Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

First. By the irrefragable argument of prescription, after this manner: When, a few years ago, the Unitarians set up their new system, by which they deny the fundamental doctrines of christianity, they found the whole christian world in the possession and uniform belief of the said doctrines. If, from our time, we gradually remount from age to age, till we arrive at the very establishment of the church, we find, in every age, exactly the same uniform belief; therefore, we conclude that, that constant, that uniform, that universal belief was derived from the Apostles; therefore, it contains the true and genuine meaning of the scriptures, respecting the said doctrines; therefore, the doctrine of the Unitarians, a doctrine not yet as old as I myself am, and diametrically opposite to that constant and uniform belief of all christendom, cannot be conformable to the Scriptures.

This reasoning is in perfect unison with the celebrated rule of St. Augustine-a rule founded on the common sense of mankind: "That, which the whole church holds or practises, and which has not been instituted or introduced, either by some Pontiff or council, must be considered as descending from Apostolical tradition: "* which perfectly coincides with this other maxim of Vincent of Lerins, "What has been believed in every place, in every age, and by all, is incontrovertibly catholic doctrine." And, indeed, reason dictates, that a doctrine which is common to all christian nations, which embraces all times and all countries, must have had a common origin; and that it cannot be traced, but to the founders of christianity itself, the Apostles of Jesus Christ. For, as this doctrine is coeval with the christian era, it cannot have had an author posterior to the Apostolic age; and, as it is universal all over the christian world, it must have had an universal source, viz. the preaching of the Apostles, all over the

* "Quod universa tenet ecclesia, nec conciliis institutum, sed semper retentum est, non nisi auctoritate Apostolica traditum rectissime creditur." St. Aug. de Bapt. cont. donat. lib. 4, cap. 24.

+"Quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est, hoc est vere proprieque Catholicum." St. Vincent. Lyrin. Commonit.

globe. Hence, it evidently follows, that the present uniform belief of all christians, touching Original Sin, the mysteries of the Trinity, of the Incarnation, of the Redemption of mankind, comes down to us in a lineal descent from the Apostles, and through them from Christ himself. This being a decisive point in the famous controversy, in which the church of God is engaged with our Unitarian friends, I beg leave to set this argument in a still clearer point of view.

[ocr errors]

Christ charged his Apostles with this solemn commission: Go ye into the whole world, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."--Math. xxviii. They had been instructed by their divine Master in all the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, the church,* and of the scriptures, whilst with him during his mortal life; and, after his resurrection, he gave them a full knowledge of what they did not understand of his divine discourses; for St. Luke informs us, "that he opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures❞— St. Luke, xxiv. 45. On the other hand, the Apostles faithfully discharged the high trust committed to them: they, therefore, instructed their hearers, that is to say, the christians of the first age of the church, in the true meaning which Christ our Lord had attached to his own words. They did so, especially, with regard to the fundamental points of his gospel; such as the mysteries of the Trinity, and the Divinity of Christ. The Apostles, therefore, clearly explained to their primitive converts, whether their divine Master understood by these words, "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," three distinct subsisting persons in God; and whether, of course, they were to be worshipped as true God or not: whether Jesus Christ was no more than a mere creature, or whether he was true God and true man, and so on. Had the Apostles not done this, they would manifestly have been deficient in the discharge of their divine commission; they would have exposed their own and all future

* "Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given." Matt. xiii. 7.

Now, let me ask, under consideraoracles of their diNo other, unques

generations to the danger of going astray about the very object of their worship; to the danger of a monstrous idolatry, in adoring three persons in God, instead of one; or a mere man, in Jesus Christ, instead of a God. The Apostles, of course, explained to the primitive christians the true meaning of those passages; which the christians of the present and past ages, have invariably understood to imply, the mysteries of the Trinity, of the Divinity of Christ, of Original Sin, &c. &c.; and which our Unitarian friends labour so hard to force into the service of their new system. how did the Apostles explain the passages tion? What meaning did they affix to the vine Master, and to their own writings? tionably, than that which was delivered by the first generation of christianity, to the succeeding ages; and which, was thus uniformly and invariably handed down to the present time. Now, I ask again, what meaning of the scriptures, respecting the above doctrines, did the Apostolic age transmit to the succeeding generations? It can be no other than that, in which the christian world, at all times to this very day, has understood the said scriptures; no other than that which imports the dogma of Original Sin, the mysteries of the Trinity, of the Divinity of Christ, &c. The inference, therefore, is ine vitable christians have the true meaning of the scriptures, in this respect; because they have the meaning given by the Apos tles. This sense of the scriptures, thus determined and delivered by the college of the Apostles to the church formed by them, is infallibly correct-is a revealed truth: not only because the Apostles, as all must grant, could not err in the interpretation of the scriptures, but also because, whilst they were explaining and delivering the true sense of the sacred writings, the Lord confirmed their preaching by wonders and prodigies, and thus stamped upon it the seal of his divine veracity and approbation. The doctrines, therefore, of the Trinity, Divinity of Christ, &c. uniformly believed and maintained to this present day, by all christendom, are divine doctrines-doctrines delivered by infallible interpreters, and

sanctioned as such by Heaven. Whence, it further follows, that, as two opposite doctrines or meanings cannot be both true, the Unitarian meaning or doctrine, diametrically opposite to the meaning given by the Apostles, cannot be true, and that Unitarians explain the scriptures, in this regard, in a sense directly opposite to that in which the Apostles explained it. From the unanswerable force of this argument, christians have a well-established right to reject the Unitarian explanation of the scriptures, even without examining or refuting it in detail, as an illegitimate and profane novelty, for this plain reason, that it contradicts the interpretation of the Apostles. And, indeed, may not the christians of our age, address our Unitarian friends in the same dignified language, in which the true believers of the second century addressed the innovators of their time?" Who are you? when and whence did you come? what are you, strangers, doing on my property? by what right, Marcion, do you cut down my woods? by what right, Valentin, do you disturb my fountains? by what privilege do you remove my boundaries, Apelles? The possession is mine-why do you sow here and pasture at your pleasure? The possession is mine-I am the old possessor, I am the first possessor, I have the sources, uncorrupted, from the persons themselves from whom the estate was originally derived; I am the heir of the Apostles; according to the provisions of their will, according to their charge of its execution, according to the solemnity of their oath, I claim the right of my inheritance."* In a word, our Unitarian friends come eighteen hundred years too late to teach us the true meaning of the scriptures; this meaning has been given by the very founders of the church of God, and sanctioned by Heaven; for of them

*Tertull. lib. præser, cap, 37. "Qui estis? quando et unde venistis? quid in meo agitis non mei? Quo denique, Marcion, jure sylvam meam cœdis? qua licentia, Valentine, fontes meos transvertis? qua potestate, Apelles, limites meos commoves? Mea est possessio: quid hic cœteri ad voluntatem vesfranı seminatis et pascitis? Mea est possessio: olim possideo, prier possideo, habeo origines firmas, ab ipsis auctoribus quorum fuit res, Ego sum hæres Apostolorum. Sicut caverunt testamento suo, sicut fidei commisserunt, sicut adjuraverunt, ita tepeo,"

we read, "But they going forth, preached every where, the Lord co-operating with them, and confirming the word with signs that followed.-St. Marc, ult. verse ult.

The meaning given by the disciples of Christ to the scripture passages relative to our controverted doctrines, is in direct contradiction to the Unitarian doctrines. That this is actually the case, is a public, solemn, and interesting fact, a fact which is substantiated by the present universal belief of all Christian churches all over the globe, however divided they may be in other doctrinal points among themselves; next, by the concurrent testimony of all preceding ages down to Christ; by the writings of the first apologists of Christianity; by the unanimous evidence of the primitive fathers of the church; by the solemn decisions made in eighteen Ecumenic Synods, held for the space of eighteen centuries; by even the universal practice, ceremonies, and public worship of the church. A fact of this description is indisputably true, or else there is no truth at all in the annals of history. An attempt, therefore, to overturn this fact by a bold tone of assurance, by vague declamation, by metaphysical quibbles, by suppressing, transposing, or substituting one preposition or pronoun for another in the same text, contrary to all the editions extant, by changing the adjective to the substantive, by altering the punctuation at pleasure, by cruelly torturing the text till it submit to speak whatever our Unitarian friends wish it to declare; in fine, by unmercifully cutting off from the body of the scriptures, or rendering doubtful such passages as are too hard a bone even for the free and independent interpretation of our opponents, such an attempt, I say, is a desperate measure, which sound criticism may smile at or scorn, but from which it has nothing to fear.

LXIII. Secondly. Next Christians support their assertion by witnesses. But what witnesses? Witnesses the most unexceptionable, the most respectable, and the most respected, in all ages, and in all countries; witnesses of the highest moral probity, of known integrity, of unparalleled wisdom, and moreover the best qualified to give evidence on

« PoprzedniaDalej »