Holy Spirit, but it must be rendered patron, (patronum causa) when applied to Christ. Asconius remarks ad Ciceronis Divinitat. in Q. Cæcil. c. 4, Qui defendit alterum in judicio, aut patronus dicitur, si orator est; aut advocatus si aut jus suggerit, aut præsentiam suam commodat amico. For when a cause was pending, the friends of the parties were invited (advocari) to deliberate concerning it, to give counsel, to be present at the trial, and to sit in the same seat with the accused, that they might honour him, and show that they were ready to defend him, even though they might say or do nothing. And not only the accused but the acccusers also, invited friends to the cause, whose office and attendance were called advocatio. Such advocates are often mentioned in the Writings of Plautus, Terence, Varro, Cicero and Livy, and are different from the patrons of causes. But after the liberty of the republic was gone, the signification of the Latin word began to extend, in correspondence with the Greek, whose import was the same. For the next age not only called him, advocate, who admonished, persuaded and supported his friend, but also him who in the former age was called patron of the cause. The legal form it is true remained the same, but the name advocate gradually changed from him who aided a friend by his presence and counsel to a mere barrister. In this sense Quinctillian, Pliny, Tacitus and Suetonius frequently use the words advocari, advoca Compare also, Laurent Valla, de ling Lat. elegantia, lib. 4, c. xii. This was the common use of the word advocatus, among writers of the golden age. See I. F. Gronovius ad Seneca Librum de Clement, c. 19. I will not deny that Patronos causarum, according to the custom of the Greeks, were by these writers sometimes called, advocatos. Certainly by Cicero, de Or. ii. 47, and by Livy iii. 44-46, those are called advocati who defended in the forum, the cause of any one; (compare Dion. Hal. xi. p. 717, Ed. Sylburg, where παρακλητοι is found.) But as παρακαλείν among the Greek orators, meant to bring a witness, so by Plautus, a witness is called advocatus, Poen. iii. 5, 22, and 6, 11. tio and advocatum.* Therefore if we adopt the signification of the later age, which, to use the words of Ulpian, (Dig. de. var. et extraord. cognit.) advocatos accepit omnes omnino, qui causis agendis quoque studio operantur, there is no cause why ragazλnrov may not, with the Vulgate and other Latin interpreters, be rendered advocatum. Nor must it be supposed that raganos is one of those words which, to preserve the ancient Roman mode of expression, cannot be expressed by one Latin word. Cicero relates that Zwang was of this kind in his time, (Verr. ii. 63.) We may according to the use of the ancient Latins, render it patronum, with its general import when applied to the Holy Spirit, and in its peculiar sense when applied to Christ, for the word patron may be so extended as to embrace all those who successfully perform any duty for others. Thus according to the institute of Romulus, the common people adopted patrons from among the powerful, who embraced their clients with paternal care, defended their rights and avenged their injuries. Freedmen also called their Lords who had freed them, patrons. We are told also of patrons of the city, of the Senate and the legions; (who are elsewhere called guards, preservers, and presidents;) and among the Gods, those are called patrons, who in the next age were called tutelary. (See Macrobii Saturn, iii. 9.) Those, likewise, who made a treaty with conquered cities or nations, ‡ were, according to the custom of the ancients called patrons. Such were the patrons * See Quinctillian de I. O. iv. 1, xii, 1, 25, (other passages from the same writer may be found in Indice Gesneriano h. vv.) also Tacitus Ann xi. 5; Pliny, Ep. i. 22, v. 4 and 8, and Suetonius, Claud. 15, and de ill. Gramm. c. 22. But the most remarkable passage is from the author's Dialogus de causis corrupt. eloqu. cap. i., "Horum temporum diserti causidici, et advocati, et patroni, et quidvis potius, quam oratores vocantur." +"Patronus aut temporale nomen est defensoris, aut certe appellatio, per quam ostenditur, quid illi cultus, aut obsequii debeatur." Cicero de Off. i. 11. Compare Plinii Epp. iv. 1, 4, and Suetonii Aug. c. 17, also Tiber. c. 6. of Antium, Sicily, Bononia, the Sabine fields, Cyprus and other provinces, (eomp. Livy. ix. 20, and others.) But since it pertained to the office of a patron, that he should be present at the trial of his clients and defend their cause, the name was gradually transferred to those who defended the accused and plead their cause in trial. Therefore, when barristers are called patrons or patrons of causes, and those whom they defend, clients, the word is used in its most confined signification. We should learn from this discussion, what is continually urged by Christ and his Apostles, that we should own the Spirit by whose will all things are governed, who overrules the affairs of Christians, not only in general but in particular. For they admonish us continually to consider that this Divine Power is always present and beholding us, that he dwells in our souls, and that a good conscience, the promotion of virtue, every benefit, and the security of a happy and tranquil life, must be referred solely to him. Those, who remember these things will never so act as to defile, by baseness and depravity, that temple which the Holy Spirit has consecrated to God, (1 Cor. iii. 16.) The Spirit of God is not grieved with im punity, but he is grieved with all sin, nor will he suffer vicious intercourse. The following is a remarkable sentiment, and worthy the religion of Christ, though spoken by a Stoic philosopher :* Prope est a te deus, tecum est intus est. Ita dico, sacer intra nos spiritus sedet, malorum bonorum que nostrorum observator et custos: hic prout a nobis tractatus est, ita nos ipse tractat. Bonus vir sine deo nemo est. An potest aliquis supra fortunam, nisi ab illo adjutus exsurgere? Ille dat consilia magnifica, et erecta. In unoquoque virorum bonorum habitat deus.-Vis istuc divina descendit.-Non potest res tanta sine admiciculo numinis stare. Seneca, Epist. xli. 1, 4, 5. * It being of the highest importance to revelation in general, and not a little conducive to the support of arguments for the divine legation of Moses in particular, to show the logical truth and propriety of types in action, and secondary senses in speech, I shall take this opportunity to examine the matter to the bottom. For having occasionally shewn, in several parts of the preceding discourse, that the references in the old law to the Christian dispensation (of which we hold it to be the foundation and preparative) are in typical representations, and secondary senses; and the truth of Christianity depending on the real relations (which are to be discovered by such references) between the two dispensations, it will be incumbent on me to prove the logical truth and propriety of types in action, and secondary senses in speech. And I enter on the subject with the greater pleasure, as one of the most plausible books ever wrote against Christianity is entirely levelled at them. In this enquiry I shall pursue the same method I have hitherto taken with infidel writers; examine only the grounds and principles on which they go, and having removed and overthrown them, in as few words as I am able, leave the superstructure to support itself as it may. Concluding paragraph of the 5th Section of the 6th Book of the Divine Legation. |