AN ACCOUNT OF THE Blessed Trinity Argued from the Nature and Perfection of the Supream Spirit Coincident with the Scripture Doctrine in all the Articles of the Catholick Creeds Together with its 1 Mystical Uses 2 Foederal Uses 3 Practical Uses In the Christian RELIGION By William Burrough Rector of Chynes in Bucks LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin at the Oxford Arms in Warwick-lane near the Oxford-Arms-Inn 1694. THE PREFACE IT passes at this day without any hesitancy amongst the Socinians that the Trinity is contrary to reason and it is likely it did so at the very first and so past them too hastily and before they had sufficiently examined the differences of things For upâ—n a more distinct observance of the Scale of Beings I suppose it may appear that though a Trinity of Real Hypostasies either in a single corporeal substance or even in any nature not absolutely perfect be contradictory to the reason of the thing yet it is evident by all our natural notices from internal sense that a Spirit besides its first subsistence hath also two other answerable to the utmost ability of its own Ingeny and therefore in reason we must grant that in the Spirit whose ability is All-sufficiency these its two other subsistencies are really equal in perfection with its first and consequently according to our humane conceptions of a Spirit and its perfections the denial of the Trinity includes in it the denial of the Spirituality or of the absolute perfection of the Deity both of which appear to be contradictory as well to Reason as the Scripture The Three therefore in Scripture and the Trinity in the Catholick Church is of the same significancy with a Spirit of absolute perfection in the Schools of Philosophy but in a stile of more adorable Majesty presenting to us the absoluteness of the perfection to be in a substantial subsistence To this purpose it is observable that our Saviour who came to require from all Men the service of the Supream Being under the express notion of a Spirit without respect to place the peculiar property of Bodies does not only represent him under the Title of the Father in spirit and in truth which in the reason of the thing are our prime notices of the One in Three but likewise appoints to all Nations a solemn recognition of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which in Nature are the proper formal Characters of the Three Persons in that Holy One and without this recognition first made no one is to be admitted into the service of that Soveraign Lord. If these things may appear as I here suppose it will also appear that we are to confess a Trinity in Vnity both as Men and as Christians and consequently they are extreamly injurious who reproach the Being of the God which the Christian Church does Worship as contradictions and absurd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if that most Blessed of all Beings was not to be endured either in Mens Hearts or in the World and that for no other reason but because the Church conform to our Lords institution confesses God to be what he could not be unless he be the most absolutely Blessed 1. The Natural Evidence of the Trinity as well as of the Creation being grounded upon Gods being a Spirit I have shewed that God is known to be so by the same Evidence by which we have the Natural Knowledge of his Existence I confess this would have deserved a larger account than I have bestowed upon it but all Christians confessing God to be a Spirit and my Circumstances not allowing a large account of the Spiritual Nature I hope by this contracted one the intelligent Reader will pâ—rceive from a joynt Evidence in Nature and Scripture that the Supream Spirit is one God Infinitely One and Three Persons Infinitely Three no whit the less one God for being Three Persons no whit the less Three Persons for being only one God Now in this Doctrine not only the Faith of the Church is exactly delivered and the pretensions of the most rigorous Trinitarians satisfied but even what the several opposite parties are concerned for is as fully secured to them as in their own divided ways The Scripture plainly teaches there is one God and yet as expresly attributes Titles and Prerogatives Divine to more Persons than one Hereupon some to preserve the unity of the Deity intire and others to assert the Persons really distinct by mis-apprehension of the one have been necessitated to deny or evacuate the other Now these denyals and elusions were not their choice â—ut of affection to them but unwelcome consequents which they would have avoided had they seen how without rejecting that truth on the other side which they were concerned for for can any one think that the Sabellians had any kindness for the synonimousness of three Names which the Scripture speaks of as so distinct farther than they thought it needful to the compleat unity of the Deity Can we believe the Tritheists if any such there ever were would please themselves with the notion of three numerical and one only specifical God Or the Arians have pleaded there were Gods of several sorts one of a Nature of Supream Divinity and another or two of a Nature of inferiour Divinity Or the Socinians have imagined there was one God only in Nature and two in the Christian Religion but that they found a necessity from the Scripture to acknowledge more persons Divine than one and so they invented these divers conceits to salve the Doctrine of the Divine Vnity For I understand not that any Christian Professor can be delighted in the Worship of more Gods than one whether they be of the same or of a different Nature From which hard Sayings the present Doctrine delivers them and yet intirely secures the Truth for which they contend in their several Hypothesies Shewing how the one God is no less one God for being three Persons and the three Persons no less three Persons for being but one God It may seem indeed the Arians did first resolve upon the different natural excellencies of the Father and the Son and thereby were forced to deny the Being of one God in three Persons but that they asserted both these to be of a Divine Nature was by a manifest force upon them Which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Socinianism is more uncertain whether they denied our Saviours Divine Nature that they might deny the Trinity or denyed the Trinity for the maintaining their denial of our Saviours Divinity That is to say whether they first thought that God had no Son by Nature and thence concluded he made another the Heir of his House or else that he had made another the Heir of his Family therefore surely he had no Son of his own by Nature For it would not agree with the Scripture or the reason they pretend to to think he set aside his own Son and gave the Honour to another to be Lord of Heaven
and Earth But whether they hold these Doctrines with an equal or different concern yet it seems plain enough they hold both the one and the other in Subordination to their Grand Principle That the reason of things is the Rule of interpreting Scripture So that all the concern they express for either being their supposed consonancy with reason if it may appear as I hope it will by the reason of the thing that the Deity is the Supream Spirit Aliusque idem nascitur Hor. Carm. 2 and that the reason of the Supream Spirit speaks it to be of such absolute perfections that it Conceives or Begets it self in a second Personal Subsistence as real as the first Then have they in this Doctrine as well as the other parties what they sought for in vain in their own way and find the reason for their Faith which there they missed Wherefore all the Theoretical interests of the several Contenders being thus fully and entirely secured remove the Spirit of opposition which all disclaim and we have an unity in these points without any use of a Syncritism which is but a Politick Engine to tye mens Tongues together when their Hearts are removed as far as before from one another Whose use is to work like death which so far as it takes away the power of doing evil mortifies likewise the power of doing good I would I loved moderation and gentleness better than I do but I would still retain my present sentiments so far as rather to be angred than killed Concord in these things is most desirable but if that cannot be had men ought to contend so much as is needful to preserve the Faith but no more and not stifle their Religion for fear there should be quarrels about it 2. But though all the Conscientious interests for which any are concerned as seekers of Truth be here provided for yet possibly some Pious Persons may fear that such an attempt as this suits not with some other things for which we ought to have a Religious regard Such are the incomprehensibleness of God the Modest and Humble Opinion of our own Vnderstandings the Mysticalness of the Christian Religion and the Practice of the Antient Fathers which all by inquiring into this Mystery by the Light of Nature seem to be treated with too much neglect Though much might be said to satisfie these indefinite fears yet my leisure permits me to say but little which yet I hope may be enough 3. For the Infinity or Incomprehensibleness of the Deity that signifies not that we can know nothing of him by the Light of Nature for then we were not to say he Subsists in an Incomprehensible Being but that if he be he is in utter darkness But it signifies that whatever Men or Angels can know of him though they knew it in fallibly yet no one knows all or the all of any Divine Perfection or hath an adequate Conception of any thing that is in the Divine Nature But we may for all this know many things of him and that certainly Though we can say he is a Good and not a Bad Being and he is Wise and not Foolish and so far determine of the condition of the Divine Being yet this argues not that God is ever the more comprehensible by us in that sense wherein incomprehensibleness is a Divine Perfection and to be revered by us We can discover that God has an Eternal Subsistence if the Subsistence of the Deity be one Personal Subsistence this one Personal Subsistence is as Incomprehensible as three Personal Subsistences are unless we comprehend not the difference betwixt an Vnite and the Number three which we are sure we do And if we can discover from the Divine Perfections that the Deity Subsists in three Persons not in one only we may be said to know something more of God but nothing with a comprehensive knowledge And therefore the more we know of the Divine Nature the more distinctly we perceive that God is incomprehensible Let us then use the same measures here that we are certain be right in like cases When we say that God knows and withal that knowledge in God is not the same that knowledge is in created minds yet we do not therefore say that Gods knowledge is no knowledge or less really knowledge but infinitely more really knowledge or has infinitely more the true nature of knowledge in it than we can conceive by the knowledge in the Creatures Thus we think of his Goodness Existence Power and the rest of the Divine attributes Proportionably we are to affirm of the Incomprehensibleness of the Trinity When we say the Deity is one in all and every one of the three Persons Incomprehensibly We mean not thereby that it is not one or less one but infinitely more one than we can conceive by any Vnity in a Creature And when we say the Subsistences of the Divine Nature are incomprehensibly three we mean not that they are not really three or less distinctly three but infinitely more than we can conceive by any diversity in the Creatures Tho' as the Unity of the Deity is not a Vnity of the same kind so neither is the diversity of the Persons a diversity of the same kind with that of the Creatures nor from the same reason nor manifest by the same evidence Thus the Infinity of God makes not our knowledge of God no knowledge nor deceives us in what we know of him but convinces us that we know but in part The Incomprehensibleness of God then hinders not our knowledge of the Trinity no more than it hinders the knowledge of his Wisdom Power Goodness which are all incomprehensible as well as the Trinity and yet are known by the things that are made 4. Modesty and Humility teach us not to think our Intellectual Capacities less than they are 't is enough in all reason to think them so very little as they are Scepticisme is neither Modesty therefore nor Humility but an affected Wildness that violates all the measures of these and all other vertues which require not a a man to deny his own perceptions and doubt everlastingly but only that he vouch not such perceptions more clear and certain than really they are If then by a wary process of thoughts we may perceive that the most absolute perfection of a Spirit argues three distinct Subsistences of whatsoever is in the Nature of that Spirit we may then without breach of modesty believe that the most rational conception of the Supream Spirit is the Being of one God and three Persons And if we have any suspicion remaining about the due conduct of our thoughts yet we must still confess that the best reason we have persuades and prompts to this conception For since we evidently perceive that the Deity cannot Subsist in three distinct real Subsistences unless it be of most absolute perfections and on the contrary we cannot conceive how such a most absolutely perfect Being can
import their constitution in the Sacerdotal State of the Universe But I must here lay no stress upon this lest I beg a Principle of those that will not grant it I note it however for the sake of them which know the Truth that they may discern the whole of what I include in the compleat notion of a Christian Mystery 2. Nature instructs us in the knowledge of Gods Eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 Acts 14.17 Rom. 1.32 and of his Providence and Righteous Judgment and likewise teaches that his Subsistence is such as belongs Naturally to the Supream Self-Originate Spirit what that is I have shewed above But that God is Incarnate that he now Governs the World in Humane Nature and will Judge the World in the man Christ Jesus is not to be learned from Natural John 1.14 Mat. 28.18 Acts 17 31. but only from Supernatural Revelation Nothing then that depends upon these as all Religious Mysteries now do can be proved otherwise than from the Scriptures 3. From the Natural Reason of the thing we have therefore no evidence to assert that Christ is God Mark 1.1 Joh. 20.13 but there is nothing that the Gospel makes more certain then that Christ is the Son the only Son the only begotten Son of God this being the grand assertion of the New Testament And this being made certain to us by the Gospel the former discourse whereby we naturally learn there is one only Son of God does assure us that whoever or whatever Christ is Cap. 5. though he be even a man he is himself really and truly God and yet not God the Father nor the Holy Ghost This is all that our present undertaking obliges us to say in demonstration of our Saviours Divinity 4. But that I may not wholly baulk the expectation of the Reader I shall annex the sum of a large Scriptural evidence made ready to our hands as I find it recapitulated by the excellent Dr. III. Serm. of the Trinity P. 86 Wallis after a particular inforcement of it He therefore who is as Christ has been shewed from the Scriptures to be God the true God the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Eternal God the First and the Last before whom nothing was and after whom nothing shall be That Was and Is and Shall be the same Yesterday and to Day and for Ever the Almighty by whom the World was Made by whom all things were Made and without whom nothing was Made that was Made who Laid the Foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the Work of his hands who when the Heavens and the Earth shall fail His Years endure for Ever who searcheth the Hearts and the Reins to give to every one according to his Works who is Jehovah the Lord God of Israel the Supream Being who is over all God blessed for Ever who is the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who only hath Immortality to whom be Honour and Power Everlasting Amen That God says he of whom all these things are said is certainly not a meer Titular God who is called God but is not a Creature God or only a Dignified Man for if these be not Characters of the True God by what Characters shall the True God be described 5. We are now to observe how the Natural Doctrine of the former Discourse does correspond with all these viz. That Christ is Man and is the Son of God is God but not the Father nor the Holy Ghost First then Of the Humanity of Christ about which more anon we must remember that there is no Created Nature Cap. 5.5 Cap. 5.10 but has its Being wholly by being Conceived in the Divine Mind therefore Christs Humanity is a Nature Subsisting by being Conceived by God 2. The Divine Nature in its second Subsistence is the only begotten Son of God as being God Conceived therefore Jesus Christ being the Son of God is God conceived and being but one and yet Man he is God conceived one with Man or he is God conceived and Man conceived in Unity by the Divine Conception and therefore by vertue of the Divine Essential Truth God conceived one with Man is thereby really one with Man Thus Christ abideth ever God and Man in one Cap. 5.5 6. But because it is God conceived that is thus one with Man therefore it is neither God the Father or the Holy Ghost that is one with Man For God Conceived or Begotten is the Deity in its second subsistence Christ therefore is the Son of God even of the Father and from him and the Father proceeds the Holy Ghost 7. Since Unity hath several significations it will be impossible in some sense for God in any subsistence to be one with Man therefore we must observe that God the Son being Eternally God conceived is Eternally God and Eternally conceived he therefore is not changed in his nature nor subsistence which being still the same he ceases not to be God nor the Son of God by becoming Man And we may say more generally he ceases not to be what he ever had been but begins to be what before he was not There is therefore neither a Conversion of the Godhead changing it from a Divine into a Humane Nature nor yet a confusion whereby upon the union of the two Natures there results a third which is neither of the two as when a blew thread is dipt into a yellow Vat there comes out a third colour which is neither blew nor yellow but green so that the Properties Natural and Personal of the Son of God remain the same unvaried by this Union 8. Jesus Christ being one who is God conceived and Man conceived in the unity of the Divine Conception he is the Son of God both in his Divine and Humane Nature This subsistence therefore of the Son of God in Union with Man is Mystical in the full and adequate notion of Mysticalness for the Divine Nature might have been and have governed the whole Creation Cap. 10.1 though in no one of its Personal subsistences it had been one with Man Jesus Christ therefore the second Person of the Blessed Trinity hath in him a Mystical subsistence of God and Man become one and therefore is a Mystical Divine Person 9. And because this Mystical Union was effected by the unity of the Divine Conception therefore God conceiving the Divine and Humane Nature is one Rom. 15. in as such the God and Father of Jesus Christ and therefore is as such the Divine Nature in its first subsistence become Mystical 10. And the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son in this their Mystical subsistence being as such the Spirit of the Father of Jesus 1 Cor. 2.12 and the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of Jesus is the Divine Nature as such in its third subsistence hereby become Mystical Rom. 8.9 Gal. 4.6 Phil. 1.19 Cap. 10.1 So that
it hath a Substantial Subsistence that Nature is very properly begotten in such a Subsistence by that Conception 4. Wherefore since it hath appeared by the Natural Reason of the Supream Being that the first Person is the Deity in its Parental Subsistence and the second in the Filial Chap. 5.14 And the Scripture teaches the first Person is the Father and the second the Son we are hereby assured that the Scriptural and the Natural Account of the Trinity are the same in the general only Nature teaches the bare thing as in it self and the Scripture in its Religious state Having said this to justifie the main of the process I shall now proceed to Evince that the particular Characters of the three Persons are the very same in Scripture with those I have delivered from the Light of Nature But I must first advise the Reader that I am not now so much to prove the Trinity from Scripture which has been done abundantly by many others but to compare the Natural Doctrine with the Scripture and shew their accord in all the branches of each which I shall do a briefly as I can 5. Reason taught us that the Divine mind in its first Subsistence does Subsist Conceiving the Divine Nature Chap 4.10 Cap. 5.10 this is confirmed by the Holy Oracles of the Father to the Son Thou art my Son this Day have I begotten thee We learn from the Divine Nature that the first Person is really distinct from the second Chap. 5.9 10 and we learn from the Scripture also that besides the Son that bears witness of himself there is another even the Father that bears witness of him and these are the two distinct witnesses But yet the reason of the thing assures us that it is one and the same Divine Nature that Subsists in these two distinct and real Subsistences Chap. 5.12 And accordingly Divine Revelation teaches us I and my Father are one ◠one nature or one thing 6. Natural Light instructs us that the second Subsistence of the God head is a Substantial Subsistence Chap. 5.9 10. The Holy Scriptures conformably affirms That in him dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily that is Substantially The Son himself is Naturally God even God by himself and that by Nature Chap. 5.11 13. The Scripture attests the same styling him God even God blessed over all and warns us of the future appearance of the great God even our Saviour Jesus Christ That the Deity in its second Substantial Subsistence is the Son and that not by Adoptive Reputation but Real Generation appeared from the nature of the thing Chap. 5.14 and this is confirmed by the Testimony of Gods word which says This day have I begotten thee That the Son conceives his own Divine Nature is a Natural Document and likewise that this is neither more nor less than his own Essential Subsistence Chap. 5.15 Both these the Sacred Dialect teaches declaring that he Lives in him is Life And as the Father hath Life in himself so hath he given the Son to have Life in himself The Son begotten of the Father is one and Eternally the same as reason teaches Chap. 5.16 and the Religious institution stiles him therefore the only begotten of the Father The Son Conceives the Divine Nature but with a Conception that do's not Procreate another Subsistence of the Deity as was shewed Cap. 5.15 And accordingly as the Scripture teaches that there is but one which is therefore the only begotten of the Father so it teaches there is but one the same that is the only begoten Son of God confirming the Natural Doctrine that there is but one only Substantial Subsistence of the Divine Nature by any Conception of it whatsoever But yet nevertheless the Fathers Conception and the Sons Conception are equally creative of all other things as is taught Chap. 5.17 which the Scripture witnesses For the Father worketh hitherto and I work and whatsoever the Father doth the same the Son doth also All things are of the Father and by the Son all things were made that were made and without him was not any thing made that was made He laid the Foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of his hands and in him all things consist Thus we see in all points the Principles of Natural Truth and Instituted Religion do harmoniously accord But let us with the like brevity touch the other Scriptural Characters of the Son and observe how exactly they are conform to the natural condition of his Person for since the Essence of any Being as conceived is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Word of God The Word therefore the Deity subsisting in Conception is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and consequently this second Subsistence of the Divine Nature both according to the reason of its Nature and of the Religious Style will either be turned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Emphatically the WORD or else Explicitely the WORD OF GOD because Reason teaches that this is the Divine Nature in a Substantial Subsistence Cap. 5.10 This will be properly signified by affirming the Word it self to be God and that in it is Life all which St. John distinctly takes notice of 1 John 1.23 Telling us likewise Explicitly Rev. 19.15 That THE WORD OF GOD is his Name or the Character given him from the condition of his Person 2. TRUTH The reality of the Divine Nature Subsisting in the second Person consists in the Essential truth of the Divine minds Conception as was shewed Cap. 5.10 This person is therefore with peculiar respect to this condition of his Being to be called the TURTH as we read he is I am the TRVTH THY Word is TRUTH And St. John inculcates this so vehemently that it 's manifest he puts a special remark upon it that we might not omit to take particular notice of it 1 Joh. 5.20 We know that the Son of God is come and hath given unto us an understanding that we might know him that is TRUE and we are in him that is TRUE even in his Son Jesus Christ he is the TRUE GOD and Eternal Life 3. For the like cause this person will be styled the Light as he oft is that is the intellectual Light of a Conscious Life seeing his Subsistence is in the perspicacious Conception of the Divine Mind as the Nature of the thing teaches Cap. 5.10 4. And because what is perfectly conceived is thereby thoroughly understood and it is an infinite wisdom to understand all the perfections of the Divine Nature and their true excellencies for God is all in all Therefore this Wisdom conceiving is the personal Wisdom of the Father but then this Wisdom Subsisting Substantially by being conceived is the Son or it is Sapientia nata as St. Austine speaks distinguishingly after an Elaborate disquisition of this matter And as I have shewed the Reason if the Supream Spirit does teach this Cap. 5.10 11 12 13 14. so it is
confirmed in the Scripture where we read of a Wisdom Subsisting with God which was brought forth conceiv'd or begotten from Everlasting brought forth before the Depths the Hills or ever the Earth was and such the Second Person of the Deity in Reason is for ever for in him are hid all the treasures of Wisdom 5. This Second Person being Divinus Conceptus Chap. 10.15 is not the Image of the Divine Nature for he is the very Divine Nature Subsisting really in this Personal Subsistence and in him the first Subsistence does really Subsist but in the Reverse or Antitype as it were this Nature dictates Chap. 4.7 Chap. 6.8 Therefore though the Son be not the express Image of the Divine Nature yet he is according to the Reason of the thing and of the Holy Language as we find Heb. 1.3 the express Image of God the Father which being so critically expressed by that Divine and Accurate Author do's manifestly point out to us the very Account which from Nature I have offered of the Subsistence of the Second Person For indeed all these Scriptural Characters are so agreeable to the reason of the thing that they leave us no rational doubt in this matter 7. The third Subsistence of the Deity is by volition and volition is the agency of the Spirit of the Divine Mind this was proved by Reason ch 5.20 ch 6.11 and this is attested by the Scriptures as often as they style the Third Person the Spirit of God or emphatically the Spirit which is so frequently that I need not hint the places This Person proceeds and is not begotten as appears by the reason of the Divine Nature cap. 5.21 accordingly the Scripture no where says the Spirit is begotten but that it proceeds from the Father and is the Spirit of the Son and sent by the Son The Nature of the Deity taught there is one and but one substantial subsistence of the Godhead by procession ch 5.22 the Divine Oracles confirm this for there is one Body and one Spirit even one and the self same Spirit This Spirit creates according to the condition of its subsistence in Nature cap. 5.23 which we also learn Psal 33 6. where all the Host of Heaven and Earth are Created by this Divine Breath This Person is a real distinct subsistence by it self of the Divine Nature cap. 5.24 and the Scripture teaches he is not the Father being sent by the Father nor the Son being sent by the Son And whilst this Spirit like a Dove did alight upon Jesus at his Baptism the Father at the same time by an audible voice from Heaven did own him for his well-beloved Son and the Son declares that the Spirit is another from himself and as Nature ch 5.25 so the Scripture teaches he is the third in order by the Ordinance of Baptism in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost We learn from Nature that the Spirit is God ch 5.27 which is averr'd by the Scripture teaching us that lying to the Holy Ghost is lying to God and ascribing such perfections to this same Spirit as are incommunicable to any other Nature But let us proceed to the other Scriptural properties of this Spirit which we may observe to have a singular Congruousness with the natural Condition of this third Divine Person For since the third Person subsists by the Almighty Volition of the Divine Spirit c. 5.20 According to the Reason of the thing and of the Sacred Language it will exegetically be called the Power of the Most High and the Finger of God as it is Luke 1.35 c. 11.20 and because it subsists in the Divine Benevolence ch 5.19 with some peculiar attribution will this be styled the Good Spirit as Nehemiah 9.20 Thou gavest them thy Good Spirit Psal 143.10 Thy Spirit is Good and this Spirit of the Lord accordingly is directly opposed to the Evil Spirit and the prime Communication of this Spirit will be Love to all the World of Spirits because Moral Truth consists in the constancy of the Will c. 5.21 therefore this is the Spirit of Truth in the Moral sense as the Scripture often teaches which is an eminent vertue in a Witness or a Friend But above all we are to mark that according to the Nature and Reason of the thing this Person subsists in the Eternal Unchanged Holiness of the Divine good-will ch 6.5 because the Most Famous Character which the Scripture gives of this Person is that of the Holy Ghost So punctually doth the Testimony of the Scripture agree with the Doctrine of Nature 8. From the Natural Condition of the Three Persons the Consequents were that they are Coeternal Three in Number Coequal each intirely God inseparable self-subsistent and mutually inexistent and one Principle only In confirmation of all this the Scripture teaches the Father is God from Everlasting to Everlasting that the Son is set up from Everlasting whose goings forth are from Everlasting that he indures and his years have no end that the Spirit is the Eternal Spirit It likewise teaches us there are three but no more and in the same order as Nature doth the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And again the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost one of these Three accounts it no Robbery to be equal with another asserting all to be his which the other hath that he was with the other and in the beginning with the other that he is not alone but the other is with him yea one mutually inexistent in the other I in thee and thou in me and as the one hath life in himself so the other hath life in himself 9. Nature Scripture then we have seen do both teach each of these three Persons is God and yet notwithstanding Nature assures us that there is not therefore three but only one God as is taught ch 5.26 and the Scripture every where confirms this Natural Dictate assuring us that there is but one God Thou shalt have no other Gods but me I am and there is no God besides me There is but one Uncreated Self-sufficient Almighty Eternal Incomprehensible One Supream in Glorious Majesty according to the Evidence given by Reason ch 6.9 Now though the Scripture as has been shew'd does attribute the perfections of the Divine Nature to every one of these Persons as well as reason did yet no where doth it speak of more Eternals more Almighties more All-sufficients then one only And there being in Nature but one energy upon the Creatures abroad ch 6.10 the Scripture concurs herewith teaching there is but one Creatour one Saviour one Sanctifier one King one Law-giver one Judge one Lord one Adorable Being or Object of Religious Worship and one Majesty According to the voice of Nature Truth and Moral goodness have a substantial subsistence in God ch 6.11 12. this is asserted by the Scripture as often as it says God is Light or God is Love That the Spirit of God is free
subsist otherwise than in three if we will venture to follow our own reason we must conclude there is a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead or else he is not absolutely perfect but if we find the plain expressions of the Scripture agree to this Conception in all the branches of it as friends and foes confess they do we cannot then without unreasonableness unbelief and immodesty continue our doubtfulness any longer Now this Coincidence of the Light of Nature with the Scripture in all points gives us the compleat evidence of this Doctrine 5. The Mystery of this Doctrine I have satisfied in the Book by dividing the Question of the Trinity into its two parts and shewed what belongs to the Natural Inquiry and what belongs to the Christian Mystery And therefore need say no more here than that no one can more acknowledge the Mystery of the Christian Faith in this point than is here taught which as such is wholly and solely of Scripture revelation But it is manifest that the other part belongs to the condition of the Divine Nature and so is of Natural Divinity and is a branch of the Theory of a Spirit If it may then appear by Nature that the Subsistence of a thing in the World is not more really its very self than it is the very Subsistence which the same thing has in the Divine Conception then it will also appear that the Divine Conception in this particular is of absolutely perfect truth and the Divine Mind thus Conceiving is a Being of absolute perfection This being evident it will follow from the condition of the Spiritual Nature that the Supream Spirit himself Subsists in three equally perfect and really distinct Hypostasies And is one God therefore and three Persons and whether all this be so or not is of Natural disquisition 6. And by this we may see why the Antients argued the Trinity only from Scripture Authority and made use but sparingly of the reason of the thing Because their Controversy was whether it was of Faith or no not whether it was of Natural Light or of Reason They therefore as Ministers of Religion taught this to be a part of the Gospel Doctrine which they could no otherwise prove it to be but only by the Scripture and the Tradition of the Church But for all that since there certainly is a Natural Enquiry about it that may be considered by a Natural Divine For if it be discovered by Natural Theory no one can doubt but it is required in Scripture and yet if it be not of Natural that does not hinder but it may be of Supernatural Revelation as many other things are which are unknown by the Light of Nature 7. Lest the Reader should surmise from any thing that has been said that he shall here meet with some new Doctrine of the Trinity to prevent any such prejudice at his entrance into this Discourse I must advertise him that he will meet with no conclusion touching the Trinity but the very Articles of the Three Creeds And the Propositions from whence those Conclusions are immediately deduced are acknowledged by all Christians and the Antitrinitarians themselves And the more remote principles which yield the evidence to those propositions are notorious dictates of Reason and Natural Sense So that here is nothing that can be new except the order in which the things are said And so new the Doctrine of every Book is which is neither Transcript nor Translation which indeed this pretends not to be And this I hope is enough to obviate the suspicion of Novelty which I much dislike in important Doctrines of the Christian Religion I have briefly pointed out the uses of it likewise that Faith and Charity may go together In doing this I was unwilling to beg my principles and thereby was forced to begin at some distance from the main point by which I presumed I should gain several advantages and the notions I had of several things become familiar to the Reader before he came to the pinch of the Question For being to contemplate the Supream Nature I thought it needful to begin the lower After I have told the Reader that the Nature of this Argument and Method will require some intentness of thoughts in the perusal that he may serve himself of it and assured him I know of no Objection but what I have anticipated or removed and therefore desire it may be read with the same candour wherewith it is offered I shall trouble him no further but commmend him to God and the Word of his Grace which is able to build us up in Truth and Holiness and so give us an Inheritance amongst all them which are sanctified Amen The ERRATA PAge 1. line 3. read remain p. 2. l. 3. r. being r. Substances p. 2. l. 4. r. Originate l. 6. r. Originate l. 19. r. valid l. 33. for Tradition r. Trinity l. ult r. condition p. 3. l. 15. r. restively p. 8. l. 9. r. operate p. 9. l. 34. r. do p. 10 l. 12. r. in infinitum l. 38. r. extension p. 11. l. 9. for pores r. partes p. 13. l. 35. for is the thought r. is in the thought p. 14. l. 6. r. depreciate p. 15. l 16. r. and p. 16. l. ult r. only one r. real p. 18. l. 43. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 19. l. ult r. eternal too p. 21. margin for one r. our p. 22. l. 3. r. Subsistence p. 25. l. 12. r. being so conceiving p. 25. l. 17. r. Subsistences p. 26. r. fecundity for moods r. modes for Souls r. Soul for effected r effectâ— for factors r. fautors p. 32. r. facing p. 33. l. 14. r. it self p. 34. for expediently r. expeditely p. 38. l. 43. for turned r. termed p. 40. l. 8. for cr r. nor l. 39. for Nature is one in as such r. Nature in one is as such l. 42. for same the r. the same p. 57. l. 20. deâ—e as p. 57 l. ult for since this r. since to this p. 59. for intruded r. obtruded p. 59. for Epicurians r. Epicureans literal slips are not here collected AN ACCOUNT OF THE Blessed Trinity Argued from the Nature and Perfection of the Supream Spirit CHAP. I. The Question Stated and Discussed BY the Blessing of God on the endeavours of his Church the Old-Heresies which denied the Unity of the God-head are long agoe extinct and there remains only some few of such as deny the Trinity together with others of a later rise which are yet to be reduced But these all seeming to confess there is but one true God and so far fully to acquiesce in the Catholick Doctrine The Question about which these are to be dealt with is in short Whether the True God in the Unity of whose God-head they consent with us does really subsist in three distinct personal subsistences Hypostases or only in one Or whether there being one God there be also but one Divine Person or else
Life void of all Sence and Perception for though its Efficacy should be so great that it is sufficient to move the mass of matter Locally yet for want of contrivance it can only make an impetuous jostle a confused jumble 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or promiscuous medly of Matter but not a World It is therefore the Agency of a conscious Life that can take cognizance of its own doings in it self and move Matter with design to produce a regular structure of stupendious Mechanism as is that of this visible World in a due proportion order and subserviency of all its parts Cap 2.7 now such a conscious Life is a Mind 12. Yet neither is this the Agency of a Mind that is indeed sagacious enough if it happens to advert to frame such a stately Edifice but yet in its self is wholy indifferent and unconcerned whether there be any beauty or usefulness in the whole or any part of it for though such a Mind may chance to make some very few or very small parts with some proportionableness yet it is absolutely incredible that many or the considerable parts should have any comely order or good serviceableness at all but that the whole material System should be Erected by such utterly heedless Agency into such a goodly Fabrick as is this which we behold with our Eyes is altogether impossible and is perfectly contradictious to the very Nature and Reason of Fortuitousness It is therefore the Agency of such a Mind as hath resentments is Pleased or Displeased Approves or Disapproves its own doings But a Mind indued with such resentments is a Spirit Cap 2.9 That being then to whose Agency the whole material World does owe its present frame is nothing else but a Spirit which worketh all in all by the counsel of his own Will If therefore the Supream Being is the maker of ths World he is not of a material or any other nature but Spiritual 13. This is the Conclusion that we were directly to deduce That no other Being but a Spirit is the Maker of the World But I did not prove but suppose that the World had a Maker yet that follows likewise as a Corollary Thus The force which we feel causes all Local motion is not natural to matter but contingent whencesoever this force happened to matter it is the cause of the World's frame It is certain no force whencesoever it is that moves not by counsel could cause such motions as are in the Worlds frame but all force that moves by counsel is the efficacy of a vital mental spiritual agency therefore the World that was framed by such force Chap. 2.9 was made by the Agency of a Spirit These two documents of Nature are both confirmed by Scripture which teaches expresly that God is a Spirit and in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth 14. Now since God the Maker of the World is a Spirit and the supream Being the Perfections that are included in his being the Most High do speak no other than a Spiritual nature in God for be they never so high as they are Most High they argue him to be no other Most High Being but the Most High Spirit hence then we can infer from the nature of the thing that God is therefore the Most High Life the Most High Understanding the Most High Will but not the Most High Being of any other sort and whatsoever is not the Most High Spirit is not by Nature God The Scripture teaches God is Life God is Light God is Love to confirm us in this 15. Mr. Rich. Baxter following St. Austin hath spoke a great deal of those three and has observed that a Trinity in Unity is imprinted upon the whole frame of Nature but then confesses whether we call those three Life Light and Love or Life Intellect and Will They are not the Trinity of Persons and that they are not is manifest from these Principles for since these three express the Essential Nature of a Spirit they cannot be the Three Persons in the Divinity because if we should take every one of these three by it self for one of the Three Persons we shall then divide the one Nature into three instead of giving the same intire Nature in three Personal Subsistences 16. If there be no other Supream Spirit Subsisting at all but only this one single Supream Spirit it is manifest then in the Reason of the thing there is no more three Gods though this One Supream Spirit subsists intirely in Three distinct personal Subsistences then there is if it subsists onely in One personal Subsistence This I note in the first place to secure our Conception of God as One whether there be One Person of the God-head or Three and it is not amiss to observe that because the most high Being is the Supream Spirit all other Natures such matter is are in their condition obnoxious to the Spiritual Nature 17. But it can hardly be worth while to note that though Nature Form Frame Fashion and such like Words do in their derivation seem to connote the first rise of things yet Use hath frequently applyed them to signifie only the things as they are in their several kinds without our thinking how they came to be what they are and so it must needs do when we speak of the Divine Nature which is Eternal In like manner Existence seems to insinuate the first coming of things into Being but in use it hath obtained most commonly to import no more than that a thing is in being and Subsistence signifies the same with Existence only connotes some permanency of Existence CHAP. IV. Of the Spiritual Agency and Subsistence 1. VVE are now more distinctly to remark the sufficiency of the Spiritual Nature and the rather because our business in this World of Bodies is such as may deceive us Our Work as parts of this corporeal System is only moving the parts of matter from place to place staying or altering such Local motion and this we do not without straining and contention hereupon we are apt to over-value this Power which is but an appendage and that accidental to the most eminent Functions of a conscious Life as being no more than a consequent of the Minds superiority over that baser Nature Now seeing the most radicalagency of the Spiritual Life and that which discriminates it from other Natures is as we see Chap. 2 3. 4. that whereby it discerns betwixt Existence and Non-Existence or betwixt something and nothing This would tempt us to suspect that a Minds Essential Agency is to give or annul this being of things which it conceives in it self and that in proportion to its sufficiency but should this be true yet it would be too great an ascent to make at one step and would but amuse shoud it be so abruptly expressed the easier way though somewhat farther about I like best which will be by considering first Lifes Agency as Intellectual and then as
God in the three subsistences of the Divine Nature upon our Saviours Incarnation is become Mystical 11. Now it is this Mystical Trinity that the Gospel teaches Indeed whilst the Scriptures deliver the Doctrine of the Mystical Trinity they do as I have said insinuate the state of the natural Trinity but so they instruct us in almost all things in Nature whilst they teach us their relation to the Mystical and Sacerdotal state of the Divine Kingdom On the other hand we see the knowledge of the Natural Trinity which we learn from the perfections of the Divine Nature does so lead us to the Faith of the Mystical as to leave that Christian Mystery to be wholly of supernatural Revelation For the Mystery I say the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity rests wholly upon the ground and pillar of Truth which is confessed to be the great Mystery of Godliness God manifest in the flesh so that our Faith of this Mystery it is plain stands not in the Wisdom or Reasonings of Men but in the veracity of Gods word This is sufficient to justifie the distinction which I make betwixt the Mystical and Natural Trinity for this is but analogous with the reason of that difference which is betwixt Christian and Natural Vertue for though the Natural form of vertue may be understood by Natural Light yet the Christian form cannot which includes all the Vertuousness of the Natural and somewhat more which is likewise praise-worthy CAP. XI Of Christs Humanity 1. WE must confess if Christs humanity had been wholly Created anew by its being conceived one with the word it would then have been nothing of kin either with Man or with any other thing in the World Whereas we are assured he that is the word came into that World which had been made by him John 1.10 1 Joh. 4.17 and we are in this World even as he was in this World his Humane Nature was not therefore strictly Created but made of some substance preexistent in the World 2. Neither was his Manhood made out of any thing that is not of humane race for then he had had no more cognation with that Mankind that is in the World then with any other parts of this mundane System but we are taught Heb. 2.14 that because the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself took part of the same he has therefore a prime relation to us and as such Heb 3.11 he is not ashamed to call us his Brethren 3. If Christs Humane Nature then be made out of that one blood whereof are all the Nations of men he is the Son of man and is made so of God by Nature and therefore the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Heb. 10.5 as the Author of Nature produced this Manhood 4. But tho it be God that does produce this Human Nature yet if he do it by the sole powers of Natural Ordination according to the Laws establish'd before in the World for the Production of Mankind he will not thereby carry off any corrupt or inordinate sensuality which passes according to course in the natural constitution of things and tho we should suppose that the Personality of this individual Manhood is not subsistent because of the personal Union with the Divine Logos yet that of it self changes not this Human Nature in its dispositions and therefore this Nature would indeed be like ours in its Causes and Constitution but it would be too like us because it would not be undefiled Whereas we know this Nature was Holy and Harmless and Undefiled Heb. 7.26 1 Pet. 1.19 that it might be offered without spot to God as a Lamb without blemish and without spot It was not therefore solely produced by the powers of Nature 5. If the Manhood wherewith God is one be produced by the Powers of Nature so far as they will reach with rectitude and by Divine Power superadded to supply what is defective then this Manhood hath all that is really and essentially natural to us and so is related naturally to us and the supernatural Divine Operation takes away all the depravation of Nature Whereby it comes to pass that though he was in all things to be like unto us that he might have the feeling of our Infirmities and Temptations Heb. 2.17 Heb. 4.15 Heb. 7.27 28. yet he had no sin at all for our High-Priest can have no Infirmities or Sins of his own to offer for according to the fundamental constitution of the Divine Kingdom though Moses his Law allowed sinful Men to be Priests and to offer first for themselves and then for the People 6. Wherefore God in framing the humanity of Christ did continue the powers of Nature to work by their own stated Rules and without exalting them by a supernatural efficiency added thereto did produce an effect in the world which is beyond the force of Natural Powers Now all such effects as are produced by the force of Natural Powers and Divine energy added thereto are ever in Scripture peculiarly attributed to the Holy Ghost Gen. 1.4 Thus when the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters or liquid such effects followed as the powers of water are naturally uncapable of producing So both Jesus his and his Disciples miraculous operations upon the powers of Nature and all supernatural Graces are peculiarly ascribed to the Holy Ghost for all these diversities of Operations worketh one and the same Holy Spirit by the personal disposition of his own Will 1 Cor. 12.4 11. 7. This Manhood become one with the Son of God is peculiarly therefore the work of the Holy Ghost and because it was effected by the Holy Ghost coming upon a Woman and the power of the Most High overshadowing her and so was born of her Luk. 1.35 Mat. 1.20 therefore this is a Child conceived by the Holy Ghost and has that Woman for its Mother 8. It is also the Child of Adam Luk. 3.38 Gen. 3.20 Mat. 1. and of Eve the Mother of all Living and of Noah And if God had said that it should be by the descent of any particular Line as of Abraham Isaac Jacob Judah Jesse David it will be the Child of these Progenitours and such Predictions and Promises are Divine Characteristicks of the individual Person of Gods Son become Man both to the Ages preceding and following his Birth 9. The depravation of our Nature being removed not by the natural efficacy but supernatural efficiency of the Holy Ghost there will be no more reason to assert this Woman to have been her self born without all inordinate sensuality because she was the Mother of this Child than to affirm the same of all his Pro-parents in the direct Line up to Adam 10. But whether she is to be called the Mother of God is a question of names and strife of words for as much as there is a sense wherein she is and another wherein she is not therefore
which being for Contrivance and Counsel as it were the Master-piece of Divine Skill in Matter God statedly beholds this singular Work of his own Hands when arrived at due Maturity with such a favourable Aspiration as is no less or but a little less than that which he vouchsafeth to the Inhabitants of the Intellectual World And as we see much what the same measure of strength as suppots a weight will serve to raise it so same the favourable Aspiration that upholds an Intellectual Creature in Being is of force sufficient to raise it into Being Therefore such Aspiration will give Being to a Conscious Life as preserves the Mental Natures of the Invisible World 2. But then this Aspiration being included in the Divine favourable intuition on what his hand hath curiously wrought in these lower parts of the Earth Psa 139.15 though it hath a Conscious Life for its effect yet it is not a separate Conscious Life but a Conscious Life enlivening that accurate frame of Matter now a conscious Life vitally United to a Humane Body is a rational Soul 3. And because this Soul doth result from the Divine Aspiration on a being framed by the course of Natural Causes in the material System of this World therefore it is not Properly Created nor yet Miraculous but Natural 4. Yet this Soul cannot be said to be therefore educed out of the powers of Matter because the Divine Aspiration is not of that kind which concurs with Corporeal Motions but such as is afforded to the Intellectual Natures though upon the approbation of this singular piece of Divine Workmanship in this World of Bodies 5. He that said of the Humane Soul Creatur infundendo or infunditur Creando spoke something this way but whether expresly enough needs not be inquired since the Scripture assures us that the Lord who Created the whole frame of this Visible World besides that does form the Spirit of Man within him That the Spirit in Man being by the Inspiration of the All-mighty Zech. 12.1 Job 32.8.27.3 Gen. 2.7 is Intellectual and the breath in our Nostrils our Spirit and Life is the Spirit of God which he Breathed into Mans Nostrils by which he became a living Soul So that if Brutes have Souls and they be educed out of the Powers of Matter yet the Soul of Man according to a course settled by God in Nature being a Conscious Life is by a Divine Aspiration correspondent to those of the Superiour World By which it appears Mans Nature participates both of this and the other World in its Constitution 6. Therefore the Son of God who is God being one Person with Man hath thereby a new alliance both to the Material and Intellectual World and a new Cognation both with the Coelestial and Terrestial Inhabitants and because the Union of God and Man in Christ is Mystical Cap. 10.8 therefore the whole Kingdom of God is put into a Mystical state and frame upon this new Cognation with all things in Heaven and Earth 7. And if according to the Opinion of some of the most celebrated Philosophers in this Age the motion of every part of Matter does really so diffuse it self that the whole System of Matter is affected thereby and if withal the parts that make up the Intellectual World have a correspondent Communion amongst themselves then by this Union of God and Man there is as it were a new Leaven which may be sufficient in Gods due time to Leaven the Mass of the whole Creation And Christs Resurrection is a Specimen of its efficacy and a ground of our expectation But should this prove only to be their Conjecture and not the Natural way of efficiency yet we are however sufficiently assured that the effect shall be produced and that in Christ all things in Heaven and Earth shall be recollected into one Eph. 1.10 Col. 1.17 18 19 20. 2 Thes 2.1 Acts. 3.21 and that there shall be a restitution of all things whereby they shall be restored into one blessed frame 8. The Mystical constitution of the Divine Kingdom being therefore for the restoration of the Natural Kingdom in a renewed integrity it is a form of Government which in its Nature and design is manifestly subordinate to the Original Government of the Divine Kingdom in its Primitive institution 9. If then the Supream Governour be the same yet as King of this Mystical Kingdom he is less than the King of the Natural Kingdom not in himself or Naturally but in the state of a Governour or Politically the Antients call it Oeconomically But in plain terms the sense stands thus God that humbleth himself when he inspects the things that are done in Heaven and in Earth however he undertakes the Government and Management of them does yet more humble himself when for the good of the Creation Psal 113.6 he governs the Universe in the Mystical constitution for the redintegrating of the Natural Kingdom into one blessed frame 10. Whereas then God in the first Subsistence of the Divine Nature that is God the Father is first in the Address as Lord of the Natural Kingdom so God even the same God in the second Subsistence of the Divine Nature that is God the Son is first in the Address as Lord of the Mystical Kingdom considered as Mystical and Subordinate because God manifest in the Flesh is the Pillar and Ground of Truth and the confessedly great Mystery of Godliness 11. Before the Mystery was made known therefore the stile Lord did more directly and more usually indigitate God the Father as we find in the old Testament but since the Mystery is to be acknowledged by all the Subjects of Gods Kingdom the Title of Lord doth more directly denote God the Son and is therefore in the new Testament most commonly attributed to Jesus Christ though they be both one Lord as well as one God 12. The Son therefore being Lord of the Divine Kingdom in its Mystical and Subordinate State in treating with his Subjects will have occasion to speak of himself as less than his Father in many of the affairs of the Mystical Kingdom and Government especially in and about the change of the Natural into the Mystical Frame though he be the same God Lord with the Father For God doth humble himself more in condescending to Govern the World in this State than in the first Natural Constitution of his Kingdom The Son therefore is less than the Father not only as Man but also as God Governing the Divine Kingdom in the Mystical State John 3.35 Mat. 11.27 Acts 2.32 Joh. 10.20 1 Cor. 11.3 John 6.38 1 Cor. 3.23 1 Cor. 15.27 Phil. 2.7 Zech. 3.8 Joh 17.5 Accordingly we read the Sons Power is given is received of the Father he receives command from the Father the head of Christ is God even the Father for he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him Christ is Gods who put all things