1849.] Character of Dorner's Work. 159 The two treatises which were written to carry out this view were expanded, some four years afterwards, into an octavo volume of about 550 pages, published in 1839. In the Introduction to this book he repudiates the notion that any one could give a true exhibition of the history of a doctrine without any doctrinal basis; and sets forth as the leading idea of his work, that Christ is of importance, not merely as a historical personage, nor yet alone in an ideal or metaphysical point of view, (as the pantheist maintains,) but that both the historical and ideal, the divine and the human, are absolutely one in his perfected person; and that he is the head of the race, which race is not a mass, but an organism. And he propounds the "idea of the God-man Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is man and the Head of the church, as the word which alone can solve the enigma that weighs upon German Christianity." This work established the reputation of its author. It is perhaps the most finished example, in historical theology, of the clear and masterly unfolding of the history of a doctrine in its successive stages. It is both critical and comprehensive. It unites, in rare proportion, historical accuracy and philosophical insight with a firm faith in the substantial truth of the orthodox doctrine respecting the Person of Christ. It is dictated by, and it serves to illustrate the wholesome influence of a firm conviction in the harmony and ultimate reconciliation of reason and faith, of Christianity and philosophy. One of the chief excellences of the work in this first edition, is its special criticism upon the later Christological controversies in Germany. We do not know where there is to be found so lucid an account of the bearing of the later philosophical and theological systems of Germany upon the great doctrines that centre in Christ, as is contained in the latter half of this volume. The respective influence and positions of the schools of Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel are clearly presented and thoroughly criticised. The Christology of Schleiermacher closes the series; and from this long research and review the author looks forward with earnest faith to the time of a rich harvest in which the For this position he is somewhat severely taken to task by Baur in his History of the Trinity. It is the claim of Baur, as of Strauss, that he goes to the study of history without any preconceived opinion; although it would not be difficult to show, that he goes there, assuming the essential truth of the pantheistic interpretation of the doctrine. So Strauss interprets the life of Christ without any previous bias-only he denies the possibility of a miracle. Dorner, in the continuation of the above sentence, implies the true reason for his seeming assumption and that is, his personal faith in Christ on the ground of the testimony of the Scriptures. ripest fruits of the past shall all be gathered. "And as Ethiopia and Arabia, after bowing down to the prophet, are to bring their loyal tribute to the Lord, so shall the middle ages with their scholasticism, and the later philosophy also, so shall the whole religious history of the world, both before and after the advent of Christ, be seen to congregate around that One; all shall lay down their best gifts before Him, who first gave them the key by which they could understand themselves, and who also makes them worthy to contribute to his honor; and by their labors the glories of his Person shall be displayed in ever-increasing lustre, and imbibed with conscious love by the human race." (p. 529.) We should be glad to dwell more in detail upon Dr. Dorner's exposition of the German systems, but we must leave this part of his work, of which a second edition has not yet been published, that we may give a more full view of the book which stands at the head of this Article. This is the first volume of a new edition, which is to be comprised in three octavos. This volume was issued in three parts during the years 1845 and 1846, and makes a book of more than eleven hundred pages, fitted out with those admirable indices, which the Germans understand the art of making so well. The second volume, which is to comprise the remainder of the history, was promised for the year 1846, but it has not yet made its appearance.1 The third vol. of the new edition is to be wholly new; it will contain a full biblical and doctrinal treatise upon the subject; to be published as soon as the leisure of the author will permit." From the ability which has been displayed in his criticisms upon the opinions of others, and from his thorough acquaintance with all the forms in which the doctrine has been held, we are warranted in indulging the highest expectations of the value of this concluding essay. The partial obscurity which seems to us to hang around his own views of the doctrine, so far as these can be inferred from the principles on which his criticism is conducted, and from incidental At the time Dr. Dorner published the first edition of his book he was professor of theology at Tübingen; in the second edition he appears as professor at Königsberg; and in a German catologue of Books for 1847, we find the title of a pamphlet on the "Relation of Church and State,” which is said to be his Inaugural Discourse on assuming a theological chair at the University of Bonn. These rapid changes, taken in connection with the more rapid political changes of his country, may account for the delay in the completion of his work. The only other book of his we have seen, is an able and critical Latin treatise De Oratione Christi Eschatologica, (Matt. xxiv. 1—36. Luc. xxi. 5-36. Marc. xiii. 1-32.) Asservata, published in 1844, to celebrate the tri-centennial festivities of the University of Königsberg. 1849.] Person of Christ in the first four Centuries. 161 hints and phrases, will then, perhaps, be wholly dissipated. While the whole course and plan of his work prove him to be in harmony with the main current of orthodox belief, yet he also shows that he is not wholly satisfied with the terms in which this belief has been generally expressed. The increased interest in our own country in discussions respecting the nature of Christ, will also lead some minds to turn with interest to a volume written after so thorough a preparation. The present enlargement of the original work promises to make it more thoroughly scientific-a sort of arsenal for all the armory; but the first edition will still remain of independent value, and to the general reader, who does not wish to be embarrassed with the elaborate details of controversy and speculation, will perhaps be more attractive than the fuller and final exposition. The general plan, the leading divisions, and the fundamental views remain the same. But that portion of the history which is contained in the present volume has been enlarged eleven-fold, from less than one hundred to more than eleven hundred pages. It embraces the first four centuries of the Christian era; and it may be considered as in some respects an independent treatise upon this most important period of the history of this doctrine, down to the council of Constantinople, when the elements of the humanity of Christ were ecclesiastically set forth and sanctioned. In no subsequent centuries have the Trinitarian and Christological controversies assumed anything like the same degree of importance; and their decisions have been received with general acquiescence by the great body of Christendom ever since. The Anglican discussions of the times of Bull and Waterland were not more thorough; the German discussions of these later years have not been so minute, nor more philosophical. In our New England contests we have not made more, though we have made more exclusive, use of the biblical arguments. The period traversed by this volume is, then, one of the deepest interest; it is, also, one most familiar to British and American research. And we think it may be safely said, that for the scholar who wishes to penetrate into the recesses of the thoughts of those wonderful centuries of the Christian church, when thinking minds and believing hearts were earnestly striving to elucidate the highest problems respecting the Godhead, and the relation between divinity and humanity, there is no work which will afford him so thorough aid, or be a more skilful and critical guide. The work of the Jesuit Petavius, De Theologicis Dogmatibus, is the one with which it would be most fitly compared, in its comprehensiveness and apparent impartiality. The fourth volume of this treatise of Petavius, published at Paris in 1650, is devoted to the Incarnation; and it is a vast store-house of materials, well arranged, and skilfully used to enhance the necessity of authoritative decisions by Pope or council upon subjects where the fathers of the church were found to be at variance. But though this work is the most eminent example of doctrinal history which the Roman Catholic church has produced, and though it is more liberal in its tone and more free in its criticisms than most of the works of the theologians of this church, yet it is restricted to the elucidation of a few great points in respect to the Two Natures of Christ. Its learning, though vast, is cumbrous; and it does not sufficiently mark the progress of doctrinal discussion. It is also suspected of having yielded too ready an assent to the position, that Arianism was prevalent in the church long before the time of Arius. It was this concession, in part, which lead Bishop Bull to This learned Jesuit is one of the few theologians whom Gibbon praises, yet not without a sneer. He confesses his indebtedness to him, and adds: “ His learning is copious and correct, his Latinity is pure, his method clear, his argument profound and well connected; but he is the slave of the fathers, the scourge of heretics, and the enemy of truth and candor, as often as they are inimical to the Catholic cause." His whole work is in four folio volumes; of which the second is devoted to the Trinity, and the fourth to the Incarnation, under which he includes the work as well as the nature of Christ. In this volume, the first book gives an account of all the heresies; the second relates to the causes of the incarnation, " especially that which is called the final;" the third is upon the “conjunctio sive unitio" of the two natures; the fourth treats of those general " affections" of the two natures which resulted from this union; and the fifth speaks of the two natures separately. While Bull defends Petavius against the charge of being an Arian, Van Mildert, in his Life of Waterland, (p. 28,) seems strangely to imply that he was a Socician. Another large work on the History of Doctrines, written near the same period is less known than its merits deserve - the Instructiones Historico-theologicae of John Forbesius, à Corse, a Scotch author, who composed it while residing in Holland, where it was published at Amsterdam, in 1645. He had previously been professor of divinity at Aberdeen. His work is polemical against the Romanists, and seems to have been drawn up at the request of the synod of Aberdeen, to "give them a taste of theological history," and to refute the exclusive pretensions of the Romanists to the possession of the verdict of the ancient church. The second book is upon "the mystery of the incarnation." Four chapters of it are devoted to as many kinds of heresies. The fifth gives an "orthodox antithesis, set forth in a metrical compend, against the various heresies and errors in the argument concerning the mystery of the incarnation." We give a few lines of this theological curiosity. Verus homo, verusque Deus de Virgine Christus, 1849.] Value of Bishop Bull's Treatise. 163 compose his defence of the Nicene Faith, (1685,) a work which was written years before it was printed, since no bookseller could be found to undertake its publication; but which (in connection with his Judicium, published in 1694) has long been of standard authority in the English church for the opinions of the early centuries in respect to the person of Christ. His chief object in these works is to defend the consistency as well as the authority of the fathers of the church, which were fast coming into disrepute even among the orthodox. He maintains their authority against the Socinians, who declared it to be of no value; and their orthodoxy, against the Arians, who pressed them into their service. The three points which he chiefly insists upon are, that the preexistence, the eternity, and the consubstantiality of the Son were held in the early church, by general consent; and this being gained, he not only allows, but indicates, a certain subordination, or derivation of the Son, which he conceives to be consistent with these positions. Valuable as are the works of bishop Bull in a historical point of view, yet they neither do away with the difficulties which encompass his statement of the relation of the Son to the Father, as was abundantly shown by the subsequent English controversies; nor do they furnish a full view of the proper history of the doctrine even up to the Council of Nice. They contributed more to increase respect for the fathers and belief in their harmony, than to exhibit the real nature of their differences, or to signalize the stadia of the doctrinal discussion, or to free the doctrine from philosophical objections. Be Nascitur, Immanuel, Deus incarnatus, ut idem Sit quod erat, fiat quod non erat, et sit utrumque The remaining chapters of this book give important documents and extracts relating to the history of the doctrine. 1 1 Bishop Bull's Defence of the Nicene Faith was written to counteract the influ ence of three continental authors, viz. Petavius, Saudius (in his Nucleus Hist. Eccl. 1669, who was an Arian), and Zuicker, a physician of Dantzic, whose works were making a decided impression in England. His Judicium Eccl. Cath., published in 1694, was also directed against foreign authors, viz. Episcopius and his disciple Curcellaeus, and is devoted to the proof of the position that the Nicene fathers held the belief of the true and proper divinity of Christ to be indispensable. It was also intended, incidentally, to uphold the authority of the fathers against the reproaches of Episcopius and others. He goes so far that Bossuet (Hist. des Var.) claims that he holds to the infallibility of the council of Nice. A third and smaller treatise, Primitive and Apostolical Tradition (1703), is a continuation of the former, and is directed against the position that the doctrines of Christ's divinity, incarnation, and preexistence were introduced into the church from heathen or heretical sources. In the controversy between the two parties, called at the time Tritheists and Nominalists, the former of whom was represented by Dr. Sherlock (father of the bishop |