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A67417
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Three sermons concerning the sacred Trinity by John Wallis.
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Wallis, John, 1616-1703.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing W611; ESTC R17917
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57,981
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110
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you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father He shall testifie of Me. Where it is manifest that in what sense the Father and Son are to be reputed Persons the Comforter or Holy Ghost is in the same sense so to be reputed So that I think I have clearly Vindicated not only the Notion That these Three Somewhats may be One God But the Name also That these Somewhats may fitly be called Persons Objection VI. I shall name but one Objection more which when I have satisfied I shall conclude for this time That 6 th Objection and 't is but a weak one is this The Trinitarians do not all agree but differ among themselves in expressing their Notions in this Matter Very well And do not the Antitrinitarians differ much more Doth not the Arian and the Socinian differ as much from one another as either of them do from us and declare that they so do And do not the Arians among themselves and the Socinians amongst themselves differ more than do the Trinitarians Certainly they do It must be confessed that different Men as well in the same as in different Ages have very differently expressed themselves according to their different Sentiments of Personality and of the particular Distinctions of the three Persons among themselves But so it is in all the most obvious things in the world As in Time Place Space Motion and the like We are all apt to think that we all know well enough what we mean by those Words till we be asked But if we be put to it to express our selves concerning any of them What it is whether a Thing or Nothing or not a Thing or somewhat of a Thing and what that somewhat is it would be long enough before we should all agree to express our selves just in the same manner and so clearly as that no man who hath a mind to cavil could find occasion so to do I might say the like of Heat and Cold of Light Sight and Colour of Smells and Tâ—sts and the different Sorts of them Can we never be sâ—id to agree in this That the Fire doth Burn and Consume the Wooâ— till we be all agreed what is the Figure of those Fiery Atoms and what their Motion and from what Impulse which enter the Pores of â—he Wood and separate its parts and convert some of them to Smoak some to Flame and â—â—me to Ashes and which to which and in what manner all this is done What a folly then is it to require that in the things of God we should all so agree as to express our thoughts just in the same manner as is not possible to do in the most obvious things we meet with And in such a case as wherein to express our Notions we have no Words but Figurative it is not to be thought strange that one man should make use of one Metaphor and another of another according as their several Fansies serve But thus far I think the Orthodox are all agreed That between these Three which the Scripture calls The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost or the Father the Word and the Spirit there is a Dâ—stinction greater than that of what we call the Divine Attributes but not so as to be Three Gods And this Distinction they have thought fit to denote by the Word Hypostasis or Person They are also all agreed that one of these Persons namely the Son or the Word was Incarnate or Made Flesh and did take to himself our Humane Nature But as to the particular Modes or Manner How either how these two Natures are United or how these three Persons are Distinguished each from other we may be content to be Ignorant farther than God hath been pleased to Reveal to us We know that our Immortal Soul is joined with an Humane Body so as to make One Man without ceasing that to be a Spirit and this to be a Body But 't is hard for us to say How And accordingly we say that the Man Christ Jesus without ceasing to be Man and God manifested in the Flesh without ceasing to be God are One Christ But what kind of Union this is which we call Hypostatical we do not throughly understand We know also that the Father is said to Beget the Son to be Begotten the Holy Ghost to Proceed But neither do we fully understand the import of these Words nor is it needful that we should But so far as was said before we do all agree and we may safely rest there Now to God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost three Persons but One God be Honour and Glory and Praise now and for ever The End of the Second Sermon A Third SERMON Concerning the TRINITY JOH xvij 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this is life eternal that they might know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent I Have in a former Discourse from this Verse entered upon the Doctrine of the Trinity not so much as being contained in it as occasioned by it I have shewed that the word Onely is here restrictive not of the Subject Thee but of the Predicate True God Affirming the Father to be the Onely True God though not the Father Onely Nor is it exclusive of the Son who is also the same True God and is so expresly called by this same Writer 1 Joh. 5.20 where speaking of Jesus Christ he says This is the True God and Eternal Life as if it were spoken with a direct aspect to the words before us Now that Christ is often called God neither the Arians nor the Socinians do deny And it is so frequent and so evident as not to be denyed Not only in the place last cited but in many others Thy throne O God endureth for ever Heb. 1.8 The Word was with God and the Word was God Joh. 1.1 My Lord and my God Joh. 20.28 The Being over all God blessed for ever Amen Or the Supreme Being the ever blessed God Rom. 9.5 And elsewhere Objection VII But to this they Object That though he be sometime called God yet by God is not there meant the Supreme God But either a mere Titular God as the Socinians will have it as one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 8.5 one who is called God but indeed is not but a mere Man however highly dignified Or as the Arians will have it that he is God indeed but not the Supreme God not the same God with the Father but an Inferiour God Deus factus a made-God a Creature-God who was indeed before the World but not from Eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there was a Time a Moment a Quando when he was not when he had not a Being In Answer to both which I shall endeavour to shew by the most signal Characters whereby the Supreme God the Onely true God is set forth to us in Scripture and by which he is therein Distinguished from
Hence that in Job 2.4 Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life And that of Solomon A living Dog is better than a dead Lion Eccles. 9.4 For when Life is gone there succeeds an incapacity not only of Doing but also of Enjoying Good From this consideration it is that the other significations of the word have their Original For Life being looked upon as the greatest natural Good and Death as the greatest natural Evil The one by a Synechdoche speciei is frequently used both in sacred and profane Authours to signify Good indefinitely especially the greatest Good and the other in like manner to signifie Evil especially the greatest Evil. The one is put for Happiness and the other for Misery And then again by a Synechdoche generis this general notion of Good or Evil Happiness or Misery implied in the words Life and Death becomes applicable to this or that particular Good and Evil as occasion serves Suppose the Spiritual Life of Grace or Death in Sin And the Eternal Life of Glory in Heaven or the Eternal Death of Torment in Hell Thus Deut. 30.19 I have set before you saith Moses to Israel life and death blessing and cursing where Life and Death are made equivalent to Blessing and Cursing therefore chuse life saith he that thou and thy seed may Live that is that you may be Happy So at ver 15. of the same Chapter I have set before you saith he life and good death and evil Where Life and Good are put exegetical each of other and so Death and Evil. And in the same sense it is the Poet tells us Non est Vivere sed Valere vita Thus God to Adam in Paradise for 't is no new Trope nor of yesterday In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death that is thou shalt become miserable For we know that Adam did not the same day die a natural Death but some hundreds of years after but he did that day begin to be in a state of Misery whereof his natural Death was but a part So Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death where the comprehension of all the Evils or Misery which sin deserves or God inflicteth for it is called Death like as on the contrary all the Happiness which the Saints enjoy is on the same account called Life The gift of God is eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So here By Life we understand Happiness contrary to which is the Death of Misery and then by a Metalepsis or double Trope that Happiness in special which the Saints enjoy in Glory though not exclusive of what they have before and that Misery which in Hell attends the wicked 'T is true indeed that the condition of the Saints in Glory after the Resurrection may even in a proper sense be called Life because of that Union which shall then be of Soul and Body and the exercise of at least the most noble faculties of Life Yet do not I take that to be the true import of the Word here For though it be true that the Saints in Glory have not only an Union of Soul and Body but likewise a knowledge or sense of that estate wherein they are which may import not only a Life but even a Rational Life yet as true it is that the Damned in Hell have so too for their Souls and Bodies shall not be less United nor shall they be Insensible of their Woful condition yet is not that estate of theirs called a Life though naturally it be so and it is their misery that it is so but Eternal Death because a Life of Wo and Misery not of Bliss and Happiness A Living Misery being in this sense the truest Death Secondly As it is called Life for its Excellency so for its Duration it is called Eternal It is very usual in Scripture in the use of Allegories or Figurative expressions to add some kind of Epithet to distinguish the word so used from the same in its native signification And when the word is used so as to express figuratively somewhat more excellent than it self the Epithet hath somewhat of additional exellency in it Thus Christ is said to be the Spiritual rock 1 Cor. 10.4 the Living Bread or Manna that came down from Heaven Joh. 6.50 to distinguish the words so metaphorically used from the Rock and Manna literally spoken of in the story of their travails in the Wilderness And the Church of Christ as Living stones become a Spiritual house and a Holy priesthood to offer up Spiritual sacrifices to God 1 Pet. 2.5 Where the Epithets serve both for distinction from the material Stones and Temple the Levitical Priesthood and corporeal Sacrifices and for the commendation or preheminence of those before these So the new heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem Rev. 21.1 2. Jerusalem that is above Gal. 4.26 And Matth. 26.29 I will drink no more saith Christ of the fruit of the vine till I drink it New with you in my Father's kingdom Not that Christ did intend anew to drink of such wine in his Father's Kingdom but of a New wine another sort of wine than that commonly so callâ—d to wit those spiritual Joys in his Father's Kingdom which should more refresh their Hearts and Souls than this wine did their Bodies So I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman Joh. 15.1 I am the good shepherd Joh. 10.11 Not that Christ was more truly a Vine in propriety of speech than that which we so call or indeed a Shepherd who took the care of Sheep But that there was in Christ somewhat of another kind much more eminent than that of the Vine which did yet in some measure resemble it and a much greater Care but of another nature of those he calls his Flock than a Shepherd hath of his Sheep So here This is life eternal Not a natural Life such as is commonly meant by the word Life a life of the Body which after a short time is to be exchanged for Death but a Life a Happiness of another nature a far more excellent Good than what we call Life which doth but very imperfectly express it An Eternal Life And this Eternity as it serves in general to distinguish this word Life from the ordinary acceptation and doth import for the kind of it somewhat much more excellent So it doth particularly point out that Everlasting Duration of this so great a Happiness 'T is that which though indeed it have a Beginning shall never have an End And upon this account it is that it is so often called Eternal Life and Life Everlasting that it were endless to enumerate the places where it is so called An eternal inheritance A house eternal in the heavens An inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which fadeth not away A kingdom which cannot be moved An eternal weight of glory When our mortal shall have put on immortality And this consideration