PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Systematic Theology — Volume 2
Hodge, Charles, 1797–1878 · 339,329 words · 411 reading sections
§ 1.] THEORY OF PIIEEXISTENCE. G7
may be said to have begun and ended with Orlgen, as it was rejected botii by the Greeks and Latins, and has only been advo- cated by individual writers from that day to this. It does not pre- tv>nd to be a Scriptural doctrine, and therefore cannot be an object of faith. The Bible never speaks of a creation of men befor…
940 wordsSECTION 62§ 2.] TRADUCIANISM. 60
" every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Nothing is there said of his breathing into man the breath of life, i. e., a principle of rational life. Yet we know that it was done. Its not being^ expressly mentioned in the case of Eve, therefore, is no proof that it did not occur. Again, it is said, that God's …
957 wordsSECTION 63§ 3.] CREATIONISM. 71
God of the bodies of all men. The relation in which the soul stands to God as its God and creator is very different from that in which the body stands to Him. And hence in Heb. xii. 9, it is said, " We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence : shall we not much rather be in subjecti…
954 wordsSECTION 645 4.] CONCLUDING REMARKS. 73
nature of our blessed Lord was contaminated with sin, yet it does not become us to be wise above that which is written. We may confess that generation, the production of a new individual of tiie human race, is an inscrutable mystery. But this must be said of the transmission of life in all its forms. If theologians and…
945 wordsSECTION 65§4.] CONCLUDING REMARKS. 75
it does away with the doctrine of miracles, or that it supposes God to sanction every act with which his creative power is connected, does not seem to have even plausibility. A miracle is not simply an event due to the immediate agency of God, for then every act of conversion would be a miracle. But it is an event, occ…
563 wordsSECTION 66UNITY OF THE HUMAN EACE.
There is still another question which science has forced on theology, in relation to man, which cannot be overlooked. Have all mankind had a common origin ? and have they a common nature ? Are they all descended from one pair, and do they constitute one species ? These questions are answered affirma- tively in the Bibl…
817 wordsSECTION 67§2.) MEANING OF THE WORD SPECIES. 79
power to perpetuate itself, is one of the indispensable character- istics of species. Tliis, until recently, has been the universally admitted doctrine of naturalists. And notwithstanding the efforts of the advocates of the different theories of development, it still remains the general faith of the scientific world. T…
894 wordsSECTION 68SI.] MEANING OF THE WORD SPECIES. 81
question is, are Mongolians, Africans, and Caucasians all derived fi'om a common parent ? And in the second place, although com- munity of origin would prove identity of species, diversity of origin would not prove diversity of species. All the varieties of the horse and dog would constitute one species for each class,…
896 wordsSECTION 69§ 2.] EVIDENCE OF IDENTITY OF SPECIES. 83
the unity of this design. That is, it is carried out in all parts of the bodily organization. Those animals intended to live on dry ground have none of the structure, or organs, or members pecu- liarly suited to aquatic animals. The lion, tiger, ox, horse, etc., have neither the gills, the scales, the fins, nor the rud…
935 wordsSECTION 70§2.] EVIDENCE OF IDENTITY OF SPECIES. 85
the (TwfjLa, or corporeal structure. We never find the organs of an aquatic animal with the ^vVis of a land animal. Everything relat- ing to the physiology of the animal is in harmony with its corpo- real organization. (2.) That where in all respects the physical nature of individuals or varieties is the same, there th…
922 wordsSECTION 71§3.] APPLICATION OF THESE CRITERIA TO MAN. 87
The second criterion of sameness of species is to be sought in the c^uo-is, or physical nature. In this respect also all mankind are found to agree, so that the physiology of the Caucasian, Mongo- lian, and African is precisely the same. The laws which regulate the vital processes are the same in all ; respiration, dig…
884 wordsSECTION 72§ 4.] PHILOLOGICAL AND MORAL EVIDENCE. 89
of what is material, or at most of what falls within the department of natural life. They thus become one-sided, and fail to take in all the aspects of the case, or to estimate duly all the data which enter into the solution of the problem. Thus Agassiz ignores all the facts connected with the languages, with the histo…
1,301 wordsSECTION 73ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN.
§ 1. The Scriptural Doctrine. The Scriptural doctrine on this subject includes the following particulars. First, That man was originally created in a state of maturity and perfection. By this, however, is not meant that humanity in Adam before the fall, existed in the highest state of excellence of which it is suscept…
1,306 wordsSECTION 74§ 1.] THE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE. 95
never perish. As however, there are tribes now extant which iiave, as he says, no reHgion, and no knowledge of the arts, or of agriculture, he argues that they must have been barbarians from the beginning, and that barbarism must have been the original condition of man. To prove that savages may by their own exertions…
924 wordsSECTION 75§2.] MAN CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD. 97
soul is a spirit. The essential attributes of a spirit are reason, conscience, and will. A spirit is a rational, moral, and therefore also, a free agent. In making man after his own image, therefore, God endowed him with those attributes which belong to his own nature as a spirit. Man is thereby distinguished from all …
460 wordsSECTION 76VOL. U. 7
98 PART II. Ch. v. — original STATE OF MAN. which was lost by the fall, and which is restored by redemption. Thus Luther says : " So ist nun hier so viel gesagt, dass der Mensch am Anfang geschafFen ist ein Bild, das Gott ahnHch war, voll Weisheit, Tugend, Liebe und kurzum gleich wie Gott, also dass er voll Gottes war…
449 wordsSECTION 77§3.] ORIGINAL RIGHTEOUSNESS. 99
untatis sanctitate, sensuum et affectuum harmonia atque ud bonum promptitudine ; (3.) conspicua fuit in dominio in omnia animalia." While, therefore, the Scriptures make the original moral perfection .jf man the most prominent element of that likeness to God in which he was created, it is no less true that they recogni…
906 wordsSECTION 78§3.] ORIGINAL RIGHTEOUSNESS. 101
holiness." The new man, roi^ KaLvbv avOpoiTrov, is said to be Kara Oeov, i. e., after the image of God ; and that image or likeness to God is said to consist in righteousness and holiness. These words when used in combination are intended to be exhaustive ; i. e., to include all moral excellence. Either term may be use…
965 wordsSECTION 79§5.] THE DOCTRINE OF THE ROMISH CHURCH. 103
attained only by the incarnation and exaltation of the Son of God. But as God sees the end from the beginning, as his plan is immu- table and all comprehending, this supreme exaltation of humanity was designed from the beginning, and included in the dominion with which man was invested. § 5. The Doctrine of the Romish…
896 wordsSECTION 80§ 5. J THE DOCTRINE OF THE ROMISH CHURCH. 105
his reason was enlicrhtenecl and his will and feehno;s were conformed to the moral image of" God. It was natural in Adam to love God in the same sense as it was natural for him to love himself. It was as natural for him to apprehend the glory of God as it was for hina to apprehend the beauties of creation. He was so co…
895 wordsSECTION 81§6.] PELAGIAN AND RATIONALISTIC DOCTRINE. 107
j)le thei'efore which necessarily works an entire cliange in the wliole system of Christian doctrine. It is not, however, an ulti- mate principle. It is itself an inference from the primary assump- tion that ability limits obligation ; that a man can be neither praised nor blamed, neither rewarded nor condemned, except…
932 wordsSECTION 82§ 6.] PELAGIAN AND RATIONALISTIC DOCTRINE. 109
wliicli determine acts, and which are not themselves acts, if men did not intuitively recognize the fact that principles as well as acts may have moral character. TJie Moral Character of Acts determined hy the Principles whence they flow. 3. So far from its being true that in the judgment of men the voluntary act alo…
1,388 wordsSECTION 83Part 83
acquisition of knowledge, he is an object of respect, no matter whence that disposition was derived. The same is true with re- gard to amiable or unamiable dispositions. It cannot be denied that there is a great difference in men in this respect. Some are morose, irritable, and unsocial in their dispositions, others ar…
438 wordsSECTION 84§6.] PELAGIAN AND RATIONALISTIC DOCTPJNE. 113
nation. The Irish people have always been remaikable for their fidelity ; the Enoljsh for lionesty ; the Germans for truthfnlness. These national traits, as revealed in individuals, are not the effect of self-discipline. They are innate, hereditary dispositions, as obvi- ously as the physical, mental, or emotional pecu…
898 wordsSECTION 85§ 6.] PELAGIAN AND RATIONALISTIC DOCTRINE. 115
certain feelings and volitions, such as self-love, the sense of justice, tlie social priiici[)le, parental and filial affection. These, although not I'sseiitial to man, are nevertheless found in all men, before and after the fall. (4.) The peculiar dispositions of individual men, which are accidental, that is, they do …
974 wordsSECTION 86COVENANT OF WORKS.
God having created man after his own image in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, entered into a covenant of life M'ith him, upon condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil upon the pain of death. According to this statement, (1.) God entered into a covenant wit…
803 wordsSECTION 87§3.] CONDITION OF THE COVENANT. 119
inir, composed of soul and body, includes the happy, holy, and im- mortal existence of his whole nature. (2.) The life of which the Scrij)tures everywhere speak as connected with obedience, is that which, as just stated, flows from the favour and fellowship of God, and includes glory, honour, and immortality, as the Ap…
944 wordsSECTION 88§ 5.] THE PARTIES. 121
§ 5. The Parties to the Covenant of WorTcs. It lies in the nature of a covenant that there must be two or more parties. A covenant is not of one. The parties to the orioji- nal covenant were God and Adam. Adam, however, acted not in liis individual capacity but as the head and representative of his whole race. This is…
953 wordsSECTION 89THE FALL.
The Scriptural Account, The Scriptural account of the Fall, as given in the book of Gen- esis, is, That God placed Adam in "the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying* Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat : but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, …
856 wordsSECTION 90THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT. 125
or saciamental character. The one was called the Tree of Life, the other the Tree of Knowledge. The former was the symbol of life, and its fruit was not to be eaten except on the condition of man's retaining his integrity. Whether the fruit of that tree had inherent virtue to impart life, i. e., to sustain the body of …
989 wordsSECTION 91THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT. 127
are good and what are evil. This is a point determined for us by tlie revealed will of God. Whatever He commands is good, and what- ever He forbids is evil. The question is determined by authority. We cannot answer it from the nature of things, nor by considera- tions of expediency. Instead of submitting to the authori…
941 wordsSECTION 92THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT, 129
The Effects of the First Sin. The effects of sin upon our first parents themselves, were, (1.) Shame, a sense of degradation and pollution. (2.) Dread of the displeasure of God ; or, a sense of guilt, and the consequent desire to hide from his presence. These effects were unavoidable. They prove the loss not only of in…
206 wordsSECTION 93SIN.
§ 1. The Nature of the Question to he Considered. Our first parents, we are told, fell from the estate wherein they were created by sinning against God. This presents the question, which is one of tiie most difficult and comprehensive whether in morals or in theology. What is sin ? The existence of sin is an undeniabl…
374 wordsSECTION 94§ 1.] THE NATURE OF SIN. 131
)U)t sav that such is the nature of h'o;ht tliat it cannot cause tlie plienomena of vision ; or of acids that tliey cannot affect the organs of taste ; or that our sensations are flfce])tive which lead us to refer them to such causes. Nor can we determine pliilosophi- cally the principles of beauty, and decide what men…
942 wordsSECTION 95§2.] PHILOSOPHICAL THEORIES. 133
making it a substance, which desti'oys its nature as sin. This theoi'j is so thoroughly anti-theistic and anti-Christian, that although long prevailing as a heresy in the Church, it never entered into any living connection witli Christian doctrine. Sin regarded as a mere Limitation of Being. The second anti-Christian…
913 wordsSECTION 96§2.] PHILOSOPHICAL THEORIES. 1C5
the existence of sin is consistent with his divine perfections. His Avork is religious in its spirit and object, however erroneous and dangerous in some of its principles. He assumed that this is the best possible world. As sin exists in the world, it must be neces- sary or unavoidable. It is not to be referred to the …
1,431 wordsSECTION 97Part 97
verse itself, as a product of the self-development of the infinite and absolute Being, involving a separation or difference from the pure and simple one in which was no distinction, is evil. It comes into existence by a fall or apostasy. Thus, as Professor Miiller in his work on " Sin," says, Instead of Pantheism we ha…
421 wordsSECTION 98§2.] PHILOSOPHICAL THEORIES. 139
4. Man, as an integral part of the world, consists of two ele- ments, or stands related both to the finite and infinite, God and nature. There is in man self-consciousness, or a consciousness which is affected bj the world. He is in the world and of the world, and is acted upon by the world. On the other hand, he has w…
912 wordsSECTION 99§ 2.] PHILOSOPHICAL THEORIES. 141
izing spirit, and never in spiritualizing nature." It is a fact of consciousness and of common consent that man consists of soul and body. It is no less certain that by the body he is connected with the external world or nature, and by the soul with the spiritual woi'ld and God ; that he has wants, desires, appetites, …
967 wordsSECTION 100§ 2.] PHILOSOPHICAL THEORIES. 1:13
adhere to their principles, the whole tendency of their discipline is evil. It nourishes pride, self-righteousness, formality, and false relio-ion. The Pharisees, in the judgment of Christ, with all their strictness of living and constant fasting, were further from the kino-dom of heaven than publicans and harlots. 5.…
1,434 wordsSECTION 101TOL. II. 10
146 PART n. Ch. vm. — sen. expedient ; or, if he should say that there is no difference between ]iohness and sin, we can only refer to our own consciousness and to the common consciousness of men, as contradicting his as- sertion. We know, therefore, from the very constitution of our nature that the right and the expe…
508 wordsSECTION 102§2.J PHILOSOPHICAL THEORIES. 147
greatest good, and whatever seems to us adapted to promote hap- piness is right, then God and the moral law are lost sight of. Our own happiness is apt to become the chief good for us, as it is for the universe. (4.) It need hardly be remarked that we are incompe- tent to determine what course of conduct will issue in …
993 wordsSECTION 103§3.] DOCTRINE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 140
satisfaction the great object of pursuit. It of course is not denied, that selfishness, in some of its forms, includes a large class of the sins of which men are guilty. What is objected to is, the making selfishness the essence of all sin, or the attempt to reduce all the manifestations of moral evil to this one princ…
960 wordsSECTION 104§8.] DOCTRINE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 151
tered into the general faith of the Church before they were so stren- uously asserted by Augustine in his controversy with Pelagius. It is true that many assertions may be quoted from the Greek fathers inconsistent with some of the propositions above stated. But the same writers in other passages avow their faith in th…
975 wordsSECTION 105§4.] PELAGIAN THEORY. 153
The intimate conviction tliat men can be responsible for nothing which is not in their power, led, in the first place, to the Pelagian doctrine of the freedom of the will. It was not enough to consti- tute free agency that the agent should be self-determined, or that all his volitions should be determined by his own in…
930 wordsSECTION 106§4.] PELAGIAN THEORY. 155
says, includes under the term all the gifts of God. *' Ipsi gratiae, beiielicioruui quas nobis praestare non desinit, augmenta reputa- " 1 nius. ^ 8. As infants are destitute of moral character, baptism in their case cannot either symbolize or effect the remission of sin. It is, according to Pelagius, only a sign of…
1,417 wordsSECTION 107Part 107
The metaphysical element in Augustine's doctrine of sin arose from his controversy with the Manicheans. Manes taught that sin was a substance. This Augustine denied. With him it was a maxim that " Omne esse bonum est." But if esse (being) is good, and if evil is the opposite of good, then evil must be the opposite of b…
434 wordsSECTION 108§ 5.] AUGUSTINIAN DOCTRINE. 159
a defect, because the power of A'ision does not belonrr to stones. Blindness is a defect in an animal, but not sin. The absence of love to God in a rational creature is sin, because it is the absence of something which belongs to such a creature, and whicli he ought to have. In the true Augustinian sense, therefore, si…
959 wordsSECTION 1095 5.] AUGUSTINIAN DOCTRINE. 101
works. (4.) A fourth inference from the principles of Augustine was the perseverance of the saints. If God of his own good pleasure elects some to eternal life, they cannot fail of salvation. It thus appears that as all the distinguishing doctrines of the Pelagians are the logical consequences of their principle of ple…
477 wordsSECTION 110VOL. II. 11
162 PART U. Cu. VIII. — SIN. is a su])eniatiiral act of the Holy Spirit, in which the soul is tho subject and not the agent ; that it is sovereign, granted or with- iield according to the good pleasure of God ; and consequently that salvation is entirely of grace. This is the Ausustinian svstem in all that is es.'^en…
493 wordsSECTION 111§6.J AUGUSTINIAN DOCTKIXE. 103
turn] .... non solum voluntarlum atque possibile uncle libe- rum est abstinere ; verum etiam necessarium peccatum, unde absti- nere Hberum uon est, quod jam non solum peccatum, sed etiam poena peccati est." ^ Spiritual death (^. e., original sin or inherent corrup- tion), says Wiggers, is, according to Augustine, the s…
1,369 wordsSECTION 112Part 112
support of his doctrine. Educated in the Greek Church and trained in a monastery, all his prepossessions were adverse to Augustinianism. And when he transferred his residence to Marseilles in the south of France, and found himself in the midst of churches who bowed to the authority of Augustine, he set himself to modif…
473 wordsSECTION 113§ 6.] DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. 167
explains. He admitted that men could not save themselves ; but held that they were not spiritually dead ; they were sick ; and constantly needed tlie aid of the Great Physician. He taught that man soaietimes began the work of conversion ; sometimes God ; and sometimes, in a certain sense, God saves the unwilling.' Vinc…
967 wordsSECTION 114§6.] DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. 169
The Doctrine of Anselm. This loss of original righteousness was universally regarded as a penal evil. It was the punishment of the first sin of Adam which came equally upon him and upon all his descendants. The ques- tion now is, Wiiat is the moi-al state of a soul destitute of original, righteousness considered as a s…
888 wordsSECTION 115§6.] DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. 171
ously maintained by some of the theologians of the Roman Church at the time of the Reformation, especially by Catharinus and Pighius. The latter, according to Chemnitz,^ thus states his doc- trine : " Quod nee carentia justitise originalis, nee concupiscentia habeat raticnem peccati, sive in parvulis, sive adultis, siv…
902 wordsSECTION 116§6.] DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. 173
original sin is a penal evil. The loss of original righteousness and the consequent disorder of our nature, are the penalty of Adam's first transgression. So far the doctrine of Thomas is in strict ac« cordance with that of Augustine. His discussion of the subject migiit be framed into an exposition of the answer in th…
878 wordsSECTION 117§6.] DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. 175
sisted simply in the want of original righteousness, but that that want is sin. Others admitted no original sin, but the imputation of Adam's first transgression. Others, with the Dominicans, in- sisted that the disorder of all the powers consequent on the loss of oriinnal righteousness, i. e., concupiscence, is truly …
1,319 wordsSECTION 118VOL. II. 12
178 PART II. Ch. ^aiL — sin. habet vationem peccati." ^ To this the Romanists oppose from Andradius tlie definition : " Quod nihil liabeat rationem peccati nisi f;at a volente et sciente." If this be so, then it is impossil)Ie that there should be any inherent or innate sin. As infants are not " knowing and willing," …
481 wordsSECTION 119§6.] DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. 179
sin, tliat it is imputed only because it is transmitted in ordinary gen- eration ? " ' If a man or a church hold a theory of the nature of sin which is incomjtatible with the doctrine of original sin, it is argued, the existence of any such sin is thereby denied. (2.) An- other reason urged in favour of the position th…
927 wordsSECTION 120§ 7.] PROTESTANT DOCTRINE. . 181
related to law. The two are correlative, so that where there is no law, there can be no sin. (3.) That the law to which sin is thus related, is not merely the law of reason, or of conscience, or of expediency, but the law of God. (4.) That sin consists essen- tially in the want of conformity on the part of a rational c…
950 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1876). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.