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first verse was rendered in Greek,)" the Son the right spirit, and the Holy Spirit being expressly mentioned in the last place."

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Pope Gregory says, that "David taught the doctrine of the Trinity in Psalm lxvii., God, be merciful unto us, and bless us."" But this shadow of an argument can only be founded on the circumstance of the name of God occurring three times in the verses that he quotes.

Austin proves that Christ wrought miracles before he was born of Mary, from Psalm cxxxvi. 4. "Who did them," says he, "but he of whom it is said, who only doeth great marvels"? +

Eusebius, interpreting Psalm lvii. 3, "God shall send forth his mercy and his truth," says, "What can the mercy and the truth that is sent from God be, but the logos of God, concerning which it is said, He sent forth his word and healed them, and delivered them out of their destructions'? The same is also called a light, and is said to be sent, in that Psalm, in which it is said, 'Send forth thy light and thy truth; they shall guide me.' But the light, and the truth, and the word, sent from the most high God, cannot want essence or substance; for a thing without substance cannot be sent. For our logos, consisting of syllables, and words, and names, and pronounced by the tongue and the voice, is not properly and truly logos."§

"Lest

In his commentary on Psalm 1xxxii. 1, he says, any one should be disturbed on account of the monarchy, hearing that the Christ of God is called God, he justly afterwards makes mention of many gods, with censure, but exhorts not to decline giving the title of God to the Son of

yev Δαβιδ εν τω ψαλμῳ της εξομολογήσεως περι τείων των πνευμαίων αιζει τον πατερα λεγων πνευματι ἡγεμονικῳ σηριξον με, πνευμα ευθες εγκαινισιν εν τοις εγκαίοις με, και το πνεύμα το άγιον σε μη αντανέλης απο εμε, τινα τα τρία πνεύματα ταυτα; το ἡγεμονικόν ὁ πατηρ το ευθες ὁ Χριςος, και το πνεύμα το άγιον. In Jer. Hom. viii. Comment. I. p. 95. (P.)

"David quippe ut auctorem omnium Deum in Trinitate ostenderet, dixit: Benedicat nos Deus, Deus noster, benedicat nos Deus." In Job, C. xxviii. Opera, p. 174, B. (P.)

"Miracula enim et nondum natus de Maria fecit. Quis enim unquam fecit, nisi ipse de quo dictum est, qui facit mirabilia magna solus?" In Ps. xc. Opera, VIII. p. 999. (P.)

§ Ελεος δε και αλήθεια εξαποςελλόμενη τις αν είη, η ὁ τε Θεού λογος περι ὁν ελεγείο· Εξαπέσειλε τον λογον αυτε, και ιασατο αυλές, και ερῥυσατο αυτές εκ των διαφθόρων αυτών ὁ δ' αυτος ὁμοιως και φως αποςελλομενον ειρηται εν τῷ φασκοντι ψαλμῳ, Εξαποςείλον το φως σε και την αληθείαν σε, αυτα με οδηγήσει φως δε και αληθεια και λογο αποτελ λόμενα παρα το ύψισε Θεού, εκ ανεσια εδε ανυποςατα.——Ὁ γεν ἡμέτερος λόγος ων, συλλάβαις και ρημασι και ονομασι την υποςασιν εχων, και δια γλωτίης και φωνης εξηχε μενος, εκ αν λεχθείη κυρίως και αληθως λόγος. Montfaucon's Collectio Patrum, I. p. 249. (P.)

God. For if the princes of the nation, who had bad characters, were called gods, what danger can there be in calling the man who is at the right hand of God, and the Son of man who is made strong, a God ?”*

Eusebius finds Christ in Psalm cvii. 20: "He sent his word and healed them;"+ and in Psalm cxlvii. 15: "His word runneth very swiftly." Austin understood "the fountain of life," Psalm xxxvi. 9, of the Father producing the Son who is light. § All the fathers understood Christ to be meant by wisdom in the book of Proverbs, and proved from it that he made the world. ||

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There is a double reason why Christ should be intended by wisdom, Prov. viii. 22: “ The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways;" because in the LXX. it is, The Lord created me the agxn of his ways. See this text quoted for this purpose, besides innumerable other places, in those cited in the margin. ¶ The wisdom of which mention is made in the book of Job, (xxviii. 12,) "Where shall wisdom be found?" &c., is applied to Christ by Eusebius. **

It will make my reader smile to be informed, that the two garments which the good wife in the book of Proverbs is said to have made for her husband, were thought by Ambrose to signify the divinity and humanity of Christ. †† Paulinus calls the Trinity the "three-fold cord" that "is not quickly broken," in Eccles. iv. 12." ‡‡

An argument for the divinity of Christ is brought by many of the fathers from Isaiah ix. 6, where Christ is supposed to be called the "counsellor, the mighty God." They always call him the angel of the great council, which is the version of the LXX.

Gregory Nyssen says, that, Isaiah xlviii. 13, My hand has made all things, means the Son. §§ In Isaiah xlviii. 16, we

* Και όπως μη ταραχθείη τις εις τον περι μοναρχίας λογον, Θεον ακέων τον Χρισον το Θεου, εικοίως και πλείονας θεους ονομάζει τις δια των εξης κατηγορεμένους, μονονεχι παρα κελευόμενος μη αποκνειν και τον ύιον τε Θεου Θεον αποκαλέιν· ει γαρ οι διαβαλλομενοι τε εθνες αρχονίες θεοι ηξιώθησαν ονομασθήναι, ποιος αν γενοιτο κινδυνος τον άνδρα της δεξιας το Θεού και τον υιον το ανθρωπε τον κεκραταιωμένον Θεον ὁμολογεῖν; Μontfaucon's Collectio Patrum, I. p. 424. ́ (P.)

+ Preparatio, p. 320. (P.)

↑ Ibid. (P.)

§ De Filii Divinitate, C. v. Opera, I. p. 281. (P.)

Euseb. Hist. L. i. C. ii. p. 7; Preparatio, p. 320. (P.)

Origenis Comment. in Johan. ii., I. p. 17; Euseb. Preparatio, L. vii. C. xii.

230; Ambrosii Hexameron, L. i. Opera, p. 6. (P.)

Preparatio, L. vii. C. xii. p. 320. (P.)

++"Dicuntur vero binæ, quia Christum Deum et hominem confitetur." In Prov. xxxi. Opera, I. p. 1102. (P.)

"Astringamur autem huic arbori fune validissimo, vincti in spe, fide, charitate, credentes cordibus et oribus confitentes individuam Trinitatem, quæ spartum triplex, quod non rumpitur." Ad. Severum, Epist. iv. p. 65. (P.) && Contra Eunomium. vi. Opera. I. p. 191. (P)

read, "The Lord God, and his Spirit has sent me. " "This," says Theodoret, "plainly shews that there is another person besides God, to confute the Jews and Sabellians." * The three holies, in Isaiah vi. 3, are frequently mentioned as signifying the three persons in the Trinity. †

So much was it taken for granted that the logos was to be understood of Christ, that Origen says, "What is the word (logos), that came from the Lord, whether to Jeremiah, to Isaiah, to Ezekiel, or to any other, but that which was in the beginning with God? I know no other word of the Lord but that which the evangelist spake of, when he said, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God." The word that came to Hosea is also interpreted of Christ, by Jerome. §

Austin, after urging many arguments against Photinus, concludes with what he says is alone sufficient, if he be in his right mind, viz. this from Jer. xvii. 5, " Cursed is the man that trusteth in man." || But this is, perhaps, rather applying a maxim than urging a particular text, as referring originally to Christ.

Lastly, Cyprian says, that the "three hours of prayer observed by the three who were strong in faith, and the three out of the fire," meaning those who were cast into the fiery furnace in Daniel," were emblems of the Trinity."¶

* Και νυν κύριος, κύριος απέςειλε με, και το πνεύμα αυτό,σαφως δε ήμιν ενταυθα ἕτερον έδειξε παρα τε Θεου προσωπον, εις ελεγχον και των Ιεδαίων, και των τα Σαβελλια voolav. Opera, II. p 111. (P.)

As by Ambrose, De Fide, L. ii. C. iv. Opera, IV. p. 141. (P.) Bishop Lowth, instead of condescending thus to advocate the Creed of his Church, remarks in loc.

"This hymn, performed by the Seraphim, divided into two choirs, the one singing responsively to the other; which Gregory Nazian. (Carm. 18) very elegantly calls Σύμφωνον, αντίφωνον, αγΓέλων φασιν, is formed upon the practice of alternate singing, which prevailed in the Jewish Church from the time of Moses, whose Ode at the Red Sea was thus performed, (see Exod. xv. 20, 21,) to that of Ezra, (iii. 11,) under whom the Priests and Levites sung alternately,

O praise Jehovah, for he is gracious;

For his mercy endureth for ever.''

† Τις γαρ εσιν ὁ λογος ὁ γενομενΘ παρα κύριθ, είτε προς Ιερεμίαν, είτε προς Ησαιαν, είτε προς Ιεζεκιήλ, είτε προς εν δηποτε; Ο εν αρχή προς τον Θεον; Εγω ουκ οίδα αλλον λογον κυρίς, η ου τείον περί ου ειρηκεν ὁ ευαγγελισης, το εν αρχῇ ην ὁ λόγος, και ὁ λόγος την προς τον Θεον, και Θεός ην ὁ λόγος. Comment. in Jer. I. p. 102. (Ρ.)

§ Opera, V. p. 35. (P.)

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"Maledictum plane legis Photinus evadere non potest, quia spem suam habet in Christo, quem tantum hominem dicit, cum legat, Maledictus homo qui spem habet in homine. Apostolus autem sciens Christum Deum ideo et in præsenti et in futuro spem esse in eo ait." Quest. ex N. T. xci. Opera, IV. p. 763. ́(P.)

"In orationibus vero celebrandis invenimus observasse cum Daniele tres pueros in fide fortes, et in captivitate victores, horam, sextam, nonam, sacramento scilicet Trinitatis: quæ in novissimis temporibus manifestari habebat. Nam et prima hora in tertium veniens, consummatum numerum Trinitatis ostendit." Opera, p. 154. (P.)

SECTION II.

Arguments for the Divinity of Christ from the New Testament.

WHEN the idea of the divinity of Christ was once formed from the principles of Platonism, it was not difficult to imagine that it was likewise the doctrine of the Scriptures; and that there were passages in the New Testament no less favourable to it than those above recited from the Old; though all the books were in the hands of the common people, for whose use they were particularly calculated, and they saw no such doctrine in it.

The great argument for the divinity of Christ from the New Testament was, that " though Christ appeared to be a man by his infirmities, he appeared to be a God by his works," as it is expressed by Novatian.* And yet our Saviour himself always ascribes his miraculous works to his Father, and never to himself; and the people who saw those works were not led by them to suspect that he was any thing more than a man; for we only read, that when they were most struck with them, they wondered that God had given such power unto man. Eusebius likewise alleges the spread of the gospel, and its overturning Heathenism, as a proof of the divinity of Christ, but by the same kind of argument he might have proved the divinity of Moses.

The two styles in which our Saviour speaks of himself were observed by Origen, and were considered by him, as they are by the orthodox to this very day, as proofs, the one of his perfect humanity, and the other of his proper divinity. "Jesus," says he, "sometimes speaks as the first-born of all the creation, as when he says, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life; and sometimes as a man, as when he says, 'You seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth.””†

The author of a treatise ascribed to Athanasius produces thirty arguments to prove that Christ cannot be a mere man ; the chief of which are these: "He that was subject to death

• "Ut homo ex infirmitatibus comprobetur; probatio divinitatis in illo collecta ex virtutibus illuc proficiet, ut etiam Deus ex operibus adseratur." C. xi. p. 33. (P.)

† Ότι άι μεν τινες εισι φωναι το εν τῷ Ιησε πρωτοΐοκε πασης κτίσεως, ὡς ἡ. Εγω ειμι ἡ ὁδος, και η αλήθεια, και ἡ ζωή, και οι τέλοις παραπλησίαι· αι δε το κατ' αυτόν νοεμενο ανθρωπε ὡς ἡ του. Νυν δε με ζητείτε αποκτείναι ανθρωπον ός την αλήθεια ¿μiv deλaλyna. Ad Celsum, L. ii. p. 76. (P.)

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cannot take away death. No man has glory from eternity; but Christ had. Christ was sinless; but no man is so. The flesh of no man is from heaven; but the flesh of Christ is. A man actuated by God, is not God; but Christ is God.”* A better reason than any of these is given by Austin, who says, that "no man was ever greater than Solomon, but Christ was so."+ Ambrose gives a curious reason why the father of Jesus should be a carpenter: "It was," he says, "to signify, that Christ was the Son of the Maker of all things."+

It is the Gospel of John that has always furnished the greatest number of proofs of the divinity of Christ, though it is remarkable, that in none of the Gospels are there more evident proofs of his proper humanity. But of these no account was made, because they were only considered as proving what was never denied, viz. that Christ had human nature. Epiphanius proves the divinity of Christ from the Father being called the light, and the Son" the true light."§ John the Baptist said, [John i. 30,]" After me cometh a man," who "was before me." "Here," says Theodoret, "both the humanity and the divinity of Christ are taught."|| That it was Christ who spake both in the prophets and in the gospel, Ambrose proves from our Saviour's own words: "In foretelling the gospel by Isaiah, I who spake am pre

* Ουδείς ανθρωπων προ των αιώνων εχει δοξαν Χριςος δε εχει. Ο εξ αμαρτιας σώζων, ὑπερ ἁμαρτίαν εςιν' και σώζει Χριςος εδεις δε ανθρωπων ὑπερ ἁμαρτίαν· ουκ άρα ανθρωπος ὁ Χρισός. Ουδενός ανθρωπε ή σαρξ εξ ερανου λελεκται· Χριςε δε ή σαρξ εξ ερανου ειρηται. Ανθρωπος ύπο Θεου ενεργέμενος, ου Θεος, σωμα δε συναφθεν Θεῷ, Θεος. Θεος δε ὁ Χρισος, Πας ανθρωπος ύπο θάνατον, και εδεις ὑπὸ θανατον ων, καταργει θανατον. Opera, I. p. 248. (P.)

↑ “Salomoni cùm sapientiam à Deo postulasset, responsum à Domino est: Ecce dedi tibi, inquit, cor sapiens et prudens, quale non fuit ante te, et post te non exurget vir similis tibi. Quid dicemus, verum est quod promisit Deus? Imo verum est. Nemo ergo hominum similis erit Salomoni. Et quid videbit de Christo, qui inter cætera, Regina, inquit, austri venit ab ultimis terræ audire sapientiam Salomonis? Et ecce plus Salomone hic. Nunc elige cui credas, Photine, Deo an Christo, Patri an Filio? Si Patri credis, arguis Filium: Si Filio credis, accusas Patrem. Si enim homo tantum est Christus frustra se præposuit Salomoni contra promissum Dei." Questiones, Ex. T. J. Opera, IV. p. 765.' (P.)

"Non alienum etiam videtur ut qua ratione fabrum patrem habuerit, declaremus. Hoc enim typo cum patrem sibi esse demonstrat qui fabricator omnium condidit mundum, juxta quod scriptum est, In principio fecit Deus cœlum et terram." In Luc. iii. Opera, II. p. 42. (P.)

§ Και δρα μοι την των γραφων ακριβειαν εςι μεν γαρ πατηρ φως, και ου προσκειται τῷ περι πατρός, φως αληθινον· επει δε τῷ περὶ ὑια ειπε, φως αλήθινον, και ουδεις τολμα aλλws λEYEV. Ancoratus, Sect. iii. Opera, II. p. 8. (P.)

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|| Καί ὁ τελου δε ὁμώνυμος εβοα λεγων Οπίσω με ερχεται ανηρ, ός εμπροσθεν με γεγονεν, ὅτι πρώτος μου ην και το ἐν προσωπον δειξας αμφότερα τέθηκε, και τα θεια, και τα ανθρ πινα ανθρώπινον μεν γαρ, και το, ανηρ και το, έρχεται· θειον δε το ότι πρωτος μου ην αλλ' όμως ουκ άλλον οίδε τον οπίσω ερχόμενον, και αλλον τον προ αυτού οντα. Εpist. lxxxiii. Opera, IV. p. 1149, ed. Hal. (P.)

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