"1

three-fold; for "Jehovah is One, and His Name one," -but that whatever is connoted by the Name 'God' (Jehovah) is shared in and is possessed equally (for the Godhead is not subject to partition or division) by the 'Father,' by the 'Son' and by the 'Holy Ghost.'

Before we attempt to analyze the Trinitarian teaching of the Quicunque Vult, a few words may be permitted by way of comparison as between the Nicene' Creed and the Quicunque. The 'Nicene' Creed is the product of a theological development extending over several generations. As to its origin, it seems probable that it was derived, in part at least, from the local Creed of the Church at Jerusalem; with the addition of certain phrases taken from other sources; such as, for example, the characteristic Nicene doctrinal phrases, 'begotten, not made,' 'being of one essence (oμoovσios) with the Father.' That is to say, this Creed, while in its final form ecumenical, represents an outgrowth from an original Baptismal Creed of an ancient and venerated Church. The 'Apostles' Creed, as is well known, is representative of the group of Western Baptismal creeds in all probability its origin is ultimately to be found in the ancient Creed of the Church at Rome. Moreover, it was not employed, as was the original formula of Nicæa (of 325 A. D.) as an ecumenical 1 Zech. xiv. 9.

2 For the history of the 'Nicene' Creed in respect to its documentary origin, see Dr. Hort's Two Dissertations, published in 1876; and compare a brief but careful review of the evidence in Bp. Gibson's The Three Creeds, pp. 169–174 (Note C., On the Origin of the Enlarged 'Nicene' Creed).

test of orthodoxy. But when we turn to the Quicunque Vult, we find in it not a Baptismal symbol at all, like the original Creeds (whether Eastern or Western), but rather a formula of doctrinal orthodoxy, divided into two chapters, of which the first deals with the doctrine of the Holy Trinity; the second with the doctrine of the Incarnation.1

The bond of union with Almighty God, as set forth in the Quicunque Vult is, in the first place, intellectual orthodoxy, rather than the Divine Covenant established with us in Baptism. The 'one baptism for the remission of sins' is not mentioned in the Quicunque Vult, nor is 'the Holy Catholic Church; the communion of saints,' although of course these may be said to be necessarily implied. The Quicunque Vult in fact ushers in the age of dogmatic and militant Catholicism; it does not belong to the age of primitive

3

1 It may have been for this reason (in part at least) that the Quicunque was not included by the American Episcopal Church in her enumeration of the Creeds.

2 This is evident from the opening words of this formula, "Whosoever willeth to be saved, it is before all things necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith . . .”

3 It is also to be noted that the relation of the Divine Being to creation (i. e., to the created universe) is set forth in the Quicunque Vult from the negative rather than from the positive side. In distinction from the creature, the Divine Being is 'uncreated,' 'infinite' and 'eternal.' The positive relation in which Almighty God stands to the universe, as being its Creator, both in the sense of original Source and efficient Cause, is passed over entirely. In contrast to this, note the language of the Eastern (Greek) Creeds, quoted in Appendix I.

catholicity. Yet there is a majestic and awe-inspiring ring in the great clauses which ascribe to Each of the three Divine 'Persons' the attributes and titles of absolute Godhead. The Quicunque Vult may, indeed, be called the pean of intellectual orthodoxy.

Let us now turn to the analysis of the Trinitarian conception as set forth in the Quicunque Vult.1 In the first place, the supreme Name, which, as we have seen, is possessed by Each of the three Divine 'Persons,' connotes three distinct metaphysical or cosmical attributes; to wit, (a) uncreatedness (increatus Pater, increatus Filius, increatus et Spiritus Sanctus); (b) infinity or incomprehensibility (immensus Pater, immensus Filius, immensus et Spiritus Sanctus); (c) eternity (aeternus Pater, aeternus Filius, aeternus et Spiritus Sanctus).2

After this group of three 'metaphysical' or 'cosmic' attributes follow three Divine titles drawn from Revelation, by the introduction of which the mind is lifted from the plane of metaphysical thought to the plane of spiritual faith. The Divine style and title 'Lord God Almighty,' found in the Apocalypse, is here resolved into its component parts, and each of these parts is attributed to Each of the holy Three.

1 The analysis which here follows is a preliminary one; the same ground (in part) is covered in what is said below, pp. 36-41, on the Western (Augustinian) conception of the Holy Trinity.

2 The use of the conjunction et to introduce the Name of the Third Divine 'Person' seems to indicate the fact that with the complete development concerning the Godhead and personality of the Holy Spirit the Trinitarian dogma was rounded into its final form.

The Father is 'God,' the Son is 'God,' and the Holy Ghost is 'God;' yet not 'three Gods' (even as not three Infinites or three Eternals, or three Uncreated Ones), but there is one God. In like manner the Divine title Lord' (as equivalent to 'God') is dealt with, and so likewise is the title 'Almighty.' Thus reason and Revelation concur in the explication of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

Up to this point, however, we have been contemplating the Divine Three with reference to that which They possess in common, by virtue of Their sharing, Each and All, in the possession of the Divine and ineffable Name. In other words, our thought has been dealing with what theologians would describe as the 'conferentia' of the Holy Three. By Their joint possession of these Divine attributes, by Their joint sharing in these Divine titles, They are not distinguished in concreto; in other words, so far as has yet been seen, there might be three 'Fathers,' or three 'Sons,' or three Holy Ghosts'; which would certainly not correspond to the Scriptural representation of the Holy Trinity. In order, then, that the Trinitarian statement may be made complete, it is necessary that to the mention of the Divine 'conferentia' (the socalled 'absolute' Divine attributes or titles) the mention of the Divine 'differentia' be added. These are the so-called 'relative' Divine attributes of 'inderivation' (if we may use this term for lack of a better), of

1 'Inderivation' is, in itself, not properly a term of relation; it is rather the negation of a relation: yet for this very reason it is par

'filiation' and of 'procession.' These three terms respectively express the peculiar characteristic content of the three Divine Names 'Father,' 'Son' and 'Holy Ghost.' It is the 'proprietas' of the Father to be 'underived; it is the 'proprietas' of the Son to be 'begotten'; it is the 'proprietas' of the Holy Spirit to 'proceed.' Thus the white light of colorless 'triunity' (to borrow the term used by Professor William Newton Clarke) takes on the varied hues of those concrete personal distinctions which exist in what we may perhaps reverently speak of as the Divine Family.1

We have now, so to speak, descended from the plane of the absolute to the plane of the relative; from the sphere of 'Deity' to that of 'Divinity.' But in so doing, we have not left the region either of eternity or of essential and supreme equality: for "in this Trinity there is no 'before' or 'after,' no 'greater' or 'less'; but the entire three 'Persons' are co-eternal with each other and co-equal." Whereas, in the 'Nicene' Creed relativity is apparently applied to the conception of Godhead, by the phrases, 'God (out) of God,' 'Light (out) of Light' (almost as though the Son were a sec

allel to the other two terms which express 'relative' Divine attributes.

1 "Within the deep and luminous subsistence Of the High Light appeared to me three circles,

Of threefold colour and of one dimension;

And by the second seemed the first reflected

As Iris is by Iris, and the third

Seemed fire that equally from both is breathed."

Dante, Paradiso XXXIII, 115–120. Longfellow's translation.