his essence from none, that he is not begotten of any, nor hath he any cause of his existence. So that the proper notion of the Father in whom we believe is this, that he is a person subsisting eternally in the one infinite essence of the Godhead; which essence or subsistence he hath received from no other person, but hath communicated the same essence, in which himself subsisteth, by generation to another person, who by that generation is the Son.

Howsoever, it is most reasonable to assert that there is but one Person who is from none; and the very generation of the Son and procession of the Holy Ghost undeniably prove, that neither of those two can be that Person. For whosoever is generated is from him which is the genitor, and whosoever proceedeth is from him from whom he proceedeth, whatsoever the nature of the generation or procession be. It followeth therefore that this Person is the Father, which name speaks nothing of dependence, nor supposeth any kind of priority in another. From hence it is observed that the name of God, taken absolutely, is often in the Scripture spoken of the Father; as when we read of "God sending his own Son;" (Rom. viii. 3.) of "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God;" (2 Cor. xiii. 14.) and generally wheresoever Christ is called the Son of God, or the Word of God, the name of God is to be taken particularly for the Father, because he is no Son but of the Father. From hence he is styled " one God,” (1 Cor. viii. 6. Eph. iv. 6.)" the true God," (1 Thess. i. 9.) "the only true

sanctity, cannot properly be termed αὐτοζωή, no more than they αὐτοάγιοι: or if he receive it by derivation or participation, as water receiveth heat from fire, he deserveth the same name no more than water heated to be called αὐτοθερμότης. And this is fully consonant to the expressions of the rest of the ancients: as particularly Athanasius, contr. Gent. §. 46. Οὐ κατὰ μετοχὴν ταῦτα ῶν, οὐδὲ ἔξωθεν ἐπιγινομένων τούτων αὐτῷ κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοῦ με. τέχοντας, καὶ σοφιζομένους δι' αὐτοῦ, καὶ δυνα τοὺς καὶ λογικοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ γινομένους· ἀλλ ̓ αὐ τοσοφία, αὐτολόγος, αὐτοδύναμις ἰδία τοῦ παι τρός ἐστιν, αὐτοφῶς, αὐτοαλήθεια, αὐτοδικαιοσύνη, αὐτοαρετή. And to the same purpose: Οτι οὐ μεθεκτὴν ἔχει τὴν δωρεάν, ἀλλ ̓ αὐτοπηγὴ καὶ αὐτόῤῥιζα πάντων ἐστὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν, αὐτοζωή, καὶ αὐτοφῶς, καὶ αὐτοαλήθεια in the Ms. Catena in the King of France's Library. Petav. de Trin. l. vi. c. 11. ΑΠ therefore which these compositions signify, is either a negation of a derivative participation, or an affirmation of a reality and identity of substance, as yet farther appears by St. Epiphanius: αὐτοουσία ἐστὶν ὁ Θεὸς πατὴς καὶ ὁ υἱὸς, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, καὶ οὐχ ἑτερουσία: and Origen himself upon St. John: ἡ αὐτοδικαιοσύνη ἡ ἐσιώδης Χριστός ἐστι, as also ἡ αὐτοαλήθεια

οὐσιώδης, καὶ ἵν ̓ οὕτως εἴπω, πρωτότυπος τῆς Ἐν ταῖς λογικαῖς ψυχαῖς ἀληθείας. To conclude, there is a catholic sense in which the Son is termed αὐτόθεος, αυτοσοφία, &c. by the ancient fathers; and another sense there is in which these terms are so proper and peculiar to the Father, that they are denied to the Son. Indeed αὐτόθεος, in the highest sense, ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ θεὸς, positively taken, belongeth neither to the Son

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nor to the Father, as implying a manifest contradiction; because nothing can have its being actually from itself, as communicated to itself, and that by itself: but in a negative way of interpretation, by which that is said to be of itself, which is and yet is not of or from another, αὐτόSeo belongs properly to the Father, neither generated by, nor proceeding from another; and in that sense it is denied to the Son, because he is generated by the Father, as: ἐκ Θεοῦ θεὸς, ἐκ σοφοῦ σου φία, ἐκ λογικοῦ λόγος, καὶ ἐκ πατρὸς υἱὸς, saith St. Athanasius cont. dr. Or. iv. §. 1. from whence he thus proceeds: ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ ἄν τις εἴποι αὐτοσοφίαν εἶναι καὶ αὐτολόγον τὸν Θεὸν, ἀλλ ̓ εἰ τοῦτο εἴη ἂν αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ πατὴς καὶ υἱός. Ibid. §. 9. And again: εἰ δὲ αὐτ τοσοφία ὁ θεὸς, καὶ τὸ ἐκ τούτου ἄτοπον εἴρηται παρὰ Σαβελλίω. Lastly, in another sense in which are in composition is taken not in obliquo, but in recto, αὐτόθεος, that is, αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς, God himself, and αὐτοζωή, αὐτὴ ἡ ζωή, life itself: so all these terms are attributed to the Son as truly, really, and essentially, as to the Father. And that the Fathers took it so appears, because they did sometimes resolve the composition: as when Eusebius calleth Christ αὐτόθεον, in the Panegyric before ci' ed, presently after he speaketh thus, l. x. §. 4. p. 469. Τί γὰρ καὶ ἔμελλε τοῦ παμβασιλέως καὶ πανηγεμένος καὶ αὐτοῦ Θεοῦ λόγου ἐνστήσεσθαι τῷ πνεύματι ; where αὐτοῦ θεοῦ is the same with αὐτοθέου.

* *Οθεν οἱ ἀπόστολοι, καὶ πᾶσα σχεδὸν ἡ ἁγία γραφή, ὅταν εἴπῃ, ὁ Θεὸς, οὕτως ἀπολύ τως καὶ ἀπροσδιορίστως, καὶ ὡς ἐπίπαν σὺν ἄρθρῳ, καὶ χωρὶς ἰδιώματος ὑποστατικοῦ, τὸν πατέρα δηλοῖ. Theod. Abucura Opusc. 42.

God," (John xvii. 3.)" the God* and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Cor. i. 3. Eph. i. 3.)

Which, as it is most true, and so fit to be believed, is also a most necessary truth, and therefore to be acknowledged, for the avoiding multiplicationt and plurality of gods. For if there were more than one which were from none, it could not be denied but there were more gods than one. Wherefore this origination in the divine paternity hath anciently been looked upon as the assertion of the unity: and therefore the Son and Holy Ghost have been believed to be but one God with the Father, because both from the Father, who is one, and so the unions of them.

Secondly, It is necessary thus to believe in the Father, because our salvation is propounded to us by an access unto the

Unxit te Deus, Deus tuus. Id enim quod ait, tuus, ad nativitatem refertur ; cæterum non perimit naturam. Et idcirco Deus ejus est, qui ex Deo natus in Deum est. Non tamen per id quod Pater Deus est, non et Filius Deus est. Unit enim te Deus, Deus tuus; designata videlicet et auctoris sui et ex eo geniti significatione, uno eodemque dicto utrumque illum in naturæ ejusdem et dignitatis nuncupatione constituit.' S. Hilar. de Trin. 1. 4. c. 35. Deo enim ex quo omnia sunt Deus nullus est, qui sine initio æternus est. Filio autem Deus Pater est, ex eo enim Deus natus est.' Ibid. c. 37. Cum autem ex Deo Deus est, per id Deus Pater Deo Filio et nativitatis ejus Deus est, et naturæ Pater, quia Dei nativitas et ex Deo est, et in ea generis est natura qua Deus est.' Id. 1. xi. c. 11. So St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. xi. Θεὶς ὁ γεννήσας, Θεὸς ὁ γεννηθείς· Θεὸς μὲν τῶν πάντων, Θεὸν δὲ ἑαυτοῦ τὸν πατέρα ἐπι γραφόμενος.

4 Μή μοι εἴπητε, δύο θεοὺς κηρύττει, πολυθείαν καταγγέλλει, οὐ δύο Θεοὶ, οὐδὲ γὰς δύο πατέρες· ὁ μὲν ἀρχὰς εἰσάγων δύο, δύο κηρύτα TE SEDUS. S. Basil. Homil. 26. 'In duobus ingenitis diversa divinitas invenitur; in uno autem genito ex uno ingenito naturalis unitas demonstratur.' Fulgen. Resp. contra Arian. ad Obj. 5. Si quis innascibilem et sine initio dicat Filium, tanquam duo sine principio, et duo innascibilia, et duo innata dicens, duos faciat Deos, Anathema sit.' Concil. Sirm. [Vid. p. 56. col. 2.] Deus utique procedens ex Deo secundam personam efficiens, sed noa eripiens illud Patri quod unus est Deus. Si enim natus non fuisset, innatus comparatus cum eo qui esset innatus æquatione in utroque ostensa, duos faceret innatos, et ideo duos faceret Deos. Si non genitus esset, collatus cum eo qui genitus non esset, et æquales inventi, duos Deos merito reddidissent non geniti;

atque ideo duos Deos reddidisset Christus, si sine origine esset ut Pater inventus; et ipse principium omnium ut Pater, duo faciens principia, duos ostendisset nobis consequenter et Deos, &c.' Novatian, de Trin. c. 31.

† Ωσπες δὲ μία ἀρχὴ, καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο εἷς Soc. S. Athan. Orat. iv. §. 1. Tnpoîto d' av, ὡς ὁ ἐμὸς λόγος, εἷς μὲν θεός, εἰς ἓν αἴτιον καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος αναφερομένων. S. Gregor, Naz. Orat. 29. "Oυ yàp μis μὲν ἡ ἀρχὴ, ἐν δὲ τὸ ἐξ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἓν μὲν τὸ ἀρχέτυπον, μία δὲ ἡ εἰκὼν, ὁ τῆς ἐνότητος λóyos où diapeiperal. S. Basil. Homil. 26. 'Patri suo originem suam debens, discordiam divinitatis de numero duorum Deorum facere non potuit, qui ex illo qui est unus Deus originem nascendo contraxit.' Novatian. de Trin. c. 31. Confitemur non Deos duos, sed Deum unum, neque per id non et Deum Dei Filiuin, est enim ex Deo Deus; non innasc.oiles duos, quia auctoritate innascibilitatis Deus unus est.' S. Hilar. de Synod. c. 64. whose assertion is: Unum Deum esse ex quo omnia, unam virtutem innascibilem, et unam hanc esse sine initio potestatem: which words belong unto the Father, and then it followeth of the Son; Non enim Patri adimitur quod Deus unus est, quia et Filius Deus est. enim Deus ex Deo, unus ex uno. Ob id unus Deus, quia ex se Deus. Contra vero non minus per id Filius Deus, quia Pater Deus unus sit. Est enim unigenitus Filius Dei, non innascibilis, ut Patri adimat quod Deus unus sit.' De Trin. 1. iv. c. 15.

Est

§ Φύσις δὲ τοῖς τρισὶ μία, Θεός· ἕνωσις δὲ ὁ πατὴς, ἐξ οὗ καὶ πρὸς ὃν ἀνάγεται τὰ ἑξῆς. S. Greg. Nas. Orat. 32. Unto which words those of Theod. Abucara have relation : Θεὸς δὲ ἐξαιρέτως λέγεται, ἐπειδὴ ἡ ἕνωσις, ἤτοι ἀνάπτυξις καὶ ἀνακεφαλαίωσις, τῆς τριάδος ὁ πατήρ ἐστιν, ὡς εἶπεν ὁ Θεο λόγος. Opusc. 42.

Father. We are all gone away and fallen from God, and we must be brought to him again. There is no other notion under which we can be brought to God as to be saved, but the notion of the Father; and there is no other person can bring us to the Father, but the Son of that Father: for, as the apostle teacheth us," through him we have an access by one Spirit unto the Father." (Eph. ii. 18.)

Having thus described the true nature and notion of the divine paternity, in all the several degrees and eminences belonging to it, I may now clearly deliver, and every particular Christian understand what it is he speaks, when he makes his confession in these words, I believe in God the Father: by which I conceive him to express thus much:

As I am assured that there is an infinite and independent Being, which we call a God, and that it is impossible there should be more infinities than one: so I assure myself that this one God is the Father of all things, especially of all men and angels, so far as the mere act of creation may be styled generation; that he is farther yet, and in a more peculiar manner, the Father of all those whom he regenerateth by his Spirit, whom he adopteth in his Son, as heirs and coheirs with him, whom he crowneth with the reward of an eternal inheritance in the heavens. But beyond and far above all this, besides his general offspring and peculiar people," to whom he hath given power to become the sons of God;" (John i. 12.) I believe him the Father in a more eminent and transcendent manner, of one singular and proper Son, his own, his beloved, his onlybegotten Son whom he hath not only begotten of the blessed Virgin, by the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the overshadowing of his power; not only sent with special authority as the King of Israel; not only raised from the dead, and made heir of all things in his house; but antecedently to all this, hath begotten him by way of eternal generation in the same Divinity and Majesty with himself: by which paternity, coeval to the Deity, I acknowledge him always Father, as much as always God. And in this relation, I profess that eminency and priority, that as he is the original Cause of all things as created by him, so is he the fountain of the Son begotten of him, and of the Holy Ghost proceeding from him.

I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER Almighty.

AFTER the relation of God's paternity, immediately followeth the glorious attributes of his omnipotency:* that as those

For the oldest and shortest Creed had always this attribute expressed in it. Insomuch that Παντοκράτως was ordinarily by the ancients taken for the Father, as Origen, adv. Celsum, l. vii. §. 10. 'Exeùv δὲ αὐτὸν —ἐκθέσθαι αὐταῖς λέξεσι τὰς προφητείας εἴτ ̓ ἐν αἷς Θεὸς Παντοκράτως ἐπηγ

γέλλετο εἶναι ὁ λέγων, εἶτ ̓ ἐν αἷς ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἴτ ̓ ἐν αἷς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον λέγον εἶναι ἐπιστεύετο. And according to this general confession did Polycarp begin his prayer at his martyrdom : Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς ὁ παντοκρά τως, ὁ τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ καὶ εὐλογητοῦ παιδός σου 'Incoũ Xporov marip. Eccles. Smyrn. Epist.

in heaven in their devotions, so we on earth in our confessions might acknowledge that" Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come;" (Rev. iv. 8.) that in our solemn meetings of the Church of God, with the joint expression and concurring language of the congregation, we might some way imitate that "voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Allelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.' (Rev. xix. 6.)*

This notion of Almighty in the CREED, must certainly be interpreted according to the sense which the original word beareth in the New Testament; and that cannot be better understood than by the Greek writers or interpreters of the Old, especially when the notion itself belongs unto the Gospel and the Law indifferently. Now the word which we translate Almighty, the most ancient Greek interpreters used sometimes for the title of God, the Lord of Hosts, sometimes for his name Shaddai, as generally in the Book of Job: by the first, they seem to signify the rule and dominion which God hath over all; by the second, the strength, force, or power by which he is able to perform all things. "The heavens and the earth were finished (saith Moses), and all the host of them." (Gen. ii. 1.) and he which began them, he which finished them, is the ruler and commander of them. Upon the right of creation doth he justly challenge this dominion. "I have made the

earth, and created man upon it; I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded." (Isa. xlv. 12.) And on this dominion or command doth he raise the title of the Lord of Hosts: which, though preserved in the §original language both by St. Paul and St. James, yet by St. John is turned into that word which we translate Almighty. Wherefore from the use of the sacred writers, from the notation of the word in Greek, and from the testi

* Οἱ παῤῥησίαν εἰληφότες, τὸν παντοκράToga mariga naxev. Constit. Apost. I. i. Proœm.

† Παντοκράτωρ, translated by Tertullian and St. Augustin Omnitenens (as Tertullian translates κοσμοκράτορας munditenentes), by Prudentius Omnipollens, by all Omnipotens (as St. Hilary translated xpongárog 15 mundipotentes), and, as I onceive, it is translated Capax universorum, by the Latin interpreter of Hermas. Primum omnium credo quod unus est Deus, qui omnia creavit, et consummavit, et ex nihilo fecit. Ipse capax universorum, solus immensus est.' l. ii. Mand. 1. Which by the interpreter of Irenæus is thus translated: Omnium capax, et qui a nemine capiatur.' I. iv. c. 37.

1 Κύριος σαβαώθ.

§ Εἰ μὴ Κύριος Σαβαωθ ἐγκατέλιπεν ἡμῖν origua. Rom. ix. 9. the words of Isa. 1. 9. Καὶ αἱ βοαὶ τῶν θερισάντων εἰς τὰ ὦτα Κυρίου Σαβαώθ εἰσεληλύθασιν. Jam. v. 4. which are the words of St. James in relation to Deut. xxiv. 15. "Αγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ. Rev. iv. 8. which are before in Isaiah. "Ayios. ἅγιος, ἅγιος Κύριος Σαβαώθ. Isa. vi. 3. Τὸ δ ̓ ὅμοιον ἐροῦμεν καὶ περὶ τῆς Σαβαωθ φωνῆς, πολλαχοῦ τῶν ἐπῳδῶν παραλαμβανομένης ὅτι εἰ μεταλαμβάνομεν τὸ ὄνομα εἰς τὸ Κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων, ἢ Κύριος στρατιῶν, ἡ παντοκράτωρ (διαφόρως γὰρ αὐτὸ ἐξεδέξαντο οἱ ἑρμηνεύοντες αὐτὸ), οὐδὲν ποιήσομεν. Origen. contra Cels. 1. iv. §. 45.

|| That παντοκράτως should have the signification of government in it, according to the composition in the Greek language, no man can doubt, who but only