dop manists urge to the contra ry) is the unanimous atrine of the ancient Cathoand of the • Faires.. But now if we confider, A 35 quid ex Pontificiis qui rursùs duplex ejufdem gird to bis Mediatoriul Of diatorii officii refpectum; fice, we may again confider him in two diftinct reSpects either as God, abfolutely, or relatively, as God of God, or the Sonate, ut Deus ex Den, five of God. If we confider Him The Word, under the former respect, Origen in many places clearly profeffes, that because of the unfpeakable Excellency of the Divinity, which he has in common with the Father, there is due to him the very fame divine Worfbip, as to the Father, that is, that we ought in our Mind and inward Thoughts (by which alone we properly worship God) to afcribe all the fame perfections of the divine Nature to the Son, as we do to the Father: See the places (faith he) cited before in This chapter, viz. Defenf fidei, Nicen. Se&t. 2, cap. 9, 8. But if we § confider the Son relatively, tre trabit originem; tum as he is the Son, and de- rurfus certum eft, cultum Dei filius. Sub priori con fideratione fi refpiciamus xyor, multis in locis clare fatetur Origenes, ip fi propter inenarrabili præftantiâ præcellentem Divinitatem, quam cum Patre communem haber, eundem planè divinum cultum, quem Patri ex hibemus, omninò deberí; hoc eft, oportere nos mente & conceptione noftrâ (quâ folâ propriè Deum colimus) eafdem divina naturæ perfectiones omnes Filio adfcribere, quas patri tribuimus: Repete loca, quae jam citavimus in hoc capite, $8. Sin Filium intueamur relate, quà Filius eft,& ex Deo Pa rives his Original from the Father; then it is certain again, that all the bonour and Worship, which we pay to Him, muft redound to the Father, and be referred as the Fountain of Divinity. & venerationem omnem, quem ipfi deferimus, ad Patrem redundare, in ipfumque, ut answer. ultimò referri. Id. ibid. ultimately to the Fathers But now, this latter Diftinction, between the Son confidered as God abfolutely, and the fame perfon confidered as relatively, as God of God, or the Son of God; This Diftinction (I fay, has not only no Foundation in the Nature of Things, (for Chrift is manifeftly no otherwise God, than as he is God of God;) nor in the Writings of Origen, (for He fpeaks every where uniformly concerning This Matter; See above in II, fome remarks upon That paffage of Origen, contr. Celf. lib. 5, which our very Learned Author principally refers to in making This Diftinction :) but it is contrary alfo, even to the dogtrine - Μίαν αρχίω διδαρθρο τον of Athanafius, who af- τε δημιυργὸν λόγον φάσκομα firms that we acknowledge ἐχ ἕτερόν τινα τρόπον ἔχειν One only Original of Things, sótnr, Mára Qiš, and that the creating Word diare auto vegunévau. Ohas no other Sort of Divini rat. 3. contr. Arianes. ty, but That of the Only God, as being derived from Him;) and directly contrary to this excellent Authors own exprefs doctrine, in his whole Fourth Section, and in other places: where he affirms that thofe Au thors contradict themselves, who contend that the Son is from the Father, only as he is the Son, not as he is God; and that his perfonality only, not his effence or divine Nature, is derivative from Aiunt Filium a Deo Pa tre effe, quà Filius eft, non quà Deus eft; perfonam, non effentiam five naturam divinam, a Patre accepiffe. Atqui hoc fibi ipfi contrarium eft. Defenf. Sect. 4, cap. $7. A a 4 the the Father and where he declares, ((peaking of Quod omnis Filii honos, in Deum Patrem, qui ipfum genuit,redundet. Sect. 4, cap. 4, § 5. from the Monarchy of the Christ, not as Man, but as God,) that All the Honour Paid unto the Son, redounds to God the Father who begut him; and commends Origen for alleging this very Thing as an Argument, to prove that the Chriftians did not derogate Father and teftifies that the Notion of the Antient Christians was, that the Glory of the Father was manifested by the Son; and that All the Honour of the Son redounds to the Father as the Fountain of Divinity. To mention but One place more, of the fame Learned Author: What need I add (faith he) that This pre-eminence of the Father, is acknowledged even at This day, in all the Liurgies of the Catholick Church. For both in the Doxologies we glorify God the Father in the first place, (as Juftin Martyr Speaks,) and almost all Prayers alfo are put up directly to Him. Concerning which matter, remarkable are the words of Petavius, in Anfwer to Crellius concerning the Holy Spirit: 'Tis in vain (faith he) that Crellius Intelligentes fcilicet, per Filium Patris gloriam ma nifeftari; omnemq; Filii gloriam ad Patrem, ut Fontem divinitatis, redundare. Sect. 2. cap. 3, § 6. Quid, quòd hæc Patris x in omnibus Catholicæ Ecclefiæ Liturgiis hodièq; agnofcitur. Nam & in dogonoyiaus Deum Pa trem ἐν πρώτη τάξει (ut Juftinus loquitur) glori ficamus; & preces plerafq; ad ipfum dirigimus. Qua de re notatu fanè digna funt Petavii, Crellio de Spiritu Sancto refpondentis, verba, (de Trinit. lib. 3, cap. 7, § 15.) Nam, inquit, quòd ad Spiritum Sanctum preces in Ecclefia publice ferè non diriguntur, fruftrà ex eo calumniam fruit Crellius; fiquidem, veteri ex ufu, pleraq ad Pa trem 4 trem referuntur. Atq; ita decretum legimus in Carthdginenfi tertia Synodo, canone 23, ut cùm ad altare affiftutur, Semper ad Patrem dirigatur oratio. Nimirum, quia tunc Chrifti corpus, five homo Chriftus, offertur; ac veteris & cruenti Sacrificii memoria celebratur; aquum eft ad Patrem, velut Au&torem ac Principium, referri omnia: uti fummum imitemur Sacerdotem & Ponti ficem Chriftum dominum,qui tum omnia dicta factaq, fua Patris ad honorem referre folebat, tum in illo poftremo facrificio tradidit femetipfum pro nobis oblationem & hoftiam Deo in odorem fuavitatis. Sect. 2, cap. 9, § 15. thinks to draw any Argument, from the Church's hardly directing any of her publick Prayers to the Holy Spirit For almost All Prayers are, by antient ufage, directed to the Father. And fo we find it decreed in the Third Council of Carthage, canon the 23d, that when the Priest stands at the Altar, he should direct his Prayer Always to the Father. The Reason is; because the Body of Chrift, or the Man Chrift, being then offered; and the Memory of that antient and bloody Sacrifice, celebrated; it is but fit, that All fhould be referred to the Father, as the Original Author of All: That fo we may imitate Christ our Lord and great High-Prieft, who as at all other times he directed all bis words and actions to the glory of his Father, fo particularly in that laft Sacrifice delivered himself up to God for us an offering and oblation for a Sweet-fmelling favour. To the fame purpose, the judicious Mr Mede, in * the place before cited: To Us Chriftians (faith he) there is but One Sovereign God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we [eis autor] to Him, (that is, To whom as Supreme, we are to direct All our Services ;) and but one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things which come from the Father to Us, and through whom alone we find Access unto Him. ii, 1. Difc. on 2 Pet. And And the Learned Bp Wake: [The Lords Prayer (faith he) teaches us] that we should Pray to God ONLY, and to Him as our Father, through Jefus Chrift our Lord. Comment. on Church Catech. pa pag. 130, 131. [The Meaning is not, that Prayers may not at all be offered to the Son; but that they must always ultimately be directed to God only, as our F ATHER, through Chrift.] And moft fully, the Office for Ordaining of Priests, in the Exhortation to the Perfons to be ordained, thus expreffes the fame Notion: To our only Saviour God the Father, By the Mediation of Jefus Chrift, for the heavenly of the Holy Ghoft.] § XLV. And upon the fame Account, whatever Honour is paid to the Son who redeemed, or to the Holy Spirit who fanctifies us, must always be understood as tending finally to the Honour and Glory of the Father, by whofe good pleasure the Son redeemed, and the Holy Spirit fanctifies us. See the Texts, No 450, 452, 453, 463, 465, 469, 471, 474, 475, 476, 478, 485, 486, 497, 512, 514, 515, 800, 810, 811, 826, 837, 840, 895, 919, 926, 927, 934, 955, 956, 961,964,971,975, 977, 980, 994. And N, 761, 811, 826, 837, 841, 849, 851, 863, 890, 945, 950, 975, 982. And N° 756995, 11481197. See above, $37, 43, 44; and below, § 46, 52. Notes |