Part 6 (2/2)
Justin sealed his faith by his blood about the year 165; and next to him, in the n.o.ble army of martyrs, we must examine the evidence of Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons. Of this writer's works a very small proportion survives in the original Greek; but that little is such as might well make every scholar and divine lament the calamity which theology and literature have sustained by the loss of the author's own language. It is not perhaps beyond the range of hope that future researches may yet recover at least some part of the treasure. Meanwhile we must avail ourselves with thankfulness of the nervous though inelegant copy of that original, which the Latin translation affords; imperfect and corrupt in many parts, as that copy evidently is. This, however, is not the place for recommending a study of the remains of Irenaeus; and every one at all acquainted with the literature of the early Church, knows well how valuable a store of ancient Christian learning is preserved even in the wreck of his works.
On the subject of the invocation of saints, an appeal {116} has been made only to a few pa.s.sages in Irenaeus. With regard, indeed, to one section, I would gladly have been spared the duty of commenting upon the unjustifiable mode of citing his evidence adopted by Bellarmin. It forces upon our notice an example either of such inaccuracy of quotation as would shake our confidence in him as an author, or of such misrepresentation as must lower him in our estimation as a man of integrity.
Bellarmin a.s.serts, building upon it as the very foundation-stone of his argument for the invocation of saints, that the souls of the saints are removed immediately on their dissolution by death, without waiting for the day of judgment, into the presence of G.o.d, and the enjoyment of HIM in heaven. This point, he says, must first be established; for if they are not already in the presence of G.o.d, they cannot pray for us, and prayer to them would be preposterous. [Bell. lib. i. c. 4. vol. ii. p.
851.] Among the authorities cited by him to establish this point is the evidence of Irenaeus (book i. c. 2). [See Benedictine ed, Paris, 1710.
book i. c. 10. p. 48.] Bellarmin quotes that pa.s.sage in these words: ”To the just and righteous, and to those who keep his commandments, and persevere in his love, some indeed from the beginning but some from repentance, he giving life CONFERS by way of gift incorruption, and CLOTHES them with eternal glory.” To the quotation he appends this note ”Mark '_to some_' that is, to those who presently after baptism die, or who lay down their life for Christ; or finally to the perfect is given immediately life and eternal glory; to others not, except after repentance, that is, satisfaction made in another world[42].”
[Footnote 42: Agreeably to the principles laid down in my preface, I will not here allude to the doctrine of purgatory, on which Bellarmin considers this pa.s.sage to bear; nor will I say one word on the intermediate state of the soul between death and the resurrection, on which I am now showing that the words of Irenaeus cannot at all be made to bear.] {117}
Here I am compelled to confess that I never found a more palpable misquotation of an author than this. I will readily grant that Bellarmin may have quoted from memory, or have borrowed from some corrupt version of the pa.s.sage; and that he has unintentionally changed the moods of two verbs from the subjunctive to the indicative, and inadvertently changed the entire construction and the sense of the pa.s.sage. But then what becomes of his authority as a writer citing testimony?
Irenaeus in this pa.s.sage is speaking not of what our Lord does now, but what he will do at the last day; he refers only to the second coming of Christ to judgment at the final consummation of all things, not using a single expression which can be made by fair criticism to have any reference whatever to the condition of souls on their separation from the body. I have consulted the old editions, some at least published before the date of Bellarmin's work; the suggestion offering itself to my mind, that perhaps the ancient translation was in error, from which he might have quoted. But I cannot find that to have been the case. The old Latin version of this pa.s.sage agreeing very closely with the Greek still preserved in Epiphanius, and quoted by Roman Catholic writers as authentic, conveys this magnificent though brief summary of the Christian faith:
”The Church spread throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, received both from the Apostles and their disciples that faith which is in one {118} G.o.d omnipotent, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things therein, and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of G.o.d, for our salvation made flesh, and in the Holy Ghost, who by the prophets announced the dispensations (of G.o.d[43]), and the Advent, and the being born of a Virgin, and the suffering, and the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily ascension into heaven of the beloved Jesus Christ our Lord, and his coming from heaven in the glory of the Father for the consummation of all things, and for raising again all flesh of the human race, THAT, in order that ([Greek: ina]), to Christ Jesus our Lord and G.o.d, and Saviour and King, according to the good pleasure of the invisible Father, every knee should bow of things in heaven and in earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess to Him, and that he should execute just judgment on all: that he should send the spirits of wickedness, and the transgressing and rebel angels, and the impious and unjust, and wicked and blaspheming men into eternal fire; but to the just and righteous, and to those who keep his commandments, and persevere in his love,--some indeed from the beginning, and some from their repentance,--he granting life, by way of gift, SHOULD CONFER incorruption, and SHOULD CLOTHE them with eternal glory.” [Haeres. x.x.xi.
c. 30.]
[Footnote 43: The words ”of G.o.d” are in the Latin, but not in the Greek.]
The words, ”some from the beginning,” ”others from their repentance,”
can refer only to the two conditions of believers; some of whom have grace to keep the commandments, and persevere in the love of G.o.d from the beginning of their Christian course, whilst others, for a time, transgress and wax cold in love, but by repentance, through G.o.d's grace, are renewed and {119} restored to their former state of obedience and love. On both these cla.s.ses of Christians, according to the faith as here summed up by Irenaeus, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when He comes in glory for the consummation of all things, and for the resurrection of the dead, will confer glory and immortality. No ingenuity of criticism can extract from this pa.s.sage any allusion to the intercession of saints, or to their being with G.o.d before the end of the world[44]. But I am not {120} here condemning Bellarmin's untenable criticism: what I lament is the negligence or the disingenuousness with which he misquotes the words of Irenaeus, and makes him say what he never did say. To extract from an author's words, correctly reported, a meaning which he did not intend to convey, however reprehensible and unworthy a follower of truth, is one act of injustice: to report him, whether wilfully or carelessly, as using words which he never did use, is far worse.
[Footnote 44: It will be well to see the words of Bellarmin and those of the translation side by side:
(Transcriber's note: They are shown here one after the other.)
_Bellarmin_ lib. i. c. iv. p. 851.
”Quartus Irenaeus, lib. i. c. 2. 'Justis, inquit, et aequis, et praecepta ejus servantibus et in dilectione perseverantibus, quibusdam quidem ab initio, quibusdam autem ex poenitentia, vitam donans, incorruptelam loco muneris CONFERT, et claritatem aeternam CIRc.u.mDAT.' Nota '_quibusdam_,' id est, iis qui mox a Baptismo moriuntur, vel qui pro Christo vitam ponunt; vel denique perfectis statim donari vitam et claritatem aeternam; aliis non nisi post poenitentiam, id est, satisfactionem in futuro saeculo actam.”
_Latin Translation_.
”Et de coelis in gloria Patris adventum ejus ad recapitulanda universa et resuscitandam omnem carnem humani generis, UT Christo Jesu Domino nostro et Deo, et Salvatori, et Regi, secundum placitum Patris invisibilis, 'omne genu curvet coelestium, et terrestrium, et infernorum, et omnis lingua confiteatur ei,' et judicium justum in omnibus faciat; spiritalia quidem nequitiae, et angelos transgresses, atque apostatas factos, et impios et injustos et iniquos, et blasphemos homines in aeternum ignem mittat;--Justis autem et aequis et praecepta ejus servantibus et in dilectione ejus perseverantibus, quibusdam quidem ab initio, quibusdam autem ex poenitentia, vitam donans, incorruptelam loco muneris CONFERAT, et claritatem aeternam CIRc.u.mDET.”--Irenaei liber i. cap. x. p.
48. Interpretatio Vetus.]
Another expression of Irenaeus is appealed to by Bellarmin, and continues to be cited at the present day in defence of the invocation of saints; the precise bearing of which upon the subject I confess myself unable to see, whilst I am very far from understanding the pa.s.sage from which it is an extract. Bellarmin cites the pa.s.sage not to show that the saints in glory pray for us,--that argument he had dismissed before,--but to prove that they are to be invoked by us. The insulated pa.s.sage as quoted by him is this: ”And as she (Eve) was induced to fly from G.o.d, so she (Mary) was persuaded to obey G.o.d, that of the Virgin Eve the Virgin Mary might become the advocate.” After the quotation he says, ”What can be clearer?” [Benedict, lib. v. cap. xix. p. 316.]
In whatever sense we may suppose Irenaeus to have employed the word here translated ”advocata,” it is difficult to see how the circ.u.mstance of Mary becoming the advocate of Eve, who lived so many generations before her, can bear upon the question, Is it lawful and right for us, now dwelling on the earth, to invoke those saints whom we believe to be in heaven? I will not dwell on the argument urged very cogently by some critics on this pa.s.sage, that the word ”advocata,” found {121} in the Latin version of Irenaeus, is the translation of the original word, now lost [[Greek: paraklaetos]--paraclete], which, by the early writers, was used for ”comforter and consoler,” or ”restorer;” because, as I have above intimated, whatever may have been the word employed by Irenaeus, the pa.s.sage proves nothing as to the lawfulness of our praying to the saints. If the angels at G.o.d's bidding minister unto the heirs of salvation; or further, if they plead our cause with G.o.d, that would be no reason why we should invoke them and pray to them. This distinction between what they may do for us, and what we ought to do with regard to them, is an essential distinction, and must not be lost sight of. We shall have occasion hereafter to refer to it repeatedly, especially in the instances of Origen and Cyprian. I will now do no more than copy in a note the entire pa.s.sage from which the sentence now under consideration has been extracted, that the reader may judge whether on such a pa.s.sage, the original of which, in whatever words Irenaeus may have expressed himself, is utterly lost, any reliance can satisfactorily be placed.
(”Manifeste itaque in sua propria venientem Dominum et sua propria eum bajulantem conditione quae bajulatur ab ipso, et recapitulationem ejus quae in ligno fuit in.o.bedientiae per eam quae in ligno est obedientiam facientem, et seductionem illam solutam qua seducta est male illa, quae jam viro destinata erat virgo Eva, per veritatem evangelizata est bene ab angelo jam sub viro virgo Maria. Quemadmodum enim illa per angeli sermonem seducta est ut effugeret Deum praevaricata verb.u.m ejus, ita et haec per angelic.u.m sermonem evangelizata est ut portaret Deum obediens ejus verbo. Et si ea in.o.bedierat Deo, sed haec suasa est obedire Deo, uti virginis Evae virgo Maria fieret advocata. Et quemadmodum astrictum est morti genus humanum per virginem, salvatur per virginem, aequa lance disposita virginalis in.o.bedientia per virginalem obedientiam. Adhuc enim protoplasti peccatum per correptionem primogeniti emendationem accipiens, et serpentis prudentia devicta in columbae simplicitate, vinculis autem illis resolutis, per quae alligati eramus morti.” St.
Augustin (Paris, 1690. vol. x. p. 500.) refers to the latter part of this pa.s.sage, as implying the doctrine of original sin; but since his quotation does not embrace any portion of the clause at present under our consideration, no additional light from him is thrown on the meaning of Irenaeus.) {122}
But pa.s.sages occur in Irenaeus, which seem to leave doubt, that neither in faith nor in practice would he countenance in the very lowest degree the adoration of saints and angels, or any invocation of them.
For example, in one part of his works we read, ”Nor does it [the Church]
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