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Glory with him before the world was; deriving his Being from him, in an incomprehenfible and unfpeakable (ecaufe not revealed) manner; being the Word of God, and Himfelf (by ineffable Communication of Divine Powers and Dignity) God: God, not Self-exiftent, (for That is manifeftly both a Contradiction in itfelf, and repugnant to Scripture) but God in every fenfe, in which Divinity can be derived from Him which is Unbegotten, to Him which is Begotten.

Alexander Bishop of Alexandria, thus expreffes himself upon This Subject: We believe alfo in the only-begotten Son of God, begotten not from Nothing, but from the really exifting Father; not, after the manner of the produition of Bodies one from another, by divifion, efflux, or emanation of Parts, as Sabellius

and Valentinus imagined; but in an unSpeakable and inexpreffible manner; according to that of the Prophet, (which we mentioned before, Who fhall declare his Generation ? the Manner how be received his Subfifence, being infcrutable to all

Creatures.

Him we believe to be unchangeable and unalterable,

Τὸν ὑὸν τὸ θεῖ ὲ μονοχῆς ωνηθέντα ἐκ ἐκ τὸ μὴ ὄν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τὸ ὄντΘ πα]ρός· ἐ, και τὰς 3 σωμάτων ὁμοιὁτήλας, ταῖς τομαῖς ἤ ταῖς ἐκ διαιρέσεων ἀποῤῥοίαις, ὥσπερ Σαβελλίῳ καὶ Βαλεντίνῳ δου κα· ἀλλ' ἀῤῥήτως καὶ ἀνεκδι ηγήτως, και * εἰπόντα (ώς ανωτέρω παρεθήκαμιν,) τω Αυεαν αὐτὸ τις διηγήσεται; Η υποτάσεως αὐτὸ πάση τη γυνηθῇ φύση ἀπειεςάς τυςἄτρεπτον τα χανέσεις

τον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον ὡς πά τέρας, ἀπροσδεῖ καὶ τέλειον, 4όν τε ἐμφερῆ τῳ παλεὶ με μαθήκαμς, μόνῳ τῳ ἀγωνία τῳ λειπόμθυον εκείνος ως αὐτὸς ἐπαίδευσεν ὁ κύριθ, ὁ πατής με, λέγων, μείζων με ξιν — ἀλλ ̓ ἐδ ̓ ὁτιῖν ἀνθρώπων· ἔννοια όνοματοποιη

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as is the Father; allSufficient, and perfect; a Son like unto the Father, excepting only that he is

σαι σπεδάσει, δηλοῖ τὸ ἀγένlor. Epift. ad Alexandr. apud Theodorit. l. 1, c. 4.

not Self-exiftent, as our Lord himself hath taught us, faying, My Father is Greater than 1:

For no Words or Epithets which the Mind of Man can invent, are equivalent to that of being Selfexiftent.

And the learned Eufebius, one of the ablest Men that were prefent at the Council of Nice : When This Creed (faith he) was propofed in the Council, Fdid not pas it over without firft carefulLy inquiring in what fenfe they fed the Phrafes,of

the Substance of the Father, and of one Subftance with the Father. Upon which there arefe much debate, to determine the fignification of the Words. And first, as to that Phrafe, of the Subftance of the Father; they confefed that they thereby intended only to declare, that the Son was Of the Father, but not as a Part of the Father, nor that he was Part of the Fathers Substance. In This Senfe therefore, agreeing to the Thing, I

Ταύτης ο γραφῆς ὑπ' αὐτ · ὑπαγορἀθέσης, ὅπως ἔςεται αὐτοῖς τὸ ἐκ δ ἐσίας τὰ παλείς, καὶ τὸ τω πατεί ὁμού σιον, ἐκ ἀνεξέτασον αὐτοῖς καταλιμπάνομων ἐπερωλήσεις τοι[αρόν και αποκείσεις ἐντεῦ θεν ἀνεκινᾶντο, ἐβασάνιζεν τε ὁ λόγΘ ἢ διάνοιαν Χ ειρημθύων. Καὶ δὴ τὸ ἐκ τ εσίας ὡμολόζητο πρὸς αὐτῇ,

naalinòv Girou, Tă în ulù vă wales vou, & μ as μéço iwásxev To waleis, plus dicías autě Tusχάνει διόπερ ταύτῃ τῇ δια νοίᾳ καὶ αὐτοὶ σωλιθέμεθα, ἐδὲ † qwvlu [viz. šoía; not, iμούσιον, as Socrates has

it; for of That he speaks by and by;] TagurμEνοι, τὸ τὰ εἰρήνης σκοπές προ ὀφθαλμῶν ἡμῶν κειμθύς, καὶ und içdñs inπECEV diaHb 2

νόιας.

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νοίας. Κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ ἢ καὶ
τί, γωνηθέντα ἐ ποιηθέντα,
κατεδεξάμεθα: ἐπειδὴ ποιη-
sὲν, κοινὸν ἔφασκον είναι
πρόσβημα θ λοιπών κλισ
μάτων 30 διὰ τὰ ὑν γυομέ
νων, ὧν ἐδὲν ὅμοιον ἔχειν
μόν· διὸ δὴ, μὴ εἶναι αὐτὸν
ποίημα, τοῖς δι' αυτό αυσ
μύοις ὅμοιον· κρείτον δε
ἢ καὶ πᾶν ποίημα, τυχάνον
ἐσίας, ι ἐκ τὰ παεὶς γε-
γυνῆας διδάσκει ταθμα λό
για το τρόπο τα γυνήσεως α
νεκφράσε καὶ ἀνεπιλογές πάρ
σε γυνητῇ φύση τυχάνοντΘ-.
"Ουτω ἢ καὶ τὸν ὁμούσιον εἶναι
το παλεὶς * δν, ἐξεταζί
με ὁ λόγΘ- σωνίςησιν, ἐ
και σωμάτων τρόπον, ἐδὲ
τοῖς θνητοῖς ζώοις παραπλη
σίως· ἔτε γδ και διαίρεσιν τῆς
ἐσίας, ἔτε καὶ ἀπολομίω [ἀλλ ̓
ἐδὲ καλά τι πάθΘ-] ἤ ἀλ-
λοιωσιν ε τὸ παρὸς ἐσίας τε
και δυνάμεως. [qu. annon far-

did not rejelt the Expreffon; but admitted the expreffion for Peace fake, at the fame time taking care that it was underfood in a right fenfe. After the fame manner I confented alfo to the words, Begotten, not made:The Council alledging,that the word, made, was applecable in common to all o◄ ther Things,namely to the Creatures produced by the Son, between which and the Son bimfelf there was no fimilitude: That there fore of the Son it ought not to be faid, that he was made; becaufe This was putting him upon a level with the things made by bimfelf: Whereas far fuperiour to all the things that were made, is His Subftance ; namely That Subftance, which the Holy Scriptures reach us was begotten of the Father; the Manner How it was begotten, being inefable and unimaginable to every created Being. In the next place, upon debating the meaning of thefe words, The Son is

καὶ
tè legendum, ύποςάσεως, ut

infra;] τέτων γδ πάντων ἀλλοτείαν εἶναι ἢ ἀγνητον ου σιν τὸ πατρὶς παραςαλικὸν ἢ εἶναι τω πα]εὶ τὸ ὁμούσιον, το μηδεμίαν ἐμφέρειαν πρὸς τὰ γρνητα κτίσματα * δν τὸ θεῖ ἐμφαίνειν· μόνῳ ἢ τη

πατεὶ

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παλεὶ πω γελυνηκότι και πάν Ta TeTov ápoμordar ἕναι ἐξ ἑτέρας τινὸς ὑποςάσεως καὶ ἐσίας, ἀλλ ̓ ἐκ τὸ πατeς ᾧ καὶ αὐτῷ τότον ἑρμη νευθέντι * τρίπον, καλῶς ἔχειν ἐφάνη συγκαταθέσθαι — τίτε δε άφιλονείκως τὰ μὴ λυπῖντα καλεδεξάμεθα, ὅτε ἡμῖν ευγνωμόνως α λόεφάνη σωέχειν τοῖς ὑφ ̓ ἦγων ἐξετάζεσι ἢ διάνοιαν μῶν αὐτῷ ἐν προεκτεθείση Marawi TTTIDETY Epift. ad Cafaream, apud πίς, ὡμολογημθρίοις. Eufeb. Socratem lib. 1. & apud Theodorit. lib. 1.

of one Subftance with the Father; it was agreed they fould be underfood, not in fuck a fenfe, as the like Phrafes are ufed concerning Bodies,or when they are applied to any mortal Beings; (For there was no Divifion of the Fathers Subftance, no Diffection or Alteration of his Subftance or Efence, the Self-exiftent Nature of the Father being wholly incapable of any fuch Af fections:) but it was a greed that by the words, of one Subftance with the Father,fhould be intended to be afferted This only, that there is no fimilitude between the Son of God and the Things made by him; but that He is in all things likened unto his Father only, who begat bim; and that he is not from any other Subfiftence or Subftance, but from his Father. To the Expreffion thus interpreted, I thought it reafonable to give my Affent: And I then without further contention agreed to thefe things, as not offenfive; when upon a careful debate and an equitable examination into the Senfe of the Expreffions, they appeared agreeable to what I myself had before profeffed in the Creed I had propofed. This is the Account That Great and Learned Man gave of this matter to his Diocese, when (as the Hiftorian informs us,) having demurr'd a little, and taken

Μικρὸν ἐπιςήσας και δικό xáμWO ei dã Teodéa rov deg This wisews, Tws aua Tois Torλoïs wãὕτως ἅμα τοῖς πολλοῖς Hh 3

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time to confider whether he
could agree to this Profef yeats. Ibid.
fin of Faith,or no; at length

σι σωήνεσέν τε καὶ σωυπέ

be in This manner confented, and fubfcribed it with the reft of the Council.

And Athanafius himself thus interprets the word [o] Confubftantial: We anathematize (faith he) those who affirm the Son of God to be from any other Subfiftence or Substance, [but from his Father, as Eufebius adds, repeaἘξ ἑτέρας ύποςάσεως ἤ ting the fame words in εσίας φάσκοντες ν * τὸν the place before-cited;], Tó ævďμœ tò ä

and those who aff.rt the Holy Spirit to be of a changeable or alterable Nature.

τ

γιον τρεπτὶν ἢ ἀλλοιωτόν, τέτες ἀναθεματίζομ. Ιηterpr. in Symbolum.

From the Contentions which in Event continued and increased in the Church after the introducing this very ambiguous Word, it appears plainly, that the most effectual way of fuppreffing Herefies, (as they then called every Divifion in Matters of Opinion, even among men who acted fincerely according to the best of their judgment;) would have been, not to have opposed unscriptural expreffions with others contrary and equally unfcriptural, (which was the Occafion of everlafting Contentions ;) but to have required men to forbear the Use of fuch unfcriptural expreffions, as at any time gave Offence to the Church; and which, because they were unfcriptural, no man could have complained of hardfhip in being forbidden to use them. Thus when the Arians first prefumed to introduce those unjuftifiable Phrafes, [♬ ¿n óvtwv, andĥv wore öte in ĥv,] that the Son of God was made out of Nothing, and that there was a Time when He was not: Had those in Power contented themselves with condemning

and

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