-34. 

"Nippold, in the Zeitacht. f. d. histur. Theol. 1863, 1864. Henke, I., p. 421 f. 

"Zur Linden, M.H., ein Prophet det Wiedertaiifer, 1S85. 

*On the gospel in Venice see Trechsel II., p. 32 ff. Benrath in the Stud. u. 
Krit., 188s, I- 

' Manelfi ullitnately became a Catholic again. 

«Cf. the entire 2nd Vol. of Trechsel's work. In his e.timate of Sociniaiiism 
DilLhcy lays stiess on the Humanistic element, the product uf ihc new Hemieneutics, 
while not denying the presence of the Scotislic element (Archiv. f. Gesch. der Philos., 
Vol. 6, p. 97 ff.). 




CHAP. IM,] HrHTOUICAL INTRODUCTION. I33 

Christ. There remained uncertainty about the lattur doctrine ; 
it assumed at one time an Ariaii, at another time an Adoptianist 
form : nor was a SabelHan element entirely absent. A note- 
worthy parallel to the history of the old Adoptianists in the 
Church presents itself here. Like the old Theodotians in 
Rome, these new Theodotians also were equally interested in 
the Bible and in sober philosophy ; like the old Theodotians, 
they formed only a school, in spite of all attempts to found a 
Church ; like the former, they worked with grammar, logic, and 
exegetical methods, and, as the former probably gave a sub- 
. ordinate place to the consciousness of redemption, so the latter 
were interested chiefly in religious illuminism (Aufklarung) and 
in morals. The more one enters into details {compare also the 
proof from Scripture) the more striking does the kinship appear. 
Italy produced a whole crowd of Antitrinitarians in the middle 
of the sixteenth century.^ Mention is chiefly to be made oH 
Camillo Renato, Gribaldo, Blandrata, Gentilis, Occhino, and tht 
two Sozzinis,^ This is not the place to give the history of thesi 
men, but the general course of the Antitrinitarian movement 
deserves consideration. These Reformers were not able to hold 
their ground in Italy ; they were obliged to leave their native 
land, and they accordingly endeavoured to secure a .settlement 
on the borders of it, in the Grisons, and in Southern Switzerland. 
Here they were brought into contact with what had been pro- 
duced through Calvin's influence. It was a time of great 
importance in Church history when Antitrinitarianism, coming 
from Lyons in the person of Servede, from the South and from 
the Grisons in the persons of the men named above, sought to 
obtain the rights of citizenship in Geneva, where a large Italian 
colony existed, and in Switzerland. The decision lay in the 

' I do not enler into Serrede's doctrine, ibr although this Spaniard was the most 
uatstanding AntitrinilariaD in the sixteenth century he did not succeed in exerci.iiog 
a permBnent influence. What distinguishes him from most of the Italian Anti- 
trinitarians is that his opposition to the docliine of the Trinity was ultimately based 
on pantheism. Modaliatic, Gnostic, and Adoplian elements furnished him aid in 
building up his Christology, which vias constmcted on NeopUtonic premises. Henke, 
I.,p. 423ff. 

I'Only the most important names are given here; see many others in Trechsel, II,, 
p. 64 ff. On Occhino see th.: Monograph by Benralh, 1S75. 



134 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [ClIAP. 111. 

hands of Calvin,' and Calvin had allowed himself at one time to 
speak very disparagingly about the Niceno-Constantinopolitan 
Creed.' Nevertheless, he certainly did not act against his 
conviction when he took up the most antagonistic attitude 
towards the Antitrinitarians, Although a narrowing of his 
standpoint was forced upon him by his opposition to the Geneveae 
" libertines," yet the logical carrying out of his system of faith 
itself required him to adopt the sharpest measures. He had 
Servede burnt, and by his powerful words the other Swiss 
Cantons, where there was originally (especially in B^sle) a more 
liberal Judgment, were kept from showing toleration and were 

' From the beginning the Reformed congregations did not taWe their stand so 
strongly ss the Lutheran on the doctrine of the Trinity and the Chalcedonian 
Cliristolc^, the reason being that Ihey thought of the Jie/ormation not as merely 
distinguishing them from the Catbulie Church, but as meaning a. ireach with the 
Church. Just on that account it was much more diiiicult there to lind sufRcient 
grounds for a. strict adhesion to ecclesiastical antiquity, especially when some passages 
of Scripture were allowed to cieate the conviction that the matter was not so plainly 
and unquestionably contained in the Bible. How many men there were in Switzer- 
land about the middle of the sixteenth century who, along with the other Catholic 
dcclrines, gave at least a subordinate place to those about the Trinity also I Among 
the Reformed enormous weight was attached to the argument that it does not befit 
& Chiistian to use expressions that are not to lie found in Scripture. Even men like 
iVeigerio were very favourably disposed towards the Antitrinitarians (see Trechsel, 
11., p. 117 ff.). It was really the case that in some of the Swiss National Churches 
Antilrinitarianism came very near being a.pproved. How great the crisis was between 
the years 50 and 60 is shown by the numerous letters on the Trinitarian question 
written at that time by Epigones of the Reformation. The pressure brought to bear 
by the Lutherans would scarcely have been strong enough to drive the free congrega- 
tions in Switzerland from the path of freedom. The decision lay in Calvin's hands, 
and he declared Antitiinitarianism heretical. This settled the nmtter for Geneva, 
Switzerland, the FalatinatE, and indeed for all the regions that were under the iron 
rule of the great lawgiver. If the question is simply dealt with by itself, it roust be 
deeply lamented that ttie Reformation, with a great advance immediately before it, 
did not take the decisive step. Yet if we consider that the most prominent Anti- 
trinitarians had no discernment of Luther and Zwingli's conception of faith, and were 
satisfied in part with moralism and illuminism, our conclusion must be that the tolera- 
tion of them in the sixteenth century would probably have meant the dissolution of 
evangelical faith, in the first instance within the area of Calvin's influence. By his 
draconian measures against the Antitrinitarians Calvin protected faith — i.e., Luther's 
faith. 

"See Kollner, Symbolik, I., p. 48; "palres Nicenos fanalieos appellai— s. 
Nicfenum battologias arguit — carineu canlillando magis aptum, quam confessionis 
formukm." 



CHAP. III.] HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 13S 

brought round to accept his strict principle. The Anti- 
trinitarians had meanwhile found an asylum in Poland and 
Transylvania. That the Italians were attracted to Poland 
cannot be explained merely from the great freedom that 
prevailed there in consequence of the permanent anaj^chy 
(sovereignty of the great landed proprietors) ; we must rather 
remember that there was perhaps no other country in Europe 
in the sixteenth century whose towns were so Italian as those 
of Poland. Poland did not, like Germany, pass through a 
Renaissance of its own ; but the direct intercourse between 
Italy and Poland was of the Liveliest kind : Italian master 
builders erected the splendid structures in Cracow, Warsaw, etc., 
and the more recent publications on Poh'sh Humanists show us 
how active an intercourse of a mental kind there was between 
J'oland and Italy. It was in part owing to these relationships 
that the Italian Reformers came to Poland ; they found their 
way to Transylvania, no doubt, simply because it lay on the 
confines of Christendom, and the general disorder prevailing 
there was in their favour. So also they found their way to 
England in the days of Edward VI., when the religious state of 
things there seemed to be undergoing a complete dissolution. 

In Transylvania and Poland there arose Antitrinitarian con- 
gregations ; indeed, in Transylvania the energetic Blandrata 
succeeded in securing formal recognition for the Antitrinitarian 
Confession as the fourth Christian Confession.' Within the 
anarchy freedom of conscience also found a home. Blandrata's 
positive confession, which he had kept concealed so long as he 
was in Switzerland and Lesser Poland, was strictly Unitarian. 
He did not recognise the eternal Godhead of Christ, but saw in 
Christ a man chosen by God and exalted to God. But the 
Unitarian Church soon became separated into a right and left. 
The latter went on to reject the miraculous birth of Jesus, and 
to deny His claim to divine worship (Nonadorantism). Its chief 
representative was Franz Davidis.^ To help in opposing this 

' In our literature we possess as yet no monograph on Blandrala ; his " confessio 
antitrbitaria" was re-issucd by Hcnke 'in 1794, cf. Heberle in the Tub. Iheol, 
Ztschr. 1S40, IV. An Italian monograph appeared in Padua in JS14 : Malacarne, 
Commenlario delle opere di Giorgio Biantlrate, nobile Saluziese. 

- He is regarded at ihe present day as ihc father of Transylvanian Unitarianism, and 



136 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[chap. 111. 



section, Fausto Sozzini came to Transylvania (1578), and with 
his aid Nonadorantism was really successfully suppressed. In 
Poland the Antitrinitarians mingled at first with the Calvinists.' 
Beyond the country where it originated, Calvinism appeared to 
be the most liberal confession, because it expressed itself in the 
strongest language against Romanism, Yet even in Poland 
discussions arose between the Calvinists and the " Arians," 
especially after the Synod of Petrikau (1562), which led to a 
definite breach. From that time there existed in Poland what 
were strictly speaking Unitarian congregations, which had, how- 
ever, no fixed order. Anabaptist, Socialist, Chiliastic, Liber- 
tinist and Nonadorantist tendencies here found room for 
themselves and sought to assert their influence. At this point 
Fausto Sozzini made his appearance. With the clearest insight 
into what was for him the truth, he united the most determined 
force of will and the gifts of a bom ruler. Out of the seriously 
endangered, unorganised communities he created a Church. In 
Poland arose a counterpart — poor enough, certainly, as a Church 
— to that Church in Geneva, which had expelled Antitrini- 
tarianism.^ It was quite especially to the credit of Sozzini that 
a new Confession developed itself from Unitarian ism, the 
Christian character of which cannot be denied, and which, after 
a history rich in dramatic incidents, found a place for itself in 
England and America and produced excellent men.^ 

But with all regard for the personality of Sozzini, it cannot be 



ss such is held in high esteem even by the English »nd North American Unitarians ; 
on him sfe the arts, in Ersch and Gruber's Encycl. and in the Kathol. Kirohenlex.* 
III. ; alaoForek, Socinianiam. I., p. 157 ff., 258 S. The subdivisions which followed, 
ranging from Nonadorantism Co the holders of Juilaism, are of no importance histori- 
oJly, though interesting, 

1 As also in Transylvania and England. Within the sphere of Calvin's influtnct- 
Antitrinitamnism could be checked only by a prohibition supported by force. On 
Antitrinitariani-m in the Calvinistic Palatinate, see Ilenke, I., p. 433 f. 

>On the consolidation of Polish UnitQrianism into Socinianism see the account nf 
Foek (Socinianism, ist Vol., 1847) pp. 137-'S3, Fock's book \i nn excellent piect- 
of work, which, however, were it to appear to-day, would be branded as heretical. 
On the elder Soraini, see E. Burnal, Lelio'Socin., Vevey, 1S94. 

' On Socinianism see the Protestant histories of Creeds ; Rambach, Hist. u. theol. 
Ein!. i. d. Relig.-Streitiglt. d. ev. K. m. d. Soc,, Snd Pan, 1753. Besides FockV 
work, see also Ritschl, Rtchlf. u. Vetsohn. isl ed. !., pp. 311-337. 




CHAP. III.] THE SOCINIAN DOCTRINE. I37 

denied that his faith was very different from the Evangelical, 
and that the criticism to which he subjected the Church doc- 
trine shows itself to be a logical carrying out of the Scotistic 
theology.' That has been pointed out in a masterly way by 
Ritschi.^ The Italian Reformer, who only found a field for his 
activity beyond the confines of the Roman Empire, placed him- 
self also outside the general ecclesiastical faith and outside the 
Church. He did not merely correct, as on superficial view he 
seems to have done, the ecclesiastical doctrine, he ignored the 
correct tendencies which led the Church to the doctrines of the 
Godhead of Christ, the Trinity, and satisfaction. One can agree 
almost everywhere with the formal criticism to which the 
Socinians subjected the orthodox doctrine and yet hold that 
the representatives of the latter displayed a much surer under- 
standing of the gospel than their opponents. But the expression 
in which this understanding of theirs was embodied — dogma — 
no longer satisfied. It was ripe for dissolution, and the Socinians 
put an end to it. That this refutation of it in the seventeenth 
century had a comparatively slight effect was due not only to 
the special circumstances of the times, but in a still higher de- 
gree to the resistance every religion makes to being driven from 
its positions by a criticism arising from without. 



2. The Socinian Doctrine. 

We have a comprehensive and detailed account of the doctrine 
of the Socinians in the Racovian Catechism (1639).* The way 
in which this work is laid out and the fulness of its detail are in 
themselves characteristic. Religion is the perfect and correct 
knowledge of the saving doctrine. Here the Socinians are at 
one with the Epigones of the Reformation, who ako had it in 
view to make out of the Church a School. This principle, 

' Dilthey directs attention to the spiritual conneclioii of the Socinians (anti I 
Arminians) with Erasmus (ArchLv. f. Cesch. d. Philoa., VoL VI., p. S7 ff.). 

5 See Ge&ch. Sciidien 2. Christ!. Lehre v. Gott, 3n! Art. in the Jahrlih. f. deul.sche 
Theol. Xril., p. 268 ff., 283 ff., and in Rechtf. u. Versbhn. I. i.e. 

* I quote from the edition Irenopoli past annual, 1659. 



I3S HISTORV OF DOGMA. [CHAI". [I!. 

when logically carried out, leads to denying the Christian 
religion of all who have not this knowledge. Some Lutherans 
in the seventeenth century went so far as this. Yet Faustus is 
willing to assert the thought, that there are other Christian 
Churches besides his own : Fie is tolerant. Side by side with, 
the definition which restricts the Church to those who have the 
" sacred doctrine " stands the recognition of the other Churches. 
But wherein, then, consists that " doctrina salutaris," if the 
greatest opposition exists between Socinianism and the doctrine 
of the other Churches? Faustus has omitted to point that 
out. 

The way in which the Catechism is drawn up is as Scholastic 
as possible. It is a course of instruction for producing theo- 
logians. After the definition : "The Christian religion is the 
way of attaining to eternal life that is pointed out by God 
through Jesus Christ," ' it begins with the question as to where 
we learn this way, and answers : " From the Holy Scriptures, 
especially of the New Testament." - The foremost position is. 
now assigned to the New Testament in the doctrine of religion. 
All fanatical elements are suppressed. That the New Testament 
is the sole regulative authority, source, and norm of religion 
cannot be declared more positively and dryly than by 
Socinianism. The Christian religion is the Theology of the New- 
Testament. In this there is the basis of the positive character 
which Faustus was led to give to his creation—a positiveness, 
certainly, which is astounding, as soon as we begin to reflect upon 
what religion really is. All knowledge of the divine is pro- 
duced from without, and it is simply included in the book that 
has once for all been given. It is not that Christ is the revela- 
tion in the book ; but " in the book God has made manifest 
Himself, His will, and the way of salvation " (p. S). If we 
recall here the fact that similar expressions are to be found in 
Calvin, we must not forget that as little as any other of the 
Reformers did Calvin ever leave it out of view, that the Bible is 
given to faith. But of this we find nothing in Faustus. There 

■ "Religio Christiana est via a deo per Jesum Chrislum monstcata vitam ^ternani 

° "Ex sacris litteris, prresertim Novi Testamenti." 




CHAP, in.] THE SOCINIAN DOCTRINE. 13^ 

is not even an approach made to discovering lines of connection 
between the outward revelation contained in the Bible and the 
nature of religion ; what we have, rather, is— on the one hand 
the book, on the other hand the human understanding. The 
latter is really the second principle in the Socinian dogmatic, , 
which has been not incorrectly described therefore as Supra-,, 
natural Rationalism. There is set over against the revelation '. 
contained in the Bible — not the man who longs after God, whoy | 
.sunk in sin and guilt, has no peace or blessedness — but simply ' 
man, as a mortal, but rational being, who is on the outlook for 
eternal life. Religion is a matter of interest for rational man. 
Faustus does not carry his conception of religion beyond this, 
undoubtedly correct, though extremely general perception. In 
this, and in his Biblicism, he reminds us of the Antiochene 
theologians. 

Section I. of the Catechism is entirely devoted to Holy 
Scripture. In the first chapter the " certitude of Holy Scrip- 
ture "{" certitude sacrarum litterarum ") is treated of (pp. i-io). 
Here external proofs, some of them of an extremely doubtful 
kind, are first adduced for the trustworthiness of Holy Scrip- 
ture. Then an appeal is made to its being inconceivable that 
God should have allowed the falsifying of a book in which He 
revealed Himself, His will, and the way of salvation. Vet an 
attempt is certainly made in the end to prove the credibility of 
the book from the truth, rather, of the Christian religion : the 
book is true, because it is the only source of the true religion. 
But why is the Christian religion true ? Because its founder was 
divine (divinus). How can that be proved? From His 
miracles, which are attested even by the Jews, and which cannot 
have been demonic, because Christ was an enemy of the devil, 
and from His resurrection. The resurrection, again, is to be 
established on the testimony of those who saw Him and went 
to death for this faith. We have only the choice^of regarding 
the disciples and all Christians who have lived afterwards as of 
unsound mind^Kjr of believing in the Resurrection of Christ. 
But, further, the history of the Christian religion furnishes a 
proof of its truth ; how could so many, relinquishing ali earthly . 
goods, and with the sure prospect of distress, shame, and death! 



\ 



f40 HISTORY OF DOCIMA. [CHAP. III. 

before them, have adopted it, if the Resurrection nf Christ were 
not a truth ? Finally, the truth of the Christian religion is 
proved by the nature of the religion itself (ex ipsius religionis 
natura) ; for both the commands and the promises of this 
religion are so lofty, and so transcend the spirit of man, that 
they can only have God for their author ; " for the former con- 
tain the heavenly sanctity of life, the latter the heavenly and 
eternal good of man." ' Hereupon still further grounds for the 
truth of this religion are derived from its "beginnings, progress, 
power, and effects" ("initiis, progressu, vi et effectis"). But 
with regard to its " power and effect " the Catechism knows of 
nothing el.se to say than this : " first, because it has been 
impossible to suppress this religion by any counsel or craft, by 
any power or might of men ; then because it put an end to all 
the old religions, with the exception of the Jewish, in which it 
recognised a character showing that it had proceeded from God, 
although it was appointed to flourish only till the advent of 
Christ, the Master, so to speak, of a more perfect piety." * All 
this applies only to the New Testament. The trustworthiness 
of the Old Testament is proved in the briefest way in the last 
paragraph : the genuine writings of the New Testament attest 
the Old Testament, therefore it is equally trustworthy. In the 
whole of this abstract line of statement, there is almost nothing 
that has religious worth save the distinguishing between the Old 
and New Testaments. Rut even this is cancelled again in the 
( end. Evidently Faustus had not the courage openly to reject 
\ the Old Testament ; neither had he the capacity to show how 
' Old and New Testaments represented different stage.s. On 
clo.ser inspection, however, the rational demonstration of the 
absolute worth of Holy Scripture is extremely uncertain and 
. therefore irrational. It is the first, and therefore it is an 
important attempt to establi.sh the authority of Holy Scripture, 
without making an appeal to faith : the " service " {Xarpeia) is to 



' ' "Nam ilia quidem Cielestem vilre sanctimoniam, h.-cc veio cielesle 
honiinia bonuin comprehend imt." 

' " Prima quud hssc religio nuUo consilio nee astu, nulla, vi nullaque hoinir 
polentia .supprimi poluerit ; deinde quod omnes priscas religlones austulerit, exct 
Judaica, (juam ilia pro ejusmodi agnovit quse a dco profecla fiierit, licet ad Chi 
toraquara perfections pielatis magtslri ad ventum solummodo vigere debueril. " 




THE SOCINIAN DOCTRINE. 



I4t 



CHAP. III.] 

'Show itself as "reasonable" (Xoyi *:»)), but unfortunately (iK/y as. 
" reasonable." What an undertaking it was for a Church to 
jirovide itself with such a Catechism : we must go back to the 
limes of Abelard, nay, even, of the Apologists, to find something 
i-imilar in Church hi.story ! Only to our age does this wisdom 
appear trivial, after its having reproduced itself in manifold forms 
in the eighteenth century. It was certainly not trivial at the 
beginning of the seventeenth century ; but it was devoid of all 
religious spirit, and at bottom not more "logical" than the 
Catechisms of those on the other side.-— The two following 
chapters (" on the .sufficiency and perspicuity of Holy Scripture," 
pp. 11-17) aretreated according to the same method. Scripture 
is sufficient, becau.se the faith which worketh by love is con- 
tained in it " as far as is sufficient " (" quantum satis "), To the 
question, how far that applies to faith, the reply is given : 
" In Scripture the faith is most perfectly taught, that God exists) 
and that He recompenses. This, however, and nothing else is the-- 
faith that is to be directed to God and Christ" Who does not i 
recall here the Nominalistic theologians, and those Popes/ 
(Innocent IV.) who asserted that the Christian only needs to\ 
have faith in God as the recompenser, while with regard to thel 
rest of the doctrines fides implicita is enough! The fides i 
implicita is thrown aside — Socinianism has reached its maturity! 1 
In what follows the commands regarding love are entirely 
co-ordinated with faith ; but then the question is raised, whether > 
reason is neces.sary in religion, if the Bible contains everything j. 
in perfect form. To this the reply runs ; " Yes, indeed, the use\ 
of right reason is great in things that pertain to salvation, since \ 
without it it is impossible either to grasp with certainty the J 
authority of Holy Scripture, or to understand those thing that ( 
are contained in it, or to deduce some things from other things, oiy \ 
in fine, to recall them that they may be applied. Therefore tuhen { 
we say that Scripture is sufficient for salvation, we not merely do-' 
not exclude right reason, but we altogether include it." ' In what '• 

1 "Immo ycto magnua ii^ciH! ralionis in rebus ad salute m spectantibus usus e^t, cunv 
sine ea nee saciamni litterarum auctocEtos certo deprehendi, nee ea, cjuie in illis cnn- 
tinentur, inlelligi, nee alia ex aliis cnUigi, nee denique ad usum revoeari possinL 
Itaque cum sacras lilltras siigicere ad salttlem dicimm, rectatn ratiintm mm taxtune 
non txeladimus, led omnino incltidimus" 



u 



142 HISTORV OF DOGMA. [CHAP. III. 

a childlike way clear understanding is here introduced into 
( religion ! Certainly it belongs in some way to it, and it means 
■an advance in theology that has significance for the world's 
history, when there is the desire to throw off all the burdens that 
had been heaped up by the old world on the Christian religion, 
its niysticisni, its I'latonism, its total-world-knowledge, in order 
to justify the religion — as it is to be derived from its classic source 
— before the human understanding alone. But a more naive 
form of expression cannot be used than that employed in the 
Catechism i " We include reason." With what do we include it ? 
■what kind of reason is it which must not be excluded ? where 
does it come in ? and what scope must be allowed to it ? It is 
only since Kant's time that men have begun to answer these 
questions. Previous to that time the controversy between the 
Socinians and their opponents was a nyktomachy (battle in the 
dark). After this the Catechism discards the " traditions," and 
at the same time carries on a polemic against the Romish Church. 
In the section on the perspicuity of Holy Scripture, there is 
importance in the distinction drawn between what is essential 
to salvation and what is not. Altogether there appears here the 
■advantage of reasonable reflection.' 

Section II. (pp. 18-23) treats of the way of salvation. In 
spite of his reason man was unable to find out this way of him- 
self, because he was mortal (here the element characteristic of 
the ancient Church appears in unconcealed form). The 
Catechism places the greatest weight upon the fact (compare 
the Nominalist doctrine) that Adam was created as a mortal 
man, subject to all ills. The image of God consisted simply in 
dominion over the lower creatures (the strongest opposition 
here to Augustine, Thomas, and Luther, at the .same time a 
view which sets aside every religious thought). The Scripture 
passages which represent death as having come into the world 
through sin were got quit of by a process of exegetical juggling : 

' On religion. Holy Scripture, and reflson, see Kock, I.e., pp. 891-413. Because 
the Bible and reason (ihe latter as a receptive and critica! oi^an) are represented as 
the foundations of the Christian religion , it was a current diclum among the Socinians 
that Christianity is supra, not contra ralioneni. The Nominalistic doctrine had 
4aught the " contra ralionem." 




CIJAP. III.] 



THE SOCINIAN DOCTRINE. 



H3 



Rom. V. 12. treats, not of mortality, but of c/ez-Ha/ death. Only 
in the second place is attention directed to the Fall: man is 
also made liable to death for the reason that Adam transgre.ssed 
a manifest commandment of God. "Whence it further came 
about that he involved his entire posterity along with himself 
in the same sentence of death, there being added, however, in 
the case of each adult, his own sin, the gravity of which is then 
increased owing to the manifest law of God which men had 
transgressed." ^ The exposition is not clear here. To the 
question, again, why then man, though he be mortal, could not 
himself find out the way of salvation, an answer is given which 
betrays at once the Scotistic conception of God i " because both 
so great a reward and the sure method of attaining it depended 
entirely on Gods judgment and counsel ; but if God Himself 
does not reveal them, what man can search out and know with 
certainty His counsels and decrees ? " ' This answer has a very 
religious ring; but the great moralists left quite out of sight 
here the moral law : the way of salvation is simply determitted by 
the absolute will of God. But what is the nature of this way ? ^ 
The Catechism answers quite evangelically with John XVH. 3. 
But wherein consists the knowledge of God and Christ ? " By 
that knowledge we understand, not some bare knowledge of 
God and Christ, consisting only in speculation, but the know- 
ledge conjoined with its effect, i.e., with the life conformed to and 
agreeing with it " ; * for so it is taught in ist John II., 3 f. Com- 
pare with this Luther's exposition of this passage, in order to 

■ "Unde porio faclum est, ul universam auam posteritalem secum in eadem morlis 
juTa traxerit, accedente tamen cujusvis in adultiuribus prupiio deticto, cujusdeinde vis 
per apcrtani dei legem, quam homines iransgiessi fuecant, aucta e.sl." 

^ "Quia et tantum premium ec ceria illud consequendi ratio ex solo dei arbitrio ac 
con?ilio pependet j dei autem consilia ac decreta ipso non rcvelante qnis hominum 
inciagare ac certo potest cognoscere ? " 

3 Tlie way of Balvalion has as its goal Ihe vila ^teina ; as man is by nature mortal, 
God has led him by the Christian religion into a new mode of being. That would 
have been necessary, even if sin had not entered. We have heie a perfect reproduc- 
tion of the doctrine of Theodore (of Mopsuestia) of the two Katasta^es ; see Vol. III., 
p. 280 f. 

* "Per cognitionera islam non nudam ali^uam ct in sola speculatione consislenlem 
dei et Christi notiliam inlelligimus, sed — . nwi sun effectu, h. e. vita illi confotmi ac 
! conjunctam." 



144 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. III. 

feel convinced that Socinianism has nothing in common with 
the Reformation. It is Ultra-Catholicism that it here teaches ; 
there is nothing whatever said oi faith (of fear, love, and trust) ; 
everything applies simply to the knowledge of God and Christ 
(notitia del et Christi) and a holy life. 

Section III. fpp. 23-45) treats of the knowledge of God as 
"the Supreme Lord of all things" ("supremos rerum omnium 
dominus"). Here we meet everywhere with Scotistic thoughts. 
The idea that God is the absolutely arbitrary One, and that this 
attribute is the highest that can be asserted of Him, cannot be 
more strictly formulated than in the sentence (p. 23) ; "The 
right, and the supreme power, to decree whatsoever He wills, as 
concerning all other things, so also concerning us, even in those 
matters with which no other power has to do, as, for example, 
our thoughts, hidden as these may be in the innermost recesses 
of our hearts, to which He can give laws and appoint rewards and 
penalties according to His own judgment." ^ How much higher 
is Thomas's position with regard to the conception of God ! 
The thought that God is the Being in whom we may confide 
was unknown to the Socinians. On the other hand, the 
doctrine of the Unity of God is very distinctly wrought out — 
although with TertulHan's (sec the Treatise adv. Prax.), or the 
Arian limitation, which is meant to prepare the way for the 
Socinian Christology (p. 25): "Nothing renders it impossible 
that that one God should share that dominion and power with 
others, and has shared it, though Scripture asserts that He 
alone has power and dominion."^ The attributes of God are 
then dealt with in quite an external way, i.e., apart from any 
relation to faith. Here the old Scholastic method has become 

I "Jus et pulKilaii sumtna, ul: de ceteris rebus omnibus, its et de nobis quicquid vclil 
statuendi, etULm in tig, ad quffi nulla, alia potestas perlingit, ut sunt cogiCaliones noiilne, 
quamvis in intimis recessibus cordis abditEc, quibus Ule pro arbitrie leges ponerc el 
framia ac panas statuere potest." 

> "Nibil pcohibec, quominus ille anus deus imperium potestatemque cum aliis com- 
municare possit et communicaveiit, licel Scripturaasseral, eum solum esse qui ait potens 
ac dominator." See also p. 32, where it is correctly shown that in Scripture the word 
"God" has a double meaning, (1) as principle and Lord of all things, {z) "eum 
denotat, qui potestatem aliquam sive Cieleslem iive in terris inter homines summam, 
aut qui potentiam virtutemque omni humana majorem ah uno illo dec habet t sic 
deitatis unius illius dei aliqua latione particeps est," 



CHAP. III.] 



THE SOCINIAN DOCTRINE. 



145 



entirely without substance : God's eternity is His being with- 
out beginning or end ; His omnipotence has its limits merely in 
contradictions in terms (coiitradictio in adjecto) (p. 26). To 
the question, how far the knowledge (notitia) of the divine 
attributes is essential to salvation, a number of answers arc 
given, all of which are only loosely related to faith. It is a 
poor — indeed an objectionable — thesis that is laid down when 
it is said (p. 27), that to believe that God is "supremely just" 
("summe Justus") is necessary' to salvation, because thereby we 
are persuaded that He will hold to His promises, or when (p. 28) 
the belief in God's higher wisdom is held necessary "that we 
may have no doubt that even our heart, than which nothing is 
more difficult to exp\Qre,/rom wkich, inoreoX'er, our obedience is 
chiefly estimated, is forthwith and without ceasing scrutinised 
and known by Him." ' On the other hand the doctrine of the 
Trinity is held as not necessary, but only as "extremely useful" 
("vehementer utile") for salvation— a bad concession (p. 30).^ 
The proof that is brought forward against this doctrine is in the 
first place rational proof (essentia = persona), in the second place 
scriptural proof. Here the Socinians did excellent work, and 
delivered exegesis from the ban of dogma. The arguments, 
especially the exegetico-polemical, are for the most part un- 
answerable. But on the other hard, the Socinians entered as 
little into the fundamental confession which dominates the 
utterances of Scripture, as into the religious tendencies which 
determined the ecclesiastical doctrine.^ The concluding line of 
proof, which aims at showing that the ecclesiastical doctrine of 
the Trinity is dangerous, and the Socinian doctrine of God 
" very useful for salvation," is not invalid, but very pithless.'' In 

1 " Ul nihil dubitenius, cliam cor noslrum, quo ad perscrutandiim nihil esl difficilius, 
illi proisus ex. semper peispectiiin atque cognitum esse, e quo etixtn obedienlia nostra 
potisaimuiu ^t^limatur." 

' See also p. 40 ; "ha^c opinio (ihe doctrin-e of the Trinity) damnare non videtur 
eum, cui nulla ecroiis suspicio mola est." Tha.t is also a Catholic thought (not the 
maleiiRl heresy, but only the formal, eondemtLs). 

sSee Fock II., pp. 454-477, whose criticism, however, of ihc ecclesiastical doctrine 
and of Socinian ism were determined by Hegel's philosophy. 

^"Ista opinio primum uniu.s del fidem faceie couvellere et la1>eraclave potest . . . 
secundo gloriam unius dei, qui tantum patei Chrisii est, obscurat, dum earn ad aliud, 
qui paler non est, Iransfert ; tertjo ea qus deo illi ntio el sumnio sunt indigna continet. 



146 



HISTORV OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. IlL 



the short chapter immediately following, on "the will of God," 
the placing together of what men knew of the divine will prior 
to the law (ante legem) and what they knew through the law 
(per legem) is instructive. Prior to the law they already knew 
(l) the creation of the world by God, (2) the providence of God 
with regard to particular matters (!) (providentia dci dc singulis 
rebus), (3) the rewarding of those who seek Him (remuneratio 
eorum, qui ipsum qusrunt). " Under this third point there is 
included a certain knowledge of those things which are well- 
pleasing to God, and by attending to which He is obeyed, while 
it is fitting that no one of those things that were known of old 
and prior to the law should have been omitted from the law of 
Moses " (p. 42 sq.).' Through the law (per legem) they became 
acquainted with the decalogue. Thus faith in the providence of 
God was included by the Socinians also in Pre-Christian 
knowledge. 

In Section IV. (pp. 45-144) there follows the knowledge of 
the person of Christ. On this much-disputed point the Catechism 
goes' most into particulars. What the Nominalists had spoken 
of as hypothetical — that God could also have redeemed us by a 
man — is regarded, now that the authority of ecclesiastical 
tradition has disappeared, as actual. In point of fact Socinianism 
has no ground in its own premises for recognising the Godhead 
of Christ, and if the gospels are brought in to determine the 
alternative, was Christ a God or a man, the answer cannot be 
doubtful. But Socinianism did not go on to deal with a deeper 
inquiry — namely, whether Christ does not so bring us to God 
that it is implied "that God Himself acts," and whether He has 

deum soil, ilium unum et altissimum alicujus esse filmm vel spirilumet sic habere 
palrem el sui auctorem, etc. . . . denique alienis a religione Christiana magno est 
ad earn amplectamkm impedimenlo " (pp. 38 sq.). 

' "In hoc vero terlio memhro comptehendiiur cognitio quicdara eorum, qua; deo 
grata sunt et quorum observalione ipsi obeditur, quonim olim et ante legem cc^ni- 
torum nullum in ipsa l^e Mosis fuisse piKtermissum consenlaneum est." To the 
question why it is necessary to know that God created the world the brief and cute 
answer is given : (l) "qwd deus velit, ut id ctedamus eaque-res ad summam dei 
glotiam pertioeat," (2) "quod nisi certo id nobis persuasum esset, nullam causam 
haberemus credendi, talem esse de reljus omnibus dei provide 11 tiam, qualem anie 
disimus atque ea ratione animum ad ei obediendum non induceremus." The first is 
>1 spoken from the standpoint of iailh. 



I 



Stolistic ; ihe second is at all e' 




L 



CHAP. III.] THE SOCINIAN DOCTRINE. 147 

not become that One in whom God has made Himself 
apprehensible in human history. Besides, in this section upon 
Christ it has not drawn up its positions from the standpoint of 
the community redeemed by Christ from death and sin. The 
negative criticism is here again almost at every point unanswer- 
able, in some places masterly ; the positive assertions as to what 
Christ is to His own fall short in respect of substance of the 
most attenuated doctrines of the most arid Scholastics : Christ 
is a mortal man, who has become immortal, but no ordinary 
man ; for from the beginning He wa<, through the miraculous 
birth, the only begotten Son of God. was sanctified by the 
Father and sent into the world, endowed with divine wisdom 
and might, raised again ("thus, as it were, begotten anew, 
especially as in this way He issued forth like unto God in His 
immortality "),' and finally invested with a power equal to God's.* 
Even while dwelling on earth He was "God" (by reason of 
the divine might and power the radiance of which appeared in 
the mortal) ; but He is God now in a much higherdegree. It is 
evident that these declarations, so far as they are a description 
of Jesus, coincide pretty much with the biblical testimonies ; but 
it is equally manifest that they are entirely worthless, because 
they lay down simply the product of exegesis, and are impose! 
upon faith as a law. The much shorter and much simpler 
testimony of Paul, " No one can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy- 
Ghost," is of immeasurably greater value, because it knows only 
of a confession of Christ that is divinely wrought, and thereby 
assigns to Christology its proper place. Socinianism, however, 
proceeds as the old School did. It esitablishes the doctrine of 
the person of Christ chiefly from Scripture; for this the old 
School used Scripture and tradition, and therein had an 
advantage ; for from tradition it obtained guiding lines. 
Socinianism merely occupied itself with bringing out the 

1 " .Sic denuo veluti Renitus, pr.tsetlim cum hac via immorlalHate deo similis 

aDillheyfArchiv, f. Gesch. d. Philos., Vol. VI., p. go) : "TheSocLniaTi Chrisloloey 
is eondilioned by the teliuioua horiion of the Humanistic system of culture, according 
to which messengers of God of different degrees of dignity are Co be recognised as 
witnested to by reports of ancient hisloty." 



14* HISTORV OF DOGMA*' [CHAP. HI. 

Scripture doctrine exegetically and with avoiding at the same 
time too sharp a conflict with reason. 

If we take a combined view of the Sociniaii doctrines of the 
person and work of Christ, it may be expressed briefly as 
follows: By virtue of a free decree God has determined that 
mortal men shall be raised to a new condition, foreign to their 
natural being ; that is, that they shall be guided to eternal life 
(second katastasis). For this, likewise by a free decision, He 
has raised up the man Jesus, whom He equipped through the 
miraculous birth with divine powers. This man has, as Prophet, 
brought the perfect divine legislation, inasmuch as he explained 
the decalogue and gave it a deeper meaning ; he further dis- 
tinctly announced the promise of eternal life, and, finally, gave 
the example of the perfect moral life, which he ratified in his 
death. " He transcends the limits of the Old Testament, inas- 
much as he reformed the Mosaic law, added to it new mora! 
precepts and sacramental appointments, gave a strong impulse 
to the observance of these by the promises of eternal life and 
the Holy Spirit, and assured men of the general purpose of 
God to forgive the sins of those who repent and seek to reform 
themselves. It is admitted that no man can perfectly fulfil the 
divine law ; and justification, therefore, results not from works, 
but from faith. But faith m^ans that trust in the law-giver • 
■which includes in itself actual obedience to Him, so far as that is 
practicable to men. Now Christ, by his resurrection, by his 
having obtained divine power, guarantees to all those who in 
faith as thus meant attach themselves to him, in the first in- 
stance actual liberation from sin according to the measure in 
which they follow the impulse he gives them to newness and 
betterness of life, and, further, the attainment of the supernatural 
end set before them; and also by the Holy Spirit, which he 
bestows, the previous assurance of eternal life, while with the 
commencement of this life the forgiveness of sins of the indi- 
vidual is complete."' 

■RilEchl, I.C., I., p. 315 f. Rilschl very coirecllv goes on lo say: "In ihis »c 
have a palpable indication of the praclical antithesis bolween Socinianism and Church 
Protestantism. In the latter the forgiveness of sin is regarded as the primary 
principle, in the former as the mote remote tesiilt of the Cliiistian life. The 



CHAi>. III.] THE -SOCINIAN DOCTRINE. 149 

The following particulars are worthy of note: (l) In the 
doctrine of the person of Christ the divinity of jesus is asserted, 
His divine nature rejected (p. 4S : "if we understand by the 
terms divine nature or substance the divine essence itself, we 
do not in this sense recognise ihe divine nature in Christ " ^J 
and the ecclesiastical view is argued against on the ground of 
reason and Scripture. The Socinians found special difficulties 
here in the passages of Scripture which assert pre-existence of 
Christ They sought to show that many passages when looked 
at closely do not contain pre-existence, and that others can be 
explained by assuming that Christ (like Paul) was caught up 
during his earthly life into heaven, and there beheld the eternal 
life and heard the perfect commands, so that John could say of 
Him that he came from heaven ; finally, it is to be observed 
that much is said in Scripture " figuratively " ("figurate") (see 
pp. 48-144, in particular p. 146 sq.).^ 

2. The doctrine of the three offices lies at the basis of the 
Socinian account of the work of Christ. The prophetic office, 
however, is dealt with most fully (Section V. and VI,, pp, 144- 
316). In fact, the whole work of Christ, .so far as it was clear 
to the Socinians, was placed under this heading, and we can 
easily see that it was an accommodation to the old doctrine 
when they added the kingly and high -priestly offices. Socinian- 
ism can really gather up everything in the proposition, that 
Christ has perfectly revealed to us the divine will. The scheme 

Ihe doctrine of Christ's satisfaction, which lies at the 
;w, thus admits of explaimtion from this point ; but this 
lie at the forgiveness of sins ss an accident of the Christian lite is at 
the staae time an indication that in Christ lb« founder merely of an ethical school is 
(liscemed, and not the founder of a religious fellowship. And if this conttaiiety does 
not alwa)^ show itself with clearness, if rather it must be allowed that Sodnianisni 
nevertheless establishes peculiar leligious aims, legulative principles, and condition.';, 
the circumstance is to be accounted for from the fact that Socinianism, as being the 
first attempt at the exhibition of Christianity as an ethical school, was still exposed to 
theinBuencesof a viewofChrislianity, which upto that time hadeitclusively prerailed, 
and from which it hod in pi iociple withdrawm itself.'' 

' " Si natura; seu substanti,i: divine nomine ipsam dei easentiam inlelligimus, non 
agnoscimus hoc sensu divinam in Christo naiuram." 

' It should always tie remembered that the Socinians were the first to liberate Ihem- 
selies in dealing with the Christo' t^ical passages of the New Testament from the 
ban of the Platonisiiig dermatic. 



150 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. III. 

of the high-priestly office is mainly made use of for controvert- 
ing the Church doctrine. 

3. For the prophetic office of Christ the following scheme is 
obtained (p. 148) : " it comprehends, first, the precepts, then the 
perfect promises of God, then, finally, the way and jnanner in 
which ive ought to conform ourselves both to the precepts and 
promises of God." ^ This is at the same time regarded as the 
content of the New Covenant, so that faith is not even 
mentioned. The first chapter now treats of the commands 
which Christ has added to the law (pp. 149-209) ; for the divine 
commands consi.st of the decalogue and the commands which 
Christ and the apostles added to it after discarding the cere- 
monial law. This discarding is looked upon as the trans- 
formation of the severity and rigour of the law (severitas et 
rigor legis) into grace and mercy (gratia et misericordia). Yet 
the commands that relate to the rightfulness of civil govern- 
ment are .still kept in force; "nay, even the Church of Christ 
implies the State, since it is nowhere congregated save in the 
State." ^ But it is quite certain that Socinianism did not yet 
rise above the medi.'Eval suspicion of the State and its legal 
ordinances, as can be seen especially from p. 194 sq. After this 
the decalogue is now expounded (p. 154 sq.), into which (under 
the first commandment) an exposition of the Lord's prayer is 
introduced. Christ added the Lord's Prayer to the first 
precept ; and he still further added to this precept the injunction 
that he should himself receive divine worship. The worship of 
Christ as divine is vindicated at length (pp. 164-176) in opposi- 
tion to Nonadorantism.^ In the second chapter (pp. 209-221) 

1 " Comprehend it tuni prsccepla, lum promitaa (id perfecta, turn denique madam 
ac ratianem, qui ma tl pmceflis el fromissionibus dei coaformare de&eamiii." 

^ " Quin et ipsa. Chriati ecclena. rempubHcan supponit, cum non alibi quam in 
tepublicacongrtgclur'Mp- 153)- 

3 " Ipsum etiam dominum Jesum pro eo, qui in nos potestatem habeat divinam, 
iatnqlie senau pre dm agHosctre ac poira ei conEdere ac divinum honotem exfiibeie 
ten>;mur." The honour thit is to be given tu Christ conslsla (p. 165) bnth in adnrstin 
and invocHtiii. This is eslahlisheil from Holy Scripture, and from the conviction of 
(ailti that he is our Lord, who can and will help us. The section relating to this is 
ung the best the Catechism contains. Of iho& 
1 invoke Christ it is said on p. 171 s(]. : "eo< 
:tenus non es.se. qlianivis alioqut Chrisli nomei 




e who aie no 


Willi 


g to worship 


, qui id facer 


nolu 


t. Christiaros 


n profileantur 


et do 


trinar illius se 



CHAP. HI.] THE SOCINIAN DOCTRINE. 151 

there follows the statement of the special commands of Christ, 
so far as these have a moral character. The Catechism dis- 
tinguishes here three commands : (i) trustful and constant joy 
in God, unceasing prayer in the name of Christ with the sure 
belief in the divine help, and hearty thanksgiving, (2) abstaining 
from love of the world, i.e., from the lust of the eye, the lust of 
the flesh, and the pride of life, (3) self-denial and courageous 
patience. Especially regarding the commands of the first class 
the Catechism understood how to say beautiful things ; but 
what it sets forth here was placed in no definite connection with 
Christ and with faith. In the third and fourth chapters (pp. 
221-228; 228-243) there follows the statement of the special 
commands of Christ so far as these have a ceremonial character, 
that is, of the commands connected with Baptism and the 
Lord's Supper. This mode of view decides at once as to the 
meaning Socinianism attributes to these observances. Baptism 
is defined (p. 221) as " the rite of initiation by which men, after 
obtaining knowledge of the doctrine of Christ and acquiring 
faith in him, become bound to Christ and his disciples or are 
enrolled in the Church, renouncing the world . . . professing^ 
besides, that they will regard the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 
as the only guide and master in religion, and in the whole of 
their life and conversation, and by their ablution and immersion 
and emersion, declaring, and as it were exhibiting, that they lay 
aside the defilement of sin, that they are buried with Christ, 
that they desire henceforth to die with Him and to rise to new- 
ness of life, and pledging themselves that they will really carry 
this out, receiving also at the same time at which this profession 
is made and this pledge taken the symbol and sign of the 
remission of sins, and even the remission itself."'^ The words 

adhzerere dicant." There then follows a repudialion of the Catholic Maiy and saint 
wuiship. 

1 " Riiua initiationis, quo homines, agnila Christi doctrina et suscepta in eum fide, 
Christo Ructorantui ec discipulia ejus sen ecclesi:e inscribuntur, renunciantes mundo 
, . . pnfiUittis vcro se patrero el lilium ct spiritum sanctum pro unico duce et 
magistio leligionis totiusque vilLie et conversationis sue habitnros esse ipsaque sui 
ablutione et immersione ac cemersione dtdaraiilis ac veluli refmistnlantet, se pecca- 
lorum sordes deponere, Christn consepeliri, proinde commoii et ad vilie novitaleni 
resurgere veUe, ut<^ue id re ipiia prxslenl sese olistringenles, siniul etinm hac pro- 



152 



HISTOIiY OF I'OUMA. 



[ciIAf. in. 



that are added quite at the end — entirely unexpectedly and 
with nothing to introduce them — indicate an accommodation.' 
Baptism is in reality a confes.sion, an undertaking of obligation, 
and a symbol. Infant baptism is rejected, but tolerated.^ Its 
toleration was due to the fact that little importance generally 
was attached to all that was ceremonial. It is a serious error 
to associate regeneration with baptism. Socinianism therefore 
resolved to have nothing to do with the Sacrament as Sacra- 
ment As in baptism immersion was accentuated, so the 
greatest stress was laid in the Eucharist on the breaking of 
bread, and it cannot be denied that Socinianism made a praise- 
worthy attempt to restore to this sacred observance its original 
meaning. But here also it avoided in a latitudinarian way 
uttering the last word ; or, it avoided a complete separation 
between the ceremony and the forgiveness of sins, which are 
united in the words of institution.^ Of the imrd in the 
Sacrament it took no account ; here also, under the influence of 
its Biblicism and its obedience to the arbitrary commands of 
God and Christ, it was ready to believe and do what was 
prescribed. Thus the Socinians appear here also as medijeval 
Christians, although they have struck out the Sacraments. 
The definition of the " breaking of bread " is as follows (p. 22^) : 



I stgnin. 



peccalorum ipsamque 



'The suspicion can scarcely at all be siippiessed th^t many Socinians expressed 
themaelves more positively than they had a right to do. Did they really estimate the 
forcaal authority of Holy Scripture so highly that they held everything as true ihat 
was contained in Scripture, even when it threw ridicule on theii exegetical skill? I 
cannot persuade myself that this assunipLion istiue, and believe that the "illuminisl" 
element was more strongly developed among them than their writings woold lead us 
to suppose. Thi; philolc^st, Justus Lipslus, a man o\ no characlei but of keen 
insight, has it his famous characterisation of the Christian Confessions of his day 
described the Socinians as "hypocrilit; docti." Fauslus at all events u'as an 

1 See p. 322 : it is not according to the mind of the Apostles ; but it is also no true 
baptism, for the form is not immersion ; "queni tamen errorem adeo inveteratuni et 
prsesertim citca rem ritualem, Christiana carilas tolcrare suadet in iis, 
qui certeroquin pie vivanl et alios, qui haic errori renunliaruni, nan insectentur, donee 
Veritas magis magisque patescat." 

On the words " for the foi^iveness of sins " the Catechism is simply silent. In 
the case of baptism they are at least referred to. 




ClIAl'. III.] THE SOCINIAN DOCTKIKK. 153 

■' It has been appointed by Christ the Lord that those believinji 
in Him shall together break and eat bread and drink of the cup, 
with the view of rem em lae ring Hinn or of proclaiming His death : 
and this must continue until He returns." ' Christ instituted 
this rite, because the remembrance of His death is the remem- 
brance of the must arduous part of His saving work. The 
Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinistic doctrines of the Supi^er arc 
expressly characterised as erroneous (p. 231), are controverted 
at length, and in opposition to them the symbolic doctrine is 
shown to be the correct one {p. 238 {.). Nowhere is any pro- 
minence given to a religious element ; the ceremony of breaking 
of bread is the confession of Christ and the remembrance of 
Him. There now follow — still under the head of the prophetic 
office — ^the two chapters on the promise of eternal life (pp. 243- 
248) and the Holy Spirit (pp. 248-359). The forgivene.s.? of sins 
here occupies only a subordinate place ; for it is simply a resu/t 
of the Christian life. The proposition ; " in eternal life there is 
included at the same time forgiveness of .sins " * (p. z-43) corre- 
sponds with ancient Christianity as it developed itself from the 
days of the Apologists, but it is opposed to the Pauline- 
Lutheran thought : " Where forgiveness of sins is, there is life 
and peace," On the other hand, it is a pritnilive Christian 
thought, for the assertion of which great credit is due to 
Socinianism, that the obtaining of the Holy Spirit (consecutio 
spiritJJS s.) precedes eternal life (vita aeterna) and produces it. 
Faustus re-discovered this thought as a biblical theologian, and 
gave an excellent formal unfolding of it. But how can the 
meaning of this "obtaining of the Holy Spirit" be correctly 
and impressivelj' stated, if forgiveness of sins is still left entirely 
out of view, or is taken account of only as a factor in eternal 
life?^ This life itself is described (p. 245) in the most super- 

1 " Est Chhsti domini institutum, ut fidf les ipsius panem simul frangant el comEdant 
ct ex calice bjbant, ipaius commeinorandi seu morlem ejus annunciandi causa ; quod 
(lermanere in adrentum ipsius oputtet." 
- " In vita aetfirna simul comprehensa est [leccatorum remissio." 
' Certainly at p. 244, and previous to the deseriptinn of eternal life, a deHnilion ni 
fotgiveneSB of sins is givi:n, which seems lo embract: very much. Bui, first, it quite 
hangs in the air (it is given wilhoul any indication of the connection with what 
precedes or whal follows) ; and, secondly, it entirely omits any reference to Christ 



«S4 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[chap. III. 



ficial way— it appears as the dregs of the old ecclesiastical 
dogmatic : "a life tliat is at tio time to come to an end, that is 
to be spent evermore in delight and divine happiness in heaven 
itself with God and Christ and the ble.'ised angels."^ Eternal 
life cannot be described otherwise, if it is not estimated by the 
dread and unrest of the .soul which, without Christ, finds in the 
thought of God only death. Instead of entering into the 
religious meaning of eternal life, the Catechism occupies itself 
with the juvenile Scholastic questions, whether eternal life was 
already promised in the Old Testament, whether even the men 
living before Christ could attain to blessedness, etc. On the 
■other hand, in the section on the gift of the Holy Ghost, there 
is pointed out by Faustus in the New Testament much more 
than he was himself in a position to understand. There is an 
infringement of his scheme^" the outer word of Scripture and 
reason" — when it is said fp. 251) that even the former can 
indeed give rise to a certain confidence in God, " nevertheless for 
implanting in our souls a firmer and more certain hope, in the 
power of which we shall be able to continue unsubdued amidst 
all temptations, it seems required that the promise set before us 
from without by the Gospel shall be sealed within by God 
through the Holy Spirit."^ But how disillusioned we are by 
what immediately follows, which shows that the Holy Spirit is 
only given to him who already believes the Gospel (p. 252). 
Faith therefore is man's own peculiar work, and is always some- 
thing preliminary : for faith the Holy Spirit is not necessary. 
Here again we have the clearest evidence that the fundamental 
spirit of the Socinians is Catholic, and this impression is not 
■weakened when immediately afterwards a keen polemic is 




and to faith. We can only conclude from ihis ihat the "gratuita a rcalu ac pranis 
peccaiorum liberatio " has nothing to do with ihe laori of Christ, but is an iinmotived 
decision of God, of which Christ, among others, has imparted knowledge. That this 
19 Teally so, see below. 

J "Vila nuUo tempore finienda, gaudio ac voluptate prorsus divina in ipsia coelis 
cum deo et Chrislo beatisque angelis agenda." 

' "Verumlamen ad ins-reiidam animis nostris firmioiem et ceitiorem spem, ciijus 
virlnte in omnibus tentalionibus invicti subsistamus, videtur requiri, Ht ea promissio 
exterius per evangelium pioposiln, interius a deo in cotdibgs nostris per spiritum 
sanctam ohsignetur." 



CHAP. III.] THE SOCINIAN DOCTRINE. 155 

carried on against Catholicism on the ground of its regarding 
the Holy Spirit as a person (p. 253 sq.). 

Very loosely attached to these discussions of the commands 
and promises of Christ, as forming the content of His prophetic 
office, are five excursus, "on the confirmation of the divine will" 
(pp. 259-261), "on the death of Christ" (pp. 261-2S8), "on 
faith" (pp. 2S8-293), "on free will" (pp. 293-316), and "on 
justification " (pp. 316-319).' We see here distinctly the effort 
to bring the whole material under the head of Christ's office as 
Teacher. The corroboration of the revelation of the divine will 
is to be sought for(i) in the siiilessness of Jesus, (2) in His 
miracles, (3) in His death. The necessity for His death is 
proved (p. 261 f.) on various grounds, from which — Scripture 
being followed — there are not absent His " having died for our 
sins " (" mortuum esse pro peccatis riostris "), the establishment 
of faith in the forgiveness of sins, and the preservation of men 
from the heaviest penalties. But the chief thing is, that Christ 
had to demonstrate His doctrine under the most difficult cir- 
cumstances, and on that account sealed it by the most igno- 
minious death. But from this point the line of argument passes 
at once to the resurrection ; the death of Christ yields "confir- 
mation of the divine will" ("confirmatio divinaj voluntatis "), 
only because the death was followed by the resurrection. To 
the objection, " I perceive that in the work of our salvation 
more depends on the resurrection than on the death of Christ,"^ 
the reply is given (not without ground in Scripture), " to this 
extent, certainly, that the death of Christ would have been 
useless and ineffectual, unless it had been followed by Christ's 
resurrection."' But why, then, does Scripture frequently derive 
everything from the death ? " Because even the death of 
Christ, the Son of God, in itself, when the re-awakening by 
resurrection takes place, has henceforth a pre-eminent and 
unique power in procuring for us salvation, as we have shown 

1 " De confirmalione divinie voliintalis," *'de morte Christi," "de fide," "de 
liberoarlMUio," "de juslificalione." 

3 " Plu<; in resurrections quam in Christi morte Eitum esse in nostrx salutis negotio, 
perspicio. " 

> " Hactenui sane, qnatenus mors Christi inulilis et inefTicax rmiira fuisae!, nisi earn 
a fuisset Christi resurreciio " (p. 267). 




IIISTOKV 0>" DOGMA. 



[CI 



(but that has been sliown only very vaguely). Then, because it 
was the way to the resurrection and exaltation of Christ ; for 
the former could not be attained by Him without death, owin^ 
to the nature of the case, nor could the latter, owing to the 
counsel and arrangement of God. And, lastly, because among 
ail the things which God and Christ did for the sake of our 
salvation, Christ's death was by far the most arduous work, and 
the most evident token of the love of God and of Christ for 
us."' This solution is by no means obvious ; why is death a. 
proof of love? The Catechism does not enter more minutely 
into this, but now directs itself against the doctrine of penal 
satisfaction (p. 268 sq,). It is well known that this point was 
brought out in the keenest light by the Socinians.^ 

In his " Prailectiones theologies," Faustus has contested in 
an exhaustive way the necessity and possibility of satisfaction,. 
i.e., he has controverted the thought in the same way in which 
it had been formerly framed. Just here, however, he only re- 
quired to continue the work of the later Scholasticism, to which 
nothing had become more uncertain than the rational interpre- 
tation of the value of Christ's death by the thought of a strictly 
necessary equivalent. Faustus contested the necessity of 
satisfaction from the basis of his Scotistic conception of God : 
God is by no means required by His nature to punish sin, and 
on that account to impose a penalty in all cases, even though it 
be on the innocent ; He stands, rather, above all compulsion, 
and in virtue of His absoluteness can act as He will. Even 
Scripture says that He is sometimes wrathful, sometimes pitiful,, 
but in the New Testament His unfathomable mercy is pro- 
claimed. Least of all can we deduce satisfaction from His 



" Propteiea quod et ipsa per se Chrisd 
:t singtilarem vim habeat in cc 
DeindE quod via fueriC ad resunectionEiii et 
per Tci naturam, ad hanc per dei consilium e 
non poluit. Denique quod ex omnihus, quie 
~" ' ;i opus fuerit maxime arduii: 



■videntis 



npatanda nobis salute, ut ostendimus. 
(nllationemChristL. Adillumenim 
e morte perveniie 
Christus nostriE salutis causa 
ititalis erga nos dei et Chri^lt 



arpimi 



aSee Fock, I.e., p. 615 tf. EiLschI, I.e., p. 316 ff. In his system of Chris 

doctrine, Strauss adopted almost all the arguments of the Socinians. In more te 

s Philippi especially has tried to controvert in detail the Socinian theses. 




CHAP. III.] 



THE SOCINIAN DOCTRINE. 



15? 



righteousness ; for to punish the innocent for the guilty is un- 
righteous. Neither can a necessity for penalty be derived from 
the nature of sin ; for in relation to God sin is an injury done to 
His honour ; but such injury can be unconditionally overlooked. 
But the idea of satisfaction is, further, an impos.sible one. as it 
leads to pure contradictions ; for (1.) remission and satisfaction 
are mutually exclusive ; if God has remitted sin, He requires no 
.satisfaction ; if He accepts satisfaction, there is no need of re- 
mission, since, in this case, the debtor is only under an illusion ; 
(H.) but even assuming that rennissioii and satisfaction could 
exist together, yet in this case satisfaction in the sense of 
substitution is excluded ; for (i) one can take over fines imposed 
on another, but not penalties that are personal, and that culmi- 
nate in the penalty of death; in this case transference is un- 
righteousness. No doubt innocent persons frequently suffer 
with the guilty ; yet if that has not been brought about through 
being involved in the sin of the guilty, such suffering is not 
penal suffering. But neither can it be asserted that Christ 
suffered as the representative and head of humanity ; for He 
did not as yet bear that character during the period of His 
earthly life, nor has His suffering death exempted anyone from 
death ; (2) Christ's positive fulfilment of the law can have no 
substitutionary worth, for to this Christ was morally bound, and 
His fulfilment of the law secures exemption for no one ; (3) the 
supposition that Christ both suffered substitutionally, and ful- 
filled the law substitutionally, contains contradictory elements, 
for if the one thing took place, there was no further need of 
the other taking place ; (HI-) bu.t even if the vicarious penal 
sufi"ering were possible, it would not attain its end, i.e., it would 
not provide an actual equivalent ; for (i) an individual equivalent 
can always have validity only for an individual case, not for the 
guilt of all men ; a single death is a substitute only for one 
death ; (2) it was neces.'^ary that the representative should 
really die the eternal death, but Christ was raised up ; (3) if it 
is urged against this that Christ was God, and therefore His 
suffering has an infinite worth for God, it must be said that on 
that assumption there was no need that God should subject 
Him to so much distress, because even the smallest suffering of 



L 



IS8 HISTORV, OF DOGMA. [CHAP. HI. 

the God-man would in that case have been enough ; but the 
appeal to the Godhead of Christ is lacking in force, because the 
Godhead is not capable of suffering. If the Godhead of Christ 
is nevertheless taken into the calculation, yet we may not on 
that account deify also the suffering itself, which was displayed 
in temporary and finite acts. This suffering must be estimated 
as finite, and hence it would have been necessary that the God- 
man should take upon Him an infinite number of satisfactions ; 
(IV.) the notions of vicarious satisfaction and of imputation are 
mutually exclusive ; that is to say, where the former has been 
rendered, everything further is excluded, the acceptance (accep- 
tatio) is itself implied in the satisfaction; if the orthodox 
doctrine asserts in reply to this, that God accepts the work of 
Christ on our behalf by an act of grace (acceptilalio), then His 
work is no satisfaction ; for there is " acceptilatio " only where 
no equivalent work is offered. Therefore the doctrine that God 
reckons the satisfaction of Christ only to faith destroys the 
whole scheme of vicarious penal suffering ; for Christ by no 
means wrought a perfect satisfaction, if it has only conditional 
validity ; (V.) the doctrine of vicarious penal suffering blunts 
the conscience, leads easily to mora! laxity, and checks the 
efforts of the will to fulfil the divine law ; (V!.) this doctrine is 
not contained in Scripture, and is in antagonism to clear pas- 
sages of Scripture (Cat. p. 270 : '■ The Scriptures testify every- 
where, but especially in the New Testament, that God gratui- 
tously remits to men their sins ; but nothing is more opposed 
to gratuitous remission than a satisfaction of such a kind as 
they wish "'). On the other hand, Faustus, like Duns and the 
Nominalists, will not exclude the thought of the merit of Christ 
as bearing upon our guilt. This merit, however, does not come 
within the system of duty and action which is imposed upon 
us.* Faustus was not confuted by the orthodox, in so far as 

1" Scripture passim devim peccata. hoininibus gratuko remittere lestantur, 
polissimum vero sub novo fcedcrc : at remissioni grauiitx nil advecsatur magis, quam 
ejusmodi qualem volunc satisfactio." 

' See RitschI, I.e., p. 319, whom I have followed also in repioducing the ciilicism 
of the balisfaction doctrine by FausLus ; " If the strict sense of the conception of duty 
is to have its validity maintained, then — for Faiislus — all merit of Chrii-t for Himself 
and for us is excluded. ' Nihil fecit, quod ipsi a deo injunclum non fuisset. Ubi 




CHAP. III.] THE SOCINIAN DOCTRINE. IJg. 

he demonstrated the worthlessness of the juristic thought- 
material with which they worked. But even in other respects. 
his contemporaries were unable to controvert him, because they 
themselves did not clearly discern the tendencies of the form of 
doctrine that had come to them traditionally, and hence were 
as little able to correct the mistakes in their mode of building 
up doctrine as to bring its excellences successfully to view. In 
failing back upon the position that the qualities of righteousness, 
and mercy exist in God with equal claims, they guarded, in- 
deed, the holiness of the law of the good, but did not find escape 
from contradictions. 

The appended section on faith is introduced with the idea,, 
that, now that the commands and promises have become known, 
a statement must follow on the way in which one has to 
"adjust" himself to them. This way, it is said (p. 288), h/ati/t, 
" by which we both embrace with our soul the promises of Christ, 
and henceforth seek, to the best of our ability, to keep His. 
precepts." ' Yet the Catholic notion of faith forthwith appears, 
in what is added : "which faith both makes our obedience more 
acceptable and veil-pleasing to God, and supplies the defects of our 
obedience, provided it is sincere and earnest, and brings it about 
that we are justified by God" ^ Thus it is the actual obedience 
debitum, ibi nullum venim el ptoprium metilum.' Thus it ia only in a sense different 
from the pruper one that the conception can be applied, what is presupposed being a. 
particular divine decree a.nd divir.e promise. Now as the latter adds nothing to 
what is understood as dutifulness of action, it can only give rise to the conception of 
merit when in estimating action, not the diitifijiness, but — by way of exception — the- 
voluntniiness is taken into account. This thought comes Eo coincide substantially 
with the definition of the conception given by Duns and by Calvin. And although 
Faustus opposes the latter, in so far as he relates — as Thomas did— the proper 
conception of merit to the legal estimalion of an action, yet he was at one with 
Calvin in aclually admitting the merit of Christ. This is a new proof that the 
conceptions of the merit and of the satisfaction of Christ are derived from quite 
different modes of view. batiafaction is derived from the presupposition of a 
reciprocal relationship that rests upon a puiely legal order ; merit from a. leciprocaJ 
relationship which ia moral, but is not conceived of from the highest point of view of 
law and duly." 

1 " Per quam et promissa Christ! animo complectimuc et porro przcepta ejus pro. 
virili exsequimur." 

' " Qu£ fides et obedientiam nostram deo commend atlorem gratioremque facit cC 
obedientix defectus, modo ea sit vera ac seria, supplet, ulque a deo justiGcemur 



L 




t 



ISTOkV OF nOHMA. [CHAP. IIT. 



that i.s the matter that mainly decides. This view is carried out 
in the strictest possible way. No trace is to be found of the 
evangelical attitude ; for the appended remark, that God over- 
looks the deficiency of obedience for the sake of faith, also 
contains a good Catholic thought. Catholicism puts in placu 
of this, submission to the Church, the fides impHcita. This was 
discarded by Socinianism; but it, too, substitutes for it a 
performance — the performance, namely, of faith. Thus it does 
not pass beyond the Catholic system of things. This system it 
endorses even in the details of its doctrinal deductions ; e.^. 
(p. 288) ; ■' faith in Christ is taken in a two-fold sense ; for 
sometimes it denotes that faith on which alone, unless something 
still furtlter is added, salvation does not follow ; sometimes that 
faith on which alone salvation follows."' In the first case there 
is meant faith without obedience, in the second case faith and 
the works of love. The section on free will is here inserted, in 
order to place over against the God of absolutism man with his 
empty freedom, and in order to abolish the Augustinian- 
Thomistic doctrines of predestination and original sin. ^ In 

1 '* Fides in Christum duplici ratione Rumitiir ; internum enim notat earn fidem, 
quam solam, nisi adhuc aliquid nliud accedal, salus nan consequitui ; inlerdum earn 
quam solam salus conscquitur." 

= See p. 294: "Lapsus Adit, cum unus actus fueril, vim earn, qucq depravare ipsani 
naturam Adami, mullo minus veto posterorum Ipsius posset, habere non potuil , , , 
non negainus Camen assiduilatc pcccan-di naluram hominnm labe quadam ec ad 
peccandum nimia proclivilate infectam esse, sed earn pcccatum per se esse negamus." 
As in Ihe case of ihc Nominalbts, the divine factor is only ndmilted as divinum 
auxilium, as extetius (Holy Scriplure), moreover, and inlerius. The way in which 
the doctrine of the ordo salutis is wrought out quite resembles Ihe way strenuously 
maintained at Ihat lime by the Jesuits in opposition to Thomism. Of tbe doctrine 
of predestination it is afhrmed (p. 300] : " totam reiigionem corruere facit et deo 
mulla inconvenienlia attribuit." The chief passages usually appealed to in support 
of predestination are minutely treated in the Catechism, and got rid of in tbe desired 
way by exegetical art- The criticism of the Calvinislic doctrine of predestination 
became everywhere the starting-point during the last third of the sixteenth century, 
when what was contemplated was to weaken the confessional system of doctrine and 
lo make the demand for a real toleration arising from ihe nature of the subject itself. 
See Coomherfs criticism as quoted by Dilthey (Aichiv. f. Geacb. d. Philos., Vol. 5. 
p. 491 ET. ), Arminius and his disciples, etc. Yet it must not be forgotten that even 
Ihe consciousness of election itself gave rise, in one branch of the believers in it, to 
the idea of toleration, or of the rights of the individual. Only the former, however, 
saw it to be demanded that religious peace should be established "through setting 
iversal principles of right and providing a simpliHed, general church theology." 



THE SOCINIAN DOCTRINE. 



161 



CHAP. III.] 

the section on justification it is not the Catholic conception that 
makes its appearance, though that was necessarily to be ex- 
pected after the explanation given of faith, but — strikingly 
enough — an evangelical view, deteriorated in the direction of 
laxity, and sadly perverted (p. 316): "there is justification 
when God regards us as righteous, or deals with us as if we had 
been quite righteous and innocent (!). But His way of doing 
this under the new covenant is by remitting our sins, and giving 
us eternal life."' This definition .seems to fall entirely out of the 
lines of the fundamental Socinian view. Yet we must remember 
here, that even Pelagius paid reverence to the special char- 
acter of the Christian religion. The Socinian proposition can 
only be understood when we (i^ consider that the Socinians 
could not entirely break with Paulinism, and (2) take into 
account that justification meant very little for them. The chief 
thing is the obedience which gives proof of itself in fulfilment of 
the law. Side by side with this stands — as a special feature of 
the Christian religion — the promise of God to overlook certain 
defects in that obedience on the part of Christians. At this 
point the contact with Paulinism is sought for, and the ierm 
justification, as denoting forgiveness of sins, is introduced. 
More than this, however, is not done by the Catechism. It is 
satisfied when in three lines it has in a way included justifica- 
tion in its inventory. To say anything more regarding it is 
deemed unnecessary ; for the two pages which are elsewhere 
devoted to justification, deal with the unimportant question as 
to whether even the Pre-Christian fathers were justified. 

4. The brevity of the chapters that still follow (" on the 
priestly office of Christ," pp. 330-331, "on the kingly office of 
Christ," pp. 331-339, " on the Church," pp. 340-355),^ is in itself 
a proof that the religious doctrine has been virtually conciuded 
when there has been explained the prophetic office of Christ 
(" praecepta et promissa dei "). But as these headings had to 
be taken up (according to holy Scripture), much is set forth 

' " Justificalio est, cum nos deus pro justis habel seu ita nobis cum agit, ac si jusli 
et innocentes plane fuissemus. Id vera ea ralione sub novo fadere facit, ut nobis et 
peccata remittal: el nos vita aetema donel. " 

'"'Demunere Christ! sacerdotali," "de muneie Christi regio," " de ecclesia." 



^ 



l62 HISTORV OF DOGMA. [CHAP. III. 

which does not fit into the doctrine, but as Biblical material 
traverses it. This is especially apparent in the section on the 
high-priestly office. Here the Catechism has not only em- 
phasised the perpetual priesthood of Christ on the ground of. 
the Epistle to the Hebrews (p. 320 f.), but has also adopted the 
thought of the perpetual "expiation of sins by Christ in 
Heaven"' (p. 321 sq.) : "Jesus carries on in Heaven the ex- 
piation of our sins, inasmuch as He liberates us from the 
penalties of sins by the virtue of His death, which he endured 
for our sins according to the will of God. For a victim so pre- 
cious, and an obedience so great as that of Christ, have the 
perpetual power before God of defending from the penalties of 
sins (as in Catholicism, the penalty, not the guilt, is the heaviest 
burden) us who believe in Christ and who have died with Christ 
that we may not live unto sin ; further, inasmuch as He per- 
petually guards us by His power, which He obtained in its ful- 
ness and absoluteness from the Father, and by His intercession 
wards off from us the wrath of God, which was wont to be 
poured out upon the wicked, this being what Scripture designates 
His appearing for us; then He frees us from the slavery of sin 
itself, inasmuch as He binds us over to Himself, partly by that 
same death which He suffered for us, partly by showing us in 
His own person what is obtained by hina who has avoided sin."^ 
It is expressly emphasised that only through His rising agdin 
has Christ become the heavenly Priest in the full sense. In the 
section on the kinglj' office it is first shown that Christ did not 
raise Himself (p. 333 sq.). This proof claims — very suggestively 
— the largest space ; it is followed only by unimportant explana- 
tions as to the nature of the resurrection body of Christ, the 

' " Expiatio peccalorum per Clmstum in cfelis." 

' "Jesus in cfelis expiationem peccalorum nostrorum peragil, dum a peccatorum 
pcenis nos liberal virlute moirtis sax, quam pro peccatis nosCris ex dei volunlate 
subiil. Victima enim tarn preciosa lanlaque Chrisli obedieotia perpetuam coram deo 
%im habet, nos qni in Christum cretlimus et Christo commoitui sumus, ne peccatis 
vivaraus, a peccatorum pumis defcudendi ; porro cium poteslale sua, quam a palre 
plenaiD et absolutam conseculus est, perpeluo nos tucCui et Iram dei, quam in impicis 
effundi consuevit, intercessione sua a nobis arcel, quod scriptuia inletpellationem pro 
nobis appellat; deinde ab ipsotum pcccaluinm semtute nos liberat, dum nos sibi 
mancipat, paitim moite itidem ilia sua quan:i pro nobis perpessus esl, paitim in sua 
ipsius persona Tiobis oslendcDdo, quid consequatur is qni a peccando desticit." 




. CHAP, in.] THE SOCINIAN I'OCTRINE. 163 

ascension, and the sitting at the right hand of God. In a few 
words the dominion of Christ over all beings and thinga is then 
described. Finally, the last section — on the Church^falls into 
four short chapters. In the first, the visible Church is defined 
(p. 340) as " the community of those men who hold and profess 
the saving doctrine" i.e., as a School.' Every other mark is 
expressly set aside; "there is no reason why thou shouldst 
inquire into the marks of the Church " (with the exception of 
the saving doctrine.) - The question as to what the true doctrine 
is, is answered by pointing to this Catechism with all that it 
contains.^ In the second chapter the government of the Church 
is dealt with (p. 342), "that order rests on the offices of persons 
to whom the Church of Christ is committed, and on carefully 
seeing and observing that individual persons fulfil their offices."* 
There are now distinguished, in accordance with Scripture, 
Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers, Pa.stors (Bishops), 
Presbyters and Deacons. In the course of exposition the 
offices of Teachers, Bishops and Presbyters are dealt with as 
one, and it is .said of the Apostles, Evangelists, and Prophets, 
that with its cause their e.\istence has ceased. Hence only 
Pastors and Deacons remain. The doctrine of Episcopal succes- 
sion is combated (p. 346) ; nothing is said of Ordination, In the 
third chapter (" de disciplina ecclesiae Christi ") follows a state- 
ment of the main principles of ecclesia.stical discipline, well 
established from the Bible, which ends by showing that the 
power to bind and loose is to be regarded as the "right of de- 
claring and announcing according to the Word of God, who are, 
and who are not worthy to be in the Church, or to be members 
of it" (p. 351).' The Catechism closes with the chapter 

1 " The Italians have a liking for free unions and academies of a sodo-scienlific 
chataclet." During Ihe whole time of its existence Sodnianisoi had maintj the form 
of a theological academy. 

' " Nihil est, cur de notis ecclesix quadras " (excepts salutari doctrina). 

'The current orthodox idea of the Church in Protestantism, and Ihe Socinian, are 
therefore identical, 

* " Ordo is situs est iu officiis personaruin, cjuibus ecclesia Christi constat, el in 
accuiata animadversione eC ohservatione, ut eingulce persouEt officiis suis fungantur." 

' "Jus declarandi et denundandi secundum dei verbum, qui ait dignns, qui non, 
ut sit in ecclesia seu membrum ecclesix." 



l64 



HISTORV OF DOUMA. 



[CHAP. III. 



" on the invisible Church " (p. 352 sq.). Here again the Catholic 
mode of view is very striking. The exposition begins by saying, 
that Holy Scripture " scarcely anywhere " distinguishes a com- 
pany of truly pious men {" coetus vere piorum hominum ") from 
the visible Church, since all truly pious men also belong to the 
visible Church ; yet it is to be admitted that the latter is often 
spoken of as being everything it ought to be, while really it is 
not. Therefore we can frame the conception of a Church 
as denoting "a certain multitude of truly pious men, together 
with the union that is among them, which, in a certain figurative 
and metaphorical sense may be legitimately called a Church, for 
truly pious men, scattered here and there or even remaining hid, 
if indeed true piety allo2us t/tem to be hid (!),' can only in an 
improper sense be called a Church."^ Taken in this guarded 
way, the conception of the invisible Church is accepted. With 
regard to it the assertion is made, that by it, that is by all who 
truly believe in Christ and obey Him, is represented in the most 
perfect way the body of Christ. This Church, however, is 
, invisible, because faith and true piety cannot be seen with the 
bodily eye ; but even from " outward actions " (" factis exterior- 
Ibus ") it can only be established that one is not a member of 
Christ, but not that he is. With this the Catechism concludes, 
there being added the exhortation (p. 355) : " I have now set 
before thee all things that could concisely be said by me regard- 
ing this matter ; what remains for thee is that, having honestly 
come to perceive them and know them, thou shalt fix them in 
thy mind and regulate thy life in the way prescribed by 
them."^ 

1 of course if every vere pius must be a schoolmaster it is unlikely that he will 
remain hidden. 

' " Quiedam hominum vere piorum multitudo ac eoruni inter sese conjunctio, quam 
per similitudinem quandam et metaphorara ecclesiam appellare liceat, nam vere pii 
hinc inde dispersi vel etiam latenles, si modo vera pietas latere sitiat, nonnisi im- 
proprie ecclesia dici possunt." 

* "Jam omnia quje a me compendio dici hac de re potuere tibi exposui ; tuimi est 
ut lis probe perceptis atque cognitia ei menti infigas et secundum eorum priescriplum 
vitam instituas." 



CHAP. III.] THE SOCINIAN DOCTRINE. iGS 

In modern Catholicism we have the neutralising, in Socin- 
ianism the self-disintegration of dogma ; the preceding course 
of exposition will have shown that in its fundamental nature the 
latter is nothing else than the Nominalist doctrine, with its 
principle logically carried out. As the Anabaptists and the 
pantheistic mystics of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 
are medieval phenomena, though fhey are not unaffected by the 
spirit of a more modern age, the Socinians are not the " Ultra's 
of the Reformation," but the successors of the Scotists. 

But the development of dogma along Nominalistic lines has 
here come to its conclusion ; dogma is dissolved. Certainly as 
in every case of disintegration there are not wanting residuary 
products. Adoptian, Arian, Pelagian motives and doctrines, 
which seemed to have been subdued by dogma, make their 
appearance again, and the strict holding to Scripture as the 
source and authority for faith and for the system of Christian 
doctrine, makes it seem even as if Socinianism held a very con- 
servative attitude. Nevertheless the breach with history, and 
with what had hitherto been called dogma is evident. 
Nominalism adhered to the living authority of the Church, 
indeed in this adherence it gave expression to its religious conviction, 
even though the validity of this conviction had to be purchased 
by renouncing a homogeneous view of God and the world. 
Socinianism overcame the scepticism of Nominalism that sprang 
from religious requirements; it is no longer, like Nominalism, 
divided within \\.?,€tX—\X.\s doginatistic indeed — ; but while throw- 
ing off the authority of Church and tradition, it at the same 
time greatly lost power to understand and to feel what religion 
is ; its " doctrines of faith," so confidently proclaimed, are, so far 
as they are homogeneously and strictly drawn up, nothing else 
than the dogmatism of the so-called sound human understanding, 
to which the Bible commends itself, when it is dealt with 
rationally. 

And yet Socinianism is by no means simply a mediaeval, or, 
for that part, only a pathological phenomenon ; it is seen also, 
rather, to be a product of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries 
and represents a powerful advance in the history of religion, 
though it is only an indirect one. We can sum up what it 



l66 HISTORV OK DOGMA. [CHAP. III. 

accompiished in the following theses : (i) it acquired the laud- 
able courage to simplify the question as to the nature 
and import of the Christian religion, to throw off, in spite of 
Catholics, Lutherans and Caivinists, the burden of the past, to 
reduce to fragments by means of the understanding the system 
of dogma, itself the work of mis-directed understanding,^ and to 
restore to the individual the freedom to interrogate in the con- 
troversy about the Christian religion simply the classic records 
and himself; (2) it relaxed the close relationship between 
religion and world-knowledge which had been formed by the 
tradition of the ancient Church and sanctioned by dogma, and 
sought to substitute ethics for metaphysics as a foil for religion. 
Certainly it had poor enough success in that ; metaphysics as a 
matter of fact was only attenuated, not improved or checked by 
it. Nevertheless it was certainly a powerful antagonist of the 
Platonism of the Church doctrine, and made its own contribu- 
tions towards breaking the supremacy of that system ; (3) it 
helped to prepare the way for its being perceived that religion 
may not find its expression in unintelligible paradoxes and con- 
tradictions, but that it must reach the point of well-defined and 
approved declarations, which derive their force from their clear- 
ness ;^ finally {4) it delivered the study of Holy Scripture from 
the ban of dogma and itself made a good beginning with a 
sound, historical exegesis. It is not difficult, certainly, in view 
of all these merits of Sociniaiiism enumerated here to prove also 
the opposite, i.e., to show how through the same tendencies 
it rather strengthened old errors. But it is enough to reach 
the certitude that all these merits really belonged to it. Its 
having restricted, and in some measure cancelled, their power, 
must not hinder us from attributing them to it. Chiefly through 
the medium of Arminianism, but also directly, it helped to 

' The history of dogma cannot, as a history of " illuminism" may do, stop short with 
the negative achievemeDts of a school. Were that allowed, then Socinianism, with 
its methodical criticism and its freedom from preposse^ions regarding all Church 
tradition, could not be loo highly praised. 

*Dilthey, I.e., Vol. 6, p. 88 f. : "What was epoch-making in Socinianism lies in 
Ibe clear, sharp, and distinct carrying out of the principle, that the new PiotestanC 
Christianity must justify itself before the Humanistic, Erasmic, historico- critical, 
formal and moral reason of the great Century eager for progress." 



I 



CHAP. III.] 



THE SOCINIAN doctrine. 



167 



introduce Illuminism (Aiifklamng), in the good, and in the bad 
sense of the word, into Protestantism. 

In the history of religion— taking the expression in the 
strictest sense^Socinianism was on the other hand simply a 
step backwards. For so far from its having to be placed here 
alongside Protestantism, it was rather a further under-bidding 
of Catholicism, even of the poorest form of it. That the 
Christian religion is jaith, that it is a relation between person 
and person, that it is therefore higher than all reason, that it 
lives, not upon commands and hopes, but upon the power of 
God, and apprehends in Jesiis Christ the Lord of Heaven and 
earth as Father — of all this Socinianism knew nothing. Along 
with the old dogma Christianity as religion was well-nigh com- 
pletely set aside by it ; guilt and repentance, faith and grace 
were conceptions that were not entirely discarded, merely from 
a happy want of logical thoroughness — and on account of the 
New Testament. It is in this logical inconclusiveness that the 
Christian quality of Socinianism mainly lies. 




CHAPTER IV. 

THE ISSUES OF DOGMA IN PROTESTANTISM. 

(i) Introduction^ 

At the close of the first chapter of this Book (E.T. Vol. V., 
Chap. I.) it has been pointed out in what sense, and to what 
extent, the Reformation has to be treated within the lines of the 
history of dogma; it must be dealt with as the issue of dogma, 
and as its legitimate issue too. In the two issues brought under 
notice up to this point, the real religious interests which co- 
operated in giving an outline and shape to dogma had serious 
injury done to them — in Catholicism, in so far as they were 
completely overborne by the domination of the empirical 
church — in Socinianism, in so far as they were almost absorbed 
by moralism. In the one case the dogma was conserved, but the 
persona!, conscious faith, which was to correspond with it, was 
weakened by submission to the Church ; in the other case 
dogma was discarded, but there was at the same time a failure 

' In the Neue Kirchliche Zeitung, i8gi. Part I., Kilbel (t) has subjected to a keen 
criticism the sketch of the Christian and theological position of Luther that was given 
in the first edition of this book. I have found no reason on that account to alter my 
statement, but herewith refer readers to that criticism. On the details of Luther's 
doctrines I shall not enter, partly because that would not be in keeping with the aim 
of this work, partly because my theolt^cal interest does not lead me so far as to 
follow all these discussions with personal sympathy, or with criticism. Besides, I see 
that Luther's decisive importance easily becomes lost to view, when an effort is made 
to describe all his " doctrines." The concise and accurate way in which Loofe, in 
his History of Dt^ma, has delineated a number of Lutheran doctrines in their growth, 
is worthy of all admiration. In Herrma.nn'5 Book, "The Communion of the Christian 
with God, described on the lines of Luther" (1S86, 1st ed. ; 1S96, 3rd ed.), and in 
Thieme's work, "The Impulave Moral Power of Faith, an Inquiry into Luther's 
Theol<^" (1895), we have two mode] instances of the way in which the details of 
Luther's thought can be made intelligible anrl suggestive when looked at from a 
comprehensive point of view. 




rUAP, IV.] ISSUES OF DOGMA IN PROTESTANTISM. 169 . 

to recognise the peculiar character of religious faith. pQst- 
Tridentine Catholicism and Socinlaaistn are in many respects 
modern phenomena ; but this is not true of them when we deal 
with their religious kernel; they are rather the further con- 
clusions of meditEval Christianity. The Reformation on the other 
hand, as represented in the Christianity of Luther^ is in many 
respects an Old Catholic, or even a medieval phenomenon, while if 
it be judged of in view of its religious kernel, this cannot be 
asserted of it, it being rather a restoration of ^auliM£-,ChristianUy 
in the spirit of a new age} 

In making this statement there is assigned to the Reformation 
(the Christianity of Luther) its position in history, while at the 
same time its relation to dogma is determined. From here al^o 
we can see why the Reformation cannot be estimated simply by 
the results which it achieved for itself during the two first 
generations of its existence. How can any one deny, then, that 
Catholicism, after it had roused itself to become a counter- 
Reformation, and that Socinianism stood, for more than a 
century, in a closer relation to the new age than Lutheran 
Protestantism did?^ They worked in alliance with all the 
culturing influences of the period; and poets, humanists, men of 
learning, discoverers, kings, and statesmen, soon felt where their 
proper place was if they were nothing else than scholars and 
statesmen. At the cradle of the Reformation, certainly, it was 
not sung that it would one day lag behind the times. It was 
rather greeted at its birth with the joyful acclamations of the 
nation, encircled with the shouts of humanists and patriots. 
But this its more immediate future was already foreshadowed in 
him from whom alone its future was to be expected — namely, 

' " In Ihe spirit of a new age" — this also means that primitive Christianity was not 
copied, nay, that there was a passing beyond its lines at important points. 

* Hence, too, the numerous instances of Protestants, especially of leamtd Pro- 
testants, reverting to Catholicism, down to the days of Christina of Sweden, and 
indeed afier that time. The first Continental Protesta.nt who had the distinct feeling 
that the Confession had become seriously marred was Calixtusof Helmstadt, who had 
travelled much. But even the mystics among the Lutherans in the first half of the 
■■eventeenth century make it apparent that they fell the Scholasric narrowing of the 
Confession to be burdensome (see Rilschl, Gesch, des Tielismus, Vol, 11.). But 
neither they nor Caiixtus found the right means of deliverance. 



I70 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

in Luther. It is not the furthest possible advance beyond the . 
average of an age that makes the truly great man, but the power 
with which he can awaken a new hfe in existing society.' 

What is at least a very one-sided and abstract view of Luther 
is taken, when we honour in him the man of the new time, the 
hero of an aspiring age, or the creator of the modern spirit. If 
we wish to contemplate such heroes, we must turn to Erasmus 
and his associates, or to men like Denck, Franck, Servede, and 
Bruno. In the periphery of his existence Luther was an Old 
Catholic, a medinsval phenomenon. For a period, certainly — it 
was only for a few years — it seemed as if this spirit would 
attract to itself and mould into a wonderful unity all that at the 
time had living vigour in it, as if to him as to no one before the 
power had been given to make his personality the spiritual 
centre of the nation and to summon his century into the lists, 
armed with every weapon. 

Vet that was only a splendid episode, which for the time 
being came rapidly to an end. Certainly those years from 1 5 19 
till about 1523 were the most beautiful years of the Reformation, 
and it was a wonderful providential arrangement that all that 
was to be achieved, the whole task of the future, was taken in 
hand forthwith by Luther himself and was close on being 
accomplished by him. Still, tiiis rich spring-time was followed 
by no abundant summer. In those years Luther was lifted 
above himself, and seemed to transcend the limits of his peculiar 
individuality — he was tlie Reformation, inasmuch as he summed 
up in himself what was at once implied in the return to Pauline 
Christianity and in the founding of a new age. At that time 
the alliance also was concluded between Protestantism and 
■ The complement of Ihia obaervalion is 10 be fouiirl in Ihe beautiful words Dillhey 
his applied to Luther (Archiv. f. Gesch. dei I'bilos., Vol. V., Part 3, p. 355 f.) : 
" Nowhere as yet has history spoken in favour of the ideal of a morality without 
religion. New active forces of will, so far as we obseive, have always arisen in 
conjunction with ideas about the unseen. liut the fruitful novelty within this 
domain always arises from the historical connection itself, on the basis of the religious- 
ness of a departing age, just as one coniiilion of life emerges from another. For it is 
only when diasatLsfaction arises for the genuinely religious man from the innermost 
and deepest religious and moral experience within the existing union, on the basis 
of the altered slate of consciousness, that an impulse and diiection are given for the 
new. So it was also with Luther" (see also I.e., p. 368). 



CHAP. IV.] ISSUES OF DOGMA IN PROTESTANTISM. 171 

Germany. It is true, no doubt, that evangelical Christianity 
has been given to mankind, and, on the other hand, that the 
German spirit is even to-day far from having surrendered itself 
yet to Protestantism ; nevertheless, Protestantism and Germany 
are inseparably connected. As the Reformation saved the 
German Empire in the sixteenth century, so it still continues 
always to be its strongest force, its permanently working 
principle and its highest aim. 

But it is given to no man to accomplish everything, and every 
one whose work is lasting and who does not merely blaze forth 
like a meteor, must retire within the limits appointed to his 
nature, Luther also retired within those peculiar to him. 
Those limits were not merely slight integuments, as .some 
would have us believe, so that for his having become narrowed 
we should have to throw the whole blame on Melanchthon and 
the Epigones with their want of understanding ; Luther felt 
them to be with other things the roots of his power, and in this 
character allowed them to have their effect 

But when the problem is contemplated of giving a picture of 
this peculiar individuality of Luther, and reckoning up as it 
were the sum of his existence, it must be said that no one as 
yet has perfectly fulfilled this task. A representation of Lutiier 
can only be given when he is allowed himself to speak and to 
express himself in every line of his spiritual constitution ; this 
Luther can be reproduced within us in sympathetic feeling, so 
far as this is possible for more limited spirits ; but the attempt 
to analyse seems to involve us in insoluble contradictions. Yet 
the attempt must be made, if the complicated and in part con- 
fused legacy he has left behind is to be rightly understood, and 
if we are to master the problem that is forced upon those coming 
after him by his appearing in an age in many respects foreign 
to him. 

He was only in one thing great and powerful, captivating and 
irresistible, the master of his age, marching victoriously ahead of 
the history of a thousand years with the view of inducing his 
generation to relinquish the paths that were being followed and 
to choose paths that were new — he was only great in the re-dis- 
covered knawledqeof God which he derived from the gospel, i.e.. 




HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 



from Clirist. What had once been one of the motives in build- 
ing up dogma, but had become unrecognisable in dogma, what 
had thereafter, from the time of Augustine on through the 
Middle Ages, accompanied dogma, vague in its expression, and 
with a vaguely recognised title, namely, the living faith in the 
God who in Christ addresses to the poor soul the words ; " I am 
thy salvation "{" Salus tua ego sum"), the firm assurance that 
God is the Being on whom one can place reliance — that was the 
message of Luther to Christendom. The old Lutheran theolo- 
gians introduced into their voluminous systems a chapter "on 
the vocation of Luther" ("de vocatione Lutheri"). For that 
they have been severely handled. But if we must read in a 
system of Christian theology about Adam, Abraham and David, 
we have a much greater right to welcome ,a paragraph about 
Luther.' 

For what he restored was nothing less than the religious way 
of understanding the gospel, the sovereign right of religion in 
religion. In the development that had preceded him there had 
not been mere!}' the making a mistake here and there; there 
had been a betrayal of religion to its enemies and to its friends. 
Luther spoke himself of a Babylonian captivity, and he was 

' At lofty moments of his life Luther spoke like a prophet and evangelist. All inter- 
mediate conceptions and inttrmediary persons were transcended : " Vour wotshipfiil 
Highness the Elector knows, or if he does not know, let it be hereby declared lo him, 
thai I hare the gospel, not from men, bud only fTotn heaven through our Lord Jeans 
Christ, so that I might very well have gloried in being, and written myself down aE, 
a servant and evangelist, which I mean henceforward to do." Such self-consciotiiness 
almost awakens misgivings j but it must not be overlooked that it is united with the 
greatest humility before God ; it did not aiise suddenly, much less in a visionary way, 
but it slowly developed itself From dealing with scripture and the religious possessions 
of the Church ; it only makes its appeaiance, finally, in connection with the spirit, 
" If God is for us, who can be against us ?" and does not intrude into the empirical 
ecclesiastical sphere to dictate laws there. It must be recognised, therefore, as the 
genuine expression of a religious freedom, of the kind described by Clement of Alex- 
andria as Cbe temper of the true Christian, and of the kind which the mystics of all 
ages have sought in their own way to reach. But we search in vain throughout the 
whole of church history far men who could write such letters as that one to the 
Elector, and for writings like those composed by Luther in Cobui^. I can veiy well 
understand how Catholic critics should find in those letters an "insane arrt^nce." 
There really remains only the alternative that we pass this judgment upon Luther, or 
that we acknowledge that there belonged to him a special significance in the history 
of ihc Christian religion. 



^■1 



ISSUES OF DOGMA IN PROTESTANTISM. 



173 



right in seeing this captivity both in the domination of an 
earthly, self-seeking ecclesiasticism over religion, and in the 
clinging around religion of a moraliam that crushed its life. It 
may be remarked here at once, that he did not with equal 
distinctness perceive the deplorableness of that captivity into 
which religion had been brought by the Old Catholic theology. 
That was not merely because his historic horizon extended only 
to about the time of the origin of the Papal Church — what lay 
beyond blending for him at many points into the golden line of 
the New Testament — dui above all because dogma, the historic 
legacy of the period between the second and seventh centuries, was 
no longer the more immediate source from which there had flowed 
the wrong conditions he had to contend with in the present. In 
his day the old dogma was a thing lying dead, as has been 
sufficiently shown in the account we have already given. No 
one vitalised it for faith. When Luther therefore attacked the 
errors of theology, he directed himself almost exclusively 
against the Schoolmen and the MediFeval Aristotle. When he 
rated and ridiculed reason, it was these people as a rule whom 
he had in view;' when he severed the baleful bond between 
religious doctrine and philosophy, he was turning his weapons 
against the Jesuits. In combating theology he combated the 
theology of the Middle Ages, and even this he combated only 
in so far as it ignored the honour of God and of Christ, the 
rights of God and the wrong done by the creature. Keeping 
out of view his controversy with the Anabaptists, he knew of 
no other controversy with reason than the controversy with 
self- righteousness, and with the shifts of the man who makes 
use even of religion to escape from his God. 

What a wonderful linking together of things ! The same 
man who delivered the gospel of Jesus Christ from ecclesiasticism 
and moralism strengthened its authority in the forms of the Old 
Catholic theology, nay, was the first to impart again to these forms 
THcaning and importance for faith, after they liad for long cen- 
turies remained inoperative. From the time of Athanasius there 
had been no theologian who had given so much living power 

1 See Fr. Niusch's valuable study, Luthei and Aristotle (18S3). Pupper of Goch 
WHS a precursor of Luther in the radical lejection of philosophy and Scholasticism. 



L 



'74 



HISTOKV OF DOGMA. 



[chap. rv. 



for faith to the doctrine of the Godhead of Christ as Luther did ; 
since the time of Cyril no teacher had arisen in the Church for 
whom the mystery of the union of the two natures in Christ 
was so full of comfort as for Luther — " 1 have a better provider 
than all angels are : He lies in the cradle, and hangs on the 
breast of a virgin, but sits, nevertheless, at the right hand of 
God, the almighty Father" ; no mystic philosopher of antiquity 
spoke with greater conviction and delight than Luther of the 
sacred nourishment in the Eucharist. The German Reformer 
restored life to the formulae of Greek Christianity ; he gave 
them back to faith. It is to be attributed to him that till 
the present day these formula are in Protestantism a living 
power for faith — yes, only in Protestanti.'jm. Here there is a 
living in them, a defending or contesting of them ; but even 
those contesting them understand how to estimate their relative 
title. In the Catholic Churches they are a lifeless possession. 

There is certainly injustice done to the "entire Luther" when 
this side uf his significance as a Reformer — which to his own mind 
was knit in an indissoluble unity with the evangelical side — 
is dropped out of view or under-estimated. Luther was the re- 
storer of tlie old dogma. He forced the interests of this on the 
teaching of his time, thereby also compelling it to desert the 
lines of the Humanist, Franciscan and political Christianity : the 
Humanist and Franciscan age was obliged to interest itself in 
what was most foreign to it — in the gospel and the old theology} 

Indeed we may go a step further: Luther would at any 
moment have defended with fullest conviction the opening words 
of the Athanasian Creed ; " Whosoever will be saved, before 
all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith" 



'There is, in myopicion, no dilTerence to be found in Luther at difTerent periods. 
What he wrote (1541) In his pamphlet "Wider Hans Worst" (Erl. ed., Vo[. a6, 
p. 15) in full agreement with the mediteval view of the " Twelve ArlLeles" be could 
have written twenty years earlier : "No one can deny that we hold, believe, sing, and 
confess all things that correspond wiih Che Apostles' Symbnl, the old faith of the old 
Church, that we make nothing new therein, nor add anything theieto, and in this 
way we belong to the old Church and are one with it. . . . If anyone believes and 
holds what the old Church did, he is of the old Church." See also p. 35 ; "So the 
life here can certainly be sinful and unrighteous, nay, unhappily is all too unrighteous; 
but the doctrine must be certainly and absolutely -a-ithout ail sin." 



CHAP. IV.] ISSUES OF DOGMA IN PKOTESTANTISM. I7S 

("Quicunque vult salvus esse, ante omnia opus est, ut teneat 
Catholicam fidem.") Not only does the Confession of Augsburg 
ratify the old dogma in its first article, the Smalcaldic Articles 
also begin with it: "regarding these articles there is no con- 
troversy between us and our opponents, since we confess them 
on both sides" ("de his articulis nulla est inter nos et ad- 
versarioscontroversia, quum illos utrinqueconfiteamur") ; and if 
in the immediately succeeding article "on the office and work 
of Jesus Christ" ("de officio et opere Jesu Christi") it is then 
stated : " To depart from this article, or to condone or permit 
anything against it, is not possible for any of the pious" ("de 
hoc articulo cedere aut aliquid contra ilium largiri aut per- 
mittere nemo piorum potest"), the article is not meant to be 
raised by an addition of the kind above those formerly named : 
the former were regarded by Luther so much as settled matters 
that he did not think of such a remark regarding them as being at 
all necessary. Of this also there can be no doubt — that the 
gospel was for him " saving doctrine, doctrine of the gospel " 
Qdoctrina salutaris, doctrina evangelii"), which certainly in- 
cluded the old dogmas ; the attempt to represent the matter 
otherwise has in my opinion been a failure : the gospel is sacred 
doctrine, contained in the Word of God, the purpose of which is 
to be learned, and to which there must be subjection.' 

How is it to be explained that in an age which had thrown 
dogma into the background, and in which the spirit of science 
and of criticism had grown so much stronger that it was already 
combated from various sides, Lutlier appeared as a defender of 
dogma and restored it to life again? To this question more 
than one answer can be given ; one has been already stated r 
Luther fought against the abuses and errors of the middle ages. 
This answer can be still further expanded ; Luther never con- 
tended against wrong theories and doctrines as such, but only 
against such theories and doctrines as manifestly did serious in- 
jury to the purity of the gospel, (" puritas evangelii ") and to its 

I One of the almiigesl passages is to be found in Ihc " Kurzes fiekenntniss vom hi. 
Abendmahl " {1545. Eriangen Edition, XXXII, p. 415) : " Therefore there must he 
a helieving of everything, pure and simpli;, whole and entire, or a believing of no- 
thing" (ho refers lo his doctrine of the Eucharist). 



1/6 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

cumforting power. The statement of this carries with it the 
other thing — namely, that there was no alliance between him 
and the bright- visioned spirits whose aim was to amend 
theology, and thereby to introduce a truer knowledge of the 
world and its causes. There was entirely wanting to him the 
irrepressible impulse of the thinker that urges him to secure 
theoretic clearness : nay, he had an instinctive dislike for, and 
an inborn mistrust of every spirit who, guided simply by know- 
ledge, boldly corrected errors. Any one who thinks that here 
again he can at the present day be a defender of the "entire 
Luther," either does not know the man, or throws himself open 
to the suspicion that for him the truth of knowledge is a matter 
of small importance. That was the most palpable limitation in 
the spiritual nature of the Reformer, — that he neither fully made 
his own the elements of culture which his ^e offered, nor per- 
ceived the lawfulness and obligation of free investigation, nor 
knew how to measure the force of the critical objections against 
the "doctrine" that were then already asserting themselves. 
There may seem to be something paltry, or even indeed pre- 
sumptuous in this remark; for Luther has indemnified us for 
this defect, not only by being a Reformer, but by the inex- 
haustible richness of his personality. What a wealth this 
personality included! How it possessed, too, in heroic shape 
all we have just found wanting at the time — a richness of 
original intuition which outweighed all the "elements of culture" 
in which it lacked, a certainty and boldness of vision which was 
more than " free investigation," a power to lay hold upon the 
untrue, to conserve what could stand the test, as compared with 
which all " critical objections " appear pointless and feeble ; 
above all, a wonderful faculty for giving expression to strong 
feeling and true thought, for being really a speaker, and for 
persuading by means of the word as no prophet had done 
before ! Yet all these powerful qualities were still incapable of 
securing for the coming generation a pure culture, because in 
Luther's own case they were not produced by the impulse to 
know things as they are. Certainly he had greater things to 
do than to correct science and promote general culture in the 
full breadth of its development ; and we may be devoutly 




CHAP. IV.] ISSUES OF DOGMA IN PROTESTANTISM. 177 

thankful that we have had experience of such a man. who made 
all his activity subservient to the knowledge of the living God. 
But it is pure Romanticism and self-delusion when one devoutly 
admires the limitations of Luther's special individuality as being 
the best thing in him, and it is something worse than Roman- 
ticism and self-delusion when what was allowed in a hero, who 
did not reflect, but did what he luas obliged to do, is raised to a 
general law for an age which, when it frankly and without 
hesitation applies itself to know the truth, likewise does what it 
is under obligation to do. And then — who really ventures to 
restore again the "entire Luther," with the coarseness of his 
mediaeval superstition, the flat contradictions of his theology, 
the remarkable logic of his arjjuments, the mistakes of his ex- 
egesis and the unfairness and barbarisms of his polemic? Shall 
we forget, then, all that has been learned by us, but that \vas 
unknown to Luther— the requisite conditions of a true know- 
ledge that is determined only by the matter dealt with, the re- 
lativity of historic judgment, the proportion of things and the 
better understanding of the New Testament? Is it not the 
case that the more strictly Christianity is conceived of as spiritual 
religion, the greater is its demand that it shall be in accord with 
the whole life of our spirit, and can it be honestly said that this 
accord is secured by the Christianity of Luther? 

Yet it was not only his defective theoretic interest that led 
Luther to stop short before the old dogma, nor was it only his 
vague knowledge and imperfect understanding of the old 
Catholic period ; the old dogma itself, rather, joined hands with 
the new conception of the gospel •whi^h he enmtciated} Here also, 

1 It has also been pointed out, that fiom the time of Justinian the old dogma intio- 
duced the book of civil law, that the legal protection which it promiseti was extended 
onl; to orthodoxy, and that, accordingly, every attack on the Trinity and Christology 
was at that time necessarily regarded as anarchism and threatened with the heaviest 
penalties. That is certainly correct, but I cannot discover that Lulher ever thought 
of the serious consequences that would have followed for himself and his followers 
from opposition to the old dogma. So far as I see, he never went so far as to feel 
concerned about this, seeing that he adhered to the old dogma without wavering. 
Had the case been othervrise, he would certainly have shown the courage that was 
exhibited by Servede, The same thing, unless I am niLstaken, cannot be said of 
Melanchthon and Calvin. As to the former, it wa.s oho anxious reflections aboot 
matters of ecclesiastical and civil polity that led him to avoid those whose attitude 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAT. IV. 

therefore, as everywhere, he was not regulated merely by external 
authorities; the inward agreement, rather, which he thought he 
found between his faith and that dogma prevented him becom- 
ing uncertain about the latter. In "faith" he sought only the 
honour of God and Christ ; that was also done by the old 
formutre of faith. In "faith" he would hear nothing of law, 
work, achievement and merit ; the formula; of faith were silent 
regarding these. For him the forgiveness of sins, as creating a 
holy Church and securing life and peace, wps the main part of 
religion ; he found these things holding a commanding place in 
the old formula;. Jesus Christ was apprehended by him as the 
mirror of the fatherly heart of God, and therefore as God, and 
he would know of no other comforter save God Himself, as He' 
appeared in Christ and as He works through the Holy 
Spirit; the old formula; of faith bore witness to the Father, 
Son and Spirit, to the one God, who is a Triunity, and said 
nothing of Mary, the saints, and other helpers of the needy. 
His soul lived by faith in the God who has come as near to us 
in earthly form as brother to brother; the old formulae of faith 
testified to this by their doctrine of the two natures in Christ, 
Like Paul he armed himself against the assaults of the devil, the 
world and sin with the assurance that Christ by His death has 
vanquished the powers of darkness and cancelled guilt, and that 
He sits now as the exalted Lord at the right hand of God ; the 
old formulae of faith bore witness to the death on the cross, the 
resurrection and exaltation of Christ. While, under the rubbish- 
heaps of the middle ages, he rediscovered the old faith of Paul 
in the New Testament, he discovered this faith also in the old 
dogma : the Church possessed it, confessed it daily, but no 
longer paid regard to it, knew no longer what it had imported 
into the mutterings of its priests, and thus in the midst of its 
possessions forgot what it possessed. Over against this Church, 
why should he not honour, along with the New Testament, the 



lovrards Ihe old dogma was open to suspicion ; 
the reproach that he would have taken a. differc 
and would have treated the Antitrinitarians other' 
See information about the civil and political sl( 
Luther's Slelluag zu den okumenischen Synibolen 



id Calvin can scarcely be freed from 
ent attitude towards the old dogma, 
wise, if he had been less political. 
Lde of the question in Kattenbusch, 




CHAP. !V.] ISSUES OF DOGMA IN PROTESTANTISM. I79 

old dogma which witnessed to the Word of God! And in one 
very important respect he was certainly entirely in the right — 
this old dogma was really an expression of the religion of 
ancient times : that which those times maintained together wttk 
this, and by means of which they delimited dogma, was not intro- 
duced into dogma itself . Only in the middle ages did law, merit 
and achievement find a place among the doctrines of faith and 
in worship. As compared with the medieval, the Old Catholic 
Church had impressed on it more of a religious character ; in its 
faith and in its Worship it confessed what God has done, and 
what He will do, through Christ. 

But was he not altogether right ? Was there not really the 
most beautiful harmony between his faith and the old dogma? 
This is still asserted at the present day, and an appeal is made 
in support of it to the apparently strongest witness — to Luther 
himself, who had no other idea in his mind. According to this 
view, the shaping of dogma in the ancient Church, down to the 
sixth and seventh centuries, was "sound"; the only thing 
lacking to it was justification by faith. This supplement was 
added by Luther, while at the same time he purified — or can- 
celled — the false development of the Middle Ages. Over and 
above this there is a talk about a " reconstruction," a " re- 
modelling " of dogma, that was undertaken by Luther ; but 
there is difficulty in explaining what such terms are intended to 
mean 1 additions and subtractions are not equivalent to recon- 
struction.' Hence the terms are not employed seriously ; they 

1 See Thomasius-Seeberg, I.e., II., p. 748 : " The third Period gives us the re- 
modellmg of degnia by the Reformation. Here the evanijelical faith in justification 
U taken as the eentre. Proeecding from this the medieval conception of ChristLanity 
is broken through at its most determinative points, and from this centre, while the 
results of foregoiag dogma-constructions that are soutid and that are guaranteed by 
the records of original Christianity are retained, a recanilruilinn of dogma is under- 
taken." The expression "guaranteed by the records of original Christianity" is, 
moreover, in the first place quite modem, a.nd hence from Luther's point of view 
exlreirely objectionable, ond in the second place it represents a renunciation of all 
that the Church has learned dnring the last 150 years with regard to the New Testa- 
ment and the earliest history of dogma. Stil 1 more distinctly has Kahnis expressed 
his view OS to the relation of the t.utheran Church to the Roman (Die Sachc der Luth. 
Kirche geEeniiber det Union, 1S54, p. 90). After taking note of the fact that both 
Churches recognise the (Ecumenical Symbols, and that the Lutheran Church assumes 



l8o HISTORY OK DOGM.\. [CflAI'. IV. 

suggest rather the admission that Luther's notion of faith in 
some way modified dog;ma as a whole. How that took place 
there is, of course, diFficulty in stating, for the moulding of 
dogma in the ancient Church was "sound." From this point of 
view the whole development of Protestantism from the end of 
the seventeenth century till the present day must necessarily 
appear a mistaken development, nay, an apostasy. It is a pity, 
only, that almost all thinking Protestants have apostatised, and, 
for the most part, differ from each other only according to the 
clearness and honesty with which they admit their apostasy. 

We have to inquire whether or not Luther's conception of 
faith, i.e., what admittedly constituted his importance as a 
Reformer, postulates the old dogma, and therefore, also, is most 
intimately united with it.' 

With this in view, we shall first gather together the most 
important propositions in which he set forth his Christianity. 
Then we shall adduce the most decisive critical propositions 
which he himself stated as conclusions from his religious con- 
ception of the Gospel. On the basis of these investigations it 
will then appear whether, and to what extent, the general 
attitude which Luther assumed towards the old dogma was free 
from contradictions. If this can be determined, the final 
question will arise, whether it is .still possible for the Church of 
the present day to take up the same attitude. 



(2) The Christianity of Luther? 



A 



In the cell of his convent Luther fought out the spiritual 
battle, the fruit of which was to be the new and yet old evan- 




trulhs, and only have a plus, agni'nsl wktck wc protest." 

'What is dealt with here is simply the question as to the i aner connection between 
Luthec'a Christianity and the old dogma. As to his having cancelled the validity of 
the external authority of dogma, see above, p. 23 ff. 

2 Full accounts of the theology of I^uther have been given us by Kostlin, Theoci. 
Harnack, and Lommatzsch. From the point of view oi the history of dogma Plitl'i 
" Einleitung in die Augustana" is of importance. For Luther's theology in its 
initial shaping the works of Kostlin, Riehm, Seidemann, Hering, DieckhofT, Bralke, 



CHAP. IV.] THE CllRISTIANITV OF LUTHp:!i. l8l 

gelical knowledge.' Inward unrest, anxiety about his salvation, 
had driven him into the convent. He had gone there in order 
that — in a genuinely Catholic way — he might, through multi- 
plied good works, propitiate the strict Judge, and " get for him- 
self a gracious God."* But while he used all the means the 
media;val Church offered him, his temptations and miseries 
became more intense. He felt as if he was contending with all 
the powers of darkne.ss, and as if, instead of being in the society 
of angels in the convent, he was among devils. When in after 
days at the height of his active career depression came upon 
him, all that was required in order to regain strength was to 
remember these convent horrors.' In the system of Sacraments 
Ritschi, Kolcle, and Lipsius claim special consideration. A reliable account — though 
presented in the light of the theology of the Epigones^has been furnished by 
Thomasius-Seebei^, I.e., II., p. 330-394. In what follows, my lecture; "M.L. in 
seiner Bed. f. d. Gesch. d. Wissenschaft u. d. Bildung," 1883, is made use of. 

' Loofs makes the very accurate remark. I.e., p, 345 : " Luther's development in 
itself teaches that the Lutheran Reformation did not spring from a criticism of the 
ecclesiastical doctrine, that it was more than a revision of the ecclesiastical doctrinal 
systen 



o Duke George's latest book" (Erl. 
heaven by monkery, I too would 
mrades will bear me out in that," 
an entirely false beginning in 
in his proper place. But his 



Compare very specially the " Brief Answer 
Ed. XXXL, p. 373) ! " If e»er a monk got ir 
have found my way there ; all my convent c 
According to Catholic opinion, of course, Luther 1 
Che convent, and proved by his pride that he was 
pride consisted simply in this, that he was more in earnest about the 1 

^See one of the most characteKstic passage.s. I.e., p. 278 S. : "And after I had 
made the profession I was congratulated by I he Prior, convent, and Father-confessor 
im the ground of being now an innocent child, returning pure from baptism. And 
certainly I could moat willingly have rejoiced in the glorious fact that I was such an 
excellent man, who by his own works (so that was the popular view in spite of all the 
dogmatic warnings again.4t it), without Christ's blood, had made himself so beautiful 
and holy, and that so easily too, and in such a short lime. But although I listened 
readily to such sweet praise and splendid language about my own deeds, and let my- 
self he taken for a wonderworker, who in such an easy-going wayeould make himself 
holy and could devour death and the devil to boot, etc., nevertheless there was no 
power in it all to sustain me. For when even a small temptation came from death 
or .sin I succumbed, and found there was neither baptism nor monkery that could 
help me i thus I had now long lost Chrisl and His baptism, I was then the most 
miserable man on earth ; day and night there was nothing hut wailing and despair, 
so that no one could keep me under restraint. . . . God be praised ihat I did not 
sweat myself to death, otherwise I should have been long ago in the depths of hell 
with my monk's baptism. For what I knew of Christ was nothing more than that 
He was a stem judge, from whom 1 would have fled, aod yet could not escape." 



1 82 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[chap. I 



and performances to which he subjected himself he failed to 
find the assurance of peace which he sought for, and which only 
the possession of God could bestow. He wished to base his hfe 
for time and for eternity upon a rock (the mystic's fluctuation 
between rapture and fear he had no experience of, for he wa.s 
too strict with himselQ, but all supports that were recommended 
to him fell to pieces in his hands, and the ground trembled 
beneath his feet. He believed he was carrymg on a conflict 
with himself and his sin ; but he was in reality contending 
against the religion of his Church : the very thing that was 
intended to be to him a. source of comfort became known to 
him as a ground of terror. Amid such distress there was dis- 
closed to him~sIowly and under faithful counsel — -from the 
buried-up ecclesiastical confession of faith (" I believe in the 
forgiveness of sins "),' and therefore also from Holy Scripture 
(Psalms, Epistles of Paul, especially the Epistle to the Romans), 
what the truth and power of the gospel are. In addition to 
this, Augustine's faith -conception of the first and last things, 
and especially his doctrine of "the righteousness which God 
jjives,"^ were for him in an increasing degree guiding stars.^ 
But how much more firmly he grasped the essence of the 
matter.* What he here learned, what he laid hold of as Me one 
thing, wa.s the revelation of the God of grace in t/ie gospel, i.e., in 
the incarnated, crucified, and risen Christ. The same experi- 
ence which Paul had undergone in his day was passed through 
by Luther, and although in its beginning it was not in his case 
so stormy and sudden as in the case of the Apostle,^ j'et he, too, 

' As far £.5 we can follow back Luther's thoughts in connection herewith— tliat 
is, to the first years of his academic activity in Willenhei^ — we find that fot him the 
gratia of God is forgiveness of sins, which God grants sine merito. 

- See Luther's Lectures and Annotations on the Psalms, of the years 1513-151 j, 
cf. Loofs, D. Gesch., 3rd ed., p. 346 f. 

^ Especially also Augustine's doctrine of the entire incapacity of fallen man for the 
good, and accordinEly also his predcsLi nation doctrine (see tlie information Lulher 
gives of himself from the year 1516 to the year 1517)- 

* For Augustine there is ultimately in the salvation which grace bestows something 
dark, indescribable, mysteriously communicated ; Luther sees in it the forgiveness of 
sins — that is, the God of grace Himself; and he substitutes therefore for a mysterious 
and transforming communication the revelation of the living God and "fides." 

^ The way in which Luther gave expression to his faith during the first period shous 



CHAP. IV.] THE CHRISTIANITY OF LUTHER. 

learned from this experience that il h God wlio gives faith : 
" When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me." In Luther's 
development down to the year 1517, there was an entire 
absence of all dramatic and romantic elements : that is perhaps 
the most wonderful thing in this wonderful cliaracter, ahd is the 
seal of its inward greatness. From Mysticism, to which he 
owed much, and the speculations of which he not unfrequently 
followed in connection with particular questions, he was separ- 
ated by the entirely unmystical conviction that trust in God 
" on account of Christ " (" propter Christum ") is the real con- 
tent of religion, which nothing transcends, and the limitations 
of which can be removed by no speculation. Trust in the 
"truth "of God aiid in the work of Christ formed for him a 
unity, and he knew no other way of approaching the Being who 
rules heaven and earth than by the cross of Christ (per crucem 
Christi). ' 

That, however, which he had experienced, and which, with 
ever-increasing clearness, he now learned to state, was, in com* 
parison with the manifold things which his Church offered as 
religion, above everything else an immense reduction, an 
emancipating simplification. In this respect he resembled 
Athanasius^ — with whom in general he had the most noteworthy 
affinity — and was very unlike Augustine, who never controlled 
the inexhaustible riches of his spirit, and who stimulated, there- 
fore, rather than built up. TJiat reduction meant nothing else 
than the restoration of religion : seeking God and finding God. 
Out of a complex system of expiations, good deeds and 
comfortings, of strict statutes and uncertain apportionments of 
grace, out of magic and of blind obedience, he led religion forth 
and gave it a strenuously concentrated form. The Christian 
religion is living assurance of the living God, who has revealed 

us plainly that be learned not onljr from Augustine but also from the mediieval 
mystics (from Bernard onwards). The linking together of surrender to God with 
surrender to Christ is for the first lime clearly apparent in tbciu ; fnr Augustine it 
was much mnre vague. In this sense Luther's faith stands in a distinct historic line ; 
yet the originality and force of his experience as a believer is not thereby detracted 
from. Even in the domain of religion there is no generatio lequivoca. 

'See Loofs, I.e., p. 34S. 

'Sec Vol. IIL.p. 140. 




184 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP, IV.l 

Himself and opened His heart in Christ' — nothing else. 
Objectively, it is Jesus Christ, His person and work ;^ subjec- 
tively, it is faith (" faith Is our life " [" fides vita nostra est "]) ; 
its content, however, is the God of grace, and therefore the 
forgiveness of sins, which includes adoption and blessedness. 
For Luther, the whole of religion was contained within this 
circle. The living God — not a philosophical or mystical ab- 
straction — the God manifest, certain, the God of grace, accessible 
to every Christian. Unwavering trust of the heart in Him who 
has given himf^elf to us in Christ as our Father, personal assur- 
ance of faith, because Christ with His work undertakes our 
cause — this became for him the entire sum of religion. Rising 
above all anxieties and terrors, above all ascetic devices, above 
all directions of theology, above all interventions of hierarchy 
and Sacraments, he ventured to lay hold of God Himself in 
Christ, and in this act of his faith, which he recognised as God's 
work, his whole being obtained stability and firmness, nay, even 
a personal certainty and joy, such as no medieval man had ever 
possessed, ^ 

From perceiving that " with force of arms we nothing can," 

'Larger Catechism II., 3 (p. 460, Miiller} : " Neque unquam propHis vitibus 
perveiiice possemus, ut patris fa-vorem ac gratiam cognoscuremus, nisi per Jesum 
Chtistum dominum nostrum, qui patcmi aitimi erga nos speculum est, exlra. qneni 
nihil nisi iratum el truculenlum videmus judicem." 

' It has been very specially shown by Theod. Harnack in his work, Luther's 
Theologie (see particularly the 2nd Vol.), that Luther's whole theology is Christology. 

3 The fullest, most distinct, and truest account of Luther's religion is to be found in 
Herrmann's book referred to above, "The Communion of the Christian with God ; 
a discussion in i^reement with the view of Luther," 3rd ed., 1896. Dilthey also 
makes the excellent remarks (I.e., p. 358): "The justification of which the mediieval 
man had iiiwarii experience was ihe descending of an objective stream of forces upon 
the believer from the transcendental world, through the Incarnation, in the channels 
of the ecclesiastical institutions, priestly consecration, saci-aments, Confession, and 
works i it was something that lock place in csnneiHoa with e supersensible riginu. 
The justification by faith of which Luther was inwardly aware was the personal 
experience of Ihe believer standing in the continuous line of Christian fellowship, by 
whom assurance of the grace of God is experienced in the taking place of a persenai 
faith, an experience derived from the appropriation of the work of Chiist that is 
lirought about y^j 'Ctx personal eleetion of grace." What Dilthey adds is correct ; "If 
it necessarily resulted from Ibis that there was a change in the coniicious attitude 
towards dogma and in the basing of fiiith thi-roon, this change did tint touch the nialler 
I'/ the old ecclesiastical dogma. '' 



HE CHRISTIANITY OF LUTHER. 

he derived the utmost freedom and force ; for he now knew the 
power which imparts to the life steadfastness and peace ; he 
knew it, and called it by its name. Faith — that meant for him 
no longer adherence to an incalculable sum of Church doctrines 
or historical facts ; it was no opinion and no action, no act of 
initiation (actus initiationis) upon which something greater 
follows ; it was the certainty of forgiveness of .sins, and therefore 
also the personal and continuous surrender to God as the Father 
of Jesus Christ, which transforms and renews the whole man.' 

That was his confession of faith : faith is a living, busy, 
active thing, a sure confidence, which makes a man joyous and 
happy towards God and all creatures,^ which, like a good tree, 
yields without fail good fruit, and which is ever ready to serve 
everyone and to suffer all thing's. In spite of all evil, and in 
spite of sin and guilt, the life of a Christian is hid in God. 
That was the ground-thought of his life. As included within 
this, the other thought was discerned and experienced by him^ 
the thought of the freedom of a Christian man. This freedom 
was not for him an empty emancipation, or a licence for every 

1 Compare AuguSL c. 30 : " Admonentur etiam homines, quod hie nomen fidei non 
sigiiiticct Unlum histoTue nolitiam, qiialts est impiis cl diabnln, sed significet ttdem, 
quie credit non tantum hi5toriam,sed etiam efTectum historic, videlicet hunc articulum, 
retiiisdonem peccatoruiii, quod videlicet per Christum habeanms gratiam, justitiam et 
remisaionem peccalorutn." Compare the exposition □( the znd Main Article in the 
" Kurze Form " (manual for piajer) : " Here it is to be observed thai Ihere are two 
kinds of believing; first, a believing about God, which means that I believe that 
what is said of (lod is Line. This faith is rather a form of knowledge or observation 
than a faith. There \s, secondly, a believing in God, which means that I put my 
trust in Him, give mj'self up to thinking that 1 transact with Him, and believe 
without any doubt that He will be and do to me according to the things said of Him. 
Ijuch faith, which throws itself on God, whether in life or in death, alone makes a 
Christian maji." 

2 Preface to the Epistle to the Romans (Erl. Ed. LXHI., p. 124 f.}: "Faith is a 
divine work in us, through which we are cbanged and regenerated by God. . . . O, 
il is a living, busy, active, powerful thing faith, so that it is impossible for it not to 
do us good continually. Neither does it ask whether good works are to be done, 
but before one asks it has done them, and is doing them always. Bat anyone ivho 
dot! not do suth works 11 an unbelieving man, gropes and looks about him for faith 
and good works, and knows neither what faith is nor what good works are. . . . 
Failh is a living, deliberate confidence in the grnce of God, so certain that for it 
il could die a thousand deaths. And such coniidence and knowledge of divine grace 
makes joyons, intrepid, and cheerful towar<ls God and -ill creation." 



iUSTORV OK DOGMA, [CHAP. IV. 

kind of subjectivity ; for him freedom was dominion over the 
world, in the assurance that if God be for us, no one can be 
against us ; for him that soul was free from all human laws 
which has recognised in the fear of God and in love for and 
trust in Him its supreme law and the motive principle of its 
life: He had learned, certainly, from the old Mystics ; but he 
had found what they sought for. Not unfrequently they re- 
mained imprisoned in sublime feelings; they seldom attained 
to a lasting sense of peace ; while at one time their feeling of 
freedom rose to oneness with God, at another time their feeling 
of dependence deepened into psychical self-annihilation. On 
Luther's part there was a struggle issuing in active piety, and 
in an abiding assurance of peace. He vindicated the rights of 
the individual in the first instance for himself; freedom of con- 
science was for him a personal experience. But for him the 
free conscience was a conscience inwardly bound, and by indi- 
vidual right he understood the sacred duty of trusting courage- 
ously to God, and of rendering to one's neighbour the service 
of independent and unselfish love. 

Of trusting courageously to God — because he feared nothing, 
and because, in his certainty of God, his soul overflowed with 
joy : " It is impossible for one who hopes in God not to rejoice ; 
even if the world falls to wreck, he will be overwhelmed 
undismayed under the ruins."* Thus he became the Reformer, 
because through his joyous faith he became a hero. If even in 
science knowledge is not enough, if the highest things are 
achieved only where there is courage, how should it be otherwise 
in religion? What Christian faith is, revealed itself to the 
Germans in Luther's person. What he presented to view was 
not new doctrine, but an experience, described at one time in 
words strongly original, at another time in the language of the 
Psalms and of Paul, sometimes in that of Augustine, and some- 
times even in the cumbrous propositions of the scholastic 
theology. The critical application of his faith to the state of 
things existing at the time, to the Church as it was, Luther 

15 illabatui 
cr Ausgabe 




CHAT. IV.] THE CHRISTIANITY OF LUTHEU. 



187 



never desired ; it was forced upon him because his opponents, 
observed much sooner than himself the critical force of what he 
declared. 

In Luther's view of faith there was implied his view of the 
Church. For him the Church was the community of the saints, 
i.e., of believers, whom the Holy Spirit has called, enlightened 
and sanctified through the Word of God, who are continually 
being built up by means of the gospel in the true faith, who 
look forward confidently and joyfully to the glorious future of 
the sons of God, and meanwhile serve one another in love, each 
in the position in which God has placed him. That is his 
whole creed regarding the Church — the community of believers 
(saints), invisible, but recognisable by the preaching of the 
Word.' It is rich and great ; and yet what a reduction even 
this creed is found to contain when it is compared with what 
the medieval Church taught, or at least assumed, regarding 
itself and the work assigned to it ! Luther's creed was entirely 
the product of his religious faith, and it rests on the following 
closely united principles, to the truth of which he constantly 
adhered. First, that the Church has its basis in the Word of 
God ; second, that thisWord of God is the preaching of the re- 
velation of God in Christ, as being that which creates faith ; 
third, that accordingly the Church has no other field than that 
of faith, but that within this field it is for every individual the 
mother in whose bosom he attains to faith ; fourth, that because 
religion is nothing but faith, therefore neither special perform- 
ances, nor any special province, whether it be public worship^ 
or a selected mode of life, nor obedience to ecclesiastical in- 
junctions, though these may be salutary, can be the sphere in 
which the Church and the individual give proof of their faith, 
but that the Christian must exhibit his faith in neighbourly 
service within the natural relationships of life, because they 
alone are not arbitrarily chosen but provided, and must be 
accepted therefore as representing the order of God. 

With the first principle Luther assumed an antagonistic 
attitude towards the received doctrine both of tradition and of 

■ One easily sees that this definilion \as an Augusti 
by the determi native position given to the factors " 



l88 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [ClIAl'. IV. 

the power belonging to the bishops and the Pope. He saw 
that previous to his time, the question as to tvhat is Christian 
and what the Church is had been determined in a way quite 
arbitrary and therefore also uncertain. He accordingly turned 
back to the sources of religion, to Holy Scripture, and in 
particular to the New Testament The Church has its basis in 
something fixed, something given, which has never been want- 
ing to it — -in this he distinguished himself from the " enthusiasts " 
— but this thing that is given is not a secret science of the 
priesthood, nor is it a dreary mass of statutes under the protec- 
tion of the holy, still less papal absolutism ; but it is some- 
thing which every simple-minded Christian can discern and 
make proof of: it is the Word of God as dealt with by the pun- 
understanding. This thesis required the unprejudiced ascertain- 
ment of the really literal sense of Holy Scripture. All arbitrary 
exposition determined by authority was put an end to. As a 
rule Luther was in earnest in complying with this demand, so 
far as his vision carried him. He could not, certainly, divine 
how far it was to lead. Yet his methodical principles of 
" interpretation," his respect for language, laid the foundation 
for scripture- science. 

The second principle distinguishes Luther both from the 
theologians and from the ascetics and sectaries of the Middle 
Ages. In thinking of the Word of God they thought of the 
letter, of the inculcated doctrines, and the miscellaneous 
promises of Holy Scripture ; he thought of what formed the 
core. If he speaks of this core as being "the gospel according 
to the pure understanding," " the pure gospel," " the pure Word 
of God," " the promises of God " {" promissiones dei "), but, 
above all, as being "Jesus Christ," all these expressions as 
understood by him are identical. The Word of God which he 
constantly had in his mind, was the testimony of Jesus Christ, 
who is the Saviour of souls. As faith has only to do with the 
living God and Christ, so also the authority for faith and for the 
Church is only the effectual V^ord of God, as the Christ who is 
preached} Accordingly the Church doctrine also is nothing 

1 Here, according to Luther's view, offier also has its place in Ihe Church ; il h thi' 
isliliiled in the Church (not the 



CHAV. IV.] THE CHRISTIANITY OF LUTHER. 189 

but the statement of the gospel, as it has created and holds 
together the Christian community, the sum of the " consolations 
offered in Christ" (" consolationes in Christo propositi"). 

But if the Church has its basis simply in these "consolations" 
and in the faith that answers to them, it can have no other 
sphere and no other form than those which the Word of God 
and faith give to it. Everything else must fall away as dis- 
turbing, or as at least unessential. In this way the third 
principle is obtained. The conception of the Church is greatly 
reduced as compared with the mediaeval conception, but it has 
thereby gained in inner force, and has been given back to faith. 
Only the believer sees and knows the holy Christian com- 
munity; for it is only he who perceives and understands the 
Word of God ; he believes in this Church, and knows that 
through it he has attained to faith, because the Holy Spirit has 
called him through the /r^'nc/wif Word.' 

individual congregation) wilh a view to leading the individual to faith. The 
creator of this office is, of course, God, not the Church, much less the 
individual congregaliun, and it has its field simply in the sdmioislnition of the means 
oF grace wilh a view to the establishment and maintenance of feith. (See Art. 5 of 
the Confession of Augsbui^ : " Ut hanc fidem consequamur, institutum est minislerium 
docendi evangelii et ponigendi sacramenta ■"). That it is occupied exclusively with 
this aim is shown in the subsequent part of the article. But in order to obviate a 
false fanatical conclusion it is said in Art. 14 : " De ordine ecdesiastico doccnt, quo I 
nemo debeat in ecclesia publice docere aut sacramcnla adminlstraie, nisi rile vocalus." 
The vocatio legilima is of course a function tliat is tied to legal ordinances, and thereby 
is withdrawn, both from the order of salvation and from arbitrary self-determination. 
'See the Laiger Catechism (Milller, p. 4S5) = " Spiritus aanctus saneti licationis 
munua ex'equjtui per communionem sanctonim aut ccclesiara Chri^tianorum, re- 
misaionem pcccaloruni, camia resurrectionem et vitam asternam ; hoc est primum nos 
ducit spiritus b. in snnctani communionem suam, ponens in ainnm eccleaiEc, pet quam 
nos docet el Christo adducil. . . . Ecclesia est mater et quemlibel Christianum 
parlurit ac alii per vetbum, quod spiritus s. revelal et priedicat et per quod peclor.a 
illuminat et accemlit, ut veibum accipiani, amplectantur, illi adhLerescant inque eo 
perseverent." See nlso the Kirchenpostille, Predigt am 3. Chrialt^e (Erl. Ed. X., 
p. i6z) ; "The Christian Church keeps all words of God in its heart, and revolves 
them, maintains their connection with one another and wilh scripture. Therefore 
anyone who is lo find Christ must first find the Church. How would one know 
where Christ is and faith in Him is, unless He knew where His believers are? And 
whoever wishes to know something about Christ must not trust to himself, not by the 
help of his own reason build a bridge of his own lo heaven, but must |;o to the Church, 
must visit it and make inquiry. Now the Church is not wood and stone, but the 
company of people who believe in Christ ; with these he must keep in connection. 



L 



igo HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

Finally, the fourth principle had, outwardly, the most far- 
reaching consequences ; if everything depends upon faith, both 
for the individual and for the Church, if it is God's will to 
transact with men only throug;h faith, if faith alone is acceptable 
to Him, there can be no special fields and forms of piety and no 
specific pious ways of life as distinct from other ways. From 
this it followed that the demonstration and practical exercise of 
faith had to be within the great institutions of human life that 
have their origin in God (in marriage, family, state, and calling). 
But all that was included in worship row appeared also in 
quite a different light. If it is an established fact, that man has 
neither power nor right to do anything in the way of influencing 
God, if the mere thought of moving God to alter his feeling 
means the death of true piety, if the entire relation between 
God and man is determined by the believing spirit, i.e., by 

And see how those believe, [ive, and leach who assuredly have Christ among them. 
For outside of the Christian Church there is nn trutli, no Chiist, no blessedness." Into 
Luther's view of the congregation I do not enter, partly because what is dogmatic in 
it is simply an application of his conception ol the Church, partly because the applica- 
tion was by no means a definite one, Luther having expressed himself very diffeteotJy 
<in the relation of the particular congregation to the Church, on the powers of the 
particular congregation, and on the lalter as empirical and as representing the true 
Church. Sohm's able exposition {Kircheni'echl, lSi|2, 1. , p., 460 ff. ) has been justly 
descjibed as one-sided. There is correspondence with a frequently expressed thought 
flf Luther in what Suhm writes, p. 473 : " Christian /aiM knows of no congregations 
within the Eccle&ia (Christendom) in a legal sense, but only of ^(Aeniyi of believers, 
which do not as such exist in a legal capacity, hut are subject to change in their existence; 
but which, nevertheless, have this quality, that they represent entire Christendom, 
the Church of Christ, with all its power and gifts of grace." But besides that this 
conception is not the only conception of Luther that bears on this matter, when 
Sohm (p. 479) represents Luther as distinguishing between "human order" and 
"legal order" (" there may he human order in the Church of Christ, but il is never 
Ugal order, and can therefore be instituted in any case only as an order simply to he 
voluntarily observed, never as an order to be enforced by outward compulsion "), this 
distinction I would not tie disposed lo regard as in accordance with Luther's views, 
-and the rigid definition also of law by which Sohm is every where guided (" enforced 
by outward compulsion") I regard as overstrained in its application to ecclesiastical 
law. There is surely still a third thing that lies between "voluntary" and "outward 
conipnlsion " — namely, the diiti/ul recognition of a salutary order, and the sum of 
what is to be recognised in the Church as dutiful has always been described as being 
.also ecclesiastical law, — The general priesthood of all helievers (see especially the 
Address to the Christian Nobles) was never surrendered by Luther ; but in its applica- 
ition to the empirical congr^ations he became very much more cautious. 




CHAP. IV.] THE CHRISTIANITY OF LUTHER. 19I 

firmly established trust in God, humility and unceasing prayer, 
if, finally, all ceremonies are worthless, there can no longer be 
exercises which in a special sense can be described as "worship 
of God."' There is only one direct worship of God, whicli is 
faith ; beyond this there is the rule that cannot be infringed, 
that God must be served in love for one's neighbour. Neither 
mystic contemplation nor an ascetic mode of life is embraced in 
the gospel. 

The inherent right of the natural order of life was for Luther 
as little an independent ideal as was freedom from the law of 
the letter. Like every earnest Christian he was eschatologically 
determined, and looked forward to the day when the world will 
pass away with its pleasure, its misery, and its institutions. 
Within it the devil in bodily form continues to ply his daring 
and seductive devices; therefore there can be no real improve- 
ment of it. Even in one of his most powerful treatises, " On the 
freedom of a Christian man," he is far from making the religious 
man, the man of faith, feel at home in and be contented with 
this world, and far from saying to him that he must find his 
satisfaction and ideal in building up the Kingdom of God on 
earth by ministering love. No, the Christian awaits in faith the 
glorious appearing of the Kingdom of Christ, in which his own 
dominion over all things shall be made manifest ; meanwhile, 
during this epoch of time, he must be a servant in love and bear 
the burden of his calling. Yet whether we are disposed to 
regard this view of Luther as a limitation or as the most correct 
expression of the matter, it is certain that he transformed, as no 
Christian had done before him since the age of the Apostles, the 

1 See ihe exposilion of the and and 3r(i Cummandments in the I.arger Catechism 
(p. 399) ; " Hie enim rectus nominis divini cullus cat, ut de eo omnem nobis omnium 
malonim levalionem et uansnlationem polliceamur eamque obrem ilium impluremusi 
ita ut cor prins pet fidem deo suum bonorcni tribuai, deinceps vcro os bonorifica 
cotiTessione idem facial." Sec also the famaus passage, p. 401 : " Ccieium, ut hinc 
Chcistianum aliquem intellectum ha.uiia.nius pro simplicibus, quidnam dcus boc in 
prsacepto (scil. lertio) a nobis cxigat, ita babe : iios dies festas cehbrare, non propter 
intettegentes el truditos Ckristianos, hi emm nihil opus Aaieni firits. " See also Conf. 
of Auga. (p. 60) : " Omnis cultus dei, ab hominibus sine cnaodato dei institutus el 
elecLus ad promereiidam jubtiticationem et gratiam, impius est." The whole Refonna- 
lion of Lulher may be described as a Reformalion of " divine worship," of divine 
worship on the part of the individual and on the part of the whole community. 



192 HISTORY OF UOCMA. [CHAl'. IV. 

ideal of religious perfection, and that at the same time it fell to 
him to transform also the moral ideal, although it was only on 
the religious side that he was able firmly to establish what was 
new.' If we will make clear to ourselves the significance of 
Luther, his breach with the past, we must keep his new ideal of 
the Christian life and Christian perfection as much in view as his 
doctrine of faith, from which that ideal originated, and his 
freedom from the law of the letter and of Church doctrine and 
Church authority. What an extraordinary reduction Is repre- 
sented also by Luther's new ideal ! That which was hitherto 
least observed under the accumulation of fine-spun and com- 
plicated ideals — lowly and assured confidence in God's Fatherly 
providence and faithfulness in one's calling (in neighbourly 
service) — he made the chief nnatter; nay, he niised it to the 
position of the sole ideal ! That which the mediaeval period 
declared to be something preliminary, knowledge of God as Lord 
and Father and faith in his guardianship, he declared to be the 
main part of practical Christianity : those only who belong to 

' To RitschI belongs the great merit of having — it may be said for the first time 
— dearly anJ successfully ilemonat rated the importance of the Reformalion frum ihe 
tisnsrormation of the ideal of teli|^nus and moral perreclion. Yet in doing this he 
has not, in uiy opinion, giv-eo sufficieni weight to tbe eschatolt^cal tendency in 
Luther. But he has restored their signiticance lo the expositions in Aits. (3), 16, so, 
26, 27 of the Augs. Conf, : " Damnajit et illos, qui evangelicara perfcctionem non 
collocant in timore dei et Rde, sed in deserendis civilibus otficiis, quia evangelium 
tradit justitiam EBlemani cordis. Interim non disaipat politiam aut (EConomiam, sed 
maxime postulat cunservare tamquam ordinationes dei et in talihus ordination i bus 
exercere caritatem." , . . "Jam qui scit He per Christum habere propilium patrem, 
is verc novit deum, scit ^ ei curs esse, invocat eum, deiiique nun est sine deo Eicut 
genles. Nam diaboli et impii non possunt hunc articulum credere, remissionem 
peccatatum. Ideo detim tamquam hoslem oderunt, non invocant eum. nihil boni 
ab eo ex°pectant." Of the past time it is said, chap. 26 : " Interim mandata dei 
JHXta vocalionem nullam laudem habebant ; quod pater familias educabat sobolem, 
quod mater pariebat, quod princeps regebat rempublicam, ha:c putabantur esse opera 
mundana et longe detetiora illis splendidis observation ibus." 2^ : " Perfectio 
Christiana est aeiio timere deum et rursus concipere magnam lidem et confidere 
propter Christum, quod habeamus deum piacalum, petcre a deo et certo eispeclare 
ausilium in omnibus rebus gerendis juita vocationem ; interim foris diligeoter facete 
bona opera et setvire vocalioni. In his lebus est vera perfectio et verus cultus dei." 
A radical and Itecn criticism was applied to monachism prior to Luther's lime by 
Pupper of Goch in his Dialogue (see O. Clemen, I.e., pp. 167-181) ; he, however, 
could not sever himself from Ihe ideal of evangelical povtny in the funii of Ibe vita 



CHAP. IV.] THE CHRISTIANITY OF LUTHEK. 193 

Christ have a God ; all others have Him not, nay, know Him 
not' That which the mediaeval age looked upon with mistrust, 
worldly calling and daily duty, was regarded by Him as the true 
sphere of the life that is well-pleasing to God. The effects were 
immeasurable; for at one stroke religion was now released from 
connection with all that was foreign to it and the independent 
right belonging to the spheres of the natural life was recognised. 
Over the great structure of things which we call the Middle 
Ages, over this chaos of unstable and inter-blended forms, there 
brooded the spirit of faith, which had discerned its own nature 
and therefore its limits. Under its breath everything that had a 
right freely to assert itself began to struggle forth into indepen- 
dent development. Through his thinking out, proclaiming, and 
applying the Gospel, everything else was to fall to the Reformer. 
He had no other aim than to teach the world what the nature of 
religion is ; but through his seeing the most important province 
in its distinctive character, the rights of all others also were to 
be vindicated ; science no longer stands under the ban of 
ecclesiastical authority, but must investigate its object in a 
secular, i.e., in a "pure" way;* the Stale is no longer the 
disastrous combination of compulsion and need, so con.structed 
as to lean for support on the Church, but is the sovereign order 
of public social life, while the home is its root ;" Ian.' is no longer 

^Larger Catechism, P. II., 3, p. 460: " I'roinde ii articuli noslrre lidei nos 
Christianos ab omnibus aliis, qui sunt in terris, hominibus separant. Quicumque 
enim extra Christianitalem sunt, iive gentiles sive TurcEB sive Judsei aut falsi eliam 
Christiani el hypocritie, quamqiiam unum tantum et verum deum esse credant et 
invocent, nique tamai csrtum habmt, quo erga 60s animalus sil animo, tiequi gitid- 
quam fiaiari aut gratia dt den sibi poUiari audtnl aut possuni, quamobrem in perpetua 
manent ira et damnattone. Neque enim babenC Christum domlnum neque ullis 
spiritus sancti donis et dotibus illuatrali et donati sunt." 

sSeej.^-. Lhe Treatise " Uii Councils and Churches" (Eri. Ed., Vol, 25, p. 386}: 
"Of lhe schools I have . . . frequently written, that we must hold a firm and 
decided opinion about them. For although in what the boys learn, languages and 
arts, we must recc^nise what is heathenish and external, yet they are certainly of very 
great service." The conclusions, it is true, were not drawn by Luther. He had as 
yet no independent science confronting him, or at least only approaches to it. 

>,"On Cuuncils and Churches" (p. 387 f.), after a brief sketch of "Home," 
" Stale," and " Church " : " These are three kierarrkiis, ordained by God, and there 
niu5t be no more ; and we have enough, and more ihsin enough, to do in securing 
that in these three we shall live rightly in opposition to the devil. . . . Over and 



194 



HISTORY OK DOGMA 



[chap. IV. 



an undefinable thing lying midway between the power of the 
stronger and the virtue of the Christian, but is the independent | 
norm of intercourse, guarded by the civil authorities, and a 
divinely ordained power, withdrawn from the influences of the 
Church; marriage is no longer a kind of ecclesiastical con- 
cession to the weak, but is the union of the sexes, instituted by 
God, free from all ecclesiastical jjuardianship, and the school of 4 
the highest morality ; care for the poor and active cftarity are no ' 
longer a one-sided pursuit carried on with a view to securing I 
one's own salvation, but are the free service of one's neighbour, 
which sees in the real giving of help its ultimate aim and its only i 
reward. But above all this— //^^ ci'uil calling, the simple activity J 
amidst family and dependents, in business and in office, is nol 
]onger viewed with suspicion, as an occupation withdrawing theJ 
thoughts from heaven, but is the true spiritual province, the field f 
in which proof is to be given of one's trust in God, one's humility j 
and prayerfulness — that is, of the Christian character that is | 
rooted in faith. 

These are the fundamental features of Luther's Christianity. 
Any one who takes his stand here and becomes absorbed in 
Luther's conception of faith, will at once find difficulty in hold- 
ing the view that, in spite of all this, Luther only supplemented 
the old " sound " dogma by adding one, or one or two, doctrines. 
He will be inclined rather to trust here the Catholic judgment, 
according to which Luther overthrew the system of doctrine of 
the ancient and media-'val Church and only retained portions of 
the ruins. At the same time it must not be denied that the 
steps towards constructing on principle a new ideal of life were 
not developed by critical force to the point of clearness. For 
this the time was not yet ripe. In an age when life still con- 
tinued every day to be threatened by a thousand forms of 
distress, when nature was a dreaded, mysterious power, when 
legal order meant unrighteous force, when terrible maladies of 
all kinds abounded, and in a certain sense no one was sure of 
his life — in such a time there was necessarily no rising beyond 



natural, a.r 
Jilasphemo' 



ihree lofty, divine forms of govcrnnicnl, over and above the (hrei 
secular spheres of law, why should we have to do, then, ' 
, juggling laws or government of the Pope?" 




CHAP. IV.] THE CHRISTIANITY OK LUTHER. IpS 

the thought that the most important earthly function of rehgion 
is to give comfort amidst the world's misery. Assuagement of 
the pain of sin, mitigation of the evil of the world— this 
Augustinian mood remained the prevalent one, and assuredly it 
is neither possible nor intended that this mood should ever dis- 
appear. But the task that h set to Christian faith to-day is no 
apocryphal one because it has not on its side a tradition of 
Church history. It must be able to take a powerful part in the 
moulding of personality, in the productive development of the 
dominion over nature, in the interpenetrating of the spiritual life 
with the spirit, and to prove its indispen sable ness in these 
directions, otherwise it wil! become the possession of a sect, in 
disregard of whom the great course of our history will pass on 
its way. , 

"^ 
It is advisable that we should submit to a brief treatment the 
most important of the /iTr//ir«/(Tf doctrines and theological con- 
ceptions which Luther made use of, and should present them 
here in the sense in which they were utilised by him in support 
of his new way of apprehending faith. We have to consider 
them, accordingly, only in their newly - moulded, positive 
significance. Yet it must be said here at the outset that Luther 
exercised a very great freedom in the u.se of theological 
terminology, and Melanchthon followed him in this down to the 
time of the Apology. That alone which to Luther appeared 
worth dealing with in theology was the divine action in Jesus 
Christ and the experience of faith in this action. Just because 
it was not a mere doctrine that occupied his attention, he used 
very freely the doctrinal formula, employed the numerous 
expressions which Scripture the old Symbols, and Scholasticism 
furnished, but very frequently treated them as synonymous. 
Not a few have felt that they have been required by this to draw 
up complicated schemes for Luther's doctrine, and so at the 
hands of the Epigones the theology of Luther has assumed the 
same complicated and unimpressive form which the Pauline 
doctrine has received in Biblical Theology, It would appear as 
if theologians alone among historians and biographers were 
still unaware, that there is the most radical failure in the 



196 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

endeavour to get an entire view of a great man when 
the effort is made to reduce all his utterances to an artistic 
unity and to spin them out to a further point of develop- 
ment. From these utterances the movement must be, 
not forwards, but backwards, i.e., the miscellaneous and 
divers-coloured propositions must as far as possible be 
simplified, and run back as far as possible into a few fundamental 
thoughts. The fact that light breaks into different colours is 
not to be explained from the light, but from the different media 
through which it passes. In order to understand, however, the 
theology of Luther, we must be guided above all by the percep- 
tion, that for him the Christian doctrine was no jointed puppet, 
which can be taken to pieces, and have members withdrawn or 
added. The traditional theological schemes ivere dealt with rather 
by Luther in view of the fact that in each of them, when properly 
understood, the whole doctrine found expression. Wliether it be 
the doctrine of the three-one God that is treated, or Christology, 
or the doctrine of reconciliation, or of justification, or the 
doctrine of sin and grace, of repentance and faith, or the doctrine 
of predestination and free will, what he contemplates is the 
setting forth of the whole of Christianity. Kattenbusch has 
gained merited distinction from having shown and proved this 
in connection with two cardinal doctrines, the Trinitarian and the 
Christological(Luther'sStellungzudenoecumenischenSymbolen, 
18S3). Only by keeping this observation distinctly in view can 
an account of the theology of Luther be successful, so far as that 
theology constituted a whole? That there were many other 
things besides which Luther retained as fragments admits of no 
dispute. 

I. Under the doctrine of God, a double set of attributes 
disclosed themselves for Luther according as God was conceived 
of apart from Christ or in Christ. But each of these groups is 
summed up in one single thought ; on the one hand there is the 
awe-inspiring judge, with whom there can be associated nothing 
but penalty ; on the other hand the gracious Father, who has 
turned His heart towards us. As they are looked at in Christ, 
the attributes of God's truth., justice, grace- {veritas, justitia, 
1 Compare also GoUschick, Luther E1I3 Katechet, 1883. 



it 



CIJAR IV.] THE (.IIRISTJANITN' OK LUTIIEK. I97 

gratia dei), etc., are all identical ; for they are all contemplated 
from the point of view of the promises of God (promissiones 
dei) ; but these latter have no other content than the remission 
of sins (remissio peccatorum). As contemplated in Christ, God 
has o?Ay one will, which is onr salvation; apart from Christ there 
is no certainty at all with regard to God's will. 

2. God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are objects of faith. 
But God is Himself an object of faith, i.e., of hearty trust and 
childlike fear, only in so far as He has revealed Himself out- 
wardly and once for all among men, and continues to reveal 
this revelation through His spirit in Christendom to individuals,^ 
A stricter unity cannot be thought of; for it is by no means 
God in Himself in whom faith believes — God in Himself belongs 
to the Aristotelians — it is the God revealed in Christ, and 
presented to the soul through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. 
For him in whom the Holy Spirit enkindles this faith there is 
here no mystery and no enigma, least of all is there the contra- 
diction between one and three ; in Christ, " the mirror of the 
Father's heart," he apprehends God Himself, and he knows that 
it is God, that is, the Holy Spirit, who has enkindled such faith 
and creates the comfort of sin forgiven. 

3. Thus also the first article of the Symbol is for Luther a 
statement of the whole of Christianity; for when man sets his 
trust on God as his gracious Creator, Preserver, and Father, and 
in no state of need has any doubt of Him, he can attain to this 
only because he looks to Christ, and is in the position of one 
whose sins are forgiven ; but if he is able to do this he is a 
perfect Christian.^ 

4. Of Jesvs Christ faith knows, that " all the tyrants and 
jailers are now driven off, and in their .stead has come Jesus 
Christ, a Lord of life, of righteousness, of all that is good and 
blessed, and He has snatched us poor, lost men from the jaw.s 
of hell, has won us, has delivered us, and restored us to the 
Father's grace and favour, and has taken us, as His possession, 
under His guardianship and protection, so that He now rules us 

' Compare the two passages quoted above, p. l84and p. i8g from Ihe Larger Catechism. 
"See the splendid exposilion of the 1st Article in the Larger Catechism and in 
the "Kurze Form ilcr 10 Gebote, des (jlaii!>Ens imd des Valer-Unsers" (1522). 



by His righteousness, wisdom, power, life, and blessedness."' 
That is the knowledge of Jesus Christ which alone answers to 
faith, and which faith alone can obtain ; for Christ can be 
known only from His " office " and " benefactions " ; in these 
benefactions the real and true faith in Christ is embraced.- 
These benefactions are summed up in the atonement which He 
has made, i.e., in the forgiveness of sins which He has procured 
by His life and death : " He was truly born, suffered, and died, 
that He might reconcile the Father to us, and be a sacrifice, not 
only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men." * 
This is the chief part of the Gospel, indeed it is the Goi^pel 
itself, to which faith directs itself The whole person of Jesus 
falls for faith simply within this view, all deeds of Jesus and all 
His words ; Luther indeed would rather do without the former 
than the latter, for the former need no exposition. The heart 
can only forget its dread of God, the terrible Judge, when it 
looks on Christ, whose death guarantees that the law and justice 
of God have been satisfied, and in whose word and lineaments 
the gracious God Himself lays hold of us through the Holy 
Spirit. Just for that reason it is certain that Christ is some- 
thing more for us than merely our brother, that He is a truL- 
helper, who has suffered penalty and wrath for us, and in whom 
God Himself offers Himself to us, and becomes so little and 
lowly, that we can lay hold of Him and enclose Him in our 
heart. Where there is this knowledge, neither the deity nor the 
humanity of Christ is a problem for faith ; nor is the interblend- 
ing of the two a problem ; there is here rather the clearest and 
most comforting certainty : God's grace is only manifest in the \ 
historical work of the historical Christ. On the one hand we see 
in Christ, that " God has entirely emptied Himself and kept 
nothing which He could have given to us " — so there is the 
firmest assurance of the full deity of Christ, — on the other hand 

I Larger Cutechism, II., z, p. 453, 

^ See the motto from Luther's works prefixed to this vol., and M elanch than 's famous 
sentence in ihe Introduction to the first edilion of his Loci ; " Hoc est Christum 
CDgnoscere, beneficis, ejus cognoscere, non ejus naluras, mi 

! "Vetc natus, paasuB, mortuus, ul reconciliaret nobis patreni et 
lantum pro culpa otiginis, sed etiani pro omnibus actualibus hom! 
Conf, of Augs. 3. 




CHAP. IV.] THE CHRISTIANITY OF LUTHER. 1 99 

we see Him in the manger and on the cross. The two, however, 
are not side by side with each other, but in the abasement faith 
sees the glory. Confessing the deity of Christ could never 
become doubtful for him who knew — in the sense of believing 
in — no God at all save in Christ,' Loofs is right in pointing out 
(Dogmen-Gcsch., 3rd ed., p. 358), that within the history of 
dogma thi old religious Modalism stands neare.st to Luther's 
view. The speculation about natures is here rejected by Luther 
on principle. It was quite impossible for him to arrive at it 

I On Luther's Christologj' compare Schullz, Lehre von der GoUheit Cliiisli (1881), 
p. 182 ff. The greal lerotni which Luther effeettd, both for faith and theolof^, was 
that he m3.de the historical Christ, lie saJ/pniicipk 11/ tAiiiiaw/iiiii! a/ Gad. Only by 
him were Matlh. xi., 27, and I Cor. i., 21-25 ! ■'■i 4-'6 restored to a commanding 
position, the effect of which, however, was that the roots of the dogmatic Christianity 
were severed. " We must neither worship nor seek after any God save the God who 
is the Father of onr Lord Jesus Christ ; in this true God Christ also is included." 
" Anything that one imagines of God apart from Christ is only useless thinking and 
vain idolatry." " When one loses Christ, all faiths (of the Pope, the Jews, the 
Turks, the common rabble) become one faith (see passages in Theod. Hamack's 
Luther's Theolc^e, L, p. 371 ff.). "Begin by applying thy skili and study to 
Christ, there also let them continue fixed, and if thine own thoughts or reason or 
some one else guide and direct thee otherwise, only close thine eyes and say : I must 
and will know of no other God, save in my Lord Christ. . , . See, there open there 
to me my Father's heart, will, and work, and I know Him, and this no one will ever 
see ot come upon in any other way, however high he soars, speculaiiiig with his own 
clever and subtle thoughts. . . . For, as I have always said, that is the only way of 
transacting with God, that one make no self-prumpted approach ; and the true stair 
or bridge by which one may pass to heaven, that one remain below here and keep 
close to this flesh and bluod, ay, to the words and letters that proceed from His mouth, 
by which in the tenderest way he leads us up to the Father, so that we find and feel 
no wrath or dreadful form, hut pure comfort and joy and peace." On John 17, 3 : 
"See how Christ in this saying interblends and unites knowledge of Himself and 
knowledge of the Father, so that it is only through and in Christ that we know the 
h'ather. For I have often said that, and will still go on saying it, so that even when 
1 am dead people may think over it and guard against all teachers whom the devil 
rides an! guides, who beghi at the highest point to teath and preach about God, taking 
no notice vthatevir of Christ, \MS,t as up to this time there has been in the great schools 
a speculating and playing with His works above in Heaven, with the view of knowing 
what He Is, and thinks, and does by Himself." In a similar way Melanchthon in the 
first edition of his Loci (1521) set aside the entire Scholastic doctrine of God. But 
how much time elapsed before this doctrine returned ? Even in Proleslantiscn there 
again came to be a speculating like that of " the Pope, the Jews, Turks, and the 
common rabble," a laying down with Origein two sources of divine revelation, the 
book of nature and the book of Holy Scripture, and ai> introduction of Christ into 
both books as a section. 



*\ 



2CO HISTORY OF DOG^fA. [CHAP. IV. 

from his view of saving faith ; for when this was the starting 
point, neither did the deity of Christ come within his horizon as 
" nature," nor did the oneness of Christ admit of speculation as 
to the conjunction ; for conjunction presupposes in some way a 
being separate. — It is further nnanifest that Luther's Christology 
closes the line of development represented by Tcrtullian, 
Augustine, Bernard, the Franciscan Mystics. 

5. Of sin faith knows, that it consists supremely and there- 
fore solely in the want of fear, love and trust towards God, 
Just on that account all men before Christ and apart from 
Christ are sinners, because (through their guilt certainly) they do 
not know God, or at least know Him only as an awful Judge- 
do not know Him therefore as He desires to be known. No 
one before Luther took so serious a view of sin as he did, the 
reason being that he measured it by faith, that is to say, took a 
religious estimate of it, and did not let himself be disturbed in 
this view by looking upon sins as the graduated manifestations 
of immorality, or upon virtues as the manifold forms of worldly 
morality. He alone seized again on the sense of the Pauline 
proposition, that whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Thus also 
the opposition between sin and holiness was first strictly reduced 
again by Luther to the other opposition — that namely between 
guilt and forgiveness. The state of the natural man is guilt, 
which expresses itself in dread of God, the state of the new man 
is forgiveness of guilt, which shows itself in confidence in God. 
As understood by Luther the contrast, however, can be viewed 
still more simply : to have no God, and to have a God. The sin 
in all sin and the guilt in all guilt is godlessriess in the strictest 
sense of the word, ?>., the unbelief which is not able to trust 
God.^ And on the other hand the highest among all forms of 

1 Besides the defedus of faith Luther and the Augs. Conf. menlion also con- 
cupiscence, but they constantly accentuate in this the pride of the heart, as also the 
Inst of the world, and the selfishness of the spirit. Luther broke with the iJea that 
had become acclimatised from Augustine's time — that sexual pleasure is the original 
sin, and the toot of all sin, and thereby corrected the error that had led to the most 
disgusting explanations and to the most dangerous training of the imagination. 
These sentences — which appeared already in the 1st ed if— I feel I must adhere to, 
notwithstanding Dilthey's objection (AtT:hiv f. Gesch. der Philos., Vol. V., p. 359), 
(hat Lnlher and Melanchthon's doctrine of original sin {see Art. 2 of Conf. of Augs.) 
lays equal stress on concupiscence, ancl so is not substantially different ftam the 




CHAP. IV.] THE CHRISTIANITY OF LUTHER. 20I 

goodness is confidence in God as a true helper. Inasmuch as 
man is created to and for God, the " original righteousness " 
(" justitia originalis ") is accordingly fear, love and trust, nothing 
more and nothing else, and the fall, which had its source in 
unbelief, had the entire !oss of original righteousness as its con- 
sequence.' Hence the original righteousness is by no means a 
supernatural gift in the sense that it was added to man as being 
mature, independent within his limitations and for certain ends 
perfect ; but it is the essential condition, under which and in 
which alone man can reach the goal set before him by his 
Creator. As in the beginning only God himself could produce 
this original righteousness by His revelation, so also He alone 
can restore it ; but that has taken place through Chi^ist, who 
has cancelled guilt and brought to men the God of grace. 

6. What Luther wrought out here under the scheme of sin 
and ^cancelling of sin he expressed also in his doctrines of 
predestinalion and the enslaved ■mill. As contrasted with the 
medieval view his fundamental thought is this — that God has 
not merely brought into existence objective provisions for 
salvation, to which there must then correspond a subjective line 
of action that is in a way independent, and of which the evidence 
is given in penitence and faith, but that He bestows faith and 
creates penitence. The media:val theology — even tliat which 
took the most severely strict view of the thought of predestina- 
tion — is known to have always relaxed this thought precisely in 
the really religious aspect of it ; for all the definitions, both of 
the Thomists and of the Scotists, issue in the end in a more or 

AugUitinian-Medireval doctiine in so far as by it also oriEina] sin and stsual enjoy- 
ment are brought inlo union. For ihis opinion a number of passages written by the 
Reformers can certainly he appealed lo— what mediiesal doctrines connected *ith the 
doctrine of solvation do not find a support in their writings? — yet the view that the 
physical impulses are in themselves sinful was certainly transcended by them, not 
only in principle, but in countless different connections. That Luther's view of 
" faith " and " unbelief" cancels this view, even Dilthey will not deny, as 1 do not 
deny that the historical theory of original sin had necessarily the effect of always 
leading the theologians back again in a disastrous way to concupiscence as the cog- 
nisable <ehicle of sin. 

1 Hence original sin is really the chief sin, i.e., this is true of unbelief. Just on 
that account it is to be believed that Christ cancels al! sin, because he takes away the 
guilt lying in original sin. 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAl'. I 

less refined syjiergism ; or rather conversely, the divine agency 
appears only as an " aid " ("auxilium "). But for Luther tlie 
religious aspect continued to hold its central significance; it is 
God, that is to say, who works faith, who plants the good tree 
and nourishes it. That which when viewed from without 
appears to be something subjective, and is therefore regarded 
by reason a.s an achievement of man, appeared to him, from his 
keeping in view the real experience as he had passed through 
it, as the really objective thing, produced within him from 
without. This is perhaps what gives to Luther his highest 
significance in theology, and on this account his work on the 
enslaved will (" De servo arbitrio ") is in one respect his greatest. 
That significance lies in this, that lie completely broke with the idea 
that the religious experience is composed of historic and sacramental 
■ acts, which God performs and holds in readiness, and of sub- 
jective acts, which somehow are an affair of man's. So to 
describe this experience meant for him the depriving it of its 
force and the handing it over to reason ; for the latter can then 
"objectively" register, describe, and reckon upon the divine 
acts, and in the same way it can then fix and prescribe what is 
to be done by man. That this was the falsely renowned art 
of the Schoolmen, the doctrine of reason and of the devil, was 
perceived by Luther, and therein consists his greatness ; 
theologian. He put an end both to the arrogant 
theology of "objective" calculations and to the morality that 
gave itself out as religion, but that in its deepest basis was 
godless. He did away with the severing of the objective from 
tiie subjective, of the divine factor from the human factor in the 
experience of faith. In this way he produced a complete con- 
fusion in religion for every one who approaches it from without, 
because such an one must relinquish all thinking if he is forbidden 
to take into consideration at one time tlte acts of God and at 
another time the doings of man ; but it was just in tliis way that 
he made religion clear to the believer, and restored to it the view 
in zvhich the Christian believer has at the first, and continues tff 
have, his experience of it. Nothing is more instructive here than 
the drawing a comparison between Luther's work mentioned 
above, "De servo arbitrio," and the treatise to which it is the 



CHAP. IV.] THE CHRISTIANITY OF LUTIIEK. 205 

reply, the work of Erasmus. What a fineness of judgment, 
what a power to look all around, what an earnest morality does 
the author of the latter develop ! One is justified in regarding 
his diatribe as the crown of his literary work ; but it is an 
entirely worldly, at bottom an irreligious treatise. Luther, on 
the other hand, takes his stand on the fundamental fact of 
Christian experience. It is here we have the root of his doctrine 
of predestination as the expression for the sole efficiency of the 
grace of God. Certainly Luther had not yet recognised in all 
its consequences the significance of the perception that the 
objective revelation and the subjective appropriation must not 
be separated, that accordingly the awakening of faith itself 
belongs to revelation ; ' otherwise it would have become clear 
to him that this perception nullified all the foregoing scholastic 
efforts of theology, and hence forbade also conclusions such as 
he drew in his speculations regarding original sin, and in his 
book " De servo arbitrio." For when Luther here reflects on 
what the "hidden God" ("dens absconditus ") is, as dis- 
tinguished Jrom the God who is "preached" (" praedicatus"), 
when he admits a double will in God, and so on, that is only a 
proof that he has not yet rid himself of the bad practice of the 
.scholastic understanding of treating theological perceptions 
as philosophical doctrines, which one may place under any 
major premises he pleases, and combine in any way he may 
choose. Yet with his doctrines of predestination and enslaved 
will he in the main clearly and distinctly discarded metaphysic 
and psychology as the basis on which Christian knowledge is 
to be built up. That " hidden God," moreover, who was left to 
him by Nominalism he allowed to become always vaguer, or he 
came to identify Him with that dread judge whom the natural 
man must recognise in God. While in this way he gave back 
religion to religion, he also vindicated the independence of the 
knowledge reached through faith, by setting up the experience 
of the revelation of God in the heart, i.e., the production of faith, 

1 See Herrmann's beautiful expositions in the book mentioned alxive ; it is an 
important circiitnslnnce [lial Lulher himself spoke of the revelation ihrougli the lloiy 
.Spirit (Larger Catechism, p. 460 : " neque de Christn quidquam scire possemus, si 



204 HISTORV" OK DOGMA. [CllAI'. IV. 

as a noli me tangere, to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the 
Greeks foolishness. But who understood him ! In his know- 
ledge there was seen the old predestination doctrine and nothing 
else, as a specially intractable doctrine standing side by side 
with other doctrines, and soon there began in Protestantism 
the huckstering and higgling over this, Melanchthon leading 
the way. 

"J. But Luther was also able to describe the whole of 
Christianity under the scheme of law and gospel; nay, at a very 
early date he embodied his new knowledge in this scheme. 
Receiving an impulse here from Augustine, but passing beyond 
him (for the sovereign place of faith [fides] in the gospel is not 
fully recognised by Augustiae), he attached himself so closely 
to Paul that it does not seem necessary to state his view in 
detail ; nor did he shrink even from the Pauline paradoxes, nay 
he strengthened them ; the law is given that it may be violated. 
Yet by this he only meant to say, that neither the command- 
ments, nor even the pleasantesi doch-ines, can be of help to man ; 
they rather increase his godlessness. Help can come only from 
^person — here the person is Jesus Christ. That was what was 
in Luther's mind, when he set down "gospel," "promises of 
God," etc, as = Christ. For him the contrast between law and 
gospel was not merely the contrast between a commandment 
that worketh death and a promise ; in the last resort it was 
rather the contrast between a burdensome hu.sk and the thing 
itself. If the gospel as it is preached were only an announcement 
or a making salvation possible, according to Luther it too would 
be a " law " ; but it is neither the one nor the other, but some- 
thing much higher, because it is quite incommensurable with 
law; iltat is to say, it is redemption itself. Where Luther, un- 
disturbed by any shibboleth, gave expression to what was really 
his own Christianity, he never reflected on the gospel " in itself" 
— that was for him a Jewish or heathenish reflection, similar to 
the reflection on God " in Himself," atonement " in itself," faith 
"in itself" — but he kept in view the gospel together with its 
effect, and only in this effect was it for him the gospel : the God 
in the heart recovered in the person of Christ, faith. To this 
faith there applies : " in an easy, compendious way the law is 




CHAP. IV.] THE CHRISTIANITV OF LUTHER. 20S 

fulfilled by faith "{" facili compendio per fidem lex impletur"). 
Just on that account he was able to teach Christendom again 
what a fundamental distinction there is in respect of principle 
between law and gospel : it was he who first gave stability to 
the work of Augustine here also, as with regard to pre- 
destination and the bondage of the will. Hence it was, too, 
that he could never have any doubt that it is only the Christian 
overmastered by the gospel who can have true penitence and 
that the law produces no true penitence: terror and dread 
(attritio, or contritio passiva, i.e. a sorrow wrung from one, 
brought about through being crushed from without) the law 
causes (unless it be hypocrisy) ; but should the gospel not in- 
tervene, these take the direction only of unbelief and despair, 
that is, of the greatest ungodliness. If in not a few passages in 
Luther's works that appears to be otherwise, then it is in part 
only apparently so — for the gospel lakes even the law into its 
service (see the Smaller Catechism; the gospel expounds the 
Saw, and holds to view also its punitive operation ; in this sense 
— that is, as embraced within the gospel — it is not cancelled),'' 

1 Nay, it is necessary for the Christian tQ measure himself by the law, and to see 
daily that tluough acquaintance viilh it the old man is being destroyed. This opera- 
tion of the law precedes also the posnitenlia evangelica and can therefore be described 
as " the fundamental experience in connectiott with ihe rise of faith." Yet the God 
who cheera Ihe broken heart must nevertheless take a part even here ; tor otherwise 
the effect of pcenitentia legalis would necessarily be either hypocrisy or despair. 
Loofs (Dogmengesch., 3rd ed., p. 355): "For him who knows Christ's cross, 
contemplation of the law and despair of self are (accoriling lo Lulher] salutary ;, 
' opus alieniim dei (j'.t., the occidere lege) ioducit tandem opus ejus proprium, dam 
facit peccatorem, ut justum facial ; ' mortificatio et vivicatio lun parallel with each 
other in the Christian life; the Christian lakes upon himself Ihe ' conleri lege' 
('contritio pasaiva') as a cross, so that in Ihis way contritio passiva and contritio 
activa merge into each other here. In accordance with his own experiences, Lulhvr 
preiuppobet that every one, before he understands grace, experiences in himself, and 
must experience, the ' conteri lege,' the ' nlienum opus dei ' ; but from this condition 
of mere 'conteri lege' he with all his energy struggles forth." In these words, 
according to my opinion, Luther's normal attitude to the question of lepentance (the 
efficacy for thisof gospel and law) is correctly indicated ; see the controversy between 
Lipsius (Luther's L.ehre v. d. Busse, iSga) and Herrmann (Die Busse der cvang. 
Christen, in the Zlschr, f. Theol. u. K., iSgt, Part l). Lipsius has convinced me 
that in following Ritschl I have not done justice to Luther's doctrine of the law in 
its bearing on repentance. Hut I cannot agree with all that he aela forth, and chiefly 
for this reason, that— howevtr clearly we can see what Luther ultimately wished with 



206 



mSTORV OK DOGMA, 



[chap. IV.. 



and it is in part due to the p.-tdagogic reflection produced by 
the very justifiable doubt as to whether the man of common 
and coarse type is to be regarded as a Christian or not (see 
below). The Epigones soon came to quarrel about the law, as 
they quarrelled about free will, because the main principle of the 
new view was no longer recognised by them. Luther himself 
■did not find his proper position in these quarrels ; for he always 
showed a very remarkable want of resource when controversies 
arose within the circle of Protestantism, and in such cases he 
■was always inclined to regard the most conservative view as the 
right one. A "third use of the law" (usus tertius legis) cannot 
be attributed to him ; for the positive relations of believers to 
God are, like their whole course of conduct, to be determined 
by the gospel. 

8. But the whole of Christianity also presents itself to view, 
finally, m justification. Just because it is usual to see Luther's 
importance exclusively in this — that he formulated the doctrine 
of justification, it is of service to point out on the other hand 
that Luther's Christianity can be described while this term is 
not made use of What he understood by justification has 

his diatinction between law and gospel — ihe Reformer's expositions are not found 
when we go inLo detail to be hannonious. Hence on the one hand it is left to the 
subjective judgment to select those that may be held as the most important ; on the 
other hand Luther himself has in certain connections of thought given special 
prominence to ideas that secure for the law a special, independent importance in 
perpetuum. But is it not a duty to represent the Reformer in accordance with his 
most original thought? 

' This, however, means something else than what is conveyed in Dillhey's statement 
(Aichiv. f. Gesch. d. Philos., Vol. VI., p. 377 ff.) : "I deny out and out that the 
heart of the Reformation religion is to be found In the restoration of the Pauline 
doctrine of JQStificaTion by faith." Yet a mutual understanding is not impossible, 
for in the fine analysis of the Christian system of the Reformers with which Dilthey 
has followed up his statement (I.e., see also Preuss. Jahrb., Vol. 75, Part I., p. 44 ff.), 
the decisive importance of the " breaking up" by Luther of the "egoistic motives," 
which had still a place even in the highe-st and most refined Catholic religion, is 
brought out as distinctly as the emancipation from the hierarchy, and as the funda- 
mental feature of Lutheran faith, as trust in God and the firm consciousness of 
"being taken up, guarded, and hidden in the unseen connection of things." If 
Dilthey introduces these and other momenta into the history of the general spiritual, 
.and especially Germanic, development, this is entirely correct ; neither is any obji 
■to be made even from the point of view of the history of dogma to the repeated 
reference to the fact, that what is in question is not merely a rejuveni 




^peated ■ 

of the ■ 



CHAP. IV.] THE CHRISTIANITY OF LUTHER. 20? 

indeed found expression everywhere in what has preceded here, 
not as a single doctrine, but as the fundamental form of the 
Christian's state. It was with the view of describing this state 
that Luther most frequently made use of the Pauline expression ; 
if any other view is taken, there will be a failure to understand 
Luther's meaning. What is new is not that in a scrupulous and 
scholastic way Luther separated the justificatioand sanctificatio, 
and regarded the former as a forensic act (actus forensis), taking 
place once for all;' that is the wisdom of the Epigones, who were 
always great in distinctions; — what is new lies in this, "(l) that 
with few exceptions the receiving of life (vivificatio) or 
justification Qustificatio) is seen ultimately in nothing but in the 
being redeemed from sin without merit (sine merito redimi de 
peccatis), in the non -imputation of sin (non imputari peccatum) 
and the imputation of righteousness (reputari justitiam alicui), 
(2) that in connection herewith ^race (gratia) is identified with 
mercy (misericord ia), with grace for the remission of sins (gratia 
in remissionem peccatorum), or with truth (veritas), i.e. the 
fulfilment of the promise (impletio promissi) in the historical 
work of Christ, and (3) that in consequence hereof faith (fides) 
appears — though a distinct terminology is still wanting— as 
trust in God's truth (veritas) and in Christ's work for us: faith = 
beUeving in God = the wisdom of the cross of Christ {i.e. the 
understanding that the Son of God was incarnated and crucified 
and raised again for our salvation) — being well-pleasing to God 
in Christ (fides = credere deo = sapientia crucis Christi [scil. 
intellegere, quod filius dei est incarnatus et crucifixus et 

primitive Chrislian, Pauline scagp, but a pussing beyond this Co sn nrganisation and 
piaclical application of the inwardly expeiienced in human society and its order, 
such as primitive Chtistianity liad not known. But on the other hand, the Pauline 
doctrine of justification is not to be restricted to Rom, III, and IV. There must be 
added Rom. VIII. and Gal. V., 6— VI. lo. But if that addition is made, then the 
most decisive momenta which Diltbey singles out for commendation in the higher 
religion of Luther, as being new stages of the development, are to be found already 
in Paul — though certainly their further conclusions are not unfolded, 

■ See on this the fine studies of Loofs and Eichhorn (Stud, u, Kritik., 1884, or 
1887) i they deal with the moulding of the thought of juatiflcalion in the Apology, 
but they are not less applicable 10 Luther's doctrine. The observations made on the 
other side by Franck (Neue Kirchl, Zeitschr., 1892, p. S46) do not touch the main 
subject. 



Z08 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

suscitatiis propter noslram sahiten{\ = A&o satisfacere in Chn'sto), 
On these three equations, as the regulators of religious self- 
appraisement, Luther's piety rests."' Under the scheme of 
justification Luther, according'Iy, gives to the following thoughts 
pre-eminently a special clearness and the most distinct ex- 
pression: (i) that for us all attributes of God combine in the 
attribute of His righteousness, with which He makes us righteous 
(which is therefore at the same time grace, truth, mercy and 
holiness), (2) that it is God who works and not man, (3} that our 
whole relation to God rests on the " for Christ's sake " (" propter 
Christum"); for God's righteousness unto salvation (justitia 
ad salutem) is His action through the gospel, i.e. through 
Christ; it is the righteousness of Christ (justitia Christi), in 
which He beholds us and which he imputes to us (" imputes 
the righteousness of Christ "[" imputare justitiam Christi "] or 
''for the sake of Christ" ["propter Christum"]); (4) that the 
righteousness of God (justitia dci), as it ajjpears in the gospel, 
effects both things — death and life— that is to say, judgment 
and death of the old man, and the awakening of the new ; 
(S) that justification takes place through faith— that is, through 
the producing of faith: the latter is not so much the human 
answer to a divine acting, it is the means, rather, by which God 
works out justification and carries it home; (6) that justifica- 
tion is nothing else than the forgiveness of guilt, and that in 
this forgiveness everything is included — that is to say, life and 
blessedness — because there are in all only two states — that of 
conscious guilt and misery and that of gracious standing and 
blessedness ; (7) that justification is therefore not the beginning, 
but is at the same time beginning, middle and end ; for as it has 
existence only in faith, it is subject to the law of faith, which 
every day makes a beginning, and is therefore every day new, 
because it must always lay hold anew of the gracious remission 
(gratuita remissio), but is also the full and entire faith, if in 
sincere penitence it finds comfort in its God ; (8) that justifica- 
tion is both in one — namely, a being righteous and a becoming 
righteous ; it is the former, inasmuch as by the faith which 
attains forgiveness man is really righteous before God ; it is the 
' Loofs, Dogmergesch., 3rd ed., p. 34S IT. 




CHAP. IV.] THE CHKISTIANITV OF LUTHER. 209 

I latter, inasmuch as the faith that has become certain of its God, 

can alone bring forth good works. In this sense faith is un- 
doubtedly an act of initiation, i.e., the beginning of the work of 
the Holy Spirit on the soul ; yet that is not to be taken as 
meaning that in man inwardly, or by a new process, something 
has to be added to faith ; faith, rather, is the beginning in the 
same sense in which the good tree is the beginning of good 
fruit. Luther never thought of the relationship otherwise when 
his thoughts were clear to his own mind, or rather he connected 
faith with good works still more closely than is represented by 
the metaphor here employed ; for to him faith itself was already 
regeneration (regeneratio), the latter not being merely a con- 
sequence of the former, so that there at once takes commence- 
ment along with faith that practical life also and that unresting 
joyous activity, in which one seeks to serve God as a happy 
child ("good works perform themselves unbidden"). If 
" fearing, loving, and trusting" are not merely results of faith, 
but faith itself, therefore to some, extent the fruit is already 
implied in and given with the tree. Luther never thought of a 
f^ith that is not already in itself regeneration (regeneratio), 
quickening (vivicatio) and therefore good work (bonum opus) ; 
but on the other hand — in ail doubt, in all uncertainty and des- 
|)ondency, refuge is found, not in the thought of the faith which 
is regeneration, but only in the faith which is "nothing but 
faith" ("nil nisi fides"); in other words: "we are justified by 
faith alone" (" justificamur sola fide"), i.e., only by the faith 
which lays hold on the forgiveness of sins. That continued to 
be the chief matter for Luther ; for only this faith secures 
certainty of salvation. This expresses the ultimate and highest 
thing which Luther wished to say m describing the state of the 
Christian as a state of justification, and which, under no other 
scheme, he could make the subject of such impressive preach- 
ing: man in his poverty, stricken in conscience and therefore 
godless, can only find rest in what is highest, in possessing God 
Himself — that was known by Augustine also- — but he finds this 
rest only when he is absolutely certain of God, and he become.-^ 
I certain of God only through faith — both these things were 
i unknown to Augustine. What enabled Luther to carry beyond 



k 



2,10 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAR I\ - 

themselves and bring to finality all the Reform movements of 
the Middle Ages, was that he had found what they sought, and 
was able to express what he experienced : t/ie equivalence of 
certainty of salvation and faith} No other faith, however, than 
the faith that fixes itself on the historic Christ can win the 
strength of sure faith.^ Thus Luther again made the funda- | 
mental thoughts in the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the I 
Romans the rock-basis of religion. Nowhere, therefore, can we 
see more distinctly than here his opposition to Catholic piety 
also. The ultimate question of this piety was always, how is 
the sinful man made capable of doing good works in order to 
become acceptable to God ? and to this it gave long-winded 
replies, constructing at the same time an immense apparatus, 
made up of the sufferings of Christ, sacraments, the rennnants of 
human virtues, faith, and love. Here Luther had no question at 
■all to ask, but described powerfully and joyfully what the 
experience consisted in through which the grace of God had 
conducted him. This experience was for him the certainty 
that in faith in Jesus Christ he had a gracious God. He knew 
that all that succeeded with him, all real life and blessedness, so 
far as he possessed it, was the outflow of that certainty ; he 
knew that certainty as the source of hi« .s a net ifi cation and his 
good works. Thereby for him the whole question as to the 
relation of faith to good works was in its essence solved.^ That 

1 In this way Lulhet transcended mysticism ; cf. ] leiing, Die Mystik Luther's im 
Zusammenhang seiner Theologie, 1879. 

ajnslification bases itself, in Luther's view, on saliMfaclion, i.e., on the exchange 
between Christ and the sinner. See Th. Harnack, l,c, II., pp. 288-404. 

3 On the reklion of faith aad works see especially Thieme's book referred to above 
<i8g5). Besides the view of faith which is determinacive and by which Luther's 
thinkingisdirected— the view that sees iTi ilthatwhich produces good works nnbidden, 
tliere are to be found io Luther other views also, which do not, however, claim lo 
have equal importance. There is this view in particular — thai good works, i.e., 
moral conduct, represent thankfulness to God, who has awakened faith in us. 
Thankfulness is conceived of here, not as requital, but as the conduct that corres- 
ponds with the gift, i.e., as the longing thai asserls itself for fuller realisation of 
fellowship with God, so that this scheme really runs back into the first-namEd, only 
that the free action comes to view here prominently as joyfiil recognition of duty lo 
; fulfilled. On ihe question as lo what scope belongs (according to Luther) in 
.oral conduct to the contemplation of one's neighbour as a direct end, or, in other 
Olds, lo love for nne's ndjjlibour, see Thieme, I.e., p. 20, 298, Hernnlinn, Verkehr 



CHAP. IV.] THE CHRISTIANITY OF LUTHER. 211 

there must be progress in holiness, conflict and struggle, that 
also he knew ; but when he grew weary in good works, he broke 
into the prayer, Increase my faith ! The exclusive relation of 
forgiveness of sins, faith and assurance of salvation is the first 
and last word of Luther's Christianity. Where the knowledge 
of God is, there is also life and blessedness — that is the old con- 
fession of the Church, But what the knowledge of God is that 
is here meant — on this there was no clearness of thought: 
future knowledge, philosophical knowledge, intuitive knowledge, 
mystic- sacramental enjoyment of God, knowledge through the 
Logos — all these mistaken ways were adopted, and as no 
certainty of God was found, no blessedness was found. Luther 
did not seek a knowledge, it was given in his Christian standing, 
God in Christ; "where forgiveness of sins is, there is life and 
blessedness.'" But in this faith he also acquired religious 
independence and freedom over against all that was not God ; for 
only independence and freedom is life. The freedom which his 
opponents had left in a place to which it does not at all belong 
he did away with ; but as a substitute for the noxious remnant 
which he discarded, he reaped the freedom which Paul glories 

des Chrislcn, 3rd ed., p. 259 ff, H 
task of showing ho-w neighbourly It 
how faith ilscif guthers up its own 
neighbour, and how there dare be 
adheres to a relative independence of 



inann remarks that Luther did not fulfil the 
springs from faith (fellowship with God), i.e., 

npulses in the strenuous resolve to love one's 
moral motives thai transcend this. Thieme 
k and intercourse with the world. 



The moDistic religious attitude, for which Herrmann is an advocate, will, hawevei, 
only stand the dogmatic test, if the homogeneous slructare (faith working hy love) 
can be built up also from the side of neighbourly love ; for, according to the gospel 
of Jesus Christ, love of one's neighbour is not subordinated to love lo God, but is — 
owing to the double position of man— the given ivkole under the point of view of 
time, while the love to God is the whole under the point of view of eternity. But 
even ia Luther there are passages enough to be discovered, in which ministering love 
.ippears as the supernatural character of man in the same sense as trust in God's 
providence and patience. 

■ Loofe, I.e., 2nd ed., p. 230: "With the Greeks sin fell into the background 
behind 09opd. Kuin and redemption were physically conceived of ; Augustine and 
Catholicism attached greater weight to sin, but behind sin stood concupiscentia, in 
the main conceived of physically, behind righteousness the hyper-physical infusio 
dileclionis, etc. ; hence Catholicism culminates in ascetic morality and mysticism ; 
for Luther there stands behind sin (in the ethical sense} sin in the religious sense, i.e., 
unbelief, behind the being righteous the fundamental religious virtue, i.e., faith; 
Luther rc-discovered Christianity as religion," 



u 



212 HISTORY Of DOC;MA. [CHAi'. IV. 

in at the close of the eighth chapter of the Romans. With 
their "free will " the former had become slaves 6f the Church 
and of men; in his confession of "unfree will," i.e., in his 
certainty of justification by faith, Luther found freedom and 
courage to dfefy an entire world. That which is called the in- 
dividualism of Protestantism, and to which a high value is 
justly attached, has its root here: the Christian is through his 
God an independent being, who is in need of nothing, and 
neither stands under bondage to laws nor is in dependence on 
men. He is a priest before God, taken charge of by no priest, 
and a king over the world.' 



(3) Luther's Criticism of the Ruling Ecclesiastical Tradition 
and of Dognia. 

We shall place together here in brief form the most important 
critical propositions of Luther, that it may be seen to what 
extent the Reformer diverged from the ruling tradition.- In 

iCorapaie here the Treatise, " De libertite Christiana." 

' It is well known that the habit increased with him of describing himself and his 
adherents as the olil Church, his opponents as the apostates and as the "new 
Church"; see "Wider Hans Worst" (Vol. 36, p. 12): " But how if I have proved 
that we have held hy the true old Cliarch, nay, that wt are the true old CAurcA : 
you, on the other band, have become renegades ^ojk bi, that is fiom the old Church, 
and have set up a new Church in opposition to the old Church." Luther now 
enumerates the points in respect of which he and his adherents have maintained the 
old, and those which his opponents have abandoned ; {1) we have ihe old baptism, 
(2) we have the Euchaiist as Christ instituted it and as the Apostles and primitive 
Cbiistendom observed il, (3) we have the keys, as Christ appointed them, with the view 
of binding and loosing sins that are committed against God's commandments (no 
"New Keys," no commingling with political power), (4) our dischai^eof Iheoffice of 
preaching and our proclaiming the Word of God are marked by purity and fulness, 
(5) we have the Apostolic Symbol, the old faith of the old Church, (t>) we have the 
Lord's Prayer and sing the Psalms with the old Church, (7) like those of old we pay 
respect to the secular authorities and yield them cordial obedience, (S) we praise and 
magnify the estate of marriage, as the ancient Church did, (9) we are persecuted as 
il was, (10) like it, we requite the shedd ing of blood, not with the shedding of blood, 
but with patience. From these ten points Luther makes it clear to himself that his 
reforination was the restoration of the ancient Church. On the other hand he shows 
that the papists are the wm, false Church; for (1) they do not adhere lo the primitive 
baptism, but teach rather that baptism is lost through sin, and that then one must 




CHAP. IV.] LUT][EK'S ( 

what way, and in what order he arrived at the separate proposi- 
tions has already been frequently described. The process, too, 
is at all the principal points so obvious, and is at the same time 
so plainly the result of what he suvf positively, that it seems un- 
necessary here to enter more minutely into the history of the 
development of the negative theses. But with a view to under- 
standing his criticism three things must be premised : first, that 
the Reformer — differing in this from X\v\T\g\i— always passed 
from the centre to the circumference, i.e., from faith to institu- 
tion ; second, that down to the year 1521 his polemic against 
the Church was step by step forced upon him by his opponents ; 
third, that his negative criticism was directed, not against 
doctrines in themselves, but against such doctrines as had a 
pernicious influence upon praciice — taking the word in the most 
comprehensive sense. On this account there would not be 
much difficulty in describing the whole Reformation of Luther 
under the heading, " Reform of divine service " (see above, 
p. rgi). 

1. Luther's judgment has been reproduced by Melanchthon 
in the well-known sentence of the Apology, IV. (IL, beginning) : 



make satislaction with his own works, (2) Chey have brought in ihe indulgence as a 
kind of new baptism, (3) in the same sense they use holy water and salt, (4) and (5) in 
the same sense pilgrimages and brolherhoods, (6) ihey have introduced many detest- 
able and scandalous innovations into the Eucharist, made it a " priests' sacrifice," 
divided it, severed it from faitli. changed it by means of the masses into heathen 
idolatry and a lumber market (Grem[)elmarkt), (7) they have made " New Keys," 
which have to do with outward works (eating, drinking, etc) and with political 
jurisdiction, (8) they have introdnced new doctrines, human doctrine and lies (after 
the probation of the Eucharist that is the second abominadon], (9) over the Church, 
which is a spiritual Kingdom, (hey have placed a secular head (that is the third 
specially wicked abomination), (10) they have set up the worship of saints, "so that 
in ihis matter their Church has come to be in no way different from the Churches 
of the heathen, who worship Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Diana, and olher dead ones ; " 
you have a pantheon like the heathen, (11} they slander the estate of marriage, (12) 
ihey have introduced the novelty of ruling and carrying on war with the secular sword. 
Here Luther breaks off, but adds (p. 13) ; "There are still many more new matters." 
The attitude which he here assumes— of contending that the Reformation related 
merely to the innovations of the papists— it was by no means possible for him strictly 
(o maintain, nor did he desire to do so. He knows very well, though he has not 
ecledly clear to himself, thai the mistaken development of the Church 



u 



had begun much earlier. 



214 HISTORY OK DOt;MA. [CHAP. IV. 

" Seeing that those on the other side* understand neither what 
remission of sins is, nor what faith is, nor what grace is, nor 
what righteousness is, they miserably corrupt the topic of 
justification, and obscure the glory and benefits of Christ, 
and rob pious consciences of the consolaticns presented to them 
in Christ."^ This means a denial of the truth, not of one part 
only of the ruling doctrine of salvation, but of that doctrine itself ; 
and everyparticularpoint of tha.t doctrine, indeed, was assailed by 
Luther : (i) that doctrine of God which, instead of dealing with 
God only as He is in Christ, calculated in a " sophistical " way 
about His attributes, and speculated upon His will — the entire 
" metaphysical " doctrine of God was often enough denounced 
and ridiculed by him as a product of blind reason ;^ (2) the 
Christology, in so far as one was content to speculate about the 
two natures, the incarnation, the virgin birth, etc., instead of 
fixing attention on the office, the commission, and so, on the 
benefits of Christ ;* (3) the doctrine of the truth, righteousnes';, 
and grace of God, inasmuch as the comfort furnished by these 
themes was not recognised, from their being restricted by reason 
through a regard to law and to what man does, and deprived of 
their evangelical significance; (4) the doctrines of sin and of 
free will, because a Pelagian self-righteousness lay hidden behind 
them ; (5) the doctrines of justification and faith, because they 
did not at all touch the point that is of sole importance- — the 
liaving a God — there being set up in place of this, uncertainty 
and human desert, (6) the doctrine of good works, because, first, 
it showed no knowledge of what good works are, and therefore 
no truly good works were ever performed, and because, second, 



I That is 



the SchalRstic theologiajis, whom Lulher for a long time distinguished 
kind of sect who had overmssteied the 



from the official Church and regarded 
Church: "The Aristotelicans." 

' " Adversarii quum neque quid remissio peccalorum, ne 
gratia neque quid justilia ail, inCelligant, misere contamina 
et obscuranL gloriam et beneficia Christi et eripiunl piis 
Christo consolationes." 

' See H. Schullz, Luther's I.ehre von der Melliode u 
Anschauuneen Uber Golt (Ztschr. f. K.-Gesch. IV., t). Compaj 

' Compare the motto placed at llie beginning of this vol. 



ue quid fides neque quid 
L locum de justificalione 

d, Grenzen d, doEtnat. 



CHAP. IV.] LUTHER'S CRITICISM OF DOGMA. 215 

these "good works" were put in the place that belongs 
exclusively to faith. 

7: In closest connection with this Luther attacked Ihe whole 
Catholic (not only the medieval) idea! of Christian perfection. 
In combating monachism, asceticism, special performances, etc., 
he combated that "foremost lie" ("tt/jwtoi/ i^ei/^of") of the 
moralistic-Pelagian view, that there is something else that can 
have value before God than Himself, Just on that account he 
abolished to its last remnants the notion of a double morality, 
and represented the faith (" vivificatio et sanctificatio ") that 
finds comfort in forgiveness of sins to be the Christian perfec- 
tion. It was just this, however, that enabled him also to rise 
above the eschatological temper of the old ideal of perfection ; 
for it was involved in the nature of that ideal that it was only 
beyond this earth — in heaven — that it could be fully realised. 
During this present state of existence the angelic life can only 
consist in first bej^innings. This kind of eschalology Luther 
broke with and put an end to, without surrendering the longing 
for the life that comes through vision. It was a new conception 
of blessedness which he set up in opposition to his opponents; 
in thinking of blessedness they thought of an enjoyment experi- 
enced by sanctified senses and sanctified powers of knowledge; 
he thought of the comfort experienced by a pacified conscience. 
They knew only how to speak of it as something fragmentary ; 
for at the most they had only experienced it for short periods ; 
he could bear witness of it as a child does of the love of his 
father by which he knows himself to be wrapped round. In 
spite of all the flood of feeling that overwhelmed them, they 
continued poor and unstable and distressed ; he saw in all that 
only the old hell by which the sinner is pursued, and, convinced 
of this, he demolished monachism, asceticism, and everything in 
the shape of merit. As at every other point, so also in connec- 
tion with the ideal of blessedness, he exterminated the subtle 
dualism which runs through the whole Catholic view of 
Christianity. 

From these attacks on the doctrine of salvation and on 
monastic perfection there necessarily followed, for him, his 
attacks on the sacraments, on priestism and churchism and the 




2l6 



HISTORY OK DOGMA. 



[CHAP. IV, 

ecclesiastical worship of God ; but besides this also, his attacks 
on the formal authorities of Catholicism and of the Catholic 
doctrine. 

3. Luther not merely denied that the number of the Sacra- 
ments was seven — that was the matter of least importance — he 
cut the root of the whole Catholic notion of the Sacraments by 
his victorious assertion of the three following propositions : 
(1) that the Sacraments are of service for the forgiveness of sins 
and for nothing else, (2) that they do not "become efficacious 
in their being celebrated, but in their being believed in " ("non 
implentur dum fiunt, sed dum creduntur"), (3) that they are a 
peculiar form of the saving Word of God {ai the self- realising 
promise of God [promissio del]), and therefore have their power 
from the historic Christ In consequence of this view Luther 
reduced the Sacraments to two (three) — nay, at bottom, to 
one only, namely, the Word of God. He showed that even the 
most enlightened Church Fathers had only vague ideas about 
this matter of primary importance — "Augustine has much to 
say about Sacrament, but little about Word " — and that by the 
Schoolmen the subject was completely obscured. He directs 
himself both against the magic of the "opus opi;ratum " and 
gainst the mistaken transference of the saving effect of the 
Sacrament into the human disposition ; he puts an end both to 
the mystic vagueness that accompanies a revelling in Sacraments, 
and to the scandalously godless calculation of their market 
value; he annihilates the convenient and yet so meaningless 
thought of portions of grace, and places in the Sacrament the 
living Christ, who, as the Christ preached (Christus praedicatus), 
vanquishes the old man and awakens the new; he reduces to 
ruins nothing less than the whole system, and goes back again 
to the one, simple, t;reat act, constantly repeating itself in every 
Christian life, of the production of faith through the offer of 
grace. It was above everything else by setting aside the 
Catholic doctrine of the Sacraments, that Luther abolished in 
principle the error originating in the earliest times, that what 
the Christian religion concerns itself with is a good, which, how- 
ever lofty it may be, is stil! cbjective. That doctrine had its 
root in the fundamental notion that religion is the remedy for 




man's finitude — in the sense that it deifies his nature. This 
thought was no doubt already shaken by Augustine's doctrine, 
but only shaken. As the fore-runner of Luther. Augustine had 
already made the Sacraments serviceable to an inner process ; 
they were to produce, increase, and perfect righteousness. But 
as with this end before him he contemplated them from the 
stand-point of "infused grace" t" infused love"), he did not 
carry his view beyond the point of regarding them as insinintents 
of various kinds, in which only a special power resides, and 
which in the last resort are not what they represent. The 
Church afterwards followed him upon this track. By mould- 
ing itself into the Sacrament-Church, it really deprived the 
Sacrament of its worth ; for it i-; not that which it seems to be ; 
it merely makes that possible which it seems to contain ; but in 
order that this possible thing may become actual, something 
else must be added. For Luther, on the other hand, the 
Sacraments are rcalSy only the "visible word" {" verbum 
visibile"), but the word which is strong and mighty, because in 
it God Himself works upon us and transacts with us. In the 
last analysis it is a contrariety in the view of grace that comes 
out with special distinctness here. According to the Catholic 
view, grace is the power that is applied and infused through the 
Sacraments, which, on condition of the co-operation of free will, 
enables man to fulfil the law of God and to acquire the merits 
that are requisite for salvation. But according to Luther grace 
is the Fatherly disposition of God, calling guilty man for Christ's 
sake to Himself and receiving iiim by winning his trust through 
the presentation to him of the picture of Christ. What has 
Sacrament to mean here? 

That the particular Sacraments which Luther retained should 
have to receive a new treatment in accordance with this was a 
matter of course. How he desired to have Baptism and the 
Eucharist regarded he has indicated in tlie four propositions 
about the former,^ and in the parallel propositions about the 

1 " Baptism is ihe water vitweii in tlie liglit of Gml'a command and united with 
God's Wonl." " It works forgiveness of sins." "This is not done, certainly, by 
the watei, but by (he Word of God, which is with and 1>eeide the w&ter, and by the 
faith wliich trusis in such Word of God in Lhe water." " Baptism iiics.»s tliat the 



k 



2l8 HhSTOKV Of DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

latter, which he intrcKluced into the Smaller Catechism. What 
lies beyond these propositions, or does not agree with them, 
will be dealt with in the next section.' Most deeply incisive 
is seen to be his conception of repentance — it is nothing else 
than the daily return to baptism (reditus ad baptismum) — as 
compared with the Catholic Sacrament of penance, the centre 
and heart of the mediiuval Church. First of all, for the inner 
penitent temper, the confession of sin, and the sati-.faction, he 
substituted repentance alone; not as if he had simply abolished 
confession (confessio) and " .satisfactio operis" — to the 
former he attached great value, and even for the latter he could 
allow a certain title,- but nothing else must be placed side by 
side with sincere repentance ; for only to it belongs value before 
God, because He creates it through faith ; secondly, true 
repentance was strictly conceived of by him as contrition 
(contritio), i.e., as the crushed feeling about sin awakened by 
faith, or, more correctly, as hatred of sin ; that which the law 
can work is at most attrition (attritio), but this attrition of the 
Schoolmen is, if there is nothing beyond it, of no value, because 
it is not wrought by God, and therefore leads to hell. He thus 
brought back repentance from the region of morality and of 
arbitrary ecclesiastical order into the sphere of religion : " against 
thee only have I sinned " ; thirdly, he made a demand for 
constancy of penitent disposition, as being the fundamental form 
of genuine Christian Ufe in general, and thus declared penance 
performed before the priest to be a special instance of what 

old Adam must be drowned in us day by day through daily sorrow and repentance 
. . . and thai there must daily come forth and arise a new man." The same in the 
case of the Eucharist. 

I Let it only be remarked here that Luther's original funiiamental principle with 
regard to the Eucharist— see his treatise De captiv. Babyl. (Erl. Ed. Opp. var. ai^, 
v., p. 50) — which Iaj3 the basis for his doctrine of the Sacraments, is enpressed in 
these terms : "Jam missa quanto vicinior et similior prima: omnium missa;, quam 
Christus in ccena fecit, tanto Christ ianior." 

9 In the sense in which it was understood by his opponents aatisfactio was entirely 
discarded by Luther; see Erlang. Ed., Vol. a6, p. 17 ("Wider Hans Worst"): 
"And Ibis thing, satisfactio, is the beginning and origin, the door and entrance to all 
abominations in the papacy; just as in the Church baptism is the beginning and 
entrance to all gtaces and to the forgiveness of sins." See also p. 55 ; " For one 
knows now that satisfaction is nothing." 




CHAi'. IV.] LUTHER'S CRITICISM OF DOGMA. 2(9 

shouid be a perpetual habit and practice ; fourthly, he therewUh 
cancelled the necessity for priestly co-operation, whether in 
connection with confession (confessio) — auricular confession as 
confession ofa/Zsins is impossible, as self-revelation to a brother 
it is salutary — or in connection with absolution : one Christian 
can and should forgive another his sin, and thereby, as Luther 
boldly expresses it. become to him a Christ ; fifthly, he laid the 
strongest emphasis on contrition haviny combined with it 
absolution ; it is only as belonging to each other that these two 
exist, and nothing must disturb or interfere with their union ; 
but they belong to each other because they are both included 
in faith (fides) ; in faith, however, confession does not, strictly 
speaking, consist, to say nothing of "satisfaction " ; sixthly, he 
removed all abuses that had become connected with the 
Sacrament ; by relating forgiveness exclusively to the cancelling 
of eternal guilt, he made an end of the calculations of reason, so 
dangerous to souls, with regard to mortal sins and venial sins, 
eternal guilt and temporal guilt, eternal penalties and temporal 
penalties, and in this way also delivered the Sacrament from 
being mixed up with the regard to temporal profits which had 
been the necessary result of reflection upon temporal penalties ; 
by restricting- the effect of absolution to eternal guilt, he was led, 
in harmony with his insight into the nature of sin, to deal with 
this last much more earnestly than the Schoolmen did ; the 
Schoolmen wrought with venial sin and with attrition, and 
showed great skill in reducing sins in general to the former, 
and in making attrition acceptable to God ; in this matter he 
knew only of his infinite guilt and his God; seventhly, along 
with those abuses he expressly set aside the subtly refined 
doctrines of purgatory, of the applied merit of saints and of 
indulgences. Between the contrasted opposites of guilt and 
forgiveness, hell and heaven, there is nothing intermediate, hence 
there is no purgatory; merits of saints are a Pelagian invention, 
and so they can be placed to no one's credit ; just for that 
reason indulgences are a foolish fancy, while the practice of them 
is a subversion of Christ's honour and of penitence ; ' but if 



L 



is well known that on the 31st 0«., 1517, LuIIkt had not yet compleii 
in of indulgences. 



220 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAl'. IV. 

they merely relate to arbitrary church ordinances, they do not 
belong at all to religion. — By his overturning the Catholic 
Sacrament of penance and substituting for it the thought of 
justification by faith. Luther abandoned the old Church and 
came under the necessity of building a new one. 

4. From the stand-pwint of faith he likewise overthrew the 
whole hierarchical and priestly Church System. His negative 
criticism in this department does not suffer from the slightest 
want of clearness. Throu<jh justification by faith every 
Christian is a Christian with full rights and privileges ; nothing 
stands between him and his God ; the Church, again, is the 
■community of believers, visible through the preaching of the 
Word — nothing else. To thts Church the "Keys "are given, 
Le., the application of the divine Word ; they are given to it, 
because they are given to faith. These propositions have the 
effect of excluding both a spiritual class to whom believers are 
bound, and the jurisdictional power of the Church. But this 
strikes at the heart, not merely of the mediseval Church, but of 
the ancient Church as well, at least from the time of lrena;us. 
And with what inexorable energy Luther drew the conclusions 
here, including even the inference that the Pope is Antichrist ; 
what sport he could make with the " grease, tar and butter" 
with which the Church anointed its sorcerers and hypocrites; in 
what language he could describe the Church Order, the 
•canonical law, the power of the Pope as the abomination of 
desolation in the holy place ! If it is asked what the power was 
that here brought the words of wrath to his lips, the answer 
must be that it was the knowledge the confession of which 
is felt to be so hard to-day even by keen-sighted Protestant 
theologians — the knowledge that the power of faith is as much 
enfeebled by added burdens as by false doctrine Why should 
it not be possible that there should exist in Christendom a Pope, 
.a priesthood, an episcopal constitution, a jurisdictional power of 
the Church extending over all realms? There is nothing that 
forbids such an order, if it is serviceable, and there is more than 
one cogent reason recommending it. But to demand this order 
Ujw the name of the gospel, or even to let it continue to appear 
that it is the outcome of the gospel itself, means to impose a 



CHAP. IV.] LUTIlEk'S CUITICISM OF DOGMA. 221 

burden on religion that crushes it, Luther felt and saw that- 
The bishops, the counciLs and even the Pope he would willingly 
have allowed to continue, or at least would have tolerated, if 
they had accepted the gospel; to what states of things would 
not this man of inward freedom have readily adjusted himself, 
if the pure Word of God was taught! But they appealed on 
behalf of themselves and their practices to the Word of God, 
and declared they were as surely to be found there as the for- 
giveness of sins ; and so he made havoc of them, and pilloried 
them as men who sought for all possible things, only not for 
the honour of God and Christ. 

S. Not less radical was his attitude towards the ecclesiastical 
worship of God. Here also he broke down the tradition, not 
only of the mediaeval but also of the ancient Church, as this is 
traceable by us back to the second century. The Church's 
public worship of God is for him nothing but unity in divine 
worship in respect of time and place on the part of individuals. 
By this proposition all the peculiar halo — simply pagan, how- 
ever, in its character- — which surrounded public worship was 
dissolved : the special priest and the special sacrifice were done 
away with, and all value was taken from specific ecclesiastical 
observances participation in which is saving and essential. 
Not as if Luther failed to recognise the importance of fellow- 
ship — yet even on this matter he betrays uncertainty here and 
there ^—; how highly he estimated preaching and divine service 
(ministerium diviuum) ! But public divine service can have no 
oiher aim, no other course, no other means, than the divine 
service of the individual has; for God treats with us simply 
through the Word, which is not exclusively attached to par- 
ticular persons, and He requires from us no other service than 
the faith that unfolds itself in praise and thanksgiving, humility 
and penitence, firm trust in God's help amidst all need, therefore 
also in fidelity in one's calling and in prayer. What is contem- 
plated therefore in public divine service can be in no way 
different from this: the building vp of faith through proclama- 
tion of the divine Word and the offering in prayer of the common 

' It frequenUy seems »s if public divine service were only a provisinn foi traininf; 
tbe imiierfecti and this does not in every case merely seem lo be the meaning. 




222 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CIIAP. IV. 

sacrifici of praise. In so far, however, as it is the Christian lite 
that is at bottom the true service of God, public worship always 
maintains in relation to this the character merely of something 
particular. That Luther took up towards the Catholic mass an 
attitude of strong repugnance and repudiated the monstrous 
irregularities that turned divine service into a means for securing 
profane profit, is denied by no one. That he here set aside 
numberless abuses is a manifest fact ; but the seemingly 
conservative attitude he assumed in making his corrections in 
the Manual for Mass, and his declinature to undertake an entire 
reconstruction of divine service, led many "Lutherans " in the 
sixteenth century, as well as in the nineteenth, to fall back on 
extremely objectionable views as to a specific {r€ix%\QV&) value 
of public worship, as to the purpose of worship and its means. 
How un-Lutheran that is — because it is possible and necessary 
here to correct Luther by Luther himself— and how the 
evangelical idea of the worship of God differs toto coelo from 
the Catholic, has been excellently shown quite recently. The 
■question is of special importance within the lines of the history 
of dogma, because Luther's attitude towards worship has the 
most exact parallel in his attitude towards dogma.' 

' See Gollschick, Luther's Anschauungen vom christlicheo GottesdieQs! und seine 
ihatsachliche Reform desselben (1SS7) ; compare Ihe discussion on p. 3, where at 
every point one might substitute for Old Lutheran Liturgy Old Lutheran dogmatic ; 
" We should less require , , , to he concerned did we find that the old Lutheran 
Ijiurgy wasaueven 1 el atively genuine product of the peculiar spirit of the Reformation, 
the spirit which we cannot throw off without losing our very selves. That could 
only be the case, however, if Luther had derived the highest posilive, the so to speak 
creative principle of his new liturgicn,! ordinances from the new views that had been 
acquired by him of Christianity as a whole. But in point of fact Luther attached 
himself to the order of the Roman Mass, and reshaped this only in certain particulars, 
on the one hand excluding what was directly contrary to Ihe gospel, on the other hand 
introducing certain points of detail. — Besides, he had so little interest in litui|[y, was 
so little guided by the thought of an inner, vital law controlling the arrangement of 
divine 5er\ice, that in connection with nenrly every pan of the Catholic legacy he 
makes the remark, that this is of little importance, and the tnatter might be equally 
well deait with otherwise. Under these circumstances we do not actually under- 
estimate the merit Luther acquired in connection even with reform of divine worship, 
when we do nut conceal from ourselves the necessity for our attempting a really new 
amslnutiati in this field, taking the principles lying in Luther's Reformation view 
as our guide. But as in other fields so here also the matter stands thin^lAat Luther 
himself has already developed the really evangelical principles for the recvnstruclien 




CHAV. IV.] LUTHER'S CRITICISM OF DOGMA. 223 

6, Luther annihilated the formal, outward authorities for 
faith, which had been set up by Catholicism. That here like- 
wise he not merely attacked media;val institutions, but set aside 
the old Catholic doctrine, is beyond dispifte. As this has 
already been dealt with above (p. 23 ff.), let us only sum up here 
what is most essential. Catholicism, whose mode of view 
always led it in the first instance to separate into parts the 
religious experience, that it might then submit it to be dealt 
with by the understanding, had also introduced here the dis- 
tinction between the matter itself and the authority. This 
distinction corresponded with its method of drawing distinctions 
generally, a method which proceeded by differentiating at one 
time between necessity, possibility, and reality, at another 
time between form and matter, at another time between 
effect and saving effect All these extremely confusing 
arts of reason are lacking in Luther's original theses. Neither 
is there to be laid on him the weight of responsibility for 
distinguishing between a formal and a material principle ; ' for 
the matter was for him the authority, and the authority the 
matter. Hut the matter is the Christ of history as preached, 
the Word of God. From this point he gained the insight and 
courage to protest against the formal authorities of Catholicism 
as against commandments of men. Thereby, however, he 
threw overboard the whole system of Catholicism, as it had 
been elaborated from the days of IrenEcus ; for the inviolability 
of this system rests simply on the formal authorities ; the faith 
that Fathers and Schoolmen appealed to was obedience to the 
Church doctrine, an obedience that is certain of what it holds, 
because those authorities are represented as inviolable. But 

from his fuitdamenlal vino gf religion, and to a muck grtalir exUat^ toe, than can be 
diiarptred from his a^ls as a Reformer and from the writings that htar vpoa tkete." 
The suie proof of this is given in the dissertaiion itself. 

'See Rilschl in Ihe Zeilschr. ftlr K.-Gesch. I,, p. 397 ff. Following on this article 
there is an incressing tendency to discontinue rec^^ising in Luther the distinction 
belweenafonnaland a material principle. Thus it is even said in Thonaasius-Seebeig, 
11., p. 345 ; "The principle of Prolestantism is failh in Christ as the only Saviour, 
the faith that justifies, that is witnessed lo by Holy Scripture, that is wrought by the 
Word of God (hy the Holy Spirit)." But in what follows there is again a denial in 
some measure of this perception in favour of the Scripture principle. 



234 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

Luther protested against a// these authorities, the infallibility of 
the Church, of the Pope, the Councils, and the Church Fathers, 
both with regard to Christian doctrine and with regard to 
exposition of Scripture, against the guarantee which the con- 
stitution of the Church was alleged to furnish for truth, and 
against every doctrinal formulation of the past as such — on the 
ground that in every case they themselves required to be 
proved. But — when so bravely carrying on his battle against 
the authority of the Councils — Luther took up at the same time 
an adverse attitude towards the infallibility of Scripture; and 
how could he do otherwise ? If only that is authority which is 
also matter — the position of the Christian as both bound and 
free postulated this — how could there be authority where the 
matter does not distinctly appear, or where even the opposite 
of it appears? The content of a person who gives himself to 
be our own, never can be coincident with a written word how- 
ever clear and certain it may be. Thus Luther necessarily had 
to distinguish even between Word of God and Holy Scripture. 
It is true, certainly, that a book which represents itself as the 
sure word of Christ and as apostolic testimony, makes in the 
highest sense the claim to be regarded as the Word of God. 
But ye: Luther refused to be dictated to and to have his mouth 
stopped even by the apostolical — and that exactly at the most 
trying time, when the formal authority of the letter seemed to 
be most of all required by him. What limitations and losses 
he subsequently imposed upon himself is a question to be dealt 
with afterwards ; but there can be no doubt that the position 
Luther took up towards the New Testament in his " Prefaces," 
and even in .special discussions elsewhere, was the correct one, 
i.e., the position corresponding to his faith, and that by his 
attitude towards its formal authorities Catholicism was 
abolished by him from its historical beginnings. 

7. Finally, there is still a very important point to be 
adverted to. In very many passages Luther has Indicated 
with sufficient distinctness, that he merely conceded to his theo- 
logical opponents the theological terminology, and made use of it 
himself merely on account of traditional familiarity with it, and 
because the employment of incorrect words was not necessarily of 




CHAR IV.] LUTHER'S CRITICISM OF DOGMA. 225 

evil. He so expressed himself with regard to the most import- 
ant terms. First of all he had an objection to all the different 
descriptions of justification : to justify, to be regenerated, to 
sanctify, to quicken, righteousness, to impute (justificare, 
regenerari, sanctificare, vivificare, justitia, imputare), etc., etc. ; 
he felt very much that the mere number of the terms was a 
serious burden upon his conception, and that no single word 
completely answered to his view. Secondly, in a similar way 
he objected to the word satisfaction (satisfactio) in every sense ; 
as used by his opponents he will only let it pass. Thirdly, he 
stumbled at the term "Church" (ecclesia); for it obscured or 
confused what should simply be called Christian community, 
gathering, or — still better— a holy Christendom. Fourthly, he 
observed very clearly the objectionableness of the word 
"Sacrament"; what he would have liked most would have 
been to see that the use of it was entirely avoided, and that for 
the ambiguous formula " Word and Sacrament," there was 
substituted the Word alone, or that if the term Sacrament was 
retained there should be a speaking of one Sacrament and 
several signs} Fifthly, he himself declared such a term as 
ofioovTto? to be unallowable in the strict sense, because it 
represents a bad state of things when such words are invented 
in the Christian system of faith : " we must indulge the Fathers 
in the use of it . . . but if my soul hates the word homousios 
and I prefer not to use it, I shall not be a heretic ; for who will 
compel me to use it, provided that I hold the thing which was 
defined in the Council by means of the Scriptures ? although 
the Arians had wrong views with regard to the faith, they were 
nevertheless very right in this . . . that they required that no 
profane and novel word should be allowed to be introduced 
into the rules of faith." ^ In like manner he objected to and 

' Erlang Ed. Opp. var. arg. V. , p. 21 : " lanliim tria sacramenla ponenda . . . 
quamquam, si usu scripturie loqui veliro, non nisi unun 



" Indulgendum est patribus . . . quod si odit anima mea vocera homousion et 
im ca uti, non ero hajtelicus ; (juis eniro me cogeL uti, niodo rem teneam qu^ in 
icilio per scripturas defirita est? eta Aiiani male seiiseiunt in fi<ie, hac tamen 
\mi . . . exegetunt, ne vocem profanam et novani in regulis fidei statui licetet. 



326 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. IV. 



rather avoided the terms " Dreifdltigkeit," " Dreiheit," " unltas," 
" trinitas" (threcfoldtiess, threeness, oneness, trinity). Yet, as 
is proved by the words quoted above, there is this difference 
observable here — that he regarded the terminologies of tlie 
medimval theology as 7nisleadiiig and false, the terminologies on 
tlie other hand of tlie theology of the ancient Church as merely 
useless and cold. But from still another side he objected most 
earnestly to all the results of theological labour that had been 
handed down from the days of the Apologists ; and here in still 
greater degree than in his censure of particular conceptions his 
divergence from the old dogma found expression, namely, in 
that distinguishing between " for himself (itselQ " and " for us,' 
which is so frequently to be found in Luther. Over and over 
again, and on all occasions, the definitions given by the old 
dogmatic of God and Christ, of the will and attributes of God, 
■of the natures in Christ, of the history of Christ, etc, are set 
aside with the remark : " that He is for himself," in order that 
his new view, which is for him the chief matter, nay, which con- 
stitutes the whole, may then be introduced under the formula 
" that He is for us," or simply " for us." " Christ is not called 
Christ because He has two natures. What concern have I in 
that ? But he bears this glorious and comforting title from the 
office and work which He' has taken upon Him . . . that He is 
bj' nature man and God, that He has for Himself"'^ In this 
" for himself" and " for us " the new theology of Luther, and at 
the same time his conservative tendency find clearest expres- 
sion. Theology is not the analysis and description of God and 
of the divine acts from the standpoint of reason as occupying 
an independent position over against God, but it is the con- 
fession on the part of faith of its own experience, that is, of 
revelation. This, however, puts an end to the old theology with 
its metaphysic and its rash ingenuity.' But if Luther now 

Erlang. Ed., 0pp. var. aig. V., p. 505 sij. See also the Augsburg CoufuLalion 
{Art. l), whose authors obseirved veiy clearly what was herelical in these words. 

1 Erlang. Ed. Ausg. XXXV., p. 207 f, 

»See Theod. Harnack, Luthei^s Theologie, I., p. 83 : "Yet revelalion guarantees 
a true and Raving knowledge 'of the essential Godhead in itself.' N^y, Chiistioni 
alone are able to speak of this and have this divine wisdom. It is true, no doubt, 
that levelalion lays down dcHnite conditions for theology and imposes limila upon i^ 




GHAP. IV,] I.UTHEK'-S CRITICISM OF DOGMA. 227 

nevertheless allows those old doctrines to remain under the 
terms ".God in Himself," "the hidden God," "the hidden will of 
God," ikey no longer remain as what are properly speaking doc- 
trines of faith. About this no doubt can arise. But that they 
— were not entirely rejected by him has its cause on the one hand 
in his believing they were found in Scripture, and on the other 
hand in his failure to think out the problems in a comprehensive 
and systematic way. With this we shall have to deal in the 
following section. 



In view of what has been set forth in the last two paragraphs 
with regard to the Christianity of 1-uther and his criticism of the 
ecclesiastical dogma, it cannot but be held that in Luther's 
Reformation the old dogmatic Christianity was discarded and a 
new evangelical view substituted /or it. The Reformation was 
really an issue of the history of dogma. The positive and 
negative elements of Luther's Christian doctrine are most 
intimately connected; the latter are the effect, the former the 
cause. If he still concurs with this or that formulation of the 
ancient or the mediaeval Church, then, with what we have cnn- 
sidered before us, that is partly apparent only, and it is partly a 
free concurrence, which can never have had its cause in an a 
priori surrender to tradition. The forma! authorities of dogma / 
were swept away; thereby dogma itself, i.e., the inviolable system 
of doctrine established by the Holy Spirit, was abolished. But it I 
is by no means the case that dogma re-emerges in the old form | 
—now, however, as the content of devout faith ; there appears/ 
rather the pure doctrine of the Gospel {pura doctrina evangelii)! 
as a new dogmatic opposed to the old ; for there was a setting^ 
aside of all those intellectual dividings up of the content offaithl 
by which that content was separated into metaphysic, naturtj 
theology, revealed doctrine, sacramental doctrine and ethic. In 

but these do not consist in that arbitrary and comfortless separation between God's 
essence and His revelation ; they are partly objective, implied in the content, measure 
and aim of revelation itseir, and they partly relate subjectively to tbe priociple iovolved 
in the object itself and to the nature and tendency of theological knowledge as thereby 
conditioned. " 



22S HISTOiiV OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

tbis way the revision extended itself back beyond the second 
century of the history of the Church, and it was at all points a 
radical one. The history of dogrna, -which, had its beginning in 
the age of the Apologists, nay, of the Apostolic Fathers, was 
proughC to an end. 

Thereliy the work of Augustine was finally brought to com- 
pletion; for, as we have shown in our second Book, this great 
man, by going back to PauHnism, began the work of breaking 
down and powerfully re-casting the ruling dogmatic tradition 
and of restoring theology to faith. But the sceptic stopped 
short before the formal authorities of Catholicism, and the 
Neoplatonists would not cease revelling in the All-One ; besides, 
Augustine knew not yet how to enter into sure possession of the 
power given through faith in God as the Father of Jesus Christ. 
Thus his Church received from him, along with a problem, a 
complex and confused inheritance — the old dogma— and, 
running parallel with this, a new inward piety, which moved in 
thoughts quite different from dogma. This attitude is revealed 
at the verj' beginning of the Middle Ages by Alcuin, and from 
the time of Bernard onwards, Augustinianism, augmented in 
some degree by valuable elements, continued to exercise its 
influence. Certainly Luther stands in many respects closer to 
an IreuEeus and an Athanasius than to the theologians of the 
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ; but in many respects he is 
further removed from the former than from the latter, and this 
is a clear evidence that the inner development of Christianity in 
the Middle Ages was by no means merely retrograde or entirely 
mistaken. If Luther had to break even with a Tauler or a 
Bernard, how much more was a break necessary with Augustine 
and Iren^us ! The Reformation is the issue of the history of 
dogma because it brings about this issue in the line of the 
origination of it within the history of piety by Augustine, and of 
its subsequent preparation during a period of a thousand years. 
It set up the evangelical faith in place of dogma, this being done by 
its cancelling- the dualism of dogmatic Christianity and practical 
Christian self-criticism and life-conduct. 

But what it placed at the centre of practical Christian self- 
criticism and life-conduct was just faith itself and its certainty. 




CHAP. IV.] LUTHER'S CRITIcrSM OF DOGMA. 229 

Thereby it gave to the theoretic element — if one may so 
describe the sure faith in revelation, i.e., in the God who mani- 
fests Himself in Christ — a direct importance for piety such as 
was never known by raediieval theology, " Let this be the sum 
of the matter: our love is ready to die for you, but to touch 
faith means to touch the pupil of our eye." ^ Hence nothing is 
more incorrect than the widely prevalent opinion that the 
cancelling of dogmatic Christianity by Luther was equivalent to 
a neutralising of all "faith that is believed" ("fides qua; 
creditur") : all that is required is simply pious feeling, A more 
foolish misunderstanding of Luther's Reformation cannot be 
conceived of; for precisely the opposite rather is true of it: it 
only restored its sovereign right to faith, and thereby to the doctrine 
of faith — in the sense of its being nothing but the doctrine of 
Christ — after the uncertainties of the Middle Ages, which had 
reached tlieir highest fioint at the beginning of the sixteenth century; 
and to the horror of all Humanists, Churchmen, Franciscans, and 
Illuminists set up theology, i.e., the true theology 0/ the cross 
{theologia crucis), as the decisive power in the Church, Dogma, 
which always taught merely how religion is possible, and there- 
fore could not at all stand at the centre of piety, was detached 
from that proclamation of faith which itself produces and builds 
up faith, and therefore claims as its right the sovereign position 
in religioa Luther passed back from the Middle Ages to the 
ancient Church, in so far as he again reduced the immense 
material forming the system of Christian faith to Christology, 
But he distinguished himself from the ancient Church in this, 
that he undertook so to shape faith in the revelation in Christ 
that the revelation should appear not merely as the condition of 
our salvation, but — objectively and subjectively — as the sole 
efficient factor in it. 

But if this describes the revolution of things, then it can be 
very easily understood how the great task, the fulfilment of 
which was contemplated, could not be carried out in a thoroughly 
strict way by Luther himself A superhuman spirit would have 
been required in order here to think out and arrange everything 

' " Sumina esCo : charilas nostra pro vobis mori parata est, fides vero si tangitur, 
tangitur pupilU oculi nostri." 




330 



HISTOKV OF DOGMA 



[CIIAP. IV. 



correctly; for there were two tasks in view, which almost 
seemed contradictory, though this was not actually true of 
them : to place the importance of faith as the content nf revela- 
tion in the centre, in contradistinction to all opinion and doing, 
and thus to bring to the front the suppressed theoretic element, 
and yet on the other hand not simply to adopt that faith which 
the past had developed, but to exhiijit it rather in the form in 
which it is life and creates life, is practice, but is religious 
practice. From the greatness of this problem there is also to be 
explained the survival in Luther's theology of those elements 
which confuse it and have necessarily shaken the conclusion 
that the Reformation is the issue of the history of dogma. 



(4) T/ie Catholic Elements retained by Luther along with and 
within his Christianity} 

Whether the Catholic elements contained in Luther's 
Christianity be few or many, so much at least is certain from 
what has been already brought to view — namely, that they 
belong certainly to the "whole Luther," but not to the "whole 
Christianity" of Luther. Following in the line of Neander 
Ritschl,^ and many others, Loofs too expresses this opinion,* 
"So far as the history of dogma is concerned, the Lutheran 
Reformation would have completed itself otherwise than it 



1 Against the misunderstanding that my crilidsm nf Luthei in the following section 
is unhistoiical and over-acute I am not able to piotect tnyielf. I know as well ag my 
opponents that for Luther's consdousness his faith and his theology formed a unity, 
and that the greater part of what is represented here as limitation in Lulher's doctrine 
was the necessary result of the historical position he assumed and of Ihe way in which 
he set ahout his gieat tast. But by our seeing this we are not forbidden, if the "entire 
Lulher " is set up as a law of failh for the Evangelical Church, to show what there 
was in the sum of his conceptions that was simply derived from the history of the 
times or was traditional. It must also be taken into consideration Ihal he clung to a 
negative attitude towaids certain conclusions deducible from his own religious 
principles, and towards perceptions that already existed or were making their 
appearance in his age. But here also the question for history is not what ought to 
have been, but what was. 

' See above p. 27. 

' Dogmengesch., 3rd ed., p. 369. 



CHAl'. IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 23I 

ultimately did, if ihe conclusions that follow from Luther's 
fundamental thoughts had been established by him in their 
entirety and by a thorough-going comparison with the whole 
tradition. The fragments of the old that remained restricted 
even for I .uther himself the validity of the new thoughts, and, in 
the case of those who came later, impoverished them." The 
question as to whether between the years 1519 and (about) 1523 
Luther did not take a step of advance that had the promise in 
itofmore thorough reforms, has as a rule been answered negatively 
by the most recent students of Luther, after H.Lang' and 
others had in an incautious and an untenable way answered it 
in the affirmative. Yet in my opinion the negative answer can 
only be given with great reservations.^ What is in question 
according to my judgment, as was remarked above (p. 169), is 
not so much whether there were two periods in the reforming 
activity of Luther, as rather whether there was a great episode 
in this work of his during which he was lifted above his own 
limitations. Yet this point need not be further discussed here. 
In this connection it falls to us in the first instance to discover 
the grounds that made it possible for Luther to retain so much 
of the old, nay, to retain even the old Catholic dogma itself, 
along with the new, and to interweave the one with the other. 
In aiming at this we can find a point of departure in our dis- 
cussions above, p. i63 ff. We shall then have to state and 
illustrate briefly the most important groups of the old dogma 
doctrines to be found in Luther. 

I. I. Luther took his stand on the side offailh as opposed to 
every kind of work, on the side of the doctrine of the gospel 
(doctrina evangehi) as opposed to the performances and pro- 
cesses which were represented as making man righteous. Hence 
he stood in danger of adopting or approving any kind of ex- 
pression of faith, if only it appeared free from law and 
performance, work and process (see the proof above p. 177 f). 
Into this danger he fell. Accordingly confusion entered into 
his conception of the Church also. His conception of the 

1 M.L., em relig. Characterbild, 1870. 

' I am pleased to observe from indicalions in Weingarten's Zcillafelii und Uebei- 
blicke, 3id ed., pp. 167-170, ihat he holds a. similar opinion. 



232 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

Church (fellowship in faith, fellowship in pure doctrine) became 
as ambiguous as his conception of the doctrine of the gospel 
(doctrina evangelii). 

3. Luther believed he was contending only against the abuses 
and errors of the Mediaeval Church. He declared, no doubt, not 
infrequently that he was not satisfied with the "dear Fathers," 
and that they had all gone astray ;^ yet he was not clear-sighted 
enough to say to himself that if the Church Fathers were in 
error, their decrees at the Councils could not possibly contain 
the whole truth. In no way, it is true, did he feel himself any 
longer externally bound by' these decrees, nay, we can see brilliant 
flashes of incisive criticism, ^.^. in his treatise on Councils and 
Churches; yet these continued on the whole without effect. 
He always fell back again upon the view that the wretched Pope 
was alone to blame for all the evil, and that all the mischief, 
therefore, was connected with the Middle Ages only. Thus 
from this side his prepossession in favour of the faith-formula 
of the Ancient Church — on the ground that they did not take 
to do with works and law — was only further strengthened ; 
indeed there was exercising its influence here, unconsciously to 
himself, a remnant of the idea that the empirical Church is 
authority. 

3. Luther knew too little of the history of the Ancient Church 
and of ancient dogma to be really able to criticise them. No 
doubt, when all comes to be put together that formed a subject 
of careful study for him,* we shall be astonished at the amount 
he knew ; yet he certainly could not know more that his century 
knew, and there were many who were his superiors in Patristic 
studies. He never entered deeply into the spirit of the Church 
Fathers ; on the other hand an abstract criticism was at all 
times quite remote from him ; under these circumstances, there- 
fore, there remained for him only a conservative attitude. This 
attitude Luther really definitely renounced only when he saw 
the Fathers following the paths of Pelagius.* 

' See the quotation given in Vol. II., p. 7, note. 

*The wish here express -il has recently been fulfilled in an excellent way by Ibe om- 
piehensive and thorough investigation by K. ScMfer, Luther als Kirchenhistoriker 
(Giiiersloh, 1897). 

s I must as=ume from p. 3 of. Scliafer's work just referred to Ibat he regards htm- 





CHAF. IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 233 

4. Luther always includes himself and what he undertook 
within the one Church which he alone knew, within the Catholic 
Church (as he understood it).^ He declared that this Church 
itself gave him the title to be a Reformer. That was right, if it 
was right that the empirical Church is only the Church so far 
as it is the fellowship of faith ; but it was wrong, in so far as the 
Catholic Church was already something quite different — namely 
a State resting upon definite holy statutes. This Catholic 
Church, however, was viewed by Luther as a temporary, though 
already very old malformation, which could possess no rights 
whatever. So he believed that he could remain in the old 
Church, nay, that — though it might be only with a few friends — 
he was himself the old, true Church. This remarkable view, 
which is to be explained from the idealism of faith, made it 
possible for Luther to abandon the old Church and reduce it to 
ruins, but at the same time to assert that he himself stood within 
the old Church. If in holding this attitude he was so strong in 
faith that it gave him no concern how large or small the number 
might be who did not at the time bow the knee to Baal,- yet he 
had the highest interest in its being shown that he represented the 
Church that had existed from century to century. Hence there 
arose the duty of proving that he stood within a historic con- 
tinuity. But from what could that be more definitely proved 
than from the faith-formula; of the Ancient Church, which still 
retained their authority ? 

5. Luther never felt strongly impelled to start from the inner- 
most centre of the new view of the whole of Christianity which 
he had obtained, and from thence to furnish a systematic state- 
ment of ihe whole, indicating exactly what remained and what 
had dropped away. He assumed a commanding air in theology, 
as a child does in the home, summoning forth old and new and 
always having in view merely the nearest practical end. The 
correction of theoretical errors as such gave him no concern 

self as having refuted the judgment indicaled above, «hich is not, however, the case. 
What he brings forward to illustrate Luther's knowledge and opinions regarding 
Church history was in the main linovin to me ; nothing fulluws from it that conHicts 
with the view expressed in the text. 
' See especially his treatises " Von den Condliis und Kirchen" and "Wider Hans 



Z34 



HISTORV OK DOGMA. 



[chap. [V. 



whatever; he had no longing whatever for the clearnes.s of a 
well-arranged .system of doctrine ; but on that account his 
strength became also his weakne.ss. ^ 

6. Luther used the old doctrines in such a way that expression 
was given to the whole of Christianity under each scheme, i.e., he 
interpreted each scheme in the sense of his view of the whole of 
Christianity ; what was included in the formula beyond this 
gave him little trouble though he might let it retain its validity. 
This peculiar attitude made it possible for him to adapt him- 
self to what was very foreign. (See above p. 196.) 

7. In principle Luther prepared the way for a sound historicai 
exegesis ; but how far the principle was from being really 
applied as yet by his century and by himself! In dealing with 
particulars he is still almost everj-whcre a mediaeval exegetCj 
fettered by all the prejudices of this exegesis, by the typology,, 
and even, in spite of counter- working principles, by the allegor- 
ism. Although in principle he demanded that the understand- 
ing of Scripture should be free from the authority of ecclesiastical 
tradition, he still continues himself firmly bound by this tradition. 
He broke through it where justification was in question, but he 
then broke through it also in connection with passages contain- 
ing nothing whatever of the doctrine of justification or of faith, 
or containing only something foreign to these doctrines. Under 
such circumstances it cannot surprise us that he found the 
doctrines of the Trinity, of the two natures, etc., in Holy- 
Scripture, and even indeed in the Old Testament. But still 
more must be said here — he had altogether as little understand- 
ing of history as the majority of his contemporaries had. 
History in the highest sense of the word was for him a closed 
book. He showed no perception either of the relativity of the 
historical or of the growth and progress of knowledge within 
history.^ How could it be possible under such circumstances 
to ascertain accurately what Scripture contains as a historic 
record ? But how can a pure form of expression for the essence- 



'We have here the strict parallel t 
already been spoken of above, p. ail f. 

* While this opinion is held, it must r 
hero enabled him to see what was corre 



his way of estimating wocship, which has- 




CHAP. IV.] 



THi; CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 



235 



ful- 



of Christianity be expected if this condition 
filled ? 

The foregoing considerations have almost in every case in- 
dicated limitations that were involved in the peculiar attitude 
of the Reformer as a Reformer, or in the spiritual condition of 
the age, and which it was therefore absolutely impossible to 
transcend. But Luther's entire attitude was also determined by 
limitations which by no means come under this view, but were 
rather opposed to his attitude as a Reformer. These, if I see 
correctly, were chiefly the following :^ 

S. His perception as a Reformer that the Word of God is the 
foundation of faith was not so clear as to put an end entirely to 
Biblicism : he continued, rather, to be involved here in a flagrant 
contradiction, for while he criticised Scripture itself, he certainly 
on the other hand set up the letter as the Word of God, in so 
far as he adopted without test the Rabbinic-Catholic idea ot 
the verbal inspiration of Holy Scripture. In many cases, no 
doubt, he counterbalanced this contradictory procedure by in- 
terpreting the gospel itself into the letter under consideration ; 
but apart from this, he certainly as a rule allowed the particular 
Bible narrative, the saying selected, whatever it might be, to 
have effect, directly and literally, as the Word of God. 

g. Just as little did he rise clearly above the view of the 
Ancient Church and the Middle Ages in the question of the 
Sacrament. It is true, certainly, that he not only took steps 
towards breaking through this view, but really cancelled it by 
his doctrine of the one Sacrament, the Word ; yet there still 
lingered with him a hidden remnant, a real superstition 
(superstitio), with regard to the Sacrament, and therefore also 
with regard to the " means of grace," and this superstition had 

1 1 should prefer nnt to embrace a reference under the following scheme to the great 
extent to which Luther was (iominnted by course superstilion, and that, too, in all 
possihie fields. I do not include within this his belief in the devil, for that belongs 
to another sphere, incommensurable for my experience. But in determining his 
entire altitude as the founder of a Confession, the fact cannot certainly be left out of 
view that he was more superstitious than many of his contemporaries, nsy, that in 
many leapecls he was as superstitious as a child. Those who constantly bring 
forward the " whole Luther " are responsible fur its being necessary to mention such 
things. 



236 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. IV. 



the gravest consequences for his construction of doctrine. 
Though with him error and truth lie closely side by side here, 
yet it cannot be denied that he gave scope for serious errors, 

10. No one assailed the Noniinahstic theology more keenly 
than Luther ; but his opponents forced him to theologise, and 
to answer their way of putting the question. In this connection 
he adopted the Nominalistic sequences of thought, and developed 
them more fully as his own. But even apart from this he did 
not discard the remnants of Nominalistic Scholasticism ; indeed 
they reappeared in great strength, after he had passed in the 
■doctrine of the Eucharist beyond the limit of what were really 
his own thoughts ; but even in his doctrine of predestination 
he furnished scope for the errors and over-acuteness of 
Scholasticism.' 

11. After Luther had come into conflict with the "Enthusiasts" 
and Anabaptists, he acquired a distrust of reason, which passed 
far beyond his distrust of it as a support for self-righteousness. 
In many respects he really hardened himself into an attitude of 
bold defiance towards reason and then yielded also to that 
Catholic Spirit which worships in paradox and in contra- 
diction of terms {contradictio in adjecto) the wisdom of God 
and sees in them the stamp of divine truth. Like TertulUan he 
could harp on the " certutn est, quia ineptum est " (" it is certain, 
because it is absurd "), and take delight in the perplexities in 
which the understanding finds itself involved. He never, 
indeed, revelled in mystery as mystery, and in his paradoxes 
there was unquestionably an element of religious power, the 
secret of heroic spirits, and the secret of religion itself, which 
never lets itself be made perfectly transparent. Yet no one dis- 
parages reason and science with impunity, and Luther himself 
had to suffer for the obscurations to which he subjected his con- 
ception of faith ; still greater, however, was the penalty for 
those who adhered to him, who degraded to a new Scholastic 
wisdom what he had defiantly proclaimed. 

1 See the dissertations that deal with Luther's Nominalism in connection with the 
criticism of his docliine of predestination : Littkens, Luther's Pradestinalionslehte, 
1858 i Theod. Harnack, L.'s Theologie-, I., p. "jo, and elsewhere ; Katlenhusch, L.'s 
Lehre v. nofteien Willen u. v. d. Pradirst., 1875; Rilschi, Rechtf. u. Versohn., 
Vol. I. 



CHAP. IV.J THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 237 

Inconnectionwiththesereflectionswhatisof greatest importance 
must not be passed over ; the position which the Reformation 
took up towards the Anabaptists, and towards others who had 
affinity with them, became most disastrous for itself and for its 
subsequent history. At the present day we are passing through 
a phase of descriptive history of the Reformation, which does 
little in estimating the weight of this fact, because it is — for good 
reasons — most immediately interested in what is of primary 
importance — Luther's faith and Luther's ideal of life.' There 
are in fact also many considerations that make it fully intelligible 
why the Reformation simply rejected everything that was offered 
to it by the " enthusiasts." Yet, however many more explana- 
tions and excuses for this may be brought forward, the fact 
remains unaffected thereby, that the unjust course followed by 
the Reformers entailed upon them and their cause the most 
serious losses. How much they might have learned from those 
whom they despised, although they were forced to reject their 
fundamental thoughts ! How much more decisively did many 
of these men put an end to the magic of the sacraments, how 
much more strictly and accurately they defined the significance 
of the written Word, how much more clearly they frequently dis- 
cerned the real sense of Scripture passages, advocating at the 
-■■ame time a sounder exegesis, how much more courageously 
they drew many conclusions regarding the doctrine of the 
Trinity, Christology, etc , how much more resolutely did some 

1 The Confessional is t description of history had lilLle insight iiilo, and little lov 
for, the "sects"of the Reformation period. But since at the same time it did no 
even cleaily discern the real imponance of the Rerotmatiun, it was necessary in the 
first inalancc that this should be brought to light. That was done by Ritschl, and 
his disciples follow the directions given by him. And yet even with this done there 
has not been a passing beyond a very stiff, and almost indeed a narrow view of the 
Reformation, and little faculty has been sbown for understanding the excellences 
which the '■ Enthusiasts" unqaestioaably possessed at peripheral points — sonne of them 
by no means merely at peripheral points. It must be admilted that the way in 
which many dilettante " hislomns of culture" have looked at thin^js and shown their 
blindness to the true nature of the Reformation could not but have a strongly repellent 
effect : even such an enthusiast as Keller was unable to produce conviction. Vet 
from him much certainly could have been learned, and, above all, the guiding star 
for the writing of history — even the history of the Reformalion — ought not to have 
been kept out of view — that real truths are never disparaged with impunity. 



338 



HISTOKV OF nuGMA, 



[chap. IV. 



of them talvc their stand for outward, as a consequence of inward 
freedom ! No doubt one says even here, " timeo Danaos et dona 
ferentes " (" I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts "), and 
certainly these people's presu ppositions were foreign as a rule 
to the evangelical.y But no one escapes responsibility for care- 
fully considering a truth, because the adversary brings it, and 
lecommends it also on bad grounds. And there is something 
more to be added ; not a few of the demands of the Knthusiasts 
were already the product of the secular culture, science and 
insight which had obtained even in the sixteenth century a cer- 
tain independence. But it is a bad way of developing theological 
firmness — though it has again its unshrinking advocates at the 
.present day — to hold that perceptions of that kind may be simply 
ignored. In many respects the Reformers fenced themselves off" 
from secular culture where this touched the declarations of faith. 
In this sense they were medieval, and did nothing to bring about 
an understanding between revelation and reason, leaving that 
■great task to a .succeeding century, which was by no means still 
firmly established in evangelical faith, and was thus much worse 
prepared for the solution of the problem. Even if one could 
succeed in fully justifying this procedure of theirs, and in show- 
ing, perhaps, that even the slightest adoption of " Enthusiast " 
knowledge would have meant at that lime the death of the 
Reformation, it would in no way alter the fact that the 
Reformation buried under injustice and hatred many better 
perceptions which the age possessed and thereby made itself 
chargeable with the later crises in Protestantism. The French 
Church exterminated the Huguenots and Jansenists ; it received 
in place of them the Atheists and Jesuits. The German 
Reformation banished the " Enthusiasts"; it received in place 
of them the rationalists and modern "Positivism." 

II. The consequence of holding thi.s attitude was that, so far 
as Luther left to his followers a " dogmatic," there was presented 
in this an extremely complicated system i not a new structure, 
but a modification of the old Patristic-Scholastic structure. But 
it is then apparent after what has been already explained, that 
in this regard Luther gave no final expression to evangelical 
Christianity, but only made a beginning. 



CUAV. IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 2}rj 

First, there rests with him responsibility — not only with Mcl- 
anchthon — for tiie inclusion within the doctrine of the goapej 
(doctrina evangelii) of all theoretic elements of Christian specula- 
tion which it was believed must be retained. It is true, cer- 
tainly, that he never ceased regarding these elements as manifold 
testimonies to what is alone important in Christian faith ; but at 
the same time he undoubtedly gave to them'also an independent 
valup, because he held them to be perfect testimonies, and there- 
fore to be faith itself There were causes leading him to adhere 
the more firmly to this course, in his opposition to the En- 
thusiasts, and in the huge task of training a nation in Chris- 
tianity ; and thus, without observing it, he passed over to the 
view, that the Church, because it is the fellowship that is based 
simply on God's revelation, and on the faith answering to it, is 
just on that account fellowship in ths/rure doctrine, as including 
all that is embraced in the correct theology. ' The saving faith 

' Correcl and false elements lie close logecher here. If the dirislian is a fiosifive 
religion, il la atmve all necessary to see clearly and mainiain purely ils content : 
" Fidea si tangitur, tangitur pupilla occuli noslri." Further, what Luther ha^ 
wrought out in the Sermon on the 35th chap, of the ist Book of Moses (EiUng. Ed., 
VoL 34, p. 241 r.) with regard to doctrine and life is correct; "Therefore I have 
often giveo the admonition, that one must be far from separating from each other life 
and doctrine. The doctrine is that I believe in Christ, regard my work, sufferinp;, 
and death as nothing, and serve my neighbour, and beyond this take no further 
account of what I oui;ht to be. But the life is that I choose this or that course and act 
accordingly. Thus there is not nearly so much dependent on life as on doctrine, so 
that, although the life is not so pure, yet the doctrine can nevertheless continue pure, 
and there can be patience with the life. ... It is true that we ought to live thus i 
but let me live as I may, the doctrine does nat therefore become bXse . . . anything 
higher I cannot preach than that one must slay the old Adam and become 11 new man. 
Vou say : Yes, but it is nevertheless not done by you. Answer : I certainly ought 
to do it, yes, even if God gives it to me ; but no one will ever attain to this height ; 
there will still be many defects here. Therefore let Che life remain here below on 
earth, raise the doctrine aloft to heaven." This seemingly objectionable explanation 
at once becomes clear when we observe what Luther here introduces into the concep- 
tion "doctrine"; it is the dispasiltBH corresponding to the doctrine. For that reason 
the content given to doctrine here is simply "believing in Christ, regarding my own 
work as nothing and serving my neighbour," or "spying the old Adam and becoming 
a new man." It is obvious that this "doctrine" is nothing but religion itself; the 
life, however, means the constantly defective earthly embodiment. Yet over and over 
again, led astray by the word "doctrine" and by opposition to legat righteousness, 
Luther simply identified with this " doctrine" ail artieuii fidei of the old tradition 
(ihis being due also to the bet that he undecstood tlie art of pointing out in each of 



340 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. IV. 



which justifies (or, in other words, the right doctrine), and the 
sum of the particular articuli fidei appeared almost as identical. 
But in this way there was introduced a narrowing of the notion 
of the Church, compared with which even the Roman notion of 
the Church appears in many respects more elastic and therefore 
superior, and as the result of which Lutheranism approximated 
to the Socinian view.' The Church threatened to be transformed 
into a School — into the School, namely, of pure doctrine. But 
if the Church is a School, then in its view the distinction be- 
tween those who know and those who do not know comes to be 
of fundamental importance, and the resolute aiming at life passes 
into the background ; in other words, there arises the Chris- 
tianity of theologians and pastors and there develops itself a 
doctrinairism which becomes lax in sanctification. So far as 
Luther himself was concerned, he ever again broke through this 
view, indeed it was never wrought out with entire strictness 
even in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as is proved, e.^., 
by the sacred poetry. Yet the fundamental evangelical view of 
Christianity as a whole — not as a sum of separate portions of 
doctrine — became obscured, and the practical aim of religion 
became uncertain. Consequently instead of there being given to 
the future clear and unambiguous guidance with regard to faith, 
doctrine and Church, there was set to it rather a problem, — 
namely, of givinga high place to " doctrine " in the Lutheran sense, 
while freeing it at the same time from everything that cannot be 
adopted otherwise than by »ieans of spiritual surrender, and 
of moulding the Church as the fellowship of faith, without giving 
it the character of a theological school. The incorrect view of 
faith (contemplated as assent to a sum of many articuli fidei of 
equal value) became especially disastrous for the evangelical 
doctrine of justification. This doctrine necessarily appeared 
now as the correct statement of a particular dogma — nothing 
more. As soon as this cam.e about, the doctrine lost its true 



tlieni that " doctrine " properly so called). But if in the 
one applies " doctrine " to all " articuli fidei," while he ei 
or scarcely thinks any more, of the preaching that requi 
Adam and become a new man," than the necessary conseqiiei 
and a lax feeling about what is moral. For the (act that 
ensued Lulher was not really without responsibility. 



■xplanation quoted above 
her does not at all think, 
es him " to slay the old 
evil doctrinairism 
sequence actually 






CHAP. IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 241 

significance and thereby its practical design. If it was en- 
croached upon from the one side by the " objective dogmas," it 
was only natural that from the other side it should be restricted 
by a complicated doctrine of sanctifi cation, mystic union (unio 
mystica), etc. How much it becanne impaired and impoverished 
under this pressure has been shown to us by Ritschl in his 
account of the preparation in history for Pietism. But we need 
only glance at the history of the German Confessional, in order 
to see what desolation was caused by Lutheranism in narrowing 
faith to " pure doctrine." As no earnest Christian can continue 
to be satisfied with correct theology as the ideal of Christian 
perfection, it was only a natural consequence, nay a real redemp- 
tion, when Catholic ascetic criteria were again set up in the 
practice of Lutheranism. But as time went on there could not 
be satisfaction even with this'; for it was the evangelical faith, 
of course, that one held, and hence what was attained was only 
a feeble imitation of Catholicism. Thus the evangelical ideal of 
life also remained a problem for the evangelical Church.^ 

' Wilh another main problem th.il asserted itself from the first within the doctrinal 
hisloty of Protestantism I cannot here deal, as it would lead to an entering deeply 
into the development of Protestantism — I mean the relation of the new system of 
faith, as first formulated in Melanchthon's Loci, to the system of natural ikeology. 
This system, after it had been prepared for by Noniinnlism, introduced and developed 
itself almost unobserved as a " natural child " from the union of Classical Humanism 
with certain perceptions of the poiitive theology. The devotion to antiquity showed 
itself in this, that the Ciceronianism, which had partly supplanted the worn-off and 
misused Aristolelianism, was clolhed with the authority of the universally human, 
the innate, the reasonable, as there could not of course be given to it the authority of 
revelation. This natural " system," having its ultimate source in the Stoa, and used 
only unconsciously or sparingly by Luther, was increasingly turned to account by the 
Prieceptor Germanic even in specific theology, and under the hard shell of Con- 
fessional systems of faith began even in the sixteenth centuiy the struggle for the sole 
supremacy, a. supremacy which it was 10 achieve in the eighteenth century after it 
had acquired strength from the new science of nature. So long as it remained in 
combination with other modes of thought, it produced, as a universal principle, very 
different effects. At one time it strengthened ihe Scholastic form of the doctrines of 
&ith, at another time it weakened particulat dogmas that were paradoxical or that 
were constructed from a strictly religious point of view. At one time it really gave 
dramatic theologians the consciousness of possessing a system of securely founded 
truths, and surrounded even particular doctrines of the faith with the halo of universal 
human reason, at another time it appeared as the stem adversary of these doctrines. 
Taken as a whole it was a transitional phase, absolutely necessary, from the cognition 
that was purely ecclesiastical, determined by the world beyond, and dependent on 




242 



HISTORV OF DOGMA 



[CHAP. 1 



Secondly, Luther left behind him an unspeakable confusion 
as regards the significance of the old dogmas in the strictest 
sense of the word. No bridge leads to them from his justifying, 
saving faith, not because this faith does not reach to them, but 
because tJwse dogmas do not describe the being of God in so wonder- 
ful and comforting a way as evangelical faith is able to do from 
its knowledge. This statement can be tested at every point 
where Luther gives direct and living expression to his Chris- 
tianity. Christ is not to him a divine Person, who has taken to 
Himself humanity, but the man fesus Christ is the revelation of 
God Himself ; and Father, Son and Spirit are not three Persons 
existing side by side, but one God and Father has opened His 
Fatherly heart to us in Christ and reveals Christ in our hearts by 
His Spirit. What has this view of faith to do with the specu- 
lations of the Greeks ? How much more akin these speculations 
are to the natural understanding, if only it has granted certain 
premises, than Luther's view is! A philosopher is able to pro- 
vide himself with the means for discerning profundity and 
wisdom in the dogmas of the Greek Church ; but no philosopher 
is in the position for feeling any kind of relish for Luther's faith. 
Luther himself failed to see the gulf that separated him from 
the old dogma, partly because he interpreted the latter accord- 
ing to his own thoughts, partly because he had a remnant of 
respect for the decrees of the Councils, partly because it pleased 
him to have a palpable, definite, lofty, incomprehensible cardinal 
article with which to oppose Turks, Jews and fanatics. Only 

tradition, to Ihe knowledge tbat is critical, liislorical, and psycho! c^ically deterniioed, 
and for two hundred years it kept ali ve scientific problems under the most »ariou 
forms and modifications, and united the clearest and best heads. On Melanchthon' 
relation to this system and on the influence it exercised on the oldest formulatjon of 
the Protestant system of faiih see Dillhey's Article in the Archiv. f. Gesch, del 
Philos., Vol. VI., pp. 225-256, 347-379; Troltsch, Vemunft und Offenbarung bei 
Johann Gerhard und Melanchthon, iSgi ; Paulsen, Gesch. des gelehrten Unterrichts, 
and Ed., 1st Vol., 1896. The doctrine of predestination and the " S>-stem oi 
Nature" accompany the development of Ihe Protestant system of faith. The two 
can coalesce, from both there can develop itself a " religious universal Theism" that 
directs itself against the positive theolc^y, or that exercises a strongly repreSMve 
influence upon it. Bui until the time of Spinoza predesllnatian determinism 
rather the protector of the positive theology, while Ihe " System of Nature" wlought 
continuously in the direction of broadening it. 



.CHAP. IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 243 

when the doctrines of the Trinity and Christology are viewed as 
leading articles in Luther's sense is justice done to them ; to 
him they were not merely loci, to which other doctrinal loci were 
attached, they were doctrines from which he knew how to 
develop evangelical Christianity : God in Christ. But what 
continued to have vitality when dealt with by him and taken in his 
sense was not thereby protected for the future; and he himself, 
as a medieval man, could not resist the temptation to speculate 
about these formulfe in the direction already indicated by the 
way in which they had been framed. Since at the same 
time he would not surrender his fundamental thoughts, he be- 
came involved in speculations that were no whit behind the 
most daring and worst fancies of the Nomioalistic Sophists. 
They were different from these only in this, that Luther built 
up this thought-world with childlike faith, while the former, 
half belie vingly, half sceptically, went in search of dialectic pro- 
blems. From the doctrine of the Eucharist (see below) Luther 
derived a specially strong impulse to reflect in the old style upon 
Christology. But as he conceived of the unity of deity and 
humanity in Christ with a strictness that had characterised no 
theologian before him, it was inevitable that within the lines of 
the two-nature doctrine he should find himself in the midst uf 
those miserable speculations about the ubiquity of the body of 
Christ which are carried on at the supreme heights of scholastic 
absurdity. The melancholy consequence was that Lutheranism 
— as nota eccles is— received at once in Christology the most 
fully developed scholastic doctrine ever received by an ecclesi- 
astical community. Owing to this Lutheranism was for almost 
200 years thrown back into the middle ages. Hance the Refor- 
mation terminates here also in a contradiction, which furnisJud 
for subsequent times a problem: it gave to the new Church tlie 
faith in God, Christ and the Holy Ghost of which Paul made con- 
fession in Rom. VIII. and which 2vas still witnessed to by Paul 
Gerhardt in the hymn, " 1st Gott fiir inich, so trete gleich AUes 
wider ntich " (If God be on my side, let all things be my foes') ; 
but it gave to it at the same time the old dogma as the unchange- 
able cardinal article, together with a christological doctrine, which 
did not negate the fundamental evangelical interest, but which had 



244 HISTORV OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

received an entirely scholastic s/iape and had therefore the inevit- 
able effect of confusing and obscuring faith. The blame rests 
upon Luther, not upon the Epigones, if in the Evangelical 
Church at the present day every one must still let himself be 
stigmatised as a traitor who declares the doctrine of the Trinity 
and the Chalcedonian formula to be an extremely imperfect 
doctrine, harmonising neither with evangelical faith nor with 
reason (the latter was to be true of it, however, as understood 
by its authors). This practice was handed down by the same 
Luther who otherwise knew very well what unbelief is in the 
sense of the gospel. But Luther, as we have shown, had great 
excuses for his error ; the same cannot be said for those of the 
present day, They have, no doubt, other excuses — a regard to 
the orthodoxy that already prevails among the congregations, 
the traditional custom of fostering piety by means of these 
doctrines — what is there that cannot be used for fostering piety 
in this or that person? even the Song of Solomon, even amu- 
lets ! — and ignorance of the history of dogma.^ How much 

1 How great this last is may be gatheied from the fact that there are those at die 
present day who simply place their imaginary notions about Christology — the Kenotic 
theory for example — under the protection of the ancient dogma, i.e., who really ruJe 
out the latter, bat nevertheless play the part of vindices dogmatis. The position of 
things is not essentially different as regatds the doctrine of the Trinily. A speculation 
is evolved from one's inner consciousness, which has in common with the old dogma 
the conltadictioa between one and three, but is otherwise different from it toto ccelo, 
and then one describes himself as orthodox, his opponents as heretical. As if it were 
not an easy thing for each of these heretics to garnish his criticism of the old dogmn 
with similar fancies I If they could produce real satisfaction in this way, they would 
certainly be under obligation to do so. But these adomings have supplanted one 
another with astonishing rapidity— for a number of years they have almost ceased to 
be attempted ; no one of them really gave satisfaclion, each one served at the best 
to delay the crisis. No further notice is taken to-day as to kins one comes to terms 
with the old dogma, indeed one shrugs his shoulders beforehand in contemplating bis 
attempt. But that one does come to terms, even although it be by the fides implidta 
tenuissima, which means that one has no wish to disturb what the Church believes — 
that is enough. Thus from the days of Schleiermacher there is a living within the 
ositive theoli^ so to speak from hand to mouth. But even with that we should 
have to reconcile ourselves — our knowledge being in part — were it not that the old 
dogma has afettering, burdening, and confiising influence on the faith ofthe nineteenth 
century. Because that is undoubtedly the case, what must be done is to contend 
one's self against the whole world for the simple gospel. The strongest Bt^ment 
ui^ed from the other side is in these terms: "Observe that it is only where the old 
dogma is that there is to be found at the present time in Protestantism deep know* 



CHAP. IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 

they derive their life, not from the fundamental thought of the 
Reformation, but from Catholic reminiscences, is most distinctly 
shown by the fact that when for this or that reason one has 
once lost confidence in the old dogma, the almost invariable re- 
sult is that he declares that doctrine is not after all a matter of 
so muck hnportance. Against this Franciscan -Erasmic attitude 
too strong a protest cannot be made. If it were possible to 
enter into a compact with truth at all, the old dogma would still 
be much to be preferred to that indifference towards doctrine ; 
for such indifference leads inevitably to Catholicism, and is as 
inimical as possible to evangelical Christianity. Everything as a 
matter of fact depends upon the right doctrines of God as the 
Father of Jesus Christ and of the old and new man. Just for 
that reason the alternative : the old dogma, or mere " practical 
Christianity" must be answered with a neither-nor. Evan- 
gelical faith knows only of "doctrines" which are at the same 
time dispositions and deeds ; these, however, are for it, with 
Luther, Christianity. 

But Luther not only took over the old Greek dogma as 
evangelical doctrine (doctrina evangelii) and law of faith (lex 
fidei); he also took over the Augustinian doctrine of original 
sin, the doctrine of the primitive state, etc., and thus imposed 
upon faith a not less oppressive burden, in so far as he imported 
into faith a view of history made up of questionable exegesis, 
undiscerning criticism, and varied speculation. These he cor- 
rected, no doubt, according to his own principles, and if the 
factors themselves had remained, one might have been content 
with this theory for want of a better ; but when looked at from 

ledge of sin, true repentance, and vEgorous ecclesiastical activity." To this 
objection tlie following reply must be given : First, that this self- estimation has a 
Pharisaic and evil ritig about it, and that Ih* judgment as to knowledge of sin and 
repentance fall;, not to the ecclesia:iticHl press, but to God the Lord ; second, that 
"vigorous ecclesiastical activity" aflbtds no guarantee for unadulterated evangelical 
faith; were that alone decisive, Lulher was wrong when ha brought a revolution 
upon the old Church, for a long time elapsed before the Lutheran Churches were on 
a level in respect of vigorous activity with Ihe Post-Tridenline Catholic Churchj 
third, that it is no wonder that the others are in a leading position, who take control 
of the power of tradition and of all means of rule in the most conservative corporation 
that exists — in the Church. For the rest, the Christian must find out the good and 
holy, whatever be the quarter in which it may present itself. 




246 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. IV. 



the point of view of justifying faith, it was certainlya ^rraiSatris- 
eiV nXKo yeVo? to formulate articles of faith about these things, 
and this firrd/Sao-i^ was and is not without danger. It is true, 
no doubt, that from the standpoint of evangelical faith one 
comes to see that a// sin is unbelief and guilt before God, and 
that everyone on the first inqu iry finds such guilt already resting 
upon him. Yet the dogma of original sin contains more and 
less than this conviction represents, because it springs from 
" reason." It contains more, because it transforms a proposition 
based on Christian self-criticism into a piece of general historical 
knowledge about the beginnings of the human race ; it contains 
less, because it will always give one occasion for excusing his 
own guilt. To this connection belong also the partly Nominal- 
istic, partly Thomistic view of the doctrine of predestination ^ 
and the doctrine of the double will of God, because they pass 
beyond the doctrine of faith. 

The third contradiction which Luther left behind to his 
followers is to be found in his attitude towards Scripture, If he 
lacked power to free himself entirely from the authority of the 
letter, the lack was still greater on the part of those who came 
after him.^ Besides adhering to the Word of God, which was 
for him matter and authority, there was an adherence even on 
his part to the outward authority of the written word, though 
this was certainly occasionally disregarded by him in his 
Prefaces to Holy Scripture, and elsewhere as well. It was pro- 
bably his opposition to the Anabaptists, some of whom admir- 
ably distinguished between Word of God and Holy Scripture, 
that led him again to hold to the old Catholic identification of 



' Yet see above, p. 223 f. Tlie question with regard lo the doctrine of piedestination 
is as to the relation in whicli one places it to religion. It is manifest that while 
Luther associated it with, and subordinated it to, the doctrine of the gratia gratis 
data, he nevertheless allowed it also a range beyond this, in correspondence with a. 
special "theology" ("deus abscondilus") which is not lighted up by faith. That, 
though otherwise influenced by Nominalism, he here passes over to Delenninisra is no 
doQbt to be explained from bis reading AngnsLine. His reading Thomas and the later 
Thomistic Augustinians is scarcely to be thought of here. Yet he may have received 
an impulse from Lanrentius Valla, to whom his attention had long been directed {see 
Loofs, D<^mengesch. , 3rd ed., p. 376). 

» .See Gottschick, DieKirchlichkeitdersog. Kirchlichen Theologie (1S90), p. 36 f. 



CHAP, IV.] 



THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 



247 



the two.^ How disastrous this adherence was is a. question 
that need not be discussed ; for we are still under its effects 
to-day ; indeed, it may be said that no other surviving Catholic 
element has restricted the development of Protestantism so 
much as this. The requirement that the pure sense of Holy 
Scripture should be ascertained, was simply deprived of its force 
by regarding Scripture as the verbally inspired Canon. On the 
one hand the evangelical doctrine of salvation had the burden 
of a hundred and one foreign materials imposed upon it ;^ on 
the other hand, there was a disregarding of Scripture even 
where it ought to have been made use of, because one neces- 
sarily had to find in it, as the infallible authority, simply what 
was already held on other grounds to be pure doctrine. In this 
way precisely the same state of things came to exist again in 
Protestantism which prevailed in Catholicism ; that is to say. 
Scripture was subordinated in all points of importance to the 
rule of faith (regula fidei), its essential, historical import was ac- 
cordingly not sufficiently taken account of; and, on the other 
hand. Scripture was made a source of burdens and snares. 
This is always the paradoxical, and yet so intelligible, result of 
adopting the belief in an inspired Scripture Canon 1 in what is 
of chief moment this inspired Canon subjects the gospel to the 
ecclesiastical " rule of faith," and at the same time it produces 
incalculable and confusing effects upon faith in matters of 
secondary importance. So we see it to be even in Protestantism. 
But that which the same Luther taught : " We have the right 



' Loofs' assertion is not corrett ( D^^mengesch. , p. 373) ihat ihe placing of Holy 
Scripture and Wotd of God on the same level was nowhere assailed al that time. 

^It has been correctly pointed out tbat its being required that the allegorical 
exegesis should be departed from only made the thing worse. This kind of exegesis 
was able to get quit of the leltei should it not stand at the highest level, and thus 
corrected the dangerous principle of verbal inspiration. The literal sense of Holy 
Scripture and verbal inspiration: this combination first came to exist as a consequence 
of Lutheranism. The absurd tbesiscouldnotof course be really applied in a tboroiighly 
logical way J besides, there was created — happily, it may he said— by ihe exposition 
of Hoi; Scripture according to the analngia fidei, i.e., according to the Lutheran 
system of doctrine, a new allegotism ; but the number of cases— by no means incoo- 
siderable— in which the literal sense of particular passages, valuable only as historical, 
was treated as furnishing dogmatic guidance created the most distressing diDiculties 
and burdens for the Lutheran Churches (even for Luther himself indeed}. 




HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CIIAP. IV. 

touchstone for testing all books, in observing whether they 
witness to Christ or not," could not certainly continue without 
its inRuence. Nevertheless, it was not this that gave rise to the 
historical criticism of books in Protestantism, That was a con- 
sequence of the advance made in secular culture. It was 
because this was its origin that the evangelical Church took up, 
and still continues to take up, towards it an attitude of strong 
resistance. But if the Church has not the courage and the 
power to carry on criticism with Luther against Luther in the 
interests of faith, it is itself responsible if criticism is forced upon 
it from without, and if, as necessarily follows, it serves, not to 
strengthen the Church, but only to weaken it. Here also, then, 
LutJur left a problem to the time coming after, as his own 
attitude was rendered uncertain by a disastrous survival of the 
Catliolic view : along with the other external Catliolic autlwrities 
the evangelical Church must also discard the external autlwrity of 
the written Word, regarded as infallible; but it must at the same 
time take up its position within the system of Christian doctrine 
■where faith takes it, namely, beside the person of Christ, as 
luminously presented in tlie Gospels, and witnessed to by Bis first 
disciples. 

Fourthly, in the doctrine of the sacraments Luther abandoned 
his position as a Reformer, and was guided by views that 
brought confusion into his own system of faith, and injured in 
a still greater degree the theology of his adherents. In his 
endeavour to withstand the Enthusiasts, while starting from the 
point that denotes a specially strong side in his conception of 
faith, he was led by a seemingly slight displacement to very 
objectionable propositions, the adoption of which resulted in a 
partial relapse. In addition to the vagueness that continued to 
exist regarding the attitude towards Scripture, the falling back 
in the view taken of the means of grace became the real source 
of evil for Lutheranism. If we think of the doctrinairism, the 
Scholastic Christology, the magical ideas about the Sacrament, 
etc, that have developed themselves, it is here that we have to 
seek for the real beginnings of these defects. 

From the fixed and exclusive aspect in which Luther set 
before him God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, faith, and justification 



CHAP, IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 249 

(grace), he came to see that the Holy Spirit is bound to the 
Word of God, i.e., that the Spirit and the Word of God have an 
inseparable and exclusive relation to each other. What is con- 
templated by this principle is, first, the establishment of the 
certain efficacy of the Word ; and, secondly, the distinguishing 
of revelation as in the strict sense exlernal, because divine, from 
ali that is merely subjective. Hence the words occur in the 
Smalcaldic Articles, P. III., a. 8 : ^ " And in those things that 
relate to the spoken and external word, it must be steadfastly 
held that God bestows upon no one His Spirit or His grace 
except through the Word and along with the Word, as external 
and previously spoken, that so we may defend ourselves against 
enthusiasts, ;>., spirits who boast that they have the Spirit prior 
to the word and without the word and accordingly judge, 
twist, and pervert Scripture or the spoken word according as 
they please, . . . Wherefore we must steadfastly adhere to this, 
that it is not God's will to transact with us except through the 
spoken word and sacraments, and that whatever boasts itself 
without the word and sacraments as Spirit, is the devil himself." ^ 
This equating of Spirit and Word is undoubtedly correct, so 
long as there is understood by the Word the Gospel itself in 
the power of its influence and in the whole range of its validity 
and application. Yet even the exchange of this Word for the 
narrower conception, " vocal word and sacraments" is not un- 
objectionable. When, however, all that is to be held true of the 
Word is then forthwith applied to the limited conceptions, 
" vocal word and sacraments," so that these are in every respect 

1 M filler, p. 321 f. Compare the treatise "Wider die himmlisehen Propheten" 
(Etlang, Ed. XXIX., p. 134 ff., especially p. 2o3 E), Art. J of the Augs. Conf. : 
" Per verbum et sacranientii tanquaiu per instnimenta douatur spiritus sanctus, qui 
fidem efficit " and the principle so often staled by Luther : " Deus interna non dat 
nisi per externa," 

' " Ec in his, qua; vocaie et externum verbum concemunt, constanter tenendum est, 
deutn nemini apiritum vel gratiam auaro larEiri, nisi per verbum el cuni verbo externo 
«t pr3»:edeilte, ul ita prxmuniamtis nos adversum enthusiastos, i.e., spiritus, qui 
jactitant se ante verbum et sire verbo spiritum habere et ideo acripturam siye vocaie 
verbum judicant, Hectunt et retlectunl pro libito. . . . Quare in hoc nobis est 
constanter peiseverandum, quod deus non veiit nohiscum abler agere nisi per vocaie 
verbum el sacramenia, el quod, quidquld sine verba ct sacramentis jactatur ut spiritus, 
sit ipse diabolus." 




nSTORY OF DOGMA. [CllAP. IV". 

and in all thdr properties ■' the Word," the relapse into magical 
conceptions is inevitable, Luther wished by his doctrine of the; 
means of grace to offer sure comfort to troubled consciences, 
and to guard them against the hell of uncertainty about their 
standing in grace- — an uncertainty which the Enthusiasts, 
seemed to regard as of no account. Therefore he preached 
without ceasing that it is as certain that the grace of God is- 
given in the IVord 3.3 that Jesus Christ Himself acts ; therefore 
he contended against the Scotist doctrine of a mere co-existence 
of forgiveness of sins and sensible (audible) signs ;' therefore 
he attached so decisive a weight to the "objectivity of the 
means of grace," ^ and had the anxious desire that it should be 
declared of them, that even in every part of their administration 
and in respect of all that Scripture taught, or seemed to teach, 
regarding them, they were equally important and inviolable 
Yet not merely through separating out particular observances 
as means of grace did Luther retreat within the narrow, for- 
saken circle of the Middle Ages — -the Christian lives, as he 
himself knew best, not on means of grace, he Hves through 
communion with his God, who lays hold of him in Christ — but 
in a still greater degree by undertaking, first, to justify infant 
baptism as a means of grace in the strict sense ; second, to con- 
ceive of penance as also the gracious means of initiation ; thirdf 
to declare the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in 
the Eucharist to be the essential part of this Sacrament Pro- 
bably the mere retaining of the term, " means of grace," would 
not of itself have had a disturbing effect on evangelical doctrine ;: 
for ever again Luther too distinctly emphasised the fact, that 
the means of grace is nothing else than the Word, which 
awakens faith and gives the assurance of forgiveness of sins. 
But that threefold undertaking brought back upon the Church 
of the Reformation the evils of the Middle Ages, and hindered) 

1 Schmaliisld. Art. P. III., a. 5 (p. 320): "Non etiam facimus cum Scolo et 
Minoiitis seu ini)na,chis Franciscanis, qui docent, haplismn ablui peccatum ex 
assistentia divinx voluntatis, et hanc ablutionem fieri tantum per dei voluntatem et 
mininiB per verbum et aquani." 

*See Harless u, Harnack, Die kiichlich-teligiose Bedcututig dei reinen Lehrc von 
den Gnadenmitteln, lS69. 



J 



CHAP. IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 251 

it for many generations from effectively expressing along with 
the spiritual character of the Christian religion it.s deep earnest- 
ness ; for the earnestness of religion is reduced when the opus 
operatum makes its appearance and the strict relation between, 
gospel and faith is relaxed or encumbered, 

A. As regards the first point — infant baptism — the question 
is quite clear for anyone who does not believe himself required 
on " practical " grounds to confuse the matter. If the funda- 
mental evangelical and Lutheran principle is valid, that grace 
and faith are inseparably inter-related (Larger Catechism IV.v 
p. 496 I " In the absence of faith, baptism continues to be only 
a bare and ineffectual sign"'), then infant baptism is in itself 
no Sacrament, but an ecclesiastical observance ; if it is in the 
strict sense a Sacrament, then that principle is no longer valid. 
This dilemma can be escaped neither by a reference to the 
faith of the sponsors, parents, etc. (thus Luther himself at the 
first) — for that is the worst form of iides implicita — nor by the 
assumption that in baptism faith is given ;- for an unconscious 
faith is an almost equally bad species of that fides implicita. It 
would only have been in accordance, therefore, with the evan- 
gelical principle, either to do away with infant baptism, as it 
was only in later times that the Roman Church did away with 
infant communion, or to declare it to be an ecclesiastical 
observance, which only receives its true import afterwards 
(inasmuch as that which is given in baptism has existence at 
all only on condition of there being the knowledge of sin). Yet 
neither of these courses was followed : Luther retained infant 
baptism rather as the .sacrament of regeneration, and while^ 
according to his views, it should have been at the most a 
symbol of prevenient grace, he conceived of it as an efficacious 
act. Thus, although there was an unwillingness to observe it,, 
there was a return to the opus operatum, and the relation 
between gracious effect and faith was severed. If in the time 
that came after the voice of conscience was too audible against 

' " Absente lide baptismua nurlum et inefficax signum tantummodo pernianet." 
s Larger Calechism IV., p. 494 : " Pueram ecclesiff minislio baptizandum appor- 
tamus, bac ape atque animo, quod eerie credat, et piecamur, ut dominus eum fide 




353 



HISTORV OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. IV. 



the absurd assumption that there can be a new birth without 
the knowledge of this birth, then the solution that was resorted 
to was almost worse still than the difficulty from which escape 
was sought. Justification and regeneration were separated ; in 
the former there was seen the " objective " (the abstract divine 
act of justification, the forensic justifying sentence, which 
declares the sinner [impius] righteous), in the latter the subjec- 
tive. In this way the most splendid jewel of evangelical 
Christianity became robbed of its practical power — became, 
that is, of no effect The forcibly effected distinction of justifi- 
cation from regeneration led the evangelical system of faith 
into labyrinths, greatly reduced the importance of justification — 
as in Catholicism, justification threatened to become a dogmatic 
Locus standing side by side with other Loci — and, through the 
interpolation of new dogmas, negatived the practical bearing of 
justification on the practical moulding of Christian life. 

B. This disastrous development was (secondly) still further 
strengthened by an erroneous conception of penitence. Here, 
also, Luther himself gave the impulse, and therefore quietly 
allowed that to happen which contravened his original and 
never abandoned ground principles. That the medieval Catholic 
view also continued to have its influence upon him ought not to 
be denied. With his whole reforming doctrine and practice, 
Luther had on principle taken his stand on the soil of faith ; 
within the experience of the believer he had not a.sked, how do 
the heathen and Turk become Christians, but, how have I 
attained to faith, and what are the powers by which my faith is 
sustained? From this point it was certain to him that it is the 
gift of faith (or, otherwise expressed, the Gospel) that establishes 
and maintains the Christian standing, and that faith works re- 
pentance, which is the negative side of faith itself, the "daily 
dying." The two are inseparably related, and yet in such a way 
that faith is the logical prius. From this it follows that only 
such repentance has value before God as springs from faith 
(the Gospel), and that it must be as constant a temper as faith. 
Through such faith and such repentance the Christian lives in 
the constant forgiveness of sin ; that is to say, this is the sphere 
of his existence, whether that be thought of as the continuous. 




CHAP. IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 253 

grace of baptism to which one daily returns, or the ever-repeated 
appropriation of justification (forgiveness of sins). That is a 
view, certainly, which can easily transform itself into the dread- 
ful opposite — easy security, and a penitent disposition (with the 
corresponding sanctiii cation of life) that never on any occasion 
strongly asserts itself. If men are told that they must constantly 
repent, and that particular acts of repentance are of no use, 
there are few who will ever repent. And yet, the corruption of 
what is best is the worst corruption (corruptio optimi pessima) ; 
the danger that attaches to a truth can never be a reason for 
concealing the truth. It is true, no doubt, that training in the 
truth cannot begin with presenting to view its entire content, its 
seriousness and freedom ; but the system of faith must not on 
that account be corrupted. Yet in Lutheranism it became cor- 
rupted very soon, and in the end, as is always the case, that was 
not reached which these corruptions were intended to reach, 
namely, the checking of laxity and indifference. These last, 
rather, only took occasion to derive pleasant comfort for them- 
selves from the new formulation gradually introduced. This 
new formulation goes back to thoughts belonging to "natural 
theology," or, say, to thoughts belonging to the ancient Church, 
which Luther himself never wished to eradicate. Its root was 
the assumption adhered to in spite of certainty of the abolition 
of the law (as a demand, to which there always answers only a 
performance), that the law contains the unchangeable will of 
God, and in this sense has its own permanent range of action 
side by side with the Gospel (as if the latter did not contain this 
will implicitly !). If that was once granted, then it was necessary 
to find room in the Christian state for the law. This room is 
first proved to ctist from the experience of the terrors of con- 
science (terrores conscienti^) which everyone must pass through. 
Even here much depends on the emphasis that is laid upon this 
fact and the measure in which it is subordinated to what is 
properly the act of faith. Yet the law as the unchangeable will 
of God does not yet attain here its full expression ; for the 
"repentance" that arises through the law is to be translated 
into the true repentance which the Gospel works. Now that 
idea of the law would have justice done to it if the Gospel itself 




354 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. rv. 



were conceived of as the law divested of the " legal " forms and 
clothed over with mercy ; yet this thought, which already comes 
■close to phenomenalism, could at the most be touched on by so 
irugged a thinker as Luther, No, the law as law is certainly 
abolished for the Christian — he who makes the attempt by 
means of the law takes the path to hell — but for God it still 
■continues to exist, i.e., God's will remains as before expressed in 
it, and he must take cognisance of the law's fulfilment. Where 
this thought comes in, Luther becomes uncertain as to the 
.nature of the application and force of the work of Christ (see 
Loofs, I.e., 3rd ed., p. 380), i.e., this work ceases to be regarded 
as a work once for all done and completed, and receives an 
enlargement, in so far as it is subjected tc a view that breaks it 
'Up, that view being that for every particular case of sin on the 
part of the baptised, Christ must interpose anew with His 
■obedience, i.e., with a vicarious fulfilment of the law; for other- 
wise satisfaction is not made to the law of God. This thought 
was not transformed into a theory, but it occurs not infrequently 
in Luther ; for it was the inevitable result of the requirement 
imposed upon God that He shall have compensation made to 
Hira for every particular transgression of the law. Tbe retained 
attritio (contritio passiva) and the uncertainties regarding the 
nature and result of the work of Christ thus flow for Luther 
from one source, namely, the idea that the law contains also the 
will of God, and therefore has an independent place side by side 
with the Gospel. The only means of removing this enormous 
difficulty would be the decided recognition of the phenomenal 
view, namely, that in the law God presents himself to view as 
what the sinner for his punishment must feel and think of Him 
as being. 

To go back to repentance, this view of the law had as its 
■result that in the course of instruction law was placed before 
Gospel. That was the plan adopted by Melanchthon, with the 
consent of Luther, in the " Unterricht der Visitatoren " (Direc- 
tions for those visiting).^ At the same time there were grounds 

'Corpus. Ref. XXVI., p. 51 sq. : "Although there are some who think thai 
jiolhing should be taught before &ith, and that repentance should be left to follow 
'tram and after faith, so that the adversaries may not say Ihal wi retract our farmer 



k 



CHAP. IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 255 

for earnestly enforcing ecclesiastical confession, that a check 
might be put upon the worst forms of sin. In this lies the 
■explanation of the fact that theory also became obscure : within 
the lines of this view (under other conditions the original view 
was still retained in force by Luther and Melanchthon) re- 
pentance and forgiveness became the conversion of the ungodly, 
or of the backsliding sinner; as such they were either identified 
with justification or placed side by side with it, but in both 
'Cases they were united most closely with the ecclesiastical con- 
fessional. The ungodly attains for the first time or again to 
faith, when his sin is forgiven him on the ground of repentance 
'(but this repentance can no longer be distinguished from the 
■Catholic attritio), ;.£., when God absolves him anew "in foro" ; 
unfortunately, there was also an increasing tendency here to 
think of the intervention of the minister, whom the "man of 
coarse and degraded character" certainly needed. But what 
else is that thanadoublette to the Catholic Sacrament of penance, 
with this difference only, that the compulsory auricular confes- 
sion and the satisfactions have been dropped ? !n this way a 
most convenient arrangement was come to about the matter, 
and how comfortably things were adjusted by the help of this 
Catholic Sacrament of penance, minus the burdensome Roman 
additions, is suggestively indicated by Lutheran orthodoxy 
when at the height of its influence, and by the reaction of 
Spetier and Pietism. Under this view the idea of justification, 
as has been already pointed out above, was shrivelled up into an 
act of initiation and into an entirely external action of God, the 
natural effect of which was the blunting of conscience. Here 
also it was inevitable that the Catholic doctrine should now 
appear to have superior worth ; for according to this view of 

doctrine, yet the matter must be (thus) viewed ; — Because repentance and law belong 
also to the common faith— for one must first bdUve, of course, thai thsrc is a God 
who threatens, commands, terrifies — let it be for the man of coarse and degraded 
character Chat such portions of faith (according to this, then, faith has " portions," 
contrary to Luther's view) are allowed to remain under the name of precept, law, 
fear, etc., in order that they may understand the more discriminatingly the faith in 
Christ, which the Apostles call "justifying feith," i.e., which makes just and cancels 
sin, an effect not produced hyfailh in Q\e precept axA hy repentance, and that the man 
of toTB ckaraetsr may not be ted astray hy the word faith and ask useless questions." 




HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

what takes place, the holding to the " faith alone " (" fides sola ") 
necessarily resulted in dangerous laxity. What would really 
have been required here would have been to lead Christians to 
see that only the " fides caritate formata " has a real value before 
God. Hence one cannot wonder — it was rather a wise course 
under such assumptions — that Melanchthon afterwards aban- 
doned the "sola fides" doctrine, and became the advocate of a 
fine Synergism. But by the task of uniting the old evangelical 
conviction with this doctrine of repentance, while at the same 
time avoiding Melanchthon's synergism, the theology of the 
Epigones was involved in the most hopeless confusion. The 
question was really that of intcr-relating two "justifications," 
the justification of the sinner (justificatio impii) (on the ground 
of the law and of repentance), and justification as the abiding 
form of the Christian state. To this there was further added as 
the third "justification " — it was dependent again on other con- 
ditions — the justification of baptised children : one is justified 
by repentance, which is produced by the law and then becomes 
faith ; one is justified by the faith which the Gospel effects ; 
one is justified by the act of baptism ! These contradictions be- 
came still more violent as soon as attention was directed to 
regeneration, and they led back to the most hopeless scholasti- 
cism. And out of this scholasticism, as in the case of the old 
scholasticism, out of all kinds of troubles and painful efforts 
there arose — under disguise, but in a form quite recognisable by 
an eye familiar with Luther's Christianity — the two funda- 
mental Catholic errors, the assumption of an efficacy of the 
means of grace ex opere operato, and the transformation of the 
evangelical notion of faith into a vieritorious performance ; for 
there must come in somewhere personal responsibility and 
personal activity. Now if one has persuaded himself that every- 
thing that suggests "good works" must be dropped out of the 
religious sequence, there ultimately remains over only the 
readiness to subject one's self to faith, ;>,, to the pure 
doctrine. 

Neither the opus operatum nor the meritoriousness of faith, 
but certainly the confusion of the decisive question, already 
comes to view in the Confession of Augsburg. It has been very 



CHAP. IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 257 

correctly pointed out by Loofs' that the twelfth Article is a 
shadowy companion of the fourth, and his wish in directing 
attention to this is undoubtedly to show the objectionableness 
of this reduplication. But the twelfth Article itself is no longer, 
in its construction, in harmony with the evangelical conception;' 
for it has approximated to the Catholic Sacrament of penance. 
The reference to the Ecclesia is in this connection an at least 
misleading concession, and the division of repentance (pceni- 
tentia) into " contrition " and " faith," the former being put first, 
while only the latter is expressly traced back to the gospel, is 
very objectionable. But what is most objectionable is, that the 
Article favours the Catholic view, by suggesting that every time 
the Christian falls he falls from the state of grace, and must 
then be restored to it by the sacrament of repentance. If this 
view were clearly and unmistakably at the basis of this Article, 
its effect would be to deny what is central in evangelical faith. 
This faith makes no distinction between sin and sin, as the 
Catholic doctrine does, and it knows that " every day we sin 
much." If the cancelling of the state of grace had to be thought 
of as always united with thi.'', we should be taken back again 
into the heart of Catholicisin, and it would be a matter of entire 
indifference whether we should adopt the other Catholic doc- 
trines or not. For in the Evangelical Church there must be no 
departure from the Article, that God forgives His ckild, the 
justified Christian, his sins, that, accordingly, not merely does 
forgiveness of sins and justification constitute the "justification" 
of the sinner, but the Christian lives upon the forgiveness of sins, 
and, in spite of sin and guilt, is a child of God. This cardinal 
thought, that the Christian does not fall from grace, if he com- 
forts himself in thinking of the God who forgives sins, and 
accordingly has the feeling of hatred towards sin, has at least 

1 Dogmgesch., and ed., p. 262. 

5 "De pcenilentia docent, quod lapsis post baptismum contingere possit remissio 
peccBlonim quocunque tempore, quum convertantur, et quod ecclesia. lalibus redeun- 
tibus ad pcenitentiam absolutioncm impcrCiri debeat. Constat nutem pcenitentia. 
proprie his duabus partibus. Altera est contrilio seu teirores iiicussi conscientiEe 
agnito peccato ; altera est fides, qure concipitur ei evangelic seu absolutione, et 
credit propter ChriBtum reniilti peecala, et eonsolalur consciemiam el ex lerrnribus 
liberaL Deinde sequi debent bona opera, qux sunt fructus ptenitentia;." 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

been veiled by the Augsburg Confession in the twelfth Article, 
while elsewhere, certainly, the thought forms the basis of many 
of its most important expositions. How, then, could all those 
things be right which the Confession teaches so impressively 
about the constant trust in God, if the Christian mij^ht not 
comfort himself constantly with the thought of his being God's 
child? But how sadly has this thought been obscured, in order 
to escape the danger of laxity, which, however, only comes in 
from another side in a worse form ; how obscure it is even yet 
in Protestantism, and how difficult it is to persuade the ac- 
credited teachers of the Christian people that blunted con- 
sciences can have the seriousness of the gospel exhibited to 
them only by setting before them the love of God 1 

C. The third point is Luther's doctrine of the Eucharist.^ In 
countless passages Luther declared that Word and Sacrament 
are the means of grace, because they contain the forgiveness of 
sins, and that it is in this alone that their value is entirely con- 
tained. " With stern contempt " he often enough discarded all 
fanciful ideas that lead astray from what alone can afford the 
Christian comfort. Accordingly, his doctrine of the Eucharist 
could only run in these terms : — that the Word of God, which 
is in and with the eating, brings forgiveness of sins, and thereby 
procures life and blessedness. Hence the question about the 
body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament must not become in 
any way a theological question — "theology" being taken as 
Luther understood it^or, if it does, it must be discussed in 
strictest connection with the historic Christ ; for only through 
the work of the historic Christ is the Word of God the word of 
forgiveness of sins. That being so, no doubt could arise that 
the body and blood of Christ was just that which he had yielded 
up to death, i.e., his natural, human body. Only iii this way, 
too, could His disciples understand Him. But if the body which 
He gave to His disciples to eat was His natural body, then it is 
at once clear that as regards His body it was only a symbol 

1 See Dieckhoff, Die evang. Abenilmahlslehre (1854), p. 167 fF. H. Sclmlb;, Dief 
Lehre voui hi, Abendmahl, 1886. Schmid, Der Kaiiipf der Luth. Kirche um 
Lehrc vom Abendmahl, 1868. Very full irealmeiit in Thomasius-Seebeig, II., 1 
p. 522 ff. 



.CHAP. IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 259 

that was in question, while faith receives the forgiveness of sins 
by no means merely in a symbolic way. It is then still further 
clear, that the Christian is not brought into a more intimate, 
mystical union with Christ through the Eucharist than through 
the Word, while this Word is not a mere empty sound about 
Christ, but the power which proceeds from His historic work. 
But, tiTially, the idea of a " more intimate, mystical " union of 
the Christian with Christ is, when viewed in the light of Luther's 
conception of faith, altogether the worst kind of heresy ; for it 
places in question the sovereign power and adequate efficacy of 
the Word of God for the sake of a vague feeling, and thereby 
robs conscience of the full comfort the Word of God can impart. 
There must, therefore, be the strictest adherence to the position, 
that while the various sensible signs under which the Word is 
presented are by no means, it is true, matters of indifference, 
and while in various ways they bring the work of the historic 
Christ close to the heart, yet they are unable to add anything 
to the power of the Word. 

If in what follows another view aiust be stated as having been 
held by Luther, it must always be remembered that the one 
just developed was always most strenuously represented by 
him and never abandoned ; for it runs quite clearly even 
through writings that can be legitimately quoted in favour of 
another view. No passages require to be brought forward in 
proof of it ; for in the Smaller Catechism, for example, it and it 
alone finds expression. Certainly an appeal cannot be taken 
against it to the word " true " in the sentence : " It is the true 
body," though it may be unquestionable that Luther here had 
in his mind his opposition to Zwingli. Even as regards the 
Word what is in question is the " true," i.e., the historical Christ, 
and not merefy the Word, but the Word a/one has, according to 
Luther, the power to give the heart a realising sense of the true 
Christ who died for sinners. 

And yet in contemplating the Eucharist he went on to 
"supplement" the view of faith, and this supplement he 
defended in the most obstinate way, and pronounced it an 
article involving the existence or non-existence of the Church 
(articulus stantis etcadentis ecclesia:). In this way he brought 




a60 HISTORV OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV, 

in a host of evils connected with the creation he left behind 
him : the doctrine of the Sacrament in general became con- 
fused, a door was opened for the conception of the opus 
operatum, doctrinairism was strengthened, the evangelical 
Christology was led into the melancholy paths of the abandoned 
Scholasticism, and thus an orthodoxy was framed which was 
bound to become narrow-minded and loveless. These were the 
grave internal consequences. The outward results are well 
enough known ; Protestantism was rent asunder. Yet these 
latter results were not the worst ; indeed it may be said on the 
contrary here, that the isolating for a time of the Lutheran 
Reformation was necessary and salutary, if it was not to lose 
itself in fields foreign to itself. Had Luther yielded in the 
question of the Eucharist, the result would have been the 
formation of ecclesiastical and political combinations, which, in 
all probability, would have been more disastrous for the 
German Reformation than its isolation, for the hands that were 
held out to Luther — Carlstadt, Schwenkfeld, Zwingli, etc- 
and which to all appearance could not be grasped simply on 
account of the doctrine of the Eucharist, were by no means 
pure hands. ^ Great political plans, and dangerous forms of un- 
certainty as to what evangelical faith is, would have obtained 
the rights of citizenship in the German Reformation. Under 
these circumstances the doctrine of the Eucharist constituted a 
salutary restraint. In its literal import what Luther asserted 
was not correct ; but it had its ultimate source in the purpose of 
the strong, unique man to maintain his cause in its purity, as it 
had presented itself to him, and to let nothing foreign be forced 
upon him ; it sprang from the well-grounded doubt as to 
whether these people had not another spirit. In the choice of 
the means he committed an error ; in the matter itself, so far 
what was in question was the averting of premature unions, he 
was probably in the right. 

This gives us already one motive for his "completing" the 
doctrine of the Eucharist, and perhaps the strongest. Luther 

'The reference here is not to morality! I enpressly mention this, because ths 
expression "pure hands" has been misunderstood. Thi 
Diide it imposaible for a faUe understanding to arise. 



CHAP. IV.] 



THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 



261 



had the fear, or he perceived, that his opponents, including 
Zwingli, underrated in general the means of grace, that they 
preached the "spirit," without discerning the importance of the 
Word. The temptation was very great to teach the presence 
of the bodily Christ in the Eucharist, because it appeared that 
thereby the certainty of the inter-connection of Spirit (saving 
benefit) and means was moat conclusively demonstrated. To 
this temptation Luther yielded, though his yielding was always 
corrected again by him by means of his original ideas. Secondly, 
the letter of Scripture seemed to him to admit of no other in- 
terpretation, and by this letter ho felt himself bound. Accord- 
ingly even before the year 1524 he had formed the conviction, 
that in the Sacrament of the altar forgiveness of sins is so 
contained that it is conveyed through the outward presentation 
of the real body and blood of Christ (to be eaten and drunk). 
The perception of this was first made use of against Carlstadt,^ 
whom he sought to counter-work by means of letters. From 
the year 1525 he turned indirectly, from the year 1526 directly, 
against Zwingli also, whom he suspected, not quite without 
ground, of making common cause with the enthusiasts. Zwingli 
certainly removed the ground of that charge and even by that 
time held substantially to the doctrine of salvation by justifica- 
tion — not the least cause of this being Luther's writings ; — but 
in order to understand Luther's attitude towards Zwingli, we 
must keep this suspicion before us. In the correspondence that 
now began between the two Reformers Luther expounded 
his view, and when pressed by Zwingli, became ever more deeply 
involved in Scholasticism.* First of all he let himself be 

■ Carlstadt lia.<l laught lint by means of the toSto Christ had pointed to his actual 
body in which He sat befoTe His disciples. 

' Tlie eaclitsl writings of Luiher on the Eucharist are " Sermon von dem hoch- 
wilrdigen Sacrament des hL wahten Leiclinams Chtiati," 1519, " Erkl. Dr. L.'s 
etlichcr Arlikel in scinem Sermon v. d, hi. Sacr.," 1520, " Sennoa von dem N.T. 
d. i. V. d. hi. Messe," i;zo (EiUng. Ed., XXYII). "Vom Missbrauch der Messe," 
1512, "Von beiderlei Gestalt des Sacraments zu nthmen," i^xl, "Vom Anbeten 
des Sacraments des hi. Leichnams Christi," 15*3 (XXVIII.). " Wider die himm- 
lischen Prophelcn v. d. Bildern u. Saciameni," 1524-5, "Seimoa v. d. Sacrament 
des Leibes a. Blutes Chrisli, wider die Schwanngeisler," 1526 (XXIX). " Dass 
diese W'lttc noch feststchen," 1527, " Bekennlniss vom Abendmohl Christi," 1528 
JXXX.). "Kurzes Bekeni.lniss Dr, M. L.'s vom hi. Saciament," 1545 (XXXII). 




362 



HlaXORV OF DOGMA. 



[chap. IV. 



persuaded that the true body must be the body of the exalted 
Christ; for the historical body ceased of course to have an 
existence owing to the death on the cross. If it was objected, 
however, that it was impossible for the glorified body of the 
Exalted One to be in the bread and wine, his reply was that he 
extended to the Exalted One ilie idea of the inseparable unity of 
deity and humanity in the historical Christ, and in order to 
make this conceivable, called in the aid of Occam's Scholasticism. 
" The Sophists " (his old enemies !) — so he declares now — " speak 
rightly on this matter when they say : — -There are three ways of 
being in a place, locally or circumscriptively, definitively, re- 
pletively (localiter, circumscriptive, definitive, repletive), and, 
that this may the more easily be understood, I will explain it 
thus in German."^ There then follows a long discussion, in- 

Also various lelleis, more especially th-e one addressed tci the Strassburgers of dale 
Dec, IJ24 (see also his opinions about the "Bohemians") with the^mous sentence: 
" I confess that if Carlstadt or any one else had corrected me live years ago by showing 
that in the Sacrament there is nothing but bread and wine he would have done me a. 
gleat service. . . . But I am taken captive ani! cannot escape ; the text is too 
powerful, and no words can drive it from my mind." What first brought Zwingli 
into the Eucharist controversy was his letter to Alber (Nov., 1524). Then followed 
his " Commenlarius," his " Klare Undetrichtung ' (1526), his "Amica exegesis" 
{1527), the " Friindlich Verglimpfung " (friendly persuading to believe) "that these 
words shall have eternally the old sense" (1527). Letters and writings of the theo- 
Ic^ians in south-west Germany played an important part in the controversy. The 
greatest weight attaches to the treatise of (Ecolampadius "de genuina verborum 
dotnini, etc, expositione liber." Zwingli regarded the "est" in the words of instilu- 
tioQ as being — "it signifies," took John VI. as a commentary on the words of institu- 
tion, allowed therefore only a symbolical explanation of the body and blood of Christ 
in the sacrament, displayed no assurance and decision in conceiving of the sacrament as. 
s peculiar mode of giving form to the "Word," thought of the observance substantial ly 
as sacrificial (nota ecclesife, recollection) and yet allowed himself to be led by Luther 
into the Scholastic -Chtistological rt^on, where he not only won no iaurels by his 
doctrinaire conception of the two-nature doctrine and his separation of the natures 
in a way approaching Nestorianism, but betrayed a remarkable lack of religious insight 
into the problem, together with a wonderful reliance on the significance of sophialic- 
Bcholastic formulje. The theologians of south-west Germany, so fer as they did not, 
with Bren^, adhere to Luther, spoke in favour of a mystical conception of the 
Eucharist, which united the defects ot the Lutheran with the defects of the Zwinglian 
conception, and was afterwards embraced by Calvin and Melanchthon. But 
CEcolampadius did excellent service with his account of the Patristic doctrine. 

1 Bek. v. Abendmahl (XXX., p. 207 if.). How diiferenlly he still expresses hira- 
aelf in the treatise of the year 1519 (XXVIL, p. 38) : "There are some who exercise 
their skill and ingenuity in trying to see where the brea 1 remains when it is changed 



CHAP. IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 265 

tended to give further proof of the possibility and certainty of the 
presence of Christ's body in the Eucharist So this Scholasticism 
is requisite in order to establish the Christian faith P In 
following this course he became more and more involved in the 
Catholic view, that the Eucharist must be conceived of as the 
parallel to and guarantee for the Incarnation.^ This comes out 
most distinctly in the last of his writings, where it is at the 
same time apparent how, as the consequence of holding his 
doctrine of the Eucharist, the evangelical .saving faith became 
for Luther resolved into "parts," although he made efforts to 
avoid this result.^ 

into Christ's flesh, antl the wine into his hlood. Also how the whole Christ can be 
included under so small a portion of bread and wine. It is of no consequence if tbon 
dost not seek to undeiEland that ; it is enough for ihee to know that it is a divine 
sign that Christ's flesh and blood are truly present ; let the how and the where be 
left to Him." 

' From this point the Lutheran doctrine of the communicatio idiomatum then look 

■i Undoubtedly Zwlngli with his Nestoiianism led him on this track. 

s Karzes Bekenntniss, p. 413 r " Oh dear man ! if any one will not believe the 
article on the Eucharist, how will he ever believe the arlide on (he humatiity and 
deity of Chfist in one person ? And if it stiuables thee that thou ahouldat receive 
with thy moulh the body of Christ when thou eatest the bread from the altar . . . 
it must surely stumble thee much more (especially when the hour comes) that the 
infinite and incomprehensible deity, who in His essence Is and must be everywhere, 
should be shut up and eticlosed in humanity and in the Virgin's body. . . . And 
how is it possible for thee to believe how ihe Son alone should have become man, not 
the Father nor the Holy Ghosl, since the thre« Persons are nothing but the one God 
in the supremely one being and nature of the one Goilhead. , , . Oh, how they 
shall most of all giovi enciled and reel and make their voices heard, when they 
come to this 1 Here they will find somethinE to explain, as indeed I hear that they 
already march about confidently and courageously with their Eutychianism and 
Nestorianism, For that was my thought, and I have staled it (00, that this is what 
they roust come to ; the devil cannot go on holiday when he has made one heresy, he 
must make more, and no error remains alone. When the ring is severed at one place 
it is no more a ring, it no longer holds together, but goes on breaking. And although 
they make a great ado about their believing this article on Christ's person and have 
many words about it, believe them not, they are assuredly liars in all that they say of 
it. . . . The Turk glories in the name of God, but when they die they find who their 
Uod is. For it is cerLain of every one who does not rightly believe an article, ox will 
not believe it, that he believes no article seriously. . . . Hence the word must be, a 
belief of all, pure and complete, whole and en tire, or a belief of nothing. The Holy 
Ghost does not allow himself to be severed or divided, sa that ht should let one part 
be taught and betiened truly and another falsely. " 



IIISTORV OF DOGMA, [CHAP. IV. 

It was not enough that it should be merely asserted that the 
true body is in the Eucharist, if this proposition was to describe 
a miraculous, external fact, that holds good even apart from 
faith. It was necessary to show Iioiu the corporeal Christ is 
present and is partaken of in the Eucharist. Here also Luther 
adopted hypothetical speculations of the Nominalists.' The 
whole Christ is in the elements ; but the elements are not tran- 
substantiated ; neither is there a mingling of the elements with 
Christ; nor again are the two merely side by side, unconnected 
and apart ; both remain what they are, but are as perfectly 
blended in their properties (idiomata) as Godhead and humanity 
are blended in the incarnation. Accordingly when Melanch- 
thon went to Cassel to hold conferences with Butzer (1534) 
Luther could give him the following instruction : " That in and 
with the bread the body of Christ is truly partaken of, that 
accordingly all that takes place actively and passively in the 
bread takes place actively and passively in the body of Christ, 
that the latter is distributed, eaten and masticated with the 
teeth."^ The most objectionable thing here was, that while, 
according to Luther, the body and blood of Christ were present 
in the Eucharist only for enjoyment,^ the unbeliever and the 
heathen were also to receive them. Thereby there was again 
introduced the Catholic doctrine of the Sacrament, with its dis- 
tinction between the "objecli-ve" significance of the Sacrament, 
and the saving influence in the Sacrament. But at the same time 
there was in point of fact a restoration through this separation 
of faith in the efficacy of the Sacrament ex opere operato. It 
is not to be wondered at that thereafter, in later Lutheranism, 
this faith took the form of a reliance on the objective SacramenL 

1 See abqve. Vol., VI., p, 238. In a. treatise as early as the lie captivitate babyl., 
Luther indicates tliat Occam's doctrine of consubslantiation was known to him, and 
that he was inclined to favour it, without however attaching weight as yet to the 
question of the modus of the presence. 

'As early as in the " Beltenntniss " ( 1528) he vindicated the opponents of Eereogar 
(XXX,, p. 297): "Therefore the enthusiasts ate wrong, as is also the gloss in the 
ecclesiastical law, when they blame Pope Nicolas for forcing upon Berengar a con- 
fession that he enclosed and masticated with his teeth the real body of Chriat. 
Would to God that all Popes had acted in all matters in as Christian a way I" 

' Hence no adoration of the Sacrament ; see the Treatise of the year 1523. 




CHAP. IV.] THE CATHOLIC ELEMENT. 265 

On the other hand there was a reintroducing in this way of the 
"awful mystery" (mysterium tremendum) for faith. Whether 
the effect was indifference or awe of mystery, in both cases the 
original thought connected with the sacred observance, and the 
Evangelical view of it, became obscured. 

Only with regard to one point Luther himself stood firm, or 
at least only touched on a view that was foreign to him, and 
that was the certainty that what is contemplated in the whole 
observance is only ike forgiveness of sins} Yet what he touched 
on, others, though not quite at the beginning, emphasised more 
strongly. That is not to be wondered at If it is to be of 
fundamental importance for this observance that Christ is 
present here, not for faith merely, but corporeally, then a 
presence of such a kind — the receiving of the bodily Christ — 
must have also a specific effect. But in what else can this effect 
be found than in the incorruptible ness of the body of Christ, the 
enjoyment of which makes our bodies in a mysterious way in- 
corruptible, or in a mystical union with Christ, which is some- 
thing still higher than the forgiveness of sins and adoption ? 

Owing to the way in which Luther conceived of the doctrine of 
the Eucharist he involved himself in responsibility for the fact, 
that in its Christology, in its doctrine of the sacraments, in its 
doctrinairism and in the falseness of the standard by which it 
judged of divergent doctrines and pronounced them heresies, the 
later Lutheran Church threatened to become a miserable 
doublette of the Catholic Church. That this was an impending 
danger for this Church, and that even yet it has not been 
altogether averted, no one of insight can fail to see. If we look 
at the Christianity of Luther and compare it with Catholic 
Christianity, we observe that what separates them is real ; the 
link that binds them together consists only in words. But if we 
look at Lutheranism in the form in which it developed itself — 
not without Luther's influence — from the second half of the six- 
teenth century, it must be said that in many important parti- 
culars it is only by words that it is separated from Catholicism, 
while what unites them is reality ; for Catholicism is not the 

iThe rudimenls of anolher view have been pointed out by Koatlin and olheis ; 
Loofs(l.c., 2nded.,p. 253) reters (o Erlang. Ed, XXX., p. 93 f., 116 ff., 125, 141. 




266 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAf. IV. 

Pope, neither U it the worship of saints or the mass, but it is the 
slavish dependence on tradition and the false doctrines of Sacra- 
ment, of repentance and of faith. 



In the theology of Melanchthon, who stands beside Luther 
the evangelist as the teacher of Ethics, we find the attempts to 
correct Luther's theology, and Melanchthon, moreover, was 
guided at every point by the endeavour, first, to secure the 
freedom, responsibility and seriousness of moral effort that were 
threatened by the religious quietism that could arise, and, as is. 
well known, did arise from Luther's doctrine; secondly, to 
strenffthen in accordance with this the bond uniting religion and 
morality; thirdly, to prevent the rise of the sacramentarianism 
that is akin to religious quietism. These honest and salutary 
aims, which brought him closer to Calvin, and in themselves, 
contained a tendency to bind together all evangelicals in a 
powerful practical sympathy, were not asserted with energy by 
Melanchthon in points of decisive importance ; he was no pro- 
phet, — he rather feit himself hampered by the demand made 
upon him to be the guardian of Lutheranisin, and the Lutherans 
are not to be reproached if in the first instance they were more 
disposed to go astray with the heroic Luther than to be kept in 
the leading strings of the faint-hearted Melanchthon, Besides 
this, the humanistic impulses by which, in addition to those of a 
religious kind, Melanchthon allowed himself to be influenced,, 
were instinctively felt ,to be something foreign, requiring to be 
excluded. So at lirst Lutheranism repelled " Philippism," the 
founder of which was never popular. It had to pay dearly for 
this renunciation, and thereafter to learn Melanchthonian truths 
by a long and bitter discipline. Yet it may be made a question 
whether that renunciation in the sixteenth century was a misfor- 
tune. Would Luther's notion of faith have continued to be 
maintained in a Lutheran-Philippistic Church? and was the 
powerful practical exercise of faith in the Germany of that day 
placed under restriction merely from following a one-sided 
development of doctrine ? was it not above all held in check by 



CHAP. IV.] CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 267 

the wretched ecclesiasticism and the general pohtical situation ? 
is there a substantial difference, then, between the Philippistic 
National Churches of Germany and the Lutheran, and was the 
development, always becoming more one-sided, of evangelical 
religion into quietistic doctrine and sacrament-faith, not itself 
an effect of the restrictive elements in the situation ? These 
questions must certainly be an.swered in the affirmative ; but 
nevertheless the Lutheran Church had to pay dearly for turning 
away from " legal righteousness," " sacrifice," and " satisfactions." 
Through having the resolute wish to go back to religion and to 
it alone, it neglected far too much the moral problem, the " Be 
ye holy, for I am holy." 



5. Concluding Observations. 

In the four preceding sections (p. 168 ff!) — an attempt has been 
made to state as clearly as possible Luther's attitude towards 
the Catholic tradition and the old dogma. Our task has not 
been to describe Luther's theology in tiie whole breadth of its 
development. The more difficult problem had to be solved of 
bringing out the significance of Luther — and thereby of the 
Reformation— within 'Cat. history of dogma} It has been shown, 
I hope, that Luther (the Reformation) represents an issue of the 
history of dogma as much as, in other ways, Post-Tridentine 
Catholicism and Socinianism. We cannot be made uncertain 
about this judgment by what has been brought to view in the 
fourth section ; for it has been shown that the new view of the 
gospel taken by Luther forms a complete wliole^ and that the elements 
of the old which he retained are not in accord with this whole, nay^ 
that at all points at which he allowed what was Catholic to remain, 
he at the same time himself indicated tlie main features of a new 
structure. 

This complete whole, however, which he outlined with a firm 
hand, rises superior, not merely to this "or that particular dogma,. 
but to dogmatic Christianity in its entirety: Cliristianity is 

' Compare Bei^et, D[e Kulturaufgaben lier Reformation, Einleitung in cine 
Luthei biographic, 1895. 




268 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

something else than a sum of traditional doctrines. Christianity 
is not Biblical Theology, nor is it the doctrine of the Councils ; 
but it is the spirit which the Father of Jesus Christ awakens in 
hearts through the Gospel. All authorities which support 
dogma are abolished ; how then can dogma maintain itself as 
infallible doctrine; but what, again, is a dogma without in- 
fallibility? Christian doctrine establishes its rights only for 
faith ; what share, then, can philosophy still have in it? but 
what, again, are dogma and dogmatic Christianity without 
philosophy ? Of course one can appeal here to Luther against 
Luther, yet only in the same way in which one can raise up 
Augustine to reply to Augustine, and in the same way in which 
every genius can easily be made away with when a rope to 
despatch him has been twisted out of his imperfections and out 
of what he shared with his age. The history of dogma comes 
to a close with Luther. Any one who lets Luther be Luther, 
and regards his main positions as the valuable possession of the 
evangelical church— who does not merely tolerate them, that is 
to say, under stress of circumstances (per angustias temporum) 
— has the !ofty title and the strict obligation to conclude the 
history of dogma with him.^ How can there be a history of 

1 In the tteatraent of Ihe history of dogma from a universal historical point of view 
Zwingli may be left out of account. Anything good that was said by him as the 
Reformer, in the way of criticising the hierarchy and with regard to the fundamental 
nature of the new piety, is to he found in him as it is to he found in Luther, and his 
ariiving at greater clearness regarding it he owed to Luther. The poiots in which he 
diverged from Luther belong to the hislory of Protestant theology. There were many 
particulars which he understood how to express more lucidly than Lulher, and many 
negations of the traditional were more definitely shaped by him. But he was not 
lesH doctrinaire than Lulher; he had that quality rather in a higher degree; 
and he did not always make a beneficial use, for the system of faith, 
of his fine Humanistic perceptions. Calvin, again, is, as a theologian, an 
Epigone of Lulher. — These sentences of the 1st edition— into which at one point 
a. little more piecision is introduced — have been objected to by several critics ; 
Dilthey in particular has espoused the cause of Zwingli and Calvin in his articles 
referred to above (Archiv. f. Gesch. d. Philos., Vol, V., p. 367 ff. : Ueber Zwingli's 
religiiis-universellen Theismus, p. 374 ff. : Zwingli's ErgSniung der ausschliesslich 
religiosen Moral des Urchristenthums durch sittlich-politische Belhaligui^ ond 
Bedeuiung dieser That fiir die Umgesla-ltung Europas, Vol VI., p. 119 ff. ; Zwingli's 
Schrift de providentia und der Einlluss der Stoa auf seine Lehre, die sich als Panen- 
theismus, Delerminismus und die Schronken der pusitiven Religion iibersteigenden 
leligiiisen Universalismus darstellt, Vol. VI., p. 523 IT. : L'eber die Bedeutung der 




CHAI'. IV.] CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 269 

rfogma in Protestantism after Luther's Prefaces to the New 
Testament, and after his great Reformation writings? A 
history there has been of work carried on with a view to a right 
understanding of the Gospel, and for about 150 years this work 
was prosecuted within the lines and forms of the old dogma. 
But how do I go years count for the Church ! The Roman 
Church needed more than 300 years to advance from the 
Tridentine to the Vatican Decrees, and how little apparently was 
required even about 1550 to bring the Vatican formula within 
reach ! But Protestantism— some one objects — had a creed- 
constructing period ; during that period it gave expression to its 
Schrift ZwingU's de vera et &lsa religiooe. Vol. VI., p. 528 ff. 1 Fundameolale und 
epochemachende Bedeulung von Calvin's Inslitutio als synlhetische Entwickiung des 
ganzen religiosen Stofis aus dem Wirken Gottes auf den Menschen nach dera in 
seinem Ralhschluss entha.!lenen ZusnaimenhaDg seiner Functionem). Yet aflersome 
hesitation I fee] that I must adhere to my position and place the two Reformers out- 
side the boundary lines which I regard as serviceable foi the history of dogma. 
About these lines there is room for discussion j but if they are correctly drawn, Calvin 
at any rate must be left out of view, for there can be no dispute about his being an 
Epigone. But he is to be described as such, not merely when the chief dogma of 
justification is placed at the basis of his teaching — as Dilthey asserts — but as regards 
the whole sum of what presents itself to view in the new and higher kind of personal 
religion, of which Luther had the experience, and to which Luther had given expres- 
sion, before Calvin (including all important points of theological doctrine). That he 
possessed the incomparable faculty of creating out of this a system, and a principle that 
enteied powerfully into the institutions of life and revolutionised them, will be denied 
by no one, and so in the history of the Church, and in the general histoiy of the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, he stands in some respects on a level with Luther 
and in some respects aliove him ; but in the hislory of dogma he stands beside 
Melanchthor, though certainly in the power to shape doctrine he far excelled him. 
But as regards Zwingli, Dilthey has taught nne anew that the conceptions in respect 
of which he distinctly and throughout differs from Luther characterise him, not as 
the Reformer, but as the thinker and theolopan, while at the same time these con- 
ceptions are not specially- original and did little in determining the nature and course 
of Reformation wsrk in the period following. Of couise in this question a value- 
judgment is partly at work : what worth are we to attach to the determinism, or, say, 
the Pane n theism of Zwingli and, again, to bis Humanistic religious universalism 7 
My opinion is that we may regard history as teaching us here that these did not 
become decisive factors in the great ecclesiastical course of development. So far, on 
the other hand, as they unquestionably contain elements that must be taken account 
of if a tenable Christian theory 0/ Ike -world is to be fiamed — for such a theory cannot 
be obtained merely Irom the isolated individual experience of faith that is in accord 
with I'auline- Lutheran principles — the problems for solving which they furnish the 
guidint; lines lielong to the Philosophy of Religion. The elements in Zwingli which 
Dilthey brings to view show that he stands 00 the line, partly of Sebastian Franck, 




S70 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. IV, 



faith as dogma; this period accordingly must also be included 
within the history of dogma. To this the reply must be: (i) 
^alj Lutheran Symbols, with the exception of the Form of 
Concord, were not thought of at all originally as being symbols 
in the sense of being regulative doctrinal forms, but were only 
raised to the position of symbols at a later period, and that 
position, moreover, was always given to them only by a section 
of Lutheran Protestants,^ (2) it was not the Lutkeran Church 
that turned them into symbols, but the Empire (1555) and the 
Princes, the latter having it specially in view to check the 
■quarrelsomeness of theologians, (3) it is as little the case that 
there have ever been Lutheran Symbols by which all Lutherans 
'have been bound, as that there have ever been Reformed 
-Symbols by which all the Reformed have been united into 
■one, (4), the breach with belief- ace ording-to-symbol within 
Protestantism which has taken place in the 1 8th and 19th 
centuries, can be described by no one as a breach with the 
Reformation, and as a matter of fact even the modern orthodoxy 
of our days judges the breach very mildly, knowing as it does 



parti; of Me1a.iic)itIiDD (inasmucli as he also was a Cicecoiilan), partly of mediffival 
reformers like Wydif. Nothing is less con temp] a.ted in this criticism than a dis- 
paragement of the Ziitich Reformer ; it will always continue, rather, to he the most 
noteworthy providential arrangement in the history of the Reformation, that the new 
knowledge of God made its appearance simultaneously, and in an essentially 
independent way, in Luther and in the brave Swiss. It is evident that as regards 
being fiee and unprejudiced, Zwingli in many respects surpassed Luther (his 
divergencies from Luther were hy no means merely due to medieval motives, they 
are rather to be traced as much to the ideas of an advancing age), and that he had 
also a greater faculty for direct organising action, though this last is not to be 
regarded simply as a product of his religious force. Who will he disposed to estimate 
in the history of Protestantism what he owes to Luther and what to Zwingli and 
Calvin? Without the two latter Protestantism might perhaps have ceased 
altogether to exist 1 Or what an unspeakably poor fonu it might have assumed I 
On Zwingli cf. the Histories of Dogma "by Loofs and Thomasius-Seeberg. A. Baur, 
ZwingU's Theol., 2 vols., 1885 ff. Zeller, Das theol. System Z.'s, tSsj. Sigwait, 
u. Zwingli, der Character s. Theol. u. s. w., t8S5. Usteri, Zwingli u. Erasmus, 
1889. R. Stahelin, Huldr. Zwingli, Leben u. Wirken, istvoL, 1895. 

' In what a dim light the Augsburg Confession appears when it is contemplated as 
the symbol of Lulheranism ; but what an excellent historic record it is, when the 
estimate formed of it corresponds with wliat alone it intends itself to be — a statement, 
in view of opponents, milicating how much harmony with them still exists in spile of 
the new elements. 



CHAP. IV.] CO^■CLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 2?! 

that it has itself drifted too far away from the symbols.^ If 
these statements are correct,^ then the " creed -constructing 
period" during whicK the "Lutheran Church" declared its 
" definitive will " is a fable convenue. "This Lutheran Church 
has never existed at all as an outward whole, and the spokesmen 
of the strictest ' Lutheran party ' have been precisely the worst 
enemies of such a unification. . . But those who have crowded 
around the Book of Concord have always been merely a section, 
though a strong one, of the Lutheran Church, and even among 
them it has been regarded as a doctrinal law only for particular 
national churches." But even though this plain historical fact did 
not admit of being established, yet the opinion would remain 
true, that the period of the Epigones was not the period of the 
classic formulation of the evangelical faith, but a noteworthy 
episode.^ If one should wish to hold another opinion, he would 

' This does not prevent it placing before ils cpponents in an entirely arbitrary way 
this or thai portiqn of the Creeds, which it regards itself as slill adhering to, as 
outwaidty authoritative, while silence, however, is regularly maintained as to its 
having no wish whatever to deaJ similarly with other portions. 

s A very lucid account of things has been given by K. Miiller in the Preuss. Jahtbb., 
Vol. 63, Part z : '■ Die Symlxile des Lutherthums." Observe in particular the very 
excellent concluding words, p. 146 S. Ritschl's dissertation on the Rise of the 
Lutheran Church (Ztschr. fiir K.-Gesch., I., p. gi S., IL, p. 366 ff.J is of funda- 
mental importance, yet in my opinion the variance of view between Luther and 
MelanchthoQ is overdrawn here. 

s Mtlller, I.e. : " According to the testimony of its own Fathers, the Church of the 
Refonnalion wishes Co be regarded as in the first instance a religious, not a legal, 
magnitude. As religious, however, it cannot find its unity guaranteed hy external 
arrangements of a legal character, but only by the distinctive religious possession 
which was the basis of its origination and once for all indicated to it its course. But 
that can never hold good of particular writings, however high they may stand in the 
estimation of believers. On the soil of the Reformation that holds good simply of the 
view of Christianity witnessed to by these and numerous other writings, i.e., of the 
gospel. But through the influence mainly of Melanchthon the gospel lost ils 
original practical -religious character, and, by means derived from a religious age that 
had been transcended, it was made the subject of theologico-philosophic know- 
ledge, and was rent into pans and in some measure perverted. The period of the 
Epigones, again, rapidly brought this stage to completion (Melanchthon himself not 
being without blame for this), and in a course of development which constantly 
repeats itself in the history of Chrialianily imposed the products of that theological 
activity on the Church of the Reformation as a law of faith." But this Church 
distinguishes itself from the Catholic Church in this, that it possesses the capacity 
and the means — I should Lke to continue always without doubt of this — to cast off 
again the law that has been imposed on it. 



2;2 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



[CHAP. IV. 



require, not only to think of the i8th and igth centuries as the 
period of the Church's apostasy from the Reformation, but also 
to blot out Luther's Christianity; for that Christianity cannot 
be forced into the scholastic theology of the symbols. Hence 
there are only the two things possible, either to conclude the 
history of dogma with Luther's Reformation, or to attach to it, 
as a second part, the history of Protestant theology down to the 
present day. But this enormous supplement would be some- 
thing quite different from history of dogma, because while what 
would be dealt with in it at the beginning would certainly seem 
extremely like the old dogma, it would appear as we proceeded 
that the question was rather about understanding the gospel in 
opposition to dogma. It would come to view that even Pietism 
and Rationalism had a requisite share in the development of 
this understanding, that the understanding was materially 
developed at important points by Zinzendorf and Wesley, that 
it was most powerfully promoted by Schleiermacher, and that 
it grew in many respects even within the Pietistic-Confessional 
reaction of the ipth century. It would appear, finally, that 
in his description of the gospel, the most disdainfully treated 
theologian of the age — Ritschl — has given expression in a 
powerful way — though within the limitations that belong to 
every individual — to the outcome of two hundred years' work on 
the part of evangelical theology in endeavouring to understand 
the Reformation, and to the products of criticism of doctrinaire 
Lutheran ism. 



^^^^^ up in the < 
^^^H reduced tt 



The Gospel entered into the world, not as a doctrine, but as a 
joyful message and as a power of the Spirit of God, originally 
in the forms of Judaism. It stripped off these forms with 
amazing rapidity, and united and amalgamated itself with Greek 
science, the Roman Empire and ancient culture, developing, as 
a counterpoise to this, renunciation of the world and the striving 
after supernatural life, after deification. All this was summed 
up in the old dogma and in dogmatic Christianity. Augustine 
reduced the value of this dognnatic structure, made it subservient 



CHAR IV.] CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 273 

to a purer and more living conception of religion, but yet finally- 
left it standing so far as its foundations and aim were concerned. 
Under his direction there began in the Middle Ages, from the 
Iith century, an astonishing course of labour; the retrograde 
steps are to a large extent only apparent, or are at least counter- 
balanced by great steps of progress. But no satisfying goal is 
reached ; side by side with dogma, and partly in opposition to 
it, exists a practical piety and religious self-criticism, which 
points at the same time forwards and backwards — to the Gospel, 
but ever the more threatens to vanish amid unrest and languor. 
An appallingly powerful ecclesiasticism is taking shape, which 
has already long held in its possession the stolid and indifferent, 
and takes control of the means whereby the restless may be 
soothed and the weary gathered in. Dogma assumes a rigid 
aspect; it is elastic only in the hands of political priests ; audit 
is seen to have degenerated into sophistry ; faith takes its flight 
from it, and leaves the old structure to the guardians of the 
Church. Then appeared Luther, to restore the " doctrine," on 
which no one any longer had an inward reliance. But the 
doctrine which he restored was the Gospel as a glad message 
and as a power of God. That this was what it was, he also 
pronounced to be the chief, nay the only, principle of theology. 
What the Gospel is must be ascertained from Holy Scripture ; 
the power of God cannot be construed by thought, it must be 
experienced ; the failk in God as the Father of Jesus Christ, 
which answers to this power, cannot be enticed forth by reason 
or authority; it must become a part of one's life; all that is not 
born of faith is alien to the Christian religion and therefore also 
to Christian theology — all philosophy, as well as all asceticism. 
Matthew XI. 27 is the basis of faith and of theology. In giving 
effect to these thoughts, Luther, the most conservative of men, 
shattered the ancient church and set a goal to the history of 
dogma. That history has found its goal in a return to the 
gospel. He did not in this way hand over something complete 
and finished to Christendom, but set before it a problem, to be 
developed out of many encumbering surroundings, to be 
continuously dealt with in connection with the entire life of the 
spirit and with the social condition of mankind, but to be solved 



274 HISTORY OF DOGMA. [CHAP. IV. 

only in faith itself. Christendom must constantly go on to 
learn, that even in religion the simplest thing is the most 
difficult, and that everything that is a burden upon religion 
quenches its seriousness (" a Christian man's business is not to 
talk grandly about dogmas, but to be always doing arduous and 
great things in fellowship with God " ^ Zwingli). Therefore the 
goal of all Christian work, even of all theological work, can only 
be this — to discern ever more distinctly the simplicity and the 
seriousness of the gospel, in order to become ever purer and 
stronger in spirit^ and ever more loving and brotherly in action. 

1 '' Christiani hominis est non de dogmatis magnifica loqui, sed cum deo ardua 
semper et magna facere." 



FINIS. 



GENERAL INDEX FOR VOLS. L-VIL' 



Aachen, Synod of, V., 289, 
304. 

Abelard, I., 24; V., 125; VI., 
28, 32 ff., 3; ff., 52, 78 f., 152, 
182, 187, 190, 202, 244, 277. 

Abercius, II., 15, 156, 158. 

Abgar, I., 163. 

Abraham, II., 308; III., 28. 

Absolution, v. Penitence (Pen- 
ance). 

Acceptants, VI., 98. 

Acceptatio, VI., 196 f., 308 ff. 

Adam, I., 105, 307, 309, 315 ; 
IL, 269 f., 273 ff., 284, 288, 
290, 292; III., 106 ff., 263, 
272 f., 303, 335 ff. ; IV., 84, 
124, 141, 153 ff-. 169, 172, 
177; v., 49. 57. 197 f-. 213 
ff., 231, 247 f.; VI., 297 f., 
301 ff. ; VII., 59, 142, 200 f. 

Adaniantius(jj. Pseudo-Origen), 
I., 266; II., 251, 291 ; III., 
104. 

Adelmann of Brixen, VI., 52. 

Adiaphorites, IV., 240. 

Adoptians and Adoptianism, 
I,, 120, 191-195 passim, 197 ; 
III., 13 ff., 20 ff,(Rom.)5o, 
56, 62, 69, 74, 112, 132 ; IV., 
I f.> 6, 19, 39. 70. 363 ; v., 
54 f., 278 ff; VI., 14, 45, 
187 f, 133; VII., 136, 165. 
' This index was piepared for ihe 



Adoptian Chriatology, Old, I., 
80 f., 104, 183, 191-199,308 
f.; II., 2S4 f., 372; III., 5, 
13-15 passim. 

Ad sanctam Petri scdem, VII., 

95 f- 

.(Edesius, I., 355. 

^gidius, VI., 169. 

-Eneas of Paris, V., 308, 

.^ons, cf. Gnostics, I., § 6, pp. 
224, 246, 257 f., 267; II., 
248, 258, 266; III., 9, 63, 
70, 323 f., 348, 251 f. ; IV.. 
307. 

.^quiprobabilism, VII., 105, 
108. 

Aerius, III., igr. 

.(Eschines (Montanist), III., 53. 

vEsculapius, Cult of, I,, iiS 



147. 
A-etius, III., 243; IV., 6 f., IS, 

42, 74, 75 f. 79 f-, 285, 333 ; 

v. 171. 
Aetius of Lydda, IV., 4. 
African Church v. Carthage. 
Agap^, II,, 143. 
Agapetus, IV., 243. 
Agatho, III.,94, 148, 157; IV., 

260. 
Agelius, IV., 105. 
hyevtiTo^ and ayvivvtiTOi, IV., 

12 f. 

jewwrf edition of the original work. 
275 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



a;6 

Agnoets, IV., 239, 353, 290. 
Agobard, v., 376, 292, 307 f. 
Agricola, VII., 11, 254. 
Agricola, Pelagian, V., 181. 
Ailli, VII.. 264. 
Akacius of Antioch, IV,, 64, 

74 f.. 79 f.. 90. 
Akaciusof Constantinople, IV., 

228. 
Akephali, IV., 237. 
Akoimet^e, IV., 231. 
AktistetiE, IV., 24a 
Alaric, v., 175. 
AlbertuH Magnus, VI., 23, 97, 

185, 190, 210, 224, 232, 242, 

262, 30 !. 
Albigensians, VI., 92, 136. 
Alcibiades, Confessor, II., 108. 
Alcibiades, Elkesaite, I., 305, 

313- 
Alcuin, v., 275 f., 2S3 f, 287 ff., 

302 fF., 305 f..3ll; VI., 55, 

187; VII., 15,228. 
Alexander 11., Pope, VI., 16, 

18. 
Alexander III., Pope, VI., 16, 

21, 38, 128, 188, 302. 
Alexander VII., Pope, VI., 

301 f. ; VII.. 95 f., iOS f. 
Alexander VIII., Pope, VII., 

77, IOS, 108. 
Alexander of Hales, VI,, 190, 

219, 221, 222 f., 236, 245, 

349 f., 252,255, 263 f. 
Alexander of Aelia, II., 322. 
Alexander of Abonoteichus, 

I., 239. 
Alexander of Alexandria, II., 

237 ; III., 48, 97, 113, 116; 

II., 168, 195; IV., 8fF., II f., 

2 iff., 29, 32, 50, 56, 140, 315, 
Alexander of Jerusalem, II., 

131.321- 



Alexander of Constantinople, 
III., 116; IV., 9, 63. 

Alexander Severu.'i, 11., 16S. 

Alexander (Valentinian) I,, 
241 ; II., 278; III., 114. 

Alexandria, Patriarchate of, 
III.. 323, 224, 236 ff.; IV^ 
96, 183 f., 190 f. 201, 208, 
209 f., 224, 225, 227 fF., 252, 
343- 

Alexandria, Synods of, IV., 9, 
83 fF., 8g, 114, 118, 157, 186. 

Alexandrians, Christian, I. 
250, 300; II., II ff., 17, 32 
ff-, 56, 59, 71 f., 150 f., 164 £, 
253, 281, 286, 299 f,, 321; 

III., 6, 26, 48, 92, 152, 30I, 

207, 213, 246, 271, 294, 301 ; 

IV., 139, 174 ff., 208, and 

Chap. 111., 247, 352 f., 279 

ff ; v., 80. 
Alexandrian School of Cate- 

chists, II., 319-332; III-, 95. 

99, IIS- 
Alexandrianism, Jewish, I., 53 

ff, 104, 107 ff., 123, 154, 156, 

323 f. ; II., 175. 
Alger of Liittich, VI., 52. 
Allegorism, I., 99 F., 222 f., 255 

f, 367, 341 ; II., 44, 63 £, 

250 ff., 299 f. ; III., 199. 
Alms, II., 134; v., 209, 229, 

326 ; VI., 258 f , 299. 
Alogi, I., 193; II., 42, 100, 

106. 152, 299, 321 ; III., 9, 

14 fF., 60. 
Altar, IV., 314. 
Altercatio Jasonis, I., 189, 192. 
Alvar, v., 292. 
Alvar Pelagius, VI., 125. 
Alypins,III.,33; V., 53- 
Amalrich of Bena, VI., 136, 

179. 




A 



^ : 


FOR VOI^. I.-VII. 277 


Amandiis, IV., 258. 


Anglo-S=ixons, V., 275, 277, 


Ambrosiaster, 111., 80, 83; V., 


32s; VI., ill. 


30, 38 ff. 45 f., 49 ff. 


Anicctug, 11,, 163. 


Ambrose, 1., 236 ; II., 118, 235, 


Anointing, v. Confirmation and 


29s; 111., 80, 12S, 130, 150 


IV., 277. 


f, 189, 202, 224, 247, 262, 


AnomcEans, IV. 74 «"-. 77- 


265, 307. 312 ff.; IV., 93, 


Anselm, III., 296, 311 ; VI., 


101, 103, 105, 132. 145. "84. 


28, 32, 36 f , 42, 45, 52, 54- 


203, 239, 312, 315 ; v., 28- 


78, 108, 153, 157, 178 f., 182, 


33, 48-51. S3 f-. 56 f., 190, 


186 f., 190 ff., 197, 277, 300, 


235,282,319; VI., 74. 


303 f., 304, 312, 


Amelius, I., 348, 353. 


Anselm of Lucca, VI., 18, n8. 


Ammonius Sakkas, I., 125, 


Anthimiis of Constantinople, 


348, 358; III., 89. 


IV., 243- 


Amolo, v., 296. 


Anthropology, III., 255 ff. 


Anabaptists, II., 100, 122; of 


Anthropomorphism, II., 255, 


the Reformation Period, 


349; III.. 200 '., 247; IV.. 


VII.. 13, 118 ff., 124 f., i6s, 


2S,338ff 


236 ff., 249. 


Antichrist. I., 140, 296 f. ; II., 


Anaclete II., Pope. VI.. 135. 


187; IV., 21 ; v., 26+ 


Anastasius, Emperor, IV., 328 


Antigno.stic doctrine, 11., 304 


f. 


fr.; III., 26. 


Anastasius, Pope, IV., 342. 


Antilegomena, 11., 59, 62; III., 


Anastasius, Presbyter. IV., 181. 


■97. 


Anastasius Sinaita, 111.. 108, 


Antinomism, I., 262 f. 


236,259; IV., 251,300. 


Antiochene School, III., 147, 


Anatolius of Constantinople, 


152 f.. 154, 1S6, 191, 200 fr.. 


IV., 209, 212 f., 215 f , 224 f. 


20Sf., 207,213, 250,264,279 


Anaxagoras, V., 191. 


(1,298. 302, 31s; IV, 3 ff, 


Anaximander, V., 191. 


49, ISO, IS9, 165 ft, 184 £. 


Anaximenes. V., 191. 


188 ff, 215, 224,235, 244 fr. 


Ancyra, Synod of. 11., 122; 


247t, 252 f, 279 f, 345,347; 


IV., 76 f; 89 f. 


V, 27. 


Angels, I., 102, 180, 190. 197, 


Antiochene Symbols, IV., 56, 


246 f. 302 f.. 306; II., 209, 


64 f, 67, 69 ff, 77. I "• 


213, 278. 359 ff"-. 366; 111., 


Antiochene Schi.sm, III., 225 ; 


188, 248, 251 ff., 278, 298; 


IV., 84, 89, 91. 


IV., 305, 306 f., 311; V.,132, 


Antiochene Church and Pa- 


263ff. i VI., 58, 186. 


triarchate, II., 56, 125, 152, 


."Xngel as description of Christ, 


167 : III., 39, 196, 223, 227 


1.. 185. 


f. ; IV., I9i, 225, 344. 


Angel, Guardian, IV., 311 ; V., 


Antioch, School of, III, 26, 


263. 


50, 



378 

Antioch, Synods of, HI., 94, 
216, 222, 230 ; IV., 2, 5, 55 
f,, 62, 64 ff.. 69, 76, 8s, 90, 
118, 158 ; v., 1S8. 

Antiquity, Notion of Ecclesi- 
astical, III,, 219. 

Antitheses, I., 270, 285. 

Antitrinitarians of the Re- 
formation Period, VII., 13, 
118-137, 137 ff, 178. 

Antonius Melissa, VI., 223. 

Antonius, Monk, III., 1 26, 
141 ; IV., 313 ; V,, 263. 

Apelles, I., 255 f., 257 f., 259, 
261,266 ff.; II., 90, 251. 

Aphraates, I., 157 ; 11., 17, 37 
f. ; III., 50, 104; IV., 58. 

Aphthartodocetism, I., 260 ; 
IV., 178, 337 f., 244,251,286, 
299. 

Apocalypse of John, I., 83, 87 
{., 104, 166, 177, 193, 29s ; 
II., 50, 95, 107, 294 ff., 299 ; 
III., 16, 78, 105, 112, 187, 
196 f., 198; v., 152 f.; VII., 
24. 

Apocalypse of Peter, !., loi, 
167. 

Apocalypses, I., 100 f, 104 f., 
IIS, 155. i6o> 168 f., 173 f:, 
179, 240 ; II., 40, 55 f., 65, 
297, 300, 317; HI., 197 ; 
IV., 107. 

Apocalyptic hopes, I., 78, 100 
f., 167 ff,, 223 ff. ; VI., 112, V. 
also Chiliasm and Prophets. 

Apocryphal Acts of the 
Apostles, I., 163, 193, 240, 
253, 308, 312 ff. ; 11., 48, 82. 

Apocryphal Gospels, I., 161, 
193, 203. 

Apocrypha, HI,, 198: IV., 304; 
VII., 41. 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



Apokatastasis, II., 275 ; III,, 

186, 189,298; VII., 12S, 131. 
ApoUinaris of Hierapolis, II., 

52 ; III., 219. 
ApoUinaris of Laodicea, III., 
34. 138, 146, 151, 165, 182, 

187, 202, 219, 301, 306; IV., 
37, 59,84,88,91, 119, 123 f., 
145, 147, 149-163, and in 
Chap. III. frequently, 264, 
266, 2S6, 335, 340, 351; v., 
96. 

Apollinarists, III., 185, 221 ; 
IV.,i50,i57f.,i74,i79,242; 
v., 128. 
Apollonius of Tyana, I., 12a 
Apologists, I., 126, 136, 170, 
176, 180, 186, 188; ir.,6ff., 
10, 14, 32, 123, 169-229, 230 
ff., 243 f, 263, 266, 272, 288 ; 
III., 7, 132, 144, 172, 206, 
213, 267, 296; IV, 29, 45, 

Apostles, I., 98, 143, 147, 158- 

165, 1S4, 212 f, 253 f., 278 f, 

283; II., 18 f., 25-38, 39- 
66 ff., 78 ff., 85 ff., 98 f., 103, 
107, 141, 348 ; III., 6, 192. 

Apostles, Acts of, I., 56, 162, 
295 f-. 31s; n., 43, 312 ff.; 
III., 6. 

Apostles, Legends of, III., 211 
f ; IV., 306. 

Apostles' Chairs, III., 219, 221 
ff. 

Apostolic Brethren, VI., 8. 

Apostolic Word, I., 160 ; II., 
51,65. 

Apostol. Constit, I., 186, 293; 
II., 19, 37, 38, 57, 71, 129 f., 
137. 139. IS3 f^. 304; III., 
128,211 f., 215, 237, 248, 264, 
267 ; IV., 89, 109, 280, 292. 




GENERAL INDEX FOR VOLS. l.-VII. 



279 



Apostolic Rule of Faith v. 

Faith, Rule of. 
Apostolic Canons, III., 124, 

212 f. 
Apostolic Church Order, I., 

106, 186; II., 137. 
Apostolic Life, VI., 86 f. 
Apostolic Writings v. New 
■*^ Testament 
^ Apost. Succession, I., 216; II., 

I f, 18 f., 67-90^^151 f. ; III., 

214 fF., 230, 233, 235 ; v., 
149. 

Apostol. Symbol,!'. Rom. Sym- 
bol ; also III., 210; IV., 
136; VI., 25, 53. 244; VI., 
172. 

Apostolic Tradition, v. Tradi- 
tion ; also III., 122, 124, 145, 
195, 207 ff., 211 ff. 

Apostolic Fathers ; especially 
Vol. I.,Book I.,Chaps.I.-lII.; 
also Vol. II., 7 f., 92, 176. 

Apostolic Age, I., 72 ; III., 15, 

215 f.. 237- 
Appellants, VII., 98. 
Appuleius, 1., 178. 
Aquaviva, VII., 91. 
Aquila, 1,298. 
Aquileja, Chair of, IV., 250. 
Aquileja, Symbol, III., 18S. 
Aquileja, Synod of, IV., 93. 
Arabians, III., 171 ; IV., 320 ; 

v., 281 ff. 

Arabian Christians, I., 293. 

Archelai-Acta, I., 191, 193 ; II,, 
17; III., 50, 104, 320. 

Arethas, I!., 238. 

Arians, III., 11,49,88, 146, 151, 
199 f., 221, 23S, 243, 27s; 
IV., 3-49, SO ff.. 59. 67 ff-, 73 
ff., 94, 100, 103-107, in f, 
121, 126, 133 f., 147, 149 f.. 



160, 313, 316, 333; v., 96; 
VII., 136, 144. 
Aristides, I., lOO, 153 f, 163, 
171, 180, 203, 205 ; II., 177 
f., 218, 266, 380; IV,, 314- 
Aristo of Pella, I., 298 f., 300, 
Aristotle, I., 239, 243, 336 ff., 
348; II., 303; III., 46, 55 f., 
148, 155, 158, 171, 181, 241 
f., 243, 249, 283, 287, 302; 
IV., 6 f., 48, 74, 88, 119, 124 
f., 129, 149, 153, 157, 164-174, 
232 f, 23s, 240, 264 f., 294, 
300, 329, 333, 339, 34S ff, 
350; v., 9, II, 34, 107 f., 171, 
191 ; VI., 29 ff., 34, 36, 41. 
130, isoff., 161, 163, 168 f., 
179, 183, 213, 382 f,, 295 f., 

309; VII., 4, 13, 122, 173. 

Arius, Arianism, III., 48 f., 97 

f, 140 f, 220, 243, 294 ; IV., 

3 ff, 7-49, 51 ff, 57 f., 62 f., 

87 f., Ill, 146 ff., 156, 181 ; 

V,, 281, 
Aries, Synods of, II., 133, 165 ; 

III., 215, 217; IV., 73; v., 

39 f., 252, 283, 
Armenians, III., 237 ; IV., 136, 

227, 252, 338. 
Arminians, VII., 119, 160, i56. 
Arnauld, VII., 105. 
Arnobius, II., 17 ; III., 56, y^ 

ff., 241 ; v., 31. 
Arnobius the Younger, V,, 254. 
Arnold, Gottfried, I., 26; VII., 

126. 
Arsinoe, II., 299. 
Artemas, III., 20, 31 f. ; IV., 

21, 171. 
Artemonites, I., 191; III., 33,62. 
Articuli Mixti, VI., 154. 
Ascension, I., 106, 158, 203 f.. 



^ 


^m^^^ 


280 HISTORV 


OF DOGMA. 


Ascensio Jesaije, I., 101, 157, 


. VI., 55. 73; VII., 173. 


163, 185, 203. 


183. 


Asceticism, I., 67, ii3, iiS. 145 


Athanasius, Arian Bishop, 


f.. 172, 205, 216, 230 fi"., 237 


IV.. 3, 17. 


f., Z46, 252, 262, 274, 277, 


Athens, I., 356, v. Hellenism. 


360; 11., 98, 121, 133; III., 


School of Athens. III., 154 


lll,326,7^Monachism; VI, 


ff. ; IV., 247. 


3ff. 


Athenagoras, I., 167, 346 ; II., 


Asclepiodotus, I., 358 ; III., 


7, 169-229, 188 ff. 


23 f. 


Atomic Theory, III., 95. 


Asia Minor, Christianity and 


Atonement (Reconciliation). 


Church of, I., 150 f., 157, 


II., 289, 291 f., 294, 367; 


162, 250, 288, 291 ; 11., 22, 


III., 308 f,31of., 313 !.; v.. 


26 ff"., 42, 47, 60, 88, 94 f.. 


46 1.; VI., 54 ff., 78 ff, 189 


103 f., 131, 160 ff, 409 f., 


ff ; VII., 197 f. 


23S; H., 56. 


Atticus, v., 188. 


Asiatic Churches, V,, 47. 


Attributes of God. I., 31S ; 11., 


Asiatic Religions. I., 229. 


349; III, 55, 65 f., 244 f. ; 


Askusnages, IV., 125. 


v., no ff. ; VII., 145, see 


Associations, System of, L, 


also Doctrine of God. 


105. 


Attritio, VI., 225, 248 ff.. 259 


Assumptio Mosis, I., soo, 102, 


ff., 308 ; VII., 51,69, 104 ff. 


168. 


Augsburg Confession, I., 7; 


V Asterius, IV., 3, 20, 60, 65. 


VI., 219, 226 i VII., 10, 26 


Astrology, I., 229 f. 


f., 36, 175, 191, 256, 270. J 


Asturians, V., 282. 


Augustine, I., 5 ff., 136, 153, ■ 


arruyxvToii, arpeirTW^, IV., 205. 


257, 344, 358, 361 i II., 44, ■ 


Athanasianum, IV., 133 ff!. 


83. 9i^ 135. '40. 270, 346; 


156; v., 302f. ; VII., 174. 


III., 7, 33 f., 80, 87, 125, 136 


Athanasius, I., 187, 331 ; II., 


f, 130, 139 f., 150, 16s, 172, 


4S> 237,3s;; ni., 8,46,72, 


182, 187 f., 194, 198 f, 203 


8if,8s,87,89,9Zff->97>ii5. 


ff, 206 £, 211. 215, 217 £, M 


117, 138-144, 148, 160 f., 158 


222, 224, 228, 230, 241 ff., ■ 


f., 162, 164 f, 170 f., 179, 183 


244-247, 250, 258-263, 270 f., ■ 


I, 193 f., 199. 2or, 206, 216, 


282, 307. 312 ff, 322, 329, ■ 


219, 220, 230, 241 ff, 250, 


335 i IV, 126, 129-136, 14s, ■ 


254, 258, 272-276, 389 ff, 


183 C, 1S5, 188, 203, 277, ■ 


299 i, 302 f., 30s f, 308; IV.. 


284, 310 ff. ; v., 3-240, 241- ■ 


12 ff., 25-103, 112 ff., 116, 


273 ff, 278 ff, 292 ff., 305, 


120 f, 127, 132 ff., 138, 146 


307, 3 10 ff., 317 ff., 329 : VI., 


ff, 149, 167, 174 f., 187, 190 


9, 10 ff, 14, 19, 22, 30, 33 !., 


f., 223, 270, 278, 289, 291, 


45, 49 f. 54 f., 60, 74, 77, 99, |J 


3iS> 332 ff.. 3SO f.; v.. 5; 


,.,..,. ,...,.. .,J 


.^ L 


1 



GENERAL INDEX FOR VOLS. I.-VIL 



281 



156 ff., 166 (f., 172 ft:, 178 f., 

182, 187, igi, 199, 200 ff., 
(c/., the whole doctrine of 
Sacraments) 274-317 ; VII., 
3f-7f.. H. i6f., 36f., 56ff., 
S6-100, 108, 142, 182 f., 217, 

22S r, 266. 

■ Augustine, Missionary, V., 272, 
Augustinian Hermit School, 

VI., 169. 
Augustinianism, Criticism of, 

v., 217. 
Augustinus Triumphus, VI., 

120, 125. 
AureHan, Emperor, II., 16S ; 

in., 39. 

Aurelius of Carthage, V., 175. 
Auricular Confession, VI., 142. 
Authority and reason in the 

Middle Ages, V., 17 f, 78 ff, 

190 ff, 246 ; VI., 32 ff., 152 

ff., 160 t., 166,281 f. 
Authorities (in the first two 

centuries) I., 98, 142, 155- 

16S. 
Auxentius, IV., ';y, 92. 
Averrhoes, VI., 150, 156, 179. 
Avicenna, VI., 150. 
Avignon, Schism of, VI., 113. 
Avitus of Vienne, V,, 258. 

Babylonian Mythology, I., 243, 
246. 

Bacon, Roger, VI., 128, 150, 

Bajus, VII., 86ff., 93. 

Baflez, VII., 91. 

Baptism, I., 79, 133, 146, 163, 
170 ff., 176 ff., 226, 263, 277, 
308 ; II., 21, no ff., 133 C 
138 f., 140-143, 169-229, 189 
ff., 226 f., 238, 242, 256, 273, 
27s. 376, V. also Mysteries 
and IV,, 276, 283 f, 293, 



306; V-, 44 f. 57. 156 ff., 

202, 207 f, 260 f., 267 f. ; 
VI., 53, 120, 309 f., 227 ff. ; 
VII., 46, 63, 151 f.. 217. 

Baptism of Christ, I., 105, 158, 
191, 194, 203, 246, 259, 309 ; 
II., 28s f.; III., 16, 34, 41, 
43 ; v., 286 f. 

Baptismal Confession v. Con- 
fession (Creed), Rule of Faith, 
Symbols. 

Baptismal Formula, I., 79 f., 
133, 197, 206 f. 

Bardesanes and Bardesanites, 
I., 227, 234, 241, 251 ; II., 
321; III.. 114,321; IV., 3. 

Barcabbas, I., 231. 

Barcoph, I., 331. 

Barnabas, Epistle of, I., loi, 
106, 114, 143, 14S ff, 156- 

203, 204 ff., 216 f. 224, 238, 
296, 328 ; II., 40, 48, 59, 60, 
300 f. 

Bartholomzeus de Medina, VII., 

104 ff. 
Baruch, Apocalypse of, I., 102, 

168. 
Basilides and his School, I., 

191, 234,237 ff., 241, 249 ff. 

253 f, 257 ff., 263, 347; II.. 

373; III., 114, 342. 331 ; 

VI., loG. 

Basiliskus, IV.. 22S. 

Basilius the Great, III., 46, 83, 
87, 92, loi, 132, 183, 213, 
226, 301; IV., 84 ff., 89, 91 
ff, 103, III, ii4f., 118, 158, 
159,291, 32t, 329; v., 31. 

Basilius of Ancyra, IV., 75, y? 
f., 82 f., Ss, 100, 118, 123. 

Baste, Council of, VI., 18, 126 
f., 140,315- 

Bauer, Bruno. I,, 51. 




282 HISTORY OF DOGMA. ^^^^| 


Baumgarten-Crusius, I., 32. 


Blandrata, VII., 133 f. 


Baur, F. Chr., I., 33 f, 49 ; III., 


Blessedness (Salvation) I., 173; 


89. 


II., 365; III., 164 ff.; VI., 


Bautain, VII., 109. 


56, 134 ff-; VI., 106, 133 f.. 


Beatus, V., 283, 287 f., 291. 


174 ff.; VII., 215. 


Bede, v., 274, 277, 289,311. 


Bohemians, jj. Czechs. 


Beghards, VI., 95. 


Bohme, VII., 129. 


Bcllarmin. I., 25 ; VI., I? ; 


Boethius, I., 358 ; V, 34, 243 ; 


VII., 82, 87, 90. 


VI., 30, 34 f. 


Belles-lettres, I., 240 ; IV., 307. 


Bogomili. HI.. 191, 336; VI., 


Beloved, description of Christ, 


8. 


I., 186. 


Bologna, VI., 21. 


Benedict XIII., Pope, VII., 98. 


Bonald, VII., 78. 


Benedict XIV., Pope, VL, 


Bonaventura, VI., 97, 103, no, 


260 ; VII., 98 f. 


161, 185, 207, 209, 323, 235 


Benedict of Aniane, V, 288. 


ff., 250, 253, 25s, 273 f., 301 


Benedictions, VH., 55- 


ff., 306, 3 1 3. 


Berengar, VI., 32, 35, 45 fT, 


Boniface, Apostle, V., 377 ; 


239- 


VI., 20. 


Bernard, V., 10, 237 ; VI., 9 ff.. 


Boniface I., Pope, V., 186. 


28, 32, 80 f., loi ff., 199, 202 


Boniface II., Pope, V, 258, 261. 


f., 306, 378, 313, 316; VII., 


Boniface VIII., Pope, VI., 121 


IS, 130, 183, 228. 


f., 128. 


Bernard Primus, VI., 92. 


Bonizo, VI., 18. 


Beroea, I., 300. 


Bonosus, IV., 315 ; V, 282. 


BeryllofBosta. II., 35 ff. 


Borromeo, VII., 71. 


r Berytus, Synod of, IV., 209. 


Bossuet, VII., 75 f 


Bible translarion, VI., 142. 


Bradwardine, VI., 170 f., 304, 


Bibliomancy, IV., 310. 


307 f., 309- 


Bible, prohibition of, VI., 199. 


Brentano, Clemens, VII,, 100. 


Biel, Gabriel, VI., 165, 167, 199. 


Brenz, VII., 262. 


206, 208, 227; VII.. II. 


Brethren of the Common Life, "^ 


Birth of Jesus v. Virgin birth. 


VI., ICO. 


Bishops, I., 303, 213 ff, 243, 


Brethren of the New and Free 


252, 266; 11., 5, 19, 67-72, 


Spirit, VI., 136. 


78,84-90, 104 f.. Ill ff., 114 


Bridegroom and Bride, II., 295; 


ff., 122 ff., 139 f., 153 ff., 163, 


III., 129 ; v., 10, 28, 32, 303 


215 f.. 236f.; IV., 380 f.; V. 


ff. 


39 f. ; VI., 230 f, 257, 269, 


Buddhism, I., 69 ; II., 362 ; 


271 f., 29S; VII., 53, 72 ff".. 


III., 326, 332. 


11! f., 163. 


Bulgaria, Bulgarians, VI., 8, 


Bishops, lists of, II., 70, 153. 


136. 


Bithynia, Synod of, IV., 10. 


Butzer, VII., 264. 



GENERAL INDEX 


' 1 

FOR VOLS. l.-VII. 283 ■ 


Cfficilian, V., 39. 


Caria, Synod of, IV., 5,91- 


Cslestine, III., 226; IV., 182; 


Carlovingian Epoch, V., 274 ff.; _ 
VI., 30. 


v., 188, 250. 


C^Iestius and Cslestians, V., 


Carolini libri, V., 302. 


ij'i, 175 ff-, 178, 203, 256. 


Carpocratians, I., 120, 239 f. 


Cssarea, Symbol of, IV., $2 f„ 


240. 


67 ; Synod of, IV.. 62. 


Carlstadt, VII.. 26of. 


Cffisariua of Aries, V., 230 f. 


Carthage, II., 17, 34, 68, 76, 85 


Caius, II., 163, 299; III., 14, 


ff., 101 ff., 104, 123, 154, i6r 


19. 


f. ; V,, 37. Synods of, III., 


Cain and Abel, III., 325. 


194, 198: IV., 314; v., 175, 


Cajetan, VI., 126 f., 266, 307. 


iSi ff. 


Calixtus, II., 70 f, 77 f, 84, 89, 


Cassian, V., 171, 246 ff., 253 


95. "iff- "5, 117. 153,162, 


ff. 


163 f.; III.. 57 ff-. 67ff.,73, 


Ca,ssiodorius, III., 150, 195 ; 


86,93; IV., 132; V., 40, 57, 


v., 30, 243. 


146. 


Casuistry, VI., 150, 163 f., 169, 


Calixtus of Helmstadt, I., 27 ; 


305 ff 


VII., 169. 


Catechism, Racovian v. Ra- 


Calvin, v., 162,216, 322; VII., 


covian. 


14, 119 f., 127, 133 f., 13S, 


Catechism, Luther's, VI., 117. 


159, 178,262, 266,268. 


Catechismus Romanus, VII., 


Campanus, VII., 132. 


45, 74. 86- 


Candles, VII., 56. 


Catharists, II., 120 f. ; III., 


Canon, I., 155, 159; II., 45 ; 


336; VI., 8, 19,92, 136, 202, 


III., 18 (v. Rule of Faith, 


230. 


Confession, Holy Scripture, 


Catholicism, Catholic, I., 7r f.. 


Old and New Testaments). 


214, 216, 226 ff., 252 f., 291 


Canon of New Testament {con- 


ff., 3[of. ; II., I ff., 12 ff., 17 


sequences of), II., 62-66. 


ff., 31 ff., 38. 62 ff., 73ff-, 104. 


Capital punishment, V., 331. 


122, 124 ff., 150-168; III., 


Cappadocian Theology, I., 126; 


II, in, 234,237, 316 f, 331 


ni., 5,97. 142. 151,164. 187, 


f. ; v., 42, 43 f., 148. 


200, 202, 205, 207, 214 f.. 


Catholic Epistles, II., 48 ff ; 


216, 243. 250, 262, 283, 289, 


III., 197 f. 


30S; IV.. 66, 82,84-105, 119 


Causality, of God, II., 349, et 


ff., 124 ff., 130 f., 137, 148, 


alibi. 


157 f-, 159 ff-, i74f"-. 187,241, 


Celsus, I., 121, 124, 145 f., 180, 


282, 291 ff., 313, 334 f,, 336, 


1S9. 192 f, 19s, 203, 226, 236, 


346, 350 ; v., 27 ff 


239,260,271,280, 299,303; 


Capreolus, Bishop, IV., 187. 


II., 75. 176 f., 182, 333 f.. 


Capreolus. Schoolman, VI., 162. 


339-380 passim; III., 19; 


Capua, Synod of, V., 282. 


IV., 337- 



HI.STOKY OF DOGMA. 



384 

Cerdo, I,, 247 f, 250, 266 ff. 

Ceremonies (v. Law) I., 173 fi"., 
291 f., 293 f. ; II., 171 f. 

Ceremonial Purity, II., 130. 

Cerinthus, I., 167, 246 f., 303 f. ; 
III., 14 ff. 

Chalcedoiiian Formula, I., 28 f,, 
Synod and Symbol, III., 152 
f., 209 f., 217, 233-225 ; IV., 
178, igs, 196 f., 2C9 f., 213- 
226, 226-252, 253, 258, 260 f., 
263,346,351 ; VII., 244. 

Chaldaeism, III., 316. 

Character indelibiiis, V., 157 f,; 
VI., 211 f, 271 ; VII., 45- 

Charisius, IV., 1 18. 

Charisma (sv. Prophets) and I., 
Chap. ri.,g§3, 5, pp. 147,213; 
II., 107 f., 232; III., 18,87. 

Charlemagne, IV., 1 33, 135, 
320 ; v., 277 fF., 287 f., 302 
ff., 327; VI., 3, 7, 20, 31. 

Charles the Bald, IV., 136 ; V., 
27, 300. 

Charles of Provence, V., 300. 

Charles V., Emperor, VII., 11, 

Chateaubriand, VII., 78. 

Chemnitz,Martin,VI., 15 ; VII., 
82. 

Cherubim, IV., 306. 

Chiersey, V., 296, 299 f., 328 ; 
VI.. 55- 

Chiliasm, I., 167 ff., 292 ; II., 
24, 106 f, 294 ff. ; III., 9, 37, 
78,95. 112, 187 f.; IV., 155, 
336, 340 ; v., 238. 

Chrisma, v. Confirmation. 

Christ, I., 184 f. See Jesus. 

Christendom, Two Geographi- 
cal Halves of, II., 149. 

Christians outside the Com- 
munity, I., 151. 

Christianity, I., yo ff., 148, 360; 



II., 325 ff-, 336, 368; III., 
100, 107, 330 f., el alibi. 

Christianity of second rank, 
III., 125, 130 f.; IV., 304ff. 

Christina of Sweden, VI I., 169. 

Christologies (Beginnings of), 
I., 76 ff., 80 ff., 92 f., 99 ff-. 
129 f., 133, 156 f., 183-303, 
246, 252 f., 258 ff., 271 f., 275 
f., 306, 309; II., 98, 180 ff., 
218 ff., 235, ni ; III., 32-50, 
69, 76 f., 85, V. Jesus. 

Christologies, Philosophical, 
III., i-8ff., 81-118, z'. Jesus. 

Chronicles, Books of. III., 193. 

Chrysantius, I., 355. 

Chrysaphius IV., 199. 

Chrysoslom, I., 165 ; III., 129, 
152, 168, 180, 196, 200 f, 205, 
213, 215, 222, 226, 235 f., 283, 
302, 309 ; IV,, 166, 18:, 203, 

280, 297 ff-, 342 f., 344 f-. 350 ; 

v., rpo. 
Church, I., 43 f., 78 ff, 88 f., 133, 
141 iT., 150 ff, 165, 193, 212 
ff,, 260 f., 324 ; II., 4 f., 43, 
46, 61 ff., 67 ff., 71-93, 94- 
127, 13s, 143, 146 f., 287,293, 

295.303 f-, 336, 338 f-. 357 f.; 

III., 3, 25 ff., 79, 108, iiof., 
113 f., 207 ff., 214 ff., 228, 
233 ff ; IV., 278 ff, 289, 292 ; 
v., 10 f, 39 ff, 43 ff, 58, 66, 
7T, 78 ff., 83, 137, 140-16S; 
VI., 118-149, 153 ff, 174 f., 
195, 200, 232, 315 ; VII., 9, 
161 ff., 187 f., 220, 225, 233, 
239 f 

Church as civitas, 11., 82 ; V., 
137. iSi-'55- 

Church as Mother, II., 76 ; V., 
15a. 

Church and Christ, I., 152 ff. ; 




GENERAL INDEX FOR VOLS. L-VII. 



II., 71 ; v., 145, 164, V. 
Church. 

Church and State, II., 122 f., 
vol. III., 121 to vol. IV., 3S3 
passim, v., 150-155. 

Church Discipline, II., 104, 108- 
121. 

Church, Hierarchical Concep- 
tion of, II., 77 ff^, 83 ff. ; III., 
214 ff., 364 r., 271 ff. ; IV., 
242-274. 

Church Language, V., 15, 22 ; 
VI., 142; VII., 40 f. 

Church Song, III., 114. 

Church State, VII., 1 14 f. 

Church Year, IV., 305. 

Cicero, 11., 204; v., 22,49, 172, 
191. 

Cilician Synod, V., 1S8. 

Circumcision, I., 107, 178 f., 298, 
306 f., 314; IV., 279; VI., 
209. 

Claudius of Turin, VI., 307. 

Clemange, VI., 141. 

Clement VI., Pope, VI., 266. 

Clement IX., Pope, VII., 95. 

Clement XL, VII., 96. 

Clement of Alexandria, I., 136, 
160, 163 f, 185, 194, 204, 227, 
234, 237 ff, 257, 262, 267, 
292,293; II., I if., 32-37,42, 
44, 52, 56-61, 71 ff"., 75 f., 80 
ff, S3, 129, 133, 140 f, 145, 
1 52, 237, 343. 3 19-332, 336 ff-. 
350. 351 f-. 356-380; III., 

53, 86, lOr, 17s, 189, 212,331, 

237, 253, 268, 271, 293 f., 

303; IV., IIS, 171,237,273, 
280. 
Clement and ist Epistle of 
Clement, I., lOi, 115, 143, 
150 f, 155-203, 209-220, 328; 
It., 42 f, 48, 58, 60, 128, 153 



28s 

f., 196, 353; IV., 139; v., 
15- 

Clement, 2nd Epistle of, I., 
loi, 106, 153, 155-203, 205 
ff, 224, 335, 338 ; II., 40 fT, 
73.82, 132,29s; III., 86. 

Cleobius, I., 244. 

Cleomenes, III., 56 f., 61, 64. 

Clergy, v. Priests. Lower 
Clergy, II., 154. 

Clichy, Synod of, V., 283. 

Clugny, v., 27s ; VI., 3 ff, 20 f. 

Ccelestis Pastor, Bull, VII., 100. 

Colossians, Heretics of Epistle 
to, I., 246 f., 303 f. 

Coluccio Salutato, VI., 135. 

CoUuthus, IV., 7. 

Collyridians, IV., 316. 

Cologne, Synod of, IV., 70. 

Commemorations, IV., 285 f. 

Commodian, II., 17, 217, 244, 
296, 304 ; III., 76 ; v., 24, 
26, 49 f. 

Communio Sanctorum, V., 244. 

Communion of Children, II., 
147 ; ly., 303 ; VI., 240. 

Communities, v. Congrega- 
tions. 

Conception, v. Mary. 

Concomitance, VI., 237 f. 

Concordats, VI., 126; VII., 77, 
80. 

Concupiscence, III., 107 ; V., 
194 ff, 210 ff; VI., 337 f., 
297 f. ; VII., 59 f. 

Confederation of the Churches, 
HI., 148. 

Confession, v. Penitence (Pen- 
ance). 

Confessions (Creeds), Begin- 
nings of, I., 79, 155 ff ; IL, 
4f., 18-38,49; HI., I. 

Confirmation, I., 263 ; II., 140 



286 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



f., IV., 277, 293 ; VI., 20I, 
211, 230 f. ; VH., 46. 
Confutatio. I., 7; VII., 10, 
226. 

Congregations {v. also Church), 
I., 150 ff., 204,209 ff., 212 ff], 
1S6 f., 252, 324; II., 15, 17, 
31 ff., 67 ff., 73. 76 f., 86ff., 
137; III., 114 f. 

Congregatio de auxiliis, VII., 
90. 

Conservatism of Theologians, 

in., 137 f. 

Consilia, v. Twofold Morality. 
Constance, Council of, V., 17, 

127, 140, 147, 241, 269, 306. 
Constans I., IV., 67 f, 243. 
Constans 11,, IV., 256 ff. 
Constantia, IV., 62. 
Constantine the Great, II., 125, 
130; III., 126 f., 131, 136, 
148, 186, 196, 215, 3i8, 225 ; 
IV.. 8, 9 f- 43 f., Sof- S3 fl^. 
58-63,93.221,333; VI., 172. 
Constantine II., IV., 67. 
Constantine Copronymus, IV., 

314,320, 324 f. 
Constantine Pogonatus, IV., 

260. 
Constantinople, II., 122; III., 
223 f., 227 f. ; IV., 95, 190 
ff., 201, 214, 225, 251, 254 ff., 
262, 342 ; v., 241, 247, 302 ; 
VI., 28 ff 
Constantinople, Synod of, 336, 

IV., 63, 65. 
Constantinople, Synod of, 360, 

IV., 79- ^ , 

Constantinople, Synod of, 381, 
III., 151, 216, 223 ; IV., 94 
ff., 118, 158,219. 
Constantinople, Synod of, 382, 
III., 237; IV., 98, 102 f. 118. 



Constantinople, Synod of, 383, 

IV., 104. 
Constantinople, Synods of, 448 
and 450, IV., 200, 204, 213, 
218. 
Constantinople, Religious Con- 
ference of, 531, IV., 242. 
Constantinople, Synod of, 536, 

IV., 243. 
Constantinople, Synod of, 680. 

HI., 157; IV., 360 if:, 310. 
Constantinople, Synod of, 692, 

IV., 262, 284. 
Constantinople, Synod of, 754, 
IV., 316, 324 f. ; v., 306, 
309- 
Constantinople, Synod of, 842, 

IV. 328. 
Constantinople, Synod of, 869, 

v., 307. 
Constantinople, Synod of, 11 56, 

VI, 77. 
Constantinopolitan Symbol, 
III., 209 f.; IV., 95 ff, 114. 
118, 127, 133. 136; v., 302 
f ; VII., 40. 84, 134. 
Constantius II., IV., 63 ff., 67 

ff, 71 ff., yg f., 91, 94, 232. 
Constitution, I., 212 ff., 256, 
291 f ; II., 5; III., 126, 211 
f., 214 ff, 236, Vols. V.-VII. 
passim. 
Consubstantiation, VI., 52, 

235 f. 
Contarini, VI., 307. 
Conventicles, I., 151, 250. 
Coornhert, VII., 123, 160. 
Copts, IV., 193. 
Coptic Monks, see Monks and 

III., 690 f. 
Copula carnalis, VI., 273 f. 
Copyists, Errors of, III., 237. 
Cordova, V, 283. 




GENERAL INI)E>; FOR VOLS. I.-VIL 



Corinthian Community, I., 147. 
Cornelius Mussus, VII., 83. 
Cornelius of Rome, II., 115. 

121, 122, 141, 154, 167. 
Corporeality of God, I., 179 ; 

II.,36>- 
Corpus Christi, Feast of, VI., 

241; VII., 48. 
Cosmology, I., 176 ; II., 202, 

fC, 247ff.; III., 87, 183,236 

ff. ; IV., 38 f. ; v., 1 10 ff. 
Cosmopolitanism, I., 109, 121 f. 
Cosmos, I., 318. 
Councils, 111., 127, 148, 208, 

213, 215 K, 220 f, 228 f., 

231; IV., 323, 351; HI- 

passim, v. Basle, Constance, 
etc.; VII., 6, 10 ff., 75 f., 83. 

Councils, Numbering of, VI., 
17- 

Covenant of God, II., 305 ff 

Creatianism, III., 258 f. 

Creation, I., 179, 245 ff., 256 f,, 
338 f., 360; II., 24S f, 258, 
349 f-i 361 f- ; III-. 71 f-. 107, 
1S7, 324; IV., 29; v., IIS, 
120 f, 200; VI., i84f.; VII., 
197. 

Creature, I., 318, et alibi. 

Cross, V. Death of Christ. 

Cross, Sign of, III., 213, 251, 
306; IV., 278, 314, 323; 

VI., 315. 

Crusades, VI., 8 fifl, 260. 
Cultus, V. Divine Service, I., 

166. 
Cum occasione, Bull, VII., 94. 
Cup, Withholding of, VI., 52, 

240; VII., 47 f 
Curialism, v. Pope, Roman 

Bishop and VII., 5 ff., 10 ff, 

19 ff., 21 f., 72 to 80. 
Cynics, I., 119, 123, 128. 



28/ 

Cyprian, I., i8g, 206; II., 17^ 
37 f, 70 ff, 85-93, 111-122 ff., 
129 ff, 132-145, IS3, 164 
ft:, 235, 262, 27s, 287, 294, 
296,313; III., 74 f., 79, 214- 
216, 221, 224, 230, 233, 310 
f. ; IV., 1S8, 277, 284, 303; 
v., 6, 24 ff, 38 ff.. 42 ff, 105, 
141 f., 263, 270, 333; VI., 
129; VII., 83. 

Cyprian, Disciple of Caesarius, 

v., 257. 

Cyriacus, IV., 348. 

Cyril of Alexandria, III., 5, 
III, 138, 114 f, 182, 184, 200, 
206 f^ 214, 216, 220, 222, 
226, 234 f., 301, 30S, 309; 
IV., 127, 148, 174-190, 
191 f, and also passim in 
Chap. III., 252, 256, 265, 283, 
299, 313. 3"6, 346, 350 f ; 
v., 128, 188, 280, 289, 314, 
VI., 188; VII., 174. 

Cyril of Jerusalem, III., 130,, 
132. 162, 168, 174 f., 179, 181 
f-, 187, 193, 206 f, 209 f, 214 
f, 233 ff, 243, 244, 269, 305 
f. 309; IV.. 71, 95 ff, 103, 
166, 270, 292, 312, 333. 

Cyrillus Lucaris. III., 194 - 
IV., 128. 

Cyrus of Alexandria, III., 184: 
IV., JS4. 

Czechs, VI., 1 1 1, ti4. 

Daches of Berenice, IV., 4. 

Damascius. I.. 358. 

Damasus, III., 131, 225; IV., 
92, 94 f., 102 f., 118, 158 f. ; 
v., 59- 

Damian, Patriarch, IV., 125. 

Damnation of unbaptised chil- 
dren, v., 213, 248. 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



Daniel, I., i68. 

Dante, VI., 128, 140. 

David of Augsburg, VI., 97, 

David of Dinanto, VI., 179. 
David of Mez-Kolmank, IV,, 

317. 
Davidis, Franz, VII., 135. 
Davidic Sonship, I., 158, 195, 

203. 
Deacons, I., 209, 213 f; II., 

168; VI., 272: VII.. 163. 
Death, II., 216 f., 270 f., 274 ; 

III., 108, 164 f., 264 ff, 271, 

280 f . 28s f., 288 ff., 296 f ; 

IV., 30S f., 3i9f-; V. 19; f-. 

214, et alibi; VII., 143. 

Death of Christ, I., 60, 83 f., 
133, 158, 186 f, 199 ff, 210 f., 
260, 326; II., 221 f., 289 f.. 
Z93 ff., 342, 367 fT ; III., loS 
f., 30s ff. ; IV., 287 ; v., 54 
f, 201, 204 f., 264 f., 328 ; 
VI., 54-78, 103, 1S9 ff, 212, 
240 ff; Vn., 148 ff.. ISS ff- 

Decalogue, I., 179; II., 301, 
304, 307; III. 140. 

Decius, II., 124, 168 ; VI., 54- 

Decretals, VI., 18 (., 118 ff., 

132 f- 

Deification (share in the divine 
nature) I., I18 f., 19O; II., 
10, 239 ff., 268 f, 271, 293, 
317 f-, 337 f-. 368 f.; HI., 7, 
163 ff, 265 f.; IV., 144 f, 
and frequently elsewhere, 
e.g., 2S6, 290; v., 20; VI,, 
201, 207, 222, 226, 271, 300. 

Deification of Christ, I., 193 ; 
II., 371; II!., 73. 

Deists, English, L, 27. 

Demetrius of Alexandria, II,, 
131- 



Demiurge, I,, 245 ff, 257, 258 ; 
II-, 247. 

Democritus, V., 191. 

Demons, I., 179 ff, 188, 243; 
II., 21, 185, 190, 191, 196 f., 
204 ff., 216 f., 222, 361 ff, 
366; III., 125 f, 251 f., 252, 
264, 289, 324 f. ; IV., 306 f. 

Demophilus, IV., 142. 

Denck, VII., 129 f. 

Denis. II., 345. 

Deusdedit, VI,, i8, 118. 

Devii, V. also Demons and I., 
181 ff, 257 f. 309; II., 91, 
290, 363, 367 ; III., 186,251 
f., 307 f, 314 f., 324; IV., 
306 ; v., 204, 263 f. ; VI., 
59,76,77.81; VII., 191. 

Dialectic and Dogma, III., 1S3 
f.; VI., 31 ff 

Didache, I., 55, 150 ff, 156-203, 
204-216,222, 239,250, 287 £ ; 
II., 22 f, 32, 42, 59, 73, 98, 
128, 131,295; VI., 35. 

Diatomites, IV., iS. 

Didymus, II., 98 f ; III., 197, 
202,298; IV., 116, 178,258, 
31 ', 334- 

Dimoerites, III., 301. 

Diodorus, III., 2or, 242; IV,, 
165 f, 190. 

Diognetus, I., 120, 156, 170, 
185. 

Dionysius of Alexandria, I,, 
251, 292; II., 37, 92, 107, 
120 f., 130, 145, 151, 164; 
III., 37, 38, 81, 83, 89-96, 99 
ff. ; IV., 41.45, 49, 56. 

Dionysius the Areopagite, 1,, 
127; III., 155,165.237,243, 
248 f, 126 f.. 253, 299 f. ; 
IV., 236, 240 f , 252, 277, 282, 

299, 3", 318, 329, 337 ff:, 




GENERAL INDEX FOK VOLS. I.-VIL 



347. 35°; v., 31, 274, 277; 

VI,, 27, 29, 99, 102, 106, 178 

f., 185, 201, 232. 
Dionysius Exiguus, VI., 20. 
Dionysius of Corinth, I., 160 f. ; 

II., 15,26 f., 47, 106, III f., 

156 f.; III., 184. 
Dionysius of Milan, IV-, 72. 
Dionysius of Rome, II., 165 ; 

M I., 74 f, 88-96; IV., 45, 49, 

56. IIS, 132- 

Dio.scuros, IV., 190-226, 259. 
Diospolis, Synod of, V., i6g, 

176, 178 f. 
Disciples of Jesus, I., yy. 
Disciples, The Seventy, If., 59. 
Discipline, Apostolic, II., 211 f. 
Disposition for the Sacrament 

and Grace, VI., 197, 221 ff., 

2S7 ff., 308. 
Ditheism, III., 93. 
Docetism, Gnostic, I., 256, 258 

f.,276; II., 276 ff., 370; III., 

16. 
Docetic Element also IV., 138 

ff, and elsewhere, e.g., 268, 

286, 304- 
Docetism, NaTve, I., 194, 238. 
Dogma, Conception, Task, 

Factors of, I., 3 ff., 13 ff. 
Dogm a and ( Bibl ical) Theol ogy, 

1.. 9 ff, 48 f. 
Dogma and Philosophy, I., ij 

ff.. 359-362 ; VI.. 33 ff- 

Dogma and the West, V., 4 ff , 
104 ff., 170, 178 f, 184, 189, 
238 f., 261, 303 f.; VI, 18 ff., 
27 ff., 54,84, 95 f- "6, 145, 
(48, 152, 168, 176 f.; VII., 
4ff., 8 ff., 10, 14 ff., 19 f.. 21 
ff, log, 1 16 ff., down to close 
of Work, especially 169-180, 
242 f. 



Dogma and the East, III., 121- 
190, 462 ff. 

Dogma and Protestantism, I., 
2 ff, 25 ff ; VII., 168 ff 

Dogmatics, I., 241, 328, 359-362 ; 
II., 4, 9 ff., 63, 125, 202 ff., 
224, 22S, 24s f., 32s f.. 332, 
335; ni., 9, 56,63, 7% 116 
f. ; Vol. III., Part II., Chap. 
II.; Vol. I v., Chap, v.; Vol. 
v.. Chaps. I. and II., and 
Chap. Ill,, p. 95 ff 

Dogmas, I., 227 ; II., 9, 175. 

Dogmatics, Lutheran, VII., 238 
ff 

Dogma, History of, its Con- 
ception and History, I., 1 ff., 

33 ff; II., 331 f-, 279 f.; v., 

4 ff, 212. 
Dominicans, VI., 92, 94, 124, 

162, 167, 314; Vll., 89 f., 

100 f. 
Domitian, I., 189. 
Domnus of Antioch, IV., 199, 

208. 
Donatism, II., 116, 123; III., 

222, 225, 230, 235 ; v., 38 ff., 

140 ff., 162 ; VI., 13s, 268. 
Dorotheus, III., 20i ; IV., 3, 

166. 
Dort, Decrees of, VII., 29 f. 
Dositheus, I., 344. 
Dotes Ecclesi,-E, V., 46 f. 
Double Truth, VI., 161. 
Dreams, I., 53 
Dualism, I., 181 f., 336 f. ; II., 

342 f. ; III., 105,258 f., 323; 

IV., 25, 304, 307. 
Duns Scotus and Scotistic 

Mysticism and Theology, V., 

123 ; VI., 24, 107, 161 ff., 165 

f., 178 ff, 183, 185 ff., 188, 196 

ff, 208 ff, 219, 220 f., 224 f., 



I 



290 HISTORV 


OF DOGMA. ^V^l 


226 f., 233, 235 ff., 254 f-. 3;2, 


Elkesaites, I., 240, 246, 304 ff. ; 


300-312, 314, 317; VII., II, 


IL, no ; III., 320, 331. 


58. 


Elvira, Synod of, IL, iii, 123 


Diirandus, Schoolman, VI., 161 


f. ; v., 26. 


r. 248, 274. 


Emanation, IV., 8, 25, v. Gnos- 


Durandus of Hueska, VI., 92, 


ticism. 


12a 


Emmerich, A. K., VII., loi. 


Durandus of Troanne. VI., 52. 


Empedocles, V., 191. 


Dyotheletism, III., 157, 209; 


Emperor, Worship of, 118 f. 


IV., 255-265. 


Ems Punctation, VII., 79 ff. 




Encyclical Letter, IV,, 227. 


Easter Controversy, I., 2S8, 292; 


Enhypostasis, III., 157; IV., 


n, 154. 


17^,233, 236, 264 f. 


Ebionites, v. Jewish Christians. 


Encratites, I., 237, 280 ; II., 43, 


Eberard, V., 295. 


102 f, 121, 123,232,277. 


Ebner, Margaret, VI., 100, 113. 


Ennodius, V., 254. 


Economists, Montanist, II., 96. 


Enoch, Apocalypse of, L, 100, 


Economy, v. Apologists and 


lis f., 168, 332. 


II., 258 f., 266, 269. 


Enthusiasm, I., 45, 49, 53, 106, 


Eckhart, VI., 99 f., 105, no. 


141, 168,277, 281 ; II., 9, 25, 


113. 172. 


53 f., 63 f., 76, 78, Si, 95 ff.. 


Edessa, IL, 17, 167 ; IV., 3, 


250; III.. 31; v., 39- 


189. 


Enthusiasts, I'. Anabaptists. 


Egyptians, Gospel of the, I,, 


Ephesians, Ep. to, I., 96, 104 ; 


106, 196, 254 ; IL, 42, 152 ; 


II., 10, 40, 80. 


III., 86. 


Ephesus, Bishopric of, III., 


Egyptian Communities, I., 157, 


223. 


292 ; IL, 40, 107, 152, 299. 


Ephesus, Synod of, of year 431, 


Ecstasy, I., 112, 231. 


III., 153, 217, 221,224, 326; 


Ecthesis, IV., 256 f. 


IV., i86fr., 209f., 2i9f.; V., 


Eldad and Modad, Apocalypse 


188. 


of, I., 100. 


Ephesus, Synod of, of year 449, 


Election, I., 94, 14S. 
" Election of Christ, I., 1 84 f 


III., 153,217, 223 ; IV., 193, 


197, 207 ff, 21!, 216 f. 


Eleusius of Cyzikus, IV., ri8. 


Ephraem Syru.s, III., 164, 301. 


Eleutherus, II., 163; III., 20, 


Ephraem of Antioch, IV., 243. 


S9f- 


Epigonus and his School, III., 


Elevation, VI., 241. 


56, 57 ff., 61. 


Elias of Cortona, VI., 94. 


Epictetus, I., I30, 123 f., 127. 


EliasofNisibis, III„23g; IV., 


Epictetus, Bishop, III., 301. 


126. 


Epicurus, I., 239, 339; IL, 186 


Elipandus, v., 281 f. 


194; HI- 95- 


Elizabeth, Saint, VI., 104. 


Epiphanes, 1., 239 f. 

1 



W GENERAL INDEX 


FOR VOLS. 1.-VII. 291 


' Epiphany, I., 3^2, 327 ff. ; III., 


Eudoxius, IV., 75 fC., 79 f., 90, 


37- 


147. 


Epiphanius, I., 266 ff., 293, 304 


Euelpis in Laranda, II., 131. 


ff. ; 11., 237 ; III., 14-50, 80 


Eugene I., Pope, IV., 259. 


f., 84 ff., 87, 98, 103, 152 f.. 


Eugene II., Pope, V., 307. 


181, 187, 200, 209, 213, 235, 


Eugene IV., Pope, VI., 126, 


322 ; IV., 99. 102, 118, 127, 


140, 204 (v. also Sacraments 


340, 344- 


and Florentine Council), 331 


Episcopal System, VI., 140 f. ; 


f., 339, 243, 370 r, 374 ; VII., 


Vn., 72-So. 


41,46. 


Episcopate, v. Bishops. 


Eulogius, Patriarch, IV, 239. 


Erasmus, VI., 173; Vlt., 13, 


Eulogius of C^sarea, V., 179. 


170, 303, 245. 


Eunomius and Eunomians, 


Ernesti, I., 28. 


III., 213, 243 ; IV.. 15, 74, 


Eschatology, I., 6G, 73, 94, lOi, 


80,88, 103 f.. Ill, 118, 147, 


126 f, 141, 162-174, 181 f.. 


150,313.333; v., 171. 


260 f., 273 f, 276, 287 f. ; II., 


Euphranor, HI., 89,90. 


95 f., 240, 244, 394 ff, 369 ; 


Euphrates of Cologne, IV, 70. 


III,, 6ff., 163 r. 178, iS6f., 


Eusebians, III., 13S, 141, 216, 


307; IV., 15s ; v., 23, 91 ff.; 


235, 294 ; IV., 28, 36, 44 f.. 


VII., 191, 215. 


51 ff., 64ff, 67 ff, 69ff:, 80. 


Eschatological Words of Jesus, 


Eusebius of Csesarea, I., 33, 


I., 66, roi, 167. 


300; IT., 84, 132, 136, 323 ; 


Esnik, I., 266 f. ; IV., 344. 


III., 22 ff,3i, 36 f, 38,95,97, 


Espen, Van, VII., 79. 


103 f, 112, 118, 131, 136, 176, 


Essenism, I., 68 f., 243. 


182, 196 f, 200, 202, 213 f.. 


Esther, III., 193- 


219,221 f., 234,389,309.334; 


Eterius, v.. 283. 287. 


IV.. 3,9 f., I7,49f-. SI ff-, 56 


Ethics, V. Morality, Asceticism, 


f., 60 f, 64 f., 67, 81, 160. 293, 


I.. 336 (■ 


321, 332 f.; VII., 84. 


Eucharist, I., 60,66, 164, r66, 


Eusebius of DorylKum, II., 


205 f., 209 ff., 212, 226, 263, 


168; IV., 197, ,199, 308. 


308; II., 21, 35, 131 f, 136 


Eusebius of Emesa, IV, 75. 


ff, 143-148, V. Mysteries and 


166. 


IV., 276 ff, 2S3-303, 31S 


Eusebius of Nicomedia, IV., 3, 


ff. ; v., 47, 1 56 ff., 209. 267, 


9 ff, 14 ff, 51 ff, 58, 60 ff. 


269 ff., 291, 308-322; 4S-S4, 


64. 68. 


165, 200, 216, 332-243 ; vn.. 


Eusebius of Rome, III., 131; 


45-50,152,217,244,249,258- 


v., 40. 


265. 


EusebiusofVercelli, IV., 73. 


Eucherius of Lyons, III., 204. 


Eustathius of Antioch, IV.. 50 


Euchites, III., 181. 


f., 59, 62, 65, 82, 148, 166, 


Eudokia, IV., 201. 


292 f.. 333- 

1 



2g2 HISTORY 


OF DOGMA. ^^^^^1 


Eustathius of Sebaste (Eusta- 


Facundus of Hermiane, IV. 


thians). III., 138. 146, 191 ; 


24s, 248 ; v., 284. 


IV„75.89, 118. 


Faith, I.. § 3, pp. 171 f., 260 £, 


Eutherius, IV., 192. 


266 f ; n., 32s f., 329 f., 347, 


Euthymius. IV., 28, 348. 


379; III, 163-190; v.. 44 


Eutychesand Eutychians, III., 


ff., so f., 56 ff., 69 ff, 78 ff. 


322 ; IV., 197-222, 222 ff. 


86 ff, 134 f, 207; VI., 146, 


fassim, e,g., 235 f., 286, 324. 


219, 220 f., 300; VII., 60, 


Eutychius of Constantinople, 


61-72, 140 f, 148 f., 154, 159 


IV., 300. 


f, 1 82 f, 200, 306 ff, 229. 


Evagrhis, III., 138 ; IV., 106, 


Faith, Certainty of, V., 13; VI., 


343- 


287 ff. ; VII., 68, 180 ff., 


Eve, II., 274, 276; III., 108. 


208 f. 


109, 325 f. ; VI.. 315. 


Faith, Doctrines of, (beginnings 


Evil and Good, The Problem 


of,) I., 164 f, (v. Dogmatics). 


of, II.. 343 f., 362; III., 2SS 


Faith, Law and Rule of, I., 155 


f.. 323; v., 116 ff. 


f., 25s ff, 258; II., I ff., 12 


Evil, II., 343 f, etc. See Sin. 


f, 18-38, 55 f., 65 ff, 74 ff., 


Ex omnibus afflictionibus, Bull, 


23off.,35of., 294f., 330, 335, 


VII., 87. 


354,357; ni., I ff.,47f., 71, 


Exaltation of Christ, I., 194 f.. 


19. 113. 118. 


322 r., 327. 


Faith, Rule of, and Philosophy, 


Excommunication, 11., loS- 


II., S ff. II f., 230 to 247. 


122; VI., 257. 


Faith, Science of, II., 378 f. ; 


Execrabilis, Bui), VII., 6. 


III,, 113. 


Exegesis, III., 199 ff. ; V., 32. 


Fallen (lapsi), II., 208 ff 


Exhomologesis, I., 178; II., 


Fall, The, -u. Sin. 


no. 


Fasts, I., 204, 206, 294; 11., 


Expiation, I., § 8, p. 330. 


102, 132 f., 294, etc, e.g., VI., 


Exorcism, IV., 278. 


258. 


ExsUperius, VII., 41. 


Fasti, 1 1., 90. 


Exucontians, IV., 74. 


Fatalism, III., 244 f., 248. 


Eybel, VII., 80. 


Father, God as, I., 58 ff., 64 f.. 


Ezra and Nehemiah, III., 193. 


179 f-; n„3ssi:; ni.,63f., 


Ezra, Apocalypse of, I., 87 f. 


91 ff 


168,322; VII., 41. 


Fathers, Authority of the, III., 




220 f ; IV., 350, and else- 


Fabian, 11., 164; III., 93 ; IV., 


where. 


93. 


Faustus, Manich^ean, III., 335. 


fabius of Antioch, III., 95- 


Faustus of Rhegium, IV., 314; 


Fabricius, HI., 322. 


v., 244,252 ff, 282. 


Facts of the History of Jesus, v. 


Febronius, VII., 78. 


Preaching. 


Felix I., Pope, IV., 150, 187. 



GENERAL INDEX 


r 

FOR VOLS. I.-VIL 293 


Felix 11., I'ope, II., 124. 


133. 134 f-; v., 8, 242, 275, 


Felix ill., Pope, III, 317. 


302 ff, 308 ff; VI, 126; 


Felix IV., Pope, V., 258. 


VII., 74 ff- 


FelixofUrgel, v., 281-292. 


Frankfort, Synod of, V., 288, 


Fellowship, Christian, II., 329. 


306. 


Fenelon, VII., roo. 


Fraticelli, VI., 95. 


Fidesimplicita,V., 42, 81; VI., 


Fredegis, V., 276. 


147. 165 f., 308, 311; VII, 


Frederick I., Emperor, VI, 118. 


7, 107, 141, 159. 


Frederick II, VI, 119. 


Fihrist, III, 317, 320 f, 327 f. 


Frederick III., VI., 136. 


Firmilian, II, 89, 164 ; III, 38, 


Free Will in Christ, IV, 148, 


45- 


179, and elsewhere in Chaps. 


Flacius, I, 26 ; VI, 15. 


II. and III. 


Flamines, II., 124. 


Freedom of Man, I.,i7of., I47f., 


Flavian of Antioch, IV, 95, 


169-229, 267 ff, 344 f, 359, 


103. 


363 f. ; III., 173 ff, 244 t, 


Flavian of Constantinople, III., 


248 f, 256 ff, 266 ff., 271. 


94; IV., 197, 198-210, 318. 


273 f. ; IV., 27Sf, 290; V, 


Flesh of Christ, I, 193 K, 3I3, 


64 ff, 112 ff., 173 ff, 191 ff., 


220 f, 326 f. ; 11, 23; III, 


I96ff, 347f, 253f. 


67 f, 76 ; v., 53 ; see also 


Freedom, Christian, VII., 185. 


Incarnation. 


Frohschammer, VII., 109. 


Florentine Council, VI, 17 f. 


Fulbert, VI., 32, 48. 


1S9, 204, 210, 472 f. 


Fulgentius, V., 255 ff., 293. 


Florinus, II, 27. 




Florus Magister, V, 297. 


Gajanus, IV.. 244. 


Following Christ, v. Love for 


Galen, I, 120, 235. 


Jesus. 


Gallicanism, VII, 75 f , 99. 


Fomes peccati, VI,, 228. 


Gallic Authors, III, 125. 


Forgeries, III., 183 f., 220 f. ; 


Gangra, Synod of. III., 128, 


IV., 200, 21.1, 220, 242, 249. 


191. 


261, 342 ; V, VI., VII., 


Gelasius, Pope, lit., 217; IV, 


fiasjim. 


343; V, 2 54f. 


Forgiveness of Sin, see Sin. 


Gelasius, Decree of, III, 198; 


Francis, St., and the Minorites, 


IV., 343. 349- 


V, 10, 237; VI., 14, 8s- 


Generation of Christ, II.. 355 ; 


117,314!.; VII., 13, IS, 124, 


III.. 37. 


24s. 


Genealogy of Jesus, I., iOO, 191. 


France, v. Lyons, VII, 8, 246 


Gennadius, III., 165 ; V, 254- 


ff. 


Gentilis, Vn, 133. 


Francl<, Sebastian, VII., 123, 


Gentile Christianity, I., 89 f., 


129. 


91 f, 108, 148, 160 f , 287 f.. 


ranks and tlie French, IV., 


291 ff. 







^^^^^^H 




294 HISTORY 


OF DOGMA. 




Gentiles under the Power of 


77, 128, 131, 145. '59. '91. 




the Church, VI., 120. 


230 ff., 239-244,247-253,358, 




Gentiles, Mission to, I., 87 f.. 


286, 29s, 301, 304 f, 342, 




89 ff. 


348, 349, 360, 367 ff., 379; 




Gentilly, Synod of, IV., 133, 


ni., 5, 9, S3 f-. 103 ff., in, 




325 ; v., 304, 306- 


113 ff, 152, 249, 253 f., 258, 




Genus tertium, I., 153. 


307 f; IV., 14, 25, 139 f.. 




Georgius, Presb., IV., 4. 88. 


14b, 156, 276. 282, 286, 306, 




Georgius of Alexandria, IV., 


315,335. 344,347; VL, 76. 




73- 


Gnostics, The True, 11., 1 1 f. 7 1 , 




Georgius of Constantinople, 


80, 81, 322 f., 325,365. 




IV., 260. 


Gnostics and Apologists, II., 




Georgius of Laodicea, IV., 17, 


169 ff 




75 f. 


Goch, V. Pupper. 




Gerbert, VI., 32. 


God (Frankian ideas), 277 ff. 




Gerhoch. VI., 45, 52, 188. 


God {Greek ideas), I., 118 f., 




German Theology. Book, VI., 


i8g, 190; III., 55. 




los, [o8.« 


GodCJewishideas), I., 318. 




Germanic Christians, III., 31 1 ; 


God (post-Augustinian ideas), 




IV., 44, 310; v., 6 f, 308, 


v., 323. 




323-331 ; VI., 55 ff., 258. 


God, Christ as, 1., 105, 186 ff.. 




Germany and Protestantism, 


258 f., 275 f., 299, 326; II., 




VII., 169 f 


348. 353 f.. 369 ff- ; HI., 5ff. 




Germanus of Constantinople, 


16-50, 61 ff., 70, 75 ff, 118. 




IV., 303. 


God, Proofs for, III., 241 f. ; 




Germinius of Sirmium, IV., 


VI., 17S f 




76 f.. 91. 


God, Service of. I., 166, 176, 




Gerson, VI., 141, 199. 


204 ff, 230, 244, 291 f. 341; 




Gifts, Presentation of, I., 204 ff. 


11., 5, 128 ff., 131, 136 ff. ; 




Gilbert, VI., 183. 


III., 3. 43, 13S, 143. 157 ff. 




Giordano Bruno, VII., 123, 131, 


2iif., 236f,25if.,329; IV., 




170. 


263, 269, 272 ff, 279 ff., 298, 




Glabcr. VI., 7. 


305, 334, 351; in., 135, 




Glaukiiis, I., 255. 


273; VII., 191,221 f. 




Glorification, III., 105. 


God, Friends of, VI., loa 




Glorification of Christ, II., 371 
f. 


God, bearer of, IV., 25, 38, 168, 
173, 177, 181, 184, 189,266, 




Gnomes, I., 154; II., 25, 133. 


272, 308, 316. 




Gnostics and Gnosticism, I., 


God, doctrine of, I., 58 ff, 179 




143-149, 163 f., 175 f, 191, 


ff. : II., 202 ff, 247 f., 353 ff, 




194, 214 f, 222-265, 289 f, 


345, 349 ff, 364; ni- 631:, 




. 298, 302 ff., 347 f. ; 11., I ff.. 


8s, 117, 241 ff.; v., iioff.; 


J 


7 ff., 23 ff, 35 f , 38 ff, 67 ff. 


VI., 178 ff., 185 f. 279 f.; 



GENERAL INDEX FOR VOLS. L-VII, 



295 



Vri., 144 f., 181 f., 196 f., 
212. 

God, Son of, I., 64, 186, 189, 
192 f., 197, 306 k. ; II., II, 
259, 263, 275 ff., 286 f., 352 
fC; 365 f., 371 ; III., 6, 22 ff, 
64, 70, 73 f., 90 ff- 

God-man, v. Incarnation and 
II.. 340 ff., 262 fC, 27s ff. ; 
III., 107. 

God-parents, II., 396 ; VI., 
229. 

Gonzales, VII., 107 f. 

Good, 7'. Evil. 

Gospel, I., 58 ff., 171, 173 f. ; 
II., 125, 329, 342, 366. 

Gospel Life, I., 233 f. ; II., I30. 

Gospel Christianity in the 
Ancient Church and in the 
Middle Ages, V., 46, 56 ff. 

Gospel and Dogma, III., 167 
f., 170, 181. 

Gospel and Old Testament, I., 
41 ff., 175 ff 

Gospel and Hellenism, I., 44 ff, 
69, 169 f., 186,222 ff., 253 ff, 
263, 266 f., 290 ff, 336 ff„ 
259 ff.; II., 5 ff, 9, 13 f, 169- 
229,230-247, 338, 339; III., 
9- 

Gospe! and Judaism, I., 43 ff, 
86 ff, 148 f, 176 ff 

Gospel of Marcion, I., 275 ff. 

Gospel in the sense of the Re- 
formation. VII., 187 f., see 
Faith. 

Gospels, I., 96, 98, 144, 155, 159, 
219,253,395,399; II., 43ff. 

Gospels, Gnostic, I., 143, 240 f. 

Gospels, Canon of, II„ 38-43, 
58 f. 

Gothic Architecture, VI., 117 
r, 160. 



Gottschalk, v., 293 ff., 303 ; V., 
167. 

Grace, III., 163 f, 166, 172,256 
ff, 266 ff, 272 ff, V. Redemp- 
tion. 

Grace, Means of, II., 133 ff., 
13710 148, 375 f. ; III., 163 
ff ; IV., 306 ff. ; v., 84 ff., 
155-168,305 ff; VII., 348 f, 
259 f- 

Grace, Western Doctrine of, 
III., 33, 48, 66f., 69f., 84-91, 
97, 167-210, 247 ff ; VI., 174 
ff, 27s ff ; VII., 6off 

Gratia operans eC cooperans, 
VI., 379, 380-395. 

Gratian's Collection of Laws, 
VI., 19 f, 118 f., 123, 244. 

Gratian, Emperor, III., 153 ; 
IV.,93. lOi. 

Greek Church, II., 194,209,214, 
218, 226 f, 234 f, 336 f, 340, 
249, 251, 265, 283 ; IV., 126 
f., 364, 268, 275, 302 f., 314, 
316, 332, 335, 345, 350 ff 

Gregory I., Pope, III., 157, 195, 
218, 352, 359, 307, 312 ; IV., 
239, 250, 258 ; v., 6, 12, 241, 
243, 252, 261-273, 276, 290, 
301, 306, 323 ; VI,, 55, 202, 
241. 275. 

Gregory II., IV.. 331 f 

Gregory VII., VI., 4, 16 ff, 21, 
51, 121 ; VII., 113. 

Gregory XI., Pope, VI., 136, 
165. 

Gregory XIII., Pope, VII., 87. 

Gregory XVI., Pope, VII.. 78. 

Gregory of Alexandria, IV., 64, 
7>- 

Gregory of Berytus, IV., 4. 

Gregory of Heimburg, VI,, 
141. 




296 HISTORY OF DOGMA. ^^^^^| 


Gregory of Nazianzus, III., 129, 


Heart-of- Jesus- Worship, VI., 9, 


163 f., 182 f., 185, 193, 201, 


197. 


213.216, 222,226, 230, 30s- 


Hebrews, Epistle to, I., S3, 90 


309; IV., 26, 86. 95 f., 115 


f., 96, 104, 135, 151. 176, 192, 


ff., 159 f., 203, 2S2, 312, 329. 


205, 295; 11., 48, 60; III., 


Gregory of Nyssa, 111.. 115, 


198, 201, 253; VII., 24,41, 


129, 139, 143, 156, 165, 174 


162. 


f,, 179, 182 f., 186-189, 200, 


Hebrews, Gospel to, I., 100, 


24s f., 259, 261, 276-279, 296 


296, 301 f. 


ff, 305-307 ; IV.. 85, 86 f., 


Hegel, I., 33 f- ; VII., 145. 


115 f., iS9f-. 237. 252, 28of., 


Hegesippus, I,, 160, 185, 243, 


286,293 ff., 30i,334f. 


248,296.315; II., 33,41,74, 


Gregory of Rimini, VI., 69. 


237. 


Gregory, Governor, IV., 256. 


Hegias, I,, 358. 


Gregory Thaumaturgus, 11., 


Heliand (Old Saxon Harmony 


355; HI., loi ff., ii3ff., '33. 


of the Gospels), V., ?■ 


183,209; IV., 56, 121, ISO. 


Hell, and Penalties of, I., 59. 


Gregoria, Empress, V., 271. 


63, 174; II., 345. 377; III., 


Gregorius, Cardinal, VI., iS, 


i85 f. ; VI., 260, ^ndpassitn. 


118. 


Helladius, IV., 192. 


Gribaldo, VII.. 133. 


Hellenic Science, v. Hellenism 


Grotius. Hugo, VII., 79. 


and til., 138, 146, 176; IV., 


Gunther, VII., 109. 


7, 39 f-. 42. 85, 191, 335 ff. 


Guilt, II., 293; v., 46 f., j;. Sin, 


340, 343- 


Original Sin. 


Hellenism, I., 44 ff, 94 ff, 143, 


Guitmund of Aversa, VI., 52. 


170, 222 ff., 228 ff., 23S f., 


Gury, VII., 105, 109. 


329. 355-358; II.,6ff, 12 ff. 


Guyon, Mme. de, V., 106; 


169-229, 233 f, 245 f ; III., 


VII., 100. 


44S. 




Hellenistic Jews, v. Alexan- 


Hades, III., 188. 


drism. 


Hades, Descent to, I., 106, 172 


Hellenizing, HI., 121, 144 


ff.; II., 293, 306; III, 188. 


Helvidius, IV., 315. 


Hadrian, I., Pope, V., 282, 2S7, 


Hemerobaptists, III., 320. 


30s f. 


Henoticon, IV., 227 ff, 237. 


Hadrumetum, Monks of, V., 


Henry II., VI., 3, 7. 


187, 246. 


Henry HI., VI., 3, 7. 


I . Hatzer, VII.. 131. 


Henry IV. of France, VII., 


I Hagcmann, III., 55 f-. 88. 


75- 


L Haggada, I., 98 f. 


Henry VI., VI., 1 1 8. 


Il Hamel, VII., 81, 89. 


Henry of Ghent, VI., 222. 


I^H^ Hatch, I., 39, 127. 


Henry of Langcnstein, VI., 


^^m Havet, I., 52, 5^, 9i. 135- 


141. 



1 


^B GENERAL INDEX 


FOR VOLS. I.-VII. 297 




Henry of Nurdlingen, VI., lOO, 


Sgf, 94, 119 f., 134 f; VII., 




"3- 


220 f., and elsewhere. 




Heraclas, II., 323. 


Hierotheus, IV., 347. 




Herakleon, I., 227, 234, 241, 


High Priest. 11., 12S, 130, 163, 




262; II., 121, 354; IV., 13, 


377- 




13;- 


Hilary. III., 79, 147, 150, 202, 




Heraclian, IV., 91. 


301,312,315 ; IV.,60,64,72. 




Heraclitus, II., iS4f. ; III., 54 


75 ff., 78, 91, 104, 116, 140 f., 1 




f. ; v., 191. 


14s f, 162, 203, 237; v., 29, 




Heraclitus, Epistles of, I., 109. 


32 f.,49. 53. 53, 279- 




Heraclius, Emperor, III., 157, 


Hilary, The Elder, V., 187, 246. 




354- f- . 


Hilary of Aries V., 246. 




Heraclius, Roman Heretic, V., 


HildebertofTours. YI., 51. 




40, 55. 57. 


Hinkniar, V., 246, 293-302, 308. 




Heretics, v. Gnostics, the par- 


Hippo, Synod of. III., 194, 198- 




ticular Sects and II., 85-93, 


Hippolytus, I., 126, 146, 168, 




206; HI., 89; VI., 120, 


243, 246, 304 f. ; II., 9 f., 16, 




136- 


33.37, 71-84, 92, 95, 96, 98 f. 




Heretics, Disputes about, II., 


iiof, 129, 130, 153. 168,230 




86f, 91, 116, 166; III., 95; 


ff., 337, 243, 250 ff., 256 ff., 




IV.. 284. 


261 ff, 272, 286 ff., 293 ff. 




Hermas, L, 103, 106, 120, 142- 


296, 299, 312 f. 319, 322, 380; 




152, 155-203, 204-216, 239, 


HI., 9> 14 ff- 51-88, 93, 103 




250,287,306,325; II., 9, 15, 


ff!, 114, 181. 202, 219, 242 ; 




44, 48, 58 f., 73, 80-82, 98, 


IV, 57, no, 171; v., 24 f., 




105, 109, 133, 143, 153. 156, 


31, 53- 




159, 178,200; III., 22. 28 ff.. 


History and Dogma, III., 270. 




43ff. 196; v., 24 ; VI., 35 ; 


History of Jesus, v. Preach- 




VII., 41. 


ing. 




Hermes, VII., 109. 


Hcensbrcech, Paul, VI I., 1 14. 




Hermias, II., 196. 


Hohenstaufens, V., 119. 




Hermogenes, I., 259. 


Hoffmann, Melchior, VIL, 132. 




Heros,Gallican Bishop, V., 179. 


Holiness of the Church, II., 




Herrenius, I., 348. 


74 f, 94 ff., 105 f, 108-122; 




Hesychastic Controversy, III., 


v., 146 f 




251 ; IV., 353- 


Homceans, III., 230; IV., 75- 




Heterousiasts, IV., 74. 


80, 89,91. 




Hexaemeron, II., 213. 


Homoiousians, IV., Zl, 36, 75 




Hieracas and Hieracites, III., 


ff., 81 ff.. 91,99, 114 f, 126. 




29, 98i^, 113, 128; IV., 8. 


Homoios, !V., 31 f., 70 fC, 75 ff. 




Hierarchy, v. Church, HI., 214 


78 r, 81, 90. 




f.. 236 f. ; IV.. 279 f, 298, 


Homoiousios, 31 f. 74 ff, 82 ff.. 




307 f.; v., 152 f., 272; VI., 


99. 


L 




^H^ 



298 HISTORY 


3F V^^^H 


Homologoumena, Canon of, 
11., 41 ff., 151 ; III., 196 f. 

Homousios, I., 257 f., 260 ; 11., 
256, 259 f., 314,352 ff, 358; 
III., 46, 49, 87 f., 91,94, 100, 


Hyperorthodoxy, IV., I2I. 

Hypokeimenon, IV., 56. 

Hypostasis, IV., 19, 23, 33 f., 
56 f., 81, 84, 85 f., 90, 120, 
124, and Chaps. II. and III. 


117, 134, 140 f., 170 f.. 322, 
228 ff.; IV., 3, i3ff> 23. 32 


lamblichus, I., 127, 231, 348, 


fl^. 49, S3. 55-90, 95 ff, 103, 
114 ff, 119 ff, 122, 137, 153, 


354 f-, 361. 
Ibas of Edessa, IV., 199, 208, 


154 f., 159; VII.. 325. 
Honorius, Fope, IV., 254 fF., 

262. 
Honorius of Autun, VI., 52. 


224, 24s f. 
Ideals, I., 103 f., 321 (original 

and copy) 349. 
Idealism, I., 337. 


Hope (Faith, Love), I., 171- 
Hormisdas, IV., 229 f. ; V., 255 


IdiotK, III., 55. 

Idolatry, relapse into, II., 108 
f., 118 ff 


Hosius, II. 23s ; III., 76; IV., 
II f., sof., SS ff-. 68,73, 76. 
82, 104, 121. 

Hugo of Langres, VI., 52. 

Hugo of St. Victor, VI., 39, 42, 


Ignatius, I., 100, 142 f., 151 f., 
156-203, 204-212, 219, 228, 
248, 249, 252, 298 ; II., 23, 
42,73, 128 f., 145, iSi f-. 156 
f., 159. 239, 265, 295 ; III., 


44, 129,202, 204 f, 210, 213, 

219, 230, 242 ff, 277. 
Huguenots, VII., 92, 98 f., 238 
Humanism, v. Renaissance. 


65, 104, 127, 215. 237,353; 
IV., 12, 45, 65, 280 f., 286; 
VI., 227. 
Ignatius of Loyola, V., 3, v. 


Humanity of Christ, I., 190- 


Jesuits. 


196, especially 194 f., 258 f., 
322 ff; II., 370 f.. 373; HI., 
5 f., 21,76; IV., 138 ff, and 
elsewhere ; V., 55. 

Humbert, Cardinal, VI., 47. 

Humiliates, VI., 90. 

Hungarica Confessio, VII., 80. 

Hussites and Huss,VI.,95, "4, 


Ildefonsus, V., 263. 

Illyrian Synod, IV., 118. 

Illumination, I., 207 f. ; (De- 
scription of Baptism) II., 
375 ff 

Images, Worship of. III., 159 
f. ; IV., 269, 272 f, 276, 304, 
309, 317-330, 350; v., 282, 


127, 137, 141 ff, 170 f., 239, 

267 ; VII., 10, 16, 124, 
Hymensus, HI., 47. 
Hymns, Psalms and Odes, 

Ecclesiastical and Gnostic, 

I., 166, 188, 341. 
Hypatia, I., 356. 
Hypatius of Ephesus, IV., 242. 
Hyperius, I., 26. 


292, 304 ff, 309 ; VI., 142, 
315; VII., 54 
Images, Strife and Controversy 
about, III., 159 f.; IV., I95, 

257, 263 f., 314, 317*330; v., 

304 ff , 309. 
Imitation of Jesus, I., 6j. 
Immaculate Conception, V., 

23s; VII., 99. 


1^ 


M 



^H^^H GENERAL INDEX 


FOR VOLS. L-VH. 299 


Immortality, I., ii8, 170 ff., 


142 f. ; IV., 284; v., 160, 


230; II., 169-229 passim.. 


17s ff, 202, 229 f. ; VII., 


240 ff. ; III., 164 f., 178,25s 


125, 152,250,251 f 


ff, 316; IV., 308 f. 


Infralapsarianism, V., zi6. 


Impanation, VI., 2^7. 


Infusion of Grace, VI., 289. 


Imperialist Church, II., 122 ff. ; 


Innocent I., Pope, III., 34, 


in., 25, .49. 


199; v., 172, 181 f., 282; 


Imperialist Opposition, VI., 


VI., 202; VII., 41. 


139 f- 


Innocent II., Pope, VI., 135. 


Incarnation, I., 190, 193 f., 195, 


Innocent III., Pope, VL, 16 f.. 


327 f.; II., 278. 


118, 121, 124, 128. 


Incarnation of Christ, I., 330 ; 


Innocent IV., Pope, VI., 128, 


II., 10, 29 f., 218 ff, 240 ff, 


165 ; VII., 7. 


266 f., 27s ff, 345, itT, m : 


Innocent X., Pope, VII., yy. 


III., 5. 8. 26-50, 6s, 69, 71, 


105. 


96, 109, 163 ff., 266, 272 ff, 


Innocent XL, Pope, VII., 100, 


286, 288-304, 30s f ; IV., 19, 


106. 


37 f; 138 ff., 168 ff, and in 


Innocent XIII., Pope, VII., 


general Chap. III., 276, 286 


98. 


f., 294 f., 299, 314 f., 318 ff. 


Inquisition, VI., 120. 


329,335 f, 351 ; v., 130,288 


Inspiration, 11., 44, 54 f., 57, 


ff ; VI., 73 f. 


63 f, 340. 347 f., 357; III., 


Incarnation of the Holy Spirit 


199 f., 305, 315 f., 228 ; VI., 


in Christ, I., 360; HI., 7, 10, 


156; VII., 81. 


54,62, 107, III. 


Intention, VI., 213 f., 218 f. 


Incarnation of the Devil, V., 


235 ; VIL, 45. 


264. 


Intercessions, IV.. Chap. IV.; 


Incense, VII., 56. 


v., 265 f., 328 f. 


Individnalism, I., 321 ; III., 


Intermediate State, III., 188 f ; 


109; v., 62 ff ; VI., 8 ff.. 


see Purgatory. 


95 ff; VII., 18 f, 212. 


Invisible Church, VI., 138 f 


Indulgences, V., 328 f. ; VI., 


Iranian, VI., 265. 


142, 250 f., 259 ff. ; VII., 14, 


Irensus, I., 126, 136, 150, 163, 


55 f., 219. 


17s f, 19s, 204, 211, 239, 


Ineffabilis deus. Bull, VII., 99. 


243, 249 ff., 252, 2661., 285, 


In eminent!, Bull, VII., 94. 


299; II., 10 f., 13, 16, 24, 


Infallibility of the Church and 


26-29, 33 f-, 43-66, 68 ff. 


of the Councils, III., 208, 


74 ff., 78 ff.. 83 f, go ff, 106 


215 ff., 221 ; v., ISO. 


f., 128-134, 139. 142 f-. 145, 


Infallibility of the Pope, VI., 


152 f., 157 f, 161 f., 230-318 


123 ff ; VII., 5, 82 f, iio- 


f, 328 ff., 343 f., 351-367, 374, 


117. 


377, 380 ff; HI.. II, 132, 


Infant Baptism, I., 207; 11., 


184, 206, 215 f, 220 f., 229, 



'V 


^^^^f 


300 HISTORY OF DOGMA. 


256, 261, 265, 268, 279, 290, 


Jerusalem. Symbol. III., lS8 ; 


297, 301-304, 307.309; IV., 


IV., ss, 98 £ 


14- 23, 34,4s. 65, IlOf.. IIS, 


Jerusalem, Synods of, IV.. 63,. 


121, 138, 146, 174, 237. 315, 


65,71,244; v., i;9. 189. 


333; v., 42; VI., 276, 315; 


Jesuits, VI.. 163 f.; VII., 42, 


VII., 228. 


73 f., 76 f.. 80 II, 86 ft, 89 IT., 


Irena;us of Tyre, IV., 198, 209. 


91 ff., 101-109, 160, 238. 


Irene, IV., 326. 


Jesus Christ. I., 41 f., 58 fT., 80 


Iro-Scottish Church, V., 335. 


fr.. 155-160. 162 f.. 1S3-203,, 


Irvingites, VI., 90. 


224.245.323-332; II., 3, 271 


Isidorus, I., 358 ; IV., 190,301; 


f, 27s ff; 32s. 339. 341 ff- 


v.. 274. 282, 293, 311 ; VI., 


3SI. 367 fC, 3771 III-, 2-50, 


30. 


62 ff.. 108 f., 121 to IV., 353 


Islam, V. Mohammed. 


passim (111., 32S C, 330i V., 


Italians, V., 7, 243 f. ; VII., 


124 ff.. 201 f., 2041,264 £,. 


127 f-. 132 ff. 


270. 283 fr,; VI. 73 f., 187 


ivo, VI., 269. 


ff., VII., 146-162, 182, 196 ff. 




214, 242 f. 


Jacobazzi, VI., 126. 


Jesus, Love for. III., 129 f. ; 


Jacopone, VI., 104, 115. 


v., 10, 28, 32, so {.. 55 ; VI.. 


James, and Epistle of, I., 255, 


8ff. 13, 102 ft; VII, IS. 


287; II., 48, 98; IV., 33<5; 


Jews, Spanish, VI., 1 50. 


v., S7, 207; VI., 269; VII., 


Jewish Christianity, I., 89 ff... 


34. 


141. 161, 247, 269, 277 f.. 


Jansen and Jansenism, I, 136 ; 


287-317; II.. 49, 276, 370;. 


1 VII., y^, gt-ioi, 105 f., 238. 


IV., 21. 


Jerome, I., 227, 300 f ; II., 100, 


Jewish Christianity, Gnostic 


161 ; III., 77, gy, 128 {., 130, 


(Syncretistic) I., 192, 243 ff... 


'5°. IS3. 1S3, 186, 188, 191, 


289 f, 302 ff, 311 ff.; III.. 


194, 196 f. 200, 202, 22s, 


II. 37' 


259, 2S2, 299 ; IV., 90, 102, 


Jewish-Christian Writings. I... 


158, 239, 312, 31S. 341 ff"-; 


294 ff 


V, 25, 29 {., 49, 56, 171 f., 


Jezira. Book. I., 304. 


176 ff., 190, 212, 220, 31a; 


Joachim of Fiore, VI.. 15. 94 f.,. 


VII., 41. 


112. 139. 182. 


Jerusalem {Earthly and 


Job. III.. 193. 


Heavenly), I., 168, 320 f.; II., 


Jobius. IV.. 156. 


75 f. ; VI., 8. 


John IV.. IV.. 356 f. 


Jerusalem, Church of, I., 242, 


John VIII.. v.. 305. 


299 f.; HI-, 223, 227 f.; 


John XXIL. VI., 95. lOS, 112, 


IV., 102. 


125, 162, 262. 


Jerusalem, Place of Christ's 


John of Baconthorp, VI., 162. 


Reign, I., 168 ; II., 297 f. 


Johnof Jandun, VI.. 139. 







GENERAL INDEX FOR VOLS. I.-VH. 



John of Paltz, VI., 351. 
Johnof Paris, VI., 239. 
John of Salisbury, VL, 151. 
John the Baptist, I., 64, 106. 
John, Baptism of, I., 207 ; III., 



III., 



34- 

John, Apostle, I. 
6. 

Johannine Writings, I., 83, 90 
f., 96 f., 104 f, 135, 170, 186, 
189, 192, 203, 211, 234, 250, 
328 ff. ; II., 23, 32,41 f., 95, 
99 f., 238, 298; III., IS ff., 
18, 63, 71 ; IV., 22, 45. 

John, Acts of, I., 164, 184, 193 
f. 196,241,254,259. 

John Cassian, IV., 313. 

John of Damascus, III., 148, 
156, 157, i8r, 214, 222,23s, 
240, 243, 248 ff., 252, 256 f., 
262, 2S3-287, 302, 308 ; IV., 
13, I2S ff, 233 f, 264-267, 
301 f., 316, 322 ff, 32S, 350 
f. ; v., 277, 289, 309, 314; 
VI., 29, 187, 190; VII., 15. 

John of Oliva, VI., 94. 

John Philoponus, III., 249; 
IV., 125, 240 ; VI., 29, 36. 

John of Antioch, IV., 183, 186 
f., 191 f, 201. 

John of Ephesus, IV., 226, 240, 
251. 

John of Jerusalem, IV., 341 ; 

v., 177 ff. 

Jonas of Orleans, V., 308. 
Jordanus of Osnabriick, V., 8. 
Joris,VII., 132. 
Josephinism, VII., 80. 
Joseph's Marriage. VI., 273. 
Josephus, the Jew, 1., 107 f. 
Josephi Historia, VI., 265. 
Jovian, IV., 90, 153. 
Jovinian, III., 12S, 188; IV., 



31S ; v., 28, 56 f., 174, 183, 
212. 

Jubilee Indulgence, VI., 266. 

Judaizing, I., 287 f, 290 f., v. 
also Judaism. 

Judaism, I.,43 ff., 148, 168, 177 
ff., 223, 281 f, 287 ff, 302 f ; 
II., 175, 300 f, 306 ff., 311, 
348; III., 234, 236, 267 f 
284, 331 f.; IV., II, 21,27, 
60, 72, 120, 122, 169, 217, 

319 f.; VI., 43, 26s; VII., 
106, 136. 

Judaism, Alexandrian, I., 53 f, 

307; II., 175. 
Jude, Epistle of, I., 248; II., 

20, 48. 
Judge, Jesus the, I., 60, 78 f, 

185, 186 f. 
Julian (Emperor), I., 355 ; HI., 

146, 151, 187 ; IV., 79, 83, 

90, 93. 309- 
Julian, the Apoliinarist, IV., 

153- 
Julian of Eklanum, V., 171 ff., 

186 ff, 18S-203, 235, 256 ; 

VI.. 303. 
Julian of Halicarnassus, III,, 

171; IV., 237. 
Julian of Kos, IV., 202, 205. 
Julianists (Gaians), IV., 38S, 
Julius Africaiius, II., 124, 322 ; 

IV., 171. 
Julius of Rome, III., 216, 225 ; 

IV., 66 ff., 104, 150, 187, 

201. 
Junilius, III., 150, 182, 193, 198, 

201, 204 ; v., 30, 243, 283, 
Jurisdiction of the Priests, VI., 

255 f, 264 f, 272. 
Jurisprudence, v. Legal Con- 
ceptions, 
Jurists, Roman, I., 125, 



J 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



r- 



Justification. V., 36, 51, 88 f, 

' 204 ff. ; VI., [33, 224, 229 f. 
231, 288ff, ioSff ; VII., 55- 
71, 160 f., 20i5 ff, 214. 

Justin I., Emperor, III., 154; 
IV., 229 f. 

Justin II., Emperor, IV., 251. 

Justin, I., 100, 102, 105, 106, 
114, 142, 144, 148, is;, 160, 
163, 166, 168 f., 171, 178 f, 
185 ff, 188, 191 f., 197, 201 f, 
203, 204-216, 243, 245, 248, 
250, 266 f., 284, 295, 315, 
346; IL, 7, 10, II, 21-22 f., 
34,4if., 57, 74, 108, 123, 145, 
169-230, 178 ff., 202 f., 219 ff., 
231,237,239, 243, 272, 296, 
299.301, 326, 3S4; III., 95 ; 
IV.,iio, 121 f., 150,274,294, 
314; v., 79, 226; VI., 35, 
197. 

Justin, Gnostic, I,, 237, 254. 

Justina, Empress, IV., 104. 

Justinian (EmperorJ, I., 357 
III., 148, i54f, 156, 186,211 
217, 248 ; IV., 229, 231 f. 
241-351, 353, 256 f., 263, 330, 
348 ff ; VII., 177. 

Justinian of Valentia, V., 282. 

Juvenal of Jerusalem, IV., 208, 
213, 216, 218, 224. 

Kallistus, V. Calixtus. 

Kant, VII., 142. 

Katastases, III., 280 f. 284, 

302; IV., 169; VII., 143. 
Kautz, VII., 131. 
Kenosis, IV., 140, 161 f. ; VII., 

244. 
Kerygma, v. Preaching. 
Kessler, III., 316-336. 
King, Christ as, I., 322. 
Kingdom of God (of Christ), I., 



58, 61 ff.. 141. 158, 168 ff., 
174, 182, 203, 261 ; II., 73, 
395 f ; v., 151-155; VI., 5 
ff., 133. 

Keys, Power of, v. Repentance. 

Kledonius, IV., 119. 

Kliefoth, I., 35 ; VII., 24. 

Knowledge (and Sources of), I^ 
129 f^ 143 f, 147 f.. 165 ff., 
181 ff., 21! f, 222 ff. ; II., 
325, 342, 346, 349, V. Author- 
ity and Reason. 

Kollner, VII., 80. 

Lactantius, I., 354; II., 17, 

244, 255, 262, 296; III., yy 

ff, 247, 250; IV., 117; v., 

22, 173, 190. 
Laity and Lay -Christianity, 

III., 3 ff ; VI., no, IIS f-, 

120. 
Lamennais, VII., yS, 109. 
Lampsacus, Synod of, IV., 90. 
Lanfranc, VI., 32, 48 ff 
Lange, I., 31. 
Langres, Synod of, V., 298, 

300. 
Laodicea, Synod of, II., 45 ; 

in., 193, 252. 
Laodiceans, Epistle to, VII.. 

41. 
Last Judgment, L, 58 f, 63, 66, 

167, 174 ; n., 377 ; in., 42, 

iS9f 
Laurentius Valla, VI., 172, 
Lateran Council of 649, IV., 

258 f. 
Lateran Council of 863, V., 

307- 
Lateran Council of 1 123, VI., 

I7ff:, 135- 
Lateran Council of 1139, VI,, 

17 ff. 



GENERAL INDEX FOR VOLS. I,-VII. 



303 



Lateran Council of 1179, VI., 
17 f., 188, 203. 

Lateran Council of 1215, III., 
224; VI., 17, S3 f, I30, 176, 
182 f, 203, 232 f, 24s, 253. 

Lateran Council of 1515, VI„ 
127, 

Law, Mosaic, I., 43 f , 67, 76 f., 
107 f, 176, 289 ff, 295 f, 302 
ff., 314; II., 301-311, 348. 

Law, New, I., 59, 91, 146, 171, 
294 f ; II., 16, 33, 74, lOi ff, 
131, 139, 214 f, 227 ; III., 
172 f, and Chap. V.; V., 15, 
26, 201 f, 219, 264 f. ; VI., 

13! ff., 137 f-, 174 f.; VII., 
150, 204 f 

Law and Dogma, III., 185 f, 
257 f, 266 ff. 

Law, Question of, in the Apos- 
tolic Age, I., 86 ff. 

Laxism, v. Probabilism. 

Lazarus, Gallican Bishop, VI., 
179. 

Legal Conceptions in Dog- 
matic, II., 135 f, 235 f, 257, 
280, 282 ; III., 310 f ; IV., 
122 f, 136 f., 144 f ; v., S 
ff, 15 f, 29, 52, 262 ff, 271 ; 
VI., 16-23, 118 ff ; VII., 9, 
14, 101 ff., 109. 

Leibniz, II., 344 ; V, 3, 74. 

Leidrad of Lyons, V, 288, 292. 

Leo I., II., 16S, 235, 276, 381 ; 
III., 94, 148, 153. 157. 217, 
224, 226, 307, 312, 314, 336; 
IV., 131 f, 145, 184, 192 ff., 
i97i 199. 200-226, (Ep. ad 
Flav., 202, 205), 226 ff., 235 
f, 253, 399, 343 ; v., 241, 
350, 263. 

Leo III., Pope, IV., 133; V., 
304- 



LeoIX., Pope, VI., 16, 18. 
Leo X., Pope, VI., 127; VII., 

6,73- 
Leo I., Emperor, IV., 227. 
Leo the Armenian, IV., 328. 
Leo the Isaurian, IV., 320 f 
Leo, Russian Patriarch, III.^ 

165- 
Leontius of Antioch, IV., 3. 
Leontius of Byzantium, IIl.^ 

50, 154; IV., 125,232 ff,236, 

240 ff, 253, 262 ff, 299, 346 

ff., 350; v., 2S9; VII., 15. 
Leontius in Gaul, V., 253. 
Leporius, IV., 185. 
Lerinum, V., 247, 256. 
Lcssing, I., 29. 
Lessius, VII., 81, 89. 
Letter of Holy Scripture, III.,. 

199 f-. 325 f ; IV., 306. 
Leucius, V. Acts of John and 

IV., 303. 
Leucippus, v., 191. 
Libanius, IV., 88 f 
Liberius, IV., 73, 77, 91 ; V, 

59. 
Library, Theological, 11., 322. 
Licinius, IV., 9 f 
Lie, v., 222 f. 

Life, Ascetic, v. Morachism. 
Life, Eternal, and Resurrection, 

I., 84, 118, 145 f, 169 ff., 211 

f ; 11., 126, 140, 345 ; III., 
Chaps. II., v., (Part II.); 
v., 202, V. also Deification, 
VI., 40 f, 293 f. ; VII., 142 
ff.. 153- 

Life, Active, VI., 107 ff. ; VII., 
190. 

Light and Darkness, III., 324. 

Light-God, III., 323 f. 

Liguori, Alphonso, VII., 108 



304 



HIBTORV OF DOGMA. 



Likeness, II., 267 ff, 272 f. ; 
ni., 256 f., 260 ff!, 272 ff:, 
283. 

Likeness, used of Son of God, 
IV., 14,22,25,29,31, 35, 52, 
66,74. 

Limbus, VI., 262. 

Lipsius, Justus, VII., 152. 

Literature, Christian, I., 92-98, 
142 f., 154 f., 158 f, 240 f. ; 
11., 48f.,6i. 

Literature, Gnostic, I., 234, 
240 f. 

Literature, J udEeo- theological, 
I., 321. 

Literature, Eccl esiastical- pro- 
fane, II., 62 f. 

Liturgies, II., 90; III., 159, 
212, 269, 272, 274 f., 276. 

Liturgy and Dogma, !., 333. 

Livania, Widow, V., 177. 

Logos, I., 97, 104, III f., 193, 
19s, 314, 328 f.; IL, 6, 10, 13 
f., 31, 38, 180 ff., 206 ff., 211 
ff, 263ff., 267f., 283ff., 314, 
317, 326 ff. 338 f., 342, 34S, 
.350. 352-361, 365-380; III., 
1-50, 51-80, 82, 86 ff., 90 ff-, 
■94, 101, io6, log, 112, 117, 
254, 270, 289 ff ; IV., 3 ff- 
16 ff., 28 ff., 38 ff, 54, 65, 70, 
72, 87, see Chaps. II. and 
III. 

Logos Christology, Opponents 
of, III., 1-14. 

Loman, I,, 52. 

Lombardian Poor, VI., 90 f., 
94- 

Longinus, I., 158, 348. 

Loofs, I., 38; VII., 29. 

Lord, Designationof God, Christ 
and the Emperor, I., 8r f., 
los, 119 f., 183 f. 



Lord, Writings about the, I., 

159; II.. 44f 
Lord, Words of the, I., 98, 156 

ff., \66. 17s ; II., 34, 41 ff., 

49,65 r., 121. 
Lord's Supper, v. Eucharist, 
Lothar of Thuringia, V., 399. 
Louis of Bavaria, VI., 95- 
Louis XIV., King, VII., 75 f., 

96. 107. 
Louis the Pious, IV., 328 ; V., 

277. 295. 307 ; VI.. 31. 
Louis the Holy, VI., 119. 
Lucian, the Martyr, and his 

School, II., 135, 322 ; III., 

II, 49. 112, 116, 134, 136, 

201, 243 ; IV., I ff., 19 f., 41, 

51-59.67, III, 146, 157, 166, 

333, 345- 
Lucian, the Scoffer, I., 120. 
Lucifer, of Cagliari, IV,, 60, 

73, 83, 104; v., 25, 28. 
Lucius III., Pope, VI., 90. 
Luke, Gospel of, I., 56 ; II., 48 

f. 
Luke, Prologue to, I., 160. 
Lupus of Ferrieres, V., 297, 
Luther, I., 2 ff., 25, 136; II., 

7 ; v., 41, 82, no, 162, 2:9, 

237 ; VI., 117, 137. 146, 170, 

266, 307 ; VII,, 10 f., 24, 56, 

105, 108, 119, 126, 134, 142, 

168-274. 
Lyons, II., 17, 35, 97, 100, 106, 

132. 160. 296; v., 299 ; VI., 

312. 
Lyons, Synods of, V., 252 ; VI., 

17, 130, 189. 
Lyonnese Poor, VI., 90. 

Macarius, Teacher of Lucian, 

IL, 322. 
Macarius Magnes, I., 354. 





GENERAL INDEX t"01i VOLS. L-VII. 



305 



Macarius of Antioch, IV., 260 
f., 301. 

Macarius of Jerusalem, IV., 54. 

Macarius the Great, III., 129 f., 
173, 268, 272, 300 ; IV.. 380, 
293 f, 313. 

Maccabees, Fourth Book of, I., 
log. 

Machiavelli, VII., iS. 

Macedonians, III., 213; IV., 
5, 91, 94 ff., 114 ff. ; v., 96. 

Macedonius, IV., ii4f. 

Magdeburg Centuries, I., 26. 

Magicians, I., 239 f. 

Magnentius, IV., 72 f. 

Maimonides, VI., 150, 265. 

Mainz, Council of, V., 295. 

Maistre, de, VII., 78. 

Makhion, III., 39. 

Mamertius Claudianus, V., 258. 

Man, doctrine of, V., Apologists 
and II., 267 ff, 273 f., 283 f., 
363 f, etc., etc. 

Man, Son of, I., 64, ig$, 275 ff"., 
371. 

Mandeans, I., 310. ; III., 330. 

Manelfi, VII., 132. 

Mani and Manichaeans, I., 285 ; 
II., 40, 49; III., 51, 98, 153, 
163, igi, 234, 242, 246, 249 f , 
258, 316-336; IV., 8, 72, 128, 
206 f, 221, 26r, 308, 313, 
323, 340, 344; v., 33 f, S3, 
56, 79, 96, 1 30, 124, 127 f, 
187, 197, 203, 212, 219, 239, 
253- 

Marathonius, IV., 118. 

Marburg Articles, VII., 26. 

Marcus Aurelius, I., 122, 127. 

Marcellus of Ancyra, I., 24; 
II.. 237; III., 81, 88, 142, 
192, 221, 280; IV., 20, 63, 
64 ff., 67 ff., 71, 74, 82, 86, 



89, 91, 102, 112, 121, 127, 
132, 149, 151 f., i59, 166, 
333- 

Marcellus, Pope, V., 40. 

Marcia II., 156, 159. 

Marcian, Emperor, III., 224, 
234; IV.,3I3 ff, 220 ff,22S. 

Marcion and his Church, I., 89, 
136, 143 f, 14S, 162, 196,203, 
227, 234, 240, 248, 253 ff., 
259 ff., 266-284, 291, 296, 
312; 11., I, 9, 23 f^-. 38 ff., 
66 f, 77, 99, 109, 121, 123, 
138, 158 f., 230 ff., 238, 247- 

252, 255, 263, 277, 279, 2S2, 
301,351 ff; III., 12, 53,87, 
93, 114, 192, 234, 307. 321, 
331,334; IV., 138, 344; v., 
73, 212,226. 

Marcus, Gnostic, I., 239 ff., 250, 
263 ; II., 128. 

Marcus of Arethusa, IV., 77. 

Marcus, Spanish heretic, V., 
2S2. 

Marinus, I., 358. 

Maris, Persian, IV., 246. 

Maris of Chalcedon, IV., 3. 

Marius Mercator, V., 34, 171 ff, 
188, 282. 

Maronites, IV., 263. 

Marriage, Abstinence from. 
Criticisms of, and Legisla- 
tion upon, I., 238, 277, 308 ; 
II., 99, 102, 105, 107, 109 f., 
132; III., 110, 128 ff ; v., 
195,209,211 f., 214, 220, 230, 

253, 261, 264; VII., 194. 
Marriage, Sacrament of, VI., 

120, 202, 272 ff.; VII., S3f. 
Marsanes, I., 231. 
Marseilles, V., 246 f. 
Marsilius of Padua, VI., 139. 
Martiades, I., 231. 




306 HISTORY OF ^^^^^^^H 


Martin I., Pope, IV., 258. 


Mekhizedec I., 198; III., 26, 


Martin v., Pope, VI.. 140. 


64, 98. 


Martin of Tours, IV., 313 ; V., 


Meletians in Egypt, V., 41. 


59- 


Meletian Schism, Meletians, 


Martin of Troppau, VI., 125. 


I v., 7, 59,62 f 


Martyrs and Martyrdom, I,, 


Meletians of Antioch, IV, 84. 


216; 11., 35, 102, 107, 132. 


89 f , 92 ff, 95 f. 


139 f.; Ill,, 126, 18S, 219; 


Meletius of Lycopolis, IV., 4. 


IV., 308 £.318. 


Mellissus, v., 191. 


Mary V. Bearer of God, Virgin 


Meljto, I., 179, 187, 196 f.; II., 


Birth and III., 165 ; IV., 25, 


9,26,43, 106, 123, 133, 152. 


37, 168, 172, 177, iSi, 200, 


190, 231, 237 f., 243, 255, 


308, 314 ff ; v., 330, 226, 


264, 278 ff., 296, 299; III., 


23s, 264, 310 f.; VI.,9i,273> 


65, 193; IV, 14, 148. 


312 ff; vir., 60, 84,99- 


Memnon of Ephesus, IV.. 186. 


Mass, V. Eucharist 


Memra. I., 104. 


Materialism, I., 337. 


Menander, I., 244. 


Matthew, Gospel of, II., 48. 


Mendicant Order, VI., 85 ff., 


Matthias, 1., 255. 


no f., 123, 130 f., 143, 150 f. 


Matilda of Saxony, VI., 3, 


Menedemus,, Cynic, 1., 120. 


Matter, I., 256, 267, 351; II., 


Mennas of Constantinople, IV., 


213, 249. 345, 361, 370 ff.; 


186. 


III., 96 f. 


Menno Simons and Men- 


Maxentius, Scythian Monk, V., 


nonites, VII., 1 19, 121. 


255- 


Menophantus of Ephesus, IV., 


Maximilla, 1 1.. 97 ff. 


3- 


Maximinus Thrax. II., 71, 


Merits and Merit of Christ, II., 


168. 


132 f, 294 f.; III., 310 f. ; 


Maximus, Confessor, IV., 127, 


v., 18 f., 25. 85 ff, 208 f., 


252, 257 fT, 265, 282, 320, 


234. 26s ff., 326 ff.; VI.. 55. 


327. 3S0 f- ; v., 274, 277 ; 


66,78 f., 189 ff., 220, 225 f.. 


VI., 30. 


251, 263 f., 275 f-, 280 ff., 


Maximus, Candidate for Con- 


282-295 (Merita de condjgno ■ 


stantinople, IV., 95 f. 


et de congruo); VI., 301 ff.. 


Maximus, Philosopher, I., 355. 


308 ff ; VII., 67 ff. 


Maximus of Antioch, IV., 2 16. 


Meritum de congruo et de 


Maximus of Jerusalem, IV., 71, 


condigno, V., 254 ; see 


Maximus, the Usurper, IV., 


Merits. 


103. 


Merswin, VI., 113. 


Meier, F. K., I., 32. 


Messianic Passages, in Vol. I. 


Melanchthon, L, 25 ; VII., 26, 


passim., and III., 201 f 


131. 17s, 198. 200, 213,239, 


Messiah (Heathen Idea of), I., 


241 f., 254, 262 ff., 266. 


118,243. 


^^ 


J 



GENERAL INDEX 


r' 

FOR VOLS. L-VIL 307 


Messiah (Jewish Idea of), I., $ r, 


Mommsen's Catalogue of Holy 


60, 64 f , I02 f., 113,244,299, 


Scriptures, VI., 25. 


322 f. 


Monachism, I., 263 ; II., 13, 22, 


Metatron, I., 104, 


123 f.. 300; III., 3, 110 fl"., 


Methodius, I., 126, 304; II., 


127, 140 f., 153 f- 159 f.. 


13 f. ; III., 100, 104-H3, 129, 


174 f,, 180. 182, 187. 191. 


132 f.. 146. 1S7, 270, 2915. 


238, 243, 249, 259, 262 f.. 


397, 3CJ0 ; IV.. 45, 59. 161, 


298, 328; IV, 89, 191, 202, 


280 f., 292 {., 332 ; v., 28. 


224, 226 f., 23s, 245, 257 f., 


Metrodorus, II., 58. 


282 ff., 299, 307 f.. 318 ff, 


Metropolitan Constitution, II., 


325, 336, 345 f- ; v., 10 f., 


134; III., 126, 149; v., 24t. 


27 ff. ; 56 ff., 58, 138,171 ff., 


Michael, the Angel, I., 180; 


209. 253. 261, 262 ff, 324 ff.; 


III, 252. 


VI., 2 ff., 85 ff. no, 298; 


Michael, the Stammerer, IV., 


VII., 180 f., 190 ff, 215. 


328 ; v., 307. 


Monarchtans and Monarchian- 


Microcosm, III., 259,277, 285, 


ism, I., 196, 331; II., 14.66, 


293. 


92, 101, 233, 266, 352 ff. ; 


Migetius, v., 281. 


III,, 8-SO, 51-88,93. 


Milan, Synods of, IV, 71, 73, 


Monastic Associations, III., 


lOI. 


99. 


Milan, Chair of, 249 f. 


Monergism, IV., 252 ff 


Miltiades, II., 190, 237,243. 


Moneta, VI., 230. 


Minucius Felix, I., I30, 133; 


Monophysites, III., 154, 157, 


II.,7, 134, 169 f., 196(1:; v., 


170 f., 185. 197, 209, 213, 


23. 


237 f, 299, 301 ; IV., 124, 


Miracle, I., 6S ; H., 339 f; HI., 


141, 172 ff, 178 ff; and 


125; v., 124; VI., 186. 


Chapter III. See particu- 


Mithras, I., 118,243; II., 138, 


larly 222 ff., 227 ff., 241 f., 


141 ; IV.. 294, 305. 


252 ff., 286, 299 ; v., 27S ff. ; 


Modalism and ModaHsts, I., 


VI., 188 f. 


1S7; II., 263, 281 fC, 371; 


Monotheism, Christian, I., 179 


III., 13, 35 ff.. 51-88, V. also 


ff., 189; III., 7 ff., 70, 78, 85, 


Sabellianism, VI., 182; VII., 


103. 


199. 


Monotheism, Greek, I., 117 ff. 


Modalism, Naive, I., 182^,196, 


Monothelite Controversy, HI,, 


259,275; III., 54. 


49. 15;; IV., 235, 252-367; 


Modestus, 11., 237. 


v., 279. 


Mohammed, v. Muhammed. 


Montanists and Montanus, I., 


Moghtasilah, Confession of, 


120, 157, 168, 196, 238,391 ; 


III.. 320, 330. 


II., r f:,43, S3 ff, 65, 84, 92, 


Molina, VII.. 86, 89 ff. 


94-108, 121, 131, 152. 160, 


.Molinos, VIL, 100. 


299; HI., 6, 9 ff, 53, 108 f. 



HISTORV OF DOGMA. 



Moral Precepts and Morality 
(Christian), I., 141, 153 ff!, 
174; II., 22 f., 31 f., 65 f, 
94, 98 f., loi ff., 106, 147, 
170 ff. 214 f.; III., 172 ff., 
25s ff., 262 ff. ; v.. Chapters 
III. and IV; VI„ 133 f. 

Morality, Twofold, I., 23S ; II., 
107, 123, 125, 336 ; III., 2nd 
Part, Chapters I. and 11., 
326 ff ; v., 47, 56 f., 209 ; 
VI., 297 f., 315; VII., 215. 

Morality, Gnostic, I., 261 f. 

Morality, Manicha;an, III., 326 
ff 

Morality and Dogma, III., 172 
f., 187; IV., 309 ; also. Chap- 
ters IV. and v.. Vol. III. ; 
Vols, v., VI., and VII., 
passim. 

Moralism, I., 170 ff., 20O; II., 
7, 1 1, 14, 169-229, 267, 269 f., 
272, 336; III., 78 ; v., 23, 
52 ; VII., 134 f, and else- 
ivhere. 

Morgan, V., 170. 

Mortal Sins, II., 108 f., 118, 

121, 139 f.; v., 196 f.; VI., 

224 f., 234, 247 f, 258, 264 ; 

VII., 69. 
Moses, Five Books of, I., 107 f., 

320; 11., 362; III., 40, 325. 
Mosheim, I., 27 f 
Miinscher, I., 31. 
Munzer, VII., 131. 
Muhammed and Muhammed- 

anism, !., 306, 310; III., 187, 

190, 320, 329, 334 ; IV., 126, 

270, 319, 344; v., 108, 282 f.; 

VI., 43- 
Muratorian Fragment, I., 158, 

234; 11., 43 ff-, 75. 107; III., 

205. 



Musanus, I., 238 ; II., 237. 

Mystagogic Theology, III., 
IS5 f-; IV.. 271 ff., 279 ff., 
301, 318 ff, 335 ff., 346 f.; 
V. also Methodius. 

Mysteries and Mystery Wor- 
ship, Mysteriosophy and 
Mystagogy, I., 1 17 f., 151, 
206 ff., 225 f, 231 f, 240, 
253, 260, 263,269,354; II., 
S, 10. 13, 17, 129 ff., 137, 
140 f., 145 f. ; III., 157 ff- 
1S2 f., 1S5, 213, 235, 236 f., 
251 ff., 266, 268, 282, 294, 
300; IV., 49, 171, 180,268- 
330, 351; v., 291, 305 f., 

309 f. 

Mysticism, I., r68 f, 358, 361 £ ; 
II., 14, 80, 252 f., 272 f., 344; 
III., 31, 109, 15s, 270, 298 ff.; 
IV., 222, 240, 271, 279 ff, 

335 ff- 346 f-; v., 106 ff., 

238, 278 ff., 291, 305 f; VI., 

24 ff, 33 ff, 97-108. 113 ; 

VII., 13, 122 ff, 12S f., r^, 

186. 
Mysticism, Spurious, VII., lOO. 
Mythology, I., 112, 123, 229 ff., 

340 f., 3SS; ni., 332; and 

Vol. III., 121, to Vol. IV., 

353,/(7jjwK. 

Naassenes, I,, 340 f., 254 f. 

Napoleon L, Emperor, VII., 
77- 

NarcissusofNeronias,IV.,4, 57, 

Natalius, III., 23. 

Nature (in the Trinity), II., 
257; (Christology), I., 331 ; 
II., 279 f ; see also Hypos- 
tasis, Substance, Physis. 

Natura et Gratia, II., 269 ; V., 
33. 49 f-. 65 f. 




GENERAL INDEX FOR VOLS. I.-VIL 



309 



Nature, Christian View of, I., 
176, 179 ff.; v., ii4f.; VI., 
23- 

Nazarenes, I., 301, 304, 

Neander, I., 32 f. ; III., 53; 
VII., 26. 

Nectarius of Constantinople, 
IV., 95, 103. 

Nemesius, IV., 150. 

Neocaisarea, Synod of, II., 122. 

Neoplatonism, I., 122 f, 231, 
233. 336-364; n., II, 14, 
176, 327 f., 344; III., 2, 25, 
55 f-. 79, 91. 96. "7, 134. 
15s, 158, 189, 199, 240, 242 f, 
248 {., 253 f., 258, 269, 316, 
335; IV., 16, 39, 88, 132, 
14s, 271, 274,282, 294, 307, 
32S, 333, 337 f., 346. 349; 
v., 33 ff.. 52, 56. 84, loi f., 
no ff., 136 f, 131 f, 274, 
298; VI., II, 29, 33 ff., loi, 
104, 184. 

Neopythagoreans, I., 123, 345, 

Nepos, Bishop, II., 299. 

Nero, the returning, II., 297; 
III., 189. 

Nestorians and Nes tonus, I., 
292; III., 32, 40, 171, 193, 
201, 212, 238; IV., 124 ff,, 
180-189, ^nd passim in 
Chap. III., 205, 299, 316, 
324,344; v., 171, 188, 2SS, 
279 ff., 287; VI., 40, 187, 
198; VII., 262. 

New Testament, I., 48 f., 106, 
13s, 159, 162, 253 ff., 299; 
11., I ff, 15.19, 35 f., 38 to 
66 {39 critical principles), 
87, 93, 103, 106, 112, 121, 
151, 230 ff,, 289, 301 ff,, 348; 
III., 6, 12 f,; see Holy Scrip- 
ture. 



Nicaea, ist Council and Canons 
of, II., 147, 154. 166; III-. 
75, TOO, 117, 139. 151. 216, 
223, 225, 229; IV., 12, 26, 
SO ff., 65, 72, 83, 219; V, 31, 
47- 

Nicaea, Synod of 787; III., 

218, 252; IV., 303.304, 311. 

314, 316, 326 ff. ; v., 306 f, 

3io;VII., 5+ 

Nicetio-ConstantinopoHtan 
Symbol, III., 2cg f, 216 f., 
217; IV., 51 ff., 64 f., 67 f,, 
95 ff., 106, 132, 134, 186, 201, 
209, 214, 221, 227. 

Nice, Synod of. III., 230; IV., 

77 r. 

Nicephorus, III., 83. 

Nicetas of Romatiana, V., 244. 

Nicolas of Cusa, VI., 141, 171, 
310; VII., 123. 

Nicolas of Methone, VI,, 51. 

Nicolas I., Pope, VI., 7, 16, 18 

Nicolas II., Pope, VI., 50. 

Nicole, VII., 105. 

NihiJianism, VI., 1S8. 

Nilus, IV., 300, 

Nisibis, School, III., 193, 205. 

Nitrian Monks, IV., 342, 

Nitzsch, I., 37 ; III., 36, 84; V!,, 
27. 

Noailles, VII,, 96. 

Notitus and School, I,, 196 ; 
III., 51, 52 ff., 57 ff., 62 ff., 
66, 80, 84, 

Nominalism, III,, 55; VI., 24, 
34 f, 49, 107, 132, 162 ff., 
175, 178 ff, 205, 2og, 221 f., 
225 f,, 229, 233, 237 ff,, 301- 
317; VII., 7, 13 f- 16. 
58 ff., 92, 120 f,, 126 ff,, 
132, 236, 262, 264; compare 
Soc" " " 



310 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



k 



Nonadorantism, VII., 135. 

150 f. 
Norms, Catholic, 11., i ff, 

18 ff. 
North African Churches, III., 

218, 24S ff., 257 f. ; v., 341 f. 
Noting, VI., 295. 
Nous (vovs), I; 350 K 
Novatian and School (person 

and schism), I., 121, 183 ff., 

189; II., 17. 37 f., 64, 86 f.. 

91 f-. 95. 97. 112-122, 123, 

162, 235, 259, 262, 294, 313 ; 

in., 38. 52, 56, 58. 69, 73. 

79, 95. 152. 215, 22s, 238: 

IV., 84, 104 f., 121, 185 ; v., 

24 f., 26, 31, 38 f., 43, 105, 

279. 
Number of the Sacraments, IV., 

276; VI., 201 f. ; Vn.,44. 
Numenius, I., 112, 123, 127, 

345 f. ; III., 100, 269; IV., 

39- 

Obex, VI., 223. 

Occam, VI., 139 f., i6r f., 165, 
17S ff., 189, 208, 227, 239, 

304, 310 fr., 314; vir., 262, 
264. 

Occhino, VII., 133. 

Odo of Morimond, VI., 13. 

CEcolampadius, I., 25; VII., 
262. 

Ecumenical Synods, v. Coun- 
cils. 

Offices (three) of Christ, VII., 
149 f- 

Old Testament, I,, 41 f, 81 f., 
87 f.,99f-. 108 f, lis, 15s f-. 
159, 163, 168, 171, 175- 
79, 184, 187, 196 f., 199, 
222 ff, 227 ff., 242 ff, 246 f., 
253, 256 f., 260, 268 ff., 281 f., 



287 f., 291 ff., 296, 303 t, 

306,314; II., 34, 38 ff., 58 f. 

71, 130, 169-229 passim, 

230 f, 300 ff., 326 ; III., 26 ; 

v., 327; see also Holy Scrip- 
ture. 
Old Testament, Deutero- 

canonical parts, I., 109, 205, 
Old Testament, Attempts at a 

Christian, I., 114 f ; II., 65. 
Old Testament Sacraments, 

VI., 210. 
Omnipotence of God, I., 318; 

II., 350; D^nd passim. 
Omnipresence of God, I., 318, 

and passim. 
Omniscience of God, 11. , 350, 

and passim. 
Only-begotten Son, I., 186, 

189. 
Opera supererogatoria. III., 

263. 
Ophites, I., 203, 237, 239, 249 f., 

255. 
Optatus, IL, 93 ; III., 80, 223 ; 

v., 25, 39, 42 ff., 53, 141 f., 

154- 
Opus operantis (operans), VI., 

210, 321. 

Opus operatum, VI., 210, 221 ; 

VII., 44, 2i6, 256, 260. 
Orange, Synod of, V., 258, 266, 

301. 
Ordeals, IV., 310; V., 309. 
Ordination, II., 140 ; V., 41 f., 

161 f . ; VI., 125, 135, 202, 

211, 270 ff. 

Ordines septem, VI., 271 f. 

Oriental cults, I., 229 f 

Origen and his School, I,, 8, 
77, 1O2, 106, 114, 124, 136, 
163, 179, 185, 192, 197, 202, 
224, 226 f, 234, 237, 259, 



GENERAL INDEX FOR VOLS. 



3" 



260 ff., 288, 293, 296, 299 f. 

304. 348, 359 f-; n., 6 ff, 

II ff.. 36 f., 45, 52, 61, 64 f., 
72, 81 ff,, 91 f., 99, loS, 
nSff., 124 ff., 128 ff., 131 ff.. 
137, 141 f., 14s, 152 f., 164, 
176, 233. 235, 250, 255, ^^7, 
286 f., 295. 304, 331-380; 
III., 5, 29, 34 ff, 43, 52 f., 
56, 62, 64, 77. 83 f., 88, 93. 
95 f., 98-113, 122 f., 129 f., 
131-142, 14s f., 152. 153 f., 
172, 175, 183, 186 f., 189, 
193. I9S> 197 f-. 200, 201, 
204 ff., 212, 23s, 246, 247 f., 
250 f., 253, 256 ff„ 261, 
263 f , 270 f., 276 f., 284, 290, 
293, 298 f., 305, 307. 308 f. ; 
IV., 3, 14,21, 23, 38 f., 39 f., 
43 ff., 51 ff., 59, 67, 71, 82f., 
88 f., 103, no ff, 115, 120 f., 
139, 146 f, i5of, 159 ff., 191, 
205, 232, 237, 245 f., 249, 
258, 272, 280 f., 284, 290 f, 

305, 33' ff-, 334-349; v., 
14, 28 ff., 32 f, 78, 102, 109, 
178, 312; VI., II, 34 f-, 44. 
loi, 186. 

Origenistic Controversies, III., 
147, 234; IV., 232, 24s, 
340 ff.. 346 ff, 

Orleans, Synod of, V., 282. 

Orosius, v., 173, 178 f. 

Ortliebists, VI., 136. 

Osseni. I., 304. 

Otto, I., Emperor, VI., 7. 

Otto of Bamberg, VI., 202. 

Ousia, see Substance. 

Pacian, V., 25, 38, 48. 
Palestine, Christians in, I., §§ 5 

and 6, 289 ff., 294 ff., 299 ff., 

309- 



Palladius, IV., 313. 
Pamphilus, II., S2 ; III., 35, 96, 

112,213,332. 
Pamphylian Synod, IV., 226. 
Pant^enus, II,, 325. 
Pantheism, II,, 343; III,, 254, 

271, 295, 298 f, 300 f. ; IV., 

240, 280, 309, 347 ; VI., 

104 f, 136, 150, 179 f, 184 f; 

VII., 121 ff„ 13a f. 
Papias. I., 103, J06, 152, 158 ff,, 

167 f., 2S8; II., 82, 98, 296, 

298. 
Paradise, v. Chiliasm, and III., 

188, 261 f., 273 f., 283. 
irapaSorrii aypa^o^', III,, 212 f., 

239 ; IV., 323. 
Pardulus, v., 298. 
Paraclete, v. Holy Spirit. 
Paris, Synods of, IV., 80, 314; 

v., 307. 

Paris, University of, V., 8 ; VI,, 

125, 140 f., 315; VII,, 87. 
Parmenian, V., 42 ff., 53, 
Parmenides, V., 191, 
Parsism, III., 330 ff. 
Parties in the Apostolic Age, 

I., 87 f., 89 ff. 
Pascal, VII., 93, 105, 
Paschasinus, IV., 214. 
Paschasius Radbertus, V, 276, 

310, 312 ff.; VI., 47, 51,312. 
Pastor jEternus, Bull, VI., 127 ■ 

VII., 6,73- 
Pastoral Epi.stles, I., 162, 215, 

248, 270, 304 ; II., 23, 42, 44, 

48 f., 74. 
Patarenes, VI,, 136. 
Patience, I., 173. 
Patriarchal Constitution, III., 

221 f,; IV,254'(cecumenicaI 

Patriarchs) ; V., 242. 
Patriarchs, Montanist, II,, 97, 



312 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



Patripassians, v. Medalists, 
Paul, Apostle (doctrine and 
Epistles), I., 48 f, 56 f., 83, 
85 ff!, 92 ff., 100, 105, 113, 
130,132^,148.155. 158 ff, 
16S f, 172, 176, 179, 192, 193, 
199 ff-i 208, 217, 228, 234, 
238, 241, 24S U 246, 255, 
268 ff., 278 ff, 281 f., 293 ff., 
299 f., 304 ff, 316, 324-332; 
II., 10, 38-66, 74, 155 ff, 332 
ff, 239 f., 261, 268, 270 f.j 
272 f., 278, 289, 292, 293, 
296 f.; III., 6, 168, 332 ; 

IV., 155, 162; v., 34 f.. 41, 

51.56,73.77.84.214,231 f.; 
VII., 161, 169 f., 182, 210. 

Paul of Samosata, 1., 24, 195 ; 
II., 40, 130; III., II, 59 ff, 
71, ioi, 114, 134, 141, 215, 
222, 227; IV., I ff, 20, 21, 
25, 40 f.,4S, 65, 67, 70, 81, 
146, 151 f., 159, 161, 162 ff., 
182 f., 197 and passim, 252 ; 
v., 130, 282. 

Paul of Constantinople, IV., 64. 

Paul n. of Constantinople, IV., 
257 f- 

Paul v., Pope, VII., 91. 

Faulicians, III., 191, 336; VI., 
8. 

Paulinus of Aquileia, V., 275 ; 
284, 298 ff. 

Paulinus of Antioch, I V, 90, 92 
f., 95-102. 

Paulinus of Iconium, II., 131. 

Paulinus of NoIa,IV.,3io; V., 
52, 172, 174. 

Paulinus of Milan, V., 175, 185. 

Paulinus of Trier, IV., 73. 

Paulinus of Tyre, IV.. 3, 14. 

Pelagius I., Pope, II!., 223 ; 
IV., 250. 



Pelagius, Pelagians, III., 188, 

230, 282, 303 ; IV., 171, 183, 
184 f., 343 ; v., 26, 30, 168- 
202, 251, 255, 302, VI., 168, 
284, 390 ff, 315; VIL, 56, 
71, go f, 92 f., 161, 165. 

Pella, I., 300. 

Penal Suffering, VI., 55, 67 {., 
and elsewhere. 

Penance (penitence). Penance 
Discipline and Sacrament of 
Penance, I., 59, 62 f, 146, 
200 f. ; II., ro8-i2i, 137 
f.; Ill,, 78; IV., 311 f.; v., 
37 f, 41, 161, 229 f., 264 f., 
2691:, 318, 321-331 ; VI., 54 

ff., 65, 102, 135, 202, 223, 

227, 243-269 ; VII., 51 m, 

69, 101 ff, 218, 250, 252. 
Penitence and Expiation, I., 

Ii8f. 
Penitence, Preachers of, VI., 

Ill f. 
Pepuza, I„ 16S. 
PeratiE, I., 237, 254, 
Peregrinus, I., 120, 239. 
Perfection, Evangelical, I., § 4, 

238 f. ; II., 121, 123, 369 ; 

III., 322. 
TreptxiopWii J v., 125, 265 f. 
Perpetua and Felicitas, Acts of, 

I., 172; II., 103. 
Peronne, VII.. 81. 
Persia, IV., 189, 345. 
Persian Deities, I., 229. 
Person (in the Trinity and 

Christology), II., 257 ff., 280 

ff., 374; IV., 56, 81, 85 f., 

121 f., and Chapters II. and 

in. 

Personality, Idea of, v. Augus- 
tine, Mysticism, and ^VI., 
163, J79. 



GENERAL INDEX TOR VOLS. L-VH. 



313 



Peter de Marca, VII., ^6. 

Peter, I., 160-165, 255,313 ff-; 
II., 88 f., 15; ff., 165 f.; in., 
224 ; v., 272; VI., 8. See 
also Leo L, Primacy, Roman 
Community. 

Peter of Alexandria, III., 99 f., 
104, 143; IV., 7, 187, 332. 

Peter, Apocalypse of, I., loi, 
146, 167 ; II., 40, 50, 98, 

Peter, Epistles of, I., 83, 96, 
104, 160, 189, 201 ; II., 40, 
42, 48. 

Peter, Gospel of, I., 84, 177, 
199, 203, 238; II., 42. 

Peter, Preaching of, I., 219, 

Peter, the Lombard, VI., 40, 
43 f,, 44, 81 f., 129, 165, 179, 
1S2. 187 f., 194, 203, 205 f., 
213, 219, 222, 224 f,, 228, 
233. 23s. 240. 244, 251, 
262, 269 f, 272, 273, 276 ff., 
303- 

Peter of Kallinico, IV., 125. 

Peter of Poictiers, VI., 210. 

Petrikau, Synod, VII., 136. 

Petrobuaiani, VI., 230. 

Petrophilus, IV., 4. 

Petrus Aureolus, VI., 162. 

Petrus of Comestor, VI., 14. 

Petrus Damiani. VI,, 202. 

Petrus d'Ailly, VI.. 141. 

Petrus Fullo, IV., 230, 235. 

Petrus Mongus, VI., 22S, 237. 

Petrus de Palude. VI., 251. 

Phantasiasts, IV., 237. 

Pharisaism, I., 56, 68 f, 94, 105, 
289 f, 302 f., 307 ; VI., 150; 
VII., 56. 

Philastrius, III., 14, 54, 83. 

Philemon, Epistle to. III., 196. 

Philip the Arabian, II., 168. 

Philip of Gortyna, II., 237. 



Philippopolis, Synod of, IV., 
69, 76, 101. 

Philo, I., 97, 109 ff., 233, 241 
253, 346 f. ; II., 6, II, 175, 
207 f, 325 f., 350 ; III., 302, 

246, 253, 258 ; IV., 28, 39, 
48, 103 ; v., 31. 

Philo's Hermeneutics, I., 114. 

Philosophy, Greek, I., 122 ff., 
222 ff, 266-286, 337, 358 (see 
also Gospel and Hellenism); 
II., 6 ff., 32, 169-229, 232 f., 

247, 261, 299, 325 f, 338, 
342, 378 f.. Philosophy and 
Dogma also, III., 167, 170, 
178, 238 ff ; IV., 128 f., 131 
f.,232ff.,264,278f.; V.,Chaps. 
II. and III,, 100 f.; VI., 27 
ff 

Philostorgius, III., 126; IV., 

4, 18, 21,88, 103, 150, 285. 
Philoxenus, v. Xenaias. 
Philumene, I., 231. 
Phlegon, I., 164. 
Fhobadius, IV,, 76. 
Phocylides, I., 155 f. 
Photinus, III., 33, 49; IV., 66, 

70,72,91, 159, 182; v., 130, 

282. 
Fhotius, II., 370; III., 95, 162, 

221, 230, 321 ; IV., 127, 134, 

263, 275 ; V,, 307, 
Phrygia, II., 96 ff. 
Phthartolatry, IV., 237. 
Physis. IV., 24 34 f., 81, 86, 

124, also Chaps. II, and III. 
Pierius, III., 95 f., 116; IV., 

41- 
Pietism, VII., 255, 272. 
Pionius, Acts of, I., 196, 293, 
Pistis Sophia, I., 303, 207, 254, 

263; II., 380; III., III. 
Pistoja, Synod of, VII., 8a 



Pistus, IV.. 64. 
Pithou, VII., 76. 
Pius II.. Pope, VII., 6. 
Pius v., Pope, VII., 86. 
Pius VI., Pope, VII., 8a 
Pius VII. , Pope, VII., 78. 
Pius IX.. Pope, VII., 82, 99. 
Platonism and' Plato, I., 122, 
126 f., 229, 236, 238 f., 243 f, 

249, 333 ff, 348 f. ; II., 82 f., 
174, 177 ff- i8S f^; 194. 19s 
f- 338. 34S> 362; HI., 8, 55- 
79. 155, 158, 170, 176, 181, 
248, 250, 25S f., 2S7, 296 f. ; 
IV,, 6 {.. 74, 88 f., 129, ISO, 
337. 346; v., 32, 33 f., 191, 
see also Neoplatonism, VI., 
40, 169, 171 ff., 304; VII., 
3- 

Pleroma, I., 232. 257, 261 ; IL, 
345- 

Pliny, I., 166, 186. 

Plotinus, I., 127, 34 1, 344 ff., 
351 f, 360; II., 261; III., 
56, 100, 126, 243, 259; IV,, 

39, 132, 150, 350; VI., loi. 
Plutarch, I., 112, 122, 127, 357. 
Pneumatici, I.. 249 f. ; III., 5. 
Pneumatic Christology, I., 192- 

199. 

Pneumatomachoi, v. Mace- 
donians. 

Polemon, IV., 23 S. 

Polish Church, VIL, 135 f. 

Polychronius, IV., 166. 

Polycarp and his Epistle, I., 
120, 150. 152, 157-203, 204, 

250, 285; IL, 15, 20 f., 26, 

40, 42, 152, ig8, 163, 238, 
Vita per Pionlum, III., 158. 

Polycarp, Martyrdom of, I., 

157, i8sf.; n.,7S- 

Polycrates, I., 26S ; tl,, 149. 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



fc 



Polytheism, I., iiS, iSr, 337; 
11., 7, 12, 171 ff., 217, 338; 
III., 125, 131, 13s f., 163 f., 
242, 252 f., 264 ; IV., 21, 27» 
30, 38 ff., 6r, yg, 273 f., 278, 
282 f., 287 f., 304 ff, 317 f. ;, 
v.. 109. 

Pontian, Roman Bishop, II., 
168; III., 73. 83.93. 

Poor, Description of Christians, 
I., 299. 

Poor, Support of, I., 205 f., 209. 

Pope, V. Roman Bishop, and 
v., II, 241, 272; VI., 16 ff., 
118 ff, 230 f., 257, 263 f., 
268, 269, 271 f. ; VII., 5 ff, 
10 ff, 37 ff., 42, 72-79, 81-86,. 
IIO-I17, 220 f 

Poverty, Franciscan, VI., 85 ff, 
93 f- 

Porphyrians, IV., 58. 

Porphyry, I., 127, 237, 341, 345 
f. 349 f-, 359; II-. 175. 340 
ff; III., 100, 136, 146, 243, 
259; IV., 132, 150, 244, 350;, 
VI., 34- 

Port Royal, VII., 0. 

Posidonius, I., 122. 

Possessor, Bishop, V, 256. 

Preedestes, III., 14, 

PfiEdestinatus, /id., V., 251. 

Prsedestinatus, III., 285, 303 ;. 
v., 36, 91, 126 f., 166 f., 20s 
f,2i7, 23if, 238f, 248f., 250- 
261, 366, 270, 291-302 ; VI.,, 
132 ff., 143 ff., 169 f., 295 f.,. 
305 f. ; VII., 160, 201, 246. 

Prsdicatio Petri, I., 155, 161, 
171 f, 176, 177, 180 f, 192 f., 
204, 207, 303 ; II., 59. 

Pragmatic sanction, VI., 119. 

Praxeas, II., 97, 160, 163, 256 
f ; III., 59ff, 70, 80. 



GENERAL INDEX TOR VOLS. I.-VII. 



315 



Prayer, I., 164 f, 1S4, 204 ff., 
210 {.; II., 134 ff., 376; v., 
97 ; VI., 258 f. 

Prayer for the Dead, V., 233. 

Prayer to Jesus, I., 184. 

Preaching (Kerygma), I., 76- 
85, 15s ff., 1CJ9-203, 224 f., 
2SS f., 260; II., 20 f, 25 ff., 
42, 219, 246; III., 313, 229 
f. ; IV., 116. 

Pre-existence (of Christ) and 
Ideas of it, I., 82, 83, loi f., 
126, 191 f, 197 ff., 29S, 300, 

313-332; n., 38; III., 42, 

47f., 65, 118; VII., 148. 
Pre-existence of Souls, 111., 96, 

318 f. (v. also Soul); III., 

358 ff., 265. 277. 
Pre-Reformers, V., 159; VI., 

gy ff, 309. 
Presbyter, I., 213 f, 266; 11., 

129 f ; IV., 7. 
Presbyter in Iren^us, I., 163, 

203 ; II., 27 f., 68 f., 231 f., 

238, 265, 267, 292, 296, 306. 
Prescription, Proof from, II., 

247, V. Tradition. 
Priests, Christian, I., § 4, 214 ; 

II., 5, 78. 86, IIS, 128-131, 

303; III., 3 ff„ 336, 286 f. ; 

v., 161,273 ; VI., 53,90, 119 

ff, 135, 240, 245 f., 25s ff., 

268,271 f.; VII., S3. S3, 23of. 
Priests' Garments, VII., 36. 
Primacy of Rome, II., 149-168; 

III., 224 f. ; v., 46, ISO, 241, 

V. Roman Community. 
Primeval Being, I., 349 f. 
Primeval State, v. Apologists, 

II., 367ff ; III., 261 ff, 272 

ff. ; v.. 197 ff, 2ioff., 21s f.; 

VI., 282 ff., 397 f. ; VII., 59 

f., 88, 200 f. 



Primeval Man. Hi., 334. 
Priscilla(Prisca), II.. 96ff 
Priscillian, III.,336; IV, 133; 

v., 58 ; VI., 8. 
Priscus, I., 355- 
Probabiliorism, VII., 105. 
Probabihsm, V, 3 ; VI., 162, 

168; VII., 36, 38, 46, 56, 

ior-109. 
Proculus, II,, 98, 100, 163, 237; 

in, 53- 

Proclus, I., 127, 357, 361. 
Procopius, III.. 99 ; IV., 106. 
Professio fidei Tridentina;, VI., 

S3; VII., 73- 82 f; 
Prophets (Christian) and 

Teachers, I., 101, 106, 155, 

159. 164, 166,17s, 2[3f.,23I, 

239 f- 253 f- 275. 288; JI., 
41.46, 51. S3 ff-, 69 f, 95 f.^ 
104 ff., 128, 131, 232, 299, 
308 ff. ; III., IS ff ; VI., 95, 
III. 

Prophets of the Old Testament, 
III., 40, 325. 

Prophets, Gnostic, I., 231. 

Prophetic Succession, II., lOO. 

Prophecy, Proof from, I., 81 f., 
100, 108, 175 f, 256 f ; II., 
182 ff, 201, 217 ff., 291, 301, 
304, 368. 

Propositiones GalHcanje, VII., 
75 ff 

Prosopon Doctrine, III., 85 ff. 

Prosper. V., 187, 246 ff, 249 ff., 
355. 

Proterius, IV., 194, 

Protestantism, f. Reformation. 

Protogenes, IV., 68. 

Protoplast, 1 1 1., 106 f , V. Adam, 

Provincial Synods, IIL, 215 f. 

Prudentius, IV., 69, 132; V., 
25, 28, 52. 



3i6 

Prudentius of Troyes, V., 297 

f. 
Psalms, I., 70, 98, 177; v., 

84. 
Psalms, Christian, I., 166, 241. 
Psalms, Inscriptions of. III., 

193- 
Psalms of Solomon, I., 68. 
Pseudo-Ambrose, v., 258 ; VI., 

235- 
Pseudo-Augustine, V., 35S ; 

VI., 244. 
Pseudo-Chry SOS torn, IV., 299. 
Pseudo-Clement de Virginitate, 

I., 157, 160 ; III., 1 12. 
Pseudo-Clementine Homilies 

and Recognitions, I., 188, 

289, 310-317; II., 164, 295. 
Pseudo-Cyprian, I., iSg; II., 

120 ; v., 24 f., 38, 54. 
Pseudo-Cyril, VI., 124. 
Pseu do- Gregory, VI.. 262. 
Pseudo-Hippolytus, III., 165. 
Pseudo- Isidore, V., 325 ; VI., 

16, 18 f, 123, 232. 
Pseudo-Justin, Oratio ad Gr., 

II., 193, de Monarchia, 199, 

de Resurrectione, 195 f., 277, 
Pseudo-Origen-Adamantius, I., 

266 f,, 251, 291 ; III., 104, 

{v. Adamantius). 
Pseudo-Tertullian, III., 60. 
Psychici, I., 260 f, ; 11., 104, 

125- 

Psychology, III., 183, 255 ff.; 

v., 21, 106 f., Ill f; VI., 

163- 
Ptolemasus, Valentinian, I., 1S6, 

204, 234 f., 255, 256, 258, 

260 ; II., 41, 44, 248, 301 ; 

IV., 13. 
Pulcheria, IV., 202 ff., 212 K, 

221. 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



Pupper of Goch, VI., 144, 170 
278; VII., 16, 173, 192. 

Purifying Fire, II., 377. 

Purgatory, II., 296; III., 1S9 ; 
v., 233, 23s, 268 f. ; VI., 90, 
259 ff. ; 261 f., 268 ; VII., 
54- 

Pyrrhus of Constantinople, IV., 
256 f. 

Pythagoras, I., 239, 243, 249 ; 
II., 195 ; IV., 149; v., 191. 

Quaternity, VI., 182. 
Quartodecimani, v. Easter 

Controversy. 
Quesnel, Paschasius, VII., 96. 
Quietism, V., 75 f., 91, 136 ; 

VII., 100. 

Rabanus, V., 274, 295 f, 300, 

311- 318. 
Racovian Catechism, VII., 118 

f, 137 ff. 

Radbertus, v. Paschasius. 
Ransom, III., 307 f. 
Ransoming, II., 290, v. Atone- 
ment. 
Rationalism, I., 131 f., 170 f^ 

231 f., 263,362; II., 172-229, 

232 f., 240. 244, 249, 254 f., 
306 fT; III., 243 ff, 257 ff., 
266 f, 269 f., 271 ; v., 17 ff., 
26, 56,64, 125 f., 170. 172 ff, 
189 ff. ; VI., 38 f., 80 f., 153 
f. ; VII., 372, etc., V. also 
Eooklll., Chap. III. 

Ratramnus, V., 297, 302, 310, 

318 ff; VI.,47f- 
Raymund, VI., ir8, 165. 
Realism (Speculative), III., 105 

f., in; VI., 33 ff. iSi ff, 

161. 



GENEKAL INDEX FOR VOLS. I.-VII. 



317 



Real Presence, v. Eucharists, 

and Vi; 238 f. 
Recapitulatio. II., 238 f, 241 f., 

263, 372 ff, 27S, 284, 287, 

290, 291 ff. 
Recarred, IV., 133; V., 282. 
Redemption, II., 365 ff. ; III., 

105 ff., 111,117, 164 ff, 247, 

250, 265 ff., 288 ff, 316; IV., 

42, 45 f., 270. 
Redemption, Capacity for, I., 

181. 
Redemptorists, VII., 108. 
Reformation, III., 190, 217; 

VI., ri6 f., 162, 217, 222; 

VII., 20 f, 23 ff. 35 f, 40, 

50, 5i f., 56 ff, 72, 86, ii9f., 

128 f., 168-274. 
Reform Councils, VI., 114. 
Reformed Churches, VII., 133 

ff 
Regeneration, I., 93, 171 ; II., 

140, 376; III,, 108; VI., 

lor, 227 f. 
Regensburg, Synod of, V., 287. 
Regula fidei, v. Kerygma, Tra- 
dition, Rule of Faith. 
Reichersberg Theologians, VI., 

52- 
Relics, Worship of, II., 124; 

III., 126, 159; IV., 269,276, 

278 f., 304, 309,312!., 317 ff; 

v., 268, 282 f. ; VI., 91, 102, 

142,315; VII., 54. 
Religion, Mythical, II., 339 f 
Religion, Natural, I., 107 f., 

337; II-> 77'- III-- 329 f. etc. 
Religion and Morality, Greek, 

I, u?. 
Religion, Philosophy of, I., §§ 

7, 8, pp. 230 ff, 235 r., 349 

{.; II., 323 f., 330, 336,379, 



Remigius, V., 297 f., 299 f. 

Renaissance, Period of the, I., 
362; VI., 104, 113, 170 ff. ; 
VII., 13, 18, 120 f., 126 f., 
135- 

Renan, I., 38, 89. 

Renato, Camillo, VII., 133. 

Repentance, see Penitence. 

Re-ordination, VI., 125, 135^ 
271 f. 

Representation of the Church, 
III., 214 ff. 

Resurrection of Christ, I., 66, 
84 ff., i6s, 199 ff, 326; III., 
22, 78, 98. 

Resurrection of the flesh (v. 
also [eternal] life), I„ 85 f, 
157, 168 f., 181 f, 261, 272, 
331. 354, 360; II-. 24. 144. 
161. 189, 315,300, 345, 377 
f. ; in., 163 f., 182, 186,255 
ff, 269. 

Reticius, V., 38. 

Reuter, VI., 32, 80. 

Revelation of John, v. Apoca- 
lypse of John. 

Revelation, Doctrine of, II., 
177 ff., 198 ff., 217 ff, 338, 
342, 347. 350 ff., 366; III., 
316 ; v., 125 ff, etc. 

Revelation, History of, I., 103, 

338. 

Revelation, Philosophy of, I., 

Ill, 229 f, 341 ; 11., 171 ff, 

177 ff; in., 316. 
Revelation, Longing for, I., 

102 f., 125 : II., 174. 
Revelation Age, Close of, II., 

53 f, 64, 99 f., 108, 352. 
Revolution, French,VII.,77, 80. 
Rhetoric, III., 183. 
Rhodon, I., 340, 266 f., 385 ; 

11., 91, 231, 237. 




1 SI'S HISTORY' OF DOGMA. ^^^^1 


■ Ricci, Vn., Sa 


Rome, Synods of, IV., 66 f., 91 


■ Kichard of St. Victor, VI., loo, 


f, 99 f- 158, 185, 342; v., 


■ 103. 179. 182. 


184; VI., SI 1., (see also 


■ Richelieu, VII., 71. 


Lateran Synods). 


H Risjhteousness of God, I., 170 : 


Romanic, v., 7. 


■ II.. 351 f. ; III., Chaps. II. 


Romanticists, VII., 78, 80. 


f and IV. ; V., 202. 


Roscellin, VI., 34> ISL 162, 


Rimini, Synod of, IV., 78 f., 


182. 


92. 


Rothe, I., 39. 


Ritsch!, I., 37 ; II.. i; VI.. 12, 


Rousseau, VI., 261. 


100, 107: VIL, 27, 124 ff., 


Rufinus, III., 129, 194 202, 


148 ff., 236, 241, 271 f. 


210; IV., 341 f. ; v., 32 17a 


Robert Pullus, VI., 44, 202, 


Rufus of Thessalonica, V., 186. 


222. 


Rupert of Deutz, VI., 52. 


Roland, Magister, v. Alexander 


Ruysbroek, VI., lOO, 113. 


III. 




Roman Influences on the Shap- 


Sabas. IV., 348. 


ing of the Catholic Church, 


Sabatier, I., 24. 


I.. 127. 


Sabbath, I., 298 f., 3o6f. ; II., 


Roman Community and Bishop 


130, 161. 


and Christianity, I., rjo, 157, 


Sabellians and Sabellianism, 


164,250, 305, 308, 312 ; II., 


I., 276; II., 43. 373; ni., 


26, 34, 37, 46 f., 62, 70 f., 83 


45, SI ff, 68, 73, 79, 80-101, 


f., 88 f, 97, 100, 104, 114 f.. 


112, 132; IV., 8, 12,14,23, 


117-122, 123, 158-168; III., 


25, 31, 44, 47, S3, 60,65 f-> 


150, 219, 223, 224 ff, 236 f, 


67,70, 71.76,81, 86,89,92, 


238 f. ; IV.. 6r, 71, 91 ff.. 


g?, 102, no, 121, 124, 129, 


103, 133 f., 182 ff., 191 ff.. 


131,145, 231; v., 282; VI., 


201, 207, 225, 241 f., 243 ff., 


40, 182. 


247 ff, 256 ff, 260 f., 262 f. ; 


Sabians, v. Zabians. 


v., S ff, 25 ff, 40, 47, ISO, 


Sabinian of Perrha, IV., 209. 


242, 243, 253-261, 281, 302, 


Sabinus, III., 216; IV., 51. 


307, 325 ; VI.. 16 ff ; VII., 


Sacrament, I., 210 f., 263 ; II., 


6 ff., 10 ff 


30, 91, 114, 137 ff., V. Mys- 


Roman Symbol, I., 100, 157, 


teries ; v., 10, 38 ff, 43 ff., 


16S, 181, rSs f., 203; II., rS, 


56 f., 156-162, 199, 202, 20s 


20 f., 28 f, 30 f.. 75, 151 f. ; 


f. ; VI., 42, 45, 47, 52 i, 89 


ni., 75, 210; IV., 14s, 184, 


ff., lOi f., 129, 132 ff., 139, 


203 ; v., 244. 


144, 174, 200-275; VII., 43- 


Roman Spiritual and Secular 


57, 128, 215-220, 225, 23S, 


State, I„ 121 f., 127 f. ; III., 


348 ff 


Chap. I. (Second Part); V., 


Sacraments, Number of, IV., 


241 ff 

- 

i 


276; VI., 201 f.; VII., 44- 



GENERAL INDEX FOR VOLS. L-VII. 



3'9 



Sacramentalia, VI., 142, 205, 

230; VII., 55 f. 
Sacred Things of Earth, I., 321. 
Sacrifice, Christian, I., 134, 164, 

199 f., 204 ff., 209 ff. ; 11, 

131-138, 291 ; III., 236, 30; 

ff., 283 ff., 290-302 ; v., 269 

f., V. Eucharist, 327. 
Sacrifices, Heathen, I., 205 ff., 

209 f. 
Sacrifices, Jewish, I., 68, 209 f., 

246 f., 302 f., 308 ; II., 130. 
Speculum obscurum, VI., 32. 
Sailer, VII., lOO. 
Saints, Worship of, III., 

125, 159 f.; IV., 1S8, 305, 

308 f., 311 f., 324; v., 209, 

268, 282 f. ; VI., 91. 142. 

315; VII., 14, 54. 
Salimbene, VI., 95. 
Sallust, I., 355 ; V., 191. 
Salvation, History of, II., 242 

ff.,287 ff.,304f.; III.,87, 202. 
Salvation, Assurance of, v. 

Certainty of Faith. 
Salvation, Benefits of, I., 127 f., 

162 ff. ; H., 10, 14; III., 163 

ff ; IV., 271. 
Salvation, Facts of, II., 288 ff. 
Salvian, V., 242. 
Samaria (Religion), I., 243 f, 

305 ; IV., 72. 
Sampssei, I., 304. 
Sardica, Synod of. III., 183, 

225 ; IV„ 57, 66, 68 f, 84, 

Sardinia, Bishops, V., 255. 

Sarpi, VII., 38. 

Satisfaction, H., 132, 294 f. ; 
III,, 310 f.; v., 18 f., 25,229, 
323 ff ; VI., 54-78, 190 ff., 
257 ff.; VII., 131, 156 ff., 
198 f., 225. 



Saturninus, I., 247 f, 248, 259. 
Saviour {rrtorvp), I., 146, I80 f., 

183 f., 189. 
Savonarola, VI., iii ; VII., 18. 
Savonibres, Synod of, V., 300, 
Saxons, V., 275. 
Scepticism, I., 337 ; V., 77, 

78 f. 

Scetian Monks, HI., 247; IV., 
340. 

Schaff, VII., 33 f. 

Shechina, I., 104- 

Scherr, Archbishop, VII., 84. 

Schism of 484-519, IV., 228. 

Schism, the Great Fapal, VI., 
140 f. 

Schismatics, II,, 92 ; V., 140 ff. 

Schleiermacher, I., 33 f. ; VII., 
272. 

Scholasticism, I., 357 f. ; III., 
155, 158 f., 246, 251 ; IV., 
125, 131, 146, 174, 232 f., 
239, 247, 250, 259, 264 ff, 
2;5, 300,347ff.,48i ff- ; VI., 
23 ff., 149 ff., 174 ff., see 
Nominalism, Thomas, Duns, 
etc. 

Schools, Gnostic and Ecclesi- 
astical, I., 240, 246 ff., 268, 
274 f„ 298 f ; II., 30 f.,321 
ff ; III., 26, 117. 

Schwenkfeld, VII., 123, 131, 
260. 

Scillitanian Acta Marlyrum, 
II., 4L 

Scotu.s, Duns, V. Duns. 

Scotus (Erigena) III., 299 ; 

IV., 134, 240; v., 35. 274 f.. 

277, 298 ; VI., 30, 47, loi, 
150. 179- 

Scripture, Holy, v. Old and 

New Testaments, HI., 169 

f, 186, 192-206, 207 f. ; IV., 



320 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



19. 21, 22, 33, 37, 81, 129, 
153. 155, 'S8, 173 f.. 204, 
233, 2go, 306, 324, 35 I ; V., 
IS. 22, T^, 98 f. ; VI., 142, 
156 f., 162, 173, 199; VII., 
24, 40 f., 80 ff., 124, 129 f,, 
137 ff-. 187, 223 f., 234, 235, 

246 fr. 

Scripture Exposition, v. Alle- 

gorism, 11., 131, 250 C, 347; 

in., 78; VII., 234, and else- 
where. 
Scripture Proof, III., 199 ff. ; 

IV., 1 14, 323, 333, 346. 
Scripture Tlieology, II., 250 f., 

287. 
Scythian Monks, IV., 330 ff, 

235. 255 ff- 
Seal, Description of Baptism, 

I., 207 f. 
SechusOwaus, VI., 265. 
Second Advent of Christ, I., 

66, 82, 151 f., 167 f., 182, 

261 ; II., 95 f-, 289, 295 f-; 

III., 187 f. 
Secret Tradition, I., 164, 354 f.; 

II., 34 ff., 327. 
Secta, I., 240. 
Sects, Jewish, I., Chap. II., §§ 

1,4, 5, p. 342 f. 
Secundus of Ptolemais, IV., 4, 

9.57- 
Secundus of Tauchira, IV., 4. 
Seeberg, I., 36. 

Seleucia, Synod of, IV., S, 78 f. 
Semi-Arians, III., 45, v. 

Ensebians and Homoi- 

ousians. 
Semi-Pelagians, V., 187, 245 

ff. ; VII., 71, 94. 105. 
Semitic Cosmologies, I., 229 f. 
Semler, I., 30. 
Seneca, I., 122, 141 ; V., 23. 



Sens, Synods of, V., 299. 
Sentianus of Borseum, IV. 4. 
Septuagint, I., 114 f. ; II., 251; 

III., 194 f., 206. 
Serapion of Antioch, I., 160, 

293; II., 54,56. 
Serapion of Thmuis, IV., 114. 
Sergius of Constantinople, IV., 

254 f. 
Servatus Lupus, V., 297. 
Servede, Michael, VII., 128, 

132 f, 172. 
Sethites and Seth, I., 237; III,, 

325- 
Severians (Encratites), I., 23S, 

296 ; II., 49. 
Severus, Monophysite and 

Severians, IV,, 229, 233 f , 236 

ff., 243 r, 253, 300. 
Sextu.s, Gnomes, I., 155. 
Sexual Pleasure, v. Marriage. 
Sibylline Oracles, I., 55, 107 f., 

154 r, 185 ; II., 17s, 200, 

28c, 297, 318. 
Simon Magus, I., 120, 243 ff., 

312 ff; III., 330- 
Simon, Richard, VII., 82. 
Simonian.s, I., 196. 
Simony, VI., 5. 
Simonistic Orders, VI., 135. 
Simplicius, Pope, IV., 328. 
Simplicius, Phi!o.sopher, I., 358. 
Sin, Original, II., 274, 365 ; 

III,, 265, 281 f, 285; IV., 

317; v., 49 ff, 77 f„ 175 ff, 

194 ff, 197 f, 207, 2(0 ff, 

253, 264, 266 f. ; VI., 64, 227 
f.. 278, 297 f., 301 ff. ; VII.. 
57, 58 f., 200 f, 245. 
Sin, I., 60, 66 f, 83 f., 93, 123, 
125, 170, 172, 200 f, 257, 
326 f. ; II., 109-121, 267, 269 
f, 273, 278, 344, 366 ff. ; HI., 



GENERAL INDEX FOR VOLS. l.-VII. 



321 



97, 107, 263 ff., 272 ff., 289, 
296,303; v., 32,47 f, 55 ff, 
66 ff. 88 f., ii4f., 117 f., 191 
ff., I96ff, 209^,264 ff., 271, 
324 ff ; VI., 58 ff, 242 ff, 
284 ff, 297 ff, 301 ff ; VII., 
58 ff, 3CX) f., 214, 24s, 257. 

Sin— The Fall, I., 181, 256, 267 
ff., 272 ff, 344, see Sin, 
Adam. 

Sin, Forgiveness of, 1., 59-63, 
66 {., Ji3 f., 123, 134, 170 ff, 
199 ff, 207 f, 210, 306 f. ; 
II., 104 f., iog-i2i, 125, 139 
ff. 144 f, 221 f, 292; III., 
268 f ; v., 38 f., 87 f., 17s f., 
203 f., 207, 228, 268 ff., 271, 
323 ff ; VI., 57 ff, 389 ff., 
297 f.; VII., 61 ff., 152 ff, 
182 f, 207 ff, 265. 

Sirach, II., 134. 

Siricius, v., 56, 282. 

Sirmium, Synods and Symbols 
of, III., 188; iV, 70 ff., 75 
ff, 112. 

Sisinnius, Reader, IV., 105. 

Sixtus IL, III., 89; IV., 191 
f. ; v., 24. 

Sixtus IV., Pope, VI., 315. 

Slavs, III., 161; v., 7. 

Sraalcaldic Articles, VII., 24, 
85, 175- 

Socinus and Socinianism, V., 
I, 8, 189; VI., 163, 189; 
VII., 13, 23, 119-167. 

Socrates, I., iso, 125; II., iSo 
ff., 191, 336. 

Socrates, Church Historian, II., 
82, 112, 122 ; III,, 75, 125 f, 
138, 146, 163, 176, 211, 216, 
226, 263 ; IV, 83, 88, 104 f., 
186, 343. 

Sohm, I., 39; 11., 2 f 



Solomon's Writings, III., 193. 
Song of Songs, II., 295; III., 

129 f, 141, 193 ; VI., II. 
Sopater, I,, 355- 
SophoniK Apoc, I., 185, 195. 
Sophronius, III., 164, 173 ; IV., 

254 f- 
Sorrow (for Sin), I., 59, 61 f, 

170 f. ; III., 369, see Peni- 
tence. 
Soter, Roman Bishop, II., 156. 
Soterichos, VI., 51. 
Soteriology, III., 87 ; V., 55 ff., 

etc., etc. 
Soul, a.s Bride of Christ, II., 

295,376; III,, 109 f, 129 f„ 

234- 
Soul of Christ, IV, 139; V., 

128 f 
Soul, Human, I., 350 ff. ; 11., 

360 f., 363, 370 ; III., 78,96. 
Soul-sleep, 11., 377. 
Souls, Masses for, V., 266 ff, 

270, 309, 332. 
Sozomen, III., 135, 197, 226; 

IV., 313,343- 

Sozzini, V. Socinus. 

Space, Theories of, VI., 236 f. 

Spanish Dogma, History of, V., 
7, 278 ff, 303. 

Spanish Synod of Year 447, 
IV., 133. 

Spener, VII., 255. 

Spinoza, VI., 39. 

Spirit of God, Holy, I., 50, 78 
f., 141, 147, 156, 165, 190 f, 
193. 197.208,213,339, 279 f.. 
302, 306 ; II., 41, 52 ff., 68 f, 
73 f- 76 ff, 87, 95 ff. 105 f.. 
140 f, 2og, 261 f,, 267 f, 285 

f, 292, 349, 357 ff; in., 17 

ff, 26-50, 56, 74, 85 f., 91, 97, 
108 f., 214 f, 230; IV., 19, 



L 




322 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



72, 83, 84, 99, 102, IO8-II9, 
126 ff, 131 ff., 286, 293 ff., 
301 f., 308 ; v., 304 f., 189 f.; 
VII., i53f- 

Spirit, Human, Created, I., 319, 
326 f.; 11., 337, 359 ff, 377. 

Spirit and Flesh, I., 326 f., 331. 

Spirit-world (see also Angels 
and Demons), I., 319; II., 
361 ff:.366,376ff.;III.,25iff. 

Spiritism, III., 126. 

Spirituales, VI., 91, 95 ; VII., 
124. 

Spiritualism and Spiritualis- 
ing, I., 127 f., 168, 181 f., 222 
ff. ; III., 105. 

Sponsors, v. God-parents. 

Stars, as Spirits, II., 361 f. 

State, Christian Estimate of, I., 
69 f., 168, 186 ff, in vols. V- 
VII., passim, e^., vol. VII., 
193- 

State and Church, III., 153 f., 
160 f;, 193 ff., 243, 257, 319- 
330; V..ISO-IS5; VI.,i6ff, 
118 ff., 130 f.; VII., 193. 

State-Religion, I., 118 f., and 
vol. ni., 121, to vol. IV., 
3S3,/a.fj««; VII., lO f. 

Staupitz, v., 30 ; VI., 107, 170, 
278; VII., 13. 

Stephen bar Sudaili, III., 253, 
301 ; IV., 240 f., 280, 347 ; 

V, 2;4. 

Stephen Gobarus, I., 24; III., 

97, 221 ; IV., 240. 
Stephen Niobes, IV., 240. 
Stephen, Roman Bishop, II., 

87 ff., 115, 153, 161, 164. 
Stephen of Antioch, IV., 69. 
Stoicism, I., 122 f,, 126 f.. 147, 

182, 243, 249, 316, 337 ff., 

345 ; II., 174 ff., 186, 194, 202, 



353. 255. 349; !"■. 55 ff, 
176, 247 ; v., 17. 21, 24, 30, 
56, 171, 191, 199. 

Subordination, v. Logos, and 
III.. 134 f.; IV.. 21, 23, 66, 
72, 75,87, 124, 129. 

Substance (in the Doctrine of 
God and Christology), II., 
257 ff., 279 ff. ; IV., 19, 23, 
34 f., 56 f., 81, 85 f, 120, 122 
f., 124, and Chaps. II. and 
III. 

Substitution, I,, 202 ; II., 291 ; 
HI., 308, V. Satisfaction. 

Sufferings of Christ, v. Death 
of Christ. 

Sulpitius Severus, HI., 125, 
128 f.; IV., 313. 

Sunday, I., 294, 299 ; II., 130. 

Superabundans Satisfactio, VI., 
192 ff. 

Superadditum, VI., 282 ff, 297 
f.; VII., 59,88,201. 

Superstition, I,, 337, 340, and 
elsewhere. 

Suso, VI., 100 f., 105, no, 113, 

Swindlers, Christian. I., 239 f. 

Syllabus, VII,, no. 

Syllogisms of Apelles, I., 270. 

Symbol, Augustinian, Inter- 
pretation of, v., 222 ff. 

Symbols (Rules of Faith), I., 
157 f. ; II., 13 f., 20 ff., 37, 
75, 88, 151 f.; III., 113 f., 
115 ff., 181 f., 186 f, 208 ff. ; 
IV., 98 f., 133 ff., 146, 27s, 
333, and Chap. V.; V., 53 f, 
95 f., 98 f., 222 ff, 244; VI., 
178 ff; VII., II. 

Symbols (Signs), I., 207 ff, 211, 
223 ff; III., 159 f.; IV., 
Chap. IV. ; see also under 
Eucharist. 




^^V^^B 


r 


GENERAL INDEX 


FOR VOLS. I.-VII. 323 


Symbols, Evangelical, VII., 


Terminology, Dogmatic, Ob- 


270 f. 


jected to by Luther, VII., 


Symmachus, Ebionite, I., 300, 


224 f. 


305- 


Tersteegen, V., 106. 


Synagogue of Satan, I„ 177. 


Tertiaries, VI., 88, 112. 


(Twa^eia, IV., 65. 171. 


Tertullian, I., 115, 121, 126, 


Sutri, Synod of, VI., 19. 


151. 159. 163 f-. 171 f-. ^79, 


Syncretism, I., 117, 223 ff, 243 


187, 189, 203, 207 f , 216, 226 


ff. ; IL, II, 14, 124 f. ; III., 


f., 234, 243, 249 ff., 252 f.. 


125. i3of. 


259,266 ff., 293; II,, 9 f., 14 


Synesius, I., 356, 360; III., 


ff., 24, 29-32, 34. 41, 43-66. 


152, 179, 270; IV., 337. 


67 ff, 74 ff, 77 ff., 83 ff, 91 


Synods, IL, 15; III., 215, see 


f, 97, 98 ff, 105 f. 109 ff.. 


Councils and Provincial 


121 ff, 128 f, 132 ff, 137 ff.. 


Synods. 


140-145, 151 ff, 161 ff., 178, 


Synoptics, III., 6, 16 ff. 


196 ff„ 200-229 passim, 230- 


Syrian, I., 357. 


318,320. 322, 342, 351.367. 


Syrian Cult (Gnostics, Church) 


374. 380 ff ; III., 9 ff. 52, 


I., 229 E, 243 ff., 246 ff., 291, 


56 ff, 59 ff, 65, 70 ff, 7% 84, 


300,313; n., 57. 152- 


105, no, 113 f., 247, 259, 26s, 




310; IV., 57 f, nof, 121 ff.. 




132, 144 f., 184, 185, 203, 


Tabernacle, I., 320. 


284; v., 6, 12-24,67,77,99, 


Tacitus, I., 120. 


220, 276, 279 ; VI., 22, 70, 


Talleyrand, V., 224, 


243; VII., 8. 144.236. 


Talmud, I., 289, 304; VI., 150; 


Testament of XII. Patriarchs, 


VII., 56, 106. 


I., 187, 196. 


Tamburini, VII., 107. 


Tetradites, IV., 125. 


Tarasius of Constantinople, 


Tetzel, VI., 261. 


IV., 326; v., 304. 


Text Revisions in Connection 


Tadan and School, I., 144, 160, 


with Formation of Canon, 


187. 193. 19s. ^97, 204, 238 


II., 47 f- 


f, 240, 254 i. ; II., 42, 51, 


Thale^, v., 191. 


102, 152, 29s ; III., 56, Zj, 


Thamer. VII., 122. 


98. 19s. 257> 344- 


Thecla, Acts of, I., 145, 185; 


Tauler, VI., 100, no; VII.. 


II-, 44. 


228. 


Themistius, I., 355. 


Teacher, Designation of Christ, 


Theodas, Gnostic, I., 255. 


I., 186; II., 34, 169.229, 


Theodicy, III., 249 f ; V., 124 


passim. 


ff; VI.. 186. 


Teachers, v. Prophets. 


Theodora{Empress),IV..242 ff 


Temple, i., 320. 


Theodora {9th century), IV., 


Temptation of Christ, II., 290. 


328. 



324 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



Theodore of Heraclea, IV., 166. 

Theodore of Constantinople, 
IV., 260 f. 

Theodore of Mopsuestia, III., 
SO, 130, 158, 193. ig6 f., 200, 
201 f , 224, 279-283, 302, 303 ; 
IV., 127, 165-172, 190, 198, 
246 f., 299, 345 ff. ; v., 171, 
188,255,283; VII., 143. 

Theodore of Rome, IV., 256. 

Theodore of Synnada, II., 131. 

Theodore of Tarsus, V., 277, 
325- 

Theodorus Askidas, IV., 245 f. 

Theodorus Studita, IV., 317, 
328 ff, 335. 

Theodoret, III., 57, 83. 152, 
rSi, 201, 207, 226 ; IV.. 127, 
166, 188 f, 197 ff., 202, 206, 

210, 216 ff.. 246 f., 297, 299, 
313. 329. 344 ff 

Theodoric of Freiburg, VI., 97, 

113- 
Theodosius I., III., 148. 151 f., 

211, 225 f ; IV., 93 ff, loi- 
105. 

Theodosius II., IV., 73, 190, 

197-21 1. 
Theodosius, A ri an Bi.shop, IV., 

18. 
Theodosius of Alexandria, IV., 

244. 
Theodosius of Ephesus, IV., 

334 
Theodotians, v. Adoptians. 
Theodotus, Gnostic, I., 191, 

263, 29s ;.III,. 204, 277. 
Theodotus, Monarchian, II., 

161 ; III., 20-^0 passim, 55, 

63; VII, 133. 
Theodotus the Money-changer, 

III., 23 ff. 
Theodotus of Laodicea, IV., 4. 



Theodulf, V., 305. 
Thet^nis, IV., 3, 51, 58,62. 
Theognostus, III., 96 ff., 134, 

181; IV., 45, 331. 
Theoktistus of Cssarea, II., 

131,322. 
Theology, Problem and Origin 
of Christian, Vol. I., Chap. 
II., §§ 3-6, and pp. 129 f., 
162 ff, 226 ff., 240 f. ; II., 
ro8 f , 202, 232 ff., 333, 346. 
Discrediting of the same, 
VI., 288 f ; Luther's Attitude 
towards it, VII., 195 ; see 
also Dogma and the West. 
Theology, Natural, see Ration- 
alism, and in., 168, 171 ff, 
240 ff, 255 ff., 270, 272 ff., 
288 f, 295, 303 ; IV., 123, 
271,333, 35 t,see also Author- 
ity and Reason. 

Theology, Orthodox, II., 334; 
IV., Chap. V. 

Theology, Scientific, II., 332, 
335,341; III., 117, and Vols. 
v.. VI.. VIL, passim. 

Theology and Dogma, III., 
144 f., IV, 331 ff., 34S ff., see 
also Dogma and the West. 

Theonas of Marmarica, IV., 4, 
9, 57- 

Theopaschitian Controversy, 
IV., 124, 230 ff., 23s, 242 f., 
249; v., 255. 

Theophany in Old Testament, 
III., 6, 29 r.. 64- 

TheophiJus, Apologist, II., 24, 
33 f, 56 f., 169-229, 194 ff., 
237, 243, 272. 

Theophilus, Emperor, IV., 328. 

Theophilus of Alexandria, III., 
146, 299; IV., 59, 187, 191, 
342 ; VI., 30. 



L 




GENERAL INDEX FOR VOLS. I.-VIL 



325 



Theopompus, III., 102. 

Thesaurus indulgentiarum, VI., 
263 f. 

Thiersch, I., 38. 

Thomas 4 Kempis, VI., lOO f., 
no; VII., 15. 

Thomas Aquinas, VI., 23, 24, 
97i 99. loi' 103, 105, 106 f., 
no, 118, 122 ff., 1^0 fC., 126 
f., 149, 153-160, 162, 165, 167, 
178-317; VII., 4 f.. 7, II, 16, 
25 f., 46, 57 ff., 74, 86 ff., 104, 
142 f., 160 f. 

Thomas Miinzer, VI., I08. 

Thomas, Acts of, III., 160. 

Thomas, Gospel of, I., 241. 

Thomasius, Christian, V., 3. 

Thomasius, Gottfried, L, 35. 

Thomasius- See berg, VI., 27, 
79 f., 129 ; VII., 29, 179, 181, 
223. 

Thomassin, VII., 76. 

Three Chapters Controversy, 
IV., 245 ff., 346-349; v.. 283. 

Tichonius, v., 89, 122, 14S, 173. 

Timotheus .(Elurus, IV., 227. 

Timotheus, Apollinarist, IV., 
159. 

Timotheus, Pre.sbyter, IV., 88. 

Titus of Bostra, III., 321 ; IV., 
75- 

Tobias, II., 134. 

Toledo, See of, v., 281 f. 

Toledo, Synods of, IV., 133; 
v., 282. 

Tolomeo of Lucca, VI., 125. 

Torquemada, VI., 126 f. 

Toucy, Synod of, V, 301. 

Tours, Synod of, VI., i88. 

Tradition, I., 156, 157-164, 253 
ff, 277ff., 283; 11., 2ff., 7f., 
20-37, 66 ff, 231 ff, 319 f., 
324, 330 f. ; III., S, 24, 207- 



233; IV., [04, 115 f., 240, 
323 f., see Pope, Roman 
Bishop, and VI., 313; VII., 
41 ff., 80 ff., 128 f, 15s ff., 
223 f., 232. 

Traditionalism, III., 146 f, 186 
r., 191 f. ; IV., 89, lOS, 191, 
274, 2S0, 332 f., 334, 335, 340 
ff., 35off, etc.; VII., no. 

Traditor, V., 40 f. 

Traducianism, III., 259 ; V., 49 
f., 197 f., 353. 

Transformation, IV., 293, 295 
ff, 302. 

Transformation of Logos into 
Flesh, I., 195; II., 281 f., 371. 

Transubstantiation, I., 263 ; 
IV., 286, 291 ff. ; v., 159, 270, 
309 ff.; VI., 51, 142, 165, 176 
{., 231-240; VII., 47. 

Transylvania, VII., 135. 

Trent, Decreesof(Tridentinum) 
v., 261 ; VI., 17, 141, 350, 
252, 275, 307; VII., 23, 35- 
74, 269. 

Trichotomy, II., 363. 

Trinity, Beginnings and De- 
velopment of, I., ^C) f., 156 f., 
257; II.. 209, 235, 257 ff-. 
266, 358; III., 8, 51, 143, 
166, 171, 241, 269; IV., 2 ff, 
19, n8, n9-i37, 157, 231, 
236,278.335, 351 ; v., 53 f., 
302; VI., 103, 182 ff.; VII., 
15, 144 f., 197,225. 242 f. 

Trishagion, IV, 230, 265. 

Trithelsm, III., 90, 93 f., loi f. ; 
IV., 124, 335, 240; VI., 182. 

TpoTTOi inrap^eoK, IV., 81, 86 f., 
120, 129 f. 

Trypho, II., 187. 

Turbo, III., 323. 

Turrainus, III., 39. 




326 HISTORY OF DOGMA. ^H 


Tutiorism, VII., 105. 


Universal Religion, 1, Chap- 


Twelve, the, I., 158-165. 


11.,^^ l-6,pp. 222ff., 244ff., 


Two-nature Doctrine, I., 194, 


287fr, 303f. ; 11., 339. 


258 ; II., 243, 279 ff., 284 f.. 


UraniusofTyre, IV., 76. 


373 ff-; IV., 147. 160, 184, 


UrbanVIIL, Pope,VII., 94. 


also Chap. III., especially 


Ursacius, IV., 69. 70 f., 75 ff.. 


232 flf:_, 239, 386; see also 


80. 


Adoptianism, Nestorianism, 


Utrecht, Church of, VII., 92. 


; Jesus, Christu-s, etc. 




Tyana, Bishop of, IV., 67. 


Valencia, Synod of, V., 258, 


Tyana, Synod of, IV., 91. 


298. 299. 


Typus, IV., 257 f. 


Valens, IV.. 69, 70 f., 75 f. 77> 


Tyro, v., 246. 


80. 


Tyre, Synods of, IV., 62, 65. 


Valens, Emperor, III., 151; 


209. 


IV., 89, 90 ff. 




Valentinus, Apollinarist, IV., 




238. 


Ubertino de Casale, VI., 94. 


Valentinus and his School, I., 


Ubiquity, VI., 339; VII,, 343, 


114, 145. 148, 153. 163. 18S, 


262 ff. 


191, 203, 316, 227, 231, 234 


Ulfilas, IV., 44. 


f, 237 ff, 241, 348-253, 254- 


Ultramontanism, VII., yj, 80, 


262; II., II, 51,75, 158,231 


and elsewhere. 


ff, 235, 244, 258, 263, 276 f, 


Unara sanctam, Bull, VI., 120, 


289, 305, 345 U 367. 372 f., 


122. 


377; III-, 5. 56, 70, 87. 98, 


Unifying of the Churches, III., 


113 f., 129, 204, 253 ; IV., 8, 


148. 


13 f., 32, 138 ff., 149. 200, 


Unigenitus, Bull, VI., 266 ; 


208; VI., ii.ioS; VII., 133. 


VII.,96fr., 108. 


Valentinian, Emperor, IV., 93 f. 


Union, VII., 29. 


Valentinian II., Emperor, IV., 


Union, Creed of, of year 433, 


103 f. 


IV., 189, 197 f., 200, 222. 


Valentinian III., IV., 211. 


Union Negotiations of Rome 


Valerius Comes, V., 187. 


with the Greeks, VI., 122, 


Vandals, V., 252. 


130 f., 188 f. 


Vasquez, Gabriel, VII., 104. 


Unitarians, see Adoptians, 


Vatican Decrees, VI., 141 ; 


Antitrinitarians. 


VII., 80, 81.99, 1 10-117, 269. 


Unity, v., 277. 


Vegetarians, I., 238 f., 308. 


Unity of the Church, II., 75, 


Vercelli, Synod of, VI.. 47, 50. 


85 ff.. 164 f.; III.. 233 ff. i 


Vergerio, VII., 134. 


v., 44. 144 f- 


Veuillot, VII., 78. 


Universality of Christianity, 


Victor 1,, II., 33, 70, 84. 89, 


II, 339. 


156,159 f; III., 20,57ff.,g2. 



^H^^l ge;jeral index 


FOR VOLS. I.-VII. 327 


Victorinus Pett, 11., 237, 296, 


Weigel, VII.. 123, 129, 131. 


358; in., ;8; v., 29. 


Weizsacker, I., 2, 18, 37, 48. 78. 


Victorinus, Rhetorician, V., 29, 


84, 88, 90, 92, 165, 217. 


33 fC., 279, 280 (Marius). 


Weregeld, V., 329 f. 


Vienne, Council of, VI., i;. 


Wesel, VI., 170, 240, 26S f. 


229. 


307; VII., 16. 


Vigilantius, III., 188; IV. 313 


Wesley, VII., 272. 


f ; v.. 28, 58, 282. 


Wessel, VI., 170, 199, 232, 262, 


Vigilius, IV„ 24s, 248 f., 261, 


268 f., 307; VII., 16. 


348. 


Western Christianity, V., 3 ff., 


Vincentius of Lerinum, III., 


13 (T. 


306, 210, 215, 224,229, 230 


Western Christology and Doc- 


f. ; IV., 14S, 184, 186, 187, 


trine of Atonement, III., 200; 


343; V„24Sf.; VII., 83. 


see also Jesus, Death of 


Virgin Birth, I., 100, 105, 133, 


Christ, Tertullian, Leo I., etc.; 


158, 193, 2or ff, 203, 255, 


VI., 54-78. 


258, 299 ff, 309; II., 276 f.. 


Western Goths, V, 281 f. 


290; III., 65 f., see also 


Westminster Confession, VXI., 


Bearer of God; V., 226, 264, 


29, 32 f. 


283, 310 [.; VI., 64; VII., 


Widows, I., 216. 


147- 


Will, I., 170 f, 260; in., 172 


Virginity, III., 128 f, 183,262; 


ff, 2S6ff. ; V.,I12ff., 193 ff. 


v., 28 f. 


247 f., 2S3 f. ; VI., 163, 180 


Virtue, I., 351; II., 169-229; 


f, 276 ff, 2S4 ff, 3©5 ff ; 


III., 172 f., 25s (., 316; v., 


VII., 61 ff, 201 f 


135- 


William of .Auxerre, VI., 210, 


Visions, I., 53. 


222. 


Vitalian, IV., 229. 


William of Champeanx, VI., 


Vitalian, Pope, IV., 259 f. 


3S, "SI. 


Vitalius, IV., 158. 


William of St Thierry, VI., 81. 


Vocation, I., 173. 


Wisdom of Solomon, I., 109 ; 


Vocatio gentium (Treatise), V., 


II., 50. 


250. 


Word and Sacrament, V., 155 


Voltaire, VII., 99. 108. 


r, 272; VII., 216 ff, 23s, 


Vulgate, VII., 41 f. 


246 ir, 258 f 




Work of Christ, I, 58 f, 6;, 


Walafrid, V., 277, 308, 322. 


83 f, 199-203 ; II., 288 ff. 


Walch, I., 28. 


368, 374 ; III., 30s ff. In 


Waldensians, VI., 89 f., 136, 


Vols. V.-VII. passim, see 


138; VII., 10, 124. 


Augustine, Anselm, Abelard, 


Walter of St. Victor.VI., 52, 1 5 1 . 


Petrus Lombardus, Socinus, 


Walter v. d. Vogelweide, VI., 


Atonement, Satisfaction, ■ 


190. 


J 



328 



HISTORY OF DOGMA. 



Works, Good, II., 132 ff, 294 

f. ; III., Chaps. II. and IV. ; 

v., 208 f., see Merits and VII., 

208 f., 214. 
World, I., 179 ff, 325, 349 f-; H., 

343 ff. ; III., Chap. IV., 324; 

VI., 184 f. 
World, History of, I., 341 ; 

III., 87. 
World-State, Roman, I., 122, 

336,342 f. ; II., 149 f., 159; 

VI., 4. 
World, Glorification of, I., 182. 

Writings read in Church, II., 

41 E, 47 f., 49. 
Wyclif, VI., 113 f, 130, 141 ff., 

162, 169 f., 232, 239, 243, 

262, 268 f. ; VII., 16. 



Xenaias, III., 301 ; IV., 228, 
237 f., 241 f. 



Xenophanes, V., 191. 
Xystus, see Sextus. 

Zabians, I., 310. 

Zacharias of Mitylene, IV., 197. 

Zahn, III., 81. 

Zeno, see Stoicism, and IV., 

190, 228 ; v., 191. 
Zeno of Verona, V., 52. 
Zenodotus, I., 358. 
Zophyrinus, II., 161 ; III., 31, 

57 ff , 68, 83, 93. 
Zinzendorf, VII., 272. 
Zodiac, III., 324. 
Zopyrus of Barca, IV., 4. 
Zoroaster and Zoroastrianism, 

III., 32s, 331. 
Zosimus, Pope, V., 150, 169, 

183 ff. 
Zwingli, v., 159, 322; VI., 

209; VII., 134, 213, 259 ff., 

268 f. 



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