3

necessary, or even advisable, to give these symbols special authority as coördinate with the Scriptures. Accordingly, when George Calixt, in the seventeenth century, advocated the position that the consensus of the ancient church should be taken as an authority alongside of the Scriptures, he aroused a lively opposition. But with all its theoretical opposition to any other authority than that of Scripture, Protestantism soon came to be dependent upon its own tradition; for the words of Luther, and the declarations of the confessions of faith, became (as it was not intended they should be) a standard and restraint in the subsequent exegetical and doctrinal development."

1

1 Comp. Winer; Comparat. Darstellung, p. 33. Marheineke, Symbolik, ii. 191, sq. Schenkel, Wesen des Protest., i. 40, sq.

As in the case of the baptism of children, and several other observances, like the celebration of Sunday and the church festivals. Accordingly the XXXIX. Articles of the Church of England declare (in Art. xxxiv.): "It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one, and utterly like; for at all times they have been divers, and may be changed according to the diversities of countries, times, and men's manners, so that nothing is ordained against God's Word. Whosoever, through his private judgment, willingly and purposely, doth openly break the traditions and ceremonies of the Church, which be not repugnant to the Word of God, and be ordained and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly (that others may fear to do the like), as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church, and hurteth the authority of the magistrate, and woundeth the conscience of the weak brethren.-Every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain, change, and abolish ceremonies or rites of the church, ordained only by man's authority, so that all things be done to edifying." To the same effect, Luther in his Letters (De Wette's edition, iii. 294); Nullas ceremonias damno, nisi quæ pugnent cum evangelio; ceteras omnes in ecclesia nostra servo integras......Nullos magis odi quam eos, qui ceremonias liberas et innoxias exturbant, et necessitatem ex libertate faciunt.

'Thus the three oecumenical symbols, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene, and the Athanasian, were adopted by the Protestant chureh, and introduced by the Lutherans into their Book of Concord. Melancthon terms these creeds (in his Enarr. Symb.)-breves repetitiones doctrinæ, in scriptis propheticis et apostolicis traditæ. The Second Helvetic Confession refers to the Confession of Faith of the Roman bishop Damasus (in Jerome); which is printed in the older editions of the Helvetic Confession, and in Fritzsche's ed., pp. 9, 10.

• Calixt defends himself against the accusation, of not regarding the Scripture as sufficient, of holding that it is not-unum, primum et summum principium. He finds in tradition only the testimony of the church to the doctrine of the Scriptures. Yet still he speaks of two principles; e. g., in his De Arte Nova, p. 49: Duo vero sunt principia, quæ tamquam certissima

et extra omnem dubitationis aleam posita utrimque admittimus, quæ etiam sufficere credimus-divinæ legis auctoritas, tum deinde ecclesiæ catholicæ traditio. By tradition he means the consensus primævæ vel priscæ antiquitatis; see his letter to the Landgrave Ernest, p. 22: Nos principium primum ponimus: quidquid Sacra Scriptura docet, est verum; proximum ad hoc quidquid primorum quinque seculorum ecclesia unanimiter professus est, est verum. Pag. 23: Quæ autem nisce symbolis, confessionibus et declarationibus comprehenduntur, e sacra Scriptura hausta sunt. See other passages in Schmid, Dogmatik d. luth. Kirche, p. 124. Gass, p. 46 sq. [See also, Gieseler, Church Hist., New York ed. iv., § 52.]

Calov was his chief opponent, in his work Syncretismus Calixtinus, and in other writings; see Schmid, p. 240, sq. Gass, p. 87. [Schweizer, Central Dogmen. ii. 532, sq.] The Fifth point in the Consensus Repetitus Fidei Veræ Luth. (in Henke's ed. p. 5), was directed against him: Rejicimus eos, qui docent, testimonium ecclesiæ necessarium esse ad cognoscendum Dei verbum, ita ut sine illo per alia кpiτýρia cognosci nequeat; auctoritatem sacr. litterarum aliunde non constare, nisi e testificatione ecclesiæ etc. Comp. Punct. 6-8.

• It is well-known that Luther strongly protested against any prominence being given to his name, and all appeal to his authority. Equally opposed was it to the spirit of the Confession of Faith, to impose it as a yoke upon the conscience. The First Confession of Basle solemnly warns against this, at the conclusion: "In fine, we submit this our Confession to the judgment of the divine writings of Scripture, beseeching that if we are better instructed from the Holy Scripture, we may at all times obey God and his word with great thankfulness. Comp. Conf. Helv. II. and Confess. Scotica, at the close of the Preface. The Lutheran Formula Concordiæ also says distinctly, p. 372: Cæterum autem Symbola et alia scripta......non obtinent auctoritatem judicis; hæc enim dignitas solis sacris litteris debetur; sed duntaxat pro religione nostra testimonium dicunt eamque explicant, ac ostendunt, quomodo singulis temporibus sacræ litteræ in articulis controversis in ecclesia Dei a doctoribus, qui tum vixerunt, intellectæ et explicatæ fuerint, et quibus rationibus dogmata cum sacra Scriptura pugnantia rejecta et condemnata sint. -On the other hand, the Formula Consensus, Art. 26, brings the Holy Scripture (the Word of God) into such connection with the Confessions, that they seem to put on one and the same line. See also the Conclusions of the Canons of Dort. [But these Conclusions simply say: "This doctrine, the synod judges to be drawn from the Word of God, and to be agreeable to the Confessions of the Reformed churches;" and it warns people to "abstain from all those phrases, which exceed the limits necessary to be observed in ascertaining the genuine sense of the Holy Scriptures."] On the history of the matter, see J. C. G. Johannsen, Die Aufänge des Symbolzwanges unter den Protestanten, Lpz.. 1847.

SECOND DIVISON.

ANTHROPOLOGY, JUSTIFICATION, AND THE ECONOMY OF REDEMPTION.

(MATERIAL PRINCIPLE.)

A. ANTHROPOLOGY.

§ 245.

MAN PRIOR TO THE FALL.

[Bishop George Bull, Concerning the first Covenant, and the State of Man before the Fall Works, ii. p. 32-237.]

During the present period, the opinion generally prevailed, among Christians of all denominations, that the state of our first parents was more excellent, both in respect to body and soul, prior to the fall, than after it.' But while theologians of the Roman Catholic Church agreed with the majority of the scholastics in regarding the original righteousness of man as a donum superadditum,' Protestants (Lutherans as well as Calvinists) maintained that God created man in the possession of perfect righteousness and holiness,' qualities which, together with immortality, belonged to his original nature. Arminians, and Socinians, entertained less exalted opinions concerning the original state of man. The latter asserted, that the image of God, after which man was created, has reference only to his dominion over animals, or the irrational creation in general, and denied that immortality belonged to the original endowments of human nature."

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1 Conc. Trid. sess. 5: Si quis non confitetur, primum hominem....sanctitatem et justitiam, in qua constitutus fuerat, amisisse incurrisseque mortem, quam antea illi comminatus fuerat Deus, anathema sit. (This was in accorddance with the definitions of the Protestant Symbols, see note 3.) Comp. the Confess. Orthod. of the Greek Church, p. 50, quoted by Winer, P. 51.

Cat. Rom. i. 2, 19:.... Originalis justitiæ admirabile donum addidit, ac deinde cæteris animantibus præesse voluit. This is more fully developed by Bellarmine, Tom. iv., De Gratia primi hom., c. 2., Propos. 4: Integritas illa, cum qua primus homo conditus fuit et sine qua post ejus lapsum hominis omnes nascunter, non fuit naturalis ejus conditio, sed supernaturalis evectio. Comp. c. 5.... Quare non magis differt status hominis post lapsum Adæ a statu ejusdem in puris naturalibus, quam differt spoliatus a nudo. In the following chapter, the justitia originalis is compared to the hair of Samson, to a festive garment and ornament, etc. c. 6: Virtutes non erant insitæ et impressæ ipsi naturæ, ut sunt dona naturalia, sed extrinsecus assutæ et superadditæ, ut sunt dona supernaturalia. c. 7: The dowry of Paradise was splendid, while that of nature, in its present condition, is like a stepmother's dowry, (appealing to Augustine). Comp. Marheineke, Symbolik, Vol. iii., towards the commencement; Möhler, Symbolik, § 1; Baur, Katholicismus und Protestantismus, p. 60 ss.

* Luther himself gave it as his opinion (in Gen. c. 3-Opp. ed. Jen. T. i., p. 83, quoted by Möhler, p. 35.); Justitiam non fuisse quoddam donum, quod ab extra accederet, separatum a natura hominis sed fuisse vere naturalem, ut natura Adæ esset diligere Deum, credere Deo, cognoscere Deum, etc. On Luther's poetic and fanciful descriptions of the paradisiacal state, see Schenkel, ii. 14, sq. (Man is made for heaven; that distinguishes him from 66 cows and swine." The eye of the first man surpassed the lynx and eagle in sharpness; his arm was stronger than the lion and the bear; he went among the strongest animals as if they were hounds.)-Zwingle is far more sober, averse from all that is fantastic, perhaps even too spiritualizing in his views of the primeval state; as in his work, Von der Klarheit des Wortes Gottes (German Works, i. 56): "Were we made in the likeness of God in our bodies, God must also have a body made up of members, after which ours were fashioned; whence it would follow that God is a compound, and that the parts might be separated-all of which is opposed to the immutability of the divine nature. Hence it follows, that we are fashioned in the image of God in our minds or souls. But what this image is we know not, excepting that the soul is the substance, upon which the the image of God is specially impressed. And as we have never seen God in himself, in his own form, we cannot know how our souls are like him in substance and nature; for the soul does not even know its own substance and nature. And it all at last comes to this, that the workings or powers of the soul, viz., will, understanding, and memory, are nothing but signs of the essential image, which we shall really see, when we see God as he is in himself, and ourselves in him (1 Cor. xiii. 12)...... Now we find in ourselves, that the image of God is much more cognate with some things, than with the three powers, will, understanding, and memory.t......I mean, that there are other parts of us in which we may discern the image of God.... such as the vision of Him and his Word; these are things which show that

* Other comparisons, e. g. that with the wreath of a virgin, a golden bridle, etc., are quoted by Marheineke, Symbolik, iii. p. 12.

+ Referring to Augustine, who finds in these an image of the Trinity.

friendship, likeness, and conformity to God may be in us....For the fact that man can look up to God and his Word shows clearly, that in his nature he is born somewhat akin to God, that he can follow after him, that he can be drawn unto him, from all of which it follows without any doubt, that he is created in the image of God.-Calvin tries to harmonize the bodily and the spiritual, by representing the former as the foil of the latter: Institutes, I. 15, 3: Quamvis imago Dei in homine externo refulgeat, proprium tamen imaginis semen in anima esse, dubium non est (this is against Osiander, who sought for the image of God in the body). § 4. He speaks of the image of God, as-integra humanæ naturæ præstantia, quæ refulsit in Adam ante defectionem....nunc aliqua ex parte conspicitur in electis, quatenus spiritu regeniti sunt; plenum vero fulgorem obtinebit in cœlo. (He agrees with Zwingle in opposing Augustine's view of the image of the Trinity). § 8:.... His præclaris dotibus excelluit prima hominis conditio, ut ratio, intelligentia, prudentia, judicium non modo ad terrenæ vitæ gubernationem suppeterent, sed quibus transcenderent usque ad Deum et æternam felicitatem....In hac integritate libero arbitrio pollebat homo, quo, si vellet, adipisci posset æternam vitam. Comp. Schenkel, ii. p. 11, sq.-Among the Lutheran symbols, the Augsburg Confession passes by the primitive state of man; but the doctrine is contained in the Apol. Conf. Aug. p. 53, ss.: Justitia originalis habitura erat non solum æquale temperamentum qualitatum corporis, sed etiam hæc dona, notitiam Dei certiorem, timorem Dei, fiduciam Dei aut certe rectitudinem et vim ista efficiendi. Idque testatur Scriptura, cum inquit, hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem Dei conditum esse (Genes. i. 27). Quod quid est aliud, nisi in homine hanc sapientiam et justitiam effigiatam esse, quæ Deum apprehenderet et in qua reluceret Deus, h. e. homini dona esse data notitiam Dei, timorem Dei, fiduciam erga Deum et similia? Comp. p. 52: Propriis viribus posse diligere Deum super omnia, facere præcepta Dei, quid aliud est quem habere justitiam originis? Comp. Form. Concord. p. 640.Confess. Basil. I. Art. 2: "Concerning man, we confess that he was at first created by God after the image of God's holiness and justice." (Gen. i. Eph. iv. 24. Gen. iii.) Conf. Helv. II. 8: Fuit homo ab initio a Deo conditus ad imaginem Dei, in justitia et sanctitate veritatis, bonus et rectus. Comp. Conf. Belg. Art. 14. Scotica 2. Gallic. 9. Cat. Heidelb. 6. Canon Dordrac. 3, 1 (where perhaps the strongest statements are made), and Form. Concord. 7.-Compare the definitions of the later Lutheran and Reformed theologians quoted by De Wette, Dogmatik, p. 91; e. g. Calov, iv. 392.... Eminebat cognitio primæva præ moderna quorumvis, sive Theologorum sive Philosophorum aliorumve sapientum, peritia et sapientia. Polanus, p. 2122: Homo integer recte cognoscebat Deum et opera Dei atque se ipsum, et sapienter intelligebat omnia simplicia, singularia et universalia eaque recte componebat aut dividebat et ex compositis absque errore ratiocinabatur.— Those theologians who adopted the theory of the covenants, supposed the status operum to have had place in this original state of man. Comp. De Wette, Dogmatik, p. 91.-Zwingle also included the possibility of sinning among the endowments of man's moral nature in his primitive estate. De Provid. Dei (Opera, iv. p. 139): Quanto magis omnium operum rarissimum homo non est miser, quantum ad genus attinet: hic enim quum intellectu