Hence that in Job 2.4 Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life And that of Solomon A living Dog is better than a dead Lion Eccles. 9.4 For when Life is gone there succeeds an incapacity not only of Doing but also of Enjoying Good From this consideration it is that the other significations of the word have their Original For Life being looked upon as the greatest natural Good and Death as the greatest natural Evil The one by a Synechdoche speciei is frequently used both in sacred and profane Authours to signify Good indefinitely especially the greatest Good and the other in like manner to signifie Evil especially the greatest Evil. The one is put for Happiness and the other for Misery And then again by a Synechdoche generis this general notion of Good or Evil Happiness or Misery implied in the words Life and Death becomes applicable to this or that particular Good and Evil as occasion serves Suppose the Spiritual Life of Grace or Death in Sin And the Eternal Life of Glory in Heaven or the Eternal Death of Torment in Hell Thus Deut. 30.19 I have set before you saith Moses to Israel life and death blessing and cursing where Life and Death are made equivalent to Blessing and Cursing therefore chuse life saith he that thou and thy seed may Live that is that you may be Happy So at ver 15. of the same Chapter I have set before you saith he life and good death and evil Where Life and Good are put exegetical each of other and so Death and Evil. And in the same sense it is the Poet tells us Non est Vivere sed Valere vita Thus God to Adam in Paradise for 't is no new Trope nor of yesterday In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death that is thou shalt become miserable For we know that Adam did not the same day die a natural Death but some hundreds of years after but he did that day begin to be in a state of Misery whereof his natural Death was but a part So Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death where the comprehension of all the Evils or Misery which sin deserves or God inflicteth for it is called Death like as on the contrary all the Happiness which the Saints enjoy is on the same account called Life The gift of God is eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So here By Life we understand Happiness contrary to which is the Death of Misery and then by a Metalepsis or double Trope that Happiness in special which the Saints enjoy in Glory though not exclusive of what they have before and that Misery which in Hell attends the wicked 'T is true indeed that the condition of the Saints in Glory after the Resurrection may even in a proper sense be called Life because of that Union which shall then be of Soul and Body and the exercise of at least the most noble faculties of Life Yet do not I take that to be the true import of the Word here For though it be true that the Saints in Glory have not only an Union of Soul and Body but likewise a knowledge or sense of that estate wherein they are which may import not only a Life but even a Rational Life yet as true it is that the Damned in Hell have so too for their Souls and Bodies shall not be less United nor shall they be Insensible of their Woful condition yet is not that estate of theirs called a Life though naturally it be so and it is their misery that it is so but Eternal Death because a Life of Wo and Misery not of Bliss and Happiness A Living Misery being in this sense the truest Death Secondly As it is called Life for its Excellency so for its Duration it is called Eternal It is very usual in Scripture in the use of Allegories or Figurative expressions to add some kind of Epithet to distinguish the word so used from the same in its native signification And when the word is used so as to express figuratively somewhat more excellent than it self the Epithet hath somewhat of additional exellency in it Thus Christ is said to be the Spiritual rock 1 Cor. 10.4 the Living Bread or Manna that came down from Heaven Joh. 6.50 to distinguish the words so metaphorically used from the Rock and Manna literally spoken of in the story of their travails in the Wilderness And the Church of Christ as Living stones become a Spiritual house and a Holy priesthood to offer up Spiritual sacrifices to God 1 Pet. 2.5 Where the Epithets serve both for distinction from the material Stones and Temple the Levitical Priesthood and corporeal Sacrifices and for the commendation or preheminence of those before these So the new heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem Rev. 21.1 2. Jerusalem that is above Gal. 4.26 And Matth. 26.29 I will drink no more saith Christ of the fruit of the vine till I drink it New with you in my Father's kingdom Not that Christ did intend anew to drink of such wine in his Father's Kingdom but of a New wine another sort of wine than that commonly so callâ—d to wit those spiritual Joys in his Father's Kingdom which should more refresh their Hearts and Souls than this wine did their Bodies So I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman Joh. 15.1 I am the good shepherd Joh. 10.11 Not that Christ was more truly a Vine in propriety of speech than that which we so call or indeed a Shepherd who took the care of Sheep But that there was in Christ somewhat of another kind much more eminent than that of the Vine which did yet in some measure resemble it and a much greater Care but of another nature of those he calls his Flock than a Shepherd hath of his Sheep So here This is life eternal Not a natural Life such as is commonly meant by the word Life a life of the Body which after a short time is to be exchanged for Death but a Life a Happiness of another nature a far more excellent Good than what we call Life which doth but very imperfectly express it An Eternal Life And this Eternity as it serves in general to distinguish this word Life from the ordinary acceptation and doth import for the kind of it somewhat much more excellent So it doth particularly point out that Everlasting Duration of this so great a Happiness 'T is that which though indeed it have a Beginning shall never have an End And upon this account it is that it is so often called Eternal Life and Life Everlasting that it were endless to enumerate the places where it is so called An eternal inheritance A house eternal in the heavens An inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which fadeth not away A kingdom which cannot be moved An eternal weight of glory When our mortal shall have put on immortality And this consideration
THREE SERMONS Concerning the Sacred Trinity By JOHN WALLIS D. D. Professor of Geometry in the University of Oxford LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside 1691. TO THE READER THE first of the three Sermons here following is Printed according as it was Preached in Oxford in the Year 1664. accommodated to that time and place but it was for the Substance of it Preached in London Twenty Years before that time Which I mention to shew that the Construction which I give of the Words is not a new forced Notion just now taken up to serve a turn or as somebody is pleased to call it Equally New and Cautious But what I did so long ago take to be a then received Truth And I since find it is at least as old as St. Austin's Epist. 174. The other Two are lately added in pursuance of some other Discourses lately made publick concerning the Sacred Trinity Wherein much of what was said before scatteringly as those who wrote against it gave occasion is now inlarged and put into a little better Order If what I have done may be serviceable to the Truth and to the Church of God I have what I did desire and shall not think the Labour ill bestowed A SERMON Preached to the UNIVERSITY of Oxford Decemb. 27. 1664. JOH xvij 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this is life eternal that they might know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent I Need not apologize for the seasonableness of this Text by telling you that the Subject Matter of it suites well with the great Solemnity which at this time we celebrate and the Pen-man with that of the day Because a Discourse on such a Subject can never be unseasonable to a Christian Auditory Especially to such as whose profession being to seek after Knowledge should not decline that of God and Christ the chief of all Nor will it be any Exception hereunto That it is no news but well known already Not only because That there be many who pretend to know what they do not or do in effect deny and That there be many things which though we know well we have need enough to be minded of But even because I do not find that many persons are wont to be displeased with being often minded of those things wherein they think that either their Interest or Excellency lies more than a good Wit when commended or a fair Lady with being told she is handsome even though sometimes as we are wont to say they know it but too well already And therefore since to know God and Christ is both our Interest and our Commendation it will not I hope seem grievous to any to hear it discoursed of to the end that those who know it not may be incited to learn it and those who know it may take content in it And I shall as little apologize for a plain Discourse on this Subject Since it is both my Profession and Practice to Demonstrate or make things as plain as I can not to perplex or make them intricate which may amuse the Auditors or sometimes please or tickle them but is not wont either to Teach or Perswade like too much of Ornament which doth but disguise the native Beauty or too much Trimming which hides the Cloth The words read are our Saviour's Words addressed to his Father in the behalf of his Disciples And are a part of that Prayer with which he closeth his large Exhortation or Farewel-Sermon to his Disciples the night before he was to suffer of which we have a large rehearsal in the three foregoing Chapters the 14 th 15 th and 16 th which this 17 th closeth with a Prayer He begins his Prayer with a Petition concerning Eternal Life which he was to bestow according to the Power his Father had granted him to as many as He had given him that is to as many as should effectually believe in him To which Petition he subjoins this Exegetical Epiphonema And this is life eternal that they may know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent We may consider the words either according to a Synthetic or an Analytic method as the Schools speak The former of which they commonly follow in Sciences Theoretical the latter in Practical If considered Synthetically they present us with First The Cause or Principle The Knowledge of God and Christ and Secondly The Effect or Consequent resulting from it Eternal Life If Analytically we have in them First A glorious End proposed Eternal Life and Secondly The Means proportionate thereunto The Knowledge of God and Christ. In the former way the Result of them is to this purpose That the excellent Knowledge of God and Christ is attended with this most glorious Consequent Eternal Life In the latter way it amounts to thus much That the way or means to Eternal Life is the Knowledge of God and Christ. Nor is it much material whether of the two ways we take them Synthetically or Analytically whether we take them as a Theorem affirming this Effect of that Cause or as a Problem directing to these Means for such an End Yet I chuse rather to take them in the latter consideration though not exclusive of the former Because this Epiphonema taking its rise from the mention made of Eternal Life in the former verse not from a former mention of the Knowledge of God and Christ it seems to be rather intended as a Direction how to attain Eternal Life than an account of the Effect of such a Knowledge But in doing the one it doth the other also I shall begin first with that which lies first in the order of the word The End proposed or the Effect or Consequent of this Knowledge the Happiness which doth attend it which for its Excellency is called Life and for its Duration Eternal This is life eternal The word Life I take to be here used in a figurative sense and to import Good or Happiness like as its contrary Death especially Death Eternal to import Misery There is indeed at least a threefold Life commonly mentioned and in proportion thereunto a threefold Death Natural Spiritual and Eternal Life Natural which is indeed the proper acceptation of the word Life or the first signification of it is more easily apprehended than expressed It imports that active state or condition which ariseth from the Union of the Soul and Body as well in Man as in other Animals not to mention that of Plants the destruction or want of which upon the Soul's departure we call Death 'T is that according to which in common speech a Man or Beast is said to be alive or dead Now this Life is of all natural Goods looked upon as the chiefest and consequently Death the greatest of natural Evils Because Life is that foundation or first good which makes us capable of what else is so and with our Life we lose all the rest
of Elias Now we all know whose fore-runner John Baptist was and before whom he was to go in the Power and Spirit of Elias And he before whom he was thus to go is the Lord God of Israel and therefore not only a Titular God or a Creature God but the True God the Supreme God the same God with that God who is the Lord God of Israel whom no man doubts to be the True God the Supreme God the Only God I might add many other Characters given to Christ proving him to be the True God as that Rev. 2.13 I am he which searcheth the Reins and Hearts and I will give unto every one according to his Works and to the same purpose Rev. 22.12 and elsewhere which God the True God claims as his peculiar Prerogative Jer. 17.9 10. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Who can know it I the LORD search the Heart I try the Reins to give to every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings And to the same purpose Jer. 11.20 Jer. 20.12 1 Chron. 28.9 Psal. 7.9 Psal. 139.1 and in many other places And that likewise of Isai 9.6 His Name shall be called Wonderful Councellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace c. with many other Characters of like nature which can never agree to any but the True God But it is not my business in this short Discourse to say All that might be said but what may be sufficient He therefore that is as hath been shewed God the True God the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Eternal God the First and the Last before whom nothing was and after whom nothing shall be that Was and Is and shall Be the same yesterday and to day and for ever the Almighty by whom the World was made by whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made that was made who laid the foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of his hands who when the Heavens and the Earth shall fail his years endure for ever who searcheth the heart and the reins to give to every one according to his works who is Jehovah the Lord God of Israel the Supreme being which is over all God blessed for ever who is the Blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who only hath immortality to whom be Honour and Power Everlasting Amen That God I say of whom all these great things are said is certainly not a mere Titular God who is called God but is not a Creature God or only a dignified Man For if these be not Characters of the True God by what Characters shall the True God be described I know the Socinians have imployed their Wits to find out some tricks to evade or elude some of these plain places which I shall not trouble my self or you to repeat or to give an answer to them For they are so weak and so forced that the plain words of Scripture read together with the forced senses they would put upon them are answer enough nor do they need or deserve any further answer OBJECTION VIII The last Objection which I shall now take notice of is this That the Doctrine of the Trinity was not known to the Jewish Church before Christ. To which I answer 1. If it were not made known to them it was not necessary for them to know For matters of pure Revelation are not necessary to be known before they are revealed nor farther than they are revealed But may be so to us to whom they are Revealed The whole Doctrine of our Redemption by Christ was doubtless unknown to Adam before his Fall And had he not fallen it would have been no fault in him not to have known it at all And when after his fall it was first made known to him in that first promise that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 it was yet so dark that he could know very little as to the particulars of it of what is now known to us And as God by parcels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at sundry times and in divers manners declared more of it to Abraham to David and the Prophets so were they obliged to know and believe more of it and when in the last days he had declared the whole of it by his Son Heb. 1.1 2. it is now necessary for us to believe much more of which they might be safely ignorant And of the Trinity likewise if it were not then revealed 2. But Secondly There were many things which though not fully revealed so as to be clearly understood by All were yet so insinuated as to be in good measure understood by some and would more be so when the Veil should be taken off from Moses's face 2 Cor. 3.13 15 16. Thus the Death and Resurrection of Christ were not understood even by his own Disciples till after his Resurrection Yet we must not say that these things were not before intimated in the Scriptures though covertly for when their understandings were opened to understand the Scriptures and what had been written of him in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms they then perceived that it was so written and that it behooved Christ to Suffer and to Rise from the dead the Third day Yet this was therein so covertly contained that they seem no more to have understood it than that of the Trinity And St. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews declares a great deal to have been covered under the Jewish Rites and Ceremonies which certainly most of the Jewish Church did not understand though in good measure it might be understood by some I might say the like of the Resurrection which was but darkly discovered till Immortality was brought to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 We must not yet say it was wholly unknown to the Jewish Church of whom many no doubt did believe it Yet neither can we say it was generally received For we know the Pharisees and the Sadduces were divided upon that point Act. 23.6 7 8. And so little is said of it in the Old Testament that those who had a mind to be captious might have found much more specious pretence of cavilling against it then than our Adversaries now have against the Doctrine of the Trinity 3. I say Thirdly as of the Resurrection there were then divers intimations which are now better understood in a clearer light than at that time they were So I think there were also of the Doctrine of the Trinity I shall instance in some of them 1. That there was in the Unity of the God-head a Plurality of Somewhat which now we call Persons seems fairly to be insinuated even in that of Elohim-bara Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created where Elohim God a Nominative Case Plural is joined with Bara a Verb Singular which is as if we should say in