kill Jesus, "because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God: Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.' "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself "." "Both," says the learned and judicious Bishop Pearson, "the same life, both in themselves, both in the same degree, as the one, so the other, but only with this difference, the Father giveth it, and the Son receiveth it. We must not therefore so far endeavour to involve ourselves in the darkness of this mystery, as to deny that glory which is clearly due unto the Father, whose pre-eminence

Ισος τοιγαρουν κατα τον της ουσίας λογον υπαρχων ὁ γιος τῳ Πατρι, και όμοιος κατα παντα, μειζονα αυτον φησιν ως αναρχον, εχων αρχην κατα μονον το εξ ου, ει και συνδρομον αυτῳ την υπαρξιν εχει. Cyril. Alex. Thesaur. cap. 11.

Bishop Pearson, in a learned note, vol. ii. p. 30, 31, has collected much valuable testimony to the same effect out of the works of the ancient fathers. See also the same writer, Art. ii. sect. iii. p. 217-219. Waterland says, "The Son never pretended to an equality with the Father in respect of his original." Vindication of Christ's Divinity, Ques. ii. And elsewhere (Ques. xi.) he speaks of the " äv0evria, the prerogative, authority, supremacy of the Father, or first Person."

undeniably consisteth in this, that he is God, not of any other, but of himself, and that there is no other person who is God, but is God of him. It is no diminution to the Son to say he is from another, for his very name imports as much, but it were a diminution to the Father to speak so of him: and there must be some pre-eminence, where there is place for derogation. What the Father is, he is from none; what the Son is, he is from him: what the first is, he giveth; what the second is, he receiveth. The. first is a Father indeed by reason of his Son, but he is not God by reason of him; whereas the Son is not so only in regard of the Father, but also God by reason of the same."

Q. What necessity is there to dwell on this doctrine of the generation of the Son?

A. The right understanding of this point is most essential and absolutely necessary, to prevent our falling into the heresy of acknowledging more Gods than one: which we should be doing, if we called the Father and the Son each God of himself". We should therefore carefully bear in mind, that the Father alone is from none;

t Pearson, Art. i. p. 60, 61. See also St. Augustin's Comment on the same passage. (John v. 19.) vol. ix. Tract xx. p. 73.

u

Novatian. De Trinit. cap. xxxi. beginning with the words, "Si enim natus non fuisset," &c.

God of himself. The Son from him; God of God. There is one fountain head of the divinity, which is God the Father. The stream which is derived therefrom, is the divine essence of the Son".

Q. When you use the word God generally, do you intend thereby to speak only of God the Father, or do you include the idea of God the Father and God the Son?

A. We answer with Bishop Bull thus. "Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho, expressly says, that the Father is to the Son airioV Tov Evaι, i. e. the cause or source of his existence. Hence it was the custom of Justin Martyr and the other Ante-Nicene fathers, to call God the Father in a distinguishing manner, sometimes God absolutely, sometimes the one very God, sometimes the God and Father of all, because the Father alone is God of Him

* "Est Deus Pater solus originem nesciens." Novatian. De Trin. cap. 31.

y Αρχη Υιου αχρονος, ακαταληπτος. Αναρχος ο Πατήρ, πηγη του της δικαιοσυνης ποταμου, του μονογενους ο Πατηρ, ὁ γεννησας αυτον, 8 , καθώς οιδεν αυτος μόνος. St. Cyril. Catech. xi. § 7. p. 145. "The ancient Doctors of the Church," says Bishop Pearson, "have not stuck to call the Father the origin, the cause, the author, the root, the fountain, and the head of the Son, or the whole divinity." Exposit. Art. i. p. 63.

1 Cor. viii. 4. Eph. iv. 6. John xvii. 3.

self, the Son only by derivation from him, God of God. For which reason, the writers just alluded to, as often as they speak of the Father and the Son together, attribute the name of God to the Father alone, designating the second person in the Trinity by the titles of God the Son, or the Saviour, or Lord, or some other similar appellation. To the same effect, Tertullian expresses himself very excellently. " I will follow," he says, "the Apostle: if the Father and Son are to be named together, I will call the Father alone God, and Jesus Christ Lord. On other occasions, when Christ is spoken of by himself, I will not hesitate to call him God. As it is written, from whom is Christ, God over all, blessed for evermore ".' In this same way might call a ray of the sun by itself the sun. But when speaking expressly of the sun, from which the ray proceeded, I would then mark the distinction, and not use that expression with reference to the ray."

• Tertullian. Adv. Prax. cap. xiii.

J Romans ix. 5.

I

• Bulli. Def. Fid. Nic. sect. iv. cap. i. § 2. Vid. quoq. § vi. ejusdem sect. and cap. "Veteres Deum Patrem, eo quod principium, causa, auctor et fons Filii sit, unum Illum et solum Deum appellare non sunt veriti. Sic enim ipsi Patres Nicœni exordiuntur suum symbolum, Credimus in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, &c.' Deinde subjungunt, Et in unum

F

.

Q. In what texts of Scripture is God called. our Father?

66

"There is one

God, and Father of all." Thou, O Lord, art our Father." "To us there is but one God the Father." "Jesus said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth." And again, " I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God."

Q. In what texts of Scripture is God called Father, with reference only to his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ?

A. St. Paul, in attestation of the truth of what he advanced, said, "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not." He said again, "Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father." And again, "The God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another, that ye may with

Jesum Christum, Deum de Deo.' Et magnus Athanasius, quo nemo melius intellexit Synodi Nicænæ mentem ac sententiam, in oratione contra Sabellii Gregales haud longe ab initio, concedit Patrem jure dici μονον Θεον, solum Deum, οτι μόνος αγεννητος και μόνος πηγη Θεότητος, quod solus ingenitus sit, et solus fons Deitatis."" Vid. quoq. Waterland, Ans. to Ques. at Exon. Query i.

f Eph. iv. 16. Isaiah xliii. 16. 1 Cor. viii. 6. Matt. xi. 25. John-xx. 17, &c.