818 THE ARIAN INVITED TO ORTHODOX FAITH. ever these words do refer to the eternal, and proper generation of the Son, that is, his emanation from the Father, then they must signify nothing but the acquiescence, or consent of the Fa- ther, to the natural and necessary emanation of this Logos, or co- eternal Son. II. Some of the Athanasians suppose there may be some " real and natural subordination of an eternal Son to an eternal Father, though the divine nature be equal in them both," and that is, by supposing the Father only to be self-existent and in- dependent, and by referring the Son's existence, and his god- head and power to the Father, as the spring and fountain of it, fromwhich it is derived by way of natural and necessary emana- tion ; and they think that this will account for all those inferior sort of expressions which are used concerning the derivation of the Logos from God the Father, and the Father being greater than the Son. III. They add in the next place, that the distinctions of priority and posteriority of order between the Father and the Son, even in the divine nature, wall solve many of the expres- sions of the fathers without a real subordination of nature. IV. Another principle of accommodation is this, That the Son, though equal to the Father in nature, or essence, yet is economically subordinate, that is, it is appointed in the dis- pensations of God toward his creatures, that the Son should act an obedient and subjectivepart by the relation in which he stands, and the office which he sustains with regard to God and crea- tures : And that all this may be done by the divine condescen- sion of the eternal Logos, and thus the inferior and creatural sort of expressions applied to the Logos by the primitive Fa- thers, must be construed economically. V. They suppose, in the last place, that the eternity and necessity of the existence of the Son, are sufficient to secure his true and proper deity, even though it be really derived from the Father, and therefore cannot be self-existent. They suppose also, that the eternal, necessary, and inseparable union of the Father, Son, and Spirit, is sufficient to Secure the unity of the godhead, though they be really three distinct, intelligent agents or natures, and proper, different persons, almost in the complete and literal sense of the words as used among men. I shall not make it my business to attempt to destroy any of these solutions. 1 freely acknowledge, that these methods of seconciliog the strange, and jarring expressions of the primitive writers, are candid and ingenious ; and some of them have some colour and support from scripture, as well as from the writings of the fathers themselves; yet after all the mollifying construc- tions of interpreters, I think still the difficulties can scarce be solved upon that hypothesis, without allowing too many cata-
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