Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

of operative and active power (concerning which I shall have occasion to express my faith hereafter), but also in regard of power authoritative, in which I must acknowledge his antecedent and eternal right of making what, and when, and how he pleased, of possessing whatsoever he maketh by direct dominion, of using and disposing as he pleaseth all things which he so possesseth. This dominion I believe most absolute in respect of its independency, both in the original, and the use or exercise thereof: this I acknowledge infinite for amplitude or extension, as being a power over all things without exception; for plenitude or perfection, as being all power over every thing without limitation; for continuance or duration, as being eternal without end or conclusion. Thus I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY.

Maker of Heaven and Earth.

* For we find it not mentioned by St. Augustin de Fide et Symbolo; neither hath Ruffinus expounded it in the Aquileian, or noted it to be found in the Roman or Oriental Creeds. Leo, reciting the three first articles in his epistle to Flavianus, maketh no mention of it. Epist. 10. Maximus Taurinensis hath it not in Traditione Symboli, nor Petrus Chrysologus in his Sermons, amongst six several expositions. It is not in the Homilies of Eusebius Gallicanus, or the exposition of Venantius Fortunatus. Marcellus bishop of Ancyra left it not at Rome with Julius ; nor did Arius in his catholic confession unto Constantine acknowledge it. Neither are the words to be found in the Latin or Greek copy of the Creed, written about the beginning of the eighth century, and published out of the MSS. by the most reverend and learned Archbishop of Armagh; or in that which Etherius and Beatus produced against Elipandus archbishop of Toledo, towards the end of the seventh century.

[ocr errors]

ALTHOUGH this last part of the first Article were not expressed in the ancient CREEDS,* yet the sense thereof was delivered in the first rules of faith,† and at last these particular words informal words, but with an (id est) by way of explication: Regula exigit veritatis ut primo omnium credamus in Deum Patrem et Dominum Omnipotentem, id est, rerum omnium perfectissimum conditorem, qui coelum alta sublimitate suspenderit, terram dejecta mole solidavit, maria soluto liquore diffudit, et hæc omnia propriis et condignis instrumentis et ornata et plena digessit.' De Trin. c. i. It was also observed by Origen, that the Christians were wont most frequently to mention God under that as the most common title: "H yàp d'opioτws iμoλoγοῦσι τὸ, κοινὸν ὄνομα, ὁ Θεὸς, ἢ καὶ μετ τὰ προσθήκης τῆς, ὁ δημιουργὸς τῶν ὅλων, ὁ ποιητὴς οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς. Αdυ. Celsum, 1. i. §. 25. Eusebius delivered the first Article thus in his Confession to the Nicene Council, Socrat. I. i. c. 8. Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα θεὸν πατέρα παντοκράτορα, τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων ὁρατῶν τε kaì dopátwv tomηrýv· and that Council expressed the same without alteration in their Creed. But after the Nicene Council we find added ποιητὴν ovρavou кal yñs, by St. Cyril of Jerusalem, in his Catechism, cat. 9. and St. Epiphanius in Ancorato, §. 120.: which addition was received, confirmed, and transmitted to us by the Council of Constantinople. By which means at last we find this Article thus expressed in the western Confessions: Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, creatorem cœli et terræ.

† As in that delivered by Irenæus: Εἰς ἕνα θεὸν πατέρα παντοκράτορα, τὸν πεποιηκότα τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰς θαλάσσας, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς. Adver. Hær. I. i. c. 2. And that by Tertullian: 'Unum omnino Deum esse, nec alium præter mundi conditorem, qui universa de nihilo produxerit.' De præscr. adv. Hær. c. 13. And that under the name of Novatian, not in

serted both in the Greek and Latin confessions. And indeed the work of creation most properly followeth the attribute of omnipotency, as being the foundation of the first, and the demonstration of the second explication of it. As then we believe there is a God, and that God Almighty; as we acknowledge that same God to be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in him of us: so we also confess, that the same God the Father made both heaven and earth. For the full explication of which operation, it will be sufficient, first, to declare the latitude of the object, what is comprehended under the terms of heaven and earth; secondly, to express the nature of the action, the true notion of creation, by which they were made; and thirdly, to demonstrate the Person to whom this operation is ascribed.

For the first, I suppose it cannot be denied as the sense of the CREED, that under the terms of heaven and earth are comprehended all things: because the first rules of faith did so express it; and the most ancient Creeds had either, instead of these words, or together with them, the Maker of all things visible and invisible, which being terms of immediate contradiction, must consequently be of universal comprehension; nor is there any thing imaginable which is not visible, or invisible. Being then these were the words of the Nicene Creed; being the addition of heaven and earth in the Constantinopolitan could be no diminution to the former, which they still retained together with them, saying, I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; it followeth, that they which in the Latin Church made use only of this last addition, could not choose but take it in the full latitude of the first expression.

And well may this be taken as the undoubted sense of the CREED, because it is the known language of the sacred Scriptures." In six days (saith Moses) the Lord made heaven and earth:" (Exod. xxxi. 17.) in the same time, saith God himself, "the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." (Exod. xx. 11.) So that all things by those two must be understood which are contained in them; and we know no being which is made or placed without them. When God would call a general rendezvous, and make up a universal auditory, the prophet cries out, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth.” (Isa. i. 2.) When he would express the full splendour of his majesty, and utmost extent of his actual dominion, "Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool." (Isa. lxvi. 1.) When he would challenge unto himself those glorious attributes of immensity and omnipresence, "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." (Jer. xxiii. 24.) These two then taken together signify the Universe, or that which is called

the World. St. Paul hath given a clear exposition of these words in his explication of the Athenian altar: "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands." (Acts xvii. 24.) For being God is necessarily the Lord of all things which he made (the right of his direct dominion being clearly grounded upon the first creation), except we should conceive the apostle to exempt some creature from the authoritative power of God, and so take some work of his hand out of the reach of his arm; we must confess that heaven and earth are of as large extent and ample signification as the world and all things therein. Where it is yet farther observable, that the apostle hath conjoined the speech of both Testaments together. For the ancient Hebrews seem to have had no word in use among them which singly of itself did signify the world, as the Greeks had, in whose language St. Paul did speak; and therefore they used in conjunction the heaven and earth, as the grand extremities within which all things are contained.* Nay, if we take the exposition of the later writers in that language, those two words will not only as extremities comprehend between them, but in the extension of their own significations contain all things in them. For when they divide the Universe into three worlds,† the inferior, the superior, and the middle world; the lower is wholly contained in the name of earth, the other two under the name of heaven. Nor do the Hebrews only use this manner of expression, but even the Greeks themselves; and that not only before, but after Pythagoras § had accustomed them to one name. As therefore under the single name of * Καλῶς δὲ πάντες σχεδὸν ἐξεδέξαντο wit, this globe of earth on which we τοῖς ἄκροις, οὐρανῷ τε καὶ γῇ, τὰ μέσα live. This they divide into three ovμπÉρiεiληpévaι σтоixeîα. πws de äкpa parts; the sea, lakes and rivers, φημί; ὅτι γῆ μὲν τὸ κέντρον παντὸς ἐμ- 212 the desert, solitary and uninhaπεριείληφε· καὶ ἔστι κάτωθεν μὲν ἀρχὴ bitable places, far πάντων ἡ γῆ, πέρας δὲ τούτων ὁ πάντα from the habitations of men, and 2 περιέχων οὐρανός· τοἔμπαλιν δὲ ἄνωθεν, τὴν οἰκουμένην, the earth inhabited. ἀρχὴ μὲν ὁ οὐρανὸς, πέρας δὲ πάντων ἡ The second is called η γῆ· μετὰ δὲ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς τὰ λοι- the middle or inmost world; by M Tà тρíα πEρiεíληTтaι σrоixeĩa. Jo. Phi- this is the world of the lop. de Mundi Creat. I. i. c. 5. T spheres, containing the aerial region μὲν οὐρανίῳ σώματι (ἡ φύσις) τὸ πέριξ and the starry heavens. The third is,

[ocr errors]

κέντρον· ἐν δὲ σφαίρᾳ ἄλλως μὲν τὸ κένTov ȧpx?), aλλwe dε & TOU TEρLEXOVTOS poç. Hierocl, in Aur. Carm. v. 52. p.

245.

+ For the Rabbins usually divide the whole frame of things into

this is the world of angels, DN, of God, of souls,

the spiritual world. things imaginable; being the first is Now being these three comprehend all sufficiently expressed in the

the שמים earth, and the two last in עולם,three worlds: the first עולמות heaven ; it followeth that, in the sense עולם השפל the inferior, or התחתון

the depressed and lowest world;

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

that is this world, say they, to

of the Hebrews, heaven and earth signify all things.

World or Universe,* so also under the conjunctive expression of heaven and earth, are contained all things material and immaterial, visible and invisible.

But as the apostle hath taught us to reason, "When he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him :" (1 Cor. xv. 27.) so when we say, all things were made by God, it is as manifest that he is excepted who made all things. And then the proposition is clearly thus delivered: All beings whatsoever beside God were made. As we read in St. John concerning the Word, that " the world was made by him;" (John i. 10.) and in more plain and express words before, "All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John i. 3.) Which is yet farther illustrated by St. Paul: "For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him." (Col. i. 16.) If then there be nothing imaginable which is not either in heaven or in earth, nothing which is not either visible or invisible, then is there nothing beside God which was not made by God.

This then is the unquestionable doctrine of the Christian faith, That the vast capacious frame of the World, and every thing any way contained and existing in it, hath not its essence from or of itself, nor is of existence absolutely necessary; but what it is, it hath not been, and that being which it hath was made, framed, and constituted by another. And as "every house is builded by some man;" (Heb. iii. 4.) for we see the earth bears no such creature of itself; stones do not grow into a wall, or first hew and square, then unite and fasten themselves together in their generation; trees sprout not cross like dry and sapless beams, nor do spars and tiles spring with a natural uniformity into a roof, and that out of stone and mortar: these are not the works of nature, but superstructions and additions to her, as the supplies of art, and the testimonies of the understanding of man, the great artificer on earth: so, if the World itself be but a house, if the earth,

† Εἷς ταῖς ἀληθείαισιν, εἷς ἐστὶν θεός,
Ὃς οὐρανὸν τέτευχε καὶ γαῖαν μα-
κράν.

Ex incert. Trag. Sophocl. Frag.
LI. ed. Brunck.

§ Πυθαγόρας πρῶτος ὠνόμασε τὴν τῶν ὅλων περιοχὴν, κόσμον, ἐκ τῆς ἐν avτy rážεws. Plutarch. de Plac. Philosoph. 1. ii. c. 1.

́ ́Si Mundum dixeris, illic erit et cœlum, et quæ in eo, sol, et luna, et sidera, et astra, et terra, et freta, et omnis census elementorum. Omnia dixeris, cum id dixeris, quod ex omnibus constat.' Tertull. de Virg. Ve

land. c. 4. Φασὶ δὲ οἱ σοφοὶ καὶ οὐρανὸν καὶ γῆν καὶ θεοὺς καὶ ἀνθρώπους τὴν κοινωνίαν συνέχειν, καὶ φιλίαν, καὶ και σμιότητα, καὶ σωφροσύνην, καὶ δικαιότη τα' και τὸ ὅλον τοῦτο διὰ ταῦτα κόσμον και λοῦσιν. Iambl. Protrept. but the words are Plato's in Gorgia, p. 132. ed. Bipont.

† Ὁ αἰσθητὸς οὑτοσὶ κόσμος οὐδὲν ἄρα äo koriv î olkoç dɛov. Philo de Insomn. p. 648. Kóσμоs εvπρεπIS кai erouos, aioIntòs olкos tov Dεov. Id. de Plant. Noe, p. 337. θεῖόν τι μέγεθος ὁ kóσμos, kai olкos lεov aionrós. Id. de Mundi Incorr. p. 509.

which "hangeth upon nothing," (Job xxvi. 7.) be the foundation, and the glorious spheres of heaven the roof (which hath been delivered as the most universal hypothesis), if this be the habitation of an infinite intelligence, the temple of God; then must we acknowledge the world was built by him, and consequently, that "he which built all things is God." (Heb. iii. 4.)

From hence appears the truth of that distinction, Whatsoever hath any being, is either made or not made: whatsoever is not made, is God; whatsoever is not God, is made. One uncreated and independent Essence; all other depending on it, and created by it. One of eternal and necessary existence; all other indifferent, in respect of actual existing, either to be or not to be, and that indifferency determined only by the free and voluntary act of the first Cause.

Now because to be thus made includes some imperfection, and among the parts of the world, some are more glorious than others; if those which are most perfect presuppose a Maker, then can we not doubt of a creation where we find far less perfection. This house of God, though uniform, yet is not all of the same materials, the footstool and the throne are not of the same mould; there is a vast difference between the heavenly expansions. This first aerial heaven, where God setteth up his pavilion, where "he maketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind," (Psal. civ. 3.) is not so far inferior in place as it is in glory to the next, the seat of the sun and moon, the two great lights, and stars innumerable, far greater than the one of them. And yet that second heaven is not so far above the first as beneath the "third," (2 Cor. xii. 2.) into which St. Paul was caught. The brightness of the sun doth not so far surpass the blackness of a wandering cloud, as the glory of that heaven of presence surmounts the fading beauty of the starry firmament. For in this great temple of the World, in which the Son of God is the high-priest, the heaven which we see is but the veil, and that which is above, the Holy of Holies. This veil indeed is rich and glorious, but one day to be rent, and then to admit us into a far greater glory, even to the Mercy-seat and Cherubim. For this third heaven is the "proper habitation"+ (Jude ver. 6.) of the blessed angels, which constantly attend upon the throne. And if those most glorious and happy spirits, those "morning stars which sang together, those sons of God which shouted for joy when the foundations of the earth were laid," (Job xxxviii. 7. 4.) if they and their habitation were made; then can we no ways doubt of the production of all other creatures so much inferior unto them.

Lucretius calls the heavens: 'Mundi magnum et versatile templum.' 1. v. v. 1435. Tò ȧvwrάtw kai πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἱερὸν θεοῦ νομίζειν σύμ

Tavтα xon Kóσμov elvaι. Philo de Monarch. 1. ii. init.

+ Ἴδιον οἰκητήριον.

« ZurückWeiter »