They held, as above shown, that the eternal generation of the Son by the Father, and the eternal procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son involved in both instances the deri- vation of essence. They illustrated their idea of this eternal and necessary act of communication by the example of a luminous body, which necessarily radiates light the whole period of its ex- istence. Thus the Son is defined in the words of the Nicene Creed, " God of Grod, Light of Light." Thus as the radiance of the sun is coeval with its existence, and of the same essence as its source, by this illustration they designed to signify their belief in the identity and consequent equality of the divine persons as to essence, and the relative subordination of the second to the first, and of the third to the first and second as to personal subsistence and consequent order of operation.
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84. What is expressed by the use of the terms first, second, and third in reference to the persons of the Trinity.
These terms are severally applied to the persons of the Trinity because, 1st. The Scriptures uniformly state their names in this order. 2d. The personal designations, Father and Son, and Spirit of the Father and of the Son, indicate this order of per- sonal subsistence. 3d. Their respective modes of operation ad extra is always in this order. The Father sends and operates through the Son, and the Father and Son send and operate through the Spirit. The Scriptures never either directly or indi- rectly indicate the reverse order.
As to the outward bearing of the Godhead upon the creature it would appear, that the Father is revealed only as he is seen in the Son, who is the eternal Logos, or divine Word, the ex- press image of the Father's person. " No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." — John i., 18. And the Father and Son act immediately vl^oti the creature only through the Spirit.
" The Father is all the fullness of the Godhead invisible, with- out form, whom no man hath seen or can see."
" The Son is all the fulness of the Godhead manifested."
" The Spirit is all the fulness of the Godhead acting imme- diately upon the creature, and thus making manifest the Father in the image of the Son, and through the power of the Spirit." — ■ " Higher Christian Life," by Kev. W. E. Boardman, p. 105.
85. Hoiv can the assumption of personal distinctions in the Godhead be reconciled ivith the divine unity ?
Although this tripersonal constitution of the Godhead is alto- gether beyond the capacity of reason, and is ascertained to us only through a supernatural revelation, there is evidently no con- tradiction in the two-fold proposition, that God is one, and yet Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are that one God. They are one in one sense, and three-fold in an entirely different sense. The eternal, self-existent, divine essence, constituting all those divine perfections called attributes of God is, in the same sense and de- gree, common to all the persons. In this sense they are one. But this divine essence exists eternally as Father, and as Son,
160 THE HOLY TRINITY.
and as Holy Ghost, distinguished by personal properties. In this sense they are three. We believe this, not because we under- stand it, but because thus God has revealed himself.
86. How can the separate incarnation of the Son be reconciled with the divine unity ?
The Son is identical with the Father and Spirit as to essence, but distinct from them as to personal subsistence. In the incar- nation, the divine essence of the Son was not made man, but as a divine person he entered into a personal relation with the human nature of the man Christ Jesus. This did not constitute a new person, but merely introduced a new element into his eter- nal person. It was the personal union of the Son with a human soul and body, and not any change either in the divine essence, or in the personal relation of the Son to the Father or the Spirit.
87. What is Arianism ?
This system was first advocated by Arius, who lived during the first half of the fourth century. He maintained that the God- head consists of one eternal person, who in the beginning, before all worlds, created in his own image a super-angelic being, his only begotten Son, the beginning of the creation of God, by whom also he made the worlds. The first and greatest creature thus created, through the Son of God, was the Holy Ghost. In the fullness of time this Son became incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
88. What ivas the doctrine of the Semi-Arians ?