bius, Anastasius, and others. In one of these fragments, he speaks thus, "We are not wor"shippers of stones; but we are worshippers of "the one God, who is before all, and in all, and ❝in his Christ, who is TRULY GOD, the ETERNAL "WORD."*-In another he expresses himself in this pointed manner. After saying that it was unnecessary to give further proofs of Christ's humanity, he adds, "the miracles which He "wrought after his baptism, most forcibly de"monstrate and confirm his DIVINITY CONCEAL"ED IN FLESH. Thus being at once PERFECT "GOD and PERFECT MAN, he discovered his two "natures to us-his DIVINITY, by the miracles "which he performed in the three years after ❝his baptism—his humanity, by the thirty ante"cedent years, in which the meanness of the "flesh hid the tokens of his Divinity, though he "was TRUE ANd everlasting God."†

The following testimony of Athenagoras, who flourished about A. D. 175, is very express and pointed. "The Son of God is the Word of the "Father, in power and energy; by him, and

* Chron. Alexander. ap SPANHEM: Hist. Christ: p. 610.

† ANASTASIUS, of Sinai, as quoted by CAVE, in his Historia Literaria, p. 43.

R

"through him were all things created. The "Father and the Son are one. If you desire a "further explanation of the meaning of Son in "this point, I will endeavour to give you a brief He is the FIRST-BORN OF THE FATH

❝ one.

66 ER, but NOT AS EVER BEGINNING TO EXIST— "Who is not filled with admiration," says he, "that we who declare God the Father, and GoD "THE SON, and the Holy Spirit, shewing both "the power of their Unity, and the distinction "of their order, should be called perverse Athe"ists ?"—"We are not Atheists, who reckon as "God, the Maker of the Universe, and his "Word who proceedeth from him."*

Tatian, a disciple of Justin Martyr, in reply to the accusations of the heathen, says, "we do not "O Grecians, act the part of fools, nor do we tell you idle stories, when we declare that God "WAS BORN IN THE HUMAN FORM.†

Contemporary with Athenagoras, was Clemens Alexandrinus, whose testimony is no less explicit on the subject under consideration. In his * ATHENAGOR. Legatio. p. 11, 34.

† TATIAN, contra Græcos, p. 159.

Pædagogue, book first, chapter second, he says, "O children, our Master is like to God his "Father, whose Son He is, without sin. HE IS 66 GOD IN THE FORM OF MAN, immaculate." Again, in the third book, and twelfth chapter, of the same work, he thus exhorts-"Let us "give thanks to the only Father and Son; to the "Son and the Father; to the Son our Teach"er and Master, with the Holy Spirit; one in "all respects; in whom are all things; by whom "all things are one; by whom is eternal exis"tence; whose members we are; whose is the "glory, and the ages; who is the perfect good, "the perfect beauty, all-wise and all-just, to "whom be glory both now and ever. Amen!" And a little after, in the same work, he pours out the following exhortation-" Gather togeth"er thy simple children, to praise in a holy "manner, to celebrate without guile, Christ the "Leader of children, the eternal Logos, the in"finite Age, the eternal Light, the Fountain of 66 mercy, &c.-Filled with the dew of the Spir"it, let us sing together sincere praises, genuine ❝hymns, to Christ our king, &c. !" The same writer in his Exhortation to the Gentiles, styles Christ, THE LIVING GOD, who was then wor

"shipped and adored. Believe," says he, “O "man in Him who is both MAN AND GOD: be❝lieve, O man, in Him who suffered death, and "yet is adored as the LIVING God."*

About the same time, that is, toward the close of the second century, flourished Andronicus, the martyr, in the account of whose martyrdom, it is represented as having been objected to him by the heathen judge, that Christ, whom he professed to invoke and to worship, was a man, who had suffered under the government of Pontius Pilate, and that the records of his sufferings were then extant. It seems that the worship of Christ was so openly avowed by the christians, and so universally known to the heathen, that at every turn it was objected to them; and their answer was always the same; "That they wor"shipped Him, indeed; not however, as a mere "man, but AS A GOD, the Son of God by na❝ture, and of the SAME SUBSTANCE WITH THE "FATHER."+

The testimony of the eloquent Tertullian, who flourished about A. D. 200, ón this subject, is * CLEM. ALEX, Protreptic, p. 84.

† BARONII, Annales. Acta Andronici—an. 199.

as direet and indubitable as can well be imagin

ed.

Those who read his treatise against Praxeas, will no longer have any remaining doubt. Praxeas was a heretick, who taught that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, were one and the same; in other words, he denied all distinction of Persons in the Godhead, maintaining the same error which was afterwards revived, and has been since generally known, under the name of Sabellianism. Tertullian entered the lists against him, and wrote a treatise, in which with great decision and force, he supported what were then, and have ever since been considered, as the Orthodox opinions on this subject. In this treatise he speaks pointedly and clearly of the Trinity in Unity; of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, yet one God; He speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ as both God and man, as son of man and Son of God, and called Jesus Christ. He speaks also of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the sanctifier of the faith of those who believe in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And he explicitly declares, not only that he and those around him received this faith; but that it had obtained from the beginning, antecedently to any former heretics; and much more antecedently to