Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	distinct_a	person_n	property_n	2,539	5	9.4838	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39279	A defence of the Thirty nine articles of the Church of England written in Latin by J. Ellis ... now done into English ; to which are added the Lambeth Articles ; together with the judgment of Bishop Andrews, Dr. Overall, and other eminent and learned men upon them.; Articulorum XXXIX Ecclesiae Anglicanae defensio. English	Ellis, John, 1599?-1665.; Andrewes, Lancelot, 1555-1626.; Overall, John, 1560-1619.; Church of England. Thirty-nine Articles.	1700 (1700)	Wing E587; ESTC R1641	74,086	146

is an Union between Two absolute Things there ind●ed there is a Composition But in God his Essence is absolute and the Person relative And Persons do not differ from one another really and essentially but really and personally i. e. by relative Personalities Obj. 8. Where there are One and Three Beings there there are Four Buut in God there are One and Three Beings the Father Son and Holy Ghost are Three and yet Essence it self is none of these Answ. * We are not to imagine here that the Author meant to favour the Sabellian Heresie For though to say that Three Persons are Three Modes of Subsistence be Sabelliani● yet as an Answer to the foregoing Objection the fa●rest Interpretation is That though there be Three distinct Persons in the Godhead or Divine Nature the Divine Nature is not to be reckoned as a thing distinct and separate from them And this will give likewise an Orthodox Sense to the Comparison of Light There is one only Essence in God and Three Persons are only the Three Modes of his Subsistence Now Modes do not number a thing but they are numbered and included in it so that it cannot be said to be different from them So for Example if there be Three Degrees of Light the Morning Noon and Evening Light Light it self will not be any fourth thing in respect of these Degrees which are to be reckoned up and included under Light singly and simply considered Obj. 9. If there be Three Persons in the Divine Essence then there will be first and second before and after and so it will not be perfectly simple Answ. Before and after do not relate to the Essence but to the Modes of subsisting And though they generally suppose a priority of Time and Essence yet there is a priority of Order that does not exclude a Co-aeternity And Eternity has relation to the Essence of God Obj. 10. The Doctrine of the Trinity is contrary to Reason because it asserts the same numerical Essence to be wholly in One and wholy in Three which seems impossible Answ. The Divine Essence is One and Infinite and so is wholly in One Person and wholly in Three This cannot be said to be impossible since the Essence of a reasonable Soul is totally in the whole and wholly in every Part. Now the true Image of this thing is this That many Men are One Man only by a Participation of the Species or Humane Nature Obj. 11. This Doctrine introduces Three Infinites when it is impossible thsre should be any more than One. Answ. There is One Infinite viz. the Divine Essence however that Infinity is not a personal Property but an essential one There are not indeed Three infinite Gods but Three Persons make up One infinite Nature Obj. 12. The Father is said to be the only true God Joh. 17. 3. Answ. Hereby are excluded all fictitious Deities or Creatures but not the Son or the Holy Ghost Even the Father alone is God who has an Omnipotent Son Obj. 13. The Scripture does not make use of these Words and Phrases Trinity Person and to proceed Answ. Although these Terms are not to be met with in the Scriptures yet the Sense and Meaning of them are plainly to be fetched from thence ART II. Of the Word or Son of God which was made very Man THE Son which is the Word of the Father begotten from everlasting of the Father the very and eternal God of one Substance with the Father took Man's Nature in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin of her Substance So that Two whole and perfect Natures that is to say the Godhead and Manhood were joyned together in One Person never to be divided whereof is One Christ very God and very Man who truly suff●red was cru●fied dead and buried to reconc●le his Father to us and to be a Sa●fice not only for O●nal Guilt but also for the Actual Sins of Men. Obj. 1. That it does by no means agree to a Spiritual N●e to ●eget therefore Christ is not 〈◊〉 of God Answ. This is true Physically speaking in the manner that corporeal Substances be et their Likeness and Substance but it very well agrees in a Me a physical Sense as an Angelical or Human Mind begets Reason which is the proper Fruit of the Mind and in the most Spiritual Sense of all we may suppose one Person to beget another from and in himself as the Father begat the Son Obj. 2. That Christ has not all the Divine Perfections because he wants Paternity which is a Perfection of the Father therefore he is not God Answ. Christ has all the absolute Perfections that are common to the Three Persons which is sufficient although he has not the Chracteristical Ones which are proper only to One. Obj. 3. That if the Father and the Son are of the same Essence then if the Son be incarnate and made Flesh the Father is so too Answ. The whole Divine Essence is incarnate not absolutely but relatively inasmuch as it is wholly in the Son the whole Divinity originally undertook the Work of Incarnation This may be illustrated by a Similitude Three Sisters weave one Garment and the second wears it Obj. 4. If the eternal Son of God be incarnated it follows that he had a Being and was a Person before he was incarnate If this be so What is that which was conceived in the Virgin 's Womb and bo●n Not a Person for then there would be Two Persons and Two Sons of God If the Person is not born of the Virgin how does that deserve to be called a Man which is born of her since no body can be called a Man that is not a Humane Person For a Man is distinguished to be such by his Person and nothing else Answ. There is one sort of Individual which subsists of it self and is rightly called Person and another which does not subsist of it self but in another as the Hand in the Body But because it does not subsist of it self is therefore not to be called a Person So the Humane Nature of Christ never did subsist by it self but always in the Divine Logos and for that Reason was never of it self a Person Obj. 5. God sent his Son not in true Flesh but as the Apostle says Rom. 8. 3. in the Similitude of sinful Flesh And so Christ was not a true Man Answ. The true Flesh of Christ is called the Similitude of Flesh not simply so but as obnoxious to the Sin of the Flesh not that Christ did assume the Likeness of Flesh and as it were the Image of a Body and not a real one but only the Similitude of sinning Flesh This could not be for Christ was not a Sinner though he was like to Sinners Obj. 6. Christ and Melchisedeck are compared together because both of them were without Father and without Mother Heb. 7. 3. And therefore Christ was not born of a Virgin Answ. Christ is said to be without Father