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--but because ye do not hear the word; because ye do not follow me ; 66 'my sheep hear my voice, and they follow me," v. 27. Ye, as I repeatedly tell you, do not believe. v. 25, 26. "I told and believed not; the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me: but ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you." The argument runs thus-ye do not believe, because ye are not of my sheep; ye are not of my sheep, because ye neither hear my word, nor follow me. Christ certainly intended to give such a reason for their unbelief as would throw the fault of it upon themselves, not as would exempt them from blame; whereas if not to be of his sheep, be interpreted to mean not to be of the elect, a privilege which had never been within their option, his words would contain an excuse for their conduct, rather than a reproof, which would be contrary to his obvious purpose. Again, xii. 39, 40, compared with Isai. vi. 10. "therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias saith again, He hath blinded their eyes,' &c. Not because the words of Isaiah, or the decree of God delivered by his mouth, had previously taken away from them the grace or power of believing irrespectively; but, as the prophet declares, alleging the reason why they could not believe, because God had blinded their eyes. Why he had blinded their eyes the preceding chapter explains, v. 4, &c. because nothing more remained to be done to his unfruitful vineyard, but to cut it down. This appears still more clearly Luke xiii. 24, 25. "many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able: when once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door." xiv. 24. "I say unto you, that none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper." xix. 42. "if thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. Rom. i. 21, 24, 26. "because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, &c. wherefore God also gave them up, &c. for this cause God gave them up," &c. 2 Thess. ii. 10-12. "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved; and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be

damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." iii. 2. "for all men have not faith;" that is, obstinate and unreasonable sinners have it not; which the context shows is the sense intended. 1 Pet. ii. 7, 8. "the stone which the builders disallowed, &c. and a stone of stumbling and rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient; whereunto also they were appointed,"—that is, to be disobedient. And why? Because they had disallowed that stone, and had stumbled upon it, disallowing Christ themselves before they were disallowed by him. Attention to these points will show that mistakes arise on the doctrine in question as often as the proper distinction between the punishment of hardening the heart and the decree of reprobation is omitted to be made; according to Prov. xix. 3. "the foolishness of man perverteth his way, and his heart fretteth against Jehovah." For such do in effect impugn the justice of God, however vehemently they may disclaim the intention; and might justly be reproved in the words of the heathen Homer:

Αὐτῶν γὰρ σφετέρησιν ατασθαλίησιν ἔλοντο. Odyss. Ι. 7.

they perish'd, self-destroved

By their own fault. Book I. 1. 9. Cowper's Translation.

And again, in the person of Jupiter :

Ω πόποι, οἷον δή νυ θεοὺς βροτοὶ αἰτιόωνται!

ἐξ ἡμέων γάρ φασι κάκ ̓ ἔμμεναι· οἱ δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ

σφῇσιν ἀτασθαλίησιν, ὑπὲρ μόρον, ἄλγε' ἔχουσιν. Odyss. I. 32.

Perverse mankind! whose wills, created free,
Charge all their woes on absolute decree :
All to the dooming gods their guilt translate,
And follies are miscall'd the crimes of fate.

Book I. 1. 40. Pope's Translation.

.to themselves

All glory arrogate, to God give none;
Rather accuse him under usual names,

Fortune and fate, as one regardless quite

Of mortal things.

Paradise Regained, IV. 314.

On which passage Dunster quotes the second of the passages from the

Odyssey with which Milton himself concludes the chapter,

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CHAPTER V.-PREFATORY REMARKS.

I CANNOT enter upon subjects of so much difficulty as the SON OF GOD and the HOLY SPIRIT, without again premising a few introductory remarks. If indeed I were a member of the Church of Rome, which requires implicit obedience to its creed on all points of faith, I should have acquiesced from education or habit in its simple decree and authority, even though it denies that the doctrine of the Trinity, as now received, is capable of being proved from any passage of Scripture.2 But since I enrol myself among the number of those who acknowledge the word of God alone as the rule of faith, and freely advance what appears to me much more clearly deducible from the Holy Scriptures than the commonly received opinion, I see no reason why any one who belongs to the same Protestant or Reformed Church, and professes to acknowledge the same rule of faith as myself, should take offence at my freedom, particularly as I impose my authority on no one, but merely propose what I think more worthy of belief than the creed in general acceptation. I only entreat that my readers will ponder and examine my statements in a spirit which desires to discover nothing but the truth, and with a mind free from prejudice. For without intending to oppose the authority of Scripture, which I consider inviolably sacred, I only take upon myself to refute human interpretations as often as the occasion requires, conformably to my right, or

But I would show you that divers ways the Doctors of your Church do the principal and proper work of the Socinians for them, undermining the doctrine of the Trinity, by denying it to be supported by those pillars of the faith, which alone are fit and able to support it, I mean Scripture, and the consent of the ancient Doctors. For Scripture, your men deny very plainly and frequently that this doctrine can be proved by it. See, if you please, this plainly taught, and urged very earnestly by Cardinal Hosius, De Auctor. Sacr. lib. iii. p. 53. by Gordonius Huntlæus, Tom. I. Controv. 1, De Verbo Dei, lib. x. by Gretserus and Tannerus, in Colloquio Ratisbon. and also by Vega, Possevin, Wickus, and others.' Chillingworth's Preface to the Author of Charity Maintained, a work published in 1630 by Matthias Wilson, a Jesuit, under the name of. Edward Knott. 'Longe ergo sincerius facerent, et prout ingenuos disputatores decet, si cum Pontificiis faterentur istam distinctionem ex Scriptura non posse probari, sed tantum ex traditione.' Curcellæi Dissertatio Prima de vocibus Trinitatis, &c. 38. See also the passages quoted by Curcellæus from writers of the Romish Church.

rather to my duty as a man. have to contend were able to produce direct attestation from heaven to the truth of the doctrine which they espouse, it would be nothing less than impiety to venture to raise, I do not say a clamour, but so much as a murmur against it. But inasmuch as they can lay claim to nothing more than human powers, assisted by that spiritual illumination which is common to all, it is not unreasonable that they should on their part allow the privileges of diligent research and free discussion to another inquirer, who is seeking truth through the same means and in the same way as themselves, and whose desire of benefiting mankind is equal to their own.

If indeed those with whom I

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In reliance, therefore, upon the divine assistance, let us now enter upon the subject itself."

OF THE SON OF GOD.

Hitherto I have considered the INTERNAL EFFICIENCY of God, as manifested in his decrees.

His EXTERNAL EFFICIENCY, or the execution of his decrees, whereby he carries into effect by external agency whatever decrees he has purposed within himself, may be comprised under the heads of GENERATION, CREATION, and the GOVERNMENT OF THE UNIVERSE.

First, GENERATION, whereby God, in pursuance of his decree, has begotten his only Son; whence he chiefly derives his appellation of Father.

Generation must be an external efficiency, since the Father and Son are different persons; and the divines themselves acknowledge this, who argue that there is a certain emanation of the Son from the Father (which will be explained when the doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit is under examination); for though they teach that the Spirit is co-essential with the Father, they do not deny its emanation, procession, spira

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The Spirit of God, promis'd alike and given

To all believers.

Paradise Lost, XII. 519.

4 The sentence is thus written in the original-quid est æquius quam ut permittant alteri eandem atque ipsi ratione ac via veritatem indaganti -probably an error for eadem.

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5 Which, imploring divine assistance, that it may redound to his glory, and the good of the British nation, I now begin.'-History of Britain, B. I.

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tion, and issuing from the Father,-which are all expressions denoting external efficiency. In conjuction with this doctrine they hold that the Son is also co-essential with the Father, and generated from all eternity. Hence this question, which is naturally very obscure, becomes involved in still greater difficulties if the received opinion respecting it be followed; for though the Father be said in Scripture to have begotten the Son in a double sense, the one literal, with reference to the production of the Son, the other metaphorical, with reference to his exaltation, many commentators have applied the passages which allude to the exaltation and mediatorial functions of Christ as proof of his generation from all eternity. They have indeed this excuse, if any excuse can be received in such a case, that it is impossible to find a single text in all Scripture to prove the eternal generation of the Son. Certain, however, it is, whatever some of the moderns may allege to the contrary,7 that the Son existed in the beginning, under the name of the logos or word, and was the first of the whole creation,

6 Slichtingius, Wolzogenius, Stegman, and others of the Socinian school. See especially their explanations of John viii. 58, the extravagance of which has been well exposed by Dr. Wardlaw, Discourses on the Principal Points of the Socinian Controversy, p. 84-89. Compare also Dr. Pye Smith On the Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, ii. p. 186; Magee On the Atonement, i. 81-88. edit. 1816.

7 Such is the doctrine of our own article, of which the expressions are 'begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father.' These words are not in King Edward's articles of 1552, but were added in 1562; probably because the growth of Socinianism made it expedient to insert an explicit declaration of the true faith. The wise reflections of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, are so applicable to the Discussion respecting the generation of the Son, on which Milton now enters, that it is impossible not to quote them as a caution to future speculators on this holy mystery. Εἰς εὐσεβεῖς οὐκ οἶμαι λογιζομένους τους μέχρι τούτων ἐπηρωτᾷν, τί τολμῶντας διὰ τὸ ἀνήκουν τοῦ· χαλεπώτερά σου μὴ ζήτη, καὶ ὑψηλότερά σου μὴ ἐξέταζε· εἰ γὰρ ἑτέρων πολλῶν ἡ γνῶσις, καὶ τούτων ἀσυχρίτως κολοβυτέρων, κέκρυπται τὴν ἀνθρωηπίνν κατάληφιν,....... πῶς ἂν περιεργάσαιτό τις τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου ὑπόστασιν, ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ μελαγχολική διαθέσει ληφοεὶς τυγχάνει; περὶ ἧς τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμά φησι, τὴν γενεὰν αὐτοῦ τις διηγήσηται. Εpist. ad Alexandrum Constantinop. apud Theodorit. Eccles. Hist. 1. 1, c. 4, p. 12, Edit. 1682. 8 Thee next they sang of all creation first,

Begotten Son, divine Similitude,

In whose conspicuous countenance, without cloud
Made visible, the Almighty Father shines,

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