Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 2.djvu/74

The first is the case of Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, one of the most famous Prelates of his time. The heresy of Sabellius had sprung up in his province, which, under pretence of magnifying our blessed Lord, confounded His Person with that of the Almighty Father, and so in fact denied the whole economy of Salvation: maintaining that the Father himself was incarnate; that He appeared on earth as the Son, and suffered on the cross for us. Refuting these, the holy Bishop had argued from those expressions of Scripture which represent our Lord in his human nature, as the work or creature of God the Father. "The Incarnate Son," said he, "is not the same with the Father, as the tree is not the same with the husbandman, nor the ship with the builder." Expressions surely justifiable enough, since what they affirm is found almost word for word in our Lord's own discourses. "I am the true Vine, and my Father is the Husbandman." However, the expressions were misunderstood, although from St. Dionysius' own report it should seem that he had carefully guarded them by the context; it was generally reported that he had used language derogatory to the Divine honour of our Lord. A synod met at Rome to examine the matter, on behalf of which the then Bishop of Rome, also named Dionysius, wrote to the Bishop of Alexandria, requesting an explanation; which he gave to the full satisfaction of the whole Church; summing up his doctrine in these remarkable words: "Of the names used by me to express the Divine Persons, there is none which can be separated or divided from the other to which it is related. Thus, suppose I speak of the Father; before I add the term 'Son,' I have implied His existence, by using the term 'Father.' I add the term Son; though I had not mentioned the Father, assuredly the idea of Him would have been comprised in that of the Son: I join to these the 'Holy Ghost,' but at the same time I annex the thought of the fountain from whom and the channel by whom He proceeds;" calling him, as it seems, the Spirit of the Father and the Son. "Thus, on the one hand, we do as it were expand the Unity, without division, into a Trinity of Persons; on the other hand, we gather the Trinity, without diminution, into an Unity of substance." This noble confession of a perfect faith we owe to the friendly remonstrance of the assembled Bishops; and surely the advantage is great, of such a standing guard, in enabling the Church not only to recog-