The Preface. :6nally triumph in this caufe, .and tranfmit this facred Truth inviolate unto them that fucceed us in the Pro~. feffionofit. \-. , . Chap. 3. ·This Perfon ofChri£1:, vvhich is the fou~da.:. tion whereon the Church is built, whereuntoall forts of oppoGtions are endeavoured and deligned, is the mo£1: ineffable effea ofDivine Goodnefs and Wifdom, where– ofwe treat in the next place.But herein when I fpeak of the conftitution of the-Perfon ofChri£1:, I intend not his . Perfon abfolutely as he is the Etern;tl Son ofGod.I-Ie was truly, really, cotnpleatly a Divine Perfon from eternity; which is included in the notion of his being the Son, and ·fo difl:intt from the Father, which is his cornpleat Perfo~ nality. His being fo was not a voluntary cont'rivance or effea of Divine Wifdom and Goodnefs,his et~rnal Gene– ration being a neceffary internal ACl: of the Divine Na~ ture in the Perfon o( the Father. ' Of the eternal Generation ofthe Divine Perfon ofthe Son, the fober Writers of the Antient Church, did con:– ftantly affirm that it was finnly to bebelieved,but as un.. to the manner of it not to be enquired into. Scrutator Majeflatis abforbetur aGloria, was their R.ule. And the cu– rious Difputes ofAlexanderandArius about it, gave occa– fion unto that many-headed Monfter of the ArianHereft which aftenvards enfi.1ed. For when once men·of fubtle heads,and unfanCl:ified hearts,gave up themfelves to en.. quire into things infinitely above their underftanding and
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