תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

Trinity, Gregory Nazianzen says, there are mysteries in all nature, and in the mind of man. If," says he, "you who inquire concerning these things do not understand yourself, if you do not understand those things which you can examine with your senses, how can you understand God, what and how great he is? This is great folly.'

The authority of the church was also had recourse to, as an argument to enforce the reception of what could not be proved or explained. "Some tenets in the church," says Basil," we receive as preserved in writing, but some are of apostolical tradition, handed down as mysteries, both of which have the same force with respect to piety, and no one will question them, who is at all acquainted with the laws of the church."†

Austin pleaded for implicit faith by the authority of the prophet Isaiah. "It was therefore," he says, "rationally said by the prophet, (Ch. vi.,) unless ye believe, ye will not understand; where he doubtless distinguishes these two things, and advises that we first believe that we may be able to understand what we believe; so it seems reasonable that faith should precede reason."+

The fathers having meditated so much on the number three, it is no wonder that they should have got a kind of fondness for it, and have thought that there was something very wonderful in it. Epiphanius has taken pains to collect all the instances of this sacred number from the Scriptures, and he makes above one hundred of them.§

Austin having mentioned twelve attributes of God, reduces them all to three, viz. eternity, wisdom, and happiness. "These three," he says, "are a Trinity, which we call God; and perhaps, in the same manner in which we reduce the twelve attributes to these three, the three may be reduced into any one of them. For if, in the Divine nature, wisdom and power be the same thing, or life and wisdom, why may

* Ει σεαυλον εκ έγνως, όςις ει, ὁ περι τελων διαλεγόμενος, ει ταύτα ου κατέλαβες, ὧν και ἡ αισθησις μαρτυς, πως Θεον ακριβως, όπερ τε και όσον εςιν, ειδεναι ὑπολαμβάνεις; πολλης Telo Tys adorias. Or. xxix, Opera, p. 493. (P.)

+ Των εν τη εκκλησια πεφυλαγμένων δογμαίων και κηρυγμαίων, τα μεν εκ της εγγραφε διδασκαλίας έχομεν, τα δε εκ της των αποςόλων παραδόσεως, διαδοθενία ήμιν εν μυσηρίῳ παρεδεξάμεθα· άπερ αμφότερα την αυτην ισχυν έχει προς την ευσέβειαν και τείοις εδεις αντέρει όςις γε καν κατα μικρον γεν θεσμών εκκλησιαςικων πεπειραίαι. De Spiritu Sancto, C. xxvii. Opera, II. p. 351. (P.)

"Et ideo rationabiliter dictum est per prophetam : Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis. Ubi procul dubio discrevit hæc duo, deditque consilium quo prius credamus, ut id quod credimus intelligere valeamus. Proinde ut fides præcedat rationem, rationabiliter visum est." Epist. ccxxii. Opera, II. p. 859. (P.) "De Numerorum Mysteriis," Opera, II. p. 304. ̃ ̄ (P.)

not eternity and wisdom, or happiness and wisdom, be the same thing?" I need not repeat upon this occasion, what I have before observed concerning the metaphysics of the ancients; and those of the philosophers were no better than those of the fathers.

Austin, after considering the properties of the number three, seems to have thought that of itself it afforded a proof of the doctrine of the Trinity.†

Even the number six was thought deserving of some particular notice, because it was the double of the sacred number three. Epiphanius says, the number six is also sacred, because it is twice three; and Austin treats of the perfection of the number six. §"One, two, and three," he says, "make sia; and on account of the perfection of this number, God made all things in six days. Wherefore the three parts of this number six demonstrate to us that God the Trinity, made all things in the trinity of number, measure, and weight." ||

But, perhaps, the most curious circumstance relating to the number three that the reading of these fathers can furnish, is the following, which was thought worthy of being recorded by Austin. "One father Valerius," he says, "thought that it was particularly ordered by Providence, that the word salus," which signifies health, or salvation, in Latin, “in the language of the Carthaginians," (which was of Phoenician origin,)"should signify three, or the mystery of the Trinity."¶ In Hebrew, who is three, which is one proof, among many others, of the derivation of the Carthaginians from the Phonicians.

* "Nunc igitur cum dicimus, æternus, sapiens, beatus, hæc tria sunt Trinitas, quæ appellatur Deus: redegimus quidem illa duodecim in istam paucitatem trium sed eo modo forsitan possumus et hæc tria in unum aliquod horum. Nam si una' eademque res in Dei natura potest esse sapientia et potentia, aut vita et sapientia, cur non una eademque res esse possit in Dei natura, æternitas et sapientia, aut beatitudo et sapientia?" De Trinitate, L. xvi. C. vi. Opera, III. p. 446. (P.) +"Divisio trium in ter unum est. Quid autem aliud hic numerus ostendit, nisi Trinitatem, quæ Deus est ?" Opera, IV. p. 68. (P.)

Opera, II. p. 307. (P.)

§ De Civitate Dei, L. xv. C. xxx. (P.)

"Unum et duo, et tria, sex faciunt. Ideoque propter hujus numeri perfectionem sex diebus operatus est omnem creaturam. Tres ergo hæ partes senarii numeri demonstrant nobis Trinitatem Deum, in trinitate numeri mensuræ et ponderis, fecisse omnem creaturam." Questiones, lxv. Opera, IV. p. 684. (P.)

"Quod pater Valerius animadvertit admirans. In quorumdam rusticauorum collocutione cum alter alteri dixisset, Salus, quæsivit ab eo qui et Latine nosset et Punice, quid esset salus: responsum est, Tria. Tum illi agnoscens cum gaudio salutem nostram esse Trinitatem, convenientiam linguarum non fortuitu sic sonuisse arbitratus est, sed occultissima dispensatione divinæ providentiæ; ut cum Latine nominant salus, à Punicis intelligant, tria: et cum Punici lingua sua tria nominant, Latine intelligant, salus." Ad Rom. Opera, IV. p. 1181. (P.)

CHAPTER XI.

OF THE ARGUMENTS BY WHICH THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY WAS DEFENDED.

SECTION I.

Arguments from the Old Testament.

HAVING given a view of the doctrine of the Trinity in all its variations, with the several illustrations of it, I shall now proceed to shew in what manner it was defended by its ancient advocates; and it is easy to imagine that all their arguments must be drawn from the Scriptures, as it was always acknowledged that nature teaches no such doctrine, though it had been imagined that it was capable of being illustrated by some natural objects. These arguments from scripture I shall arrange according to the order of the books from which they are drawn.

It will be thought extraordinary, that the very first verse in the book of Genesis which asserts the creation of all things by one God, should, notwithstanding this, have been imagined to teach the doctrine of the divinity of Christ. But it arose from this circumstance. Among other synonyms of the divine nous, or logos, agxn (principle), as has been observed, was one; being taken from one of the Platonic principles of things; and this having been interpreted to signify Christ, wherever that word is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, several of the fathers thought that they had a right to suppose that Christ was intended. Since, therefore, Moses says, that "in the beginning (ev apx?) God created the heaven and the earth," they thought it was the same as if it had been said, that God in Christ, or by Christ, made the heavens and the earth. Theophilus says, that in the agxy means by the agxn, that is, as an instrument.*

αρχη

αρχη,

"

"In the principium, that is, in Christ," says Ambrose, “God made the heaven and the earth."† "What principium, says Austin," can we understand but the Son? For he himself answered the Jews, who questioned him concerning himself,

* Εν αρχή εποίησεν ὁ Θεός τον ερανον, τείεςι δια της αρχής γεγενησθαι τον ερανόν. Autolycum, L. ii. p. 97. (P.)

Ad

"In hoc ergo principio, id est in Christo, fecit Deus cœlum et terram." Hexameron, L. i. Opera, 1. p. 6. (P.)

[ocr errors]

the principium who speaks to you.' We render that passage, [John viii. 25,]" The same that I said unto you from the beginning."

As a proof that Moses was not ignorant that the world was made by the living and substantial word of God, Cyril of Alexandria alleges God's saying, "Let there be light, and there was light," &c. †

This passage, one would rather think, was a proof that the world was made not by a substantial or personified word, but by the simple word, or mere power, of God. But in the age of Cyril, the term word, or whatever implied word, suggested the idea of the living and substantial logos.

Tertullian expresses his dislike of this interpretation, and says that principium, in this place, is synonymous to initium, beginning. + Jerome also shews the same good sense upon this occasion, saying that "according to both the Greek and the Hebrew, it ought to be rendered, In the beginning."§

αρχή,

I shall in this place, point out some other arguments of the fathers in favour of the divinity of Christ, from their supposing him to be intended by the word agxn in the Scriptures. Origen proves that the Son is agxn, from Rev. xxii. 13, though at the same time he says he cannot be agxn in all respects. | "That the Son is the agxn may be clearly proved," it is said in the extracts of Clemens Alexandrinus, "from Hosea i. 10." ¶

* "Quid aut principium intelligendum putabimus, nisi Filium? Ipse enim de se ipso interrogantibus Judæis quis esset, respondit: Principium qui et loquor - vobis." Quest. lxv. Opera, IV. pp. 675, 682. (P.)

† Ένα γαρ και αυτος τον φύσει τε και αληθως διακηρύτίει Θεον, εκ ηγνοηκως τον, δι ̓ ὁν τα παντα παρηκίαι προς γενεσιν, τον ζωνία τε φημι και ενυποςαίον λογον αυτ8, και το εν Θεῷ τε και εξ αυτο πνεύμα ζωοποιον, το δι' ύια τη κτίσει πεμπομενον· ἔφη γαρ ότι εν αρχη εποι ησεν ὁ Θεός τον ερανον και την γην, κεφαλαιωδέςερον δε, και ώς εν βραχει τῷ λόγῳ γενεσι έργον των όλων αποφηνας αυτόν, επεξεργάζεται το διήγημα, και δεδεῖχεν ότι δια ζωνῖος λογα το κρατεντα παντων Θεου, παρήχθη προς ύπαρξιν τα εκ οντα ποτε, ζωογονείται δε και εν πνεύμαλι· ειπε φησιν ὁ Θεος, Γενηθήτω φως, και εγενετο φως, Γενηθήτω τερέωμα εν μέσῳ T8 voalos, nai eyevelO OUTWS. Contra Julianum, L. i. Juliani Opera, II. p. 21. (P.)

"Ita principium, sive initium, inceptionis esse verbum, non alicujus substantiæ nomen. Nam et ipsum principium, in quo Deus fecit cœlum et terram, aliquid volunt fuisse quasi substantivum et corpulentum, quod in materiam interpretari possit." Adv. Hermogenem, S. xix. p. 240. (P.)

§ "In principio fecit Deus cœlum et terram plerique existimant, sicut in altercatione quoque Jasonis et Papisci scriptum est, et Tertullianus in libro contra Praxeam disputat, nec non Hilarius in expositione cujusdam Psalmi affirmat, in Hebræo haberi, in Filio fecit Deus cœlum et terram: quod falsum esse, ipsius rei veritas comprobat, nam et septuaginta interpretes et Symmachus, et Theodotion, in principio transtulerunt: et in Hebræo scriptum est, beresith '872." Questiones in Genesim, Opera, I. p. 853. (P.)

Η Εγω ειμι αρχή και το τέλος, το Α και το Ω, ὁ πρωίος και ὁ εσχατο αναγκαιον δε ειδέναι ότι ου κατα παν ὁ ονομάζεται αρχη εςιν αυτός πως γαρ καθ ̓ ὁ ζων εσί δύναται εvai apx; In Johan. Comment. II. p. 19. (P.)

Η Ότι δε αρχή ὁ ύιος Ωσηε διδάσκει σαφως και εςαι, εν τῳ τόπῳ ὁν εῤῥηθη αυτοίς, ὁ λαος με ύμεις, κληθήσονται και αυτοι υιοι Θεου ζωντος και νυν αχθήσονται οι υιοι Ισραελ

These interpretations will surprise us the less, if we consider how familiar it was with the fathers to consider agxn as αρχη synonymous to logos, which they always understood of Christ. Thus Clemens Alexandrinus says, that "the Son is the αρχή and απαρχη of all things, of whom we must learn the cause, the Father of all, the most ancient, and the benefactor of all. * In another passage he calls Christ the αρχη ; saying, “ Because the logos was from above, he is and was the divine agxn of all things. This logos, the Christ, was the original author of our being; for he was in God, and of our well-being. This logos has now appeared to men, he alone being both God and man, the author of all good to us.” f

αρχη

αρχη

Theophilus also speaks of the logos, as having been in God, as the agxn the Spirit of God, who spake by the prophets. "God, therefore, having his own logos in his own bowels, generated him with his wisdom, throwing him out before all things. This logos, generated by himself, he used as his assistant, and by him made all things. He is called the αρχη, because he rules and governs all things that are made by him. He, therefore, being the Spirit of God, t and the αρχη, and wisdom, and supreme power, went into the prophets, and by them spake concerning the maker of the world and all things. For there were no prophets when the world was made, but the wisdom of God, which was in him, and the holy logos, which is always with him.” 8

§

However, the term agxn was not so appropriated to Christ, but that it was common to all the three great principles of

επι ταυτό, και θησονίαι ἑαυτοῖς αρχην μιαν, και αναβησονται εκ της γης. Combefis Auctuarium, I. p. 197. (P.)

* Το πρεσβύτερον εν γενέσει, την αχρονον και αναρχον αρχην τε και απαρχην των ονίων, τον υιον, παρ' ου εκμανθάνειν επεκείνα αιτιον, τον πατερα των όλων, το πρεσβίσον και πανίων ευεργετικωτατον. Strom. vii. p. 700. (Ρ.)

[ocr errors]

† Αλλ' ότι μεν ην ὁ λόγος ανωθεν, αρχη θεία των πανίων ην τε και εσιν· ότι δε νυν ονομα έλαβεν, το παλαι καθωσιωμενον, δυναμεως αξιον, Χριςος, καινον ασμα μοι κεκληίαι· δυλος γεν ὁ λογος ὁ Χρισος, και τε ειναι παλαι ἡμας, ην γαρ εν Θεῷ, και το εν είναι· νυν δη ó επεφανη ανθρωποις αυτος ουτος λογος, ὁ μόνος αμφω, Θεος τε και ανθρωπος, ἁπανίων ἡμιν αιτιος αγαθών παρ' ου το ευ ζην εκδιδασκομενοι, εις αίδιον ζωὴν παραπεμπομεθα. Ad Gentes, Opera, p. 5. (P.)

It is observeable, that Theophilus makes the logos to be the same with the Spirit, πνευμα. Eusebius also says, that λογος and πνευμα have no difference with respect to God. It is, indeed, impossible that they should have conceived any difference between them, and yet this circumstance throws great confusion into the orthodox system. (Ρ.)

§ Εχων εν ὁ Θεος τον ἑαυτε λογον ενδιαθείον εν τοις ιδίοις σπλαγχνοις, εγέννησεν αυτόν μετα της ἑαυτε σοφιας εξερευξαμεν προ των όλων· τεῖον τον λογον εσχεν ὑπεργον των ὑπ' αυτό γεγενημένων, και δι' αυτε τα παντα πεποιηκεν· όντος λεγεται αρχή, ότι αρχει και κυριεύει πανίων των δι' αυτο δεδημιεργημένων· ουτος εν ων πνεύμα Θεού, και αρχη και σόφια, και δυναμις ύψιςε, κατήρχετο εις τες προφηλας, και δι' αυτών ελαλει τα περι της ποιήσεως το κοσμο και των λοιπων ἁπανίων ου γαρ ησαν οι προφηται ότε ὁ κόσμος εγενεία αλλά ἡ σοφια ή εν αυτῷ εσα ή τε Θεου, και ὁ λόγος ὁ ἁγιο αυτό ὁ αει συμπαρων αὐτῷ διο δη και δια Σολομωνος προφητε οντω λεγει. L. ii. p. 82. (Ρ.)

« הקודםהמשך »