Page:Doctrine of the Lord in the Primitive Christian Church.pdf/5

iv              PREFACE. sible to those who desire to know more of their views.

Probably no theme occupied more of the thought of the early Christians than the one treated of in this work. It was a subject of almost constant discussion in the first centuries of the Christian Church.

We find allusions to this doctrine scat- tered along the pages of all the eminent writers in the first centuries of the Christian era. The Council of Nice, the first CEcumenical Council of the Church, was assembled to consider this doctrine.

It is a matter of much interest, then, to know

the views of the early Christians on this great doctrine of the Church. That they believed and taught the doctrine of the Divinity and the Humanity of our Lord, is beyond question. Did they believe that the Human, after the ascension, was also Divine? We have no doubt that the orthodox portion of the Church, the great body of the Anti-Nicene Church, both believed and taught this doctrine. This reconciles all diffi- culties respecting the Trinity. It shows a simi- lar Trinity in God that there is in man, — a Trinity in Unity, and consistent with Divine Unity.