THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Father; and the Valentinians spoke of the primal
essence as " throwing off " (proballein), without
diminution, that which was derived from it
(see Valentinus; Basilides). In
3. Philonic the Neoplatonist system, the highest and Early principle, the One, overflows without Christian a conscious act, merely by a law of its Doctrine, nature, losing nothing of its fulness
and this process has no end in time. It goes from more perfect to less perfect, and the ineffable Unity is the source of all plurality. The Xous (intellect), the first stage in the process, thinks, and thus from it emanate the soul and the logos (word). So the process goes on until the lowest stage is reached in essenceless matter. The notion of emanation was frequently used by the early Christian writers in the attempt to express the relation of the Son and the Holy Spirit to the Father, though the symbolism is not pressed too far. The phrase used of the Son in Heb. i. 3 reminds of the Book of Wisdom. The idea is similarly used by Athenagoras, Origen, and Arnobius; Tertullian even ventures to employ the Valentinian term probole for the relation of the Son to the Father, while repudiating the separation which Valentinus had taught between his eons. In the final establishment of the Trinitarian doctrine the idea of emanation undoubtedly played a part, as in the emphasis laid upon the Son's being " begotten, not made " (Nicene Creed), and the " procession " of the Holy Ghost; but the idea of descent to imperfection is lacking.
A common misunderstanding regards Dionysius the Areopagite as of importance in the history of the doctrine of emanation. He does teach an efflux from God; but the heavenly hierarchy, with its various grades of perfection, does not arise by an emanation of one from the other; all have their origin directly from God, or the Highest
Good. Erigena, referring much of his
4. Dionys- doctrine to Dionysius, makes use of ian,Scholas- a kind of creation which resembles
tic, and the Neoplatonist emanation. His Mystic world of causa? primordiales is eternal, Doctrine, though not with God's eternity, but eternally created by or proceeding from God. Creation is a processio through these to the visible and invisible creatures; it too is eternal; God is in the creation, and the creation in God. From Erigena the custom passed over to scholasticism of considering creation as a sort of emanation; but in the passage of Thomas Aquinas most frequently quoted in this connection (I.,qu. xlv., art. 1) the specific character of emanation is so weakened as to be perceptible only in the fact that he does not draw a sharp dividing line between God and his powers and the world. In the mystics, despite their connection with scholasticism, the doctrine of emanation can scarcely be discovered in its pure form. But in the Jewish Cabala (q.v.) the emanationistic origin of the world is distinctly taught; the connection with Christian Gnosticism, with the Neoplatonists, and with Dionysius is evident. With the founders of modern metaphysics, Descartes and Spinoza, emanation plays no prominent part; but the logicians of the
sixteenth and seventeenth certuries make use of the term causa emanativa in contradistinction to causa activa. In the newer philosophy the old view of emanation is disappearing, though it is found in Leibnitz's conception of the relation between God and single monads; God is the primal unity, the monas primitiva, which produces the created and derived monads " par des julgurations continuelles de la Divinite de moment a moment." But since the time of Leibnitz it has been found impossible to combine the doctrine with the clearer views prevalent on cosmology, to say nothing of theology and metaphysics; and its place has been taken by the doctrine of evolution. (M. Heinze.)
Bibliography: The literature cited under Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, Philo, Mandaeans, and Manicheans contains much that is pertinent. On Indian Emanations consult: R. Garbe, Philosophy of Ancient India, Chicago, 1897; F. Max Miiller, Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, London, 1899. For discussion of the subject in the Occident consult the works on the History of Philosophy by J. E. Erdmann, vol. i., London, 1890, and W. Windelband, New York, 1893.
EMBER-DAYS: Days of special fasting and prayer occurring quarterly (Lat. jejunia quattuor temporum), on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent, Pentecost, Sept. 14, and Dec. 14. They seem to have been originally instituted for the purpose of asking God's blessing on the several seasons of the year (Bingham, Origines, xxi. 2); but later they assumed more importance as the seasons specially appointed for ordination. See Fasting, II.
EMBER, PAULTJS: Hungarian Reformed church historian; b. at Debreczen c. 1660; d. at Liszka (on the Bodrog, 50 m. n. of Debreczen) 1710. He studied in the Reformed College of Debreczen and became teacher at Patak (6 m. n.e. of Liszka). After a visit to Franeker and Leyden (1684-86) he returned to Patak as pastor, but was soon driven away by the Jesuits. Thenceforth his life was a wandering one; its happiest and most productive period was a residence at Losoncz from 1695 till 1701. He suffered in the war following the revolution of Francis Rakoczy and had to flee from Szatmar, where he was then pastor. A place was made for him in his native town, but the advance of the Austrian army drove him thence in 1705. His works were Garizim cs Ebal (Kolozsvar, 1702), a defense of the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination, which provoked a fiery attack from a Lutheran writer, Martinus Regis (Wittenberg, 1708) ; and Historia ecclesim reformata in Hungaria et Transylvania. The material for this work was collected during his wanderings and it was written at the request of the Prussian court-preacher, E. D. Jablonsky. After Ember's death it was sent to Utrecht and was published there (1728) with alterations and additions by F. A. Lampe, who mentioned the author on the title page only as vir quidam doctissimus. It is still a valuable and indispensable work for the history of the Reformation in Hungary. F. Balogh.
Bibliography: [Michal Rotarides,] Historia Hungarian Utterance lineamenta, pp. 49, 55-57, 179, Altona, 1745. Other literature (in Hungarian) is given in Hauck-Herzog, RE, v. 336.