boa änλa roúry σuyyev." As God" (absolutely) "falls not under demonstration," (that is, cannot perfectly be declared,) "so he doth not" (immediately) "effect or teach us knowledge. But the Son is wisdom, and knowledge, and truth, unto us, and every thing which is cognate hereunto." For in and by him doth God teach us, and represent himself unto us.

CHAP. VII. Upon the glory of this divine person of Christ depends the efficacy of all his offices; an especial demonstration whereof is given in his prophetical office. So it is well expressed by Irenæus, "qui nil molitur ineptè:" Lib. i. cap. 1. "Non enim aliter nos discere poteramus quæ sunt Dei, nisi magister noster verbum existens, homo factus fuisset. Neque enim alius poterat enarrare nobis quæ sunt Patris, nisi proprium ipsius verbum. Quis enim alius cognovit sensum Domini? aut quis alius ejus consiliarius factus est? Neque rursus nos aliter discere poteramus, nisi Magistrum nostrum videntes, et per auditum nostrum vocem ejus percipientes, uti imitatores quidem operum, factores autem sermonum ejus facti, communionem habeamus cum ipso.”—“We could not otherwise have learned the things of God, unless our Master, being and continuing the" (eternal) "Word, had been made man. For no other could declare unto us the things of God, but his own proper Word. For who else hath known the mind of the Lord? or who else hath been his counsellor? Neither, on the other side, could we otherwise have learned, unless we had seen our Master, and heard his voice," (in his incarnation and ministry,) "whereby, following his works, and yielding obedience unto his doctrine, we may have communion with himself."

I do perceive that if I should proceed with the same kind of attestations unto the doctrine of all the chapters in the ensuing discourse, this preface would be drawn forth unto a greater length than was ever designed unto it, or is convenient for it. I shall therefore choose out one or two instances more, to give a specimen of the concurrence of the ancient church in the doctrine declared in them, and so put a close unto it.

CHAP. IX. In the ninth chapter and those following, we treat of the divine honour that is due unto the person of Christ, expressed in adoration, invocation, and obedience, proceeding from faith and love. And the foundation of the whole is laid in the discovery of the true nature and causes of that honour; and three things are designed unto confirmation herein. 1. That the divine nature, which is individually the same in each person of the holy Trinity, is the proper formal object of all divine worship, in adoration and invocation; wherefore, no one person is or can be worshipped, but in the same individual act

of worship each person is equally worshipped and adored. 2. That it is lawful to direct divine honour, worship, and invocation unto any person, in the use of his peculiar name-the Father, Son, or Spirit --or unto them altogether; but to make any request unto one person, and immediately the same unto another, is not exemplified in the Scripture, nor among the ancient writers of the church. 3. That the person of Christ, as God-man, is the proper object of all divine honour and worship, on the account of his divine nature; and all that he did in his human nature are motives thereunto.

The first of these is the constant doctrine of the whole ancient church, viz., that whether, (for instance,) in our solemn prayers and invocations, we call expressly on the name of the Father, or of the Son, or of the Holy Spirit; whether we do it absolutely or relatively, that is, with respect unto the relation of one person to the other— as calling on God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, on Christ as the Son of his love, on the Holy Spirit as proceeding from them both-we do formally invocate and call on the divine nature, and consequently the whole Trinity, and each person therein. This truth they principally confirmed with the form of our initiation into Christ at baptism: "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." For as there is contained therein the sum of all divine honour, so it is directed unto the same name, (not the names,) of the Father, Son, and Spirit, which is the same Deity or divine nature alone.

So speak the Fathers of the second General Council in their letters unto the bishops of the west; as they are expressed in Theodoret, lib. v. cap. 9. This form of baptism teacheth us, say they, IreÚEIV εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς, καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, δηλαδή, θεό τητός τε καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ οὐσίας μιᾶς τοῦ πατρὸς, καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος πιστευομένης, ομοτίμου τῆς ἀξίας, καὶ συναϊδίου τῆς βασιλείας, ἐν τρισὶ τελείαις ὑποστάσεσι —“to believe in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; seeing that the Deity, substance, and power of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is one and the same; their dignity equal; their kingdom co-eternal, in three perfect persons." "In nomine dixit, non nominibus, ergo non aliud nomen Patris est," &c., "quia unus Deus:" Ambrose, De Spirit. Sanct., lib. i. cap. 14. *Ονομα δὲ κοινὸν τῶν τριῶν ἕν, ἡ θεότης.—“The one name common to the three is the Deity:" Gregor. Nazianzen, Orat. xl. Hence Augustine gives it as a rule, in speaking of the Holy Trinity: "Quando unus trium in aliquo opere nominatur, universa operari trinitas intelligitur:" Enchirid., cap. xxxviii.-"When one person of the three is named in any work, the whole Trinity is to be understood to effect it." "There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism," according to the Scriptures. Wherefore, as there is one faith in Christ, and one bap

tism of truth, although we are baptized and believe in the Father, Son, and Spirit, κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν, οἶμαι, τρόπον καὶ λόγον, μία προσκύνησις ἡ πατρὸς, καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσαντος υἱοῦ, καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος;" so plainly, in my judgment, there is one and the same adoration of the Father, the Son incarnate, and the Holy Spirit:" Cyril. Alex. de Recta Fide, сар. хххіі.

And this they professed themselves to hold and believe, in that ancient doxology which was first invented to decry the Arian heresy: "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost." The same glory, in every individual act of its assignation or ascription, is directed unto each person jointly and distinctly, on the account of the same divine nature in each of them. I need not produce any testimonies in the farther confirmation hereof; for, in all their writings against the Arians, they expressly and constantly contend that the holy Trinity (that is, the divine nature in three persons) is the individual object of all divine adoration, invocation, and all religious worship; and that by whatever personal name as the Father, Son, or Spirit-we call on God, it is God absolutely who is adored, and each person participant of the same nature. See August. Lib. con. Serm. Arian. cap. xxxv., and Epist. lxvi. ad Maximum.

For the second thing, or the invocation of God by any personal name, or by the conjunction of the distinct names of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together, nothing occurs more frequently among them. Yea, it is common to find in their writings, prayers begun unto one person, and ended in the name of another; yea, begun unto Christ, and closed in the name of His only-begotten Son; it being one and the same divine nature that is called on. Yea, the schoolmen do generally deny that the persons of the holy Trinity, under the consideration of the formal reason which is constitutive of their personality, are the formal object and term of divine worship; but in the worship of one, they are all worshipped as one God over all, blessed for ever. See Aquin. xxii. q. 81, a. 3, ad prim., and q. 84, a. 1, ad tertium; Alexand. Alens. p. 3, q. 30, m. 1, a. 3.

But yet, although we may call on God in and by the name of any divine person, or enumerate at once each person, (ŵ rpiùs ȧyía åpılμovμένη, τριὰς ἐν ἑνὶ ὀνόματι ἀριθμουμένη, Epiphan. Ancorat., viii. 22,) it doth not follow that we may make a request in our prayers unto one person, and then immediately repeat it unto another; for it would thence follow, that the person unto whom we make that request in the second place, was not invocated, not called on, not equally adored with him who was so called on in the first place, although the divine nature is the object of all religious invocation, which is the same in each person. Wherefore, in our divine invocation, we may name and fix our thoughts distinctly on any person, according as our souls

are affected with the distinct operations of each person in grace towards us.

For what concerns, in the third place, the ascription of divine honour, in adoration and invocation, unto the person of Christ; it is that which they principally contended for, and argued from, in all their writings against the Arians.

Evidences of infinite wisdom in the constitution of the person of Christ, and rational discoveries of the condecencies therein, unto the exaltation of all the other glorious properties of the divine nature, are also treated of. Herein we consider the incarnation of the Son of God, with respect unto the recovery and salvation of the church alone. Some have contended that he should have been incarnate, had man never fallen or sinned. Of these are Rupertus, lib. iii., De

Gloriâ et Honore Filii Hominis; Albertus Magnus, in iii. distinct. 10, a. 4; Petrus Galatinus, lib. iii. cap. 4; as are Scotus, Halensis, and others, whom Osiander followed. The same is affirmed by Socinus concerning the birth of that man, which alone he fancied him to be, as I have elsewhere declared. But I have disproved this figment at large. Many of the ancients have laboured in this argument, of the necessity of the incarnation of the eternal Word, and the condecencies unto divine wisdom therein. See Irenæus, lib. iii. cap. 20, 21; Eusebius, Demonst. Evangel., lib. iv. cap. 1-4, &c.; Cyril. Alexand., lib. v. cap. 7, lib. i. De Fide ad Regin.; Chrysostom, Homil. x. in Johan., et in cap. 8, ad Rom. Serm. 18; Augustine, De Trinit., lib. xiii. cap. 13–20; Leo, Epist. 13, 18, Sermo. de Nativit. 1, 4, 10; Basil, in Psal. xlviii.; Albinus, lib. i. in Johan. cap. 11; Damascen., lib. iii., De Fide, cap. 15, 19; Anselm, quod Deus Homo, lib. duo. Guil. Parisiensis, lib. Cur Deus Homo. Some especial testimonies we may produce in confirmation of what we have discoursed, in the places directed unto. There is one of them, one of the most ancient, the most learned, and most holy of them, who hath so fully delivered his thoughts concerning this mystery, as that I shall principally make use of his testimony herein.

It belonged unto the wisdom and righteousness of God, that Satan should be conquered and subdued in and by the same nature which he had prevailed against, by his suggestion and temptation. To this purpose that holy writer speaks, (lib. iii. cap. 20,) which, because his words are cited by Theodoret, (Dial. ii.,) I shall transcribe them from thence, as free from the injuries of his barbarous translator: "Hvo οὖν καθὼς προέφαμεν τὸν ἄνθρωπον τῷ Θεῷ, εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἄνθρωπος ἐνίκησεν τὸν ἀντίπαλον τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, οὐκ ἂν δικαίως ἐνικήθη ὁ ἐχθρὸς, πάλιν τε, εἰ μὴ ὁ Θεὸς ἐδωρήσατο τὴν σωτηρίαν, οὐκ ἂν βεβαίως ἔχοιμεν αὐτὴν, καὶ ἐν μὴ συνη νώθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῷ Θεῷ οὐκ ἂν ἠδυνήθη μετασχεῖν τῆς ἀφθαρσίας. Εδει γὰρ τὸν μεσίτην τοῦ Θεοῦ τε καὶ ἀνθρώπων, διὰ τῆς ἰδίας πρὸς ἑκατέρους οἰκειότητος

εἰς φιλίαν καὶ ὁμόνοιαν τοὺς ἀμφοτέρους συναγαγεῖν. Words plainly divine: an illustrious testimony of the faith of the ancient church, and expressive of the principal mystery of the Gospel! "Wherefore, as we said before, he united man unto God. For if man had not overcome the adversary of men, the enemy had not been justly conquered; and, on the other hand, if God had not given and granted salvation, we could never have a firm, indefeasible possession of it; and if man had not been united unto God, he could not have been partaker of immortality. It behoved, therefore, the Mediator between God and man, by his own participation of the nature of each of them, to bring them both into friendship and agreement with each other." And to the same purpose, speaking of the wisdom of God in our redemption by Christ, with respect unto the conquest of the devil: (lib. v. cap. 1 :) "Potens in omnibus Dei Verbum, et non deficiens in suâ justitiâ, justè etiam adversus ipsam conversus est apostasiam, ea quæ sunt sua redimens, ab eo, non cum vi, quemadmodum ille initio dominabatur nostri, ea quæ non erant sua insatiabiliter rapiens . . . . . . Suo igitur sanguine redimente nos Domino, et dante animam suam pro anima nostra, et carnem suam pro carnibus nostris," &c. Again divinely: "The all-powerful Word of God, no way defective in righteousness, set himself against the apostasy justly also; redeeming from him (Satan, the head of the apostasy) the things which were his ownnot with force, as he bare rule over us, insatiably making rapine of what was not his own-but he, the Lord, redeeming us with his own blood, giving his soul for our soul, and his flesh for ours, wrought out our deliverance." These things are at large insisted on in the ensuing discourse.

It belongs unto this great mystery, and is a fruit of divine wisdom, that our deliverance should be wrought in and by the same nature wherein and whereby we were ruined. The reasons hereof, and the glory of God therein, are at large discoursed in the ensuing treatise. To the same purpose speaks the same holy writer: (lib. v. cap. 14:) "Non in semetipso recapitulasset hæc Dominus, nisi ipse caro et sanguis secundum principalem plasmationem factus fuisset; salvans in semetipso in fine illud quod perierat in principio in Adam. Si autem ob aliam quandam dispositionem Dominus incarnatus est, et ex alterâ substantiâ carnem attulit, non ergo in semetipso recapitulatus est hominem, adhuc etiam nec caro quidem dici potest.... Habuit ergo et ipse carnem et sanguinem, non alteram quandam, sed ipsam principalem Patris plasmationem in se recapitulans, exquirens id quod perierat.” And to the same purpose: (lib. v. cap. 1:) "Neque enim vere esset sanguinem et carnem habens, per quam nos redemit, nisi antiquam plasmationem Adæ in seipsum recapitulasset." That which these passages give testimony unto, is what we have discoursed concerning