Note 036 Many of the primitive writers have frankly confessed that the Son owed his being to the will of the Father. See Clarke's Scripture Trinity, p. 280-287. On the other hand, Athanasius and his followers seem unwilling to grant what they are afraid to deny. The schoolmen extricate themselves from this difficulty by the distinction of a preceding and a concomitant will. Petav. Dogm. Theolog. tom. ii. 1. vi. c. 8, p. 587-603.

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Note to Chapter 21 of Decline and Fall by Gibbon