352 Tnr .ARIAN INVITan TO Olt7tiòDOx YAM/. aeration of the Son is the Father's communication of his min self-same individual, self-existent essence to the Son, together with the personal property of being begotten, in and by which property he differs from the Father." And, " that the procession of the Spirit is a communication of the self-same, individual, self-existent essence, both from the Father and the Son, unto the Spirit, together with the personal property of spiratión or proceeding, by whichproperty he differs from the Father and the Son." How strange soever this language appears to persons, who seek for ideas together with words, I seriously profess this is the justest, truest, and, I think, the plainest description that I can give of this opinion. If it be possible to make it plainer, I will repeat the same in another form of words. The scholastic scheme supposes the eternal generation of the Son to be a sort of repetition of the self-same numerical divine essence of the Father, together with some new personal pro- perty called filiation, which joined to the divine essence, makes up the person of the Son : And that this repetition, or reproduc- tion of the same divine essence with its new personality, is owing to the Father only.. It also supposes the procession of the Holy Spirit to be another sort of repetition of the self-same numerical divine essence of the Father, together with some new personal pro -. perty, called procession, which joined to the divine essence snakes up the person of the Holy Spirit: And that this repeti- tion, or reproduction of the saine divine essence with its new personality, is owing both to the Father and the Son conjointly ; or as some rather say, it is from the Father as the original prin- ciple, by the Son as a medium. There have been some writers, indeed, who thought it was not proper to say of the divine essence itself that it did generate, or could be generated or derived ; and therefore they supposed only the personality of the Son to be generated, or derived from the Father,, and the personality of the Spirit to proceed, or be derived from the Father and the Son. Butwhen you.enquire what `these personalities are,, they can only tell you, that it is filiation or sonship, and spiration or procession. Upon the whole therefore, according to this opinion, it is sonship is generated, and procession proceeds. But the generality of.the scholastic, or orthodox Trinitarians go into the former sentiments, of the generation and procession of the divine essence itself,, together with the distinct personalities. With a solemn and unfeigned veneration I reverence the names andmemories of those excellent men, those learned and- pious authors of the Iasi age, who asserted and defended these opinions. Nor do I think the devotion, and zeal, and piety, of
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