CHAP.

XXI.

The Trini

The fchifm of the Donatifts was confined to Africa the more diffufive mifchief of the Trinitarian controverfy fucceffively penetrated into tarian con- every part of the Chriftian world. The former troverfy. was an accidental quarrel, occafioned by the abuse of freedom; the latter was a high and myfterious argument, derived from the abufe of philofophy. From the age of Conftantine to that of Clovis and Theodoric, the temporal interests both of the Romans and Barbarians were deeply involved in the theological difputes of Arianifm. The hiftorian may therefore be permitted respectfully to withdraw the veil of the fanctuary; and to deduce the progrefs of reafon and faith, of error and paffion, from the fchool of Plato to the decline and fall of the empire.

The fyf

tem of

Plato.

Before

Chrift 360.

The genius of Plato, informed by his own meditation, or by the traditional knowledge of the priests of Egypt ", had ventured to explore the mysterious nature of the Deity. When he had elevated his mind to the fublime contemplaneceffary cause of the univerfe, the Athenian fage was incapable of conceiving how the fimple unity of his effence could

tion of the first felf-existent he

11 Plato Egyptum peragravit ut a facerdotibus Barbaris numeros et caleftia acciperet. Cicero de Finibus, v. 25. The Egyptians might ftill preferve the traditional creed of the Patriarchs. Jofephus has perfuaded many of the Chriftian fathers, that Plato derived a part of his knowledge from the Jews; but this vain opinion cannot be reconciled with the obfcure ftate and unfocial manners of the Jewish people, whofe fcriptures were not acceffible to Greek curiofity till more than one hundred years after the death of Plato. See Marfham, Canon, Chron. p. 144. Le Clerc, Epiftol. Critic. vii. P. 177-194.

admit the infinite variety of diftinct and fucceffive CHAP.
ideas which compofe the model of the in- XXI.
tellectual world; how a Being purely incorporeal
could execute that perfect model, and mould with
a plaftic hand the rude and independent chaos.
The vain hope of extricating himself from these
difficulties, which muft ever opprefs the feeble
powers of the human mind, might induce Plato
to confider the divine nature under the threefold
modification; of the firft caufe, the reafon or
-Logos, and the foul or spirit of the universe. The Lo
His poetical imagination fometimes fixed and GOS
animated these metaphysical abstractions; the three
archical or original principles were represented in
the Platonic system as three Gods, united with
each other by a mysterious and ineffable genera-
tion; and the Logos was particularly confidered
under the more acceffible character of the Son of
an Eternal Father, and the Creator and Governor
of the world. Such appear to have been the
fecret doctrines which were cautiously whispered
in the gardens of the academy; and which, ac-
cording to the more recent difciples of Plato,
could not be perfectly understood, till after an
affiduous study of thirty years 1.

The arms of the Macedonians diffufed over taught in
Afia and Egypt the language and learning of the school

12 The modern guides who lead me to the knowledge of the Platonic fyftem are, Cudworth (Intellectual System, p. 568—620.), Bafnage (Hift. des Juifs, 1. iv. c. iv. p. 53-86.), Le Clerc (Epift. Crit. vii. p. 194-209.), and Brucker (Hift. Philofoph. tom. i. ∙p. 675—706.). As the learning of these writers was equal, and their intention different, an inquifitive observer may derive instruction from their difputes, and certainty from their agreement.

Greece;

of Alex-,
andria.

Before

Chrift 3

300.

CAP. Greece; and the theological fyftem of Plato was XXI. taught with lefs referve, and perhaps with fome improvements, in the celebrated fchool of Alexandria 3. A numerous colony of Jews had been invited, by the favour of the Ptolemies, to fettle in their new capital. While the bulk of the nation practifed the legal ceremonies, and purfued the lucrative occupations of commerce, a few Hebrews, of a more liberal fpirit, devoted their lives to religious and philofophical contemplation '. They cultivated with diligence, and embraced with ardour, the theological fyftem of the Athenian fage. But their national pride would have been mortified by a fair confeflion of their former poverty: and they boldly marked, as the facred inheritance of their ancestors, the gold and jewels which they had fo lately ftolen from their Egyptian masters. One hundred years before the Chrill 100. birth of Chrift, a philofophical treatife, which manifeftly betrays the ftyle and fentiments of the fchool of Plato, was produced by the Alexandrian Jews, and unanimously received as a genuine and valuable relic of the infpired Wisdom of Solomon. A fimilar union of the Mofaic faith, and

Before

1

་

the

13 Brucker, Hift. Philofoph. tom. i. p. 1349-1357. The Alexandrian fchool is celebrated by Strabo (1. xvii.) and Ammianus (xxii. 6.).

14 Jofeph. Antiquitat. 1. xii. c. 1. 3. Bafuage, Hift. des Juifs, 1. vii. c. 7.

15 For the origin of the Jewish philofophy, fee Eufebius, Præparat. Evangel. viii. 9, to. According to Philo, the Therapeutæ ftudied philofophy; and Brucker has proved (Hift. Philofoph. tom. ii. p. 787.), that they gave the preference to that of Plato.

16 See Calmet, Differtations fur la Bible, tom. ii. p. 277.. The book of the Wisdom of Solomon was received by many of the fathers

18

XXI.

the Grecian philofophy, diftinguishes the works CHA P. of Philo, which were compofed, for the most part, under the reign of Auguftus". The material foul of the univerfe is might offend the piety of the Hebrews: but they applied the character of the LoGoS to the Jehovah of Mofes and the patriarchs; and the Son of God was introduced upon earth under a visible, and even human appearance, to perform those familiar offices which seem incompatible with the nature and attributes of the Universal Caufe 19.

The eloquence of Plato, the name of Solomon, Revealed the authority of the school of Alexandria, and the

as the work of that monarch; and although rejected by the Proteft.
ants for want of a Hebrew original, it has obtained, with the rest of
the Vulgate, the fanction of the council of Trent.

17 The Platonism of Philo, which was famous to a proverb, is
proved beyond a doubt by Le Clerc (Epift. Crit. viii. p. 211—228.).
Bafnage (Hift. des Juifs, 1. iv. c. 5.) has clearly ascertained, that
the theological works of Philo were compofed before the death, and
most probably before the birth of Chrift. In fuch a time of dark-
nefs, the knowledge of Philo is more aftonishing than his errors.
Bull, Defenf. Fid. Nicen. f. i. c. i. p. 12.

18 Mens agitat molem, et magno fe corpori mifcet.

Befides this material foul, Cudworth has difcovered (p. 562.) in
Amelius, Porphyry, Plotinus, and, as he thinks, in Plato himself,
a fuperior, fpiritual, percofmian foul of the universe. But this
double foul is exploded by Brucker, Bafnage, and Le Clerc, as an
idle fancy of the latter Platonists.

19 Petav. Dogmata Theologica, tom. ii. I. viii. c. 2. p. 791.
Bull, Defenf. Fid. Nicen. f. i. c. 1. p. 8. 13. This notion, till it.
was abused by the Arians, was freely adopted in the Chriftian theo-
logy. Tertullian (adv. Praxeam, c. 16.) has a remarkable and
dangerous paffage. After contrafting, with indifcreet wit, the na-
ture of God, and the actions of Jehovah, he concludes: Scilicet ut
hæc de filio Dei non credenda fuisse, si non scripta effent; fortasse
pon credenda de Patre licet fcripta.

confent

by the Apoftle St. John, A.D. 97.

XXI.

CHA P. confent of the Jews and Greeks, were infufficient to establish the truth of a mysterious doctrine, which might pleafe, but could not fatisfy, a ra tional mind. A prophet, or apoftle, infpired by the Deity, can alone exercife a lawful dominion over the faith of mankind; and the theology of Plato might have been for ever confounded with the philofophical vifions of the Academy, the Porch, and the Lyceum, if the name and divine attributes of the Logos had not been confirmed by the celestial pen of the laft and moft fublime of the Evangelifts 20. The Chriftian Revelation, which was confummated under the reign of Nerva, difclosed to the world the amazing fecret, that the LOGOS, who was with God from the beginning, and was God, who had made all things, and for whom all things had been made, was incarnate in the person of Jefus of Nazareth; who had been born of a virgin, and fuffered death on the crofs. Befides the general defign of fixing on a perpetual bafis the divine honours of Chrift, the most ancient and refpectable of the ecclefiaftical writers have afcribed to the evangelic theologian, a particular intention to confute two oppofite herefies, which disturbed the peace of the primitive church ".

20 The Platonists admired the beginning of the Gofpel of St. John, as containing an exact tranfcript of their own principles. Au. guftin, de Civitat. Dei, x. 29. Amelius apud Cyril. adverf. Julian. 1. viii. p. 283. But in the third and fourth centuries, the Platonists of Alexandria might improve their Trinity, by the fecret study of the Chriftian theology.

21 See Beaufobre, Hift. Critique du Manicheifme, tom. i. p. 377. The Golpel according to St. John is fuppofed to have been publish ed about feventy years after the death of Christ.