Chapter 107
After saying, "_I venture with a trembling step_," and that, "It was not from _choice_, but from _necessity_, that I entered thus upon this subject," he concludes:
"This extensive and interesting subject engrosses a considerable portion of this work, _and my anxiety to prepare the public mind to receive it_, my efforts to elucidate so _mysterious_ a point of theology, induces me to remind the candid reader, that visible traces of this doctrine are discovered, not only in the _three_ princ.i.p.als of the Chaldaic theology; in the _Triplasios_ Mithra of Persia; in the _Triad_, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, of India--where it was evidently promulgated in the Geeta, _fifteen hundred years before the birth of Plato_;[379:1] but in the Numen Triplex of j.a.pan; in the inscription upon the famous medal found in the deserts of Siberia, "To the Triune G.o.d," to be seen at this day in the valuable cabinet of the Empress, at St.
Petersburgh; in the Tanga-Tanga, or Three in One, of the South Americans; and, finally, without mentioning the vestiges of it in Greece, in the Symbol of the Wing, the Globe, and the Serpent, conspicuous on most of the ancient temples of Upper Egypt."[379:2]
It was a long time after the followers of Christ Jesus had made him _a_ G.o.d, before they ventured to declare that he was "_G.o.d himself in human form_," and, "_the second person in the Ever-Blessed Trinity_." It was _Justin Martyr, a Christian convert from the Platonic school_,[380:1]
who, about the middle of the second century, first promulgated the opinion, that Jesus of Nazareth, the "Son of G.o.d," was the second principle in the Deity, and the Creator of all material things. He is the earliest writer to whom the opinion can be traced. This knowledge, he does not ascribe to the Scriptures, but to the special favor of G.o.d.[380:2]
The pa.s.sage in I. John, v. 7, which reads thus: "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one," is _one of the numerous interpolations which were inserted into the books of the New Testament, many years after these books were written_.[380:3] These pa.s.sages are retained and circulated as the _word of G.o.d_, or as of equal authority with the rest, though known and admitted by the learned on all hands, to be forgeries, willful and wicked interpolations.
The subtle and profound questions concerning the nature, generation, the distinction, and the quality of the three divine persons of the mysterious triad, or Trinity, were agitated in the philosophical and in the Christian schools of _Alexandria in Egypt_,[380:4] but it was not a part of the established Christian faith until as late as A. D. 327, when the question was settled at the Councils of Nice and Constantinople. _Up to this time there was no understood and recognized doctrine on this high subject._ The Christians were for the most part accustomed to use scriptural expressions in speaking of the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit, without defining articulately their relation to one another.[380:5]
In these trinitarian controversies, which first broke out in Egypt--_Egypt, the land of Trinities_--the chief point in the discussion was to define the position of "the Son."
There lived in _Alexandria_ a presbyter of the name of _Arius_, a disappointed candidate for the office of bishop. He took the ground that there was a time when, from the very nature of _Sons.h.i.+p_, the Son did not exist, and a time at which he commenced to be, a.s.serting that it is the necessary condition of the filial relation _that a father must be older than his son_. But this a.s.sertion evidently denied the _co-eternity_ of the three persons of the Trinity, it suggested a _subordination_ or _inequality_ among them, and indeed implied a time when the Trinity did not exist. Hereupon, the bishop, who had been the successful compet.i.tor against Arius, displayed his rhetorical powers in public debates on the question, and, the strife spreading, the Jews and Pagans, who formed a very large portion
At first he looked upon the dispute as altogether frivolous, and perhaps in truth inclined to the a.s.sertion of Arius, that in the very nature of the thing a father must be older than his son. So great, however, was the pressure laid upon him, that he was eventually compelled to summon the Council of Nicea, which, to dispose of the conflict, set forth a formulary or creed, and attached to it this anathema:
"The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes those who say that there was a time when the Son of G.o.d was not, and that, before he was begotten, he was not, and that, he was made out of nothing, or out of another substance or essence, and is created, or changeable, or alterable."
Constantine at once _enforced_ the decision of the council by the civil power.[381:1]
Even after this "subtle and profound question" had been settled at the Council of Nice, those who settled it did not understand the question they had settled. Athanasius, who was a member of the first general council, and who is said to have written the _creed_ which bears his name, which a.s.serts that the true Catholic faith is this:
"That we wors.h.i.+p _One_ G.o.d as Trinity, and Trinity in Unity--neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance--for there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost, but the G.o.dhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost _is all one_, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal,"
--also confessed that whenever he forced his understanding to meditate on the divinity of the Logos, his toilsome and unavailing efforts recoiled on themselves; _that the more he thought the less he comprehended; and the more he wrote the less capable was he of expressing his thoughts_.[382:1]
We see, then, that this great question was settled, not by the consent of all members of the council, but simply because the _majority_ were in favor of it. Jesus of Nazareth was "G.o.d himself in human form;" "one of the persons of the Ever-Blessed Trinity," who "had no beginning, and will have no end," _because the majority of the members of this council said so_. Hereafter--so it was decreed--_all must believe it_; if not, they must not oppose it, but forever hold their peace.
The Emperor Theodosius declared his resolution of expelling from all the churches of his dominions, the bishops and their clergy who should obstinately refuse to believe, _or at least to profess_, the doctrine of the Council of Nice. His lieutenant, Sapor, was armed with the ample powers of a general law, a special commission, _and a military force_; and this ecclesiastical resolution was conducted _with so much discretion and vigor, that the religion of the Emperor was established_.[382:2]
Here we have the historical fact, that bishops of the Christian church, and their clergy, _were forced to profess their belief in the doctrine of the Trinity_.
We also find that:
"This orthodox Emperor (Theodosius) considered every heretic (as he called those who did not believe as he and his ecclesiastics professed) as a rebel against the supreme powers of heaven and of earth (he being one of the supreme powers of earth) _and each of the powers_ might exercise their peculiar jurisdiction _over the soul and body of the guilty_.
"The decrees of the Council of Constantinople had ascertained the _true_ standard of the faith, _and the ecclesiastics, who governed the conscience of Theodosius, suggested the most effectual methods of persecution_. In the s.p.a.ce of fifteen years he promulgated at least fifteen severe edicts against the heretics, _more especially against those who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity_."[382:3]
Thus we see one of the many reasons why the "most holy Christian religion" spread so rapidly.
Arius--who declared that in the nature of things a father must be older than his son--was excommunicated for his so-called heretical notions concerning the Trinity. His followers, who were very numerous, were called Arians. Their writings, if they had been permitted to exist,[383:1] would undoubtedly contain the lamentable story of the persecution which affected the church under the reign of the impious Emperor Theodosius.
FOOTNOTES:
[368:1] The celebrated pa.s.sage (I. John, v. 7) "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one," is now admitted on all hands to be an interpolation into the epistle many centuries after the time of Christ Jesus. (See Giles' Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. ii. p. 12.
Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 556. Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p.
886. Taylor's Diegesis and Reber's Christ of Paul.)
[368:2] That is, the _true_ faith.
[368:3] Dogma Deity Jesus Christ, p. 95.
[369:1] "The notion of a _Triad_ of Supreme Powers is indeed common to most ancient religions." (Prichard's Egyptian Mytho., p. 285.)
"Nearly all the Pagan nations of antiquity, in their various theological systems, acknowledged a trinity in the divine nature." (Maurice: Indian Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 35.)
"The ancients imagined that their _triad_ of G.o.ds or persons, only const.i.tuted one G.o.d." (Celtic Druids, p. 197.)
[369:2] The three attributes called Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, are indicated by letters corresponding to our A. U. M., generally p.r.o.nounced OM. This mystic word is never uttered except in prayer, and the sign which represents it in their temples is an object of profound adoration.
[369:3] Monier Williams' Indian Wisdom, p. 324.
[369:4] That is, the Lord and Saviour _Crishna_. The Supreme Spirit, in order to preserve the world, produced Vishnu. Vishnu came upon earth for this purpose, in the form of Crishna. He was believed to be an incarnation of the Supreme Being, one of the persons of their holy and mysterious trinity, to use their language, "The Lord and Savior--three persons and one G.o.d." In the Geita, Crishna is made to say: "I am the Lord of all created beings." "I am the mystic figure O. M." "I am Brahma Vishnu, and Siva, three G.o.ds in one."
[369:5] See The Heathen Religion, p. 124.
[370:1] Allen's India, pp. 382, 383.
[370:2] Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 272.
[371:1] Indian Antiquities, vol. iv. p. 372.
[371:2] Taken from Moore's "Hindoo Pantheon," plate 81.
[371:3] Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. pp. 285, 286. See also, King's Gnostics, 167.
[372:1] Davis' China, vol. ii. p. 104.
[372:2] Ibid. pp. 103 and 81.
[372:3] Ibid. pp. 105, 106.
[372:4] Ibid. pp. 103, 81.
[372:5] Ibid. 110, 111. Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 36. Dunlap's Spirit Hist., 150.
[372:6] Indian Antiquities, vol. v. p. 41. Dupuis, p. 285. Dunlap's Spirit Hist., 150.
[372:7] Indian Antiquities, vol. v. p. 41.
This Taou sect, according to John Francis Davis, and the Rev. Charles Gutzlaff, both of whom have resided in China--call their trinity "the three pure ones," or "the three precious ones in heaven." (See Davis'
China, vol. ii. p. 110, and Gutzlaff's Voyages, p. 307.)
[372:8] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 210.
[372:9] Ibid.