assemblies from public assailants; as in the time of Julian the power of psalmody was invoked by the devout women of Antioch, and by St. Chrysostom against the Arians", This inquiry has indeed delayed us somewhat too long from the review of the excellently learned and argumentative treatise before us but it is of some importance to know whether this Creed is, as we think it, a public record of the Church's faith opposed to the heresies which distracted it in the fifth century, or, as Waterland's view would clearly make it, a kind of retrospective summary of definitions against forms of error which had almost disappeared. Setting aside Waterland's date only, and supposing the Creed to have been composed by Hilary in the last years of his life, as he does not appear to have attained to a great age when he died, there is no further difference between us. We have not, indeed, examined severally every thing that Waterland has said in maintenance of his date; but we have, we think, sufficiently gone into the question to show that it is too uncertain to be tenable. We have now only to apologize to Archdeacon Wilberforce for our long digression; and our best apology will be the true one, that his own work, full of many interesting suggestions of matters for research, has put us on this inquiry. "The Church's faith," says Archdeacon Wilberforce, “ as put forward in the Anathemas of Cyril, adopted by the Third General Council, is not built upon any system or school of philosophy, but aims only at maintaining what had been asserted from the first, that the same Person, Jesus Christ, was truly God, and truly man also. But, it may be asked, Can a point so intricate be really necessary, or is it possible, that the poor of Christ's flock, who form its most cherished portion, should be able to thread the mazes of so subtile a controversy? Doubtless they cannot. And yet the truth which is thus set forth, is not less necessary to them, than to the great and noble, nor are any persons better prepared to accept it to the saving of their souls. For even as our merciful Saviour, in the days of His flesh, while the covetous Pharisees derided, was ministered to by the poor women of Galilee, so are none more ready than the poor of this world to trust in Christ as their present God, and yet to look to the perpetual sympathy of Him, who in His poverty was their brother."—pp. 193, 194. He then goes on to show how this lesson is brought home to the religious poor member of the Church, by that means, which God's providence and grace has provided, in the Holy Communion. We have however referred to this part of the work, con 7 Theodoret, Hist, iii. 14. Socrat. vi. 8. necting it as a kind of moral to our previous remarks. It is perhaps unfortunate that the Creed in question should have been so generally known by the name of the Creed of St. Athanasius; for the name is apt to guide the thoughts of those who hear it to the times of that great champion of truth, and the controversy, in which he was mainly engaged, to the exclusion of any subsequent forms of error. For instance, who that has not read Waterland's Treatise, in using that Creed, has any remembrance of the Apollinarians? But, what is of more consequence, this want of regard, to what we must consider as the main purpose of the Creed, has led to some consequences much to be lamented in our own Church, and the daughter Church of America. In submission to some unfortunate temporal pressure, the American Church first removed this Creed from the place it occupies in our Prayer Book, and placed it only among the Articles; afterwards, we fear, she has suspended it altogether from her public formularies. We do not think this could have been done with the consent of a majority among her bishops, had there been either among us or them a proper historical examination of the question, or had they known, why the Church, a century after Athanasius, had such strong reasons for saying, "Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation, that we also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ." We must, with sincere sorrow of heart, go much further than this. We have too long admitted and tolerated among us such language on this awful and adorable mystery, as befits only the followers of Nestorius or Eutyches. Take as a specimen a work, now perhaps nearly forgotten, which, first produced in America, was published again, with some alterations by an English clergyman of high esteem for piety and doctrine, a few years ago in this country. It is of the Incarnate Saviour that Mr. Jacob Abbot wrote; and Mr. Henry Blunt repeated, among other incautious words : There are many Take, "He evidently observed and enjoyed Nature. allusions to his solitary walks in the fields, and on the mountains, and by the sea-side; but the greatest evidence of his love for Nature is to be seen in the manner in which he speaks of its beauties for instance, the case where he speaks of the decoration of the lilies. A cold heartless man, without taste or sensibility, would not have said such a thing as that. He could not; and we may be as sure that Jesus Christ had stopped to examine and admire the grace and beauty of the plant, and the exquisitely pencilled tints of its petal, as if we had actually seen him bending over it, or pointing it out to the attention of his disciples."-Abbot's Corner-Stone, c. 2. 66 We take the instance from a book, whose author is removed from us, and whose English editor is now deceased, because we desire not strife but truth. But what worthy thoughts could either writer or editor have entertained of Christ, the Wisdom of the Father, when they committed these unguarded sentences to the press? What notion could have crossed their minds, that they were speaking of Him, Whom "the LORD possessed in the beginning of His way, before His works of old,”—Him, Who was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was?"-Him, Whom "He appointed Heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds?" To ascribe to Him the lower faculties of the reasoning creature in conversing with the works of the Creator,-to talk of "taste and sensibility" in His discourses, Who spake as never man spake,-to ascribe to Him wonder and admiration in contemplating the works of His own Almighty hand,-how could such things come into the heart of men who had been duly taught to meditate on the mission of the First-Begotten into the world, with the command, "Let all the angels of God worship Him?" Far away from us be the time, when we shall cease to be reminded in our sanctuaries on the solemn days appointed, that this was done, "Not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God!" It was therefore with an interest, which the able writer before us has not disappointed, that we took up this well-stored volume. For, while the Church of England since the Reformation has never wanted learned and religious defenders of the doctrine of the ever-blessed Trinity, we are not aware that hitherto she has to show any thing like an exact theological treatise on the Incarnation. There are some excellent chapters in Hooker's Fifth Book, and some portions of Dr. Jackson's Seventh Book, and other later parts of his writings; but these last are known to few, and perhaps the excellencies of such a great man, as he confessedly was, are a little less attractive from the discursive mode of writing, which from the fulness of his mind he was led to adopt, pouring out his stores of knowledge, but sometimes leaving his clue to be taken up at leisure. The plan of Archdeacon Wilberforce's work can scarcely be exhibited sufficiently in a brief analysis. It is close and methodical. After speaking of Christ as God and Man in all the relations which proved His participation in our nature, the affections, will, and understanding,-the wonderful truths comprised in the confession of God the Incarnate Word, very God of very God, and yet the Son of Man,-the providential protection, which we have briefly touched upon, vouchsafed to these truths in the trials of the Church during the early centuries (chap. i.—v.); the second portion of the work treats of the different acts and parts of our Lord's Mediatorial Office, as the result of His Incarnation, His intercession for us in heaven, His spiritual presence with His people, and how that presence is diffused through the Church, His mystical Body (chap. vi.-x.); the third and last portion, proceeding step by step, shows how this presence is to be realized, and the grace which it communicates to be sought by the faithful in the unity of the Church, in common worship, and in the Sacraments; and how it is by these means that the spiritual discernment is to be sought for of what is holy, and good, and true. (chap. xi.-xv.) This is a brief statement of the argument; but it is impossible that it should give any notion of the many learned and acute discussions, which attend the argument upon its progress; and in which the writer shows the accumulated stores of a well-trained mind, ready to meet all objections, whether raised by ancient heresy, later sectarianism, or modern metaphysical subtilty. It is indeed a book written by one, who is too good a disciple of Butler to write always in a style that may be understood without trouble; but the trouble will be repaid, as it is in the pages of Butler, to those who have not an idle curiosity, but "a curiosity to know what is There seems to be something like a consciousness of this in some of the most striking passages of the work, as where Archdeacon Wilberforce speaks of Hooker; and of Hooker's chapters on the Incarnation : "The process [of doctrine in the Christian mind of the early centuries] may be illustrated by what befalls every young student, when he becomes acquainted with that systematic view of our Lord's nature which is given by Hooker. At first, probably, he admires the majestic and harmonious flow of those weighty sentences, their prodigious grasp of scriptural truth, and the deep reverence with which they touch things sacred. But though there is nothing which he does not seem to understand, there is in some points a copiousness which he is at a loss to account for. And it is only after repeated perusals, and in many years, that he discerns the full meaning of what had at first fallen idly on his incurious ear, and finds how far this great writer has entered into the deep things of God."-p. 123, We cannot perhaps do better than extract the argument itself, to which this serves as an illustration; or rather the conclusion of the argument. It seems a very able and correct adjustment of the question of developments of doctrine, as they took place in early Church History, The archdeacon makes this use of his illustration of the reader of Hooker : 66 "If this happens," he says, even when we peruse the writings of an earthly thinker, how much more when the mysteries of the kingdom of God were proclaimed in the words of Revelation! Hence the numerous heresies which sprung up in the early age of the Church, among those who had the letter of Scripture in their hands; and hence, likewise, the incapacity of entering into Gospel truth, so often visible in those who have been brought up in error. These things show us the infinite importance of that gradual schooling of the Christian community in the truths of the Gospel, which was completed by the publication and general reception of the Creeds. The mere publication of these documents had been little; but they were not published till every statement which they contain had first been verified,-till the various relations of each had been appreciated,-till all had been shown to stand in reality on scriptural authority,-till the Christian mind had been prepared by the teaching of the Holy Ghost for their reception; and thus a foundation had been laid at once in man's nature and God's truth, on which stands the accumulated weight of our present Christianity. "And here we must carefully distinguish between two things of a very different nature, the authority of the early Church as a witness to facts, and as the propounder of doctrines. Our article, by speaking of the Church as not only a witness and keeper of Holy Writ,' but also as 'having authority in controversies of faith,' suggests to us clearly this twofold relation. The early Church was a witness to facts, not only in that she received certain books as inspired, but in that she testified to certain practices. When disputes arose respecting the doctrine of our Lord's Divinity, not only were certain statements to be found in Scripture, but it was an admitted fact that worship had been paid to Him in all Christian congregations. Thus the Fathers who opposed Paul of Samosata at Antioch, witness to the singing of hymns to Christ as a God as an acknowledged custom (Euseb. vii, 31). Again, a second fact, which was witnessed by the Church, was the use of Sacraments. 'At the head of the ancient Christian worship,' says Professor Dorner 3, must be placed the Eucharist, in which the congregation celebrates its atonement with God in Christ, the Mediator between God and mankind; and in the perpetual celebration of this feast is seen the first proof of the belief of Christendom in Christ's Divinity.' The second proof,' he adds, is the practice of Holy Baptism.' A third fact of the same nature, is the existence of those early Creeds, to which the Church required men to give their assent in baptism. For though less detailed than was subsequently required, they all witness a belief in our Lord's Divinity. A fourth thing is the existence of Doxologies, in which glory was wont to be assigned to Him, in conjunction with the Father and the Holy Ghost. A fifth is the setting apart of Holy Seasons in commemoration of His Birth, Death, and Resurrection. A sixth is the use of Emblems, by which the import of His Passion was impressed 8 Dorner's "Lehre von der Person Christi," chap. i. vol. i. p. 274: a work of which great use has been made in the present chapter. Author's Note. |