{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/204/2040378.htm","path":"chr/ecf/204/2040378.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/204/2040378.htm","text":"Chapter XXX.\u2014Objections continued, as in Chapters vii.\u2014x. Whether the Son is begotten of the Father\u2019s will? This virtually the same as whether once He was not? and used by the Arians to introduce the latter question. The Regula Fidei answers it at once in the negative by contrary texts. The Arians follow the Valentinians in maintaining a precedent will; which really is only exercised by God towards creatures. Instances from Scripture. Inconsistency of Asterius. If the Son by will, there must be another Word before Him. If God is good, or exist, by His will, then is the Son by His will. If He willed to have reason or wisdom, then is His Word and Wisdom at His will. The Son is the Living Will, and has all titles which denote connaturality. That will which the Father has to the Son, the Son has to the Father. The Father wills the Son and the Son wills the Father.\n58. (continued). But 3203 , as it seems, a heretic is a wicked thing in truth, and in every respect his heart is depraved 3204 and irreligious. For behold, though convicted on all points, and shewn to be utterly bereft of understanding, they feel no shame; but as the hydra of Gentile fable, when its former serpents were destroyed, gave birth to fresh ones, contending against the slayer of the old by the production of new, so also they, hostile 3205 and hateful to God 3206 , as hydras 3207 , losing their life in the objections which they advance, invent for themselves other questions Judaic and foolish, and new expedients, as if Truth were their enemy, thereby to shew the rather that they are Christ\u2019s opponents in all things.\n59. After so many proofs against them, at which even the devil who is their father 3208 had himself been abashed and gone back, again as from their perverse heart they mutter forth other expedients, sometimes in whispers, sometimes with the drone 3209 of gnats; \u2018Be it so,\u2019 say they; \u2018interpret these places thus, and gain the victory in reasonings and proofs; still you must say that the Son has received being from the Father at His will and pleasure;\u2019 for thus they deceive many, putting forward the will and the pleasure of God. Now if any of those who believe aright 3210 were to say this in p. 426 simplicity, there would be no cause to be suspicious of the expression, the right intention 3211 prevailing over that somewhat simple use of words 3212 . But since the phrase is from the heretics 3213 and the words of heretics are suspicious, and, as it is written, \u2018The wicked are deceitful,\u2019 and \u2018The words of the wicked are deceit 3214 ,\u2019 even though they but make signs 3215 , for their heart is depraved, come let us examine this phrase also, lest, though convicted on all sides, still, as hydras, they invent a fresh word, and by such clever language and specious evasion, they sow again that irreligion of theirs in another way. For he who says, \u2018The Son came to be at the Divine will,\u2019 has the same meaning as another who says, \u2018Once He was not,\u2019 and \u2018The Son came to be out of nothing,\u2019 and \u2018He is a creature.\u2019 But since they are now ashamed of these phrases, these crafty ones have endeavoured to convey their meaning in another way, putting forth the word \u2018will,\u2019 as cuttlefish their blackness, thereby to blind the simple 3216 , and to keep in mind their peculiar heresy. For whence 3217 bring they \u2018by will and pleasure?\u2019 or from what Scripture? let them say, who are so suspicious in their words and so inventive of irreligion. For the Father who revealed from heaven His own Word, declared, \u2018This is My beloved Son;\u2019 and by David He said, \u2018My heart uttered a good Word;\u2019 and John He bade say, \u2018In the beginning was the Word;\u2019 and David says in the Psalm, \u2018With Thee is the well of life, and in Thy light shall we see light;\u2019 and the Apostle writes, \u2018Who being the Radiance of Glory,\u2019 and again, \u2018Who being in the form of God,\u2019 and, \u2018Who is the Image of the invisible God 3218 .\u2019\n60. All everywhere tell us of the being of the Word, but none of His being \u2018by will,\u2019 nor at all of His making; but they, where, I ask, did they find will or pleasure \u2018precedent 3219 \u2019 to the Word of God, unless forsooth, leaving the Scriptures, they simulate the perverseness of Valentinus? For Ptolemy the Valentinian said that the Unoriginate had a pair of attributes, Thought and Will, and first He thought and then He willed; and what He thought, He could not put forth 3220 , unless when the power of the Will was added. Thence the Arians taking a lesson, wish will and pleasure to precede the Word. For them then, let them rival the doctrine of Valentinus; but we, when we read the divine discourses, found \u2018He was\u2019 applied to the Son, but of Him only did we hear as being in the Father and the Father\u2019s Image; while in the case of things originate only, since also by nature these things once were not, but afterwards came to be 3221 , did we recognise a precedent will and pleasure, David saying in the hundred and thirteenth Psalm, \u2018As for our God He is in heaven, He hath done whatsoever pleased Him,\u2019 and in the hundred and tenth, \u2018The works of the Lord are great, sought out unto all His good pleasure;\u2019 and again, in the hundred and thirty-fourth, \u2018Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven, and in earth, and in the sea, and in all deep places 3222 .\u2019 If then He be work and thing made, and one among others, let Him, as others, be said \u2018by will\u2019 to have come to be, and Scripture shews that these are thus brought into being. And Asterius, the advocate 3223 for the heresy, acquiesces, when he thus writes, \u2018For if it be unworthy of p. 427 the Framer of all, to make at pleasure, let His being pleased be removed equally in the case of all, that His Majesty be preserved unimpaired. Or if it be befitting God to will, then let this better way obtain in the case of the first Offspring. For it is not possible that it should be fitting for one and the same God to make things at His pleasure, and not at His will also.\u2019 In spite of the Sophist having introduced abundant irreligion in his words, namely, that the Offspring and the thing made are the same, and that the Son is one offspring out of all offsprings that are, He ends with the conclusion that it is fitting to say that the works are by will and pleasure.\n61. Therefore if He be other than all things, as has been above shewn 3224 , and through Him the works rather came to be, let not \u2018by will\u2019 be applied to Him, or He has similarly come to be as the things consist which through Him come to be. For Paul, whereas he was not before, became afterwards an Apostle \u2018by the will of God 3225 ;\u2019 and our own calling, as itself once not being, but now taking place afterwards, is preceded by will, and, as Paul himself says again, has been made \u2018according to the good pleasure of His will 3226 .\u2019 And what Moses relates, \u2018Let there be light,\u2019 and \u2018Let the earth appear,\u2019 and \u2018Let Us make man,\u2019 is, I think, according to what has gone before 3227 , significant of the will of the Agent. For things which once were not but happened afterwards from external causes, these the Framer counsels to make; but His own Word begotten from Him by nature, concerning Him He did not counsel beforehand; for in Him the Father makes, in Him frames, other things whatever He counsels; as also James the Apostle teaches, saying, \u2018Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth 3228 .\u2019 Therefore the Will of God concerning all things, whether they be begotten again or are brought into being at the first, is in His Word, in whom He both makes and begets again what seems right to Him; as the Apostle 3229 again signifies, writing to Thessalonica; \u2018for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.\u2019 But if, in whom He makes, in Him also is the will, and in Christ is the pleasure of the Father, how can He, as others, come into being by will and pleasure? For if He too came to be as you maintain, by will, it follows that the will concerning Him consists in some other Word, through whom He in turn comes to be; for it has been shewn that God\u2019s will is not in the things which He brings into being, but in Him through whom and in whom all things made are brought to be. Next, since it is all one to say \u2018By will\u2019 and Once He was not,\u2019 let them make up their minds to say, \u2018Once He was not,\u2019 that, perceiving with shame that times are signified by the latter, they may understand that to say \u2018by will\u2019 is to place times before the Son; for counselling goes before things which once were not, as in the case of all creatures. But if the Word is the Framer of the creatures, and He coexists with the Father, how can to counsel precede the Everlasting as if He were not? for if counsel precedes, how through Him are all things? For rather He too, as one among others is by will begotten to be a Son, as we too were made sons by the Word of Truth; and it rests, as was said, to seek another Word, through whom He too has come to be, and was begotten together with all things, which were according to God\u2019s pleasure.\n62. If then there is another Word of God, then be the Son originated by a word; but if there be not, as is the case, but all things by Him have come to be, which the Father has willed, does not this expose the many-headed 3230 craftiness of these men? that feeling shame at saying \u2018work,\u2019 and \u2018creature,\u2019 and \u2018God\u2019s Word was not before His generation,\u2019 yet in another way they assert that He is a creature, putting forward \u2018will,\u2019 and saying, \u2018Unless He has by will come to be, therefore God had a Son by necessity and against His good pleasure.\u2019 And who is it then who imposes necessity on Him, O men most wicked, who draw everything to the purpose of your heresy? for what is contrary to will they see; but what is greater and transcends it has escaped their perception. For as what is beside purpose is contrary to will, so what is according to nature transcends and precedes counselling 3231 . A man by counsel builds a house, but by nature he begets a son; and what is in building began to come into being at will, and is external to the maker; but the son is proper offspring of the father\u2019s essence, and is not external to him; wherefore neither does he counsel concerning him, lest he appear to counsel about himself. As far then as the Son transcends the creature, by so much does what is by nature transcend the will 3232 . And they, on hearing of Him, ought p. 428 not to measure by will what is by nature; forgetting however that they are hearing about God\u2019s Son, they dare to apply human contrarieties in the instance of God, \u2018necessity\u2019 and \u2018beside purpose,\u2019 to be able thereby to deny that there is a true Son of God. For let them tell us themselves,\u2014that God is good and merciful, does this attach to Him by will or not? if by will, we must consider that He began to be good, and that His not being good is possible; for to counsel and choose implies an inclination two ways, and is incidental to a rational nature. But if it be too unseemly that He should be called good and merciful upon will, then what they have said themselves must be retorted on them,\u2014\u2018therefore by necessity and not at His pleasure He is good;\u2019 and, \u2018who is it that imposes this necessity on Him?\u2019 But if it be unseemly to speak of necessity in the case of God, and therefore it is by nature that He is good, much more is He, and more truly, Father of the Son by nature and not by will.\n63. Moreover let them answer us this:\u2014(for against their shamelessness I wish to urge a further question, bold indeed, but with a religious intent; be propitious, O Lord 3233 !)\u2014the Father Himself, does He exist, first having counselled, then being pleased, or before counselling? For since they are so bold in the instance of the Word, they must receive the like answer, that they may know that this their presumption reaches even to the Father Himself. If then they shall themselves take counsel about will, and say that even He is from will, what then was He before He counselled, or what gained He, as ye consider, after counselling? But if such a question be unseemly and self-destructive, and shocking even to ask (for it is enough only to hear God\u2019s Name for us to know and understand that He is He that Is), will it not also be against reason to have parallel thoughts concerning the Word of God, and to make pretences of will and pleasure? for it is enough in like manner only to hear the Name of the Word, to know and understand that He who is God not by will, has not by will but by nature His own Word. And does it not surpass all conceivable madness, to entertain the thought only, that God Himself counsels and considers and chooses and proceeds to have a good pleasure, that He be not without Word and without Wisdom, but have both? for He seems to be considering about Himself, who counsels about what is proper to His Essence. There being then much blasphemy in such a thought, it will be religious to say that things originate have come to be \u2018by favour and will,\u2019 but the Son is not a work of will, nor has come after 3234 , as the creation, but is by nature the own Offspring of God\u2019s Essence. For being the own Word of the Father, He allows us not to account 3235 of will as before Himself, since He is Himself the Father\u2019s Living Counsel 3236 , and Power, and Framer of the things which seemed good to the Father. And this is what He says of Himself in the Proverbs; \u2018Counsel is mine and security, mine is understanding, and mine strength 3237 .\u2019 For as, although Himself the \u2018Understanding,\u2019 in which He prepared the heavens, and Himself \u2018Strength and Power\u2019 (for Christ is \u2018God\u2019s Power and God\u2019s Wisdom\u2019 3238 ), He here has altered the terms and said, \u2018Mine is understanding\u2019 and \u2018Mine strength,\u2019 so while He says, \u2018Mine is counsel,\u2019 He must Himself be the Living 3239 Counsel of the Father; as we have learned from the Prophet also, that He becomes \u2018the Angel of great Counsel 3240 ,\u2019 and was called the good pleasure of the Father; for thus we must refute them, using human illustrations 3241 concerning God.\n64. Therefore if the works subsist \u2018by will and favour,\u2019 and the whole creature is made \u2018at God\u2019s good pleasure,\u2019 and Paul was called to be an Apostle \u2018by the will of God,\u2019 and our calling has come about \u2018by His good pleasure and will,\u2019 and all things have come into being through the Word, He is external to the things which have come to be by will, but rather is Himself the Living p. 429 Counsel of the Father, by which all these things have come to be; by which David also gives thanks in the seventy-second Psalm. \u2018Thou hast holden me by my right hand; Thou shalt guide me with Thy Counsel 3242 .\u2019 How then can the Word, being the Counsel and Good Pleasure of the Father, come into being Himself \u2018by good pleasure and will,\u2019 like every one else? unless, as I said before, in their madness they repeat that He has come into being through Himself, or through some other 3243 . Who then is it through whom He has come to be? let them fashion another Word; and let them name another Christ, rivalling the doctrine of Valentinus 3244 ; for Scripture it is not. And though they fashion another, yet assuredly he too comes into being through some one; and so, while we are thus reckoning up and investigating the succession of them, the many-headed 3245 heresy of the Atheists 3246 is discovered to issue in polytheism 3247 and madness unlimited; in the which, wishing the Son to be a creature and from nothing, they imply the same thing in other words by pretending the words will and pleasure, which rightly belong to things originate and creatures. Is it not irreligious then to impute the characteristics of things originate to the Framer of all? and is it not blasphemous to say that will was in the Father before the Word? for if will precedes in the Father, the Son\u2019s words are not true, \u2018I in the Father;\u2019 or even if He is in the Father, yet He will hold but a second place, and it became Him not to say \u2018I in the Father,\u2019 since will was before Him, in which all things were brought into being and He Himself subsisted, as you hold. For though He excel in glory, He is not the less one of the things which by will come into being. And, as we have said before, if it be so, how is He Lord and they servants 3248 ? but He is Lord of all, because He is one with the Father\u2019s Lordship; and the creation is all in bondage, since it is external to the Oneness of the Father, and, whereas it once was not, was brought to be.\n65. Moreover, if they say that the Son is by will, they should say also that He came to be by understanding; for I consider understanding and will to be the same. For what a man counsels, about that also he has understanding; and what he has in understanding, that also he counsels. Certainly the Saviour Himself has made them correspond, as being cognate, when He says, \u2018Counsel is mine and security; mine is understanding, and mine strength 3249 .\u2019 For as strength and security are the same (for they mean one attribute), so we may say that Understanding and Counsel are the same, which is the Lord. But these irreligious men are unwilling that the Son should be Word and Living Counsel; but they fable that there is with God 3250 , as if a habit 3251 , coming and going 3252 , after the manner of men, understanding, counsel, wisdom; and they leave nothing undone, and they put forward the \u2018Thought\u2019 and \u2018Will\u2019 of Valentinus, so that they may but separate the Son from the Father, and may call Him a creature instead of the proper Word of the Father. To them then must be said what was said to Simon Magus; \u2018the irreligion of Valentinus perish with you 3253 ;\u2019 and let every one rather trust to Solomon, who says, that the Word is Wisdom and Understanding. For he says, \u2018The Lord by Wisdom founded the earth, by Understanding He established the heavens.\u2019 And as here by Understanding, so in the Psalms, \u2018By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made.\u2019 And as by the Word the heavens, so \u2018He hath done whatsoever pleased Him.\u2019 And as the Apostle writes to Thessalonians, \u2018the will of God is in Christ Jesus 3254 .\u2019 The Son of God then, He is the \u2018Word\u2019 and the \u2018Wisdom;\u2019 He the \u2018Understanding\u2019 and the Living \u2018Counsel;\u2019 and in Him is the \u2018Good Pleasure of the Father;\u2019 He is \u2018Truth\u2019 and \u2018Light\u2019 and \u2018Power\u2019 of the Father. But if the Will of God is Wisdom and Understanding, and the Son is Wisdom, he who says that the Son is \u2018by will,\u2019 says virtually that Wisdom has come into being in wisdom, and the Son is made in a son, and the Word created through the Word 3255 ; which is incompatible with God and is opposed to His Scriptures. For the Apostle proclaims the Son to be the own Radiance and Expression, not of the Father\u2019s will 3256 , but of His Essence 3257 Itself, saying, \u2018Who being the Radiance of His glory and the Expression of His p. 430 Subsistence 3258 .\u2019 But if, as we have said before, the Father\u2019s Essence and Subsistence be not from will, neither, as is very plain, is what is proper to the Father\u2019s Subsistence from will; for such as, and so as, that Blessed Subsistence, must also be the proper Offspring from It. And accordingly the Father Himself said not, \u2018This is the Son originated at My will,\u2019 nor \u2018the Son whom I have by My favour,\u2019 but simply \u2018My Son,\u2019 and more than that, \u2018in whom I am well pleased;\u2019 meaning by this, This is the Son by nature; and \u2018in Him is lodged My will about what pleases Me.\u2019\n66. Since then the Son is by nature and not by will, is He without the pleasure of the Father and not with the Father\u2019s will? No, verily; but the Son is with the pleasure of the Father, and, as He says Himself, \u2018The Father loveth the Son, and sheweth Him all things 3259 .\u2019 For as not \u2018from will\u2019 did He begin to be good, nor yet is good without will and pleasure (for what He is, that also is His pleasure), so also that the Son should be, though it came not \u2018from will,\u2019 yet it is not without His pleasure or against His purpose. For as His own Subsistence is by His pleasure, so also the Son, being proper to His Essence, is not without His pleasure. Be then the Son the object of the Father\u2019s pleasure and love; and thus let every one religiously account of 3260 the pleasure and the not-unwillingness of God. For by that good pleasure wherewith the Son is the object of the Father\u2019s pleasure, is the Father the object of the Son\u2019s love, pleasure, and honour; and one is the good pleasure which is from Father in Son, so that here too we may contemplate the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son. Let no one then, with Valentinus, introduce a precedent will; nor let any one, by this pretence of \u2018counsel,\u2019 intrude between the Only Father and the Only Word; for it were madness to place will and consideration between them. For it is one thing to say, \u2018Of will He came to be,\u2019 and another, that the Father has love and good pleasure towards His Son who is His own by nature. For to say, \u2018Of will He came to be,\u2019 in the first place implies that once He was not; and next it implies an inclination two ways, as has been said, so that one might suppose that the Father could even not will the Son. But to say of the Son, \u2018He might not have been,\u2019 is an irreligious presumption reaching even to the Essence of the Father, as if what is His own might not have been. For it is the same as saying, \u2018The Father might not have been good.\u2019 And as the Father is always good by nature, so He is always generative 3261 by nature; and to say, \u2018The Father\u2019s good pleasure is the Son,\u2019 and \u2018The Word\u2019s good pleasure is the Father,\u2019 implies, not a precedent will, but genuineness of nature, and propriety and likeness of Essence. For as in the case of the radiance and light one might say, that there is no will preceding radiance in the light, but it is its natural offspring, at the pleasure of the light which begat it, not by will and consideration, but in nature and truth, so also in the instance of the Father and the Son, one might rightly say, that the Father has love and good pleasure towards the Son, and the Son has love and good pleasure towards the Father.\n67. Therefore call not the Son a work of good pleasure; nor bring in the doctrine of Valentinus into the Church; but be He the Living Counsel, and Offspring in truth and nature, as the Radiance from the Light. For thus has the Father spoken, \u2018My heart uttered a good Word;\u2019 and the Son conformably, \u2018I in the Father and the Father in Me 3262 .\u2019 But if the Word be in the heart, where is will? and if the Son in the Father, where is good pleasure? and if He be Will Himself, how is counsel in Will? it is unseemly; lest the Word come into being in a word, and the Son in a son, and Wisdom in a wisdom, as has been repeatedly 3263 said. For the Son is the Father\u2019s All; and nothing was in the Father before the Word; but in the Word is will also, and through Him the objects of will are carried into effect, as holy Scriptures have shewn. And I could wish that the irreligious men, having fallen into such want of reason 3264 as to be considering about will, would now ask their childbearing women no more, whom they used to ask, \u2018Hadst thou a son before conceiving him 3265 ?\u2019 but the father, \u2018Do ye become fathers by counsel, or by the natural law of your will?\u2019 or \u2018Are your children like your nature and essence 3266 ?\u2019 that, even from fathers they may learn shame, from whom they assumed this proposition 3267 about birth, and from whom they hoped to gain knowledge in point. For they will reply to them, \u2018What we beget, is like, not our good pleasure 3268 , but like ourselves; nor become we parents by previous counsel, but to beget is proper to our nature; since we too are images of our fathers.\u2019 Either p. 431 then let them condemn themselves 3269 , and cease asking women about the Son of God, or let them learn from them, that the Son is begotten not by will, but in nature and truth. Becoming and suitable to them is a refutation from human instances 3270 , since the perverse-minded men dispute in a human way concerning the Godhead. Why then are Christ\u2019s enemies still mad? for this, as well as their other pretences, is shewn and proved to be mere fantasy and fable; and on this account, they ought, however late, contemplating the precipice of folly down which they have fallen, to rise again from the depth and to flee the snare of the devil, as we admonish them. For Truth is loving unto men and cries continually, \u2018If because of My clothing of the body ye believe Me not, yet believe the works, that ye may know that \u201cI am in the Father and the Father in Me,\u201d and \u201cI and the Father are one,\u201d and \u201cHe that hath seen Me hath seen the Father 3271 .\u201d\u2019 But the Lord according to His wont is loving to man, and would fain \u2018help them that are fallen,\u2019 as the praise of David 3272 says; but the irreligious men, not desirous to hear the Lord\u2019s voice, nor bearing to see Him acknowledged by all as God and God\u2019s Son, go about, miserable men, as beetles, seeking with their father the devil pretexts for irreligion. What pretexts then, and whence will they be able next to find? unless they borrow blasphemies of Jews and Caiaphas, and take atheism from Gentiles? for the divine Scriptures are closed to them, and from every part of them they are refuted as insensate and Christ\u2019s enemies.\nThis chapter is in a very different style from the foregoing portions of this Book, and much more resembles the former two; not only in its subject and the mode of treating it, but in the words introduced, e.g. \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c0\u03b5\u03af\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9, \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b9, \u03b3\u03bf\u03b3\u03b3\u03cd\u03b6\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9, \u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u1fbd \u1f51\u03bc\u1fb6\u03c2, \u1f04\u03c4\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd, \u03bb\u03b5\u03be\u03b5\u03af\u03b4\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd, \u03b5\u1f37\u03c2 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c0\u03ac\u03bd\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd, &c. And the references are to the former Orations.\n425:3204 425:3205\n\u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u03bc\u03ac\u03c7\u03bf\u03b9, de Decr. 3, n. 1; Or. ii. 32, n. 4. Vid. Dissert. by Bucher on the word in Acts v. 39. ap. Thesaur. Theol. Phil. N. T. t. 2.\n425:3206 425:3207 425:3208 425:3209\n\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03b2\u03bf\u03bc\u03b2\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b9. De Decr. 14, n. 1; also de Fug. 2, 6. Naz. Orat. 27, 2. c.\n425:3210\nS. Ignatius speaks of our Lord as \u2018Son of God according to the will (\u03b8\u03ad\u03bb\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1) and power of God.\u2019 ad Smyrn. 1. S. Justin as \u2018God and Son according to His will, \u03b2\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u03ae\u03bd.\u2019 Tryph. 127, and \u2018begotten from the Father at His will, \u03b8\u03b5\u03bb\u03ae\u03c3\u03b5\u03b9.\u2019 ibid. 61. and he says, \u03b4\u03c5\u03bd\u03ac\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03b2\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u1fc7 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6. ibid. 128. S. Clement \u2018issuing from the Father\u2019s will itself quicker than light.\u2019 Gent. 10 fin. S. Hippolytus, \u2018Whom God the Father, willing, \u03b2\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u03b7\u03b8\u03b5\u03af\u03c2, begat as He willed, \u1f61\u03c2 \u1f20\u03b8\u03ad\u03bb\u03b7\u03c3\u03b5\u03bd. contr. Noet. 16. Origen, \u1f10\u03ba \u03b8\u03b5\u03bb\u03ae\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2. ap. Justin. ad. Menn. vid. also cum filius charitatis etiam voluntatis. Periarch. iv. 28.\n426:3211\n\u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03af\u03b1\u03c2 interpretation, \u00a726, n. 9.\n426:3212\nCf. Ep. \u00c6g. 8. and supr. ii. 3. Also Letter 54 fin. Vid. supr. de Decr. 10, n. 3. And vid. Leont. contr. Nest. iii. 41. (p. 581. Canis.) He here seems alluding to the Semi-Arians, Origen, and perhaps the earlier Fathers.\n426:3213\nTatian had said \u03b8\u03b5\u03bb\u03ae\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b9 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c0\u03b7\u03b4\u1fb7 \u1f41 \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2. Gent. 5. Tertullian had said, \u2018Ut primum voluit Deus ea edere, ipsum primum protulit sermonem. adv. Prax. 6. Novatian, Ex quo, quando ipse voluit, Sermo filius natus est. de Trin. 31. And Constit. Apost. \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78 \u03b1\u1f30& 240\u00b7\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd \u03b5\u1f50\u03b4\u03bf\u03ba\u03af& 139\u00b7 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u03bd\u03b7\u03b8\u03ad\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1. vii. 41. Pseudo-Clem. Genuit Deus voluntate pr\u00e6cedente. Recognit. iii. 10. Eusebius, \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u1f70 \u03b3\u03bd\u03ce\u03bc\u03b7\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03b1\u03af\u03c1\u03b5\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u03b2\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u03b7\u03b8\u03b5\u1f76\u03c2 \u1f41 \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2\u00b7 \u1f10\u03ba \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b2\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03b4\u03c5\u03bd\u03ac\u03bc\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2. Dem. iv. 3. Arius, \u03b8\u03b5\u03bb\u03ae\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03b2\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u1fc7 \u1f51\u03c0\u03ad\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7. ap. Theod. H. E. i. 4. p. 750. vid. also de Syn. 16.\n426:3214\nProv. 12:5, 6. LXX.\n426:3215 426:3216 426:3217\nAnd so supr. de Decr. 18, \u2018by what Saint have they been taught \u201cat will?\u201d\u2019 That is, no one ever taught it in the sense in which they explained it; that he has just said, \u2018He who says \u201cat will\u201d has the same meaning as he who says \u201cOnce He was not.\u201d\u2019 Cf. below \u00a7\u00a761, 64, 66. Certainly as the earlier Fathers had used the phrase, so those who came after Arius. Thus Nyssen in the passage in contr. Eun. vii. referred to in the next note. And Hilar. Syn. 37. The same father says, unitate Patris et virtute. Psalm xci. 8. and ut voluit, ut potuit, ut scit qui genuit. Trin. iii. 4. And he addresses Him as non invidum bonorum tuorum in Unigeniti tui nativitate. ibid. vi. 21. S. Basil too speaks of our Lord as \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u03b6\u03c9\u1f74\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u03ac\u03b3\u03b1\u03b8\u03bf\u03bd, \u2018from the quickening Fountain, the Father\u2019s goodness, \u1f00\u03b3\u03b1\u03b8\u03cc\u03c4\u03b7\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2.\u2019 contr. Eun. ii. 25. And C\u00e6sarius calls Him \u1f00\u03b3\u03ac\u03c0\u03b7\u03bd \u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u03c1\u03cc\u03c2. Qu\u00e6st. 39. Vid. Ephrem. Syr. adv. Scrut. R. vi. 1. Oxf. Tra. and note there. Maximus Taurin. says, that God is per omnipotentiam Pater. Hom. de trad. Symb. p. 270. ed. 1784, vid. also Chrysol. Serm. 61. Ambros. de Fid. iv. 8. Petavius refers in addition to such passages as one just quoted from S. Hilary, which speak of God as not invidus, so as not to communicate Himself, since He was able. Si non potuit, infirmus; si non voluit, invidus. August. contr. Maxim. iii. 7.\n426:3218\nMatt. iii. 17; Ps. xlv. 1; John i. 1; Ps. xxxvi. 9; Heb. i. 3; Phil. ii. 26; Col. i. 15.\n426:3219\n\u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03b7\u03b3\u03bf\u03c5\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7\u03bd and 61 fin. The antecedens voluntas has been mentioned in Recogn. Clem. supr. note 11. For Ptolemy vid. Epiph. H\u00e6r. p. 215. The Catholics, who allowed that our Lord was \u03b8\u03b5\u03bb\u03ae\u03c3\u03b5\u03b9, explained it as a \u03c3\u03cd\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b8\u03ad\u03bb\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, and not a \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03b7\u03b3\u03bf\u03c5\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7; as Cyril. Trin. ii. p. 56. And with the same meaning S. Ambrose, nec voluntas ante Filium nec potestas. de Fid. v. 224. And S. Gregory Nyssen, \u2018His immediate union, \u1f04\u03bc\u03b5\u03c3\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03ac\u03c6\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1, does not exclude the Father\u2019s will, \u03b2\u03bf\u03cd\u03bb\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd, nor does that will separate the Son from the Father.\u2019 contr. Eunom. vii. p. 206, 7. vid. the whole passage. The alternative which these words, \u03c3\u03cd\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 and \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03b7\u03b3\u03bf\u03c5\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7, expressed was this; whether an act of Divine Purpose or Will took place before the Generation of the Son, or whether both the Will and the Generation were eternal, as the Divine Nature was eternal. Hence Bull says, with the view of exculpating Novatian, Cum Filius dicitur ex Patre, quando ipse voluit, nasci. Velle illud Patris \u00e6ternum fuisse intelligendum. Defens. F. N. iii. 8. \u00a78.\n426:3220 426:3221\n\u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03b3\u03ad\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd\u03b5, Or. i. 25, 28 fin. iii. 6.\n426:3222\nPs. 115:3, Ps. 111:2, Ps. 135:6Ps. cxv. 3; cxi. 2. LXX.; cxxxv. 6.\n426:3223 427:3224 427:3225\n1 Cor. i. 1, &c.\n427:3226 427:3227 427:3228 427:3229 427:3230 427:3231\nThus he makes the question a nugatory one, as if it did not go to the point, and could not be answered, or might be answered either way, as the case might be. Really Nature and Will go together in the Divine Being, but in order, as we regard Him, Nature is first, Will second, and the generation belongs to Nature, not to Will. And so supr. Or. i. 29; ii. 2. In like manner S. Epiphanius, H\u00e6r. 69, 26. vid. also Ancor. 51. vid. also Ambros. de Fid. iv. 4. vid. others, as collected in Petav. Trin. vi. 8. \u00a7\u00a714\u201316.\n427:3232\nTwo distinct meanings may be attached to \u2018by will\u2019 (as Dr. Clark observes, Script. Doct. p. 142. ed. 1738), either a concurrence or acquiescence, or a positive act. S. Cyril uses it in the former sense, when he calls it \u03c3\u03cd\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2, as quoted \u00a760, n. 1; and when he says (with Athan. infr.) that \u2018the Father wills His own subsistence, \u03b8\u03b5\u03bb\u03b7\u03b3\u03ae\u03c2 \u1f10\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9, but is not what He is from any will, \u1f10\u03ba \u03b2\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u03ae\u03c3\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b9\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2,\u2019 Thes. p. 56; Dr. Clark would understand it in the latter sense, with a view of inferring that the Son was subsequent to a Divine act, i.e. not eternal; but what Athan. says leads to the conclusion, that it does not matter which sense is taken. He does not meet the Arian objection, \u2018if not by will therefore by necessity,\u2019 by speaking of a concomitant will, or merely saying that the Almighty exists or is good, by will, with S. Cyril, but he says that \u2018nature transcends will and necessity also.\u2019 Accordingly, Petavius is even willing to allow that the \u1f10\u03ba \u03b2\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u1fc6\u03c2 is to be ascribed to the \u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03bd\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 in the sense which Dr. Clark wishes, i.e. he grants that it may precede the \u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03bd\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, i.e. in order, not in time, in the succession of our ideas, Trin. vi. 8, \u00a7\u00a720, 21; and follows S. Austin, Trin. xv. 20. in preferring to speak of our Lord rather as voluntas de voluntate, than, as Athan. is led to do, as the voluntas Dei.\n428:3233\nVid. Or. i. 25, n. 2. Also Serap. i. 15, 16 init. 17, 20; iv. 8, 14. Ep. \u00c6g. 11 fin. Didym. Trin. iii. 3. p. 341. Ephr. Syr. adv. H\u00e6r. Serm. 55 init. (t. 2. p. 557.) Facund. Tr. Cap. iii. 3 init.\n428:3234 428:3235\n\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03af\u03c3\u03b1\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03af \u03c4\u03b9\u03bd\u03b1 \u03b2\u03bf\u03cd\u03bb\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd, as \u00a766 (Latin version inexact).\n428:3236\n\u1f00\u03b3\u03b1\u03b8\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u1f00\u03b3\u03b1\u03b8\u1f78\u03bd \u03b2\u03bf\u03cd\u03bb\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1. Clem. Ped. iii. circ. fin. \u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u03af\u03b1, \u03c7\u03c1\u03b7\u03c3\u03c4\u03cc\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2, \u03b4\u03cd\u03bd\u03b1\u03bc\u03b9\u03c2, \u03b8\u03ad\u03bb\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1 \u03c0\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c1\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03bd. Strom. v. p. 547. Voluntas et potestas patris. Tertull. Orat. 4. Natus ex Patri quasi voluntas ex mente procedens. Origen. Periarch. i. 2. \u00a76. S. Jerome notices the same interpretation of \u2018by the will of God\u2019 in the beginning of Comment. in Ephes. But cf. Aug. Trin. xv. 20. And so C\u00e6sarius, \u1f00\u03b3\u03ac\u03c0\u03b7 \u1f10\u03be \u1f00\u03b3\u03ac\u03c0\u03b7\u03c2. Qu. 39.\n428:3237 428:3238 428:3239\n\u03b6\u1ff6\u03c3\u03b1 \u03b2\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u03ae. supr. \u039f\u03c1. ii. 2. Cyril in Joan. p. 213. \u03b6\u1ff6\u03c3\u03b1 \u03b4\u03cd\u03bd\u03b1\u03bc\u03b9\u03c2. Sabell. Greg. 5. c. \u03b6\u1ff6\u03c3\u03b1 \u03b5\u1f34\u03ba\u03c9\u03bd. Naz. Orat. 30, 20. c. \u03b6\u1ff6\u03c3\u03b1 \u1f10\u03bd\u03ad\u03c1\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1. Syn. Antioch. ap. Routh. Reliqu. t. 2. p. 469. \u03b6\u1ff6\u03c3\u03b1 \u1f34\u03c3\u03c7\u03c5\u03c2. Cyril. in Joan. p. 951. \u03b6\u1ff6\u03c3\u03b1 \u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u03af\u03b1. Origen. contr. Cels. iii. fin. \u03b6\u1ff6\u03bd \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2. Origen. ibid. \u03b6\u1ff6\u03bd \u1f44\u03c1\u03b3\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd (heretically) Euseb. Dem. iv. 2.\n428:3240 428:3241 429:3242 429:3243\n\u03b4\u03b9\u1fbd \u1f11\u03c4\u03ad\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c4\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2. This idea has been urged against the Arians again and again, as just above, \u00a761; e.g. de Decr. 8, 24; Or. i. 15, below 65, sub. fin. vid. also Epiph. H\u00e6r. 76. p. 951. Basil. contr. Eunom. ii. 11. c. 17, a. &c.\n429:3244 429:3245\n\u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03c5\u03ba\u03ad\u03c6\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f35\u03c1\u03b5\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2. And so \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03c5\u03ba. \u03c0\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03b3\u03af\u03b1, \u00a762. The allusion is to the hydra, with its ever-springing heads, as introduced \u00a758, n. 5. and with a special allusion to Asterius who is mentioned, \u00a760, and in de Syn. 18. is called \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03c5\u03ba. \u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03ae\u03c2.\n429:3246 429:3247 429:3248 429:3249 429:3250\n\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03bd. vid. de Decr. 22, n. 1; Or. i. 15. Also Orat. i. 27, where (n. 2 a.), it is mistranslated. Euseb. Eccl. Theol. iii. p. 150. vid. de Syn. 34, n. 7.\n429:3251\n\u1f15\u03be\u03b9\u03bd. vid. Or. ii. 38, n. 6; iv. 2, n. 7.\n429:3252\n\u03c3\u03c5\u03bc\u03b2\u03b1\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u03cd\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03c5\u03bc\u03b2\u03b1\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u03cd\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd, vid. de Decr. 11, n. 7, and 22, n. 9, \u03c3\u03cd\u03bc\u03b2\u03b1\u03bc\u03b1, Euseb. Eccl. Theol. iii. p. 150. in the same, though a technical sense. vid. also Serap. i. 26; Naz. Orat. 31, 15 fin.\n429:3253 429:3254\nProv. iii. 19; Ps. xxxiii. 6; cxxxv. 6, cxv. 3; 1 Thess. v. 18.\n429:3255\nRead \u2018a word,\u2019 cf. p. 394, n. 6.\n429:3256 429:3257\n\u03bf\u1f50\u03c3\u03af\u03b1 and \u1f51\u03c0\u03cc\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 are in these passages made synonymous; and so infr. Orat. iv. 1, f. And in iv. 33 fin. to the Son is attributed \u1f21 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u03c1\u03b9\u03ba\u1f74 \u1f51\u03c0\u03cc\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2. Vid. also ad Afros. 4. quoted supr. Exc. A, pp. 77, sqq. \u1ffe\u03a5\u03c0. might have been expected too in the discussion in the beginning of Orat. iii. did Athan. distinguish between them. It is remarkable how seldom it occurs at all in these Orations, except as contained in Heb. i. 3. Vid. also p. 70, note 13. Yet the phrase \u03c4\u03c1\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c2 \u1f51\u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03c4\u03ac\u03c3\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2 is certainly found in Illud Omn. fin. and in Incarn. c. Arian. 10. (if genuine) and apparently in Expos. Fid. 2. Vid. also Orat. iv. 25 init.\n430:3258 430:3259\nJohn iii. 35; v. 20.\n430:3260 430:3261 430:3262 430:3263 430:3264 430:3265 430:3266\n\u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03bf\u1f50\u03c3\u03af\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f45\u03bc\u03bf\u03b9\u03b1, vid. Or. i. 21, n. 8. Also ii. 42, b. iii. 11, 14 sub. fin., 17, n. 5.\n430:3267 430:3268 431:3269\nDe Decr. 3, n. 2; Orat. i. 27, ii. 4; Apol. c. Ar. 36.\n431:3270 431:3271\nJohn 10:38, 30; xiv. 9; cf. \u00a75, n. 3.\n431:3272","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. IV: Against...","type":"page"}