(faith he) that God is hard to be comprehended; But not only He himfelf is hard to be comprehended, but his Only-begotten alfo; For tis difficult to comprehend God the Word,

and 'tis difficult also to comprehend his Wifdom [viz. the Spirit,] in (or by) which, Gad made all things. And by those of Alexander Bishop of Alexandria: Who (faith he) shall declare His [the Sons] Generation? the manner of his Subfiftence [ derived from the Father] being infcrutable to all Creatures, even as the Father himfelf [who derives his Subfiftence from None] is infcrutable to All.

Τω γενεὰν αὐτὸ τις διηγήσεται; τῆς ὑποςάσεως αὐτό πάση τη γυνητῇ φύσ σε απεριεργάς τυγχανό σης, καθὼς καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ παρ τὴς ἀπεριέργαςός όξί. Epift. ad Alex. apud Theodorit. lib. 1, cap. 4.

d

The Father eternal, the Son eternal &c.] The Father, eternal of himself, by Self-existence and abfolute Neceflity of Nature; ὁ μόνῳ ἔχων αθα vaciar, who Only hath Immortality, as St Paul expreffes it; namely, who Only hath it of Himfelf: The Son eternal, as having always been with the Father, and deriving his. Effence or Being from him in an ineffable manner, by his eternal Power and Will.

So likewife the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghoft Almighty.] Not Tart negras, Supreme over all; but avadúvaμO, having all Power. For, Tartineάτwe, Supreme over all, is both in Scripture, and in the Apoftles Creed, and in the Nicene, and in This very Creed (if

the

the Greek be of any Authority,) appropriated to the Person of the Father only; in the following words, He fitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty; [To TaTCÌs, Deỡ TAVTONCÝTOS, of the Father, God Supreme over all.] But avro♪úvaμ&, having all Power, may be applyed both to the Father, as having all Power of himself; and to the Son and Holy Ghoft, as having and exercifing the Power of the Father.

Thus Athanafius: The All-powerful Word him

Αυτὸς ὁ παντοδύναμ ware's λóz &• conΤο λόγΘ.

felf (faith he,) of the tra Gentes. Father. And the learn

ed Bp Pearson; after having fhown (pag. 41) that the word, wavтnegτwe, Supreme over all, is peculiar to the person of the Father; and (pag. 43) that He is the Only Potentate (1 Tim. 6,15,) because He alone hath all Power of Himself; and (pag. 47,) that as we believe there is a God, and That God Almighty, so we acknowledge That fame God to be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; After This he adds (pag. 290,) that Chrift alfo is Almighty, becaufe All power is given unto him. And the learned Dr More: When the Father is faid to be omnipotent, the Son omnipotent, and the Holy Ghaft omnipotent; it is evident that omnipotent has not the fame Senfe in all; For the Father bath the Power of eternal Generation &c. (That is; the Father has of Himfelf all the Power, which the Son and the Holy Spirit have only by Communication from Him.) Myft. of Godliness, B. 9.

C. 2.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghoft is God.] The Father is God abfolutely, and of Himself, by Self-existence; The Son is God, by communication and derivation of Dig

nity from the Father: &c. See above, Part I, N° 535. Thus the learned Dr More: "By the "Term God, (faith be,) if you understand That "which is Firit of all, in fuch a sense, as that "All elfe is from Him, and He from None; "the Son and the Spirit cannot be faid to be "God in This fignification, because the Father "is not from Them, but They from the Fa"ther: Myft. of Godliness, B. 9, c. 2.

And yet they are not (there are not) Three Eternals (Three eternal Perfons,) but One eternal, (one eternal perfon:) Also not Three incomprehenfibles, nor Three uncreated, but One uncreated and One incomprehenfible: not Three Almighties, but One Almighty.] The only way in which thefe words can be fo understood, as not to be contradictory both to the Scripture and to Themselves, is This That, as in Scripture the Son is ftiled God; and yet at the fame time the Father is cal led the One God, I Cor. 8, 6, and Ephef. 4, 6; and the Only true God, Joh. 17,3; because He only is [are] God Self-exiftent, and of Himfelf: As the Son is ftiled Lord of All; and yet at the fame time the Father is called the Only Lord God, Jude 4; becaufe He only is Lord, by origi nal underived Authority: As the Son is affirmed to have in him all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge; and yet at the fame time, the Father is called God Only Wife, Rom. 16, 27; because He only hath Wisdom, unoriginated: As the Son hath All Power, both in Heaven and Earth ; and yet the Father is filed The Only Potentate, 1 Tim. 6, 15; because He only hath Power abfolutely and originally of Himfelf: As the Son is immortal, and the Spirit immortal; and yet of the Father it is afferted that He only hath Immortality, Ff.

1 Tim.

1 Tim. 6, 16; because He only has it independent and underived: As the Son is Good, and the Spirit is Good; and yet of the Father it is declared, that there is None Good but One [s, One perfon,] that is God, Mat. 19, 17; because He Only is the original abfolute underived Good, [fee above, Part I, No 340 and 773: ] As the Son is Holy, and the Spirit Holy; and yet of the Father it is affirmed in the Song of the Lamb, that He Only is Holy, Rev. 15,4; because He only is the Foun tain of unoriginated Holinefs: So in the Creed it may be affirmed intelligibly in the fame Senfe, and by a like manner of fpeaking; that each of the Three Perfons are eternal, and yet but One eternal; each of them incomprehenfible, and yet but One incomprehenfible; each of them allpowerfull, and yet but One all-powerfull. The Words of Alexander Bishop of Alexandria upon This Subject, are very pertinent: Let no one (faith he) from our ma. king use of the word, Always, [viz. that the Son was Always with the Father, ] imagine that we mean to afirm the Son to be Self-existent : For neither the word, Was ; nor, Always inor, Before all Ages; is of the fame fignification with Self-exiftent: neither can any other phrafe, which the Mind of Man can invent, exprefs the fame as Self-exiftent: Wherefore we must always referve to the Self-exiftent Father,

Ἀλλὰ μή τις τὸ ̓Απὸὶ πρὸς ὑπόνοιαν γυνήτε λαμBaveta.

"OUTE 28 TO H», ἔτε τὸ ̓Αεὶ, ἔτε τὸ Πρὸ αἰώνων, τ' αυτόν ὅτι τῷ ἀγλυ νήτῳ· ἀλλ ̓ ἐδ ̓ ὁτιῖν ἀνθρώπων ἔννοια ὀνοματοποιῆκαι αποφάσεις δηλοῖ τὸ ἀ

γύνητον. — Ουκέν τω μ ἀγυνήτῳ Πατρὶ οικεῖον ἀξί wua quλaxтéov. Epift. ad Alexandr. apud Theodo rit. lib. I, cap. 4.

this his peculiar Character. And those of the learned and judicious Dr Payne: If an Affirmation and Denyal be not in the fame Senfe and Meaning, but in different; then the Contradiction vanishes, and is prefently answered: Whether this might not be applied to defend the Athanafian Creed, The Father eternal, The Son eternal, and the Holy Ghoft eternal, And yet not Three Eternals, but One Eternal; I offer to the Confideration of my more learned Brethren. Letter from Dr P. to the Bishop of R. in Vindication of his Sermon on Trinity-Sunday, pag. 10, II.

The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghoft is God; And yet they are not (there are not) Three Gods, but One God.] The Sense of these words, confiftent with the Doctrine of Scripture, is not, either that God is the complex Name of a Species; or that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, are only different Names and denominations of one and the fame individual intelligent Being or Perfon: But, that as a Father is Mafter of his own Houfe; and a Son and Heir in his Father's house of his own building, is Master of the fame Houfe; and yet there is properly but One Mafter, viz. the Father building the House and governing it by his Son; (see in Part I, N° 264 ;) So, though the Son is in Scripture exprefly ftiled God, and both the Son and Holy Ghoft are reprefented as exercifing Divine Power and Authority, yet nevertheless (feeing all That Power and Authority is originally the Father's,) there is (properly speaking) but One God, viz. the Father governing all things by his Son and by his Spirit. Thus the Scripture always fpeaks; See above, in Part I, N° 1-17, and 340. Thus likewise the most judicious among the Antients:

Ff 2

If