Page images
PDF
EPUB

with great indignation, as derogating from the divine glory, the doctrine that moral evil is a mere negation, and therefore cannot be an object of divine knowledge. Such an opinion seemed to him to be of evil tendency, as leading to low views of the evil of sin. In accordance with Augustine, he maintained that Adam, even in innocence, needed divine grace in order to perseverance in holiness.

While Florus condemned the abuse of human science, for which his opponent was remarkable, he did not allow his polemic zeal to betray him into a rejection of all such aids in theology, but admitted a sound and proper use of all intellectual resources. He demanded only that every thing of this kind should be brought to the test of scripture. But he maintained that in order to the right interpretion of the Bible, something more was necessary than the study of the letter, namely, the inward illumination of Christian experience. For no one, he held, could rightly understand and soundly interpret the word of God, unless his heart were possessed of faith in Christ: "Nisi aut fides Christi praecedat in corde legentis, per quem veraciter intelligantur, aut ipsa fides Christi in eis fideliter quaeratur et Deo illuminante inveniatur."

Against such opponents, Hinkmar now found it necessary to seek new helpers. Gotteschalcus had communicated his views to Amulo, archbishop of Lyons, and requested his aid. This prelate was, however, incapable of forming a fair estimate of the doctrine, and adhered to the milder representations of the Augustinian system, or perhaps contemplated the whole subject through the medium afforded to him by Hinkmar. He, therefore, imputed to Gotteschalcus all the odious consequences which were deduced from his tenets by his enemies. At the same time, he was distinguished by a gentleness of manner in his treatment of those whom he regarded as in error. In the composition which he put forth against Gotteschalcus, in order to reclaim him, he addressed him as a beloved brother, for whose welfare he was not less concerned than for his own. He sent a copy of this letter to Hinkmar, and publicly expressed his desire of a reconciliation between the archbishop and Gotteschalcus; assuming, however, the very improbable occurrence of a recantation on the part of the latter. In consequence of this, Hinkmar was led to regard Amulo as an auxiliary in the contest with his new opponents. In connexion with one of his diocese, who shared in his sentiments, Pardulus, bishop of Laon, he ad

dressed to Amulo and the church of Lyons, two letters repecting the doctrines of Gotteschalcus; annexing the letter which had been written by Rabanus Maurus to Notting, of Verona. But the archbishop Amulo died about this time, (A. D. 853) and his successor Remigius made it known that he was opposed to the course of Hinkmar. In the reply which Remigius made, in the name of the church of Lyons, he was very decided in condemning the unjust and rigorous manner in which Gotteschalcus had been treated. He calls upon them to judge for themselves whether they had evinced that moderation and Christian love which became a spiritual tribunal, and a company of priests and monks. He declared that their conduct was an object of general abhorrence. "Omnes non solum dolent, sed etiam horrent " All heretics had heretofore been overcome and convicted by reason. "Cum omnes retro haeretici verbis et disputationibus victi atque convicti sunt." The condemnation of Gottschalk's tenets, he added, was really a condemnation of catholic doctrine. "In hac re dolemus non illum miserabilem, sed ecclesiasticam veritatem esse damnatam." The true course would have been to subject his declarations of opinion to a thorough investigation. If indeed Gotteschalcus had reviled the bishops, this was an insolence which should be punished; though it were better that this should proceed from any than the bishops themselves. And he urged it as a duty, to mitigate the punishment which the poor monk had for many years endured in prison, in order to win by kindness the brother for whom Christ died, rather than to abandon him to be 'swallowed up of overmuch sorrow."

In regard to two questions, first, whether the expression that God wills the salvation of all men, is to be taken without limitation, or with such restriction as is demandes by the doctrine of predestination; and, secondly, whether Christ died for all men, or only for the elect;-Remigius avowed his attachment to the particularistic tenet, but claimed, as Servatus Lupus had done before him, that in regard to this each party should enjoy freedom of judgment, as the church had not pronounced definitively upon these points, and as there was a diversity of opinion among the fathers.

When Hinkmar perceived the array of his opponents to be increasing, he resolved to avail himself of ecclesiastical authority, and procured a second council to be held at Chiersy, in which four propositions were established against Gotteschalcus. These proceeded upon the principles of Augus

[blocks in formation]

tine. Liberty of will, sufficient for continuance in original righteousness, was ascribed to Adam. By the abuse of this liberty, he fell, and thereby the whole human race became a massa perditionis. Out of this mass, God, according to his foreknowledge, elected those whom through his grace he foreordained to eternal life, and to whom eternal life was foreordained: as to those on the contrary, whom by his righteous decree he left in the mass of corruption, while he foreknew their perdition, he did in no way predestinate them to it. Nevertheless, in his justice he foreordained eternal punish ment to such. In this way, divine predestination is made one, referring itself either to the gift of grace, or the reward of righteousness-and this phraseology, says Neander, is in a two-fold manner opposed to the doctrine of the duplex praedestinatio. A second important difference consists in the principles, that God wills the salvation of all men, and that Christ died for all men; declarations which receive their limitation, as our author observes, from their connexion with the former position, and which, in the system of Hinkmar, as in that of Rabanus Maurus, are to be understood only with this limitation.

In opposition to these determinations, the second council at Valence, in the year 855,agreed upon six capitula. They established the two-fold predestination, in the sense above explained, but at the same time declared in the most express terms, that human sin is founded only in the will of the first man and his posterity, and is an object of divine prescience only. "Nec ipsas malas ideo perire, quia boni esse non potuerunt, sed quia boni esse noluerunt, suoque vitio in massa. damnationis vel merito originali vel etiam actuali permanserunt." This council further condemned the doctrine that Christ died for the unbelieving. Yet such was their regard for the objective efficacy of sacraments, that in the fifth canon, this determination is appended: "That the whole body of believers, who are born of water and of the Holy Ghost, and who are thereby truly embosomed in the church, according to the teaching of the apostle, are baptized into the death of Christ, and hence are cleansed from their sins by his blood; for their regeneration would not be true, unless their redemption were also true. It is necessary to hold this, unless

Aus dieser Masse habe der gute und gerechte Gott nach seiner Praescienz Diejenigen erwahlt, welche er durch die Gnade zum ewigen Leben, und denen er das ewige Leben vorherbestimmt.

Yet out of

we would distrust the reality of the sacrament. the mass of the believers and redeemed persons, some attain to eternal happiness, because by the grace of God they faithfully persevere in their redeemed state, while others by no means attain to the enjoyment of eternal happiness, because they do not choose to persevere in the saving condition of faith which they received at the beginning, but have again made void the grace of redemption by bad doctrine or a bad life."

In regard to grace, it was determined, that without it no rational creature could possibly maintain a life of true happiness. Hence the necessity of grace was deduced, not from the entrance of sin, but from the natural and necessary relations of the creature to the Creator. The errors of Scotus likewise were condemned as frivolous and absurd. A council was proposed to be held at Savonnières (apud Saponiarias) near Toul, for the purpose of meeting upon some common ground, but the plan was never carried into effect. "There was now," says Neander, "no difference between the parties as to the substantial articles of belief; so that if another and deeper cause had not prevented, they must have been brought to a settlement by a comparison of ideas; for both parties agreed in setting out with the Augustinian principles, and their necessary consequences. But as each party clung to its own formulas as the only correct ones, and would on no account depart from these, any mutual understanding, by means of an analysis of the ideas in debate, was impossible. Again, each party had its own interest in adhering to its favourite terms: the one being concerned for dogmatic consistency in the system of absolute predestination, and the other being no less zealous for universal grace (den christlichen Universalismus) in regard to the doctrine of divine love and redemption; doctrines which in truth could be held only in name in connexion with these views, since they are opposed by the system of predestination from first. to last." The want of scientific method and logical clearness, and the plan of disputing more by the aid of sentences from the fathers than by solid arguments, conspired to prolong a controversy of phrases, without any real comparison of views upon the merits of the subject. The last event worth mentioning in this train of disputations was the publication of a book by Hinkmar, in defence of the four capitula

* Ineptas quaestiunculas et aniles paene fabulas Scotorumque pultes.

of Chiersy. As the defects just mentioned existed, to no common degree, in the mind of this prelate, in union with a verbosity which was peculiar to him, he was eminently successful in writing much upon the questions in debate, without approaching to any resolution of the discordant formulas into corresponding conceptions; and, as might have been expected, this diversity was propagated in the following centuries.

ART. IV.-Report on Education in Europe, to the Trustees of the Girard College for Orphans. By Alexander Dallas Bache, LL.D. President of the College. Philadelphia. 1839. pp. 666.

WHETHER the great bequest of Mr. Girard, for the endowment of a College for orphan boys, shall prove to be a blessing or the contrary, is a question of much doubt with those who understand the will as discouraging the practical religious instruction of the beneficiaries of the institution. However this may be (and it would be permature to discuss the question before we know what interpretation the trustees of the legacy have adopted,) this report of President Bache convinces us that the organization and progress of the college will be of no small importance to the general interests of education. This document furnishes abundant proof that the critical task of laying the foundation of a system of instruction and discipline, by which thousands of youth are to be in constant training, has been committed to a sagacious, comprehensive, judicious and practical mind. The station which the president holds, with such qualifications, must give great authority and influence to his views, and every thing in the circumstances under which he enters upon his office, is favourable to a successful début for himself and the school. A fund of millions, years of preparation and experiment, and the opportunity of profiting through actual observation by all the experience and knowledge of Europe-are advantages which no literary establishment with us has heretofore enjoyed to such an extent. Our schools of every grade and name, and most of our colleges, have been formed and conducted on the great American principle of accomplishing in the speediest and cheapest me

« PreviousContinue »