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32 chapters
Dedication.
Dedication.
To the Memory Of Edward Burton, D.D. Late Regius Professor Of Divinity In The University Of Oxford, By Whose Advice And Encouragement The Author Of This Work Was First Led To Study, With Care And Attention, The Writings Of This Father and Martyr. It Is Now Dedicated And Inscribed; As A Humble Acknowledgement Of His Extensive Learning, His Remarkable Singleness Of Mind, And The Cordial Assistance He Ever Rendered To Younger Travellers In The Same Path Which He Himself Pursued. This Father and Mar
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Preface.
Preface.
Before, however, he takes his leave of his readers, he wishes to add a few words on the Right Use of the Writings of the Fathers. 1. We use them as we do the writings of secular authors, to ascertain the facts of the history of their own or of preceding times; principally as concerning the Church, and secondarily as concerning the world. To this use of them no objection in principle can be raised; and in so doing, we treat them exactly as we do ordinary writers. 2. We use them, as evidence of th
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Subscribers' Names.
Subscribers' Names.
The Right Reverend Richard Bagot, D.D., Lord Bishop of Oxford. The Right Reverend Joseph Allen, D.D., Lord Bishop of Ely. The Right Reverend Charles Thomas Longley, D.D., Lord Bishop of Ripon. The Right Reverend Edward Denison, D.D., Lord Bishop of Salisbury. The Right Reverend James Bowstead, D.D., Lord Bishop of Lichfield. The Right Reverend Connop Thirlwall, D.D., Lord Bishop of St. David's. Acland, Sir T. Dyke, Bart., M.P., Killerton, Devon. Allen, Rev. Henry, Vicar of St. Mary-le-Wigford, L
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Chapter I. Life of S. Irenæus, and General Account Of His Writings.
Chapter I. Life of S. Irenæus, and General Account Of His Writings.
Dodwell 6 , indeed, has endeavoured to arrive at greater accuracy, and thinks that, by another casual expression of Irenæus, in his letter to Florinus , he is enabled to fix the date absolutely. Irenæus remarks that he had seen Florinus, when himself still a lad, in the company of Polycarp, in Lower Asia; when at the same time Florinus was getting on very prosperously at the court of the emperor : λαμπρῶς πράττοντα ἐν τῇ βασιλικῇ αὐλῇ. Taking it for granted that Irenæus intends to say that he wa
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Chapter II. Testimony of Irenæus to Certain Facts of Church History.
Chapter II. Testimony of Irenæus to Certain Facts of Church History.
He speaks of the Churches in general as having been settled by the Apostles 112 , and particularly specifies that the Church of Rome was founded by S. Peter and S. Paul, who appointed its first bishop Linus 113 ; that Polycarp was made bishop of Smyrna by Apostles 114 , and that the succession from him had been kept up to the time of his writing 115 ; and that S. John watched over the Church of Ephesus down to the time of Trajan 116 . He informs us that the successors of the first bishops might
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Chapter III. On The Nature, Office, Powers, and Privileges Of The Church.
Chapter III. On The Nature, Office, Powers, and Privileges Of The Church.
To show that she is commissioned from above, she wrought continual miracles for the good of the world by prayer and invocation of the name of Jesus 179 ; she even raised the dead by means of fasting and prayer 180 ; and she alone produced persons who sealed their own sincerity and the truth of their faith by their blood 181 . Finally, although not exempt from weakness, and capable of losing whole members, she, as a body, remains imperishable 182 . It is remarkable how strictly this notion of an
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Chapter IV. On The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
Chapter IV. On The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
These are all the passages, so far as I have been able to discover, which speak of the three Persons of the most Holy Trinity together; but the doctrine is implied throughout. On the twofold nature of Christ, and especially on his divinity, he is more full. Indeed it would take more space than I can spare to introduce all the passages which bear upon the subject. Very near the beginning of his treatise, in rehearsing the faith of the Church, he speaks of “Christ Jesus our Lord and God and Saviou
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Chapter V. The Origin of Evil.
Chapter V. The Origin of Evil.
But when we come to inquire why some of God's creatures transgressed, and some continued in obedience, this, he says, is a mystery which God has reserved to himself, and which it is presumption for us to inquire into; and that we ought to consider what it has pleased him to reveal as a favour, and leave to him that which he has not thought proper to make known 252 . He notwithstanding suggests this practical good arising out of the existence of evil, that the love of God will be more earnestly c
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Chapter VI. The Evil Spirits.
Chapter VI. The Evil Spirits.
The next act of the apostate spirits was to mingle themselves with human nature by carnal copulation with women, and thus to cause the total corruption of the old world and its inhabitants (notwithstanding the preaching of Enoch to these fallen spirits), and consequently their destruction 266 . Irenæus makes none but very general allusions to the agency of the fallen spirits from the fall of man till the coming of Christ. He declares that, up to that time 267 , they had not ventured upon blasphe
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Chapter VII. The Divine Dispensations.
Chapter VII. The Divine Dispensations.
He thinks that the knowledge of God was kept up amongst the patriarchs by tradition from Adam, and amongst the Jews by the prophets; whilst in heathen nations the tradition has been lost, and men are left to find it out by reason 274 : that human governments were providentially ordained to restrain the ferocity and rapacity of mankind after they had given up the fear of God 275 ; that the law of Moses was given by way of discipline, to recover the Israelites back to that sense of justice, and re
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Chapter VIII. On The Canon, Genuineness, Versions, Use, And Value Of Holy Scripture.
Chapter VIII. On The Canon, Genuineness, Versions, Use, And Value Of Holy Scripture.
But then there is a circumstance which must prevent the Church of Rome from appealing to him with success in support of the canonicity of any of the books of the Apocrypha; and that is, that he quotes, under the express name of Scripture, a work which the whole Church, from not long after his time, has agreed to regard as merely human, if not altogether spurious—I mean the Shepherd of Hermas 296 . It is true that he is not singular in so speaking; for Clement of Alexandria directly ascribes insp
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Chapter IX. On The Nature And Use of Primitive Tradition.
Chapter IX. On The Nature And Use of Primitive Tradition.
I will take his conclusions in their order:— 1. So far is Irenæus from applauding the Gnostics for admitting (not the variety of senses which the Scripture may afford, but) the inconsistency of different Scriptural statements, that it is evident that he is blaming them for wishing to escape from the obvious meaning of Scripture under this pretence. I am not saying that he would have denied that various senses of particular passages may appear equally natural; but that is not the case as between
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Chapter X. On The Creed.
Chapter X. On The Creed.
“For the Church, although spread throughout the world, even to the utmost bounds of the earth, and having received from the Apostles and their disciples the faith in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and the seas, and all that in them is: and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was incarnate for our salvation: and in one Holy Ghost, who through the prophets preached the dispensations, and the advents, and the birth of a Virgin, and the Passion, and the resurrection fro
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Chapter XI. Freewill, Predestination, And Election.
Chapter XI. Freewill, Predestination, And Election.
We can see, therefore, that Irenæus could not have believed that the salvation of the elect was accomplished by the mere will of God concerning the individuals, either in opposition to their own will or by constraining their wills; although he asserted very fully the necessity of divine grace to cause our freewill to take a right direction 379 . And yet he was a believer in divine predestination . He believed that some were predestined to have the gift of incorruptibility imparted to them, (whic
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Chapter XII. On Baptism.
Chapter XII. On Baptism.
If we inquire for his opinion of the actual spiritual state of the Christian body, we shall find him declaring that those only are the children of God who do the will of God 401 ; that some remain thus in the love of God, even from the time of their baptism; others fall away, and cease to be his children; and of those who fall, some by repentance recover their relation to Him, and remain thenceforward in his love 402 . There is one passage 403 in which he appears at first sight to deny forgivene
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Chapter XIII. The Eucharist.
Chapter XIII. The Eucharist.
“Since, therefore, both the mingled cup and the created bread receive the word of God, and the Eucharist becomes the blood and body of Christ, and by these the substance of our flesh gains strength and subsists, how can they say that the flesh is not capable of the gift of God, which is eternal life, when it is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord, and is his member? As St. Paul saith: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones : not saying these things of some spiritu
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Chapter XIV. On Justification.
Chapter XIV. On Justification.
In the same general manner he teaches that faith justifies man 424 , speaking particularly of Abraham, to whom he attributes faith in Christ. He appears likewise to express faith, in another passage, by attending to the light of Christ 425 ; but as the passage does not exist in the Greek, we cannot be quite certain what is its real meaning. Now although he says here that faith justifies, and elsewhere that our faith is our own 426 , because it springs from our own will and choice, yet it is plai
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Chapter XV. On Ceremonies, Usages, And Forms Of Words.
Chapter XV. On Ceremonies, Usages, And Forms Of Words.
We have several allusions to the form observed at the Holy Communion. We find that the cup contained water mixed with wine 438 ; that a form of invocation was used, which the heretics imitated 439 ; that the term εὐχαριστέω ( to give thanks ) had become technical, and signified to consecrate 440 ; that the expression for ever and ever occurred in the Eucharistical form 441 , which shows that a settled form had become customary in his time; and that Christians sounded Amen all together 442 . The
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Chapter XVI. On The Sabbath.
Chapter XVI. On The Sabbath.
An illustration of my meaning will be found in the admission of Justin Martyr, that Christians did not keep the Sabbath 464 , coupled with the well-ascertained fact 465 , that a very large proportion of them indeed were in the habit of attending divine service on the seventh day. Perhaps a still closer illustration is seen in the Canons of the Council of Laodicea, which expressly forbid Christians to keep the Sabbath like Jews 466 , and at the same time direct the Eucharistic offering to be made
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Chapter XVII. On The Typical Interpretation Of Scripture.
Chapter XVII. On The Typical Interpretation Of Scripture.
There were other points in which Moses was a type of Christ. “He took an Ethiopian woman to wife, whom he thereby made an Israelitess; foreshowing that the wild olive is grafted into the olive, and partakes of its fatness. For since that Christ, who was born according to the flesh, was to be sought out for destruction, and to be delivered in Egypt, that is, amongst the Gentiles, to sanctify the infants there, whence also he made a Church there; (for Egypt was from the beginning a gentile nation,
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Chapter XVIII. On The Intermediate State.
Chapter XVIII. On The Intermediate State.
Our views, however, such as they are, become confirmed and acquire definiteness, as we find the same subjects treated of or alluded to by Irenæus. He treats the parable I have spoken of, as not strictly a parable, but a relation of real occurrences 496 ; and asserts that it shows us that the soul, in a state of separation from the body, retains its individuality, so that disembodied souls may know each other, and hold mutual intercourse; and that each class of persons has its appropriate habitat
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Chapter XIX. On Unfulfilled Prophecy.
Chapter XIX. On Unfulfilled Prophecy.
Irenæus, then, regards Antichrist as a direct agent of Satan, in and by means of whom he will fulfil the great object of his rebellion, of procuring himself to be owned by mankind as their king, and worshipped as their God; by whom he will abolish all idols, and set himself up as the one idol, uniting in himself all the delusion of all the false gods who have ever existed. In him, therefore, will be literally fulfilled the prophecy of St. Paul, 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4 507 ; for he will literally enthr
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Chapter XX. The Virgin Mary.
Chapter XX. The Virgin Mary.
But still stronger reliance appears to be placed upon the next passage, in which the Virgin Mary is called “the advocate of the Virgin Eve 535 .” And yet that very passage supplies a proof that this term cannot be taken otherwise than in a figurative and improper sense: for Irenæus therein asserts that “as the human race was condemned to death through a virgin, so it is saved through a virgin;” i. e. as he himself explains it, through her submission to the angelic announcement of the will of God
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Section I. Simon Magus, Nicolas, and the Ebionites.
Section I. Simon Magus, Nicolas, and the Ebionites.
He taught that he himself was this Supreme Father 543 , and a prostitute, named Helena, whom he had purchased at Tyre, and with whom he cohabited, was his Thought, who had been formerly the Trojan Helen: that she was the lost sheep 544 , and that he was come down upon earth to rescue her from the bondage in which she was held; and to rescue man by the knowledge of himself from the tyranny they were under to the angels who created the world. This tyranny was obedience to the moral law, which was
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Section II. Menander, Saturninus, And Basilides.
Section II. Menander, Saturninus, And Basilides.
It appears likewise that he initiated his followers by baptism , which he represented as the true and only resurrection, and taught them to believe that after receiving it they could neither grow old nor die 559 . How he got over the fact that they did both, we are not informed: but this making baptism the same thing as the resurrection, explains St. Paul's words 560 , where he represents some as teaching that “the resurrection is already past.” Hymenæus and Philetus, who spread this error in al
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Section III. Carpocrates And Cerinthus.
Section III. Carpocrates And Cerinthus.
He agreed with him, and Menander, and Basilides, in professing magic 584 , and in preaching licentious doctrines. He agreed with Simon likewise in teaching the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, and adapted it to the support of profligacy, by asserting that every soul is destined to become acquainted with every kind of action, and that it passes from body to body until it has accomplished every thing to which it is predestined 585 . Like all other Gnostics, he asserted that the world and h
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Section IV. Cerdon, Marcion, Tatian, And The Cainites.
Section IV. Cerdon, Marcion, Tatian, And The Cainites.
Marcion succeeded Cerdon 599 , and took up and amplified his doctrine. He likewise made the Creator inferior to the Supreme God, and the author of evil, fond of war, inconsistent, and self-contradictory; and taught that Jesus was sent by the Supreme God to do away all the operations of the Creator, and especially the Law and the Prophets 600 . He agreed with other Gnostics in declaring that the soul alone was capable of salvation, and of souls only those which received his doctrine; but the pecu
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Section V. The Barbeliots, Ophites, And Sethites.
Section V. The Barbeliots, Ophites, And Sethites.
From Thought and the Word was then sent forth the Self-existent and the Truth; from the Christ and Incorruption, four Lights to attend upon the Self-existent; and from Will and Life Eternal, four Beings to wait upon these Lights, namely, Grace, Will, Comprehension (Σύνεσις), and Prudence. These were joined respectively to the four Lights, and made other four Pairs 610 . These two quaternions being settled, the Self-existent creates a man, in a state of perfection, named the Unconquered, and in u
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Section VI. Valentinus.
Section VI. Valentinus.
He took for his foundation, as it would seem 641 , the difficulty of explaining the origin of evil consistently with holding the perfection of God. He was thence led to make matter co-eval with the Creator, and to declare that all the defects of created things arise from that portion of matter which he left untouched in the work of creation, as unfit for his use. This idea he doubtless borrowed from the Platonic philosophy: but how from this he passed into the absurdities of Gnosticism we are no
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Section VII. Secundus, Epiphanes, Ptolemy, Colorbasus, And Marcus.
Section VII. Secundus, Epiphanes, Ptolemy, Colorbasus, And Marcus.
Epiphanes , whose name the old translator has chosen to render by Clarus , (probably not understanding it to be a proper name,) was the son of Carpocrates 699 , but attached himself to the followers of Secundus 700 . He died very young, being according to Clem. Alex. only seventeen at the time of his death, and was honoured as a god by the people of Cephalonia, the birth-place of his mother and his own place of residence. He is identified with the Clarus of the old translator of Irenæus; 1. beca
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Section VIII. Gnostic Redemption.
Section VIII. Gnostic Redemption.
In most cases the Redemption was effected during the lifetime of those who were made partakers of it; but the dead were not excluded. The rite was administered immediately after death. In all cases the effect of it was to enable the initiated to escape the power of the Creator and his angels, and, leaving their souls behind them, to enter into the Fulness 729 . Gnosticism is now well-nigh forgotten, or noticed only by those who are led to an acquaintance with it either by its connexion with cert
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Section IX. Reflections Upon Gnosticism.
Section IX. Reflections Upon Gnosticism.
Curiosity being thus canonized, it is remarkable that the Gnostic system had baits for almost every description of it. It is curiosity, the desire of knowing what others know, fully as much as passion and appetite, which leads men into the various descriptions of vice; and this species of curiosity was not only allowed, but even sanctioned and stimulated. Men were told that it was the express destiny of every one who was to be perfect, to know everything that could be known in this world; and no
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