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 THE CONGREGATIONAL LECTUUE, 
 
 EIGHTH SERIES. 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF THE EAKLY CHRISTIAN 
 CHURCH. 
 
 BY JAMES BENNETT, D.D. 
 
 VII 1. 
 
London: 
 
 uekd and pardon, printkrs, 
 
 paternostkr eoav. 
 
THE THEOLOGY 
 
 EAELY CHRISTIAN CHUECH, 
 
 EXHIBITED 
 
 IN QUOTATIONS FROM THE WRITERS OF THE 
 FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 
 
 OTitft laeflections. 
 
 BY JAMES BENNETT, D.I). 
 
 " Ego cnim fateor cliaritati tuoe, solis eis scriptiiraruin libris qui jam canoiiiei ap- 
 pellantur ciidici lii\nc timorem houoreinque deferre ut nullmii eonim autorem 
 scribendo aliciuid erras^e firmissime credain. Ac si aliquid in eis offendevo Uteris 
 (juod Aideatur coutrarium veritati nihil aliudquam vel meudosum esse codicem vel 
 interpretem non assef.utnm esse quod dictum est vel me minime intellexisse non 
 ambigam. Alios autem ita lego ut quantalibet sanetitate doctrinaque priepoUeant 
 non idea verum putem quia ipsi ita ceiisenint."— /1?<(7Mv^ Hk'iomjmo, Epist. xix. 
 vol.2, p. li. 
 
 L O N B O IS^ : 
 JACKSON AND WALFOED, 
 
 18, ST. PAUl/S CHUilCHYAKI). 
 
PEIHGETOH 
 THSOLOGIGi!£.Ii 
 
 PRETACE. 
 
 The following course of Lectures being designed to 
 afford the means of judging, by copious extracts, of the 
 theology of the first ages of the church, the reflections 
 which are interspersed may be regarded as mere helps to 
 the formation of just conclusions, and may be adopted or 
 rejected according to the degree of evidence which they 
 present. As the selections are the result of an independ- 
 ent research in the works of each writer, the translations 
 also were made at the same time, and are so far literal, 
 perhaps, as to be often inelegant ; but it is only by this 
 more simple honest course that the cause of truth is to be 
 maintained and advanced. 
 
 On all great questions the quotations are sufficiently 
 continuous to enable the reader to judge of the connexion ; 
 and where the extracts are brief, the references are so 
 minute as to enable the scholar to verify the sense. When 
 this depends on the rendering of a few words, these are 
 given in a foot note ; but to have furnished the originals 
 of the whole would have required a second volume. 
 Where the testimonies were too numerous for the space 
 that could be afforded, the earliest have been preferred, 
 as more strictly belonging to our era, as having, in the 
 highest degree, what can be called patristic authority, and 
 
VI PEEFACE. 
 
 as SO generally followed by their successors, that these are 
 virtually quoted by the adoption of this plan. 
 
 Those theological common places which are least de- 
 bateable have been passed over most rapidly ; the later 
 writers have been omitted where they are mere copyists ; 
 and, when a quotation has once been given, wdth its refer- 
 ence for verification, a second appeal for a new purpose 
 has not always been equally formal. 
 
 On the doctrine concerning the church, which may be 
 characterized, in the language of Peter, as " the present 
 truth," Clemens Eomanus, as the father of the fathers, has 
 been our oracle, to which Eome herself could scarcely 
 object. 
 
 The sacraments being first mentioned by Justin in the 
 middle of the second century, we have abridged the ac- 
 count given when the Lectures were delivered, and on 
 other points the auditors of the course may observe that 
 we have been compelled to throw into the smaller type of 
 the Ajjpendix what would have occupied too much room in 
 the body of the work. 
 
 The few references to fathers of an age later than that 
 of which we write were introduced to supply the defect of 
 evidence in their j)i'edecessors, or to show that the light 
 which was expiring was not immediately extinct. As 
 among these the testimony of Jerome is of great value, it 
 is given in the Appendix. 
 
 That in a range so wide, embracing the whole body of 
 divinity, no mistakes can be found, the author is too well 
 aware of his own fallibility to affirm. He wall not, however, 
 feel bound to admit an error merely because the same 
 writer has, in another place, expressed an opinion differ- 
 ent from that which has been quoted ; for though Augus- 
 tine alone has written Eetractations, the fathers were not 
 always consistent with themselves. 
 
 Of the history of the church, though not assigned to the 
 lecturer, it seems necessary to give a sketch, which, how- 
 
PBEFACE. Vll 
 
 ever slight, may throw additional light on our course. 
 The Author of our religion having lived and taught upon 
 earth about thirty-three years, on his return to heaven, 
 sent down his Spirit to give birth to the church, which 
 was first formed of native Jews. But when that nation 
 rejected and persecuted the faith, it was in the fortieth 
 year of our era preached to the Gentiles, after which the 
 religion that was destined to universality and perpetuity 
 spread rapidly over the world. In the principal cities, 
 Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, and Athens, the foundations 
 of the churches were laid by the apostles ; but in Rome 
 itself by their early converts. 
 
 If Claudius afflicted the Christians, it was only as they 
 were Jews ; for Nero, one of the worst of men, is branded 
 by the fathers as the first imperial persecutor of the best 
 of reli-gions. Under him, Paul and Peter are said to have 
 become martyrs, and it is supposed that the rest of the 
 apostles, except John, quickly followed in the same road to 
 heaven. Vespasian having destroyed the Jewish nation, 
 in the year 70, his worst son and successor, Domitian, 
 banished to Patmos the Apostle John, who survived but a 
 short time after his return to Asia. Josephus, who had 
 been taken captive by the father, wrote, under the perse- 
 cuting son, his celebrated history. 
 
 The first Christian document that we possess, Clement's 
 Letter to the Corinthians, was written in the reign of Tra- 
 jan, during the earliest years of the second century, and 
 was, perhaps, soon followed by the letters of Ignatius, 
 whom that respectable prince doomed to the lions. The 
 correspondence between the emperor and Pliny proves, 
 however, that ignorance rather than cruelty was the parent 
 of these persecutions. 
 
 Though Hadrian restrained the violence which had been 
 inflamed by the calumnies of pagan jpriests and philoso- 
 phers, as well as by the extravagances of heretics, the false 
 Messiah Barcochebas gave vent to the enmity of the Jews. 
 
Vlll PKEFACE. 
 
 The apologies of Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, and others, 
 seem to have made a favourable impression on the rulers 
 of the world. 
 
 Of the philosophical emperors, Antoninus Pius, under 
 the influence of a refined heathenism, gave some repose to 
 the afflicted church ; but Aurelius, about the middle of tho 
 second century, allowed, if he did not instigate, the perse- 
 cutions that raged, about the year 177, when Polycarp, 
 Justin, and the martyrs of Lyons and Vienne in France, 
 sealed the truth with their blood. During this period 
 Irenseus wrote. The reign of Septimus Severus is in- 
 famous for the cruelties exercised against the Christians, 
 at least towards the beginning of the third century, when 
 Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, and Tertullian, bear wit- 
 ness to the talents, industry, and sufferings of the church. 
 
 Alexander Severus, about the year 220, gave repose to 
 the Christians, under the wise counsels of his mother 
 Mammsea ; and as Philip the Arabian has been strangely 
 called a Christian, it may be presumed he was not a per- 
 secutor. The cruelties of Decius first gave the character 
 to the latter part of the third century, which presents a 
 stirring field to the civil historian, but to the eye of a 
 Christian is a mere aceldama, a field of blood. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 
 
 General view of those sources, p. 3. Ecclesiastical writers in tlie order of 
 time. Author of the letter to Diognetus, 3 — 6. Clemens Komanus, 
 6—11. Ignatius, 11—15. Polycarp, 15, 16. Justin Martyr, 16, 17. 
 Tatiau. 17, 18. Theophilus of Antioch, 18, 19. Athenagoras, 19, 20. 
 Irenseus, 20 — 23. Clemens Alexandrinus, 23 — 25. Origen, 25 — 27. 
 Minucius Felix, 27—30. Tertullian, 30—33. Cyprian, 33—35. Trans- 
 lators of Scripture, Latin and Syriac, 35, 36. Ecclesiastical historians, 
 36, 37. Apocryphal writings, 38—40. 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHURCH CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES 
 AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 
 
 Paet I. Of THE Scriptures, 41 — 43. The Canon, 43—46. Canon of the 
 New Testament, 47 — 50. Apocrypha, 51 — 58. Authority ascribed to 
 Scripture, 58 — 64. Authority attributed to the Septuagint, 64. Tradi- 
 tion, 05 — 73. Sibylline verses, 73. 
 Part II. The Divine Nature and Attributes .... 76 — 80 
 
 Part III. The Divinity of Christ 80—89 
 
 Part IV. The Trinity 89—94 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 on the purposes and works of god. 
 
 Part I. The Decrees of God, 95, 96. Their execution in th.e creation of 
 angels, 96. Their fall, 97—99. The fall of man, 99—103. 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 Part II. The Eedemption of Christ 103 — 110 
 
 Part III. Election and Grace 110 — 118 
 
 Part IV. Justification 118 — 132 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 of the church, its officers, and worship. 
 
 Part I. The Nature or Constitution of a Church. A particular church, 
 133—136. The universal church, 136. Of a diocese, 137—142. The 
 elements of a church, 142. 
 
 Part II. The Officers of a Church, 143. Bishops and deacons, 146. 
 The first mention of three orders, 146. The plurality of bishops, 149. 
 Prelacy unknown to the first church at Eome, 156. The change pro- 
 duced, 158. No early ordination of a non-episcopal presbyter, 158. 
 Causes and consequences of innovation, 161 — 163. Syriac version, 163. 
 Election of bishops, 165. 
 
 Part III. Of Priests and Clergy. No priesthood in the earliest churches, 
 171. Testimony of antiquity falsified, 173. Introduction of a priest- 
 hood, IT8. Clergy, 179. 
 
 Part IV. Worship of a Church. Lord's Day, 182. Worship described, 
 183. No Liturgy, 183, Pleading the Scriptures and singing, 183. 
 Preaching, 184. Lay preaching, 184. Prayers, 185. The Lord's 
 Prayer, 186. Places of worship, 187. Unity of the church, 18T. 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 the sacraments and christian ethics. 
 
 Part I. Of Baptism. Justin Martyr's account, 191. Irenseus', 194. Cle- 
 mens Alexandrinus', 195. TertuUian's, 197. Infant baptism, 197 — 199. 
 Mode of baptism, 199, The Syriac version, 201. 
 
 Part II, The Lord's Supper, Justin's account, 2U3. Irenaeus', 205. 
 Clementof Alexandria, 205. TertuUian's, 208. 
 
 Part III. Christian Ethics. Earliest representations, 208. Corruption 
 of morals, 210. Apostacies, 211. The church compounding with the 
 world, 212. 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 ON death, future state, resurrkction, the millennium, 
 
 AND antichrist. 
 
 Part I. Of Death, the Separate State, and the Resurrection, Early 
 expectations of immediate bliss after death, 213. The resurrection. 
 The Phoenix, 213—217. The separate state, 217—221. 
 
 Part II, Of Antichrist. Justin Martyr's views, 221, Irenseus', 222, 
 Meaning of the mystic number 666, 224. 
 
 Part III. The Millennium. Whence derived, 227, Justin's theory, 228, 
 TertuUian's, 231. Abandonment of the early doctrine, 233. 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 CAUSES OF THE PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS OF EARLY THEOLOGY. 
 
 I. Disadvantages of the Fathers, 237. Heathen education, 238. False 
 
 Philosophy, 239. 
 
 II. Advantages of the Fathers few. Early traditions false, 242. They 
 
 expounded Scripture falsely, 243. Are deserted by their successors, 244. 
 Jewish origin of tradition, 245. 
 
 III. Fathers defective in Biblical Science, 247. Ignorance of the Canon, 
 247. Reception of apocryphal writings. False reliance on the Septua- 
 gint, 248. Mystical allegorizing, 249. 
 
 IV. Adversity and Prosperity injurious 250 
 
 V. Effects of Controversy 256 
 
 VI. PasE of the Apostacy 259 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 Conclusion . 265 
 
 Appendix A 301 
 
 B 303 
 
 C 304 
 
 K 306 
 
 L 309 
 
 M 310 
 
EDITIONS OF THE WORKS QUOTED. 
 
 Le Clerc's Edition of Cotelerius' Apostolical Fathers. 2 vols. fol. 
 
 Antwerpiffi, 1700. 
 Justini Philosophi et Martyris Opera. .. 
 
 Athenagoree Atheniensis. ! ^^^_ p^^.^^ ^^3^^ 
 
 Theophili Antiochem. ( 
 
 Tatiani Assyrii. ^ 
 
 Justini Philosophi et Martyris Apologiae dusc et Dialogus cum 
 
 Try phone Judgeo cum notis et emendationibus. Styani Thirlbii. 
 
 Lo'nd. 1722. . 
 Sancti Irena^i Lugdunensis Episcopi et Martyris adversus Hsereses 
 
 libri quinque. Lutet. Paris, 1675. 
 Clementis Alexandrini Opera quae extant. Frederico Sylburgio. 
 
 Lugd. Batav., 1616. 
 Origenis contra Celsum, libri octo. Gulielmus Spencerus Yersionem 
 
 recognovit, et Annotationes adjecit. Cant. 1677. 
 M. Minucii Felicis Octavius. Cant. 1707. 
 Q. Septimii Florentis Tertulliani Opera. Recensuit Joh. Salomo 
 
 Semler. Hala; Magd. volumen primum typis recusum, 1827. 
 Sancti Coccilii Cypriani Opera recognita et illustrata, per Joitnii. 
 
 Oxon. Epis. Brema?, 1690. 
 Historic Ecclesiastics Scriptores Grseci. 
 Eusebius, &c., Cura Henr. Valesii. Amst. 1695. 
 D. Aurelii Augustini Opera. 10 vol. Basilese, 1529. 
 
SISGBTOS ^, 
 
 THSOLO 
 
 THE THEOLOGY 
 
 or THE 
 
 EARLY CHEISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 LECTUEE I. 
 
 SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 
 
 The theology of the early Christian church, the theme 
 of the present course of Lectures, is not the peculiar 
 creed of one era, but in reality the theology of every age. 
 To use the language of the ancients, " the church of God, 
 through the whole world, and under all dispensations, has 
 one Lord, one faith;" for she relies, not on the changeable 
 opinions of fallible men, but on a revelation from the 
 omniscient and immutable Mind. The faith may, how- 
 ever, have existed, at some periods, in greater purity, with 
 the unlearned and unobtrusive, who leave no records to 
 posterity, than among the authors from whom alone our 
 information must be obtained ; and as the Catholic church 
 is the aggregate of Catholic churches, each of these is 
 liable to fluctuations, one being commended by the sove- 
 reign head, for " holding fast the truth," while another is 
 threatened with the loss of its church state — " the removal 
 of the candlestick out of its place." But in proportion 
 as a church loses the spirit of religion, her degenerate 
 viir. B 
 
y SOURCES OF INFOHMATION. 
 
 sons make their boast of a name, with the apostate Jews 
 exclaiming, " The temple of the Lord are these;" and 
 that which calls herself the church, claiming an immuta- 
 bility derived from an infallible chair, is precisely the one 
 which an apostle was inspired thus to warn: " Be not high- 
 minded, but fear; lest God spare not thee." 
 
 If ancient churches perish, new ones are called into 
 existence ; and while the body is immortal, its constituent 
 parts may be so changed as to require much spiritual dis_ 
 comment to discover their " local habitation and their 
 name." Truth being the test of that church against which 
 " the gates of hell shall not prevail," it cannot be unin- 
 teresting to inquire how much or how little of this vital 
 principle is to be found among communities, or indivi- 
 duals, at any given period of time; and what excites more 
 intense interest than the primitive age ? The history of 
 the earliest church at " Jerusalem, which is the mother of 
 us all," is, with that of her elder daughters, recorded in 
 the inspired book of the Apostles' Acts. Here begins, and 
 alas ! ends, too, as some of the ancients have observed, all 
 veritable ecclesiastical history. 
 
 Through the age that immediately followed, since it is 
 left unrecorded, we have to feel, rather than see, our way, 
 by the aid of guides that are often little else than blind 
 and lame. So many early writings have perished that we 
 might conclude they were thought not worth preserving, 
 did we not know that accident, or negligence, or craft, 
 rather than judgment or good design, have deprived us 
 of works whose titles alone survive. Some that had been 
 for ages lost have, in modern times, been recovered; while 
 of those that were always extant, many are anonymous, 
 and not a few are the productions of men once in high 
 repute, but subsequently branded as heretics. The earliest 
 wrote in Greek; for Latin, which has since claimed to be 
 the language of the church, was, during the first centuries, 
 dumb. 
 
SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 3 
 
 Next to the writers on theology are the translators of 
 the Scriptures, as witnesses to what the ancient church 
 thought to be the mind of God in his revelation to man. 
 The Sjriac and the Latin, hov/ever, are all that have come 
 down from the most ancient times, and the latter is so 
 altered as to make its testimony equivocal. 
 
 Our last source of information is ecclesiastical history, 
 which is meagre and unsatisfactory; for the oldest work is 
 lost, and Eusebius wrote as late as the fourth century, 
 though he has preserved to us many relics of an earlier 
 age. The civil historians and pagan writers afford us no 
 light, except in a few sentences of Sulpicius Severus, and 
 a letter of the younger Pliny ; for the hints ascribed to 
 Lucian are of a doubtful age. Two Jewish authors, Philo 
 and Josephus, shed an accidental and flickering light on 
 our path; and some apocryphal books, in consequence of 
 having early obtained an undue credit, show what those 
 who received them thought. We now proceed to give a 
 sketch of the writers from whom we derive our informa- 
 tion, commencing with those whose supposed connexion 
 with the apostles has conferred on them the title of apos- 
 tolical fathers. 
 
 The author of the letter to Diognetus we j^lace first ; for 
 as he calls himself a disciples of the apostles, so, on other 
 evidence, he claims to be ranked among the apostolical 
 fathers. The letter, though anonymaus, is manifestly of 
 the highest date, and of the greatest theological worth. 
 Henry Stephens, who first discovered and published it, in 
 1592, appended it to the works of the earliest apologist, 
 Justin Martyr ; supposing that Diognetus, to whom it was 
 addressed, was the celebrated tutor of Marcus Aurelius ; 
 but Tillemont,* whose prejudices would have adopted, was 
 compelled, by evidence, to reject this opinion. The styles 
 
 * Memoires pour servir a I'Histoire Ecclesiastique des Six in-emiers 
 Siecles. Article 12, vol. ii. pt. 3. Des ouvrages cle St. Justin oui sent 
 perdus. 
 
4 SOUPiCES OF INFOEMATION. 
 
 of Cicero and Tacitus, or those of Addison and Gibbon, 
 are not more dissimilar than the composition of Justin 
 and that of the writer to Diognetus. The sentences of the 
 Martyr are loose, prolix, and inaccurate, with some\Yhat of 
 a morose tone and a foreign air ; while those of the letter 
 writer have all the benevolent grace of the Christian, with 
 all the elegant simplicity, luminous terseness, and logical 
 finish, of a practised author in his native Greek. 
 
 Calling himself " a disciple of the apostles, and there- 
 fore a teacher of the Gentiles," he displays the scriptural 
 purity of the apostolic times ; for the genuine portion of 
 the letter is entirely free from the spirit of allegory, which 
 so deeply infected Justin, and each following age. With 
 the sanctity of motive and benevolence of heart which are 
 worthy of the convert of an apostle, this writer recom- 
 mends Christianity, as a sect just sprung up in the world, 
 for which he gives a sensible and true reason, in reply to 
 the common objections against the novelty of our faith. 
 
 Christians he describes, with the intense earnestness of 
 one who was anxious that they should be known to a 
 candid inquirer; and his censures on the Jews, as a proud 
 nation, glorying in their election, their temple, their ritual, 
 and their circumcision, prove the letter to have been 
 written before the year 70, when the Jewish city, and 
 temple, and nation, were crushed by the iron mace of 
 Vespasian. In a string of antitheses, nicely balanced, it 
 is said, " the Greeks persecute, and the Jews wage war 
 upon us," as if the latter had still the command of a mili- 
 tary force. That the letter was, however, written subse- 
 quently to the time when the council of Jerusalem, and 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, had satisfied Christians in 
 general, that the Levitical ceremonies were abolished, 
 appears from the declaration, — " We neither think those 
 to be gods who are esteemed such by the Gentiles, nor 
 observe the superstition of the Jews."'^ 
 * CLap. i. 
 
SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 5 
 
 Tillemont judiciously concludes that, from the \Yord 
 ovTos, hi the middle of the eleventh chapter, another hand 
 appears ; so that the genuine epistle closes with an apos- 
 tolic text : " He who was dishonoured by the people, 
 preached by apostles, believed on by the Gentiles," &c. * 
 The remainder is alien from the preceding, and could not 
 have been understood by the person to whom the letter 
 was addressed. 
 
 In strong contrast with the superior sense of all that 
 precedes, the mterpolation is an allegory that might be 
 turned upside down, to establish opposite conclusions, 
 without being rendered more absurd. Its date and design 
 are betrayed by a charge against " transgressing the 
 decrees of the fathers," which is a blundering anachron- 
 ism, as the body of the epistle speaks of apostolic times. 
 We take this earliest opportunity of exposing what have 
 been called pious frauds, such additions and alterations in 
 the documents of antiquity as have rendered them suspi- 
 cious authorities, which perpetually require the most 
 vigilant circumspection, in applying them to historical 
 or theological use. 
 
 The genuine epistle has been, by some, ascribed to 
 Clement of Rome, to whose letter it bears no shadow of 
 resemblance ; by others, to Apollos ; and by Whiston, to 
 Timothy, which are mere unsupported conjectures, that 
 serve only to show the marks of high antiquity, which, to 
 the conviction of all, this letter bears. No Christian 
 scholar can read it without being inspired with profound 
 veneration for its author, as a noble specimen of the 
 genuine primitive disciples of Christ. Happy had it been 
 for the church of God, and for the world, if the apologists 
 for our faith had always displayed the good sense, the 
 pure benevolence, and the uncorrupted Scriptural truth 
 which shine in the epistle to Diognetus. Jortin's objec- 
 tions to it, which are bereft of the superior discernment 
 
 * ] Tim. iii. 16. 
 
SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 
 
 and candour he usually displays, might, with equal truth, 
 be applied to Paul's address on Mars' Hill ; and it is to he 
 feared that in this, as Avell as some other instances, the 
 epistle has been opposed, or neglected, because it was too 
 orthodox and evangelical. 
 
 That this most ancient apologetic letter should have early 
 fallen into oblivious neglect, from which it has but recently 
 been restored to its due celebrity, is indeed disgraceful to 
 Christians, but is not surprising; for it is too apostolic for 
 the taste of the times that soon followed ; though, for that 
 reason, it demands our special regards. Diognetus seems 
 to have been a sincere inquirer into the evidences of 
 Christianity, which he hesitated to adopt, from a lurking 
 fear of his paternal gods, and a suspicion that the sect so 
 recently sprung up might deserve the grave charges with 
 which Christians were on all hands assailed. His corre- 
 spondent, therefore, exposes the absurdity of idolatry, and 
 proves the innocence of Christ's disciples. If he seems to 
 bear hard upon the Jews, the first and fiercest persecutors 
 of our faith, and almost to make infidel objections to the 
 Mosaic law; the apostles were supposed, by their country- 
 men, to do the same, when contending against that super- 
 stitious adherence to sacrifices, for their own worth, which 
 was the ruin of the once-favoured race. Diognetus is 
 wisely reminded, that, if our religion Avas but recently 
 revealed, God determined in his eternal councils that 
 Christ should, at the end of the world, appear, to put away 
 sin by the sacrifice of himself. This gives rise to the 
 most beautiful eulogium on his atonement, and righteous- 
 ness, and our justification, that the whole compass of 
 ecclesiastical literature contains. 
 
 Clemens Komanus, or Clement of Eome, is the first 
 uninspired Christian writer whose name is known. The 
 most diligent research, however, has not ascertained his 
 country, or conversion ; his exact era, or the order of his 
 succession to the Eoman pastorate ; the time, or place, or 
 
SOURCES OF IKFOEMATIO^ 7 
 
 manner, of his death. Eusebius concluded, from the 
 slender evidence of the identity of the name, as much 
 as from the early date of the letter, that this Clement was 
 he " whose name was said to be in the book of life." 
 That he governed the church of Eome, after Peter, Jerome 
 affirms ; but so variously is the order of its first bishops 
 recorded by the earliest writers, that we may be sure it 
 was to them unknown. Clement has been, by confound- 
 ing him with Flavius Clemens, pronounced a nohle 
 Roman ; but his epistle is not written in Latin, and its 
 contents lead us to suspect, that he, like many of the 
 early Christian pastors, may have been a Hellenist, or 
 Jew whose native tongue was Greek. Because he speaks 
 in the present tense, of the temple service, he has been 
 thought to have written before the year GS, while Jeru- 
 salem was standing ; but what may be a mere rhetorical 
 figure is no evidence ; and as he gives reason to conclude, 
 that all the apostles had then finished their testimony, so 
 we can scarcely suppose that the Christians at Corinth 
 would have sent a deputation to consult the church at 
 Eome, while they had an inspired apostle nearer at hand.- 
 The earliest date, therefore, that we can assign to the 
 genuine Clementine epistle is the year 96, when John 
 was, by Domitian, banished from all intercourse with the 
 church ; though it is still more probable that the last 
 apostle was then removed to heaven. It has, indeed, been 
 positively asserted that Clement fed the church at Rome, 
 from the year 93, to 1 Oj^.f The persecution to which he 
 refers, as then raging, was probably that of Trajan, which 
 Pliny shows to have been of long continuance, though not 
 of unmitigated severity. 
 
 When, or where, or how, Clement died, we know not ; 
 
 * The name of Fortunatus, meutioued hj Clement, as sent from Corinth, 
 ■was too common to prove that this was the person referred to, 1 Cor. xvi. 17. 
 
 f Du Pin, Tillemont, and others, think that Clement was not a bishop, 
 till the vear 91 or 93. 
 
8 SOURCES OF INFOEMATION. 
 
 for since none of the earliest fathers call him a martyr, we 
 must regard as fabulous the story of his banishment to 
 Chersonesus, and his being drowned by order of Aufl- 
 dianus. 
 
 The only genuine production of this writer is what is 
 called his first epistle ; for the highest antiquity knew no 
 other, and that which passes for his second is a forgery 
 that can scarcely be called even an imitation of the first. 
 But the real letter, though read in the earliest churches, 
 as next to the Scriptures, its writer being called an apostle 
 by the younger Clement, was lost sight of, till it came into 
 England, appended to the famous Alexandrian manuscript, 
 and was published by Patrick Young. So little attention 
 was paid by those who boasted of tradition to the earliest 
 and most precious relic of the apostolical fathers, that 
 Bellarmine, while calling Clement a Pope, denied the 
 existence of his epistle. It is now, however, universally 
 admitted; for the objections of Grotius are rejected as 
 futile. 
 
 The letter itself is not that of Clement, but of the 
 w4iole church at Eome, though doubtless written by their 
 pastor, in answer to an epistle from the church at Corinth, 
 brought by a deputation of its members, on account of a 
 disturbance in which some pastors had been deposed.* 
 In calling this the epistle of Clement, therefore, we sacri- 
 fice strict accuracy to convenient popular usage; and when 
 we pronounce it valuable, we refer to its historic worth, 
 and its superiority to other writings of an early age. It 
 is distinguished by that kind of simplicity which arises 
 from what may be called, in a good sense, an affected 
 imitation of the inspired writings, which renders it utterly 
 unlike the native classical style of the epistle to Diognetus. 
 Clement is a preacher rather than epistolator; rambling- 
 over the whole Bible, on which he gives comments, usually 
 
 * Clemens Alexandrinus calls it the Epistle of tlie Eomans to the 
 Corinthians. Strom. V. p. 427. 
 
SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 9 
 
 pious, but sometimes foolish, and seldom very instructive. 
 The worst consequence of this injudicious course is, that 
 we are left to guess at the exact question in dispute, and 
 to wish that we could giveaway the well-meant sermonizing 
 declamation for a strict letter of business. Of its fifty- 
 nine chapters, or short sections, some contain nothing but 
 quotations of Scripture, which, however, are valuable as 
 testimonies to tliB Divine writings, and proofs of the ex- 
 clusive authority attached to them, as well as of their 
 abundant and familiar use in the earliest churches of 
 Christ. Clement appeals almost exclusively to the Old 
 Testament, which he knew only in that Greek version 
 called the Septuagint. 
 
 He sometimes founds his arguments on words which 
 have no prototype in the original, to say nothing of hints 
 at apocryphal authority. He allegorizes so egregiously 
 that his arguments must often have fallen as pointless 
 darts at the feet of those who had any superior knowledge 
 of the Word of God. His strange comments on the 
 resurrection seem to be an unwise attempt to imitate an 
 apostle. Because Paul had written the 15th chapter of 
 the First Epistle to the Corinthians, Clement, though 
 writing on a totally different question, must do something 
 in the same line, and thus has left on his letter a blot of 
 folly, which will ever sink the reputation of the apostolical 
 fathers. He gravely adduces, as a fact, the fable of the 
 phoenix, to show that God has given in nature proofs of 
 the resurrection of the body. For this conceit, in which 
 he is followed by other fathers, who are sure to adopt the 
 worst thoughts of their predecessors, Clement runs the 
 tremendous risk of sanctioning idolatry. For the phoenix 
 comes to a heathen temple to deposit the bones of its 
 progenitor ; and the Egyptian priests are the mystagogues 
 to calculate the times, and ascertain that it was exactly 
 five hundred years since the prodigy last occurred. 
 But, when Clement speaks of what he understands, 
 
10 • SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 
 
 his aim is so pure that his spirit is excellent, and the ten- 
 dency of his exhortation is to promote the peace, and 
 holiness, and prosperity, of the church. He, unlike 
 Ignatius, keeps himself out of sight, assuming no priestly 
 airs, but claiming authority for the Word of God alone, 
 and exhibiting Christ as the Kedeemer, example, and 
 sovereign Lord. The fear of God ever before his eyes, 
 and the love of the brethren burning in his breast, often 
 raise him above his numerous disadvantages, and exert 
 over the conscience of the reader an authority which far 
 superior learning, reason, or eloquence, could never 
 rival. 
 
 The importance of this epistle, in various points of 
 view, it would be difficult to overrate. This is the link of 
 connexion between the inspired and uninspired writings 
 of the Christian church. Here centres almost the whole 
 of the real value of the testimony of the fathers, and the 
 sincere lover of them should deposit this letter in his 
 bosom as a jewel. For, if Clement was the first pastor of 
 the church at Kome, and especially if he was the man 
 eulogized by Paul, he the more clearly shows what was 
 apostolical ; but if he w^as the third in succession, then it 
 is demonstrated, that, even so low down in the descending 
 scale towards the divinely predicted apostasy, the Chris- 
 tian church was still at antipodes from the hierarchy of 
 modern times. This letter from the church at Rome 
 shows that the body of the faithful lost their liberties, not 
 merely by the ambition of pastors, but by popular turbu- 
 lence ; for Clement, though an humble man, fearlessly de- 
 clares, that the presbyters whom the Corinthians had dis- 
 placed were made the innocent victims of three or four 
 factious men. This naturally induced the more modest 
 and devout Christians to yield to the pastors the sole 
 government of the church, just as the peaceable members 
 of society suffer the horrors of a bloody revolution to ter- 
 minate in military despotism. 
 
SOURCES OF INFOEMATIOX. 11 
 
 The epistle of Clement became the innocent occasion 
 of hastening this consummation so much to be deplored. 
 That it was publicly read in the churches, though cifter 
 the inspired Scriptures, was a disgrace to the early Chris- 
 tians, and leads us to regret that Clement ever wrote. He 
 would have acted more wisely, if he had sent the messen- 
 gers back to their church, with Paul's epistles written to 
 themselves : for his own makes no really valuable addition, 
 and the reading of it gave a pernicious example of setting 
 up the authority of the fathers as a rival to that of 
 prophets and apostles. To this letter may be traced the 
 mania for allegory, which at length Judaized or Paganized 
 the Christian church. The comparison Clement forms 
 between the Jewish temple and the Christian church ; the 
 Aaronic priesthood, and the evangelical ministry ; the 
 abolished sacrificial rites, and our spiritual worship, 
 though innocently, if not wisely intended, proved the box 
 of Pandora out of which innumerable evils flew. What 
 was with him mere figure and illustration was converted 
 by his successors into argument and authority. Still, 
 however, too pure to be suffered to continue and repeat its 
 testimony, this first and best document of the fathers, after 
 being read in the churches, was consigned to oblivion, 
 and has but recently returned to testify against the 
 general corruption of our age. Clement, the oldest 
 known writer, never pretends to have seen the apostles, 
 nor tells us a word that was heard to drop from their lips ; 
 but arguing from Scripture, just as we may, he exhorts 
 the Corinthians to "take up the epistle of the blessed 
 Paul, written to them." Would that the fathers had con- 
 fined themselves to such advice ! For one inspired book 
 is worth more than all their ponderous tomes. 
 
 Ignatius, called also Theophorus, god-bearer, was 
 probably a native of Syria, as he was bishop in Antioch, 
 its capital; though he wrote, not in Syriac, but Greek, 
 which was in familiar use where the disciples of Christ 
 
12 SOURCES OF JNFOEMATION. 
 
 were first called by the Greek name of Christians. 
 Evodius, the first bishop in Antioch, was eclipsed by the 
 lustre which martyrdom has thrown around his successor, 
 who, though called a disciple of the apostle John, and 
 forty years a bishop, is known, almost exclusively, as sent 
 to Eome to make sport for its citizens in the theatre, by 
 being thrown to the wild beasts. Guarded on the way by 
 soldiers, whom he called leopards, (perhaps as our 
 dragoons w'ere originally pronounced dragons,) they are 
 charged with requiting his kindness by cruelty, though he 
 was still suffered to visit the Christians, and write letters 
 which have acquired more than their due share of 
 celebrity in the annals of the primitive church. 
 
 On his arrival at Rome, he w^as brought forth to the 
 gaze of the infuriate heathen, and so completely devoured 
 by the beasts that nothing was left but the harder bones, 
 which are said, by the Greek narrator, to have been 
 wrapped in a napkin and sent to Antioch as a precious 
 treasure. If we compute from the year 70, when he 
 appears to have been called to office, and add the forty 
 years that are assigned to his ministry, he must have died, 
 as Eusebius says, about the year 110; but, though Usher 
 fixes on 107, more modern writers have agreed in assign- 
 ing his martyrdom to the year 116.* 
 
 It is well known that, under the name of Ignatius, 
 many epistles have been published that are now abandoned 
 as spurious ; and that only seven, at the utmost, are 
 deemed worthy of credit. But after sweeping away many 
 false pretenders, it can excite no surprise if the discerning 
 reader entertains strong suspicions, that what are called 
 the genuine epistles are either fabrications, or, at least, so 
 interpolated as to shake our confidence in their testimony. 
 
 * Others have supposed that Ignatius died in the year 112, or 113. The 
 letter of Pliny to Trajan has been assigned to the time when the Emperor 
 was in the East preparing for the Persian war, and Christians were con- 
 demned for neglecting the quindecennalia of Trajan in 112. 
 
SOUECES OF INFOEMATION. 13 
 
 No one can compare them with the epistle of Clement to 
 the Corinthians, without perceiving that more than the 
 lapse of a century is required to account for the difference. 
 It is true that the letters of Ignatius profess to have been 
 written, after the church had passed the period when 
 Hegesippus, the first ecclesiastical historian, says, she 
 ceased to be a pure virgin : but the epistle of Polycarp, 
 who died half a century later, can bear comparison with 
 that of Clement ; while those of Ignatius require us to 
 sin against almost every canon of criticism before we can 
 receive them as both genuine and uninterpolated. 
 
 That their salutations are pompous and affected, so 
 heaping up words as to set translation at defiance, and 
 that the sentences are unfinished and incoherent, we see 
 at the first glance. The marks of a later age, when the 
 pride of prelacy became rampant, compel us to suspect 
 either a fabrication or an addition, by some person, who, 
 wishing to magnify his office, availed himself of the name 
 of a martyr, supposed to have written epistles to more 
 than one church. It must, however, be observed, that 
 English versions have aggravated the evil, by unfairly in- 
 serting the term priest, where the original contains, not 
 the correspondent word, but presbyter, or elder. 
 
 These letters exhibit a grotesque compound of sim- 
 plicity and pomposity, that betrays, either the difference 
 between the author and the interpolator, or a struggle be- 
 tween the Orientalisms of the Syrian and the better taste 
 of the Greek waiters. The figures in which Ignatius 
 abounds are often so forced as to betray him into such im- 
 pieties as comparing the Holy Ghost to a rope that draws 
 us up to lofty heights, by the machinery of the cross. 
 But the great fault of this writer, if the genuine Theo- 
 phorus, is vanity ; for, with death in view, he is so full of 
 himself that any humble Christian, at Antioch, might 
 have said, " I pray God that this weak old man may not 
 fail at last, and prove an apostate, instead of a martyr." 
 
14 SOURCES OF INFOEMATION. 
 
 Ancient Christians, however, made more of this one 
 martyred bisliop than the Scriptures make of Stephen 
 and all the twelve apostles. 
 
 If the epistles are entirely genuine, they prove the very 
 opposite of that for which they are adduced — the apostolic 
 origin of prelacy. For here we see a child parading a new 
 toy, of which he thinks he can never make enough. The 
 last of the apostles being dead, the "opportunity is seized 
 for fabricating a distinction between the presbyter and 
 bishop ; so that, henceforth, the bishops shall possess 
 monarchical authority, having under them the presbyters 
 as inferiors. The extreme anxiety to obtain submission 
 betrays a consciousness of a novel assumption, for which 
 the early extension of the church at Antioch, probably, 
 gave both occasion and encouragement. Still, however, 
 lo-natius mentions " the j^^'^shyters,'' as the body " worthy 
 of the honour of the college of apostles ; while the 
 bishop was to be honoured as Jesus Christ, or even 
 obeyed, as Christ obeyed the Father." The vain prelate 
 pledges his soul for the safety of those who obeyed the 
 bishop ; and the rash expression, " I am your expiation," 
 Tre pi-\lrr]ixa, liowever favourably interpreted, stands in sin- 
 gular contrast with the words of him w^ho said, — " Was 
 Paul crucified for you?" Eagerness for martyrdom 
 shows, indeed, sincerity, though expressed in language 
 that evinces no small conceit of the glory, if not of the 
 merit, of the sacrifice, as the price of heaven. If we 
 mourn over the many censurable things ascribed to Igna- 
 tius, we seek consolation in the hope that injudicious ad- 
 mirers have inserted what he would have blushed to 
 write. The best friends to his memory are those who 
 would, in reading these letters, often exclaim — " An enemy 
 has done this." If we could invent an apology for him, 
 it would be derived from the heresies which were then 
 rising, and which seemed to make it necessary to oppose 
 to them some one, as the champion of the truth, for the 
 
SOUECES OF INFOExMATION. 15 
 
 sake of which he should be armed with the authority of 
 the church. 
 
 Polycarp, bisho}) of the church in Smyrna, was, for good 
 sense, far superior to Ignatius; and, if we are to judge by 
 his letter, was a more eminent Christian ; but we know 
 he has escaped the injury done to the memory of the 
 martyr of Antioch by writings forged in his name. An 
 epistle addressed to the church at Philippi by " Polycarp 
 and the elders with him," the only document left by that 
 venerable martyr, contains little else but texts of Scrip- 
 ture, wisely and devoutly applied to the exigencies of the 
 times. The salutation is simple and scriptural, a beauti- 
 ful contrast to the Asiatic pomp of Ignatius. 
 
 A letter from the Christians at Smyrna to the Philip- 
 pians, which records the martyrdom of Polycarp, is 
 rendered suspicious by a confession that when it was 
 lost, and almost destroyed by time, it was recovered by 
 a revelation from the departed saint. He is said to have 
 been burnt alive at Smyrna, in the year 166, and the 
 stories told of miracles wrought at his death serve only 
 to show the simplicity and truth of the Scriptures in their 
 account of the martyrdom of Stephen. 
 
 When commanded to abjure the Saviour, Polycarp re- 
 plied, " Eighty-six years have I served him, who has never 
 injured me ; how can I curse my Saviour?" He has been 
 pronounced, but without sufficient evidence, the angel of 
 the church at Smyrna to whom Christ addressed one of 
 the seven epistles of the Revelations, and to have been 
 acquainted with John and other apostles. His letter 
 happily corrects the false impressions conveyed by those 
 of Ignatius ; and as it terminates the writings of the 
 apostolic fathers, bringing them down below the middle 
 of the second century, it deserves the more attention. 
 That so much simplicity, truth, and humble piety, sur- 
 vived in Smyrna, down to the 3^ear 166, is a cordial to the 
 breast that has been wounded by the early signs of reck- 
 
16 SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 
 
 less baste towards the apostasy of which the church had 
 been so solemnly warned. 
 
 Justin, called the martyr, to distinguish him from the 
 historian, was the son of Priscus, and grandson of 
 Bacchius. Though a Samaritan, being born at Neapolis, 
 still called Naplous, near Sichem, he w^as, by education, a 
 pagan ; and after passing from one school of philosophy 
 to another, was converted from Plato to Christ, by meet- 
 ing with an aged Christian in a solitary walk. Retaining 
 the philosopher s cloak, he taught Christianity at Eome, 
 and when persecution raged under Antoninus Pius, ad- 
 dressed to him an apology, which was followed by a 
 second to the Roman senate. But Justin's largest work 
 is a dialogue with Trypho, a learned Jew% who had fled 
 from the calamities brought on -his country by Hadrian. 
 In this work, which, perhaps, is not strictly historical, 
 but, to some extent, an imitation of the Socratic dialogue, 
 the martyr displays a respectable knowledge of the He- 
 brew language, Scriptures, and rites ; while the Jew acts 
 but an insignificant part. 
 
 In his second apology, Justin speaks of the plots laid 
 against his life by Crescens, a cynic philosopher, whom he 
 had convicted of ignorance, imposture, and debauchery ; 
 and, as Justin predicted, the baffled foe avenged himself 
 by causing his opponent to be put to death. Pie was 
 beheaded by order of Rusticus, prefect of Rome, in the 
 sixth year of Marcus Antoninus, the philosopher, or about 
 167 of the Christian era, and the sixty-fourth of the 
 martyr's age. 
 
 For a recent convert, he displays considerable acquaint- 
 ance with the Old Testament ; but his judgment cannot 
 be trusted ; for he has made some strange mistakes ; 
 though Middleton has prematurely triumphed in the dis- 
 covery of the idol Semo, which is no proof that Simon 
 Magus was not worshipped at Rome. The corruption of 
 Christianity by what was called philosophy may be traced 
 
SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 17 
 
 to Justin, who is at once fanciful and dogmatical, founding 
 arguments on allegories, to the neglect of substantial veri- 
 ties nearer at hand, and often making assertions where he 
 could have no proofs. He labours to show that Christ was 
 the God who appeared to the patriarchs; but is so defective 
 in his statement of the trinity, that, after the council of 
 Nice, he would have been deemed an Arian. His sincerity 
 was sealed by his blood ; though his philosophy often 
 tyrannized over his faith ; and, if he was not the author, 
 as he is the first Christian promulgator of the dogma of 
 the apostasy of angels, by their falling in love with women, 
 his dogmatizing was a calamity, rather than a triumph to 
 Christianity; for it spread through the church the "doc- 
 trines of daemons." Subsequent ages seem to have con- 
 cluded, that a philosopher who became a believer and a 
 martyr must be an oracle. Of the works attributed to 
 him, only the two Apologies and the Dialogue are suffi- 
 ciently attested to demand our notice. 
 
 Tatian, from his native country denominated the As- 
 syrian, may be appended to the preceding writer, of whom 
 he was the disciple and successor. But even the fevr 
 theological hints which he furnishes have been deprived of 
 authority by his early adoption of what was called the 
 heresy of the Encratites. Originally a disciple of Cres- 
 cens, the enmity of that virtual murderer of Justin vvas 
 probably inflamed by seeing Tatian pass over from the 
 Cynic to the Christian school. Rhodon, a follower of 
 Tatian, says, he succeeded Justin in the chair of Christian 
 philosophy at Eome. About the year 168, he seems to 
 have written his Oration to the Greeks, where we detect 
 the germs of the heresy into which he afterwards felL He 
 is thought to have returned, about the year 178, to his 
 native Assyria, to propagate the dogmas of the Encratites, 
 or Continent, denouncing marriage as a sin, and abandon- 
 ing the use of animal food. Severus, who engrafted on 
 the original stock some additional heresies, gave to the 
 
 VIII. c 
 
]8 SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 
 
 sect the name of Severians. About tlie time that Irenffius 
 wrote on heresies, Tatian died. 
 
 His other works have perished ; hut his Oration to the 
 Greeks reminds us of his master, Justin, whom he Lauds 
 as a philosopher, affirming that the Greeks stole what they 
 call their discoveries from those they term barbarians. 
 Tatian pours forth much eloquent vituperation on pagan- 
 ism ; but his own views of Christianity are false. The 
 Word, or Son of God, he seems to think the divine attri- 
 bute of knowledge or wisdom ; of angels he speaks much 
 to little purpose; and souls he considers naturally mortal, 
 those of the wicked being destined to die with the body, 
 but to rise again with it, to be punished. From this here- 
 siarch it is of little use to quote. 
 
 Theophilus of Antioch, who had been a heathen philo- 
 sopher, says, " Though I did not believe the resurrection, 
 I now believe, having met with the Scriptures of the holy 
 prophets, who, by the Spirit of God, foretold things as 
 they have happened." He was made bishop at Antioch, 
 about the year 168, and was the antagonist of the heretics 
 Marcion and Hermogenes. Though various works have 
 been ascribed to him, we have now nothing but three 
 books addressed to Autolychus, a pagan philosopher, who 
 had challenged the Christian to enter the lists. Theo- 
 philus invites him to study the Scriptures, and like the 
 rest of the fathers, is eloquent against idolatry, but 
 defective in his account of Christianity. 
 
 He is the first who employs the Greek word which gave 
 rise to the term trinity. " The three days which preceded 
 the creation of light represented the trinity of God and 
 his word, and his wisdom tvttoi daiv rpiddos tov Qeov. The 
 creation of water is to show that man would receive 
 repentance and remission of sins by water in the laver 
 of regeneration."* Highly esteemed for learning, Theo- 
 philus was mild and benevolent; but his judgment was 
 * Lib. ii. 
 
SOUKCES OF INFORMATION. 19 
 
 enfeebled by the allegorical taste of the times. He 
 is thought to have died in the second year of Corn- 
 modus, 181. 
 
 This sensible, amiable, and learned writer unwisely 
 opposed to the pagans a torrent of heathen learning, 
 appealing to the Sybils, as well as the Greek poets ; and 
 in a list of the kings of Egypt and Israel, and of the rulers 
 of Rome, to his own days, he affirms that there were 
 2242 years . before the deluge, which our chronology 
 assigns to the year of the world 1656. It is surprising 
 that, acquainted as he was with the Jewish and Christian 
 Scriptures, he should have adopted the error of Tacitus, 
 and supposed that our Saviour was called Chrestus, be- 
 cause his temper and that of his disciples was xPV^^'^os, 
 mild. In this, however, Justin led the way. 
 
 Athenagoras, the Athenian, is scarcely known, but as 
 the author of an Apology, which he calls an Embassy 
 for the Christians, addressed to Marcus Aurelius Anto- 
 ninus, and Lucius Aurelius Commodus. He escaped the 
 notice of Eusebius, Jerome, and Photius ; but is men- 
 tioned by Epiphanius. Appealing to the emperors as wise 
 and tolerant princes, who suffered all others to worship as 
 they pleased, he complains that the Christian church was 
 cruelly oppressed. The charge of Atheism he refutes, by 
 showing that though Christians rejected all others, they 
 worshipped one God, and that the acknowledged innocence 
 of their lives put to shame the calumnious imputation of 
 eating human flesh and committing in secret the foulest 
 crimes. 
 
 Profuse in his declarations of the trinity, he repeats 
 what seems to have become the common faith, or fable, of 
 the amours of angels with women. He condemns second 
 marriages as decent adultery, on the silly plea tbat God 
 made but 'one of each sex. He wrote also a Treatise 
 on the Resurrection, which is wearisome and inconclu- 
 sive, by appealing to philosophy, or anything else, rather 
 
20 SOUECES OF INFOEMATION. 
 
 than the only true source of evidence — divine revelation. 
 His Apology was addressed to the emperors, about the 
 year 178. 
 
 Irenaeus, who is by all the ancients pronounced a Greek 
 father, as his name would lead us to conclude, was, from 
 his earliest years, educated among Christians ; for he says, 
 "When a child, I heard Polycarp,"* who lived to a great 
 age. Being sent by this venerable man from the lesser 
 Asia into France, as Gregory of Tours affirms, Irenseus 
 was there ordained presbyter, by Pothinus, the bishop at 
 Lyons, who, in his ninetieth year, died for the faith. 
 Irenseus is thought to have been delegated, though some 
 say he never went, to Piome, with letters from those who 
 were afterwards martyred, at Lyons and Vienne. Made 
 bishop of the church at Lyons, he wrote against the here- 
 sies, which then abounded, five books in Greek, under the 
 title of the Refutation of what is falsely called Knowledge, 
 alluding to the Gnostics. The original work w^as very 
 early lost, and we have little else but a Latin translation, 
 supposed to have been made under the direction of the 
 author. Ireneeus, however, though apologizing for the 
 rudeness of one who had lived long among the Celtic 
 Gauls, and had never studied rhetoric, appears, from 
 existing fragments, to have written tolerably well; but the 
 Latin translation is rude and awkward. 
 
 Victor, bishop at Ptome, having excommunicated the 
 Asiatic Christians for keeping Easter on the fourteenth 
 day of the moon of March, instead of waiting for the 
 following Lord's-day ; Irenseus, who himself adopted the 
 Roman practice, wrote to say that he would not excom- 
 municate others for such a cause. He fortifies his remon- 
 strance by relating that Polycarp was once at Rome, while 
 Anicetus w^as bishop ; and that though these two could 
 not agree on this point, they not only communed together, 
 but the pastor yielded to Polycarp the honour of admini- 
 stering the Supper. 
 
 * Lib. iii. c. 3. 
 
SOUKCES OF INFOEMATION. 21 
 
 After presiding over the church at Lyons twenty-four 
 years, Irenasus witnessed the persecution that raged there 
 under Severus, the Christians being slauglitered in such 
 numbers that their blood ran down the streets. Though 
 it has been affirmed that Irenseus then joined the noble 
 army of martyrs,* none of the writers of the first three 
 centuries call him a martyr ; and at the age of ninety-two 
 he is said to have mingled in the controversy about 
 Easter, in the tenth year of Commodus.f If the date 
 assigned to Eleutherius, the tv/elfth bishop at Eome, be 
 correct, Irenseus wrote his work against heresies, between 
 the years 177 and 192, publishing the early chapters 
 some time before the latter part of the work. 
 
 This celebrated treatise appeared to the ancients worthy 
 of much higher encomiums than we can bestow. But we 
 are not always sure that we are reading Irenseus ; and the 
 heresies having passed away, their refutation has lost its 
 interest. We cannot wonder that the well-intentioned 
 father was blamed by his contemporaries for so deeply 
 exploring and publishing to the world the ravings of mad- 
 men, of which a full-length report forms his first book. 
 The second is a repetition of what did not deserve to be 
 told once, and an attempt to reason with men who set 
 reason at defiance. 
 
 The best part of the work follows ; as the third book 
 records the truths which the heretics opposed, among 
 which Irenii3us places the opinion, that Adam was not 
 damned, as Tatian had affirmed. The fourth and fifth 
 books go over the ground again, with additional appeals 
 to Scripture, and remarks on free will and antichrist, and 
 the state of souls after death. His references to Scripture 
 are the best parts of the work. 
 
 Irenseus himself has not escaped the charge of heresy ; 
 
 * Feuardentius says, liis martyrdom (itself probably a fable) is referred by 
 Sistus Senensis to the year 175 ; by Werner, to 184 ; by Pamelius, to 203 ; 
 by Barouius, to 205; by Bergomas, to 210 ; by the author of the World's 
 Chronicles, to 216. 
 
 + Lib. iii. c. 3, p. 233. 
 
Q2 SOUHCES OF INFOEMATION. 
 
 for he has said many strange things, and in a work so 
 large, few good ones. He was a millenarian, and affirms 
 Christ's descent to Hades to preach to the just. He dis- 
 covers that to sanctify every age, our Saviour not only 
 passed through childhood, youth, and middle life, but 
 touched upon old age. The charge of Arianism, and of 
 teaching the mortality of souls, is not proved against 
 Irenseus, though he often talks like a Pelagian; and while 
 Tertullian pronounces him omnium doctrinarum curiosis- 
 simus explorator, he bewildered himself with his re- 
 searches, and sometimes raises more dust than he lays. 
 
 With considerable stores of heathen literature, poetry, 
 and history, being ignorant of Hebrew, his interpretations 
 of the divine names* are ridiculously false, which, how- 
 ever, may be in some degree owing to the unskilfulness of 
 the Latin translator. This wearisome writer gives so 
 very foolish reasons for believing wise doctrines that, if 
 the heretics were convinced by him, they owed their con- 
 version to the heavenly treasure, and not to the earthen 
 vessel in which it was conveyed. Irenseus lived in the age 
 of heresies, which were as much diffused as suppressed by 
 the course that he and others pursued ; for they would 
 have far better served the cause of truth by studying the 
 Scriptures more carefully, and instructing their own 
 flocks, than by giving currency to extravagances that 
 should have been left to their own oblivious fate. He 
 gained, however, the temporary aj^plause, not only of Ter- 
 tullian, but also of Eusebius, who praises him for ferreting 
 out the serpents from their holes, and of the first Cyril, 
 who calls him " the interpreter of the doctrine of the 
 church," more truly had he said, "of the heretics." 
 Irenaius and Gregory Thaumaturgus are pronounced the 
 only fathers of the first three centuries who composed 
 tradition ; but the doctrine of the former on this point has 
 been strangely misunderstood. Erasmus, now the acute 
 * Lib. ii. c. GQ. 
 
SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 28 
 
 and bold reformer, and now the timid conservator of 
 superstition, shows both^his strength and his weakness in 
 the following sentence : "If Valentinus the philosopher 
 opposed the chm'cb, Justin the philosopher, and Irenseus 
 the philosopher, defended it; Marcion the philosopher 
 attacked the truth, and TertuUian the philosopher 
 despatched the enemy ; Celsus the philosopher vomited 
 blasphemies against Christ; but Origen, a better phi- 
 losopher, illustrated the glory of Christ ; Libanius the 
 philosopher defended idolatry, but Chrysostom more elo- 
 quently defended the true worship." 
 
 Titus Flavius| Clemens, usually called Alexandrinus, 
 from the scene'^of his labours, to distinsjuish him from 
 Clement of Kome, being supposed to be born at Athens, 
 is also occasionally denominated Atheniensis. But neither 
 the place nor the time of his birth is known, though he is 
 thought to have lived about the year 220. Made a pres- 
 byter of the church at Alexandria, he succeeded to the 
 office of catechist in its famous Christian school, when 
 Pantsenus went to propagate Christianity in the East, or 
 in Ethiopia. 
 
 Of his numerous works, one folio volume remains, con- 
 taining an Exhortation to the Gentiles, the Psedagogue or 
 Schoolmaster, and eight books of Stromata or Mis- 
 cellanies, for pupils of a higher form. The Treatise, in 
 Origen's works, on the Salvation of a rich Man, is claimed 
 for Clement. 
 
 " He penned," says Jerome, "volumes full of eloquence 
 and erudition, not only from the Scriptures, but from 
 human learning." Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem, wrote 
 to the church at Antioch, " These I have transmitted to 
 you, by Clement, a blessed presbyter, illustrious and ap- 
 proved, whom you also know, and will more fully recog- 
 nize." Origen was his disciple in philosophy, if not in 
 the school of Christ. That Clement was a sincere con- 
 vert, who wished to promote the Christian religion, cannot 
 
24 SOURCES OF TNFOEMATION. 
 
 be doubted ; but that be ^Yas " spoiled by philosophy and 
 science, falsely so called," is equally clear. His mind was 
 too full of heathenism to leave due space for Christianity, 
 which was to him little more than the last and best of 
 philosophical sects. 
 
 He scarcely mentions the atonement, and supposes the 
 design of Christ's becoming man was to teach men to 
 become gods, a phrase he derives from the 82nd Psalm, 
 which he thoroughly mistakes. Confessing that he was 
 blamed for his philosophising spirit, he defends himself by 
 affirming that the philosophers were taught of God, and 
 that they take from the Hebrew prophets, without acknow- 
 ledgment; "For if," says he, " we affirm that the Greeks 
 derived their wisdom from the devil, we make him more 
 kind to men than God was." As if there were no other 
 source of philosophy than inspiration from Heaven, 
 stealing from the Scriptures, or dealing with the devil. He 
 affirms that the Greek philosopliy prepares the soul for 
 Christ, and attempts to explain away the apostle's ^Yarning, 
 by a subtle distinction between " the elements of the 
 world " and true philosophy. Asceticism abounds in his 
 works, which recommend husbands to live with a wife as 
 a sister. But, with all his monkish notions of chastity, 
 he so frequently and indecently recurs to sexual ideas 
 that to read his volume through is a loathsome task. 
 
 If sometimes he exhibits to the heathen just views of 
 the Christian character, such passages are, amidst a vast 
 mass of heathen lore, as a pearl or two in a whole bed of 
 unsightly shells. His morality is like that of Socinian 
 writers, a substitute for the merits of Christ, who is intro- 
 duced so rarely that he appears as a stranger, and so 
 erroneously that we are as much surprised as delighted 
 when we find him invested with the honours which are his 
 due. For Clement too generally displays knowledge 
 without wisdom, mortification without holiness, and zeal 
 without truth. 
 
SOUECES OF INFORMATION. S5 
 
 Yet he is the most important of the non-apostolical 
 Greek fathers ; for, while the works of others have either 
 perished, or come down to us in Latin translations, of 
 which we often know the falsehood, and can seldom he 
 sure of the truth ; a considerable portion of Clement's 
 writings is extant in the original. Origen, the next of 
 the Greeks, and TertuHian, usually considered the first of 
 the Latins, are charged with heresy; and who can ascer- 
 tain where their heterodoxy commences, and their ortho- 
 doxy ends? TertuHian betrays his Montanism before 
 he quits the Catholic church, and the germs of those 
 errors which made Origen a brand of discord are scattered 
 over his most esteemed works. In Clement we have not 
 only the unsuspected Christian presbyter, but the learned 
 professor of the first and most celebrated school of 
 theology. At Alexandria, first, the religion of Jesus was 
 adopted by philosophers, and made a part of the Eclectic 
 system that professed to gather from all quarters materials 
 to erect the temple of truth. 
 
 Clement retired from Egypt, when his celebrity made 
 him the principal mark for the arrows of the persecutors, 
 and is thought to have lived, about the year 218, in 
 Cappadocia, where his disciple, Alexander, was a bishop, 
 imprisoned for the faith. Beyond this we know nothing ; 
 except that his memory has been dishonoured by the 
 heretical principles contained in what are called his 
 Hypotyposes, which are probably either grossly interpo- 
 lated, or the work of some other pen. 
 
 Origen, called, for his indomitable industry, Adaman- 
 tius, was the son of Leonidas, who was beheaded for the 
 Christian faith at Alexandria, in the tenth year of Severus 
 Pertinax. As he was left fatherless in his seventeenth 
 year, he must have been born about the 185th year of the 
 Christian era. Their property was confiscated, and the 
 zealous youth who had exhorted his father not to shrink 
 from martyrdom for the sake of his family, laboured to 
 
20 SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 
 
 support six brothers and a widowed mother, who had, 
 previously, been obliged to secrete the clothes of her son, 
 to keep him from joining the martyrs. 
 
 When he was only eighteen, he was appointed, by 
 Demetrius, the bishop, to succeed Clement, as catechist ; 
 and being afterwards sent with an ecclesiastical epistle to 
 the church at Athens, he was, on passing through Pales- 
 tine, ordained presbyter by the bishops of Cesarsea and 
 Jerusalem. This offending Demetrius, laid the found- 
 ation of that hostility which pursued Origen beyond the 
 grave. He had previously visited Eome, and brought 
 thence Heraclas, a presbyter, who, retaining the dress of 
 a philosopher, was made assistant catechist, and at last 
 successor to Demetrius. 
 
 Mammsea, the mother of the Emperor Alexander, was 
 induced by the celebrity of Origen to send for him, that 
 she might enjoy his conversation at Antioch. He was the 
 first of the fathers who took the right method of studying 
 Scripture, by learning Hebrew, in which, however, it is 
 said he was but moderately skilled. He has the honour 
 of originating what are now called polyglot bibles, by 
 collecting various versions of the Scripture in his cele- 
 brated Hexapla, which his successors unhappily suffered 
 to perish. He was so renowned for all human science 
 that scholars flocked to him from distant lands, and often 
 learned, not only philosophy, but the truths of Chris- 
 tianity, which he was zealous to impart. When Decius 
 had slain many Christians, Origen fortified, by his letters, 
 the minds of the faithful, while he was himself an exile, 
 through the jealousy of his bishop. Eusebius, in his 
 sixth book, records the merits of this distinguished 
 scholar, who died at Tyre, in his sixty-ninth year, 
 AD. 256. 
 
 Having converted from the Valentinian heresy a rich 
 person, named Ambrose, the grateful disciple supplied 
 his teacher with the funds that supported several short- 
 
SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 27 
 
 hand \Yriters to take down his lectures. At the request of 
 his generous friend, he wrote commentaries on the Scrip- 
 tures to such an extent that twenty volumes are men- 
 tioned on the Gospel of John. While it was disputed 
 whether Origen were saint or heretic, he reckoned among 
 his disciples bishops and martyrs. 
 
 He spoke too fast, and wrote too much, to be accurate 
 or profound ; and he complained that his verbal instruc- 
 tions were inaccurately reported, as his friends also con- 
 tend that his books were corrupted by heretics. Many of 
 his works have perished, and others exist only in the 
 Latin version of Euffinus, who confesses that he took the 
 liberty to be a parapbrast rather than translator. We 
 have, therefore, little else to depend upon but his Answer 
 to Celsus, which, remaining entire, does him great credit, 
 though it is not free from the faults of that age. As he 
 had in his youth studied under Ammonius, who mingled 
 Christianity with Platonism, so Porphyry accuses Origen 
 of doing the same thing; and it is remarkable that the 
 heathen philosopher utters a just censure on the manner 
 in which Christians turned the Old Testament into an 
 allegory. Origen, though by far the greatest man of his 
 age, having written more books than other men could 
 read, — some ascribing to him six thousand volumes, — is 
 among the excommunicated, whose works have been con- 
 demned. We have, however, quoted the only one that 
 remains in the uncorrupted original, which is censured by 
 none. The Philocalia, a compilation of extracts from his 
 works, is of doubtful authority, because we know not the 
 original connexion of the sentences, which is essential to 
 a candid judgment of the sense. 
 
 Of the Latin fathers who, compared with some of the 
 preceding writers, are moderns, the first we shall mention 
 is Marcus Minucius Felix, usually placed after Tertullian. 
 But as the age of Minucius is uncertain, so it appears to 
 us earlier than that of Septimius, whom our arrangement 
 
28 SOUECES OF INFORAIATIOX. 
 
 will keep in juxtaposition with his admirer, Cyprian. Of 
 Minucius Felix we have only one short treatise, but this is 
 a precious gem. It shows that Christians were then per- 
 secuted, and not suffered to hold public meetings. The 
 writer, a lawyer of high family, was probably the first 
 pleader in the Roman forum who ventured to advocate the 
 cause of the persecuted Christians ; not, however, at the 
 bar, for that was not yet suffered, the acknowledgment of 
 the Christian i-eligion being then deemed a confession of 
 the most nefarious crime. The peculiar character of his 
 latinityhas induced the conclusion that he was an African, 
 though his family name speaks a noble Eoman origin, 
 wherever he may have been born. The work which has 
 handed down the name of Minucius Felix among the 
 fathers, defenders of the Christian faith, is entitled 
 Octavius, and, like Cicero's imitations of the Socratic 
 dialogue, is denominated from the chief speaker in the 
 favoured cause. If it is historical, Minucius, and his 
 brother Octavius, a Christian, were accompanied by Coe- 
 cilius Natalis, a pagan friend, on a walk from Eome to 
 Ostia ; when Natalis, seeing a statue of Serapis, paid to it 
 the accustomed token of adoration. Octavius, who had 
 won his brother to the Christian faith, reminded him that 
 he ought not to have suffered a friend to betray his 
 idolatry witliout warning him of his error and guilt. At 
 this the heathen took fire, and proudly challenged the 
 Christian to a debate. Minucius Felix was appointed the 
 arbiter between the disputants, though he was the avowed 
 advocate of the Christian cause. 
 
 Coecilius pours forth, with indignant force, all the argu- 
 ments that paganism could produce against Christianity. 
 He was compelled, however, to contradict himself; for, 
 commencing as a sceptic, enraged at the presumption of 
 the poor despised Christian sect that durst decide on 
 questions of which the philosophers declared we could 
 know nothing, he yet contends for the gods of the heathen 
 
SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 29 
 
 as the authors of that prosperity and dominion which the 
 Eonian empire enjoyed. But his principal arguments are 
 derived from charges against the Christians as an impious 
 sect that x)ractised, for religious rites, in secret assemblies, 
 all that was lewd, and cruel, and absurd. For example, 
 he says, that " having assembled the sexes and all the re- 
 lations of kindred, they tied a dog to the stand which 
 contained the only light, and then throwing offal beyond 
 the end of the string, they induced the dog to overthrow 
 the lamp, that, in the dark, the assembly might practise 
 promiscuous lewdness." From Coecilius we probably 
 learn all that the pagans did or could say against the 
 Christian faith. 
 
 Octavius replies, with great judgment and Christian 
 temper, that scepticism is inexcusable ; for the creation 
 abundantly demonstrates the existence, and attributes, 
 and providence, of one God. He shows that even among 
 Polytheists an indelible conviction of the unity of the 
 deity led to those ordinary forms of speech which recog- 
 nize God rather than the gods. With great learning and 
 eloquence, he exposes the fabulous or human origin of 
 the deities of the pantheon, and observes, that while men 
 adore the idols, spiders spin their webs over them, and 
 the birds, if not driven away, would build their nests in 
 the very mouth of the god. The superstitious opinion, 
 that the Romans owed their empire to their piety to such 
 gods, is triumphantly refuted by the character of Eomulus, 
 its founder, and of many who have extended its triumphs. 
 The temples are pronounced brothels, in which the priests 
 committed every abomination. The imposture of the 
 oracles is exposed ; but too much is admitted, when 
 demons are said to reside in the images, and deceive men 
 by real announcements of future events. Octavius shows 
 that, having been a heathen himself, he knew by what 
 false charges the world was prejudiced against the new 
 sect, which he triumphantly defends. The Christians are, 
 
30 SOUECES OF INFORMATION. 
 
 then, said neither to worship crosses nor to wish for 
 them ; though the heathens paid religious adoration to 
 many things which had the form of a cross. Octavius 
 proves that Christians are not lewd, but chaste ; that 
 if they decline civic honours, it is a proof, not that they 
 are poor, but contented ; though poverty is not a crime. 
 If they have no images, temples, or altars, it is because 
 they think that a good man is the image and temple of 
 God, and that piety is the only acceptable sacrifice. The 
 Christian's expectation of the last conflagration and future 
 rewards and punishments is defended by the similar 
 opinion of philosophers ; while the doctrine of the re- 
 surrection is illustrated by many things in nature. 
 
 The debate then closed because Coecilius declared him- 
 self a Christian, saying, — " We have both conquered ; he 
 is victor over me, and I am triumphant over my error." 
 We cannot but wish that the change had been more fully 
 related, and that the further instruction of the convert, 
 which was deferred to the following day, had come down 
 to us, which would have rendered this most precious 
 document of Christian antiquity complete. 
 
 Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus is usually 
 placed at the head of the Latin fathers. His history is 
 involved in singular obscurity; for the earliest writers 
 have told us little more than we can gather from his 
 works, which leave us uncertain of the time and place of 
 his birth or death, as well as of the sphere of his labours, 
 or whether he was a minister of the church, though 
 Jerome calls him a presbyter. As an African, he has 
 been thought a black and even a negro ; but he probably 
 was a descendant from those Romans, who, after the fall 
 of ancient Carthage, colonized the north of Africa, where 
 his father was a proconsular centurion. We know not how 
 old he was when he said, " To our age there are not yet 
 two hundred and fifty years ;" meaning, either from the 
 birth or death of Christ.* 
 
 * Ad nationes, lib. i. 7. 
 
SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 3 I 
 
 He speaks of himself as a convert from heathenism who 
 had " lived in all iniquity." He was, however, well edu- 
 cated, having been destined to the Roman bar, and it is 
 conjectured that he lived at Rome all the time that he 
 spent in the bosom of the church ; for this hammer of 
 the heretics became himself a Montanist, and retiring to 
 Carthage, died out of the hallowed pale. As Jerome 
 ascribes this to the treatment of the Roman clergy, it has 
 been concluded that Tertullian was disappointed in not 
 being made a bishop. The suspicion is, however, utterly 
 unsustained by his works, that prove him to have been 
 displeased with the moral state of the church, on which 
 he pours torrents of reproach. 
 
 Though Tillemont supposes that Proculus seduced Ter- 
 tullian, he was the victim of his own asceticism, which 
 induced him to believe fanatical prophecies, and to write 
 against other Christians as yl^vxi-Kol, animal men, for their 
 indulgence of the flesh. He quitted, however, the Mon- 
 tanists, but instead of returning to what was called the 
 church, he formed a sect called Tertullianists, whom 
 Augustine, at last, allured back to the Catholic commu- 
 nion. Tertullian is supposed to have died at Carthage, 
 about the year 245, having reached nearly the age of 
 ninety years, one-half of which he spent among heretics 
 or schismatics. This, however, destroyed not his in- 
 fluence; for though Jerome, when pressed with his autho- 
 rity, replied, " He was not a man of the church ;" Cyprian 
 daily called for Tertullian 's works, saying, " Give me my 
 master." Of the obscurity of his Afi'ican Latin, Lactan- 
 tius complains, which may console us when puzzled with 
 sentences that are riddles ; and Augustine condemns the 
 levity with which the elder father returns insincere and 
 insufficient answers to grave objections, saying anything 
 that would silence an adversary. Though he could, when 
 he pleased, be simple and clear; he seems to have become 
 unintelligible, by introducing, for the sake of rhetorical 
 
35 "* SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 
 
 effect, common-places, with little regard to their appro- 
 priateness or truth. 
 
 The exordium to his great work against Marcion de- 
 stroys our confidence in his testimony, and raises a blush 
 for his unchristian spirit. The strength and weakness of 
 the human mind appear in this as in all his ^vritings, 
 which breathe the spirit of Montanism, and make it a 
 nugatory question, whether his Prescriptions, or any other 
 treatise, was written before or after he left the Catholic 
 church. Though acquainted with Greek, he appeals not 
 to the original of the New Testament, but obstinately 
 confines himself to a Latin version, sometimes heretically 
 corrupt. It is to be feared that he was one of that 
 numerous class of reflecting men, who, seeing that other 
 systems could produce no evidence, adopted the Christian 
 religion as true, without really knowing what it was. 
 Almost, if not entirely, ignorant of his own fallen state, 
 he rarely mentions the atonement or justification; and 
 the morality which engrossed his attention is of a spurious 
 kind. Conceited, arrogant, and fierce, his very humility 
 is x^roud ; and his contention for the faith betrays that 
 spirit which inspired the familiars of the Inquisition. 
 His addresses on behalf of the persecuted believers are 
 powerful and often convincing ; but, for want of the 
 humility and benevolence of the Christian spirit, not 
 persuasive. His perpetual theme was mortification of 
 the flesh, a principal branch of which was continence 
 or chastity. While condemning those who denounced 
 marriao'e as absolutely sinful, chastity, in his estimation, 
 was their practice without the doctrine ; and his language 
 implies that the death of children was to be esteemed a 
 blessing. With all his parade of sanctity, falsely so called, 
 disgusting impurity defiles his page ; and a sincere votary 
 of Rome would do penance for the crime of reading what 
 our first indignant impulse would lead us to fling into the 
 flames. Who would dare to publish in English a literal 
 
SOUKCES OF INfOEMATION. 33 
 
 translation of what was written in the vernacular language 
 of his day, by the man who takes care to tell that he was 
 indeed a father ?='^ Turning from Tertullian "to the New 
 Testament, we emerge from darkness to light ; from the 
 pride of genius to the meekness of wisdom ; from spurious 
 to genuine virtue ; from fierce austerity to tender benevo- 
 lence ; from the arrogance of self-confidence to the humility 
 of faith ; and from the boasts of a false penitence to 
 glorying in the cross. The order of his works, though of 
 great importance to the question of their authority, opens 
 an interminable debate ; and while several arc lost, some 
 that bear his name are unquestionably the productions of 
 another mind. His love of paradox may be known by 
 one specimen : — " The Son of God was born ; I am not 
 ashamed of it, because it is a thing to be ashamed of. 
 The Son of God died ; this is altogether credible, because 
 it is absurd. After he was buried, he rose again; it is 
 certain, because it is impossible." 
 
 Cecilius Cyprianus was, though doubtless of Eoman 
 blood, by birth an African, and a rhetorician of some 
 eminence, till about the year 246, when he was won to the 
 Christian faith by the efforts of Cecilius, whose name the 
 convert adopted as his own. Giving up all his property 
 to relieve the poor, he was soon made a presbyter; and 
 on the death of Donatus, was chosen bishop at Carthage, 
 by the suffrages of the faithful. 
 
 During the Decian persecution, the people having 
 shouted, " Cyprian to the lions," he withdrew into con- 
 cealment, but continued to govern the church, as far as 
 practicable, by letters. On his return to Carthage, he 
 convened a council to consider what should be done 
 with those who, to escape death, had worshipped idols. 
 Cyprian, disapproving the facility with which the lapsed 
 were restored to the communion of the church at Eome, 
 required those who had been baptized by heretics to be 
 * De Anima, c. 27. 
 VIII. D 
 
34 SOUECES OF INL'OEMATION. 
 
 rebaptized, on entering the church; while he that is now 
 called Pope Stephen haughtily condemned this African 
 decree. These contests occupied the remaining days of 
 Cyprian, who might have been much better employed. 
 He closed a life of conflict by a noble death, being be- 
 headed for the faith, at Sexti, near Carthage, in the 
 year -258. 
 
 We can easily believe what one of his contemporaries 
 asserted, that he daily read Tertullian, of whom Cyprian is 
 often the mere echo. His works consist chiefly of letters ; 
 though he wrote, immediately after his baptism, a florid 
 declamation on the virtues of what he calls the genitalis 
 aqua ; and at a subsequent period, a Treatise on the Unity of 
 the Church. His tract against the Jews is little more than 
 a string of texts. As a martyr, he has obtained a celebrity 
 which he could never have acquired as a theologian ; but 
 his style is more pure and perspicuous than that of Ter- 
 tullian, and his spirit far more Christian. If, however, we 
 believe but a moiety of what he says concerning the con- 
 duct of Christians in his day, we must consider them so 
 corrupt that little regard is due to their practice, and not 
 much to their creed. Called into the ministry on account 
 of his rank and celebrity, before he had well learned what 
 he should teach, his life was too much agitated with per- 
 secution and contention to leave sufficient leisure for sub- 
 sequent theological research. He is a favourite Y\^ith the 
 idolaters of the fathers, because he lived in a corrupt age; 
 Avhile the deference he paid to Tertullian, the Montanist, 
 throws suspicion over his opinions, which are masked, but 
 not concealed, by abstaining from appeals on controverted 
 points to his heretical master. No important use can be 
 made of one who was so little of a theologian ; though he 
 sometimes shows how much primitive truth was retained 
 in those later days of which he gives a character so black. 
 Augustine, without scruple, but with much reason, con- 
 troverts the decisions of the bishop of Carthage. To 
 
SOUBGES OF INFOEMATTON. 35 
 
 none later than Cyprian have Ave appealed, for the subse- 
 quent part of the third century Avas so filled with the 
 annals of persecution that it produced martyrs rather than 
 authors. 
 
 After those writers whom we have reviewed, the best 
 sources of information are the earliest translators of Scrip- 
 ture. These are, indeed, fathers by eminence ; for there 
 were but few who could produce such works ; and none but 
 men of the highest reputation could have procured for 
 their versions general adoption. The Greek church con- 
 tented herself with the Septuagint translation of the Old 
 Testament, till Origen called in the aid of other versions, 
 which, however, were the works, not of her sons, but her 
 foes. The New Testament she had the high and enviable 
 advantage of receiving from heaven in her own tongue, 
 which saved her from making here the philological blun- 
 ders into which she fell in her comments on the Old. 
 
 The Syrian churches, which were the oldest, required a 
 version of the whole body of revelation ; and we cannot 
 doubt that this first of wants was at the earliest period 
 supplied. The tradition of an Aramaean translation of the 
 earlier books of the Old Testament in the days of Solomon 
 may be a fable ; but, to say nothing of the Jews, as soon 
 as there were Christians who knew no other tongue, they 
 must have been furnished with the means of reading the 
 ancient Scriptures in Syriac. Of the New Testament we 
 happily possess in that language a version of the highest 
 antiquity and worth. Whether it should be assigned to 
 the second or third century is disputed among biblical 
 scholars ; but no sufficient reason has ever been given why 
 we should not conclude it to have been the production of 
 the earliest age ; so as to have received the sanction of 
 inspired men. Of its author, however, as well as of its 
 exact date, we are ignorant. Its excellence, we might almost 
 say its perfection, is acknowledged by every competent 
 judge. With the luminous simplicity of the original, it 
 
Jitt SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 
 
 has the advantage of rendering back the ideas of our Lord 
 and the Apostles into the very words, perhaps, which they 
 first employed. The most moderate estimate of its date 
 makes the Peshito a testimony, from at least one very 
 early and highly accomplished father, to the sense in which 
 the New Testament was then understood. The value of 
 the Syriac in all discussions upon patristic theology, 
 though naturally overlooked by those who know not 
 the language, will be seen in the course of these Lectures. 
 Of the Latin version we have made less use ; because 
 the present Vulgate was the production of a period much 
 later than that of which we profess to give the theological 
 creed. Augustine would induce us to believe, that, instead 
 of one Latin version of paramount authority, there were 
 originally many, though the more faithful Avas to be pre- 
 ferred. We are now, however, left to gather the fragments 
 of the ancient version from the Latin fathers; for Jerome's 
 improvement, which at length superseded every other 
 translation, forms the Vulgate, which is no longer depre- 
 ciated by Protestants. It is, at least, a witness to the 
 sense in which the Western Church, from the fifth century, 
 understood the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures ; and as no 
 complaints were made of any doctrinal change from tbe 
 older version, we may consider the testimony as applicable 
 to an earlier period. 
 
 The ecclesiastical historians are obviously sources of 
 information concerning the theology of the period they 
 describe ; for if even civil history is not confined to mere 
 facts, that of the church is in a high degree a record of 
 opinions. The suspicion of Arianism that attaches to 
 Eusebius of Cesarsea, as well as to his namesake of Nico- 
 media, renders his extracts from other writers the best 
 parts of his history, which thus becomes equivalent to a 
 witness of an earlier age than his own. The loss of the 
 oldest ecclesiastical history, that of Hegesippus, is not the 
 less to be regretted because the remaining fragments show 
 
SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 37 
 
 his want of judgment ; for children often put us in pos- 
 session of facts which wiser heads would have concealed. 
 
 Sulpicius Severus, who wrote near the year 400, gives a 
 digest of the history of the world to his own days, derived 
 from the sacred and profane records ; but he is too secular, 
 and too brief to afford much light on questions of theo- 
 logy. As an ecclesiastic, indeed, highly esteemed by 
 Augustine and Jerome, we should have hearkened to him 
 with great deference on questions of fact ; though he was 
 too deeply imbued with the superstition of the times to 
 give to his own opinion considerable weight. He has 
 been called the Christian Sallust, and by Joseph Scaliger 
 pronounced the purest ecclesiastical writer. His testi- 
 mony is valuable, in proportion as he professes to give the 
 sentiments of the earlier days of the* church; and his 
 Dialogues, as well as his Life of Martin, afford a good 
 opportunity of tracing the progress of opinion. 
 
 Jewish and heathen writers might have afforded us 
 more light, if they had not despised Christians too much 
 to inquire into their faith. Josephus has been strangely 
 supposed to describe the Christians under the name of 
 Essenes, which, if true, would give us no theological 
 information ; but his disputed testimony to our Saviour 
 has been dismissed with too little investigation ; for if the 
 probability of his writing in that manner is to decide the 
 question, it would be easy to show that many of his 
 acknowledged sentences must be discarded as interpo- 
 lations. Philo has been placed in the same category, 
 but no one who knows what a Christian is would give that 
 name to either of these learned Jews. Tacitus and Sue- 
 tonius furnish hints too brief to influence any doctrinal 
 decision ; but Pliny's letter is not without its importance 
 even in theology. The history of Herodian, confined to 
 a period in which we feel our warrant of information, is as 
 silent on the whole subject of Christianity as if such a 
 religion had not then existed in the Ptoman world. 
 
38 SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 
 
 The apocryphal writings that have been obtruded on the 
 church, under the names of the fathers, are numerous, but 
 often so contemptible that it is charity to the reputation 
 of the pretended authors to relieve them from the dis- 
 graceful imputation. Ecclesiastical more than any other 
 history is derived, like oui* dreams, from such a mixture 
 of facts with fictions that we scarcely know how to dis- 
 tinguish the visionary from the real. Who can pretend to 
 an infallible clue^to guide us through this labyrinth ? We 
 sometimes discover that even those who received the 
 forgeries as genuine did not believe all their contents. 
 Two authors who have been included in the collection of 
 the apostolical fathers, by Cotelerius and Wake, require to 
 be noticed so far as to give our reasons for rejecting 
 them as unworthy of credit Wake, indeed, introduces 
 their works as a sacrifice of his own judgment to that of 
 others, and Cotelerius seems ashamed of the pretences to 
 authority that have been advanced in favour of these 
 fables. 
 
 The first is called the Catholic Epistle of Barnabas, 
 by Origen, who echoes the voice of his master Clement.- 
 But the question of the canon was then undecided, and 
 the fathers quoted notoriously apocryphal writings as eccle- 
 siastical, if not as inspired. Eusebius places this epistle 
 among those writings that are disputed by some, and 
 Jerome classes it with apocryphal books. 
 
 The name «'i2 ii signifies the preacher, and should be 
 rendered, son of exhortation, rather than consolation. 
 The companion of Paul was a Levite of Cyprus, and pro- 
 bably an exhorter or reader in the Cypriot synagogue; 
 but this epistle, which was perhaps called simply that of 
 the preacher, for the writer does not mention his own 
 name, was the work of a Syrian converted from heathenism 
 in the Alexandrian school, which first brought it into 
 notice. 
 
 * -veYpaTTTai 5); tv t7j Bxpvupa KaOoXtKn kTTia-ToXT,. Contra Celsum, lib. i. p. 49. 
 
SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 39 
 
 It was evidently written after the destruction of the 
 Jewish temple, and the writer says, " Before we believed 
 in God, the habitation of our heart was a house full 
 of idolatry, a house of devils," which shows he was no 
 Levite. Coming down to us imperfect, we have of the 
 first part only a Latin version, and the whole is such a 
 compound of false quotation, feeble reasoning, and puerile 
 allegory, that to ascribe it to the Levite of Cyprus is an 
 insult to the memory of him that was called by the Holy 
 Ghost to be the companion of an apostle ; as if we sup- 
 posed that, after their separation, Barnabas became fatuous. 
 Instead of being supported by the authorities adduced, 
 the epistle serves only to show how little their opinion was 
 worth. 
 
 The work called the Pastor or Shepherd of Hennas was 
 unquestionably, not the production of the Hermes men- 
 tioned by Paul in his letter to the Eomans, but of a later 
 author, supposed to be Hermes, or Hermetes, brother of 
 Pius I., the Eoman bishop in the middle of the second 
 century. It is called the Shepherd because the second 
 part or book contains these words, as spoken by the angel 
 of repentance : " I am that shepherd to whose care you 
 are delivered." But as the original Greek is lost, had the 
 Latin version shared the same fate, we should have been 
 spared our blushes for the folly of him that could write, 
 and of those .that could respectfully quote, what must be 
 called, not pious, but impious forgeries. If this was an 
 attempt to perpetuate the claim to miraculous gifts and 
 inspiration, it succeeded, only as the modern speaking 
 with tongues, and the revelations of the most pitiable 
 fanatics, have had their measure of success ; for mock 
 miracles and inspiration serve but to enhance the true. 
 Whether this Hermas were deceiver or deceived, the re- 
 ception which his visions obtained gives such a view of 
 the discernment of those times, as forbids us to wonder at 
 auy corruption that obtained, either in the doctrine or 
 
4:0 SOUECES OF INFORMATION. 
 
 practice of the church. The best apology that can be 
 made for the ancients is, that in speaking of this book, 
 they contradict at one time the eulogies they pronounce at 
 another. Eusebius treats it as absolutely false, and Ter- 
 tullian calls it the Shepherd of Adulterers. 
 
 The second epistle of Clement we have already rejected 
 as an attempt to imitate the first, which had been ex- 
 cessively admired. Quotations from apocryphal gospels, 
 render this letter suspicious; nor is there anything that 
 passes under the name of Clement worthy of our regard, 
 but the epistle to the Corinthians. Eusebius repudiates 
 the second epistle. 
 
 Of the martyrdoms of Ignatius and Polycarp, the pro- 
 ductions of a later age, it is not necessary to speak, 
 except to remind the reader that, like the letters of 
 Abgarus and the Acts of Pilate, they show the propen- 
 sity to forgeries which was indulged by well-meaning men 
 called primitive fathers. 
 
 From the sources now enumerated we must derive our 
 knowledge of the theology of the early church. For 
 though we may occasionally refer to some of a later age, 
 they will be adduced only as evidences of the opinions 
 of their predecessors, whose works were better known 
 when time had not yet completed its ravages, and eccle- 
 siastical partisanship had not succeeded in putting out of 
 court witnesses whose testimony proclaimed the corrup- 
 tion of the church. 
 
LECTURE 11. 
 
 THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHUECH CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES 
 AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 
 
 The primitive theology, as far as it can be ascertained, 
 consists of opinions recorded in the various sources of 
 information, on the Scriptures and tradition ; the divine 
 nature and attributes ; the divinity of Christ and the 
 Trinity ; the purposes and works of God, with the creation 
 and fall of angels and men ; redemption, including the 
 person and work of Christ; divine grace and justification ; 
 the church with its officers, and worship, and discipline ; 
 the sacraments and Christian ethics; the final fortunes of 
 the church and the world, including death, the separate 
 state of the soul, the resurrection, antichrist, the millen- 
 nium, and the consummation of all things. 
 
 This second Lecture will show the sentiments of the 
 ancient writers on the Scriptures, tradition, and some 
 related points ; and on the divine nature, the divinity of 
 Christ, and the Trinity. 
 
 Part I. — Of the Scriptures. 
 
 The canon of Scripture so powerfully affects every part 
 of our creed that the prevalent ignorance on the subject 
 should excite equal surprise and regret. Both in ancient 
 and modern times, even correct conclusions have too fre- 
 quently been empirical ; for their reasons and evidences 
 have been, to a great extent, unknown. The canon of the 
 
43 THEOLOGY OF THE EAKLY CHURCH 
 
 Old Testament, formed under the guidance of inspired 
 prophets, and closed by Malachi, is rendered sure to us, 
 by the sanction of our Eedeemer, who always honoured it 
 by his appeals, while he condemned the most revered 
 traditions, for making void " the Scriptures, which cannot 
 be broken." This code, recognized by the early fathers, 
 was soon tampered with ; for succeeding ages added to it 
 books which never formed a part of those oracles, the 
 custody of which, Paul declares, was the prime honour of 
 the Jewish church. Augustine calls the Jews our porters, 
 to carry for us the books on which Christians build their 
 faith.* How came they, then, to be guilty of the incon- 
 sistency of receiving, as inspired, books that were never 
 brought to us by those who are acknowledged to have 
 been God's chosen porters ? The canon of the New 
 Testament was closed by John, the last of the apostles, 
 as that of the Old had been by Malachi, the seal of the 
 prophets, who charged the church to adhere to the law of 
 Moses till Messiah came, " lest Jehovah should smite the 
 land with a curse. "f The Christian Scriptures, also, close 
 with an aspiration for the second coming of Christ, pre- 
 ceded by a fearful denunciation on him who should alter, 
 by addition or diminution, " the words of this book." It 
 has been too hastily concluded that this adjuration affects 
 only the Apocalypse in which it occurs ; for the prohibi- 
 tion would, by this reasoning, be rendered void ; since 
 any pretended prophet might, by means of another book, 
 effectually add to that called the Eevelation, without in- 
 curring the curse. But if no pro2^hecies are to be added, 
 no inspired teachers are to be expected ; for with inspira- 
 tion must come the right to prophesy. Who could have 
 the assurance to impose limitations on one supposed to 
 
 * Quid est aliud hodieque gens ipsa nisi qusedam scriniaria Cliristianorum 
 bajulans legem et prophetas. August. Contr. Faustum, lib. xii, c. 23. 
 
 + That thej^ may not end the reading of the Scriptures with an execration, 
 the Jews repeat the preceding verse. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCPJPTUKES AND THE DIVINE NATUEE. 43 
 
 be insiDirecl, and say, " Thou shalt not prophesy in the 
 name of the Lord?" John may have known of the death 
 of the hist possessor of mu'aculous gifts, which would 
 most properly expire with the last of the apostles, who 
 could pronounce an authoritative sentence on the preten- 
 sions of such as professed to speak by the special inspira- 
 tion of the Spirit. 
 
 Henceforth, in the divine writings alone, we " hear 
 what the Spirit saith to the churches-" Subsequent pre- 
 tences to miraculous powers we meet with in ecclesiastical 
 history; but they are hesitating, equivocal, and suspicious. 
 By the laying on of the hands of the a]30stles alone, these 
 extraordinary gifts were originally conferred ; and if we 
 depart from this point, we know not wheye to stop, short 
 of the pretences of the Eomanists, or of some modern 
 fanatics, who, at antipodes to Eome, join her in pleading 
 for the continuance of miraculous powers and inspiration. 
 That these were required for the introduction of a new 
 dispensation of religion implies that they were not suited 
 to its continuance, after it had been thus sufficiently ac- 
 credited. The apostles in their writings now " sit on 
 thrones judging the tribes of Israel," and all attempts to 
 set up another authority are treason which covers its 
 perpetrators with shame. 
 
 The time and occasion of the formation of the Chris- 
 tian canon, and its general reception in the church, are 
 questions as difficult as they are interesting and important. 
 That the beloved disciple, John, as the survivor of the 
 apostles, authoritatively closed the canon has been as- 
 serted, and it may surely be pronounced the most natural 
 hypothesis ; but it is still a question of fact, at what 
 period, and to what extent, this decision w^as known and 
 prevailed among the churches. It cannot be ascertained 
 that the apostolical fathers possessed even the gospels as 
 early as Ave should have expected. For when the Eoman 
 Clement quotes the Old Testament, he says, " Thus it is 
 
44 THEOLOGY OF THE EAELY CHURCH 
 
 written ;" but he adopts another style concerning Chris- 
 tian verities, saying, "Let us be mindful of the words of 
 the Lord, teaching mildness ;"-!'' and Ignatius quotes what 
 certainly does not exist now in either of the gospels : 
 " Handle me and see that I am not an incorporeal daemon. "f 
 Luke's introduction to the Acts of the Apostles inti- 
 mates that there were then extant many gospels, not of 
 divine authority, but neither also of heretical pravity, and 
 from some of these the early fathers appear to quote. All 
 this must naturally have occurred. But strong suspicions 
 are excited that Christians, satisfied of the truth of those 
 things which the apostles preached, were negligent of the 
 canon. Ignatius, indeed, is supposed to refer to the 
 Christian code,* in a passage that has been tortured by 
 various translations and interpretations : " Since I have 
 heard some saying, that if I find not in the archives, (or in 
 the ancient Scriptures,) I do not believe it is in the gospel. 
 And I saying to them that it is written ; they answered me 
 that it lies open. J To me Jesus Christ is the archives: 
 the unchangeable archives are his cross, and death, and 
 resurrection, and faith by him, by which I desire to be 
 justified through your prayers." The heretics seem to 
 have charged the church with teaching things not written ; 
 but Ignatius answers, " It is written." They either 
 reply, " The writings we quote lie open to the public," or 
 they ask, " Is the writing to which the church appeals thus 
 public ?" for the passage is obscure, and, perhaps, corrupt. 
 But the final answer of Ignatius is, that the doctrine of the 
 death and resurrection of Christ is to him instead of all 
 public documents. In the same strain he said to the 
 Philadelphians,§ " Fleeing to the gospel, as to the flesh of 
 Jesus, and to the Apostles, as to the presbytery of the 
 
 * Chap. xiii. 1 Epist, 
 
 t ovK ei^ti duifxoviov uathfiaTav. Ep. tO Sniym., C. 3. 
 I TrpoKenai. Ad. Philadelpli. c. 8. 
 
 § Tlpoff^v/wv TU) eua'fye\iw c'u crapKt 'IricroO Kai Tots' uTroo-roXof? lo? npeajSvTepiM 
 iKKXno-tar, cap. 5. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 45 
 
 church; and let us love the prophets." Here he mentions 
 the gospel as the good news which the church had heard ; 
 but if he intended written history of Christ, he mentions 
 but one. He also speaks of the apostles as if he referred 
 to their preaching; otherwise, would he not have men- 
 tioned their epistles? Polycarp also says, "Let us serve 
 Christ, with fear and all piety, as he himself commanded, 
 and the apostles and prophets who preached before the 
 coming of our Lord."* The presbyters were regarded as 
 living archives whose grand duty it was to preserve uncor- 
 rupt the gospel first delivered by the apostles' preaching. 
 
 But when, in the second century, Marcion, after his 
 teacher Cerdo, had appealed to Scripture, the fathers were 
 roused to the discharge of a sacred duty, to form or to pro- 
 cure a collection of the sacred writings, first of the gospels, 
 (and to that of Luke was appended the Acts,) and after- 
 wards of the apostolical epistles, which were followed by 
 the Revelation. Justin Martyr, Irenseus, Origen, Tertul- 
 lian, then begin to speak a different language, referring to 
 the four gospels and to the epistles, not omitting the 
 mention of the Revelation. In this, as well as other 
 instances, the heretics served the cause of truth which 
 they laboured to destroy.f 
 
 The canon, or list of the sacred books that form what , 
 was called the ecclesiastical rule, is generally said to have 
 been settled at the Council of Laodicsea, about the year 
 363, which would throw doubt and uncertainty over the 
 doctrine of previous ages ; whose theologians must have 
 derived their instructions from an inspired code not yet 
 ascertained. If it be said, " We may at least trust them 
 when they appeal to the books which the council after- 
 wards pronounced divine," we reply, that the interpretation 
 even of these was modified by deference to others, which 
 
 * Ep. c. 6. 
 
 + This subject is ably discussed by Campegius Vitringa, tbe worthy son of 
 a justly celebrated father. Dissertationes Sacree, edited by Venema, Fra- 
 nequer, 1731. 
 
46 THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHURCH 
 
 were finally declared to be uncanonical. But the Laodi- 
 csean council, which was provincial rather than universal, 
 of uncertain date, and charged with Arianism, merely- 
 declared what the churches had already received ; showing 
 that previous quotations from uncanonical books were but 
 appeals to private opinion, unsanctioned by the general 
 voice of the church. 
 
 Melito, bishop in Sardis, who travelled into Palestine to 
 obtain information * concerning the Scriptures, gives the 
 same list of books of the Old Testament as we have in the 
 Hebrew, including Lamentations in the prophecies of 
 Jeremiah, and under Esdras or Ezra classing also Nehe- 
 miah and Esther. Some have represented Melito as 
 adding the apocryphal book of Wisdom ; but Valesius,t 
 or Valois, has shown that, instead of Proverbs and Wis- 
 dom, we should read, " Proverbs, which is Wisdom," for, 
 by the name of the apocryphal the fathers often call the 
 canonical book, which has misled some, especially as the 
 apocryphal book of Wisdom is often quoted. 
 
 The historian affirms, that " Hegesippus, Irenceus, and 
 the whole choir of the ancients, call the Proverbs of Solo- 
 mon, Wisdom full of all virtue." | Eusebius gives also, 
 from Origen, § a list of the books of the Old Testament, 
 which the latter says, " are twenty-two, according to the 
 number of the Hebrew letters." But he changes the 
 order, and Eusebius, omitting the twelve minor prophets, 
 which usually form a single book, gives but twenty-one. 
 In both these lists, the Song of Songs which is Solomon's, 
 is distinctly mentioned, and Esther also. The Septuagint 
 version which the early church adopted, becomes a wit- 
 ness to its views of the contents of the Old Testament.^ 
 
 * Euseb. Ecc. Hist. lib. iv. c. 26. + nbe cro<pla Yalesius' Notes to Euseb. 
 
 J Lib. iv. c. 22. § Euseb. Ecc. Hist, book vi. cb. 25. 
 
 ^ As Origen is sbown by Eusebius (Ecc. Hist. lib. vi. c. 19) to make the 
 canonical books of tbe Old Testament two-and-twenty, according to tbe num- 
 ber of tbe Hebrew letters, so Cyril of Jerusalem, in the fourth century, says, 
 (Cat. iv.,) " Eead these two-and-twenty books; but have nothing to do with 
 the apocryphal ones." 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPTUEES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 47 
 
 The canon of the New Testament is joined by Eusebius 
 to that of the Old, in his statement of Origen's views, 
 whose words are thus reported : " I have learned by tradi- 
 tion concerning the four gospels which alone are received, 
 without dispute, by the whole church of God under hea- 
 ven." He then mentions Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 
 John ; and adds, " Paul, who was made an able minister 
 of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit, 
 who fully preached, the gospel from Jerusalem round 
 about to Illyricum, did not write to all the churches he 
 had taught; and to those to whom he did write he sent 
 but a few lines," — i. e. written with his own hand. " Peter, 
 on whom the chm'ch of Christ is built, has left one 
 acknowledged epistle. It may be granted he wrote a 
 second, though it is doubted. What need I speak of John, 
 who left us one gospel, saying, he could have written so 
 many that the world could not have contained them? 
 He wrote also the Eevelation, and left an epistle of a very 
 few lines. Grant also a second and a third, for not every' 
 one admits these as genuine." Of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, he says, ** If any church receive this epistle as 
 Paul's, it is to be commended. Some say that Clement, 
 who was bishop of Eome, wrote this epistle ; others that 
 it was Luke, who wrote the Gospel and the Acts."* 
 
 Eusebius says, " What is called the First Epistle of 
 Peter is acknowledged ; but what is taken for his Second 
 we have learned not to belong to the New Testament, but, 
 appearing to many to be useful, it is studied with the 
 other Scriptures. "f "But Paul's Epistles are well known 
 to be fourteen ; that some, however, reject the one to the 
 Hebrews, because the church of the Eomans deny that it 
 is Paul's, we ought to know.":!. 
 
 The conclusion to which Eusebius comes is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 " The summary of the books of the New Testament 
 
 * Eusel). Ecc. Hist. lib, vL cap. 25, 
 + Ibid. lib. iii. cap. 3. J Ibid, 
 
48 THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHURCH 
 
 may be here given : — first, the sacred quaternion of the 
 Gospels ; the Acts of the Apostles follow ; afterwards must 
 be reckoned the Epistles of Paul ; then the First of John, 
 and also the genuine Epistle of Peter; to these should be 
 joined, if it seem good, the Kevelation of John. These 
 are acknowledged. 
 
 " But of those that are questioned (acknowledged, how- 
 ever, by many), are what is called the Epistle of James, 
 and that of Jude, the Second Epistle of Peter, and those 
 named the Second and Third of John, whether the evan- 
 gelist or some other of the same name."* 
 
 Justin Martyr informs us, that "the memoranda of the 
 apostles were read in public worship along with the 
 writings of the prophets. "f He refers to the Gospels of 
 Matthew and John, as " composed by apostles," and to 
 those of Mark and Luke, as " written by followers or com- 
 panions." Ireneeus says,| " Matthew, among the Hebrews, 
 gave the history of the gospel written in their own tongue, 
 while Peter and Paul were preaching the gospel and 
 founding the church at Eome. After their departure, 
 Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, delivered to us 
 in writing such things as he heard Peter preach. Luke, 
 the attendant of Paul, comprised in a volume the gospel 
 preached by him. Then John, the disciple of the Lord, 
 who had leaned on his breast, living at Ephesus, in Asia, 
 himself also sent forth the gospel." 
 
 Ireneeus, as Eusebius observes, § "reasons of the Keve- 
 lation of John, and the calculation of antichrist's name, 
 observing that the Eevelation was not seen long ago, but 
 nearly in our time, about the end of Domitian's reign. He 
 mentions the First Epistle of John, and the First of Peter." 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, quoting certain words, says, 
 
 * Euseb. Ecc. Hist. lib. iii. cap. 25. 
 
 + Apologia prima, p. 97, Thirlby; 98 Taris, 
 
 I Adversus Heereses, lib. iii. cap. 1. 
 
 § Euseb. Ecc. Hist. lib. v. cap. 8. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 49 
 
 " These we have not in the four gospels delivered to us."- 
 Tertullian thus writes, " Christ made the apostles teachers. 
 Of the apostles, John and Matthew introduce us to the 
 faith; of the apostolical men, Luke and Mark strengthen 
 it."f 
 
 The Acts of the Apostles are, after the gospels, quoted 
 by Tertullian, as " apostolical instruments that testify a 
 resurrection:" he then quotes Paul's words, "Touching 
 the resurrection I am questioned." 
 
 We have seen that the epistles of Paul were, by Origen, 
 reckoned fourteen. His master Clement mentions " Paul 
 in the Epistles apparently not reproving philosophy,! and 
 writing to the Hebrews who were turning from faith," which 
 assigns to Paul the epistle necessary to make up the four- 
 teen ; though it was, long after, ascribed to others, and 
 rejected by the Eomans. 
 
 The earliest church had, generally speaking, the same 
 views of the canon of Scripture, after it was completed by 
 the Apocalypse, as are now entertained by Protestants ; 
 though the distinction between the inspired books and 
 those which were merely revered as the productions of 
 eminent men was not duly maintained. The fatal con- 
 sequences are a warning to us against that imitation of 
 their error, the binding up of the Apocrypha with the 
 Bible. But the testimony of the earliest writers to the 
 books of the New Testament has been so thoroughly and 
 ably discussed by Lardner, in his invaluable work on the 
 Credibility of the Gospel History, that it is not necessary 
 to say more on this theme. Every allusive expression in 
 the fathers he has quoted, but without sufficient allowance 
 for those which may have referred to the preaching rather 
 than the writing of the apostles, and without duly marking 
 the increased appeals to the latter as the march of time 
 made Christians better acquainted with the canon. 
 
 * Strom, iii. p. 339. + Advers. Marcion, lib. iv. c. 2. 
 
 + Strom, p. 465. 
 Yill. JS 
 
50 THEOLOGY OF THE EAELY CHURCH 
 
 That the church was so remiss and so late in settling 
 this question was one of its earliest and most serious 
 faults. There was no sufficient reason for deferring it to 
 the time of the Council of Laodicsea, when they had no 
 better opportunities for coming to a just decision than had 
 been enjoyed for years, not to say ages, before. But if 
 they were then not in a better position, they were in a 
 worse ; for the witnesses to the origin of the sacred books 
 had been long dead, and the apocryphal writings had 
 gained a footing, or, as Tertullian would say, had acquired 
 prescription, and the minds of the faithful had been be- 
 wildered by the intermixture of the true and the false. 
 
 This negligence was, indeed, unfaithfulness, which 
 brought its own punishment ; for it contributed to render 
 the second century the age of heretics, who availed them- 
 selves of spurious writings to support their fanatical errors. 
 In proportion as the genuine books were ascertained and 
 placed in full day, the forgeries, unable to endure the com- 
 parison, sunk into the oblivion, or the contempt, they 
 deserved. But while we have argued on the ordinary 
 assumption that the Council of Laodicsea settled the canon, 
 that was by no means a certain and important event ; for 
 the obscure and doubtful conclave seems to have left out 
 of the reckoning the Eevelation; and, long after that era, 
 the principal writers show that they differed in opinion on 
 the inspired and uninspired books. 
 
 That the Syriac, called Peshito, does not contain the 
 book of Revelation may have arisen from the version 
 having been made before the last portion of the New 
 Testament was given to the church.* 
 
 * Augustine recommends to a disciple " the reading of tlie Scriptures, 
 even if tliey are not understood ; but tliose which are called canonical. For 
 when instructed bj' a belief of the truth, he may more safely read the others, 
 est they preoccupy a feeble mind, and by dangerous lies and visions pro- 
 duce some prejudice against sound knowledge. J3ut in the canonical Scrip- 
 tures let him follow the authority of the Catholic churches, among which 
 aie those which have merited t) receive th.e apostoUc sees and epistles 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPTUEES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 5 1 
 
 What is called the Apocrypha must always share in any 
 uncertainty that may attend the canon. While some of 
 the inspired books were questioned, they were thrown 
 along with spurious writings into the class of works to be 
 read for edification, especially by the Catechumens. But 
 the indefinite term apocryphal was generally applied to 
 such as are to this day rejected. 
 
 The early church erred by additions to the Old Testa- 
 ment. Clemens Alexandrinus places after Esther the 
 Maccabeeic books, without any note of distinction.* Of 
 Tobit he speaks thus : — " Tobias, through the angel 
 Eaphael, marries Sarah, the demon having taken off her 
 seven former bridegrooms ; and after the marriage of 
 Tobias, his father, Tobit is restored to sight."* Baruch, 
 also, he calls "a divine writing," 
 
 He quotes the Apocrypha in the following passage: — 
 *' Divine wisdom speaks concerning the martyrs : ' They 
 seemed in the eyes of fools to die, and their departure was 
 reckoned a calamity, and their removal from us distressing. 
 But they are in peace ; for even though in the sight of 
 men they are punished, their hope is full of immortality."! 
 
 Those wliicli are received by all Catholic churches he will prefer to those 
 that are received only by more and better. Those which are received of 
 fewer and inferior are of less anthority." He then gives, in the canon of the 
 Old Testament, Tobit, and Judith, and the two Maccabees, and two Ezras 
 speaking doubtfully of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus. The New Testament 
 canon is the same as ours. Here we see how the Jews, to whom were com- 
 mitted the Hebrew Scriptures, are forsaken as an authority, whUe Melito 
 had wisely followed them ; and the Christians had come to a right conclusion 
 on the second part of Divine revelation, which h?d been committed to their 
 care. But tlie uncertainty of the church is worthy of remark, as also the 
 manner in which Augustine speaks of Catholic churches in the plui-al. He 
 closes by observing, that " in those things that are openly laid down iu 
 Scripture they find all that pertains to faith and practice ; and that where 
 the variety of the Latin copies creates embarrassment, a knowledge of Greek 
 and Hebrew is necessary, that we may appeal to the originals." To the 
 chm-ches, and not to the Council of Laodica^a, Augustine deferred. — De 
 Doctiina Christiana, lib. ii. 
 
 * Slroui. i. 941. + Clem. Alex. Strom, iv. p. 373. 
 
Oy THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHURCH 
 
 Origen and Tertullian appeal to the Story of Susanna 
 as genuine.* 
 
 The Alexandrian, according to Eusebius, quoted not 
 only the inspired Scripture, but also books that were dis- 
 puted ; the book called the Wisdom of Solomon, and Jesus 
 the son of Syrach, the Epistle to the Hebrews, Barnabas, 
 Clement, Jude. f Here is a strange mixture, from which 
 nothing certain can be concluded, but that Clement was 
 ignorant on the vital question of the canon, and Eusebius 
 undecided. 
 
 The second apocryphal book of Esdras is supposed to 
 be the work of some Christian, w4io, perhaps, never ex- 
 pected it to be taken for inspired Scripture, though he has 
 audaciously imitated the style of the inspiring Spirit — 
 " Thus saith the Lord." The Council of Trent consum- 
 mated the iniquity of the Eoman church by mixing up 
 inspired and uninspired writings, attempting to give divine 
 authority to this confusion of tongues. To exalt the church 
 above the Scriptures she contends that the church de- 
 termines what is inspired. Eome has, however, contra- 
 dicted the church, by receiving into the canon of the Old 
 Testament, books unknown to the Jewish church, to which 
 the Old Testament was entrusted, and whose canon, 
 sanctioned by our Lord, was adopted by the Council of 
 Laodicsea. 
 
 The apocryphal books appended to the Neiv Testament 
 the apostolical fathers do not quote ; but Justin Martyr 
 has been supposed to derive from a spurious gospel, that 
 " a great light shone round Christ when he was baptized." 
 He may, however, have given this merely from current 
 report. There is also no sufficient evidence that Irenaeus 
 quotes as inspired Scripture any other than the canonical 
 books of the New Testament. The public reading of the 
 Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians is not a proof that 
 
 * Tert. de Corona, c. 4. + Euseb. Ecc. Hist, book vi. ch. 13. 
 
CONCEENING THE SCRIPTUKES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 53 
 
 it was deemed canonical, any more than the reading of 
 the Missal and the Anglican Liturgy could prove that 
 these were supposed to belong to the canon. 
 
 Of the apocryphal writings of Christians, the Epistle of 
 Abgarus, prince of Edessa, and our Saviour's Answer, 
 were the commencement ; and though Eusebius professes 
 to have translated them from the Syrian records, the im- 
 pudent forgeries serve only to destroy our faith in the 
 historian's critical discernment. He informs us, however, 
 that Hegesippus, speaking of what are called the apo- 
 cryphal books, relates that some of them were composed 
 in his time by certain heretics." 
 
 When Clement calls Barnabas an apostle, he does but 
 quote Scripture,! for the word, being ordinarily employed 
 for a messenger, is sometimes used in that general way, 
 as when Christ is called " the apostle of our profession," 
 and not always for the twelve, or the apostles by emphasis. 
 Tertullian speaks of the seventy as apostles, in addition 
 to the twelve,! and the word appears to be applied to 
 what are usually called apostolic men. Clement is thought 
 in one instance to have contradicted Barnabas ; so that he 
 who quotes him as an apostle, yet deemed him not in- 
 spired. In another place, the Alexandrian says the apos- 
 tolic Barnabas, who was one of the seventy. § Clement 
 also quotes him whom he naturally terms the elder or 
 greater Clement, saying, " The Apostle Clement, in the 
 Epistle to the Corinthians ;"|1 for so loosely was the word 
 employed that bishops were called apostles. But it is not 
 easy to apologize for the following passages : — " Divinely, 
 therefore, that power which speaks to Hermas by Eeve- 
 latiou,1[ says;" "The shepherd, also, the angel of 
 
 * Lib. iv. ch. 22. 
 
 + Acts xiv. 14, " The Apostles BarnalDas and Saul." 
 
 I Adversus Marcion, lib. iv. cap. 24. 
 
 § Strom, ii. p.. 300. \\ Strom, iv. p. 376. II Strom, i. 
 
54 THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHUHCH 
 
 Eepentance, speaks to Hernias concerning false prophets."- 
 The spurious book seems to be put on a level with those 
 that were divinely inspired ; nor can it be denied that the 
 distinction is but faintly preserved, by, at least, some of the 
 early fathers. 
 
 Clement quotes Matthias, in traditions exhorting, " ad- 
 mire present things, affirming that this is the first step of 
 further knowledge." He adds also a quotation from the 
 gospel according to the Hebrews, which is not worthy to be 
 
 repeated.t 
 
 From the gospel according to the Egyptians, he learned 
 that when Salome asked the Lord how long iniquity 
 should prevail, he replied, " As long as you women bear 
 children." j 
 
 Tertullian sets the epistle of Barnabas in opposition to 
 the Shepherd of Hermas, saying, " The Epistle is more 
 received among the churches than that apocryphal Shep- 
 herd of Adulterers. "§ 
 
 Origen has in his voluminous writings quoted various 
 apocryphal works, but he has so clearly declared what is 
 divine, that we should give him the advantage of the 
 apologies made for him, by those who observe that he 
 employs different phrases when he appeals to other au- 
 thorities. We cannot, however, excuse his attempt to de- 
 fend the Story of Susanna against the attacks which show 
 that it was not generally received by Christians as divine 
 Scripture. 
 
 Cyprian quotes the Apocrypha — for instance, the first 
 book of Maccabees — as divine Scripture ;i| and cites the 
 Wisdom of Solomon in the same way. Repeating the 
 words of Ecclesiasticus, he says, "As the Lord has spoken 
 by his prophet." In like manner he speaks of Baruch, 
 affirming that the Holy Spirit, by Jeremiah, has suggested 
 
 Strom, i. p. 261. + Strom, ii. p. 278. t Strom, iii. p. : 
 
 § De Pudieitia, c. 20. || Ep. to Cornelius, 55. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPlUEEo AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 5l> 
 
 these things. Cyprian therefore had no correct knowledge 
 of the canon. 
 
 The great sin of the fathers lay in want of due respect 
 for the accuracy of truth, especially in its api^lication to 
 the distinction between genuine Scripture and forgeries. 
 The Acts of Paul and Thecla, of which Tertullian declares 
 that an Asiatic presbyter avowed himself the author, out 
 of love to the apostle,* is quoted respectfully by Cyprian 
 and by subsequent fathers. The confession of the forgery 
 scarcely affected the currency of the work. When, there- 
 fore, we find Tertullian attempting to exalt the Book of 
 Enoch to a place in the canon, we are not quite sure that 
 he believed his own argument. Such as it was, we give it : 
 " I know that the Scripture or writing of Enoch, which lies 
 given this angelic order, is not received by some ; because 
 it w^as not received into the Jewish depository. I conclude 
 that they cannot think that what was edited before the 
 deluge could have been saved after that catastrophe of the 
 world that destroyed everything. If that is the reason, let 
 them remember that the grandson of Enoch, Noah, survived 
 the deluge, who, therefore, by that domestic name and 
 hereditary tradition, had heard and remembered of the 
 favour of his grandfather in the sight of God, and all his 
 preaching. For Enoch committed to his son, Methuselah, 
 nothing but what he should deliver the knowledge of to 
 his posterity. Therefore Noah might, without doubt, have 
 succeeded in the delegation of preaching ; even because he 
 would not conceal the dispensation of the God who had 
 preserved him, concerning the glory of his own house. 
 If he had not this so ready at hand, that also would guard 
 the assertion of this Scripture or prove its genuineness. 
 So the very violence of the deluge might again have re- 
 stored to his spirit the remembrance of what had become 
 faint. Just also, as at the destruction of Jerusalem, in 
 the Babylonish siege, it appears that every record of Jewish 
 * For f:ii5 it should be kj.o.vn tliat the presbyter was deposed. 
 
50 THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHUKCH 
 
 literature was restored by Ezra. But since Enoch, in the 
 same Scripture, also, preached concerning the Lord ; by 
 us, indeed, nothing is entirely to be rejected which per- 
 tains to us ; and we read, " All Scripture fit for edification 
 is divinely inspired ; by the Jews now it seems to have 
 been afterwards rejected for the same reason as most other 
 things which speak of Christ. Nor is this wonderful, if 
 they have not received certain Scriptures which speak of 
 him whom they would not receive when he was himself 
 speaking before them."* 
 
 This most pernicious piece of patristic theology de- 
 mands our criticism. The author censures those who 
 rejected the Book of Enoch, because it was not in the 
 Jew's armarium or depository of Scripture. It aj^pears, 
 therefore, that the true principle of the canon of the Old 
 Testament was known by him and despised. Had he not 
 read that to the Jews " were entrusted the oracles of 
 God ?" Was he not aware that our Lord always appealed 
 to their ScrijDtures as that which cannot be broken and 
 which testified of him ? Did Christ ever accuse them of 
 corrupting or rejecting any part of the word of God ? Has 
 not Tertullian, by this argumentation, attempted to shake 
 the authority of the Old Testament to its foundation? 
 For if the Jewish canon has been formed by the disposition 
 of a people that hated Christ, what confidence can we repose 
 in either their admission or their rejection of any book ? 
 
 But Tertullian forgot that when it was determined what 
 should be admitted into the Jewish armarium, the church 
 of God was as truly among them as it is now among Chris- 
 tians. The ancient church no more hated Christ than 
 does the modern ; and when the Jews rejected him, it was 
 no longer in their power to alter their canon. It had been 
 determined and proclaimed to the world, and the Greek 
 translation had become an additional testimony to the 
 Hebrew originals. We pass over his argument in favour 
 * De liabitu muliebri, c. 3. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCillPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 57 
 
 of the preservation of an antediluvian book which no one 
 treats as anything but a forgery. 
 
 Our censure must now be directed to his sweeping 
 assertion, that the Jewish Scriptures were destroyed in 
 the Babylonish captivity, and restored by Ezra, In this 
 folly, other fathers countenance Tertullian ; for while pro- 
 fessing to despise the Jews too much to admit their testi- 
 mony to the canon of the Old Testament, the worst Jewish 
 fables were by Christians implicitly received. It is not, 
 however, certain that even the Jews went further than to 
 say that Ezra was a second Moses ; and if the latter had 
 not written the law, the former was worthy to have enjoyed 
 that honour. But how a Christian of any ability could 
 have believed that the whole of the Jewish records were 
 destroyed, and that Ezra was inspired to write them all 
 over again, we cannot conceive. Did not Septimius know 
 that Daniel read the sacred books in Babylon, before Ezra 
 was called to public service ? 
 
 But while we say nothing of Tertullian's translation of 
 the words of Paul,* which, makes usefulness a proof of 
 inspiration, we ask what must be the state of that mind 
 which would make the edifying tendency of the book of 
 Enoch an evidence of its inspiration ? For Tertullian 
 claims for it no smaller honour. Is everything that " per- 
 tains to Christians," and is fitted to edify them, divinely 
 inspired? Would this father claim the honours of inspira- 
 tion for his own writings, which he, doubtless, thought 
 pertained to Christians, and fit to edify them ? 
 
 He speaks of the Jews as " rejecting the book of Enoch, 
 as they did almost all other things that sj^eak of Christ." 
 Did Septimius suppose they rejected the book of Psalms 
 and the prophets ? Or was he ignorant that Christ ap- 
 pealed to these and showed how they spake of him ? When 
 Tertullian says, it is not wonderful that they who rejected 
 Christ speaking to them should reject Scriptures that 
 * 2 Tim. iii. 15—17. 
 
58 THEOLOGY OF HIE EARLY CHURCH 
 
 speak of him, he shows that he made no proper distinction 
 between the ancient church under the guidance of inspired 
 prophets, and a nation from whom the kingdom of God 
 was passing away to he transferred to others. 
 
 That we have now the true canon of the New Testa- 
 ment we owe rather to the purifying processes of a won- 
 derful providence than to the wisdom of the first ages. 
 For if they bear valuable witness, it is incidentally ; while 
 they often intentionally violate the principles of the canon 
 in various ways. The churches were, doubtless, the con- 
 servative parties ; and as the autographs of the various 
 books were deposited with them, these authenticse litterse 
 (to use Tertullian's words, if not in his sense) became at 
 last universally known, and the forgeries generally dis- 
 appeared. Happily for the Christian Church, it contained 
 wiser and better men than many of the authors whose 
 works have escaped the ravages of time. Those whom the 
 literati would have misled were preserved by the fulfilment 
 of the promise, "All thy children shall be taught of 
 God." Particular churches preserved the records which 
 the universal church at length received. 
 
 The authority ascribed to the written word by the early 
 fathers is, on many accounts, a question that demands our 
 special regard. Clement praises the Corinthians for 
 carefully attending to the words of God:* "Take the 
 epistle of the blessed Paul the apostle. What did he first 
 write to you in the beginning of the gospel ?f Look into 
 the Holy Scriptures, which are the true words of the Holy 
 Ghost. Ye know there is nothing unjust or counterfeit 
 written in them."t "For ye know and well understand 
 the sacred Scriptures, and have searched into the oracles 
 of God."§ 
 
 Ignatius writes to the Magnesians,!] " Be diligent, there- 
 fore, to be confirmed in the doctrines of the Lord and his 
 
 * To Corinth, chap. ii. + chap. 47. 
 
 + To Corinth, chap. 4?. § chap. 53. || chap. 18. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCIUPTUEES AND THE DIVINE NATUEE. 59 
 
 apostle, that ye may prosper ; " and to the Romans, " Not 
 as Peter and Paul do I order you."* 
 
 The estimation in which the inspired writers were held 
 by Polycarp appears in his letter to the Philippians ; 
 " Neither I nor any other like me, can come up to the 
 wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul, who, being 
 among you, taught accurately and soundly the word of 
 truth ; who also, being absent, wrote to you letters, to 
 which, if you bend your attention, you will be able to 
 build yourselves up in the faith given to you."f 
 
 Justin Martyr quotes largely the preaching of Christ, 
 and says to the strangers, " Be it known to you, that 
 whatever we say, we have learned from Christ, and the 
 prophets that were before him ; these things alone are 
 true, and older than other writers. For there were among 
 the Jews certain men, prophets of God, by whom the 
 prophetic spirit told beforehand what would come to 
 pass."! 
 
 Justin leads us to one still more ancient, his own 
 spiritual father, the venerable old Christian, who could 
 not have been far from the apostles' days, and who con- 
 ducted the martyr to the Saviour, by such advice as Justin 
 has here recorded : " But pray, above all things, that the 
 gates of light may be opened to you. For these things 
 are not discerned or understood by all, but by him to 
 whom God and his Christ grant to know them." " Imme- 
 diately a fire was kindled in my soul," says Justin, " and a 
 love of the prophets and of the friends of Christ seized 
 me."§ 
 
 Theophilus of Antioch says, — " I believe, in conse- 
 quence of meeting with the Scriptures of the holy pro- 
 phets who foretold things as they happened, being taught 
 by the Spirit." || 
 
 * To Corinth, cliap. 4. + Polycarp to Philippians, chap. 3. 
 
 i Dial. 225. § Dial, with Trypho, 225 Thiilby. 
 
 (I To Autolychus, lib. ii. ad fin. 
 
60 THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHURCH 
 
 Irenseus observes, that "We have not known the dis- 
 pensation of our salvation, by any others than those by 
 whom the gospel has come to us, which indeed they then 
 preached and afterwards, by the will of God, delivered to 
 us in the Scriptures, the future foundation and pillar of 
 our faith. For it must not be said that they preached 
 before they had a perfect knowledge, as some dare to 
 affirm, glorying that they are correctors of the apostles. 
 But after our Lord had risen from the dead, and they 
 were endued with the power of the Holy Spirit coming 
 upon them from on high, they were filled with all (gifts), 
 and had perfect knowledge ; they went forth to the ends 
 of the earth."* The sufficiency of the gospels he main- 
 tains by the following arguments, we cannot call them 
 reasons : " Nor can there be more or fewer gospels ; for, 
 as there are four regions in the world, and four principal 
 spirits, and the church is spread all over the earth, and 
 the gospel is the pillar and foundation of the church, and 
 the spirit of life, it consequently has four pillars, breathing 
 on all sides incorruptibility, and quickening men, whence 
 it is manifest that the Word, the former of all things, who 
 sits upon the cherubim and upholds all things, having 
 appeared to men, has given us a gospel of a fourfold 
 character, but joined in one spirit." f 
 
 He says, "I have heard from a certain presbyter (sup- 
 posed to be Papias) who had heard from those who saw 
 the apostles, and learned of them that to the ancients the 
 reproof given in the Scriptures to those who did things 
 without the council of the Spirit, was sufficient. Thus 
 we are not to censure them, further than by following the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 " Well knowing that the Scriptures are perfect, as being 
 dictated by the Word of God and his Spirit ; that a heavy 
 punishment awaits those who add to, or take from, the 
 Scriptures ; we, following the one and only God as our 
 
 * Advers. Heres. lib. iii. c. 1. + Lib. iii. c. 11, 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 61 
 
 teacher, and having his words as a rule of faith, do always 
 speak the same lathings concerning the same things. A 
 sound mind, that is, sober, discreet, and a lover of truth, 
 whatever God has put in the power of men, and made 
 knowable by us, these such a mind will study, and im- 
 prove in them, rendering the knowledge of them easy by 
 daily exercise. And the things which we may know are 
 those which fall under our sight, and whatever are plainly, 
 and clearly, and expressly spoken in the divine Scriptures. 
 Such a one will be well satisfied of these things if he also 
 diligently read the Scrij)tures, with those who are pres- 
 byters of the church, with whom is the apostolic doctrine 
 as we have shown." This last counsel is wise, and would 
 be approved by real Protestants, for ministers were 
 designed to assist the faithful in the study of the Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria affirms, " We are taught of God 
 who have been instructed by the Son of God in the truly 
 sacred Scriptures."* The apostle, knowing this instruction 
 to be truly divine, says, " Thou, Timothy, hast known 
 from a child the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make 
 thee wise to salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus." 
 
 The apostle calls them divinely inspired, being pro- 
 fitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for edu- 
 cation in righteousness, that the man of God may be 
 perfect, fitted for every good work.f " On this account " 
 (that we might be justified by faith) " the Scriptures are 
 interpreted (i. e. translated) in the language of the Greeks, 
 that they might never be able to plead ignorance as an 
 excuse, since they can hear them from us, if they are but 
 willing. \ 
 
 Origen, the disciple of the former, tells Celsus that, 
 
 * QiohihaKTOi "^ap rjfjieXs lepa oi/TWS ypafx/Jiara napa Tf v'lw tov Qeov Traidevofxevoi. 
 
 —Strom, i. 233. 
 + Admon. ad Gentes, 41. 
 
 t 6ia. rovTO yap 'EWjjvwv (pcavri ep/u.6Keu0r]<rav ai ypatpal cor yuJ; irp6<jia<xiv afvoiai 
 
 'irpo^dXXeaOai. CI. Ales. Strom. i. 211. 
 
62 THEOLOGY OF THE EAIILY CHURCH 
 
 " with his leave, he will venture to affirm, that the disciples 
 of Jesus, after their understandings were enlightened by 
 the grace of God, knew better than Plato what to write, and 
 how to write, and what things were fit to be published to 
 the world, either by the voice or writing. - But that our 
 religion would have us to be wise is demonstrable, both 
 from the ancient, that is, the Jewish Scriptures, which also 
 we use, no less than from the Scriptures which are since 
 (the time of) Jesus, and are believed in the churches to be 
 divine."! To something that Celsus had put into the 
 mouth of a Christian, Origen replies, " It is not in any 
 private books, or read also by a few lovers of learning, but 
 in the popular works it is written, the invisible things of 
 God from the creation of the world are clearly seeu."j 
 Here the Epistle to the Eomans, which contains the 
 things deemed most profound and difficult, is pronounced 
 dr]iJLo8€(TT€pos or more popular, in opposition to what is 
 studied only by the learned. 
 
 Tertullian says to Hermogenes, "Whether all things 
 were made of subject matter I never yet read. Let the 
 shop of Hermogenes show Avhere it is written. If it be 
 not written, let him fear that woe that is destined for those 
 who add anything to the Word of God, or take anything 
 away." The sufficiency of Scripture is maintained with a 
 high hand, when he says, " it denies what it does not 
 denote ; "§ and when he exclaims, " I adore the fulness of 
 the Scripture." |1 
 
 The chief excellence of the fathers lies in their copious 
 quotations of Scripture, and the best sentences in all the 
 volume of the Alexandrian Clement are that in which he 
 says the Scriptures were put into the vulgar tongue of the 
 Greeks, that there might be no excuse for ignorance ; and 
 
 * Book vi. 279. t Lib. iii. 138. + Lib. vii. 
 
 § " Negat Scriptura quod non notat." — De Monogaraia, c. 4. 
 
 II " Adoro Scriptui-Ee plenitiidinem. Scriptum esse doceat Hermogenis 
 officina. Si non est Scriptum, timeat vce illud adjicientibus aut detrabenti- 
 biis destir.ahiiii." — Advers. Henuog. 22, c. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 63 
 
 another which declares that truth is to be found, by 
 confirming what is demonstrated by Scripture out of like 
 Scriptures. 
 
 We have enlarged on this part of the theology of the 
 fathers, because it is not only the best, but virtually in- 
 cludes everything ; for if we hearken to them here, where 
 they are most copious, most positive, and most harmo- 
 nious, we must derive our theology from the study of the 
 Word of God, comparing Scripture with Scripture. * 
 
 The communion, which prides itself on deference to the 
 fathers, has laboured assiduously to neutralize their finest 
 passages on the sufficiency of Scripture, by insisting that 
 it must be interpreted to us by the fathers themselves. 
 Now, they set up no such claim ; so that he who does this 
 for them violates his own doctrine by the very act of 
 asserting it. Nor is he a friend, but the bitterest foe, to 
 the reputation of the fathers who provokes an investiga- 
 tion into their claim to deference as authoritative inter- 
 preters of Scripture ; for never do they appear to greater 
 disadvantage than in the department of exegesis. Allegory, 
 without authority and without rule, is their universal 
 favourite. The allegorizing of Scripture began early, and 
 became rampant. Clement says to the Corinthians, — " In 
 addition they (the spies sent by Joshua) gave her, that 
 is, Rahab, a sign, that she should hang from her house a 
 scarlet line, making it manifest that through the blood of 
 the Lord there should be redemption for all that believe 
 and hope in God. See, beloved, there was not only faith, 
 but prophecy in the woman. "f This was a favourite con- 
 
 * Sulpicius Severus, speaking of the sacred volumes, in the very com- 
 mencement of his history, says, that the whole mystery of divine things can 
 he derived only from the fountains themselves. This might he supposed to 
 mean tlie original Hehrew and Greek, though Vorstius, his editor, asserts, 
 " That the Latin or any other version is intended by the fountains, and that 
 •when Severus refers to the Hebrew and Greek, he calls them the originals, 
 rather than the fountains." p. 4. 
 
 •f- Crp. xii. ov novov n'.arii UWa. irpoft}Teici ev rri ')vyac<'i. 
 
64 THEOLOaY OF THE EARLY CHUECH 
 
 ceit with the fathers, who have overlooked much better 
 proof of the same doctrine. 
 
 Clement the elder introduces Deut. xxxii. 15, which the 
 Septuagint has strangely paraphrased, rather than tran- 
 slated ; and he adds to the confusion by giving us what is 
 not found in either the Hebrew or the present Greek : — 
 " That was fulfilled which is written. The beloved ate, and 
 drank, and was enlarged, and grew fat," &c.* In the same 
 manner he says of Enoch, — *' His death was not found ;"t 
 to which there is nothing correspondent in the original, t 
 or the Greek version. 
 
 With few exceptions beside that splendid one, Origen, 
 the fathers, till Jerome's days, laboured under the serious 
 disadvantage of being ignorant of Hebrew; so that the 
 earliest Latin version of the Old Testament was probably 
 a translation of a translation. An humbling sense of de- 
 pendence on the Septuagint seems to have led to the 
 adoption of the fable, that it was made by inspiration, 
 which caused seventy-two separate translators to agree to 
 a letter. § As the Jews have abandoned this version, so 
 the fable was practically scorned, not only by Origen in 
 his Hexapla, but also by the church, which adopted 
 Jerome's translation from the original Hebi'ew. Tertul- 
 lian hints that the inspiration of the Septuagint was a 
 Jewish tale, II and yet strangely adopts it. Justin, Ire- 
 neeus, Epiphanius, Augustine, ascribe inspiration to this 
 translation, by which they ruin their own authority as 
 interpreters of Scripture, often building arguments on 
 what is not in the Hebrew. Sometimes they add in- 
 justice to folly, by falsely accusing the Jews of corrupting 
 their Scriptures.^ Origen's effort to improve upon the 
 Septuagint became the innocent occasion of increased 
 confusion; for various versions are now in some places 
 manifestly mingled in one. 
 
 * Chap. iii. t I Cor. is. J Ad. Cor. c. ix. ; Gen. v. 2L 
 
 S Iren. lib. iii. c. 25. 1| Apolog. c. 18. ^ Dial, with Tiypho. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 05 
 
 The principles of interpretation adopted by the fathers 
 come out distinctly to view in the writings of Origen, who 
 avowed a threefold method — historical, allegorical, and 
 mystical, or ethical ; though it is not easy to discover that 
 he kept these distinct. He w^as not, however, the author 
 of the allegorical method, which appears not only in the 
 v/ritings of his master, Clement, but as early as the days 
 of the Eoman of that name. We have heard Irenseus 
 argue that there could be no more than four gospels, 
 because there were four quarters of the heavens — east, 
 west, north, and south; and the cherubim on the ark had 
 four faces — of a man, a lion, an eagle, and an ox. As 
 interpreters of Scripture, then, so far from being oracles, 
 even the wisest of the fathers often astonish us by their 
 I)uerile absurdities ; and no public instructor who has any 
 credit to maintain would venture to adopt, as his own, the 
 comments he might defend by an appeal to their concur- 
 rent testimony. If of this we have not adduced more 
 numerous proofs, it is because the fact will come out 
 to view in quotations on other points, and the truth is 
 admitted by all who have either learning or sense to which 
 we could appeal. 
 
 Tradition is so associated with the Scriptures, in the 
 language, at least, if not in the minds, of the fathers, that 
 it becomes necessary to consider this most complicated 
 theme. The word, like many others, has in the course of 
 ages acquired different senses, and that which obtained 
 before the canon of Scripture was complete, became, at 
 length, far remote from the sense now adopted and 
 cherished by the votaries of Eome. In the epistle of Paul 
 it signifies, according to its true etymology, whatever is 
 handed down to us, " whether by word or by epistle." In 
 this sense, therefore, tradition includes Scripture. From 
 Eusebius we learn, ''■ that Ignatius exhorted the churches 
 through which he passed to hold the tradition of the 
 apostles which he thought necessary, as a faithful witness, 
 
 VIII. ,, 
 
66 THEOLOGY OF THE EAELT CHURCH 
 
 to express in writing as a type, or to give the form of it 
 in writing."-' At the time when the Scriptures had not 
 obtained universal circulation, this counsel was good, and 
 Ignatius, by his conduct, destroyed the credit of unwritten 
 traditions ; since he deemed it the duty of a faithful wit- 
 ness to commit to writing what he knew. Polycarp com- 
 mends to the Philippians the letters of Paul, written to 
 themselves, that they might hand them down to others. 
 The diligence of Papias in inquiring after traditions seems 
 to aj)ply only to historical affairs ; and his declared want 
 of judgment to make a proper use of ^Yhat he learned is a 
 recorded testimony to the doubtful credit of things that 
 come only from such a source. Hegesippus, a similar 
 character, was so little valued by the earliest churches that 
 they have allowed his whole collections to perish. Justin 
 appeals, not to tradition, but to the Scriptures alone. 
 After this time, which is the most important in the whole 
 controversy, the orthodox suffered themselves to be driven 
 by the heretics to take on this point, as on some others, 
 a false position. 
 
 By tradition, then, the earliest fathers seem to have 
 meant, as the apostles did, mere handing down, including 
 the books of Scripture f themselves, and the report, or 
 testimony, that they came from the apostles as inspired 
 authoritative teachers of the church. Irenseus treats tradi- 
 tion as the refuge of the heretics, who say, " The truth 
 cannot be learned from Scripture by those who are igno- 
 rant of tradition." He replies, — " When we challenge 
 them to come to the tradition from the apostles, preserved 
 by the succession of the presbyters in the churches, they 
 oppose tradition, saying, they are wiser than apostles, who 
 mixed up legal things with the words of the Saviour."| 
 Tradition here was what had come down from the apostles, 
 i. e., the inspiration and authority of Scripture. The 
 
 * Euseb. iii. 36. + 2 Thess. ii. 15. 
 
 :J: Advers. Hseres. lib. iii. c. 2. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCKIPTUEES AND THE DIVINE NATUKE. 67 
 
 heretics, then, first appealed to tradition, pretending to 
 have received information, that the Scriptures, being no 
 infallible guide, were to be corrected from some higher 
 source of wisdom, to which the orthodox opposed the 
 tradition which had come to them, by a succession of 
 presbyters in the churches, that the Scriptures were pure 
 authoritative truth. This is the doctrine of Irenseus, called 
 the first writer on tradition. The heretics, therefore, are 
 said to consent, neither to the Scriptures, nor to tradition ; 
 not that these Avere two concurrent authorities, but they, 
 by denying the tradition which has come to all Christians, 
 denied the inspiration of Scripture. No one would sup- 
 pose that unwritten revelations were here intended ; for 
 instead of pleading for co-ordinate authority, Iren[ieus con- 
 tends for the sole authority of Scripture, against those who 
 thought they had some other revelation by which they 
 might correct Scripture. 
 
 " When the heretics are convicted from the Scriptures, 
 they turn," says Irenaeus, " to accusations of the Scrip- 
 tures themselves ; as that they are not correct, and are 
 not from authority, and because they are variously ex- 
 pressed, and because the truth cannot from these be found 
 by such as are ignorant of tradition."- Had we not been 
 informed that this was the language of ancient heretics, 
 we should have thought that we were listening to a 
 Jesuit arguing against Scripture, in order to establish the 
 authority of unwritten traditions. 
 
 Cyprian tells us we should have recourse to the fountain, 
 whenever the stream of doctrine that runs down the 
 channel of ecclesiastical tradition is found to be cor- 
 rupted ; f so that, instead of interpreting Scripture by 
 tradition, we are to correct tradition by Scripture, if we 
 would hearken to St. Cyprian, bishop and martyr ! 
 
 " If the apostles had not left to us the Scriptures," 
 Irenseus asks, "would it not have been necessary to follow 
 
 * Adv. Hfer. lib. iii. c. 2. + Ep. Isxiv. Pompeio. 
 
C8 THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHURCH 
 
 the order of tradition which they have delivered to those 
 to whom they committed the churches ? To which order 
 many nations of barbarians assent, who beheve in Christ, 
 having salvation written by the Spirit in their hearts, 
 without paper and ink, and diligently keeping the ancient 
 tradition, believing in one God, the Creator. If any one 
 should announce to them, in their own tongue, the things 
 (now) invented, they, stopping their ears, would flee."* 
 
 This passage will convey different meanings to men of 
 different minds. But Irenaeus was ignorant of the modern 
 use, or rather abuse, of tradition, according to which his 
 words would be expounded by those who call themselves 
 catholics. He makes tradition the forlorn hope of those 
 who have not the Scriptures, for if these had not been 
 given, we must have followed tradition. He declares that 
 " those things which the apostles taught they afterwards 
 delivered in the Scriptures, the foundation and pillar of 
 our faith. "f When, therefore, the Scriptures were delivered, 
 they superseded unwritten traditions. For the Scriptures 
 Irenaeus pronounces " perfect, as derived from the word of 
 God and his Spirit." Eusebius declares that all things 
 which Polycarp professes to have derived from the Lord 
 and his apostles and discii^les, were in every respect con- 
 formed to the Scriptures. Irenseus, adverting in a passing 
 way to tradition, contends largely against the heretics, 
 from Scripture alone. When he departs from this safe 
 rule, even Romanists will own that he betrays his folly; 
 for then he makes Christ to have suffered at nearly fifty 
 years of age. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, indeed, declares, that his pre- 
 ceptors, the successors to the apostolical doctrine, *' kept 
 the sincere tradition of the blessed doctrine which, from 
 Peter, John, James, Paul, as sons from fathers, they re- 
 ceived by continual succession. Though few are like the 
 
 * Irenteus Adv. Heer. iii. c. 4. 
 f Lib. iii. c. i. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCEIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATUJIE. G9 
 
 fathers, these have brought to us the apostolic seed."-"- 
 And again ; " The science, or Gnosis, which, delivered by 
 succession from the apostles to a few dypdcpco?, unwritten, 
 has come do\vn."t He asserts that he knew this sublime 
 science, so that he could refute the false gnostics. | The 
 mystic sense of Scripture, propagated both in the Word, 
 and by the living voice, enabled him, by Scripture itself, 
 to confute heretics. Now, this delivery of the sublime 
 sense to only three favoured apostles, Peter, James, and 
 John, and by them to the others, is too much of a fable for 
 Eome itself, which has not declared its adhesion. Clement 
 himself may not have believed it, but thought it a good 
 device to stop the mouths of the gnostics. What sublime 
 knowledge of the meaning of Scripture he had received by 
 tradition, we may see from his own heathenish works. 
 TertuUian had similar notions, which, however, his Mon- 
 tanism has stripped of much of their influence, even 
 among those who w^ould gladly transfer the authority of 
 Scripture to what is called the tradition of the church. 
 Whoever wishes therefore to know, not what was the 
 doctrine of unwritten tradition, for of this Clement says 
 nothing, but what was the hidden and more sublime sense 
 of Scripture, may consult the Stromata, in which he de- 
 clares that this profound yvcoais, or knowledge, is con- 
 veyed. § One page of the unambitious commentators, 
 Henry or Scott, compared with the folio of Clement, will 
 convince any competent judge that the whole story of sub- 
 lime interpretation, conveyed through James, John, and 
 Peter, (in another place Paul is introduced,) was an arro- 
 gant fiction, not to give it a still harsher name. 
 
 If of TertuUian we have said little, because his Mon- 
 tanism that has shaken his authority appears in those 
 
 Euseb. V. 11.— Clem. AL, Strom, i. 201. 
 
 ^ h Y^Sfft? de avTt] r\ Kara biahox°^^ C'^" hXi'(oui tK rZv uTTOaToXcoi' a^pa^wc 
 7rapa5o0ero-a, KaxeX^Xs Oe. Strom. vi. 465. 
 
 + Strom, i. 202. § Strom, i. 
 
70 THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CBUKCH 
 
 works which affect this question, it may still be observed 
 that he affirms, " Even in producing tradition, you say 
 written authority is to be required."* In his book on the 
 Necessity of Veiling the Virgins, he seems to contradict 
 that on Prescriptions; if he does not rather explain it, 
 when he says, — "No one can prescribe to truth; no space 
 of times ; no patronage of persons ; no privilege of regions : 
 not so much novelty, as truth, convicts heresies. "f If this 
 contradicts his Prescriptions, what are they worth ? If it 
 explains them, how completely have the traditionists been 
 mistaken ! I 
 
 The heretics, then, introduced the dispute about tradi- 
 tion, by their attacks on the Scripture and on the doctrine 
 of the church, which took up, in its own defence, the argu- 
 ment that we find so largely employed in the second cen- 
 tury, the age of heretics. The use made of tradition, to 
 sanction minute rites, and ceremonies, and priestly powers, 
 is a modern invention ; for the original argument of the 
 orthodox was this : — We have received what was handed to 
 us from the inspired apostles, first verbally, and then by the 
 Scriptures, which contain the things most surely believed 
 among us. Irenaeus says — " If the apostles knew recon- 
 dite mysteries which they taught to the perfect in secret, 
 apart from others, they w^ould have delivered them to those 
 most especially to whom they committed tjie churches. "§ 
 Here the Alexandrine Clement's fiction is tacitly con- 
 demned. 
 
 Tertullian maintains, in his celebrated book of Prescrip- 
 tions, what all well-informed Protestants hold, receiving as 
 divine revelation nothing but what was delivered to us by 
 prophets and apostles, and has come down to us from 
 the first churches of Christ. It is true, that, in his dis- 
 course on the soldier's crown, in which the unscrupulous 
 rhetorician and the fanatical Montanist are strangely 
 
 * De Corona Mil., chap. 3. + Chap. 1. I See Appendix A. 
 
 § Adv. Heer., lib. iii. c. 1, 2, 3. 
 
CONCEKNING THE SCEIPTUKES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 71 
 
 combined, he says — " If no Scrix^ture has determined, cer- 
 tainly custom has confirmed this, which, without doubt, 
 flowed from tradition. Therefore let us inquire whether 
 even tradition ought not to be received, unless written," 
 that is, in the Scriptures. *' Unquestionably we will deny 
 that it should be received ; if there were no examples of 
 other observances in the way, which, without the means of 
 any Scripture, by the title of tradition alone, we vindicate 
 by the patronage of custom."* He then adduces the cere- 
 monies that had been apx^ended to baptism ; the previous 
 renunciation of the devil and his angels ; the trine ablu- 
 tion ; the answering more than the Lord has prescribed 
 in the gospel ; the subsequent tasting of milk and honey, 
 and abstaining from the bath, for a week after baptism. 
 Most of these things are now dropped, even by the advo- 
 cates for tradition ; but here Tertullian introduces tradi- 
 tion for a neiv purpose, which must be defended by argu- 
 ment against those who oppose. All this, however, we 
 may dispose of, with Jerome, by saying Tertullian was not 
 a man of the church. He derives the authority of tradition 
 from nature and reason ; but his reasoning is, now that of 
 a madman, and now that of a child, contending that *' for a 
 Christian soldier to put on his head a crown of flowers is 
 such sacrilege against the Author of nature, as it would be 
 to put food in our ears, or music in our nose."f 
 
 Cyj)rian here abandons his master, and argues, that " if 
 Christ alone is to be heard, we ought not to attend to what 
 others before us thought fit to be done ; but what Christ, 
 who was before all, did. For we ought not to follow the 
 custom of man, but the truth of God ; since God, by Isaiah, 
 speaks and says, — " Without cause they worship me, teach- 
 ing the commands and doctrines of men. "J " Therefore, 
 neither the apostle himself, nor an angel from heaven, 
 could announce or teach otherwise than what Christ once 
 
 * De Corona Militis c. 3. + Ibid. c. 5, C. 
 
 + Ep. 63 Coecilio, p. 155. 
 
m THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHUECH 
 
 taught and his apostles announced. I greatly wonder 
 whence this has been introduced, that, contraiy to the evan- 
 gelical and apostolical discipline, in certain places water 
 is offered in the Lord's cup, which alone cannot express 
 the blood of Christ."-''- Again ; " A Christian does not wish 
 to follow the custom of anybody, but to obey and do what 
 Christ did, and what he commanded to be done. For the 
 custom of men ought not to be followed, but the truth of 
 God. "I' What he calls the Lord's tradition is manifestly, 
 from the whole connexion, what is handed down to us in 
 Scripture. He says, " They who are vanquished by reason 
 oppose to us custom, as if custom were greater than truth, 
 or that was not to be followed in spiritual things which 
 was revealed by the Holy Spirit. "| 
 
 When Stephen, bishop of Rome, had quoted tradition, 
 on the subject of re-baptizing heretics, Cyprian replies, — • 
 "Whence is that tradition ?§ Is it from the Lord, and 
 the evangelical authority, or coming from the commands 
 and epistles of the apostles ? For God testifies that those 
 things are to be done which are written. Custom without 
 truth is antiquity of error." " Who is so vain that he 
 would prefer custom to truth ?"|! In the Council of Car- 
 thage, under Cyprian, Libosus, from Vaga, observed, — 
 " The Lord says, in the Gospel, ' I am the truth.' He 
 did not say, ' I am custom ; ' therefore, the truth being 
 manifested, let custom yield to truth." Let it be carefully 
 noticed, that Cyprian asks, whether that tradition to 
 which his opponent appealed, came from the evangelical 
 authority, that is, the gospel, or from the epistles. 
 
 It must not, as some may suppose, be reckoned one of 
 the numerous contradictions of the fathers, that they, 
 after asserting the sufficiency and sole authority of Scrip- 
 ture, appeal to tradition ; for as theij used this latter term 
 
 * Epis. 63, p. 152. + Ep. 63, p. ]55. 
 
 + Ep. 73 Jubaiano, 203. § Ep. 74 Pompeio, 21L 
 
 II Ep. 75 Firmilianus Cypriano, p. 236. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCPvIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 73 
 
 it was in perfect harmony with Protestant views. The 
 tradition was, that all the preaching of the apostles was 
 now deposited in Scripture, which whosoever receives has 
 the genuine apostolical tradition. They who adopt the 
 modern Eomanist notion, indeed, could not, and would 
 not, adopt also the language of the fathers concerning 
 the sufficiency of Scripture, or say with Tertullian, " The 
 Scripture denies what it does not denote." 
 
 It must not be passed unnoticed that the fathers appeal 
 to the Sibylline* verses, as divine oracles. Various 
 nations had their sibyls, like our gipsy fortune-tellers ; 
 and while those of Greece were most renowned, the 
 Delphic sibyl was of highest antiquity, and the Ery- 
 thraean, in the time of Alexander, of greatest repute. 
 Whether the sibyl palmed her verses on Tarquin or he 
 palmed the story on the people, Virgil pretends to refer 
 to her, in his fourth eclogue, though it is probable that 
 he borrowed from Hesiod. 
 
 These prophesies were delivered in the form of Greek 
 hexameters, which Lucian ridicules ; but those which the 
 Eomans consulted on critical occasions should have been 
 in Latin ; for they prescribed to an unlearned people the 
 rites and sacrifices which were supposed to avert the 
 anger of the gods. As the acrostics contained in these 
 verses naturally awakened Cicero's suspicions that the 
 sibyls were not so mad as they pretended ; so the Delphic 
 oracles which they delivered had previously induced De- 
 mosthenes to conclude that the prophetess, or the god of 
 Delphos, might be bribed by money, or awed by power. 
 
 Those predictions of a future king and his happy reign, 
 which some have ascribed to the sibyls, have been traced 
 
 * The name has been derived from Otov /SouXjj, God's council, creo<: being 
 iEolic for Oeoi ; from which, however, Salmasius dissents. Fabricius gives 
 another etymology, the oriental root, " blD, poriare, quo insignitae fuerunt ; 
 quod spiritum fatidicum, utero inclusum, censites fuerint, instar gravidarum, 
 gestare." 
 
74 THEOLOGY OF THE EAELY CUUKCH 
 
 by others to the poetic fancies of Homer and Hesiod. 
 But the sibylline verses to which the Christians appealed 
 must have been, at least additions, manufactured from the 
 sacred Scripture. The modern collection contains many 
 clear prophecies concerning Christ and his kingdom, a 
 denunciation of Nero as antichrist, a promise of a millen- 
 nial kingdom on earth, with a threat of eternal punish- 
 ment to the wicked, from which some of them, however, 
 were to be delivered by the prayers of the just. 
 
 Though these things are so manifestly alien from the 
 heathen sibyls, Justin Martyr, in his first Apology, 
 declares that the Eoman government threatened with 
 death the readers of Hystaspes, the sibyl, because these 
 prophecies were in favour of the Christians. Justin had 
 met with some verses thought to be prophetic, and he 
 deemed them so favourable to Christianity, that he 
 ascribed the decree against reading the sacred books of 
 the Eomans, to the energy of evil demons, who wished to 
 keep the empire in the dark.* Clement of Alexandria 
 says, " I will adduce as a teacher to you the prophetess, 
 sibyl. t If you refuse to hearken to a prophetess, hear 
 your philosopher."]: Irenseus has been said to prove that 
 Clement of Eome and Hermas quoted the sibyl. 
 
 Tertullian says, " All the things that are contrary to 
 the truth are made out of the truth itself, the spirits of 
 error producing that rivalry.§ Some have thought that 
 the sibylline verses which are quoted in support of Chris- 
 tianity, were invented by those who appealed to their evi- 
 dence. But how could they have hoped to serve their 
 cause by such a fraud ? Clement of Alexandria, with 
 other fathers, believed them real inspirations afforded to 
 the Gentiles to prepare them for Christ. Some of the 
 
 * Apol. i. 82. Paris ed. 
 
 + Admon. ad. Gen., p. 24, 8t8daKa\ov 8e I/mv napaOija-oixai T>;v '!rpo(j>riTiv 
 2«y3yXXai'. 
 
 + Admou. ad Gen., p. 25. § Apol. c. 47. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 75 
 
 Eomanists adopt this opinion, in deference to the fathers, 
 and to support their o^vn errors, which, however, would he 
 proved hy such evidence to be antichristian, and, in fact, 
 heathen. In the opinion of Clement of Alexandria, that 
 these sybil prophetesses had a demoniac inspiration, 
 Ambrose concurs. But Satan would be divided against 
 himself, if he published things so honourable to Christ as 
 appear in the present sibylline verses. Vossius ascribed 
 them to Jews who wished, like Josephus, to commend 
 their religion to the Gentile world ; but this would not 
 account for what is so favourable to Christ, whom they 
 reject. Others think that heathen poets and philosophers 
 stole from the divine writings what they put into oracular 
 verse, in order to give to their gods the credit of these 
 prophecies ; but this also would be serving the religion 
 they hated, by making their gods prophets, to foretel its 
 introduction and triumph. The difficulty of coming to a 
 satisfactory conclusion might induce us to abandon a 
 question not 'worth the trouble it demands, were it not 
 that the fathers force it upon our notice. Justin, Clement 
 of Alexandria, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, 
 Origen,* Tertullian, Arnobius, Lactantius, and Augustine,! 
 appeal to these sibyls, so that the Christians were called 
 sibyllists. 
 
 As the number of the sibyls is variously reported, from 
 one to ten, and their verses were a kind of secret, oppor- 
 tunity was afforded for inserting additions which some 
 Christians might have practised in a sportive way, out of 
 contempt for the supposed inspiration of these heathen 
 prophetesses. The collection of these verses, contained 
 in the Bibliotheca Greeca of Fabricius, doubtless contains 
 more than the fathers ever saw. A celebrated acrostic, 
 formed of the initials of " Jesus Christ the Son of God 
 our Saviour," will at once be pronounced a Christian 
 forgery, if the solecism can be allowed. 
 
 * Cont. Cels., lib. 5, 273. + De Civit., lib. xviii. cap. 46, 
 
76 THEOLOGY OF THE EAELY CJIUIICH 
 
 The imprudence of the fathers in quoting these autho- 
 rities may be seen by the manner in which the heatlien 
 repelled them ; for Celsus replies to Origen, that the 
 Christians had inserted absurd and blasphemous things 
 into the sibylline oracles. 
 
 The whole subject has been discussed with equal learn- 
 ing and wisdom by Fabricius, to whom the reader must 
 now be referred.* The early appeals to these heathen 
 oracles show the current of those times when some Chris- 
 tians must have been guilty of wilful forgery, to which 
 they were tempted by the superstitious relics of heathen- 
 ism, which led many to believe more readily in Chris- 
 tianity, on the supposition that it was foretold in the 
 sibylline books. 
 
 Part II. — OJ the Divine Nature and Attributes. 
 
 The fathers never appear to greater advantage than 
 when expressing their views of the unity and attributes of 
 Deity, in opposition to the Polytheism of the heathen ; for 
 with the Jews they were here in perfect accord, the God of 
 the New Testament being that of the Old. 
 
 The Epistle to Diognetus powerfully exposes the incon- 
 sistency of idolatry with all just notions of a Deity : — 
 
 " See, Diognetus, not only with your eyes but with 
 your intellect, of what substance, or of what form, they 
 are, whom ye call and think gods. Is not one stone — 
 like the pavement you tread upon? Another brass — no 
 better than that of the brazen vessels we have in common 
 use ? Another wood — already even worm-eaten ? Another 
 silver — needing a man to guard it, that it may not be 
 
 * Fabricii Bibliotheca Grseca, lib. i. c. 29 — 33. Cicero de Divinitate, lib. 
 ii.— Josep. Antiq., lib. i. c. 5, p. 1^, 668, 269.— Bochart Geog., lib. i. c. 27.— 
 Justin Aclmon. ad Gentes, 36. — Herraas Vision, 2. — Clem. Strom, i. 223 ; 
 Strom, vii. — Origen contr. Cels., lib. ii. c. 12. — Theoph. ad Autol.,lib, ii. — 
 Tertullian contra Nationes. — Lactan.,lib. i. c. 6, iv. 15. — Augustine de Civit., 
 lib. xviii. c. 23, 47. — Advers. Faust. Manich., lib. xiii. c. 15. — Jerom. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 77 
 
 stolen? Another iron — eaten by rust? Another eartheii- 
 ivare — not more elegant than what is made for the vilest 
 use ? Are they not all deaf and dumb ? — blind ? — lifeless? 
 — insensible? — motionless ? — corruptible? — corrupted ? 
 Do you call these gods ? Do you serve them ? Do you 
 bow down to them ? For this you hate the Christians ; 
 because they do not think such things gods ! Do not even 
 you, who suppose them deities, despise them much more ? 
 Much more mock and revile them ? Worshipping the 
 wooden and pottery gods, unguarded, (as not worth steal- 
 ing;) but the silver and gold ones locking up at night, and 
 placing guards over them by day, that they may not be 
 stolen. A man would not willingly bear this contempt, for 
 he has sense and reason ; but the stone bears it, for it is 
 senseless.* The Deity is the ■ Almighty, the universal 
 Creator, the invisible God.f The God who is the Sove- 
 reign and Creator of all things, w^ho made all things, and 
 arranges them all in order, was not only philanthropic, but 
 also long-suffering. He always was so, and is, and will 
 be, mild and good, and without passion, and true ; and he 
 alone is good."| 
 
 The Roman Clement says to the Corinthians, — " Our 
 all-merciful and beneficent Father has bowels (of com- 
 passion) towards them that fear him."§ All things being 
 seen and heard, (by him,) let us fear him and forsake evil 
 works. "II The all-seeing God and Sovereign of the spirits, 
 and Lord of all flesh, grant to every soul that invokes his 
 glorious and holy name, faith, fear, peace, patience, and 
 long-suffering. " ^ 
 
 Justin Martyr exclaims, — " There is one Marcion of 
 Pontus, yet living, teaching that there is some other god 
 greater than the Creator.** We are not atheists ; for we 
 worship the Creator of this universe. ff No one can give a 
 
 * Cap. 2. + Cap. 7. + Cap. 8. § Cap. 23. 
 
 1! Cap. 28. % Cap. 58.^ ** Apol. i. p. 43, Paris ed. 70. 
 
 +f Ap. i. p. 19, Paris ed. GO. 
 
78 THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHURCH 
 
 name to the inexpressible Deity ; for if any one should 
 venture to utter it, he would rave as a vile madman.'* He 
 said to .Moses, " I am the Lord ; I appeared to Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob, their God; but my name have I not 
 made known to them,"t We are taught, that " He who is 
 good in the beguming created all things of formless mat- 
 ter! for the sake of man.§ You ought to think that it is 
 not impossible for God to be able to do whatever he 
 pleases. "II 
 
 Irenaeus, against the heretics, contends for " one God, 
 maker of heaven and earth. "IT This is the first article of 
 his creed, which, as well as Tertullian's, differs from the 
 modern form, in saying, " I believe in one God;" in oppo- 
 sition to the heretics^rather than the Pagans or Jews. For 
 Tertullian says, " Hermogenes learned from the Stoics to 
 place, along with the Lord, matter which also itself always 
 was; not born nor made, having neither beginning nor 
 end. So Hermogenes infers two Gods."** 
 
 Irenseus apphes the term Father to the Creator of all 
 things ; but Austin added, his relation to the Son whom 
 the Father from eternity begat. The former says, "It is 
 ridiculous to suppose God could not by his own will make 
 all things from nothing; but to ascribe moist matter to 
 the tears of Achamoth, being ignorant of the power of a 
 spiritual and divine substance, and not believing that God, 
 who is rich and powerful, created matter itself. ff All the 
 church through the whole world has received this tradition 
 from the apostles, that there is one God, the maker of 
 heaven and earth. "|| 
 
 Thus writes Clement of Alexandria: "If, then, ac- 
 cording to Plato, either from God himself, or from those 
 
 * Ap. i. p. 90, Paris 94. + Dialog, p. 408, Paris 355. 
 
 J Apol. i. p. 14, Paris 58. 
 
 § This seems to be a quotation from Wisdom, si. 17. 
 
 II Dialog., pars secunda, 320, Paris 310. «[[ Lib. i. c. 2. 
 
 ** Adv. Herm., c. i. 4. ++ Lib. ii. c. 10. +J Lib. ii. c. 9. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 79 
 
 descended from God, the truth of God must he learned, 
 we, selectmg the testimonies from the divine oracles, 
 may justly boast that we are taught the truth by the Son 
 of God."* He introduces Peter, saying, in his preaching, 
 " Know, therefore, that God is one, who has made the 
 commencement of all things, and has power over the 
 end, even the invisible One who sees all things ; the 
 incomprehensible who comprehends all things ; who 
 needs nothing, but all need him; and for whom are all 
 things ; inconceivable, eternal, incorruptible, unmade, 
 who has made all things by the word of his power. "f 
 
 Origen thus pleads for the Jews : " With them nothing 
 is allowed to be God, but he who is over all; no maker of 
 images is suffered. There was no painter or statuary in 
 their commonwealth, the laws expelling all such, that 
 there might be no pretence for the formation of idols, 
 turning the eyes of the mind from God, who said, ' Thou 
 shalt not make any graven image.' " | 
 
 Minucius Felix shows how the heathen scorned the 
 Christian idea of Deity, asking; "Who? where is that 
 unique, solitary, forsaken God, whom no free nation, at 
 least no Eoman^ devotion, has known ? That God of 
 theirs whom they can neither show nor see, who diligently 
 inquires into the manners, acts, words, and secret thoughts 
 of all ? They would have him to be running about, troub- 
 ling himself with everything, impudently cui'ious ; he 
 cannot serve individuals, being engaged with the universe; 
 nor suffice for the universe, being occupied with indi- 
 viduals." § 
 
 The immateriality of Deity is well expressed by Athen- 
 agoras : " To us who distinguish God from matter, and 
 show that matter is one thing, and God another, and that 
 there is much difference between them, (for the Deity is 
 unbegotten and eternal ; only by the mind and reason 
 
 * Strom, vi. 486. + Strom, vi. 457. 
 
 J Advsrs. Cels., lib. iv. 181, 182. § Octav., c. 10. 
 
80 THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHURCH 
 
 seen ; but matter begotten and corruptible,) is it not 
 unreasonable to apply the term atheism ? " * 
 
 Tertullian, however, who might have escaped censure, 
 under the concealment of his obscure style, is positively 
 charged by x\ugustine with making the Deity material. 
 For, he says, " God made man of his own substance with 
 regard to the soul."f As far as humanity can define 
 Deity, I define him as every man's conscience will testify, 
 that God is supremely great, eternal, unborn, unmade, 
 without beginning or end. He must, then, be unique, 
 having no equal. Truth has pronounced, if God is not 
 one, he is nothing. For how could there be two su- 
 premely great? Sure this is supremely great that has no 
 equal. If you would have two, why not more ? God is 
 first known by nature, then recognized by instruction. I 
 The prescience of God (which some moderns have denied) 
 has as many witnesses as he has made prophets. "§ 
 
 But the most important of the common-places of theo- 
 logy, the attributes of Deity, never obtained from the 
 early Christians the distinction it deserves, and which, by 
 shedding light on every other theme, it richly repays. A 
 compound of the pantheism of the east, with the dreams 
 of Plato, appears in Justin, becomes more conspicuous in 
 his disciple, Tatian, and frequently breaks out in the 
 writings of Clement and others of the Alexandrian school. 
 
 Part III. — The Divinity of Christ. 
 
 As it w^as natural that the early Christians should speak 
 much of the original glory of their Saviour, to defend 
 themselves against the reproaches poured upon them by 
 Jews and heathens, as worshippers of a crucified Man ; so 
 the heretics, who denied his incarnation, compelled the 
 orthodox writers to dilate upon this theme. To Diognetus, 
 Christ is thus exhibited : — " The almighty, universal 
 
 * Legatio pro Christianis, p. 5. + Adv. Marc, lib. ii. c. 5. 
 
 + Ibid., lib. i. c. 3, 4. § Ibid., lib. ii. c. 6. 
 
CONCEENING THE SCKIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 81 
 
 Creator, the invisible God, has sent from heaven to men 
 the truth ; and the holy and incomprehensible Word ; and 
 has established him in their hearts, not as one might com- 
 pare it to sending to men some servant, or angel, or ruler, 
 or one of those that govern earthly affairs, or one of those 
 that are entrusted with administrations (dioceses) in hea- 
 ven ; but the very Artificer and Creator of all things, by 
 whom he created the heavens, by whom he shut up the 
 sea in its proper bounds, whose mysteries the elements 
 faithfully guard ; from whom the sun has received the 
 measure of its daily courses to keep ; whom the moon 
 obeys when he commands her to appear at night ; whom 
 the stars obey, following the course of the moon; by whom 
 all things are arranged, and limited, and subjected, the 
 heavens, and the things in the heavens; earth, and the 
 things in the earth ; sea, and the things in the sea ; fire, 
 air, the abyss ; things in the height ; things in the depth ; 
 things in the midst. Him, he sent to them: how, then? as 
 men might think, in domination, and terror, and astonish- 
 ment? No, verily, but in mildness, meekness. He sent, 
 as a king sending a son, a king ; as he that sent a god ; as 
 to men he sent ; as one that saves, he sent; as persuading, 
 not as forcing ; for force applies not to God. As calling, 
 not persecuting, he sent; as loving, not judging, he sent. 
 For he ivill send him judging; and who shall endure his 
 presence ? Christians are cast to wild beasts that they may 
 deny the Lord, and do you not see that they are not con- 
 quered? Do you not see that the more they are that 
 punish, the more the others abound '? These do not seem 
 the works of man ; this is the power of God ; these are 
 the demonstrations of his presence."* Pliny shows that 
 Christians were known to sing hymns to Christ, as God ; 
 for his quasi deo is rendered by TertuUian ut deo. f 
 
 " The sceptre of the majesty of the Deity, our Lord 
 Jesus Christ," says Clement, the Eoman, " came not with 
 
 * Ad. Diog., c. 7. + A.pol., c. 2. 
 
 vnj. G 
 
83 THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHURCH 
 
 the blustering of a boaster, nor of arrogance, though he 
 had it in his power;* but in lowhness, as the Holy 
 Spirit has spoken of him. Our Lord Jesus Christ, to 
 whom be glory and majesty for ever. Amen, f This is 
 the way, beloved, in which we have found our salvation, 
 Jesus Christ, the High Priest of our offerings, the guar- 
 dian and helper of our weakness. By this (Saviour) we 
 look up to the heights of heaven ; by this we behold, as in 
 a mirror, his spotless and surpassing countenance ; by this 
 are opened the eyes of our heart ; by this our senseless 
 and darkened mind revives, as the flowers, by looking into 
 his wondrous light ; by this the Sovereign (God) has 
 chosen that we should partake of immortal knowledge ; 
 who, being the brightness of his magnificence, is so much 
 better than the angels, as he has inherited a superior 
 name. For thus it is written, — 'Who maketh his angels 
 spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire ; ' but of his Son, 
 the Sovereign says, — ' Thou art my Son, this day have I 
 begotten thee.' And again, — ' Sit at my right hand, until I 
 make thine enemies thy footstool.' "t Here Clement 
 quotes the Epistle to the Hebrews, which his unchangeable 
 church afterwards rejected and again adopted. " All these 
 things the faith in Christ confirms ; for he himself ad- 
 dresses us thus, by the Holy Ghost : — ' Come, ye children, 
 hearken to me,' " § considering Christ as the God who 
 addresses us in the Old Testament. On the other hand, 
 the Sovereign, 6 bea-TroTTjs, he seems to appropriate to the 
 Father : " Let us consider how the Sovereign shows the 
 resurrection, of which he has made the Lord Jesus Christ 
 the first-fruits." ;| But when Clement introduces the Son 
 as coming from Judah, he adds, — "According to the flesh;" 
 seemirg to allude to Eomans ix. 5. 'r Addressing Poly- 
 carp, Ignatius speaks of Christ as " above time, and with- 
 
 * 1 Ep. ad Cor. C. 10. Kaiirep dvvafxeios. + Chap. 20. 
 
 + 1 Ep. to Cor. c. 36. § I Cor. c. 22. 
 
 1; Ibid. ^ Ibid. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 83 
 
 out time," vTrepxaipov Koi axpovov. " I wisli you well in our 
 God Jesus Christ." He tells the Ephesiaus, " There is 
 one Physician, fleshly and spiritual, made and not niade ; 
 in flesh, being God ; in death, true life ; both from Mary 
 and from God ; flrst, a sufferer, and then impassible ; 
 Jesus Christ our Lord.* For our God, Jesus Christ, 
 brought forth by Mary, according to the Divine dispensa- 
 tion, of the seed of David, indeed, bat by the Holy 
 Spirit:! who was wdth the Father before the ages, (of 
 time,) but in the end was manifested.;]: For there is one 
 God, who has manifested himself by Jesus Christ his Son, 
 who is the eternal Word, proceeding, not from silence — 
 who has in all things pleased him that sent him."§ 
 
 The following are the wordaof Polycarp : — " God raised 
 up from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom all 
 things celestial and terrestrial are subjected; whom every 
 breath worships ; who is coming (as) Judge of the living 
 and dead. "II The church that had been deprived of his 
 labours gives this account of the faith : — " It is impossible 
 we should worship any other than Christ, who died for the 
 salvation of man: we adore him as the Son of God."^ 
 
 Justin Martyr, in his flrst Apology, affirms, " When 
 Socrates attempted to draw others from demons, these 
 caused him to be put to death as an atheist, just as they 
 treat us. For not only were these errors exposed to the 
 Greeks by Socrates, but also, among the barbarians, by 
 •the Word himself, who had taken a form and become a 
 man, and was called Jesus Christ. We confess we are 
 atheists to those that are accounted gods ; but not with 
 regard to that most true God, the Father of righteousness ; 
 but him, and the Son, who came from him, and the pro- 
 phetic Spirit, we reverence and worship.-;^- The appear- 
 ances of God to the ancient patriarchs, Justin affirms 
 
 * Chap. 7. + Ad Eplaes. c. 18. + Ad Magnes. 6. 
 
 § Ad Magnes. c. 8. || Ad Pliilipp., c. 2. «[ Euseb., lib. iv. c. k'. 
 
 ** P. 11. Paris, 56. 
 
84 THEOLOGY OF THE EAELY CHURCH 
 
 were those of the Son; as, to Abraham under the oak of 
 Mamre, and to Moses in the bush. 
 
 "All these things were foretold by our teacher, the Son 
 of the Father of all, and Sovereign God, and his Apostle, 
 Jesus Christ, from whom we are called Christians. * He 
 is become our teacher, and for this was born, Jesus Christ, 
 crucified under Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea, in 
 the times of Tiberius Csesar ; having been taught that he 
 is the Son of the true God, and holding him in the second 
 place, and the prophetic Spirit in the third rank.f We 
 follow the only unbegotten God, through the Son, Jesus 
 Christ, who alone is properly a son, begotten to God, 
 being his Word, and first-born, and power, and by his 
 counsel, becoming man, he has taught us these things." + 
 
 Of the validity of the following argument for the di- 
 vinity of Christ we do not vouch, but give it as Justin's 
 testimony. " In the book of Exodus, that the name of 
 God himself was also Jesus (which he says was not mani- 
 fested to Abraham, nor to Jacob) was accordingly an- 
 nounced by Moses in a mystery, and we have understood 
 (it). For so it is said, — ' And the Lord spake to Moses, 
 Say to this people. Behold, I send my angel before thy 
 face, that he may keep thee in the way, that he may lead 
 thee into the land which I have prepared for thee. Attend 
 to him and hear him ; do not disobey him, for he will not 
 let thee escape; for my name is in him.' Who, there- 
 fore, led your fathers into the land? Now, then, con- 
 sider that he who was surnamed with the name Jesus was 
 before called Auses, (Hoshea.) For if ye Avill consider 
 this, ye will know that the name of him who spoke to 
 Moses was Jesus, (the same as Joshua.)" § 
 
 Theophilus of Antioch represents Christ as taking " the 
 person I! of the Father," conversing with Adam in Paradise, 
 
 * Apol. i. p. 18. + Ibid. p. 19. 
 
 J Apol. i. 35. § Dialog., pars 2, 300. 
 
 II TO TrpocrwTTov ToXi nciTpor. Ad Autolycum, lib. ii. 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 85 
 
 in the person of God. " But when God chose to do what- 
 ever he had counselled, he begat this uttered Word ; * the 
 first-born of all creation ; not being himself deprived of 
 the Word, but having begotten the Word and continually 
 conversing by his Word. Whence the sacred Scriptures, 
 and all who are moved by the Spirit teach us. Of the 
 number of whom John says, — ' In the beginning was the 
 Word, and the Word was with God.' Showing that at 
 first God was alone, and in him was the Word. After- 
 w^ards he says, — ' And the Word was God ; all things were 
 by him, and without him was not even one thing.' The 
 AVord, therefore, being God, and from God, by nature,! 
 whenever the Father of all pleases, he sends him to any 
 place, who, being come, is heard and seen." J 
 
 Clement of Alexandria sjDeaks thus of Christ : — " He 
 who was from David, and before him, the Word of God.§ 
 The apostolic inspiration says, when the kindness and 
 philanthropy of God our Saviour appeared :§ 'In the 
 beginning was the Word, and the Word was Avith God, 
 and the Word was God.'H But now^ to men this same 
 Word has appeared, who alone is two, both God and man, 
 the cause to us of all good things, while we are expecting 
 the blessed hope and appearance of the glory of the great 
 God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ. "H 
 
 The following words are allied to those of Justin Mar- 
 tyr, concerning the distinction between the begotten and 
 unbegotten : — "Since one, indeed, is the unbegotten, the 
 Almighty God, and one the fore-begotten, by whom were 
 all things, and without him was not even one thing. For 
 God is truly one, who has made a beginning of all things, 
 meaning the first-begotten Son."** 
 
 "Believe, O man, on the Man and God; believe, O 
 man, on the living God, who suffered and is adored; be- 
 
 * TouTov Tov Aoyov k'(evvri<Te Trpo(popiK6v. Ad. Autol. ii. 
 
 + etc eeou Tre^uKciis. I Lib. ii. § Admon. ad Gent., p. 3. 
 
 ii P. 4 IT !*• 4. ** Strom, vi. p 464. 
 
86 THEOLOGY OF THE EAKLY CHURCH 
 
 lieve, ye slaves, on the dead One ; believe, O all men, on 
 the only one, who is the God of all nien."=^ 
 
 "Truth is beauty; for it is even God; but that God 
 becomes man, because God wills it. God in man, and 
 the man God, and the Mediator fulfilling the will of the 
 Father ; for the Word which is common to both is a Medi- 
 ator, God's Son, and man's Saviour, his Minister and our 
 Schoolmaster."! But the Word that came forth, creation's 
 cause, then also begets himself, when the Word became 
 flesh that he may also be seen." J This seems to refer the 
 generation of the Son to his incarnation. 
 
 After speaking of a pious man as most excellent on 
 earth, and of angels, as best in heaven, he says, " But 
 most perfect, and holy, and supreme, and authoritative, 
 and royal, and beneficent, is that nature of the Son, who, 
 nearest to the only Sovereign, rules all things according 
 to the will of the Father, who steers the universe in the 
 best manner, working all things by unwearied and in- 
 vincible power ; for he operates, inspecting the secret 
 thoughts. For the Son of God never comes forth from 
 his place of inspection, being undivided, inseparable, not 
 passing from place to place, being everywhere, at all 
 times, and not contained in any place, being the whole 
 mind, the whole paternal light, the whole eye, seeing all 
 things, hearing all things, knowing all things ; with power, 
 investigating the powers. To him is subjected all the 
 hosts, both of angels and of gods, (even) to the j^aternal 
 Word who has received that holy dispensation; for the 
 sake of him who rules. On w^hich account, also, are all 
 his human creatures ; some, indeed, acquainted (with this), 
 but some not ; some as friends; some as faithful servants; 
 some merely servants. This is the Teacher who instructs 
 in mysteries him that knows (the true gnostic) and the 
 believer in his good hopes ; and the hard-hearted man 
 (instructs) with a rectifying discipline by an energy that is 
 
 * Admon. ad Gent., 49. f Paedag., lib, iii. c. 1. + Strom, iv. 403. 
 
CONCEUNING THE SCRIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 8 / 
 
 felt. Hence is providence private or special ; and public 
 and universal. But that there is a Son of God, and that 
 this is the Saviour and Lord of all, whom we speak of, 
 the prophetic writings plainly show."* It should be ob- 
 served here, that Clement applies to the Father only, the 
 article, of the importance of which this writer shows him- 
 self aware. t 
 
 The Pedagogue says, " O ye children, our Teacher is 
 like to his Father, the Deity, whose sinless unblamable 
 Son he is, impassable as to the soul ; God in form of man, 
 servant to the paternal will ; Word ; God who is in the 
 Father and is at the right hand of the Father, and with 
 the form God." " Christ was before the morning star, 
 and was the Word who was with God and was God,"| 
 He invites them to hymn the God, Word, Jesus, the Eter- 
 nal, the one great High Priest of the one God. " The 
 divine Word who is truly God, most manifest, who is 
 equalled to the Sovereign of all, for he was his Son, and 
 the Word was in God."§ 
 
 Origen asks, " Who else is able to save, and to bring to 
 the God over all, the soul of man, except the God, Word,|{ 
 6 eeos Aoyos?'' thougli Origen has been said never to have 
 called Christ God with the article. " Who, when he was 
 in the beginning with God, became flesh, for the sake of 
 these who could not otherwise see him as he was, the 
 Word who was with God and was God."^ He contends 
 sviih great ability that Christ was promised to be born of 
 a vu'gin and called Immanuel, God with us.*^ " Jesus, 
 being God's Son, is made known, even before his incarna- 
 tion. But I affirm, that, after the incarnation, he is always 
 known to those who have discerning mental eyes, to be 
 most divine and to have descended to us from God."ff He 
 
 * Strom. 7, p. 505. + P. 335, 6. + Ad Gentes, p. 4, 55. 
 
 § Admon. ad Gent, 51. || Contra Cels., lib. vi. p. 322, 3. 
 
 ^ Contra Cels., lib. vi. 323. ** Lib. i. p. 26. 
 
 + + Contra Cels., lib. iii. p. 119. 
 
88 THEOLOGY OF THE EAELT CHUECH 
 
 shows that Christians call Christ God;* and against the 
 Ai'temonites, he proves, by the psalms and hymns of the 
 brethren, that Christ was adored as God. 
 
 Tertullian argues that Christ must be a divine person ; 
 because he had all power at all times ; ruling from the 
 creation. t 
 
 The conversion of philosophers introduced the habit of 
 theorizing in a platonic style concerning the Word and 
 Son of God; but Justin, who led the dance, maintained 
 the divinity of Christ, if with little accuracy, yet with great 
 zeal. " He is from God, as fire is kindled from fire."| 
 *' He is different from the Father in number, not in will." 
 Against the heretics, who affirmed that the Father sends 
 out and calls back the Son, as an emanent virtue, Justin 
 contends for a, proper personality. He, however, assigns 
 to the Son a second place after the immutable and ever- 
 existing God, the Father. He seems to think the Son 
 existed not necessarily ; but by the council and power of 
 the Father, § it is, however, not always clear, whether he 
 speaks of the Saviour before or after the incarnation. 
 
 Athenagoras, affirming that the Christians worship one 
 God, observes, " He is unbegotten ; for that which is, is 
 not begotten, but that which is not;"|| by which he seems 
 either to make Christ once not to have been, or to apply 
 the generation of the Son to his incarnation. In either 
 way he is not orthodox. He bids the emperors not to 
 wonder that '* we say God has a Son ; for the Son of God 
 is the Word of the Father in idea and efficacy, with whom 
 and by whom were all things ; for the Father and the Son 
 are one. God having the Word eternally in himself, 
 being eternally rational. Let no one wonder that we say 
 the Father God and God the Son and the Holy Ghost. 
 
 * Lib. i. 52, ii. 62. + Advers. Pras., 176. + Dial. 26T, Paris, 2SL 
 
 § eK Te rov uTrripexei'v Ty irarpiKiti jSovKrijxaTi, nai ex rov iiiro rov ITaTpoj OeXijaei 
 '^eyevriffeai. Dial. p. 284. 
 
 11 Legatio pro Christianis, p. D. 
 
CONCEENIXG THE SGKIPTURES AND THE DIVINE NATURE. 89 
 
 But we speak of God, and the Son bis Word, and the 
 Holy Spirit." 
 
 The divinity of Christ is said to have been first denied, 
 towards the end of the second century, by Theodotus, a 
 tanner; but this seems to mean that he was the first who, 
 at Rome, affirmed that Christ was a mere man. Paul of 
 Samosata was the heretic of this school, who made most 
 noise, towards the decline of the third century. The 
 vague account given of him by Eusebius, describes his 
 manners rather than his doctrines, and leads us to suspect 
 more spleen against his person than holy indignation at 
 his heresy. The epistle from the fathers of the council 
 held at Antioch to depose him, merely says, " He affirmed 
 that Christ was of the earth," which might mean no more 
 than that he was born, lived, and died, upon the earth. 
 Paul, however, is accused of forbidding the ancient hymns, 
 in honour of Christ, to be sung, and substituting for them 
 verses in praise of himself. He was deposed and excom- 
 municated, but not put away from the premises of the 
 church, without the interference of the civil government.^ 
 Of Dr. Priestley's Ebionites and Nazarenes, it is not neces- 
 sary to speak, except to refer to the controversy between 
 him and Horseley, which was too personal to yield the 
 most valuable fruit. 
 
 Part TV. —The Trinity. 
 
 The word Trinity does not occur in the earliest age, 
 but, as we have seen, Justin conveys the idea, and Irenseus 
 has said, ''The church believes in one God the Father, 
 and in one Jesus the Son of God, incarnate for our salva- 
 tion, and in the Holy Spirit, who, by the prophets, 
 preached the dispensations of God, the advent, and that 
 generation which is from the Virgin, and the suffering, and 
 the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily reception 
 into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus our Lord, and his 
 
 * Euseb. Hist. EccL, lib. vii. c. 29. 
 
00 THEOLOGY OF THE EARLY CHUECH 
 
 ccming from heaven in the glory of the Father, to sum up 
 all things, and to raise all flesh of all mankind, that to 
 Christ Jesus our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, 
 according to the good pleasure of the invisible Father, 
 every knee may bow, of things in heaven, and things in 
 earth, and things under the earth." =:-- 
 
 " God needed none of these (angels) to make what he 
 had determined should exist, as though he had not hands 
 of his own. For there is always with him the Word and 
 wisdom, the Son and Spirit, by whom and in whom he did 
 all things freely and spontaneously.f In the name, Christ, 
 is understood he who anointed, and he who is anointed, 
 and the anointing itself; the Anointer is the Father, the 
 Anointed is the Son, and the unction is in the Spirit." t 
 
 Theophilus of Antioch first employed the word Triad, or 
 Trinity, as was shown in the sketch of his life and writings. 
 This early writer seems not to use the term as an exotic in 
 Christian theology; and we hear Clement of Alexandria 
 speaking of " those who know the blessed Trinity of the holy 
 abodes." § " To thank the only Father, and Son, Pedagogue 
 and Teacher, Son with the Holy Spirit, all things in one, in 
 whom are all things, by whom all things are one, of whom 
 (we) all are members ; to whom be glory both now and 
 ever. [| O mystical miracle ! one, indeed, is the Father of 
 all, and one is the Word of all, and the Holy Spirit one 
 and the same everywhere." IT 
 
 But the general confession of the Trinity was not always 
 free from suspicious expressions, which Athenagoras, a 
 writer not much consulted, labouring to avoid, looks up to 
 heaven as the realm of perfect light. -=:= Irenaeus affirms, 
 
 * Advers. Hoer., lib. i. c. 2. + Lib. iv. c. 37. J Lib. iii. c. 20. 
 
 § o\ 'yi'wpi'^oi'Ter rijv /laKapiav twv a'^lcav rpidia fJiOiZv. — Stl'Olll. Yll. 619. 
 
 I! Pfedag., lib. iii. 191. 
 
 ^\ Ibid., lib. i. 77. Clement supposes that Plato designed, by some of his 
 speculations, tJ/v afiav Tpid6a txnvveaOai, to intimate the Holy Trinity. — Strom. 
 V. p. 436. 
 
 *♦ Legatio, p. 12. 
 
CONCEENINa THE SCRIPTURES AKD THE DIVINE NATURE. 91 
 
 *' Therefore one God made all things by the Word and 
 Wisdom ; " by which he seems to mean the Son and 
 Spirit, as he adds, " and adorned them by Wisdom, which 
 is the Spirit, before all constitution or creation." Proverbs 
 viii. 22, is quoted as a proof; so that what is now appealed 
 to, as evidence of the divinity of the Son, is here applied 
 to the Spirit.* 
 
 " He who made all things, with his word, is justly 
 called sole God and Lord. Therefore Christ himself, with 
 the Father of the living, is God." He quotes a celebrated 
 saying of some one : — " The immense Father himself is 
 measured in the Son ; for the measure of the Father is 
 the Son, for he comprehends him. Neither the Lord, nor 
 the Holy Spirit, nor the apostles, ever absolutely and defi- 
 nitively name him God who is not God."f 
 
 Irenseus, as well as others, sj^eaks of the Father as 
 incapable of being seen, or revealed, except by the Son. 
 •' An invisible thing is the Father of the Son ; but a 
 visible is the Son of the Father; "| i. e., the Son has his 
 divinity from the Father, but the Father owes his visibility 
 to the Son. On the knowledge of the day of judgment, he 
 says, " Let us learn by that very thing, that the Father is 
 over all ; for he says, the Father is greater than I " To 
 these expressions, however, others give a more orthodox 
 turn. The fathers talk of mind, and reason, and pro- 
 lation, and manifestation, and generation, and of the im- 
 possibility of any but the Father and the Son knowing 
 their nature or relation. In these discussions are con- 
 tained .the germs of the Nicene Creed. 
 
 Irenseus copies Justin in representing Christ as the 
 Divine person who appeared to the patriarchs. The 
 fathers take an unwise liberty in illustrating the generation 
 of the Son, which they compare to the flowing of streams 
 from a fountain, and beams from the sun ; but the Alex- 
 
 * Advers. Hteres., lib. iv. c. 37. + Ibid. lib. iii. c. 6. 
 
 t Hid. lib. iv. c. 14. 
 
92 THEOLOGY OF THE EAELY CHUKCH 
 
 andriau bishop, Alexander, justly censures this, though for 
 a reason founded on his ignorance of Hebrew, quoting 
 these words from Isaiah : — " His generation who shall 
 declare?" This, however, is the constant patristic error 
 in the interpretation of that text, which asks, "Who can 
 describe that generation by which the Lord of glory was 
 crucified." 
 
 The Alexandrine Clement abounds, as might be ex- 
 pected, in doubtful disquisitions on the divinity of Christ 
 and the Trinity. When he calls the Father " the sole 
 perfect one," he adds, — " For the Son is in the Father, and 
 this is in that.'' He quotes the first verse of the Gospel of 
 John, thus : " The Word was in God." In another place * 
 he calls the Son the Lord Almighty ; but afterwards, 
 seems to make the Son inferior to the Father, though 
 next to him, and sharer in his perfections of omnipresence 
 and omniscience. He says, " The command to Abraham, 
 not to slay Isaac, hinted at the Deity of the Lord."t He 
 calls the Lord himself a child : *' Behold, a child is born 
 to us ; a Son is given to us ; whose dominion is on his 
 shoulders, and his name is called, the Angel of the Great 
 Council. By the same prophet, he declares his great- 
 ness ; Wonderful Counsellor; Mighty God; Everlasting 
 Father; Prince of Peace. "| Clement must have enter- 
 tained the Athanasian idea, that there is one Deity, or 
 divine nature, that belongs to the three persons ; of each 
 of whom it may be predicated that he is the one Almighty 
 God ; i. e,, in opposition to Polytheism. Tertullian, also, 
 says there are three persons, one substance ; meaning by 
 the last word, essence, or divinity ; and by person, sub- 
 stantial existence. He sj)eaks of one substance in three 
 coherings : unam substantiam in tribus cohaerentibus. § I 
 say that the Father is one, the Son is another, and the 
 
 * Strom, iv., at the commencement. 
 
 + aWot Kal rov Kvpiov rtjv BeoTrjra atviTjeTai, jjit] a<pa-ieL^. — Paedag.,lib. i. C. 5; 
 
 + Ibid. § Advers. Prax., c, 12, 
 
CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES AND '1;HE DIVINE NATURE. 9 
 
 Holy Spirit is another.* The Father is the whole sub- 
 stance ; but the Son is a derivation and portion of the 
 whole. " The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, is the sanctifier 
 of the faith of those who believe in the Father, and the 
 Son, and the Holy Spirit."! 
 
 Arianism at first appears, when Clement says, " The 
 nature of the Son is most near to the only Omnipotent ; 
 which governs all things according to the will of the 
 Father. I He was the Father's counsellor ; this was the 
 wisdom in which the omnipotent God delighted ; for the 
 Son is the power of God, the most supreme Word of the 
 Father, before all that is begotten." The former part of 
 this j)assage, which seems to claim for the Father alone 
 omnipotence, may be intended to express no more than 
 the orthodox doctrine ; but it has a suspicious aspect. 
 
 The ante-Nicene fathers scarcely distinguish between 
 the essence and the personality of Deity ; nor, except 
 Tertullian, does any one observe, that even the Father 
 could not be a father, till the Son was a son ; and that if 
 the former was an eternal Father, the latter must be an 
 eternal Son. Unhappily, they loved to talk largely of the 
 Trinity before they had learned to understand it, even as 
 far as it may be known. 
 
 Tertullian affirms that the unity of God is disposed into 
 a trinity, and thus j)roceeds, in his crabbed style: — "As 
 though also one were not all things, while all things are 
 from one, namely by unity of substance. But yet let the 
 sacrament of the economy be preserved, which arranges the 
 unity into a trinity, arranging three, Father, and Son, and 
 Holy Spirit. Yet three, not in state, but in order ; nor in 
 substance, but in form ; nor in power, but in appearance, 
 (specie ;) but of one substance, and one state, and of one 
 power; because one God from whom are these degrees 
 (ranks) and forms and species, in the name of the Father 
 
 * Cliap. 2. + Advers. Prax., c. 2. 
 
 4. h yIou (jivcris h T(f /xovy iravroKpoLTopi 7rpo<rexe<'"»'aT»i.~~Strom. vii. 504, 5, 
 
94 THEOLOGlf, OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 
 
 and the Holy Spirit reckoned. How, also, they admit of 
 number without division will be demonstrated.- This is 
 said in the tlxird order, because I think the Spirit is from 
 no other than from the Father by the Son,"t 
 
 " If he," (that was baptized by heretics,) says Cyprian, 
 " was made the temple of God, 1 ask, of what God ? If 
 of the Creator ; he could not be, for he did not believe on 
 him. If of Christ, neither could he be his temple ; for he 
 denies Christ to be God. If of the Holy Spirit; since 
 the three are one, how could he be (the temple) ? " | 
 
 On the unity of the church these words occur : " The 
 Lord says, ' I and the Father are one ; ' and again, con- 
 cerning the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it is 
 written, ' and these three are one.' " Here the disputed 
 text in John's First Epistle, v. 7, is quoted ; for nowhere 
 else is it written, these three are one. As Cyprian was 
 the echo of Tertullian, the probability is strengthened 
 that the latter was known to have quoted the disputed text 
 in his work against Praxeas : " Which three are one 
 (thing), unum ; not one (person), unus ; as it is said, 'I and 
 my Father are one,' unum ; for unity of substance, not for 
 singularity of number." It may be said Tertullian 
 quotes only the text, " I and my Father are one ; " but he 
 evidently quotes another text, which speaks of three as 
 unum, one thing, or existence ; or, as he says, substance. 
 Jerome seems to have been falsely charged with intro- 
 ducing the disputed words, without authority, into tlie 
 Vulgate : for Cyprian had read them in a Latin version, 
 long before. Griesbach yields too much to the suspicion 
 that the earlier fathers merely allegorized the eighth 
 verse ; for they here argue, as from exj)ress testimonies of 
 Scripture, without any hint of that allegorical interpre- 
 tation which, it must be confessed, the later writers abun- 
 dantly employ. 
 
 * Advers. Prax., c. 2. + Ibid. c. 4, and c. 25. 
 
 X Epist. 73 Jubaiano. 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 THEOLOGY OF THE FIKST AGES, ON THE PUEPOSES AND 
 WOEKS OF GOD, IN NATUEE AND GEACE. 
 
 PAET I. 
 
 The decrees of God, of which theologians speak, are 
 by the Scriptures called " his eternal purpose," which is 
 thus unfolded in the Epistle to Diognetus : — ■" The Sove- 
 reign God, Creator of all things, having revolved in his 
 mind a great and inexpressible design, communicated it to 
 his only Son. As long as he kept in secret, and guarded 
 his wise counsel, he seemed to neglect us, and not to think 
 of us ; but when he revealed by his beloved Son, and 
 made known the things prepared for us from the beginning, 
 he then afforded to us at once all things, and imparted his 
 benefits." 
 
 "Future events," says Justin, "are foretold by pro- 
 phecy ; not that we say, they happen by fatal necessity, 
 but that ' God has a prescience of what will be done by all 
 men,'-- The number of the good and acceptable is fore- 
 known to him, for whose sake he has not yet effected the 
 consummation; "t i. e., till they are all saved, he pre- 
 serves the world from destruction. 
 
 Irenseus mingles prescience and predestination, as the 
 Scriptures employ foreknowledge for predetermination •. 
 
 * trpoyvwarov tov Qeov ovTor ru)v fxeWovrav vko ncivTcov uvOpwTTcnv Trpax^'/o'eo-^at, 
 
 Apol. i. 07. Paris, 82. 
 + Ibid. 68. 
 
96 THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON THE PURPOSES 
 
 " We were, indeed, predestinated that we should be who 
 were not yet in existence, according to the prescience of 
 the Father."* Predestinati quidem ut essemus qui nondum 
 eranius secundum prsescientiam Patris. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria thus argues : — " For it is no 
 longer becoming of a friend of God, whom God has pre- 
 destinated before the foundation of the world to be 
 gathered into the highest adoption — that he should fall 
 into pleasures or terrors. "f " For it was always predeter- 
 mined by God to save the flock of men ; and therefore the 
 good God sent a good Shepherd." 
 
 We have already seen that Tertullian sagely observes, — 
 " W^e have as many proofs of God's prescience as there 
 are prophets, or prophecies rather." But this absolute 
 prescience of future events, including moral actions of 
 accountable creatures, involves consequences which have 
 frightened some into a denial of God's decrees ; unwisely 
 concluding, that if we admit the decree of good, we must 
 that of evil too. 
 
 The execution of the divine purposes brings us to the 
 work of creation; and passing over that of the physical 
 universe, which is ascribed to the Father hy the Son, we 
 are now to show the doctrine of the ancients concerning 
 angels. 
 
 These were supposed by some to be, like the forms pre- 
 sented to the patriarchs, produced for the occasion and 
 then destroyed, which Justin, however, refutes. But he 
 argues in a way that Trypho, if a real Jew, and acquainted 
 with Hebrew, must have known to be very foolish. For 
 Isaiah xxx. 4, which we properly render according to the 
 original, — " His princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors 
 came to Hanes ;" Justin quotes according to the Septua- 
 
 * Lib. V. c. i. 
 
 + oh 7cip 6J/ TrpeTTOi/ '4ti, tov (piXov tov Qeov ov irpowpiaev 6 Geo? npo KaTa/3oX»]? 
 Kofffxav elf rrjv 'dKpav iyKaraXeyrivac v'loOeaiav, k. t. X. Stl'Om. vi. 470. 
 
AND WORKS OF GOD, IN NATUKE AND GUACE. 97 
 
 gint : — "For there are in Tanes princes, evil angels;"* 
 which is made a proof that Egypt was inhabited by evil 
 spirits. Justin, indeed, opens to us a mystery which, per- 
 haps, he learned from Josephus and others, and in which 
 not a few agreed with him, that the fall of angels was the 
 effect of the beauty of women. 
 
 " The fruits of the earth are under the power of man ; 
 but man himself was placed under the providence of the 
 angels, who, having fallen in love with women, begat from 
 them children, who are called demons, who have enslaved 
 the human race by magic writings, by terrors, and by doc- 
 trines concerning sacrifices, and incense, and libations ; of 
 which they have become greedy since their subjection to 
 lust." f Hence, he accounts for the doctrine of the poets 
 concerning the births and amours of the gods ; as Lucian 
 ludicrously exhibits the gods gaping to swallow the smoke 
 from the altars, and like flies licking up the blood of the 
 victims. 
 
 To this, which was no private opinion of Justin, but the 
 catholic doctrine of the day, Clement of Alexandria adds a 
 very natural thought : — " That these seduced angels set 
 Samson an example, by letting out their secrets to their 
 mistresses ; so that what the chaste angels wished to re- 
 serve to the coming of the Lord — i. e., the doctrine of 
 Providence, and the revelation of sublime things— had 
 been already blabbed by the philosophers." This father 
 was the more inexcusable for adopting such a notion, be- 
 cause, in the same breath, he says that the Greeks, who 
 were great thieves, had stolen, without acknowledgment, 
 their knowledge from the writings of Moses and the Pro- 
 phets. There surely needed no ghost nor demon to tell 
 what was openly recorded in the books of a whole nation.;;: 
 
 The same vile theology is found in Tertullian, and also 
 in Lactantius, the Christian Cicero, and tutor to the sons 
 
 * Dial, pars sec. p. 311, Taris, 305. + Apol. i. -ii, Paris. 
 
 + t:trora. V. p. 401. 
 
 VITT. H 
 
C8 THEOLOGY OF THE FIEST AGES, ON THE PURPOSES 
 
 of Constantiiie. Tillemont traces this to Josej^hus; but 
 whether the fathers derived it from him, or the apocryphal 
 book of Enoch, or from a misconception of Genesis vi. 2, 
 it was never questioned, and seems to have been the pillar, 
 if not the basis, of their false doctrine of chastity. The 
 saints, who were to be angels upon earth, were to guard 
 against imitating the angels from heaven, who, seduced by 
 women, let out their secrets to the uninitiated 
 
 The Alexandrian, in his Psedagogue, tells the disciples, 
 that " angels are an example of the consequences of lust; 
 for, leaving the divine beauty for the sake of that which 
 fadeth, they have been so long fallen from heaven to 
 earth." - We omit Origen's doctrine of angels, because 
 it forms a part of the heresy with which he is charged ; 
 and as we have already observed that Athenagoras adopted 
 Justin's theory, the words of the Athenian have not been 
 transcribed. Tertullian, however, may be allowed to say, 
 " I propose one thing — that they were angels which were 
 those deserters of God, lovers of women, betrayers of this 
 curiosity; therefore also condemned by God. "f Another 
 occasion of introducing this doctrine will occur. 
 
 But the notion of a twofold fall of angels, though im- 
 plied, is not clearly announced. As Justin understands 
 the Apostle Paul to mean by " the prince of the power of 
 the air"+ the angel to whom that element was committed ; 
 so Clement of Alexandria seems to think that the angel of 
 gross matter was the author of the second fall ; and in this 
 Athenagoras agrees. § 
 
 The demons that sprang from angels and women are 
 supposed, of course, to be hybrid ; so that it is difficult to 
 describe their properties. They, however, inhabit heathen 
 temples, animating the idols, dictating oracles, and feast- 
 ing on the nidor of the sacrifices. This gave a double 
 horror to idolatry; for, beside being an offence to God, it 
 was almost a direct adoration of devils. 
 
 * Psed. ii. p. 163. + De Idolatria, chap. 9. 
 
 J EplieP. ii. 2. § 6 rn^ vXri?, nanCivhv aiirri e\6u>v, apxuv. Leg. 27. 
 
AND WORKS OF GOD, IN NATURE AND GRACE, 99 
 
 Origen, who seems mortified by his adversary's appeal 
 to the fictions of the book of Enoch, is not satisfied with 
 his own remark, that the book was not understood ; for he 
 also mentions some one who thought the text, " The sons 
 of God saw the daughters of men," referred to souls, meta- 
 phorically called the sons of God, desiring to have a bodily 
 life ; which bodily life again must be metaphorically meant 
 by the phrase, " daughters of men." But Origen dismisses 
 this also, as a solution that he could not strongly recom- 
 mend ;- a specimen of the uncertainty of the fathers, who 
 are obtruded as the only expositors who can make us 
 certain. 
 
 Of the fall of man, Irenaeus, in the preface to his fourth 
 bopk, speaks thus : — " They who from the beginning were 
 eye-witnesses knew no such things as the heretics say ; 
 but they forewarned us to flee opinions of this kind, fore- 
 seeing, by the Spirit, those who would seduce the simple. 
 For as the serpent seduced Eve, promising to her what he 
 had not himself, so also these, pretending greater know- 
 ledge and unutterable mysteries, promising absorption 
 into the Pleroma, plunge those who believe them into 
 death. Then, indeed, an apostate angel, by a serpent, 
 having wrought the disobedience of man, thought he 
 should hide himself from the Lord ; therefore God attri- 
 buted to him the same form and appellation ; i. e., that of 
 a serpent." 
 
 Justin had, in reference to this history, said, " Among 
 us, indeed, the leader of the evil demons is called a ser- 
 pent,! and Satan, and the devil ;" and if we may refer to 
 his disciple, Tatian, who became a heretic, we may quote 
 these words : — " And they followed a certain one, more 
 crafty than the rest."| There was, then, at least one 
 angel, fallen, before man ; but others, it seems, w^ere sup- 
 posed to have fallen by the influence of the daughters of 
 men. 
 
 * Contra Cels. lib. v. 267-8. + Apol. i 46; Paris, 171. 
 
 X Oratio Contra GrsecoB. 
 
100 THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON THE PUKPOSES 
 
 Of the fall of man, however, the fathers in then' Apolo- 
 gies speak much less clearly than the importance of this 
 knowledge to the heathen world required. Clemens 
 Alexandrinus, in his Admonition to the Gentiles, says, 
 " The first man, when he was in Paradise, played at 
 liberty, as he was God's little one ; but when he fell into 
 25leasure — pleasure is allegorized as a serpent creeping on 
 its belly — earthly wickedness turned to material (things) : 
 the child is led away by lusts, grows up to manhood in 
 disobedience, and refusing to hearken to his Father, dis- 
 graces his God. * Such is the force of pleasure ! " It 
 would seem that this writer supposed that pleasure was 
 the only serpent concerned in the fall of man. This Avas 
 probably derived from Philo. Of human depravity h-e 
 speaks obscurely: "There is no one pure from defile- 
 ment," says Job ; " not even if his life is one day;" quoting 
 Job XXV., and xiv. 4, according to the Septuagint's strange 
 confusion of verses and mistranslation.! 
 
 " But let them tell us where the little babe (just) born 
 committed fornication ? Or how it fell under the curse 
 of Adam, having done nothing? It remains to them, as 
 it seems, consequently, to say, that the generation is evil; 
 not only that of the body, but also that of the soul, on 
 account of which even was the body. And when David 
 says, ' I was conceived in sin, and in iniquity my mother 
 conceived me,' he speaks, indeed, prophetically — mother 
 Eve," This seems an attempt to escape the evidence of 
 the doctrine of original sin which this text affords. But 
 what an attempt ! 
 
 Tertullian runs through the history of the fall, con- 
 cluding thus : " The woman was doomed to pains and sub- 
 jection, and the man to the earth and to death, in vile 
 
 ♦ p. 51. 
 
 + Strom, iii. 342. Clemens Eomanus had quoted the same text in the 
 same way. 
 
AND WORKS Oi^ GOD, IN NATURE AND GRACE. 101 
 
 raiment, though before, without scruple, naked."- "If 
 the benediction of the fathers was destined to the se^d 
 without its merits ; why not also the guilt of the fathers 
 redound? As grace, so also the offence runs through the 
 whole race."t Man is condemned to death for tasting 
 one tree, and from thence issue crimes, with punishments, 
 and now all perish, who have never known a sod of Para- 
 dise.] He affirms that God could not have prevented 
 man's fall without destroying his free will.§ Man, that 
 was seduced by an angel, was stronger than an angel, 
 being the breath of God more noble than a material spirit 
 of which angels consist. Who makes angels, spirits, and 
 a flame of fire, his ministers. || Tertullian, by Spirit, meant 
 refined matter. He follows Irenseus in meeting the objec- 
 tion which Marcion drew from the words of God by Isaiah, 
 *' I create evil," justly observing that this was the physical 
 evil of punishment, not moral evil, or sin.^I 
 
 On the Mosaic history of the fall, he observes, " that it 
 attributes the cause of the fall to the devil, rather than the 
 serjpent; that the devil is properly indicated by the name 
 of the serpent."-^ "Eve believed the serpent; Mary be- 
 lieved Gabriel. But did Eve, then, conceive nothing in 
 her womb from the w-ord of the devil? Nay; she con- 
 ceived; for from thence, as an abject, she brought forth 
 and in pains. The word of the devil was, to her, seed."ft 
 
 This father, who had strange notions of souls as having 
 all the dimensions of body, and even the sexual differences 
 of animals, II denies that souls are created when men are 
 brought into existence, maintaining that they spring, velut 
 surculus, as a shoot from Adam.§§ 
 
 * Atlvers. Marcion, lib. ii. chap. 11. f Lib. ii. chap. l-**. 
 
 + Lib. i. 22. § Lib. ii. chap. 7. || Lib. ii. chap. 9. 
 
 % Lib. ii. chap. 14. ** Advers. Marciou, lib. ii. chap. 10. 
 
 + f De Carne Christi, 17. ++1^6 Anima, chap. 9. 
 
 §§ Ibid. chap. 27. He makes it an afiair of sensation, asking, Nonue 
 aliquid de anima sentimus exire ? Jerome anathematises this opinion ; but 
 Augustine says, Neque legendo neque orando neque rationando invenire 
 
102 THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON THE PURPOSES 
 
 The depravity of human nature, in its present fallen 
 state, is acknowledged by most of the fathers, though not 
 unfrequently in strange and equivocal terms ; but while 
 Clement, the master, seems most guilty, his disciple, 
 Origen, may be supposed to clear up in some measure 
 the real sentiments of both, in the following passage. 
 Celsus had reproached Christ, as the God, sent to sinners,* 
 and Origen had contended that Christ's reason for this 
 was good and sufficient: "They that be whole need not 
 a physician, but they that are sick." Celsus asks, "Why 
 was he not sent to the innocent? What harm is there in 
 not having sinned?" "We will affirm," says Origen, 
 "that it is impossible to find a man that has not sinned, 
 except the man Jesus." Is it a pitiable cmnplaint-if a 
 sinner uses the words of Scripture : " I acknowledge my 
 sin, and my iniquity have I not hidden. What man is 
 perfectly just? Or who is without sin?" For Celsus, 
 admitting the same thing, says, " This may be conceded 
 as true, that the human race is born to sin, or naturally 
 sin/'f And then, as if all were not called by the Word, 
 he says, "He ought simply to have called all." But we 
 have above shown that Jesus says, " Come unto me, all 
 ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I Avill give you 
 rest." "Therefore all men by nature, on accoun»t of sin, 
 labouring and burthened, are called by the word of God 
 to rest. For he sent forth his W^ord and healed them, 
 and delivered them from their corruptions."! 
 
 The monstrous doctrine of a second fall of angels, 
 which was most ominous, and became the fruitful parent 
 of innumerable evils, was not the offspring of philosophy ; 
 for the earliest fathers admitted, not only the possibility, 
 
 potuisse quomodo cum creatione animarum peccatum originale defeiidatur. 
 The schoolmen brave this difficulty, and some think the creation of souls 
 proved by Paul's quotation from Aratus : tov ^ap Kal yevoi eaiiev. 
 
 * ToTt aiJ.apT(o\oTi nenefKpOat tov Qeov. Lib. iii. p. 148. 
 
 ■)• ne<pvKe afxaprdvetv. + Contra Cels. lib. iii. 148 — 150. 
 
AND WORKS OF GOD, IN NATURE AND GRACE. 103 
 
 but the fact of a fall, before women were in existence. 
 The vile dogma, therefore, was the mere effect of their 
 unskilfulness as interj^reters of Scripture, for which some 
 would make them authoritative oracles, though they were 
 evidently led astray by a false interpretation of Genesis 
 
 Part II. — The Redemption of Christ. 
 
 The incarnation, atonement, and intercession of the 
 Eedeemer are not taught by the fathers in the formal 
 systematic manner which professed theologians afterwards 
 adopted ; but the elements of a system are scattered with 
 rude simplicity, and perplexing vagueness, over their 
 works. After describing to Diognetus the wickedness of 
 men, the long-suffering of God, and the glory of Christ, 
 the anonymous epistolator says, " When our iniquity was 
 filled up, and the recompense, punishment and death, 
 might be expected, the time came which God before 
 appointed in future to manifest his own kindness and 
 power. He, as one love, of transcendent philanthropy, 
 bated us not, cast us not off, nor remembered sin against 
 us. He was long-suffering ; he himself has borne with 
 our sins. He himself gave his own Son a ransom for us; 
 the holy for the lawless ; the innocent for the wicked ; the 
 just for the unjust; the incorruptible for the corruptible; 
 the immortal for mortals. Having, therefore, convinced 
 us, in the former age, of the impossibility of our nature 
 attaining to life, but now having shown the Saviour, able 
 to save even things that were impossible to be saved; from 
 both (these sides of the question) he designed that we 
 should believe in his kindness, to esteem him, nourisher, 
 father, teacher, counsellor, physician, intellect, light, ho- 
 nour, glory, strength, life ; not to be anxious for clothing 
 and food. 
 
 " This faith, if thou also shalt desire and embrace, first 
 thou wilt receive knowledge (of its truth). For God has 
 
104 THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON THE PURPOSES 
 
 loved man, for whom he made the world ; to whom he has 
 subjected it all; to whom he has given a revelation and 
 intellect; to whom alone he has given permission to con- 
 template himself; whom he formed after his own image; 
 to whom he sent his only begotten Son."*' 
 
 Clement says to the Corinthians, " The Lord Jesus 
 Christ, whose blood was given for us, let us revere. By 
 love the Sovereign received us ; on account of the love 
 which he had towards us, our Lord Jesus Christ gave 
 his blood for us, by the will of God, and his flesh for our 
 flesh, and his soul for our souls." f 
 
 " The spies gave to Rahab a sign, that she should hang 
 out of her house a scarlet line, signifying that by the blood 
 of the Lord there shall be redemption to all that believe 
 and hope in God." J 
 
 Ignatius, or his interpolator, speaks of " the blood of 
 God:"§ " Let my spirit be the sharer of the fate of the 
 cross, which is a stumbling-block to the unbelievers ; but 
 to us, salvation and eternal life. For our God, Jesus the 
 Christ, borne in the womb by Mary, according to the dis- 
 pensation of God, of the seed of David, indeed, but by the 
 Holy Spirit; who was born and baptized, that by his 
 passion he might cleanse the water; || i. e. the water did 
 not cleanse him, but he the water. What else could this 
 mean, but consecrating water to the use of baptism, as the 
 baptized person is consecrated to the service of God?" 
 
 He thus warns the Magnesians against Judaism, " I 
 wish you to be filled with confidence in the birth, and 
 suffering, and resurrection, that happened in the time of 
 the government of Pontius Pilate, which was truly and 
 firmly experienced by Jesus Christ, our hope."^ 
 
 " I would rather die for Christ Jesus than rule to the 
 ends of the earth ; for ' What is a man profited if he gain 
 the whole world and lose his own soul?' Him I seek who 
 
 * Chap. 9, 10. + Chap. 49. + Chap. 12. 
 
 § Ad Ephes. c. 1. II Chap. 18. «[ Ad Magr.es. c. 11. 
 
AND WOEKS OF GOD, IN NATUEE AND GEACE. 105 
 
 died for us. I wish for him who rose for us. Permit me 
 to be an imitator of the suffering of my God. My love is 
 crucified. There are three mysteries of outcry (against 
 which, perhaps, the enemies cry out), the virginity of 
 Mary, and her child-birth, and the death of the Lord. 
 A star in the heavens shone above all the rest, and its 
 light was unspeakable, and its novelty strange; all the 
 others, with the sun and m'oon, were a choir to it — the 
 old kingdom was destroyed, God being manifested in 
 humanity for the renewal of eternal life."* 
 
 Polycarp tells the Philippians, "Firm is the root of 
 your faith that Avas announced from ancient times, remains 
 till now and bears fruit towards our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 Avho suffered himself to be brought to death for our sins, 
 whom God raised up, whom, not seeing, ye believe."! 
 
 The account of his martyrdom, given by the church at 
 Smyrna, as preserved in the History of Eusebius, contains 
 these remarks : " The Jews induced the proconsul to 
 refuse to deliver up to us the remains of Polycarp for 
 interment, lest we should forsake the crucified one and 
 Avorship Polycarp, not considering how impossible it is 
 that Ave should forsake Christ, who died for the sah^ation 
 of man."]: 
 
 Justin Martyr tells Trypho, " Sin cannot be Avashed 
 av,-ay by the Avaters of the ocean, nor by the blood of 
 sheep, but by faith through the blood of Christ and his 
 death, Avho died for this."§ He then quotes the whole of 
 the 53rd of Isaiah as a prophecy of Christ suffering for 
 our sins. 
 
 "He who is the first-begotten Word of God is also 
 God. Formerly by the form of fire appearing, and in the 
 resemblance of what is incorporeal ; noAV in the time of 
 your dominion, (addressing the Romans,) becoming a man 
 by the virgin, according to the counsel of the Father, for 
 
 * Ad Eplies. chap. 19. f Chap. i. J Lib. iv. c. 15. 
 
 § Dial. p. IGO. Paris, 229. 
 
106 , THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON THE PUKP0SE13 
 
 tlie salvation of those who believe on him, he endured 
 suffering and contempt, that, dying and rising, he might 
 conquer death.* As, by the Word of God, made flesh, 
 Jesus Christ our Saviour had both flesh and blood for our 
 salvation. t But he did not submit to be born and be cruci- 
 fied, as having need of these things, but for the race of 
 men, which, by Adam, had fallen into death and the 
 seduction of the serpent, to say nothing of every sinner's 
 own fault."! 
 
 " And, again, how it was expressly prophesied by Isaiah, 
 that he should be brought forth of a virgin, hear; for it is 
 expressed thus — ' Behold, the virgin should be with child, 
 and they shall call him, God with us.' "§ 
 
 Iren?eus observes that, " Christ is said to have redeemed 
 us by his flesh and blood ; by his obedience paying for 
 our disobedience. "II "By Paul, Adam himself is called 
 the type of him that was to come, since God the Creator 
 of all things had predestinated the animal man first, truly 
 that he might be saved by the spiritual. As the Saviour 
 pre-existed, it was fit that what was to be saved should 
 exist that the Saviour might not be in vain." 
 
 "As Eve, disobeying, became to herself, and the whole 
 human race, a cause of death ; so also Mary, having the 
 predestinated Man, being yet an obedient virgin, was 
 made to herself, and the whole human race, a cause of 
 salvation. "11 " He who is perfect in all things, the 
 powerful Word, and true Man, rationally redeeming us by 
 his own blood, has given himself a redemption for those 
 who were led into captivity."** 
 
 " There is a most kind and merciful Lord, loving the 
 human race. He united man to God. For if man had 
 not conquered the enemy of man, the enemy had not 
 been justly conquered. Again, unless God had granted 
 
 * Apol. i. 94. + Ibid. DO. + Dial. ii. 331. Paris, 315. 
 
 § Apol. i. 53. Paris, 74. |i Lib. v. c. 1. 
 
 ^ Advers. Hoeres. lib. iii. c. 33. ** Ibid. lib. v. c. I. 
 
AND WORKS OF GOD, IN NATURE AND GRACE. 107 
 
 salvation, we should not have had it firmly ; and unless 
 man had been joined to our God, he could not have been a 
 partaker of incorruption. It was necessary that the 
 Mediator of God and man, by his own relation to both, 
 should reduce both to unity and concord, and cause that 
 God should assume man, and man should give himself to 
 God."* 
 
 The incarnation was opposed by heretics in various 
 ways, on the supposition that it was contrary to the purity 
 and majesty of God to be born into this world, as the 
 Scriptures declare. Tertullian uses the expression, " Who 
 was born by the Holy Ghost, of the Virgin Mary ; " as 
 Augustine afterwards gives the w^ords of the Creed ; and 
 speaks of him as, " by the Spirit and power of God the 
 Father, brought into the womb of the Virgin Mary, and 
 made flesh in her womb, and born of her," 
 
 The resurrection of Christ was maintained by the 
 ancients in an orthodox way, according to its ow^n import- 
 ance, inserting it into the Cr^ed^ — " He rose, on the third 
 day," — to show that he w^as^ not three whole days in the 
 grave. Tertullian we have heard saying, '* He rose ; I 
 believe it, because it is impossible ; " doubtless meaning 
 that it was so to human power. 
 
 But Christ's ascension to heaven being denied by some 
 heretics, who said he distributed his body to the elements 
 when he rose ;+ Irenseus says, "We must believe the 
 fleshly or incarnate reception of Christ Jesus into 
 heaven." 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, exhorting the Gentiles, says, 
 " The Word of God ; this is eternal, Jesus, the one great 
 High Priest, of the one God, who is himself the Father : I 
 he prays for men, and exhorts men. Death crucified unto 
 
 * Lib. iii. c. 20. 
 
 + Misled by the Septuagint reading, " He placed his tabernacle in the 
 sun." 
 
 J Admon. ad Gentes, p. 55. a«3to? oSto? 'Ino-oy? eir 6 jue^a? apx^epevi, k. t. X. 
 
108 THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON THE PURPOSES 
 
 life, having snatched man from destruction, and suspended 
 him in the ethereal region." 
 
 "Neither, when the divine Word was first preached and 
 not believed; nor when, having taken the person of man, 
 and, formed in flesh, he performed the saving drama of 
 humanity, was he unknown. For he was a genuine hero, 
 and champion of the creature. Most swiftly was he pro- 
 claimed to all men, from the Father's will, rising quicker 
 than the sun, he most easily made the Deity shine. He 
 was the covenant-maker, and reconciler, the life-giving, 
 peaceful fountain, poured forth over all the face of the 
 earth ; an ocean of good things."- 
 
 " Man, bound with sins, the Lord chose to loose again ; 
 and clothed with flesh, (divine mystery!) in this, he han- 
 dled the serpent, and reduced to slavery that tyrant — death. 
 And what was most unexpected, man, him that was de- 
 ceived by pleasure, and in the bondage of corruption, he, 
 with outstretched hands, liberated and exhibited him to 
 view. O mystic miracle ! The Lord stoops, man rises ; 
 and he who fell from Paradise receives the greatest reward 
 of obedience — heaven. Wherefore, it seems to me since 
 the Word, reason, itself, came to us from heaven, we have 
 no need to go to human philosophy."! He gave his soul 
 a price of redemption for many. He gave up himself a 
 sacrifice, lepeiov, for us. Isaac was saved that the Word 
 might first suffer; and laughed, to prefigure the joy with 
 which they should be filled who are redeemed from cor- 
 ruption by the blood of the Lord.| 
 
 Origen is far enough from teaching Celsus the doctrine 
 of atonement with sufficient clearness and fidelity ; but he 
 says, " Therefore, the holy Father of Jesus, not sj)aring 
 his own Son, but delivering him up for us all — he being 
 his pure Lamb— that he might take away the sin of the 
 world, who, for all his, dies — the Lamb of God.'"§ We, 
 
 * Admon. ad Gentes, 51. + Admon. 51. + Pedag. i. 5. 
 
 S Lib. viii. 405. 
 
AND WOKKS OF GOD, IN KATUKE AN'D GRACE. 109 
 
 deeming him the propitiation for our sins, offer our 
 prayers first to him, as the High Priest.* 
 
 The atonement, of which TertuUian rarely speaks, is 
 presented to view when it will serve his argument. He 
 blames the influence given to the martyrs to obtain par- 
 don for the guilty ; contending that " it is enough for the 
 martyr to have purged his own sins, who has removed 
 another death by his own ; but the Son of God alone died 
 for men : in his very passion he liberated a robber, since 
 for this purpose he had come, that he himself,^pure from 
 fault, and holy in all things, might obey for sinners. 
 But if thou art a sinner, how should the oil of thy lamp 
 suffice both for thee and me ?"t Thus Septimius repu- 
 diates the doctrine of Eome, on the merits of saints as 
 available for others. Against the Jews he contends, that 
 " Christ is called a sacrifice for all nations."]: And against 
 Marcion, that "he is the Father's intercessor, and the 
 offerer of his ov/n soul for the salvation of the people." 
 He calls Christ, Immanuel, God with us, the Good Shep- 
 herd who lays down his life for the sheep. § 
 
 Cyprian's book concerning the lapsed contains the fol- 
 lowing testimony: "He alone, who has borne our sins, 
 can obtain pardon for the sins committed against him 
 who suffered for us, whom God delivered up for our sins." 
 " Christ redeemed us by his own blood."|| In the Treatise 
 on Alms, he says: "Christ was wounded, that he might 
 cure our wounds ; he served, that he might draw servants 
 to liberty; he bore to die, that he might exhibit immor- 
 tality to mortals." The Word was made flesh, who bore 
 our sins, who, by conquering, conquered death.^f The 
 eternal kingdom of God was acquired by the blood and 
 passion of Christ,"** 
 
 * Contra Cels. lib. viii. p. 38G. t De Pudic. cliap. 23. 
 
 + Ibid. chap. 13. 
 
 § De Anima, chap, 13. Adv. Marc. lib. iii. chap. 11. 
 
 11 De Oratione Dominica. «^ Ep. 73, Jubaiano. 
 
 ** Da Oratione Dominica, 
 
1 1 TPIEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON THE PURPOSES 
 
 The quantity of writing that we have from Clement of 
 Alexandria, Origen, and Tertullian, without any distinct 
 and satisfactory mention of the atonement, or even any 
 mention at all, would surprise those who for the first time 
 read their works, and would grieve all who wish to think 
 well of the fathers. The principal texts which contain the 
 truth they scarcely mention, and especially Rom. iii. 25. 
 The material cross soon became an idol, which hid from 
 their view the sacrifice for sin. Of God's moral govern- 
 ment they had imperfect views. Busied with the Greek 
 philosophy, they never studied the rationale of revealed 
 truth, for which some had ample ability, but, unhappily, 
 no inclination. 
 
 Part III. — Election and Grace. 
 
 The doctrine of the early church on election and grace 
 may be seen by the following extracts. The writer to 
 Diognetus warns him, " Not to expect to be able to learn 
 from man the mystery of Christian piety ;"* and asks, 
 " Who that is rightly taught, and born of the lovely Word, 
 does not seek to learn fully the things taught by the Word 
 openly to the disciples, to whom the Word appeared, 
 speaking plainly, though not understood by unbelievers, 
 yet explained to disciples ? Here is the Scripture doctrine 
 of regeneration by the Word, and the necessity of divine 
 grace to make it known. 
 
 Clement addresses the Corinthians, as " called and 
 sanctified by the will of God," seeming to allude to the 
 language of James : " Of his own will begat he us by the 
 word of truth." He reminds them that the disturbance in 
 their church was disgraceful to the elect of God,f to whom, 
 by the apostles, a great number of the elect had been 
 gathered. | He exhorts them " with pious confidence, to 
 stretch out their hands to God, that as a full effusion of 
 the Spirit was granted to them, the number of the elect 
 * Chap. 11. + Chap. 1. + Chap. 6. 
 
AND WORKS OF GOD, IN NATURE AND GRACE. 1 1 1 
 
 might be saved."* " Let not the chaste in the flesh glory, 
 knowing that it is another who has afforded to him that 
 continence : let us consider of what stuff we were made, 
 what sort of creatures we came into the world, as from the 
 tomb and darkness. He that made and fashioned us 
 brought us into his world, having prepared his benefits 
 before we were born. Holding, therefore, everything from 
 him, we ought, in everything, to give thanks to him, to 
 whom be glory for ever. Amen."t "Let us join ourselves 
 to the righteous, for these are the elect of God."| "By 
 charity were all the elect of God made perfect.' § 
 
 " Loving our mild and merciful Father, who has made 
 (us) his elect portion. For so it is written, when the 
 Most High divided the nations, as he dispersed Adam's 
 sons, he set boundaries of nations, according to the num- 
 ber of the angels of God-H For the Lord's portion was 
 his people, Jacob ; the line of his inheritance, Israel. And 
 in another place he says, " Behold, the Lord taketh to 
 himself a nation from the midst of nations, as a man 
 taketh the first-fruit of the threshing-floor, and the Holy 
 of holies shall come from that nation." The quotation is 
 from the Septuagint, which instead of " the Sons of 
 Israel," gives "the angels of God," who seem to have 
 been considered as guardian spirits of the several nations. 
 
 Justin, in his first Apology, appealing to Moses and the 
 prophets, as more ancient than the Greek philosophers, 
 says, "Future events, being predicted by the prophets, 
 were not by fatal necessity, though God foreknew what 
 would be done by men. "IT If the word of God foretels 
 absolutely that some, both of angels and men, will be 
 punished, it is because he foreknew that they would be 
 obstinately wicked. He foretold this, but not that God 
 made them such.=i<='- For none of you, I think, will dare to 
 
 * cl? TO CT(i}^ea6ai rov apt9ix6v Ttov tKKXeKTWv avrov. — Chap. 11. 
 
 + Chap. 38. t Chap. 46. § Chap. 49. || Chap. 29. 
 
 *[ Paris, 82. ** Dial. p. 434; Paris, 371. 
 
112 THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON THE PUIIPOSE'S 
 
 deny that God was and is acquainted with future things."* 
 "Do you think, O (Jewish) men, that we could ever have 
 understood these things in the Scripture, unless that, by 
 the will of him that has chosen, we had obtained the 
 grace to understand?"! The language of Augustine is 
 exactly this, that grace is obtained by the will of him that 
 chose us. Yet Justin has been said to lead the way to 
 Pelagianism, by his assertion of the avre^ovaiov, W'hich 
 some would translate by the unphiloso^^hical phrase, the 
 self-determining power of the will ° but it is not certain 
 that he meant anything more than that man determined 
 his own actions, or was a voluntary agent, according to 
 the doctrine of President Edwards on the Freedom of the 
 Will. This, indeed, Justin maintains, as essential to render 
 man " capable of virtue and vice." 
 
 Absolute foreknowledge of men's unbelief is employed, 
 by Irenseus, to justify God's giving up Pharaoh and others 
 to blindness. | The grace of the Holy Spirit is distinctly 
 confessed by him, when speaking of " many nations of 
 barbarians, who believe in Christ, having salvation written 
 by the Spirit in their hearts, without paper and ink."§ 
 The free will he teaches, is that which is opposed to the 
 fatalism of the gnostics. Eejecting fate, he seems to go 
 over to the opposite extreme. [| 
 
 In defence of his own doctrine, Augustine appeals to 
 the fathers before him, and especially to Cyprian. On 
 original sin, he quotes Justin, Irenseus, and Cyprian, 
 charging Chrysostom with incautious language, before 
 Pelagius wrote. The son of Monica had written IT against 
 the Manichees, as one wounded by them ; but when he 
 liad been roused by the Pelagians to think more carefully 
 of the doctrine of the church, he wrote his Retractations. '--* 
 * Dial. p. 169; Paris, 233. 
 
 f oieaOe liv hfia^ Trore, to av5pef, vevor]Kiva7 dwriOnvat ev Tai"? '(pacpaT^ ravra, ei fxii 
 Behrj/jLari tov 0e/\»)o-(n'TO9 avTu eX«/3o^ici/ X"p^^ "^o^ vor)uai. Dial. p. 390, Paris, 346 
 I Lib. iv. c. 48. § Adv. Htcres., lib. iii. c. 4. 
 
 jl Lib. iv. c. 71-2, 70-7. % De ecclesiast. dogmat. ** Lib. i. c. 23. 
 
AND WORKS OF GOD,. IN NATURE AND GRACE. 1 1-3 
 
 Of election, the Alexandrian Clement says, "He who is 
 the Lord of all Greeks and barbarians persuades those 
 that are willing ; for he forces no one to receive the salva- 
 tion that is from him ; for he is able to choose and to 
 accomplish everything by himself, as to receiving the 
 hope."- " For he is the Saviour, not of these, rather than 
 those, but whatever fitness every one has ; he has dis- 
 tributed his own beneficence, both to the Greeks and to 
 the barbarians, and to those who, out of these, were pre- 
 destinated, indeed, but according to the proper time are 
 called, and faithful, and chosen. For he who has equally 
 called all would envy none ; but he has distributed special 
 honours to those who specially believe. f Gathering those 
 that were already ordained, whom God predestinated, 
 knowing, before the foundation of the world, those that 
 will be just." He calls "the church of the saved, the 
 elect of God. "t 
 
 When Clement says, " God persuades those that are 
 willing," he seems to ascribe to him the agere actum ; but 
 he must be supposed to mean that whoever are willing, 
 God HAS persuaded them ; for he forces none, being able 
 both himself to choose them, and cause them to choose 
 him. For he is the Saviour, not of these rather than 
 those ; for whatever fitness any one has, God has dis- 
 tributed it of his own beneficence. 
 
 If we consult this writer, on the nature of faith ; he 
 informs us, it is a voluntary anticipation, the consent of 
 piety, or a pious consent. § The apostle's definition he 
 seems to glance at, for he is not far from " the substance 
 of things hoped for," which is almost equivalent to the 
 anticipation of them ; and all agree that there must be a 
 consent of the will when we really believe. This, again, is 
 included in his second definition, the consent of piety; 
 for a man ceases to be impious when he consents to the 
 
 * Strom, vii. p. 505. f Ibid. + Ibid. p. 281. Tbid. viii. 519. 
 
 § Tr/o-Tt? 5fc' 7rp6\»ji/'ir kKOvaio': kffji Oeo<Te^eia<! arvvKarddeffn. Strom. 11. 200. 
 VIII. I 
 
1 14 THEOLOGY OF THE FiEST AGES, ON THE PURPOSES 
 
 testimony of the gospel. Basil, in a later age, did but 
 expound and illustrate this earlier account of faith ; as 
 Augustine also asks, "What is it to believe, except to 
 consent that what is said is true ? " '-'•= 
 
 Clement's disquisition on the voluntariness of faithf has 
 been thought contrary to the Augustinian creed ; but he 
 expresses nothing more than any well-informed Augus- 
 tinian will admit, that the faith which is of the operation 
 of God, by whom it is given to us to believe, is still really 
 the operation of our own mind, without which it could not 
 be said that ive believe. 
 
 Origen says, " Though the knowledge of God is beyond 
 human comprehension : so that men err concerning him ; 
 yet by the goodness and philanthropy of God, and his 
 surprising and most divine grace, the knowledge of God 
 reaches those who are predestinated by the foreknowledge 
 of God that they may live in a manner worthy of him that 
 is known. "I 
 
 As the post-Nicene fathers confess that their prede- 
 cessors often exposed themselves to the charge of Arian- 
 ism, before controversy had sharpened their weapons and 
 taught them prudent skill ; so it is equally true that those 
 who wrote on the doctrines of grace, prior to the con- 
 demnation of Pelagian] sm, seemed to lean to that error. 
 Few readers of the earlier fathers would expect such 
 things as are uttered by Augustine. That he was hailed 
 as the champion of the church, the defender of its ancient 
 faith, proves the difficulty, if not impossibility, of dis- 
 covering from the fathers the creed of the whole church. 
 But while it cannot be denied, that others, beside Origen, 
 prepared the way for Pelagius ; it is equally undeniable 
 that they occasionally make such confessions of truth, that 
 Augustine could appeal to the earliest fathers, and that he 
 was regarded as the conservative shield against the attacks 
 
 * De Spiritu et Littera. t Strom, li. 2G5, 
 
 + Cont. Cels. vii. p. Oo-2. 
 
AND WOEKS OF GOD, TN NATURE AND GHACE. 1 15 
 
 of innovators. To those who suspect that he was driven 
 by force of controversy to tlie opposite extreme, he says, 
 " We have disputed, long before tlie Pelagian heresy 
 existed, just as w^e now dispute against them."* The 
 fatalism of the philosophers and the heretics drove Augus- 
 tine's predecessors to give a distorted view of Catholic 
 theology, which he professed to set in its true light. 
 
 Minucius Felix introduces the subject of fate, or destiny, 
 among the charges brought against Christianity. Coecilius, 
 the heathen advocate, says, "Blame, or innocence, is 
 attributed to fate by the opinions of most, and this is your 
 opinion ; for -whatever we do, as others say, it is from fate; 
 so you say it is from God : thus your sects would have, 
 not spontaneous, but elect persons. Therefore you invent 
 an unjust judge, who punishes fate, not will." Octavius 
 replies, " Nor from fate let any one take, either consola- 
 tion or excuse. The event may be the lot of fortune, yet the 
 mind is free. Therefore the act of the man, not his 
 dignity, is judged. For what else is fate, than what God 
 has pronounced (fatus est) concerning every one of us ? 
 for as he can foresee the matter, he also determines the 
 fates of individuals, according to their deserts and qualifi- 
 cations. So it is not the nativity, but the nature of our 
 disposition, that is smitten with punishment. But enough 
 concerning fate ; or if w^e have said little, in a temporarv 
 manner, we are about to dispute elsewhere, both more 
 maturely and more fully. "t 
 
 The doctrine of the Christians concerning election, 
 foreknowledge, and predestination, must have been well 
 known to the heathens, even w'hile they were grossly igno- 
 rant of much that the church believed and practised. For 
 though the misrepresentations of Coecilius are a com- 
 pound of all that is horrible and all that is ludicrous ; 
 what he says on election, Octavius virtually admits, merely 
 observing that the explanatory reply was brief and hasty, 
 * Eetractations, lib. i. f Octav. c. 36, 
 
116 THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON THE PURPOSES 
 
 because a theme so difficult required a distinct treatise. 
 This promised treatise of fate, either was not written, or 
 the work has perished. 
 
 That Christians spoke of themselves and their brethren, 
 as elect, so freely and constantly, that the heathens knew 
 it, and supposed the church deemed her converts not 
 spontaneous, is manifest. Whether we call this the know- 
 ledge, or the error, of the heathen, it proves, both the 
 practice of the ancient church which gave rise to the one 
 or the other, and the nonconformity of the ancients to 
 many in the present day who speak (or rather do not 
 speak) of election ; so that the world would never learn 
 from them that Christians are elect persons ; or suppose 
 that we deemed them, not spontaneous converts, but the 
 fruits of fate. 
 
 But as the statements of a pagan may be disregarded, 
 though they often lead to conclusions most stringent, we 
 again recur to what Octavius says in reply. Far from 
 denying that Christians were elected of God, he contends 
 that, however the event may be determined, the mind is 
 free, which is sound doctrine. The Christian disputant 
 admits fate, according to its true etymology, which is 
 what God, fatus est, has pronounced, by which it is dis- 
 tinguished from the fate of heathens, who had a mystic 
 notion of something which was not from Jove, but above 
 him, binding Jove himself. Octavius, denying this, main- 
 tains that what God has said shall come to pass, which is 
 the Christian doctrine of the decrees of God, " Who 
 worketh all things according to the counsel of his own 
 will." But as the apostle says, " that we are elected ac- 
 cording to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of 
 God ;" so Octavius contends that God can foresee the 
 matter or the subject of the last judgment, and that he 
 "determines the fates of each individual" according to 
 their deserts and qualifications. If Octavius means no- 
 thing more than foreknowledge, and a decree to pronounce 
 
A^•D -WORKS OF GOD, IN NATUPxE AND GEACE. 117 
 
 a sentence according to what God foresees every one will 
 deserve, even this involves those consequences for which 
 election is often rejected. But the Christians openly as- 
 serted their election, as even the heathens knew. Octa- 
 vius, indeed, says, " that God will judge men according to 
 their actions, deserts, and qualities," which is strangely 
 supposed to be contrary to the doctrine of election. Yet 
 those who, with the earliest writers, speak of Christians 
 as elect, believe that God will at last con-lemn none but 
 the wicked, who deserve punishment, and accept none but 
 those that are fit for heaven. The question, then, is, how 
 men come to be righteous or wicked. With regard to the 
 latter, no influence from Heaven is supposed, or required, 
 to make men wicked ; but as to the righteous, they say, 
 with the apostle, " By the grace of God I am what I am." 
 Octavius ascribes to this grace the happy efficacy of his 
 discourse in converting Coecilius ; for the praise is given 
 to the God to whom he yields himself. Election consists 
 in being chosen to this conversion or calling. The germ 
 of Augustine's doctrine is thus traced up to Minucius 
 Felix, the first of the unsuspected orthodox Latin fathers, 
 whose well-disciplined mind has produced a work that 
 contains more good sense, and less nonsense, than is 
 to be found among all the writings of the early Latin 
 church. We close with two sentences from Tertullian : 
 " This power of divine grace will be stronger than nature, 
 having the power of the will called avTe^ovcnov subject to 
 itself."* "No one is a Christian without final persever- 
 ance." Whatever the fathers meant by avre^ovaiov, Sep- 
 timius knew; and he here declares that it is not the 
 master, but the subject of divine grace. 
 
 By the reflecting reader it must have been observed, 
 that, what was the current language of the most ancient 
 Christians is now abandoned to those who are termed 
 high Calvinists ; for these alone habitually speak of Chris- 
 
 * De Anima, c. 21. 
 
1 18 THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON THE TURPOSES 
 
 tians as God's elect; while those who make their hoast of 
 the fathers are the last to employ this phrase. But as the 
 Jews were, by the fact of their isolation, perpetually re- 
 minded of the doctrine taught by Moses, that " The Lord 
 had chosen the seed of Abraham out of all people to be 
 his peculiar inheritance ;" so the first Christians felt them- 
 selves called out of a rejected nation, and, " at this thne, 
 a remnant according to the election of grace." These 
 converted Jews being quickly followed by what Peter 
 calls, "a taking out from the Gentiles a people for God's 
 name ;" both parties joined to adopt the language of Paul, 
 who speaks of "us whom he hath called, not of the Jews 
 only, but also of the Gentiles." 
 
 Taught by the fact, Christians spake of their election, 
 as a people that felt rather than miderstood it ; for they 
 had not yet learned to speculate on the profound theme. 
 When, however, Pelagius kindled the flames of contro- 
 versy, Augustine was furnished by the language of his 
 2:)redecessors with proofs, often more convincing to his 
 contemporaries than those from Holy Writ ; that the 
 church having received from the apostles the doctrine of 
 election, had always spoken of herself as called out of the 
 world by a special influence from Heaven, in fulfilment of 
 the eternal purpose of God. But as the eftect of Con- 
 stantino's adoption of the Christian profession became 
 more general and dominant, by confounding the church 
 and the world, the facts of the case being reversed, the 
 doctrine of a church chosen out of the world was lost, 
 denied, or shunned as a dangerous speculation, fit only to 
 make heretics. 
 
 Part IY. — Justification. 
 
 As it is impossible to overrate the importance of the 
 
 inspired question, "How shall man be just with God?" 
 
 the correspondent space which the answer occupies in 
 
 Scripture has, from the first, secured to this theme a large 
 
AND WORKS OF GOD, IN NATURE AND GRACE. 119 
 
 share of the attention of the church. The very early 
 author of the letter to Diognetus says of God, " He 
 himself gave his own Son a ransom for the unjust, the 
 incorruptible for the corruptible, the immortal for mortals. 
 For what else but his righteousness could have covered 
 our sins ? By whom could we, the lawless and impious, 
 have been justified except by the only Son of God? Oh, 
 the sweet exchange ! Oh, the unsearchable work ! Oh, 
 the unexpected benefits ! That, on the one hand, the 
 iniquity of many should be hidden in one just person, and 
 on the other, the righteousness of one should justify many 
 sinners."'^ The essence of the revealed doctrine is here 
 happily expressed, by a writer who evidently laboured to 
 convey to others his own adoring thoughts of the sur- 
 prising and inestimable truth. 
 
 Of Paul, Clement says to the Corinthians, " He re- 
 ceived the noble renown of his faith, having taught the 
 whole world righteousness ;"t alluding probably to Paul's 
 declaration that he was a debtor to all men, and not 
 ashamed to preach the gospel at Kome, for therein is the 
 righteousness of God by faith revealed. Clement quotes 
 Paul's words taken from Genesis : " Abraham believed 
 God, and it was reckoned to him unto righteousness. For 
 all (the saints) were glorified and magnified, not for their 
 own sakes, or their works, or the righteous performance 
 which they wrought, but by his own will. We also, 
 therefore, being called by his will in Christ Jesus, are 
 justified, not on our own account ; nor by our wisdom, or 
 intelligence, or piety, or works which we have performed 
 in holiness of heart, but by faith, by which the Almighty 
 God justified all those who were from the beginning."]; 
 Such comments on Abraham, as the grand example of 
 justification by faith, pervade the writings of the earlier 
 fathers, and Clement here accumulates expressions, to 
 
 * Cap. 9. + Cap. 5. + Cap. SI. 
 
1'2() THEOLOGY OF TBE FIRST AGES, ON THE PURPOSES 
 
 exclude everything of our own from the honour Avhich is 
 exclusively due to the righteousness of Christ. 
 
 Ignatius addresses the Trallians, as — "having peace, 
 hy the flesh, and blood, and suffering, of Christ, our hope, 
 in the resurrection ; " as living according to Christ Jesus, 
 who died on our behalf, that, believing on his death, ye 
 might escape death."* Using justified in the forensic, 
 not the catharistic sense, as Paul to the Corinthians;! 
 Ignatius says of his guards, " I am the more instructed 
 by their injuries, yet am I not, therefore, justified," J i. e., 
 this does not constitute my righteousness at the tribunal 
 of God ; for he expressly says, " I am instructed as a 
 disciple by their evil conduct; but not by this am I 
 justified." 
 
 To the Ephesians : " If you perfectly have towards 
 Christ Jesus the faith and the love, of which (one) is the 
 beginning, and (the other) the end, of life, none of these 
 things is hidden from you. The beginning, indeed, is 
 faith; but the end is love. These two, being in unity, are 
 of God ; but all other things that belong to good conduct 
 are consequent. No one, confessing faith, sins ; neither 
 does any one that possesses love, hate. The tree is mani- 
 fested by its fruit; so they who confess they are Chris- 
 tians shall be manifested by their actions. "§ Here good 
 works are represented as the fruits that show the root of 
 faith, which is the beginning of the Christian life. 
 
 Polycarp tells the Philippians : — " The firm root of 
 your faith, preached from ancient times, continues till 
 now, and bears fruit towards our Lord Jesus Christ, who, 
 for our sins, endured to be appointed even unto death, 
 whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of 
 Hades. In whom, not having seen, ye believe ; but 
 believing, ye rejoice, with joy unspeakable and full of 
 glory, into which (happy state) many desire to enter, 
 
 * Cap. 2. + 1 Cor. iv. 4. + Ad Kom, c. 5. 
 
 § Ad E plies, c. U. 
 
AND WOEKS OF GOD, IX ^'ATU^vE AKD OK ACE, T^l 
 
 knowing that by grace ye arc saved, not by works, but by 
 God's will, through Christ Jesus."* The free mode of 
 their salvation, and the joy it immediately produced, 
 induced others to long for the same bliss. 
 
 Justin Martyr has surprisingly little on this subject, of 
 which the apostles say so much ; but to Trypho he thus 
 speaks : " Abraham obtained from God the testimony that 
 he was righteous, not on account of circumcision, but on 
 account of the faith; for before he was circumcised, it 
 was thus spoken concerning him : ' Abraham believed 
 God, and it was reckoned to him unto righteousness ; and 
 we, therefore, in the uncircumcision of our flesh, believing 
 in God, through Christ, and having that circumcision 
 which profits us who have obtained it, even that of the 
 heart, hope to be seen at last just and acceptable to 
 God.' "t 
 
 " For Abraham himself, yet being in uncircumcision, 
 was, on account of the faith by which he believed in God, 
 justified and blessed, as the Scripture intimates. But he 
 received the circumcision for a sign, and not for a right- 
 eousness. For the female shows this ; for God has made 
 both sexes equally acceptable to him."t 
 
 "^For not to a bath did Isaiah send you (Jews), there to 
 wash away murder and other sins, which not even all the 
 water of the ocean is sufficient to purge ; but, as it seems, 
 this of old was the laver of salvation which accompanied 
 penitents ; and no longer, by the blood of goats and 
 sheep, or by the ashes of a heifer, or by offerings of 
 flour, are we cleansed; but by faith, through the blood of 
 Christ, and his death, who died on this account." § Justin 
 then quotes the 53rd chapter of Isaiah in proof of Christ's 
 dying to bear away our sins, and our being justified by 
 
 * Cap. 1. + Bial. 330, Paris. 
 
 J Dial. 241, Paris. Here I have, for an obvious reason, departed from my 
 practice of literal translation. 
 § Dial. p. 229. 
 
Vi'2 THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON THE PURPOSES 
 
 faith in iiim. This shows what the martyr and others 
 meant when they spake of a laver, and of washing away 
 sins; that it was no literal hath, hut, "the cleansing of 
 the soul from sin, by faith, through the blood of Christ, 
 who died for this end." 
 
 That Y)ieiy followed the faith by which we are justified, 
 the martyr teaches Trypho : " They, the apostles, being 
 thus persuaded, going forth into the whole world, taught 
 these things. Whence, also, we are steadfast in this faith 
 and doctrine, because we hold this persuasion from the 
 prophets, and from those that we see through all the 
 world become pious, believing on the name of that cruci- 
 fied One."* The piety is represented as following from 
 believing in Christ. 
 
 Justin will be thought by some to teach, in the following 
 passage, the doctrine of justification by w^orks: *' God 
 accepts those only who imitate the sobriety, righteousness, 
 benevolence, and other virtues which belong to him. He, 
 as being good, made all things of unfashioned matter ; for 
 the use of men, whom, if by their works they prove them- 
 selves worthy of his design, he will raise above corruption 
 and pain ; and will honour them with the privileges of his 
 kingdom."! What believer in Christ for justification 
 would hesitate to say, that God accepts none but those 
 who are brought to resemble him, and tliat we must be 
 made meet> for, or worthy of, the heavenly kingdom ? 
 Nor should it be forgotten, that, in presenting to ignorant 
 or prejudiced parties, an apology for our religion, we 
 naturally modify our statements, anxious, perhaps too 
 anxious, to avoid shocking their prejudices. Many ex- 
 pressions of the inspired writers are, by those who cleave 
 to the works of the law, turned against the doctrine of 
 justification by faith ; and on the other hand, they who 
 hold this, as a scriptural truth, are aware that they often 
 make statements which the ignorant might think de- 
 
 ♦ Dial. 246, Thirl. + p. 14 ; Paris, 58. 
 
AND WORKS OF GOD, IN NATURE AND GRACK. Iii3 
 
 signed to teach the justifymg merit of works. The fathers 
 should have the benefit of all such reflections, when their 
 own words elsewhere can be adduced as proofs of a scrip- 
 tural faith. That Justin should say little on the subject 
 of justification, in his Apologies, was natural, and, perhaps, 
 few of those who hold the truth most firmly w^ould intro- 
 duce it into such a document; but when he disputed with 
 a Jew, ^Yho knew the Scriptures, the apostolic precedent 
 of arguing on the case of Abraham, as father of all who 
 believed in Christ for righteousness, and were justified by 
 faith, is closely followed. 
 
 Irengeus bears witness to the doctrine of justification by 
 faith in Christ: "As by the disobedience of one man sin 
 had entrance, and by sin, death ; so also, by the obedi- 
 ence of one man, righteousness, being introduced, bears 
 fruit of life to those men who formerly were dead." ->' "For 
 Abraham had learned from the word of the Lord, and 
 believed in him ; wherefore, also, it was reckoned to him 
 unto righteousness, by the Lord ; for faith is that which, 
 with the Most High God, justifies man."t 
 
 It would be difficult to express more clearly and simply 
 the scriptural truth than in these words, which employ 
 the two great Pauline arguments, the first derived from 
 x\dam, the second from Abraham.. The apostle observes, 
 that Adam was a figure, or type, of him that was to come, 
 Christ, the second Adam ; and that, as by the disobe- 
 dience of one many were made sinners, so by the obe- 
 dience of one shall many be made righteous; and L'enreus 
 merely paraphrases this passage in the Epistle to the 
 Eomans. The example of Abraham, whom the apostle 
 proves to be the father of believers in all nations, Irenseus 
 employs, to show that faith is that which, with the Most 
 High God, justifies man. 
 
 Paul opens his address to the Eomans, by declaring 
 that it was the glory of the gospel to have revealed to men 
 * Lib. iii. c. 31, r- ^9"*. + r- "^■-^- 
 
1-24: THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON THE PURPOSES 
 
 righteousness by faith ; and to those who ask, " What news 
 has Christ brought ? " Irenseus, after some comments, 
 gives this as the New Testament : " The just shall live by 
 faith." * If, however, justification consists in making us 
 just, as to disposition and character, and accepting us in 
 judgment on that account, it is no discovery at all, but the 
 vulgar creed of all men who know not the gospel. That 
 the world, on hearing of the gospel, knowing that the 
 word signifies good neivs, should ask u-Jiat news Christ has 
 brought, was natural; but when Irenseus replied, "Righte- 
 ousness by faith," a host of reflections must be awakened. 
 It should be remembered that this was in the second 
 century, when our religion was yet ne^YS to the world, and 
 had to maintain a fierce contest with the ancient faith of 
 nations. The world accused it of a pretence to novelty, 
 and called it an upstart that opposed the wisdom of 
 antiquity; the church gloried in the confession that her 
 message was news to the world, but exulted that it was 
 good news ; on which her opponents turned round and 
 asked, "What news, after all, have you brought?" Now, 
 the answer which any well-informed Christian, in that 
 early age, would return to this question, must be deeply 
 interesting to us ; but when Irenaeus, who was considered 
 the most curious explorer of all doctrines, publishes that 
 which was the reply of the church to this query from the 
 world ; we listen with intense eagerness, and hear that 
 this new thing is, righteousness by faith, which certainly 
 was a novelty. The world had never heard of such a 
 thing as one person, being justified, or counted righteous, 
 by believing in another, whose righteousness justifies many. 
 This is still news to men, who never seem to know it till 
 they feel their need of it, and therefore our religion is still 
 gospel, good news. But who does not see the accordance 
 between this answer of Irenseus and Lutber's definition 
 of justification by faith, as the articulus stantis autcadentis 
 
 * Advers. Haeres. lib. iv. c. 67, p. 40D. 
 
AKD WORKS OF GOD, IN NATURE AND GRACE. 125 
 
 ecclesise, that by which the church stands or falls? Would 
 a Tridentine Romanist have returned such an answer as 
 IrenEeus gave to the important inquiry ? They who talk 
 most of the fathers would be the last to adopt the lan- 
 guage of this very ancient father ; for they either shun 
 all mention of justification by faith, or, when it is forced 
 upon their notice, study to explain it away ; so that after 
 passing through their laboratory, it comes out, the old 
 pagan doctrine of justification, by moral virtue, or by 
 rites and ceremonies, and is no news at all. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria observes : '* That virtue (or 
 grace), which contains or includes the Church, is, as the 
 Shepherd (of Hermas) says, faith, by which the elect of 
 God are saved. But the mature (virtue) is temperance, 
 (continence, or self-government ;) simplicity, knowledge, 
 barmlessness, respectability, love, follow ; for all these are 
 the daughters of faith. What takes the lead is faith; but 
 fear edifies, love perfects."* Faith, then, encloses the 
 whole church, and the elect are saved by it ; but love and 
 other graces follow% only as daughters, or the offspring of 
 a saving faith. This is anything but the fides formata of 
 Eome. Again : " Abraham was not justified by works, 
 but by faith. It will profit them nothing, therefore, after 
 the end of life, even if they be beneficent, if they have not 
 faith." He then goes on to show that faith requires know- 
 ledge of the truth revealed ; and adds, " The doctrine 
 of godliness is a gift; and faith, a grace, or gratuitous 
 favour."! 
 
 After commenting on the words of the apostle: "Ye 
 are sanctified," Clement proceeds to argue, "Wherefore 
 ye are justified, he says, by the name of the Lord; ye are 
 made, so to speak, righteous by him, as he himself, and 
 by the Holy Spirit, as far as possible, ye are commingled 
 (or mixed up with him). Here the words of Paul are 
 justly interpreted, and the sanctification is kept distinct 
 
 * Strom, ii. 281. + Ibid. i. 211. 
 
I'ZQ THEOLOGY OF THE FJEST AGES, ON THE PUKPOSES 
 
 from the justification; the latter, being ascribed to the 
 name of the Lord, is said to be complete, so that we are 
 righteous as the Lord himself, who is our righteousness. 
 The reason given for this is, that the Holy Spirit mingles 
 us with Christ, or unites us to him, so that we and he 
 being one, we are, as he is, righteous."* This passage 
 is the more remarkable, in consequence of Clement's 
 heathenism, which would not have led us to expect a 
 confession so clear. Agreeably surprised by finding such 
 a jewel in a dunghill, we envy not those who prefer the 
 dunghill to the jewel. 
 
 In another place he quotes the words, *' My just one 
 shall live by faith." The Septuagint is here strangely 
 wrong, and Clement as strangely attempts to set it right. 
 The pronoun my, which naturally belongs to the word 
 faith, in the version, Clement refers to the person, " My 
 just one," which should have led him to refer the whole 
 to the subject of the proposition, which would then have 
 been, " my just one by faith," instead of joining the faith 
 to the predicate ; thus, " shall live by faith." The Hebrew 
 is exactly translated by the apostle : *' The just by his 
 faith shall live," which, however, is seldom observed by 
 commentators, whether ancient or modern. 
 
 Clement goes on with the mistranslations of the Sep- 
 tuagint. Another prophet says, " If ye will not believe, 
 ye shall not understand ;" though Isaiah's words are, " If 
 ye will not believe, ye shall not be established." " But 
 faith," says Clement, which the Greeks calumniate^as an 
 empty and barbarous thing, " is a voluntary anticipation, 
 the consent of piety, the substance of things hoped.^for, a 
 conviction of things not seen, according to the divine 
 apostle." Here it is observable that the father mars, by 
 his additions, the words of the apostle. Let us again hear 
 the Alexandrine teacher: '^For by it, faitli, especially, 
 the elders obtained a testimony. But without faith it is 
 * Strom, vii. 540, 
 
AND WORKS OF GOD, IN NATURE AND GRACli:. I'^T 
 
 impossible to please God." Here the Christian doctrine 
 of justification by faith is taught after the apostolic manner, 
 by showing that prophets revealed this truth, and ancient 
 saints obtained their triumphs and honourable testimony, 
 by this principle, witliout which no one is accepted of 
 God.- "Faith is the perfection of doctrine, or disciple- 
 ship."! 
 
 Clement's genius for allegorizing leads him further than 
 even those who now make justification to consist in 
 sanctification. For they are wise enough to be incon- 
 sistent with themselves, by admitting that forgiveness is, 
 as the evangelical school contends, a part of justification ; 
 though pardon is obviously no part of sanctification or 
 moral renovation, Clement, however, expressly says, 
 " Pardon consists not in remission but in healing." He 
 informs us, " this is seen in the golden calf that Aaron 
 made for Israel ;" but Jwiv, we are left to guess. 
 
 The Alexandrian, however, sometimes panders to the 
 Antinomian. For he thus expounds the law : " The deca- 
 logue, or ten commandments, by the letter Iota, signifies 
 the blessed name, Jesus, who is the Word;" iota being 
 the Greek numeral letter for ten, and the first letter of 
 the name Jesus. " The fifth commandment, concerning 
 honouring father and mother, speaks plainly, God the 
 Father and Lord; but the mother is not, as some (think), 
 the essence from which we are born, neither, as others have 
 taught, the church; but divine knowledge and wisdom. 
 The commandment concerning adultery follows ; but adul- 
 tery is, if any one, leaving the ecclesiastical and true 
 knowledge, goes to a wrong opinion. | By making the 
 commandments to mean anything and everything, they 
 are made to mean nothing; and an Antinomian could 
 thus expound the law to signify justification by an empty 
 pretence to faith that produces no holy effect ; for, in fact, 
 any text could thus be made to mean whatever we please. 
 
 * Strom, ii. p. 264-5. + p. 70. + Strom, vi. 494-?. 
 
1Q8 THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON" THE PURPOSES 
 
 This being a part of the true gnosticism, or the esoteric 
 doctrine, derived from the chosen three, Peter, James, and 
 John, shows what the whole is worth. 
 
 Truth and error are mingled in the following passage : 
 " Therefore, when we hear, thy faith hath saved thee, not 
 simply believing any how, do we understand it to be said, 
 'He shall be saved;' except the works follow? But to 
 the Jews alone he spake that word, who were living 
 unblamably according to the law, to whom there was 
 wanting only faith in the Lord. With intemperance, (or 
 incontinence,) therefore, one would not be faithful."* It 
 is true that no faith but that which produces good works 
 justifies ; but it is not true that to the Jews alone this 
 doctrine was preached. 
 
 Origen proves that it was common among the heathens 
 to reproach Christians for saying, " Thy faith hath saved 
 thee,"t and a good defence of the evangelical doctrine of 
 salvation would have done, not only Celsus, but the 
 heathen world and the Christian church, more good than 
 many of Origen's arguments. What Paiffinus records 
 might be adduced with convincing force ; but as it is 
 doubtful how far they are Origen's words, we lay no stress 
 on the following quotation from his comment on the 
 Epistle to the Romans: "We are justified by faith alone 
 without works." Paul did not trust in his own righteous- 
 ness or chastity; but only in the Lord — that is, in the 
 cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Huet, as an adlierent of 
 the Council of Trent, may be trusted when quoting these 
 expressions ; " But if Christ is the righteousness, he who 
 has received righteousness confesses not himself, but 
 Christ"! 
 
 Tertullian often pours out torrents of burning argu- 
 ments against heretics, scarcely dropping a word of Chris- 
 tian doctrine, to lead them into the way of truth, and on 
 this most important question, our acceptance with God, 
 
 ♦ Strom, vi. p. 481. + Lib. i. p. 8, vi. 2S-2. + Huet., vi. 287. 
 
AND WOEK OF GOD, IN NATUEE AND GRACE. 129 
 
 he is almost always as dumb as (to use his own words) 
 " little fishes." But his work against Marcion contains 
 the following comment on the Epistle to the Galatians :* 
 " Now, by the liberty of faith, man is justified, not by the 
 servitude of the law; because the just lives by faith, which, 
 if the prophet Abacuc previously announced, you have 
 also the apostle confirming the prophets ; as also Christ. 
 Therefore it will be the faith of his God, in which the 
 just shall live, whose, also, was the law. in which he that 
 worketh, is not justified. Therefore, if in the law is the 
 curse ; then, in faith, the blessing. We, therefore, receive 
 spiritual blessing. By faith, he says, from which, truly, 
 the just shall live, according to the Creator. This is, then, 
 what I say — it is the faith of that God, of whom is the 
 form of the grace of faith. But when he adds, ' Ye all are 
 the sons of faith,' it is shown that there is mention of 
 Abraham, when the apostle affirms that we are sons of 
 Abraham by faith. But how the sons of faith? and of 
 what faith, if not Abraham's? For, if Abraham believed 
 God, and it was reckoned to him unto righteousness, and 
 from thence, he deserved to be called the father of many 
 nations ; then, we, by believing in God, are from thence 
 rather, justified as Abraham, and from thence we obtain 
 life as the just lives by faith." Whether Tertullian quoted 
 from a treacherous memory, or had a copy which contained 
 the words, sons of faith, instead of sons of God, we cannot 
 tell. " Then the law, now the righteousness of God by 
 faith of Christ. He apprises us that the justified by faith 
 of Christ, not by the law, have peace with God. But the 
 law slipped in (subintroivit) that sin might abound. 
 Why? That grace might abound. The apostle denying 
 that a man is justified by the works of the law, but by 
 faith, speaks of the same God who gave the law."f 
 
 Against the Jews, Tertullian thus argues on the pro- 
 phecies of Daniel: " The vision is sealed and the prophecy; 
 
 * Lib. V. c. 3, + Adv. Marc. lib. v. c. 13. 
 
 VIIT. K 
 
1 30 THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES, ON THE PURPOSES 
 
 and sins are remitted, which are remitted through faith of 
 Christ's name, to all who helieve on him.'"* 
 
 From the master we descend to his disciple, Cyprian: , 
 "It is vmtten, that the just lives hy faith. If thou art 
 just, thou also livest hy faith; if thou truly helievest on 
 God, why dost not tliou, ahout to be with Christ, and sure 
 of the Lord's promise, embrace thy calling to Christ, and 
 congratulate thyself that thou art free from the devil ?"t 
 " For if Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to 
 him unto righteousness, then, whoever believes in God, 
 and lives by faith, is found just, and he is already seen, in 
 faithful Abraham, blessed and justified, as the blessed 
 Apostle Paul proves, saying, ' Ye know, therefore, that 
 they who are of faith, these are sons of Abraham. But the 
 Scripture, foreseeing that God justifies the Gentiles by 
 faith, announced to Abraham that all nations should be 
 blessed in him; whence we find, in the gospel, that, of 
 stones, that is, of Gentiles, are gathered children to 
 Abraham.' But when, in the cup, water is mixed with 
 "wine, the people is united to Christ, and the ^body of 
 believers to him in whom it believes is coupled and 
 
 joined." t 
 
 Whatever else may be the doctrine of the fathers, it is 
 incontrovertible that they all taught a justification distinct 
 from sanctification, and ascribe the former to faith in 
 Christ, while the latter is too often attributed to causes 
 unsanctioned by the Scriptures. Many dubious expres- 
 sions are less heterodox than they at first sight appear. 
 The fathers use the word merit, in a vague and general 
 way; for, when Cyprian says, " I have merited mercy," 
 raisericordiam merui, he quotes the words of the apostle, 
 1 Tim. i. 13, ^\ei]er]v, " I have obtained mercy, or been 
 forgiven." To acquire, even gratuitously, is expressed by 
 the word, to merit. Many phrases that speak of satisfying 
 for sins, and purging away sins by good w^orks, refer to 
 * Adv. Jud. c. 8. + De Mortalitate. + Ep. G3, Ccecilio, 
 
AKD WOEK OF GOD, IN NATURE AKD GRACE. 131 
 
 the satisfaction given to the church, to prove repentance 
 sincere. 
 
 The Peshito Syriac, which places us as far as possible 
 in the position of those who listened to the living voice of 
 Christ and his apostles, charms us with the simplicity, 
 fidelity, and felicity, with which it triumphs over the 
 difficulty of transfusing the sense of one idiom into 
 another of remote genius. This version carefully dis- 
 tinguishes between justification and sanctification, reli- 
 giously appropriating to each its own proper terms ; and 
 throwing light on the argument of Paul in the Epistle to 
 the Eomans. The fifth verse of the fourth chapter is thus 
 rendered : " To him thai worketh not, but believeth only* 
 on him that justifies sinners, his faith is reckoned to him 
 unto righteousness." Luther, therefore, is defended, by 
 this first and best of translators, in introducing the word 
 Guhj, for which he has been violently accused. The Epistle 
 to the Galatians cannot be read in the Syriac without pro- 
 ducing a conviction that the translator bears witness to 
 the doctrine of justification by faith. 
 
 The figurative expression by whicli it has been attemi^ted 
 to show that faith is not itself our righteousness, but the 
 hand by which we receive the righteousness of Christ, 
 might have been derived from this version ; for it employs 
 the Syriac idiom which expresses the instrumental cause, 
 by the word liand, saying, " By the hand of faith." f 
 
 The Yulgate, a compound of the more ancient version 
 and Jerome's revision, bears ample testimony to justifica- 
 tion by faith. Though inferior to the Syriac, it is faithful 
 in preserving the distinction between this doctrine and 
 that with which it has been confounded, sanctification ; 
 always employing the appropriate terms for the former, 
 and introducing those for the latter when the Scriptures 
 speak of the consequences and effects of justification on 
 the Christian character. This excellence may be attri- 
 
 * ^0>jV'^ _liD_»C7I i- '^om. iii. 22, Syriac. 
 
132 THEOLOGY OF THE FIRST AGES. 
 
 butable to the more ancient version which is the basis ; 
 but Jerome's knowledge of Hebrew may have secured him 
 from altering wdiat was so manifestly right. 
 
 Our more copious appeal to the fathers, on the doctrine 
 of justification, which the Scriptures have so abundantly 
 taught, and on which subsequent writers often do little 
 more than repeat their arguments in the same words, may 
 appear to be like turning from the original voice to the 
 mere echo. But though, on other points, echo is often 
 dumb, and sometimes when she speaks, she lies ; on this, 
 she responds with so much fidelity, clearness, and force, 
 that it w^as desirable she should be heard. For not onlj^ 
 is the doctrine of so much importance that we have heard 
 Irenseus declare to the heathen, " That justification by 
 faith is that one new thing which our religion has revealed 
 to the world, and for which it deserves to be called, gospel, 
 good news;" but, alas! it is also precisely the one which 
 the apostate church has dared to alter, in defiance of the 
 fathers and of her own version. The decree of the Coun- 
 cil of Trent impiously confounds justification and sanctifi- 
 cation, with the insidious design of making men dependent 
 upon her for both.* 
 
 * The doctrine of this section has been more fully discussed by the author, 
 in his Treatise of " Justification, as revealed in Scripture, against Mr. 
 Newman and the Council of Trent." Mr. Faber's " PrimitiA-e Doctrine of 
 Justification" carries the testimony of the fathers down to the year 403, with 
 a reference to Bernard, in the twelfth century. 
 
 Hilary might have been added, for he afiirms that "faith alone justifies." 
 Comm. on Matt. c. viii. 
 
 I 
 
LECTUKE IV. 
 
 OF THE CHURCPI, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 Here, the nearer the fountain, the j^urer the streams ; 
 for the earliest fathers are the most scriptural, and those- 
 who follow are home down by the current of the times, 
 rather than guided by principles well ascertained ; as will 
 be seen by what they say. 
 
 Part I. — Of the Nature or Constitution of a Church. 
 
 The Greek word iKKk-qaia, which the New Testament,, 
 after the Septuagint, employs, and which we translate 
 church, was adoj^ted by the Latins, who derived sacred 
 terms, as well as ideas, from the Greeks. To them the 
 word being in familiar use, was known to signify, like the 
 jZj-L of the mother church at Jerusalem, a congregation. 
 This idea pervades all the earliest ecclesiastical writings, 
 though translations have frequently misled their readers. 
 
 Of the minimum, or smallest number that may form a 
 church, the fathers have been led to speak, by the promise 
 of the Redeemer, to be wherever two or three assemble in 
 his name. The Alexandrian asks, " Who are these two or 
 three? Does he not mention husband, wife, and son?"* 
 This mystifying question alludes, probably, to " the 
 church in thy house." Tertullian affirms, "Where there 
 are three, there is a church, even though they are laics " 
 
 * Strom, iii. p. 331. 
 
 + De Exhort. Cast. cap. 7. " Sed ubi tres, ecclesia est, licet laici." 
 
134 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 In the third century, then, the people were the church, in 
 distinction from the ministers. 
 
 The earliest fathers follow the Scriptures in speaking of 
 the church in a place; for a departure from primitive ideas 
 is betrayed by the church of a city ; and the church of a 
 nation is a comparatively modern phrase. The earliest 
 ecclesiastical epistle commences thus : " The church of 
 God which sojourneth at Eome, to the church of God 
 which sojourneth at Corinth." -!= Ignatius and Polycarp 
 address the churches iii various cities ; and Irenseus men- 
 tions, " that which is in any place."t In the third century, 
 Origen refers Celsus to " the church which is in Athens, 
 and to that in Corinth, and in Alexandria. "I 
 
 The maximum, beyond which a church cannot go, 
 without destroying its very nature as a congregation or 
 assembly, is scarcely definable ; but the fathers retained 
 the primitive language long after they had lost the true 
 idea. Hesychius gives no other synonymes for eKKkrja-ia 
 than (TVV0809, avvaycoyrj, Travrjyvpis ; all signifying assembly, 
 meeting, or congregation. Tillemont, a zealous Romanist, 
 learned from the fathers to speak of the congregations of 
 the faithful as " the catholic churches ; " and the modern 
 practice of calling the building a church is a witness to 
 the ancient idea, that each assembly accustomed to meet 
 in one place is a church ; for so deeply rooted and so 
 incontrovertible is this truth, that those communions 
 which have abandoned it most completely, have been com- 
 pelled to bear witness to it. Father Paul Sarpi in the 
 church of Rome, Mosheim a Lutheran, § Campbell of the 
 Scotch church, and the 19th Article of the English 
 establishment, all agreeing that a church is a congre- 
 gation of the faithful. 
 
 * Clemens Romanus. 
 
 + Lib. ii. e. 56. Ea qua? est in quoquo loco ecclesia. 
 I Lib. iii. {] 'Aeijvijat, p. 128. 
 
 § Omnes ecclesiae primap, sptatis independentes. Mosbem. de Eebus 
 Cliristianorum ante Const. Mag. Sec. prim. p. 481. 
 
OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICEES, AND WOESEIP. 135 
 
 The church at Corinth, from its early importance and 
 long standing, might have been expected to extend beyond 
 one congregation when Clement thus addressed it : " Let 
 us, being gathered in concord into the same place, in 
 conscience, as with one mouth, cry to him," i. e. God.* 
 "Be all, together in the same place with undivided heart," 
 says Ignatius to the Philadelphians.f " One altar, as one 
 bishop." J "He that comes not together to the same 
 place has judged himself."§ Justin says — "We bring the 
 convert there where those that are called brethren are 
 collected, making common prayers : All ths people con- 
 sents, saying, Amen."|| 
 
 Clement of Alexandria informs us — " I call a church, 
 not the place, but the collection, congregation, of the 
 elect."1[ "Another instruction is useful ; the reading of 
 the Lord's Scriptures, necessary for the demonstration of 
 the things spoken, and especially if the auditors have 
 come from the Greek school. Such a church David 
 describes : ' At thy right-hand stood the queen, clothed 
 with wrought gold.' "** Here the church is a congregation 
 gathered for instruction and hearing the Scriptures read 
 When Origen contrasts the quiet church of God at 
 Athens, with the riotous eKKkijaia, meeting, of the 
 Athenians, we are reminded of Demosthenes reproving 
 the assembly for its tumultuous deportment. ff 
 
 A plurality of assemblies the early fathers call 
 churches, as in Scripture we never meet with the church 
 of a province, but " the churches of Judea or Galatia," 
 and, " the churches of God." If, trusting to translations, 
 
 * Kal hfJi-cis ovv kv ofxovoia eitl to auro" crvvaxdevTti Tp a-vvei5ij(rei tor ef ^voi 
 o-To^iaTO? /3o/;<ra)^i6i' Trpov avTOv. C. 34. 
 
 + Cap. 6. + Cap. 4. § Ad. Eplies. c. 5. || Apol. i. 95, Paris 97. 
 
 ^ Strom, vii. 514. ov yap ivv tov tottov, iiWu TO aOpoifffjia rwv skkXcktwu 
 tK/<\>)crt(xv Ka\w. 
 
 ** Strom, vi. 475-6. +1 Conti-a. Cels. lib. iii. p. 129. 
 
 See Acts ii. 1, Greek. 
 
136 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 we suppose Ignatius speaks of " the church of Syria,"* 
 this w^ould only be a proof that a modern hand was here, 
 for such an expression never occurs in the highest 
 antiquity ; but the original says — " The church which is 
 in Syria, "f meaning, probably, that at Antioch. Even 
 the church of Ephesus, which we find in Wake's trans- 
 lation, is not in tlie original, where we read, " through 
 the Ephesians most worthy of bliss."! Again; the 
 church of Antioch which is in Syria, is Wake's version ; 
 but the words of Ignatius are, " The church which is in 
 Antioch, of Syria. "§ The same error occurs in the Epistle 
 to the Philadelphians,|| where " the deacon of Cilicia " 
 violates all ancient ideas ; but the true reading is, 
 *' deacon from Cilicia," II and coming from Cilicia, does 
 not make him deacon of Cilicia. Ignatius tells Polycarp, 
 " I have not been able to'write to all the churches,"** and 
 informs the Philadelphians, that " the nearest churches 
 had sent bishops, but some sent presbyters and dea- 
 cons. "fj- 
 
 What is called the church universal is thus presented 
 to us by the fathers. " There is one only, a virgin- 
 mother," says the Alexandrian; "I love to call her, 
 church. Convoking her children, she nourishes them 
 with holy milk, the word or discourse for babes. "|| 
 Speaking of the heresiarchs, as leaders of congregations, 
 later than the catholic or universal church, he observes : 
 *' I think it is manifest there is one true church, which is 
 really ancient, into which they are gathered who are 
 righteous according to (God's) purpose, into the unity of 
 one faith, according to their own covenants, or rather 
 according to one covenant at different times, by the will 
 
 * To the Trallians, Wake's Translation, c. 13. 
 
 + Tti9 6v Ivpia. eKKXrtcriai. 
 
 J 31 'Ecpeaicav ruw u^iofiaKapicrtov. Ad. KoHI. C. ] 0. 
 
 § Ad Philadel. C. 10. -rijv eKKXnalav tJjw kv 'AvTioxeia rrn Sup/ac. 
 
 II Chap. 11. ^ Tiepi 6e ^IXwvo? Tov dtaKovov cinoKtXtKta*. 
 
 ** Chap. 8. t+ Chap. 10. ++ Poed. lib. i. p. 76. 
 
OF THE CEIUKCH, ]TS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 137 
 
 of one God, through one Lord, having gathered those 
 that were ah-eady appointed, whom God predestined, 
 knowing before the foundation of the world who will be 
 just."^-;< 
 
 The first use of the term catholic exhibits a congre- 
 gational church : "Wherever the bishop appears, there let 
 the multitude be ; as wherever Jesus Christ may be, there 
 is the catholic church. "f- As catholic is a Greek word, it 
 is natural that it should first occur in the Greek church ; 
 though it has, in spite of its native country, been seized 
 and claimed as the exclusive property of the Latins. If 
 the parallel is worth anything, it proves that, as Christ's 
 presence in the midst of the general assembly of all 
 Christians constitutes a church universal, so the church 
 particular is one assembly convened with the bishop in 
 the midst. The whole number of these churches consti- 
 tuted the eKuXricrLa KaO' o\r]v rrju oiKOVixivriv, the church catholic 
 and oecumenic. 
 
 Having viewed the two extremes, a single congregational 
 church, and the aggregate of them, the catholic or univer- 
 sal church ; the grand question now occurs, was there 
 originally any intermediate idea? Have the earliest 
 fathers given the name of a church to a number of 
 Christians so large, that it did not ordinarily, because it 
 could not, meet for worship in one place ? Or was that 
 called a church which would now be termed a diocese, 
 consisting of several congregational churches or assem- 
 blies ? 
 
 That no such extension of the idea is to be found in 
 Scripture is not here to be proved ; but almost identical is 
 the assertion, that it never occurs in the writings of the 
 first century, which being few, we extend our inquiry into 
 the second and third. If this enlargement of the original 
 meaning of the word church is to be found at all, it must 
 
 * Strom, vii. 549. + Ignatius ad Smyrn. c. 8. 
 
138 OF THE CHUECH, ITS OFFICERS, AKD WORSHIP. 
 
 be in relation to the metropolitan churches at Jerusalem, 
 Antiochj Eome, Carthage, or Alexandria. 
 
 The church at Jerusalem is not so well known as we 
 could wish ; but it is, during the whole period of which \ve 
 write, always exhibited as one congregation. At Eome, 
 an immense city, the Cliristian church having been early 
 formed, might be supposed to have enlarged beyond a 
 single congregation, before the end of the first centur}", 
 when, however, Clement wrote a letter in its name, as one 
 assembly. Justin Martyr, in the middle of the second 
 century, describes it as one ; Minucius Felix gives no hint 
 of more than one, nor does Tertullian ; and even Cyprian, 
 in the middle of the third century, seems to laiow of no 
 more than one assembly at Rome. 
 
 This may excite surprise, and may to many seem in- 
 credible. But who needs to be informed that there are 
 myriads of facts, recorded in history and believed by all 
 sound reasoners, which a priori arguments would have 
 pronounced fables ? The reasons w-hich render the whole 
 affair credible and natural are often hidden in the dark- 
 ness of a remote age. But Hug, a candid Catholic writer 
 on biblical criticism, thinks, that the decree of Claudius, 
 which banished all Jews from Rome, swept away those 
 who formed almost the whole Christian church, (as we 
 know it expatriated Aquila and Priscilla ;)* and that, when 
 Paul wrote to the Romans, the Christians were but begin- 
 ning to reassemble. f This hypothesis throws welcome 
 light on several texts in the most important of all the 
 epistles. The eye of a persecuting emperor, therefore, 
 exposed a church, in the seat of government, to the first 
 fury of the storm ; exiled or martyred its bishops ; and 
 for a long time, kept its numbers down far below what 
 we should have expected. 
 
 * Acts xviii. 2. 
 
 + Hug's Introduction to tLe Writings of the New Testament; on the 
 Epistle to the Koman?. 
 
OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. J 39 
 
 Antioch, the capital of Syria, where the disciples of 
 Jesus, attracting by their numbers the public attention, 
 were first called Christians, is shown by the letters of 
 Ignatius, to have had, in the second century, but one con- 
 gregation of the faithful. It was still one in the days of 
 Theophilus. When its bishop, Paul of Samosata, was, 
 towards the end of the second century, deposed, he refused 
 to resign the church's house, not houses, e/c/cXj/o-iay o'Uov.^ 
 
 Carthage was a kind of African Kome, and enjoyed the 
 services of the most eminent men; but both Tertullian 
 and Cyprian speak of only one congregation, which chose 
 its bishop, Cyprian, by public acclamation in the third 
 century. Alexandria, an immense city, the seat of what 
 may be called the first Christian university, contained, in 
 Origen's time, but one congregation. It was not till the 
 end of the third century that we read of Christians in the 
 extreme suburbs of a city in Egypt, having separate places, 
 not called churches, but a-waycoyai, synagogues ; and not 
 for meetings on the Lord's day, but on Wednesdays and 
 Fridays, when they convened for prayer,f or held prayer 
 meetings. 
 
 All this is, indeed, surprising ; but some of the reasons 
 w^e can assign, though many others are probably unknown. 
 A general law against the Christians was always hanging 
 over their heads ; and when no universal persecution pre- 
 vailed, local magistrates suffered them to be oppressed, 
 so that during the first three centuries their assemblies 
 were frequently dispersed. Many of the first Christians 
 w^ere servants and even slaves, who could not meet with 
 the church when they pleased; and, of those in better 
 circumstances, a large proportion were females under the 
 power of husbands or fathers, who hated the Christian 
 name. The Lord's day not being consecrated to religion, 
 Christ's disciples were even then compelled to carry on 
 business, instead of assembling for worship. From these 
 
 * * Euseb. lib. vii. c. 30. t Ibid. c. 11. 
 
140 OF THE CHUECH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 and many other causes, the number of Christians was kept 
 low, and a whole church seldom, if ever, met at one time ; 
 and ordinarily, perhaps, not more tha,n a tithe of them 
 were present. 
 
 As there was originally but one church formed in each 
 place, whether city or village ; when they became too 
 numerous for one congregation, they were naturally re- 
 luctant to separate into more, and the bishop, as naturally, 
 wishing to keep the whole charge to himself, gave to sepa- 
 ration the name of schism. Augustine was distinguished 
 by his readiness to form new churches under their own 
 bishops. But as in small villages there were bishops,* 
 they assembled by hundreds,! as the lists of the councils 
 show. These chorepiscopi, or country bishops, were 
 afterwards suppressed ; for the avowed purpose of main- 
 taining the honour of the episcopal title, by confining it 
 to those who had the care of churches in large places, 
 where population, with its wealth, could give dignity and 
 importance to the bishop. The Council of Sardica thus 
 decreed " that the name and authority of bishops should 
 not be brought into contempt," 
 
 "Let him that readeth understand." Wherever there 
 was a church, there was a bishop ; and wherever there 
 was a congregation, there was a church. There were as 
 many bishops, therefore, as Christian congregations, and, 
 consequently, many poor bishops ; because pastors of 
 village churches. Though this raised no blush on the 
 cheeks of those -svlio remembered that God had chosen 
 the poor of this world ; when, as religion declined, epis- 
 copal pride increased, the bishops of the cities, by their 
 own decree, without any pretence to scriptural right, laid 
 violent hands on hundreds or thousands of churches, and 
 killed them outright. They were no longer independent 
 
 * See a list of the African bishops prefixed to Cyprian's works. 
 + Bingham shews 400 bishops in two dioceses of the Empire. Book ii. 
 c. 12, § 2. 
 
OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 141 
 
 churches with their own bishops, for these were un- 
 bishoped, pronounced in the ninth century no bishops at 
 all ; and their charges, or flocks, unchurched, become 
 nondescript things, for which neither the Scriptures nor 
 the earliest fathers furnish a name. From primaries, 
 shining by their own light, they were made secondaries, 
 reflecting the glory of some civic luminary, wdio boasted 
 of being called of God as was Aaron, and, like him, pos- 
 sessing a rod that swallowed up all competitors. This 
 aggrandisement of the episcopal rank it would be difficult 
 to overrate ; but with what face could the diocesan bishops 
 afterwards complain of a patriarch, or pope, for attempt- 
 ing to swallow them up in their turn ? Modern days have 
 heard loud complaints of the presumption of parliaments 
 in cutting up bishoprics, annihilating the old, and fabri- 
 cating new ones ; and on the right, or justice, we give no 
 opinion ; but ministers of state may say to bishops, " Who 
 set us the example?" If these reply, " But we complain 
 of it as an act of the state ;" secular men may ask, " In 
 what text of Scripture, or sentence from an early father, 
 can you prove even the right of bishops to annihilate 
 others ? " Let both church, and state remember that the 
 power which can do this to one can do it to all. 
 
 There is, however, one bright spot in this wholesale 
 extinction of bishops and churches. It was honest. For 
 this thing was not done in a corner. No hypocritical 
 mask was worn by the actors ; for they tell us plainly how 
 and why they did the deed. By a synodical decree, to 
 enhance the honour of the bishops, the poor ones were 
 put out of the way. Here let the reader pause and 
 meditate ; for volumes of instruction lie open to his view. 
 If a church and a bishop may be annihilated because they 
 belong to a village, has not Kome advanced far towards 
 the day w-lien her church and bishop may cease to be? 
 She is even now a village compared to her former self; 
 and if protestants, chiefly English, should cease to spend 
 
I 42 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 iii her their gold, another council may decide that a 
 chorepiscopus ought no longer to exist. 
 
 The materials of which the church is composed, or the 
 (dualities that constitute a genuine member, are thus ex- 
 pressed : — " But the virtue v/hich embraces the church, as 
 the Shepherd (of Hermas) speaks, is faith, by which the 
 elect of God are saved."- Here is a reference to one 
 sitpposed to be so early as the Hermas of Paul. Clement 
 of Rome addresses the church of the Corinthians as 
 " elect, sanctified by the will of God." Polycarp, too, 
 assumes that the church of Philippi was composed of such 
 persons. Ignatius writes to the Trallians as " elect, 
 having peace through the flesh and blood of Christ ;" to 
 the Romans as "illuminated through the will of God;" 
 to the Philadelphians as "rejoicing in the sufferings of 
 our Lord;" and to the Smyrnseans as "filled with faith 
 and love."t 
 
 Justin Martyr describes a Christian society as consisting 
 of holy men. Ireneeus says, " Where the church is, there 
 is also the Spirit of God ; and where the Spirit of God, 
 there is the clyirch and all grace, but the Spirit is truth. "| 
 Origen tells Celsus, " There are everywhere instituted 
 (arranged in polities §) churches, (assemblies, or congrega- 
 tions), opposite to the churches, or congregations, of the 
 superstitious and wicked." " Many such are arranged every- 
 where in the churches of the cities. {! They are as lights 
 in the world. Who would not confess that even the worst 
 of those that are of the church are better than those 
 assemblies among the people?" 
 
 A church, consisting of the indiscriminate mass of a 
 nation, where the great majority have no semblance of 
 Christian character, would have astounded the early 
 fathers; though their successors were by degrees fami- 
 
 * Strom, ii. 281. + The Salutations to the Epistles of Ignatius. 
 
 + Lib. iii. c. 40. § avnnoXiTevofjienai. \\ Contra 'Celsum, lib. iii. 128-9. 
 
OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND VTORSIIir. 143 
 
 liarized, but not always reconciled, to the mischievous 
 perversion of terms. If we adopt the most moderate hypo- 
 thesis, and give the name of a church to a society that has 
 a majority of its members visibly answering to the scrip- 
 tural description of a Christian, even though they should 
 not excommunicate the wicked, which, however, would 
 anciently have unchurched them ; still we could not make 
 the best nation upon earth and a Christian church com- 
 mensurate ; for no country has ever yet b--!en able to show 
 that a majority of its inhabitants were real Christians. 
 
 In the earliest writers no trace is found of the modern 
 practice which appropriates the term saint to certain 
 eminent persons, and confiEes it to those of the New 
 Testament. We are familiar with St. Paul and St. Igna- 
 tius, but should start and smile, or frown, at St. Aaron, or 
 St. Noah ; though we read in Scripture of " Aaron, the 
 saint of the Lord," and Job says, " To which of the 
 saints will you turn?" But anciently, " aytos, saint, was 
 associated with Tnarbs, faithful, or believer," just as in 
 Scripture we read of " the saints and faithful brethren in 
 Christ Jesus." The change has arisen from sinful causes, 
 and produces guilty consequences; professed Christians, 
 ceasing to be holy, have been contented to compliment a 
 few with a title which ought to apply to all. 
 
 Part II. — The Officers of the Church. 
 
 The original officers of the church, now strangely trans- 
 formed, will require minute investigation ; and as the 
 deacons were first appointed, we commence with an in- 
 quiry into the view which the early church entertained of 
 their office, which was, however, so combined with that of 
 bishop, that it will be difficult to keep them distinct. 
 
 Clement, the earliest known writer, makes a remarkable 
 appeal to the original appointment of both, saying, to the 
 Corinthians, " The apostles, preaching through countries 
 
144- OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AKD WORSHIP. 
 
 and cities, constituted their first fruits, having proved 
 them by the Spirit, for bishops and deacons of those that 
 should believe. And this, not as a novelty; for, from 
 many ages, it was written concerning bishops and deacons. 
 For so the Scripture somewhere says, " 1 will appoint 
 their bishops in righteousness, and their deacons in 
 faith."* 
 
 It is observable that, only two kinds of officers are here 
 mentioned, and that these are supposed to have been an- 
 ciently destined for the Christian church, and promised 
 to it by the Spirit who inspired the prophets. Of the 
 wisdom that so applied the prophecy, we are not now 
 called to speak ; but as this interpretation is not peculiar 
 to Clement, we learn that the tw^o orders of bishops and 
 deacons w^ere all that the ancient church pretended to find 
 promised in the Old Testament, and introduced by the 
 apostles into the Christian church. This most ancient 
 writer evidently attaches great importance to the portion 
 of his letter under consideration; for it is the essence 
 of the whole, and he attempts to strengthen himself by an 
 appeal to prophecy. f If he did not quote from memory, 
 it is difficult to say what text he employed. The original 
 Hebrew is out of the question as an authority for the use 
 made of the prophecy, which has, probably, been dis- 
 located by transcription. The most literal rendering of 
 the Hebrew would be, " I will place thine inspection, 
 peace, and thine exactors, righteousness." But the ab- 
 stract is put for the concrete, which must be translated 
 thus: *' I will make thine inspectors, i. e., the curators of 
 the city, peaceful men ; and thine exactors, (tax-gatherers. 
 
 * Oi airoaroXoi . . . Kara X'^P'^^ °^^ ''"' TroXei? Ktipvcoovre^, KaOiaravov lat 
 i»rapx«? avTWV, ioKifxdaravrei rio irveviJLaTi, ei^ enia-KOTrov^ nai SiaKovov^ rwv fieWomo^v 
 nKTTeveiv. na'i tovto ov Katvio^' 6k ■yap 3J; iroW«Ji/ xfovoiv eyeypaTTTO nep'i imaKoTruiv 
 nal SiaKovuv, O'vrwi ■^ap ttou \fc7€t h ypucpi]' Karao-TJ/cra) roiii eTricrKOTrovi avjwv tv 
 diKaioauvr], Kai toit SiaKovovt aujwv iv iriajei. Cleill. ad Coi*. C. 42. 
 
 + Isaiah Ix. 1 7. 
 
OF THE CIIUECH, ITS OFFICERS^ AND WOESHJP. 145 
 
 or policemen,) righteous persons." The Septuagint says, 
 " I will give thy rulers in peace, and thy overseers in 
 righteousness;" the order of the officers having, probably, 
 been accidentally reversed. Though the word usually- 
 rendered bishops in the New Testament is employed, the 
 Alexandrian translators evidently had in view, not the 
 Christian church, but a city, with its archons, or rulers, 
 and its tax-gatherers, or inspectors of the police; just as 
 Isaiah spoke of a city with its walls, and gates, and civil 
 governors ; for under this figure he prophesied of the 
 church, of which the translators were ignorant. There 
 certainly are no deacons mentioned in the present copies 
 of the Septuagint; nor should the w^ord bishop be em- 
 ployed in an English version ; for the Seventy intended 
 civil, not ecclesiastical officers. The Greeks had, indeed, 
 their civil ima-Koiroi, inspectors, bishops ; but we have ap- 
 propriated the latter term to ecclesiastical use. Yet this 
 prophecy Clement dragged in, to give authority to the 
 officers of the church, of whom he mentions but two sorts. 
 *' The apostles were sent to us with glad tidings from the 
 Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ from God. They were 
 both orderly from the will of God. By the Holy Spirit 
 they came, preaching that the kingdom of God was com- 
 ing."- Then follows the passage we have quoted. Here 
 the fidelity of the apostles, in appointing bishops and 
 deacons, is compared with that of Christ in appointing 
 apostles ; and though no prophecy is adduced in support 
 of the apostolic office, an attempt is made to prove that 
 the Spirit foretold the appointment of bishops and of 
 deacons. Moses also is quoted, as " a faithful servant in 
 all his house, wha set down in holy Scripture all things 
 that were commanded him;" and his conduct in defence 
 of Aaron is detailed, in a way that shows how early the 
 analogies of the Old Testament were so employed as to 
 convey to readers whatever may have been the notions of 
 
 * Chap. 43. 
 VIII. L 
 
146 OF THE CHUIiCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 the writer. Clement equally adduces the analogy of an 
 army with its officers. 
 
 In the following chapter* he says, " Our apostles knew 
 also, by our Lord Jesus Christ, that there would be strife 
 about the name of the episcopate, overseership, or 
 bishopric, t On this account, having perfect foreknow- 
 ledge, they appointed the foremen tioned persons." With 
 all this labour, no more than two kinds of officers are 
 said to be of divine appointment, and one of these is the 
 deacon. Here the fathers are in j)erfect harmony with 
 the Scriptures, where we find deacons first appointed, then 
 bishops ; and where the directions given to Timothy and 
 Titus enjoin only the two orders of bishops and deacons. 
 Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians contains the follow- 
 ing words : " Likewise the deacons unblameable before 
 his righteousness, as deacons of God in Christ, and not ot 
 men." The younger men he exhorts to be subject to the 
 presbyters and deacons, as to God and Christ. Here, 
 again, there are but two offices ; though, for the bishop, 
 in Clement's letter, we find the presbyter in that of 
 Polycarp, who mentions not the word bishop, though he 
 addressed the various classes of the church, as being 
 •' subject to the elders, or presbyters, and deacons, as unto 
 God and Christ. "J 
 
 In the epistles of Ignatius, there is no want of regard 
 for the bishop ; but still we find the deacon placed in 
 apposition with the bishop : *' Concerning my fellow- 
 servant, Burrhus, your most blessed deacon, according to 
 God. I pray that he may remain to the honour of you 
 and the bishop." 
 
 In the Epistle to the Magnesians, we meet, for the first 
 time, with three orders, in the following modest language : 
 '* The bishop presiding in the place of God, and the 
 presbyters in the place of the council of the apostles, and 
 
 * Chap. 44. + o-t ^pi^ earat knl tov ovojuarof rJj? eirtaxoitr]?- 
 
 I Ad Philip, c. 5. 
 
OF THE CHUECII, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIF. 147 
 
 the deacons entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ."* 
 Whether the writer, whoever he was, knew what he 
 meant by these last words, we cannot say. Of the exact 
 nature of the office of deacon, our present theme, we can 
 learn but little from the ancients ; but Ignatius gives a 
 hint to the Trallians : " The deacons, as being the 
 ministers of the mysteries of Jesus Christ, must every 
 way please all ; for not of meats and drinks are they 
 deacons, but ministers of the church of God. They 
 ought therefore to guard against accusations as against 
 fire."f 
 
 The Lord's Supper began now, it seems, (if we have 
 given the true sense of the text,) to be called by the 
 heathen name of mysteries, for which there is no warrant 
 in Scripture. It was natural that the deacons — who were 
 in the first instance appointed to serve tables, not only 
 those where money was counted out to the poor, but that 
 of the Lord's Supper, for which they were to provide, 
 and at which they v^ere to wait, as their name, in the 
 Greek, signifies waiters — should be pronounced, not 
 ordinary waiters at tables, where men eat and drink; 
 but ministers of the church of God. Lastly, being en- 
 trusted with the money contributed by the church, they 
 are told that they "should dread accusations" (of em- 
 bezzling the property of the church) " as they would dread- 
 fire." Here the Scriptural idea of the oflfice, as aj^plying 
 to the temporalities of the church, to relieve the min- 
 isters of the word from this unseemly charge, is still 
 preserved. 
 
 That the deacons soon became ecclesiastics, or teachers 
 of religion, is a curious fact, that shows how quickly men 
 contravene the designs of God. Because the apostles 
 would not leave the Word of God, to serve tables, they 
 directed the people to choose from among themselves 
 persons to manage their business, saying, " We will give 
 
 * Cliap. 6. + Chap. 2. 
 
148 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word." But 
 the very means they adopted for a noble purpose, of 
 lasting use, are made to defeat the end; for deacons, 
 appointed to serve tlie tables, were soon made ministers 
 of the word. Had this occurred in the days of the 
 apostles, would they not have said, "Why have you con- 
 spired to destroy the evidences of our discretion and 
 sincerity? \Ye pronounced it not right that the min- 
 isters of the word should be also the ministers of the 
 purse ; which we delivered over to officers whom you 
 should choose from among yourselves; and you have 
 rendered the whole arrangement null. For if you make the 
 ministers of the purse the ministers of the word, is it not 
 the same as if we had made the ministers of the word the 
 ministers of the purse ? Thus you have deprived the 
 church, and especially the ministers of the gospel, of one 
 of the highest honours, the evidence of pure motives and 
 superiority to the love of money. We separated the pecu- 
 niary from the spiritual affairs, and you have blended them 
 again, leaving the world to suspect that we employed the 
 profession 'of a heavenly, to gain an earthly kingdom." 
 The bishops early took from the deacons the adminis- 
 tration of the ecclesiastical funds ; and as these were, at 
 Korae, immensely large, and were liberally employed, they 
 at length created a Pope. After a change so inexcusable 
 and so fatal, what further alterations may we not expect ? 
 
 Justin Martyr exhibits the deacons as serving tables, 
 not preaching' the word : — " Those who are called among 
 us deacons, give to every one of those present to partake 
 of the bread, and wine, and water; and they carry to those 
 that are absent."* 
 
 Irensens refutes those who affect to doubt that the ap- 
 pointment of deacons was recorded in Acts, vi., which 
 some have denied, in order to leave the nature of the 
 
 * 1 Ap. p. 90, Tai-is 97, 
 
OF TLIE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 149 
 
 office uncertain, that they might make of it what they 
 pleased.* 
 
 Of the office of the bishop we must now hear what the 
 fathers say. It cannot be denied that the Scriptures often 
 identify the presbyter and bishop;" but do they ever dis- 
 tinguish the two offices? In the Acts of the Apostles we 
 read, that " Paul sent from Miletus for the elders of the 
 church at Ephesus, and addressed them as made by the 
 Holy Ghost bishops ;" though our English version keeps 
 out of sight that word, and calls them overseers, which is, 
 indeed, the signification of the Greek word, usually trans- 
 lated bishop. Our translators had already displayed an 
 undue solicitude to introduce the word bishop, even in 
 the case of Judas Iscariot, saying, " His bishopric let 
 another take ;" though the office of bishop had not then 
 been instituted. The Christian church must be dated 
 from the time that the Spirit was poured out, to create 
 its constituent elements ; and who would think of the 
 officers of a body not yet in existence? But, because an 
 apostle was mentioned, though that apostle was Judas, the 
 
 * The Prosemial Dissertations to an edition of Chrysostom on the priest- 
 hood attempt to prove that deacons were originally intended to be ministers 
 of the word, and by what arguments? Because the first deacons were to be 
 men full of the Holy Ghost and of faith! As if the apostles had not ex- 
 pressly declared that this was to qualify them for serving tables, that the 
 twelve might not leave the word of God for a pecuniary administration ; and 
 as if an affair which had created the first murmuring in the church did not 
 require eminently religious men. But it is said, "the first deacons preached." 
 The Acts shew that any Christian who is able may preach, and the fathers 
 prove that this right was not at first denied. Besides, the deacons are ex- 
 horted, by using their oflice well, to purchase to themselves a good degree, 
 which is supposed to mean promotion to the ministry of the word, which the 
 deacons frequently obtained. It is not improbable that the first deacons, 
 improved by their office, afterwards become pastors, or ministers of the word, 
 as we read of Philip the evangelist. We soon find, however, the bishops 
 exercising that care of the poor which was committed by the apostles to the 
 deacons; nor is any apology made for this early unscriptural alteration of 
 the ecclesiastical polity. Later writers shew that the scriptural idea of the 
 deacon's oflB.ce was long retained. 
 
150 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WOBSHJP. 
 
 opportunity was seized to make his successor a bishop, 
 even in a quotation from the Old Testament, where our 
 own version of the Psalms says, " His office let another 
 take." This is a standing Avitness against the unfair tam- 
 pering with the word of God ; for in a quotation the 
 words of the Old Testament were required. The vicious 
 inconsistency of the translation of Acts xx. 28, also, defeats 
 its own end ; for instead of concealing, it proclaims the 
 unwelcome truth, that the original conveys an idea which 
 it was deemed convenient to keep out of sight — that the 
 same persons who are in one verse termed presbyters, are 
 in a following called bishops. Nor is this a singular case ; 
 for Peter says, " The elders who are among you I exhort. 
 Feed the flock of God, taking the episcopate willingly, 
 episcopising, or doing the work of a bishop."* Thus also 
 Paul addresses Titus : — " Ordain elders, or presbyters, in 
 every city, if any be blameless ; for a bishop must be 
 blameless." 
 
 We find bishops, in the plural, addressed, along with 
 deacons, in an inspired letter to the church of Pllilippi ; 
 and, on the other hand, we see even there, only two kinds 
 of officers, bishops and deacons, without presbyters. In 
 the same manner, only two are mentioned in that first 
 letter to Timothy which all acknowledge to be of great 
 importance in the determination of this question. Direc- 
 tions are given for the choice of the bishop and the 
 deacons;! and though even women are introduced, 
 and the several ages are specified, presbyters are not 
 mentioned. 
 
 There is, then, no authority in Scripture for presbyters 
 as an order distinct from bishops. We have seen that 
 Clement of Rome presents to view but two offices, when 
 he says, " The apostles appointed the first-fruits of their 
 labours to be bishops and deacons ;" in which Irenceus 
 
 * 1 Peter v. 1. + Chap. 3. 
 
01? THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 151 
 
 concurs.'* What, then, it may be said, is the reason for 
 employing the term presbyter, or elder, at all ? We might 
 as well ask, why mention bishops at all ? 
 
 These fathers, Clement and Irenseus, agreeing with the 
 Scriptm-es in acknowledging but two kinds of officers, 
 first, deacons, and secondarily, bishops, called also elders, 
 or presbyters ; the question that next occurs is, " What 
 say the inspired and uninspired witnesses concerning the 
 number of these officers in each church ?" Seven deacons 
 were at first appointed ; but this number has seldom been 
 thought binding, except where the church or the poor 
 were so numerous as to require seven ; though history 
 informs us that some thought there should be exactly 
 seven deacons, and when more were needed, sub-deacons 
 were invented. In the church at Rome, indeed, we find 
 seven deacons, at least in name. A plurality of deacons 
 always appears both in the Scriptures and in ecclesiastical 
 writings ; so that there is no question on this point. 
 
 The number of bishops in a church has given rise to 
 much debate. As the church at Ephesus had more than 
 one elder, the apostle addresses them in the plural, 
 as bishops. And it has been thought that plurality is 
 intimated when we read that " they ordained elders f in 
 every city;" while we are sure that Paul writes to the 
 bishops, as well as to the deacons, of the church in 
 Philippi. 
 
 On the other hand, the language of Scripture often 
 leads to the conclusion that it was not the design of 
 Christ to require a plurality of bishops in every church. 
 For this officer is mentioned in the singular, when the 
 deacons are spoken of in the plural. | The argument of 
 
 * Tales presbyteros nutrit ecclesia de quibus et propbeta ait; et dabo 
 principes tuos in pace et episcopos tuos in justitia, lib. iv. c. 44. 
 
 + This may mean that they ordained elder members to be bishops ; andas 
 every city is mentioned, the plurality of bishops may refer to the plurality of 
 churches. t 1 Tim. iii. 2, 8. 
 
152 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, A^;D WORSHIP. 
 
 the apostle, derived from the father of a family, as Clemens 
 Alexandrinus observes, leads to the same conclusion : 
 " A bishop must rule well his own house, having his chil- 
 dren in subjection, with all gravity ; for if a man know not 
 how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the 
 church of God?"* Here a single ruler is supposed to 
 preside in the church, as in a family. In the Revelation, 
 the seven stars are the angels, as Origen observes, or 
 presidents of the seven churches. The term pastor sup- 
 poses one shepherd over one flock. But that there may 
 be more than one bishop to one church is manifest, from 
 the other passages adduced ; and it is probable that, at 
 first, this practice most frequently obtained, not only on 
 account of the abundance of gifts bestowed to fit men for 
 the M'ork of the ministry ; but also on account of the per- 
 secutions which usually fell upon the bishops ; and when 
 the most conspicuous was removed, it was desirable that 
 another should be left to watch over the flock. Nor should 
 it be forgotten that the first churches were designed to be 
 the parents of others ; so that while one bishop was pre- 
 siding over the church first formed, another pastor would 
 go into the vicinity to form a new church, which might 
 detain him permanently to watch over those to whom he 
 was a father in God. Clement reminds the Corinthians, 
 "Ye walked in the statutes of God, being subject to your 
 rulers or guides, and yielding due honour to the pres- 
 byters or elders among you." Here is one church or con- 
 gregation, but no monarchy ; for there is a plurality of 
 rulers or guides, and of presbyters too, whether these are 
 the same as the rulers, or different officers. Wake, in his 
 translation, makes the presbyters mere seniors or elder 
 men ; induced, perhaps, by the subsequent mention of the 
 young. But the preceding reference to the rulers is far 
 more decisive in favoin^ of office; and Clement exactly 
 coincides with Peter, who refers to the young, after ad- 
 
 * Ver. 4, 5. 
 
OF TilE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 15 > 
 
 dressing the presbyters or elders who episcopised over the 
 flock.^;< 
 
 But whether the elders were officers or not, the guides 
 or rulers, rjyovix^voi, are in the plural ;f and as their title 
 expresses authority, they are, doubtless, the bishops of 
 whom Clement says Isaiah prophesied, though they pre- 
 sided over one congregation. But that Clement con- 
 sidered the presbyters as the rulers is clear, when he says, 
 *' It is a great shame that tlie most firm and ancient 
 church of the Corinthians should, through one or two 
 persons, rebel against the presbyters." J "Be subject to 
 the presbyters. "§ Polycarp says to the Philippians, " Let 
 the presbyters be compassionate — inspecting, as an over- 
 seer or bishop, all the weak."|| There were, both at 
 Corinth and Philippi, therefore, either no bishops at all, 
 
 * 1 Peter v. 1—5. 
 
 f Though Henry Wotton, in his preliminary dissertation to Clement's 
 Epistle, attempts to prove that the rulers were the bishops, and that pres- 
 byters were different persons; if, instead of presbyters, Clement had said 
 bishops, would not Wotton have considered this as exegetical ? We should 
 then have had such a translation as the following: "Being subject to your 
 rulers, even honouring the bishops among you." That we take the Kal as 
 exegetic is not, then surprising, and numerous considerations plead for this 
 rendei'ing. Clement introduced a prophecy concerning bishops, and the 
 only ecclesiastical officers he afterwards mentions are presbyters, which 
 forces on us the conclusion that he, lilce the Scriptures, considered the 
 bishop and presbyter as identical. He mentions those bishops whom the 
 apostles appointed, and those presbyters who liad finished their ministry and 
 gone to their rest, wliom we naturally conclude to be the same persons; and 
 if the presbyters, who occur again and again, are not the same as the bishops, 
 what have presbyters to do with the argument tliat is introduced by an as- 
 sertion of the divine institution of bishops ? Wotton, who would have the 
 bishops to be intended by the word >,joviJ.ivoi. rulers, or guides, is not willing 
 to take the consequence of his own argument, that there was a plurality of 
 them at Corinth ; but would palm upon us the gratuitous assumption so con- 
 trary to the whole letter, and to the records of those times, that Corinth 
 was a metropolitan church, and that all the bishops of Achaia were intended. 
 Even Cenchrea, a port of Corinth, had an independent church. Eom. xvi. 1 . 
 
 X Chap. 47. 
 
 § i<7roTd7nTe, the word employed for subjection to rulers. Chap, 55. 
 
 II Chap. 6. 
 
151 OF THE CHUnCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 or they were entirely overlooked ; or they were preshyter- 
 bishops, and there was a plurality in each church. The 
 latter is the conclusion to which any unbiassed reader 
 must come. 
 
 Iren?eus introduces the succession of presbyters, just as 
 Eusebius gives that of bishops ; for the elder writer 
 mentions only presbyters, when he says, " Heretics affirm 
 that the truth cannot be learned from Scripture by those 
 who know not tradition ; but when aprain we challenece 
 them to meet that tradition, which is from the apostles, 
 and which is guarded in the churches by the succession 
 of the presbyters, they oppose tradition, saying that they 
 are wiser, not only than the presbyters, but even than 
 the apostles."* Irenseus seems to know no intermediate 
 grade between presbyters and apostles. Where were the 
 bishops, then ? " Wherefore, w^e ought to obey the pres- 
 byters, who are in the church, who have the succession 
 from the apostles, as we have shown, who, with the suc- 
 cession of the episcopacy, have received a certain gift of 
 truth according to the Father's good pleasure."! Here 
 the presbyters are declared to have received the succession 
 of the episcopacy, or oversight of the church. This was 
 written, towards the end of the second century; and even 
 then the apostolical succession, vesting in bishops, to the 
 exclusion of presbyters, was unknown. 
 
 Clement the Alexandrian shows, that " in most things 
 there are two offices, one superior, the other subordinate," 
 in order to introduce the two offices in the Christian 
 church: "It is equally so as to the church: the pres- 
 byters preserve the better form ; the deacons, the sub- 
 ordinate. Both these ministrations angels perform to 
 God, in the dispensation of terrene affairs."]: Could Cle- 
 ment have known more than the two offices of presbyter 
 and deacon in the church ? Could he have supposed that 
 
 * Advers. Hteres. lib. iii. c. 2, + Lib. iv. c, 41, p. 881. 
 
 i Strom, vii. 504 
 
OF THE CHUKCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 155 
 
 bishops were above presbyters, or had any legitimate 
 existence at all, but as presbyters? If he did, how could 
 he speak of presbyters as in the better form? Must he 
 not have assigned this to the bishops ? 
 
 But where there were several of those whom Justin 
 styles presidents in a church, much wisdom, and humility, 
 and self-denial, would be required, to keep them in affec- 
 tionate harmony; and when these Christian graces de- 
 clined, superiority of rank or title would become an apple 
 of discord. As the title of elder might be supposed to 
 signify nothing more than such respectability as is acquired 
 by age, it would not be an object of ambition; while that 
 of bishop, or overseer, implied a superiority which an 
 aspiring man would claim as exclusively his own. He 
 would, then, leave the name of presbyter to those over 
 whom he wished to exalt himself; and these might the 
 more easily submit, sometimes because they felt an un- 
 feigned deference for seniority or superior talents, and not 
 unfrequently because they hoped that it would come to 
 their turn to occupy alone the episcopal chair. Neither 
 texts, nor facts, would be wanting to assist in operating the 
 desired but fatal change ; for those Scriptures which inti- 
 mate there might be but oner bishop in one church, would 
 be pleaded ; and the fact that many a church had, from 
 whatever cause, no more than one, would inflame the 
 desire of co-bishops, uneasy with their colleagues, to bear 
 undivided rule. In many instances, the events of provi- 
 dence might leave but one presbyter in a church that 
 formerly had more, and if he had sighed for superiority, 
 he would be in no hurry to seek a second, \vlio, when 
 found, might, from deference to superior standing and 
 experience, take the humbler title, and leave to his senior 
 that of bishop. 
 
 That the name was an object of ambitious dispute, we 
 know, from these remarkable words of Clement to the 
 Corinthians : " Our apostles knew by the Lord Jesus 
 
15G OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 Christ that there will be strife for the name of the epis- 
 copate;"* which intimates that at first there was a mere 
 appropriation of the name to one. 
 
 Ignatius, therefore, who, if he has not been grossly 
 belied by interpolators, was exactly the man to attach 
 importance to a title, so harps upon it, to use his own 
 figure, as to show that this was the note which charmed 
 his ear. No one can read his Epistles without perceiving 
 how truly Clement, if not Christ, had said, " There will be 
 strife for the name;" and that, if Ignatius did not lead the 
 strife, it was at least the rage of his day, and that which on 
 his temper took a powerful hold. To establish an exclu- 
 sive monarchy in each church, and banish all idea of the 
 lawfulness of more than one bishop, the most extravagant, 
 not to say impious things are asserted concerning the 
 parallel between one bishop and one Jesus Christ, or one 
 God the Father. " Even Jesus Christ, our inseparable 
 life, is sent by the will of the Father, as the bishops are by 
 the will of Jesus Christ. I think you happy who are so 
 joined to him (your bishop) as the church is to Jesus Christ, 
 and Jesus Christ to the Father; that so all things may 
 agree in the same unity. "f Such arguments, however, 
 prove nothing but the want of better. 
 
 As Clement of Eome seems to know of no more than 
 two offices in the church; so he freely applies the terms 
 bishop and presbyter to the same persons : " It will be no 
 small sin in us to cast from the episcopate those who 
 offered their gifts holily without blame. Blessed are those 
 presbyters wlio, having finished their course, have had a 
 fruitful and perfect departure; for they do not fear lest any 
 should remove them from the seat placed for them."t 
 Here several persons are spoken of, and though none but 
 bishops and deacons are said to be appointed by the 
 apostles, or foretold by the prophets, we have presbyters 
 introduced because they are the same officers as the 
 
 * Cliap. 44. + Ig. ad Ephes. c. 3, 5. J Chap. 44. 
 
OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WOESHJP. 157 
 
 bishops. The tricks which Wake has employed to keep 
 this out of sight are so disgraceful, that no one should 
 suppose he has obtained the testimony of the apostolic 
 fathers, because he has read this prelate's translation. 
 
 Polycarp, not carried away by the episcopal ambition, 
 makes no mention even of the word bishop ; but contents 
 himself with the term, elder, or presbyter. " Let the 
 elders be compassionate and merciful to all, converting 
 those that have been led astray, (doing the work of bishops,) 
 inspecting all the weak. So, tlierefore, let us serve (the 
 Lord) with fear and all piety, as he himself commanded, 
 and the apostles and prophets preached. "^= Here, as in the 
 Scriptures, we might learn to apply the name bishop to 
 the elders; for Polycarp uses only the last noun, thouo-h 
 he employs the participle iniaKemoyicvoi, as Peter that of 
 eTno-KOTTovvres, bishopising, when addressing presbyters. 
 
 Clement observes : "In the church, the presbyters pre- 
 serve the form of that which improves (our characters), 
 and the deacons of that which ministers (to our wants). "f 
 But he introduces three, which he calls "promotions cf 
 the bishops, the presbyters, and the deacons;" though his 
 argument leads us to suspect the bishops are foisted in. 
 For he makes these " imitations of the angelical glory, 
 and of thatt economy which the Scriptures say they wait 
 for who, treading in the steps of the apostles, lived in the 
 perfection of evangelical righteousness. For these, the 
 apostle says, shall be taken up into the clouds ; and first 
 as deacons, attend, and then, according to the process, or 
 next station of glory, be admitted into the presbytery ; for 
 glory differs from glory, till they increase to a perfect 
 man." Some have observed that there are but two celes- 
 tial orders to which Clement alludes — angels and arch- 
 angels. But we have here, first, some waiting on Christ 
 in judgment as deacons ;• then, others, admitted to the 
 presbytery, attending to the twenty-four elders on thrones. 
 
 * Ad Phil. c. C. + Strom, vii. + Ibid. vi. 481. 
 
158 OF THE CHUECH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 But if, among these presbyters, bishops are not included, 
 they are shut out of heaven. 
 
 The double names of presbyter and bishop were, at 
 length, employed to create two offices, appropriating the 
 term bishop, or overseer, to a single person, as head, and 
 reserving the word presbyter for any number of ministers 
 who were not rulers ; though every text of Scripture, in 
 which the bishop is mentioned, shows, either a jDlurality, 
 or the identity of this office with that of presbyter.* If 
 the two names require two offices, why not make a third 
 for the sake of the word pastor ? a fourth for the rjyovnevos, 
 or ruler? a fifth for the teacher? and, in fact, as many 
 ecclesiastical officers as we find names for? It must, 
 however, be admitted, that the authors of the new device 
 never pretended to scriptural authority ; and that Jerome, 
 uncontradicted, ascribed it solely to ecclesiastical arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 From this change two evils followed. First, the bishop 
 absorbs the ruling power, though the apostle commands 
 Christians to obey as rulers none but those who spake to 
 them the word of God;t and, secondly, the presbyter, 
 pastor, or preacher, is placed under another minister, for 
 which no scriptural authority is pretended, except by the 
 absurd process of making bishops successors to the apostles. 
 
 The question may now be asked, w4iat were those 
 ecclesiastical officers who were neither bishops nor 
 deacons ? The elder Clement knew no such persons, and 
 no account of the ordination of a mere presbyter occurs in 
 the earliest age. This is the more remarkable, because 
 the fathers, afterwards, make so much of the first appoint- 
 ments, and of the succession, in regular order; and be- 
 cause modern times have made presbyters the elements 
 out of which bishops must be formed. The apostolic 
 appointment of the non-episcopal presbyters, therefore, 
 
 * Acts XX. 28; Philip, i. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 2; Titus i. 7. 
 + Hebrews xiii. 7, 17. 
 
OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 159 
 
 was a prior question which ought to have been settled ; 
 for if lay materials cannot be immediately transformed 
 into a bishop, but a layman must be made a presbyter, and 
 then, from the presbyter the bishop be educed, the primi- 
 tive ordination of the presbyter is a question of vital 
 Importance. A profound silence on this subject speaks 
 volumes. Of the ordination of a presbyter that was not a 
 bishop the Scriptures say nothing; for their presbyters 
 are bishops, and their bishops presbyters ; and Ignatius, 
 while other apostolic fathers do not distinguish the 
 presbyter from the bishop, says nothing of the ordination 
 of a mere presbyter. No one pretends to trace up a non- 
 episcopal presbyter to the apostles, fond as many are of 
 ascribing prelates to that origin; and no ordination of a 
 mere presbyter is to be found, till the apostles and apos- 
 tolical fathers are too far removed from us to give to non- 
 episcopal presbyters apostolicity. When the ecclesiastical 
 arrangement of which Jerome speaks was effected, the 
 persons who had been presbyter-bishops, and were not 
 selected to be bishops, Kar i^oxr)v, or by emphasis, became, 
 of course, mere presbyters, and persons were afterwards 
 elected into their office, and ordained to it ; but it was not 
 deemed prudent or politic to say anything about the first 
 ordination of a mere presbyter, lest the departure from 
 apostolic precedent, being laid naked, should attract so 
 much notice as to elicit censure. This is an affair of no 
 importance to those churches in which ordination is 
 always to the office of the presbyter-bishop, whom we find 
 in Scripture and in the earliest fathers ; but to those who 
 ordain presbyters that are not bishops, it is a serious 
 question. Let them produce, either from the Scriptures, 
 or early fathers, apostolic authority for the ordination of a 
 presbyter who was not made at the same time a bishop. 
 
 Analogous with this is the inquiry into the origin of the 
 modern practice of making deacons the only elements 
 from wiiich presbyters are formed. This will not be pre- 
 
160 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICER?, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 tended to be of scriptural origin ; for we noAvhere read of 
 transforming a deacon into a presbyter, nor can it be sup- 
 ported from the apostolic fathers. Whether a deacon may 
 be made a pastor is not the question ; but that all 
 ministers of the word must now be made out of deacons, 
 is as clear a departure from apostolical or patristic prece- 
 dent as can well be conceived. The same man now parses 
 through a threefold process, and is ordained deacon, jDresby- 
 ter, or, as men love to say, priest, and bishop ; though this 
 last process is called consecration, while the Scriptures 
 and the highest antiquity knew of but one ordination to 
 the ministry, and speak of bishops as ordained, if this word 
 should ever be used. 
 
 Another departure from all that the earliest fathers 
 exhibit must now be exposed ; for when the first change 
 had taken place, and instead of two orders only, bishops 
 and deacons, a third was invented ; even then, that third, 
 the presbyters, who were not bishops, were always present 
 with the church or congregation and its bishop, forming 
 one assembly, compared, by Ignatius, to a harp with its 
 several strings. This was their idea of a church ; as remote 
 from what is now called a church by those who glory in the 
 fathers, as the living body is from the mangled, scattered 
 fragments of Orpheus. 
 
 That the Epistle of Clement addresses one assembly, at 
 Corinth, with all its officers constantly convened together, 
 will scarcely be denied. He that had said, " The apostles 
 appointed bishops and deacons," declared, " It is a great 
 shame that the church of the Corinthians should, through 
 one or two persons, rise up against the presbyters. "='•= Let 
 the flock of Christ be in peace " with the elders that are 
 set over it." In his Epistle, Polycarp speaks in the name 
 of the " presbyters that are ivith him," as well as in his own 
 name, and refers to " Valens, who was once a presbyter 
 among the Philippians."f 
 
 * Ad Cor. c. 47. f Ad Phil. c. 11. 
 
OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AKD WORSHIP. 161 
 
 Ignatius exhorts the Ephesians to be subject to the 
 bishop and presbytery, evidently considering them as 
 living together, and worshipping in one congregation.* 
 " Do nothing without your bishop and presbyters, being 
 come together to the same place,"! 9,s to one temple and 
 one altar. To the Trallians : " Let all reverence the 
 deacons as the commandment of Jesus Christ, and the 
 bishop as Jesus Christ, the presbyters as the sanhedrim of 
 God: without these a church is not called."! Here we not 
 only find the presbyters with the bishop and deacons, but 
 are told there is no church without them. But it is not 
 necessary to say more to i)rove that, when the order of 
 presbyters was created distinct from the bishop, they were 
 still considered as ministering with him in the same 
 congregation; and that there was no church without its 
 bishop, presbyters, and deacons. " One altar, as there is 
 one bishop, together with his presbytery and the deacons.§ 
 I salute your worthy bishop, and venerable presbytery, 
 and my fellow-servants, the deacons, and every man."|j 
 The presbyters of a church that were not ministering in it, 
 along with the bishop, the apostolic fathers never saw; nor 
 a church that was not a congregation, and that had not a 
 bishop exclusively its own, in fact, its resident pastor, con- 
 stantly ministering to them. 
 
 " My soul for the souls of those that obey the bishop, 
 the presbyters, the deacons. Labour, contend together, 
 run together, suffer together, sleep together, wiike to- 
 gether. Let none of you be found a deserter." IT The 
 presbyters, always supposed to be found with the bishop 
 in the same congregation, Ignatius regarded as a halo of 
 glory round the bishop's head. 
 
 Of the causes and consequences of the changes that 
 were going on in the second century, the authors were 
 either not aware, or were afraid to speak. The loose and 
 
 ♦ Chap. ii. f. Ad Magnes. c. 7. J c. 3. § Ad Pliilad. c. 4. 
 
 1! Ad Smyrn. c. 12. •{[ Ad Polyc. c. 6. 
 
 VIII. M 
 
163 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 inconsequent manner in which they appeal to Scripture 
 never strikes us with more force, than when we hear them 
 with the same breath pleading apostolic authority, as far 
 as it suited them, and arguing for change, as if they were 
 themselves apostles. It does not appear that they ever 
 adverted to Scripture, which makes bishops and pres- 
 byters identical, when they were creating a third order by 
 the distinction between the two ; nor that they deigned to 
 cast a single glance on the texts which show a plurality of 
 bishops in one church, while they were enacting the epis- 
 copal monarchy as the universal law. They expect us to 
 bow to all the texts they quote, and to forget all that they 
 omit. Such was the apostolicity ^of the incipient apos- 
 tasy. 
 
 The consequences of any change are not to be known, 
 till, in the long concatenation of causes and effects, time 
 becomes the great discoverer of truth. That there must 
 be but one bishop to one church produced, while, in the 
 earliest ages, a church continued to be but one congrega- 
 tion, no other effect than the imperfect supervision of the 
 larger ones, or their destitution, when the pastor was 
 driven away by persecution; but when, tow^ards the 
 middle of the fourth century, that was called a church, or 
 congregation, which was so extensive, that it never did, 
 and never could, congregate, the single bishop was trans- 
 muted, from the pastor of one flock of Christ's sheep, 
 into a diocesan over many flocks, who fed other shepherds 
 instead of the sheep. 
 
 Of the two changes that occurred, in the bishop, and in 
 the church, either, being alone, might have become com- 
 paratively harmless. For one bishop might have taken 
 care of one flock, and could not have become, to a great 
 extent, a lord over God's heritage, or clergy ; and a church 
 multiplied into many congregations would have been little 
 more than a change of names, if there had been as many 
 
OF THE CHUKCH, ITS OFFtCEES, AND WORSHIP. 163 
 
 bishops as congregations. But the two changes together, 
 operated like the chemical union of two innocuous gases, to 
 produce a third substance, which is a deadly poison. One 
 bishop over many congregations — a thing as much un- 
 known to the fathers of three centuries as to the inspired 
 Scriptures — became a lord bishop, an archbishop, a 
 patriarch, a pope. 
 
 Tlie first step of the devious course, was the adoption 
 of the monarchical principle, that there must be but one 
 bishop in a church, where the Scriptures clearly show 
 there may be more ; the next, was the rendering of this 
 monarch an autocrat, instead of the constitutional execu- 
 tive, like a British king ; the third was, creating, by the 
 extension of the bishop's rule beyond the bounds of a 
 single congregation, entirely a new kind of church ; the 
 fourth, set over these diocesan bishops, archbishops ; the 
 fifth, placed over archbishops, patriarchs ; and the last, 
 exalted a pope over them all. If once we depart from the 
 congregational bishop we cannot escape the pope ; for the 
 boundaries of a diocese or a nation, and the power of the 
 state, are nonenties in a community swayed by the apos- 
 tolic writings, which know neither a diocesan church, nor 
 a national, nor the interference of a civil ruler in the 
 kingdom of Christ. 
 
 Having shown, from those who are usually called the 
 fathers, the original identity of bishop and presbyter, and 
 the surreptitious introduction of a distinction, by appro- 
 priating the former title to one as superior, and leaving 
 the latter to belong to many inferior ministers ; we now' 
 request particular attention to, at least, one father of the 
 highest order, the Syriac translator. In the third chapter 
 of Paul's First Epistle to Timothy, the two orders of 
 bishop and deacon are introduced ; but where our tnins- 
 lation has properly rendered the Greek, " If a man desire 
 the episcopate, or office of the bishop, he desires a good 
 
164 OF THE CHUECH, ITS OFFICEKS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 work, for a bishop must be blameless ;"* the Syriac has, 
 *' If a man desire the eldership, for an elder must be 
 blameless." In the 28th verse of the 20th chapter of the 
 Acts, the translator had adopted and displayed the 
 hisho2)s,-f whom our version concealed ; because they were 
 identical with the elders of the preceding verse. In the 
 commencement of the Epistle to Titus also, where we 
 read, " That thou mightest ordain elders in every city, if 
 any be found blameless ; for a bishop must be blameless," 
 the Syriac has given the word for elder in both places. 
 
 As this version had adopted the iiriaKOTTos of the Greeks, 
 and employed it in the Acts of the Apostles, it was not 
 from necessity that the word for elder was introduced, 
 where we have bishop ; but from the two being in the 
 mind of the translator identical;! as he naturally con- 
 
 ] ^ « «> n ]oaU?. 1 Tim. iii. 1, 2. 
 
 + Of the modern attempt to make bishops, as an order superior to pres- 
 byters, successors to the apostles, and to forge the first link of the chain of 
 succession by transmuting Timothy and Titus, to whom the Scriptiu'es give 
 no other title but that of evangelists, into bishops, the earliest fathers knew 
 nothing. The master builders of this castle in the air admit that it is post 
 apostolical ; Hammond contending that in the apostles' days there were 
 none but bishops ; and Dodwell affirming that there were none but presby- 
 ters ; so that both agree to make two orders non-apostolical. The fathers 
 ■speak of a succession, as well of presbyters as of bishops, in a congregational 
 -church founded hy one of the apostles, on which account alone subsequent 
 pastors are called the successors of that apostle, as the popes claim to be 
 Peter's successors, because he is falsely assumed to be the founder of the 
 church at Kome. The idea of bishops in general, as successors to apostles 
 in general, so that they who preside over churches Avhere apostles never 
 were, should be deemed successors to apostles, is comparatively modern. 
 In one pope pretending to be the vicar of one Christ, there is a specious har- 
 mony; but in thousands of prelates claiming to be successors of twelve 
 apostles, all is discord, confusion, folly, and falsehood. The apostles were, 
 from the first, acknowledged to be characterized by prerogatives to which no 
 others can pretend ; and what sort of successors are they who do not profess 
 to succeed to the oharacteristic prerogatives of their predecessors? The ap- 
 pellation of apostle was applied vaguely to many, and among the rest to 
 
OF THE CHUECH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WOESHIP. 1 65 
 
 eluded they were, in the mmd of the apostle, when he 
 said, " Ordain elders, if any be blameless ; for a bishop 
 must be blameless."* 
 
 On the choice of the pastor, presbyter, or bishop, let us 
 now hear what the earliest writers say. The Epistle from 
 the Romans, written by Clement, intimates that a few men 
 disturbed the peace of the church at Corinth, on the 
 question, it seems, of the appointment or deposition of the 
 presbyters ; nor does he deny the peoj^le's right to give 
 their suffrage, but blames only the spirit which they had 
 displayed. He says, *' Let us oppose senseless men lifted 
 up by pride of their own speech, or reason, rather than 
 offend God.t Let us reverence our rulers ; let us honour 
 our presbyters." The apostles " appointed their first fruits 
 to be bishops and deacons. "| Knowing by the Lord there 
 will be strife for the name of the episcopate or oversight, 
 they established the forementioned, and afterwards gave a 
 (rule of) succession, § that when they should die, other 
 approved men should succeed to their ministry. We think 
 tliese are not justly expelled from their ministry who were 
 appointed by them (the apostles) or by other esteemed 
 
 bishops, -wlio, indeed, sliould always be called apostles, if they are real suc- 
 cessors to the office. But all this is equally remote from the authority of 
 the Scripture, and from that of the earliest fathers. Clement, the most 
 ancient, who enters most fully into the original appointment, not only gives 
 no hint of bishops succeeding to the apostles, but conveys the opposite idea: 
 " God the Father sent Christ," not to be another God the Father: "Christ 
 sent the apostles," not to be another Christ: "The apostles appointed 
 bishops," not to be apostles ; but each successive appointment was inferior 
 to the preceding : and by the same rule by which we make bishops succes- 
 sors to the apostles, we* must make the apostles successors to Christ, and 
 Christ successor to the Father; and thus at last bishops successors to the 
 Father. This arrogance ends in blasphemy. 
 
 * This may contribute to prove the early date of the Peshito ; for it is 
 cei'tain that the distinction between bishop and presbyter began to be intro- 
 duced in the second centui-y, and became very prevalent as the third ad- 
 vanced, so that the renderings that we have noticed would not have been 
 welcomed, or even suiiered to be introduced, at a later period. 
 
 -h Clem, ad Cor. c. 21, + c. 4?. § l-irivon)]. 
 
166 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICEES, AND WOESHIP. 
 
 men after them, the whole church consenting, and they 
 having ministered unblameahly to the flock of Christ, and 
 for a long time well attested by all. 
 
 Of all that is here ascribed to the twelve, we must judge 
 by Scripture. We know the apostles did not appoint 
 deacons, in the sense of selecting the persons, but said to 
 the multitude, " Choose ye out men whom we may 
 appoint." This, perhaps, is all that Clement intended ; 
 but if he makes the apostles choose the persons, we know 
 he was wrong. 
 
 The whole congregation chose deacons, who, in the 
 communions that make them the original elements out of 
 which all other officers are taken, are never chosen by the 
 people. But with the deacons the bishops are here joined, 
 as appointed in the same way. Clement, therefore, either 
 meant that the apostles appointed those whom the congre- 
 gation chose, or he contradicted the inspired book of the 
 Acts. The order they gave for the succession, after the 
 death of the first, was either an unsupported assertion, or 
 was supposed to be implied in the apostles' recorded 
 conduct, which it is imperative on us to imitate. If we 
 adopt the latter supposition as most honourable to 
 Clement, we know that what is translated ordain * signifies 
 election by show of hands, which, however denied, cannot 
 be disproved. " The whole church consented,"! says 
 Clement, who affirms that the apostles gave an order for 
 the appointment ; and therefore he argues that it was not 
 lawful to put away, without cause, presbyter-bishops so 
 appointed. When no such consent is given, or even asked, 
 the apostolic order is not followed, and there is no apos- 
 tolic succession, or ordination, or bishop ; the whole affair, 
 being non-apostolical, is ipso facto null and void, if we are 
 to follow to the letter this most ancient and eminent 
 
 + Wotton very amusingly translates, " The -whole church consenting ;" but 
 comments as if they merely congratulated the bishops ordained, p. 229. 
 
OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 167 
 
 father, who has been pronounced facile ijrinceps, chief of 
 them all. 
 
 But the very theme of Clement's letter proves that the 
 members of the Church at Corinth gave their voice in the 
 appointment: for he wrote to them because they had 
 displaced their elders, or bishops; and though this is 
 charged upon^one or two turbulent men, it is nevei 
 affirmed that they had no choice in the affair ; but the sin 
 is made to consist in removing presbyter-bishops, who 
 were duly appointed, and had lived so unblameably as to 
 give no just cause for their removal. If these presbyters 
 had sinned, the church would not, then, have done wrong 
 in " removing them from their seat," to use Clement's own 
 argument and phrase. He hints, indeed, at office for life, 
 when he says, " The apostles pointed out the succession 
 or heirship, that if the first officers died, other approved 
 men might take up their ministry;" but he evidently 
 admits that they might be displaced for evil conduct. He 
 says to the church or assembly, " See how you have put 
 out from the' ministry those who conducted themselves 
 well. " That the church had a voice in the appointment, 
 and the power of removal for sufficient causes, is implied. 
 Again ; that the members of the church not only came 
 voluntarily into it, and gave their consent to the appoint- 
 ment of its officers, but had also a right to withdraw, when 
 an appointment was made which they could not approve, 
 we learn from the same Epistle. " Who, then, among 
 you is generous, compassionate, full of charity ? Let him 
 say. If there be disturbance, and strife, and schisms, on 
 my account, I will withdraw. I go away wherever you 
 choose, and I will do whatever is commanded by the 
 majority or multitude."* How different is this language 
 from that of Clement's pretended successors at Rome ! 
 They never supposed a man could be generous, or com- 
 passionate, or full of charity, and yet withdraw from the 
 
 * Cliap. 64. 
 
168 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND -U-OESHIP. 
 
 clmrch because he did not approve of the bishop. Far 
 from giving him such counsel, they smote him with the 
 thunders of excommunication. Clement says, " He that 
 shall withdraw, for the sake of peace, will get honour from 
 the Lord, and everyplace will receive him ;" but they who 
 boast of their apostolic succession would follow such an 
 one to the ends of the earth with execrations. To with- 
 draw is, in Clement's esteem, to prevent schisms ; but we 
 are now told that this is schism itself. In apostolic times, 
 schism was discord and alienation among those who re- 
 mained in the same congregation; in our times, it is said 
 to be continuing in a communion of love and harmony 
 with those who are "partakers of like precious faith." 
 Clement praises the man who does whatever is com- 
 manded by the majority or multitude ; but these are now 
 told that they have no right to command. 
 
 That the church was accustomed to choose, or elect, 
 persons, and that what is called in our translation, ordain- 
 ing, was electing, we learn from a passage in the letter of 
 Ignatius, who had sufficiently high notions of episcopal 
 rights. He says to Polycarp, " Since the church at Antioch 
 is in peace, through your prayers, it is proper to convene a 
 council, worthy of God, and to elect- some one who may 
 be called God's messenger, and go into Syria." Here 
 Polycarp, the bishop, is not advised to do this of his own 
 authority; but a council is to be called, and a person is to 
 be elected. The word which Wake himself translates 
 choose, or elect, is that which is usually rendered ordain ; 
 so that the choice or election of bishops, or elders, is con- 
 fessedly expressed when Scripture employs that word. 
 Where it happens to refer to a messenger sent from one 
 church to another, the word is permitted to signify a 
 choice or election ; but had it been applied to an eccle- 
 siastical officer, especially a bishop, would not an episcopal 
 translator have rendered it " ordain?" But shall we say 
 
 * X^'POTOuTjaat, C. /. 
 
OF THE CHUECH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 169 
 
 that the church is advised to ordain ? " It becomes you, 
 O Polycarp, to convene a council, to choose(?) or ordain (?) 
 some one whom you love, to go into Syria to glorify your 
 love." If we translate ordain, then the church had the 
 power of ordination ; if we say elect, then the word ren- 
 dered ordain in the New Testament is confessed to mean 
 election,-" not ordination, as our translators say. We may 
 make our election, but we must abide by it, and cannot at 
 once choose and refuse the same thing. If we will adhere 
 to our translation and render the w^ord employed by Cle- 
 ment ordain, then we grant to the church in council power 
 to ordain ; but, if we translate, with Wake, " choose," then 
 v/e admit that a choice or election of elders, as well as 
 deacons, by the church is taught in Scripture, when it uses 
 this w^ord x^f-poroveoi. Where there was nothing to awaken 
 his episcopal prejudices. Wake translated as a native Greek 
 would have understood Ignatius to mean, " elect," and has 
 left a memorial of his own unbiassed opinion. Tliat this, 
 like all other words, is sometimes used improperly, where 
 no election could be intended, is, by the version of Wake 
 himself, admitted to be insufficient to destroy its proper 
 signification ; and even when it signifies simply to appoint, 
 this no more means the religious service now called ordi- 
 nation than the appointment of a bishop by the prime 
 minister denotes ordination. Yet upon this perversion of 
 terms and confusion of ideas, some attempt to build the 
 continuance of the church and the salvation of men. 
 
 Cyprian shows, that so late as his days, when the bishops 
 had greatly abridged the liberty of the churches, these had 
 not entirely lost their rights. " According to the divine 
 tradition, and the apostolical observance, we must dili- 
 gently guard and hold this order, which is observed among 
 us, and among almost all the provinces, that to perform 
 the ordinations legitimately, the neighbouring bishops of 
 the province assemble with the people for whom the pre- 
 
 * Chap. 10. 
 
170 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 late is to be ordained, and that the bishop be elected in 
 the presence of the people, who know the life and the con- 
 versation of every one." 
 
 The ordination of Sabinus was made with the suffrages 
 of all the brethren, and by the judgment of the bishops. ^^ 
 What would Cyprian say of the legitimacy of the present 
 bishop of Eome, and of others who claim the exclusive 
 title? At Eome, the people are carefully excluded from 
 the conclave, and in other countries the brethren are no 
 more assembled to choose a bishop than to choose a king. 
 Cyprian, however, thus addresses the brethren, in dis- 
 tinction from the ministers : " Let them patiently hear our 
 counsel ; let them wait our return ; and when I shall, by 
 the mercy of God, have come to you, we, the several co- 
 bishops, may be able to examine, according to the doctrine 
 of the Lord, and the presence of the confessors, and the 
 letters and wishes of the blessed martyrs ; and according to 
 your sentence "\ Cyprian declared that, from the first, he, 
 being elected by the suffrages of the people, determined to 
 do nothing without them. In defiance of the ancient 
 ecclesiastical maxim, the voice of the people is no longer 
 considered the voice of God, but that of the civil ruler 
 now creates bishops. 
 
 As the alterations in Cyprian's works, of which com- 
 plaints are made, were all in favour of the hierarchy, far 
 from suspecting interpolations in behalf of popular rights, 
 we only wonder that such passages as we find were suffered 
 to remain. But Clement of Alexandria shows that some 
 attention was paid to the call of God, made known by the 
 qualifications of the person elected. " It is lawful, there- 
 fore, that those who are exercised in the Lord's commands, 
 living perfectly and intelligently according to the gospel, 
 
 * Ep. 67. 
 
 + Ep. 17. Daille, de usu et abusu patrum, p. 64, contends tliat the words 
 " secundum vestram quoque sententiam," have been omitted. They cer- 
 tainly are not in the edition of 1690. 
 
OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 171 
 
 should be inscribed into the selection of the apostles. 
 This man is truly a presbyter of the church, and a true 
 deacon of the will of God, if he do and teach the things 
 of the Lord, not being elected by men, nor, because a 
 presbyter, reckoned just; but, because just, enrolled in the 
 presbytery."* Here presbyters and deacons, not bishops, 
 are inscribed in the selection of the apostles. But the 
 true presbyter and deacon does and teaches the things 
 of the Lord. When it is said, not elected by men, we 
 must add the word only ; for upon any hypothesis some 
 men must choose them; but they are reckoned presbyters 
 because they are just, which shows that God also, and not 
 men only, chose them. The moderns assure us that a 
 man is a true minister by succession, though he be not 
 just; but the apostolic succession, according to Clement, 
 consists in being of the apostolic school of doctrine, as 
 some were called Annicerians, from the Cyrenaic succes- 
 sion or doctrine. t 
 
 The right of election was taken from the people, in 
 consequence of the wars and bloodshed to which it gave 
 rise. StillingfleetJ largely displays the tumults and mur- 
 ders that arose from popular elections of bishops, Eome 
 being for several days a scene of blood, on the election of 
 Damasus ; and we can easily concede that such Christians 
 should not be entrusted with the choice of such bishops. 
 But while the change for which that writer contends shows 
 what was the primitive practice, the character of Christians 
 when they could murder each other, deprives their con- 
 duct in ecclesiastical affairs of all claim on our imitation. 
 
 Part HI. — Of Priests and Clergy. 
 
 Though the appellation of priests was too soon given to 
 the ministers of Christ, later ages have attempted, by falsi- 
 fying the testimonies of the highest antiquity, to antedate 
 
 * Strom, vi. 480. + 805. t Irenicum. 
 
172 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 that coiTuiDtioii. The New Testament never terms its 
 ministers priests ; but either appropriates the word to the 
 sons of Aaron as the types, and to Christ as the antitype, 
 or apphes it spiritually to the whole body of the faithful. 
 The literal priesthood of mere men is declared to be 
 abolished by Christ, and all real sacrifice superseded by 
 " his one offering of himself once for all." No other than 
 Christ's priesthood succeeds to that of Aaron and his 
 sons ; and the Christian church consists of those who are 
 "made priests to God." The temple is pronounced a 
 type, not of the church, but of Christ. The ancient 
 priesthood came by birth, and ran in the blood of Aaron ; 
 but the church is like the synagogue, whose elders, not 
 hereditary, were taken from any tribe ; so that the Jews 
 have synagogues, though they pretend to no priesthood, 
 because they know not the descendants of Aaron. Chris- 
 tian ministers are not born, but made such ; and if the 
 word priest is ever applied to any persons besides 
 Christ, it is to the whole Christian community, who are 
 thus addressed : " Ye are a chosen generation, a royal 
 j)riesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to 
 God, through Jesus Christ." The fathers observe, that all 
 Christians give thanks "to him that loved us, and washed . 
 us from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings and 
 priests to God." It is only as they are Christians that the 
 ministers of Christ may call themselves priests ; so that 
 every believer is equally a priest. Of this, the early 
 writers were fully aware, while using language that opened 
 the door to the contrary opinion. A human priesthood is, 
 by Romanists and semi-papists, made the essence of the 
 Christian ministry ; and the salvation of men is impiously 
 suspended on that for which neither a text of Scripture, 
 nor a sentence from the earliest fathers, can be adduced. 
 Could any rational man suppose, that what is essential to 
 our salvation would be left without inspired authority, to 
 conflict with numerous unanswerable opposing argu- 
 
OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICEES, AND WOnSHIP. ] 73 
 
 ments ? The Epistle to the Hebrews, whence we derive 
 our acquaintance with the evangelical import of the 
 shadowy system, confines its application to the person and 
 work of Christ, making him our only priest and real 
 sacrifice. If we hearken to God rather than to man, we 
 must consider all proper priesthood and sacrifice absorbed 
 by Christ, and nothing left but the spiritual sacrifices of 
 prayer, and praise, and good works, which every believer 
 is a priest to offer acceptably to God, through Christ, the 
 one High Priest of ouj profession. 
 
 What is called typical theology has ever been the 
 favourite study of imaginative minds, enabling them to 
 discover whatever suited their taste or their creed; but the 
 legitimate use of the types is to be learned only from the 
 word of Him that instituted those modes of instruction ; 
 and where has he so fully unfolded the typical import of 
 the Jewish ritual and priesthood as in the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews ? To violate the principles of this book, and 
 prefer the indulgence of our own fancy, is to forfeit all 
 claim to respect, as expositors and theologians. 
 
 That the earliest fathers knew no priesthood distinct 
 from the body of the faithful is proved by a fact most dis- 
 graceful to the Christian name ; for their signature to the 
 false doctrine has been forged under the name of a trans- 
 lation. As the New Testament, like the Septuagint, uses 
 lepevs for priest, and Trpea^Crepos for elder ; so Clement of 
 Eome, when mentioning the priests of the Jewish church, 
 employs the proper word ; and when referring to the 
 ministers of Christ, calls them elders, 7rpea(3vT€pov9. But 
 Wake renders this last, priest, usually putting elder, or 
 presbyter, in a note ; first, pre-occupying the minds of his 
 readers with the idea of a priest by a false translation, and 
 then palming on them the deceptive notion, that the 
 original maybe translated either way; though aware, as 
 the learned man must have been, that this is not true, and 
 that Clement accurately distinguished the terms. The 
 
174 OF THE CHTJECH, ITS OFFICEKS, AND WOESHIP. 
 
 word 2^^'i^st is even suffered sometimes to stand without 
 any note of correction ; as in the Epistle of Ignatius to 
 the Philadelphians,* where Wake gives, " bishops, priests, 
 and deacons ; " and the original says, " bishops, pres- 
 byters, and deacons." From this conduct we may judge 
 what authority the apostolical fathers afford for making 
 Christian ministers priests ; for it is poverty that makes 
 men commit forgery. This, however, is in perfect keeping 
 with the whole affair, as it was by stealth that an order of 
 priests was introduced into the Christian church. 
 
 Clement mentions priests, indeed, but it is when he is 
 speaking of the Jews ; and the use of the word in its 
 proper place combines with the total absence of it, when 
 Christian ministers are mentioned, to prove that he did 
 not consider them priests. The language of a later age, 
 when the ministers of Christ were constantly called 
 priests, is in striking contrast with that of Clement. 
 
 Nor can even the bombastic Ignatius, fond as he is of 
 extravagant figures, be adduced as a witness to a Christian 
 priesthood, correspondent with that of the Jews. If he 
 speaks of being " within the altar," he places deacons, 
 nay, all the faithful, there ; and this is considered no 
 proof that they are priests. 
 
 Justin Martyr accords with the New Testament, in 
 representing, not ministers exclusively, but all Christians 
 as God's priests, and even high priests :t "We, who, by 
 the name of Jesus, shall be all as one man to God, the 
 Creator of all, are the true race, high priests of God, as 
 God himself testifies, saying, that in every place among 
 the Gentiles, they are offering to him sacrifices acceptable 
 and i^ure. God accepts sacrifices from no one except 
 through his priests. Through this name all the sacrifices, 
 therefore, which Jesus Christ delivered to be made — that 
 is, in the Eucharist of the bread and the cup, which in 
 every place on earth is performed by Christians — God by 
 * Chap. 10. f Dial, pars secrmda, 344. 
 
OF THE CHUKCH, ITS OFFICEES, AND WORSHIP. 175 
 
 anticipation testifies to be acceptable to him." Prayers 
 are said to be sacrifices ; but these are offered by all 
 Christians. It should not pass unnoticed, that Justin, 
 who says, " We Christians are the race of high priests," is 
 thought to have been what would be called a layman, and 
 not a minister. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria allegorizes thus : — *' Nothing is 
 better than to hear the word itself, giving gi^eater in- 
 telligence by Scripture, which says, ' And he shall put off 
 the linen stole which he put on when he went into the 
 sanctuary, and he shall lay it aside there, and wash his 
 body in the holy place, and put on his stole. But in one 
 manner I think the Lord puts off and puts on, descending 
 to sense, and in another he, who by him believes and puts 
 on and puts off the holy stole, as the apostle intimates."* 
 Here Christ and the believer are made the antitypes to 
 the priest. Could Clement have supposed that CImstian 
 ministers succeeded to Jewish priests ? 
 
 TertuUian thus addresses Christians in general : " We 
 shall be fools, if we think tliat what is not lawful to 
 priests is lawful to laics. Are not also we laics priests? 
 It is written, 'He has made us a kingdom, and priests to 
 God and his Father.' The authority of the church consti- 
 tuted the difference between order (those in orders) and 
 the people ; and by the session of the order, i e., those in 
 orders sitting together, honour is sanctified by God. 
 Where there is no session of the ecclesiastical order, 
 thou both offerest and tingest, i. e., both administerest the 
 Supper and baptizest ; thou alone art a priest to thyself. 
 But where there are three, there is a] church, although 
 laymen; for everyone lives by his own faith; nor is there any 
 respect of persons with God. — Therefore, if thou hast the 
 right of the priest in thyself, where it is necessary, it 
 becomes thee to have also the discipline of the priest, 
 where it is necessary to have the sacerdotal right. Dost 
 
 * Strom. Y. 418. 
 
176 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WOESHIP. 
 
 tliou, digamist, a man twice married, tinge, i. e., baptize ? 
 Dost thou, digamist, offer, i. e., administer, the Supper '? 
 How much more will it be a capital offence for a laic 
 digamist to act for a priest ; when even from the digamist 
 priest himself is taken away the sacerdotal act. But you 
 say an allowance is made for necessity. No necessity is 
 excused which might be avoided. Do not, then, be found 
 a digamist, and you do not fall into the necessity of ad- 
 ministering what is not lawful to a digamist. For it is the 
 will of God that we should be all so circumstanced that we 
 may be everywhere fit to administer his sacraments. One 
 God, one faith, and one discipline."-- 
 
 As Jerome affirms that the distinction between presbyter 
 and bishop was a mere ecclesiastical arrangement, and 
 not a divine institution ; so Tertullian here declares, thaL 
 the authority of the church created the distinction between 
 priests and people. But both these distinguished men 
 show that they did not believe it was in the power of the 
 church to alter the nature of things. Tertullian contends 
 that the people's right remained indefeasible, because it is 
 written that Christ made his whole church a kingdom and 
 priests ; or, as we read the passage, " kings and priests." 
 However God may have sanctified order in the church, a 
 
 * Vani erimus, si putaverimus, quod sacerdotibus non liceat, laicis licerc. 
 Nonne et laici sacerdotes sumus? scriptum est,reg7ium quoque nos et sacer- 
 dotes, Deoet Pairi »uo fecit. Differentiam inter ordinem et plebem constituit 
 ecclesife auctoritas, et honor per ordinis consessum sanctificatus a Deo, ibi 
 ecclesiastici ordinis non est consessus ? Et offers et tinguis, sacerdos es tibi 
 solus. Sed ubi tres, ecclesia est, licet laici, unusquisque enim de sua. fide 
 vivit, nee est lienonarum acceptio apud Deimi. . . . Igitur si habes jus sacer- 
 dotis in temetipso ubi necesse est : habeas oportet etiam disciplinam sacer- 
 dotis, ubi necesse sit habere jus sacerdotis. Digamus tinguis? digamus 
 offers ? quanto magis laico digamo eapitale erit agere pro sacerdote, cum ipsi 
 sacerdoti digamo auferatur agere sacerdotem. Sed necessitati, inquis, iudul- 
 getur. Nulla necessitas excusatur, quae potest non esse. Noli deniqne 
 digamus deprehendi et non committis in necessitatem administrandi quod 
 non licet digamo. Omnes nos Deus ita vult dispositos esse, ut ubique sacra- 
 mentis ejus obeundis apti simus. Unus Deus, una fides, una et discij)liua. 
 — De Exhortatione Castitatis, c. vii. p. Qh 02. 
 
OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICEES, AND WORSHIP. 177 
 
 mere layman might, if occasion required, administer the 
 Supper and baptize, and be a priest virtually ; for where 
 there are three, there is a church, though they are all lay- 
 men; because Christ has declared, that "Wherever two 
 or three are gathered together in his name, he is in the 
 midst of them." For every one lives by his own faith, and 
 with God is no respect of persons ; so far is he from 
 suspending our salvation on a certain order of persons, 
 called priests. As, therefore, it was deemed unlawful for 
 one who had been twice married to administer the Supper 
 or baptize, laymen should not marry again ; because it was 
 the will of God that they should be always fit to administer 
 his sacraments. As we have all one God and one faith, we 
 have one discipline for priests and laymen. 
 
 But the word priest, once introduced, soon acquired an 
 authority contrary to Scripture and to the views of the 
 earliest fathers. As the world is ruled by names, a figure, 
 taken for a fact, was made an argument; and the word, 
 which should have been the child, became the father of the 
 thing. Few asked counsel at the oracle of God; and those 
 who repeated its response coolly persisted in giving to the 
 ministers the title of priests, even while confessing that it 
 was conferred by Christ on all the faithful. 
 
 On baptism, Septimius thus speaks : " The high priest, 
 who is the bishop, has the right of giving (it). Thence 
 presbyters and deacons ; not, however, without tile author- 
 ity of the bishop, on account of the honour of the church, 
 which being preserved, peace is preserved. Otherwise the 
 laity also has the right. For what is equally received can 
 be equally given." 
 
 Those who wish to escape the manifest consequences of 
 these statements have no other resource than to say, 
 " They are the private opinions of Tertullian, who became 
 a Montanist," which they drop from their memory again, 
 when he says what seems to support their views. But the 
 African father here manifestly appeals to acknowledged 
 
 VIII. N 
 
]78 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICEES, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 principles, and admitted practices, as well as to the Scrip- 
 tures ; and asks for no deference to his private opinion. 
 His whole argument is an appeal to the response in the 
 breasts of those to whom he writes. While many of'Ter- 
 tullian's words are now taken in the most stringent way, 
 these which we quote prove that the church had not yet lost 
 its conviction that every believer was a priest. 
 
 It was at last supposed that Christian pastors were true 
 j^riests, who alone could administer the sacraments. Many 
 things contributed to this fatal change. The Hebrew con- 
 verts had been so familiar with the word priest, and so 
 wedded to the idea, as Paul's letter to them proves, that 
 they easily fell into the new fashion; and the Gentiles 
 were so accustomed to think there must be a visible i^riest 
 as well as God, that they were not slow to follow, and thus 
 all parties went astray from the Scriptures. The new 
 priests, too, were nothing loath ; for the Jews had seen 
 their Maccabean high priests reign as princes, and shed 
 their lustre over all the house of Aaron ; while the converts 
 from heathenism knew that the emperor gloried in the 
 title of Pontifex Maximus. Both sections of the church 
 were therefore willing to think, that, if they conceded to 
 Christ the honour of being the great High Priest, there 
 was no heresy in a human priesthood.* 
 
 The portentous and impious assumption of the priestly 
 name became at last the boast of ministers, who thus 
 gloried in their shame. They had not modesty enough 
 to leave to Christ the title of High Priest, which we have 
 
 * For when in the primitive church the name of priests came to he attri- 
 buted to gospel ministers, from a fair compliance (as Avas thought then) of 
 the Christians only to tlie name used both among Jev.s and Gentiles ; in pro 
 cess of time, coiTuption increasing in the church, those names that were 
 used by the Christians by way of analogy and accommodation brought in the 
 things themselves primarily intended by those names, so by the metaphorical 
 names of priests and altars at last came up tlie sacrifice of the mass, without 
 which they thought the names of priest and altar were insignificant.— Stilling- 
 fleet's Ireniciim, 2nd edit. 265. 
 
OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 1T9 
 
 heard Tertullian apply to the bishop. To support then- 
 own priesthood, men were compelled to do violence to that 
 of Christ, and to blaspheme the very sacrifice of the cross 
 in which they profess to glory. For it was easily seen that 
 a priest must have a sacrifice to offer, and if something 
 more than the priesthood of the whole body of the faithful, 
 who offer up prayers, and thanks, and benevolences, with 
 which " sacrifices God is well pleased," was to be ascribed 
 to Christian ministers, there was no other real sacrifice 
 but that of Christ. On this, therefore, they laid their 
 sacrilegious hands, and in the teeth of the Scripture which 
 declares that Christ alone offered it up once for all, they 
 pretended to sacrifice him again. Kome therefore makes 
 of the Lord's Supper the sacrifice of the mass offered up 
 for the sins of the living and the dead; and all pretended 
 Protestants who plead for a human proper priesthood 
 must virtually join in this conspiracy against the glory of 
 Christ. A commemorative sacrifice is nonsense ; for if it 
 is a real sacrifice, it is not the commemoration of one; if it 
 is but a commemoration, it is not itself a sacrifice; if it 
 needs to be offered again, Christ did not make an end of 
 offering for sin, and is not, then, the Messiah foretold by 
 Daniel. 
 
 Of the term clergy it may not seem worth while to speak, 
 as some may say, it is but a word on Avhich no important 
 consequences can hang. But it has been a theme of con- 
 tention; and therefore we must observe that it is not onlv 
 without scriptural authority, but is in direct opposition to 
 the mind of the only apostle who has mentioned the word 
 K\rjp6^, from which that of clergy is derived. For Peter, 
 whom the Romanists love to put at the head of the clerical 
 order, charges the ministers, presbyters, to act* " not as 
 lords over God's clergy, but to be ensamples to the flock." 
 The people, then, are Peter's clergy; but Clement, whom 
 he is said to have ordained, has been supposed to imply 
 the term clergy, because he calls the people the laity. He, 
 
180 OF THE CHUECH, ITS OFFICEES, AND WOESHIP. 
 
 however, then spoke of the Jewish people under the name 
 of the Xaos, in distinction from the priests and Levites. 
 This will at once be seen to afford no sanction to Christian 
 clergy ; for if we must have all that the Jews had, where 
 are our Levites and Nethinim ? Clement had learned 
 from the Septuagint to consider Israel as both clergy and 
 laity.- 
 
 To the age of Tertullian this innovation and direct 
 contradiction to the Scriptures is assigned; and as it is 
 certain that it then began to prevail, so, in the days of 
 Cyprian, it became the established practice of the church 
 to call ministers priests and the clergy. The fathers, 
 however, never pretended to plead divine right, as con- 
 veyed by the vocal instruction of the apostles, or by the 
 inspired Scriptures ; but expressly declare that the honours 
 of a priesthood were committed to the clergy by the author- 
 ity of the church. Who gave the church that authority 
 they say not, but attempt to justify the assumption, by the 
 necessity of preserving order and peace, so that when 
 these were not violated and necessity required, the people 
 might resume their indefeasible rights and be priests to 
 themselves.f 
 
 This, however, was, in following ages, denied ; for the 
 beginning of pride, as well as of strife, " is like the 
 letting out of water;" and we are charged to " leave it off 
 before it be meddled with." They who go as far back as 
 
 * oZroi Xao? ffov Kai KXJjpo? <70u. Deut. IX. 29. 
 
 + A more gross failure it would be difficult to conceive than that of Wottcn, 
 in bis preliminary dissertation to Clement, intended to prove the right of a 
 Christian priesthood and clergy. He neither pretends to show that the 
 Scriptures have applied these terms to the ministers of the gospel, nor to 
 supply this fatal deficiency by an appeal to the early fathers ; but assumes 
 that as Chi-ist was a high priest, he made the apostles priests, and they made 
 bishops priests, and bishops made presbyters priests. ^Yh\ did he not say 
 that, as Christ was God, he made a succession of gods? Christ was a high 
 priest, as he ofiered up himself a sacrifice for our sins, and ever lives to make 
 intercession for us ; and as these honours belong to him alone, so does a 
 proper priesthood. 
 
OF THE CHUKCH, ITS OFFICEES, AKD WORSHIP. 181 
 
 they can, to find authority for calling ministers priests and 
 clergy, pay no attention to the principle on which the 
 practice was introduced, hut contradict the earliest wit- 
 nesses, by pretending to scriptural warrant, which the 
 fathers, whom they make authoritative expositors, could 
 not find. It is now pronounced unlawful for laymen to 
 do what the fathers say they might, if necessity occurred, 
 administer the sacraments. 
 
 The progress of error and corruption is still further 
 displayed in the church, which first imitated the Jewish 
 priesthood, and then departed from it, by adding the 
 mimicry of worldly domination. Beside the ordinary 
 priesthood of all Aaron's sons, there was, in the Jewish 
 church, no dignity except that of high priest, which Ter- 
 tullian ascribes to the bishop of a single congregation. 
 This, however, could not long suffice, for they who at first 
 pleaded for the model of the temple, soon left it far behind, 
 by a list of dignities, archdeacons, deans, archbishops, 
 primates, patriarchs, cardinals, and popes, for which not a 
 single example could be found, either in synagogue or 
 temple. But this was no discouragement; for, after having 
 gone through the constellation Cancer, so far as to become 
 semi-Jews, they rushed all the way to the beggarly ele- 
 ments of the world ; and though our Lord had exhibited 
 the domination of earthly kingdoms as a beacon, saying, 
 " It shall not be so with you," they took it as a pattern, 
 saying, "It ought to be so with us;" and as there are 
 gradations of empire, through petty officers, governors, 
 dukes, princes, up to emperors, we must have spiritual 
 authorities, subordinate and superior, till we reach to 
 popes, by whom kings shall reign and princes decree 
 justice.* 
 
 * Dodwell attempts to justify the appropriation of the terms priests and 
 clerg5' to ministers, by arguing that, though Israel was said to be a nation of 
 priests, and God's K\;ip6?, clergy, or lot, or heritage ; yet God made the family 
 of Aai-on priests by emphasis, and therefore the application of this term to 
 Christians in general cannot prove that ministers are not specially priests. 
 
182 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 Part IV.— The Worship of the Church. 
 
 The worship of a church is invariably represented by 
 the earhest fathers as celebrated in one place, on which 
 they lay the utmost stress, treating every tendency to 
 separating into various assemblies as schismatic. What 
 would they have thought, then, of a national church 
 divided into numerous assemblies, if such an idea could 
 have entered the heads of those who always spoke of the 
 churches, not the church, of a nation? 
 
 The day of their meeting they called the Lord's day, as 
 the language of the Apostle John proves that even pre- 
 viously to the date of the Apocalypse, the day of Christ's 
 resurrection was known by that name, which proclaimed it 
 sacred to the Lord. 
 
 Justin declares, " On the day of the sun, we all make a 
 common assembly; since it is the first day in which God 
 made the world." Here breaks out the ingenuity of the 
 philosopher, who must find new and mystical reasons for 
 observing the first day of the week, disdaining to be satis- 
 fied with the plain scriptural fact, that, from the day of 
 Christ's resurrection, the disciples derived the practice 
 which distinguished them from the Jews. He adds, how- 
 ever, " Jesus Christ our Saviour rose, on that day, from 
 the dead." " For the day before that of Saturn, they 
 crucified him, and on that after Saturday, which is Sun- 
 day, he, appearing to his apostles, taught these things to 
 his disciples which we have delivered for your inspec- 
 
 But we are not obliged to prove a negative. Doclwell's argument admits tLat 
 the priesthood of the sons of Aaron was created by the appointment of God. 
 Let the same authority be shown for Christian priests, and every disciple of 
 Christ must submit. The New Testament confessedly fails to furnish this 
 authority, which is enough to satisfy every Protestant that no one Christian 
 is more a priest than another ; but papistical writers flee to the fathers, as 
 knowing most of tlie mind of the apostles ; and all who can be supposed to 
 possess any such advantage prove that tlie apostles never made Christian 
 ministers priests, or called them clergy. 
 
OF THE CHUrvCIT, ITo OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 183 
 
 tion."* Clement of Alexandria affirms that Plato pro- 
 phesied of the Lord's day, in the tenth book of the 
 Eej)ubhc,f 
 
 The Christian worship Justin describes thus : "On the 
 day called Sunday, tliere is made a gathering into the 
 same place of all that live in city or country, and the 
 memoranda of the apostles, or tlie writings of the pro- 
 phets, are read as long as may be. Afterwards, the reader 
 having ceased, the president makes verbally the. admoni- 
 tion and exhortation to tlie imitation of these excellent 
 things. Then we all rise and pour forth prayers. Then 
 the bread and wine are taken. "j 
 
 As Justin shows that the Christian churches had no 
 liturgy, so neither Trenaeus, nor Clement of Alexandria, 
 nor Origen, knew any such thing. Tertullian, also, says, 
 " We look up to heaven with our hands stretched forth ;"§ 
 which precludes the idea of either holding or looking at a 
 prayer-book; "aud we make prayers sine monitore, as from 
 the free motion of our own hearts." He that reads prayers 
 out of a book cannot be said to pray, sine monitore, 
 without a monitor. Would any one who employs a liturgy 
 describe his worship in the terms of Tertullian? 
 
 The order of worship w^as as follows : first, the reading 
 of the Scriptures of the New Testament, that is, the 
 memoranda of the apostles or the gospels ;|i then the 
 reading of the prophets from the Old Testament. " After 
 this, the president delivers an exhortation, or sermon, 
 urging all to imitate what they had learned." Origen 
 informs us that the lessons were expounded for an hour. 
 Then psalms, or hymns, were sung,1[ as Pliny informs 
 Trajan, that the Christians " sung a hymn to Christ as 
 God." The later Clement affirms that they were always 
 praising, hymning, blessing, psalmodising;*'-^- every one 
 
 * First Apology. + Strom, v. j Apol. i. 98. 
 
 § Apologeticus, c. 30. || Jnst. Apol. i. 98. 
 
 % Tcrtulliau (le Anima. ** Strom, u. 
 
184 OF THE CHURCH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 being invited to sing out of the holy Scriptures, or from 
 his own genius;-^ and of the Psahns they most frequently 
 sung the 133rd, " Behold, how good and pleasant it is for 
 brethren to dwell together in unity. "f Clement is thought 
 to have left on record some of his own hymns, one of 
 which put into English verse will be found in the Appen- 
 dix.J The human voice, however, he pronounces the only 
 Christian instrument of music, saying, " Praise him on the 
 psaltery;, for the tongue is the Lord's psaltery. Praise 
 him on the harp ; the mouth is to be understood. The 
 cymbal means the mouth, which echoes by the force of the 
 lips."§ 
 
 Justin informs us that the president joreached or ex- 
 pounded, and, doubtless, this was the usual practice ; yet 
 Ignatius, the great advocate, perhaps author, of the Monar- 
 chy of Episcopacy, tells the church to respect the bishop 
 the more, in proportion as they found him silent. Hovv- 
 venerable, then, would have been a dumb bishop ! But 
 we cannot help suspecting that an interpolator, who was 
 himself one of Isaiah's " dumb dogs," inserted this stupid 
 exhortation. If, however, it is a genuine Ignatian sen- 
 tence, then others must have spoken for him that was 
 silent : and we learn from Origen's history that w^hat are 
 called laymen anciently preached. For wdien he was not 
 in holy orders, he was invited to preach in the church, by 
 Alexander, bishop in Jerusalem, and Theoctistus of Cae- 
 sarea. Demetrius, to wiiose charge at Alexandria Origen 
 belonged, asserted, " that never before had laymen preached 
 in the presence of bishops." But the other pastors tell him : 
 " You speak what is not true ; for wherever any are found 
 fit to profit the brethren, they are exhorted by the holy 
 bishops to preach to the people." After adducing in- 
 stances, they add, " It is probable this is done in other 
 places, though we know it not."|l 
 
 * Psed.ii. c. 4. + Tertulliau, Adv. Psyc. c. 13. + Appendix, K. 
 
 § Pyedag. lib. ii. c. 4. 1! Euseb. lib. vi. c. 19. 
 
OF THE CHUECH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 185 
 
 Now, it is to be observed, that even Demetrius ventures 
 not to say that laymen never preached, but only that they 
 did it not in the presence of bishops, which might have 
 been true, with the fullest liberty for lay-preaching where 
 no bishop was present. Those communities that now most 
 extensively employ lay preachers, very rarely hear them in 
 the presence of the pastor. 
 
 But the bishop of Jerusalem, our common mother, and 
 that of Ceesarea, an apostolic church, not only deny that 
 laymen were unaccustomed to preach, even in the presence 
 of bishops, but quote Bishops Neon, and Celsus, and At- 
 ticus, blessed brethren, i. e., gone to bliss, as exhorting 
 laymen to preach to the people. If any deference, then, 
 is due to the earliest ecclesiastical records, the practice of 
 limiting to the pastors the right to preach is an innova- 
 tion ; and deference to the fathers, as well as to the Scrip- 
 tures, demands the restoration of lay preaching. 
 
 After the sermon, " all rose up and stood to pray."* 
 Tertullian says that, in his time, they prayed towards the 
 east, for which he gives mystical reasons, if reasons they 
 can be called ; for one of them is founded on a false trans- 
 lation by the Septuagint. Tertullian calls the east a type 
 of Christ.t Clement of Alexandria, however, tells us, the 
 east is the image of the day of our (new) birth, when light 
 shone out of darkness. ;[ Origen's foolish wisdom on this 
 point is omitted on account of the length to which he 
 runs. The heathens therefore accused the Christians of 
 adoring the rising sun. But numerous passages express 
 the ancient practice of looking up to heaven in prayer. 
 
 Those prayers that were offered to God sine monitore 
 Cyprian describes as modest prayers,§ accompanied with 
 tears and groans. The people pronounced a loud Amen, 
 Justin declares. He speaks of all the people consenting,!! 
 
 * Justin Martyr, Apol. p. 98. -f Orientem Christi figuram. 
 
 I Strom, vii. § De Orat. Domin. 
 
 Ij Apol. i. 97, eTrev^rjjUf/travTOj naVToi tov Xaov. 
 
lob OF THE CHUECH, ITS OFFICEES, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 which condemns the preposterous practice of praying in a 
 tongue unknown to them. Cyprian censures the putting 
 into the priesthood of any but those whom it appears, or is 
 certain, God will hear, which again confutes the assertion, 
 that the evil character of the man cannot invalidate his 
 ministry; a doctrine that shows the character of its authors; 
 for it was never thought of till priests became wicked^ all 
 the ancients agreeing that respect was due to none but 
 good ministers. 
 
 With regard to the Lord's prayer, as we have no instance 
 in Scripture of its being used as a form, so have we none 
 in the earliest fathers. Clement of Alexandria concludes 
 his Pfedagogue, or Christian instructor, with a prayer; but 
 not the Lord's prayer. During the earliest ages, we can- 
 not find an instance of the use of this form ; though it is 
 certain that the churches added the doxology, " Thine is 
 the kingdom," &c., which our Lord never uttered, though 
 it is now taken for a part of his prayer. " A Christian for- 
 gives," says Clement, "and justly prays, 'Forgive us, as 
 we forgive.' "* 
 
 Tertullian and Cyprian comment on the prayer, as the 
 law and form for prayer ; but they speak of praying ac- 
 cording to circumstances, r.d they assure each other of 
 being remembered in their public prayers, while every- 
 thing concurs to prove that the Christian church had, 
 during the first centuries, no prescribed form of prayer.f 
 Tertullian shows the use they made of their hands, 
 " stretching them out in the form of a cross," which ex- 
 cludes the idea of their holding a prayer-book, and Origen 
 declares they prayed, " Closing the eyes of sense and 
 waking up those of the soul."| The worship of the primi- 
 tive church, through three hundred years, was unquestion- 
 
 * Strom, vii. 537. + Tertullian de Orat. Dom. 
 
 J Mucra? lovs ttis aia-Oijireui o^6a\fxovs Kal iyeipas Tovi rh^ yltvxn^-, Cont. Cels. 
 
 lib. Yii. 362. 
 
OF THE CHUKCH, ITS OFFICEKS, AND WORSHIP. 18 < 
 
 ably like that of those who have no liturgy, though they 
 may sometimes use the Lord's prayer. 
 
 " Not the place, but the congregation of the elect, I call 
 a church," says Clement of Alexandria.* " Every place 
 is, in truth, holy, where we receive the knowledge of 
 God."f 
 
 Justin Martyr tells Trypho, that, " In every part of the 
 earth, God receives the sacrifices of Christians,"]; 
 
 Eusebius informs us, that Dionysius of Alexandria 
 affirms, "They held their assemblies in a field, a farm, a 
 desert, a ship, an inn, a prison. "§ When they began to 
 have a separate place for worship, the name given to it was, 
 not the church, but the church's house. |j Tertullian says, 
 " The simple house of our Dove, always on elevated and 
 open places, and towards the light, loves the figure of the 
 Holy Spirit, the east, the figure of Christ." 
 
 As we advance towards the end of the third century, 
 passages are accumulated to prove that the building was 
 called the church ; but it ma}^ be doubted whether, even 
 then, the assembly is not always intended. Of consecra- 
 tion of places no vestige can be found. 
 
 It may be necessary to observe, that Origen shows the 
 prayers and praises of the church to have been offered " to 
 God alone, the Lord of the universe, and God, the Word, 
 his only begotten. IT Therefore the one God over all is to 
 be supplicated and entreated to be propitious tons." This 
 excludes all prayers to the Virgin, and to angels or saints,-:^* 
 
 The unity of the church is always said to consist in the 
 doctrine held by all. "For the God being one, and the 
 Lord one ; on this account, also, it is supremely precious, 
 
 * Strom, vii. + Ibid. vii. 520. + Dial. 844. § Lib. vii. c. 22. 
 
 II The Christian fasts and moral discipline will be considered under the 
 following head of doctrine, and the synods must be omitted, both for w^ant of 
 space, and because the fourth century, which may be called the age of coun- 
 cils, is that of the first general council held at Nice, and is beyond our era. 
 
 On Ministerial Vestments, see Appendix B. On the Creed, Appendix C. 
 
 % Cent. Cels. lib. viii. p. 422. ** P. 420. 
 
J 88 OF THE CHUECH, ITS OFFICERS, AND WORSHIP. 
 
 praised on account of the unity ; being an imitation of the 
 one origin (the first church at Jerusalem). Therefore, 
 the one church has, by the nature of the one God, been 
 united into one lot, which heresies attempt to split into 
 many. In substance, therefore, and thought, and origin, 
 and excellence, we say the ancient Catholic church is alone, 
 arranging into the unity of one faith, which is from both 
 Testaments, or rather according to one Testament, at dif- 
 ferent times, by the will of one God, collecting those whom 
 God has foreordained ;* knowing before the foundation of 
 the world they would be just. Cyprian says, "What was 
 intended for all the apostles was said to Peter, that it might 
 exhibit the unity of the whole. "f " There is one episco- 
 pate, a part of which is held by each bishop. He cannot 
 have God as his father who lias not the church as his 
 mother ; " a favourite quotation with those who are unwil- 
 ling to know, or at least to confess, that this church is de- 
 clared by Cyprian to consist of men who hold the faith of 
 the Trinity, which he calls the sacrament of unity, and the 
 bond of concord inseparably cohering ; and of those who 
 are united by the love of the truth, living in holiness ; so 
 that we are to congratulate ourselves when wicked men 
 are separated from the church ; that the doves and sheep 
 of Christ may not be infected by poisonous contagion. 
 Even Dodwellj confesses that the unity which Cyprian 
 preaches is not that of the Catholic church, as Kome would 
 say, but that of a single church, with its bishop ; nor can 
 any one intelligently read the Treatise on the Unity of the 
 Church without perceiving that its author had a congi^ega- 
 tional church in his eye ; while a national church, con- 
 taining all sorts of men, is most abhorrent from Cyprian's 
 views. It is observable, too, that Cyprian imitates Tertul- 
 lian in applying the word sect to the true church, as Paul 
 in the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 * Strom, vii. 549. + De Unit, 
 
 I Dissert. Cyprian. 
 
OF THE CHUECH, ITS OFFICEES, AND WOESHIP. 189 
 
 We have passed rapidly over that which is practical, 
 rather than dogmatical, or we might have observed, that 
 as the apostasy advances, churches disappear behind the 
 bishops, till such a letter as Clement wrote from the church 
 at Rome to that in Corinth would be a prodigy. The sup- 
 port of the ministry is scarcely mentioned, except that the 
 Theodotians and Montanists gave their pastors a monthly 
 salary. Abundant evidence, however, exists, that the con- 
 tributions of Christians were purely voluntary, and that 
 some portion of liberty still remained to create considerable 
 variety in the customs of the churches, which, being deemed 
 consistent with the essential unity, gave no offence.* 
 
 * Cyp. Pref. ad Concil. Cai'tliag. p. 397, Ep. 79 ; Socrates, lib. v. c. 22. 
 
LECTUBE V. 
 
 THE SACRAMENTS AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 
 
 The analogy of the ancient church, which we have seen 
 employed so mischievously to introduce an unscriptural 
 priesthood, would never have led us to suppose that the 
 Christian sacraments were endued with the saving virtue 
 which human depravity has always loved to attach to ritual 
 observances, rather than to the work of Christ, or his 
 Spirit. As the ceremonial law had no rite which either 
 operated physically on the soul, or was morally identified 
 with the sanctity of the recipient, Jehovah, by the prophet, 
 called the Jews uncircumcised ; for, says the apostle, " If 
 thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision isjmade un- 
 circumcision." The earliest fathers, therefore, are not 
 guilty of that perversion of the sacraments which, however, 
 too soon became the. crying sin of what was called the 
 church. 
 
 Not from Scripture, but from heathen Rome, the Latin 
 church derived the word sacrament ; as the Greeks also 
 borrowed from paganism their term mystery. Any symbol 
 being called a sacrament, Tertullian speaks of the sacra- 
 ments, not only of the bread and the cup, but also of " the 
 lions of Mithra, the sacraments of arid and heated nature."* 
 
 * Advers. Marcioneiu, lib. i. c. 13. " If the sacraments liad not a certain 
 similitude of those things of which they are sacraments they would not 
 be sacraments. But from this similitude they mostly take the names of the 
 things themselves. As, therefore, after a certain mode the sacrament of the 
 body of Christ is the body of Christ, the sacrament of the blood of Christ is 
 the blood of Christ, so the sacrament of faith is faith." August. Bonifacio 
 de Bap. Parvulorum v. 235. 
 
THE SACEAMENTS AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS. ]9l 
 
 Part I. — Of BajJtism. 
 
 Justin Martyr says, " But how we dedicate ourselves to 
 God, having been renewed by Christ, we will explain. For 
 whoever are persuaded and believe that the things taught 
 by us are true, and promise to live, or engage that they 
 can live, accordingly, they are taught to ask of God, with 
 prayer and fasting, the remission of their former sins; we 
 also praying and fasting with them, they are afterwards led 
 by us where there is water, and after the same mode of 
 regeneration as we ourselves were regenerated, they are 
 regenerated. For in the name of God the Father and 
 Sovereign of all, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of 
 the Holy Spirit, they are then washed with water. For 
 Christ said, " Except ye be born again, ye cannot enter 
 the kingdom of heaven." "How they who have sinned 
 and repent escape their sins is expressed by the j^rophet, 
 ' Wash you ; make you clean ; put away the iniquity of 
 your doings.' " This reason we have learned from the 
 apostles, that as in our first birth we were ignorant; so, 
 that we might not remain children of necessity, or of igno- 
 rance, but of choice and of knowledge, we obtain, by the 
 water, the remission of former sins. And there is named 
 over him that wishes to be regenerated, and has repented 
 of his sins, the name of the Father of all, pronouncing this 
 name, as leading him that is to be washed to the laver. 
 But this laver, or washing, is called illumination, as those 
 who have learned these things are enlightened in their 
 mind. The demons, having heard this washing proclaimed, 
 by the prophets, endeavoured that those who entered their 
 temples should sprinkle themselves ; but at least that they 
 should go away and wash before they enter the temples."* 
 
 Again; Trypho is asked, "What is circumcision to me 
 who have the testimony of God ? What need is there of 
 baptism to him who is baptized with the Holy Spirit?" 
 
 * Just. Apol. i. p. 88—91. Tliiiiby, Paris, 94. 
 
192 THE SACEAMENTS AND CHEISTTAN ETHICS. 
 
 Justin's statement may have been modified by a very 
 natural wish to commend Christianity to the more philo- 
 sophical heathens ; but it cannot thoroughly satisfy any 
 party among Christians. It represents, however, the 
 change in the person's state, from an unbeliever to a 
 believer, as the antecedent, not the consequence, of bap- 
 tism. " They who have been renewed dedicate them- 
 selves, and promise to live, or pledge themselves to be 
 able to live accordingly, "'i- The peculiar expression ex- 
 hibits an engagement made under a consciousness of the 
 moral power to fulfil it, which none but those who are 
 " made new" could sincerely profess. 
 
 That *' they are taught to pray and to ask of God, 
 fasting, the remission of their former sins" may be 
 deemed a proof that forgiveness had not yet been ob- 
 tained ; though it is really no proof at all, whatever may 
 have been Justin's views. One who regarded baptism as 
 a mere sign, not to say seal, of forgiveness previously 
 obtained, would naturally, and most properly, pray that 
 this forgiveness may really be enjoyed, and that his bap- 
 tism may be a declaration, before the world, of what has 
 already passed in his own breast. In fact, no sincere 
 man could act otherwise ; though he were most clearly and 
 positively convinced that he was already forgiven; for tbe 
 more sure he was that forgiveness ought to precede, the 
 more earnestly he would pray for it. But why ask for 
 what they have already obtained ? may be thought by some 
 a sage question. This, however, we are, if Christians, 
 doing every day. 
 
 The Martyr could not mean to intimate that baptism 
 conferred either regeneration or x:)ardon, when he asked 
 Trypho, " What need is there of baptism to him who is 
 baptized with the Holy Spirit ?" We are sure he did not 
 wish to discard the rite as needless, and therefore must 
 conclude that he intended to exhibit the baptism of the 
 
 * Kai ftioiiv oiiTa)? hvvdaOai viricrxvlivrai. 
 
THE SACKAilENTS AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 193 
 
 Si:)irit as preceding, and as that which saves; so that the 
 absolute necessity of water baptism to salvation is here 
 denied. We are confirmed in this view, when we hear 
 him say, " The laver, or washing, is called illumination, 
 as those who have learned these things are enlightened in 
 their mind." He had before said that those who had been 
 persuaded and believed the things taught by us i(. be true 
 are baptized, and now he says such are enlightened in 
 their mind, and therefore the baptism is called illumina- 
 tion, not as conferring that blessing, but as conferred on 
 the illuminated. By parity of reason, the baptism is 
 called regeneration, as it is performed on men who have 
 been regenerated. 
 
 This is still farther confirmed by his own reasoning 
 with Trypho. For, alluding to the words, "Wash you; 
 make you clean," he says, " Verily Isaiah did not send you 
 to a bath there to wash away murder and other sins, which 
 not all the water of the sea would be sufficient to put away ; 
 but, as it seems, this was anciently the salutary washing, 
 which follows repentance, and is no longer by the blood 
 of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer, but by faith, 
 through the blood of Christ and his death, who died for this." 
 
 It is not pretended that Justin is exempt from the ap- 
 pearance of confounding the sign and the thing signified, 
 or of representing the latter as conveyed by the former; 
 for, after all, opposing parties will claim his suffrage. But 
 subsequent ages have shown that, on sacramental subjects, 
 this is no small praise. Justin had not seen the mischief 
 done to the church by placing salvation in its rites ; and 
 the inaccuracy of his statements is therefore entitled to 
 the more excuse. His previous heathenism probably con- 
 tributed to his faults, on this, as on other subjects ; and as 
 he is the first who treats on baptism, which Clement, 
 Ignatius, and Polycarp left untouched ; so it should be 
 remembered that, as the second century was then more 
 than half gone, corruption was considerably advanced. 
 
 VIII. o 
 
19 t THE SACRAyLENi'S AXE CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 
 
 Bat though we have now conceded to the advocates of 
 baptismal regeneration all that they can claim from Justin, 
 we must still contend that when we candidly allow the 
 better {Dart of his language to explain the worse, he remains 
 a witness to regeneration by the Spirit, and justification by 
 faith, prior to baptism, which at last is said to do that 
 which it publicly declares to have been done. Of his rege- 
 neration by faith, by water, and by wood, we say nothing, 
 for it may mean anything. 
 
 " Christ committed to his disciples," Irenj-eus affirms, 
 " the power of regeneration to God, saying, ' Go teach, 
 baptizing in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the 
 Holy Ghost.' For as from dry wheat, one mass cannot be 
 made without moisture, nor one bread ; so neither could 
 we, the many, become one in Christ, without the water, 
 which is from heaven. Our bodies, by that laver, which is 
 to incorruption, have received unity; but our souls, by the 
 Spirit; whence, both are necessary."'* " The water, which 
 is from heaven," would be pronounced a strange, absurd, 
 and heterodox expression, if employed by a modern divine, 
 to declare that Christ, by *' born of water," did not mean 
 reo'eneration by baptism, as, indeed, he could not, when he 
 said to Nicodemus, " Art thou a master of Israel, and 
 knowest not these things ?" For why must a teacher of 
 the Israelites know Christian baptism, which, strictly 
 speaking, was not then instituted ? But a master of Israel 
 ouf^ht to have known that God promised, by Ezekiel, to 
 sprinkle clean water upon his people, by giving his Spirit 
 to create a new heart. This "water from heaven" must 
 not now be scorned, since Irena^us has sanctified the 
 phrase. It must also be observed, that he says, " Our 
 bodies, by the laver, which is to incorruption, receive 
 unity ; but our souls, by the Spirit." The effect of the 
 water of baptism is restricted to the"* body, and to unity 
 with the church, and the soul is affected only by the Spirit. 
 * Iren. lib. iii. c. 19, p. 280. 
 
THE SACriAMENTS AiSID CHllISTrAN ETHTCS. 195 
 
 Both are said to be necessary, as if they were not identi- 
 fied, but were distinct things, that might be separated, 
 though they should be conjoined. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria thus exhorts : " Come, come, 
 my young liock; for except ye be born again, and rege- 
 nerated, as the Scripture says, ye will not receive him 
 that is truly a Father, nor will ye ever enter the kingdom 
 of heaven. For how shall a stranger be joermitted to 
 enter? When he is enrolled, and become a citizen, and 
 receives the Father ; then he will be among the number 
 of the sons of the Father; then he will be counted worthy 
 to inherit ; then he (God) will communicate of the parental 
 kingdom to the genuine beloved Son. This is the church 
 of the firstborn, which consists of many good children. 
 These are the firstborn that are written in heaven, and 
 associate festively with so many myriads of angels. We 
 are the firstborn children ; we are the alumni of God, who 
 are the genuine friends of the firstborn ; who, first among 
 men, knew God ; first, are withdrawn from sin ; first, are 
 separated from the devil."* Here regeneration is not 
 baptism, but a moral, or spiritual change. The rite is 
 comj^ared to the enrolment of a citizen, which does not 
 create, but recognizes a claim previously founded on pro- 
 perty, or birth. 
 
 "By the laver alone, he, i.e., Christ, is perfected, and by 
 the descent of the Spirit he is sanctified. This very thing 
 happened for us whose exemplar the Lord w^as. Being bap- 
 tized, we are illuminated ; being illuminated, we are made 
 sons; being sons, we are perfected ; being perfected, we are 
 immortalized. ' I said, ye are gods, and all sons of the 
 Most High.' In various ways this w^ork is called grace, 
 and illumination, and the perfect laver. A laver, indeed, 
 by which we are cleansed from sins ; but grace by which 
 the punishments due to sins are remitted; but illumina- 
 tion by which that holy saving light is seen, that is, by 
 
 * Admon. ad Gentes. lib. xl. 
 
196 THE SACRAMENTS AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 
 
 whicli we are sharp-si gli ted to what is divhie.'"* More, in 
 this strain, follows ; but it is equally vague and figurative, 
 and may mean anything or nothing, though it was intended 
 to appear most sublime. This illumination, which is said 
 to operate like the removing of a cataract, as both Clement 
 and TertuUian say, was intended, by the former writer, to 
 prepare the initiated for the esoteric doctrine of the true 
 gnosticism. For Clement is frank enough to inform us of 
 the commerce he held with heathenism, observing that, 
 *' Among the barbarian philosophers, the name of regenera- 
 tion was given to instruction and illumination ;" and " I 
 have begotten you," says the celebrated apostle, "by the 
 gospel."'! By this, and other expressions, it would appear 
 that the instruction was thought to regenerate, and the 
 baptism to introduce the convert into that new world 
 which was formed by the Christian church. But we are 
 here informed that the early fathers, who were pagans by 
 birth, and philosophers by education, mingled the ideas of 
 the heathen mysteries with the Christian sacraments; and 
 adopted language which no party would now defend. For 
 they who are baptized are said to be not only illuminated 
 and adopted, but perfected and immortalized, and made 
 gods. The heathen apotheosis ! 
 
 As far as we can ascertain that the early fathers adopted 
 what is called the doctrine of the ojjus operatum, or the 
 efficacy of the mere rite of baptism ; we can shew that they 
 believed, not only that the soul received a certain effect, 
 but that the body received immortality by baptism. For 
 our bodies, Irengeus maintains, receive the unity of incor 
 ruption by baptism, our souls by the Spirit. Did he think 
 that those who die unbaptized would not have immortal 
 bodies? 
 
 Nay, if we believe all that these fathers say, which is more 
 than they did themselves ; we must conclude that the 
 heathen poet anticipated the truth, when he said, dpiarov 
 * PseJag. lib. i. c. 6. p. 69. f Strom, lib. iv. 403. 
 
THE SACIlAiMENTS AND CIJRISTIAN ETHICS, 197 
 
 /xeV uStup;- for water itself is holy, not only as sanctified 
 by the Spirit to a holy use, but as having itself that which 
 made it worthy of such an application. " man, you 
 have primarily to venerate the age of waters, that it is an 
 ancient substance ; hence its dignity, that it is the seal of 
 the Divine Spirit, more gi'ateful, truly, than the other ele- 
 ments. For all was as yet darkness, unformed, without 
 the ornament of the stars, and the abyss was gloomy, and 
 the earth unfurnished, and heaven rude. The liquid ele- 
 ment always perfect matter, joyous, simple, pure of itself; 
 a worthy vehicle lying before God. Hence, we little fishes 
 are born in water according to our fish Jesus Christ."t Lest 
 this should be thought peculiar to Tertullian, we refer to 
 Theophilus of Antioch for a correspondent passage. J 
 
 Though the Latin church had transferred to their own 
 tongue, from the Greek, the word baptize, Tertullian does 
 not employ it, but almost always uses tingoj to tinge. When 
 he says, " We little fishes are born in water, "§ he refers, not 
 to little children, but to Christians in general ; alluding to 
 the monogram, ix'^vs, a fish, formed out of the initials of 
 the Greek words, Jesus Christ, God's Son the Saviour. 
 He speaks of trine baptism, [j repeating the rite each time 
 the name of one of the persons of the Trinity is men- 
 tioned. To prove the necessity of baptism, he appeals to 
 the words, " Except a man be born of water." 
 
 If infant baptism is taught by the early fathers, it is, as 
 in the Scriptures, with sufficient clearness to satisfy its 
 advocates, but not to silence its opponents. Justin Martyr 
 affirms, " There are many men and women of sixty, or 
 seventy years, who, from children, were made disciples to 
 Christ, who remain uncorrupt ; and I glory that I can shew 
 such, from every nation. "1^ The discipleship of these 
 
 * Pindar. Olymp. i. c. i. + Tertullian de Baptismo, c. 1 and 3. 
 
 X Ad Autol. lib. ii. § c. 1. || Advers. Prax. c. 26. 
 
 •^f Kal noWol Ttvei Kal TroXXai e^riKovrovTai Kal eBdofxmovTOvTac o'i €K iraid 
 fHaOnrevOrjaav ry Xpiarut ix^Oopoi dta/jievovffi' Kal ei'xoM'*' KaTci nav yivoi iH'tfpdiruf 
 
 totoCTovT deifoi. Apolog. prim. 62. 
 
198 THE SACEAMENTS AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 
 
 children is thus carried back to the days of the Apostle 
 John, and to the original commission Justin seems to 
 allude, fjLaBrjrevaaTe, " Disciple all nations, baptizing them." 
 
 Irenseus speaks of Christ, who "came to save all by him- 
 self ; all, I say, who are regenerated by him to God, in- 
 fants, and little children, and bOys, and young men, and 
 elders."* We have seen how the fathers employ the name 
 of the sign, baptism, for the thing signified, regeneration ; 
 and in the Greek copy, recovered from Epiphanius, we 
 read; "as to the denial of the baptism of regeneration to- 
 wards God," which shews what Irenaeus intended by in- 
 fants being regenerated to God. It is, indeed, difficult to 
 see how either he or Justin should have spoken thus of 
 children, unless they believed them either regenerated or 
 baptized in consequence of being born of Christian parents ; 
 and on the former supposition the sign must certainly 
 have been conferred where it w^as believed that the bless- 
 ing signified was enjoyed. 
 
 Tertullian shews that the practice of infant baptism pre- 
 vailed in his days ; for he attempts to dissuade parents 
 from exposing children to the danger of unpardonable 
 sin; I and such he considered sin, at least of the grosser 
 kind, committed after baptism. He quotes the text which 
 is now adduced as an authority for infant baptism, " Else 
 were your children unclean, but now are they holy,":[ to 
 prove that they were " designated to holiness, and by this 
 also to salvation ;" so that his appeals to Scripture are in 
 favour of what his private superstition would avoid. 
 
 Cyprian informs us that, in the Council of Carthage, 
 where sixty-six bishops were assembled, none agreed with 
 the one who thought that baptism should be deferred to 
 the eighth day, but all decreed that it might be performed 
 
 * Omnes enim venit per semetipsnm salvare : omnes inquam qui per eum 
 renascuntur in Deum, infantes et parvulos et pueros et juvenes et seniores. 
 Cont. Hger., Hb. ii. c. 39. 
 
 + De Bapt. c, 18. J De Anima, c. 39. 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 199 
 
 at any time. This was the only controversy on the subject 
 of infant baptism, in the early ages of the church ; for tlie 
 propriety of the practice was never denied ; and that bap- 
 tism was supposed to succeed to circumcision,* as the seal 
 of God's covenant with his people and their seed, is shewn 
 by this abortive attempt to restrict baptism, like circum- 
 cision, to the eighth day after birth. Augustine belongs 
 not to our province, except as he declares that infant bap- 
 tism was introduced by no decrees of councils, but was 
 derived from the apostles. He was sufficiently acquainted 
 with the councils to be a competent witness to the negative 
 part of this sentence, and of the positive we can judge for 
 ourselves ; for the only acts of the Apostles which are en- 
 titled to credit are those which are recorded by inspira- 
 tion. 
 
 That the mode of baptism adopted by the early Chris- 
 tians is not easily ascertained, will naturally be deemed a 
 proof of the small importance they attached to that ques- 
 tion to which some now ascribe so much. Justin merely 
 says, "We bring the candidate where there is water," 
 which shew^s that they did not bring the water to him ; but 
 this is true, even where nothing more than the modern font 
 is employed. The martyr, however, speaks of a cistern, when 
 disputing with the Jews, to whose baptisms he compares 
 those of Christians. Now, as we know that the Jewish 
 law never commanded one person to put another under 
 water, so we are sure that the majority of its "divers bap- 
 tisms" were sprinklings. Justin accordingly affirms that 
 " the dtemons, having heard this (baptismal) washing pro- 
 claimed by the prophets, endeavoured that those who en- 
 tered their temples should sprinkle themselves ; and at last 
 that they should go and wash before they entered." Here 
 washing may, indeed, seem to be made superior to sprink- 
 ling, as a closer imitation of Christian baptism. f 
 
 The Egyptian Clement thus exhorts ; " Keceive the 
 
 * August. Seleuc. ep. 108. f Apul. i.; Paris, 94. 
 
200 THE SACRAMENTS AND CHETSTIAK ETHICS. 
 
 rational water, be washed, ye polluted ; sprinkle yourselves 
 from the (evil) habit, by the true drops."* 
 
 Tertullian, usually employing tingo, to tinge, for bap- 
 tism, uses also rnergo, to merge, but never suhmergo. He 
 speaks of Christ's pouring water on his disciples, as a bap- 
 tism, which Peter refused; but if he had not already been 
 baptized by John, Christ would not have said, " He that 
 has been washed needs not again."t Taking his various 
 expressions together, we should suppose that he thought 
 the baptism was performed on a person standing m the 
 water, by pouring water upon him, as the orientals bathe, 
 by going into a river, and pouring its water on their heads. 
 
 To clinical baptism, or that which was administered to 
 those who were sick in bed, lesttliey should die unbaptized, 
 it may seem useless to appeal; as the practice marks the 
 advance of superstition. But it also shews that those who 
 adopted it thought affusion to be real baptism. This is 
 rendered more certain by the manner in which Tertullian 
 speaks, in his Treatise of Baptism : " Others, violently 
 enough, contend that the apostles had what filled the 
 place of baptism ; when in the ship being sprinkled with 
 the waves, they were covered ; and that Peter, also, him- 
 self, going through the sea, was sufficiently merged. But 
 I think it is one thing to be sprinkled and intercepted by 
 the violence of the sea, and another to be tinged by the 
 discipline of religion. "| Here we should observe that Ter- 
 tullian opposes the notion that the apostles were thus bap- 
 tized, not because this was not immersion, but because they 
 were sprinkled by the violence of the sea, instead of sub- 
 mitting to a religious rite. There is good sense in this 
 distinction, for neither immersion nor affusion is baptism, 
 except as the performance of the rite of religion is the de- 
 sign. The whole passage proves that Septimius thought 
 
 * Admon. to Gent. 46. + De Bapt. c. 12. 
 
 1 Ibid. 
 
THE SACllAMENTS AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 201 
 
 the application of water to the body, not of the body to 
 water, with the religious design of dedication to God, was 
 Christian baptism. 
 
 The Syriac version employs the root ^liDl to express the 
 action, and the noun |A->ioV)SV> for the rite of baptism. 
 The radical signification is, to stand, which is seen in an 
 instance free from all controversy, the word ]jq1Q2^ a pil- 
 lar, employed in Gal. ii. 9. "James, Cephas, and John, 
 seemed to be pillars." The standing ceremony, then, which 
 is the direct opposite of the dipping ceremony, is the phrase 
 employed by the mother of all churches, forbidding us to 
 suppose that when it was translated in the New Testament 
 by ^anriCco, the idea of immersion was intended. It may, 
 indeed, be doubted whether any reference to the ritual mofZ(? 
 was designed to be conveyed by the Syriac ; for the moral 
 idea of a man taking his standing, or his station, in the 
 Christian church, may be the meaning ; but if the mode be 
 insisted upon, then the idea conveyed by the word is that 
 of a man standing upright, like a pillar, to have water 
 poured ujjon him. 
 
 We find the fathers, contrary to the bent of their own 
 minds, dropping occasional explanations which prove that 
 they considered themselves to have used sacramental lan- 
 guage on the efficacy of baptism. Who can take the gage 
 of TertuUian's mind from his own fervid, extravagant lan- 
 guage, and not see that when he says, " This is my body," 
 he means the figure of my body ? Such an admission from 
 such a man is a volume of explanation. All that conveys 
 another meaning was his own, the very genius and soul of 
 the African orator ; but this single word of cool, scriptural, 
 rational explanation was forced from him by the power of 
 truth ; and was the more of God as it was the less of Ter- 
 tuUian. The fathers called baptism, regeneration, and re- 
 mission of sins, " that is, the figure " of them ; but went on 
 indulging their own genius and love of exaggeration, till 
 
202 THE SACIJAMENTS AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 
 
 at length the explanation was forgotten and altogether 
 denied.* 
 
 The profound silence of the apostolical fathers on the 
 subject of baptism, contrasted with the language of the 
 third and following centuries, must convince every atten- 
 tive observer, that what the men who lived nearest to the 
 apostles ascribed to the spiritual, was, by their successors, 
 if such they can be called, attributed to the ritual part of 
 our religion.! 
 
 * The way in which Tertullian gets over the difficulty arising from the 
 want of evidence, that the twelve apostles ever received Christian baptism 
 which he makes essential to salvation, may be seen in his Treatise ou 
 Baptism, c. 12: "And now I will answer, as I shall be able, to those who 
 deny that the apostles were tinged (tinctos). For if they had entered into 
 the human baptism of John, they were also desiring that of the Lord, as far 
 as the Lord himself had defined one baptism, saying to Peter, unwilling to 
 have water poured on him, ' He who has once washed has no need again ;' 
 which therefore he certainly would not have said to one net tinged; which is 
 express proof against those who take away from the apostles even John's 
 baptism, that they may destroy the sacrament of water. The Lord himself, 
 a debtor to no repentance, was tinged; was it not necessary to sinners?" 
 Perhaps this is one of the instances in which Lactantius said, Tertullian was 
 multum obscurus, and as we are not sure that we have exactly caught his 
 meaning, so we suspect, that he did not himself think he had proved his point. 
 He supposes that the apostles had all received John's baptism, which cannot 
 be proved true, and he makes John's baptism nearly, if not quite, identical 
 with that of Christ, which is certainly false. But he finds a proof that Peter 
 had been baptized, in the words of Christ to him, "He that has been washed 
 needeth not, save to wash his feet." 
 
 + The doctrine of baptisms, as held by the fathers, would not be complete 
 without the mention of confirmation, for this was, in their view, not a mere 
 appendage to the former, but an integral part of the initiatory rite. It con- 
 sisted in the laying on of the hands of the baptizer, in order to confer tlie 
 gift of the Holy Spirit. This does not appear, by Justin's account of baptism, 
 to have been at that time practised, but it was soon after introduced. It 
 seems to have originated in a mistaken notion, that the conferring of tlic 
 Holy Ghost by the laying on of the apostles' hands was a spiritual blessiug 
 always attendant on baptism; though the Scriptures show that it was a 
 miraculous power imparted to some of the first converts for the confirmation 
 of the gospel. In the baptism of Lydia and the Philippian jailor we have no 
 mention of it; and in the peculiar case of Cornelius it was so far from being 
 consequent on baptism, that tlie descent of the Spirit on the Gentiles, 
 enabling them to speak with tongues, was assigned as a reason for venturing 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS. Q03 
 
 Part II. — The Lord's Supper. 
 
 On this subject the earliest Avriters, both he who ad- 
 dressed Diognetus, and Clement of Kome, are silent ; while 
 Ignatius, who comes next, is so figurative and bombastic, 
 that he is the worst of all evidences where the grand ques- 
 tion is whether the w^ords of Christ are to be understood 
 according to the letter, or in the sacramental sense. 
 
 Justin affirms, "We bring (the convert) to those that 
 are called brethren, where they are collected, to offer com- 
 mon prayers, both for themselves and for the illuminated 
 person, and for all others, earnestly. Prayers being ended, 
 we salute each other with a kiss. Then there is presented 
 to him that presides over the brethren, bread and a cup of 
 water, and mixture ; and he, having taken, offers up praise 
 and glory to the Father of all, through the name of the Son 
 and of the Holy Spirit, and makes much thanksgiving, for 
 having been counted by him worthy of these things. He, 
 having finished the prayers and thanksgivings, all the peo- 
 ple present consent, saying. Amen, which, in Hebrew, sig- 
 nifies, ' so be it.' But the president, having given thanks, 
 and all the people responded, those who are called among 
 us deacons give to every one of those present to partake of 
 the bread, and wine, and water, for which thanks had been 
 given, and to those that are not present they carry. This 
 food is called among us, Eucharist (thanksgiving), of 
 which it is lawful to no other to partake than to him that 
 believes the things taught by us true, and has been washed 
 with that washing that is for remission of sins, and unto 
 regeneration, and is living so as Christ delivered to us. 
 For, not as common bread, nor common drink, we take 
 
 on the new and bold step of admitting them to baptism. " Can any man forbid 
 water," said Peter, " that these should not be baptized, who have received 
 the Holy Ghost even as we ? " 
 
 The modern confirmation, administered, many years after, by one who had 
 nothing to do with the baptism, is as remote from the practice of the early 
 fathers as from the doctrine of the Scriptures. 
 
'^Ot THE SACRAMENTS AND CHEISTIAN ETHICS. 
 
 these tilings, but, just as by God's word, Jesus Christ, our 
 Saviour, was made flesh, and had flesh and blood, for our 
 salvation; so also we are taught that that food, blessed (by 
 thanksgiving) through prayer of the word that is from him, 
 from which are nourished our own blood and flesh by trans- 
 mutation, is the flesh and the blood of that incarnate Jesus. 
 For the apostles, in the memoranda made by them, which 
 are called Gospels, so delivered, that Jesus commanded 
 them ; having taken bread, after giving thanks, he said : 
 ' This do for the memorial of me, this is my body.' And 
 the cup likewise, having taken, and having given thanks, 
 he said, ' This is my blood ;' and to those alone he im- 
 parted. 
 
 " But we always remind each other, afterwards, of those 
 things, and we that possess supply those that are in want; 
 and we are always with each other. And for all those 
 things by which we are fed, we bless the Maker of all, 
 through his Son, Jesus Christ, and by the Holy Spirit." 
 Then follows a passage on public worship ; after which he 
 says again, " We having ceased from prayer, bread is 
 brought in, and wine and water, and the president sends 
 up prayers as well as thanksgivings as far as he has ability, 
 and the people respond, saying the Amen ; and the distri- 
 bution and participation of the things thanked for, or 
 blessed, is made to every one; and to those not present 
 they are sent by the deacons."* 
 
 Departures from Scripture are here obvious. Water, of 
 which Christ said nothing, seems to be twice introduced ; 
 till, at length, Cyprian comjolains that some had nothing 
 but water in the cup ; and the elements were sent to the 
 absent, which Christ did not- command, and the church 
 does not now practise. The " transmutation" is not only 
 of " the food to be the flesh and blood of Jesus ;" but to be 
 our flesh and blood. But what accuracy can we expect 
 
 [* Just. Apol. i. 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 205 
 
 from one who makes the Holy Spirit a mediator, through 
 whom we offer our prayers? We pass on to Irenteus. 
 
 " By that cup, which is a creature, he who shed his own 
 blood, confirmed, i. e., made us sure of, his own body, from 
 which he nourishes our blood; and that bread, which is 
 from the creature, confirmed the truth of his own body, 
 from which he nourishes our bodies. When, therefore, the 
 mixed cup, and the broken bread, perceive the word of 
 God, it becomes the Eucharist of the body and blood of 
 Christ, from which the substance of our flesh is increased 
 and consists." " By this," he says, " immortality is con- 
 ferred on our bodies."* Here seems to be an approach to 
 more than sacramental signs and seals; but it is not 
 certain that Irenseus means anything beyond what they 
 who have Scriptural ideas would intend, when expressing 
 their confidence in the spiritual blessings that may be 
 expected from the due celebration of the Supper, 
 
 In a moral exhortation, Clement of Alexandria intro- 
 duces the doctrine of the Supper: " ' Use a little wine for 
 thy stomach's sake,' says tlie apostle to Timothy, a water 
 drinker; very beautifully affording a suitable help to a sick 
 and languid body, which needed healing, but recom- 
 mending a little, lest by using much, he should need more 
 medicine. The natural and sober drink, therefore, neces- 
 sary for thirst is water. The Lord once supplied, flowing 
 from a rock, to the ancient Hebrews, only this simple 
 drink of temperance. For those wanderers much needed 
 temperance. Afterwards the holy vine germinated the 
 prophetic bunch. This is a sign to those who are in- 
 structed to rest from error: the great bunch, the Word, 
 who was pressed for us, the blood of tlie grape, the Word, 
 choosing to be tempered with water, as also his blood is 
 tempered (or mingled) with salvation. Twofold is the 
 blood of the Lord ; tJiis, its carnal (part), by which we 
 are redeemed from corruption ; and that, its spiritual, by 
 * Lib. V. c. 2. 
 
20(3 THE SACEAMENT3 A\B CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 
 
 which we are anointed. This is to drink the blood of 
 Jesus ; to partake of the Lord's incorruptibiUij But the 
 Spirit is the power of the Word, as the blood is of the 
 flesh. Analogously, therefore, is the wine mingled with 
 water ; and with man, the Spirit. And the one mixture is 
 received unto faith, and the other, the Spirit, leads to 
 incorruption. But again, the mixture of both, the drink 
 and the Word, is called the Eucharist, a celebrated and 
 noble favour (or grace); of which they who partake by faith 
 are sanctified body and soul, since the paternal will, by the 
 Spirit and the Word, has mystically attempered man, that 
 divine mixture. For the Spirit dwells in the soul that is 
 led by him, and the flesh in the W^ord; on which account 
 the Word was made flesh."* 
 
 If this passage should appear unintelligible, let not all 
 the blame be throv/n on the translator, who is not unwilling 
 to take his share; while he doubts whether Clement could 
 have given an intelligible version into any other language 
 of which he was master. Translation is the test of sense; 
 for mysticism, at second hand, is always aggravated ; the 
 original shadows of meaning refusing to be called back, in 
 order to be described in other words. Let us, however, 
 attempt to analyze what we can ascertain. The greater 
 part, if not the whole, of the argument is founded on an 
 unscriptural addition to the Lord's Supper, the mixing of 
 water with the wine; so that he who should insist upon 
 adhering to the bread and the wine which the Lord 
 appointed to be the symbols of his body and blood, would 
 lose the whole charm of this mystical dissertation. Again ; 
 the Spirit, if we understand Clement, is the Holy Ghost, 
 and he performs the great work, though he is represented 
 by the water, of which Christ, in the institution of the 
 Supper, said nothing. This mystical water, strange to 
 tell, anoints us, and sanctifies the soul; while the wine 
 seems to have no other office but that of conferring incor- 
 
 * Psed. lib. ii. c. 2. 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 207 
 
 ruptibility on the body. But it is useless to attempt to go 
 further, except to say, that Tertulhan's materialism seems 
 to be contained here ; for a physical union with the body 
 and soul is made the means of giving incorruptibility or 
 immortality to both. They who could revel in such mysti- 
 cism were liablo to adopt, and to lead others to adopt, any 
 error, however gross ; for when men, delighted with half- 
 formed ideas, flit from figure to figure, they conceal from 
 themselves the grossness or folly that lurks behind. 
 
 If it be said that here is, at least, a hint of the doctrine 
 of transubstantiation, it must be admitted that the passage 
 is foolishly mystical enough to hint anything that we wish 
 to prove ; but then it should be observed, that not merely 
 the transubstantiation of the elements, but even much more 
 — that of the communicants is taught; for these are sup- 
 posed to be made incorruptible. The resurrection is de- 
 rived, not merely from that of our Lord, but from his body 
 having seen no corruption ; and though it could not be 
 pretended that ours do not corrupt after death, some vital 
 germ, like that of a seed, is supposed to be imparted to 
 our bodies, to secure their revival to immortality. Nor 
 should it be forgotten, that all this is ascribed to the cup 
 alone ; for of the bread no mention occurs ; so that the 
 Church of Eome, by denying the cup to the laity, has taken 
 away from them Clement's panacea of immortality, which 
 is in the Avater chiefly; and, in an inferior way, in the wine. 
 
 The Alexandrian, in another expression, opposes the 
 grossness of the Koman doctrine ; for, if he had merely said, 
 "We drink of the blood of Jesus," it would have been 
 deemed a proof of the dogma of transubstantiation ; but 
 when we ask Clement what he means by the expression, 
 he answers, " To partake of the Lord's incorruptibility; " so 
 that these strong expressions were designed to teach, not 
 some marvellous transmutation of the elements, which are 
 the means, but the attainment of the end, life and immor- 
 tality through Christ. We forbear to quote further ; though 
 
208 THE SACRAMENTS AND CHIUSTIAN ETHICS. 
 
 Clement says the wine allegorizes the blood ;* and our 
 Lord, in the Gospel of John educed by symbols, " Eat my 
 flesh, and drink my blood." 
 
 Tertullian tells Marcion, " The bread taken and distri- 
 buted to his disciples, Christ made his own body, saying, 
 ' This is my body,'" which might be supposed to be decisive 
 evidence of transubstantiation ; but Septimius adds, " That 
 is, the figure of my body."f After this, how can we be sure 
 that other fathers would not have explained their own most 
 positive language in the same way? If a Protestant had 
 given this explanation, a Romanist would have said, "Ter- 
 tullian positively declared Christ made the bread his own 
 body ;" but we may now leave the father himself to answer 
 for us, " that is, the figure of his body." Cyprian declares, 
 "We have the image of the sacrifice of Christ in the bread 
 and wine. "I He contends that wine must be used, and 
 not water only ; because, if we receive wine only, the body 
 of Christ would be without us ; if water only, we should be 
 without Christ; but the mixture of water and wine shews 
 the union of Christ to his church. "§ He that can under- 
 stand these words, we do not say reasons, will, perhaps, be 
 M'iser than Cyprian himself; but one thing is clear, tliat 
 he thought the elements were designed to instruct the 
 mind, or to shew the union of Christ to his church, which 
 is rational and Scriptural, but very remote from transub- 
 stantiation. 
 
 Part HI. — Christian Ethics. 
 
 The picture of Christian morals, presented by Justin to 
 the people of Rome, contains the following features. 
 " After receiving the Christian doctrine, we abandoned the 
 pagan deities, and, through his Son, w^orship him who is 
 the only uncreated God. Those of us who before delighted 
 in impurities now rejoice in sobriety ; those who practised 
 
 * Psedag. lib. i. c. 6. + Advers. Mare. lib. iv. c. 40. 
 
 + Ep. m, 149. § Ep. 03. 154. 
 
THE SACilAMENTS AND CiiilLSTIAN ETHICS. '2i/J 
 
 the magical arts, now have devoted themselves to the bene- 
 volent and eternal Father; those who sought to acquire 
 wealth, above all things, now have their possessions com- 
 mon, and give to him that needeth ; those who hated and 
 slaughtered each other, and, being of different tribes, had 
 no intercourse, after the appearance of Christ, living in the 
 same communion, pray for enemies and endeavour to con- 
 vert those that unjustly hate us."* 
 
 The beautiful picture of Christian character presented to 
 Diognetus is too long for insertion, as Is also that which 
 Minucius Felix gives. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, in his Ptedagogue, or Instruction 
 for a Christian, gives minute directions for eating and 
 drinking, affirming that other men live to eat; we eat to 
 live ; choosing that food which will provide health.f In 
 his fourth chapter, he prohibits gold and silver in furni- 
 ture Instrumental music he forbids, saying, " Our body 
 should be the instrument, and our soul the musician. '"j 
 
 But we cannot tell what to make of his own morality, 
 when we read the tenth chapter of his second book. He 
 says, " God required polygamy when our race was to be mul- 
 tiplied," though we know that the first polygamist is exhi- 
 bited as a wicked man; and it has never been proved that 
 the human race is increased by departure from monogamy, 
 the original law of marriage. Now, he says, " To marry 
 once is enjoined, solely for procreation, and second mar- 
 riages are permitted to those only who have not the gift of 
 continence; but they who remain in widowhood purchase 
 heavenly glory." Our Creator, however, has taught us 
 that he provided marriage for the sake of society, saying, 
 " It is not good for man to be alone." We need no stronger 
 proof of the mischievous consequences of attempting to 
 contravene the laws of God, and be wise above what is 
 written, than the fathers afford. 
 
 If we can give any credit to Clement himself, as speaking 
 
 * Apol. i. 60. t Lib. ii. c, i. + Ibid. c. 4. 
 
 virr. P 
 
210 THE SAcnAMENTS AND CniilSTlAN ETHICS. 
 
 the -words of truth and soberness, rather tlian bearing 
 false ^Yitness against the church of God, by rhetorical exag- 
 geration, the manners of Christians in his day departed so 
 far from the ideal perfection attempted to be enforced, as 
 to prove that overdoing is undoing. " I know not how it 
 is, but they change their forms and manners with the 
 place, like the Polypus, which is said to resemble the rocks 
 to which it is attached. For, after they come out of the 
 congregation, they become like those with whom they con- 
 verse, or rather they are convicted, by laying aside the 
 hypocritical appearance of reverence, of being what they 
 were not known to be ; and having reverenced the discourse 
 concerning God, they left it within (doors), but, without, 
 they are maddened by atheistic love songs ; and they who 
 before were rhyming immortality bid farewell to it, saying, 
 
 * Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.' " Were these 
 primitive Christians ? Or must we not believe the testi- 
 mony of this father ? * 
 
 The condemnation of second marriages, as decent adul- 
 tery, seemed intended to contradict the apostle, who de- 
 clared that, " If the husband be dead, a woman is loosed 
 from the law of her husband ; so that she is no adulteress, 
 thou'^h she be married to another man." 
 
 Tertullian's admiring disciple, Cyprian, is a witness of 
 the pernicious effects of the false morality of his age, which 
 produced such shoals of apostates in the hour of persecu- 
 tion, that when the storm had blown over, the church was 
 more troubled to know what to do with those who had lapsed 
 into idolatry, than she ought to have been by the most cruel 
 efforts of pagan power. Instead of retracing her steps, 
 however, and determining to look more carefully into the 
 reli<'"ion of those she received into her bosom, she was oc- 
 cupied with the question of immediate restoration, or a 
 
 * He denounces mere pleasure, kuv kv 7«M<f. ^"^^ affirms that Moses ajra-yfi 
 7UJV '(^-iMuiv Tou? awipcK, Avliicli lie (lerives, or fortifies, from the Mosaic charge, 
 
 • is-eSeo-ai tov \ayhv ov6e tuv vatvuv. Tsed. lib. ii. C. 10, p. 189. 
 
THE SACnAl\IL:NTS AND ClIRIbTIAN E'J'IllCS. 211 
 
 penal exclusion for a given length of time. Examination 
 of the real character of professors seems to have been 
 banished from the church by questions of rites and forms. 
 
 Who can, on a comparison of the churches of the first 
 with those of the third century, avoid perceiving, that in 
 proportion as the theory of Christian morals had been made 
 more severe, the practice of Christians had become more 
 lax? For, already, the superior excellence of the earlier 
 ages had become the theme of mournful confession by 
 those very men to whom we are now invited to look as the 
 l^aragons of excellence. But unhappily they did not dis- 
 cover that the second century, in straining to surpass the 
 revealed standard of morals, had prepared the way for the 
 corruptions of the third. The original idea of the ascetics 
 was, to make all Christians a species of monks; but, de- 
 feated in their war against nature, and reason, and Scrip- 
 ture, they fell back upon the most immoral and pernicious 
 of all principles, that there maybe two species of Christians 
 — some aspiring to obtain as much holiness as was possible, 
 and others contented to have as little as was safe. Into this 
 system the Eastern and Western churches, at length, settled 
 down. Prelates, patriarchs, and popes, living in licentious 
 luxury and pride, without the semblance of spiritual reli- 
 gion, agreed to admire monks in cells and hair shirts ; 
 while these, in their turn, reverenced the official sanctity of 
 men whom the fathers of monkery would have doomed to 
 excommunication and eternal flames. Yet this dislocation 
 of all ancient ideas is called primitive, and is canonized by 
 the authority of fathers. But he that is able and willing 
 to trace up principles to their source, must admit that 
 asceticism was originally introduced as oj the essence of 
 Cliristianity, and that the idea of appropriating it to a Brah- 
 minical caste was an afterthought, acquiesced in, from the 
 necessity of adapting the mass of the church to the condi- 
 tion of the world, when the two became identified. 
 
 From this time, all extremes were harmonized. The 
 
SI 2 THE SACEAilENTS AND CHRTSTIA^^ ETHICS. 
 
 merit of the martyrs, and a ^YOl•ldly ambition to wear their 
 crown, inflamed the imaginations of men who lapsed by 
 scores into idolatry, to save their lives ; while celibacy was 
 exalted as the first of merits, monks were accused of sleep- 
 ing with sacred virgins ; fasting was imposed as a meri- 
 torious task, and bishops were made drunk that they might 
 join in surreptitious ordinations ; till, at length, the world 
 knew not which to desjDise most — the extravagant preten- 
 ces of the ascetic, who soared to live as angels, without 
 eating, and drinking, and marrying ; or the inconsistency 
 of the multitude, who, professing to admire all this, sank 
 below the more temperate heathens. Who can wonder if 
 a discerning few sighed over the change from primitive I 
 times, and said, " give us back the days when Diognetus * 
 
 was told how Christians lived in the world as the soul in 
 the body, marrying like other men, and bringing up their 
 children for God." 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
LECTUKE VI. 
 
 ON DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, RESURRECTION, ANTICHRIST, AND 
 THE MILLENNIUM. 
 
 Here the reader must prepare to meet strange fancies, 
 some that we may call popish, and some ultra-Protestant. 
 
 Part I. — On Death, the separate State, and the Resiu-rection. 
 
 That the departed Christian immediatelj entered into 
 hliss, may be thought to be the expressed opinion of 
 Clement and his flock at Eome, when they say to the 
 Corinthians, " Happy those presbyters who have finished 
 their course;" which they were not, if tormented in purga- 
 torial flames ; but no such gloomy doctrine had yet made 
 its appearance in the church. 
 
 The resurrection, as a tenet new to the Gentile world, 
 naturally attracted the special attention of the early con- 
 verts; and Clement's famous illustration of this truth, by 
 a fable, supposed to be a fact, must, however disgraceful to 
 him, be discussed: " Let us behold the paradoxical sign 
 that is in the eastern parts, about Arabia. For there is a 
 bird that is named the Phoenix. This, being unique, lives 
 five hundred years ; and when about to depart by death, it 
 makes itself a sepulchre of frankincense and myrrh, and 
 the other aromatics ; into which, when its time is up, it 
 enters and dies. But of its corrupted flesh a worm is 
 generated, which, nourished by the moisture of the dead 
 creature, becomes feathered. Afterwards, being vigorous, 
 it bears (aloft) that sepulchre, in which are the bones of its 
 
214 ON DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 
 
 progenitor; and, carrying them off, removes from the 
 Arabian territory to that of Egypt, to what is called Helio- 
 polis ; and, by day, flying in the sight of all, deposits them 
 on the altar of the sun, and so goes back again. The 
 priests, therefore, inspect the records of the times, and 
 find that it has come Avhen the five hundredth year is com- 
 pleted. And shall we, then, think it great and wonderful, 
 if the Creator of the universe shall accomplish the resur- 
 rection of all w^ho holily serve him, in the confidence of a 
 right faith, when, even by a bird, he shows us the magni- 
 tude of his promise?''- 
 
 That Clement should have shared with Tacitus in the 
 ignorance, errors, and infirmities, of his age, was natural; 
 but that professed scholars, living in a better-informed 
 period, should regard such writers as oracles may excite 
 something more than surprise. As Christians, however, 
 we cannot but deplore the heathenism of the mind that 
 dictated this passage, and of those who boast their descent 
 from such fathers. For who can help seeing, and blushing 
 to see, that Clement had a lurking reverence for the altar 
 of the sun and its priests? How naturally and justly might 
 one who adored Sol in his temple of Heliopolis say to him 
 who wrote thus of the Phoenix, " Then you admit that 
 nature owns our God, so that the unique bird of five 
 centuries flies from distant lands to deposit the bones of 
 its progenitor on our altars ! Shall I cease, then, to w^or- 
 ship at that fane which the greatest miracle in nature 
 honours? If your religion teaches the doctrine confirmed 
 by the single fact of the resurrection of Jesus, does not 
 ours, by your own confession, exhibit it to the world every 
 five hundred years?" Yet this Epistle of Clement, spiced 
 with heathenism, strong as the aromatic tomb of the 
 Phoenix, was read in the first churches after those of Paul 
 or Peter, James or John! 
 
 Tertullian adorned the tale with his own racy style,! 
 * c. 2.5, 6. + De Resurrectione Carnis, c. 13. 
 
ON DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 215 
 
 attempting to prove it by a text of Scripture ;* and Euse- 
 bius, Lactantius, Ambrose, Jerome, Cyril, all fondle the 
 miraculous bird of the sun as the harbinger of the resur- 
 rection of the just. For it should be observed, that Cle- 
 ment makes the Phoenix a proof of the resurrection of the 
 holy and faithful. 
 
 That the Greek translation of the 92nd Psalm led to 
 this mistake is not improbable ; for there we read, " The 
 righteous shall flourish like a phoenix," which is merely 
 the Greek name for a palm tree, which -inn, the corre- 
 spondent word in the Hebrew, certainly signifies. It has 
 been supposed that Phoenicia derived its name from being 
 the land of the phoenix, or palm tree. The fable of the 
 bird has been thought to originate from the young palm 
 tree springing up at the roots of the old one. The Greeks 
 either mistook the name of a tree for that of a bird, or, as 
 in other instances, chose to indulge a poetic fancy, by 
 transferring the phoenix from the region of botany to that 
 of ornithology. That there is no such bird naturalists are 
 convinced ; but we find a tree with the same name, and 
 conclude that the fable was in some way made out of the 
 fact. 
 
 Let us hear TertuUian's comment: — " If the universe 
 but little figures out a resurrection, if what is created indi- 
 cates no such thing; because each of its contents is said 
 not so much to die, as to cease ; nor is thought to be 
 reanimated, but to be reformed ; take a most full and most 
 firm specimen of this hope. Since there is an animated 
 thing subject both to life and to death. I speak of that 
 peculiar bird of the east, famous for its singularity, mon- 
 strous for its posterity, willingly making its own funeral, 
 renovates by a natal end (or death); departing and suc- 
 ceeding again ; a phoenix, where already there was none 
 (is) again itself, where just now it was not ; another and the 
 same. What more express and significant for this cause? 
 
 * Psalm xcii. 
 
^16 ON DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 
 
 or for what other thing is there such a document, or 
 proof? God, also, in his Scriptures, speaks, ' For he shall 
 flourish,' says he, ' as a phoenix,' that is, from death, from 
 the funeral (pile) ; that you may believe, that from fires, 
 also, the substance of the body can be reclaimed. The 
 Lord has pronounced us better than many sparrows. That 
 is no great thing, if we are not also better than phoenixes. 
 But shall men perish once (for all), while the birds of 
 Arabia are secure of a resurrection?'* 
 
 Here all the arrogant vehemence, obscure brevity, and 
 forced figures of the African father are employed to give 
 to a blander the effect of truth. For he was deceived by 
 the ambiguity of the word phoenix, in the Alexandrine 
 version of the Psalm, and while botanistsf know that it is 
 the Greek name for a joalm tree,| and thus a proper 
 translation for the Hebrew word, corresponding with the 
 other half of the verse, " He shall grow like a cedar ;'' 
 Tertullian,§ perhaps, misled by Clement, who was misled 
 by heathen poets or priests, thought of nothing but a 
 fabulous bird. From one who is vaunted as a successor to 
 the ajDostles, down to the most powerful of the Latin 
 fathers, who lived to the middle of the third century, this 
 fable was propagated among Christians and sup230sed to 
 be proved from holy writ; and we are now told to regard 
 these fathers as the authoritative interpreters of Scri]3ture! 
 
 The prevailing ignorance of the Hebrew, not onl}^ led to 
 a false reliance on the Greek where it was wrong, but to 
 mistakes concerning its meaning where it was right. 
 What stumbling-blocks were laid in the way of the heathen 
 by these fathers ! When Paloephatus wrote on incredible 
 
 * De Eesur. Cam. c. 13. 
 
 + The principal genera of the familj' palmoe are cocos, phoenix, chamtv- 
 rops, &c. Phoenix dactilifera is the systematic name of the date tree. 
 
 I Odyssey, ^. 
 
 § It is difficult to conceive how a reader of the Greek Testament could 
 have fallen into this mistake. Would Tertullian have rendered John xii. IH, 
 0aca -wv (poiiiK.ov, hianches of rhoonixes ? 
 
ON DEATH, THE FUTUKE STATE, ETC. 217 
 
 things, unriddling many of the current fables, how justly 
 might he have placed the phoenix in his catalogue, and, by 
 a proj)er application of the name, changed the bird into a 
 tree. But the fathers had fathered the fable upon the 
 Scriptures, and reason would have been pronounced a 
 heretic. How much stronger was the church when it had 
 no other argumentation on the resurrection, than that of 
 the apostle in the fifteenth chapter of the Epistle to the 
 Corinthians! How was she weakened and degraded by 
 Clement, the best of the fathers, as well as by all those 
 who followed him as an oracle ! 
 
 The manner in which this jjrecious morsel of patristic 
 theology was dropped, leaving the favourite Phoenix of the 
 fathers to be pecked at as a speckled bird, without a single 
 hand being lifted up, among all the sons, to defend it, is 
 at once most instructive and amusing. The temple of the 
 sun, at Heliopolis, Christians destroyed without any kind, 
 commiserating thought, that the new Phoenix would have 
 no altar whereon to deposit its parent's bones. One five 
 hundred years after another returned and brought no 
 miraculous bird. The letter of Clement was lost — perhaps 
 put out of the way ; TertuUian, the godfather of the half 
 heathen, half Christian prodigy, was denounced as a 
 Montanist; the other favourers of the fable were passed 
 by in silence ; and now we are coolly asked, if it is 
 wonderful that the originator of the story should partake 
 of the folly of his times ? What man of sense would 
 wonder at it ? The only wonder is, that men pretending 
 to sense should concede to these fathers an authority 
 which they so manifestly cannot claim. 
 
 Pursuing the doctrine of the resurrection, as first taught 
 by Clement, we have been led into a slight anachronism, 
 and must now go back to Ignatius. His vague tropes and 
 doubtful allusions to the future state prove no more than 
 that he expected to be perfected, immediately on his 
 departure from the body; but it may be said, he was a 
 
'?.\S ON DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 
 
 martyr, and the baptism of blood was supposed to confer 
 the peculiar privilege of exemption from the pains of 
 purgatory. Whether that which now calls itself the church 
 says no masses for the repose of the souls of those who 
 die as martyrs to their faith, may be expected to be un- 
 known to such as say, " my soul ! come not thou into 
 their secret." 
 
 We pass on, therefore, to Justin, who informs Antoninus, 
 that " hell is the place where they shall be punished who 
 have lived unjustly, and have not believed that those 
 things will occur which God has taught by Jesus Christ.'^ 
 For his second coming shall be from heaven, in glory, 
 with his angelic host, when he shall raise the bodies of all 
 men, and clothe with immortality the bodies of the worthy, 
 and send those of the unjust in eternal pain into ever- 
 lasting fire with the demons. We are taught, that those 
 only are immortalized who pass their life near to God ; 
 but those who live unjustly are punished in eternal fire."f 
 Here is certainly no hint of a third state, temporary 
 purgatorial fire for ivicked Christians, which the early 
 fathers thought a solecism ; but as it may be observed, 
 that the reference is to Christ's second coming, we can- 
 not learn, except from Justin's silence, the doctrine of his 
 time concerning the state of Christians immediately after 
 death. 
 
 Of the hell of which they speak, we may judge by the 
 words of Justin : "Nor do I affirm that all souls die ; but 
 those of the pious remain in some better place, and the 
 unjust and wicked in a worse, expecting the time of 
 judgment."! 
 
 TertuUian adds, " Eleazar," meaning Lazarus, " is 
 placed in hell, apud inferos, a refreshment in the bosom 
 of Abraham ; on the other hand, Dives is placed in the 
 torment of fire."§ 
 
 * Apol. i. 30, Paris, 66. f Ibid. 76, Paris, 87. 
 
 1 Dial. Paris, 223. § De Idolat. c. 13. 
 
ON DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 219 
 
 Here is occasion for pause and reflection, \vith little 
 satisfaction to him who flees from the Scriptures to the 
 fathers ; for these pretend to know nothing but what they 
 supposed thej had learned from the divine writings. 
 Where Scripture has left us in the dark, and " men speak 
 not according to that word ; they have no light in them." 
 Translating the word Hades, according to its etymology 
 and its use among the Greeks, it is rendered an invisible 
 place, which was all that Homer intended, when he said, 
 the souls of his brave heroes were hurried, by the Trojan 
 war, into Hades, where he exhibits them celebrating games 
 in Elysian fields. The fathers, therefore, condemn the 
 language of our translation, and of the article in what is 
 falsely called the Apostles' Creed, which says, " Christ 
 descended into hell ;" misleading the vulgar by an Eng- 
 lish word, which now conveys an idea not contained in the 
 original. This is so well known as to require no argument; 
 but so little regarded as to demand repeated protest. 
 
 But, in this Hades, where Lazarus found a place of 
 refreshment, but Dives the torment of lire, all souls 
 remain, expecting the resurrection at the day of judgment; 
 if the fathers are to be believed. What are we to think, 
 then, of Tetzel's box, which, rattling with the money 
 paid for masses, became a holiday bell, ringing souls out 
 of purgatory, and into the presence of God, ages before 
 the resurrection? It surely was, however, rich in money, 
 empty of charity, a mere " sounding brass, and tinkling 
 cymbal." Either the fathers w^ere false teachers, or the 
 church that boasts of them has been taking money for 
 selling smoke ; for after all that has been paid for mor- 
 tuary masses, the souls, both of the righteous and the 
 wicked, are just where they were, in Hades, waiting for 
 the resurrection at the judgment day. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria says, that, " Not only the Lord 
 preached the gospel to those in Hades, rots iv abov ; but 
 the apostles preached there to those Gentiles that were for 
 
2Q0 ON DEATHj THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 
 
 conversion."* In support of which he puts this strange 
 question : '* If the Lord, when in the flesh, preached that 
 men might not be unjustly condemned, why should he 
 not preach, for the same end, to those who had departed 
 before his coming?" If we can divine his meaning, it was 
 this : That men were so beset by demons, and other sinful 
 hinderances to their salvation, that it would not have been 
 just to leave them under condemnation, without afl'ording 
 them the help that was administered by the mission and 
 ministry of Christ. Why, then, should not such aid be 
 granted to those who died before his coming ? This 
 makes the advent of Christ, not a pure grace to the un- 
 worthy, but a just compensation for injury that would 
 otherwise have been done to those, who were to be pitied 
 rather than blamed. The thought does not seem to have 
 occurred to this philosopher, that Christ's mission extended 
 to but one country as well as one age. 
 
 But the doctrine of recovery from Hades, or hell, seems 
 taught here, though unfortunately for the advocates of 
 purgatory, it is not recovery for Christians who have died 
 in venal sins, but for those who were no Christians at all. 
 What Clement means by "those Gentiles who were for 
 conversion," it may not be possible to ascertain ; but 
 among conjectures, our choice lies between Pelagianism 
 and Augustinianism. For the former it may be pleaded, 
 that the whole passage supposes there were some heathens, 
 before the coming of Christ, so good that it would be 
 unjust to condemn them ; to which it may be answered, 
 that the church condemned this Pelagian notion, and, 
 therefore, Clement, an orthodox father, could not have 
 been a Pelagian. Bowing to this inevitable conclusion, 
 we turn to the remaining hypothesis, that Clement in- 
 tended, those Gentiles that were chosen or predestined 
 "for salvation." This ma}' be abundantly sustained by 
 his own language concerning the church, as consisting of 
 
 * Strom, vi. 462. 
 
ON DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. '^21 
 
 the " elect, who were predestinated according to the pur- 
 pose of God's will." 
 
 Part II. — Of Antichrist. 
 
 As Protestants have been mistaken when they accused 
 Rome of originating the corruption of doctrine ; so Ro- 
 manists have erred egregiously in charging their opponents 
 with inventing that interpretation of the Apocalypse which 
 points to Rome as the seat of Antichrist ; for this is de- 
 rived from the fathers. 
 
 Paul assured the mistaken Thessalonians, that the day 
 of the Lord would not come till there should be a falling 
 away ; and the beloved disciple, John, reminded Chris- 
 tians, that they had heard Antichrist should come. That 
 these warnings had not escaped the notice of the early 
 church, numerous quotations will show. It may not be 
 uninteresting, however, previously to observe, that the 
 Jews have a notion, perhaps derived from Christians, of 
 some wicked power, or person, that shall arise. The 
 Chaldee paraphrast on the words of Isaiah,* " With the 
 breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked," has this com- 
 ment : " Shall slay the wicked Armilus," which some say 
 means " Romulus," or " that wicked Roman ;" while others 
 interpret it to signify an enemy who is yet to come and 
 kill Messiah, Ben Joseph, the sufferer ; after* which, 
 Messiah, Ben David, or the conqueror, will appear and 
 destroy Antichrist. 
 
 Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho, the Jew, 
 says, " The man of blasphemy, who shall speak daring 
 things against the Most High, is already at the doors,'" f 
 which he affirms " Daniel foretold ; but you Jews, not 
 knowing how long he is detained, think differently." 
 Justin says nearly the same thing again : " Christ's second 
 coming shall be in glory, from heaven, when the man of 
 the apostasy, speaking perverse things against the Most 
 * xi. 4. + p. 250. 
 
'^'->~t ox DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 
 
 High, shall be daring against us Christians." ^^ Here it 
 should be noticed, that Antichrist is called the man of the 
 apostasy, one that has professed the Christian religion 
 and departed from it in some way ; and that he is said to 
 be at the doors, which, alas ! was more true than Justin 
 himself was aware : for his own writings contain some of 
 the germs of the apostasy; though in the sense which he 
 intended, time has proved that the martyr was no 
 prophet. 
 
 He who, doubtless, derived his opinions on this subject 
 from others, became an oracle to his successors, and, 
 among the rest, to Irenseus, who enlarges on the coming 
 of Antichrist. The twenty-fifth chapter of the fifth book 
 against heresies is entitled, " The fraud, pride, and 
 tyrannical reign of Antichrist, as they are described by 
 Daniel and Pauh" " But, not only by those things that 
 are said, but also by those that will be under Antichrist, it 
 is shown that, being an apostate and a robber, he wishes 
 to be adored as a god ; and, while he is a servant, he 
 wishes to be proclaimed a king. For he, taking all the 
 power of the devil, shall come, not as a just king, nor as a 
 legitimate one, in subjection to God; but impious, and 
 unjust, and without law, as an apostate and iniquitous, 
 and a homicide; as a robber, uniting in himself diabolical 
 iipostasy. A fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom in 
 the earth, w^hich shall be eminent above other kingdoms, 
 and it shall devour all the earth, and tread it down, &c. 
 Of which, again, the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians : 
 'Then shall be revealed that wicked one, whom -the Lord 
 Jesus shall slay by the spirit of his mouth, and destroy by 
 the presence of his coming, whose coming is according to 
 the operation of Satan, with all power, and signs, and 
 lying wonders, and wdth all the seduction of malice, to 
 those who perish,' &e. The Lord says, ' I come in nly 
 Father's name, and ye will not receive me ; if another 
 * p. 336. 
 
ox DiiATIl, THE FUTURE STATE, JiTC. '2<'^ 
 
 shall come in his own name, him ye will receive ; ' 
 calling Antichrist another; for he is alien from the Lord ; 
 and he is the nnjust judge mentioned by the Lord, to 
 Avhom fled the widow that forgot God, that is, the earthly 
 Jerusalem, to be avenged of her enemy, which, also, he 
 shall do in the time of liis reign ; he shall transfer the 
 kingdom to her, and shall sit in the temple of God, se- 
 ducing those who worship him, as though he himself were 
 Christ. Wherefore, Daniel says, again, 'And the holy 
 shall be desolated, and sin was given for a sacrifice, and 
 righteousness was cast out in the earth, and he wrought 
 and prospered.' And the angel Gabriel, explaining his 
 vision, said this, ' And, in the end of their kingdom there 
 shall rise a prince of very wicked countenance, and under 
 standing questions, and his power is mighty and wonder- 
 ful, and he shall corrupt and exterminate the mighty, and 
 the holy people, and the daily sacrifice. Deceit shall be 
 regulated by his hand ; in his heart he shall be exalted ; 
 and by deceit he shall scatter many ; and he shall stand to 
 the perdition of many ; and, with one hand, he shall 
 crush.' Then he signifies the time of his tyranny ; at what 
 time the saints are put to flight, who offer a pure sacrifice 
 to God. And in the midst of the week, he says, ' shall be 
 taken away the sacrifice and the libation.' But the half of 
 the week are three years and six months." 
 
 Though we had extracted more, we have, perhaps, given 
 enough of this father's opinion of Antichrist, in which the 
 student of Scripture will see a strange confusion of texts, 
 some of which have nothing to do with the subject ; as, 
 for instance, the widow and the uDJust judge. But the 
 prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, also, is con- 
 founded with that of the coming of Antichrist, so as to 
 throw confusion over the whole. The same eff'ect is pro- 
 duced by introducing the prediction of the persecution of 
 the Jews, by the Syrian kings,, as if Antiochus, who had 
 already passed off the stage, was the Antichrist to come. 
 
•224 
 
 ON DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 
 
 Who can respect such interpreters of Scripture ? The 
 best apology that can be devised is, that they intentionally 
 mystified what they deemed it unsafe to make plain — that 
 Antichrist would arise at Eome ; for this, not being 
 understood, would have been deemed treason against the 
 empire. Let the reader, however, not fail to notice, that 
 Irenseus, the puj^il of Polycarp, professes not to interpret 
 these mysteries by the aid of tradition from the apostles, 
 but at the outset appeals to the written word. 
 
 But if Irenseus wearies us with the repetition of the 
 same things, and perplexes us by confounding prophecies 
 of very different events, he entertains us with a disqui- 
 sition on the number of the beast, six hundred and sixty- 
 six,* which is the only thing that he seems to commend, as 
 " coming to him from those who saw the face of John, the 
 writer of the Revelation." " There are many names found 
 to have this number. We do not, therefore, make it a 
 question whose name it shall be, for want of names having 
 the number, but on account of the fear of God, and 
 jealousy for the truth. For EiiantJuis has the number for 
 which we are inquiring ; but we affirm not concerning 
 that. But the name Lateinos, also, has the number six 
 hundred and sixty-six ; and it is very likely, since the last 
 kingdom has this word. For they are Latins who now 
 
 * Newton, defending the ortliograpliy of Trenaeus, because the long i of 
 the Latins was expressed in Greek by et, observes that the name must be 
 supposed to be written either in Greek or Hebrew ; and that, by an unpa- 
 ralleled coincidence, both these languages contain the same number in 
 words signifying the same thing. 
 A . . 30 
 
 A 
 
 I 
 
 T 
 
 . 300 
 
 E 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 . lOj 
 
 N 
 
 . 50 
 
 O 
 
 . 70 
 
 2 
 
 . 200 
 
 }inos . 
 
 . 666 
 
 1 
 
 200 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 n 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 , 
 
 10 
 
 n 
 
 . 400 
 
 ^lOmiith . 
 
 G6G 
 
ON DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 2'45 
 
 r-eign ; but not in this will we glory."" It is amusing to 
 see how silently the Komanist editor passes over this 
 astounding discovery of Iren^eus, that the Latins wear the 
 number or the name of Antichrist ; and how the powers 
 of legerdemain are taxed to find the same number in 
 Martin Lauter, which is deemed near enough to prove that 
 Luther was intended. Those who boast of the church of 
 the fathers make no scruple of passing by their interpre- 
 tations with contemptuous disregard, to introduce a 
 modern name that will better serve tlieir church. Not the 
 Protestants, however, but the early fathers, first found 
 Antichrist among the Latins, in the Eoman empire, with 
 which Irenteus was so connected that he wisely said, "We 
 will not glory in this." Let it not be forgotten that he 
 who discovered the number of the name of Antichrist 
 where lie could not glory in it, professed in his volume to 
 give the doctrine of the church against the private opinion 
 of heretics, and to have derived information from those 
 who saw the face of John, who could scarcely have been 
 supposed, however^ to have given a verbal hint of the 
 name ; for that must have precluded all further inquiry. 
 
 Tertullian contends that " Babylon, in our John, i. e., in 
 the Apocalypse, is a figure of the Roman city, as being 
 great, proud of empire, and w^arring against the saints of 
 God."t 
 
 That the Roman empire was " he that lettcth and will 
 let till he be taken out of the w^ay," may be thought a con- 
 tradiction to this opinion. But while other fathers also 
 declared they prayed for the continuance of the Roman 
 empire ; because, on its fall, Antichrist would come ; 
 parading this, probably, as a shield against accusations of 
 treasonable doctrines ; there is really no discrepancy 
 
 * Lib. V. c. 30. 
 
 + Sic et Babylon etiam apud Joannem nostrum RomanGe urbis figura est, 
 proinde magnre et regno superbee et sanctorum Dei debellatricis. Advers. 
 Marc. lib. iii. e. 13. 
 
 VllT. Q 
 
226 ox DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 
 
 between the two opinions. For tbey understood the Scrip- 
 tures to teach that when the empire should be broken up, 
 ten kings would share the dominion, and x\ntichrist would 
 rise among them, and be the Nebuchadnezzar who would 
 make Eome his Babylon. Lateinos, therefore, would be 
 the name that contained the number 666 ; " the Latin 
 tongue being preserved, though the dynasty was changed.'" 
 Irenreus, indeed, makes Jerusalem the seat of Antichrist , 
 but is there no reason to suspect that this interpretation 
 was dictated by his fear of being charged with treason 
 against the Koman empire, and that, like the Jews, who 
 mean Eome when they speak of Edom, he published 
 merely the exoteric doctrine, and explained the esoteric to 
 the initiated in private ? Of this, the timid, equivocal 
 manner in which he speaks of Lateinos affords some 
 proof; as also the reason he gives for " questioning the 
 name on account of the fear of God, and jealousy for the 
 truth." L-enseus knew that the temple at Jerusalem was 
 no longer in existence, and if he had in view the rebuild- 
 ing of it, we shall shortly see that this would be, not for 
 Antichrist, but the millennial reign of the saints. It is 
 scarcely doubtful, therefore, that the temple in which 
 Antichrist was to sit was said by way of a blind to be at 
 Jerusalem, when Rome was intended, which it was not 
 thought prudent to avow. As Augustine assures us that 
 the Apostle Paul was supposed to write doubtfully, lest he 
 should incur the reproach of wishing ill to the Eoman 
 empire, we cannot wonder that the fathers used enigmas. 
 
 But whatever may be thought of this Protestant opinion 
 of Antichrist, of its invention, if a merit, we are un- 
 worthy ; if a crime, we are innocent. It belongs not to 
 us, but to the fathers. They first taught that Piome was 
 Babylon ; they saw in the civil rulers the hinderance to 
 the rise of the man of sin ; they taught that the breaking 
 up of the empire into ten kingdoms was the signal for 
 Antichrist to appear in the midst of them ; they saw the 
 
ON DEATPI, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 2Q7 
 
 number of the beast in Lateinos, ere yet Latin had been 
 made the language of religion to all nations, though to 
 not one is it intelligible. If Rome, seeing her own 
 likeness here, is indignant, and exclaims, " In so 
 saying thou condemnest us ;" let her cite, not us, but the 
 fathers to the tribunal of the inquisition, for she calls the 
 dead to answer for their deeds. As for us, all our crime 
 consists in this, that, for once, at least, we consent to the 
 fathers. Is this the unpardonable sin for which no absolu- 
 tion can be obtained at Eome ? 
 
 We cannot, however, dismiss this subject without ob- 
 serving, that, if antiquity and perpetuity are declared es- 
 sential to prove any doctrine true, these marks are indelibly 
 fixed on the dogma that Antichrist is to be found at Rome ; 
 for as we have seen its antiquity, so its perpetuity can be 
 traced through every period till it become the avowed 
 doctrine of Protestants, who hold it to this day. 
 
 Part III. — The Millennium. 
 
 If the Jews derived their expectation cf an approaching 
 iniquitous domination from the Christian doctrine of Anti- 
 christ, the fathers, in their turn, give strong reason to 
 suspect that they borrowed much of their theory of the 
 Millennium from the Jewish Rabbis. It was the tradi- 
 tion of the house of Eli, who lived about two hundred 
 years before Christ, that " As, out of seven years, every 
 seventh is the year of remission; so, out of the seven 
 years of the world, the seventh millenary shall be the 
 millenary of remission, that God alone may be exalted in 
 that day." Justin, therefore, represents Trypho, the Jew, 
 as expressing no surprise at the notion of a Millennium; 
 though he disputed, rather sarcastically, the Christian 
 claim to the new Jerusalem, which he thought belonged 
 to "those of his nation, and to the proselytes who joined 
 them, before Christ's coming." 
 
 Some may say, if the Christians borrowed from the 
 
228 ox DEATH, THE FUTUKE STATE, ETC. 
 
 Jews, whose chronology makes the world to be now only 
 about 5400 years old, how could the fathers have supposed 
 the seven thousandth year to be at hand, even in their 
 days ? AVe reply, " Apart from the suspicion that the 
 Jews have since tampered with the chronology, in order 
 to diminish the apparent delay of Messiah's appearance, 
 the Christians adopted their own chronology, which, as we 
 have seen, exceeded the truth, no less than that of the 
 Jews falls short. Though we find in Justin INIartyr, first, 
 the doctrine of the millennial reign of Christ, we cannot 
 doubt that he derived it from his contemporaries and pre- 
 decessors, and spoke the language of many, perhaps most 
 Christians in his day. He has left on record the following 
 statement : ' You, having heard that we expect a kingdom, 
 rashly conclude (0 Eomans) that we speak of a human 
 kingdom, while we are speaking of that which is with 
 God ; as may be known from those who are examined by 
 you ; since they confess themselves Christians, aware that 
 death is the penalty. For, if we expect a human kingdom, 
 we should deny our faith, that we might not be slain, and 
 should endeavour to lurk in secret (reserving ourselves) 
 .that we might obtain what we expect.' "* 
 
 " A short time is allowed you (Jews) for coming to us. 
 if Christ should come first, in vain will you repent." 
 Trypho says, "Tell me truly; do you confess that this 
 place, Jerusalem, is to be rebuilt ; and do you expect your 
 people to be gathered (there), and to be happy with Christ, 
 together with the patriarchs and prophets, and those of 
 our nation, or the proselytes, who were before your Christ's 
 coming?"! Justin: "I have already confessed to you 
 that I, indeed, and many others, think so, as you well 
 know. But I have intimated to you, that many, on the 
 other hand, even of those Christians that are of pure and 
 pious sentiments, do not acknowledge this. For I have 
 also shown you that there are many called Christians that 
 
 * Apol. i. 6S. f Dialog, p. 306. 
 
ON DEATH, THE FUTUEE STATE, ETC. 229 
 
 are atheists and heretics. But I, and if there are any 
 Christians right-minded* in all things, do know there is to 
 be a resurrection even of the flesh, and a thousand years 
 in Jerusalem, rebuilt, and adorned, and enlarged, as the 
 prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others confess. So 
 Isaiah spoke of the thousand years, f 
 
 " For according to the days of the tree of life shall be 
 the days of my people, and the work of their labour shall 
 be multiplied. For as it was said to Adam, ' In the day 
 that thou eatest of the tree, thou shalt die ;' we know he 
 did not complete a thousand years. We understand what 
 is said: ' The day of the Lord as a thousand years,' refers 
 to this. And since there was with us a certain man named 
 John, one of the apostles of Christ, he, in the revelation 
 made to him, prophesied that those who believed in our 
 Christ should pass a thousand years in Jerusalem, and 
 after this there shall be the universal and eternal resurrec- 
 tion and judgment of all together. Which also our Lord 
 said, ' They shall neither marry, nor be given in marriage, 
 but shall be equal to the angels, being children of the 
 God of the resurrection.' "J 
 
 Whether there will be a Millennium, a thousand years 
 of triumph to religion, or all things will go on as hitherto, 
 until the last judgment ; and whether the Millennium, if 
 proved, will be of a more literal or more spiritual kind, 
 are not questions to be discussed in these pages ; but it 
 is certain, that from Justin no theory can derive proof. 
 For though the traditionists may plead that so early a 
 writer proves the general doctrine to have come down 
 from the apostles, he contradicts that notion, and shows 
 that in his time the church derived its Millennium from 
 
 * The extent to ^Yllich our extracts have run, though contracted from the 
 original design, has prevented us from inserting a note intended to justify 
 our rejection of the criticism of Mede and Tillotson, who insert a negative in 
 the passage from Justin. 
 
 + Isaiah Ixv. t I>ial. 30G, 3C8. 
 
S30 ON DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 
 
 the interpretation of texts. But not one of those that he 
 adduces furnishes any real proof. If Justin is a specimen 
 of the early commentators on Scripture, what imbecility, 
 or rather what madness, is it to make them authorities-! 
 They who "are guilty of such conduct offer small atone- 
 ment by throwing down the idol which they had set up, 
 some of them abandoning altogether the Millennium ; 
 while they who most fondly cling to it scruple not to ex- 
 change Justin's Millennium for one of their own. Time 
 has, indeed, proved that what he promised or threatened 
 to the Romans was the child of his fancy; and the city, 
 which he taught the Christians to expect, modern mil- 
 lenarians claim for the Jews, and, according to some, in 
 their unconverted state. If, then, wisdom was not con- 
 fined to Justin and his contemporaries, it is sufficiently 
 clear that neither was folly. 
 
 Irenseus, after some puerile comments, derived from a 
 false translation, proceeds thus : " These are in the times 
 of the kingdom, on the seventh day, which is sanctified," 
 meaning the seven thousandth year. " Therefore, the 
 benediction predicted, without contradiction, pertains to 
 the times of the kingdom, when the just, rising from the 
 dead, shall reign ; when, also, the creature, renovated and 
 liberated, shall fructify abundance of food, by the dew of 
 heaven and the fertility of the earth. The days shall 
 come in which vines shall grow, each having ten thousand 
 branches, and in one branch, ten thousand shoots ; and 
 in every shoot, ten thousand bunches ; and in eveiy bunch, 
 ten thousand grapes ; and every grape, expressed, will 
 yield twenty-five metretas, or firkins of wine. And when 
 any of the saints shall lay hold of a bunch, another will 
 cry out, 'I am a better bunch ; take me, and, by me, bless 
 the Lord.'" Of the grain, also, a similar story is told, 
 which it would be a waste of time to repeat. 
 
 " These things, Papias, an old man, a companion of 
 Polycarp, testifies, by the Scripture, in the fourth of his 
 
ON DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 231 
 
 books. These things are credible to believers." Ireneeus 
 attempts to prove them by the prophecy of Isaiah con- 
 cerning " the lion lying down with the lamb." 
 
 He blames those who attempt to allegorize this ; for 
 fables must be taken literally ; facts only are to be turned 
 into allegories. He quotes the apocryphal Baruch in 
 support of his theory. "A new -Jerusalem shall come 
 down out of heaven, of which that in Palestine w^as an 
 image. Then, all the renovated shall dwell in the city of 
 God, not allegorically, as we have shown."* 
 
 We have not given the vdiole of this long and prosing 
 fable, which was not the offspring of the author's own 
 imagination, but came to him by tradition, not from the 
 apostles, but from apocryphal writers, chiefly the fictitious 
 Barnabas. But when Iren^eus contended for the literal 
 meaning of his millennial vine, did he include the 
 speaking bunches of grapes that yield a firkin each '? They 
 were not water drinkers wdio revelled in these baccha- 
 nalian fancies ; but w^ere certainly open to the censure 
 that Middleton is blamed for flinging upon Justin, as 
 teaching a Millennium of sensual delights. It is un- 
 questionable, that, with all the ultra-angelic spirituality of 
 these fathers, and all their compulsory fasting, they hoped 
 to make up for it in the new Jerusalem, as all pretences 
 to soar above the divine rule end in sinking far below^ 
 
 Tertullian derived from the same sources the notion 
 which suited and still more inflamed his already heated 
 brain. After referring to some supposed vision, he says, 
 " It is just and worthy of God, that his servants should 
 there exult, where they have been afflicted for his name's 
 sake. This is the reason of the celestial kingdom, after 
 wdiose thousand years, within which age the resurrection 
 of the saint* is included, according to the merits of those 
 that rise earlier, or later, then also the destruction of the 
 world, and the conflagration of the judgment being 
 
 * Lib. V. c. 33, 4, 5. 
 
^33 ox DEATH, THE FUTUEE STATE, ETC. 
 
 effected, we, changed in a moment into angelic substance 
 by that superinducement of incorruption, shall be trans- 
 ferred to the celestial kingdom."- He then proceeds to 
 adduce proofs, ^Yhich, being no better than those of Justin, 
 are omitted, as unworthy of notice. 
 
 Eusebius, in the conclusion of his third book, says of 
 Papias, " The same writer exhibits other things, as coming 
 to him from unwritten tradition, certain strange parables 
 and instructions of the Saviour, and fabulous things. In 
 which, also, he says, ' There will be a certain Millennium, 
 after the resurrection of the dead, the kingdom of Christ 
 coming bodily upon the earth ; ' which also I think he 
 conceived of, in consequence of not perceiving that the 
 apostolic narratives were sp>oken mystically, by examples, 
 or figures taken from earthly things. For he had very 
 little mind, as appears from his writings. But he became 
 the occasion of the like opinion to most of the ecclesias- 
 tical writers after him, adducing the antiquity of the man ; 
 as, e. g., Iren^eus, and if there is any other who thinks the 
 same." Here it is observable, that unwritten traditions 
 are treated with contempt, and their great collector pro- 
 nounced a simpleton. Those who derived from him the 
 doctrine of the Millennium, on account of his high an- 
 tiquity, are not spared, even though Irenseus is among 
 them ; and it is said to be doubtful, whether any other 
 agreed with Papias, when Eusebius wrote. For the church 
 had then abandoned the fathers on this point; so that the 
 historian was not giving his own private opinion ; but the 
 Catholic doctrine, that the Millennium of Papias, Irenseus, 
 Justin, Tertullian, and others, was a fable, derived from 
 ignorance of the true meaning of apostolic words. 
 
 Why was this most ancient and general, not to say uni- 
 versal, tradition, as completely abandoned as it had been 
 fondly cherished ? Persecution, which always reminded 
 the Christians of Antichrist, either in the form of Nero, 
 
 * Adv. Marc. lib. iii. c, 2J.. 
 
ON DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. • '23 -J 
 
 the first persecutor, or of some cruel imitator, seems also 
 to have given a charm to the millennial paradise, which 
 was expected to follow ; but every relief from persecution, 
 and especially the conversion of Constantine, broke the 
 spell which bound them to the visions of Papias. They at 
 last found the new Jerusalem at Constantinople, and said, 
 " Why should we seek any other?" But whatever may 
 have been the cause, there is much instruction in the fact. 
 At this distance of time, a superstitious reverence is 
 claimed for the fathers, because that which is unknown is 
 supposed to be magnificent ; but they who knew them 
 better, took the liberty to abandon their most favoured 
 theory as a Jewish fable. 
 
 Another and a very difi:erent reason has, indeed, been 
 assigned for the abandonment of the millennial doctrine. 
 For Eusebius, who wrote when Christianity began " to 
 lift her mitred head in courts and senates," informs us, 
 that " Cerinthus, also, by reveLations, (as if written by 
 some great apostle,) brought to us certain monstrous 
 things, feigning them to have been revealed unto him by 
 angels. That the kingdom of Christ, after the resurrec- 
 tion, should become earthly; that, in Jerusalem, our flesh 
 again should serve lusts and pleasures. And being an 
 enemy to the Word of God, and wishing to deceive, he 
 said there would be the term of a millenary marriage 
 feast."* Where lies the difference between Cerinthus the 
 heretic, and Irenseus the orthodox father? It is scarcely 
 possible to separate the Millennium of the latter from 
 sensual indulgences ; and even though he should have 
 accomphshed the difficult task, we cannot wonder that 
 others of inferior spirituality failed. We should have 
 deemed it a pious duty to apologize for the Lyonese 
 hammer of the heretics, by pleading that his talkative 
 grapes, which yielded each one twenty-five firkins of wine, 
 were an allegory, had he not forbidden us. How, then 
 
 * Lib. iii. c. 28, vii. c. 2-5. 
 
234 ' ON DEATH, THE FUTURE STATE, ETC. 
 
 are we to distinguish between bis Millennium and tbat ot 
 Cerintbus ? 
 
 But v>'hen we are told, that, because heretics abused the 
 doctrine of the new Jerusalem, the church agreed to drop 
 it; we ask, "Are not, then, heretics made the teachers of 
 the church by a left-handed process? They have only to 
 take up our doctrines and pervert them, in order to banish 
 them from our pulpits. Are they not thus made the real 
 dictators in theology ? For what can they not adopt, and 
 pervert, and so expunge from our creed ? If the new Jeru- 
 salem was a revealed truth when it was a prevailing opinion, 
 could it be falsified by any perversion ? But if, on the other 
 hand, the abuse of it, by the heretics, opened the eyes of 
 the church to its real character, and thus procured its 
 banishment, what are w^e to think of Justin, who made this 
 doctrine the very acme of orthodoxy, the proof of being 
 ' right-minded in all things ?'" 
 
 False, however, was the pretence set up for abandoning 
 the millenarianism of Justin, Irenseus., and Tertullian. 
 Cerintbus was one of the earliest heretics ; and if his pei'- 
 version of truth ever produced any modification of the 
 orthodox creed, it should have thus operated before the 
 time when those advocates for the new Jerusalem com- 
 mended her to the faith and hope of the church. 
 
 But Eusebius enlarges on the extinction of what was at 
 first an orthodox tradition, and at last a condemned heresy : 
 '• Nepos, an Egyptian bishop, taught that the promises of 
 God were to be understood in a Jewish manner; that, 
 after the resurrection, we should lead on earth a life of 
 corporal x'deasures a thousand years. To justify this out 
 of the Eevelation of John, he wrote a book. Dionysius, 
 bishop of Alexandria, writing against him, commends 
 Nepos for studying the Scriptures, and says, " When I was 
 in the Arsenoitan district, where the doctrine formerly 
 sprang up, I called together the elders and doctors, and 
 they brought forth the book ; and from morning to night, 
 
ON DEATH, THE FUTUEE STATE, ETC. 235 
 
 for three whole days, we discussed these things." He 
 praises their intelligence and moderation, and says they 
 received conviction ; and at length the ringleader of this 
 doctrine, Coracion, confessed his error, and promised 
 never to mention or teach it again ; for he was sufficiently 
 convinced by the opposite arguments. 
 
 Dionysius is led, by this controversy, to discuss the 
 authenticity of the Kevelation, which, he says, some ascribed 
 to Cerinthus, who employed the name of John, to sanction 
 his own sensual errors. The bishop, however, admits that 
 it was written by a holy man,- under a divine influence; 
 but argues against the opinion that the writer was the 
 Apostle John, and inclines to the supposition that it was 
 another John, called the elder. Dionysius, confessing 
 himself unable to discover the meaning of the book, wisely 
 ascribes this to his own ignorance ; though he was the 
 most celebrated bishop of the latter part of the third 
 century, and the revered instructor of the Christian 
 world, f 
 
 It is also worthy of special observation that the com- 
 munion which most proudly boasts of her antiquity and 
 perpetuity, here, also, departs from an opinion that claims 
 the fathers, if not the apostles, as its authors ; for in addi- 
 tion to denying the patristic doctrine, that Kome was 
 Babylon, she has silently dropped all mention of a Mil- 
 lennium, of which the fathers say so much. It was, 
 indeed, not to be expected that the Kevelation should be a 
 favourite study in the soi-disant holy city; but the very 
 cautious avoidance of that theme excites suspicions that 
 she sees herself, or at least cannot wonder tliat others see 
 her, in that prophetic glass. Could the fathers of the first 
 three hundred years, with all their ascetic rigour, have 
 
 * This invalidates the Apology which the good Tillemont would make for 
 Dionysius, by supposing that it was not the canonical Apocalypse, but some 
 heretical revelation of Cerinthus which the bishop condemned. 
 
 f Eus. Hist. Ecc. lib. vii. c. 24. 
 
236 ON DEATH, THE FUTUEE STATE, ETC, 
 
 foreseen what the church of Rome, with her popes, exhi- 
 bited of pride, impurity, and cruelty, would they not have 
 exclaimed, " Behold the predicted apostasy, which arose 
 out of the breaking up of the empire into ten kingdoms, 
 still retaining the Latin tongue, the name contained in the 
 mystic number, 606 ; Babylon the great, the mother of 
 harlots, drunk with the blood of the saints "' ? 
 
LE^CTUKE VIL 
 
 THE CAUSES OF THE TECULIAR CHAEACTERISTICS OF EARLY 
 THEOLOGY. 
 
 The reflecting reader must frequently have asked, ho^Y 
 came so much error to be early mingled Avith Christian 
 truth, and whence arose that false sanctity and real im- 
 purity which debased the character of our religion ? To 
 this we reply, that the disadvantages of the fathers were 
 necessarily great; the advantages they possessed were, 
 however magnified, few and small ; they were seriously and 
 even culpably defective in biblical science ; exposed to 
 injurious alternations of adversity and prosperity; they 
 engaged in unprofitable controversies with heretics ; and 
 lived near the dawn of the predicted apostasy, which the 
 Scriptures assign to the apostolic times. 
 
 Part I. — The Disadvantages of the Fathers were naturally 
 and almost necessarily great. 
 
 The earliest Christians were, of course, proselytes from 
 another religion ; and till a second generation arose, the 
 church could not contain those -who " from childhood had 
 known those Holy Scriptures which are able to make us 
 wise to salvation." Can we, without profanely under- 
 valuing a Christian education, deny the disadvantages of 
 an age that possessed few who enjoyed a blessing, for 
 which scarcely anything but a miracle can make com- 
 pensation ? The Jewish and heathen religions then 
 
238 THE CAUSES OF THE PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 divided the world; and though the Jews had escaped 
 the abominations of idols, Judaism had been corrupted 
 by the pride of Pharisaism and the fables of the Eabbis, 
 with a very large admixture of oriental theosophism and 
 the sceptical philosophy which the writings of Josephus 
 betray. The Talmud is so replete with folly and filth, 
 that a Jewish education enfeebles, distorts, and pollutes 
 the mind, till even a sincere convert to Christianity 
 scarcely ever obtains a complete victory over the rabbi- 
 nical Jew. The apostles rose, by an extraordinary inspi- 
 ration, above the level of their age, and many of their 
 first converts were endued with special gifts as well as 
 grace ; but the Acts of the Apostles and the subsequent 
 history of the church at Jerusalem show how fondly the 
 Jews doated on " that which is abolished." 
 
 But who that has been educated by Christians can form 
 any adequate conception of the mind of a heathen, devoted 
 from his infancy to lewd and horrid idols ? Those who 
 are engaged in the work of Christian missions learn, to 
 their sorrow, that little more is to be expected from the 
 mass of their converts, stunted and polluted as they have 
 been by idolatry, than sincerity and zeal ; so that a new 
 generation must arise to give full development to the 
 Christian character. But even the children of converts 
 suffer severely from having had parents who once were 
 heathens. 
 
 The most celebrated fathers were originally pagans, and 
 had spent a great part of their life bewildered by the 
 various schools of philosophy, which they had entered in 
 search of truth. Such, by his own confession, was Justin. 
 To suppose that he, immediately on his conversion to 
 Christianity, completely surmounted all the defects of his 
 heathen education, is sheer fanaticism. His naturally 
 vigorous mind crouches under the load of fables and false 
 philosophy which he had not been able to throw off: and 
 
OF EARLY THEOLOGY. O39 
 
 the purifying, ennoLling influence of Cliristianitj is thus 
 deprived of half its force. 
 
 When pagan Eome asked, "Why, if your God is supreme, 
 does he notdehver you from persecution ;" what is Justin's 
 reply ? " When God made the world he put the earth 
 under angels, who fell in love with women that bare to 
 them demons, who are the persecutors of the just," What 
 could the philosophical Antoninus think of such an answer ? 
 How can we avoid the conclusion that it was dictated by 
 the old pagan elements of Justin's mind, rather than by 
 the principles of his new religion? Bat Justin was not 
 alone. Clement of Alexandria was steeped to the eyes in 
 heathen lore. His Stromata, which, perhaps, he com- 
 menced when a heathen, are a guide to the Pantheon, or 
 Pandemonium rather, which he attempts to sanctify by the 
 assertion that the Greek philosophy was a preparation for 
 Christ, in spite of the apostle's counter- declaration. 
 
 When, however, we speak of the fathers as spoiled by 
 philosophy and science, we must add, with Paul, " falsely 
 so called." For it v/as not the true philosophy, the study 
 of God's works, v/hich now nobly occupies the minds of 
 the scientific, and which unfolds " the invisible things of 
 God by the things that are made ;" but the dreams of Plato, 
 and the speculations of other schools, that occupied the 
 fathers. They gloried in forming, from the Scriptures and 
 the fragments of various sects, the Eclectic x3hilosophy. 
 Christianity, therefore, was compelled, not to accommo- 
 date itself to the works of nature, or even to an imperfect 
 and distorted theory of creation, but to amalgamate with 
 the reveries of Plato, which are now regarded by true 
 philosophy as mere ptoetry. 
 
 As soon as any one of these philosophers, falsely so called, 
 embraced Christianity, he was caught at as a prize ; and 
 before he was a thorough Christian, w^as made a minister, 
 or a tutor, of the rising race, the hope of the church. The 
 
'^10 THE CAUSES OF THE PECULIAR CHAHACTEEISTICS 
 
 philosopher's cloak gave Justin a pernicious prominence ; 
 and Tatian, ^vho caught his mantle, proved a heretic. 
 Synesius, in a later age, was, in defiance of his own hetter 
 judgment, made a bishop ; because he had been a platonic 
 philosopher and an elegant Greek poet. 
 
 The error was discovered after the mischief had been done 
 and could not be undone. Tertullian ascribes the heresies 
 of his day to philosophy. Nor were there wanting others 
 to tell the later Clement, " We prefer faith to philosophy.'"- 
 Eusebius thus writes of the followers of Artemon : "It 
 was said, if any reasoned with them out of Scripture, they 
 asked, whether it was a conjunct, or discrete, simple syllo- 
 gism. Laying aside Scripture, they practise geometry. 
 Euclid laboriously measures the earth. Aristotle and 
 Theophrastus are highly esteemed;"! though Tertullian 
 censures the Stagyrite, who became, at last, an oracle in 
 the church. 
 
 It is, we grant, far easier for us, educated among Chris- 
 tians, and instructed by the history of the church, to see; 
 and censure, and deplore the paganizing of Christianity, 
 than it could have been for the authors of the mischief 
 to anticipate the consequences of their devious course. 
 Unhappily, also, we are furnished with another apology for 
 them, in the conduct of those moderns who ought to have 
 learned wisdom from the folly of the ancients. For, if, 
 after the mischievous effects of the error have been be- 
 trayed, these fathers are still exhibited as idols, must we 
 not turn our severest reproofs from them to their worship- 
 pers ? It was the misfortune of the fathers that time had 
 not unrolled to them the melancholy tale which he has 
 told us ; it is the crime of the sons that they will not read 
 and learn. Much of the mischief that was doing in one 
 part of the church was hidden from another, when coun- 
 cils were provincial, not oecumcnic, or universal ; but while 
 we may profit by the history of all countries, and all ages, 
 * Strom, i. 213, 230. + Euseb. lib. v. c. 28. 
 
OF EAllLY THEOLOGY. 211 
 
 many are as ignorant from choice, as the fathers Vv-ere by 
 the misfortunes of their birth and the inexperience of their 
 times. 
 
 This censure falls where it may surprise some, as a 
 singular display of the ingenuity of iniquity. For the 
 philosophizing spirit of the present day is gravely censured 
 by a certain class of \Yriters, who contend, with great 
 reason, that revealed religion is not, like philosophy, open 
 to new discoveries, since it comes from the perfect mind 
 of the infallible One, who " sees the end from the begin- 
 ning." But, strange to tell, this argumentation is not em- 
 ployed to send men to the word of the liord, which en- 
 dureth for ever, but to the fathers. Now, to say nothing 
 of the high improbability that men, who spent a great part 
 of their lives in heathen darkness, should, all at once, be- 
 come the best expositors of Scripture; we have the most 
 positive proofs that the fathers were deeply implicated in 
 the guilt of philosophizing upon rehgion, which their ad- 
 mirers so severely condemn. But the ancient philosophy 
 was exactly that which the Scriptures brand as " falsely so 
 called;" while that which obtains in the present day is, 
 at least professedly, what the Scriptures commend, when 
 they say, " The works of the Lord are great, sought out of 
 all those that have pleasure therein." As God cannot con- 
 tradict himself, his works can never be at variance w^itli 
 his word ; and if it be said, " But our notions of his works 
 are not the w^orks themselves," we reply, " True ; but the 
 experimental philosophy of the present day is the only 
 means of bringing us to a real acquaintance with our 
 Maker's works, while the platonism of the fathers could do 
 nothing but bewilder and mislead." 
 
 Pakt II. — The Advantages possessed hy the Fathers, however 
 magnified hy some, werefeiv and small. 
 
 We know, indeed, that it is said, "They lived near the 
 times of the apostles, and heard either them or those that 
 YIII. R 
 
2i'2 THE CAUSES OF THE PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 conversed with them." All this, however, is more certainly 
 true of Simon Magus than of any father whose writings 
 we possess. Yet, not everything that the apostles said and 
 did, even if recorded hy the most faithful witness, would be 
 to us a safe guide. He that had seen " Peter, after eating 
 with the Gentiles, withdraw and separate himself from 
 them, fearing those who were of the circumcision," might 
 have reported, and taught others to imitate, what Paul after- 
 wards blamed as " walking not uprightly according to the 
 truth of the gospel." And how truly might some one have 
 said, that he heard Peter swear that he knew not the man 
 of Nazareth ! 
 
 Everything is to us as we are to it ; and not merely what 
 is seen and heard, but who sees and hears it, determines the 
 character of a report. That generation of Israel which 
 immediately succeeded those who saw the great things God 
 did for their settlement in Canaan, having become corrupt, 
 the Maccabees, in a far later age, were better Jews than 
 the successors of Joshua ; as our reformers were better 
 Christians than many of the successors to apostles; if that 
 term can be applied to those who merely succeeded to their 
 era of time. 
 
 The Scriptures inform us, that the earliest tradition was 
 false, though handed down by sincere men, who saw and 
 heard that on w^iich it was based. " Then went the saying 
 abroad, that that disciple sliould not die ; though Jesus 
 said not to him, ' He shall not die ;' " and it is now univer- 
 sally believed that he is dead. It w^as, perhaps, nothing 
 but the event, the death of John, that opened the eyes of 
 Christians to the falsity of this most early and recorded 
 tradition. The' Thessalonians supposed they had learned 
 from Paul, that the day of the Lord was at hand, which the 
 apostle assures them was not true. 
 
 There is scarcely any tradition of a sentiment or fact, not 
 revealed in Scripture, that comes to us in a form so defi- 
 nite and positive as that " Christ lived and taught on earth 
 
OF EARLY THEOLOGY. 243 
 
 till he was forty, or fifty, and declining towards old age." 
 Thus speaks Irenseus, the disciple of Polycarp : " It is 
 asserted by the gospel, and all the elders who in Asia met 
 together with John, and John delivered that very thing to 
 them. But he remained with them to the times of Trajan ; 
 and some of them not only saw John, but the other apos- 
 tles, and heard these same things from them, and testify 
 concerning this kind of narrative." Now, the advocates of 
 tradition believe not one word of this ; and yet expect us 
 to believe traditions which have not a hundredth part of the 
 evidence here adduced for what we know, and wonder that 
 Ireneeus did not know, to be false. 
 
 It would be easy to heap up traditions of the early fathers, 
 once generally adopted, but so branded with folly and false- 
 hood that they are universally abandoned ; as if God de- 
 signed to leave to their own counsels men whom he fore- 
 saw we should be called to idolize, that the authors of such 
 a heresy might be without excuse. That Nero was the 
 predicted Antichrist was the opinion of men who lived in 
 the apostles' days, and when he was dead, they still clung 
 to the notion, which every one now discards, as so false 
 that it is difficult to conceive how it should in the apostolic 
 times have been thought true. 
 
 Justin Martyr affirms, in his chief Apology, that " all 
 those who lead a rational life, though deemed atheists, are 
 Christians, as Socrates and Heraclitus among the Greeks, 
 Abraham and Elias among the barbarians. What an asso- 
 ciation ! Socrates and Abraham ! Heraclitus and Elijah ! 
 Could this have come down from the apostle who made 
 Abraham an example of justification by faith in Christ, and 
 exhibited Elijah as an example of holy zeal against idols, 
 which Socrates and the Greeks adored?"* 
 
 Clement of Alexandria declares, not only that the Greek 
 philosophy was given to prepare men for the gospel, but 
 also, that the worship of the heavenly bodies was to pre- 
 
 * Apol. i. 83. 
 
S44 THE CAUSES OF THE PECUIilAR CHAEACTEFiISTrCS 
 
 serve us from the more gross adoration of images. Yet 
 Job affirms, that the worship of the moon and stars was 
 in his time, " an iniquity to be punished by the judges." 
 Jehovah denounced the adoration of the host of heaven as 
 severely as that of images. 
 
 We are sent to the fathers as expositors of Scripture by 
 virtue of their intercourse with men under divine inspira- 
 tion ; but the fathers expound, not on the principle of 
 authority, saying, " This is the true meaning; for the apos- 
 tles said so," but according to what they thought rational 
 interpretation of the import of words and sentences. Here, 
 also, we find they had no advantages ; for their reasons are 
 often unreasonable, and as they fail to commend them- 
 selves to our judgment, divines of every communion take 
 the liberty to diff'er, neither binding themselves wdth 
 Clement's scarlet thread, nor aspiring to drink with Irenseus 
 of the gigantic vine. The brightest lights of the subse- 
 quent age, Jerome, Augustine, Chrysostom, without scruple 
 reject the interpretation of their predecessors, whenever 
 the words of Scripture appear to demand a diff'erent exege- 
 sis. Nor is this an infrequent occurrence, for as the ear- 
 liest fathers have shown a luckless propensity to dwell on 
 the most difficult texts, where the version they employed 
 was grossly false ; so the next generations, abandoning the 
 Septuagint, adopted more just views of the texts on which 
 monstrous doctrines had been reared. The noble eff'ort of 
 Origen to improve upon the Septuagint, and the adoption 
 of Jerome's version, cut from under the early fathers the 
 ground on which they stood. 
 
 While he who would refer us to the fathers for a knowledge 
 of Scripture, because they lived near to the days of the 
 apostles, must, in all consistency, attach the highest im- 
 portance to the earliest writers ; these are precisely the 
 men from whom we can gather least, especially of the New 
 Testament ; and are as truly the teachers whose comments 
 have been abandoned, in deference to the better judgment 
 
OF EAELY THEOLOGY. 245 
 
 of their successors, who are now, both among Eomanist 
 and Protestant divines, lords of the ascendant. Nor are 
 we always left to set up authority against authority, the 
 later above the earlier ; for of almost the whole of the New 
 Testament we can gain from the apostolical fathers no in- 
 formation. When we consult them, we find that we have 
 been sent to an oracle that is not false, but dumb. 
 
 But even when they speak, their most obsequious wor- 
 shippers refuse to hear. One favourite opinion of the 
 fathers, at least of Justin, Clement, and his disciple Origen, 
 that Christ was, as a man, unhandsome, ill accords with 
 the painter's tradition, though the writers quoted profess 
 to derive even this from the Scriptures. " It is confessedly 
 written, that the body of Jesus was disagreeable : ' We 
 saw him, and he had no form.' "* But after this notion of 
 the disagreeable appearance of our Lord's humanity had 
 prevailed, and Christ had been, as usual, still further cari- 
 catured by Tertullian's extravagant style, the church, in 
 the fifth century, went off into the opposite direction ; and 
 has never returned to the ugly ideas of the ancients. Here 
 both notions, that of unwritten tradition and of traditional 
 interpretations of Scripture, are confuted ; for if the fathers 
 conversed with the apostles, these surely must have talked 
 about Christ, and yet those fathers had a notion of his dis- 
 agreeable appearance, which they attempt to support from 
 Scripture, and which the whole church has renounced. 
 
 The theory of authoritative traditional interpretation has 
 not even the charm of novelty ; for it was borrowed from 
 the synagogue. The Kabbins affirm, that, "When Moses 
 descended from the mount, he expounded the law to Aaron 
 and Joshua, who delivered the exposition to the seventy 
 elders, and they repeated it to the people. This constitutes 
 the Mishna, or second law, delivered orally from age to age, 
 
 * Clement's S^|,cv atcxpov might be rendered, " an ugly face," and Origen's 
 ■word is, 6v<7ei6es, disagreeable, or deformed. Orig. contra Cels. lib. vi. 337- 
 Psed. lib. iii. c. 1. 
 
246 THE CAUSES OF THE PECULIAE CHARACTERISTiCS ■ 
 
 till Eabbi Jiiclali, the holy, committed the tradition to 
 writing, which was at last printed, with a Latin translation, 
 by Surenhusius, in six folio volumes. 
 
 Our Redeemer has taught us what we should think of 
 this story, which, if it was ever of any use, should have ex- 
 erted its influence in his days, to make known him of whom 
 Moses wrote. Yet Christ never mentioned the tradition of 
 the elders, but to censure it, for " making void the law of 
 God." No sound mind can read the Mishna without ac- 
 knowledging that it deserved to be smitten with the rod of 
 the Eedeemer's mouth ; for it is a farrago of punctilios, 
 some of them ludicrous, and some impious; while what is 
 fatal to its pretensions pervades the Avhole work, the con- 
 flict of rabbi with rabbi, when they are professing to record 
 authoritative tradition from Moses. But Christians must 
 have their Mishna too, though they have not ventured to 
 be as honest as Jews, by publishing it to the world, lest 
 the shame of its nakedness should be seen. 
 
 It demands special notice, that, as we detect the defects 
 of the boasted apostolical succession of Eome, by a failure 
 in its first most essential link ; so the chimera of tradi- 
 tions, not contained in Scripture, fails exactly in the same 
 place. For ecclesiastical history is a blank, just where the 
 traditionists should be able to prove it most complete. 
 From the death of the other apostles, to that of John, and 
 a little later, we have, in fact, no history ; and are compelled 
 to substitute the most vague conjecture. For the date of 
 Clement is, at the best, but late, and, at the worst, uncer- 
 tain ; while the Epistles of Ignatius, even if they could be 
 trusted, are not sufficiently early; so that a generation, 
 containing the very men who may have learned from the 
 apostles' lips, passed away, leaving us no records. Hege- 
 sippus is lost, and all the writers that remain are but second- 
 hand witnesses ; for they who profess to have seen in their 
 childhood the Apostle John are no better, and we know what 
 alterations are made in verbal tradition on passing even 
 
OF EAKLY THEOLOGY. j247 
 
 from a first to a second reporter. They who mark the hand 
 of God in his dealings with the church will not fail to see 
 here his design, hy blowing upon all other authorities, to 
 leave us to the Scriptures alone. 
 
 Part III. — The Fathers zvere seriously and even culpably 
 defective in Biblical Science. 
 
 Though their own words have proved to us the deference 
 they paid to the inspired word, they were far from acting 
 on that grand principle with the combined scrupulosity and 
 decision which it deserved. As the earliest cf them wrote 
 before the canon was complete, so their successors long be- 
 trayed an embarrassing uncertainty on the question which 
 lies at the root of all Christian theology. The Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, which sound criticism has assigned to the Apostle 
 Paul, and which the elder Clement received as inspired, 
 was afterwards thrown among the doubtful books ; or, out 
 of deference to tlie church at Rome, ejected from the canon, 
 though it was the very portion which the church needed to 
 check the course she then pursued. The catholic epistles 
 also, which were written to guard Christians against pre- 
 vailing errors, were but partially received, even when Euse- 
 bins wrote ; and if Justin appealed to the Pievelation soon 
 after it was written, the use he and others made of it, in 
 support of Millenarianism, fostered in many breasts the 
 most serious doubts of its canonicity. 
 
 But while simple ignorance is harmless, compared with 
 false knowledge; to the rejection of inspired books, the 
 fathers added the adoption of spurious writings as divine. 
 Their conduct ^Yith regard to the Old Testament was par- 
 ticularly culpable ; as the integrity of that first volume of 
 divine revelation had been assured to them by the sanction 
 of our Lord. Incalculable mischiefs followed from this 
 ignorance, or error, concerning the constituent elements of 
 the canon, both of the Old Testament and the New. What 
 would be thought of omitting, in the statutes at large, im- 
 
248 THE CAUSES OF THE PECULTAll CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 portant acts of parliament, and inserting others that were 
 never passed ? Could lie that employed such a collection 
 be deemed a sound lawyer "? What the statutes of the 
 realm are in the legal profession, that are the books of 
 Scripture in theology. "What then are we to think of the 
 fathers as divines ? 
 
 The Old Testament was known to the earliest of them 
 only by the Septuagint version, which led them into the 
 most ridiculous comments, Clement quotes Isaiah thus : 
 " We have announced before him as a little child ;" instead 
 of " He shall grow up before liim as a tender plant " 
 (or sucker ;) but Wake, by giving our translation, keeps the 
 mistake out of sight. Augustine gives no flattering account 
 of the Latin versions, which probably engrafted the mistakes 
 of a new on an old translation. To defend the fathers, 
 some here accuse their own church, v/hether Papal or Pro- 
 testant ; for both have abandoned, for the Hebrew, the 
 version on which the earliest expositors depend. The 
 Syriac, which is now the valued aid of biblical scholars, 
 was, to the most influential part of the church, a nonentity. 
 
 The mystical allegorizing of the fathers is often worse 
 than foolish ; for while it employs for argument what can 
 produce no conviction, it often destroys the effect of those 
 texts which reveal and support important truth. The 
 scarlet thread which Kahab hung out of her window might, 
 without injury, be made a type of the blood of Christ ; but 
 when the Alexandrian Clement quotes the vrords of David, 
 ''• I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother con- 
 ceive me," they are deprived of their force by this ob- 
 servation : "he says prophetically, 'Mother Eve.'" This 
 puerile mode of interpretation is pronounced " most use- 
 ful, contributing to right theology, and to piety, as well as 
 to the demonstration of ingenuity."* Then follovv- some 
 curious specimens of this art, among Avhich, most appro- 
 priately, is introduced the Sphynx. 
 
 * Strom. V. 415. 
 
OF EARLY THEOLOGY. ^49 
 
 As allegory enables the initiated to fetch anything out 
 of anything, it empowered Clement to bring the doctrine 
 of the Father and the Son out of the Verses of Euripides, 
 the Mosaic Kevelation from the Epicurean Philosophy, 
 and the Creation from Homer's Iliad.* That Plato should 
 have been made a Nicene theologian will appear to many 
 moderns quite natural and just; but Clement finds the 
 Lord's-day, too, foretold in the tenth book of Plato's 
 Eepublic.f 
 
 TertuUian makes the prince of Tjre, mentioned by 
 Ezekiel, to mean the devil ::J: and Joseph prefigured 
 Christ ; because it is said, " His glory is that of a bull ; 
 the horns of a unicorn are his horns ; with them he shall 
 equally ventilate the nations even to the extremity of 
 earth," or scatter them as by the wind. Then come the 
 unicorn, the bicorn, and the minotaur, with whatever 
 heathen learning, or perverse ingenuity, can accumulate 
 and apply to Christ. § The apples of Sodom are thus ex- 
 hibited to the Gentiles : "A fiery shower burnt up Sodom 
 and Gomorrah. The land still smells of fire ; and if 
 apples grow on the trees, it is to the eye only ; for, being 
 touched, they turn into ashes. i| But why did Christ choose 
 twelve apostles, and no other number ? I find the figures 
 of the number with the Creator: there were twelve foun- 
 tains of Elim, and twelve gems in the sacerdotal tunic of 
 Aaron, and twelve stones set up in Jordan." But the 
 reader will not think, with TertuUian, that we can never 
 have enough of this. 
 
 The superior sense of Augustine, who is here a thorough 
 Protestant, has cost him the good graces of a modern 
 school, that prefers old wives' fables to inspired Scripture, 
 or common sense. For though the Bishop of Hippo has 
 been called one of the four great lights of the church, it is 
 curious to observe how those who affect to be adherents 
 
 * Strom, lib. v. 436. + IMlI. v. 437. + Adv. Marc. lib. ii. c. 10. 
 
 § Lib. iii. c. 18. |1 Apol. cont. Gent. c. 40. 
 
^50 THE CAUSES OF THE PECULIAR CHAEACTEEIbTICS 
 
 to antiquity look askance at bis theology. It is, however, 
 consoling to hear one who w'as in so high repute utter a 
 sentence so orthodox as to deserve to be repeated. " I be- 
 lieve all I find in Scripture ; but in other writers only what 
 they prove from Scripture or reason." 
 
 The fathers must not be charged with a pretence to 
 freedom from mistakes. Augustine seems to think, when 
 commenting on the Epistle to the Eomans,* that God 
 chose men for the foresight of their faith ; but he retracted 
 when grown older and wiser ; saying, " I had not yet dili- 
 gently inquired, nor found out what is the election of 
 grace, of which the apostle speaks ; there is a remnant 
 according to the election of grace, which certainly is not 
 grace, if any merits preceded it."f Such confessions, 
 which are distasteful to many, are the best things to be 
 found in the fathers ; for, after reading Justin's argument- 
 ation on the Lord reigning from the wood, meaning the 
 cross, as if it were veritable Scripture, we are relieved by 
 hearing him say, Something may displease the Jew, not 
 only because it is not understood, but not accurately 
 spoken. Augustine's Eetractations are more honourable to 
 him than much that he never retracted. Of false inter- 
 pretations these writers are lavish ; as when Justin says, 
 " dwelling under his own vine," is having but one wife.]: 
 The follies of the fathers would make a volume more 
 amusing than edifying ; though it would be a good service 
 to the church of God, to expel them from the shrines w'here 
 they have been too long adored. Would any of their 
 idolaters venture to deliver to a Christian assembly all 
 that the fathers have left on record ? 
 
 Part IV. — Both Adversity and Prosperity, Jiowever they may 
 have been ultimately overruled for good, operated in- 
 juriously on the Theology of the Early Church. 
 
 Though Christians are captivated by Tertullian's felici- 
 tous apophthegm, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed 
 * Propos. 60. + Eetract. lib. i. c. 23. + 3-;2. 
 
OF EARLY THEOLOGY. 251 
 
 of the church," the Scriptures teach us to value freedom 
 from persecution. When the storm rages without, atten- 
 tion is too much absorbed with events to admit of the cul- 
 tivation of accurate principles. For if the Christian, who 
 is driven to " wander in dens and caves of the earth, 
 desolate, afflicted, tormented," is furnished wdth the 
 mightiest motives for watchfulness over his own personal 
 religion, he has neither opportunity, nor heart, nor occa- 
 sion, for critical study. 
 
 In the earliest ages, when a single book in manuscript 
 occupied considerable space, the believer, who was driven 
 from his home, could scarcely be said to possess the high 
 advantage of having his Bible for his companion, counsel- 
 lor, comforter, and friend. It was often torn from his 
 grasp by the hand of the tyrant. 
 
 Engrossed with distracting events, and deprived of the 
 best opportunities for studying principles, the first Chris- 
 tians were necessarily limited to the honour of intrepid 
 confessors, leaving that of accurate commentators and 
 divines to a more quiet and secure age. But if, in spite of 
 the pressure of the times, any one rose to eminent learn- 
 ing and usefulness, he was sure to be marked for destruc- 
 tion when the demon of persecution was let loose on the 
 church. The same qualities which induced the faithful 
 to commit the care of their souls to a certain pastor, in- 
 flamed the enmity of the world, and prompted the cry, 
 •' To the lions ! Destroy the leader, and the flock will be 
 scattered, as sheep without a shepherd ;" as Ignatius de- 
 scribes his flock at Smyrna, when he was condemned to 
 fight with beasts at Kome. History shows the best men 
 sacrificed first, and the pastors leading the way to the 
 stake, just when their talents, graces, and acquirements, 
 were about to produce ripe fruit. 
 
 Deprived of its best elements, the church was left to the 
 care of inferior men, often neophytes, whose distinction 
 in society, or eminence as philosophers and rhetoricians, 
 
252 THE CAUSES OF THE PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 marked them out for office, while their religion was still 
 immature. Nor was this the only injury that the church 
 suffered from persecution. For when the most dis- 
 tinguished Christians were not killed, but sent to work in 
 the mines, they retained the pastoral office. Cyprian, in 
 his retreat, governed his flock by letters, which are still 
 extant, some of them addressed to ecclesiastics who were 
 working as convicts in the mines of Numidia, in which 
 nine bishops were immured.* In such circumstances, to 
 have preserved in the simplest form the great outlines of 
 the gospel, bearing testimony to its truth, by their sorrows 
 and their blood, and leaving to future generations the 
 duty of more accurate research into its records, and more 
 luminous display of their contents, was no mean achieve- 
 ment. 
 
 But now was felt, if not seen, the evil of departure from 
 the apostolic order in the church. The Scriptures had 
 left provision for the plurality of pastors, and had exhibited 
 a majorit}^ of examples in favour of several co-presbyter 
 bishops, which in those times of persecution was evidently 
 most desirable, if not absolutely necessary. But, from the 
 days of Ignatius, the monarchical principle had not only 
 become the favourite, but, without even a decent reference 
 to Scripture, been insisted upon as imperative. When, 
 therefore, the bishop was torn from his flock, it was left 
 without one who was thought to have a right to govern ; 
 for presbyters had not then acquired, as now, by the re- 
 action of circumstances, a sort of episcopal rule in their 
 own charge. The destitution was therefore nearly com- 
 plete, and the consequences deplorable, which might have 
 been avoided, if episcopal pride had not thought itself 
 wise enough to correct the apostolic rule. Cyprian, how- 
 ever, was such a bishop as wrote from his retreat to tell 
 the presbyters to perform their parts and his too. What 
 bishop would now imitate him ? 
 
 * Ep. 76, 77. 
 
OF EARLY THEOLOGY. 253 
 
 One unhappy consequence of persecution was very pro- 
 minent, the undue importance which it gave to the con- 
 fessors and martyrs' name. Though this was natural, it 
 was neither scriptural nor safe ; for the sacred volume 
 gives no sanction to that idolatry of the martyrs which 
 prevailed in the Christian church. Courting persecution, 
 and a kind of worldly ambition for the martyr's crown, are 
 ascribed by some of the fathers to the heretics. Suffering 
 is no infallible proof of a divine faith. It is not the 
 martyrdom that sanctifies religion, but the religion that 
 sanctifies the martyrdom. Yet apostates, who had sacri- 
 ficed to idols in the hour of danger, obtained, from con- 
 fessors in jDi'ison, or those that were going away to the 
 stake, testimonials which secured the restoration of a 
 hypocrite to the communion of the church. The sayings 
 of martyrs were regarded as divine oracles, and the death 
 of Ignatius, throwing around him a glory which he would 
 never have acquired by his life, has given a factitious 
 value to his letters, and tempted a subsequent age to 
 practise the most flagitious forgeries in his name. Though 
 Cyprian shows that the confessors in prison were neither 
 immaculate nor infallible ; men who had but recently 
 been convinced of the truth were supposed to acquire by 
 sufferings a right to more than all the deference due to 
 the most mature and experienced Christian, 
 
 But it is well known that, to religion, prosperity is 
 more fatal than adversity. Many of the apostates in the 
 hour of danger became the professed penitents in the 
 season of security, and rushed back into the church with 
 all the guilt of idolatry, and perfidy, and hypocrisy, on 
 their souls. Fresh converts, too, came in, when the 
 storm being again blown over, it became manifest that 
 the Christian cause could by no violence be crushed. 
 Persecution had excited attention to the evidences of our 
 faith, and the constancy of sufferers produced in spectators 
 a rational conviction, which was not always attended with 
 
254 THE CAUSES OF THE PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 a spiritual discernment of the true nature of religion, or a 
 genuine faith in Christ. But such acquisitions were hailed 
 as the fruit of the martyrs' blood, without severely 
 examining into the value of the new profession. These 
 converts, when false, must have tainted the theology of 
 the church. 
 
 The increase of Christians by birth and education con- 
 tributed to the same effect. When the first generation 
 that had been converted from the heathen world, or the 
 Jewish church, passed away, their children, educated in 
 the Christian faith, knew that it presented evidences of 
 truth superior to every other religious system on the face 
 of the globe. But the descendants of the pious are not 
 always partakers of "like precious faith," though pro- 
 fessing the same religion as the parents, and recognized 
 as members of the same church. We have no history that 
 can tell us in what way the children of believers were 
 received into the full communion of the early churches. 
 Modern confirmation, we know, has scarcely anything in 
 common with the ancient, but the name. Their Christian 
 education would have given to the children of believers 
 high advantages, had it been crowned by that grace which 
 is essential to all religion ; but when the means were sub- 
 stituted for the end, those who were Christians merely as 
 their parents had once been heathens, by birth and edu- 
 cation, became a dead weight on the church. The pains 
 taken to teach the neophytes may be seen in Cyril's 
 Catechetical Lectures ; but they confound baptism and 
 regeneration, and, besides being of too late a date for our 
 purpose, they are addressed to unbaptized persons of all 
 ages, and, therefore, throw little light on the manner in 
 which they who were baptized in infancy were received into 
 full communion. 
 
 That in times of prosperity there was an influx of 
 equivocal converts was seen and confessed, when the 
 Decian and Diocletian persecutions produced hosts of 
 
OF EAIILY THEOLOGY. 255 
 
 apostates ; and as these had been received from the ranks 
 of idolaters, their profession, while it lasted, did more to 
 darken and corrupt, than their apostasy to disgrace the 
 Christian church. For if even the sincere converts from 
 heathenism brought with them all the disadvantages we 
 have contemplated, what shall we say of the insincere ? 
 To that professor of religion wdio, to save his life, should 
 sacrifice to Juggernaut, what name should we give ? Are 
 we, then, bound to idolize that church wJiicli in great part 
 consisted of men who had thus insulted the Most High ? 
 
 With two exceptions, Origen and Tcrtullian, both 
 tainted names, the Christian church was, by its early 
 persecutions, left destitute of such writers as afterwards 
 arose, who, enjoying the leisure that attends on peace, pro- 
 duced commentaries and theological treatises of superior 
 worth. Who would pretend that the earliest writers of 
 the British church, when she was struggling against pagan 
 power, are to be preferred to those of later and more 
 peaceful times ; or defend the crudities and superstitions 
 of Bede against the great names of many who are com- 
 paratively modern ? 
 
 It is no reflection on the early church to say that, when 
 persecution robbed it of its best elements, and sudden 
 gleams of prosperity brought into it doubtful converts, 
 like swarms of summer flies, it suffered by the times that 
 passed over it, and made little progress in the study of 
 that word which renders us wise to salvation. The dis- 
 grace lies rather upon us, who, with far greater advantages, 
 and the warnings which others have afforded, have no 
 further outstripped the brightest examples of ancient 
 times. 
 
 The blood of the martyrs was not thrown away, for we 
 are profiting by their testimony ; and if they have con- 
 firmed our faith, we ought to supply their lack of know- 
 ledge. They led the way, indeed, to the fatal error of 
 mingling the kingdom of Christ with the kingdoms of 
 
256 THE CAUSES OF THE PECULIAR CHAEACTERISTICS 
 
 this world ; but they foresaw not the consequences which 
 have been developed to our view ; and we who have 
 derived many benefits from their zeal and good intentions, 
 must labour to recover the church from the mischiefs pro- 
 duced by their ignorance, inexperience, superstitions, and 
 mistakes. 
 
 Part V. — The Controversies to ivhich the Heresies of the 
 Earliest Ages gave rise seriously injured the Church. 
 
 Men wlio knew not much of the nature of Christianity, 
 nor loved what they knew, were so early induced, by 
 evanescent convictions, or sinister motives, to enter the 
 church, that she soon found herself surrounded by those 
 who had quitted her again, to form rival churches, which 
 TertuUian compared to wasps' nests. Though the number, 
 variety, and extravagance of their errors may have been 
 exaggerated by Irenseus ; there is still enough of in. 
 controvertible fact left, to excite our astonishment and 
 grief, and to account for the feverish excitement of the 
 fathers, who became chivalrous heresy-hunters. 
 
 But if we may excuse, we cannot justify them for suf- 
 fering that time which should have been bestowed on the 
 study of the truth, to be wasted on the most absurd and 
 pernicious lies. The inflammatory influence of con- 
 troversy is early discernible in the writings of those who, 
 becoming polemics before they were divines, were, as 
 Jerome confesses, driven into unwarrantable applications 
 of Scripture, for the sake of stopping an enemy's mouth 
 The best writers are precisely those that are most peaceful; 
 for just in proportion as the others combat, or overthrow 
 an error, they misrepresent or deny some truth. 
 
 Justin's Dialogue betrays the ambition of the polemic, 
 and if he was acquainted with the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 he had profited little by that which would have con- 
 tributed more to the conversion of the Jew than all the 
 martyr's allegories. Irenaeus was a St. George hunting 
 
OF SARLY THEOLOGr. 257 
 
 dragons ; and ^^ho can read his volume without wishing 
 that he had devoted the time he bestowed on heresies, to 
 the more thorough study of the Scriptures? Had he let 
 the heretics alone, they would all have died of themselves; 
 but while he was immortalizing what deserved nothing but 
 oblivion, he betrayed the secret, that the weakness of the 
 orthodox was the only strength of their foes. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria had the Gnostics in view in his 
 work on the true Gnosis, or knowledge ; and the ambition 
 to appear still more knowing than they, has betrayed him 
 into many learned follies. Basilides he attacks by name ; 
 but when no opponent is mentioned, we see at whom he 
 aims, and discover how the polemical spirit draws him 
 aside from the simplicity of truth. The parade of learning 
 which predominates in his works v/as designed to outshine 
 the adversary, who should rather have been taught, by 
 example as well as precept, to derive the knowledge of 
 religion from the oracles of God. Origen's principal 
 work, being a defence of Christianity against a pagan 
 philosopher, is not open to the censure directed against 
 his master. 
 
 But Tertullian was, by constitution, as well as circum- 
 stances, a fierce controversialist. His whole theology is 
 polemical, and he cannot teach truth but in the form of an. 
 attack upon some error, for which he often substitutes 
 another. For his knight-errantry he found an exciting 
 field, in a world full of gigantic heresies, and bristling with 
 strongholds haunted by demons. If putting an adversary 
 in the wrong were the whole business of a disputant, who 
 was more triumphant than Septimius ? But, if men are 
 to be won by speaking the truth in love, we must conclude 
 that, with all his mighty intellect and vaiious learning, 
 the African "laboured in vain, and spent his life for 
 nought." 
 
 But, in addition to the diversion of the mind from the 
 peaceful study of the Scriptures, a strong tendency to 
 vin. ii 
 
•458 THE CAUSES OF THE PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 exaggeiTited views was created by the controversy with 
 heretics. The oscillations of the pendulum were seen in 
 the public mind ; for as some went too far in one di- 
 rection, those who opposed them went as far wrong in the 
 opposite, upon the supposition that the farthest from a 
 heresy was the nearest to the truth. If God has, indeed, 
 overruled controversy for the promotion of the faith, it is 
 not the less true that the parties engaged in the battle 
 have often acquired victories for posterity, at their own 
 cost. For how few theological combatants have escaped 
 uninjured ! The rare instances have been men of mature 
 religion, and thorough knowledge of Scripture ; while the 
 patristic combatants were frequently neophytes, who had 
 yet much to learn. 
 
 Though the apologies for Christianity, which form a 
 principal part of the early writings, are honourable to 
 their authors' sincerity and zeal, as well as splendid monu- 
 ments of the mental power and learning possessed by 
 some of the first converts ; no one can read them with a 
 discerning eye and not wish they had been different. It 
 was, doubtless, a contemptible fondness for " the elegant 
 mythology of the Greeks," that made Gibbon complain of 
 the lengthened declamations against idolatry; but there is 
 not the less justice in his censure on the unsatisfactory 
 manner in which the apologists treat their own religion. 
 The spirit of controversy had spoiled them for peaceful 
 instructors ; and if their arguments succeeded in making 
 the reflecting part of mankind ashamed of idolatry, their 
 information was not always sufficient to " show the more 
 excellent way." Were the rejection of a false religion 
 equivalent to the adoption of the true, the success of the 
 apologists had been complete. Idolatry was shaken to its 
 foundations; but for want of Christian knowledge, swarms 
 of heretics succeeded in diffusing visionary systems, which 
 substituted mental for material idols. The Dialogue of 
 Minucius Felix is beautiful and interesting, though it 
 
OF EARLY THEOLOGY. 259 
 
 abruptly terminates just wliere we could have wished to 
 hear the convert witness a good confession. Tertullian's 
 Apologetic Oration to the Gentiles is as injudicious as it is 
 powerful ; and the questionable fanciful things that he 
 presses on their belief make us weep for the heathen, to 
 whose salvation he seems ambitious to oppose a fatal 
 hinderance. The internal evidence of Christianity, which 
 is its highest glory, was unhappily obscured by the bad 
 spirit of the apologist. 
 
 Part VI. — The Fathers lived duriiir/ the Rise of the predicted 
 Ai^ostasy, which included a Corruption of the Doctrine, 
 as well as of the Morals of the Church. 
 
 Many sincere men, who ought to have known better, 
 reading of Christ's love and faithfulness to the church, 
 have created its fortunes by force of imagination, never 
 deigning to ask of history, what was the fact. Had a pious 
 Israelite, on the faith of God's promise to preserve his 
 people till Messiah should come, indulged in expectations 
 of purity without spot, and prosperity without reverse, 
 how miserably would these dreams hav-e been belied by 
 events ! Will tlie inspired history of even the earliest 
 and purest age of the church suffer us to consider it 
 either mfallible, or immaculate? Have we not predictions 
 of the apostasy of churches, as well as of the perpetuity 
 of the church ? Are we not told how the prophecy began 
 to be fulfilled? The futile theory, that our religion could 
 not have been corrupted so early as the second century, 
 weighs lighter than air against solid facts. As Paul 
 warned the presbyter bishops of Ephesus, that from 
 " among themselves men would arise speaking perverse 
 things, to draw disciples after them ; " so all the latter 
 epistles contain intimations of many antichrists going out 
 from the churches to which they never really belonged. 
 
 The seven churches of Asia are exhibited by Him whose 
 eyes are flames of fire, as beacons, rather than pattern.*^. 
 
200 THE CAUSES OF THE PECULIAR CHARACTER FSTICS 
 
 Ephesus had profited so little by Paul's -warning that she 
 is threatened with the removal of the candlestick ; and 
 Laodicea is told, " Thou art neither cold nor hot, but 
 lukewarm," When the Thessalonians were apprised that 
 the Man of sin would not be revealed till there should 
 come a falling away, were they not assured that the 
 apostasy of, at least, a part of the church, was not only 
 possible, but certain ? Could Paul of Samosata have been 
 recognized for a Christian bishop, when marching through 
 the streets, in secular pomp, surrounded by troops of 
 women singing hymns to his praise, if his church had not 
 been most miserably corrupt? The Greek churches were, 
 for the first three hundred years, hastening to that state 
 which, in the next three hundred, brought Mahomet upon 
 them, to sweep them away as with a flood. 
 
 If Rome originated not the corruption of doctrine, which 
 must be ascribed to heathen philosophy, the idol of the 
 Greeks ; her orthodoxy may be attributed to the Epistle to 
 the Romans, the object of her reverence, or even of her 
 pride. For this was her sin, against which that very 
 epistle v/arned her, saying, "Be not highminded, but fear; 
 lest God spare not thee." The city accustomed to do- 
 mination, the Babylon of the fathers, as well as of the 
 Scriptures, corrupted the discipline of the church, and 
 cared for no doctrine but that which might be made sub- 
 servient to her rule. Tertullian exclaims, " The bishop of 
 bishops has become the patron of adulterers." The very 
 genius of the Antichrist v. liich the Scriptures reveal, is the 
 pride of domination; for they describe it as "sitting in 
 the temple of God, and yet exalting itself above all that 
 is called God, or is worshipped." Who could see the 
 pope brought into the cathedral of St. Peter, on grand 
 occasions, and not ask why we should go any further for 
 Antichrist ? 
 
 The steady progress towards this great apostasy is 
 visible, from the apostles' days, till the whole length 
 
OF EARLY THEOLOGY. 261 
 
 mystery of iniquity was revealed. It is vain to say, " We 
 do not see it ; and when Antichrist shall come, all men 
 must see him ; " for this is just what the Jews say of the 
 Messiah. Obstinately to close our eyes cannot prove there 
 is nothing to be seen. We will, therefore, now advance 
 to a view of the symptoms of apostasy Avhich the fathers 
 betray. 
 
 Those who thought they saw in Nero the predicted 
 Antichrist must have attributed to their age great cor- 
 ruption of doctrine, or they were grossly ignorant of the 
 Scriptures, which declare that the Man of sin would 
 obtain his ascendancy by the departure of professors from 
 the primitive purity and ancient faith. Such as believed 
 that Hadrian was Antichrist must have thought the same 
 of his era ; and as one persecutor after another was sup- 
 posed to be the Man of sin, we must conclude that 
 some in our days are lauding the times which they who 
 knew them by experience thought bad enough to be the 
 era of Antichrist. In fact, it is not the fault of the fathers 
 of any age if theirs is taken for the pattern church which 
 all are bound to imitate ; for they each in succession 
 censure and deplore their own times. " O God, to what 
 days hast thou reserved me!" says one of the earliest; 
 and each of his successors responds to the sigh. 
 
 Clement's letter to the Corinthian Christians proves 
 them not immaculate ; and though he praises their former 
 state, we know from an inspired epistle to them, that this 
 was oratory at the expense of truth ; praising their past to 
 make them ashamed of their present conduct. The 
 Epistles of Ignatius prepared the way for Hildebrand, who 
 might find in them an apology for his most atrocious 
 language. To adopt the phraseology of homoeopathy, the 
 millesimal portion of this spirit would suffice to poison a 
 world. 
 
 The heathenism taught in the chair of Alexandria 
 would have shocked the men of apostolic times. The 
 
'^62 THE CAUSES OF THE PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 next in succession, Origen, though superior to his master, 
 by pursuing the same course, alarmed the church, which, 
 however, owes the equivocal position in which he was 
 placed, between saint and heretic, to the wounded pride 
 of Demetrius, rather than to his love of the truth. After 
 it ceased to be prudent to mention the author, the senti- 
 ments of Origen were quoted by the oracles of the church, 
 which for ages was poisoned by his errors when it was not 
 safe to mention his name. That the corruption was 
 rapidly advancing when Tertullian wrote, he himself de- 
 clares ; for at length the church was too impure for him, 
 who denounced it as an assemblage of animal men, 
 yjfvxiKoi, that rejected the promised Paraclete. This was, 
 indeed, the suspicious testimony of a schismatic, if not a 
 heretic; but his earlier writings prove that while he was 
 an acknowledged oracle, he often gave responses that were 
 anything but flattering to the church. Nor did his war 
 against her destroy his credit; for, after all, Cyprian 
 hailed him master. Eusebius and Jerome laud him, which 
 they could scarcely have ventured to do, if it had been 
 notorious that all Tertullian 's censures were calumnious 
 and false. Carthage must have been in an apostate state 
 when her bishop wrote his letters, which are full of com- 
 plaints and reproaches, not only against the laity, but the 
 clergy, too, and even the confessors and martyrs. The 
 If^sed will probably be abandoned without defence, but 
 be it remembered, they had formed a large portion of what 
 was called the church. The theology of such times neces- 
 sarily partook of their character, and when we know the 
 men, we cannot place much confidence in their creed. 
 
 But as the Arianism which, in the fourth century, set in 
 like a flood, to sweep away the faith, had its commence- 
 ments in the incautious language of the orthodox, who, 
 intent on proving their monotheism against heathen poly- 
 theists, approached too near to the Trinity of Arius ; so 
 the Pelagianism of the fifth age may be clearly traced to 
 
OF EARLY THEOLOGY. 263 
 
 the second, when a solicitude to resist the fatalism of the 
 stoics, or of the gnostics, drove the fathers into ex 
 pressions that seemed to deny the doctrine of divine 
 grace. Origen, once eagerly followed, being found to have 
 prepared the way for Pelagius, was abandoned by Jerome 
 and others, as well as by Austin. They perceived that the 
 Alexandrian oracle had, by applying to the ceremonial 
 law what the apostle said of the moral, changed a system 
 of grace into a law of works. But asceticism and monas- 
 ticism had too far perverted the whole church, to admit of 
 her recovery, by such means as the following ages were 
 willing to employ. The predicted apostasy steadily ad- 
 vanced, and many years of darkness, superstition, and 
 guilt, had their commencement m ages that have been ig- 
 norantly lauded as primitive and pure. It is, indeed, not 
 surprising that modern Pelagians should praise the times 
 that gave birth to their creed ; but it is somewhat incon- 
 sistent, while professing profound deference for the church, 
 to cherish the heresy she condemned. 
 
 As the polluted and polluting stream was fed by rivu- 
 lets till it became a flood that swept away all before it, we 
 never can exactly tell how far any age or individual was 
 under its influence, except by a comparison of their works 
 with the revealed standard of truth. That the earliest 
 writers must be watched, and everything they say be tried 
 by the infallible rule, will be readily admitted by every 
 one who knows the progress which corruption was 
 making, and to what impartial student of ecclesiastical 
 history can this be unknown? 
 
 There is scarcely an error in doctrine, or corruption in 
 practice, or superstition in worship, by which the church 
 was ever troubled, that may not be traced to very early 
 times, and that was not defended by some venerated 
 name. This, however denied as incredible, and decried 
 as an infidel reflection on the Christian church, is not 
 only demonstrable by fact, but is in reality confirmatory to 
 
204 THE CAUSES OF THE PECULIAR CHAEACTEEiSTlCS. ETC. 
 
 our faith. For so exjolicit and so loud are the warnings of 
 Scripture concerning a fearful apostasy, that every sincere 
 believer must be watching for its rise with anxious inte- 
 rest; and so clear are the assurances and the proofs, that 
 from the days of the apostles, the mystery of iniquity w^as 
 already at work, that the most melancholy records of its 
 advancement in each subsequent age serve but to convince 
 us, that, though "all flesh is grass, the Avord of the Lord 
 endureth for ever." 
 
LECTUKE VIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 We have, through our whole course, dwelt chiefly on 
 what is, by emphasis, the theology of the early church, 
 tracing it from pure scriptural simplicity, to the point 
 where acknowledged corruption of manners tells aloud of 
 something wrong in the ministry of the word. But where 
 we stop, as too late to be really the church of the fathers, 
 generations having passed away, and degenerate sons risen 
 up, so that "there were few like the fathers;"* here some 
 would begin,! and adopting this as their halcyon period, 
 declare that now the church was come to maturity, and all 
 before, even including the apostolic age, was puling in- 
 fancy. The imprudence of this scheme is equalled only 
 by its impotence. 
 
 For the boastful advocates o^ patristic orthodoxy have 
 combined the Valentinianism of Marcion with the Montan- 
 ism of Tertullian; so extremes meet, and he that has sailed 
 in an eastern direction salutes at the Antipodes him that 
 took the opposite course. Marcion was too wise to be 
 taught by apostles, who were rude, simple, half-informed 
 men ; and Tertullian is conducted by the Paraclete of Mon- 
 tanus to the maturity of Christianism in the third century. 
 Hear him : " The rule of faith is absolutely one, single, 
 
 * Clemens Alexandriniis.- 
 
 + The school that has produced tlie Oxford Tracts has commenced trans- 
 lations of the fathers with those of the fifth century. 
 
^^66 CONCLUSION. 
 
 immoveable, irreformable. But this law of faith remaining 
 still, other affairs of discipline and conversation admit the 
 novelty of correction ; verily the grace of God operating 
 and advancing even to the end. For is the work of God 
 such that it should either have ceased, or desisted from 
 advancing, while the devil is always operating and adding 
 every day to the ingenuity of iniquity ? Therefore the Lord 
 has sent the Paraclete, that as human mediocrity could 
 not, at once, receive all things, it might by little and little 
 be directed and ordered, and discipline be conducted to 
 perfection by that vicar of the Lord, the Holy Spirit. ' I 
 have yet many things,' he says, ' to tell you ; but ye can- 
 not bear them now. When he, the Spirit of Truth, is 
 come, he will lead you into all truth, and announce to you 
 things to come.'* What is, then, the administration of the 
 Spirit but this, that discipline may be regulated, that the 
 Scriptures may be revealed, that the intellect may be re- 
 formed, that we may be advanced to better things ? There 
 is nothing without its age. All things abide their time."* 
 He then goes on to illustrate this by the progress of vege- 
 tation from the flower to the ripe fruit. But what said the 
 church of this fancied advancement to perfection in Ter- 
 tuUian's days? She cast him out as a heretic, and all his 
 fine sayings are henceforth rebutted by the cool remark, 
 TertuUian was not a man of the church. 
 
 Of this, indeed, there is sufficient evidence in the passage 
 we have quoted. It contains the virus of that very heresy 
 which he had condemned in Marcion. Instead of distin- 
 guishing between the apostles when Christ spoke to them, 
 and the same men (who were, indeed, not the same) after 
 the descent of the promised Spirit, the words of TertuUian 
 imply what Marcion openly asserted, that the apostles had 
 not taught the whole gospel. The defects of their early 
 instructions were, according to TertuUian, to be supplied 
 by the Paraclete of Montanus, who, centuries after, made 
 
 * John xvi. + De Virg. vel. c. 1. 
 
CONCLUSION. 267 
 
 divine revelation complete. And this is the doctrine of 
 some in our day, whether they derive it from Tertullian 
 the Montanist, or Dodwell the ultra-episcopalian. Apostles 
 left the church an infant ; and bishops nursed it to man- 
 hood. It will not palliate the error to say, " All this is 
 applied to discipline, not to doctrine." Tertullian speaks 
 of truth without distinction, or even specifies the gloiy of 
 Christ, which the Spirit was to reveal. 
 
 There is a far better apology to be made for the Monta- 
 nist, that, with all his fanaticism, he still regards the Scrip- 
 tures as the standard of faith and practice ; for " this is the 
 work of the Paraclete, tliat the Scriptures may be revealed." 
 He supposed that they were imperfectly understood, which 
 was, alas ! too true. Yet the man who had the most extra- 
 vagant notions of the inspiration of his new sect still con- 
 siders that it was not to give additions to revelation, or 
 make us independent of it ; but was to reveal what was 
 contained in Scripture, though not known to the church. 
 This is less fanatical than the theory of unwritten tradi- 
 tions, which, by sharing, would supersede the authority of 
 the word of God. 
 
 But they who set up a later age as the standard, the ma- 
 turity of Christianity, share the common fate of error, to 
 promote, in spite of themselves, the cause of truth. They 
 declare that theirs is not the apostolic church, for they 
 abandon this as too rude and simple ; and when they talk 
 of the fathers, they mean not those who are so by eminence, 
 but such as are not even good sons ; for they belonged to 
 an age which they themselves pronounced so corrupt, that 
 Antichrist might be immediately expected; and if we be- 
 lieve them, we should bless Him who " determined the times 
 before appointed, and fixed the bounds of our habitations," 
 that he has not cast our lot on such days. 
 
 But we are witnessing the downward course of error. 
 The Scriptures are first forsaken, as the records of an age 
 too simple, the history of churches too pure and too inde- 
 
268 coxcLusiox. 
 
 pendent to please a hierarchy ; the apostolical fathers next 
 are chosen, instead of the apostles ; but it is soon found 
 that the same objections again occur, and therefore the 
 ground is changed again ; the sons of those fathers are 
 made the standard, but only to be abandoned for their sons 
 again, till it is impossible to say what is meant by the 
 church of the fathers. 
 
 Let not the student of the Scriptures, then, shrink from 
 the contest concerning the opinions of the ancients. Anti- 
 quity is most to be dreaded by those who vaunt it most, for 
 they would be the last to restore the primitive times. The 
 sanctuary in which the fathers are enthroned is a crypt, for, 
 like other antique idols, they cannot bear the light. Their 
 theology is often so heterodox, their expositions of Scripture 
 so absurd and contradictory, and their chastity so obscene, 
 that he who would dethrone them has but to bring a blazing 
 torch into their shrines, and show to the crouching multi- 
 tude what it is they have adored. Their high priests, like 
 the Chinese, offer scraps of gilded paper, but would not 
 dare to publish in the vernacular tongue all that the fathers 
 have written, nor consent to be bound by all that they have 
 prescribed. 
 
 Mortality is never more cruelly iliocked than when ex- 
 alted to the throne of Deity. The attributes of humanity 
 that might have been esteemed, or at least tolerated, among 
 other men, are then contrasted with the perfections of the 
 divinity assumed, and for a respectable man we have a ridi- 
 culous God. The misfortunes of the fathers demand our 
 candour and our pity, but most unfortunate have they been 
 in the worship they have received ; for it has placed them 
 on an elevation which they cannot bear, and has compelled 
 those who would have apologized for their simple opinions 
 to despise their pretended oracles. 
 
 The theology of the church was pure in proportion as it 
 was early ; but only two fragments remain by whicli we can 
 judge, and of these, one is debased by the fable of the 
 
CONCLUSION. 2C9 
 
 Phoenix, which marks the difference between an epistle 
 from and that to the Romans. After a blank of nearly half 
 a century, the second becomes known to us by documents 
 that prove the interval to have been adverse to the purity 
 of the church, though the Epistles of Ignatius were made 
 such a field for forgeries that their testimony is dubious, 
 even where it may be true. Justin, the only considerable 
 writer of the middle of this century, was at once a cause 
 and an evidence of the corruption introduced by spurious 
 plrilosophy; and Irenffius, at the close, is a witness that 
 this age of heresies was but imperfectly furnished with 
 advocates for the truth. The most eminent authors belong 
 to the third century, which developed the poison of the 
 Alexandrian school, where Clement sat as a Janus, now 
 presenting the face of the Greek philosopher, and now that 
 of the Christian teacher, who formed Origen so much after 
 his own image as to give alarm to the church, which, too 
 late, discovered the devious course of her most famous sons. 
 Of the Latin fathers, Minucius Felix, the most pure, was 
 eclipsed by Tertullian, the most powerful, whose dazzling 
 arms were alternately turned against heretics, heathens, 
 and his own mother church, Cyprian, his admirer, was 
 converted too late, and was too much distracted by perse- 
 cution and strife, to become a theologian ; and as a mere 
 copyist, is of little worth. 
 
 Three centuries the church lived, with but one biblical 
 scholar, Origen ; and not one that can be called a divine. 
 The infantile simplicity of the times nearest to the apostles, 
 v/hich was wise enough to content itself with literally re- 
 peating their testimony, was fatally changed for the pride 
 of philosophy, which attempted improvements by amalga- 
 mating the revelation of heaven with the reveries of Plato ; 
 while the Scriptures, despoiled of their dignity and use by 
 apocryphal additions, and allegorical interpretation, were 
 compelled to sanctify the extravagances of asceticism with 
 the name of Christian perfection. As the hydra of heresies 
 
S70 CONCLUSION. 
 
 frightened the church from its propriety, so persecution 
 cut off its best members, till the more discerning survivors 
 poured bitter lamentations over the loss of its virgin state. 
 The Scriptures, however, though not without unwarrant- 
 able additions, remained to testify against the errors and 
 corruptions of the times, and to preserve the great princi- 
 ples of a spiritual society, the aggregate of many catholic 
 churches, whose discipline, indeed, was changing, but 
 ■whose foundation was, the unity of God ; the trinity of 
 persons ; the creation and fall of angels and men ; the divi- 
 nity of Christ, often inaccurately expressed ; his incarnation 
 and atoning sacrifice on the cross; his resurrection and 
 the mission of his Spirit ; the regeneration of our fallen 
 nature, too much identified with baptism ; justification by 
 faith, and the necessity of holiness ; the resurrection of 
 the body, final judgment and eternal life, generally asso- 
 ciated, however, with fanatical expectations of the speedy 
 coming of Antichrist, and a Millennium, too spiritual for 
 worldly men, too carnal for a Christian, and too absurd for 
 any sane mind. 
 
 Theology in its higher sense, the science of divine reve- 
 lation, surveyed by an enlightened and comprehensive 
 mind, studied in its original records, wisely interpreted 
 according to the analogy of faith, arranged into a natural 
 order, by which the antecedents lead to just and impor- 
 tant consequences, and the reasons of every truth are 
 developed and applied, was, to the early church, unknown. 
 Nor should this assertion offend or surprise ; for it is in 
 perfect keeping with all the plans of God, wliich reveal 
 facts to the simplest age, but resei've the development of 
 the reasons for more advanced times. During thousands of 
 years, men breathed the air, of whose constituents they 
 knew nothing; drank water, without suspecting that it was 
 composed of gases ; stood upon the earth, ignorant of the 
 laws of gravity ; gazed on the heavens with delight, though 
 bewildered by their motions; retii'ed to lest when they 
 
CONCLUSION. 27 1 
 
 thought the horses of the sun had gone "to quench their 
 flammg fetlocks in the sea:" and rose, to enjoy the hght 
 which they fancied be had restored, by travelhng round the 
 earth. A Newton was kept m store for times that could 
 follow out his discoveries, and the magic of chemistry now 
 extorts the secrets of nature, for those who have a thousand 
 new opportunities of applying. them to practical use. 
 
 The simple doctrines — we may say, the naked facts — of 
 revelation suffice for the salvation of all that believe. Those 
 who felt that they were fallen creatures were humbled, 
 though they pretended not to discuss the mystery of the 
 fall; that "Christ died for the ungodly," gave peace to 
 men whose writings show too clearly that they understood 
 not what the Scriptures have revealed of the rationale of 
 the atonement; the grace that changed their hearts was 
 known to them, as many other blessings are to us, simply 
 by experience ; and the hope of the resurrection to eternal 
 life cheered the mind that was unequal to discussions on 
 personal identity. 
 
 The germs of systematic theology were early scattered 
 by such as could not divine to what they would grow ; but 
 in the fifth century, Augustine, to oppose Pelagius, com- 
 menced a career, which was pursued by Godeschalcus, the 
 schoolmen, Leibnitz, Wolf, Staj^fer, the Turretines, Gale, 
 Owen, Edwards, and Williams ; till ordinary divines should 
 surpass the most eminent of the fathers ; though so much 
 still remains to be discovered, that the children of Time's 
 old age will be fathers to us all. 
 
 For the doctrine concerning the church we have reserved, 
 at the close of these Congregational Lectures, space forthe 
 more copious reflections which, from us, it now especially 
 demands. We are men of one book, trembling at the curse 
 denounced on him that shall add to the words of God ; but 
 while, with the apostle, we inquire, "What saith the Scrip- 
 ture, which is able to make the man of God perfect?" it is 
 not uninteresting, or unprofitable, to observe how this prin- 
 
272 CONCLUSION. 
 
 ciple has preserved to the world the only churches which 
 can at all bear to be examined by the writings of the ear- 
 liest age. This was well known to our founders ; for such 
 men as Ainsworth, Goodwin, and 0^yen, were not only the 
 first theologians of their day, but well acquainted with the 
 fathers, while attempting to carry the reformation which 
 others made in doctrines and rites into the very constitu- 
 tion of the church. Corruption had created a new thing ; 
 the aim of our churches was to restore the old. 
 
 Exactly, then, in proportion to the value of the argument 
 brought against us is the stringency of our reply. They 
 who plead for antiquity, willingly forget that the apostles 
 arc more ancient than the fathers, of whom it is said, 
 " They lived near the fountain-head of authority, where the 
 streams were most pure ; " which applies with double force 
 to the apostles who lived with Christ himself. But it is of 
 the very essence of our opponents' argument, if honestly 
 carried out, to attach the greatest importance to the most 
 ancient fathers ; for to pass them by, and appeal to those 
 of later date, is but to attempt obedience to the stupid 
 orders of IVlummius, to make new antiques, virtually aban- 
 doning the principle professedly employed. 
 
 What is now called the authority of the fathers was, to 
 the earliest of them, unknown, and is a modern doctrine, 
 palmed upon the world under a false name. Not one of 
 them, whether early or late, ever mentions his own autho- 
 rity, which, if true, they should have taught, as the apostles 
 asserted theirs ; because it is due to Christ and to his church, 
 to inform us who are the authoritative expositors of his will. 
 The mere silence of the fathers on this point M'ould be 
 enough to degrade them from the throne ; but they sj^eak, 
 and tell aloud their own want of authority, appealing to the 
 Scriptures as the word of the Lord, which demands the 
 study and obedience of the whole church. Here, with the 
 two Clements, Polycarp, Ignatius, Justin, Irenaeus, Origen, 
 Tertullian, Cyprian, we take our stand, leaving to innova- 
 
CONCLUSION. 273 
 
 tors the melancholy glory of venturing to abandon the an- 
 cient faith ill the sole authority of the word of God. 
 
 The earliest fathers attached the true idea to the Greek 
 word €KK\T]a-La, and always considered a church to be a con- 
 gregation, or assembly, convoked or evoked out of a promis- 
 cuous mass. Those who belonged to this assembly were 
 called by its name, even after its session had broken up, 
 and its members were dispersed ; and all such assemblies, 
 scattered over the whole world, were called the catholic 
 churches, when their distinct localities were iu view, — but 
 the church, when the identity of their faith was considered, 
 and their relation to Christ, as one body, of which he was 
 the sole Head. 
 
 The phrase congregational church, then, is pleonastic, 
 being little else than a church church ; but such j)leonasms 
 become necessary, when time and events have deprived a 
 noun of its radical signification, which must then be con- 
 veyed by an adjective, that originally, being unnecessary, 
 would have appeared absurd. That the earliest fathers 
 meant, by a church, a single worshipping assembly, and = 
 by THE church, the aggregate of a number of complete 
 churches, alike independent of each other's authority, 
 and dependent upon Christ alone, can be demonstrated, 
 if that word may ever be employed beyond the bounds of 
 mathematics. 
 
 Having seen that what are now called congregational 
 are the original churches, not only of the Scriptures, but 
 of the first three hundred years, we may proceed to ob- 
 serve that even the most strenuous opponents of this truth 
 have not been able entirely to banish or abandon the idea 
 of an independent church. For what is their notion of a 
 church, as distinct from the church, or the whole body of 
 Christians ? The most prominent and popular idea is 
 that of a national church, consisting of the whole popu- 
 lation of a nation, or of, at least, as many as adhere to the 
 religion sanctioned by the preference and support of the 
 
 VIII. T 
 
274 CONCLUSION. 
 
 state. This definition, must, to every logical mind, be 
 unsatisfactory ; for if, after contemplating the clear, simple 
 idea of the eKKXrja-La, or single assembly, we turn not to 
 that of the whole body of the faithful, viewed by the eye 
 of God as one assembly, before his throne, how can we 
 define the tertium quid, or third thing, that is neither of 
 the two former ? In Spain, the church includes the whole 
 nation, but denies its own distinct existence as a church, 
 being absorbed in what is called the catholic church ; in 
 France, the national church, supported by government, 
 consists of what is usually considered two churches, papal, 
 and presbyterian protestant ; in England, it is said to be 
 the majority, but is only the moiety; in Scotland, it is 
 not half the nation ; and in Ireland, the national church 
 contains not a tenth of the nation. The United States of 
 America know no national church. 
 
 Define a national church as we may, it is a modern 
 innovation, unknown to the ages through which we have 
 now passed. Till the fourth century was somewhat ad- 
 ^vanced, the governments of the earth opposed Christi- 
 anity ; and when Constantino favoured and patronised it, 
 if he produced anything, it was not a national, but an im- 
 perial church ; for the numerous nations that composed 
 the Eoman empire had not their distinct churches ; but all, 
 whether Britons, Gauls, Germans, Italians, or Spaniards ; 
 whether Greeks, Latins, or Barbarians, were included in 
 the emperor's church. As Julian laboured to undo his uncle 's 
 work, the Christians became once more dissenters from the 
 religion of the state. That the earliest fathers knew nothing 
 of a national church, or the right of any nation to form itself 
 into a church, is undeniable ; for when they refer to national 
 distinctions, they use the language to convey the ideas of 
 Scripture, that is, of independents, which speaks of " the 
 churches in Judaea, the churches of Macedonia," as tlie 
 fathers say, " the churches in Gennany." 
 
 Instead of thinking there were as many churches in the 
 world as there were nations, the first Christian writers 
 
CONCLUSION. 275 
 
 considered there were in any and every nation as many 
 churches as there were Christian congregations. The 
 complete development of the idea of a national church is 
 of no earlier date than the Eeformation ; and in our 
 country it owns Henry the Eighth as its unholy creator. 
 If we judge of the work hy the workman, what are we to 
 think of his national church with its royal head ? Princes 
 in earlier times had partially acted on the principle 
 without avowing it, or pretending to anything more than 
 a local and limited rule over a part of what was considered 
 the Christian church in the more catholic sense. For the 
 germ of the national is first discovered in the Eoman 
 church, which has found it necessary to tolerate the 
 phrase, " the liberties of the Gallican church," and virtually 
 to admit the shadow, if not the substance, of national 
 churches. 
 
 But as all such things are alike destitute of scriptural 
 sanction, and unknown to the ancient fathers ; so are they 
 essentially schismatic. When, from the radical idea of a 
 congregation of Christians, we, by necessity turn to 
 others with whom we do not congregate, because we 
 cannot all worship in one place, we dare not make our 
 next step national, for this would be to create a schism ; 
 but must make it catholic. That such was the sj)irit and 
 practice of the earliest Christians no one acquainted with 
 their history will venture to deny.* AVhen philosophical 
 sceptics censured Christianity for not inculcating patriot- 
 ism, Soame Jenings justly replied, " This is not its defect, 
 but its perfection ; for if our religion is not patriotic, it is 
 something better — it is cosmopolite." Instead of the 
 schismatic spirit of nationality, by which an Englishman 
 is taught to hate a Frenchman, and a patriot glories in 
 subjugating others, though at the price of desolating a 
 world, to exalt his own little birth-spot ; Christianity in- 
 culcates philanthropy, or the love of the human race, 
 teaching that God " has made of one blood all nations to 
 
 * Ep. to Dioguetus. 
 
376 CONCLUSION. 
 
 dwell on all the face of the earth ; " and that as " we have all 
 one Father, all we are brethren." " The kindness and love 
 of God our Saviour towards men," and his redeeming to 
 himself a people out of every kindred, tribe, and nation 
 under heaven, to bring them all into heaven, as their 
 common Father's house, became, to the primitive Chris- 
 tians, tlie mighty motives to cultivate the cosmopolite, 
 instead of the national, falsely called patriotic, spirit. 
 
 When a courtly poet said, " The dissenters are only half 
 Englishmen," lie ignorantly paid them the highest com- 
 pliment, by the very same censure that was cast upon the 
 first disciples of Christ, who were accused of being 
 scarcely half Romans, because they had exchanged the 
 savage Roman patriotism that trampled down whole con- 
 tinents, to exalt an Italian city, for the philanthropy that 
 said, "I am a man, and nothing human is to me foreign." 
 Justin IMartyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, glory not in their 
 nationality, but in their relationship to the church of 
 every nation and tongue. Far from being a thing to boast 
 of, a national church is a schism, in violation of the catho- 
 licity of Christianity. Though contiguity and similarity of 
 language may produce more actual communion between 
 the churches of one nation, than their members hold with 
 those at the ends of the earth, this is a mere accident of 
 humanity that involves no principle ; just as neighbours 
 more frequently reciprocate kindnesses, merely because 
 they can. 
 
 The original genius of the Christian church, as ex- 
 hibited in the Scriptures and in the writers of the next 
 ages, was by principle catholic, and only by the attributes 
 of man, congregational. The first Christians belonged to 
 a church in the strict sense of that Avord, simply because 
 they were not omnipresent ; but as soon as they stepped 
 out of the assembly, the man might feel circumscribed by 
 the limits of a nation ; but the Christian overleaped 
 bounds too narrow for his enlarged soul, and felt himself 
 
CONCLUSION. 277 
 
 in ''the church of God diffused over the whole world. ' 
 That which has been charged upon Congregationalism as 
 a defect, or even a crime, is, indeed, its glory. It knows 
 no third thing between a church and the church, meaning 
 by the former, the assembly with which we worship, and 
 by the latter, the whole body of the faithful on earth, and 
 we might say in heaven too. That this is the state of 
 things exhibited in Scripture needs no proof; that it con- 
 tinued through many generations has been shown by 
 numerous quotations from the writers of nearly three 
 hundred years. 
 
 A national church, therefore, if it means anything more 
 than the accidental intimacies of contiguous churches, is 
 at once a schism among Christians, and the sin of a 
 nation. Could the novel idea, so familiar to us, have been 
 made to pass before the mind of Clement of Eome, or 
 Alexandria, of Justin Martyr, Ignatius, Polycarp, or 
 Origen, they would have exclaimed, " O the guilty 
 schism!" A communion which takes the name of a 
 nation, as if Christianity had not " thrown down the 
 middle wall of partition, so making peace!" A body 
 separated, alike from that which calls itself catholic, 
 branding the more ancient churches with the name of the 
 Greek schism, and from all those which have, with herself, 
 separated from Rome ; shut out like our little isle, which 
 the ancients considered as severed from the whole world, 
 admitting no others to her ministrations, and confining 
 her own ministers to their prison house ; yet calling 
 herself the church, denouncing others as schismatics, and 
 appealing to the fathers ! 
 
 Her wiser and better sons, indeed, blush and sigh over 
 this schismatic position, feeling the enlarged heart of a 
 catholic Clu'istian press against these prison bars, and 
 threaten to burst forth, to hold fellowship with all saints. 
 How long shall the worse prevail against the better 
 portion ? 
 
278 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Advancing to her destined perfection, Christianity will 
 annihilate divisions, bringing us all back to the original 
 simplicity and purity of as many churches as there are 
 congregations of real Christians, forming together one 
 church of Christ. 
 
 The congregationalist is the true catholic, united to 
 a church, simply because he is not endued with ubiquity, 
 and loving all other members of the church. 
 
 As to the elements of which a Christian church should 
 be composed, the earliest antiquity agrees with the 
 congregationalist in describing them as saints. To 
 Diognetus they are exhibited in the same colours as in the 
 Acts of the Apostles ; and the salutations of Clement, 
 Polycarp, and Ignatius, speak the same language as we 
 read in the introduction to the Epistles of Paul. Nu- 
 merous hints are given of great defection from the true 
 Christian character; but these are deplored as sins that 
 brought the judgments of heaven on the church, and per- 
 secution was welcomed as the winnowing fan, designed to 
 blow away the chaff, and leave nothing but the pure wheat 
 behind. A church, including all the vile characters that 
 are to be found in a whole nation would have appeared to 
 the earlier fathers a flat contradiction. 
 
 Some of the ancient heresies were headed by men who 
 sought to be revenged on churches, which had cast them 
 out as sinners that should have no fellowship with saints. 
 Churches without discipline appeared to the primitive 
 Christians " as a city without walls." Only such as put 
 away wicked persons can claim the sanction of the 
 ancients ; and it is well known that excommunication was 
 originally the act of each single assembly, with its bishop 
 at its head ; while, by the same authority, were given 
 letters of peace, which, like those that pass among con- 
 gregational churches, introduced the members of one 
 church to communion with another. All this, in a national 
 church, is impracticable, confessedly not practised ; and 
 
CONCLUSION. 070 
 
 annual lamentations over the loss of the ancient godly dis- 
 cipline must, to those who know the real cause, appear, at 
 the best, proofs of deplorable ignorance, and at the worst, 
 a hypocritical farce. Church courts, armed with the power 
 of the sword that smites the body, may be called spiritual; 
 but they are, by the just judgment of Heaven, destructive 
 of all spiritual discipline, consigning the sword that 
 should pierce the soul to rust in its scabbard. 'No wise 
 government will now suffer any other tlian a scriptural 
 church to exercise real discipline. Neither the fathers, 
 however, nor their sons, employed any censure but such 
 as is practised in congregational churches, which, affecting 
 the spiritual relation of the subject, left his civil status 
 untouched. 
 
 Congregationalists are told that the primitive churches 
 had bishops. Unquestionably. They had a bishop to 
 every church, and some of them, especially the most 
 ancient, had more than one. But these were all bishops 
 of congregational churches ; for there were, during several 
 ages, no others, and even to Cyprian's days, " one church, 
 one altar, one bishop," w^as a catholic maxim. Presbyter 
 bishops are recognized by Clement of Rome, by Polycarp, 
 and Irena)us, and Clement of Alexandria; and while the 
 distinction betv/een presbyter and bishop is declared by 
 Jerome to be not from the Scriptures, but by ecclesiastical 
 arrangement; so surreptitiously v/as it introduced, that 
 the ancient language was preserved long after the apostolic 
 order had been changed; just as Augustus craftily retained 
 the name of the republic and the titles of its ofncers, while 
 he reigned as autocrat upon an imperial throne. 
 
 That the appointment of the bishop required the con- 
 sent of the body of the faithful, the congregationalist can 
 show, not only from the Scriptures, but from the fathers of 
 three centuries ; nor can any other mode of making a 
 bishop be sustained by the earliest ecclesiastical records. 
 That a church might, for just causes, remove its bishop 
 
280 CONCLUSION. 
 
 from his chair is clearly proved. Often was a bishop 
 unexpectedly elected by the sudden shout that vociferated 
 his name in the congregation assembled to choose the 
 pastor. Cyprian himself was called to the chair of 
 Carthage, " the whole multitude declaring its good plea- 
 sure," to use the language of the Eoman Clement. The 
 disorders which arose on these occasions were the avowed 
 cause for transferring, at a later period, the choice, from 
 the people to the clergy; but who would ascribe authority 
 to changes made when Christians fought bloody battles for 
 a bishop? The further transition from the clergy to the 
 civil magistrate, as the bishop's creator, was so abhorrent 
 from the principles of even the later fathers, that a council 
 declared an appointment made by secular influence to be 
 ipso facto void. The earlier fathers, however, would say, 
 that, in this country, there are no bishops but those that 
 were chosen by congregational churches. The name they 
 would see in one place, but in another, the thing. 
 
 That deacons were not ministers of the word, but ad- 
 ministrators of the secularities of the church, ministers 
 of tables and widows, as Jerome calls them, is abund- 
 antly attested by the apostolical fathers ; and Irenseus 
 censures those who denied that their appointment was 
 recorded by Luke in the sixth chapter of the Acts. By 
 their transmutation into ecclesiastics, the design of God is 
 frustrated, one of the most striking internal evidences of 
 our religion is destroyed, and the poor of Christ's flock, 
 bereft of the proofs of his faithful care, are left to the 
 tender mercies of the world's appointment, a parochial 
 overseer. The very first elements, therefore, out of which 
 a priest is now created are the elements of corruption. 
 An apostolic Christian, or church, wo must seek in the 
 writings of the apostles ; a Christian, or church, according 
 to the fathers, differs in each century, being purest in the 
 earliest, and becoming more and more remote from the 
 original idea, as we are borne down the stream of time. 
 
CONCLUSION. 28 1 
 
 The individual, or society, that would find a resting-place, 
 must retreat, through ages of alterations, to build, as the 
 earliest fathers professed to do, on " the foundation of 
 prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the 
 chief corner-stone." 
 
 To this all should, all must, at last, recur; for the 
 revival of appeals to the fathers is but one of the ephe- 
 meral " fashions of the world, whicli passeth away." 
 Nothing can stand before divine authority, breathing in the 
 Scriptures alone ; one text of wdiich can put a host of 
 fathers to the rout. For they are %emselves fatal to the 
 cause which they are employed to defend, furnishing its 
 opponents with patristic authority for wielding "the sword 
 of the Spirit, which is the word of God." ^he appeal to 
 the fathers may be put down by a complete translation of 
 their whole works, which, in Italy or Spain, would 
 be placed in the Index Expurgatorius. But he who is 
 convinced that it is not lawful to do evil that good may 
 come, would be reluctant to bewilder and defile mankind 
 with so much folly, impurity, and error, as the long cata- 
 logues of the ancient writings contain. 
 
 Those who know little more of the fathers than as 
 sainted names, may suspect that we have surveyed 
 them with an evil eye, to cull from their works weeds 
 nauseous and noxious, where we might have gathered 
 flowers, whose fragrance is health ; but the better in- 
 formed know that we have given their best passages, and 
 of their worst have left many untouched. Whole pages, 
 on which the writers seem to have bestowed great pains, 
 and to have prided themselves, as displays of their most 
 precious lore, are so pitiful, wearisome, and disgusting, 
 that, for our own relief, we have passed them by ; nor 
 could we have dared to give a full detail of their errors, 
 absurdities, and false morality, in a book intended for 
 Christian use. It would have been more pleasant to 
 imitate the pious sons of Noah, and hide the fathers' 
 
2S'2 CONCLUSION. 
 
 shame, had not false friends proved real foes, and by 
 claiming for them the rank of semi-apostles, imposed on us 
 the necessity of placing them in their true light. 
 
 We pretend not (for who could?) to an infallible judg- 
 ment, or a perfect exhibition of all that the early church 
 believed; but we have told the truth, praised where we 
 could, and in the great outlines of doctrine have proved 
 the harmony of the fathers with Scripture, while we 
 have exposed errors and follies of which any modern 
 theologian might be ashamed. Candour is due to the 
 ancients, as to every fhan, and we have shown why they 
 could not be expected to possess what has been claimed 
 for tliem by others, but disclaimed by themselves. In 
 talents, they were as different as the men of our ovv'n 
 times ; some being weak and superstitious ; others bold 
 and speculative ; while a third class combined the pro- 
 perties of the two. Their piety, therefore, however emi- 
 nent, partook of the character of their minds, and such 
 were the disadvantages of their position, that if we are 
 not advanced immensely beyond them, it is to our ever- 
 lasting shame. 
 
 Though controversy, like all the other evils that have 
 afflicted this fallen world, has been, by infinite wisdom 
 and grace, overruled for good; it has also left indelible 
 marks of a mischievous origin, in the injurious effects it 
 has produced even on those who were enlisted on the side 
 of truth ; for nothing but infallible wisdom and immaculate 
 purity can preserve us from being driven into some devia- 
 tion from exact propriety, when agitated by a hostile force. 
 Appeals to the fathers, as a second Bible, or as authorita- 
 tive expositors of the inspired book, may have warped 
 opponents into a contemptuous opinion of writings which 
 still have their own proper value and use. While the 
 judicious reader will find in the ancients, not a rival, but 
 a foil to the Scriptures, the literary history of the earlier 
 converts to Christianity cannot fail to be instructive to the 
 
CONCLUSION. 283 
 
 latest generation. Those whom we should not follow, but 
 shun as the lighthouse on a dangerous rock, may still 
 guide us to a safe port. 
 
 As long as we have the inspired writings, we may be 
 safely ignorant of that which is uninspired ; but then we 
 must remember the apostolic charge, " If any man be 
 ignorant, let him be ignorant." Unhappily, however, 
 knowledge is assumed, or affected, where it is not pos- 
 sessed ; and both the idolaters, and the despisers of the 
 fathers, often take things for granted, without adequate 
 research. x\s they who virtually abandon divine for human 
 guides are now exercising great diligence in consulting 
 their oracles, it becomes us also to listen and know wdiat 
 is their response. Only error can profit by ignorance ; 
 knowledge is the friend of truth. To a student of the 
 Scriptures, the reading of the fathers is a sufficient anti- 
 dote to the poisonous doctrine of their quasi infallibility ; 
 but it is easy to impose on the ignorant, by garbled ex- 
 tracts from men of saintly names, and strangely heterodox 
 or discordant creeds. 
 
 The design of God to maintain the exclusive authority 
 of his word is manifest in the theology of the early church. 
 In that communion which has carried to the utmost length 
 the claims of the fathers, the Holy Scriptures are a pro- 
 hibited book. However, this may be denied, for it is too 
 shocking to the Christian mind to be honestly confessed, 
 wherever Eome reigns the Bible retires ; nor does any one 
 read it but by special permission from the priests, which 
 they who are under their influence seldom ask. In pro- 
 portion as those who are deemed Protestants ascribe 
 authority to what they call the church, they depress the 
 Scriptures, become enemies to Bible Societies, and deny 
 both the right and the ability of the Christian people to 
 search the Word of God for themselves. As Kome is a 
 perfect Proteus, and they who have "drunk of the wine of 
 her fornication " assume all shapes, a more plausible 
 
284 CONCLUSION. 
 
 theory is imposed on our countrymen, the authority of 
 the fathers as interpreters of Scripture, which must not 
 be understood but in their sense. 
 
 God has, however, so mercifully provided against this 
 degradation of his word to the rank of an amphibological 
 oracle, that they who thus blaspheme it are without 
 excuse. The stronghold of the papal party is the point 
 where the fathers agree ; for there, we are told, they have 
 legitimate authority. But men may happen to agree in 
 error ; or may combine to tell a falsehood : and weak 
 minds are usually carried away in the same direction, by 
 the prevailing fallacies of their country and age. The 
 discord of the fathers, on many points, destroys their 
 authority when they accord; for the inspiration of the 
 sacred writers is proved by a harmony that is perfect. 
 The fathers make no scruple to contradict each other.* 
 Where we had the best right to exjoect harmony, we find 
 most discord. 
 
 To know where the fathers agree, and where they dis- 
 agree, w-e must read them all thoroughly. To this who 
 can honestly pretend ? It is a study for a life. Numerous 
 ancient works are lost, and some have but recently been 
 rescued from oblivion, to which Rome would gladly re- 
 mand many a troublesome witness. Are Tatian, Origen, 
 TertuUian, to be reckoned fathers or lieretics ? Are the 
 works they wrote while in the bosom of the church (which 
 cannot always be ascertained) damaged by their subsequent 
 heresy or schism ? Cyprian, who declares, with the 
 Apostle John, that apostates never v/ere of the church,] 
 yet reverenced the Montanist Septimius, as if his separa- 
 tion from the prevailing party were no apostasy from the 
 faith. We are often, therefore, listening to TertuUian, the 
 heretic, when we suppose we are hearing Cyprian, the 
 bishop and martyr. 
 
 The harmony of the fathers with each other has been 
 ♦ Aug, de Doct. Christ, lib. ii. c. 28. + Ep. 65. 
 
CONCLUSION. 285 
 
 said to stamp them with authority, and tve admit that their 
 agreement with the Scripture entitles them to our respect. 
 But while there is one point in which they actually do 
 accord, both with each other and with Scripture, it is 
 that very principle in which their pretended admirers con- 
 demn them all, and the Scriptures too ; for they all appeal 
 to Scripture as the ultimate authority, and exhort the 
 whole body of the faithful to study the divine word ; 
 though the papal and semi-papal party here treat the 
 fathers and the Scriptures with scorn. Is it not difficult 
 almost to impossibility, to give such men credit for 
 honesty, after making all due apologies for prejudice or 
 imbecility? If, on the other hand, there is anything in 
 which the early fathers agree with each other, but differ 
 from Scripture, it is in the amours of angels with women, 
 who bore to them demons, the authors of idol oracles, 
 and the enemies of Christians ; but here, also, they who 
 make the harmony of the fathers authoritative take the 
 liberty to differ. Why? Is it for any other reason than 
 because the present times will not bear these hybrid 
 demons, half angelic, half human? Would not those who 
 are labouring to bring us back to the happy days of 
 ignorance in which the fathers lived, profit by the success 
 of the scheme ; and openly declare that what all the early 
 fathers believed must be time, and what nothing but a 
 false modern philosophy could ever have condemned? 
 Exorcisms would again become the legerdemain of priests. 
 Such are the variations of those who laud the canon of 
 Vincent of Lerens — " that a catholic tradition is that 
 which is believed by all, ever]j where, and at all times.'" 
 Could any but a sophist, or an idiot, have paraded such 
 a rule ? Always, or at all times ! Who does not see that 
 Vincent's all times differs, by many ages, from ours ; and 
 from the all times of Irenseus, the supposed patron of 
 tradition, by not a few? To Irenseus, the catholic tradi- 
 tion was the amours of angels ; to Vincent, it was non- 
 
286 CONCLUSION. 
 
 catholic; because fathers who were, to Irenseus, sons, 
 grandsons, or great-grandsons, had spurned it from them, 
 though formerly always believed. To us, it is confessed to 
 be one of the follies of the fathers ; to our children some 
 may hope that it will be deemed patristic wisdom again ; 
 for they will, perhaps, attempt to prove that it was always 
 believed. 
 
 Who can decide vvhere the list of the fathers should 
 end ? What reason can be assigned for closing it with 
 the name of Bernard ? Why are schoolmen to be separated 
 from the fathers ? And why doctors from schoolmen ? 
 Kome has more wisely brought down authority to the 
 present day ; for if we descend below the inspired apostles, 
 where can we stop ? 
 
 While hosts of genuine works were suffered to perish 
 (no sign of reverential deference), a manufactory of for- 
 geries was set up. Were the former destroyed because they 
 were too honest to leave the latter uncontradicted ? The 
 discovery of a few more works that had been put out of 
 the way, might change the face of the church. Who can 
 tell when the writers whom we know, only from Eusebius, 
 Jerome, or Photius, may reappear; or what they will say 
 when risen from the dead ? 
 
 Yet, when we recover lost works, we know not how to 
 trust the names they bear. Vigilius owns that he wrote 
 much against heretics, under the name of Athanasius. 
 Even Augustine could judge, only from the style, that 
 certain letters ascribed to Cyprian were the production of 
 another pen. In the editions of the fathers there are 
 some works branded as forgeries, or, at least, the fruits of 
 other men's labours. Whether we are accepting or 
 whether we are rejecting the works of antiquity, we fre- 
 quently cannot tell; and are left to the cold consolation of 
 knowing that the brightest lights of former ages were as 
 uncertain as ourselves. The ancient witnesses have been 
 tampered with and castrated by editors, espceicilly since 
 
coNCLueioN. 287 
 
 the Eeformation awakened the fears of Rome, lest it should 
 be discovered that the fathers bear testimony against 
 "children that are corrupters." 
 
 Impostures, once fondly cherished, are novv' suffered to 
 drop silently into oblivion ; because it is found to be vain 
 to contend against evidence and common sense. Super- 
 stition and error, therefore, are deprived of support for- 
 merly thought to be incontrovertible. But, wliere it has 
 been found possible to shut out the light, exploded au- 
 thorities are still cited, by men of the same church, which 
 in some countries professes to think with the learned, but 
 in others speaks with the vulgar. Thus, while antiquated 
 authorities are abandoned, and new ones are, by the re- 
 covery of lost works, introduced, those weights are taken 
 out of one scale, and these are put into the other, till 
 CEdipus could not guess how the balance shall at last 
 stand. 
 
 Such are the consequences of setting up other authori- 
 ties as co-dictators with prophets and apostles, inspired by 
 God to lay the only " foundation on which the church is 
 built." The authors of this treason against the sole au- 
 thority of the inspiring Spirit, if ignorant of the facts of 
 the case, are reduced to the condition of the vulgar, on 
 whom they attem^^t authoritatively to im230se ; if cognizant 
 of the whole, are wickedly introducing into the church 
 witnesses which they dare not suffer to be cross-questioned, 
 lest their ignorance, uncertainty, discrepancy, and false- 
 hood, should be betrayed. 
 
 The fathers appealed to, as umpires, to tenninate our 
 disputes concerning the meaning of Scripture, plunge us 
 into nev/ perplexities, for they often confess that they 
 knew not what to think, and when they profess to know, 
 they seem as if they could not, or would not, tell us ; 
 while the grand cause of disputation still remains— tlie 
 unwillingness of the moderns to hear what the fathers 
 say. Sometimes their palpable errors create anxiety to 
 
288 CONCLUSION. 
 
 explain away their words, and too often their scriptural 
 truth begets a determination that they shall not say what 
 our prejudices have decided that they ought not to mean. 
 Those who attach least importance to the ancients are 
 most likely to judge them impartially, which is but small 
 praise where all are liable to be led astray by prejudice. 
 But when men are sworn to the doctrines of a church, 
 which either claims to be infallible, or is supposed never 
 to err, and appeal to antiquity to prove that the church 
 has always thought as they think, what adequate judge of 
 human nature will expect impartiality? or wonder if the 
 inquirers dictate to their oracle, and make it speak what 
 they please ? Who, of all the devoted slaves to the 
 fathers, is willing to see such a church as is exhibited by 
 Clement of Kome ? 
 
 Contrary expositions may be drawn from the comments 
 of the fathers on almost every passage in the Bible, and, 
 what is worse, some of them exceedingly absurd ; while 
 the commentators distinguished by extraordinary pene- 
 tration are so few, that we gloat over a gleam of light as 
 the merchant who found in the ocean a goodly pearl. 
 Expositions of Scripture, derived from a careful analysis 
 Cf the original words, a view of the whole connexion, the 
 scope and argument of the book, and parallel passages in 
 the same writer, or others, are as foreign from the fathers 
 as are the chemical gases, steam engines, and iron 
 roads. 
 
 It was shrewdly said, " If we believe transubstantiation, 
 we cannot believe transubstantiation ; for that doctrine, 
 teaching us to distrust our senses, forbids us to be siu'e 
 that we see it written or hear it preached." So, if we 
 believe the fathers, we cannot believe the fathers : for 
 fathers teach us to disbelieve fathers. If we believe Au- 
 gustine, we cannot believe Tertullian ; but if we revere 
 Cyprian, we must take Tertullian as our master. Trusting 
 to Ruffinus, we must bow to Origen, as not only most 
 
CONCLUSION. 289 
 
 learned, but orthodox; whom, hearkening to bishops and 
 councils, we must abjure as a heretic. All the earliest 
 fathers are vaunted as the highest authorities, and all the 
 most learned of the subsequent age reject their authority, 
 discarding their doctrine of the loves of the angels, their 
 dsemonogony, and the Millennium, as dreams. 
 
 As to rites and ceremonies, if we believe the idolaters 
 of the fathers, u-e are the fathers. Were it not a theme 
 too serious for ridicule, we must treat it as a joke, that the 
 church which pretends to maintain the authority of the 
 ancients, sets up, as a rival, its own. The fathers, always 
 in their mouth, are far from their hearts. The old 
 labourers employed to rear the proud edifice of the hier- 
 archy, and adorn it with rites, are, when the building is 
 finished, discarded by the architects, along with the 
 scaffold, and the world is told that the church has, at all 
 times, authority to decree rites and ceremonies, and de- 
 clare by infallible wisdom the true Christian faith. What 
 is this but saying, " Avaunt, ye ancients ; we are the 
 fathers ; — Away with your simple rustic forms ; we can 
 create better ; — Silence, ye musty expositions ; who shall 
 pretend to teach infallibility ? " 
 
 It was surely the design of God to demonstrate, by all 
 the absurdities and all the contradictions of the opposite 
 system, the sole authority of the inspired writings, which 
 are the only apostolical fathers. All others, consulted as 
 authorities, would taint a reader, not in his dotage, with 
 infidelity; such is their ignorance, their imbecility, their 
 conceit, their false philosophy, their demonology, their 
 Buddhist asceticism, their indecency, their prelatical pride, 
 their contests for superiority, their self-righteousness, their 
 contradictions of each other and of the Scriptures on which 
 they profess to build their faith. It is only by retreating 
 to the divine oracles that we recover our faith, which had 
 been made to stagger ; our purity, which had been defiled ; 
 and our peace, which had become a trembling dove. From 
 VIII. ^ u 
 
*290 CONCLUSION 
 
 the Bible we learn what to accept and what to refuse in 
 other writings, which, if they are to be taken or rejected in 
 the gross, must certainly be rejected ; for no one sane mind 
 can receive all that they contain. 
 
 God has thus placed a great gulf between inspired and un- 
 inspired writers. If, after reading the Hebrew Scriptures, 
 we descend to other works in that tongue, the Targums, 
 the Mishna, and Gemara, we find that we have made a 
 transition from wisdom to folly, from dignity to meanness, 
 from purity to pollution, from infallible verities to gross 
 falsehoods ; and are compelled to conclude that the ancient 
 writers were under an influence of which the more modern 
 were bereft. The same experience, on passing from the 
 New Testament to the fathers, necessitates the same con- 
 clusion. He is blind (happy if not wilfully blind) who sees 
 not the finger of God here, pointing us to the more excel- 
 lent way; he is deaf (happy if not stopping his ears) who 
 hears not the voice of God, saying, " Cease from man ; for 
 wherein is he to be accounted of? Search the Scriptures, 
 for in them ye have eternal life." 
 
 But those who make high pretensions to ancient Chris- 
 tianity oppose this exclusive appeal to Scripture in a strain 
 which almost compels us to suspect them of infidelity ; for 
 they say, " The Bible is large and obscure, and apparently 
 contradictory, containing many things that are open to the 
 same objections as are brought against the fathers." Were 
 we to grant to this infidel reasoning all the truth, and all 
 the force, which it claims, what would it prove ? That we 
 must go to the fathers instead of, or in aid of, the Scrip- 
 tures? That we must exchange a book that we can carry 
 in our pocket, for a library that we could not bear on our 
 shoulders ? Are the fathers less difiicult than the Scrip- 
 tures ? Is not the comment more embarrassing than the 
 text ? Must we, then, seek relief from difl&culties by plung- 
 ing into still greater ? Would it be thought, in a court of 
 justice, good logic or good law, to appeal from the variety 
 
CONCLUSION. 291 
 
 which attends even a few original witnesses, to a Babel of 
 reports at second or third hand, which embarrass the jury 
 a hundred-fold inore ? No ; we still must say with the 
 apostle, " Let God be true, but every man a liar. x\s it is 
 written that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, 
 and be clear when thou art judged." 
 
 Confirmed, then, by the perusal of the most ancient 
 theology, in the exclusive authority of Scripture, we should 
 pursue with redoubled zeal our high vocation, to restore 
 the scriptural polity, which, while it continued in purity 
 and vigour, promised to fill the world with " the churches 
 of the saints." The system introduced by the apostles, 
 who were faithful to their Lord, bears all the marks of his 
 wisdom, purity, and grace; being simple, yet effective; 
 benevolent, though strict ; uniting each church in a com 
 pact bond, while maintaining with a wise independence 
 catholic union to the aggregate of the whole. 
 
 The purity of the churches, as consisting of those who 
 are " called to be saints," is of their very essence, as all the 
 designations of the inspired and uninsj)ired epistles to 
 them show ; and only those who maintain tLi.it principle, by 
 receiving none but visible Christians, and casting out such 
 as prove themselves unworthy of the name, are entitled to 
 be called churches of Christ. By this marked distinction 
 of character from the rest of mankind, the world was at first 
 convinced that our religion was divine ; but as soon as the 
 church was confounded with the world, its progress was 
 arrested ; for conversions were, from that fatal era, little 
 more than a change of name. Why, then, should heaven 
 interfere to spread a system that was " of the earth earthy?"' 
 The rights and liberties of the faithful can be preserved, 
 only by the order which Christ has established, to exalt 
 their character by entrusting them with imiDortant privi- 
 leges, that they may be efficient instruments in his hand. 
 For this reason the enemy has sought to degrade them into 
 nullities, the blind slaves of a usurping priesthood, which 
 
2 £-2 CONCLUSION. 
 
 was a mere mimicry of Jews and heathens, a treason 
 against Christ's sole proper priesthood, and against the 
 common privilege of Christians, who are all "made kings 
 and priests to God." But let the royal priesthood remem- 
 ber the wisdom and the grace which it demands ; for the 
 abuse of privileges procures, as it deserves, their ultimate 
 loss. Our liberties are those of Christians, who " call no 
 man master on earth," indeed ; but who know also and 
 remember, that " one is their master in heaven." 
 
 Let the pastors feel that they rank with the Clements 
 and the Polycarps of ancient days, those presbyter-bishops 
 of congregational churches, appointed with the consent of 
 the 7r\rj6os, the multitude, or majority 'of the faithful, to 
 watch over the flock of Christ, having no bishop over them^ 
 but the apxt-TTOLixTjv, the " chief shepherd and bishop of souls."' 
 The pastors, who are called to be faithful unto death, anti- 
 quity, as well as Scripture and reason, shows that the 
 churches have a right to remove when proved unworthy of 
 their choice. For the bishop should be the guardian, not 
 the traitor, to the people's sacred interests ; since churches 
 were not made for ministers, but ministers for churches. 
 It is the bishop's highest honour, that his responsible office 
 over men entitled to judge for themselves, he holds by no 
 other tenure than the force of truth on their consciences, 
 and the sway which usefulness and worth must have 
 over the Christian heart. Such were the martyred bishops 
 of the purest days, before whom modern titles, power, 
 pageantry, and wealth, may hide their diminished heads. 
 
 The ancient order of preaching bishops is perpetuated in 
 scriptural church(?s, to whom the apostle still says, " Obey 
 them that have the rule over you, who have spoken to you 
 the word of God, whose faith imitate ; submit yourselves, 
 for they watch for your souls as they that must give an 
 account." Neither antiquity nor Scripture knows anything 
 of a bishop that, instead of watching and labouring in the 
 bosom of one flock of Christ's sheep, rules over the shep- 
 
CONCLUSION. ■ •:293 
 
 herds of many. Only he who feeds is, by the Chief Shep- 
 herd, to whom alone the account must be rendered, em- 
 powered to guide or rule the faithful flock. 
 
 When all pastors were equal, fellow-servants to the same 
 Lord, abstaining from attempts to bind each other by creeds 
 and laws, Irenaeus could say, " The churches of God 
 through the whole world have one belief;" and the con- 
 gregational churches, which retain the same equality and 
 freedom, have this identity of faith. Pretending to improve 
 upon the ancient harmony of liberty, men have produced, 
 either the strife of error, or the peace of the grave ; all kinds 
 of differences in a body that pretends to be one, or the 
 orthodoxy of blind ignorance and death-like indifference. 
 The primitive unity of the church will never be restored, 
 but with her liberty ; nor will the pastors " all speak the 
 same thing," till they hearken to him who said, " All ye 
 are brethren ; one is your master, even Christ." 
 
 The presence of the Lord, ever afforded to those churches 
 that are satisfied with his sole government, which appears 
 to many so feeble and inadequate, still gives efficacy to his 
 laws. "The gospel preached with the Ploly Ghost sent 
 down from heaven" renews the ancient triumph: " When 
 there comes into your assembly one that believeth not, he 
 is convinced of all, he is judged of all, and thus are the 
 secrets of his heart made manifest, and so falling down on 
 his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in 
 you of a truth."- That such victories of truth are un- 
 known to those who forsake the apostles, for fathers of a 
 late and degenerate age, is virtually confessed by their own 
 words, " The sacraments, not preaching, are the sources of 
 divine grace. "f The only source of divine grace is the heart 
 of eternal love ; but " the preaching of the cross is still the 
 power of God to salvation, to every one that believes," as 
 it was when Irenseus said, "The barbarians had it written 
 in their hearts, not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living 
 
 • 1 Cor. siv. 24, 25. + Oxford Tracts. 
 
294 CONCLUSION. 
 
 God." He that says, preaching is not the means of grace, 
 confesses that his preaching is not. 
 
 Churches built up of living stones, laid on Christ the only 
 foundation, welcome the discipline which " the Lord has 
 appointed for edification, and not for destruction." Here 
 alone it is the act of the church, in obedience to the King of 
 saints ; elsewhere, it is the rule of " Diotrephes, who loveth 
 to have the pre-eminence," receiving, or casting out whom 
 he pleases. Like Cyprian, a scriptural bishop " resolves 
 to do nothing without his flock," who, subject to the same 
 laws, will not sanction undue severity, and, implicated in 
 the character of the church, will not screen one who is dis- 
 graceful to the Christian name, unless they are themselves 
 corrupted by neglect of disci2:>line. 
 
 The deacons of the churches, entrusted, '' not merely 
 with meats and drinks," as Ignatius says, (though like Jus- 
 tin's deacons, they hand round the elements of the sacred 
 supper,) but presiding at the tables where the offerings of 
 the faithful are administered, have the high honour of re- 
 storing the primitive order by which ministers, leaving the 
 money-tables to others, give themselves solely to the word 
 of God and j^rayer. How far is this beyond the modern 
 nominal ephemeral thing that is created only to be de- 
 stroyed, the man being made a deacon to-day merely that 
 he may be made a priest to-morrow ! Were Christ's insti- 
 tutions intended to be parodied by the mockery of child's 
 play ? They who disburse the liberality of others should 
 be forward to every good wf)rk themselves, that they may 
 promote obedience to the laws of Christ, who ordained 
 " that they who preach the gospel should live of the gos- 
 pel," that the widows should not be neglected, and that 
 " distribution be made to the necessities of saints." If 
 there is anything in which the ancient church deserves to 
 be our pattern, it is in its liberal voluntary offerings, to 
 which tithes and compulsory payments, the offspring of 
 
CONCLUSION. 995 
 
 a comparatively modern degeneracy, have given a death- 
 blow. 
 
 Through a long tissue of infernal machinations and a 
 fearful ferment of corruption, we have seen the church so 
 marvellously preserved, and the truth coming out so much 
 more clear and vigorous, that we are inexcusable, if we 
 cannot now rest assured that " no weapon formed against 
 Zion shall prosper, and every tongue that rises up against 
 her, she shall condemn; for this is the heritage of the 
 servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, 
 saith the Lord." At the modern attempts to bring back 
 the church to that period of her history when corruptions 
 had become rampant, we may frown, because it is guilty ; 
 but we may smile, too, for it is futile. The conspirators 
 may not choose to go higher than to Cyprian, or even the 
 Nicene fathers, or may appeal to earlier writers, only to 
 praise their blots; but who would let the foe dictate the 
 tactics of both armies? Have they appealed to the fathers? 
 To the fathers they shall go ; to the fathers of those whom 
 some delight to call the fathers. " He that taketh the wise 
 in their own craftiness," will thus " teach them by the 
 briars of the wilderness" that they have raised spirits 
 which they cannot lay. *' Truth," says Tertullian, " dreads 
 nothing but concealment;" and we have only to tell "the 
 whole truth, in order to put down the attempt to bring us 
 again into bondage to crafty priests. Let the fathers by 
 eminence speak, and let the world, as well as the church, 
 hear, if patience will hold out to the end. Translate; 
 print; publish; explain; tell all. 
 
 It will then be seen that the world has been imposed 
 upon by those who appealed to the fathers, to avoid the 
 Scriptures, aware that the j^eople could more easily study 
 for themselves a single book translated into most tongues, 
 than procure or read a library in the dead languages. But 
 it must be shown that corruption can no more claim the 
 
200 CONCLUSION 
 
 fathers than the Scriptures. How the advocates for error 
 shun the testimony of the divine word is not sufficiently 
 known.* 
 
 * Dodwell, a learned monomaniac, maintained that, in the apostolic age, 
 the church was governed by a pope, not Peter at Rome, but James at Jeru- 
 salem; that -when he died, the monarchy was transferred to Ephesus, where 
 John reigned; and that when the last apostle was dead, and not till then, 
 bishops were created, to furnish with a pope every church which had pre- 
 viously known nothing but presbyters. According to this scheme, which its 
 author makes essential to salvation, bishops are post-apostolical, and pres: 
 byters are the only ministers whom apostles knew. Some will, therefore, 
 prefer going to Eome for a continuation of the original popedom; and others 
 will say, if the apostolic churches could do without prelates, we also will 
 content ourselves with the original presbytery. 
 
 But Hammond, a no less zealous episcopalian, allows none but bishops in 
 the apostles' days, leaving the presbyters to be appointed, about the time of 
 Ignatius, These two schemes, therefore, agree in declaring that there was 
 but one kind of ministers of the word in each church while the apostles 
 were alive; for Dodwell says, there were presbyters, but no bishops ; and 
 Hammond, that there were bishops, but no presbyters ; though the Scriptures 
 speak of presbyter-bishops. We may appeal to these champions of prelacy, 
 therefore, as witnesses, both ways ; wherein they agiee, and wherein they 
 differ; Dodwell declaring that the presbyters had over them no bishops ; and 
 Hammond, that the bishops had under them no presbyters. Who can avoid 
 the conclusion that they were both right and both wrong, and that the 
 Scriptures furnish the harmonizing principle, in presbyter-bishops, — one 
 order, without superiority or inferiority ? 
 
 But as the advocates of a hierarchy, turn which way they will, cannot 
 escape the censure of Scriptiu-e; so when they confess that their scheme is 
 post-apostolical, and therefore cannot be scriptural, turning to boast of the 
 fathers, they meet the same fate. We take them on their own gi-ound, and 
 attack them in their strongest fortress, the oldest of the fathers, nearest to 
 the times of the apostles, Clement, who is vaunted as Peter's immediate 
 successor. He knows but two officei'S of the church, bishops and deacons, as 
 appointed by the apostles according to ancient prophecy; and PolycaiT) 
 knows no other bishop than one who is a presbyter. 
 
 Ignatius, then, is the refuge, as a witness for two, not three, orders of 
 ministers of the ivord. Large epistles, forged in his name, and confidently 
 appealed to in the days of ignorance, are now, by the general consent of the 
 learned, swept into the limbo of vanity. Seven shorter ones remain. 
 Unadulterated ? the reader will naturally ask. Would they who deemed it a 
 pious fraud to forge letters he never wrote, be too conscientious to alter what 
 he did write ? We have strong reasons for suspecting that we have not always 
 the genuine testimony of the martyr. 
 
 But granting to those who lean on this broken reed, that Ignatius is 
 
CO.NX-LUSION. 297 
 
 What, then, can we think of those who are seeking to 
 bring back our countrymen, not as they pretend, to the 
 state of the primitive church, but to the days of men who 
 bewailed a degeneracy which is now, in spite of their own 
 counter-testimony, set up as the standard of purity ? To 
 the fanaticism of another Shilo, and a pretended mira- 
 culous gift of tongues, has at length succeeded, not a new 
 delusion, but a revival of the old, which, under the patro- 
 nage of moderate learning and semi-asceticism, is making 
 its boast of the fathers. Some, it is to be feared, know 
 whither they are tending, and keep the dome of St. Peter's 
 steadily in view ; but others, hoodwinked, are pursuing 
 the same course, without seeing their road, or their end. 
 Have the fires of Smithfield burned in vain? Was not the 
 horror of Popery which they created just and salutary, a 
 merciful reaction produced by him who confounds the 
 counsels of the ungodly? Can the system which intro- 
 duced that blot on the Christian name, the burning of men 
 for heretics, which Rome has never disavowed, any longer 
 pretend to be the religion of the merciful Saviour, who 
 told those that would call fire from heaven, that they knew 
 not what spirit they were of? Can these be sincere men, 
 who, eating the bread of a Protestant church, labour to 
 undo the work of the Reformation, and, by Jesuitical 
 
 instar omnium, will tliey abide hj Lis testimony? He makes deacons, not 
 ministers of the word, but leaves this to bishops and presbyters, whom he 
 makes, not priests; and he exhibits them ministering together in one con- 
 gregation. But the wiser, or more cunning men, turn from svich fathers and 
 such a church, to those who heard of the apostles as we hear of the Saxon 
 Heptarchy; slily slipping these sons into the category of the fathers. How 
 long is the world to be abused by false pretences ? Are we never to have 
 enough of the fulfilment of the prophecies concerning Antichrist, " Speaking 
 lies in h3'pocrisy?" Is it not time to unmask the imposture, and to show 
 that they who flee from Scripture, conscious that it will not bear the modern 
 superstructure, passing over to fathers that disown the innovations, at last 
 take refuge in illegitimate sons, who boast the exclusive possession of a 
 church which their corruptions have unchurched? The importance of the 
 subject must be our apology for the repetition that may be observed in 
 this note. 
 
*298 CONCLUSION. 
 
 expositions, supplant the articles they have subscribed? 
 Would they, if successful in establishing their priestly 
 domination, use it less cruelly than their predecessors? 
 Would it not again be said, that "he who crept in like a 
 fox ruled like a lion, till he was hated like a dog?"* Shall 
 our countrymen be left to rush back to Egypt, unob- 
 structed, unwarned? Our protest may be unheeded, per- 
 haps unheard; but, at least, we should be able to say, 
 " We have delivered our souls ; their blood is on their own 
 heads." 
 
 To those who are not deceivers, but deceived, especially 
 the professors of evangelical truth, who have attempted to 
 amalgamate it w4th the prevailing semi-popery, it is but a 
 Christian duty to address a word of expostulatory warning. 
 Your sincere concern for the salvation of the soul, and 
 your reverence for the will of God, is abused by men who 
 hate the doctrines you (once, at least) held dear. You 
 know not whither you are tending ; for the truths which 
 awakened you from carelessness, or inspired you with 
 peace, will be swallowed up in that false confidence in rites 
 and forms from which you erst deemed it a mercy to have 
 escaped. The regenerating grace of the Spirit, which 
 made " the preaching of the, cross the power of God to 
 salvation," you are now learning to identify with baptism, 
 which, you know, leaves millions to " live without God in 
 the world." For justification by faith, which formerly 
 was to you glad tidings, the leaders of your new party are 
 openly substituting justification by the sacraments, never 
 avowed till Trent employed it to countermine Luther. 
 Once you saw Christ in heaven, as your only sacrifice, 
 priest, and altar ; and can you now bow down to an altar 
 of stone or wood; call ministers by the name of priests, 
 
 * Ijaud, who hesitated whethei' he shoukl not receive from the pope a 
 cardinal's hat, and who devoutly gave thanks for the slitting of the nose 
 and cutting off the ears of Leighton, is very significantly sainted by this 
 school. 
 
CONCLUSTON. 299 
 
 which Christ never gave to them; and talk of offering 
 again that sacrifice which " he offered once for all ?" " Are 
 ye so foolish? having begun in the spirit, are ye now 
 made perfect by the flesh?" Are ye aware of " the beg- 
 garly elements to which you desire to be in bondage?" 
 Are you ready to go all the way back to Rome, that you are 
 adopting, one after another, her essential principles, till a 
 crafty Jesuit, meeting you on your own ground, would 
 draw you over the frontier, ere ever you were aware? 
 And all this, under the false colours of the church of the 
 fathers! Have you ever read the fathers? Are you so 
 well acquainted with their voluminous writings as to 
 secure yourselves from being imposed upon, by extracts 
 obtruded upon you, in the hope that you will not be able 
 to judge of them for yourselves ? Can you suppose that, if 
 this were the road to truth, the apostles would not have 
 referred us to the fathers ? Has not Christ charged you to 
 " Search the Scriptures; for in them you have eternal 
 life"? 
 
 Look around, or look back, where we may, we find no 
 era, but the short one of virgin innocence, in which we can 
 acquiesce; and even the apostles saw the apostasy com- 
 mence. Must we, then, conclude that the golden days are 
 yet to come? Why should we not? The revelation of the 
 fortunes of the church opens with storms ; but it closes 
 with a view of paradise restored. If we are told that 
 religion is not like human science, a field for discovery 
 and improvement, we answer, " This is both true and 
 false;" true, because the way of salvation is of divine, not 
 human, dictation, and therefore is to be learned by reve- 
 lation ; but false, because texts of Scripture are to us what 
 the phenomena of nature are to the philosopher, and, like 
 them, may be more or less known, and pursued to their 
 ultimate results. Though the great outlines of divine 
 truths were always known, if but to a few; their more 
 profound reasons, tendencies, relations, and effects, never 
 
000 CONCLUSION. 
 
 having been thoroughly sounded, are reserved for more 
 able students and happier times than the church has seen 
 since the apostles received the martyr's crown. 
 
 Not that we look for this improvement from philosophy, 
 which having taken a happier, because more useful, turn, 
 is multiplying the powers of man ; but, seeing in this the 
 hand of God, and knowing that his providence is subser- 
 vient to the kingdom of Christ, we detect an under- 
 current, the operations of a more delicate and mighty 
 agency for the improvement of the church. The pro- 
 mised effusion of the Spirit, in the last days, will render 
 the volume which he has inspired better known, and thus 
 more highly esteemed; while the light, thrown by the 
 fulfilment, on prophecies that are now necessarily obscure, 
 wiir concur with the warnings supplied by the errors of 
 ages which perverted the Scriptures, to make our des- 
 cendants " wiser than the ancients by keeping God's 
 statutes." The theology of the early church has exposed 
 the depravity and folly of men ; that of the last days will 
 display the wisdom, and power, and grace of God. As the 
 Jews, when restored to the fold again, will look back with 
 horror to the course which their church pursued, till it 
 consummated its apostasy by the wicked hands that 
 crucified the Lord of glory; so will the regenerated 
 Christian church review the scene of universal apostasy, 
 turning the most agonizing look to the central city, and 
 saying with the beloved apostle, " When I saw her, I 
 wondered with great astonishment." What cannot the 
 depravity of man pervert? What cannot the grace of God 
 restore ? 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Appendix A. Page 70. 
 
 IiN the question of tradition is involved the succession of bishops, 
 by which the handing down of the Scriptures and of all Christian 
 truth is said to be made sure. Let us try the boasted fortress of 
 the succession, that of the bishops of Rome. IrenaBus says, ** But 
 as it would be a long affair to enumerate the successions of all the 
 churches, we will give that of the greatest and most ancient, and 
 best known to all ; the church founded and constituted at Rome by 
 the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, and which has, 
 from the apostles, the tradition and the faith announced, coming to 
 us by the succession of bishops. For, to this church, on account of 
 the more powerful principality, (not on account of Peter's chair, but 
 Cajsar's throne,) it is necessary for every church to come, that is, 
 those believers who are in every place, in which has always been 
 preserved by those who are everywhere the tradition from the 
 apostles. Founding, therefore, and instructing the church, the 
 blessed apostles delivered to Linus * the episcopate, or the over- 
 sight of the administration of the church. To him succeeded 
 Anacletus ; after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement 
 obtained the lot of the episcopate, who also saw the apostles them- 
 selves, and conversed with them, while as yet he had the preach- 
 ing of the apostles sounding (in his ears) and the tradition before 
 his eyes. 
 
 " For he was not alone ; many yet surviving who were taught by 
 the apostles. To this Clement succeeded Euaristus ; and to Euaris- 
 tus, Alexander ; and afterwards, sixth from the apostles, Sixtus was 
 appointed ; and from this, Telesphorus, who endured martyrdom 
 most gloriously ; and then Ilyginus ; afterwards Pius ; after whom 
 (was) Anicetus. But when to Anicetus Soter had succeeded, now, 
 * 3 Tim. iv. 21. 
 
302 APPENDIX, 
 
 in the twelfth place, Eleutherius holds the episcopate from the 
 apostles. By this ordination and succession, that tradition Avhich is 
 from the apostles in the church, and the preaching of the truth, has 
 come even to us. And this is a most full display, that there is one 
 and the same vivifying faith, which has been preserved in the church 
 from the apostles, and has been delivered in truth," * 
 
 All this seems very plain and sure ; but " he that is first in his 
 own cause seems right, till his neighbour cometh and searcheth him 
 out." It must be recollected, then, that Eleutherius, who is said to 
 be bishop while Irenaeus was writing, is assigned to the period be- 
 tween A.D. 177 and 192, so that from the apostles a century had 
 elapsed ; and we know what uncertainty comes over names and 
 dates in the course of a hundred years, even with all the advantages 
 we derive from increased civilization and the press. All this boasted 
 perspicuous order is strange confusion. In the notes to the Paris 
 edition of Irenaeus, a most zealous, not to say furious, Romanist 
 makes the cool observation, that '« It signifies little, though all do 
 not agree who was the first that succeeded to the blessed Peter, in 
 the Roman see." f How silently and unceremoniously this writer 
 drops Saint Paul, whom Irenaeus had mentioned along with Peter ! 
 Yet, if either of them is to be omitted, it should certainly be Peter, 
 who was the apostle of the circumcision, or Jews ; while Paid, J as 
 the apostle of the uncircumcision, we know from the Scriptures 
 preached and wrote to the Romans, the head of the Gentile world. 
 Irenaeus expressly asserts that Linus was the first bishop, appointed 
 by the apostles themselves, and with him agree, as the annotator 
 says, " Jerome, Epiphanius, Chrysostom, Dorotheus, Optatus, Au- 
 gustin, and Eusebius. Clement himself, however, claims to be 
 Peter's successor, § to which Ruffinus, his Latm translator, above a 
 thousand years ago, consents, and with him agree, Epiphanius, 
 Damasus, Marianus, and Sabellicus." It will strike the attentive 
 reader that this zealous Romanist places Epiphanius as a witness on 
 both sides. What is such testimony worth ? How can the advo- 
 cate of Rome extricate her from the embarrassment ? By the fol- 
 lowing words : "I am best pleased with the reconciliation of the 
 most learned theologian, Saunders; that Peter, indeed, ordained 
 Clement ; but before him, Linus and Cletus are placed in the cata- 
 logue of the Roman bishops ; because Peter had taken them as his 
 coadjutors." What ! Is it come to this, that we are indebted to 
 
 * Advers, Heres. lib. iii, c, 3, + Page 239. J Galatians. 
 
 § For this, the Eomanist appeals to the Apostolical Constitutions, 45. 
 
APPENDIX. 303 
 
 the lucky guess of Saunders for the solution of this grand difficulty 
 who was the immediate successor to St. Peter at Rome ? Cannot 
 we guess, too, as well as " the most learned theologian, Saunders " r 
 But while we are told, with equal gravity and truth, that it signifies 
 little whom we make the first bishop at Rome ; should we ever have 
 heard this confession, if the advocates for apostolical succession had 
 not found themselves at fault in the very first step ? The primary link 
 that should fasten all others to the apostolic chair being broken, or 
 wanting, of what value is the rest of the chain of bishops or popes r 
 Yet this is only one of the difiieulties of the boasted apostolic line; 
 new contradictions meeting us at each step, and new guesses being 
 employed to extricate us from our embarrassment ; for of certainty 
 there is not an atom. Tillemont introduces the Babel of contra- 
 dictory authorities by observing, that it is difficult to reconcile them, 
 and still more difficult to find anything certain. This confession 
 from a zealous and rather credulous Catholic is more than we should 
 have expected, though his piety and candour inspire us with the 
 highest respect.* 
 
 Appendix B. Page 187. 
 
 With regard to ministerial robes, the Alexandrian Clement, who 
 mentions the stole of the Jewish priests, merely compares it with our 
 Lord's putting on humanity, and our putting on Christ. 
 
 TertuUian speaks of the habit of prayer, with reference not to 
 ministers, but to all the faithful : *' As we touch some one instance of 
 vain observance, it will not be amiss to notice other things also, in 
 which folly will deservedly be reproved ; for things of this kind are 
 not to be ascribed to religion, but to superstition ; and are of a curious 
 rather than rational obedience ; indeed, even for this reason, to be 
 restrained, because they put us on a level with the Gentiles. As it 
 is the custom of some to lay aside then- cloaks in order to offer 
 prayer : for so the nations come to their idols. Which, however, 
 if it ought to have been done, the apostles, who teach concerning 
 the habit of prayer, would have included, unless there are any who 
 think that Paul left his cloak in prayer with Carpus. Truly he who 
 heard the three saints in the furnace of the king of Babylon, praying 
 **in their coats, their hose, and their hats," would not hear those 
 who wear their cloaks ! — De Orat. 
 
 All that TertuUian says of the habit of prayer applies to the whole 
 
 * Vol. ii. pt. i. p. 272-4, and p. 480. 
 
304 APPENDIX. 
 
 church, and censures the affectation of laying aside the cloak ; for of 
 putting on any particular dress he seems to know nothing. He de- 
 clares that Paul, who teaches concerning the mode of prayer, would 
 have prescribed what was necessary for prayer ; and, therefore, all 
 that he has not prescribed is vain, curious, and heathenish supersti- 
 tion, rather than rational Christian religion. 
 
 Appendix C. Page 187 
 Of the Creed. 
 
 The formulary, to which the Greeks gave the name of symbol, 
 though denominated "by us. Creed, from the first word, Credo, " I 
 believe," has been compared to the watchword in the army, as if the 
 Christian soldiers knew each other by this sign. But it was rather 
 an imitation of the mystic images and words by which those who 
 had been initiated into the mysteries of the heathens might be 
 known and admitted into the sanctuary of the gods. In the fourth 
 century, it began to be taught that each of the apostles contributed 
 one of the twelve articles into which the creed is divided, though it 
 was the Nicene Creed that was first adopted and enforced. What 
 is called the Apostles' Creed, which at length prevailed, was origin- 
 ally very short, and has varied as time advanced, the article on the 
 descent into hell being in neither the ancient nor oriental creed ; and 
 that on the communion of saints being last inserted. Not only do 
 different writers give different forms, but the same father, at one 
 time, differs from himself at another. 
 
 As superstition advanced, the Catechumens were not intrusted 
 with the creed till just before their baptism, and then were charged 
 not to blacken it with ink, but to keep it written only in their 
 hearts, concealed from the profane. It was at last, however, ordered 
 to be read in the service of the church ; but as this custom com- 
 menced among the Greeks, it was the Nicene, not the Apostles* 
 Creed, that first received this honour. "Wonders were told of the 
 virtues of the creed, which we now give, as far as it can be ascer- 
 tained to have existed in the first three centuries : — 
 
 " Credentes in unum Deum fabricatorem Cceli ac Terrce, et 
 omnium quse in eis sunt, per Christum Jesum Dei Filium. Qui 
 propter eminentissimam erga Figmentum suum dilectionem, eam 
 quae esset ex Virgine, generationem sustinuit, ipse per se hominem 
 adunans Deo, etpassus sub Pontio Pilato, et resurgens, et in claritate 
 
APPENDIX. 305 
 
 receptus, in gloria venturus Salvator eorum qui salvantur, et Judex 
 eorum qui judicantur, et mittens in ignem seternum transfiguratores 
 veritatis, et conteniptores patris sui et adventus ejus." — Irenseus, 
 lib. iii. c. 4. 
 
 "Regula est autem Fidei, ut jam hinc quid defendaraus, profite- 
 amur, ilia scilicet, qua creditur vuium omnino Deum esse, nee alium 
 prseter mundi creatorem, qui universa de nihilo produxerit per 
 verbum sumn, primo omnium emissum : id verbum Filium ejus ap- 
 pellatum in nomine Dei, varie visum Patriarchis, in Prophetis 
 semper auditum : postremo delatum ex spiritu patris Dei et virtute 
 in Virginem Mariam, carnem factum in utero ejus, et ex ea natum, 
 egisse Jesum Christum, exinde prsedicasse novam legem et novam. 
 promissionem E,egni Coelorum, virtutes fecisse, fixum cruci tertia 
 die resurrexisse : in ccelos ereptum, sedere ad dexteram patris, 
 misisse vicariam vim Spiritus sancti, qui credentes agat ; venturum 
 cum claritate ad sumendos sanctos in vitae seternaj, et promissorum 
 coelestium fructum, et ad Prophanos judicandos igni perpetuo, facta 
 utriusque partis resuscitatione cum carnis restitutione. Hsec regula 
 
 h Chris to inslituta nullas hahet apud nos qusestiones, nisi quas 
 
 Haereses inferunt, et qua Hsereticos faciunt." — Tertul. de Pra?script. 
 c. 13. 
 
 " Unicum qiiidem Deum credimus, sub hac tamen dispensatione 
 quam oiKofo/xiav dicimus, ut unici Dei sit et Filius Sermo ipsius, qui 
 ex ipso processerit, per quern omnia facta sunt, et sine quo factum 
 est nihil : hunc missum a patre in Virginem, et ex ea natum hominem 
 et Deum, filium hominis et filium Dei, et cognominatum Jesum 
 Christum : hunc passum, hunc mortuum et sepultum secundum 
 Scripturas, et resuscitatum a Patre, et in coelo resumptum, sedere ad 
 dexteram patris, venturum judicare vivos et mortuos : qui exinde 
 miserit secundum promissionem suam a Patre Spiritum sanctum 
 paracletum, sanctificatorem fidei eorum qui credunt in Patrem, et 
 Filium, et Spiritum sanctum. Hanc regulam ab initio Evangelii 
 decucurrisse, &c." — Tertul. advers. Praxean, c. 2. 
 
 " Regula Fidei una omnino est, sola immobilis et irreformabilis 
 credendi scilicet in unicum Deum omnipotentem, mimdi conditorem, 
 et filium ejus Jesum Christum, natum ex Yirgine Maria, crucifixum 
 sub Pontio Pilato, tertio die resuscitatum a mortuis, receptum in 
 ccelis; sedentem nunc ad dexteram Patris, venturum judicare vivos et 
 mortuos, per carnis etiam resurrectionem." — Tertul. de Virginib. 
 veland., c. I. 
 
 Each of these four creeds is different, though the last three are 
 from the same writer. "He descended into hell," is in neither of 
 VIII. X 
 
806 
 
 /PPENDIX. 
 
 them; nor is tlie article on the communion of saints. That what is 
 now called emphatically the Creed came from the apostles, is mani- 
 festly the fabulous story of a late and superstitious age. 
 
 Appendix K. Page 184. 
 The following Hymn is found in Clement's works 
 
 "fp-VOS TOV SwTTjpOS- XpKTTOV, TOV Uylov KA7JyUeyT09. 
 
 "^.tSixiou TTcaXoiV adaa>y, 
 Unphu opviQwv aTtXavwv, 
 
 Iloifxrju apvuiv fiacriXucuW 
 Tovs (Tovs d^cAets 
 HaTSas ^.yeipov, 
 Alvelu ayiws, 
 'tixvilv aJ)6x<as 
 'Akolkois (TTSlxaCTLU 
 UalScav T]yT]Topa XpicTToy. 
 
 Bao-tAei) ayicav, 
 A6ye irav^a^druip 
 Tlarphs vtpicrTOVy 
 '2,oc(>las TrpvTavi, 
 '2,T'f]piyyia irSuwv 
 Atcs};/ox«P^S5 
 BpOT^as yevsas 
 '^.urep 'I'qo'oD, 
 
 IlotjUTJJ/, apoT7)py 
 
 OTal, (TT6ixioy, 
 Urephv ovpdviov 
 Ylavayovs TToiixvns' 
 'AAteD jLtepoTTcov 
 Twv (Tu>^ojx4v(aVy 
 TliXdyovs KOLKias 
 'IxQvs ayvovs 
 Kvixaros ix^pov 
 rXvKepfj (cafi SeAeaCwi'" 
 ' H70D, TTpofidrwu 
 AoyiKwv 7roiju.T]v" 
 ".^.746 ^yov 
 BacnAeC Tcai^wv dj/CTra^a;'. 
 
 "I%i'ia XpiaTOv, 
 '05hs ovpavia 
 A6yos uevaos, 
 Al(j}u aTrAeToy, 
 
 'EAeo'Js TT-riyVf 
 'PeKTiTp apeTrjs' 
 
 ©ebj' vfivovuTioy, XptcTTk 'ItjccV, 
 
 rdXa ovpdviov 
 
 MacTTcov yXvKepoQV 
 
 'Nv'i(pi]s x«ptT'«'J'> 
 
 '^o(pias rTJs arjs iKd?\i^6;j.evoy, 
 
 Ot vqiriaxoi 
 
 ' AraXols aTSjUaaiv 
 
 ' At iTaXX6/xevoiy 
 
 ®riXr)s XoyiKTJs 
 
 UvevixaTi Spoaepcd 
 
 'EyLirnrXdixdvoi, 
 
 A'lvovs acpeXus, 
 "T/xvovs arpsKils, 
 
 BacnXe7 Xpiarcv, 
 
 Mia-Oovs oaiov: 
 
 Zcarjs Bidaxv^, 
 
 MeXircofxev oixov, 
 
 MeAxojjtiCJ' a-nrXMS, 
 
 TialSa KpaT€p6v. 
 
 Xophs €ipr}V'qs 
 
 Ot XpiarSyovoi, 
 
 Aahs (Tdocppccv, 
 
 'VdXcDfjL^v 6/xov ©ehv elprjvrjs. 
 
 i 
 
APPJ!:>;mx. J307 
 
 It is but justice to the author of the English imitation to insert his 
 letter to the Editor of the Congregational Magazine: — 
 
 Sir, — You have recently published one or two interesting papers 
 on an interesting topic — The Worship of Christ. The insertion of the 
 following may possibly gratify some of your readers, as a sample of 
 the early Christian hymns addressed to the Saviour. I take it from 
 Potter's Clemens Alexandrinus, Oxford, 1715, and accompany it 
 with a rough metrical version, neither so close, on the one hand, as I 
 might easily have made it, nor so paraphrastic as I was tempted to 
 make it, to reduce it to our modern taste. Each fourth line is 
 intended simply as a rest for the voice, and usually has nothing to 
 correspond with it in the origmal. 
 
 The style of the hymn marks clearly enough a declining age. The 
 nervous simplicity of Scripture poetry is forsaken for multiplied 
 epithet and incongruous metaphor. The piece, however, furnishes 
 evidence of the prominent place given to the Lord Christ in the 
 devotions of the second century. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, yours very respectfully, 
 
 D. 
 
 Hymn to Christ, attributed to Clemens of Alexandria, 
 
 O Thou, the wild will's tamer ! 
 The wand'ring wing's reclaimer ! 
 Our seaward pathway's framer. 
 
 Hear praise ! 
 
 Shepherd, that goest before us ! 
 Guardian, that watchest o'er us ! 
 Receive our hymned chorus — 
 
 Our simple lays I 
 
 Thee, o'er thy saints who reignest, 
 Thy foes too who restrainest, 
 Who wisdom downward rainest. 
 We laud ! 
 
 Thou lightenest toil's condition^ 
 Sin finds in thee remission. 
 Thou only soul's physician ! 
 
 Our Saviour God f 
 
 The heart's wide waste thou tillest ! 
 Our bark to guide thou skillest ! 
 Thou checkest as thou wiliest 
 
 Our ways ! 
 
308 APPENDIX. 
 
 "Wing, for our sustentation ! 
 Net , for our reclamation 
 From every bait's temptation ! 
 
 Ancient of days ! 
 
 Lead, Lord of lambs, the lowly ! 
 Lead, King of saints, the holy ! 
 Lead, far from sin and folly, 
 
 To thee ! 
 
 Love's fountain, ever brimming ! 
 Way, Word, and Light undimming ! 
 Lifebreath of infants hymning 
 
 Their choristry ! 
 
 Heaven's breast for nurture pressing. 
 The Spirit's dews possessing. 
 Be, Christ, for every blessing 
 Adored ! 
 
 Sing, mates, the Son of woman, > 
 
 Once cradled here as human : aj 
 
 True God — but not less true man — 
 
 The Christ— the Lord. 
 
 Ye babes upon the bosom, M 
 
 Ye youth in manhood's blossom, 
 Sing Christ, and early choose him, 
 Our peace ! 
 
 Sing guilelessly the Giver 
 Of mercy like a river. 
 And him, O let us live for 
 
 Till life shall cease ! 
 
 For the modern invention, rhyme, nothing but rhythmus appears 
 in the original, which commences thus : — 
 
 Bit for unbroken colts ; 
 Wing of un wandering birds ; 
 True helm of infants ; 
 Shei)herd of royal lambs, 
 Thine own simple ones ; 
 Gather the youths. 
 
APPENDIX. ;]09 
 
 To praise holily, 
 To hymn sincerely, 
 With innocent mouths, 
 Christ the leader of youtlis. 
 O King of saints, 
 Word all-subduing 
 Of the Most High Father. 
 &c. &c. 
 
 Appendix L. Page 149. 
 Jerome. 
 
 Idem est ergo presbyter qui episcopus ; et antequam diaboli in- 
 stinctu studia in religione fierent, et diceretur in populis. Ego sum 
 Pauli, Ego Apollo, Ego autem Cephas, commune presbyterorum 
 consilio, ecclesise gubernabantur. Postquam, vero unusquisque eos 
 quos baptizaverat suos putabat esse, non Christi, in toto orbe 
 decretum est, ut unus de presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris, 
 ad quem omnis ecclesise cura pertineret et schismatum semina 
 toUerentur. 
 
 Sicut ergo presbyteri sciunt se ex ecclesise consuetudine ei qui sibi 
 prgepositus fuerit esse subjectos : ita episcopi noverint se magis con- 
 suetudine quam dispositionis dominicse veritate presbyteris esse 
 majores et in commune debere ecclesiam regere.* 
 
 Therefore the presbyter is the same as the bishop, and before that, 
 by the instigation of the devil, there were parties in religion, and it 
 was said among the people, I am of Paul, I of Apollos, and I of 
 Cephas, the cliTirches were governed by the common council of the 
 presbyters. But after every one thought that those whom he had 
 baptized were his own, not Christ's, it was decreed through the whole 
 world that one elected from the presbyters should be placed over the 
 rest ; to him all the care of the church should pertain, and the seeds 
 of schisms be taken away. 
 
 As therefore the presbyters know that by the custom of the church 
 they are subject to him who has been set over them, so the bishops 
 may know that it is more by custom than by any real divine dispen- 
 sation that they are greater than presbyters, and that they ought to 
 rule the church in common. 
 
 * Jerome in Ep. ad Titum. Opera, vol. iv. p. 414. Pai'is, 1706. 
 
310 APPENDIX. 
 
 Nam ct Alexandrige a Marco Evangelista usque ad Heraclam et 
 Dionysium episcopos, presbyteri semper unum ex se electum, in 
 excelsiori gradu collocatum episcopum nomiiiabant; quomodo si 
 exercitus imperatorem faciat; aut diaconi eligant de se quern indus- 
 trium noverint, et archidiaconum vocent. 
 
 Audio quendam in tantam erupisse vecordiam, ut diaconos pres- 
 byteris id est episcopis anteferret. Nam quum apostolus perspicue 
 doceat eosdem esse presbyteros quos episcopos quis patiatur men- 
 sarum et viduarum minister ut supra eos se tumidus efFerat.* 
 
 For, at Alexandria, from Mark the evangelist, even to Bishops 
 Heraclas and Dionysius, the presbyters always denominated bishop, 
 one chosen from among themselves and placed in a higher seat, just 
 as if the army should make a general, or the deacons choose from 
 among themselves one whom they knew to be diligent and call him 
 archdeacon . 
 
 I hear that some one has become stupid enough to prefer deacons 
 to presbyters, that is, to bishops. For when the apostle clearly 
 teaches that the presbyters are the same as bishops, who could 
 endure that a proud minister of tables and widows should exalt him- 
 self above them ? 
 
 Appendix M. Page 37. 
 
 The younger Pliny, Legate, or ex-praetor of Bythinia, whites thus 
 to his emperor, Trajan, at the very commencement of the second 
 century: " I have never been admitted into a knowledge of the 
 Christians ; therefore I know not how far they used to be punished 
 or sought out. I have not a little hesitated whether a distinction 
 should not be made of ages, or pardon be granted to penitents, or to 
 him that once was and has ceased to be a Christian. Those who 
 were brought before me I have interrogated, whether they were 
 Christians ; for those who confessed a second and third time, after 
 threatening, if they persisted, I have ordered to be led away (to 
 punishment). For I did not doubt that, w^hatever they were, that 
 obstinacy should be punished. E-oman citizens I marked to be sent 
 to the city." After speaking of those who recanted, he says, ** They 
 affirmed, this w-as the sum of their fault, or error : that they were 
 
 * Epistola, 101, ad Evangelum. Hieron. vol. iv. pt, 2, p. 802-3. Paris, 
 1706. 
 
appp:ndix. 311 
 
 accustomed, on a stated day, to meet before light, and to sing toge- 
 ther a hymn to Christ as God ; and to bind themselves, by a sacra- 
 ment, not to commit thefts, or robberies, or adulteries; not to 
 violate fidelity, nor, when called upon, to deny what was deposited 
 with them. "—Pliny, Ep. 97. 
 
1 
 
 I 
 
INDEX, 
 
 Allegorizing of the fathers, 4, 
 
 248. 
 Alexandria, its Christian school, 
 
 25. 
 Angels, their fall, 97. 
 Antioch, church at, 139. 
 Antichrist, 240, 260. 
 Appeals to the fathers, 297. 
 Apostasy predicted, 259. 
 Apologies for Christianity, 258. 
 Apples of Sodom, 249. 
 Apocryphal writings, 38. 
 Arianism, 93. 
 Attributes of God, 76. 
 Athenagoras, 79, 88. 
 Augustine, 42, 50. 
 Authority of the fathers, a mo - 
 
 dern doctrine, 249, 272. 
 
 Babylon, Rome, 225. 
 Baptism, 191. 
 
 of infants, 197. 
 
 , mode of, 199. 
 
 Barnabas, 38, 53. 
 Biblical science, 247. 
 Bishop, 149, 279, 292. 
 
 Country bishops, 140. 
 
 Canon of Scripture, 41, 47, 58. 
 
 Candour due to the ancients, 282. 
 
 Carthage, church at, 139. 
 
 Celsus, 27. 
 
 Christ, his divinity, 80. 
 
 Church, catholic, the aggregate 
 
 of catholic churches, 2, 136. 
 , congregational, 138. 
 
 Church, change to diocesan, 162. 
 
 Clergy, 33, 54, 67, 69, 71, 171. 
 
 Clemens Romanus, 6, 40, 58,77, 
 81, 104, 110, 119, 135, 143, 
 152, 160, 165, 167, 173, 174, 
 213. 
 
 Alexandrinus, 23, 48, 
 
 52, 54, 61, 68, 78, 85, 92, 96, 
 97, 100, 107, 113, 125, 135, 
 136, 154, 157, 175, 183, 195, 
 199, 205, 209, 219, 248, 257, 
 269. 
 
 Controversy injurious, 282. 
 
 Corinth, Clement's Epistle to, 8, 
 
 Confirmation, 202. 
 
 Cyprian, 94, 169, 198, 208, 252. 
 
 Dsemons, doctrines of, 17. 
 
 Deacons, 1]7, 280. 
 
 Death, 213. 
 
 Decrees a L-?d, 95. 
 
 Demetrius of Alexandria, 26, 
 
 184. 
 Depravity of human nature, 102. 
 Dioceses, 137. 
 Divine nature, 76. 
 Diognetus, letter to, 3, 81, 95, 
 
 103, 119. 
 Dionysius on the Apocalypse, 
 
 235. 
 Dodwell, 164, 181, 1'8, 296. 
 
 Election of bishops, 165, 279. 
 
 Encratites, 17. 
 
 Enoch, book of, 55. 
 
 Error subservient to truth, 267. 
 
311 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ethics, Christian, 190, 208. 
 Eusebius, 3, 36, 47, 240. 
 Exposition of Scripture, 244. 
 
 Frauds, pious, 5. 
 
 Harmony of Divine plans, 270. 
 Hades, 218. 
 Hammond, 164, 296. 
 Hebrew little known by the 
 
 fathers, 26, 64. 
 Hebrews, Epistle to, 47. 
 Hegesippus, 13, 36, 66. » 
 Hell, 238. 
 
 Hexapla, Origen's, 26. 
 Hermas, 39. 
 Heretics, 67. 
 History, ecclesiastical, 2, 3, 30. 
 
 Jerome, (Appendix,) 176. 
 Jerome, 23. 
 
 Jerusalem, the mother church, 2. 
 Ignatius, 11, 104, 120, 134, 136, 
 
 156, 161, 174, 217. 
 Jews, 4. 
 Jortin, 5. 
 Josephus, 3, 37. 
 Ireneeus, 112, 123, 142, 148, 154, 
 
 194, 198, 205, 222, 230, 256. 
 Justin Martyr, 3, 105, 111, 121, 
 
 148, 182, 191, 197, 199, 202, 
 
 208, 218, 221, 228, 243. 
 
 Nepos, the millenarian, 234. 
 
 Octavius, 28. 
 
 Officers of the church, 143. 
 
 Origen, 25, 47, 54, 61, 65, 79, 
 
 87, 99, 100, 102, 114,128,142, 
 
 186, 187, 245, 262. 
 Ordination, 168. 
 
 Pascal dispute, 21. 
 
 Prelacy, unknown to the first 
 
 churches, 156. 
 
 , introduction of, 155. 
 
 Plurality of bishops in a church, 
 
 151. 
 Philo, 3. 
 
 Philosophy of the fathers, 239. 
 
 Phccnix, 9, 213. 
 
 Prospects of the church, 213, 
 
 299. 
 Prayers, 185. 
 Polycarp, 15, 20, 59, 83, 105, 
 
 120, 146, 157. 
 Preaching, 184. 
 Presbyters, 158. 
 Priests, 171. 
 Pliny, 7, 37. 
 Purgatory, 220. 
 Polemical theology, 258. 
 Purity of the church, 291. 
 Preaching bishops, 292. 
 Polyglot, 26. 
 Paul of Samosata, 89. 
 
 Redemption, 103. 
 Regeneration, 196. 
 
 , baptismal, 191. 
 
 Revelation, book of, 235. 
 Rome warned, 2. 
 , church at, 138. 
 
 Saints, the elements of a church, 
 
 142, 278. 
 Sardica, council, 140. 
 Scriptures, 41. 
 
 , their authority, 5 8. 
 
 Schism, 167. 
 Septuagint, 35, 248. 
 Sibylline oracles, 73. 
 Singing, 183. 
 
 Spirit of Christianitv, 276. 
 Stillingfleet, 171, 178. 
 Sulpicius Severus, 3, 37. 
 Syriac version, 35, 131, 163. 
 
 Tertullian, 30, 49, 55, 62, 69, 80, 
 88, 92, 93, 100, 107, 109, 117, 
 128, 175, 177, 185, 187, 197, 
 198, 200, 208, 214, 231, 249, 
 257, 259, 262, 265. ,.: 
 
 Theology true ; the same in every 
 age, 1. 
 
 — of the fathers, 269. 
 
 , systematic, 271. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 15 
 
 Theophilus of Antioch, 18, 
 
 84. 
 Tilleraont, 3, 5. 
 Tradition, 65, 242, 245. 
 Translations of Scripture, o. 
 Trent, couiicil of, 52, 132. 
 Trinity, 89. 
 
 Unity of the cliurch, 187. 
 
 Victor, bishop at Rome, 20. 
 
 45, 
 
 Vincent's canon, 285. 
 Vulgate, 41. 
 
 Writings, ecclesiastical, the most 
 ancient, lost, 2. 
 
 , the earliest extant are 
 
 in Greek, 2. 
 Worship of the church, 182. 
 
 , places of, 187. 
 
 1 Wotton, 153. 
 
 LO.SUOK ; BEi,D AND PABDOK, FRITTERS; PA11.RN0STER ROW. 
 
Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
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