God leads his people by the cords of a man, i. e., in accordance with the laws of his nature. This is very different from the doc- trine that the soxil, by yielding itself passively to God, is "filled with all truth and goodness ; or, that in special emergencies it is con- trolled by blind, irrational impulses.
It differs from the Doctrine of " Common Grace" Finally, Mysticism differs from the doctrine of common grace as held by all Augustinians, and that of sufficient grace as held by Arminians. All Christians believe that as God is eveiywherc present in the material world, guiding the operation of second causes so that they secure the results which He designs ; so his Spirit is everywhere present with the minds of men, exciting to good and restraining from evil, effectually controlling human char- acter and conduct, consistently with the laws of rational beings. According to the Arminian theory this " common grace " is suffi- cient, if properly cultured and obeyed, to lead men to salvation, whether Pagans, Mohammedans, or Christians. There is little analogy, however, betw^een this doctrine of common, or sufficient grace, and Mysticism as it has revealed itself in the history of the Church. The one assumes an influence of the Spirit on all men analogous to the providential efficiency of God in nature, the other an influence analogous to that granted to prophets and apostles, involving both revelation and inspiration.
§ 2. Mysticism in the Early Church. A. 3Io7itanism. The Montanists who arose toward the close of the second cen- tuiy had, in one aspect, some affinity to Mysticism. Montanus taught that as the ancient prophets predicted the coming of the Messiah through whom new revelations were to be made ; so Christ predicted the coming of the Paraclete through whom further com- munications of the mind of God were to be made to his people. Tertullian, by whom this system was reduced to order and com- mended to the higher class of minds, did indeed maintain that the rule of faith was fixed and immutable ; but nevertheless that there was need of a continued supernatural revelation of truth, at least as to matters of duty and discipline. This supernatural reveh\tion was made through the Paraclete ; whether, as was perhaps the general idea among the Montanists, by communications granted, from time to time, to special individuals, who thereby became Christian proph-
70 INTRODUCTION. [Ch. IV. — Mysticism.
ets ; or hj an influence common to all believers, which however some more than others experienced and improved. The following pas- sage from Tertulliani gives clearly the fundamental principle of the system, so far as this point is concerned: "Regulaquidem fidei una
omnino est, sola immobilis et irreformabilis Hac lege
fidei manente, cetera jam disciplinae et conversationis admittunt novitatem correctionis ; operante scilicet et proficiente usque in
finem gratia Dei Propterea Paracletum misit Dominus,
ut, quoniam humana mediocritas omnia semel capere non poterat, paulatim dirigeretur et ordinaretur et ad perfectum perduceretur disciplina ab illo vicario Domini Spiritu Sancto. Qua est ergo Paracleti administratio nisi haec, quod disciplina dirigitur, quod ScripturaB revelantur, quod intellectus reformatur, quod ad meliora proficitur? .... Justitia primo fuit in rudimentis, natura Deum metuens ; dehinc per legem et prophetas promovit in infan- tiam ; dehinc per evangelium eflPerbuit in juventutem ; nunc per Paracletum componitur in maturitatem."
The points of analogy between Montanism and Mysticism are that both assume the insufficiency of the Scriptures and the ordi- nances of the Church for the full development of the Christian life ; and both assert the necessity of a continued, supernatural, revela- tion from the Spirit of God. In other respects the two tendencies were divergent. Mysticism was directed to the inner life ; Mon- tanism to the outward. It concerned itself with the reformation of manners and strictness of discipline. It enjoined fasts, and other ascetic practices. As it depended on the supernatural and continued guidance of the Spirit, it was on the one hand opposed to speculation, or the attempt to develop Christianity by philoso- phy ; and on the other to the dominant authority of the bishops. Its denunciatory and exclusive spirit led to its condemnation as heretical. As the Montanists excommunicated the Church, the Church excommunicated thom.'^
B. The so-called Dionysius^ the Areopagite. Mysticism, in the common acceptation of the term, is antagonis- tic to speculation. And yet they are often united. There have been speculative or philosophical Mystics. The father indeed of Mysticism in the Christian Church, was a philosopher. About the
1 De Virgg. Veland. c. 1. — Edit. Basle, 1562, p. 490.
2 See Neander's Dogmengescliichle, vol. i. Schwegler, F. C. (disciple of Baur) Der Mon- tanismiii! mul fUe ChrklHche Kirche des Ziveifen Jahrhunderts, Tub. 1841-48. A concise and clear account of Montanism is given in Mosheim's Commentaries on the Affairs of Christians before ihe Time of Constanline, vol. i. § 66, pp. 497 ff. of Murdock's edition.