is termed the Lord of Hosts by Isaiah is by the Apostle Paul's interpretation the Holy Ghost And if he was worshipped by the Angels certainly he was no Angel no created Angel himself but truly God Neither can our Adversaries take Sanctuary under the wing of their common Evasion viz. by pretending that it might be the Lord of Hosts or the most High God that put the words specified into the mouth of Isaiah and yet do it too by an Angel For 1. here is no ground at all no touch or breathing of any circumstance to build such a conceit or pretense upon 2. That which the Lord of Hosts did unto Isaiah by the Ministery of an Angel in his Vision is expresly ascribed to the Angel who did minister unto him in this kind Isa 6.6 7. Then flew one of the Seraphims unto me having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from off the Altar and he laid it upon my mouth and said Lo this hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged What God did by an Angel unto Isaiah is as we hear expresly attributed to the Angel that did it And if it had been an Angel that by order and Commission from God dictated that Prophesie unto Isaiah which here he is commanded to utter unto the People why should not this have been mentioned and the act of dictation we speak of ascribed unto the Angel as well as that other Especially considering that the Angel which is pretended to have been ministerial unto God in the latter I mean in suggesting the words of the Prophesie unto the Prophet is supposed to be an Angel of far greater worth and dignity than the other for such the Holy Ghost is supposed to be by our Adversaries viz. the supreme Angel in dignity Now it is no waies reasonable to suppose that the Act of an inferiour Agent or Instrument should be recorded and the act of a far greater Instrument in and about the same business should be buried in silence Nay 3. And lastly for this the Prophet Isaiah is expresly said ver 11. to have called him Lord who had said unto him Go tell this people c. Then said I Lord how long If men had though but a competent anoynting with that wisdom which is from above as James speaketh Jam. 3.17 and so were made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 easie to be perswaded indeed possible to be perswaded by the truth or to the truth these things might satisfie and perswade them For what greater proof or argument can there be to evince the Holy Ghost to be truly God or God by Nature as the Apostle distinguisheth than that he should be worshipped or adored by the Angels who very well know to whom worship belongeth Yea as Christ the Son of God is directly prayed unto by Stephen Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit and again by John Rev. 22.20 Even so come Lord Jesus So is the Holy Ghost by the Church or Spouse of Christ Cant. 4.16 Awake thou North wind and come thou South blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out q.d. O Spirit of God breath upon my heart and soul be thou operative by thy grace and power upon me that so my Graces my holy Dispositions and Affections may freely utter themselves in the World with sutable actions and deportments Some I know understand this as if it were rather spoken by Christ to the Holy Ghost in reference to his Church whom they conceive he calleth his Garden than by the Spouse in respect of her self but the words in the latter end of the verse seem to evince the contrary for they must needs be understood as spoken by the Spouse Let my Beloved come into his Garden and eat his pleasant fruits Here she styles her self his Garden because of the pleasure and delight she knew he took in her and invites him into his Garden to eat his pleasant fruits i. e. Desires him to take contentment in her Graces and Services We heard not long since that the Spirit of God is in the Scriptures resembled by the wind and why Yet more plainly than this Sect. 16 John prays for mercy and peace for the seven Churches of Asia not only from God the Father and from Jesus Christ but also from the Holy Ghost Rev. 1.4 signified by the seven Spirits before the Throne of the Father for the multiplicity of his distributions and gifts given unto men And here it may be noted that the Holy Ghost is not only joyned together with the Father and the Son by John as with them constituting one and the same object of Divine Worship but is likewise mentioned out of the order wherein they are more usually named when all three are mentioned together viz. not in the last place but in the middle between the Father and the Son which is I suppose occasioned from hence because John had more to say in the immediate sequel of the Context concerning Christ and therefore according to the usual manner of the Scriptures in like case reserved the last place in the enumeration for him though his proper place were before If any man shall here object and say That John doth not properly or directly pray in the passage mentioned to the Holy Ghost no nor yet to the Father or the Son but only wisheth Grace and Peace unto the seven Churches from them joyntly To this I answer 1. If it be conceived that John only wisheth or desireth Grace and Peace unto the Churches yet it is plain that he wisheth them equally and indifferently from the Spirit of God as well as from the Father and the Son therefore he supposeth him to be a joynt Donour with the other two of these Blessings Doubtless he would not have wished or desired them from one that had no power or right of interest to confer them and if the Holy Ghost hath power to confer them what can either God the Father or the Son have more If it be said God the Father may have an original power and the Holy Ghost a derivative or communicated power only I reply 1. Here as not the least intimation of any such difference between the power of the one and of the other in the sense at least of him that objecteth For there is a sense indeed wherein it may be admitted without any prejudice to the Deity of the Holy Ghost that he hath only a derived or communicated right or power to give Grace and Peace and the Father alone the power Original in this kind As his Personality or Subsistence in the Divine Nature or Essence is communicated unto him by and from the Father together with the Son so may all Rights and Powers belonging hereunto and founded in such a Subsistence be said to be derived and communicated unto him also But as he partakes of or subsists in the same Divine Essence with the Father and the Son so his Right
that the word God in such Sayings as these cannot be taken Personally but of necessity must be taken Essentially viz. as signifying the Divine Nature or Essence wherin both Persons Father and Son do partake so that the sense and meaning of this Proposition is That the Father and the Son do subsist or are partakers of the same Divine Nature and Essence which Divine Nature or Essence is sometimes expressed by the word God So again when God is said to be a Spirit as Joh. 4.24 it is not to be taken Personally as if the meaning were either that the Father or the Son or the Spirit were a Spirit for though it be true of every of them that they are Spirits the Father is a Spirit and so the Son is a Spirit yet that our Saviour should here affirm it determinately or particularly of any one of them more than other no sufficient Reason can be given Therefore the meaning of our Saviour saying God is a Spirit must needs be this That the Divine Nature and Essence which is communicated to the Three Persons or wherein the Three Persons subsist and so are Essentially one and the same God that thâ—s Nature and Divine Essence is spiritual immaterial and invisible And yet more plainly Rom. 16.27 where God is termed only wise To God only wise be Glory The word God is to be taken Essentially because if it should be here taken Personally viz. for God the Father which our Adversary conceiveth and contendeth for with might and main affirming That to take God otherwise than Personally is to take him otherwise than he is and to mistake him and that there is no such acceptation of the word God in the Scriptures with the like But I say that in the place now before us To God only wise be Glory the word God must needs be taken essentially and not Personally is evident from hence because otherwise the Apostle must suppose that neither Christ nor the Holy Ghost had any wisdom in them or none considerable but God the Father only which how near or far off it is from Blasphemy I leave to sober men to determine Other places there are without number wherein the word God must needs be taken Essentially But these few produced and insisted on are sufficient for the proof thereof Therefore the distinction of God taken Personally and Essentially is not a distinction unheard of in Scriptures as our Adversarie groundlesly affirmeth unless as we noted before by being unheard of he meaneth in respect of the sound of words not in respect of the truth and substance of the matter neither do they who speak of God according to the sense and import of that distinction Affirm any thing of the unsearchable Nature of God which he hath not first affirmed of himself in the Scriptures and so are free from all the guilt of presumption upon such an account But the Adversary cannot be perswaded himself Sect. 3 nor be willing that others should be perswaded that the Scriptures should own or countenance any such distinction as that of God taken Personally and Essentially and therefore trieth his skill to make us believe that it is disclaimed by reason and accordingly levieth three Arguments or Reasons against it We shall propound them in their order as himself hath drawn them up and give replies unto them one by one First saith he It is impossible for any man if he would but endeavour to conceive the thing and not to delude himself and others with empty terms and words without understanding to distinguish the Person from the Essence of God and not to frame two Beings or things in his mind and consequently two Gods This is his first Reason to which we reply three things 1. Whereas to perswade others into his own Judgment or opinion he would put them upon endeavouring to conceive the thing distinctly to mould frame and fashion in their minds or imaginations the manner how a Divine Person should be distinguished from the Divine Nature or Essence Doth he not put men upon a direct course to make shipwrack of their Christianity and all they believe touching the Gospel and Christ Jesus For whereas there are many things plainly asserted and partly clearly supposed of the main Pillars of that Religion and Worship of God which the Gospel commendeth unto the World the mode or distinct manner whereof cannot be conceived or understood by men if so be men shall reject or deny them upon this account I mean because they cannot distinctly conceive or satisfie their imaginations how they should be they must together with the rejection of these reject all that which is built or hangs upon them which is as hath been said the main Fabrick or body of Christianity As to give an instance Because it is once and again plainly affirmed in the Gospel that a Virgin conceived and brought forth a Child and upon this Conception and Child thus brought forth we know that the whole projection and frame of the Gospel dependeth Yet who is able to conceive in his mind the distinct manner how she should or did Conceive or what the Holy Ghost particularly acted or did in order to enable or make her to Conceive or what she her self likewise did towards or about this Conception For to Conceive as well as bring forth is a Verb Active and importeth the doing of somewhat either per modum naturae or per modum voluntatis or both by her who is said to Conceive But that the whole Transaction between the Holy Ghost and the Virgin about the Conception of the Lord Jesus Christ God blessed for ever was mysterious and secret and the manner of it in respect of particulars purposely veiled by God is plainly enough intimated by the words or Phrases wherein the Holy Ghost himself expresseth the said business by the mouth of the Angel who first brought tidings from Heaven unto the Virgin of this high Favour intended by God towards her The Holy Ghost saith the Angel unto her shall come upon thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the vertue or power of the most High shall overshadow thee Luk. 1.35 Shall overshadow thee i. e. shall secretly and after a manner unknown not fit to be revealed unto men negotiate this great business with thee Now if a man should reason so or speak thus unto us about the Virgins Conception It is impossible for any man if he would but endeavour to conceive the things and not delude both himself and others with empty terms and words without understanding to understand or comprehend how a Virgin should Conceive Should he not attempt to perswade us out of the belief of the Gospel and to abandon our Christianity only upon this account because it requireth us to believe such a thing which we cannot conceive how it was or should be And what doth he less that argueth after the same manner to draw us from believing that a divine Person and the divine Essence can be
distinguished because we cannot conceive the particular manner how they are or may be distinguished Take another Instance of a thing oft supposed in the Scriptures and which is though in another kind very Fundamental too to Christian Religion at least to our embracing and professing of it The reasonable soul of a man is united unto the body and so the body is united likewise unto the Soul so as to make one and the same man or person This the Scripture supposeth in twenty places and ten we shall not need to cite any for the proof of it But who is there that is able distinctly to conceive or shape in his mind how or after what manner by what Ligament or bonds the Soul is united and knit unto the Body and the Body to it Or how or by what vertue or property inherent in the Soul it should enliven strengthen or give motion unto the Body To omit many particulars more relating to the state and condition of the Soul and Body in their union The things themselves being certain though the distinct manner of them or of their being be inscrutable unto men will a man charge him with deluding himself and others with empty terms and words without understanding who himself believeth and would have others believe also that the reasonable soul in natural union or conjunction with an humane body maketh one and the same intire man or person of man only because he cannot distinctly conceive the manner how such a thing should be Will a man go about to perswade himself that he is not a man Surely no all the Philosophers in the World and all the Learned men who have called up all their Learning and Principles to enquire about it were never able to reach the manner how such a thing should be We know not as Solomon informeth us Eccles 11.5 what is the way of the Spirit or how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with Child Shall we therefore deny that there is any such thing as the growing of a Child in the womb of her that bears it because no man knoweth how they do grow It is not a more common than true saying That many effects are visible and certain the reason or causes whereof are hid from men as the flowing and ebbing of the Sea that is a famous instance and the saltness of the water the Spots in the Moon the pointing of the Loadstone towards the North with many the like in Nature And if the Reasons and Causes of things be so hard to be come at so inaccessible to the Capacities and Understandings of men How much more are the modes the respective manner of the beings and subsistings of things these being many degrees more subtil and farther remote from the Understandings of men than the Causes and Reasons of the other And if the modi the intrinsical manner as the Schoolmen term them of created beings and their subsisting be so difficult to be conceived and understood it needeth not seem strange to us that the manner of the infinite and increated being which we call God and of his subsisting should be so far above our Apprehensions and capacities So that to put men upon endeavouring to conceive in their minds the particular manner how every thing should be or may be which the Scriptures only affirm to be and in case they cannot thus conceive of them to perswade them to deny their beings is in effect to perswade and bear them in hand that if they cannot he wise above that which is written they had as good throw up or cast aside that wich is written as vanity and untruth Most true it is that we ought not to believe any thing in matters of Religion but what we have a sufficient and substantial ground in Reason why we should believe it i. e. unless we have the Word of God for it which is the most substantial ground in Reason of all others why a thing should be believed But the Word of God revealeth many things simply to be the distinct manner of the being whereof it doth not reveal in which respect we stand bound to believe the truth and being of many things the manner of whose beings we are no way bound to believe because it is not revealed So that though we can not conceive nor stand bound to believe how or after what manner the divine Person differeth from the divine Essence nor again this Essence from such a Person yet we may and do stand bound to believe that they are distinguished the Scripture revealing this and not the other This for reply to the Argument propounded in the first place Secondly Whereas the Argument affirmeth Sect. 4 That it is impossible for any man to distinguish the Person from the Essence of God and not to frame two beings in his mind and consequently two Gods We reply further That this is manifestly untrue if by two beings he meaneth two things compleatly subsisting each a part by it self as for instance In Intellectual created Beings I can conceive a man or the person of a man and again the humane Nature or Essence of a man which differs from his Person for a man as Thomas or any other is not the Humane Nature but only partakes of it or subsists in it I say I can conceive in my mind the Person of Thomas and the Nature of Thomas and yet not conceive two things compleatly and a part subsisting and consequently not conceive two Thomases For the Nature of Thomas I mean the Humane Nature doth not any where subsist in Thomas his person a part by it self but only in the several and respective persons of mankind In like manner I can very well conceive in my mind a divine Person for instance the Father or the Son and likewise can conceive the divine Nature and Essence and yet not necessarily conceive or frame two beings i.e. two things completely and apart subsisting in my mind for the Divine Nature or Essence doth not really subsist apart from or out of the divine Persons which partakes therein be they one or be they more as the Humane Nature doth not any where subsist but in Thomas John and the rest of the individual persons of mankind who partake of this nature But though the Divine Essence be one and the same thing really and substantially with a divine Person and with all the Three yet doth it differ from it in consideration and respect so that I may conceive a divine person in my mind and conceive the divine Essence also and yet not necessarily conceive two things really distinct much less two Gods but two things distinct only in consideration but really one and the same As in the divine Attributes the Justice of God and the Mercy of God and so the Wisdome Patience Goodness c. they are really one and the same thing in God but they differ in consideration for when I conceive or consider the Justice of God the
reply and grant all this to be true But add by way of Explication of our sense in this grant that though the word God when spoken of the most High God denoteth him that ruleth over all and consequently a person because Actions are proper unto Persons and not unto Natures or Essences Yet it doth not necessarily denote any one person determinately or with the exclusion of all others but may signifie either the Father or the Son or the Holy Ghost For it is true that every one of them joyntly and severally hath absolute authority over all And as we lately heard the Apostle speaking particularly of the Second Person Christ calleth him Rom. 9.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him who is God over all God blessed for ever which supremacy of power the same Apostle in the very same expression of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 attributeth unto God the Father also Eph. 4.6 Doubtless he that is over all is the most High God we do not hold or teach that the Divine Nature or Essence as such ruleth over all or performeth any action but only as personally subsisting in or communicated unto the Father Son and Holy Ghost And this for reply to this first Argument by which he endeavoureth to prove the Son to be a sack cloath the Holy Ghost to be a Creature and not God His second Argument is this If he Sect. 8 that gave the Holy Spirit to the Israelites to instruct them be God or Jehovah alone then the Holy Spirit is not Jehovah or God but he that gave the Holy Spirit to the Israelites to instruct them is Jehovah alone therefore the Holy Spirit is not God The sequel of the Major is plain for if he that gave the Holy Spirit be Jehovah alone and yet the Holy Spirit that was given be Jehovah too the same will be Jehovah alone and not Jehovah alone which implieth a contradiction The Minor he saith is evidenced by Neh. 9.6 20. To this we reply briefly that the sequel of the Major Proposition as plain as the Author of it would suppose it to be is reprovable and to be denied though he that gave the Holy Spirit to the Israelites be Jehovah alone yet may the Holy Spirit who is said to have been given be Jehovah also Nor doth it imply any contradiction that the same that is the same person or the same being should be Jehovah alone and not Jehovah alone viz. in different respects and considerations as thus the Father and there is the same reason of the Son and of the Holy Ghost may be Jehovah alone viz. the exclusive Particle alone excludes all Creatures or all Beings whatsoever which are not one and the same with his Being and yet not be Jehovah alone if by the Particle alone we intend to exclude the Son and the Hâ—ly Ghost being one and the same God or Being with him For the Son may be said to be Jehovah alone and the Holy Ghost Jehovah alone as well as the Father It is a Rule in Logick Ezclusiva particula subjecti non excludit concomitantia An exclusive Particle annexed to the subject in a Proposition doth not exclude such things as are concomitant to the subject or inseparable from it but only these whether Things or Persons that are of a forein consideration as when Christ saith Mat. 11.27 No man knoweth the Son but the Father which is equivalent to this only the Father knoweth the Son the meaning is not to exclude the Holy Ghost from this knowledge of the Son because only the Father is said to know him the Reason is because the Holy Ghost is one and the same God and so one and the same in knowledge with the Father So likewise when the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 2.11 The things of God knoweth none for so it is in the Original not no man but the Spirit his meaning is not to exclude the Son of God from knowing these things as well as the Spirit himself Because there being an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Fathers term it a reciprocal kind of in-being or mutual comprehension between the three Father Son and Holy Ghost every one of them subsisting and being in the other the Son must needs know the things of God as well as the Spirit And those that are excluded from part and fellowship with the Spirit in this knowledge are only Creatures and such as are not Essentially one and the same with the Spirit If a man should say only Abraham Sarahs Husband was a rich man in his daies it would not follow from hence that therefore Isaac's Father was not a rich man or that the Father of the Faithful was not a rich man That he that gave the Holy Spirit unto the Israelites and the Spirit who was given may well be and are one and the self same Jehovah shall be shewed when we come to the seventh Argument In the mean season you may please only to take notice of that of our Saviour in Joh. 10.30 I and my Father are one We know the Father is said to have given his Son as well as his Spirit and yet we hear from Christ himself that the giver and the gift or he that was given are one so that though God the Father be he that gave the Son the Son was he that was given or the gift yet notwithstanding our Saviour pronounceth that he and his Father i. e. the giver and the gift were one His third Argument is this He that speaketh not of himself Sect. 9 is not God the Holy Spirit speaketh not of himself therefore he is not God The Minor he saith is clear from Joh. 16.13 For he shall not speak of himself The Major he proveth thus God speaketh of himself therefore if there be any one that speaketh not of himself he is not God This is the very strength and sinews of this Argument that which followeth is but an explication of this with a proof and confirmation of it taken in his own sense and notion Yet that he may not complain that his Arguments are handled like David his Messengers to Hanun whose Garments were cut off by the middleâ— I shall read you the remainder of this present Argument from his own Pen and Paper The Antecedent is of it self apparent To this Argument and Discourse we answer First By distinguishing that Phrase or Expression speaking and not speaking of himself used in both Propositions of the first Syllogism A person may be said not to speak of himself two waies or in two several considerations First As our Adversary well informeth us from the several Texts of Scripture which he mentioneth in the close of his Argument when he speaketh by the shewing teaching commanding authorizing or enabling of another viz. that is extraessential to him and this kind of not speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of himself is indeed incompatible as he truly saith with God or with him that is truly God he that speaketh not of himself but
Holy Ghost may be said to receive that which is Christs which is so far from impairing his Divinity or Godhead that it fully asserts and confirms it But this being somewhat mysterious and requiring some larger Explication we shall not at present dive into it that which hath been given is more obvious and agreeable to the words and scope of the place and sufficient to detect the vanity of the Argument built upon it in opposition to the Deity or Godhead of the Holy Ghost And this for the fifth Argument The sixth Argument riseth thus He that is sent by another is not God Sect. 12 the Holy Spirit is sent by another therefore He is not God The Minor is proved from Joh. 16.26 The Major he that ministreth is not God this is the whole compass of the sixth Argument The substance and strength of this Argument is That to be sent forth by another to minister and to receive commands are things incompatible to the Soveraign Majesty of God and that these are in Scripture affirmed of the Holy Ghost therefore he cannot be God To this we reply First That the man being a perfect Anthropomorphite notioning and conceiving that all those things which are attributed unto God in the Scriptures after the manner of men as bodily members humane passions a circumscriptiveness unto place c. are in the litteral and proper nature and formality of them to be found in him builds his Arguments upon this sandy and rotten foundation And because it is so with men that he that is sent or sent forth by another is inferiour to him that sends him though this be not alwaies so neither as we shall see presently he therefore conceiveth that when these things are spoken of Christ or of the Holy Ghost they must be understood litterally and formally of them also whereas if we do but own and acknowledge the infinity and incomprehensibleness of God we must of necessity admit of and own that Rule delivered long since by Austin and the ancient Fathers and ever and anon remembred by all learned men that have written of these things Quando humana transferuntur ad Deum c. When things properly belonging unto men are transferred over unto God they are to be understood so that no dishonour nor disparagement be offered unto the Divine Nature and whatsoever in them imports imperfection is to be separated and left behind and only that to be conceived to be meant of God which implieth perfection for whatsoever proceeds from God so far as it cometh from him hath no imperfection in it therefore nothing which includes imperfection in it so far as it includes it can be with truth attributed unto him Secondly When the Holy Ghost and there is the same consideration of the Son in this respect is in Scripture said to be sent whether by the Son as Joh. 16.26 or by the Father as Joh. 14.26 it doth not imply either subjection or inferiority to either of the Persons sending because subjection savoureth of imperfection Nor secondly doth it imply any removal from place to place for this also savoureth of Creature-like imperfection not to be present every where at once Nor thirdly doth it imply Ministery or Service properly so called i. e. The doing of any thing in the fruit and benefit whereof he that is sent hath not an equal interest or share with him that sendeth him For this also implies some kind of imperfection If you ask me What then doth it imply I answer first It implies the plurality of beings or subsistencies which we call persons in the Divine Essence for the sender and he that is sent must needs be more than one Secondly It implies another thing as namely the order of the persons between themselves For he that is sent must in order though not in nature or dignity be after him that sendeth Though there be not a superiority and inferiority one to command and another to be subject Yet notwithstanding there is an order amongst them and the order is this the Father is as the Schoolmens Expression frequently is Fons Deitatis the Fountain of the Godhead because the Son though he doth partake of the same Divine Nature and Essence with him and is every way God with him yet he hath the Sonship or Divine Person communicated unto him by God the Father So the third Person hath a divine Nature and Essence communicated unto him by a joynt spiration as they express it or by way of Procession he hath it joyntly from the Father and the Son And hence it is that you never find in Scripture that the Father is said to be sent either by the Son or by the Holy Ghost But you find concerning both the Son and the Holy Spirit sometimes the Son is said to be sent into the World by the Father and so the Spirit is said to be sent This therefore sheweth indeed the Plurality of Persons in the Divine Essence and so likewise the order of subsistence between them that there is one as it were before who hath a priority of order though not of excellency or dignity nor of greatness nor any such thing And then again that which I suppose is the principle thing meant by it viz. the Phrase of sending is that the work mode or manner of working which is proper for the Holy Ghost that this is to be performed by him according to the order that we lately shewed First the Father then the Son then the Holy Ghost So that now every one of these though as indeed they have one and the same Essence and Nature so they alwaies joyn in one and the same operation and working ad extra without yet notwithstanding they have every one of them a peculiar and an appropriate and distinct manner of working answerable to that order wherein they subsist among themselves As for example The Father beginneth the work which is proper for the Original Author of the Work and then the Son he doth something but in a mediate kind of way between the beginning and consummation or finishing of it and the Holy Ghost according to his place in his order being the third and last He worketh after the manner of him that perfecteth or finisheth or consummates the work The Father he hath laid the Counsel and Platform of Salvation for men The Son he hath carried on the work so far as to make the attonement for them And yet there remaineth something to be done for the Salvation of the World and that is the reducing and bringing men to believe in this Saviour and to accept of that Attonement which he hath made for them and this being the consummating work about the salvation of the World although the Father and the Son both have a hand in it and it is doubtless their work as well as his yet the manner of the accomplishing of it concluding wise this is appropriate unto the Holy Spirit And now because his work importeth such a thing
be the same Person But yet there may be other considerations which make it evident that they are not nor can be the same To this we reply It is true if there be any such consideration or ground by which it may be substantially proved that the Holy Ghost is a created Angel and not Jehovah then that diversity of appellation we speak of will not evince so much as a may be or a possibility of their being the same But that all the reasons that have been yet levied so far as they are commonly known or have been heard of to prove this impossibility I mean that they should not be the same are defective and fall short of any such proof shall God willing be made appear in due time but Secondly That the said proofs notwithstanding the said Answer or exception made to them do sufficiently conclude the Jehovah of the Old Testament in the Texts cited and the Holy Ghost in the New to be one and the same appears by the light of this consideration Because it is the genius or property of the New Testament to enlighten the darkness of the Old and still in mentioning the transactions or sayings thereof to speak more plainly fully and particularly according to that common Saying That the New Testament is nothing else but the Old with the veil of obscurity taken off from the face of it As the Old is nothing but the New with the same veil spread upon it Instances of what we now affirm viz. that the New Testament speaking of the passages of the Old speaketh more expresly and particularly those things which the Old speaketh more generally and obscurely are many and every where to be found We shall at present only mention one which is of some affinity with the business in hand They who with stood Moses in his applications unto Pharaoh by way of miracles and wonders to perswade him to suffer the Israelites to depart out of his Land are mentioned in the Old Testament but by the general names of Sorcerers Magicians and Inchanters Exod. 7.11 but the New Testament speaking of them calls them by their proper names Jannes and Jambres 2 Tim. 3.8 Thus He which the Old Testament in all the Texts and places cited stiles Jehovah God which is a general name common to all the Three subsisting in the Divine Nature or Essence the New Testament speaking of him terms him the Holy Ghost which is the name appropriate to the third Person there subsisting And if we shall suppose that the Old Testament ascribes such things plainly expresly and without Parable unto Jehovah or God himself which the New Testament ascribes unto such a creature which no man knows what to make of him nor what kind of Creature he is for such must the Holy Ghost needs be supposed to be if we make a Creature of him It is a plain case that the Old Testament shall be light where the New is dark and what the Old speaks plainly the New shall speak obscurely which is contrary as hath been said to the nature of it and the Counsel of God in it For that the Holy Ghost is by them who deny his Godhead affirmed to be a created Angel one or more some Archangel or the like is but gratìs dictum affirmed at peradventure and cannot be proved not so much as by one Argument of any competent probability Besides if the Holy Ghost shall be supposed to be a creature never so well known as suppose to be some great Angel yet in case it should be supposed that what the Old Testament expresly ascribeth unto God the New Testament having occasion to speak of the same thing should ascribe it to this Angel then the New Testament must be supposed to speak short of the Old and with loss and disadvantage as to matter of edification unto the World For instance where the Apostle Heb. 10.15 a place formerly insisted on makes the Holy Ghost witness of this great Evangelical truth or saying viz. That Christ by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified if we shall suppose the Holy Ghost to be but a Creature we must suppose withal that this Apostle doth diminish the weight credit and authority of that important saying in comparison of what the Old Testament giveth unto it where it maketh Jehovah or God himself the Author and Assertor of it For as the Apostle John saith if we receive the witness of men So we say If we receive the witness of an Angel the witness of God is greater i.e. Is to be received and believed with far less scruple or hesitancie of mind or rather with far more readiness of mind with a far more raisedness and enlargement of confidence and assurance of truth than the witness of an Angel So that if the Old Testament shall be conceived to build the judgments and consciences of men touching the truth of the Gospel upon the authority or testimony of Jehovah or God himself and the New upon the credit only of an Angel the Old Testament shall give the good measure of peace and comfort heaped up pressed down and running over and the New only that which is scant and bare Yet again Sect. 3 If the Holy Ghost in that other place Heb. 9.8 insisted on likewise shall be supposed to be an Angel or Creature then it will follow 1. That Angels had thorough insight into and perfect knowledge of the mysteries of Christ and of the Gospel Yea 2. That they were the Authors and Contrivers of all those Evangelical types and figures in the Old Testament and of their respective and mysterious significations and relations to the spiritual things signified and pointed out by them 3. And lastly The Tenour of the Text it self will be low and poor in comparison and have nothing that Majesty which it must needs be conceived to have if the Holy Ghost here shall be apprehended to be Jehovah or God himself These things will plainly appear if the context be narrowly looked into The Apostle Heb. 9.1 2 3. having in the beginning of the Chapter declared some particulars of the Worldly Sanctuary as he calls it under the first Covenant viz. the Candlestick and Table for the Shew-bread in the outer part of the Tabernacle called the Holy place as also the golden Censer the Ark overlaid with Gold with the golden Pot wherein Manna was kept and Aarons Rod that budded having over it Cherubims of Gold c. of all which he saith he could not at present speak particularly He goeth on thus Ver. 6 7 8. Now when these things were thus ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Ghost this signifying 1. As we said If by the Holy Ghost here be meant an Angel one or more then must the Angels be supposed to have understood the mystery of Christ and all the deep secrets of the Gospel even from Moses his daies at least and this very punctually and exactly For to be able to read a Lecture
any Angel or Spirit that he proceedeth out of or from God the Father then haply this will not prove the Holy Ghost to be one and the same God with the Father that is the most high God For as for that word indeed our Adversaries do marvellously please and gratifie their weak Disciples with it Sect. 11 falling foul and uttering evil speeches against several kinds of expressions which the Scriptures themselves speaking of God as three and one do invite and lead men unto Now because these things cannot be explained nor made sutable to the minds of men by any thing found in the Creature that should answer them they fall foul upon them and say that they are nothing but devices tricks and subtilties of men which they say are contrary to Principles of Reason and Understanding Whereas the truth is they are things that are most rational and of an elevating nature unto those who understand them whose Element they are who are versed in the traversing of such curious questions and mysterious speculations I say they are most rational unto them and admit of the most curious debates But that which in the general may satisfie the meanest capacity concerning the Three in One we may thus conceive That according to the Nature Essence or simple Being of every thing whatsoever such likewise is the Modus or manner of that respective Being For there is nothing that hath a simple Being but it hath a Modus or a particular manner of Being according to which it is or hath its subsistence Now this Modus or manner of Being or subsistence take it where you will it alwaies follows the Being as the shadow doth the body or substance whose it is For Essence or Being is one thing but the manner of its subsistence this is another If you cannot so well consent unto this at the first view yet you will find upon a diligent enquiry that the Notion is true viz. That every thing hath a manner of Being as well as a Being it self and that this Modus or manner of Being is something which is distinct from the Essence or Being it self Now then look as things are more excellent in their simple Essence and Nature so have they a more excellent Modus or manner of Being than such things whose Nature and Essence are beneath and less noble and excellent in the order of Creatures So now if we shall carry up this Rule or Principle unto God and apply it unto his Essence and Being it will be no manner of offence to any man's Reason and Understanding that he should not be able to comprehend how or after what manner the Divine Nature and Essence doth subsist Because his Essence is so infinitely above and differing from all created Essences or Beings Otherwise we shall conceive rudely of God and pollute his Nature and bring him down from what he is and mingle him amongst finite and limited Creatures if we shall seek for any parallel or likeness of his Being And if so then we must conceive that the manner of his Being is of the same kind and commensurable unto his Being it self A peculiar and appropriate manner of subsisting which is not to be parallelled in the subsistence of any finite Being whatsoever And besides we have the help and light of Scriptures to help us in this namely to find out what manner of subsistence this is that is One in Three This I say we have from the Scriptures And though some men do undertake to make it to be nothing but what is very agreeable to the Principles of Reason and Understanding that is in man to cnceive that there should be such a subsistence in the Divine Nature Yet for this we shall not undertake nor advance so high in such a mystery as this is Only this is clear and the foundation is as a Rock under our feet that there must be a peculiar Modus or manner of Tubsistence appropriate to the Divine Essence or Being which doth not parallel nor cannot be matched by the whole Creation And that it may be thus as well as any otherwise I think is as clear as the other For whatsoever you will imagine or whatsoever your Understandings should project unto you to be the peculiar manner of this subsistence most certain it is that it will be as hard to explain and bring it down to the capacity and apprehension of men as the Being it self which is infinite or as the subsistence of Three in One. Sect. 12 I shall only add a few more Testimonies from the Scriptures wherein the Deity or Godhead of the Holy Ghost shineth as light at the noon day and then proceed to shew the fallacies and other weaknesses of those pretenses wherein our Adversaries rejoyce so much as if they were Arguments above Answer and so put an end to our present debate The first Scripture shall be Joh. 20.22 And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained First When Christ breathing upon his Disciples said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Is it tolerable to imagine that his meaning should be Receive ye an Angel or the supreme Angel That by the Holy Ghost here he doth not cannot mean the gifts of the Holy Ghost so called but the gift of the Holy Ghost himself appears 1. From the nature of the Symbol or outward sign which Christ useth in communicating or giving the Holy Ghost unto them viz. That inflation or breathing upon them The Holy Ghost himself is elsewhere compared unto the wind which is a kind of breathing or moving of the air and fitly so may be partly because his manner of proceeding from the Father and the Son is by way of spiration or breathing i.e. The ineffable and inexplicable manner of his proceeding amongst all created things or things intelligible unto men is best resembled by or comes nearest unto a spiration or breathing Partly also because as the original or first cause and so likewise that which becomes of the wind or that which is done by the wind is very secret unto men So is the first spring or original of the Spirits entring or coming into men as likewise the end which the Spirit makes with men into whom he cometh are great secrets hidden mysteries unto the generality of men very hard and dissicult and of an abstruse definition and demonstration This our Saviour Joh. 3.8 describes by the nature of the wind The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the Spirit It is very likely that God made this same material World in such a shape as he hath now done and such and such Creatures as now are made And so such Laws for these Creatures to act and move by and
in the Antecedent of the Proposition be supposed to signifie either something or nothing either that which is or that which is not yet it doth not follow that it should be determinately either something or nothing from hence because it is distinct from the Essence of God so that the Major Proposition in this Syllogism vanisheth into a meer Nothing Thirdly Whereas in the process of his Argument he reasoneth thus If finite meaning if a Person be finite then there will be something finite in God if infinite then there will be two infinites in God the Person and the Essence both which he presumeth are accounted absurd by his Adversaries themselves We reply First that whatsoever his Adversaries do in the case he himself holdeth not only that there is something finite in God but that all things appertaining to him are finite For holding the Essence of God to be finite and locally circumscribed he must consequently hold and maintain that all other things belonging to his Essence are finite and circumscribed also so that it is no absurdity with him to grant that there is something finite in God But he that granteth Passions also properly and formally so called in God as Anger Grief Sorrow and consequently an obnoxiousness or an exposedness unto Trouble Pain Torment yea and death it self for all this directly followeth upon such a Tenent it is no marvel if he holds all things finite in God But secondly I reply further that it no way follows that if a person be infinite and the Essence infinite that there should be two infinites in God The Reason is plain because the Person and the Essence are not two things really distinct the one from the other but in consideration only That is a common and true Saying amongst Divines In Trinitate omnia sunt unum ubi non obviat relationis oppositio All things in the Trinity are one excepting only where the opposition of relation cometh in the way viz. The Father is not the Son nor the Son the Father nor the Holy Ghost either nor either the Holy Ghost yet they are all one and the same Essence and consequently one and the same Infinite yet doth it not follow that because there are more persons or a plurality of persons that therefore there is a plurality or more than one Essence for it is the Essence to which properly or primarily the Attributes do belong and not the Persons I beseech you mind this Rule which will give a great light into this deep Mystery It is the Essence to which properly and primarily the Attributes do belong and not the person they do belong indeed to the person but only in consideration of the Essence whereof each Person partakes As for instance the Father is not infinite and so is not Omniscient and Omnipresent because he is the Father but because he is God i.e. because he partakes and subsists in the Divine Essence So likewise the Second Person the Son is not therefore infinite because he is a Person or because he is the Son but because he is God i. e. one and the same really with the Divine Essence there is the same reason of the Holy Ghost So that though the Father be infinite and the Son infinite and the Holy Ghost infinite and the Divine Essence infinite yet it doth not follow that there should be three infinites or any more than one because the Essence is but one to which the Attribute of Infinity belongeth And the Persons as they partake of the Divine Essence which is but one so they partake of the Infinity belonging to this Essence which is but one neither As it may be truly said that Sarahs Husband had a great Estate and Isaac's Father had a great Estate and the Father of the Faithful had a great Estate yet it will not follow that therefore here were three great Estates the Reason is because all the Relations were really founded in one and the self-same person called Abraham and the Estate did not belong to him either as he was Sarahs Husband or Isaac's Father or the Father of the Faithful but as he was such a person enriched by God I might shew you further how the divine Attributes as we call them are founded not in the Person but in the Essence But this sufficeth for reply to the second Reason against the distinction of God taken Essentially and Personally Thirdly and lastly The last Reason against the distinction of God taken Personally and Essentially take it in his own words Sect. 7 Thirdly to talk of God taken only Essentially is ridiculous not only because there is no Example thereof in the Scripture but because God is the name of a Person and signifieth him that ruleth over others and when it is put for the most High God it denoteth him who with soveraign and absolute Authority ruleth over all But none but a Person can rule over others all actions being proper to persons wherefore to take God otherwise than Personally is to take him otherwise than he is and indeed to mistake him To this also we reply First When he saith That to talk of God taken only Essentially is ridiculous how ridiculously himself speaketh hath been formerly shewed in part and will further appear when we shall weigh the grounds of his windy confidence in the balance of the Sanctuary For first Whereas he saith There is no example in the Scripture this saying of his hath already been weighed and found too light Secondly When he saith That God is the name of a Person and when it is put for the most High God it denoteth him who with soveraign Authority ruleth over all c. We reply by denying that God is alwaies the name of a Person For when we say that the Father is God and again that the Son is God the word God is not the name of a Person nor doth it signifie a Person as such But rather the Divine Nature and Essence wherein both the Father and the Son equally partake according to our sense and the truth it self And in the sense of our Adversarie who denieth the Son to be the same God with the Father yet granteth him to be God it must needs signifie or denote some property priviledge or the like wherein they both partake For certainly the Son can in no sense whatsoever be termed God unless there be same Agreement Similitude or Partnership in something or other with him that is God indeed or as our Adversaries love to speak the most High God so that when according to the same sense of our Adversaries the Son is called God the word God doth not denote the proper name of a person but denoteth and is a word importing something that is common to more persons than one Thirdly and lastly When he saith That when it is put for the most High God it signifieth him that with soveraign Authority ruleth over all and addeth That all Actions are proper unto persons c. We
therefore he is not God This Argument is drawn up in many swelling words after the manner of some of the rest but the sinews and strength of it lyeth in this that the Holy Ghost in the Scripture is said to hear from another that which he speaks or reveals unto men or which he did reveal unto the Apostles and that from hence it follows according to our Saviours supposition Joh. 8.26 compared with ver 28. that he is taught by another and consequently cannot be God The life and soul of this Argument is bound up in this small bundle of words therefore we reply briefly to it First That the very bottom and foundation upon which this Argument standeth is crasie and loose viz. That he that heareth from another what he should speak is taught if by being taught he means the receiving of new knowledge or of the knowledge of things which we knew not of before which he must mean if he means any thing with sense For many may hear from another what they are or ought to speak without being taught in such a sense as when a Jury of men give in a Verdict upon Oath it doth not follow that he that speaks or gives in his Testimony in the second or third place is taught by him that speaks the same thing before him in his hearing for he may speak the same thing out of his own Judgment and Conscience and which he was otherwise resolved to speak though he had not heard it spoken by another before he utters it and so they who spend their time in the study of the Scriptures and in the searching after truth may find that spoken or written which is equivalent to hearing and is hearing in a sense by another which yet falls in with their own thoughts and apprehensions formerly conceived in this case they may be said to hear that from another which they speak and yet not be taught Therefore Secondly Whereas he labours to prove the truth of that assertion from these two passages of the Scriptures Joh. 8.26 28. compared together his labour is in vain for his proof is notoriously defective and weak and this upon a double account For first he takes that for granted which he should have proved as being no waies evident in it self And secondly He supposeth that if it be true in one case that he that heareth from another what he shall speak is taught that therefore it must be true in all cases which is very ridiculous First That which he takes for granted in his proof from these passages is That our Saviour in the latter of the places expoundeth himself in the former or that he speaketh one and the same thing for substance of Notion in them both This I say no way appears nor indeed is much probable For when in the former place he speaks thus But he that sent me is true and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him very probable it is that he speaks of the ineffable and unconceivable hearing whereby all the three Persons hear one another speaking the same things according to that of the same Apostle 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 If they all bear record in Heaven doubtless they hear one another or one from another Or else our Saviour in the words mentioned may be conceived to speak of the Eternal hearing from the Father which is appropriate to him as being his Son by Eternal Generation for the Father communicating one and the same Divine Nature or Essence with himself unto the Son by Eternal Generation must needs communicate all the Divine Attributes and Perfections together with it being indeed but one and the same thing with it and amongst the rest that infinite knowledge and understanding which is proper to it which communication of knowledge may properly enough be termed Christ's hearing of the Father Again When he saith in the latter place Joh. 8.28 he saith According as the Father hath taught me these things I speak He speaks of his teaching or being taught as man or as Mediator in which respect he is elsewhere â—ermed the servant of God and his Father said to be greater than he And consequently he must be inferiour to the Father and so may properly enough be said to be taught by him And that indeed he speaks here of his being taught as man appeareth from the next Verse but that we must not stand to scan all things Thus you see our Adversary in the main proof of his Argument takes that for granted which is not only questionable and uncertain but improbable also in the highest Again Secondly Suppose that which he taketh for granted without proof or probability in the case before us should be granted unto him viz. That our Saviour by hearing of the Father and by being taught by the Father meaneth one and the same thing or explaineth the one by the other yet it no way followeth that therefore all hearing and all teaching should be the same or that every one that heareth of another what he shall speak should be taught by him We gave a sufficient account of this lately it is a weak kind of arguing to reason thus Such and such words or Phrases are to be taken in such and such a sense in this or in that place of Scripture therefore they are to be so taken in all others So that this Argument also is of the same House and Linage with the former only before we dismiss it it may not be unworthy of your observation how strangely God blindeth the eyes of him that composed the Argument when towards the beginning of it to prove that the Holy Spirit is taught and heareth from another what he shall speak he refers us to Isa 40.13 14. which place expresly teacheth the quite contrary viz. That the Spirit of God hath none to teach or direct him the tenour of the place is this Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord or being his Counsellor hath taught him With whom took he counsel or who instructed him and taught him in the path of Judgment and taught him knowledge and shewed to him the way of understanding I know not what words can with more pregnant and express emphaticalness assert the undeceivedness of the wisdom and knowledge of the Holy Ghost than these The Prophet David maketh this an Argument or sign of the departure of men from the Tents of such persons who are secret Enemies unto God viz. making their Tongues to fall upon themselves that is their uttering and speaking such things which apparently make against their own interest and designs Psal 64.8 So they shall make their own Tongues to fall upon themselves all that see them viz. thus ensnared and entangled shall fly away that is shall forsake their party shall no longer be confederate with them This for his fourth Argument The fifth Argument
the hard hearts and consciences of sinful and unbelieving men The words of God in the mouths of such men are as Arrows in the hand of a Giant as David speaketh Psal 127.4 they pierce deep and do execution afar off Other men that for matters appertaining unto God are but like the rest of the World and have nothing singular in their lives and conversations though using and uttering the same words with the former are yet but as sounding Brass or tinkling Cymbals in comparison of them Yea when men shall be found or known to be as it were rent and torn or broken in their obedience unto the Gospel alas they know or may know that when they shall preach the Doctrine of Faith Repentance Mortification or the like men will have wherewith to answer all that shall be spoken unto them by such men from their own mouths For who regards words and sayings where actions and works are of a contrary import As he that speaks Contradictions one while affirming one thing and at another time the quite contrary this man edifies no man by such a kind of discourse no man can tell whether he speaketh truth in the former Proposition or whether in the latter and so they go away as if nothing had been spoken they who speak at no better a rare destroying one saying with the other In like manner they whose lives and actions rise up against their teachings or speakings are of kin to those dumb Dogs of which the Scripture speaks Isa 56.10 For what they teach or affirm in words they deny in works and so in effect teach nothing at all The reason why Christ is said to have taught with authority and not as the Scribes and Pharisees is given by some to be this and I conceive it very pertinent viz. because he did what he said and taught and they said and did not So when they that keep the holy Commandment and walk up to the Rule of the Gospel shall teach admonish and instruct they shall do it with power and authority the Conscience and Judgments of men will give them reverence and do homage unto them As it is said of Herod that he feared John knowing that he was a just man and an holy and observed him and when he heard him he did many things Mar. 6.20 And our Saviour taketh notice else-where of his righteousness and holy life as making his Doctrine much more commendable and of force upon the Consciences of men and withal chargeth such persons very high who did not embrace and submit unto his Doctrine John faith he came unto you in a way of righteousness and yet you believed him not Mat. 21.32 as who should say You declared your selves a Generation of Vipers indeed when as having such a man as John come among you a person so innocent and holy that you could lay nothing to his charge yet you reject his Doctrine you believe him not which is contrary to the light of Reason and argues a preposterous and perverse spirit frowardly bent against the Truth So that if men be not of this Generation men of a viperous spirit and desperately set upon their own ruine and destruction it cannot lightly be but the Gospel coming from the mouthes of just and holy men will do great execution upon them and make the powers of sin and darkness to fly before it Thus we have made good that in the Reason given which was supposed being this That every man standeth bound in duty towards God to act the part of a worthy Benefactor unto the World round about him and as far as in him lieth to bless his Generation The other thing which is affirmed in the Reason Sect. 7 was That no man or woman can be in any good or indeed tolerable capacity to discharge this Obligation unless they be filled with the Spirit of God And this we have in part made good already in what was delivered in opening the former Reason There we shewed That men and women will never do any great any singular thing for God and the interest of the Gospel unless they take a regular and due course to be filled with the Spirit There is the same consideration of doing great things for the World Men and women will fall extremely short of their duty herein also and with-hold that from the World which is its due unless they take an effectual course to strengthen their hand and their heart to the work which must be by filling themselves with the Spirit of God For as they who give munificently and like Princes had need be Princes or at least have the the Estate and Revenues of Princes So such men and women who shall cast in any thing considerable into the Treasury of the World to cover the nakedness and feed the hunger and heal the poverty of it had need be full of the Divine Nature and have a special Magazine within them of Faith and Love of Wisdom and Knowledge of Patience and Humility of Mortification and elf-denial and many other heavenly endowments Otherwise they shall never be able to rejoyce over mankind to do it much good nor to sow liberally and plentifully unto it As the Lord Christ had he not been Rich as the Apostle faith 2 Cor. 8.9 the making of himself Poor would not have extended to the making of many Rich so in case that a person hath but a little inward worth in him if he be scanted in true excellency and nobleness of spirit though he should empty and pour out himself to the World the poverty of it is such and the necessity of it so extreme craving and so devouring above measure that such an estate would do little more towards the relief of it than the seven fat Kine in Pharaohs dream did toward the seven that were lean and ill favoured the Text faith when they had devoured them they were not seen upon them but they were as lean and starven and as evil favoured as before the fat had need it seems to have been seven and seven and twenty times seven times fatter than they were to have wrought a Cure upon the leanness and hard-favouredness of the other And as Andrew Simon Peters Brother informed Christ of a Lad that had five barly loaves and two small fishes but viewing the multitude that were to be fed demanded but what are they amongst so many Joh. 6.9 And the truth is without the miraculous interposure of a Divine Power for their multiplication they had been very little indeed amongst the multitude that was to be relieved by them In like manner he that shall diligently consider and compute not so much the numberless multitude of souls or of men and women in the World round about him as the numberless multitude of their spiritual necessities and those very sad and threatning with open mouth eternal ruine and destruction on every side cannot lightly but confess upon the view that he that shall minister unto them with any likelihood
greatest rewards assigned by God unto righteousness and Christian worth in any kind their hearts will never serve them to fly that high pitch of righteousness and true holiness which without controversie they stand engaged in duty to do nor yet to suffer those things from the World which their Christian Profession may very possibly require at their hands This I might clearly shew you by the light of Nature and grounds of Reason but I shall content my self to demonstrate it by the clearer light of the Scriptures only First It is evident from many passages here Sect. 16 that men are not wont to undertake any thing of difficulty trouble or charge at least if they so apprehend it but upon hope of reaping some advantage or benefit in one kind or other by it Who planteth a Vineyard saith the Apostle and eateth not of the fruit thereof Meaning that no man would be at the cost and trouble of planting a Vineyard did he not desire and hope to eat of the fruit thereof that is to accommodate himself in one kind or other by it So again Who feedeth a Flock and eateth not of the Milk of the Flock 1 Cor. 9 7. Soon after For our sakes no doubt this is written that he that ploweth should plow in hope and that he that thresheth in hope he supposeth that no man thresheth upon any other terms should be partaker of his hope Afterwards towards the end of the same Chapter And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things Now they do it for a corruptible Crown c. meaning out of a desire and hope to obtain such a Crown It is repugnant to the very nature and frame of a rational being to be drawn forth into action in one kind or other but by a desire and hope of compassing some end But of this there is little question Secondly Mens ingagements and actings are never like to rise higher than the level of that good which is desired and hoped to be obtained by them I mean if they understand the just value and worth of it Men will not as our common Proverb is buy Gold too dear If they put themselves to any hardship to knowingly expose themselves to any danger they must be inspired hereunto both by a desire and hope of some purchase proportionably considerable in their eye They that strove for Masteries would not have been so districtly and austerely abstemious as the Apostle intimates as we lately heard they were had it not been for a Crown which however corruptible as he there speaketh was notwithstanding in their apprehensions highly valuable David indeed endeavouring to render himself as a person inconsiderable unto Saul expressed himself to him thus For the King of Israel is come out to seek a Flea as when one hunteth a Partridge in the mountains 1 Sam. 26.20 But if Saul had not looked upon the suppressing of David as a matter of a thousand times greater consequence unto him than the catching of many Fleas or the taking of many Partridges he would not have put himself to the trouble and charge of coming out with an Army of men to pursue him And if the life of Sampson had not been judged a great Prize by the Philistines of Azzah they would not have lost their sleep and watched all night to have made themselves Masters of it Yea God himself knowing that men would never take the Yoke of his Son Jesus Christ upon them nor submit unto the holy Discipline of the Gospel in the exercises of Repentance Mortification Self-denial c. nor expose themselves to the bloudy hatred and malice of the World for righteousness sake unless their spirits were raised and heightned to such great engagements as these by hopes of very signal and glorious recompenses and rewards he applieth himself unto and treateth with them accordingly giving them assured hopes of life and immortality and blessedness for evermore upon their obedience He doubtless considered that lesser or lighter encouragements or retributions than these though in Conjunction with the most prevailing Arguments and Motives otherwise as Ingenuity Goodness of Nature Love of Righteousness Love of God c. yet would not do that holy and happy execution upon the hearts and spirits of men which must be done to make them Proselytes unto true godliness and persons after his own heart to fulfil all his pleasure This the Holy Ghost himself plainly teacheth in several places By which saith Peter that is by which glory and power of God or according to some Copies which read not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whom viz. Christ are given unto us most great for so the Original and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the World through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 Clearly implying that God had no other way agreeable to his Wisdom and meet to be taken with such a Creature as man to reduce men from their sensual vain and wicked dispositions and practices wherein they were deeply habituated and engaged with the rest of the World unto a conformity to himself in holiness but only by promises and these no whit less for the matter and good things contained in them nor less precious in respect of the abundant assurance given for the performance of them than those that he hath now given unto them in the Gospel The express tenour of the words if they be diligently minded give out this Notion Men would never have been wooed from Sin and Vanity to espouse Righteousness and true Holiness by any other means motives or perswasions whatsoever without being invested with an hope and this pregnant and lively of as great things as the Gospel promiseth to be possessed and enjoyed in due time Of the same import is this also of the Apostle John And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 The Particle and Pronoun this is emphatical intimating that it is the Prerogative or signal priviledge of that hope which he had immediately before mentioned ver 2. to set men on work to purifie themselves according to that great Exemplar of all purity and holiness Jesus Christ and that none other hope but this either formally or materially nor any nor all other means without it are able to engage the Sons or Daughters of men about so heroick and heavenly a work Now this hope of which he speaks this glorious thing that it puts every man that hath it upon purifying himself by the best pattern and as near unto it as he is able humane infirmity considered he signifies to be an hope of being like or of being made like unto Christ himself in respect of his glorified and blessed estate which by a near-hand interpretation amounteth to as much as is contained in all those great and precious Promises of the Gospel lately spoken of I shall upon this
inward conception of my mind differeth much from that which I raise or conceive within me when I consider of the Mercy or Wisdom of God c. And so again Abraham the Father of Isaac and Abraham the Father of the Faithful are really but one and the same thing yet differ in consideration or respect for when I conceive of him or consider him as the Father of Isaac my consideration is differing much from what it is when I conceive of him as the Father of the Faitful I might instance in those and many more particulars which are really one and the same and yet may truly be considered or conceived in my mind very differently so that it is but an illiterate and weak Allegation to affirm That it is impossible for a man to distinguish the Person from the Essence of God and not to frame two things or beings in my mind and consequently two Gods Why may I not as well distinguish the Person from the Essence of God without framing in my mind two Gods as distinguish the Person of an Angel as Gabriel Michael or the like from the common Essence or Nature of Angels wherein both Gabriel Michael and other Angels partake That is to be taken along as a general Rule in all disputes concerning God and the divine Nature that when we borrow resemblances or notions from one kind or other from the Creature to explain matters relating unto God it is not to be expected that these resemblances or notions should hold in all particulars nor necessarily in any more than in that one only unto which they are applied viz. When we shew and prove that a man may very well distinguish the Person from the Essence of God without framing any such thing in his mind which should imply two Gods by shewing that a man may distinguish the person of an Angel or a man from the common Nature or Essence of either without framing in his mind either two Angels or two men it cannot be excepted against this proof or resemblance that it is not pertinent or that it reacheth not the business for which it is brought because the person of an Angel and so of a man as well as the Nature or Essence of both are finite beings whereas a divine Person and the divine Essence are both infinite or the like The notion or comparison is sufficient for that end for which it is used and insisted upon if by way of similitude it sheweth and proveth that a man may frame in his mind a distinct consideration of a person subsisting in or partaking of such or such a Nature or Essence and again of this Nature or Essence wherein they do partake without framing a conceit of two such things which should imply or include two persons of either kind Thirdly and lastly For answer to our Adversaries first Reason against distinguishing the Person of God from the Essence of God Sect. 5 if himself grant both which clearly he seems to do neither was there ever any man yet who acknowledge a God that denied either viz. That there is a divine Nature and Essence and again that there is a person suppose one only as his erroneous supposition indeed is who partakes of the Nature then himself owns and grants the distinction which with so much clamour he falls foul upon When he saith in his third and last Reason against the said distinction That to talk of God taken only essentially is ridiculous he clearly granteth and supposeth that God may be taken Essentially though not Essentially only and consequently that there is a divine Essence as well as a divine Person if so Why may I not conceive and consider in my mind as well the one as the other Or what is this but to distinguish the one from the other Or when himself acknowledged as well the one as the other did he acknowledge them under one and the same notion or inward conception of them in his mind so that when he acknowledged a divine Person he had no other notion and impression in his mind than he had when he acknowledged a divine Nature or Essence Now then this is that I say if he did thus acknowledge or thus conceive of them then is he himself guilty of that presumption which he chargeth upon his Adversaries as we heard viz. Of affirming that of the unsearchable Nature of God which he hath not first affirmed of himself in the Scriptures For most certain it is that God hath affirmed no such thing of himself here viz. That the divine Person and his divine Nature or Essence are to be apprehended and conceived by one and the self same notion or conception in the minds of men without any variation or distinction at all So that the Adversaries first Reason against the forementioned distinction of God taken Personally and Essentially is very weak and hath nothing of weight or strength in it and what there is in it it is every whit as much against himself as those whom he would seem to oppose His second Reason against the said Distinction he draweth up in these words If the Person be distinct from the Essence of God Sect. 6 then it is either something or nothing If nothing How can it be distinguished since nothing hath no accidents If something then either it is some finite or infinite thing If finite then there will be something finite in God and consequently since by the confession of the Adversaries themselves every thing in God is God himself God will be finite which the Adversaries themselves will likewise confess to be absurd If infinite then there will be two infinites in God to wit the Person and Essence of God and consequently two Gods which is more absurd than the former This is the account of his second Reason against the oft mentioned distinction but that this also is of the same calculation with the former and hath as little in it as that and that which it hath is as much against himself as his Adversaries may be made readily to appear For First Whereas he reasoneth thus If the Person be distinguished from the Essence of God then it is either something or nothing there is no great weight either of Learning or Understanding in the Proposition For first In the former part of this Proposition If the Person be distinct from the Essence of God he supposeth the Person to be somewhat otherwise the meaning of the clause should be this If nothing or that which is nothing be distinct from the Essence of God which is ridiculous And yet having thus in the former part of the Proposition supposed it to be somewhat from this supposition in the latter part of it he infers it to be either something or nothing Who ever reasoned at such a rate as this If nothing be distinct from something then is it either something or nothing They that can make sense of this must have sharper understandings than mine Secondly Let the word Person
it matter of Conscience to turn their backs upon the Ministry of the Gospel which as the Apostle calleth it is the Ministration of the Spirit Secondly They who though they do not make it matter of Conscience to neglect or despise this Ministry yet make it no matter of Couscience diligently to attend upon it when they know otherwise how to bestow their time whether in the pursuit of their pleasures or recreation or in the service of Mammon and attending upon the World between these we might insert a third sort viz. such who though they have not turned their backs upon the Ministry and preaching of the Gospel but seem to make it some matter of Conscience to attend upon it yet have itching ears and cannot long together endure wholsome and sound Doctrine but run from Mountain to Hill from one Minister to another For the first We all know that of late years there is a strange spirit of Error and Ungodliness gone out into the World and walks up and down the Streets of your City and hath taken the heads or hearts rather of many who sometimes greatly loved or at least seemed thus to love the Assemblies of the Saints and those discoveries of himself which God is wont by his Word and the Ministry thereof to make from day to day unto them The Spirit we now speak of is a Spirit which teacheth men to say that the Tabernacles of the Lord of Hosts are vile and for the Ministry of the Gospel and the opening the Mysteries thereof by those that have an Anointing from heaven to do it Wherein is it to be esteemed This Spirit also reacheth and perswadeth those men to fortifie and strengthen or harden themselves in their way not only by Reasons and Arguments such as they are but by the Scriptures themselves also as if they were divided in themselves and destroyed with one hand what they build up with the other Do not men who suffer themselves to be lead by this superordinancing Spirit rather consult the emptying of themselves of the Spirit of God than their filling with him and take a course by degrees wholly to bereave and dispossess themselves of that presence of his in them which at present they do enjoy or have enjoyed formerly Where no wood is saith Solomon or as the Hebrew hath it Prov. 26.20 without wood the fire goeth out In like manner except the Spirit of God in men be fed and nourished with the fresh and new comings in of the light of the knowledge of God and of Christ his presence will languish and sink and die in a manner Hence it is that the Apostle having admonished the Thessalonians not to quench the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 He immediately subjoyneth by way of caution ver 20. and presignification how they might and must prevent it Despise not Prophesying or as our last Translation with more agreeableness to the Original rendreth it Despise not Prophesyings in the plural number Prophesyings i.e. the opening and interpreting the Word of God by a proper gift of the Spirit for the work if this be despised i. e. made nothing of as the word signifieth then the Spirit in men and women will be quenched i. e. the vigour and activeness of his presence in men will abate and if the neglect and disesteem be long continued in will by degrees wholly cease The word Prophesyings in the Plural number seems to imply that not only or simply to despise Prophesying i. e. the Work or Ordinance it self in the general of Preaching or opening the Scriptures is the ready way to quench the Spirit but to despise the frequency of the opportunities vouchsafed by God in that kind viz. when the bountiful providence of God affordeth unto men and women frequent opportunities of attending upon the Spirit of God in the exercise of Prophesyings and when they may be diligence and wise ordering and disposing of their secular and worldly occasions without any considerable inconveniency frequently attend the openings of the mouth of God which we spake of and yet they shall frequently neglect to do it pleasing themselves with a conceipt that to attend on Prophesying on the Lord's day only is sufficient If the persons with whom we have to do in the reproof in hand Sect. 2 should ask me But why should the despising or neglecting of Prophesying or of the Ministry of the Word be the quenching of the Spirit or a way to empty us of the Spirit I reply First Suppose we could give no other reason of the thing now enquired into but only the Will and pleasure of God and could say no more in the case but this that it is the Counsel of the Will of God to make the attendance of the Creature man upon the Ministry of the Gospel where he vouchsafeth it the condition of the Spirits presence or abiding with him so that in case he doth neglect it his Spirit shall withdraw from him If there were nothing else but this Were not this enough to satisfie any man of Conscience But now the truth is that the reasons of this Counsel of the Will of God that the attendence upon the Ministry of the Gospel should be a standing means to preserve and maintain the presence of the Spirit of God the reasons I say are not so hard to come at in this case but that if the Minds Judgments and Understandings of men were impartially engaged in the enquiry after what the Scriptures speak as to matters of this nature they might be clearly discerned The reasons therefore why God hath made such a Connexion between the attending upon the Ministry of the Word and the presence of his Spirit are first because the word of God is as it were the materials or proper matter for the Holy Ghost to work on to work all his excellent and heavenly works in the hearts and souls of men As for example to work Faith Peace Joy and Righteousness and Holiness and Love c. The Holy Ghost produceth all these excellent works in the hearts of men by the truths of God in the Gospel As an Artificer worketh upon his materials and by his Art and Skil produceth his Artificial piece as a Carpenter upon his Timber or a Goldsmith upon his Metal so that if you do not furnish them with these materials they can do nothing As the Carpenter cannot work when he hath no Timber the Holy Ghost in like manner if there be no Vision no Truth no New Light coming in for him to work on he will take no pleasure nor delight to inhabit or continue there He shall saith our Saviour speaking to his Disciples of the Holy Ghost He shall receive or take of mine and shall shew it unto you Joh. 16.14 What things of his doth our Saviour mean the Holy shall take and shew Doubtless they are such things of his or relating unto him which are contained and asserted in the Gospel As his Divine Nature Humane Nature his Incarnation Conception
that are as bad as these that may have a standing in the hearts of men and have place and room to abide there There is the same Reason and Consideration of all other Purposes Intentions and Designs that are of such a particular and limited nature as this But that design or engagement which in the present Motive we commend unto you viz. to be filled with the Spirit is more comprehensive and where it hath taken the heart or soul with strength and power it extendeth its Jurisdiction and Command to all a man's Thoughts Purposes Counsels mental Agitations Ends and Aims whatsoever Regulating Restraining Ordering Umpiring setting up and casting down according to the exigency and import of it This is the very nature of this design that he that hath espoused it hath upon the matter threatned all vain Thoughts all loose Cogitations he hath threatned them all with ruine and destruction and with the casting them out of his heart for ever The Reason hereof is because the nature of this Engagement is such that it cannot be effectually promoted or carried on but by a diligent and vigilant superintendency and inspection over all a man's thoughts and all that stirreth or moveth or that is conceived in him For the Spirit taketh check and is grieved at least to a degree at every connivance or indulgence of any thing that is impertinent unsavoury and foolish inordinate or irregular in the heart or inward part of a man and must have nothing cherished favoured or so much as tolerated here but what is sober holy just and every waies conformable to the Law and Mind of God otherwise he will not advance or lift up himself in the mind and soul of a man upon any such terms as he is ready to do when he is pleased and accommodated to his mind in all things It is true it is not the meer conceiving or rising up of foolish vain and irregular thoughts in the heart or mind of a man or woman which is distasteful to the Holy Ghost so as to offend or grieve him for then he should take pleasure in no man whatsoever but it is the indulging of them and when nothing is done to suppress them it is not simply their rising up in the minds of men but the approving of them or at least the not endeavouring to suppress them which causeth the Spirit of God that he will not cannot work mightily Eph. 4.29 30. Where the Apostle exhorts the Ephesians that no corrupt communication should proceed out of their mouths He adds And grieve not the holy Spirit of God by which ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption Corrupt Communication doth argue that the root of bitterness within a man is let alone and winked at for otherwise if it had been taken while it was a lust while only in the bud it would never have proceeded so high let therefore no corrupt Communication proceed out of your mouths and grieve not the holy Spirit c. When foolish dispositions are let alone they will grow as weeds which if plucked up whilest young would keep from seeding So if Lust and sinful motions be rejected at first coming they will never shew themselves out of doors Therefore when any person man or woman shall have espoused that most honourable and heavenly design we speak of of being filled with the Spirit if they be loyal and true to their Espousals in this kind they must and cannot but abstain from and suppress all absurd foolish and extravagant thoughts On the contrary It is very considerable that these importune and troublesome Guests or Inmates we speak of vain wilde foolish and impertinent motions and thoughts will hardly ever be reduced or brought to leave the mind or soul of a man unless it be by the interposure of some-great and worthy design cordially entertained and resolved on by the Soul there is hardly any other course will do it And when any man or woman shall for some tolerable time have practised this suppression and rejection of vain and foolish thoughts as they arise and put forth in them they shall for the future have less and less trouble with them they will not be so apt to rise in that heart or soul which is not wont to give them entertainment where they are like to die as soon as they begin to live Even as weeds by oft removing and cutting their roots are quite killed in time their root is discouraged and dieth or as hurtful flocks of Birds by being oft frighted or driven away from the Corn grow weary of coming there where they are continually frighted and not suffered to have any rest or peace Thus we see the truth of the Motive in hand viz. Sect. 3 That the very exercise of the heart mind and soul about the business or engagement of being filled with the Spirit is of a rich and excellent concernment unto you not only in reference to the grand prize or end of being filled with the Spirit but also in respect of other services it will do you by the way It will as you have heard put you upon another blessed exercise I mean to keep your hearts and minds free from a troublesome and ignoble Rabble of foolish vain unprofitable and noysome thoughts Let us only for a close of this Motive weigh and ponder a little of how happy and worthy a consequence and concernment it is for men and women to have ease and freedom in this kind to be delivered from such cogitations and thoughts which are apt without end to infest and molest their minds and hearts which ought to be a Temple for the Holy Ghost to dwell in being good for nothing but to dishonour pollute and defile wherever they come and to put by their betters My Brethren to make you see of what great concernment it is to you you may please to consider that your minds and understandings are the most noble and divine part of our nature and the puttings forth of them are the best Trees in our Orchard and those that will bear the best and largest fruit Now then for these to give out their strength in things that be unprofitable and not only so but in that which annoyeth molesteth and defileth a man is so great an imbasement of them and will turn to so great damage and loss that it cannot in reason but be apprehended a mighty accommodation to be free from the cause hereof Now then inasmuch as we are not born free nor can be free in this kind but by much labour My Brethren If any of you as it is said of Lot that he vexed his righteous soul with the unclean Conversation of the Sodomites 2 Pet. 2.7 have vexed your souls with these impure thoughts and malignant cogitations if you have been truly sensible and have taken knowledge of them it is impossible but that you should much lament the loss and damage your minds and understandings do you when they bring forth such rotten
in our Attonement with God there is another thing included and is inseparable from it viz. special interest in the love and favour of God Indeed with men as I said the case may be otherwise when there hath been an Attonement and Reconciliation made between two persons at a distance yet they may remain as strangers one unto another there is no necessity that upon the making up of the breach there must be intimate love and friendship But it is otherwise with God he never comes to be reconciled unto any but presently he opens his heart and soul and doth entreat them graciously upon their attonement made Now then if men for whose sins God hath accepted the Attonement made by Christ be not only delivered from all danger of suffering by his displeasure but further be received and entertained into the greatest respects of love and friendship Evident it is that they who are possessed of and do enjoy these two Priviledges especially being assured of their possession in this kind are in a good capacity of enjoying free Communion with God What should there be to hinder And he that is filled with the Spirit as he must of necessity be in the possession of both cannot but know that his Attonement is made with God and so as we have lately shewed he must needs have assurance also that he stands thus possessed of them Yet Secondly Sect. 18 There was another thing mentioned as proper to compleat that capacity we speak so much of I mean of enjoying free Communion with God This was the testimony of a man's Conscience upon good grounds that he walketh not nor alloweth himself in any known sin either of Commission or Omission whatsoever no not in the sin of neglecting to enquire after the good and holy and perfect will of God concerning him He that is armed with this Brestplate of Righteousness may stand like a Prince before the great God of Heaven and Earth for he hath the greatest security that Heaven lightly can give him that he is in favour with God 1 Joh. 3.21 If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God if our hearts i.e. our Consciences condemn us not i.e. by a Metonymie of the Effect put for the Cause if our Consciences do not charge sin upon us do not upbraid us with voluntary and habitual neglect of or disobedience unto the Command of Christ then have we confidence or boldness or liberty of face or of speech as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more properly signifieth towards God By the way the Apostle is here to be understood of such persons whose hearts or consciences are in some measure enlightned with the knowledge of the waies and Precepts of God and more particularly with the knowledge of his Precept or Command of believing in his Son Jesus Christ as it followeth in ver 23. And this is his Commandment that we should believe in his Son Jesus Christ For otherwise many mens hearts may not condemn them yea may possibly commend and justifie them who yet have not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any confidence at least not any right or ground of confidence as some expound the word towards God The hearts of those I formerly instanced who thought they should do God good service in putting the Disciples of Christ to death did not condemn them at least in this and if not in so great and broad a sin as this possibly not in any other yet had they no right or ground of boldness or confidence towards God So likewise they of whom the Apostle speaks Col. 2.18 in this Chapter and gives this Character that they were vainly puft up in their fleshly minds whose hearts were established as he speaks elsewhere not by grace but by meats it is like their hearts did not condemn them yet had they not ground of confidence towards God So also Paul himself had confidence enough in himself when he had no ground when he thought he ought to do many things against the name of Christ Therefore we must needs limit the Apostle John in the passage before us to persons who have some competent knowledge of the Gospel and of the great things contained in it And indeed if we look narrowly to it he seems to speak appropriately unto such and of such only Beloved if our hearts condemn us not c. And whereas being understood of such he saith Then have they confidence towards God his meaning is not that all such actually and de facto have this confidence but that they have a right to it and ground for it and upon consideration and enquiry may have it As many things in Scriptures are said to be done by men when it is meet they should do them or have a good ground or reason for the doing of them Thus Rom. 6.8 If we be dead with him we believe that we shall live with him We believe i.e. we have ground or reason sufficient to believe that we shall live with him So 1 Joh. 2.29 If ye know that he is righteous ye know that every one that doth righteousness is born of him i.e. of God i.e. ye may know there are means in abundance whereby ye may know that he who doth righteousness and he only is born of God meaning that he proceeds from him according to this new capacity or new birth which is nothing else but a participation of the Divine Nature As Children have Communion with their Parents in their nature so he that doth Righteousness is partaker of the same Nature with God and Jesus Christ And so when God saith speaking of Abraham Gen. 18.19 That he will command his Children and his House after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord he doth not suppose that they would certainly keep the way of the Lord for we know many of them did otherwise and were cast out of his sight therefore this is not spoken by way of strict Prophesie as if God had foretold what Abraham's House and Family and Posterity after him should do it and therefore the meaning must be that they had ground in abundance to have done what Abraham commanded them viz. to keep the way of the Lord. Now then when he saith If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God he clearly implies that where the heart of a man or woman doth in the sense declared condemn them i.e. charge them with the customary and willing practice of any known sin or neglect of any Command of God there can be no place for any boldness or confidence towards God The reason is because fear and dread of Divine Displeasure follows the consciousness of sin as the shadow follows or attends the body in the Sun It doth not indeed alwaies follow sin because sin many times is committed where it is not known but wherever it is committed with knowledge or against knowledge for these are the same in the case we speak of there it is alwaies accompanied
of the same oneness of the Letter to be found in the Scripture is therefore to be rejected for when the Notion or Substance of what is delivered in the Scriptures either in a plurality or greater number of words or else in words whose signification is more obscure or dark unto the generality of men or else in some Principle or Assertion which vertually contains and comprehends it When this I say is put into one or fewer terms or into words of a more ready and easier signification or is drawn out by clearness of deduction from such words or sayings which vertually contain it it is not therefore to be rejected because it is not word for word found in the Scripture For if the mind of God which hath been more immediately delivered by him in such words which the Holy Ghost as Peter speaketh taught the Apostles and other Penmen of the Scriptures shall be expressed and conveyed to the minds of men in other words than those and taught them it may be too by the Holy Ghost as well as they it is not therefore to be rejected because it is not thus conveyed in those very Terms or Phrases wherein it came immediately from God For if such a thing should be there would be no place left for interpreting opening or expounding the Scriptures but only for reading of them and this without conceiving or forming any sense or meaning of them in one kind or other in the mind either of him that readeth them or of him that heareth them read for a man cannot lightly form the sense of any Phrase or passage of Scripture in his mind and understanding but by the opportunity and advantage of some other words though only inwardly spoken which are more familiar and better known to him And certain it is that the Holy Ghost did not only reveal the substance and subject matter of the Scriptures unto those whom he made choice of for his Penmen but also bound them up in such particular words and phrases as those wherein they are now written that so there might be the greater necessity of the work and service of such Persons whom God should anoynt with the gifts of interpretation and stir up accordingly to the work from time to time For it is no waies to be believed but that had God only given instruction unto the Penmen of the Scriptures to deliver the substance and matter and notions of what they have now delivered if he had left them at liberty to have put it into their own terms I say there is little question to be made but that they would have contrived and put it into such terms that they should have shut out and left no place nor opportunity for those gifts of interpretation and of that service and employment which God hath now opened a door effectually unto and hath layed a necessity upon men to seek after in which kind of employment the God of Heaven hath a great stock of glory going and great concernments amongst men for the promoting of Godliness and growing in Grace I say all this would have been cut off and the necessity of it if the Scripture had been drawn up or put into such words and terms as men possibly may think had been better to have been done So that now as the Eunuch Acts 8.31 demanded when Philip asked him this question viz. Whether he understood what he read in the Scriptures How saith he can I understand unless some man guide me meaning who is able to interpret the Scriptures in like manner may the generality and far greater part of men and women say How shall we understand the Scriptures aright unless some such Interpreter as Job speaketh of one of a thousand shall guide us But not to insist upon this at present evident it is from that little which hath been said that the distinction of God taken Essentially and Personally is not therefore to be rejected because the words or terms of it are not heard in the Scriptures in case the notion sense and substance of them be to be found there Secondly Sect. 2 therefore we reply That though it be no where in so many letters or words said in Scripture that God or the word God is sometimes taken Essentially sometimes Personally yet that it must or ought to be taken sometimes in the sense meant by the one word and sometimes again in the sense meant by the other word may be clearly evinced from the Scripture at least if that be acknowledged and owned as evinced and proved by the Scriptures which is requisite to make the Scriptures speak sense and with congruity to the apprehensions and understandings of men and I know not what can be reasonably thought to be more substantially proved from the Scriptures than such a thing Now that the word God must of necessity to make the Scriptures speak sence be taken sometimes Essentially and sometimes Personally is evident from the consideration and comparing of such Texts and places wherein such a construction or acceptation of the words cannot reasonably be avoided Consider we these two Verses together Heb. 1.8 9. which is quoted from Psal 45. But unto the Son he saith Ver. 8. Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever A Scepter of righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee c. This Clause therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee is rendred both by Beza in the place cited in the New Testament Heb. 1.9 And so by Junius and Tremelius out of the original Hebrew in the Old Testament Psal 45.6 Therefore O God thy God hath anointed c. In the former verse in that Clause Thy throne O God is for ever and ever And likewise in the former place of the clause mentioned in the latter verse according to the Translation specified Therfore O God thy God hath c. the word God is to be understood personally and that of Christ the Second Person subsisting in the Godhead or divine Essence as in the latter place of this Clause Therefore O God thy God hath anointed thee it is to be understood personally of the Father or First Person Now if Christ the Son be God and the Father be God both which are plainly enough asserted in the passages mentioned and yet notwithstanding be not two Gods but one and the same our Adversaries themselves not granting a plurality of Gods then it undeniably followeth that the word God when it is attributed unto them both thus the Father and the Son are God or are the same God evident I say it is that that word God in such Propositions or Sayings as these must of necessity be taken Essentially not Personally because it is manifestly untrue to say that the Father and the Son are one and the same Person and as manifestly true too it is that they are one and the same God there being no more Gods than One. So