r. Deor. p. 34. l. 8. r. hom 46. 31. p. 46. l. 6. r. Ascet p. 131. l. 1. r. Ioh. p. 147. l. 1. r. 118. p. 149. l. 6. r. haer THE DOCTRINE OF THE Holy Trinity CHAP. I. How Christ is the Son of God peculiarly by Eternal generation and not only by his Miraculous humane Birth How he is the first begoâ—ten and the Only-begotten Son That the Holy Ghost cannot be called a Son nor any Creature so as Christ is Why Heresies are permitted TO this Discourse following I am led by our Commenters inconsiderate if not malicious Exposition of that place Heb. 1. 2. Where it is said He hath spoken to us by â—or in his Son upon which words Heb. 1. 2. he tells us that Christ is therefore called the Son of God Because he was wonderfully born of a Virgin without the co operation of man and only by the miraculous Power of God 2. Because he was appointed to reveal the will of God c. This he learned of the old Arians who did just so expound those words as we find related by a Ath. de Decret Nic. Concil Athanasius Thus he wilfully leaveth out the grand and most principal reason of Christs Son ship and fasteneth on such shifts as are but frivolous in respect of the main and indeed are not proper to Christ but common to divers others For how is the Creation of Adam and Eve less Miraculous and Divine then this that the Commenter affordeth to the Son of God Is it not as wonderful to make a man of earth as of a woman And as much a Divine work to make a woman of a man as Eve was as to make a man of a Virgin And truly as much may be said of Isaac and Jâ—hn Baptist both conceived by Divine Power by such Parents as were naturally disabled from child-bearing both by age and sterility for Sarai was barren Gen. 11. 30. and she was ninety years old before she conceived Gen. 17. 17. So Elizabeth was both barren and stricken in years Luk. 1. 17. that is naturally indisposed for child-bearing so that their child-bearing must be confessed to be miraculous by Divine Power as well as Christs humane generation By this reason the Heathens might have called meer men the Sons of God for they affirmed that the first men did grow out of the earth or that they sprang from Trees and are therefore called by them Autecthones Aborigines indigenae and Terrae-filii as is expressed by the Poet. Juvenal sat 6. sat 13. Qui rupto robore nati Compositique luto nullos habuere parentes And Quondam hoc indigenae vivebant more Pers sat 3. Diodor. Sic. lib. 1. lib. 3. And another alluding to this fiction calls a lazy young Boy Vdum molle lutum Of which Heathenish error we read much in Diodorus who seriously and Historically affirmed the first men to have grown out of the earth and this in Ethiopia And to make this report credible he tells us that some Ethiopians must needs be so bred because they were seated in such a place as was inaccessable by any Forrainer and without any possibility of egress by the Inhabitants by reason of the steep Rocks and Sea wherewith this Land was inclosed when they had not any Boats or Ships for Ingress or Egress Therefore these Heathens upon this conceit might as well boast themselves to be the Sons of God as either Adam or Christ if we will beleeve this Commenter yet they ascribed the Original of men only to nature not to God And indeed our ordinary forming in the Womb and natural Births are as much to be accounted the Work of God and Wonderful as was the forming of Christ or our first Parents and would be so esteemed if it were not so common and ordinary The Psalmist Psal 139. 16. saith I am wonderfully made and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth The like may be said of the whole world which was so wonderfully created by God yet we call not the world the Son of God The Scriptures call Christ Priâ—ogenitum the first begotten Son of God because by his Eternal and Ineffable Generation he was before all the other Sons of God whether men or Angels who are also call'd the Sons of God The same Scriptures call Christ Vnigenitum The Only begotten Son of the Father because none other were so begotten as this Eternal Son of God was being by this Generation of the same Essence Nature Substance and Godhead that the Father is God of God Even as the sons of men are of the same specifical humane Nature and Essence with their Progenitors But men are not so the Sons of God as they are of their natural Parents because they are not of the same Essence and Nature with God for if they were then it must follow that man should be and properly be called God just as a son of man is called man To the second Reason That Christ is the Son of God because he was appointed to râ—veal the wâ—ll of God We say this is a so common to others for so Moses was Appoiâ—ted and did reveal the will of God so did the holy Prophets and after them the holy Apostles did the same And S. Paul who was most signally so appointed from Heaven tells the Asians Acts 20. 27. I have nâ—t shunned to declare unto you all the Councell of God Angels also declared and revealed the will of God and so doth the Holy Ghost as fully as ever the second person did and rather more because the Revelation of the will of God is by Christ himself referred and respited until the Holy Ghost should come and teach it as we read But the Comfoâ—ter Joh. 14. 26. 16. 13. which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send iâ— my name he shall teach you all â—hings and He will guide you idto all truth Yet Angels are not for this cause to be so called the Sons of God and to say that the Holy Ghost is the Son of God the Father or God the Son was long ago adjudged Heresie as we are told by Athanasius a Athan. Epist ad Serapion Hâ—retici aiunt filium spiritumâ—e â—e fratres quod pater est avus spiritus est nâ—pos patris filius fiâ—i quia spiritus a filio est filius a Pater â—e Hereticks say that the Son and the Spirit are brethren and that the Father is the Grand-Father of the Spirit and the Spirit is the Son of the Son and such conceits are by Epiphanius said to be Heresies of the b Ephiph haer 19. haer 53. Osseni and the Sam saei Finally those Anti Trinitarian Hereticks who heretofore taugâ—th the same which this Commenter doth although they would afford no better appellation to the Holy Ghost then to call him Ministâ—um Apostolum and Mâ—ttendarium i. e. a Minister an Embassador and Emissary of God yet they
by one new name Christians which is thought to be prophesied by Isaiah when he said Isaiah 62. 2. Thou shalt be called by a new name Finally because the Arians used the word Triousion teaching thereby that the Three Persons were of three several Natures and Essences therefore the Catholicks to assert the Vnity of the God-head in all and every Person most significantly used the word Homousion Thus Athanasius e Atha in Disput cum Ario. c. To. 4. Notwithstanding this true and just allegation The Arians perswaded Constantius the then Arian Emperor by Edict to forbid that any new words should be used in matters of faith and this upon a pretence of a Scriptural inhibition because St. Paul thus chargeth Timothy O Timothee depositum Custodi devitans 1 Tim. 6. 20. Hil. advers Const lib. 1. profanans vocum novitates But St. Hilary addressed this answer That St. Paul did indeed command Timothy to avoid novelties yet they were only profane Novelties Now you command us to avoid new words which are holy and tending to Piety which is all one as if you should forbid a new Antidâ—te against a new poison or a new War against new enemies Thus he But there are other new words of as great concernment which some have found fault with without cause as is next to be shewed CHAP. V. Of the word Trinity Why it is used the real Warrant for it in Scripture Why Baptisme is administred in the name of the Trinity And why the Trinity is called three Persons THere are some that cavil even at the word and appellation of the Trinity because they finde not this word literally in the Scriptures who yet cannot deny that the same thing and Doctrine is really found there but both Heathen and Christian Writers reprove such Wranglers as stand upon words when the thing it self is evident a Cic. cont Salust Vbi rerum testimonia adsunt quid opus est verbis And b Aug. Epist 174. dedâ—ct Christ l. 4. c. 11 Quid est contensiosius quam ubi de re constat certare de nomine And Bonorum ingeniorum indoles est in verbis verum amare non verba A good disposition and an humble Christian will embrace an old truth though clothed with a new word The Scriptural evidence for the reality and truth of the thing is cleer For at the Baptism of Christ the Three Persons did distinctly sensibly and separatly shew or declare their presence at one time The Father audibly by a voice The Son and Spirit visibly and therefore c Chrys hom 24. Antioch hom 46. 31. Idem Serm. de Epiph. To. 6. St. Chrysostom calls the Baptism of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Epiphanie or manifestation of Messiah and he also calls that Apparition Theophania i. e. the appearing of God And moreover tells us of this Festival of the Epiphany which even in his days was solemnized by the Church That is was kept for the commemoration not of the Nativity but of the Baptism of Christ and for this reason the Church of England appointed that on the Feast of Epiphany the third Chapter of St. Luke should be read as a Lesson proper for that day wherein the Baptism Luk. 3. 21. of Christ and this Apparition is declared for therefore it was called Epiphany because at this Baptism the Lord Jesus was by the Father and the Holy Ghost openly proclaimed to be That Son of God and that Messiah which had been before promised and Prophesied in whom only God would be well pleased and be at peace with man And surely that Heavenly and Mysterious Apparition of the two other Persons was also for a further reach and purpose namely to declare to the world that this Jesus was that man which was assumed into Personal union with the God-head and that this Emmanuel or God incarnate was hereby declared to be assumed into the number of the Trinity at that time Although in respect of his pure God-head and as he was God the Word he was One of the Persons of the Trinity before and also from Eternity And although this Emanuel or God incarnate was one of the Three Divine Persons at the first instant and moment of his Incarnation yet he was not so declared and manifested to be so until this glorious Apparition For this very cause it may with great reason be thought that in correspondence to this Apparition at his own Baptism when he afterwards prescribed the form and words of Baptism for all Christians He strictly commanded that they should be baptized In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost In the Original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 28. 19. i. e. into the Name which signifieth that they should be baptized into the Trinity For name doth often signifie the very thing it self which is named as Divines call that word by which a thing is call'd Nomen Nominans and they call that thing which is named Nomen Nominatum Baptism is the Sacrament of our entrance and admission into the body of Christ so by those words Christ signified that he would have Christians to be by Baptism offered and tendred for their admission into the fellowship union communion and society or spiritual corporation with the Father Son and Holy Ghost and this himself had declared before when he thus prayed to the Father Joh. 17. 21. for all Beleevers That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee That they also may be One in us And so St. John telleth us 1 Joh. 1. 3. Truly our fellowship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ and because this communion or fellowship is wrought by the holy Spirit being the Cement or Ligament by which we are to be united and joyned to the Trinity therefore St. Paul mentioneth the Communion of the Holy Ghost with Christians 2 Cor. 13. 13. And the fellowship of the Spirit Phil. 2. 1. Another evidence real we have by the words of St. John 1 Joh. 5. 7. There are Three that bear witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these Three are One These words do so cleerly declare both a Trinity in the God-head and an Unity of the Three that it is no marvel that the Arian Faction did raze them out of that Epistle in so much that they were omitted in divers Copies after the days of Arius But we finde them alledged before Arius was known by St. Ciprian in his Tractate De simplicitate Praelatorum pag. 164. in the Basil Edition of Froben And again we finde them cited by Athanasius to Arius himself in his disputation held with the said Arius at the Nicene Council as is set down in his Book entituled Disputatio cont Arium the words are found pag. 717. in the Basil Edition Ex Officina Frobeniana An. Dom. 1556. which Scripture was not then
did not for this reason call him the Son of God And although the Scripture doth call him the finger of God because the Spirit doth shew the secret Counsels of God yet in all this Scripture the Spirit is never called the Son of God or said to be begotten And when the Macedonian Hereticks demanded an example or Instance of One begotten and another not begotten yet both to come from one Gregory Naz. answereth them c Naz. Orat. 37. that Eve and Seth were both of them from Adam Seth was begotten and Eve not begotten When an earthly King sends his Embassador to declare his will or desires to another State will any man say that the Embassador must for this cause be called the Kings Son No surely although he be Legatus a latere or Legatus natus as our Archbish of Cant. was once called and a veridicus and no Mendoza as one pleasantly described an Embassador Vin bonus peregre missus ad mentienduÌ„ pro Repub. yet no Son for this neither are the Apostles to be called sons for this although S. Paul saith They are Embassadors for Christ 2 Cor. 5. 20. There are other precences alleadged by the Commenter in this matter but they are frivolous and light and easily discernable by any intelligent Reader to be but vain and are not worth the while to examine This Doctrine of the Eternal Son of God and so of the Holy Trinity of Persons is of such necessity to be retained and beleeved that without it Christians cannot reasonably fancy to themselves any probable way of Salvation because as I have formerly shewed upon this Doctrine is grounded the everlasting Covenant of grace which is also called the Eternal Gospel by which only we can hope for and claim Salvation by and in Christ wherefore to me it seemeth a wonderful blindness of some in these Times by whom the blessed Trinity is not only unbelieved but withal so fouly blasphemed that it is both unfitting yea and dangerous to report their words and therefore in the same case S. Basil in his Book against the Heretick Eunomius wherein he was forced to declare his blasphemous Errors thus prayed d Baz Cont. Eunol ib. 2. Domine in his quae loquimur propitius nobis sis i. e. That God would be merciful to him for his only rehearsing Eunomius his blasphemies God is patient indeed in suffering such abuses both of his Truth and Person and doth therefore permit them because he can extract some good use from them upon this reason S. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 11. 19. There must be Heresies as if there were some need of them which surely is chiefly this That the rising of Heresies giveth occasion to the Church to set forth and explain the true and holy Doctrine more evidently then otherwise it would be But I proceed CHAP. 2. The difficulty of the Doctrine of the Trinity and other Christian Mysteries that it should not discourage us from bileeving nor provoke us to impatience The most learned Philosophers Jews and Christians professing their ignorances THe Ancient Hereticks rejected the Doctrine of the Trinity because they could not by reasoning comprehend it and many now a days neglect it because it is sublime and hard to be understood But this pretence will not serve their turn the difficulties should not hinder but rather quicken our indeavors to find out what we can nor should they impede our faith from beleeving that which we are sure the Scriptures propound to us although we understand it not S. Ambrose saith very truly a Ambr. de Offic. lib. 1. c. 1. Nemo est qui doceri non egeat dum vivit ie The most wise and learned men may still be learners whilst they live Neither doth God require our comprehension of all Christian Doctrine but our apprehension not our understanding but our beleeving it The Articles of faith are tendred to us under the word Credo i. e. to be beleeved though not understood Christ himself calls our Religion The Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 13. 11. and S. Paul The Mystery of godliness 1 Tim. 3. 16. The word Mystery signifieth a thing secret and hidden of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shut and in another place he calls these Mysteries Riddles 1 Cor. 13. 12. here we see darkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e in a Riddle The Prophet saith Verily thâ—u art a God that hidâ—st Isa 45. 15. Luc. 10. 21. thy self Christ said That the Father had hid those things from the wise which yet he revealed to Babes So Christ was figured by the Ark which stood in a secret place of the Temple and there was also a Veile before it to intimate that Christ was for a time shut up veiled and hidden and indeed Moses Veil signified the same thing as the Apostle saith of the careless Jews 2. Cor. 3. 15. But even unto this day when Moses is read the veile is upon their heart when it shall turn unto the Lord the Veil shall be taken away i. e. When by faith their heart shall embrace Christ this darkness shall be light For the submitting our carnal wisdom and reason to the word of God will bring a greater evidence to our souls then the profoundest disputes can do Upon these words My sheep hear my voyce S. Basil observeth Audiunt non disputant ie they make no disputes but accept it and the old reading of those words Isa 7. 9 as we finde generally in the Fathers was Nisi credideri is non intelligetis i. e. except ye beleeve ye shall not understand So S Peter puts believing before knowing Joh. 6. 69. We beleeve and are sure it is in the Original we beleeve and know for in these Mysteries faith must lead us to knowledge b Aug. in Joh. Tract 29. Noli intelligere ut credas sed crede ut intelligas i. e. say not I will not beleeve until I understand but first beleeve and then understanding will follow Christ saith If you beleeve not that I am he you shall dye in Joh. 8. 28. your sins blessed be God saith the Expositer that he did not say Except ye understand it Austin reporting the great faith of Christians in his time tells us that it was a common saying among them c Aug. de Tem. Serm. 189. Accepto baptismo dicere solemus fidelis factus sum credo quod nescio i. e. When we are baptized we use to say now I am one of the faithful for I beleeve that which I understand not When Abailardus would needs know the reason why the Son of God would redeem and save mankind by his own blood-shedding which he might have done by his word only S. Bernard returned this answer d Bern. Epist 190. Ipsum interroga mihi scire licet quod ita Cur ita non licet i. e. Ask Christ himself for though I know he did so yet why did he so I may not presume to