gotten Light; and that Hero(alw ›ỳ αúτoáyadov En is the True Life and the True Good, Springing from that Fountain of Life, the Fathers GOODNESS. And Greg. Nyffen: For neither (faith he) doth That immediate connexion between the Father and the Son, exclude [or, leave no room for the operation of] the Fathers Will; as if he begat the Son by Neceffity of Nature, without the operation of his Will: Neither does ? ζωοποιε πηγῆς, δ πατεικῆς 'AyadórnC· Contr. Eunom. lib. 2. the Suppofition of the Fathers Will [operating in this Matter,] fo divide the Son from the Father, as if any Space of Time was requifite between, [for the Will of the Father to operate in.] Ἐι γ' τότε ἐγγύνησε “ ἱὸν, ὅτε ἐβέλετο, καθὼς φησιν ὁ ἀντίπαλ· ἐβέλετο ἢ τὸ ἀγαθὸν de wideμ ̈ Ty Boλñoes ἡ διώαμις· ἀεὶ ἄρα ὁ ὑὸς μελὰ Tate's vondσe), F ȧrì xì Brλομβὺς τὸ καλὸν, καὶ διαμε xew Bóλe), c. Eunom.8. 22 And again: If he begat the Son when he Would, (as Eunomius contends;) it will follow, that fince he Always Wild what is Good, and always had Power to do what he Would, therefore the Son must be conceivd to have been Always with the Father, who always Wills what is Good, and always has Power to do what he Wills. And, among modern Writers, the Learned Dr Payne: There are several things, I own (faith he) in the Bleffed Trinity, incomprehenfible to our Reason, and unaccountable to our Finite Understandings ; As, why and how an Infinite All-fufficient God, should produce an eternal Son, ; Whether This were by a Voluntary or a Neceffary production ; &c. S XVIII. S XVIII. The [Ay, the] Word or Son of the Father, fent into the World to affume our Flesh, and die for the Sins of Mankind; was not the [λ JQ EvdiatelQ, the] internal Reafon or Wif dom of God, an Attribute or Power of the Father; but a real Perfon, the fame who from the Beginning had been the Word, or Revealer of the Will, of the Father to the World. See the Texts, N° 535, 680, 654, 616,617,618, 607, 612, 638, 574, 584, 586, 588, 569, 631, 641, 652, 642, 672. See beneath, § 22 and 23. Notes on $ 18. Of the Writers before the Time of the Council of Nice, Theophilus, Tatian and Athenagoras, seem to have been of That Opinion, that [the ayos] the Word, was [the aó diádé] the internal Reason or Wisdom of the Father; and yet, at the fame time, they speak as if they supposed That Word to be produced or generated into a real Perfon. Which is hardly intelligible: And feems to be the Mixture of Two Opinions: The One, of the generality of Chriftians; who believed the Word to be a real Perfon: The Other, of the Jews and Jewish Chriftians, who Perfonated the internal Wisdom of God, or spake of it figuratively (according to the Genius of their language) as of a Perfon. Irenans and Clemens Alexandrinus, fpeak fometimes with fome Ambiguity; but upon the whole, plainly enough understand the Word or Son of God, to be a real Perfon. The other Writers before the Council of Nice, do generally speak of Him clearly and diftinctly, as of a real Perfon. And indeed St John himself, ftiling him [es] God, (which can be understood only of a real Perfon,) Fob. i, 1; com- divina, cujus no*Subftantia illa pared with Rev. 19, 13, where he fays, men eft Verbum. His Name is called the Word of God; Novatian, de Trin. does fufficiently determin This Point. c. 31. About the Time of the Council of Nice, they spake with more Uncertainty; fometimes arguing that the Father confidered without the Son, would Λόγον ἢ ἐ προφορικὸν, ἐκ ἐν· Jadetov, in Stoppolar 7 Te διάθετον, ἀποῤῥοιαν * τε λείν, ἐ τμῆσιν ἡ ἀπαθῆς φύσε ws, le TegBoalw', 'ay' yöv au10lex. Athanas. Expofit. Fidei. be twithout Reason and without Wisdom; +"Anoy ἄσοφΘ. (which is fuppofing the Son to be nothing but an Attribute of the Father:) and yet at other times exprefly maintaining, that the Son was neither the word spoken forth, nor the inward word [or reafon] in the Mind of the Fa• ther, nor an Efflux of him, nor a part [or Segment] of bis unchangeable Nature, nor an Emiffion from him; but truly and perfectly a Son. But the greater part a greed in This latter Notion, that he was a real PerJon: And the learned Eufebius has largely and beyond Contradiction proved the fame, [viz. that the Son is neither, xódiaderos, a mere Power or Attribute of the Father; nor the fame Perfon with the Far ther; but a real distinct Subfiftence, and true Son of Ου ἢ αὐτὸν ὄντα των παρί, καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἢ ὄντα καὶ ζῶντα nåîndãs ÿòv ouuívla, Oçòv in DeEcclef.Theol.l.1,c.8. the the Father; in his Books, de Ecclefiafticà Theologia, against Marcellus of Ancyra, a Follower of Sabellius and Paul of Samofat: And particularly, Book I, chap. 8, and chap. 20; Which highly deserve the perufal of all learned men. + Arch-Bishop Tillotson, Sermon concerning the Unity of the divine After the Time of the Council of Nice, they fpake ftill more and more confufedly and ambiguously; till at laft the Schoolmen, (who, as an † excellent Writer of our Church exprefses it, wrought a great part of their Divinity out of their own Brains, as Spiders do Cobwebs out of their own Bowels, Starting a thousand Subtilties, reasonably prefume that they who talk of them, did themselves never thoroughly underftand ;) made This Matter alfo, as they did moft Others, utterly unintelligible. Nature. which we may § XIX. The Holy Spirit (or Third Perfon,) is not Self-exiftent, but derives his Being or Ef fence from the Father, (by the Son,) as from the Supreme Caufe. - See the Texts, N° 1148, 1154; and 1149 1197. § XX. The Scripture, fpeaking of the Spirit of God, never mentions any Limitation of Time, when he derived his Being or Effence from the Father; but fuppofes him to have existed with the Father from the Beginning. See the Texts, N° 1132*, 1148, 1154, § XXI. In what particular metaphyfical Manner the Holy Spirit derives his Being from the Father, the Scripture hath no where at all defined, and therefore men ought not to presume to be able to explain. See the Texts, No 1148, 1154. Notes on § 21. Thus Bafil: If (faith he) you are ignorant of Many things; nay, if the things you are ignorant of, be ten thoufand times more than Ἐι ἢ πολλὰ ἀγνοεῖς, καὶ μυα ειοπλάσια της εγνωσμλύων ὅτι τὰ ἀγνοέμθυα, τί ἐχὶ μετὰ advтav x wei Sórs & Vπásπάντων καὶ πεὶ * ῥόπε ε ὑπάρ ξεως * άγιο πνεύματα ἀκίν |