This term afterwards adopted by them; and why; three senses of it. A fourth sense. Ingenerate denotes God in contrast to His creatures, not to His Son; Father the scriptural title instead; Conclusion. VII. §. 28. 1. THIS in fact was the reason, when the unsound nature CHAP. of their phrases had been exposed at that time, and they were henceforth open to the charge of irreligion, that they proceeded to borrow of the Greeks the term Ingenerate", that, under shelter of it, they might reckon among the things generate and the creatures, that Word of God, by whom these very things came to be; so unblushing are they in their irreligion, so obstinate in their blasphemies against the Lord. If then this want of shame arises from ignorance of the term, they ought to learn of those who gave it them, and who have not scrupled to say that even intellect, which they derive from Good, and the soul which proceeds from intellect, though their respective origins be known, are notwithstanding ingenerate, for they understand that by so saying they do not disparage that first Origin of which the others come ". This being the case, let them a yirov. Opportunity will occur for noticing this celebrated word on Orat. i. 30–34. where the present passage is partly re-written, partly transcribed. Mention is also made of it in the De Syn. 46, 47. Athanasius would seem to have been but partially acquainted with the writings of the Anomoans, whose symbol it was, and to have argued with them from the writings of the elder Arians, who had also made use of it. b Montfaucon quotes a passage from Plato's Phædrus, in which the human soul is called " ingenerate and immor tal;" but Athan. is referring to an- 1 p. 52 Arians used phrases, neither in nor according to Scripture. C NICEN. say the like themselves, or else not speak at all, of what they DEF. do not know. But if they consider they are acquainted with the subject, then they must be interrogated; for the exI supr. p. pression is not from divine Scripture1, but they are con31. note tentious, as elsewhere, for unscriptural positions. Just as I have related the reason and sense, with which the Council and the Fathers before it defined and published "of the substance," and "one in substance," agreeably to what Scripture says of the Saviour; so now let them, if they can, answer on their part what has led them to this unscriptural phrase, and in what sense they call God Ingenerate? 2. In truth, I am told, that the name has different senses; philosophers say that it means, first, "what has not yet, but may, come to be;" next, "what neither exists, nor can come into being;" and thirdly, "what exists indeed, but was neither generated nor had origin of being, but is everlasting and indestructible." Now perhaps they will wish to pass over the v. 2 and 3. Athan.'s testimony that < ἐπεὶ μάλισται, ὅτι μάλιστα, Orat. i. d And so de Syn. (. 46. " we have on careful inquiry ascertained, &c." Again," I have acquainted myself on their account [the Arians'] with the meaning of ymro." Orat. i. §. 30. This is remarkable, for Athan. was a man of liberal education, as his Orat. contr.Gent. and de Incarn. shew, especially his acquaintance with the Platonic philosophy. Sulpicius too speaks of him as a jurisconsultus, Sacr. Hist. ii. 50. St. Gregory Naz. says, that he gave some attention, but not much, to the subjects of general education, T iyxvxλíwv, that he might not be altogether ignorant, of what he nevertheless despised, Orat. 21. 6. In the same way S. Basil, whose cultivation of mind none can doubt, speaks slightingly of his own philosophical knowledge. He writes of his "neglecting his own ex and weakness, and being utterly unex- e Four senses of dyinrov are enumerated, Orat. i. §. 30. 1. What is not as yet, but is possible; 2. what neither has been, nor can be; 3. what exists, but has not come to be from any cause; 4. what is not made, but is ever. Only two senses are specified in the de Syn. §. 46. and in these the question really lies; 1. what is, but without a cause; 2. uncreate. The equivocation of the word Ingenerate. 53 first two senses, from the absurdity which follows; for according CHAP. to the first, things that already have come to be, and things that VII. are expected to be, are ingenerate; and the second is more extravagant still; accordingly they will proceed to the third sense, and use the word in it: though here, in this sense too, their irreligion will be quite as great. For if by Ingenerate they mean what has no origin of being, nor is generated or created, but eternal, and say that the Word of God is contrary to this, who comprehends not the craft of these foes of God? who but would stone such madmen? for, when they are ashamed to bring forward again those first phrases which they fabled, and which were condemned, the bad men have taken another way to signify them, by means of what they call Ingenerate. For if the Son be of things generate, it follows, that He too came to be from nothing; and if He has an origin of being, then He was not before His generation; and if He is not eternal, there was once when He was not. If these are their sentiments, they ought §. 29. to signify their heterodoxy in their own phrases, and not to hide their perverseness under the cloke of the Ingenerate. But instead of this, the evil-minded men are busy with their craftiness after their father, the devil; for as he attempts to deceive in the guise of others, so these have broached the term Ingenerate, that they might pretend to speak piously of f Baλλiolwrav ragà xá›rwy, Orat. ii. §. 28. An apparent allusion to the punishment of blasphemy and idolatry under the Jewish Law. vid. reference to Ex.21, 17, in page 49, note p. Thus, e.g. Nazianzen: "While I go up the mount with good heart, that I may become within the cloud, and may hold converse with God, for so God bids; if there be any Aaron, let him go up with me and stand near. And if there be any Nadab or Abiud, or of the elders, let him go up, but stand far off, according to the measure of his purification.... But if any one is an evil and savage beast, and quite incapable of science and theology; let him stand off still further, and depart from the mount; or he will be stoned and crushed; for the wicked shall be miserably destroyed. For as stones for the bestial are true words and strong. Whether he be leopard, let him die spots and all," &c. The Arians argued that the word 54 Ingenerate does not exclude the idea of Son but of creature. NICEN. God, yet might cherish a concealed blasphemy against the DEF. Lord, and under this covering might teach it to others. $. 30. 3. However, on the detecting of this sophism, what remains to them? "We have found another," say the evil-doers; and then proceed to add to what they have said already, that Ingenerate means what has no author of being, but stands itself in this relation to things generate. Unthankful, and in truth deaf to the Scriptures! who do every thing, and say every thing, not to honour God, but to dishonour the Son, ignorant that he who dishonours the Son, dishonours the Father. For first, even though they denote God in this way, still the Word is not proved to be of things generated. For if He be viewed as offspring of the substance of the Father, He is of consequence with Him eternally. For this name of offspring does not detract from the nature of the Word, nor does Ingenerate take its sense from contrast with the Son, but with the things which come to be through the Son; and as he who addresses an architect, and calls him framer of house or city, does not under this designation allude to the son who is begotten from him, but on account of the art and science which he displays in his work, calls him artificer, signifying thereby that he is not such as the things made by him, and while he knows the nature of the builder, knows also that he whom he begets is other than his works; and in regard to his son calls him father, but in regard to his works, creator and maker; in like manner he who says in this sense that God is ingenerate, names Him from His works, signifying, not only that He is not generate, but that He is maker of things which are so; yet is aware withal that the Word is other than the things generate, and alone a proper' offspring of the Father, through whom all things came to be and consist 1. 4. In like manner, when the Prophets spoke of God as Allpowerful, they did not so name Him, as if the Word were 2 varv included in that All2; (for they knew that the Son was other than πάντων things generate, and Sovereign over them Himself, according to His likeness to the Father;) but because He is Sovereign over all things which through the Son He has made, and h The whole of this passage is repeated in Orat. i. 33. &c. vid. for this particular argument, Basil also, contr. Eunom. i. 16. As 'Lord of Hosts' does not exclude a Son, so not Ingenerate. 55 VII. of hosts. has given the authority of all things to the Son, and having CHAP. given it, is Himself once more the Lord of all things through the Word. Again, when they called God, Lord of the powers1, 1i. e. they said not this as if the Word was one of those powers, but because, while He is Father of the Son, He is Lord of the powers which through the Son have come to be. For again, the Word too, as being in the Father, is Lord of them all, and Sovereign over all; for all things, whatsoever the Father hath, are the Son's. This then being the force of such titles, in like manner let a man call God ingenerate, if it so please him; not however as if the Word were of generate things, but because, as I said before, God not only is not generate, but through His proper Word is He the maker of things which are so. For though the Father be called such, still the Word is the Father's Image and one in substance with Him; and being His Image, He must be distinct from things generate, and from every thing; for whose Image He is, to Him hath He it to be proper2 and to be like: so that he who calls the Father ingene- cùv idiórate and almighty, perceives in the Ingenerate and the Almighty, His Word and His Wisdom, which is the Son. But these wondrous men, and prompt for irreligion, hit upon the term Ingenerate, not as caring for God's honour, but from malevolence towards the Saviour; for if they had regard to honour and blessing, it rather had been right and good to acknowledge and to call God Father, than to give Him this name; for in calling God ingenerate, they are, as I said before, calling Him from things which came to be, and as a Maker only, that so they may imply the Word to be a work after their own pleasure; but he who calls God Father, in Him withal signifies His Son also, and cannot fail to know that, whereas there is a Son, through this Son all things that came to be were created. 2 τητα 5. Therefore it will be much more accurate to denote God §. 31. from the Son and to call Him Father, than to name Him and call Him Ingenerate from His works only; for the latter term refers to the works that have come to be at the will of God through the Word, but the name of Father points out the proper offspring from His substance. And whereas the Word surpasses things generate, by so much and more also doth calling God Father surpass the calling Him Ingenerate; |