dymyft^^


Qu.  VIII-         offome  Q\J  E  R I E  S.  261

ccy evyyir^  (o  early  as  the  Time  of  Jgnatm.  This  will
lead  me  into  a  long  but  ufcful  Inquiry ;  ufeful  upon
jnany  other  Accounts  befides  the  prefent.  You  are
of  Opinion  that  the  antient  ChrilHan  Writers,  where-
ever  they  flile  God  ccygv^iTo^,  meant  the  lame  as  iyeV-
yj]TOj,  unbegotteny  p.  2^4.  My  Opinion  is,  that  it  v/as
late  before  they  ftiled  Him  iyevvyiTD^  at  all* ;  and  thnt
when  They  ftiled  Him  aygi/iiTD^,  they  never  meanc
precifely  unhegotten ,  but  either  unmade ,  or  unde^
rived  abfolutcly.  We  mufl  trace  This  Point  up  to
the  old  Philofophers.  Thales  is  the  firfl:  of  Them :
And  He  ufes  the  Word  iyev^TtJs  ^^  to  fignify  either
unmade^  or  eternal,

Parmenides^  ,  about  a  hundred  Years  after,  ufes
the  Word  kymrov^  as  is  plain  from  the  Metre ;  and
not  in  the  Senfe  of  itnbegotteny  becaufe  He  fuppofes
the  fame  Thing  to  be  jtavoyevg^,  begotten,

element  underflands  the  PafTage  of  God:  But  £//-
^ebim  and  Theodorit  more  rightly  of  the  PForld :  tho'
perhaps  Both  may  be  confident,  as  fome  have  ima-
gined God  and  the  IVorld  to  be  the  fame,  and  pro-
ceeding from  a  Chaos»  But  I  incline  to  underftand  it
gather  of  the  TForld  diftind  from  God,  as  the  only  be-
gotten of  God ;  fJx,yoyir/\i  being  a  Title  given  to  the
IVorld  by  Ttmaus  Locrns  ^,  and  PUto  %  who  are  imi-
tated by  Philo  ^'.
a  Patri  novum  innafcibilitatis  nomen  Ecclefia  impofuir.  Cum
enim  Sabell'tana  Hxreiis  genitum  ex  virgine  Patrem  vcluifTct  alTe-
rere,  ingenitum  contra,  Hanc  confitendo  Ecclelia  tradidit  Patrem,
&:  urique  in  divinis  Scripturis  tngenitum  nunquam  legimus  Patrem.
Vigil.  Tapf.  Difp.  Not.  21.
