THE Church 0-ub Lectures THE SIX CECUMENICAL COUNCILS 331. a S\3 in th^ ®it0 0f ^tw ^0vh l^xbrarg GIVEN BY r"^ I ...UEIv.EP.nii L.L.La' The Church Club Lectures. New and cheaper editions in cloth binding. Price, so cents each, net. 1888.— THE HISTORY AND TEACHINGS OF THE EARLY CHURCH, as a Basis for the Re-Union of Christendom. By Bishops Coxe and Seymour, and Rev. Drs. Richey, Garrison, and Egar. 1889.— THE CHURCH IN THE BRITISH ISLES. Sketches of its continuous history from the earliest times to the Restoration. By Bishops Doane and KiNGDON, and Rev. Drs. Hart, Allen, and Gailor. 1890— THE POST -RESTORATION PERIOD OF THE CHURCH IN THE BRITISH ISLES. In continuation of the series of 1889. By Bishops Perry and McLaren, and Rev. Drs. Mortimer, Richey, and Davenport. 1891.— CATHOLIC DOGMA. The Fundamental Truths of Revealed Religion. By Bishops Little- john and Sessums, and Rev. Drs. Huntington, Mortimer, Elliott, and Walpole. 1893.— THE CHURCH'S MINISTRY OF GRACE. By Bishops Garratt and Grafton, and the Rev. Drs. Clark, Fiske, and Robbins. E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO., Cooper Union, Fourth Ave., New York. THE Six (Ecumenical Councils OF THE Undivided Catholic Church Xectures DELIVERED IN 1 893 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE CHURCH CLUB OF NEW YORK NEW YORK E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO. COOPER UNION, FOURTH AVENUE 1893 : Copyright, 1893 By E. & J. B. Young & Co. CONTENTS. LECTURE I. FACE THE CONCILIAR ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. I By the Rev. R. M. Benson, M.A., St. John the Evangelist, Boston. Student of Christ Church, Oxford. LECTURE 11. THE COUNCIL OF NIC^EA 59 By the Rev. W. McGarvey, B.D., Church of the Evangelists, Philadelphia. LECTURE in. THE FIRST COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE Ill By the Right Rev. W. A. Leonard, D.D., Bishop of Ohio. LECTURE IV. THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS 143 By the Rev. Morgan Dix, S. T. D. , D. C.L. , Rector of Trinity Parish, New York. 363682 IV CONTENTS, LECTURE V. PAGE THE COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON 177 By the Rev. J. J. Elmendorf, S.T.D., Instructor in Apologetics and Moral Theology at the West- ern Theological Seminary, Chicago. LECTURE VL THE SECOND AND THIRD COUNCILS OF CONSTAN- TINOPLE 243 By the Rev. T. M. Riley, S. T.D. Professor of Ec- clesiastical History at Nashotah House, Wis- consin. ^be Conciliar ©roanisation of the Cburcb. LECTURE I. THE REV. RICHARD MEUX BENSON, M.A., S. John the Evangelist, Boston. Student of Christ Church, Oxford. THE CO NCI LIAR ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. I HAVE to set before you the Conciliar organ- ization of the Church. Alas ! We look back through many centuries, and the glorious vision of the Church meeting in her Councils is seen no more. The loss is sad ; but not less sad the history of the Coun- cils while they yet could meet. We see the Church of Christ breasting with difficulty the waves of man's self-will, whereas we looked to see the Mother of all living speaking in calm majesty the words of life for the healing of the nations. Sad narrative ! Only to be paralleled with the sad narrative of the Passion ! Yes ! The Gospels tell us of the Incarnate Son humbling Himself by suffering to vanquish the Prince of 4 ORGAmZATION OF THE CHURCH. this world. The law of victory continues. The sovereignty of Truth can be achieved on earth only by the Cross. Successive struggles meet the heavenly Conqueror. The blood- thirstiness of heathen foes, the perversions of heresy, the carnality of unrestrained sensualism, the blindness of ignorance, the madness of self- will, the apathy of unbelief, now in our own day the idolatrous covetousness of a money-making age ! Such is the history of the Church. Yet comes she forth evermore triumphant. Amidst the intellectual strife of her first emergence from persecution, God the Holy Ghost, dwelling in the Church, preserved her from destruction chiefly by means of Councils. The Doctors of the Church do not stand in iso- lated conflict like the prophets of the elder dis- pensation. Prophets maintained the abstract Truth of God ; but the noble army of Martyrs lived, spoke, suffered, died, as representative members of the Body of Christ. The witness of the individual came forth from the heart of a society, however dull and timid that society at times might be. Sooner or later the Coun- cil gave its collective testimony. Councils have been called the pitched battles of the Church's history. Rather let us think of them as the vital pulsation of the heart. At times the palpitating throb may disturb the ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. S effortless regularity of respiration, but that -breath in all its joyousness is the true energy of life. The painful spasm is not a normal con- dition, but a functional disorder. Tranquil, ex- hilarating, unnoticeable is the quiet action of the frame developing in healthy vigor. Even so unobtrusively did constant Councils give play to the secret fellowship of brotherly love, while the Church in the exercise of Divine be- neficence grew to the demands of her heavenly mission. So was her strength matured to en- counter the wild assaults of her persistent foe. "A oreneral Council," as Milman savs, "is not the cause but the consequence of religious dis- sension." (" Latin Christianity," I. 228.) When there was need of battles the Church showed her life, her strength, her Divine authority. The passion of partisanship would have left no abiding result behind. Opinions gain but a momentary victory. The victory of the Church in her Councils is the victory of Truth, the victory of eternal freedom, the victory of God. The Apostles, as they went forth into the Ro- man Empire, were not merely to form congre- o-ations of individuals. Their mission was to organize a new political system, the kingdom of heaven upon earth, which should survive the tempestuous antagonism of surrounding multi- tudes, and renew a decaying w^orld with a glo- 6 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. rious civilization, such as had never been known before, — a brotherhood of man regenerated by the Fatherhood of the Incarnate God, victorious under the banners of Calvary, strong in the indi- visible unity, strong in the invincible individu- ality of the indwelling Spirit — the Holy Catho- lic Church, indissolubly One, the Communion of Saints possessing the individual inspiration of a heavenly birth. It was to outlive all time, but through the ages of time it was to meet fresh fights and win fresh victories. It was to be the tabernacle of God among men. This kingdom must adapt it- self to every legitimate form of human society, as well as to every legitimate aspiration of the human heart. Human society tends to crush man's individuality, but the society of grace en- nobles each man that is born therein with an exhaustless treasury of powers suited to the temperament of each. The poet deplores the levelling progress of earthly civilization : •'The individual withers and the world is more and more." Earthly resources are limited and mechan- ical. They droop. They die. Not so is the kingdom of Heaven, the living Body of Him who is seated at the Right Hand of God. He became truly Man, and His Church is the ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. / extension of that Humanity which He has as- sumed. That is true of the Church which is true of Him. Homo sum : nihil humani a Me alienum puto. His fuhiess is for His Church as a whole. The Church is His Body, the fuhiess of Him that filleth all in all. What operates in any one of His members is not drained from the rest. Fresh faculties springing up in each show the vmabated vigor which animates all the compan}?- of the faithful — individually exercised — corpo- rately possessed — limitless in variety, limitless in intensity, as flowing down to each member from the limitless heritage of the Eternal Son- ship, The Apostles went forth to make saints, supernatural men, citizens of the Church, as a supernatural Empire. They took the Empire which they found ex- isting, as the basis of that Spiritual Empire which they were sent to found. The regener- ating grace of the Apostolic Church was to in- spire the same mass of humanity which the military power of imperial despotism had domi- nated with devastation. The truth of human nature indicated that the institutions of civil society must be the form into which the Divine life should be infused. 8 ORGAMIZATION OF THE CHURCH. What, then, was that form ? The cities of the empire had each their senate {/3ov\i]), an ordo or cnn'a, the members of which were under the presidency of one who was called dictator or defensor civitatis, and his juris- diction extended over the suburban population {irpoda-reta) in the surrounding villages. These councillors in modern time would be called aldermen, or in ecclesiastical language, presbyters. The chief was the mayor, who, in ecclesiastical language, was afterward called the bishop, the supervisor. This chief officer was at first called an apostle {i.e., commissioner) or angel {i.e., messenger). So simply did the seed of life begin to spring up throughout the world. Time went on. The title of Apostle, hallowed because our Lord gave it to the original twelve, was then restricted to those who had seen our Lord in the flesh, the original commissioners by whom, as stewards of Divine mysteries, the powers of the kingdom of heaven had been first of all dispensed to the nations of the world. Names change with changing history ; life is unchangeable. " Jesus Christ, the same yester- day and to-day and forever," is the watchword of all missionary progress. Our work now is the same as that of the Church in the beginning. ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. 9 Therefore the ministry then and now must be identical. God, who gives work, gives power. Have miracles ceased ? If so, it is not because God has stinted His love. The fault is our own. Were our faith now as in those days of the martyrs, the like signs would follow them that believe. Miracles do not belong to an Apostolic ministry, but they are evidence of the Church's faith. Miracles were a blessing when the faithful had to die for their faith. Miracles would be a curse if they were permitted to gratify the adulterous cravings of a worldly heart. As the Roman roads prepared the way for the Gospel preacher, so did the civic organization of the Empire prepare the way for the minis- terial organization of grace in the world-wide City of God. But the Roman Empire was an earthly one. Its power was from below. Its government was only regulative. The Chris- tian Church was the kingdom of heaven upon earth. Its power was from Christ, the Head of that kingdom, a power from above. Its officers were much more than magistrates to regulate. They " ministered the Holy Ghost." They were the organs of Christ's glor- ified Body extending itself by spiritual power. S. Paul speaks of that Body as being so trans- formed as to " fill all things," and as a result of lO ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. this transformation, " He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the Body of Christ ; till we all attain unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stat- ure of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. iv. 11-14). The river of the water of life, which makes glad the heavenly City, began to pour its qincken- ing tide into the reservoirs of imperial lifeless- ness. Thus was carried out the great commis- sion of the One High Priest and Apostle of our profession. " As My Father has commissioned Me, so send I you." Our Lord sent forth His Apostles to execute the commission which He had Himself received, of establishing the king- dom of grace as a corporate organism coex- tensive with the population of the earth, the Church Catholic. He announced Himself at the outset, saying, " the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me " (Luke iv. 18). He sends forth His Apostles in like manner, saying, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost." He promised to be with them by the personal co-operation of this His consubstantial Spirit unto the end of the world (Matt, xxviii. 20). The ministry of the Spirit therefore cannot lose any ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. II of its original power, for the mission of tlie Church is but the extension of the commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Roman Empire, with its careful munici- pal arrangements, was as a thirsty land marked out by conduits and pits, an Egypt waiting for a mightier Nile to overflow. And now the supernatural waters of grace are come ! A sudden outpouring from the heavenly hills ! The waters of the baptismal covenant turn the very stones to life. See the desert of human- ity blossoming as the garden of the Lord ! See the ministry of grace taking possession of the cities of the Empire in the Name, the Power, the Spirit of Christ.* * " Another division of the Roman Empire was into provinces and dioceses. A province was the cities of a whole region sub- jected to the authority of one chief magistrate, who resided in the metropolis or chief city of the province. This was commonly a prcctor ox proconsul, or some magistrate of the like eminence and dignity. A diocese was still a larger district — [let me call your at- tention to the difference between the ancient use of the word di- ocese, and our modern use of the same title. It was the larger, it is now the smaller, combination of ecclesiastical ministries] — containing several provinces within the compass of it ; in the capital city of which district a more general magistrate had his residence, whose power extended over the whole diocese to receive appeals and determine all causes that were referred to him for a new hearing from any city within the district. And this magistrate was sometimes called an cparchus or vicariiis of tlie Roman Em- pire. . . . The division into dioceses began only about the 12 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. The Catholic Church, says Gibbon (C. 20) was administered by the spiritual and legal juris- diction of eighteen hundred Bishops, of whom one thousand were seated in the Greek and eight hundred in the Latin Provinces of the Empire. This vast organization was held together, not by the grasp of an individual, as the civil re- lations were sustained by a central government, but by the inherence of a vital power operative throughout the whole. The Holy Ghost in- dwelt them all. This Empire had life, and life is a circulation of energy which binds together many individuals with reciprocal interests in common activity and conscious fellowship. As there could be no individual Christian who did not belong to a Church, so there could be no individual Church which did not belong to the One, indivisible, Catholic Church. Let us go on to consider how this life acted. The Dioceses, as the elementary units of the Church Empire, were assembled in Provincial Councils. This was the law of life. So it was time of Constantine. But the caiitonizing of the Empire valo pro- vinces was long before ; by some referred to Vespasian, by others reckoned still more ancient and coeval with the first establishment of the Christian Church." — Bingham, ix., § 3. ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. 13 ordained by the Apostolical Canons (C. 38), which date from the second century, that Coun- cils should be held twice in each year. Care was thus taken to obviate the exclusion of anyone from the Church by party spirit, ^i\ov€LKia, or narrowmindedness, fiiKpo'xjrvxt'a; or personal dislike, ar^hia. " The Bishops of each nation ought to know who among them is accounted the first, whom they should regard as a head, and do nothing of unusual importance without his judg- ment. But each must do only those things which belong to his own Parish [Diocese] and the country districts under him. But let not even him (the Metropolitan) do anything with- out the judgment of all, for so there shall be concord and God shall be glorified through our Lord in the Holy Ghost." This Canon is quoted as " an ancient Canon of our Fathers," by the Council of Antioch, a.d. 349 (Can. 9), and is plainly an evidence of the corporate action of the Church from the earliest times in her national and local aspects, without any centralization in the Church of Rome, and even before the formation of the three great Patriarchates. Churches multiply throughout the world, but all are one. All drink into one Spirit, by fellow- ship with the living Body of Christ into which they are assumed. In accordance with this principle, S. Paul 14 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. . left Titus in Crete to establish elders in every city {jcwra irokiv). Such were the bishops, the overseers or inspectors of the Church at Philippi. " With the opening of a second cen- tury a new phraseology began." (Lightfoot on Phil., p. 98). " Elders " and " Bishops " came to designate different orders. The phraseology was changed, but the form of government, the living fact, remained the same. The city became a Bishopric, and the groups of cities, as they were combined for purposes of state, became also Provinces of the Church. Bingham enumerates the civil divisions of the Empire and adds, " It is very plain that the Church took her model in setting up Metro- political and Patriarchal power from this plan of the State." This is illustrated by the fact that the Church did not recognize Jerusalem as a Patriarchate for a long time, but this, the nat- ural Mother See of Christendom, was subject to Caesarea. The Fathers of Constantinople were right when they attributed the primacy of Rome to civil, and not to spiritual, antece- dents. The Bishop could not be elected to his see without the approbation of his neighbors, three of whom must take part in his consecration. The Metropolitan possessed a veto, and an ap- peal could be made without difficulty to the ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. I 5 Court of the Metropolitan, to remedy any mis- carriage of justice in the exercise of discipline. The people of the Diocese assented to the election, and could bring forward any accusa- tion, if such there were, against the moral char- acter of their elected ruler. The head of the Diocese was thus indeed the spiritual father of his people and their true and adequate representative in whatever Coun- cils might be called. It Was a wondrous empire of love, contrast- ing ever}' way with the brute violence . of mili- tary usurpation. The Spiritual Body was up- held in living unity. Foul ulcers might disfig- ure it, but it had a recuperative vitality. The oneness of the Body was felt by all alike. Men might strive for mastery in wicked ways, but the intensity of their strife showed the power- ful hold of organic unity which they could not ignore. This community of life gave each an inter- est in all. To suffer and rejoice with one an- other is the law which governs all the mem- bers of Christ's Body. We cannot really gain a healthy condition by ourselves. Easy going in- difference does not bring health. There must be active unity through every part. In reading of early times our wonder is ex- cited not only at the wide spread of the Chris- 1 6 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. tian Church, as TertiiUian describes it, pene- trating all society, and conquering where Roman legions never trod, but also at the fre- quency of communication, and the quickness of interest, which showed that Christians were one in the life of grace and the hope of the Gospel which they heard to be in their brethren, al- though they had never seen their face in the flesh. There was a Divine electricity in Chris- tian love which might well disregard all earthly distances, since the Catholic Church in every .part of the world energized with that Almighty Spirit Who bound them in unity, lift- ing them up together to dwell with Jesus in the reality of life at the Right Hand of God. Such was the normal condition of Christen- dom, and to fail of it is to be dead. No indi- vidual lived for himself, for there could be no individual life apart from the Body. The martyr lived to die — he died to live — in the joy- ous omnipotence of the Communion of Saints. In such a state of things the meeting to- gether of Bishops in Council was no mere re- sult of occasional necessity. It was the hab- itual expression of unchanging faith. Each Bishop felt the power of the Holy Ghost as entrusted to himself for the strength- ening of his flock, but he felt its individuality all the more because he felt it as the all-pervading, ORGANIZATIO.V OF THE CHURCH. 1/ all-inspiring breath of Christendom, fulfilling the promise of Christ's effectual presence where two or three should be gathered together in His Name. The great principle of corporate Church Life is equally violated, whether the community of the faithful be petrified under the wintry congelation of an absolute mon- archy, or pulverized into the cloudy helpless- ness of disconnected atoms. Although no Bishop could interfere within the Diocese of another, yet no Bishop could act alone without the concurrence of his comprovincials. The small limits of an ancient Diocese did not ordinarily give scope for such legislative enterprise as a Bishop of high, Hildebrandine genius might initiate. The larger combina- tions of Provinces had not only extension, but consideration, efficiency, and permanence. The Dioceses were small, but the people were interested in the Province as a larger unit. Frequent conference for local action was a guide to the energy, and a check to the slug- gishness, of any one prelate. It maintained unity of aim, and stimulated practical endeavor, and thus the supernatural hope of the indi- vidual Christian was fostered by the vital effi- ciency of the Body, making increase of itself in love. The Bishop was not an authority removed 2 l8 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. by multiplicity of conflicting duties from per- sonal intimacy with the separate members of his flock. He was not lifted up into an isolation in which the suspicions of class feeling and the misrepresentations of party spirit were con- stantly endangering the moral influence which was his due. He did not need committees of priests or laymen to guard the supposed rights of a supposed opposition. As Dean Stanley says, " The Bishops were literally the repre- sentatives of the Christian communities over which they presided." Yes. They were the ministry of God's love to the people. They gathered up in their one person the love of the people toward God. There can be in the Church no rights as of one man, or of one class against another, no Bishops' rights, no priests' rights, no laymen's rights. It is God alone who has eternal rights. The Personality which gathers up the Church is indeed Divine. Christ is the Head, we are the members of His Bod3^ The aim of each must be the good of all. We suffer or rejoice together. That community of interest which socialism seeks vainly to evoke from the rotting carcase of humanity, was from the very first the law of the Christian society regenerated with the life of God. The Catholic Church is no bundle of lifeless, loveless units. It is the Communion ORGANIZATION^ OF THE CHURCH. 1 9 of Saints. There is a community of wisdom which ought to regulate the administration of the Church of God, and that wisdom is only to be attained by love, by unity, by common counsel, by the acknowledgment of the Holy Ghost, ready to act, not sporadically and upon occasion, but at all times, and through those learitimate or2:ans which He Himself has both appointed and anointed. So did He, who gave to each individual Bishop his sufficiency for the immediate purposes of sacramental life, and local discipline, act with the Church in her Pro- vincial Councils as an Ever-present Guide. Bishop, priest, and layman felt the responsibil- ity of Truth. With one mind they strove to- gether for the faith of the Gospel. It does not seem a matter worth considera- tion whether the Councils of the Church were instituted by human or Divine authority. They have anyhow a Divine origin, for they have their origin in the vei-y nature of things. The Church being an indivisible unit, a corpo- ration having an inherent vitality proper to it- self, it is evident that the action of the Church must be a combined and undivided action. The acts of the various portions of the Church lack their vital authority until they come forth as the action of the whole Body. " There is one Body and one Spirit " (Eph. iv. 4). 20 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. It was ill harmony with this idea that the Apostles held their first Council at Jerusalem ; and that primary Council is always taken as supplying in some sort the model after which later Councils were organized. In some sort : but yet it must be remembered that there are some points of great difference between that Council and later ones.* The Apostles had * Dr. Pusey, in his work upon the Councils calls our attention to these differences. " The Council of Jerusalem was infallible. . . . To have questioned the Apostles' teaching would have been to deny the faith, and to destroy its foundations. The full inspiration of the Apostles was the guarantee of God for the truth and Divinity of the whole Faith. If the Apostles could have erred in one matter of faith thus solemnly brought for their decision, they might have erred in all. The people were present at the Council of Jerusalem, but to hear and to obey the words of God delivered through the Apostles' mouth to them and to the whole Church of God. True, they did speak : they even disputed ; but when ? Before the Apostles spoke, ' certain of the sect of tlie Pharisees who believed ' seem somewhat clamorously to have urged their plea. . . . S. Luke says, 'when there had been much disput- ing.' But wlien an inspired Apostle had spoken, ^ then,'' S. Luke relates, ' all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to Bar- nabas and Paul. . . . Without that plenary inspiration tlie Council of Jerusalem would have had no authority to prescribe its decree. Of the Apostles, 'James, Cephas and John who seemed to be pillars' were probably alone present with Barnabas and Paul. . . . There was no representation of those ab- sent. . . . The laity at Jerusalem had no authority over those of Antioch or of the rest of the Church, nor were they entitled to accept the decree in the name of the rest. They had not been ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. 21 their individual infallibilit}'. The decree of this Apostolical Council was of full force by virtue of such Apostolical authority. It may be ob- jected therefore that such infallibility, residing as it did in the individual Apostles, superseded all necessity of a Council. So indeed it would have done, if Simeon or any other of the Apos- tles had possessed it as a Divine privilege in a higher degree than the others, or in such a manner that their utterance would be ineffec- tual without his sanction. But in Jerusalem James was actual President of this Council, and Cephas is mentioned in the second place when S. Paul enumerates the three pillars of the Church in that city. Each of the Apostles had his own infallibility, and therefore there could be no division of opinion among them ; but al- though the infallibility was complete in each, it was combined in all, and therefore no one consulted by the rest. Paul and Barnabas were sent ' to Jerusa- lem unto the Apostles and Elders about this question.' ' The Apostles and Elders came together for to consider of this matter.' Paul and Timothy gave to the Churches wliich they visited ' the decrees that were ordained of the Apostles and Elders which were at Jerusalem, not to examine, nor to receive of their own mind, but 'for to keep.' Being the result of full inspiration, it forms no precedent at all ; for the decree issued was binding at once upon all the Church, whereas the decrees of Councils obtain their authority from their reception by the Bishops of the whole Church." 22 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. of them could exercise his own gift in a sepa- ratist self-sufficiency. Such an act would have partaken of a schismatical character. It would have been a moral wrong, a sacrilege against the whole Body, if one of the Apostles had undertaken to settle the dispute without seek- ing the concurrence of the rest. It is noticeable also that, although Peter and John were present, James was the President of this Council, and this James was probably not one of the original twelve, but was Our Lord's Brother, to whom Jesus appeared after his res- urrection. He presided as being Bishop of Je- rusalem. So, then, although the infallibility of Peter or John individually could gain nothing fi'om the deliberations of a Council, yet it would seem as if they could not exercise it by themselves alone. S. James, the President, and the Eld- ers who disputed, could add no personal weight to the decision of those two. To us, indeed, the authority of Paul and Barnabas would seem entirely to outweigh whatever those Elders might allege, but the conciliar action was necessary in order that the mind of Christ, speaking by the Holy Ghost, might have its proper utterance through the Church. There was, therefore, much dispute between the Elders of the Church of the Circumcision, ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. 23 and the Apostles of the Gentiles. The matter was by this means developed in its various bearings. S. John, for ought we know, may have been a contemplative participator in the deliberation. S. Peter, as the head of the Cir- cumcision party, delivered a speech which is recorded, pronouncing in favor of Gentile free- dom ; then the discussion ceased. Barnabas and Paul gave an account of the upgrowth of Gentile Christianity, which no doubt was a wonderful revelation to the brethren of Jerusa- lem, far exceeding what any missionary report in our own day could possibly be ; for it showed not how great was the work of God among the Gentiles, but it showed that a community had risen up to the fulness of Christian life alto- gether apart from the traditions of Mosaism. It stirred their exultation not merely as a mat- ter of degree, but as the stupendous disclosure of an unimagined reality. We can well under- stand how this missionary report would kindle and consume with the flames of holy gratitude the loose shavings of carnal prejudice whose litter might still be choking up the minds of the Jewish party. S. James then, as President, gave the decision to which all assented. The laity who listened had taken no part in the dis- cussion, but probably they joined in the practi- cal execution of the decree, as they may have 24 ORGANIZATIOM OF THE CHURCH. voted upon the election of Judas and Silas to be commissioners, along with Paul and Barna- bas, for bearing the letter to the brethren at Antioch. This Council was the final historic act of the Jewish Church. It is the last occasion on which S. Peter is mentioned in the Acts. At Antioch the faithful had already assumed the name of Christians. The Church now could rejoice in her Catholicity, the blessedness of that name which is as ointment poured forth, the glorious liberty of the Gospel of Christ. When S. Peter afterward came to Antioch, we know how he was led into a breach, not of the letter of this decree nor of the doctrine which it involved, but of its spirit ; and he submitted to the rebuke of the young and impetuous leader whom he, by his own speech at the Apos- tolical Council had supported. From the chair of Antioch he supervised the Jewish Christians, visiting, in all probability, the large community at Babylon. The schools at Edessa and Nisibis were probably developed under his influence. Their writers seem to belong to the Petrine family. From Babylon he wrote to the stran- gers, the Jews sojourning abroad, scattered throughout Asia Minor, and in the last year of his life the two Apostles who were pres- ent at this Council met for the last time on ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. 2$ earth, being joined together in martyrdom at Rome. How glorious was that junction in martyr- dom of the Jewish Christian Church, which was to pass away, and the Gentile Church, which was to continue to the end. It is interesting for us now to follow these events, because they serve to exemplify what ought to be the result of a Council conducted by men of God, who knew that they were acting under the power of the Holy Ghost. The Hebrew Church saw that the Gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto Paul as the Gospel of the cir- cumcision was unto Peter, for the missionary report delivered to them showed that he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in the junior Apostle toward the Gentiles. All was done in the Spirit of God. All was done to the glory of God. The petals of Catholic Chris- tianity developed out of the calyx of the Mother Church at Jerusalem. Even an Apostle who had taken part in the discussion felt the power of the decree. The Church that should be co- extensive with humanity expanded from the limitations of her Pentecostal infancy without injury to her organic power or forfeiture of her heavenly faith. Would that all Councils afterward had been 26 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. conducted in the same spirit and had produced similar fruits of love. But what, though the human element in the Church came too strong- ly forward at most times, nevertheless Councils still issued their decrees with the formula, " It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us." The Presence of the Holy Ghost was assured to them by the words of Christ, who had promised to be with His Church to the end of the world. He was still in the midst of them by the con- trolling power of His Holy Spirit. That Pres- ence, however, was not to supersede the moral requirements of human subordination. The Holy Ghost did not transfer to the members of the Council His own perfect wisdom as an in- fallible charm. No, He gave it to them as an unfailing inspiration whose truth should be ap- parent, according to the measure in which they sought it. And His Divine Person helping them to speak, did not lose His own reality by any fusion with the human agents in whom He dwelt. Sorely has that Blessed Spirit been grieved by the carnal passions, the strife and debate of human reason, which have profaned His sanctuary. Nevertheless, by His secret overruling power He has made even the worst of men subservient to His glorious purpose of building up the Body of Christ. Indeed, it is this contrariety between His Presence and ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. 2"] man's wilfulness, between man's vehemence foaming with fruitless excitement and His own Divine calmness accomplishing the predestina- tion of Eternal Love, which makes it so special- ly manifest that the triumph of God's Truth has not been the result of human skill, but purely and simply the work of God. Think of a Council meeting together to delib- erate. The Holy Scriptures were ordinarily placed in the centre, and the members of the Council sat in a circle around. Of course, in a Provin- cial Council the Metropolitan would preside, and in a Council of a Patriarchate, which was called a national, general, universal Council, or a conciliuin rcgionis, the Patriarch would naturally do the same. When the Council included more than one Patriarchate, so as to be in any sense QEcumenical, we might expect that the Bishop of Rome, as the chief bishop of Christendom, would occupy that position. This would not imply anything more than that primacy of honor which was confessedly his due. As a matter of fact, however, he was never present at any of the CEcumenical Councils. His iso- lated position caused him to be outside of East- ern struggles, in which, probably, the difference of language made him personally loath to join. 28 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. At Nicasa he pleaded old age for non-attend- ance, but it is evident that Constantine could not have summoned the meeting without his consent, whoever may have originated the idea. Hosius signed first, whether by right of age, or as the Emperor's trusted counsellor, or as repre- senting the Pope. Anyhow, the Presbyters who represented Silvester signed as possessing, next to Hosius the precedence in the council, for Pres- byters signed, if they signed at all, in the order which belonged to the Bishop whom they repre- sented. It was only Bishops who had the right of voting. The relation of the Bishop of Rome to the (Ecumenical Councils and to the numerous Councils of the first five centuries, shows perhaps more convincingly than any positive statement could do, that the primacy of the Roman See was then only a primacy of honor. Constantly did large assemblies of Bishops meet, deliberate, and pass Canons according to their needs with- out reference to him. They sent their decrees to him as to other Bishops, for information, not for sanction. His remoteness was indeed a source of grow- ing strength to him. Probably he was glad to keep away from the Councils, feeling that his presence might have tended to diminish that respectful demeanor which his absence insured. ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. 29 Speaking the language of the government, and dwelling amidst other immediate interests, with all the dignity of the ancient and imperial city, he was gradually becoming more and more con- scious of his power as a referee ; while the other Patriarchs spoke the Greek tongue, and were drawing their swords in hand to hand fight against upstart exponents of prolific Ori- ental speculation. We find S. Basil, of Ceesarea, complaining of " the western pride" which held Pope Damasus back from showing such brotherly sympathy as was demanded by the Eastern Church, though he applied for it again and again when he was in the thick of the troubles of Arianism. A haughty self-assertion was too apt to be a grow- ing element in such communications as were vouchsafed upon occasion from the Bishop of Rome to his brethren in the East ; but his inter- ference with their procedure, even if couched in a harmless exaggeration of self-importance, did not carry with it any obligatory power, and the Eastern Patriarchs were glad of the quiet rein- forcement which they gained from the Apostolic See of the West, especially when clothed in such a magnificent document as the Tome of S. Leo, which, although nominally addressed to Flavian, the Fathers of Chalcedon examined first and then approved. 30 ORGAJVIZATION- OF THE CHURCH. Constantine may have originated the idea of an CEcumenical Council, or Hosius may have suggested it. Anyhow, the Council, when once summoned, was the mouthpiece of heaven by which the Emperor, although not yet himself altogether a Christian, sought to obtain the complete and authoritative utterance of the Christian Church. That Church was now as- suming tangible shape. He was welcoming the Church to power as an imperial governor rath- er than as a penitent. Occupying an external position like the Procurator of old, but having a very different interest at heart, he wanted to gain an answer to that question which Pilate was content to leave unanswered — What is Truth? Yet was the meeting more than he was pre- pared for. Can we realize the intensity of his feelings when, leaving his heathen soldiery outside, he entered alone into the hall of meeting? Attired in gorgeousness of jewelled wealth, in all the buoyancy of youth, the pride of power, the self-sufficient exuberance of autocratic sove- reignty, in the first freshness of its acquisition, he finds himself face to face with a presence before which all dazzling brilliancy grows pale. Never has human being met such a concen- trated manifestation of Divine endurance. He ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. 3 1 looks around. What are the thoughts which fill his heart? He bows before the victory of Heaven. This great assembly, gathered from all lands, tells of a triumph which has made death itself succumb. The martyrs did not die. They live in these their offspring. The eyes of this young monarch gaze into the depths of spirit life, and from an atmosphere red with the living blood that God has blest, memory calls up the consciousness of countless hosts that people the hall of audience. The forms before him are mantled with the radiance of this an- cestral glory. Maimed, crippled, scarred sur- vivors of the long conflict with the world, they testify to the immortality of faith. The King of martyrs from His heavenly throne in- vests with His own imperishable lustre these scarred witnesses. Do not their wounds breathe, as from lips of fire, the supernatural virtue sur- passing all words, perpetuating the adorable Passion of the Incarnate God? Const-antine learns the littleness of all that men may strive for. All glory of material con- quest vanishes into thin air before the substan- tive reality of the kingdom of grace. He has measured strength of army with army, and has conquered ; but boast of momentary exultation can never equal the thrilling ecstasy of wonder at his own nothingness which comes from feel- 32 ORGAr