66 this very title to the Son. Thus Irenæus calls our Saviour, "the only-begotten Son of God, Maker of "all things P," and "Maker of the world ;" and "the Word of God, Framer and Creator and Maker " of all things'; and he speaks" of the Son creatings." Clement of Alexandria speaks of "the "Son in the Father, the Creator t;" and says, that "the Son has boldness of speech, because he is God "and Creator ":" and again, "Such is the Word"the Creator of the world and of man." At p. 593. he calls him "God the Creator ;" and at p. 654. "the Word, the cause of Creation "." Hippolytus calls him "the Creator of the universe a, and "the "Maker of all things b." Gregory of Neocæsarea calls him "the Creator and Governor of all things c." Lastly, Dionysius of Alexandria styles him "the · παῤῥησίᾳ δὲ, ὅτι Θεὸς καὶ δημιουργός. Pæd. I. II. p. 156. * Τοσοῦτος ὁ Λόγος ὁ τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου δημιουργός. y τῷ δημιουργῷ Θεῷ, τῷ καλέσαντι ἡμᾶς, καὶ εὐαγγελισαμév év σwμati. Strom. IV. 8. - Ο Λόγος, δημιουργίας αἴτιος. Strom. V. 3. a * Ὁ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργός. c. Beron. et Hel. vol. I. p. 230. ὁ Τὸν πάντων κτιστήν. In Theophan. 2. vol. I. p. 262. C Τῷ πάντων δημιουργῷ καὶ κυBepvt. Orat. Panegyr. in Orig. c. 4. This is the only quotation which I shall make from this Father, it being very doubtful whether the other works ascribed to him are genuine. He fourished about the year 240; and this quotation alone would make it highly improbable that he called Jesus Christ a creature, made, as Mr. Lindsey tells us that he did not hes "uncreated and Creator d," and "Creator together "with his Father "." I have perhaps brought more instances than what were necessary to prove the doctrine of the Fathers upon this point; but since Mr. Belsham and the modern Unitarians assert so positively, that the scriptures say nothing about the world being created by Christ, it becomes important to see what was the interpretation given to scripture by those writers, who were more likely than ourselves to preserve the doctrine of the apostles. But after all, if we may take Dr. Priestley as speaking the acknowledged sentiments of Unitarians, it is in vain to argue with them upon this point from the writings of the Fathers, or even of the New Testament: for he says, "I do not see that we are under any obliga"tion to believe it (the doctrine of Christ having "made the world) merely because it was an opinion "held by an apostle ." Surely Dr. Priestley, when he wrote this sentence, was well convinced that there was an apostle who had maintained such a doctrine. I would also remind the followers of Dr. Priestley, that the Arians applied the title of Creator to Christ as unequivocally as their opponents. The Arians, it is true, believed Christ to be a creature; but then they always added that he was not like the other creatures thus in their longer Confession of faith they say, "We conceive him to have been made, not "in the same manner with the creatures or produc 66 "tions which were made by him for it is impious "and far removed from the ecclesiastical faith to compare the Creator with the works created by "him b." At the beginning of this Confession they applied the same term κTíoτns, Creator, to God the Father. 38. Justin. Epist. ad Diognet. c. 11. p. 240. Justin's words are equally strong for the eternal duration of the Son, when he speaks of him in this same Epistle, as "he who was from the beginning -who existeth for ever, in these latter days ac"counted a Son i." 66 TATIAN. A.D. 165. This writer was a native of Assyria, and is said to have been converted to Christianity by reading the books of the Old Testament; but the precise time of his conversion is not known. Irenæus, who was his contemporary, says k, that he had been a disciple of Justin Martyr, and that during Justin's life his opinions were perfectly sound; but after the death of that martyr, (which happened about the year 168,) he adopted many strange and heretical opinions. The same is said by Epiphanius1. The sect of the Encratites claimed him as one of their principal supporters m; and he is supposed to have adopted in part the heresies of Marcion and Valen h Οὐχ ὁμοίως αὐτὸν τοῖς δι ̓ αὐτοῦ γενομένοις κτίσμασιν ἢ ποιήμασι γεγενῆσθαι νοοῦμεν· ἀσεβὲς γὰρ καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς πίστεως ἀλλό τὸ τὸν κτίστην τοῖς δι ̓ αὐτοῦ τριον, κεκτισμένοις δημιουργήμασι παραβάλ New. Ath. de Synodis. vol. I. · Οὗτος ὁ ἀπ ̓ ἀρχῆς, ὁ καινὸς φανείς οὗτος ὁ ἀεὶ, σήμερον υἱὸς λογισθείς. The text is deficient in this place. k I. 28. p. 107. Hær. XLVI. vol. I. p. 391. m Epiphan. 1. c. tinus". This however does not affect the authority of the only work which has come down to us from him, and which was certainly written before he had any heretical opinions: to which I may add, that the heresies which he adopted were the very opposite of those which maintain the simple humanity of Jesus. He in fact became heretical, by carrying the notion of Christ's divinity too far, and not allowing him to have had a human nature P. The work which has survived is an Oration directed against the superstitions of the heathen, and, according to Lardner, was written about the year 165. Eusebius informs us that he wrote many books, but all the rest are lost: he also says, that Tatian spoke of Christ as God. V. 28. 39. Tatian. Orat. c. Græcos. c. 13. p. 255. The opinion, which Tatian held concerning the divine nature of Christ, could not be more plainly expressed than by his calling the Spirit "the min"ister of God who suffered':" in which passage God must be referred to Christ, who suffered in his human nature. 40. Tatian. Orat. c. Græcos. c. 21. p. 262. Nor is the following passage less express;-" We "are not talking foolishly, nor do we relate idle "tales, when we declare that God was born in the "form of man "." ATHENAGORAS. A. D. 170. Little is known of this Father, except that he was n Theodoret. Hær. Fab. I. 20. vol. IV. p. 208. • Eusebius, in his Chronicle, says, that his heresy began about the year 172. P Vid. Theodoret. ut supra. q IV. 29. * Τὸν διάκονον τοῦ πεπονθότος cou. * Οὐ γὰρ μωραίνομεν, οὐδὲ λήρους ἀπαγγέλλομεν, Θεὸν ἐν ἀνθρώπου μορφή γεγονέναι καταγγέλλοντες. converted to Christianity by reading the scriptures, and that he flourished under the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. He is also said to have been the master of Clement of Alexandria. Only one of his works has come down to us, an Apology, or Defence of Christianity, which, in the opinion of some critics, was presented to M. Aur. Antoninus and L. Aur. Commodus; while others think that it was presented to M. Antoninus and L. Verus. These two opinions naturally cause a difference as to its probable date. Some assign it to the year 166; others, with whom Lardner agrees, to 177 or 178. There is no writer in the second century, who has left such express declarations of a belief in a Trinity, as Athenagoras: but at present I shall only quote from him one passage, which speaks of the divinity of the Son. 41. Athenag. Legat. pro Christianis. c. 30. p. 308. Having before noticed the charge brought against the Christians of being atheists, Athenagoras uses these remarkable words; "That we are not atheists, since we consider as God the Creator of this uni"verse, and the Word, which is of Him, has been proved, if not suitably to the subject, at least to "the utmost of my powert." 66 By every rule of grammar and of sense we must refer the word eòv, God, both to the Creator of the universe and to the Word. Athenagoras says, that Christians believed in both, but he speaks of them in the singular number, as God. MELITO. Melito was bishop of ι Ὡς μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἐσμὲν ἄθεοι, A. D. 175. παντὸς, καὶ τὸν παρ ̓ αὐτοῦ Λόγον |