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the imperfections which evidently marked some of the earlier of the apostolic churches. Modern Christians are disposed to look back on that age as full of privilege to believers, and to regard the people so privileged as eminently wise, consistent, and holy. This misconception is not unnatural, but, like all untruth, it is not wholesome in its influence. There are facts, says Mr. Stoughton, which 'dissipate the illusion of a golden age while apostles lived-a play of fancy indulged in strange forgetfulness of express statements in the New Testament, and striking analogies in the Old. Paul, Peter, and Jude bewail the immoralities of their professed converts, and old Hebrew history proves how men can stand face to face with God's messengers fresh from heaven, and signs and wonders blazing round them, and live in sin. But it would be unjust to look only on this side of the picture.

The experience of 1800 years has shown that in the spiritual no less than in the physical world, there may be imperfect development and much disease, where there is life. With partial paralysis there may be partial sensibility. The heart may play while here and there the blood may stagnate. There may be action in the cerebrum, though a limb be palsied. To some truths, duties, and privileges, a man may be dead; to others he may be tremblingly alive. Imperfect spiritual life has been the too common experience of Christendom. Many Christians of the first century were neither worse nor better than those of the nineteenth. They caught and embodied but a portion of the Divine ideal. Yet, so far as they did so, they were witnesses of a power in humanity, the working of which we should in vain search for throughout the history of pagan law, philosophy, or religion. Even some narrow Jews, warped by nationality, the pride of which we might almost pardon; and others whose ascetism rested on different grounds, and whose narrow scruples disturbed harmony and created division-we should wrong if we wrote them down as aliens from Christ's kingdom. Some such persons the apostle Paul only judged weak, yet brethren still, not living to themselves, but in the thing they allowed not, living to the Lord. And his lesson to the strong was to show their strength, not by censuring others, but by being cautious themselves; not by asserting their liberty so much as by loving care not to make it a stumbling-block in another's way. And some, who even fell into sin, were recovered by grace; nor was cleansing fire wanting in many a Corinthian heart to separate and consume the dross of carnality, and to leave for the last day much fine gold of righteousness.'-pp. 59, 60.

We have no space to dwell on the love of the Corinthian Christians on the works, labour, and patience of Ephesus-on those at Sardis, who defiled not their garments, nor on the many virtues of the elect at Rome, including those of more than valorous constancy, who in Nero's gardens, on the slopes of the Vatican, were hung up as

The Period of Innovation.

149 blazing torches for the monster's shows. Nor can we tell, for want of material, as well as of space, of missionary efforts, which, notwithstanding, we know were made. Documents recording some may have perished; but we cannot help thinking that the workers of that day were not careful to write down their own doings-they sought a better immortality. Did the Gospel reach Britain during the first century? If so, then, while we know all about the military Cæsar's coming, and can point to the shingly beach where he landed, and to the downs and river banks whither he marched (for the conqueror has reported his own achievements); where the missionary Cæsar arrived, whence he came, whither he wended his way, how he fared, what he did, we do not know. I think the hero did not care that we should know. In other cases, we have indications of the result without marks of the process. Lights are seen at midnight stealing up the hill sides of Paganism. We discern the torches, but not the bearers.'-p. 63.

The third, fourth, and fifth lectures embrace the period from 100 to 325, and this is designated the period of 'Innovation.' The first division in this section treats of the doctrinal opinions of that time, and of the mode and measure in which they were affected by the forms of philosophical thought then prevalent. The second division relates to the ecclesiastical principles, and the influence produced by certain innovations in this respect, also in part, but by no means wholly, arising out of mistaken philosophies. Then we have a description of the Religious Life of the Christians during the second and third century in the history of the church. Under each of these heads we have many beautiful and instructive passages, a single paragraph being often made to suffice for giving the results of much reading and thought. Here is an account of Justin Martyr, which may be taken as a sample of what is done in this way.

"Turning to look at the divines of the second age, we have the Greek Justin Martyr, who had gone the round of Greek speculation, 'seeking goodly pearls,' before he met the old man by the seashore, who told him of Hebrew prophecies and of Christ's Gospel, and exhorted him to seek by prayer the opening of the gates of light. This great and wonderful man,' as the Byzantines call him, whose noble words were, 'There is truth, and nothing is stronger than truth;' who had been seeking it all his life long, and strengthening his natural habits of thought, felt, after he became a Christian, a desire to attain to deeper views of Christianity than such as might content Ignatius or Polycarp. It was perfectly natural for him to make theology his study. Deep and comprehensive views of it to such a man would be a pressing want. That he should adopt philosophical forms of expression-that he should connect with what he had long known, the fresh and wonderful tidings of heavenly truth-that, in the

light of Christianity, he should look at the moral and religious problems which had for ages puzzled the most earnest thinkers-can surprise no one. But it is plain, at least after the experience of centuries, that it behoves men of the Justin class to keep a tight reign on their thoughts when investigating the metaphysical mysteries of religion; to mark with carefulness the boundary between the terra firma of the Divine word and the cloud land of human speculation; to distinguish between the authority of Scripture and the inferences of reason-between objective facts and subjective deductions from them, and ever to make the former the ground of their whole Christianity. Now, Justin Martyr, not apprehending this sufficiently, was fond of speculating on abstruse points, unilluminated by Scripture; and further, in his regard for the studies of his earlier days, did not always draw a line of sufficient breadth between the Greek philosopher on the one hand, and the Hebrew prophet and Christian apostle on the other. The generation of the divine λóyos was with him a favourite inquiry; and, at the same time, he spoke of that Logos as the reason of which the whole human race participates as the source of wisdom to Socrates, of inspiration to Elias. A very important sense there is in which reason is a Divine gift, and conscience a heavenly voice-in which the same Divine Being is the fountain of intellect to the sage and of holiness to the saint-in which He who speaks in the Bible is the Author of all true and beautiful thoughts in the soul, of genius and inspiration-of ideas in the Bible and of ideas in some other books. Nor are we warranted to deny something above mere genius in the case of the most eminent of the heathen-a Divine influence more spiritual than that which works on the intellect alone. Yet, though the origin of an inward light and of an outward revelation be the same, the gifts in themselves are widely different, not only in degree, but in nature-a distinction which, if Justin saw, he did not express, but by his language gave countenance to a confusion on the subject, which has often since been mischievously revived, especially of late. To his philosophical habits and predilections, no doubt, is to be ascribed Justin's inquiry into the generation of the Logos, but it is utterly unjust to attribute to the same cause the substance of his theology respecting the Divine personality of the Logos, and His incarnation in the humanity of Jesus. To pretend that the doctrine of the Trinity was borrowed by this first uninspired Christian philosopher from the pages of Plato, is utterly without foundation, as Bishop Kaye has very ably proved in his work on Justin's writings.'--pp. 73-75.

This is followed by a similar sketch, touching the genius and speculations of Clement of Alexandria, and of Origen, and it is in the following terms that our author makes his transition from the idealistic refinements of the East to the work which was left to be done by the more practical genius of the West :

'What Origen was among the Greeks, says Vincentius Lirinensis,

Justin Martyr-Origen-Tertullian.

151

Tertullian was among the Latins, 'nostrorum omnium facile princeps.' Tertullian, however, enjoyed preeminence over Origen and all the other Fathers of his age, in this respect, that he was founder of theology in a new language. Latin Christian literature owes its birth to him. Pagan Rome had blotted out Carthage: Christian Carthage now took precedence of Rome. We hear Patristic Latinity in rich Punic tones before we catch the sound of it in any other. Theology was all Greek till Tertullian made it Roman. Neander calls him Antignostikos. The title is just in its largest meaning. He was not a Gnostic in the Clementine, any more than the heretical sense of the term. He had no sympathy with the Alexandrians. Plato was anything but a favourite, and the African father insinuates that the demon of Socrates was of a very questionable character. Tertullian's theology, like himself, was realistic, practical, earnest. But though he eschewed philosophy, he could, like other men of his class, while condemning it in one form, use it in another;-be very un-Platonic, and at the same time very Aristotelian;-abuse transcendentalism and embrace metaphysics. In the treatise de Anima,' Tertullian grapples with Plato with dialectic skill, and employs to boot speculations as wild as the Academy ever heard, and all in behalf of the corporeity of the soul. Tertullian's case also shows, that if theology has suffered from Greek philosophy, it has also suffered from prejudices traceable to unphilosophical Jewish ceremonialism-that the narrowness and bondage of the one may do harm, as well as the stimulus to excursiveness supplied by the other. And whereas the habits of the Greek sage are seen in Origen, the habits of the Latin lawyer are manifest in Tertullian, for he was wont as a Christian advocate to speak like a special pleader, with rare ingenuity, copiousness, and eloquence; but at times with arguments which, though earnestly adopted, will raise in many minds a suspicion of the orator's not being over-scrupulous. He ably vindicated the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, though here he indulged in material analogies, which really degrade the ineffable truth they are intended to illustrate. His representations of human depravity are much stronger than those of the Alexandrian school, and he earnestly pleads for the literal resurrection of the body, a doctrine afterwards impugned by Origen. Though occasionally allegorizing what we should take literally, Tertullian was quite opposed to such a method of interpretation as prevailed in Alexandria, and some remarks of his on the interpretation of parables would be deemed in the present day very sober and judicious. He also took views of Divine grace and the human will harmonizing with those so fully developed by Augustine, but he did not exhibit what are justly deemed some grand peculiarities of Christianity more clearly and prominently than his philosophical brethren; thus showing that there was something beside philosophy at the bottom of that reserve. His adoption of the fanatical views of Montanus-so similar to those of modern Irvingism, the fervid African of the third century finding his parallel in the gifted and erratic Scotchman of the nineteenth-did not materially modify his doctrinal

opinions, though they strengthened, as we shall hereafter see, certain principles in his character and teaching.'-pp. 85-88.

Concerning the theologians of this period, as a whole, our author says:

"They dealt in questions of immediate interest, and defended the citadel of Christianity against Jews, infidels, and heretics. They wrote on the controversies of their age, and hence they did not attain to the calm contemplation of Divine truth in its breadth and variety. Even the most philosophical were driven into what was partial and one-sided. Doctrines which have occupied much thought in subsequent ages were not distinctly present to their minds. They saw generally the essential facts of the Gospel, but they did not make them all objects of scientific study. Their theology, regarded in the light of later research and thoughtfulness, appears defective and inaccurate.

"Their idea of Christ's satisfaction did not amount to the idea of

modern evangelical divines. They were generally content with a simply religious view of the death of Christ as the price of our redemption, without aiming at any philosophy of the atonement. The tendency was to look at it not so much in relation to Divine law as in relation to Satanic power. Redemption was a deliverance from the devil, yet not by simple force, but in a manner which would prove to him the righteousness of God, so says Irenæus-a view which, though foreign to our habits of thought, perhaps involves some principle of satisfaction to Divine law. Neither was the forensic view (as it has been called) of the believer's acceptance, clearly brought out by the ante-Nicene theologians. They distinguished, of course, between the enjoyment of forgiveness and the possession of Christian sanctity; they also spoke of justification by faith, but not so as to indicate a distinct apprehension of the doctrine of Paul on that momentous subject. They were too apt to confound justification with holiness, and to insist upon the efficacy of baptism and martyrdom so as to undermine the Pauline principle of Christian righteousness. Nor were the doctrines of human corruption and Divine grace precisely defined. They remained simply as facts for the excitement of religious feeling; they were not yet transferred to the region of the understanding to undergo there a logical process and assume a strictly dogmatic shape. The ante-Nicene Fathers did theologize upon the Trinity-it was the grand problem with which they grappled; but after all which has been written by Bishop Bull and others on the subject, it is impossible to reduce their opinions into any harmonious and consistent form. The pre-existence and Divine glory of Christ in some sense, however, were almost universally believed by those calling themselves Christians. It cannot be proved that, among the heretics of the first two centuries, there were many who believed in the simple humanity of Jesus Christ.'-pp. 90-92.

The fourth lecture shows how the church system of the second

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