THE NORTH AFRICAN POET, COMMODIANUS.

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further for the distinction of the Logos and God the Father, according to their essence, and so for the regovoía, while in the Western Church the idea of Subordination was constantly supplanted by that of Unity.*

7. THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

KEIL, Ob die ältesten Lehrer einen Unterschied Zwischen Sohn und Geist gekannt? in Flatt's Magazin fur christliche Dogmata und Moral, iv. 34. K. A. KAHNIS, Die Lehre vom heiligen Geist: Halle, 1847.

There was not the same pressing inducement to elaborate the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as to complete that of the Son

*The North African poet, Commodianus, was a contemporary of Paul of Samosata, and forms his counterpart; he is a witness how general and powerful in his church was the tendency to identify the Logos with the Father. Pitra, in the Spicilegium Solesmeure, t. i. p. 20, has inserted an apologetic poem by him, in which, along with the idea of the Logos, he shows a Patripassian style of thought. The one, all-filling God, who appeared momentarily in the Theophanies of the Old Testament and then vanished (v. 122), appeared also in the form of the Son: it was a Revelation of his glory in the flesh without relinquishing his omnipresence in the heavens :

v. 275. Hic pater in filio venit, Deus unus relique ;
Nec pater est dictus nisi factus filius esset.
Nec enim relinquit cœlum, ut in terra pareret,
Sed sicut disposuit visa est in terra majestas.
Jam caro Deus erat, in qua Dei virtus agebat.

The Incarnation consisted in the assumption of a body; in thir human body God suffered for us. In truth the Father was crucified;

but they are mistaken who suppose that God had intended to make this known beforehand by the Prophecies; it rather lay in the plan of Redemption to keep this secret from the Devil, and to conquer death by the Resurrection; on this account he took the name of Son. v. 352. Stultia subit multis, Deum talia passum

Ut enuntietur crucifixus conditor orbis

Sic illi complacuit consilio neminis usus
Nec alius pcterat taliter venire pro nobis.

Mortem adinvenit, quum esset invidus hostis
Quam ebibit Dominus passus ex interno resurgens.
Idcirco nec voluit se manifestare, quid esset,

Sed filium dixit se missum fuisse a patre,

Sic ipse tradiderat semet ipsum dici prophetis
Ut Leus in terris altissimi filius esset.

Commodian wrote in this poem, as well as in his Instructions throughout, in the consciousness of belonging to the Catholic Church, and agreeing with it in this dogma. Thus the Logos doctrine, connected with Patripassianism, prepared for the reception of the Nicene dogma. See JACOBI, Commodian und die alt-kirch. Trinitätslehre. Deutsche Zeitschr. f. chr. Wissenschaft, 1856. No. 26. [JACOBI.]

of God, and for a long time it remained unsettled. There was indeeed a continuity in the Christian consciousness of the influence of the Holy Spirit; for in relation to the practical, in the acknowledgment of the Holy Spirit as the source of divine life proceeding from Christ, as the bond of union in all matters connected with the Church, there was complete unanimity, and this acknowledgment formed the basis of the articles of the Apostles' Creed. But the intellectual expression of the relation of the Holy Spirit to the divine essence by no means corresponded, and we here recognise a fresh instance of the disproportion between the Christian life and intellectual definitions.

THE CHRISTIAN TEACHERS OF THE EASTERN CHURCH.

JUSTIN* calls the Holy Spirit the gift come down from heaven, which Christ imparted to believers after his glorification, but to the Prophets even before his Incarnation.t He distin

guishes the Logos from him, but sometimes confounds their operations. Thus he says, that no one can suppose the TVEUμa, who inspired the Prophets, to be any other than the Logos. His representation in one passage is very striking.§ He enumerates as the objects of veneration among Christians, the Supreme God, the Son proceeding from him, the host of Angels, and then the Holy Spirit. It is strange that he does not name the Holy Spirit till after the Angels. The passage has given rise to much discussion, and some would substitute στρατηγόν for στρατόν, so that the Holy Spirit would be designated the leader of the Angelic Hosts; but such an alteration of the text is unjustifiable; we are not to explain Justin's words according to later expressed ideas, and must grant a nearer relation of the Holy Spirit to the Angels. When he thought of him as standing in the middle between the Logos and the Angels, as the highest being of those brought forth by the Logos, it is explicable why he mentioned the Holy Spirit especially after the Angels. This view is confirmed by another

* Georgii, ub. d. Lehre v. h. Geist bei Justinus d. Mar. in den Studien der Geistlichkeit Würtembergs von Stirm. x. 2, p. 69.

Cohort. c. 32.

Apol. i. 33.

§ Apol. i. 6.—ἀλλ ̓ ἐκεῖνον τε (sc. τὸν πατέρα) καὶ τὸν πὰρ ̓ αὐτοῦ υἱὸν ἐλθόντα καὶ διδάξαντα ἡμᾶς ταῦτα, καὶ τὸν τῶν ἄλλων ἑπομένων καὶ ἐξομοιουμένων ἀγαθῶν ἀγγέλων στρατὸν, πνεῦμά τε τὸ προφητικον ρεβόμεθα καὶ προσκυνοῦμεν.

THEOPHILUS AND ATHENAGORAS.

173

passage,* in which he describes the Holy Spirit as the Angel of God, as the power which is sent to our aid from God through Jesus. This representation continued to be employed as late as the fourth century. Semischt indeed has explained the passage differently, and endeavours to prove that Justin could not have held such a view, as it would be inconsistent with his style of thinking, but Justin's style of thinking is wanting in logical development. Hence Justin might ascribe the third place in the Triad to the Holy Spirit, although he places him at the head of the Angels.$

THEOPHILUS of Antioch plainly distinguishes the Holy Spirit as a self-subsistent being from the Logos; distinguishing the Logos and Sophia, he refers the passages in the Old Testament in which Sophia is mentioned to the Holy Spirit, and hence says that the Holy Spirit emanated jointly with the Logos. He is the first Christian writer in whom the term Triad occurs.T

ATHENAGORAS illustrates the Spirit by the image of a ray issuing from the Sun, which might lead us to suppose that he ascribed no personality to him. But this comparison has been used for the emanation of personal Spirits. At all events, he thought alike in this respect of the Holy Spirit and of the Logos. However strong his expressions on the Unity of the divine essence, he yet admits a division in it, diapéσeis and a certain order in that division which includes a Subordi

* Dial c. Tryph. § 116, p. 344.—ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῦτ ̓ ἔστιν ἡ δύναμις τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ πεμφθεῖσα ἡμῖν διὰ Ἰησου Χριστοῦ ἐπιτιμᾷ αὐτῷ (sc. τῷ διαβολῳ) καὶ ἀφίσταται ἀφ ̓ ἡμῶν.

† Justin der Martyrer, ii. 305. Compare Möhler, Theol. Quartalschr. 1833, 1.

† Αpol. i. 13.—υἱὸν αὐτοῦ του ὄντως Θεοῦ ἐν δευτέρᾳ χώρᾳ ἔχοντες, πνευμά τε προφητικὸν ἐν τρίτῃ τάξει, οτι μετὰ λόγου τιμωμεν, ἀποδείξομεν.

§ The Jewish Angelology might form a transition to this. The JewishChristian sect of the Elkesaites, who at the beginning of the third century spread themselves from Asia to Rome, asserted that they had received the contents of their sacred books by the revelation of an Angel; εἶναι δὲ σὺν αὐτῷ καὶ θήλειαν, ἧς τὰ μέτρα κατὰ τὰ προειρημένα ειναι λεγει, καὶ τὸν μὲν ἄρσενα υἱὸν εἶναι τοῦ θεοῦ, τὴν δὲ θήλειαν καλεῖσθαι ἅγιον πνεῦμα. Hippol. ἔλεγχος 9, 13, p. 292.

Ad Autolyc. 10. Cf. i. 7.

f Apol. ii. c. 15.—αἱ τρεῖς ἡμέραι [πρὸ] τῶν φωστήρων γεγονυίαι τύποι εἰσὶ τῆς τριάδος, τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ λόγου αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς σοφίας αὐτοῦ.

nation. Since he speaks of the objects of worship, and includes among them the Angels, it is probable with the other hypostases he also reckoned the Holy Spirit as one.*

CLEMENT of Alexandria does not give any very definite views on this subject. He distinguishes between the reason of the human soul and the new divine principle of life which is communicated by the Holy Spirit to believers, and by which he stamps upon it a peculiar impression.† He designed to express himself more exactly in a treatise directed against the Montanists, but this work has not come down to us.

ORIGENS teaches that there is one Supreme cause of all Existence, God; moreover, a revealing and mediating principle by which divine life is communicated to all who are susceptible of it-the Logos; and the Holy Spirit is the sum of all divine life, the source of all its manifestations, the substance of all the gifts of grace, proceeding from God and communicated by Christ. He (the Holy Spirit) is the self-subsistent source of the divine life, which is communicated by Christ. Hence he uses expressions in accordance with the Christian phraseology God performs all things through Christ in the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit cannot be unbegotten, as he has a personal existence, but everything is through the Logos, it follows that the Holy Spirit is the first of the Spirits begotten from the Father through the Son, but without any notion of Time being applicable to his origin. He required the Son in order to become wise through him. He supposes that, the Subordination which is here implied, also takes place within the sphere of his operations; all Being is in God, and his

* Πρεσβ. c. 19.

+ Strom. vi. p. 681 Α.-ἔννατον δὲ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς· καὶ δέκατον τὸ διὰ τῆς πίστεως προσγινόμενον ἁγίου πνεύματος χαρακτηριστικὸν ἰδίωμα.

† Strom. v. p. 591.-The books περὶ προφητείας and περὶ ψυχῆς.

§ In Joann. ii. § 6.—Οἶμαι δὲ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα τὴν, ἵν ̓ οὕτως εἴπω, ὕλην τῶν ἀπὸ χαρισμάτων παρέχειν τοῖς δι' αὐτὸ καὶ τὴν μετοχὴν αὐτοῦ χρηματιζουσιν ἁγίοις, τῆς εἰρημένης ὕλης των χαρισμάτων ἐνεργουμένης μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ διακονουμένης δὲ ὑπὸ του Χριστοῦ, ὑφεστῶσης δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἅγιον πνεύμα.

[ De Princip. p. 6, ed. Redep.Ὅτι ὁ μὲν θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ συνέχων τὰ πάντα φθάνει εἰς ἕκαστον τῶν ὄντων, μεταδιδοὺς ἑκάστω ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰδίου τὸ εἶναι· ὢν γὰρ ἔστιν· ἐλάττων δὲ παρὰ τὸν πατέρα ὁ υἱὸς φθάνων ἐπὶ μόνα τὰ λογικὰ· δεύτερος γάρ ἐστι τοῦ πατρός· ἔτι δὲ ἧττον τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐπὶ μόνους τοὺς ἁγίους διικνούμενον ὥστε κατὰ τοῦτο μείζων ἡ

IRENEUS, TERTULLIAN, AND NOVATIAN.

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influences extend to all; those of the Logos to rational beings alone, the Holy Spirit only to the Saints.

THE TEACHERS OF THE WESTERN CHURCH.

IRENEUS regarded the Son and the Holy Ghost as Principles existing before all time in God, and employed by him in the creation and government of the world. The Spirit, the regu lating principle in the world, is to be distinguished as Wisdom from the Logos, the creative principle.* Hence he referred the description in Prov. viii., which has generally been understood of the Logos, to the Holy Spirit. He applied the theory of Subordination to the Holy Spirit: by such steps we attain to the Son through the Spirit; through the Son we ascend to the Father, to whom the Son will at last give up his work as the ultimate end. He comprehends the whole doctrine of the Trinity in the words-The One God of whom are all things; the Son through whom all things; the Holy Spirit who reveals the dispensations of the Father and the Son among mankind, as the Father wills.§ By the Holy Spirit we receive the image and impress of the Father and the Son. TERTULLIAN educes the Holy Spirit in subordinational rank from the Father through the Son, and employs the illustrations of the fountain, the stream, and the river-of the root, the branch, and the fruit. NOVATIAN says, Although in the Gospel the τοῦ πατρὸς παρὰ τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· καὶ πάλιν διαφέρουσα μᾶλλον τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἡ δύναμις παρὰ τὰ ἄλλα ἅγια.

* Adv. Hær. iv. 20, 1.-Adest enim ei semper Verbum et Sapientia, Filius et Spiritus, per quos et in quibus omnis libere et sponte fecit, ad quos et loquitur, dicens: faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram ; ipse a semetipso substantiam creaturarum et exemplum factorum et figuram in mundo ornamentorum accipiens.

+ Ibid. i. 3.

Ibid. v. 36. 2.-Per hujusmodi gradus proficere et per Spiritum quidam (ad) filium, per filium autem adscendere ad patrem, filio deinceps cedente patri opus suum (1 Cor. xv. 25, ff.).

§ Ibid. iv. 33, 7. - εἰς ἕνα θεῖν παντοκράτορα, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα, πίστις ὁλόκληρος καὶ εἰς τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν, δι ̓ οὗ τὰ πάντα, καὶ τὰς οἰκονομίας αὐτοῦ, δι' ὧν ἂνθρωπος ἐγένετο ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ πεισμονὴ βέβαια· καὶ εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ τὰς οἰκονομίας πατρός τε καὶ υἱοῦ σκηνοβατοῦν καθ ̓ ἑκάστην γενεὰν ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, καθὼς βούλεται ὁ πατήρ.

|| Adv. Prax. viii.-Tertius enim est spiritus a Deo et filio, sicut tertius a radice fructus ex frutice, et tertius a fonte, rivus ex flumine, et tertius a sole apex ex radio. Nihil tamen a matrice alienatur, a qua proprietates suas ducit.