to give you a connected historical sketch of this period. I couldn't do it justice if I should attempt it. But what I can do, and what I believe will answer the purpose as well or better, is to pick out from my notes a few characteristic features that will give you an idea of the whole. It will help to fix upon my own mind, too, the train of thought that led me to the conclusions I have reached. The conclusions are already fixed."

"Do you mean that you have made up your mind beyond possibility of change?" asked Craig.

"Yes, and no. I have made up my mind beyond possibility of change except upon meeting new evidence; and I don't believe that there will ever be found new evidence of sufficient weight to change the conclusions I have reached, or rather have accepted upon the statement of the case by men who have made a profound study of the entire range of testimony. Of course, you understand, I do not pretend to have found any new facts or reached any conclusions not already announced in the books I have read. I am simply trying to show you how the various questions and answers took shape in my own mind. Whether they will lead you where they have led me, I do not know. All that I can say is that they appear to me perfectly convincing. And as to the possibility of future research and criticism working any material change in the present status of the arguments pro and con, we must remember that the great mass of the writings of the Christian fathers from the close of the second century on, as well as nearly all the records of the councils, have long been accessible, and have been subjected to an amount of critical examination, friendly and hostile, such as no other class of writings, ancient or modern, has ever passed through. Now, I am going to assume that you are as ignorant of the facts as I was four months ago, and I am going to take you hastily over the ground that I went over more slowly."

"As you think best," said Craig; "but I mean to look at this thing yet from the standpoint of a Christian, though one who is anxious to know the truth."

"Very well. Now, who was Origen, and what were the chief characteristics of the system of theology which he founded? He was probably born at Alexandria, where he spent his life till he was forty-five years old, except for the journeys which he took in connection with his scientific

ORIGEN'S TEACHING

171

and theological studies. He was a youthful prodigy, being placed at the head of a celebrated school at Alexandria when but eighteen years old. He spent most of his life in profound study and exposition of the Bible. By him 'the sacred writings are regarded as an inexhaustible mine of philosophical and dogmatic wisdom'; and 'he reads his own ideas into any passage he chooses '-a not uncommon practice even in our day of disposing of the contradictory or impossible in Scripture.

"Origen found the doctrines of Christianity in a crude, undeveloped state. The four Gospels had recently been 'chosen' from a mass of such writings and 'approved' by a few self-authorized Church fathers; Jesus was acknowledged to be the Son of God, but nobody had arisen to explain that relationship; Jesus had come to save all men from sin, but no one had worked out a plausible theory of universal sin, and especially the application of that doctrine to the case of persons dying in infancy. How and when were souls created? Was ultimate salvation to be the happy portion of all souls, or were some to writhe in eternal torture? These were among the questions that Origen undertook to answer.

Origen taught-I quote from various epitomes of his doctrines that simple faith is sufficient for the renewal and salvation of all men'; that 'complete and certain knowledge rests wholly on divine revelation '; that the 'facts' of the Scriptures' appear as the vehicles of ideas'; that Christ and the Word are one, and have existed from all eternity; that 'the objects of religious knowledge are beyond the plane of history, or rather they are regarded as belonging to a supra-mundane history'; that God had created matter out of nothing; that Jesus' was a kind of compound being'; that all souls have existed eternally, and that on account of sin these souls are condemned to imprisonment for a time in human bodies, but that they will all ultimately be restored to their former happy state with God. This last is Origen's theory of original sin and the actual sinfulness of all men; spirits are continually sinning and continually being imprisoned in human flesh. He believed therefore in a resurrection, but a spiritual resurrection. Were Origen alive to-day, he would rank as one of the highest of 'higher critics.' Here is a sample of his Biblical interpretation:

"And who is found so ignorant as to suppose that God, as if he had been a husbandman, planted trees in paradise, in Eden toward the east, and a tree of life in it, that is, a visible and palpable tree of wood, so that any one eating of it with bodily teeth should obtain life, and, eating again of another tree, should come to the knowledge of good or evil. . . . The same style of Scriptural narrative occurs abundantly in the Gospels, as when the Devil is said to have placed Jesus on a lofty mountain, that he might show him from thence all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. How could it literally come to pass, either that Jesus should be led up by the Devil into a high mountain, or that the latter should show him all the kingdoms of the world, as if they were lying beneath his bodily eyes, and adjacent to one mountain? And many other instances similar to this will be found in the Gospels, [in which] are inserted and interwoven things which cannot be admitted historically.'

"You thus see how far Origen was from what is to-day the orthodox Protestant belief in regard to the meaning of Bible language.

To

"Origen's doctrines, however, were never popular with the church party at Alexandria. In the year 230 he was deposed from the priesthood by a council of bishops held at Alexandria, and a year or two later he retired-where? Palestine, where his teachings were viewed with favor and his condemnation had not been acknowledged by the churches. He took up his residence in Cæsarea, where he resumed the teaching of science and theology. Pupils flocked around him, and it was not long till his new school rivaled that of Alexandria. Much of the bitter church dissension and many of the charges and countercharges of heresy during the following centuries grew out of the varying interpretation of Origen's religious theories. About the year 400 Origen's writings were condemned by numerous councils, and his works were finally anathematized by an ecumenical council at Constantinople in 553

So much for Origen. I think we had better leave Augustine till we reach him in the order of time."

CONSTANTINE CRUSHES HIS RIVALS

173

CHAPTER 26

THE ARIAN HERESY-BIRTH OF A CREED

"AND now," continued Granger, "we will turn to a question of another character. How did the speculations of Origen, Augustine, and others become the established system of faith, as embodied in the creeds, so that belief in them— or at least profession of belief-was and is the test of Christian fellowship? The answer to this question is found in the proceedings of the councils to which I have already referred.

"I want to say right here that in telling you something about those councils I shall, as far as possible, follow Christian authorities; that is, I shall give you the statements of writers who are themselves believers in the orthodox creeds. We shall thus be less likely to do injustice to the creeds and the creed-makers.

"First, then, the great council at Nice in the year 325. In order to get our bearings and place ourselves in position. to understand the full force and meaning of the acts of this and the succeeding councils, we had better glance briefly at the circumstances that immediately preceded and led up to it. Three hundred years after Christ we find the Roman Empire ruled jointly by four men. The condition of unstable political equilibrium involved in such a division of supreme power was maintained with marvelous skill and tact by the great Diocletian. The abdication of Diocletian in the year 305 marked the beginning of nine years of civil war and intrigue among rival claimants for the succession. Three years after Diocletian's retirement no less than six Emperors were contending for supremacy. By the year 313 defeat and death had eliminated four of the six, leaving Constantine sole Emperor of the West and Licinius of the East. The marriage in that year of Licinius and Constantia, sister of Constantine, proved unavailing to reconcile the two monarchs. A year later they were again at war, with the result that Licinius, after a disastrous defeat, was forced to accept the terms dictated by Constantine. The truce thus patched up lasted for nine years, during which Licinius remained on the throne of the East. But his power steadily

waned, while that of his brother-in-law as steadily grew, until in 323 the two Emperors again faced each other in

arms.

"The verdict of history is that Constantine was the aggressor and brought on this last war deliberately, for the purpose of crushing his sole remaining rival and bringing the divided Empire together again under his own absolute rule. This he accomplished. Through the intercession of Constantia the life of Licinius was spared, but the unfortunate woman was powerless to prevent her brother from banishing her husband. Nothing less than the death of Licinius, however, could satisfy the ambition and jealousy of Constantine, and it was not long till the banished Fmpeior was assassinated-an act that in the light of all known circumstances surrounding it stands out as an atrocious and unprovoked breach of faith by Constantine.

66 But Licinius was not the only victim of Constantine's malignant jealousy. The haughty Emperor could not brook the rivalry, actual or possible, of even his own son and prospective successor. It was the skill and daring of this son, Crispus, that had accomplished the defeat and destruction of the powerful fleet of Licinius in the last great struggle between the rival Emperors. By that act and by his many noble and amiable qualities, Crispus had won a degree of popular favor that, in the eyes of his Imperial sire, made him a dangerous person in the State. Crispus was murdered; and from that day to this the crime has been laid at the door of his father.

"During the first years of his rule in the West, those years of almost incessant civil war, it was chiefly as a warrior that Constantine distinguished himself. But as soon as possible he set himself vigorously to work to establish peace and order within the Western Empire and to develop its resources. In pursuance of his liberal and statesmanlike policy in this regard, he published a series of edicts, beginning in the year 312, granting to Christians freedom of worship, and remitting many of the penalties incurred by them. under the more rigorous policy of former Emperors. Christians were admitted to both civil and military offices, and were placed, both clergy and laymen, upon the same footing with their pagan fellow-citizens in the State. And when, by the final overthrow of Licinius in 323, Constantine become sole Emperor, these edicts were extended over the