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"is therefore one God the Father, and there is none "other besides him; by which he does not mean to ex"clude the Son, but another God. Now the Son is not "another from the Father. Furthermore, do but observe "the drift and tendency of this kind of expressions, and you will find, for the most part, that they concern only "the makers and worshippers of idols; that the divine "unity may exclude the multitude of false gods, while it "includes the Son; who, inasmuch as he is undivided " and inseparable from the Father, is to be understood as implied in the Father, though he be not particularly "named. Farther; had he named the Son in this case, "it had been tantamount to separating him from himself: "suppose he had said, There is none other besides me, "except my Son; he would in effect have declared him to "be another, (or aliene,) by excepting him in that manner "out of others. Suppose the sun to say, I am the sun, "and there is not another besides me, except my own "ray; would not you have marked the impertinence; as "if the ray were not to be reckoned to the sun, as in"cluded in it?" Here you see plainly what Tertullian means; namely, that the Son is so much one with the Father, that he cannot be supposed to be excluded among other deities: he is not another, but the same God with the Father and yet this he asserts in a dispute against Praxeas, one of the same principles, in the main, with Noetus and Sabellius: so careful was he not to run things into the opposite extreme. He takes care so to assert the Son to be the same God with the Father, as not to make him the same Person: and on the other hand, while he maintains the distinction of Persons, he does not forget to keep up the true Catholic doctrine of the unity of sub

stance.

I shall next cite Athenagoras: this learned and ju

sole deputetur. Cap. xviii. p. 510. Compare Irenæus, 1. iv. c. 6. p. 234, 235. Non ergo alius erat qui cognoscebatur, et alius qui dicebat nemo cognoscit Putrem, sed unus et idem, omnia subjiciente ei Patre, et ab omnibus accipiens testimonium quoniam vere homo, et quoniam vere Deus.

dicious writer, having proved at large that there is but one God, the Father, and that the Christians acknowledged no other God; yet immediately adds, y vočμev yàp xaî viov Tou sou, cap. ix. p. 37. as much as to say, we comprehend and include the Son in that one God; we are always to be understood with this reserve, or z salvo, to the divinity of the Son; as does clearly appear from what follows in the same chapter, and in the next to it, where the Son is called a the Mind and Word of the Father, and declared to be buncreated and eternal. And in d another place he very plainly comprehends both in the one God. To avoid prolixity, I shall content myself with referring only to the passages in others of the Ante-Nicene writers, leaving you to consult them at your leisure, if you can make any doubt of so clear a case. As to the Post-Nicene Fathers, Athanasius, Basil, the Gregories, Jerom, Austin, Chrysostom, &c. their sentiments are well known in the present point; and how they do not only reject, but abhor the principles which you are endeavouring to revive. However, I shall transcribe one passage out of Athanasius, part whereof has been given above, which may serve as a comment upon the Catholics which went before him, whose sentiments he was perfectly well acquainted with, and had thoroughly imbibed.

"When the prophet, speaking of the creation, saith, "Which alone spreadeth out the heavens," Job. ix. 8. and when God says, "I alone stretch forth the heavens," Isa.

y Parallel to which is that in Athanasius, Orat. iii. p. 558. Νοεῖται δὲ σὺν τῷ μόνῳ καὶ ὁ υἱός. And again: Ἐν τῷ ἑνὶ, καὶ μόνῳ, καὶ πρώτῳ συνὼν νοεῖται ὁ Xoyos. See Tertull. contr. Prax. c. 19.

z Salvo enim filio, recte unicum Deum potest determinasse cujus est Filius. Tertull. adv. Prax. c. 18.

* Νᾶς καὶ λόγος το πατρός. Cap. x. p. 39.

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ὁ Θεὸν ἄγοντες τὸν ποιητὴν τ δε τοῦ παντὸς καὶ τὸν παρ αὐτῷ λόγον. P. 122. Compare p. 40.

€ Clemens Alexandr. p. 129. 135. 142. Origen. contr. Cels. 1. viii. p. 386. et alibi. Hippolytus contr. Noet. passim. Novatian. c. 3. Dionysius Romanus, apud Athanas. Dionysius Alexand. apud Athanasium, p. 254.

f Athanas. Orat. 3. contr. Arian, p. 558.

"xliv. 24. it is very manifest to every man, that in him, "who is said to be alone, the Word of that alone is also "signified, in whom all things were made, and without "whom nothing was made. If therefore the heavens "were made by the Word, and yet God says, I alone; "and the Son, by whom the heavens were made, is un"derstood to have been with the alone God; for the same 66 reason also, if it be said, one God, and I alone, and I the first, we are undoubtedly to understand, that in the one, "alone, and first, is comprehended the Word, as efful

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gency, áñаúуaσμa, is implied in light." Athanasius's reasoning in this passage is so like & Tertullian's upon the same head, that one might think he had borrowed it from him. But indeed it is so entirely conformable to the true and genuine sentiments of the Catholics before him, that it may justly pass for the general sense of all.

To confirm what hath been said, I shall use one argument more, before I pass on to another query; such as, if carefully considered, may be sufficient to silence all farther doubt or scruple, with regard to the sense of the Ante-Nicene writers.

It is well known, that they ever looked upon the Son, as the God of the Jews, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Many particular testimonies may be cited in proof of the fact, which, for brevity sake, I pass over; and proceed to a more general proof drawn from their citing of texts out of the Old Testament, in which the God of the Jews is certainly spoken of; and applying them to the Person of Christ, the second Person of the ever blessed Trinity.

❝h They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in "the garden-And the Lord God called unto Adam," &c. Gen. iii. 8, 9.

"i The Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I

g Tertull. contr. Prax. c. 19.

h Theophil. Antioch. p. 129. ed. Ox. Tertullian, adv. Prax. c. 16.

i Clem. Alex. Pædag. lib. i. c. 7. p. 131. Euseb. Demonstr. Ev. 1. v. c. 9. Eccl. Hist. I. i. c. 2.

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am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou "perfect," Gen. xvii. 1, 2.

❝k And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of "Mamre. The Lord said unto Abraham," &c. Gen.

xviii. 1, 13.

"The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah "brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven," Gen.

xix. 24.

"m And Abraham-stood before the Lord," &c. Gen. xix. 27.

"n And God said unto Abraham," &c. Gen. xxi. 12.

"。 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I "am the Lord God of Abraham thy Father, and the God "of Isaac," Gen. xxviii. 13.

"p I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the "pillar," &c. Gen. xxxi. 13.

"q And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, "and make there an altar to God, that appeared "unto thee," &c. Gen. xxxv. I.

"I God called unto him out of the bush. He said,"I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the "God of Jacob," &c. Exod. iii. 4, 6.

❝s And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM,

k Just. Mart. p. 213. Sylburg. ed. Novat. c. 26.

Euseb. Dem. E. 1. v. c. 9. Epist. Synod. Antioch.

Tertull. Prax. c. 16, 17. Labb. tom. i. p. 845.

1 Just. Mart. p. 215. Irenæus, 1. iii. c. 6. p. 180. Tertull. Prax. c. 13. 16. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. i. c. 2. Novat. c. 21. 26.

m Just. Mart. p. 216.

"Just. Mart. Dial. p. 162. ed. Jeb. Novat. c. 26.

Just. Mart. p. 218. Clem. Alex. Pæd. 1. i. c. 7. p. 131.

P Just. Mart. 218. Clem. Alex. Pæd. 1. i. c. 7. p. 132. Novat. c. 27. Euseb. Demon. Ev. 1. v. c. 10. Epist. Synod. Antioch. Labb. tom. i. p. 848.

9 Just. Mart. 218. Cyprian. Test. 1. ii. c. 6. p. 35. ed. Oxon.

Just. Mart. p. 220. Irenæus, 1. iii. c. 6. p. 180. 1. iv. c. 12. p. 241. 1. iv. c. 5. p. 232. Tertull. Prax. c. 16. Epist. Synod. Antioch. Labb. tom. i. p. 348. Origen. in Joh. p. 32.

Irenæus, ubi supra. That is, he must of consequence understand this of Christ as well as ver. 4. 8. 19. (See True Scripture Doctrine continued, p. 159, 160.) Tertull. adv. Prax. c. 17. Just. Mart. Apol. i. p. 123. Ox. ed. Euseb. contr. Marcel. 1. ii. c. 20, 21.

"The Lord God of your Fathers, the God of Abraham, "of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared," Exod. iii. 14, 16.

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"I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto "Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah, was I not known unto them," Exod. vi. 3. ❝u I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out " of the land of Egypt," Exod. xx. 2.

"God of Israel," Exod. xxiv. 10.

"y The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in "battle. The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory," Psalm xxiv. 8, 10.

❝z Be still, and know that I am God: I will be ex"alted," &c. Psal. xlvi. 10.

"a God is gone up with a shout, the Lord (Jehovah)" &c. Psalm xlvii. 5.

"b The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken"Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence," &c. Psal. 1. 1, 3.

"Let God arise, let his enemies," &c. "Sing unto "God, sing praises," &c. Psalm lxviii. 1, 4.

❝d In Judah is God known," &c. Psalm lxxvi. 1. "e God standeth in the congregation of the mighty;

"he judgeth among gods," Ps. lxxxii. 1.

"f The Lord reigneth," Psalm xcix. 1.

"8 Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust, and not

t Just. Mart. p. 278. Sylbur. edit.

u Clem. Alex. Pædag. 1. i. c. 7. p. 131.

* Euseb. Demonstr. Ev. 1. v. c. 18.

y Just. Mart. Dial. p. 197. Cyprian. adv. Jud. 1. ii. c. 49. p. 49, 50. Orig.

in Mat. p. 438. Euseb. in loc.

z Cyprian. adv. Jud. 1. ii. c. 6. p. 35.

a

Just. Martyr. Dial. p. 197.

b Iren. 1. iii. c. 6. p. 180.

Euseb. in Psal. xxiii. p. 91.

Cyprian. adv. Jud. 1. ii. c. 28. p. 48.-it. de

Bono Patient. p. 220. Euseb. in Psal. p. 209.

с

Cyprian, adv. Jud. 1. ii. c. 6. c. 28. p. 35, 49.

d Irenæus, 1. iii. c. 9. p. 184. 1. iv. c. 33. p. 273.

e Just. Mart. Dial. p. 277. Irenæus, 1. iii. c. 6. p. 180. Novat. de Trin.

c. 15. Cyprian. adv. Jud. 1. ii. c. 6. p. 35. Eus. in loc.

f Just. Mart. p. 224. Iren. 1. iv. c. 33. p. 274.

Irenæus, 1. iii. c. 10. P. 186.

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