ON THE RIGHT USE OF The Early Fathers; TWO SERIES OF LECTURES, DELIVERED IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. John James BY THE REV. J. J. BLUNT, B.D., PREFACE. Ir was stated by Professor Blunt, in the Introductory Lecture on the Study of the early Fathers, which he delivered shortly after his election to the Margaret Professorship, that he intended to "take the Fathers successively in their order; submitting to" his hearers "the pith and body of each; some portions of them abridged; but much of them, especially such passages as seem to have a peculiar value and force, literally translated." 2 His Lectures, during the five years which ensued, were in accordance with this announcement; and it was not until he had gone through a considerable number of the early Fathers in this way, that the Course "On the Right Use" of them, consisting of two Series, was delivered, the first in the October Term of 1845, the second in the October Term of 1846; subsequent to which, additions were made to many of the Lectures, and the Second Series, especially, was considerably enlarged. It may be presumed, therefore, that this course exhibits, in a connected form, the conclusions to which the author intended to lead his hearers by the detailed examination of the Fathers, In 1840. It was followed by a second Introductory Lecture delivered in 1843.-See "Two Introductory Lectures on the Study of the Early Fathers, with a brief Memoir through which he had conducted them; and for this reason they have been selected with the greater confidence for publication, in preference to others, which remain among his papers. 1 With regard to the manner in which the subject is treated, it may be remembered that in the Introductory Lecture already referred to, the author, after enumerating some of the allowances, which he says "must undoubtedly be made by us, when reading the writings of the Fathers," observes that these " may be made, consistently with a very high sense of the value of their testimony in general, and a very wholesome application of it on the whole;' ;" and that "we must be careful not to let our estimate of the worth, or worthlessness of the Fathers, be formed at second hand, from a mere perusal of such authors as Daillé and Barbeyrac, whose only object is to single out whatever imperfections they present, and place them before their readers in continuous succession, and without one lucid interval of merit." 2 "2 This observation is enlarged upon in the First Series, which is arranged in the form of an answer to the objections of Daillé and Barbeyrac; but the Lectures are not devoted exclusively to that purpose, the author, as he proceeds, discussing several questions which receive illustration from the Fathers, and so conducting his defence of them, that occasion is repeatedly taken of showing that their testimony is favourable to the Reformed Church of England, especially upon those points in which she is opposed to the Church of Rome. In the same way the earlier Lectures of the Second Series are arranged in the form of answers to the insinuations of Gibbon; and it is shown how the writings of the Fathers may be made tributary to the Evidences. of Christianity, and to other questions connected with 1 First Introductory Lecture, p. 38. 2 p. 39. its early history; the rank and character of the Christians; the nature, the extent, and the intensity of the persecutions they underwent. Here, also, the use of the Fathers is further exemplified in the inquiry concerning the continuance of miraculous powers, and concerning the nature and constitution of the Church, in settling the Canon, in ascertaining the text, and in unfolding the meaning of Scripture. And as it had been urged in the Introductory Lecture that where the Romanist, the Puritan, or the Socinian, are at issue with ourselves respecting the true interpretation of the inspired text, there is no better way of "testing our respective opinions, than by recourse to the Primitive Church; " the Socinian and Calvinistic schemes of interpretation are here subjected to this test, as the peculiar tenets of the Romanist are in the First Series: while, in the concluding Lecture, the importance of a knowledge of the Fathers, to the expositor of Scripture, is further argued from the information they furnish on early heresies, and other points, obscurely alluded to in the New Testament; and a few instances are added of their own exposition of particular texts. The use of the Fathers might have been also exemplified by showing how they discover to us the foundations of our Prayer Book; and indeed, on one occasion, a Lecture upon this subject was introduced after the seventh of the Second Series; but as it had been ori ginally written for another course, "On the Prayer Book," which may hereafter be published, it appeared better not to separate it from that course. It may be stated, likewise, that the latter part of the Second Series was variously divided into Lectures on the different occasions of its delivery, but it was thought convenient, in preparing that part of the work for the 1 First Introductory Lecture, pp. 34, 35, 36. |