Christ saith Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them And Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World Jer. 23.24 Matth. 18.20 chap. 28.20 Psalm 139.7 to 14. Psalm 94.10 11. If any say that Christ means only that his Doctrine shall continue among the Faithful that congregate in his Name or as Ephes 3.17 To dwell in our Hearts by Faith viz. in his Doctrine It is answered That not simply his Doctrine as it is mixt with Faith in its abstract from inward feeling is here to be understood but some other presence of Christ with his People for he saith John 14.23 If a Man love me he will keep my Words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Where note that to such as have already received his Word by Faith in the love of it and keep it he hath promised a further Presence And what can it be but the inward sensation or feeling of his Love as sometimes we have Rom 5.1 to 6. tho at other times we have not Job 13.15 ch 23.8 to 11. But they may further say If this be the Presence of Christ you speak of it is not his personal Presence but by the Spirit which is called the Spirit of Faith that sheddeth the Love of God abroad in our Hearts To this I reply True it is not the personal Presence of Christ either as God-Man or of the Divine Person of the Son but as in and through the Spirit which will prove what is denied by them viz. That the Holy Spirit is God yea and the Son also For the Office of the Spirit is universal to all Saints throughout the World at the same instant time which is beyond the power of any finite Creature indeed Satan deceives the World but not by an infinite Presence at the same time in every place but by a finite personal going to and fro and walking up and down in it seeking whom he may devour being assisted by his evil Angels Job 1.7 1 Pet. 5.8 And as the Holy Spirit by his Office must be Omnipresent So also the Son as well as the Father is Omnipresent in and through the Spirit with the Saints in all places and in and with all Persons Places and Things whatsoever though not by the same Ministrations or Operations yet at the same instant Season and as the Father is Omnipresent in and through the Spirit so I see not the least reason why we should deny it to the Son but understand his Presence in the same sense seeing both are present in the Unity of the same Spirit For know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you As God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them And he that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with the Father and the Son for the Holy Ghost is called The Spirit of our Father that speaketh in us and the Spirit of the Son sent forth into our Hearts crying Abba Father And the Spirit which is upon Christ shall not depart out of his Mouth nor out of the Mouth of his Seed nor of his Seed's Seed from henceforth and for ever and if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his and by our Communion with the Holy Ghost we have Fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and are one in them and they will come and make their abode with us through that one Spirit whereby we are joyned unto the Lord. 1 Cor. 3.16 2 Cor. 6.16 1 Cor. 6.17 Mark 13.11 Matth. 10.20 Gal. 4.6 Isa 59.21 2 Cor. 13.14 1 John 1.3 John 17.21 chap. 14.23 And it is comfortable for us to believe that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the World 1 John 4.4 Otherwise what may the Soul say when he is in trouble Surely I fear that notwithstanding the fulness of the precious Promises and the great Engagements of Christ to me that Christ and the Holy Spirit are far from me and are busied with other Saints and know not my Distress and therefore I may perish before they come to help me But blessed be God that hath laid help upon one that is Mighty Psal 89.19 who is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him Heb. 7.15 that knoweth all our open and secret Wants Rev. 2.23 and makes Intercession for us And as for the Holy Spirit our Bodies are the Temple of the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us that abides with us for ever though his Operations may sometimes cease when he is grieved by us 1 Cor. 6.19 John 14.16 So that the Holy Ghost is not as one that cometh but now and then to visit our Souls but he makes his constant abode in us and so is always ready to mortify and sanctify our vile Natures and make them meet to have Fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 Jo. 1.3 And this is a Christian's Mercy that as none is able to pluck him out of Christ's Hands so the greatest Corruptions are not able to withstand the powerful Sanctifyings of the Holy Spirit Satan may withstand an Holy Angel of God for his Fall doth not deprive him of the natural Power of an Angel but yet he cannot withstand Christ nor the Holy Spirit because of the Potency of their Nature John 10.28 and 30. Rom. 8.13 2 Cor. 10.4 to 7. Dan. 10.13 Jude 9. and we may say in this case as John did concerning the sealed Book Rev. 5. That none in Heaven nor on Earth nor under the Earth was found worthy besides the Son and the Holy Spirit to redeem and sanctify the fallen Sons of Adam The Angels could not do it for they are beholden to Christ for their standing 1 Tim. 5.26 But blessed be God our Saviour for in him shall all the Seed of Israel be justified and shall glory Tit. 2.10 Isa 45.25 To whom be Glory and Praise now and for evermore Amen So then if we ascribe and acknowledg the Work of Mans Salvation to the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost which are ranked together as the efficient Cause and therefore receive the Glory of it and seeing both the Father and the Son dwells in us in and through the Holy Spirit whose Office in his Omnipresence bespeaks his unlimited and infinite Nature I cannot conceive but that the great Unity of these three Subsistencies should be in Essence Secondly The Unity of the Holy Trinity is manifest from Isa 6.23 where the Seraphims cried one unto another and said Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts agreeable to Rev. 4.8 Now here are three Holies viz. Holy Father Holy Son and Holy Ghost and though I do not lay the stress of the proof on the bare repetition of the word Holy yet doubtless it ecchoes to the Truth that is couched in this
Chapter and which I hope to demonstrate by the help of other places referring to it And in order thereunto I shall note who the Prophet saw upon his Throne high and lifted up whose Train filled the Temple And this was Jehovah an incommunicable Name of God Psal 83.19 the Lord of Hosts who filleth the whole Earth with his Glory but this was not only the Father but also the Son and the Holy Ghost 1st That it was the Father needs no proof because it is not denied but confessed by our Adversaries in opposition to the other two Divine Persons 2dly That this Vision is applied to the Son we have the Words of the Apostle for it John 12.41 who speaking of Christ from verse 37 to 40. and citing the Prophet Isaiah's Message when he saw this Vision saith These things said Isaias when he saw his Glory and spake of him viz. of Christ whom John was speaking of 3dly This Scripture is also applied to the Holy Ghost in Acts 28.25 26. as hath been said already and will be defended in its proper place So that if we will credit the Holy Apostles who were doubtiess the best Expounders and Appliers of dark Prophecies and have unfolded the Mystery of the Holy Trinity which lay hid in the Words Holy Holy Holy and couched in the Plurality of Persons hinted to us in these Words Who shall go for us ver 8. Then surely we must acknowledg that seeing the Prophets Jehovah and the Apostles Son and Holy Spirit are one and the same that these two are Divine Subsistencies as well as the Father subsisting in the supream Nature of God Thirdly If we couple together John 10.30 and 2 Cor. 3.17 I and my Father are one The Lord is that Spirit we may see that the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are but one God Fourthly John gives so clear a Testimony to the Unity of the Holy Trinity that I know not how it can be denied 1 John 5.7 For there are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one in Essence as was shewed before CHAP. VII Containeth some Explications of the Holy Trinunity FIrst Of the essential Being of God God is one single infinite eternal immense perfect spiritual Being no Compound for Compounds must be either finite or infinite not of Finites for Finites are imperfect temporal and mensurable and so cannot make one infinite perfect Being not of Infinites for more than one infinite Being cannot subsist for one infinite Immensity cannot admit of another infinite Immensity nor is infinite Perfection exclusive but comprehensive of all Perfection Hence it is that we must not imagine God to have any shape because an Infinite Being cannot be any ways limited or subscribed Deut. 4.12 15. John 4.24 Deut. 33.27 Psal 147.5 Psal 90.2 Secondly Of a Divine Person Mr. Chynel in his Divine Trinunity Page 96. describes a Divine Person A Divine Person is a spiritual and infinite Subsistent related indeed to these other uncreated Persons which subsist in the same Divine Nature with it but distinguished from those co-essential Persons by its peculiar manner of Subsistence Order of subsisting singular Relation and incommunicable Property Thirdly Of the Divine Person of the Father The Divine Person of the Father is unbegotten and subsists of himself in the Divine Essence and hath the Divine Nature of none Fourthly Of the Divine Person of the Son The Divine Person of the Son is naturally and necessarily begotten of the Father by eternal Generation for he is Eternal as hath been shewed and is of the Father John 5.26 by eternal Generation and he subsists in the unbegotten Nature of God for the Father did not beget the Divine Nature of the Son but the Son is begotten in the Divine Nature Fifthly Of the Divine Person of the Spirit The Divine Person of the Spirit hath his Subsistence naturally and necessarily both from the Father and the Son by eternal Spiration or Emanation Job 33.4 and therefore the Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of Christ who breathed on his Disciples and bid them receive the Holy Ghost to shew that the Spirit was breathed forth by him as well as from the Father John 20.22 John 15.26 1 Pet. 1.11 2 Pet. 1.21 not from the Father alone or the Son alone for then he might be said to be the Son of the Father or of the Son but by the Father and the Son and not being separated or divided from either he subsists in the same Nature and is co-essential with them both Sixthly Of the Unity of the Holy Trinity The Divine Nature is common to all three Subsistencies and the whole Divine Nature is the Substance of every Person which distinctly subsists in it and all its essential Properties pertain unto each of them and the Divine Nature because it is infinite in Perfection it contains all relative as well as absolute Perfections Seventhly Of the Distinction between the Divine Nature and the Persons I shall cite Mr. Chynel in his Divine Trinunity Page 105 c. First The Father Son and Holy Ghost do all three really positively truly subsist in the Divine Essence and yet these three Subsistencies and the Divine Essence do not make four no nor two things really distinct even as Entity Truth Goodness and Unity do not make four things really distinct as you heard but now but are one real thing and no more Secondly Ens is not compounded of Entity and its three Affections nor is God compounded of the Godhead and three Subsistencies nor is any one Person compounded of the Divine Nature and Subsistence Thirdly As Truth is not Goodness nor Goodness Truth nor either of them Unity and yet all three are Entity So the Father is not the Son nor is the Son the Father nor is either of them the Holy Ghost and yet all three are God for they are all three but one God subsisting with all absolute and relative Perfection as hath been shewed Fourthly Every one of the three Affections of Ens doth connote Entity every one of the three Subsistencies doth connote the Godhead the Divine Nature as hath been proved at large Fifthly Not any one of the three Affections of Ens doth nor do all three together superadd a new Entity not any one of the three Subsistencies doth nor do all three together superadd a new Deity a new Divine Nature or Godhead for Ens is one Ens est trinum non triplex trinum unum Ens trin-unum Deus est trinus non triplex trinus unus Deus trinunus this instance doth in some Measure resemble the Mystery of the Trinunity Sixthly No Affection of Ens can be really separated from Ens nor can one of the Divine Persons be separated from the Divine Nature or the Divine Nature from any one of the Divine Persons or any one of the Persons from either of the other two Seventhly All the Affections of Ens are
to be only a Fellow-Creature with others or excludes him from the Deity First Because Christ cannot properly be said to be the First-born of every Creature by Creation for then it could not be said That All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made unless a Creature could preexist its own Creation and give it self a Being John 1.3 Secondly Christ's being call'd the First-born of every Creature cannot be understood of the natural Birth of some kind of Creatures not of Man for there was none created before Adam and Eve was the Mother of all Mankind and Cain was her first-born not Christ neither could he be the first-born of Angels for they do not propagate their kind Mark 12.25 1 Cor. 15.15 Thirdly Christ cannot be the first-born of every Creature in time preceeding all others in the new Creation by Regeneration unless he had existed in his humane Nature before the Patriarchs and Prophets of old and all the holy Men from the Foundation of the World But having spoken in the Negative I shall now endeavour to demonstrate how Christ may be called the first-born of every Creature 1st Christ may be said to be the first-born of every Creature from the Dead in like manner as he is called the first begotten of the Dead and became the first Fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15.20 Rev. 1.5 2dly Christ may also be called the first-born of every Creature as preexisting every Creature in his Divine Nature like as the same Apostle expounds it in the following words ver 16 17. For by him were all things created and he is before all things and by him all things consist As if he should say the very reason wherefore I call him the first-born of every Creature is not because of Creation or natural Birth or spiritual by Regeneration but because he was before all things in respect of time and Creator of them So that it is clearly manifest there is no ground from this Text for any to believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is either excluded from the true Godhead or included as a meer Creature amongst others by his being called the first-born of every Creature Objection from Rev. 3.14 where Christ is called the beginning of the Creation Answer This must not be understood as if Jesus Christ were the first of God's Creatures but that he was the first that gave being or beginning to the Creatures Rev. 22.13 I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end the first and the last Beginning here is the first by whom all things had their beginning and not the first of Creatures that had its beginning CHAP. III. Containeth Answers to divers of the Socinian Arguments against the Deity of Jesus Christ OBjection If the Divine Nature of Christ were God one with the Father and the Spirit then the Father and the Spirit would be incarnate Answer The Union of the Divine Persons being in Nature and Essence and not in Person or personal Properties one Person in the same Nature may be said more properly to be incarnate than another Objection If Christ have two Natures then not only that Person that did before exist is the Son of God but the holy Issue of the Virgin also so that that opinion would make two Sons of God and consequently two Persons in one Christ Answer Although the Divine Nature of Christ which preexisted his Incarnation be the Son of God yet the Issue of the Virgin coming out of the Loins of David and receiving its matter from Man cannot be naturally the Son of God but the Son of Man so that as Christ with respect to his Divine Nature is the natural Son of God so likewise though he was not generated after the common way of Mankind yet being deduced out of the same matter so far he is naturally the Son of Man But from hence I see no reason to conclude that there are two Sons of God or that Christ is two Persons for though the matter of Christ's Humanity would have made a distinct Person if it had been generated after the common way yet it was never so because it never had its Being but in Union with the Divine Nature when the Person of the Son was united to it and so together became the second Adam who was made a quickning Spirit in the one Person of Christ 1 Cor. 15.45 So that the Humanity of Christ was but a part of his Person and no distinct Person of it self for Christ took on him the form of a Servant only and not the Person Phil. 2.7 The Scriptures declare no such thing as two Persons but that he took our Nature which became a Person in the Divine Subsistence of the Son so that the Person of Christ was not a Compound of two distinct Persons together but the one Person of the eternal Son of God as it were clothed with Humanity for the whole Person of Christ viz. the Word and Flesh is represented to us as but one only begotten Son of God John 1.14 18. Objection Had Christ had a Divine Nature in being the eternal Son of God he needed not the Assistance of the Holy Spirit to furnish him with a humane Nature from a Virgin being himself able to produce it of her unless you will say that his own Divine Nature was in the mean while idle Answer Estwick on Biddle in page 208 209. answers this Objection he saith The Holy Ghost had no Efficiency or Casualty in the Incarnation of our blessed Saviour which was not common to the Trinity for as Father Son and Holy Ghost are inseparable touching the Divine Essence and Power of working so likewise are they inseparable in their Operations 'T is a common Comparison to illustrate this Truth Three Virgins do jointly make up a Garment for one of them only to wear so all the three Persons as one Cause did produce the humane Nature yet was it taken only into the Person of the Son of God Christ became Man not in regard of the Divine Nature simply which is common to Father Son and Holy Ghost but as it subsists in the Son of God 'T is true if we respect the ‖ The word Original must here be understood according to the Author's sense of the personal Preheminence of the Father according to his personal Subsistence in the Divine Nature and not in respect to Original of time Original of working there is a difference the Father as he is of himself and from no other so doth he work from himself not from the Son and the Son as he is from the Father so doth he also work from the Father but because there is no Distinction of the Persons in regard of the formal essential Principle of working it follows there is no Distinction or Separation of the Divine Persons in the work it self It was therefore both an absurd and blasphemous Inference and that as you say from our Principle either that it was
hid from Ages and Generations unto his Saints and left them upon Sacred Record for future Ages By which means we come to the knowledg not only of the Grace Office and Operations of the Father Son and Holy Spirit but of the great Mystery of these Three for ever blessed holy and divine Persons subsisting in the Unity of the Godhead from all Eternity But no sooner did the Glory of the Holy Trinity begin to shine in the Ministration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ But Satan the Prince of Darkness lest Men should imbrace the Truth and so his Kingdom should fall did what he could to hinder the Progress of the Gospel in its primitive Purity and in Enmity to the weal of Mankind suggested many pernicious Errours into their Minds as we may find in the Writings of the Apostles of our Blessed Lord which I forbear here to mention And throughout every successive Age he hath not wanted some Instruments to disturb the Peace of the Church with false and erronious Doctrines thereby to weaken the true Interest of Jesus Christ as well as to ruin the Souls of Men. And among others that have been broached in the World this is one viz. That the Son of God and the Holy Spirit are not one infinite and eternal God Coessential with the Father but are so much inferiour in Nature to him as to be but Creatures only But to speak more particularly Some affirm that Jesus Christ is only humane or nothing but Man And though the Racovian Catechism doth acknowledg he is more than a meer Man yet they do not allow Christ to have a divine Nature as we may see in Pag. 27 28. of that Catechism Where by way of Question they say Is the Lord Jesus then a meer Man The Answer is by no means For he was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary and therefore is from his very Conception and Birth the Son of God as we read Luke 1.30 and the Answer is closed with these Words That the Lord Jesus ought by no means to be reputed a meer Man Yet the next Question being put Hath he not also a Divine Nature The Answer is At no Hand for that is repugnant not only to sound Reason but also to the Holy Scriptures Now if they will not allow Jesus Christ to have a Divine Nature and yet do say he is more than a meer Man what can he then be unless we suppose either as Biddle saith Article 6. of his Confession of Faith that the Holy Spirit is an Angel and so by Conception he may be said to participate of their Nature or else that His visible and external Exercise of the Power of God is his Divine Nature From the first Socinus whom Biddle reproveth for it and Crellius do dissent for they deny the Spirit to be a Person but the Power and Efficacy of God the Father So that according to their opinion Christ cannot be of the Nature of Angels by conception Nay Biddle himself though he asserts the Holy Ghost to be an Angel and Christ to be conceived by him yet he saith that Christ hath no other than a humane Nature Article the 3d. Secondly If his external and visible Exercise of the Divine Power of God be the external and visible Exercise of his own Nature it is what we are pleading for and if this were but granted the main Controversy would quickly cease for the Power of God as it is in God is his Nature so it must be in Christ But it 's hard to conclude from what these Men do say what Christ and the Holy Spirit are for some are for having Christ nothing but Humane and others that He is more than a Man viz. the Son of God by Conception and yet that he is not God by Nature So likewise Biddle is for having the Holy Ghost to be an Angel others say That he is the Power and Efficacy of God the Father And what they will hammer forth at last or where they will settle who can tell However in this they all agree That neither the Son nor the Holy Ghost are God by Nature or have the supream Divine Nature of God for their own Nature And therefore forasmuch as there hath been great endeavours used to suppress the Doctrine of the Holy Trinunity and to raze out or so besmear the written Word of God that we should not discern the Beauty and Excellency of the Nature of Christ and the Holy Spirit I shall endeavour to demonstrate the Truth of their Deity and in order thereunto First I shall note that on all Hands it is agreed among Christians that the Scriptures do distinguish and make a difference between the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and that there is but one that is personally called the Father and but one other Chief and only Son of that Father and also a third distinguished from both and called the Holy Ghost besides which there is not another that is so called as may be collected from the following Scriptures Eph. 4.4 5 6. 1 John 4.9 chap. 5.7 2 Pet. 1.16 17. John 6.27 ch 14.26 CHAP. II. Wherein is proved that there is but One God the Creator and Former of all Things TO shew this I shall only give a bare Citation of several Texts of Scripture and not take up our time in that which is so generally believed by all Persons Deut. 6.4 Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord. 1 Sam. 2.2 There is none Holy as the Lord for there is none besides thee c. Isa 46.9 Remember the former Things of old for I am God and there is none else I am God and there is none like me 1 Cor. 4.6 There is none other God but One but to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things 1 Tim. 2.5 For there is but one God c. Jam. 2.19 Thou believest there is but one God thou dost well Nehem. 9.6 Thou even thou art Lord alone Thou hast made Heaven the Heaven of Heavens with all their Hosts the Earth and all Things that are therein the Sea and all that is therein and thou preservest them all and the Host of Heaven worshippeth thee Psal 86.9 10. All Nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorify thy Name For thou art great and doest wondrous Things thou art God alone Isa 44.6 Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts I am the first and I am the last and besides me there is no God Ver. 24. I am the Lord that maketh all Things Isa 45.18 For thus saith the Lord that created the Heavens God himself that formed the Earth and made it He hath established it He created it not in vain He formed it to be inhabited I am the Lord and there is none else There are many other Scriptures of like import but these are plain and sufficient
the Lord God is by the Apostles called Jesus Christ Second Scripture is Zech. 12.10 And I will pour upon the House of David and upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and of Supplication and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him c. First The Holy Ghost speaketh of Christ in different Persons viz. Me and Him to betoken his different Natures of God and Man who being both may be differently spoken of as a Person relating to either Nature Secondly This is confirmed by John Rev. 1.7 in apylying the same to Christ only And our Lord himself speaks of this great Mourning When they shall see the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven coming with Power and great Glory Mat. 24.30 So then as it is apparent that the Prophet Zechariah's Jehovah or Lord in ver 1. which stretcheth forth the Heavens and layeth the Foundation of the Earth and formeth the Spirit of Man within him is that Me whom they have pierced and Him they shall look upon and mourn for viz. Jesus Christ in the New Testament we must either admit Christ to be of the Divine Essence or else confound the two Testaments Third Scripture is Isa 8.13 Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your Fear and let him be your Dread Ver. 14. And He shall be for a Sanctuary but for a Stone of Stumbling and for a Rock of Offence to both the Houses of Israel for a Gin and for a Snare to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem This Text is applyed to Jesus Christ in 1 Pet. 2.6 Wherefore also it is contained in the Scriptures Behold I lay in Sion a chief Corner-Stone elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded And this Corner Stone which is Jesus Christ as the preceding Verses shew is a Stone of Stumbling and a Rock of Offence c. ver 8. So that comparing these two Scriptures together they demonstrate Jesus Christ the Metaphorical Stone of Stumbling and Rock of Offence in the New Testament to be the Lord of Hosts Himself in the Old viz. Jehovah for so is the Word Lord in the Hebrew in all the aforesaid places in the Old Testament which is an Essential Name of God Whose Name alone is Jehovah Psal 83.18 And therefore the Son of God is Co-essential with the Father Thirdly I shall prove the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ by seven particular Scriptures First is Rev. 22.6 And the Lord God of the Holy Prophets sent his Angel to shew unto his Servants the things which must shortly be done Ver. 16. I Jesus have sent mine Angel to testify unto you these things in the Churches With Chap. 1.1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his Servants things which must shortly come to pass and he sent and signified it by his Angel unto his Servant John God viz. the Father Rev. chap. 4. and chap. 1.5 6 7. with chap. 3.21 gave the Revelation to Jesus Christ and it s said He not the Father sent his Angel to signify it unto his Servant John and this Jesus Christ is the Lord God of the Holy Prophets And therefore he is the true Supream God by Nature The Second Scripture is Acts 20.28 Take heed therefore unto your selves to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own Blood 1st The Blood that purchased or redeemed us is the precious Blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 19. 2dly If Jesus Christ were but a Man tho only made of a Woman yet being the Seed the Off-spring of the Flesh of David Acts 2.30 Rev. 22.16 the Person of a Man his Blood would be the own proper Blood of that Person and so it could not have such a special Relation unto God but as he was no Person but by the assumption of the Divine Nature so his Blood hath a special Relation tho not natural unto that Nature as it is part of Christ's Person and without which he did not exist Now this Blood which is the Blood of Christ being the own Blood of God shews the assumption of Humanity by his own Nature and the like may be said of the Life which God laid down for us 1 John 3.16 Third Scripture is Phil. 2.5 6 7 8. Let this Mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God But made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of Men. And being found in fashion as a Man he humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross First In this Scripture Christ is said to be in the form of God which is not only as Man by Creation who beareth something of his Image in the natural Qualities of the Soul but in equality with God so that in Nature he is not inferior to him and therefore he can be no Creature For there is no Creature that hath its being from God can be equal to God Secondly the Divine Nature of Jesus Christ must be understood by his being in the Form of God because he did pre-exist his Incarnation in that Form his Condescention of mind and his Power in that form to take the form of a Servant went before his actual Condescention in taking our Nature Let this Mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus Who being in the form of God made Himself of no Reputation Which must be understood of our Lord Jesus Christ's subsisting in his Divine Nature before his Incarnation in the form of God and equal to Him 4th Scripture is John 5.26 For as the Father hath Life in Himself so hath he given to the Son to have Life in Himself First For the Son to have Life in Himself is not to receive it from an higher Nature for then he would have it in another as Fellow-Creature with us whose Nature and Personality have their Life and Being in God But to have Life in Himself is to have it in his own Nature which cannot be if he were only Humane Acts 17.28 Secondly For the Son to have Life in Himself given or communicated to Him by the Father denoteth the great Mystery of his eternal Generation in the Divine Nature for else the manner of Speech would be absurd and contradictory in it self for if it were given Him as a Creature he could not have it in Himself and if he have it in Himself though it be given of the Father he cannot be a Creature for that Nature which hath Life in it self must needs be the Nature of God and this is the Nature of the Son Fifthly John 10.30 I and my Father are One. This Text cannot simply be understood as if Christ and the Father were One only even as we are one in Them for Christ speaking of his Sheep in the 27 28 and 29
Verses says My Father which gave them me is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's Hand Here Christ asserteth the greatness of his Father's Power that he was greater than All but yet saith I and my Father are One as if Christ should say As my Father is greater than all So also I am greater than all and his being One in Power shews him to be One in Nature with him And thus the Jews understood our Lord when they took up Stones to stone him ver 31. that he being a Man made himself God v. 34 35 36. But Christ reproves their rashness in charging him with Blasphemy looking on it as great Indignity not to allow him any Supremacy above others they called Gods in that they said of him whom the Father had sanctified Thou blasphemest because he said I am the Son of God I question not but ' the Jews would have born it well enough though he should have assumed the Name of God so it were in the Sense of their Law like other Men ver 34 35. or of a Son of God as they themselves being Children of Abraham claimed God to be their Father But their great quarrel with Christ was that he so affirmed Himself to be the Son of God as one and the same with the Father equal to him in Power and therefore he is of the same Nature Sixth Scripture is 1 John 5.20 And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an Vnderstanding that we may know him that is True And we are in him that is True even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal Life What can be more plain to prove that the Son of God is the true God than to have it so asserted of him and can he be the true God and not so by Nature the very God and but a Creature If so we must then acknowledg two Gods the One the true God the Creator the other the true God a Creature which is repugnant to the Scripture for there is none other God but One for though there be that are called Gods whether in Heaven or in Earth as there be Gods many and Lords many But to us there is but one God as before was shewed 1 Cor. 8.4 5 6. And Gal. 4.8 there is an Exclusion of all from Divine Worship that are not God by Nature and therefore if our Lord Jesus Christ be the true God he must then be of the One true Natural Godhead Seventh Scripture is Coloss 2.9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead Bodily First To imagine from this or any other Scripture that the Humane Nature of Christ comprehends the Deity is to conceive in our Minds that of God which is inconsistent with his Immensity and Infinity of Nature Or Secondly To say that the three Divine Persons in the Godhead do personally and equally after the same manner tabernacle in the Humane Nature of Christ makes it common to all the three Subsistencies so that the Father and the Holy Spirit as well as the Son would be incarnate But this is contrary to the written Word of God which declares to us the Son of God who is the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person that laid the Foundation of the Earth c. That He it is that took Flesh upon him Heb. 1.1 2 3 8 10. and ch 2.14 16. And all that Christ did by way of Atonement for us and Reconciliation of God to us is ascribed to him as the Person of the Son of God only and not as the Father or the Holy Ghost though in the Unity of Nature they cannot be excluded But Thirdly If we are neither to understand this Scripture as if the Godhead were comprehended in Christ's humane Nature nor that the three Divine Persons were equally incarnate what then can be further proposed as the meaning of it But that the Person of the Son or the Divine Nature of Christ subsisting in the one whole Nature of God hath all the fulness of that Nature dwelling in him for there is no Division of the whole Nature of God with all its Essential Properties and Perfections from the Divine Persons for then neither the Nature nor the Persons could be Infinite or Immensurable but limited and subscribed and therefore there is a necessity that every Divine Person should have the whole Divine Nature with all the Essential Attributes and Perfections of it whether it be Omnipotency Omnipresency Omnisciency Immensity Eternity Goodness c. the fulness of all is in every Divine Person they differ not in Nature but in personal Properties as the Father is not begotten like the Son neither did the Son beget like the Father nor also did either of them proceed like the Holy Spirit and so also in Office they differ the one from the other but in Nature they are the same and have all the same Essential Properties and Perfections as was said before So then all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily or substantially in the Person of the Son that is he hath the whole Spiritual Substance or Essence of the Divine Nature and by his hypostatical Union with the Humane Nature the fulness of the Godhead may be said also to dwell Bodily in the Humane Nature of Christ So then if all the Attributes and Perfections of the Nature of God in their fulness dwell in our Lord Jesus Christ it is a sufficient and undeniable Evidence of his Deity But some may say that the Godhead dwells in Christ after the same manner it dwells in us Answer Tho it 's said that we are the Temple of the Living God and of the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us and that Jesus Christ is also in us 1 Cor. 6.19 2 Cor. 6.16 Joh. 17.23 Rom. 8.9 10. Yet what is this to that Fulness which dwels in him We indeed have Communion with the Father and the Son through the Spirit and are made partakers of the Divine Nature Eph. 2.22 2 Pet. 1.4 but not after the same manner as Christ is For the Holy Spirit hath his Union with us by way of Fellowship with our Spirits and unites himself in Communion with us Phil. 2.1 2 Cor. 13.14 1 Cor. 2.12 1 Joh. 2.20 whereby we are guided by the teachings of him into all Truth Joh. 16.13 Gal. 5.18 But we have not our existence in the Spirit as the Human Nature of Christ in the Divine Person of the Son for we are distinct human Persons before and after we are regenerated But Christ did not exist but by Conception in the Divine Nature in which he had his Being and thereby a relation by virtue of the Hypostatical Union of the Son of God with his Human Nature to all the Attributes and Perfections of the Divine Nature And tho it 's said that God the Father and Christ and the Holy Spirit dwelleth in us yet I cannot find it was
Angels but He took on Him the Seed of Abraham This is meant of his Incarnation as the 14th Verse which relates to this more fully shews and then if His assuming our Nature is put in opposition to his taking on Him the Nature of Angels it is a clear Demonstration that he preexisted his Incarnation in some other Nature than either of these And to imagine that the Holy Apostle who wrote by the Holy Ghost should affirm that the Son of God did not assume the Nature of Angels if he had before existed in it would be an Imputation of Absurdity to him yea to the Holy Ghost which is Blasphemy From all which it is apparent that Christ did not preexist his Incarnation in the Nature of Angels but as it must follow in the Divine Nature of God Secondly I come to prove the Deity of the Son of God by his Eternity First Scripture is John 1.1 In the Beginning was the Word First this Text is not to be understood of the preaching of the Gospel by Jesus Christ or John the Baptist for this was not a Mystery fit to be set as a frontice-piece to John's Book nor is there any such Intimation in the Words and therefore it preceded that beginning Secondly He speaks of that Beginning in which all Things were created ver 3. which shews that he did not only precede the preaching of the Gospel but the beginning of the Creation and therefore he was from all Eternity Second Scripture is Isa 9.6 Vnto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given and his Name shall be called Everlasting Father or Father of Eternity as is confessed by our Adversaries See Biddle's Confess Article 3. If we read ver 7. and compare it with Luke 1.31 32 33. we may see that this Text is applied to our Lord Jesus Christ and if he be the Author of Eternity he must Himself be Eternal Third Scripture is Col. 1.17 And he is before all things And so as that in ver 16. All things were created by Him in Heaven and Earth visible and invisible which could not be said of Christ unless he were the Eternal God existing from all Eternity Fourth Scripture is Rev. 1.17 18. Fear not I am the first and the last I am He that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore This Scripture cannot be applied unto any other but Jesus Christ who was dead and is alive again for though it was the Angel that spake yet it was as representing the Person of Jesus Christ and therefore whatsoever he saith in his own Person must be applied to him and this is manifested in ver 8. I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the Ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty And in ch 2.8 where the Angel speaks the same words but not in the same Person he did before saying And unto the Angel of the Church in Smyrna write These Things saith the First and the Last which was dead and is alive again Yea and in all the Epistles to the Seven Churches of Asia he doth not only dictate them as from another but also the same Description that John gives of the Angel the Angel applies to the Son of God ch 2.18 So that these Words I am the First and the Last do relate unto Jesus Christ and as nothing can be first or preexist the Creation but the Divine Nature So our Lord Jesus Christ as being the first must preexist all things in the Nature of God Fifth Scripture to prove the Eternity of the Son of God is John 17.5 And now O Father glorify Thou me with thy own Self with the Glory which I had with Thee before the World was If the Son were in Glory with the Father before the World was he was then existing before Time and therefore from all Eternity Coessential with the Father Fifthly The Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ is proved by his Works First from John 2.19 21. Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up But he spake of the Temple of his Body We read of many mighty Works that were wrought by the Holy Apostles but not in their own Names or by their own Power saith Peter Acts 3.12 Why look you so earnestly on us as though by our own Power or Holiness we had made this Man to walk And Moses for saying Must we fetch Water out of this Rock was shut out of the Land of Canaan Num. 20.12 19. For though God had given such power to Men yet he expected the Glory should be given to him alone as the Apostles did to Jesus Christ ver 16. And surely if our Lord Jesus had not been God equal with the Father in Nature he had offended in assuming that Power to Himself which is to be ascribed to none but God Who is said to have raised him the third Day Acts 10.40 So that the same Power which is ascribed to God the same doth our Lord Jesus assume unto himself and this demonstrates him to be of the same Nature Second Scripture is John 1.3 All things were made by Him and without Him was not any thing made that was made And therefore the Word or Son of God ver 14 18. is the Eternal God and Creator of all Things Third Scripture is Col. 1.16 17. For by Him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by Him and for Him And he is before all things and by Him all things consist It is not neither could it be said that all things were renewed by the Son of God for the good Angels had no need of it and the Devils were not neither were Men save only a select Number in part but not wholly renewed for this cannot be until our Bodies are raised up from the Grave and reunited unto our Souls Nay the whole Creation was never yet renewed but is groaning under the bondage of Corruption and waiting to be delivered into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 c. And therefore this Scripture as it must of necessity be taken in its literal Sense so fully asserts the eternal Power and Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ that I know not how its Authority can be evaded for if all things were created and are upheld by him and that because as the Apostle gives the reason that he was before all things then he must be the eternal God Co-creator with the Father Fourth Scripture is Heb. 1.10 And thou Lord in the Beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth and the Heavens were the Works of thy Hands The word And connexes this Verse with the preceding Words and makes it relate to ver 8. as if we should read it thus But unto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever And to the
Now from these Texts of Scripture I shall make these three Observations First That we may as well say that the Father and the Son are Qualities as the Holy Spirit And Secondly The baptizing in the Name of the Spirit denotes him to be a Person as well as the Name of the Father and the Son by their Names are so denoted Thirdly He cannot be a Quality for if the Word and the Holy Ghost be Qualities and the Father only a Person or else the Father and Word Persons and only the Holy Ghost a Quality yet the three can neither be one Person nor one Quality Fourthly The Holy Ghost is a Person and is so far from being a Quality in God that he hath in himself the Quality of Knowing and Understanding 1 Cor. 2.11 Even so the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God and also of willing John 16.7 8. 1 Cor. 12.11 But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every Man severally as he will And therefore the Holy Spirit having personal Qualities is denoted to be a Person and there is not the least reason to believe but that the Holy Ghost is a Person who is so generally treated of as a Person Secondly The Holy Spirit is God from the Testimony of four several Scriptures First is Matth. 28.19 Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost If the Holy Ghost were not God why should we be baptized into his Name and ascribe unto him a share in the Work of Man's Salvation But that as the Father was pleased to elect and ordain the Son to lay our Iniquities upon him and accept us in him and as the Son was willing as it were to disrobe himself of the Glory he had before the World was to bear the Wrath of God that was due to us for our Sins that we might be delivered from it and to reconcile him to us by the precious Blood of his Cross So the Holy Spirit changes our Hearts and reconciles them to God by infusing into us a new Nature with Holy Dispositions and Power against Sin which the good Angels could never do for though they have great Power to communicate to our Spirits and influence our Souls with good things yet the evil Angels having the same Power of Nature and being first in Possession may keep our Souls in Bondage till one that is stronger casts them out Luke 11.22 1 John 4.4 And therefore the Holy Spirit having so great a hand in this glorious Work may rightly receive a share with other Divine Persons of our Acknowledgment of it which demonstrates that the Holy Ghost is God for otherwise we should ascribe that Work unto the Creature which is above the Power of its Nature and is only possible for God himself Second Scripture is 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you To have the Spirit of God dwelling in us is to have our Bodies the Temple of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.19 And the Temple of the Holy Ghost is the same as the Temple of God and to say that the Temple of God is the Temple of a Creature or to give it the Name of a Creature is a Dishonour to it as not sanctified unto God And therefore the same Spirit or Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us is God that dwelleth in us Third Scripture is 1 John 5.7 For there are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one This Scripture is so clear an Evidence for the Truth I am pleading for that there have been some who would blot it out denying its Authority to be equal with other Scriptures which I shall answer unto in its proper place But whereas it is said and these three are one it must be understood that they are one in Essence for in ver 8. where the Essences differ the manner of speaking also differs as agree in one viz. in Testimony but in the Text it is are one viz. in Essence as the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are not only one in Agreement of their Testimony as the Blood the Water and the Spirit are but are one in Essence And this Distinction was made in the two Verses that we might not miss of the Truth of God in them Fourth Scripture is 2 Cor. 3.17 Now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty Ver. 18. We are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord or as it is in the Margent Of the Lord the Spirit Now if the Holy Spirit were not of the same Divine Essence it could not be said the Lord is that Spirit Thirdly I shall shew that the Holy Spirit is God by the Works of Creation that are ascribed to him 1st Job 33.4 The Spirit of God hath made me and the Breath of the Almighty hath given me Life 2dly Job 26.13 By his Spirit he hath garnished the Heavens his Hand hath formed the crooked Serpent 3dly Psalm 104.30 Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are Created c. 4thly Gen. 1.1 And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters The Spirit did co-create with other Divine Persons or Subsistences in the Deity And therefore it is said That in the beginning Gods or the Almighties created the Heavens and the Earth Which Words being inclusive of more than one Person and the Spirit of God being said to move upon the Face of the Waters I think we may safely say that the Holy Spirit did co-work with other Divine Persons in the work of Creation and was one of those Persons of whom it 's said Let us make Man in our Image after our Likeness c. So that from these Scriptures it is clear that the Holy Spirit did create and therefore we cannot deny his Deity Fourthly The Deity of the Holy Spirit is demonstrated by what is ascribed to him in the Conception of our Lord Jesus and by the Works that he accomplished through the Power received from him First Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost Luke 1.34 Then said Mary unto the Angel How shall this be seeing I know not a Man Vers 35. And the Angel answered and said unto her The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee Therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God And Matth. 1.18 Mary was found with Child of the Holy Ghost From both these Scriptures it appears that our Lord Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost the Power of the Highest which is God Not that any should imagine from hence that every particular attribute in God are so many Persons in the Godhead but essential Properties of the One
most high God and as such cannot be separated from him And therefore to ascribe the Conception of Christ to the immediate Power of God is to attribute it unto God for all his Attributes are so many descriptive Appellations of him And therefore seeing that the Power of the Highest is the Highest himself and that the Holy Ghost is this Power which came upon Mary and overshadowed her then the Holy Ghost must be God And he cannot be otherwise understood for no created Spirit could produce a Child in the Womb of the Virgin Mary Secondly It appears that the Holy Ghost is God by the Works that our Lord Jesus accomplished by him First He was anointed with the Holy Ghost to preach the Gospel Luk. 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor c. With the Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him Heb. 1.9 John 3.34 Secondly Jesus Christ cast out Devils by the Spirit of God Mat. 12.28 But if I cast 〈◊〉 Devils by the Spirit of God then the Kingdom of God is come unto you Thirdly Our Lord Jesus offered up himself unto God through the Spirit Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God Now if our Lord Jesus Christ have the same Nature in the Unity of Essence with God the Father why should he then attribute that Power by which he cast out Devils and performed his Ministerial Office in preaching the Gospel and offering himself a Sacrifice to God for us unto the Spirit if he were but a Creature For thus to exalt the Creature would much eclipse his own Power and Glorious Deity And therefore I cannot think that all those glorious Things should be attributed to the Holy Spirit unless he were a Divine Person subsisting in the Nature of God And forasmuch as God hath said that He will not give his Glory to another there cannot be any Colour of reason to deny the Deity of the Holy Ghost unless we deny the Deity of Jesus Christ And seeing that his Deity is so plainly proved that none can deny it if they open their Eyes to the Light of the Holy Scriptures and that the Deity of the Holy Ghost doth so naturally flow from it that none can reject the one without the other there is ground from hence as well as from the preceding Evidence of the Holy Spirit 's Deity to believe that he is a Divine Person in the same Nature and Essence together equal with God the Father and the Son Fifthly The Deity of the Holy Ghost is proved by the Divine Worship that is given to him As the Scriptures do demonstrate the Holy Spirit to be a Divine Person subsisting in the Nature of God so to worship God adequately aright we must include the Holy Spirit for whether we worship God indefinitely yet as the one Nature and Spiritual Substance of God is the Nature and Substance of each Person we therein do worship each Person or whether we worship a Person by peculiar Attributions proper to that Person yet as the one Nature and Substance of the Deity is the Nature and Substance of that Person we therein do worship the Deity So that we can neither exclude any one Person in the worshipping of the Deity or the Deity in the worshipping of any one Divine Person if we know what we worship John 4.22 ch 8.19 ch 14.7 8 9. But 1st To prove that the Holy Ghost is to be worshipped with Divine Worship I shall cite Matth. 28.19 Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost What is our being Baptized in the Name of the Holy Ghost but our Acknowledgment of our Faith in him and our yielding of due Obedience and Worship to him as well as to the Father and the Son 2dly The Holy Ghost is worshipped with Divine Worship Isa 6.1 2 3 8 9 10. compared with Acts 28.25 26 27. The Prophet saw the Lord sitting upon his Throne high and lifted up and his Train filled the Temple Ver. 2. About it stood the Seraphims Ver. 3. And one cryed unto another and said Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory And the Lord bad the Prophet ver 9. Go and tell this People Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Now the same Lord that spake to the Prophet and was worshipped by the Seraphims is said to be the Holy Ghost in Acts 28. and from thence it appears that the Holy Ghost is to be worshipped with Divine Worship and therefore he is God CHAP. VI. Wherein is proved the Vnity of the Holy Trinity FOrasmuch as it is manifestly declared in the Holy Scriptures of Truth that there is but one God and that the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God it must then consequently follow that these three are but one God And first this is farther shewed and declared to us by our being Baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 for as these three are ranked together as Divine Persons so there is no reason to think that they should differ in their Nature seeing we ascribe the great work of Salvation to all of them And surely if Christ and the Holy Spirit were instrumental in our Salvation only as Creatures under God the Father they would not be ranked together with him as the efficient Cause For the Holy Angels though they are all Ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation yet are we not required in any Church-Ordinance to acknowledg their Service in honour to them Heb. 1.14 1 Cor. 11.10 For though we are exhorted to such a Holy Behaviour as that we might not prevent or disturb them in their Ministerial Work and Office yet the Glory of all is to be given to God alone viz. to Father Son and Holy Ghost and the reason to me is plain because the Angels are of a lower Nature otherwise it were not irrational to believe that if the Angels were equal in Nature to Christ and the Holy Spirit though lower in Office they should have a share proportionable in the Attributions of Protection and Salvation Besides the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are ranked together because these three only are Omniscient and Omnipresent Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord not only the Father but also the Son and the Holy Spirit For they created all things as hath been shewed and therefore they know all things He that teacheth Man Knowledg shall not he know And whither shall I go from thy Spirit c. Or whither shall I flee from thy Presence c. And
needless for the Holy Ghost to frame the Body of our Lord or else that the Divine Nature of the Son of God was idle Will you grant then which by this your Reason must needs follow because Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost therefore God the Father was idle and not the prime Worker of this marvellous Conception What is here cited out of this learned Man sufficiently shews the Weakness of this Objection against the Deity of Jesus Christ CHAP. IV. Wherein is answered some Objections against the Scriptures that prove the Deity of the Holy Ghost OBjection to Matth. 28.19 Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost It cannot be rightly inferred that because the Holy Spirit is here ranked with the Father and the Son therefore he is equal to them by this account when the Apostle 1 Tim. 5.21 saith I charge thee Gr. I obtest before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect Angels that thou observe these things without Prejudice doing nothing by Partiality joyning the elect Angels with the Father and the Son this would imply that the elect Angels are equal with the Father and the Son Answer There is not the same reason to imply from this of Timothy that the elect Angels are equal to the Father and the Son as there is for the Holy Spirit 's Equality with them from Matth. 28. For if we rightly consider these two Scriptures we may easily see that they are not Parallels but that the Holy Spirit and the elect Angels are joined together with the Father and the Son upon far different accounts the one are ranked together not as Equals with the Father and the Son but because they are ministring Spirits that have their Eyes on the Church of God and behold the Order and Discipline of it whose Work and Office is to attend upon it and be familiar about it 1 Cor. 11.10 Psal 34.7 Insomuch that we ought to be very careful of speaking or doing any unseemly thing that might hinder the Ministration of those blessed and Holy Spirits Now for this cause Paul exhorteth Timothy to observe those things as in the Presence of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Angels and therefore they are ranked together and not as Equals in Nature and Divine Worship for they refuse to assume that Glory which is peculiarly proper to God alone Rev. 22. So that this Text relates to the Inspection of Angels into the Obedience of the Saints in the way of which Protection is ministred to them by the Angels who are said to encamp round about those that fear the Lord Psal 34.7 Or else the Apostle shews by ranking these three together that the Angels are Witnesses to this Charge though in all things else they cannot be unless they could search the Heart and try the Reins And why may not the Apostle take them in as Witnesses as Moses did who called Heaven and Earth viz. God Angels and Men joining them as Witnesses against Israel that he had set before them Life and Death c. Deut. 30.19 But the Holy Spirit Matth. 28. is not ranked together with the Father and the Son only as a ministring Spirit or as one that beareth Witness together with them in any matter but to be equally honoured with them both for in this Ordinance of Baptism wherein we worship God in acknowledging what he hath done for us in order to Salvation we are commanded to ascribe it to the Father Son and Holy Spirit And there is reason for it For though the Father had accepted the Merits of his Son on conditions of true Faith and Repentance yet if the Holy Spirit had not undertaken to work these Conditions in us we had been lost so that we are obliged both from the Work it self and the Command of God to attribute the same Honour to the one as to the other and herein chiefly lies the Difference of this Text from that of Timothy because this commands Divine Worship to be given to the Holy Ghost together with the Father and the Son which declares his Divine Nature Objection to Isa 6.9 10. compared with Acts 28.25 26 27. To these two Scriptures I have met with Biddle's Objections stated and answered ready to my Hand by Mr. Estwick in his Confutation of Biddle's Confession of Faith Page 307. whose Words I shall prefer rather than my own Biddle In the one place the Lord said in the other the Holy Ghost therefore the Adversaries do conclude the Holy Spirit is the Lord. This arguing is very frivolous for at this rate I may conclude that Moses is the Lord compare Exod. 32.11 Israelites are called God's People ver 7. God calls them the People of Moses and Isa 65.1 I am found of them that sought me not Rom. 10.20 Isaiah is more bold and saith I was found of them that asked not after me therefore Isaiah is the Lord. God is said by his Power to save us 2 Tim. 1.8 9. Paul attributes the same to himself 1 Cor. 9.22 and to Timothy 1 Tim. 4.16 therefore Paul yea Timothy is God If the Adversaries say these things are otherwise ascribed unto the Lord than to the Men aforesaid I answer it is more than the Texts themselves hold forth which neither express nor intimate any such thing If they say that if not in these yet other Texts and the Nature of the thing it self doth sufficiently teach it I reply that I can make the same Answer touching the Lord and his Holy Spirit but it is well that there is such an Intimation in the Texts themselves for in the one the Lord spake to Isaiah in a Vision in the other That the Holy Ghost spake them by Isaiah to the Fathers These two are different since Isaiah only heard these Words in the Vision for had the Fathers been there why should God bid Isaiah go and tell them to the People Paul ascribes these Words to the Holy Ghost to intimate only that whatsoever was spoken in the Scripture was recorded by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit and so spoken by him Answer Your Elusions to avoid the strength of the Argument are vain and your Examples taken out of the Scriptures are fallacia parium are unlike to this in hand Sometimes an Instrument speaks in the Name of the great God that sent him This is your Evasion therefore it must be so taken Isa 6. compared with Acts 28. this is a plain Fallacy Exod. 32. Moses calleth the Israelites God's People in Covenant with him and God calls them the People of Moses being under the Curse of the Law by reason of their Idolatry and because he was God's Instrument to bring them out of Egypt and to conduct them in the Wilderness it is apparent to every one and the Text holds it forth that they were otherwise God's People and otherwise the People of Moses he being a finite distinct and separate Substance from the
if they will run the Comparison to demonstrate the Being of God we must then conclude that as the Spirit or Soul of Man being the most excellent part of his Nature is essential to his Being so by this Rule is the Spirit of God also which proves his Deity Objection from John 1.32 And John bare Record saying I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove and it abode upon him The Spirit is not God because he changed place and descended in a bodily Shape Answer First This Descension of the Holy Ghost disproveth not his Deity because the like hath been said of God in Gen. 11.5 And the Lord came down to see the City and the Tower And in Gen. 18.21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it And the Lord descended on Mount Sinai Exod. 34.5 Secondly Although the most High God hath no shape yet he appeared to Abraham in the Shape of a Man representing his Assumption of that Nature Gen. 18.2 22. chap. 19.1 and therefore this Objection against the Deity of the Holy Ghost is of no weight and not only from the aforesaid Example but also because we find that when the Holy Ghost fell on the Disciples that there were cloven Tongues which was an outward and visible sign of the Gifts and Operation of the Holy Spirit and did neither betoken his corporal Substance nor was a description of his Shape In like manner the Holy Spirit 's descending in the bodily shape of a Dove did neither betoken his corporal Substance nor change of place but like Noah's Dove Peace and Glad-tidings towards Men. For Peter in his first Epistle chap. 3.20 21. makes the Waters of Noah a Type of Gospel-Baptism and then as after Noah's Ark did rest upon dry Ground a Dove was the minister of glad-tidings to him and all his House so God was pleased in answer to that Type and as was fittest to represent the Innocency of Christ after his Baptism and Salvation from the Water to send the Holy Ghost to him in the same shape and afterwards to his Disciples to minister such divine Power and Comfort as might strengthen comfort and incourage them to that work which God had appointed for them so that there is not the least reason from this Scripture to deny the Deity of the Holy Spirit Objection from John 16.13 Howbeit when He the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will shew you things to come Ver. 14. He shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you Ver. 15. All things that the Father hath are mine therefore said I that he shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you The Holy Spirit is here said not to speak of himself but what he hears which sheweth that he receiveth those things by Commission from another and therefore he is not God for God cannot be said to receive any thing from another which he had not before Answer First The Holy Spirit must be two ways considered 1. Essentially as he is essentially God 2. Personally as he is a Divine Person in the Godhead First As he is essentially God he can neither receive Commission or be under the direction of any other of what he should either do or speak 2dly As he is a Divine Person or Subsistent in the Godhead and proceedeth from the Father and the Son and hath his peculiar Office he may be said to receive to speak and be sent by Comission from another he may be inferiour in Office though not in Nature to the other Divine Persons And hence it is that some times the Holy Ghost is said to be sent in another's Name and given to us John 14.26 and at other times it is spoken as of his Power in himself to work according to his Will John 16.7 8. 1 Cor. 12.11 Now each of these are proper to the Holy Ghost viz. to be given sent to receive and speak from another or to have Power in himself to work as he will The first they respect his Office according to his Personal Subsistence by procession from the Father and the Son and not that he had not the Knowledg of those things before and the other takes in the Divine Essence too Secondly It may be further said That the Disciples of our Lord had much darkness on them and were ignorant of many things contained in the Holy Scriptures till Christ did enlighten their Understandings and therefore they might not have fully understood and digested this sacred Truth for we read of some which said We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost Luke 24.45 Acts 1.6 Acts. 19.2 This being premised our Lord Jesus might speak this to assure them of the Holy Ghost's infallible Conduct into all Truth not only because he is the Spirit of Truth himself which cannot err but also because he should not speak only as a single voluntary Act of his own but with the mutual concurrence of the Father and the Son So that whatsoever he should hear actually interceded for by Christ and assented to by God the Father which should be needful for us to know that the Holy Spirit should shew unto us So that this Scripture wherein the Holy Ghost is said not to speak of himself but what he hears c. hath a peculiar relation unto his Ministerial Office which cannot be repugnant to his Divine Nature for one Person may be inferiour to another in Office and yet of the same Nature as hath been said Objection from Rev. 1.1 13. ch 2.7 where it appears that the Spirit which the seven Churches of Asia were required to hearken unto was none other but the Angel that was sent to John and did personate Jesus Christ and therefore the Holy Spirit cannot be God equal with the Father Answer The Angel that personated Jesus Christ the same bid the Apostle John to write to the seven Churches of Asia But in all the Epistles he did not speak to him in his own Name or first Person nor dictate the Epistles as from himself but from the Person of Jesus Christ saying unto John Write these things saith he viz. the Son of God the First and the Last which was Dead and is Alive c. So that when the Angel in the conclusive part of the Epistles saith to John He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches he speaks not of and from himself but of Jesus Christ who is that Spirit whom they are bid to hear And this agrees with 2 Cor. 3.17 The Lord is that Spirit and is farther confirmed and laid as a Foundation-Truth in the Beginning of this Vision viz. that what the Angel said must be referred to the Almighty Lord ver 8. I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and
the Ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty And therefore this Scripture is so far from proving this erronious opinion touching the Holy Spirit that it confirms his Deity for if Jesus Christ be of the Divine Essence and the Holy Spirit is said to speak or say when Christ saith then it is evident that Christ and the Spirit are Coessential CHAP. VI. Wherein are answered three Texts of Scripture from which our Adversaries urge that the Father only is God in opposition to the Doctrine of the Holy Trinunity OBjection from 1 Cor. 8.6 But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him Say they It could no way come to pass that Paul being about to explain who that one God is should mention the Father only omitting the other Persons if that one God were not the Father only but also the Son and Holy Spirit since those two Persons besides the Father were as necessary to declare who that one God is as the Father himself Answer It might come to pass that Paul should call God Father omitting the Names of the other Divine Persons and yet not exclude them from the Unity of the Godhead First He might call God Father not simply respecting the Person of the Father but indefinitely as he is Creator viz. Father Son and Holy Ghost in opposition to false Gods ver 5 6. For though there be that are called Gods whether in Heaven or in Earth as there be Gods many and Lords many But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things which is agreeable to Mal. 2.10 Have we not all one Father Hath not one God created us Secondly It doth not from hence follow that because the Son and the Holy Spirit are here omitted and the Father only is called that one God that therefore the Father only is God because that such omission is no denial nor exclusion For the Father being in the Unity of Essence with the other Divine Persons must not be simply considered when he is called by those Names as are common to all three Sublistencies and the Deity neither must the Son nor the Holy Spirit unless the matter treated of confine us to the Person which in the Text is reconcileable to the Divine Essence for all things are of God indefinitely Father Son and Holy Ghost and therefore the Father may be called that one God essentially comprehending the other Divine Persons Thirdly There is some reason that may be given wherefore the Father is called God and the Son and Holy Spirit are sometimes omitted and left to be included in that common Name and that is because of the preeminence that the Father hath among the Divine Persons For though in excellency of Nature the Father Son and Holy Ghost are neither of them above each other nor any one of these blessed Persons before the other in Time yet the Father hath a preeminence of Order and Subsistence according to his manner of self-subsisting in the Divine Essence For the Father is named first and then the Son and the Holy Spirit 1 Joh. 5.7 Mat. 28.10 and that because the Father is of none the Son is of the Father and the Holy Ghost is of them both And from hence it is that we worship the Father by the Son and through the Spirit Rom. 1.8 Eph. 2.18 21. Phil. 3.3 So then it is proper enough to call the Father that one God essentially considered as he is in the Unity of Essence with the other Divine Persons forasmuch as he hath this preeminence of Order and Subsistence and that the other two divine Subsistences are of and in the Father Secondly they say That if Christ and the Holy Spirit were God it were as necessary to name these two Persons as the Father to declare who that one God is To this I answer That if these Words One God the Father are personally to be considered of the Father yet there was no necessity to mention the Son and the Holy Ghost For I hinted before that when the Father is called that One God the Son and the Holy Spirit must be included in that common Name as being of and in the Father who is essentially so called Now the Apostle having told us who that one God is by naming that Person which most properly and significantly includes the rest it is sufficient seeing that his design was more to tell us in opposition to those many false Gods That to us there is but one God than to give a large Description of him So then let the words One God the Father be taken in either sense as Creator and so common to all three Subsistencies in the Unity of the Godhead or personally of the Father yet they do neither exclude Jesus Christ nor the Holy Spirit from the Godhead Thirdly some do further add that Christ is manifestly distinguished from that one God and so is demonstrated not to be that one God Answer It was necessary that Christ should be distinguished from that one God the Father by those Words One Lord Jesus Christ to betoken his Lordship by Donation as he is Man or Mediator because it is different to his supream and essential Lordship and therefore it requires a different Name to express it by But yet this does not exclude him from the Unity of Essence with the Father But as in ver 5. it is said There were many Gods and many Lords inferiour to those Gods So this is to shew in opposition to them that there is but one God to us Christians and but one Lord and Mediator viz. Jesus Christ that considered as Man was exalted to that Dignity and appointed by God to be our Lord. Objection from Eph. 4.6 One God and Father of all who is above all lest we should understand the Trinity by the Name of that God who is called one two Persons of the Trinity were already mentioned and distinguished from that one God Answer There cannot more be proved from this Scripture than what is granted to wit that the Father hath some Preheminence though not in Nature nor Time to the Son and Holy Spirit First In that he hath his Subsistence neither by being generated nor by Procession but is of himself a Divine Subsistent in the Divine Nature Secondly The Father may be said to be above all and have the Preheminence with respect to the Work and Office of the other Divine Persons in bringing of us to God the Father as the ultimate Object of our Faith and Worship but yet not so as to exclude the Son and Holy Spirit For though we through the help of the Holy Spirit and Intercession of Christ come to the Father who is above all their ministerial Offices and through them in us all viz. the Saints yet the Father Son and Spirit either or all of them
distinguished but none divided all the three Subsistencies are distinguished but they cannot be divided Eighthly Truth and Goodness which are two of the Affections of Ens are distinguished by their peculiar and several Relations Truth hath Relation to the Understanding and Goodness to the Will The Father Son and Holy Ghost are known to be distinguished by their several and peculiar Relations and if it be not unreasonable to say that there is in Entity three Affections and two Relations in Ente simplissimo without any Composition in or Multiplication of the Entity why should it seem unreasonable or at least why should it seem incredible that there are three Subsistencies and several Relations in the Godhead without any Composition in or Multiplication of the Godhead Ninthly One Affection nay all the Affections in abstracto do but inadequately represent Ens unless you take notice of the Entity it self as well as the three Affections One single Subsistence nay all three Subsistencies in abstracto do but inadequately represent God unless you take notice of the Godhead in which they subsist and therefore this precisive Abstraction of the Subsistencies from the Divine Nature is but an inadequate Conceit of God as hath been demonstrated above in this very Chapter for we must not dream of a Trinity of Modes but assert and believe the glorious and co-essential Trinity The Father is truly God that God who is the only true God but the Father alone doth not adequately represent God to us as he is described in the Holy Scriptures It is true that the Divine Essence is by the Subsistence of the Father adequately the Father but as God is represented by that Divine Subsistence only he is not Deus Trinunus he is not the Father Son and Holy Ghost The Father alone is not all these three Witnesses who are one God And therefore the acute Socinians with their precise Abstractions do but suggest an inadequate Conceit of God That only true God whom we worship doth not subsist only in the Person of the Father We worship God subsisting with all absolute and relative Perfection in Father Son and Holy Ghost for these three are that one God who is the only true God blessed for ever This is the adequate Representation of God in the Scriptures of Truth And we are resolved to regulate all our Metaphysical Notions by the Holy Scriptures that we may make the highest of Sciences to acknowledg the Supremacy of that Divine Science which is no where to be learnt but in the Word of God for the purest Reason must be elevated by the Word and Spirit of God for the discovery of this Mystery Tenthly These Affections of Ens represent the manner of that Being which Ens hath as it is transcendently considered and the three Divine Subsistencies do represent that manner of Being which God hath as he is most transcendently considered namely as subsisting after the most glorious Manner with all absolute and relative Perfection It is the manner of a transcendent Entity to be one and true and good and it is the manner of God's Being to be one God in three Subsistencies these three are one single God there is no Composition or Multiplication imaginable in this single and infinite Being When I read this Similitude and conceived the Light it gave into this Mystery I thought it worth my time to convey it unto others out of this learned Author and I doubt not but if well considered these rare Distinctions of the Divine Nature and the Persons will be profitable For as the Author saith When Divine Revelation hath gone before and we have built upon that as the Ground-work and Foundation by a serious Faith these Metaphysical Notions may be subservient helps in a subordinate way And if there might be so great Simplicity or Singleness in a created and finite Entity notwithstanding there are three Affections and two Relations which do affect that Entity it seemeth to me somewhat easy to believe that there are three Subsistencies in one infinite Godhead without any Composition in or Multiplication of the single Godhead Estwick in his Confutation of Biddle's Confession of Faith Pag. 17. doth give among other Resemblances of the Deity an instance of the Soul and its Faculties saying If they are as Scotus and his Followers Zanchius and Scaliger and others do maintain one thing for then there is not a real Composition betwixt the Soul and the Faculties of it Memory in the Soul is the beginning of the Knowledg begotten in it and so it represents the Father By Intelligence is represented the Son because he is as Knowledg begotten of his Father By Memory and the Will is represented the Holy Ghost This is some over-sight in the Author or Error in the Printer for it should be thus Of Memory and Intelligence proceeds the Will which represents the Holy Spirit and so it agrees with what follows because he is alone produced of the Father and the Son these are distinct yet one in Essence August lib. 15. de Trinitate cap. 20. Radu pag. 2. Controv. 13. Art 2. This Comparison saith he I confess is too short for neither are the Faculties of the Soul Persons nor doth there appear in them such a strange and wonderful manner of Production as in the glorious Persons of the Blessed Trinity This doth our Faith with Admiration apprehend which our Knowledg cannot attain unto To conclude saith he the Premisses shew that this great Mystery is not against Reason though it be above Reason c. Eighthly Of the Union of the Nature of God and of Man in one Person Of this I shall cite Estwick in his Confutation of Biddle's Confession of Faith pag. 115. Suppose an Apple-Tree grow up into which the Branch of another Tree is ingrafted which makes not the Tree to be of a compound or middle Nature but causing the Branch which being set into the Ground might have proved an intire Tree of it self to pertain to the Unity of the Tree into which it is implanted and yet retains its own Nature and bears its own Fruit and as you may truly say this Harvy-Tree is a Pippin-Tree and this Pippin-Tree is a Harvy-Tree and consequently this Harvy-Tree beareth Pippins and this Pippin-Tree brings forth Harvies So may we say of the Person of Christ consisting of the Natures of God and Man The Son of God who was a compleat and perfect Person hath added to it the humane Nature in the Unity of the same Person as the Divine Nature of our Saviour notwithstanding the Personal Union is not capable of any humane Imperfections no more is the humane Nature in that respect a finite Creature capable of any Divine and infinite Perfection the weakness and infirmity of Man was not swallowed up in the Majesty of God nor was God's Majesty in the least diminished really by the Assumption of Man The Union of the Word in regard of the Persons subsistence graciously bestowed on the humane
Power and not the Divine Essence or Power it self for the common Acceptation of the word Form cannot be limited to denote only the Exercise and Demonstration of Power without the Essence as they would have it or only an artisicial Figure Draught or Shadow of any thing whereby its Likeness is represented but also the Likeness of one Person or thing to another of the same Nature which may have the like natural Power and Properties in its own Essence as Adam who begat a Son in his own Likeness after his Image Gen. 5.3 And as Christ is said to be in the Form of a Servant which was not only in outward Appearance but in Nature and Substance having the same natural Properties So that if the word Form Likeness or Image which are equivalent in their Significations are used to express the Likeness of Essence of one created Person or Nature to the Essence of another created Person why may it not signify the Likeness of uncreated Persons in their essential Being and Power For though the one is a Personal Likeness in their personal abstracted Being or only natural and the other is different to it in that it is not in personal Properties because the Divine Persons are not alike in Properties but essential as subsisting in the Unity of the same Essence yet this hinders not the word Form of its proper Signification when it is used to either of them because it is extensive to represent any manner of Likeness whatsoever And therefore as visible outward and apparent things have such forms so the Subsistence of any one Divine Person in the Godhead can only be likened to another subsisting in the same Nature Secondly To Mark 16.12 Where Christ is said to appear in another Form I reply That it shews the Power of the Divine Nature in representing Christ in another Form than what he was in before but there is no reason wherefore this outward form should limit the Form of Christ in the other Text to be only outward and visible seeing the Word is common to signify any Form and that the two Texts have no Relation to each other Thirdly We cannot conclude from those Words He made himself of no Reputation That if Christ had not emptied himself of that Divine Form he had thought it Robbery or a Prey to be equal with God because the Apostle neither in this nor in any other place of Scripture assigns it as the Reason And therefore seeing their Exposition of these Words hath no other Foundation than what is imaginary in their own Conceit we are not obliged to hearken to it Fourthly Christ's emptying himself of that Divine Form or making himself of no Reputation was not his laying aside of the Exercise and Demonstration of Divine Power which he had by Donation as Man 1st Because as Man Christ was not in the Exercise of it when first he made himself of no Reputation but was afterwards invested with it when he took upon him his ministerial Office and therefore could not lay aside the Demonstration of the Divine Power before he was in the Exercise of it 2dly Nor can it be meant of his Sufferings as a vulgar Man because his making himself of no Reputation in assuming our Nature and taking on him the Form of a Servant preceded his Sufferings 3dly Nor did he properly empty himself of the Divine Nature as God or as the Son of God the second Person in the Trinity for this could not be without his Annihilation And therefore we must inquire after some other sense that may better suit with this and other Scriptures 1. In this sense the Son of God may be said to empty himself or make himself of no Reputation to wit in derogating from his own Glory by his wonderful and inexpressible Condescension in stooping so low to save Man as to take our Nature into such an extraordinary Relation and Conjunction with himself and that in the former Habit of a Servant This was that which made Christ pray unto the Father saying Glorify thou me with thine own self with the Glory which I had with thee before the World was It was so beneath the infinite and glorious God to take our Nature into Community with his Nature that his very Assumpsion of it was as it were a debasing of his Divine Nature 2. Christ may be said to make himself of no Reputation or to empty himself in respect to that Manifestation which he made of himself to the Sons of Men by his Works The Son of God did not appear to us in the essential Glory of his Divine Nature for so he dwelleth in the Light which no Man can approach unto whom no Man hath seen nor can see but in the Vail of Flesh through which he was emptied to our Appearance from those Divine Rays that would have dazled the Sons of Men and have made them afraid to look upon him lest they should be consumed Exod. 20.19 1 Tim. 6.16 But yet there is something further objected against this Text of Scripture ver 6. He thought it not Robbery to be equal with God That which is equal hath always a different Essence from that which it is equal unto otherwise the same thing would be equal unto it self Equals are Relatives and consequently Opposites If therefore Christ be equal to God in respect of Essence and essential Properties the Essence of Christ must of necessity be different from the Essence of God wherefore they must either hold two Divine independent Essences or two most high Gods or that Christ is not the most high God Answer First If it 's meant that Equals have always a different Essence respecting their Singularity or Personality as being abstracted from their common Nature This I do readily grant of created personal Beings because such Singularities or Personalities cannot exist but by Abstraction from their common Nature and so must have different singular and personal Essences the one to the other and as Relates of the same Nature are Equals But what is this to the Deity of the Son of God must we limit Divine Persons in the uncreated Nature and confine them to the Parallel of created Beings Surely the Scriptures teach us otherwise that the Divine Persons are not abstracted from the Divine Nature but are coessential yet differing in personal Properties Christ is equal to God viz. the Father not respecting the same personal Properties as to beget c. But essentially considered as subsisting in the Unity of the same Nature and having all the essential Properties of that Nature coequal with him And thus there is neither two Divine independent Essences nor most high Gods but one only subsisting in three Divine Persons each of which subsisting in the Divine Nature and mutually in one another is the most high God Objection To 1 John 5.20 And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an Vnderstanding that we may know him that is true and we are in