At one time the famous
Canon of Notre Dame at Paris had an enthusiastic following; thousands
flocked to his lectures from every country; his popularity was enormous.
He combated the abuses of the age and the degeneracy of some of the
clergy, and astonished and enraged many by the boldness of his speech and
the novelty of his opinions. His views with regard to the doctrine of the
Trinity expressed in his _Introductio_ (Traite de la Trinite) were made
the subject of a charge against him, and certainly they cannot be easily
distinguished from Sabellianism. The qualities or attributes of the
Godhead, power, wisdom, goodness, were stated to be the three Persons. The
Son of God was not incarnate to deliver us, but only to instruct us by His
discourses and example. Jesus Christ, God and Man, is not one of the
Persons in the Trinity, and a man is not properly called God. He did not
descend into hell. Such were some of the errors with which Abelard was
reproached. Whether they were actually contained in his writings, it is
not so evident. We have only fragments of Abelard's writings to judge
from, which have been collected by M. Cousin--_Ouvrages inedits
d'Abelard_--and therefore cannot speak with certain knowledge of his
opinions. At least they were judged to be blasphemous and heretical by the
Council of Soissons, when he was condemned to commit his books to the
flames and to retire to the Convent of St.
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