DEF. NICEN. for the latter is unscriptural and suspicious, as it has various senses; but the former is simple and scriptural, and more accurate, and alone implies the Son. And " Ingenerate" is a word of the Greeks who know not the Son: but "Father" has been acknowledged and vouchsafed by our Lord; for He, John 14, knowing Himself whose Son He was, said, I in the Father 10.9. and the Father in Me; and, He that hath seen Me hath 30. seen the Father; and, I and the Father are one; but no John10, 9. where is He found to call the Father Ingenerate. Moreover, when He teaches us to pray, He says not, " When ye pray, Mat. 6, say, O God Ingenerate," but rather, When ye pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven. And it was His Will, that the Summary of our faith should have the same bearing. For He has bid us be baptized, not in the name of Ingenerate and generate, not into the name of uncreate and creature, but into the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost'; for with. such an nitiation we too are made sons verily, and using the And so St. Basil, "Our faith was not in Framer and Work, but in Father and Son were we sealed through the grace in baptism." contr. Eunom. ii. 22. And a somewhat similar passage occurs Orat. ii. §. 41. κ υἱοποιούμεθα ἀληθῶς. This strong term "truly" or "verily" seems taken from such passages as speak_of_the grace and truth" of the Gospel, John i. 12-17. Again St. Basil says, that we are sons, xugías, "properly," and Teras "primarily," in opposition to rgoins, "figuratively," contr. Eunom. ii. 23. St. Cyril too says, that we are sons "naturally "Qurines as well as xarà Xágy, vid. Suicer Thesaur. v. viós. i. 3. Of these words, aλntãs, Qvoixãs, xvgiws, and gras, the first two are commonly reserved for our Lord; e. g. ròv ¿ants viov, Orat. ii. §. 37. nuris vioì, oun às ἐκεῖνος φύσει καὶ ἀληθείᾳ, iii. §. 19. Hilary seems to deny us the title of "proper" sons; de Trin. xii. 15; but his "proprium" is a translation of dio, not xugis. And when Justin says of Christ, ovos aggóμevos xugíws viòs, Apol. ii. 6. xugías seems to be used in reference to the word xvgíos Lord, which he has just been using, zugiohays, being sometimes used by him as others in the sense of "naming as Lord," like toλoytv. vid. Tryph. 56. There is a passage in Justin's ad Græc. 21. where he (or the writer) when speaking of y si i av, uses the word in the same ambiguous sense; οὐδὲν γὰρ ὄνομα ἐπὶ θεοῦ κυριολογεῖσθαι duvarov, 21; as if xúgios, the Lord, by which "I am" is translated, were a sort of symbol of that proper name of God which cannot be given. But to return; the true doctrine then is, that, whereas there is a primary and secondary sense in which the word Son is used, primary when it has its formal meaning of continuation of nature, and secondary when it is used nominally, or for an external resemblance to the first meaning, it is applied to the regenerate, not in the secondary sense, but in the primary. St. Basil and St. Gregory Nyssen consider Son to be “ term of relationship according to nature," (vid. supr. p. 16, note k,) also Basil in Psalm 28, 1. The actual presence of the Holy Spirit in the regenerate in substance, (vid. Cyril. Dial. 7. p. 638.) constitutes this relationship of nature; and hence after the words quoted from St. Cyril in the heginning of this note, in which he says, that we are sons, Quaixas, he proceeds, "naturally, because we are in Him, and in Him alone." vid. Athan.'s a Novel terms of heresy met by new terms of orthodoxy. 57 VII. y name of the Father, we acknowledge from that name, the Word CHAP. in the Father. But if He wills that we should call His own Father our Father, we must not on that account measure ourselves with the Son according to nature, for it is because of the Son that the Father is so called by us; for since the Word bore our body and came to be1 in us, therefore by reason of the Word in us, is God called our Father. For the Spirit of the Word in us, names through us His own Father as ours, which is the Apostle's meaning when he says, God Gal. 4, hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 2 ἐν ἡμῖν 6. 52. 6. But perhaps being refuted as touching the term Ingenerate §. 32. also, they will say, according to their evil nature," It behoved, as regards our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ also, to state from the Scriptures what is there written of Him, and not to supr.p. introduce unscriptural expressions." Yes, it behoved, say I too; for the tokens of truth are more exact as drawn from Scripture, than from other sources'; but the ill disposition and the versatile and crafty irreligion of the Eusebians, compelled the Bishops, as I said before, to publish more distinctly the terms which overthrow their irreligion; and what the Council did write has already been shewn to have an orthodox sense, while the Arians have been shewn to be corrupt in their expressions, and evil in their dispositions. words which follow in the text at the end of §. 31. And hence Nyssen lays down, as a received truth, that "to none does the term ' proper,' xvgiratov, apply, but to one in whom the name responds with truth to the nature," contr. Eunom. iii. p. 123. And he also implies, p. 117, the intimate association of our sonship with Christ's, when he connects together regeneration with our Lord's eternal generation, neither being di Talous, or, of the will of the flesh. If it be asked, what the distinctive words are which are incommunicably the Son's, since so much is man's, it is obvious to answer, idios vids and μovoyevns, which are in Scripture, and the symbols "of the substance," and "one in substance," of the Council; and this is the value of the Council's phrases, that, while they guard the Son's divinity, they allow full scope, without risk of entrenching on it, to the Catholic doctrine of the "The holy and inspired Scriptures ! NICEN. The term Ingenerate, having its own sense, and admitting of DEF. a religious use, they nevertheless, according to their own idea, 23. and as they will, use for the dishonour of the Saviour, all for the sake of contentiously maintaining, like giants", their fight with God. But as they did not escape condemnation when they adduced these former phrases, so when they misconceive of the Ingenerate which in itself admits of being used well and religiously, they were detected, being disgraced before all, and their heresy every where proscribed. 7. This then, as I could, have I related, by way of explaining what was formerly done in the Council; but I know that the contentious among Christ's foes will not be disposed to change even after hearing this, but will ever search about for other pretences, and for others again after those. For Jer. 13, as the Prophet speaks, If the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots, then will they be willing to think religiously, who have been instructed in irreligion. Thou however, Beloved, on receiving this, read it by thyself; and if thou approvest of it, read it also to the brethren who happen to be present, that they too on hearing it, may welcome the Council's zeal for the truth, and the exactness of its sense; and may condemn that of Christ's foes, the Arians, and the futile pretences, which for the sake of their irreligious heresy they have been at the pains to frame for each other; because to God and the Father is due the glory, honour, and worship with His co-existent Son and Word, together with the All-holy and Life-giving Spirit, now and unto endless ages of ages. Amen. m And so, Orat. ii. §. 32. xarà roùs μvlivoμívovs yiyavras. And so Nazianzen, Orat. 43. 26. speaking of the disorderly Bishops during the Arian ascendancy. Also Socr. v. 10. p. 268. d. Sometimes the Scripture giants are spoken of, sometimes the mythological. APPENDIX. LETTER OF EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA TO THE PEOPLE OF HIS DIOCESE . DIX. §. 1. 1. WHAT was transacted concerning ecclesiastical faith at APPENthe Great Council assembled at Nicæa, you have probably learned, Beloved, from other sources, rumour being wont to precede the accurate account of what is doing. But lest in such reports the circumstances of the case have been misrepresented, we have been obliged to transmit to you, first, the formula of faith presented by ourselves, and next, the second, which the Fathers put forth with some additions to our words. Our own paper then, which was read in the presence of our most pious Emperor, and declared to be good and unexceptionable, ran thus:— b 2. As we have received from the Bishops who preceded, us and §. 2. in our first catechisings, and when we received the Holy Laver, This Letter is also found in Socr. Hist. i. 8. Theod. Hist. i. Gelas. Hist. Nic. ii. 34. p. 442. Niceph. Hist. viii. 22. b And so infr. " most pious," §. 4. "most wise and most religious," ibid. "most religious," §. 8. §. 10. Eusebius observes in his Vit. Const. the same tone concerning Constantine, and assigns to him the same office in determining the faith (being as yet unbaptized). E. g. "When there were differences between persons of different countries, as if some common bishop appointed by God, he convened Councils of God's ministers; and not disdaining to be present and to sit amid their conferences," &c. i. 44. When he came into the Nicene Council, "it was," says Eusebius, as some hea. venly Angel of God," iii. 10. alluding 66 to the brilliancy of the imperial purple. NICEN. and as we have learned from the divine Scriptures, and as we DEF. believed and taught in the presbytery, and in the Episcopate itself, so believing also at the time present, we report to you our faith, and it is this © :— §. 3. 19. We believe in One God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of all things visible and invisible. And in One Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, God from God, Light from Light, Life from Life, Son Only-begotten, first-born of every creature, before all the ages, begotten from the Father, by whom also all things were made; who for our salvation was made flesh, and lived among men, and suffered, and rose again the third day, and ascended to the Father, and will come again in glory to judge quick and dead. And we believe also in One Holy Ghost; believing each of These to be and to exist, the Father truly Father, and the Son truly Son, and the Holy Ghost truly Holy Ghost, as also our Mat. 28, Lord, sending forth His disciples for the preaching, said, Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Concerning whom we confidently affirm that so we hold, and so we think, and so we have held aforetime, and we maintain this faith unto the death, anathematizing every godless heresy. That this we have ever thought from our heart and soul, from the time we recollect ourselves, and now think and say in truth, before God Almighty and our Lord Jesus Christ do we witness, being able by proofs to shew and to convince you, that, even in times past, such has been our belief and preaching. §. 4. 3. On this faith being publicly put forth by us, no room for "The Children of the Church have We suing from Apostolical teaching and the Fathers' tradition, and confirmed by New and Old Testament." ad Adelph. 6. init. Cyril Hier. too as "declared by the Church and established from all Scripture." Cat. v. 12. "Let us guard with vigilance what we have received....What then have we received from the Scriptures but altogether this? that God made the world by the Word," &c. &c. Procl. ad Armen. p. 612. "That God, the Word, after the union remained such as He was, &c. so clearly hath divine Scripture, and moreover the doctors of the Churches, and the lights of the world taught us." Theodor. Dial. 3. init. "That it is the tradition of the Fathers is not the whole of our case; for they too followed the meaning of Scripture, starting from the testimonies, which just now we laid before you from Scripture." Basil de Sp. §. 16. vid. also a remarkable passage in de Synod. §. 6. fin. infra. |