DISSERTATION IV. 311 SECT. VI.Ara Enquirywhether the most Primitive Christian Fathers speak of the Logosas an Angel, or a gloriousSpirit inferior to God. That I may give some general idea of the language of the fatherson this subject, I will range their sentiments under these four heads I. They represent the Logos as being produced by, or de. rived from God the Father, by his will andpower.. He is called by some of the ancients, a birth, ysrrnµx ; a production. rr;oßxej u ; a second God, Frulrços Isos; and sometimes, l'oçy,rsî ; a.made God ; and represented as being made God, .9sorraur.rr' ', by com- munication, or participation,of the godhead of the Father. They speak frequently of the " Son's subordination to the Father, as to his being ; of his proceeding, or leaping forth, or being pro- duced from the Father by generation, bang the first -born of every creature. They speak of his " existence, and his godhead being derived from the Father, together with all his power and glory :" " Of his receiving all that he lias from the Father :" e° Of bis being generated by the power, by the will, and even by the design and council of theFather*." " Of his becoming God bythe generation of the Father, whichgeneration proceeded from his will." And Tatian calls him " a neavenly Spirit, begotten by the Father ; and the first-born work of the Spirit," srçalloedsor rfyov. When they speak of God the Father, they greatly advance their style ; they bear witness to his self-existent, unbegotten, and underived nature and call him àu1oO,os, that is, God of him- self ; which sort of expressions they utterly deny concerning the Son. When they explain that text ; John xiv. 28. " The Father is greater than I," the ancients generally confess it to belong to Christ in his pre-existent nature, before his incarnation : And * It is a frequent expression among the ancients, that Christ was begotten by the will, or counsel, and power of the Father ; And,I humbly conceive, that the ancients in these places, speak of the temporal, voluntary and ante -mundane generationof the San, and not of his eternal existence. The common sense of these expressions, by the will of God, or by the power of God, in scripture, doth not imply a necessity of nature, but arbitrary will. So St. Paul is often called an apostle by the will of God : And there are above thirty places in the New Testament, where the will of God carries the same idea. And throughout allthe bible, when things are said to exist, or come to pass by the power of God, I think it always implies the voluntary, or arbitrary exercise of divine power. And the most early fathers use these phrases in the same sense. Let it be observed also, That in the same primitive writers I have found the same phrase, " By the will of God," used several times, and applied to the in- carnation of Christ, or his mission into this world by the will of the Father ; which is certainly his arbitrary will. I might add also, that Bishop Bull himself, speaking of the generation of Christ, issncn sat ßean, by the will and counsel of the Father, declares, Frustra cudant lheologi, ui hoc dietsconcilent cum edema 17ìái gereratione Breves animadversiones in Gilbertum Clerk. Annotata ad pa- giaam 117.
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