LXXXIV. Some have denied the existence of God: some, the superintending care of divine Providence: some, the truth of Jewish and of Christian Revelation. But it does not follow from the objections of such persons, that either of these doctrines is unsupported by Argument and Fact. The error then, or the propriety of a Doctrine, does not rest either on the reluctance with which it is received on the one hand, or on the readiness with which it is adopted on the other. LXXXV. Formularies of Faith give general propositions, rather than particular explanations. Such explanations they leave for those, whose province it is to expound. The Creed, which contains the opinions of Athanasius, may be thus elucidated. 1. The Second, Twenty-eighth, and Forty-second Verses are to be taken in the same acceptation as the passage of St. Mark's Gospel, xvi. 16. on which they are grounded. The implied qualifications, which are admitted in the interpretation of the Gospel declarations, are to be admitted in the exposition of those clauses in the Creed. Do you ask, what those qualifications are? Weigh well these expressions; "Shall not the Judge "of all the earth do right?" (Gen. xviii. 25.) "Unto "whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required." (St. Luke, xii. 48.) And then, if you have right ideas of equity and mercy, and recollect that Man, as a rational Being, is responsible to God for the wilful neglect and wilful perversion of his Intellectual Talents, you will yourself answer that question. 2. The Tenth and Eight following Verses contain the Attributes of Deity: and they mean to say, that although such Attributes belong to each Person indi vidually, nevertheless from the identity of their nature, the identity of authority on which they act, the identity of design and end with which they exert those Attributes in the works of creation, providence, moral government, and redemption, by whatever denomination each may be called, as expressive of divinity, yet they are, to all intents and purposes of uniform quality and uniform effect, but one God. The object of these clauses is to guard against the idea, that Christians maintain the doctrine of three Principles contrary and opposite to each other, as the Manichæans conceived of their Two Principles. 3. That things equal to the same thing are equal to one another, is the fundamental axiom on which mathematical demonstration and logical reasoning proceed. It cannot be denied, that in whatever circumstances various things agree, so far they are equal. It cannot be denied, that such equality, so far as it extends, excludes comparison of greater or lesser. Apply this to Ver. 25, 26. Time and Power are the circumstances, to which those verses allude. With a view to these circumstances they affirm, that as the Three have existed from Eternity, there can in their existence be no priority with regard to Time. And, as the Three act in one and the same Power, there can in the authority of their acting be no relative superiority with regard to the nature of that Power. Unity admits not disparity. 4 It is true, our Lord did indeed say, "My Father is "greater than all." (St. John, x. 29.) But it is also true that he said immediately after, "I and my Father "are One." (x. 30.) How are we to interpret this? By referring to the context. Our Lord had intimated, that eternal life and salvation should be given to his disciples. Their enemies might indeed here persecute them; yet notwithstanding such malice, of their final reward they should not hereafter be deprived; for his Father, who is "greater than all," i. e. than all their enemies (as the context shews) would by his Power secure to them that ultimate recompence. He instantly subjoins, "I and my Father are one." In what respect? What was the subject on which our Lord was at that moment discoursing? On the Power of the Father. Our Lord meant then to say, "I and my "Father are One" in Power. And so the Jews understood him. For they prepared to stone him, because he had "made himself God." (x. 33.) Not God "the Father," for he had marked out that distinction most clearly; but God "the Son," acting in the power of the "Father," and in that respect equal. To this equality of Power the Creed refers, when it asserts, "none is greater or less than another." 66 In cannot be forgotten that our Lord said, "My "Father is greater than I." (St. John, xiv. 28.) But the occasion, on which he spoke these words, must be recollected. It was a season of sorrow and fear to his disciples, who were perplexed in their thoughts and dismayed in their apprehensions of losing their Master. He consoled and encouraged them by suggesting, that however much they might despond at his predictions of the sufferings he was soon to endure, yet they should have confidence in his "Father," who could not suffer: however much they might doubt of his own future power to help them, because of his present humiliation, yet they should not distrust the "Father," who could not be so humbled. With reference then to himself as a suffering and humbled Man, our Lord, at the time to which we allude, used the expression, "My Father is "greater than I:" not intending thereby to weaken "Ye believe in God; believe also in me" (St. John, xiv. 1.) as the Messiah; or of the declaration before made; “I and my Father are One;" a declaration which intimated that unity of Power asserted by the Creed. 4. No position is to be so strained, as by forced construction to be made bear a meaning, which was never intended. The words "None is afore or after other, "but the Three are Co-eternal," were meant, with respect to that eternity from which each has existed. The words "None is greater or less than another, but "the Three are Co-equal," were meant, with respect to exertion of that same Power by which they each act. As to the origin of that Power, it is entirely another question, not in the contemplation of these two Verses, 25, 26. It is a question, which being totally distinct, had been distinctly explained in Verses 22, 23. In those Verses, the "Father" is asserted to be the fountain and origin of divinity, and of course the fountain and origin of all divine Power. The Nicene Creed, which corresponds with the creed under consideration, intimates the same, when it styles our Lord Θεον εκ Θεου, φως εκ φωτος, Θεον αληθινον εκ Θεού αληθινού, God of i. e. "from God, Light of Light, very God of very God." And the most learned writer on this subject has shewn, that the Primitive Christians before the Council of Nice as well as after that Council, held this doctrine. "Uno "ore docuerunt" (are his words,) "they taught it with "one voice," so unanimous were they in this opinion. Perfectly consistent therefore with each other are Verses 25, 26. and Verses 22, 23. for they are considering the subject in a different point of view. On the one hand they assert that the Time of Existence, and the nature of Power, is the same to all: on the other, that nevertheless the origin of such existence and of such Power is with the "Father." And these were the general tenets of the ancient and most early Christians, in consonance with which are the sentiments of the Established Church, as delivered by Pearson in the most approved manner. "The godhead was communicated from the "Father to the Son, not from the Son unto the Father. "Though therefore this were done from all eternity, "and so there can be no priority of Time, yet there "must be acknowledged a priority of Order, by which "the Father, not the Son, is first; and the Son, not "the Father, is second. Again; the same godhead "was communicated by the Father, and the Son, unto "the Holy Ghost; not by the Holy Ghost to the Father, or the Son. Though therefore this was also "done from all eternity, and therefore can admit of no "priority in reference to Time; yet that of Order "must be preserved." (Pearson on the Creed, p. 322. ed. 1704.) It is needless to prove, that if the Father communicated godhead, he must be the origin of god head. 5. It has been frequently said by others, and may be said again in this place, that, in Ver. 28. and 42. the expressions "must thus think," and "this is the “Catholic Faith," apply only to the general doctrine of the Trinity, and not to the particular mode of explanation given in this Creed. To the general doctrine, considered apart from the explanation, every Christian is bound; because it is the very doctrine of his Baptismal admission into the Christian Church; the very doctrine he professes in his Creed, called the Apostles' Creed. For although the word "Trinity" is not mentioned in that Creed, yet the "substantial meaning" of the word is implied. 6. The effects, which result from a certain com |