LECTUBE I. 
 
 OX THE EARLY CORRUPTION OF CHRISTIANITY WITH REFERENCE 
 TO PATRISTIC THEOLOGY. 
 
 BY PROFESSOR M1ICHAEL, DUNFERMLINE. 
 
 It is well known that a large party has lately sprung up in the 
 Anglican Establishment, whose principles and practices have a 
 greaterconformity to Romanism than to Protestantism. Itiswith 
 them a fundamental doctrine, that a knowledge of divinetruthcan 
 only he obtained by having recourse to the writings of the divines 
 of the primitive church, and more especially those who flourished 
 in the third and fourtli centuries. It is affirmed that Chris¬ 
 tianity, about the fourth century, had reached its highest de¬ 
 velopment. It had passed from the infancy of its previous state 
 to the full maturity of its prime, and it had not become enfeebled 
 by the errors which the papal system subsequently introduced. 
 The Nicene period, it is thus argued, affords a perfect realisa¬ 
 tion of a Christian Church in its doctrines, worship, and govern¬ 
 ment. An appeal is not to be made to the scriptures alone, for 
 this is an atheistic principle, and leads to the wildest and most 
 pernicious consequences. Our simple object is to inquire what 
 was the meaning attached to them by those divines who are 
 styled, by way of eminence, the fathers; or, what is substantially 
 the same, what was the condition of the Nicene Church? With 
 this we ought to rest satisfied. 
 
 It is manifest that the field of controversy is, by this means, 
 entirely shifted. The reference now is not to the text of scrip¬ 
 ture, but to the commentary. It is no longer, what is the read¬ 
 ing of Isaiah or Paul, but what says Cyprian or Basil? The 
 appeal is from henceforth transferred from the word of God to 
 the patristic writings. The fathers lose their proper character 
 of witnesses, and are converted into judges. They are taken from 
 the box where they were giving valuable evidence, and are 
 
THE EARLY COREUPTIOX 
 
 placed upon the bench, where their interpretations of the in¬ 
 spired document are infallible, and where their decisions have 
 an authority from which there is no appeal. This is a mode of 
 procedure which condemns the masses to a blind and implicit 
 faith; for there are few men even in our own country who are 
 competent to examine the works of the fathers, and still fewer 
 who would submit to the toil, however well qualified they might 
 be for the task. Satan could not have inspired a body of tlieo- 
 logues with a more insidious and successful plan for perpetuating 
 his own reign, and throwing us back upon the ignorance and 
 horrors of the dark ages, than by leading them to adopt the 
 opinion that the standard of religious truth is scripture as inter¬ 
 preted by the fathers. Eo event, for several centuries, has occa¬ 
 sioned such great joy to the papal see, and animated Eoman 
 Catholics with such hopes, as the diffusion of these principles 
 upon the Protestant soil of Great Britain, by so many educated 
 and influential persons. And no wonder that this is the case, 
 for, if the doctrines and worship of the Eicene Church be our 
 model, they conduct us almost of necessity into the bosom of 
 the Boman Catholic Church. The points of difference between 
 the two churches are comparatively of very inferior importance. 
 A single step brings us from Oxford to Eome. 
 
 A necessity is thus laid upon those who love the truth of 
 God, and who would not wish to see our beloved land reduced 
 to that state of moral and intellectual degradation in which 
 Spain has been lying for ages, to inquire what was that form of 
 Eicene Christianity which is so “full of wisdom and perfect in 
 beauty.” It is our business to ascertain what are the claims 
 which the fathers have to our respect, that we should virtually 
 not only place them upon a level with the apostles, but even 
 raise them to a loftier position; what is the nature of that 
 patristic theology which is set up as a standard of faith and of 
 practice by thousands of clergymen connected with the Estab¬ 
 lished Church in England. Such, we presume, were the rea¬ 
 sons which induced the committee who have taken the super¬ 
 intendence of these lectures to select the present subjectr-“The 
 early corruptions of Christianity with reference to Patristic 
 Theology.” The field is exhaustless; but the object in view will 
 be best accomplished, by confining ourselves to that department 
 
OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 of historical investigation, which is of most immediate and press¬ 
 ing importance—the condition of the Nicene Church. 
 
 I— Tiieik Highest Moiumr was Ascetic. 
 
 This had a philosopiiic origin. Gnosticism was its parent. 
 This was a system which arose from the attempt to solve that 
 inextricable problem of the universe—whence comes Evil? 
 And it found a seeming response to the question, by attributing 
 it to the incurable malignity of matter. Of this theory, the 
 beginning, the middle, and the end was the inherent evil of mat¬ 
 ter, and deliverance from its trammels was the only thing re¬ 
 quisite, in order to obtain the highest perfection and happiness. 
 These opinions appear to us so ridiculous as to be unworthy of 
 a sober refutation; but it should never be forgotten that they 
 once had a most extensive prevalence, that they influenced the 
 most vigorous minds, and that their force is still seen in the 
 metaphysical religions of China and Hindostan. 
 
 With doctrines of tliis character, the living principles of Chris¬ 
 tianity came almost immediately into contact, and traces of this 
 conflict are apparent, even before the canon of scripture was 
 completed. Many of the educated and learned classes, when 
 they embraced the religion of Jesus, brought along with them 
 those habits of thinking which they had acquired in the schools 
 of Heathenism; the simplicity of gospel truth was departed from, 
 and an endeavour was made to accommodate the doctrines of the 
 cross to the philosopiiic notions that were then current. Christi¬ 
 anity claimed an ascendancy over every other system of religion; 
 it offered pardon and spiritual freedom to all who entered within 
 its hallowed domain, and proclaimed that here, and here alone, 
 there was an infallible provision for purity of heart and life. 
 Engraft the gnostic sentiment upon these gracious promises, 
 and deliverance from sin will he understood to mean deliverance 
 from matter-deliverance from the conditions of animal and 
 social life. 
 
 At a very early period, the idea began thus to be entertained 
 that celibacy was a higher condition of life than marriage. It 
 was most in accordance with that elevated standard of piety 
 which the gospel contemplated, and formed that sublime perfec¬ 
 tion of humanity at which the believer should constantly aim. 
 
4 
 
 THE EABLT CORRUPTION 
 
 Themes of this nature form no small portion of patristic theo¬ 
 logy; and as yon descend the stream of ecclesiastical antiquity, 
 ■writer after writer employs the utmost resources of Iris elo¬ 
 quence, in describing the excellence of those who could climb to 
 this spiritual platform. The praises of virginity is a subject 
 upon which all the fathers delight to dwell: they dilate upon it 
 with a frequency that is tiresome, and with a minuteness that is 
 sickening. Inflated and exaggerated descriptions of its merits 
 and honours and rewards were rehearsed from every pulpit; the 
 imaginations of young enthusiastic girls were inflamed with the 
 representations of this celestial sanctity, and large numbers of 
 them forsook all secular engagements, enrolled themselves among 
 the angelic household, and thus devoted themselves to the 
 service of Christ.* 
 
 This, of course, could not be done without a virtual degrada¬ 
 tion of that marriage which, according to scripture, is honour¬ 
 able in all. Such was the effect of these doctrines, that many- 
 married persons separated from each other, and others lived as 
 unmarried, though residing in the same house. The fathers felt 
 this, and, were the subject not so solemn in its consequences, 
 nothing is more amusing than the attempts which they made to 
 prove that they did not condemn matrimony. They did not 
 regard marriage as an invention of the devil. No. This was a 
 doctrine of the heretics. They only asserted that celibacy was as 
 superior to matrimony as the soul is above the body, and as the 
 heavens are higher than the earth. Marriage was no crime. 
 Far from it, for married persons may be saved, if they act pro¬ 
 perly. Marriage no crime! and yet almost all Christendom was 
 shocked at the horrible doctrine taught by Jovinian, that a 
 virgin was no better than a married woman. Marriage no 
 crime! and yet second marriages were considered adulteries, 
 with a more specious name. Marriage no crime! and yet, if one 
 of these sacred virgins (for the oath was not irrevocable) re¬ 
 nounced her profasion and married, it was counted bigamy, 
 and at a subsequent period it was stigmatised as adultery. 
 
 * The lecturer at first intended to give references in support of the 
 views he has expressed; bnt they increased so much, that the publi¬ 
 cation would have the appearance of a learned affectation. He has 
 therefore withheld them all. 
 
CHKISTIANITr. ■ 
 
 Marriage no crime! and yet, when a widow- lady consulted 
 Jerome, whether, in the event of her entering another time into 
 the condition of matrimony, there was a possibility of being 
 saved 1 —the surly old monk gave the Christian and courteous 
 answer, “Yes, madam, there is pardon even for an harlot.” 
 
 A spiritual aristocracy was thus created in the church, looked 
 up to with awful respect, and treated with a veneration almost 
 more than human. They formed the highest order in the eccle¬ 
 siastical commonwealth, and were frequently referred to in 
 terms of the most fulsome adulation, and with every exaggera¬ 
 tion which a vicious rhetoric could employ; and even the holy 
 and sagacious Athanasius could point to the number of these 
 brides of Christ, as an irresistible proof that Christianity was 
 the only true religion. Upon them was conferred a monopoly 
 of those lofty names, and promises, and privileges, which are the 
 common property of the faithful; and the vast bulk of the church 
 was thus, by an outrageous blasphemy, robbed of that spiritual 
 nourishment which was essential to their growth in grace. They 
 were not the called, the chosen, and the faithful: it was the 
 choir of virgins. The redeemed who follow the Lamb whither¬ 
 soever he goeth, and the wise virgins who have oil in their lamps, 
 do not signify all the genuine disciples of the Saviour: they 
 mean those alone who have not been defiled with the pollutions 
 of matrimony. The promise of sitting upon a celestial throne, 
 which is made by our Lord to every one that overcometh, has 
 no reference to the meek and the humble of liis flock: it is con¬ 
 fined to those who keep their continence pure and intact. It is 
 difficult to mention these things without a mingled feeling of 
 humiliation and indignation: humiliation, that there is a neces¬ 
 sity of making such statements in a public lecture, three cen¬ 
 turies after the Protestant Reformation; and indignation, partly 
 that such frauds should ever have been successfully imposed, and 
 partly that attempts should still be made to bring the Christian 
 people of this country under a similar bondage. 
 
 The vast mass of Christian professors was thrust down from 
 
 its proper position in the church. There were two classes, 
 
 and a gulf existed betwixt them which it was not possible to 
 pass, The one was the more illustrious portion of the flock of 
 Jesus; the other the pariahs of the community. Look at 
 
THE EARLY CORRUPTION 
 
 the influence which this must have had upon the family circle. 
 The blessed sanctities of domestic life were suited only to the 
 common herd of mankind: the household virtues, which form 
 the glory and strength of a nation, were characterised as a cer¬ 
 tain species of impurity. Here is a pious couple, living in the 
 fear of God, acting beneficially upon the society in which they 
 move, and training up their children for usefulness in the elrnrch 
 and in the world. This husband and wife, according to our 
 modem and Protestant opinions, we regard as eminent exam¬ 
 ples of Christian excellence. But how ignorant and stupid we 
 are! How vastly inferior are our notions of celestial purity 
 from those which obtained in the Xicene Church! What 
 would you compare this matron, in the midst of her family, to 
 that holy lady who, for many years, allowed no water to touch 
 any part of her person, except the tips of her fingers, before she 
 partook of the Lord’s Supper? And this husband, a blessing to 
 his wife and children, would you ever institute a comparison be¬ 
 twixt him and a monk who, by the sole profession of chastity, 
 has received a patent of spiritual nobility which places him 
 nearest the Divinity ? What is he to one who lives in rags and 
 indolence, who can fast for hours and days in succession, whom 
 prayers, and watching, and privations have reduced to a state 
 half-maniac and half-hrute—what is he, for example, to the 
 great St Anthony, who bequeathed to Athanasius, at his death, 
 the skin which he had worn for fifty years ? It was truly a pre¬ 
 cious legacy! and what else could he do, in gratitude for this 
 inestimable specimen of sanctified filth, but write the life of this 
 renowned champion of monkery, with all the miracles which he 
 had wrought in the wilderness ? 
 
 Xow it has happened, with a law as invariable as that of gra¬ 
 vitation, that in proportion as the ascetic spirit predominates in 
 the church, the morality of society is lowered, liaise up the 
 celibate, and you sink spirituality. Exalt the human element 
 in religion, and yon depress the divine. Extol the merit of 
 chastity—that is, abstinence from married life,—let the doctrine 
 be regularly inculcated that it is a manifestation of angelic 
 purity in a human form, and, as the reward of your pains, you 
 will soon find an ignorant, superstitious, and debauched people. 
 They are lowered in their own esteem; and every tyrant is aware 
 
OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 that to deprive a body of men of all hope of elevation, is the 
 surest and speediest mode of making them a prey to the. most 
 ignominious vices. The monkery of every age and of every 
 country is a certain index of the demoralization of the society in 
 which it exists. This is a principle of universal application. And 
 the result of all our researches into ecclesiastical history, from 
 the Nicene period to the present, may he thrown into the fol¬ 
 lowing formula:—Given the ratio of monks and nuns to the 
 population of a nation; to determine the amount of its ignorance, 
 its superstition, its cruelty, and licentiousness. 
 
 These remarks would have great force, even though the 
 celibate had subserved all the purposes for which it was pro¬ 
 fessedly instituted. But it had a most injurious effect upon 
 the parties themselves. They must have been more than 
 human, if the excessive adulation bestowed upon them had not 
 filled them with spiritual pride, and taught them to look down 
 with contempt upon the great body of the Christian people 
 who were grovelling upon the earth. So far from promoting 
 that evangelic purity which aims at the government of the 
 heart, it directed the exclusive attention to an external conti¬ 
 nence. Nor is it to be overlooked, that, in no small number of 
 cases, it led to the most grievous excesses and the foulest 
 practices. The private letters of the fathers, the treatises 
 which they wrote, the sermons which they preached, and the 
 ecclesiastical laws that were made, in order to prevent certain 
 abuses,—all clearly indicate that impurities were extensively 
 committed, which were more in keeping with a Turkish seraglio 
 than with a community of women professing godliness. It is a 
 veil which cannot be drawn, and we content ourselves with 
 making the general assertion, that it is questionable whether 
 Heathenism herself, in the full flush of her immorality, sur¬ 
 passed the enormities practised in some of these virgin sanc¬ 
 tuaries of the Nicene Church. 
 
 This, then, is one corruption of the early church; and all our 
 illustrations have been drawn from a range of not more than 
 four hundred years from the period, when our Lord ascended on 
 high, and sent down the fiery baptism of the Holy Ghost upon 
 the apostles. Nay, some of the greatest abuses existed at least as 
 early as the middle of the third century. All the fathers, with 
 
THE EAEI.Y COERUPTIOX 
 
 one exception or two, preferred celibacy to marriage, and deemed 
 its merit second only to that of martyrdom. Are we to follow 
 them in this respect? Are we to have an unmarried clergy ? 
 This is a necessary result of the ascetic principle, and the celibacy 
 of the clergy was a general fact, long before it was made compul¬ 
 sory by law at the close of the fourth century. Are we to have 
 monastic institutions established in connection with a Protestant 
 Church? Axe young girls to be seduced from their parents, 
 and tempted to forsake the honourable and active duties of life 
 for a cloistered retreat, ignorant, as they are, of the horrid pol¬ 
 lutions springing from this source, which deSle the historical 
 records of the church? And is a mother weeping over the 
 loss of her child, who has become one of these misnamed brides 
 of Christ, to be comforted by the ecclesiastical cant, that she is 
 now the mother-in-law of God? 
 
 We now proceed to consider a second corruption. It may be 
 thus expressed:— 
 
 II. The Sacbamexts weke Contested ixto Magical 
 Chassis. 
 
 This is not said without good grounds. The sacraments of 
 the Hew Testament are two: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. 
 How simple, how significant these rites! Nothing, however, 
 can be conceived more dissimilar than the apostolic and the 
 patristic ordinances. It will be most convenient to treat them 
 separately. 
 
 In the second century, the opinion was prevalent that baptism 
 was indispensable to salvation, the only exception being martyrs, 
 whose bloody baptism was regarded as an equivalent for that of 
 water. At the same time, the utmost resources of language 
 were exhausted, in describing the benefits which it conferred 
 upon the recipient. It possessed the mysterious power of washing 
 away all guilt previously contracted; moral renovation was also 
 imparted, and the moment the water touched the body, the soul 
 became as pure as that of Adam, when he came first from the 
 hand of his Maker. But this was not all; its amazing efficacy 
 extended even to the body, and bestowed upon it such a prin¬ 
 ciple of vitality, that it would arise from the dust of death* at 
 the morning of the resurrection. Here, then, is the holy laver, 
 
CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 exclaims the clergyman. look upon these clear and unruffled 
 waters; the blessed Spirit now waits to infuse into them his 
 own life-giving energies. Come, then, and he saved; why will 
 you linger any more? You go down to this pool, laden with 
 guilt and defilement, and you come up, the next moment, a new 
 creature, freed from every stain, and fit for the enjoyments of 
 God’s holy habitation. 
 
 Some of these harangues contain admirable strokes of oratory, 
 startling and powerful appeals, and exquisitely graphic descrip¬ 
 tions ; and there is not a single argument advanced in a Protes¬ 
 tant pulpit against the danger of delaying repentance towards 
 God, which was not employed by the fathers, in order to induce 
 men to submit to baptism. Is a sick-bed a proper place for this 
 holy rite? Are dying groans, and convulsive spasms, and 
 weeping friends, the fit accompaniments of this invaluable 
 blessing? You may be cut off in a moment, and how terrible 
 will be your reflections, as you stand before the bar of judgment, 
 that your soul is lost, and lost for ever, because you died with¬ 
 out baptism! It is the farthest from our intention to deny that 
 opinions of a better character, in reference to this sacrament, 
 are sometimes found in patristic theology, and that faith and 
 repentance are mentioned as indispensable requisites; but we 
 merely ask, what would be the effect of such unguarded repre¬ 
 sentations upon a promiscuous audience, many of whom were 
 ill-informed, and had but lately renounced the errors of heath¬ 
 enism? It was the laver of baptism, not the fount of atoning 
 blood; it was the external application of the water, not the 
 purging of the conscience through faith in a Redeemer, that 
 constituted the favourite themes of oratorical display; while the 
 ordinance itself was, at the same time, adorned with every 
 ceremony which a prodigal superstition could suggest, in order 
 to feed the imagination and attract the ignorant admiration of 
 the populace. Would it not be to fix the whole attention and 
 interest of the hearers upon the outward rite, to the exclusion 
 of its spiritual meaning, and to make them gaze down with a 
 trembling awe upon that mysterious pool, over whose waters 
 the Holy Ghost was hovering with expanded wings, and in 
 whose magical depths was hid salvation? 
 
 But why, it may be asked, were such appeals necessary, and 
 
10 
 
 EATXT CORRUPTION 
 
 ■why did not all ran forward with eagerness to obtain such price¬ 
 less blessings ? The reason is simply tills. The theoiy of bap¬ 
 tismal regeneration was connected with the terrific doctrine, 
 that all sin subsequently contracted was of such an aggravated 
 character, that it could not be cancelled by the atoning sacrifice 
 of Him who is Jehovah oar Righteousness. It must be expiated 
 by alms, by prayers, by painful and long-continued privations. 
 It was the opinion of some that there was only one penaiw 
 allowed after baptism, and then the person under discipline 
 might die before its prescribed period was completed; and thus 
 dying out of communion with the church, there was no salva¬ 
 tion for him. Hence arose the custom of delaying baptism as 
 long as possible, and of deferring it even to a death-bed. The 
 gnilt of all offences was thus cancelled in a single act. It was 
 doubtless true that some unforeseen hlow might terminate a 
 person’s existence, without leaving him as much time as would 
 permit the ordinance being observed; but procrastination in 
 religion is so natural to the unrenewed heart, and in the present 
 case it was so convenient an apology for continued indulgence 
 in vice, that the warning voice was unheeded by many, and they 
 trusted to the calculation of chances, that when the solemn hour 
 of dissolution arrived, a priest might be found, who would per¬ 
 form the ceremony of baptism, and send them pure and triumph¬ 
 ant to the regions of the blessed. 
 
 We now direct your attention to the sacrament of the Lord’s 
 Supper. 
 
 Justin Harfyr gives us an account of the simple and scrip¬ 
 tural manner in which the Lord’s Supper was observed in the 
 second century. He speaks of it as an offering of thanks. In 
 the third century, the chiefs of the African Church call it an 
 imitation of the sacrifice of Christ; and in the fourth century it 
 is mentioned as a repetition of this sacrifice. This corruption, 
 originating in that tendency to materialise all tilings, which is 
 one of the results of a declension in spiritual feeling, was un¬ 
 questionably much increased by the turgid eloquence, with 
 which it was the fashion to describe this sacrament. It was 
 styled an unbloody sacrifice, a holy and tremendous sacrifice, 
 a terrible mystery, a dreadful solemnity; and the rhetorical 
 flourishes of the orators of Carthage, of Jerusalem, and of Con- 
 
OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 11 
 
 stantinople, were afterwards converted into matters of fact, and 
 had a real existence in the church. Profound is the observa¬ 
 tion of Coleridge: “Accustom yourself to reflect on the words 
 you use—their birth, derivation, and history. Por if words are 
 not things, they are living powers by which the things of most 
 importance to mankind are actuated, combined, and humanised.” 
 
 We shall now give a sentence or two from a sermon of Chry¬ 
 sostom, in which he complains of the small number of persons 
 who actually communicated; and mark the manner in which he 
 exhorts them to remain a short time for this purpose. “Art thou 
 not afraid, dost thou not blush, to be found a liar (that is, by not 
 following out their religious profession, by partaking of the sacred 
 communion) at that very hour? What! the mystic table has been 
 prepared; the Lamb of God for thee is slaughtered; the priest 
 for thee contends; the spiritual fire from the sacred table 
 ascends: the cherubim, holding their stations about, the sera¬ 
 phim hovering around, and the six-winged veiling their faces, 
 while for thee all the incorporeal orders, along with the priest, 
 intercede. The spiritual fire descends, and for thy purification 
 the blood from the spotless side is emptied into the cup: and 
 thou dost neither tremble nor blush to be found false at this 
 dread hour?” Alas, for the effect of such representations! The 
 members of the church, who often interrupted their eloquent 
 preacher with bursts of applause, as they would have done a 
 favourite upon the stage, rushed in crowds from the place of 
 prayer when the sermon was finished, and repaired to the 
 theatre, where they might regale their eyes with the sight of 
 naked actresses swimming in a large bath, and with similar vile 
 indecencies. 
 
 How mysterious the power of the sacramental elements of the 
 primitive church! As baptism, says Gregory of Nyssa, unites 
 tile soul to Christ, so the Lord’s Supper unites the body to him. 
 It brings to light the secret things of darkness; for we are 
 informed by Cyprian, that when a little child was brought for¬ 
 ward to the Lord’s tabic (for infant communion was the practice 
 of the African Church, at least as early as the middle of the 
 third century) and the cup presented, there was such an awful 
 revulsion as to lead to the discovery that the girl had been taken 
 by her nurse to an idol temple, and had tasted of its food. So 
 
12 
 
 THE EAELT C0EP.UPT10X 
 
 amazing was its efficacy, that portions of the consecrated bread 
 were allowed to be taken home, as an efficacious specific for every 
 evil. It healed diseases; for it is the advice of Augustine, “ If 
 any one he sick, let him receive the body and blood of Christ, 
 and let him keep a part of this little body, that he may find the 
 accomplishment of what St James says: ‘ Let those who are sick 
 go to the church and receive strength of body.’ ” It gave sight 
 to the blind; for, according to the same authority, there was one 
 Aearius, who was born in this condition, and when a surgeon 
 came to perform an operation upon him, his pious mother would 
 not consent, bnt applied a small poultice of the consecrated bread 
 to the eyes, and this had the desired effect. It saved from the 
 perils of travel; for Ambrose gives us a long account of one 
 Satyrus, who was passenger in a ship which struck upon rocks. 
 Being only a candidate for membersliip, and unsupplied with this 
 necessary preparation for travelling, he obtained a small portion 
 of the Lord’s body from his companions. He bound the sacred 
 talisman around his neck, committed himself without fear to the 
 boiling waves, and was borne in safety to land. It was even put 
 into the coffins of the dead and buried in their graves, to scare 
 away the evil demons, and to assist the departed in their pas¬ 
 sage through the dark world of shadows. 
 
 Such were the sacraments of theXicene Church, and were we 
 wrong in characterising them as magical incantations ? We 
 might apply to it the statement which Livy, the Homan histo¬ 
 rian, makes respecting the Etruscans, and which sounds so 
 strange to Protestant ears—“ the Etruscans were more devoted 
 than other nations to religious observances, because they excelled 
 in the art of performing them,” religious duties being regarded 
 as a sort of theatrical display, and the functions of the priest¬ 
 hood being considered as analogous to the feats of a juggler. It 
 was truly the exaltation of a ritual over a spiritual religion. It 
 was a religion of sacraments, and not of the heart. It was a re¬ 
 ligion which consisted in the performance of certain external 
 acts, and which confounded penitence with penance, and faith 
 with communion with the visible church. It was a religion 
 where the altar was elevated at the expense of the pulpit, where 
 the prophet sinks and the priest ascends, where Christ disap¬ 
 pears, and the unbloody sacrifice, the holy and tremendous 
 
OF CHEISTIAHirr. 
 
 13 
 
 mystery of his divine body, is held on high to be worshipped by 
 crowds of trembling and superstitious suppliants. It may be 
 that there is some foundation for the charge, that the “ pulpit is 
 the Protestant idol,” but a scriptural holiness can never be pro¬ 
 duced and preserved without a clear exhibition of gospel truth, 
 and all experience and all observation confirm the fact, that the 
 adoption of the sacramental system creates a religion without 
 morality. Par distant be the day in our beloved land (may it 
 never happen!) when the efficacy of the sacraments shall form 
 the most frequent and attractive topics of pulpit elopence, and 
 ■ when our preachers shall fail to give due prominence to that 
 doctrine, which is the only foundation of hope to guilty man, 
 “ Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the 
 world.” 
 
 A third corruption may be thus stated 
 
 III.—' Tiieir Reverence for Martvrs was Hero Worship. 
 
 It is not difficult to trace the source and progress of this cor¬ 
 ruption. A very short space will suffice. 
 
 It was natural that those Christians should be held in high 
 honour who had suffered much in the cause of Jesus, and had 
 passed unscathed through the fires of persecution. They were 
 reverenced by all who knew them. Emperors did not disdain to 
 kiss the marks of their wounds: their prayers were solicited as 
 of especial efficacy, and their influence was so great in the church 
 that a certificate from them obtained for its bearer a relaxation 
 of ecclesiastical discipline, and sometimes an entire exemption 
 from its further claims. 
 
 It was natural that the memories of those who had suffered 
 death should be held in extraordinary veneration. All honour 
 be to the men, however imperfect their religious views upon 
 some matters might be, who had such a love to the Saviour^ that, 
 rather than renounce Him, by throwing a few grains of incense 
 upon an altar dedicated to an idol, they laid down their heads 
 upon a block, or perished under the most excruciating tortures. 
 
 “Their blood is shed 
 In confirmation of the noblest claim— 
 
 Our claim to feed upon immortal truth, 
 
 To walk with God, to be divinely free, 
 
 To soar and to anticipate the skies.” 
 
14 
 
 THE EAELY CORRUFITOS 
 
 It was natural that their admirers should at times visit the 
 graves where their sainted remains were interred. The same 
 spirit which, to this hour, leads the patriot to visit the field of 
 Bannockburn, where Scotland’s liberties were won; the same 
 spirit which directs the poet to Stratford-upon-Avon, where 
 Shakspearerfhe genius of all time, was horn and buried; the same 
 spirit which sends the pilgrim to Palestine, “ over whose acres 
 walked those blessed feet that were nailed for our advantage on 
 the hitter cross;” it was the same spirit which induced many 
 Christians to repair to the tombs of the martyrs, with the pur¬ 
 pose of exciting religious feelings. I have often done so myself 
 when a boy, and many an hour have I sat musing upon the 
 martyrs’ graves, and green full scope to the hallowed associations 
 of the place. 
 
 It was natural that offerings should he made to the church in 
 their name and honour. This was recognising them as still be¬ 
 longing to the community of the faithful, though now removed 
 from earth. The primitive Christians had a more vivid idea 
 than we have of the essential unity of the church, and it was 
 theiropinion thatthe deceased retainedadeepinterestin the pro¬ 
 sperity of Zion, though they could no longer assist it with their 
 personal contributions. It was thought that their benevolent 
 feeling was gratified in this manner. We have known believers 
 give money for benevolent objects, in name and honour of 
 departed saints. 
 
 It was natural that largest numbers should be in attendance 
 upon the anniversary of the martyrdom, as being most favour¬ 
 able for religious emotions; that, during the vigils, food and wine 
 should be taken to excess by some, and that disgraceful scenes 
 should occur, at a promiscuous concourse of people, under night, 
 who were brought together from every variety of motive. And 
 as the superstitious feelings began to operate powerfully upon 
 the mind, and the deep stirrings of excitement were expe¬ 
 rienced, in connection with that hidden sympathy which passes 
 like electricity through a multitude, ejaculations to the saint 
 were heard, then short and almost involuntary prayers, and at 
 last he was addressed in a tone of direct supplication, as a kind 
 of localised deity, hovering over the place where his body was 
 
OF CHRISTIANITY. 15 
 
 interred, and looking down with a benignant countenance upon 
 those who had now assembled to do him honour. 
 
 It was natural that new churches, as they were needed, should 
 ho built upon spots so sacred; that churches should be reve¬ 
 renced in proportion to the distinction of the martyr, whose 
 dust they possessed; and that a church, which contained no such 
 remains should be held in less esteem as a place of gracious influ¬ 
 ence, than one which could boast of having ashes that hadpassed 
 through the fires of martyrdom. A church without relics, being 
 thus inferior, there was a necessity for making up this defi¬ 
 ciency by importing them from another quarter, whatever might 
 be the expense. Hence they were brought from other places, 
 and carried with solemn pomp to the church where they were 
 deposited. 
 
 It was natural that, there being thus a large demand for old 
 hones, great supplies were thrown into the market. A free and 
 profitable trade in relics was commenced, and unrivalled was 
 the ingenuity of the merchants. The hones of martyrs were 
 discovered that had lain unknown for a long period: others 
 were roused to a holy jealousy when they saw this movement 
 advancing with such rapid strides, and, anxious that the faith¬ 
 ful should not be deprived of the benefit of their remains, re¬ 
 vealed in dreams and visions of the night the spots where they 
 had been interred. Hence also the urgent need of proving that 
 the relics so discovered were genuine, by the pomp and majesty 
 of miracle. And now comes into full operation that system of 
 religious falsehoods, with its signs and wonders, and its whole 
 apparatus of religious stimulants, to quicken the dead energies 
 of an ignorant and superstitious multitude. 
 
 Instead, however, of making any more general statements, 
 we shall furnish you with a specimen. 
 
 A new church had been erected at Milan, hearing the name 
 of Ambrose the bishop, and he was about to consecrate it. The 
 people, however, insisted upon its being consecrated with mar¬ 
 tyrs’ relics, that it might be placed upon an equality, in point 
 of hallowed influence, with another church in the city. Am¬ 
 brose promised to do so, provided they could be found. During 
 the night he was favoured with a vision of two martyrs, whose 
 names had never before been heard of, and they informed him 
 
16 
 
 THE EAELY CORRUPTION* 
 
 where {hey were interred. Next day he repaired to the church, 
 and caused the earth to he removed from the spot which had 
 been pointed out. An extraordinary convulsion took place, and 
 the skeletons of two men of great size were thrown up - and, 
 still more marvellous, the grave in which they had lain was 
 soaked with recent blood. The joyful news soon spread, and 
 there was a great conconrse of people. They were removed 
 nest day to the Ambrosian church, and upon the way a blind 
 man, who had been a butcher by trade, but who was now living 
 upon alms, touched the fringe of the pall which covered them, 
 and was at once restored to sight. And when they were brought 
 into the church, a vast number of miracles was performed. Not¬ 
 withstanding all this, the Arians at Milan were so incredulous 
 as to maintain that the whole was the result of collusion—was 
 a preconcerted trick on the part of the bishop, and that those 
 who had been cured had been bribed for this purpose. But let us 
 hear Ambrose himself, as he addressed the thronging crowds on 
 this memorable day:—“Whom ought we to consider ‘the princes 
 of the people,’ if it be not the holy martyrs, among the number 
 of whom Protasius and Gervasius, long unknown, are now pro¬ 
 moted ; and by their names and examples, as of her own suffer¬ 
 ing, they have now made the Milanese Church, heretofore bar¬ 
 ren as to martyrs, rejoice as the mother of many sons ? . . . 
 You have known—yes, yourselves have seen many freed from 
 demons, and very many also relieved from the infirmities under 
 which they had laboured, by applying their hands to the pall of 
 the saints. The miracles of old time, when grace was more 
 abundantly bestowed on the earth by the coming of the Lord 
 Jesus, are now revived; for you see many healed by the mere 
 shadow of the saints’ bodies. How many kerchiefs are tossed 
 about! How many coverlets of the inviolable relics are sought 
 for, as having become, by mere contact, capable of curing dis¬ 
 ease! All are eager to touch the outermost fringe, and who¬ 
 ever touches will be healed.” 
 
 Do you ask the question—When did this actually happen ? 
 Is there not some mistake here? Is not this an account of 
 some Boman Catholic jugglery, during that period which is 
 emphatically called “the dark ages?” Would that it were! 
 But this took place in the year of our Lord 386, and less than 
 
OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 17 
 
 three centuries after the Apocalypse had lifted up its voice of 
 warning against even the worship of angels: “ See thou do it 
 not.” And who was Ambrose ? One of the most eminent men 
 in the ancient church, the spiritual father of the great Augus¬ 
 tine, and whose conduct towards the Emperor Theodosius, in 
 refusing him church privileges for eight months, because he had 
 shed innocent blood, lias been quoted a thousand times, as an 
 instance of inflexible integrity and impartiality. And yet, if 
 these were not genuine miracles, they must have been profane 
 frauds; and if frauds, Ambrose was the guilty author of them. 
 Painful as it is to come to this conclusion, it is impossible to 
 avoid it upon the ordinary laws of evidence; and Isaac Taylor, 
 who, in his invaluable work, “Ancient Christianity,” has made 
 accessible to an English scholar the more important documents 
 connected with this transaction, and whose translation we have 
 adopted, has called our attention to the fact, that the person 
 whose blindness was cured had been a flesher, and that it was 
 possible he might know something of the manner in which the 
 recent blood had been obtained, in which the martyrs’ bones 
 were weltering. Alas! that Ambrose should have lent his great 
 influence to support such religious deceptions,—encouraging 
 the doctrines of demons, and bringing into the church a crowd 
 of gods to be worshipped. Would that it had always been re¬ 
 membered that the end can never justify the means, and that 
 a lie is a lie by whomsoever spoken, and for whatever purpose 
 it is told! 
 
 Such, then, were the leading corruptions of the church within 
 four hundred years from the crucifixion of Him who “ made an 
 end of sin, and brought in an everlasting righteousness.” In 
 the fifth century the evil had increased, and wo find the church 
 converted into a heathen temple, crowded with a rabble of male 
 and female divinities, at whose head was enthroned the Virgin 
 Mary, the patristric queen of heaven, and who had usurped the 
 place and the worship that was once given to the Ephesian 
 Diana. 
 
 Some may he disposed to think that the description of the 
 Nicene Church is of too gloomy a character. Every scholar 
 who had paid but a moderate degree of attention to this period 
 of ecclesiastical antiquity, will, we think, admit, that our pencil 
 
18 
 
 THE EAIiLY COEBUPTrOY 
 
 might have been dipped in darker colours, without an invasion 
 of truth. Nor should it he kept out of sight, that the topic as¬ 
 signed me is “ the early corruption of Christianity with refer¬ 
 ence to patristic theology,” and that it was our object to prove 
 that the reverence now demanded for the fathers, as infallible 
 interpreters of the mind of the Spirit, is a fond and foolish ima¬ 
 gination; and that there is no foundation whatever for the 
 opinion of our modem Oxford theologians, that “ three centuries 
 and more were necessary for the infant church to attain her 
 mature and perfect form, and that the principal fathers of the 
 fourth century are to be viewed as the fully instructed teachers 
 of her doctrine.” And with respect to the alleged immoralities 
 existing within the pale of the church, is it a matter which 
 ought to excite our surprise, that when Heathenism was losing 
 ground every year, and Christianity was becoming the fashion¬ 
 able religion, it was embraced by large numbers who found it 
 easier to adopt her creed than to imitate her holiness ? At the 
 same time, we must be permitted to make the general remark, 
 that there is no subject within the range of our knowledge, 
 upon which there has been so much exaggeration as the purity 
 of the church, even at periods much earlier than those which 
 have now been contemplated by us, and that sufficient allow¬ 
 ance is not made for the circumstances in which Christianity 
 was then placed.* 
 
 Are we, then, to throw aside the writings of the fathers of the 
 first four centuries as of no usewhatever ? Far from it. View¬ 
 ing them as historical documents their price is beyond all value, 
 and were they destroyed their loss could never be made up. They 
 furnish ns with a large body of useful and interesting informa¬ 
 tion, nowhere else to be found. They afford us the most vivid 
 representations of Christianity rising out of heathen darkness 
 and pollutions ; and as we read their glowing pages, even a 
 small degree of historical imagination is sufficient to make us 
 feel, as if we were actual spectators of the throes of Paganism, 
 dying in the great military and intellectual nations of the old 
 world. They tell us of many bright examples of Christian 
 heroes who suffered the loss of all things, and counted not their 
 
 See Note at the end. 
 
1 CHRISnAHITY. 
 
 19 
 
 lives dear to them, when the interests of truth demanded the 
 sacrifice. And it would he easy to select from their works nu¬ 
 merous passages which breathe an intense passion for holiness. 
 But their theology was miserably defective. Thus many of 
 them mourned over the immorality which was gaining ground 
 in the church; hut, being ignorant of its true cause, they endea¬ 
 voured to reform the evil by applying, with increased vigour 
 and frequency, the very means which occasioned it. They 
 heaped ceremony upon ceremony, and adopted the imposing 
 ritual of Heathenism, and the gorgeous vestments of its priest¬ 
 hood, in order to make Cliristianity more attractive to the crude 
 notions of the populace. Miracle was added to miracle, when 
 the former had palled in its effect upon a multitude thirsting 
 after novelties; and though many of the fathers were, unques¬ 
 tionably, the victims of their own credulity, we are afraid that 
 in more than one case they supposed themselves justified in the 
 use of religious deceptions, and thought they had liberty to 
 treat the mass of the people, as children who require to be 
 cheated for their benefit. They were deficient in abroad and 
 comprehensive view of the whole scheme of Christianity. They 
 did not perceive the harmony and relations of its various parts 
 to each other. They had not a distinct knowledge of that pro¬ 
 found philosophy which pervades the gospel, and which proves 
 it to be the manifold wisdom of God. There was not one of the 
 fathers, during the first four centuries, not even Augustine 
 himself, who could have written such a treatise as “ Hooker’s 
 Discourse on Justification by Faith.” And we are satisfied 
 that, were the sermons delivered in Glasgow alone, last Lord’s- 
 day, collected into a volume, they would give a clearer develop¬ 
 ment of gospel truth, they would furnish a more intelligible an¬ 
 swer to the great question of fallen humanity, “ What must I 
 do to he saved?” they would inculcate holiness on more scriptural 
 principles (and, we will add, that they will be followed by more 
 beneficial results), than what would be found in all the writings 
 of all the fathers in the fourth century, however copious the 
 catalogue. 
 
 Follow the fathers, say the English Tractarians, they are 
 the infallible interpreters of the scripture; they have given us 
 a supplement to the Bible, out of which wc may gather a per- 
 
20 
 
 THE EARLY CORRUPTION 
 
 feet realisation of a perfect Christianity. Submit yourselves 
 implicitly to their teaching, and you will he wise, shout the 
 followers of Dr Pusey. But what would he the result of such 
 instruction ? Let the Xicene Church answer,—let the Greek 
 Church answer,—let the Boman Catholic Church answer,—let 
 Oxford popery answer. Which shall we prefer in our investiga¬ 
 tions after religions truth ? Is it biblical antiquity or patristic 
 antiquity? is it scripture or tradition? is it the apostles or the 
 fathers ? is it God or is it man ? The advocates of that system 
 which is marching with such rapid strides through the English 
 Establishment, and which is threatening its disruption, abhor no¬ 
 thing so much as a direct and broad appeal to the word of God. 
 It is their feeblest position: let it be our stronghold, to which 
 we shall always have recourse. Let us pursue that mode of 
 warfare so eloquently enforced by John Milton against a similar 
 class of divines in his day“But I trust,” says he, in the first 
 book of his “Eeformation in England,” “ that they for whom 
 God hath reserved the honour of reforming Iris church will 
 easily perceive their adversaries’ drift in thus calling for anti¬ 
 quity: they fear the plain field of the scriptures; the chase is 
 too hot; they seek the dark, the bushy, the tangled forest, they 
 would imbosk: they feel themselves strook in the transparent 
 streams of divine, truth; they would plunge and tumble, and 
 think to lie hid in the foul weeds and muddy waters, where no 
 plummet can reach the bottom. But let them heat themselves 
 like whales, and spread their oil, till they he dragged ashore: 
 though wherefore should the ministers give them so much time 
 for shifts and delays? Wherefore should they not urge only 
 the gospel? and hold it up in their laces like a mirror of dia¬ 
 mond, till it dazzle and pierce their misty eye-balls ? maintain¬ 
 ing the honour of its absolute sufficiency and supremacy 
 inviolate.” 
 
 NOTE REFEREED TO AT PAGE IS. 
 
 Die accounts generally given of the purity of the primitive 
 church, even before the Xicene period, are far from being correct. 
 The representations are conceived too much in the spirit of declama¬ 
 tion to suit the sober truth of history. They have a marvellous re¬ 
 semblance to the description that is sometimes drawn of a Christian 
 liy a young and inexperienced preacher. The process is extremely 
 
OF CHRISTIANITY. 21 
 
 easy. Deduct all the elements of evil, and add all the elements of 
 good. Take all the fruits of the Spirit, and combine them into one 
 harmonious whole—make them all meet in one person without a single 
 feature of imperfection, and you have a picture—a beautiful one, no 
 doubt—but of what? Not ofaChristianin thedreadful internal conflict 
 of Paul: “ 0 wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me from the 
 body of this death?” Not of a feeble child of mortality dwelling 
 upon earth, but of the perfect man in Christ Jesus, freed from the 
 frailties of the present state, and having all his graces expanded and 
 ennobled in the pure atmosphere of heaven. Of a similar character 
 are many representations of the purity of the early church, and an 
 impression is thus often produced, not merely that all its members 
 were genuine believers, but that they were the highest models of 
 every spiritual excellence. Would that it were so, and that we were 
 not called upon to contradict such opinions. They are, however, not 
 consistent with the epistles of Paul. They are not consistent with 
 the epistles to the seven Asiatic churches of a later date. And no one 
 who has examined the original records of the primitive church after 
 the inspired canon was completed, will admit that they are supported 
 by their contents. There ware elements of corruption even in apostolic 
 times. They gathered strength from generation to generation. Should 
 we not rather say at once, they exist in the human heart, marring 
 and disfiguring the work of God? 
 
 If we could only persuade ourselves to take an enlightened and 
 comprehensive view of the Christian church rising from amidst hea¬ 
 thenism, we would be less astonished at the fact that professors of a 
 pure faith sometimes relapsed into idolatry, and became the dupes of 
 the most destructive errors. Conceive what is the state of morals in 
 a heathen country. Wherever Christianity is introduced, it estab¬ 
 lishes, in course of time, a public morality, the influence of which is 
 felt ar.d sometimes acknowledged by tiiose who hate the gospel. It 
 was very different with the early converts. It is no easy matter for 
 a man to relinquish entirely, and at once, the gratification of appetites 
 and passions in which he had long indulged; and the difficulty is 
 much increased, when almost all around him are earnestly employed 
 in the pursuit of sinful pleasures. There is another circumstance. 
 Their knowledge was very inferior to our own. Their acquaintance 
 with religious truth was very limited. They were brought- up in a 
 system of papal darkness regarding the character of the true God. 
 The fables of the poets were their only sources of religious informa¬ 
 tion, for the priests of idolatry were never the teachers of the people. 
 And even when they had embraced Christianity, there were many ob¬ 
 stacles to their mental and moral improvement. Mauy of them could 
 not read: of those who could, few had large portions of the scriptures, 
 and still fewer an entire copy of the bible. The sacred volume was 
 unquestionably read every Lord’s-day in the sanctuary; it was eagerly 
 perused and listened to in private by those who had the opportunity; 
 but it is clear, to a demonstration, that divine truth could not be ac¬ 
 quired either so readily or so correctly as it would have been, had 
 every one possessed a complete copy of the oracles of God, which he 
 might consult at his leisure. Besides, this placed the early Christians 
 more at the mercy of the speaker, and made them the more ready 
 dupes of false teachers. They could not go home and make a full 
 comparison of his declarations with the law and the testimony. Their 
 
CORRUPTION' OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 condition, in respect to religions knowledge, was thus not so favoured 
 as oms. Now, it is with knowledge as with morality. There is a 
 public knowledge a3 well as a pnblic morality. What are to us the 
 ample elements of knowledge, were not always so. What we receive 
 as original and undispnted principles, were not always flrst truths. 
 They are a rich inheritance, bequeathed to us by wise and holy men 
 who have gone before us, and they have been purchased for us, in 
 many cases, by painful and thankless labours—by persecution, impri¬ 
 sonment, and death. Others have laboured, and we have entered 
 upon their labours. Onr fathers filled the forests, and allowed the sun 
 to enter in, and dry up, and fertilise the damp and sterile soil; they 
 drained the pestilential morass, and discharged its superfluous waters 
 into the ocean; and the warm and dry atmosphere we inhale every 
 moment without an effort, is the result of the toils of centuries. 
 
 If these remarks be correct, they will lead to the conclusion that 
 errors and vices might occasionally stain the character of a genuine 
 believer in the primitive church, which, in onr improved and inherited 
 knowledge and morality, could not possibly exist with a sincere faith 
 at the present time. This, at all events, i3 a charitable idea, and it is 
 also so pleasant that there are none who would not at least desire it 
 to be true. It is our decided conviction, that by far too little regard 
 is paid to the circumstances in which Christianity was first introduced 
 into the world. The bearing of this npon mission churches is too ob¬ 
 vious to be mistaken, and perhaps some of those devoted men who 
 have the spiritual oversight of them would be none the worse of re¬ 
 membering, as respects both the conducting of discipline and the 
 comfort of their own souls, that, dismissing the specialities of miracle, 
 the infant church at Antioch and Corinth had a great similarity to 
 a church now forming at Benares or Pekin.