they are attributes (or properties, or perfections, or whatever names they are called by) which take place in God without meafure; fo they may be confidered in three refpects; first, with refpect to themselves, as they are effential properties in him fecondly, with respect to their use and exercise; and thirdly, with refpect to the effects and produce of them. And,

First, With respect to power and wisdom, as they are effential properties in God. Now as power and wisdom always fupposes a subject which they take place in, fo, if we confider them separate from that fubject, they are not; because there is no fuch thing in nature, as power and wisdom, confider'd feparate from any subject; and confequently the power and wisdom of God, confider'd feparate from the fubject which they take place in, cannot constitute a fon; because in reality they are not, when confider'd feparate, as aforefaid. And if we confider wifdom and power as effential properties in God, and confider them as they are in him, then they are in no refpect the Son of God: nay, they are fo far from it, that on the contrary, they are the Father of God's Son. Whatever is effential to, and conftitutes that Being which we call the Father, that properly fpeaking is the Father; for though the term Father is a relative term, which in its most proper fenfe is expreffive, not of the nature, but the relation of him to whom we apply that term; and though the act, by which a child or fon is begotten or produced is effential to, and is that which conftitutes the fatherhood in this cafe; yet that act is not the father, but only the act of the father, or rather the act of that being who be'comes or is conftituted a father by that act, and whofe fatherhood or fatherly relation is founded in it, and flows from it: and therefore whatever is effential to, and conftitutes that being which G

we

we call the father, that, properly speaking, is the father. And forafmuch as the fubftantial power and wisdom of God, or the Father, are effential to, and in part conftitute that Being which we call God, or the Father; therefore that fubftan tial power and wifdom are the very Father, tho' they are not the whole or all that is the Father. And with respect to thefe, there is no room to difpute, whether they are begotten by a neceffity of nature, or by a freedom of will; because they are not begotten at all. God is neceffarily a wife and powerful Being, and his wifdom and power take place in him, antecedent to all caufes, and confequently are never begotten; and therefore to fay, that God or the Father begets this Son, (viz. his effential power and wifdom, which in fact are himfelf) by a neceffity of nature; and to fay, that he begets thefe by a permanent act, is a contradiction; becaufe, as there is no act exercised in this cafe, fo it is the fame as to fay, that God, or the Father, begat or gave Being to himself. Befides the relation of Father and Son neceffarily fuppofes two diftinct individual Beings, the one begetting or producing the other. Take away this, and the relation is not, it being impoffible in nature that the fame individual being fhould be both father and fon to himself; that he fhould beget himself, and be begotten of himself; that he fhould be the caufe and the effect to himself; and therefore, to make the fame individual being, to be both father and fon to himself, is to introduce the utmoft confufion, by fuppofing the relations of father and fon to take place, where in reality, and in fact, they do not. And confequently, the effential power and wifdom of God, confider'd as they are in him, cannot be the Son of God, upon any account, or in any fenfe whatever. That St. Paul affirms Chrift to be the

power

power and wisdom of God, as in 1 Cor.

readily grant; and that he is fo in the fenfe of which St. Paul affirms it of him, I verily believe, viz. the wifdom and power of God was abundantly manifested in and by him, in the work of man's falvation; and in this fenfe Jefus Chrift may well be faid, to be the power of God, and the wisdom of God but that the anointed Saviour, or Son of God, is the very and fubftantial power and wif dom of God, as they are effential properties in him, this I deny, upon the grounds before men tioned.

Secondly, The power and wisdom of God may be confider'd with refpect to their use and exerçife. Now tho' wifdom and power are neceffa rily in him, yet he is entirely free in the use and exercife of thefe; fo that he exercifes them, when, where, and howfoever he pleafes. Thus, he exercifed his power, wifdom, and goodness, in the creation of this world. And as he created it when he did, fo he might have done it fooner, or not have done it to this day, if he had pleas'd; which abundantly proves, that the exercife of thefe depends wholly upon God's good pleasure, And if we fhould be fo weak, as to call the exercife of these, by the name of the Son of God; yet this Son would be the product of freedom and choice, which Mr. Claggett will not allow the Son of God to be. And as God is pleafed to manifeft, or fhew forth his glory, in the exercise of these; fo his Son Chrift is faid to be, the brightness of his glory, because the wisdom, goodness, love, and mercy of God, (his darling attributes) were exercifed in the work of man's falvation in and through him, in a more plentiful and full man her than had ever been exercifed towards the fons of men and fo he might well be faid, to be the brightness of bis Father's glory. G2

Thirdly,

Thirdly, The power and wisdom of God may be confider'd with refpect to the effects and produce of them. Now as the exercife of God's power and wifdom is from freedom and choice, and depends wholly upon his good pleasure, fo it will follow, that whatever is produced by them must be fo; and confequently, if God hath, or fhall beget, create, make, or any other way produce, a Son, or Sons, in the ufe and exercife of his effential power and wisdom, fuch a Son, or Sons, would be begotten, created, made, (or whatever way they are produced) not from a neceffity of nature, but wholly and folely from the freedom of his will; and fo fuch a Son of God would not be the Son of God, which Mr. Claggett hath been pleading for. And if we should make all the effects and produce of God's effential power and wisdom to be the Son of God, then it will follow, that as this is a contingent Son, fo he is conftituted or compounded of this ball of earth on which we tread, with all its inhabitants, and all the rest of God's works; but this is fo monftrous as no man in his fenfes will be fuppofed to own.

Thus I have confider'd the fubftantial power and wisdom of God, both with refpect to themfelves, as they are effential properties in him, and with refpect to the ufe and exercise of thefe, and alfo with refpect to the effects and produce of them; and have fhewed, that they neither do, nor can afford any fuch Son of God as Mr. Claggett contends for; and confequently, fuch a fon is but an imaginary fon, and not the true and real Son of God, which the fcriptures give us an account of. It is fuch a fon as hath no foundation in the nature of things, nor in the chriftian revelation. I have no need to take notice of the parallel he draws betwixt the fun, with its light, and the father, with this imaginary fon; which, upon examination, I find to be as little to his purpose

purpose as the reft. I fay, there is no need for me to take notice of thefe, feeing he hath plainly fhewn, that the Son, which he is arguing for, is the fubftantial power and wisdom of the Father; and confequently, is not a fon in reality, or in fact, but only in imagination. Nay, that he is fo far from being the real and very Son of the Father, that on the contrary he is the Father of God's Son. And as he hath fubftituted an imaginary fon, fo he hath excluded the real and true Son of God out of the queftion; whereas my arguments relate wholly to the real Son of God, and not to. that imaginary fon which he hath substituted in his ftead. By the real Son I mean, that divine Perfon (that man, confifting of foul and body, which Mr. Claggett calls the human nature) which was prophefied of, and promised to the Jews as their Meffiah; which was born of the Virgin, and was baptized of John in Jordan; and upon whom the Holy Ghoft defcended in a bodily fhape, and refted upon him, and fo he was anointed to his office with the Holy Ghoft, and with power; and to whom God bare witness by an audible voice from heaven, faying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; that man which preached the gofpel of peace, which fuffered death upon the crofs, which was raised from the dead, and afcended into heaven, and is exalted at the right-hand of God, whom the heavens muft retain till the reftitution of all things; that man whom God hath made both Lord and Chrift, as in Acts ii. 36. I fay, this heavenly Perfon, this man, is the true and only begotten Son of God, and him alone. And I challenge Mr. Claggett to prove, from feripture, any other only begotten Son of God, but he. This is the Son of God which my arguments relate to. Now if he hath proved this Son to be equal to the Fa

G 3

ther