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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:13:44 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:13:44 -0700 |
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diff --git a/39873-tei/39873-tei.tei b/39873-tei/39873-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5109870 --- /dev/null +++ b/39873-tei/39873-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,16951 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> + +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd" [ + +<!ENTITY u5 "http://www.tei-c.org/Lite/"> + +]> + +<TEI.2 lang="en"> +<teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>The Formation of Christendom, Volume II</title> + <author><name reg="Allies, Thomas William">Thomas William Allies</name></author> + </titleStmt> + <editionStmt> + <edition n="1">Edition 1</edition> + </editionStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date>May 31, 2012</date> + <idno type="etext-no">39873</idno> + <availability> + <p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and + with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it + away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg + License online at www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + <sourceDesc> + <bibl> + Created electronically. + </bibl> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + <encodingDesc> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="en"></language> + <language id="de"></language> + <language id="la"></language> + </langUsage> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2012-05-31">May 31, 2012</date> + <respStmt> + <name> + Produced by Steven Giacomelli, David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. + (This file was produced from images generously made + available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries.) + </name> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> +</teiHeader> + +<pgExtensions> + <pgStyleSheet> + .boxed { x-class: boxed } + .shaded { x-class: shaded } + .rules { x-class: rules; rules: all } + .indent { margin-left: 2 } + .bold { font-weight: bold } + .italic { font-style: italic } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + </pgStyleSheet> + + <pgCharMap formats="txt.iso-8859-1"> + <char id="U0x2014"> + <charName>mdash</charName> + <desc>EM DASH</desc> + <mapping>--</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2003"> + <charName>emsp</charName> + <desc>EM SPACE</desc> + <mapping> </mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2026"> + <charName>hellip</charName> + <desc>HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS</desc> + <mapping>...</mapping> + </char> + </pgCharMap> +</pgExtensions> + +<text lang="en"> + <front> + <div> + <divGen type="pgheader" /> + </div> + <div> + <divGen type="encodingDesc" /> + </div> + + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <p rend="font-size: xx-large; text-align: center">The Formation of Christendom</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Volume II</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">By</p> + <p rend="font-size: x-large; text-align: center">Thomas William Allies</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">London:</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer.</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">1869</p> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <head>Contents</head> + <divGen type="toc" /> + </div> + + </front> +<body> + +<pb n='v'/><anchor id='Pgv'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Preface.</head> + +<p> +In the six chapters forming the first volume of this +work I was engaged in describing the operation of +Christianity, as it took the individual human soul for +its unit, purified it, and wrought in it a supernatural +life. I began with the consummation of the old world +in its state of the highest civilisation united with the +utmost moral degeneracy; I proceeded thence to the +new creation of individual man; compared heathen +with Christian man in the persons of Cicero and St. +Augustine; drew out certain effects upon the world +around of Christian life, as seen in those professing it, +and viewed Christian marriage as restoring the primary +relation between man and woman, and thus remaking +the basis of human society, while the Virginal Life +exhibited the crown and efflorescence of the most distinctive +Christian grace in the soul. +</p> + +<p> +I had thus, beginning with the stones of which the +building is formed, reached the building itself; and the +next thing was to consider the Christian Church in its +historical development as the Kingdom of Truth and +Grace: for while the soul of man is the unit with which +it works, the word <q>Christendom</q> betokens a society +founded in Christ, made by Christ, stamped with the +image of Christ. It is the first great epoch of such a +<pb n='vi'/><anchor id='Pgvi'/> +Kingdom of Truth and Grace, proceeding from the +Person of its Founder, which I here attempt to delineate. +</p> + +<p> +But not merely is the volume which I now publish a +part only of a projected design; even as a part it is +incomplete. It was my wish to finish this portion of +my subject in one volume, which should reach to the +great Nicene Council. But the treatment of the Greek +Philosophy was too large for my limits, and so the +last two chapters serve but as an introduction to the +actual contact of that Philosophy with the Christian +Church, which remains to be considered before I can +complete my view of the Formation of Christendom in +the ante-Nicene period. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='001'/><anchor id='Pg001'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter VII. The Gods Of The Nations When Christ Appeared.</head> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>Emmanuel, Rex et Legifer noster, Expectatio gentium, et Salvator +earum, veni ad salvandum nos, Domine Deus noster.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +Under the sceptre of the imperial unity were +brought together a hundred different lands occupied +by as many different races. That rule of +Rome which had grown for many centuries with +out, as it seemed, any presiding thought, by the +casual accretions of conquest, may be said to +assume under the hands of Augustus, about the +year of Rome 750, certain definite and deliberately +chosen limits, and to be governed by a fixed Idea, +more and more developed in the imperial policy. +The limits which the most fortunate of Roman +emperors, nay the creator of the empire itself, put +to it, were the Rhine and Danube, with the Euxine +Sea, on the north; the deserts of Africa on the +south; the Euphrates on the east; the ocean on +<pb n='002'/><anchor id='Pg002'/> +the west. The Idea, which may indeed have been +conceived by Julius, but was certainly first embodied +by Augustus, was to change the constitution +of a conquering city, ruled by an aristocratic +senate, into a commonwealth governed by one +man, the representative of the whole people; and +the effect of this change, an effect no doubt unforeseen, +at least in its extent, by its framer, was +gradually to absorb the manifold races inhabiting +these vast regions into the majesty of the Roman +law, order, and citizenship. The three centuries +which follow Augustus are occupied in working +out the drama of this unity. During this time +the provinces appear to come out more and more +as parts of one whole. Some which at its commencement +had only just entered the circle of +Roman power and thought, as Gaul, become entirely +interpenetrated with the law, language, customs, +and civilisation of the sovereign city. Spain +was nearly as much, and northern Africa perhaps +even more Latinised: in all, local inequalities, and +the dissimilarity arising from conflicting races, +customs, and languages, are more and more softened +down, though never entirely removed; and +while throughout this period the great city continues +the head, yet the body assumes an ever-increasing +importance, until at length its members +engage the equal solicitude of that central potentate +to whom all equally belong. In the times +of so-called Roman liberty, the plunder of lands +<pb n='003'/><anchor id='Pg003'/> +which received pro-consuls for their annual rulers, +served to replenish the fortunes of nobles exhausted +by the corruption requisite to gain high +office; but if the dominion of one at Rome seemed +an evil exchange to a nobility which deemed itself +born to enjoy a conquered world, at least it served +as a protection to those many millions for whom +the equality of law and order, the fair administration +of justice, and the undisturbed possession of +property, constituted the chief goods of life. Cicero +and his peers might grieve over the extinction +of what they termed liberty, but Gaul, Spain, +Africa, and Asia exulted in deliverance from the +oppression of a Verres, a Fonteius, a Gabinius, a +Piso, or a Clodius, in the communication of citizenship, +and in the peace of a common civilisation. +</p> + +<p> +I. With a passing glance at the progress of +this unity, which, great and magnificent as it is, +is yet external, let us turn to an object filling the +whole of this vast empire with its varied manifestations: +for this object leads us to the consideration +of another unity, wholly internal, without +which that of government, law, and order must +be apparent rather than real, or at best, however +seemingly imposing, be deprived of the greater +part of its efficacy. +</p> + +<p> +1. It has been said that the empire contained +in it many lands and many races, but these likewise +worshipped their own distinct gods, which +were acknowledged and sanctioned as national +<pb n='004'/><anchor id='Pg004'/> +divinities for the several countries wherein they +were locally established. Had Augustus ordered +an enrolment not only of the numbers, the landed +property, and the wealth of his subjects, but of +their gods, his public register, or Breviarium, +would have included at least ten distinct systems +of idolatrous worship. First of all, there would +be the proper gods of Rome, then those of the +Hellenic race; and these, though the most similar +to each other, yet refused a complete amalgamation. +But besides these there were on the west +the Etrurian, the Iberian, the Gallic, and the +Germanic gods; on the east, the Carian and Phrygian, +the Syrian, the Assyrian, the Arabian; on +the south, the Phœnician, Libyan, and Egyptian. +All these different races, inasmuch as they were +subjects of the empire, enjoyed undisturbed the +right of worshipping their ancestral gods,<note place='foot'>Tertull. <hi rend='italic'>Apolog.</hi> xxiv, <q>Ideo et Ægyptiis permissa est tam vanæ +superstitionis potestas, avibus et bestiis consecrandis, et capite damnandis +qui aliquem hujusmodi Deum occiderint. Unicuique etiam provinciæ +et civitati suus Deus est, ut Syriæ Astartes, ut Arabiæ Disares, ut Noricis +Belenus, ut Africæ Cælestis, ut Mauritaniæ Reguli sui,</q> &c.; and Minucius +Felix, Octavius vi., in like manner.</note> who, +so long as they did not overstep their local boundaries, +were recognised; they possessed priests, +rites, temples, estates, and self-government; they +held the soil, and their worship was legal. It +was a matter of Roman policy not to interfere +with them. Nay, their several worshippers could +carry their rites along with them in their various +sojourns and settlements, and even in Rome build +<pb n='005'/><anchor id='Pg005'/> +altars, and adore Egyptian, Asiatic, African, or +Gallic gods. These various systems agreed all in +one point, that they were systems of polytheistic +idolatry: they all divided the attributes of the +godhead, assigning them to more or fewer objects, +and worshipping all these by visible symbols which +the power worshipped was deemed to inhabit:<note place='foot'>See Aug. <hi rend='italic'>de Civ. Dei</hi>, l. viii. 24.</note> +but they did not make the same division with a +mere difference of name; on the contrary, they +ran into and across each other with the most bewildering +multiplicity, variation, and contradiction. +Even in the same system, if we may give +this name to any of the various mythologies, the +several divinities were perpetually interfering with +each other's province. When the Roman made +vows for the removal of his ailments, in his uncertainty +to which god the ailment belonged, or +who was most proper to remove it, he addressed +his vow to several together; or in public supplications, +being often uncertain to whom exactly the +prayer or offering should be made, he cautiously +expressed himself, <q>whether it be a god or a goddess.</q> +And the various Hellenic, Asiatic, or Egyptian +cities often possessed local gods, whose worship +was supreme there, while they exercised far less +influence, or were even scarcely known elsewhere.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, <hi rend='italic'>Heidenthum und Judenthum</hi>, pp. 528, 529.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Now merely as a specimen of what this worship +was all over the Roman empire, let us take +<pb n='006'/><anchor id='Pg006'/> +the brilliant Athens, Greece's eye, the world's +university. First of all ruled in her the worship +of Pallas-Athené: she was the lady of the land, +who had won it for her own after a hard contest +with Poseidon. Her chief sanctuaries were the +temple of Athené, guardian of the city, with its +old statue fallen down from heaven on the Acropolis. +On the Acropolis likewise the Parthenon, +built expressly for the gorgeous Panathenaic festival; +and in the lower city the Palladium with +the statue of the goddess supposed to have been +brought from Troy. Yet the worship of the <q>high +goddesses,</q> Demeter and Persephoné, was also +richly endowed with shrines and festivals, and +affected scarcely less the feelings of the Athenians. +Then Jupiter, as <q>supreme,</q> was honoured with +unbloody offering before the Erechtheium, dedicated +to Athené: whilst as <q>Olympian</q> he had +the colossal temple begun by Peisistratus and finished +after many hundred years by Hadrian, and +as <q>guardian of the city</q> distinct festivals. Yet +more manifold was the invocation of Apollo, as +the Pythian, the Delphic, the Lycian, as the ancestral +god of the Ionians. The multiform Artemis +had her temples and worshippers as the Tauric, +by the name Brauronia; as the port-goddess, by +the name Munychia; as the goddess of the hunt, +by the name Agrotera, who had the credit of the +victory won at Marathon; as presiding over birth, +she was called Chitone, while Themistocles had +<pb n='007'/><anchor id='Pg007'/> +built a temple to her as the Counsellor. Heré had +only a doorless and roofless temple on the road +to Phalerum; but the god of fire was worshipped +in Athens abundantly. Hermes had his peculiar +statues in every street, irreverence to which might +be fatal even to an Alcibiades, the city's darling; +while Aphrodité had a crowd of temples and shrines +whose unchaste worship found but too many frequenters. +Poseidon had to content himself with +a single altar in his rival's city, and with games +in its harbour; but Dionysos had three temples, +with brilliant festivals; Mars was not without one; +Hestia was throned in the Prytaneum; the Earth, +Kronos, and Rhea had their temples and festivals, +as also the Erinnyes, who were worshipped only +in two other places in Greece. Here alone in Greece +was a sanctuary and a rite to Prometheus; while +the Asiatic mother of the gods had a splendid temple +where the archives of the state were kept. Besides, +there was the worship of the Hours and the Graces, +of Eileithyia, goddess of victory and of birth, of Æsculapius +and Themis, of the Kabirian Anakes, the +Arcadian Pan, the Thracian Cotytto and Bendis, +the Egyptian Serapis. Mercy and Shame, Fame +and Endeavour had their altars; and the hero-worship +numbered Theseus, Codrus, Academus, Solon, +the tyrant-slayers Harmodius and Aristogeiton; +and Hercules, originally a hero, but here and elsewhere +widely honoured as a god.<note place='foot'>From <hi rend='italic'>Heidenthum und Judenthum</hi>, pp. 101-2.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='008'/><anchor id='Pg008'/> + +<p> +Athens, if the most superstitious as well as the +most intellectual of cities, may be taken as the +type of a thousand others of Hellenic race scattered +over the Roman empire from Marseilles to +Antioch. Say that she had twice as many deities +and festivals as her sister cities, enough will remain +for them wherewith to occupy the soil with +their temples and to fill the year's cycle with their +rites. +</p> + +<p> +The lively Grecian imagination impregnated +not with stern notions of duty, nor with reverential +devotion to those whom it worshipped, but +regarding them as objects of æsthetical satisfaction,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Heidenthum und Judenthum</hi>, p. 480.</note> +and yearning for a serene and confidential +exchange of relations with them, had in process +of time spun out a complete web of idolatrous +worship which encompassed heaven and earth, the +whole domain of nature, every state and act of +human life. Rain and sunshine and the weather +stood under the ordering of Zeus; the fruitfulness +of the soil was Demeter's care; countless +nymphs of field, of fountain, and of river, offered +to men their gifts; the vine and its juice was +under the protection of Dionysos, and Poseidon +was lord of the sea. The flocks had their defenders +in Hermes and Pan; the Fates ruled the +lot of men. Kings and magistrates had in Zeus +their prototype and guardian. Athené held her +shield over cities; the hearth of each private home +<pb n='009'/><anchor id='Pg009'/> +and the public hearth of the city were in Hestia's +charge. Marriage was secure under Heré's care. +Demeter was entrusted with legislation; the pains +of childbirth were recommended to Eileithyia, or +Artemis. Music, archery, divination, were Apollo's +attributes; the art of healing claimed him and +his son Æsculapius as patrons. Athené and Ares +swayed the issue of war; the chase was the domain +of Artemis; smiths and all workers in fire +saw in Hephæstus their patron; whilst Athené the +Worker protected the gentler trades, and Hecate +watched over the roads.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Heidenthum und Judenthum</hi>, p. 107.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Yet Rome itself, whose own Capitoline Jupiter +claimed a certain superiority over all these gods, +would scarcely have yielded to any Grecian city, +even were it Athens, in the number or variety of +her deities, the frequency and solemnity of her festivals; +while in the costliness of victims offered to +her gods, and in the strictness of her ceremonies, +she probably far surpassed that and all other cities. +Her sterner worship of originally shapeless gods, +presiding over the labours of a simple agricultural +life, had long yielded to the seductions of her dangerous +Grecian captive. The rude block Terminus, +and Jupiter the Stone, ceased to satisfy those who +had beheld the majesty of the father of gods and +men embodied by the genius of a Phidias; and +she had ended by going farther in breaking up +the conception of one god, and in the personification +<pb n='010'/><anchor id='Pg010'/> +of particular powers, operations, physical +functions, and qualities, than any nation of antiquity.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Heidenthum und Judenthum</hi>, p. 469.</note> +But though the beautiful forms of the +Hellenic gods, as expressed by the skill of unrivalled +sculptors, had carried her away, yet the +nature of her worship was in strong contrast with +that of Greece. Her religion had rested originally +on two ideas, the might of the gods friendly to +Rome, and the force of ceremonial over these +gods;<note place='foot'>Ibid. pp. 468, 480.</note> and still when she accepted the gods of +conquered nations for her own, it was to secure +the possession of their might, and to have them +for friends instead of foes; while her own worship +was a matter of routine and habit jealously +guarded by unchanging ceremonies, and prosecuted +not out of affection, but for the material +security of daily life, which, according to the +deeply-rooted feeling of the people, could not go +on without it. +</p> + +<p> +The individualised and humanised Latin and +Hellenic gods, if they had much in common, still +could not be thoroughly amalgamated; but Rome, +as the mistress of Western Asia and Egypt, came +upon Oriental religions of a very different stamp. +Instead of this wide Pantheon of gods, each of +whom had his occupation, these Asiatics generally +regarded the deity in a sexual relationship, as one +male and one female god, representing the active +<pb n='011'/><anchor id='Pg011'/> +and passive forms of nature,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Heidenthum und Judenthum</hi>, p. 344.</note> and worshipped with +a mixture of fear and voluptuousness. Such were +Bel and Mylitta, Moloch and Astarte, and by whatever +different names the same idea was presented. +The worship of the great mother Cybele, so widely +spread through Asia Minor, approached in many +respects in character to that of this female goddess. +But it is needless to go farther into the +specific differences of these various idolatries; only +bear in mind that they in their several countries +occupied the domain of public and private life, as +the worship of which I have given the details did +at Athens. So it was before the influence of external +conquerors reached them. After this a certain +change ensues. The Roman empire was accomplishing +in the west as well as in the east what +the progress of Grecian rule and thought had commenced +three hundred years before<note place='foot'>Ibid. p. 312.</note> under Alexander +and his successors, the bringing together +and in some sort fusing the multiform and often +contradictory worship of the nations surrounding +the Mediterranean Sea. Not merely in Rome, but +in all the chief cities of the Empire, the Asiatic, +the Egyptian, the Libyan deities, and many others +of subject nations under the Roman sway, were +worshipped side by side. Accordingly, in the time +of Augustus, and at the year of Rome 750, where +we are taking our stand, there prevailed all over +<pb n='012'/><anchor id='Pg012'/> +the hundred millions of men ruled by him a polytheistic +idolatry bewildering by its multiplicity, +internal contradictions, fluctuations, and mixtures, +yet imposing by its universal extent and prevalence. +The only exception seems to have been +the Jewish worship of one God, whether in its +chief seat, the small province of Judæa, or as it +was seen in the lives of Jewish settlers scattered +throughout the empire. It must be remarked +that this Jewish worship of the true God was +sanctioned as that of a national god belonging to +the Jews, and sacrifice was perpetually offered for +Augustus in the Temple at Jerusalem. But the +Jews did not, as a rule, make efforts to convert +the Gentiles to their religion, nor seek to exhibit +it as antagonistic to the prevailing idolatry, and +as claiming to subdue and cast it out. They +were content to keep their own worship to themselves, +and with the toleration which the Roman +law thus allowed them. Yet even so in every +place where they dwelt in any numbers some of +the better heathens were found to be attracted to +their worship by the intrinsic beauty of their belief +in one God. +</p> + +<p> +2. But such an exception as this hardly made +a perceptible break in that continuous mass of evil +and falsehood which then surrounded young and +old, learned and ignorant, rich and poor, in its +grasp. The sea stands in Holy Writ as the well-known +image of the world's disobedience to the +<pb n='013'/><anchor id='Pg013'/> +divine promptings, of its impetuosity and lawlessness. +What image is there in nature so striking +and awful as the long waves of the Atlantic bearing +down in storm upon a helpless ship, and +sweeping it upon an iron-bound coast! So broke +that wild sea of human error over the individual +mind of man. The observer looked round upon +all the nations, and it was everywhere the same—a +multiplicity of gods filling up the whole circle +of human life, many-named, many-natured, but all +without truth, purity, and justice; full of violent +and sensual deeds, and still viler imaginations. +What stay was there for the spirit of man against +that universal flood? Its vastness was everywhere. +Who was strong enough, who wise enough, to resist +what all his fellows accepted? And the struggle +of a single soul against it might seem like that +of <q>some strong swimmer in his agony</q> alone at +night amid the waste of waters. +</p> + +<p> +3. For this polytheism was no dormant, otiose +power withdrawn into the background and crouching +apart from the actions and feelings of daily +life. Its presence was indicated in every home +by the little images of the Lares; homage was +done to it at every table by libations; every +house had its consecrated emblems; every street +its statues of Hermes and serpents; in the forum +there were feasts in honour of the gods; the +shops, taverns, and manufactories had little altars +on which wine and incense were offered to them; +<pb n='014'/><anchor id='Pg014'/> +there were idolatrous emblems on the foreheads +of the dead, on their funeral pyre, on their tombs. +The places of amusement were specially dedicated +to the gods; the theatres had representations in +honour of them; the circus had their images, +chairs, carriages, robes borne in procession; the +amphitheatre was consecrated to them, and as +being so Tertullian called it <q>the temple of all +demons.</q> So much for private and social life. +But not only so. All political acts were bound +up with a crowd of religious formalities, and outward +signs of divine concurrence; and were carried +on with a ceremonial, every part of which +was prescribed as having an exact inward meaning. +Then there were continually recurring vows +to the gods made for the great, made for private +individuals, made for the emperor and his family. +Three special ceremonies were used to obtain +favours from them or to deprecate calamities, +feasts, the solemnly bearing their images on cushions, +processions with naked feet.<note place='foot'><q>Epulæ, lectisternia, nudipedalia.</q></note> To this we +must add the priestly colleges, pontifices, flamines, +augurs, and magistrates, whether distinct or co-ordinated. +Then, besides, consider the magical +character of the prayers, and the strict use of +formularies without mistake, omission, or addition, +which were supposed to insure success apart from +the intention of those offering them. Thus the +whole life of the Romans was filled with invocations, +<pb n='015'/><anchor id='Pg015'/> +propitiations, purifications, and even in any +small matter a whole string of gods had prayer +and service offered to them, and no one of their +names might be omitted. Consider again the great +frequency of the offerings, whether propitiative or +consultatory; and, further, how particular beasts +belonged to particular gods. The mere expense +of victims was felt as a great burden. It was +reckoned that on the accession of Caligula 160,000 +animals, chiefly oxen and calves, were sacrificed +in the Roman Empire in token of the general joy; +and Augustus and Marcus Aurelius devoted such +a multitude of beasts to their sacrifices that what +had been said of the former was repeated as to +the latter, how the white oxen had written to him, +saying, <q>If you conquer, we are lost.</q> Indications +of the will of the gods were to be taken on +all occasions; nothing was to be done in public +or private without consulting the auspices. Then +there was the institution of the Haruspices, in its +two branches of examining the entrails of the victims, +and divining the meaning of all prodigies. +One is still amazed at the ever-untiring solicitude +which the senate showed to have all these things +carefully watched—eclipses, rainbows of unusual +colours, shooting stars, misbirths human or bestial; +showers of earth, stones, chalk, or ashes; mice +gnawing the golden vessels of a temple, bees +swarming on a public place, but especially a shrine +touched by lightning. Such things struck senate +<pb n='016'/><anchor id='Pg016'/> +and people with consternation; special supplications +were ordered to appease the causers of them.<note place='foot'>These incidents are taken from various places in <hi rend='italic'>Heidenthum und +Judenthum</hi>, pp. 531, 549, 550, &c.</note> +</p> + +<p> +These are the external manifestations of polytheism +which struck every eye, and affected the +mind by their constant recurrence. But if we +go beneath the surface and examine the root, we +shall find an universal sense in the minds of all +men in that day of unseen power over and above +the material operations of nature. It was too +strong as well as too general and invariable to be +called an opinion, and it so acted on the nerves +and feelings of men that I term it not so much +a logical conviction as a sense of the close contact +between man and nature, or rather an unseen +power behind the veil of nature and working +through it. Various as the forms of idolatry were—Egyptian, +Asiatic, Libyan, Greek, or Roman; +or, again, Iberian, Gallic, German,—all teemed +with this sense. To the adherents of these religions, +one and all, the world was very far from +being a mere system of nature governed by general +laws;<note place='foot'>Champagny, <hi rend='italic'>Les Antonins</hi>, liv. v. c. 3.</note> it may rather be said that this was +precisely what it was not. They looked upon +nature in all its forms as an expression of the +divine will, and therefore the unusual productions +of nature became to them intimations respecting +that will. And having lost the guidance of a fixed +<pb n='017'/><anchor id='Pg017'/> +moral and religious teaching, they were ruled by +an ever-watchful anxiety to gain acquaintance +with that will. On this sense rested the universal +belief that it was in man's power to hold intercourse +by means of charms, spells, adjurations, +with spirits of greater might and knowledge than +his own—that is, magic or witchcraft. Hence the +evocation of the spirits of the dead to reveal secrets +of their prison-house, or necromancy. Hence +the recurrence to oracles, running through all pagan +history, of which there were many scattered +through the Roman world, and which, after a +temporary discredit, rose again into name in the +time of Hadrian. Not less general was the belief +that men and women might be possessed by +spirits who ruled their words and actions according +to an overmastering will. Then divination +existed in endlessly various forms; and of its +force we can gather a notion by Cicero's remark +that it lay like an oppressive burden on the minds +of men, so that even sleep, which should be the +refuge from anxieties, became through the meaning +attached to dreams the cause of a multitude +of cares.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Divinat.</hi> ii. 72.</note> To this must be added the use of +sortileges, amulets, and talismans, in countless +number and variety; and the belief that the actions +and fortune of men were swayed by the +course of the stars—that is, astrology. It was +not the vulgar and ignorant merely whose minds +<pb n='018'/><anchor id='Pg018'/> +were filled with these things. Scarcely a philosopher, +scarcely a statesman, scarcely a ruler can +be found whose mind, even if proof against a +genuine devotion to a divine providence, was not +open to one or more manifestations of the dark +mysterious power pressing upon the confines of +human life, and every now and then breaking +through the veil of visible things with evidences +of malignant might. A more determined and unscrupulous +conqueror than Sylla, a more genuine +philosopher than Marcus Aurelius, a more sagacious +user of religion than Augustus, we shall not +easily find; yet each of these, like their ordinary +countrymen, had this sense of the supernatural +and intangible above, beneath, and around them. +Sylla, on the eve of any battle, would, in the +sight of his soldiers, embrace a small statue of +Apollo, which he had taken from Delphi, and entreat +it to give an early fulfilment of its promises.<note place='foot'>Valerius Max. i. c. 2, 3.</note> +Marcus Aurelius, in his war with the +Marcomanni, collected priests from all quarters to +Rome, and was so long occupied in offering rites +to their various foreign gods that he kept his +army waiting for him. And Augustus watched +carefully the most trivial signs, and was distressed +if in the morning his left shoe was given to him +for his right. Even that Julius before whose +genius all men quailed, and whose disbelief of a +future state stands recorded at a notable point of +<pb n='019'/><anchor id='Pg019'/> +Roman history, never mounted a chariot without +uttering certain words for good luck and preservation +against calamity.<note place='foot'>Merivale's <hi rend='italic'>History of the Romans</hi>, ii. 447.</note> We shall therefore +judge most inadequately of the force which the +innumerable rites, temples, festivals, pomps, ceremonies, +prayers, invocations, priesthoods, sodalities, +initiations, and mysteries of polytheism exercised +upon the minds of men, unless we take into full +account that remarkable sense of contact and sympathy +between the external world and man—of +invisible power betraying itself through palpable +agents, whether in reasoning or unreasoning productions, +whether in the animal or vegetable +world—which served as its basis. The line between +religion and superstition in paganism no +eye can trace; but at least the foundation of true +worship plunged deep out of sight into the secret +recesses of abject fear. +</p> + +<p> +4. But what was the moral influence of this +multiform, universal, all-embracing, and all-penetrating +worship? +</p> + +<p> +Varro, whom Cicero calls the most acute and +learned of writers, and whose great work in forty-one +books he praises as containing the names, classes, +offices, and causes of all divine and human things, +divided theology into the fabulous, the natural, and +the civil. In the first, he said, are many fictions +unworthy of the nature and dignity of immortal +<pb n='020'/><anchor id='Pg020'/> +beings: such as that one god sprang from the +head, another from the thigh, another from drops +of blood; such, again, as that gods were thieves or +adulterers, or became slaves to men. In fact, this +fabulous theology attributed everything to them +which might happen not merely to a man, but to +the most contemptible of men.<note place='foot'>See Varro, quoted by S. Aug. <hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, lib. vi. 5.</note> Let us leave what +he calls natural theology, which is the discussion +of philosophers concerning the physical nature of +the gods, and proceed to the third, which he calls +civil, and which is that which the citizens, and especially +the priests of human communities, are bound +to know and administer. This treats of what gods +are to be worshipped, and with what rites and sacrifices. +The first theology, he says, belongs to +the theatre, the second to the universe, the third +to the city. S. Augustine, commenting at length +upon his division, proves that the first and the +third, the fabulous and the civil, are, in fact, identical, +since the universe is a divine work, but the +theatre and the city works of men. The theatre +is indeed made for the city, and the very same +gods are ridiculed on the stage who are adored +in the temple; the same have games exhibited +in their honour and victims sacrificed to them. +The images, features, ages, sexes, bearing of the +gods in the one and in the other are the same. +Thus this fabulous, theatrical, and scenic theology, +<pb n='021'/><anchor id='Pg021'/> +full of everything vile and criminal, is actually a +part of the civil, cohering with it as limb with limb +in the same body.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, l. vi. 5, 6, 7.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Conceive, then, every revolting detail of adultery, +prostitution, incest, or of dishonesty, or of +violence, which the perverted invention of modern +writers has ever dressed up for the theatres of great +cities in this and other countries. They will perhaps +yield in turpitude to that which the theatres +of the Roman empire exhibited. But what these +theatres represented in mimic action was the +exact image, as reflected in a mirror, of what was +transacted at the solemn service of the gods in unnumbered +temples.<note place='foot'><q>Illam theatricam et fabulosam theologiam ab ista civili pendere +noverunt, et ei de carminibus poetarum tanquam de speculo resultare: +et ideo ista exposita, quam damnare non audent, illam ejus imaginem +liberius arguunt.</q> <hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, vi. 9; id. vi. 7.</note> The exact image so far as it +went, yet stopping short in some respects, for our +eye-witness above cited declares that gratitude +was due to the actors, inasmuch as they spared the +eyes of men, and did not lay bare upon the theatre +all that was hidden within the walls of temples. It +was not enough, then, that all the many games and +spectacles in which such things were represented +were dedicated to the gods, acted under their especial +sanction, even enjoined by them as means +of gaining their favour or averting their wrath, +which alone would have made them answerable for +the immorality so portrayed; not enough, even, +<pb n='022'/><anchor id='Pg022'/> +that actions of this quality were in the theatres +ascribed to the gods who presided over them; but +these acts of immorality were not the fictions of +poets or the acting of players, but the very substance +of the theology itself in which the worship +of all these nations was embodied. Priapus appeared +to make a laugh on the stage exactly in +the costume in which he was worshipped in the +temples, or in which he entered into the rites of +marriage; a costume of indescribable turpitude, +the shame of our human nature. The players on +the stage and the statues in the temples equally +exhibited Jove bearded and Mercury beardless, +Saturn in decrepitude and Apollo in youthful +beauty. In the rites of Juno, of Ceres, of Venus, +of the mother of the gods, words were uttered and +scenes acted such as no decent person would suffer +to be spoken or acted before his own mother; or +rather they contained, as a portion of themselves, +the worst crimes which the theatres represented; +nay, crimes which they stopped short of acting, +and persons so infamous that they were not tolerated +even on the stage, where yet to take part +was a civil dishonour. What, then, was the nature +of those rites wherein those were chosen to +take part whom the utmost license of the stage +banished from its boards?<note place='foot'><q>Quæ sunt ergo illa sacra quibus agendis tales elegit sanctitas +quales nec thymelica in se admittit obscœnitas.</q> <hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, vi. 7.</note> Let us conceive—if +such a conception can be adequately represented +<pb n='023'/><anchor id='Pg023'/> +to the mind—that the vilest drama ever acted +upon a modern theatre was being daily carried on +in all the churches of Christendom by troops of +priests and priestesses, with all the paraphernalia +of costliest worship, with prayers, invocation, and +sacrifices, as a service acceptable to the Ruler of +man's lot, and as an account of what that ruler +had Himself done, and of what He loved to be +imitated by others. That would be a picture of +heathen worship in the time of Augustus; that +would be the moral food on which was nurtured +that crowd of nations which acknowledged Cæsar's +sway; that the conception of divine things wrought +into the minds of the hundred millions of men who +formed the Roman empire. +</p> + +<p> +Was it surprising that all worshippers of the +gods should look for their example rather in +Jupiter's actions than in Plato's teaching or the +moral judgments of Cato?<note place='foot'><q>Omnes cultores talium deorum—magis intuentur quid Jupiter +fecerit, quam quid docuerit Plato vel censuerit Cato.</q> <hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, ii. 7.</note> A nature subject in +itself to the sway of passion was stimulated by an +authority supposed to be divine to the commission +of every criminal excess; and herein lay a strong +proof of the malignant and impure character of +these gods. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, the same eye-witness challenges +the defenders of the pagan gods to produce +a single instance wherein moral precepts of living +were delivered to their worshippers upon divine +<pb n='024'/><anchor id='Pg024'/> +authority. True, indeed, there were here and there +whispers of secret rites in which a pure and chaste +life was recommended, but where were the buildings +dedicated to the public preaching of such +truths? Places there were in abundance consecrated +to the celebration of infamous games, rightly +termed <q>Fugalia,</q> since they put modesty and decency +to flight, but none where the people might +listen to divine commands repressing avarice, ambition, +or unchaste desire. Thus with the positive +inculcation of all evil, under cover of their +own example, was united the negative absence of +all moral teaching.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, ii. 6. <q>Demonstrentur vel commemorentur loca—ubi +populi audirent quid dii præciperent de cohibenda avaritia, ambitione +frangenda, luxuria refrænanda.</q> See also sec. 28.</note> +</p> + +<p> +For even the prayers which accompanied these +sacrifices and this ceremonial, and this lavish exhibition +of every human wickedness under divine +names, were not addressed for moral goods, but +for wealth, bodily strength, temporal prosperity. +Horace but expresses the general mind when he +says: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Sed satis est orare Jovem quæ donat et anfert;</q></l> +<l><q rend='post'>Det vitam, det opes, æquum mi animum ipse parabo.</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +(<hi rend='italic'>Epist.</hi> i. 18, 111.) +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +They were moreover viewed as carrying with them +a sort of physical force, not as prevailing through +purity of intention in those who offered them. In +fact, the gods to whom they were addressed were +powers of nature, or malignant and impure powers, +<pb n='025'/><anchor id='Pg025'/> +but in neither case beings who looked for a moral +service from rational creatures. +</p> + +<p> +One other turpitude the Asiatic idolatry added +to the Greek and Roman forms. By consecrating +the sexual relations themselves in one male and +one female god, they effected this crowning connection +of idolatry with immorality that unchaste +acts became themselves acts of sacrifice, and so +of worship.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>Heidenthum und Judenthum</hi>, p. 398. Herodotus, i. 199. Baruch, +vi. 42-3.</note> This is the strange perversion borne +witness to by Herodotus, and corroborated by the +prophet Jeremiah. A great seat of this worship +was the city of Hierapolis, in Syria, where was +one of the most magnificent temples of the ancient +world, dedicated to Derketo, and rich with the offerings +of Arabians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Phœnicians, +Cilicians, Cappadocians, and all nations of +the Semitic tongue. Nor was this worship confined +to the East, for hence, as from a centre, the +adherents of the Syrian goddess spread themselves +in begging troops over the provinces of the empire. +And the worship of Venus at Eryx, and +other places in the West, with the thousands of +female priestesses dedicated to it, reproduced the +same abomination. +</p> + +<p> +As the great result of all that we have said, +we find the notion of sanctifying the human will +absent from the religious rites of the polytheistic +idolatry in all its forms. To this corresponded +<pb n='026'/><anchor id='Pg026'/> +the absence of the notion of holiness in the gods. +And this leads us finally to the remarkable character +which defines it as a whole. This worship +was throughout a corruption,<note place='foot'>See S. Athan, <hi rend='italic'>con. Gentes</hi>, 5-9. In like manner S. Theophilus, +lib. i. ad Autolyc. c. 2.</note> the spoiling, that +is, of something good; a turning away from the +better to the worse. The worship itself had been +originally good. The corruption lay in the alteration +of the quality and the object of the worship. +Worship had been implanted in man, and prescribed +to him. It was at once the need of his +nature and the command of Him who gave that +nature. It had for it, first, positive institution, +and then tradition and custom, and throughout, +the conscience, the reason, and the heart of man. +The reason of man ever bore powerful witness to +the unity of the Godhead; the breaking up of that +unity, as exhibited by this idolatrous polytheism, +in contradiction to the original prompting and +continued witness of the reason, is a very strong +proof of that moral corruption in the will which +first generated it, which continued its existence, +and which, while multiplying, degraded its forms +from age to age. But man was free to decline +from the good in which he had been placed. The +corruption which was left in his power he exerted; +he changed the quality of the service, and the +person served. The productive cause of idolatry +on the part of man was the soul of man turning +<pb n='027'/><anchor id='Pg027'/> +away from the notion of a good and holy Creator, +the contemplation of whom was its present support +and future reward, to visible things. Of these +things the chief were bodily pleasures. Thus this +corruption of the soul, in process of time, and +continually becoming worse, produced this whole +pantheon of gods, originally the creation of its +own lusts, and subsisting as a perpetual food and +support of those lusts. For this cause it had +broken up the one perfect idea of God the Creator +and Ruler of all persons and things into a multitude +of gods, whose functions became more and +more divided, until the ether, the air, the earth, +and the water swarmed with these supposed beings, +which took possession even of wood and stone, +dwelling in the statues erected to them; and every +desire which the soul in its corruption could entertain +had its corresponding patron, helper, and +exemplar. In this descending course cause and +effect were perpetually reacting on each other, +and as the corruption of the human soul had +generated these gods, so their multiplication and +degradation intensified its corruption from age to +age.<note place='foot'>In order to form a notion how far this division of gods could descend, +and what an incredible depth of turpitude it reached, see <hi rend='italic'>De Civ. +Dei</hi>, l. vi. c. 9, de officiis singulorum deorum. Its foulness prevents any +adequate representation of it.</note> +</p> + +<p> +5. But this was not all. If corrupt affection +in man himself, if the charm of representing the +<pb n='028'/><anchor id='Pg028'/> +unseen objects of worship in visible characters of +wood or stone, if, finally, the ignorance of the +true God, together with the beauty of the creature +substituted for Him,<note place='foot'>See S. Thomas, <hi rend='italic'>Summa</hi>, 2, 2, q. 94, a. 4.</note> were the disposing causes +within man to idolatry, there was a cause outside +of him which must not be forgotten. When we +look upon this idolatry, occupying not one country +or race, but all; not merely bewildering savage or +uncivilised man, but throned in the chief seats of +the world's choicest civilisation; when we look +upon its endlessly divergent forms, its palpable +contradictions, its cherished or commanded immoralities, +its crowd of debasing, irrational, heterogeneous +superstitions, its cruelty, sensuality, and +fearfulness, all these being no less an insult to +man's reason than a derogation from God's majesty, +who is there that does not feel this to be the +strangest and most astonishing sight which history +presents to man? And yet there is a unity which +runs through it all, and stamps it with a double +mark. Not only is it a service due from man +to God, which is paid by him to the creature +rather than to the Creator,<note place='foot'>Of this whole polytheism in the mass S. Paul pronounces the judgment: +Οἵτινες μετήλλαξαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν τῷ ψεύδει, καὶ ἐσεβάσθησαν +καὶ ἐλάτρευσαν τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα. Rom. i. 25. And the Psalmist +adds: Ὅτι πάντες οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια; ὁ δὲ Κύριος τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἐποίησεν. +Sept. xcv. 5. See also Ps. cv. 37.</note> but more especially +it is that service paid by man to God's enemies, +the fallen angels. These it is who have assumed +<pb n='029'/><anchor id='Pg029'/> +the mask of dead men; these it is who within the +sculptured forms of Jupiter, Juno, Mars, and Venus, +of Baal and Derketo and Mylitta, of Anubis +and Serapis, of Thor and Woden, and so many +more, receive man's adoration, and rejoice above +all things in possessing his heart. These it is +who have seduced him by exhibitions of visible +beauty, have lain in wait for him by fountain, +forest, and field, and filled the groves and high +places with the charms which best pleased him +under the name of worship; or have promised to +disclose future things to him; or, again, have +harrowed his soul with phantasms and terrors of +the unseen world. These incoherent systems; +these deities, whose functions ran into and athwart +each other; these investing of human passions, +and even unnatural and monstrous vices, with +immortality and terrible power; these rivals ever +quarrelling with each other, and jealous for the +possession of man's homage, all serve the purpose +of those behind the scenes, are puppets under +their command, and have a common end and result +in the captivity of their victim. More even +than this; while they seem disunited and contradictory, +they are really one, marshalled by the +power, directed by the mind, held in the hand +of him who is called <q>the ruler of this world,</q> +<q>the power of darkness,</q> <q>the might of the +enemy,</q> who <q>holds the power of death,</q> <q>the +ancient serpent, who leads into error the whole +<pb n='030'/><anchor id='Pg030'/> +world,</q> <q>that malignant one in whom the whole +world is lying,</q> <q>the prince of the power of the +air, the spirit who now works in the children of +disobedience,</q> who musters <q>the principalities, +the powers, the world-rulers of this life's darkness, +the spirits of wickedness in ethereal places,</q> to +serve him in his conflict with man's flesh and +blood; in fine, for S. Paul's language goes one +point even beyond that of his Master, and terms +him not merely the ruler, but <q>the God of this +world;</q><note place='foot'>See John xii. 31; xiv. 30; xvi. 11; Luke xxii. 53; x. 19; Apoc. +xii. 9; Heb. ii. 14; 1 John v. 18; Ephes. vi. 12; ii. 2; 2 Cor. iv. 3.</note> that is to say, this manifold idolatry is +the establishment of his kingdom, the enthronement +of his godhead over men, the mark of their +captivity and prostration before him. +</p> + +<p> +The statements of our Lord and his apostles +being so express and definite as to the existence +of this diabolic kingdom, and as to the personal +sway of a sovereign over it, let us look once more +at this idolatry itself by the light thus shed upon it. +</p> + +<p> +And first, whether we regard men as made to +be members of a well-ordered society, enjoying +temporal prosperity in this life, or as further intended +for happiness in a future life, resulting +from their present actions,<note place='foot'>These two subjects occupy respectively the first five and the second +five books of S. Augustine's <hi rend='italic'>City of God</hi>, where the argument is carried +out in great detail.</note> the condition in which +the heathen nations are actually found at our +Lord's coming is quite unintelligible unless we +<pb n='031'/><anchor id='Pg031'/> +suppose the reality of a diabolic power exercised +upon them. The polytheism which we have witnessed +holding all human life in its grasp, while it +did not teach and uphold the great laws of morality, +did, on the other hand, actively inculcate +the violation of those laws by continually representing +to the minds and eyes of men such a violation +in the acts of the deities worshipped. It was +a perpetual incitement of men to crimes, as well +against social order as against all the sanctities of +private life; it fostered the savageness of slavery, +and the utmost cruelty in carrying on war, because +its deities, being diverse for every nation, and belonging +exclusively to the nation, had obliterated +the idea that all men were of one blood, and thus +delivered over the captive and the slave to the +pitiless hatred or equally pitiless luxury of their +fellow-men. So much for its action on human +society as terminating with this life, while for a +life to come it had no doctrine and made no preparation, +but had suffered the earlier teaching of +a future retribution to be considered as a fable +fit for children and old women. Looking at such +a condition of human society from the moral point +of view, we may conclude with certainty that man +would never, if left to himself, have devised it. +</p> + +<p> +Secondly, regarding this polytheism as an +object presented to the human intellect, nothing +more unreasonable and monstrous than this crowd +of deities can even be conceived. The human reason +<pb n='032'/><anchor id='Pg032'/> +demands imperatively the unity of the godhead, +since infinite power at least enters into the +conception of the godhead, and to divide or limit +infinity is an unreason. All the great works and +order of the world bore witness likewise to this +unity of the godhead, and were sufficient to prove +it;<note place='foot'>Rom. i. 20. See the Stoical argument for the unity of the deity +in Cic. <hi rend='italic'>de Nat. Deor.</hi> 2.</note> and even in the worst times of paganism we +find this proof exhibited with a force and lucidity +to which even now little can be added. And in +the worst times, again, we find the natural witness +of the human soul breaking out in moments +of sudden trial or great anguish, and calling upon +the one God for help.<note place='foot'>Tertullian <hi rend='italic'>de Testimonio Animæ</hi>, 2.</note> Yet in spite of this we +see whole nations renowned for their intellectual +productions, and men among them in whom the +force of reason has rarely or never been surpassed, +bowing their necks to this yoke of polytheism, and +accepting this tissue of monstrous error, paying +homage to it in their life, and dying with it on +their lips; as Socrates offering the cock to Æsculapius, +and Seneca the libation to Jove the liberator. +We know not how to account for this, +were man's reason left alone. We can see an adequate +ground for it only in <q>men having been +made unreasonable, and in the demoniacal error +overshadowing the earth, and concealing the knowledge +of the true God.</q><note place='foot'>Οὔτω τοίνυν ἀλογωθέντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ οὕτω τῆς δαιμονικῆς πλάνης +ἐπισκιαζούσης τὰ πανταχοῦ, καὶ κρυπτούσης τὴν περὶ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσιν. +S. Athan. <hi rend='italic'>de Incar.</hi> 13.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='033'/><anchor id='Pg033'/> + +<p> +Let us take a third view of it, neither the +moral nor the logical, but the view of it as an +existing fact, as something which for many hundred +years occupied the earth, ruled nations, +moulded the institutions and characters of men. +Here we do not speak merely of the multitude of +temples, of priests or priestesses serving in them, +of sacrifices offered by these, of prayers, vows, festivals +in honour of the gods—because all these +enter into the notion of a service rendered by +man to the power superior to him, and in their +utmost perversion there is nothing which may +not be accounted for by a simply human corruption +stealing into and spoiling an originally good +institution; but all these in the actual condition +of paganism were mixed up with and penetrated +by other elements, and accompanied by effects not +to be so accounted for. Let us take the universal +persuasion that the statues of the gods were inhabited +by the deities which they represented, as +bodies by souls.<note place='foot'>See S. August. <hi rend='italic'>de Civ. Dei</hi>, viii. 24. <q>Immundi spiritus, eisdem +simulacris arte illa nefaria colligati, cultorum suorum animas in suam +societatem redigendo miserabiliter captivaverant.</q></note> Here was the notion of a spiritual +power taking possession of material forms. +But how was this notion introduced, propagated, +and maintained in men's minds? By certain visible +and palpable effects,<note place='foot'>Called by S. Athan. ἡ τῶν δαιμόνων ἀπάτη—μανία—φαντασίαι. Thus +<hi rend='italic'>De Inc.</hi> 47. πάλαι μὲν δαίμονες ἐφαντασιασκόπουν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. προκαταλαμβάνοντες +πηγὰς ἢ ποταμοὺς, ἢ ξύλα, ἢ λίθους, καὶ οὕτω ταῖς μαγγανείαις +ἐξέπληττον τοὺς ἄφρονας. Νῦν δὲ τῆς θείας ἐπιφανείας τοῦ Λόγου γεγενημένης. +πέπαυται τούτων ἡ φαντασία.</note> of which those who +<pb n='034'/><anchor id='Pg034'/> +were eye-witnesses give us many details. Take +again the oracles which existed throughout the +heathen world, and, as dealing with the same subject-matter, +divination in all its forms. However +much of deceit there might be here, was there not +also, in many instances, an exhibition of power +and knowledge beyond that of man, which no mere +deceit could produce? Take again magic, the invocation, +adjuration, and compacting with spirits, +which ran through heathen society in numberless +shapes; and take lastly the fact of spirits seizing +upon and possessing the bodies of men, speaking +by their voice, and controlling their minds. The +four classes which we have just given comprehend +in themselves an innumerable multitude of facts +which are apparent in pagan history, in all which +the corruption of the human soul is an agent or +patient, but for which that corruption by itself +supplies no adequate cause. A spiritual power is +behind, laying hold of and acting upon this corruption, +and by fault of the human will making an +inroad into the visible world, and partially mastering +it, bending it to an evil purpose, and making +it serve as an agent to man's captivity. Let us +briefly cite as to the reality of this spiritual power +the witness of its victims and the witness of its +opponents. +</p> + +<pb n='035'/><anchor id='Pg035'/> + +<p> +First, as to its victims. Scarcely a writer, +whether poet, historian, philosopher, or biographer, +can be found among the heathens of Greece and +Rome who does not attest facts belonging to +one or more of these four classes which surpass +human power, and suggest an invisible spiritual +agency. The poet who writes expressly to deny +such an agency speaks of the whole world as +bowed beneath the fear of it; another poet,<note place='foot'><p><q>Humana ante oculos fœde quam vita jaceret<lb/> +In terris, oppressa gravi sub religione,</q> &c. Lucret. i. 63. +</p> +<p> +<q>Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,<lb/> +Atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatum<lb/> +Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari.</q> +</p> +<p> +Virg. <hi rend='italic'>Geo.</hi> ii. 491. +</p></note> referring +tacitly to this very passage, felicitates the man +not who has a pure conscience, but who through +knowledge of natural things has trampled these +fears under his feet. Nor is such a belief confined +to the vulgar; but scarcely a man of eminence, +a soldier, or a statesman can be cited who +does not in his life and actions acknowledge it, +shrink from it, or cower beneath it. It is too +powerful for Alexander or even Julius to escape; +and the philosophers who affect to deny it in their +systems exhibit it in their conduct. They have +all the conviction of an evil power beyond and +above nature, but taking hold of natural forms, +and ever lying in wait to burst forth from them +upon human life. The Greek name for superstition +is fear of the demons; and what S. Paul said of the +<pb n='036'/><anchor id='Pg036'/> +Athenians, that he found them in all things too fearful +of the demons, might be applied to the whole +circle of nations surrounding the midland sea. +</p> + +<p> +Secondly, as to the opponents of this power. +Now they offer a triple witness to its existence. +The first of these is in the facts mentioned in the +New Testament. The strongest, most terrible, and +most inexplicable instance of this power lies in +those diabolical possessions with which so many +of our Lord's miracles are concerned. Again, as +to the reality of divining powers arising from the +presence of a demon in a human form, we have +the evil spirit in the girl at Philippi acknowledging +in S. Paul a servant of the most high +God, and, when cast out by the Apostle in the +name of Christ, leaving his victim destitute of +those powers which had brought gain to her +masters, who forthwith try to avenge themselves +for their loss by exciting a persecution against the +Apostle.<note place='foot'>Acts xvi. 16.</note> +</p> + +<p> +A second witness is found in the rites and offices +of the very power set up to dethrone and +abolish this other power. The Church called upon +every one who was received into her bosom to +begin by renouncing the usurpation of this great +enemy, which was thus declared to be universal. +She provided forms for exorcising him. One of +her Apostles warned those to whom he wrote that +men could not partake at once of the Christian +<pb n='037'/><anchor id='Pg037'/> +sacrifice and the heathen; for as truly as one was +the chalice of the Lord, the other was the chalice +of devils; as one was the table of the Lord, the +other was the table of devils.<note place='foot'>1 Cor. x. 21.</note> +</p> + +<p> +A third witness is found in the unanimous testimony +of all Christian writers as to the reality +of the demoniacal powers with which they were +waging war; as to their perpetual interference with +human life; as to the open and palpable effects +which they produced; as to their unwilling retirement +in the face of that Stronger One who was +come upon them. It was not merely the fervid +Tertullian who offered to rest the truth of Christianity +and the life of any ordinary Christian upon +his power publicly to expel a demon. Athanasius, +who weighs every word he utters, says also, <q>Let +him who will, try the truth of what we have said, +and in the very presence of the spectral illusion of +the demons, of the deceit of oracles and the wonders +of magic, let him use the sign of the cross +derided by them, only naming the name of Christ, +and he shall see how by him the demons fly, the +oracles cease, and every sort of magic and witchcraft +is annulled.</q> No less express is S. Augustine +in acknowledging the reality of these dark +powers, and the wonders worked by them.<note place='foot'>Tertullian, <hi rend='italic'>Apologeticus</hi>, 23; S. Athanas. <hi rend='italic'>de Inc.</hi> 48; S. Aug. <hi rend='italic'>de +Civ. Dei</hi>, xxi. 6, who says, <q>Ut autem demones illiciantur ab hominibus, +prius eos ipsi astutissima calliditate seducunt, vel inspirando eorum cordibus +virus occultum, vel étiam fallacibus amicitiis apparendo, eorumque +paucos discipulos suos faciunt, plurimorumque doctores. Neque enim +potuit, nisi primum ipsis docentibus, disci quid quisque illorum appetat, +quid exhorreat, quo invitetur nomine, quo cogatur, unde magicæ artes +carumque artifices exstiterunt.</q></note> +</p> + +<pb n='038'/><anchor id='Pg038'/> + +<p> +Resuming then for a moment our view of heathenism +as a whole, with regard to the exhibition +of diabolic power in it, let us bear in mind, joined +to the absence of moral teaching, its flagrantly immoral +disposition; secondly, its illogical character, +by which it is an insult to human reason while +yet accepted by the human will; and thirdly, the +superhuman effects noted in it and attached to its +rites, ceremonies, and practices, attested by many +generations alike of its victims as of its opponents. +These proofs have each their own separate +force, but they have likewise as to our conclusion +a cumulative force; and its result is, that +the existence of a diabolic kingdom and sovereign +throned in heathenism, pervading its rites and +directing its operations, which is so expressly declared +in Holy Writ, is no less strongly proved by +the facts of history. +</p> + +<p> +6. Now, having sketched in four main points +the substance of this polytheism, its multiplicity, +its universality, its hold upon daily life, and its +moral corruption, to all which a consummating +force is added by the indwelling of diabolic power, +it remains to give a glance at certain conditions +and circumstances under which it was acting on +the minds of men. We have here taken it and +examined it by itself, abstracting it from those +<pb n='039'/><anchor id='Pg039'/> +circumstances, but it never so appeared to those +who lived under it. The wonderful error which +so enfolded these widespread nations never exhibited +itself to them bare and naked. On the contrary, +it came to them interwoven with the dearest +claims of the family, the city, the country, with +the force of habit and tradition, with the dread +of change, with the past history and future hopes +of their fatherland, coloured moreover with the +radiant dress of a rich and ever-advancing civilisation. +</p> + +<p> +To judge of its power, vitality, and chance of +permanence, we must look at it under these conditions. +And if, when we regard this idolatrous +polytheism in itself, one is lost in wonder at its +ever having arisen, at its existence, at its continuance, +so, when one regards it as throned in the +customs, feelings, convictions, and interests of society, +one wonders how any moral force could ever +overthrow it. At the present time not only are +there religions outside of Christianity, but there +are also sects within it, so irrational, so devoid +of the witness given by internal truth and harmony, +so unable to render any account of themselves +and their claims which will satisfy a mind +looking for consistency, that, regarding them +merely as facts, one cannot account for them, yet +notwithstanding they may have existed for several +hundred years, and had a large share in forming +national habits of thought, or even national character; +<pb n='040'/><anchor id='Pg040'/> +nay, perhaps their secret strength lies in +some fold of this character itself. And because +they are never seen by themselves, their intrinsic +absurdity does not come before their adherents, +and the last thing which these think of examining +is the foundation of their sect, inasmuch as in fact +it has never approached them otherwise than as a +condition of their daily life. So we shall understand +paganism better by considering it as interwoven +with civilisation, polity, and national feelings. +We will treat of it briefly under these three +heads. +</p> + +<p> +1. First, the whole eastern part of the Roman +empire was made up of many various nations having +a long and sometimes renowned history, kingdoms, +and politics much anterior to Rome herself, +of which the Romans had taken violent possession, +but wherein remained still the fruits of a rich and +undisturbed civilisation. And this word comprehends +all the natural life of man, all the discoveries +gained by his invention or experience, and accumulated +by wealth descending from age to age, +all the manifold ties of social intercourse, all the +pleasures of the intellect, united, moreover, in +their case with an art even now unrivalled in +portraying the beauty of the human figure, and +in the elegance with which it adapted material +forms to the conveniences of life. So rich and +varied an inheritance unfolded itself in a thousand +Hellenic cities studding the shores of the Mediterranean. +<pb n='041'/><anchor id='Pg041'/> +The culture itself since the time of Alexander +might be termed Hellenic, but it embraced +Egypt, and Syria, and all Western Asia. And +so completely was idolatrous polytheism interwoven +with culture, so inextricably was it blended +with the bulk, so gradually had it grown with the +growth, and wound its fibres about the tree and +the branches, that the worship might be absolutely +identified with the civilisation. The gods of Greece +were the heads of the most illustrious Grecian families; +their hero-worship consecrated every city, +every grove, every field. The gods of Egypt +were blended with the long renown of the Nile-land, +with every Egyptian custom, with the beginning +and the end of life. Not less had the +gods of Syria and Western Asia occupied their +respective lands. These deities struck their root +into the home of man, into the union of the sexes, +into the loves of parent and child, of brother and +sister. They had their mementos in every street +of busy traffic; they watched over the Acropolis; +not a fountain but laid claim to their patronage, +nor a field which was fruitful but by their supposed +influence. These countries had lost their +political independence, but the material ease of +life under the majesty of the Roman name they +retained. There was a passionate love for this +world's goods, comforts, and enjoyments in the +Greek, Syrian, Asiatic, Egyptian, and Libyan +races, all of them more or less worn, and effete, +<pb n='042'/><anchor id='Pg042'/> +and deeply sensualised; but their glory was this +great Hellenic civilisation, with which polytheism +might be termed one and the same thing. +</p> + +<p> +2. When we turn to the West, the seat of the +sovereign city and of the empire itself, we find +that from the very beginning and through many +centuries the political constitution of the city had +been indissolubly blended with the worship of the +Roman gods. The religion of Rome was much +more than national; her polity seemed only another +name for her worship. Her temples were as much +a part of her political life as her forum. So far at +least she had embodied in her whole structure the +legend of her Etruscan teacher, wherein the dwarf +Tages sprung from the soil to communicate the +worship claimed by the gods.<note place='foot'>Merivale, iii. 496.</note> Her soil and her +worship were indivisible. And even after seven +centuries, when the city was embracing the world +in its arms, this union practically existed. Rome +indeed admitted, as we have said, the gods of the +conquered nations into her pantheon, but it was +on the same tenure as the nations themselves +shared her civic rights. Jupiter Capitolinus was +a sort of suzerain not only to the gods of the +Grecian Olympus, but to the dark forms of the +Nile deities, to the Syrian, the Libyan, the Gallic, +the Germanic, the Sarmatian Valhalla. When +the greatest of her poets would express unending +duration, he joins together the race of Æneas enthroned +<pb n='043'/><anchor id='Pg043'/> +on the Capitol with the god who dwelt +there: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Nulla dies unquam memori vos eximet ævo,</q></l> +<l>Dum domus Æneæ Capitoli immobile saxum</l> +<l><q rend='post'>Accolet, imperiumque Pater Romanus habebit.</q></l> +</lg> + +</quote> + +<p> +The Roman father is the Capitoline Jupiter. I +am not a king; the only king of the Romans is +Jupiter, said the most royal of the race, and the +founder of her empire, when, seeing all prostrate +at his feet, he put away reluctantly the diadem +offered by his creature. Thus even he who had +seized the reality of power, who would have omens +when he pleased, and whose will was his law, left +the crown on the head of Jupiter. In Rome, all +through her history <q>piety and patriotism were +the same feeling.</q><note place='foot'>Beugnot, <hi rend='italic'>Destruction du Paganisme</hi>, i. 8.</note> When her empire became +world-wide, this sort of devotion did not cease. +Rome had long been deified; and the double import +of her name<note place='foot'>ῥώμη, strength; <foreign rend='italic'>ruma</foreign>, a mother's breast.</note> expressed strength against the +foe without, and nourishment to the child within. +She was at once a warrior-goddess clothed in mail +to meet the enemy, and a mother offering her +bosom to her citizens clustered around her. And +so in her new constitution, adapted for the world, +her emperor too was deified, as the first of her +children, her living representative, the embodiment +of her force and love, the visible wielder of +her unseen power. All that is sacred in home +<pb n='044'/><anchor id='Pg044'/> +and country to us the Roman signified when he +swore by the genius of the emperor. Nothing +could be more tolerant than this polytheism, if the +innovation extended only to the borrowing or creating +a new divinity, to reforming a rite or a ceremony,<note place='foot'>Beugnot, i. 17.</note> +or to suchlike modifications of worship +which admitted that on which it rested; but nothing +more intolerant than the same polytheism +when the worship itself was attacked. A movement +against the Capitoline Jupiter would be not +only sacrilege but high treason, and the refusal to +call to witness the emperor's genius was in fact to +deny his imperial authority. The worship of the +gods was as much identified with the empire of +Rome in the West as with the civilisation of +Greece throughout the East. +</p> + +<p> +3. But as if these two powers were not ties +sufficiently strong to hold polytheism together, +there was another feeling distinct from both, which +formed its last bulwark. The iron hand which +held in its grasp these vast countries, many of +them so large that by themselves they might have +been empires, was strong enough to prevent or +crush insurrection, but provided only the majesty +of the Roman peace was accepted, did not seek +to disturb a large remnant of local feeling and +interest still representing the former life and polity +of the several provinces. Now whatever of national, +tribe, or race feeling existed, was grouped +<pb n='045'/><anchor id='Pg045'/> +everywhere about the worship of the native gods.<note place='foot'>Οἱ ἐγχώριοι θεοί.</note> +The Nile-land had ceased to be a royal seat, and +was governed by a simple Roman knight as prefect +of the emperor; but not for this had the Nile +gods abdicated their dark sway over their votaries. +In them the Egyptians still felt that they had +something which was their own. Thus, whatever +force of patriotism still lurked in the several parts +of the empire was nurtured by its own form of +polytheism, which it in turn invested with the +memories dearest and most ineradicable in man, +of past independence or renown. Not only the +Egyptians, but the various Asiatic and Libyan +races, the Gauls and Germans under Roman sway, +were thus attached to their native gods with a +feeling no doubt akin to that of the English towards +<q>Old England,</q> or the Russians towards +<q>Holy Russia.</q> +</p> + +<p> +4. Two more conditions of society throughout +the whole empire we have yet to consider in their +bearing on the maintenance of polytheism: first, +the concentration of the vast power of the state—in +itself an acknowledged omnipotence, without +the restriction or reservation of individual rights—in +one hand, the hand of the emperor, the sole +representative of the people. By this it would +seem that all the upper classes of society, the +classes at ease as to their maintenance, the classes +who have leisure to think and will to act in political +<pb n='046'/><anchor id='Pg046'/> +matters, were deprived of so much of their +freedom, and such deprivation would tend to support +an existing institution. Secondly, the despotism +above was met by a corresponding despotism +below. The rights of the slaveholder over the +human labourer left as little margin of freedom to +daily toil as the right of the imperial autocrat to +the freedom of conscience in the rich. The servants +throughout the world of Rome being slaves, +were as much in the hand of their masters as those +masters were in the hand of the prince. +</p> + +<p> +We can now take a prospect of human society +in reference to the polytheism of the empire from +the standing-point of Augustus in the last twenty +years of his reign. The worship of her gods was +so intertwined with the political constitution of +Rome from her birth through seven centuries and +a half, that it might be said to be one thing with +it. Almost as close was the identification of the +several religious systems of the East with the +enjoyments of civilised life which they prized so +highly, and which the empire of Rome secured to +them. Further in the background the national +gods of the many races included in the empire +were the last inheritance of their former independent +life. Again, not only was the emperor as +Pontifex Maximus the official head of this polytheism, +but as representing the whole power of +the state, he was its guardian, and whatever assailed +it was an insult to the majesty which he +<pb n='047'/><anchor id='Pg047'/> +embodied; while the slavery in which the masses +were lying seemed to represent in human society +the chances of war which had all ended in the +dominion of Rome and the subjection of the whole +pantheon of incongruous gods to the sovereignty +of the Capitoline Jupiter. These were general +conditions to that multifarious whole of nations +and races. Then if Augustus sought to examine +more narrowly the society of Roman citizens spread +through his empire, he would find it divided very +unequally as to numbers into two classes. The +vast majority were those who take things as they +find them, and who belonged with more or less +fidelity and heartiness to the idolatrous polytheism. +The worship which came to them as part +and parcel of the empire, of civilised and of national +life, they accepted without thought. To all these +an indefinite number of immoral gods was throned +in possession of Olympus; to all these the result +of such worship was, as we have seen described by +S. Augustine, the utter perversion of morality, the +consecration of fables equalling in turpitude the +utmost license of the theatres. But everywhere +among the educated classes were to be found a +small number of sceptical minds: philosophers +they termed themselves: it was fashionable to follow +some philosophic system or sect, and these fell +mainly into two. Now the Epicureans and the +Stoics, while they left the existing polytheism in +practical possession, as a matter of custom and +<pb n='048'/><anchor id='Pg048'/> +state religion, and so delivered themselves from +any unpleasant consequences of denying the prevailing +worship, concurred entirely in this, that +the one by the way of atheism, the other by that +of pantheism, destroyed all religion of the heart +and inner conduct; because they equally removed +the notion of a personal God, and its corresponding +notion of a personal being in man outliving +the body and the world of sense, and meeting with +a personal retribution. Whether the power they +acknowledge be nature, as in Lucretius, or a hidden +physical force running through all nature, +which might be called Jupiter, Juno, Hercules, or +the name of any other god, as in Marcus Aurelius, +the notion of a personal Creator, provident and +rewarding, was equally destroyed. Nor before the +preaching of the Gospel does there appear a single +individual who drew out of the existing polytheism +such a conclusion. On the contrary, in Augustus +and his successors the imperial idea of unity +in religion was to make out that all these systems +of polytheism, running into and athwart each other, +came practically to the same thing, differing in name +only. Their obedience to Jupiter of the Capitol +was the only bond of unity, and pledge of the empire's +duration, conceived by the Roman rulers. +</p> + +<p> +II. Thus in the time of Augustus no human +eye, whether we look at the mass of mankind or the +thinking few, could see any sign either that the +dominant polytheism was about to fall, or that the +<pb n='049'/><anchor id='Pg049'/> +lost doctrine of the divine Unity and Personality +could be extricated from the bewildering mass of +error and superstition which had grown over, disguised, +and distorted it. Darker still, if possible, +became the prospect under his successor, Tiberius, +whose reign had reached the climax of moral debasement, +when Sejanus was all-powerful at Rome. +Hope for the human race there appeared none, +when such an emperor devolved his omnipotence +on such a prime minister. Then in the judgment-hall +of a procurator in a small and distant eastern +province, there passed the following dialogue between +an accused criminal and his judge:—<q>Pilate +went into the prætorium again, and called +Jesus, and said to him, <q>Art thou the king of the +Jews?</q> Jesus answered him, <q>Sayest thou this +thing of thyself, or have others told it thee of me?</q> +Pilate answered, <q>Am I a Jew? Thine own nation +and the chief priests have delivered thee up +to me: what hast thou done?</q> Jesus answered, <q>My +kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom +were of this world, my servants would strive that +I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now +my kingdom is not from hence.</q> Pilate therefore +said to him, <q>Art thou a king, then?</q> Jesus answered, +<q>Thou sayest that I am a king. For this +was I born, and for this came I into the world, +that I should bear witness to the truth. Every one +that is of the truth heareth my voice.</q> Pilate saith +to him, <q>What is truth?</q></q> He who thus declared +<pb n='050'/><anchor id='Pg050'/> +himself to be a king, the cause of whose birth and +advent into the world, the function of whose royalty, +was to bear witness to the truth, received +from the power which then ruled the world the +punishment allotted to the slave who was worthy +of death. For many ages a false worship had overshadowed +the earth, hiding the true God from +men, and setting up instead a multitude of demons +for gods. And during this time the thinkers of +Greek and Roman society had been asking, What +is truth? And now the officer who asked that +question of the Truth Himself, replied to it by +crucifying Him. And when the body of that Crucified +One was the same day taken down from the +cross and laid in its sepulchre, the power which +reigned in polytheism and spoke by the mouth of +the judge, seemed to have given the final answer +of triumphant force to its question, What is truth? +and falsehood might be thought to reign supreme +and victorious in the world. +</p> + +<p> +It was with the resurrection of that Body, in +which Truth was enshrined, that the resurrection +of truth among men began. He had said to His +disciples a few hours before, not <q>I show the +truth,</q> but <q>I am the Truth.</q> His birth and +His advent took place that His witness might be +given to it, the witness to it being that very birth +and advent, His appearance among men, and the +reception He would meet with. The crucifixion +itself—the reply of triumphant force to its own +<pb n='051'/><anchor id='Pg051'/> +unanswered question—was the witness which, first +in Him, and then in His followers, should make itself +heard over the earth, now held in captivity by +falsehood. And since Truth is His proper Name +and His personal Being from eternity, and by being +the Truth He who spoke is the second Person in +the Godhead, the perfect Image of all Truth, let us +consider the import of His Name as the summing-up +of the great antagonism which He then planted +on the earth. +</p> + +<p> +For He named Himself the Truth because He +is the Son and the Word of the Father. <q>Thus +the Father, as it were uttering Himself, begot His +Word, equal to Himself in all things. For He +would not fully and perfectly have uttered Himself, +if there were anything less or anything more +in His Word than in Himself.... And therefore +this Word is truly the Truth; inasmuch as whatever +is in that knowledge of which He is begotten, +is also in Himself; and whatsoever is not in it, is +not in Himself.... The Father and the Son know +each other, the one by generating, the other by +being generated.</q><note place='foot'>S. Aug. <hi rend='italic'>de Trin.</hi> l. xv. c. 14, tom. viii. 984.</note> Thus it is that He is the perfect +Word, the absolute Image of God; and being +the Image of God He created man in the beginning +a copy of that Image, and according to its +resemblance, in that He created him in the indivisible +unity of a soul intelligent and willing—a +created copy of the Trinity in Unity. But though +<pb n='052'/><anchor id='Pg052'/> +by the original constitution of the soul this copy +could not be destroyed, being the very essence of +the soul, yet the resemblance might be marred, and +the harmony which reigned in the original man +between the soul, its intellect, and will, through +the indwelling of God's Spirit, was broken by the +act of sin; whereupon that Spirit withdrew from +him, and left the copy of the divine Image defaced +and disordered. All the heathenism we have been +considering is the sequence of that disorder, part +of which is the grievous obscuration of truth, that +is, of the whole relation between God and man, of +which idolatrous polytheism is the perversion. It +was the exact representation of the soul's own disorder, +being the distortion but not the extinction +of worship; the fear of many demons, instead of +the fear of one God; slavish instead of filial fear. +</p> + +<p> +But as the Truth of the Father is beheld and +expressed in generating His Son, His Word, His +perfect Image, so truth to man is the resemblance +of created things to the archetypal idea of them in +God; the resemblance of the works of the divine +art to the Artificer's intention. In this long act +of heathenism we see the work of the divine Artificer +marred and obscured, and the marring and +obscuration seem to have gone as far as was possible +without touching the essence of the soul. +Who, then, should restore, but He who had first +created? Who should give back to the copy the +lost harmony, and reimprint the defaced resemblance, +<pb n='053'/><anchor id='Pg053'/> +save the perfect Image of God? Thus, +when the corruption had run its course, and the +original disobedience had reproduced itself all over +the earth in a harvest of evil and disorder, the +time for the work of reparation was come, and the +Divine Word, the Image of the Father, took flesh. +</p> + +<p> +Magnificent as had been the dower of the First +Man, and wonderful the grace which held his soul +in harmony with itself, and his bodily affections in +obedience to his soul, incomparably more magnificent +was the dower of human nature in its reparation, +inconceivably grander the grace which ruled +the Soul and Body of the Restorer. For whereas +the First Man's person had been simply human, the +Person of the Second Man was the Divine Word +Himself, the perfect Image of the Father; and +whereas the grace of the First Man was such that +he was able not to sin, the grace which had assumed +the nature of the Second Man was a Person +who could not sin, the fountain of grace itself, +measureless, absolute, and personal. The Image +of God Himself came to restore the copy of that +Image in Man; his appearance as man among men +was the reconveying of the Truth to them, because +He was the Truth Himself. The Truth in all its +extent; the Truth in the whole moral order and +every relation which belongs to it; the Truth by +which all the rational creation of God corresponds +to the Idea of its Creator, was the gift which He +brought to man in His Incarnation. +</p> + +<pb n='054'/><anchor id='Pg054'/> + +<p> +But this truth is not merely external to man. +In order to be received and appropriated by him, +he must become capable of it. The Restorer works +his restoration by an inward act upon the soul, its +intellect and will. The Image of God sets up His +seat within His work, the copy. Man is sealed by +the Holy Spirit with the likeness and resemblance +of the Father's Face, the Son; and having the Son +within him, and giving a home within the soul to +the divine character, and making this his treasure, +man is formed after God.<note place='foot'>S. Cyril. Alex. tom. v. 1, pp. 544, 557 a.</note> The supreme likeness, +which is beyond all others, is impressed on human +souls by the Spirit of the Father and the Son. As +the defacing of the likeness, the result of the original +fall, caused the obscuring of the Truth, so its +restoration was itself the recovery of the Truth. +</p> + +<p> +And this restoration is itself the witness to the +Truth of which He spoke before Pilate as the object +of His birth and advent. But to make the +witness operative and fruitful, the greatest wonder +in this list of wonders is required, the suffering of +the Truth Himself. He said of the corn of wheat, +which was to bear fruit in unnumbered hearts, +that it would remain alone unless it fell into the +ground and died. And so His crucifixion in the +nature which He had assumed was the act from +which the renewal of truth went forth; and not +only in His Person, but likewise in His chosen +witnesses this special mode of vivifying the truth, +<pb n='055'/><anchor id='Pg055'/> +and making it fruitful, should be repeated. Not +only must the absolute Truth of God appear in +our nature itself in order to be accepted, but the +nature in which it appeared should offer the sacrifice +of itself; and this particular mode of propagating +the truth should be observed in that chosen +band whom He termed specially His witnesses. +Their witness should be their suffering; in them +too the Truth should be crucified, and so become +fruitful. +</p> + +<p> +And as man in his original creation had been a +copy, however faint, of the eternal relations of the +Godhead in itself, so his restoration springs from +those same eternal relations. In it the Father, the +Son, and the Holy Spirit are seen working.<note place='foot'>S. Cyril. Alex. <hi rend='italic'>in Joh.</hi> x. p. 858 b.</note> It +springs from the Father, in that He is the Father of +the only-begotten Son, the Original of the Image, +and so the Father of all those who are the copies +of that Image. It springs from the Son, in that He +is the perfect Image of the Father, and by dwelling +in a created nature has raised it to the dignity +of His Person, from which the grace of Sonship +comes. It springs from the Holy Spirit, whose +work as the Spirit of the Father and the Son is +to imprint the copy of the Son on man. He performs +in every one of the redeemed by communicating +to them a participation of the divine nature, +by dwelling in them, by contact and coherence with +them, a work infinitely less in degree, but yet of +<pb n='056'/><anchor id='Pg056'/> +the same order with that work of His whereby all +the fulness of the Godhead dwelt by personal unity +in our Lord's Manhood.<note place='foot'>Petav. <hi rend='italic'>de Trin.</hi> lib. viii. c. 7.</note> +</p> + +<p> +But we left our Lord before Pilate, bearing +witness to the truth. It remains to see how that +truth became impressed on the world. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='057'/><anchor id='Pg057'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter VIII. The First And The Second Man.</head> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +<q>Totus Christus caput et corpus est. Caput unigenitus Dei Filius, et +corpus ejus Ecclesia, Sponsus et Sponsa, duo in carne una.</q> S. Aug. +<hi rend='italic'>de Unitate Ecc.</hi> tom. ix. 341. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Totus Christus, id est, caput et membra.</q> S. Thomas, Prolog. ad 1 +Sentent. art. 4. +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +Let us look back on the space which we have +traversed, and gather up in a few words the sight +which it presents to us. We have man before us +as far as history will carry us back, as far as +reasoning, planting itself on the scanty traces of +history, will penetrate into the cloudland of prehistoric +times: and the result stands before us +exhibited in the manifold records still remaining +of the most renowned ancient civilisation. Here, +then, we see nations whose genius, whether in history, +poetry, and literature, or in works of art, or +in civil government, we still admire, comprising +men in many of whom the powers of reason reached +their utmost limit; nations inhabiting the most +varied climates and countries, and amongst them +the fairest in the world, nations formed under the +most different circumstances and pursuing the most +<pb n='058'/><anchor id='Pg058'/> +distinct employments, some agricultural, some commercial, +some inland, some nautical, but alike in +this, that they were enthralled by systems of a false +worship, of which it is hard to say whether it was +the more revolting to the reason by its absurdity, +or to the conscience of man by its foulness. And +this false worship does not lie distinct and apart +from the concerns of daily civil and domestic +life, but is intertwined with all the public and +private actions of men, forming their habits and +ruling their affections. Moreover, the polytheistic +idolatry described above as existing at the time of +Augustus in every province of his empire except +one, in almost<note place='foot'>An exception must be made in favour of Persia, where the original +monotheism was preserved with more or less corruption.</note> every country which touched upon +it, or was known to it, is the result, the summing-up, +the embodiment of man's whole history up +to that time, so far as we know it: it is that +into which this history had run out, its palpable, +it almost seemed its irresistible, form. And it +amounts to a complete corruption, first of the relation +between man and his Creator, secondly of +the relation between man and his fellow, thirdly of +the relations of man in civil government, that is, +of states and political communities, to each other. +</p> + +<p> +Now, looking at this polytheistic idolatry simply +as a fact, without for the moment any attempt +to give a solution of it from authority, looking at +it just as modern science would regard the facts of +<pb n='059'/><anchor id='Pg059'/> +geology or astronomy, there is one thing, we may +suppose, which it proves with a superabundance of +evidence not found to belong to any other fact of +history; and that is, the intrinsic corruption of man +as a moral being. That which in theological language +is called the Fall of man is, apart from all +revealed doctrine on the subject, brought in upon +the mind with irresistible force by the mere enumeration +of the gods which heathendom worshipped, +and of the worship paid by it to them; +a force which is indefinitely increased by every +inquiry into the moral and religious state of man +as he lived under this worship. +</p> + +<p> +Now, then, let us consider what solution the +Christian faith does give of this fact, which exists, +be it remembered, independently of this solution, +and would exist with all its force undiminished, +if this were rejected. +</p> + +<p> +I. The Christian faith, as a solution of this +wonderful maze of polytheistic idolatry, with all +its accompaniments and consequences, carries us +back to the first father of the race, whose development +we have been following in it. This, it says, +is nothing else<note place='foot'><q>Das Heidenthum ist nichts anderes als der gefallene und nicht +wiedergeborne Mensch im Grossen.</q> Möhler, <hi rend='italic'>Kirchengeschichte</hi>, i. 169.</note> but the body of Adam carried out +through thousands of years, the body of Adam +fallen under a terrible captivity. Not only does +the Christian faith set before us man as one race descended +from one, but because he is this one race, +<pb n='060'/><anchor id='Pg060'/> +descended from one, it represents him as having +come into such a state. To understand this we +must contemplate the original creation, the fall of +man, and its consequences, in their several bearings +on each other, which will then lead us on to +the nature and mode of the restoration. +</p> + +<p> +In speaking of the creation of man we may +first consider the union of the soul and body simply +by themselves; that is, in order to obtain a +clear view of our subject, we may form to ourselves +a purely ideal state of simple nature. Such +a state would include two things; one positive, the +other negative.<note place='foot'>Suarez, <hi rend='italic'>de Gratia</hi>, Proleg. 4, cap. i. sec. 3.</note> Positively, human nature in this +condition would have all natural faculties in their +essential perfection, and the assistance and providence +of God naturally due to it: negatively, it +would have nothing superadded to nature, nothing +not due to it, whether evil or good, that +is, neither sin on the one hand, and what follows +sin, the guilt which entails punishment, nor on +the other hand any gifts of grace, or perfections +not due to nature. +</p> + +<p> +Human nature, if created in such a state, would +have no supernatural end; its end would be to +love God with a natural love, as the Author and +Ruler of the world. +</p> + +<p> +Of such a state it is requisite for our present +purpose to say only two things further. The first, +that it is not contrary to any attribute of God to +<pb n='061'/><anchor id='Pg061'/> +have created human nature in such a state. The +gift of eternal beatitude, arising from the vision +of God, which such a creature would not have had +for its end, is simply and absolutely a gratuitous +gift of the divine bounty, which God is not bound +to bestow on any creature as such. Secondly, God +did not in fact so create man. +</p> + +<p> +Going on from this state of simple nature, we +may consider another state in man, in which, beyond +all his natural faculties,<note place='foot'>Suarez, <hi rend='italic'>de Gratia</hi>, Proleg. cap. ii. sec. 3.</note> he would have a +certain special perfection, consisting in the absence +of immoderate concupiscence, or in the perfect +subjection of the sensitive to the rational appetite, +so that the inferior appetite should not be allowed +to set itself in motion against the superior, or to +anticipate reason. For human nature, regarded +in itself as the union of a spirit and a body, is +as it were divided in its natural affections, which +tend in diverse directions, and thus totters, so to +say, in its gait; when, therefore, it receives an inward +peace in its own proper faculties, it is said +to be supplemented, or to receive its integrity. +</p> + +<p> +Now it is much to be noted that this special +gift of integrity would not be connatural to man, +that is, not given to him by force of his nature +itself. It is true indeed that as such a gift perfects +nature in regard to all natural acts, and +supplies a sort of natural deficiency arising out of +the combination of a spiritual with a material substance, +<pb n='062'/><anchor id='Pg062'/> +wherein a conflict is engendered, in such a +sense it may be called natural: but strictly speaking +it is a gift superadded to nature. +</p> + +<p> +It must further be noted that this state of nature +in its integrity, however high and beautiful, +is not only entirely distinct from but of an inferior +order to the state of human nature raised to +the gift of Divine Sonship. Between human nature +in this condition and human nature raised to +the gift of sonship, there would be more than the +difference<note place='foot'>Kleutgen, <hi rend='italic'>die Theologie der Vorzeit</hi>, ii. p. 559.</note> that with us exists between the kindly-treated +servant and the adopted son: for human +nature in this integrity would still not by virtue +of it possess sanctifying grace, or, in consequence, +have God and His vision for its supernatural end. +</p> + +<p> +But, thirdly, it was not merely in this state +that God created man, but in a state which not +only included this, but had grace for its basis,<note place='foot'>Suarez, <hi rend='italic'>de Grat.</hi> Proleg. 4, cap. v. sec. 3.</note> +that is to say, every perfection which it had +sprang out of this, that it was united to God by +grace. This is a state of far superior order, absolutely +gratuitous, and beyond anything which +is due to nature. The first man, Adam, then, +was not only a union of soul and body, not only +did he possess this nature in its integrity, but +he was created in grace, so that there was a union +of the Holy Spirit with him, whereby he was +exalted to the condition of a supernatural end +<pb n='063'/><anchor id='Pg063'/> +and adopted Sonship, and in this union was rooted +the integrity of his nature, and the supernatural +power of so ruling all the lower faculties of his +soul that the higher could mount undisturbedly +to God: and certain other gifts over and above, +such as immunity from error or deception, so long +as he did not sin, immunity from even venial +fault, immunity from death, and from all pain or +sorrow. Such was the original condition which +grace bestowed on human nature, wherein man +had not only a supernatural end, but the power +to attain it easily.<note place='foot'>Kleutgen, <hi rend='italic'>die Theologie der Vorzeit</hi>, vol. ii. 650.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Now it is evident that man, by being created +in grace, was raised to an astonishing height of +dignity, to which not only his nature, but any +created nature whatsoever had no claim. All +that the justice and goodness of God required him +to do in creating such a being as man of two substances, +soul and body, was to bestow on the compound +being so united such perfections as made +the several substances complete in their own order. +Such would be the ideal state of simple nature as +delineated above. It was a gift beyond nature, +such as nature in its first beginning could not +claim, to bestow on it the integrity which in the +second place we considered. But how far beyond +this, passing it by an unmeasured chasm, was that +dower of sonship rooted in sanctifying grace which +God actually bestowed on His favoured child? It +<pb n='064'/><anchor id='Pg064'/> +is obvious at first sight that the divine gift here +intended, being in Adam's actual creation the root +of all which was over and above the natural faculties +of body and soul in their union, was bestowed +absolutely by the pure goodness of God, and therefore +could be bestowed with such conditions attached +to it as pleased the Giver. In all that is +beyond the mere faculties and needs of nature—in +forming which God's own being is a sort of +rule to Him—He is absolutely free to give as +pleases Himself, to what degree He pleases, on +what terms He pleases. What, then, were the +conditions on which He invested Adam with the +gift of Sonship, and created Him in grace as its +foundation? He created him, not only as the +individual Adam, but as the Head of his race, so +that his race was summed up in him, and a unity +was founded in him attaching his whole race as +members to his body, in such manner that the +supernatural gift of sonship bestowed on him was +to descend from him by virtue of natural propagation +to every member of that body, which thus +became a supernatural race from a supernatural +father. So absolute was this unity that the order +maintained in the case of every other creature put +under the dominion of the man so formed was +not followed in his case. For whereas they were +created with the difference of sex, each a male +and a female, he was created alone, as the Head, +and then she, by whose coöperation the race was +<pb n='065'/><anchor id='Pg065'/> +to be continued, was formed out of him. It was +not a second man who was so formed from the +first, but one made with reference to him, in dependence +on him, to be a help meet for him, not +for herself, with an independent being, but for +him. This formation of Eve from Adam, which +has a meaning of unfathomable depth in the development +of the race, is an essential part of the +original design. <q>Therefore,</q> says Adam, speaking +in an ecstasy sent upon him by God, the words +of God, <q>this is now bone of my bone and flesh +of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because +she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man +leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave +unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.</q> First, +the Eve so formed from him is one flesh with him; +secondly, the race springing from both is one flesh +likewise with him. The consequence intended by +that one flesh was the transmission of that magnificent +inheritance in which Adam was standing +when he so spoke. In this he was Father and +Head, for this created alone, then Eve built up +from him, from whom afterwards was to issue +their joint race. On the further condition of his +personal obedience to God and fidelity to his grace, +he held the whole supernatural gift of grace conferring +sonship, both for himself and for his race: +on these terms it was bestowed by the charter of +God, the original Giver. Thus, the greatness of +his Headship was visible in two things, the power +<pb n='066'/><anchor id='Pg066'/> +of transmitting his quality of divine sonship to his +race by propagation, and the dependence of that +quality, in them as well as in himself, on his personal +fidelity to God. +</p> + +<p> +But the First Man, the Father and Head of the +race, did not stand in his inheritance. He broke +the divine command, and lost the gift of sonship, +and with it all the prerogatives attendant on that +gift, which were above nature and rooted in grace, +and which the eminent goodness of God had bestowed +upon him: and by the terms of the original +charter lost the gift, not only for himself, but for +his race. But he did not, therefore, destroy that +relation between the Head and the Race, which +was part of the original foundation of God. This +continued; but whereas it had been intended to +communicate the blessing of adoption, it now +served to communicate the demerit of adoption +lost, the guilt, and with it the punishment incurred +by that loss. This is the original sin, the +sin of the nature, not of the person, inherited by +the members of Adam's body; and as there can +be no sin without free-will, the sin of the whole +nature included in Adam as its Root and Head, +which sinned by Adam's abuse of his free-will. +</p> + +<p> +Let us try to determine as accurately as we +can the position into which Adam and his race +fell. +</p> + +<p> +Did, then, Adam simply lose with the forfeiture +of sanctifying grace the gift of sonship, the supernatural +<pb n='067'/><anchor id='Pg067'/> +inheritance, all which God had bestowed +on him beyond that ideal state of pure nature +which we described in the first instance? God, +we said, might have created man originally in this +condition, and man so created, that is, in virtue +of this creation, would not have been under any +sin, nor exposed to the anger of God. Did man, +by Adam's sin, fall back into it? Not so. His +state after his fall differed from such a state of +pure nature in that he had upon him the guilt of +lost adoption, of adoption lost by the first Adam's +fault, and in proportion to the greatness of the +loss, and the gratuitousness of the gift originally +bestowed, was the anger with which, on the donor's +part, the loss was regarded. How would a king, +a man like ourselves, regard one whom he had +raised out of the dust to be his adopted child, +and who had been unfaithful to the parent who +had so chosen him with more than natural affection? +Such an anger we can indeed understand +when felt against the person sinning; but we fail +to enter into it as resting on the race, because the +secret tie which binds the head and the race into +one is not discerned by us; because too the greatness +of the divine majesty, the awfulness of His +sovereignty, and the wrath of that majesty slighted, +are feebly appreciated by us. But this image may +at least give us some notion of the nature of that +divine anger which pressed upon Adam and his +race after the fall. Not only, therefore, was the gift +<pb n='068'/><anchor id='Pg068'/> +of sonship and the prerogatives attending it withdrawn, +but this withdrawal was a punishment, +which their absence in the presumed case of an +original state of simple nature would not have been. +Thus death was a punishment to Adam and his +race; the body's weakness and disease, the soul's +sorrows and pains, the disobedience of the inferior +appetites to the reason, the resistance of the reason +to the law of God, were all punishments, and a remarkable +point of the punishment is to be seen +in this. Adam, as the head of his race, was in +virtue of natural propagation to have bestowed +on the children of his flesh, the members of his +body, his own supernatural inheritance. Thus a +singular honour was conferred on the fathership +of Adam. But now when, in virtue of this natural +propagation, he, continuing to be the head of his +race, transmitted to it the guilt of adoption lost +instead of the blessing of adoption conferred, a +peculiar shame was set by God upon this fathership +of Adam, and upon all the circumstances +attending it: so that henceforth in the disinherited +race the bride veiled her head, and the act of +being a father became an act of shame. +</p> + +<p> +The condition, therefore, of Adam and his posterity +after his fall differed from the condition +which would have been that of simple nature by +the whole extent of the guilt incurred by the +nature in its fall from sonship. +</p> + +<p> +And herein lies one peculiarity, and one +<pb n='069'/><anchor id='Pg069'/> +strangely distressing condition of his state, in that +while he lost by the fall the grace in which, as +an indwelling gift, his whole supernatural state +had been rooted, he yet did not lose that condition +of being formed and intended for a supernatural +end which grace alone could enable him +to attain. For the supernatural vision and love +of God he had been created, and in his fall he did +not sink to be merely a natural man; but his +original end was still held out before him as that +which he might reach supported by that grace +the aids of which were in a different measure promised +to him in order to lead a life of penance, +and as the earnest of a future restoration. +</p> + +<p> +This, however, is far from being a complete +statement of his case, and we must go back to the +circumstances of his fall in order to add that +further still more peculiar and remarkable condition +which, added to the one just described, +made up the whole of his fall. +</p> + +<p> +Adam had not disobeyed the divine command, +and so broken the covenant of his sonship, by the +simple promptings of his own will. Another had +intervened; had suggested to the woman doubts +against her Maker and Father. She had yielded +to these doubts, and disobeyed; and then Adam +had suffered himself to be drawn with her in her +disobedience. Who was this other? He was +the prince and leader of spirits created good, but +fallen into enmity with God. Thus, the favourite +<pb n='070'/><anchor id='Pg070'/> +son of God had listened to the persuasion of God's +chief enemy, and his fall from sonship had been, +by the judgment of the offended Parent, not a +simple fall from his supernatural estate, but a fall +likewise into servitude to that enemy. This servitude +also, with the guilt of the nature in which +he had sinned, Adam transmitted to the members +of his body in and by their nature. Adam with +his race was the captive taken in war by the +enemy of God, and the life which he was allowed +to live had the condition of this servitude impressed +on it, with this alleviation only, that the +assistance of the divine grace offered to him by +the mercy of God in his state of penance could +protect those who accepted it from the effects of +this servitude, and ultimately deliver them. +</p> + +<p> +Here, then, is the condition of Adam's posterity +in consequence of his fall; members of a Head +who had broken his allegiance to his Creator and +Father, and so inheriting with their nature the +disinherited state into which he had cast himself; +captives, moreover, of that powerful spirit, God's +antagonist, who had tempted Adam, seduced him, +and led him to his fall. +</p> + +<p> +Now the heathenism which we have been +contemplating is the carrying out in time and +space of this body of Adam in those who, by their +personal fault, fell away from the aids of grace +which were accorded to man after his fall—aids +given first to Adam for the whole race, and then +<pb n='071'/><anchor id='Pg071'/> +renewed to Noah for the whole race; and the +false worship, so blent and mingled with heathenism, +which seemed as if it were the soul of its +body, is the sign and stamp of that captivity to +the evil spirit which the first man's sin inaugurated. +</p> + +<p> +How powerful was the bond between Adam +and his race, how great and influential the headship +which the Divine choice had vested in him, +we see in that mysterious transmission of guilt +which passed from him to his children. And it +must be expressly noted that it was not a transmission +of punishment alone. Rather, the divine +justice cannot punish where there is no guilt; and +as in this case Adam's fall, and that of his posterity +with him, was not merely a loss but a punishment, +so it had the special nature of guilt, not +only in him but in his posterity, and was a sin +both of the person and of the nature in him, of +the nature only in them. We see the force and +range of the divine endowment of Adam here, +though it be in the tenacity of the calamity which +ensued to his race; but it must be remembered +that such in this respect as the punishment was, +the blessing would have been. Adam was created +both an individual and a race. In him were two +things—the single man and the head; but of these +two things the headship was peculiar to himself, +while such as the individual Adam was, his race +was to be. He had it in his power to break the +<pb n='072'/><anchor id='Pg072'/> +covenant of his sonship with God, but not the tie +between himself and his race. +</p> + +<p> +And this sheds a light upon the darkest part +of that terrible picture which collected heathenism +presents to us. Man, as a social animal, is incessant +in his action on his fellow-man; the parent +and the family form the child; the companion and +the neighbourhood lead forth the child into manhood. +This work is perpetually going on in all +its parts, and society is the joint result. When, +therefore, we see this society once fallen into the +possession of a false worship, which perverts the +very foundations of morality, and instils deadly +error into the child with the mother's milk, no +thoughtful mind can gaze without horror upon +beings involved in such a maze,<note place='foot'>This is called by S. Peter 1. i. 18 ἡ ματαία ἀναστροφὴ πατροπαράδοτος.</note> yet intended for +an eternal duration. Man's nature, as a race, +seems turned against him; and in addition to the +guilt under which each individual of the race is +born, and the nature which each inherits, wherein +the internal harmony of peace is broken, and +neither the appetites obey the reason nor the +reason is obedient to God, comes the force of +habit, of education, of culture, of companionship, +of man's business and leisure, his play and his +earnest, the force of his language, the expression +of his thoughts upon himself and others, the whole +force, in fact, of man's social being when it is put +under possession of an evil power, man's adversary. +<pb n='073'/><anchor id='Pg073'/> +But this social nature was to have been to him +the means of the greatest good. As by his natural +descent from Adam unfallen would have +come the grace of sonship, so the whole brotherhood +of those who shared that gift would have +helped and supported each in the maintenance of +it. The human family would have had a beauty +and a unity of its own as such; an order and +a lustre would have rested on the whole body, +confirming each member in the possession of his +own particular gift. The concatenation of evil in +the corrupt society is the most striking contrast +to the fellowship of good in the upright; and +while it is distinct from that guilt which descends +to man as the sin of his nature, yet springs like it +from the original constitution of that nature as +a race. It is the invasion of evil upon good carried +to its utmost point, wherein we discern most +plainly <q>the prince of this world</q> wielding that +<q>power of darkness</q> by which the Apostle described +the whole state of the world, out of which +these nations, which made the empire of Augustus, +were a part. +</p> + +<p> +We have thus contemplated four distinct pictures. +The first of these was human nature bare +and naked by itself, a merely ideal view of man, +as a being compounded of soul and body, each +possessing only the faculties which belong to them +as spiritual and corporeal natures, the result of +which is a substantial union, because the spiritual +<pb n='074'/><anchor id='Pg074'/> +substance becomes the form of the corporeal, not +by making the body, when already animated by +another principle, to participate of spiritual life, +but by becoming itself the principle first animating +it. And we set forth this condition of human +nature in order to throw light upon our second +picture—the first man as he was actually created, +possessing, as a gift superadded by the purest +divine bounty to this his natural constitution, a +divine sonship founded in grace; which transcendant +union of the Holy Spirit with his soul +kept the soul with all its faculties in a loving +obedience to God, and the body in obedience to +the soul; and added even to this state the further +gratuitous prerogatives of immunity from error, +fault, pain, distress, and death. Our third picture +was man in this same state, but constituted besides +by the divine will, whose good pleasure was the +sole source of all this state of sonship, to be father +of a race like to himself, receiving from him, with +its natural generation, the transmitted gift of sonship; +that is, from our view of him as an individual +person we went on to consider him as the +head of a body—the root of a tree. Fourthly, we +have looked on the same man stripped by a fault, +personal to himself but natural to his race, of this +divine sonship—reduced to a state like that which +the first would have been, but altered from it by +two grave conditions, one of guilt lying on himself +and his race on account of this gratuitous gift of +<pb n='075'/><anchor id='Pg075'/> +sonship lost, another of captivity to that enemy of +his Creator and Father who had seduced him to +fall. And this picture included in it the double +effect of guilt transmitted through a whole race +from its head and father, and of the personal sins +of each individual of the race: which, moreover, +had a tendency to be perpetually heightened by +the social nature of man—that part of his original +condition which, as it would have supported his +highest good in the state of innocence, so came to +make his corruption intense and more complicated +in the state of fall. It has not been our purpose +in this sketch to dwell upon those who, like Adam +himself after his fall, accepted the divine assistance +offered to them, and the promise of a future +Restorer, and who, living a life of penance, kept +their faith in God. Such an assistance was offered +not only to Adam but to his whole race, and such +a line of men there always was; of whom Abel +was the type in the world before the flood; Noah +after the flood, as the second father of the whole +race; Abraham, the friend of God and father of +the faithful, in whose son Isaac a people was to +be formed, which, as the nations in their apostasy +fell more and more away from the faith and knowledge +of the true God, should maintain still the +seed of promise out of which the Restorer should +spring. But before that Restorer came, the heathenism—of +which we have been speaking in the +former chapter, and of which we have been giving +<pb n='076'/><anchor id='Pg076'/> +the solution above—was in possession of all but +the whole earth, and the captivity of man to his +spiritual foe, on account of which that foe is called +<q>the Ruler</q> and <q>the God</q> <q>of this world,</q> +which is said <q>to lie in the malignant one,</q><note place='foot'>The apostle speaks here not of <q>wickedness,</q> but of a personal +agent, <q>the wicked or malignant one;</q> as the context shows. <q>He who +is born of God keeps himself, and the malignant one touches him not. +We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the malignant +one.</q> 1 John v. 18, 19.</note> was +all but universal. This universality denoted that +the fulness of the time<note place='foot'>Gal. iv. 4. τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου.</note> marked out in the providence +of God was come. +</p> + +<p> +For Adam, in his first creation, and in the +splendour of that robe of sonship<note place='foot'>τύπος τοῦ μέλλοντος. Rom. v. 14. <q>Forma futuri e contrario Christus +ostenditur.</q> S. Aug. tom. x. 1335.</note> in which he +was invested, had been the figure of One to come: +his figure as an individual person, his figure as +father and head of a race; his figure likewise, +when the race itself is viewed as summed up in +one, as one body. Let us take each of these in +their order. +</p> + +<p> +What was the counterpart of Adam, as an individual +person, in the new creation? It was the +Eternal Son Himself assuming a human soul and +body, and bearing our nature in His divine personality. +Over against the creature invested with +sonship stood the uncreated Son, invested with a +created nature. For the grace of the Holy Spirit +given by measure, and depending for its continuance +<pb n='077'/><anchor id='Pg077'/> +on the obedience of the creature, was the +Fountain of Grace Himself ruling the creature by +a union indefeasible and eternal; for grace communicated +grace immanent in its source. For the +son gratuitously adopted was the Son by nature, +making, by an inconceivable grace, the created +nature assumed to be that not of the adopted +but of the natural Son. In a word, the figure +was man united to God; the counterpart, the +God-man. +</p> + +<p> +What, again, is Adam's counterpart as Father +and Head of his race? It was human nature itself, +which the Word of God espoused in the bridal +chamber of the Virginal Womb, and so is become +the Second Adam, the Father of a new race, the +Head of a mystical Body, which corresponds to +Adam's original Headship, but as far transcends +it as the grace of the Incarnate Word transcends +the grace bestowed on the first man. As Adam, +had he stood in his original state of son, would +have transmitted the gift of a like sonship to his +whole race—as, falling, he did actually transmit to +that race the guilt of adoption lost, so the Second +Adam, out of His own uncreated Sonship, but +through the nature which He had assumed, bestowed +the dower of adopted sons and the gift +of justice on his race. From the one there was +punishment generating through the flesh;<note place='foot'><q>Adam unus est, in quo omnes peccaverunt, quia non solum ejus +imitatio peccatores facit, sed per carnem generans pœna: Christus unus +est, in quo omnes justificentur, quia non solum ejus imitatio justos facit, +sed per spiritum regenerans gratia.</q> S. Aug. tom. x. p. 12 c.</note> from +<pb n='078'/><anchor id='Pg078'/> +the other, grace regenerating through the Spirit. +From the one, nature stripped and wounded, yet +still bound to its head by an indissoluble tie; by +the other, the Spirit of the Head, the Spirit of +Truth, Charity, Unity, and Sanctity, ruling his +Body and animating it, as the natural soul animates +the natural body. Precisely where the +mystery was darkest and the misery greatest, the +divine grace is most conspicuous, and the divine +power most triumphant. The very point which +brings out Adam's connection with his race has +an exact counterpart in Christ's Headship of His +people, and an inscrutable judgment serves to illustrate +an unspeakable gift. In exact accordance +with the doctrine that the sin of Adam is man's +sin, and the guilt of Adam man's guilt, is that +boundless and unimaginable grace that the Incarnate +Word did not merely assume an individual +human nature, but espoused in that assumption +the whole nature; that on the cross He paid the +debt of the whole nature, whether for original or +actual sin; that His resurrection is our collective +justification; that the gift of sonship is bestowed +on men not as individual persons, but as members +of His Body, before they have personally merited +anything, just as the guilt came on them, as members +of Adam, before they demerited anything personally. +Exactly where the obscurity of the fall +<pb n='079'/><anchor id='Pg079'/> +was the deepest, the light of the restoration is +brightest; and where the sentence was most severe, +the grace most wonderful. But to deny the +first Adam would entail the loss of the Second; +and he who declines the inheritance of the father +stripped and wounded cannot enter into the Body +of the Word made flesh. +</p> + +<p> +But thirdly, as in that terrible corruption of +heathenism, wherein immorality was based on +false worship, we saw the body of Adam run out +through time and space into the most afflicting +form which evil can assume in the individual and +social life of man, so in that Body which is ruled +by the Divine Headship we see the counterpart, +the triumph of grace, individual man taken out +of that state of fallen nature, and invested with a +membership answering to the dignity of the Head. +The one great Christian people, the Kingdom of +Christ, stands over against that kingdom of violence, +disorder, impurity, and false worship. As +there is a unity of the fallen Adam, a force of evil +which impact only gives, so much more is there a +unity of the Second Adam, which is not a collection +of individuals, but a Body with its Head. The +first unity consists in the reasonable soul, informing +the flesh which was moulded once for all from +the clay and descended to the whole race; and +the race so descending was polluted by a common +guilt, on which, as an ever-fertile root, grew the +whole trunk of man's personal sins, of falsehood, +<pb n='080'/><anchor id='Pg080'/> +enmity, corruption of morals, division, having the +common quality of egotism. The second unity +consists in the Holy Spirit of the Head communicated +to the soul and body of the faithful people, +both being restored by that grace of which truth +and charity, unity and sanctity, are the tokens, +the full virtue being planted in the cross of the +Head, and from the cross diffusing itself to His +Body. +</p> + +<p> +II. And so we are brought again to Him who +stood before Pilate to make the good confession, +and who declared that the cause of His coming into +the world was to bear witness to the truth. In +what form was that witness to be made, and how +was it to be efficacious? This is that point which +we have now to illustrate. Adam's disobedience +was a single act, the power of which, springing out +of his headship, extended through the whole line of +his race; through the consequences of this act the +truth was obscured to them, and human life involved +in manifold error. What was that action +on the part of Christ, the purpose, as He declares, +of His Incarnation, which had an equally enduring +effect? If the guilt communicated was not transitory, +then should the corresponding grace be perpetual. +And how was it so? The Son of God, +as the Head of His race, does not stand at disadvantage +with Adam, but rather, we are told His +grace is superabundant in its results over the +other's sin: and He Himself declared that He had +<pb n='081'/><anchor id='Pg081'/> +completely finished the work given Him to do.<note place='foot'>John xvii. 4.</note> +But here He describes this work to be the bearing +witness to the truth. For, indeed, it was worthy +of the eternal wisdom to clothe Himself in flesh<note place='foot'>S. Thomas, <hi rend='italic'>Summa contra Gentiles</hi>, l. i. c. 1.</note> +in order that truth, the good of the intellect, and +the end of the whole universe, might stand forth +revealed to His rational creatures: and He who +made all things in truth would Himself restore +truth, when it had been obscured by the traducer. +</p> + +<p> +1. Let us take the character which He acknowledged +and claimed before Pilate: His character of +King, and the kingdom in which it is exercised. +</p> + +<p> +The Person of Christ, as that of the eternal +Word, is the Truth itself. But He has assumed +a body, and in that body He declares that He is +a king, and that the exercise of His royalty is the +bearing witness to the truth.<note place='foot'>John xviii. 37. <q>Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was +I born, and for this cause came I into the world, to bear witness unto +the truth.</q></note> His words therefore +indicate no less than the creation of a kingdom +to which the truth should be the principle of +subsistence. But what in the material or temporal +kingdom is that by force of which it subsists? +Plainly power. A kingdom may be larger or +smaller in population, wealth, extent, stronger or +weaker in the quality of its people; but as long +as it retains in itself that in which power culminates, +sovereignty, it will be a kingdom. If +this power departs from it, if it falls into subjection +<pb n='082'/><anchor id='Pg082'/> +to a foreign authority, or if its own subjects +successfully rebel against its power, it ceases to be. +In the kingdom, therefore, of which Christ speaks, +the maintenance of truth corresponds to what the +maintenance of power is in a material kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +But power in the material kingdom moves men +to the natural end of society; it preserves order, +administers justice, allows and assists all natural +forces to develop themselves, and it must be in its +supreme exercise one and indisputable: that is, +it culminates in sovereignty. So in the spiritual +kingdom truth, the corresponding power, moves +men to the supernatural end, and truth culminates +in infallibility. But where is this power seated, +and how does the King wield it? +</p> + +<p> +The same who here calls Himself King and +declares it to be the function of His royalty to +bear witness to the truth, in describing elsewhere +the very creation of His kingdom says to His +apostles, <q>You shall receive power by the Holy +Ghost coming upon you,</q> bidding them also to remain +in Jerusalem <q>until they were endued with +power from on high.</q><note place='foot'>Acts i. 8; Luke xxiv. 49.</note> But a few hours before +that scene in the hall of Pilate He had told them +also that He would send them the Spirit of Truth, +who should abide with them for ever, and should +lead them into all truth. He creates therefore the +kingdom of the truth by sending down the Spirit +of the Truth to dwell for ever with those to whom +<pb n='083'/><anchor id='Pg083'/> +He is sent; and this Spirit of the Truth is His +own Spirit, whom He Himself will send as the +token of His ascension and session; the Spirit who +dwelt in the Body which He had assumed, and in +which He spoke before Pilate, should be sent by +Him when that Body had taken its place at the +right hand of God, should invest with His own +power those to whom He was sent, and should +never cease to be with them in His character of the +Spirit of Truth. Here, then, is that power in the +kingdom of the Truth which enables it to bear a +true and a perpetual witness. It is the power of +the King, for it is His Spirit: it is the power of +the kingdom, for it remains in it, is throned in it, +and makes it to be what it is. +</p> + +<p> +But to create a kingdom of the truth, and to +bear perpetual witness in that kingdom to the +truth, is not only to state what is true. These +expressions mark out an organisation in and by +means of which truth is perpetuated. And further, +the spirit in man is both reason and will; +and that man may act, the intellect which has +truth for its object must work on the will which +has good for its object. And so the witness which +our Lord speaks of is that action of the truth +upon the will which produces a life in accordance +with it: it is truth not left to itself, but supported +by grace. This power of the Spirit of Truth is +therefore double, as intended to work on the two +powers of the soul, the reason and the will: it is +<pb n='084'/><anchor id='Pg084'/> +the double gift of Truth and Grace; as He is the +Spirit of Grace no less than the Spirit of Truth, +and all grace is His immediate gift. +</p> + +<p> +Thus the Word made flesh being full of Truth +and Grace from His own Person communicated +that Truth and Grace as the power which should +form His kingdom for ever, abide in it, and constitute +its being a kingdom; the gift of truth and +grace being the very presence of His own Spirit, +who took possession of His kingdom on the day of +Pentecost and holds it for ever. +</p> + +<p> +This whole possession of Truth and Grace +dwelling in a visible body is the work of the eternal +Word, who assumed a body for that purpose. +It is the counter-creation to the kingdom of falsehood +which commenced with the sin of the first +man believing a falsehood against his Maker, and +which spread itself with his lineage into all lands.<note place='foot'>See S. Aug. tom. iv. 1039 e. <q>Ipse ergo Adam,</q> &c.</note> +And as in the natural creation He not only created +but maintained—for He did not make His +creatures and then depart from them, but from +that time they exist in Him—so in the supernatural +the act of maintaining is equivalent to the +act of creating, it is a continued creation. As the +guilt had a force which was fruitful, which continued +and propagated itself, and produced a widespread +reign of falsehood, how much more should +that mighty and astonishing grace of a Divine Person +assuming a created nature be fruitful, continue, +<pb n='085'/><anchor id='Pg085'/> +and propagate itself in the maintenance of +a visible kingdom, whose distinctive character and +its very life should be the possession and communication +of the truth. Should the Creator of man +in His greatest work be less powerful than His +seduced creature in his fall? and if the fall, pregnant +with falsehood, bore fruit through ages in a +whole race, should not the recovery likewise have +its visible dominion, and stand over against the +ruin as the kingdom of truth? +</p> + +<p> +It is as King ruling in the kingdom of truth +that the Divine Word incarnate redeems man from +captivity, which began in a revolt from the truth, +and in becoming subject to falsehood. All who +are outside His kingdom lie in this captivity;<note place='foot'>Οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐσμὲν, καὶ ὁ κόσμος ὅλος ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ +κεῖται; οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἥκει, καὶ δέδωκεν ἡμῖν διάνοιαν ἵνα γινώσκωμεν +τὸν ἀληθινόν; καὶ ἐσμὲν ἐν τῷ ἀληθινῷ, ἐν τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ. +1 Joh. v. 19. Two persons are here opposed to each other, ὁ πονηρός and +ὁ ἀληθινός. Compare the Lord's Prayer, ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ. +Matt. vi. 13 and Joh. xvii. 14, 15. ἐγὼ δέδωκα αὐτοῖς τὸν λόγον σου, καὶ ὁ +κόσμος ἐμίσησεν αὐτοὺς, ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, καθὼς ἐγὼ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐκ τοῦ +κόσμου. οὐκ ἐρωτῶ ἵνα ἀρῇς αὐτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα τηρησῇς αὐτοὺς +ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ.</note> +the life which He gave voluntarily is the price paid +for their liberation; and as age after age, so long +as the natural body of Adam lasts, the captivity +endures, so age after age the liberation takes effect +by entering into His kingdom. And this is the +most general name, the name of predilection, which +both in prophecy marked the time of Messiah the +King, and was announced by His precursor, and +<pb n='086'/><anchor id='Pg086'/> +taken by our Lord to indicate His having come. +The eternal duration of this kingdom may be said +to be the substance of all prophecy, and it was +precisely in the interpretation of a vision describing +under the image of a great statue the four +world-kingdoms, that is, the whole structure, course, +and issue of the heathenism which we have been +contemplating, that Daniel contrasts these kingdoms +with another. <q>In the days of these kings +shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which +shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall +not be delivered to another people, but it shall +break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, +and shall stand itself for ever.</q> As King in this +kingdom through all the generations of men from +the moment that He stood in Pilate's hall until He +comes to judge the world, our Lord bears witness +to the truth, His witness and His royalty being +contemporaneous and conterminous to each other. +</p> + +<p> +2. This perpetual possession and announcement +of the truth is indicated by another image +which is of constant recurrence,<note place='foot'>Heb. iii. 1-6; Ephes. ii. 19-22; 1 Cor. iii. 9, 10-15; 2 Cor. vi. 16; +1 Peter ii. 4, 5.</note> wherein Christ +is the Inhabitant, His people the Inhabited, while +both are the House or Temple, for that in which +God dwells is at once His House and Temple. +Thus Moses is said to have been <q>faithful in all +his house as a servant, but Christ as a Son over +His own house, whose house are we.</q> Here the +<pb n='087'/><anchor id='Pg087'/> +King who bears witness to the truth is the God +who sanctifies the faithful people by dwelling in +them and building them in the truth. It is not +merely the individual believer, but the whole mass +of the faithful which grows up to be a holy temple; +and the ever-abiding Spirit of truth, whose +presence is the guarantee of truth, is the equally +abiding Spirit of sanctity, whose presence imparts +holiness. The Son dwells in His own house by +His Spirit for ever: as He ceases not to be incarnate, +He ceases not to dwell in His house, and +could falsehood be worshipped in His temple, it +would cease to be His. That was the work of +heathenism, when a false spirit had caused error +to be worshipped for truth; the specific victory +of the Word incarnate was to set up a temple +in which the truth should be worshipped for ever, +<q>the inhabitation of God in the Spirit.</q> But +living stones make up this temple, that is, individual +spirits, endued with their own reason and +will, yet no less fitted in and cemented together +by His grace, and so forming a structure which +has an organic unity of its own, being the House +and Temple of One. It is in virtue of this inhabitation +that the Church is termed the House +of God, the pillar and ground of the truth, inasmuch +as it contains, as between walls,<note place='foot'>Τοῦτο γὰρ ἐστὶ τὸ συνέχον τὴν πίστιν καὶ τὸ κήρυγμα. S. Chrys. in loc. +Compare S. Irenæus, lib. i. c. 10. Τοῦτο τὸ κήρυγμα παρειληφυῖα, καὶ ταύτην +τὴν πίστιν, ὡς προέφαμεν, ἡ Ἐκκλησία, καίπερ ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ διεσπαρμένη, +ἐπιμελῶς φυλάσσει, ὡς ἕνα οἶκον οἰκοῦσα.</note> the faith +<pb n='088'/><anchor id='Pg088'/> +and its announcement and proclamation, that is, +the law of the King of Truth declared by His +heralds. <q>We speculate,</q> says S. Augustine, +<q>that we may attain to vision; yet even the +most studious speculation would fall into error +unless the Lord inhabited the Church herself that +now is.</q><note place='foot'>S. Aug. in Ps. ix. tom. iv. 51.</note> And again: <q>In earthly possessions +a benefit is given to the proprietor when he is +given possession; not so is the possession which +is the Church. The benefit here lies in being +possessed by such a one.</q>—<q>Christ's Body is +both Temple and House and City, and He who is +Head of the Body is Inhabiter of the House, and +Sanctifier of the Temple, and King of the City.—What +can we say more acceptable to Him than +this, Possess us?</q><note place='foot'>Ibid. in Ps. cxxxi. tom. iv. 1473.</note> +</p> + +<p> +3. Again, to take another image, which is the +greatest of realities. What a wonderful production +of divine skill is the structure of the human +body! Even its outward beauty is such as to +sway our feelings with a force which reason has +at times a hard combat to overcome, so keen is +the delight which it conveys. But the inward distribution +of its parts is so marvellous that those +who have spent their lives in the study of its +anatomy can find in a single member, for instance, +in the hand, enough out of which to fill a volume +with the wise adaptation of means to ends which +<pb n='089'/><anchor id='Pg089'/> +it reveals. There are parts of it the structure +of which is so minute and subtle that the most +persevering science has not yet attained fully to +unravel their use. In all this arrangement of +nerves and muscles, machines of every sort, meeting +all manner of difficulties, and supplying all +kinds of uses, what an endless storehouse of wisdom +and forethought! And all these are permeated +by a common life, which binds every +part, whatever its several importance, into one +whole, and all these, in the state of health, work +together with so perfect an ease that the living +actor, the bearer of so marvellous a structure, is +unconscious of an effort, and exults in the life so +simple and yet so manifold poured out on such a +multitude of members, a life so tender that the +smallest prick is felt over the whole body, and +yet so strong that a wound may transfix the +whole structure leaving the life untouched. And, +in addition to this physical marvel, the incorporeal +mind, which has its seat in this material +structure, and whose presence is itself its life, +rules like an absolute monarch with undisputed +sway over his whole dominion, so that the least +movement of volition carries with it a willing +obedience in the whole frame, and for it instantaneously +the eye gazes, the ear listens, the tongue +speaks, the feet walk, the hands work, and the +brain feels with an incomparable unity. The +marvel of the body is that things so many and +<pb n='090'/><anchor id='Pg090'/> +various by the rule of the artificer impressed +upon them are yet one, concur to one end, and +produce one whole, from which no part can be +taken, and to which none can be added without +injury, the least and the greatest replete with one +life, which so entirely belongs to the whole body +that what is severed from the body at once dies. +<q>Now as the body is one, and has many members, +but all the members of this one body, being +many, are one body, so also,</q> says S. Paul, <q>is +Christ,</q> giving the name of the Head to the +whole Body. What the human head is to its +own body, that our Lord is to His Church. Perhaps +no other image in the whole realm of nature +would convey with such force the three relations<note place='foot'>Petavius on the Headship of Christ.</note> +which constitute spiritual headship, an inseparable +union, by which the head and the body form +one whole, an unceasing government, including +every sort of provision and care, and a perpetual +influx of grace. This is on the part of the head, +while as to the body perhaps no other image but +this could equally convey the conjunction of many +different members with various functions, whose +union makes the structure, and whose unity is +something entirely distinct from that which all +the parts in their several state, or even in their +collocation and arrangement, make up, for it is the +life which makes them one. Thus it is an unfathomed +depth of doctrine, which is conveyed in +<pb n='091'/><anchor id='Pg091'/> +the words, <q>God gave Him to be Head over all +things to the Church, who is His Body, the fulness +of Him who fills all things in all.</q> For +though no language could exhaust or duly exhibit +the meaning of the kingdom or the temple +in which the abiding work of our Lord is indicated, +we have in this title yet more strikingly +portrayed the intimate union and common life +of His people with Christ, and His tender affection +for them, since the King of Truth who redeems +and the God of Truth who sanctifies is at the +same time the Head who by His own Spirit of +the truth rules and vivifies His own Body. If +it be possible to dissociate the idea of the King +from his kingdom, or that of God from the temple +of living souls in whom He is worshipped, and +whose worship of Him makes them one, yet in +the human frame to dissever the head from the +body is to destroy the propriety of both terms, +and it is as a whole human body that the apostle +represents Christ and His people to us. +</p> + +<p> +4. Yet, as if this was not enough, S. Paul +goes on to delineate Him as the Bridegroom, +whose love after redeeming sanctifies one who +shall be His bride for ever, one who obeys Him +with the fidelity of conjugal love, one whose preservation +of His faith unstained is not the dry +fulfilment of a command, but the prompting of +wedded affection. The image seems chosen to +convey intensity of love, first on the part of the +<pb n='092'/><anchor id='Pg092'/> +Bridegroom as originating it, and then on the +part of the Bride as responding to it. But no +less does the unity of person in the Bride, given +by S. John as well as by S. Paul, indicate in the +Church something quite distinct from the individuals +who compose her. For she is the pattern +of the faithful wife in that she is subject to +Christ; and in these words a fact is stated,<note place='foot'>Passaglia <hi rend='italic'>de Ecclesia</hi>.</note> a +fact without limit of place or time, which therefore +marks that she who is so described can never +at any time be separated from the fidelity and +love due from her to her Head and Husband. +And this is not true of the individual souls belonging +to her, for they, having been once faithful +members of the body, may fall away and be finally +lost. The Bride alone is subject to Christ with +a never-failing subjection. And He on His part +loves her as His own flesh, a union of the two +loves of the Head for the Body, and of the Bridegroom +for the Bride, which is true with regard +to Him of the Church alone, since individuals +within her He may cast off, but her alone He +cherishes and fosters for ever. It is indefectible +union and unbroken charity with Him which her +quality of Bride conveys. +</p> + +<p> +5. And out of this wedded union by that great +sacrament concerning Christ and the Church, of +which in the same passage S. Paul speaks, that +they two shall be one flesh, springs the whole race, +<pb n='093'/><anchor id='Pg093'/> +in the generation of whom is most completely verified +his title of the Second Adam. From the womb +of the Church, become from a Bride the Mother of +all living, the Father of the age to come bears that +chosen race, and royal priesthood, and holy nation, +and purchased people. And here we see expressed +with great force the truth that all who belong to +the Father's supernatural race must come by the +Mother. Her office of parent is here set forth; as +her fidelity and intense affection shine in the title +of the Bride, as her union, submission, and unfailing +reception of life in her title of Body, so in the +title of Mother all the saved are borne to Christ +by her, as S. Cyprian<note place='foot'>S. Cyprian <hi rend='italic'>de Unitate</hi>, 5.</note> drew the conclusion, <q>he +cannot have God for his father who has not the +Church for his mother.</q> +</p> + +<p> +In all this we see the five<note place='foot'>All these five relations between Christ and the Church are mentioned +in one passage of S. Paul, Ephes. v. 22-33.</note> great loves first +shown by God to man, then returned by man to +God; the love of the Saviour, redeeming captives, +and out of these forming His kingdom; the love +of the friend, who is God, sanctifying those whom +He redeems into one temple; the love which He +has implanted in man for self-preservation, since +that which He so redeems and sanctifies He has +made His own body; the love which He has given +to the bridegroom for the bride, since it is the +Bride of the Lamb who is so adorned; and the love +<pb n='094'/><anchor id='Pg094'/> +of the Father for his race, since it is his wife who +bears every child to him. Why is the whole force +of human language exhausted, and the whole +strength of the several human affections accumulated, +in this manner? It is to express the super-eminent +work of God made flesh, who, when He +took a human body, created in correspondence to +it that among men and out of men in which the +virtue of His Incarnation is stored up, the mystical +Kingdom, Temple, Body, Bride, and Mother. +No one of these titles could convey the full riches +of His work, or the variously wrought splendour of +His wisdom, which the angels desire to look into; +therefore He searched through human nature and +society in all its depth and height for images whose +union might express a work so unexampled and +unique. Rather, it is truer to say that these natural +affections themselves, the gift of that most +bountiful giver, were created by Him originally to +be types, foreshadowings, and partial copies of that +more excellent supernatural love which He had decreed +to show to man, since first of all things in +the order of the divine design must the Incarnation +have been. The whole structure of the family, +and the affections which it contains, must +spring out of this root, for nature was anticipated +by grace in man's creation, and must ever have +been subordinate to it. And now, when the full +time of grace is come, these titles of things which +by His mercy have lasted through the fall, serve +<pb n='095'/><anchor id='Pg095'/> +to illustrate the greatness of the restoration. For +this, which has many names, all precious and dear, +is but one creation, having the manifold qualities +of redemption and sanctification, of organic unity +in one body, wherein many members conspire to a +corporate life, which life itself is charity, and in +which is the production of the holy race. As we +gaze on the Kingdom, Temple, Body, Spouse, and +Family, one seems to melt and change into the +other. The Kingdom is deepened and enlarged +by the thought that the King is the eternal Truth +who is worshipped therein; and the worship passes +on into the love of the Incarnate God for the members +of His own Body, whom He first saves, then +fosters and cherishes as His own flesh: and here +again is blended that tenderest love of the Bridegroom +for the bride, which further issues into the +crowning love of the Father for His race. The +mode of the salvation seems to spring from the +nature of God Himself, since all paternity in heaven +and earth springs from that whereby He is +Father of the only-begotten Son, who, descending +from heaven with the love of the Bridegroom for +the bride, binds together in sonship derived from +his own the members of His body, the bride of His +heart, the subjects of His kingdom, who are built +up as living stones into that unimaginable temple +raised in the unity of worshipping hearts to the +ever-blessed Trinity. To this grows out, as the +fulness of Him who fills all in all, that body of +<pb n='096'/><anchor id='Pg096'/> +the Second Adam, of which in the body of the +first Adam He had Himself deposited the germ. +</p> + +<p> +When the angel described to the Blessed Virgin +herself that miracle of miracles which was to take +place in her, the assumption of human flesh by +the Son of God, he used these terms: <q>The Holy +Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the +Most High shall overshadow thee.</q> When the Son +of God, at the moment of His Ascension, declared +to His Apostles the creation of His mystical body, +by using similar words He referred them back to +His own conception: <q>You shall receive power, +the Holy Ghost coming upon you:</q> having already +on the day of His Resurrection told them, <q>I send +the promise of my Father upon you; but wait you +in the city until you be indued with power from +on high.</q><note place='foot'>Luke i. 35. Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπί σε, καὶ δύναμις ὑψίστου ἐπισκιάσει +σοι. Acts i. 8. λήψεσθε δύναμιν, ἐπελθόντος τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐφ᾽ +ὑμᾶς. Luke xxiv. 49. ἕως οὗ ἐνδύσησθε δύναμιν ἐξ ὕψους.</note> Our Lord Himself thus suggests to us +the remarkable parallel between the formation of +His natural and His mystical body. He who framed +the one and the other is the same, the Holy Ghost: +the Head precedes, the Body follows; because of +the first descent, that Holy Thing which was to be +born should be called the Son of God; because +of the second, <q>you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, +and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to +the farthest part of the earth;</q> and this is said in +answer to their question whether He would then +<pb n='097'/><anchor id='Pg097'/> +restore the kingdom to Israel: that is, the second +descent of the Holy Ghost forms the kingdom +whose witness to Christ is perpetual; forms the +body with which and in which He will be for ever by +this power of His Spirit dwelling in it to the end +of the world. We have therefore here all the +various functions and qualities which, under the five +great titles of Kingdom, Temple, Body, Spouse, and +Mother, delineate His Church, gathered up into +that unity which comprehends them all, and from +which, as a source, they all flow, <q>The Power of +the Holy Ghost coming upon men.</q><note place='foot'>The Church is so called by S. Augustine.</note> This creation +is as absolutely His, and His alone, as the forming +of our Lord's own Body in the Virginal Womb; +it is the sequel of it; the fulfilment among men +of those divine purposes for which God became +Incarnate; in one word, the Body of the Head +perpetually quickened by His Spirit. And here we +may remark those striking resemblances between +the natural and mystical Body which this <q>power +of the Holy Ghost,</q> the former of them both, +indicates. For in the first the manhood<note place='foot'>These five are taken from Passaglia <hi rend='italic'>de Ecclesia</hi>, lib. i. cap. 3, +p. 34, 5.</note> cannot +be severed from the Person of the Word, nor in +the second can the body of the Church be severed +from Christ the Head and His Spirit. Secondly, +in the first the Person of the Word and His manhood +make one Christ, and in the second Christ +<pb n='098'/><anchor id='Pg098'/> +the Head and the Church the Body make one complete +Body. Thirdly, in the first the manhood has +its own will, but through union with the Godhead +is impeccable and indefeasible; and in the second +the Body of the Church, though possessing its own +liberty, is so ruled by Christ and guided by His +Spirit, that it cannot fail in truth or in charity. +Fourthly, in the first there is an influx of celestial +gifts from the Person of the Word into the manhood, +and in the second there is a like influx from +Christ the Head into His Body the Church, so that +he who hears the Church hears Christ, and he who +persecutes the Church, as Saul before the gate of +Damascus, persecutes Christ. Fifthly, in the first +the Head, through the manhood as His instrument, +fulfilled all the economy of redemption, dwelt among +men, taught them, redeemed them, bestowed on +them the gifts of holiness and the friendship of +God; and in the second, what He began in His +manhood He continues through the Church as His +own Body,<note place='foot'>Compare S. Athanasius <hi rend='italic'>cont. Arian. de Incarn.</hi> p. 877 c.—καὶ ὅταν +λέγῃ ὁ Πέτρος, ἀσφαλῶς οὖν γινωσκέτω πᾶς οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ ὅτι καὶ Κύριον καὶ +Χριστὸν αὐτον ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τοῦτον τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὂν ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε, οὐ περὶ +τῆς Θεότητος αὐτοῦ λέγει, ὅτι καὶ Κύριον αὐτὸν καὶ Χριστὸν ἐποίησεν, ἀλλὰ περὶ +τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος αὐτοῦ, ἥτις ἐστι πᾶσα ἡ ἐκκλησία, ἡ ἐν αὐτῷ κυριεύουσα καὶ +βασιλεύουσα, μετὰ τὸ αὐτὸν σταυρωθῆναι; καὶ χριομένη εἰς βασίλειαν οὐρανῶν, +ἵνα συμβασιλεύσῃ αὐτῷ, τῷ δι᾽ αὐτὴν ἑαυτὸν κενώσαντι, καὶ ἀναλαβόντι αὐτὴν +διὰ τῆς δουλικῆς μορφῆς.</note> and bestows on men what He merited +in His flesh, showing in and by the Church His +presence among men, teaching them holiness, preserving +<pb n='099'/><anchor id='Pg099'/> +them from error, and leading them to the +eternal inheritance. +</p> + +<p> +It is also by this one <q>power of the Holy Ghost +coming upon men</q> that we learn how the Head and +the Body make one Christ. As in the human frame +the presence of the soul gives it life and unity, +binding together every member by that secret indivisible +force, from the least to the greatest, from +the heart and brain to the minutest portion of the +outward skin, so in this divine Body, which makes +the whole Christ, it is the presence of the Holy +Ghost, as of the soul, which gives it unity and +life. The conclusion was drawn by a great Saint, +and no less great a genius, fourteen hundred years +ago, and I prefer S. Augustine's words to any which +I can use myself: <q>Our spirit by which the whole +race of man lives is called the soul; our spirit, too, +by which each man in particular lives is called the +soul; and you see what the soul does in the body. +It quickens all the limbs: through the eyes it sees, +through the ears it hears, through the nostrils +smells, through the tongue speaks, through the +hands works, through the feet walks; it is present +at once in all the limbs that they may live; life it +gives to all, their functions to each. The eye does +not hear, nor the ear nor the tongue see, nor the ear +nor the eye speak, but both live; the functions are +diverse, the life common. So is the Church of God. +In some saints it works miracles; in others gives +voice to the truth; in others, again, maintains the +<pb n='100'/><anchor id='Pg100'/> +virginal life; in others keeps conjugal fidelity; in +these one thing, in those another; each have their +proper work, but all alike live. Now, what the +soul is to the human body, that is the Holy Spirit +to the body of Christ, which is the Church: what +the soul does in all the limbs of an individual body, +that does the Holy Spirit in the whole Church. +But see what you have to avoid, what to observe, +and what to fear. It happens that, in the human +body, or in any other body, some member may be +cut off, hand, finger, or foot. Does the soul follow +it when cut off? As long as it was in the body it +lived: when cut off, it loses life. So too the Christian +man is a Catholic while he lives in the body; +when cut off, he becomes a heretic; the Spirit does +not follow the amputated limb.</q><note place='foot'>S. Aug. serm. 267, tom. v. p. 1090 e.</note> +</p> + +<p> +But what is this <q>power of the Holy Ghost +coming upon men</q>? It is the whole treasure of +truth and grace, which dwelt first in the natural +body of Christ, which He came to bestow on men, +which He withdrew not when He ascended, but of +which He promised the continuance in the Person +of the Holy Ghost, and fulfils by that Person indwelling +in the Church. It was the imparting the +whole treasure of truth and grace by such an indwelling +which made it expedient for Him to go, +which made His bodily departure not a loss, but a +gain, which was <q>the promise</q> of which He spoke +on that last night, and which was expressly declared +<pb n='101'/><anchor id='Pg101'/> +to be a perpetual presence, leading, as it were, by +the hand<note place='foot'>Luke xxiv. 49 and John xvi. 13. ἐκεῖνος, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, +ὁδηγήσει ὑμᾶς εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν; and 14, 15. ἐγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν Πατέρα, +καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν, ἵνα μένῃ μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, τὸ πνεῦμα +τῆς ἀληθείας.</note> into all truth—an all-powerful, all-completing, +all-compensating presence, such as that +alone is or can be which maintains the intellect +of man in truth, because it maintains his will in +grace: and, instead of the two wild horses of which +the great heathen<note place='foot'>Plato.</note> spoke, guides the soul in her +course as borne aloft on those twin divine yoke-fellows,<note place='foot'>πανταχοῦ συνάπτει καὶ συγκολλᾷ τὴν πίστιν καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην, θαυμαστήν +τινα ξυνωρίδα. S. Chrys. 3d Hom. on Ephes. tom. xi. p. 16.</note> +faith and charity. +</p> + +<p> +Correlative, therefore, to the Person of Him +who is at once King, and God, and Head, and +Bridegroom, and Father, is that singular creation +of His Spirit, by which, in the Kingdom, Temple, +Body, Spouse, and Mother, He deposited the treasure +of the truth and grace which He became man +to communicate. It was not as individual men, +living a life apart, but as common children of one +race, joint members of one body, that the guilt of +the first father fell upon them; it is only on them +as children of a higher race and members of a far +greater body, that the grace of the Deliverer is bestowed. +The distinctions of race and the divisions +of condition drop away as they are baptised into +one body, and made to drink of one spirit. The +new and supernatural life cannot be communicated +<pb n='102'/><anchor id='Pg102'/> +save by this act of engrafting into a new body. As +Eve from the side of Adam sleeping, so the Church +from the side of Christ suffering; as Eve bears +still to Adam the children of men, so the Church +to Christ the children of Christ. These are not +two mysteries, but one, unfathomable in both its +parts, of justice and of mercy; but the whole history +of the human race bears witness to the first, +and the whole history of the Christian people to +the second. It would be amply sufficient to prove +what we have been saying, that the first communication +of the supernatural life is conferred by being +baptised into one body and made to drink into one +spirit. But this is not all. There is a yet dearer +and more precious gift, which maintains and increases +the life so given. Our Lord stands in the +midst of His Church visibly forming from day to +day and from age to age that Body of His which +reaches through the ages; He takes from Himself +and gives to us. He incorporates Himself in +His children. He grows up in us, and by visible +streams from His heart maintains the life first +given. Here, above all, is the one Christ, the Head +and the Body. This is but an elemental truth +of Christian faith, though it is the highest joy +of the Christian heart. It was in an instruction +to catechumens that S. Augustine said, <q>Would +you understand the Body of Christ? Hear the +Apostle saying to the faithful, <q>But you are the +Body and the members of Christ.</q> If, then, you +<pb n='103'/><anchor id='Pg103'/> +are Christ's Body and His members, it is your +own mystery which is placed on the Lord's table; +it is your own mystery which you receive. It is +to what you are that you reply amen, and by replying +subscribe. For you are told, <q>the Body of +Christ,</q> and you reply, amen. Be a member of the +Body of Christ, and let your amen be true. Why, +then, in bread? Let us bring here nothing of our +own, but listen to the Apostle himself again and +again, for in speaking of that sacrament he says, +<q>We that are many are one bread, one body.</q> +Understand and rejoice. Here is unity, verity, +piety, charity. One bread. Who is that one +bread? We being many are one bread. Remember +that the bread is not made of one, but of +many grains. When you were exorcised, it was +as if you were ground; when baptised, as if you +were kneaded together with water; when you +received the fire of the Holy Ghost, it was your +baking. Be what you see, and receive what you +are. This the Apostle said of the bread. Of +the chalice what we should understand is clear +enough even unsaid. For as to make the visible +species of bread many grains are kneaded with +water into one, as if that were taking place which +Holy Scripture records of the faithful, <q>they had +one mind and one heart in God,</q> so also in the +case of the wine. Many grapes hang on the +bunch, but their juice is poured together into +one. So too Christ the Lord signified us; willed +<pb n='104'/><anchor id='Pg104'/> +us to belong to Himself; consecrated on His own +table the mystery of our peace and unity. He +who receives the mystery of unity and holds not +the bond of peace receives not a mystery for himself, +but a witness against himself.</q><note place='foot'>S. Aug. serm. 272, tom. v. p. 1104 c.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Thus the coherence of the natural and mystical +Body of Christ was at once exhibited and +effected in the great central act of Christian worship, +and the whole fruit of the Incarnation was +seen springing from the Person of Christ, and +bestowed on men as His members in the unity +of one Body. Thus were they taken out of the +isolation, distraction, and enmity—that state of +mutual strife and disorder which heathendom expresses—and +made into the one divine commonwealth; +and thus the Body of Christ grows to its +full stature and perfect form through all the ages +of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +And if there be one conviction which, together +with the belief in the Incarnation itself of +the Word, is common to all the Fathers, Doctors, +Saints, and Martyrs of the Church—which together +with that belief and as part of it is the ground +of their confidence in trouble, of their perseverance +in enduring, of their undoubting faith in +times of persecution, of their assurance of final +victory, it is the sense which encompassed their +whole life, that they were members of one Body, +which, in virtue of an organic unity in itself and +<pb n='105'/><anchor id='Pg105'/> +with its Head, was to last for ever. The notion +that this Body, as such, could fail, that it could +cease to be the treasure-house of the divine truth +and grace, would have struck them with as much +horror as the notion that Christ had not become +incarnate, and was not their Redeemer. The +Body which the Holy Ghost animated on the day +of Pentecost never ceased to be conscious of its +existence—conscious that the power of its Head, +the Eternal Truth, was in it, and would be in it +for ever. Confidence in himself as an individual +member of the Body, the Christian had not, for +he knew that through his personal sinfulness grace +might be withdrawn from him, and that he might +fall away; confidence he did not place either in +his own learning, knowledge, and sanctity, or in +these gifts as belonging to any individual Christian; +his confidence lay in the King who reigned +in an everlasting Kingdom, in the Head who +animated an incorruptible Body. To sever these +two would have been to decapitate Christ.<note place='foot'><q>Quid tibi fecit Ecclesia, ut eam velis quodammodo decollare? +Tollere vis Ecclesiæ caput et capiti credere, corpus relinquere, quasi exanime +corpus. Sine caussa capiti quasi famulus devotus blandiris. Qui +decollare vult, et caput et corpus conatur occidere.</q> S. Aug. tom. v. p. 636.</note> The +thought that the Bride of Christ could herself +become an adulteress, and teach her children the +very falsehoods of that idol-worship which she +was created to overthrow, would have appeared +to him the denial of all Christian belief. And +such a denial indeed it is to any mind which, +<pb n='106'/><anchor id='Pg106'/> +receiving the Christian truth as a divine gift, looks +for it also to have a logical cohesion with itself, +to be consistent and complete, to be a body of +truth, not a bundle of opinions. Let us take +once more S. Augustine as expressing, not a private +feeling, but the universal Christian sense, +when he thus reprehended the Donatist pretension, +that truth had deserted the Body of the +Church to dwell in the province of Africa. <q>But, +they say, that Church which was the Church of +all nations exists no longer. She has perished. +This they say who are not in her. O shameless +word! The Church is not because thou art not +in her. See, lest therefore thou be not, for though +thou be not, she will be. This word, abominable, +detestable, full of presumption and falsehood, supported +by no truth, illuminated by no wisdom, +seasoned with no sense, vain, rash, precipitate, +and pernicious—this it was which the Spirit of +God foresaw, and as against these very men, when +He foretold unity in that saying, <q>To announce +the name of the Lord in Zion, and his worship in +Jerusalem, when the peoples and kingdoms join +together in one that they may serve the Lord.</q></q><note place='foot'>S. Aug. in Ps. ci. tom. iv. p. 1105 d.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Now, to suppose that anything which is false +has been, or is, or can be taught by the Church +of God, is to overthrow the one idea which runs +through the titles of the Kingdom, Temple, Body, +and Spouse of Christ, it is to make the Mother +<pb n='107'/><anchor id='Pg107'/> +of His children an adulteress, to deny that power +of the Holy Ghost coming down on the day of +Pentecost, and abiding for ever, with His special +function of leading into all truth, that presence +of the Comforter in virtue of which the Apostles +said for themselves and for the Church through +all time, <q>It has seemed good to the Holy Ghost +and to us.</q> With all men who reason, such a +supposition is equivalent to the statement that +Christ has failed in what He came on earth to +do, for <q>the Word was made flesh that He might +become the Head of the Church.</q><note place='foot'>S. Augustine, tom. iv. p. 1677. <q>Elegit hic sibi thalamum castum, +ubi conjungeretur Sponsus Sponsæ. Verbum caro factum est, ut fieret +caput Ecclesiæ.</q></note> Next, therefore, +in atrocity to that blasphemy which assaults +the blessed Trinity in Unity upon His throne is +the miserable and heartless blasphemy which, by +imputing corruption of the truth to the very +Kingdom and Temple, the very Body and Spouse +of the Truth Himself, the Incarnate God, would +declare the frustration of that purpose which He +became man to execute, the falsifying of that +witness of which He spoke in the hall of Pilate, +and would so annihilate that glory to God in the +highest, and on earth peace to men of good-will, +which was the angelic song on the morning of +His birth, and is daily<note place='foot'>By the <q>Gloria in excelsis,</q> &c. in the Mass.</note> in the mouth of His +Bride. The truth can as little cease out of the +House and Temple of God as the Father and Son +<pb n='108'/><anchor id='Pg108'/> +can cease sending the Spirit to dwell in it: the +truth can as little cease to be proclaimed and +taught in its own kingdom as the King can cease +to reign in it. The conjugal faith of the Bride +of Christ cannot fail, because He remains her +Bridegroom. The power of the Head, the double +power of truth and grace, cannot cease to rule +and vivify His Body, because He is its Head for +ever. The Mother cannot deceive her children, +because she is of one flesh with the Son of Man, +in the union of an unbroken wedlock. +</p> + +<p> +It has been said above that the power of that +bond which from the origin of man united the +race to its head was shown not only in the guilt +which the act of that head was able to inflict +on the body, not only in the exact transmission +of the same nature, thus stained, from age to age, +but likewise in that social character of the race +in virtue of which such a thing as a man entirely +independent of his fellow men, neither acting +upon them, nor acted upon by them, never has +existed nor can exist. It was in that connected +mass which this social nature creates, that corporate +unity of human society, that heathenism +appeared most terrible, because corruption seemed +to propagate itself, and evil by this force of cohesion +to become almost impregnable. But it was +especially in creating a corporate unity which +should show the force of our social nature for good, +as the corruption had shown it for evil, that the +<pb n='109'/><anchor id='Pg109'/> +power of the Restorer shines forth. The true +Head of our race came to redeem and sanctify +not so many individuals but His Body. Surely +there is no distinction more important to bear in +mind.<note place='foot'>Οὐδὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸ σῶμα δύναται ποιεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ὁμοίως ἕκαστον +λείπεται εἰς τὸ ποιεῖν σῶμα, καὶ δεῖ τῆς συνόδου; ὅταν γὰρ τὰ πολλὰ ἓν +γίνηται, τότε ἐστὶν ἓν σῶμα.... τὸ γὰρ εἶναι ἢ μὴ εἶναι σῶμα ἐκ τοῦ +ἡνῶσθαι ἢ μὴ ἡνῶσθαι γίνεται.... τῶν γὰρ μελῶν ἡμῶν ἕκαστον καὶ ἴδιαν +ἐνέργειαν ἔχει καὶ κοινήν; καὶ κάλλος ὁμοίως καὶ ἴδιον καὶ κοινόν ἐστιν ἐν +ἡμῖν, καὶ δοκεῖ μὲν διηρῆσθαι ταῦτα, συμπέπλεκται δὲ ἀκιβῶς, καὶ θατέρου +διαφθαρέντος καὶ τὸ ἕτερον συναπόλλυται. S. Chrys. on 1 Cor. xii. tom. x. +pp. 269, 271, 273.</note> <q>No single member by itself can make +a body; each of them fails in this; coöperation +is required, for when many become one, there is +one body. The being or not being a body depends +on being united or not united into one.</q> +And, again, beautiful as the individual member, +the hand or the eye, may be in itself, far higher +is the beauty which belongs to the body as the +whole in which these members coalesce and are +one. Each member too has a double energy, its +own proper work, and that which it contributes +to the body's unity, for this is a higher work +which the coöperation of all produces; each a +double beauty, its beauty as a part, and that +which it adds to the whole: and these two, which +seem to be separate, have the closest connection, +for a maimed limb impairs the whole body's force, +and as to its beauty, as it is incomparably finer +than the beauty of any part, so is it marred by a +slight defect in one part, as the fairest face would +<pb n='110'/><anchor id='Pg110'/> +be spoilt by the absence of eyebrows, the fairest +eyes lose their lustre, and the countenance its +light, by the want of eyelashes. It is, then, in the +beauty of the Body of Christ that the Christian +mind would exult, not merely in the several graces +of those who are its members, but in that corporate +unity which they present. We see in the +course of the world that great image of the prophet, +lofty in stature and terrible to behold, whose +head is of gold, whose breast and arms of silver, +the thighs of brass, the legs of iron, the toes +mixed of iron and clay. This is the form of the +first Adam, seen in his race; and over against it +likewise is the one man Christ, forming through +the ages, gathering His members in a mightier +unity. This is the Word made flesh, the Second +Adam, <q>so that the whole human race is, as it +were, two men, the First and the Second.</q><note place='foot'>S. Aug. <hi rend='italic'>Op. imp. contr. Julian.</hi> lib. ii. tom. x. p. 1018 d.</note> +</p> + +<p> +So much, then, is the creation of the Church +superior to the creation of a single Christian as +the creation of a body is superior to that of a +single bone or muscle. This superiority belongs +to the nature of a body as such. It is another +thought, which we only suggest here, <emph>whose</emph> body +it is. And here it appears in two very different +conditions, the one as it is seen by us now, the +other as it will be seen hereafter. There is, I +conceive, no subject in all human history comparable +in interest to that which the divine commonwealth +<pb n='111'/><anchor id='Pg111'/> +as such, when traced through the +eighteen centuries which it has hitherto run, presents. +What nation can be compared to this nation? +what people to this people? what labours +to its labours? what sufferings to its sufferings? +what conflicts to those which it has endured? +what triumphs to those which it has gained? what +duration to that portion only of its years which +is as yet run out? what promise to its future? +what performance to its past? What is the +courage and self-denial, what is the patience and +generosity, what the genius, the learning, the sustained +devotion to any work, shown by any human +race, compared to those which are to be found in +this race of the Divine Mother? How do those +who are enamoured of nationalities fail to see the +glories of this nation, before which all others pale +their ineffectual fires? How do those with whom +industry is a chief virtue, and stubborn perseverance +the crowning praise, not acknowledge her +whose work is undying and whose endurance never +fails? These men admire greatness and worship +success. Let them look back fourteen hundred +years, when that great world-statue seemed to be +breaking up into the iron and clay which ran +through its feet. Then this kingdom was already +great and glorious, and crowned with victory, +and filled the earth. The toes of that statue have +meanwhile run out into ten kingdoms, and the +islands which were forest and swamp when this +<pb n='112'/><anchor id='Pg112'/> +kingdom commenced have become the head of a +dominion which can be mentioned beside that of +old Rome; but still in undiminished grandeur the +great divine republic stands over against all these +kingdoms, penetrates through them, stretches beyond +them, and while they grow, mature, and +decay, and power passes from one to the other, +her power ceases not, declines not, changes not, +but shows the beauty of youth upon the brow of +age, and amid the confusion of Babel her pentecostal +unity. If success be worshipful, worship it +here; if power be venerable, bow before its holiest +shrine. +</p> + +<p> +But if this be the Body of Christ here in its +state of humiliation, during which it repeats the +passion of its Head, if these be the grains of wheat +now scattered among the chaff,<note place='foot'><q>Grana illa quæ modo gemunt inter paleas, quæ massam unam +factura sunt, quando area in fine fuerit ventilata.</q> S. Aug. in Ps. cxxvi. +tom. iv. p. 1429.</note> what is that +one mass to be which these shall make when the +threshing-floor is winnowed out? We see the +Body in its preliminary state of suffering, where +it has a grandeur, a duration, and a beauty like +nothing else on earth. What it shall be in its +future state S. John saw when he called it the +great City invested with the glory of God, the +Bride adorned for her husband; and S. Paul hints, +when he speaks of the perfect man compacted and +fitly framed together by what every joint supplies, +<pb n='113'/><anchor id='Pg113'/> +and grown up to full stature in the Head. There +is in the redeemed, not only the exceeding greatness +of the quality of their salvation, that is, the +gift of divine sonship; nor, again, that this gift is +heightened by its being the purchase of the Son of +God, so that He is not ashamed to call those brethren +whom He has first washed in His own blood: +but over and above all this, one thing more, +that the whole mass of the redeemed and adopted +are not so many souls, but the Body of Christ. +Faint shadows, indeed, to our earthly senses are +House and Temple, Kingdom and City paved with +precious stones of that mighty unity of all rational +natures, powers, and virtues, each with the perfection +of his individual being, each with the superadded +lustre of membership in a marvellous whole, +under the Headship of Christ. The exceeding glory +of this creation, which will be the wonder of all +creation through eternity, is that God the Word +made flesh, the Head and His Body, make one +thing, not an inorganic, but an organised unity, +the glorified Body of a glorified Head. +</p> + +<p> +Once more let us note the consistency and unbroken +evolution of the divine plan. +</p> + +<p> +In the first creation of the human race the +Body of Christ is not only foretold but prefigured, +not only prefigured but expressed in the very +words uttered by Adam in his ecstasy, the words +of God delineating that act of God, the greatest +of all His acts of power, wisdom, and goodness, +<pb n='114'/><anchor id='Pg114'/> +whereby becoming man, and leaving His Father +and His Mother,<note place='foot'>See Origen on Matt. xiv. 17. καὶ ὁ κτίσας γε ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς τὸν κατ᾽ +εἰκόνα ὃς ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων ἄῤῥεν αὐτὸν ἐποίησε, καὶ θῆλυ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, +ἓν τὸ κατ᾽ εἰκόνα ἀμφοτέροις χαρισάμενος; καὶ καταλέλοιπέ γε διὰ τὴν +ἐκκλήσιαν κύριος ὁ ἀνὴρ πατέρα ὃν ἑώρα, ὅτε ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπῆρχε, καταλέλοιπε +δὲ καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ αὐτὸς υἱὸς ὢν τῆς ἂνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ +ἐκολλήθη τῇ ἐνταῦθα καταπεσούσῃ γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ γεγόνασιν ἐνθάδε οἱ +δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν. διὰ γὰρ αὐτὴν γέγονε καὶ αὐτὸς σὰρξ, ὅτε ὁ λόγος σὰρξ +ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ οὐκέτι γέ εἰσι δύο, ἀλλὰ νῦν μία γέ ἐστι +σὰρξ, ἔπει τῇ γυναικὶ λέγεται τὸ, ὑμεῖς δέ ἐστε σῶμα Χριστοῦ καὶ μέλη ἐκ +μέρους, οὐ γάρ ἐστί τι ἰδιᾳ Χριστοῦ σῶμα ἕτερον παρὰ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν οὖσαν +σῶμα αὐτοῦ, καὶ μέλη ἐκ μέρους. καὶ ὁ Θεός γε τούτους τοὺς μη δύο ἀλλὰ +γεγομένους σάρκα μίαν συνέζευζεν, ἐντελλόμενος ἵνα ἄνθρωπος μὴ χωρίζη τὴν +ἐκκλησίαν ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου.</note> He would cleave to the wife +He so took, the human nature which in redeeming +He espoused. This, and no other, was the +reason why Eve was formed out of Adam. It is +the beginning of the divine plan, which is coherent +throughout, which was designed in the state of innocency, +which remains intended through the state +of guilt, which is unfolded in the state of grace, +which is completed in the state of glory, when +what that forming of Eve from the side of Adam, +and of the Church from the side of her Lord, what +that growth through thousands of years, through +multitudinous conflicts, through unspeakable sorrows, +through immeasurable triumphs, shall finally +issue in, shall be seen by those whom the Second +Adam has made worthy of that vision, and by +whom it is seen enjoyed. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='115'/><anchor id='Pg115'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter IX. The Second Man Verified In History.</head> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>Magnum principium, et regni ejus non erit finis. Deus fortis, dominator, +princeps pacis.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +In order to complete the view taken in the preceding +chapter of the work of Christ as the second +Adam over against the work of the first Adam, +it is necessary to dwell at greater length upon +a point of which only cursory mention was made +therein. It was our object there to bring out +the relation of Christ to the Church, but this +cannot be done without fully exhibiting the relation +to the same Church of the Holy Spirit. To +the Incarnation the Fathers in general give the +title of the Dispensation of the Son, and as the +equivalent, the result, the complement and crown +of this Dispensation, they put the Giving of the +Spirit.<note place='foot'>As S. Irenæus, v. 20. <q>Omnibus unum et eundem Deum Patrem præcipientibus, +et eamdem dispositionem incarnationis Filii Dei credentibus, +et eamdem donationem Spiritus scientibus;</q> and S. Aug. tom. v. app. +p. 307 f. <q>Ecce iterum humanis divina miscentur, id est, Vicarius Redemtoris: +ut beneficia quæ Salvator Dominus inchoavit peculiari Spiritus +Sancti virtute consummet, et quod ille redemit, iste sanctificet, quod ille +acquisivit, iste custodiat.</q> This striking sermon is quoted by Petavius +as genuine, but placed by the Benedictines in the appendix.</note> This Giving of the Spirit occupies the +<pb n='116'/><anchor id='Pg116'/> +whole region of grace, and is coextensive with +the whole action of the Incarnate God upon men +whom He has taken to be His brethren. The +Holy Spirit in this Giving is He who represents +the Redeemer, and executes His will, not as an +instrument, not as one subordinate, but as the +very mind of Christ between whom and Christ +there can far less enter any notion of division or +separation than between a man and his own spirit. +He is that other Paraclete, abiding for ever, who +replaces to the disciples the visible absence of the +first Paraclete, the Redeemer Himself: He is the +Power constituting the Kingdom of Christ; the +Godhead inhabiting His Temple; the Soul animating +His mystical Body; the Charity, kindling +into a living flame the heart of His Bride; the +Creator and Father of His Race. +</p> + +<p> +This connection between the Dispensation of +the Son and the Giving of the Spirit was delineated +by our Lord himself when He first appeared +to His assembled disciples after His resurrection. +As they were gazing in wonder and trembling joy +on that Body which had undergone His awful passion, +as He showed them the wounds in His hands +and His feet, He told them how His sufferings +were the fulfilment of all that in the Law, the +Prophets, and the Psalms had been written concerning +Him. And thereupon it is said, He opened +their mind to the understanding of these Scriptures. +It was thus that the Christ was to suffer, +<pb n='117'/><anchor id='Pg117'/> +it was thus that He was to rise again on the third +day. Hitherto He has dwelt upon His own dispensation, +as the fulfilment of all prophecy, now +He proceeds to its fruit: that in the name of this +Christ repentance and remission of sins should be +proclaimed to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. +<q>And you,</q> He says, <q>are the witnesses of these +things. And, behold, I send the promise of my +Father upon you: but stay you in the city of +Jerusalem until you be endued with power from +on high.</q> Again, at another occasion of equal +solemnity, when He was with His assembled disciples +in visible form for the last time, at the +moment preceding His ascension, He uses the same +emphatic words, charging them not to depart from +the city, but to await there that promise of the +Father, the baptism in the Holy Ghost, which they +were to receive in common together, which was +to be the power in virtue of which they should +be His witnesses for all time unto the ends of the +earth: the power which instead of restoring a +local kingdom to Israel, as was in their thoughts +when they questioned Him, was to create an universal +kingdom to Him in the hearts of men. +It is then as the result of His passion, and the +token of His resurrection, that the Son sends +down upon His disciples the promise of the Father, +that is, the perpetual presence of the Spirit +of the Father and the Son, the Spirit of Truth +and Grace, that permanent and immanent power +<pb n='118'/><anchor id='Pg118'/> +from on high, who, dwelling for ever in the disciples, +makes the Church. +</p> + +<p> +But these words, so singular and so forcible, +which He uses on these two occasions, at His +resurrection and His ascension, are themselves a +reference to the long discourse which He had held +with His apostles on the night of His passion. It +is in this discourse, from the moment that Judas +left them to the conclusion of the divine prayer—and +if we can make any distinction in His words, +surely these are the most solemn which were ever +put together in human language, since they are +the prayer not of a creature to the Creator, but +the prayer of One divine Person to Another—it +is in this discourse that He describes the power +from on high with which, as the promise of the +Father, He, the Son, would invest His disciples. +It is here He says that He would ask the Father, +who should give them another Paraclete, the Spirit +of truth, to abide with them for ever: whom the +world would not receive, nor see, nor know, but +whom they should know, because He should abide +with them and be in them. This other Paraclete, +coequal therefore with Himself, whom the Father +should send in His name, and whom He should +send from the Father, the Spirit of holiness as well +as the Spirit of truth, should teach them all things +and remind them of all His teaching. And His +coming, though invisible, should profit them more +than His own visible presence. For while He +<pb n='119'/><anchor id='Pg119'/> +declared Himself to be the Way, the Truth, and +the Life,<note place='foot'>There is in the original words here something which is lost both +in the Vulgate and in the English translation. First, c. xiv. 6. ἐγώ +εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς, καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια, καὶ ἡ ζωή; then c. xvi. 13. ὅταν δὲ ἔλθη ἐκεῖνος +τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὁδηγίσει ὑμᾶς εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν. As Christ +is the ὁδὸς, so His Spirit is the ὁδηγῶν. <q>Ego sum via et veritas; ille vos +docebit omnem veritatem,</q> does not render this: and as little, <q>I am <emph>the +way</emph>, the truth, and the life; He shall <emph>lead</emph> you into all truth.</q></note> He revealed to them here that it was +by that very way that the Spirit of truth should +lead them by the hand into all truth. It was in +this Truth, that is, in Himself, that they should +be sanctified, and that they should be one, the +glory of the Incarnation, which had been given +to Him, passing on to them as the members of +His Body, by the joint possession of the spirit of +truth and holiness, whose presence was the gage +that the Father loved them, as He loved Christ, +the Body being identified with the Head. In all +this He was describing to them the work of that +other Paraclete, His own Spirit, <q>who was to +sanctify what He had redeemed, and to guard and +maintain possession of what He had acquired.</q><note place='foot'>S. Aug., quoted above in note.</note> +This is but a small portion of that abundant revelation, +which our Lord then communicated to +His apostles, concerning the Power from on high +with which they were to be invested. +</p> + +<p> +The words of our Lord to His apostles at the +three great points of His passion, His resurrection, +and His ascension, stand out beyond the rest in +their appeal to our affections. The last words +<pb n='120'/><anchor id='Pg120'/> +of a friend are the dearest, and these are the last +words of the Bridegroom, and they are concerning +His Bride. When He was Himself quitting His +disciples He dwells upon the Power which was +to create and maintain His Church, upon the gift +of His Spirit, His other self, in which gift lay the +formation of His kingdom. It is thus He expresses +to us the point with which we started, +that the Giving of His Spirit is the fulfilment of +all that Dispensation wherein the eternal Word +took human flesh. +</p> + +<p> +It is not only then the unanimous voice of the +Fathers which sets the Giving of the Spirit over +against the Incarnation of the Son. They are but +carrying on that which our Lord so markedly +taught; their tradition was but the echo of His +voice, as their life was the fulfilment of it. +</p> + +<p> +But it was a double malady in man which God +the Word became man to cure. It was the whole +nature which was affected with a taint, and the +soul through the whole race touched in both its +powers of the intellect<note place='foot'>This word is used as the equivalent of λόγος, <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>ratio</foreign>, <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Vernunft</foreign>, in man.</note> and the will. That false +worship which we have seen spreading through +the earth, and that deep corruption of manners +which was interlaced with it, were the symptoms +of this malady. The perversion of the truth concerning +the being of God, and all the duties of +man which grow out of this being, was inextricably +blended with the disregard of these duties +<pb n='121'/><anchor id='Pg121'/> +in the actual conduct of man. It was in vain to +set the truth before man's intellect without a corresponding +power to act upon his will. Therefore +the apostle described the glory of the only-begotten +Son, when He dwelt as man among us, +by the double expression that He was <q>full of +grace and truth.</q> Viewed as the Head of human +nature, its Father and new beginning, He is the +perpetual fountain to it of these two, which no +law, not even one divinely given, could bestow. +For the law could make nothing perfect, because +it could not touch the will; and the law gave the +shadow, but not the very truth of things. But +when that unspeakable union of the divine nature +with the human had taken effect in the unity of +one Person, Truth and Grace had an everlasting +human fountain in the created nature of the Incarnate +Word. Now was the fountain to pour +forth a perpetual stream upon the race assumed. +And this it does by the descent of the Spirit. In +this descent upon the assembled Church the Grace +and Truth of the divine Head, with which His +Flesh, carried by the Godhead, overstreams, find +themselves a human dwelling in the race. Such +an operation belongs only to the Divine Spirit, +for God alone can so act upon the intellect and +will of creatures as to penetrate them with His +gifts of Truth and Grace, while He leaves them +their free will, their full individuality, as creatures. +This, then, was the range of that power +<pb n='122'/><anchor id='Pg122'/> +with which our Lord foretold to His apostles that +they should be invested, and for which He bade +them wait. The whole field of truth as it respects +the relation of God to His creatures as moral beings, +and the whole extent of grace, as it touches +the human will, for the performance of every act +which a reasonable creature can execute, made +up the extent of that divine indwelling in men +which the Spirit of Christ assumed upon the day +of Pentecost. This was the power of the Holy +Ghost which then came down upon men. Through +the whole divine discourse which preceded His +passion, our Lord dwells upon this double power, +referring to Himself as the Truth, to His Spirit +as the Spirit of the Truth, to Himself as the Vine, +and so that root of grace which should communicate +its sap to the branches, and to His Spirit, +who should take of His and give it to them; +uniting both ideas of Truth and Grace in that one +word, <q>Sanctify them in thy Truth,</q> that is by +incorporation with me, who am the Truth, in my +Spirit, who is the Truth. And so the eternal +Word, having assumed a human Body, when He +withdraws His corporal presence, proceeds to form +that other human Body, the dwelling-place of His +Spirit, in which His Truth and Grace are to become +visible. +</p> + +<p> +Thus the transfusion of Truth and Grace from +the Incarnate Word to His mystical Body is the +generic character of the Giving of the Spirit. +</p> + +<pb n='123'/><anchor id='Pg123'/> + +<p> +Two differential marks distinguish this giving +from any which preceded the coming of our Lord. +</p> + +<p> +First, the Spirit should come upon them, but +should never depart from them. <q>He shall give +you another Comforter, to abide with you for ever, +the Spirit of Truth.</q> This giving was not an intermittent +operation, whether extraordinary, such +as had shown itself in Moses and the Prophets, for +their inspiration in writing, or their guidance in +particular trials, nor that ordinary one whereby +from the beginning He had enabled all the good +and just to lead a life acceptable to Him. It was +a far higher gift,<note place='foot'>See Petavius <hi rend='italic'>de Trin.</hi> vii. 7, where he states it to be the general +belief of the ancient writers that a new and <emph>substantial</emph> presence of the +Holy Ghost began at the day of Pentecost.</note> wherein, as S. Augustine says, +by the very presence of His majesty no longer the +mere odour of the balsam, but the substance itself +of the sacred unguent was poured into those vessels, +making them His temple, and conveying that +adoption in virtue of which they should not be left +orphans, but have their Father invisibly with them +for ever. No intermittent operation, and no presence +less than that of His substance, would reach +the force of the words used by our Lord, <q>I will +ask the Father, and He shall send you another Paraclete, +the Spirit of Truth, to abide with you for +ever;</q> for that word <q>other</q> conveys a comparison +with Himself, from whom they had never been +separated since He had called them, in whose continuance +with them alone was their strength, their +<pb n='124'/><anchor id='Pg124'/> +unity, their joint existence and mission, without +whom they could do nothing. All this to them +that <q>other</q> Paraclete was to be, in order that +the departure of the Former Paraclete should be +expedient for them. For in this continuity of +His presence was involved the further gift that +the Paraclete was to come to them as a Body, +and because of this manner of coming He replaced +the Former. Had He come to them only +as individuals, they would have suffered a grievous +loss, the loss of the Head who made them one. +But He came to them as the Body of Christ, and +by coming made them that Body, being the Spirit +of the Head. That rushing mighty wind filled the +whole house in which they were sitting, and they +all were filled together with the presence; and as +a sign that the old confusion and separation of +mankind were in them to be done away, speaking +in one tongue the one truth which was evermore +to dwell with them, they were heard in all +the various languages of the nations present at +the feast. <q>The society by which men are made +the one Body of the only Son of God belongs to +the Spirit,</q><note place='foot'>S. Aug. tom. v. 398 g.</note> and He came upon all together in +one House to indicate, as He made, that one +Body. <q>The mode of giving,</q> says S. Augustine, +<q>was such as never before appeared. Nowhere +do we read before that men congregated +together had by receiving the Holy Ghost spoken +<pb n='125'/><anchor id='Pg125'/> +with the tongues of all nations.</q><note place='foot'>S. Aug. tom. iii. pp. 2, 527.</note> <q>Therefore He +came upon Pentecost as upon His birthday.</q><note place='foot'>Ib. tom. v. 47.</note> +</p> + +<p> +It is His presence alone which confers four +gifts upon the body which He vivifies. +</p> + +<p> +It was the will, says S. Augustine,<note place='foot'>Ib. tom. v. 392 e.</note> of the Father +and the Son that we should have communion +with each other and with Them by means of that +which is common to Them, and by that gift to +collect us into one, which, being one, They both +have; that is to say, by the Holy Ghost, who is +God, and the gift of God. For, says S. Thomas,<note place='foot'>S. Thomas in Joh. i. lec. 10: <q>Nam unitas Spiritus Sancti facit +in Ecclesia unitatem.</q></note> +the unity of the Holy Spirit makes unity in the +Church. It is not by similarity, or by juxtaposition, +or by agreement, how much less by concessions +and compromises, that unity exists in the +body of Christ, but because the Spirit is one, because +all gifts, however various, all functions, however +distinct, are distributed by this One. +</p> + +<p> +For the same reason truth dwells in this Body, +because He is the Spirit of Truth. Our Lord Himself +has defined His great function in this particular, +to lead His disciples by the hand<note place='foot'>ὁδηγεῖν.</note> into all +truth, to teach all things, and remind of all things +which made up His own teaching. This function +began on the day of Pentecost, and lasts to the day +of judgment, and belongs to the Body of Christ, +<pb n='126'/><anchor id='Pg126'/> +and to it alone, and belongs to it because it is animated +by the Spirit of Truth. And this animation +is like the Head, the same yesterday, to-day, and +for ever. It is not of any past time more or less +than of the present or the future. It is the illumination +which belongs to that whole last day, +through which the Body of Christ grows, teaches, +labours, and suffers, until the mortal day break +into the light of eternity. +</p> + +<p> +His third gift to the Body is that of charity, +and for the same reason, because He is this Himself. +He who is not only the Unity of the Father +and the Son, but their mutual Love, coming as the +gift of that Divine love which redeemed the world +by the sacrifice of its Maker, and as the Spirit of +that Love, who invested Himself with human flesh, +creates in this human dwelling-place that one charity +which bears His name, and is of His nature, +and which in that one body joins the wills of men +together as His Truth joins their intellects. If the +Body of Christ has one prevailing charity, which +reaches to all its members, and encompasses the +least as well as the greatest, it is because the heart +is divine. +</p> + +<p> +The fourth gift which He bestows upon the +Body is sanctification, and it may be said to be +the result of the other three. This, again, is His +own name and nature, and many have thought +and said, His personal attribute, to make holy; +and that, as Fathership indicates the First Person, +<pb n='127'/><anchor id='Pg127'/> +and Sonship the Second, so the making holy names +the Third, the bond of the most blessed Trinity. +But this, at least, may be said to be the final cause +of the body which He animates, the imparting of +holiness. In virtue of this gift, all the means and +aids and rules of holiness are stored up in the +Body. And this does not mean that there is not +a continual falling away from the rule and practice +of holiness in particular members, but it means +that while these, in spite of the Body's nurture +and solicitude, fall away from it and perish, the +Body lasts for ever, the rules and aids and means +of holiness lasting for ever within it, because it is +the Body of the Spirit of holiness. +</p> + +<p> +Now these four gifts, Unity, Verity, Charity, +and Sanctity, can none of them exist in the Body +without the other, and all of them exist together +there, because they have one divine root, that indwelling +of the Holy Spirit which is the fruit of +the Incarnation, and whereby the mystical Body +of Christ corresponds to His natural Body. Of +this Body the beginning is Unity, the substance +Truth, the bond Charity, the end Sanctity. Countless +heresies and schisms have sought to break up +the coinherence of these gifts, but in vain. The +only success which the indwelling Spirit allows +them is to detach from the Body those who are +unworthy to remain in it, and to prolong for a +time their maimed existence by some portion of +some of His gifts. Truth, for instance, has such +<pb n='128'/><anchor id='Pg128'/> +a vitality that many a heresy will live for ages +on that fragment which it has detached from +the mass; unity and charity have such force that +even their shadow, that is, the joint possession of +a fragmentary truth, and the good-will thence +proceeding, will prolong for a time a sort of +corporate existence. Holiness has so attractive +a power, that zeal and self-denial, which present +the seeming of it, will make the fortune of a sect +for a time. But in the union and the completeness +of these four gifts, the great Body of Christ +stands out through all the ages inimitable and +unapproachable. Alone it dares to claim them +thus united and complete, for alone it can present +their realisation. +</p> + +<p> +These four gifts, then, dwell in the Body in a +higher degree than that in which they adorn the +members of the Body, as in it, by force of the +Spirit's indwelling, they ever exist together. Let +us now see the qualities which the Spirit imparts +to the members of the Body, by virtue of their +incorporation into it. +</p> + +<p> +First of all is the forgiveness of sins. The Spirit +takes them out of that state of alienation in which +they are born, and unites them to His Body; and +in so doing He effaces both the birth-sin and every +actual sin which they may have committed. This +is that plenary forgiveness of sins, the pure gift of +God unpreceded by any merit on man's part, which +greets the new-comer out of Adam's body of sin +<pb n='129'/><anchor id='Pg129'/> +into the Body of Christ. It is imparted by and +from the Body, and to its members alone. +</p> + +<p> +The second quality is that illumination of the +mind, irradiated by the truth, the whole compass +of which exists in the Body. This illumination is +the root of the virtue of faith, by means of which +the individual mind appropriates the divine truth +presented to it. The force of the virtue differs in +the individual as the keenness of sight in the natural +man, but the visual power is the same in +quality in all. By it the mind of the believer lays +hold in ever varying degree, one more and one +less, of that great harmony of truth which is held +in its completeness, its manifold applications, and +all but infinite relations, only by the Body. For the +truth with which we deal is not unlocalised and scattered, +the prey, as it were, of the individual mind, +which can hunt it down and take it as a spoil, but +it is a divine gift, orbed in the sphere which was +created for it, the Body of that Word who is the +Truth. Hence the first question to the applicant +for baptism: What askest thou of the Church of +God? and the answer is, Faith. +</p> + +<p> +The third quality is the adoption of Sonship, +which flows directly from incorporation into the +Body of Christ, and to which man has no sort of +title in himself or from his own nature, but which +comes to him only by kindred with Him who, on +the morning of His resurrection, greeted that great +penitent who bore the figure of the Church with that +<pb n='130'/><anchor id='Pg130'/> +paschal salutation of the Second Adam, <q>Go to my +brethren, and say, I ascend to my Father and to +your Father, to my God and to your God.</q> And +the divine virtue of hope well corresponds to this +quality, the effects of which in a state of trial and +conflict are to so great a degree future and unseen. +It seems, moreover, to be as a special link and tie +between the virtue which purifies the intellect, +and that which corrects the will and makes it +obedient. Thus through it we pass on to the +fourth quality of Sanctification, which is the completion +of the other three and their end, the harmony +of each individual will with the divine will, +the work of charity. That divine virtue is the +special fruit of the passion of Christ, which was +to gather up into one what sin had disunited and +torn away, first from its Author, and then from +the order by Him created, which was to heal the +animosities thus introduced, and to change the +world from a conflict wherein each sought to +better himself at the expense of his neighbour, +into a community cemented together with mutual +affection. It was with reason, therefore, that S. +Augustine would not allow the possession of charity, +save in the unity of that one Body which +Christ had created,<note place='foot'>Epist. 185. tom. ii. p. 663. <q>Proinde Ecclesia Catholica sola corpus +est Christi, cujus ille caput est, Salvator corporis sui. Extra hoc corpus +neminem vivificat Spiritus Sanctus, quia sicut ipse dicit Apostolus; +Caritas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris per Spiritum Sanctum, qui +datus est nobis. Non est autem particeps divinæ caritatis, qui hostis +est unitatis. Non habent itaque Spiritum Sanctum qui sunt extra Ecclesiam.</q></note> and without charity there is +no sanctification. +</p> + +<pb n='131'/><anchor id='Pg131'/> + +<p> +The four qualities thus slightly sketched, forgiveness +of sins, illumination of faith, adoption to +sonship, and sanctification by charity, which come +to the individual by and with incorporation into +the Body, are not given to him irrevocably, but are +conditional upon his perseverance. They are portions +and derivations of that vast treasure of Truth +and Grace which the Body holds in their entireness +and for ever, because of the perpetual indwelling +of the Spirit who makes its life, but which He dispenses +as it pleases Him to the members, and +which He may withdraw from them in default of +their coöperation. Vast are the losses thereby incurred, +not to the treasure-house which remains +inexhaustible, but to those who fall out of it back +into the world, or rather that body of Adam from +which they were taken. But these losses touch +not the beauty and the glory of that Body of +Christ, which goes on through the ages, and takes +up its own, fulfils its appointed work, and reaches +its intended end. +</p> + +<p> +Thus on the day of Pentecost a new Power, +the Spirit of the Incarnate God, descended not +upon single men, but upon an assembly of men, +binding it in a unity, conveying to it a truth, +kindling in it a charity, and working through +these a sanctification never before known; which +Power, thenceforth dwelling in that Body, was to +<pb n='132'/><anchor id='Pg132'/> +collect and draw into itself out of all nations and +ranks of men those who should form the Church, +that is, the Kingdom and Temple, and House, and +Body, and Family of Christ. In it was to work +and from it to go forth henceforward to all time +the virtue of Him who had assumed our flesh, not +transiently, but for ever; in the Head and the +Body, through the life of His Spirit, Christ should +teach and bear for ever that witness to the truth +of which He spoke in the hall of Pilate, and concerning +which He said that <q>this gospel of the +kingdom should be proclaimed through the whole +world, for a witness to all nations, and then that +the end should come.</q><note place='foot'>Matt. xxiv. 14.</note> To the continuance, the +indissolubility, the purity of this power He has +pledged His word in such a way that they who +deny it must in doing so deny Him. He has +even made the unity of this Body the special +mark to men of the truth of His mission, beseeching +His Father in that last prayer, <q>Neither +pray I for these alone, but for those also who +through their word shall believe in Me, that they +all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I +in Thee, that they also may be one in Us, that the +world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +There are three analogies<note place='foot'>See Möhler, <hi rend='italic'>Die Einheit in der Kirche</hi>, p. 176. <q>Der Körper des +Menschen ist eine Offenbarung des Geistes, der in ihm sein Dasein bekundet, +und sich entwickelt. Der Staat ist eine nothwendige Erscheinung, +eine Bildung und Gestaltung des von Gott gegebenen κοινωνικόν.</q></note> which illustrate this +<pb n='133'/><anchor id='Pg133'/> +creation of our Lord—a creation in itself as singular +as His assumption of man's nature. +</p> + +<p> +First, that of the relation between the soul and +body. The soul is the life of the body; the body, +as it were, the mansion and home of the soul, its +bearer. Through the body the qualities of the +soul become visible and known; its powers exercise +themselves, and personal unity so binds the +two together that we love or hate, admire or despise, +the one for the sake of the other; the grief +of the soul acts upon the body, the sickness of +the body depresses the soul. Through the acts of +the body we learn the very existence of the soul, +and in these acts it portrays itself. Human nature +has been so made by its Creator that the qualities +of soul and body, of spirit and matter, are imputed +in the individual man to each other. Now to the +Body we have been considering the Spirit of Christ +is, as it were, the soul. It is nothing strange, then, +if it was His will to create such a Body, if it be +the result of His Incarnation, that the like effects +which exist in the case of every human soul and +body should take place here. To this Body also +the power and virtue of its soul are communicated; +and, since Christ by His Spirit animates it, in honouring +it He is honoured; in despising it, He is +despised. There is an imparting to it of the qualities +which He has; and thus it is that unity and +sanctity, truth and charity dwell in it as the operation +of His mind. Thus every man contains in +<pb n='134'/><anchor id='Pg134'/> +himself, in the union of soul and body, an image of +that tie by which Christ and His Church are one. +</p> + +<p> +Secondly, because God has created man for +society, He has implanted in him an irrepressible +instinct of communion with his brother men. This +instinct it is which, under circumstances of every +possible variety, results in one end, the State. The +human commonwealth, whatever external shape +it wear, whatever division of its powers it make, +springs from this. In virtue of this original formation +of man, that he is made to live together, +and gregariously, not separately, the supreme power +of government, the power of life and death, dwells +in the community, and obedience to it has a divine +sanction. Thus, the commonwealth has a variety +of powers which the individual has not, and not +only so, but it also has powers which do not arise +from the mere aggregation of individuals, rather +which belong to it as a community, as a whole, +for instance, sovereignty in all the details of its +exercise. But now the very object for which +Christ became Incarnate was to constitute a divine +commonwealth. He is the King: it is the +tenderness of a God Incarnate that He calls and +makes His Kingdom His Body. The powers, then, +which belong to the earthly commonwealth belong, +with the changes which the change of subject +carries, to the Divine. They who have so great +a reverence for human government, who respect in +the nation an ultimate irresponsible power, ought, +<pb n='135'/><anchor id='Pg135'/> +if they were consistent, when they acknowledge +Christ as having come in the flesh, to acknowledge +His government in the kingdom which He +has set up. All that his country is to the patriot, +the Church is to the Christian, but in so much +higher a degree, as the object for which Christ +came is above the needs and cares of this present +life. Has the City of God, then, less claim upon +Christians than the City of Romulus had upon +Romans? Thus, in the natural duty of the citizen, +as well as in the compound nature of man, +is contained a reminder of the Christian's relation +to the Church, and a picture and ensample of the +Church's authority. +</p> + +<p> +Thirdly, there is the analogy presented by the +transmission of natural life<note place='foot'>Möhler, <hi rend='italic'>Einheit</hi>, &c. p. 8. <q>Wie das Leben des sinnlichen Menschen +nur einmal unmittelbar aus der Hand des Schöpfers kam, und wo +nun sinnliches Leben werden soll, es durch die Mittheilung der Lebenskraft +eines schon Lebenden bedingt ist, so sollte das neue göttliche Leben +ein Auströmen aus den schon Belebten, die Erzeugung desselben sollte +ein Ueberzeugung sein.</q></note> through the one flesh +of Adam to all his race. As the breath of natural +life, once given to Adam, is continued on to all +those sprung from his body, the power of the +Creator never starting anew, but working in and +through the trunk of human nature; so the supernatural +life springing from our Lord, as the gift +of His Incarnation, is breathed on the day of Pentecost +into the whole Body of the Church to be +communicated from that Body for ever. Christ +<pb n='136'/><anchor id='Pg136'/> +is to the one exactly what Adam is to the other. +As the Word of God, creating, joined to the inheritance +of the flesh of Adam from generation to +generation the communication of a spirit such as +Adam's, by which double action we have the unity +of race, so the Word of God, redeeming, when He +had taken our flesh as the first-fruits of human +nature, breathed forth from that flesh the communication +of His Spirit to the Body of the Church, +by which we belong to the race of the Incarnate +God, and are become His family, and make His +house. Thus that which the body of Adam is +naturally, the Body of Christ is spiritually, and +the descent of human nature in its unity a picture +of the Holy Spirit's unity working through the +Body which He has chosen. And this analogy +is made the more striking by the statement so +often repeated in the Greek Fathers, that with the +natural life, as first given to Adam, was conjoined +the gift of the Holy Ghost, forfeited afterwards +by his sin, and withdrawn from him and his race, +and now restored as the special gift of the Incarnate +God.<note place='foot'>For instance, two passages on the Incarnation in S. Cyril of +Alexandria, tom. iv. pp. 819-824 and 918-920, set forth the whole sequence +of the Fall and the Restoration, and how wonderfully the gift +of the Spirit replaces what was lost in Adam.</note> Thus the descent of the Spirit at +Pentecost is a true and real counterpart of the +creation of man in Eden; but they who share it +are become kindred of God through His flesh, and +by so sharing it together, they form that society +<pb n='137'/><anchor id='Pg137'/> +which failed through Adam's sin. In the first +creation, the Omnipotent Creator, in His bounty +towards His favourite child, as foreseeing the assumption +of that nature by Himself, attached to +the gift of natural life the Spirit of sanctification; +in the second, having assumed that nature, He +gave through His own Body, first taken out of +us, then crucified, now risen and exalted, the gift +of the Spirit, Who, with all the endowments +springing from Him, as the Inspirer of truth and +charity, of unity and holiness, dwells in that Body +for ever. +</p> + +<p> +Thus in the union of the soul and body, in the +constitution and authority of the human commonwealth, +and in the race's natural unity, God holds +before us three analogies, which each in some respect, +and altogether very largely, illustrate His +finished work, to which all natural productions of +His providence are subordinate, His work of predilection, +His work of unbounded love and sovereign +magnificence, the creation of that which is +at once the Body, the Kingdom, and the Family +of the Incarnate Word. +</p> + +<p> +From all that has gone before we gather this +conclusion, that to become a Christian was to enter +into a spiritual and physical<note place='foot'>See S. Cyril. Alex. <hi rend='italic'>in Joan.</hi> p. 997 e. ἐν δὲ τούτοις ἤδη πως καὶ +φυσικὴν τὴν ἑνότητα δεικνῦναι σπουδάζομεν, καθ᾽ ἢν ἡμεῖς τε ἀλλήλοισ καὶ οἱ +πάντες Θεῷ συνδούμεθα; κ.τ.λ.; and p. 998. τίς γὰρ ἂν καὶ διέλοι καὶ τῆς εἰς +ἀλλήλους φυσικῆς ἑνώσεως ἐξοικέοι τοὺς δι᾽ ἑνὸς τοῦ ἁγίου σώματος πρὸς ἑνότητα +τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν ἀναδεσμουμένουσ?</note> unity with Christ +<pb n='138'/><anchor id='Pg138'/> +by incorporation into that Body which He had +created as the result of His becoming man. This +it was for the individual to become a Christian. +But Christianity itself was neither a mere system +of belief, nor an outward order representing that +belief; but <q>the great and glorious Body of +Christ,</q><note place='foot'>S. Iren. iv. c. 33, 7. ἀνακρινεῖ τοὺς τὰ σχίσματα ἐργαζομένους, κένους +ὄντας τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγάπης, καὶ τὸ ἴδιον λυσιτελὲς σκοποῦντας, ἀλλὰ μὴ τὴν +ἕνωσιν τῆς ἐκκλησίας; καὶ διὰ μικρὰς καὶ τὰς ὑψούσας αἰτίας τὸ μέγα καὶ ἔνδοξον +σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ τέμνοντας καὶ διαιροῦντας, καὶ ὅσον τὸ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἀναιροῦντας, +τοὺς εἰρήνην λαλοῦντας καὶ πόλεμον ἐργαζομένους, ἀληθῶς διυλίζοντας τὸν +κώνωπα, καὶ τὸν κάμηλον καταπίνοντας.</note> possessing and exhibiting the whole +truth of doctrine, possessing and distributing all +the means of grace, and presenting together to +God those whom it had reconciled with Him, and +made one, as the members of the Son by the indwelling +of the Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +Let us now trace the exact correspondence of +the historical fact with the dogmatic statement +just given. +</p> + +<p> +The Acts of the Apostles exhibit to us the +creation of the divine society by the descent of +the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. When +they were all together, the sound as of a rushing +mighty wind was heard, which filled the whole +house wherein they were sitting, and tongues as +of fire were seen, the tongues apportioned severally, +but the fire one,<note place='foot'>Acts ii. 3. ὤφθησαν αὐτοῖς διαμεριζόμεναι γλῶσσαι ὡσεὶ πυρὸς, ἐκάθισέ τε +ἐφ᾽ ἕνα ἕκαστον αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπλήσθησαν ἅπαντες Πνεύματος ἁγίου.</note> which rested upon each, +to kindle in all that eternal flame of charity which +<pb n='139'/><anchor id='Pg139'/> +was to draw into one the hearts of men, the fire +of which our Lord had spoken as being that which +He was come to light upon the earth. Fire, +whose inward nature it is at once to illuminate +and warm, to purify and unite, was thus appropriately +selected as the outward sign, both expressing +and conveying the fourfold office of the +Comforter, who came to be <q>no longer an occasional +visitant, but a perpetual Consoler and +eternal Inhabitant</q><note place='foot'><q>Non jam visitator subitus, sed perpetuus consolator et habitator +æternus.</q> S. Aug. tom. v. d. app. p. 307.</note> of this His chosen home. As +each in that assembly spoke in the one tongue +of the country, he was heard by those present in +the several tongues of all the nations of the earth +represented at that great feast by the Jews who +dwelt in them. And this was the mark, says +S. Augustine,<note place='foot'>Con. Crescou. lib. ii. c. 14, tom. ix. p. 418. <q>Hic Spiritus sanctus +veniens in eos tale signum primitus dedit, ut qui eum acciperent linguis +omnium gentium loquerentur, quia portendebat Ecclesiam per omnes +gentes futuram, nec quemquam accepturum Spiritum sanctum nisi qui +ejus unitati copularetur. Hujus fontis largo atque invisibili flumine +lætificat Deus civitatem suam, quia Propheta dixit: Fluminis impetus lætificat +civitatem Dei. Ad hunc enim fontem nullus extraneus, quia nullus +nisi vita æterna dignus accedit. Hic est proprius Ecclesiæ Christi.</q></note> of the Church which was to be +through all nations, and that no one should receive +the Holy Spirit, save he who should be +jointed into the framework of its unity; the mark +which signified that the confusion of Babel, dividing +the race into nationalities jealous of each other +and perpetual enemies, was to be reversed and +overcome by the one Power whose force to unite +<pb n='140'/><anchor id='Pg140'/> +should be greater than the force of sin to sever; +who should gather out of all nations the City of +God, fed by the exulting and abounding river of +His Spirit, the fountain proper and peculiar to the +Church of Christ: the mark of that one truth,<note place='foot'><p>Ἡ ἀλήθεια: there seems to be no one word in the New Testament +of more pregnant signification than this, which in a great number of instances +bears the sense of <emph>the whole body of the divine revelation</emph>. The +root of this meaning would seem to lie in Christ Himself, who as the +Divine Word is the αὐτοαλήθεια, the εἰκὼν of the Father; on which title +S. Athanasius and S. Cyril of Alexandria specially dwell, while S. Hilary +expresses the Blessed Trinity by <q>Æternitas in Patre, Species in Imagine, +Usus in Munere,</q> on which see S. Augustine's magnificent comment, <hi rend='italic'>de +Trin.</hi> l. vi. 10, p. 850; and as our Lord is from eternity the Truth, so +in and by His Incarnation He becomes in a special sense the Truth to +man: ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς, καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια, καὶ ἡ ζωή: and so the Spirit who proceeds +from the Father and the Son, <q>ille ineffabilis quidam complexus +Patris et Imaginis</q> (S. Aug.), is τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, who ὁδηγήσει ὑμᾶς +εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν: and again, 1 John v. 6, τὸ Πνεῦμά ἐστι τὸ μαρτυροῦν, +ὅτι τὸ Πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἡ ἀλήθεια. This is the first meaning. Secondly, as derived +from it, the Truth is the whole body of the divine revelation. In +this sense it is used in a great many places of S. John's Gospel and the +Apostolic Epistles, <hi rend='italic'>e.g.</hi> John i. 14, 17; viii. 31; xvi. 13; xvii. 17; xviii. +37; 1 John ii. 21; iii. 19; 2 John i. 1-3; 3 John 3, 4, 8, 12; 1 Tim. iii. +15, where, because this whole body of truth dwells in the Church of +Christ and there alone, it is emphatically called the <q>House of God, +which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the +Truth;</q> 1 Tim. ii. 3; Rom. xv. 8; 2 Cor, iv. 2; xiii. 8; Gal. iii. 1; v. 7; +Ephes. i. 13; iv. 21-24 (in which passage the Apostle contrasts heathen +man with Christian, the one, τὸν φθειρόμενον κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἁπάτης; +the other, τὸν κατὰ Θεὸν κτισθέντα ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ὁσιότητι τῆς ἀληθείας, +and again, the mass of the Gentiles, as τὰ ἔθνη περιπατεῖ ἐν ματαιότητι τοῦ +νοὸς αὐτῶν, ἐσκοτισμένοι τῇ διανοίᾳ, while Christians ἐν αὐτῷ ἐδιδάχθητε, +καθώς ἐστιν ἀλήθεια ἐν τῷ Ἰησοῦ); 2 Thess. ii. 8-13; 1 Tim. iv. 3; vi. 5; +2 Tim. ii. 15, 25; iii. 7, 8; iv. 4; Titus i. 1 and 14; Heb. x. 26; Jac. v. +19; 1 Pet. i. 22; 2 Pet. ii. 2. In this second sense, as signifying the +whole body of the divine revelation, the expression has been searched +for, but without success, in the Gospels of S. Matthew, S. Mark, and S. +Luke, and in the Acts. +</p> +<p> +Thirdly, as the effect of this revelation to man, the Truth signifies +uprightness, as equivalent to justice or sanctity, in the individual. +</p> +<p> +Fourthly, it means sincerity, absence of hypocrisy: and +Fifthly, correspondence to fact. +</p> +<p> +In the Apocalypse our Lord is designated <q>the holy, the true,</q> <q>the +Amen, the Witness faithful and true,</q> the rider of the white horse, +<q>called faithful and true,</q> <q>whose name is the Word of God.</q> iii. 7, +14; xix. 11.</p></note> +<pb n='141'/><anchor id='Pg141'/> +which conveys and harmonises and works out into +all its details the whole revelation of God, and so +is the utterance of one voice, the voice of Christ; +speaking to all nations, not in the broken languages +of their division, but in the Unity of His +Person, carried by His Body. We have then in +the one Fire the one inward power; in the one +language its outward expression, in the assembly +its receptacle, the House of God. This Body appears +at once as formed and complete. In it sits +and prays in her silent tenderness and unapproachable +grandeur, as the Mother of the risen +Lord and Head, and the Mother too of His race, +the most beloved, the most lovable, and the most +loving of creatures,<note place='foot'><q>La creatura, la più amabile, la più amata, e la più amante di Dio.</q> +S. Alfonso, <hi rend='italic'>Gran Mezzo della Preghiera</hi>, p. 280.</note> whose great function in the +Church for ever is to pray for the members of her +Son, and to solicit the graces of His Spirit, which +as the Mother of the sacred race she gains and +distributes to all and each that belong to it, a +Second Eve who corresponds to the Second Adam, +as the First Eve in the divine plan corresponded +to the First Adam. In it the Apostles, so long +before chosen and designated by their Lord, and +having already received from Him portions of their +supernatural power on the day of His resurrection +<pb n='142'/><anchor id='Pg142'/> +and during the forty days of His secret instruction, +teach and govern; in it Peter at their head +exercises that primacy, which, imaged out by a +new name imposed at his first calling, promised +at his great confession, and confirmed and conveyed +on the sea-shore of the lake of Galilee, is +exhibited with such grandeur, as he stood with the +eleven and lifted up his voice, to describe to the +men of Judea and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the +nature of the event which they were witnessing, and +the fulfilment of all the promises made through +their prophets concerning that presence of God in +the pouring out of His Spirit among men in the +last days. That first discourse of his at the head +of his brethren is the summary as it were of his +perpetual office of teaching and promulgating the +dispensation of the Christ in the midst of the +Church. Its immediate effect was the aggregation +of three thousand persons to the Body, who +were told that this was the way in which they +should receive remission of sins and the gift of +the Holy Ghost.<note place='foot'>Acts ii. 38.</note> The subsequent teaching of +Peter and the Apostles, accompanied with miraculous +cures, produced further aggregations among +all ranks of the people. And the mode of salvation +for all time is pointedly marked out by the +words, <q>the Lord was adding to the Church day +by day such as should be saved.</q> +</p> + +<p> +We have only to repeat the process which is +<pb n='143'/><anchor id='Pg143'/> +thus described as having taken place at Jerusalem +in the first months after the day of Pentecost, by +carrying it through the various cities of the Roman +empire, Damascus, Antioch, Rome, Alexandria, +and between these all round the shores of +the Mediterranean, to have a just picture of the +mode in which the Divine Society grew and gathered +into itself more and more of those who +listened to the truth which it announced. What +is important to dwell upon is that men uniformly +became Christians in one way, by being received +into the Divine Body, through which reception forgiveness +of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost +were conveyed to them. From the whole account +contained in the sacred Scriptures, and from all +that remains to us of history, the great fact is +established for us that Christianity came into the +world at its first beginning a society created by +the Holy Ghost, and held together and informed +by Him as its soul, who is sent down upon it as +the Promise of the Father from the Incarnate Son. +</p> + +<p> +Further, it was in and by their reception into +this society that men received all the fruits of the +Incarnation; it was in it that all the gifts of the +Holy Ghost dwelt, and through it that they were +dispensed. By hearing the truth announced by its +ministry penitence was engendered in the listeners, +itself a preventing grace of the Holy Ghost, which +gave inward effect to the outward word. As a +working of this penitence they came, according to +<pb n='144'/><anchor id='Pg144'/> +the instruction of the teachers, to be baptised. By +and in the act of baptism they were received into +the divine society, and made partakers of the full +operation of the Spirit who dwelt in it. They had +the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and charity +infused into them, each according to the measure +of the grace accorded to him, and to help the exercise +of these virtues, that they might be borne +as it were with the wings of a Spirit, the seven-fold +gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, +knowledge, piety, and fear, were added to +the soul. None of these virtues and gifts were +possessed by believers as individuals; all of them +came to men as members of her who was dowered +with the blood of Christ,<note place='foot'><q>Non te fefellit sponsus tuus: non te fefellit qui suo sanguine te +dotavit.</q> S. Aug. tom. v. 1090 b.</note> and whose bridal quality +imparted to her children all which that blood +had purchased. In her was stored up that great, +inexhaustible source of abiding life, the Body and +Blood of her Lord and Husband: in her the redeeming +Word gave direct from His heart the +vivifying stream. In her was the gift of teaching +which illumined the understanding, and not +only drew from without, as we have seen, those +who should be saved from the ignorance of the +pagan or the carnalism of the Jew, but which +erected in the world the Chair of Truth,<note place='foot'><q>Quod tunc faciebat unus homo accepto Spiritu sancto, ut unus +homo linguis omnium loqueretur, hoc modo ipsa unitas facit, linguis +omnibus loquitur. Et modo unus homo in omnibus gentibus linguis +omnibus loquitur, unus homo, caput et corpus, unus homo, Christus et +Ecclesia, vir perfectus, ille sponsus, illa sponsa. Sed erunt, inquit, duo +in carne una; judicia Dei vera, justificata in idipsum: propter unitatem.</q> +S. Aug. in Ps. xviii. 2, tom. iv. 85 f.</note> that +<pb n='145'/><anchor id='Pg145'/> +is, the rule and standard of right belief, which +was the continuance of the pentecostal gift, the +illuminating and kindling fire, and the speaking +tongue of unity, which the Body of Christ possesses +for ever. It was by enjoying these endowments +together in her bosom, by the actions of a +life pervaded with these principles, by the joint possession +and exercise of these supernatural powers +which at once opened to the intellect a new field of +knowledge and strengthened the will to acts above +its inborn force, that men were Christians. And +those who remembered what they had been as +Jews, and what they had been as heathens, had +no difficulty in recognising such a life as the effect +of a divine grace, and no temptation to refer it to +anything which belonged to them as individuals, +since its commencement coincided with their entrance +into a divine society, its growth depended +on their membership in that Body. Their union +with Christ in this Body was something direct and +palpable; to them the several degrees of that one +ministry constituted by Christ were the joints and +articulations of the structure; the teaching thence +proceeding as it were the current of life; by their +being parts of the structure they were saved from +the confusion of errors which swept freely round +<pb n='146'/><anchor id='Pg146'/> +them without, through the craft of men and the +seduction of deceit.<note place='foot'>Ephes. iv. 11-16. ἀληθεύοντες ἐν ἀγάπῃ. Joh. xvii. 19. ἡγιασμένοι ἐν +ἀληθείᾳ.</note> <q>Possessing the truth in +charity,</q> or <q>sanctified in the truth,</q> was the expression +of that divine life in common whereby +they were to grow up into one, and be called by the +name of their Lord,<note place='foot'>1 Cor. xii. 12. οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χριστός.</note> because inseparably united +to Him by the nerves and ligaments of one Body. +</p> + +<p> +And this makes manifest to us how Christians, +while scattered through every city of the great +Roman empire, formed one Body. It was by +virtue of the unity of spiritual jurisdiction which +directed the whole ministry of that Body. The +command of our Lord was, <q>Go, and make disciples +all nations,</q> <q>proclaim the gospel to every +creature;</q> the Body assembled and empowered at +Pentecost was to carry out this command. How +did it do so? The teaching and ruling power +was distributed through a ministry wherein those +of a particular order were equal as holding that +order: bishops as bishops were equal, priests as +priests. But not the less by the distribution of +the places where the ministry was to be fulfilled, +subordination was maintained through the whole +Body. Had it been otherwise, as each Bishop had +the completeness of the priesthood in himself, his +sphere of action, that is, his diocese, would have +constituted a distinct body. But no such thing +<pb n='147'/><anchor id='Pg147'/> +was ever imagined in the Church of those first +centuries. The Bishops were, on the contrary, +joint possessors of one power, only to be exercised +in unity.<note place='foot'>So says the great maintainer of episcopal power, S. Cyprian, in +his famous aphorism: <q>Episcopatus unus est, cujus a singulis in solidum +pars tenetur.</q></note> The unity was provided for in +the Apostolic body by the creation of the Primacy, +without which the Body never acted, the Primate +being designated before the Body was made; the +Primate invested with his functions on the sea-shore +of the lake of Galilee before the Ascension, +the Body on which he was to exercise them animated +on the day of Pentecost. Spiritual jurisdiction +being nothing else but the grant to exercise +all spiritual powers, two jurisdictions would make +two bodies; a thousand would make a thousand; +so that the more the Church grew, the more it +would be divided, were it not that the root of all +its powers in their exercise is one. A spiritual +kingdom is absolutely impossible without this unity +of jurisdiction; and in virtue of it the whole Church, +from north to south and from east to west, was and +is one Body in its teaching and its rule; that is, +in the administration of all those gifts which were +bestowed at the day of Pentecost, and which have +never ceased to be exercised from that day to this, +and which shall never cease to the end of the world. +Thus as it is through the Body that men are made +and kept Christians, so the Primacy is that principle +<pb n='148'/><anchor id='Pg148'/> +of cohesion and subordination without which +the Body cannot exist. +</p> + +<p> +Let us carry on the history of the divine Body +to another point. How was the Truth transmitted +in it? +</p> + +<p> +Peter and his brethren having received through +the great forty days from our Lord the complement +of His teaching concerning His kingdom, were empowered +by the descent of the Holy Ghost to commence +its propagation. And for this work they use +the same instrument which their Lord had used—the +living spoken word. They labour together +for some time; after several years they divide the +world between them; but in both these periods +they found communities and supply them with +everything needful for complete organisation and +future increase and progress by their spoken teaching, +which therefore contained the whole deposit +of the truth. The gospel of which S. Paul so repeatedly +speaks was that which he communicated +by word of mouth, and S. Peter and all the rest did +the same. Communities were planted by Apostolic +zeal over a great part of the Roman empire before +as yet anything was written by their founders. +The whole administration of the sacraments, and +the order and matter of the divine service, were +arranged by this personal teaching of the living +word. All that concerned the Person of our Lord, +all that He had taught, done, and suffered, was so +communicated. One reason of this is plain. It +<pb n='149'/><anchor id='Pg149'/> +was not the bare gospel, but the <q>gospel of the +kingdom,</q><note place='foot'>Matt. xxiv. 14.</note> which was to be proclaimed to all +nations. It was not a naked intellectual truth of +which they were the bearers, but a kingdom which +they were to build. They were not disseminating +a sect of philosophy, but founding an empire. +They were a King's heralds, and every king has a +realm. Thus the Kingdom of the Word was proclaimed +by the word spoken through many voices, +but as the outpouring of one Spirit given on the +day of Pentecost. This whole body of their teaching, +therefore, was one Tradition; that is, a delivery +over of the truth to them by inspiration of +the Spirit, as the Truth who had become incarnate +taught it, and a delivery of this truth from them +to the communities which they set up. The first +communication of the Christian faith to the individual +was never made by writing. How, said the +Apostle, should they invoke one whom they did +not believe, but how believe in one of whom they +had not heard, and how hear without a preacher, +and how preach except they were sent?<note place='foot'>Rom. x. 15.</note> It did +not occur to him to ask how should they believe +in one of whom they had not read. On the contrary, +he gives in these few words the whole order +of the truth's transmission. He conceived not +heralds without a commission, any more than faith +without trust in the word of the heralds. But +here is the great sending, at and from the day +<pb n='150'/><anchor id='Pg150'/> +of Pentecost, the root of perpetual mission from +which the heralds derive their commission; they +are sent, they proclaim, they are heard, they are +believed, and this faith opens the door for the admission +of subjects into the kingdom, according to +the law which they proclaim. Thus are described +to us at some length the acts of that wise master-builder +whose words we have just cited; but +though he laboured more abundantly than all, +all acted after the same manner. The Church +was founded by personal teaching, of which the +living word was the instrument, and the whole +truth which was thus communicated was termed +the Tradition<note place='foot'>ἡ παράδοσις. It will be shown hereafter that the four great writers, +Irenæus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen, unanimously +refer to Tradition in this sense.</note> or Delivery. +</p> + +<p> +We now come to the second step. Before +the Apostles were taken to their reward, the same +Spirit, who had instructed them that they were +to found the spiritual kingdom by means of the +living word, inspired them to commit to writing +a portion of that great tradition which they had +already taught by mouth.<note place='foot'>See S. Irenæus, ii. 1. expressly stating this of S. Mark's and S. +Luke's Gospel, and of the Apostles generally: <q>quod (Evangelium) +quidem tunc præconaverunt, postea vero per Dei voluntatem in Scripturis +nobis tradiderunt;</q> which is repeated by Euseb. <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> ii. 15, who +declares that the Roman Christians, not content τῇ ἀγράφῳ τοῦ θείου +κηρύγματος διδασκαλία, besought Mark with many prayers ὡς ἂν καὶ διὰ +γραφῆς ὑπόμνημα τῆς διὰ λόγου παραδοθείσης αὐτοῖς καταλείψοι διδασκαλίας, +which S. Peter afterwards approved.</note> But they never delivered +these writings to men not already Christians. +<pb n='151'/><anchor id='Pg151'/> +One evangelist expressly says that he drew +up a narrative in order that his disciple might +know the certainty of what he had already been instructed +in catechetically, that is, that by that great +system of oral teaching by question and answer, +that grounding of the truth in the memory, intellect, +and will, which Christianity had inaugurated, +and that he wrote after the pattern of those who +had delivered over the word to us, having been its +original eyewitnesses and servants.<note place='foot'>Luke i. 2-4.</note> A second +evangelist declares that what he was putting into +writing was a very small portion indeed of what +his Lord had done.<note place='foot'>John xx. 30.</note> Another very remarkable +thing is that the Apostles are not recorded to +have put together what they had written themselves, +or others by their direction, so as to make +it one whole; far less that they ever declared +what was so written to contain the complete tradition +of what they had received. But what they +did was to leave these writings in the hands of particular +churches, having in every case addressed +them to those who were already instructed as +Christians, and not having left among them any +document whatever intended to impart the Christian +faith to those who were ignorant of it. These +writings were in the strictest sense Scriptures of +the Church, which sometimes stated, and always +in their form and construction showed that they +were adapted to those who had been taught the +<pb n='152'/><anchor id='Pg152'/> +Christian faith by word of mouth. Moreover, it +was left to the Church to gather them together, +and make them into one book, which thenceforward +should be <emph>the Book</emph>; it was left to the Church +to determine which were to be received as inspired +writings, and in accordance with the teaching already +diffused in her, and which were not. And +this collection of the several writings from the particular +Churches to which they were addressed into +one mass would seem not to have taken place until +at least three or four generations after the whole +order and institutions of the Church had been +established by oral teaching, which filled as with +a flood the whole Christian people. Then, finally, +the authority of the Church alone established the +canon of Scripture, and separated it off from all +other writings. +</p> + +<p> +Now as the planting of the Church by oral +teaching was a direction of the Holy Spirit, from +whom the whole work of mission proceeded, so all +these particulars concerning the degree in which +writing was to be employed, and the manner in +which that writing was to be attested, and the +persons to whom it was to be addressed, were a +direction of the same Spirit. That a spiritual +kingdom could not have been established save by +oral teaching Christians may infer with certainty, +because, in fact, that method was pursued. That +a portion of the great Tradition should be committed +to writing they may for the same reason +<pb n='153'/><anchor id='Pg153'/> +infer to have been necessary for the maintenance +of the truth, because it was so done. That these +writings were the property of the Church—her +Scriptures—may be inferred with no less truth, +because they were addressed only to her children, +and presupposed a system of instruction already +received by those who were to read them. And, +finally, that they were to be understood in their +right sense only by the aid of the Spirit who dictated +them, is, their being given in this manner +once admitted, an inference of just reasoning. It +is plain, when once these things are stated, that +these writings were not intended to stand alone, +as ordinary books, and to be understood by themselves. +Not only were they part of a great body +of teaching, but a portion of a great institution, +to which they incessantly alluded and bore witness. +They would speak very differently to those +without and to those within the kingdom of which +they were documents. They would remind the +instructed at every turn of doctrines which they +had been taught, corroborating these and themselves +explained by them. Some of them indeed +were letters, and we all know how different is the +meaning of letters to those who know the writer +and his allusions, and to those who do not. A +word of reference in these documents to a great +practice of Christian life would kindle into a flame +the affection of those who possessed that practice, +while it would pass as a dead letter to those who +<pb n='154'/><anchor id='Pg154'/> +had it not.<note place='foot'>As one instance out of many take the words of S. Paul, 2 Cor. i. 22: +<q>He that <emph>confirms</emph> us with you is Christ, and that has <emph>anointed</emph> us is +God; who has also <emph>sealed</emph> us, and given the pledge of the Spirit in our +hearts.</q> How differently would this passage appear to one who had +received the confirming chrism, with the words conveying it, <q><emph>Signo</emph> te +signo crucis, et <emph>confirmo</emph> te <emph>chrismate</emph> salutis;</q> and to one who had lost +the possession of this Sacrament. Those who have deserted the ecclesiastical +tradition and practice read the Scriptures with a negative mind, +and so fail to draw out the truth which is in them.</note> Such word, therefore, would be absolute +proof of the practice to the former, while +it would seem vague and indeterminate and no +proof at all to the latter. +</p> + +<p> +From what has been said we may determine +the relation of the Church to the Scriptures. She +having been planted everywhere by the personal +oral teaching of the apostles and their disciples, +being in full possession of her worship and her +sacraments, filled by that word which they had +spoken to her, and ruled by that Spirit in whom +they had spoken, accepted these writings which +they left as conformable to that teaching which +they had delivered by word of mouth, esteemed +them, moreover, as sacred, because proceeding +from the dictation of the one Spirit, and finally +put them together and severed them off from all +other books, as forming, in conjunction with that +unwritten word in possession of which she passed +this judgment upon them, her own canon or rule +of faith. Thenceforth they were to be for all ages +a necessary portion of the divine Tradition which +was her inheritance from the Incarnate Word, +<pb n='155'/><anchor id='Pg155'/> +distributed by His Spirit. They were to be in +her and of her. To her belonged, first, the understanding +of them; secondly, the interpreting +them to her children, out of the fund of that +whole Tradition lodged in her, and by virtue of +that indwelling Spirit, who, as He had created, +maintained her; as part and parcel, moreover, of +that whole kingdom, of that body of worship and +sacraments, which she is. +</p> + +<p> +And this brings us to a further point of the +utmost importance. For the Truth, which is the +subject matter of all this divine Tradition or +Delivery from the Incarnate Word, in order to be +efficacious and permanent, approached men in the +shape of a society invested with grace.<note place='foot'>Eine Gnadenanstalt: our language does not supply the expression.</note> It was +not proposed as a theory which is presented simply +to the reason, and accepted or rejected by it. +True, it was addressed to the reason, but only +when illuminated by faith could the reason accept +it. Here, again, it showed itself manifestly as +<q>the gospel <emph>of the kingdom</emph>.</q> It was the good +tidings proclaimed, not simply and nakedly to +man's intellect, but as the gift and at the same +time the law of that kingdom which accompanied +its publication by the bestowal of power to accept +it, and to make it the rule of conduct. There +were many whom the word, though proclaimed to +them as to others, did not help, because it was not +mixed with faith in those who heard it. S. Paul +<pb n='156'/><anchor id='Pg156'/> +preached to many when the heart of one Lydia +was opened to receive what he announced.<note place='foot'>Heb. iv. 2; Acts xvi. 14.</note> +Thus with the first hearing of the message coincided +the beginning of grace to accept it. But so +likewise the Church supplied a storehouse of grace +for the continuance of the truth in those who had +once received it. Truth and grace, as they come +together in her, so they remain together inseparable. +Wisdom, understanding, counsel, and +knowledge, which perfect the intellect, are linked +in her with fortitude, piety, and fear, which perfect +the will. And this which is true of the individual +is true of the mass. In the Body, as well +as in each single member of it, and the more +because the Body is an incomparably grander +creation, it is the sanctified intellect which must +receive, harmonise, and develope the truth. If +the sevenfold fountain of the Spirit's gifts is one +in the individual, much more is it one in that +Body out of whose plenitude the individual receives. +Thus wherever the Apostles preached the +word, if faith made it fruitful, they bestowed the +sacraments. +</p> + +<p> +We shall see, if we observe it closely, that it is +a triple cord through which the Holy Spirit conveys +His life perpetually to the Body; and in His +life is the Truth. +</p> + +<p> +First, there is the succession of men. As the +Word Incarnate taught, so men bear on His teaching. +<pb n='157'/><anchor id='Pg157'/> +Personal labours, intercourse from mouth to +mouth, the action of men on men, the suffering of +men for men, this was from the beginning, this is +to be for ever, the mode of spreading His kingdom. +It is not a paper kingdom, it cannot be +printed off and disseminated by the post. But +from His own Person it passed to Peter and the +Apostles, and from them to a perpetual succession +of men, whose special work it is to continue on +this line by a chain never to be broken. These +are the messengers, or heralds, or stewards, or +ministers, or teachers, or shepherds. They are all +and each of these according to the manifoldness +of the gift which they carry. Through the unbrokenness +of this line the continuity of the gift +is secured. Through it the Redeemer, King, and +Head touches, as it were, each point of time and +space, and with a personal ministry lays hold of +each individual through the vast extent of His +kingdom in time and space. And the gift is as +living and as near to Him now as it was when +S. Paul spoke of it as communicated by the imposition +of his hands to his disciple; nay, as it was +when He himself breathed on His Apostles together +assembled, and said, <q>Receive the Holy +Ghost;</q> and will be equally living and direct from +Him to the last who shall receive it to the end of +time. And all this because these men who are +taken up into this succession are the nerves of His +mystical Body, through which runs the supply to +<pb n='158'/><anchor id='Pg158'/> +all the members. This is the indestructible framework +which He has wrought for carrying on to +men His own teaching, until the whole mass grow +up to that fulness of the perfect stature which He +has foreseen and determined. +</p> + +<p> +The second succession is that of the Truth +itself committed to these men. For that plenitude +of teaching which the Apostles delivered orally to +the Church has never ceased to rest in her, and +out of it she dispenses to all the ages her divine +message. But part of this teaching by the further +ordering of the Spirit of Truth has been incorporated +in writing. And no one can doubt that this +incorporation has given a firmness and stability to +the teaching which we do not see how it could +otherwise have possessed. Thus the great Tradition +of the Truth poured out upon the Church +has been partly written and partly unwritten; not +as if there were two teachings separable from each +other, but one and the same which runs in a perpetual +blending. Through the written teaching +we receive the very words consecrated by our +Lord's use: we have the priceless privilege of +knowing how he spoke; of catching the accents +of His voice, and the look of His eyes, and the +gestures of His body, portrayed in that narrative. +The words of Him who spake as never man spake +live and sound for ever in our ears; and we recognise +in the structure of His sentences, which convey +in a clause principles of endless application, +<pb n='159'/><anchor id='Pg159'/> +forces on which a universe can be built, the +Father's Word, and the world's Creator, and the +Church's Head. Parable and apophthegm and +answer, metaphor and plain speech, when used by +Him, are all impregnated with this power. And +now that we possess this peculiar language of the +Word Incarnate, embodied and fixed for ever to +our senses as well as our affections, it seems as +if we could not have done without it. Then the +mode in which His own Apostles apply and illustrate +His doctrines, and exhibit to us the formation +of the society which He came to institute, +possesses a value only subordinate to His own +words. The written word, it has been said,<note place='foot'>By Möhler.</note> gives +to the whole Church through all times a sense of +the truth and consistency of her teaching like that +which the sense of personal identity gives to the +individual respecting his own being. And again, +what memory is to the single man, such is the +whole tradition of the Truth in the bosom of the +Church. But it is through the unwritten teaching +deposited in her by the Apostles that she possesses +the key to the true understanding of that which is +written. The one in her practice has never been +severed from the other. So dear has the written +word been to her that almost the blackest epithet +in language, <q>traitor,</q> is derived from the name +which she gave to those who, under fear of persecution, +surrendered to the heathen her sacred +<pb n='160'/><anchor id='Pg160'/> +books. With these in her hand, or rather in her +heart, she has directed and carried out that great +system of instruction which the Apostles laid down +and established by their acts. For to her what +they did was as sacred as what they said, or +what they wrote; and numberless acts of theirs +constituted her teaching originally, and have prolonged +and continued it on since. +</p> + +<p> +For, besides the succession of men and the +succession of doctrine, there is in her likewise +the succession of institutions. As chief of these, +but involving a number of subordinate rites, the +Apostles with their first oral teaching delivered +likewise to the Church sacraments, instituted, not +by them, but by their Lord Himself, which at once +embodied the truth taught by them, and conveyed +the grace by which that truth was to find a home +in men's heart and mind. No sooner was the +first teaching of Peter at the head of the Apostles +uttered, and the gift of forgiveness of sins and +of adoption disclosed, than three thousand persons +received the double gift by the baptism which +followed. Thus they established in the Church +seven great rites, encompassing the whole of human +life. The regenerating power which was the +beginning of the whole change that they sought to +work in man was stored up in one; the confirming +and developing it in a second; the feeding and +increasing it in a third; the removal of obstacles +to it in a fourth; the supporting and restoring the +<pb n='161'/><anchor id='Pg161'/> +human nature so elevated, when under pressure of +sickness and in fear of death, in a fifth; the blessing +and consecrating the union of the species in a +sixth; and, finally, the conferring that distinctive +power which transmitted through all ages her +Lord's gift to the Church in a seventh. This is +that great and marvellous sacramental system by +which the Church, dowered, as we have said, in +her quality of Bride with her Lord's blood, applies +that blood to His members, according to their +needs. This is the perpetual consecration of matter +to a supernatural end, of which the highest +example is found in the Body of the Head Himself, +and so it is an enfolding of human nature +with the Incarnation, and a transforming it into +the image of its Head. But such, likewise, is the +summary of the whole written and unwritten +teaching of the Church; such also, in few and +brief words, the perpetual work of the succession +of men whom we have described. +</p> + +<p> +Thus the three successions, of men, of doctrines, +and of institutions, are woven by the Holy +Spirit together as three strands of a rope which +cannot be broken: in the union of these three +His perpetual presence dwells; and this is the +spinal cord whereby He joins the Body with the +Head. +</p> + +<p> +Let us take instances wherein the force of this +union is seen. +</p> + +<p> +The first gift He bestowed upon men when the +<pb n='162'/><anchor id='Pg162'/> +gospel of the kingdom approached them was the +forgiveness of sins. This is a power belonging to +God alone, as sin is an offence against His majesty. +The conferring of this power upon the Apostles +by our Lord Himself is explicitly recorded. But +then two sacraments exhibit the application of this +power, first that of baptism, where it is given plenarily; +secondly that of penance, where it is given +under restriction. And further, an order of men +is instituted for this perpetual application. Here, +then, we see the force of the triple cord carrying +on through all ages this great truth of the forgiveness +of sins in and by the Church of God. The +very definite mention of the grant of this power +in the written tradition is not left exposed by +itself to the action of unbelieving reason. It has +a double bulwark in the two institutions which +assert its perpetual exercise as a matter of history, +and in the order of men established to carry +it out. +</p> + +<p> +Take again the doctrine of the Real Presence, +upon which infidelity falls as being a proof charge +of human credulity,<note place='foot'>See Macaulay's Essays.</note> on which faith and love rest +as the sovereign gift of God. The recorded words +of our Lord Himself express it distinctly and emphatically; +further words of His in the sixth chapter +of S. John allude to it with equal force, and S. +Paul repeatedly refers to it. But this is not enough +for the solicitude with which the Holy Spirit has +<pb n='163'/><anchor id='Pg163'/> +guarded it against all attack. As the great central +rite of Christian worship it is presented day +after day, in myriads of churches, from age to +age, to the eyes and hearts of men. The act in +which Christians assemble, in which they offer up +at once their repentance and their requests, their +thanksgivings and their praises, to Him who has +formed them into one Body, lives upon this truth. +And further, the order of men which is the backbone +of the Church, the great Christian priesthood, +made by our Lord in instituting the rite +and conferring the gift, exists for its continuance. +Against such a truth, defended with such bulwarks, +both infidelity and heresy dash themselves +with impotent rage in vain. +</p> + +<p> +Thirdly, we have in the epistles of S. Paul a +mention of the bishop's office and the duties belonging +to it. The mention is incidental, and the +words not so determinate as in the former instances +given. Those who are outside the Body, +in their attack upon the necessity of episcopacy, +thought that they could cut through these words +so as to make it doubtful whether the office of +bishop, as distinguished from that of priest, was +of original institution. But then history disclosed +the fact that when the last apostle was taken from +the earth not a church existed which was not +under episcopal jurisdiction, and through the +whole world, by the institution of bishops, was +fulfilled the prediction,—Instead of thy fathers +<pb n='164'/><anchor id='Pg164'/> +thou shalt have children, whom thou mayest make +princes in all lands. Thus, while the written record +was interpreted, the unwritten teaching of +the Church found a plain and unanswerable proof +in her invariable practice. All through her long +history she is seen to be governed by bishops; +and the words of S. Paul, flanked by the institution +and the practice, are more than sufficient to +maintain the truth. +</p> + +<p> +Once more let us take the primacy of S. Peter's +see in the Church. This, as is well known, rests +in the written word mainly on three great passages +of S. Matthew, S. Luke, and S. John. These, indeed, +are so specific and definite that they convey +the dignity intended as clearly as the passages +above referred to convey the forgiveness of sins +or the Real Presence. But over and above these, +what an overwhelming proof in the unbroken succession +of those who exercised the primacy from +the beginning, and are referred to from age to +age by the doctors, fathers, and historians of the +Church. Beside the charter of institution stands +the long record of the work wrought in virtue of +it, the witness of the Church to it in councils, +the obedience to it in fact. As the priesthood +exists in attestation of the Real Presence, so +the primacy stands beside our Lord's words, first +promising and then conferring it, like the comment +of eighteen hundred years, uniform and consistent. +</p> + +<pb n='165'/><anchor id='Pg165'/> + +<p> +What we have here applied in the case of the +forgiveness of sins, the Real Presence, episcopacy, +and the primacy of the Church, might be carried out +in the case of many more doctrines forming a part +of the great deposit. But it may be well to cite +one instance of a truth not contained in the written +word at all, which through the unwritten +teaching of the Church has passed into universal +practice. This is not the abolition only of the +Jewish Sabbath, constituted as it was by the most +express divine command, for to that abolition +there is a passing reference in an epistle of S. +Paul, but the further substitution of the day of +the resurrection, the first day of the week for the +seventh, with a modified observance. This rests +solely upon the deposit of the Church's unwritten +teaching, corroborated by universal practice from +the apostolic times. +</p> + +<p> +Viewing, then, the transmission of the Truth +as a whole, and the creation of the mystical Body +of Christ as its home, and the Holy Spirit as the +perpetual Indweller who fills that treasure-house of +Truth and Grace, we may consider its maintenance +as secured by the triple succession or tradition of +men, of doctrine, and of institutions which are inseparably +joined together in that its home. But +there are some words of our Lord so distinctly +and translucently expressing all this statement +respecting the mode in which His Truth was first +and is ever to be transmitted, and the conditions +<pb n='166'/><anchor id='Pg166'/> +to which His perpetual presence is attached, that +we cannot forbear to adduce them. +</p> + +<p> +His parting instructions to His Apostles on the +Mountain of Galilee given by S. Matthew run thus: +<q>Jesus approached them and said unto them, All +power has been given unto Me in heaven and on +earth. Go therefore, and make disciples all nations, +baptising them in the name of the Father +and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching +them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded +you; and behold I am with you all days +even to the end of the world.</q> We shall here +note six things. First, there is the root and +foundation of all mission, the power bestowed upon +Christ as man, in virtue of the Incarnation: <q>all +power has been given to Me in heaven and on +earth;</q> secondly, there is the derivation of this +power from Christ to His Apostles, in virtue of +which sent by Him, as He by His Father, they +were to go forth: <q>Go ye therefore;</q> thirdly, +there is the creation of the perpetual teaching +power, the authority by which truth was to be +imparted: <q>make disciples all nations.</q> He placed +it in them as in one Body, here fulfilling what S. +Augustine afterwards expressed, that He <q>seated +the doctrine of Verity in the Chair of Unity.</q> +They, invested with one Spirit, His own Spirit of +Truth, should go forth and make disciples all nations +to one Body of Truth. It is the creation of +a power new as the Incarnation, as it unique, because +<pb n='167'/><anchor id='Pg167'/> +springing from it, founded and continued in +it. He Himself is the one Teacher whose voice +they express: He who came on earth for three +and thirty years speaks for evermore in those +whom He sends as one Body, which calls no man +teacher, because it is the Body of Christ, <emph>the</emph> +Teacher: so that this function of magisterial +teaching is the great distinctive office of His +Church, coming from above, and invested with +the authority of the God-man, by which it draws +to it disciples, whose consent is not the ground +but the result of its authority. Fourthly, there +is the creation of the sacraments, as containing +the grace which is needed for the reception of +this Truth, and they are summed up in the first, +which is the beginning of the new life, illumination, +and perfection, and which is given in the +covenant name of God, as the Christian God, and +is the mark of the triune Creator, Redeemer, and +Sanctifier, impressed on his own people of acquisition. +Thus Grace is for ever associated with +Truth as the means whereby alone on earth Truth +shall prevail and be received, and that only as the +teaching of that Body whose Head is full of Grace +and Truth. Fifthly, there is marked the manner +of the teaching, the nature of the magisterial office +created as that of a living body of men: <q>teaching +them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded +you.</q> The fund from which this teaching +is drawn is that whole communication of truth +<pb n='168'/><anchor id='Pg168'/> +from the Incarnate Word Himself, given to them +by word of mouth, of which we have spoken above +as the great Tradition or Delivery; and out of +which a part is incorporated in the written word, +while the whole dwells ever in the Body created +to receive it, from which it is to be imparted by +perpetual oral teaching. The teaching, therefore, +rests upon the perpetual presence of the Body representing +Christ, and as in the days of His flesh +He teaches through it, and has fixed part of His +tradition in it by writing, not to the exclusion of +the rest, but as the charter of a sovereign, the +title-deeds of an empire, to be perpetually applied, +interpreted, and developed in that whole system +of institutions, by that whole race of teachers, in +the life of that one Body, which He was creating. +And lastly, to this perpetual living line of teachers, +to this perpetual living doctrine, to this perpetual +living framework of grace, He has promised His +own presence without fail to the end. In this +triple succession He is seen, lives, and rules, and +this is His Kingdom, His Temple, His Body, His +Bride, His Family, to whom He says, Behold, I +am with you all days, even to the end of the +world. +</p> + +<p> +From these words of our Lord, as from the +whole previous argument, we gather that while +the Truth which Christ imparted to His Apostles +was one and complete, its development in its various +relations was designedly left as the proper +<pb n='169'/><anchor id='Pg169'/> +work of such a Body as He created. He Himself +spoke as God in human flesh, uttering, that is, +creative words, which gathered up in a sentence +a germ of truth capable of a long series of applications, +and requiring them in order to be understood. +And the aptitude to make these applications, +so that the truth proclaimed by Him and +committed to His Apostles should penetrate through +and leaven the whole human society, He gave to +His mystical Body. Let us take an instance of +this. The Pharisees approached Him one day to +entangle Him by their words, and proposed to +Him a dilemma from which they thought that He +could not escape save by ruining His influence +with one great party, or by encountering the +danger of being charged with seditious teaching +by another. They put to Him the question whether +it was lawful to give tribute to Cæsar or not. +Whereupon He asked them to show Him the tribute-money, +and pointing to the image of the +emperor upon it, uttered those famous words, +<q>Render therefore to Cæsar the things which are +Cæsar's, and to God the things which are God's.</q> +Now these words were laid up in the treasury +of His Church, and by them she has had to determine +the relation between the civil and the +spiritual powers in the society created by Him +who spake them. Here is a vast development +from a small seed: but it is a seed cast by the +world's Creator and the Body's Head. And His +<pb n='170'/><anchor id='Pg170'/> +teaching is full of such seeds, as the history of His +Church is one great process of developing and +harmonising and conveying to man the truth thus +cast into the fallows of her soil. It is not new +truth, for He gave the germ, and no power in man +could have developed it without the germ, any +more than it could produce the oak without the +acorn. It is the same truth, as He taught it, but +with that process passed upon it which He intended +when He gave it in such a form, and when +He made a living Body, to be called by His name, +to propagate His teaching, to collect His members +into one, and to fill the earth with the knowledge +which He brought. +</p> + +<p> +Such a work, therefore, the root and authorisation +of which we have been attempting to delineate +in this chapter, stretches over the whole +field which Truth and Grace occupy, and over all +the relations of men which are summed up in what +they are to believe and what they are to do. These +ramifications are all but endless. But to all these +extends that giving of the Holy Ghost in His +fourfold character of the Spirit of Unity, Verity, +Charity, and Sanctity, which is the result of the +Incarnation, and which makes the Church. What +we have said here has a special relation to Truth, +and to Christian morals as resting upon Christian +dogma. But it is impossible to separate Truth +from Grace, in their actual operation as powers: +faith and charity in the Christian are linked together, +<pb n='171'/><anchor id='Pg171'/> +as the intellect and the will are one soul. +What we have said is but an introduction to a +sketch of the great evolution of dogmatic truth +through eighteen centuries: but in recording its +rise, the secret of its growth, and the source of +its strength, it was impossible not to bring out the +great fact that Christianity was nothing less than +a divine life produced in the world over against +the existing heathenism, and laying hold of the +whole soul of man, in which, as we have just said, +intellect and will are inseparable. It did not consist +in anything which individuals believed, however +true; but in a society of which Truth and +Grace were the joint spring, and it was produced +in the midst of a world which had to a great extent +forfeited both Truth and Grace, while both +returned to it as the gift of Christ assuming man's +nature. This error and distraction of heathenism, +and this great unity of Christian life grounded in +faith and charity which rose up against it, were +profoundly felt by all the Fathers, being eye-witnesses +of the old world and the new. Their writings +express it again and again, with the vividness +which only eye-witnesses, who are likewise actors +and sufferers, feel. In nothing, perhaps, do they +so differ from modern writers as in the energy +with which they appreciate the supernatural character +of the Christian, and the wonderful being +and endowment of that Christian Body which impressed +this character on its members. One cause, +<pb n='172'/><anchor id='Pg172'/> +we may suppose, of this was the sight of heathenism +before them with all its impurities and its +impotence to produce good. So they were not +even tempted to that naturalism which is the besetting +sin of our age and these countries. It +would have seemed to them not only an ingratitude +but an absurdity to refer to the inborn force +of humanity a change equally of the intellect and +of the will which they saw to belong only to the +power of Christ revealed in His Church. We +will cite one such passage as a conclusion to this +discussion, and because it represents the whole +train of thought which we have been drawing +out.<note place='foot'>S. Aug. <hi rend='italic'>de Trin.</hi> iv. 11, 12, tom. viii. 817.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Of this sacrament, this sacrifice, this priest, +this God, before, having been made of a woman, +He entered on His mission, all sacred and mystical, +angelic and miraculous appearances to our +fathers, as well as their own deeds, were resemblances, +in order that every creature might in a +manner by its acts speak of that One destined to +come, in whom should be the salvation of all that +were to be restored from death. For as we had +started away from the one true supreme God by +the injustice of impiety, and fallen out of harmony +with Him, and become unstable as water, +and wasted ourselves on a multitude of vanities, +rent in pieces, and hanging in tatters to every +piece, need was there that by the will and command +<pb n='173'/><anchor id='Pg173'/> +of a compassionating God this multitude of +objects itself should utter a cry in unison, calling +for One to come; and that thus called upon this +One should come, and that the multitude should +attest together that the One had come: and so +we, discharged from the burden of this multitude, +should come to One; and dead in our soul by +many sins, and from our sin doomed to death in +the flesh, should love that One, who, being without +sin, died for us in the flesh: and believing on +Him when risen, and with Him rising again in the +Spirit through faith, should be justified, being in +the One Just made one: and should not despair of +rising again in our very flesh, beholding our Head +being One going before His many members; in +whom now, cleansed by faith, and hereafter restored +by vision, and reconciled by the Mediator +to God, we might inhere in the One, enjoy the One, +and continue One for ever.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thus the Son of God, Himself at once the +Word of God and Son of man, Mediator of God +and men, equal to the Father by the unity of the +godhead, and partaker of us through the assumption +of the manhood, interceding with the Father +for us through that which was man, yet not concealing +that as God He was One with the Father, +thus speaks: <q>Neither pray I for these alone, but +for those also who shall believe through their word +on Me; that all may be one, as Thou, Father, art +in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be One +<pb n='174'/><anchor id='Pg174'/> +in Us, that the world may believe that Thou hast +sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me, +I have given them, that they may be One as we +also are One.</q> He said not, that I and they may +be One thing, although in that He is the Head of +the Church, and the Church His Body, He might +say, I and they not One thing, but One person, +because the Head and the Body is One Christ. +But marking His Godhead as consubstantial with +the Father (whence in another place He says, I +and the Father are One thing), He wills that His +own should be One thing in their own kind, that +is, in the consubstantial parity of the same nature, +but in Him, because in themselves they could not, +as severed from each other by diversity of pleasures, +desires, and impurities of sin. From these +they are cleansed through the Mediator, so as to +be One Thing in Him, not merely by the same nature +in which all from mortal men become equal to +the angels, but likewise by the same will breathing +in perfect harmony together into the same beatitude, +welded, as it were, by the fire of charity into +One Spirit. For this is the force of His words, +That they may be One, as We also are One: that +as the Father and the Son are One not only in +equality of substance, but also in will, so these +also between whom and God the Son is Mediator, +may be One Thing not merely by being of the +same nature, but also by the same society of affection. +And the very point that He is Mediator, +<pb n='175'/><anchor id='Pg175'/> +by whom we are reconciled to God, He indicates +in the words, <q>I in them and Thou in Me, that +they may be consummated into One.</q> Thus as +through the mediator of death we had receded +from our Creator, stained and alienated, so through +the Mediator of life we might be purified and reconciled, +wherein consist our true peace and stable +union with Him.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='177'/><anchor id='Pg177'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter X. The First Age Of The Martyr Church.</head> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +<q>Magnum hæreditatis mysterium! Templum Dei factus est uterus +nescientis virum. Non est pollutus ex ea carnem assumens. Omnes +gentes venient dicentes, Gloria tibi, Domine.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Antiphon on Vespers of Circumcision.</hi> +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +The world which Augustus and Tiberius ruled +was not conscious of the fact that there was an +order of truth, and of morality based upon that +truth, the maintenance of which was to be purchased, +and cheaply purchased, with the loss of +life, or of all that made life valuable. This world +was indeed familiar with the thought and with the +practice of sacrificing life for one object—an object +which collected all the natural affections and interests +of a man together, and presented them to +him in the most attractive form, his country. +Greek and Roman history, and indeed the history +of all nations up to that time, had been full of +instances in which privations and sufferings were +endured, and, if necessary, life itself given up for +wife and children, for the dear affections of house +and home, for friends, for freedom, for fatherland. +Man, civilised and uncivilised, was alike capable of +this, and capable of it in profusion. Rome had +<pb n='178'/><anchor id='Pg178'/> +many a Regulus and Sparta many a Leonidas in +the humblest ranks of their citizens: Gaul had +thousands as noble as Vercingetorex, and Spain +not one but many Numantias. Human nature +had never been wanting in the courage to die for +the visible goods of human life. But to labour, +to combat, to endure pain, sorrow, privations, to +suffer in every form for the invisible goods of a +future life, to recognise, that is, an inviolable +order of religion and morality, so far superior to +all that a man can grasp and hold in his possession, +to wife, children, goods, friends, freedom, +and fatherland, and to life adorned and crowned +with these, that any or all of these, and life itself, +are to be sacrificed for its preservation; this may +be said to be a thought of which the whole +heathen world ruled by Augustus and Tiberius +was unconscious.<note place='foot'>Tertullian, <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 50. <q>O gloriam licitam, quia humanam, cui nec +præsumptio perdita nec persuasio desperata deputatur in contemptu +mortis et atrocitatis omnimodæ, cui tantum pro patria, pro imperio, pro +amicitia pati permissum est, quantum pro Deo non licet.</q> See again the +instances he collects <hi rend='italic'>ad Martyres</hi>, 4; and Eusebius, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. 5</hi>, proœm., +draws the same contrast.</note> For other reasons also it was +familiar enough with the sacrifice of life, since the +continual practice of war and the permanent institution +of slavery had made human life the cheapest +of all things in its eyes. And further, to die +rather than to live dishonoured was still the rule +of the nobler among the millions who yielded to +the sway of Augustus. But to die for the maintenance +<pb n='179'/><anchor id='Pg179'/> +of moral truth, that is, for faith,—this was +known indeed to the Jews, who had already their +<q>cloud of witnesses</q> to it; but it was unknown to +heathendom, which has in all its ranks and times +but one man<note place='foot'>Celsus only alleges the suffering of Socrates as a parallel to that of +the martyrs. Origen <hi rend='italic'>c. Cels.</hi> i. 3.</note> to offer whose death approaches to +such a sacrifice, and therefore shines with incomparable +lustre among all deeds of purely human +heroism. But the death of Socrates found in this +no imitators, he created here no line of followers; +and he stands alone in this greatness, an exception +to an otherwise invariable rule. +</p> + +<p> +However, in our two preceding chapters we +have been describing something much more than +the exhibition of this order of truth; that is, we +have set forth the union of it with a Person, who +both exhibits it in Himself, and is the source of it +to others. And the difference between these two +things is very great. Many at different times have +said, <q>I teach the truth.</q> One only has said, <q>I +am the Truth:</q> and to say it is the most emphatic +indirect assumption of Godhead which can be conceived. +And with it that One also joined a similar +expression, containing the same assumption of +Godhead, and which equally was never approached +by any other teacher, <q>I am the Life.</q> The +union of the Truth at once and of the Life with +His Person, which is thus become the root of both +to human nature, was the subject of the last two +<pb n='180'/><anchor id='Pg180'/> +chapters. Now, as we have said, that there was +an order of truth sacred and inviolable above all +things, was borne witness to by the Hebrew martyrs, +and therefore was not new to the chosen +race of Israel, though it was new to heathendom, +at the time at which our Lord appeared. But the +union of the Truth and of the Life with the Person +of One appearing visibly in the world as man, +was as new to the Hebrews as to the heathen, was +an absolute novelty to human nature. And so the +Christian Faith also, as a system of belief and +action, that is, as embracing the mind and the will +of man, as giving both Truth and Life, is entirely +new in this respect; that in this double action it +is in its origin and in its whole course and maintenance +bound up with a Person. Thus all which +it teaches is not naked truth, unlocalised as it +were, and impersonal, but is the development of +relations in which the disciples of Christ stand to +Him; for instance, as King, as God, as Head, as +Bridegroom, as Father. As these, He is at once +The Truth and the Life. Thus it is that the Christian +Faith flows out of the Person of Christ the +God-man; and, as its Truth is centered in that +Person, so also its continuous Life depends on +Him. +</p> + +<p> +And further, as the connection of doctrine, or +truth, and of life, that is, action, with a Person is +the point from which all this movement springs, +in which respect we have said it was absolutely +<pb n='181'/><anchor id='Pg181'/> +new, so the term to which it reaches is the creation +of something in both these things correlative +to that Person, the creation of a Kingdom, a Temple, +a Body, a Mother, a Race, in which respect +also the term is as new as that from which it +springs. That He is the Truth and the Life is +shown in this creation, which has a distinctive +character, as He has, an unique existence, and an +organic unity with Him. +</p> + +<p> +The subject on which we are now employed is +to describe as an historic fact how the duty of +maintaining, propagating, and dying for the truth +and conduct thus identified with the Person of +Christ, was carried out through many generations +and under difficulties which seemed to preclude +the possibility of its success; and to show the +means by which this great creation, starting from +the day of Pentecost, made a home and established +itself in the Roman empire, by which, after a conflict +of nearly three hundred years, it was finally +recognised. +</p> + +<p> +The worship of the one true God had been +fixed in the children of Abraham, Isaac, and +Jacob, as the faith which made them a nation, +that is, as the dogma on which their national existence +was so based, that through maintaining it +they were to continue a people. The Jewish +polity lived in and by this belief, and, as a nation, +was its prophet. Certainly, this was the noblest +form which nationalism has ever assumed. Yet it +<pb n='182'/><anchor id='Pg182'/> +was nationalism still; and the proselyte who would +enter into the full worship of the God of Abraham +and all its privileges had to become a Jew. But +now, instead of this bond another was substituted, +signifying that the King of the Jews who had appeared +was come as the saviour of <emph>man</emph>, not of +this or of that nation. The bond is therefore +placed at the point which constituted the salvation +of the whole race, that is in the Person of the God-man, +and by this the corporation was put beyond +the bounds of a nationality, and made coextensive +with the world. The Christian creed was formed +round the Person, the actions, and the sufferings +of Christ. Now here, precisely in what constituted +the character, the greatness, and the glory of the +Christian faith, was seated the principle and the +beginning of the persecution which it encountered +from the Roman empire. In that empire every +species of idolatry<note place='foot'>With an appeal to this fact Athenagoras begins his apology to the +Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, about <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 177. ἑνὶ λόγῳ κατὰ +ἔθνη καὶ δήμους θυσίας κατάγουσιν ἂς ἂν ἐθέλωσιν ἄνθρωποι καὶ μυστήρια. οἱ +δὲ Αἰγύπτιοι καὶ αἰλούρους καὶ κροκοδείλους καὶ ὄφεις καὶ ἀσπίδας καὶ κύνας +θεούς νομίζουσι. καὶ τούτοις πᾶσιν ἐπετρέπετε καὶ ὑμεῖς καὶ οἱ νόμοι ... ἡμῖν +δὲ (καὶ μὴ παρακρουσθῆτε, ὡς οἱ πολλοὶ, ἐξ ἀκοῆς) τῷ ὀνόματι ἀπεχθάνεσθε. +Ch. i. See also Kellner's <hi rend='italic'>Hellenismus und Christenthum</hi>, p. 79; +and Champagny, <hi rend='italic'>Les Antonins</hi>, ii. 189.</note> had a right of homestead as +the national or tribe religion of any one of its constituent +parts; and the worship of even one God, +exclusive as that Jewish worship was of the whole +heathen pantheon, was allowed by the laws of +Rome to the Jews, because he was considered +<pb n='183'/><anchor id='Pg183'/> +their national god. But the Christians had no +such justification in Roman eyes for their exclusive +worship. They were not a nation nor a province +of the empire; they had not, therefore, that +title for their worship which constituted the charter +of toleration to all besides, including the Jew, +who worshipped the same God. For the Christians +worshipped Him, not as their ancestral God, +but as the Father of that Son who had taken +human flesh, and become the Saviour of men. +Their worship of the one true God was not only +exclusive, but in and through the fact of the +Incarnation claimed the homage of all men to it. +It knew of no bond of brotherhood but in Him +who had deigned to call men His brethren. Thus +its special character and preëminent glory were the +cause of its persecution, and from the moment that +it came before the notice of the Roman governor +not as a Jewish sect but as a distinct belief, it was +considered as not a lawful religion. Thus too it +was that the selfsame point which kindled Jewish +hatred entailed Roman persecution. The Christian +faith was a mortal offence to the Jew because +it extended what had been his special privileges to +all the Gentiles. He abhorred the substitution of +the Person of the God-man for the race of Abraham +after the flesh; as the Roman at once despised +and hated a worship which not only adhered +to one God, but dethroned from his political supremacy +the capitoline Jupiter, and whose title rested +<pb n='184'/><anchor id='Pg184'/> +not on tradition and national inheritance, but on +a fact touching the whole race of man, and therefore +claiming the allegiance of the whole race—the +assumption of human nature by a divine Person. +Thus the doctrine in which lay the whole +creative force, the truth and the life of Christianity, +was that which from the first caused the +dislike of the Jew and the persecution of the Gentile—the +kingship of Christ, involving the headship +of a universal religion, and a power which was +not that of Cæsar. +</p> + +<p> +We have, then, now to treat of a period of 280 +years, homogeneous in its character from the beginning +to the end, which is, that it is the carrying +out by a people ever increasing in number +and strength of that good confession made before +Pontius Pilate—that witness at its proper time of +which S. Paul<note place='foot'>1 Tim. vi. 13; ii. 6.</note> in its first stage said that he was +the herald and apostle. The course and life of +Christians during these ten generations is to be +the prolongation of this testimony, the embodiment +of this confession. It is as soldiers, imitators, followers +of one Chief, that all appear on the scene in +their respective order.<note place='foot'><q>Æmulos nos ergo Sibi esse voluit, ac primus virtute cœlesti injustorum +justus obtemperavit arbitrio; dans scilicet secuturis viam, ut +pius Dominus exemplum famulis Se præbendo, ne onerosus præceptor +a quodam putaretur. Pertulit ante illa quæ aliis perferenda mandavit.</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Epist. Ecc. Smyr.</hi> i. Ruinart, p. 31.</note> It is by a direct virtue +drawn from the cross of that Chief that they move +<pb n='185'/><anchor id='Pg185'/> +onward to their own passion. They endure and +they conquer simply as under His command, and +because He endured and conquered before them. +Their oath of military fidelity is the bond of their +discipline; they prevail because they are His, and +because they are one in Him: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>And they stand in glittering ring</q></l> +<l>Round their warrior God and King—</l> +<l>Who before and for them bled—</l> +<l>With their robes of ruby red,</l> +<l><q rend='post'>And their swords of cherub flame.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +The whole process and cause of Christians +during this long period, the ground of their accusation, +the conduct and principles of the judges, +and their judgment, are summed up as in a parable +in that scene which passed before Pilate, while the +subsequent day of Pentecost is in the same manner +an image of the final result won in these three +hundred years. For as the crucifixion of the +Truth in the Person of Christ is followed by the +descent of the Holy Ghost forming the Church, so +the persecution and crucifixion of the truth in ten +generations of His people is followed by the empire's +public recognition of His eternal kingdom—of +that Body of Christ seen visibly in a council of +its prelates assembling freely from all lands. +</p> + +<p> +Take first the seventy years which form the +Apostolic age. What do we find as the result +when S. John, the last apostle, is taken away? +In a large number of cities throughout the Roman +empire a community has been planted after +<pb n='186'/><anchor id='Pg186'/> +the pattern of that which we have described as +arising at Jerusalem, and by the same means, the +power of oral teaching. Every such community +has at its head its bishop, or angel, who sums up +and represents in his own person the people over +which he presides. This is exactly the picture +presented to us at the close of this period by +S. John in the Apocalypse, when he is directed +by our Lord personally appearing to him to write +seven letters to as many bishops of cities on the +seaboard of the province of Asia. Each, with his +people, is addressed as a unit. One, <q>I know thy +works, and thy labour, and thy endurance, and +how thou canst not bear those which are evil;</q> +a second, <q>Fear not what thou art about to suffer; +behold, the devil shall cast some of you into +prison;</q> a third, <q>I have against thee some few +things, that thou hast there some who hold the +doctrine of Balaam.</q><note place='foot'>Apoc. ii. 2, 10, 14.</note> Each has around him his +council of priests, his ministering deacons, his faithful +people. The last apostle is still living; but in +all these communities many exist, both of teachers +and taught, who have learned Christian doctrine, +either from the mouth of an apostle or the comrade +of an apostle—a Mark, a Luke, a Silvanus, a +Clemens. Thus they live mainly upon oral teaching: +the voice which went forth from the day of +Pentecost is sounding freshly in their ears. Doctrine +is in the stage of simple tradition and authority. +<pb n='187'/><anchor id='Pg187'/> +The writings of the New Testament are +completed, but being addressed to various parts +of the Church, are best known to those for whom +they were written. They are not yet collected +and made the common patrimony of the whole +Church. S. John leaves the earth without performing +any such function; without setting the +seal of his apostolical authority upon the New +Testament as a whole; nay, the authorship of +some of his own writings, as we now receive +them, will be partially contested after his death +before their final reception. Of the absolute number +of these Christian communities, and of the +multitude they severally embrace, we have no account; +we can form no estimate, save to infer that +the whole number of the faithful, at the end of +this period, was very small in comparison with the +mass out of which they had been drawn. Still +it was a germ with a living force of expansion, +planted in every considerable spot of the empire; +and wherever it was planted, a Christian people, +in the full sense of the word, existed, having a +complete spiritual life of its own, possessing the +sacraments which insured the beginning and the +continuance of that life, an order of worship based +on the great central fact which made them a +people, and a ministry charged with the power +to teach and to convey on to their successors the +doctrines delivered to them. +</p> + +<p> +But in the mean time how had the empire +<pb n='188'/><anchor id='Pg188'/> +treated it? In these seventy years it has traversed +the seven last years of the Emperor Tiberius, +and the whole principates of Caligula, Claudius, +and Nero; the revolutionary crisis in which +Galba, Otho, and Vitellius reigned for an instant, +and then the settled time of Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, +and Nerva. Now, during this period its +treatment by the empire has been a singular reproduction +of what passed in the hall of Pilate. +For the Jewish religion was one allowed by Roman +law. The profession of it entailed no penalty. +Now the first heralds of the Gospel, as +Jews, preached their message boldly and publicly, +and in doing so it does not seem that Roman +law would have interfered with them.<note place='foot'>This is what Tertullian calls <q>sub umbraculo insignissimæ religionis, +certe licitæ,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Apolog.</hi> 21; and <hi rend='italic'>ad Nationes</hi>, i. 11, <q>Nos quoque +ut Judaicæ religionis propinquos.</q></note> At +this stage it looked upon Christians as a sect of +Jews. As no authority of the empire had interfered +with the public ministry of our Lord, so it +would seem to have left the ministry of His disciples +in the first instance free. It is from another +quarter that opposition arises. The Jew in his jealous +anger at the promulgation of a Messiah and a +spiritual kingdom which is not after Jewish taste, +both because it is a kingdom not of this world, and +because it raises the Gentile to coinheritance with +the race of Abraham, drags the Christian missionary +before the tribunal of the Roman magistrate +<pb n='189'/><anchor id='Pg189'/> +and imputes to him <q>sedition.</q> Then many a +Gallio, many a Felix, many a Festus have as it +were unwillingly to enter into and decide these +questions of the Jewish law. It would seem that +converts to the Christian faith in these its earliest +days might long have escaped the notice of the +magistrate, as belonging to a Jewish sect, but for +this enmity of the Jews themselves. But as the +teachers of the new faith everywhere addressed +themselves first to their countrymen, so everywhere +they found these countrymen alive to their progress +and bitterly set against it.<note place='foot'>See Justin Martyr, <hi rend='italic'>Dial. c. Tryph.</hi> 17, who speaks of the Jews as +sending everywhere deputies in order to defame Christians.</note> This state of things +is pretty well expressed by that answer of the +Roman Jews to S. Paul when he excuses himself +before them for having been compelled to appeal +to the Emperor Nero: <q>as concerning this sect, +we know that it is spoken against everywhere.</q><note place='foot'>Acts xxviii. 22.</note> +This, however, was Jewish, not Roman, contradiction. +So far as everywhere Jewish hatred and jealousy +could malign and counterwork the progress +of the Christian Faith, and bring suffering on its +teachers, it had been done. But nevertheless with +this exception it would seem that for thirty-five +years after the day of Pentecost that Faith had +been freely and publicly taught throughout the +empire. It was through the malignity of his own +countrymen, stirring up a dangerous conspiracy +<pb n='190'/><anchor id='Pg190'/> +against him, that S. Paul felt himself compelled to +appeal to the emperor, and the result of his appeal +was that he was set free. But in the year 64 another +state of things had arisen. The ruin of a +large part of Rome by fire had brought a great +odium upon Nero. Now his wife Poppæa is said +to have been a Jewish proselyte, he himself to +have been surrounded by Jewish influences, and +nothing is more probable than that Jewish hatred, +which had tracked the Christians everywhere, pursued +them especially here, and suggested them to +him both as authors of the conflagration, and as +convenient scapegoats whereon to divert the odium +against himself which had arisen from it. Thus +he took the opportunity of exposing to shame and +torment, as victims of the popular dislike, and in +popular opinion guilty of <q>hatred of the human +race,</q> or of being hated by them, <q>a vast multitude</q><note place='foot'>Tacitus, <hi rend='italic'>Ann.</hi> xv. 44.</note> +of Christians, who, says the heathen historian, +were put to the most exquisite suffering, +being wrapt in the skins of wild beasts, and torn +to pieces by dogs, or crucified, or clothed in garments +of pitch and set on fire to illuminate the +night. Thus it is, as decorations of Nero's games, +in his gardens of the Vatican, where the obelisk +from Heliopolis, once the ornament of his circus, +now bears witness to the victory of Christ, that +Christians first come before us in the pages of Roman +historians, just at the middle of the period +<pb n='191'/><anchor id='Pg191'/> +we are now describing, thirty-five years after the +Ascension. +</p> + +<p> +It may be considered part of this first persecution +that the two great Apostles—Peter, who had +founded the Roman Church, and Paul, who after +its first foundation had helped to build it up—were +condemned in the last year of Nero, and by +his deputies<note place='foot'>Ὁ Παῦλος, μαρτυρήσας ἐπὶ τῶν ἡγουμένων, οὕτως ἀπηλλάγη τοῦ κόσμου. +S. Clem. Rom. <hi rend='italic'>ad Cor.</hi> 5.</note> during his absence, to suffer as Christians, +the one the death of a Roman citizen by the +sword, and the other that of a slave by crucifixion. +Thus the two great brethren by enduring together +the martyr's death, the highest mark of Christian +charity, sealed their joint foundation of Christian +Rome, that like as the Rome which had gained +the conquest of the world by the strong hand of +violence, had been planted in the blood of one +brother shed by another, so the Rome which was +to be the centre of Christ's kingdom, and in the +words of S. Ignatius <q>preside over charity,</q> should +have for her founders brethren in supernatural +love, pouring forth their blood together for the +seat of that Christian unity which binds the earth +in one. +</p> + +<p> +But this persecution by Nero is not transitory +in its consequences. The emperor had judged that +Christians as such professed a religion not allowed +by the Roman laws, and were guilty therein of a +capital crime. This crime, if technically expressed, +<pb n='192'/><anchor id='Pg192'/> +would amount to sacrilege and treason;<note place='foot'>Tertull. <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 10. <q>Sacrilegii et majestatis rei convenimur: summa +hæc causa, immo tota est.</q> Lassaulx says, <q>die beiden Hauptanklagen, +die Religion-verachtung, die Majestäts-beleidigung.</q> <hi rend='italic'>Fall des Hellenismus</hi>, +p. 11.</note> for they +could not acknowledge the Roman gods as gods, +nor the emperor as Pontifex Maximus; nor could +they swear by his genius, which was the oath expressing +fidelity to the Roman constitution in its +civil and religious aspect. This was that <q>hatred +of the human race,</q> that is, in other words, of the +Roman empire, of which in the eyes of Tacitus and +Pliny, of Nero now and of Trajan afterwards, they +were guilty as Christians. But the singular thing +is this, that the Jew, who was the first to drag +them before the Roman tribunal, who was their +omnipresent, ever-ready antagonist and traducer, +though he worshipped one only God, though he +abhorred the whole Roman polytheism, though he +swore not by the genius of the emperor, was exempt +from punishment: his religion was recognised +by Roman law and the senate its interpreter, +because it was the national and time-honoured religion +of a constituent part of the empire. On the +same ground the vilest Egyptian, Asiatic, African +idol was allowed the worship of those who claimed +it as their ancestral god. The Christian Faith was +the sole exception to this universal tolerance, because +it was not the religion of a subject nation, +because it was new, because, in fine, it rested on +principles which, if carried out, would sweep away +<pb n='193'/><anchor id='Pg193'/> +the whole fabric of polytheism on which the Roman +State rested. And the act of Nero had its great +importance in that it formally distinguished the +Christian from the Jewish religion, and took away +from it by a legal decision of the State's highest +authority the claim to be considered <q>licit.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Nero then bestows the crown of martyrdom on +S. Peter and S. Paul, and on what Tacitus calls, +even within Rome alone, a vast multitude. But +he does more than this. On the first appearance +of Christians before the supreme authority he so +applies an existing law to their case as to establish +their liability under it to capital punishment, and +this liability rests upon them henceforth down to +the time of Constantine. It is by no means always +carried out; it is often suspended, sometimes for +many years together, according to the character of +the ruling prince, or the maxims of his government, +or the state itself of the empire. But it is +henceforth the legal position of Christians. It is +a danger which besets their condition, and may be +called into action at any moment, in any city of the +empire, from any motive of private enmity, cupidity, +or passion. It is the legal Roman equivalent +and interpretation of their Master's words, +<q>You shall be hated of all men for my name's +sake.</q><note place='foot'>Matt. x. 22; xxiv. 9.</note> +</p> + +<p> +How often, and in how many instances, it was +carried out in this period of seventy years we have +<pb n='194'/><anchor id='Pg194'/> +no means of telling; but another emperor is named +as a persecutor. Domitian not only put to death +as Christian his cousin, the Consul Flavius Clemens, +but, as it would seem, a great many others at +Rome, in the latter years of his principate.<note place='foot'>S. Clemens Rom., writing just after Domitian's time, associates as +sufferers with S. Peter and S. Paul in his own time πολὺ πλῆθος ἐκλεκτῶν, +οἵτινες πολλὰς αἰκίας καὶ βασάνους διὰ ζῆλον παθόντες ὑποδεῖγμα κάλλιστον +ἐγένοντο ἐν ἡμῖν. <hi rend='italic'>Ad Cor.</hi> 6.</note> Domitian +and Nero are mentioned as persecutors by +Melito when addressing Marcus Aurelius, and by +Tertullian,<note place='foot'>Euseb. <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> iv. 25; Tertull. <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 5.</note> in the time of Severus, though it was +the object of both to make the emperors appear to +have been not unfavourable to Christians. But, +independent of any general act which would constitute +an emperor a persecutor,<note place='foot'>In Tertullian's words, <q>debellator Christianorum,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 5.</note> this liability to +punishment,<note place='foot'>Thus a late Protestant writer, Schmidt (<hi rend='italic'>Geschichte der Denk- und +Glaubensfreiheit</hi>, p. 165), remarks of the condition of Christians, <q>Vollkommen +gewiss ist, dass unter Domitian eine neue Drangperiode für die +Christen begann, die sich in Verfolgungen, in Hinrichtungen, und Verbannungen +äusserte. (<hi rend='italic'>Dio.</hi> 67, 14, und die Ausleger.) Damals soll auch +der Apostel Johannes nach Pathmos verwiesen worden sein. Erst Nerva +lüftete wiederum diesen Druck, indem er den Verhafteten die Freiheit +gab, und die Verbannten zurückberief. (<hi rend='italic'>Dio.</hi> 68, 1.) <emph>Es war dies aber +doch nur als eine Amnestie, als ein Gnadenact anzusehen, nicht als eine +Anerkennung der Unsträflichkeit, wie das schwankende Verhalten des nicht +minder hochherzigen und freisinnigen Trajan zur Genüge darthut.</emph></q></note> in virtue of which the confessor or +martyr was brought before the local magistrates, +was that under which individual Christians, in +most peaceful times, and in the reign of emperors +generally just and moderate, endured their sufferings. +The Emperor Tiberius is said by Tertullian +<pb n='195'/><anchor id='Pg195'/> +to have brought before the senate a proposition to +allow the Christian Faith as a lawful religion. Had +this been done, the whole course of Christian history +in these three centuries would have been +changed. As it was, every one, in becoming a +Christian, accepted the chance that he might +thereby be called upon to forfeit the possession of +wife, children, goods, every civil right, and life +itself. +</p> + +<p> +The end of the reign of the first Antonine, in +the year 161, furnishes us with a second fitting +epoch at which we may estimate the growth and +position in the empire of the Christian Faith. +</p> + +<p> +During the sixty years which elapse from the +death of S. John to the accession of Marcus, the +Roman empire is ruled by three sovereigns, who +have each left a fair name and a considerable renown +behind them, and who, compared with most +of those who preceded or who followed them, may +almost be termed great. Trajan by his military +successes raised to the highest point the credit of +the Roman arms, by his moderation in civil government +effaced the remembrance of Domitian's +cruelties, and gave the Romans perhaps as much +liberty as they could bear. His successor Hadrian, +joining great energy, administrative ability, and +moderation of his own to the fear and respect for +the Roman name, which the powerful arm of Trajan +had spread around, was able at once to exercise +his army with unwearied discipline, and to +<pb n='196'/><anchor id='Pg196'/> +maintain the empire at its full tide of power in +honourable peace, while Antoninus crowned the +forty years of equable and generally just government—bestowed +on the Roman world by Trajan +and Hadrian—with a further happy period of more +than half that length, wherein the glory of the empire +may be said to have culminated. Imperial +Rome never saw again such a day of power, or +such a prospect of security, as when Antoninus +celebrated the secular games at the completion of +nine hundred years; and for ages afterwards his +name carried respect, and men looked back on his +reign as on an ideal period of happiness for those +whom he ruled. +</p> + +<p> +One of the most competent observers of our +time has marked the last ten years of the reign of +Pius as the period at which the independent development +of Græco-Roman heathenism terminated, +when it had exhausted all the forms of its own inward +life, since the Neoplatonic philosophy which +is the only striking product of intelligence that +arises afterwards, is manifestly due to the antagonism +with Christianity, and is no pure offspring +of the heathen spirit.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, <hi rend='italic'>Heidenthum und Judenthum</hi>, Vorwort, iv.</note> From this time forth +Christian influences become unmistakable in their +action upon heathen thought and society. This, +then, affords another reason why we should endeavour +to trace the progress and extension which the +Church had reached at this point. +</p> + +<pb n='197'/><anchor id='Pg197'/> + +<p> +Now a contemporary of Antoninus declares +that in his time, that is, about the year 150, there +was no race of men, either barbarians or Greeks, +none even of Scythian nomads roaming in waggons, +or of pastoral tribes dwelling in tents, among +whom prayers and thanksgivings were not offered +to the Father and Creator of the universe in the +name of the crucified Jesus.<note place='foot'>Justin, <hi rend='italic'>Dialog. with Tryphon</hi>, 117. Tertullian, 50 years later, <hi rend='italic'>adv. +Judæos</hi>, 7, goes beyond this.</note> Thus, in a hundred +and twenty years the Church had outstripped the +limits of the empire. The germ which in the time +of S. John was rooted in the chief cities, had +spread out thence and increased, taking more and +more possession of the soil in all directions. Still +we must consider the Christian Church in each +place of its occupation as a small minority of the +people: nor is there any reason to doubt the statement +made by Celsus, that at the period when +he wrote, the middle of the second century, the +Christian Faith counted few of the educated, distinguished, +and rich among its adherents;<note place='foot'>Kellner, <hi rend='italic'>Hellenismus und Christenthum</hi>, p. 85.</note> for +Origen, in replying to him, alleges no specific example +to the contrary. Yet, here too we must +consider the justice of Origen's remark,<note place='foot'>Origen <hi rend='italic'>cont. Cels.</hi> i. 27.</note> that +these classes are everywhere few in proportion +to the poor and ignorant, and that Christianity +being the day-star arising on every soul took +of all classes alike. So much, then, as to the +<pb n='198'/><anchor id='Pg198'/> +Church's material extension: now as to its internal +growth. +</p> + +<p> +As this period opens, comrades of the Apostles +still abound in the churches. We know of several +instances wherein such persons hold eminent rank. +At Rome, S. Clement is the third successor of S. +Peter; and S. Irenæus,<note place='foot'>Lib. iii.3. Ἔτι ἔναυλον τὸ κήρυγμα τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ τὴν παράδοσιν +πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔχων, οὐ μόνος, ἔτι γὰρ πολλοὶ ἐπελείποντο τότε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποστόλων +δεδιδαγμένοι: where τὸ κήρυγμα and ἡ παράδοσις τῶν ἀποστόλων indicate +the whole body of truth which they communicated to the Church, +whether written or unwritten.</note> recording him as such +eighty years afterwards, specially notes that he had +seen and lived with Apostles, and had their preaching +still sounding in his ears, and their tradition +before his eyes; at Antioch, S. Ignatius, second +after the same S. Peter; in the See of Jerusalem, +S. Simeon, the brother of James, still survives; at +Smyrna, S. John's disciple Polykarp is bishop. +Many more such S. Irenæus declares that there +were. This would prepare us for the strength +with which the principle of authority and tradition +was held, and show how completely the sense of a +spiritual government, of cohesion, and continuity of +moral life, and of a common doctrine and teaching, +the foundation of these, prevailed. But we are not +left to inferences, we have the clearest statements +on this point about fifteen years after S. John's +death. It has been remarked above how in the +Apocalypse our Lord himself, addressing the seven +churches, gathers them up in their bishops, and +<pb n='199'/><anchor id='Pg199'/> +speaks of them each collectively as of one person. +In the year 116, as is supposed, Ignatius still after +forty-eight years bishop of one of the three great +mother churches, all of them Sees of Peter, and +types and models of church government, whence +missions went forth, and the layers of apostolic +teaching were propagated, in his seven extant +epistles conveys the same idea as that presented +by those divine words which S. John had heard in +vision, and was commanded to record, but with +much greater detail. As he is being led to martyrdom, +in the long transit between Antioch and +Rome, he pours forth the earnestness of one under +sentence of death, glowing at the prospect of shedding +his blood for Christ, and being for ever united +with Him. These letters remain as a sample of +numberless conversations held with the deputations +which came to meet him on his way, mingling +their tears at his approaching passion with +their exultation in his triumph. They are of one +tissue throughout. Ignatius dwells with incessant +repetition upon union with God and with Christ +through obedience to the hierarchy of bishops, +priests, and deacons, by maintenance of one faith, +in one body of the Church, which is wherever +Christ is.<note place='foot'>S. Ign. <hi rend='italic'>ad Smyrn.</hi> 1 and 8.</note> Let us take one instance from his +letter to the Ephesians. After saying that he had +<q>received their whole multitude in the person of +Onesimus, their bishop,</q> he continues: <q>It is, +<pb n='200'/><anchor id='Pg200'/> +then, fitting that you should by all means glorify +Jesus Christ who has glorified you; that by a uniform +obedience you may be perfectly joined together +in the same mind and in the same judgment, +and may all speak alike concerning everything, +and that being subject to the bishop and +the presbytery, you may be altogether sanctified. +I am not giving you commands, as if I were any +one; for, though I am in bonds for His name, I +am not yet perfected in Jesus Christ. For now I +begin to learn, and I speak to you as my fellow-disciples, +for I had need to be encouraged by you +in faith, exhortation, endurance, long-suffering. +But since charity suffers me not to be silent to +you, I have taken on me to exhort you to run +together all with the mind of God. For Jesus +Christ, your inseparable life, is the mind of the +Father, as also the bishops, placed in their several +limits, are the mind of Jesus Christ. Therefore +you should run together with the bishop's mind, +as indeed you do. So then in your concord and +harmonious charity Jesus Christ is sung. And +each several one of you makes up the chorus; so +that all being harmonious in concord, you take up +the melody in unity, and sing with one voice +through Jesus Christ to the Father, that He may +hear you, and perceive by your good works that +you are members of His Son. It is good for you +then to be in blameless unity, that you may always +have fellowship with God.</q> And then he adds: +<pb n='201'/><anchor id='Pg201'/> +<q>For if I in a short time have had such familiarity +with your bishop, and that not human, but spiritual, +how much more should I think you happy, +who are so fused with him as the Church with +Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ with the Father, +that all things may be accordant in unity.</q><note place='foot'>S. Ignat. <hi rend='italic'>ad Ephes.</hi> i.-iv.</note> +</p> + +<p> +This is an incidental passage out of a very +short letter, in which the speaker is addressing +practical exhortations to the people of a great +church, founded by S. Paul about sixty years before, +dwelt in by S. John up to about fifteen years +of the time at which he was speaking. We should +not in such a writing expect S. Ignatius to speak +with the scientific correctness of a theologian, nor +is he completely exhibiting his subject in a treatise; +yet here, as it were at the first moment after +the Apostles have left the earth, we have a picture +of the Church as a world-wide institution, held together +by a divine unity, which has its seat in the +Person of Christ as the mind of the Father. It +is a composite unity which is contemplated in the +image of a harp with its strings pouring forth one +song—the song of Christ—to the Father. It is a +unity wide as the earth; for the bishops, placed +in their several limits, constitute the mind of +Christ, who is Himself the Father's mind. It is +the unity of the diocese, for it is summed up in +the bishop: but it is the unity likewise of the +whole Church, for the bishops are linked together +<pb n='202'/><anchor id='Pg202'/> +in One whose mind they collectively represent, +and that One is He from whose Person their authority +radiates; in whom, as he says in this same +letter, <q>the old kingdom was being destroyed, God +appearing in the form of a man, unto the newness +of eternal life.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ad Ephes.</hi> xix.</note> Again, it is not merely an outward +unity of government, but an inward unity of +the truth held in common, and also held as given +by authority: not truth, as a result of the curiosity +of the human intellect, rather truth, as a +participation in the mind of Christ. Thus the +Catholic unity of government is at the same time a +unity of belief, which two unities are not, in fact, +separable, for their principle is one in the Person +of Christ, in respect of whom submission to the +Ruler is one and the same thing with belief in the +truth revealed by Him, who is King no less than +Word, Word no less than King. +</p> + +<p> +We have, then, here the principle of authority +and tradition as seated in the hierarchy, and at the +same time the whole order and unity of the Church +as girdling the world by its chain of the Episcopate, +and as possessing the truth and exhibiting it +in its quality of an institution. It is before us and +at work in its succession of men, in its sacraments +which they administer,<note place='foot'>Another point on which S. Ignatius dwells repeatedly is the receiving +the flesh of Christ in the Eucharist: thus he says of the heterodox, +<hi rend='italic'>ad Smyrn.</hi> 6: <q>They abstain from the Eucharist and prayer, +because they do not confess that the Eucharist is that flesh of our +Saviour Jesus Christ which suffered for our sins, which in His goodness +the Father raised.</q></note> in its truth which is imparted +<pb n='203'/><anchor id='Pg203'/> +by the one and delivered by the other. It +is no vague congeries of opinions held by individuals +with the diversity of individuals, but a +body strongly organised, and possessing an imperishable +life, the life of its Author. And we have +all this mentioned as fulfilled at the distance of +one life from our Lord's ascension, while indeed +his kinsman and elder in age, S. Simeon, is still +bishop of Jerusalem, and mentioned by one of +whom a beautiful though insufficiently grounded +legend says that he was that child whom our Lord +had called and placed before His disciples as the +model of those who should enter into His kingdom. +He was at least so near in time to Christ that this +could be said of him. He is the bishop of Antioch; +he is on his way to be thrown to the beasts in the +Colosseum at Rome;<note place='foot'>He says, <hi rend='italic'>ad Rom.</hi> ii.: Ὅτι τὸν ἐπίσκοπον Συρίας ὁ Θεὸς κατηξίωσεν +εὑρεθῆναι εἰς δύσιν ἀπὸ ἀνατολῆς μεταπεμψάμενος. Merivale, <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> c. lxv. +p. 150, note 1, says, <q>We are at a loss to account for the bishop being +sent to suffer martyrdom at Rome.</q> This passage in the epistle confirms +the acts of martyrdom. It was the wish of Trajan to make a great +example, and the Bishop of Rome, S. Alexander, was at this time in +prison, and shortly afterwards martyred.</note> he is welcomed on his way +by church after church, and he sees and describes +the bishops, in their several boundaries through +the earth, as each maintaining the mind of Christ +in the unity of his Body. +</p> + +<p> +Such is the Church merely stated as a fact +towards the beginning of the second century. +</p> + +<p> +And the trial which in these sixty years the +<pb n='204'/><anchor id='Pg204'/> +Church was going through was well calculated to +test her constitution. It is against the spread of +false doctrine that S. Ignatius in these epistles so +constantly appeals, to the unity of the faithful +among each other.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>Epist. ad Magnes.</hi> 13.</note> He warns them to use only +Christian nourishment, and to abstain from strange +food, which is heresy.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ad Trall.</hi> 6.</note> The Church was then +continually receiving into her bosom converts at +all ages of life, some from the Jews, many more +from the Gentiles; among these, therefore, minds +brought up in Jewish prejudices, and others which +had run havoc in eastern superstitions and systems +of philosophy. In the course of these sixty +years she probably multiplied many times over in +number; and the multiplication was rather by +the accession of adults than by the education of +children born of Christian parents. The Church +was composed of a small minority of the general +population scattered at wide intervals over an immense +empire; and, so far from being assisted by +the civil power, was under constant persecution +from it. Whatever force her spiritual government +possessed could be exercised only by the voluntary +submission of her members. Let us weigh the fact +that, under these circumstances, a number of heresies +arose. Some were of Jewish, some of Gentile +parentage. But we are not here concerned either +with their cause or with their matter: we dwell at +present only on the fact of their existence. In +<pb n='205'/><anchor id='Pg205'/> +number they were many; in character most diverse; +they arose and flourished in different places. +Hardly anywhere was the Church free from them. +Let us ask only one question here: by what power +were they resisted? The human mind had then +the fullest liberty of action in Christians. It was +by a free choice—a choice accompanied with danger, +and persisted in through suffering—that men +became Christians. The liberty which men exercised +in becoming Christians they could use further +against Christian doctrine, by innovating; by +mixing it up with other doctrines, with which, +perhaps, their minds had been familiar before +their conversion; by developing it after their own +fashion. The desire of fame, the self-will of genius, +the mere luxury of thought, would offer a continual +temptation to such a course. Many, from +one motive or another, fell into it. The question +which we repeat is, what power prevented the one +Church from breaking up under this process of +free thought into fragments? These heresies began +even while the Apostles were teaching. S. +Peter, S. Paul, and S. John speak strongly against +them. They swarm in the two generations succeeding +the death of S. John. How is it that, at +the accession of Marcus Aurelius, Christians having +passed the limits of the empire, and being +found so far as the wandering tribes of the north, +there is still one Church, surrounded, indeed, by +a multitude of sects, differing from her and from +<pb n='206'/><anchor id='Pg206'/> +each other, but herself distinguished and unmistakable +among them all? We think the epistles +of S. Ignatius furnish us with a reply to this question. +As we have seen above, he views the Church +in each place as a community closely bound together +under a spiritual government which is +summed up in the bishop, while the bishops in +their several dioceses are as closely linked to +each other, and all form one society, wherein is +Jesus Christ. And these two truths are not separated +from each other, but the unity of the +part is deduced from the unity of the whole, and +is subordinate to it. See, first, with what force +he states the unity of the diocese.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ad Smyrn.</hi> viii.</note> <q>Avoid divisions, +as the beginning of evils. Follow all of +you the bishop as Jesus Christ the Father, and +the presbytery as the Apostles, and reverence the +deacons as God's command. Let no one without +the bishop do aught of what appertains to the +Church. Let that be deemed a sure Eucharist +which is under the bishop, or under him who +has the bishop's authority for it. Wherever the +bishop appears, there let the multitude (of the +faithful) be.</q> But this strict unity of the diocese +is derived from that of the whole Church; +for he adds as the reason of the foregoing, <q>just +as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic +Church.</q><note place='foot'>Compare with this expression of S. Ignatius that of the Church of +Polycarp, fifty years later, describing how after his martyrdom, σὺν τοῖς +Ἀποστόλοις καὶ πᾶσι δικαίοις ἀγαλλιώμενος, δοξάζει τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα, καὶ +εὐλογεῖ τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν καὶ κυβερνήτην τῶν [ψυχῶν τε καὶ] σωμάτων ἡμῶν, +καὶ ποιμένα τῆς κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας. <hi rend='italic'>Acta Polycarpi</hi>, +xix Ruinart, p. 45.</note> This is the first time when the word +<pb n='207'/><anchor id='Pg207'/> +<q>catholic</q> is known to be used, and it is applied +to the Church as its distinctive character, to convey +the two attributes of unity and universality, +in connection with the Person of Christ, exactly +as it has been used, an unique term for an unique +object, from that day to this. S. Ignatius further +views the Church in each place as having one +faith; and not only so, but the same faith in +every place; one faith at Antioch, one at Rome, +one at every city between them, beyond them, +around them. Here, then, is a double unity, inward +and outward. As the double unity of body +and spirit makes the man, so the double unity of +government and of faith makes the Church. As +neither mind nor body alone make the man, so +neither faith nor government alone make the +Church, but the coherence of both. The Incarnation +is the joining a human soul and body with +the Person of the Divine Word; after which pattern +the Church, which is His special creation, is +the joining of one faith and one government in +a moral unity. It is by this force, by the same +hierarchy everywhere guarding the same faith, by +the principle of authority and tradition planted in +this one living organisation throughout the earth, +that the attacks of heresy are everywhere resisted. +<pb n='208'/><anchor id='Pg208'/> +What S. Paul<note place='foot'>Ephes. iv. 4-16.</note> lays down in dogma, history exhibits +in fact. A hundred years after his words +are written, the Church has stretched her limits +beyond the empire, has multiplied incessantly, has +been attacked by a crowd of heresies striving to +adulterate her doctrine, and has cast them out of +her by this double unity of her faith and her government, +and so is one Body and one Spirit. Her +victory lies not in being without heresies, but in +standing among them as a contrast and a condemnation. +</p> + +<p> +The solidity of internal organisation, and the +definiteness of the One Faith which animated it, +kept pace with the material increase of numbers. +At the expiration of this period it is probable that +among all the contemporaries and immediate disciples +of the Apostles one only of high rank remained, +that Polykarp, joint-hearer with Ignatius +of S. John, and to whom in his passage the martyr +addressed a letter as well as to his Church; whose +own letter written at the time of the martyr's combat, +and commemorating the wonderful patience +therein shown forth, is yet extant. But in the +mean time in every Church the transmission of authoritative +teaching passed to those who had grown +up themselves in the bishop's council—his presbytery, +which Ignatius loved to represent as being +to each bishop what the Council of Apostles was to +their Lord. And as the death of Apostles themselves +<pb n='209'/><anchor id='Pg209'/> +had caused no break in this living chain, so +the gradual departure of their immediate disciples +was made up by the careful handing-on of the +same deposit, lodged securely in its receptacle, the +succession of men, which carried on the teaching +office of the Church.<note place='foot'>See Eusebius, <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> iii. 37, who speaks exactly in this sense; and +an important passage in Döllinger, <hi rend='italic'>Kallistus und Hippolytus</hi>, 338-343, +on the force of the word πρεσβύτερος, as Ecclesiæ Doctor, one particularly +charged with the magisterium veritatis. See also Hagemann, <hi rend='italic'>die Römische +Kirche</hi>, pp. 607-8.</note> +</p> + +<p> +In the mean time, what was the attitude of +the empire to the Christian Faith under Trajan, +Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius? Domitian's reign +had ended in active persecution, to which Nerva +had put a stop on his accession.<note place='foot'>Tillemont, <hi rend='italic'>Ecc. Hist.</hi> ii. 132.</note> But though +Domitian's edicts had been reversed, like those +of Nero, one of the most ancient laws of the Roman +empire forbad the worship of any god not +approved by the Senate.<note place='foot'>Tertull. <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 5, and Euseb. <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> v. 21, assert the existence of +this law.</note> This, as we have said +above, was the sword perpetually suspended over +the heads of Christians, without any fresh action +on the part of the emperors. By virtue of this, +even when it was forbidden to accuse them, yet if +they were brought before justice it was forbidden +to absolve them.<note place='foot'>Tillemont, <hi rend='italic'>E. H.</hi> ii. 182-3.</note> And even senators,<note place='foot'>See the singular instance given by Euseb. v. 21, in the reign of +Commodus. An informer accuses Apollonius of being a Christian, at +a time when the imperial laws made such an accusation a capital +offence. The accuser is put to death; but Apollonius, who is supposed +to have been a senator, having made a brilliant defence before the +Senate, suffers martyrdom.</note> if accused, +<pb n='210'/><anchor id='Pg210'/> +were not exempt from this severity. We find +Trajan acting upon this law in the year 111, when +Pliny, being governor of Bithynia, brings expressly +the case of the Christians before him. And the +terms in which he does this show at once the temper +of the Roman magistrate in such cases and the +state of the law. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have never been present,</q> he says, <q>at +the trials of Christians, and therefore do not know +either the nature of their crime, or the degree of +the punishment, or how far examination should go. +And I have been in great hesitation whether age +made any difference, or the tender should not be +distinguished from the strong; whether they should +be pardoned upon repentance, or, when once a man +had been a Christian, ceasing to be so should not +profit him; or whether the mere profession without +any crime, or whether the crimes involved in the +profession should be punished. In the mean time, +with regard to those brought before me as Christians, +my practice has been this: I asked them if +they were Christians. If they admitted it, I put +the question a second and a third time, threatening +them with death. If they persevered, I ordered +them to be led away to execution.<note place='foot'>Duci jussi (confer Acts xii. 19, ἐκέλευσεν ἀπαχθῆναι). The extreme +brevity with which the most urbane, kind-hearted, and accomplished of +Roman gentlemen, as Mr. Merivale conceives him, describes himself as +having ordered a number of men and women to be put to death for the +profession of Christianity, is remarkable and significant. Compare it +with the bearing of his friend Trajan to S. Ignatius below. As soon as +the saint's confession of <q>bearing the Crucified in his heart</q> is specific, +Trajan without a word of remark orders his execution. The <q>duci +jussi</q> of Pliny and Trajan's manner in sentencing perfectly correspond +and bear witness to each other's authenticity. So later the like tone +used by Junius Rusticus, prefect of the city under Marcus Aurelius, to +Justin Martyr, as will be seen further on.</note> For whatever +<pb n='211'/><anchor id='Pg211'/> +it was which they were confessing, I had no doubt +that stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy deserved +punishment. There were others of a like infatuation, +but as being Roman citizens I directed them +to be sent to the city. Presently the crime spreading, +from being under prosecution, as is usual, +several incidents happened. An anonymous delation +was sent in to me, containing the names of +many who say that they are not Christians, nor +ever were. As at my instance they invoked the +gods, and made supplication with frankincense and +wine to your image, which I had ordered for that +purpose to be brought, together with the statues +of the gods, and as moreover they reviled Christ, +none of which things, it is said, real Christians can +be induced to do, I thought they might be let go. +Others, being accused by a witness, admitted that +they were Christians, and presently said that they +had been, some three years before, some many +years, and some even twenty, but were no longer. +All venerated your image and the statues of the +gods, and reviled Christ. But they alleged that +the utmost of their fault or error was this: They +were accustomed to meet before dawn on a stated +day, and addressed themselves in a certain form +<pb n='212'/><anchor id='Pg212'/> +to Christ as to a god, binding themselves by oath +not to any crime, but not to commit theft, robbery, +adultery, the breaking of their word, or the refusal +to restore a deposit. After this they were wont to +separate, and then reassemble to take a common +and harmless meal. This, however, they had ceased +to do from the publication of my edict forbidding, +according to your command, private assemblies. I +therefore thought it the more necessary to examine +into the truth by putting to the torture two +female slaves, who were said to be deaconesses +among them. I found, however, nothing but a +perverse and immoderate superstition, and so, adjourning +the inquiry, I took refuge in consulting +you. For the matter seemed to me worthy of consultation, +specially on account of the number of +those involved in danger. For many of every age, +every rank, both sexes, have been already, and +will be endangered, since the contagion of this superstition +has spread not only through cities but +through villages and country. And it seems capable +of being arrested and corrected. At all events +there is proof that the almost deserted temples +have begun to be frequented, and the long intermitted +rites renewed, and victims for sacrifice +are found ready, whereof hitherto there were very +few purchasers. Hence it is easy to form an opinion +what a number of persons may be reclaimed +if pardon be allowed.</q><note place='foot'>Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> x. 97, chiefly Melmoth's translation.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='213'/><anchor id='Pg213'/> + +<p> +To which the emperor replies: <q>You have +pursued the right course, my dear Secundus, in +examining the causes of those delated to you as +Christians. For no universal rule can be laid +down in a certain formula. They are not to be +searched after; but if brought before you and convicted, +they must be punished. Yet with this condition, +that whoever denies himself to be a Christian, +and makes it plain in fact, that is, by supplicating +our gods, though he has been in past time +suspected, shall obtain pardon for his repentance. +But anonymous delations must not be admitted for +any accusation. This is at once the very worst +precedent, and unworthy of our time.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A great difficulty in tracing the progress of the +Christian Faith in these three centuries is that we +possess nothing like a consecutive secular or religious +history of them. We only catch glimpses of +what passes at intervals. Incidents are recorded +which, like a flash of lightning, suddenly reveal the +landscape and the actors. Such an incident is this +letter of Pliny to Trajan, and his reply. We have +here the governor of a province before whom Christians +are brought as criminals. We find that if +they acknowledge their faith and persist in professing +it, he sentences them to death. But embarrassed +by their numbers, and perplexed also by +the fact, that, save the profession of their faith, +there appeared nothing criminal in their conduct, +he refers the matter to the emperor. The emperor, +<pb n='214'/><anchor id='Pg214'/> +no Nero or Domitian, but one renowned for +his justice and moderation, praises what the governor +has done; pronounces that Christians as such +are guilty of a capital crime, and that Pliny was +right in so interpreting the existing law; that, +however, it is not desirable to seek them out; +that even when brought before justice they are to +be released if they deny their faith, but that if they +persist in it, they are to be punished with death. +</p> + +<p> +Here, then, is the law—an original law of +Rome before the Christian Faith began—under +which the martyrs suffered at different times, +throughout every province and city, without anything +which could be called a general persecution +on the part of the emperor directed to the destruction +of the whole religion. This perpetual liability +to punishment might be called into action anywhere +in the empire for various causes. The first +in time, and one of the most constant, was the enmity +of the Jews; then the dislike of the heathens +to Christians and their ways, which was further +sharpened by local calamities or distress irritating +the mind of the population, or by the jealousy of +the heathen priests and worshippers at the desertion +of their temples. Then, again, there was the +ascription to Christian godlessness, as it was called, +that is their refusal to acknowledge the Roman +gods, of famines, pestilences, and whatever troubled +the popular mind. To these we must add a +copious harvest of private grudges, and a host of +<pb n='215'/><anchor id='Pg215'/> +calumnies, which seem now almost grotesque, but +then found wide belief. But it was the existence +of such a law as this, acted on by Pliny before he +referred to the emperor, and confirmed by Trajan, +that gave force and effect to all these causes of +persecution. And it would appear that when Christians +were brought before the magistrates, as guilty +of the Christian Faith, it was not in the magistrates' +power to decline hearing the case, any more +than any other accusation of sacrilege or treason, +for it had been determined that Christians were not +a mere Jewish sect, and therefore could not in security +worship one God, as the Jews did. It was a +ruled point that their worship was unauthorised. +</p> + +<p> +The practice of Trajan himself was in accordance +with his answer to Pliny. +</p> + +<p> +The very ancient and genuine acts of the martyrdom +of S. Ignatius state that having struggled +with difficulty through the persecution of Domitian, +he had carefully governed his church of Antioch, +grieving only that he had not yet reached +the rank of a perfect disciple by the sacrifice of his +life, for he considered that the confession which is +made by martyrdom brings into closer union with +the Lord. Trajan then having come to the East, +full of exultation at the victories which he had +gained, and considering that the subjugation of the +Christians was all that was wanting to the perfect +obedience of his empire, began to threaten them +with the alternative of sacrifice or death. Then Ignatius +<pb n='216'/><anchor id='Pg216'/> +fearing for his church caused himself to be +brought before the emperor, and being in the presence +was thus addressed by him. <q>Who are you, +evil spirit, who are zealous to transgress our commands, +besides persuading others to come to an +evil end?</q> Ignatius replied, <q>No one calls the +bearer of God an evil spirit, for the demons fly +away from the servants of God. But if you mean +that I am a trouble to these, and so call me evil to +them, I admit it, for having Christ my Heavenly +King, I continually dissolve their plots.</q> Trajan +said, <q>Who is a bearer of God?</q> Ignatius replied, +<q>He who has Christ in his breast.</q> Trajan said, +<q>We then appear to you not to have gods in our +minds, whom we use to help us against our enemies.</q> +Ignatius answered, <q>You in your error +call gods the demons of the nations, for there is one +God who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, +and all that is in them; and one Christ Jesus, the +only-begotten Son of God, of whose friendship may +I partake.</q> Trajan said, <q>You mean him who +was crucified under Pontius Pilate?</q> Ignatius answered, +<q>Him who crucifies my sin, with its inventor, +and condemns all the error and the malice +of the demons under the feet of those who carry +him in their heart.</q> Trajan said, <q>You then carry +the Crucified in your heart?</q> Ignatius replied, +<q>Yes; for it is written, I will dwell in them, and +walk in them.</q> Trajan gave sentence: <q>It is our +command that Ignatius, who says that he carries +<pb n='217'/><anchor id='Pg217'/> +the crucified one about in him, be taken in chains +by soldiers to the great Rome to become the food +of wild beasts, for the pleasure of the people.</q> The +holy martyr, when he heard this sentence, cried +out with joy, <q>I thank Thee, O Lord, who hast +thought me worthy to be honoured with perfect +charity towards Thee, and to be bound in iron +chains together with Thy Apostle Paul.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Acts of S. Ignatius</hi>, Ruinart, pp. 8, 9.</note> +</p> + +<p> +So, with great eagerness and joy, through desire +of his passion, having commended his church +to God, he set out on that long journey, <q>fighting, +as he says, with wild beasts all the way from Syria +to Rome, over land and sea, by day and by night,</q> +a captive under sentence of death, in the hands +of soldiers, but receiving at each city a deputation +from the bishop and people, who came forth to +honour him as their champion. And he has but +one anxiety, expressed again and again in that +fervent letter to the Roman Christians, that they +should not by their prayers intercept his martyrdom. +<q>I entreat you not to be untimely kind to +me. Suffer me to be the food of the beasts, since +by them I may enjoy God. I am God's grain: let +me be ground by their teeth, that I may be found +the pure bread of Christ:</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ad Rom.</hi> iv.</note> and then, presently, +<q>I do not command you, as Peter and Paul;</q> thus +giving an incidental but most powerful witness of +the special relation which those Apostles bore to +the Roman Church. +</p> + +<pb n='218'/><anchor id='Pg218'/> + +<p> +And it may be remarked that while he has +words of honour, praise, and affection for the other +five churches which he addresses, yet in speaking +of Rome his heart overflows with emotion. Upon +this church he pours out epithet upon epithet, as +<q>the beloved and enlightened in the will of Him +who has willed all things which are according to +the charity of Jesus Christ our God,</q> whose people +are <q>united to every command of His in flesh +and spirit, filled undividedly with the grace of God, +and thoroughly cleansed from every spot of foreign +doctrine.</q> She is not only the Church <q>which presides +in the fortress of Roman power,</q> but likewise, +<q>worthy of God, and of all honour and blessing +and praise, worthy to receive that which she wishes, +chaste, bearing the name of Christ and the name of +the Father, and presiding over charity.</q> What is +the meaning of this last phrase? As she presides +in the fortress of Roman power, so she presides +over charity. May we thus interpret the mind +of the martyr? God in His Triune Being is Charity; +the Holy Spirit, the ineffable embrace of the +Father and His Image, their Love, or Delight, or +Joy, or Blessedness, or whatever human name we +may dare to give to what is most divine, is charity: +by charity God became man; charity is the individual +Christian's state; charity makes men one in +the Body of the God-man; charity is the condition +of angels and men in the great kingdom to come, +the God-formed kingdom. Thus charity is the distinctive +<pb n='219'/><anchor id='Pg219'/> +mark of the Christian religion, that from +which it springs, that which it is, that which it +points to, and in which it will be consummated. +When, then, S. Ignatius said of the Roman Church, +using the same word in one sentence,<note place='foot'>Ἐκκλησίᾳ—ἥτις καὶ προκάθηται ἐν τότῳ χωρίου Ῥωμαίων—προκαθημένη +τῆς ἀγάπης.</note> that as she +presided over the country of the Romans, so she +presided over charity, does he not with equal delicacy +and emphasis indicate her primacy? she presides +over that in which the Unity of the Church +consists, in which its truth, its grace, and its holiness +coinhere. +</p> + +<p> +The desire of the martyr was accomplished: +he reached Rome on the last day of the great +games, and was thrown in the Colosseum before +the beasts, which, according to his repeated +prayers, so entirely devoured him that only the +greater bones remained. These, says the contemporary +account, <q>a priceless treasure,</q> were +carried back to Antioch. Somewhat less than +three hundred years afterwards S. Chrysostom, +preaching on his day in his city, thus speaks of +him: <q>It was a divine benefaction to bring him +back again to us, and to distribute the martyr to +the cities:—Rome received his dripping blood, +but you are honoured with his relics.—From that +time he enriches your city, and like a perpetual +treasure, drawn upon every day and never failing, +gives his bounty to all. So this happy Ignatius, +<pb n='220'/><anchor id='Pg220'/> +blessing all that come to him, sends them +home full of confidence, bold resolution, and fortitude. +Not, then, to-day only but every day go +to him, reaping spiritual fruits from him. For, +indeed, he who comes hither with faith may reap +great goods. Not the bodies only, but the very +coffins of the saints are full of spiritual grace. +For if in the case of Eliseus this happened, and +the dead man who touched his bier broke through +the bonds of death, how much more now, when +grace is more abundant, and the energy of the +Spirit fuller?—So, I beseech you, if any one be in +despondency, in sickness, in the depth of sin, in +any circumstance of life, to come here with faith, +and he will put off all these.</q><note place='foot'>S. Chrysostom, <hi rend='italic'>Hom. on S. Ignatius</hi>, tom. ii. 600.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Before S. Ignatius reached that completion of +his faith to which he aspired, he was cheered with +the account that his sacrifice had produced its +effect, and peace had been restored to his church, +with the completeness of its body.<note place='foot'>S. Ignatius in the 11th sec. of his epistle to the Smyrnæans requests +them to send a messenger to congratulate the church of Antioch, +ὅτι εἰρηνεύουσιν, καὶ ἀπέλαβον τὸ ἵδιον μέγαθος, ἀποκατεστάθη αὐτοῖς τὸ ἴδιον +σωματεῖον. The word σωματεῖον, or corpusculum, indicates the completeness +of a diocesan church with its bishop, the whole Church being +σῶμα Χριστοῦ, as S. Ignatius had said in sec. I of the same epistle, ἐν ἑνὶ +σώματι τῆς ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Now in all this—in Pliny's conduct as governor, +in his reference to Trajan, in the emperor's reply, +in his treatment of S. Ignatius, and in the restoration +of peace afterwards—there is, we conceive, a +<pb n='221'/><anchor id='Pg221'/> +very exact sample of what the position of Christians +was in Trajan's time. His answer ruled the +question of Roman law for the following two hundred +years. It declared the profession of Christianity +to be illicit and a capital offence; but to call +this law into action, or to leave it suspended as a +threat over the heads of Christians, was a matter +of expedience. When the latter took place, the +churches were said to be at peace; when the former, +a persecution was said to rage; but at any time +and place an individual might suffer; while on the +other hand a persecution directed to root out the +whole Christian name was not yet thought of. +</p> + +<p> +And this state of things seems to continue +through Hadrian's principate. In his first year, +Alexander, fifth successor of S. Peter at Rome, +having been imprisoned under Trajan, suffers +martyrdom; It would seem as if the same hand +had struck down about the same time the heads +of the two great churches of Rome and Antioch, +the first and the third in rank, and perhaps +ordered the execution of the bishop of Antioch at +Rome, with that of the Roman bishop, in order to +give greater force to the example.<note place='foot'>There is some doubt about the time of S. Ignatius's martyrdom. +We suppose it to be at the end of Trajan's reign. S. Alexander I. is +reckoned a martyr, and placed in the canon of the Mass next after +S. Ignatius, which seems to indicate a connection between their deaths.</note> Many other +martyrs at Rome and in the north of Italy are +found at this time. It is not at all necessary to +suppose the personal action of Hadrian in these. +</p> + +<pb n='222'/><anchor id='Pg222'/> + +<p> +After this he was engaged during fifteen years in +those splendid progresses, in which he examined +personally every part of his vast empire, from its +northern frontier between Carlisle and Newcastle +to the Euphrates. While he was so engaged, the +governors of the various provinces would apply +the existing law in the cases brought before them. +He would have had to interfere, and that with +the whole weight of the imperial arm, if he wished +to check the course of the law. We have, however, +recorded the most interesting fact that when he +was at Athens in the year 126, Christians for the +first time approached a Roman emperor with a +public defence of their doctrines, and a persecution +is said to have been stopped by the apologies +which Quadratus and Aristides presented to him. +Perhaps the rescript to Minucius Fundanus, proconsul +of the province of Asia, which Justin has +preserved, was a result of this. It runs thus: +<q>I have received the letter written to me by your +predecessor, the noble Serenius Granianus. And +indeed it seems to me that that affair should not +be passed by without a diligent examination, in +order that Christians may not be disturbed, nor +an occasion of false accusation be opened to informers. +If, then, the provincials can present +themselves openly with their petitions against +Christians, so as to answer before the tribunal, +let them do that, and not betake themselves to +mere requests and outcries. It would be much +<pb n='223'/><anchor id='Pg223'/> +more just that you should take cognisance of the +matter, if any one be willing to accuse. If, then, +any one denounce them, and prove that they are +doing anything illegal, sentence them according +to the gravity of the crime. But, by Hercules, if +it be a mere false accusation, punish the informer +according to its importance.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Here would seem to be a considerable modification +of Trajan's rescript. The profession of +Christianity is not taken by itself as a capital offence. +Proof must be given that something illegal +has been committed. So far it approaches to an +act of toleration. It plainly discourages anonymous +and malicious attacks. But on the other hand +it was not difficult to show that Christians did +commit something illegal. Any real accuser bringing +them before the tribunal could prove by their +own testimony that they declared the gods worshipped +by the Romans to be demons, while they +refused to swear by the emperor's genius. Thus, +favourable as this decree was to them, it fell far +short of declaring their religion to be allowable. +</p> + +<p> +And the same emperor who could thus write, +whose curiosity made him acquainted with all the +religious sects of his empire, whose temper, as an +exceedingly accomplished man, having the widest +experience of men and things, and ruling an empire +of the most diverse races with the most various +religions, led him to an eclectic indifference, +and so far toleration of all, yet showed by his personal +<pb n='224'/><anchor id='Pg224'/> +conduct at a later period of his life how he +would treat the profession of the Christian Faith +if it thwarted a ruling desire. When, after fifteen +years of incessant travel, study, and observation, +he returned to Rome, and had enclosed at Tivoli +a space of eight miles in circumference, adorned +with copies of the most beautiful temples in his +wide dominion, he offered sacrifices and consulted +the gods as to the duration of his work; but he +received for answer that the gods who inhabited +their images were tormented by the prayers which +the widow Symphorosa and her seven sons offered +daily to their God.<note place='foot'>So the persecution of Diocletian is said to have arisen from Apollo +declaring that the just who were upon the earth prevented him from +uttering true oracles; and a like answer was received by Julian the +Apostate at Antioch, where the relics of S. Babylas had been translated +by Gallus to Daphne, near a celebrated temple of Apollo. Here Julian, +offering in vain a great number of sacrifices to the demon, was at length +informed that the body of the saint condemned him to silence, and +ordered the Christians to remove it. S. Chrys. tom. ii. 560.</note> If she and her children +would sacrifice, they promised to grant all his demands. +Upon this Hadrian ordered Symphorosa +and her seven sons to be brought before him, and +endeavoured by kind words to bring them to sacrifice. +She replied, <q>It was for not consenting +to what you ask that my husband Gætulius and +his brother Amantius, both tribunes in your +army, suffered various tortures, and, like generous +champions, overcame your demons by a +glorious death. If their death was shameful before +men, it was honourable in the sight of the +<pb n='225'/><anchor id='Pg225'/> +angels, and now they are crowned with immortal +light. They live in heaven, and follow everywhere +the King who reigns there, covered with +glory by the trophies they have gained in dying +for Him.</q> Hadrian, stung by this reply, could +not contain himself, but said: <q>Either sacrifice +this instant to the immortal gods, or I will myself +sacrifice you with your children to these gods +whom you despise.</q> <q>And how should I be so +happy,</q> said Symphorosa, <q>as to be worthy with +my children to be sacrificed to my God?</q> <q>I +tell you,</q> said Hadrian, <q>I will have you sacrificed +to my gods.</q> <q>Your gods,</q> replied she, +<q>cannot receive me in sacrifice. I am not a victim +for them; but if you order me to be burnt +for the name of Christ my God, know that the +fire which consumes me will only increase their +punishment.</q> <q>Choose, I tell you,</q> said the emperor; +<q>sacrifice or die.</q> <q>You think, doubtless, +to frighten me,</q> rejoined Symphorosa; <q>but +I desire to be at rest with my husband, whom you +put to death for the name of Christ.</q> Then the +emperor ordered her to be taken before the temple +of Hercules, to be struck in the face, and hung up +by her hair. But finding that these torments only +served to strengthen her in the faith, he had her +thrown into the Anio. Her brother Eugenius, +being one of the chief men at Tibur, drew her +body from the water, and buried her in the suburbs +of the town. +</p> + +<pb n='226'/><anchor id='Pg226'/> + +<p> +The next day Hadrian ordered the seven sons +of Symphorosa to be brought before him. And, +seeing that neither his threats nor his promises, +nor the exhibition of the most fearful punishments, +could shake their constancy, nor induce +them to sacrifice to idols, he caused seven poles +to be planted round the temple of Hercules, on +which they were raised by pulleys. Then Crescentius, +the eldest, had his throat cut; Julian, +the second, was run through the breast; Nemesius +was struck in the heart; Primitivus in the +stomach; Justin in the back; Stactæus in the +side; while the youngest, Eugenius, was cleft to +the middle. +</p> + +<p> +The day following the death of these brethren +Hadrian came to the temple and ordered their +bodies to be removed, and to be cast into a deep +hole. The priests and sacrificers of the temple +called this spot the place of the Seven Executed. +Their blood stopped the persecution, which was +only rekindled eighteen months afterwards.<note place='foot'>Acts of S. Symphorosa, from Dom Ruinart, pp. 23-4.</note> +</p> + +<p> +As the rescript to Minucius Fundanus did not +prevent the emperor from thus acting, neither was +it an obstacle to such an incident as this occurring +in any part of the empire. +</p> + +<p> +That it was so likewise in the principate of his +successor, of all down to this period the most tranquil +and the least persecuting, we have strong and +clear evidence in the earliest of the extant apologies, +<pb n='227'/><anchor id='Pg227'/> +that of Justin Martyr, presented to the emperor +Antoninus Pius about the year 150. He +who would breathe the atmosphere in which the +early Christians lived will find it in this work of +a distinguished convert from heathen philosophy, +which is the more interesting as being composed +at a moment when the empire seems to have +reached its highest point, and the ruler of it was +its most moderate spirit. We may cite a few passages +bearing on the condition of Christians. +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>To the Emperor Titus Ælius Adrianus Antoninus +Pius Augustus Cæsar, and to his son +Verissimus the Philosopher, and to Lucius the +Philosopher, son of Cæsar by birth, and of Pius +by adoption, the lover of learning, and to the +sacred Senate, and to all the Roman people, in +behalf of those out of every race of men who are +unjustly hated and persecuted, I, that am one of +such myself, Justin, son of Priscus, and grandson +of Baccheius, natives of Flavia Neapolis, of Palestine, +in Syria, offer this address and supplication.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Reason dictates that those who are really +pious and philosophers should love and honour +truth alone, declining to follow the opinions of +the ancients if they be corrupt. For right reason +not only forbids us to assent to those who are +unjust either in practice or in principle, but commands +the lover of truth to choose that which is +just in word and deed in every way, even before +his own life, and with death threatening him. +<pb n='228'/><anchor id='Pg228'/> +Now you hear yourselves called on all sides +Pious, Philosophers, Guardians of Justice, and +Lovers of Learning; but, whether you be such +in truth, the event will show. For we have +come before you, not to flatter you in this address, +nor to gain your favour, but to demand of +you to pass judgment according to strict and well-weighed +reason, not influenced by prejudice, nor +by the desire of pleasing superstitious men, nor +by inconsiderate passion, nor by the long prevalence +of an evil report, in giving a sentence which +would turn against yourselves. For, as to us, we +are fully persuaded that we can suffer no injury +from anyone, unless we be found guilty of some +wickedness, or proved to be bad men; and, as to +you, kill us you may, but hurt us you cannot.<note place='foot'>Justin. 1 <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 1, 2.</note></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>We ask, then, that the actions of those who +are accused before you may be examined, that he +who is convicted may be punished as an evildoer, +but not as a Christian. And, if anyone appears +to be innocent, that he may be dismissed as a +Christian who has done no evil. For we do not +require you to punish our accusers: they are sufficiently +recompensed by their own malice, and +their ignorance of what is good. Moreover, bear +in mind that it is for your sakes that we thus +speak, since it is in our power to deny when we +are questioned. But we choose not to live by +falsehood.<note place='foot'>Sec. 7.</note></q> +</p> + +<pb n='229'/><anchor id='Pg229'/> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>And you, when you hear that we are expecting +a kingdom, rashly conceive that we mean +a human one, whereas we speak of that with God, +as is evident even from those who are under examination +by you confessing that they are Christians, +whilst they know that death is the penalty +of the confession. For if we expected a human +kingdom, we should deny in order to obtain our +expectations; but, since our hopes are not of the +present, we do not regard those who kill us, knowing +that death is an inevitable debt to all.<note place='foot'>Sec. 11.</note></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>We adore God only, but in all other matters +joyfully serve you, confessing that you are kings +and rulers, and praying that you may be found +to possess, together with your royal power, a +sound and discerning mind. If, however, notwithstanding +that we thus pray and openly lay +everything before you, you treat us with contempt, +we shall receive no injury; believing, or +rather, being convinced, that every one, if his +deeds shall so deserve, shall receive the punishment +of eternal fire, and that an account will be +required of him in proportion to the powers which +he has received from God, as Christ has declared +in those words, <q>To whomsoever God has given +much, of him shall be much required.</q><note place='foot'>Sec. 17.</note></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Though death be the penalty to those who +teach or even who confess the name of Christ, we +everywhere accept it, and teach it. And if you +<pb n='230'/><anchor id='Pg230'/> +as enemies meet these words, you can do no more, +as we have already said, than kill us, which brings +no hurt to us, but to you, and to all who hate +unjustly, and do not repent, the chastisement of +eternal fire.</q><note place='foot'>Sec. 45.</note> +</p> + +<p> +And his concluding words are: <q>If now what +we have said appears to be reasonable and true, +honour it accordingly; but if folly, despise it as +foolish; yet pass not sentence of death against those +as enemies, who have done no evil. For we tell +you beforehand that you will not escape the future +judgment of God, if you continue in injustice, and +we shall cry, Let the will of God be done.</q><note place='foot'>Sec. 68. Chevallier's translation, sometimes altered.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Such then is the testimony of a Christian as +to the way in which the confessors of his religion +were treated; and it is corroborated by that of the +heathen philosopher Celsus, who writes his books +against Christianity about this time, and imputes +the secrecy practised by Christians in their teaching +and their actions to their attempts to escape +the punishment of death hanging over their heads.<note place='foot'>Origen <hi rend='italic'>c. Cels.</hi> i. 3. Περὶ τοῦ κρύφα Χριστιανοὺς τὰ ἀρέσκοντα αὐτοῖς +ποιεῖν καὶ διδάσκειν εἰπὼν, καὶ ὅτι οὐ μάτην τοῦτο ποιοῦσιν, ἅτε διωθούμενοι τὴν +ἐπηρτημένην αὐτοῖς δίκην τοῦ θανάτου. </note> +And again having put into the mouth of Christians +the remark, that if they blaspheme or strike +a statue of Jupiter or Apollo, these gods cannot defend +themselves, he subjoins: <q>Do you not, then, +see that your own demon is not merely blasphemed +<pb n='231'/><anchor id='Pg231'/> +but expelled from every land and sea, while you, +his consecrated image,<note place='foot'>Σὲ τὸν καθωσιωμένον ὥσπερ ἄγαλμα αὐτῷ δήσας ἀπάγει καὶ ἀνασκολοπίζει. +viii. 38, 39.</note> are chained, and led away +to prison, and crucified; and the demon, or as you +call him, the Son of God, gives you no protection.</q> +And in another place, comparing Christians with +Jews, to whom God had made so many promises: +<q>See,</q> he says, <q>what good has He done to them +and to you? To them, instead of being lords of +all the earth, not a clod of soil or a hearth remains;<note place='foot'>viii. 69; by this we should judge that the work of Celsus appeared +not long after the punishment of the Jews by Hadrian.</note> +while of you, if any one still wanders +about in hiding, yet justice pursues him with the +doom of death.</q> +</p> + +<p> +However, we know that at this time at least +the bold words of Justin drew down no punishment +from Antoninus, and a rescript of this emperor, +dated about two years after the presentation +of this first apology, has been preserved, which is +more favourable to Christians than that of Hadrian. +It is addressed to that province of Asia +which contained so many flourishing Christian +churches, and which accordingly was so bitter +against them. They had written to complain of +the Christians, and to accuse them as the cause +of the earthquakes which had happened. The +emperor replies: <q>It was my belief that the gods +would take care that such men as you describe +should not escape. For much rather would they, +<pb n='232'/><anchor id='Pg232'/> +if they could, punish such as will not worship +them. Now these men you are annoying, and +accusing their opinion as atheistical, and charging +them with sundry other things which we cannot +prove. Yet it would be serviceable to them to +seem to meet their death for such an accusation; +and they surpass you in giving up their lives +rather than comply with what you call upon them +to do. But as to the earthquakes which have happened +or are happening now, it is not reasonable +that you should mention them, you who lose heart +when they take place, comparing your conduct +with theirs, who have more confidence than you towards +God. And you indeed in such a time seem +to have no knowledge of the gods, and neglect the +temples, and know nothing of worshipping God; +whence it is that you are jealous of those who do +worship him, and that you persecute them to +death. Respecting such men various other rulers +of provinces wrote to my divine father, and his +reply was, not to trouble such men, except they +appear to be contriving something against the +Roman empire. Many too have referred to me +about such, and my reply was in agreement to +my father's decision. Now if anyone has an accusation +to bring against such a one as such, let +the accused be released from the charge, even +though he appear to be such, and let the accuser +be punished.</q><note place='foot'>Attached to Justin's first Apology.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='233'/><anchor id='Pg233'/> + +<p> +Here we reach the highest point of toleration +which Christians received in the first 130 years. +Instead of Trajan's somewhat reluctant order to +punish Christians as Christians, when once convicted, +instead of Hadrian's decision that something +contrary to Roman law must be proved +against them, Antoninus, while quoting the latter, +goes far beyond it, and lays down that as +Christians they were blameless, and were only to +be punished in case some hostility to the Roman +empire could be proved in their conduct. Moreover, +their accuser was to be punished. And this +rescript being repeated to several places, amounted +to an assurance that Christians should be left in +tranquillity during the principate of Pius. +</p> + +<p> +Putting ourselves into the position of a Roman +emperor at this middle of the second century, let +us endeavour to form a notion of what Christianity +would appear to him. In the first place, he who +had all the threads of Roman organisation gathered +in his hand, would certainly recognise it as a sect +spread throughout the empire, the Jewish origin +of which was known to him, and the author as one +crucified by order of a Roman governor under Tiberius.<note place='foot'>See Trajan's remark to S. Ignatius: <q>You mean him that was +crucified under Pontius Pilate.</q></note> +Yet he would hardly distinguish accurately +the Church from the different heresies which +everywhere sprang up around it, holding more or +less of its doctrines and mixing them up with corruptions +<pb n='234'/><anchor id='Pg234'/> +and abuses.<note place='foot'>See the curious letter of Hadrian about the Alexandrians, in which +the Christians spoken of are probably heretics.</note> And it would scarcely appear +to him as a power in the State, either from +its numbers or the influence of the people belonging +to it; yet on the other hand it would appear +as something not inconsiderable in either of these +respects. Moreover, we may suppose it would +come before him as a <emph>belief</emph>, and not as an <emph>institution</emph>. +It had as yet no public churches.<note place='foot'>They are first mentioned at Rome in the reign of Alexander +Severus.</note> A heathen +would say of Christians at this time that they +had no temples, altars, or statues;<note place='foot'>See Origen <hi rend='italic'>c. Cels.</hi> vii. 62.</note> no ceremonial +worship, for he could not, as a heathen, get admittance +to Christian rites, which moreover were +carried on in private houses, and carefully concealed. +The emperor would be well aware that +Christians had rulers of their own;<note place='foot'>See Trajan's question, <q>Who art thou who art zealous to transgress +our commands, besides persuading others to come to an evil end?</q></note> it was as +such that Trajan had fixed upon the bishop third +in rank among Christian communities for punishment +the most severe and degrading, to be thrown +as food for wild beasts, for the pleasure of the people. +But nevertheless, the internal constitution of +the Church would lie hidden from him: the link +which bound together the bishops of the various +local communities, and so formed the Catholicism +of the Church, would be quite invisible to all outside. +Jealous as Trajan was of secret societies, so +<pb n='235'/><anchor id='Pg235'/> +that he could hardly tolerate a guild of firemen in +a provincial town, he had no suspicion of a society +which had become even in his time conterminous +with his empire, and was bound together not only +by the profession of one faith, but by the living +links of one government. Nor, fifty years later, +could Antoninus have had any such knowledge. +The persecution which we have seen arose from +simpler causes; the faith of Christians in one God +who had made heaven and earth, and in one Son +of God who had become Man and redeemed them, +and with this, and indeed as part of this, their +summary rejection, their utter intolerance of all +the heathen gods; this it was that had drawn +down the Roman sword upon them in answer to +the popular cry,<note place='foot'>Αἷρε τοὺς ἀθέους.</note> Away with the godless! And +again, their standing aloof from heathen life, their +refusal to take part in heathen festivals, their withdrawal +as far as possible from all public concerns: +this was part of the hatred of the human race imputed +to them, which made them objects of suspicion +first, and then, when any special excitement +arose, of persecution. These peculiarities also, and +the secrecy with which their worship was necessarily +conducted because it was not allowed, had +led to calumnies concerning them, imputing the +grossest immorality as well as cruelty. +</p> + +<p> +The apologies of Quadratus, Aristides, and Justin, +were probably the first connected revelation +<pb n='236'/><anchor id='Pg236'/> +of the Christian doctrines which the emperor could +have; but these would be very far from conveying +to him the character of the Church as an institution. +They were intended to obviate the persecutions +arising from the causes above described, +to show the purity of Christian morality, the reasonableness +of Christian belief, the fidelity of Christian +sentiment to the imperial rule as established +by a divine providence. They were not in the +least intended to lay before him the Christian +Church as a whole. Thus Justin, replying to the +accusation that they were expecting a kingdom, +says, <q>You rashly conceive that we mean a human +one, whereas we speak of that with God.</q> +We may then, it seems, conclude with certainty +that Antoninus was only partially aware of what +Christianity was. That discipline of the secret, +which was itself the result of persecution—of the +Christian Faith having to make itself a place in +a world utterly opposed to it,—became at once +its protection, and the cause of further persecution; +of persecution, in so far as it put Christians +under general suspicion, but of protection, inasmuch +as it covered with a veil that complete moral +revolution to which the Christian Faith was tending +from the first, and towards which it was continually +advancing. Could Trajan have foreseen what +was apparent under Constantine, his treatment of +Christians would have had no forbearance or hesitation +in it, his blows no intermission or doubtfulness. +<pb n='237'/><anchor id='Pg237'/> +As it is, up to the time we are now +considering, there are no traces of a general persecution +against the Christian name organised by +the emperor as head of the State. There are numberless +local and individual persecutions starting +up in this city and in that, and arising from the +fundamental contrariety of Christian belief to the +existing heathen worship and the ordinary heathen +life. Such we have and no more. And so a great +host of martyrs in single combat won their crown. +But the emperor did not set himself to destroy a +unity which he did not see. +</p> + +<p> +Now as to the character in Christians which +their condition in these hundred and thirty years +tended to produce, we can form a clear conclusion. +Of the relative proportion of actual martyrs to the +whole mass of believers, we can indeed have no +accurate notion; but it is plain that all were liable +to suffering as Christians in every various degree +up to that ultimate point of witnessing by death. +Thus the acceptance of the Christian Faith itself +involved at least the spirit of confession, if not +that of martyrdom. A man lived for years, perhaps +a whole generation, with the prospect of +suffering, which it may be never came, or came as +the crown of a long period in which heroic virtues +had been called forth. Thus S. Ignatius had been +more than forty years bishop of Antioch, and had +carried his church hardly through the bad times +of Domitian, when he gained at last what he +<pb n='238'/><anchor id='Pg238'/> +deemed perfect union with his Lord, by being +ground under the teeth of lions, as <q>the pure +bread of God.</q> What is here expressed with so +sublime a confidence by one actual martyr, must +have made the tissue of Christian life in general. +Those early disciples of the cross put in the cross +their victory. The habitual danger which hung +about their life must have scared away the timid, +the insincere, the half-hearted. Yet alternations +of peace rapidly succeeded times of suffering. +Throughout these hundred and thirty years there +is no long-continued even local persecution. +Breathing-times of comparative tranquillity come, +wherein Christians can grow, propagate, and mature +for the conflict which may at any time arise. +Thus while the opposition made to the infant faith +is quite sufficient to have destroyed an untrue +religion, born of earth or human device, to have +scattered and eradicated its professors, it was precisely +what would favour the real advance of a +faith rooted upon a suffering God, and in which +suffering with Him was made the means of union +with Him. +</p> + +<p> +And here we halt at the accession of Marcus +Aurelius, as a middle point between the day of +Pentecost and the time of Constantine. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='239'/><anchor id='Pg239'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter XI. The Second Age Of The Martyr Church.</head> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Magnus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo.</q></l> +<l>Jam nova progenies cœlo demittitur alto.</l> +<l>Ingredere, O magnos, aderit jam tempus, honores,</l> +<l><q rend='post'>Cara Dei soboles, magnum Jovis incrementum.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +There is a moment in the history of the Roman +empire when it comes before us with the most +imposing grandeur. The imperial rule has been +definitively accepted by that proud old aristocracy +under which the city of the seven hills was built +up from a robber fortress to be the centre of a +world-wide confederation; while on their side the +nations all round the Mediterranean bow with an +almost voluntary homage before the sceptre of +their queen. If the north be still untameable, it +has learnt to dread the talons of the Roman eagle, +and cowers murmuring in its forests and morasses; +if the Parthian still shoot as he flies from +the western Cæsar's hosts, he has at least expiated +in the ruin of Ctesiphon the capture of Crassus +and the dishonour of Mark Antony. But far more +than this. On the Cæsar in his undisputed greatness +has dawned the real sublimity of the task +which Providence had assigned to him; to mould, +<pb n='240'/><anchor id='Pg240'/> +that is, under one rule of equal beneficence the +many tongues and many nations which a course +of conquest often the most unjust had brought to +own his sway. And this point of time is when +after the great warrior Trajan comes Hadrian the +man of culture; in whom seems implanted the +most restless curiosity, carrying him with the +speed of a soldier and the power of a prince over +every climate from Carlisle to Alexandria, from +Morocco to Armenia, in order that he may see in +each the good of which so many varying races of +men are capable, and use them all for his grand +design. To him Rome is still the head; but he +has learnt to esteem at their due value the members +of her great body. The first fifteen years +of his reign are almost entirely spent away from +Rome, in those truly imperial progresses wherein +the master of this mighty realm, when he would +relieve himself of his helmet, walks like the simple +legionary,<note place='foot'>The Roman legionary, if he wished to lay aside his helmet, was +only allowed to go bareheaded.</note> bareheaded in front of his soldiers, under +the suns of the south, examining, wherever +he comes, the whole civil and military organisation, +promoting the capable and censuring the unworthy, +scattering benefits with unsparing hand. +York has known him as a protecting genius; +Athens blends his name with that of her own +Theseus as a second founder; wayward Alexandria +exalts him, at least for the time, as a granter +<pb n='241'/><anchor id='Pg241'/> +of privileges; the extreme north and utmost south +acknowledge alike the unsparing zeal and majestic +presence of their ruler. At that moment Rome is +still Roman. While the Augustan discipline still +animates her legions, the sense of the subordination +of the military power to the civil spirit of a +free state is not wholly lost; her proconsuls and +præfects have passed out of those plundering magnates, +who replenished in the tyranny of a year +or two from a drained province the treasures they +had squandered in a life of corruption at Rome, +into the orderly and yet dignified magistrates accountable +to the Republic's life-president<note place='foot'>Champagny remarks, that the emperors were never in the mind of +the Romans <emph>sovereigns</emph> in the modern acceptation of the word, but <emph>life-presidents</emph> +with absolute power.</note> for their +high delegated power. Perhaps the world had +never yet seen anything at once so great and so +beneficent as the government of Hadrian. But +one thing was wanting to the many-tongued and +many-tempered peoples ruled by him, that they +should of their own will accept the worship of +one God, and so the matchless empire receive the +only true principle of coherence and permanence +in the common possession of one religion. And +the thoughtful student of history can hardly restrain +himself from indulging his fancy as to what +might then have been the result, and into how +great a structure provinces worthy of being kingdoms +might then have grown by the process of an +<pb n='242'/><anchor id='Pg242'/> +unbroken civilisation instinct with the principles +of the pure Christian Faith. Then the northern +flood of barbarism and the eastern tempest of a +false religion, which together were to break up +the fabric of a thousand years, might have been +beaten back from its boundaries, and from them +the messengers of light have so penetrated the +world in all directions that the advance of the +truth should not have been impeded by any great +civil destruction, but the nations of Europe have +developed themselves from their Roman cradle by +a continuous growth, in which there had been no +ages of conquest, violence, and confusion, no relapse +into chaos, no struggle back into an intricate +and yet imperfect order, but the serene advance +from dawn to day. +</p> + +<p> +So, however, it was not to be. The time of +probation in the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus +Pius, wherein a sort of toleration had seemed to +be allowed to Christians, passed away, and the +beginning of a far different destiny broke upon the +empire. With the accession of Marcus Aurelius the +great old enemies, the North and the East, awoke +from their trance in fresh vigour. A Parthian +war of four years, a German war of twelve, with +pestilence, earthquakes, and famines through a +large part of the empire, try to the utmost the +vigour and temper of one of the most upright +sovereigns known to heathenism. Marcus Aurelius +meets both enemies with equal courage and +<pb n='243'/><anchor id='Pg243'/> +ability, but he dies prematurely, and leaves the +rule carried so temperately by four great sovereigns +successively adopted to empire at mature +age, in the untried hands of the heir of his blood, +a youth of nineteen, born in the purple. In this +at least the great Roman was wanting both to +Stoic greatness and to Roman duty. And it was +a fatal error. During thirteen years this son of +the most virtuous heathen shows himself the most +vicious of tyrants. At a single bound Rome passes +from a ruler more just than Trajan to a ruler more +abandoned than Nero; and in the palace of Marcus +Aurelius endures an emperor who has a double +harem of three hundred victims;<note place='foot'>Champagny, <hi rend='italic'>Les Antonins</hi>, iii. 311.</note> who spares the +blood of no senator, and respects the worth of no +officer. +</p> + +<p> +When a revolution, similar to that which swept +away Domitian, has removed Commodus, the Roman +world is not so fortunate as to find a second +Trajan to take his place. Three great officers who +command in Syria, Illyricum, and Britain, contend +for the prize, and when victory has determined in +favour of Septimius Severus, he rules for eighteen +years with a force and capacity which may indeed +be compared with Trajan's, but with a deceit and +remorseless severity all his own. At one time +forty senators are slaughtered for the crime of +having looked with favour upon that pretender to +the empire who did not succeed. Nor is this a +<pb n='244'/><anchor id='Pg244'/> +passing cruelty, but the fixed spirit of his reign. +The sway of the sword is openly proclaimed. That +the army is everything is not only acted on, but +laid down as a guiding principle of state to his +children. The unbroken discipline of her legionaries +had hitherto indeed proved the salvation of +the state; but this Septimius fatally tampers with, +and in so doing sows the seeds of future anarchy +and dissolution. +</p> + +<p> +His death in 211 places the empire in the +hands of a youth of twenty-three, all but born +in the purple, like Commodus, and his rival in +tyranny and dissoluteness of every kind. Caracalla +is endured for six years, and being killed by +a plot in the camp, is succeeded by his murderer +Macrinus. He again, after a year, gives place to +a Syrian boy of fourteen, who took at his accession +the honoured name of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, +but is known to posterity as Heliogabalus. +Once more during a space of four years the crimes +of Commodus and Caracalla are repeated, or even +exceeded. Indeed in these years from 218 to +222 the story of shame and degradation reaches +its lowest point. But the soldiers of the prætorian +camp themselves rise against Heliogabalus, massacre +him with his mother, and place on the throne +his cousin Alexander Severus, at the age of fourteen. +Now Alexander has for his mother Mammæa, +if not a Christian, at least a hearer of Origen, +who gives her son from his earliest youth a virtuous +<pb n='245'/><anchor id='Pg245'/> +education, who surrounds him on the perilous +height of the Roman throne with the arms of her +affection and her practical wisdom. Alexander +rules for thirteen years, a period equal to that +of Commodus, and little less than that of Nero. +Younger than both at his accession and his +death, his reign offers the most striking contrast +to theirs. Of all heathen rulers he stands forth +as the most blameless. It is a reign which, after +the obscene domination of Commodus, Caracalla, +and Heliogabalus, with the savagery between them +of Septimius Severus immediately preceding it, +seems like a romance of goodness. Simple and +admirable in his private life, he rivals Marcus Aurelius +in his zeal for the administration of justice, +for the choice of good governors, for devotion to +the public service; and, happier than Marcus Aurelius, +on his name rests no stain of persecution. +<q>He suffered the Christians to be,</q><note place='foot'><q>Christianos esse passus est.</q> Lampridius.</note> are the emphatic +words of his biographer; concerning which +it has been well remarked that little as this seems +to say, it had been said of no one of his predecessors, +though several had not persecuted the +Church.<note place='foot'>Tillemont, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. Ecc.</hi> iii. 250.</note> And therefore this expression must +mean that he left them in an entire liberty as to +religion. It is indeed the exact contradiction of +what, thirty years before, Tertullian had stated respecting +the law in the time of Septimius Severus; +<pb n='246'/><anchor id='Pg246'/> +for one of his complaints in pleading for Christians +was, <q>your harsh sentence <q>that we are not +allowed to exist,</q> is an open appeal to brute +force.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Apolog.</hi> iv. <q>Jampridem, cum dure definitis dicendo, non licet esse +vos, et hoc sine ullo retractatu humaniore describitis, vim profitemini et +iniquam ex arce dominationem, si ideo negatis licere quia vultis, non +quia debuit non licere.</q></note> +</p> + +<p> +Alexander Severus, the darling of his people, +perished by the hands of some treacherous soldiers +suborned by his successor Maximin; and with +him ends this period of seventy-four years, which +we will consider together, in order to estimate the +progress of the Christian Faith. A time of more +remarkable contrasts in rulers cannot be found. +It begins with Marcus Aurelius, and it ends with +Alexander Severus, the two most virtuous of heathen +princes; between them it contains Commodus, +Caracalla, and Heliogabalus, the three generally +reputed the most vicious; while the definitive +course which the history of the empire took +is given to it by another, Septimius Severus, of +great abilities and mixed character, who gained +the empire as a successful soldier, and was true to +his origin in that he established the ultimate victory +of pure force over every restriction of a civil constitution: +an African unsparing of blood, who sat +on the throne of Augustus, and worked out the +problem of government which the founder of the +empire had started by preparing the result of Diocletian. +</p> + +<pb n='247'/><anchor id='Pg247'/> + +<p> +The rule of Commodus and his successors fully +revealed the fatal truth, that the five princes who +from the accession of Nerva had governed as if +they were really responsible to the senate, had +only been a fortunate chance; that this time of +prosperity rested upon no legal limitation of rights +between those things wont to exist only in severance,<note place='foot'><q>Res olim dissociabiles, principatum et libertatem.</q> Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Agric.</hi> 3.</note> +the sovereign's power and the subject's +freedom; that it was no result of a constitution +which had grown up under a mutual sense of +benefit arising from authority exercised conscientiously, +and obedience cordially rendered. The +age which Tacitus<note place='foot'><q>Primo statim beatissimi sæculi ortu.</q> <hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi></note> at its commencement had +called <q>most blessed</q> was indeed over, and as +soon as the second Antonine left the scene, a state +of things ensued in which tyranny and cruelty +were as unchecked as under Nero or Domitian at +their worst. It became evident that all had depended +on the sovereign's personal character. +From Marcus to Commodus the leap was instantaneous; +and so, again, afterwards the short-lived +serenity and order of Alexander's rule +passed at his death into a confusion lasting for +more than forty years, which threatened to break +up the very existence of the empire. +</p> + +<p> +But in Rome from the accession of Commodus +in 180 to the death of Heliogabalus in 222 we find +a profound corruption of morals, an excess of +<pb n='248'/><anchor id='Pg248'/> +cruelty, and a disregard of civil rights, which could +scarcely be exceeded. Tacitus, at the beginning of +Trajan's reign, burst forth into indignation at the +thought that it had cost Rusticus and Senecio +their lives, in Domitian's time, to have praised +Thrasea and Helvidius Priscus, and that their +very writings had been publicly burned, as if that +fire could extinguish the voice of the Roman people, +the liberty of the senate, and the conscience +of mankind. <q>Truly great,</q> he cried, <q>was the +specimen of patient endurance which we exhibited.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Agricola</hi>, 2.</note> +What words, then, would he have +found to express the degradation of servile spirit +in that selfsame city a hundred years later, when +Plautianus, the favourite minister of Septimius +Severus, at the marriage of his daughter with Caracalla, +caused a hundred persons of good family, +some of them already fathers, secretly to be made +eunuchs, in order that they might serve as chamberlains +to the imperial bride.<note place='foot'>See Döllinger, <hi rend='italic'>Hippolytus und Kattistus</hi>, p. 187, who quotes from +Dio Cassius, l. 75, p. 1267, Reimar. This was <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 203.</note> Or to take another +example; as Quintillus, one of the chiefs of +the senate, both by birth and by the employments +which he had held, a man of advanced years +and living retired in the country, was seized in +order to be put to death, he declared that his only +surprise was that he had been suffered to live so +long, and that he had made every preparation for +<pb n='249'/><anchor id='Pg249'/> +his burial. A third incident will show both the +sort of crimes for which men were punished, the +protection given by the law to the individual, and +the spirit and temper of the senate. It had condemned +Apronianus, proconsul of Asia, without +giving him a hearing, because his nurse had +dreamt that he was one day to reign, concerning +which he was reported to have consulted a magician. +Now, in reading the informations laid +against him, it was found that a witness deposed +that during the consultation some senator who was +bald had stretched out his head to listen. Upon +this all the bald senators, even those who had +never gone to the house of Apronianus, began to +tremble, while the rest put their hands to their +heads to make sure that they had still their hair. +However, a certain Marcellinus fell under special +suspicion, whereupon he demanded that the +witness should be brought in, who could not fail +to recognise him if guilty. The witness looked +round upon them all for a long time without +saying a word, until upon a sign that a certain +senator made him, he declared it was Marcellinus, +who forthwith was hurried out of the senate to be +beheaded, before Severus was even informed of it. +As he went to execution he met four of his children, +to whom he said that his greatest grief was +to leave them living after him in so miserable a +time.<note place='foot'>Tillemont, <hi rend='italic'>Life of Severus</hi>, iii. 75, from Dio: <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 206.</note> It was not without reason that Tertullian +<pb n='250'/><anchor id='Pg250'/> +at this very moment encouraged the martyrs to be +constant, with the reflection that there was no one +who might not, for the cause of man, be made to +suffer whatever nature would most shrink from +suffering in the cause of God. <q>The times we +live in are proofs,</q> he cried, <q>of this. How many +and how great are the instances we have seen, in +which no height of birth, no degree of rank, no +personal dignity, no time of life, have saved men +from coming to the most unexpected end, for some +man's cause, either at his own hands, if they stood +against him, or if for him, by the hands of his +adversaries.</q><note place='foot'>Tertullian, <hi rend='italic'>ad Martyres</hi>, 4: about <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 196.</note> +</p> + +<p> +It was a time at which the extremes of reckless +cruelty, of profuse luxury, of shameless dissoluteness, +met together; in which women were +forbidden by an express law to expose themselves +on the arena as gladiators; in which, when the +emperor Severus would legislate against adultery, +a memorial was handed to him with the names +of three thousand persons whom his law would +touch.<note place='foot'>Dio, quoted by Döllinger, ut supra.</note> Such was the character of the time which +followed at once on the empire's golden age; the +time in which the Church of God was lengthening +her cords and strengthening her stakes, and building +up her divine polity amid the worthlessness of +the world's greatest empire, and the instability of +all earthly things. +</p> + +<pb n='251'/><anchor id='Pg251'/> + +<p> +II. In the last review which we took of her +material progress we said that to the eye of Pius +Antoninus she would not yet appear from her +multitude as a power in the state. But before +the end of the seventy-four years which we are +here considering as one period, it was otherwise. +Already in the reign of Commodus, Eusebius states +that the word of salvation was bringing to the +worship of the one God men out of every race, so +that in Rome itself many distinguished for wealth +and rank embraced it with their whole families.<note place='foot'>Euseb. <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> v. 21.</note> A +few years later, when Tertullian writes his apology, +he makes the heathen complain <q>that the state is +overrun with us, that Christians are found in the +country, in forts, in islands; that every sex and +age and condition and rank come over to them.</q><note place='foot'>Tertullian, <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> i. 37; <hi rend='italic'>ad Scap.</hi> 2.</note> +And again; <q>we are of yesterday, and have already +filled every place you have, your cities, islands, +forts, boroughs, councils, your very camps, tribes, +corporations, the palace, senate, and forum. Your +temples only we leave you. For what war should +we not be equal, we who are so ready to be slaughtered, +if our religion did not command us rather +to suffer death than to inflict it.</q> Elsewhere he speaks +of Christians as <q>so great a multitude of +men as to be almost the majority in every city.</q> +Now make whatsoever allowance we will for Tertullian's +vehemence, such statements, laid before +<pb n='252'/><anchor id='Pg252'/> +adversaries, if they had not a great amount of +truth in them, would bring ridicule on his cause +rather than strengthen it. Tertullian besides wrote +at the time of the general persecution set on foot +by Septimius Severus against the Christian Faith, +which itself was a proof of what importance it had +assumed. We may perhaps put the first twenty +years of the third century as the point at which, +having passed through the period when it was +embraced by individuals with a several choice, it +was become the faith of families, and one step +only remained, that it should become the faith of +nations.<note place='foot'>De Rossi, <hi rend='italic'>Archeol. Cristiana</hi>, 1866, p. 33, makes this estimate.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Let us consider a moment the mode of its increase. +It was twofold. The plant of which a +root was fixed by the Apostles and their successors +in each of the cities of the empire grew, gathering +to itself in every place the better minds of heathenism, +and exercising from the beginning a +marked attraction upon the more religious sex and +upon the most down-trodden portion of society; +women were ever won to it by the purity which +its doctrines inculcated, slaves by its tender charity: +it gave a moral emancipation to both. If +we possessed a continuous and detailed history of +the Christian Faith in any one city, say Rome, or +Alexandria, or Antioch, or Ephesus, or Carthage, +or Corinth, for the first three centuries, what a +wonderful exhibition of spiritual power and material +<pb n='253'/><anchor id='Pg253'/> +weakness it would offer. By fixing the mind +on Christianity as merely one object, as an abstraction, +we lose in large part the sense of the +moral force to which its propagation bears witness. +It was in each city a community,<note place='foot'>From a passage in the account of the Martyrs of Lyons, <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 177 +(Euseb. <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> v. 1, p. 201, l. 3), it appears that the word <q>Church</q> was +only given to a mother or cathedral church by writers of that time.</note> which had its +centre and representative in its Bishop, which had +its worship, discipline, and rule of life presided +over by him; its presbytery, diaconate, and deaconesses; +its sisterhoods and works of charity, +spiritual and temporal: a complete government +and a complete society held together by purely +spiritual bonds, which the state sometimes ignored, +not unfrequently persecuted, but never favoured. +Such was the grain of mustard-seed, from north to +south, from east to west, in presence of the political +Roman, the sensitive and lettered Greek, the +sensuous African, the volatile and disputatious +Alexandrian, the corrupt Antiochene. It had one +sort of population to deal with at Rome, quite another +in the capital of Egypt, a third at Ephesus, +which belonged to the great goddess Diana, and the +statue which had fallen down from heaven, a fourth +at Carthage, where the hot Numidian blood came +in contact with the civilisation of Rome, a fifth at +Corinth, the mistress of all art and luxury. And +so on. Now in each and all of these cities and +a hundred others the divine plant met with various +<pb n='254'/><anchor id='Pg254'/> +soils and temperatures; but in them all it grew. +It had its distinct experiences, encountering many +a withering heat and many a stormy blast, and +watered full oft with blood, but in them all the +seed, dropped so imperceptibly that the mightiest +and most jealous of empires was unconscious of +what was cast into its bosom, became a tree. It +was an organic growth of vital power. Christianity, +during the ten ages of persecution, is the +upspringing of several hundred such communities, +distinct as we see here, and as described above by +S. Ignatius, but at the same time coinherent, as +we saw in the beginning, and as we shall find +presently. As, then, all the cities of the Roman +empire had a secular political and social life, and +a municipal government of their own, so had the +Christian Faith in each of them a corresponding +life of spiritual government and inward thought; +and if we had the materials to construct the history +of this Faith in any one, it would give us a +wonderful insight into the course of that prodigious +victory over the world which the whole result +presents. We cannot do so. The data for it +do not exist, and because they do not, we allude +here to this first mode of growth made by the +Christian Faith. +</p> + +<p> +Its second mode was thus. The Apostolical +Churches, as they severally grew, scattered from +their bosoms a seed as prolific as their own. They +sent out those who founded communities such as +<pb n='255'/><anchor id='Pg255'/> +their own. Thus the Christian plant was communicated +from Rome to all the west. With every +decade of years it crept silently over the vast regions +of Gaul and Spain, advancing further west and +north. This extension was not a chance springing +up of Christians in different localities. It always +took place by the founding<note place='foot'>Thus S. Irenæus (iii. 3. 3) speaks of S. Peter and S. Paul as θεμελιώσαντες +καὶ οἰκοδομήσαντες the Church of Rome, and of the Church of +Ephesus (ibid. iv.) as τεθεμελιωμένη ὑπὸ Παύλου.</note> of sees, with the apostolic +authority, after the apostolic model. If the +Roman colonia had its rites of inauguration, and +was a transcript of the great city, its senate and its +forum, so much more the Christian city had its +prototype and derived its authority from the great +citadel of the Faith, wherein Peter's prerogative was +stored up,<note place='foot'>This S. Innocent states to S. Augustine and the African bishops in +417 as a fact well known to them: <q>Scientes quid Apostolicæ Sedi, +cum omnes hoc loco positi ipsum sequi desideremus Apostolum, debeatur, +<emph>a quo ipse episcopatus et tota auctoritas nominis hujus emersit</emph>.</q> Coustant, +<hi rend='italic'>Epist. Rom. Pontif.</hi> 888.</note> and whence it had a derivation wider +in extent and more ample in character than that +of Rome the natural city. But we will take from +another quarter what is as perfect a specimen of +this extension as any that can be found. In the +great city of Alexandria, the centre of intellectual +and commercial life to all the East and the whole +Greek name, S. Peter set up the chair of his disciple +Mark. There the evangelist taught and there +in due time suffered. Dragged by an infuriated +populace through the streets he thus gave up his +<pb n='256'/><anchor id='Pg256'/> +soul. But the plant which he so watered with his +blood was of extraordinary vigour. It not only +grew amid the intensest intellectual rivalry of +Greek and Jew in the capital, but likewise in +course of time occupied the whole civil government +which obeyed the præfect of Egypt. From +Alexandria, Egypt and the Pentapolis of Cyrene +derived their Christian faith and government; and +so powerful was this bond that the bishop of the +capital exercised control over all the bishops of +the civil diocese, as it was then termed. He was +in power a patriarch long before he had that name, +or even the name of archbishop. How great and +strict this rule was we may judge from an incident +preserved by Photius,<note place='foot'>Photius, συναγωγαὶ καὶ ἀποδείξεις, quoted by Döllinger, <hi rend='italic'>Hippolytus +und Kallistus</hi>, p. 264, 5.</note> which occurred in +the very last year of the period we are considering, +in 235. Heraclas, bishop of Alexandria, a former +pupil of Origen, had inflicted upon that great +writer a second expulsion from the Church for his +erroneous teaching. Origen on his way to Syria +came to the city of Thmuis, where bishop Ammonius +allowed him, in spite of the above-mentioned +censure of Heraclas, to preach. When Heraclas +heard this, he came to Thmuis and deposed +Ammonius, and appointed in his stead Philippus +as bishop. Afterwards, on the earnest request of +the people of the city, he restored Ammonius to +the office of bishop, and ordained that he and +<pb n='257'/><anchor id='Pg257'/> +Philippus should be bishops together. The latter, +however, voluntarily gave way to Ammonius, and +succeeded him at his death. Such, ninety years +before the Nicene Council, which recognised and +approved these powers of the bishop of Alexandria, +as being after the model of those exercised +by the bishop of Rome,<note place='foot'>Can. 6. Concil. Nic. τὰ ἀρχαῖα ἔθη κρατείτω, τὰ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ Λιβύῃ +καὶ Πενταπόλει, ὥστε τὸν Ἀλεξανδρείας ἐπίσκοπον πάντων τούτων ἔχειν τὴν +ἐξουσίαν, ἐπειδὴ και τῷ εν Ῥωμῃ επισκοπῳ τοῦτο συνηθεσ εστιν. See Hagemann, +<hi rend='italic'>die Römische Kirche</hi>, 596-8.</note> was his authority by the +natural force of the hierarchic principle which built +up the Church. And so little were these Christian +communities, which we have seen so complete in +their own organic growth, independent of the bond +which held the whole Church together, and of +which the authority of the Egyptian primate was +itself a derivation. +</p> + +<p> +These, then, were the two modes in which the +Christian Faith pursued and attained its orderly +increase; as a seed it grew to a plant in each city, +and as a plant it ramified, or as Tertullian says, +carried <q>the vine-layer of the faith</q><note place='foot'><q>Traducem fidei et semina doctrinæ.</q> <hi rend='italic'>De Præscrip.</hi> 20.</note> from city +to city, from province to province. In the meantime +the last disciples of the Apostles, those who +from the especial veneration with which they were +regarded as teachers of the Faith and <q>second +links in the chain of tradition,</q> were termed Presbyters,<note place='foot'>See Döllinger, <hi rend='italic'>Hipp. u. Kall.</hi> p. 338-343, for the meaning of this word +in the time of S. Irenæus, as carrying with it a special magisterium fidei. +<q>Presbyteros</q> was added as a title of honour to the name of Bishop. +In S. Irenæus tho same persons have as Bishops the succession of the +Apostles, as Presbyteri <q>the charisma of the truth.</q> Papias marks the +Asiatic Presbyteri as those who had heard of S. John; and Clement of +Alex. speaks of Presbyteri who, occupied with the office of teaching, and +deeming it diverse from that of composition, did not write. <hi rend='italic'>Eclogæ</hi> xxvii. +p. 996.</note> +had died out. S. Polycarp, at the time +<pb n='258'/><anchor id='Pg258'/> +of his martyrdom in 167, was probably the sole +remaining one, though his pupil S. Irenæus had +known others. When the latter, upon the martyrdom +of S. Pothinus in 177, is raised to the +government of the See of Lyons, we may consider +that no one survived in possession of that great +personal authority which belonged to those who +had themselves been taught by Apostles; and so +at the third generation from the last of these the +Church throughout the world stood without any +such support, simply upon that basis of the tradition +and teaching of the truth, and of the succession +of rulers, on which the Apostles had placed +it, to last for ever. Now in this position it had +already, throughout the whole course of the second +century, been violently assaulted by a family of +heresies, which growing upon one root—a natural +philosophy confusing the being of God with the +world—burst forth into an astonishing variety of +outward forms. Gnosticism completely altered and +defaced Christian doctrine under each of the four +great heads, the Being of God, the Person of +Christ, the nature of man, the office and function +of the Church. Into the Godhead it introduced +a dualism, recognising with the absolute good an +<pb n='259'/><anchor id='Pg259'/> +absolute evil represented by matter: it denied the +reality of the Incarnation; it made the body a +principle of evil in man's nature: but we will here +limit ourselves to the characteristic and formal +principle of the system from which it derived its +name, to Gnosis as the means of acquiring divine +truth. Now the Christian religion taught that revealed +truth was to be attained by the individual +through receiving, upon the ground of the divine +veracity, those mysterious doctrines superior but +not contrary to reason which it unfolded; and that +the communication of such doctrines might continue +unimpaired and unchanging, it taught that +our Lord had established a never-failing authority +charged with the execution of this office, and +assisted by the perpetual presence of His Spirit +with it to the end. But the Gnostics admitted +only in the case of the imperfect or natural man +that faith was the means for acquiring religious +truth; to the spiritual, the proper gnostic, gnosis +should take the place of faith: for to many a heathen, +accustomed to unlimited philosophical speculation, +the absolute subjection of the intellect to +divine authority, required by the principle of faith, +was repugnant. Now this Gnosis was in their mind +not knowledge grounded upon faith, but either +philosophic science, or a supposed intuition of +truth, which was not only to replace faith, but +the whole moral life, inasmuch as the completion +and sanctification of man were to be wrought by +<pb n='260'/><anchor id='Pg260'/> +it. And thus instead of an external authority +the individual reason was set up as the highest +standard of religious truth, the issue of which could +only be rationalism in belief and sectarianism in +practice. +</p> + +<p> +This formal principle of Gnosticism when duly +carried out would deny the idea of the Church, its +divine institution, its properties and prerogatives. +For the gnostic mode of attaining divine truth, as +above stated, contains in it such a denial. Besides +this, the gnostic doctrine that matter was the +seat of evil, destroyed the belief that Christ had +assumed a body: the gnostic doctrine that the +supreme God could enter into no communion with +man made their Æon Christ no member of human +society, but a phantom which had enlightened the +man Jesus, and then returned back to the <q>Light-realm.</q> +Not being really the Son of God, he could +have no Church which was his body: not really +redeeming, for sin to the gnostic had only a physical, +not a moral cause, he was but a teacher, +and therefore had created no institution to convey +grace; which, moreover, was superfluous, for +whatever elements of good human nature had were +derived from creation and not from redemption. +Nor was such an universal institution wanted, since +not all men but only the spiritual were capable of +being drawn up to the Light-realm. The Gnostic +therefore required neither hierarchy nor priesthood, +since the soul of this system was the gnosis +<pb n='261'/><anchor id='Pg261'/> +of the individual. For this a body enjoying infallibility +through the assistance of the Holy Ghost +was not needed. It was enough for enthusiasts +and dreamers to pursue their speculations without +any limit to free inquiry, save what themselves +chose to impose as the interpretation of such scriptures +as they acknowledged, or as the exhibition +of a private tradition with which they held themselves +to be favoured. +</p> + +<p> +Lastly, the idea of Sacraments, as conveying +grace under a covering of sense, would be superfluous +to the gnostic, inasmuch as the spiritual +elements in man belong to him by nature, and are +not communicated by a Redeemer, and would be +repulsive to him because matter is a product of +the evil principle, and cannot be the channel of +grace from out the Light-realm.<note place='foot'>I am indebted for the above sketch of Gnosticism mainly to +Schwane, <hi rend='italic'>Dogmengeschichte der vornicänischen Zeit</hi>, p. 648-51.</note> +</p> + +<p> +My purpose here has only been to say just so +much of Gnosticism as may show how the whole +Christian truth was attacked by it, and especially +the existence and functions of the Church. +</p> + +<p> +And this may indeed be termed the first heresy +in that it struck its roots right up into Apostolic +times. Irenæus, Eusebius, and Epiphanius account +Simon Magus to be its father, and the father of +all heresy. As such it is not without significance +that he encountered the first of the Apostles in +Samaria, endeavouring to purchase from him the +<pb n='262'/><anchor id='Pg262'/> +gifts of grace and miraculous power, and that he +likewise afterwards encountered him at Rome. To +this the first manifestation of Gnosticism succeed +heretical doctrines concerning the Person of our +Lord, which sprung out of Judaism; but no sooner +are these overcome than Gnosticism in its later +forms spreads from Syria and Alexandria over the +whole empire, everywhere confronting the Church, +seducing her members, and tempting especially +speculative minds within her. A mixture itself +of Platonic, Philonic, Pythagorean, and Parsic philosophy, +affecting to gather the best out of all +philosophies and religions, in which it exactly represented +the eclectic spirit of its age, arraying +itself in the most fantastic garb of imagination, +but at the bottom no dubious product of the old +heathen pantheism, it set itself to the work, while +it assumed Christian names, of confusing and distracting +Christian truth. From the beginning of +the second century it was the great enemy which +beset the Church. It may, then, well represent to +us the principle of heresy itself, and as such let +us consider on what principles it was met by the +Church's teachers. +</p> + +<p> +Now to form a correct notion of the danger to +which the Christian people at this time was exposed, +we must have before us that it was contained +in several hundred communities, each of +them forming a complete spiritual society and government. +These had arisen under the pressure +<pb n='263'/><anchor id='Pg263'/> +of such hostility on the part of the empire that +it is only in the time of the last emperor during +this period, Alexander Severus, that churches are +known to have publicly existed at Rome.<note place='foot'>Tillemont, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. des Emp.</hi> iii. 281, deduces it from a passage of +Origen on S. Matt. tom. iii. p. 857 c.</note> For a +very long time all meetings of Christians and all +celebration of their worship was secret. It is obvious +what an absolute freedom of choice on the +part of all those who became Christians this fact +involved. Nor did that freedom cease when they +had been initiated into the new religion. Their +fidelity to the Christian faith was all through their +subsequent life solicited by the danger in which as +Christians they stood. Only a continuous freedom +of choice on their part could maintain it. And +not only did every temporal interest turn against +it, but in the case at least of the more intellectual +converts the activity of thought implied in their +voluntary acceptance of a new belief served as a +material on which the seductions of false teachers +might afterwards act, unless it was controlled by +an everliving faith, and penetrated by an active +charity. The more these Christian communities +multiplied, the more it was to be expected that +some of them would yield to the assaults of false +teachers. It is in just such a state of things +that a great dogmatic treatise was written against +Gnosticism by one who stood at only a single remove +from the Apostle John, being the disciple of +<pb n='264'/><anchor id='Pg264'/> +his disciple Polycarp. Irenæus, by birth a native +of lesser Asia, enjoyed when young the instructions +and intimate friendship of the bishop of Smyrna. +In his old age he delighted to remember how +Polycarp had described his intercourse with John, +and with those who had seen the Lord: how he +repeated their discourse, and what he had heard +from them respecting the teaching and the miracles +of that Word of life whom they had seen +with their own eyes. <q>These things,</q> says Irenæus, +<q>through the mercy of God I then diligently +listened to, writing them down not on paper, but +on my heart, and by His grace I ruminate upon +them perpetually.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Frag. Epist. ad Florin.</hi> tom. i. p. 340.</note> Later in life he left Smyrna, +and settled in Lyons, of which Church he was a +presbyter when the terrible persecution of 177 +broke out there. Elected thereupon to succeed +a martyr as bishop, he crowned an episcopate of +twenty-five years with a similar martyrdom. He +wrote, as he says, during the episcopate of Eleutherius, +who was the twelfth bishop of Rome from +Peter, and sat from 177 to 192. After describing +at length the Gnostic errors concerning the divine +nature, he sets forth in contrast the unity of the +truth as declared by the Church in the following +words: +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Church, though she be spread abroad +through the whole world unto the ends of the earth, +has received from the Apostles and their disciples +<pb n='265'/><anchor id='Pg265'/> +faith in one God;</q> and he proceeds to recite her +creed, in substance the same as that now held: +then he adds, dwelling with emphasis on the very +point which I have been noting, the sprinkling +about, that is, of distinct communities so widely +dispersed, which yet are one in their belief. +</p> + +<p> +<q>This proclamation and this faith the Church +having received, though she be disseminated +through the whole world, carefully guards, as the +inhabitant of one house, and equally believes these +things as having one soul and the same heart, and +in exact agreement these things she proclaims and +teaches and hands down, as having one mouth. +For, though the languages through the world be +dissimilar, the power of the tradition is one and +the same. Nor have the churches founded in +Germany otherwise believed or otherwise handed +down, nor those in Spain, nor in Gaul, nor in the +East, nor in Egypt, nor those in the middle of the +world. But as the sun, God's creature, in all the +world is one and the same, so too the proclamation +of the truth shines everywhere, and lights all +men that are willing to come to the knowledge of +the truth. Nor will he among the Church's rulers +who is most powerful in word say other than this, +for no one is above his teacher;<note place='foot'>He seems to refer to Matt. x. 24: οὐκ ἔστι μαθητὴς ὑπὲρ τὸν διδάσκαλον.</note> nor will he that +is weak in word diminish the tradition, for the +Faith being one and the same, neither he that can +<pb n='266'/><anchor id='Pg266'/> +say much on it has gathered too much, nor he that +can say little is deficient.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Against the gnostic claim to possess a private +tradition, in virtue of which each of them <q>depraving +the rule of the truth was not ashamed to +preach himself,</q> he sets forth the one original tradition +which the Apostles,<note place='foot'>S. Irenæus, lib. iii. c. 2; lib. iii. c. 1.</note> only <q>when they had +first been invested with the power of the Holy +Ghost coming down on them, and endued with +perfect knowledge,</q> delivered to the churches +founded by them. <q rend='pre'>And this tradition of the +Apostles, manifested in the whole world, may be +seen in every church by all who have the will to +see what is true, and we can give the chain of +those who by the Apostles were appointed bishops +in the churches, and their successors down to our +time, who have neither taught nor known any +such delirious dream as these imagine. For, had +the Apostles known any reserved mysteries, which +they taught to the perfect separately and secretly +from the rest, assuredly they would have delivered +them to those especially to whom they intrusted +the churches themselves. For very perfect and +irreprehensible in all respects did they wish those +to be whom they left for their own successors,<note place='foot'><q>Quos et successores relinquebant, suum ipsorum locum magisterii +tradentes.</q></note> +delivering over to them their own office of teaching, +by correct conduct on whose part great advantage +<pb n='267'/><anchor id='Pg267'/> +would accrue, as from their fall the utmost +calamity. But since it were very long, in a volume +like this, to enumerate the succession of all the +churches, we take the church the greatest, the +most ancient, and known to all, founded and +established at Rome by the two most glorious +Apostles Peter and Paul, and pointing out the +tradition which it has received from the Apostles, +and the faith which it has announced to men, +reaching down to us by the succession of its +bishops, we confound all those who form societies +other than they ought, in any way, whether for +the sake of self-fancied doctrines, or through +blindness and an evil mind. For, with this +church, on account of its superior principate, it +is necessary that every church agree, that is, the +faithful everywhere (every church) in which by +the (faithful) everywhere, the apostolic tradition +is preserved.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The blessed Apostles, then, having founded +and built up the church, committed to Linus the +administration of its episcopate.... Anencletus succeeds +him, from whom in the third place from the +Apostles Clemens inherits the episcopate.... He is +succeeded by Evaristus; Evaristus by Alexander, +who is followed by Xystus sixth from the Apostles. +Then Telesphorus, who was gloriously martyred; +next Hyginus; then Pius; after whom Anicetus. +Soter followed Anicetus; and now in the twelfth +degree from the Apostles Eleutherius holds the +<pb n='268'/><anchor id='Pg268'/> +place of bishop. By this order and succession the +tradition from the Apostles in the Church and the +teaching of the truth have come down to us. And +this proof is most complete that it is one and the +same life-giving Faith which has been preserved in +the Church from the Apostles up to this time, and +handed down in truth.... With such proofs, then, +before us, we ought not still to search among others +for the truth, which it is easy to take from the +Church, since the Apostles most fully committed +unto this, as unto a rich storehouse, all which is +of the truth, so that everyone, whoever will, may +draw from it the draught of life. For this is the +gate of life: all the rest are thieves and robbers. +They must therefore be avoided; but whatever is +of the Church we must love with the utmost diligence, +and lay hold of the tradition of the truth. +For how? if on any small matter question arose, +ought we not to recur to the most ancient churches +in which the Apostles lived, and take from them on +the matter in hand what is certain and plain. And +suppose the Apostles had not even left us writings, +ought we not to follow that order of tradition +which they delivered to those to whom they +intrusted the churches? To this order many +barbarous nations of believers in Christ assent, +having salvation written upon their hearts by the +Holy Spirit without paper and ink, and diligently +guarding the old tradition.</q><note place='foot'>S. Irenæus, lib. iii. c. 3, 4.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='269'/><anchor id='Pg269'/> + +<p> +This capital point of the ever-living teaching +office he further dwells on: +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Faith received in the Church we guard +in it, which being always from the Spirit of God, +like an admirable deposit in a good vessel, is +young itself, and makes young the vessel in +which it is. For this office on the part of God<note place='foot'><q>Hoc enim Ecclesiæ creditum est Dei munus.</q></note> is +intrusted to the Church, as the breath of life was +given to the body, in order that all the members +receiving may be quickened, and in this is placed +the communication of Christ, that is, the Holy +Spirit, the earnest of incorruption, the confirmation +of our faith, and the ladder by which we ascend +to God. For, says he, in the Church God has +placed Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, and all the remaining +operation of the Spirit; of whom all those +are not partakers who do not run to the Church, +but deprive themselves of life by an evil opinion +and a still worse conduct. For where the Church +is, there also is the Spirit of God: and where the +Spirit of God is, there is the Church and all grace: +but the Spirit is Truth. Wherefore they who are +not partakers of Him are neither nourished unto +life from the breasts of the mother, nor receive +that most pure fountain which proceeds from the +Body of Christ, but dig out for themselves broken +cisterns from earthly ditches, and from the filth +drink foul water, avoiding the Faith of the Church +lest they be brought back, and rejecting the Spirit +<pb n='270'/><anchor id='Pg270'/> +that they may not be taught. So estranged from +the truth they deservedly wallow in every error, +tossed about by it, having different opinions on +the same subjects at different times, and never +holding one firm mind, choosing rather to be +sophists of words than disciples of the truth; for +they are not founded upon the one rock, but on +the sand, which has in it a multitude of pebbles.</q><note place='foot'>Lib. iii. c. 24.</note> +</p> + +<p> +And he elsewhere contrasts the certainty +within, and the uncertainty without, this teaching +power: +</p> + +<p> +<q>The said heretics, then, being blind to the +truth, cannot help walking out of the track into +one path after another, and hence it is that the +vestiges of their doctrine are scattered about without +any rule or sequence. Whereas the road of +those who are of the Church goes round the whole +world, because it possesses a firm tradition from +the Apostles, and gives us to see that all have one +and the same faith, where all enjoin one and the +same God the Father, believe one disposition of +the Son of God's incarnation, know the same gift +of the Spirit, meditate on the same precepts, guard +the same regimen of ecclesiastical rule, await the +same advent of the Lord, and support the same +salvation of the whole man, body and soul alike. +Now the Church's preaching is true and firm, in +whom one and the same way of salvation is shown +<pb n='271'/><anchor id='Pg271'/> +through the whole world. For to her is intrusted +the light of God; and hence the wisdom of God, +by which He saves all men, <q>is sung at her entrance, +acts with confidence in her streets, is proclaimed +on her walls, and speaks ever in the gates +of the city.</q> For everywhere the Church proclaims +the truth: she is the seven-branched candlestick +bearing Christ's light.</q><note place='foot'>Lib. v. c. 20.</note> +</p> + +<p> +It has been necessary to give at considerable +length the very words of S. Irenæus, because they +are stronger and more perspicuous than any summary +of them can be, and because they exhibit a +complete answer not to this particular heresy only, +but to all heresy for ever. Such an answer, coming +from one who stood at the second generation +from S. John, is of the highest value. Thus he +meets the gnostic principle that divine truth is +acquired by the individual through some process +of his own mind, which in this particular case is +termed gnosis, but which may bear many other +names, by appealing to an external standard, the +Rule of Faith in the Church from the beginning, +which by its unity points to its origin and lineage +from the apostles and Christ. And this serves to +bring out the central idea which rules his whole +mind, that <q>where the Church is, there also is the +Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there +is the Church and all grace: but the Spirit is +Truth.</q> The deposit of which he spoke is not a +<pb n='272'/><anchor id='Pg272'/> +dead mass, or lump of ore, requiring only safe custody, +but a living Spirit dwelling in the Church, +the source within her of unity, truth, and grace, +using her teaching office, which is set up in her +episcopate, for the drawing out and propagation +of the deposit from the double fountain of Tradition +and Scripture, for these her teachers as +such have a divine gift of truth.<note place='foot'><q>Qui cum episcopatus successione charisma veritatis certum secundum +placitum Patris acceperunt.</q> iv. 26, 2; and 5, <q>ubi igitur +charismata Domini posita sunt, ibi discere oportet veritatem, apud quos +est ea quæ est ab apostolis ecclesiæ successio.</q></note> It is thus that +he expands without altering the doctrine of his +teacher Polycarp's fellow-disciple, <q>Where Jesus +Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.</q><note place='foot'>S. Ignatius, quoted above, p. 206.</note> And +from it he proceeds to what follows necessarily on +such a conception, that this Church must have a +visible point of unity. As then he appeals to the +churches founded by Apostles as the principal +centres of living tradition, so before yet one of +these churches had fallen into possession of heretics,<note place='foot'>Schwane, p. 661.</note> +before yet there was any disagreement between +them, he singles out one for its superior +principate, on account of which it was necessary +for every church to agree with it, which he +grounds on its descent from S. Peter and S. Paul, +giving every link in the chain of succession during +the hundred and ten years which had elapsed +between their martyrdom and his own episcopate. +He sees an especial prerogative lodged in +<pb n='273'/><anchor id='Pg273'/> +that church as the means of securing the whole +Church's organic unity; and this prerogative is, +that it is among churches what S. Peter and S. +Paul were among Apostles;<note place='foot'>Hagemann, p. 622.</note> as the first general +western council expressed it, <q>in it the Apostles +sit daily, and their blood without intermission bears +witness to the glory of God.</q><note place='foot'>Letter of the Synod of Arles to Pope Sylvester: <q>Quoniam recedere +a partibus istis minime potuisti, in quibus et Apostoli quotidie +sedent, et cruor ipsorum sine intermissione Dei gloriam testatur.</q> Mansi, +<hi rend='italic'>Concilia</hi>, ii. 469.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Thus the conception expressed by Irenæus, +with the greatest emphasis and continual repetition, +in order to refute heresy, is that all truth +and grace are stored up in the one body of the +Church; to which his doctrine of the Roman Primacy +is as the keystone to the arch. For everything +in his view depends on the unity, the intrinsic +harmony, of the truth which he is describing as +lodged in the episcopate: the means therefore +of securing that unity are part of its conception. +Accordingly, to see in its due force his statement +that every church must agree with the Roman +Church, it must not be severed from the context +and taken by itself, but viewed in connexion with +the argument as part of which it stands. If the +Church is to speak one truth with one mouth, +which is his main idea, she must have an organic +provision for such a result, which he places in the +necessary agreement of all churches with one: +<pb n='274'/><anchor id='Pg274'/> +and this is his second idea, subsidiary to the first, +and completing it. +</p> + +<p> +Irenæus by birth and education represents in +all this the witness of the Asiatic churches; as +bishop of Lyons, the churches of Gaul. +</p> + +<p> +A few years after Irenæus, Tertullian in a professed +treatise against heresy lays down exactly +the same principles. With him, too, the main idea +is the possession of all truth and grace by the one +Body which Christ formed and the Apostles established. +This he thus exhibits: +</p> + +<p> +<q>We must not appeal to the Scriptures, nor +try the issue on points on which the victory is +either none, or doubtful, or too little doubtful. +For though the debate on the Scriptures should +not so turn out as to place each party on an +equal footing, the order of things requires that +that question should be first proposed which is +the only one now to be discussed, To whom does +the Faith itself belong? Whose are the Scriptures? +From whom and through whom, when +and to whom, was that discipline by which men +become Christians delivered? For wherever the +truth of that which is the Christian discipline at +once and faith be shown to be, there will be the +truth of the Scriptures, of their exposition, and of +all Christian traditions. Our Lord Jesus Christ +(may He suffer me so to speak for the present), +whoever He is, of whatever God the Son, of whatever +substance God and Man, of whatever reward +<pb n='275'/><anchor id='Pg275'/> +the promiser, Himself declared so long as He was +on earth, whether to the people openly, or to the +disciples apart, what He was, what He had been, +what will of the Father He administered, what +duty of man He laid down. Of whom He had +attached to his own side twelve in chief, the destined +teachers of the nations. One of these having +fallen off from Him, He bade the other eleven, on +his departure to the Father after the resurrection, +go and teach the nations, who were to be baptised +into the Father, into the Son, and into the Holy +Ghost. The Apostles then forthwith, the meaning +of their title being the Sent, assuming by lot Matthias +as a twelfth into the place of Judas, by the +authority of the prophecy in the psalm of David, +when they had obtained the promised power of +the Holy Ghost for miracles and utterance, first +through Judea bore witness to the Faith in Christ +Jesus, and established churches, thence proceeding +into the world promulgated the same doctrine of the +same Faith to the nations, and thereupon founded +churches in every city, from which the other churches +thenceforth borrowed the vine-layer of the Faith +and the seeds of the doctrine, and are daily borrowing +them that they may become churches. And +for this cause they are themselves also counted +apostolical, as being the offspring of apostolical +churches. The whole kind must be classed under +its original. And thus these churches so many +and so great are that one first from the Apostles, +<pb n='276'/><anchor id='Pg276'/> +whence they all spring. Thus all are the first, +and all apostolical, while all being the one prove +unity: whilst there is between them communication +of peace, and the title of brotherhood, and +the token of hospitality.<note place='foot'>Tertull. <hi rend='italic'>de Præsc.</hi> 19, 20.</note> And no other principle +rules these rights than the one tradition of the +same sacrament.</q><note place='foot'>The word here stands evidently for the whole body of Christian +truth, rites, and discipline, the communication of which was a sacramentum.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Here is the summing up of what Irenæus had +said with the force, brevity, and incisiveness which +characterise Tertullian. Further on he rejects any +appeal on the part of heretics to scripture: +</p> + +<p> +<q>If the truth be in our possession, as many as +walk by the rule which the Church has handed +down from the Apostles, the Apostles from Christ, +and Christ from God, the reasonableness of our +proposition is manifest, which lays down that heretics +are not to be allowed to enter an appeal to +scriptures, since without scriptures we prove them +to have no concern with scriptures. For if they +are heretics, they cannot be Christians, inasmuch +as they do not hold from Christ what they follow +by their own choice, and in consequence admit +the name of heretics.<note place='foot'>That is, he opposes the word <emph>choosers</emph> to the word <emph>Christians</emph>; +the one signifying those who believe what they <emph>choose</emph>, the other those +who believe what Christ taught.</note> Therefore not being Christians, +they have no right to Christian writings. To +whom we may well say, Who are you? when did +<pb n='277'/><anchor id='Pg277'/> +you come? and whence? What are you, who are +not mine, doing in my property? By what right +dost thou, Marcion, cut down my wood? By what +license dost thou, Valentinus, turn the course of my +waters? By what power remove my landmarks? +This is my possession: how are you sowing it +and feeding on it at your pleasure? It is mine, I +repeat: I had it of old; I had it first: I have the +unquestioned title-deeds from the first proprietors. +I am the heir of the Apostles. According to their +will, according to their trust, according to the +oath I took from them, I hold it. You, assuredly, +they have ever disinherited and renounced, as +aliens, as enemies. But why are heretics aliens +and enemies to Apostles, save from difference of +doctrine, which each at his own pleasure has either +brought forward or received against Apostles?</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Præscrip.</hi> 37.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Thus Tertullian adds the witness of the African +church to that of the Asiatic and Gallic churches +in Irenæus. +</p> + +<p> +We have noted the great church of Alexandria +as a most complete instance of the growth whereby +from the mother see the hierarchy took possession +of a land. But the principle of such growth was +the ecclesiastical rule, and its strength the energy +with which that rule was preserved. This rule +was twofold: the rule of discipline, or outward +regimen, what we now call a constitution; and the +rule of Faith. What the church of Alexandria +<pb n='278'/><anchor id='Pg278'/> +was in discipline has been seen above: and now +just at this time we have in the first great teacher +of this church, who has come down to us, the +most decisive exhibition of this rule as a defence +against this same gnostic heresy. <q>As,</q> says +Clement, <q>a man like those under the enchantment +of Circe should become a beast, so whoever +has kicked against the tradition of the Church, +and started aside into the opinions of human heresies, +has ceased to be a man of God, and faithful +to the Lord.</q> ... <q>There are three states of the +soul, ignorance, opinion, knowledge. Those who +are in ignorance, are the Gentiles; those in knowledge, +the true Church; those in opinion, the adherents +of heresies.</q> ... <q>We have learnt that +bodily pleasure is one thing, which we give to the +Gentiles; strife a second, which we adjudge to +heresies; joy a third, which is the property of the +Church.</q> Again, he speaks of those who <q>not +using the divine words well, but perversely, neither +enter themselves into the kingdom of heaven, nor +suffer those whom they have deceived to attain +the truth. They have not indeed the key to the +entrance, but rather a false key, whereby they do +not enter as we do through the Lord's tradition, +drawing back the veil, but cutting out a side way, +and secretly digging through the Church's wall, +they transgress the truth, and initiate into rites of +error the soul of the irreligious. For that they +have made their human associations later than +<pb n='279'/><anchor id='Pg279'/> +the Catholic Church, it needs not many words to +show.</q> Then, after referring to the origin and +propagation <q>of the Lord's teaching,</q><note place='foot'>ἡ τοῦ κυρίου κατὰ τὴν παρουσίαν διδασκαλία.</note> exactly +after the mode of Irenæus and Tertullian, he concludes, +<q>So it is clear from the most ancient and +true Church, that these heresies coming in subsequently +to it, and others still later, are innovations +from it, as coins of adulterate stamp. From +what has been said, then, I consider it manifest +that the true Church, the really ancient Church, +is one, in which are enrolled all who are just +according to (God's) purpose. For inasmuch as +there is one God and one Lord, therefore that +which is most highly precious is praised for being +alone, since it is an imitation of the one Principle. +The one Church, then, which they try by force to +cut up into many heresies, falls under the same +category as the nature of the One. So then we +assert that the ancient and Catholic Church is one +alone in its foundation, in its idea, in its origin, +and in its excellence, collecting by the will of the +one God, through the one Lord, into the unity of +one Faith, according to the peculiar covenants, or +rather to the one covenant at different times, the +preordained whom God predestined, having known +before the foundation of the world that they would +be just. But the excellence of the Church, as the +principle of the whole construction, is in unity, +<pb n='280'/><anchor id='Pg280'/> +surpassing all other things, and having nothing +similar or equal to itself.</q><note place='foot'>Clem. Alex. <hi rend='italic'>Strom.</hi> vii. 16, p. 890-894; 17, p. 897-900. The sections +15-17, p. 886-900, treat of the spirit and conduct of heresy.</note> +</p> + +<p> +One other writer remains, the larger part of +whose life falls within this period, greater in renown +than either of the foregoing; and into whatever +particular errors Origen may have fallen, he +did not swerve from their doctrine as to the mode +of meeting error itself. <q>Since,</q> says he, <q>there +are many who think that they hold the tenets of +Christ, while some of them hold different tenets +from those who went before them, let the ecclesiastical +preaching as handed down by the order +of succession from the Apostles, and maintained +even to the present time in the churches, be preserved: +that alone is to be believed as truth which +in nothing is discordant from the ecclesiastical and +apostolical tradition.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Principiis</hi>, pref. p. 47. See also on Matt. tom. iii. 864, a +passage equally decisive.</note> And the ground for such +a principle he has given elsewhere: +</p> + +<p> +<q>The divine words assert that the whole +Church of God is the Body of Christ, animated +by the Son of God, while the limbs of this Body +as a whole are particular believers: since as the +soul quickens and moves the body, whose nature +it is not to have the movement of life from itself, +so the Word moving to what is fitting, and working +in, the whole body, the Church, moves likewise +<pb n='281'/><anchor id='Pg281'/> +each member of the Church, who does nothing +without the Word.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Cont. Cels.</hi> vi. 48, tom. i. 670.</note> +</p> + +<p> +The four great writers, then, of this period, +Irenæus, Tertullian, Clement, and Origen, none of +them indeed from Rome, but representing the +churches of Asia, Gaul, Africa, and Egypt, exactly +concur in the principle by which they refuted +heresy, the propagation, that is, of the rule of +Faith in its purity and integrity, by those who +possessed the succession of the Apostles and their +office of teaching, in which lay a divine gift of +the truth. +</p> + +<p> +But to those who proceeded from this basis it +was a further labour to set forth the true knowledge +against the false. And we may trace the +following results of heresy, quite unintended by +itself, in its operation on the Church. +</p> + +<p> +1. In the first place, S. Augustine continually +remarks that the more accurate enucleation of +true doctrine usually proceeded from the attacks +of heresy; and this happened so continually that +it seems to him a special instance of that law of +divine Providence which educes good from evil. +<q>If the truth,</q> says he, <q>had not lying adversaries, +it would be examined with less carefulness,</q> +and so <q>a question started by an opponent +becomes to the disciple an occasion of learning.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, xvi. 2.</note> +And he observes that <q>we have found by experience +that every heresy has brought into the +<pb n='282'/><anchor id='Pg282'/> +Church its own questions, against which the divine +Scripture was defended with greater care than if +no such necessity had existed.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De dono persev.</hi> 53.</note> Thus the doctrine +of the Trinity owed its perfect treatment to +the Arian assault on it; the doctrine of penance +to that of Novatian; the doctrine of baptism to +those who wished to introduce the practice of rebaptising; +even the unity of Christ was brought +out with greater clearness by the attempt to rend +it, and the doctrine of one Catholic Church diffused +through the whole world cleared from its +objectors by showing that the mixture of evil men +in it does not prejudice the good.<note place='foot'>Enarr. in Ps. 54, tom. iv. 513.</note> And he illustrates +his meaning by a very picturesque image: +<q>When heretics calumniate, the young of the flock +are disturbed; in their disturbance they inquire; +so the young lamb butts its mother's udder till it +gets sufficient nutriment for its thirst.</q><note place='foot'>Serm. 51, tom. v. 288.</note> For the +doctors of the Church being called upon for an +answer supply the truth which before was latent. +And there is no more signal instance of the great +writer's remark than himself; for the attacks of +the most various heresies led him during forty +years of unwearied mental activity into almost +every question of theology. +</p> + +<p> +The gnostic heresy, then, presents us with the +first instance of a law which will run all through +the Church's history. Peter, the first Apostle, +<pb n='283'/><anchor id='Pg283'/> +meets and refutes Simon Magus, the first propagator +of falsehood, who receives divine sacraments +and then claims against the giver to be <q>the great +power of God.</q> This fact is likewise the symbol +of a long line of action, wherein it is part of the +divine plan to make the perpetual restlessness of +error subserve the complete exhibition of truth. +The Gnostics denied the divine monarchy; at once +mutilated and misinterpreted Scripture; claimed +to themselves a secret tradition of truth. We owe +to them in consequence the treatises of Irenæus, +Tertullian, and Clement, and a written exhibition +of the Church's divine order, succession, and unity, +as well as a specific mention of the tie which held +that unity together; and the mention of this tie +at so early a period might otherwise have been +wanting to us. But these three writers do but +represent to us partially an universal result. The +danger which from gnostic influence beset all the +chief centres of ecclesiastical teaching marks the +transition from the first state of simple faith to +that of human learning, inquiry, and thought, +turned upon the objects of Christian belief. The +Gnostics had a merit which they little imagined +for themselves. They formed the first doctors +of post-apostolic times. Irenæus, Tertullian, and +Clement are a great advance upon the more simple +and external exhibition of Christianity which we +find in the apologists. In them the Church is preparing +to encounter the deepest questions moved +<pb n='284'/><anchor id='Pg284'/> +against her by Greek philosophy. They are her +first champions in that contest with Hellenic culture +which was a real combat of mind, not a mere +massacre of unresisting victims, and which lasted +for five hundred years. +</p> + +<p> +2. Secondly, when the gnostic attack began, +the canon of the New Testament was still unfixed. +Nothing can be more certain than that the Apostles +did not set forth any official collection of +their writings, and that no such collection existed +shortly after their death. This fact most plainly +shows that the Christian religion at their departure +did not rest for its maintenance upon writings. +Not only had our Lord written no word Himself, +but He left no command to His Apostles to write. +His command was to propagate His Gospel and +to found His kingdom by oral teaching; and His +promise was that the Holy Ghost should accompany, +follow upon, and continue with, this their +action. What we find is, that they did this, and +that the writings which besides they left, being +from the first kept and venerated by the several +churches to which they were addressed, gradually +became known through the whole body of the +Church. With the lapse of time they would become +more and more valuable. Moreover, when +the Gnostics set themselves to interpolate and +corrupt them, and to fabricate false writings, the +need of a genuine collection became more and more +urgent. It is from the three writers above mentioned, +<pb n='285'/><anchor id='Pg285'/> +towards the end of the second century, +that we learn that such a collection existed, in +forming which these principles were followed: +only to admit writings which tradition attested to +spring from an Apostle or a witness of our Lord's +life,<note place='foot'>S. Mark's Gospel would be referred to S. Peter, and S. Luke's +writings to S. Paul.</note> among whom Paul was specially counted: +secondly, only such writings as were attested by +some church of apostolical foundation: and thirdly, +only such writings the doctrine contained in which +did not differ from the rule of faith orally handed +down in the churches of apostolic origin, or in the +one Catholic Church, excluding all such as were +at variance with the doctrine hitherto received. +Thus in the settlement of the Canon authority as +well as tradition intervened; an authority which +felt itself in secure possession of the same Holy +Spirit who had inspired the Apostles, and of the +same doctrine which they had taught.<note place='foot'>See Schwane, p. 779-80.</note> +</p> + +<p> +With the reception of a book into the Canon +of Scripture was joined a belief in its inspiration, +which rested on what was a part of oral tradition, +that is, that the Apostles as well in their oral as +in their written teaching had enjoyed the infallible +guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is evident that +such a tradition reposes, in the last instance, upon +the authority of the Church.<note place='foot'>Schwane, p. 783-4.</note> +</p> + +<p> +If by means of the gnostic attacks the Canon +<pb n='286'/><anchor id='Pg286'/> +of the New Testament, as we now possess it, was +not absolutely completed, it had at least advanced +a very great way towards that completion, which +we have finally attested as of long standing in a +Council held at Carthage in 397.<note place='foot'><q>Quia a patribus ista accepimus in ecclesia legenda.</q> n. 47.</note> +</p> + +<p> +3. Another result of the gnostic attack was +the setting forth the tradition of the Faith, seated +and maintained in the apostolic churches, as the +rule for interpreting Scripture. The Gnostics in +two ways impeached this rule, by claiming a private +tradition of their own, and by interpreting +such scripture as they chose to acknowledge after +their own pleasure. Irenæus, Tertullian, and Clement +found an adequate answer to both errors by +showing that the Faith which the Apostles had set +forth in their writings could not contradict the +Faith which they had established in the Church. +These were two sources of the same doctrine; but +it is by the permanent connection and interpenetration +of the two that the truth is maintained; +and that which holds both together, that which +utters and propagates the truth which they jointly +contain, is the Teaching office, the mouth of the +Church. Hence the force of the appeal in Irenæus +to the succession of the episcopate, and to the divine +gift of truth which the Apostles had handed +down therein with their teaching office. Hence +Tertullian's exclusion of heretics from the right +to possess scriptures which belong only to the +<pb n='287'/><anchor id='Pg287'/> +Church. Hence Clement's description of the only +true Gnostic, as <q>one who has grown old in the +study of the Scriptures, while he preserves the +apostolic and ecclesiastical standard of doctrine.</q><note place='foot'>Stromata, vii. c. 16, p. 896.</note> +For neither in founding churches, nor in teaching +orally, nor in writing, did the Apostles exhaust +or resign the authority committed to them.<note place='foot'>See Kleutgen, <hi rend='italic'>Theologie der Vorzeit</hi>, iii. 957; Schwane, vol. i. 3.</note> The +authority itself, which was the source of all this +their action, after all that they had founded, +taught, or written, continued complete and entire +in them, and was transmitted on to their successors, +for the maintenance of the work assigned to +it. It is this perpetual living power which Irenæus +so strongly testifies,<note place='foot'>L. iv. 26. 2, p. 262. <q>Quapropter <emph>iis qui in Ecclesia sunt</emph> presbyteris +obaudire oportet,</q> &c.</note> to which he attaches +the gift of the Spirit, not scripture, nor tradition, +but that which carries both scripture and tradition +through the ages, which is <q>as the breath of life +to the body, which is always from the Spirit of +God, wherein is placed the communication of +Christ, which is always young, and makes young +the vessel in which it is.</q><note place='foot'>L. iii. 24, p. 223.</note> The writings which +the Holy Ghost has inspired, and the tradition of +the Faith which He has established, would be +subject, the one to misinterpretation, the other to +alteration and corruption, without that particular +presence of His, in which consists the divine gift +<pb n='288'/><anchor id='Pg288'/> +of truth, the teaching office, <q>the making disciples +all nations.</q> +</p> + +<p> +4. And the action of heresy, which was so +effective in bringing out the function of the +teaching church, was not without force in extending +and corroborating the function of the +ruling church. The first synods of which we +have mention are those assembled in Asia Minor +towards the end of the second century against +the diffusion of Montanism.<note place='foot'>Schwane, p. 683.</note> But what through +the loss of records has been mentioned only in +this one case must have taken place generally, +since it is obvious that as soon as erroneous doctrines +spread from one diocese to another, they +would call forth joint action against them. Since +then heresies have been the frequent, almost the +exclusive, cause of councils. The parallel is +fruitful in thought, which is suggested between +the action of error in eliciting the more precise +expression of the truth which it abhors, and its +action in strengthening the governing power of +the body which it assaults. In the one case and +in the other the result is that which it least desires +and intends; heresy, disbelieving and disobeying, +is made to perfect the faith and build up +the hierarchy. +</p> + +<p> +Now to sum up our sketch of the internal +history of the Christian Faith in the seventy-four +years which elapse from the accession of Marcus +<pb n='289'/><anchor id='Pg289'/> +Aurelius to the death of Alexander Severus. At +the first-named date we find that it had spread +beyond the confines of the Roman empire, and +taken incipient possession of all the great centres +of human intercourse by founding its hierarchy +in them. At the second date it has subdued the +powerful and widespread family of heresies which +threatened to distort and corrupt its doctrines, +and has done this by the vigour of its teaching +office, which combined in one expression the yet +fresh apostolic tradition stored up in its churches, +and the doctrine of its sacred scriptures; while it +has well-nigh determined the number and genuineness +of these, severing them off from all other +writings. The episcopate in which its teaching +office resides appears not as a number of bishops, +each independent and severed, and merely governing +his diocese upon a similar rule, but with a +bond recognised among them, the superior principate +of the Roman See. That is, as the teaching +office itself is in them all the voice of living teachers, +so its highest expression is the voice of the +living Peter in his see. And this bond as discerned +and recognised by the Asiatic disciple of S. Polycarp, +the bishop of the chief city of Gaul, is so +strong that he uses for it rather the term denoting +physical necessity than moral fitness:<note place='foot'>Observed by Hagemann, p. 618, referring to the words of S. +Irenæus, <q>ad hanc enim Ecclesiam propter potiorem prinicipalitatem +<emph>necesse est</emph> omnem convenire Ecclesiam,</q> &c. It must be remembered +that the proper word for the power which held together the whole +Roman empire was Principatus, the very word used by S. Augustine to +express the <emph>original</emph> authority of the Roman See: <q>Romanæ Ecclesiæ, +in qua <emph>semper</emph> apostolicæ cathedræ viguit <emph>principatus</emph>.</q> <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> 43.</note> as if he +<pb n='290'/><anchor id='Pg290'/> +would say: As Christ has made the Church, it must +agree from one end to the other in doctrine and +communion with the doctrine and communion of +the Church in which Peter, to whom He has committed +His sheep, speaks and rules. And so powerful +is the derivation of this authority that he who +sits in the place of Mark, whom Peter sent, punishes +by degradation a bishop who disregards his sentence +in the case of a great writer, the brightest +genius of the Church in that day. And when we +look at the spiritual state of the world at the +commencement of the third century, we find that +Christianity, having formed and made its place in +human society, is penetrating through it more and +more in every direction. It is then that we discern +the first beginnings of that great spiritual +creation, in which Reason has been applied to +Faith under the guidance of Authority, which the +Christian Church, alone being in possession of +these three constituents, could alone produce, and +has carried on from that day to this. Alexandria +was at this time the seat of a Jewish religious +philosophy; it had just become the seat likewise +of a heathen religious philosophy; there was +within its church a great catechetical school, in +which the Faith as taught by the apostolical and +ecclesiastical tradition according to the scriptures +<pb n='291'/><anchor id='Pg291'/> +was communicated. It was to be expected that +its teachers, such men as Pantænus, Clement, and +Origen, would be led on from the more elementary +work of imparting the rudiments of the Faith to +the scientific consideration of its deeper mysteries; +and even the sight of what was going on around +them among Jews and Greeks would invite them +to attempt the construction of a Christian religious +philosophy. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover Gnosticism, of which Alexandria was +the chief focus, had raised the question of the unity +and nature of the Godhead, and professed a false +gnosis as the perfection of religion. By this also +thoughtful minds were led to consider the true +relation of knowledge to faith, and hence to attempt +the first rudiments of a Theology, the Science +of Faith. +</p> + +<p> +To refute heathenism both as a Philosophy and +as a Religion, and to set forth Christianity as the +absolute truth, was the very function of such men +as Clement and Origen; and the former in his +work entitled <hi rend='italic'>The Pedagogue</hi> exhibits the conduct +of life according to the principles and doctrines of +Christianity; while his Stromata, or Tapestries, exhibit +the building up of science on the foundation +of faith.<note place='foot'>See Kuhn, <hi rend='italic'>Einleitung in die katholische Dogmatik</hi>, i. 345-6.</note> We can hardly realise now the difficulties +which beset his great pupil Origen, when, +carrying on the master's thought, he endeavoured +to found a theology. The fact that he was among +<pb n='292'/><anchor id='Pg292'/> +the first to venture on such a deep, is the best excuse +that can be made for those speculative errors +into which he fell. +</p> + +<p> +III. And now we turn to the conduct of the +empire towards this religion which has grown up +in its bosom. +</p> + +<p> +At once with the accession of Marcus Aurelius +a temper of greater severity to Christians is shown. +The sort of toleration expressed in the rescript of +Pius to the province of Asia is withdrawn. No +new law about them is enacted, for none is needed, +but the old law is let loose. The almost sublime +clemency of Marcus towards his revolted general +Cassius, his reign of nineteen years unstained with +senatorial blood, and the campaigns prolonged +from year to year of one who loved his philosophic +studies above all things, and yet at the call +of imperial duty gave up night and day to the +rudest toils of a weary conflict with barbarous +tribes on the frontier, have won for him immortal +honour: his regard for his subjects in general has +sometimes given him in Christian estimation the +place of predilection among all princes ancient and +modern.<note place='foot'>Guizot ranks Marcus Aurelius with S. Louis, as the only rulers +who preferred conscience to gain in all their conduct.</note> It is well, then, to consider his bearing +towards Christians. Now among his teachers was +that Junius Rusticus, grandson of the man who +perished for the sake of liberty in Domitian's time, +and in his day no doubt a perfect specimen of the +<pb n='293'/><anchor id='Pg293'/> +Roman gentleman and noble, a blending of all +that was best in Cicero, Lælius, and Cato, whom +Marcus made Prefect of Rome, and to whom when +bearing that office he addressed a rescript containing +the words, <q>to Junius Rusticus, Prefect +of the city, our friend.</q> And what this friend of +Marcus thought on the most important subjects +we may judge from the sentiments of another +friend and fellow-teacher of the emperor, Maximus +of Tyre, who has left written, <q>how God +rules a mighty and stable kingdom having for its +limits not river or lake or shore or ocean, but the +heaven above and the earth beneath, in which He, +impassive as law, bestows on those who obey him +the security of which He is the fountain: and the +gods his children need not images any more than +good men statues. But just as our vocal speech +requires not in itself any particular characters, +yet human weakness has invented the alphabetical +signs whereby to give expression to its remembrance, +so the nature of the gods needs not images, +but man, removed from them as far as heaven +from earth, has devised these signs, by which to +give them names. There may be those strong +enough to do without these helps, but they are +rare, and as schoolmasters guide their scholars to +write by first pencilling letters for them, so legislators +have invented these images as signs of the +divine honour, and helps to human memory. But +God is the father and framer of all things, older +<pb n='294'/><anchor id='Pg294'/> +than heaven, superior to time and all fleeting nature, +legislator ineffable, unexpressed by voice, +unseen by eye; and we who cannot grasp his +essence rest upon words and names, and forms of +gold, ivory, and silver, in our longing to conceive +Him, giving to His nature what is fair among ourselves. +But fix Him only in the mind; I care not +whether the Greek is kindled into remembrance +of Him by the art of Phidias, or the Egyptian by +the worship of animals, that fire is his symbol to +these, and water to those; only let them understand, +let them love, let them remember Him +alone.</q><note place='foot'>Maximus Tyrius, diss. 17, 12; Reiske, and diss, ii. 2. 10.</note> +</p> + +<p> +I doubt not that Junius Rusticus was familiar +with such thoughts as these, and as a matter of +philosophic reflection assented to them. And now +let us study the scene which was enacted in his +presence and by his command.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Acta Martyrum sincera</hi>, Ruinart, p. 58-60.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>At a time when the defenders of idolatry had +proposed edicts in every city and region to compel +Christians to sacrifice, Justin and his companions +were seized and brought before the Prefect +of Rome, Rusticus. When they stood before +his tribunal, the Prefect Rusticus said: Well, be +obedient to the gods and the emperor's edicts. +Justin answered: No man can ever be blamed or +condemned who obeys the precepts of our Saviour +Jesus Christ. Then the Prefect Rusticus asked: In +<pb n='295'/><anchor id='Pg295'/> +what sect's learning or discipline are you versed? +Justin replied: I endeavoured to learn every sort +of sect, and tried every kind of instruction; but at +last I adhered to the Christian discipline, though +that is not acceptable to those who are led by the +error of a false opinion. Rusticus said: Wretch, +is that the sect in which you take delight? Assuredly, +said Justin; since together with a right belief +I follow the example of Christians. What belief +is that, I pray? said the Prefect. Justin replied: +The right belief which we as Christians join with +piety is this, to hold that there is one God, the +Maker and Creator of all things which are seen +and which are not seen by the body's eyes, and +to confess one Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, +foretold of old by the prophets, who will also +come to judge the human race, and who is the +herald of salvation and the teacher of those who +learn of Him well. I indeed as a man am feeble, +and far too little to say anything great of His infinite +Godhead: this I confess to be the office of +prophets, who many ages ago by inspiration foretold +the advent upon earth of the same whom I +have called the Son of God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The Prefect inquired where the Christians +met. Justin answered: Each where he will and +can. Do you suppose that we are accustomed all +to meet in the same place? By no means, since the +God of the Christians is not circumscribed by +place, but being invisible fills heaven and earth, +<pb n='296'/><anchor id='Pg296'/> +and is everywhere adored, and His glory praised +by the faithful. The Prefect said: Come, tell me +where you meet and assemble your disciples. Justin +answered: For myself I have hitherto lodged +near the house of a certain Martin, by the Timiotine +bath. It is the second time I have come to +Rome, and I know no other place than the one +mentioned. And if anyone chose to come to me, +I communicated to him the doctrine of truth. You +are, then, a Christian, said Rusticus. Assuredly, +said Justin, I am.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Then the Prefect asked Charito: Are you too +a Christian? Charito replied: By God's help I +am a Christian. The Prefect asked the woman +Charitana whether she too followed the Faith of +Christ. She replied: I also by the gift of God +am a Christian. Then Rusticus said to Evelpistus: +And who are you? He replied: I am Cæsar's +slave, but a Christian to whom Christ has given +liberty, and by His favour and grace made partaker +of the same hope with those whom you see. +The Prefect then asked Hierax whether he too +was a Christian; and he replied: Certainly I am +a Christian, since I worship and adore the same +God. The Prefect inquired: Was it Justin who +made you Christians? I, said Hierax, both was +and will be a Christian. Pæon likewise stood before +him and said: I too am a Christian. Who +taught you? said the Prefect. He replied: I received +this good confession from my parents. Then +<pb n='297'/><anchor id='Pg297'/> +Evelpistus said: I also was accustomed to hear with +great delight Justin's discourses, but it was from +my parents that I learnt to be a Christian. Then +the Prefect: And where are your parents? In +Cappadocia, said Evelpistus. The Prefect likewise +asked Hierax where his parents were, and Hierax +replied: Our true Father is Christ, and our mother +the Faith, by which we believe on Him. But my +earthly parents are dead. It was, however, from +Iconium in Phrygia that I was brought hither. +The Prefect asked Liberianus whether he too was +a Christian and without piety towards the gods. +He said: I also am a Christian, for I worship and +adore the only true God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Then the Prefect turned to Justin and said: +You fellow, who are said to be eloquent, and think +you hold the true discipline. If you are beaten +from head to foot, is it your persuasion that you +will go up to heaven? Justin answered: I hope +if I suffer what you say, that I shall have what +those have who have kept the commands of Christ. +For I know that to all who live thus the divine +grace is preserved until the whole world have its +consummation. The Prefect Rusticus replied: It +is, then, your opinion that you will go up to heaven +to receive some reward? I do not opine, said +Justin, but I know, and am so certain of this that +I am incapable of doubt. Rusticus said: Let us +come at length to what is before us and urgent. +Agree together and with one mind sacrifice to the +<pb n='298'/><anchor id='Pg298'/> +gods. Justin replied: No one of right mind deserts +piety to fall into error and impiety. The +Prefect Rusticus said: Unless you be willing to +obey our commands, you will suffer torments without +mercy. Justin answered: What we most desire +is to suffer torments for our Lord Jesus Christ +and to be saved: for this will procure for us salvation +and confidence before that terrible tribunal +of the same our Lord and Saviour, at which by +divine command the whole world shall attend. +The same likewise said all the other martyrs, adding: +What thou wilt do, do quickly; for we are +Christians and sacrifice not to idols.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Prefect hearing this pronounced the following +sentence: Let those who have refused to +sacrifice to the gods, and to obey the emperor's +edict, be beaten with rods, and led away to capital +punishment, as the laws enjoin. And so the holy +martyrs praising God were led to the accustomed +place, and after being beaten were struck with the +axe, and consummated their martyrdom in the +confession of the Saviour. After which certain of +the faithful took away their bodies, and laid them +in a suitable place, by the help of the grace of our +Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and +ever.</q> +</p> + +<p> +As the pillars of Trajan and Antonine faithfully +record the deeds of those whose names they +bear, and stand before posterity as a visible history, +so, I conceive, the judgment of Ignatius by +<pb n='299'/><anchor id='Pg299'/> +Trajan, and that of Justin by Rusticus, under the +eye as it were of Marcus Aurelius and in his name, +embody to us perfectly the mind and conduct of +those great emperors towards Christians. The +marble of Phidias could present no more perfect +sculpture, the pencil of Apelles no more breathing +picture, than the simple transcription of the judicial +record given above. In the mind of Marcus +the jealousy of the old Roman for his country's +worship joined with the philosopher's dislike of +Christian principles to move him from that more +equable temper which dictated the later moderation +of his immediate predecessor. It scarcely +needed the spirit which ruled at Rome to kindle +passionate outbreaks against Christians in the various +cities of the empire. We have just seen the +impassive majesty of Roman law declaring at the +chief seat of power that to be a Christian is a capital +crime. If we go at the same time to Smyrna, +there the voices of a furious populace are demanding +that an aged man venerable through the whole +region for his innocent life and his virtues, be cast +to the lions, because he is <q>the teacher of impiety, +the father of the Christians, the destroyer of our +gods, who has instructed many not to sacrifice to +them or adore them.</q> No grander scene among +all the deeds of men is preserved to us, as described +by his own church at the time, than the +martyrdom of Polycarp, as after eighty-six years +of Christian service he stood bound at the stake +<pb n='300'/><anchor id='Pg300'/> +before the raging multitude in the theatre, and +uttered his last prayer: <q>I thank thee, O God +of angels and powers, and all the generation of +the just who live before thee, that thou hast +thought me worthy of this day and hour to receive +a portion in the number of thy martyrs, in +the chalice of thy Christ.</q> Ten years later, in the +great city of Lyons a similar spectacle was offered +on a far larger scale. The Bishop Pothinus, more +than ninety years old, is carried before the tribunal, +<q>the magistrates of the city following him, +and all the multitude pursuing him with cries as +if he were Christ.</q> But the triumph of the bishop +is accompanied by that of many among his flock, +of whom while all were admirable, yet the slave +Blandina, poor and contemptible in appearance, +surpassed the rest. <q>She was exposed to the +beasts raised as it were upon a cross, and so +praying most contentedly to God, she inspired +the utmost ardour in her fellow combatants, who +with the eyes of the body saw in this their sister's +person Him who had been crucified for them in +order to persuade those who should believe in +Him that whoever suffers for the glory of Christ +shall obtain companionship with the living God.</q><note place='foot'>Ruinart, p. 67.</note> +Since the wild beasts refused to touch her, Blandina +and the survivors among her fellow-sufferers +were remanded to prison, in order that the pleasure +of the emperor might be taken, one of them +<pb n='301'/><anchor id='Pg301'/> +being a Roman citizen. For this persecution had +arisen without any command of his, and the punishments +were inflicted in virtue of the ordinary law. +After an interval, as it would seem, of two months, +a rescript was received from Marcus Aurelius which +ordered that those who confessed should be punished +ignominiously, those who denied, be dismissed. +<q>And so at the time of our great fair, +when a vast multitude from the various provinces +flock thither, the governor ordered the most blessed +martyrs to be brought before his tribunal, exhibiting +them to the people as in theatric pomp; and +after a last interrogation those who were Roman +citizens were beheaded, and the rest given to the +wild beasts.</q><note place='foot'>Ruinart, p. 68.</note> But Blandina, after being every +day brought to behold the sufferings of her companions, +<q>the last of all, like a noble mother who +had kindled her children to the combat, and sent +them forward as conquerors to the king,—was +eager to follow them, rejoicing and exulting over +her departure, as if invited to a nuptial banquet, +not cast before wild beasts. At length, after +scourging and tearing and burning, she was put +in a net and exposed to the bull. Tossed again +and again by him, yet feeling now nothing which +was done to her, both from the intensity of hope +with which she grasped the rewards of faith, and +from her intimate intercourse in prayer with Christ, +in the end she had her throat cut, as a victim, while +<pb n='302'/><anchor id='Pg302'/> +the heathen themselves confessed that never had +they seen a woman who had borne so much and +so long.</q><note place='foot'>Ruinart, p. 69.</note> +</p> + +<p> +These three scenes of martyrdom at Rome, at +Smyrna, and at Lyons, will give a notion of the +grounds upon which Eusebius asserts that in the +reign of Marcus Aurelius innumerable martyrs suffered<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> v. i. μυριάδας μαρτύρων διαπρέψαι στοχασμῷ λαβεῖν ἔνεστιν.</note> +throughout the world through popular persecutions. +Respecting the following reign of Commodus +he says, on the contrary, that the Church +enjoyed peace, for while the law which considered +Christianity an illicit religion had not been revoked, +it was made capital to inform against any +one as Christian; and yet if the information took +place, and the crime was proved, the punishment +of death ensued, as in the case of the senator Apollonius +recorded by him.<note place='foot'>Ib, v. 21.</note> This state of things +would seem to have lasted about seventeen years, +until the year 197, when Severus, some time after +his accession, became unfavourable to Christians. +And it brings us to Tertullian, whose writings are +full of testimonies to the sufferings endured by +Christians for their Faith. For some time these +sufferings would seem to fall under the same sort +of intermittent popular persecution, which we have +seen prevailing in the time of Marcus: but in the +year 202 Severus published an edict forbidding +any to become Jews or Christians. And forthwith +<pb n='303'/><anchor id='Pg303'/> +a persecution broke out so severe and terrible, +that many thought the time of Antichrist +was come. It was no longer the mere action of +an original law against all unauthorised religions, +but an assault led on by the emperor himself, who +turned directly the imperial power against Christianity +as a whole. It raged especially at Alexandria, +where the master of the catechetical school +writes: <q>we have before our eyes every day abundant +instances of martyrs, tortured by fire, impaled, +beheaded: they are superior to pleasure; they +conquer suffering; they overcome the world.</q><note place='foot'>Clem. Alex. <hi rend='italic'>Strom.</hi> ii. c. 20, p. 494.</note> +Then it was that Origen, a youth of seventeen, +desired to share the martyrdom of his father +Leonides, and that seven whom he had himself +instructed, gained this crown. Then it +was that the slave Potamiæna, in the bloom of +youth and beauty, not only rejected every blandishment +of corruption, but suffered the extremest +torture of fire to preserve her innocence and faith, +and gained at Alexandria such a name as St. Lawrence +afterwards gained at Rome. So at Carthage +Perpetua and Felicitas, young mothers, with their +companions repeated the example of those whom +we have seen suffering at Lyons; in which city a +second persecution as vehement as the first breaking +out numbered Irenæus with his predecessor +Pothinus, his people in this case as in the other +accompanying the pastor's sacrifice with their own. +</p> + +<pb n='304'/><anchor id='Pg304'/> + +<p> +This state of suffering continued during the life of +Severus for nine years: and splendid examples of +Christian championship were shown in all the +churches.<note place='foot'>Euseb. <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> vi. 1.</note> It is only with the accession of Caracalla +that peace is restored, and then ensues a +period of comparative repose: that is, while the +ordinary law against the Christian Faith as an +illicit religion still continues, it is understood that +the emperor does not wish it to be put in action. +In such intervals that Faith, strengthened by the +conflicts it had undergone, and admired by those +before whose eyes it had enabled its adherents to +brave and endure every sort of suffering, sprung +up and shot out with redoubled vigour, and the +seed which the blood of the martyrs had shed +abroad found time to grow. +</p> + +<p> +The summary of the seventy-four years is this. +From 161 to 180 there are nineteen years of irregular +but severe persecution, followed by seventeen, +from 180 to 197, wherein the denouncing of +Christians is forbidden, though if brought to trial, +they are punishable with death. Five years succeed, +from 197 to 202, in which the favour of Severus +seems lost, and the state of intermittent persecution +takes effect. Then breaks out a general +persecution, set on foot by the emperor himself, +and we may judge if he who slaughtered his senate +spared Christians. This lasts for nine years until +his death in 211, whereon a time of peace returns, +<pb n='305'/><anchor id='Pg305'/> +which is most complete during the reign of Alexander, +but continues more or less from 211 to the +end of his reign in 235. +</p> + +<p> +On a review of the whole period it is evident +that the Church has passed from its state of concealment +into almost full light. The fiery trial +which it met at the beginning of the third century +from the hand of Severus is the best proof that can +be given how greatly it had increased, how it could +no longer be ignored or despised; how its organisation +which was hidden from Trajan was at least +partially revealed to Severus, and how he saw and +attempted to meet the danger which the earlier +emperor would have tried to stamp out, had he +divined it. But it is evident also that in proportion +as the Christian Faith had grown, the heathen +empire had been shaken in its foundations. Its +period of just government was over; its imperial +power was to fall henceforth into the hands of adventurers, +with whom it would be more and more +the symbol of force alone, and not of law: henceforth +they would seldom even in blood be Roman, +and more seldom still in principles. Marcus was +well nigh the last zealot for the Jupiter of the +Capitol: within a generation after him Heliogabalus +will think of a fusion of all religions in his god the +sun, and Alexander Severus of a religious syncretism +wherein Orpheus, Abraham, and Christ +testify together to the divine unity.<note place='foot'>Champagny, <hi rend='italic'>les Antonins</hi>, iii. 326, 338.</note> Nor is this +<pb n='306'/><anchor id='Pg306'/> +a fancy of the prince alone. All the thinking minds +of his time have become ashamed of Olympus and +its gods. The cross has wounded them to death. +A new philosophy—the last fortress into which retreating +heathenism throws itself—while it breaks +up Roman life, prepares the way for the Christian +Faith which it strenuously combats. The Emperor +Severus, fixing the eye of a statesman and a soldier +on that Faith, contemplates its grasp upon society, +and decrees from the height of the throne a general +assault upon it; while his wife encourages a +writer<note place='foot'>Philostratus in his <hi rend='italic'>Life of Apollonius of Tyana</hi>, written at the request +of the empress Julia Domna. See Kellner, <hi rend='italic'>Hellenismus und Christenthum</hi>, +c. v. s. 4, 81-4.</note> to draw an ideal heathen portrait as a +counterpart to the character of Christ, tacitly subtracting +from the gospels an imitation which is to +supply the place of the reality. The time was not +far distant when Origen would already discern and +prophesy the complete triumph of the religion thus +assailed; and if Celsus had objected, that were all +to do as Christians did, the emperor would be deserted, +and his power fall into the hands of the +most savage and lawless barbarians, would reply: +<q>If all did as I do, men would honour the emperor +as a divine command, and the barbarians drawing +nigh to the word of God would become most law-loving +and most civilised; their worship would be +dissolved, and that of the Christians alone prevail, +as one day it will alone prevail, by means +<pb n='307'/><anchor id='Pg307'/> +of that Word gathering to itself more and more +souls.</q><note place='foot'>Orig. <hi rend='italic'>c. Cels.</hi> viii. 68, tom. i. p. 793.</note> +</p> + +<p> +But before such a goal be reached, many a +martyr's crown has yet to be won, and more +than barbarian lawlessness and cruelty have to +be overcome. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='308'/><anchor id='Pg308'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter XII. The Third Age Of The Martyr Church.</head> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>Rex pacificus magnificatus est, cujus vultum desiderat universa terra.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +The third century is that during which the Christian +Church was making its way into every relation +of life, and taking possession of human society. +During this period it advances into full light, and +becomes a manifest power. In the second century +Celsus had attacked it as disclosed only to the +yearning hearts of slaves, and fostered by the devotion +of the weaker sex. At the distance of three +generations Origen answered him, but the religion +which he defended already stood avowed alike before +the inquiring gaze of philosophers, the corrupt +crowds of cities, and the jealous fear of rulers. +Even in Rome, the sceptered head of idolatry, +whose nobles the great political traditions of their +city, and whose populace their sensual life, having +its root in a false worship, made the most difficult +to convert, the hated faith is known to have had +public churches by the time of Alexander Severus, +two hundred years after its first rise.<note place='foot'>Churches in private houses, under cover of that great liberty which +invested with a sort of sacred independence the Roman household, it had +from the beginning: the church of S. Pudentiana in the house of the +senator Pudens still guards the altar on which S. Peter offered.</note> And much +<pb n='309'/><anchor id='Pg309'/> +more everywhere else it had planted its foot openly +on the soil of the empire. It is time, then, to view +the Church as an institution offering the strongest +contrast to the empire itself, to the barbarism +which surrounded the empire, and to the sectarianism +which was everywhere aspiring to counter-work +and supplant that entire body of truth on +some portion of which nevertheless it was all the +time feeding. +</p> + +<p> +1. And first the empire during this century +presents itself to us in a most unwonted aspect. +</p> + +<p> +Septimius Severus having destroyed the rivals +who competed with him for what was now become +the great object of a successful general's ambition, +based his power avowedly on the sword. The +secret of empire which he transmitted to his children +was to foster and indulge the army, and to +disregard all else. The senate, the representative +of legal power, he despised and decimated. He +died in 211, not before his eldest son had already +lifted his hand against him, and the four princes +of his house all perished by the sword, one by the +hand of a brother, the other three by revolted soldiers. +In the seventy-three years which elapse +from his death to the accession of Diocletian +twenty-five emperors are acknowledged at Rome, +of whom twenty-three come to an end by violent +deaths, almost always by insurrections of soldiers, +under instigation of ambitious officers. Besides +these, eight associates of the empire, and nineteen +<pb n='310'/><anchor id='Pg310'/> +generals who during the reign of Gallienus assume +the purple in various provinces, are all slain. +During eighty-two years Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus, +and Marcus, all at a mature time of life, +adopted by the actual ruler to succeed, had governed +a stable empire: but now it passes within +a shorter period of time, the term of a single human +life, nay a term in one case embraced by a single +reign,<note place='foot'>The reign of Louis XIV.</note> into twenty-five different hands. And indeed +it seemed after the capture of the Emperor +Valerian by the Persians, as if that great confederacy, +which had just celebrated the thousandth +anniversary of the imperial city's foundation, was +about to break up and be resolved into its component +parts. At one moment two great princesses, +Victoria and Zenobia, worthy even by the +avowal of Romans to wear the Roman diadem, +were on the point of establishing the one an empire +of the Gauls in the West, the other an empire +of the East embracing just those countries which +Antony had ruled with Cleopatra at his side. A +succession of great generals, all from the province +of Illyricum, at last saves the empire and reasserts +its unity. But the forty-nine years following the +murder of Alexander Severus are filled by the +struggles of twenty sovereigns and nineteen pretenders +to sovereignty, scarcely any of whom reign +so much as five years. Many of them are rulers +of great ability and remarkable energy. Claudius, +<pb n='311'/><anchor id='Pg311'/> +Aurelian, Probus, and Carus, and perhaps Decius, +required but happier circumstances to be emperors +whose fame would have matched that of Trajan or +Hadrian: but their short tenure of power, occupied +with the vast effort to restore unity and beat +back the barbarian, prevented their doing more +than preserve the imperial power and the empire +itself. This whole time, then, in civil society was +one of fluctuation, anxiety, disaster, alarms from +beyond the frontiers and anarchy within them. +The Roman peace seemed departing, and the majesty +of the empire irreparably violated. Men +could not tell what the morrow would bring forth. +The fairest cities of the Roman world, Alexandria +and Antioch, narrowly escaped perishing through +internal discord or hostile surprise. Greece and +Asia Minor, after reposing for centuries under the +safeguard of the Roman name, found themselves +swept through and desolated by barbarian hordes. +Italy itself was in imminent danger of the same +lot. Towards the end of this period the senate +by the election of Tacitus seems to make what +may be termed its final effort to assert itself as +the depository of legitimate power, the representative +of civil society: and this time of confusion +issues in a rejection of any such claim, and the +establishment of unlimited despotism in the empire +as reconstituted by Diocletian. To these straits, +then, the first great and haughty enemy of the +Christian Church was reduced, so that the power +<pb n='312'/><anchor id='Pg312'/> +which a century before could look down with +proud indifference on the sufferings of Christians +now seemed to tremble for its own existence. And +in such a condition of human society the great advance +of the Church was carried on. +</p> + +<p> +2. But beyond the empire to the north, advancing +upon it like the multitudinous waves of +the ocean on an exposed coast, lay the ever-battling +legions of the northern tribes in their three +great divisions of the Teutonic, Slavic, and Finnish +races. If Roman society suffered throes of distress, +its condition was peace compared with the +instability which may be said to have been the +very life of these tribes. Once at least in every +century they gather themselves up for a concentrated +effort against the empire whose rich civilisation +lies stretched out before them as a continual +prey. After the failure of Arminius to construct +a German kingdom, and of Marobod to construct +a Suevian, in the time of Augustus, Decebalus, in +the time of Trajan, makes another effort in behalf +of his Dacians. But here the great Roman general +forces barbarism to retreat, and plants a fresh +citadel in its very stronghold by establishing a +province north of the Danube. Then there is +comparative tranquillity for sixty years. It seems +as if these two generations were offered by divine +Providence to the empire yet in its unbroken +strength as a time for its pacific conversion, which +if it had accepted, the eruption of the northern +<pb n='313'/><anchor id='Pg313'/> +nations might for ever have been kept back by +the unity which religious conviction would have +bestowed on civilisation, and the fresh and living +force which it would have imparted to society not +yet exhausted by despotic power. But with Marcus +Aurelius the empire turns definitively away. +A new religious revolution under Odin in Scandinavia +had wakened up with redoubled force the +destroying energy of barbarism. The Goths had +migrated from Sweden to the Black Sea; all the +tribes in the interval had been displaced and +dashed upon each other by this removal. The +war of the Marcomans occupied during eighteen +years, from 162 to 180, the whole forces of the +empire; Rome was obliged even to arm its slaves, +and Italy feared an invasion more terrible than +that of the Cimbri, which it cost Marcus Aurelius +his life to avert. +</p> + +<p> +Again, during the captivity of Valerian, another +grand assault of the northern tribes takes +place. The Franks attack western, the Alamans +eastern Gaul; they pass the Alps and advance to +Ravenna, while Alamans and Sarmatians throw +themselves upon Pannonia, and the Goths seize +upon Thrace and Greece. The emperors Claudius, +Aurelian, and Probus are the saviours of Rome +from this new flood. Of the last of these it is +recorded that he dealt successively with Franks, +Burgundians, Alamans, Vandals, the Bastarnæ, +and the whole barbarian brood: and seventy cities +<pb n='314'/><anchor id='Pg314'/> +raised from their ruins, and fortifications repaired +upon a line of fifteen hundred miles, were the +fruits of his victories.<note place='foot'>Am. Thierry, <hi rend='italic'>Tableau de l'Empire Romain</hi>, p. 412.</note> +</p> + +<p> +So much for the north: while on the east the +Persian empire, hereditary foe of the Roman name, +had found a new and more vigorous master in the +race of the Sassanidæ, who took the religion of +Zoroaster to reanimate the national spirit. Ardeschir +claimed once more the whole realm which +Cyrus and Darius had ruled. Henceforth the Romans +had a neighbour more than ever threatening +their eastern frontier, and never to be wholly subdued, +until the empire of Mohammed arose to detach +a great part of their dominion, and to move +with redoubled force upon what remained. +</p> + +<p> +To the south of the Roman provinces in Africa +were tribes at least as savage as those of the north. +Thus the whole empire was enringed with enemies: +on the east an opposing civilisation and +religion; on the north and south barbarian tribes +in perpetual confusion and conflict with each other. +Such was the great realm of disorder which surged +and heaved to the north and south of the empire; +and such the second great enemy which in future +times was to occupy the Christian Church, and +at present offered the strongest contrast to that +moral polity of peace and goodwill, of loyal submission, +patient endurance, and heroic fortitude, +which was spreading daily in the empire. +</p> + +<pb n='315'/><anchor id='Pg315'/> + +<p> +3. But there was yet another enemy within the +empire itself, which from the beginning tracked +the footsteps of the Church, grew with its increase, +and everywhere attempted to dissolve its organisation +and weaken its influence. The whole second +century is occupied with the rise and tangled +growth of the Gnostic sects. But these were not +alone. From the very time of the Apostles we find +the evidence of a number of sects, rising and falling, +preying on and devouring each other, none +without some portion of Christian truth, on which +it feeds, blended with Jewish, Greek, Oriental, +Egyptian, Libyan notions, prejudices, and errors; +domiciled in various parts of the empire in accordance +with the national or local character which +they represent. They reproduce with a Christian +colour the sects and the sect-life of the Greek +schools of philosophy. As the wheat has its proper +weed, which springs up in the midst of it and +counterfeits it, so error, everywhere gathering round +some portion of truth, forms itself into an antagonistic +life. The force and truth of the Christian +Church were shown not in the absence of these +rivals, but in its triumph over their variety, in its +remaining one whilst they diverged endlessly from +that unchanging original type, in its continuous +and uniform growth whilst they rose and fell, +domineered in certain times and places, and then +disappeared. In this its course the Church had +to master very great difficulties, which were inherent +<pb n='316'/><anchor id='Pg316'/> +in the manner of its rise. It had to remain +one society in spite of the isolation and +self-government of its local portions. It possessed +in each place but a feeble minority of members +compared with the mass of unbelievers. Against +its assimilating power was ranged the force of +national feelings which underlay the Roman authority +throughout the whole empire. It had to +deal entirely by moral means with the full liberty +of error to which its adherents were exposed. +Lastly, it had to do all this amid the continual +strain of threatened or actual persecution, a state +which at its best was one of insecurity, and which +any local trouble, the ill-will of a mob, the greed +or ambition or fear of provincial rulers, not to +speak of the imperial state-policy, might turn into +the pressure of severe suffering. +</p> + +<p> +In the face of such difficulties, if the Christian +Church continued one in its doctrine, organisation, +and manner of life, such unity was assuredly the +proof of a divine power residing it. +</p> + +<p> +I shall now proceed to show by the testimony +of eye-witnesses that such unity was its distinguishing +characteristic. +</p> + +<p> +Now there was not a race or a religion in all +this Roman empire, endless as the races and religions +comprehended in it were, out of which individuals +were not drawn into the bosom of the one +great Christian society; and yet within this there +was a perfect union of all hearts and minds in the +<pb n='317'/><anchor id='Pg317'/> +conviction that the multitude so collected was one +people apart from all other peoples. And this conviction +is itself the great marvel. How was it +wrought? For it was an utterly new thing upon +the earth. The union of race, language, and locality, +with which sameness of religion was usually +interwoven, had been hitherto the bond of such +nations as had as yet existed. The great city itself +had sprung up and flourished by the strict union +of these four things. After its career of foreign +conquest had substituted for the government of +a city the great Roman confederation, it had indeed, +like the preceding world-empires, in fact +disregarded all these, being supported by a force +independent of them all. But that force was material +power. The great statue was of iron. It +was a novelty unheard of as yet among the gentiles +and unimagined by poet or philosopher, to +create a polity which, disregarding sameness of +race, of language, and of locality, should exist and +maintain itself throughout the whole earth solely +by the force of faith and charity. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the idea of Christians about themselves +from the beginning. The idea preceded the +fact. The prophets foretold it; the Apostles proclaimed +it:<note place='foot'>Zach. ii. 11, Is. ii. 2, Mich. iv. 1, compared with Titus ii. 14 and +1 Pet. ii. 9.</note> let us observe the fulfilment of the +prophecy and the proclamation. We will take our +stand in the middle of the third century, when +<pb n='318'/><anchor id='Pg318'/> +seven full generations have passed since the day of +Pentecost. In this time a people has been formed. +Already a hundred and fifty years before an eyewitness +among themselves had observed the nature +of this people. <q>Christians are not distinguished +from other men either by country, or by +language, or by customs: for they have no cities +peculiar to themselves, nor any language different +from others, nor singularity in their mode of life.... +But they dwell both in Greek and in barbarous +cities, as the lot of each may be, following +local customs as to raiment and food, and the rest +of their life, but exhibiting withal a polity of their +own, marvellous and truly incredible. They dwell +in their own country, but it is as sojourners; they +share in everything as citizens, yet suffer everything +as strangers. Every foreign land is to them +a country, and every country a foreign land.... +In a word, what the soul is in the body, that Christians +are in the world. The soul is diffused through +all the limbs of the body, and Christians through +all the cities of the world.... The soul is shut +within the body, of which it is the bond, and +Christians are like a garrison in the world, which +they hold together.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep. ad Diognetum</hi>, 5, 6.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Here a writer, calling himself a disciple of +Apostles, describes to us, at the beginning of the +second century, what the apostolic age of seventy +years had wrought. He puts his finger just upon +<pb n='319'/><anchor id='Pg319'/> +the marvel which we are contemplating. Fifty +years later, at the moment the empire was culminating +under the serene rule of Antoninus, a +convert from heathenism, a philosopher who had +spent his life in examining all the sects and races +of the empire, and who afterwards became a martyr, +said of Christians that being <q>quarried out +of the side of Christ, they were the true Israelitic +race,</q> <q>altogether being called the body, for both +people and church, being many in number, are +called by one name as one thing;</q> they are in +fact <q>as one man before the Maker of all things, +through the name of His first-born Son,</q> the High-priest +gathering up first in the prophetical vision +and then in the real fact <q>the true high-priestly +race</q><note place='foot'>S. Justin Martyr, <hi rend='italic'>Tryphon</hi>, sec. 135, 42, 116; where he refers to and +explains the vision of the high-priest Jesus in the prophet Zacharias +iii. 1.</note> in His own Person. Thus Justin pointed +out this conception of the Christian people to the +Jew of his time as both foretold in prophecy and +exhibited in fact. The longer that such a people +as this endured, the greater would be the marvel. +</p> + +<p> +A hundred years after this, Origen uses the +same language and points to the same marvel. +He had in the year 249, at the entreaty of a friend +and pupil, set himself in the maturity of life, and +of a renown which filled the Church as no man's +before had filled it, to answer the attack of a heathen +philosopher, Celsus, upon Christianity. He +<pb n='320'/><anchor id='Pg320'/> +was writing just at the end of the longest period +of peace which is found during those three centuries. +From the death of the Emperor Septimius +Severus in 211 to that of the Emperor Philip in +this year 249, there had been, with the exception +of a short attack from Maximin, to which his death +put a stop, no general persecution of Christians. +Thus thirty-eight years had passed of such tranquillity +as it was ever in those times the lot of +Christians to obtain. The mother of one emperor +had been Origen's disciple, and the emperor actually +reigning was a Christian, however unworthy +of such a profession. Now in this work Origen +speaks of the superiority of the Christian churches +in each several place, as, for instance, at Athens, +Corinth, Alexandria, to the heathen assemblies, +and of the Christian rulers to the heathen. He +puts it as a mark of divine power that God sending +His Son, <q>a God come in human soul and body,</q><note place='foot'>ὡς υἱὸν Θεοῦ, Θεὸν ἐληλυθότα ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῃ ψυχῇ καὶ σώματι. <hi rend='italic'>Cont. Cels.</hi> +iii. 29.</note> +should have established everywhere churches offering +the contrast of their polity to the assemblies of +the superstitious, the impure, and the unjust. He +considers that Christians do a greater benefit to +their country than all other men by teaching them +piety to the one God, and <q>gathering up into a +certain divine and heavenly city those who have +lived well in the smallest cities.</q><note place='foot'>Ibid. viii. 74.</note> <q>We,</q> he says, +<q>knowing that there is in each city another fabric +<pb n='321'/><anchor id='Pg321'/> +of a country, founded by the word of God, call +those who are powerful in word and of a virtuous +life to the government of churches: we do not +accept the covetous to such a place, but force it +against their will upon those who in their moderation +would decline taking on them this general +care of the Church of God.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Cont. Cels.</hi> viii. 75.</note> And the compulsion +thus exercised is that <q>of the great King, whom +we are persuaded to be the Son of God, God the +Word.</q> But this other form of country which he +saw in each city is <q>the whole Church of God, +which the divine scriptures assert to be the Body +of Christ, animated by the Son of God, while the +limbs of this Body are particular believers; for as +the soul quickens and moves the body, whose nature +it is not to have the movement of life from +itself, so the Word moving to what is fitting, and +energising in the whole Body, the Church, moves +likewise each member of it, who does nothing +without the Word.</q><note place='foot'>Ibid. vi. 48, p. 670.</note> And he completes this view +in another beautiful passage wherein he describes +Christ as the high-priest Aaron, who has received +upon his single body the whole chrism, from whom +it flows down upon his beard, the symbol of the +complete man, and on to the utmost skirt of his +raiment. Every one who partakes of Him, partakes +likewise of his chrism, because Christ is the +head of the Church, and the Church and Christ +<pb n='322'/><anchor id='Pg322'/> +one Body.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Cont. Cels.</hi> vi. 79, p. 692.</note> We have here in Origen's thought +one and the same divine power, proceeding forth +from the Incarnation, which forms first the Body +of the Lord, and then gathers into this Body every +individual as a copy of the Christ. The heathen +scoffer had objected: why send forth one spirit +into one corner of the earth? It was needed to +breathe that spirit into many bodies, and to send +them forth into all the world. Nay, replied Origen, +<q>the whole Church of God—animated by the Son +of God as the soul quickens and moves the body—was +enough. It needed not that there should be +many bodies and many souls, like that of Jesus, in +the way you suppose, for the one Word as the sun +of righteousness rising from Judea was sufficient +to send forth rays that should reach every soul that +would receive him.</q> He has done far more than +you suggest: every member of that one Body has +received according to his measure a due portion of +anointment: after the model of the Christ, they +too are Christs; <q>so that beginning in the body +He should dawn in power and in spirit upon the +universe of souls which would no longer be destitute +of God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +In Origen's mind, then, the greatness of the +King lies specifically in this, that out of confusion +He draws unity, out of those who were no people +He forms a people, out of nations and tribes at +enmity He moulds an indivisible kingdom, and +<pb n='323'/><anchor id='Pg323'/> +from His own Body a Body which shall embrace a +universe of souls, instinct with one life, and that +His own. This was Origen's view of the work +and triumph of Christ, as he saw it before him, at +the eve of the great Decian persecution in 249. +</p> + +<p> +Origen was writing this at a moment of great +interest. It was the last year which preceded +those two generations, in the course of which five +great persecutions should be directed by the emperors +against the Church. He was then a man +of sixty-four. The son of a martyr, he had when +a youth of eighteen beheld his father imprisoned +for the faith, and had encouraged him to suffer the +loss of all his goods, and death itself, without regarding +that large family which must be left in +penury, of whom Origen was the eldest. He was +burning himself to share his father's sufferings. +In the persecution of which this was the opening +Eusebius tells us that seven of his disciples were +martyrs: and, lastly, he was to undergo such cruelties +himself in the persecution of Decius, then on +the eve of breaking out, that he is believed to have +died of their results. Now it is in this work that +he speaks of the remarkable providence of God in +preserving Christians, who by their religion were +bound not to defend themselves, against the attacks +of their enemies, for God, he says, had fought for +them, and from time to time had stopped those +who had risen up with the purpose of destroying +them. Few and easily numbered were those who +<pb n='324'/><anchor id='Pg324'/> +hitherto had suffered death for the Christian Faith, +samples chosen by God as champions to encourage +the rest, while He prevented their whole nation +from being rooted out: for it was His purpose +that this nation should be firmly rooted and consolidated, +and the whole world be filled with its +saving doctrine and discipline.<note place='foot'>Κωλύοντος τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ πᾶν ἐκπολεμηθῆναι αὐτῶν ἔθνος; συστῆναι γὰρ αὐτὸ +ἐβούλετο καὶ πληρωθῆναι πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν τῆς σωτηρίου ταύτης καὶ εὐσεβεστάτης +διδασκαλίας. <hi rend='italic'>Cont. Cels.</hi> iii. 8. It must be remembered that Celsus in the +passage to which this is an answer had asserted that the Christians had +arisen out of the Jews through a sedition; which makes the train of +thought pertinent. For Origen is contrasting the losses which occur +through exterminating wars, such as a sedition, or civil war, excites, +with the losses to the Christian body through martyrdom. The comparison +therefore lies between the whole number of Christians viewed +<foreign rend='italic'>en masse</foreign> and the martyrs. Lasaulx remarks that this was written before +the Decian persecution.</note> Thus it was by +His will alone that He scattered every plot directed +against them, so that neither emperors, nor local +governors, nor the people should be able to indulge +their wrath beyond a certain point. Origen, +when he thus wrote, could look back on a period +of thirty-eight years, during which, with the exception +of the severe but passing storm raised by +the Emperor Maximin, peace had reigned: years +which he had himself employed in unwearied labours +of teaching, writing, and converting; in +which he had directed and advised an emperor's +mother, and seen a Christian emperor; in which +he had witnessed a wonderful increase of the Christian +people, and indeed of this increase his words +above cited convey a faithful picture. He knew +<pb n='325'/><anchor id='Pg325'/> +not the fearful trials which were to be encountered +before that triumph of the truth which he already +anticipated should be attained: or that God was +about to accept from the grayhaired man the sacrifice +which the impetuous youth had affronted without +success. For scarcely has he written this book +when he has to fly for his life before the edict of +Decius, who will attempt to destroy the Christian +religion, and to whose anger Pope S. Fabian falls +a victim. Amid great peril after long delay the +next Pope Cornelius is chosen. And now for the +first time a new danger from within assaults the +Church. Novatian, a Roman presbyter of great +repute, attempts after the due election and consecration +of Cornelius to usurp his place, and to +divide the one flock of Christ. Under circumstances +so wholly altered from those in which +Origen above was writing, we come to our next +witness, the man in all the Western Church the +most renowned, as Origen was in the Eastern. +</p> + +<p> +For it was on occasion of the first antipope, an +effort, that is, within the See of Peter itself to arm +the episcopal power at its very source against itself, +to set an altar up against the legitimate altar, and +to divide the sacraments of the Church from the +Bride whose dowry they are, that S. Cyprian +wrote his treatise on the Unity of the Church. +<q>It was for the purpose of reminding his brethren +that unity is the first element of the Christian +state, and that those who break off from the +<pb n='326'/><anchor id='Pg326'/> +principle of unity, which is lodged in the episcopate, +even though they be confessors and martyrs, +have no portion in the hopes of the gospel.</q><note place='foot'>Preface to the Oxford edition of S. Cyprian's treatise on the Unity +of the Church.</note> +This definite purpose, so unlike that state of leisure +and tranquillity in which Origen answered +by thought and learning a speculative attack, will +account for the very remarkable precision and force +of S. Cyprian's language. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The enemy,</q> he says, <q>detected and down-fallen +by the advent of Christ, now that light is +come to the nations—seeing his idols left—has +made heresies and schisms, wherewith to subvert +faith, to corrupt truth, and to rend unity.</q> But +this will all be in vain if men will look to the +Head, and keep to the doctrine of the Master. For +the truth may be quickly stated.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Unitate</hi>, iii. &c.</note> <q rend='pre'>The Lord +saith unto Peter: I say unto thee that thou art +Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, +and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. +And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom +of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind +on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever +thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in +heaven. To him again, after His resurrection, +He says: Feed my sheep. Upon him, being one, +He builds His Church; and though He gives to +all the Apostles an equal power, and says: As my +Father sent Me, even so send I you; receive ye +<pb n='327'/><anchor id='Pg327'/> +the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they +shall be remitted to him, and whosesoever sins ye +retain, they shall be retained;—yet in order to +manifest unity, He has by His own authority so +placed the source of the same unity as to begin +from one. Certainly the other Apostles also were +what Peter was, endued with an equal fellowship +both of honour and power; but a commencement +is made from unity, that the Church may be set +before us as one: which one Church in the Canticle +of Canticles doth the Holy Spirit design and +name in the Person of our Lord: My dove, my +spotless one is but one; she is the only one of her +mother, elect of her that bare her.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>He who holds not this unity of the Church, +does he think that he holds the faith? He who +strives against and resists the Church, is he assured +that he is in the Church? For the blessed +Apostle Paul teaches this same thing, and manifests +the sacrament of unity thus speaking: There +is one Body and one Spirit, even as ye are called +in one Hope of your calling; one Lord, one Faith, +one Baptism, one God. This unity firmly should +we hold and maintain, especially we bishops, presiding +in the Church, in order that we may approve +the Episcopate itself to be one and undivided. +Let no one deceive the brotherhood by +falsehood; no one corrupt the truth of our faith +by a faithless treachery. The Episcopate is one, +of which a part is held by each without division +<pb n='328'/><anchor id='Pg328'/> +of the whole. The Church is likewise one, though +she be spread abroad, and multiplies with the increase +of her progeny: even as the sun has rays +many, yet one light, and the tree boughs many, yet +its strength is one, seated in the deep-lodged root; +and as, when many streams flow down from one +source, though a multiplicity of waters seems to +be diffused from the bountifulness of the overflowing +abundance, unity is preserved in the source +itself. Part a ray of the sun from its orb, and its +unity forbids this division of light; break a branch +from the tree, once broken it can bud no more; +cut the stream from its fountain, the remnant will +be dried up. Thus the Church, flooded with the +light of the Lord, puts forth her rays through the +whole world, with yet one light, which is spread +upon all places, while its unity of body is not infringed. +She stretches forth her branches over +the universal earth, in the riches of plenty, and +pours abroad her bountiful and onward streams; +yet is there one head, one source, one mother, +abundant in the results of her fruitfulness.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>It is of her womb that we are born; our +nourishing is from her milk, our quickening from +her breath. The Spouse of Christ cannot become +adulterate; she is undefiled and chaste; owning +but one home, and guarding with virtuous modesty +the sanctity of one chamber. She it is who keeps +us for God, and appoints unto the kingdom the +sons she has borne. Whosoever parts company +<pb n='329'/><anchor id='Pg329'/> +with the Church and joins himself to an adulteress, +is estranged from the promises of the Church. He +who leaves the Church of Christ, attains not to +Christ's rewards. He is an alien, an outcast, an +enemy. He can no longer have God for a Father +who has not the Church for a mother. If any +man was able to escape who remained without the +ark of Noah, then will that man escape who is out +of doors beyond the Church. The Lord warns us +and says: He who is not with Me is against Me, +and he who gathereth not with Me, scattereth. +He who breaks the peace and concord of Christ, +sets himself against Christ. He who gathers elsewhere +but in the Church, scatters the Church of +Christ. The Lord says: I and the Father are one; +and again of the Father, the Son, and the Holy +Ghost it is written: And these three are one. And +does anyone think that oneness, thus proceeding +from the divine immutability, and cohering in heavenly +sacraments, admits of being sundered in the +Church, and split by the divorce of antagonist +wills? He who holds not this unity holds not the +law of God, holds not the faith of Father and Son, +holds not the truth unto salvation.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>This sacrament of unity, this bond of concord +inseparably cohering, is signified in the place in +the Gospel where the coat of our Lord Jesus +Christ is in nowise parted or cut, but is received +a whole garment, by them who cast lots who +should rather wear it, and is possessed as an inviolate +<pb n='330'/><anchor id='Pg330'/> +and individual robe. The divine scripture +thus speaks: But for the coat, because it was not +sewed, but woven from the top throughout, they +said one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast +lots whose it shall be. It has with it a unity descending +from above, as coming, that is, from heaven +and from the Father; which it was not for the +receiver and owner in anywise to sunder, but which +he received once for all and indivisibly as one unbroken +whole. He cannot own Christ's garment +who splits and divides Christ's Church. On the +other hand, when on Solomon's death his kingdom +and people were split in parts, Ahijah the prophet, +meeting King Jeroboam in the field, rent his garment +into twelve pieces, saying: Take thee ten +pieces; for thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will +rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, +and will give ten tribes to thee; and two tribes +shall be to him for my servant David's sake, and +for Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen, to +place my name there. When the twelve tribes +of Israel were torn asunder, the prophet Ahijah +rent his garment. But because Christ's people +cannot be rent, His coat, woven and conjoined +throughout, was not divided by those to whom +it fell. Individual, conjoined, coentwined, it +shows the coherent concord of our people who +put on Christ. In the sacrament and sign of +His garment, He has declared the unity of His +Church.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='331'/><anchor id='Pg331'/> + +<p> +<q>Who, then, is the criminal and traitor, who so +inflamed by the madness of discord, as to think +aught can rend, or to venture on rending God's +unity, the Lord's garment, Christ's Church? He +Himself warns us in His Gospel and teaches, saying: +And there shall be one Fold and one Shepherd.... +Think you that any can stand and live +who withdraws from the Church, and forms for +himself new homes and different domiciles?... Believers +have no house but the Church only. This +house, this hostelry of unanimity, the Holy Spirit +designs and betokens in the Psalms, thus speaking: +God who makes men to dwell with one mind in a +house. In the house of God, in the Church of +Christ, men dwell with one mind, and persevere +in concord and simplicity.</q> To this he adds: +<q>There is one God, and one Christ, and His +Church one, and the Faith one, and one the +people joined into the solid unity of a body by +the cement of concord. Unity cannot be sundered, +nor can one body be divided by a dissolution of +its structure, nor be severed into pieces with torn +and lacerated vitals. Parted from the womb nothing +can live and breathe in its separated state: +it loses its principle of health;</q> for <q>charity will +ever exist in the kingdom; she will abide evermore +in the unity of a brotherhood which entwines +itself around her.</q> +</p> + +<p> +And he is more specific still; for this <q>one +Church is founded by the Lord Christ upon Peter, +<pb n='332'/><anchor id='Pg332'/> +having its source and its principle in unity,</q> <q>on +whose person He built the Church, and in whom +He began and exhibited the source of unity.</q><note place='foot'>Epist. 70 and 73.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Certainly if any idea has ever been put forth +clearly and definitely, it would seem to be the +idea of organic unity here delineated by Cyprian, +as necessary not merely to the well-being but to +the essence of the Church. Nor does one see +what words he could have found more expressly +to reject the notion that the individual bishop in +his diocese was the unit on the aggregation of +which the Church was built, and to assert in contradiction +that the Church was built on the Primacy +of Peter as its generative, formative, controlling, +and unifying power. According to him the +whole order and government of the Church are +bound up in the Lord's words to Peter: while +as to the Church herself three ideas are in his +mind so compacted together, so running into and +pervading each other, that they cannot be severed; +and these ideas are Unity, Grace, and Truth. The +symbols of the Sun, the Tree, and the Fountain, +the Lord's Coat, the one Flock tethered in one +Fold under one Shepherd, the one House as opposed +to sundry self-chosen domiciles, the Mother +embracing her whole progeny in her womb, illustrate +and enforce each other, and all contain the +three ideas, of which Grace and Truth are as the +warp and woof in which the substance of the +<pb n='333'/><anchor id='Pg333'/> +one web consists. For Unity, Truth, and Grace, +viewed as attributes of the Church, are blended +together in the light and warmth of the sun, in +the sap which vivifies every branch of the tree, +and gives it fruitfulness from the root, in the fountain +of water, under which image our Lord has so +often summed up His whole gift to man, in the +flock which the Shepherd has chosen, and for +which He cares, in the house where the master +dwells and collects his family, in the one robe +which encompassed and contained the virtue of +the Wearer, in the prolific womb which gives +birth to the whole sacred race. The force of +all these images lies in their unicity: plurality +would not modify, but destroy them. Yet even +these symbols are surpassed by that argument +from the divine Unity which he sets forth as the +type and cause of the Church's unity. From +created likenesses—the fairest and choicest which +the world presents—he passes to the uncreated +nature, and from the divine immutability, wherewith +these three, the Father, the Son, and the +Holy Ghost, the divine Exemplar of Unity, Truth, +and Grace, are one, deduces the Unity of the +Church their dwelling-place. +</p> + +<p> +Cyprian, then, cannot sever the Church of his +heart, the Church for which he lived and died, +from Unity, or from Truth, or from Grace: and +this Church is to him founded on the Primacy of +Peter, and developed from his person. The one +<pb n='334'/><anchor id='Pg334'/> +Episcopate, whose golden chain he looks upon as +surrounding the earth in its embrace, <q>of which a +part is held by each without division of the whole,</q> +wherein therefore joint possession is dependent on +unity, would have no existence without the bond +of the Primacy, from which it was developed and +which keeps it one. Take away this, and the office +of each bishop is crystallised into a separate +mass, having no coherence or impact with its like: +bishops so conceived would hold indeed a similar +office, but being detached from each other would +not hold joint possession of one Episcopate. Separate +crystals do not make one body; nor a heap +of pebbles a rock. But it was a Rock on which +Christ built and builds His Church, that Rock +being His own Person, from which He communicated +this virtue, wherein the cohesion and impact +of the whole Episcopate lies, to the See of him +whom He constituted His Vicar. Finally, Cyprian +contrasts pointedly the people of Christ <emph>which cannot +be rent</emph> with the twelve tribes of Israel, which +were torn asunder: as if he would beforehand +repudiate that parallel between the Synagogue and +the Church, in the question of unity, which has +before now been resorted to as a refuge by minds +in distress, who failed to see the tokens of the +Bride of Christ in the community to which they +belonged. +</p> + +<p> +In Origen and in Cyprian we put ourselves +back into the middle of the third century. In the +<pb n='335'/><anchor id='Pg335'/> +words of the latter we see portrayed to the life +that idea which had filled the hearts of Christians +through seven generations of labours and sorrows +from the day of Pentecost down to his time. But +whence arose this perfect union of all hearts and +minds in the early Christians, who were penetrated +with the conviction that the Church was the home +of truth and grace? We may answer this question +thus: No catechumen was received into the fold +without a clear and distinct belief in that article +of the earliest creed, and part of the baptismal +profession, <q>the Holy Catholic Church.</q> A new +word was made to express a new idea, the glorious +and unique work of that ever-blessed Trinity whom +the creed recited: the Home and House in which +the Triune God, whom the Christian glorified, by +indwelling made the fountain of that grace and +that truth which God had become Man in order +to communicate. The catechumen's baptism into +the one Body was the foundation of all the hope in +which his life consisted;<note place='foot'>τῇ γὰρ ἐλπίδι ἐσώθημεν.</note> the integrity, duration, +sanctity of that Body being component parts of +the hope. And with regard at least to all gentile +converts this precise and definite catechetical instruction +was reinforced by the new sense which +at their conversion was impressed on them of the +heathenism out of which they were then taken. +In how many of them was the remembrance of +their past life connected with the guilt of deeds +<pb n='336'/><anchor id='Pg336'/> +and habits which their new Christian conscience +taught them to regard as fearful sins. Nay, the +notion of sin itself—as a transgression of the eternal +law and an offence against the personal Majesty +of God—was a Christian acquisition to the +corrupted heathen. Thus the passage into the +one Body and the divine Kingdom was contemporaneous +in their case with a total change of the +moral life. It is Cyprian, again, who has given +us a vivid account of this change, which took place +at a time of mature manhood in his own life, and +which will serve as a graphic sketch of what had +happened to the great mass of adult converts besides +himself. +</p> + +<p> +Let us suppose a man forty-five years of age +speaking: <q rend='pre'>For me, while I yet lay in darkness +and bewildering night, and was tossed to and fro +on the billows of this troublesome world, ignorant +of my true life, an outcast from light and truth, +I used to think that second birth, which divine +mercy promised for my salvation, a hard saying +according to the life I then led: as if a man could +be so quickened to a new life in the laver of healing +water as to put off his natural self, and keep +his former tabernacle, yet be changed in heart and +soul. How is it possible, said I, for so great a +conversion to be accomplished, so that both the +obstinate defilement of our natural substance, and +old and ingrained habits, should suddenly and +rapidly be put off; evils whose roots are deeply +<pb n='337'/><anchor id='Pg337'/> +seated within? When does he learn frugality, to +whom fine feasts and rich banquets have become a +habit? Or he who in gay sumptuous robes glisters +with gold and purple, when does he reduce +himself to ordinary and simple raiment? Another +whose bent is to public distinctions and honours +cannot bear to become a private and unnoticed +man; while one who is thronged by a phalanx of +dependents, and retinued by the overflowing attendance +of an obsequious host, thinks it punishment +to be alone. The temptation still unrelaxed, +need is it that, as before, wine should entice, pride +inflate, anger inflame, covetousness disquiet, cruelty +stimulate, ambition delight, and lust lead headlong.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Such were my frequent musings; for whereas +I was encumbered with the many sins of my past +life, which it seemed impossible to be rid of, so I +had used myself to give way to my clinging infirmities, +and, from despair of better things, to humour +the evils of my heart, as slaves born in my +house and my proper offspring. But after that +life-giving water succoured me, washing away the +stain of former years, and pouring into my cleansed +and hallowed breast the light which comes from +heaven, after that I drank in the heavenly Spirit, +and was created into a new man by a second birth, +then marvellously what before was doubtful became +plain to me, what was hidden was revealed, +what was dark began to shine, what was difficult +now had a way and means, what had seemed +<pb n='338'/><anchor id='Pg338'/> +impossible now could be achieved, what was in +me of the guilty flesh now confessed that it was +earthy, what was quickened in me by the Holy +Ghost now had a growth according to God. Thou +knowest well, thou canst recollect as well as I, +what was then taken from me, and what was given +by that death of sin, that quickening power of +holiness. Thou knowest, I name it not; over my +own praises it were unwelcome to boast, though +that is ground never for boasting but for gratitude, +which is not ascribed to man's virtue but is +confessed to be God's bounty; so that to sin no +more has come of faith, as heretofore to sin had +come of human error. From God, I say, from +God is all we can be; from Him we live, from Him +we grow, and by that strength which is from Him +accepted and ingathered we learn beforehand, even +in this present state, the foretokens of what is yet +to be. Let only fear be a guard upon innocency, +that that Lord who by the influence of His heavenly +mercy has graciously shone into our hearts, +may be detained by righteous obedience in the hostelry +of a mind that pleases Him; that the security +imparted to us may not beget slothfulness, nor the +former enemy steal upon us anew.</q><note place='foot'>Ep. 1, Oxford translation.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Add to this that Christians were marked out +as one Body by the Jewish and heathen persecution +which tracked them everywhere. But the +sects were not persecuted. The various schools of +<pb n='339'/><anchor id='Pg339'/> +the Gnostics all agreed in this, that it was not necessary +or desirable to suffer martyrdom for the +faith. Their view was, that they could believe +with their minds whatever they pleased, though +an enemy might force them by threats of suffering +to utter with the mouth what they abhorred; and +with this convenient distinction they escaped imprisonment, +poverty, bereavement, and death. But +the Christian was bound—when the fitting circumstances +came—to repeat the confession of his Lord +before Pilate. Joined therefore to his baptismal +belief, and to the utter change of life involved in +his conversion, was the bond of common suffering +which held together Christians as one Body +throughout the world: whence an old martyr +bishop said: <q>The Church, for that love which she +bears to God, in every place and at every time +sends forward a multitude of martyrs to the +Father, whereas all the rest not only have no +such thing among themselves to show, but deem +not even such a witness necessary.</q><note place='foot'>S. Irenæus, lib. iv. 33 g.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, as a fourth cause, the historic origin +of their name and belief led them up to that day +of Pentecost when the descent of the Spirit of God +constituted the formation of that body in belonging +to which was all their hope and trust; with +the existence of which their faith was identified; +in the communion of which their charity was engendered. +As the birth and the life and the passion +<pb n='340'/><anchor id='Pg340'/> +of Christ were that subject-matter on which +their whole faith grew, so the creation of their +existence as a people was a definite act in which +the Redeemer showed Himself the Father of His +Race, creating them as His children and generating +them by His Spirit. The loving thought of Christians +in every age ran along this line to its source. +Nature herself presents us with an image of what +this idea of the Church was to them. As the great +river whose water is the symbol of blessing and the +bearer of fertility leaps down a giant birth from +its parent lake, ever blazing under the splendour +of a tropical sun, yet ever fed by sources springing +from snow-crowned mountains, and changes in +its course the desert into earth's fruitfulest region, +so the river of God, welling forth on the day of +Pentecost from the central abyss of the divine love, +bore down to all the nations the one water of salvation, +and wheresoever it spread, the desert retreated, +and the earth brought forth corn and wine +in abundance. And the idea of this divine stream +was from the beginning as deep as it was clear in +every Christian heart. It is one of a very few +doctrines, such as the unity of the Godhead, +whereof indeed it is the image and the result, +of which there is not only an implicit belief but +a definite consciousness from the first. For the +thought of the kingdom is inseparable from that +of the king: and he could be no divine Sovereign +whose realm was not one and indivisible: and that +<pb n='341'/><anchor id='Pg341'/> +this realm should break in pieces and consume all +other kingdoms,<note place='foot'>Dan. ii. 44. Compare Apoc. i. 9. ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὑμῶν καὶ συγκοινωνὸς ἐν +τῇ θλίψει καὶ ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ καὶ ὑπομονῇ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.</note> but itself stand for ever, was the +trust on which the whole Christian life of endurance +and hope was built. +</p> + +<p> +The Christian society through its whole structure +was marked with the seal of that great act on +which it grew, the assumption of human nature by +a divine Person. Its whole government, its whole +worship, and the whole moral and spiritual being +of its people radiate from that Person as King, as +Priest, and as Prophet. Take first the character +of the individual Christian. It is in all its +gradations, in that marvellous range of the same +being which stretches from the highest saint matured +in acting and suffering to the most imperfect +penitent received into the bosom of the one mother, +a copy, more or less resembling, of our Lord +Himself. He, the divine Image, is the original +from which every Christian lineament is traced, +and every one of His race repeats Him in some +degree. Every virtue is such as a transcript of +some portion of His character; and the whole life +of the individual resolves itself into an imitation of +Him. Thus He is the Prophet not only declaring +the whole divine will to men, but leading them in +it by His own example. The divine Painter is but +representing in every one of His children a copy +in some sort of that life, which He set forth in +<pb n='342'/><anchor id='Pg342'/> +full in the thirty-three years: a thought which we +have seen Origen expressing in the chrism which +descended from the head of Aaron to the utmost +skirt of his raiment. +</p> + +<p> +But likewise in His Priesthood a parallel derivation +ensues. First He multiplies Himself in +His Apostles: they again in the Bishops whom +they create; while each of these communicates +himself in his priests. A triple transfusion suffices +to form the whole hierarchical order. Nothing can +be conceived more simple, yet nothing more efficient +supposing that He is what He proclaimed Himself +to be. The victim which He appoints to be +offered by this priesthood is Himself, and His Body +so offered is the food, the life, and the bond of the +whole spiritual Body thus created. That Person +with which He took the manhood is the centre of +all this worship, of which the manhood so taken +is the instrument. Thus it is that His second +office of Priest, bound up so entirely with Himself, +is yet communicated through His divine manhood +to the whole Body which He forms. And this +order remains through all ages, as intimately connected +with his Person now, as eighteen centuries +ago, and as it will be when all the centuries to +come are evolved. +</p> + +<p> +One office remains; His office of King. And +here, again, the jurisdiction which He created for +His kingdom springs from His Person, and that not +only in its origin but in its perpetual derivation. +<pb n='343'/><anchor id='Pg343'/> +He was Himself<note place='foot'>Κατανοήσατε τὸν ἀπόστολον καὶ ἀρχιερέα τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν Χριστὸν +Ἰησοῦν. Heb. iii. 1.</note> the Apostle: as such He first +multiplied Himself in the Twelve, whom from +Himself He named Apostles. His public life on +earth is an image of the whole mission or government +which He would set up after His ascension. +He lives with the Twelve: He teaches them: He +is their Instructor, Father, and Friend. When +His Apostles afterwards created Bishops, this form +of our Lord's life on earth was exactly reproduced +in the earliest dioceses. Thus S. Mark went forth +from the side of Peter, and the mode of his living, +and the family which he drew around him at Alexandria +was after this pattern. He, the Bishop, is the +image of Christ, and his twelve presbyters of the +Apostles. This model is continually set forth by +S. Ignatius as a divine command and institution, +he being himself the occupant of the great Mother +See of the East, the third See of Peter, and that +wherein he first sat.<note place='foot'>Thus S. Gregory the Great wrote to Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria, +that the three original patriarchal Sees were all Sees of Peter: +<q>Cum multi sint Apostoli, pro ipso tamen principatu sola Apostolorum +Principis Sedes in auctoritate convaluit, quæ in tribus locis unius est.</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Epist.</hi> lib. vii. 40. The Patriarchal authority is a derivation from the +Primacy, which is the well-head.</note> Thus the canonical life was +formed by the exactest imitation of our Lord's +public life, and its reproduction throughout the +various dioceses formed the Church. Such was +the life which S. Augustine afterwards practised +and reduced to rule; and those who planted the +<pb n='344'/><anchor id='Pg344'/> +Christian Faith throughout the north, Apostles to +new and barbarous races, had this model before +them. The diocese was first a family, in which the +Bishop as a father presided over his priests, and +sent them forth to their work. The Eucharist which +he consecrated was from the beginning dispensed +from his church to all his flock. The diocese, +then, in its earliest form was an image of our Lord's +intercourse with the Twelve, wherein the Bishop +represents Him, and the priesthood His Apostles. +</p> + +<p> +But the whole Church in its episcopate or mass +of dioceses no less represented that His public life. +For as He was the Head, the Living Teacher and +Guide of His Apostles, and as He came to establish +one Kingdom, and one only,<note place='foot'>Κηρύσσων τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας. Matt. iv. 23.</note> wherein the Twelve +represented the whole Episcopate, and contained +in themselves its powers, so the Primacy which He +visibly exercised among them, He delegated, when +He left them, to one of their number. Peter, when +he received that commission to feed His sheep, +took the place on earth of the great Shepherd, and +in him the flock remains one. +</p> + +<p> +Thus the double power which expresses the +divinely-established government of the Church, the +Primacy and the Episcopate, is as close a transcript +of the Lord's life on earth with His Apostles as +the diocese taken by itself. In His intercourse +with His Apostles He is the germ of the Bishop +with his priests; in His Vicariate bestowed upon +<pb n='345'/><anchor id='Pg345'/> +Peter He repeats or rather continues His visible +Headship on earth. +</p> + +<p> +But spiritual jurisdiction is the expression of +Christ's sovereignty on earth, and in the order +just described it is linked with His Person as +strictly as the worship exercised by means of +His Priesthood, and the spiritual character which +every one of His children bears. Surely no kingdom +has ever been so contained in its king, no +family in its father, no worship in its object, as the +Christian kingdom, family, and worship, which together +is the Church. Is it, then, any wonder that +all Christian hearts from the first were filled with +the blessing of belonging to such a creation as +this, in which to them their Redeemer lived and +reigned, penetrated them with His own life, and +gathered them in His kingdom? Are not the words +of S. Cyprian just what we should expect those +to utter who overflowed with this conviction? At +the same time that Cyprian was so writing, Dionysius, +the Archbishop of Alexandria, addressed Novatian +the antipope in these words: <q>It was better +to suffer any extremity in order not to divide the +Church of God. And martyrdom endured to prevent +schism were not less glorious than that endured +to refuse idolatry, but in my opinion more +so. For in the one case a man suffers martyrdom +for his own single soul, but in the other for the +whole Church.</q><note place='foot'>S. Dionys. Alex. Ep. 2. Gallandi, iii. 512.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='346'/><anchor id='Pg346'/> + +<p> +But let us trace the chronological sequence +in history of that great institution, the real as +well as logical coherence of which has just been +set forth. The Church was a fact long before its +theory became the subject of reflection. It came +forth from the mind of the divine Architect and +established itself among men through His power; +and it is only when this was done that the creative +thought according to which it grew could be +delineated. +</p> + +<p> +The fact, then, exactly agrees with the theory, +and history here interprets dogma. +</p> + +<p> +It is during the great forty days that our Lord +founded the Primacy, when He made S. John and +the rest of the Apostles sheep of Peter's fold. The +period of thirty-eight years which follows is the +carrying into effect His design in the first stage. +The Church grows around Peter. First in Jerusalem +he forms a mass of disciples; then for a +certain number of years at Antioch. In the second +year of Claudius, the thirteenth after the Ascension, +he lays the foundations of the Roman Church. +In the sixtieth year of our era he sends forth +S. Mark to found the Christian society in Alexandria. +Thus he takes possession of the three +great cities of the empire, of east, west, and south. +In the mean time the labours of S. Paul and the +other Apostles, in conjunction with those of Peter +and in subordination to them, plant the Christian +root in a great number of cities. As S. Paul toils +<pb n='347'/><anchor id='Pg347'/> +all round the northern circuit of the empire, +through Asia Minor, Macedonia, Illyricum, to Spain, +his work has a manifest reference to the work of +Peter in the metropolis of the east, of the south, +and of the west. In the latter he joins his elder +brother, and the two Princes of the Apostles offer +up their lives together on the same day in that +city which was to be the perpetual citadel of the +Christian Faith, the immovable Rock of a divine +Capitol. Thus was it Peter, <q>from whom the +very Episcopate, and all the authority of this title +sprung,</q><note place='foot'>Answer of Pope Innocent I. to the Council of Carthage in 416, +among the letters of S. Augustine.</note> and what Pope Boniface wrote in 422 +is a simple fact of history: that <q>the formation of +the universal Church at its birth took its beginning +from the honour of blessed Peter, in whose +person its regimen and sum consists. For from +his fountain the stream of ecclesiastical discipline +flowed forth into all churches, as the culture of +religion progressively advanced.</q><note place='foot'>Constant. <hi rend='italic'>Epist. Rom. Pontif.</hi> p. 1037.</note> Thus the whole +initial movement was from above downwards, and +S. Cyprian was not only enunciating dogma but +speaking history when he wrote that the Lord +built the Church upon Peter. In one generation +the structure rose above the ground, and during +all that time S. Peter's hand directed the work. +</p> + +<p> +Just at the end of this time, on the point of +being thrown into prison, whence he only emerged +<pb n='348'/><anchor id='Pg348'/> +to martyrdom, Paul was at Rome with Peter, and +he describes in imperishable words the work which +had been already accomplished. Again it is not +only dogma but history, not only that which was +always to be but that which already was, which +he set forth as it were with his dying voice: the +one Body, and the one Spirit, the one Lord, one +Faith, and one Baptism, as there is one God. That +Body in which Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, +Pastors and Teachers were fixed, that the visible +structure might grow up to its final stature, in +whose accordant unity was the perpetual safeguard +against error. When Paul so wrote,<note place='foot'>Ephes. iv., written during S. Paul's imprisonment at Rome.</note> the +Body was formed, and its headship was incontestably +with Peter. He had no need to remind them +of the man with whom he was labouring, of whose +work the whole Church from Rome to Antioch and +Alexandria was the fruit. But he places the maintenance +of truth, and the perpetual fountain of +grace, in the unity of the Church, which was before +those to whom he wrote an accomplished fact. +</p> + +<p> +Two generations pass and the aged S. Ignatius, +on his way to martyrdom, attests the same fact. +<q>Where is Jesus Christ,</q> he says, <q>there is the +Catholic Church.</q> The King is in His Kingdom; +the Master in His House; the Lord in His +Temple. The bishops throughout the world inseparably +linked together are His mind: and the +presidency of charity, which is the inner life of +<pb n='349'/><anchor id='Pg349'/> +all this spiritual empire, is at Rome. S. Ignatius +and the author of the letter to Diognetus write +just after the expiration of the apostolic period; +and they both regard Christians as one mass +throughout the world, living under a divine form +of spiritual government. No one who studies +their words can doubt that the one Body and the +one Spirit were as visible to their eyes and as dear +to their heart as to S. Paul. +</p> + +<p> +We pass two generations further and S. Irenæus +repeats the same testimony. The interval +has been filled by incessant attacks of heresies, +and the Bishop of Lyons dwells upon the fact +that the Church speaks with one voice through +all the regions of the earth as being one House of +God, and that the seat of this its unity is in the +great See founded by the Princes of the Apostles +at Rome. He reproduces at great length the +statements of S. Paul that the safeguard of truth +lies in the one apostolic ministry, for which he +runs up to the fountain-head in Rome. It is in +the living voice and the teaching office of the +Church that he sees a perpetual preservative +against whatever error may arise. Thus it has +been up to his time, and thus it will ever be. +</p> + +<p> +Another period of seventy years runs on, and +we come to the just-cited testimony of Cyprian, +who therefore said nothing new, nor anything exaggerated; +but when the truth was assailed in its +very citadel, he spoke out and described wherein +<pb n='350'/><anchor id='Pg350'/> +its strength lay. He gathers up and gives expression +to the two hundred and twenty years +between the day of Pentecost and his own time. +Here are the creative words of our Apostle and +High-priest explained and attested and exhibited +as having passed into fact by four witnesses, first +S. Paul, then S. Ignatius, thirdly S. Irenæus, +fourthly S. Cyprian. Between all the five there +is no shadow of divergence, between the Master +who designed the building and the servants who +described its erection; between the Prophet who +foretold and the historians who recorded. The +one said, Upon this rock I will build my Church; +the others pointed out that the work was accomplished. +</p> + +<p> +The original and fundamental conception of +all this work is expressed by S. Matthew and +S. Mark when they speak of our Lord at His first +going forth as <q>proclaiming the gospel of the +kingdom.</q> His three years' ministry is the +germ and type of the perpetual mission which +He founded. It was to be from first to last a +work of personal ministry, beginning from above, +not spreading from below; its power and virtue +descending from Him through those whom He +chose, the people being the work of the Prince, +their government a delegation from Him, as their +moral condition lay in following Him, and their +life and support in feeding on Him. And He declared +that the original conception should be carried +<pb n='351'/><anchor id='Pg351'/> +out to the end, and that <q>the gospel of the +kingdom</q> should be proclaimed through the whole +world as a witness to all nations, until the consummation +should come.<note place='foot'>This text is continually used by S. Augustine against the Donatists, +as containing an express divine prophecy that the one Catholic +Church should continue to the end of the world. The Gospel <emph>of</emph> the +Kingdom, and the Gospel <emph>without</emph> the Kingdom, are ideas far as the +poles apart.</note> +</p> + +<p> +The chief events of the third century brought +out more and more the unity of the Church and +the Primacy of S. Peter's See as the power within +the Church by which that unity is produced and +maintained. +</p> + +<p> +With this century the great persecutions begin. +That of Septimius Severus arose in the year +202. Now a persecution which assaulted the mass +of Christians was the occasion of fall and apostasy +to some, of martyrdom to others. Hence the question +became urgent how those should be treated +by the Christian society who through fear of suffering +had failed to maintain the confession of their +faith. It was necessary to lay down more distinctly +rules as to what crimes should be admitted +to penance, and what that penance should be. The +practice here involved doctrine; it raised immediately +the question of the power which the society +itself had to grant pardon, and to receive the guilty +back into its bosom. And here the authority of +the chief Bishop was at once called out. We find +as a matter of fact Pope Zephyrinus in the first +<pb n='352'/><anchor id='Pg352'/> +years of this century determining the rules of +penance, and a small party of rigid disciplinarians, +among whom Tertullian was conspicuous, who considered +his rules as too indulgent. It is in the vehement +pamphlet with which Tertullian assails the +Pope that we have one of the earliest expressions +of the great authority claimed by him. <q>I hear,</q> +he exclaims, <q>that an edict has been set forth, and +a peremptory one. The Pontifex Maximus, in sooth, +that is, the Bishop of Bishops, issues his edict: I +pardon to those who have discharged their penance +the sins both of adultery and of fornication.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Pudicitia</hi>, § 1. See Hagemann, p. 54.</note> +Twenty years later Pope Callistus carried the indulgence +yet further, receiving to penance those +who had committed murder or idolatry.<note place='foot'>He is so represented by Hippolytus, <hi rend='italic'>Philosophumen</hi>, lib. ix. p. 209. +See Hagemann, p. 59.</note> Once +more, after a period of thirty years, the breaking +out of the Decian persecution raised afresh the +question of admitting great sinners to penance, +and the actual discipline of the Roman Church, as +established under Zephyrinus and Callistus, is set +forth in a letter to Cyprian by Novatian, then one +of the most esteemed presbyters of that church. +By the discipline which these facts attest it is determined +that the Church has lodged in her the +power of pardoning any sin whatsoever according +to the rules of the penance which she imposes. +And it is the Roman Church which herein takes +<pb n='353'/><anchor id='Pg353'/> +the guidance. She maintained the ancient faith, +severity, and discipline, yet tempered with that +consideration which the full possession of the +truth alone bestows.<note place='foot'><q>Nec hoc nobis nunc nuper consilium cogitatum est, nec hæc apud +nos adversus improbos modo supervenerunt repentina subsidia: sed antiqua +hæc apud nos severitas, antiqua fides, disciplina legitur antiqua; +quoniam nec tantas de nobis laudes Apostolus protulisset dicendo: Quia +fides vestra prædicatur in toto mundo, nisi jam exinde vigor iste radices +fidei de temporibus illis mutuatus fuisset: quarum laudum et gloriæ +degenerem fuisse maximum crimen est.</q> <hi rend='italic'>Epist. Cleri Rom. ad Cyprian.</hi> +31.</note> Thus she received back +without hesitation those who returned from heresy +or schism, as well as those who had fallen in the +conflict with persecution. +</p> + +<p> +For another question of great importance which +her guidance determined was that concerning the +rebaptisation of heretics; and in this she went +against the judgment of Cyprian with his council, +of Firmilian, and of other bishops. It had been +the custom that those who had received baptism +among heretics, provided it was with the proper +rite, should, when they sought admission into the +Church, be received only by an imposition of +hands, not by the iteration of baptism. And +though Cyprian and a great majority of African +bishops, through their horror of schism and +heresy, wished to modify this rule, and to insist +that baptism given outside the Church was invalid, +Pope Stephen resisted, and maintained the +ancient rule, with the decision that nothing save +what had been handed down should be done. +</p> + +<pb n='354'/><anchor id='Pg354'/> + +<p> +It is evident that the question of penance and +that of rebaptisation touched the whole Christian +society, and here accordingly we find the superior +Principate of the Roman Church exert itself. In +fact, the right decision as to both these questions +involved the right conception of the Church herself, +her constitution, power, and prerogatives. +The rigorism<note place='foot'>Hagemann, p. 77.</note> with which some had endeavoured +to exclude certain sinners from the faculty of receiving +penance, and the view which led them to +confine the validity itself of baptism to its reception +within the one Church, led when fully developed +in the following century to the obstinate +schism and heresy of the Donatists. These dangerous +tendencies were resisted, when they first +appeared, by the Roman See, and we owe to such +resistance the application by Tertullian to the Pope +of the title of <q>Pontifex Maximus</q> and <q>Bishop +of Bishops,</q> about the year 202, as the expression +of the power which he then claimed and exercised. +</p> + +<p> +Another question likewise touching the whole +Christian society, which the Roman Pontiff had +already decided against the practice of the influential +and ancient churches of Asia Minor, was +the time of holding Easter. Pope Victor insisted +that the practice of the Roman Church must be +followed, which kept the day of the Crucifixion +invariably on the Friday, and that of the Resurrection +on the Sunday, and not the Jewish practice of +<pb n='355'/><anchor id='Pg355'/> +the Asiatics, which took the 14th and the 16th days +of the month Nisan, on whatever days of the week +they might fall, for that purpose. And here in the +peremptory tone of Pope Victor, and in the threat +of excommunication which he issued, the consciousness +was shown that the right to determine +lay with him, while subsequent times justified his +judgment and followed it. Nor was it of little +importance that the greatest festival of the Church +should be celebrated by all her children both on +the same day and in the same spirit. +</p> + +<p> +We have then now traced up to the end of the +third century the inner growth and constituent +principles of that great institution, which out of +every language, tribe, and religion in the empire +or beyond it had formed and welded together one +people, the bearer of that Truth and that Grace +which the Son of God in assuming manhood had +conveyed to the world. It remains rapidly to review +the relations of the empire with this people +during seventy-eight years, from the death of Alexander +Severus in 235 to the edict of toleration in +313. +</p> + +<p> +II. The seizure of the empire by Maximin was +accompanied by a violent attack upon Christians, +whom Alexander was held to have favoured. It +is on this occasion that we learn from Origen<note place='foot'>In Matt. tom. iii. 857 c.</note> +that churches were burnt, and thus their existence +as public buildings is attested. The clergy were +<pb n='356'/><anchor id='Pg356'/> +especially threatened, and amongst them Ambrosius, +the friend of Origen, and Origen himself. +But Maximin after reigning three years with extraordinary +cruelty was slain by his own soldiers. +And then during eleven years a period of comparative +tranquillity for Christians ensued. +</p> + +<p> +It is with the accession of Decius that the +severest trials of the Church commence. In the +sixty-four years which elapse from this to the edict +of toleration, the force of the empire is five times +directed by its rulers against the Christian name. +The cause of this is disclosed to us by S. Cyprian +mentioning incidentally the very words of that +emperor whose name is associated with the bitterest +hatred to Christians. He praises Pope Cornelius,<note place='foot'><q>Cum Fabiani locus, id est, cum locus Petri et gradus cathedræ +sacerdotalis vacaret.</q> <hi rend='italic'>Epist.</hi> lii. p. 68. <q>Sedisse intrepidum Romæ in +sacerdotali cathedra eo tempore cum tyrannus infestus sacerdotibus Dei +fanda atque infanda comminaretur, cum multo patientius et tolerabilius +audiret levari adversus se æmulum principem quam constitui Romæ Dei +sacerdotem.</q> Ibid. p. 69.</note> +who when Pope <q>Fabian's place, that is,</q> he +says, <q>the place of Peter and the rank of the sacerdotal +chair was vacant,</q> <q>sat fearless in that chair +at Rome at the moment when the tyrant who +hated God's priests uttered every horrible threat, +and with much more patience and endurance heard +the rise of a rival prince than the appointment of +God's priest at Rome.</q> But why should Decius +regard with such dislike the nomination of a Roman +Bishop? Why, but that the emperors had +<pb n='357'/><anchor id='Pg357'/> +now come clearly to discern the organisation of +the Church as a visible kingdom of Christ, at the +head of which the Roman Bishop stood. That +kingdom, the whole moral and religious doctrine +of which, together with the life founded upon it, +they felt to be in contradiction with the heathen +life and the maxims of polity on which from time +immemorial the empire had been based, that kingdom +Decius saw to be summed up and represented +in him who held, to use the words of Cyprian, +<q>Peter's place.</q> With that religious association +which Decius saw extending round him on every +side, and gradually drawing into its bosom the +best of the two sexes, there was no way of dealing +but either to yield to those new maxims which it +set forth, or to destroy it. In proportion as the +emperors were zealous for the worship of the Roman +gods, and instinct with the old discipline of +the state, they inclined to the latter alternative, +and none more decisively than Decius, who prided +himself on following the spirit of Trajan. The +persecution which he set on foot reached and slew +Pope Fabian, and caused the election of a successor +to be deferred for sixteen months. When at +the end of that time Cornelius was chosen, Cyprian +praises him <q>as to be reckoned among the glorious +confessors and martyrs, who sat so long awaiting +his butchers, ready either to slay him with the +sword, or crucify him, or burn him, or tear open +and maim his body with any unheard-of kind of +<pb n='358'/><anchor id='Pg358'/> +punishment.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Epist.</hi> lii. p. 69.</note> Decius indeed was slain by the +Goths in battle after less than two years' reign, +but the persecution was renewed by Gallus, and +again by Valerian, so that in ten years no less than +five Pontiffs, holding that place of Peter, Fabian, +Cornelius, Lucius, Stephen, and Sistus, offered up +their lives for the faith. Then it was that the ten +years' noble episcopate of S. Cyprian after many +minor sufferings ended in martyrdom: and then +too the deacon Laurence wore out in the agony of +fire all the malignity of the enemy, and gained his +almost matchless crown.<note place='foot'>Compare with the savageness of the Prefect of Rome in torturing +S. Laurence the following incident which occurred five years later. +Valerian had been captured by the Persian monarch, and his son the +Emperor Gallienus bore the reproach with great tranquillity. In the +great festival which he held at Rome about 263, to commemorate the +victory of Odenatus over Sapor, some revellers mixed themselves with +the pretended Persian captives, and examined their faces closely. When +asked what they meant, they replied, <q>We are looking for the emperor's +father.</q> The jest so stung Gallienus that he had them burnt alive. +Weiss, <hi rend='italic'>Lehrbuch der Weltgeschichte</hi>, ii. 224. It was for showing him +the Church's spiritual treasures, the poor, the helpless, and the suffering, +instead of the coveted gold and silver, that the Prefect burnt S. Laurence +alive.</note> +</p> + +<p> +The state of things which immediately preceded +this grand attack of the empire on the +Church is thus described by Cyprian in the interval +which followed the persecution of Decius +and preceded that of Gallus; and the words of one +who not only taught but died for his teaching +carry with them no common force. <q>As long +repose had corrupted the discipline which had +<pb n='359'/><anchor id='Pg359'/> +come down to us from God, the divine judgment +awakened our faith from a declining, and if I may +so speak an almost slumbering state; and whereas +we deserved yet more for our sins, the most merciful +Lord has so moderated all, that what has +passed has seemed rather a trial of what we were +than an actual infliction. Everyone was applying +himself to the increase of wealth, and forgetting +both what was the conduct of believers under the +Apostles, and what ought to be their conduct in +every age, they with insatiable eagerness for gain +devoted themselves to the multiplying of possessions. +The priests were wanting in religious devotedness; +the ministers in entireness of faith; +there was no mercy in works, no discipline in +manners. Men wore their beards disfigured, and +women stained their complexion with a dye. The +eyes were changed from what God made them, +and a lying colour was passed upon the hair. The +hearts of the simple were misled by treacherous +artifices, and brethren became entangled in seductive +snares; ties of marriage were formed with +unbelievers; members of Christ abandoned to the +heathen. Not only rash swearing was heard, but +even false; persons in high place were swollen +with contemptuousness; poisoned reproaches fell +from their mouths; and men were sundered by +unabating quarrels. Numerous bishops, who ought +to be an encouragement and example to others, +despising their sacred calling, engaged themselves +<pb n='360'/><anchor id='Pg360'/> +in secular vocations, relinquished their chair, deserted +their people, strayed among foreign provinces, +hunted the markets for mercantile profits, +tried to amass large sums of money, while they +had brethren starving within the Church, took possession +of estates by fraudulent proceedings, and +multiplied their gains by accumulated usuries.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Lapsis</hi>, iv. p. 182-3, Oxford translation.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Such was the end of the long peace which succeeded +the persecution of Septimius Severus, and +yet it was followed at once by that ten years' conflict +which if stained with apostasies at first, soon +became rife in martyrdoms. And as the former +relaxation seems to prove that the third century +among Christians was no ideal time in which moral +corruptions and abuses did not largely exist, so +the improvement which trial and suffering at +once produced, calling forth some of the greatest +triumphs which the Faith has ever known, seems +to indicate that the divine power of the Church +lies not in forming a community free from imperfections, +or even secured from scandals, but in +building up a portion of her children to sanctity. +At all times the wheat and the chaff lie together +on her threshing-floor, and the flail of suffering +winnows them. But those who seek for a time +when all professing believers were saints, will find +it neither when the Apostles taught nor afterwards. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor Valerian, after being during four +<pb n='361'/><anchor id='Pg361'/> +years more kindly disposed to Christians than any +preceding emperor, and after filling his palace with +them, was instigated by an Egyptian magician into +becoming a most bitter persecutor.<note place='foot'>Euseb. <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> l. vii. c. 10.</note> This was +ended in less than three years through his capture +by the Persian monarch, when his son Gallienus +restored the sacred places to the Christians, and +ordered the bishops not to be disturbed.<note place='foot'>Ib. l. vii. c. 13.</note> The +empire during the following eight years seemed +through the supineness of Gallienus to be on the +point of dissolution; it is the time when nineteen +commanders in various provinces assume the purple, +and successively perish. At last Gallienus is +put out of the way by a council of officers, and +the empire is restored by Claudius and by Aurelian. +The latter, after being for some years +fair to Christians, ends by persecuting them. But +he too is speedily removed by death. It is remarkable +that all these persecutions, by Maximin, +by Decius, by Gallus, by Valerian, and by Aurelian, +are of short duration: none of them continue +more than three years. After Aurelian's +death in 275 a whole generation ensues in which +Christians by the ordinary operation of the empire's +laws, according to which their religion was +illicit, were liable to suffer much in individual +cases. Thus it is in a time not reckoned persecuting, +shortly after Maximianus had been made +his colleague in the empire by Diocletian, that +<pb n='362'/><anchor id='Pg362'/> +one of the most merciless acts of tyrannical cruelty +took place, which gave an occasion for several +thousand men at once to offer up their lives. Unresisting +victims, yet brave soldiers with arms in +their hands, they endured two decimations, and +when remonstrance had proved in vain, piled their +arms, and let themselves be massacred to the last +man rather than violate their conscience. The place +where they suffered took the name of their heroic +captain, Maurice; the churches of that Alpine valley +to this day bear witness by his figure over their +altars to that most illustrious act of Christian +sacrifice: and beside the place of their repose +rises still a monastery which for thirteen hundred +and fifty years has guarded the sepulture of a +legion of martyrs, and is become one of the most +ancient Christian houses of prayer. +</p> + +<p> +It cannot be doubted that in the last twenty-five +years of the third century the number of +Christians was being largely increased, and moreover +they were daily gaining the higher ranks of +society. Diocletian had reigned for eighteen years, +and seemed effectually to have stopped that incessant +succession of soldiers gaining the throne by +assassination and yielding it in turn to their assassins, +which for fifty years threatened to destroy +the state. At such a moment it was that Diocletian, +belying all the past conduct of his life, let +loose against the Christian Church the last, the +fiercest, and the longest of the heathen persecutions. +</p> + +<pb n='363'/><anchor id='Pg363'/> + +<p> +It was in truth scarcely less than the rending +in pieces the whole social framework when a proclamation +of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, +in the year 303, declared that the Christian +Faith should cease to exist. How entirely that +faith had now penetrated all ranks was shown in +Diocletian's own household, wherein his most +trusted<note place='foot'>See the martyrdom of the favourite chamberlain Peter, who, says +Eusebius (<hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> viii. 6), was violently scourged, and then slowly roasted +alive.</note> chamberlains, beloved as his children, +were cruelly tortured because they refused to +worship the heathen gods, while his wife Prisca +and his daughter Valeria purchased immunity for +the present by compliance. We have the emperor +described by an eye-witness of those times as +himself sitting in judgment,<note place='foot'><q>Diocletianus ... excarnificare omnes suos protenus cœpit. Sedebat +ipse atque innocentes igne torrebat.... Omnis sexus et ætatis homines ad +exustionem rapti; nec singuli, quoniam tanta erat multitudo, sed gregatim +circumdato igni amburebantur,</q> &c. Lactant. 14, 15.</note> and putting men to +the torture of fire. The same power was delegated +to the governors throughout the provinces. <q>It +was,</q> says Eusebius, <q>the nineteenth year of Diocletian's +reign, in the month of March, when the +festival of the Lord's Passion was drawing near, +that imperial edicts were everywhere published, +ordering the churches to be levelled, the scriptures +to be burnt, those of rank to be deprived of +it, the common people, if they remained faithful, +to be reduced to slavery. This was the first edict +against us; another soon came enjoining that all +<pb n='364'/><anchor id='Pg364'/> +those who ruled the churches should first be imprisoned, +and then by every means compelled to +sacrifice.</q><note place='foot'>Eusebius, <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> viii. 2.</note> Lactantius adds that every action at +law was to proceed against Christians, while they +should not be allowed to claim the law for any +wrong inflicted, or spoliation suffered, or dishonour +done to their wives.<note place='foot'>Lactantius, <hi rend='italic'>de Morte Persecutorum</hi>, 13.</note> Many in consequence +of these edicts suffered willingly terrible torments: +many others at first gave way. What these torments +were Eusebius describes: some were beaten; +some torn with hooks.<note place='foot'>Euseb. viii. 4.</note> <q>It is impossible to say +how many and how great martyrs of Christ might +be seen in every city and country.</q> A man of the +highest rank in Nicomedia from an impulse of zeal +when the edict first appeared tore it down: he was +seized, and not merely tortured but slowly roasted +alive,<note place='foot'><q>Statim productus non modo extortus sed etiam legitime coctus +cum admirabili patientia, postremo exustus est.</q> Lact. <hi rend='italic'>de Mort. Pers.</hi> +13; Euseb. viii. 5.</note> which he bore with unflinching patience, +preserving joyousness and tranquillity to his last +breath. The emperors polluted the provinces subject +to them, by the slaughter of men and women +who worshipped God, as if it had been in a civil +war, with the exception of Constantius,<note place='foot'>Euseb. <hi rend='italic'>de Vita Constant</hi>. 1. i. 13.</note> who +ruled the Gauls and Britain, and preserved his +soul pure from this stain. But it was so much +worse than a war in which the conquered have +<pb n='365'/><anchor id='Pg365'/> +only to suffer servitude or at most death, whereas +in this case what was committed against those who +refused to do wrong passes all description. They +used against them every imaginable torture, and +thought it little to slay those whom they hated, +unless by cruelty having first exposed their bodies +to mockery. If they could persuade, by terror, +any to violate the faith to which they were bound, +and to agree to the fatal sacrifice, these they +praised and with their honours destroyed, but on +the others they exhausted the whole ingenuity of +their butchery, calling them desperate as disregarding +their own body.<note place='foot'>Lactant. <hi rend='italic'>Divin. Institut.</hi> 1. v. 9. Gallandi, tom. iv. 313-4.</note> For two years the +whole Roman world ruled by Diocletian, Maximian, +and Galerius was exposed to this misery: +when on the retirement of Diocletian and Maximian +in 305 Galerius became the chief emperor, +the persecution continued in all its intensity, save +in the territory subject to Constantius. <q>It is impossible +to describe the individual scenes which +took place throughout the world. The several +governors having received their commission carried +it out according to their own ferocity. Some +through excess of fear did more than their orders; +some were inspired by personal enmity; some by +natural cruelty; some sought to advance themselves; +some were precipitate in the work of destruction, +as one in Phrygia,</q><note place='foot'>Ib. 1. v. 11.</note> where, says Eusebius, +<pb n='366'/><anchor id='Pg366'/> +the soldiers surrounded a Christian town and +burnt it with all its inhabitants, <q>men, women, and +children calling upon the name of Christ, the God +of all.</q><note place='foot'>Euseb. <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> viii. 11.</note> <q>And in devising various kinds of tortures +they aim at gaining a victory. They are well +aware that it is a struggle between champions. I +myself saw in Bithynia a governor beside himself +in joy, as if he had subdued some barbarous +nation, because one who for two years had with +great virtue resisted was seen to fail. They inflict +therefore exquisite pains, only avoiding to put +the tortured to death, as if it were only death +that made them blessed, and not likewise those +torments which in proportion to their severity +produce a greater glory by the virtue which they +exhibit.</q><note place='foot'>Lactantius, as above.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Eusebius declares that such cruelties were perpetrated +not for a short time, but during several +years; that ten, twenty, thirty, sixty, and as many +as a hundred men, women, and children would be +slain in a day by various tortures. <q>When I was +in Egypt myself I saw a crowd in one day, some +beheaded, some burnt; with my own eyes I beheld +the marvellous ardour, the truly divine virtue +and alacrity of those who believed in Christ. +Scarcely was sentence passed against the first, +when a fresh number hastened before the tribunal, +professing themselves Christians: with joy, gaiety, +and smiles they received the award of death, singing +<pb n='367'/><anchor id='Pg367'/> +hymns, and returning thanks to their last +breath.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> viii. 9.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Among those distinguished for their learning +in all Grecian studies, and for the universal honour +in which they had been held, Eusebius mentions +especially a bishop of Thmuis named Phileas. +While he lay in prison under sentence of death, +which was afterwards executed by beheading, he +wrote a letter to his people, detailing the scenes +in which he bore a part. This letter the historian +has happily preserved for us. <q>Inasmuch,</q> +he says, <q>as the holy scriptures presented us +with so many fair ensamples and lessons, the +blessed martyrs who are with me felt no hesitation. +They fixed their mind's eye steadily upon +the God of all, formed the conception of death +suffered for piety's sake, and clung firmly to that +to which they were called. For they knew that +our Lord Jesus Christ had become man for our +sakes in order to cut up all sin by the root, and +to supply us with food on that journey by which +we enter into eternal life. For He thought it not +robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself +by taking the form of a slave, and being found +in fashion as a man humbled Himself to death, +and that death the cross. Hence it was that the +martyrs, bearing Christ within them, in their zeal +for the greater gifts endured every suffering and +all the various inventions of torture not once, but +<pb n='368'/><anchor id='Pg368'/> +some of them a second time, and all the threats +of their guards, which did not stop with words in +their zeal to overcome them, without their resolution +being broken, because perfect charity casts +out fear. What words can I find to enumerate +their virtue and their endurance in each particular +trial? Since they were left exposed to anyone's +outrage, some being struck with clubs, others with +rods, others with scourges, some with lashes, some +with ropes. The sight of the tortures presented +every variety, but great suffering throughout. +These with hands bound behind them were distended +on the wood, and had every limb stretched +by machinery; and thus their tormentors by command +attacked the whole body, tearing them not +on the sides alone as murderers are treated, but on +the stomach, the knees, and the cheeks. Others +were hung by one hand from the portico, and this +tension of the sinews and limbs caused a more +terrible pain than any. Others were bound to +pillars face to face, the feet not reaching the +ground, but the weight of the body tightening the +bonds, and this they suffered not during the time +of examination only, or while the governor was +engaged with them, but almost the whole day. +For when he went to others, he left his officers +watching over these, to see if the extremity of +torture should cause any to give way: and he +charged them to be bound without mercy, but +when at their last gasp to be let down and dragged +<pb n='369'/><anchor id='Pg369'/> +along the ground. For he said that no account +at all was to be taken of us, but we were to be +both reputed and treated as non-existent. This +last was a second torture which they superadded +to their blows. There were those also who after +their tortures were put in the stocks with their +feet distended to the fourth hole, where they must +needs lie down, not being able to hold themselves +up through their wounds gaping over the whole +body. Others flung on the pavement lay there +through the repeated violence of their racking, +the many signs of suffering over their body presenting +a more fearful spectacle to those who +looked on than the racking itself. Thus treated, +some died under the torture, putting their adversary +to shame by their endurance; some shut up in +prison half-dead, after a few days expired through +the extremity of their pains; the rest having treatment +applied became still more resolute through +the time spent in prison. And so when the choice +was presented to them either to touch the abominable +sacrifice, and depart unmolested, gaining +by this course an execrable deliverance, or, +not sacrificing, to receive sentence of death, without +any doubt they joyfully went to death. For +they knew what the sacred writings enjoin: <q>he +that sacrifices to other gods shall be rooted out,</q> +and <q>thou shalt have no other gods but me.</q></q><note place='foot'>Euseb. <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> viii. 10.</note> +</p> + +<p> +This may suffice as a specimen of what was +<pb n='370'/><anchor id='Pg370'/> +done during a course of years throughout the +dominion of Galerius, Maximin, and Maxentius. +It is in this persecution especially that the virgin +martyrs suffered the extremity of the heathen +malignity in the threatened loss of that purity +which they valued more than life. And here a +fellow-Christian at Alexandria disguising himself +as a soldier was to S. Theodora the guardian which +her angel himself became to S. Agnes at Rome. In +this persecution also S. Vincent repeats in Spain +the trial and the triumph of S. Laurence at Rome. +The authentic account of his martyrdom shows +the utmost point to which the most ingenious and +the most ferocious cruelty could reach on the one +side, and the most enduring patience on the other. +But the numberless details concerning the sufferings +of this time preserved to us show that it was +indeed a conflict prolonged during eight years, +in which the Roman state put forth the utmost +strength which unlimited power guided by unhesitating +cruelty could exert to destroy the Christian +Church and name. +</p> + +<p> +At the end of this time the conflict was terminated +by the Emperor Galerius, the chief mover +of the whole persecution, being struck by a mortal +disease, in which reduced to impotence by his sufferings +he withdrew his edicts against the Christian +Faith. One after another the persecuting emperors +are taken away by death. Constantine inheriting +his father's justice towards Christians, and +<pb n='371'/><anchor id='Pg371'/> +preserving them in his own territory from these +outrages, gradually appears as their champion. It +is when advancing to Rome against Maxentius that +he sees in the Cross the token of victory over all +enemies: enrolling it on his banner he rules with +Licinius the Roman world, and by a decree issued +at Milan in 313 assures to all Christians the free +exercise of their religion. +</p> + +<p> +In the year 64 Nero had declared by initiating +a persecution against Christians that their religion +was illicit, and fell under the ban of the old Roman +laws which forbade the exercise of any worship +not approved by the senate. From that time +down to the edict of Constantine no Christian could +stand before a Roman tribunal plainly avowing his +faith in one God and one Christ without incurring +the liability of capital punishment. In this +period of two hundred and forty-eight years it is +true that there were intervals of comparative peace +when the emperors did not themselves call into +action the laws against Christians. During the +whole second century there would seem to be no +emperor who set himself to destroy the Christian +name and people as a whole. In the time of Commodus +it was even forbidden to accuse a Christian +of his religion; yet even then, if the accusation +was made and proved, it was a capital offence, +followed, and that too in the case of a senator after +defence before the senate, by the infliction of the +penalty. Alexander Severus is the first of whom +<pb n='372'/><anchor id='Pg372'/> +it is said that <q>he suffered the Christians to be;</q> +Philip also favoured them; so again Valerian at +first; Gallienus gave back their churches; Diocletian +trusted them and filled his palace with them: +but no one of these emperors ventured to declare +the Christian religion to be according to the laws +of Rome a <q>licit</q> religion, and no one therefore +enabled Christians to avow it without danger of suffering. +The most favourable suspended the action +of the laws either by positive edict, or by letting +it be understood that they did not wish Christians +to be disturbed. A change either of the +ruler, or of the ruler's inclination, as was seen in +the cases of Valerian, Aurelian, and Diocletian, +induced at once that full state of penality under +which Christianity was as much forbidden as homicide +or treason, and in virtue of which Roman +magistrates could as little refuse to judge the +crime of being a Christian as those other crimes. +Thus it is that we find martyrdoms assigned to +times at which there is not known to have been +any general persecution: and in unnumbered cases +Christians won their crown through private enmity +or local tumults, when any one of the thousand +motives which awaken ill-will was sufficient to +cause an appeal to that great and unchanged +enemy, the Law of Rome, which proscribed them. +To Constantine belongs the glory of having removed +this enemy. He made the profession of +Christianity no longer a crime. He accomplished +<pb n='373'/><anchor id='Pg373'/> +that which Justin and Tertullian and every Christian +apologist had asked for in vain, that every +Christian in the Roman empire might profess and +practise the Christian Faith without suffering punishment +for it. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='374'/><anchor id='Pg374'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter XIII. The Christian Church And The Greek Philosophy. Part I.</head> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Socrates.</hi> It is, then, necessary to wait until we learn how we ought +to be disposed towards gods and men. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Alcibiades.</hi> But when, Socrates, will that time arrive? and who shall +teach us it? For it seems to me that I should with the greatest pleasure +see that man. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Socrates.</hi> It is he who cares for thee.<note place='foot'><p>Σωκ. Ἀναγκαῖον οὖν ἐστὶ περιμένειν ἕως ἄν τις μάθῃ ὡς δεῖ πρὸς θεοὺς καὶ +πρὸς ἀνθρώπους διακεῖσθαι. +</p> +<p> +Αλκ. Πότε οὖν παρέσται ὁ χρόνος οὗτος, ὦ Σώκρατες? καὶ τίς ὁ παιδεύσων? +ἥδιστα γὰρ ἄν μοι δοκῶ ἰδεῖν τοῦτον τὸν ἄνθρωπον τίς ἐστιν. +</p> +<p> +Σωκ. Οὗτος ἐστιν ᾧ μέλει περὶ σοῦ.</p></note> +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Second Alcib.</hi> § 22. +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +In the three preceding chapters we have witnessed +a great spectacle, a spectacle in all history unique +and without a rival, the encounter, that is, with the +forces of the great world-empire of a voluntary society +which bears in its bosom and propagates a +body of truth, and this encounter carried on without +respite during ten generations of men. The elements +of this conflict are, on the one side, power, +throned in civilisation, and defended by that sword +before which nothing hitherto had stood; on the +other, a belief testified by suffering and patience, +but which moreover appears only as the possession +of a society which is itself dropped as a seed into +<pb n='375'/><anchor id='Pg375'/> +the earth's bosom and silently fills its expanse. Attention +must now be called to another aspect of the +same encounter. Rome, as we have said, preëminently +wielded power; not the power of her legions +only, immense as that was, but the power of her +laws, and the power of that many-sided and as it +seemed triumphant all-embracing civilisation, of +which she was the golden head. The mind however, +the thought of the world which she ruled, belonged +to the great Hellenic race: and it remains to consider +what contest this mind waged with the truth +which the Christian Church sustained and suffered +for. The sword hews away limbs; the fire destroys +bodies; and the martyrs offered freely their limbs +and their bodies to sword and flame. But the martyrs +were inspired with a mind; they carried Christ +in them; and a mind too was opposed to theirs; the +mind which animated that ancient civilisation; the +mind which had erected such shrines as Diana of +Ephesus and the Parthenon at Athens; the mind +which dictated the laws of Solon and Lycurgus; the +mind which taught in the Academus, the Lyceum, +the Portico, and the Garden; the mind which built +Alexandria for the world's emporium and university, +and raised Antioch to be the gorgeous throne +of eastern magnificence. We have to consider +how this heathen mind encountered the Christian; +in short, how, <q>after that in the wisdom of God the +world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased Him +through the folly of Christian preaching to save +<pb n='376'/><anchor id='Pg376'/> +those that believed.</q><note place='foot'>1 Cor. i. 21.</note> Let us trace the encounter +of heathen wisdom—that is, Philosophy—with +Christian wisdom, that is, the truth of a God incarnate +and crucified, with all its consequences, +as upborne by the Christian Church and planted +among men. +</p> + +<p> +Now the system of polytheistic worship which +was then in possession of the Græco-Roman world +had been subjected for many ages to all the analytic +power of human reason as exercised by the +most gifted of races which have hitherto embodied +their genius in a corresponding civilisation. The +philosophy of Greece is in fact such an analysis, +and the rise of this philosophy is carried back +by the ablest inquirers to the time of Thales and +Pythagoras in the sixth century before Christ, +In the beautiful climate of Ionia and Southern +Italy there arose at this time men who attempted +by the efforts of their own reason to form a physical +and a moral theory of the world which surrounded +them. Philosophy is not merely thought, +but methodical thinking, thinking consciously directed +upon the knowledge of things in their connection +with each other. Nor is it content merely +with the collecting of observations and the knowledge +so derived, but proceeds to gather the individual +instances into a whole, to draw to a centre +what was scattered, and to form a view of the +world resting upon clear conceptions and at unity +<pb n='377'/><anchor id='Pg377'/> +with itself.<note place='foot'>Zeller, <hi rend='italic'>die Philosophie der Griechen</hi>, 2<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>te</hi> Aufl. vol. i. pp. 6 and 35. +<q>Philosophy,</q> says Grote, <hi rend='italic'>Plato</hi>, vol. i. v. <q>is, or aims at becoming, +reasoned truth: an aggregate of matters believed or disbelieved after +conscious process of examination gone through by the mind and capable +of being explained to others:</q> who quotes Cicero's <q>Philosophia ex rationum +collatione consistit.</q></note> This was the nature of that work +which Thales and Pythagoras commenced. Let +us give a glance at the race which bore them, and +of which they were representative men. +</p> + +<p> +This race had dwelt for some ages in Greece, +and from thence occupied by emigration the shores +of Asia Minor, Sicily, and Southern Italy, with a +part of Africa. Pythagoras, the father of Italian +philosophy, had migrated from Samos to Crotona, +having visited Egypt, examined and gathered from +all the stores of its knowledge. A century later +Herodotus, the father of Greek history, migrated +likewise from his country Halicarnassus, and after +spending many years in extensive travels through +Egypt and Western Asia settled at Thurii. In +the succeeding century Plato travelled in like manner +with similar purposes. He was familiar with +Sicily as with his own Attica, not to speak of Egypt +or Phœnicia. These three great men, Pythagoras, +Herodotus, and Plato, are specimens herein of the +cultured Greek, the gentleman, as we should call +him. Thus though Greece proper was a very +small country, the whole region from middle +Italy, including Sicily, and the rich coast-land of +Northern Africa from Carthage to Egypt, with +<pb n='378'/><anchor id='Pg378'/> +again Phœnicia and Syria, and the continent to +the depth of perhaps a hundred miles round the +three sides of Asia Minor watered by the sea, +were in a larger sense the Greek's country, a field +of Grecian thought, and enterprise, and observation, +a sphere in which his mind was enlarged, +and his judgment of men and things matured.<note place='foot'>Thus Herodotus says of Solon, τῆς θεωρίης ἐκδημήσας εἵνεκεν, i. 30; +and presently, ξεῖνε Ἀθηναῖε, παρ᾽ ἡμέας γὰρ περὶ σέο λόγος ἀπῖκται πολλὸς, +καὶ σοφίης εἵνεκεν τῆς σῆς καὶ πλάνης, ὡς φιλοσοφέων γῆν πολλὴν θεωρίης +εἵνεκεν ἐπελήλυθας.</note> +Generally speaking these regions were singularly +favoured as to richness of soil and convenience of +situation. Herodotus himself has marked the climate +of Ionia as the most beautiful and best-tempered +of the earth; and with a far wider knowledge +of its regions we should not venture to dispute the +justness of his remark. Some modern writers are +wont to dwell on the effect which climate exercises +upon man's mind. However this may be, it is +certain that the race whose energies were diffused +over this region was most highly gifted with natural +endowments. When out of the world which +Christianity has mainly formed, and from the +bosom of nations which have grown through the +struggle of a thousand years, and with perpetual +competition among each other, into a rich civilisation, +we look back on that ancient and simpler +world, we find in Hellenism the most perfect expression +of the natural man, as a plastic, artistic, +poetical, philosophical, and generally intellectual +<pb n='379'/><anchor id='Pg379'/> +race, wherein matter was most completely permeated +by mind. The language which they used +even yet presents a very perfect image of such a +race, as not being formed from the corruption of +other idioms, but a mother tongue, the most brilliant +of the Aryan sisters. In its union of strength +with beauty, of pleasing sound with accurate sense, +in its power to convey the most subtle distinctions +of philosophic thought, or the most radiant images +of sensuous loveliness, the gravest enunciations of +law, or the tenderest dreams of romance, it was +well calculated to be the organ of a people wherein +bodily form and immaterial intellect alike culminated. +The language which we use ourselves is +full of nerve and vigor, with a certain northern +force and a habit of appropriating the material +stores of other languages by incorporating their +words, which suits well the descendants of sea-kings, +who have provinces all over the world; but +it is without inflexions, deprived of cases and genders, +defective in marking time, whereas the Greek +in all these is most rich and flexible: the one resembles +the torso of a Hercules without its limbs, +the other an Apollo as he touches the earth in his +perfect symmetry. Then compare its sound with +that of the old Hellenic tongue, and we seem to +hear the poet's <q>stridor ferri tractæque catenæ,</q> +beside the voice of a lute; while as to texture, it +is like the train of a railway matched with the +golden network, fine as the spider's web, indissoluble +<pb n='380'/><anchor id='Pg380'/> +as adamant, which the poet feigns to have +been wrought by Vulcan: the English imprisons +thought in a rude and cumbrous iron, while the +Greek exhibits it in a rich and ductile gold. As +was the language, so was the people. Fond of +society and intercourse, skilful, crafty, commercial, +enterprising, with a most human and genial intellect, +with a keen and critical judgment, and a vivid +imagination. When such a race turned itself to a +scientific consideration of the world, it might well +produce what we are now to pass in review, the +Greek philosophy. +</p> + +<p> +And here it is well to lay down first the +standing-point of the Greek mind. The Hellenic +religion was a natural religion, inasmuch as according +to it man had no need to raise himself above +the surrounding world and his own nature in +order to connect himself with the Deity. As he +was originally constituted, he felt himself related +to it: no inward change in his mode of thought, +no struggle with his natural impulses and inclinations, +was required of him for this purpose. All +that to him was humanly natural seemed to him +to have its justification in regard to the Deity likewise; +and so the most godlike man was he who +worked out most completely his powers as man, +and the essence of religious duty consisted in that +man should do for the honour of the Deity what +is in accordance with his own nature.<note place='foot'>Zeller, i. 39, quoted.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='381'/><anchor id='Pg381'/> + +<p> +But this natural religion of the Greeks differed +from that of others in that neither outward nature +as such, nor the sensuous being of man as such, +but human nature in its beauty, as illumined by +mind, is its point of excellence. The Greek did +not, like the Eastern, lose his independence before +the powers of nature, nor revel like the northern +savage in boundless liberty, but in the full consciousness +of his freedom saw its highest fulfilment +in obedience to the general order as the law of his +own nature. And as the purely Grecian deities +are the ideals of human activity, he thus stands +to them in a calm and free relation, such as no +other nation of antiquity felt, because they are +the mirror of his own being, but his being exalted, +so that he is drawn to them without purchasing +this at the cost of the pain and toil of an inward +struggle.<note place='foot'>Zeller, i. p. 38.</note> +</p> + +<p> +How the features of his own land served to +image out to his fancy the Greek's religious attitude +a poet has told us in exquisite verses, worthy +of the beauty which they describe; the apotheosis +of nature. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Where are the Islands of the Blest?</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 6'>They stud the Ægean sea;</l> +<l>And where the deep Elysian rest?</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>It haunts the vale where Peneus strong</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Pours his incessant stream along,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>While craggy ridge and mountain bare</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Cut keenly through the liquid air,</l> +<pb n='382'/><anchor id='Pg382'/> +<l>And in their own pure tints arrayed,</l> +<l>Scorn earth's green robes which change and fade,</l> +<l>And stand in beauty undecayed,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>Guards of the bold and free.</q><note place='foot'>Newman, <hi rend='italic'>Verses on various occasions</hi>; Heathen Greece, p. 158.</note></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +It seems to me essential to bear in mind throughout +our whole inquiry this standing-point of the +Greek mind, because through all the succession of +schools and the fluctuation of doctrines, it remains, +so to say, the ground-work on which they are +embroidered. It is the very texture of Hellenic +thought upon which first Pythagoras, then Plato, +Aristotle, Epicurus, Zeno, Cleanthes, Panætius, +and even Plotinus and Porphyrius spin their web. +They vary the decoration, but the substance remains +unaltered. This standing-point rules the +conception of virtue, and therefore of the whole +moral world. It reaches also to the final end of +man, and determines it. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover as the intellectual power of man +seems to have culminated in the Hellenic race, so +it would seem that a state of things existed among +that people which left the human reason practically +more to its own unaided resources than we +find to have been the case elsewhere. No doubt +the Greek mind had lived and brooded for ages +upon the remains of original revelation, nor can +any learning now completely unravel the interwoven +threads of tradition and reason so as to +distinguish their separate work. However, it is +certain that in the sixth century before Christ the +<pb n='383'/><anchor id='Pg383'/> +Greeks were without a hierarchy, and without a +definite theology: not indeed without individual +priesthoods, traditionary rites, and an existing worship, +as well as certain mysteries which professed +to communicate a higher and more recondite doctrine +than that exposed to the vulgar gaze. But +in the absence of any hierarchy holding this priesthood +together, and teaching anything like a specific +doctrine about divine and human things, a +very large range indeed was given to the mind, +acting upon this shadowy religious belief, and reacted +upon by it, to form their philosophy. The +Greeks did not, any more than antiquity in general, +use the acts of religious service for instruction by +religious discourse.<note place='foot'>Zeller, i. p. 43. <q>Aber es liegt überhaupt nicht in der Weise des +Alterthums, die gottesdienstlichen Handlungen zur Belehrung durch +Religionsvorträge zu benützen. Ein Julian mochte in Nachahmung +christlicher Sitte dazu den Versuch machen, aus der klassischen Zeit +selbst ist uns kein Beispiel hievon überliefert.</q></note> In other words, there was no +such thing as preaching among them. A domain +therefore was open to the philosopher on which he +might stand without directly impeaching the ancestral +worship, while he examined its grounds, and +perhaps sapped its foundations. He was therein +taking up a position which their priests, the civil +functionaries of religious rites scarcely any longer +retaining a spiritual meaning or a moral cogency, +had not occupied. +</p> + +<p> +Thus it was that in the midst of a people who +worshipped traditionally a multitude of gods and +<pb n='384'/><anchor id='Pg384'/> +goddesses, such as we have them exhibited in the +Homeric and Hesiodic poems, the chief, perhaps +the only, and the yet unwritten literature of that +day, beings with a personal character and will, +who were supposed to divide the government of +the world between them, with a more or less recognised +sovereignty of one chief, arose men who +set themselves by the light of reason to think +steadily and continuously how that world in which +they were living had become what it was. Such +a movement of mind indicated in itself dissatisfaction +with the existing religion, wherein the +gods were considered the causes of things, and +their wills the rulers of them, though in the background +even here loomed the idea of fate, the +representative, as it were, of brute matter, from +which the Greek mind could never disengage itself. +Yet we do not find that these philosophers +set themselves openly to attack the existing religion; +rather leaving it in possession, and themselves +usually complying with its forms, they pursued +their own train of thought, as it were by its +side, not choosing to look whither it would lead +them. +</p> + +<p> +Such very much appears the position of inquirers +in the first period of Greek philosophy, +which is generally made to extend from its rise +under Thales to the time of the Sophists and Socrates. +Their thoughts were mainly occupied with +the appearances of the physical world: they speculated +<pb n='385'/><anchor id='Pg385'/> +how it could have arisen. Thus Thales, we +are told, imagined its first principle to be water; +Anaximander, boundless matter; Anaximenes, air; +the Pythagoreans said, all is number; the Eleatic +school, all is the one unchangeable being.<note place='foot'>Zeller, i. p. 141.</note> On +the contrary Heracleitus conceived the one Being +as ever in motion, involved in perpetual change: +in accordance with which he nowhere finds true +knowledge, and thinks the mass of men have no +understanding for eternal truth.<note place='foot'>Ib. i. pp. 449-452.</note> Empedocles of +Agrigentum sets forth the four elements, earth, +water, air, and fire, as the material principles or +roots of things, attaching to these two ideal principles +as moving forces, Love as the unitive, and +Hatred as the severing.<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, <hi rend='italic'>Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie</hi>, drit. Aufl. i. +p. 65.</note> Anaxagoras, over and +above mechanical causes, to which he limited himself +in the explanation of everything in particular, recognises +a divine spirit, which as the finest of all +things is simple, unmixed, passionless reason, which +came upon chaos, forming and ordering the world +out of it.<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. 68.</note> Democritus of Abdera takes for his +principles the Full and the Empty, identifying +these with Being and Non-being, or Something and +Nothing. His Full consists of indivisible atoms.<note place='foot'>Ib. i. 72.</note> +</p> + +<p> +The remarkable thing about all these systems, +if we may so call them, is, that while the existing +popular religion teemed over, so to say, with the +<pb n='386'/><anchor id='Pg386'/> +idea of a number of personal agents directing +human things, these philosophers nearly all concurred +in the attempt to find some one agent, and +that material, from which all should spring. As yet +even the radical distinction of matter and spirit +was not clear to their minds:<note place='foot'>Döllinger, <hi rend='italic'>Heidenthum und Judenthum</hi>, p. 272, and Zeller, i. p. 139, +who states this of the Eleatics, Heracleitus, Democritus, and even the +Pythagoreans, who, though they put Number instead of Matter, yet conceived +incorporeal principles as material, and so considered from the +same point of view the soul and the body, the ethical and the physical, +in man.</note> the soul of the +individual man was to them merely a particle +of the vital power which disclosed itself through +the universe, the purest portion, but a portion still, +of primal matter. In their conception of the +constituent cause while they advanced towards +unity they receded from personality. Even the +world-forming Intelligence of Anaxagoras, who +first distinctly declares that spirit is not mixed +with matter, works only as a power of nature, and +is portrayed to us in a semi-sensuous form, as a +finer matter.<note place='foot'>Zeller, ibid.</note> +</p> + +<p> +After Greek philosophy had run out during +about a hundred and fifty years in this sort of +vague and imaginative speculation upon the physical +world, it underwent a great change, which +marks the transition to its second period. These +successive opinions of philosophers led a class of +men who arose at Athens about the middle age of +Socrates to the conclusion, that it would be more +<pb n='387'/><anchor id='Pg387'/> +profitable to turn the course of human thought +from such cosmological reveries to the question of +the perception itself of truth by man. He who +accomplished this was Socrates, who turned his +reflexion by preference upon man himself as the +subject who thinks and wills.<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. 75. <q>Die Sophistik bildet den Uebergang von der +kosmologischen zu der auf das denkende und wollende Subject gerichteten +Philosophie.</q> p. 76. <q>Sokrates... theilt mit den Sophisten die +allgemeine Tendenz der Reflexion auf das Subject, tritt aber zu ihnen +dadurch in Gegensatz, das seine Reflexion sich nicht bloss auf die elementaren +Functionen des Subjects, die Wahrnehmung und Meinung und +das sinnliche und egoistische Begehren, sondern auch auf die höchsten +gestigen, zur Objectivität in wesentlicher Beziehung stehenden Functionen, +nämlich auf das Wissen und die Tugend richtet.</q></note> And herein his +character had an influence over Greek philosophy +which is strikingly marked through the whole of +its second period. This period embraces the Sophists, +Socrates himself, Plato and Aristotle, and +the Stoics and Epicureans; finally those Sceptic +and Eclectic schools which rose naturally from +the criticism detecting what is untenable in preceding +systems. During the six hundred years +which elapse from the teaching career of Socrates +to the death of Marcus Antoninus we may say that +one great line of inquiry occupied among philosophers +the human mind; it was man himself, as +the subject of logical thought and moral will.<note place='foot'>Ib. i. 76.</note> +The chief endeavour was to form a science of +ethics, and a science of reasoning, to which physical +and mathematical studies, though at times +<pb n='388'/><anchor id='Pg388'/> +warmly pursued and never wholly neglected, were +yet subordinate.<note place='foot'>Thus Zeller throughout his great work perpetually deplores that +through this long period, and with increasing force after Aristotle's time, +pure science, <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>die reine Wissenschaft</foreign>, was not studied for its own sake, +but was subordinate to a moral purpose, the question, that is, of man's +greatest good, and his happiness.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Who is this man of singular ugliness, with a +face like a Silenus, with a body enduring hunger +and impervious to heat and cold, who for thirty +years frequents from morning to night the agora, +the streets, the porticoes of Athens; who can drain +the wine-cup through the night, and with reason +unimpaired discuss philosophy through the following +day; never alone, ready to converse with all +in whom he discerned the germ of inquiry; who +neither courts the high nor despises the low, but +beside whom may be found the reckless beauty of +Alcibiades and the staid gravity of Nicias, the admiring +gaze of Plato even in youth majestic, and +the sober homage of plainer Xenophon? Who is +this, the man most social of men where the whole +population is a club, the club of Athenian citizenship; +whose tongue arrests the most volatile and +inconstant of peoples; whose reason attracts and +by turns draws out or silences the most opposite +of characters; whose whole life is publicity; of +spirit at once homely and subtle, simple and critical, +parent both of philosophic certitude and philosophic +scepticism? This is Socrates, the son of +Sophroniscus, to whom Greek philosophy will look +<pb n='389'/><anchor id='Pg389'/> +back as on one that had given its bent and directed +its course during a thousand years, until the last +of its defenders<note place='foot'>Simplicius, in the sixth century.</note> will fight a hopeless battle with +triumphant Christianity, as the gods of Greece +vanish, never more to return, and the lurid star +of a false prophet teaching a false monotheism +appears above the horizon, and takes the place, +which they have left vacant, to be chief foe of the +Christian name. +</p> + +<p> +The special principle of Socrates is thus described +to us by an historian of Greek philosophy.<note place='foot'>Zeller, i. p. 117.</note> +<q>It is not merely an already existing +mode of thought which was further developed by +Socrates, but an essentially new principle and proceeding +which were introduced into philosophy. +Whilst all preceding philosophy had been directed +immediately on the object, so that the question of +the essence and grounds of natural appearances is +in it the radical question, on which all others depend, +Socrates was the first to give utterance to +the conviction that nothing can be known respecting +anything which meets our thought, before its +general essence, its conception, be determined: +that accordingly the trial of our own representations +by the standard of the conception is philosophical +self-cognition, the beginning and the condition +of all true knowing: whilst those who preceded +him had arrived through the consideration +<pb n='390'/><anchor id='Pg390'/> +of things only to distinguishing between the representation +of things and the knowing of them, he, +reversing this, makes all cognition of things dependent +on the right view of the nature of knowledge.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Another<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. p. 88.</note> says: <q>It is stated in Aristotle's +<hi rend='italic'>Metaphysics</hi><note place='foot'>xiii. 4.</note> that Socrates introduced the method +of Induction and Definition, which proceeds +from the individual to the determination of the +conception. Aristotle marks<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Metaph.</hi> i. 6.</note> the domain of ethics +as that on which Socrates applied this method. +According to him the fundamental view of Socrates +was the indivisible unity of theoretical prudence +and practical ability on ethical ground. +Socrates conceived all the virtues to be prudences, +inasmuch as they are sciences.<note place='foot'>Σωκράτης φρονήσεις ᾤετο εἶναι πάσας τὰς ἀρετάς ... λόγους τὰς ἀρετὰς +ᾤετο εἶναι; ἐπιστήμας γὰρ εἶναι πάσας. <hi rend='italic'>Ethic. Nic.</hi> vi. 13.</note> These +statements are fully borne out by the portraits of +Xenophon and Plato: Aristotle has only given +point to their expression. Thus Xenophon says,<note place='foot'>Xen. <hi rend='italic'>Mem.</hi> i. 1. 16.</note> +<q>he was ever conversing about human things, inquiring +what was piety and what impiety; what +honour and what turpitude; what just and what +unjust; what sobermindedness and what madness; +what courage and what cowardice; what policy +and what politician; what the government of men +and who capable of it; and suchlike things; and +those who knew these he esteemed men of honour +<pb n='391'/><anchor id='Pg391'/> +and goodness, those who knew them not to be +justly called of servile mind.</q> <q>Never did he +cease inquiring with those who frequented him +about what everything was.</q><note place='foot'>Xen. <hi rend='italic'>Mem.</hi> iv. 6. 1.</note> <q>And he did not +distinguish between wisdom and temperance, but +he asserted that justice and every other virtue was +wisdom.</q><note place='foot'>Ibid. iii. 4. 9.</note> With this view hang together the convictions +that virtue can be taught, that all virtue +in truth is only one, and that no one is willingly +wicked, but only through ignorance.<note place='foot'>Ibid. iii. 9, iv. 6; <hi rend='italic'>Sympos.</hi> ii. 12. Plat. <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 25 e; <hi rend='italic'>Protag.</hi> +p. 329 b.</note> The good +is identical with the beautiful and the expedient. +Right dealing, grounded upon prudence and practice, +is better than good fortune. Self-knowledge, +the fulfilment of the Delphic Apollo's injunction, +<q>Know thyself,</q> is the condition of practical ability. +External goods do not advance. To need nothing +is godlike; to need the least possible comes nearest +to the divine perfection.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Memor.</hi> i. 6, 10.</note> Cicero's well-known +expression is substantially correct,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Tusc.</hi> v. 4.</note> that Socrates +called down philosophy from heaven to earth, introduced +it into cities and houses, and required it +to study life, morals, goods and evils, which constituted +a progress from the natural philosophy +pursued by his predecessors to ethics whose province +is man. But Socrates possessed no complete +system of ethical doctrines, but only the mainspring +of inquiry; and so it was natural that he +<pb n='392'/><anchor id='Pg392'/> +could only reach definite ethical statements in conversation +with others. Thus his art was Mental +Midwifery,<note place='foot'>ἡ μαιευτική, Plat. <hi rend='italic'>Theæt.</hi> p. 149.</note> as Plato designates it. His confessed +non-knowledge, resting on the firm consciousness +of the essence of true knowledge, stood higher +than the imagined knowledge of those who conversed +with him; and to it was attached the Socratic +Irony; that apparent recognition which is +paid to the superior wisdom and prudence of another +until this is dissolved into its nothingness +by the dialectic examination which measures what +is maintained as a generalisation by the fixed point +of the particular case. Thus it was that Socrates +exercised the charge of examining men,<note place='foot'>ἐξέτασις, Plat. <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> p. 20.</note> which he +was convinced had been imposed upon him by the +Delphic god in the oracle elicited by Chærepho, +that he was the wisest of men.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The opinion, practice, and teaching of Socrates +concerning the gods and the godhead are set forth +most graphically by his disciple Xenophon in two +chapters of his <hi rend='italic'>Memorabilia</hi>. Scarcely could a +Christian moralist exhibit more lucidly the argument +from design in proof of a divine Providence +which has formed and which rules the world; +more than this, which has produced the seasons +of the year, the plants, the animals, for the good +of man. In the eyes of Socrates the human body +itself is a never-failing proof of the divine love of +<pb n='393'/><anchor id='Pg393'/> +man. He details the wisdom with which it is put +together, and forces the opponent, who is introduced +as not sacrificing, nor praying to the gods, +nor believing in divination, to confess: <q>When I +consider this, assuredly these things seem the device +of some wise world-maker, the lover of living +things.</q><note place='foot'>Xen. <hi rend='italic'>Mem.</hi> i. 4. 7. σοφοῦ τινὸς δημιουργοῦ καὶ φιλοζώου.</note> Another he compels by a long enumeration +of divine benefits to man to come to a +similar conclusion.<note place='foot'>Ibid. iv. 3.</note> <q>Certainly, Socrates, the +gods seem to have a great care for men. Besides, +he replies, when we cannot foresee in the future +what is good for us, they help us by revealing +through divination what is to come, and instructing +us as to the best course. Nay, Socrates, rejoins +the other, they seem to treat you even more +kindly than other men; for without being asked +by you they signify before to you what you should +do and what leave undone. That I say true, answers +Socrates, even you, O Euthydemus, will acknowledge, +if you do not wait until you see the +forms of the gods, but are contented, when you +behold their works, to worship and honour them. +And consider that the gods themselves point this +out to you: for not only do the rest of them, when +they give us good things, not exhibit themselves to +our senses in so doing, but he<note place='foot'>ὁ τὸν ὅλον κόσμον συντάττων τὲ καὶ συνέχων, ἐν ᾣ πάντα τὰ καλὰ καὶ +ἀγαθά ἐστι, καὶ ἀεὶ μὲν χρωμένοις ἀτριβῆ τε καὶ ὑγιᾶ καὶ ἀγήρατον παρέχων, +θᾶττον δὲ νοήματος ἀναμαρτήτως ὑπηρετοῦντα, οὗτος τὰ μέγιστα μὲν πράττων +ὁρᾶται, τάδε δὲ οἰκονομῶν ἀόρατος ἡμῖν ἐστι. Compare the +famous passage of S. Paul, Rom. i. 19, 20. διότι τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ +φάνερόν ἐστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς; ὁ γὰρ Θεὸς αὐτοῖς ἐφανέρωσε; τὰ γὰρ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ +ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα καθορᾶται, ἥτε ἀΐδιος αὐτοῦ δύναμις +καὶ θειότης εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτοὺς ἀναπολογήτους. Socrates draws precisely the +conclusion which S. Paul asserts that the premises warrant.</note> who coördinates +<pb n='394'/><anchor id='Pg394'/> +and holds together the whole universe, in whom +are all beautiful and good things, and who provides +them for the perpetual use of men free from +waste, disease, and old age, so that they help us +unfailingly, quicker than thought, is discerned in +the greatness of his operations, but while he administers +these to us, is himself invisible. And +take thought that the sun, who seems to be manifest +to all, allows not men to examine him closely, +but should anyone attempt to look at him shamelessly, +takes away his sight. And the ministers +of the gods too you will find evading our senses; +the lightning shoots from on high, and is master +wherever it alights, but is seen neither in its approach, +nor in its stroke, nor in its departure. The +winds themselves are invisible, but their works are +manifest, and we feel them as they come. Nay +and man's soul too, or if there be anything else in +man participating the divine, manifestly rules in +us as a king, but is not seen. Bearing in thought +these things we must not despise the invisible, but +learning their power by their results, honour that +which is divine.<note place='foot'>τὸ δαιμόνιον.</note> Indeed, Socrates, says Euthydemus, +for my part I am quite resolved not the +least to neglect what is divine; but my trouble is, +<pb n='395'/><anchor id='Pg395'/> +that it seems to me that no single man can ever be +duly thankful for the kindnesses of the gods. Do +not let this trouble you, Euthydemus, for you see +the god at Delphi, when anyone asks him how to +be grateful to the gods, answers, By your country's +law. Now it is surely law everywhere to +please the gods by sacrifices, as best you can. +How then can anyone honour the gods better or +more piously than by doing what themselves bid? +Only we must not be behind our power: for anyone +who is so behind surely is manifest therein as +not honouring the gods. Our duty is to honour +them to the utmost of our power, and then to take +heart and hope from them, the greatest goods: for +a man cannot show a sound mind in hoping from +others greater goods than from those who have the +power to give the greatest aid; nor from those in +any other way than by pleasing them. And how +can one better please them than by the most unfailing +obedience to them? Now by saying such +things, and himself doing them, he was ever bringing +those who were in intercourse with him to +piety and a sound mind.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The last words of this man to his judges were: +<q>And now it is time that we depart, I to death, +and you to life; but which of us are going unto +the better thing is not clear to anyone save to +God.</q><note place='foot'>Plato, <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi>, at the end.</note> And when the hemlock was reaching his +heart,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Phædo</hi>, p. 118.</note> he uncovered his head, and said with his +<pb n='396'/><anchor id='Pg396'/> +last utterance, <q>O Crito, we owe a cock to Æsculapius: +pay it, and do not neglect it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +I have cited at length these passages because +I think that they exhibit clearly the opinions and +convictions of Socrates on the most important +of all subjects. We behold here a man of a very +religious mind, holding with the utmost tenacity +the idea of a Providence, the Benefactor of men +and their Judge, since it discriminates between +them by reward and punishment: nor is it an impersonal +Providence, an abstract Reason, but <q>a +wise world-maker,</q> who loves man and does him +good, and whose operations in this very purpose +of doing him good indicate unity of design and +perfection of execution: and yet in his conception +of the godhead itself he halts between unity and +plurality, and beside a statement such as we might +read in a Pauline epistle of the one God who +orders in harmony the universe and holds it together, +we find him passing to the recognition and +worship of many gods: beside words to his judges +most sublime and most pathetic, concerning the +issue of life and of death, we find him with his +last breath directing his friend to discharge the +sacrifice of a cock which he had promised to Æsculapius. +He does not attempt to solve either the +rational or the moral antagonism between many +gods and one; but practically he throws himself +into the worship of his country, referring to the +law of each place as that which should determine +<pb n='397'/><anchor id='Pg397'/> +for ever man the question how the gods are to +be honoured. And in this I believe that he is +typical of the whole race of philosophers at whose +head he stands. Like him they spoke of one God, +and they offered the cock to Æsculapius. If we +seek the highest expressions concerning the divine +unity, wisdom, and power which are to be found +in their writings, they approach S. Paul: if we +consider other expressions, and above all, their +practice, it is in the main that other word of Socrates, +Worship according to the law of your +country. In the doctrine attributed to him both +by Xenophon and Aristotle, that he identified virtue +and prudence, and believed that no man is +willingly wicked, but only out of ignorance, we +have a proof which can scarcely be exceeded in +force how entirely the standing-point of Socrates +was that above attributed to the Greek mind in +general, that of a religion according to nature. It +ignores in the most emphatic because in the most +unconscious way the inclination to evil in man. +The relation between God and man is simply that +of greater and less. There is a physical affinity +and a numerical proportion between that mighty +nature which is ruled through all its length and +breadth by a pervading reason, and the portion of +it contained in man's body and soul.<note place='foot'>The view here taken would be powerfully confirmed by citing at +length the interview of Socrates with the hetæra Theodote, as given +by Xen. <hi rend='italic'>Mem.</hi> iii. 11. The unconscious absence from the mind of Socrates +of any notion of turpitude in the occupation of Theodote is very +striking indeed. One is reminded that Socrates took lessons in rhetoric +of that Aspasia, herself the hetæra of Pericles, who is recorded to have +educated a school of Theodotes. Thus Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Pericles</hi>, 24, says of +her, παιδίσκας ἑταιρούσας τρέφουσα. In the Meneximus, p. 235, Socrates +claims her as being his διδάσκαλος οὖσα οὐ πάνυ φαύλη περὶ ῥητορικῆς, quoted +by Wallon, <hi rend='italic'>de l'Esclavage</hi>, vol. i. p. 190.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='398'/><anchor id='Pg398'/> + +<p> +It is curious to imagine what would have been +the effect of the life and the death of Socrates had +he lived and died just as he did with one sole exception, +that Plato and Xenophon had not been +his disciples. Socrates wrote nothing: oral discourse +was his sole instrument of teaching. When +its last memories had faded away, we might have +known as little of him as we really know of Pythagoras. +He would still indeed have been the +greatest of heathen names because he died for his +moral convictions. This might have been all, and +it would have been very much. This, however, +was not to be. In Xenophon's <hi rend='italic'>Memorabilia</hi> we +have an accurate life-portrait of the man, while in +the great genius of Plato we have the application +of what may be termed Socratic principles to the +formation of an ethical, logical, and physical system. +The Megaric<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. 92, 93.</note> school of Euclides, and Phædo's +school of Elis, took indeed one side of his doctrine, +the dialectic, for their special subject of inquiry; +the Cynic school of Antisthenes and the Cyrenian +school of Aristippus another side, the ethical: but +it was Plato who embraced in one comprehensive +scheme the whole grasp of his master's thought, +<pb n='399'/><anchor id='Pg399'/> +as well as the collective approved elements of former +systems. +</p> + +<p> +The principle of Socrates concerning the union +of knowledge and virtue invited his followers to +work out a system of dialectics and ethics.<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. 91.</note> And +further the dialectic process of induction and definition, +which Aristotle tells us that Socrates introduced, +was made by Plato the foundation of his +philosophy.<note place='foot'>Ibid. i. 117.</note> Its central point is the doctrine of +Ideas. Now the Platonic Idea is the object of the +conception. As a single object becomes known by +its representation, so the Idea becomes known by +its conception. It is not the essence as such which +dwells in many similar individual objects, but that +essence as represented perfectly in its kind, unalterably, +in unity, independence, and self-existence. +The Idea points to the general, but is represented +by Plato as an original image of the individual +projected as it were outside of time and space. +Conceive individuals which have a similar being, +or belong to the same class, delivered from the +limits of time and space, of materiality and individual +imperfections, and so reduced to that unity +which is the groundwork of their existence, and +such unity is the Platonic Idea. The highest Idea +is the Idea of the good,<note place='foot'>Ibid. i. 118.</note> which is as it were the +sun in the realm of Ideas, viewed as the first cause +of being and of knowledge. Plato seems to identify +<pb n='400'/><anchor id='Pg400'/> +it with the highest godhead. Thus the method to +attain the knowledge of Ideas is dialectics, which +comprehend the double path of rising to the general +and returning from the general to the particular. +</p> + +<p> +As to the generation<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. 120, from Aristotle, <hi rend='italic'>Metaph.</hi> i. 6 and 9, and xiii. 4.</note> of the doctrine of Ideas, +Aristotle states it as the common product of the +doctrine of Heracleitus that everything which +meets the senses is subject to change and flux, +and of the Socratic view of the conception. From +Socrates Plato learnt that when once this is rightly +formed, it can be held fast unchangeably: he would +not then apply it to anything which meets the +senses, but inferred that there must be other beings +which are the objects of the knowledge acquired +by the conception, and these objects he +named Ideas. The filiation,<note place='foot'>Zeller, i. 119.</note> then, between Socrates +and Plato is this: Socrates was the first +to require that all knowledge and all moral dealing +should proceed from the knowing of the conception, +and endeavoured to execute this by his +inductive process, while with Plato the same conviction +formed the starting-point of a philosophical +system: so that what with Socrates was simply +a rule of scientific procedure was carried out by +Plato to an objective intuition, and when Socrates +said, Only the knowing of the conception is true +knowledge, Plato added, Only the being of the conception +is true being. +</p> + +<pb n='401'/><anchor id='Pg401'/> + +<p> +Thus in Plato we have a man of great original +mind attempting with this instrument of induction +and definition to form a scheme of the universe, +which divides under his hand into a triple aspect +of ethics, physics, and dialectics.<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. 120, remarks: <q>Die Eintheilung der Philosophie in +Ethik, Physik und Dialektik (die Cicero <hi rend='italic'>Acad. pos.</hi> i. 5, 19, Plato zugeschreibt), +hat nach Sextus Empir (<hi rend='italic'>adv. Math.</hi> vii. 16) zuerst Plato's +Schüler Xenocrates förmlich aufgestellt: Plato aber sei, sagt Sextus mit +Recht, δυνάμει ihr Urheber, ἀρχηγός.</q></note> No doubt his +main intention was to offer to the cultured and +reflective few,—that inner circle to which his +teaching and his writings were directed,—a philosophy +which should serve them as a religion,<note place='foot'>See Zeller, vol. ii. part 2, p. 599. Döllinger, p. 299, sec. 122; p. 279, +sec. 87.</note> +which should fill up the gaps and remove the +anomalies of the existing worship, purifying and +restoring it, while it preserved amity with it notwithstanding. +Such being his intention, the manner +in which he treats the doctrine of the Divine +Being is the more remarkable. Instead of basing +his philosophy upon it, and showing its relation as +a part of his system of physics, ethics, and dialectics, +he speaks of it frequently indeed, but always +incidentally.<note place='foot'>Zeller, ii. part 1, p. 598. <q>Ueber diese beiden Gegenstände (die +Religion und die Kunst) hat sich Plato ziemlich häufig, aber immer +nur gelegenheitlich geäussert.</q></note> It is not so with other doctrines +which he has at heart. Three of his finest dialogues +are dedicated to setting forth as many +aspects of his doctrine as to the soul's immortality; +the Phædrus treats of its preëxistence; the +<pb n='402'/><anchor id='Pg402'/> +Banquet of the influence of immortality on the relations +of the present life; the Phædo of death as +the means of a happy futurity.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 290, sec. 110.</note> But no one collects +together and lucidly exhibits his view of the +divine nature. This has to be picked out of his +writings, a bit here, and another there, and put together +by the student. No doubt he felt, as he +has said,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Timæus</hi>, 28.</note> <q>with regard to the Maker and the +Father of this universe it is hard to find him out, +and when you have found him impossible to describe +him to all men.</q> He was intimately convinced +that the great mass of mankind was quite +unsuited to receive the conception of the Divine +Being which he had formed. But I believe there +to have been another reason of greater force with +him for his not having presented as a whole his +conclusions on this central doctrine of all. It was +not merely that the fate of his master Socrates was +ever before him,<note place='foot'>Thus Grote, <hi rend='italic'>Plato</hi>, i. 230, speaks of <q>the early caution produced +by the fate of Socrates,</q> and believes <q>such apprehension to have operated +as one motive deterring him from publishing any philosophical +exposition under his own name, any Πλάτωνος σύγγραμμα,</q> p. 231.</note> but the singular position which +he held with regard to the established worship. +He wished to correct, not to destroy it; he wished +to reduce it to monotheism, and yet to preserve +polytheism. The two are bound together in his +mind. If then his writings be carefully analysed, +and every reference to the Supreme Being put together +<pb n='403'/><anchor id='Pg403'/> +into a sort of mosaic,<note place='foot'>This has been done by Zeller, vol. ii. part 1, pp. 599-602, from +whom I take it. He supports his analysis with a great number of references +to various works of Plato.</note> we should find the +following picture. The everlasting essence of +things, with which Philosophy deals, is the highest +object. Ideas are those everlasting gods after +the pattern of which the world and all things which +are in it are formed, and the Godhead, taken absolutely, +is not distinct from the highest Idea. Plato +sets forth the causality of Ideas and the sway of +reason in the world together with the impossibility +to explain what is generated save by an Ingenerate, +motion save by a soul, and the ordered disposition +of the world, working out a purpose, save by reason; +and in all which he declares respecting the +Godhead, the Idea of Good, of the highest metaphysical +and ethical perfection, is his guiding-point. +As this highest Idea stands at the head of +all Ideas as the cause of all being and knowledge, +so the one everlasting invisible God, the Former +and Father of all things, stands at the head of all +the gods, alike difficult to find and to describe. +Just as the above Idea is distinguished by the conception +of the Good, so Plato selects goodness as +God's most essential attribute. It is on this ground +that he maintains the Godhead to be absolutely +good and upright, and its operation to be merely +good and upright; against the old notion which +imputed envy to it, and derived evil from it. +<pb n='404'/><anchor id='Pg404'/> +Again, in opposition to the fabulous appearances +of the gods, it is from the goodness of the Godhead +that he deduces its unchangeableness, inasmuch +as what is perfect can neither be changed +by anything else, nor change itself, and so become +worse. He adds, the Godhead will never show +itself to men other than it is, since all falsehood +is foreign to it; inasmuch as to falsehood in the +properest sense, that is, ignorance and self-deception, +it is not exposed, and has no need to deceive +others. He extols the divine perfection, to which +no beauty and no excellence is wanting; the divine +power, which embraces everything and can +do everything which is possible, that is, which +does not involve a moral or a metaphysical contradiction: +for instance, it is impossible for God +to wish to change Himself, for evil to cease, and +from the doctrine respecting the forming of the +world and matter it is clear that the divine activity +in producing is limited by the nature of the +finite.<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol. ii. part 1, p. 487, remarks of Plato's doctrine: <q>So far +as things are the appearance and the image of the Idea, they must be +determined by the Idea; so far as they have in themselves a proper +principle in matter, they must be determined likewise by necessity: +since, certain as it is that the world is the work of reason, it is as little +to be left out of mind that in its formation beside reason another blindly +working cause was in play, and that even the Godhead could make its +work not absolutely perfect, but only so good as the nature of the finite +permitted;</q> and he refers to many passages of the <hi rend='italic'>Timæus</hi>, of which one +will suffice, wherein at the conclusion of a review of the physical causes +of things Plato says: ταῦτα δὴ πάντα τότε ταύτῃ πεφυκότα ἐξ ἀνάγκης ὁ τοῦ +καλλίστου τε καὶ ἀρίστου δημιουργὸς ἐν τοῖς γιγνομένοις παρελάμβανεν ἡνίκα +τὸν αὐτάρκη τε καὶ τὸν τελεώτατον Θεὸν ἐγέννα, χρώμενος μὲν ταῖς περὶ ταῦτα +αἰτίαις ὑπηρετούσαις, τὸ δὲ εὖ τεκταινόμενος ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς γιγνομένοις αὐτὸς; διὸ +δὴ χρὴ δὔ αἰτίας εἴδη διορίζεσθαι, τὸ μὲν ἀναγκαῖον, τὸ δὲ θεῖον, καὶ τὸ μὲν θεῖον +ἐν ἅπασι ζητεῖν κτήσεως ἕνεκα εὐδαίμονος βίου, καθ᾽ ὅσον ἡμῶν ἡ φύσις ἐνδέχεται, +τὸ δὲ ἀναγκαῖον ἐκείνων χάριν, λογιζομένους ὡς ἄνευ τούτων οὐ δυνατὰ αὐτὰ ἐκεῖνα, +ἐφ᾽ οἷς σπουδάζομεν, μόνα κατανοεῖν, οὐδ᾽ αὖ λαβεῖν, οὐδ᾽ ἄλλως πως μετασχεῖν. +p. 68. Compare p. 48. μεμιγμένη γὰρ οὖν ἡ τοῦδε τοῦ κόσμου γένεσις ἐξ +ἀνάγκης τε καὶ νοῦ συστάσεως ἐγεννήθη; κ.τ.λ.</note> He extols the divine wisdom which disposes +<pb n='405'/><anchor id='Pg405'/> +all things to its purpose; its omniscience, +which nothing escapes; its justice, which leaves +no transgression unpunished and no virtue unrewarded; +its goodness, which makes the best provision +for all. He rejects, as notions taken from +man, not merely the Godhead's having a body, but +likewise all those tales which impute passions, +quarrels, crimes of every kind to the gods. He +declares them to be exalted above pleasure and +displeasure, to be untouched by any evil; and is +full of moral indignation at the thought that they +allow themselves to be won over, or rather corrupted, +by prayers and offerings. Moreover he +shows that everything is ordered and ruled by +Divine Providence, which extends over the least +as well as the greatest, and as regards men is +especially convinced that they are a carefully-tended +possession of the Godhead, and that all +things must issue in good to those who through +virtue gain its goodwill. If the unequal and unjust +distribution of men's lot is objected, his reply +is, that virtue carries its reward and wickedness +its punishment immediately in itself; further, that +both are sure of a complete retribution in the +<pb n='406'/><anchor id='Pg406'/> +after-world, while already in this life as a rule in +the end the upright goes not without recognition +and thanks, nor the transgressor without universal +hate and detestation. As to the general fact that +there is evil in the world, it seemed to him so inevitable +that it was not requisite expressly to defend +the Godhead on that score. All these statements +carry us back at last to one and the same +point. It is the Idea of the Good by applying +which Plato produces so exalted a doctrine of +God. In the like spirit he will consider only the +moral intention in acts of worship. He alone can +please the Godhead who is like it, and he alone is +like it who is pious, wise, and just. The gods cannot +receive the gifts of the wicked; the virtuous +alone have a right to invoke them. God is goodness; +and he who bears not the image of that +goodness in himself stands in no communion with +him. +</p> + +<p> +The doctrine here set forth is the highest ever +reached by purely heathen Greek speculation; but +we must remember that it is not thus collected +into a head by Plato himself, still less is it put +into such a relation to his physical, his logical, and +his moral system as such a doctrine ought to bear. +A man who had reached so lofty a conviction of +the divine unity and moral perfection as this must, +if he would make it effectual, give to it in his system +the place which it really holds in the world. +If there be indeed a Maker and Father of the +<pb n='407'/><anchor id='Pg407'/> +universe by whom all things consist, all that Plato +taught should have been subordinated to this its +first principle, and the sum of his teaching to men +should have been to set him forth. So far is this +from the position which Plato really took, that in +his ideal Republic no other religion but the traditional +Greek religion was to subsist; he changes +nothing in the very forms of the polytheistic worship; +he refers the decision on many points to +the Delphic Apollo.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 297, sec. 119, quoted.</note> And when in his last book +on the Laws<note place='foot'>So likewise Zeller remarks, vol. ii. part 1, p. 604: <q>Die Gesetze, +welchen die philosophischen Regenten fehlen, behandeln die Volks-religion +durchweg als die sittliche Grundlage des Staatswesens.</q></note> he sets forth the notion of a second +best state, one which can be realised under +actual circumstances, wherein he gives a mass of +practical directions for the needs of the lower +classes, religion in its purely polytheistic dress is +the soul of his teaching, the groundwork of his +structure. Men are to worship first of all the +Olympian gods, and the gods who are the patrons +of the city; then the gods of the earth; then demons +and heroes; and all these in the traditional +way by offerings, prayers, and vows. All good in +public life is their gift; everything is to be consecrated +to them; to violate their shrines is the +greatest of crimes. In fact, after all, but few of +mankind are capable of understanding or receiving +the philosophic God. However imperfect<note place='foot'>Ibid. p. 605.</note> the +<pb n='408'/><anchor id='Pg408'/> +popular belief in the gods may be, and however +unsatisfactory to him the allegorical interpretations +of it then so much in vogue, yet is it in Plato's +conviction indispensable to all those who have +not had a scientific education. Men must first be +taught with lies, and then with the truth: the popular +fables and the worship grounded on them +is therefore for all the <emph>first</emph>, and for most the <emph>only</emph> +form of religion.<note place='foot'>Here Zeller remarks: <q>Diese Voraussetzung liegt der ganzen Behandlung +dieser Gegenstände bei Plato zu Grunde.... Dass die philosophische +Erkenntniss immer auf eine kleine Minderheit beschränkt sein +müsse ist Plato's entschiedene Ueberzeugung.</q></note> The philosopher, it is true, +sees deeper and despises them in his heart. Thus +the monotheist in speculation is a polytheist in +practice: as Socrates, the model and exemplar of +Greek philosophy, with his dying breath, so Plato, +its most inspired teacher with all the voice of his +authority, sacrificed the cock to Æsculapius. +</p> + +<p> +But moreover, this supreme God, who has to +be disinterred from the recesses of the Platonic +teaching, and conciliated with the worship practically +paid to a host of subordinate gods, is in +Plato's conception neither absolutely personal nor +free, and he is not the Creator but only the Former +of the world. In Plato's theory there is coeternal +with him a first matter, without form or quality, +which exists independently of him; which moreover +is inhabited and swayed to and fro in disorderly +heavings by a sort of soul, the token of +<pb n='409'/><anchor id='Pg409'/> +that dark Necessity<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 293.</note> which rises behind the figures +of gods and men in Greek poetry. It is indeed +the work of the divine reason to come down upon +this shapeless mass and its inborn mover, and out +of them to construct the world-soul, with which +and with his own reason he forms and maintains +and vivifies the ordered universe. As he is by this +operation the Father of the universe, so this First +Matter is <q>the Mother of all generation,</q> the condition +of the existence of corporeal things. But in +this original matter lies the origin of evil, which, +perpetuated in the corporeal structure of man, can +indeed be tamed and schooled, and in a certain +degree subdued, but never can be exterminated +by the divine reason. The power, the wisdom, and +the providence of Plato's God are encountered by +this check, which stands eternally over against the +Demiurgos in his world-forming activity, which +limits his freedom, and impairs his personality, +while it excludes the whole idea of creation. +Students of this philosophy<note place='foot'>See Zeller, vol. ii. part 1, pp. 448-457.</note> attempt to associate +together his highest Idea, that of the Good, with +the supreme God, of whom he speaks with personal +attributes, as the just, the wise, the true, the +good, but admit that Plato has not attempted to +solve the problem how the Idea, which by his hypothesis +as it is the highest is also the most general, +is at the same time the most individual, the one +<pb n='410'/><anchor id='Pg410'/> +personal God. In fact, it is admitted that he fails—together +with all the ancient Greek writers—in +the strict conception of personality.<note place='foot'><q>Wie es sich aber in dieser Beziehung mit der Persönlichkeit verhalte, +dies ist eine Frage, welche sich Plato wohl schwerlich bestimmt +vorgelegt hat, wie ja dem Alterthum überhaupt der schärfere Begriff +der Persönlichkeit fehlt, und die Vernunft nicht selten als allgemeine +Weltvernunft in einer zwischen Persönlichem und Unpersönlichem unsicher +schwankenden Weise gedacht wird.</q> <hi rend='italic'>Zeller</hi>, p. 454.</note> As according +to him individual beings are what they are +only by participation of something higher, it is no +wonder that in describing that one Reason, the +Idea of the Good, the highest and most general of +all, which forms and governs the world, his language +oscillates between the personal and the impersonal. +But if his philosophical reasons tend +one way, it must be allowed that the heart and +affections of the man, and the whole moral sense +of the teacher, decide another. +</p> + +<p> +The ethical system of Plato appears to be a +strict deduction from his physical. As man in his +view is a compound of matter, vivified by a portion +of the world-soul, which the divine reason +takes and unites with a portion of itself, so his +virtues correspond to this threefold composition.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 286, sec. 103. Zeller, vol. ii. part 1, p. 538.</note> +For man has an immortal portion in his soul, the +reason, the godlike, in him, but the divine reason, +in joining a portion of the world-soul with matter, +invests it with two mortal parts, one the courageous, +or manly, the other, sensuous desire, or the +female element, having their seat in the body's +<pb n='411'/><anchor id='Pg411'/> +activity. To these answer respectively the virtues +of prudence, of courage, and of temperance, while +justice comes in afterwards as a right ordering of +the three, or as prudence applied to practice. The +seat of all irregular desires, of all evil, in fact, is +to Plato in this union of the soul with matter. As +this matter is primordial, evil in its origin does +not indeed spring from God, but it is beyond his +power: it springs from that state of things which +existed before the action of God on chaos:<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Theætetus</hi>, p. 176. Σωκ. Ἀλλ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἀπόλεσθαι τὰ κυκὰ δυνατόν, ὦ Θεόδωρε; +ὑπενάντιον γὰρ τι τῷ ἀγαθῷ ἀεὶ εἶναι ἀνάγκη; οὔτ᾽ ἐν θεοῖς αὐτὰ ἴδρυσθαι, +τὴν δὲ θνητὴν φύσιν καὶ τόνδε τὸν τόπον περιπολεῖ ἐξ ἀνάγκης.</note> it +must stand over against the good: and of necessity +encompasses this mortal nature and the place +of its habitation: and to man it lies not in the +perverted use of free-will, but in his original composition, +wherein his body is its seat. But in this +triple composition of man Plato does not seem to +have clearly apprehended a human personality at +all: he has not even attempted to explain<note place='foot'>See Zeller, vol. ii. part 1, pp. 541-4, who points out a string of difficulties +on the subject of personality, free-will, as maintained by Plato, +and his doctrine that no one is willingly wicked.</note> in +what the unity of the soul consists besides these +its three portions, two of which, being tied to the +body, drop off at death. +</p> + +<p> +It is in the practice of Plato as a teacher that +we can most fitly consider the conception which +the Greek philosophers in general had concerning +the method of studying and imparting philosophy +<pb n='412'/><anchor id='Pg412'/> +altogether. It was about the fortieth year of his +life, and twelve years after the death of his master +Socrates, that Plato, having already travelled +widely, settled at Athens.<note place='foot'>See Grote's <hi rend='italic'>Plato</hi>, i. pp. 133, 4.</note> Here he purchased a +fixed residence at the Academia, which became from +that time a philosophical school for study, conversation, +oral lectures, and friendly meetings. Here +he drew around him an inner circle of scholars to +whom he addressed his unwritten doctrines,<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. p. 116.</note> especially +his doctrine of Ideas, the key to his whole +system, according as they were able, after preparation, +to receive them: and here besides he gave +lectures which might be attended not only by that +inner circle of choice disciples but by studious +persons in general. This residence of Plato served +for three hundred years, from 387 before Christ +until the siege of Athens by Sylla in 87, as the +centre of Plato's philosophy viewed as a teaching +power. Now in this Plato had before him the +great example of Pythagoras, in the first age of +Greek philosophy. Concerning the doctrines of +that philosopher we know little with certainty,<note place='foot'>So Zeller sets forth at length, i. p. 206; and Ueberweg, i. p. 47.</note> +but all are agreed as to his manner of teaching +them. His attempt was to establish a community +which should carry in its bosom, propagate, and +perpetuate a doctrine in morals, politics, religion, +and philosophy. His whole procedure was by oral +<pb n='413'/><anchor id='Pg413'/> +teaching, for he left not a word written. It was +in fact a religious order of life which he first practised +in his own person, and then endeavoured to +communicate to others. Into this order trial for +everyone preceded reception.<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. p. 50. Plato calls it ὁδόν τινα βίου, for which Pythagoras +αὐτός τε διαφερόντως ἠγαπήθη, καὶ οἱ ὕστερον ἔτι καὶ νῦν Πυθαγόρειον +τρόπον ἐπονομάζοντες τοῦ βίου διαφανεῖς πη δοκοῦσιν εἶναι. <hi rend='italic'>Polit.</hi> x. p. 600.</note> His scholars were +for a long period required to practise silent obedience +and unconditional submission to the authority +of the doctrine delivered to them. Severe +daily examination was imposed upon all. The +publishing of his doctrine, especially his speculation +as to the nature of God, was strictly forbidden. +The upright life, the learning which then +could only be attained by personal inquiry, the +persuasiveness of Pythagoras, were together so effective +that he succeeded in establishing such a +community both in Crotona and in other cities of +Southern Italy. It was persecuted and suffered +continual disasters, but still this Pythagorean community, +bearing on its founder's doctrines and +manner of life, existed for several generations after +his death, during which many of the most distinguished +Greeks belonged to it. Such was the poet +Æschylus, whose mind was formed on Pythagorean +principles. In Plato's time the Pythagorean Archytas +was at the head of the state of Tarentum: +and Plato himself was largely imbued with Pythagorean +tenets.<note place='foot'>Grote, <hi rend='italic'>Plato</hi>, i. p. 221.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='414'/><anchor id='Pg414'/> + +<p> +Now Plato, it is true, did not imitate the +political part of the Pythagorean scheme. It was +only upon paper that he set forth his ideal republic. +But the same conception as to the manner +of communicating a doctrine lay in his mind +as in that of Pythagoras. He did not look to +writing as a primary instrument of communicating +thought. He places it himself in a relation of +dependence upon oral dialectic instruction. It is +only to serve as a reminder of what had been +otherwise taught: and, moreover, it is quite subordinate +to his first postulate, the earnestness of a +life devoted to inquiry and education.<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. 115.</note> These +principles are set forth with great lucidity in his +dialogue Phædrus, where he introduces by the +mouth of Socrates the Egyptian god Thoth, the +inventor of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, drafts +and dice, and also of letters. With these inventions +in his hand the god approached the then +king of Egypt Thamous, recommending him to +make them known to his subjects. But Thamous +was by no means inclined to receive these inventions +unconditionally: he praises or blames them, +as he judges of them, and at last he comes to the +letters.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Phæd.</hi> sec. 135, p. 274.</note> <q>This discovery,</q> says Thoth, <q>O king, +will make the Egyptians wiser, and improve their +memory. It is of sovereign effect in both things.</q> +<q>Most ingenious Thoth,</q> replies the king, <q>one +man is made to give birth to art, and another to +<pb n='415'/><anchor id='Pg415'/> +judge what good or what harm it will do to those +who use it. And now you, being the father of +letters, out of natural affection assert of them that +which is just the contrary to their real office. For +they will breed forgetfulness in the minds of those +who learn them, who will slight the faculty of +memory, inasmuch as relying on what is written +externally in the types of others they do not exercise +remembrance by an inward act of their own. +The spell you have found is good not for fixing in +the mind, but for reminding. And as to wisdom, +you offer to those who learn them not its reality +but its appearance. For they will indeed hear +much, but as this will be without teaching, they +will seem to have many minds but generally no +judgment, and be hard to comprehend, having +become wiseacres instead of wise men. O Socrates, +says Phædrus, you are one who can easily +tell stories from Egypt or any other country. My +dear Phædrus, it was in the temple of Dodonean +Jupiter that they made the first oracular words +to proceed from an oak. The men of that day, +not being wise as you young men, were satisfied +in their simplicity to listen to an oak or a rock, +if they only spoke the truth. Perhaps it makes +a difference to you who the speaker is, and from +what country; for you do not look merely whether +it is true or not. Your rebuke, says Phædrus, +is just, and what the Theban says about +letters seems to me to be right. Well then, says +<pb n='416'/><anchor id='Pg416'/> +Socrates, the man who thinks to leave an art in +writing, and he also who receives it as being, when +written, something clear and certain, must be very +simple, and be really ignorant of Ammon's oracle, +when he thinks that written words are something +more than a reminder to one who knows the subject +of the matters about which they are written. +Exactly so, Socrates. For surely, Phædrus, +writing shares this troublesome characteristic with +painting. The productions of painting stand there +as if they were alive, but if you ask them a question, +preserve a solemn silence. Just so it is with +writing. You may think that they speak with +some meaning, but if you ask what that meaning +is, there they stand with just the same word in +their mouth. When once a thing is written, it +is tossed over and over by all who take it in, +whether it concerns them or not, and is unable +to speak, or to be silent with the proper persons. +And if it is maltreated or slandered, it wants its +father always to help it, for it can neither defend +nor help itself. What you say now is also very +true indeed. But, says Socrates, can we not find +another word, this one's lawful brother, and see +the process by which it arises, and how much +better and abler than the former it is? What +word is this, and how does it arise? The word +which is written on the disciple's soul together +with true knowledge, which is able to defend itself, +and knows how to speak and to be silent with the +<pb n='417'/><anchor id='Pg417'/> +proper persons. You mean the living and animated +word of one who has knowledge, whereof +the written word may justly be called the shadow.<note place='foot'>τὸν τοῦ εἰδότος λόγον λέγεις ζῶντα καὶ ἔμψυχον, οὗ ὁ γεγραμμένος εἴδωλον +ἄν τι λέγοιτο δικαίως.</note> +I mean that indeed. Tell me now; an intelligent +gardener, who had seeds that he cared for, and +wished to bear fruit, would he hurry with them +in summer to the gardens of Adonis, plant them, +and rejoice to see them springing up with a fair +show in a week? or would he do this for amusement, +and in festival-time, if he did it at all, but +when he took pains would use his gardener's art, +sow them at the fitting time, and be too glad if, +seven months afterwards, he saw them coming to +perfection? Certainly, Socrates, that would be +the difference between his sport and his earnest. +Shall we, then, say that he who possesses the +science of justice, honour, and goodness, has less +intelligence than the gardener for his own seeds? +Surely not. He will not, then, hurry to write +them with a pen in ink with words, which cannot +on the one hand help themselves with speech, and +on the other hand are incapable to teach the truth +sufficiently. I should think he would not. He +will not; but as for these written flower-borders, +he will sow and write them, when he does write +them, for amusement, storing up reminders for +himself, should he come to a forgetful old age, and +for every one who pursues the same footsteps, and +<pb n='418'/><anchor id='Pg418'/> +he will take pleasure in seeing them springing up +tenderly: so when other men fall to other amusements, +lubricating themselves at the banquet, or +other such things, he will take his amusement +here. In this, Socrates, you would substitute a +very seemly amusement for a bad one, when the +man who can play with words sports upon the +subject of justice and suchlike. So it is, my dear +Phædrus, but it is, I take it, earnest in a far higher +sense, when one, using the art of dialectics, takes +hold of a fitting soul, and plants and sows with +true knowledge words able to help both themselves +and their planter, not fruitless, but having +seed, whence growing up in a succession of minds +they will from age to age produce an immortal +line,<note place='foot'>ἔχοντες σπέρμα, ὅθεν ἄλλοι ἐν ἄλλοις ἤθεοι φυόμενοι τοῦτ᾽ ἀεὶ ἀθάνατον +παρέχειν ἱκανοί.</note> and will make their possessor happy as far +as man can be.</q> +</p> + +<p> +In these words, put in his master's mouth, +Plato, if I mistake not, has given us the whole +purpose of his life, and the manner in which he +hoped to accomplish it. It was in the Academia +that he sought to establish that immortal line of +living words, who should speak as the possessors +of real knowledge upon justice, truth, and goodness. +He is describing a living culture by living +teachers, of whom he aspired to be himself the +first; and the written dialogues which he has left +are in his intention, and so far as they enter at all +<pb n='419'/><anchor id='Pg419'/> +upon the higher points of his doctrine,<note place='foot'>See his averseness to write on such doctrines at all set forth in +his 7th epistle.</note> reminders +of that which he had set forth to chosen auditors +by word of mouth, the word which was able, as +he says, to explain and defend itself, and to answer +a question put to it. +</p> + +<p> +This, then, was the relation existing in the mind +of the prince of Greek philosophers between the +written and the spoken word as instruments in +imparting true knowledge, or science. The written +word he regarded as subsidiary, as presupposing +instruction by question and answer, and still +more the moral discipline of a life earnestly given +up to the study of the subjects in question. Without +this a writing by itself was like a figure in a +picture, which makes an impression on the beholder, +but when asked if it is the true impression +keeps, as he says, a solemn face, and makes +no reply; which is the same to all, the earnest +and the indifferent, and cannot treat them according +to their merits. He laughs at the notion of +such a writing being by itself any more than sport. +And let us remember that he who said this has +enshrined his own philosophy in the most finished +specimens of dramatic dialogues which the Greek +mind produced. These are the statements of the +man who wrote Greek in his countrymen's opinion +as Jupiter would have spoken it. There are, then, +in Plato's mind three constituents of teaching: +<pb n='420'/><anchor id='Pg420'/> +first, the choice of fitting subjects for it, and what +is therein implied, the imposition of a moral discipline +upon them regulating their life to the end +in view; secondly, the master's oral instruction +conveying gradually and with authority to minds +so prepared the doctrine to be received; and +thirdly, the committing such doctrine to writing, +which shall serve to <emph>remind</emph> the disciple of what +he has been taught. And this was what he carried +into effect.<note place='foot'>Grote observes, <hi rend='italic'>Plato</hi>, i. 216: <q>Plato was not merely a composer +of dialogues. He was lecturer and chief of a school besides. The presidency +of that school, commencing about 386 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>, and continued by him +with great celebrity for the last half (nearly forty years) of his life, <emph>was +his most important function</emph>. Among his contemporaries he must have +exerted greater influence through his school than through his writings.</q></note> He fixed himself at the Academia, +over which he presided for forty years: he was +succeeded therein by his nephew Speusippus, who +held his chair for eight years; Xenocrates followed +in the same post during twenty-five years; +and the line was continued afterwards by Polemon, +Crantor, Crates, Arcesilaus, and others in uninterrupted +series. Plato thus established the method +of Greek philosophy, and his example herein was +followed by Aristotle, Zeno, and Epicurus. +</p> + +<p> +His great disciple Aristotle came to him at the +age of seventeen, and studied under him during +twenty years. At a later age, when, after completing +the education of Alexander, he fixed himself +in middle life at Athens, he set up there a +second philosophical school at the Lyceum on its +<pb n='421'/><anchor id='Pg421'/> +eastern side, and on the model of that of Plato. +Attached to this museum were a portico, a hall +with seats, one seat especially for the lecturing +professor, a garden, and a walk, together with +a residence, all permanently appropriated to the +teacher and the process of instruction.<note place='foot'>Grote, <hi rend='italic'>Plato</hi>, i. p. 138.</note> When +Aristotle died in the year 322 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>, his friend +Theophrastus presided over his school during +five and thirty years, and the line continued on. +We learn that there were periodical meetings, convivial +and conversational, among the members both +of the Academic and Peripatetic schools, and laws +for their regulation established by Xenocrates and +Aristotle. It was in the shady walks of his garden +that this great philosopher taught by word of mouth +the choicer circle of his disciples: for the more +general hearers he gave lectures sitting.<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. p. 140, from Diogenes.</note> His +instructions were divided into two classes, those +which he gave on rhetoric, the art of discussion, +knowledge of civil matters, and suchlike, which +were exoteric, and those which touched the finer +and more subtle points of philosophy, which were +termed acroatic, as addressed to the ears.<note place='foot'>Aulus Gellius, <hi rend='italic'>N. A.</hi> xx. 5, quoted by Ueberweg.</note> Again, +his dialogues he called <q>public</q> or <q>issued</q> discourses, +things made over to the general public, in +distinction from what was not so disclosed, but reserved +for the philosopher's own meditation, to be +subsequently communicated either by oral lecture +<pb n='422'/><anchor id='Pg422'/> +or by writing to the private circle of scholars who +gave themselves up entirely to his philosophy. +These Aristotle called <q>philosophical</q> or <q>teaching</q> +discourses, proceeding, that is, from the principles +proper to each branch of learning, and not +from the opinions of the lecturer. These latter +were termed <q>tentative,</q> as belonging to the exoteric. +Simplicius, one of the latest writers on +Greek philosophy, defines exoteric as <q>the common, +and what concludes by arguments which are +matter of opinion;</q> and Philoponus, as discourses +<q>not of strict proof, and not directed to lawfully-begotten +hearers,</q> that is, trained and prepared, +<q>but to the public, and springing from probabilities.</q><note place='foot'>Ἐν κοινῷ γιγνόμενοι λόγοι ... ἐκδεδομένοι λόγοι; οἱ κατὰ φιλοσοφίαν λόγοι, +or διδασκαλικοὶ λόγοι, οἱ ἐκ τῶν οἰκείων ἀρχῶν ἑκάστου μαθήματος καὶ οὐκ ἐκ +τῶν τοῦ ἀποκρινομένου δοξῶν συλλογιζόμενοι, which last are λόγοι πειραστικοὶ. +Simplicius calls τὰ ἐξωτερικὰ, τὰ κοινὰ καὶ δι᾽ ἐνδόξων περαινόμενα; Philoponus, +λόγοι μὴ ἀποδεικτικοὶ, μηδὲ πρὸς τοὺς γνησίους τῶν ἀκροατῶν εἰρημένοι, ἀλλὰ +πρὸς τοὺς πολλοὺς, ἐκ πιθανῶν ὡρμημένοι. Quoted by Ueberweg, i. p. 146.</note> +Thus in Aristotle, the largest in grasp of +mind, the most observant of facts, the most accurate +in definition among Greek writers, the philosopher +in fact and <q>master of those who know,</q><note place='foot'><p>Vidi il maestro di color che sanuo<lb/> +Seder tra filosofica famiglia. +</p> +<p> +Dante, <hi rend='italic'>Inf.</hi> iv. 131. +</p></note> +for all future ages, we find the same three constituents +of teaching as in Plato, and in the same order +of importance: first, hearers selected for their natural +aptitude, and then submitted to a moral discipline +and a common life; secondly, the instruction +of such hearers by word of mouth, question and +<pb n='423'/><anchor id='Pg423'/> +answer, discussion and cross-examination; and +lastly, the committing of doctrines to writing. +With him too his written philosophical discourses +were <emph>reminders</emph> of his oral teaching, which they +presupposed and required as a key to their full +meaning, and especially for the comprehension of +their harmony as a system. +</p> + +<p> +The order of teaching which I have thus sketched +as being followed in practice by the two most eminent +Greek philosophers belonged to them all. +They had no other conception respecting the method +of communicating a doctrine efficiently to +men. None of them considered philosophy +merely or chiefly as a literature: none of them +attributed to a book the power of teaching it. +Their conception was, a master and his scholars, +and the living together, the moral subordination +and discipline which this involved. This school +of education or training in knowledge<note place='foot'>διδασκαλία.</note> was their +primary thought: the committing of their doctrine +to writing was both subsequent and secondary. +Their writings were intended, as Plato says, to +be recollections<note place='foot'>ὑπόμνησις.</note> of their teaching, and failed to +convey the real knowledge to those who had not +the stamp of this teaching impressed on their +minds. +</p> + +<p> +As Plato made a local habitation for himself and +his doctrine in the Academia, and Aristotle in the +Lyceum, so Zeno, the founder of the third great +<pb n='424'/><anchor id='Pg424'/> +philosophic school, took up his abode in the Portico +at Athens, a court surrounded with pillars, and +adorned with the paintings of Polygnotus. Here +he began to teach about 308 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>, and here he continued +teaching as some say for fifty-eight years. It +is said that the character of Socrates, as drawn by +Xenophon and by Plato in his <hi rend='italic'>Apology</hi>, filled him +with astonishment and admiration:<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. p. 188, from Diogenes and Themistius.</note> and the Stoics +afterwards drew their doctrine of the wise man, +which they endeavoured to image out and realise, +from that living example of it,<note place='foot'>Ibid, from Noack, <hi rend='italic'>Psyche</hi>, v. i. sec. 13.</note> an instance of the +connection of doctrine with person which is full of +interest and suggestion. Zeno was succeeded in +his office of teaching by Cleanthes, and Cleanthes +by Chrysippus and a long line of teachers, who for +several hundred years continued, with variations, +the same general doctrine of ethics. +</p> + +<p> +Just in the same way and at the same time +Zeno's great rival Epicurus fixed the seat of his +school in the Garden at Athens, which thenceforth +became for thirty-six years the central point of the +teacher's activity. About him gathered a circle of +friends whom similarity of principles and the enjoyment +of cultivated intercourse bound together +with unusual intimacy. It speaks for the special +character of his philosophy that from the beginning +women and even hetæræ formed a part of this society. +But he succeeded during this long period +<pb n='425'/><anchor id='Pg425'/> +of teaching in impressing upon his school so strong +a character that it is recognised without essential +change during hundreds of years.<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol, iii. part 1, p. 343.</note> +</p> + +<p> +We should do injustice to the character and +the work of Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, and Epicurus, +the founders of the four great schools of Greek +philosophy, if we did not take into account what +was in their day no doubt of greater influence +than their writings, that is, their function as +teachers, their oral teaching itself, and those +fundamental principles of philosophic education +which lay at the bottom of it. Plato has left us +very little of doctrine put out in his own name. +He is not a speaker in his dialogues. He puts +what he would say in the mouth of others, especially +of Socrates. He tells us that he has purposely +done this in order that men might not say, here is +Plato's philosophy:<note place='foot'>Ep. vii. p. 341. οὔκουν ἐμόν γε περὶ αὐτῶν ἐστι σύγγραμμα, οὐδὲ μή ποτε +γένηται; ῥητὸν γὰρ οὐδαμῶς ἐστὶν ὡς ἄλλα μαθήματα, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ πολλῆς συνουσίας +γιγνομένης περὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα αὐτὸ καὶ τοῦ συζῇν ἐξαίφνης, οἷον ἀπὸ πυρὸς πηδήσαντος +ἐξαφθὲν φῶς, ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ γενόμενον αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ ἤδη τρέφει and much +more to the same effect; after which he says, ὧν ἕνεκα νοῦν ἔχων οὐδεὶς +τολμήσει ποτὲ εἰς αὐτὸ τιθέναι τὰ νενοημένα, καὶ ταῦτα εἰς ἀμετακίνητον, ὃ δὴ +πάσχει τὰ γεγραμμένα τύποις. So again in his second letter, p. 314. πολλάκις +δὲ λεγόμενα καὶ ἀεὶ ἀκουόμενα καὶ πολλὰ ἔτη μόγις, ὥσπερ χρυσὸς, +ἐκκαθαίρεται μετὰ πολλῆς πραγματείας.... μεγίστη δὲ φυλακὴ τὸ μὴ γράφειν +ἀλλ᾽ ἐκμανθάνειν; οὐ γὰρ ἔστι τὰ γραφέντα μὴ οὐκ ἐκπεσεῖν. Grote seems to +me fully justified in counting these epistles as genuine, against the attacks +of some modern German sceptics.</note> and the reason of this was +that he utterly distrusted his own or any man's +power to disclose to others such a system in a set +form of words. It is, then, the more remarkable +<pb n='426'/><anchor id='Pg426'/> +that he has said in his own person what were his +most settled convictions as to intercourse by word +of mouth, and continuous written discourse, viewed +as instruments for attaining and communicating +truth. He expresses his absolute disbelief that +men can reach true conceptions by their being set +forth in the immutable form of writing. It is a +far other and more difficult work which has to be +accomplished. In a word, not even aptness for +learning and memory will give the power to see +the truth as to virtue and vice to one who is not +kin to the subject; nor, again, this kinship without +such aptitude and memory: but when both +are joined, then out of living together, after much +time,<note place='foot'>Μετὰ τριβῆς πάσης καὶ χρόνου πολλοῦ, ὅπερ ἐν ἀρχαῖς εἶπον; μόγις δὲ τριβόμενα +πρὸς ἄλληλα αὐτῶν ἕκαστα, ὀνόματα καὶ λόγοι ὄψεις τε καὶ αἰσθήσεις, +ἐν εὐμενέσιν ἐλέγχοις ἐλεγχόμενα καὶ ἄνευ φθόνων ἐρωτήσεσι καὶ ἀποκρίσεσι +χρωμένων, ἐξέλαμψε φρόνησις περὶ ἕκαστον καὶ νοῦς, συντείνων ὅτι μάλιστ᾽ εἰς +δύναμιν ἀνθρωπίνην. <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> vii. p. 344.</note> by the continual friction of name, definition, +acts of sight and perception, by thought +and meditation, the hearing and answering the +objections of others, the process of mutual cross-examination +discharged without envy or jealousy, +and with sincere love of the truth, a sudden flash +of fire kindles in the mind, and nourishes itself, +disclosing the knowledge required. Thus it is +that prudence and intelligence on each subject, +shining out in this beam of light, go forward as +far as man may reach. The view here propounded, +if reflected upon, will convey to us what the living +<pb n='427'/><anchor id='Pg427'/> +work first of Pythagoras, and then of Plato, Aristotle, +Zeno, Epicurus, and their successors, was. +Both the conception indeed and the realisation +seem to have been most complete in Pythagoras. +The philosophic living together was its basis. Instruction +was oral. Learning was effected by the +collision of mind with mind, by objection and answer. +It was the Socratic principle inherited from +these schools that nothing passed muster for knowledge +which did not stand the test of cross-examination:<note place='foot'>Grote, <hi rend='italic'>Plato</hi>, i. 229. <q>When we see by what Standard Plato tests +the efficacy of any expository process, we shall see yet more clearly how +he came to consider written exposition unavailing. The standard which +he applies is, that the learner shall be rendered able both to apply to +others and himself to endure a Socratic Elenchus or cross-examination +as to the logical difficulties involved in all the steps and helps to learning.</q> +Without this <q>Plato will not allow that he has attained true +knowledge</q> (ἐπιστήμη). Compare the system pursued in the mediæval +schools and universities.</note> +but an unchangeable text was utterly +unsuited, according to Plato, to debate the question +under treatment in such fashion, while on the +other hand the mind of the reader was passive in +receiving the impression which it conveyed. On +neither side therefore did the conditions of knowledge +exist, but this was reached under the circumstances +of personal intercourse above mentioned, +and might be recalled in the written form +to the minds of those who had thus first attained +it. +</p> + +<p> +Down to the end of Greek philosophy the same +conception as to the method of teaching prevailed. +<pb n='428'/><anchor id='Pg428'/> +Ammonius Sakkas, the founder of Neoplatonism, +delivered his doctrine only by word of mouth, +which his chief disciples, Erennius, Origines, and +Plotinus, engaged not to make public.<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. pp. 242, 3.</note> It was +when one of them, Erennius, had broken this promise, +that another, Plotinus, after delivering lectures +at Rome, wrote down his philosophy; but +his scheme was to carry it out by collecting his +disciples together in one city, and thus realising +Plato's republic. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='429'/><anchor id='Pg429'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter XIV. The Christian Church And The Greek Philosophy. Part II.</head> + +<p> +The mind of the next great teacher who arose in +Greece after Plato presented an almost complete +contrast to that of the master under whom he had +so long studied. Aristotle's power consisted in +a parallel development of two forces which do not +often coexist.<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol. ii. part 2, p. 632.</note> He joined together a rare degree +of consistent philosophic thinking with an equally +rare degree of accurate observation. This double +faculty is shown in what he effected. He made +the sciences of logic, ethics, and psychology: he +built up those of natural history and politics with +the wealth of knowledge which his experience had +accumulated.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, pp. 304, 305.</note> Thus his analytic and synthetic +genius embraced the whole range of human knowledge +then existing. As Plato threw his vivid +fancy and imagination and his religious temper +into everything which concerned the human spirit, +so Aristotle fixed his gaze upon nature, which with +him in all its manifestations was the ultimate fact. +<pb n='430'/><anchor id='Pg430'/> +As Plato rose from the single being to his conception +of the true, the good, the beautiful, of which +the Idea to him was everything, so Aristotle, steadfastly +discarding his master's doctrine of Ideas, took +his stand on the single being, examining it with +the closest observation and the subtlest thought, +and the knowledge thus conveyed to him is everything. +Plato's conception of God is that of the +great world-former, orderer, and ruler: Aristotle's +conception of God is that of a pure intelligence, +without power, an eternal, ever-active, endless, incorporeal +substance, who never steps out of that +everlasting rest into action: who is the world's +first cause, but is unconscious of it, his action upon +the world being likened to the influence of the +beloved object upon the lover. Plato's dualism is +summed up in the expression, God and Matter; +Aristotle's dualism, in God and the World. Plato +represents the action of the Deity as the working-up +of the original matter into the millions of forms +which the world exhibits: but these millions of +forms are taken by Aristotle as if they had existed +for ever; the World, as it is, and the Deity, are +coeternal. +</p> + +<p> +Aristotle's doctrine of the human soul is that +it exists only as that which animates the body, +without which its being cannot be known.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, pp. 309, 310, sec. 137, 138.</note> It is +the principle which forms, moves, and developes +the body; the substance which only appears in +<pb n='431'/><anchor id='Pg431'/> +the body formed and penetrated by it, and which +works continuously in it, as the life which determines +and prevails over its matter. Thus the body +is of itself nothing; what it is, it is only through +the soul, whose being and nature it expresses, to +which it is related as the medium in which the +purpose, which is the soul, realises itself. Thus +the soul cannot be thought of without the body, +nor the body without the soul: both come into +their actual state together. In the soul Aristotle +distinguishes three parts, the vegetative, the sensitive, +and the thinking. This last, the peculiar +property of man, is further divisible into the passive +and the active, of which the former is linked +to the soul as the soul is to the body, as form is +to matter, multiplies itself with individuals, and is +extinguished with them. But the reason, or pure +intelligence, has nothing in common with matter, +comes from without into man, and exists in him +as a self-consisting indestructible being, without +multiplying or dividing itself. Accordingly this +intellect or reason suffers the soul to sink back +with the body into the nothing from which both +have been together produced. It alone continues +to subsist as what is ever the same and unchangeable, +since it is nothing but the divine intelligence +in an individual existence, enlightening the darkness +of the human subject in the passive part of +the understanding, and so must be considered as +the first mover in man of his discursive thinking +<pb n='432'/><anchor id='Pg432'/> +and knowing, as well as of his willing.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 310, sec. 139.</note> As that +which is properly human in the soul, that which +has had a beginning, must also pass away, even +the understanding, and only the divine reason is +immortal, and as memory belongs to the sensitive +soul, and individual thinking only takes place by +means of the passive intellect, all consciousness +must cease with death. And again, clearly as +Aristotle maintains that man is the mover and +master of his own actions, and has it in his power +to be good or evil, and thence repudiates the assumption +of Socrates and Plato that no one is +willingly evil, yet he cannot find a place for real +freedom of the will between the motion which arises +from sensitive desire, and that which proceeds +from the divine intelligence dwelling in the soul. +Necessity arises on both sides, from the things +which determine the passive understanding, and +from the divine intelligence.<note place='foot'>Ibid. p. 311, sec. 140.</note> Thus his physical +theory, as in the case of Plato noted above,<note place='foot'>See p. <ref target='Pg411'>411</ref>, above.</note> prevents +a clear conception of the human personality. +His notion of man in this point corresponds to his +notion of God: he does not concern himself with +questions respecting the goodness, justice, and freedom +of God, inasmuch as his God is not really +personal:<note place='foot'>Döllinger, pp. 307 and 311.</note> so with regard to man we find in him +no elucidation as to the question of moral freedom, +nor of the origin and nature of wickedness in man. +<pb n='433'/><anchor id='Pg433'/> +Wickedness is with Aristotle the impotence to hold +the mean between too much and too little: it presents +itself therefore only in this world of contingency +and change, and has no relation to God, +since the first or absolute good has nothing opposed +to it. He has not the sense of moral perversion +with regard to evil. In accordance with +which the end of all moral activity with him is +happiness, which consists in the well-being arising +from an energy according to nature; as virtue +is the observing a proper mean between two extremes. +And the highest happiness is contemplative +thought, the function of the divine in man, +the turning away from everything external to the +inner world of the conceptions. +</p> + +<p> +The religious character, which belongs conspicuously +to Plato's philosophy, fails, it will be +seen, in that of Aristotle. Whereas Plato strove +to purify the popular belief, and urged as the +highest point of virtue to become like to God by +the conjunction of justice and sanctity with prudence,<note place='foot'>Διὸ καὶ πειρᾶσθαι χρὴ ἐνθένδε ἐκεῖσε φεύγειν ὅτι τάχιστα; φυγὴ δὲ ὁμοίωσις +Θεῷ κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν; ὁμοίωσις δὲ δίκαιον καὶ ὅσιον μετὰ φρονήσεως γενέσθαι. +κ.τ.λ. <hi rend='italic'>Theætet.</hi> p. 176.</note> +Aristotle divides morality from religion as +his God is separated off from the world.<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol. ii. part 2, p. 623.</note> His +scientific inquiries have not that immediate relation +to the personal life and the destiny of man in +which the religiousness of Platonism most consists. +His whole view of the world goes to explain things +<pb n='434'/><anchor id='Pg434'/> +as far as possible from their natural causes.<note place='foot'>Zeller, ii. 2, p. 625.</note> Thus +he admits in the whole direction of the world the +ruling of a divine power, of a reason which reaches +its purpose; he believes in particular that the gods +care for men, take an interest in him who lives in +accordance with reason; that happiness is their +gift; he contradicts the notion that the godhead +is envious, and so could withhold from man knowledge, +the best of its gifts; but this divine providence +coincides for him entirely with the working +of natural causes. In his view the godhead stands +in solitary self-contemplation outside the world, +the object of admiration and reverence to man. +The knowledge of it is the highest task for his +intellect. It is the good to which in common with +everything that is finite he is struggling; whose +perfection calls forth his love: but little as he can +expect a return of love from it, so little does he +find in it any coöperation distinct from the natural +connection of things, and his reason is the only +point of immediate contact with it. +</p> + +<p> +Religion<note place='foot'>Ibid. p. 629.</note> itself Aristotle treats as an unconditional +moral necessity. The man who doubts +whether the gods should be honoured is a subject +fit not for instruction but for punishment, just as +the man who asks whether he should love his +parents. As the natural system of the world +cannot be imagined without God, so neither can +man in it be imagined without religion. But he +<pb n='435'/><anchor id='Pg435'/> +can give us no other ground save political expediency +for resting religion upon fables so apparent +as the stories of the popular belief. He sometimes +himself uses these fables, like other popular +opinions, to illustrate some general proposition, as, +for instance, Homer's verses on the golden chain +show the immobility of the first mover: just as +in other cases he likes to pursue his scientific +assumptions to their least apparent beginnings, +and to take account of sayings and proverbs. +But if we except the few general principles of +religious belief, he ascribes to these fables no +deeper meaning, and as little does he seem to care +about purifying their character. For his state he +presupposes the existing religion, as in his personal +conduct he did not withdraw from its usages, and +expressed his attachment to friends and relations +in the forms consecrated by it. But no trace is +found in him of Plato's desire to reform religion +by means of philosophy: and in his politics he +allows in the existing worship even what in itself +he disapproves, as the case of unseemly words, +inscriptions, and statues. Thus the relation of +the Aristotelic philosophy to the actual religion +is generally a very loose one. It does not disdain +indeed to use the points of connection which the +other presents, but has no need of it whatever for +itself: nor does it seek on its own side to purify +and transform religion, the imperfection of which +it rather seems to take as something unavoidable. +<pb n='436'/><anchor id='Pg436'/> +The two are indifferent to each other; philosophy +pursues its way without troubling itself about religion, +without fearing any interruption from it. +</p> + +<p> +In the seventy-seven years which elapsed from +the death of Socrates, <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi> 399, to that of Aristotle, +<hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi> 322, Greek life had suffered a great change. +That dear-loved independence which every state +had cultivated, and which concentrated every +energy of the mind in civil life, had vanished. +During the forty years of Plato's work as a +teacher it was becoming less and less: Chæronea +gave it the death-blow; while Aristotle is the son +of a time at which scientific study had already +begun to take the place of active political life.<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol. iii. part 1, p. 7.</note> +But the conquest effected by his great pupil Alexander +completed this change. He opened the +East to the Greek mind, bringing it into close contact +with Asiatic thought, beliefs, and customs. +Under his successors Alexandria, Antioch, and +Seleucia, Tarsus, Pergamus, and Rhodes became +great centres of Greek culture: but Greek self-government +was gone. Athens with the rest of +the Greek cities had lost its political independence, +but it remained the metropolis of Greek philosophy. +From the last decade of the fourth century +before Christ four great schools, the Platonic, +Peripatetic, Stoic, and Epicurean, all seated here, +as embodied in the dwelling-place and oral teaching +of their masters, stand over against each other. +<pb n='437'/><anchor id='Pg437'/> +The point most interesting to our present subject +is this, that all these schools take up a common +ground, one which we consider to belong properly +to religion, that is, the question wherein the happiness +of man consists, and how to attain it.<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol. iii. part 1, p. 14.</note> Thus +the political circumstances of the land gave the +tone to its philosophy. What the time required +was something which would compensate men for +the lost position of a free citizen and a self-governed +fatherland. The cultivated classes looked +to philosophy for consolation and support. The +answers to this question which the various systems +gave were very different from each other, but an +answer they all attempted. What they have in +common is, the drawing-back of man upon himself, +his inner mind, his consciousness, as a being +who thinks and wills:<note place='foot'>Ibid. p. 18.</note> while on the other hand +the mental view was widened from the boundaries +of a narrow state to that which touches man in +general. The field of morality opened out beyond +the range of this or that city, territory, or monarchy. +Thus two hundred full years were occupied +with the struggles of the Stoic and Epicurean +schools, and the sceptical opposition to them of +the middle and later Academy. At the very beginning +of this time the man who sat first in +Aristotle's chair after him, and therefore the head +of the most speculative school, Theophrastus, had +shocked the students of philosophy by declaring +<pb n='438'/><anchor id='Pg438'/> +that fortune, not wisdom, was the ruler of the +world. But it was precisely against the despondence +which such a conviction would work in the +mind that the Stoics struggled with their doctrine +of apathy, Epicurus with his self-contentment, the +Sceptics with their tranquillity of indifference.<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol. iii. part 1, p. 12. Döllinger, p. 318.</note> +These all sought to cure those whom the fables +of the popular religion were insufficient to satisfy, +those who felt the evils and trials of life and knew +not whither to turn in their need. But the Stoic +and the Epicurean cures stood in the strongest +contrast to each other. +</p> + +<p> +Zeno<note place='foot'>Döllinger, pp. 319-321.</note> of Cittium in Cyprus, after listening for +twenty years to the teaching of various Socratic +masters in Athens, founded a school himself, and +wished it to be a school of virtuous men rather +than of speculative philosophers. It was a system +of complete materialism rigorously carried out. +He admitted only corporeal causes, and two principles, +matter, and a force eternally indwelling in +it and shaping it. These two principles, matter +and force, were in fact to the stoic mind only one +eternal being viewed in a twofold aspect. Matter +for its subsistence needs a principle of unity to form +and hold it together: and this, the active element, +is inconceivable without matter as the subject in +which it dwells, works, and moves. Thus the +positive element is matter viewed as being as yet +<pb n='439'/><anchor id='Pg439'/> +without qualities, while the active element which +runs through and quickens everything is God in +matter. In real truth God and matter are one +thing, or, in other words, the stoic doctrine is a +pantheism which views matter as instinct with +life.<note place='foot'>The doctrine of Hylozoismus.</note> God is the unity of that force which embraces +and interpenetrates the universe, assuming +all forms, and as such is a subtle fluid, fire, ether, +or breath, in which are contained all forms of existence +belonging to the world-body which it animates, +and from which they develop themselves +in order: it lives and moves in all, and is the +common source of all effect and all desire. God, +then, is the world-soul, and the world itself no +aggregate of independent elements, but a being, +organised, living, filled and animated by a single +soul, that is to say, by one original fire manifesting +itself in various degrees of tension and heat. If +in Aristotle's theory the world is a total of single +beings, which are only bound together unto a +higher aim by a community of effort, in the stoic +system on the contrary these beings all viewed +together are members of a surpassingly perfect +organisation, and as such, so bound in one, that +nothing can happen to the individual being, which +does not by sympathy extend its operation to all +others. Thus on his physical side, God is the +world-fire, the vital all-interpenetrating heat, the +sole cause of all life and motion, and the necessity +<pb n='440'/><anchor id='Pg440'/> +which rules the world: while on his moral side, +inasmuch as the first general cause can only be +a soul full of reason and wisdom, he is the world-reason, +a blessed being, the originator of the moral +law, ever occupied with the government of the +world, being in fact himself the world. Thus +everything is subject to the law of absolute necessity; +everything eternally determined through an +endless series of preceding causes, since nothing +happens without a cause, and that again is the working +of a cause before it. What, then, is called, +or seems to be, chance, is merely the working of +a cause unknown to us. The will of man is accordingly +mere spontaneity. He wills, but what +he wills is inevitable: he determines himself, but +always in consequence of preceding causes. And +since here every cause is something subject to the +conditions of matter, something purely inside the +world, it becomes unalterable destiny. But inasmuch +as the series of causes leads back to the +first, and this first cause has not only a physical +side, but includes intelligence with it, and so +everything in it is foreseen and predetermined, +therefore that which considered under the aspect +of inevitable necessity is called fate or destiny, +viewed as thought may be termed Providence, a +divine arrangement. +</p> + +<p> +With such a doctrine it is evident that all +morality was reduced to a matter of physics: and +yet no sect of Greek philosophers struggled so +<pb n='441'/><anchor id='Pg441'/> +hard to solve the great problem of moral freedom +as the Stoics.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, pp. 322-324.</note> But the iron grasp of their leading +tenet was ever too much for them. Man's +soul is of the same substance as the world-soul, +that is, breath or fire, of which it is a portion: in +man it manifests itself as the force from which +knowledge and action proceed, as at once intelligence, +will, and consciousness. It is, then, closely +allied with the Divine Being, but at the same time +corporeal, a being which stands in perpetual action +and reaction with the human body. It is that heat-matter +bound to the blood, which communicates +life and motion: it is perishable, though it lasts +beyond the body, perhaps to the general conflagration. +It has therefore, in the most favourable view, +the duration of a world-period, with the outrun of +which it must return to the universal ether or +godhead: its individual existence and consciousness +end. +</p> + +<p> +As to the popular religion,<note place='foot'>Ibid. p. 324.</note> the Stoics admitted +that it was filled with pretended deities, false doctrines, +and rank superstition; that its wilderness +of fables about the gods was simply contemptible: +but that it was well to retain the names of gods +consecrated in public opinion, who were merely +descriptions of particular incorporations of the one +world-god. +</p> + +<p> +The Stoics did not represent the component +elements of human nature as struggling with each +<pb n='442'/><anchor id='Pg442'/> +other, like Plato.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 326.</note> With them nature and reason +is one thing. Their virtue,<note place='foot'>ὁμολογουμένως τῇ φύσει ζῆν. Ueberweg, i. p. 198.</note> or highest good, is +life in accordance with nature, that is, the concurrence +of human conduct with the all-ruling law of +nature, or of man's will with God's will. Thus it +was that the Stoic sought to reach his doctrine of +philosophical impassibility: and to this system the +majority of earnest and thinking minds in the two +centuries before Christ inclined.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 340.</note> +</p> + +<p> +At the very same time as Zeno, Epicurus set +up at Athens a school destined through all its existence +to wage a battle with stoicism, yet aiming +by different means at the same end, the freedom +of the individual man from anxiety and disturbance.<note place='foot'>Ibid. p. 330.</note> +If Zeno's world was an intelligent animal, +that of Epicurus was a machine formed and kept +in action by chance. He assumed the atomic +theory of Democritus, that all bodies—and there +are nothing else but corporeal things—have arisen +originally from atoms moving themselves in empty +space. They are eternal and indestructible, without +quality, but not without quantity, and endlessly +various in figure. As these from mere +weight and impulse would fall like an everlasting +rain in empty space without meeting each other, +Epicurus devised a third motion, a slight declension +from the perpendicular, in virtue of which +<pb n='443'/><anchor id='Pg443'/> +their agglomeration is produced: and thus it is a +work of pure chance that out of these, the countless +worlds which frame the universe began to be. +Any order or higher guidance of the universe, as +directed to a purpose, is not to be thought of, any +more than necessary laws, according to which the +appearances of nature reproduce themselves. For +a law would ultimately lead to a lawgiver, and +this might reawaken fear, and disturb the wise +man's repose. He utterly denied the intervention +either of one god or of many gods in the forming +or the maintenance of the world: the main purpose +indeed of his philosophy was to overthrow +that religious view which saw in the argument +from design a sure proof of a divine Providence.<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol. iii. part 1, p. 370.</note> +Nothing, he thought, was more perverted than +that the opinion that nature was directed for the +good of man, or generally for any object at all; +that we have tongues in order to speak, or ears +in order to hear, for in fact just the reverse is +true. We speak because we have tongues, and +hear because we have ears. The powers of nature +have worked purely under the law of necessity. +Among their manifold productions some were +necessarily composed in accordance with an end: +hence resulted for man in particular many means +and powers; but such result must not be viewed +as intentional, rather as a purely casual consequence +of naturally necessary operations. Gods, +<pb n='444'/><anchor id='Pg444'/> +such as the people believed, he utterly repudiated. +Not he who denied such gods, but he who assumed +their existence, was godless. He allowed, indeed, +that there existed an immense multitude of gods, +beings of human form, but endued with subtle, +ethereal, transparent, indestructible bodies, who +occupied the intermundial spaces, free from care, +regardless of human things, enjoying their own +blissful repose.<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol. iii. part 1, p. 398.</note> His gods are in fact a company +of Epicurean philosophers, possessing everything +which they can desire, eternal life, no care, and +perpetual opportunity of agreeable entertainment. +</p> + +<p> +The soul of man is a body made out of the +finest round and fiery atoms; a body which, like +heated air, most rapidly penetrates the whole material +frame. The finest portion of the soul, the +feeling and thinking spirit, which as a fourth element +is added to the fiery, aerial, and vaporous +portions, dwells in the breast. In these elements +all the soul's passions and impulses are rooted. +When death destroys the body, the sheltering and +protecting home of the soul's atoms, these evaporate +at once. It was clear that in such a system +the soul could not outlive the body, but Epicurus +laid a special stress on this, since thereby only +could men be delivered from the greatest impediment +to repose and undisturbed enjoyment of +life, the torturing fear of the world below, and of +punishments after death. It was the crown of his +<pb n='445'/><anchor id='Pg445'/> +system, to which ethics, physics, and such logic as +he admitted were entirely subordinate, to emancipate +men from four fears, the fear of death, the +fear of natural things, the fear of the gods, the +fear of a divine Providence, which was the same +thing as fate.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, pp. 331-333. Zeller, vol. iii. part 1, p. 392.</note> Nevertheless, the followers of +Epicurus had no scruple, after the manner of their +master, who had spoken of the worship of the gods +like a priest, to visit temples and take part in religious +ceremonies. These, it is true, were useless, +since they had nothing to fear and nothing to +hope from the gods, but it was an act of reason, +and could do no harm, to honour beings naturally +so high and excellent.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 335.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Of this school we learn that it gradually became +the most numerous of all. Its social force +really lay in setting forth as a model the undisturbed +security of individual life. It agreed at +the bottom with stoicism that man's wisdom and +highest end was to live in accordance with nature. +Zeno, it is true, called this living in accordance +with nature, virtue, man's highest and only good; +Epicurus called it pleasure; but Zeno's virtue consisted +essentially in the absence of passions, the +pleasure of Epicurus in the mind's undisturbedness.<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol. iii. part 1, p. 427. ἀπαθία and ἀταραξία.</note> +The Epicureans were more attached to +their master's memory than any other school. +<pb n='446'/><anchor id='Pg446'/> +They were renowned for their friendship with +each other. Epicurus's Garden at Athens meant +the highest refinement of Athenian life, the enjoyment +of everything that was pleasant in the society +of likeminded men.<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol. iii. part 1, i. p. 107.</note> It was this side of his philosophy +which made it popular. +</p> + +<p> +While the schools of Zeno and Epicurus seated +at Athens were powerfully influencing Grecian +thought, the former especially drawing to it the +stronger and more thinking minds, resistance arose +to them both in the chair of Plato. First Arcesilaus +and then Carneades, who had succeeded to this +office, set up in the middle Academy the school of +Scepticism. While Stoics and Epicureans alike +sought peace of mind through knowledge of the +world and its laws, they on the contrary maintained +that this same peace of mind could only be +attained by renouncing all such knowledge.<note place='foot'>Ibid. p. 435.</note> They +held that no truth and no certainty were given to +man by the representations of his senses, by his +feelings, and by his consciousness of these, which +do not enable him to know the real being of anything.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 336, who quotes Sextus, <hi rend='italic'>Hypot.</hi> i. 8.</note> +Those who held this view would not say +downright that what they contradicted was untrue: +they were of opinion that it might be true, +only there was no certitude of this, and therefore +it must be left undetermined. The uncertainty +was as great on the one side as on the other. +<pb n='447'/><anchor id='Pg447'/> +Sextus Empiricus defined the state of skepsis to +be <q>skilfulness in so setting forth appearances +and reflections against each other, as to be brought +through the equilibrium of opposing facts and +grounds in their favour first to a suspension of judgment, +and then to imperturbable tranquillity.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Carneades, whose life occupied the greater part +of the second century before Christ, and who is +extolled by Cicero as the keenest and most copious +of disputants, was the man in whom this school of +thought reached its highest point. He had appeared +at Rome among a deputation of philosophers +in the year 155, when his eloquence and +earnestness made a great impression on his Roman +hearers. This scepticism of the younger Academy +however ran in accordance with the direction +which the collective philosophy of the Greeks +naturally took, and was carried out with an acuteness +and a scientific ability which makes us recognise +in it an important member of philosophical +development.<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol. iii. part 1, p. 477.</note> Carneades subjected the stoic doctrine +as to God in particular to a criticism the +range of which went far beyond the dogmas of +this school, and in fact tended to represent every +conviction as to the existence of the godhead, and +every religious belief, as something impossible and +untenable.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 338.</note> This, however, as Cicero repeatedly +assures us, was not done for the purpose of destroying +belief in the gods, but only to point out +<pb n='448'/><anchor id='Pg448'/> +the weakness and groundlessness of stoic doctrines. +It is chiefly in his assaults on the assertions and +assumptions of his adversaries that Carneades is +victorious: when he attempts anything positive +on his own side, it amounts to this, that a rational +man will take probability for his guide, when he +cannot be assured of truth: and his chief merit +appears to have been in more accurately determining +the degrees of probability.<note place='foot'>For a full account of the line of thought followed by Carneades, +see Zeller, vol. iii. part 1, pp. 454-477.</note> +</p> + +<p> +The contests of these schools bring us down +to the middle of the second century before Christ, +when Greece fell under the dominion of Rome. +From this time forth not only were Greek philosophers +of eminence drawn to live themselves +at Rome, and so to meet her statesmen and nobles +in habits of intercourse, but the higher classes of +the great capital commonly completed their education +by visiting and studying at Athens, Rhodes, +and other centres of Grecian thought. Thus by +the fusion of Greece with the empire, while her +political importance dwindled away, her influence +upon the mind of her subjugators was immensely +increased. But the Roman on his side obtained +a sort of victory. As a rule he was anything but +an original thinker. He was an essentially practical +man: he had a steady instinct which led +him to distrust first causes and general principles. +The Greek schools were to him of value only as +<pb n='449'/><anchor id='Pg449'/> +they might fit into his daily life, not as coherent +systems of thought. The spirit therefore in which +he regarded their differences was to select from +them what best suited his tastes and feelings. If +he had no power to originate, he could choose. +But such likewise had been the result among the +Greeks themselves of two centuries of conflict, in +which the rival systems of Stoicism, Epicureanism, +and Scepticism had stood over against each other. +They sprung from the same soil; they might even +be termed three branches of one stem,<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol. iii. part 1, p. 436.</note> inasmuch +as their common root was the desire to find for +the individual man something which would give +him tranquillity of mind, happiness in fact, independent +of his civil circumstances. In this they +all took up a practical rather than a theoretical +ground, the ground indeed which is now assigned +to religion. Utterly opposed, then, as they were +in their means, they sought the same end, and it +was not in nature that the collision of their various +arguments should not at length kindle the +spirit of eclecticism. Thus the temper of the +Roman statesman and noble, and the course of +Greek philosophy itself, combined to produce this +spirit, which from the beginning of the first century +before Christ pervaded the thinkers of the +Greco-Roman world.<note place='foot'>Ibid. pp. 482, 492.</note> But eclecticism betokens a +weakening of the philosophic mind, that weariness +which is unable to take a firm grasp of truth, +<pb n='450'/><anchor id='Pg450'/> +an absence of the keen aim and high desire which +such a grasp betokens. It is a confession that no +one system possesses the truth: in which state of +things nothing remains for the individual but to +choose for himself out of different systems those +morsels of truth which approve themselves most to +his taste or tact, or, as he would term it, his truth-seeking +sincerity. +</p> + +<p> +But it is not too much to say that the whole +spirit of later antiquity, so far as it interested +itself in the discovery of truth, from the time that +Greek philosophy was diffused over the Roman +world, leant more or less to eclecticism. Its most +able, most distinguished, and most interesting representative +is Cicero.<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. p. 218; and Zeller, iii. part 1, p. 593, calls him <q>neben +seinem Lehrer Antiochus den eigentlichsten Vertreter des philosophischen +Eklekticismus in dem letzen Jahrhundert vor dem Anfang unserer +Zeitrechnung.</q></note> He lived at a time when +rival criticism had searched out and exposed every +weak point in the different systems of thought. +To found new systems there was no further creative +force; his eclectic position was the necessary +result. His genius supplied him with no means +to overcome it. His philosophical writings are +scarcely more than transcripts from various Grecian +sources, wherein he uses his skill as a rhetorician +and his unfailing wealth of words to set forth +with lawyerlike balancing the arguments of different +schools. We can yet detect the originals, +from which in the short intervals of enforced absence +<pb n='451'/><anchor id='Pg451'/> +from political life before and after the death +of Cæsar he transfused with such rapidity into a +Latin shape the products of Greek discussion.<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. pp. 221-2.</note> +Thus his treatise on the Republic and on Laws +are in form imitations of Plato's writings with +the same title, while for their contents Cicero +applies Platonic, Aristotelian, and Stoic doctrines +to his own political experiences, making also much +use of Polybius. His <hi rend='italic'>Paradoxa</hi> explain Stoic propositions. +The groundwork of his <hi rend='italic'>Consolatio</hi> is +Crantor's writing upon Grief. The <hi rend='italic'>Lost Hortensius</hi> +is drawn from an exhortation of Aristotle to Themison, +a prince of a city of Cyprus, or from a +similar work of the academician Philo of Larissa; +his books <hi rend='italic'>De Finibus</hi> from works of Phædrus, +Chrysippus, Carneades, Antiochus, as well as the +studies which Cicero himself in his youth made +while attending lectures; his <hi rend='italic'>Academica</hi> from the +writings and partly also from the lectures of the +best-known Academicians: his <hi rend='italic'>Tusculan Disputations</hi> +from Plato and Crantor, from Stoics and +Peripatetics. The first book on the <hi rend='italic'>Nature of +the Gods</hi> from the writing of an Epicurean, which +has been discovered in the rolls of Herculaneum, +and was first supposed to be a treatise of Phædrus, +but is now known to be a work of Philodemus: +his critique on the Epicurean standing-point +is drawn from the stoic Posidonius; the +second book from Cleanthes and Chrysippus; the +<pb n='452'/><anchor id='Pg452'/> +third from Carneades and Clitomachus. Of his +books on <hi rend='italic'>Divination</hi>, the first is taken from Chrysippus, +Posidonius, Diogenes, and Antipater; the +second from Carneades, and the stoic Panætius. +His treatise on <hi rend='italic'>Fate</hi> from the writings of Chrysippus, +Posidonius, Cleanthes, and Carneades: his +<hi rend='italic'>Elder Cato</hi> from Plato, Xenophon, Hippocrates, +and Aristo of Chius: his <hi rend='italic'>Lælius</hi> mainly from a +writing of Theophrastus on Friendship. His main +authority for the first two books on <hi rend='italic'>Offices</hi> is +Panætius; and for the third Posidonius; while +besides Plato and Aristotle he has made use of +Diogenes of Babylon, Antipater of Tyre, and Hecato. +</p> + +<p> +Now in this selection from rival and antagonistic +schools—this oscillation between the positive +and sceptical tone of thought, this sitting as +a judge rather than obeying as a disciple—Cicero +very exactly represented the tone and attitude of +the cultivated classes in his own time and in the +century following his death. Originality of mind +in philosophic studies was gone; nor was any +system as a whole believed in. The sceptic and +eclectic turn of mind are but the reverse sides of +the same mental coinage: he who selects from +all is convinced by none. Neither his doubts nor +his choices satisfied Cicero, or any one of those +who followed him in that most important century, +the eighth of the Roman city, fifty years of which +preceded and fifty followed the coming of Christ. +<pb n='453'/><anchor id='Pg453'/> +In its philosophical productions no preceding century +had been so poor as this. It had only to +show the school of the Sextii, which arose at +Rome about the beginning of our era, and took +a sort of middle standing between Pythagorean, +Cynic, and Stoic principles.<note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. 219, 223.</note> This school was of +small importance, and soon became extinct. With +this exception from Cicero to Seneca no names of +distinction appear. There is a gap in philosophical +thought. A period so influential on the destinies +of man in its events, so celebrated for its polite +literature, on which the world has since been feeding, +is barren in the highest realm of inquiry. +For this reason there is a particular justice in +taking Cicero as an exponent of heathen thought +and spirit, the living specimen of the kind, inasmuch +as he is the last philosophic writer before +Christian thought appears in the world, and chose +for himself the function of summing up what he +thought of value in the ages before him. +</p> + +<p> +We omit therefore nothing in our review if +we place ourselves at the end of this century, +in the reign of Claudius, and cast a glance backward +over that prodigious labour of human reason +through which we have hastily travelled, and +which had then lasted six hundred years. The +problem was, given the universe, what will man's +reason in the most gifted, cultivated, inquiring, +dialectic race of the ancient world do with it? +<pb n='454'/><anchor id='Pg454'/> +And more particularly, to what results will reason +come as to the power which has formed, or which +rules it: as to its chief inhabitant, his nature, and +the purpose for which he exists, and the end to +which he is ever advancing: as to the duties by +which he is bound to this creating, or at least +maintaining and ruling power: as to those offices +which he owes to his fellow, the individual to the +individual, the civil community to the community. +It was to these points especially that the greatest +character in the whole movement—the single heathen +who knew how to die for his convictions—turned +the thoughts of those who followed him. +Again, at the very starting-point of Greek philosophy +a man of most virtuous conduct, gifted likewise +with great powers of attraction, had sought +to realise in a society the philosophic life. And +we have seen this conception of the mode of propagating +truth to lie at the bottom of Greek teaching, +and to have been pursued by Plato, by Aristotle, +by Zeno, by Epicurus, to have been the +original and even the only form of teaching which +they recognised. What was the result in this respect +also? In the four hundred and forty years +following the death of Socrates had reason produced +a consistent doctrine, and a society of which +that doctrine should be the law and bond, a fitting +body for its soul to tenant, the immortal race of +that living word which Plato contemplated? Time +there had been enough, and even a superfluity of +<pb n='455'/><anchor id='Pg455'/> +genius: but there were also two great outward +events which might be expected to favour and +advance such a result. +</p> + +<p> +The first of these was the subjection of the +whole East to the influence of the Greek mind by +the conquest of Alexander, the effect of which +continued in the kingdoms carried on by his successors. +Originally the civil position of the Greek, +as the free citizen of a free state, had been all in +all to him. His country was his single measure. +But during the lifetime of Plato and Aristotle this +position had been more and more altering. The +philosophy of Zeno and Epicurus was set up by +men who had lost it altogether, who were thrown +back on themselves, on the intrinsic nature of man, +for support. Their inmost thought was how to +produce tranquillity of mind, and so far as might +be, happiness, for man, in something independent +of his civil position. The loss of self-government +had opened to them perforce a field far wider than +the narrow confines of a provincial citizenship. +Henceforth the schools of Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, +and Epicurus issued their mental legislation not +for the inhabitant of Attica, but for all that fusion +of races which occupied the eastern coasts of the +Mediterranean, was ruled by Greek potentates, and +spoke the Hellenic tongue. Thus the ground taken +up by philosophy was at once religious and cosmopolitan; +the former because it attempted to +deal with the nature of man as man, and to give +<pb n='456'/><anchor id='Pg456'/> +him inward contentment, the latter because the +mind, which used as its organ the Greek language, +swayed large and independent empires, embracing +various races of men. Then, if ever, it might have +been expected that heathenism would make a great +spring,<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 313.</note> would cast aside what was local and accidental +in the various customs, races, and beliefs +brought under the fusing influence of one spirit, +and idealise out of them a religion bearing the +stamp and showing the force of that human reason +of which Greece was the great representative. But +the three centuries which witnessed the birth, the +vigorous growth, and the incessant contests of the +schools of Zeno and Epicurus, together with the +scepticism which from Plato's chair passed judgment +on them both, produced no such result, but +rather terminated in that balancing of opposite +systems, and the selection of fragments from each, +which we have seen in Cicero. +</p> + +<p> +The second great event which we have to +note is that when the Greek mind had thus been +for three hundred years in possession of society +throughout the East, the Roman empire came to +bind in unity of government not only all those +races which the successors of Alexander had ruled, +but the wide regions of the West as well, and their +yet uncivilised inhabitants. Here, again, the Greek +mind was not dethroned, but married, as it were, +to Roman power. Philosophy made a sort of +<pb n='457'/><anchor id='Pg457'/> +triumphal entry into Rome in spite of Cato and +all the conservative force of the old Roman spirit. +And if fusion had been the thought, the desire, +and the attempt of the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ, +even more certainly was it the only spirit +by which Augustus and Tiberius could hope to +rule in peace the world made subject to them. +And not less than the extinction of Greek autonomy +did the loss of self-government accompanying +the institution of the empire force the Roman +also back upon himself. When Cicero could no +longer sway the senate, he studied philosophic +systems at Tusculum: and certainly his book of +Offices has been more valued by all posterity than +his speeches against Catiline or his defence of Milo. +A long train of writers from the Fathers downwards +have seen in the civil unity of the Roman +empire a providential preparation for a great religion. +But the field on which that empire arose +had already, so far as concerns the thinking classes, +long been occupied by the Greek philosophy. The +two forces come into operation now together: and +seventy years after the battle of Actium, when Augustus +and Tiberius had completely established +one ruling authority, and when this second outward +revolution had had full time to give its impulse +to thought, and had set before the eyes of +men for two whole generations the vision of an +empire which seemed conterminous with civilisation +itself, we may fairly ask what philosophy had +<pb n='458'/><anchor id='Pg458'/> +done towards producing a corresponding unity of +doctrine, and a society sustaining and propagating +it. +</p> + +<p> +If, then, we take our stand at the moment when +Claudius began to reign, and count a century backwards, +it is impossible to mention a time when +philosophy was more impotent for good, and when +the higher classes of the Roman empire were more +thoroughly irreligious and unbelieving. To understand +the reason of this we must take into account +first the negative and then the positive action of +philosophy up to that time. As to the former, +there can be no doubt that the effect of philosophy +in all its schools and through all its shades of +thought had been hostile to a simple belief in polytheism +and its mythology. Human reason had +been turned with pitiless severity on its mass of +fables, its discreditable stories, its manifold contradictions. +As early as the sixth century before +Christ it had used the key of allegory in order to +infuse into these some better meaning, and this +was carried out into full detail by Metrodorus, a +follower of Anaxagoras. Thus if Homer, the mirror +in which the Greek saw his religion reflected, +described Jupiter as suspending Juno between heaven +and earth, Heracleitus was indignant with the +atheists who did not see that it meant how the +world and the elements were formed.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 254.</note> By this +process indecent personal agencies melted away +<pb n='459'/><anchor id='Pg459'/> +into physical effects, or were even sublimated into +moral lessons. Men were told that only soft Phæacians +could see in the loves of Mars and Venus a +consecration of adultery: to the man of sense it +meant that valour and beauty were worthy of each +other. Through all the following centuries this +tone of mind continued. As to the stoical philosophers +in particular, this physical allegorising was +the perpetual instrument by which they reconciled +their stern system of material Pantheism with all +the stage scenery of the poet's Olympus. Epicurus, +on the contrary, recognised the existence +of gods in countless numbers, but they were beings +who lived in the enjoyment of his philosophy, far +removed from the cares of providence and the +thought of human things. On the other hand, +Plato's attempt to purify, while he recognised, +polytheism, and to sweep away all its fables as +purveyors of evil thoughts and desires, found little +success, though his conception of the godhead as +the Idea of goodness, remained the highest ever +reached in that long process of thought; and +through all this period the best and purest minds +found in him a support against that bewilderment +of the reason which the vulgar religion inflicted +on them. But few and far between were those +who followed Plato in this his highest conception, +while the literature of that last century, in the +midst of which Christ appeared, remains an abiding +proof that the critical, scoffing, negative spirit of +<pb n='460'/><anchor id='Pg460'/> +philosophy had spread itself over all the cultured +classes. We seek in vain in Julius Cæsar and +Cicero, in Lucretius, Catullus, Virgil, Manilius, +Horace, Ovid, in Polybius, Dionysius, Diodorus, or +Strabo, for any real belief in the immortal gods +whose names appear in their writings. The poets +use them for stage-effect, the statesmen as part of +the machinery of government, the historians as +names interwoven with the events which they recount: +yet the life of all these men was filled with +the frequentation of rites and ceremonies, as a +matter of law and custom, having reference to a +multitude of gods, concerning whom they had a +contemptuous disbelief, though none of them were +without many a dark superstition. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the negative influence of philosophy; +but what inward support had it given to minds +whose ancestral belief, still entertained by the mass +of men all around, was thus eaten out? What substitute +had it provided for this discredited polytheism +with its ridiculed mythology? +</p> + +<p> +1. First, did the Greek philosophy teach the +unity of the Godhead? If by this question be +meant, did philosophy ever go forth into the midst +of the temples and smoking sacrifices with which +every city teemed, and proclaim, These gods which +you worship are no gods: there is one Maker and +Ruler of the universe, and the homage due to him +alone is usurped by a multitude of pretended deities;—then +there is no doubt about the answer, +<pb n='461'/><anchor id='Pg461'/> +that this is what neither Socrates, nor Plato, nor +Aristotle, nor Zeno, nor any other philosopher +thought of doing. The philosophic god was never +set in the forefront of the battle after this fashion. +He dwelt in the most secret shrine of Plato's +mind, hard to be discovered, and to be confessed, +if at all, in secret. If with Aristotle he was a +pure spirit, yet he abode apart from the world, +working on it indeed, as the magnet on the iron, +but unconscious of it, not ruling it with free will.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 307. <q>Er wirkt also zwar auf die Welt, aber ohne +sie zu kennen, wie der Magnet auf das Eisen, und seine Action auf die +Welt ist keine freiwollende.</q></note> +And, save so far as this is an exception, the Greek +mind from beginning to end never succeeded in +absolutely separating God from matter. And as +time went on, this original defect showed itself +more and more, until in the stoic system, which, +as to the conception of the power ruling the world, +prevailed over all the rest, that which was called +God was simply a force pervading all matter.<note place='foot'>Ibid. pp. 340, 572.</note> +The Stoics could, indeed, as in the hymn of Cleanthes, +invest this god of theirs with many beautiful, +grand, and attractive attributes. His was +almighty power;<note place='foot'>Ζεῦ, φύσεως ἄρχηγε, νόμου μέτα πάντα κυβερνῶν;—<lb/> +Σοὶ δὴ πᾶς ὅδε κόσμος ἐλισσόμενος περὶ γαῖαν<lb/> +Πείθεται ᾗ μὲν ἄγης, καὶ ἑκὼν ὑπὸ σεῖο κρατεῖται—<lb/> +Ἀλλὰ σὺ καὶ τὰ περισσὰ, ἐπίστασαι ἄρτια θεῖναι,<lb/> +Καὶ κοσμεῖς τὰ ἄκοσμα, καὶ οὐ φίλα σοὶ φίλα ἐστίν.<lb/> +Ὧδε γὰρ εἰς ἓν ἅπαντα συνήρμοκας ἐσθλὰ κακοῖσιν,<lb/> +Ὥσθ᾽ ἕνα γίγνεσθαι πάντων λόγον ἀὲν ἔοντα. +</note> he was the author of nature; +<pb n='462'/><anchor id='Pg462'/> +he ruled all things with law; and the world willingly +obeyed his will. And this common law +passed through all things, so that evil mixed with +good resulted in a general order. Thus they +could address him as Father and as King, guiding +all things with justice; and this being they termed +Jupiter. But this is only a poetic<note place='foot'>Cleanthes preferred expressly the poetic form; see the note in +Zeller, vol. iii. part 1, p. 289: for poetry and music are better suited to +reach the truth of divine contemplation than the bare philosophical +expression.</note> exhibition of +their genuine thought and meaning, which was, +that <q>all which was real was corporeal; matter +and force are the two chief principles; matter in +itself is motionless and formless, but capable of +assuming every motion and every form. Force +is the active, moving, and forming principle; it +is indivisibly joined with matter: the operating +force in the whole of the world is the Godhead.</q><note place='foot'>Ueberweg, i. p. 195.</note> +<q>By the names World-soul, World-reason, Nature, +Universal Law, Providence, Fate, the same thing +is indicated, the one Primal Force determining +everything with absolute regularity, interpenetrating +the whole world.</q> And even the opposition +between the material and the spiritual description +of the Godhead disappears upon closer examination, +for on Stoic principles the Godhead can only +then be considered as real when considered as +body.<note place='foot'>Zeller, vol. iii. pp. 130, 131: see the many authorities he produces, +pp. 126-131.</note> It was to such a unity that Greek philosophy +<pb n='463'/><anchor id='Pg463'/> +advanced, receding more and more from +that imperfect conception of personality with which +it had started. Further, the idea of creation is +wanting to Greek philosophy from its beginning +to its end. The power which it contemplates +is evermore confronted with matter, which it can +permeate, fashion, move through a natural alchemy +of endless changes, but in face of which it is not +free to create or not to create, not even free to +prevent the evil which lies therein as a sort of +blind necessity. As there was always Force, so +was there always Matter. To the conception of +a free Creator of spirit and of matter the Greek +mind never rose: nor accordingly to that of a free +Ruler of the universe: and this is only to say +in other words, that the conception of personality—that +is, of self-consciousness and moral freedom, +as applied to a Being of infinite power, wisdom, +and goodness—was imperfect and confused. Plato +in his highest flight had seemed to recognise one +God, whom to enjoy is the happiness of man; but +Plato and all who followed him had endured, had +countenanced, had taken part in the polytheistic +worship. And again, neither he, nor Aristotle, +nor Zeno showed any inclination to suffer for +their doctrines. This philosophic god, gradually +evolved by the reasoning mind, produced the very +smallest effect upon the unphilosophic world. The +stoic argument from final causes, which Cicero +has preserved for us, and the force of which he +<pb n='464'/><anchor id='Pg464'/> +has acknowledged in very remarkable words,<note place='foot'>He says of the opposite theory of Epicurus, the construction of +the world from the chance falling-together of atoms: <q>Hoc qui existimat +fieri potuisse, non intelligo, cur non idem putet, si innumerabiles +unius et viginti formæ literarum, vel aureæ vel quales libet, aliquo conjiciantur, +posse ex his in terram excussis annales Ennii, ut deinceps legi +possint, effici: quod nescio an ne in uno quidem versu possit tantum valere +fortuna.</q> <hi rend='italic'>De Nat. Deor.</hi> ii. 37.</note> +generated no martyrs. Was it merely from want +of earnestness that the philosophers tolerated and +practised the polytheism which surrounded them, +and avoided all suffering for their opinions by +compliance with a worship which they disbelieved? +or was it that their standing-ground, in +all more or less pantheistic, was identical with +that which they impugned?<note place='foot'>So Zeller remarks, iii. 1, p. 296: <q>A Pantheism, such as the stoic, +could take up into itself the most boundless polytheism, a double liberty +only being allowed, that of passing on to derived beings the name of +deity, from the Being to whom alone originally and in the strict sense +it belonged, and that of personifying as God the impersonal, which is +an appearance of divine power.</q></note> that the gods of +Olympus were powers of nature personified, while +their god was simply one power inhabiting nature? +that they never reached the one personal creating +God, and were consequently unable to maintain +his absolute distinction from the world together +with his relation to it as Creator and Ruler? That +which they cherished as a private philosophical +good, which they cared so little to exhibit to the +world, was in fact incapable of conquering the +world, for the human heart cannot live upon an +impersonal god, and will not suffer for a conception +of the reason. But it was in this conception +<pb n='465'/><anchor id='Pg465'/> +that philosophic thought had terminated. And +here we find the chief cause of its powerlessness +to improve and purify the mythology which it +attacked, and much more to affect the lives and +conduct of those who professed its tenets. For +the old mythology had at least a strong consciousness +of personality in its gods. In Homer himself +the original tradition, of which his religion was a +corruption, still spoke of the father of gods and +men as the ruler and judge of the world. In the +heathen mind generally such a conception still +existed; nor is it too much to say that the common +people among the Greeks and Romans were +nearer to the truth of one personal God than the +philosopher; and the philosopher himself when he +listened at any moment of danger and anxiety +to the promptings <q>of the soul naturally Christian</q> +within him, than when he indulged in his +esoteric problems. +</p> + +<p> +2. But the conception of personality in God +rules the conception of personality in man. As +throughout the Greek philosophy the former was +weak and imperfect, until in the Stoic system it +vanished, so the latter. The physical theory of +the Greek overmastered and excluded the conception +of freewill in his mind, first as to God and +then as to man. As evil existed throughout the +world, for which he had no better solution than +to place its seat in that matter which was coexistent +with the divine reason, and which that +<pb n='466'/><anchor id='Pg466'/> +reason was powerless wholly to subdue, so in the +smaller world of man. In him a portion of the +divine reason was united with matter. If Plato, +Aristotle, and the Stoics arranged somewhat differently +the mode of this composition, yet to all +of them alike from the one side and the other the +notion of physical necessity came in. The material +constituent tended to evil, the reasoning constituent +to good: in the man who was made up +of the two there was a perpetual jar. There was +no room left in their theory for the conception of +the soul as a self-originating cause of action. No +sect struggled so hard and so persistently to maintain +a doctrine of freewill as the Stoic: but it +went down before that central tenet of their system, +physical necessity, the inexorable sequence +of cause and effect, which made up their <q>common +law,</q> by which the world was ruled. The conception +of an all-wise, all-good, and all-powerful +personal Creator, in whose nature the eternal law +is based, not being clear to their minds, so neither +was the conception of sin, as the infringement of +that law. The law of physical necessity took the +place of the eternal moral law: that which man +did he did by virtue of the physical constituents +out of which he was composed. The evil which +he did was physical rather than moral: and he +was not responsible for what he could not prevent. +The questions of freewill, of evil viewed as sin, +and of responsibility, are inextricably bound up +<pb n='467'/><anchor id='Pg467'/> +with the doctrine of the human personality; and +on all these the philosophic mind was dark and +confused. +</p> + +<p> +But if the Greek's physical theory stood in the +way of his conceiving clearly the human personality +in this life, much more did it impede his conception +of that personality as continuing after death. +For as the union of a portion of the divine reason +with matter constituted man, and as death put an +end to that union, the compound being ceased to +exist, the portion of the divine reason reverted to +its source, but the sensitive soul, as well as the +body, was dissolved and came to nothing. There +was in his mind no <q>individual substance of a +rational nature</q> to form the basis of identity, and +maintain the conception of personality. In the +absence of this, he who had felt, thought, and +acted, was no more. He could not therefore receive +retribution for his deeds, since there was no +personal agent on whom the retribution was to fall. +</p> + +<p> +3. A god who was not personal and did not +make man,—man in whom freewill, the mark of +personality, was not recognised, so long as he +lived, and in whom after death no personal agent +continued to exist,—these correspond to each +other, and these were the last result of Græco-Roman +philosophic thought up to the time of +Claudius. But what sort of duty did man, being +such, owe to such a god? Cicero's book on Offices +had been written upwards of eighty years, but nothing +<pb n='468'/><anchor id='Pg468'/> +that followed it during that time equalled it +in reputation or ability. It was the best product +that his Roman thought could draw from all the +preceding Grecian schools: and it was accepted +for centuries as the standard of heathen morality. +Let us, then, first note that in this book<note place='foot'>See Hasler, <hi rend='italic'>Verhältniss der heidnischen und christlichen Ethik</hi>, +p. 28; and Zukrigl's commentary on the same, <hi rend='italic'>Tübingen theol. Quartalschrift</hi>, +1867, pp. 475-482.</note> there is +nothing like a recognition of God as the Creator +and Common Father; no call upon the human +soul to love him as such, and for his own perfections; +no thought that the duty of man consists +in becoming like to him, nor his reward in +attaining that likeness. The absence of such a +thought gives its character to the whole book, +and measures its level. The second point to be +noted is, that the happiness of man consists not in +being like God, and consequently, in union with +him, but in virtue, which is living according to +nature. In his reasonable nature everyone possesses +a sufficient standard of moral action under +every circumstance which may arise. Thirdly, +throughout the whole of his treatise Cicero makes +no use of the doctrine of man's immortality. His +happiness, then, is left to consist in virtue—life +according to reason, which again is life according +to nature—without respect to any future state of +existence. Now, if Cicero stood alone in these +three points, his book would only represent his +<pb n='469'/><anchor id='Pg469'/> +own authority, but he is in fact the mouthpiece +herein of that whole preceding heathen philosophy +which he criticised, and from which he selected. +Even Plato himself, by far the highest and best of +Greek philosophers in this respect, though he had +in single expressions indicated that the happiness +of man was to be made like to God, constructed +no system of ethics in dependence on that conception, +which, if it be true, is of all-constraining +influence, and is to the whole moral system what +the law of gravity is to the material universe. +Plato's ethical system was a strict deduction from +his physical theory of the three parts in man, to +each of which he assigned its virtue. Far less did +Aristotle connect morality with God. The Stoics, +indeed, who occupy by far the largest space in +Greek philosophy, seem to be an exception. It is +said that <q>their whole view of the world springs +from the thought of the Divine Being who generates +all finite beings from himself, and includes +them all in himself, who penetrates them with +his power, rules them with his unchangeable law, +and thus merely manifests himself in them all;</q> +so that their system <q>is fundamentally religious, +and scarcely an important statement in it which is +not in connection with their doctrine of God;</q> and +so with them <q>all moral duties rest on a religious +ground, all virtuous actions are a fulfilment of the +divine will and law;</q><note place='foot'>Zeller, iii. 1, pp. 288-9.</note> but then this God is but a +<pb n='470'/><anchor id='Pg470'/> +name for the sternest and most absolute system of +material necessity: a God without a moral nature; +without freedom; without personality; under that +name, in fact, force and matter making up one +thing are substituted for a living God, who, in +virtue of the laws of nature, is swept out of his +own universe. So, again, Cicero's statement that +man's happiness consists in virtue, which virtue is +life according to nature, is the general doctrine +of philosophy, which the Stoics in particular had +elaborated. If there be any one expression which +would sum-up in a point the whole heathen conception +of what man should do, it would be <q>Life +according to nature.</q> So, again, the exclusion +of any thought of immortality, and a consequent +retribution, in its bearing on morality, was common +to all the schools of Grecian thought, if we +except the faltering accents and yearning heart of +Plato, and most of all was truly stoic. The imperfection +and unclearness of their view as to the +divine personality, and as to the human, in the +reasonable being, the image and reflection of the +divine, accords but too truly, while it accounts +for, this detachment of man from God in the field +of moral duty. +</p> + +<p> +4. What, then, remained to man after such +deductions? There remained the earthly city, +the human commonwealth. And when, passing +beyond the bounds of any particular nation, and +man's civil position therein, philosophy grasped +<pb n='471'/><anchor id='Pg471'/> +the moral life as the relation between man as +man,<note place='foot'>Zeller, iii. 1, 12.</note> and conceived human society itself as one +universal kingdom of gods and men, it made a +real progress and reached its highest point. But +this was the proper merit of the Stoics.<note place='foot'>Καὶ μὴν ἡ πολὺ θαυμαζομένη πολιτεία τοῦ τὴν Στωϊκῶν αἵρεσιν καταβαλλομένου +Ζήνωνος εἰς ἓν τοῦτο συντείνει κεφάλαιον, ἵνα μὴ κατὰ πόλεις μηδὲ κατὰ +δήμους οἰκῶμεν, ἰδίοις ἕκαστοι διωρισμένοι δικαίοις, ἀλλὰ πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἡγώμεθα +δημότας καὶ πολίτας, εἷς δὲ βίος ᾖ, καὶ κόσμος, ὥσπερ ἀγέλης συννόμου +νόμῳ κοινῷ τρεφομένης. Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Alex. M. Virt.</hi> i. 6, p. 329, quoted by +Zeller, iii. 1, p. 281.</note> Plutarch +attributes to Zeno, their founder, this precise idea, +that we ought not to live in cities and towns, each +divided by peculiar notions of justice, but esteem +all men as tribesmen and citizens, who should make +up one flock feeding in a common pasture under a +common law. The grandest passages of Cicero are +those in which he clothes in his Roman diction this +stoic idea, as for instance:<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Finibus</hi>, iii. sec. 19.</note> <q>They judge the world +to be ruled by the power and will of the gods, and +to be a sort of city and polity common to gods and +men, and that everyone of us is part of this world.</q> +The bond of this community is the common possession +of reason,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Legibus</hi>, i. 7, 6.</note> <q>in which consists the primal +society of man with God. But they who have reason +in common, have also right reason in common. +And as this is law, we are as men to be considered +as associated with the gods by law also. Now they +who have community of law, have likewise community +of rights. This latter makes them also to belong +<pb n='472'/><anchor id='Pg472'/> +to the same polity. But if such pay obedience +to the same commands and authorities, then are +they even much more obedient to this supernal allotment, +this divine mind and all-powerful God. So +that this universal world is to be considered one +commonwealth of gods and men.</q> <q>Law is the +supreme reason, implanted in nature, which commands +all things that are to be done, and prohibits +their contraries.</q> <q>The radical idea of right I derive +from nature, under whose guidance we have to +draw out the whole of this subject-matter.</q> Thus +the great Roman lawyer and statesman, robing philosophy +in his toga, propounded to his countrymen, +full of the greed of universal conquest, with no less +lucidity than truth and beauty, the result of stoic +thought, that human society in general rested on +the similarity of reason in the individual, that we +have no ground for restricting this common possession +to one people, or to consider ourselves +more nearly related to one than another. All +men, apart from what they have done for themselves, +stand equally near to each other, since all +equally partake of reason. All are members of +one body, since the same nature has formed them +out of one stuff, for the same destination.<note place='foot'>Zeller, iii. 1, p. 278, from Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, who here, +however, only enlarge on Cicero's idea, or rather Zeno's.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Greek philosophy has undoubtedly the merit +of bringing out into clear conception this purely +human and natural society. It thus expressed in +<pb n='473'/><anchor id='Pg473'/> +language the work of Alexander, and still more +the work of the Roman empire, as it was to be; +and more than this, it herein supplied a point of +future contact with Christian morality. The advance +from the narrowness of the Greek mind in +its proud rejection of all non-hellenic nations, and +no less from the revolting selfishness of Roman +conquest, is remarkable. And it is an advance of +philosophic thought. As the older thinkers considered +the political life of the city to be an immediate +demand of human nature, so the Stoics +considered the unitedness of man as a whole together, +the dilatation of the particular political +community to the whole race, in the same light. +Its ground was the common possession of reason. +The common law which ruled this human commonwealth +was to live according to the dictation +of reason, that is, according to nature, in which +therefore virtue consists,<note place='foot'><q>Jam vero virtus eadem in homine ac Deo est, neque ullo alio +ingenio præterea. Est autem virtus nihil aliud quam in se perfecta, et +ad summum perducta natura.</q> <hi rend='italic'>De Legibus</hi>, i. 8.</note> being one and the same +in God and in man, and in them alone.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Officiis</hi>, i. 5.</note> Such +virtue branches into four parts, the prudence which +discerns and practises the truth; the justice which +assigns his own to each; the courage which prevails +over all difficulties; the self-restraint and +order which preserves temperance in all things. +These being bound up together cover the whole +moral domain, and embrace all those relations +<pb n='474'/><anchor id='Pg474'/> +within which human society moves, and, as having +their root in the moral nature of man, are a duty +to everyone. +</p> + +<p> +This human commonwealth enfolds in idea the +whole earth. It is the society of man with man. +But it closes with this life. It has no respect to +anything beyond. It was the Stoics who most +completely worked out this system of moral philosophy; +who urged the duty of man's obedience +to nature, of his voluntary subjection to that one +universal law and power which held all things +from the highest to the lowest in its grasp; and +who likewise most absolutely cut him off from +any personal existence in a future state. The +virtue in which they placed his happiness was to +be complete in itself; it was the work of man +without any assistance on the part of God.<note place='foot'>Cic. <hi rend='italic'>de Nat. Deor.</hi> iii. 36. <q>Virtutem nemo unquam acceptam deo +retulit. Nimirum recte. Propter virtutem enim jure laudamur, et in +virtute recie gloriamur: quod non contingeret, si id donum a deo, non +a nobis, haberemus.</q></note> It +made man equal to God. It found its reward in +itself. If it was objected that the highest virtue in +this life sometimes met with the greatest disasters, +sorrows, pains, and bereavements, the system had +no reply to this mystery. It did not attempt to +assert a recompense beyond the grave. +</p> + +<p> +As little did it attempt to account for or to +correct the conflict between man's reason and his +animal nature. That perpetual approval of the better +and choice of the worse part stood before the +<pb n='475'/><anchor id='Pg475'/> +Stoic as before us all. He admitted that the vast +majority of men were bad, and his wise man was an +ideal never reached. But he had no answer whatever +to the question, why, if vice is so evil in the +eye of our reason, it so clings to our nature; why, +if so contrary to the good of the mass, it dwells +within every individual.<note place='foot'>Champagny, <hi rend='italic'>les Césars</hi>, iii. 333.</note> +</p> + +<p> +The human city or community of men is the +highest point which this moral philosophy contemplates. +Each particular commonwealth should +be herein the image of the one universal commonwealth +which their thought had constructed. But +what, then, is the relation of the individual man +to the whole of which he is a part? This nature, +which is the standard to the whole ideal commonwealth, +is, as we have seen so often, in fact a law +of the strictest necessity. If virtuous, man follows +it willingly; if vicious, he must follow it +against his will. There was no real freedom for +the individual in the system as philosophy. What +was disguised under the name of law, reason, and +God, was a relentless necessity before which everyone +was to bow. But transfer this philosophy +to any political community, and consider in what +position it placed the individual with regard to the +civil government. Human society is considered +as supreme: but his own state represents to him +that society, and as all things end with this life, +no part of man remains withdrawn from that despotism +<pb n='476'/><anchor id='Pg476'/> +which requires the sacrifice of the part for +the good of the whole. Man's conscience had no +refuge in the thought of a future life; no reserve +which the abuse of human power could not touch. +And so we find that in matter of fact there was +no issue out of such a difficulty but in the doctrine +of self-destruction. They termed it in truth +<hi rend='italic'>The Issue</hi>,<note place='foot'><q>Ἐξαγωγὴ ist bei den Stoïkern der stehende Ausdruck für den +Selbstmord.</q> Zeller, vol. iii. part 1, p. 284 n. 2, who quotes Diog. vii. 130. +Ἐλλόγως τέ φασιν ἐξάξειν ἑαυτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ βίου τὸν σοφὸν καὶ ὑπὲρ πατρίδος καὶ +ὑπὲρ φίλων, κὰν ἐν σκληροτέρᾳ γένηται ἀλγηδόνι, ἢ πηρώσεσιν, ἢ νόσοις ἀνιάτοις.</note> when disease, or disaster, or pain, or +the abuse of human power, rendered it impossible +any longer to lead a life in accordance with nature. +In this case all the Stoic authorities justified it, +praised it, and termed it the Door which divine +Providence had benignantly left ever open. +</p> + +<p> +While therefore it must be acknowledged that +the stoical conception of the whole earth as one +city<note place='foot'><q>Qui omnem orbem terrarum unam urbem esse ducunt.</q> Cicero, +<hi rend='italic'>Paradoxon</hi> 2.</note> was a true result of Greek thought, and at +the same time the highest point it reached, and a +positive result of great value, yet it must also be +said that it was one rather big with rich promises +for the future than of any great present advantage: +for it required to be impregnated and filled with +another conception of which its framers had lost +their hold, the doctrine, that is, of a future retribution, +redressing the inequality, the injustice, the undeserved +suffering so often falling upon virtue in +<pb n='477'/><anchor id='Pg477'/> +the present life. When that conception came to +complete and exalt the Stoic idea, the need of self-destruction +as an issue of the wise man, as soon +as he could not live according to nature, ceased, +for man himself ceased to be a part of a physical +whole governed by necessity. The human city relaxed +its right over the individual in presence of +a divine city, which embraced indeed man in his +present life, but taught him to look for its complete +realisation in another. +</p> + +<p> +The human commonwealth, however, extended +in idea to the race itself, as possessing reason in +common, and individual man therein, as well as +the whole aggregate, viewed as being ruled by the +cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and +temperance, but both the commonwealth and the +individual terminating with this life, was the last +word of heathen philosophy up to the time of +Claudius. +</p> + +<p> +We have seen that from the time the Greek +race was absorbed in the Roman empire the systems +of philosophy were broken up by the eclectic +spirit, which, engendered within already by the +ferment of opinions, was strengthened and developed +by the accession of the practical Roman +mind. Variety of belief is indeed marked as <q>the +essential feature of Greek philosophy</q> from its outset, +and <q>the antagonist force of suspensive scepticism</q> +as including some of its most powerful intellects +from Xenophanes five hundred years before +<pb n='478'/><anchor id='Pg478'/> +to Sextus Empiricus two hundred years after the +Christian era. One of its historians stamps it as +<q>a collection of dissenters, small sects each with its +own following, each springing from a special individual +as authority, each knowing itself to be only +one among many.</q><note place='foot'>Grote, <hi rend='italic'>Plato</hi>, vol. i. p. 87.</note> It is therefore no wonder +that if Plato's grand conception of an immortal +line of the living word thus came to nought, philosophy +proved itself much more incapable of founding +a society impregnated with its principles than +it had even been of constructing a coherent doctrine +which should obtain general reception. And +to judge of the actual impotence of philosophy in +the century ending with the principate of Claudius, +we must rest a moment on this second fact. Philosophers +calling themselves Platonic, Peripatetic, +Sceptic, Stoic, Epicurean, or these in various mixtures, +were to be found at the various seats of +learning, Athens, Rhodes, Alexandria, for instance, +or at Rome as the seat of empire, or travelling like +wandering stars over her vast territory, but these +scattered, nebular, and disjointed luminaries shone +with a varying as well as a feeble light, which rather +confused than satisfied human reason. They +were utterly powerless to transfer their doctrine +into any number of human hearts living in accordance +therein. The only exception to this statement +seems to prove its real truth. By far the most +united of the sects was that of the Epicureans, who +<pb n='479'/><anchor id='Pg479'/> +held with great tenacity to their founder's views +and mode of life, which may be summed up in +denial of God and Providence, and enjoyment to +the utmost of this world's goods; the fair side of +it being a general benevolence, courtesy, friendship, +in short, a genial appreciation of what we +understand by the word civilisation. These antagonists +of Stoic principles and of the highest morality +which heathen thought had constructed were +the most numerous of existing sects, and we are +told that hundreds of years after their founder's +death they presented the appearance of a well-ordered +republic, ruled without uproar or dissension +by one spirit, in which they formed a favourable +contrast to the Stoics. With the exception +of a single fugitive, Metrodorus, never had an +Epicurean detached himself from his school.<note place='foot'>Döllinger, p. 315, from Numenius, quoted by Eusebius. Ueberweg, +i. 205, says of them, that up to the rise of Neoplatonism they were +the most numerous of all.</note> We +must give philosophy the credit of this single instance +of a capacity to create a social life in accordance +with its tenets in a sect whose doctrines were +a reproach among the heathens themselves. The +failure of Pythagoras, of Plato, of Aristotle, of +Zeno, was the success of Epicurus, and at the same +time the announcement that the age of Augustus +and Tiberius was ready to expire in sensuality +and unbelief, and even in exhaustion of the philosophic +mind, for no period is so barren of scientific +<pb n='480'/><anchor id='Pg480'/> +names, which carry any weight, as the fifty years +preceding Claudius.<note place='foot'>See Döllinger, pp. 341 and 572-584; so Champagny, <hi rend='italic'>les Césars</hi>, +iii. 294.</note> We have seen above that +all these philosophers aimed at forming a society +which should carry out their principles; that this +was their original and their only idea of teaching; +that with a view to make it permanent they created +a chair of teaching, a living authority who +was to continue on their doctrine. But the chair +of Plato alone presented<note place='foot'>Ueberweg gives them thus: to the first Academy belong Plato's +successor Speusippus, who taught 347-339 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>; Xenocrates, 339-314; +Polemo, 314-270; Crates, a short time. The second Academy was founded +by Arcesilaus, who lived 315-241, taking more and more a sceptical direction, +which was carried out to the utmost by Carneades, 214-129, in +the third: in the fourth, Philo of Larissa, about 80 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>, returned to the +dogmatic direction; and Antiochus of Ascalon, Cicero's friend, founded +the fifth, in which he fused Platonic, Aristotelian, and Stoic doctrines +together. S. Augustine, <hi rend='italic'>de Civ. Dei</hi>, viii. 3, puts his finger on the variations +of the Socratici.</note> five Academies with dissentient +doctrines; and a Platonic or Stoic city no +one had seen. Thus viewing their united action +upon the polytheistic idolatry we may say that +while they could discredit its fables in reflecting +minds, while they could even raise an altar in their +thoughts <q>to the unknown God,</q> they left society +in possession of the temples and observant of a +worship which they pronounced to be immoral, +monstrous, and ridiculous. They had destroyed +in many the ancestral belief; they had awakened +perhaps in some a sense of one great Power ruling +the universe; but having taken up the religious +ground and professed to satisfy man's desire for +happiness, they had been utterly powerless to construct +<pb n='481'/><anchor id='Pg481'/> +a religion. They failed entirely in the union +of three things,<note place='foot'><q>Lier ensemble les dogmes, une morale, et un culte, c'est-à-dire +donner à la société une foi, une règle, et des pratiques, c'était l'œuvre que +le genre humain appelait de ses vœux, et sur laquelle pourtant tous les +efforts humains semblaient échouer.</q> A. Thierry, <hi rend='italic'>Tableau de l'Empire +Romain</hi>, p. 328.</note> a dogma and a morality founded +on that dogma, both of which should be exhibited, +brought before the eyes and worked into the hearts +of men by a corresponding worship. To unite +these three things was needed an authority of +which above all they were destitute. Their dogma +was without the principle of faith; their morality +without binding power; but the worship which +should blend the two they had not at all. And so +they presented no semblance of the society which +should carry these three things in its bosom, and +they could not in the least satisfy the doubts or +the yearnings which they had raised. +</p> + +<p> +But the period beginning with the rise of +Greek philosophy and ending with the principate +of Claudius will ever remain of the highest interest +and importance as showing what human reason, +putting forth its highest powers in the race in +which it culminated, but at the same time more +thoroughly separated from belief, tradition, and +authority than anywhere else, did actually achieve. +It is in this respect that the heathen philosophers, +together with the poets and historians who precede +<pb n='482'/><anchor id='Pg482'/> +the publication of the Christian religion in +the Roman world, possess a value far beyond any +intrinsic merit of their own. It is a study of +pathology the results of which are far as yet from +being gathered in. It is only by carefully examining +what the philosophers taught in theology +and morals—for they aspired to be and were both +the theologians and the moralists of those ages—that +we can at all form an adequate judgment of +the real work which the Christian Church has +wrought in the world. It is only by using the +historians and poets as a mirror of that general +society to whose cultured classes the philosophers +spoke, that we can estimate what the great mass +of mankind then was, and what effect the philosophers +produced on them. The difference between +their world and their society and ours is +the measure of Christian work. The hundred +years preceding Claudius, which include in them +almost all the greatest names of Roman literature, +are the most important of all in this point of view, +both as containing the result of scientific thought +in the five preceding centuries, and as giving the +depth of the moral and intellectual descent. We +learn from this whole long period the fulness of +the truth conveyed in those words of the angelic +doctor at the commencement of his great work: +<q>Even for those things which can be investigated +concerning God by the force of human reason, it +was necessary for man to be instructed by a divine +<pb n='483'/><anchor id='Pg483'/> +revelation, because few only, and they after long +inquiries, and with the admixture of many errors, +would convey to man the truth concerning God +as searched out by reason.</q><note place='foot'>S. Thomas, <hi rend='italic'>Summa</hi>, p. 1. 9. 1. a. 1.</note> +</p> + +<p> +What the philosophers from the time of Thales +had taken as their special work was to measure +and estimate the visible world. And for the last +four centuries of this period especially they made +the nature and the needs, the supreme good and +the happiness of man their chief concern, in subordination +to which they continued their physical +inquiries. And surely the judgment which an +inspired writer formed of their travail must recur +to the mind with great force at the end of the preceding +review: <q>If they knew so much as to be +able to estimate the visible world, why did they +not more easily discover its Lord?</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Sap.</hi> xiii. 9.</note> Why from +the goods which they beheld had they not power +to know the sole possessor of being, nor when +they gave attention to his works, recognised their +artificer? Why did they esteem fire or breath, +rapid air or circling stars, or the force of water, +or the lights of heaven rulers of the universe? +For if the visible beauty of these delighted them +so that they conceived them to be gods, how did +they not draw the conclusion that the Lord of +these was so much better than they? for it was +the Author of beauty who created them. If they +were struck dumb with the sense of their power +<pb n='484'/><anchor id='Pg484'/> +and operation, why did they not conceive how +much more powerful He who made them was? +For from the greatness and the beauty of creatures +the parent of them is by the force of reason discerned.<note place='foot'>Reading with S. Chrys. and S. Gregory ἐκ μεγέθους καὶ καλλονῆς +κτισμάτων ἀναλόγως, cognoscibiliter, <hi rend='italic'>i.e.</hi> by a conclusion of reason.</note> +</p> + +<p> +From their capital error in this—which the +same writer declares to be inexcusable<note place='foot'>Μάταιοι μὲν γὰρ πάντες ἄνθρωποι φύσει, οἷς παρῆν Θεοῦ ἀγνωσία ... πάλιν +δὲ οὐδ᾽ αὐτοὶ συγγνωστοί. <hi rend='italic'>Sap.</hi> xiii. 1, 8.</note>—proceeded +their other errors concerning man, his +nature, his supreme good, and his final end. It +is here sufficient to note that down to the age +of Claudius there is no appearance that either of +these great errors would be corrected: and still +less any appearance of the rise of a great religion +which would cause the multitudinous altars of +heathenism to disappear before the altar of the +unknown God, and would construct a City of God +in the midst of that population in the thinking +minds of which divergent systems of philosophy +had eaten out belief in the babel of false gods +without implanting belief in a personal Creator, +the author and the end of man. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='487'/><anchor id='Pg487'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Index.</head> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Academies</hi>, the five, of Plato's school, <ref target='Pg480'>480</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Adam</hi>, his headship, <ref target='Pg060'>60</ref>, <ref target='Pg062'>62</ref>, <ref target='Pg065'>65</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its result seen in his fall, <ref target='Pg067'>67</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Alexander</hi> the Great, effects of his conquests on Greek life, <ref target='Pg436'>436</ref>, <ref target='Pg455'>455</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Alexander Severus</hi>, his treatment of Christians, <ref target='Pg244'>244</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Antoninus Pius</hi>, extension of the Church in his reign, <ref target='Pg197'>197</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>treatment of it under him, <ref target='Pg227'>227-233</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>what aspect the Church bore to him, <ref target='Pg233'>233-7</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Apollonius</hi>, a senator, martyred under Commodus, <ref target='Pg302'>302</ref>, <ref target='Pg209'>209</ref>, note 37.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Apostolic age</hi>, result of, <ref target='Pg186'>186-7</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Aristotle</hi>, his character as a philosopher, <ref target='Pg429'>429</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his view of the soul, <ref target='Pg430'>430</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>relation of his philosophy to religion, <ref target='Pg433'>433</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>conception of the method of teaching, <ref target='Pg420'>420</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>what he says of Socrates, <ref target='Pg390'>390</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his account of the generation of the Platonic doctrine of Ideas, <ref target='Pg400'>400</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Athanasius, S.</hi>, <ref target='Pg026'>26</ref>, <ref target='Pg032'>32</ref>, <ref target='Pg034'>34</ref>, <ref target='Pg037'>37</ref>, <ref target='Pg098'>98</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Athenagoras</hi>, <ref target='Pg182'>182</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Athens</hi>, worship at, <ref target='Pg005'>5</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Augustine, S.</hi>, his contrast of Heathenism with Christianity, <ref target='Pg172'>172-5</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>on the moral influence of Polytheism, <ref target='Pg021'>21-4</ref>, <ref target='Pg027'>27</ref>, <ref target='Pg030'>30</ref>, <ref target='Pg033'>33</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>how the Second Divine Person is the Truth, <ref target='Pg051'>51</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Adam and Christ, <ref target='Pg076'>76</ref>, <ref target='Pg077'>77</ref>, <ref target='Pg084'>84</ref>, <ref target='Pg110'>110</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the Church Christ's Body, <ref target='Pg099'>99</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>and at once his Temple, House, and City, <ref target='Pg088'>88</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>also the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon men, <ref target='Pg097'>97</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>dowered with Christ's Blood, <ref target='Pg144'>144</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Christ and the Church one Man, <ref target='Pg057'>57</ref>, <ref target='Pg144'>144</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>believing Christ, without believing the Church, is decapitating Christ, <ref target='Pg105'>105</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>crime of denying that the Catholic Church will for ever continue in its unity, <ref target='Pg106'>106</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the Word made flesh that He might become the Head of the Church, <ref target='Pg107'>107</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the Holy Spirit Vicarius Redemptoris, <ref target='Pg115'>115</ref>, <ref target='Pg119'>119</ref>, <ref target='Pg124'>124</ref>, <ref target='Pg125'>125</ref>, <ref target='Pg139'>139</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>asserts the perpetual Principatus of the Roman See from the beginning, <ref target='Pg290'>290</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>describes the uses of heresy, <ref target='Pg281'>281-2</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>admits of no charity but in the unity of the Body, <ref target='Pg130'>130</ref>, <ref target='Pg139'>139</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>coherence of the natural and mystical Body of Christ in the Eucharist, <ref target='Pg103'>103</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>what the Church will be hereafter, <ref target='Pg112'>112</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Augustus</hi>, his idea of the Roman empire, <ref target='Pg002'>2</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>prospects of Polytheism at the end of his reign, <ref target='Pg046'>46</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Aulus Gellius</hi>, <ref target='Pg421'>421</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Beugnot</hi>, Destruction du Paganisme, <ref target='Pg043'>43</ref>, <ref target='Pg044'>44</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<pb n='488'/><anchor id='Pg488'/> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Captivity</hi> of man to the devil, <ref target='Pg027'>27-30</ref>, <ref target='Pg033'>33-8</ref>, <ref target='Pg069'>69</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its full reversal as seen in the Body of Christ, <ref target='Pg112'>112</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Carneades</hi>, <ref target='Pg447'>447</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Catholic</hi>, term used of the Church by S. Ignatius about <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 115, and by the Church of Polycarp fifty years later, <ref target='Pg206'>206</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Celsus</hi>, <ref target='Pg179'>179</ref>, <ref target='Pg197'>197</ref>, <ref target='Pg230'>230</ref>, <ref target='Pg231'>231</ref>, <ref target='Pg234'>234</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Champagny</hi>, <ref target='Pg016'>16</ref>, <ref target='Pg182'>182</ref>, <ref target='Pg241'>241</ref>, <ref target='Pg243'>243</ref>, <ref target='Pg305'>305</ref>, <ref target='Pg475'>475</ref>, <ref target='Pg480'>480</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Christ</hi>, declares Himself to be a king, <ref target='Pg049'>49</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>His kingdom that of Truth, <ref target='Pg050'>50-4</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the counterpart of Adam as an individual, <ref target='Pg076'>76</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>as Head of a race, <ref target='Pg077'>77</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>as making one Body with His people, <ref target='Pg079'>79</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>parallel in His natural and mystical Body, <ref target='Pg096'>96</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>analogies between them, <ref target='Pg097'>97</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>coherence of both in the Eucharist, <ref target='Pg103'>103</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>His action permanent in His kingdom, <ref target='Pg081'>81</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>in His House, <ref target='Pg086'>86</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>in His Body, <ref target='Pg088'>88</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>in His Bride, <ref target='Pg091'>91</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>in the Mother of His race, <ref target='Pg092'>92</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>His five distinct loves, <ref target='Pg093'>93</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>His Body imperishable, <ref target='Pg104'>104</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>crime of imputing falsehood to it, <ref target='Pg105'>105</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>force of its corporate unity, <ref target='Pg110'>110</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>gifts which He bestows on it, <ref target='Pg125'>125</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>connection of Truth with His Person the principle of persecution, <ref target='Pg182'>182</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>His Passion repeated in His people, <ref target='Pg185'>185</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>His work summed up by S. Augustine, <ref target='Pg172'>172-5</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Chrysostom, S.</hi>, <ref target='Pg087'>87</ref>, <ref target='Pg101'>101</ref>, <ref target='Pg109'>109</ref>, <ref target='Pg220'>220</ref>, <ref target='Pg224'>224</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Church</hi>, the, the Kingdom of Truth, <ref target='Pg081'>81</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the House of Christ, <ref target='Pg086'>86</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the Body of Christ, <ref target='Pg088'>88</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the Bride of Christ, <ref target='Pg091'>91</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the Mother of His race, <ref target='Pg092'>92</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon men, <ref target='Pg097'>97</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>as such, the treasure-house of Truth and Grace, <ref target='Pg100'>100</ref>, <ref target='Pg120'>120-2</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>conveys the fruits of the Incarnation, <ref target='Pg101'>101</ref>, <ref target='Pg143'>143</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>is imperishable and incorruptible, <ref target='Pg105'>105</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>possesses Unity, Truth, Charity, and Sanctity as coinherent gifts of the Spirit, <ref target='Pg125'>125-8</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>bestows forgiveness of sins, faith, adoption, and sanctification on the individual, <ref target='Pg128'>128-31</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>unity of its jurisdiction, <ref target='Pg146'>146</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>analogy between it and the relation of soul and body, <ref target='Pg133'>133</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>between it and the human commonwealth, <ref target='Pg134'>134</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>between it and the natural unity of man's race, <ref target='Pg135'>135</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>transmission of truth in it, <ref target='Pg148'>148</ref>, <ref target='Pg166'>166</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by a triple succession, <ref target='Pg156'>156-161</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>development of the Truth its proper work, <ref target='Pg168'>168</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its divine life as opposed to heathenism, <ref target='Pg171'>171</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its witness of Christ's confession in the first ten generations, <ref target='Pg184'>184</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its first persecution by Nero, <ref target='Pg191'>191</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>growth in the time of Antoninus Pius, <ref target='Pg195'>195</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>picture of it by S. Ignatius, <ref target='Pg199'>199</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its treatment of heresies, <ref target='Pg204'>204</ref>, <ref target='Pg206'>206</ref>, <ref target='Pg258'>258</ref>, <ref target='Pg265'>265</ref>, <ref target='Pg274'>274</ref>, <ref target='Pg276'>276</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>bearing of Trajan to it, <ref target='Pg209'>209</ref>, <ref target='Pg215'>215</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>of Hadrian, <ref target='Pg221'>221</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>of Antoninus Pius, <ref target='Pg226'>226</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>of Marcus Aurelius, <ref target='Pg292'>292</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>of Commodus, <ref target='Pg302'>302</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>of Septimius Severus, <ref target='Pg302'>302</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its position in the third century, <ref target='Pg308'>308</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its organic unity as set forth by S. Cyprian, <ref target='Pg325'>325-334</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>power of its idea on Christians, <ref target='Pg340'>340</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>expresses Christ in its moral character, its worship, and its government, <ref target='Pg341'>341-5</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>persecuted by Decius, <ref target='Pg356'>356</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by Valerian and Aurelian, <ref target='Pg361'>361</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by Diocletian, <ref target='Pg362'>362</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>obtains freedom from Constantine, <ref target='Pg371'>371</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>how affected by Roman law between <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 64 and 313, <ref target='Pg371'>371-3</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Church</hi>, a mother or cathedral church only so called, <ref target='Pg253'>253</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Churches</hi>, public, when first known to exist at Rome, <ref target='Pg308'>308</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Cicero</hi>, states the work of Socrates, <ref target='Pg391'>391</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>representative of Eclecticism, +<pb n='489'/><anchor id='Pg489'/> +<ref target='Pg450'>450</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>sources of his philosophical works, <ref target='Pg451'>451</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>what he says of the atomic theory, <ref target='Pg464'>464</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his book <hi rend='italic'>de Officiis</hi> the standard of heathen morality for centuries after him, <ref target='Pg468'>468</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his statement of the Stoic idea of the world as one republic of gods and men, <ref target='Pg471'>471</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his conception of virtue in general, <ref target='Pg471'>471</ref>, <ref target='Pg473'>473</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his partition of the cardinal virtues, <ref target='Pg473'>473</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>virtue not a gift of God, but the work of man, <ref target='Pg474'>474</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Cleanthes</hi>, his hymn quoted, <ref target='Pg461'>461</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Clement</hi>, Pope S., <ref target='Pg191'>191</ref>, <ref target='Pg194'>194</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Clement</hi>, of Alexandria, <ref target='Pg278'>278</ref>, <ref target='Pg287'>287</ref>, <ref target='Pg303'>303</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Commodus</hi>, <ref target='Pg243'>243</ref>, <ref target='Pg302'>302</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Cyprian, S.</hi>, his statement of the Church's organic unity founded on the Primacy given to Peter, <ref target='Pg326'>326-331</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>puts the force of the Episcopate in its unity, <ref target='Pg147'>147</ref>, <ref target='Pg332'>332-4</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>repudiates a parallel between the twelve tribes of Israel and the Church, on the question of unity, <ref target='Pg334'>334</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>agreement of his witness with that of S. Paul, S. Ignatius, and S. Irenæus, <ref target='Pg349'>349</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his conversion, described by himself, a type of heathen conversion in general, <ref target='Pg336'>336-8</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>describes the relaxation produced by the long peace of the Church before the Decian persecution, <ref target='Pg350'>350-2</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his martyrdom, <ref target='Pg358'>358</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>says the Emperor Decius would much rather endure the appointment of a rival emperor than of a Bishop of Rome, <ref target='Pg356'>356</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Cyril, S.</hi>, of Alexandria, <ref target='Pg054'>54</ref>, <ref target='Pg055'>55</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>on the Fall and the Restoration, <ref target='Pg136'>136</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>to become a Christian is to enter into unity with Christ both physical and spiritual, <ref target='Pg137'>137</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Dante</hi>, <ref target='Pg422'>422</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Decius</hi>, <ref target='Pg356'>356</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>De Rossi</hi>, <ref target='Pg252'>252</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Diocletian</hi>, <ref target='Pg362'>362</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Diognetus</hi>, author of letter to, marks the Christians as one body and people, but diffused everywhere, circ. <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 100, <ref target='Pg318'>318</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Dionysius, S.</hi>, archbishop of Alexandria, prizes martyrdom for the unity of the Church more highly than for resistance to idolatry, <ref target='Pg345'>345</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Döllinger</hi>, Heidenthum und Judenthum, quoted or referred to, <ref target='Pg005'>5-13</ref>, <ref target='Pg025'>25</ref>, <ref target='Pg196'>196</ref>, <ref target='Pg386'>386</ref>, <ref target='Pg401'>401</ref>, <ref target='Pg402'>402</ref>, <ref target='Pg407'>407</ref>, <ref target='Pg409'>409</ref>, <ref target='Pg410'>410</ref>, <ref target='Pg429'>429-31</ref>, <ref target='Pg438'>438</ref>, <ref target='Pg441'>441</ref>, <ref target='Pg442'>442</ref>, <ref target='Pg445'>445-47</ref>, <ref target='Pg456'>456</ref>, <ref target='Pg458'>458</ref>, <ref target='Pg461'>461</ref>, <ref target='Pg479'>479</ref>, <ref target='Pg480'>480</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Hippolytus und Kallistus, <ref target='Pg248'>248</ref>, <ref target='Pg256'>256</ref>, <ref target='Pg257'>257</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Domitian</hi>, his persecution, <ref target='Pg094'>94</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Eclecticism</hi>, how it arose in Greek Philosophy, <ref target='Pg448'>448</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>becomes universal, <ref target='Pg450'>450</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Epicurus</hi>, his conception of the method of teaching, <ref target='Pg424'>424</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his doctrine, <ref target='Pg442'>442</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Episcopate</hi>, the, triply defended by scripture, by institutions, and by continuous personal descent, <ref target='Pg163'>163</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>one and undivided, <ref target='Pg327'>327</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>like the unity of the Godhead, <ref target='Pg333'>333</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>which is effected by the Primacy, <ref target='Pg334'>334</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Eucharist</hi>, coherence of natural and mystical Body of Christ in, <ref target='Pg102'>102-3</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>called by S. Ignatius that flesh of our Saviour Christ which suffered for our sins, <ref target='Pg202'>202</ref>, note.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Eusebius</hi>, <ref target='Pg150'>150</ref>, <ref target='Pg209'>209</ref>, <ref target='Pg251'>251</ref>, <ref target='Pg253'>253</ref>, <ref target='Pg302'>302</ref>, <ref target='Pg304'>304</ref>, <ref target='Pg361'>361</ref>, <ref target='Pg363'>363</ref>, <ref target='Pg364'>364</ref>, <ref target='Pg366'>366</ref>, <ref target='Pg367'>367</ref>, <ref target='Pg369'>369</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<pb n='490'/><anchor id='Pg490'/> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Forgiveness of sins</hi>, doctrine of, guarded by triple succession of teaching, of men, and of sacraments, <ref target='Pg162'>162</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Freewill</hi>, no room for it in the physical theory of Greek philosophy, <hi rend='italic'>e.g.</hi> in Plato, <ref target='Pg410'>410</ref>, <ref target='Pg411'>411</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>in Aristotle, <ref target='Pg432'>432</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>in Stoicism, <ref target='Pg440'>440-1</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>in all the schools, as to God, <ref target='Pg461'>461-5</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>as to man, <ref target='Pg465'>465-7</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>bearing of this on civil government, <ref target='Pg475'>475</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Future life</hi> of man as a personal being, why not held by Greek philosophy, <ref target='Pg467'>467</ref>, <ref target='Pg470'>470</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>absence of it from Cicero's <hi rend='italic'>de Officiis</hi>, <ref target='Pg468'>468</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Grace</hi>, Adam created in, <ref target='Pg062'>62</ref>, <ref target='Pg064'>64</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>loss of this gift in the Fall, <ref target='Pg066'>66</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>grace as restored in Christ, <ref target='Pg136'>136</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>grace in the God-man, <ref target='Pg077'>77</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>as in Adam and as in the God-man compared, <ref target='Pg053'>53</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>as bestowed through the headship of the God-man, <ref target='Pg078'>78</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>as seen in the Body of Christ, the counterpart of the body of Adam, <ref target='Pg079'>79</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>grace, with truth, makes <q>the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon men,</q> <ref target='Pg097'>97</ref>, <ref target='Pg117'>117</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the human fountain of this double power in the created nature of Christ, <ref target='Pg121'>121</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>whence it is transfused into the Church, His Body, <ref target='Pg122'>122</ref>, <ref target='Pg123'>123-6</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>grace, as given to the Church complete and indefeasible, <ref target='Pg127'>127</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>as given to the individual may be withdrawn, <ref target='Pg131'>131</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>actual bestowal of this grace on the Church, <ref target='Pg138'>138-142</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>grace necessary for the acceptance and maintenance of truth, <ref target='Pg155'>155-6</ref>, <ref target='Pg167'>167</ref>, <ref target='Pg170'>170-2</ref>, <ref target='Pg269'>269</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>grace, truth, and unity, viewed by S. Cyprian as inseparable, <ref target='Pg332'>332-3</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Greek mind</hi>, its standing-point, <ref target='Pg380'>380</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>represents human reason more than any other ancient race, <ref target='Pg382'>382</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>aided by a matchless language, <ref target='Pg379'>379</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>ripens in the most beautiful of climates, <ref target='Pg378'>378</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>pervades the whole East from the time of Alexander, <ref target='Pg455'>455</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>is married to Roman power in the empire, <ref target='Pg456'>456</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>is the great intellectual opponent of the Christian mind and Church, <ref target='Pg375'>375</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>criticises polytheism for six hundred years, <ref target='Pg376'>376</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its outcome up to the time of S. Peter's founding the Roman Church, <ref target='Pg475'>475-484</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>why its philosophy disbelieved a future life, <ref target='Pg467'>467</ref>, <ref target='Pg470'>470</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Grote</hi>, Plato, <ref target='Pg377'>377</ref>, <ref target='Pg402'>402</ref>, <ref target='Pg412'>412</ref>, <ref target='Pg413'>413</ref>, <ref target='Pg420'>420</ref>, <ref target='Pg421'>421</ref>, <ref target='Pg427'>427</ref>, <ref target='Pg478'>478</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Hadrian</hi>, grandeur of Rome in his days, <ref target='Pg240'>240</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>treatment of the Church, <ref target='Pg221'>221-3</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>puts to death S. Symphorosa and her sons, <ref target='Pg224'>224-6</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Hagemann</hi>, die römische Kirche in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten, <ref target='Pg209'>209</ref>, <ref target='Pg257'>257</ref>, <ref target='Pg273'>273</ref>, <ref target='Pg289'>289</ref>, <ref target='Pg352'>352</ref>, <ref target='Pg354'>354</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Hasler</hi>, Verhältniss der heidnischen und christlichen Ethik, <ref target='Pg468'>468</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Heathenism</hi>, what it is, <ref target='Pg059'>59</ref>, <ref target='Pg070'>70</ref>, <ref target='Pg072'>72</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>contrasted with Christianity, <ref target='Pg079'>79</ref>, <ref target='Pg170'>170-2</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by S. Augustine, <ref target='Pg172'>172-5</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its disregard of the value of moral truths, <ref target='Pg177'>177-9</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Heresy</hi>, subserves the enucleation of doctrine, <ref target='Pg281'>281</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the determining the Canon of the New Testament, <ref target='Pg284'>284</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>brings out full statements of the principle of tradition, <ref target='Pg286'>286</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>promotes extension and corroboration of the hierarchy, <ref target='Pg288'>288</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>temper of, described by Irenæus, <ref target='Pg270'>270</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by Tertullian, <ref target='Pg276'>276</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by Clement of Alexandria, <ref target='Pg278'>278</ref>, <ref target='Pg279'>279</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by S. Augustine, <ref target='Pg282'>282</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Herodotus</hi>, the travelled Greek gentleman, <ref target='Pg377'>377</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<pb n='491'/><anchor id='Pg491'/> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Idolatry</hi>, Asiatic, its turpitude, <ref target='Pg025'>25</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>division of gods, how far it could go, <ref target='Pg027'>27</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Ignatius, S.</hi>, Bishop of Antioch, his picture of the Church in his day, <ref target='Pg199'>199-203</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his martyrdom, <ref target='Pg215'>215</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his recognition of the Roman Primacy, <ref target='Pg218'>218</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>power of his intercession attested by S. Chrysostom, <ref target='Pg219'>219</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the Eucharist, that flesh of our Saviour Christ which suffered for our sins, <ref target='Pg202'>202</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q>Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church</q>, <ref target='Pg206'>206</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>completeness of a diocesan church called τὸ ἴδιον σωματεῖον, of the whole church τὸ ἒν σῶμα τῆς ἐκκλησίας, <ref target='Pg220'>220</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Innocent I.</hi> Pope S., <ref target='Pg255'>255</ref>, <ref target='Pg347'>347</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Irenæus, S.</hi>, <ref target='Pg113'>113</ref>, <ref target='Pg264'>264</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>guilt of those who divide the great and glorious Body of Christ, <ref target='Pg138'>138</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>on the Church's unity of belief, <ref target='Pg264'>264-6</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>gives the descent of the Roman See to his time, <ref target='Pg267'>267</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>affirms its superior principality, <ref target='Pg267'>267</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>sets forth the Church as the treasure-house of truth and grace, <ref target='Pg268'>268-9</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>distinguishes the perpetual teaching office in her, <ref target='Pg269'>269</ref>, <ref target='Pg287'>287</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>contrasts her truth with the variation of heresies, <ref target='Pg270'>270</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>summary of his doctrine on the Church, heresy, the Primacy, tradition, <ref target='Pg271'>271-4</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>one of a chain between S. Paul, S. Ignatius, and S. Cyprian, <ref target='Pg349'>349</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>speaks of the number of martyrs, <ref target='Pg339'>339</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>himself martyred with many of his people, <ref target='Pg303'>303</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>speaks of <q>the tradition of the Apostles</q> as the whole body of truth which they communicated, <ref target='Pg198'>198</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>speaks of the <q>founding and building</q> of Sees, <ref target='Pg255'>255</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Junius Rusticus</hi>, <ref target='Pg293'>293</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Jurisdiction</hi>, spiritual, its unity, <ref target='Pg146'>146</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>emanates from Christ's Person, <ref target='Pg342'>342</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>is the expression of His sovereignty, <ref target='Pg345'>345</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Justin, S.</hi>, his martyrdom, <ref target='Pg294'>294-8</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his <hi rend='italic'>Apologia</hi> quoted, <ref target='Pg227'>227-30</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>marks Christians as one people and body, <ref target='Pg319'>319</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>censures Jewish conduct in defaming Christians, <ref target='Pg189'>189</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>describes the extension of Christianity in his time, <ref target='Pg197'>197</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Kellner</hi>, Hellenismus und Christenthum, <ref target='Pg182'>182</ref>, <ref target='Pg197'>197</ref>, <ref target='Pg306'>306</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Kleutgen</hi>, die Theologie der Vorzeit, <ref target='Pg062'>62</ref>, <ref target='Pg063'>63</ref>, <ref target='Pg287'>287</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Kuhn</hi>, Einleitung in die katholische Dogmatik, <ref target='Pg291'>291</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Lactantius</hi>, <ref target='Pg363'>363</ref>, <ref target='Pg364'>364</ref>, <ref target='Pg365'>365</ref>, <ref target='Pg366'>366</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Lasaulæ</hi>, Fall des Hellenismus, <ref target='Pg192'>192</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Laurence, S.</hi>, his martyrdom, compared with a contemporaneous incident, <ref target='Pg358'>358</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Liguori, S. Alphonso</hi>, <ref target='Pg141'>141</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Man</hi>, various states of: state of pure nature, <ref target='Pg060'>60</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>state of integrity, <ref target='Pg061'>61</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>state of original justice, <ref target='Pg062'>62</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>state of, after the fall, <ref target='Pg067'>67</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>how summed up in Adam, <ref target='Pg064'>64</ref>, <ref target='Pg071'>71</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>effect of his being a race, <ref target='Pg059'>59</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>force of his social nature, when fallen, <ref target='Pg072'>72</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>when restored, <ref target='Pg108'>108-110</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his corruption viewed as a fact of modern science, <ref target='Pg058'>58</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Marcus Aurelius</hi>, treatment of the Church, <ref target='Pg292'>292</ref>, <ref target='Pg299'>299-301</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<pb n='492'/><anchor id='Pg492'/> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Martyrdom</hi>, said by S. Irenæus to be frequent in the Church, but not deemed necessary by the sects, <ref target='Pg339'>339</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>losses to the Christian body by it contrasted with those of civil war, by Origen, <ref target='Pg324'>324</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>a continuation of Christ's confession before Pilate, <ref target='Pg184'>184</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its spirit the tissue of early Christian life, <ref target='Pg238'>238</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>identified with <q>perfect charity</q> by S. Ignatius, <ref target='Pg217'>217</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>termed <q>the chalice of Christ</q> by S. Polycarp, <ref target='Pg300'>300</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Maximus of Tyre</hi>, a teacher of Marcus Aurelius, his notions of God, <ref target='Pg293'>293</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Merivale</hi>, History of the Romans, <ref target='Pg019'>19</ref>, <ref target='Pg203'>203</ref>, <ref target='Pg210'>210</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Möhler</hi>, <ref target='Pg059'>59</ref>, <ref target='Pg132'>132</ref>, <ref target='Pg135'>135</ref>, <ref target='Pg159'>159</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Nero</hi>, importance of his act in raising the first persecution, <ref target='Pg191'>191</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Newman, Dr.</hi>, the natural beauty of Greece, <ref target='Pg381'>381</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the martyrs soldiers of Christ, <ref target='Pg185'>185</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Oral teaching</hi>, viewed as the only adequate instrument for conveying doctrine by Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and all subsequent Greek philosophers, <ref target='Pg411'>411-425</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the means by which the Word of God declared that His kingdom should be propagated for ever, <ref target='Pg166'>166</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>which, as a fact, is fulfilled in the apostolic age, <ref target='Pg148'>148</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>and in all subsequent times, <ref target='Pg157'>157</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Origen</hi>, his heroic conduct in youth, <ref target='Pg303'>303</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>agrees with Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian, in the principle of tradition, <ref target='Pg280'>280</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>states the unity of the Church, <ref target='Pg286'>286</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>treats the Church as a polity, and compares it with other polities, <ref target='Pg320'>320</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the Christian people one people, formed on the imitation of Christ, <ref target='Pg322'>322</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>dies of ill-treatment under the Decian persecution, <ref target='Pg323'>323</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>how Christ leaves His Father and Mother to espouse the Church, <ref target='Pg114'>114</ref>, note 43;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>anticipates the universal prevalence of Christianity, <ref target='Pg306'>306</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>on the number of martyrs, <ref target='Pg324'>324</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Pantheism</hi>, Stoic, and <hi rend='italic'>Polytheism</hi>, how they fitted into each other, Zeller, <ref target='Pg464'>464</ref>, note.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Passaglia</hi>, <ref target='Pg092'>92</ref>, <ref target='Pg097'>97</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Patriarchal Sees</hi>, the three original all Sees of Peter, <ref target='Pg343'>343</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Penance</hi>, doctrine and practice of, in first half of third century, <ref target='Pg351'>351</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Personality</hi>, defective conception of, by Plato, in God, <ref target='Pg409'>409</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>in man, <ref target='Pg411'>411</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by Aristotle, in both, <ref target='Pg432'>432</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by Stoicism, in both, <ref target='Pg439'>439</ref>, <ref target='Pg440'>440</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by all the Greek schools as to God, <ref target='Pg460'>460-5</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>as to man, <ref target='Pg465'>465-7</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Petavius</hi>, <ref target='Pg090'>90</ref>, <ref target='Pg056'>56</ref>, <ref target='Pg123'>123</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Peter, S.</hi>, his personal work in building the Church, <ref target='Pg346'>346</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Peter and Paul, SS.</hi>, their martyrdom, <ref target='Pg191'>191</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Phileas</hi>, Bishop of Thmuis, his account of persecution in Egypt, <ref target='Pg367'>367-9</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Philosophy</hi>, what it is, <ref target='Pg376'>376</ref>, <ref target='Pg377'>377</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the Presocratic, <ref target='Pg384'>384</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its second period opened by Socrates, <ref target='Pg386'>386</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its four great schools at Athens, <ref target='Pg436'>436</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>effect of the empire's establishment on it, <ref target='Pg457'>457</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its negative effect, <ref target='Pg458'>458</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its positive effect, <ref target='Pg460'>460</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>as to the divine unity and personality, <ref target='Pg461'>461-5</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>as to man's personality, <ref target='Pg465'>465-7</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>as to man's duties to God, <ref target='Pg467'>467</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>as to the duties of man to man, <ref target='Pg470'>470</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its conception of the human commonwealth, <ref target='Pg472'>472</ref>;</l> +<pb n='493'/><anchor id='Pg493'/> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its failure to construct a society ruled by its principles, <ref target='Pg477'>477</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Philostratus</hi>, <ref target='Pg306'>306</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Plato</hi>, applies Socratic principles to an ethical, logical, and physical system, <ref target='Pg398'>398</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his doctrine of Ideas, <ref target='Pg399'>399</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his filiation with Socrates, <ref target='Pg400'>400</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his philosophy, and his idea of God, <ref target='Pg401'>401-6</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>with which, however, he retains the inculcation and practice of the popular religion, <ref target='Pg406'>406</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his God not absolutely personal, nor free, nor a creator, <ref target='Pg408'>408</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his ethical system, <ref target='Pg410'>410</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his conception of the method of teaching, <ref target='Pg411'>411</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his contrast between oral teaching and writing, as means of imparting doctrine, <ref target='Pg414'>414-18</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his account in his own person of how real knowledge, ἐπιστήμη, is to be attained, <ref target='Pg425'>425</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>calls the art of Socrates mental midwifery, <ref target='Pg392'>392</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the highest point of virtue to become like to God, <ref target='Pg433'>433</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Pliny</hi>, the younger, his report of Christians to Trajan, <ref target='Pg210'>210</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>compared in his conduct to them with Trajan and Junius Rusticus, <ref target='Pg210'>210</ref>, note 38.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Plutarch</hi>, his statement of Zeno's Politeia, <ref target='Pg471'>471</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Polytheism</hi>, of the Græco-Roman world, its multiplicity, <ref target='Pg004'>4</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>universality, <ref target='Pg012'>12</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>grasp on daily life, <ref target='Pg013'>13</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>moral influence, <ref target='Pg019'>19</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>absence of moral teaching in it, <ref target='Pg023'>23</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its internal cause in man, <ref target='Pg026'>26</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its external cause, <ref target='Pg027'>27</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its injuriousness to man, <ref target='Pg030'>30</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>illogical character, <ref target='Pg031'>31</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>superhuman power, <ref target='Pg033'>33</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>relation to civilisation, <ref target='Pg038'>38</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>to the empire's constitution, <ref target='Pg042'>42</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>to national feelings, <ref target='Pg044'>44</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>to despotism and slavery, <ref target='Pg045'>45</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its prospects about <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.u.c.</hi> 750, <ref target='Pg046'>46</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>is the summing-up of human history before Christ, <ref target='Pg058'>58</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Primacy</hi>, S. Peter's, defended by specific scriptural proof, unbroken succession, and perpetual recognition, <ref target='Pg164'>164</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>attested by S. Ignatius, <ref target='Pg218'>218</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by S. Irenæus, <ref target='Pg267'>267</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by Tertullian, <ref target='Pg352'>352</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by S. Cyprian, <ref target='Pg326'>326-331</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>necessary to the Church's unity, <ref target='Pg146'>146-8</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>is linked with jurisdiction, and is the expression of Christ's sovereignty, <ref target='Pg345'>345</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>brought out by the questions of penance, rebaptising heretics, and keeping Easter, <ref target='Pg351'>351-5</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>in it lies the unity of the Episcopate, <ref target='Pg334'>334</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Pythagoras</hi>, <ref target='Pg377'>377</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his attempt to construct a philosophic religious community, <ref target='Pg412'>412</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his conception influences Plato, and all subsequent Greek philosophy, <ref target='Pg414'>414</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Real Presence</hi>, defended by the succession of doctrine, of men, and of institutions, <ref target='Pg162'>162</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Rebaptisation</hi> of heretics, <ref target='Pg353'>353</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Ruinart</hi>, Acta Sincera Martyrum, quoted, <ref target='Pg184'>184</ref>, <ref target='Pg207'>207</ref>, <ref target='Pg217'>217</ref>, <ref target='Pg226'>226</ref>, <ref target='Pg294'>294</ref>, <ref target='Pg300'>300</ref>, <ref target='Pg301'>301</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Sabbath</hi>, the day changed, and the observance modified, by authority of the Church alone, <ref target='Pg165'>165</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Schmidt</hi>, Geschichte der Denk- und Glaubensfreiheit, <ref target='Pg194'>194</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Schwane</hi>, Dogmengeschichte der vornicänischen Zeit, <ref target='Pg261'>261</ref>, <ref target='Pg285'>285</ref>, <ref target='Pg287'>287</ref>, <ref target='Pg288'>288</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Scripture</hi>, not used as the means for the first foundation of Christianity, <ref target='Pg148'>148-50</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>introduced as subsidiary to oral teaching, <ref target='Pg150'>150-2</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its great value in this light, <ref target='Pg152'>152-4</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>relation hence arising of Scripture to the +<pb n='494'/><anchor id='Pg494'/> +Church, <ref target='Pg154'>154</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>instances of this relation, <ref target='Pg161'>161-5</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>this relation set forth by our Lord for perpetual guidance of His Church, <ref target='Pg166'>166-8</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the same, urged by Tertullian, <ref target='Pg274'>274</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by S. Irenæus, <ref target='Pg268'>268</ref>, <ref target='Pg269'>269</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>by Clement of Alexandria, <ref target='Pg278'>278</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Sects</hi>, their multitude in early times, <ref target='Pg204'>204</ref>, <ref target='Pg261'>261</ref>, <ref target='Pg270'>270</ref>, <ref target='Pg315'>315</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Septimius Severus</hi>, maxims of government, <ref target='Pg243'>243</ref>, <ref target='Pg248'>248-50</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his persecution, <ref target='Pg302'>302</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Socrates</hi>, his person, <ref target='Pg388'>388</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>influence on Greek philosophy, <ref target='Pg387'>387</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the Stoic type of the wise man, <ref target='Pg424'>424</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Zeller's account of his special principle, <ref target='Pg389'>389</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>that of Ueberweg, <ref target='Pg390'>390</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his opinion on the gods and the Godhead, <ref target='Pg392'>392-5</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his last words to his judges, <ref target='Pg395'>395</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>last words of his life, <ref target='Pg396'>396</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>halts between unity and plurality in the Godhead, <ref target='Pg396'>396</ref>, <ref target='Pg397'>397</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>absence from his mind of the sense of impurity, <ref target='Pg397'>397</ref>, note.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Plato makes an ethical, logical, and physical system from his principles, <ref target='Pg398'>398</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the filiation between them, <ref target='Pg400'>400</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his art termed mental midwifery by Plato, <ref target='Pg392'>392</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>one of his statements compared with that of S. Paul, <ref target='Pg393'>393</ref>, note.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Stoicism</hi>, Epicureanism, Scepticism, three branches on one stem, <ref target='Pg449'>449</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Suarez</hi>, <ref target='Pg060'>60-2</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Suicide</hi>, termed the <hi rend='italic'>Issue</hi> in Stoic philosophy, <ref target='Pg476'>476</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Tacitus</hi>, <ref target='Pg190'>190</ref>, <ref target='Pg247'>247</ref>, <ref target='Pg248'>248</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Teaching office</hi>, created by Christ, <ref target='Pg166'>166</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>witnessed by S. Ignatius, <ref target='Pg202'>202</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>by S. Irenæus, <ref target='Pg266'>266</ref>, <ref target='Pg268'>268</ref>, <ref target='Pg269'>269</ref>, <ref target='Pg272'>272</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>by Tertullian, <ref target='Pg274'>274</ref>, <ref target='Pg276'>276</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>by Clement of Alexandria, <ref target='Pg278'>278</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>by Origen, <ref target='Pg280'>280</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>alone carries both Tradition and Scripture as a living gift of the Spirit, <ref target='Pg287'>287</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Tertullian</hi>, <ref target='Pg004'>4</ref>, <ref target='Pg032'>32</ref>, <ref target='Pg037'>37</ref>, <ref target='Pg188'>188</ref>, <ref target='Pg192'>192</ref>, <ref target='Pg194'>194</ref>, <ref target='Pg197'>197</ref>, <ref target='Pg209'>209</ref>, <ref target='Pg246'>246</ref>, <ref target='Pg250'>250</ref>, <ref target='Pg251'>251</ref>, <ref target='Pg274'>274</ref>, <ref target='Pg276'>276</ref>, <ref target='Pg352'>352</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Thierry</hi>, Amadée, <ref target='Pg313'>313</ref>, <ref target='Pg481'>481</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Thomas Aquinas, S.</hi>, <ref target='Pg028'>28</ref>, <ref target='Pg057'>57</ref>, <ref target='Pg081'>81</ref>, <ref target='Pg125'>125</ref>, <ref target='Pg483'>483</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Tillemont</hi>, <ref target='Pg209'>209</ref>, <ref target='Pg245'>245</ref>, <ref target='Pg249'>249</ref>, <ref target='Pg263'>263</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Tradition</hi>, the whole body of Apostolic teaching so called, <ref target='Pg149'>149</ref>, <ref target='Pg150'>150</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>ἡ παράδοσις, by S. Irenæus, <ref target='Pg198'>198</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Tertullian, <ref target='Pg274'>274-7</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Clement of Alexandria, <ref target='Pg278'>278</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Origen, <ref target='Pg280'>280</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Trajan</hi>, his treatment of Christians, <ref target='Pg213'>213</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>of S. Ignatius, <ref target='Pg215'>215</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>importance of his answer to Pliny, <ref target='Pg221'>221</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Truth</hi>, as meaning the whole body of the divine revelation, <ref target='Pg140'>140</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>committed for its propagation to a society, <ref target='Pg155'>155</ref>, <ref target='Pg166'>166</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>secured in it by a triple succession, <ref target='Pg156'>156-60</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its root in the Person of Christ, <ref target='Pg051'>51</ref>, <ref target='Pg121'>121</ref>, <ref target='Pg181'>181</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>the gift of His Spirit, <ref target='Pg121'>121</ref>, <ref target='Pg125'>125</ref>, <ref target='Pg127'>127</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>development of, <ref target='Pg168'>168</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>in the hall of Pilate, <ref target='Pg049'>49</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>its first transmission by oral teaching only, <ref target='Pg148'>148</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Ueberweg</hi>, Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie des Alterthums, quoted or referred to, <ref target='Pg385'>385</ref>, <ref target='Pg387'>387</ref>, <ref target='Pg390'>390</ref>, <ref target='Pg398'>398</ref>, <ref target='Pg399'>399</ref>, <ref target='Pg400'>400</ref>, <ref target='Pg401'>401</ref>, <ref target='Pg412'>412</ref>, <ref target='Pg413'>413</ref>, <ref target='Pg414'>414</ref>, <ref target='Pg421'>421</ref>, <ref target='Pg422'>422</ref>, <ref target='Pg424'>424</ref>, <ref target='Pg428'>428</ref>, <ref target='Pg442'>442</ref>, <ref target='Pg450'>450</ref>, <ref target='Pg451'>451</ref>, <ref target='Pg453'>453</ref>, <ref target='Pg462'>462</ref>, <ref target='Pg479'>479</ref>, <ref target='Pg480'>480</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Varro</hi>, divides theology into fabulous, natural, and civil, <ref target='Pg019'>19</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<pb n='495'/><anchor id='Pg495'/> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Xenophon</hi>, <ref target='Pg390'>390-5</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Zeller</hi>, Philosophie der Griechen, quoted or referred to, <ref target='Pg377'>377</ref>, <ref target='Pg380'>380</ref>, <ref target='Pg381'>381</ref>, <ref target='Pg383'>383</ref>, <ref target='Pg385'>385</ref>, <ref target='Pg386'>386</ref>, <ref target='Pg388'>388</ref>, <ref target='Pg389'>389</ref>, <ref target='Pg400'>400</ref>, <ref target='Pg401'>401</ref>, <ref target='Pg403'>403-6</ref>; <ref target='Pg407'>407</ref>, <ref target='Pg408'>408</ref>, <ref target='Pg409'>409</ref>, <ref target='Pg410'>410</ref>, <ref target='Pg411'>411</ref>, <ref target='Pg412'>412</ref>, <ref target='Pg425'>425</ref>, <ref target='Pg429'>429</ref>, <ref target='Pg433'>433</ref>, <ref target='Pg434'>434</ref>, <ref target='Pg436'>436</ref>, <ref target='Pg437'>437</ref>, <ref target='Pg438'>438</ref>, <ref target='Pg443'>443</ref>, <ref target='Pg444'>444</ref>, <ref target='Pg445'>445</ref>, <ref target='Pg446'>446</ref>, <ref target='Pg447'>447</ref>, <ref target='Pg448'>448</ref>, <ref target='Pg449'>449</ref>, <ref target='Pg462'>462</ref>, <ref target='Pg469'>469</ref>, <ref target='Pg471'>471</ref>, <ref target='Pg472'>472</ref>, <ref target='Pg476'>476</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Zeno</hi>, the Stoic, his conception of the method of teaching, <ref target='Pg424'>424</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his doctrine upon God and the soul, <ref target='Pg438'>438-442</ref>;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>his conception of men as one flock feeding in a common pasture under a common law, <ref target='Pg471'>471</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Zukrigl</hi>, <ref target='Pg468'>468</ref>.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +</body> +<back rend="page-break-before: right"> + <div id="footnotes"> + <index index="toc" /> + <index index="pdf" /> + <head>Footnotes</head> + <divGen type="footnotes"/> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: right"> + <divGen type="pgfooter" /> + </div> +</back> +</text> +</TEI.2> |