Section 845
II. To the second century, in which the same heresies of Ebion and Cerinthus
Were held and propagated by Carpocrates, the father of the Gnostics,[4413] by Valentinus and Theodotus the currier, whose disciples were another Theodotus a silversmith, and Asclepiodotus and. Artemon also, according to Eusebius. [4414]
1st. Carpocrates was of Alexandria in Egypt, and lived in the beginning of the second century: he and his followers held that Christ was only a man, born of Joseph and Mary, of two parents, as other men,[4415] only he had a soul superior to others; which, having a strong memory, could remember, and so could relate, what he had seen and had knowledge of, when in the circumference (as they express it) and in conversation with his unknown and unbegotten Father; and which was endowed with such powers, that he escaped the angels, the makers of the world; and was so pure and holy, that he despised the Jews, among whom he was brought up; and afterwards returned to his unknown Father; his soul only, not his body.[4416] There seems to be something similar in this notion of the human soul of Christ, to what is imbibed by some in our day.
2dly, Valentinus. He came to Rome when Hyginus was bishop of that place, flourished under Pius, and lived till the time of Anicetus. [4417] He and his followers held, that God the creator sent forth his own Son, but that he was animal, and that his body descended from heaven, and passed through the virgin Mary, as water through a pipe; and therefore, as Tertullian, observes,[4418] Valentinus used to say, that Christ was born by a virgin, but not of a virgin. This is what divines call the heretical elapse; which yet those disavow, who in our day are for the antiquity of the human nature of Christ before the world was; though how he could be really and actually man from eternity, and yet take flesh of the virgin in time, is not easy to reconcile.
3dly. Artemon or Artemas who lived in the time of Victor bishop of Rome. He held that Christ was a mere man[4419] and pretended that the apostles and all Christians from their times to the times of Victor, held the same;[4420] than which nothing could be more notoriously false, as the writings as Justin, Irenæ'dipusus, etc shew: and' it is said that by him, or by his followers, the celebrated text in 1 John 5:7, was erased and left out in some copies.[4421]
4thly, Theodotus the currier held the same notion he did, that Christ was a mere man; for which he was excommunicated by Victor bishop of Rome: which shews the falsity of what Artemon said; for if Victor had been of the same opinion, he would never have excommunicated Theodotus. Eusebius says, this man was the father and broacher of this notion,[4422] before Artemon, that Christ was a mere man; and denied him to be God. Yea, that he was not only a mere man, but born of the seed of man.[4423] Though Tertullian says, that he held that Christ was only a man, but equally conceived and born of the holy Ghost and the virgin Mary, yet inferior to Melchizedec. [4424]
The contrary to these notions was asserted and maintained by those apostolical men, not only Ignatius, who lived in the latter end of the preceding century, and the beginning of this, as has been observed, but by Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenæ'dipusus, and others.
1. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna a disciple and hearer of the apostle John, used to stop his ears when be heard the impious speeches of the heretics of his time. This venerable martyr, who had served his master Christ eighty six years, when at: the stake, and the fire just about to be kindled upon him, witnessed a good confession of the blessed Trinity in his last moments, putting up the following prayer; "O Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the knowledge of thee; God of angels and of powers, and every creature—I praise thee for all things; I bless thee, I glorify thee, by the eternal high priest Jesus Christ thy beloved Son, through whom, to thee with him in the holy spirit, be glory, now and for ever, Amen. "[4425]
2. Justin, the philosopher and martyr, in his first apology[4426] for the Christians, has these words; "The Father of all, being unbegotten, has no name—the Son of him, who only is properly called a Son, the Word, begotten and existing before the creatures (for at the beginning by him he created and beautified all things) is called Christ." And in his second apology he says, "We profess to be atheists with respect to such who are thought to be Gods, but not to the true God and Father of righteousness, etc.; him, and his Son who comes from him, and has taught us these things, and the prophetic Spirit, we adore and worship." Afterwards he speaks of the logos, or word, the first birth of God:" which, says he, we say is begotten without mixture." And again "We speak that which is true, Jesus Christ alone is properly the Son begotten by God, being his Word, and first-born, and power, and by his will became man; these things he hath taught us." And in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, who is represented as objecting to him, "What thou sayest that this Christ existed God before the world, and then was born, and became man, does not only seem to be a paradox to me, but quite foolish." To which Justin replies, "I know this seems a paradox, especially to those of your nation—but if I cannot demonstrate, that this is the Christ of God, and that he pre-existed God, the Son of the maker of all things, and became man by a virgin, in this only it would be just to say, that I am mistaken, but not to deny that this is the Christ of God, though he may seem to be begotten a man of men, and by choice made Christ, as asserted by some: for there are some of our religion who profess him to be Christ, but affirm that he is begotten a man of men; to whom I do not assent, nor many who are in the same mind with me." In which he plainly refers to the heretics before mentioned, who thought that Christ was born of Joseph and Mary. And in another place, in the same dialogue, he says, "I will prove from scripture that God first begat of himself before all creatures, a certain rational power, which is called by the holy Spirit, the Glory of the Lord, sometimes the Son, sometimes Wisdom, sometimes the Angel, sometimes God, sometimes the Lord and the Word." And then, after observing there is something similar in the Word begetting a Word without any rejection or diminution, and fire kindling fire without lessening it, and abiding the same; he proceeds to give his proof from the words of Solomon, 36 where "the word of wisdom testifies, that he is the God who is begotten by the Father of all, who is the word and wisdom and the power and the glory of him that generates. " And then observes, that "this is the birth produced by the Father, which co-existed with the Father before all creatures, and with whom the Father familiarly conversed, as the word by Solomon makes it manifest, that he the beginning before all creatures is the birth begotten by God, which by Solomon is called Wisdom." And in another place, in the same dialogue, on mention of the same words in Proverbs he says, "Ye must understand, ye hearers, if ye do but attend, the Word declares that "this birth was begotten by the Father before all creatures, and that which is begotten is numerically another from him that begets. " What can be more express for the eternal generation of the Son of God, and that as a distinct person from his Father!
3. Irenaeus, a martyr, and bishop of Lyons in France, and a disciple of Polycarp. He wrote five books against the heresies of Valentinus and the Gnostics, which are still extant; out of which many testimonies might be produced confirming the doctrine of the Trinity, and the deity of Christ. I shall only transcribe two or three passages relating to the divine Sonship and generation of Christ. In one place he says,[4427] "Thou art not increated and man, nor didst thou always co-exist with God, as his own word did, but through his eminent goodness, hast now had a beginning of beings; thou sensibly learnest from the word the dispositions of God who made thee; therefore observe the order of thy knowledge, and lest, as ignorant of good things, thou shouldest, transcend God himself" And again,[4428] "should any one say to us, how is the Son brought forth by the Father ? we reply to him, This bringing forth or generation, etc. or by whatsoever name it is called; no man knows his existing unspeakable generation; not Valentinus, not Marcion, not, Saturninus, nor Basilides, nor angels, nor archangels, nor principalities, nor powers, only the Father who hath generated, and the Son that is generated; therefore seeing his generation is ineffable, whoever attempts to declare such productions and generations (as the above heretics did) are not in their right minds, promising to declare those things which cannot be declared." And elsewhere, he says,[4429] "The Son, the Word and Wisdom, was always present with him (God), and also the Spirit, by whom, and in whom, he made all things freely and willingly; to whom he spake, saying, Let us make man, etc." And a little after, "that the Word, that is, the Son, was always with the Father, we have abundant proof;" and then mentions Proverbs 3:19 and Proverbs 8:22, etc.
4. Athenagoras, who flourished at Athens, in the times of Antoninus and Commodus, to which emperors he wrote an apology for the Christians, in which he has these words,[4430] "Let not any think it ridiculous in me that I speak of God as having a Son, for not as the poets fable, who make their Gods nothing better than men, do we think either of God and the Father, or of the Son; but the Son of God is the Word of the Father, in idea and efficacy for of him, and him are all things made, seeing the Father and the Son are one; so that the Son is in the Father, and the Father is in the Son, by the union and power of the Spirit; the mind, and word of the Father is the Son of God; now if any through the sublimity of your understanding would look further and inquire what the Son means, I will tell him in a few words, that he is the first birth of the Father; not as made, for from the beginning, God being the eternal mind, he had the word in himself (the logov, or reason) being eternally rational, (that is, "never without his word and wisdom) but as coming forth is the idea and energy of all things." For which he produces as a proof Proverbs 8:22 and then proceeds, "Who therefore cannot wonder, to hear us called atheists, who speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and the holy Spirit, shewing their power in unity and their distinction in order?" A little farther,[4431] he strongly expresses the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity; "We assert God and the Son his Word, and the holy Ghost, united indeed according to power, the Father, the Son, the Spirit, for the Mind, Word and Wisdom, is the Son of the Father, and the Spirit an emanation, or influence, as light from fire."
5. Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, flourished under the emperor Antoninus Verus: in a treatise of his[4432] he has these words concerning the Word and Son of God, "God having his logon endiaqeton, internal word within himself, begat him, when he brought him forth with his wisdom before all things; this word he used in working those things that were made by him, and he made all things by him—The prophets were not when the world was made; but the wisdom of God, which is in him, and the holy word of God, was always present with him;" in proof of which he produces Proverbs 8:27, And in another place,[4433] speaking of the voice Adam heard, says, "What else is the voice, but the word of God who is his Son? not as the poets and writers of fables, who say, the sons of the gods are born of copulation; but as the truth declares, the internal Word being always in the heart of God, before any thing was made, him he had as his counselor, being his mind and prudence, when God would do what he counseled, he begat the Word, and having begotten the Word, the first-born of every creature, he always conversed with his Word," for which he quotes 3.
6. Clemens of Alexandria, flourished under the emperors Severus and Caracalla, towards the latter end of the second century, he bears a plain testimony to the doctrine of the Trinity, concluding one of his treatises thus,[4434] "Let us give thanks, praising the only Father and the Son, both teachers, with the holy Spirit, in which are all things, in whom are all things, and by whom all are one—to whom "be glory now and for ever, Amen " He speaks[4435] of Christ the perfect word, as born of the perfect Father; and says[4436] of the Son of God, "that he never goes out of his watchtower, who is not divided nor dissected, nor passes from place to place, but is always every where, is contained no where, all mind, all paternal light, all eye; who sees all things, hears all things knows all things by his power, searches powers, and to whom the whole militia of angels and gods (magistrates) is subject—This is the Son of God, the Savior and Lord whom we speak of, and the divine prophecies shew." A little after he speaks of him as, " begotten without beginning, that is, eternally begotten, and who, before the foundation of the world, was the Father's counselor, that wisdom in whom the almighty God delighted; for Son is the power of God; who before all things were made, was the most ancient word of the Father—Every operation of the Lord has a reference to the almighty; and the Son is, as I may say, a certain energy of the Father." This ancient writer frequently attacks and refutes the Carpocratians, Valentinians, and Gnostics, and other heretics of this and the preceding age. I proceed,