III. To the third century. The herefies which sprung up in this age refpecting the Perfon, Sonfhip, and Deity of Chrift, were thofe of Beryllus, who revived that of Artemon, and of the Noetians or Sabellians, fometimes called Patripaffians, and of the Samofatenians. ift, Beryllus, bishop of Boftra in Aretia, who for fome time behaved well in his office, as Jerom fays, but at length fell into this notion, that Chrift was not before his incarnation; or as Eufebius expreffes it, that our Lord and Saviour did not fubfift in his own fubftance before he fojourned among men, and had no deity of his own refiding in him, but his Father's; but through difputations he had with feveral bishops, and particularly with Origen, he was recovered from his error and restored to the truth. 2. The Noetians, fo called from Noetus, and afterwards Sabellians, from Sabellius, a difciple of the former; thofe held that Father, Son and Spirit, are one person under these different names. The foundation of their heresy was laid by Simon Magus, as before obferved. They were fometimes called Praxeans and Hermogenians, from Praxeus and Hermogenes, the first authors of it, who embraced the fame notions in this period, and fometimes Patripaffians, because, in confequence of this principle, they held that the Father might be faid to fuffer as the Son '. 3. The Samofatenians, fo called from Paul of Samofate, bishop of Antioch, who revived the herefy of Artemon, that Chrift was a mere man. He held that Christ was no other than a common man; he refused to own that he was the Son of God, come from heaven; he denied that the only begotten Son and Word was God of God: he agreed with the Noetians and Sabellians, that there was but one person in the Godhead"; of these notions he was convicted, and for them condemned by the fynod at Antioch ". The writers of this age are but few, whofe writings have been continued and tranfmitted to us; but those we have, ftrongly oppofed the errors now mentioned; the chief are Tertullian, Origen, and Cyprian, befides in fome fragments of others. 1. Tertullian. He wrote against Praxeus, who held the fame notion that Noetus and Sabellius did, in which work he not only expreffes his firm belief of the Trinity in Unity, faying°; "nevertheless the oeconomy is preferved, which difpofes Unity into Trinity, three, not in ftate (or nature, effence) but in de66 gree for perfon) not in fubftance but in form, not in power but in fpecies, of "one fubftance, of one state, and of one power, because but one God, from whom "these i Catalog. Script. Eccles c. 70. * Hift. Eccles. 1. 6. c. 33. 1 Epiphan. Hæres. 42 Aug. de hæres. c. 36, 41. m Eufeb. Eccles. Hift. 1 7. c. 27, 30 Epiphan. Hæres. 65. Aug. de Hæres. c. 44. "these degrees, forms and fpecies are deputed, under the name of the Father, "and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit." And that he means three distinct perfons, is clear from what he afterwards says: "whatsoever therefore was the "fubftance of the Word, that I call a perfon, and to him I give the name of "Son; and whilft I acknowledge a Son, I defend a fecond from the Father." The diftinction of the Father and Son from each other, and the eternal generation of the one from the other, are fully expreffed by him: "this rule as 'pro“feffed by me, is every where held; by which I teftify, the Father, Son, and Spirit are infeparable from each other; - for lo I fay, another is the Father, "and another is the Son, and another is the holy Spirit ;-not that the Son is "another from the Father, by diversity, but by diftribution; not another by "divifion, but by distinction :-another is he that generates, and another he that "is generated :-a Father must needs have a Son that he may be a Father, and "the Son a Father that he may be a Son." And again', he explains the words in Prov. viii. 22. (The Lord poffeffed me) of the generation of the Son; and on the claufe, when he prepared the heavens, I was with him, he remarks, "thereby "making himself equal to him, by proceeding from whom he became the Son "and first born, as being begotten before all things; and the only begotten, as "being alone begotten of God." On these words, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, he obferves to Praxeas," if you would have me believe "that he is both Father and Son, fhew me fuch a paffage elsewhere, The Lord faid unto himself, I am my Son, this day have I begotten my felf." And in another work of his, he has these words, fpeaking of the Word, "this we "learn is brought forth from God, and by being brought forth, generated, and "and therefore called the Son of God, and God, from the unity of substance;"fo that what comes from God, is God, and the Son of God, and both one :" that is, one God. t S 2. Origen. Notwithstanding his many errors, he is very exprefs for the doctrine of the Trinity, and the distinction of the Father and Son in it, and of the eternal generation of the Son: he obferves" of the Seraphim, in Ifai. vi. 3. that by faying, Holy, boly, boly, they preferve the mystery of the Trinity; that it "was not enough for them to cry holy once nor twice, but they take up the "perfect number of the Trinity, that they might manifeft the multitude of "the holiness of God, which is the repeated community of the trine holiness, "the holiness of the Father, the holiness of the only begotten Son, and of the holy Spirit." And elsewhere", allegorizing the fhew-bread, and the two tenth deals in one cake, he afks, how two tenths become one lump? because, VOL. II. Ibid. c. 7. • Ibid. c.11. fol, 103.3. 4 A lays "In Efaiam Homil 1. fol. 100.4. & Homil. 4. 66 fays he, "we do not feparate the Son from the Father, nor the Father from "the Son, John xiv. 9. therefore each loaf is of two tenths, and fet in two "pofitions, that is, in two rows, for if there was one pofition, it would be confused, and the Word would be mixed of the Father and the Son, but now "indeed it is but one bread; for there is one will and one fubftance; but there "are two pofitions; that is, two proprieties of persons (or proper perfons) for "we call him the Father who is not the Son; and him the Son who is not "the Father." Of the generation of the Son of God he thus fpeaks," Jefus "Chrift himself who is come, was begotten of the Father before every creature "was." And again", "it is abominable and unlawful to equal God the Father "in the generation of his only begotten Son, and in his substance, to any one, men " or other kind of animals; but there must needs be fome exception, and fomething worthy of God, to which there can be no comparison, not in things "only, but indeed not in thought: nor can it be found by fenfe, nor can the "human thought apprehend, how the unbegotten God is the Father of the "only begotten Son: for generation is eternal, as brightness is generated from light, for he is not a Son by adoption of the Spirit extrinfically, but he is a "Son by nature." - 3. Cyprian. Little is to be met with in his writings on this fubject. The following is the most remarkable and particular 2; "the voice of the Father "was heard from heaven, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, "bear ye him; — that this voice came from thy paternity, there is none that "doubts; there is none who dares to arrogate this word to himself; there is "none among the heavenly troops who dare call the Lord Jefus his Son. Certainly to thee only the Trinity is known, the Father only knows the Son, " and the Son knows the Father, neither is he known by any unless he reveals "him; in the school of divine teaching, the Father is he that teaches and in"ftructs, the Son who reveals and opens the fecrets of God unto us, and the "holy Spirit who fits and furnishes us; from the Father we receive power, "from the Son wifdom, and from the holy Spirit innocence. The Father chooses, the Son loves, the holy Spirit joins and unites; from the Father is given us eternity, from the Son conformity to him his image, and from the holy Spirit integrity and liberty; in the Father we are, in the Son we live, "in the holy Spirit we are moved, and become proficients; eternal deity and temporal humanity meet together, and by the tenour of both natures is made "an unity, that it is impoffible that what is joined fhould be feparated from "one another." As for the Expofition of the Creed, which stands among Cyprian's y Ibid. 1. 1. c. 2. fol. 114. 4. vid. Pamphil. Apolog. A. Hieronom. tom. 4. fol. M. & fol. 77. inter opere 2 Cyprian, de baptifmo inter opera ejus, p. 455. περι Αρχων proem fol. 111. 4. pro Origen. 74. Cyprian's works, and is fometimes attributed to him, it was done by Ruffinus, and the teftimonies from thence will be produced in the proper place. 4. Gregory of Neocæfarea, fometimes called Thaumaturgus, the wonder-worker, lived in this century, to whom is afcribed the following confeffion of faith; "One God, the Father of the living Word, of subsisting wisdom and power, and "of the eternal character, perfect begetter of the perfect One, Father of the only "begotten Son: and God the Son, who is through all. The perfect Trinity, which "in glory eternity and kingdom, cannot be divided nor alienated. Not there"fore any thing created or fervile is in the Trinity, nor any thing fuperinduced, "nor first and last; nor did the Son ever want a Father, nor the Son a Spirit: "but the Trinity is always the fame, immutable and invariable." And among his twelve articles of faith, with an anathema annexed to them, this is one: " If "any one fays, another is the Son who was before the world, and another who "was in the last times, and does not confefs, that he who was before the' "world, and he who was in the last times, is the fame, as it is written, let "him be anathema." The interpolation follows; "how can it be faid, an"other is the Son of God before the world was, and another in the laft days, "when the Lord fays, before Abraham was, I am; and because I came forth from the Father, and am come; and again, I go to my Father?" 66 5. Dionyfius, bishop of Alexandria, was a difciple of Origen: he wrote against the Sabellians, but none of his writings are extant, only fome fragments preserved in other authors. And whereas Arius made use of some palfages of his, and improved them in favour of his own notions, Athanafius from him fhews the contrary, as where in one of his volumes he exprefsly fays, that "there never was a time in which God was not a Father; and in the following acknowledges, that Chrift the Word, Wisdom and Power, always was; that "he is the eternal Son of the eternal Father; for if there is a Father, there "must be a Son; and if there was no Son, how could he be the Father of any? "but there are both, and always were. The Son alone always co-existed with. "the Father.-God the Father always was: and the Father being eternal, the "Son alfo is eternal, and co-exifted with him as brightness with light." And, in answer to another objection, made against him, that when he mentioned the Father, he said nothing of the Son, and when he named the Son, faid nothing of the Father; it is observed, that in another volume of his, he fays, that "each of these names fpoken of by me, are infeparable and indivisible from "one another; when I fpeak of the Father, and before I introduce the Son, I "fignify • Expof. Fidei inter opera ejus, p. 1. ed. Paris. 4 A 2 Ibid. p. 4. • Epift. ad Xyftum apud Eufeb. 1. 7. c. 6. & ad Ammonium & Euphranor. apud Athanafium de Sent Dionyf. p. 433, 435Elench. & Apolog. vol. 1. apud Athanaf. ib. p. 436, 437. • Ibid. vol. 2. apud Athanas. ibid. p. 437. fignify him in the Father; when I introduce the Son, though I have not "before spoken of the Father, he is always to be understood in the Son." 6. The errors of Paulus Samofate were condemned by the fynod at Antioch, towards the latter end of this century, by whom a formula or confeflion of faith was agreed to, in which are thefe words '. "We profefs that our Lord Jefus Chrift was begotten of the Father before ages, according to the Spirit, and "in the last days, born of a virgin, according to the flesh." The word confubftantial, is ufed in their creed. Towards the clofe of this century, and at the beginning of the next, lived Lactantius, (for he lived under Dioclefian, and to the times of Conftantine) who afferts, that God, the maker of all things, begat "a Spirit holy, incorruptible, and irreprehenfible, whom he called the Son." He afks","how hath he procreated? The divine works can neither be known "nor declared by any; nevertheless the fcriptures teach, that the Son of God "is the Word of God." Nothing more is to be obferved in this century. I país on, IV. To the fourth century, in which rofe up the Arians and Photinians, and others. ft, The Arians, fo called from Arius, a prefbyter of the church at Alexandria, in the beginning of this century, who took occafion from fome words dropped in difputation by Alexander his bishop, to oppofe him, and start the herefy that goes under his name; and though the eternal Sonship of Chrift was virtually denied by preceding hereticks, who affirmed that Chrift did not exift before Mary; in oppofition to whom the orthodox affirmed, that he was begotten of the Father before all worlds; yet Arius was the firft, who pretended to acknowledge the Trinity, that actually and in exprefs words fet himself to oppofe the eternal Sonship of Chrift by generation; and argued much in the fame manner as those do, who oppofe it now: for being a man who had a good share of knowledge of the art of logic, as the hiftorian obferves', he reasoned thus, "If the Father begat the Son, he that is begotten, must have a beginning of "his existence, from whence it is manifeft, that there was a time when the Son "was not; and therefore it neceffarily follows, that he had his fubfiftence from things that are not; " or was brought out of a state of non-existence into a state of existence. He understood generated in no other fenfe than of being created or made; and afferted, that he was created by God before time, and was the first creature, and by which he made all others; in proof of which he urged Prov. viii. 22. taking the advantage of the Greek version, which, instead of possessed me, reads created me the beginning of his ways. His fentiments will more fully appear from his own words in his epiftles to Eufebius of Nicomedia, and to f Apud Forbes. Inftruct. Hift. Theolog. 1. 1. c. 4. p. 10. 8 De verb. Sap. l. 4. c. 6. his |