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Irenæus
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Introductory Note to Irenæus Against Heresies
[3780] Literally, “but he did not see God.” The translator is supposed to have read οἶδεν, knew, for εἶδεν, saw.
[3781] Literally, “through the beginnings, the means, and the end.” These three terms refer to the Prophets, the Apostles, and the Church Catholic.
[3782] The Latin is “solidam operationem,” which we know not how to translate, in accordance with the context, except as above.
[3783] This seems to be the meaning conveyed by the old Latin, “quemadmodum aspiratio plasmationi.”
[3786] i.e., the Spirit.
[3787] Literally, “who have a foresight of morals” —qui morum providentiam habent. The meaning is very obscure. [Prov. xxii. 3, Prov. xxvii. 12.]
[3788] The text is here very uncertain, but the above seems the probable meaning.
[3790] Plato, de Leg., iv. and p. 715, 16.
[3791] In Timæo, vi. p. 29.
[3792] The Latin is “collectio eorum;” but what collectio here means, it is not easy to determine. Grabe, with much probability, deems it the representative of σύστασις. Harvey prefers ἐνθύμημα: but it is difficult to perceive the relevancy of his references to the rhetorical syllogism.
[3793] See book i. cap. xvi. note.
[3794] One of the Antiochian Canons probably reflects the current language of an earlier antiquity thus: διὰ τὸ ἐν τῇ μητροπόλει πανταχόθεν συντρέχειν πάντας τοὺς τὰ πράγματα ἔχοντας: and, if so, this συντρέχειν gives the meaning of convenire.
[3795] “Its more potent,” etc., is not a strict rendering: “the more potent,” rather; which leaves the principalitas to the city, not the Church.
[3796] Bishop Wordsworth inclines to the idea that the original Greek was ἱκανωτέραν ἀρχαιότητα, thus conceding that Irenæus was speaking of the greater antiquity of Rome as compared with other (Western) Churches. Even so, he shows that the argument of Irenæus is fatal to Roman pretensions, which admit of no such ideas as he advances, and no such freedom as that of his dealings with Rome.
[3797] Nobody has more forcibly stated the argument of Irenæus than the Abbé Guettée, in his exhaustive work on the Papacy. I published a translation of this valuable historical epitome in New York (Carleton), 1867; but it is out of print. The original may be had in Paris (Fischbacher), No. 33 Rue de Seine.
[3798] [The reader who marvels at the tedious recitals must note this (1) as proof of the author’s practical wisdom, and (2) as evidence of his fidelity in what he exhibits.]
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