12 Thus Becker (Die bezauberte Welt, preface, p. 11, ss.), represented reason as preceding Scripture, but maintained that they did not contradict each other. "To say the truth, reason must precede Scripture, because Scripture presupposes reason; I mean sound reason, to which Scripture must prove its divine origin. Reason exists along with Scripture, speaking of things concerning which the latter is silent. Scripture exists along with reason, because it teaches us something very different, which does not belong to the province of reason. And, lastly, Scripture is, nevertheless, above reason, not as lord and master (for each has its respective office), but because it possesses greater dignity and larger means...... But at times it happens that they meet by the way, or have a meeting in some house, and thus assist each other; both remain, however, free, with this difference only, that reason, acknowledging its inferiority, always pays deference to Scripture."

Though Protestants were accustomed to consider both the Old and the New Testament as constituting the one norm of faith, it was natural that the material principle of faith, as seen in the evangelical doctrine of justification by faith, should exert a reaction upon the formal, and render necessary some kind of subordination of the Old Testament to the New (of the law to the gospel.) The symbolical books make a difference between the ceremonial and the moral law. The former had typical significance, and is already fulfilled; the latter partly shows us the nature of sin (as in a mirror), and partly is still of importance as a rule of life. Comp. Articles of Smalcald, Art. 2, p. 319; Apol. p. 83; Confess. Gallic. Art. 23; Belg. 25; Helv. II., c. 12, 13.—In reference to the Antinomian controversy (§ 217, note 7), started by John Agricola, of Eisleben, see the Formula Concordiæ, Art. 5 and 6 (de tertio usu legis).—But it can not well be said that the law and the gospel are identical, the one with the Old, the other with the New Testament; for the prophecies in the Old Testament partake of the nature of the gospel, while the New Testament contains moral precepts. See the preface of Luther to his translation of the New Testament, 1522. On this whole section, see Schenkel, i., 165 sq.

§ 244.

RELATION OF SCRIPTURE TO TRADITION.

Compare the works of Schmid and Gass, on Calixt, referred to in § 237. [Heinrich Julius Holtzmann, Kanon und Tradition, Ein Beitrag zur neueren Dogmengeschichte und Symbolik, Ludwigsburg, 1859. J. L. Jacobi, Lehre von der Tradition, i., Berl. 1847.]

With all its adherence to the authority of Scripture, Protestantism could not absolutely withdraw itself from the power of tradition.' For even the authority of Scripture rested upon the belief of the church. The whole historical development could not be ignored; and the reformers had no hesitation in respect to ecclesiastical usages in particular, to concede to tradition a certain normal, though only human, authority. But even in relation to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, Protestantism declared its agreement with the oldest creeds of the church, because it believed that the pure doctrine of Scripture was contained in them; yet without thinking it to be

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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.

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

2 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.

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* Thus the three oecumenical symbols, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene, and the Athanasian, were adopted by the Protestant church, 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.

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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 hisce symbolis, confessionibus et declarationibus comprehenduntur, e sacra Scriptura hausta sunt. other passages in Schmid, Dogmatik d. luth. Kirche, p. 124. Gass, p. 46 sq. [See also, Gieseler, Church Hist., New York ed. iv., § 52.]

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See

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 кρiτýpiα cognosci nequeat; auctoritatem sacr. litterarum aliunde non constare, nisi e testificatione ecclesiæ etc. Comp. Punct. 6-8.

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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, intellecta 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.

2 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 impressse 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.

3 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 " 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.