Ecclesiastical Antiquities. (Continued from page 49.) I. OF THE PRIMITIVE FAITH AND WORSHIP. Stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your soul. JEREM. vi. 16. S the primitive church believed in the effential deity of the SON, and worshipped him as GOD over all, blessed for ever," fo was the HOLY SPIRIT regarded and worshipped as a divine perfon. His perfonality is afferted in the plaineft terms in various parts of the Scriptures where he is defcribed as being the difpenfer of gifts*;" an "interceffor for believers+;" as the "fearcher of all things" as the "guide and director into all truth ;" and as being the fpecial "revealer of the mind and will of GOD. But above all, it is declared on the highest authority that there is a fin against Him which will be accounted an unpardonable offence; and to bind Chriftians more firmly in this great profeffion of faith, they are all directed to be baptized in the name of the Holy Ghoft. Now the Chriftian religion being the revelation of GOD for the inftruction of mankind in the way of righteoufnefs and redemption, it would be a blafphemous abfurdity to fuppofe that the fountain of Wisdom and Truth would make fo important a difcovery in dark and ambiguous language; or that he would communicate the knowledge of his will in terms which might eafily be perverted into the gross sense of afcribing perfonal properties to things that that had no exiftence. Yet if the notion of fome of our modern heretics be right the whole Primitive Church, from the beginning, actually fell into this dangerous and prepofterous error; and 1 Cor. xii. 4-11. § John vi. 13. + Rom. viii. 26. + 1 Cor. ii. 10. from from the authority of the facred writings, particularly the injunctions and promifes of our Lord, concluded themselves bound to believe that the Holy Ghoft was a real perfon in the Deity, and confequently, that, it was their duty to pray for his affiftance, to fubmit to his guidance, and to worship him as GOD. All the antient doxologies concur in fan&tioning this early doctrine, and certainly if they were wrong, the fources from whence they were drawn cannot be acquitted of hav ing led the pious framers of them aftray. 66 When the first converts fo frequently heard and read the Apoftolical benediction, "The grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift; and the love of GOD; and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all;" and when they at the fame time confidered the folemn form of words by which they had been initiated into Chriftianity, it was natural for them to frame their higheft devotional hymn in fimilar terms. Men of plain understandings could never comprehend, that gifts of fuch a nature and fo diftin&tly expreffed, proceeded from any other than real perfons. If the perfonality of one was matter of doubt, the gift itself might juftly be considered as an unmeaning expreffion. But that the "Grace" and "the Love" mentioned by the Apostle, appertained to real perfons, could be no matter of doubt or queftion; how then could the mind of a Chriftian immediately form or even comprehend the idea that the next bleffing fupplicated was a "fellowship" with an attribute? It is very obfervable that this bleffing is more ftrikingly indicative of perfonal communion than either of the others. The grace and love of the Father and Son are not fo intimately and fenfibly expreffive of operation and union, as the "fellow fhip of the Holy Spirit ;" and it would confound any man of common fenfe to define how there can be fellowship between any thing lefs than two persons. No wonder then that the Primitive Chriftians took the folemn form of baptifm and the Apoftolical falutation and valediction in the plain fenfe of the terms, as denoting fpiritual gifts defcending on believers from three real perfons in the godhead, co-operating in the work of man's redemption and fanctification. Accordingly we find in the oldeft remains of Ecclefiaftical Antiquity, abundant proofs of the faith of the early Church in the effential article of the perfonality and divinity of the Holy Spirit. The The members of the Church of Antioch, clofe their ac count of the martyrdom of the holy Ignatius, with this devotional afcription, which fhews that it was a common form: In Christ Jefus our Lord; by whom and with whom, all glory and power be to the Father, with the Bleffed Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen." In the relation of the martyrdom of Polycarp which concludes in the fame manner, the Smyrnean Church records the dying declaration of that holy bishop in these words: "O Lord God Almighty, the Father of thy well beloved and bleffed Son Jefus Chrift, by whom we have received the knowledge of thee; the God of angels and powers, and of every creature, and especially of the whole race of just men who live in thy prefence! I give thee hearty thanks that thou haft vouchfafed to bring me to this day, and to this hour; that I fhould have a part in the number of thy martyrs in the cup of thy Chrift, to the refurrection of Eternal Life, both of foul and body, in the incorruption of the Holy Ghoft. Among which, may I be accepted this day before thee as an acceptable facrifice; as thou the true God with whom is no falfehood, haft both before ordained and manifefled; and alfo haft fulfilled it. For this and for all things elfe I praife thee, I blefs thee, I glorify thee, by the Eternal and Heavenly High Prieft, Jefus Chrift thy beloved Son; with whom to thee and the HOLY GHOST be glory both now, and to all fucceeding ages. Amen." Did Polycarp believe, as the Socinians would perfuade us, that the Holy Ghoft was the mere name of a quality or an attribute? By what rule of language then could he afcribe glory to two perfons, and the fame glory to an attribute belonging to them both? Here indeed would be a marvelous inftance of the bathos, or art of finking, that in the most fo.. lemn act of devotion in which a rational being could poffibly be engaged, and in the last moment of life, he should begid with glorifying God the Father, and Jefus Chrift, and then defcend to praife and glorify in the fame ftrain that, which had no pofitive exiftence at all. But whatever might have been the feelings or expreffions of a martyr in the agonies of death, though to the confeffion of a Chriftian in fuch a flate, no ordinary deference is due, the deliberate and folemn act of the Church which re. ports the account of his martyrdom, must be admitted in evidence of what was the common faith of Christians at that time. The The churches of Antioch and Smyrna, in their relations of the fufferings of Ignatius and Polycarp, declare in the moft exprefs terms their faith in the Divinity of Chrift, and the perfonality of the Holy Ghoft, to whom they afcribe the fame glory as to the Father; the confequence then is obvious, that as early as the beginning of the fecond century, the doctrine of the Trinity was the common faith of the Church. . Of that common faith Juftin Martyr was unqueflionably a competent witnefs. Whatever might have been his own private opinions as to the interpretation of fome of the Prophecies, he would never have ventured to publish a falfe itatement of the Creed and worship of the community to which he belonged. Such an act would have juflly expofed him to the ridicule of the heathen, and the abhorrence of thofe whom he had fo grofsly mifreprefented. Now Juftin, in his first apology, which was never refuted by his opponents, nor cenfured by any of his brethren, thus declares to the Heathen what the object of the Chriftian worfhip was; "with refpect to the Gods whom you worship, we are indeed Atheists, but not fo with regard to the only true GOD, the Father of Righteousness, who with his only begotten SON and the SPIRIT which fpake by the Prophets, we worship and adore *." 66 Again the fame Juftin informs the Roman emperor, and by the publication of his apology he informs the whole heathen world, what was the common religious fervice of the Chriftians, in which he could not be miftaken, and if his account had been falfe it would have been confuted. His account, however, is faithful, for it is confirmed in all points by what remains of the Chriftian writers of the first three centuries. After the believer" fays he "has been baptized, and thereby incorporated with us, we lead him into the congregation, and with great fervour pour out our fouls in common prayers for ourselves, for the newly baptized, and for all perfons throughout the world; that having embraced the truth, our converfation may be fuch as becomes the gospel, and that by being doers of the word, we may obtain eternal falvation. When the prayers are over, we falute each other with a kifs; after which, bread and a cup of wine and water, are brought to the bishop; who takes the fame and offers up praile and glory to the Father of all things, through the name of his Son, and of * Apol. i. p. 56. ed. Col. 1686. fol. the the Holy Spirit; and this thanksgiving to God, for vouchfafing us worthy of thofe his creatures, is a prayer of great length. When the bishop has concluded, the people fay Amen, which fignifies in the Hebrew tongue So be it. The Euchariftical office being ended, the deacons diftribute to every one prefent, bread and wine, and the remainder is carried to those who are absent." If thefe are not clear and fufficient proofs of the belief of the Primitive Church in the effential deity and perfonality of the Son and Holy Ghost, as one God with the Father of all, it is impoffible to account for the introduction of fuch language, and fuch a practice of devotion into the Church. If Jefus Chrift be not GOD, and the Holy Ghost be not a PERSON, how came fuch a confeffion and fuch folemn forms of devotional thanksgiving into the general affemblies of Chriftians in that early age, without oppofition and even without notice? The churches of Antioch and Smyrna, afcribe divinity to the Son, and perfonality and divinity to the Holy Ghost, in circular epiftles addreffed to all Chriftians; and a public apologift for Chriftianity, declares that fuch was the common belief of his community, and that it formed their conftant confeffion at all times of their folemn affemblies. Now if this article of faith, and this form of worship, had not been from the beginning of the Chriftian church, the aera of the innovation would certainly have been marked by fome circumftance or afcertained by fome record. It can never be fuppofed that the Chriftians in all parts of the world then known, fhould confederate together to alter the faith which they held dearer than their lives, or permit a form of worship to take place in their churches which was unknown to thofe from whom they had received the knowledge of the Gospel. The oldeft doxology, and the most univerfal in the Chriftian church, is this, υμνέμεν πατέρα και υιον και αγιον πνεύμα Θεό "we laud the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of GOD." So great is the antiquity of this form, that the early fathers could not afcertain the author; and therefore as it was in univer. fal ufe, it must have been derived from the Apoftolical age. W. |