Note F. on Page 269 {in Chapter 5}
The Economy
For the Economy, considered as a rule of practice, I shall refer to what I
wrote upon it in 1830-32, in my History of the Arians. I have shown above, pp.
26, 27, that the doctrine in question had in the early Church a large
signification, when applied to the divine ordinances: it also had a definite
application to the duties of Christians, whether clergy or laity, in preaching,
in instructing or catechizing, or in ordinary intercourse with the world around
them; and in this aspect I have here to consider it.
As Almighty God did not all at once introduce the Gospel to the world, and
thereby gradually prepared men for its profitable reception, so, according to
the doctrine of the early Church, it was a duty, for the sake of the heathen
among whom they lived, to observe a great reserve and caution in communicating
to them the knowledge of "the whole counsel of God." This cautious dispensation
of the truth, after the manner of a discreet and vigilant steward, is denoted by
the word "economy." It is a mode of acting which comes under the head of
Prudence, one of the four Cardinal Virtues.
The principle of the Economy is this; that out of various courses, in
religious conduct or statement, all and each allowable antecedently and in
themselves, that ought to be taken which is most expedient and most suitable
at the time for the object in hand.
Instances of its application and exercise in Scripture are such as the
following:—1. Divine Providence did but gradually impart to the world in general, and
to the Jews in particular, the knowledge of His will:—He is said to have "winked
at the times of ignorance among the heathen;" and He suffered in the Jews
divorce "because of the hardness of their hearts." 2. He has allowed Himself to
be represented as having eyes, ears, and hands, as having wrath, jealousy,
grief, and repentance. 3. In like manner, our Lord spoke harshly to the
Syro-Phœnician woman, whose daughter He was about to heal, and made as if He
would go further, when the two disciples had come to their journey's end. 4.
Thus too Joseph "made himself strange to his brethren," and Elisha kept silence
on request of Naaman to bow in the house of Rimmon. 5. Thus St. Paul circumcised
Timothy, while he cried out "Circumcision availeth not."
It may be said that this principle, true in itself, yet is dangerous, because
it admits of an easy abuse, and carries men away into what becomes insincerity
and cunning. This is undeniable; to do evil that good may come, to consider that
the means, whatever they are, justify the end, to sacrifice truth to expedience,
unscrupulousness, recklessness, are grave offences. These are abuses of the
Economy. But to call them economical is to give a fine name to what
occurs every day, independent of any knowledge of the doctrine of the
Economy. It is the abuse of a rule which nature suggests to every one. Every one
looks out for the "mollia tempora fandi," and for "mollia verba" too {favourable time and utterance}.
Having thus explained what is meant by the Economy as a rule of social
intercourse between men of different religious, or, again, political, or social
views, next I will go on to state what I said in the Arians.
I say in that Volume first, that our Lord has given us the principle
in His own words,—"Cast not your pearls before swine;" and that He exemplified
it in His teaching by parables; that St. Paul expressly distinguishes between the
milk which is necessary to one set of men, and the strong meat which is allowed
to others, and that, in two Epistles. I say, that the Apostles in the Acts
observe the same rule in their speeches, for it is a fact, that they do not
preach the high doctrines of Christianity, but only "Jesus and the Resurrection"
or "repentance and faith." I also say, that this is the very reason that the
Fathers assign for the silence of various writers in the first centuries on the
subject of our Lord's divinity. I also speak of the catechetical system
practised in the early Church, and the disciplina arcani
{Discipline of the Arcane, the custom which prevailed in the early Church, whereby knowledge of the more intimate mysteries of the Christian religion was kept from non-Christians and slowly revealed to those undergoing instruction in the faith.}
as regards the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, to which Bingham bears witness; also of the
defence of this rule by Basil, Cyril of Jerusalem, Chrysostom, and
Theodoret.
But next the question may be asked, whether I have said any thing in my
Volume to guard the doctrine, thus laid down, from the abuse to which it
is obviously exposed: and my answer is easy. Of course, had I had any idea that
I should have been exposed to such hostile misrepresentations, as it has been my
lot to undergo on the subject, I should have made more direct avowals than I
have done of my sense of the gravity and the danger of that abuse. Since I could
not foresee when I wrote, that I should have been wantonly slandered, I only
wonder that I have anticipated the charge as fully as will be seen in the
following extracts.
For instance, speaking of the Disciplina Arcani, I say:—(1) "The elementary
information given to the heathen or catechumen was in no sense undone by
the subsequent secret teaching, which was in fact but the filling up of a
bare but correct outline," p. 58, and I contrast this with the conduct of
the Manichæans "who represented the initiatory discipline as founded on a
fiction or hypothesis, which was to be forgotten by the learner as he
made progress in the real doctrine of the Gospel." (2) As to
allegorizing, I say that the Alexandrians erred, whenever and as far as they
proceeded "to obscure the primary meaning of Scripture, and to weaken
the force of historical facts and express declarations," p. 69. (3) And that
they were "more open to censure," when, on being "urged by
objections to various passages in the history of the Old Testament, as
derogatory to the divine perfections or to the Jewish Saints, they had
recourse to an allegorical explanation by way of answer," p. 71. (4) I
add, "It is impossible to defend such a procedure, which seems to imply a
want of faith in those who had recourse to it;" for "God has given us
rules of right and wrong", ibid. (5) Again, I say,—"The abuse
of the Economy in the hands of unscrupulous reasoners, is obvious.
Even the honest controversialist or teacher will find it very difficult
to represent, without misrepresenting, what it is yet his duty to present
to his hearers with caution or reserve. Here the obvious rule to guide our
practice is, to be careful ever to maintain substantial truth in our use
of the economical method," pp. 79, 80. (6) And so far from concurring at all
hazards with Justin, Gregory, or Athanasius, I say, "It is plain [they]
were justified or not in their Economy, according as they did or
did not practically mislead their opponents," p. 80. (7) I proceed, "It
is so difficult to hit the mark in these perplexing cases, that it is not
wonderful, should these or other Fathers have failed at times, and said more or
less than was proper," ibid.
The Principle of the Economy is familiarly acted on among us every day. When
we would persuade others, we do not begin by treading on their toes. Men would
be thought rude who introduced their own religious notions into mixed society,
and were devotional in a drawing-room. Have we never thought lawyers tiresome
who did not observe this polite rule, who came down for the assizes and
talked law all through dinner? Does the same argument tell in the House of Commons, on
the hustings, and at Exeter Hall? Is an educated gentleman never worsted at an
election by the tone and arguments of some clever fellow, who, whatever his
shortcomings in other respects, understands the common people?
As to the Catholic Religion in England at the present day, this only will I
observe,—that the truest expedience is to answer right out, when you are asked;
that the wisest economy is to have no management; that the best prudence is not
to be a coward; that the most damaging folly is to be found out shuffling; and
that the first of virtues is to "tell truth, and shame the devil."