by Adolph (von) Harnack
translated and edited by James Moffatt
Second, enlarged and revised English edition;
Theological Translation Library, volumes 19-20
From the German, Die
[[being updated (also consulting the 4th German edition) and adapted by RAK
for use in 2004
CHAPTER V
THE RELIGION OF THE SPIRIT AND OF POWER, OF MORAL
EARNESTNESS AND HOLINESS \1/
In its missionary activities- the
Christian religion presented itself as something more than the gospel of
redemption and of ministering love; it was also the religion of the Spirit and
of power. No doubt, it verified its character as Spirit and power by the very
fact that it brought redemption and succor to mankind, freeing them from demons
(see above, pp. 125 f.) and from the misery of life. But the witness of the
Spirit had a wider reach than even this. “I came to you in weakness and fear
and with great trembling; nor were my speech and preaching in persuasive words
of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1 Cor. ii. 3,
4). Though Paul in these words is certainly thinking of his conflict with
demons and of their palpable defeat, he is by no means thinking of that alone,
but also of all the wonderful deeds that accompanied the labors of the apostles
and the founding of the church. These were not confined to his own person. From
all directions they were reported, in connection with other missionaries as
well. Towards the close of the first century, when people came to look back
upon the age in which the church had been established, the course of events was
summed up in these words (Heb. ii. 3) “Salvation began by being spoken through
the Lord, and was confirmed for us by those' who heard it, while God
accompanied their witness by signs and wonders and manifold miracles and
distributions of the holy Spirit."
---------------------------------------
\1/
In presenting this aspect of the Christian religion, one has either to be
extremely brief or very copious. In the volume which has been already mentioned
(on p. 125), Weinel has treated it with great thoroughness. Here I shall do no
more than adduce the salient points.
=======================
The variety of
expressions \1/ here is in itself a proof of the number of phenomena, which
emerge in this connection. Let us try to single out the most important of them.
(1) God speaks to the missionaries in visions, dreams, a ecstasy, revealing to them affairs of moment and also trifles, controlling their plans, pointing out the roads on which they are to travel, the cities where they are to stay, and the persons whom they are to visit. Visions occur especially after a martyrdom, the dead martyr appearing to his friends during the weeks that immediately follow his death, as in the case of Potamiaena (Eus., H.E., vi. 5), or of Cyprian, or of many others.
It was by means
of dreams that Arnobius (Jerome, Chron., p. 326) and others were converted.
Even in the middle of the third century, the two great bishops Dionysius and
Cyprian' were both visionaries. Monica, Augustine's mother, like many a
Christian widow, saw visions frequently; she could even detect, from a certain
taste in her mouth, whether it was a real revelation or a dream-image that she
saw (Aug., Conf., vi. 13. 23 “Dicebat
discernere se nescio quo sapore, quern verbis explic:ire non poterat, quid
interesset inter revelantetn to et animain suaut somniantem "). She was
not the first who used this criterion.
(2) At the missionary addresses of the apostles or evangelist, or at the services of the churches which they founded, sudden movements of rapture are experienced, many of them being simultaneous seizures; these are either full of terror and dismay, convulsing the whole spiritual life, or exultant outbursts of a joy that sees heaven opened to its eyes. The simple question, “What must I do to be saved?" also bursts upon the mind with an elemental force.
------------------------------
\1/
Cp. Justin's Dial. xxxix. : <g> ywTtf4,4EP04 ara TOP OvJ14QTUS TOO
XPLOTOD Tο6TOV6 µEP yap Xαµ,Bdver cruviaews w,EPµα, 6 aE
$oultits, 6 aE roxvos, 6 aE iασEws, 6 ac' apoypt6arewň, 6 aE
6LSá'Ka1(ás, 6 ai 460ou GOP </g> (" Illuminated by the name of
Christ. For one receives the spirit of understanding, another the spirit of
counsel, another the spirit of might, another the spirit of healing, another
the spirit of foreknowledge, another the spirit of teaching, another the spirit
of the fear of God ").
\2/
Cp. my essay on " Cyprian als Enthusiast " in the Zeitschrift fur die
neutesl. Wissenschaft, iii. (1902), pp. 177 f.
==================
(3) Some are inspired who have power to clothe their experience in words-prophets to explain the past, to interpret and to fathom the present, and to foretell the future. \1/ Their prophecies relate to the general course of history, but also to the fortunes of individuals, to what individuals are to do or leave u n done.
(4) Brethren are inspired with the impulse to improvise prayers and hymns and psalms.
(5) Others are so filled with the Spirit that they lose consciousness and break out in stammering speech and cries, or in unintelligible utterances-which can be interpreted, however, by those who have the gift.
(6) Into the hands of others, again, the Spirit slips a pen, either in an ecstasy or in exalted moments of spiritual tension; they not merely speak but write as they are bidden.
(7) Sick persons are brought and healed by the missionaries, or by brethren who have been but recently awakened; wild paroxysms of terror before God's presence are also soothed, and in the name of Jesus demons are cast out.
(8) The Spirit impels men to an immense variety of extraordinary actions-to symbolic actions which are meant to reveal some mystery or to give some directions for life, as well as to deeds of heroism.
(9) Some perceive the presence of the Spirit with every sense; they see its brilliant light, they hear its voice, they smell the fragrance of immortality and taste its sweetness. Nay more; they see celestial persons with their own eyes, see them and also hear them; they peer into what is hidden or distant or to come; they are even rapt into the world to come, into heaven itself, where they listen to “words that cannot be uttered." \2/
------------------------------------
\1/
These prophecies do not include, however, the Christian Sibylline oracles. The
Jewish oracles were accepted in good faith by Christians, and quoted by them ever
since Hermas) as prophetic; but the production of Christian Sibyllines did not
begin, in all likelihood, till after the middle of the third century. These
oracles are an artificial and belated outcome of the primitive Christian
enthusiasm, and are simply a series of forgeries. Cp. my Chronologie, i. pp.
581 f, ii. pp. 184 f.
\2/
Cp., however, Orig., Hom. xxvii. II, in Nun. (vol. 10, p. 353) : "In
visions there is wont to be temptation, for the angel of evil sometimes
transforms himself into 'an angel of light. Hence you must take great care to
discriminate the kind f vision, just as Joshua the son of Nun on seeing a vision
knew there was a temptation in it, and at once asked the figure, Art thou on
our side, or on our foes'?" ("Solet in visionibus esse tentatio; nam
nonnunquam angelus iniquitatis transfigurat se in angelum lucis, et ideo
cavendum est et sollicite agendum, ut scienter discernas visionum genus, sicut
et Jesus Nave, cum visionem viderit, sciens in hoc esse tentationem, statim
requisit ab co qui apparuit et dicit : Noster es an adversariorum?"). See
also what follows.
======================
(10) But although the Spirit manifests itself through marvels like these, it is no less effective in heightening the religious and the moral powers, which operate with such purity and power in certain individuals that they bear palpably the stamp of their divine origin. A heroic faith or confidence in God is visible, able to overthrow mountains, and towering far above the faith that lies in the heart of every Christian; charitable services are rendered which are far more moving and stirring than any miracle ; a foresight and a solicitude are astir in the management of life, that operate as surely as the very providence of God. When these spiritual gifts, together with those of the apostles, prophets, and teachers, are excited, they are the fundamental means of edifying the churches, proving them thereby to be "churches of God."
The amplest evidence for all these traits is to be found in the pages of early Christian literature from its earliest record down to Irenseus, and even further. The apologists allude to them as a familiar and admitted fact, and it is quite obvious that they were of primary importance for the mission and propaganda of the Christian religion. Other religions and cults could doubtless point to some of these actions of the Spirit, such as ecstasy, vision, demonic and anti-demonic manifestations, but nowhere do we find such a wealth of these phenomena presented to us as in Christianity; moreover, and this is of supreme importance, the fact that their Christian range included the exploits of moral heroism, stamped them in this field with a character which was all their own and lent them a very telling power. What existed elsewhere merely in certain stereotyped and fragmentary fortes, appeared within Christianity in a wealth of expression where every function of the spiritual, the mental, and the moral life seemed actually to be raised above itself. \1/
---------------------------------------
\1/We
must not ignore the fact that these proofs of “the Spirit and power” were not favorable
to the propaganda in all quarters. Celsus held that they were trickery, magic,
and a gross scandal, and his opinion was shared by other sensible pagans,
although the latter were no surer of their facts than Celsus himself. Paul had
observed long ago that, instead of recommending Christianity, speaking with
tongues might on the contrary discredit it among pagans (see I Cor. xiv. 23 :
" If the whole congregation assemble and all speak with tongues, then will
not uneducated or unbelieving men, who may chance to enter, say that you are
mad?" ).
======================
In all these phenomena there was an implicit danger, due to the great temptation which people felt either to heighten them artificially, or credulously to exaggerate them,\1/ or to imitate them fraudulently, or selfishly to turn theta to their own account. \2/
----------------------------------
\1/At
that period, as all our sources show, belief in miracles was strong upon the
whole; but in Christian circles it seems to have been particularly robust and
unlimited, tending more and more to deprive men of any vision of reality. Compare,
for example, the apocryphal Acts, a genre of literature whose roots lie in the
second century. We must also note how primitive popular legends which were
current acquired a Christian cast and got attached to this or that Christian
hero or apostle or saint. One instance of this may be seen in the well-known
stories of corpses, which moved as if they could still feel and think.
Tertullian (de Anima, li.) writes thus: "I know of one woman, even within
the church itself, who fell peacefully asleep, after a singularly happy though
short married life, in the bloom of her age and beauty. Before her burial was
completed, when the priest had begun the appointed office, she raised her hands
from her side at the first breath of his prayer, put them in the posture of
devotion, and, when the holy service was concluded, laid them back in their
place. Then there is the other story current among our people, that in a
certain cemetery one corpse made way of its own accord for another to be laid
alongside of it" (this is also told of the corpse of bishop Reticius of
Autun at the beginning of the fourth century).
\2/
Cp. what has been already said (p. 132) on exorcists being blamed, and also the
description of the impostor Marcus given by Irenaeus in the first book of his
great work. When the impostor Peregrinus joined the Christians, he became (says
Lucian) a "prophet," and as such secured for himself both glory and
gain. The Didache had already endeavored to guard the churches against men of
this kind, who used their spiritual gifts for fraudulent ends. There were even
Christian minstrels; cp. the pseudo-Clementine epistle tie Virgznitate, ii. 6
" Nee proicimus sanctum canibus nec margaritas ante porcos ; sed dei
laudes celebranms cum omnimoda disciplina et cum omni prudentia et cum omni
timore dei atque animi intentione. Cultum sacrum non exercemus ibi, ubi
inebriantur gentiles et verbis impuris in conviviis suis blasphemant in
impietate sea. Propterea non psallimus. genti.libus neque scripturas illis
praelegimus, tit ne tibicinibus aut cautoribus aut hariolis similes sinus,
sicut multi, qui ita agunt et haec faciunt, ut buccella panis saturent sese et
propter modicum vini eunt et cantant cantica domini in terra aliena gentilium
ac faciant quod non licet" (" We do not cast what is holy to the dogs
nor throw pearls before swine, but celebrate the praises of God with perfect
self-'restraint and discretion, in all fear of God and with deliberate mind. We
do not practice our sacred worship where the heathen get drunk and impiously
blaspheme with impure speech at their banquets. Hence we do not sing to the
heathen, nor do we read aloud our scriptures to them, that we may not be like
flute-players, or singers, or soothsayers, as many are who live and act thus in
order to get a mouthful of bread, going for a sorry cup of wine to sing the
songs of the Lord in the strange land of the heathen and doing what is unlawful
"). See also the earlier passage in i. 13: May God send workmen who are
not " operarii rtlercenarii, qui religionem et pietatem pro mercibus
habeant, qui simulent lucis filios, cum non sint lux sed tenebrae, qui
operantur fraudem, qui Christum in llegotio et quaestu habeant"
("mere hirelings, trading on their religion and piety, irritating the
children of light although they themselves are not light but darkness, acting
fraudulently, and making Christ a matter of profit and gain").
=========================
It was in the
primitive days of Christianity, during the first sixty years of its course,
that their effects were most conspicuous, but they continued to exist all
through the second century, although in diminished volume. \1/ Irenaeus
confirms this view. \2/ The Montanist movement certainly gave new life to the “Spirit,"
which had begun to wane; but after the opening of the third century the
phenomena dwindle rapidly, and instead of being the hall-mark of the church at
large, or of every individual community, they become no more than the endowment
of a few favored individuals. The common life of the church has now its
priests, its altar, its sacraments, its holy book and rule of faith. But it no
longer possesses “the Spirit and power." \3/
----------------------------------------------------
\1/
They must have been generally and inevitably discredited by the fact that the various
parties in Christianity during the second century each denied that the other possessed
the Spirit and power, explaining that when such phenomena occurred among its
opponents they were the work of the devil, and unauthentic.
\2/
He actually declares (see above, p. 135) that people are still raised from the
dead within the Christian church (ii. 31. 2). On the spiritual gifts still operative
in his day, cp. ii. 32. 4: <g> Alο
Ka1 Ev TQ ixeivou ovdp,αTt (that of Jesus) of. ~~7)BWS αUTOV paOgTal
vap' αUTOV Xa$dVTeS Tl/V X4péV EatTEXoiuuogv Ea' ivepyEo(u T7J}QV
Xonrc"av ap0pcurrWV, KaOWS Js EKaoYoς αI'r V SWpE&ν
efAi? 1E Trap' a8Toi - Of /AE), 'map Sαfµovas Erauvoua•L $ESα(WS Ka1
&X,1 NOS, 60-TIE 7roAXα,io Kαi vwrev'EIY αllTOUSF-ACE(VOUS
TOYS Ka8αpiOO&vras &w1! TWY'rοV71pWV 7rweu, cTWν Kai
elvαt Eν Tn EKKX7]O(4$E Kαt apdyVWOty EXOVOL TCVV'AEXXdVTWV
Kαi 07rTaofaS Kai PJOEIS 7rp0.'nTιKcS ~'~XUI 51 railς
KαµvονTas Sla ri3s T&V Xespmv E7rgOeo-ews iWVTαt
Kαl IIyrciς a7r'OKαBL0T Q+LOtν , n&t7 5~ Irαl
νEKpOl fyepO710αv Kal repEµflYaY OVν i hiν hKaνOLS
ETEOI ' Kal T yαp; o11K EOTIV ap&O r , Ed,rEIV TNν
XaP1TUαTWV rip Kara 7rανTοS TOO KdOe.IOV 7/ F^cxXi?Ofarαpa
OEOV Xa$Ovo•α Ev Ty vµaTl'I71TOVXpIOTOV TOV O`TαVpWOEνTOS
Er'QYTiOU IItXα'TOU WO-7-71s , ec'pas 1,r' dvcpyorfg Tp TWY JOV&v
d7rt4EXE? </g> (cp. above, p.135). Irenaeus distinctly adds that these
gifts were gratuitous. Along with other opponents of heresy, he blames the
Gnostics for taking money and thus trading upon Christ. A prototype of this
occurs as early as Acts viii. 15 f. (the Case of Simon Magus), where it is
strongly reprimanded <g> (TL apyrpldv Oov oily o•olelς
a,rc5XEtαv, </g> "Thy money perish with thee!").
\3/ All the higher value was attached to such people as appeared to possess the Spirit. The more the phenomena of Spirit and power waned in and for the general mass of Christians, the higher rose that cultus of heroes in the faith (i.e., ascetics, confessors, and workers of miracles) which had existed from the very first. These all bear unmistakable signs of the Christ within them, in consequence of which they enjoy veneration and authority. Gradually, during the second half of the third century in particular, they took the place of the dethroned deities of paganism, though as a rule this position was not gained till after death. Though Cyprian still made great use of visions and dreams, he merely sought by their means to enhance his episcopal authority. In several cases, however, they excited doubts and incredulity among people; cp. Ep. lxvi. 10 : " Scio somnia ridicula et visiones ineptas quibusdam videri " (" I know that to some people dreams seem absurd and visions senseless"). This is significant.
==========================
Eusebius is not the first (in the third book of his history) to look back upon the age of the Spirit and of power as the bygone heroic age of the church, \1/ for Origen had already pronounced this verdict on the past out of an impoverished present. \2/Yet this impoverishment and disenchantment hardly inflicted any injury now upon the mission of Christianity. During the third century, that mission was being prosecuted in a different way from that followed in the first and second centuries. There were no longer any regular missionaries-at least we never hear of any such. And the propaganda was no longer an explosive force, but a sort of steady fermenting process. Quietly but surely Christianity was expanding from the centers it had already occupied, diffusing itself with no violent shocks or concussions in its spread.
If the early Christians always
looked out for the proofs of the Spirit and of power, they did so from the
standpoint of their moral and religious energy, since it was for the sake of
the latter object that these gifts had been bestowed upon the church.
----------------------------------
\1/
H. E., iii. 37: "A great many wonderful works of the Holy Spirit were
wrought in the primitive age through the pupils of the apostles, so that whole
multitudes of people, on first hearing the word, suddenly accepted with the
utmost readiness faith in the Creator of the universe."
\2/
In c. Celς., II. viii., he only declares that he himself has seen still
more miracles. The age of miracles therefore lay for Origen in earlier days. In
II. xlviii. he puts a new' face on the miracles of Jesus and his apostles by
interpreting them not only as symbolic of certain truths, but also as intended
to win over many hearts to the wonderful doctrine of the gospel. Exorcisms and
cures are represented by him as still continuing to occur (frequently; cp.
==========================
Paul describes this object as the edification of the entire church, \1/while as regards the individual; it is the new creation of man from death to life from a worthless thing into a thing of value. This edification means a growth in all that is good (cp. Gal. v. 22: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control "), and the Evidence of power is that God has not called many wise after the flesh, nor many noble, but poor and weak men, whom he transformed into morally robust and intelligent natures. Moral regeneration and the moral life were not merely one side Christianity to Paul, but its very fruit and goal on earth. The' entire labor of the Christian mission might be described as a moral enterprise, as the awakening and strengthening of the moral sense. Such a description would not be inadequate to its full contents.
Paul’s opinion was shared by Christians of the sub-apostolic age by the apologists and great Christian fathers like Tertullian \2/ and Origen.
------------------------------------------
\1/
Cp. pseudo-Clem., de Virgin., I. xi.: " Illo igitur charismate, quod a
domino vcr iSti, illo inservi fratribus pneumaticis, prophetis, qui dignoscant
dei esse a tea, quae loqueris, et enarra quod accepisti charisma in
ecclesiastico conventu wiificationem fratrum tuorum in Christo"
("Therefore with that spiritual gift which thou hast received from the
Lord, serve the spiritual brethren, even the prophets, who know that the words
thou speakest are of God, and declare the gift thou hast received in the
church-assembly to the edification of thy brethren in Christ").
\2/
The highly characteristic passage in Apol., xlv., may be quoted in this connection:
"Nos soli innocentes, quid mirum, si necesse est? enini vero necesse
Vc,Lain, et tfidelitercu todiamus,putf abeinc earn novimus,
ntemptibilitdispectorecm nlatain.autem humana aestimatio innocentiam tradidit,
humaha item dominatio ver -vit, inde nee plenae nee adeo timendae estis
disciplinae act innocentiae an(-- 1,q,-m. Tanta est prudentia hominis ad
demonstrandum bonum quanta qut stas ad exigendum; tam ills falli facilis quam ista
contemni. Atque adeo the3,jIenius, dicere: Non occides, an docere: ne irascaris
quidem?" etc. (" We, then are the only innocent people. Is that at
all surprising, if it is inevitable? And inevitable it is. Taught of God what
innocence is, we have a perfect knowledge of it as revealed by a perfect
teacher, and we also guard it faithfully as commanded by a judge who is not to
be despised. But as for you, innocence has merely been introduced among you by
human opinions, and it is enjoined by nothing better than human rules; hence
your moral discipline lacks the fullness and authority requisite for the
production of true innocence. Human skill in pointing out what is good is no
greater than human authority in enforcing obedience to what is good is; the one
is as easily deceived as the other is disobeyed. And so, which is the ampler
rule-to say, ' Thou shalt not kill,' or ' Thou shalt not much as be
angry'?")
=========================.
Read the Didache and the first chapter of Clemens Romanus, the conclusion of Barnabas, the homily entitled " Second Clement," the “Shepherd " of Hermas, or the last chapter of the Apology of Aristides, and everywhere you find the ethical demands occupying the front rank. They are thrust forward almost with wearisome diffuseness and with a rigorous severity. Beyond all question, these Christian communities seek to regulate their common life by principles of the strictest morality, tolerating no unholy members in their midst, \1/ and well aware that with the admission of immorality their very existence at once ceases. The fearful punishment to which Paul sentences the incestuous person (I Cor. v.) is not exceptional. Gross sinners were always ejected from the church. Even those who consider all religions, including Christianity, to be merely idiosyncrasies, and view progress as entirely identical with the moral progress of mankind-even such observers must admit that in these days progress did depend upon the Christian churches, and that history then had recourse to a prodigious and paradoxical system of levers in order to gain a higher level of human evolution. Amid all the convulsions of the soul and body produced by the preaching of a judgment, which was imminent, and amid the raptures excited by the Spirit of Christ, morality advanced to a position of greater purity and security. Above all, the conflict undertaken by Christianity was one against sins of the flesh, such as fornication, adultery, and unnatural vices. In the Christian communities, monogamy was held to be the sole permissible union of the sexes. \2/ The indissoluble character of marriage was inculcated (apart from the case of adultery), \3/ and marriage "'as also secured by the very difficulties which second marriages encountered. \4/
-----------------------------------
\1/
Martyr. Apoll., xxvi. : "There is a distinction between death and death.
For this reason the disciples of Christ die daily, torturing their desires and
mortifying them according to the divine scriptures; for we have no part at all
in shameless desires, or scenes impure, or glances lewd, or ears attentive to
evil, lest our souls thereby be wounded."
\2/
It formed part of the preparation for Christianity that monogamy had almost
established itself by this time among the Jews and throughout the Empire as the
one legal form of union between the sexes. Christianity simply proclaimed as an
ordinance of God what had already been carried out. Contrary practices, such as
concubinage, were still tolerated, but they counted for little in the social
organism. Of course the verdict on "fornication" throughout the
Empire generally was just as lax as it had always been, and even adultery on
the man's side was hardly condemned. The church had to join issue on these
points.
\3/
We may ignore casuistry in this connection.
\4/
The second century was filled with discussions and opinions about the
permissibility of second marriages.
======================
Closely bound up with the struggle against carnal. sins was the strict prohibition of abortion and the exposure of infants. \1/ Christians further opposed covetousness, greed, and dishonesty in business life; they attacked mammon-worship in every shape and form, and the pitiless temper which is its result. Thirdly, they combated double-dealing and falsehood. It was along these three lines, in the main, that Christian preaching asserted itself in the sphere of morals. Christians were to be pure men, who do not cling to their Possessions and are not self-seeking; moreover, they were to be truthful and brave.
The apologists shared the views of
the sub-apostolic fathers. At the close of his Apology, addressed to the public
of paganism, Aristides exhibits the Christian life in its purity, earnestness, and
love, and is convinced that in so doing he is expressing all that is most
weighty and impressive in it. Justin follows suit. Lengthy sections of his
great Apology are devoted to a statement of the moral principles in
Christianity, and to a proof
that these are observed by Christians. Besides, all the apologists rely on the
fact that even their opponents hold goodness to be good and wickedness to be
evil. They consider it superfluous waste their time in proving that goodness is
really goodness; they can be sure of assent to this proposition. What they seek
to prove is that goodness among Christians is not an impotent claim or a pale
ideal, but a power, which is developed on all sides and actually exercised in
life. \2/ It was of special importance to them to be able to show (cp. the
argument of the apostle Paul) that what was weak and poor and ignoble rose
thereby to strength and worth.
------------------------------------------------
\1/
Cp. the Didache; Athenag., Suppl., xxxv., etc. (above, p. 123).
\2/
Celsus distinctly admits that the ethical ideas of Christianity agree with
those of the philosophers (
============================
"They say of us, that we gabble nonsense among females, half-grown people, girls, and old women. \1/ Not so. Our maidens I philosophize,' and at their distaffs speak of things divine" (Tatian, Orat., xxxiii.). "The poor, no less than the well-to-do, philosophize with us" (ibid., xxxii.). “Christ has not, as Socrates had, merely philosophers and scholars as his disciples, but also artizans and people of no education, who despise glory, fear, and death." \2/ “Among us are uneducated folk, artizans, and old women who are utterly unable to describe the value of our doctrines in words, but who attest them by their deeds." \3/ Similar retorts are addressed by Origen to Celsus (in his second book), and by Lactantius (Instit., VI. iv.) to his opponents.
-------------------------------------------
\1/
Celsus, III. xliv: " Christians must admit that they can only persuade
people destitute of sense, position, or intelligence, only slaves, women, and
children, to accept their faith."
\2/
Justin, Apol., II. x. He adds: <g>
SuvαlAls dor,v Tov appi;Tov warpLr Kill obXl
&vOpa•7rE(ou
Ad-you KαTaσKEUfj </g> ("He is a power of the ineffable
Father, and no mere instrument of human reason "). So Diognet., vii.:
<g> TaPTa &YOP94WOu ο11 SOKEI Tfl: €pye, Tavvra iSLYaµts
&-ri 8Eo"v </g> ("These do not look like human works; they
are the power of God"). .
\3/
Athenag., Suppl., xi. ; cp. also Justin, Apol.,
==============================
A whole series
of proofs is extant, indicating that the high level of morality enjoined by
Christianity and the moral conduct of the Christian societies were intended to
promote, and actually did promote, the direct interests of the Christian
mission. \1/ The apologists not infrequently lay great stress on this. \2/
Tatian mentions "the excellence of its moral doctrines'' its one of the
reasons for his conversion (Drat., xxix.), while 'Justin declares that the
steadfastness of Christians convinced him of their purity, and that these
impressions proved decisive in bringing him over to the faith (Apol., II.
xii.). We frequently read in the Acts of the Martyrs (and, what is more, in the
genuine sections) that the steadfastness and loyalty of Christians made an
overwhelming impression on those who witnessed their trial or execution; so
much so, that some of these Spectators suddenly decided to become Christians themselves.
\3/
----------------------------------------------
\1/
Ignat., ad Ephes., x.: <g> E7rrTpe+αTe αVTOic (i.e., the
heathen) HAν EK TWν EpyWv a+.ta['p p.α07lTEO07tvα *
irpος Tay Opyaς abTWν v/.Eir 7rpaeis, apt ς TaS
rcyαAoppnµoσvvας "6rWV 6146s TαweaiJa)poveς,
7rpος Taς $Aασ957/µfας αUTWν
V'4Elς Taς 7rpoOEOXαs O`irOVSRSOνTES avTlµlµ)'1(Oα0Oαι
aLTOVS ' a.ISfX0ο1 αυTWν EVpEO471.1Eν TiJ E7llfIKEf4'
~ft7tTat TOO KVpLOO eirou acw sev eh/at </g> (" Allow them to learn
a lesson at least from your works. Be meek when they break out in anger, be
humble against their vaunting words, set your prayers against
their blasphemies . . . . ; be not zealous to imitate them in requital. Let us
show ourselves their brethren by our forbearance, and let us be zealous to be
imitators of the Lord").
\2/
Cp. also 2 Clem., lxiii.: <g>TA EOvzt atoUOνTa EK TOO OT6µeTOS i P
Ta xdylar TOO'~.°v WS Kαxa Kαl µEylfJtR Oavµa~,Sec , E7rfl7R
KIXTaµαO6νTR Ta EPyR 9]f1.41VSTιOVKEOTIν~ 'la T@V f77/µ1TWV
[Oν TEyoµev, EvOey *Is $Aaar0n/ dαy TperovTai, XE7OVTES ElVal'tom
~86v rlvα Kαl 7rrcEvrrv </g> ("When the Gentiles hear from
our mouth the words of God, they wonder at their beauty and greatness ; then,
discovering our deeds are not worthy of the words we utter, they betake
themselves to blasphemy, declaring it is all a myth and error"). Such
instances therefore did occur. Indirectly, they are a proof of what is argued
above.
\3/
Even the second oldest martyrdom of which we know, that of James, the son
Zebedee, as related by Clement of Alexandria in his Hypotyposes (cp. Eus.,H.E.,
ii. g), tells how the accuser himself was converted and beheaded along with the
apostle.-All Christians recognised that the zenith of Christian morality was
reached when the faith was openly confessed before the authorities, but the
sectarian Heracleon brought forward another view, which of course they took
seriously amiss. His contention was that such confession in words might be
hypocritical as well as genuine, and that the only conclusive evidence was that
afforded by the steady profession, which consists in words and actions
answering the faith itself (Clem. Alex., Strom., IV, ix, 71 f.).
============================
But it is in Cyprian's treatise "to Donatus" that we get the most vivid account of how a man was convinced and won over to Christianity, not so much by its moral principles, as by the moral energy which it exhibited. Formerly he considered it impossible to put off the old man and put on the new. But "after I had breathed the heavenly spirit in myself, and the second birth had restored me to a new manhood, then doubtful things suddenly and strangely acquired certainty for me. What was hidden disclosed itself; darkness became enlightened; what was formerly hard seemed feasible, and what had appeared impossible seemed capable of being done."
Tertullian and Origen speak in similar terms.
But it is not merely Christians themselves who bear witness that they have been lifted into a new world of moral power, of earnestness, and of holiness; even their opponents bear testimony to their purity of life. The abominable charges circulated by the Jews against the moral life of Christians did hold their own for a long while, and were credited by the common people as well as by many of the educated classes. \1/ But anyone who examined the facts found something very different. Pliny told Trajan that he had been unable to prove anything criminal or vicious on the part of Christians during all his examination of them, and that, on the contrary, the purpose of their gatherings was to make themselves more conscientious and virtuous. \2/
-------------------------------------
\1/
Probably, e.g., by Fronto, the teacher of M. Aurelius (cp. the Octavius of
Minutius Felix), and also by Apuleius, if the woman described in Metam., ix. 14
(onmia prorsus ut in quandam caenosam latrinam in eius animam flagitia confluxerant-
"every vice had poured into her soul, as into some foul cesspool")
was a Christian (spretis atque calcatis divinis numinibus invicem certae
religionis mentita sacrilega presumptione dei, quern praedicaret unicum-
"scorning and spurning the holy deities in place of the true religion, she
affected to entertain a sacrilegious conception of God-the only God, as she
proclaimed"). The orator Aristides observed in the conduct of Christians a
mixture of humility and arrogance, in which he finds a resemblance between them
and the Jews (Oral., xlvi.). This is his most serious charge, and Celsus raises
a similar objection (see Book III., Chapter V.).
\2/
" Adfirmabant autem [i.e., the Christians under examination] hanc fuisse
summam vel culpae suae vel erroris, quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem
convenire carmenque Christo quasi deo dicere secum invicem, seque sacramento
non in scelus aliquod obstringere, sed ne furta, ne latrocinia, ne adulteria
committerent, ne fidem fallerent, ne depositum appellati abnegarent"
("They maintained that the head and front of their offending or error had
been this, that they were accustomed on a stated day to assemble ere daylight
and sing in turn a hymn to Christ as a god, and also that they bound themselves
by an oath, not for any criminal end, but to avoid theft or robbery or
adultery, never to break their word, or to repudiate a deposit when called upon
to refund it").
=========================
Lucian represents the Christians
as credulous fanatics, but also as people of a pure life, of devoted love, and
of a courage equal to death itself. The last-named feature is also admitted by
Epictetus and Aurelius. \1/ Most important of all, however, is the testimony of
the shrewd physician Galen. He writes (in his treatise \2/ "de Sententiis
Politico Platonicae") as follows:"Hominum plerique orationem
demonstrativam continuaut lllorte assequi nequeunt, quare indigent, ut
instituantur para1t11is. veluti nostro tempore videmus homines illos, qui
Christians vocantur, fidetn suam e parabolis petiisse. Hi tamer 111terdum
talia faciunt, qualia qui vere philosophantur. Nam 4Itlod mortetn contemnunt, id quidem onmnes
ante oculos habe111us; item quod verecundia quadam ducti ab usu rerum venere`1-faun
abhorrent. sunt enim inter eos et feminae et viri, qui 1r totam vitam a
concubitu abstinuerint; \3/ sunt etiam qui in animis regendis coercendisque et
in acerrimo honestatis studio eo progressi sint, ut nihil cedant vere
philosophantibus." \4/ One can hardly imagine a more impartial and
brilliant testimony to the morality of Christians. Celsus, too, a very
prejudiced critic of Christians, finds no fault with their moral conduct. Everything
about them, according to him, is dull, mean, and deplorable; but he never
denies them such morality as is possible under the circumstances.
----------------------------------------
\1/
Both of course qualify their admission. Epictetus (Arrian, Epict. Diss., iv.
7.6) declares that the Galileans' <g> &oo,Bfa </g> before
tyrants was due to habit, while Aurrelius attributes the readiness of
Christians to die, to ostentation (Med., xi. 3).
\2/
Extant in Arabic in the Hist. anteislam. Abulfedae (ed. Fleischer, p. 109). Cp.
Kalbfleisch in the Festschrift fir Gompera (1902), pp. 96 f., and Norden's
Kunstprosa, PP. 518 f.
\3/
From the time of Justin (and probably even earlier) Christians were always
pointing, by way of contrast to the heathen, to the group of their brethren and
sisters who totally abjured marriage. Obviously they counted on the fact that
such conduct would evoke applause and astonishment even among their opponents
(even castration was known, as in the case of Origen and of another person
mentioned by Justin). Nor was this calculation quite mistaken, for the
religious philosophy of the age was ascetic. Still, the applause was not
unanimous, even among strict moralists. The pagan in Macarius Plagues, III.
xxxvi. (i.e., Porphyy) urged strongly against Paul that in i Tim. iv. i he
censures those who forbid marriage, while in i Cor, vii. he recommends celibacy,
even although he has to admit he has no word of the Lord upon virgins.
"Then is it not wrong give as a celibate, and also to refrain from
marriage at the order of a mere man, seeing that there is no command of Jesus
extant upon celibacy ? And how can some women who live as virgins boast so
loudly of the fact, declaring they are filled with the Holy Ghost like her who
bore Jesus?" The suspicious attitude of the early Christians towards
sexual intercourse (even in marriage) comes out in Paul unmistakably. On this
point the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles (beginning with the Acts of Paul) are
specially significant, as they mirror the popular ideas on the subject. The
following facts may be set down in this connection. (I) Marriage was still
tolerated as a concession to human weakness. (2) The restriction of sexual
intercourse, or even entire abstinence from it, was advocated and urgently
commended. (3) Second marriage was designated "a specious adultery"
<g> (EV7rpE,riir 'o'XE(α) </g>. (4) Virgins were persuaded to
remain as they were. (5) Instead of marriage, platonic ties ("virgins
subintroductae") were formed, audaciously and riskily. Cp. Tertull., de
Resurr., viii.: "Virginitas et viduitas et modesta in occulto matrimonii
dissimulatio et una notitia eius ("Virginity and widowhood and secret
self-restraint upon the marriage-bed and the sole practical recognition of that
restraint [i.e., monogamy] "). Such, in the order of diminuendo, were the
four forms assumed by sexual asceticism.
\4/
"As a rule, men are unable to follow consecutively any argumentative
speech, so that they need to be educated by means of parables. Just as in our
own day we see the people who are called Christians seeking their faith from
parables. Still, they occasionally act just as true philosophers do. For their
contempt of death is patent to us all, as is their abstinence from the use of
sexual organs, by a certain impulse of modesty. For they include women and men
who refrain from cohabiting all through their lives, and they also number
individuals who in ruling and controlling themselves, and in their keen pursuit
of virtue, have attained a pitch nut inferior to that of real
philosophers." Galen, of course, condemns the faith of Christians as a
mere obstinate adherence to what is quite unproven: <g> ispl
blα˘opas r uyp@v, II. iv. (Ivα µit riς *Wς Kar'
apXας, ws sir Mwuvoi Kal Xplarov Siαrpisiiv &(Plyµfvoς,
voµav &vαao8c1KTuy &icobI,- </g> "That no one may hastily
give credence to unproven laws, as if he had reached the way of life enjoined
by Moses and Christ"), and III. iii. <g> (9aTTOV &v TIS roiS &al, Mruurav ,cal Xpieroi iLfTaWc QEIEV YSTail αfps rL RporTEr7/KdTas LRE Ical 95LXOQd˘ouS
-'' </g> One could more easily
teach novelties to the adherents of Moses and Christ than to doctors and
philosophers who are stuck fast in the schools").
=================================
As the proof of " the Spirit and of power" subsided after the beginning of the third century, the extraordinary moral tension also became relaxed, paving the way gradually for a morality which was adapted to a worldly life, and which was no longer equal to the strain of persecution. \1/ This began as far back as the second century, in connection with the question, whether any, and if so what, post-baptismal sins could be forgiven.
---------------------------------
\1/
The number of those who lapsed during the persecutions of Decius and Diocletian
was extraordinarily large; but Tertullian had already spoken of "people
who are only Christians if the wind happens to be favorable" (Score., i.).
====================
But the various stages of the process cannot be exhibited in these pages. It must suffice to remark that from about 230 A.D. onwards, many churches followed the lead of the Roman church in forgiving gross bodily sins, whilst after 251 A.D. most churches also forgave sins of idolatry. Thus the circle was complete; only in one or two cases were crimes of exceptional atrocity denied forgiveness, implying that the offender was not re-admitted to the church. It is quite obvious from the later writings of Tertullian ("nostrorum bonorum status lam mergitur," do Pudic., i.), and from many a stinging remark in Origen's commentaries, that even by 220 A.D. the Christian churches, together with their bishops and clergy, were no longer what they had previously been, from a moral point of view; \1/ nevertheless (as Origen expressly emphasizes against Celsus; cp. III. xxix.-xxx. ) their morals still continued to excel the morals of other guilds within the empire and of the population in the cities, whilst the penitential ordinances between 251 and 325, of which we Possess no small number, point to a very earnest endeavor being made to keep up morality and holiness of life. Despite their moral deterioration, the Christian churches must have still continued to wield a powerful influence and fascination for people of a moral disposition.
-------------------------------------
\1/ The "Shepherd"
of Hernias shows, however, the amount of trouble, which even at an earlier
period had to be encountered.
======================
But here again
we are confronted with the complexio oppositorum. For the churches must have
also produced a powerful effect upon people in every degree of moral weakness,
just on account of that new internal development which had culminated about the
middle of the third century. If the churches hitherto had been societies which
admitted people under the burden of sin, not denying entrance even to the worst
offender, but securing him forgiveness with God and thereafter requiring him
to continue pure and holy, now they had established themselves voluntarily or
involuntarily as societies based upon unlimited forgiveness. Along with
baptism, and subsequent to it, they had now developed a second sacrament; it
was still without form, but they relied upon it as a thing which had form, and considered
themselves justified in applying it in almost every case-it was the sacrament
of penitence. Whether this development enabled them to meet the aims of their
Founder better than their more rigorous predecessors, or whether it removed
them further from these aims, is not a question upon which we need to enter.
The point is that now for the first time the attractive power of Christianity
as a religion of pardon came fully into play. No doubt, everything depended on
the way in which pardon was applied but it was not merely a frivolous scoff on
the part of Julian the apostate when he pointed out that the way in which the
Christian churches preached and administered forgiveness was injurious to the
best interests of morality, and that there were members in the Christian
churches whom no other religious societies would tolerate within their bounds.
The feature which Julian censured had arisen upon a wide scale as far back as
the second half of the third century. When clerics of the same church started
to quarrel with each other, as in the days of Cyprian at
Still, this forgiveness is not to be condemned by the mere fact that it was extended to worthless characters. We are not called upon to be its judges. We must be content to ascertain, as we have now ascertained, that while the character of the Christian religion, as a religion of morality, suffered some injury in the course of the third century, this certainly did not impair its powers of attraction. It was now sought after as the religion, which formed a permanent channel of forgiveness to mankind. Which was partly due, no doubt, to the fact that different groups of people were now appealing to it.
Yet, if this sketch of the
characteristics of Christianity is not to be left unfinished two things must
still be noted. One is this: the church never sanctioned the thesis adopted by
most of the Gnostics, \1/ that there was a qualitative distinction of human beings
according to their moral capacities, and that in consequence of this there
must also be different grades in their ethical conduct and in the morality,
which might be expected
from them. But there was a primitive distinction between a morality for the
perfect and a morality which was none the less adequate, and this distinction
was steadily maintained.
Even in Paul there are evident traces of this view alongside of a strictly
uniform conception. The Catholic doctrine of “praecepta" and
"consilia" prevailed almost from the first within the Gentile church,
and the words of the Didache which fellow the description of "the two
ways" (c. vi : "If thou canst bear the whole yoke of the Lord, thou
shalt be perfect: but if thou canst not, do what thou canst ") only
express a conviction which was very widely felt. The distinction between the
"children" and the "mature" (or perfect), which originally
obtained within the sphere of Christian knowledge, overflowed
'"to the sphere of conduct, since both spheres were closely allied. \2/
Christianity had always her heroic souls in asceticism and poverty and so forth.
They were held in exceptional esteem (see above), and they had actually to be
warned, even in the sub-apostolic age, against pride and boasting (cp. Ignat., ad
Polyc. v.: <g> O 'Tic BuvaTat ev ayvei;r µevery etc Ttµily Tits o•aptcoc
Tot) Kvpiov, Ev KaUX51vi9,aevsTta' e0iv KavXiyo'YJTat, aTtoAeTO-- </g>
"If anyone is able to remain in purity to the honour of the flesh of the
Lord, let him remain as he is without boasting of it. If he boast, he is a lost
man; " also Clem.
--------------------------------------
\1/
It is surprising that the attractiveness of these (Gnostic) ideas was not
greater than it seems to have been. But by the time that they sought to
establish their situation on Christian soil or to force their way in, the
church's organization was well knit together, so that Gnosticism could do no
more in the way of breaking it up or creating a rival institution.
\2/
The ascetics are not only the “perfect" but also the "religious,"
strictly speaking. Cp. Origen (Hom. ii. in NUM., vol. x. P. 20), who describes
virgins, ascetics, and so forth, as those "qui in professione religionis
videntur "; also Hom. Xvii in Luc. (vol. v. p. 151), where, on i Cor. i.
2, he observes: " Memini cum rpretarer t Cor. i. 2 dixisse me diversitatern
ecclesiae et corum qui invocant F ten domini. Puto enim monogamum et
virginem et eum, qui in castimonia Cy severat, esse de ecclesia dei, eum vero,
qui sit digamus, licet bonam habeat nk, Versationeur et ceteris virtutibus
polleat, tamen non esse de ecclesia et de siero, qui non habent rugatn ant
macularn ant aliquid istius modi, sed esse de nundo gradu et de his qui
invocant nomen domini, et qui salvantur quidem in
asine
Jesu Christi, nequaquam tamen coronantur ab eo" (church =virgins,
ascetics, and the once married: those who call on the name of the Lord= the
second rank, i.e., the twice married, even though their lives are pure
otherwise).
===========================
Secondly, veracity in matters of fact is as liable to suffer as righteousness in every religion : every religion gets encumbered with fanaticism, the indiscriminate temper, and fraud. This is writ clear upon the pages of church history from the very first. In the majority of cases, in the case of miracles that have never happened, of visions that were never seen, of voices that were never heard, and of books that were never written by their alleged authors, we are not in a position' at this time of day to decide where self deception ended and where fraud began, where enthusiasm became deliberate and then passed into conventional deception, any more than we are capable of determining, as a rule, where a harsh exclusiveness passes into injustice and fanaticism. We must content ourselves with determining that cases of this kind were unfortunately not infrequent, and that their number increased. What we call priest-craft and miracle-fraud were not absent from the third or even from the second century. They are to be found in the Catholic church as well as in several of the Gnostic conventicles, where water was changed into wine (as by the Marcosians) or wine into water (cp. the books of Jeu).
Christianity, as the religion of the Spirit and of power, contained another element which proved of vital importance, and which exhibited pre-eminently the originality of the new faith. This -was its reverence for the lowly, for sorrow, suffering, and death, together with its triumphant victory over these contradictions of human life. The great incentive and example alike for the eliciting and the exercise of this virtue lay in the Redeemer's life and cross. Blent with patience and hope, this reverence overcame any external hindrance; it recognized in suffering the path to deity, and thus triumphed in the midst of all its foes. "Reverence for what is beneath us-this is the 1ast step to which mankind were fitted and destined to attain. But what a task it was, not only to let the earth lie beneath us, We appealing to a higher birthplace, but also to recognize humility and poverty, mockery and despite, disgrace and Wretchedness, suffering and death-to recognize these things as divine." \1/ Here lies the oot of the most profound factor contributed by Christianity to the development of the mores sense, and contributed with perfect strength and delicacy. It differentiates itself, as an entirely original element, from the similar phenomena, which recur in several of the philosophical schools (e.g., the Cynic). Not until a much later period, however,-from Augustine onwards,-did this phase of feeling find expression in literature.
Even what is most divine on earth has its shadow nevertheless, and so it was with this reverence. It was inevitable that the new aesthetic, which it involved, should become an aesthetic of lower things, of death and its grim relics; in this way it ceased to be aesthetic by its very effort to attain the impossible, until finally a much later period devised an aesthetic of spiritual agony and raptures over suffering. But there was worse behind. Routine and convention found their way even into this phase of feeling. What was most profound and admirable was gradually stripped of its inner spirit and rendered positively repulsive \2/ by custom, common talk, mechanical tradition, and ritual practices. Yet, however strongly we feel about the unsightly phlegm of this corruption, and however indignantly we condemn it, we should never forget that it represented the shadow thrown by the most profound and at the same time the most heroic mood of the human soul in its spiritual exaltation; it is, in fact, religion itself, fully ripe.
--------------------------
\1/Goethe,
Wanderjahre, xxiv p. 243
\2/
Goethe (ibid, p. 255) has said the right word on this well: “We draw a veil
over those sufferings (the sufferings of Christ in particular), just because we
reverence them so highly. We hold it is a damnable audacity to take these
mysterious secrets, in which the depth of the divine sorrow lies hid, and play
with them, fondle them, trick them out, and never rest until the supreme object
of reverence appears vulgar and paltry."
================