in the blessed Trinity; but still with reference not unto his essence, but his generation, by which he is understood to have his being from the Father, who only hath it of himself, and is the original of all power and essence in the Son. "I can of mine own self do nothing," (John v. 30.) saith our Saviour, because he is not of himself;* and whosoever receives his being, must receive his power from another, especially where the essence and the power are undeniably the same, as in God they are. "The Son then can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do," because he hath no power of himself but what the Father gave:† and being he gave him

all the power, as communicating his entire and undivided. essence, therefore "what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise," (John v. 19.) by the same power by which the Father worketh, because he had received the same Godhead in which the Father subsisteth. There is nothing more intimate and essential to any thing than the life thereof, and that in nothing so conspicuous as in the Godhead, where life and truth are so inseparable, that there can be no living God but the true, no true God but the living. "The Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King," saith the prophet Jeremy (x. 10.): and St. Paul putteth the Thessalonians in mind, how they "turned from idols to serve the living and true God." (1 Thess. i. 9.) Now life is otherwise in God than in the creatures: in him originally, in them derivatively; in him as in the fountain of absolute perfection, in them by way of dependence and participation; our life is in him, but his is in himself: and as "the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;" (John v. 26.)* both the same life, both in themselves, both in the same degree, as the one, so the other; but only with this difference, the Father giveth it, and the Son receiveth it.+ From whence he professeth of himself, "that the living Father sent him, and that he liveth by the Father." (John vi. 57.)+

nisi quod viderit Patrem facientem: quia de
Patre est totus Filius, et tota substantia
et potentia ejus ex illo est qui genuit eum.'
Id. Tract. in Ioan. 21. §. 2. Et primum
Filium cognosce, cum dicitur, Non potest
Filius a se facere quicquam, nisi quod viderit
Patrem facientem.
Habes nativitatem
Filii, quæ ab se nihil potest facere nisi
videat. In eo autem quod a se nihil
potest, innascibilitatis adimit errorem.
Ab se enim non potest posse nativitas.'
S. Hilar. de Trin. 1. vii. c. 21. Dum
non a se facit, ad id quod agit secundum
nativitatem sibi Pater auctor est.' Ibid. 1.
xi. c. 12. Auctorem discrevit cum ait,
Non potest a se facere: obedientiam signi-
ficat cum addit: Nisi quod viderit patrem
facientem.' Id. de Syn. c. 75.

*Sicut habet Pater vitam in semetipso, sic dedit et Filio vitam habere in semetipso: ut hoc solum intersit inter Patrem et Filium, quia Pater habet vitam in semetipso quam nemo ei dedit, Filius autem habet vitam in semetipso quam Pater dedit.' S. August. Tract. 19. in Ioan. §. 11. 'Incommutabilis est vita Filii, sicut et Patris, et tamen de Patre est et inseparabilis est operatio Patris et Filii; sed tamen ita operari Filio de illo est de quo ipse est, id est, de Patre.' Id. de Trin. 1. ii. c. 1.

Sicut habet, dedit; qualem habet, talem dedit; quantam habet, tantam dedit.' Id. contra Maxim. 1. iii. c. 14.

'Ergo quod dicitur dedit Filio, tale est ac si diceretur, genuit Filium; generando enim dedit. Quomodo enim dedit ut esset, sic dedit ut vita esset, et sic dedit ut in semetipso vita esset.' Id. Tract. 22. in Ioan. §. 10. Tali confessione originis suæ indiscretæ naturæ perfecta nativitas est. Quod enim in utroque vita est, id in utroque significatur essentia; et vita quæ generatur ex vita, id est, essentia quæ de essentia nascitur, dum non dissimilis nascitur, scilicet, quia vita ex vita est, tenet in se indissimilem naturam originis suæ, quia et natæ et gignentis essentiæ, id est, vitæ quæ habetur et data est, similitudo non discrepet.' S. Hilar.de Synod. advers. Arianos, c. 16. Quia ergo apparet vita Patris hoc esse quod ipse est; sicut habet vitam in se, sic dedit; sic dedit Filio habere vitam, id est, sic est Esse Filii, sicut Esse Patris.' Vigil. Taps. Disput. in Biblioth. Patr. Lat. t. v. par. iii. p. 699. In vita naturæ et essentiæ significatio est, quæ sicut habetur, ita data esse docetur ad habendum.' S. Hilar. de Synod. c. 19.

Propter Patrem vivit Filius, quod ex Patre Filius est: propter Patrem, quod eructatum est Verbum ex Patris corde, quod a Patre processit, quod ex paterno generatus est utero, quod fons Pater Filii est, quod radix Pater Filii est.' S. Ambros. de Fide, 1. iv. c. 5. fin.

We must not therefore so far endeavour to involve ourselves in the darkness of this mystery, as to deny that glory which is clearly due unto the Father; whose pre-eminence undeniably consisteth in this, that he is God not of any other, but of himself, and that there is no other person who is God, but is God of him. It is no diminution to the Son, to say, he is from another, for his very name imports as much; but it were a diminution to the Father to speak so of him: and there must be some pre-eminence, where there is place for derogation. What the Father is, he is from none; what the Son is, he is from him what the first is, he giveth; what the second is, he receiveth. The first is a Father indeed by reason of his Son, but he is not God by reason of him; whereas the Son is not so only in regard of the Father, but also God by reason of the same.

Upon this pre-eminence (as I conceive) may safely be grounded the congruity of the divine mission. We often read that Christ was sent, from whence he bears the name of an "Apostle" (Heb. iii. 1.) himself, as well as those whom he therefore named so, because as the "Father sent him, so sent he them;" (John xx. 21.) the Holy Ghost is also said to be sent, sometimes by the Father, sometimes by the Son: but we never read that the Father was sent at all, there being an authority in that name which seems inconsistent with this mission. In the parable, "a certain householder which planted

'Pater de nullo Patre, Filius de Deo Patre: Pater quod est, a nullo est; quod autem Pater est, propter Filium est. Filius vero et quod Filius est, propter Patrem est, et quod est, a Patre est.' S. August. Tract. 19. in Ioan. §. 13. Filium dicimus Deum de Deo; Patrem autem Deum tantum, non de Deo. Unde manifestum est, quod Filius habeat alium de quo sit, et cui Filius est; Pater autem non Filium de quo sit habeat, sed cui Pater sit. Omnis enim filius de patre est quod est, et patri filius est: nullus autem pater de filio est quod est.' Id. de Trin. l. ii. c. 1. Filius non hoc tantum habet nascendo, ut Filius sit, sed omnino ut sit.' Ibid. I. v. c. 15. Filius non tantum ut sit Filius quod relative dicitur, sed omnino ut sit, ipsam substantiam nascendo habet.' Ibid. c. 15. Pater non habet Patrem de quo sit; Filius autem de Patre est ut sit, atque ut illi coæternus sit.' Ibid. l. vi. c. 10. Ab ipso, inquit, sum; quia Filius de Patre, et quicquid est filius, de illo est cujus est filius. Ideo Dominum Jesum dicimus Deum de Deo, Patrem non dicimus Deum de Deo, sed tantum Deum; et dicimus Dominum Jesum lumen de lumine, Patrem non dicimus lumen de lumine, sed tantum lumen. Ad hoc ergo pertinet quod dixit, Ab ipso sum.' Id. Tract. 31. in loun. §. 4. Pater non est si non

habeat Filium, et Filius non est si non
habeat Patrem sed tamen Filius Deus
de Patre, Pater autem Deus, sed non de
Filio Pater Filii, non Deus de Filio;
ille autem Filius Patris, et Deus de Patre.'
Id. Tract. 29. in Ioan. §. 5. Hoc tamen
inter Patrem et Filium interest, quia Pater
a nullo hoc accepit, Filius autem per ge-
nerationem omnia Patris accepit.' S.
Ambros. in Epist. ad Eph. c. 2.
Est ergo

Deus Pater omnium, institutor, et creator,
solus originem nesciens.' Novat. de
Trinit. c. 31. whereas he speaks after of
the Son Est ergo Deus, sed in hoc ip-
sum genitus, ut esset Deus.' Pater est
Deus de quo Filius est Deus, de quo
autem Pater nullus est Deus.' S. August.
Epist. 66. al. 170.

Pater enim solus nusquam legitur missus.' S. August. 1. ii. de Trin. c. 5.

Solus Pater non legitur missus, quia solus non habet auctorem a quo genitus sit, vel a quo procedat. Et ideo non propter naturæ diversitatem, sed propter ipsam auctoritatem, solus Pater non dicitur missus: non enim splendor aut fervor ignem, sed ignis mittit sive splendorem sive fervorem.' S. August. Serm. contra Arian. c. 4. 'Qui mittit, potestatem suam in eo quod mittit, ostendit." S. Hilar. de Trin. 1. viii. c. 19.

a vineyard, first sent his servants to the husbandmen, and again other servants, but last of all he sent unto them his son:" (Matt. xxi. 33, &c.) it had been inconsistent even with the literal sense of an historical parable, as not at all consonant to the rational customs of men, to have said, that last of all the son sent his father to them. So God, placing man in the vineyard of his Church, first sent his servants the prophets, by whom he "spake at sundry times and in divers manners, but in the last days he sent his Son :" (Heb. i. 1, 2.) and it were as incongruous and inconsistent with the divine generation, that the Son should send the Father into the world. "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father," (John vi. 57.) saith our Saviour, intimating, that by whom he lived, by him he was sent, and therefore sent by him, because he lived by him, laying his generation as the proper ground of his mission. Thus he which begetteth sendeth, and he which is begotten is sent.† "For I am from him, and he hath sent me," (John vii. 29.) saith the Son: from whom I received my essence by communication, from whom also received I this commission. As therefore it is more worthy to give than to receive, to send than to be sent; so in respect of the Sonship there is some priority in the divine paternity: from whence divers of the ancients read that place of St. John with this addition, "the Father (which sent me) is greater than I." (John xiv. 28.) He then is that God who "sent forth his Son, made of a woman, that God who hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father." (Gal. iv. 4. 6.) So that the authority of sending is in the Father: which therefore ought to be acknowledged, because upon this mission is founded the highest testimony of his love to man; for "herein is love (saith St. John), not that

'Si voluisset Deus Pater per subjectam creaturam visibiliter apparere, absurdissime tamen aut a Filio, quem genuit, aut a Spiritu Sancto, qui de illo procedit, missus diceretur.' S. August. de Trin. lib. iv. cap. ult.

+Filius est igitur a Patre missus, non Pater a Filio; quia Filius est a Patre natus, non Pater a Filio.' Fulgent. fragm. 1. viii. contra Fabianum, in Collect. Theodul. de S. S. Quis autem Christianus ignorat quod Pater miserit, missusque sit Filius? Non enim genitorem ab eo quem genuit, sed genitum a genitore mitti oportebat.' S. August. contra Maximin. lib. iii. c. 14. Ubi audis, Ipse me misit, noli intelligere naturæ dissimilitudinem, sed generantis auctoritatem.' Id. Tract. 31. in Ioan. §. 4. Ἐνταῦθα οὖν ὁ ἀποστείλας καὶ ὁ ἀποστελλόμενος, ἵνα δείξῃ τῶν πάντων ἀγαθῶν μίαν εἶναι τὴν πηγὴν, τουτέστι τὸν πατέρα. S. Epiphan. Hæres. Ixix. §. 54. Hence the language of the Schools: 'Missio im

portat processionem originis:' as Thom. Aquin. 10. q. 43. art. 1. ad prim. or: auctoritatem Principii:' as Durand, 1, i. dist. 15. q. 1.

† Λέγουσι γὰς γὸ ῥητὸν τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου και κῶς ἑρμηνεύοντες, ὅτι ὁ ἀποστείλας με πατὴς μείζων μου ἐστὶ, saith Epiphanius of the Arians; and answering, grants in these words which follow : καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ὁ ἀποστείλας με πατὴς, φάσκει, καὶ εἶχε ὁ Ticaç us. Hæres. Ixix. §. 53. To the same purpose Athanasius de Hum. Nat. suse. §. 4. and Cyril Thesaur. log. xi. p. 85. ed. Aubert. 1638. read it, i iμas μe zaτng. And St. Basil makes Eunomius read it so, in his first book against him, c. 21. and with that addition answers it. So the second confession of the council of Sirmium, both in the Latin original, and Greek translation. S. Hilar. de Syn. §. 11. S. Athanus. de Synod. §. 28. et Socrat. 1. ii.

c. 30.

we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John iv. 10.)

Again, the dignity of the Father will farther yet appear from the order of the persons in the blessed Trinity, of which he is undoubtedly the first. For although in some passages of the apostolical discourses the Son may first be named (as in that of St. Paul, “ the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all;" (2 Cor. xiii. 14.) the latter part of which is nothing but an addition unto his constant benediction); and in others the Holy Ghost precedes the Son (as "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all :” (1 Cor. xii. 46.) yet where the three Persons are barely enumerated, and delivered unto us as the rule of faith,* there that order is observed which is proper to them; witness the form of baptism, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost which order hath been perpetuated in all confessions of faith, and is for ever inviolably to be observed. For that which is not instituted or invented by the will or design of man, but founded in the nature of things themselves, is not to be altered at the pleasure of man. Now this priority doth properly and naturally result from the divine paternity; so that the Son must necessarily be second unto the Father,§ from

* Παραδιδοὺς ὁ κύριος τὴν σωτήριον πίστιν τοῖς μαθητευομένοις τῷ λόγῳ, τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ υἱῷ συνάπτει τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. S. Basil. Epist. 80.

† ̓Ακίνητον καὶ ἀπαρεγχείρητον φυλάσσειν προσήκει τὴν ἀκολουθίαν, ἣν ἐξ αὐτῆς τοῦ κυ ρίου τῆς φωνῆς παρελάβομεν, εἰπόντος, Πορευθέντες μαθητεύσατε πάντα, &c. S. Basil. Epist. 78.

† Εστι τάξεως εἶδος οὐκ ἐκ τῆς παρ' ἡμῶν θέσεως συνιστάμενον, ἀλλ ̓ αὐτῇ τῇ κατὰ φύσιν ἀκολουθία συμβαῖνον, ὡς τῷ πυρὶ πρὸς τὸ φῶς ἐστὶ τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ· ἐν τούτοις γὰρ πρότερον τὸ αἴτιον λέγομεν, δεύτερον δὲ τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ, πῶς, οὖν εὔλογον ἀρνεῖσθαι τὴν τάξιν ἐφ ̓ ὧν ἐστὶ πρόσ τερον καὶ δεύτερον, οὐ κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν θέσιν, ἀλλ ̓ ἐκ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν αὐτοῖς ἐνυπαρχούσης ἀκολουθίας ; S. Basil, advers. Eunom. 1. i. §. 20.

§ Δευτερεύει μὲν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ πατρὸς τῷ αἰ τίων δευτερεύει δὲ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ υἱοῦ κατὰ τὸν τῆς αἰτίας λόγον. S. Basil, apud Georg, Pachym. Hist. 1. 7. 'Ως μὲν γὰρ υἱὸς τάξει μὲν δεύτερος τοῦ πατρὸς, ὅτι ἀπ ̓ ἐκείνου, καὶ ἀξιώματι, ὅτι ἀρχὴ καὶ αἰτία τοῦ εἶναι αὐτοῦ ὁ πατὴρ, καὶ ὅτι δι' αὐτοῦ ἡ πρόοδος και προς σαγωγὴ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν πατέρα, φύσει δὲ οὐκέτι δεύτερος, διότι ἡ Θεότης ἐν ἑκατέρῳ μία· οὕτω δηλονότι καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, εἰ καὶ ὑποβέ βηκε τὸν υἱὸν τῇ τε τάξει καὶ τῷ ἀξιώματι, οὐκέτ ̓ ἂν εἰκότως ὡς ἀλλοτρίας ὑπάρχον φύσ

σεως. S. Basil. contra Eunom. l. iii. f. 1. Si unum Deum singulariter nominamus, excludentes vocabulum secundæ personæ, furorem ejus hæresis approbamus quæ ipsum asserit Patrem passum.' Phœbad. contra Arian. p. 111. Illi cui est in Filio secunda persona, est et tertia in Spiritu Sancto.' Ibid. p. 112. Sic alius a Filio Spiritus, sicut a Patre Filius: sic tertia in Spiritu, ut in Filio secunda persona.' Ibid. 'Omne quod prodit ex aliquo, secundum sit ejus necesse est de quo prodit, non tamen est separatum. Secundus autem ubi est, duo sunt; et tertius ubi est, tres sunt: tertius enim est Spiritus a Deo et Filio.' Tertull. advers. Praxeam, c. 8. 'Sic alium a se Paracletum, quomodo et nos a Patre alium Filium; ut tertium gradum ostenderet in Paracleto, sicut nos secundum in Filio.' Ibid. c. 9. Hic interim acceptum a Patre munus effudit Spiritum Sanctum, tertium numen divinitatis, et tertium nomen majestatis. Ibid. c. 50. ̔Ο ἐξ αἰτίου γεγονὸς υἱὸς, δεύτερος οὗ ἐστὶν υἱὸς καθέστηκε, παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τὸ εἶναι καὶ τοιόσδε εἶναι εἰληφώς. Εuseb. Dem. Evang. 1. iv. c. 3. • Et quidem confessione communi secunda quidem ab auctore nativitas est, quia ex Deo est; non tamen separabilis ab auctore, quia in quantum sensus noster intelligentiam tentabit ex