intention. Origen (as Schleiermacher in later times) sees in what is called reprobatio, only a longer delay of the grace of God. As a physician often employs those remedies which at first apparently produce bad effects, but heal the disease (homeopathically ?) radically, instead of using such as effect a speedy cure, so God acts in his long suffering for men; he prepares their souls not only for the span of this short life, but for eternity, ibid. p. 121. (Redep. p. 26.) He adduces a similar illustration from the husbandman (after Matth. xiii. 8), and then goes on, p. 123: "ATεiроι yàp ηuiv, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, αἱ ψυχαί, καὶ ἄπειρα τὰ τούτων ἤθη καὶ πλεῖστα ὅσα τὰ κινήματα καὶ αἱ προθέσεις καὶ αἱ ἐπιβολαὶ καὶ αἱ ὁρμαι, ὧν εἰς μόνος οἰκονόμος ἄριστος, καὶ τοὺς καιροὺς ἐπιστάμενος, καὶ τὰ ἀρμόζοντα βοηθήματα καὶ τὰς ἀγωγὰς καὶ τὰς ὁδοὺς, ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς καὶ πατήρ. See ibid. the interpretation of Ezek. xi. 19, and other passages. On the connection between Origen's doctrine of predestination and his doctrine of the preexistence of the soul, comp. De Princ. ii. 9, 7 (Opp. i. p. 99); Red. p. 220), in reference to Jacob and Esau. Origen also held, like the other fathers prior to the time of Augustine, that predestination was dependent on foreknowledge, Philoc. c. 25, on Rom. viii, 28, 29 (quoted by Münscher, edit. by Von Cölln, i. p. 369). “All the fathers of this period agree that God so far predestines men to blessedness or condemnation, as he foresees their free acts, by which they are made worthy of reward or punishment; but the foreseeing these acts is not the cause of them, but the acts are the cause [ground] of the foreknowledge." Gieseler, Dogmengesch. p. 212.

FIFTH DIVISION.

THE CHURCH AND ITS MEANS OF GRACE.

§ 71.

THE CHURCH.

Henke, H. Th. C., Historia antiquior Dogmatis de Unitate Ecclesiæ. Helmst. 1781. +Möhler, die Einheit der Kirche. Tüb. 1825. *Rothe, Rich., die Entwicklung des Begriffs der Kirche in ihrem ersten Stadium. (The third book of his work: die Anfänge der christlichen Kirche und ihrer Verfassung. Wittenb. 1837, i. vol.) Gess, die Einheit der Kirche im Sinne Cyprians (in Studien der evangelischen Geistlichkeit Würtembergs. Stuttgart, 1838, ii. 1, p. 147). Huther, Cyprian, comp. § 26, note 9. Schenkel, see § 30. In reference to Rothe's work: Petersen, A., die Idee der christlichen Kirche. Lpzg. 1839-44, 3 vols. 8. Jul. Müller, Die unsichtbare Kirche (in the Deutsche Zeitschrift f. chr. Wiss. 1850, No. 2). J. Köstlin, Die katholische Auffassung von d. Kirche (ibid. 1855, Nos. 33, 46, 1856, No. 12). Münchmeier, von der sichtbaren und unsichtbaren Kirche, Götting. 1854. [Arthur Litton, The Church in its Idea, etc., Lond. 1851. Scherer, Esquisse d'une Theorie de l'Eglise chrétienne, 1844. W. Palmer, Treatise on the Church, Am. ed. 2, 1841. On Cyprian's view, Nevin in Mercersb. Rev. 1852, three articles. Th. Kliefoth, Acht Bücher von d. Kirche, 1854, sq. Hauber in Herzog's Realencyclop. Bd. vii. Ritschl, Die Begriffe sichtbare und unsichtbare Kirche, in Stud. und Krit. 1859, reviewing Münchmeier. J. H. Friedlieb, Schrift, Tradition, etc., Breslau, 1854. Thos. Greenwood, Cathedra Petri, 4 vols. Lond. 1856-60. Bishop Kaye, Government and Discipline of the Church in the First Three Centuries, Lond. 1855. F. C. Baur, Das Christenthum d. drei ersten Jahrh. 1860, p. 239, 8q.]

A holy Catholic Christian church, which is the communion of saints, was the expression used in the Christian confession of faith to denote the feeling of Christian fellowship which prevailed in the primitive church, though no exact definitions concerning the nature of the church are found previous to the time of Cyprian.' Among the many images under which the church was represented, none was so frequently employed as that of a mother, or of Noah's ark. The fathers uniformly asserted, both in opposition to heretics, and to all who were not Christians, that there is no salvation out of the church, but that all the fullness of the Divine grace is to be found in it.' Clement of Alexandria, too, and Cyprian, yet more emphatically and in a realistic sense, gave prominence to the unity of the church." The definitions of the latter make an epoch in the history of this

* This strongly defined church feeling is very marked in the writings of Irenæus.

doctrine. But he did not sufficiently distinguish between the his torico-empirical, visible existence of the church (its body), and the idea of a church which is above the change of mere forms, and which is ever strugging for a complete expression of its essence. This is shown in the Novatian controversy. Thus it happened that the apostolic Christian doctrine of a universal priesthood was more and more superseded by the hierarchical aspirations of the bishops, and the internal was converted into the external. The false idealism of the Gnostics, and the subjective, heretical, and schismatical tendencies of separate sects, especially of the Montanists and the followers of Novatian (the primitive Puritans), form a striking contrast with this false external unity of the Catholic church."

"The general character of the earlier period (previous to the time of Cyprian) is that of abstract indefiniteness. What the theologians of this period say concerning the nature of the church is so frequently void of clearness and precision, that it is almost impossible fully to ascertain their real sentiments on this point; it is not uncommon to see the same fathers evading, or even rejecting, consequences which necessarily follow from their generas reasonings. They thus evince a fickleness (?) which prevents us from forming any decided and certain opinion as to their ideas of the nature of the church." Rothe, 1. c. p. 575, abridged.

T:

"On the term έkkλŋoía in general (corresponding to the Hebrew in bp, ng,p) Matt. xvi. 18, xviii. 17; 1 Cor. x. 32; Eph. i. 22; Col. i. 18, 24; comp. Suicer, Thes. sub voce; Rothe, p. 74, ss.; and the anonymous work, Zukunft d. evang. Kirche, Leipz. 1849, p. 42: "The solemn and emphatic meaning of the words, called, calling (Kaλeiv, kλñois, kàŋtoi), which sound out to us from all parts of the writings of the New Testament, may have essentially contributed in lending to the word ecclesia, formed from the same root, its significance, as designating the whole company of the clect, the called." The phrase έKKλŋoíα кałoλɩký first occurs in the inscription of the Ep. Smyrn. de mart. Polycarpi about the year 169 (Eus. iv. 15). Comp. Ign. ad Smyrn. 8 : "Ωσπερ ὅπου ἂν ᾖ Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς, ἐκεῖ ἡ καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία. How great an importance the fathers were accustomed to attribute to the church, may be seen from Irenæus, Adv. Hær. iii. 4, 1, and iii. 24, (40). The church alone contains all the riches of truth: out of her there are nothing but thieves and robbers, pools with foul water: Ubi enim ecclesia, ibi et spiritus Dei, ubi spiritus Dei, illic ecclesia et omnis gratia (comp. Huther, 1. c. p. 4, 5); iv. 31, 3, where the pillar of salt into which the wife of Lot was transformed, represents the imperishability of the church; and other passages (comp. § 34, notes 1 and 2). Clement of Alexandria derives the term and the idea of ekkλŋoía from the elect forming a society, Coh. p. 69, and Pad. i. 6, p. 114: 'Ως γὰρ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ἔργον ἐστὶ καὶ τοῦτο Κόσμος ὀνομάζεται· οὕτως καὶ τὸ βούλημα αὐτοῦ ἀνθρώπων ἐστὶ σωτηρία, καὶ τοῦτο Ἐκκλησία κέκληται· οἶδεν οὖν οὓς κέκληκεν, οὓς σέσωκεν. Comp. Strom. vii. 5, p. 846 : Οὐ γὰρ νῦν τὸν τόπον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἄθροισμα τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν 'Ekkλŋoίav kaλd K. T. λ. Clement describes the church as a mother, Pæd.

i. 5, p. 110; and as both a mother and a virgin, c. 6, p. 123; in speaking of this subject in other places he indulges in allegories, p. 111, ss. The church is the body of the Lord, Strom. vii. 14, p. 885; comp. p. 899, 900 (765 Sylb.). Though Clement asserts that only the true Gnostics (oi Ev Tã ¿στημn) form the church, yet he does not so much contrast with them those who have only faith, as the heretics who have only opinions (oinois), and the heathen who live in total ignorance (äyvota), Strom. vii. 16, p. 894, (760 Sylb.). Origen also, though, generally speaking, he judges mildly of heretical or sectarian opinions (Contra Cels. iii. § 10-13), knows of no salvation out of the church, Hom. iii. in Josuam (Opp. ii. p. 404): Nemo semetipsum decipiat, extra hanc domum, i. e. extra ecclesiam nemo salvetur, and Selecta in Iob. ibid. iii. p. 501, 502. Yet with him every thing turns upon a living union with Christ: Christus est lux vera

. ex cujus lumine illuminata ecclesia etiam ipsa lux mundi efficitur, illuminans eos qui in tenebris sunt: sicut et ipse Christus contestatur discipulis suis, dicens: Vos estis lux mundi; ex quo ostenditur, quia Christus quidem lux est Apostolorum, Apostoli vero lux mundi. Ipsi enim sunt non habentes maculam vel rugam aut aliquid hujuscemodi vera ecclesia (Hom. i in Gen. Opp. i. p. 54). Consequently, a distinction between the true and the false church! As to the views of Tertullian, we must make a distinction between those which he held prior, and those which he entertained subsequent to his conversion to Montanism. Comp. Neander, Antign. p. 264, ss. The principal passages relative to his early opinions are: De Præscript. c. 21, ss. 32, 35; De Bapt. c. 8; De Orat. c. 2, where the above figures about the ark of Noah, and the mother, are carried out at length (see Münscher, ed. by von Cölln, i. p. 70). So, too, Cyprian, Ep. 4, p. 9: Neque enim vivere foris possunt, cum domus Dei una sit, et nemini salus esse, nisi in ecclesia possit. He, too, adduces a profusion of similar images. Comp. note 3.

"The common opinion, that the proposition: quod extra ecclesia nulla salus, or: de ecclesia, extra quam nemo potest esse salvus, was for the first time laid down by Augustine, in the fourth century, in the Donatist controversy, is incorrect. It was only the necessary consequence and application of earlier principles, and was distinctly implied in the form which the doctrine of the church had assumed since the time of Irenæus. Hence we find in the writings of the latter many allusions to it, though he does not make use of this formula of terror." Marheineke (in Daub und Creuzers Studien, iii. p. 187).

On the unity of the church, see Clem. Al. Pæd. i. 4, p. 103; c. 6, p. 123 : "Ω θαύματος μυστικοῦ· εἰς μὲν ὁ τῶν ὅλων πατήρ εἰς δὲ καὶ ὁ τῶν ὅλων λόγος· καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πανταχοῦ· μία δὲ μόνη yíveтaι μýτηp taρłévos K. T. λ. Strom. i. 18, p. 375, vii. 6, p. 848, and other passsages. Concerning the opinion of Tertull. comp. the passages before cited. Cyprian wrote a separate work on the doctrine of the unity of the church about the year 251: De Unitate Ecclesiæ, with which, however, several of his extant letters (see note 4) should be compared. He adds some new images to those used by Tertullian, as illustrative of this unity: the sun which breaks into many rays; the tree with its many branches, and the one power in the tough root; the one source which gives rise to many brooks: Avelle radium solis a corpore, divisionem lucis unitas non capit: ab

arbore frange ramum, fractus germinare non poterit; a fonte præcide rivum, præcisus arescet. Sic ecclesia Domini luce perfusa per orbem totum radios suos porrigit, etc. He also carries out at great length the image of the one mother: Illius foetu nascimur, illius lacte nutrimur, spiritu ejus animamur. He who has not the church for his mother, has no longer God for his father (De Unit. Eccles. 5, 6). After the analogy of the Old Test. faithlessness toward the church is compared to adultery. The Trinity itself is an image of the unity of the church (comp. Clement, 1. c.); also the coat of Christ which could not be rent, the passover which must be eaten in one house; the one dove in Solomon's Song; the house of Rahab which was alone preserved, etc. Quite in consistence with such notions, but harshly, he maintains, that martyrdom out of the church, so far from being meritorious, is rather an aggravation of sin: Esse martyr non potest, qui in ecclesia non est.... Occidi talis potest, coronari non potest, etc. Comp. Rettb. 241, ss., p. 355, ss., p. 867, ss. Huther, p. 52-59. (Comp. the passages quoted by Münscher, 1. c. p. 70, ss.)

* If the genuineness of the epistles of Ignatius (even of the shorter recension) were fully established, they would prove beyond all dispute that submission to the bishops was considered as a doctrine of the church at a very early period. Comp. Ep. ad Smyrn. c. 8: Пávтes T Étiokóty ȧkoλovlette, ὡς Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς τῷ πατρί, etc., ad Polyc. c. 6 : Τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ προσέχετε, ἵνα καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ὑμῖν; ad Eph. c. 4: [Πρέπει ὑμῖν συντρέχειν τῆ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου γνώμῃ, ὅπερ καὶ ποιεῖτε. Τὸ γὰρ ἀξιονόμαστον ὑμῶν πρεσβυτέριον, τοῦ θεοῦ ἄξιον, οὕτως συνήρμοσται τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ, ὡς χορδαὶ κιθάρα.] ad Magn. c. 6; ad Philad. c. 7; ad Trall. c. 2: ['Avaykaĩov ovv čOTIV...ÄVEV τοῦ ἐπισκόπου μηδὲν πράσσειν ὑμᾶς, ἀλλ' ὑποτάσσασθε καὶ τῷ πρεσβυτε píw.] Comp. Rothe, p. 445, ss., and Bunsen, p. 93. Iren. iii. 14, iv. 26, (43), v. 20. On the succession of the bishops: iii. 3 (primacy of the Romish church); comp. with it Neander, Church Hist. (Torrey), i. 204. [Gieseler, i. 150, note 10; Kuhn (R. C.) in Theol. Quartalschrift, 1858, p. 205.] Though Tertullian at first appeared willing, De Præscr. c. 32, to concede to the church of Rome the precedence over other churches, yet, after his conversion to Montanism, he combatted the pretensions of the Romish bishops, De Pud. 21; he there alludes particularly to the words of Christ addressed to Peter: dabo tibi claves ecclesiæ-and maintains that the word tibi refers to Peter alone, and not to the bishops. He supposed that the spirituallyminded (TVεvμаTIKоi) were the successors of Peter, and distinguished between the ecclesia spiritus per spiritales homines (in which the Trinity dwells), and that ecclesia, which is composed of the sum total of the bishops (numerus episcoporum). On this ground (but not in the purely apostolic sense) he defended the idea of a spiritual priesthood. Neander, Antignosticus, p. 258-59, and p. 272. On the contrary, Cyprian conceives that the true priestly dignity is expressed in the episcopal power itself (not indeed in that of the Romish bishops exclusively, but in that of all the bishops collectively, which he views in its solidarity, as if it were one man), and thinks that the unity of the church is represented by the successors of the apostles; so that he who is not with the bishops, is not with the church. Comp. especially the following epistles: 45, 52. 55, 61, 66, 67, 69, 74, 76 (c. 2).