mixing it with the Flesh of Jesus For we cannot think he suppos'd that Jesus the Son of Mary had not Flesh like ours He meant nothing more than that the Word or the Christ as he is pleas'd to call him had not appear'd to Men but with a Body wholly celestial and impassible so separating Jesus from the Christ and making two Natures of them as St. Irenaeus informs us It is with reason wonder'd that so grave Authors have said and so often repeated that Cerinthus's Heresy consisted in denying the Divine Nature of Jesus Christ when he is the first who brings the two Natures of Jesus Christ into the Christian Religion the Divine Nature which he believed to be impassible and which he makes to descend from Heaven and the Humane which he believed to be begotten by Joseph and Mary But there is yet greater reason to wonder that Irenaeus has been quoted for it who says nothing less than what Controvertists make him say All that that Father says concerning the Error which St. John oppos'd in Cerinthus is that the World had been created by an inferiour God or by an Angel but that there was another superiour God who had sent his Word or the Holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove into the Son of Mary That the inferiour Christ who was called Jesus was indeed the Son of the Creator but that the superiour Christ who descended into the other was the Son of the most high and unknown God who after having render'd Jesus capable of working Miracles and of manifesting the unknown God withdrew himself into his Pleroma when Jesus was to suffer Iren. l. 3. c. 11. This Opinion was not so much Plato's as Philo the Jew 's who believed that God had never done any thing but by Angels Some Hereticks added that besides the God of the Jews who was one of those Angels and Creator of the Universe there was another God who had never manifested himself until he made himself known by the Coming of the Christ Indeed it seems that this is the only Error which St. John opposes in his Gospel First he shews therein following the Psalmist St. Paul and St. Peter that the World was not made by any other than by the Word or by the Power of God that this Word was not an Efficacy or Power distinct or separate from the most High God that is an Angel or self-subsisting Hypostasis but that it was in God the Creator as his Efficacy or to say better that it was the Creator himself Then he shews that the Word the Spirit or the superior Christ who descended into Jesus who dwelt in him and who had wrought so many Miracles was not an Hypostasis or an emanated Efficacy of another God than he who had created the World but the proper Efficacy of God the Creator the same Word which having created the World was united to Jesus Christ and manifested in him The Word by which all things were made says he was made Flesh or manifested in the Flesh Which shews that Christ was the Son of the Creator and not of another God superiour to him and that the World was not made by an Angel but by the most high God Mons le Moyne among others believes that St. John aim'd at opposing this Error St. John assures says he Varia sacra p. 407. that the Word was made Flesh in opposition to the Doctrine of the phantastick Body of Christ He has no other Design in his first Epistle where he teaches that Christ is come in the Flesh and protests that he preaches and insists on no other Word of Life than that which he had seen heard and touched that is according to him that Christ came no otherwise than in a real Body and no way in an etherial one If we inclin'd to believe that St. John aim'd at Cerinthus in writing his Gospel we might add that it is very remarkable that as often as this Evangelish relates Jesus Christ's saying that he descended from Heaven he always makes him speak as if he directly oppos'd that Heretick For whereas Cerinthus said that the Christ or a Spiritual Nature descended from Heaven Jesus Christ assures on the contrary that 't is the Son of Man that 't is his own Flesh which descended from thence Man as you see and not a Nature distinct from Man Flesh and not a Spirit 'T is pity that Heretick did not live in the time of our Lord one might have the Pleasure of forming a curious System on that Subject which would not be less well contrived than that which has been built on the Word of St. John with respect to that Heretick But if we cannot positively assert that Jesus Christ or his Disciple did attack Cerinthus we may at least affirm that 't was against him or his like that St. Irenaeus disputed They hold says that Father l. 3. c. 17 18 19 20. that indeed Jesus is born of Mary but that as to Christ he descended from above so dividing the Lord by saying that he is composed of two Substances c. With their Mouths they confess but one Christ but in reality they have two one passible and the other descending from Heaven invisible and impassible not knowing that the Word which was united to and mix'd with his Work and which was made Flesh is it self that Jesus who suffer'd for us But if one suffer'd while the other remain'd impassible it is not one Christ but two Now every Spirit which divides Jesus Christ qui solvit Jesum Vulg. is not of God What hinder'd the Apostles from saying that Christ descended into Jesus or the Saviour who is above the Oeconomy into him who is of the Oeconomy But the Apostles neither knew nor said any thing like it What there was of it they said to wit that the Spirit descended on him like a Dove It appears by this Passage and by the whole Work of St. Irenaeus that his Opinion was that the Word was made Flesh not only in communicating it self to the Flesh which the Hereticks believ'd but also in mixing it self with the Flesh And therefore in the 21st Chapter of the same Book he twice calls him the Word mix'd and blended commixtum Verbum The same Theology is found in Novatian de Trinitate c. 11 19. In one place he maintains that Jesus is not only a Man but that he is likewise God according to the Scripture because the Divinity of the Word enter'd into the Composition and mix'd it self with the Flesh Divinitate Sermonis in ipsa concretione permixta In another place like unto this he takes upon himself to demonstrate that the Word having by its Vnion and by its Mixture with the Flesh associated to it self the Son of Man made him what he was not to wit the Son of God Origen says as much of it in his third Book against Celsus The Humanity of Christ says he rais'd it self to such a degree of Divinity not only by
incarnate And what can this Reason be which it merited and which was united to it When the Veil of Allegory is taken off it can be no other than that high Contemplation whereof the Soul of Jesus Christ had by its pre-existent Obedience render'd it self capable or than that degree of Prophecy and that Spirit without measure wherewith God had honoured it and which made it Partaker of the Divine Nature or lastly the very Office of Word or of Interpreter of God whereof God had judged it worthy as the most perfect and noblest of the Spirits which he had decreed to declare his Mind Celsus says he ibid. lib. 7. will not own that he who suffer'd Death can be worthy of the second Honours next to the Supreme God as well because of the Powers he had acquir'd in Heaven as because of those he had acquir'd on Earth Supposing as you see that Jesus Christ had merited in Heaven before he came to merit on our Earth he was very far from believing him to be the most High God Wherefore Origen having said of the Word that it was in God that it came from God that it was made Flesh and affirming the same of the Soul of J. C. this Conformity yields just reason to suspect that the Doctrine of the Word is nothing but the Soul of Jesus Christ theologiz'd whereon they discours'd Allegorically That 's in a manner prov'd by the Hypothesis of the Arians who believ'd that the Word was to Jesus Christ instead of a Soul and consequently by the Word understood only the Soul of Jesus Christ created before all Ages An Hypothesis renew'd in our time by John Turner who has given it a new turn for he maintains That the Word is nothing else but the Soul of Jesus Christ created indeed but eternally united to the Substance of God and by that Union participating all his Perfections A Discourse concerning the Messiah Ep. Dedic p. 154. The same is infer'd from the Use which has been made of some Texts of Scripture as for example these I came from the Father O Father glorify me with the Glory which I had with thee c. Who being in the Form of God c. Our Divines interpret them of the Pre-existence of the Word but Origen and Dr. Rust in his Book intitul'd Origen and his chief Opinions interpret them of the Pre-existence of the Soul of Jesus Christ Whence comes this Confusion of Ideas The reason of it is easily given The former of these Interpretations is mysterious and allegorical and the latter literal So we may conclude that the Fathers allegoriz'd on the pre-existent Soul of Jesus Christ loving our Nature and becoming incarnate for our Salvation which they in their allegorical Stile call'd the Word or the Son of God And consequently those who take this last Allegory in the literal Sense and understand it of a Divine Person united to our Flesh are not less ridioulous than they who stumbling at the Letter of the first Allegory really believ'd that Angels had mix'd themselves with mortal Women The Text for the first Hypothesis that the Sons of God were married to the Daughters of Men serves as well as that for the second I have begotten thee before the Morning This Pre-existence of Souls and particularly of that of Jesus Christ has been very antient in the Church We find it plainly enough express'd in the second letter attributed to Clemens Romanus C. 10. These are his Words As you have been call'd dwelling in the Flesh so you will come in the Flesh Jesus Christ the Lord who sav'd us being the first Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was made Flesh and so called us 〈◊〉 likewise we shall receive the Recompence in the Flesh This Passage supposes the Pre-existence of our Souls as well as that of the Soul of Jesus Christ For he compares our Spirits existing in the Flesh to that first Spirit which was made Flesh to call us He calls Jesus Christ the first of all Spirits whether Souls or Angels because God begat him first a little before he undertook the Creation of the World and afterwards imploy'd him to create the other Spirits according to the Doctrine of Lactantius Instit lib. 4. c. 6. who further teaches us ibid. c. 1.2 That this Holy Spirit descending from Heaven chose the Womb of a Virgin to enter into And the better to carry on the Comparison which he makes of that Spirit to all incarnate Spirits he shews that he was rais'd to the Recompence only by his faithful Obedience and Vertue ibid. cap. 14. His Words are remarkable God says he having sent his Son to Men He hath shewn his Faithfulness in teaching that there is but one God and that he only is to be worship'd and he never call'd himself God because he would have violated his Truth if being sent to take away from the World the Plurality of Gods and to establish the Unity of God he had introduc'd more than one God That had not been preaching One God nor working for the Interest of him who sent him but for his own and it would have been dividing himself from the Father whom he came to glorify Then by his having been thus faithful and in the Design of discharging his Commission not attributing any thing to himself he has receiv'd the Dignity of everlasting High Priest the Honour of Supreme King the Power of Judg and the Name of God By the way these Words of this Father are a curious Paraphrase on those of St. Paul Phil. 2.6 c. Who being in the Form of God did not attribute to himself c. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and hath given him a Name which is above every Name c. Let us here remember a distinction of the Fathers which has been mention'd already and wherein the Footsteps of antient Allegory visibly appear The Fathers distinguish'd two kinds of Generation of the Word the one eternal and internal and the other external which began with the World and the only one which they properly call Generation Dr. Bull acknowledgeth this distinction only he pretends but without reason that 〈◊〉 the latter which is metaphorical Granting him his desire 't is the same thing with respect to the Question now treated of For it remains nevertheless true that they allegoriz'd on one of the Generations of the Word be it which it will and that 's all I need Let them as long as they please say that the Fathers spake of a Generation of the Word which was proper and literal I shall answer Yes and that 's what I call gross Platonism which has made them philosophize so absurdly But by their own confession the same Fathers have spoken of another Generation of the Word which is metaphorical and allegorical and that 's what I call their refin'd Platonism the fair Remains of sound Philosophy which betrays them and manifestly discovers the absurdity of the other part of their System whereon they
Platonism Unveil'd OR AN ESSAY Concerning the Notions and Opinions OF PLATO And some Antient and Modern Divines his Followers In relation to the LOGOS or WORD in particular and the Doctrine of the Trinity in general In TWO PARTS Anno Dom. 1700. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER THE Author of this Piece as I may say was stopped in the very middle of his Course he intended to have added a third Part to the two others which were publish'd and in it to have examin'd what Divinity the Holy Scriptures attribute to Jesus Christ He would have confin'd himself to what the four Evangelists acquaint us concerning it and made it appear to the meanest Capacity that the Ideas those Sacred Writers have given us are very wide from such as the Antients put upon 'em and the Moderns have espoused But Death prevented the Execution of this Design and hindered the Publick from reaping the Benefit of it However if this Essay meet with the Approbation it merits the World may be oblig'd with a Dissertation the Author has left upon the Gospel of St. John It may be said of this excellent Man that he was a Person of very great Penetration as well as Piety and that he made the Study of the Holy Scriptures his greatest Entertainment He had nothing in view but a Search after Truth which when he had found he embrac'd it with all his Heart for he was incapable of betraying or disguising it for any secular Interest whatever This plain dealing drew upon him many Enemies but his Patience in a manner overcame all and the firm hopes he had of a better Life after this did always support him under all the Tryals thro which the Calumnies and Malice of his Enemies had forc'd him His Friends have this Comfort however That those very Persecutors could not refuse him when alive nor since his Death the Elogies that his Vertues drew from 'em and according to the Custom of this present Age they took care in his behalf to distinguish the Morals from the Doctrine The Publick will see by what is bere represented to 'em what Judgment ought to be made of the latter THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER THERE are several Passages in the ensuing Discourse that are very uncommon and extraordinary which if they should happen to be true will be much surprizing to the World And if they are not the Author has to appearance supported them with such Authorities from Antiquity that besides the Importance of the things themselves it will deserve the Pains of some Learned Pen to confute this Discourse to reclaim some who have and others who may imbibe this Author's Opinions ERRATA PAG. 4. Col. 2. Lin. 26. for Love r. Power P. 13. c. 2. l. last save one r. in Isaiah according to the Hebrew P. 21. c. 1. l. 22. r. acquir'd P. 36. c. 1. l. 5. dele of P. 39. c. 1. l. 37. r. dwelt in him P. 42. c. 2. l. 29. r. it was P. 45. c. 1. l. 4. r. World P. 49. c. 2. l. 40. r. contained P. 64. c. 2. l. penult r. however P. 81. c. 1. l. 20. r. herself Platonism Unveil'd c. The FIRST PART CHAP. I. The true Idea of the Logos GOD dwelling in an inaccessible Light where no one can either find or comprehend him was yet willing to reveal himself to his Creatures either by the way of a Manifestation without or by the way of Communication within To manifest himself 1. He environs himself with a supernatural Light whence he causeth his Voice to be heard and declares his Will 'T is thence that he speaks to Angels For being invisible by his Nature even in reference to Angels it is necessary that whenever he is pleas'd to declare his Orders to these Ministring Spirits he should give them some marks of his Presence in some certain Place in the Heavens and make his Will known This Manifestation is so lively and luminous that the Eyes of Men cannot bear the Splendor of it in this mortal Life None but the glorified Spirits may enjoy this Privilege in common with the Angels and which St. Paul calls the seeing of God face to face It is thus without doubt that Jesus Christ beheld him Mr. Le Clerc hath very well observ'd on Exod. 34.18 that Moses who had such frequent Testimonies of the Divine Favour desir'd this as a singular advantage that God who us'd to shew himself in a Cloud would vouchsafe at last to discover to him his Glory in the same manner as he doth in Heaven But this is too much for a Mortal this Glorious Presence is an advantage reserv'd for the Angels as I said before And without doubt it was in such like Splendor that he presented himself before them when he design'd to create the World and pronounc'd these words Let there be Light At least this is the Sentiment of Basil of Seleucia in his first Oration upon these words In the beginning God created c. God said Let there be Light The Voice was heard and the World produc'd But could not he have perform'd what he design'd in silence and without uttering a word Would not the Work have obey'd the least token of his Will Certainly the Heaven and the Earth with the Waters were already produc'd without any preceding Voice But it was not so with the Light the Voice preceded the Production What sort of a Voice is this and what was the cause of it Let us learn to hearken to Scripture even when it is silent and instruct our selves when it speaks Behold here you have it The infinite Companies of Angels that were created saw indeed the things that were a doing but could not perceive their Author nor discover the Cause for the Divine Essence is really even above the Contemplation of Angels 'T is not then without reason that God usher'd in his Voice to make himself sensible to those Celestial Spirits and to stir up their admiration that seeing the Effect follow'd immediately the Word and Command they being astonish'd at the Prodigy should turn themselves wholly to the knowledg of their Creator and celebrate his Praises saying Is there any greater than this God himself teacheth us this Truth in his Discourse with his Servant Job Job 28.7 apud LXX When I made the Stars all the Angels prais'd me with a loud Voice For by reason of their astonishment proceeding from the Greatness of that Spectacle they repeated their Acclamations and redoubled their Applauses at every Work that God was a doing 2. God makes use of the Person of an Angel that bears his Name and speaks by his Authority 'T is thus that he appear'd and spoke to the Patriarchs and this is the reason why Philo calls Angels Words so often The Author of Questions and Answers to the Orthodox speaks thus of this Manifestation All the Angels saith he which appeared unto Men instead and in the Person of God have born the Name of God Men likewise have been call'd
whether it be by an Angel or by an immediate Virtue is the Holy Spirit And all this is call'd the Oeconomy or as Irenaeus saith they are mysterious and extraordinary Dispensations of the Divinity which environ his Majesty to temper its great Splendor and adapt it to our Curiosity For to imagine that this is a second Person of this Divinity as invisible and as infinite as the first would make all the Reasonings of the antient Fathers not only useless but also absurd for they all unanimously declare not only that the Father never makes himself visible but also that he cannot do so It is impossible saith Eusebius Demonstr Evang. lib. 5. cap. 20. That the Eyes of Mortals should ever see the Supreme God to wit him who is above all things and whose Essence is unbegotten and immutable It is absurd and against all reason saith the same Author Hist Eccl. lib. 1. c. 2. that the unbegotten and immutable Nature of Almighty God should take the Form of a Man and that the Scripture should forge such like Falsities God forbid saith Novatian de Trinit cap. 26. that we should say that God the Father is an Angel lest he should be subjected to him whose Angel he were Et ibid. cap. 31. If the Son saith he were as incomprehensible as the Father the Objection of the Hereticks would have some ground that then there are two Gods It is an Impiety say the Fathers of the Council of Antioch Epist adv Paulum Samosat to fancy that that God who is above all things can be called an Angel Lastly otherwise I must transcribe all the Fathers Justin Martyr explains himself on this wise in his Dialogue with Tryphon No body saith he unless he be out of his Wits will dare to advance that the Father and Author of all things did quit the Heavens to cause himself to be seen in a small part of the Earth I thought to have finished but that I can by no means pass by that excellent Passage of Tertullian against Praxeas cap. 16. That he would not believe that the Sovereign God descended into the Womb of a Woman tho even the Scripture it self should say it This Father being persuaded by Reason and Philosophy that the supreme God is immense immutable and invisible demands how it could come to pass that the Almighty God whose Throne is the Heaven and the Earth his Footstool that this most high God should walk in the terrestrial Paradise should converse with Abraham should call to Moses out of a Bush c. and what is yet worse that he should descend according to Praxeas into the Womb of Mary that he should be impeached before Pilate and be shut up in the Sepulcher of Joseph He goes on Really one would not believe this concerning the Son if the Scripture did not speak it and perhaps would not believe it of the Father tho even the Scripture should say it How so would he mistrust the Scripture No he means only that he should mistrust the literal sense and search there for an Allegory Consequently then all these Fathers own that the Word by which the Father makes himself visible is not of a Nature incapable of causing it self to be seen but something sensible which represents God to us It matters not whether they conceive by it an Hypostasis a Spirit an intelligent Being or any other kind of Representation in a bright Cloud animated with a Voice This will always remain true that they did not understand the Word to be a Spirit equal to the Father as invisible by its Nature as the Father but only a certain Emanation where God produceth himself outwardly and discovers himself in a sensible manner And tho they might have sometimes spoken of the Word as of something invisible they meant not by this that it was invisible by its Nature but only that it was not visible to Men out of the time of its Oeconomy retiring it self from their Presence and becoming as it were hid in God Sometimes they would denote by it even the Energy and the Power of God wherewith his Manifestation is always accompanied but never a second Hypostasis in the Divine Nature For we must observe here sincerely once for all that the Word if you consider it only in its Energy is no other thing but God himself but when it is consider'd as it is a Mark of the Divine Presence then it is something sensible a Voice a Light or some external Form such like as was seen in Angels or in the Man J. C. our Lord. CHAP. II. The Antients believed that the Word was Corporeal WHerefore the Antients attributed a Body to the Word as Servetus very well observed Apolog. ad Philip Melanct. and so Tertullian speaks in his Book of the Flesh of Jesus Christ against Praxeas chap. 7. where he proves at large that when God uttered his Word he gave it a Body indeed not a Body of Flesh but an Hypostasis that is Solidity and Substance which is the true Signification of the Word That 's probably what he means when in chap. 6. of the Book of the Flesh of Christ he assures that Jesus Christ appeared to Abraham with Flesh which was not yet born non nata adhuc that is to say not indeed with such Flesh as ours but with a solid Body which had more than appearance A Body I say which he in the 8th Chapter calls the Seed of God from which as from a Heavenly Seed the Messiah was to be born and this Seed is the Holy Ghost or the Substance of the Word which insinuated it self into it Thence the antient Docetes and all the other Hereticks who held the pre-existence of the Word suppos'd that the Word did not take true Flesh of Mary but that he contented himself with the Celestial and Etherial Body which he formerly bore in the Apparitions of the Old Testament which had no more than the Appearance and Figure of a Man which the Scripture calls the Face of God Mons le Moyne did not understand the thing otherwise in his Varia sacra p. 415. The Docetes says he compared the Apparitions of Jesus Christ to the Apparitions of the Old Testament which having been in Etherial Bodies for certain times vanished into the Air as soon as the Dispensation was finish'd imagining that the Body of Jesus Christ was not of any other Nature And it is in the same sense that Cerinthus and Ebion suppos'd that Jesus Christ had not taken true Flesh as St. Jerom assures in the Preface to his Commentary on St. Matthew As Cerinthus held Iren l. 1. c. 25. Epiph. Haeres 28. That the World had been created by a Power he also maintain'd that Jesus who was begotten of the Seed of Joseph and Mary was the Son of the Creator As to the Christ or the Word he made him the Son of another Power superiour to the Creator and attributed to him a Celestial Body which he had always kept without
us to understand that when the Platonic Fathers applied these losty Expressions of Solomon to their Eternal Word they did not or could not do it but by the way of an Accommodation or Allusion The same Bishop having related the Opinion of some Fathers a little lower who apply the same Expressions of Solomon to the Man Jesus Christ afterwards goes on thus pag. 63. But this saith he not being the sense of the Words which Solomon first intended I shall not build my Paraphrase upon it but take Wisdom here as it signifies in other Places of this Book and hath been hitherto described whom Solomon now celebrates for her most venerable Antiquity and introduces like a most beautiful Person no less than a Queen or rather some Divine Being infinitely to be preferred before that base Strumpet spoken of in the foregoing Chapter Indeed Solomon hath made her speak by introducing her as a Person and exborts young People to give ear to her She speaks of herself that God created her or that she comes to us from God that she was before the World was made because God who is the source of her and communicates her to Men did make use of her in framing this Universe Also that Kings reign by her because Prudence and good Counsels are the Soul of a good Government Notwithstanding this clear and natural sense Prejudice hath abused these Words to apply them to Jesus Christ but there are many other that cannot at all agree to him 'T is true that the Platonick Fathers are alledg'd here who understood this Chapter literally of a Personal Wisdom I own it but the same Fathers have also and that with no less Pomp quoted that Passage of the 45th Psalm My Heart is inditing a good Matter Word to prove the Eternal Generation of J. C. We justly laugh now adays at so ridiculous an Interpretation as well as of that Psal 110. From the Womb of the Morning thou hast the Dew of thy Youth Which the antient Interpreters did endeavour to make subservient to the same purpose Let us then I pray mistrust them as to this Text in the Proverbs they having so grosly deceiv'd us in those two of the Psalms which they made use of for the same ends as frequently and with as much Confidence But after all tho their Testimonies should be produc'd in shoals we can produce better Interpreters of Prov. 8. I mean the Books of the Old Testament it self the Wisdom and Ecclesisticus which tho they are Apocryphal yet are of greater Authority than the Writings of the Fathers who were the Disciples of Plato the Authors of these two having probably known better the Mind of Solomon and the Sentiments of the Jews The Author of the Wisdom having made use of the same Prosopopeia with him in the Proverbs calls Wisdom The Breath Spirit of the Power of God a pure Stream flowing from the Glory of the Almighty the Brightness of the everlasting Light the unspotted Mirrour of the Power of God the Image of his Goodness and that she sits on the Throne of God He goes on like the Author of the Proverbs that when God created the World Wisdom was with him knew his Works was present then knoweth and understandeth all things But to let you see that he speaks only of a Quality or Virtue he adds That he loved her sought her out from his Youth desired to have her for a Spouse was a Lover of her Beauty He desires of God in his ardent Prayers to give her to him to send her out of the Heavens to assist him to teach him that his Works might be acceptable For saith he we hardly guess aright at things that are upon the Earth but the things that are in Heaven who can search out unless God gives Wisdom and send his Holy Spirit from above See Chap. 7 8 9. The same Author speaking further of this Divine Perfection saith That God made all things by his Word form'd Man by his Wisdom Chap. 9. 1 2. taking the Word and Wisdom for one and the same thing viz. for that Power which created the World and whereof Wisdom is but an Emanation Can you imagine now this Author meant that God did create the World by his Son the second Person of the Trinity Can such a Thought enter into a rational Creature Let us come now to the Author of the Ecclesiasticus who expresseth better the Sense we ought to give to the Words of Solomon He introduceth Wisdom speaking thus of her self I came out of the Mouth of the most High he created me from the beginning before the World Hitherto he seems to speak of a Person but explains himself clearly Ch. 24. Ver. 23. where he declares that he meant by this nothing else but the Law of Moses which the Jews name Wisdom by way of Excellency For having spoken of Wisdom under other Figures than that of a Person I mean under the Figure of a Palm-tree an Olive-tree a Vine c he sums up what he had said in these words All these things are the Book of the Covenant of the most High even the Law which Moses gave Can the Law given by Moses be call'd more expresly not only an Olive-tree or a Vine but also the Word which came out of the Mouth of the most High and Wisdom which God created before the World Which are Expressions visibly figurative the which under the Fiction of a Person or the Figure of a Vine represent the Wisdom of God to us sometimes as revealing it self in the Creation of the World and again as replenishing Men with the Fruits of its Knowledg in the Dispensation of the Law This kind of Fictions was familiar to the Moralist Jews and to all the Oriental Philosophers You must be purblind if you discern not immediately the Genius of that People accustom'd to a figurative and parabolick Stile St. John imitates the Moralist Jews and according to the same Ideas hath at one view represented to us the Word or Wisdom of God manifesting himself to Men in two of the greatest of his Dispensations viz. in the Old and the New Creation The Method is the same absolutely you need only put the Gospel or the Author of the Gospel instead of Moses and the Law You may really see him join these two things together viz. The Wisdom of God residing in God himself and presiding at the Creation of the World and the same Wisdom descending upon J. C. in whom it was as it were incarnated and ordering the New World For if according to the Hebrews the Law was the Wisdom or the Word or Precept by way of Excellency much more doth this great Elogium belong to the Gospel namely to be the Word the Wisdom the Truth the Light and the Life by way of excellency An Elogium consequently belonging to J. C. who brought the Word and the Life and was the great Teacher of Truth Whatever the Scripture saith of the First Creation
seems this allegorical Exposition of the Word of St. John was not unknown in the time of Hyppolitus Hunrl de Deo trino uno contra Noeâ—um For he waises an Objection to himself which shews that it was ung'd against the Platonizers But says that Farther some will say to me You introduce 〈…〉 when you call the 〈…〉 St. John indeed speaks of a Word but he understands it otherwise and by Allegory Hyppolitus does not wholly reject this Exposition and afterwards answers That in truth the Word was called Son from the beginning only because it was afterwards to take birth and become a Son the Word of it self and without Flesh not being a perfect Son Which shews that according to him the Word was nothing else but a Divine Operation which was the Son but improperly and by an imperfect Generation before it was united to the Flesh of Christ One would think Servetus had copied Hyppolitus lib. 2. p. 90. Let us says he exactly follow the Scripture-Stile let us say the Word where that says the Word and the Son where that says the Son a formerly the Word now the Son That if the Word was formerly the Son it is only because it had the Form and was the Seed of the Son which was to come I will then say says he in another place the Prolation of the Word and the Generation of the Son One of our Bishops does not seem to dislike the so explaining the word Son with respect to the Son of Mary rather than with respect to the Begotten-Word Thus he speaks 2d Discourse to the Clergy p. 99. Many have thought that the Term Son did not belong to the Blessed Three but only to our Saviour as he was the Messiah the Jews having had that Notion of the Messiah that as he was to be the King of Israel so he was to be the Son of God Now some Criticks do apprehend that since in many places the term Son of God has manifestly a relation to Christ as the Messiah there is in this an Uniformity in the whole Scripture-Stile so that every where by the hrase Son of God we are to understand Jesus as the Messiah But that the Divine Principle that was in him is in the strictness of Speech to be called as St. John does the Word So that by this if true all the 〈◊〉 conceâ—â—ing an Eâ—ernal 〈◊〉 are out off in the strict sense of the Words the in a larger Sense every Emanation of what sort soever may be so call'd Whenoe appears how vain Dr. Bull 's Endeavours are Judic Eccles to prove that the four sorts of Filiation alledg'd by the Socinians to fill the Signification of the Term Son of God are not sufficient The constant Phraseology of the New Testament ruins his Pretence while not one of those Expressions Son of God is applicable to an eternal Generation And that also shews that the Term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot be otherwise refer'd than to that Divine Operation which over-shadowed the Blessed Virgin and to that effusion of the Holy Ghost which consecrated Jesus Christ in his Office of Messiah And this powerful Virtue can be no other than an allegorical Son as it is a Divine Emanation and every Emanation an improper and figurative Generation It 's to little purpose that Dr. Bull with the Mahometans objects to us That in Christ's being born of a Virgin or ascended into Heaven there is nothing which distinguishes him from the first Man who was made by the Hand of God nor from Enoch who was taken up into Heaven We answer with Bartholomew of Edessa Confut. Aguren What a pitiful Argument that is If Adam may be compar'd to Jesus Christ because he was made by God's own hand without Man's operation it will thence follow that the first Ass and the first Dog may be compared to Adam and to Christ and that they are not of a less excellent nature because they were immediately created as well as Adam and J.C. This Author gives us to understand that what distinguishes Adam from other Animals or J. Christ from Adam himself is not so much the Miracle of their Birth which seems to be every way equal as the excellency of those Gists which they more or less receiv'd by that extraordinary Birth And those degrees of Excellence are shewn by the Breath of God in Adam's Nostrils and by the Operation of the Holy Ghost in the Conception of Jesus Christ That Divine Breath raising Adam above all other Animals and the Holy Ghost being doubtless something more noble than that Breath hath raised Jesus Christ above the first Man and made him the Son of God in a more proper and more peculiar manner So we are likewise to argue on the Exaltation of Jesus Christ and shew that it raises him infinitely above Enoch not by the mere Miracle of raising him to Heaven but by the Sovereign Power which was then communicated to him What shall we say of Origen We might copy his whole Works Read only his first Tome on St. John where he strongly disputes against the Valentinians 1. In shewing them that since they expound the other Names given to our Saviour as the Life the Truth and the Light c. anagogically and allegorically they are his own Terms it is but reasonable that they keep to the same Rule in interpreting the Name of Word and give it an allegorical and figurative Sense 'T is not reasonable says he to them that you will not expound the Term Word in a metaphorical Sense while you allegorically explain that other Phrase the Light of the World Therefore since Jesus Christ is call'd the Light because of his Work or Office which is to enlighten the World it follows that he is also call'd the Word because of his Work which is to cure us of our Errors and Follies to prepare us to act conformably to Truth and Reason Nothing can be more just than this Observation of Origen St. John's Stile is altogether Oriental full of harsh Metaphors hyperbolical Expressions and very peculiar manners of speaking 'T is however impossible for one freed from Prejudices to mistake them How Why every Man whose Head 's not fill'd with mad Platonism will not look for more Mystery in the Term Word than in those of Light Way Life and Truth c. Titles which the Evangelist no less attributes to Jesus Christ than the former Indeed if this Divine Saviour is the Light and the Truth because he is the bearer of a Doctrine which dissipates our Darkness and Errors if he is the Way and the Life because he opens to us the way of attaining everlasting Happiness why may we not argue in the same manner on this other Term Word And why should we not say that J. Christ is so called because he is the Bearer of the Word of God by way of Excellence and the Interpreter of his most authentick Truths 2. Origen endeavours to take from the Valentinians two Passages
also of their Divine Oeconomy which is inseparable from it And I must say of them that they made use of a pious Fraud to represent the Gospel under nobler Ideas and in a sense elevated to the relish of the Philosophers becoming all things to all that they might win them to Jesus Christ and this is that which is called their Oeconomy I do not say that all the Fathers particularly the latter were in the secret of this sort of Conduct Some of them have suffered themselves to be surprized with the very literal sense and at last this Mystery which was at first prudentially designed degenerated into real Opinions and Metaphysical Squabbles It 's enough then that I observe that this at first was the thing they chiefly aimed at who brought into the Church this way of philosophizing Hence came that famous Managery of Mystery so much talked of by the Antients and about which the Moderns at this time dispute tho 't is much alter'd indeed but it flows however from the same Spring 'T is known that the Pagans made use of this Method to keep up the Credit of their Religion that was filled with ridiculous Storys scandalous and injurious to their Gods They had so much address as to pretend that a mythological and mystical sense was hidden under the umbrage of those Symbols This one sees if one reads the Author of Horrâ—â—'s Life Heraclides Ponticus upon the Allegory of that Poet and all the Philosophers who have defended the Pagan Religion against the Attacks of Christian Writers The same may be said of the Jews their Law becoming publick by the Version of the LXX They were out of Countenance that a Law given ' cm from Heaven should amuse them with childish and mean Ceremonies and undertook to defend it from the Scoffs of the Profane by turning all into Allegory and extracting sublime Interpretations to render it the more venerable Philo among others has excelled in this way The Christians very much followed this Practice of the Jews particularly they of Alexandria who learn'd this Custom of the Therapeutes As the Pharisees were addicted to their Traditions the Essenes on the contrary were addicted to the way of Allegory being fond of extracting from the Scriptures quidlibet ex quolibet Philo imitates these latter and the Christians have followed him See Code 105 of Photiits and Fâ—ller's Miscellan lib. 2. c. 5. The Obscurity of our Saviour's Birth and the Scandal of his Death mightily perplexed the Catechists they could not conceal his Death from their Scholars as was wont to be done from those who were initiated in the Mysteries of Ceres Wherefore they bethought themselves of another Oeconomy which would lessen their discredit or balance it with the Honour of a pretended Pre existence by supposing in Jesus Christ another Nature which was immortal and this they represented very much like Plato's Logos pretending to discover an exact conformity between the Doctrine of St. John and that of the Philosopher This Argumentum ad hominem look'd incomparably more convincing to their Novices than that which they drew from Christ's Exaltation which seem'd somewhat dangerous in giving countenance to the Apotheosis of their false Gods Hence is it that they rarely make use of the latter and almost always of the former Was it not I pray by this Occonomy that Justin Martyr Clemens and Origen maintain'd that vertuous Pagans were in a manner Christians because they partly understood Reason or the Logos And by these evident Conformitys with 'em they flatter'd the Pagans and insinuated themselves very dextrously into their good opinion Justin Martyr amasses with great dexterity every thing that was proper in Apologue to colour and to justify the Mystery of the Nativity and the Birth of Christ Apol. 2. and takes as much pains to defend the Names and Titles that Christians have given him Since the Son of God says he to them would be but a Man like other Men he was worthy hevertheless of being stil'd the Son of God since all Writers give to God the Character of being the Father of Men and Gods If we say further that besides his Birth usually mention'd this Perion was begotten by God as his Word of Logos herein we should do no more than you have already done who call Mercury the Word the Messenger and the Interpreter of God With the same design Tertullian Apol. c. 21. makes a Parallel of the History of the Son of God with the Story of Jupiter's Children Receive this Apologue says he to the Pagans for it resembles yours This he spoke in the way of Occonomy or Accommodation And it was not only usual with these Fathers thus to accommodate themselves to the Prejudices of the Pagans but by the same method to answer their Objections For when they objected that the Adoration of the Christ a Man was no less Idolatry than that whereof the Christians accus'd them 't was for the Interest of the latter to betake themselves to their Oeconomy and to find out the second God of Plato in that Divine Power which dwelt in Jesus Christ which might be worship'd without Idolatry it having made Heaven and Earth To conclude 't is this Occonomy that gives Rules to the use of their Method of Allegory and that suted it to Occasions and Circumstances To explain this matter it must be noted that there are two sorts of Allegory One wherein the popular and familiar Ideas are used to accommodate things to the capacity of the Vulgar which is called Parable or Mythology and has been us'd by the moral Philosophers The other followed by Divines and speculative Philosophers who affected mysterious and profound Senses and did accommodate themselves to such as lov'd what we call the Wonderful Of this sort are those nice Allegories of the Fathers wherein under great and sublime Images they cover'd the Simplicity or Meanness of the Gospel But above all they endeavour'd to aggrandize the Person of our Saviour and the Sacraments of the New Covenant wherein one sees nothing but Bread and Wine and Water One must consider the turn they give those things when they speak as magnificently of 'em as they can and when they would in a manner make that which seems contemptible with the Philosophers appear by this artful d sguise to be the very Wisdom of those Philosophers But as it is of the nature of Parable to make use of vulgar and popular Images to adapt to the Capacities of the meaner sort their great and more sublime Mysteries Jesus Christ made use of these in preaching his Gospel to the Poor and in letting down his Doctrine to meaner Capacities But the Fathers who had other Occasions and were in other circumstances took quite another way and follow'd the Rules of their Oeconomy they advanc'd their Allegorys by the most noble and most magnificent Images to aggrandize the Simplicity of the Gospel and to make it acceptable at any rate to the great Men of the World
and Oeconomical Mystery of the antient Fathers The Reason of Prudence ceasing since we have now no more Platonists to gain nor Gnosticks to outbrave the Oeconomy of the Logos ought to cease at the same time Yet we do in this as in every thing else we never reform and it often happens that the Religion of Posterity is nothing else but the mere Policy or Oeconomy of their Ancestors I have but one Reflection more to shew the Source of this Allegory Cerinthus was the Man who first brought in this usage of Platonizing As he is the first Author of a Logos or an invisible Christ he is also the first who began to make use of the Oeconomy in the Christian Religion 'T is he who turns the Resurrection into Allegory explaining it by the Evangelical Regeneration or rather by the State of Quietude wherein the Contemplative are when they quit this World to raise themselves to the Speculation of Mysteries and the Knowledg of Ideas The Quietists have not fail'd to frame an Ideal and Allegorical Word or Logos even as they have also taught an Allegorical and Ideal Resurrection Without question they allegoriz'd when they said Christ descended into Jesus meaning that Jesus was anointed and made the Christ when the Holy Ghost descended upon him at his Baptism See Grotius on 1 Cor. 15.1 They did no less allegorize when upon the same ground they added that the Christ which descended on Jesus ascended into Heaven and left him at the moment of his Passion By which they meant as St. Paul says that Jesus humbl'd himself that he laid by the Power and the Spirit with which he was endu'd and left himself to be crucified as a Man feeble and without Power or rather as a Slave Tertul. contra Prax. cap. 30. St. Hilary and St. Ambrose did not understand so much fineness since they made bold to say bluntly and without figure that the Word was divorc'd from the Flesh that the God was separated from the Man and left him to himself In short that which I am saying of the use of this Allegory amounts to this 'T is well known that the Pagans invented three sorts of Allegory the Physical the Moral and the Theological which never fail'd 'em at a pinch to cover the absurdity of their Fables and of the History of their Gods 'T is after this way they defended themselves as we see in St. Clemens his Recognitions lib. 10. cap. 30. saying that the literal Sense of their Fables was contriv'd in condescension to the Vulgar but that they had besides an allegorical and elevated Sense for the Learned That in this last Sense they said for example that Jupiter from his own Brain begat the Goddess Minerva that is Wisdom to shew that 't is by his Wisdom that the Father of all things created the World One may truly say the Christians have in a manner follow'd the same Method For not to mention their many Moral Allegories which they invented to conceal that which seemed to 'em too low and mean for the Majesty of the H. Scriptures 't is sufficient to observe here that all they have told us of an eternal and invisible Son of his incomprehensible Generation and other Speculations of the like nature is nothing else but a theological Allegory by which they varnish'd whatever appear'd too mean in the eyes of Philosophers in the History of Jesus Christ The Pagans and the Christians have hereby equally quitted themselves of a difficulty that expos'd 'em to mutual Reproaches The Pagans were asham'd of their ridiculous Fables and the Christians were of the Cross of Christ and both of 'em surmounted those Inconveniences by a dextrous use of what we call the Wonderful which is to be met with in their Allegory CHAP. XXI An Account of what the Father 's called Theology WHAT the Father 's called Theology is another sort of Machine they acted withal to represent to us a contemplative Gospel formed after the Ideas of Plato which theologizes that is speaks of any Person in the same Stile as one usually speaks of God as if the Person had a miraculous Birth to say he came down from Heaven if he reform'd Mankind to say he created the World if God rais'd him to any extraordinary Dignity to say that he was begotten of God All this so far agrees with the Scriptures but especially with the Stile of St. John who affects throughout his Writings to theologize all the Subjects he treats on I will give you but this one Instance John 3.13 No Man says he has ascended into Heaven c. The foregoing Words do shew that he theologized in this Passage he had said to the Jews How will you believe if I tell you of Heavenly things For no Man has ascended into Heaven c. that is to say plainly that no Man can acquaint you with Heavenly Things but he who came down from Heaven or who drew his Origin from Heaven The sense therefore is this The Son of Man who was born from Heaven by the Holy Ghost and on this account may be said in the theological way to have come down from Heaven The same Son of Man was raised to the Knowledg of all the Secrets of Heaven by the Gifts he received from the same Spirit and on that account it may be further said in the theological Stile That be ascended into Heaven No Man then was rais'd to the Knowledg of the Secrets of Heaven but he who was originally from Heaven that is the Son of Man who was wholly from Heaven After this manner the Jews did theologize when they said that their Law was before the Creation of the World The Mahometans do the same when they speak so magnificently of the Gospel as to say it fell down from Heaven sometimes speaking the same thing of the Alcoran which they call the Word of God which was not made but came down from Heaven Barthol Edessen Confut. Agar They give also the same Honour to Jesus Christ who because he was born without a human Father after an extraordinary manner is in their oriental and theological Stile the Eternal Word the Word of God by way of Excellence that is he is the Word 1. Because he had no other Father than that Word and that Commandment had which made the World from nothing 2. Because he with the assistance of that very Word has distinguish'd himself by a great number of Miracles Hortinger Hist Orient lib. 1. cap. 3. pag. 105. Simon Voyage du Mont. Liban p. 262. Again nothing is more reasonable than that manner of Theologizing things great and extraordinary provided all these pompous Expressions be taken in a metaphorical sense But the Misfortune is that the grosser Platonism has impos'd upon the Fathers who have spoken in this manner of J.C. in the very Letter So that to theologize with them is to ascribe to Jesus Christ the Divine Nature and Substance with all its Attributes or at least
invoked God the Father thro his Everlasting High Priest Jesus Christ our Lord in the Holy Spirit Who sees not that he gave Glory to J. C. and that he deified him by stiling him the everlasting High Priest If he could have said any thing greater he would have said it Rusticus Praefect of Rome demanded of Justin Martyr what was the Christian Religion This Confessor answered we believe one only God who is the Creator of all things visible and invisible and we confess that J. C. our Lord is the Son of God foretold by the Prophets and who shall come one day to judg the World Observe here such a Son of God whose whole Pre-existence consists in his being foretold by the Prophets and whose real Greatness is not his having created but because he will judg the World This Creed is Apostolic and has the Air and Simplicity of the first Ages One may dextrously philosophize upon the Christian Religion and speak in the Platonic way in ones Closet as Justin has often done but when he was to make a sincere Consession before the Magistrate and to seal it with his own Blood Plato has nothing to do with it the Confession is made with Simplicity and in conformity to the Holy Scriptures then 't is no longer Justin the Philosopher but Justin the Confessor and the Martyr Lastly Hegesippus acquaints us in Euseb-Eccles Hist lib. 2. c. 23. that James the Just being conjur'd by the Jews to declare to them what he thought of Jesus Why says he do you put this Qacst'en to me concerning Jesus the Since Mâ—n He sits in Heaven at the Right Hand of the Power of God and he must come again in the Clouds of Heaven This Holy Man says the Historian was a Witness very credible both with Jews and Gentiles that Jesus was really the Christ His Confession is not long however it comprehends that which may be said to be the most august and considerable and confirms all the Theology which concerns the Persons of Christ To these Testimonies of antient Martyrs give me leave to add another Instance which is not much from the purpose Eusebius tells us in his Eccles Hist lib. 1. c. 13. That Thaddeus going to see King Agbarus he preached to the King J. C. our Lord and our God the Messias or the Sent of God Valesius remarks in his Notes that the Word God is wanting in good Copies which are in other Passages confirmed by Nicephorus and Ruffinus And I don't think says Mons Valois any one dares deny but that the Reading wherein the Word God is wanting is more agreeable to the Text For 1st the Antients us'd not that Word but of the Father only 2ly If Thaddeus speaking to a King who was a new Convert to and weak in the Faith had call'd J. C. God this might have perplexed him and made him to think that two Gods were preached to him 'T is plain and fair dealing to affirm the Antients by no means gave the Name of God to J. C. but 't is mincing to say that they did it not in the case of weak Christians this is a mere Evasion For why was not the like Tenderness us'd towards others in the following Ages Is it because there was less danger of spreading Polytheism Were not the Catechumens both weak and Novices too whom the Pantaenusses the Clements Alexandrinusses the Origens and the Cyrils taught the second God of Plato with all the Niceties of the mystic Theology Be that as it will it appears from this Passage and many others that one has not good ground to trust much to the Testimonies of the Antients where the Name of God is given to J. C. The Word God has been inserted in such Places by Trinitarian Copists and without doubt many other Terms have been retrench'd as they thought fit What an Abyss of Uncertainty is here then Besides Mons Du Pin believes this History of Thaddeus to be fabulous See his Biblioth Tom. 1. p. 1. Eusebius has amassed all sorts of Memoirs without much Judgment He often misunderstands the Authors he cites sometimes he corrupts them to reconcile them to the Arian Scheme What endless Uncertainties must this occasion Mons Valois himself falls under the same Guilt he taxes in others and we must not only be upon our Guard against the Fraud of Copists but of Translators too Observe how he reads the Text in the eleventh Chapter of the eighth Book of Euseb Eecles Hist The Martyrs of Phrygia as he makes the Historian word it called upon Jesus Christ who is God over all Now these Words God over all are not found in the Greek of Christopherson nor in the Latin Version of Ruffinus nor in Cousin's French Version And Valois takes no notice whence he had this Reading which in other Places is so contrary to the Doctrine of Eusebius himself and to other Invocations to be met with in great Numbers in his History the ordinary Form thereof is to invoke him who is God over all by or through J. C. our Lord and in short is contrary to the Usage and constant Practice of the Primitive Church as we are going to shew in our third Proof CHAP. III. A Continuation of the Proofs that the first Fathers did not deify Christ upon any other account but that of his miraculous Birth and Exaltation I Affirm in the third Place that the Antients grounded their Deification of J. C. upon nothing beyond his being born of a Virgin and his Exaltation in the highest Heavens and that for this decisive Reason because they held all those were Hereticks who gave J. C. the Title of God over all To this purpose speaks the Author of the Apostolic Constitutions lib. 6. c. 26. There are some says he who have the Impiety or are so impious as to say that J. C. is God over all fancying that he is the Father himself and at the same time both Son and Paraclet Can any thing be conceived more execrable Upon this Passage Mons Daille in his Pseudepigr Apost blesses himself and says Then was St. Paul an Heretick and the whole Church is heretical which constantly maintain'd against the Arians that J. C. was God over all So that heretofore 't was Heresy to affirm J. C. to be God over all tho now-a-days 't is Orthodoxy But that Christ was the Father himself and the Son and Paraclet too is a consequence drawn from their Doctrine which they rejected without doubt as 't is disavowed by others in these days The distinction of Persons was not then in fashion which is nothing but three different Names for the same thing as that word is now understood For it must signify with some nothing but a Mode a Relation a nescio qâ—â—d which are words that signify nothing less than what we commonly call a Person Wherefore If the consequence above be good against the antient Hereticks 't is e'en as good against the modern Sabellians After the Author of the
that be Dr. Bull deceives himself grosly in supposing this Creed of Cyril to be the antient Creed of Jerusalem We can produce another of greater Antiquity which the same Church ascribes to the Apostle St. James Bishop Vsher de Symbol p. 10. presents us with it It must be minded says the Primate that there were two sorts of Creeds us'd by the Easterns one contracted which Ruffinus compares with that of Rome and Aquileia the other fuller and larger Among the first we place the Creed of Jerusalem the Mother of all Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I believe in one God the Father Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth and in one Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God c. Thus 't is read in the antient Liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem ascribed to St. James who is held to have been the first Bishop of that Place and with this Creed an Office was read once a year in memory of its Antiquity And since the Articles that follow have which I mightily regret been left out as suppos'd to be generally known I thought it proper to repair this Loss by substituting in the room of what is wanting the entire Confession of the Apostolic Faith that Cyril expounded to the Illuminated at Jerusalem which indeed is somewhat larger as it appears by this addition at the beginning viz. visible and invisible The short Creed which Vsher gives us being made by St. James it follows that of Cyril is an Exposition and Commentary And 't is impossible on the contrary that this should be an Abridgment of Cyril's Creed for nothing can be more antient than the draught of an Apostle Without doubt the shorter Creed is the Original and the larger none other than a Copy stuffed and lengthened with a wretched Platonism and has not Simplicity enough to pass for an Apostle's but it may without wrong be accounted the Work of a Platonizing Faction But let that be as it will there is good ground for believing that Dr. Bull had a mind to deceive us in dissembling his Knowledg of this antient Creed of St. James of which Bishop Vsher makes mention and in palming upon us for the most antient Eastern Creed that of S. Cyril which is so very different For altho we have but two Articles of the Jerusalem Creed which is the same with what we call the Apostles yet these two are sufficient to shew that the Apostles Creed is in effect the most antient of all however Dr. Bull Jud. Eccles p. 128. pretends it to have been of later Date And I say further this may satisfy us that at this time of Cyril the Mother of all Churches had strangely alter'd her Faith Bishop Vsher observed what was added to the first Article Who doubts but that like might have been done to others about which there were far greater disputes He might have observed the same and the thing is obvious that the second Article concerning the Person of J. C. being entire as it appears by the Oriental Creed of Ruffinas which goes no further it follows then that all that which is in Cyril upon the same Article has been added since Platonism prevailed Ruffinus says Bishop Vsher has compar'd the shorter of these two Oriental Creeds with the Roman wherefore this shorter Creed was not the same with the Roman let the Doctor say what he will nor are we to be much concern'd as the Primate speaks for the Loss of it◠Ruffinus has preserv'd it Almost all the Eastern Churches says he in Symbol Apost give us their Creed after this manner I believe in one God the Father Almighty and then in the following Article whereas we say and in J. C. his only Son our Lord they say in one Lord J. C. his only Son professing one God and one Lord according to the Doctrine of St. Paul Note here all the difference the Easterns made between their Creed and that we call the Apostles There 's nothing in 'em of the Pre-existence of J. C. and his Generation before Ages as you have it in Cyril's Creed This shews that the Article concerning J. C. goes no farther in this part of the Oriental Creed which Bishop Vsher gives us that the etc. does not retrench any part of it but is plac'd at the end of the Article only to shew that the remaining Articles are omitted We may conclude therefore that all the Jargon of the Platovic Philosophy in Cycil's Greed took place of the antient simple Tradition which was I believe in J. C. the only Son of God who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary And consequently the antient Opinion of the Filiation and Deification of J. C. ran no higher than his being born of a Virgin by the Power of the Holy Ghost this was the true Theology concerning him Ruffinus had reason for calling this plain Confession the Tradition of his Ancestors meaning thereby not the Doctors bigotted with Plato's Enthusiasm but the whole Body of the Church the People as Du Pin observes Tom. 1. p. 30. who doubtless never enter'd into the Speculations of those Doctors Let us see what Marcellus wrote to Pope Julius Epiphan haeres 72. where after he had said what he thought fit concerning the Word which he denies to be an Hypostasis distinct from the Father saying it subsists in the Father and that 't is his very Wisdom and his inseparable Power he confines himself to this Confession of Faith which he says he had received from the Scripture and his Ancestors I believe in God Almighty and in J. C. his only Son our Lord begotten by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary who was crucified under Pontius Pilate and was buried the third day be was raised from the Dead and ascended into Heaven and sat at the right hand of God Whence he shall come to judg the Quick and the Dead And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Holy Church the Remission of Sins the Resurrection of the Flesh the Life everlasting See here in express words the Creed we call the Apostles the antient Theology without Platonism without Speoulation There 's nothing retrench'd from the antient Confessions of Faith yet Retrenchments were not unusual amongst some of them If therefore some Creeds are found to be larger in some of the Antients 't is according to their laudable Practice by an addition of their novel Interpretations This is the more evident because that pretended Interpretations are found to be pure Platonism with which 't is known they were extremely bigotted CHAP. VIII Reflections upon the Apostles Creed with respect to the foregoing Doctrine TO render the Antiquity of the Apostles Creed doubtful 't is said that 't is notorious that the greater part of the Articles have been added from time to time and upon divers occasions What of that if those additional Articles are not in the present Contest Is it not enough that the three Articles concerning the Father the Son and the Holy
that he did not believe Ignatius favour'd the Opinion of Christ's Pre-existence or that the Epistles of that Father were a Forgery after his time 'T is to the first and earliest Antiquity we must ascend Artemon will be in the right if he rejects those latter Testimonies and produces more antient ones for his own Doctrine But the Anonymous cites Scripture and so does Artemon appeal to it alledging that his Doctrine is the same Truth that the Apostles had taught That therefore is the thing in question We shall see hereafter who has the most reason to appeal to this most Primitive Authority for I intend to examine in what sense the Son of God is there deify'd The Anonymous makes another small attack upon the Artemonites for their seeming to insinuate that Victor was not against their Doctrine but that Zephirin was the first that did persecute it I will not repeat here what I have remark'd touching the deposing of Theodotus that Victor might excommunicate him as an Ebionite without breaking Communion with the Artemonites who maintained the Orthodox Doctrine of the miraculous Conception of our Saviour 'T is sufficient at present to shew that the Words of Artemon may fairly signify that Victor was the first who attack'd the Apostolick Faith but that Zephirin intirely destroy'd it So far is Artemon from ranking Victor among those who preserv'd the Truth intire that he seems to say on the contrary that he began and Zephirin completed its Ruin Victor began by excommunicating one single Christian Theodotus and certainly Zephirin concluded by excommunicating the whole Orthodox Church or all the other Great Men who joined with Artemon in the defence of expiring Truth as the Fable concerning their Bp Natalis that comes after inclines one to think I call it a Fable for nothing is more extravagant than to talk of Angels whipping and scourging the Artemonite Bishop into the bosom of the Church How were the Angels the first who made Converts by Dragooning Is there any thing that can more discredit this Romance of the Anonymous Another Story that Eusebius has tack'd to this is when he makes the Anonymous say that Theodotus was the first Author of the Error ascrib'd to him which is false take his Heresy in what sense you please Dr. Bull endeavours to cover the Reputation of Eusebius by a certain wretched distinction but he does not observe that Eusebius contradicts him for he goes on to say in the same Book that Theodotus was the first whom Victor excommunicated which supposes that he was the first who suffer'd for his adherence to this Doctrine but not the first who published it If he was the first Martyr for it it does not follow that he was the first Author of it 'T is highly probable that the great noise of the Excommunication of Theodotus upon the very account that this Persecution was new and unheard of made him pass in after-times for the very Author of that Opinion for which he was persecuted Not to insist on it at present that Eusebius makes no scruple a little to corrupt the Story at all times when he can by that Fraud give the Air of Antiquity to his Platonick Logos or of Novelty to the opposite Doctrine which he hated with all his heart he has been catcht in so many other Places that the Presumptions against him cannot but be very violent For instance where he makes Josephus say that on the Day of Christ's Passion a Voice was heard in the Temple of Jerusalem saying Let us go hence And witness another Passage where he makes the same Josephus say Euseb Hist Eccl. lib. 2. c. 9. that 't was an Angel who appear'd over the Head of Herod Agrippa whereas Josephus expressy says it was an Owl One plainly discerns where the pious Fraud lies he would not have it be thought that the Jewish Historian did not agree with St. Luke Thus it appears in spite of all the Efforts of Eusebius that 't was in the time of Victor and Zephirin that the pure Faith of the first Christians fell with the Church of the Nazarens which from that time have often pass'd for Hereticks The new Succession of Gentile Bishops Euseb lib. 4. c. 5. began with one Mark and Platonism enter'd into the Church with the new Bishops Saturninus Basilides and the whole Class of the Gnosticks made a mighty progress afterwards under colour of discovering Secrets unknown heretofore to the Church About the same time Carpocrates his Heresy was broach'd another Mysteryman To speak the truth the infamous Practices of these Pretenders to Illumination were not long born withal in the Church Human Nature alone without the Succours of Religion knew how to quit it self of it in a short time But as for their Philosophy the Church managed that to her purpose after some sifting and refining 't was adjusted to the more specious part of her Religion for the support of her new Opinions which being pure Speculations the Affections were not so far concern'd about 'em as to take notice of their Repugnancy And the Mind which is naturally desirous of Knowledg found its account in 'em and the natural Veneration Men have for Mystery and for every thing they do not comprehend had the greatest Stroke in this matter and gained the Point So one sees how by insensible Methods and Degrees the Gospel which is a Doctrine purely practical was exchanged for Contemplation Mystery and Fanaticism CHAP. XIII An Account of the first Christians call'd Nazarens TO conclude it may not be amiss to give my Readers an Idea of the first Christians called Nazarens There were two sorts of 'em as many of the Fathers and some of the Moderns have observ'd The former improperly so called and more properly Ebionites for they believ'd Jesus Christ to have been the Son of Joseph and obliged the Gentiles to keep the Law of Moses Among these such who held Jesus to be the Christ were tolerated and accounted Christians but the others had not that Character because they made Moses's Law necessary to Salvation and held Jesus for no more than a just Man or a Prophet who suffer'd in the Cause of Righteousness and Truth They would not have the Benefits of his Mission to extend to the Gentiles or in a word that he was the promis'd Messiah and had any Power in Heaven Some believed he was not truly rais'd from the Dead others believed he was that he might receive the Reward of a Good Man but not that he might be made Lord of the World They could not be persuaded to think that Jesus who was come in the Flesh that is in so low and mean a Condition could be the glorious Messiah the Christ so often promis'd by the Prophets The other sort of Nazarens properly so called were the Believers of Judea to whom that Name was given as the Name Christian was to the Gentile Proselytes These believ'd Jesus Christ to be born of a Virgin by the Holy