there the Effect is as early as its Cause because the Cause cannot subsist without its Effect as the Sun cannot be a Sun without Light and Fire cannot be Fire without Heat And this is the Case here the Son is begotten by the Father and is God of God Light of Light the Holy Ghost proceeds from Father and Son but Father Son and Holy Ghost are essentially but One God and therefore unless the same One God can be afore and after himself in the Trinity there can be no afore or after but all Three Persons are Coeternal because they are essentially One Eternal God and it is in vain to confound our Minds with conceiving an Eternal Generation for that is as intelligible as an Eternal Being we can see the necessity of both but cannot comprehend either no more than we can Eternity It is demonstrable something must be Eternal and it is as certain that an Eternal Mind eternally knows it self and loves it self for there can be no infinite Mind without a reflex Knowledge of himself which is his Eternal Son nor without the love of himself and his One Image which is the Holy Spirit of which I have sufficiently discoursed already And thus we are come to the last part of our Task what concerns the Incarnation of Christ which after all that has been said to prove Christ to be the Eternal Son of God incarnate will take up no great time for what ever difficulties there may be in the Philosophy of the Incarnation or how God and Man is united into One Person it will not shake my Faith who see a thousand things every day which I can give no Philosophical Account of and which a little Philosophy would teach considering men not to pretend to give any account of and yet we believe our Eyes without understanding the Philosophy of things and why we should not believe a Divine Revelation to without it I know not But let 's hear what he has to say The right Faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Iesus Christ the Son of God is both God and Man Then the Lord Christ is two Persons for as he is God he is a Person Very right And as he is a Man he is a Person that we deny that he is a distinct Person from the Godhead when united to God But a rational Soul vitally united to a Human Body is a Person Right when it is by it self and so a Soul without a vital Union to a Human Body is a Person and a Beast which has no reasonable Soul but only an Animal Life as a Man has together with a Human Soul is a Person or a Suppositum or what he will please to call it but it is a distinct living subsisting Being by it self but when the Rational and the Animal Life are united in Man he is not two Persons a Rational and an Animal Person but one Person and therefore we neither need own Christ to be two Persons with Nestorius which yet is much more innocent than to deny his Godhead nor deny him either to be God or Man for he is God-Man in one Person as a Man is a Reasonable and Animal Creature united into One Person though we may find the reasonable and animal life subsisting apart and when they do so they are two and but one when united This is explained in the Creed by the Union of Soul and Body for as the reasonable Soul and Flesh is One Man so God and Man is One Christ which he says vainly enough is the only offer at Reason that is to be found in the whole Creed Well! we are glad any thing will pass with him though it be but for an offer at reason and let us hear how he confutes it 1. He says In the Personal Vnion of a Soul with a Body the Vnion is between Two finite things but in the pretended Personal Vnion of God to Man and Man to God the Vnion is between finite and infinite which on the Principles of the Trinitarians I wish he had told us what those Principles are is impossible For we must either suppose that finite and infinite are commensurate that is equal which every one knows is false or that the finite is united but to some part of the infinite and is disjoyned from the rest which all Trinitarians deny and abhor I beg your pardon Sir they were never so silly as to think of it but they abhor to see such Sacred Mysteries treated with so much Ignorance and Impudence Since he is for confuting the Doctrine of the Trinity by raising Difficulties about the manner of this Union how God and Man are united into One Person I desire he would first try his skill in inferior things and tell me how the parts of Matter hang together which though every Body thinks he knows I doubt no Body does Then I would desire to know how Soul and Body are united how a Spirit can be fastened to a Body that it can no way release it self though never so desirous of it till the vital Union which no Body knows what it is is dissolved Why the Soul can leave the Body when the Body is disabled to perform the Offices of Life but cannot leave it before The Soul I say which we Trinitarians believe to be a Spirit which can pass through Matter which cannot be touched or handled or held by Matter and yet feels the impressions of Matter is pleased or afflicted with them and sympathizes with the Body as if it could be cut by a Knife or burnt with a Fever or torn by wild Beasts as the Body is And since he apprehends there can be no Union without Commensuration and therefore a finite and infinite Being cannot be united because they are not Commensurate I desire to know whether he thinks the Soul and Body are Commensurate whether the Soul have parts as the Body has which answer to every part of the Body and touch in every Point These will be very new Discoveries if he can say any thing to them if he can't it is his best way to deny the Union of Soul and Body because he cannot understand it to assert that man has no Soul but only a Body because it is impossible that Matter and Spirit should ever be united into one Person and Life which is to the full as unreasonable as to deny the Personal Union of God and Man because he cannot understand how finite and infinite which are not Commensurate nor can be because neither a finite nor infinite Spirit have any parts to be measured can be united But in great good Nature he has found out a Salvo for the Trinitarians That God indeed is infinite and every Soul and Body even that of Christ finite yet the whole God and the whole Man are united because as the whole Eternity of God doth Coexist to a moment of time so the whole Immensity of God is in every Mathematical point of place
And adds The very truth is they cannot otherwise defend the Incarnation or Personal Vnion of an infinite God to a finite Man This is Gibberish which I do not understand but this I do understand which I suppose is the meaning of it if it have any meaning That an Eternal Being who has no beginning and no succession of Being may Coexist with time and that an infinite Mind who has no parts or extension is present every where without extension This I have sufficiently discoursed already and refer my Reader to it But he has a thundring Argument against this But withal it must be owned that then the Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation do infer imply and suppose all the Contradictions that Mr. Johnson has objected to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation I hope not all for that is a very good Discourse and I only wish for the Author's sake si sic omnia but pray what is the matter His whole Book and all his Demonstrations are founded upon these two Suppositions That a longer time doth not all of it coexist in a shorter nor is a greater extension constipated or contained in a less Suppose this for I have forgot what his Demonstrations are and have not the Book now by me what is this to the Trinity and Incarnation though a longer time cannot all of it coexist in a shorter which I hope is not so loosly expressed by Mr. Iohnson because it is not sense for time is in a perpetual flux and nothing of it exists but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but what is this to an Eternal Being's coexisting with time without time or succession Though a greater Extension cannot be contained in a less what is this to an infinite Mind's being present every where without Extension for here is no Comparison between a longer and shorter time but between Time and Eternity which is not Time nor Succession nor between a greater and less Extension but between a finite and infinite Mind neither of which have any Extension But suppose the worst how does this concern the Doctrine of the Incarnation If he could tell how to apply all the Demonstrations of Mr. Iohnson which he tells us in Print he forbears to do because the Press is not open to them these Absurdities and Contradictions would not fall upon the Doctrine of the Incarnation but upon the Notion of an Omnipresent God who has no Parts nor Extension which was not invented to salve the Difficulties of the Incarnation but is the true Notion of God and his Omnipresence who is not Omnipresent by Parts but is every where a perfect and infinite Mind and if he can ridicule God out of the World we will quarrel no more about the Incarnation I do not at all wonder that he boasts so much what Follies and Contradictions he could discover in the Athanasian Creed for a man who cannot understand common Sense can never fail of finding Follies and Contradictions 2. He proves That the Vnion between God and Man cannot make one Person as the Vnion of Body and Soul does because the Vnion of Soul and Body is not the Vnion of Two Persons but only of One Person the Soul to a thing otherways without Life Reason Memory or Free-will But in the pretended Vnion of God with Man there are Two distinct and very different Lives Memories Reasons and Free-wills which utterly destroys a Personal Vnion for that supposes but One Life One Reason One Memory One Free-will Now this is false as to matter of Fact for though we will allow the Soul to be the Person yet by its Union to the Body it has two sorts of different Lives Wills Affections Appetites Reasons the Animal and Sensual and the Rational Life Will Appetites a Carnal and a Spiritual Reason that is two different Principles of Flesh and Spirit as much as if every Man had two Souls So that there may be two Lives two Wills c. in the same Person and it makes no difference in this Case whether these two Wills be seated in two different Subjects or the same Soul by its vital Union to Matter have two distinct Wills and Reasons and therefore we must find out some other Notion of a Personal Union than this that one Person can have but one Will one Reason c. for it is plain one Person may have two Wills and Reasons and if he may have two he may have three according to the number and diversity of Natures which are united into One Person Now when I inquire what it is that unites different Natures into One Person I do not mean what it is that naturally unites them neither what the natural Union is between Soul and Body in the Person of Man nor of God and Man in the Person of Christ for this we know nothing of and therefore no pretended Contradictions and Impossibilities in this shall hinder my belief of it as I discoursed in the first Section But how two different Natures may be so united as to make but One Agent for One Agent is One Person Now there are but two things necessary to this 1. That these different Natures be so united that the superior Nature have the Government of the whole Person unless there be One governing Principle there cannot be One Agent and therefore not One Person and the superior Nature must be the Governour and the Person as this Author tells us the Soul is the Person in man as being the superior governing Principle and in the Soul Reason has the natural government of Sense as being the superior Faculty proper to a Spirit whereas Sense results from its Union to Matter And thus in Christ the Divine Word is the Person and in this Personal Union of God and Man has such a government of Humane Nature as Reason has over Sense in Man and therefore St. Iohn tells us That the Word was made Flesh or was Incarnate for the Person of the Word took Humane Nature into a Personal Union with himself And this is the Reason why all the Actions and Passions of Humane Nature are attributed to Christ as the Son of God because the Word is the Person to whom Humane Nature is united and who has the sole government of it as all the Sufferings and Actions of the Body are attributed to the Man though the Soul is the Person because it is the superior and governing Power and constitutes the Person 2. To compleat a Personal Union it is necessary there be One Consciousness in the whole As a Man has a conscious Sensation of every thing which is done or suffered either by Body or Soul feels its own Reasonings and Passions and all the Pains and Pleasures of the Body and in this Sense there must be but one Life in one Person and this own Consciousness to the whole is the One Life But then we must observe That where different Natures are united into One Person this universal Consciousness to the whole Person is seated
hold the true Catholick Faith and that the Faith of the Athanasian Creed is that Catholick Faith which is necessary to Salvation 1. As for the first of these I would desire him to consider that though without Holiness no Man shall see God yet no Man is saved by his good Works but by Faith in Christ to say that we shall be saved by Holiness and good Works without Faith in Christ is to assert the Merit of good Works ten thousand times more than ever Papists themselves did The meritorious Works of Popery serve only instead of Penance to keep them out of Purgatory or to shorten their time there they serve instead of that Temporal Punishment which absolved and penitent Sinners must undergo for those sins the Eternal Punishment of which is remitted not for their own meritorious Works but for the merits and expiation of Christ but he who expects to be saved for his good Works without Faith in Christ attributes such a merit to good Works as redeems him from the Wrath of God and the Eternal Punishments due to Sin and purchases Eternal Rewards for him which is somewhat more than the Church of Rome pretends to especially since whatever merit they attribute to good Works they ascribe wholly to the Merits of Christ whose Merits alone have made our good Works meritorious which is very honourable to our Saviour and very Orthodox Divinity in comparison with those who think good Works such meritorious things whatever their Faith be and if he considers this twice I suppose he will confess that Faith in Christ the true Catholick Faith is necessary to Salvation 2. Nay it is necessary before all other things to our Salvation because it is necessary to Baptism which alone puts us into a state of Salvation For he that believes and is baptized shall be saved but he that believes not shall be damned All Christians must confess that there is no other Name given under Heaven whereby Men can be saved but onely the Name of Christ that Faith in Christ in adult Persons is necessary to Baptism that Baptism alone incorporates us into the Body of Christ and puts us into a state of Salvation and therefore that neither Jews nor Turks nor Heathens none but believing and baptized Christians are in a state of Salvation how morally vertuous soever their Lives may be Whoever does not confess this makes nothing of the Covenant of Grace in Jesus Christ nothing of his Sacrifice Priesthood and Intercession makes the Christian Religion nothing but a new and more perfect Sect of Philosophy than either Jews or Heathens taught before whose Condition yet is as safe as the Condition of Christians if they live according to the knowledge they have Our Author then must either renounce the Christian Religion or confess the true Catholick Faith or a true Faith in Christ is before all other things necessary to Salvation because this is that which puts us into a state of Salvation by Christ without which no Man can be saved according to the terms of the Gospel 3. If Faith in Christ be necessary to Salvation I suppose all Men will grant it must be the true Faith in Christ not a false and heretical Faith for that is equivalent to Infidelity there seems to be little difference between not believing in Christ at all and not believing what we ought to believe of him and the belief of which is necessary to Salvation for if we do not believe that of Christ which is necessary to Salvation we may as well believe nothing and then to be sure it concerns us to hold the Catholick Faith whatever that be 4. That the Faith of the Holy Trinity is that true Christian Faith which is necessary to Salvation appears from the Form of Baptism itself for we are baptised in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost that is into the Faith and Worship of the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity which is the Substance of the Athanasian Creed This is the Baptismal Faith and that certainly is necessary to Salvation if any Faith be Now when we consider that Baptism is our solemn Dedication to God and Admission into Covenant with him to be dedicated to the Son and Holy Ghost in the same manner in the very same act and same form of words whereby we are dedicated to the Father were they not One Supream and Soveraign God with the Father would make any considering Man abhor the Christian Religion as the most open and bare-faced Idolatry as joyning Creatures with God in the most solemn Act of Religion that of dedicating Men to His Worship and Service But not to insist on that now our Author may hence learn that to believe in Father Son and Holy Ghost is necessary to Salvation because it is the Faith of Baptism and if that Exposition which the Athanasian Creed has given of this Faith be the true Catholick Doctrine then that is necessary to Salvation and therefore the Creed begins very properly with asserting the necessity of holding the Catholick Faith if we will be saved which must be as necessary to Salvation as it is to be Christians Which Faith except a Man keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly By keeping this Faith whole and undefiled must be meant if any thing be meant that a Man should believe and profess it without adding to it or taking from it If we take from it we do not keep it whole if we add ought to it we do not keep it undefiled and either way we shall perish everlastingly A Man of ordinary Sense and Candor would have said that to keep this Faith whole and undefiled signified not to corrupt the Faith either by adding to it or taking from it for whatever we add or whatever we take away which does not alter the Essentials of our Faith the Faith remains whole and undefiled still But this would have spoiled his notable Remarks both as to adding and taking away First for adding What if an honest plain Man because he is a Christian and a Protestant should think it necessary to add this Article to the Athanasian Creed I believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be a Divine Infallible and Compleat Rule both for Faith and Manners I hope no Protestant would think a Man damned for such addition And if so then this Creed of Athanasius is at least an unnecessary Rule of Faith That is to say it is an addition to the Catholick Faith to own the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith As if it were an addition to the Laws of England to own the Original Records of them in the Tower For the Catholick Faith is what we are to believe the Rule of Faith is that Book or Writing wherein this Catholick Faith is to be found and upon the Authority of which we must believe it and therefore what the Catholick Faith is