not to be look'd upon as a nice abstracted Speculation designed for the Exercise of our Understandings but as a plainer Revelation of God's Love and Good Will towards Men and a greater Motive and Incitement to Piety than any we had before this Doctrine was delivered Had man stood confirmed in his Original Righteousness and there had been no need of Redemption 't is highly probable God had never been considered by Man in his state of Probation under any such Distinction as is now revealed to us And therefore I should think those different Titles and Relations by which God has been pleased to express that Eternal Distinction in the Godhead to us should be chiefly considered by us with reference to the great Work of Man's Salvation Thus far then the Scriptures require us to believe That the One only Supream God upon his fore-knowledge of Man's Fall did from all Eternity Purpose and Decree to Redeem Mankind into a capacity of Salvation by the Death and constant Mediation of a Man chosen and enabled for this Work by the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him And in consideration of his Passion and Intercession to impart such Gifts Graces and Spiritual Assistances as would be sufficient to render this Redemption effectual to the Saving of much People And moreover we are to believe that God has accordingly executed this his Gracious Design towards us By sending into the World Christ Jesus the Man who before he had ordained should in the Fulness of Time be born and suffer for our Sins in and by whom as has already been shewn God acted in a wonderful manner was worshipped and adored and acknowledged in all his Attributes and with whom he abideth in the Fulness of Power and Glory for ever And since his Death and Reception into Heaven by a plentiful Effusion of Spiritual Graces and Influences by which means a great many have embraced the Gospel of Christ and become Heirs of Salvation and more from henceforth to the end of all things shall daily be added to the Church of God be supported in the Faith and be made Partakers of the purchased Inheritance reserved in Heaven for those that are Sanctified by the Spirit of God Now with respect to this great Design of Saving Mankind and the Order and Method of the Divine Wisdom in the Execution of it To give us as full and distinct Apprehensions as our Souls are able to conceive of the Misery of our sinful Condition the difficulty of Deliverance and the unspeakable Mercy of God in restoring us to the Happiness we had justly forfeited and to raise our Souls to the highest pitch of Veneration Love and Gratitude we are capable of expressing for such an inestimable Blessing God has been pleased to reveal himself to us under several Personal Characters and Relations Such as Father Son and Holy Ghost Saviour Mediator and Comforter By which Names and all other Expressions consequent thereupon we are directed to consider some such kind of Distinction and Subordination of Offices and Relations in God as the Terms made use of do commonly import Thus when God is pleased to represent his Love to Mankind in the highest Image of Nature that of a Father sacrificing an only well-beloved Son the exact Transcript and Resemblance of himself perfectly Innocent and Obedient to his Will in all Things we are to believe that by the Sufferings and Death of Christ God has given greater Proofs of his Love towards us than any Man is capable of doing to another and that such an Action of an Earthly Parent suggests the nearest and likest Conception we can possibly frame of what our Heavenly Father has done for us tho' at the same time we must acknowledge it comes infinitely short of expressing the Riches and Fulness of his Mercy and Loving-kindness And the same Use and Spiritual Improvement is to be made of all other Revelations of this nature And thus we have seen how far we are capable of conceiving a Trinity and what the Scriptures expresly oblige us to believe concerning this Point All that is beyond lies far out of our Reach and Comprehension and no particular Explications can add any thing to our Faith for the Terms made use of for that End being in use before this Doctrine was taught must either signifie the same they did before or not If the same where 's the Mystery If not what do they signifie Something that we cannot explain but in Words used already and then the Question will return again The same Difficulty would attend new Terms invented on purpose for either they would have no meaning at all affixed to them or else they would be understood in the sense of some other in use before And therefore had the very same Terms and Forms of Expression been found in the Scriptures as are now in our Creeds the Revelation of the Trinity had been no plainer nor we obliged to believe any farther than the present Language does import For upon a fair and distinct Examination both of Scripture and Reason it plainly appears that what 's already revealed amounts to as much as we are capable of conceiving and does besides imply something more which we can not comprehend and 't is not in the Power of Language to make us understand any thing better For 't is utterly impossible to frame any Notions above our own Level And should God be pleased to stamp some new Idea's upon the Minds of Men they could not be conveyed to others by the help of Words or any other Signs but only by the same Divine Impressions so that whatever Idea's the Apostles and Inspired Writers might have of a Trinity by immediate Infusion the Terms they have made use of can give us but this imperfect Discovery of them that they were such as we are not able to comprehend without the like Assistance This then is the utmost we are required to believe or are capable of believing concerning the Doctrine of the Trinity viz. That these Three different Terms Father Son and Holy Ghost are all applied in Scripture to the One only supreme God That all the Actions Offices and Relations which are in Scripture ascribed to any of these Names excepting those proper to the Humane Nature of Christ are there plainly attributed and do truly belong to one and the same Divine Nature That there are such frequent and evident Assertions of the Vnity of God in Scripture and yet such plain Expressions of distinction signified by these Terms Father Son and Holy Ghost as imply a consistency of unity and distinction in the Godhead That this Distinction whatever it be is not the same with that we conceive betwixt the Attributes of God which are partial Conceptions of his Essence nor a meer difference of Name Office or Relation such as is signified by the like Terms when applied to Men tho' these are all the Differences we can expresly conceive as applicable to the Divine Nature but some other
just before declared Now the Reasons which determined my Opinion in this Matter were such as freely offered themselves upon an unprejudiced reading of Scripture and considering the Design Connexion and Analogy of those Writings And I am apt to believe if any Man else took the same Method and considered Things togegether and not only in loose Texts and Passages the first Result of his Thoughts would be the same viz. These Terms Father Son and Holy Ghost must all be so understood as to include the same God in their Signification and that any other Sense or Explication of the Words would be attended with greater Difficulties But this being a Reflexion which is founded upon the Agreement and Coherence of all the Parts of Scripture 't would be a very improper and ineffectual Design to go about to confirm the Truth of it from some particular Passages Omitting therefore all those Texts which are a great many where any of these Terms Father Son or Holy Ghost appear to be directly affirmed of God according to a fair Construction of the Words I shall only observe Two or Three Passages from the History of our Saviour and his Gospel which to my Apprehension do as strongly prove what I have advanced as the most formal Expressions and are less liable to be perverted by the Criticisms of Language The first Observation I have to make concerns the common Forms of Baptism Salutation and Blessing used in several Places of the New Testament Now these are Matters no way controverted That our Saviour commanded his Disciples to go and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost That St. Paul makes use of such Salutations as these The Lord be with you The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Grace be to you and Peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ And particularly closes his Second Epistle to the Corinthians with this 〈◊〉 and fuller Blessing The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all From whence I infer that all these Terms Father Son and Holy Ghost signifie God because I cannot possibly conceive 't is agreeable to the Nature of the Christian Religion that the Ministers of it should Teach Baptize or Bless the People in any other Name but God's It cannot be imagined but the People must equally believe in those in whose Names they are Baptized or Bless'd They must believe that those who are call'd upon to bestow Graces and Blessings upon them are able to give what they are called upon for And whatever is meant by Baptizing in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost it seems very plain that these Three are all equally concerned in what 's done in that Sacrament Whether by this Form of Baptism be signified on the Minister's Part the Authority or Commission by which he acts in his Administration or whether on the Part of the Person baptized be meant any Acknowledgment or Confession Submission or Dedication of himself or whether this Phrase in the Name or as in the Greek into the Name does imply all this and more the whole Force and Importance of the Expression does in the same Extent belong to Father Son and Holy Ghost The Power and Authority here received is derived from all Three They are all to be acknowledged as Authors of our Salvation all infallible and to be believed in what they Teach have all the same Title to our Submission and Obedience and are Joint-Parties in that Covenant we make in Baptism The Inference from hence is very Plain and Easie That if any one of these Terms signifie God they must all Three signifie God and if all Three signifie God they must all Three signifie one and the same God for God is but One. Now that the One Supreme God the Lord and Maker of All Things is here meant by the Word Father is a Thing not questioned and therefore Son and Holy Ghost are Terms expressive of the same Divine Nature Should we but suppose the contrary That by Son was meant only a meer Man or some Heavenly Being of highest Rank under God and by Holy Ghost was signified only some created Spirit inferior to the Son or the Power Efficacy Love Favour or Vertue of God how strange would such a Form of Baptism appear I Baptize thee in the Name of God Peter the Apostle and the Power or Love of God or I Baptize thee in the Name of God Michael the Archangel and Raphael a Ministring Spirit There needs no more but a bare Mention of such an Exposition to shew the Falshood of it What absurd Consequences may be drawn from it I shall leave to every Man 's particular Reflexion Another Thing which mightily confirmed me in this Belief that the Father Son and Holy Ghost so often named in Scripture are One and the same God under those Three different Appellations was this That the Son who is the same with him that is in other Places called the Lord and the Lord Jesus Christ and sometimes only Jesus or Christ was worship'd with a Religious Worship by those that followed him and embraced his Gospel For if he that was called the Son of God or Christ was thus to be worship'd it plainly and evidently follows from hence according to all the Notions we have of God and Religion either from Nature or Revelation that the Son was also God the same true and only God with the Father And if the Son be allowed to be God as well as the Father it will be easily admitted that the Holy Ghost is so too who appears in Scripture invested with all the same Characters of Divinity For Father Son and Holy Ghost are as consistent with the Vnity of the Godhead as Father and Son only and besides there 's greater difficulty in conceiving the Son to be God than the Holy Ghost because of his Humane Nature But that he was God manifest in the Flesh is I say apparent from the divine Worship that was pay'd to him For that God only is to be worship'd is an evident Principle as well as an indispensable Duty and I can as soon believe a thing to be and not to be as that any thing that is not God should be worshipped as God Now that Christ received the Honour and Worship due to God only is plain from abundance of Places of Scripture where we find he was not only adored with all the outward Expressions of Reverence and Devotion but confess'd and acknowledged to be God by an Application of the Divine Attributes to him such as agree only to God and are incommunicable to any other as might be proved at large if it had not been done already But this being fully insisted upon by others I shall only name Two Passages to this Purpose the one Phil. 4. 13. the other Act. 7. 59. which if there were no other are of
themselves sufficient to shew what the Faith of the first Christians was For who but one that believed that Christ was God could say with St. Paul I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me or with St. Stephen at the instant of Death cry out Lord Jesus receive my Spirit From these and many other Texts it seems plain to me that Christ was worshipped and acknowledged as God and that therefore he ought so to be worshipped and acknowledged we have all the same Reasons to believe as we have that the Scriptures are True the Establishment of a False Worship being a thorough Disproof of the Authority that Commands it Supposing therefore the Truth of the Scriptures there 's no way of eluding this Argument but by giving another Interpretation to all those Places which seem to ascribe divine Honour to Christ which can no otherwise be done than by framing a particular Dialect for this Purpose and giving new Significations to Words when applied to our Saviour which they never had before when used upon other Occasions I shall not enter upon a particular Proof of this but pass on to Another Argument I observ'd from Scripture which gave me further Assurance of the Divinity of the Son and consequently of the Truth of the whole Proposition before advanced and that is The Character of Jesus Christ considered meerly as a Man Now 't is certain that the Man Christ Jesus the Son of David according to the Flesh is represented by all the Evangelists as having his Conversation in this World with all Lowliness and Humility and with perfect Holiness and Unblameableness of Life And it is not imaginable that a Person of this Character should have suffered any Titles to have been given him any Honour or Respect to have been pay'd him which were not strictly and indispensably due to him much less have taken the Honour and Worship peculiar to God only to himself if he had not been infallibly conscious that of a Truth God dwelt in him I cannot possibly conceive that one who declined all Appearance of Grandeur Dominion and Authority should have allowed of any thing that look'd like Worship or Adoration or might have been mistaken for it or that he who knew he was believed to be the Son of God in such a Sense which some thought Blasphemy would not have undeceived his Followers and justified himself to his Enemies had he not really been what 't was Blasphemy to have pretended to be if he were not I might easily pursue these Reflections a great deal further and bring more Arguments to confirm the truth of what I have asserted that these Names or Titles of Father Son and Holy Ghost are applyed in Scripture to the One True God but I judge it altogether unnecessary not only because it has been fully made out already in several set Discourses upon this Subject but because it is so plainly and expresly revealed that I am verily perswaded every Man that reads would believe were it not for the additional Explications such a Belief is charged with 3. Which is the next thing to be considered And indeed here lyes the whole difficulty of the matter the main stress of the Controversie For that God should be called Father Son and Holy Ghost is as easily to be believed as that he should be called Adonai Elohim and Jehovah That the same thing should be signified and expressed by several names is no such incredible Mystery But if we allow that these Terms Father Son and Holy Ghost are all applyed to God in Scripture 't is not thought sufficient to say that these are three several Names which signifie God but we are further required to believe that God is One and Three the same God but three different Hypostases or Persons And that one of these three Hypostases or Persons is both God and Man These are the hard sayings which puzzles some Mens Understandings and make them chuse rather to wrest and pervert the plainest Texts than admit such seemingly inconsistent Consequences Here therefore I shall Examine what grounds there are in Scripture for such an Exposition And what we are obliged from thence to believe when we express our Faith in this particular manner First then as to these forms of Expression That God is One and Three c. It is to be observed that these Names Father Son and Holy Ghost are applyed to God in Scripture in a different way from what any of his other Names are For the other Names of God signifie only Partial Conceptions of the Divine Nature such as Self-Existence Power c. and are all contained within the same Idea of God and so are indifferently used upon any occasion to express the whole Idea of God to which they belong which is the same under every denomination These therefore cannot be the Foundation of any distinction in the Godhead But Father Son and Holy Ghost according to our way of conceiving things signifie something Extrinsecal and Accessory to the Divine Nature as much as we know of the Divine Nature by reason the whole Idea of God being conceived as full and compleat before the application of these terms And though all of them are separately and together affirmed of God yet each of them in so peculiar a manner that there are several occasions where when one of these terms is used with relation to God 't would be improper to use either of the other From whence it follows that these three Names of God Father Son and Holy Ghost must denote a three-fold difference or distinction belonging to God but such as is consistent with the Vnity and Simplicity of the Divine Nature For each of these Names includes the whole Idea we have of God and something more so far as they express the Nature of God they all adequately and exactly signifie the same 't is the additional signification which makes all the distinction betwixt them What particular kind or manner of distinction this is is not expressed in Scripture but since the Church has thought fit to assign a Name for it that of Person seems to me as proper and agreeable to the whole Tenor and Design of the Holy Writings as any other that could have been chosen for that purpose For Father Son and Holy Ghost whether we consider the Primitive sense and intention of the words the general and constant use of them or the particular Connexion and Circumstances in which they are mentioned in Scripture have plainly a Personal Signification each of them without any figure of Speech being determined to signifie some intelligent Being Acting in such a manner as is there related There needs no Proof of this the plain distinction of Persons imported by those Terms being the chief Argument made use of to shew that they cannot all be applied to God but must necessarily signifie Three distinct Beings But that they are all applyed to God in Scripture has been proved already And therefore Father Son and
Some Considerations Concerning the TRINITY AND The WAYS of Managing that CONTROVERSIE LONDON Printed and Sold by E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall MDCXCVI THE PREFACE TO THE READER THIS Discourse was Written some time ago for the Private Satisfaction of the Author who thought that a proper Season for an Impartial Enquiry into the Doctrine of the Trinity when several Persons of different Opinions in that Point had just before appeared in the Controversie about it and their Printed Papers being canvas'd over again in Conversation had produced many New Remarks upon the same Subject Which Advantages together with what he had formerly read having as he judged given him a pretty full comprehension of the Matters in Dispute he took the following Method of Re-examining that part of his Faith and Justifying what he believed to his own Reason and Conscience Some Persons to whom he communicated what he had writ advised him to Print Which he had done before now upon the Judgment of a Great and Learned Man of the Church lately dead who was pleased to approve the Papers without knowing to whom they belonged But Occasion being given him to fore-see some little Objections which might probably at that particular time have in some measure obstructed his Good Intentions in Printing them he thought fit to defer the Publication of them till a more convenient Opportunity such as he judges this to be when the Controversie of the Trinity is managed in such a manner as to offend a great many and satisfie very few and the Church is like to suffer very much by the too Adventurous Attempts made by some to Vindicate her Doctrines Those who pretend to Explain the Distinction in the Godhead by Modes Offices Relations and the like are censured as saying too little and coming much below the Characters of Distinction to be found in Scripture though at the same time they use these Terms they acquaint us that they use them in a different Sense from any they are taken in when applied to Creatures and in a sense importing greater Difference but such as is not conceivable by Human Understanding And some of those who call the Three Divine Persons Three Infinite Minds Spirits or Substances would not be thought to mean by these Expressions That the Three Persons in the Godhead are as much distinguished from one another as Three Men or Three Angels are but that the Distinction betwixt them is so great that no other Terms can reach it though these do somewhat exceed what they would signifie by them Which Distinction less than these Expressions in the common use of them do import and higher than any other can come up to is acknowledg'd likewise to be inconceivable Which being observed by the Author of this Discourse he thought it more Advisable to use no New Terms with a Design of Explaining what by the Confession of Persons of different sides in the Dispute is not to be rendred more conceivable And to Justifie his Opinion in this Matter he has endeavoured to prove that no New Terms can be used to any such purpose And this he thinks he has made very Evident by the Account he has given of what we can distinctly conceive and what we can confusedly believe of the Doctrine of the Trinity which ought carefully to be distinguish'd in all Disquisitions upon Subjects of this Nature As for those who will allow only a pure Nominal Distinction in the Godhead or that apply the Terms Son and Holy Ghost to meer Created Beings he has only the Language and Design of Scripture to oppose to them which seem to him utterly irreconcileable to such Notions and he hopes those general Reflections he has drawn from thence will make this appear so to others But the Opinion of those who make the Persons in the Godhead as distinct as Three Men or Three Angels he is sure both from Revelation and Reason is false And that advancing any such Explications of the Trinity as will fairly bear this Construction is of such dangerous Consequence that he hopes he has done some Service to Religion by proving That Three Persons in the Godhead as distinct as Three Men or Three Angels is not only an Incomprehensible Notion but an Impossible Thing which implies a manifest Contradiction to the plainest and surest Principles of Knowledge Having given this short Account of the Author and his Performance in this Discourse I have only this further to acquaint his Readers with That he desires they would believe him to be a sincere Man that has a serious Regard for Religion and no other aims behind what he professes For whatever his Arguments are he is sure his Design is good And that his Reasoning may appear so too he would be glad that They who take up these Papers would give them the Reading over before they pass any Judgment upon what is advanced in them For the Discourse being written in the Demonstrative way where the Main Conclusions are establish'd by a long Train of Preparatory Proofs no true Judgment can be made but upon the whole together May it please God to make these Endeavours of the Author successful to Satisfie and Unite the Minds of Men in their Belief of the Doctrine of the Trinity or may He direct some abler Persons to find out more Effectual Methods of Establishing the Primitive Faith and settling the Present Peace of the Church SOME CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE TRINITY c. THere 's no part of the Christian Faith has produced so many Disputes and Controversies such a numerous Variety of Opinions and Sects as the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity If we consult the large Catalogues of Primitive Heresies we shall find the far greatest Number of them nothing else but so many several Modes and Ways of Explaining the Common Undivided Nature and Essence of the Trinity and the different Offices and Operations of each Person How far the uncertainty of our Faith in these Points the many Absurd and Blasphemous Expositions that have been made of them and the warm and indiscreet Management of contrary Parties have contributed to the Prejudice of Religion and the Scandal of its Professors has been a common Observation and Complaint in all Christian Ages And several Expedients have been proposed for the Redressing of this Mischief but all Attempts of this kind have hitherto miscarried The principal Reason of which I humbly conceive to be this That those who have laboured in this good Design have for the most part proceeded upon wrong Measures Now the Methods that have been generally and chiefly insisted upon are Three which are all improper or insufficient and have therefore proved ineffectual as will plainly appear upon a particular Examination of each 1. First then There are some who are for Reverencing the Mystery of the Trinity without ever looking into it at all who think it not to be the Subject either of Dispute or Enquiry imagining every thing of this high and transcendent Nature is proposed to us
Three Infinite Beings distinct from one another any more than Three Infinite Powers or Three Infinite Spaces because all Distinction implies some Limitation and Limitation is a Contradiction to Infinity We can indeed conceive Infinite Power as in some manner bounded by Infinite Wisdom Justice Mercy or the like but in no wise as limited by any other Power We cannot therefore conceive one Infinite Being as bounded by another Infinite Being for then we should conceive Infinite Power limited by another Power and the like of all other Attributes which are the same in both For the Notion of an Infinite Being includes in it all the imaginable kinds of Infinite Perfection But if we say there are Three Infinite Beings and all the Perfections of each are coincident what ground can we have for such a Distinction Not so much to use the former Instance as for that of three straight Lines between the same Points for there the different times of describing the same Line may in some manner help us to form a confused Conception of different Lines But 't is not in the Power of the Soul to represent to its self Three Eternal Beings of Coincident Perfections Here 's nothing for the Imagination to lay hold of no manner of ground to deceive our selves into a confused belief of such a Distinction And therefore I do not see how 't is possible for us to believe there are Three distinct Principles or Natures all of the same Infinite Perfections which together we call God And if there be but One Omnipresent Infinitely Perfect Being how can he be truly and fully represented to any Mind under Three different Idea's The truth of an Idea consists in its Agreement and Conformity to the Original it represents And if so how is 't possible there should be Three Idea's exactly and adequately conformable to the same Original and yet different from one another Either these Differences found in the Idea's are not in the real Pattern and then the Representation is false or they are and then the Unity of the Object is destroyed 'T is true indeed we do often apply different Idea's to the same individual Object but these are either Partial and Inadequate Conceptions of the Nature and Essence of it or Expressive of something Accessory and Extrinsecal to the Nature of the thing such as Modes Circumstances and Relations Those Partial Conceptions we frame of the Divine Nature are what we call the Attributes of God Which how different soever from one another in our thoughts are all necessarily included in the simple Idea of God and therefore cannot be the ground of such a Distinction as we are now enquiring after For when I say that God is Holy Wise or Powerful I only say that explicitly and in part which I said implicitly and in full when I pronounced the Name of God and the meaning of such Propositions is no more but this That a Holy Wise Powerful Being of all other Infinite Perfections is Holy Wise Powerful c. All which Perfections though considered separately under different Appearances by our imperfect Faculties being really but one simple Idea can be applyed to but one Single Person in the first sense of the word Person as it signifies a particular Intelligent Being Nature or Principle and that for the Reasons just now mentioned concerning the Conformity of Idea's with their Patterns From whence it follows that according to the Notions we are capable of framing of Vnity and Distinction which I have particularly examined with Reference to the Holy Trinity all the Personal Distinction we can conceive in the Deity must be founded upon some Accessory Idea's Extrinsecal to the Divine Nature a certain Combination of which Idea's makes up the Second Notion signified by the word Person And if we fairly and impartially Examine our own Thoughts upon this Subject we shall find that when we name God the Father we conceive the Idea of God so far as we are capable of conceiving it as Acting so and so under such Respects and Relations and when we name God the Son we conceive nothing else but the same Idea of God over again under different Relations and so likewise of the Holy-Ghost But if this be all that is meant by Trinity in Vnity Three Persons and One God where is that stupendious Mystery so much reverenced and adored by some What becomes of the great Difficulty and Obscurity complained of by others What is it that has puzled the Understandings and staggered the Faith of so many Learned and Inquisitive Men in all Ages since this Doctrine was first delivered This is an invincible Prejudice against the Account now given and indeed against any other Explication whatsoever that has nothing in it hard to be understood or believed For how can it be imagined that what has passed for a Mystery these Sixteen Hundred Years should now at last be comprehended as plainly as a common ordinary Notion But if this Account of the Trinity be too easie and falls far short of those High Expressions of Distinction found in Scripture as I think it does and no other grounded upon any Notions our Souls have framed of Vnity and Distinction can be true or consistent as I have before particularly proved then it necessarily follows that God must be One and Three in some way or manner not conceivable by Humane Understanding And what we are to believe in this case is the Subject of my next Enquiry which I am perswaded may very easily and quickly be resolved For if we are fully satisfied from Revelation that these Terms One and Three may and ought to be affirmed of God but not in any sense of the words we are here in this present state capable of conceiving And moreover if it be true as I have already shewn it is that we can believe a thing no farther than we understand the Terms in which it is proposed to us 't is plain from hence that all we can possibly believe in the matter of the Trinity is That One and the same God is Three in some way or manner we are not able to comprehend And if we are sure we cannot comprehend what this Distinction is whereby God is Three in vain do we look out for Terms to express something which we have no manner of Conception of Whatever words we use whether Person Hypostasis or any other we can invent or Languages furnish us with they all signifie the same thing that is some kind of Distinction we do not understand And we may rack our Thoughts tire our Imaginations and break all the Fibres of our Brain and yet never be able to deliver our selves clearer All therefore that we can know of the Trinity by Reason can amount to no more than an Obscure confused Knowledge which we are forced to express in general and abstracted Terms because we are sure no other reach our thoughts though these are not sufficient to explain all we mean by them Nor is
Holy Ghost may be considered as Persons or Personal Characters which do not imply any distinction of Being or Nature The Greeks are supposed to have meant the same by Hypostases as we do by Person this word being sometimes the very Translation of the other And if so there 's the same ground for the use of both But if they meant any thing else they could hardly have so good Warrant for it from Revelation Now that one of these Persons or Hypostases should be both God and Man there is this Foundation in the Scriptures for He who is there called the Son of God did certainly appear in the likeness of Men being in all respects Sin only excepted truly and properly Man as his Birth Necessities Sufferings and Death sufficiently testifie 'T is certain also that the same Jesus Christ who was called the Son of God and was made in the likeness of Man is affirmed by St. Paul Phil. 3. 7 8. to have been in the form of God when he took the Nature of Man upon him But besides this and many other Texts to the same effect 't is plain from what before has been proved that God did suffer himself to be worshipped and adored in and by the Man Christ Jesus The least that can be inferred from which is that God was more immediately and peculiarly present in Christ than ever he is said to have been any where else As in the Heavens Jewish Temple between the Cherubims in Prophets and Holy Men who spake as they were moved by the Spirit of God What created Object was ever allowed to intercept the Worship paid to God or share with him in it Were the Heavens the Temple the Cherubim or Prophets to be adored Nay has not God taken a particular care to preserve Men from Idolatry by forbidding them to Worship him in or by any sensible Representation Did not the Apostles who worship'd Christ forbid others to Worship Men of like Passions with themselves commanding them to direct all their Devotion to the Living God who made Heaven and Earth How then can we suppose that Christ was only a meer Man or some other Creature and not rather believe that he had the Fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily But here it is Objected How can God and Man be united And to this I must fairly Answer that I cannot tell I have confessed already in the Account I have given of those Notions of Vnity and Distinction that I have not any just or distinct Conceptions of the Vnion of Spiritual Beings either with Bodies or with one another But this I will venture to say that I can as well conceive God and Man together under one Idea at one view as I can conceive a Soul and Body so united All that I know of the Vnion of Soul and Body is that there is some Intelligent Power that makes use of the Organs of my Body and Acts in conjunction with the Motions there produced And I may as well consider God united to Man when he so Acts by the Ministry and Operation of Man that the Actions of God seem conveyed to us the same way as the Actions of one Man are to another Had those who upon some occasions spake by the extraordinary Assistance of a Divine Power been constantly so directed and assisted how would they have distinguished the Motions of their Souls from the Impressions of God And why then should not we think such an Extraordinary Power as this as much united to such Men as that Common ordinary Power we call the Soul is to those Bodies in which it acts and exerts it self Some have been of Opinion that what we call the Soul is nothing else but a constant regular Inspiration or a determinate Concurrence of God Almighty with such and such Motions and Capacities of Matter But whether this be so or no as most probably it is not it seems to me very plain from Scripture that such a Power which we ascribe to God did as Constantly and Regularly Act in and through Christ as the Human Soul is perceived to do in any other Man As appears from his absolute security from all manner of Sin and Error from his constant knowledge of the Thoughts and Designs of Men and the Will and Decrees of God and from his Readiness and Ability to work Miracles at any time and upon any occasion All which are manifest Tokens of an uninterrupted Presence and Concurrence of the Deity Especially if we consider the Calmness and Evenness of Spirit observable in our Saviour entirely free from all the transports of over-ruling Impressions 't is a further Argument that he did not receive the Spirit of God at times or by measure but was as conscious of all the Divine Perfections in himself as a Man is conscious of his own Thoughts Such are the Grounds we find in Scripture for those particular Explications of the Trinity before-mentioned In the next place we are to Enquire what the Scriptures necessarily oblige us to believe in this Point But before this Question can be resolved there are two things to be premised 1. That whatever Articles of Faith are absolutely necessary to Salvation all Persons of every Rank and Condition are equally obliged to believe them There is not one Religion for the Peasant and another for the Scholar We have the same general Rule to walk by though particular Obligations may be greater or lesser fewer or more according to different Circumstances and Relations And whatever Principles and Duties are of general Necessity ought to be so plainly revealed as to be easily understood by ordinary Capacities upon a fair and careful Examination 2. That in order to this end it seems to have been the Design of the Scriptures to represent God in a sensible manner though at the same time they take care to assure us that God is in his own Nature a Being of different Perfections not conceivable by Human Understanding And is thus represented only in condescention to our weakness for the help and assistance of our Devotion So that all Expressions of this kind where God is the Subject are to be understood in a higher and more Spiritual sense but still with some Analogy to what they properly and usually signifie Thus to use a common Instance when 't is said that God looks down and beholds what 's done among the Children of Men that he hears the Cries of the Righteous and the Blasphemies of the Wicked 't is not to be imagined that he sees as Man sees that he makes use of any Organs of Sense but 't is thus expressed to give us more lively Notions and Impressions of the certainty of God's Vniversal Knowledge to assure us that God more plainly fully and infallibly knows whatever is done in all the Earth than we are capable of knowing those things which fall within the reach of our Senses This being premised it seems very plain to me that the Doctrine of the Trinity is
Distinction which we have but a confused perception of and cannot comprehend or explain by any particular Idea's which unknown inexplicable Distinction is the Foundation of all these Differences expresly conceived by us And since the Church has thought fit for the Sake of Unity and Peace and for the Suppressing all Private Disputes and Interpretations to appoint set Forms to express this our Faith in I think the Athanasian Creed as rational an Explication of the Trinity as can well be made The Worst that the Enemies of this Doctrine can say of it is That it is an unnecessary Multiplication of Terms and too nice an Endeavour to Explain what cannot be Explained but not that 't is False or Absurd nothing being there asserted in any sense inconsistent with the Vnity of God or the Principles of Right Reason All such Meanings and Significations of any Terms or Expressions in that Creed being very improper as they are there applied and utterly disclaimed by the Church that enjoins the Use of it Nor can it be esteemed an unreasonable Imposition That we should be obliged to profess our Faith of something which cannot be conceived but confusedly and indistinctly nor expressed but in general and obscure Terms For where 's the Hardship of being required to believe as far as we can believe God is Incomprehensible in his Nature and Perfections but are we not obliged to believe there is a God who is Incomprehensible Are we not obliged to believe there are Joys in Heaven which it has not enter'd into the Heart of Man to conceive And to repeat a former Instance may not a Blind Man be obliged to believe what a Friend of unsuspected Integrity tells him of the general nature of Colour tho' he is not able to form a particular Idea of it And if these Things cannot be denied What difference can be assigned why we should not be under as great an Obligation of believing the Trinity tho' we are not able to conceive it distinctly A Threefold Distinction in the Godhead consistent with the Unity of God is as plainly revealed in Scripture as any other Article of Faith Nor are those general Abstracted Terms we find in our Creeds to be condemn'd as meer useless and perplexing Niceties for tho' they are not sufficient to make us understand the Trinity fully and distinctly yet they are proper Limitations to exclude all the False and Unworthy Apprehensions of this Doctrine which Pretenders to a more particular Explication might introduce III. And now what dangerous Consequences can possibly attend such a Faith as this 'T is true indeed the Adversaries of the Trinity have drawn up a heavy Charge against this Doctrine and taken a great deal of Liberty in their Discourses about it But the principal Objections that have been made by any of them are but Three to which all the rest may be reduced And these I shall endeavour to shew by the Account before given are very Frivolous and Unjust 1. The first Pernicious Consequence the Doctrine of the Trinity stands charged with is the Introduction of a Plurality of Gods But 't is very plain from what we have said in the former part of this Discourse that 't is utterly impossible to believe a Trinity in any such sense as implies a Plurality of Gods For according to the Notions I have there shewed we have of the Nature and Attributes of God 't is undeniably certain to every Man's Experience that we cannot conceive more than One God All our Endeavours to comprehend more are only repetitions of the same Idea Let Those therefore take care to Answer this Accusation who under pretence of giving a more Rational Account of what we are to believe in this Point set up created subordinate Gods to be Partners with their Maker in the Glory and Worship due to him Besides we do explicitly declare that there is but One God at the same time we make Profession of our Faith in a Trinity or Three Persons 2. In the next place therefore we are accused of believing Contradictions and consequently of destroying all the certainty of Natural Knowledge Which Fence being down there 's no Error so gross or absurd but may be obtruded upon us and Transubstantiation has as good a Pretence to be an Article of our Faith as the Trinity But I need not make any particular Answer to this Objection having proved at large already that we neither do nor can believe a Trinity in any sense that contradicts the plain and evident Principles of Natural Reason We do not believe there can be more Gods than One that One can be Three in the same respect 't is One or that One God can be Three Persons in the same sense three Men are three Persons or any other Proposition that 's inconsistent with those Natural Notions which are the Foundation of all our other Knowledge But the Patrons of Transubstantiation cannot make this Plea who in this one Particular deny those very Principles which upon all other occasions they rely upon with the greatest Assurance Did they only affirm that Christ was present in that Sacrament in some way or manner they could not comprehend but in no way repugnant to the plain and necessary Dictates of well-informed Sense and right Reason there might be then some Resemblance found betwixt this Doctrine and that of the Trinity but at present the Comparison is palpably and notoriously unjust 3. But Thirdly 't is further Objected That though the Doctrine of the Trinity as we explain it could not be proved to contain down-right Contradictions yet at least it must be counted and esteemed as a Mystery and the Imposition of Mysteries for Articles of Faith is a thing of very ill Consequence In Answer to which Charge it is to be observed that as in the Doctrine of the Trinity so in most other Objects of Faith and Knowledge there 's something that we plainly and certainly understand and something that we cannot possibly comprehend Thus a Man by inward Reflection is Infallibly conscious of his own Thoughts and he judges whatever he perceives within himself to proceed from one Common Principle which he calls his Soul and which from the Nature of its Operations he is fully perswaded is something of a different kind from his Body tho' it always Acts in consent with it But what this Soul is or in what manner united to his Body he is not able to conceive and therefore the Doctrine of the Human Soul taken all together may as justly be stiled a Mystery as the Trinity We ought not then to be offended at the word Mystery since if we strictly examine our thoughts we shall find that almost every thing we pretend to know comes under that name even those things we have the greatest Assurance of our very Souls and Beings This being observed we may consider the Trinity either with respect to what may be understood of it or what cannot So far as we are capable of