DOGMATICS DOGWOOD. 



703 



Germany than anywhere else. Its object is to ex- 

 hibit in an historical way, the origin and the changes 

 of the various Christian systems of belief, showing 

 what opinions were received by the various sects, in 

 different ages of Christianity, the sources of the dif- 

 ferent creeds, liy what arguments they were attacked 

 and supported, what degrees of importance were at- 

 tached to them in different ages, the circumstances 

 by which they were affected, and the mode in which 

 the dogmas were combined into systems. The sources 

 of this branch of history are the public creeds, the 

 acts of councils, and other ecclesiastical assemblies, 

 letters and decrees of the heads of churches, liturgies 

 and books of rituals, the works of the fathers of the 

 church, and of later ecclesiastical writers, as well as 

 the narrations of contemporary historians. It is easily 

 seen how important and interesting a study this is, 

 teaching, as it does, modesty and forbearance in the 

 support of particular opinions, by showing the vast 

 variety of those which have afforded subjects of bitter 

 controversy at particular periods, and have then passed 

 away into oblivion ; and how much learning, industry, 

 and critical acuteness, are often required, to make a 

 thorough investigation of contested points of doctrine. 



The distinction between this branch of history and 

 ecclesiastical liistory is obvious. It is the same as 

 exists between political history and the history of 

 politics. Lectures on tliis subject are delivered in 

 all the German universities. It is evident that the 

 views taken of the history of dogmas must vary ac- 

 cording to the sect to which the writer belongs ; be- 

 cause it does not consist of a series of facts, but of 

 the representation of the development of certain 

 ideas, which must appear different, according to the 

 idea which is considered by the writer as the most 

 important. This is more or less the case with all 

 history, in proportion as the writer abandons mere 

 relation for an analysis of the nature, the causes and 

 consequences of what he describes. Thus a republi- 

 can would give a very different history of politics 

 from a royalist ; and a writer of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury a different history of civilization from that which 

 would l>e given by a writer of the seventeenth. 



One division of dogmatical history, by a Protestant 

 professor, is the following :-^first period ; from the 

 foundation of Christianity, to the beginning of gnos- 

 ticism (about 125, A. D.). Tqg second period (from 

 125 to 325, A. D.) is that of the dawn of speculation, 

 and the rise of the desire for settled creeds, and sys- 

 tems of Christianity, which appeared very v strongly, 

 in the council of Nice, in 325. The thi^ period 

 (from 325 to 604) is that of the increasing authority 

 of councils, and the heads of the church. Able men, 

 as Athanasius, the great Basil, the two Gregories, 

 Jerome, Augustine, and the popes Leo I. and Gregory 

 I., exercised great influence in settling the dogmas 

 during this period. Fourth period ; from the death 

 of Gregory, in 604, to Gregory VII., in 1073 ; char- 

 acterized by the rapid growth of the papal power. 

 In tliis period, the first system of dogmatics was set- 

 tled by the influence of John of Damascus (died in 

 754), founded on a systematical revision of the dog- 

 mas of the church. Fifth period ; from Gregory VII., 

 in 1073, to Luther, in 1517 ; in which the power of 

 the popes attained its highest point, and, at the same 

 time, a new spirit of philosophy arose, which, influ- 

 enced by mistaken notions of the Greek philosophy, 

 gave rise to the scholastic theology, the opposition to 

 which gave birth to mysticism. Sixth period ; that 

 of the reformation, the period since which, of course, 

 admits of many divisions, according to the diiierent 

 views which may be taken of the subject. 



DOGMATICS ; a systematic arrangement of the 

 articles of Christian faith (dogmas). It is the duty of 

 the compiler of such a system, to collect the religious 



ideas, which are scattered through the Holy Scrip- 

 tures, to explain, establish, and combine them. No 

 one can successfully treat this important but difficult 

 subject, who is not well acquainted both with ex- 

 egesis and philosophy. The first attempt to furnish 

 a complete and coherent system of Christian dogmas 

 was made by Origen in the third century, who was 

 succeeded by Aur. Augustine in the fourth, by 

 Isidore of Seville in the sixth, and by John of Da- 

 mascus (see Damascenus) in the eighth century. In 

 the middle ages, ingenious examinations of the Chris- 

 tian doctrines were made by the schoolmen ; but, 

 agitating as they did subtle questions of little practi- 

 cal importance, they loaded the science with useless 

 refinements. Among the Protestants, Melanchthon 

 was the first who wrote a compendium of the Chris- 

 tian doctrine, which is still justly esteemed. This 

 science has been successfully cultivated by the Pro- 

 testant theologians since the last century. 



DOGS, ISLE OF ; in England, in the county of 

 Middlesex, opposite Greenwich. In this island are 

 magnificent docks, with large and convenient ware- 

 houses for the accommodation of the West India mer- 

 chants. (See Docks.) One of the largest canals ever 

 attempted in England has been cut nearly one mile 

 and a quarter in length, 142 feet wide at top, and 

 twenty-four feet deep, across the Isle of Dogs, for 

 the purpose of shortening the passage of vessels to 

 and from the pool, and avoiding the long circuit by 

 Greenwich and Deptford. 



DOG-STAR ; Sirius ; the star that gives their 

 name to the dog-days (q. v.). 



DOGWOOD (cornus florida) is a small tree, in- 

 habiting America from the forty-third parallel of 

 latitude to Florida, and extending westward beyond 

 the Mississippi. The leaves are oval, entire, pointed, 

 and whitish beneath; the flowers small, yellowish, 

 and surrounded with an involucre composed of 

 four large white leaves ; the berries are red, and 

 remain on the tree during a great part of the winter. 

 Throughout a great part of the United States, the 

 large white involucres of the dogwood, together with 

 the rose-coloured flowers of the Judas tree (cercis 

 Canadensis) make a beautiful appearance in the 

 spring. The dogwood attains the height of twenty 

 or thirty feet, and has a trunk eight or ten inches in 

 diameter ; the wood is white, hard, of a fine texture, 

 and much esteemed ; it is used by cabinet-makers 

 for inlaying, &c., different ornamental works ; for the 

 liandles of tools, plane-stocks, &c., it is considered 

 little inferior to box. The bark of tliis tree, as well 

 as that of several other species of cornus inhabiting 

 Canada and the Northern States, possesses similar 

 properties with the Peruvian bark, and is employed 

 successfully in the cure of intermittent fevers. The 

 bark of the root, stem, and branches, tastes very much 

 like this famous bark ; it is bitter, astringent, and 

 slightly aromatic. Its astringency is, however, 

 stronger than that of the Peruvian bark. This bark 

 is, without doubt, one of the most valuable American 

 articles. As a substitute for the Peruvian bark, 

 much has been written in commendation of it. The 

 resemblance extends to its chemical and physical, as 

 well as therapeutical properties. In America, the 

 bark of the dogwood is extensively employed by 

 country practitioners in intermittent levers, and 

 the report they give of it is very favourable. It is 

 remarked that, in its recent state, it is apt to disagree 

 with the stomach, and to produce pains in the bowels ; 

 but, in order to prevent this effect, it is simply need- 

 ful to add to it, when used, a few drops of laudanum, 

 or to use the bark after it has been collected for some 

 time. This bark may be used with still greater ad- 

 vantage in intermittents, if combined with serpentaria. 

 The C. sericea and C. circinata, Linn, (swamp and 



