Do not inquire, how. For, (nTev, i àgúvn vâs aú as it is vain to inquire how He that is Unbegotten, is Unbegotten ; Το neither ought we to inquire how He that is Begotten, was BegotSeek not what ten. cannot be found out. vnr. ¿vdéxe) (nav, was gezurn). ~ Believe what is written; Search not into what is not written. S XIV. They are therefore equally worthy of Cenfure, who either on the one hand presume to affirm, that the Son was made ( in VTV) out of Nothing; or, on the other hand, that He is the Self-exiftent Subftance. Notes on S 14. That the Son is not Self-exiftent, fee above in § 12. That, on the other hand, the Antients were careful not to reckon Him among Beings made ( in ovTWV) out of Nothing, but (on the contrary) thought themfelves oblig'd to keep to the Scripture-language, which ftiles him The only-begotten of the Father, and (TeWTOTONOV) The first-born, (not rewrоNTISOV The firftcreated) of every Creature; may be judged from the following paffages. The Son of God (faith the Paftor of Hermas) is antienter than All Creatures, Filius quidem Dei omni creaturâ antiquior eft, ita ut in confilio Patri fuo ad adfuerit ad condendam creaturam. Simil. 9. infomuch that he was pre- Ὃς προ αιώνων πρά Πατρὶ v, [in the larger Copy, xes éparn. Ad Magnef.epift. contractior, § 6. Father, [or, as it is in the walei Horndeis,] y ¿v réother Copy, was begotten of the Father, before all Ages; and appeared at the End of the World. And again: If any one confefes the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghoft; and praises the Creation, viz. acknowledges all the Creatures of God to be good, ] &c. Εάν τις πατέρα καὶ τὸν καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ὁμολογῇ, καὶ Tiowawy, &c. Epift.ad. Philadelph. largior five interpol. § 6. Ὁ δὲ ὑὸς ἐκείνο, ὁ μόν λεγόμλνΘ- κυρίως ὑὸς, ὁ λόγΘ πει ο ποιημάτων καὶ σιῶν καὶ And Juftin Martyr: But the Son of the Father, even he who alone is properly called his Son, The Word which was with him and was begotten of him before the Creation, because by Him He in the Beginning made and And again: But This Perfon who was really begotten and produced of the Father before all Creatures were made, was with the Father, and the Father converfed with him. vμ O, öT! #dexl di αὐτό πάντα ἔκλισε κὶ ἐκόσμησε. Apol. 1. difpofed all things; He &c. Αλλὰ τότο τὸ τῷ ὄντι ἀπὸ τὰ wale's TeoBandèr Kórnμa tė πάντων * ποιημάτων σωῆν της παλεί, κ τέτῳ ὁ πατὴς προσομιλῶ, [forte προσωμί. Ae] Dial. cum Tryph. And in all other places of his Works he speaks with the like caution; calling Chrift, wewToToxov Os ☛ TÁVTWV ulioμÁTwv, the first-begotten of God before all T 3 Creatures; Creatures ; and, γύνημα προ πάντων ἁπλῶς ἢ κλισμάτων a Perfon begotten abfolutely before all Creatures; and the like. And Irenaus, reckoning up the several Words, by which the Generation of the Son [or Word] might be expreffed; fuch as Production, Generation, Speak ing forth, or Birth; did not think fit (as I before. obferved) to add, Creation. Prolationem iftam, five Generationem, five Nuncupationem,sive Adapertionem. Lib. 2. c. 48. Origen calls the Son, (πρεσβύτατον πάντων 7 δημιερο nuatav, contr. Celf. lib. 1.) antienter than All Creatures, (fo the learned Bp Bull tranflates the Words; in like manner as the phrafe, IleaTis us, in St John, must be rendred, Before me:) But I think the Words fhould rather be rendred, the Antientest of All Derivative Beings For so the Word [Inμsenμa] may be understood in a larger Sense; as appears from that paffage in Athanafius contra Gentes, [ xliσews κύριον, καὶ πάσης υποςάσεως δημιυργόν, The Lord of all Grea tures,and the Author of every Subfiftence; ] where he calls God the [Anyos ] Author of [sages] Subfiftencies, which are diftinguished from [lious ] the Creature. And Eufebius : The Ἡ ἐκκλησία ὲ ἕνα θεὸν κηChurch (faith he preaches One God, and that He is the Father and Supreme over all: The Father indeed of Chrift alone, but of all other things the God and Creator and Lord. And Athanafius: What perfon, lays he,) when he hears Him, whom he believes to be the Only God, Jay, This is my beloved Son; 22 gurls, autóv (1) ỳ talica zj παντοκράτορα διδάσκεσα πα τέρα με ἑνὸς ἢ χεις μόνο, * * λοιπῶν ἀπάντων Θεὸν καὶ suv xúc‹ov. De Ecclef. Theol. lib. 1. c. 8. Τίς ἀνθρώπων ακέσας α let or miseuσe μovov λέγον], Ουτός όξιν ὁ ψός με ὁ ἀγαπητός, τολμήσι εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ὁ τὸ θεῖ λόγΘ ξ ἐκ ὄν Των dares affirm that the Word of God was made out of No- Dionyf. Alexandr. των γέγονε ; De fentent. thing? S XV. The Scripture, in declaring the Sons Derivation from the Father, never makes mention of any Limitation of Time; but always supposes and a firms him to have existed with the Father from the Beginning, and before All Worlds. See the Texts, No 567, 569, 574, 584, 586, 588, 591, 607, 612, 619, 641, 642, 658, 666, 667, 668, 672, 686. See above, § 2; and below, § 17. They therefore have also justly been cenfured, who pretending to be wife above what is written, and intruding into things which they have not feen; have prefumed to affirm [OTI ŽV OTE ¿× hv] that there was a time when the Son was not. See beneath, § 17. T 4 S XVII. S XVII. Whether the Son derives his Being from the Father, by Neceffity of Nature, or by the Power of his Will, the Scripture hath no where exprefly declared. Notes on S 17. Yet it cannot be denied but the Terms [SON and BEGET,] feem rather to imply an Act of the Will. And, fince the Attributes and Powers of God are as eternal as his Being; and there never was any Time, wherein God could not will what he pleased, and do what he willed; it will not at all follow, that That which is an Effect of his Will and Power, muft confequently be limited to any definite Time. Wherefore not only those Antient Writers who were efteemed Semi-Arians, but also the learnedeft of the moft Orthodox Fathers who afferted the eternal gene ration of the Son, did yet nevertheless affert it to be an Act of the Fathers eternal Power and Will. Him (faith Juftin Martyr) who, by the Will of the Father, is God; the Son and Meffenger of the Father. Ἐκεῖνον * και βολὴν ἢ ἐκείνε sòv övтa, ÿòv autŏ x) dy¬ yehov. Dial.cum Tryph. Again: For he hath all Ἔχει γ' πάντα προσονομά thefe Titles [before menti-, in 7 vængetev to wa oned, viz. that of Song len boripath kn số cao |