the Fathers of the three first centuries were Unitarians?

It is not the object of the present work to shew that baptism in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, or a profession of faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, necessarily implies the divinity of the second and third Persons. as well as of the first. This subject has often been handled by the ablest writers; and the point has been proved irresistibly by bishop Bull and Dr. Waterland C. I do not presume to attempt to add any thing to their demonstrations; but, confining myself to the testimony which Irenæus bears to our Lord's divinity, I have laid before the reader the creeds which he gives as universally professed in his time and I must observe particularly, that he expressly calls Jesus Christ our Lord and God and Saviour and King.

In many other places Irenæus calls Christ God, without ever hinting that he used the term in an inferior or figurative sense: and whenever the reader finds our Saviour called God in the quotations made from this Father, I should wish him also to bear in mind the following passages, in which Irenæus explicitly asserts his belief in only one God. "Neither "would his disciples give to any other person the "name of God, or call him Lord, except him, who was truly God and Lord of all d" "Neither the prophets nor apostles have named any other God,

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" or called any one else Lord, except the true and only God e." "Neither the Lord, nor the Holy "Ghost, nor the apostles, would ever have given to "him, who was not God, the name of God definitively and absolutely, if he had not been really "God f." "He who has any one superior to him"self, and is under the power of another, can nei"ther be called God nor mighty King "."

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I would ask, after these express declarations, how could Irenæus possibly give to Christ the title of God, unless he thought Him substantially and essentially united to Him, whom he acknowledges as the only God? I would observe also, that Irenæus expressly says, what indeed appears a self-evident truth, that "what is begotten by God is God h." We may conceive God to create substances wholly heterogeneous from Himself: but Irenæus could not conceive God to beget a Son, however incomprehensible the mode of generation may be, unless that Son is also God. We should bear this in mind, when in the creeds quoted above, or in any other part of his writings, Irenæus speaks of Christ as the Son of God. He thought that such an expression necessarily implied the divinity of the Son.

e

46. Irenæi 1. 2. c. 13. §. 8. p. 132.

Speaking of the absurd doctrines of some of the

Nunquam neque prophetæ, neque apostoli alium Deum nominaverunt, vel Dominum appellaverunt, præter verum et solum Deum. III. 8. p. 182.

f Neque igitur Dominus, neque Spiritus Sanctus, neque apostoli eum, qui non esset Deus, definitive et absolute

Gnostics, he says, that yet "they are more decent "than those who transfer the generation of the "word which men produce to the eternal Word of

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God, making a beginning and creation of the pro“duction, as they do of a word of their own. But, "if so, in what will the Word of God, or rather God Himself, since He is the Word, differ from the "word of men, if he is generated in the same order " and process i ?" This is evidently directed against those persons who believed Christ not to be a substantially existing person, but a mere quality or emanation of the Father.

47. Irenæi 1. 2. c. 25. §. 3. p. 153.

Having observed that we must not expect to discover the causes of all things, since man must ever remain inferior to his Maker both in nature and in knowledge, he breaks out into this remarkable testimony to the divinity of Christ: "For thou art not uncreated, O man, nor didst thou always exist to"gether with God, like His own Word: but through "His great goodness thou now receivest the begin

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ning of thy creation, and learnest gradually from "His Word the ordinances of God, who made theek.” The quotation which precedes this, shews, that when Irenæus called Christ the Word of God, he did not understand him to be merely an operation of the

i Decentiora autem magis quam hi, qui generationem prolativi hominum verbi transferunt in Dei æternum Verbum, et prolationis initium donantes et genesin, quemadmodum et suo verbo. Et in quo distabit Dei Verbum, immo magis ipse Deus, cum sit Verbum, a verbo hominum, si eandem habuerit

ordinationem et emissionem generationis ?

k Non enim infectus es, O homo, neque semper coexistebas Deo, sicut proprium ejus Verbum: sed propter eminentem bonitatem ejus, nunc initium facturæ accipiens sensim discis a Verbo dispositiones Dei, qui te fecit.

mind or will of God, but he conceived him to have a personal and substantial existence. In the present passage he shews what sort of existence that was, viz. an eternal coexistence with God. The next quotation asserts the same thing.

48. Irenæi 1. 2. c. 30. §. ult. p. 163.

"The Son, who always coexisted with the Father, "in times past and from the beginning, always re"veals the Father both to angels and archangels, "and to principalities and powers, and to all to "whom he wishes to reveal!" See also No. 57.

49. Irenæi 1. 3. c. 6. §. 1. p. 180.

In this chapter Irenæus argues, that whenever the scriptures speak of God without any qualifying or restrictive epithet, they mean the one true God, and that they speak in this manner only of God the Father and God the Son, who are therefore the only one true God. His words are these;" Neither the "Lord therefore, nor the Holy Ghost, nor the apo"stles, would ever have given to him who was not "God, the name of God definitively and absolutely, "unless he were truly God: neither would they "have called any one Lord in his own person, ex"cept him who is Lord over all, God the Father, "and His Son, who has received from his Father authority over every creature, as the Psalmist says, "cx. 1. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. For he represents the Father speaking "to the Son; who has given him the Gentiles for "his inheritance, and subjected all his enemies unto "him. Since therefore the Father is truly Lord,

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1 Semper autem coexistens semper revelat Patrem et an

" and the Son truly Lord, the Holy Ghost has suit"ably marked them with the appellation of Lord. "And again, in the overthrowing of Sodom, the "scripture says, (Gen. xix. 24.) And the Lord "rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah fire and "brimstone from the Lord out of heaven. For it signifies in this place, that the Son, who had also "been conversing with Abraham, had received power from the Father to judge the people of "Sodom on account of their iniquity. That is a "similar expression, Thy throne, O God, is for "ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right "sceptre. Thou hast loved righteousness, and "hated wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath "anointed thee m. For the Spirit has marked each "with the appellation of God, both him who is "anointed, i. e. the Son, and Him who anoints, i. e. "the Father. And again, God standeth in the congregation of the gods; He judgeth' among the gods". This is spoken of the Father and the Son, "and of those who have received adoption; and "these are the church. For this is the congrega"tion of God, which God, i. e. the Son himself, has

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gathered together by himself. Of whom the Psalm"ist says in another place, 1. 1. The God of gods, "the Lord hath spoken, and called the earth. "What God? He of whom it is said, God shall

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manifestly come, our God, and shall not keep si"lence, (ver. 3.) i. e. the Son, who came manifestly "amongst men, who says, I have appeared openly "unto them which seek me not °. But of what God [does the Psalmist speak,] to whom he says, I

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m Psalm xlv. 6.

n Psalm lxxxii. 1. • Isaiah lxv. I.