because of His being beyond time. He says 'beginning' to conjoin the Begotten with His Father. You have seen how the obedient sheep hears a master's voice. 'In the beginning,' and 'was,' and 'Word.' Do not go on to say, 'How was He?' and 'IF He was, He was not begotten;' and 'If He was begotten, He was not.' It is not a sheep who says these things. The skin is a sheep's; but the speaker within is a wolf. Let hem be recognized as an enemy. 'My sheep hear my voice.' You have heard the Son. understand His likeness to His Father. I say likeness because of the weakness of the stronger bodies: In truth, and I am not afraid of approaching the truth, I am no ready deceiver: I say identity, always preserving the distinct existence of Son and Father. In the hypostasis of Son understand the Father' s Form, that you may hod the exact doctrine of this Image, — that you may understand consistently with true religion the words, 'I am in the Father and the Father in me.' Understand not confusion of essences, but identity of characters."
5. Letters.
Under this head I will add nothing to the notes however inadequate, appended to the text.
6. Liturgical It is beyond the scope of the present work to discuss at length the history and relation of the extant. Liturgies, which go by the name of St. Basil. St. Basil's precise share in their composition, as we possess them, must be conjectural.
(i) The Liturgy, which St. Basil himself used and gave to his clergy and monks, preserved the traditional form in use in the archdiocese of Caesarea. It is mentioned in the xxxii canon of the council "in Trullo" of 692. This is no doubt the basis of the Greek Liturgy known as St. Basil's, and used in the East as well as the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom. The form in use is contained in Neale's Primitive LiturgiesI (1875). Dr. Swainson (Greek Liturgies chiefly from Oriental Sources, p. 75) printed and edition of it from the Barberini MS. in 1884.
(ii) There is an Alexandrine Liturgy in Coptic, Arabic, and Greek form, called St. Basil's, and used on fast days by the Monophysites (Renaudot, Lit. Orient. Collectio i. 154). This differs entirely from the first named.
(iii) There is an Alexandrine Liturgy in Coptic, Arabic, and Greek form, called St. Basil's, translated by Masius, and given by Renaudot in his second volume.
7. Writings Spurious And Dubious.
Under this head will be ranked, besides writings objections against which have been already noticed: in number thirty — four.
2. Paenae in monachos delinquentes, and Paenae in Canonicas (eTtixijiioc).
3. Libri duo de Baptismo.
4. Sermones duo ascetici.
5. Various Homilies: Adversus Calumniatores SS. Trinitatis, Altera de Sp. Scto., In Sanctam Christi Generationem, De Libero Arbitrio, In aliquot Scrip turae locis, dicta in Lacizis.
III. De Jejunio.
De Paenitentia.
6. A book On True Virginity.
7. A treatise On consolation in adversity.
8. A treatise De laude solitariae vitae.
9. Admonitio ad filium spirtualem (extant only in Latin).
10. Sermones de moribus XXIV. (f|9iKo\ ^oyoi), a cento of extracts made by Simeon Metaphrastes 8. Writings Mentioned, But Lost.
A book against the Manichaeans (Augustine, c. Julian, i. 16-17). Tillemont (Art. cxlv. p. 303) mentions authors in which lost fragments of St. Basil are to be found, and Art. cxxxvii. p. 290 refers to the lost Commentary on the Book of Job.
9. Additional Notes On Some Points In St. Basil 's Doctrinal And Ecclesiastical Position.
It has been claimed with reason that the doctrinal standpoint of St. Basil is identical with that of the English Church, with the one exception of the veneration of relics and the invocation of saints.
In confirmation of this view, the following points may be noted: 1. The Holy Eucharist. The remarkable passage on the spiritual manducation of the elements in Letter VIII. is commented on on p. 118. His custom as to frequent communion and his opinion as to the reserved sacrament are remarked on on p. 179.
A significant passage is to be found in the Moralia, Rule XXL, that participation in the Body and Blood of Christ is necessary to eternal life. John 6:54, is then quoted. That no benefit is derived by him who comes to communion without consideration of the method whereby participation of the Body and Blood of Christ is given; and that he who receives unworthily is condemned. On this John 6:54 and 62, and I Corinthians 13:27, are quoted. By what method (ito'ico Xoyco) we must eat the Body and drink the Blood of the live unto themselves, but to Him who died and rose again for them. In answer, the quotations are Luke 22:29, 1 Corinthians 11:23, 2 Corinthians 5:14, and 1 Corinthians 10:16.
2. Mariolatry. Even Letter CCCLX., which bears obvious marks of spuriousness, and of proceeding from a later age, does not go beyond a recognition of the Blessed Virgin as Geotokoc;, in which the Catholic Church is agreed, and a general invocation of apostles, prophets, a and martyrs, the Virgin not being set above these. The argument of Letter CCLXI (p. 300) that "if the Godbearing flesh was not ordained to be assumed of the lump of Adam, what need was there of the Blessed Virgin?" seems quite inconsistent with the modern doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Of any cultus of the Virgin, St. Basil's writings shew no trace.
3. Relations to the Roman Church.
In order to say something under this head, Ceillier, the Benedictine, is driven to such straits as to quote the application of the term "Coryphaeus" to Damasus in Letter CCXXXIX. Certainly St. Basil saw no reason to congratulate the Westerns on their "Coryphaeus," so far as intelligent interest in the East was involved. Fialon sees the position more clearly, so far as Basil is concerned, though he assumes the Councils to have given more authority to the patriarch of the ancient capital than was in face conceded. "St. Basile ne vapas, comme la majorite du Concile de Constantinople, jusqu 'a traiter I 'Occident comme etranger; s 'il ne pretend pas que V empire appartienne a V Orient, parce que V Orient voit naitre le Soleil, et que c 'est en Orient que Dieu brilla dans une enveloppe charnelle, ne voudrait il pas, dans I'ordre religieux, I 'union independante, qui, depuis Constantin, rattache, dans I 'ordre politique, ces deux parties du monde Romain? A ses yeux V Orient el V Occident ne sont ills pas deuxfrieres, dont les droit sont egaux, sans suprematic, sans ainesse?"
In truth Basil appealed to Damasus as Theodoret to Leo, and as Chrysostom to Innocent, not as vassal to liege lord, but as brother to brother. In Basil's case, even the brotherhood was barely recognized, if recognized at all, by the western prelate.
10. Editions And Manuscripts.
Among the chief editions and MSS, the following may be mentioned: The Editio Princeps of the complete extant works of Basil in the original Greek is that which Froben published for Janus Cornarius at Bale in 1551. But Froben had already published in 1532, under the editorship of Erasmus, an edition containing the De Spiritu Sancto, the Homilies on the Psalms, twenty — nine different Homilies and some Letters.
A Venetian edition, published by Fabius in 1535, comprised the Moralia, as well as the dubious book on Virginity, three books against Eunomius, and the tract against the Sabellians, Arians, and Anomaeans.
The Greek editions had been preceded by a Latin version at Rome, by Raphael Volaterranus in 1515, of which the autograph manuscript is in the British Museum, and by another at Paris in 1525, and by a third Latin edition issued at Cologne in 1531. These were followed by other editions printed at Paris, Antwerp, and Cologne. In 1618 Fronton du Due, commonly known as Ducaeus, published, in conjunction with Frederic Morel, and edition in two folio volumes containing a Latin version as well as the Greek. The edition of the French Dominican Father, Francis Combefis, was published shortly after his death in 1679. The most important step in the direction of accuracy and completeness was taken by Julian Gamier, a Benedictine Father of the Congregation of St. Maur. He revised and corrected the Greek text of earlier editions on the authority of a number of manuscripts in Paris, Italy, and England, and issued the first of his three folio volumes at Paris, at the press of John Baptist Coignard, in 1721. The third volume did not appear till 1730, five years after Gamier' s death. In the meanwhile the editorial work had been taken up by Prudent Maran, another Benedictine, to whom are due a careful and voluminous biographical notice, many notes, and a chronological arrangement of the Letters. This was reissued in three 4o volumes in Paris in 1889, and I s the basis of the edition published, with additions, by the Abbe Jacques Paul Migne, in the Patrologia Graeca, in 1857.
An important edition of a separate work is the revised text, with notes and introduction, of the De Spiritu Sancto, by the Rev. C. F. H. Johnston, published at the Clarendon Press in 1892.
German translations were published by Count Schweikhard at Ingolstadt in 1591 (Ceillier VI. viii. 8), and by J. von Wendel at Vienna in 1776-78. There have also been issued Basilius des Grossen auserlesenes Homilien, uberstetzt und mit Ammerkungcn versehen von J. G. Krabinger, Landshut, 18839, and Auserlesene Schriften, ubersetztvon Grone, Kempten, 1875.
Homilies and Orations were published in Italian in 171 1 by Gio. Maria Lucchini, Omelie Scelto, translated by A. M. Ricci, were published in Florence in 1732.
Many important extracts are translated in French in the Histoire Generate des Auteurs Sacres of the Benedictine Remy Ceillier (Paris, 1737).
E. Fialon, in his Et. Hist. (1869) has translated the Hexaemeron; and in 1889 the Panegyrique du Mazrtyr Gordius was published in French by J. Genouille.
A complete account of the bibliography of St. Basil is given in the Notitia ex Bibliotheca Fabricii (Ed. Harles, torn. ix. 1804), in Migne' s ed vol. I., Prolegomena^, ccxli.
Ill In 1888 a translation of the De Spiritu Sancto, by G. Lewis, was included in the Christian Classic Series.
Of all the smaller works a great popularity, as far as popularity can be gauged by the number of editions and translations, has belonged to the Advice to the Young and the Homily on the Forty Martyrs.
The MSS. collated by the Ben. Edd. for their edition of the De Spiritu Sancto are five entitled Regit, and a sixth known as Colbertinus, now in the national library at Paris. The Ben. Regius Secundus (2293) is described by Omont (Inventaire Sommaire des MSS. Grecs) as of the Xth c, the Colbertinus (4529) and the Regius Tertius (2893) as of the Xlth c, and the Regius Primus (2286), Regius Quartus (2896), and Iregius Quintus (3430)asoftheXIVthc.
For his edition, Mr. C. F. H. Johnston also collated or had collated 22,509 Add. MSS., Xth c, in the British Museum; Codd. Misc. xxxvii., Xlth c, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford; Cod. Theol. 142, Xllth c, in the Imperial Library at Vienna; Cod. Theol. 18, XlVth c, also at Vienna; Cod. xxiii., Xlth c, in the Library of the Holy Synod at Moscow; 500 (Reg. 1824, 3) G. Xlth c, at Paris; Cod. lviii., Xth c, at St. Mark's, Venice; Cod. lxvi., Xllth c, also at St. Mark's, Venice; Codd. Regin. Suaecor. 35, XlVth c, in the Vatican at Rome.
For the Hexameron the Ben. Edd. used eight MSS. styled Regii, and numbered respectively 1824, 2286 (originally in the collection of Henry II. at Fontainebleau, the Regius Primus of the enumeration for the De Spiritu Sancto, but the Secundus for that of the Hexaemeron), 2287 (Io), 2287, 2349, 2892, 2896 (the Regius Quartus of the De Spiritu Sancto), and 2989; two MSS. entitled Colbertinus, 3069 and 4721; two Coistiniani, 229, IXth c, and 235; and a MS. in the Bodleian, "a doctissimo viro Joanne Wolf collatus."
The sources of the Ben. Ed. of the Letters were Coislinianus 237, Xlth c, a Codex Harlaeanus of the Xth or Xlth c, and a Codex Medicaeus, Codex Regius 2293, Codex Regius 2897, Codex Regius 2896, Codex Regius 2502, Codex Regius 1824, Codex Regius 1906, and Codex Regius 1908.
The following MSS. of St. Basil are in the library of the Bodleian at Oxford: Homiliae et Epistolae. Codex membranaceus, in 4to majoir ff. 250, sec. xii.
Epistola ad Optimum, episcopum, in septem ultiones. Cain. fol. iii.
Epistola ad virginem lapsam, fol. 21 lb.
Ejusdem Basilii epistola ad monachum lapsum, fol. 215b.
Epistolae canonicae. Barocciani. xxvi. 285b (i.e. pt. i, p. 36).
Codex membranaceus, in 4to minori, ff. 370, sec. xi. fol. 285b.
Epist canon. Baroc. xxxvi. 121 (i.e. pt. i, p. 147).
Codex membranaceus, in 4to minori, ff. 12 et 161, sec. xii. exeunits.
Ejusdem epistolae canonicae tertiae prologus, fol. 125b.
CLVIII. 202 (i.e. pt. i, p. 268). Codex chartaceus, in 4to majori, ff. 374, sec. xv. S. Basilii ad Amphilochium, Iconii episcopum, et alias epistolae quinque canonicae, fol. 202. CLXXXV. 129b (i.e. pt. i, p. 307). Membranaceus, in folio, ff. 83 et 312, sec. xi. exeuntis, bene exaratus et servatus. S. Basilii magni epistolae canonicae, cum scholius nonnullis, fol. 129b. Ejusdem epistolae septem aliae, fol. 141. Epist. Canon. Baroc. cxcvi. 184b (i.e. pt. i, p. 336). Membranaceus, in 4to majori, ff. 313, sec. xi. anno scilicet 1043 exaratus. S. Basilii expositio de jejunio quadragesimali, f. 6b. CCV. 400b (i.e. pt. i, p. 361). Codex chartaceus, in folio, ff. 520, sec. xiv.
mutilus et madore corruptus. Dionysii Alexandrini, Petri Alexandrini, Gregorii Thaumaturgi, Athanasii, Basilii, Gregorii, Nysseni, Timothei Alexandrini, Theophili Alexandrini, Cyrilli Alexandrini, et Gennadii epistolae encyclicae; interpretatione Balsamonis illustratae, fol. 378b. Epistolae canonicae. Laudiani. xxxix. 200 (i.e. pt. i, p. 519). Codex membranaceus in 4to maj. ff. 347, sec. forsan. xi. ineuntis, etc. S. Basilii Caesareensis octo, subnexis captiulis duobus ex opere de S. Spiritu, fol. 200. Seld. xlviii. 151 (i.e. pt. i, p. 611). Codex membranaceus, in 4to ff. 189, sec . xiii. nitide exaratus; quandam monasterii S. Trinitatis apud Chalcem insulam [ol. 3385].
S. Basilii and Amphilochium, Diodorum et Gregorium canones, fol. 151. Misc. clxx. 181, 263, 284b (i.e. pt. i p. 717). Codex membranaceus, in 4to majori, ff. 363, secc. si tabulam sec. xi. excipiamus, xiv. et xv.; initio et fine mutilus. Rawl. Auct. G. 158.
S. Basilii, archiep. Caesareensis, ad Amphilochium epistolae tre canonicae, S. Basilii epistolae duae, scilicet, ad chorepiscopos, ad episcopos sibi subjectos, cum excerptis duobus ex capp. xxvii. et. xxix. ad Amphilochium de S. Spiritu, fol. 263.
ST. Basilii epistolae duae, ad Diodorum et ad Gregorium, fol. 284b. Epist. Canon, misc. ccvi. 171 (i.e. pt. i, p. 763). Codex membranaceus, in folio minori, ff. 242. sec. forsan xi. exeuntis; bene exaratus et servatus. Meerm. Auct. T. 2. 6. S. Basilii, archiep. Caesareensis, ad Amphilochium ep. Icon, epistolae tres canonicae cum scholiis hie illic margini adpositis, fol. 171. Epistolae ccexxxiv. Misc. xxxviii. I (i.e. pt. i, p. 642). Codex chartaceus, in folio, ff. 196, sec. xvi. anno 1547 scriptus [ol. 3091]. Act. E. 2. 10. S. Basilii epistolae, ut e numeris marginalibus apparet, ccexxxiv. fol. I. Ult. est ad eundem Eusebium, et exstat in ed. cit. torn. iii. p. 257. Epistola ccxlv. Baroc exxi. [i.e. pt. i, p. 199]. Membranaceus, in 4to ff.
226, sec. xii. exeuntis, bene exaratus; in calce mutilus. S. Basilii, archiepiscopi Caesareensis, epistolae ad diversos, numero ducentae quadraginta quinque. Epist. clxxvii. Roc. xviii. 314 (i.ept. i, p. 471). Codex chartaceus, in folio, ff. 475, holie in duo volumina distinctus, anno 1349 manu Constantini Sapientis binis columnis scriptus; olim ecclesiae S. Trinitatis apud insulam Chalcem [ol. 264]. S. Basilii Caesareensis epistolae circiter centum sptuaginta septem, fol.
Epistolae variae. Baroc. ivi. 38b et passim (i.e. pt. i, p. 83). Codex bombycinus. ff. 175, sec xiv. exeuntis; initio mutilus, et madore corruptus. S. Basilii adversus Eunomium epistola, fol. 28b. Epist. xiii. ad diversos. Baroc. ccxxviii ii8b (i.e. pt. i, p. 393). Membranaceus, in folio, ff. 206, sec. forsan xii. ineuntis; foliis aliquot chartaceis a manu recentiori hie illic suppletis. S. Basilii et Libanii epistolae septem mutuae, f. 126. Epist. tres. Misc. clxxix. 423 (i.e. pt. i, p. 500). Codex chartaceus, in folio marjoiri, ff. 262, sec. xvii.; olim peculium coo. soc. Jesu Clarom. Paris, pstea joh. Meerman. Act. T. i. I.
S. Basilii, archiep. Caesareensis, epistola ad Optimum ipiscopum in illud, nac, 6 6c7toKxeiva<; kociv, pg. 423. Epistola ad Chilonem. Laud. xvii. 352 (i.e. pt. I, p. 500). Codex charatceus, et laevigatus, in 4o ff. 358, sec. xv. [ol. 692]. S. Basilii Magni epistola ad Chilonem, fol. 352. Epist. ad Coloneos. Baroc. cxlii. 264b (i.e. pt. I, p. 242). Codex chartaceus, in 4o ff. 292, sec. xiv. ineuntis. S. Basilii Magni epistola ad Coloneos, fol. 264b. Ejus et Libanii epistolae. Baroc. xix. 191 (i.e. pt. I, p. 27). Codex chartaceus in 4o minori, ff. 200, sec. xv. manibus tamen diversis scrip tus. S. Basilii et Libanii sophistae epistolae decern amaebaeae, fol. 191. Ejus et Libanii epistolae. Baroc. cxxi. 296 (i.e. pt. I, p. 211). Codex bombycinus, in 4o maj. ff. 4 et 536, sec. xiv. haud eadem manu scriptus; madore aliquantum corruptus. S. Basilii et Libanii epistolae tres mutuae, f. 299b.
Epistolae ad Libanium et Modestum. Baroc. ccxvi. 301 (i.e. pg. I, p. 376). Codex, fragmentis constans pluribus, in 4o ff. 379 quorum 43 priora membranacea, caetera chartacea sunt. S. Basilii epistola ad Libanium, fol. 301b. Ejusdem ad Modestum epistola, imperf. fol. 301b. Basilii et Libanii epistolae quinque mutuae, fol. 302. Ibid. epp. cccxxxv. seq., cccxlii., ccxli., ccclix. The following Mss. of St. Basil are in the British Museum: Harleian Collection: 1801. Codex membranaceus (Newton's arms in spare leaf).
Doctrina Beati Basilii. 2580. Liber chartaceus. S. Basilii sermo de parentum honore, Latine redditus per Guarinum. 2678. Codex membranaceus. S. Basilii de institutis juvenum liber ex versione et cum praefatione Leonardi Aretini. 5576. XlVth c. 40 Homilies. 5639. Xvth c. Homilies. 5576. XlVth c. Hexaemeron. 5622. XlVth c. Com. on Isaiah. 5541. Xvth c. Ad juvenes.
5609. XVthc. Adjuvenes. 5660. XVth c. Adjuvenes. 5657. XlVth c. Extracts. 5689. Xllth c. De V. Virg. 5624. XlVth c. Ep. ad Greg. Frat. 6827. XVIIth c. Epp. 3651. XVth c. De Cons, in Adv. 4987. XVth c. Admon.
Burney Collection; 70. XVthc. Adjuvenes. 75. XVth c. Epp. ad Liban.
Additional: 22509. Velum curs. Xth c. De Sp. Scto.
34060. Xvth c. The doubtful work De Sp. Scto.
14066. Xllth c. Homilies.
34060. Xvth c. Against Drunkards.
25881. XVIth c. The Forty Martyrs.
10014. XVIIth c. Adjuvenes.
10069. Xllth c. Reg. fus. tract.
9347. XlVth c. Ascetic.
1 8492. XVIth c. De Frugalitate.
17474. XVth c. Epp. can.
Autograph of Raph. Volterano (translation).
Arundel: 535. XlVth c. Excerp. ex adv. Eunom. v.
532. Xth c. Hexaemeron.
528. XVth c. Against Drunkards.
520. XVth c. De Tranqu. an.
583. XlVth c. Epp. can. ad Amph.
181. Xllth c. Adm. adFil.
THE BOOK OF SAINT BASIL ON THE SPIRIT.
DE SPIRITU SANCTO.
PREFACE.
The heresy of Arius lowered the dignity of the Holy Ghost as well as that of the Son. He taught that the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity are wholly unlike one another both in essence and in glory. "There is a triad, not in equal glories;" "one more glorious than the other in their glories to an infinite degree." So says the Thalia, quoted in Ath. de Syn. #15. But the Nicene definition, while it was precise in regard to the Son, left the doctrine of the Holy Ghost comparatively open, (niaxeijojxev eiq to "Ayiov ITve'ou.oc,) not from hesitation or doubt, but because this side of Arian speculation was not prominent. (CF. Basil, Letters cxxv. and ccxxvi. and Dr. Swete in D.C.B. iii. 121.) It was the expulsion of Macedonius from the see of Constantinople in 360 which brought "Macedonianism" to a head. He was put there by Arians as an Arian. Theodoret (Ecc. Hist, ii.5) explains how disagreement arose, he was an upholder, if not the author, of the watchword opoiouoiv (Soc. ii.45), but many supporters of the ouxhoijgiv (e.g., Eustathius of Sebasteia) shrank from calling the Holy Ghost a creature. So the Pneumatomachi began to be clearly marked off. The various creeds of the Arians and semi — Arians did not directly attack the Godhead of the Holy Ghost, though they did not accept the doctrine of the essential unity of the Three Persons. (Cf. Hahn, Bibliothek der Symbolc, pp. 148-174, quoted by Swete.) But their individual teaching went far beyond their confessions. The Catholic theologians were roused to the danger, and on the return of Athanasius from his third exile, a council was held at Alexandria which resulted in the first formal ecclesiastical condemnation of the depravers of the Holy Ghost, in the Tomus ad Antiochenos (q.v. with the preface on p. 481 of Ath. in the edition of this series. Cf. also Ath. ad Serap. i. 2, 10). In the next ten years the Pneumatiomachi, Macedonians, or Marathonians, so called from Marathonius, bishop of Nicomedia, whose support to the party was perhaps rather pecuniary than intellectual (Nicephorus H.E. ix. 47), made head, and were largely identified with the Homoiousians. In 374 was published the Ancoratus of St. Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, written in 373, and containing two creeds (vid Heurtley de F. et Symb. pp. 14-18), the former of which is nearly identical with the Confession of Constantinople. It expresses belief in to ITveijjxoc to "Ayiov, Ktmiov, KOU ZcOOTtOlOV, TO £K TOt) IIoCTTtbc;, £K7tOp£'u6|J,eVOV, TO G1)V IIoCTpl koci Yicp at)(X7tpoaKt)Voi(xevov koci cruv8o^oc^6|j,evov, xbXaXr\oo\ Sia tcov 7tpo(pr|Tcov. It is in this same year, 374, that Amphilochius, the first cousin of Gregory of Nazianzus and friend and spiritual son of Basil, paid the first of his annual autumn visits to Caesarea (Bishop Lightfoot, D.C.B. I. 105) and there urged St. Basil to clear up all doubt as to plied, and, on the completion of the work, had it engrossed on parchment (Letter ccxxxi.) and sent it to Amphilochius, to whom he dedicated.
CHAPTER 1 Prefatory remarks on the need of exact investigation of the most minute portions of theology.
1. Your desire for information, my right well-beloved and most deeply respected brother Amphilochius, I highly commend, and not less your industrious energy. I have been exceedingly delighted at the care and watchfulness shewn in the expression of your opinion that of all the terms concerning God in every mode of speech, not one ought to be left without exact investigation. You have turned to good account your reading of the exhortation of the Lord, "Every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth" and by your diligence in asking might, I ween, stir even the most reluctant to give you a share of what they possess. And this in you yet further moves my admiration, that you do not, according to the manners of the most part of the men of our time, propose your questions by way of mere test, but with the honest desire to arrive at the actual truth. There is no lack in these days of captious listeners and questioners; but to find a character desirous of information, and seeking the truth as a remedy for ignorance, is very difficult. Just as in the hunters snare, or in the soldier' s ambush, the trick is generally ingeniously concealed, so it is with the inquiries of the majority of the questioners who advance arguments, not so much with the view of getting any good out of them, as in order that, in the event of their failing to elicit answers which chime in with their own desires, they may seem to have fair ground for controversy.
2. If "To the fool on his asking for wisdom, wisdom shall be reckoned," at how high a price shall we value "the wise hearer" who is quoted by the Prophet in the same verse with "the admirable counselor"? It is right, I ween, to hold him worthy of all approbation, and to urge him on to further progress, sharing his enthusiasm, and in all things toiling at his side as he presses onwards to perfection. To count the terms used in theology as of primary importance, and to endeavor to trace out the hidden meaning in every phrase and in every syllable, is a characteristic wanting in those who are idle in the pursuit of true religion, but distinguishing all who get knowledge of "the mark" "of our calling;" for what is set before us is, so far as is possible with human nature, to be made like unto God. Now without knowledge there can be no making like; and knowledge is not got without lessons. The beginning of teaching is speech, and syllables and words are parts of speech. It follows then that to investigate syllables is not to shoot wide of the mark, nor, because the questions raised are what might seem to some insignificant, are they on that account to be held unworthy of heed. Truth is always a quarry hard to hunt, and therefore we must look everywhere for its tracks. The acquisition of true religion is just like that of crafts; both grow bit by bit; apprentices must despise nothing. If a man despise the first elements as small and insignificant, he will never reach the perfection of wisdom.
Yea and Nay are but two syllables, yet there is often involved in these little words at once the best of all good things, Truth, and that beyond which wickedness cannot go, a Lie. But why mention Yea and Nay? Before now, a martyr bearing witness for Christ has been judged to have paid in full the claim of true religion by merely nodding his head. If, then, this be so, what term in theology is so small but that the effect of its weight in the scales according as it be rightly or wrongly used is not great? Of the law we are told "not one jot nor one tittle shall pass away;" how then could it be safe for us to leave even the least unnoticed? The very points which you yourself have sought to have thoroughly sired by us are at the same time both small and great. Their use is the matter of a moment, and peradventure they are therefore made of small account; but, when we reckon the force of their meaning, they are great. They may be likened to the mustard plant which, though it be the least of shrub-seeds, yet when properly cultivated and the forces latent in its germs unfolded, rises to its own sufficient height.
If any one laughs when he sees our subtilty, to use the Psalmist's words, about syllables, let him know that he reaps laughter's fruitless fruit; and let us, neither giving in to men's reproaches, nor yet vanquished by their disparagement, continue our investigation. So far, indeed, am I from feeling ashamed of these things because they are small, that, even if I could attain to ever so minute a fraction of their dignity, I should both congratulate myself on having won high honor, and should tell my brother and fellow-investigator that no small gain had accrued to him therefrom.
While, then, I am aware that the controversy contained in little words is a very great one, in hope of the prize I do not shrink from toil, with the conviction that the discussion will both prove profitable to myself, and that my hearers will be rewarded with no small benefit. Wherefore now with the help, if I may so say, of the Holy Spirit Himself, I will approach the exposition of the subject, and, if you will, that I may be put in the way of the discussion, I will for a moment revert to the origin of the question before us.
3. Lately when praying with the people, and using the full doxology to God the Father in both forms, at one time "with the Son together with the Holy Ghost," and at another "through the Son in the Holy Ghost," I was attacked by some of those present on the ground that I was introducing novel and at the same time mutually contradictory terms.
You, however, chiefly with the view of benefiting them, or, if they are wholly incurable, for the security of such as may fall in with them, have expressed the opinion that some clear instruction ought to be published concerning the force underlying the syllables employed. I will therefore write as concisely as possible, in the endeavor to lay down some admitted principle for the discussion.
CHAPTER 2 The origin of the heretics' close observation all syllables.
4. The petty exactitude of these men about syllables and words is not, as might be supposed, simple and straightforward; nor is the mischief to which it tends a small one. There is involved a deep and covert design against true religion Their pertinacious contention is to show that the mention of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is unlike, as though they will thence find it easy to demonstrate that there is a variation in nature. They have an old sophism, invented by Aetius, the champion of this heresy, in one of whose Letters there is a passage to the effect that things naturally unlike are expressed in unlike terms, and, conversely, that things expressed in unlike terms are naturally unlike. In proof of this statement he drags in the words of the Apostle, "One God and Father of whom are all things,...and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things." "Whatever, then," he goes on, "is the relation of these terms to one another, such will be the relation of the natures indicated by them; and as the term 'of whom' is unlike the term 'by whom,' so is the Father unlike the Son." On this heresy depends the idle subtilty of these men about the phrases in question. They accordingly assign to God the Father, as though it were His distinctive portion anti lot, the phrase "of Whom;" to God the Son they confine the phrase '" by Whom;" to the Holy Spirit that of "in Whom," and say that this use of the syllables is never interchanged, in order that, as I have already said, the variation of language may indicate the variation of nature. Verily it is sufficiently obvious that in their quibbling about the words they are endeavoring to maintain the force of their impious argument.
By the term "o/whom" they wish to indicate the Creator; by the term "through whom," the subordinate agent or instrument; by the term "in whom," or "in which," they mean to shew the time or place. The object of all this is that the Creator of the universe may be regarded as of no higher dignity than an instrument, and that the Holy Spirit may appear to be adding to existing things nothing more than the contribution derived from place or time.
CHAPTER 3 5. The systematic discussion of syllables is derived from heathen philosophy.
They have, however, been led into this error by their close study of heathen writers, who have respectively applied the terms "of whom" and "through whom" to things which are by nature distinct. These writers suppose that by the term "of whom" or "of which" the matter is indicated, while the term "through whom" or "through which" represents the instrument, or, generally speaking, subordinate agency? Or rather — for there seems no reason why we should not take up their whole argument, and briefly expose at once its incompatibility with the truth and its inconsistency with their own teaching — the students of vain philosophy, while expounding the manifold nature of cause and distinguishing its peculiar significations, define some causes as principal, some as cooperative or con-causal, while others are of the character of "sine qua non" or indispensable?