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JThiawork of Dr. Nean d er. which

translated

PIUNCETON.

X.

J.

Neander, August, 1789-1850. The history of the Christiarf religion and church during1

.eiisf" o! ine m.'IoTy" lor accu rate (Jhurcc, during the first the Christian lieii^ion ai The grain of raustu.d ;ieed, planted three Ceiituiies the Aposiolic age, has become a aiitthty tree on whose Iruit the nations live, and by whose Branches they are sheltered. The reader will find, in the recital of the early history of the Christian Church, an argument in support of the divinity of its origin. It was introduced into the world without the attractions of pomp, or the support o! power; and did not constrain the judgment of men by offering them "The tribute or the sword." Wrapped, at first, in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, it gradually developed the vigor of manhood, and th^ purity of heaven. The worshippers of the lalse gods of Greece and Rome opposed the progress of the new religion. But the results of every succeeding persecution, armed with imperial power, alibrded additional proof that the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the Church. The religions of Greece and Rome were buried beneath the ruinsol tlieir civil and political institutions. The religion of Jesus of Nazareth survived; anti when the sign appeared in Heaven, "By this thou shalt conquer," it ascended the throne of the Cie:-ars. Genius and learning iiave conspired for its overthrow; and the rock remains nnsliaken. The insii'ious pen of the historian has seemed to praise, while it aimed to destroy; but the simple histories of the "Fishermen of Galilee" will be received by the world, alter existing t-mpires shall have declined and iailcn, and new flynasties shall have arisen. In vain did Voltaire proclaim to the world, "Crush the wretch." Eveiy opposer of this Divine Teacher shall be brought to acknowledge, with the dying and apostate dulian, ."O Galih-ean! thou hast conquered." C.

does not wisli

of

^?-

fui/ :

J^^p-^^j*

.

0/(^^2*-*.

s

^c^"'''f>

cr

'*'^''

^^^^

knowuloi

ledge of theyTjf,

also in the Atjo?,

makes us

tm

flKAiJ/** K-i.Tip*TflUI.

and

uiot

tcu Aey^v.

ULTRA IDEALISTS

THE SECT OFcontrary,

THERAPEUT^.

35

pushed to extremes by many at Alexan'" The observance of outward wordria. ship," they said, "belongs to the multitude; we, who know that all is only the symbolic garb of spiritual truth, we have all and quite sufiicient in the contemplation of this truth, and need not to trouble ourselves about the outward part of religion." But the more moderate, like Philo, by means of the pure feelings of humanity within them, by their desire after religious Cdininunion, and by their reverence for the law of Moses, and the dealings of God with their people, were held back from thisviolent contrast to the religion of the peo-

became distracted, or it was wounded by some impure impression. At times, however, in theeither

my spirit

midst of thousands, I find myself alone, while God represses the tumult of the soul, and teaches me, that it is not the difference of place which creates evil or good, but that it depends on God, who leads the ship of the soul whither he will." Philo felt it necessary, as he considered the union of the contemplative and of the practical life the loftiest purpose of human nature, to caution men against a partial

Philo says of those stricter and more violent Idealists, " As if they lived for themselves alone in the desert, or as if they were souls without bodies, and knew nothing of social intercourse, they despise the faith of the multitude, and are willing only to investigate pure truth, as it is in itself, and yet the word of God ought to teach them to strive after a good name among the people, and not to violate prevailing customs, which godly men, of a higher grade than we are, have established. As men must provide for the body, which is the house of the soul, so also must they for the observance of the letter of the law. If we keep this, that also ofple.

He over-estimate of the contemplative.* was obliged even then to speak against those who, either from laziness or vanity,hadretired

into the

life

of ascetics and

hermits, andlater Christian

hid

their

inward baseness

under the appearance of holiness, like the monks. (De Profugis, 455. " Truth may, indeed, p. 309, ed. Turn.)

with justice blame those who leave the occupations and trades of civil life without having tried them in their own persons, and then say, that they have despised honour and pleasures. They pretend that they despise the world, but they despise A slovenly appearance and a it not. crabbed look, a strict and sparing life, they use as baits, as if, forsooth, they were friends of strict manners and self-comwhich the letter is the symbol becomes mand but they are unable to deceive deep clearer, and we escape, at the same time, observers, who can look at what is within, blame and reproaches from the people."* and who do not suffer themselves to be dePhilo It was natural enough, that this prevailing ceived by superficial appearances." contemplative telidency of the religioiis wished that only those who had been spirit should at the same time introduce proved by active virtue in civil life, should in Egypt, (afterwards the native land of pass over to the contemplative, just as the the anchorite and monkish habits among Levites were not allowed to leave the Christians,) the formation of thensophic active service of the Temple before their and ascetic societies, which withdrew fiftieth year. themselves from the world. Philo himOne particular phenomenon, which reself relates that, in order to collect him- sulted from this theosophico-ascetic spirit self within more still and undisturbed, he among the Alexandrian Jews, was the had often withdrawn into the desert, but sect of the Therapeut2e.| Their head;

that he had learned

man does

by experience, that not become free from the world, which he carries about within him, by anoutward withdrawal from it; nay, that just exactly in outward Solitude, where the lower powers of human nature are unemployed, it has from that very cause more power to distract and afflict him.Let us hear hisB.II. p.

*j-

De

Decalogo, p. 760.

sion

[The reader will find a most elaborate discuson this subject (or rather on the Essenes in

general) by Salinasius, in his edition of Solini Polyhir.tor, vol. i. p. 610; and in Calmct's Diet,

The head-quarof the Bible, Art. Therapeutic. ters of the Therapeutffi arc here placed near thelake Mocri'5.

The word

in

German

is

Moris-see,

owni.

words.

(Leg. Allcgor.edition.)

81, vol.

Mangey's

"

I

often left relations, friends, and country, and retired into the desert, that I mightraise

which, as far as I can see from Mannert (Geographic dcr Griechen und Riimer,) can only be so From Brucker, Hist. Philosoph, vol. translated.ii, p. 780, and from the original passage in Philo de Vita Contem|)lativa, p. 892, (or in Mangey's Edit, vol. li. p. 784, and Turneb, p. 611,) I am inclined to believe lliat the spot was on the marshy

myselfI

but in this

worthy contemplations; did not succeed ; and, on thetoMigrat. Abrah, 402.

I

I

i

'

lake of Mareatis,

which was close

to Alexandria.

De

'

H.

J. R.]

36

CARNAL MIND OF THE JEWS AND CHRISTIANITY.1

quarters were at no great distance from Therapeutae had spread much among the Alexandria, in a quiet pleasant spot on Hellenes and the Barbarians, is well the shores of the Lake Moeris, where worthy of remark, not as if the members they lived, like the anchorites in later pe- of this particular sect of Therapeuta; had riods, shut up in separate cells, (o-i/LivEfotj, been thus dispersed, but as if that general

and employed themselves in nothing but prayer, and the contemplaAn allegorical intion of Divine things. terpretation of Scripture was the foundation of their speculations, and they had old theosophical writings which gave them They lived only on bread and this turn. water, and accustomed themselves to fastThey only ate in the evening, and ing. many fasted for several days together. They met together every Sabbath-day, and every seven weeks they held a still more solemn assembly, because the number seven was peculiarly holy in their esThey then celebrated a simple timation. love-feast, consisting of bread with salt and hyssop: theosophical discussions were lield, and the hymns, which they had from their old traditions, were sung; and amidstIxo^xa-TvpiOK;^)

theosophical and ascetic disposition, from which theTherapeutaj derived their origin, had many supporters among the Jews in ftlany of the seven Jewother districts,ish sects,us,this

may

whose names only remain to have derived their origin from

very disposition.

from this representation of the religious tendencies of the Jews, we attempt to deduce the result which they would give, as to the reception of Christianity, we shall immediately observe, that with the greater part of the Jewish people, theIf,

most serious obstacles

to their capability

of receiving the Gospel, arose from their carnal disposition, which was anxious to use the heavenly as a means of obtaining the earthly, from the want of an heartfeltthirst for

moral and religious things, and

choral songs, mystical dances, bearing re- from their reliance on tiieir unalienable ference to the wonderful works of God birth-right, as the children of Abraham with the fathers of their people, were according to the flesh, and on the merits continued to a late hour in the night. and sanctifying power of their ceremonial

Many men

It might easily happen, that where of distinguished learning have law. considered this sect as nothing but an men of this cast, moved by some momenoffset of the Essenes, trained under the tary impressions, embraced Christianity, peculiar influence of the Egyptian spirit. they should err again in their faith, and But there was no such connexion between fall away again from Christianity, because these two sects, that we should necessa- they did not find their carnal expectations rily conclude the one to have been out- instantly realised, and because, with their wardly derived from the other. We do carnal hearts, they were unable to receive not knovv that the Essenes extended be- the witness of the Spirit for Jesus, as the yond Palestine, and the origin of the Messiah. And, even if they remained Therapeutic sect may very fairly be de- outwardly Christians, they were never duced from the peculiar theosophico-as- taken by the true spirit of the Gospel; cetic disposition of the Egyptian Jews. they conceived Christianity itself in a It has, however, been attempted to sup- carnal manner, mixing it up with all their port this derivation of the one from the Jewish imaginations, and they made other, from the sameness in the meaning merely a new sort of opus operalum of of their names, by deriving the Essenes faith in Christ, without its having any in-

from the Chaldaic tDXi vhysician^;

ference to the healing either of the

inward life. These were Martyr says, in his or of the soul, or both and Pliilo him- Dialogue with Trypho, deceived themself deduces the name of the Therapeutte selves, by supposing that, even though from the Gs^awaa td? ^J'l'x^5?. although cer- they were sinnprs, yet if they merely actainly the other derivation, which Philo knowledged God,* the Lord would not gives, is more consonant to the Alexan- this sort, which arc synonymous Tiiio( ^ifixvairouv, drian theosophic idiom, namely, from yivo; iKiTixcv, ry&oc op-JLTlnov, o i^^cuiK Jvw isgav toy De Victijn. Offerentib. 854. "Jkstsu x.m Bi^stee;i'. fis^aweta tow so-j. the truz Spiritual worTTwrat Tou oyTO!; iym. De Monarchia, 816. 'Avship of God^ making them thus, fisgawifthe worshippers Ta Tof Qtov TOW oTo? Dc Decalogo, 7C0. Ol ncKK-i x^V^ ) ptisfacere," which isintelligible

* I

i

According

to Melito of Sardis, loc. cit

enough.

H.

J.

R.

60dible,

PERSECUTION UNDER M. AURELIUS.when heasserts that the emperor,

in the intention of receiving Christ

among

Roman gods, had in all cities temples without statues, which were called Templa Iladriani;* but that he Avas withheld bespeak the existence of such an edict.* Under the government of the next emfrom the fulfilment of his intention by the How this peror, Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher, representation of the priests.the

cially of one whose peculiar praise was "insignis erga caerimonias publicas cura ac religio," (Fabretti Marmor.) and the history of the consecutive times does not

report arose

among

the Christian people,

many

public calamities arose

which ex-

without any historical ground, admits of a ready elucidation, if we reflect that nothing was known of the destination of these temples, and that this emperor was looked upon in a very exaggerated light as the protector of the Christians, and so, by putting these two things together, theyattributed to this

cited the rage of the populace against the

Christians, especially a desolating pestilence, which, extending itself

by degrees to Gaul, infested the whole empire. During this time the magician Alexander, in Asia Minor (see above,) excited the zeal of the people forfrom Ethiopia

Roman

own gods, from whom he promised miraculous assistance, and thus also he excited the wrath of the people against the Alexander Severus. Under this government, which in the Christians. But had there been nothing the Christians, here but popular fury, and had this empeRoman empire favoured tliey suffered in another quarter a severe ror been of the same sentiments as his persecution. When Barchochab, whom predecessor, this ebullition would soon On the contrary, the Jews believed to be the Messiah, and have been repressed. under whose conduct they revolted from however, we see under his government the the Romans, could not induce the Chris- people and the higher officers of the stateemperor what really wasasfortheir

the

case

with

others,

instance

and united together against the Christians. They were so severely persecuted in Asia Minor, that Bishop Melito, of Sardis, their advocate with the emperor, says, "The painful deaths. After the death of Hadrian, A. D. 138, race of the worshippers of God in Asia the efficacy of his edict against the attacks Minor, are now persecuted more than ever of popular fury passed away. There was the case before, in consequence of arose, besides, under the government of neio edicts, for shameless informers, thirstAntoninus Pius, public calamities, which ing after other men's property, now plunexcited afresh the rage of the populace, a der the guiltless by day and night, whenfamine, overflowings of the Tiber, earth- ever they can find any grounds for it in quakes in Asia Minor and Rhodes, and the edicts. And we object not to this, if desolating fires in Rome, Antioch, and it proceeds from your command, for a just Carthage.f The gentle and humane dig- emperor would never decide unjustly, and position of the emperor could not view we willingly bear the happy lot of such a with satisfaction these outbreakings of death; and we only make this petition to popular wrath, and in dillerent rescripts you, that you would acquaint yourself addressed to the Greek states, he expressly with those who are thus persecuted, and condemned this violent conduct. But this judge fairly whether they deserve punishemperor must have done even more for ment and death, or safety and tranquillity. the Christians, if a rescript, ascribed in If, however, this new decree and this deall probabdity to him, and not to his suc- cision comes not. from you yourself, a cessor Marcus Aurelius, vvere genuine, die decree such as would be unbecoming even rescript to the council of Asia Minor {w^oi against barbarian enemies, we pray you TO xoivov TD? 'AiTai; Trxftta-tiurro)i

ii Lv K-JU 4/5 Tiy -ywHiuttiTi)/

[This appears to be quite natural, nay, almost Of whom could the apostles make bishops and elders but of some of those first converted T Of those not yet converted ? It must be from one of these classes, unless they had a KU|)ply ready to be sent to any point they visitednecessary.

themselves.

H.

J. K.]

BISHOPS BECOME PRIM! INTER PARES.usual custom might be, that on a vacancy in any of these offices the presbyters themselves present-

100Churchof-

whole ChurchP

The

(c.)

The

multiplication of

fices.

ed to the Church another to supply the place of the deceased, and tliat it was left to the Church to ratify their choice, or to Where the reject on definite grounds* request to the Church for her consent was not a mere formality, tliis method of ap-

With regard to the first we are without precise and perfect information as to the

manner

in

which

this

change took placeit is

in individual cases, but, nevertheless,

a thing which analogy will make quite clear on a general view. It was natural that, as the presbyters formed a delibera-

pointing to Church offices had this bene- tive assembly, it siiould soon hap'pcn that ficial influence, that by its means the voice one among them obtained the pre-emiof the larger multitude would be guided nence.* This might be so managed that by those who were capable of judging, a certain succession took place, according all schisms would be suppressed, and yet to which the presidency should change, no person would be obtruded on the and pass from one to the other. It is

not affectionately look- possible that in many other places such an arrangement took place, and yet we As to what further regards the relation find no historical trace of any thing in of these presbyters to the Churches, the kind; but then, as we have above rethey were destined to be not unlimited marked, there is, on the other hand, no monarchs,! but rulers and guides in an trace to be found by which we should ecclesiastical republic, and to conduct conclude that the office of the president every thing in conjunction with the of the college of presbyters was distinChurch assembled together, as the ser- guished by any peculiar name. However vants and not the masters of which they it may appear with regard to this pouit, were to act. The apostles saw these re- Avhat we find in the second century leads lations in this manner, because they ad- us to conclude that, immediately after the dressed their epistles, which treated, not apostolic age, the standing office of premerely of doctrinal circumstances, but of sident of the presbyters must have been things pertaining to the ecclesiastical life formed, to whom, inasmuch as he had and discipline, not to the rulers of the especially the oversight of every thing, Churches only, but to the whole of the was the name of ETrnrxoTro? given, and he Church. Where the apostle St. Paul pro- was thereby distinguished from the rest nounces an exclusion from the commu- of the presbyters. This name was then, nion of the Church, he represents himself at last, exclusively applied to this presias united in spirit with the whole Church, dent, while the name of presbyter remainfor the bishops, as the ( 1 Cor. V. 4,) supposing that for an affair of ed common to all such general concernment the assembling presiding presbyters, had as yet no other of the Church would be regularly requisite. official character than that of presbyters, they were only "primi inter pares."| [B.] The changes in the Discipline of the * [It will not fail to be observed here, that our Christian Church after the apostolic age. author has recourse to conjecture as to what may The change which had the most exten- have been the case, and that in the next sentence sive influence on the form of the Chris- he honestly admits that there is no hisforical trace

Church,

who was

ed upon by them.

:

tian

Church,

in this period, related parti-

cularly to three points.(a.) The separation between bishops and presbyters, and the development of the monarchico-episcopal government. (h.) The separation between spiritual persons and the laity, and the formation

fully confirmed.

whatever of any such arrangement. As far as I have examined the subject, I find this admission Its importance need scarcely bepointed out.

H.

J. R.]

f3.

Many

later writers

properly recognise

thisc.

course of things.

Hilar, in

Ep.

i.

ad Timoth,

Omnis episcopus

presbyter,

non tamen omnia

of a caste of priests, in contradiction tothe evangelic notion of the Christian priest-

presbyter episcopus; hie inter presbyteros, primus

enim episcopus est, qui Jerome says, (146 est.

hood.*

And,Tcwc K^ritcrTu.bfv'Tucutto ra>v

Clemens, 44.

ad Evangl.) it was the custom in the Alexandrian Church, till the time of the bishops Heraclius and Dionysius, up to the middle of the third century, that the presbyters chose one of their number for their president, and called him bishop. And so also there may be some truth at bottom in the story told by Eutychus, who was patriarch of Alexandria in the first half of the tenth century, althoughit

\ [This is surely rather strangely put. In onehalf of the sentence the presbyters are rulers and guides, in the other they are only servants of the

in

Church. H.

J.

R.l

cannot be altogether true, and is certainly false viz. that chronology in the Alexandrian Church, to the time of the bishop Alexander, in;

K

,

110

FORMATION OP A PRIESTHOOD.

This relation of the bishops to the pres- Reminding them of the original relation byters we see continuing even to the end of the bishops to the presbyters, he calls And it was Irenaeus, therefore, them his " compresbyteros." oi' the second century uses* the name of '* bishop" and " pres- doubtless, natural enough, that before this byter" sometimes as wholly synonymous, episcopal system of government could and at other times he distinguishes the firmly establish itself, many struggles must bishop as the president from the presby- have taken place^ because the presbyters Even Tertullian calls the leaders of would be inclined to maintain the original ters. the Christian Churches by the one general power which belonged to them, and rename of Senoires, while he comprehends fuse to subject themselves to the authority Often, indeed, many in that name both bisliops and presbyters, of the bishops. although that father was very particular presbyters made a capricious use of this about the difference between bishops and power, which was very prejudicial to the Indeed, in many respects discipline and order of the Church. presbyters.t TcrtuUiun stands generally at the line of Schisms arose, of which we shall have to demarcation between the old and the new speak hereafter, and the authority of the bishops, closely connected as they were time of the Christian Church. The situation of the Churches during one with another, triumphed over the opthe persecutions, and the numerous op- position of presbyters, who acted without pressions in which the energetic conduct concert. The power and activity of a of one man at the head of affairs might Cyprian contributed much to promote prove of great use, furthered the formation this victory, but we should do him wrong, of the monarchial government in the and pervert the proper view of the whole Church. And yet even in the third cen- matter, if we accuse him of having acted tury the presbyters were at the side of from the beginning with a decided intenthe bishops as a college of councillors, and tion of raising up the episcopacy, as it the bishops undertook nothing weighty rarely happens in such matters that one:

without gathering together this council.;|; When Cyprian, bishop of the Church at Carthage, separated from it by his flight during the persecution, had any thing of consequence to transact, he instantly imparted it to the presbyters, who remained behind him, and he apologised to them for having been obliged at times to decide without being able to call them together. To do nothing without their advice, he declares to be his constant principle.the beginning of the fourth century, the following arrangement had existed there was a college of:

individual can succeed in fashioning the

occurrences

scheme arranged

of a whole period after a to forward his own love

of rule. Cyprian rather, without being conscious to himself of any scheme, acted here in the spirit of a whole party, and of a whole ecclesiastical disposition, that existed in his time.

He

acted as the repre-

sentant of the episcopal system, the struggle of

which against the presbyterian system was a fundamental feature of the whole progress of the Church. The con-

tention of the presbyterian parties

among

tem especially promoted unity, order, and quiet in the Churches-, but then, on the where he attributes the "successio episcopatus prcsbyteris." He distinguishes the names in iii. other hand, it was prejudicial to the free 14. When it is related in the Acts xx. 17, that development of habits of the Churchly Paul had called to him the presbyters of the life, and the formation of a priesthood, Churches of Asia Minor, Irenaeus reckons among altogether foreign to the Gospel economy,change of the original form of the Christian Church stands in close connection with another change, which takes still attributed to this cause, that originally these names deeper root, tJie formation of a caste of were not so distinguished, and therefore, many priests in the Christian Church. The might bear at the same time the names of bishops more a Christian Church answered its or presbyters. proper destination, and corresponded to f Apologet. [c 39. Praesident probati quique its true model, the more must it be shown scniores.Miloto convocatis episcopis ct jiresbyteris." The confusion which exists in regard to the succession of the first bishops of Rome, may perhaps, also be

twelve presbyters, among whom one, as bishop, had the pre-eminence, and these presbyters had always chosen one out of their own body as bishop, and the other eleven had given him ordination. Both names arc used synonymously, iv. 26,

one another, might have become utterly prejudicial to discipline and order in the

Church

;

the victory of the episcopal sys-

them the liishops also, under the view that these were then only the presiding presbyters. "In

was notthis

a

little

furthered

by

it.

Thus

Presbytcrium contrahere. primordio episcopatus mei statui, ^ Ep. V. nihil sine consilio vestro mea privatim sententiai

A

gerere.

Sicut honor

mutuus

poscit, in

commune

tractabioius.

CONFUSION OP THE OLD ANDmutual relations of all its members, that all, taught, led, and filled by the One, all drawing from the same fountain, and mutually imparting, as equal members of the one body, stand in reciprocal relation to each other under the one general Head; and the less, therefore, can any difference exist among them between some to give and others to receive, teachers and learners, guides and those who let themselves bein the

NEW TESTAMENT.wasfirst

Illagain

the truth in each century)Christianity

opposed by the pure light of genuine by means of the Keformation. As, in virtue of this interchange, many notions of government, foreign to the Gospel, were brought from the Old Testament into the Church of Christ, so also

was the Old Testament notion of the priesthood introduced. The false conclusion was drawn, that as there had been in the Old Testament a visible priesthood as we find it was in the early guided, Churches. Now the very nature of things joined to a particular class of men, there is such, that as the first Christian spirit must also be the same in the New, and died away, and as the Human became the original evangelical notion of a general more prominent in the progress of the spiritual priesthood fell, therefore, in the Church, as in the increasing Churches the back-ground. This error is to be found difference of education and Christian already in Tertullian's time, as he calls knowledge manifested itself more clearly, the bishop " sumnius sacerdos," (de Bapthis difference would also more clearly tismo, c. xvii.,) an appellation which was develope itself. The leading preponder- certainly not invented by him, but taken ance of individuals would of itself take from a habit of speaking and thinking

continually deeper root, and it would already prevalent in a certain part, at happen of itself, that the presbyters would least, of the Church. This name also exercise a continually increasing influence imports, that men already compared the over the administration of Church affiairs ; presbyters with the priests, and the deaand that the ltleiay.a.Xoi continually more cons, or spiritual persons generally, with can judge from this, and more exclusively took the task of ad- the Levites. All this might fol- how much the false comparison of the dressing the Church. low of itself, from the natural progress of Christian priesthood with the Jewish

We

in the Church, although it must have been the earnest endeavour of those influential individuals, if they had been animated by the true spirit of the Gospel, and not by an unevangelic spirit of party and caste, (which springs up so easily from the selfishness of human nature, the source of all Popery,) to restoreaffairs

furthered

of episcopacy In general, the more they degenerated from the pure Christian view into the Jewish, the more the original free composition of the Christian Church became changed. see Cyprian already wholly penetrated by this intermixture of the Old and Newagaintherise

above the

office of presbyters.

We

continually that original relation of reciprocity between themselves and the Church, and continually to promote the general participation of all in the affairs

Testament notions. In the names by which the Church officers were distinguished from the remaining part of the community, we find And yet, besides that no trace of this interchange. The Latin of the Church. which followed of itself from the natural expressions " ordo" and " plebs" onlycourse ofideaaffairs, there was still another denoted the guiding senate of the Chrismixed up imperceptibly with it, tian people; the Greek names xAfo?, which was utterly foreign to the Christian xAu^txoj, had even in Cyprian's time been By economy, and the inffuence of which be- applied in this unevangelic sense. came very important and it was an idea this application they were made to desigwhich in aftertimes was constantly intro- nate " men consecrated to God's service," ducing usages utterly repugnant to the es- like the Levites of the Old Testament,;

views of the Gospel. We now proceed to notice this idea. The notions of the theocracy of the Old and of the New Testament, which were so decidedly kept distinct from one another by the apostles and the firstsential

affairs

busied themselves only with the of religion, and not with earthly who did not gain their livelihood, like other men, by worldly business, but on this very account, that they busiedthings,

men who

themselves with

God

only for the advan-

Christians,

became again gradually inter- tage of others, were maintained by the changed and confused the source of others, just as the Levites in the partition theoretical and practical errors, which of the land had received no inheritance in lasted through many centuries, and which land but had the Lord only for their (if we except the scattered witnesses to inheritance, and weie to receive tithes; ;

:

112from the othersthefor theirot

GOSPEL VIEWS.management ofh

Although the idea of the priesthoodin

a pure evangelic sense, was, in other See Deu- respects, constantly more and more darknotion of a ened and driven into the back-ground by This teronomy, ch. xviii. peculiar people of God, so particcularly the prevalence of that unevangelic view a particular class of men among of it, yet was it too deeply engrafted into applieii to Ch;isiian?, as a xA)^o? rov sot^, is certainly the very essence of Christianity, to be At the time of this sense wholly unevangelic, for all wholly overwhelmed. ill Christians ought in this sense to be a Tertullian, who stands on the boundary body of men consecrated to God, a x^^)Jo? between two different epochs in the deToy 0ot;, and even all their earthly callings velopment of the Church, we still find ought to be sanctified by the spirit in more definite traces of the powerful opwhich they pursue them ; their whole life position, which the original Christian was to become, by the sanctification by consciousness of the universal and spiritwhich they were animated, a spiritual ual priesthood, and of the Christian rights Such founded thereon, made to the hierarchy, service to God, a Xoytxu ?iT^a.

Temple worship,x>.rjo

tltnv

x^jj^o? rov

sow or u*

Q^o/unjet>v TrrjXK

iTrncfui rui oinw/utvui, ev avvsJuv icrTU

'jlmt! 7ra.7a; to.: Trohit; lifufjiefx;.

PROVINCIAL SYNODS FIRST IN GREECE."tesserae hospitales,"

119

by which

the Chris-

tians of all quarters of the world were brought into connection, " epistolae" or" literai formatrc," (y^a^/^ara riTviruif/.ttoi,) because, in order to avoid forgery, they

were made after a certain schema,* (twtto;, forma,) or else " epistolae communicatoriaj, y^ccfA.y.ctTct xoiKUKj^a." because they contained a proof that those who brought them were in the communion of the to Him, who has promised that He will enChurch, as well as that the bishops, lighten and guide, by his Spirit, those who who mutually sent and received such believe in Him, if they will give themletters, were in connection together by the selves up to Him wholly, and that He will communion of the Church and afterwards be amongst them, where they are gathered;

of the ecclesiastical communities, (i. e. the provincial synods.) As the Christians, in the consciousness that they are nothing, and can do nothing, without the Spirit from above, were accustomed to begin all important business with prayer, they prepared themselves here also for their general deliberations by common prayer, at the opening of those assemblies

these

Church

letters

(epistolae

clericae)

were divided

into

different

classes,

ac-

cording to the difference of their purposes.

together in his name.* It appears that this regular institution met at first with opposition as an inno-

As we above remarked that a closer vation, so that Tertullian felt himself bond of union was early formed between called upon to stand up in its defence.! of the same province, so Nevertheless, the ruling spirit of the also the Christian catholic spirit [Gemein- Church decided for this institution, and geist] introduced the custom that, in all down to the middle of the third century, pressing matters, controversies on doc- the annual provincial synods appear tothe Churchestrinal points, things relating to the ecclesiastical life,

and very commonly

in those

have been general in the Church, if we may draw this conclusion from the tact, that wefind

relating to

Church

discipline, general de-

them

prevalent, at the

same time,

in

be held by deputies parts of the Church as far distant from each from these Churches. Such assemblies other as North Africa and Cappadocia.J become familiar to us in the controversies These provincial synods might certainly about the time of celebrating Easter, and become very useful for the Churches, and, in the transactions about the Montanistic in many respects, they did become so. prophecies, in the last half of the second By means of a general deliberation, the century. But these provincial synods do views of individuals might mutually be not appear, as a constant and regular enlarged and corrected wants, abuses, institution, fixed to definite times, until and necessary reforms, might thus more about the end of the second or the be- easily be mutually communicated, and be ginning of the third century and it was deliberated on in many different points of in this case the peculiarity of one coun- view, and the experience of every indivitry, where particular local causes may dual, by being communicated, might be have introduced such an arrangement ear- made useful to all. Certainly, men had lier than in other regions. This country every right to trust that Christ would be was in fact exactly Greece, where, from among them, according to his promise, the time of the Achaic league, the system and would lead those, who were assemof confederation had maintained itself; bled in his name^ by his Spirit. Certainly, and as Christianity is able to connect it was neither enthusiasm nor hierarchical itself with all the peculiarities of a peo- presumption, if the deputies collected tople, provided they contain nothing immo- gether to consult upon the affairs of their ral, and entering into them, to take itself Churches, and the pastors of these a peculiar form resembling them, so also Churches, hoped that a higher Spirit than it might easily happen, that here the civil * The following passage is from Tertullian, in a federal spirit, which already existed, workliberations should; ;

third century, ed upon the ecclesiastical catholic spirit, De Jejuniis, c. xiii. " Auguntur per Gra!cias ilia cerit earlier than in other regions a tis in locis concilia, per quse cl altiora qua^que in tolerably good form, so that out of the commune tractantur et ipsa irprnesentatio totius representative assemblies of the civil com- nominis Christian! magna vcncratione celebratur."

book written

at the

beginning of the

and gave

munities,

(the Amphictyonic councils,) were formed the representative assemblies* may see from Cyprian, Ep. iii. (vii. ed. Ox.) and Euseb. iv. 23, how necessary it was to guard against counterfeits of these letters.

We

j Ista solemnia, quibus tunc proesens palrocinatus est sermo. i Cyprian, Ex. xl., and Firmilianus of Cffisarea, in Cappadocia, in Cyprian, Ep. Ixxv. " Necessario apud nos fit, ut per singulos annos seniores et prtepositi in unum conveniamus, ad disponenda ea, quae curse nostrjE commissa sunt."

120

OUTWARD AND INWARD UNITY CONFUSED.(3.) The Union of the lohole Church into one whole, closely bound together in all its The external Unity of the Rornisk parts Church.

would that of man by His illumination, show them wliat they could never find whose insufficiency by their own reason,if it

were left to itself. thev felt deeply, Thus, from the obscure grain of musfar rather have been a proud It would sown in the world's field, did self-confidence, had they been so little tard-seed, increased above acquainted with the shallowness of their the tree proceed, which produce of the earth, and its own heart, the poverty of human reason, all the wisdom, as branches extended themselves in all direcand the self-deceits of human of tions; namely, this great whole of the to expect that, without the influence its scattered that higher Spirit of holiness and truth, Catholic Church, which in all and which, tliey could provide sufficiently for the ad- parts was still firmly united, in its origin, its development, and its convantage of their Churches. But this confidence, in itself just and stitution, was utterly different from all salutary, took a false and destructive turn, mere human institutions. The consciouswhen it was not constantly accompanied ness of being a member of such a body, bv the spirit of humility and self-watch- victorious over every opposition of earthly when power, and destined for eternity, must fulness, with fear and trembling men were not constantly mindful of the have been more lively and more powerful important condition under which alone in those who, having, in their earlier man could hope to share in the fulfilment years of heathenism, known no bonds of of that promise, in that Divine illumina- union except those of a political and sethe condition, that cular nature, had been blessed with no tion and guidance they were really assembled in the name feelings of such a moral and spiritual of Christ, in lively faith in Him, and bond of unity, which bound mankind honest devotion to Him, and prepared to together, as all members of the same heaand when peo- venly community. Therefore, must this sacrifice their own wills ple gave themselves up to the fancy, that feeling have been stronger and more lofty, such an assembly, whatever might be the when all powers from without sought in Justly hearts of those who were assembled, had vain to tear this bond in sunder. unalienable claims to the illumination of might this unity, which revealed itself for then, in the confu- outwardly, this close bond of outward the Holy Spirit sion and the intermixture of human and connection, be of great importance to men were abandoned to every Christians, as the symbol of that higher Divine, kind of self-delusion, and the formula, life, by the participation in which all '' by the suggestion of the Holy Spirit," Christians were to be united together, as (Spirito sancto suggerente) might become the revelation of the unity of the kingIn the outward communion a pretence and sanction for all the sug- dom of God. gestions of man's own will. of the Church they perceived the blessing And further, the provincial synods of the inward communion of the invisiwould necessarily become prejudicial to ble kingdom of God, and they struggled the progress of the Churches, if, instead for the maintenance of that unity, partly;

;

;

of providing for the advantage of the against the idealistic sects, who tlireatened Churches according to the changing wants to tear in sunder tlie inward bond of reliof each period, they wished to lay down gious communion, the bond of faitli, to unchanging laws in changeable things. introduce also into the Christian Church Evil was it at last, tliat die participation the old division between a religion for of the Churches [Gemeinden] was entirely those in a high state of cultivation and a excluded from tlicse synods, that at length religion for the people (wio-TK acl a^wo-j?,) the bishops alone decided every thing in and, as Clement of Alexandria justly acthem, and that their power, by means of cused them, to distract the one Church, their connection with each other in these and divide it into a multitude of theososynods, was constantly on the increase. phic schools;* and partly against those As tlie provincial synods were also ac- who, blinded by self-will or passion,

customedters

to

communicate

their

resolu-

tions to distant bishops, in weighty mat-

of general concernment, they were serviceable, at the same time, towards setting distant parts of the Church in connection with each other, and maintainingthat connection.

founded divisions on mere outward causes, while they agreed in faith with the rest. But this polemical spirit, though it proceeded from a lively Christian feeling,*

The words

of Clement (Str.

vii.

755,) arc,

OUTWARD AND INWARD UNITY CONFUSED.;

121

which deeply felt the blessing of religious visible Church, the kingdom of God, is communion, this inward life in the represented in this outward form and inChurch, though it proceeded from a truly ward communion with that invisible Christian source of warmth, was apt to Church, as well as the participation of allseduce men into the opposite extreme of overprising the external unity of the Church, and of overprising the existing forms in the Church, with which that As men in the unity was combined. churchly life, as long as it proceeded from of Christianity, and was inward feelings still animated and penetrated by them, and ere it had been benumbed in dead forms, became conscious of this intimate connection between the visible and the invisible

her advantages, is necessarily connected with outward communion with this external

Church, which exists

in

these

forms.

The confusion between the views of Old and those of the New Testament on the theocracy, which we remarked above in the notions of the priesthood,the

alsoin

made

its

appearance again here.

As

the

Old Testament, the establishment

and earthly things as the theocracy of the Old Testament was necessarily joined with a definite outward and visible priesthood, so also they would have it, that together in the experi- that of the New Testament was also nejoined and melted ence and the feelings of every one, and cessarily joined with an outward priestalso to lay it down in theory, that it was hood of the same sort, divinely founded bound together in a necessary and indis- also. Men forgot that tlie difference beAnd thus then arose the tween the Church of Christ and the thesoluble union. confusion between the visible and the in- ocracy in the Old Testament, did not visible Church, the confusion of the in- merely consist in the difference of outward union of the invisible Church, an ward signs and forms, but tliat there wasvisible;

men, in the communion of this visible Church, felt deeply the blessing of communion with the Redeemer and with the whole body of saints, which receives its Divine living powers from Him, its head, and spreads them among its individual members it was more likely on that account, in this po-

Church

;

as

and the extension of tlie theocracy Avas necessarily connected with many outward earthly things, which vvere only shadows and figures of that which was to appearinallits

reality

in

Christianity,

men

;

Would have it, that the theocracy of the New Testament must also depend for its establishment and propagation on similar

lemical contrast, that they should be led away, so as too closely to interweave in idea also, that which had been thus

imion of spirit which consists in faith and love, with the outward unity of the visible Church, which is dependent on certain and outward forms. As these forms of the Church were the instruments through which, by means of the feelings engendered on these forms, men had received the blessing of communion with the invisible Head of the Church, they were more easily induced too closely to join together form and essentials, the vessel of clay and the inestimable heavenlytreasure,toattribute too

a far

more important

distinction in the re-

lation of the

outward to the inward, of earthly things to heavenly and spiritual things. This is a most essential error, and has been the source of many other errors, with consequence of practical importance, which afterwards gradually unfolded themselves.

We find this confusion between the conception of the invisible and the visibleChurch, and the doctrine which M'as deduced from it, of an outward Church which could alone confer salvation, and hence of a necessary outward unity of that Church, first most decidedly pronounced and carried through most logically, in the remarkable book on the unity of the Church, (de unitate ecclesia;,') which Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage, wrote after the middle of the third century, in the midst of the divisions with which he had to contend. This book contains a striking mixture of falsehood and truth. If we understand what Cyprian says, as

much

to

the

earthly form, and to consider a subjective union, in the life and hearts of individuals, as an objective and necessary

The principle would form itself in one. the external Church, the following mode:

whichis,

exists in this visibleall;

with

outward form, these outward forms, a Divine

institution

we cannot make

a distinction

here between human and Divine; under this form has the Church received Divinethings from Christ, and

only under this form does she communicate them, and he referring to the communion of a higher receive them who receives them life, to the necessary inward union with alone can from her in this outward form. The in- the one divuie source of life in Christ, 161

!

;

122from which alone truelife

CYPRIAN DE tNITATE.

can flow forth which had been delivered to the apostles. on all the members of the communion of Christ, according to this view, had imparted to the apostles, and the apostles, by saints, and to the necessary communion between this body and their head, through ordination, had imparted to the bishops, faith and the power of the Holy Ghost ; by means llie direction of the heart in external transmission, the power if we introduce into the con- of this feelings clusions of Cyprian, the difference be- of the Holy Ghost, by which alone all religious acts can receive their true effitween a visible and an invisible Church, between the inward unity of the kingdom ciency, was shed abroad and preserved of God, and tiie outward unity of a visible to all times through the succession of Church between an inward communion bishops. Thus by this living and conwitli the Church of the redeemed, and an stantly progressing organization of the outward connection with a certain out- Church, was maintained that Divine life, ward form, under which that Church, which is imparted by this intermediate:

;

j

inward step from the head to all the members then, that remain in union with this organizaheart, in faith and in love, appears much truth in what tion and he who cuts himself oft" from indeed, we shall find he says against a proud and self-seeking outward communion with this outward spirit, whicli struggles to get free from its organization, shuts himself out from that connection with the one kingdom of God, Divine life and from the way to salvation. wliose licad, foundation, and centre-point, N o one can, as an isolated individual, by faith in the Redeemer, receive a share in is Christ, and is anxious to set itself up "Only en- the Divine life, which proceeds from Him as something independent. free the no one can, by this faith alone, secure for deavour," says Cyprian, "to sunbeam from the sun the unity of light himself all the advantages of the kingdom Break the branch of God, but to all this man can alone Avill not be broken. from the tree, and it can bear no fruit attain by the instrumentality of the CathoDissever the stream from the source, and lic Church, which has been preserved by Thus also the Church, the succession of bishops. dries up! it Now those who conceived the spirit beamed upon by the light of the Lord, extends its beams over all the world, but of the New Testament with a more unspreads prejudiced and purer mind, appealed with it is still only one light, which from the bosom justice against this confusion of the visiitself into all directions of that Church are we all born, nourished ble and the invisible Church, to the proby her milk, and animated by her spirit. mise of our Saviour, that, "where two or That which is torn asunder from the ori- three are gathered together in his name, ginal stem, can neither breathe, nor live there is he in the midst of them :" Matt, 1'his is cer- xviii. 20 and they contended that every separate and independent."* tainly all just enough, if we understand by union of the really faithful, under whatthat original whole, in connection with soever fonn it might be, was a true which alone each individual can thrive, Church. But Cyprian answers this objecthe invisible Church of the redeemed tion by saying, that Christ has at the same under their invisible head, Christ; if we time set forth harmony among the faithful, attribute that unity only to spiritual com- the unity of hearts in love, as the condition munion, and that separation only to a on which the fulfilment of this promise separation in heart but the fundamental rests. He, therefore, concludes," How can error, by which every thing which is such a one be in harmony with any one really true in itself received a false appli- when he is not in harmony with the body cation, was the transference of these of the Church itself, and with the whole notions from all this to an external host of the brethren } How can two or Church, appearing under distinct outward tliree be gathered together in the name forms, and necessarily dependent on them of Christ, if they are severed Irom Clirist a Church, which had maintained itself and Irom his Gospel .'" Taken by itself, from the time of the apostles, under its undoubtedly, the remark is just, tliat the

whose foundations

are

in

the

;

;

!

;

;

;

;

existing

constitution,its

by means of the being togethersuccessors of the

in the

bishops,apostles,

pillars, the

cludes alike the

name of Christ incommunion of brotherly

and the heirs of the power, love and the communion of faith. He might also justly say, that those only, in [See Cyprian, p. 108, ed. Fell. Thia is the wliom this mark was present, could apply substance of a part of Cyprian's treatise, hut not this proniise to themselves, and he might justly oppose the application of it to those a literal translation of any part of it. H. J. R.]

;;

SALVATION EXCLUSIVELY IN THE CHURCH.who, impelled by aself-seeking and an

123

Guide and one Master, were to serve each unkindly qjirit, had founded divisions in other mutually. Such worldly thoughts the Church. But he was wrong also of grandeur, proceeding from carnal pride, here, because he was confounding cause had, indeed, scattered their seeds into the and effect; these separatists were not ex- breasts of the apostles, but it was before cluded from the fulfilment of that promise, they had been born again of the Spirit because they had departed from outward but how completely did their Divine communion with the great body of the Master condemn such thoughts; how Church; not through this outward sepa- expressly did He show them that they ration, but through the feeling from which should speak of nothing like pre-emitheir outward separation had proceeded nence, but only of a contest of humility, yes through that feeling were they ex- of self-denial, and mutual service. With cluded from inward communion with Him, none should make himself the first, Christ, and from his kingdom, even before but each the least among them all. Luke they had outwardly separated from the xxii. 24. St. Peter had his own peculiar visible Church. And, therefore, none charisma; He who looks into man's inbut the Judge who can search the inward most lieart, had recognised in him from heart, could decide whether such persons the very beginning the future rock of were excluded from the kingdom of God faith He brought into the service of the by their evil heart but that outward act holiest things the fiery disposition of St. was always a fallacious token to deter- Peter, and his thorough going activity, mine that such an evil heart existed. As qualities we must avow, which first rethe visible Church, considered in itself quired the influence of the Spirit from on alone, is not the spotless Church of high to change their carnal turn into a saints, and always bears many marks of spiritual, to purify and to ennoble them. the old and sinful nature upon her, which Through these means, Peter might bemay have led men to mistake the charac- come, in a peculiar degree, an instrument: ! :

;

capable of furthering the kingdom of God by inno- after becoming, through that purification cent motives, to quit a Church in which of his earthly fire of disposition, the rock they could not recognise the Church of of faith and power, he was to strengthen the saints. There might be right and and confirm the weaker brethren. Luke wrong on both sides, and misunderstand- xxii. 32. But, for all this, he had noter

really belonging

to

her

;

therefore,

many may have been

actuated

pre-eminence above the rest of the apostherefore, justified in judging the other, tles, the others had again other charisand instantly to condemn on account of mata, by which they would be enabled to outward acts, which may have proceeded eflect what his graces might be unfitted out of very different motives. for. When Christ called Peter the Rock As a false principle, by means of the on which He would build his Church, deductions which develope themselves (Matth. xvi. 18,) this significant declarafrom it, is the source of many errors, so tion did not refer to any station among thethe error of a necessary visible unity of aposdes, peculiarly assigned to St. Peter, Church led to the erroneous idea of nor on the person of St. Peter alone, a necessary outward representation of this but on St. Peter, as the real and livelytheI

ings on both sides, and neither party was,

germ confessor of faith in Jesus, as our Mesapparently very indistinct, and of little siah, the Son of the living God, that signification, became, as it was further faith, which is the inviolably firm foundaunfolded, full of important consequences. tion of a Church, against which even the Such a representation of the unity of gates of hell shall not prevail. All who the Church, men found at first in the re- have received this lliith not merely in the lation of St. Peter to the other apostles, letter by human teaching, which can never a conclusion to which an unprejudiced give' such a faith, but in spirit and in consideration of history and Scripture truth through the inward revelation of the could not give rise. No trace is there heavenly Father, therefore become, like found of any pre-eminence assigned to St. Peter, rocks and pillars of the Church St. Peter over the other aposdes, and such of Christ, which all the powers of hell pre-eminence would have been contrary shall never conquer. To all such, in the to the brotherly relation, in which the person of St. Peter, as Tertullian and apostles stood to each other, and to the Origen have well remarked, is this word spirit of the economy of the New Testa- of the Lord spoken. The same spiritual ment, in which all, looking only to one power which Christ bestows in this placeunity.inits

This notion,

first

I

124

CATHEDRA|

PETRI.

on St. Peter, He attributes in the same to rest upon in individual passages, which manner to the rest of the apostles in other they dissevered from the historical and John xx. 22. logical context, and which they made to i\Iatt. xviii. 18. mean every thing, which the mere words, in"tliie conversation which our Saviour could possibly sigheld with this apostle after the resurrec- taken by themselves, So did it here happen, that when tion, (John xxi. 15,) He certainly had no nify. intention of investing him with any pre- once the idea of a necessary visible unity eminence over the rest; but it was by far of the Church had been formed, an idea, which the notion of a visible reprerallier his intention, to try a mild reproof from| j i

Peter's former self-confidence, sentation of this unity in some definite St. whicli his subsequent conduct had con- spot in the Church could easily develope

of

and shown to be unfounded, to itself, this latter notion found support and exhort him to faithfulness in his calling, foundation in a misunderstanding of the which was no other than that of the rest passages relating to St. Peter. Cyprian justly remarks, in his book on of the apostles, and, indeed, of all As before, St. the Unity of the Church, that all the apospreachers of the Gospel. Peter, hurried on by his impetuous tem- tles had received from Christ the same per, in rash self-confidence, without rightly dignity and power as St. Peter ; but yet, Avcighing the import of his words, had in one place, thought he, Christ imparts promised, that even if all the rest should this power especially to St. Peter; he yield to the fear of man, yet he would says in particular of him, that He willtradicted

Lord, and willingly give him, (John xiii. 37. Matt. xxvi. 35,) our Lord here reminds him, in words of mild reproof, but full of love, of this promise, which, because it had not proceeded from a spirit of humility had come to shame " Sayest thou still," He says to him, " that thou lovest me more And than these thy fellow-disciples ?" St. Peter, now brought to a knowledge of himself, and to a spirit of humility, is in a totally diflerent mood, and far from measuring himself with others, say.s, with a trembling spirit, " Oh! thou that knowest the heart, thou knowest how, notwith-

remain true

to his

build histo

up

his life for

the care of his sheep to

Church on him He commits him in particular,;

show how

the

development of the

Church and of the priesthood should proceed from one point, and to point attention to the unity of the Church and of The apostle Peter the episcopal power. is here the representative of the one Church, remaining steadfast in her unity, which proceeded from a Divine foundation, and of the one episcopal power, a power which, although it be diffused among many organs, still is, and remains only one in its origin and nature. Andtherefore,[

:

\

he

who

departs from outward

standing that momentary burns with love to thee!"

fall,

my

heartI

communion with

the one visible, catholic

Our Saviour Church,j

tears himself

away from

that re-

now pointsshow

out to him,

how this love musti

itself in actively fulfilling the duties How of his calling, and what proof of his love ment, to the person of St. Peter. he must one day be ready to give. This then can any one expect to remain a love must show itself in a faithful care of member of the Church of Christ, while the souls of men, who are to be brought, he quits the Cathedra Petri, on whom by the preaching of the Gospel, to the the Church is founded.* But although we should agree to reone true common Shepherd,* who alone He who, cognise the apostle Peter as the represencan satisfy all tlieir wants. when his hour of suffering was at hand, tative of the unity of the Church, it by no deserted his Lord, was, through love to means follows that a similar representative Him, to receive the power as a true shep- must exist in all the ages of the Church. herd of human souls, after the example It follows still less, that this representa|

presentation of the unity of the Cliurch, which was annexed, by Divine appoint-

i

i

I

!

j

I

of Christ, to sacrifice his life in the calling of a preaclier of the Gospel. History, and the interpretation of Scripture, therefore, never could have given rise to the notion of an apostolic primacy of St. Peter, imlcss, as often happens, men had .sot out from preconceived ideas, andsouglit

tive

must necessarily be

in

connection

* One trace of this method of explaining the pxpressions relating to St. Peter, is found in Tertullian, Pncscript. Hmret. c. xxii. This is a proof of the non-Montanistic spirit of that work, because,

on the contrary,

and found a foundation*

for

them

in his work, de Pudicitia, where he speaks as a Montanist, he apphcs these passages to tlve person of St. Peter only as an " homospiritali;;,"

See the parable in John

x.

who were

and makes them also applicable to " spiritales," as well as St. Peter.

all

;

ASSUMPTION OP ROMISH BISHOPS.with the Romish Church; for although the tradition that St. Peter visited tlie Church at Rome has never been called in question on any sufficient grounds, yet it is quite certain that he did not found this Church, and that he had never been in anyparticularin a passageIv.

125all

beyond

controversy, (Ep.

the

ad Cornel. Ep. lix. ed. Ox.,) he calls Church of Rome " Petri cathedra, ec-

clesia principalis,

unde unitas sacerdotalis

manner its Church can as little be

president.

ThisIrenajus

called the Cathe-

dra Petri, as the Cathedra Pauli.

and Tertullian are aware that St. Peter and St. Paul founded this Church and an indefinite representation, and unfold gave it a bishop, and that they ennobled itself the better therefrom. This idea apit by making it the scene of their martyrpears early to have obtained a firm and dom but they were quite ignorant of any definite form in the minds of the bishops pre-eminence of the Romish Church over of Rome, and Roman ambition also apother " sedes apostolicae," as the Cathe- pears early to have mingled itself with Hence, as the idea of the out- ecclesiastical matters, and to have come dra Petri. ward unity of the Church might generate forward in a spiritual garb. that of an outward representative of that We observe that already, in early times, unity, so also the conception of this re- there were traces in the Romish bishops presentative, in the person of the Apostle of an assumption, that a peculiarly deciPeter, might easily receive such an appli- sive authority was due to them, as the cation, as if such a representative of the successors of St. Peter, in Church controoutward unity of the Church in one defi- versies, and that the " cathedra Petri" was nite spot in the Church, essentially be- to have a prevailing sway before all other longed to the outward unity of the Church, " ecclesise apostolicae," as the source of and to all periods. And as most of the apostolical tradition. The Romish bishop Western Churches were now accustomed Victor, gave a specimen of this assumpto consider the Church of Rome as their tion, when he excommunicated the mother-Church, as the "ecclesia apos- Churches of Asia Minor, about A. D. 190, tolica," to whose authority they specially in consequence of a trifling dispute about appealed as they were accustomed to a mere external point.* In the Montanis; ;

exorta est." It must be confessed that this idea was at first very confused and indefinite, but after the false principle had once been admitted and firmly rooted, it might be just so much the more introduced into such

founder of the Romish tic writings of Tertullian, we find that Church, and to quote the tradition of that the Romish bishops had already issued Church as proceeding from him as Rome peremptory edicts in ecclesiastical matters, was then the seat of the political unity of and wished to make themselves considered dominion it came to pass, that men be- as "episcopi episcoporum,"! and that came accustomed to look upon the Church they were in the habit of appealing to the of Rome as the Cathedra Petri, and to authority of their "antecessores."| transfer what Avas usually said of St. The Romish bishop Stephanus, allowed Peter, as the representative of the unity himself, after the middle of the second century, to be carried away by the same of the Church, to this Cathedra Petri. In Cyprian we find this connection of ideas spirit of hierarchial encroachment as his already thus formed. We need not refer predecessor Victor, and in a controversy to the passage in the book de Unitate Ec- of no importance, he also was desirouscall St. Peter the; ;

clesiae, in

which the reading

is

doubtful

*

in*

many

different organs, is represented as one, in

passage,

if the suspected words in the following the spiritual power given by our Lord to St. Peter. which are here inclosed in brackets, are To renounce obedience to the whole cpiscopatus, genuine " Qui ecclesiie renititur et resistit, [qui or the cathedra of all the bishops, considered as one cathcdram Petri, super quern fundata est ecclesia, whole the Cathedra Petri is here the meaning of:

Even

deserit,]

in ecclesia se esse confiditi:"

we havewas here

the phrase to assault or invade the Cathedra Petri.*

no

right immediately to conclude that he

A

controversy about the time of celebrating

thinking of the cathedra Petri in the Church of Rome, as existing in his time, but according to the context, the clauses, " ecclesis redirectly

Easter, which per place.

we

shall

have to mention inc. 1.

its

pro-

"Audio, edicf niti," and " cathedram Petri deserere," would be by tum esse propositum et quidem peremptorium far better taken in apposition, so as to make him pontifex scilicet maximus, quod est episcopus epissay, " He who breaks loose from the one Church, coporum, edicit." invades and injures the representation of the unity + Tertull. de Virgg. Velandis. of the Church, bound up in the person of St. Peter The controversy, which we shall also have to by Christ himself. The whole apostolical and treat of in another place, about the validity of bapepiscopal power and might, although it b set forth tism administered by heretics.

Tertullian, do Pedicitia,

L 2

126

Cyprian's declarations andj

the Spanish bishops.

of imposing the tradition of the Romish that, out of your own religion and faith, Churrh as an invariable and decisive rule those things will be well pleasing to you for all other Churches; and he excom- which are agreeable to religion and truth. municated the Churches of Asia Minor We are, however, aware that some men and Africa, which would not submit to are unwilling to lay aside what they have once taken up, and are unwilling to change this rule.* But it was far from being the case, that their principles, but that they retain some these assumptions of the Church of Rome peculiarities of their own, without breakhad penetrated the whole body of Chris- ing the bond of peace and concord which In such in the first mentioned controversy, binds them to their colleagues. tians the Churches of Asia Minor, without be- matters we put no restraint on any man, a momentary error by the nor do we lay down any law, since every ing led into even high language of a Victor, declared their president of a Church has tlie use of his in the administration of his principles, and they opposed the tradition freewill of the Church of Rome by those of their Church, for which he will hereafter have " sedes apostolicse." Irenasus, the bishop to give an account only to the Lord."* After the violent declarations of the of Lyons, in a letter to the Romish bishop Victor, expressly blames his unchristian Romish bishop had been delivered, he the thing itself, proclaim'ed the same principle before an arrogance, although in which was the point in dispute, he agreed assembly of more than eighty bishops of with hini. He disapproved of the attempt Northern Africa, when he required of each of Victor to impose one form of churchly of them to give his sentiments freely, for life upon all Churches ; he declared that no one should make himself a bishop over nothing was needed but agreement in faith the bishops. When Stephanus appealed and love, and that this, so far from being to the authority of the ancient Romish injured by differences in outward things, tradition, and s])oke against innovations would only shine forth more clearly Cyprian said in reply,t that it was far through these very differences, and he rather Stephanus, who made innovations, recognised the right of all Churches freely and fell away from the unity of the Church. and independently to follow their ancient " Whence, then, is that tradition ? Is it customs in such matters. Although deduced from the words of the Lord, and Cyprian, as we have remarked above, con- from the authority of the Gospels, or from sidered the Romish Church as really the the doctrine and the epistles of the apos" cathedra Petri," and the representation tles ? Custom, which has crept in with of this outward unity of the Church, he some people, must not prevent truth from was, nevertheless, far from deducing from prevailing and triumphing, for custom these grounds that a right of decision, in without truth is nothing but inveterate [or controverted Church matters, belonged to antiquated] error." He very properly this Church. On the contrary, he firmly remarks, that it is by no means beneath and powerfully maintained the indepen- the dignity of the Romish bishop, any dence of individual bishops in the admin- more than of any other, to allow himself istration of their Churches after their own to be set right where he has gone wrong. principles, and he carried through what he " For the bishop must not only teach^ but acknowledged as right, even against the also ham, for he surely teaches best, who opposition of the Romish Church. In the is daily learning something, and advancing beginning of the second of those contro- by learning what is best." Firmilianus, versies to which we have alluded, when the bishop of Cssarea, in Cappadocia, in he communicated the principles of the testifying his agreement with Cyprian,:

;

North African Church, which he well (Ep.

knew werethe

at variance with

the usage of

Romish,

Rome,

to Stephanus, the bishop of he wrote to him in the name of a

Ixxv.) expressed himself also very strongly against the unchristian conduct of Stephanus, when this latter forbade the

synod, as a college, whichitself quite equal

considered

Romish Church to receive the deputies of the North African Synod into their houses.

in dignity;

and

rights,

He*

accuses him, while he boasts of beingPro communi honorcet pro simplici. dilec-

would do to another and he said, " We have communicated these things to you,dearest brotlier, in virtue of our dignity and in sincere love, for Kihil iiinovclur, nisi

commonweHe

tionc

Qua

in re

ncc nos

trust vim cuiquam facimus aut legem damus, quando habeat in ecclcia; administratione voluntatis sua; arbitrium liberum unusquiffique pra^positus, rationem actus sui Domino redditurus. Cyprian. Ep. bcxii.f Ep, Ixxiv. ad Pompej.

quod

tradituin est.

gave out, "so succfissioncm cathedram Petri habere." Cypr. Ep. Ixxiv. Ixxv.

MIXTURE OF GENUINE AND FALSE CHRISTIANS.the successor ofSt.

12T

Peter,

on

whom

the

insufficient

unity of the Church was built, of destroy- Ixviii., ing the unity of the Church, by his un- " The regular ordination (of the .successor He of Basilides) cannot be rendered invalid, charitable and ambitious conduct. opposes the tradition of other old Churches on the ground that Basilides, after the as well as dogmatical arguments, to the discovery and the avowal of his fault, tradition of the Romish Cliurch, which went to Rome and deceived our colleague had been brought forward, and in order Stephanus, who lives at a distance, and:

In Ep. grounds, was void. (Ep. Ixvii. ed. Ox.,) he writes thus

is unacquainted with the true circumhe stances of the case, so that he, who had been deposed by a just sentence, was able observes that, in many Church they departed from the customs of the to obtain an unjust sentence to reinstate Church of Jerusalem and other old apos- him." Perhaps the mortified hierarchical tolical Churches, but that men had not ambition of Stephanus, in this event, althought it worth while to disturb the unity though Cyprian spoke of him as yet with and the peace of the Catholic Church on great tenderness, may have had some influence in exciting him to the stubborn part account of these differences.* Cyprian had already shown, on a for- which he took in (he second controversy, how far which we have just been mentioning. mer occasion of a different kind,

to

show

that the

Romans

did not observeall things,

the apostolical traditions in

matters,

he was from attributing a supreme authority in the

Church

to the bishop ofin

II.

Church Discipline.intoit.

Excommunicationandre- admission

Rome, and from supporting himexercise

the

from

the visible Church,

Spanish bishops, Basilides and Martialis, had been deposed from their office by the synod, as libellaticif and on account of other faults, and they had themselves acknowledged the The provincial validity of the sentence. bishops, having convoked the Church over which Basilides had presided, had already chosen another in his place. But the two deposed bishops went to Stephanus, the bishop of Rome, and he, assuming to himself the authority of a superior court, reversed the sentence of the Spanish Church, and replaced both of them in their office; whether it was that he found the grounds of justification, which theyofit.

Two

The Divine Founder of the Church, whose penetrating glance could trace itsprogress through the succession of ages, the significant parable in which He represented its condition, (Matt, xiii.) had

by

proclaimed, that it would consist, according to its earthly composition, of a mixture of true and false members, of such as, although united by the outward bond of the Church, were separated from one another by their inward dispositions, and in part belonged to the kingdom of God, in part to the ungodly world. He had before declared that this mixture should endure to the end of earthly things, and alleged, satisfactory, or whether it was He reserved the public sifting and sepathe custom at that time in the Romish ration of this mass of men, so different in Church, to take the part of those who their dispositions from each other, to his

appealed to

Spain, whether the

now arose in sentence or the reversal should be valid, and an appeal was made to the North African Church, The North to ascertain their sentiments. African synod, at Carthage, in whose name Cyprian answered, had no hesitation in declaring the sentence of the Romish bishop invalid, and they strongly charged the Spanish synod not to continue the two unworthy bishops in their offices. Cyprian did not enter into the question whether the Romish bishop had any riglit to make any such a judicial inquiry, but he declared without any further discussion that this unjust sentence, founded onit.

A

contestfirst

final

judgment alone. He had blamed and intemperate zeal of man, which, while it would separate the tares and the good seed before the proper season comes, is apt to pull up the hidden seed of the wheat with the tares, for much which is but weeds at first, may become changed to good fruit in the bosom of the Church. Many who at first had been members only of this visible Church, being gradually attracted by its influence from outward to inward things, might bethat hasty

formed

into;

members ofmanner

the

invisible

Churchthe

and the outward Churchin this

may

only of the kingdom of God, which she is constantly * Eos autem qui Romre sunt, non ea in omni- for her genuine members, but also an inbus observaie, qua; sunt ali orignic tradita, ctfrus- structress to educate man for the kingdom tra apostolorum auctoritatcm prsctendcre. of God. Now no human eye is in a conto be not

and ought

revealer

and

representation

128

CHURCH

DISCIPLINE.

possible in its inward parts, and to dis^ notion, that a man might tnuh every human eye may be deceived countenance the yet continue in heaby appearances, to which the inward be a Christian, and habits of sin; the Churches, from thoughts do not correspond. But accord- thenish the beginning, renounced all communion ing to our Lord's expression, (Matt, vii.) are necessarily with those who had violated their pledges tlie good and the evil tree God-devoted life, and their baptismal distinguished by their fruits, but the iii- to a ward condition of this fruit, the disposi- vow of renouncing the kingdom of evil all its works, by any great and nototion from which the works proceed, and and on which, as far as the moral worth of rious sins, or whose conduct openly actions is concerned, every thing depends, showed that they were strangers to the often cannot be inquired into by a mere practical influence of Christianity, and human judgment. All evil does not show that they had continued to live like unservice of sin, or itself by gross outbreaks of passions and converted men, in the desires, so as to strike the eye, and much having left it, had relapsed again into it. the name of These men were to be shown, that under may appear to be done in Christ, with Cliristian intentions, to the these circumstances, they would be neceshonour of Christ, and seem to produce sardy excluded, by their conduct, from great temporary resu Its for the further- the enjoyment of the rights and advanance of his kingdom, which did not truly tages which belonged to the Christians. proceed from the Spirit of Christ, and is By this exclusion of unworthy members not recognised by Him as the work of from the society of Christians, the heathen His Spirit, as He says, that many will would also be deprived of an opportunity appear to have wrought great deeds in of laying the crimes of individuals, who his name, whom He will not acknow- falsely called themselves Christians, todition to effect such a separation in real;

ledge as belonging to him. Matt. vii. 22. Nevertheless, although no human judgfully separate the genuine members of the Church from those who are not so, yet even mere human judgment, if it would only have followed the rules

the charge of religionSt.

itself.

ment can

Paul, therefore, declared the Chrisrtian Churches not only justified in ejecting from their society those whose con-

duct rendered them clearly unworthy of the name of Christian brother, but absocon- lutely bound to do so. 1 Cor. v. The of the Gospel, might have been dition to recognise as really evil much Christians might eat with all the heathen, foreign matter, which had attached itself and live in any sort of intercourse with but they were to avoid entirely all to the outward form of the Church, and them showed itself in the open outbreaks of an dealings of every kind with those brethren unregenerated and ungodly heart, and then who had fallen away from their religion, to eject it from the bosom of the visible to show them, in the most pointed manChurch. It belongs to the natural rights ner, that they had renounced all brotherly of every society, to exclude those who communion with them. Tertullian, thereare untrue to its principles from the fore, might say to the heathen, "Those society, and hence this was one of the who are no Christians, are improperly Such men take no part in our natural rights of every Christian Church. called so. In regard to the exercise of this right, the congregations ; they do not receive the Christian Church had only to follow the communion with us ; they arc become e.xample of the Jewish, for there were yours again through their sins ; for we already in the Jewish synagogues formulae have no intercourse, even with those for the exclusion of those who had de- whom your cruelty has compelled to parted from the principles of true religion, recant ; and we should by far rather eneither in theory or practice, and there dure among us those who have departed were, liesides, regular gradations of this from the principles of our faith by com3Iany difficulties and disad- pulsion, than those who have done so of exclusion. vantages, which rendered the exercise of their own accord. Moreover, you havein a;

this

riglit

more

didlcult

in

aflertimes,

no

right to call those

men

Christians

who

when

become more united, would perhaps have no existence while the Church remained

had have never been recognised as such by the Christians, who are unable to dissemble themselves."* one independent whole, entirely severed But the Church must also prove an infrom the heallien state. In order to pre- structress, she must never give up the serve the Church from the contagion of Ad. Nation, i, 5. heathen immorality, to keep it as pure ascivil aiul

ecclesiastical society

j

;

PCENITENTEShope of recovering those who havefallen

ABSOLUTION.

129

By this very exclusion from intercourse with the brethren, those persons, if they had still a single spark of faith within them, if they had ever received any wholesome impressions in their hearts, ought to be brought to a consciousness of their guilt, and awakened to a fruitful If there be any signs, as far repentance. as man can judge, of such a change in their life, then their brethren must offer them consolation, and receive them againaway!

into

tlieir

communion.

This was the

imparted to them by the sign of peace and blessing, the laying on of hands by the bishop and the clergy. The pastors of the Christian Church, who were animated by the spirit of vital Christianity, did not fail to point to the inward nature of Christian penitence, and to represent those outward acts of penance, as tokens of the inward feelings and " If a man consensations of the heart. demns himself," says Tertullian, (de Poenit. c. ix.,) "God acquits him; so far as thou sparest not thyself, believe me,

arrangement of St. Paul. Many regulations were afterwards gradually made about the cases, in wliicli exconununication was to take place, and on the kind of life which the excommunicated ought to lead, when they desired to be re-admitto the communion of the Church proofs of repentance and penitence which they ought to give the length of time which they ought to remain under and all these things excommunication were arranged with due regard to the ted

Godstress

will

spare thee."

They

laid great

on the difference between the absolution of the priests and the Divine forgiveness of sins, and they declared that absolution can only reach its proper end in regard to him on whom it is bestowed, when he is really fitted for the forgiveness of his sins by the feelings of his heart, which are open to God alone, who can look upon the inward man. Thus Firmilianus, the bishop of Caesarea in

the

;

:

difference of the transgressions, and thedifferent

conduct manifested by the offend-

That class of (Gefallenen. Lapsi.) ers. them who had been excommunicated for their oflences, and by penitence, wereearning for themselves at iirst re-admission into the Church, and admittance to the communion, were called the Poenitentes.c. ix.,)

Tertullian says, (de Pcenitentia,

"that they should express their contrition by their whole appearance, and with fasting;" (which, in these early

days, usually accompanied the special gathering up of the heart for prayer,) " they should pray to God for the forgiveness of their sins, make confession of their sins before the Church, and begging all dieir Christian brethren to pray in their behalf, they should throw themselves at the feet of the presbyters, and Origen (in the known friends of God."* the third book of his work against Celsus, p. 147,1) writes thus: "The Christians mourn for those who are carried away by lust, or any other passion, as if they were dead ; and wh