Mr.
WHISTON
's LETTER To the Right Honourable the Earl of
Nottingham,
Concerning the ETERNITY OF THE SON of GOD And of the HOLY SPIRIT.
Est Deus Pater omnium Institutor & Creator, solus originem nesciens, invisibilis, immensus, immortalis, aeternus, unus Deus: cujus neque magnitudini, neque majestati, neque virtuti quicquam non dixerim praeferri, sed nec comparari potest. Ex quo, quando ipse voluit, Sermo Filius natus est.—Accepit Paracletus a Christo quae nunciet: Major ergo jam Paracleto Christus est: quoniam nec Paracletus a Christo acciperet, nisi minor Christo esset.
Novatian. de Trin. §. 31.24.
LONDON:
Printed for J. SENEX at the
Globe
in
Salisbury-Court,
and W. TAYLOR at the
Ship
in
Pater-noster Row.
1719.
Mr.
WHISTON
's LETTER.
MY LORD,
S INCE your Lordship had so very considerable a Share in the late Debates in the House of Peers, in
Opposition
to a Clause for the Toleration of the
Christian Religion itself,
or of all that
believed the Holy Scriptures and the Common Creed
; which I confess I had a great Hand in preparing and recommending, could it have been admitted; and in
Behalf
of a new
Athanasian Test
to be laid upon Christians; whereby, with the People called
Quakers,
they were to profess
Faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ, his Eternal Son, the True God; and in the Holy Spirit; One God Blessed for evermore:
Since your Lordship had also the like Share in a late heavy Imputation laid on Dr.
C—
in the same House of Peers, for omitting the Holy Spirit in Doxologies; where yet that Imputation lay harder on my self, nay indeed on St.
Paul
and all the Apostles themselves than on Dr.
C—
: He having only omitted the Holy Spirit in his Doxologics
sometimes,
but I, in Imitation of those Apostles, never making him the direct
Object
of any Doxology at all. And since your Lordship's Chaplain, Mr.
Seaton,
has lately publish'd an
Essay on the Eternity of the Son of God,
address'd to the Laity of this City; and written, I must confess, in a cool and sober Manner; but as it were in Vindication of such your Lordship's Proceedings: I think it cannot, on all these Accounts, be improper for me, who so greatly dissent from your Lordship and your Chaplain in these Matters, to address this Paper to your Lordship, and therein to lay before you and the Christian World a fair Collection of the sacred and primitive Testimonies concerning this important Point; I mean, whether God the Father be the only Eternal Being, the only Eternal God; or whether the Son and Holy Spirit be also Eternal Beings, or be
Coeternal
with the Father, as all the real
Trinitarians
assert. I say
real Trinitarians
only: for as for the nominal or modal Trinitarians, which also include the
Sabellians
and
Socinians,
and are now the most numerous, who say the Son and Spirit are not really different from, but are, or make up, together with the Father, the One Eternal God, there is no room for the Question among them at all: It being the absurdest Thing in the World to suppose that God is not coeternal to himself, tho' the Expression be somewhat extraordinary. Now, in order to satisfy your Lordship and the World in this Matter, I shall beg Leave at present to wave the common Method of disputing, and arguing, and pleading, and drawing uncertain Consequences on either Side, and shall set down, instead thereof, a Collection of those original Texts and Testimonies which relate to this important Doctrine; that so every one may, with his own natural common Sense and Judgment, and without Fear of being impos'd upon by modern Inferences, impartially pronounce on which Side the superior Evidence lies. Your Lordship well knows that Truth is best discover'd by the open, fair, and solemn Way of Proceedings in Courts of Justice; where the Evidence for Facts is still enquir'd into and examin'd from Eye and Ear-Witnesses, or from the authentick Records themselves produc'd in Court; where the Judges determine of those Facts intirely by that original Evidence; and where all that the Pleaders
allege
about those Facts goes for nothing, any farther than it is thus
proved.
Now, what was the Doctrine of our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles, or what was the Christian Faith in this Matter, is certainly at this Day an ancient Fact; and no otherwise to be now known but by ancient Evidence, primitive Witnesses, and original Records still remaining. To these therefore do I solemnly Appeal in the present Question; and by these and these only do I resolve to be determin'd therein. And this Method is so evidently fair and reasonable, that I cannot but hope that your Lordship and all equitable Enquirers will also approve of it, and be willing to be determin'd by it. Nor do I mean this with Regard to the present Doctrine, or the real and strict
Coeternity
of the Son and Holy Spirit to the Father only; but with Regard to all the like controverted Points in Christianity also: which can, I think, be no other way so authentickly, so satisfactorily, and so peaceably determined among Christians as by this Procedure; especially while in this Method the Meaning of doubtful Words and Phrases are to be stated no otherwise than by the ancient Use of the same; and no modern Distinctions or Evasions unsupported by Antiquity, will be admitted: and where no later Translations will be of Weight, any farther than they are supported by the primary Sense of the Original, in the Ages wherein the Books themselves were written.
I therefore, upon this Occasion, in the most, publick and open Manner, in the Behalf of my self and of others of my Opinion, as to the Points now in Dispute among us, do, before your Lordship, and before the Christian World, invite all the sober and learned
Athanasians
to come into this Proposal; I mean, that omitting all the Passions, the Tricks, the Subtilties, the Distinctions and Evasions of the Pleaders or
Disputers of this World,
they will join with us in a calm, a fair, an authentick, a friendly, and a Christian Examination of these Points in the Bible and primitive Antiquity; and in drawing up, after such an Examination, an upright, impartial, and full Collection of all the ancient Texts and Testimonies, before the Days of
Athanasius,
which concern the same; to be by joint Consent laid before the World; with the bare summing up the Evidence on both Sides, as the Judges themselves do in their Courts, without any other Comments or Colours of our own whatsoever.
Thus, for Example, the whole Christian Church, My Lord, did ever, and does still unanimously own, that there is but
One,
Eternal, Omnipotent, Invisible, and Almighty
God
; the original Cause and Creator of all other Beings: While many of the
Trinitarians
now affirm, that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, taken together, are that
One God
; and we, on the other Side, assert that God the Father, and He alone, is that
One God.
Here, My Lord, we insist, that the present
Trinitarians
may produce all those original Texts of Scripture, all those ancient Creeds, and all those primitive Testimonies, which affirm the former: and we will be oblig'd to produce, in the same Manner, all those original Texts of Scripture, all those ancient Creeds, and all those primitive Testimonies which affirm the latter: And this is desir'd as to both Sides, without the Admission of any novel Distinctions, Evasions, or Inferences whatsoever: that so Christian People may have the Cause wholly before them, and may be enabled to determine sairly and impartially on which Side the
superior Evidence
appears to be; by which superior Evidence all certainly ought to be guided in such Matters. And the like Procedure I would recommend in all parallel Cases whatsoever.
And indeed, My Lord, this seems to me to be the only honest and Christian Method of disentangling these and the like Points from the Sophistry of captious Arguments, Replies, and Rejoinders, with which the Writers of Controversy do on all Sides, more or less, perplex and puzzle, but not properly satisfy their Readers. And this Method, I confess, My Lord, I have had principally in my Eye from the very Beginning of my Concern in the present Controversy; tho' the Pamphlets written against me have sometimes turn'd me from that my main Design, and, as it were, forc'd me, in some Degree, to comply with the common Method. I now therefore, My Lord, intend to reassume what I at first propos'd to my self; and, as I have lately, which Your Lordship will see by the enclos'd, laid the State of the Old Christian Doxologies before the World, exactly as I found it in the New Testament, and in the most early Antiquity; without pretending, from any Reasonings of my own, to introduce one single Form, different from what I there found upon Record; So do I here design to lay before Your Lordship and the World, with equal Fairness, what I meet with in the first Ages concerning this important Point of the strict
Coeternity
of the Son and Holy Spirit to the Father. I say, the strict
Coeternity
only; for as to the Preexistence of our Saviour before all
Time,
and all
Ages,
even those the Antients called
Eternal Times,
with St.
Paul,
Tit. I. 2.
or
before the World
with all its Creatures and Ages
began,
as our Version well renders that Passage, this is not the Question.
Heb. I. 2.
It being allowed on both Sides that this World, with all its Creatures and Ages whatsoever, were
made,
under the Father, by the Son; who must therefore, of Necessity, be before the same, without the least Consequence to be thence deduc'd that he was therefore
really eternal,
or truly
coeternal
with his Father.
N.B.
I do not quote the smaller Epistles of
Ignatius,
nor some pretended Passages out of
Hippolytus, Dionysius Alexandrinus, &c.
they being liable to too many Objections as to their Genuineness, to bear any Weight in this or any such Controversy whatsoever.
I begin with those Texts of Scripture which Your Lordship's Chaplain, Mr.
Seaton,
has cited for the
Eternity of the Son:
and shall set them down both as they stand in our
English
Bible, and as they more authentickly appear in the Septuagint Version, which alone was made Use of by Christ and his Apostles. To which I shall add what other Passages occur in the Bible or earliest Antiquity, that seem most to favour the same Eternity, till the very Days of
Athanasius.
Prov. viii 22-25.
The Lord possessed me; [created me, LXXII.] the Beginning of his Ways, before his Works of Old. I was set up from everlasting; [
from the Age,
or,
Beginning of the World.
LXXII.] from the Beginning, or ever the Earth was: When there were no Depths I was brought forth; when there were no Fountains abounding with Water: Before the Mountains were settled, before the Hills was I brought forth.
See
Ps.
XC. 1, 2. of the God of
Israel.
Lord, thou hast been our Dwelling-place in Generation and Generation. Before the Mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the Earth and the World, even from everlasting to everlasting, [from the Age to the Age; or from the Beginning of the World to the End of the World, LXXII.] thou art God.
Is. ix. 6.
The everlasting Father: [the Father of the future Age. LXXII.]
See
Dan.
vii. 9. of the God of
Israel
: The Ancient of Days.
Mic. V. 2
His Goings-forth have been from of Old, from the Days of Eternity, [from the Days of the Age, or of the Beginning of the World. LXXII.]
Joh. I. 12.
In the Beginning was the Word—The same was in the Beginning with God.
XVII. 5.
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the Glory which I had with thee before the World was.
Col. I. 15, 17.
He is before all Things.
II. 9.
In him dwelleth all the Fulness of the Godhead, [or divine Power,
Rom.
I. 20.] bodily.
Heb. I. 3.
The Brightness of his Father's Glory; and the express Image of his Person.
XIII. 8.
Jesus Christ, the same Yesterday, and to Day, and for ever.
Apoc. I. 17.
I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold I am alive for evermore.
Apoc. I. 11.
I am Alpha and Omega; the first and the last.
II. 8.11.
These Things saith the first and the last; which was dead and is alive.
[See
Isaiah
xliv. 6. Of the God of
Israel
: Thus saith the Lord, the King of
Israel
; and his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God. xlviii. 12. Hearken unto me, O
Jacob,
and
Israel,
my called, I am He. I am the first, I also am the last.
Apoc.
xi. 17. We give Thanks to thee, O Lord God Almighty, which was, and which is, and which is to come. And so Chap. i. 4.8.]
Heb. VI. 3.
Without Father, without Mother, without Genealogy, having neither Beginning of Days, nor End of Life; but being made like unto the Son of God, abideth a Priest continually.
1 John i. 1.2.
That which was from the Beginning:—That eternal Life which was with the Father.
II. 13.
I write unto you Fathers, because ye have known him that is from the Beginning.—
v.
14.
I wrote unto you Fathers, because you have known him that is from the Beginning.
Martyr. Polycarp. §. 14.
With the
eternal and heavenly Jesus Christ. [In
Eusebius
's Copy, confirm'd by the old
Latin
Version, and the parallel Language of
Polycarp
elsewhere, by the eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ.]
Recogn. i. §. 24.
There ever was, and is, and will be that Being, from which the first begotten Will derives its Eternity.
§. 43.
Who is the eternal Christ.
Just. Dial. p. 323.
Christ is the eternal Priest of God. [
.]
Iren. ii. 18.
These Hereticks transfer the Manner of Emission of the Word of a Man, which he speaks, unto the eternal Word of God.
43.
Thou art not unmade, O Man; nor didst thou always co-exist with God, as did his own [or his nearest] Word.
55.
The Son, who ever co-existed with the Father, did always, in old Time, and from the Beginning, reveal his Father.
iii. 20.
Being ever with the Father.
Iren. iv. 37.
His Word and his Wisdom are ever with him, his Son, and his Spirit.—That the Word, that is the Son, was always with the Father we have largely demonstrated.
Clem. Alex. Protrept. p. 74, 75.
If thou wilt, be thou initiated: And thou shalt be of a Chorus with the Angels, about the unbegotten, and unperishable, and the only true God. While God the Word joins with us in our Hymns, [or, He joining with us in our Hymns, who is God the Word.] He is
eternal: The One Jesus, the great High Priest of that One God, who is his Father, prays for Men, and exhorts them.
Hymn. ad Calcem. P
d. iii.
He is the perpetual Word, immense
eternal Light.
Council of
Antioch. Bibl. P. P. Tom. ii.
We believe the Son, who was ever with the Father, did fulfil his Father's Will, for the Creation of the Universe.
The singular, and
eternal Generation of the only begotten Son.
Eusebius Eccles. Theolog. i. 12. ii. 12.
'Tis manifest that the only begotten Son was with God his Father; being present and together with him always, and at all Times.
Demonst. Evang. iv. 1.
He is elder than all Time, and all Ages.
C. 3.
That the Son was begotten, not as having for certain Times not been, and then being made; but being before all Ages, and still before them; and being always present, as a Son with his Father: But not being unbegotten, but begotten of the unbegotten Father: Being the only begotten, the Word, and God of God.
V. 1.
The Son subsisted from endless Ages, or rather before all Ages; being with, being always with his Father, as light with the luminous Body.
De laud. Constantin. C. 1.
The Prae-existing only begotten Word, who is over all, and before all, and after all, the great High Priest of the Great God, the ancientest Being of all Time, and of all Ages.
C. 2.
The only begotten Word of God, who reigneth with his Father, from beginningless Ages, [from before the Beginning of the World] to endless and never ceasing Ages.
In Ps. ii. 7.
This Day have I begotten thee.] This is spoken of his temporary Generation; for as to his beginningless Generation, [his Generation before the Beginning of the World;] the same
David
says, I have begotten thee from the Womb, before the Morning Star.
Presbyters and Deacons of
Alexandria. Vid. infra.
God begat his Son before eternal Times.
[
N.B.
These Passages of
Eusebius,
and of the
Alexandrian
Presbyters and Deacons, seem, in our modern Language, to bid the fairest for a real Eternity of the Son, of any in all Christian Antiquity: Yet is it very plain and evident, from many other Passages, that all of them were utterly against this proper Co-eternity of the Son with the Father; and even
Eusebius
only for the Metaphysick or potential Eternity before the Son's Generation, as we shall see hereafter.]
The Texts and Testimonies for the original voluntary Generation and Creation of the Son of God before the World began; and against his Co-eternity with the Father: Taken chiefly out of my
Primitive Christianity Reviv'd.
Vol.
iv.
Artic.
vi.
Solomon.] Prov. viii. 22.
&c.
THE Lord created me, the Beginning of his Ways, for his Works: Before the World he founded me: In the Beginning, before he made the Earth, before the Fountains of Waters came, before the Mountains were fastened: He begat me before all the Hills.
Son of
Sirach.] Eccl. i. 4.
Wisdom hath been created before all Things; and the Understanding of Prudence from the Beginning of the World.—The Lord created her,
&c.
v.
9.
Then the Creator of all Things gave me a Commandment; and he that created me caused my Tabernacle to rest.—He created me before the World began, from the Beginning; and I shall not fail to the End of the World.
Philo] De temulent.
p.
244.
God created me the first of his Works; and before the World began did he found me. [See what this
Philo
says of the first begotten Word of God more largely at the End of my Comment on the three Epistles of St.
John.
]
Paul.] Col. i. 15.
Who is the Image of the invisible God: The first born of the whole Creation. [
i. e.
the first Being which God created: As all the Parallels shew.
Matth.
i. 25.
Luc.
ii. 7.
Rom.
viii. 29.
Col.
i. 18.
Heb.
i. 6. xi. 28. xii. 23.
Apoc.
i. 5.]
Heb. iii. 2.
Christ was faithful to him that made him.
John] Apoc. iii. 14.
These Things saith the
Amen;
the faithful and true Witness; the Beginning of the Creation of God. [With a plain Allusion to
Prov.
viii. 22. The Lord created me the Beginning of his Ways. And note that
,
the Beginning,
with a genitive Case, as here, is never used actively in the whole new Testament. See all the Places,
Matth.
xxiv. 8, 21.
Mar.
i. 1. x. 6. xiii. 8, 19,
John
ii. 11.
Philip
iv. 15.
Heb.
iii. 14. v. 12. vi. 1. vii. 3. 1
Pet.
iii. 4.]
Peter] Praedicat. Petri. ap. Clem. Alex. Strom. VI.
p.
635.
p.
644.
Peter,
in his Preaching, says, Know ye, therefore, that there is one God, who made the Beginning of all Things; and has the Power over their End.—Perpetual, incorruptible, unmade; who made all Things by the Word of his Power, in the mystical Sense,
i. e.
of his Son. There is one Unbegotten Being, the Almighty God; and one Being begotten before the rest also; by whom all Things were made, and without whom was nothing at all made. For there is, in reality, but One God, who made the Beginning, [or Principle] of all Things, intimating his first-born Son.
Peter
writes like one that perfectly well underctood that Expression, In the Beginning [or by the Principle] God made the Heaven and the Earth. Now this Person is called Wisdom by all the Prophets.
Hermas] Simil. V. §. 6.
To whom the Messenger reply'd, Hearken: That Holy Spirit which was first of all created did God place in a Body, wherein it should inhabit; that is, in a chosen Body, which pleased him.
ix. 12.
The Son of God is move ancient than any Creature: Insomuch that he was in Counsel with his Father at the Creation of the Creatures.
Apostles] Constitut. v. 20.
Concerning him also spake
Solomon,
as in his Person, The Lord created me the Beginning of his Ways for his Works: Before the World he founded me; in the Beginning, before he made the Earth; before the Fountains of Waters came; before the Mountains were fastened: He begat me before all the Hills.
vi. 10.
Some of the Hereticks say that there are three Gods, without Beginning; some, that there are two unbegotten Gods.
11.
We [the Apostles] who are the Children of God, and the Sons of Peace, do preach the holy and right Word of Piety; and declare one only God, the Lord of the Law and of the Prophets, the Maker of the World, the Father of Christ: Not a Being that caused himself, or begat himself, as the Hereticks suppose; but
eternal, and without Original, and inhabiting Light inaccessible: Not two, or three, or manifold, but
eternally one only, [or, the only eternal Being.]—The God and Father of the only Begotten, and of the first-born of the whole Creation. One God, the Father of one Son, not of many.
vii. 36.
That we might come into the Remembrance of that Wisdom which was created by thee: How he submitted to be made a Woman upon our Account,
&c.
41.
His only begotten Son, the first-born of the whole Creation; who, before the Ages, was begotten by the good Pleasure of the Father.
viii. 12.
Thou didst beget him before all Ages by thy Will, thy Power, and thy Goodness, without any Instrument: The only begotten Son; God the Word; the living Wisdom; the first-born of the whole Creation.
viii. 12.
He that was begotten before Time, was born in Time.
Vide Ignat. ad Polycarp.
§. 3.
41.
Let us dedicate our selves, and one another,
, to the eternal God, through that Word which was in the Beginning.
Can. 49.
If any Bishop or Presbyter baptizes into three Beings, without Beginning,—let him be depriv'd.
Ignatius] ad Magnes. §. 8.
Who is his Word, not pronounced but substantial; for he is not the Voice of articulate Speech, but a Substance begotten by the divine Power.
Ad Antioch. §. 14.
He that is alone Unbegotten preserve you stable in the Spirit, and in the Flesh; through him who was begotten before the Ages.
Ad Tars. §. 6.
And elsewhere [he speaks by
Solomon,
] the Lord created me the Beginning of his Ways, for his Works; before the World did he found me, and before all the Mountains did he beget me.
Author of the Recognitions of
Clement] iii. §. 8.
He therefore who had no Beginning, that God I have been speaking of, begat the first-born of the whole Creation.—God therefore begat that which we have learn'd to call the
Workmanship
of God; which we may therefore call a
Being begotten,
and a
Being made,
or by the parallel Names.—And therefore is it that he is truly and agreeably called a
Being begotten,
and a
Being made,
and a
Being created
; because his Substance is not any thing Unbegotten.
§. 10.
God therefore begat him, without any Change in himself, his Will going before.
§. 11.
Whereas therefore there is but one Unbegotten Being, and one Begotten; the Holy Spirit cannot he called the Son of God, nor his first-born: For he was
made
by a Being which was himself
made.
Justin Martyr] Apol. i. §. 28. §. 31. §. 61. §. 68.
The Word, which is the first Production of God, without Mixture.
§. 31.
Being his Word, and First-born, and Power.
§. 61.
We have been taught that
ist is the first-born of God; as we have declared already.
68.
He is the first-born to the Unbegotten God.
§. 75.
From God the Creator, and his first-begotten Christ.
Apol. ii. §. 6.
But his Son, who alone is properly called his Son, the Word, who was with him, and was begotten by him before the Creatures.
Dialog. cum Tryp.
p.
264.
This Christ, the Son of God, who was before the Morning Star, and the Moon.
p.
267.
That this Christ prae-existed, being God before the World began.
p.
276.
Who was God before the World was made.
p.
284, 285.
In the Beginning, before all Creatures, God begat of himself a certain rational Power, which is called, by the Holy Spirit, the Glory of the Lord; sometimes the Son, sometimes Wisdom, sometimes an Angel, sometimes God, sometimes the Lord, and the Word; sometimes he calls himself the General of the Host, when he appear'd in the Form of a Man to
Joshua
the Son of
Nun.
And he is call'd by all these Names, because of his ministring to his Father's Will; and because he was begotten voluntarily of the Father.—But the Production, which really proceeded from the Father before all Creatures, was with the Father, and to him did the Father speak, as the Word declares by
Solomon:
For in the Beginning, before all Creatures, this very Off-spring was produc'd by God; which, by
Solomon,
is stiled Wisdom: [alluding to
Prov.
viii. 22,
&c.
where 'tis said, God created Wisdom, the Beginning
his Ways, for his Works.]
p.
287.
Then said
Trypho,
Let him be own'd, by you of the Gentiles, as Lord, and Christ, and God, as the Scriptures declare; by you, I say, who have all obtain'd the Name of Christians from him. But for us, who are the Worshippers of that God who
made
him, we stand in no need of such a Confession, nor of such a Worship.
p.
288.
And that he was before the Sun.
p.
310.
The first-born of all the Creatures.
p.
323.
He is one that existed before all Things.
p.
326.
Knowing that he is the first-born of God, and before all Creatures.
p.
327.
When we say he is his Son, we understand that he really existed, and proceeded from the Father before all Creatures, by his Power and his Will.
p.
354.
He is stiled God, because he is the first-born Son of all creatures.
p.
358.
I said that this Power was begotten of the Father, by his Power and his Will.
p.
359.
The Word declar'd, that this Production was begotten by the Father absolutely before all Creatures.
p.
367. Melito]
Christ is the first-born of the whole Creation.
He was a true God, [or truly God,] before the World began. [
Apud Cave. Histor. Literar.
Part II.
p.
33.
N.B.
This
Melito
wrote a Book, now lost, concerning the Creation and Generation of Christ.
Tatian] §. 7.
God was in the Beginning. But we have receiv'd this Notion, that this Beginning was the Power of the Word. For the Lord of the Universe, being he in from all Things subsist, was alone; if we regard the Creation which was not yet made: But if we regard this, that all the Power of visible and invisible Beings subsisted in him, all Things were with him; for with him, in metaphysick Existence, the Word himself, which was in him, subsisted. Now by his mere Will the Word came forth. But the Word proceeding from him, who did not thereby become empty, became the first-born Work of the Father. Him we know to be the Beginning of the World.
§. 10.
The heavenly Word was made a Spirit by the Father, and the Word from his rational Power, according to the Image of the Father that begat him.
Theophilus
of
Antioch] Ad Autolyc. ii.
p.
88.
God therefore having his Word inserted in his own Bowels, begat him, with his Wisdom, by Emission from him, before the Creation of the Universe.
p.
100.
When it pleased God to make whatsoever he had determin'd, then he begat his Word, by sending him forth, the first-born of the whole Creation,
&c.
Athenagoras.] Legat. §. 38, 39, 40.
If you have a Mind, out of your Depth of Understanding, to consider what this Son means, I will briefly inform you. He is the first Production of the Father: Not as a Being
made:
[out of nothing.] (For God, who from the Beginning was an eternal Mind, had in himself his Word or Reason, being eternally rational.) But in such Manner as when all material Beings, of unform'd Matter, or Earth, as their Substratum, had lighter or heavier Parts mix'd together, he proceeded out to them, that they might exist both in Idea and Reality. The prophetick Spirit also agrees to this account; for, says he, the Lord created me the Beginning of his Ways, for his Works.
Irenaeus] v. 36.
That his Production, his first-begotten Word, may descend upon his Workmanship.
Tertull.] Adv. Prax. §. 5.
They say, indeed, that
Genesis,
in the
Hebrew,
begins thus, In the Beginning God made himself a Son. But suppose that be not certain; yet other Arguments there are which support my Opinion, taken from the Oeconomy of God, in which he was before the Constitution of the World, until the Generation of his Son. For before all Things God was alone,
&c.
§. 6.
Hearken therefore to Wisdom, as to a second Person created. First, we have this, The Lord created me the Beginning of his Ways, for his Works; before he made the Earth, before the Mountains were fastened, nay, he begat me before all the Hills.
§. 7.
This is the compleat Nativity of the Word, in his Procession from the Father; at first created by him, so far as thought, under the Name of Wisdom: The Lord created me, the Beginning of his Ways.
Adv. Hermog. §. 3.
Because God is both a Father and a Judge, yet was he not therefore always a Father and a Judge, because he was always God. For he could not be a Father, before he had a Son; nor a Judge, before there was any Sin. Now there was a Time when there was no Sin, and he had no Son. The former made him a Judge, and the latter a Father.
Adv. Hermog. §. 4.
What other Characteristick is there of God, than Eternity? What other Meaning is there of Eternity, than to have always been heretofore, and to continue always in Being hereafter, by that great Privilege of no Beginning and no End? If this be a Property of God, it must be peculiar to God alone, whose Property it is. For altho' there be that are call'd Gods, whether in Heaven or in Earth; so far as the Name extends; yet there is but One God the Father, of whom are all Things,
&c.
§. 18.
To conclude, Assoon as he perceiv'd Wisdom was necessary for the making of the World, he presently creates her, and begets her in himself. The Lord says, Wisdom created me, the Beginning of his Ways, for his Works; before the World he founded me; before he made the Earth, before the Mountains were fasten'd: He begat me before all the Hills.
Clemens Alexan.] ad Gent. p. 52.
Why must I be oblig'd to declare to you the Mysteries of Wisdom, and the Words of that wise young Man among the
Hebrews.
The Lord created me the Beginning of his Ways for his Works.
Strom. V. p. 591.
They did not perceive that these Things were spoken of the first created Wisdom of God.
VII. p. 700
Among the Things we know by the Mind is what is ancienter in its Generation, before Time, and before the Beginning: the Beginning and First-fruits of all Beings, the Son: from whom we are to learn the supreme Cause, the Father of the Universe, the most ancient and most beneficent of all Beings,
&c.
Ibid. p. 703.
The Son cannot be ever obstructed, as being Lord of all: Especially while he ministers to the Will of his Good and Almighty Father. Nor can any Envy affect the Lord, who was, [or was made,] before the Beginning of the World.
Origen.] cont. Cels. p. 238.
They are illuminated by that Wisdom which is the Efflux, or Splendor, of the eternal Light.
Phot. Bibliothec. Cod. 10. Origen] cont. Cels. V. p. 257.
Clement
also in his
Hypotyposeis
depresses the Son into the Rank of a Creature, as
Photius
witnesses.
The Son of God, the First-born of the whole Creation, altho' he seems to have been incarnate but very lately, yet is he not therefore a late Being: for the sacred Oracles own him to be the ancientest of all Creatures.
Comment. in Psal. I. Tom. I. p. 38.
Pray to the Father, the God of the Universe, through our Saviour as High Priest, who is the made God.
In Psal. I. Edit. Huet. p. 31.
Thou art my Son, this Day have I begotten thee. This is said to the Son by God; with whom it is always
to Day
; for there is no Evening with God. I do also suppose that neither is there any Morning with him: but that a Time coextended with his unmade and eternal Life, is, if I may so say,
that Day,
or
to Day
with him, in which the Son was made, the Beginning of his Origin being thus not found, as neither of this Day.
Peri Arch. V. apud Origenian 58.
He is the First-born of the whole Creation, a Creature, Wisdom: for Wisdom herself says, God created me, the Beginning of his own Ways, for his Works.
Ibid.
The Son and Holy Ghost are Creatures.
Cod. p. 42.
Photius
assures us, that
Origen
's Opinion was, that the Son was made by the Father, and the Spirit by the Son.
Haeres. 64. § 4, 5, 8.
Epiphanius
says of
Origen,
that he supposes the Son deriv'd from the Substance of the Father, but to have been created by him: And again, That it was most plainly his Doctrine, that the Son of God is a Creature; and that from this bold Attempt about God it is to be supposed it was, that he declared the Holy Spirit to be created also: And again, That when
Origen
says the Son is a
made God,
he plainly determines that he is but a Created Being.
Gregory of Neocaes.] Bas. Ep. 64
Basil
informs us, that we shall indeed find in
Gregory
of
Naeocaesarea
many Expressions which did then afford the greatest Strength to the Hereticks; such as the Word
Creature,
and that of a
Being, made
by God, and the like.
Novatian] de Trin. C. 31.
Before the Son there was nothing but the Father.—God the Father was therefore the Ordainer of all Things, and their Creator. He alone is without original, invisible, immense, immortal, eternal, the One God; to whose Greatness, or Majesty, or Power, nothing can, I don't say be preferr'd, but so much as compar'd. Of whom, when it pleas'd the Father, the Word, which is his Son, was begotten.—Since therefore he was begotten by the Father, he is
always
in the Father: I say
always,
in such a Sense only, which supposes him not unbegotten but begotten. But I reckon he who was before all Time, is said to have been
always
in the Father; least the Father should not be
always
a Father. For the Father is
prior
to him; since it must needs be, that as he is his Father, he must be
prior
to him; because it must needs be, that he who has no Origin must be
before
him who has one.—He proceeded from the Father when the Father pleased.—He is certainly
before
all Things, but
after
his Father: making a second Person
after
his Father, as being his Son.
Cyprian.] Testimon. ad Quirin. I. 1.
In the Proverbs of
Solomon,
The Lord created me the Beginning of his Ways, for his Works; before the World he founded me; in the Beginning, before he made the Earth, and before he appointed the Deeps; before the Mountains were plac'd; the Lord begat me before all the Hills.—
Paul
also says to the
Collossians,
Who is the Image of the invisible God; the First-born of the whole Creation.
Dionysius Alexand.] Ep. 41. ad Max.
Basil
owns that he had seen a great Number of the Books of
Dionysius
of
Alexandria,
and adds,—We don't admire every thing he says; nay, some things we intirely disapprove. For this very Man is the first, as far as we have discover'd, who laid the Seeds of this present noted Impiety of the
Anomaeans.
—He does not only suppose a Difference as to their Subsistences, but a Diversity of
Substance,
an Inferiority of
Power,
and a Difference of
Glory.
Athanas. de Senten. Dionysii Tom. 1 § 4
Athanasius
also speaks of the same Person thus: The
Arians
affirm, that the Blessed
Dionysius
said the Son of God was a
Creature,
and a
Being made.
Yes; he did write so: We ourselves also do own that there is such an Epistle of his.
Theognostus.] Phot. Cod. 106.
Photius
says
Theognostus
affirm'd that the Father was to have a Son; but that when he spake of that Son, he declar'd that he was a Creature.
Methodius.] de Creat. p. 345.
The Lord created me, the Beginning of his Ways, for his Works: Before the World he founded me.—Wherefore He is the the Origin of other Beings, after the Father; who is his own unoriginated Origin.
Lactantius.] II §. 8.
God,—before he set about the making this World,—produc'd a Spirit like unto himself, who should be endued with the Powers of God the Father. Now after what Manner he did this, we will endeavour to shew in the fourth Book.
IV: §. 6.
God therefore, the Contriver and Framer of the World, as we observ'd in the second Book, before he set about this great Work of making the World, begat an holy and incorruptible Spirit, which he called his Son.—He, I mean, is the Son of God, who spake by
Solomon,
the wisest of Kings, and one full of the Divine Spirit, as follows: God created me in the Beginning of his Ways, for his Works; before the World he founded me; in the Beginning, before he made the Earth, before he appointed the Deeps, before the Fountains of Water came: The Lord begat me before all the Hills.
Eusebius Caesar] ap. Cave Hist. Literar. P. II. p. 64, 65.
Eusebius
had a Chapter concerning God the Word, as concerning that Wisdom which does substantially subsist, and was
created
by God before the World began,
&c.
Praep. Ev. XI. 14. v. Hist. Eccl. I. 2.
Solomon,
says he elsewhere, gives us the same Sense in other Language; and using the Name of Wisdom instead of the Word, makes this Declaration, as in her Person—Then he subjoins afterwards, The Lord created me, the Beginning of his Ways, for his Works; before the World he founded me; in the Beginning, before he made the Earth, before the Mountains were fasten'd: He begat me before all the Hills.
Demonst. Evang. IV. 3.
The Light does not shine forth by the Will of the luminous Body, but by a necessary Property of Nature. But the Son, by the Intention and Will of the Father, receiv'd his Subsistence, so as to be the Image of the Father. For by his Will did God become the Father of his Son, and caused to subsist a second Light, in all Things like unto himself—Receiving before all Ages a real Subsistence, by the inexpressible and inconceivable Will and Power of the Father.
See Dr.
Clarke
's Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity, Edit.
2.
p.
252, 253, 254.
Hist. Eccl. V. 1.
He is named the First-born of the whole Creation; according to that Text, The Lord created me, the Beginning of his Ways; for his Works.
Ibid.
The Divine Scripture sometimes calls the Son the First-born of the whole Creation; as in his own Person, in that Text; The Lord created me, the Beginning of his Ways.
Contra Marcell. II. 7.
The same
Eusebius,
who by Direction from the Council of
Constantinople
wrote against
Athanasius
's great Friend, the Heretick
Marcellus,
charges his affirming the Son to be
,
unbegotten,
as a grand Branch of his Heresy; and to be
,
eternal,
as another Branch of the same Heresy, and directly implying the same with
unbegotten.
Ibid.
The same
Eusebius
says: But perhaps thou art afraid that if thou allowest the Father and Son to be two Substances, thou shouldst introduce two Principles, and shouldst deny the Divine Monarchy. Learn therefore, that since there is but one God, without any Origin, and without Generation; and that the Son is begotten of him; there is but one Principle, and one Monarchy, and one Kingdom: Since the Son himself reckons the Father to be his Origin. For God is the Head of Christ, as the Apostle says.
Demonst. Evang. IV 3.
The Father existed before the Son, and had a Subsistence before his Generation; as being alone unbegotten.
Cap. 15.
God the Word was alone begotten of him, by a Communication from him that begat him; who was the unbegotten,
first, and the greater Being; and he was declar'd God of God, and called the Christ and the Anointed.
C. 15.
Therefore, O God, He has anointed thee, who is the supreme, and greater Being, and also thy God; so that he who anointed is a
great deal Prior
to him that was anointed; being the God of the Universe, and especially of him who was anointed. See
Maufaucon Praeliminar. in Psalm. p.
19.
V. 1.
The Son had not a Co-existence with the Father, without Beginning; the one being unbegotten, the other begotten: And the one being the Father, the other the Son. And every Body will confess that a Father does pre-exist, and has an earlier Subsistence than a Son.
Vid. Maufaucon. Praelimin. Euseb. in Psal. p. 27.
The Son is the perfect Creature of him that is perfect, the wise Building of him that is wise.
He is a Being made.
Ap. Epiphan. Haeres. 69.
Arius,
in his private Letter to his great Patron
Eusebius
of
Nicomedia,
before the Council of
Nice,
affirms, that this
Eusebius
of
Caesarea,
and
Theodosius,
and
Paulinus,
and
Athanasius,
and
Gregorius,
and
Aetius,
and all the Eastern Bishops, say, that God existed before his Son; without any Beginning: Excepting
Philogonius,
and
Hellanicus,
and
Macarius,
who were no better than uncatechiz'd Hereticks.
Athanas.] Orat. II. contr. Arian.
Let them learn to read, after a due Manner also, what is said in the Proverbs, which it self has a right Meaning: For 'tis written, The Lord created me, the Beginning of his Ways, for his Works.
N.B.
There is one Record, ancienter than the Council of
Nice,
so very remarkable in this Case, that I cannot forbear to set it down intirely: 'Tis a publick Letter from the Presbyters and Deacons of
Alexandria,
sent on the Behalf of the
Arians
to their Patriarch
Alexander,
who afterward condemn'd them, in these Words;
The Presbyters and Deacons to the Blessed Father, our Bishop
Alexander,
send greeting in the Lord.
Apud Athanas. De Synod. Arim & Seleuc. Op. Vol. I. p. 885, 886. & Epiphan. Haeres. LXIX. §. 7. p. 732, 733.
Our Faith, which we have receiv'd from our Fore-fathers, and which, Blessed Father, we have learn'd from you also, is this. We own but One God, who is alone Unbegotten, who is alone Eternal, who is alone without Beginning, who is alone the true God, who alone has Immortality, who alone is Wise, who alone is Good, who alone is the Potentate, who is the Judge, the Orderer and Disposer of all Things: Immutable and Unalterable, Righteous and Good, the God of the Law and the Prophets, and of the new Covenant; who begat his only begotten Son before the World began: By whom he made the Ages and the Universe. Begat him, we mean, not in Appearance only, but Reality; giving him his Subsistence by his own Will; the Immutable, and Unalterable, and Perfect Creature of God, but not as one of the ordinary Creatures: A Being begotten by him, but not as one of the ordinary Beings which were begotten. Not that this Being begotten was an Emanation, as was the Doctrine of
Valentinus
; nor, as
Manichaeus
suppos'd, is the Being begotten a Consubstantial Part of the Father: Nor, as
Sabellius,
who divided the Unity, and call'd him both Son and Father: Nor, as
Hieraeas,
Light from a Light, or as one Lamp divided into two: Nor, as one that before was, yet afterward was begotten, or created into a Son. As even you your self, Blessed Father, in the midst of the Church, and in the Assembly of the Clergy, have frequently rejected those who introduc'd these Opinions. But, as we say, that he was Created by the Will of God before Time, and before the World began; and that he receiv'd his Life, and his Being, and all his Glory from the Father. For the Father, when he made him Heir of all Things, did not deprive himself of any Thing which he has in himself, without being begotten. For He is the Fountain of all Things. Wherefore there are three Substances, and God himself, who is the Cause of all Things, is alone without Beginning. But the Son being begotten by the Father before Time, and created and founded before the World began, was not before he was begotten; but he alone, as begotten before Time by the Father, did really subsist; for he is not eternal, or co-eternal, or unbegotten as the Father is; nor has he his Existence together with the Father, as some say; who after a sort introduce two unbegotten Principles; but God is so before all Things as the only Being, and the Beginning of all Things.
Wherefore he is before his Son, as we have learn'd from you, when you have preach'd in the midst of the Church.
In as much, therefore, as he has his Being, and all his Glory, and his Life from God; and all Things are deliver'd to him, thence is God his Origin and Governor; for he governs him as his God, and as being
Prior
to him. But if that Expression,
From him
; and that,
From the Womb
; and that,
I came out from the Father, and come
; are understood as implying his being a consubstantial Part of him, as an Emanation; the Father is a compound Being, capable of Division, and Mutable; and, indeed, according to them, a Body: And so, as far as their Notions extend, the Incorporeal God is liable to Corporeal Affections.
Hist. Eccl. I. 15.
Sozomen
also relates, that when this Dispute was started at
Alexandria,
this
Alexander
knew not, at first, which Side to take; and that it was a good while before he yielded to those that said our Saviour was
,
Consubstantial and Co-eternal
with the Father.
Theodor. Hist. Eccl. I. 12.
The Council of
Nice
it self were so far from denying the
Creation
of the Son, that the Words of St.
Paul,
who stiles him the
First-born of the whole Creation,
were, by
Eusebius,
at first, inserted into that Creed which he brought into the Council; and which he informs us the Emperor and the whole Council agreed to be right; tho' that Clause was afterwards omitted, as not sufficiently favourable to the Designs against the
Arians
at that Time. They were also so far from affirming the real Co-eternity, or proper eternal Generation of the Son, that they only asserted the metaphysick Existence of the Word, before his Generation; as
Eusebius
shews, in the only Original Account we have of that Matter, in these Words: And farther, says
Eusebius
there, The Anathema denounc'd against such as say,
He was not before he was begotten,
did not appear unreasonable; since tis confess'd by all that he was the Son of God, even before his Generation, according to the Flesh. Nay, besides this, our Emperor, beloved of God, confirm'd by Reason, that even as to his Divine Generation he was before all Ages; seeing that before he was actually begotten, he was
potentially
in his Father, when not yet begotten. The Father being always a Father; as he was always a King, and a Saviour, and every Thing
potentially
; being always thus invariably and unalterably the same.
These, my Lord, are the principal original Texts and Testimonies which concern the important Subject before us, till the very Days of
Athanasius
himself.
And now, to sum up the Evidence on both Sides, with what Clearness I can, the Evidence for the Co-eternity of the Son to the Father, which has been above alledg'd; I mean, if, as we ought to do, we take the
Septuagint
Version, whence Christ, and his Apostles, and the ancient Fathers, always quoted the Old Testament, to be of more Authority than our own, or any modern ones, in such Matters, comes to no more than this:
Viz.
That our Saviour was
created
or
begotten
by his Father
in
or
before the Beginning of the World; before
all the
Ages,
Heb. i. 2.
or that first Constitution of Things which was made or ordain'd by him under the Father: That he was to be the
Father of the future Age,
or
World to come,
Heb. ii. 5.
which we call the
last Age,
or
Days of the Messiah
: That his Origin was
of Old, from the Beginning of the World:
That he
was
in Being, and was
with God
his Father in the very
Beginning
of Things; nay, had
Glory with his Father before the World was:
That he was
before all Things
; that he was the
first,
and will be the
last:
That he was
Alpha,
and will be
Omega:
And that some of these Expressions are the same, or very like to those, by which the absolute Eternity of the Father is in other Places suppos'd to be express'd; which last Observation, however, is only here taken for granted, without Proof: It no Way appearing that the sacred Writers meddle, beyond our Faculties, with any such absolute Eternity, either
a parte ante,
or
a parte post,
as the School-men have since done; and yet without the Proof of that Point all this Evidence is very inconsiderable.
It must also be remembred, that the ancient Christians ever allow'd that the Expressions in the Old Testament, concerning the invisible Father, whenever there was a visible Person appear'd, were spoken by the Son, as the
Image of that invisible God,
or as representing and personating the Father, as his Minister and Vicegerent among Men: and that they never look'd on them as true, in the highest Sense, of the Son himself, but of the Father only: Nor did they ever draw such Consequences from those Texts as do the Moderns.
Melchisedek
is, indeed, said to have
neither Beginning of Days, nor End of Life,
when he is represented as a Type of Christ's earliest Origin and latest Duration; but this certainly without the least Pretence to any proper Eternity of his at all. So that the known Books of the Old and New Testament, as understood before the Days of
Athanasius,
seem to have no proper Evidence at all for the real Eternity of the Son of God. As for
Polycarp
's and
Justin
's Expressions of Christ, that he is the
, the
eternal
Priest, or High Priest, no wise Man will thence gather any Thing about the real Eternity of the Son, before he was an
High Priest.
The Author of the Recognitions also speaks of the Eternity of the Son, and calls him the
eternal Christ
: But then, it is well known, that he did not thereby mean his real Co-eternity,
a parte ante,
with his Father: Nay, it has appear'd already, that of all the Ancients he is the most express for his being a Creature; and he therefore hereby rather gives us a Rule how we ought to explain such Words in other ancient Authors, while they seldom or never mean, by such Expressions, more than from the Beginning of the World, or to the End of it.
Irenaeus
does, indeed, say not only that Christ was God's
eternal Word,
but that he was
unmade,
or, as I suppose he means,
not made out of nothing,
as he supposed Men to be; that he did
always co-exist with God,
and was
ever with him
; and avoided saying that God
created him,
which the rest used freely to say in those Ages: All this makes it very probable that this Father did believe the Eternity of the Son, in some Sort or other. But then, it must not be dissembled, that even
Irenaeus,
as we have seen, owns him a derived Being, produc'd by his Father before all other Beings: Which seems hardly reconcilable to an absolute Co-eternity: And that this Sort of Eternity of the
Word,
which we meet with in some such Philosophers of the second, third, and fourth Century, is quite another Thing from the real
Co-eternity of the Son
under our present Consideration: As is most obvious in the ancient Accounts of that Matter. Their Notion was plainly this; that all other Beings were made out of nothing; but that the Son was in a subtile manner
in
his Father, virtually, potentially, or, as his internal Word and Wisdom from all Eternity; and that a little before the Creation, and not sooner, this Word was, in an ineffable manner, begotten or created, out of his Substance, into a real subsisting Being, or Person: So that the Testimonies for this Sort of Eternity, which alone we find even till a good while after the Council of
Nice
it self, are a Demonstration that the
real Co-eternity
of the Son with the Father, or his proper
eternal Generation,
was then utterly unknown among Christians. Nor does even this metaphysick, this virtual, or potential, or internal Eternity of the Son ever appear in the sacred Writings; in the ancient Creeds or Liturgies; or in any of the Apostolical Fathers. Whereby 'tis plain, that it is no Part of the Sacred, the Apostolical, or the Christian Doctrine; and no more than a Conjecture or Hypothesis of some ancient Christian Philosopers. Whether
Clement
of
Alexandria
ever believ'd, even in his younger Years, before he was throughly instructed in Christianity, that Christ was really
eternal,
it is not certain: Because the Epithet
eternal
in the former Passage cited from him does not always denote a real Eternity, and may belong to the Father and not to the Son; and if
Clement
did once call him the
eternal Light
in a Poem, the Latitude of such Writings, especially of that romantick Piece ascrib'd to him, into which this Phrase is inserted, still more plainly forbids us to draw any such settled Conclusion from it: Especially when he elsewhere most plainly said, he was the
first created Wisdom of God
; and in another Work, directly
depress'd him into the Rank of a Creature
; as we have already seen. So that unless we believe such Authors had a Fancy that a common
Creature,
or the World it self, might be
co-eternal to its Creator,
we must not quote them for the Son's proper Co-eternity to his Father. And as to the seemingly most express Testimonies of
Eusebius,
who calls the Generation of the Son
eternal,
and says the Son was
always,
and
beginningless,
and at
all Times,
with the Father; that he was elder than all
Time,
and all
Ages; before,
and
still before all Ages
; that he subsisted
from endless Ages,
or rather
before all Ages
; that he was
before all
; was the
ancientest Being of all Time and of all Ages
; that he reign'd with his Father
from beginningless Ages
; and that of the P
esbyters and Deacons of
Alexandria,
that God begat him
before eternal Times
; they here, according to the ancient Stile, denote no more than that he was
before the World began
; as we are fully assured by many other clearer and plainer Passages of the same Authors, wherein they directly and absolutely deny the Son's Co-eternity with the Father notwithstanding; as we shall see hereafter.
And as to some other of the Testimonies, omitted in this Sum of the Evidence, they are so little to the Purpose, that the insisting on them shews how scarce the Proofs are on that Side.
Vid. Jud. v. 6.
To conclude this Head: As the
Greek
Language has three Ways of Speaking, which are sometimes rendred
eternal
; the first
, or
, or
, or
The second,
And the third,
The first of which does seldom or never signify a proper Eternity; the second not always; and the third, and that alone, always does so; 'tis very remarkable that the Bible and Apostolical Fathers never, in this Case of the Antiquity of the Son, use any but the first; none of those before the Council of
Nice
more than the first, and very rarely the second; while
Athanasius
and his Followers, and none before them, directly ventur'd on the third Way of Speaking, and called the Son
Co-eternal.
Which how it cou'd happen, if the proper
Co eternity
of the Son to the Father were then all along the known Doctrine of Christianity, I do by no Means understand. Briefly, in the fourth Century we find this Co-eternity plainly asserted; we find obscure Intimations about a subtile Sort of Eternity in the third and latter Part of the second; but in the former Part of the second, and the first Century we lose all certain Footsteps of any Eternity whatsoever: Which Observation renders this Evidence for the
Co-eternity,
even tho' we had no opposite Evidence to weigh on the other Side, exceeding weak and precarious.
But then, as to the original Evidence against this
Co-eternity
of the Son, and for his
voluntary Generation
or
Creation
by the Power of the Father, before the World began, the Sum of it is as follows.
That the Son was not an underiv'd, unoriginated, independent and, in that Sense, an Eternal Being, but truly derived from, and produced, or begotten by the Father, is the unanimous Voice of all Christian Antiquity, both in and after the Apostolical Age; and is not directly deny'd by any
Athanasian
at this Day. Now, how a confessedly deriv'd, produc'd, and begotten Being; an Only-begotten Son, should be really coeternal with his underiv'd, unbegotten, and necessarily-existing Author, Producer, and Father, I cannot possibly understand.
That the Son was also
voluntarily begotten
by the Power of the Father, we have the plain and numerous Testimonies of the Apostles themselves in their Constitutions, of
Ignatius,
of the Author of the Recognitions of
Clement,
of
Justin Martyr,
of
Tatian,
of
Tertullian,
of
Novatian,
of
Lactantius,
of
Eusebius,
and of the Presbyters and Deacons of
Alexandria
; without the least Syllable, that any one Christian thought of his being deriv'd from the Father, as the Moderns pretend, by
Necessity of Nature.
That he was also
created
by God the Father, is also most evident in all Sacred and Christian Antiquity. This Doctrine begins from
Solomon
in the Old Testament, as explain'd by the Christian Revelation; and is continued by the Son of
Sirach,
and
Philo
the Jew, to the Writers of the New Testament,
Peter, Paul, John, Hermas
; the Apostles in general, in their Constitutions; all these in the first Century: Thence it passes down to
Ignatius,
to the Author of the Recognitions of
Clement,
to
Justin Martyr, Melito, Tatian,
and
Athenagoras,
in the secon'd Century: And from all these it comes down to
Clement
of
Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Gregory
of
Neocoesarea, Novatian, Cyprian, Dionysius
of
Alexandria, Theognostus,
and
Methodius,
in the 3d Century; to
Lactantius
and
Eusebius,
and to the
Alexandrian
Presbyters and Deacons, nay, even to
Athanasius
himself in the fourth Century; and this, so far as we know, without any one Person's excepting against the Word
Created,
as improper, 'till
Athanasius
: without any one's asserting that the Son was
uncreated,
till he did it: and with the direct Assertion of several, that he was a
Creature,
a Being
made
by the Father; tho' vastly superior to all other Creatures or Beings made by him.
That the
voluntary Generation
or
Creation
of the Son, (for I take them to mean the same Thing) was a little before the Creation of the World also, is the only natural Import of almost all, and the direct Assertion of some of the Testimonies; without the Contradiction of any one Christian Writer also, that I know of, till the fourth Century, or the Days of
Athanasius.
That the Body of the Church, even in the Beginning of the fourth Century, nay, even at and some Years after the Council of
Nice
it self, knew nothing of any real Eternity of the Son; nor deny'd that he was a Being begotten or created by the Will and Power of God, a little before the Beginning of the World, is very plain from the Testimonies here produc'd. So that 'tis hard to say what original Evidence the real Trinitarians have gone upon, when they have so long made the World believe that the Son is truly
Coeternal
with the Father; and this as a prime Article establish'd at the Council of
Nice,
nay, as a fundamental Doctrine of Christianity it self; since, whatever Authority there may be for the
potential
or
metaphysick,
there seems to be directly none at all for this
real Coeternity,
or proper
eternal Generation,
'till a good while after the Council of
Nice.
Nor would the great and learned
Eusebius,
when he wrote by the Direction of the Council of
Constantinople,
and several Years after that of
Nice,
have ventur'd openly to charge
Marcellus
with Heresy, for saying that Christ was
eternal,
if that his Eternity had been the known Determination of the Council of
Nice,
or indeed the known Doctrine of the Church, either in that or in the foregoing Ages of the Gospel.
That this Coeternity of the Son is a very strange Doctrine to such as have the Unity of God for the Foundation of their Religion; such as all the Patriarchs, the Jews, and the Christians ever had, will be granted by all. That therefore there was a great Occasion for a clear and express Declaration of this Eternity of the Son, if it were true, is very evident: while yet neither the Scriptures, nor the Apostolical Constitutions, nor any ancient Creeds whatsoever, have any one such clear Declaration; nay, have many such clear Declarations concerning One only true or eternal God,
Rom. I. 20 1 Tim. 1.17.
One only
eternal Power and Godhead,
One only
King of Ages, or eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,
as supposes the contrary; especially while they add to those Declarations, that this One God is no other than the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus all the old Creeds or Confessions of Faith do begin with this as the first Doctrine of Christianity,
I believe in One God the Father
; or as the Baptismal Creed itself expresses it,
Constitut. 7.41.
I believe in One unbegotten Being, the only true God Almighty, the Father of Christ
; while what they say of the Son has not the least Intimation of either his Coequality or Coeternity, but the contrary; which is particularly the Case of the original Creed beforemention'd, where the Article concerning the Son begins thus:
I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, the First-born of the whole Creation; who, before the Ages, was begotten by the good Pleasure of the Father
; which seems to me an authentick, a sacred, and an undeniable Testimony against any real Coeternity of the Son to the Father.
Nor indeed, My Lord, are the Expressions all along used in the foregoing Collection of Texts and Testimonies capable of any fair Sense, consistent with this Coeternity, since many of them directly confute the same. Thus the Apostolical Constitutions affirm, That God the Father is
eternally One only
; or,
The Only Eternal Being
: That those are Hereticks who say [as do the
Trinitarians
in Effect] that God is
three,
or
manifold
; or that there are
three Gods, coeternal with one another.
The Apostles
Paul
and
John,
by calling Christ the
First-born of the whole Creation,
and the
Beginning of the Creation of God,
do in the most plain, usual, and obvious Sense of the Words, and as they were understood in the first Ages; [especially, if we consider the Allusion these Passages bear to the Text in the
Proverbs,
as then understood by all,
The Lord created me, the Beginning of his Ways
] directly affirm that Christ was
the first Being God created.
The Author to the
Hebrews
directly affirms, that God
made
Christ; which in the fourth Century was reckon'd so heterodox, that this Epistle was in some Places seldom read in publick, and that partly out of the Dread of such an Expression; as
Philastrius
assures us.
De Haeret. C. 41.
St.
Peter
is also introduc'd in that very ancient Book called The
Preaching
of
Peter,
as declaring that God
made
his first-born Son. St.
Hermas
directly asserts, that the Holy Spirit, which was placed in a Body, or the Word of God incarnate, was
created
the first of all Beings. The Apostolical Constitutions enjoin us to dedicate our selves to the
eternal God,
not through his
coeternal Word,
as the
Athanasians
would certainly have said; but through
that Word which was in the Beginning
; as the greatest Antiquity of the Son then known in the Church.
Ignatius,
and the Author of the Recognitions of
Clement,
assure us, that the very
Substance
of our Saviour was not the
unbegotten Substance
of the Father, but was it self begotten by the Divine Power. The Author of the Recognitions affirms, that Christ was himself a
made Being
; and that the Will of God
preceded
his Generation.
Justin Martyr,
who always indeed avoided those Expressions himself, of a
Creature
and a
made Being,
did not yet in the least find Fault with
Trypho
the Jew, when he declar'd that he understood that both he, and the Scriptures quoted by him, meant that the God of the
Jews made
our Lord and God Christ Jesus. Nor does this
Justin,
among his numerous Expressions concerning the Son's praeexisting State, of which he is so very full, ever venture to say any thing that looks like his real Coeternity with the Father.
Tertullian,
who yet favour'd the Son's metapyhysick Eternity as much as any, directly affirms there was a Time
when God was not a Father, and had not a Son. Clement of Alexandria,
whatever he had said in his younger Years, did at last own that Christ was the
first created Wisdom of God
; and was to be reckon'd as a
Creature. Origen
did also plainly and clearly own, that he was one of the Creatures of God, tho' the ancientest of 'em all; even so ancient, that he cared not to assign the Date of his first Generation or Creation; and the Reason seems to have been, that he had a Fancy that the World it self, though created by God, might possibly be coeternal with its Creator.
Gregory
of
Naeocaesarea
did also directly profess that Christ was a
Creature,
or a
Being made
by God.
Novatian
also, or the acute but unknown Author of the Book concerning the
Trinity,
affirms that God the Father is the
only eternal God,
to whom no other Being can be so much as compar'd; that the Son was then begotten when
it pleased the Father
; who, and who alone, was
prior
to him; and that as a necessary Consequence from his being his Father.
Dionysius
of
Alexandria
directly affirms Christ to have been a
Creature
; and supposes not only a Difference of the Subsistences of the Father and Son, but a Diversity of
Substance,
an Inferiority of
Power,
and a Difference of
Glory
; so that he, as well as many others, seems not to have had so much as a Notion of a metaphysick Eternity.
Theognostus
also declar'd, that the Son was a
Creature. Lactantius
is express for the Generation or Creation of the Son, a little before the World was made.
The great
Eusebius,
whom the
Athanasians
used sometimes to hale over to their Party, as if he believ'd the
Coeternity
of the Son, is so fully understood, since the later Publication of some of his Works long lost, that he is now generally allowed, as he was in his own Age, to be clearly against it. Nor is there Room for any Dispute, since he directly says, the Father was
prior,
nay,
a great deal prior
to the Son; and charg'd
Marcellus,
as introducing an Heretical Notion, when he asserted that the Son was
,
Eternal,
which Assertion he directly took to be the same as
Unbegotten
; of all which Opinions of
Eusebius
the very learned
Monfaucon
has given so full an Account, in his Preliminaries to
Eusebius
's Psalms, that I reckon none of the truly Learned will any more pretend he was an
Athanasian.
Nor will any one doubt of the Opinion of many of the Bishops in the
East
and in
Egypt
; hardly indeed of
Alexander
of
Alexandria,
and of the Council of
Nice
's own Opinion against the proper Coeternity,
Collection of ancient Monuments by me.
who carefully peruses the original Records here and elsewhere publish'd relating to that Age; which yet was generally dispos'd to advance the Dignity and Antiquity of the Son as much as possible. I now proceed to the other Point, the Coeternity of the Holy Spirit.
The Texts and Testimonies which prove that the Holy Spirit was created or made, under the Father, by the Son, before the World began; and against his Coeternity.
Paul]
CHRIST, through
the eternal [or Holy] Spirit, [so twelve or thirteen of the Copies read of the Text] offer'd himself, without Spot, to God.
Peter] 1. Pet. 1.11.
The Spirit of Christ.
Apostles.] Constitut. vi. 11.
One God, the Father of One Son, not of many; the Maker of One Comforter by Christ.
vii. 41.
I am also to be baptized unto the Holy Ghost, that is the Comforter; who wrought in all the Saints from the Beginning of the World.
Justin] Apol. i §. 46.
The Spirit spake in the Prophets, as from the Divine Word that moved them.
Ibid. §. 77.
Plato
read, that it was said by
Moses,
that the Spirit of God moved on the Face of the Waters. He assigns the third Place to the Spirit that is said to have moved on the Water, when he says, But the third Sort of Offices belong to the third Person.
Athenagoras] Legat. §. 6.
All Things are held together by that Spirit, which is derived from him.
Theophilus
of
Antioch] Ad Antotyc. i. p. 72.
He begat him, together with his Wisdom, and sent him out before the Beginning of the World.—This Person then, being the Spirit of God, and the Origin of Things, and Wisdom, and the Power of the Most High, descended upon the Prophets, and by them spake what concern'd the making of the World, and all other Things. For the Prophets were not in Being when the World was made; but that Wisdom which was in him, which was the Wisdom of God, and his Holy Word, which is always present with him,
&c.
Irenaeus] i. 19.
By his Word and Spirit he makes, and orders, and governs all Things.
iv. 17.
There do minister to the Father his own Offspring, and his own Figuration; that is, the Son, and Holy Spirit; his Word, and Wisdom.
37.
There are ever present with God his Word and Wisdom, the Son and Spirit; by whom, and in whom he made all Things, freely and spontaneously; to whom also he spake, saying, Let us make Man after our Image, and after our Likeness.
Ibid,
And that Wisdom, which is the Spirit, was with God before the intire Constitution of Things, he says by
Solomon
: God, by Wisdom, hath founded the Earth, by Prudence hath he prepared the Heaven. By his understanding the Abysses brake forth, and the Clouds dropped down Dew. And again, the Lord Created me the Beginning of his Ways, for his Works; before the World he founded me: In the Beginning, before he made the Earth; before the Fountains of Waters came, before the Mountains were fastened: He begat me before all the Hills,
&c.
v. 6.
Man was made by the Hands of the Father;
i. e.
by the Son, and Holy Spirit, after the Likeness of God.
Author of the Recognations
] 1. §. 69.
We say the Son of God is the only begotten Being, derived from no other Origin; but begotten or born of Him after an ineffable Manner. In like Manner do we speak of the Comforter.
iii. 11.
Whereas then there is one Unbegotten Being, and one Begotten, the Holy Spirit cannot be called a Son, nor the First-begotten: For he was
made
by a Being that was
himself made.
But he is recounted in Subordination to the Father and the Son, as the first perfect Effect of the Power of the second Being.
Tertull.] Adv. Prax.
I suppose the Spirit is deriv'd from no other Origin than from the Father, by the Son.
Origen.] Comment.
in
Joan. p. 56, 57, 58.
We must enquire whether it follows from this Place, which affirms, that
all Things were made by the Word,
that the Holy Spirit was made by him also. For I suppose he that says, The Holy Spirit is a Being made, and admits of this Assertion, that
all Things were made by the Word,
must of Necessity grant, that the Holy Spirit was made by him; and that, by Consequence, [
N.B.
] the Word was more ancient than he. But he that will not admit that the Holy Spirit was made by Christ, must, by Consequence, say he is Unbegotten; if he, withal, judges what is said in the Gospel to be true.—We who are perswaded that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three Substances, and do believe there is nothing Unbegotten but the Father, do admit this Notion as most agreeable to Piety and Truth; that when all Things are said to be made by the Word, the Holy Spirit is the most honourable, and first in Order of those Beings which the Father made by Christ,
&c.
Eusebius] De Eccles. Theolog. iii. 6.
Now the Son alone is honour'd with the Paternal Divinity, and has the Power of making, and creating, all Things that are made, visible and invisible, and even is the Producer of the Existence of the Spirit, the Comforter himself. For all Things were made by him; and without him not one Thing was made. And by him were all Things created, both those in Heaven, and those on Earth; whether they be visible, or invisible.—Now the Son is the only begotten God, who is in the Bosom of the Father. But the Spirit, the Comforter, is neither God, nor the Son [of God] because he did not receive his Generation from the Father, in the same Manner as did the Son; but is one of those Beings which were made by the Son. For all Things were made by him; and without him not one Thing was made. These are then the Mysteries of the Catholick and Holy Church, deliver'd by the Divine Oracles; while
Marcelius,
confounding all Things,—introduces one Substance, with three Persons, and three Names therein; saying, that God, and the Word, which is in him, and the Holy Spirit are all one.
These, my Lord, are the chief among the Primitive Texts and Testimonies concerning the Origin of the Holy Spirit, which are so much on one Side, even till long after the Council of
Nice,
that I have not found it necessary to divide them under two Heads, as I did those of the Son. Since the only valuable Testimony that may seem to favour the real Eternity of the Holy Spirit, which is that in the Epistle to the
Hebrews,
of the
eternal Spirit,
uses only the Word
, which seldom or never signifies a proper Eternity; since so many of the Copies have not there even that Epithet, but the usual one of
Holy
instead of
Eternal
Spirit; and since 'tis not certain that this Place belongs to the third Person at all, but perhaps, to the Divine Nature or Word it self in Christ;
Bull. Defens. Fid. Nicaen. Sect. i. §. 5.
which
Grotius
and Bishop
Bull
have shewed several Times to have the Character of an
Holy Spirit.
So that I have no Occasion here to sum up the Evidence on both Sides at all, as to the Co-eternity of the Holy Spirit to the Father, or even as to his equal Antiquity with the Son; for either of which there is not, that I know of, one proper or direct Testimony sacred or primitive, now extant, in the Records of the Christian Church, till long after the Council of
Nice,
in the latter Days of
Athanasius
himself.
And now, My Lord, I beg that your Lordship will please soberly to review the Evidence that is here produc'd before you and the World; and will suppose your self in the High Court of Chancery, in the same Capacity as your Noble Father formerly presided there; and will put the Case, that your Lordship had an exactly parallel Cause before you; that the Witnesses were as numerous and as plain on each Side as these here produc'd appear to be, and no otherwise; and that your Lordship were oblig'd to proceed exactly,
secundum allegata & probata,
which is the known Rule of that and all other like Courts of Justice and Equity among us: And I thereupon Appeal to Your Lordship, supposing you had no Byass on either Side, as no upright Judge ought to have, whether you could possibly, with a safe Conscience, determine on the Side representing the
Athanasians?
Whether, in a Point where the general Light of Nature and common Sense is so strong against the
Athanasian
Doctrine; the Testimonies for it comparatively so few, and so uncertain; and those against it so very many and so very pregnant; whether, I say, your Lordship could possibly, with a safe Conscience, pronounce from this Evidence, that the Son of God and his Holy Spirit are strictly Co-eternal to the Supreme God the Father, as the
Athanasians
affirm? Or whether you would not be forced to declare, in Agreement with the Voice of Natural, the Patriarchal, the Jewish, and the original Christian Religion, that there is but one
eternal Being,
one
eternal God
; and that he is no other than the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And here, My Lord, give me Leave to wish, heartily to wish, that these ancient Texts and Testimonies, thus plainly produc'd before you in this one important Article, might so far influence Your Lordship, as to engage you to endeavour that the same Method might be taken in the other Branches of this and all other the like Controversies among Christians: That Your Lordship, who has had long so considerable a Hand in the publick Management of Affairs, Sacred and Ecclesiastical, as well as Temporal and Civil, in this Nation; might be a happy Means of bringing all the Parts of our old genuine Christianity to such a fair, open, and impartial Examination, as I have here propos'd, and endeavour'd to exemplify in these Papers; that so, Party, Faction, and Prejudice laid aside, all honest and sober Christians might, in a peaceable Manner, unite together into such
Societies, for promoting Primitive Christianity,
as has been formerly exemplify'd at my House; or, however, might jointly prosecute the same pious Designs for the Discovery and Restoration of the Pure and Holy Religion of our Saviour Christ, as it was
once deliver'd to the Saints,
by such other Christian Methods as they should judge might better tend to the same excellent End.
It has hitherto been Your Lordship's great Glory to have supported and encourag'd that Church of
England
in which you was educated; and the World has great Reason to believe, by your daily religious Attendance on the Church's Liturgy at Home; as well as by your alike devout weekly Attendance on the same publick Service at Church; either of which, in our Age, I am sorry to say it, is but too uncommon in Persons of your Lordship's Quality; that you are in earnest in such your Support and Encouragement thereof; or that you do it because you believe this Church to be truly agreeable to the Primitive State of the Gospel. Would it not therefore, My Lord, be still more highly honourable for your Lordship, to be a Means of making a more careful Review of our Doctrine, Worship, Practice, and Discipline? That so the same Church, which has long been the Glory and Bulwark of the Protestant Religion, even in it's present imperfect State, may first of all the rest be exactly conform'd to the Perfection of the Christian Settlement; and so may be the great Exemplar and Pattern of all the other Churches, as they become gradually sensible of the Necessity of such a farther Reformation? All the modern Churches, and among them our own, are, to be sure, very unwilling to allow that they stand in any great Need of a farther Reformation. But as your Lordship will easily observe, that the learned Members of every one of these Modern Churches declare such a farther Reformation to be necessary in all other Churches but their own; so am I very sure that the truly Learned and Impartial of every one of them, who have carefully compar'd the present Settlements with that of the first three Centuries of Christianity, do
privately know,
how little soever they may
publickly confess
that every one of the present Churches, without Exception, do stand in no small Need of such a farther Reformation. I beg Leave, my Lord, to conclude here very nearly in the Words with which I formerly ended my fourth Volume of
Primitive Christianity Reviv'd.
I do here solemnly appeal, as to the Truth and Fairness of my Quotations and Assertions, here and elsewhere, to Archbishop
Wake,
Bishop
Hooper,
Bishop
Smalridge,
Bishop
Potter,
Bishop
Chandler,
L. C. J.
King,
Sir
Isaac Newton,
Dr.
Bentley,
Dr.
Whitby,
Dr.
Clarke,
Dr.
Hare,
Dr.
Marshal,
Dr.
Waterland,
Mr.
Wall,
Mr.
Gale,
Mr.
Reeves,
and the other great Masters of Primitive Antiquity; and claim it as the Right of Truth and Religion, that they speak their Minds fairly and fully,
as they will answer it to our common Lord another Day,
when no political, prudential, or temporal Regards, will be admitted against the
plain Demands of Conscience and Sincerity.
And I humbly move those in Authority, that they procure this whole Matter to be impartially and
publickly
examin'd, as the other Popish Doctrines were at the Beginning of the Reformation; and, if the common Opinions appear not only destitute of, but contrary to the Evidence of Scripture and the first Centuries,
as I am fully perswaded they will,
that then Care be taken to cast them out of the Church; and to amend and reform all our publick Offices, Creeds, and Articles, and reduce them all to the Primitive Standards. I also humbly move that, in Order to these and the like Amendments and Improvements in our Ecclesiastical Establishment, the Pretensions of that wonderful Book still extant, the
Apostolical Constitutions,
be examin'd, with the like Care, and in the same publick Manner: And, so far as it shall appear to be a genuine, uncorrupted, Apostolical Work by
Clemens Romanus,
with the Addition of the most authentick original Jewish and Gentile publick Liturgies;
as I am fully perswaded it will
; it may then be allow'd its due Weight in the Amendment of the Doctrine, Discipline, Government, Worship, and Canons of the Church; or rather, that it may intirely be admitted as an original Rule and Standard in those Matters; as all Christians, who believe them genuine, and, [for the Main] uncorrupt, are immediately oblig'd to do: especially since the leaving these Constitutions, and setting up other Doctrines and Orders in their stead, seem to have been the very Causes of almost all the Anti-christian Corruptions of these last 1200 or 1300 Years together. But if all these my honest and well-meant Endeavours and Desires be rejected; and instead of any Reformation, I my self be traduc'd, and abus'd, and persecuted, I can only acquiesce in the Sense of having sincerely, with some Trouble and Hazard to my self in this World, discharg'd my Duty; and patiently wait for my Reward in that which is to come. For as to those Anathema's, or Names of Distinction and Reproach, which in this Case I must expect, I value them not at all: As having long accustom'd my self to govern both my
Belief
and my
Life
by the
original Standards of Christianity,
without Regard to the contrary Opinions and Practices of these
later and corrupter
Ages: And so,
LIBERAVI ANIMAM MEAM.
I am, My Lord, with great Respect,
Your Lordship's most humble and obedient Servant, Will. Whiston.
July 10, 1719.
BOOKS printed for
J. Senex
in
Salisbury-Court,
and
W. Taylor
at the
Ship
in
Pater-noster-Row.
I. AN humble and serious Address to the Princes and States of
Europe,
to admit, or at least openly to tolerate the Christian Religion in their Dominions. Containing, 1. A Demonstration that none of them do, properly speaking, admit or openly tolerate the Christian Religion in their Dominions at this Day. 2. The true Occasions why it is not admitted or openly tolerated by them. 3. Some Reasons why they ought to admit, or at least openly tolerate this Religion. 4. An earnest Address to the several European Princes and States, grounded upon the Premises, for the Admission, or at least the open Toleration of the same Christian Religion in their Dominions.
II. A Letter of Thanks to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of
London,
for his late Letter to his Clergy, against the Use of new Forms of Doxology,
&c.
III. A second Letter to the Right Reverend the Lord Biship of
London,
concerning the Pimitive Doxologies, wherein the
Seasonable Review
of his Account of them is consider'd.
IV. Scripture Politicks: Or, an impartial Account of the Origin and Measures of Government Ecclesiastical and Civil; taken out of the Books of the Old and New Testament: With a Postscript relating to the Report of the Committee of Convocation, about the Bishop of
Bangor
's Preservative and Sermon before the King; to which is subjoin'd, The Supposal: Or a new Scheme of Government, first publish'd,
A.D.
1712, and now re-printed.
All by the Reverend Mr.
William Whiston, M.A.
sometime Professor of the Mathematicks in the University of
Cambridge.