but One. And this indeed depends upon the former For he that doth according to a true notion of God know That there is a God must needs know also that there is but One. For the true notion of God including Infinite Absolute Perfect c. must needs also include Unity for it is inconsistent that there should be many such So that in a manner Polytheism includes Atheism He that believes many Gods doth in effect not believe any that is not any such Being as of which it is impossible there should be more than One. We are Thirdly to know that This God is that onely True God I say This God whom we have variously designed in Scripture by several Characters The God that made Heaven and Earth The living God The God of Israel The God whose name is Jehovah And as here and elsewhere frequently in the New Testament the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By which and other the like Characters he is distinguished from all false Gods from all pretended Deities This God we are to know to be the onely True God But when I say That the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is this onely True God I add That this appertains not so much to his Personality as to his Essence For though the three Persons in the Sacred Trinity be distinguished each from other by their Personalities the Father is not the Son nor the Son the Father c. yet they all communicate in the common Essence whereby the Son as well as the Father and the Holy Ghost as either is this Onely True God The Person of the Father is indeed True God but not according to his Personality but according to his Essence And the Person of the Son is God also and the True God yet not another but the same True God And the Holy Ghost likewise According to that of Joh. 10.30 I and my Father are One That is One mod though not One Person And 1 Joh. 5.7 There are Three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One. Three and yet One. Three Persons yet but One God They are all this One this Onely True God beside whom there is no God I know there are some who would be glad to take advantage of this place to the Derogation of the Divinity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost As if it were here affirmed That the Father onely were True God and therefore not the Son nor the Holy Ghost But the Cavil is obvious and the Answer easie It is not said that the Father Onely is True God but that the Father is the onely True God he is that God beside whom there is no other True God which may well enough be said though the Son also as indeed he is be that same True God and the Holy Ghost likewise Indeed should we say That the Son were also True God and another God the Father could not then be said to be the Onely True God since that there would be another True God beside this And the like of the Holy Ghost But to say that the Son is the Same True God is well consistent with it For though another Person than the Father be True God yet because not Another God this One God remains still the Onely True God And the original words are to this purpose very clear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coming before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not after it doth determine it to be a restriction of the Praedicate not of the Subject 'T is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not Thee onely to be the True God but as we truly render it Thee to be the onely True God That is To know Thee to be that God beside which God there is no other True God though another beside Thee be likewise this onely True God viz. the same God with Thee though not the same Person It excludes only a Plurality of Gods not a Plurality of Persons in the same God-head 'T is true indeed That this Divinity is not in this place so directly Affirmed either of the Son or the Holy Ghost But neither is it Denyed And therefore it is to receive its decision from other places where it is affirmed clearly And thus much concerning the first branch of this Knowledge the Knowledge of God To know Thee the only True God There is another piece of Knowledge necessary to the attainment of Eternal Life the Knowledge of Christ. For so it follows And Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent 'T is true that had we continued in that Estate wherein Man was at first Created there had been no necessity of this second branch of Knowledge For had there been no Sin there had been no need of a Saviour and consequently not of this knowledge of Jesus Christ. A knowledge of God the onely True God with an Obedience conformable thereunto had then been enough to make us Happy But Man by his Fall having contracted an Estate of Misery there is now no Restitution to our lost Happiness but by a Redemption and there is no Redemption but by Jesus Christ. For as there is but One God so but One Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 Neither is there any other name given to men whereby we must be saved but that of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom they Crucified and God raised from the dead Act. 4.10 12. There is no Salvation in any other It is necessary therefore to the attainment of Eternal Life that we know Him in this Capacity What we are to know concerning him though we cannot expect in so few words to have clearly set down without a Comment from other places to give light to them Yet at least three things seem in these words to be pointed at His Divinity His Incarnation and His Mediatory Office 1. His Divinity in that he is the Son of God For he calls him Father whom he says we must know to be the onely True God Indeed were he onely the Son of God in such a sense as Adam is so called Luke 3.38 or the Angels thought to be Job 1.6 that is by Creation for as Saints are so called Rom. 8. and elsewhere that is by Adoption it would not iner a Divinity But to be as Christ is the Son of God by Eternal Generation argues a Communication in the same Nature As the Apostle infers Heb. 1.5 For to which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee This onely begotten of the Father must needs be also of the same nature with the Father and therefore God as he is And this Argument however now perhaps there are who endeavour to elude it the Jews his Enemies thought to be conclusive For when they observed him to call God his Father or pretend himself to be the Son of God especially the Christ the Son of
all false Gods or other pretended Gods that Christ is the True God the Supreme God the same God with the Father and not another God CHARACTER I. The first Character which we meet with of this God is that of Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth Which I think no man doubts but to be meant of the True God the Supreme God And by virtue of this he claims the Sovereignty thereof The Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof Psal. 24.1 Jehovah the Lord of all the Earth Josh. 3.11 13. The God of the Heaven and the God of the Earth Gen. 24.3 The Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Footstool Isa. 66.1 Behold the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens is the Lord's the Earth also and all that is therein Deut. 10.14 The same Character is applied to God very often Isa. 42.5 8. Thus saith God the Lord Jehovah he that created the Heavens and stretched them out he that spread forth the Earth and that which cometh out of it he that giveth breath unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein I am the Lord Jehovah that is my name and my Glory will I not give unto another And Isa. 48.13 Mine hand hath laid the foundation of the Earth and my right hand hath spanned or spread out the Heavens So Psal. 8.3 When I consider the Heavens the work of Thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained Psal. 146.6 Which made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that therein is And many other places not only in the Old Testament but in the New Testament likewise as Acts 14.15 That ye should turn from these vanities unto the Living God who made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all things that are therein And Acts 17.24 God that made the World and all things therein So Revel 4.11 Thou hast created all things Chap. 14.7 Him that made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and the Fountains of Water And it is the distinctive Character whereby he doth distinguish himself from all other pretended Gods Jer. 10. Where he who at ver 10. is called The Lord the true God the living God an everlasting King at who 's wrath the Earth shall tremble and the Nations shall not abide his indignation doth at ver 11. give this defiance to all other Gods Thus shall ye say to them The Gods which have not made the Heavens and the Earth they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens Now this Character we find ascribed to Christ. Not only where it is spoken as of God indefinitely but to be understood of Christ as are some of the places already mentioned But even where it is particularly applied to him I shall begin with that of Joh. 1.1 2. where we have a large Discourse of him In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God Where by the Word is meant Christ as is evident from the further descriptions of him in the following verses 'T is he of whom John the Baptist came to bear witness ver 7 8. He who came into the World but the World knew him not ver 10. Who came to his own but his own received him not but to as many as received him he gave power to become the Sons of God ver 11.12 Who was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father ver 14. He of whom John bare witness and cryed saying This is he of whom I spake He that cometh after me is preferred â—efore 〈◊〉 â—or he was before me not as to his Humane Naâ—ure foâ— so John the Baptist was older than he by six months Luk. 1.26 and of his fulness saith St. John we have all received grace for grace For the Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ ver 15 16 17. 'T was Jesus Christ therefore that is here called the Word Now of this same Word it is said The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made which was made ver 2 3. He was in the World and the World was made by him ver 10. Consonant to that of Heb. 11.3 The Worlds we refrmed by the Word of God and 2 Pet. 3.5 By the Word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth standing in the Water and out of the Water And by the same Word the heavens and earth are kept in store or preserved ver 7. And to the same purpose Col. 1.16 17. By him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth And he is before all things and by him all things consist And Heb. 1.2 By whom also he made the Worlds In Psal. 102. we have a long Prayer to the Supreme God doubtless which bears this title A Prayer of the Afflicted when he is overwhelmed and poureth out his complaint before the Lord the Lord Jehovah It begins thus Hear my Prayer O Lord Jehovah and let my cry come unto thee And at the same rate he proceeds addressing himself to the same God all along And at ver 24 25 26 27. he speaks thus O my God thy years are throughout all Generations Thou of old hast laid the Foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of thy hands who is the same God therefore of whom Moses had before said In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth Gen. 1.1 They shall perish as the Psalmist proceeds but thou shalt endure Yea all of them shall wax old as a Garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy years shall have no end And doubtless the Psalmist when he made this long Prayer thought not of addressing himself to any other than the Supreme God Not to a God who had not then a Being nor was to have till a Thousand Years after as the Socinians would have us think of Christ. He prays to God as his Redeemer that is to Christ. And that Christ is that God to whom he did thus address we are expresly told Heb. 1.8 10 11 12. But unto the Son he saith Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of thine hands They shall perish but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a Garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail All which is plainly cited from that Psalm Christ therefore is that God to whom that Prayer was made the same Supreme God who created the Heaven and the Earth even Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 And it is very frequent in Scripture that what in one place is spoken of God
days and three nights in the Whale's belly when brought as an Argument to prove our Saviour ought so long to lie in the Grave But St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 15.3 4. that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he rose again the Third day according to the Scriptures And Christ in like manner Luk. 24.46 Yet I know not any thing more clear to that purpose in the Scriptures of the Old Testament than either this of Jonah's being so long in the Whale's belly to which Christ himself alludes Mat. 12.40 or that of Hos. 6.2 After two days he will revive us and the third day he will raise us up Which seems not to be more express for the Resurrection of Christ on the Third day than this of Jonah But such covert Intimations there are in the Old Testament of things afterward more clearly discovered in the New Nor was this unknown to the ancient Jewish Doctors as appears by what Ainsworth in his Notes on Gen. 1. cites from thence out of R. Simeon Ben Jochai in Zoar Come see the Mystery of the word Elohim there are three Degrees and every Degree by it self Distinct and yet notwithstanding they are all one and joined together in One and are not divided one from another only there he calls Degrees what we now call Persons So that it was not unknown to the Jews of old whatever the present Jews think of it 3. What these Three are the Father the Word and the Spirit seems to be likewise intimated in the Story of the Creation Gen. 1. where they seem to be distinctly named In the beginning Elohim God created the Heaven and the Earth ver 1. where no man doubts but God the Father is implied though perhaps not He only And ver 2. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters Where Ainsworth tells us from the ancient Rabbines whom he cites they call him The Spirit of Mercies from before the Lord The Spirit of Wisdom called the Spirit of the Living God And The Spirit of the Messias Of the same Spirit we have elsewhere mention My Spirit shall not always strive with Man Gen. 6.3 Take not thine Holy Spirit from me Psal. 51.11 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me Isai. 61.1 They vexed his Holy Spirit Isai. 63.10 and elsewhere And if it be said that by the Spirit of God is meant God himself we say so too for we do acknowledge that the Holy Ghost is God himself And of the Word there is a like intimation ver 3. God Said or spake the Word Let there be Light and there was Light And in like manner ver 6 9 11.14 20. God Said Let there be a Firmament c. So Psal. 33.6 7. By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made c. He Spake and it was done He Commanded and it stood fast And Psal. 148.5 He Spake the Word and they were made He commanded and they were created Consonant to that of Heb. 11.3 By faith we understand that the Worlds were made by the Word of God And 1 Pet. 3.5 7. By the Word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth c. And by the same Word they are kept in store or preserved In which places by the Word so often mentioned and with such Emphasis put upon it seems to be meant that Word mentioned Joh. 1.1 3 10. In the beginning was the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things were made by Him The World was made by Him just as in Heb. 11.3 the Worlds were made by the Word of God Nor was this notion of the Word Personally taken unknown to the Jewish Doctors For what we have Psal. 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord Dixit Jehova Domino meo the Chaldee Paraphrase renders by Dixit Jehova Bemeimreh in Verbo suo meaning by His Word the Messias and of whom our Saviour himself expounds it Mat. 22.44 And it is frequent in that Paraphrase by the Word to design the Messias as S. Joh. doth Joh. 1.1 In the beginning was the Word And I put the more weight upon this because as here Gen. 1.2 3. so we have in several other places the Word and Spirit mentioned as concerned in the Creation Psal. 33.6 By the Word of the LORD Jehovah were the Heavens made and all the Hosts of them by the Spirit or breath of his mouth Berwach Where we have Jehovah his Word and Spirit Job 26.12 13. He divideth the Sea by his Power and by his Wisdom or Vnderstanding he smiteth through the proud By his Spirit he garnisheth the Heavens his Hand hath formed the crooked Serpent Where we have the Power of God the Wisdom of God and the Spirit of God And Job 33.4 â—he Spirit of God hath made me and the Breath of tâ—e Lord hath given me Life So Psal. 104.24 30. O LORD Jehovah how wonderful are thy Works in VVisdom thou hast made them all Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are created and thou renewest the face of the Earth And it is not amiss here to take notice that as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as well ratio as oratio so Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is called the Word of God and the Wisdom of God And as in Joh. 1.1 3 10. it is said of the Word that in the beginning was the Word all things were made by Him and the World was made by him And Heb. 11.3 The Worlds were framed by the Word of God So the same is said of Wisdom Prov. 3.19 The LORD by VVisdom hath formed the Earth by Vnderstanding hath he established the Heavens And Prov. 8.22 c. The LORD possessed me Wisdom in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning ere ever the Earth was When he prepared the Heavens I was there When he established the Clouds above When he strengthened the Fountains of the deep When he appointed the Foundations of the Earth then was I by him c. And accordingly the Holy Ghost is called the Power of God Luk. 1.35 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee And 1 Pet. 1.5 Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation which doubtless is not without the operation of the Holy Ghost working and preserving faith in us Suitably hereunto God's Power and Wisdom are oft conjoyned He is Wise in Heart and Mighty in Strength Job 9.4 c. He is excellent in Power and in Judgment Job 37.13 But without laying too great a stress on every particular there seems a foundation clear enough to consider the Word of God and the Spirit of God as clearly distinguishable even in the great Work of Creation and that the holy Writers even in the Old Testament have considered them as distinct and that even the Jewish Writers have owned them as such I know very well that those who have a
mind to be captious may cavil at these places as the Sadduces of old did at those passages in the Old Testament tending to prove a Resurrection And not those only but even some of our own who would have us think that the Fathers before Christ had only Promises of Temporal blessings not of Heavenly and Eternal Though St. Paul tells us when of the hope and resurrection of the dead he was called in question that he did so worship the God of his Fathers believing all things which were written in the Law and the Prophets and had hope towards God which they also allowed that there should be a Resurrection of the dead both of the Just and Vnjust and that it was a promise made of God to their Fathers to which their twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night hoped to come which were no other things than what Moses and the Prophets had said should come to pass and which to King Agrippa who if not a Jew was at least well acquainted with their Doctrines should not seem strange Act. 23.6 Act. 24.14 15. Act. 26.2 3 6 7 8 22. And Heb. 11.13 that all these died in faith not having received the promises that is they died in the belief of better things than what they had yet received But saw them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them and confessed they were but strangers and Pilgrims upon Earth And our Saviour proves it out of the Old Testament Mat. 22.32 by such an Argument as if one of us should have urged it would perhaps have been ridiculed I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob Now God is not the God of the dead but of the living And the Apostle pursues the same Argument Heb. 11.9 10 14 15 16. They sojourned in the Land of promise as in a strange Land dwelling in Tabernacles movable from place to place for they looked for a City which hath foundations a fixed City not flitting as were those Tabernacles whose builder and maker of God Declaring plainly that they did seek a Country Not such as that from whence they came but a better Country that is a Heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City where he directly argues that God's Promise to be their God was a Promise of Heaven And no doubt but the Prophets and Men of God had taught them all along to put a Spiritual Sense upon those seemingly Temporal Promises though the Sadduces would not believe it but cavilled at it in so much that not only the Pharisees and Doctors of the Law but even the Women embraced it even before Christ's Resurrection I know saith Martha of her dead Brother Lazarus that he shall Rise again in the Resurrection at the last day Joh. 11.24 And of such Spiritual Senses we have copious Instances in the Epistle to the Hebrews and elsewhere frequently And as they did without any reluctances readily embrace the Doctrine of the Resurrection when more clearly declared by the Apostles as a thing not wholly new to them so neither do we find in them any Reluctance to that of the Trinity for which in likelihood they had in like manner been before prepared but readily closed with the Form of Baptism in the Name not Names of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 And that Solemn Benediction 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen Where we have all the Three Persons reckoned together as they are also in that celebrated place 1 Joh. 5.7 The Father the Word and the Holy Ghost these Three are One. And as they had been before by Christ himself Joh. 14.26 The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in My Name He shall teach you all things And Joh. 15.26 The Comforter whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of truth which Proceedeth from the Father He shall testify of Me. And to name no more places Mat. 3.16 17. Jesus when he was baptized went straitway out of the Water And lo the heavâ—ns were opened unto him and he John the Baptist saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon Him And lo a voice from heaven saying This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased 4. There is yet another Consideration which doth confirm this opinion that the Doctrine of the Trinity was not unknown to the Jewish Church before Christ From the footsteps thereof yet extant in Heathen Writers 'T is well known to those conversant in such Studies that much of the Heathen Learning their Philosophy Theology and Mythology was borrowed from the Jews though much Disguised and sometimes Ridiculed by them Which things though they be Fabulous as disguised in a Romantick dress yet they are good Evidence that there was a Truth in History which gave occasion to those Fables None doubts but Ovid's Fable of the Chaos of which all things were made took its rise from Moses's History of the Creation And Deucalion's Flood from that of Noah and the Titan's fighting against the Gods from the Builders of Babel's Tower And that of Two-faced Janus from Noah's looking backward forward to the World before and since the Flood And many the like of which we may see in Natalis Comes in Bochartus and others And of which we have a large Collection in Theophilus Gale's Court of the Gentiles And in Dr. Duport's Gnomologia Homerica wherein is a Collection of Homer's Sayings which look like Allusions to like Passages in Sacred Scripture and seem to be borrowed most of them from those Books of it which were written before Homer's time who yet is one of the most Ancient and most Famed of Heathen Writers Plato hath borrowed so much of his Philosophy History and Theology from the Jewish learning as that he hath obtained the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moses disguised in a Greek dress And may seem because the name of Jews was odious to cite them rather by the names of certain Barbarians Syrians Phoenicians Egyptians c. From that Title of God in Exodus I AM 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or from the Equivalent names of Jah and Jehovah he borrows his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Being or that which Is the very Being the true Being which are the Titles he gives to the Supreme God For his Immortality of the Soul he reckons the best Argument to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Divine Revelation which he had by Tradition from certain Ancients who lived as he speaks nearer to the Gods as if he had borrowed even this Phrase from Deut. 4.7 What nation is so great who hath God so Nigh unto them And much more as hath been noted by others And I am so far from thinking as the Socinians would have us