BOOK V I. OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ANCIENT CHAP. I. OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES. IN the preceding books we have traced the history of Pagan, Jewish, and Mahometan philosophy, from the earliest times to the period of literary and philosophical darkness called the Middle Age. We next proceed to mark the progress of philosophy among Christians, from the birth of Jesus Christ to the eighth century: when, as will after wards appear, it suffered material alteration and corrup tion in the Christian schools. Although JESUS CHRIST demands attention and reverence under a much more exalted character than that of a philosopher, yet it will not be questioned by those who are more inclined to regard the real nature of things than to cavil about words, that the Christian religion merits, in the highest sense, the appellation of philosophy. For the weighty truths which it teaches, respecting God and man, are adapted to produce in the minds of men the genuine principles of wisdom, and to conduct them to true felicity. At the same time that it enlightens the understanding, it interests the heart; exhibiting Divine Wisdom in her fairest form, and supporting her authority by the most powerful sanctions. The school of Christ is free from the errors and absurdities with which the purest systems of Pagan philosophy abounded, and teaches every important principle and precept of religion and morals, with a degree of simplicity, perspicuity, and energy, which, in connexion with other more direct proofs, affords no inconsiderable evidence of the Divine authority of the Christian religion. It must therefore be the interest of every one, who is desirous of making a right use of his reason, and attaining true wisdom, to become a disciple of Christ. On these grounds, doubtless, it was, that the Christian fathers so frequently spoke of Christianity under the title of True and Evangelical Philosophy,' and called the professors of the Christian faith, Divine Philosophers. In this application of the term, they were, however, far from meaning to pay any respect to Pagan wisdom; their intention was, on the contrary, to intimate, that the wisdom, which had been long sought in the schools of heathen philosophers, was only to be met with in the school of Christ. The founder of the Christian faith was early ranked, both by the enemies and the friends of Christianity, among philosophers. Lucian classes him with Pythagoras, Apollonius Tyanæus, and Alexander. Several of the Platonic philosophers speak of him as a man animated by a Divine demon, and sent from heaven for the instruction of mankind. The Jews early accused him of practising magical arts. Some of the Pagan adversaries of Christianity even asserted, that Christ was indebted for his doctrine to the heathen philosophers, and particularly to Plato. On the other side, among the Christians, false stories were early circulated (probably by the Gnostics, in order to obtain credit to their fanciful tenets) concerning the supernatural wisdom of Christ in his childhood, many of which are to be found in a supposititious book entitled, "The Gospel of the Infancy;" and other fabulous reports of a similar nature obtained too much credit in the early ages of the church. But if, without regarding either the calumnies of infidels, or tales of superstitious believers, we adhere to the simple account given of Jesus Christ by the Evangelists, we shall find no difficulty in admitting, that he was ap pointed by God to teach men a kind of wisdom far superior to the subtleties of speculative philosophy, and to confirm Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. i. fin. p. 357. Socrat. Hist. Eccl. I. iv. c. 27. Theodoret, de Cur. Gr. Affect. 1. xii. * Clem. Al. 1. c. 1. vi. p. 642. l. ii. p. 380. Lactant. de Op. Dei. c. i. P. 671. 3 Lucian. Peregr. t. iv. p. 220. August. de Civ. Dei, l. xix. c. 23. Origen. cont. Celsum, l. vi. p. 279. Aug. Epist. 34. Conf. Bibl. Univ. t. x. p. 402. Balt. Def. de SS. Peres, 1. iv. c. 11. ✦ Fabric. Cod. ap. N. T. p. iii. p. 424. t. i. p. 168. Conf. Iren. adv. Hares. 1. i. c. 17. them in the belief and expectation of a future state; and, consequently, that, whatever respect he might have claimed as a philosopher, he is entitled to much higher regard, as the Messenger of Divine Truth, and the Author of Eternal Salvation. 6 The Apostles of Jesus Christ, who were appointed by him to teach the Gospel to all nations, like their Master, relied more upon the Divine Authority which attended their embassy, than upon any human abilities or attainments. "They spoke, not with the enticing words of man's wisdom, but with the demonstration of the Spirit, and with power." So far were they from affecting human learning, that they frequently expressed contempt for the philosophy of the age; because they saw, that philosophers mingled with the truth many false opinions and vain fables, and involved themselves in endless controversies, most of which were, in fact, a mere "strife of words." The apostle Paul, writing to the Christians at Colosse, says, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." This apostle was not indeed unfurnished with learning, having studied Jewish wisdom under Gamaliel, and having, as appears from several passages in his epistles, and from some incidents in his life, acquired, probably at Tarsus, his native place, a competent knowledge of Greek literature. But he disclaimed all confidence in these attainments, and relied for success upon the intrinsic excellence of the Christian doctrine, and the Divine power by which it was supported. And, with respect to the rest of the apostles, they were, unquestionably, men destitute of the advantages of a learned education; the author of our holy religion purposely choosing his ministers out of the class of the vulgar and illiterate, that his cause might the more evidently appear to depend upon its own purity and truth, without the aid of human wisdom. There is, then, no sufficient reason for ranking the apostles of Christ, as some Christian writers have done, in the class of philosophers.8 5 1 Cor. ii. 6. 6 Col. ii. 8. Conf. Eph. iv. 6. Acts xvii. 18. 7 Horn. Hist. Phil. I. v. c. 3. See Bp. Horsley's Sermon on 1 Cor. xii. 4. Vidend. Jons. Scr. Hist. Ph. 1. ii. c. 4. Lamius de Erud. Apost. c. 16. Miscell. Lips. Obs. 96. t. v. Miscell. Berolin. p. iii, n. 11. Suidas, CHAP. II. OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE CHRISTIAN FATHERS, CONSIDERED IN GENERAL. 1 AFTER the example of the apostles, their immediate followers, who are distinguished by the name of Apostolic Men, were more desirous to teach the Divine doctrine which they had received from Jesus Christ in simplicity and truth, than to render themselves illustrious by any display of human learning. They had no other design, than to spread the knowledge of Christ and his gospel in the world; and they executed this design with simplicity, fidelity, and magnanimity, without the aid of rhetorical embellishments, or philosophical refinement. Their genuine epistles, particularly those of Clemens Romanus, Ignatius, and Polycarp, bear many marks of that sincerity and zeal, which so eminently distinguished the writings of the apostles. But some pieces are ascribed to the Apostolic Men, which carry with them many internal proofs of forgery. To this class belong "The second Epistle of Clemens Romanus;" "The Apostolic Canons;" "The Apostolic Constitutions;" "The Recognitions of Clement;" "The Clementines;" "The Larger Epistles of Ignatius;" "The Epistle of Barnabus;" and The Shepherd of Hermas." The Clementines, and Recognitions of Clement, were probably written in the third century, by some Jewish Christian of Alexandria, who made Clemens speak the language of an Alexandrian philosopher, in hopes of defeating the philosophers with their own weapons. But this practice of corrupting the simplicity of the Apostolic doctrine commenced much earlier than the third century. The first witnesses of Christianity had scarcely left the world, when the Shepherd of Hermas appeared; a work too strongly marked with the character of philosophical fanaticism to be received as the genuine production of an apostolic man. The writer of this work cer t. ii. p. 97. Heuman. Act. Phil. v. ii. p. 56. Elswich Diss. de Philos. viris sac. temere affict. Sandii Interp. Parodox. p. 151. Clerici in Joan. Ev. c. 1. tainly borrowed from the Platonic schools, or from the Jewish Cabbalists, his doctrines of a good or bad angel attending every man, and producing all his virtuous or vicious inclinations; and of a peculiar angel appointed to preside over each animal.1 The fathers of the Christian church soon departed from the simplicity of the apostolic age, and corrupted the purity of the Christian faith. This is chiefly to be ascribed to two causes: first, the practice, which at that time so generally prevailed, of clothing the doctrines of religion in an allegorical dress; and secondly, the habit of subtle speculation, which the more learned converts from Paganism brought with them from the schools of philosophy. The practice of allegorical interpretation, which the Jews had learned from the Egyptians, and which, before the time of Christ, was common among them, the early converts to Christianity brought out of the Jewish into the Christian church. Some traces of this method of interpretation we find in the New Testament, particularly in St. Paul's argument against the Jewish advocates for the perpetual and universal obligation of the Mosaic Ritual, drawn from the history of Abraham, in the Epistle to the Galatians; and in the typical application of the ceremonial appointments of Moses to the Christian institution, in the Epistle to the Hebrews. But a less sober and judicious use was made of this kind of language by the Christian fathers. This was more especially the case with those Gentile converts who had been educated in the Alexandrian schools, where, by the help of allegory, the several systems of philosophy were mixed and confounded; and with those Jewish Christians, who, by the same means, had been instructed in the Cabbalistic doctrines, which, before this time, had sprung up in Egypt, and passed thence into Judea. Several of those sects of Christians who were called Heretics, particularly the Valentinian Gnostics, made use of allegorical language to disguise the unnatural 'L. i. Mand. 6. v. iv. c. 2. Hieron. in Habac. 1. i. ad c. i. 14. Conf. Plut. de Tranq. Anim. t. ii, p. 263. Theodor. de Cur. Gr. Affect. S. 3. Censorin, de Die Nat. c. 3. Philo de Anim. c. 3. 3. Cabbal. denud. t. i.. p. 3. p. 121. ↑ C. iv. v. 22. |