Part 23 (1/2)
The following states in brief the theory of universal salvation.
It is to be borne in mind, however, that certain beings who fell away from that one beginning of which we have spoken, have given themselves to such wickedness and malice as to be deemed altogether undeserving of that training and instruction by which the human race while in the flesh are trained and instructed with the a.s.sistance of the heavenly powers: they continue, on the contrary, in a state of enmity and opposition to those who are receiving this instruction and teaching. And hence it is that the whole life of mortals is full of certain struggles and trials, caused by the opposition and enmity against us of those who fell from a better condition without at all looking back, and who are called the devil and his angels, and other orders of evil, which the Apostle cla.s.sed among the opposing powers. But whether any of these orders, who act under the government of the devil and obey his wicked commands, will be able in a future world to be converted to righteousness because of their possessing the faculty of freedom of will, or whether persistent and inveterate wickedness may be changed by habit into a kind of nature, you, reader, may decide; yet so that neither in those things which are seen and temporal nor in those which are unseen and eternal one portion is to differ wholly from the final unity and fitness of things. But in the meantime, both in those temporal worlds which are seen, and in those eternal worlds which are invisible, all those beings are arranged according to a regular plan, in the order and degree of merit; so that some of them in the first, others in the second, some even in the last times, after having undergone heavier and severer punishments, endured for a lengthened period and for many ages, so to speak, improved by this stern method of training, and restored at first by the instruction of angels and subsequently advanced by powers of a higher grade, and thus advancing through each stage to a better condition, reach even to that which is invisible and eternal, having travelled by a kind of training through every single office of the heavenly powers. From which, I think, this will follow as an inferencethat every rational nature can, in pa.s.sing from one order to another, go through each to all, and advance from all to each, while made the subject of various degrees of proficiency and failure, according to its own actions and endeavors, put forth in the enjoyment of its power of freedom of will.
(_k_) Origen, _De Principiis_, IV, 9-15. (MSG, 11:360, 363, 373.)
Allegorism.
The method of exegesis known as allegorism, whereby the speculations of the Christian theologians were provided with an apparently scriptural basis, was taken over from the Jewish and Greek philosophers and theologians who employed it in the study of their sacred books. Origen, it should be added, contributed not a little to a sound grammatical interpretation as well. For Porphyrys criticism of Origens methods of exegesis see Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VI, 19.
Ch. 9. Now the cause, in all the points previously enumerated, of the false opinions and of the impious statements or ignorant a.s.sertions about G.o.d appears to be nothing else than that the Scriptures are not understood according to their spiritual meaning, but are interpreted according to the mere letter. And therefore to those who believe that the sacred books are not the compositions of men, but were composed by the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, according to the will of the Father of all things through Jesus Christ, and that they have come down to us, we must point out the modes of interpretation which appear correct to us, who cling to the standard of the heavenly Church according to the succession of the Apostles of Jesus Christ. Now that there are certain mystical economies made known in the Holy Scriptures, all, even the most simple of those who adhere to the word, have believed; but what these are, the candid and modest confess they know not. If, then, one were to be perplexed about the incest of Lot with his daughters, and about the two wives of Abraham, and the two sisters married to Jacob, and the two handmaids who bore him children, they can return no other answer than thisthat these are mysteries not understood by us.
Ch. 11. The way, then, as it seems to me, in which we ought to deal with the Scriptures and extract from them their meaning is the following, which has been ascertained from the sayings [of the Scriptures] themselves. By Solomon in the Proverbs we find some rule as this enjoined respecting the teaching of the divine writings, And do thou portray them in a threefold manner, in counsel and knowledge, to answer words of truth to them who propose them to thee [_cf._ Prov. 22:20 _f._, LXX]. One ought, then, to portray the ideas of Holy Scripture in a threefold manner upon his soul, in order that the simple man may be edified by the flesh, as it were, of Scripture, for so we name the obvious sense; while he who has ascended a certain way may be edified by the soul, as it were. The perfect man, and he who resembles those spoken of by the Apostle, when he says, We speak wisdom among them that are perfect, but not the wisdom of the world, nor of the rulers of this world, who come to nought; but we speak the wisdom of G.o.d in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which G.o.d hath ordained before the ages unto our glory [I Cor. 2:6, 7], may receive edification from the spiritual law, which was a shadow of things to come. For as man consists of body and soul and spirit, so in the same way does the Scripture consist, which has been arranged by G.o.d for the salvation of men.
Ch. 12. But as there are certain pa.s.sages which do not contain at all the corporeal sense, as we shall show in the following, there are also places where we must seek only for the soul, as it were, and spirit of Scripture.
Ch. 15. But since, if the usefulness of the legislation and the sequence and beauty of the history were universally evident, we should not believe that any other thing could be understood in the Scriptures save what was obvious, the Word of G.o.d has arranged that certain stumbling-blocks, and offences, and impossibilities, should be introduced into the midst of the law and the history, in order that we may not, through being drawn away in all directions by the merely attractive nature of the language, either altogether fall away from the true doctrines, as learning nothing worthy of G.o.d, or, by not departing from the letter, come to the knowledge of nothing more divine. And this, also, we must know: that, since the princ.i.p.al aim is to announce the spiritual connection in those things that are done and that ought to be done where the Word found that things done according to the history could be adapted to these mystic senses, He made use of them, concealing from the mult.i.tude the deeper meaning; but where in the narrative of the development of super-sensual things there did not follow the performance of those certain events which was already indicated by the mystical meaning the Scripture interwove in the history the account of some event that did not take place, sometimes what could not have happened; sometimes what could, but did not happen. And at other times impossibilities are recorded for the sake of the more skilful and inquisitive, in order that they may give themselves to the toil of investigation of what is written, and thus attain to a becoming conviction of the manner in which a meaning worthy of G.o.d must be sought out in such subjects.
44. Neo-Platonism
The last phase of h.e.l.lenic philosophy was religious. It aimed to combine the principles of many schools of the earlier period and to present a metaphysical system that would at once give a theory of being and also furnish a philosophical basis for the new religious life. This final philosophy of the antique world was Neo-Platonism. It was thoroughly eclectic in its treatment of earlier systems, but under Plotinus attained no small degree of consistency. The emphasis was laid especially upon the religious problems, and in the system it may be fairly said that the religious aspirations of heathenism found their highest and purest expression. Because it was in close touch with current culture and in its metaphysical principles was closely akin to the philosophy of the Church teachers, we find Neo-Platonism sometimes a bitter rival of Christianity, at other times a preparation for the Christian faith, as in the case of Augustine and Victorinus.
Additional source material: _Select Works of Plotinus_, translated by Thomas Taylor, ed. G. R. S. Mead, London, 1909 (contains bibliography of other translations of Plotinus, including those in French and German together with a select list of works bearing on Neo-Platonism); _Select Works of Porphyry_, trans. by Thomas Taylor, London, 1823; Taylor translated much from all the Neo-Platonists, but his other books are very scarce. Porphyrys _Epistula ad Marcellam_, trans. by Alice Zimmern, London, 1896.
Porphyry, _Ep. ad Marcellam_, 16-19. _Porphyrii philosophi Platonici opuscula tria_, rec. A. Nauck, Leipsic, 1860.
The letter is addressed to Marcella by her husband, the philosopher Porphyry. It gives a good idea of the religious and ethical character of Neo-Platonism. For the metaphysical aspects see Plotinus, translated by T. Taylor. Porphyry was, after Plotinus, the greatest of the Neo-Platonists, and brought out most clearly those religious elements which were rivals to Christianity. His attack upon Christianity was keen and bitter, and he was consequently especially hated by the Christians. He died at Rome 304.
Ch. 16. You will honor G.o.d best when you form your soul to resemble him.
This likeness is only by virtue; for only virtue draws the soul upward toward its own kind. There is nothing greater with G.o.d than virtue; but G.o.d is greater than virtue. But G.o.d strengthens him who does what is good; but of evil deeds a wicked demon is the instigator. Therefore the wicked soul flees from G.o.d and wishes that the foreknowledge of G.o.d did not exist; and from the divine law which punishes all wickedness it shrinks away completely. But a wise mans soul is in harmony with G.o.d, ever sees Him, ever is with Him. But if that which rules takes pleasure in that which is ruled, then G.o.d cares for the wise and provides for him; and therefore is the wise man blessed, because he is under the protection of G.o.d. It is not the discourses of the wise man which are honorable before G.o.d, but his works; for the wise man, even when he keeps silence, honors G.o.d, but the ignorant man, even in praying and sacrificing, dishonors the Divinity. So the wise man alone is a priest, alone is dear to G.o.d, alone knows how to pray.
Ch. 17. He who practises wisdom practises the knowledge of G.o.d; though not always in prayer and sacrifice, practising piety toward G.o.d by his works.
For a man is not rendered agreeable to G.o.d by ruling himself according to the prejudices of men and the vain declamations of the sophists. It is the man himself who, by his own works, renders himself agreeable to G.o.d, and is deified by the conforming of his own soul to the incorruptible blessed One. And it is he himself who makes himself impious and displeasing to G.o.d, not suffering evil from G.o.d, for the Divinity does only what is good.
It is the man himself who causes his evils by his false beliefs in regard to G.o.d. The impious is not so much he who does not honor the statues of the G.o.ds as he who mixes up with the idea of G.o.d the superst.i.tions of the vulgar. As for thyself, do not hold any unworthy idea of G.o.d, of his blessedness or of his incorruptibility.
Ch. 18. The greatest fruit of piety is thisto honor the Deity according to our fatherland; not that He has need of anything, but His holy and happy Majesty invites us to offer Him our homage. Altars consecrated to G.o.d do no harm, and when neglected they render no help. But he who honors G.o.d as needing anything declares, without knowing it, that he is superior to G.o.d. Therefore it is not angering G.o.d that harms us, but not knowing G.o.d, for wrath is alien to G.o.d, because it is the product of the involuntary, and there is nothing involuntary in G.o.d. Do not then dishonor the Divinity by human false opinions, for thou wilt not thereby injure the Being enjoying eternal blessedness, from whose incorruptible nature every injury is repelled.