if an imperfect being have a clear and distinct conception of a perfect Being, this idea must come from without-must, in short, be put into his mind by that perfect Being.

Considerans deinde inter diversas ideas, quas apud se habet, unam esse entis summe intelligentis, summe potentis, et summe perfecti, quæ longe omnium præcipua est, agnoscit in ipsâ existentiam, non possibilem et contingentem tantum, quemadmodum in ideis aliarum omnium rerum, quas distincte percipit, sed omnino necessariam et æternam. Utque ex eo quod, exempli causâ, percipiat in ideâ trianguli necessario contineri tres angulos æquales esse duobus rectis, plane sibi persuadet triangulum tres angulos habere æquales duobus rectis; ita ex eo solo quod percipiat existentiam necessariam et æternam in entis summe perfecti ideâ contineri, plane concludere debet, ens summe perfectum existere. *

* *

When a man considers that among his several ideas there is the idea of a supremely intelligent, supremely powerful, supremely perfect Being, excelling all his other ideas, he acknowledges therein an existence not merely possible and contingent (as in his ideas of all other things that are clear and distinct), but an existence necessary and eternal. And as in the idea of a triangle, for instance, just because he perceives that it involves the equality of the three angles to two right angles, he feels at once assured that the triangle has three angles equal to two right angles ;-so, just because he perceives that necessary and eternal existence is involved in the idea of a supremely perfect Being, he ought to conclude at once that a supremely perfect Being exists.

*

* * Because we have within us the idea of God, or of a supreme Being, we have a right to inquire to what cause the idea is traceable; and we shall find therein such an immensity as will at once assure us that the idea cannot

Quia Dei, sive entis summi, ideam habemus in nobis, jure possumus examinare a quânam causâ illam habeamus; tantamque in illâ immensitatem inveniemus, ut plane ex eo certi simus, non posse illam nobis fuisse inditam, nisi a re in quâ sit reverâ omnium perfectionum complementum, hoc est nisi a Deo possibly be implanted within us (Principia by any other cause save that which is the complement of all

realiter existente.

Philosophia, i. 14.)

perfections, namely a really existent God. (See also his Discours de la Methode, pt. 4.)

There is surely an element of profound truth in this reasoning, and it is deeply instructive to find the dry light of Reason thus serving as a candle of the soul (Prov. xx. 27), lighting her in her search after God. But oh! how infinitely more of conviction and of comfort is there in St. Augustine's "percussisti cor meum!" On this surely, on this knowledge derived from communion, must we depend in our time of need!

CHAPTER II.

ON John x. 30—“’Eyw kai ỏ IIaτǹp év éoμev ”—St. Athanasius remarks

ἐν τῷ Εγώ, τὸν Υἱὸν σημαίνει· ἐν δέ τῷ Καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ, τὸν γεννήσαντα ἐν δὲ τῷ Εν, τήν μίαν θεότητα καὶ Tò ¿μοοúσιov AŮTOû.—Contra Arianos, iv. 9.

In the word "I" Scripture indicates the Son; in the words “ And the Father,” Him that begat; and in the word "One" (neuter gender), the one Godhead and consubstantiality.

On John xvii. 21, and xiv. 10—“’Eyw ¿v tŵ Harpì kal ỏ Пaтnρ év éμol-St. Athanasius remarks

οὕτω γάρ ἐστι νῦν, ὥσπερ ἦν ἀεί. For He is now as He ever Εἰ δὲ οὕτω νῦν ἐστιν, ὥσπερ ἦν ἀεί, δῆλον ὅτι οὐ ποτὲ μὲν ἐγεννᾶτο, ποτὲ δὲ οὔ· οὐδὲ ποτὲ μὲν ἐν Θεῷ ἡσυχία ἦν, ποτὲ δὲ ἐλάλει. ἀλλ ̓ ἔστιν ἀεὶ Πατὴρ, καὶ Υἱὸς ὁ τούτου Λόγος, οὐκ ὀνόματι μόνον Λόγος, οὐδὲ κατ ̓ ἐπίνοιαν Υἱὸς ὁ Λόγος, ἀλλ' ὑπάρχων ὁμοούσιος τῷ Πατρί... οὐ δι' ἡμᾶς γεννηθεὶς, ἡμεῖς γὰρ δι' ÉKEîvov yeɣóvaμev.-Contra Ar. iv. 12.

was. And if He is now as He ever was, then plainly we must not speak of a time when He was begotten, and of a time when He was not ; nor yet of a time when there was silence in God, and of a time when He was speaking. But there is from all eternity a Father, and from all eternity a Son who is His Word, -not merely God's Word in name, nor merely His Son as so conceived by us; but being from all eternity consubstantial with the Father; not begotten for our sakes, for it is we who for His sake have been created.

Apollinaris said that Christ's human nature was as completely merged in His Divine nature, as a drop of wine would be lost in the ocean :”—Gregory of Nyssa has a passage so nearly approaching to this heresy that Hooker is unwilling to believe that it was really penned by the great Cappadocian. See Eccles. Pol. v. 53, § 2; and Greg. Nyss., Adv. Apoll. ad Theoph. (ii. 1276, Ed. Migne).

It may be useful to the student to give the three Creeds or Symbols of the Church in their original language.

First we have the Symbol called the Apostles' Creed. "The form most nearly corresponding to that now called the Apostles' Creed was the creed of the Church of Rome; though even that creed lacked three clauses "-(the Descent into Hell, the Communion of Saints, and the Life Everlasting). “And it is an opinion, not without great probability, that the reason why it was called the Apostles' Creed was, that the Church of Rome, being the only Church in the West which could undeniably claim an Apostle for its founder, its see was called the Apostolic See, and hence its creed was called the Apostolic Creed."-Bishop Harold Browne on the XXXIX. Articles.

The earliest appearance of the Symbolum or Collatio Apostolorum in its present form is in the 115th of the Sermones de Tempore, attributed to St. Augustine, now numbered CCXLI. in the Appendix to his Sermons :—

"Credo in Deum Patrem Omnipotentem: Creatorem cœli et terræ: Credo et in Jesum Christum Filium ejus unicum Dominum nostrum: Qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Mariâ virgine: Passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus et sepultus: Descendit ad inferna, tertiâ die resurrexit a mortuis: Ascendit ad cœlos, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis: Inde venturus judicare vivos et mortuos : Credo et in Spiritum Sanctum : Sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam, Sanctorum communionem: Remissionem peccatorum: Carnis resurrectionem : Vitam æternam.”

Πιστεύω εἰς τὸν Θεὸν Πατέρα παντοκράτορα ποιητὴν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, καὶ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν,

τὸν συλληφθέντα ἐκ Πνεύματος ̔Αγίου, γεννηθέντα ἐκ Μαρίας τῆς παρ θένου, παθόντα ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου, σταυρωθέντα, θανόντα, καὶ ταφέντα, κατελθόντα εἰς ᾅδου, τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀναστάντα ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν, ἀνελθόντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς, καθεζόμενον ἐν δέξιᾷ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς παντοδυνάμου, ἐκεῖθεν ἐρχόμενον κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς. Πιστεύω εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ "Αγιον, ἁγίαν καθολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν, ἁγίων κοινωνίαν, ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν, σαρκὸς ἀνάστασιν, ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Αμήν.

The Creed drawn up at, or soon after, the Council of Nicæa, was as follows, omitting the clauses within brackets, which were added at the Council of Constantinople :—

Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα Θεόν, Πατέρα παντοκράτορα, ποιητὴν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, ὁρατῶν τε πάντων καὶ ἀοράτων. Καὶ εἰς ἕνα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Οεοῦ μονογενῆ, [τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς γεννηθέντα πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων· ] φὼς ἐκ φώτος, Θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ. γεννηθέντα, οὐ ποιηθέντα, ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί· δι ̓ οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο, τὸν δι' ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν, κατελθόντα ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ σαρκωθέντα [ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου,] καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσαντα· [σταυρωθέντα τε ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου,] καὶ παθόντα, [καὶ ταφέντα,] καὶ ἀναστάντα τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ κατὰ τὰς γραφάς και ἀνελθόντα εἰς τοὺς οὐράνους, [καὶ καθεζόμενον ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ Πατρὸς,] καὶ πάλιν ἐρχόμενον μετὰ δοξῆς κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς [οὗ τῆς βασιλείας οὐκ ἔσται τέλος.] Καὶ εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, [τό Κύριον, καὶ τὸ ζωοποιὸν, τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον, τὸ σὺν Πατρὶ καὶ Υἱῷ συμπροσκυνούμενον, καὶ συνδοξαζόμενον, τὸ λαλῆσαν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν. Εἰς μίαν ἁγίαν καθολικὴν καὶ ἀποστολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν ὁμολογοῦμεν ἓν βάπτισμα εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν, προσδοκῶμεν ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν καὶ ζωὴν τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος.] 'Αμήν.

The ATHANASIAN Creed is believed by Waterland (Hist.of Ath. Creed, Works, vol. iv.) to have been composed by Hilary of Arles between the years 420 and 431. He argues that the Creed must have been written after the Apollinarian heresy had risen to a head (A.D. 370), because it is pointedly condemned in the 30th verse, and was probably written after the publication of St. Augustine's Books on the Trinity (A.D. 416), from similarity of phrases, and the plain assertion of the Doctrine of the Spirit's procession from the Son, which St. Augustine's treatise first incorporated into the Creed of

the Western Church. Waterland is equally confident that it cannot have been written later than 431, because it contains no pointed condemnation of Nestorianism (which the Council of Ephesus met to consider in A.D. 431); nor of Eutychianism (condemned by the Council of Chalcedon A.D. 451). Indeed had there been any danger of Eutychianism when the Creed was written, the 34th and 35th verses would have been still more carefully worded. The Creed was originally written in Latin. The difficulty which modern readers find in what are called (or rather miscalled) 1 the "damnatory clauses," seems to be entirely due to the change in the meaning of words, especially "salvus" and servare fidem." "Salvus" is clearly equivalent to the word owcóμevos in the New Testament, meaning one who is in a present state of salvation-one who has been admitted by baptism into the Ark of Christ's Church. The first verse plainly declares that none can be so admitted unless he accept the faith of the Church. Clearly "salvus" should be translated by an adjective not by a participle. "Servare fidem" is no less clearly equivalent to the phrase τηpeîv тǹv TiσTw, as used by St. Paul in 2 Tim. iv. 7—“ I have lived a life consistent with my faith,”—a meaning which I Tim. v. 8 strongly confirms.

66

The Creed is as follows. In a few places, indicated by Italics, a translation still closer to the original than that of our Prayer-book will be suggested :—

1. Quicunque vult salvus esse, ante omnia opus est ut teneat Catholicam fidem.

2. Quam nisi quisque integram inviolatamque servaverit,

Whoever desireth to be safe, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.

Which faith except each one keep in integrity and purity,2

1 The really "damnatory clause" of the Creed is the 39th. 2 From the analogy of 2 Tim. iv. 7, and 1 Tim. v. 8, it would seem that "6 integram inviolatamque," like “servare fidem," has a moral meaning: undefiled by a bad life. See Bishop Cotton's deeply interesting remarks in his Charge of 1863.

S