which continued through any period. Thus the period from the creation to the deluge was one alwv from the deluge to Abraham was another: the kingdom of the Messiah is another: and so we may speak of the Mosaic dispensation as one air, and the Christian dispensation as another. But αἰῶνες in the plural must mean more than one of these periods or dispensations: of alves might mean all the divisions of time, or all the dispensations, which ever have been or will be: and it is not difficult to see, how οἱ αἰῶνες τῶν αἰώνων came to be used for eter nity by persons who considered, though erroneously, that eternity is an infinite multiple of time. When the Unitarian translators render Tous alvas in Heb. i. 2. xi. 3, the ages, or the dispensations, though the translation would convey little meaning, it would not be incorrect, if we understand by it all the dispensations, which ever have existed; and the assertion, that Christ was the author of all these dispensations, is very remarkable: but if we compare the two passages together, the correctness of our authorized version will perhaps be apparent. If we translate the words πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων in the Constantinopolitan creed, before all ages or dispensations, they perhaps come as near to an expression of eternity, as the finite nature of language will permit. The period, which preceded creation, was as much an alwv, as any of those which followed it: and πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων can only be taken as equivalent to before all time, i. e. before there were any divisions of time, which can be called aiwves: and our powers of abstraction will perhaps not allow us to have a more definite idea of eternal existence than this. It may also be remarked, that if the Constantinopolitan creed should be considered as defective in asserting the eternity of the Son, there can be no doubt as to this doctrine having been held by the writers of the three first centuries. I would again refer the reader to the Index concerning this point: and whoever consults these testimonies, will scarcely doubt what was the meaning of the creed, which speaks of the Son as begotten before all time. The divinity of the Holy Ghost is asserted in the creed, by words which denote his preexistence, which give to him the titles and attributes of Deity, which separate him from created beings in the mode of his existence, and unite him as an object of worship with the Father and the Son. Concerning the latter point, I would refer to what has been said at p. 14. and the Indices will shew, as before, that the AnteNicene Fathers held the same sentiments concerning the divinity of the Holy Ghost. I should only be repeating, what has already been observed in the Introduction, if I should remind the reader, that to assert the divinity of the Son and the Holy Ghost, is in fact to assert the doctrine of the Trinity. If each of these persons is God, we must either believe that there are three Gods, or we must believe, that though in one relation they are three, in another they are one. doctrine of a Trinity in Unity. my intention in either of these the nature of this doctrine, but merely to prove that such a doctrine was maintained in the earliest times. The reader will decide, whether this point is established by the testimonies which have been The latter is the It has not been works to explain |