of God in this matter is of too large and diffused a nature to be here reported These instances I have fixed on only to intimate unto persons whose condition or occasions afford them not ability or leisure of themselves to enquire into the memorials of times past amongst the Professors of the Gospel of Christ that these oppositions which are made at present amongst us unto these fundamental Truths and derived immediately from the late renewed inforcement of them made by Faustus Socinus and his followers are nothing but old baffled attempts of Satan against the Rock of the Church and the building thereon in the confession of the Son of the living God Now as all men who have ought of a due Reverence of God or his truth remaining with them cannot but be wary how they give the least admittance to such Opinions as have from the beginning been witnessed against and condemned by Christ himself his Apostles and all that followed them in their faith and waies in all Generations so others whose hearts may tremble for the danger they apprehend which these sacred Truths may be in of being corrupted or defamed by the present opposition against them may know that it is no other but what the Church and faith of Professors hath already been exercised with and through the power of him that enables them have constantly triumphed over And for my part I look upon it as a blessed effect of the holy wise providence of God that those who have long harboured these Abominations of denying the holy Trinity the person and satisfaction of Christ in their minds but yet have sheltered themselves from common observation under the shades of dark obscure and uncouth expressions with many other specious pretences should be given up to joyn themselves with such Persons and to profess a community of perswasion with them in those opinions as have rendred themselves infamous from the first foundation of Christianity and wherein they will assuredly meet with the same success as those have done who have gone before them For the other head of Opposition made by these Persons unto the truth in Reference unto the satisfaction of Christ and the imputation of his Righteousness thereon unto our Justification I have not much to say as to the time past In general the doctrine wherein they boast being first brought forth in a rude mishapen manner by the Pelagian Hereticks was afterwards improved by one Abailardus a Sophistical Scholar in France but owes its principal form and poison unto the endeavours of Faustus Socinus those who have followed him in his subtle attempt to corrupt the whole doctrine of the Gospel Of these Mâ—n are those amongst us who at this day so busily dispute and write about the Trinity the Deity of Christ and his satisfaction the Followers and Disciples And it is much more from their Masters who were some of them Men learned diligent and subtle than from themselves that they are judged to be of any great consideration For I can truly say that upon the sedate examination of all that I could ever yet hear or get a sight of either spoken or written by them that is any amongst us I never yet observed an undertaking of so great importance managed with a greater evidence of incompetency and inability to give any tolerable countenance unto it If any of them shall for the future attempt to give any new countenance or props to their tottering errours it will doubtless be attended unto by some of those many who cannot but know that it is incumbent on them to contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered unto the Saints This present brief endeavour is only to assist and direct those who are less exercised in the waies of managing controversies in Religion that they may have a brief comprehension of the truths opposed with the firm foundations whereon they are built and have in a readiness to shield their Faith both against the fiery darts of Satan and secure their minds against the cunning sleights of Men who lye in wait to deceive And wherein this discourse seems in any thing to be too brief or concise the Author is not to be blamed who was confined unto these strait bounds by those whose requests injoyned him this service The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity Explained and Vindicated THe Doctrine of the blessed Trinity may be considered two wayes First In respect unto the Revelation and proposal of it in the Scripture to direct us unto the Author Object and End of our Faith in our worship and obedience Secondly As it is farther declared and explained in terms expressions and propositions educed from the Original Revelation of it suited thereunto and meet to direct and keep the mind from undue apprehensions of the things it believes and to declare them unto farther edification In the first way it consists meerly in the propositions wherein the Revelation of God is expressed in the Scripture And in this regard two things are required of us First To understand the terms of the propositions as they are Enunciations of Truth And Secondly To believe the things taught revealed and declared in them In the first Instance no more I say is required of us but that we assent unto the Assertions and Testimonies of God concerning himself according to their natural and genuine sence as he will be known believed in feared and worshipped by us as he is our Creator Lord and Rewarder and that because he himself hath by his Revelation not only warranted us so to do but also made it our duty necessary and indispensible Now the sum of this Revelation in this matter is that God is one that this one God is Father Son and Holy Ghost that the Father is the Father of the Son and the Son the Son of the Father and the Holy Ghost the Spirit of the Father and the Son and that in respect of this their mutual Relation they are distinct from each other This is the substance of the Doctrine of the Trinity as to the first direct concernment of faith therein The first intention of the Scripture in the Revelation of God towards us is as was said that we might fear him believe worship obey him and live unto him as God That we may do this in a due manner and worship the only true God and not adore the false imaginations of our own minds it declares as was said that this God is one the Father Son and Holy Ghost that the Father is this one God and therefore is to be believed in worshipped obeyed lived unto and in all things considered by us as the first cause soveraign Lord and last end of all that the Son is the one true God and therefore is to be believed in worshipped obeyed lived unto and in all things considered by us as the first cause Soveraign Lord and last end of all And so also of the Holy Ghost This is the whole of Faiths concernment in this matter as
it respects the direct Revelation of God made by himself in the Scripture and the first proper general end thereof Let this be clearly confirmed by direct and positive divine Testimonies containing the declaration and Revelation of God concerning himself and faith is secured as to all its concerns For it hath both its proper formal object and is sufficiently enabled to be directive of divine Worship and Obedience The Explication of this Doctrine unto Edification suitable unto the Revelation mentioned is of another consideration And two things are incumbent on us to take care of therein First that what is affirmed and taught do directly tend unto the ends of the Revelation it self by informing and inlightning of the mind in the knowledge of the mysterie of it so far as in this life we are by Divine Assistance capable to comprehend it that is that faith may be increased strengthned and confirmed against temptations and oppositions of Satan and men of corrupt minds and that we may be distinctly directed unto and encouraged in the Obedience unto and Worship of God that are required of us Secondly That nothing be affirmed or taught herein that may beget or occasion any undue apprehensions concerning God or our Obedience unto him with respect unto the best highest securest Revelations that we have of him and our duty These things being done and secured the End of the Declaration of this Doctrine concerning God is attained In the declaration then of this Doctrine unto the Edification of the Church there is contained a farther Explanation of the things before asserted as proposed directly and in themselves as the object of our faith namely how God is one in respect of his Nature Substance Essence Godhead or Divineâ— Being How being Father Son and Holy Ghost he subsisteth in these three distinct persons or Hypostâ—sies and what are their mutual respects to each other by which as their peculiar properties giving them the manner of their subsistence they are distinguished one from another with sundry other things of the like necessary consequence unto the Revelation mentioned And herein as in the Application of all other Divine Truths and Mysteries whatever yea of all moral commanded duties use is to be made of such words and expressions as it may be are not literally and formally contained in the Scripture but only are unto our conceptions and apprehensions expository of what is so contained And to deny the Liberty yea the necessity hereof is to deny all interpretation of the Scripture all endeavours to express the sense of the words of it unto the understandings of one another which is in a word to render the Scripture it self altogether useless For if it be unlawful for me to speak or write what I conceive to be the sense of the words of the Scripture and the nature of the thing signified and expressed by them it is unlawful for me also to think or conceive in my mind what is the sense of the words or nature of the things which to say is to make brutes of our selves and to frustrate the whole design of God in giving unto us the great priviledge of his word Wherefore in the declaration of the Doctrine of the Trinity we may lawfully nay we must necessarily make use of other words phrases and expressions that what are Literally and Syllabically contained in the Scriptures but teach no other things Moreover whatever is so revealed in the Scripture is no less true and divine as to whatever necessarily followeth thereon than it is as unto that which is principally revealed and directly expressed For how far soever the lines be drawn and extended from truth nothing can follow and ensue but what is true also and that in the same kind of truth with that which it is derived and deduced from For if the principal Assertion be a truth of Divine Revelation so is also whatever is included therein and which may be rightly from thence collected Hence it follows that when the Scripture revealeth the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be one God seeing it necessarily and unavoidably follows thereon that they are one in Essence wherein alone it is possible they can be one and three in their distinct Subsistences wherein alone it is possible they can be three This is no less of Divine Revelation than the first principle from whence these things follow These being the respects which the Doctrine of the Trinity falls under the necessary method of 〈◊〉 and Reason in the beheving and declarâ—ing of it is plain and evident 1. The Revelation 〈◊〉 it is to be asserted and vindicated as it 〈◊〉 proposed to be believed for the ends mentioned Now this is as was declared that there is one God that this God is Father Son and Holy Ghost and so that the Father is God so is the Son so is the Holy Ghost This being received and admitted by faith the Explication of it is 2. To be insisted on and not taken into consideration untill the other be admitted And herein lyes the preposterous course of those who fallaciously and captiously go about to oppose this sacred truth They will alwayes begin their opposition not unto the Revelation of it but unto the Explanation of it which is used only for farther edification Their Disputes and Cavils shall be against the Trinity Essence Substance Persons Personality Respects Properties of the Divine Persons with the modes of expressing these things whilst the plain Scriptural Revelation of the things themselves from whence they are but explanatory deductions is not spoken to nor admitted unto confirmation By this means have they entangled many weak unstable souls who when they have met with things too high hard and difficult for them which in Divine Mysteries they may quickly do in the Explication of this Doctrine have suffered themselves to be taken off from a due consideration of the full and plain Revelation of the thing it self in Scripture until their temptations being made strong and their darkness increased it was too late for them to return unto it as bringing along with them the Cavils wherewith they were prepossessed rather than that Faith and Obedience which is required But yet all this while these Explanations so excepted against are indeed not of any Original consideration in this matter Let the direct express Revelations of the Doctrine be firmed they will follow of themselves nor will be excepted against by those who believe and receive it Let that be rejected and they will fall of themselves and never be contended for by those who did make use of them But of these things we shall treat again afterwards This therefore is the way the only way that we rationally can and that which in duty we ought to proceed in and by for the asserting and confirming of the Doctrine of the holy Trinity under consideration namely that we produce Divine Revelations or Testimonies wherein faith may safely rest and acquiesce that God is one that this one God
is Father Son and holy Ghost So that the Father is God so also is the Son and the holy Ghost likewise and as such are to be believed in obeyed worshipped acknowledged as the first cause and last end of all our Lord and Reward If this be not admitted if somewhat of it be not particularly denyed we need not we have no warrant or ground to proceed any farther or at all to discourse about the Unity of the Divine Essence or the distinction of Persons We have not therefore any original contest in this matter with any but such as deny either God to be one or the Father to be God or the Son to be God or the Holy Ghost so to be If any deny either of these in particular we are ready to confirm it by sufficient Testimonies of Scripture or clear and undeniable Divine Revelation When this is evinced and vindicated we shall willingly proceed to manifest that the explications used of this Doctrine unto the Edification of the Church are according to truth and such as necessarily are required by the nature of the things themselves And this gives us the method of the small ensuing Discourse with the Reasons of it The first thing which we affirm to be delivered unto us by divine Revelation as the Object oâ— ouâ— Faith is that God is one I know that this may be uncontroulably evidenced by the â—ight of Reason it self unto as good and quiet an Assurance as the mind of man is capable of in any of its apprehensions whatever But I speak of it now as it is confirmed unto us by Divine Revelation How this Assertion of one God respects the Nature Essence or Divine Being of God shall be declared afterwards At present it is enough to represent the Testimonies that he is one only one And because we have no difference with our Adversaries distinctly about this matter I shall only name some few of them Deut. 6. 4. Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord. A most pregnant Testimony and yet notwithstanding as I shall elsewhere manifest the Trinity it self in that one divine Essence is here asserted Isa. 44. 6 8. Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts I am the first and I am the last and besides me there is no God Is there a God besides me Yea there is no God I know not any In which also we may manifest that a plurality of Persons is included and expressed And although there be no more absolute and sacred truth than this that God is one yet it may be evinced that it is no where mentioned in the Scripture but that either in the words themselves or the context of the place a plurality of persons in that one sence is intimated Secondly It is proposed as the object of our Faith that the Father is God And herein as is pretended there is also an agreement between us and those who oppose the Doctrine of the Trinity But there is a mistake in this matter Their hypothesis as they call it or indeed presumptuous errour casts all the conceptions that are given us concerning God in the Scripture into disorder and confusion For the Father as he whom we worship is often called so only with reference unto his Son as the Son is so with reference to the Father He is the only begotten of the Father John 1. 14. But now is this Son had no praeexistence in his Divine nature before he was born of the Virgin there was no God the Father seventeen hundred years ago because there was no Son And on this ground did the Marcionites of old plainly deny the Father whom under the New Testament we Worship to be the God of the Old Testament who made the World and was Woâ—shipped from the foundation of it For it seems to follow that he whom we worship being the Father and on this supposition that the Son had no praexistence unto his incarnation he was not the Father under the Old Testament he is some other from him that was so revealed I know the folly of that inference yet how on this opinion of the sole existence of the Son in time Men can prove the Father to be God let others determine He who abideth in the doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the Son but whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ he hath not God 2 John 9. Whoever denyes Christ the Son as the Son that is the eternal Son of God he loses the Father also and the true God he hath not God For that God which is not the Father and which ever was and was not the Father is not the true God Hence many of the Fathers even of the first Writers of the Church were forced unto great pains in the confirmation of this truth that the Father of Jesus Christ was he who made the World gave the Law spake by the Prophets and was the Author of the Old Testament and that against Men who professed themselves to be Christians And this bruitish apprehension of theirs arose from no other principle but this that the Son had only a temporal Existence and was not the Eternal Son of God But that I may not in this brief discourse digress unto other Controversies than what lyes directly before us and seeing the Adversaries of the truth we contend for do in words at least grant that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the true God or the only true God I shall not further shew the inconsistency of their hypothesis with this confession But take it for granted that to us there is one God the Father 1 Cor. 8. 6. See John 17. 3. So that he who is not the Father who was not so from Eternity whose paternity is not equally coexistent unto his Deity is no God unto us Thirdly It is asserted and believed by the Church that Jesus Christ is God the Eternal Son of God that is He is proposed declared and revealed unto us in the Scripture to be God that is to be served worshipped believed in obeyed as God upon the account of his own Divine excellencies And whereas we believe and know that he was Man that he was born lived and dyed as a Man it is declared that he is God also and that as God he did preexist in the form of God before his Incarnation which was effected by voluntary actings of his own which could not be without a preexistence in another nature This is proposed unto us to be believed upon Divine Testimony and by Divine Revelation And the sole enquiry in this matter is whether this be proposed in the Scripture as an Object of Faith and that which is indispensibly necessary for us to believe Let us then nakedly attend unto what the Scripture asserts in this matter and that in the order of the Books of it in some particular instances which at present occurr to mind as these that follow Psalm
asserted to be eternal would be to their cause they contend that the meaning of the words is that Christ was to be the light of the world before Abraham was made the Father of many Nations An interpretation so absurd and sottish as never any man not infatuated by the God of this world could once admit and give countenance unto But in the Beginning as absolutely used is the same with From Everlasting as it is expounded Prov. 8. 23. and denoteth an eternal existence which is here affirmed of the Word the Son of God But let the Word beginning be restrained unto the subject matter treated of which is the Creation of all things and the praeexistence of Christ in his divine nature unto the Creation of all things is plainly revealed and inevitably asserted And indeed not only the Word but the discourse of these verses doth plainly relate unto and is expository of the first verse in the Bible Gen. 1. 1. In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth There it is asserted that in the beginning God created all things here that the Word was in the beginning and made all things This then is the least that we have obtained from this first word of our Testimony namely that the Word or Son of God had a personal praeexistence unto the whole Creation In what nature this must be let these men of Reason satisfie themselves who know that Creator and Creatures take up the whole nature of Beings one of them he must be and it may be well supposed that he was not a Creature before the Creation of any But Secondly Where or with whom was this Word in the beginning it was saith the Holy Ghost with God There being no creature then existing he could be no where but with God that is the Father as it is expressed in one of the testimonies before going Prov. 8. 22. The Lord possest me in the beginning of his wayes before his works of old ver 30. Then was I by him as one brought up with him and I was daily his delight rejoycing alwayes before him that is in the beginning this Word or Wisdom of God was with God And this is the same which our Lord Jesus asserts concerning himself John 3. 13. And no man saith he hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of man which is in Heaven And so in other places He affirms his being in Heaven that is with God at the same time when he was in the earth whereby He declares the immensity of his Nature and the distinction of his person and his coming down from Heaven before he was Incarnate on the earth declaring his preexistence by both manifesting the meaning of this Expression that in the beginning he was with God But hereunto they have invented a notable evasion For although they know not well what to make of the last clause of the words that say then he was in Heaven when he spake on Earth the Son of man which is in Heaven answerable to the description of Gods Immensity do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord Jer. 23. 27. But say that he was there by Heavenly meditation as another man may be yet they give a very clear Answer to what must of necessâ—â—y be included in his descending from Heaven namely his preexistence to his Incarnation For they tell us that before his publick Ministry he was in his humane nature which is all they allow unto him taken up into Heaven and there taught the Gospel as the great Impostor Mahomet pretended he was taught his Alcoran If you ask them who told them so they cannot tell but thâ—y can tell when it was namely when he was led by the spirit into the Wilderness for forty days after his baptism But yet this instance is subject to another her misadventure in that one of the Eâ—angelists plainly affirms that he was those forty dayes in the Wilderness with the wild beasts Mark 17. 13. And so surely not in Heaven in the same nature by his bodily presence with God and his holy Angels And let me add this by the way that the Interpretation of this place Joh. 1. 1. to be mentioned after wards and those of the two places before mentioned John 8. 58. chap. 3. 31. Faustus Socinâ—s learned out of his Uncle Laelius papers as he confesseth and doth more than intimate that he believed he had them as it were by Revelation and it may be so they are indeed so forced absurd and irrational that no man could ever fix upon them by any reasonable Investigation But the Author of this Revelation if we may judge of the Parent by the Child could be no other but the spirit of Error and darkness I suppose therefore that notwithstanding these exceptions Christians will believe that in the beginning the word was with God that is that the Son was with the Father as is frequently elsewhere declared But who was this Word saith the Apostle He was God He was so with God that is the Father as that he himself was God also God in that the notion of God which both nature and the Scripture doth represent Not a God by Office one exalted to that dignity which cannot well be pretended before the Creation of the world but as Thomas confessed him our Lord and our God John 20. 28. Or as Paul expresses it over all God blessed for ever or the most high God which these men love to deny Let not the infidelity of men excited by the craft and malice of Satan sâ—ek for blind occasions and this matter is determined if the Word and Testimony of God be able to umpire a difference amongst the Children of men Here is the sum of our Creed in this matter In the beginning the Word was God and so continues unto Eternity being Alpha and Omâ—ga the first and the last the Lord God Almighty And to shew that he was so God in the beginning as that he was distinct one in some thing from God the Father by whom afterwards he was sent into the world he adds ver 2. the same was in the beginning with God Father also to evince what he hath asserted and revealed for us to believe the Holy Ghost adds both as a firm declaration of his Eternal Deity and also his immediate care of the world which how he variously exercised both in a way of providence and grace he afterwards declares verse 3. All things were made by him He was so in the beginning before all things as that he made them all And that it may not be supposed that the All that he is said to make or create was to be limited unto any certain sort of things he adds that without him nothing was made that was made which gives the first Assertion an absolute universality as to its subject And this he farther describes v. 10. He was in the world and the world was made by him The world that was
whole Scripture as not grant unto him a preexistence in a divine nature antecedent to his Incarnation they framed a new Deity which God should make before the world in all things like to himself but not the same with him in Essence and substance but to be so like him that by the writings of some of them ye can scarce know one from the other and that this was the Son of God also who was afterwards Incarnate Others in the mean time had more monstrous imaginations some that he was an Angel some that he was the Sun some that he was the Soul of the World some the light within men Departing from their proper rest so have they hovered about and so have they continued to do until this day In the same manner it is come to pass with them who have denyed the Deity of the Holy Ghost They could never find where to stand or abide but one hath cryed up one thing another another At first they observed that such things were every where ascribed unto him in the Scripture as uncontroulably evidenced him to be an intelligent voluntary Agent This they found so plain and evident that they could not deny but that he was a person or an intelligent subsistence Wherefore seeing they were resolved not to assent unto the Revelation of his being God they made him a created spirit chief and above all others But still whatever else he were he was only a Creature And this course some of late also have steered The Socinians on the other hand observing that such things are assigned and ascribed unto him as that if they acknowledge him to be a person or a substance they must upon necessity admit him to be God though they seemed not at first at all agreed what to think or say concerning him positively yet they all coneurred peremptorily in denying his personality Hereon some of them said he was the Gospel which others of them have confuted some that he was Christ. Neither could they agree whether there was one Holy Ghost or more whether the spirit of God and the Good spirit of God and the holy spirit be the same or no. In general now they conclude that he is vis Dei or virtus Dei or efficacia Dei no substance but a quality that may be considered either as being in God and then they say it is the spirit of God or as sanctifying and conforming men unto God and then they say it is the Holy Ghost Whether these things do answer the Revelation made in the Scripture concerning the Eternal Spirit of God will be immediately manifested Our Quakers who have for a long season hovered up and down like a swarm of flies with a confused noise and humming begin now to settle in the opinions lately by them declared for But what their thoughts will fall into be concerning the Holy Ghost when they shall be contented to speak Intelligibly and according to the usage of other men or the pattern of Scripture the great rule of speaking or treating about spiritual things I know not and am uncertain whether they do so themselves or no. Whether he may be the light within them or an infallible afflatus is uncertain In the mean time what is revealed unto us in the Scripture to be believed concerning the Holy Ghost his Deity and personality may be seen in the ensuing testimonies The summ of this Revelation is that the Holy Spirit is an eternally divine existing substance the Author of Divine operations and the Object of Divine and Religious Worship that is over all God Blessed for ever as the ensuing testimonies evince Gen 1. 2. The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters Psalm 33. 6. By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the Spirit of his mouth Job 26. 13. By his Spirit he hath garnished the Heavens Job 33. 4. The Spirit of God hath made me Psalm 104. 30. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are Created Mat. 28. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Acts 1. 16. That Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake Acts 5. 3. Peter said to Ananias why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye to the Holy Ghost Vers. 4. Thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God Acts 28. 25 26. Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the Prophet unto our Fathers saying go unto this people and say 1 Cor. 3. 16. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 12. 11. All these worketh that one and self-same spirit dividing to every man as he will 2. 6. And there are deversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all 2 Cor. 13. 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Acts 20. 28. Take heed to the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers Matth. 12. 31. All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men Psal. 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit John 14. 26. But the Comforteâ— which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things Luke 12. 12. The Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say Acts 13. 3. And as they ministred to the Lord and fasted the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them Vers. 4. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed into c. 2 Pet. 1. 21. For the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of men but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost It is evident upon the first consideration that there is not any thing which we believe concerning the Holy Ghost but that it is plainly revealed and declared in these testimonies He is directly affirmed to be and is called God Acts 5. 3 4. Which the Socinians will not say is by vertue of an Exaltation unto an Office or Authority as they say of the Son That he is an intelligent voluntary Divine Agent he knoweth he worketh as he will which things if in their frequent repetition they are not sufficient to evince an intelligent Agent a personal subsistence that hath Being Life and Will we must confess that the Scripture was written on purpose to lead us into mistakes and misapprehensions of what we are under penalty of eternal ruine rightly to apprehend and believe It declareth also that he is the Author and Worker of all sorts of Divine Operations requiring Immensity Omnipotency Omnisciency and all other Divine Excellencies unto their working and effecting Moreover it is revealed that he is peculiarly to be believed
in and may peculiarly be sinned against the great Author of all Grace in Believers and order in the Church This is the summ of what we believe of what is revealed in the Scripture concerning the Holy Ghost As in the consideration of the preceding head we vindicated one Testimony in particular from the exceptions of the adversaries of the truth so on this we may briefly summ up the evidence that is given us in the testimonies before produced that the Reader may the more easily understand their intendment and what in particular they bear witnesse unto The summ is that the Holy Ghost is a divine distinct person and neither meerly the power or vertue of God nor any created Spirit whatever This plainly appears from what is revealed concerning him For he who is placed in the same series or order with other divine persons without the least note of difference or distinction from them as to an Interest in personality who hath the names proper to a divine person only and is frequently and directly called by them who also hath personal properties and is the voluntary Author of personal divine Operations and the proper Objâ—ct of Divine Worship he is a distinct divine person And if these things be not a sufficient evidence and demonstration of a divine intelligent substance I shall as was said before despair to understand any thing that is expressed and declared by words But now thus it is with the Holy Ghost according to the Revelation made concerning him in the Scripture For First He is placed in the same rank and order without any note of difference or distinction as to a distinct interest in the Divine Nature that is as we shall see personality with other Divine persons Matth. 28. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost 1 John 5. 7. There be three that bear witness in Heaven the Father the Son and the Spirit and these three are one 1 Cor. 12. 3 4 5 6. No man can say the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all Neither doth a denyal of his divine being and distinct existence leave any tolerable sense unto these Expressions For read the words of the first place from the mind of the Socinians and see what is it can be gathered from them Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the vertue or efficacy of the Father Can any thing be more absonant from Faith and Reason than this absurd expression And yet is it the direct sense if it be any that these men put upon the words To joyn a quality with acknowledged persons and that in such things and cases as wherein they are proposed under a personal consideration is a strange kind of Mysterie And the like may be manifested concerning the other places Secondly He also hath the Names proper to a divine person only For he is expresly called God Acts 5. He who is termed the Holy Ghost ver 3. And the Spirit of the Lord verse 9. Is called also God ver 4. Now this is the name of a divine Person on one Account or other The Socinians would not allow Christ to be called God were he not a divine person though not by nature yet by â—ffice and authority And I suppose they will not find out an office for the Holy Ghost whereunto he might be exalted on the account whereof he might become God seeing this would acknowledge him to be a person which they deny So he is called the Comforter John 16. 7. A personal Appellation this is also and because he is the Comforter of all Gods people it can be the name of none but a divine person In the 〈…〉 it is frequently 〈…〉 come that he shall and will do such and such things all of them declaring him to be a person Thirdly He hath personal properties assigned unto him as a Will 1 Cor. 12. 11. He divideth to every man severally as he will and understanding 1 Cor. 2. 10. The Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God As also all the actings that are ascribed unto him are all of them such as undeniably affirm personal properties in their principle and Agent For Fourthly He is the voluntary Author of Divine operations He of old cherished the creation Gen. 1. 3. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters He formed and garnished the Heavens He inspired acted and spake in and by the Prophets Acts 28. 25 26. Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the Prophet unto our Fathers 2 Pet. 1. 21. The Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost He regenerateth enlightneth sanctifieth comforteth instructeth leadeth guideth all the Disciples of Christ as the Scriptures every where testifie Now all these are personal Operations and cannot with any pretence of sobriety or consistency with Reason be constantly and uniformly assigned unto a quality or vertue He is as the Father and Son God with the properties of Omniscience and Omnipotency of Life Understanding and Will and by these properties works acts and produceth effects according to Wisdom Choice and Power Fifthly The same regard is had to him in Faith Worship and Obedience as unto the other persons of the Father and Son For our being baptized into his name is our solemn engagement to believe in him to yield obedience to him and to worship him as it puts the same obligation upon us to the Father and the Son So also in reference unto the Worship of the Church He commands that the Ministers of it be separated unto himself Acts 13. 2. The Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them Ver. 4. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed which is comprehensive of all the religious Worship of the Church And on the same account is he sinned against as Acts 5. 3 4 9. For there is the same Reason of Sin and Obedience Against whom a man may sin formally and ultimately him he is bound to obey worship and believe in And this can be no quality but God himself For what may be the sense of this expression Thou hast lyed to the efficacy of God in his operations Or how can we be formally obliged unto obedience to a quality There must then an antecedent Obligation unto Faith Trust and Religious Obedience be supposed as the ground of rendring a person capable of being guilty of sin towards wards any For sin is but a â—ailure in Faith Obedience or Worship These therefore are due unto the Holy Ghost or a man could not sin against him so signally and fatally as some are
said to do in the foregoing testimonies I say therefore unto this part of our Cause as unto the other that unless we will cast off all Reverence of God and in a king of Atheism which as I suppose the prevailing wickedness of this Age hath not yet arrived unto say that the Scriptures were written on purpose to deceive us and to lead us into mistakes about and misapprehensions of what it proposeth unto us we must acknowledge the Holy Ghost to be a substance a person God yet distinct from the Father and the Son For to tell us that he will come unto us that he will be our Comforter that he will teach us lead us guide us that he spake of old in and by the Prophets that they were moved by him acted by him that he searcheth the deep things of God works as he will that he appointeth to himself Ministers in the Church In a word to declare in places innumerable what he hath done what he doth what he will do what he sayes and speaks how he acts and proceeds what his will is and to warn us that we grieve him not sin not against him with things innumerable of the like nature and all this while to oblige us to believe that he is not a person an helper a comforter a searcher a willer but a quality in some especial operations of God or his power and vertue in them were to distract men not to instruct them and leave them no certain conclusion but this that there is nothing certain in the whole Book of God And of no other tendency are these and the like imaginations of our Adversaries in this matter But let us briefly consider what is objected in general unto the truth we have confirmed First They say the Holy Spirit is said to be given to be sent to be bestowed on men and to be promised unto them and therefore it cannot be that he should be God for how can any of these things be spoken of God I answer As these Expressions do not prove him to be God nor did ever any produce them to that purpose yet they undeniably prove him to be a person or an intellingent voluntary Agent concerning whom they are spoken and affirmed For how can the power of God or a quality as they speak be said to be sent to be given to be bestowed on men so that these very Expressions are destructive to their imaginations Secondly He who is God equal in nature and being with the Father may be promised sent and given with respect unto the holy dispensation and condescension wherein he hath undertaken the Office of being our Comforter and Sanctifier Thirdly The communications distributions impartings divisions of the spirit which they mention as they respect the Object of them Or those on whom they were or are bestowed denote only works gifts operations and effects of the spirit the rule whereof is expressed 1 Cor. 12. 7. He workeeth them in whom he will and as he will And whether these and the like exceptions taken from Actings and operations which are plainly interpreted and explained in sundry places of Scripture and evidently enough in the particular places where they are used are sufficient to impeach the truth of the Revelation before declared all who have a due reverence of God his word and truths will easily understand and discern These things being declared in the Scripture concerning the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost it is moreover Revealed and these three are one that is one God joyntly to be worshipped feared adored believed in and obeyed in order unto eternal life For although this doth absolutely and necessarily follow from what is declared and hath been spoken concerning the one God or onenesâ— of the Derty yet for the confirmation of our faith and that we may not by the distinct consideration of the three be taken off from the one it is particularly declared that these three are one that one the one and same God But whereas as was said before this can no otherwise be the testimonies given thereunto are not so frequently multiplyed as they are unto those other heads of this truth which through the craft of Satan and the pride of men might be more lyable to exceptions But yet they are clear full and distinctly sufficient for faith to acquiesce in immediately without any other expositions interpretations or arguments beyond our understanding of the naked importance of the words Such are they of the Father the Son John 10. 30. I and my Father are one Father Son and Spirit Joh. 5. 7. three that bare witness in Heaven Father Son and Spirit and these three are one Mat. 28. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Spirit For if those into whose name we are Baptized be not one in nature we are by our Baptism engaged into the Service and Worship of more Gods than one For as being Baptized or sacredly initiated into or in the name of any one doth Sacramentally bind us unto a holy and Religious obedience unto him and in all things to the avowing of him as the God whose we are and whom we serve as here we are in the Name of the Father Son and Spirit so if they are not one God the Blasphemous consequence before mentioned must unavoidably be admitted which it also doth upon the Socinian principle who whilest of all others they seem to contend most for one God are indeed direct polutheists by owning others with Religious respect due to God alone which are not so Once more it is revealed also that these three are distinct among themselves by certain peculiar Relative properties if I may yet use these terms So that they are distinct living divine intelligent voluntary principles of operation or working and that in and by internal acts one towards another and in acts that outwardly respect the Creation and the several parts of it Now this distinction originally lyeth in this that the Father begetteth the Son and the Son is begotten of the Father and the Holy Spirit proceedeth from both of them The manner of these things so far as they may be expressed unto our Edification shall afterwards be spoken to At present it sufficeth for the satisfaction and confirmation of our faith that the distinctions named are clearly revealed in the Scripture and are proposed to be its proper object in this matter Psalm 2. 7. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Matth. 16. 16. Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Joh. 1. 14. We saw his Glory the glory of the only begotten of the Father Ver. 18. No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath revealed him John 5. 26. For as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself 1 Joh. 5. 20. The Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding Joh. 14. 26.
But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father He shall testifie of me Now as the nature of this distinction lies in their mutual Relation one to another so it is the foundation of those distinct actings and operations whereby the distinction it self is clearly manifested and confirmed And these actings as was said are either such as where one of them is the object of anothers actings or such as have the creature for their objects â— The first sort are testified unto Psalm 110. 1. John 1. 18. Chap. 5. 20. Chap. 17. 5. 1 Cor. 2. 10 11. Prov. 8. 21 22. Most of which places have been before recited They which thus know each other love each other delight in each other must needs be distinct and so are they represented unto our faith And for the other sort of actings the Scripture is full of the expressions of them see Gen. 19. 24. Zachariah 2. 8. Joh. 5. 17. 1 Cor. 12. 7 8 9. 1 Cor. 8. 9. Our conclusion from the whole is that there is nothing more fully expressed in the Scripture than this sacred truth is that there is one God Father Son and holy Ghost which are divine distinct intelligent voluntary omnipotent principles of operation and working which whosoever thinks himself obliged to believe the Scripture must believe and concerning others in this discourse we are not solicitous This is that which was first proposed namely to manifest what is expresly revealed in the Scripture concerning God the Father Son and Holy Ghost so as that we may duly believe in him yield Obedience unto him enjoy communion with him walk in his love and fear and so come at length to be blessed with him for evermore Nor doth faith for its security establishment and direction absolutely stand in need of any farther Exposition or Explanation of these things or the use of any terms not consecrated to the present service by the Holy Ghost But whereas it may be variously assaulted by the Temptations of Satan and opposed by the subtle sâ—phisms of men of corrupt minds and whereas it is the duty of the Disciples of Christ to grow in the knowledge of God and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by an explicit apprehension of the things they do believe so far as they are capable of them this Doctrine hath in all ages of the Church been explained and taught in and by such Expressions Terms and Propositions as farther declare what is necessarily included in it or consequent unto it with an exclusion of such things notions and apprehensions as are neither the one nor the other This I shall briefly manifest and then vindicate the whole from some exceptions and so close this dissertation That God is One was declared and proved Now this Oneness can respect nothing but the Nature Being Substance or Essence of God God is one in this respect Some of these words indeed are not used in the Scripture But whereas they are of the same importance and signification and none of them include any thing of imperfection they are properly used in the declaration of the Vnity of the God-head There is mention in the Scripture of the God-head of God Rom. 1. 20. His Eternal power and Godhead And of his Nature by excluding them from being objects of our Worship who are not God by nature Gal. 4. 8. Now this natural Godhead of God is his Substance or Essence with all the Holy divine Excellencies which naturally and necessarily appertain thereunto Such are Eternity Immensity Omnipotency Life Infinite Holiness Goodness and the like This one Nature Substance or Essence being the Nature Substance or Essence of God as God is the Nature Essence and Substance of the Father Son and Spirit one and the same absolutely in and unto each of them For none can be God as they are revealed to be but by vertue of this divine Nature or Being Herein consists the Vnity of the Godhead Secondly The distinction which the Scripture reveals between Father Son and Spirit is that whereby they are three â—â—pâ—stasis or Persons distinctly subsisting in the same divine Essence or Being Now a divine person is nothing but the divine Essence upon the account of an especial property subsisting in an especial manner As in the Person of the Father there is the Divine Essence and Being with its property of begetting the Son subsisting in an especial manner as the Father And because this Person hath the whole Divine Nature all the Essential Properties of that nature are in that person The Wisdom the Understanding of God the Will of God the Immensity of God is in that person not as that Person but as the Person is God The like is to be said of the Persons of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Hereby each Person having the Understanding the Will and power of God becomes a distinct principle of operation and yet all their actings ad extra being the actings of God they are undivided and are all the works of one of the self same God And these things do not only necessarily follow but are directly included in the Revelation made concerning God and his subsistence in the Scriptures There are indeed very many other things that are taught and disputed about this Doctrine of the â—rinity as the manner of the eternal Generaâ—â—on of the Son of the Essence of the Father of the procession of the Holy Ghost and the difference of it from the Generation of the Son of the mutual in-being of the persons by reason of their unity in the same Substance or Essence the nature of their personal subsistence with respect unto the properties whereby they are mutually distinguished all which are true and defensible against all the Sophisms of the Adversaries of this truth Yet because the distinct apprehension of them and their accurate expression is not necessary unto faith as it is our guide and principle in and unto Religious Worship and obedience they need not here be insisted on Nor are those brief Explications themselves before mentioned so proposed as to be placed immediately in the same rank or order with the Original Revelations before infisted on but only are pressed as proper Expressions of what is revealed to increase our light and further our edification And although they cannot rationally be opposed or denyed nor ever were by any but such as deny and oppose the things themselves as revealed yet they that do so deny or oppose them are to be required positively in the first place to deny or disapprove the Oneness of the Deity or to prove that the Father or Son or Holy Ghost in particular are not God before they be allowed to speak one word against the manner of the Explication of the truth concerning them For either they grant the Revelation declared and contended for or they do not If they do let that concession be first laid down namely that the Father Son
and Spirit are one God and then let it be debated whether they are one in Substance and three in Persons or how else the matter is to be stated If they deny it it is a plain madness to dispute of the manner of any thing and the way of expressing it whilst the thing it self is denyed to have a being for of that which is not there is neither manner property adjunct nor effect Let then such persons as this sort of men are ready to attempt with their Sophistry and to amuse with cavils about persons substances subsistences and the like desire to know of them what it is that they would be at What would they deny what would they disapprove Is it that God is one or that the Father is God or the Son or the Holy Ghost is so If they deny or oppose either of these they have Testimonies and instances of divine Revelation or may have in a readiness to confound the Devil and all his Emissaries If they will not do so if they refuse it then let them know that it is most foolish and unreasonable to contend about Expressions and Explanations of any thing or doctrine about the manner respects or relations of any thing untill the thing it self or Doctrine be plainly confessed or denyed If this they refuse as generally they do and will which I speak upon sufficient experience and will not be induced to deal openly properly and rationally but will keep to their Cavils and Sophisms about terms and expressions all farther debate or conference with them may justly and ought both conscienciously and rationally to be refused and rejected For these sacred mysteries of God and the Gospel are not lightly to be made the subject of mens contests and disputations But as we dealt before in particular so here I shall give Instances of the Sophistical exceptions that are used against the whole of this Doctrine and that with respect unto some late collections and Representations of them From whence they are taken up and used by many who seem not to understand the words Phrases and Expressions themselves which they make use of The summ of what they say in general is How can these things be How can three be one and one be three Every person hath its own substance and therefore if there be three persons there must be three substances and so three Gods Answ. 1. Every person hath distinctly its own substance for the one substance of the Deity is the substance of each person so it is still but one But each person hath not its own distinct substance because the substance of them all is the same as hath been proved 2. They say That if each person be God then each person is Infinite and there being three persons there must be three Infinites Answ. This follows not in the least for each person is Infinite as he is God Alâ— divine properties such as to be Infinite is belong not to the persons on the account of their personality but on the account of their nature which is one for they are all natural properties But they say If each person be God and that God subsist in three persons then in each person there are three persons or Gods Answ. The collusion of this Sophism consists in that expression be God and that God in the first place the nature of God is intended in the latter a singular person Place the words intelligibly and they are thus If each person be God and the nature of God subsists in three persons then in each person there are three persons and then the folly of it will be evident But they farther infer That if we deny the persons to be Infinite then an Infinite Being hath a finite mode of subsisting and so I know not what supposition they make hence that seeing there are not three Infinites then the Father Son and Spirit are three finites that make up an Infinite The pitiful weakness of this Cavil is open to all for finite and Infinite are properties and adjuncts of Beings and not of the manner of the subsistence of any thing The nature of each person is Infinite and so is each person because of that nature Of the manner of their subsistence finiâ—e and Infinite cannot be predicated or spoken no farther than to say an Infinite Being doth so subsist But you grant say they that the only true God is the Father and then if Christ be the only true God he is the Father Answ. We say the only true God is Father Son and Holy Ghost We never say the Scripture never sayes that the Father only is the true God whence it would follow that he that is the true God is the Father But we grant the Father to be the only trne God and so we 〈◊〉 is the Son also And it doth not 〈◊〉 all thence follow that the Son is 〈◊〉 Father Because in saying the 〈…〉 the true God we respect not his paternity or his paternal Relation to his Son but his Nature Essence and Being And the same we affirm concerning the other persons And to say that because each person is God one person must be another is to crave leave to disbelieve what God hath revealed without giving any Reason at all for their so doing But this Sophism being borrowed from another namely Crellius who insisted much upon it I shall upon his account and not on theirs who as far as I can apprehend understand little of the intendment of it remove it more fully out of the way It is proposed by him in way of Syllogism thus The only true God is the Father Christ is the only true God therefore he is the Father Now this Syllogism is ridiculously Sophystical For in a Categorical Syllogism the Major Proposition is not to be particular nor equipollent to a particular For from such a Proposition when any thing communicable to more is the subject of it and is restrained unto one particular nothing can be inferred in the conclusion But such is this Proposition here the only true God is the Father It is a particular Proposition wherein the subject is restrained unto a singular or individual predicate though in it self communicable to more Now the Proposition being â—o made particular the terms of the subject or predicate are supposed recâ—procal namely that one God and the Father are the same which is false Unless it be first proved that the name God is communicable to no more or no other than is the other term of Father which to suppose is to begg the whole Question For the only true God hath a larger signification than the term of Father or Son So that though the only true God be the Father yet every one who is true God is not the Father Seeing then that the name of God here supplyes the plaâ—e of a species though it be singular absolutely as it respects the Divine Nature which is absolutely singular and one and cannot be
multiplyed yet in respect of communication it is otherwise it is communicated unto more namely to the Father Son and Holy Ghost And therefore if any thing be intended to be concluded from hence the Proposition must be expressed according to what the subject requires as capable of communication or Attribution to more than one as thus who ever is the only true God is the Father which Proposition these Persons and their Masters shall never be able to prove I have given in particular these strictures thus briefly upon these empty Sophisms partly because they are well removed already and partly because they are meer exscriptions out of an Author not long since translated into English unto whom an entire answer may ere long be returned That which at present shall suffice is to give a general answer unto all these cavills with all of the same kind which the men of these principles do usually insist upon I. The things they say which we teach concerning the Trinity are contrary to Reason and thereof they endeavour to give sundry instances wherein the summ of the opposition which they make unto this truth doth consist But first I ask what Reason is it that they intend It is their own the carnal reason of men By that they will judge of these Divine Mysteries The Scripture tells us indeed that the Spirit of a man wâ—ich is in him knows the things of a man A mans Spirit by natural Reason may judge of natural things But the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God 1 Cor. 2. 11. So that what we know of these things we must receive upon the Râ—vâ—lation of the Spirit of God meerly if the Apostle may be believed And it is given unto men to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God To some and not to others and unless it be so given them they cannot know them In particular none can know the Father unless the Son reveal him Nor will or doth or can flesh and blood reveal or understand Jesus Christ to be the Son of the living God unless the Father reveal him and instruct us in the truth of it Matth. 16. 18. The way to come to the acknowledgement of these things is that described by the Apostle Ephes. 3. 14 15 16 17 18 19. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant ye according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints c. As also Col. 2. 2. That ye might come unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the Mysterie of God and of the Father and of Christ. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge It is by faith and prayer and through the Revelation of God that we may come to the acknowledgement of these things and not by the carnal reasonings of men of corrupt minds 2. What Reason do they intend If Reason absolutely the Reason of things we grant that nothing contrary unto it is to be admitted But Reason as it is in this or that man particularly in themselves we know to be weak maimed and imperfect and that they are and all other men extreamly remote from a just and full comprehension of the whole Reason of things Are they in such an estate as that their apprehension shall pass for the measure of the nature of all things we know they are far from it So that though we will not admit of any thing that is contrary to reason yet the least intimation of a Truth by Divine Revelation will make me embrace it although it should be contrary to the reason of all the Socinians in the world Reason in the abstract or the just measure of the answering of one thing unto another is of great moment But Reason that is what is pretended to be so or appears to be so unto this or that man especially in and about things of Divine Revelation is of very small importance of none at all where it riseth up against the express testimonies of Scripture and these multiplyed to their mutual confirmation and explanation 3. Many things are above Reason that is as considered in this or that subject as men which are not at all against it It is an easie thing to compel the most curious enquirers of these dayes to a ready confession hereof by multitudes of Instances in things finite and temporary And shall any dare to deny but it may be so in things Heavenly Divine and Spiritual Nay there is no concernment of the Being of God or his properties but is absolutely above the comprehension of our reason We cannot by searching find out God we cannot find out the Almighty to perfection 4. The very foundation of all their Objections and Cavils against this truth is destructive of as fundamental principles of reason as are in the world They are all at best reduced to this it cannot be thus in things finite the same Being cannot in one respect be one in another three and the like and therefore it is so in things Infinite All these reasonings are built upon this supposition that that which is finite can perfectly comprehend that which is Infinite An assertion absurd foolish and contradictory unto it self Again it is the highest reason in things of pure Revelation to captivate our understandings to the Authority of the Revealer which here is rejected So that by a loud specious pretence of Reason these men by a little captious Sophistry endeavour not only to countenance their unbelief but to evert the greatest principles of Reason it self 5. The Objections these men principally insist upon are meerly against the Explanations we use of this Doctrine not against the Primitive Revelation of it which is the principal object of our faith which how preposterous and irrational a course of proceeding it is hath been declared 6. It is a Rule among Philâ—sophers that if a man on just grounds and reasons have embraced any opinion or perswasion he is not to desert it meerly because he cannot answer every Objection against it For if the Objections wherewith we may be entangled be not of the same weight and importance with the reason on which we embraced the opinion it is a madness to forego it on the Account thereof And much more must this hold amongst the common sort of Christians in things spiritual and divine If they will let go and part with their faith in any truth because they are not able to answer distinctly some Objections that may be made against it they may quickly find themselves disputed into Atheism 7. There is so great an intimation made of such an expression and resemblance of a Trinity in Unity in the very