Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

"They can be defined and explained”— But not upon Christian principles.

"They involve no contradictions."

We have proved, and shall still further prove the contrary. They never take refuge in mysteries”—

No, because with an unhallowed hand they expunge them all, but they take refuge in those antichristian sophisms and fallacious argumentation, by which the sworn enemies of Christianity, the Celsuses, the Porphyriuses, the Julians meant to shake the very foundations of revelation, and by which they impose on the simple and unsuspecting reader. "They have no delight in darkness."*

Except when too much light would be premature for a public as yet too Christianly disposed and thus eventually injure their cause. And do Christians delight in darkness? Was not their religion with all its mysteries publicly and solemnly preached on the very house-tops, on the very highways, in all nations, and all over the globe? Do the Christians ever shrink from inspection, or retire from any manly and honourable contest to vindicate their doctrines, or substantiate their authority?

CXXXVII. By way of conclusion we shall annex here such extracts of the three principal symbols or professions of faith of the Christian church, as have a more immediate relation to the subject we have hitherto treated of, viz. the mystery of the blessed Trinity: This appendix will be the more gratifying to our Christian readers, as by the bare inspection of it, they will at once see to their great comfort, how uniform, constant, and invariable the belief of the Christian world was, respecting the mystery of the Trinity, from the very commencement of the church. For nothing can better attest the faith of the church of God than these creeds, which from the time they were made, formed a part of the public divine worship, and were exacted from those that wished to receive Baptism.

* Christian Miscellany, No. 1. Vol. 1.

First Symbol,

Called the Symbol of the Apostles.

CXXXVIII. "I believe in God the Father Almighty," &c.*

Second Symbol,

Called the Nicene creed.

CXXXIX. This creed of the Ecumenic Council of Nice, held in the year 325 against the Arians, is related by St. Athanasius in Tract. de fide ad Jovianum Augustum, by Rufinus, Socrates, Theodoretus, &c. and with the addition made to it by the Fathers of the second Council of Constantinople, in the year 381 against the impugners of the Holy Ghost, is as follows.

"I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in our Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God, and born of the Father, before all ages, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made: who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. Was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven; sits at the right hand of the Father; and is to come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; of whose kingdom there shall be no end. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord

* It is an undeniable fact, attested by all antiquity, that this Symbol, after whatever manner it was originally composed, was in universal use from the Apostolical age, and that it was demanded of the catechumens when they presented themselves for baptism, as a test of their faith, and as a distinctive sign from other heterodox societies. Now this Symbol contains manifestly a solenn profession of the mystery of the Trinity, it being divided into three principal parts, the first of which treats of the eternal Father, and the works of the creation, the second of Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, and of the works of the incarnation and redemption, and the last of the Holy Ghost and the works of sanctification and glorification.

191

and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, and the Son, who together with the Father and Son is adored and glorified : who spoke by the prophets. And one, holy, catholic, and Apostolical church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen."

Third Symbol,

Which bears the name of St. Athanasius.*

CXL. "The Catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity.

Neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the sub

stance.

For one is the person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost.

But the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son, such is the Holy Ghost.

The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Ghost uncreated.

The Father immense, the Son immense, the Holy Ghost immense.

The Father eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Ghost eternal.

And yet there are not three eternals, but one eternal.

As also they are not three uncreated, nor three immense; but one uncreated and one immense. In like manner the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, the Holy Ghost Almighty.

*It is agreed among the learned that St. Athanasius is not the author of the Symbol under consideration, and that it was composed about the end of the fifth century: It, however, was found so to concord with the received doctrine of the christian world, that it was immediately sanctioned by the church, and inserted into her public office.

192

And yet there are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Ghost is God.

And yet there are not three Gods, but one God.

So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Ghost is Lord..

And yet there are not three Lords but one Lord.

For as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge every person particularly to be God and Lord.

So we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there are three Gods or three Lords.

The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is from the Father alone, not made, not created, but begotten.

The Holy Ghost is from the Father and the Son, not made, not created, not begotten, but proceeding.

There is therefore one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.

And in this Trinity nothing is prior or posterior, nothing is greater or lesser; but the whole three persons are co-eternal to one another; and co-equal.

So that in all things, as has been said above, the unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in unity, is to be worshipped.

He therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.

But it is necessary to everlasting salvation, that he also believe firmly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The right faith therefore is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is both God and

man.

He is God of the substance of his Father, begotten before ages; and he is man of the substance of his mother, born in the world.

Perfect God and perfect man; of a rational soul and human flesh subsisting.

Equal to the Father, according to his Godhead, lesser than the Father, according to his manhood.

Who although he be God and man, yet he is not two, but one Christ.

One not by the conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by the assuming the manhood into God.

One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.

CXLIII. Thus we shall continue to sing with the church of God the well known Trisagion, "Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of Hosts: All the earth is full of his glory," and thus represent by our worship upon earth an image of what is done by the heavenly spirits in the mansions of glory, which, as we learn from the prophet Isaiah, cap. vi. v. 3. and St. John's Apocal. cap. iv. v. 8. are incessantly resounding with this sublime canticle, which, as St. Ambrose informs us de spiritu sancto, lib. 3. cap. 12. is re-echoed in the east and in the west to honour the unity and Trinity in God. We shall add likewise that other formula of praise, which the Christian world has now used in her divine worship nearly these fourteen hundred years. 66 Άγιος ο Θεος, Αγιος Ισχυρος, Αγιος αθανα "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal,

τος ελεησον ημας

have

[ocr errors]

mercy on us. All that can be further objected by the Unitarians against the mystery of the Trinity, has been victoriously answered, as early as the second and third century, by those Fathers that

*St. John Damascene, Cedrenus, Balsamon, Pope Felix III. Nicephorus and others inform us, that this formula was first introduced by St. Proclus, Patriarch of Constantinople, in the year 446, under the reign of Theodosius the younger, on the occasion of a horrible earthquake that happened there. They add that the people sang this new Trisagion with the more fervour that they attributed this calamity to the blasphemies, which the innovators of that city did not cease to vomit against the Son of God, and that when this canticle was begun upon the spot, the scourge ceased. The council of Chalcedon, held in the year 451, adopted it, and since that time it has always been of daily use in the Greek church, but the Latin church sings it but once a year, on Good Friday, immediately before the adoration of the cross, and repeats it thrice in Greek and in Latin. St. John Damascene tells us that the orthodox made use of it to express their faith respecting the holy Trinity, that the words "Holy God," designate the Father, "God Mighty" the Son, and "God immortal" the Holy Ghost.

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinua »