all men knowing him to be one with the Father may honour the Son even as they honour the Father whereby he demonstrates himself to be God for divine honour belongs to none else for thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve We must love honour and worship one person of the God-head as well as the other as we love God in the person of the Father so we must love God in the person of the Son and of the Holy Ghost for if any man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be an Athema 1 Cor. 16.22 Maran-atha He who loveth not the Son loveth not the Father and he who loves not the Holy Ghost loveth not the Father nor the Son Here I bring in point of worship the instance of love because without it no true worship We ought not to worship God otherwise than he hath declared in his word he that woshipeth not God the Father Son and Holy Ghost doth not worship God as he ought 't is not enough to worship God as God essentially but also he must be in the three persons for all three are the object of worship or else our Religion is vain and we are to look not only to the object but also to the order of worship the Father through the Son John 16. and by the Son to go to the Father and so by the means of the Holy Ghost we go to both for we know not what we should pray for as we ought Rom. â— 26 1 Cor. 12.3 but the spirit helpeth our infirmities and maketh intercession for us Neither can one say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost And in giving glory to God 't is not enough to glorifie him except it be in the three persons Father Son and Holy Ghost And the consideration of this Mistery of one God in three persons which ought to be our guide in worshiping that eternal and infinite Being ought to teach us modesty and humility which is so essential in our serving God to adore the incomprehensibility of these high things the Majesty of God and the Mistery of his Son 's being made Flesh and be made sensible of our weakness and then endeavour to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 Here I cannot forbear inserting the words of two eminent Doctors of the Primitive Church Ambros de fid ad gratian lib. 1. cap. 5. Mihi impossibile est saith one generationis scire secretum mens deficit voxsilet non mea tantum sed Angelorum licet scire quod natus fit non licet discutere quomodo natus sit illud negare mihi non licet hoc quaerere metus 'T is impossible for me to know the secret of that Generation my understanding faileth me my mouth is stopt 't is lawful not only for me but also for Angels to know He is born but 't is not lawful to enquire how he is born that I cannot deny but I am afraid to search into this The other saith filium esse a deo patre immortali genitum novi sed quemadmodum ignoro spiritum ex co procedere scio Chrisost hom de incomprehens dei natura sed quemadmodum nescio I know the Son to be begotten of the immortal Father but in what manner I cannot tell I know the Holy Ghost to proceed from him but how I know not These being just come into my thoughts though they exactly are not belonging to the present part of our discourse yet being much to the purpose of the whole I here have set them down Indeed in things of that nature men ought to yield an obedience of Faith and believe unity of Nature and Trinity of Persons for numero deus impare gaudet so we must worship one God in three persons Our present purpose is to prove Christ to be true Essential Eternal God because the same worship due only to the true Eternal God is rendred unto him as anon we shall by the grace of God make it appear But now somethings must be premised which can contribute towards the better understanding of the point first Christ's enemies are not agreed in this particular one Valentinus Gentilis by us named in the beginning of this Discourse and some others do flatly deny Christ this Divine Worship because they disown him essentially to be God and no divine worship is to be rendred to the Creature which to do is Idolatry but Socinus said he is to be worshiped but with such restrictions as such a worship is all most no better than none at all They would have him to be worshiped only after his resurrection and that the resurection was the standing sign and true reason why one whom God raised from the dead should be worshiped but if this be true then the Son of the Widow of Sarepta of the Shunamite 1 Kings 17.22 2 Kings 4.34 c. Chap. 13.21 and of the dead man that having touched the bones of Elisha was revived under the Old Testament and the Son of the Woman of Naim and the daughter of Jairus Lazarus Dorcas and Eutichus under the New are to be worshiped according to this rule of theirs Wherefore some other cause than this must be assigned why Christ must be worshiped they say he ought to be so as he is Mediator we own that Christ Mediator is to be worshiped but that honour belongs to him in relation to his Deity for when God bringeth in the first born into the world Heb. 1.6 he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him he is called first begotten not in relation to his humanity for many were Children of God before his Birth but in respect to his eternal generation He is to be adored by Angels though he be not their Mediator when we adore Christ as Mediator 't is not in relation to his Office abstracted from his Deity but as he is true God In this sence the Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive as he did by the Angels Rev. 5.12 the Beasts and the Elders honour and glory and blessing because in his humane nature dwelleth all the fullness of the God-head bodily Colos 2.9 The Ark was not worshiped but God in the Ark as not the Bush but God in the Bush not the ground which Moses stood upon but God in that place sanctified by his special presence and so in several other places of the Old Testament Indeed Christ is to be worshiped Phil. 2.7 though in the form of a Servant and made a little lower than the Angels though not as a Servant or as lower than the Angels by which all God would have him to be adored for no other cause but for his divine nature V. 6. the form of God whereby he shall remained equal with the Father in his state of humiliation As Angels are commanded to worship Christ so is the Church under the
found alive at the last Day They would have Christ's Incarnation to be against Reason and Scripture they deny him to be truly God the like of the Holy Ghost That there is in One God no Trinity of Persons and that the Old Testament is needless for Christians c. All these and other Blasphemies are found in the Works of Socinus in the Racovian Catechism whereof Smalcius is the Author of Ostorodius Crellius Wolkelius Vaydovius c. but we shall by the Grace of God insist only upon some of their greatest Blasphemies Now to the Cause Matters of this high Nature and fundamental Concernment to our Holy Religion must not be prostituted to the captious scanning of Men of corrupt Minds nor the ways of God be made layable to the Judgment of Men rather humbly to be adored with Submission of Mind and Obedience of Faith to the Revelation declared in God's Word and herein we ought the more to be sober and cautious that we know Errors to be link'd together and to have a dependency one upon another he that strikes at the Grace of the Lord Jesus will afterwards make no Conscience to fly out against his Person he who denies him to be a Prophet will soon disown him to be a King and a Priest for as one Depth calls to another so an Arminian can easily become a rank Pelagian and Socinian Wherefore 't is necessary at the very beginning to oppose Errors defend every inch of ground against such as will daily grow worse and worse as do the * James 1.8 double-minded men that are for their own more than for the Truth 's Interest for they are unstable in all their ways and the more Hands orderly employed the better is the Effect like to be This Consideration makes me to appear amongst those who heretofore did and now do oppose false Teachers who not only privily but also in publick bring in again those damnable Heresies which of old Truth and Learning exploded and baffled out of the World The Divinity of Christ was the Stumbling-block to the Jews who could not endure to hear him call himself the Son of God absolutely and without limitation and thereat were enraged which made 'em take up Stones to cast at him John 8.59 and also at another time Chap. 10.31 the Doctrines about the Holy Trinity and the Person and Deity of Christ do stand and fall together In our Saviour's time it began to be oppos'd by the Jews and since from time to time continu'd to be so by the Devil's Instruments raised to that same purpose and within the last Age revived by the fore-named Blasphemers against the Rock of the Church which is built on the Confession that Christ is the Son of the living God not by any special Favour or any such Restriction for then there would be only a gradual difference between his and our being Sons of God but he is simply the Son of God yea his only begotten Before we enter upon this important Matter some things to clear the state of the Question must be premised so that we must shew wherein we agree before we speak of that wherein we differ as to the first this Foundation must be laid there is a God the Cause of all the Effect of none who hath made all and is made by none who hath given all things their Being and hath his own of himself This is not denyed so I shall not go about to prove it the Light of Nature the Book of Scripture and the Testimony of Conscience do sufficiently convince Men of it The next thing is what God is He being infinite cannot be defined but imperfectly described only according to what he hath in his Word revealed of himself how he is infinite independent self-sufficient eternal unchangeable But such is the blindness of some Mens Judgments or the Perverseness of their Hearts that they will cavil at the Nature Names Attributes and Works of this eternal and infinite Being But about this fundamental Truth our Faith must be directed by the Revelation which God hath made of it in his holy Word herein Men must not follow their own fancy for * 〈◊〉 Mat. 〈…〉 no man knoweth the father but the son and he to whom the son will reveal him Now the sum of this Revelation in the Word is that God is One that this One God is Father Son and Holy Ghost that the Father is the Father of the Son and the Son the Son of the Father and the Holy Ghost the Spirit of the Father and of the Son and that they are distinct one from another in respect of this their mutual Relation by this Rule we must be guided how to know believe worship love fear and obey him that is the Father One true God the Son One true God and the Holy Ghost One true God to be believed worshiped and obeyed Now for our Edification and further Instruction thâ—â— Doctrin admits of some Enlargement and Explanation to prevent undue Notions of God which by reason of the Blindness and Ignorance we are naturally involv'd in our Minds are liable unto thus out of the Revelation that God is One we easily deduce he is so in respect of his Nature Essence or Godhead and how being Father Son and Holy Ghost he doth subsist in these Three distinct Persons thence also is derived the manner of their Subsistence what are their mutual respects to each other and such like things by a necessary Consequence from the Revelation Upon these Grounds were compiled the Nicene Athanasian and other Creeds or Articles of Faith in opposition to the Heresies of those Times for therein was explained the true Sense of Scripture about those matters which were wrested by the Enemies of the Truth and though the Orthodox Doctors and Councils to oppose the Error and lay open the Venom made use of some Words and Expressions which in so many Letters are not set down in the Word of God yet they were not to blame for they were drawn out of it by lawful and necessary Consequences Men may lawfully conceive in their Minds what is the nature of the Things or the sense of the Words according to the scope of the Spirit of God in the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles and also as to the Analogy of Faith or else we are no better than Brutes So that if the chief Assertion contained in the Revelation be true so must also be whatsoever is therein included and in the Explication thereof drawn by a true and right Consequence Wherefore seeing God hath declared Father Son and Holy Ghost to be One God it necessarily follows they are One in Nature because therein only they can be One And this is the ground of any other Unity and seeing it is also declared they are Three it must be explained of three distinct Persons or Subsistences wherein only it is possible they can be Three The Revelation is clear there is One God this God is
Essence is as School-men say the Quiddity of the thing that whereby the thing is what it is concerning which this is to be observed the Essence neither begetteth nor is begotten it neither breatheth nor is breathed this is the Attribute of the Person not of the Nature nevertheless in the Generation and Breathing is the whole Essence because 't is indivisible communicated to the Person begotten the Son and to the proceeding the Holy Ghost and 't is true the Son is begotten of the Essence of the Father for he is God of God Light of Light and to his only begotten Son the Father hath given all things except to be Father according to that saying of our blessed Saviour * John 5.26 as the father hath life in himself so hath he given to the son to have life in himself CHAP. III. Of the Persons of the Godhead BUT this leads me to speak of the Persons and upon the matter 't is fit to know in general what a Person is namely one particular thing indivisible incommunicable living reasonable subsisting in it self and not having part of another the first because no general Notion is a Person the second because a Person may not be divided into many parts the third because thô one may communicate his Nature yet his Personality he cannot communicate the fourth no Person without Life and Reason the fifth because every Person is a Being that hath its own proper subsisting thus Christ's Humanity is not a Person because it doth not subsist in it self the sixth because that which is part of another is no Person thus the Soul of Man separated from the Body is no Person Now the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are of a larger extent than that of Person for they are spoken of any individual Substance but a Person is an individual Substance complete rational and as we said differing from another by means of some incommunicable Property Hence we say that a Person in the Trinity is whole God not absolutely or simply consider'd but by means of some personal Propriety 't is not a Species of God or of the Deity nor part nor a thing different from the Deity nor a bare relation or only a manner of being and subsisting but 't is the Essence of God with a certain manner of subsisting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither is it a Compound of the Essence or of the manner of subsisting So then a Person of the Deity is usually described to be an incommunicable Subsistence of the divine Essence for in One and most simple nature of God are several Persons distinct to whom the infinite and singular Nature of One onely God is common for Scripture doth teach us that there is but One God and Three distinct Persons to whom it doth attribute the Proprieties of God whence we may conclude that there is in God Oneness or Unity of Essence and Plurality of Persons This is matter of Faith to be believed and not of Fact to be cavil'd at Hence we find how in Scripture the word God is sometimes taken for the Essence and Nature of God and at other times for certain Persons of the Godhead as we shall have occasion to shew the Father hath his Essence originally in himself and from none other the Son and the Holy Ghost have the self-same increated Essence in themselves as well as the Father but not from themselves the Son and Holy Ghost are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same nature with the Father not in the same sense as Men are among themselves for Men are divided one from another but the Persons of the blessed Trinity not so for they be absolutely undivided so that the Three are but One God The Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Person in the same signification as we use when we say the Person of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Now Scripture names them as things distinguished between themselves individual subsisting c. as we said just before if they be as they are working and acting then they are Persons according to the Axiome in Philosophy actiones sunt suppositorum Now if the Father be such if the Son and Holy Ghost be such what can hinder us from saying the Father is a Person the Son is a Person the Holy Ghost is a Person The Greek Fathers made use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in * Heb. 1.3 Scripture we find in the same sense that is Person as we use it where Christ is called the express Image of his the Father's person I say they made use of it against Hereticks who denyed Father Son and Holy Ghost to be Three things so different as that the one is not and cannot be the other though as I already said in Scripture we have not in so many Letters the Words of Unity Trinity Essence and Person yet we therein have the things themselves whence they be derived and the very Words we find used by many of the antient Fathers Now Person and Personality are in divine much different of what they are in human things because the one is infinite and the other finite human Nature is One but in Specie in many Persons as Peter James Paul but divine Nature is but One and the same in number existing in Father Son and Holy Ghost as far as we are able to apprehend the Person differs from the Nature not really but rationally as the manner of a thing from the thing it self as may be a degree of heat from the heat it comes to Divine Essence is whole in every Person but not as the whole is in its parts for 't is not divided as we said but indivisible now the manner of subsisting of the Divine Essence which is but One in number in Three Persons is incomprehensible and unexpressible and the manner how the Godhead is attributed to the Three is singular and wonderful which no Reason can demonstrate nor Example illustrate to which purpose saith our Saviour * Luk. 10.22 No man knows who the son is but the father and who the father is but the son and to whom the son will reveal him By virtue of that Revelation the manner of knowing the Father is not the same as is in the Son yet Nature doth not produce Nature nor Nature Person nor Person Nature but Person doth Person not of the Essence but in unity of the same Nature common to the Three Persons neither doth it produce without it self as in corporeal things because no Penetration of Dimension but within it self for 't is infinite Now the Father gives Nature to the Son and both to the Holy Ghost not by Alienation but by Communication which is so imparted to the Receiver as that it still remains in the Giver as one Light hath it from another without any Diminution Hence it is that one Person doth not subsist without the other as 't is in Men but all Three do one
within another this made our Saviour say * John 10.38 The father is in me and I in him and †Ch. 14.10 I am in the father and the father in me Yet this hinders not but that they are distinct among themselves for they are not so one in another as the Accident is in its Subject neither is one predicated and spoken of the other as Man is of John for the Father is not the Son nor the Son the Holy Ghost 't is enough they are personally distinguished and in their manner of subsisting the Father unbegotten begets the Son the Son begotten of the Father the Holy Ghost proceeding from both as this is ad intra inwardly and among themselves so outwardly though the outward Works be common to the Three yet it seemed good to divine Wisdom particularly to attribute unto the Father the Work of Creation to the Son that of Redemption to the Holy Ghost that of Sanctification Works of Power in Schools of Divinity are attributed to the Father of Wisdom to the Son of Mercy and Goodness to the Holy Ghost In these Works ad extra as Creation Salvation Sanctification essentially there is but One Cause and Principle for there is but One God but personally there are Three because Three Persons which not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do freely cooperate and as these Persons in subsisting are distinguished in order so also in their working one doth not operate without the other and this Operation follows the Subsistence the Father is and works from none the Son from the Father and the Holy Ghost from both yet this order of working doth take away the Equality of Persons no more than doth their Order of subsisting Now the Acts whereby the Father hath begotten the Son and both produced the Holy Ghost are in several senses voluntary and necessary the first because no Violence or Compulsion but very freely the second 't is not voluntary but necessary if we take Voluntary in opposition to Natural for Voluntary signifies Contingent that which can be or not be but 't is so necessary that the Father could not but beget the Son and both breath the Holy Ghost and this from all eternity otherwise some new thing had befaln divine Nature which is absurd And this Generation and Production are not as in human things where the Father is in time before the Son but here the Son is coeternal with the Father and the Holy Ghost with both not forcibly but necessarily as Light is from the Sun and Heat from the Fire so the Father is no more without the Son and the Holy Ghost than the Sun is without Light God is not without his Wisdom and his Virtue and this from all eternity I mean that called imparticipata or à parte ante and à parte post that is without beginning or ending incommunicable to the Creature and herein indeed doth differ this divine Production from that of the Light of the Sun and Heat of the Fire wherein is a succession and a difference the Light of the Sun to day is sometime different from that of yesterday but the Son is to day the same he was yesterday * Heb. 13 8. Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever There is also an order among the Three Persons the Father is first as †Matth 28.19 Baptize the nations in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost thus the Father is named first * 1 John 5.7 the Son next then the Holy Ghost In the Creed the Father is also named first the Son the second the Holy Ghost the third the Father of himself the Son of the Father and the Holy Ghost as already said of both yet all Three may be called and are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self God as we shall by Gods Grace speak of more hereafter Neither doth the divine Nature though subsisting of it self as single and individual make any fourth Person in the Godhead distinct from the Three because it subsisteth in a certain manner and only in the Persons of Father Son and Holy Ghost these Three Persons are not of another or different Nature nor of the like or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under which word the Arians would have shelter'd their Error nor of a common as Men who have a common Essence but not the same in Number but this divine Essence in Three Persons is the very same in number All this is a great Mystery revealed in the Word of God professed by the Church from Christ's time to this though Satan's Rage against the Son of God * 1 John 3.8 who came to destroy his works did from time to time raise up Instruments to blaspheme against it and we ought humbly and devoutly to adore and not presumptuously and profanely dive into it CHAP. IV. Of the most Holy Trinity ALthough the matter about the divine Nature and the Three Persons which we have already spoken of be but one and the same with that of the most adorable Trinity as indeed they in Discourse are Parts one of another and so twisted and connexed together that what we speak of one hath a Relation to and Dependency upon the other yet before we come to the Polemical or Controversial Part of these Points we by the Grace of God shall under the Head of the Blessed Trinity continue to speak of the Didactical or Doctrinal Part of our Discourse the more to inculcate into the Minds of the Readers less acquainted with these Disputes what Grounds they ought to go upon and to believe concerning these Fundamentals of our Faith and necessary Doctrines of our Salvation What we believe about it is above not against Reason for we believe not One God to be many Gods nor Three Persons to be but One Person If in Human Things I should say absolutely I James am Father and Son it were a Contradiction indeed but to speak it relatively there is none at all I cannot say I am Son and Father to my Father or Father and Son to my Son but I may very well say I James one Man am upon a different Account and in a different Relation Son and Father in regard to my Father I am a Son in relation to my Son I am a Father let the great Masters of or pretenders to Reason herein shew me a Contradiction no more can they when I say in the Godhead is one Essence or Nature subsisting in Three Persons and Three Persons existing in One Essence Unity in Trinity and Trinity in Unity This great Point is not only very hard and difficult by reason of the Mystery of the Eternal unspeakable and incomprehensible Generation of the Son of God by the Father but also of a most high Concernment First Upon the Account of God's Glory for to deny this Doctrine is to deny the True God because * 1 John 2.23 whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the-Father Secondly
they come This is the rational Man who will dive too far the Apostle for his pains calls him a Fool thou fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die so in Matter of God's Decrees thou wilt then say unto me why doth he yet find fault The Apostle's Answer is * Rom. 9.19 20. Nay but O man who art thou that repliest against God This is to curb that idle and presumptuous Curiosity of vain and foolish Men who work their shallow Brains to find out things which can be known no otherwise than by Revelation wherefore let us stick to that Rule about the Holy Trinity we can and must know no more than is revealed in Scripture and herein we must follow the Example of the Doctors of the pure Primitive Church who borrowed no Arguments of Philosophy against the Hereticks that troubled them but only out of Scripture the more because in Matters of so great a Concernment as are the Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation the Devil hath used his strongest Batteries but he that trusteth to his own Reason will fall short of the necessary Knowledge thereof and in this case I may say what is spoken in another that if Men had been satisfied to make use only of their own Eye without any other help they could never have found out the magnitude of the Sun c. if so in the Secrets of Nature much less in Things of Divine Concernment and of Deity it self in human and finite Things we conceive well enough how in the same Nature are many Persons to whom it is communicated but that that Nature is but one and the same and that so many Individuals make but one Man in the kind no Mind can conceive but in Men the Reason of the Multiplication is in the finite Individuals which are not only distinct one from another but also have their several Bounds and that universal Nature is as if it were rented into so many Parts but as God is Infinite the Father Son and Holy Ghost is Infinite the Infinite cannot so much as in thought be separated wherefore it must not be thought an absurdity if in Divine Things there is no multiplicity of Gods as there is of Men in human Nature but still after this reasoning I return within the Circle to consult Scripture more than to stretch our Reason with Job let us say †Job 11.7 8 9. Canst thou by searching find out God canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection c. O ‖ Isai 55.8 9. my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord. Every Man may in this Matter apply to himself what is said in the Book of Proverbs * Chap. 30.2.3 4. Surely I am more brutish than any man and have not the understanding of a man I neither learned wisdom nor have the knowledg of the holy Who hath ascended up into heaven or descended who hath gathered the winds in his fists who hath bound the waters in a garment who hath established all the ends of the earth what is his name and what is his sons name if thou canst tell This is by way of defiance In this Controversie Three several things are to be taken notice of first The truth of the thing namely that there is a God but One God and Three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost which to hold is necessary to our Faith Secondly the Explanation thereof relating to the Doctrine which we already have said several things about whereunto we now shall in part repeat and in part add these few things Divine Essence communicable to Three Persons is neither multiplyed nor divided as 't is in Men and Angels for though their Natures be but one and the same in Species yet 't is different in Number but in the Deity not so for the same Nature in Father Son and Holy Ghost is but one and the same in Number in the Persons is an order of origine according to which proceedeth not Essence from Essence absolutely consider'd nor Person from Essence nor one God from another God but one Person from another Person and from other Persons very God of very God for the Three Persons are One God and every Person is perfect God in every Person is to be consider'd the common and the proper Mode in God we may not conceive any thing besides One Essence and Three Modes whereby with the Essence are constituted Three Persons in these Persons one is not before or after the other only in order and manner of subsisting whatsoever is essential is common to the Three and what is personal is proper to every one of the Three the Mode or Personality is the Abstract but the Mode with the Nature is the Concret Here is no Accident no Genus no Species no Difference no specific Unity in God but an essential and individual Nature The Difference of Hypostases or Persons in Divine Nature is from the different relation and manner of Subsistence which cannot be confounded There are essential and relative Properties the first belong to every Person because every Person hath the same Nature but not the second whereby they are distinguished one from another the Son is not the Father nor the Father the Son This also is to be taken notice of that a finite Nature is capable of Division which an infinite is not or else it were not infinite therefore in this God's Nature admits of no Comparison with any created one whatsoever The Third thing to be observed in this Controversie is the Proof not to be taken out of Nature or Reason but out of Scripture of both Old and New Testaments and herein we must be very cautious how we draw and press Consequences from the Creature to the Creator because there is an infinite Disparity and Disproportion between them as there is between a finite and an infinite Nature this last filleth all when the other is confined within narrow bounds for the infinite as we said being communicated is neither divided multiplied nor alienated Scripture calls God the True God God's own and proper Son yet Socinians have rather in the Christian Religion to admit two Gods whereof one is a made feigned titular God than a plurality of Persons in the Unity of Essence which Opinion of theirs is really more absurd than they would have the Truth we own to seem to be because it doth quite destroy divine Nature for a made and secondary God is absurd and a mere Contradiction as good as to say God no God This is a Notion borrowed from the Heathens who had their Semi-gods that is Men who in their life-time having done some great Actions were after their death by Apotheosis deifi'd and reckon'd among their gods According to this fancy our Saviour may be such a Heroe and God as their Hercules was This is their good Christian Doctrine The ground of their Error is that they think the number of Persons doth multiply the
the God of his fathers Abraham and Isaac The better to know who this Angel is let us hear him speak himself to Jacob d Gen. 31.11 12 13. The angel of God saith Jacob spake unto me in a dream and what saith he I have seen all that Laban doth unto thee I am the God of Bethel where thou anointedst the pillar and where thou vowedst a vow unto me Surely this could be no created Angel The same it was that appeared unto Moses in the Bush mention'd by Stephen e Acts 7.35 by whose Hands Authority and Power Moses became Ruler and Deliverer of the People out of Egypt Now in the same Chapter Stephen saith v. 32. that he that appeared unto Moses in the Bush was the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and that same God he afterwards calls the angel which spoke to him in mount Sinai v. 38. To be short this is the Angel of the Lord which appeared unto Moses out of the Bush which is called Lord and God and calls himself f Exod. 3. â— 4 6. the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. The Adversaries cannot deny this to be the true and proper Character of the true God Moreover this is the Angel promised to be sent before the People let us hear what a Character God gives of him * Exodus 23.20 21. Beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my name is in him If this had been one of his created Angels would God have spoken of him after this manner Why God's Name in a most special manner more in him than in another Here his Name signifies his Nature and can any but the true essential God pardon Transgressions as it depends upon the Will of this Angel to do or not to do According to promise this same Angel appeared unto Joshuah under the Name of †Josh 5.14 15. captain of the host of the Lord and of him required the same humble Obedience as before he had received of Moses and this the Apostle doth point at * Heb. 2.10 when speaking of Christ he calls him the captain of our salvation of which the Deliverance out of Egypt was a Type and a Figure for he was the Rock †1 Cor. 10.4 that followed them in the Wilderness He is farther called ‖ Isai 63. the angel of God's presence God in him is present wheresoever he is because he is God but he there is also called their Saviour he saved them is there any Saviour besides the Lord Jesus the Son of God He also is called the Messenger * Mal. 3. â— or Angel of the covenant Is not God's Covenant with Men made in Christ Jesus Hath he not procured and published it It was to strengthen the Faith and confirm the Hopes of his People that God by the last of his Prophets doth so positively promise he shall come surely he then was and existed though he was not yet come The Prophet addeth whom ye delight in would to God this were true in every Christian but his Enemies can take no delight in him However it remains true that no Creature whatsoever could be this Angel and that seeing it was not the Person of the Father it must be that of his Son who is another himself and I think that to prove the Deity of the Messiah is to prove the plurality of Persons in the Godhead for as I said before Trinity imports the Divinity of the Son and the Divinity of the Son implys plurality of Persons in the Divine Nature This Angel under the shape of a Man attended by two Angels appeared unto Abraham * Gen. 18. and in the same place he is called the Lord or Jehovah and Man and behaved himself both as Lord and as Man and as both was received by Abraham Thus 't is neither impossible nor contrary to Scripture that God should in human Nature appear unto Men as then he did unto Abraham In his Promise to Abraham of a Son by Sarah and as to the Judgments upon Sodom he behaved himself as God as he did as Man in visibly walking discoursing having his Feet washed resting and eating and as herein by acting the true part of a Man he was a true Man so he was a true God for there he is six or seven times called Jehovah and five Adonai and he speaks like the Judg of the World in whose power it lyes to punish or pardon and the Adversaries can bring nothing against the Union of divine with humane Nature in the Person of Christ but what this Instance of the appearing can refute for indeed the personal Union of the divine with human Nature can be no better nor more plainly represented than by this Example and if this appearing was a sign and forerunner of Christ's dwelling and conversing among Men certainly it became him to be such as he then appeared namely God and Man Now that this was a foresight of his Incarnation our Saviour himself declares it * John 8.56 relating to this Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad And upon the same account he upbraids them when he saith John 39.40 If ye were Abraham's children ye would do the works of Abraham but ye seek to kill me that did not Abraham for he never offered to kill as a Blasphemer that Man whom with two others he recieved into his House and who carryed himself as God on the contrary he all the while behaved himself towards him as being God and at that time the same Person that appeared unto Abrham is not only called the Lord v. 1. the Lord appeared unto Abraham but also the judg of all the earth v 25. a Property belonging to none but the true God and that Christ is to judg all the Earth it appears out of Acts 17.31 and 2 Cor. 5.10 as indeed the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorah was a figure of the Destruction of the World and of Christ's second coming The Father saith Christ hath committed all Judgment to the Son John 5.22 Here I shall add a Text which may have a place in another part of my Discourse 't is this God by the Prophet * Isai 40.9 10 11. speaks to Zion Jerusalem and the Cities of Judah Behold your God behold the Lord will come with strong hand c. here certainly by your God is meant the God of Israel for the God of Zâ—on of Jerusalem and of the Cities of Judah is the same with the God of Israel now who that Person is here called God it doth appear out of the scope of the place wherein the Prophet doth certainly speak of the coming of the Messiah who is Christ as 't is plain out of v. 3. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness prepare ye the way for the Lord make straight in the desart
account to be call'd such a Man's Son yet not be his proper Son thus an adopted though he excel never so much above the rest yet that can never make him to be a proper Son To refute some Cavils of theirs one thing more we are again to take notice of upon this matter how the the word God is in Scripture sometimes taken essentially for the most holy Trinity and sometimes personally for one of the Persons as when 't is said * Acts 20.28 God hath purchased his church with his own blood which is meaned our Saviour the second Person of the Godhead In the first sense must be understood those places of Scripture wherein 't is said The name of the Lord is one and there is none besides him there is but one God and others to the same purpose to shew the Oneness of the Nature which as well as they we do affirm but as to teach well one must distinguish well so for want of observing this Rule that which is spoken of the Essence of God they mis-apply it to the Persons and so make a Confusion between things to be distinguished We already proved how the Unity of Nature doth not take away the Trinity of Persons nor the Plurality of Persons destroy the Unity of Nature which Mistake of theirs doth also hold in the Mystery of the Incarnation or of the Word being made Flesh and about our Saviour's Person in whom they confound the Natures so that which is spoken of his Humanity they mis-apply to his Divinity The second Argument whereby Christ is proved to be God's natural Son is drawn from the word only begotten which for greater confirmation is attributed to Christ in several * John 1.18 places wherefore in Scripture Christ is called the Son of God to shew he is the only begotten for that 's the signification of the word and †Heb. 1.2 vers 5. Paul's interpretation of it for he saith Such is the Son to whom only God saith Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee and other places of Scripture By the words God's only begotten Son do all mean Christ only The Adversaries would have him to be called so only in a special manner above the rest as we already have taken notice of in the instance about Isaac whereunto here we shall add that of Solomon which also they made use of called say they * Prov. 4.3 only begotten in the sight of his mother but they must not go about to impose upon us for in the original the word begotten is not in but only which in our Bibles is according to the sense of the place explained by beloved only beloved one may be the only yet not only begotten Son when of many Children one alone is remaining and the rest are dead as to Isaac we already observed he was the only begotten in relation to Sarab by Promise but Christ is so called God's only begotten Son that it was never said to any one else Thou art my Son c. whence we may conclude him so to be God's Son as to be the only begotten of him that is according to his Nature in the word he is properly and absolutely called the only begotten * John 1.14 We beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is not comparative as only denoting a likeness but as Chrysostomus observes well is expressive of the truth as being really as if one willing to describe a Royal State and Carriage of a King should say as that is in a manner becoming and proper for a King and farther the Evangelist addeth v. 18. The only begotten son which is in the besom of the Father he hath declared him where Christ is called the only begotten 〈◊〉 it being his own proper Name signifying how besides him there is no true natural Son of God again ‖ John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and * 1 John 4.9 God sent his only begotten son into the world See what a care the Spirit of God hath taken to confirm and make that Truth known how Christ is properly and absolutely God's only begotten Son now he is absolutely only begotten that is not only so called lookt upon and loved as such but that is really so and indeed we know our blessed Saviour is call'd †Joh. 20.17 Brother of his Disciples and of ‖ Heb. 2.17 Believers but not in a proper and strict sense The relation of Brotherhood hath a great latitude for among the Jews Persons belonging to any branch of a Family to a Tribe or to any of the Tribes were call'd Brethren * Gal. 1.19 James and John were call'd the Lord's Brothers and in another sense our Saviour calls †Mat. 12.50 his brother his sister and his mother whosoever shall do the will of God He is our Brother in that he hath taken upon him our human Nature all Men are Brothers in human Nature but Adoption cannot be the ground of his as 't is of our being call'd the Sons of God he is never called adopted as we are neither can he be adopted with us seeing we are adopted in him we are the Branches of the wild Olive-Tree that have been grafted in him who is the true natural Olive-Tree and thereby are become Members of his mystical Body How can our blessed Saviour be called God's only begotten Son if he be not partaker of the same Nature And the more to enforce this in that sâ—â—e Chapter and Verse John 18. 't is added which is in the bosom of the Father can he be in and from the Bosom of the Father and not be of the same Nature All other Children of God are made but this is begotten and only begotten none but he is properly begotten Our Third Argument is taken out of our Saviour's Question to the Pharisees * Mat. 12.41 41 4â— 44. What think ye of Christ whose son is he they say unto him the son of David he saith unto them how then doth David in spirit call him Lord By this way of arguing he shewed how in him besides human Nature there was another namely the divine according to which he by no means might be called David's Son but David's Lord which to the Pharisees proved an unanswerable Argument for upon this same 't is positively said v. 46. and no man was able to answer him a word one would think this should also stop the mouth of Socinians Indeed there the Lord proposeth the Question about the Nature of Christ or the Son whose natural Son he was Whereunto the Pharisees returned an imperfect Answer for only they said he was the Son of David but the Lord Jesus out of Scripture which they could not deny concluded that since he was by David's confession his Lord he must in him have another Nature besides human according to which he might not be called
to the Father I answer the name of God is taken either personally namely as he begets and as he is begotten and thus the Son is distinguished from the Father and upon this account the Apostle speaks of them separately Christ is distinguished from God both in Person and Office not in the Godhead or Essence or else the name is absolutely simply Rom. 8.31 32. 1 Tim. 1.1 1 John 5.20 Joh. 14.1 and essentially taken when the Question is about the Godhead then as to the Deity the Son is not distinguished from the Father as when Christ saith there is none good but God he doth not exclude himself from being good 't is as if he had said unto the Man if thou believest me to be good for so thou callest me thou must also believe me to be God for none is good but God and this was to have the Man to look upon him to be God Again When our Saviour saith Vnto God all things are possible and that God is able out of Stones to rise Children unto Abraham when the Apostles in their Salutations name first God and our Father and then the Lord Jesus Christ 't is no good Consequence to say that the Son is not of the same Nature with the Father for the Name of God is therein attributed unto the Father as the Spring and first in order of the Deity then the Son is proposed as Mediatour to lead us unto God for we are led by Christ unto the Father to worship and adore him together with the Father for he saith Ye believe in God believe also in me thereby shewing we ought to render unto him the same things we render to the Father wherefore in several places we read how when the Name Father is added yet that of God is immediately put before when generally something is taught which belongeth to Father Son and Holy Ghost then having named the Father the Mediatour is mention'd to breed in us Hope and Comfort thus the same Apostle opposeth one God to Idols where Christ is not excluded for immediately in the same Verse he declareth who that one God is namely the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things 1 Cor. 8.6 Ephes 4.5 6. and we by him thus in another place he saith there is one God as there is one Baptism Christ in whose Name we are baptized is not excluded from that oneness of Godhead Joh. 14.6 and because he would come to the Mediatour he very fitly nameth the Father to whom as the Head of the Deity there is no approach without the Mediator so by the Name Father is represented God essentially offended by Mankind and by the Son and Christ that Person of the adorable Trinity who hath undertaken to make our Peace and reconcile us unto God he is the way the truth and the life and none can come to the father but by him So when we read the word God we must not separate the Father nor the Son because the Divinity of the Father and of the Son is but one and the same Moreover they object the Father is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God of himself hath all of himself and acts of himself but the Son is not God of himself he is from the Father himself he saith he came from the Father and the Father sent him to this I answer They go upou a wrong Principle for they would have this to be of one self or of another to import a different Essence or Nature for even in created things that which is begotten is ever of the same Nature with that which hath begotten but by reason of Imperfection these are one only in Species but God the Father and the Son may not be said to be one in Species or Kind because thus they would make two Gods What they add how in Divine things he that begetteth and he that is begotten are not one either in Essence or Species because Men and Angels are called Sons of God which are not one with God either in Nature or Kind is very frivolous for 't is certain they are call'd Sons of God upon a very different account from that on which Christ is so call'd None is ever call'd God's own and proper Son only begotten come from the Bosom of the Father for unto which of the Angels or Men said he at any time thou art my Son Heb. 1.5 this day have I begotten thee and again I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Son Moreover they are mistaken to think that to be of another is to be of a different and inferiour Nature indeed he who receiveth not all but out of favour only part of what another hath may be said to be inferiour to him of whom he receiveth but he not so who hath all that another hath not by favour but by Nature and Generation They are farther much mistaken when they deny Christ simply and absolutely to be God of himself for he must need be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is a being or Essence of himself Life of himself Holy of himself Power of himself is good of himself Light of himself Truth of himself Wisdom of himself Righteousness of himself Perfect of himself and Glory of himself which all are Attributes of the Deity and to whom they belong So doth also Divine Nature all which Attributes were by the antient Orthodox Doctors of the Church and after them by the eminent Instruments of Reformation owned to be the Right and Property of the Son of God grounding themselves upon the Authority of Scripture in several Places especially that of 1 John 5.20 by me already quoted we are in him that is true even in his son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal life If we look upon the Son of God as he is from Eternity begotten of the Father and as he is the second Person on such an account we own the Son to be from the Father seeing he is true Son but if we consider him as God he is altogether self God and God of himself for the Divinity is wholly unbegotten and of her self knoweth of no beginning and needs not to borrow of others what it hath of it self and if to the Son one would attribute a Begotten and formed Essence this is from the Father to make a second God Lastly Many of the Places which the Adversaries do heap up do speak of Christ's Office of Mediator which they improperly misapply to his Divine Nature for though Christ's Humane Nature hath no Personality but is upheld by the Divine Person yet that upholding doth not confound the Natures otherwise Passion and Death might be attributed to Divine Nature On this Matter they form other Arguments grounded upon false Suppositions as sometimes they would have Father Son and Holy Ghost to be three Spirits and the words unbegotten begotten and proceeding
to be Essential Differences when to speak of three Spirits in the Godhead is as good as to say there are three Gods 1 Cor. 8.4 whilst Scripture saith there is none other God but one who hath his Being from himself and from none else for we must say of every God so called which is not such by Nature Hosea 8.6 what the Prophet saith of the Calf of Samaria the workman made it therefore it is not God and 't is a right Consequence for nothing can be God that is made by another So then to talk of three Spirits in the Godhead is to set up three Gods for God as our Saviour saith absolutely is a Spirit and when we say Spirit we understand his Nature for a Spirit is a Spiritual Substance and being thus they go on still upon their Suppositions they would have the words unbegotten begotten and proceeding to be essential Differences and not personal as they are so other times they would have the Son because he is of the Father not to be one God with the Father who existeth of himself and so not to be the one true God because he hath a Being from another but we must distinguish between the being of Essence and that of the Person the first the Son hath of it self and the second of the Father They farther object he that is Mediator with the God of Israel is not the God of Israel himself for if it were so three Absurdities say they would follow the first God would be inferiour to himself 2dly God would pray to himself 3dly the Party offended shall be Mediatour with himself but to the first we answer Tho' God be Mediator it followeth not he is inferiour to himself for tho' upon the account of the Office he that is a Mediator be inferiour to him whom he intercedeth with yet he is not thereby inferiour in Nature for even among Men one Equal doth intercede with his Equals As to the second the Son prayeth to God for us according to his Humane Nature tho' we exclude not the Divine from interceding for it belongs to it in as much as it is the Eternal Will of the Son that the Father would by reason of his Sacrifice receive us into Favour the Prayers and Submission belong to Humane Nature but the Divine maketh them effectual both Natures being united in one Person The Divine was united with the Humane mediately in the Person of the Son but the same Person was immediately united to Humane Nature As to the third it were absurd indeed if the Party offended was Mediator when there is but one Person offended but where several Persons are offended there is no Absurdity if by their common Consent one of those offended Persons offereth satisfaction for the Offender and to reconcile and in this Case it could not be otherwise for it was required that the Reconciler should be God and 't is but a Cavil to say that he with whom the Son is not Mediator could not be reconciled and that the Son was not Mediator with himself or with the Holy Ghost but only with the Father for first not only he is reconciled and appeased by the Mediator with whom the Son performeth the Office of Mediator but also they that are joyn'd and about it agreed with him wherefore seeing in every thing the Will of Father Son and Holy Ghost be agreed it followeth that through the Merit and Satisfaction of the Mediator the Father being fully satisfied the Son and Holy Ghost are so too I add as to the second it is not absurd as they think that the Son should be Mediator with himself for the Son of God doth the Office of Mediator in both Capacities for as God being one with the Father he receiveth us into Favour and as he is Mediator according to both Natures so as he is God manifested in the Flesh by reason of his Merit and Satisfaction we are received into favour and although this being received into favour be common to Father Son and Holy Ghost yet the Mediator is said to intercede for us with the Father who is consider'd as the Spring of all Divine Counsels and Operations who being willing that the Son should satisfie for our Sins and that by vertue of that satisfaction our Sins should be forgiven it is not possible for the Son to will and do otherwise to this purpose makes what the Apostle saith about our being reconciled to God by Jesus Christ and what the Evangelist writeth he that hath my commandments 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20 21 and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him John 14.21 23. to the same effect doth tend what is said in another place of Christ who when he had by himself purged our Sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high So then the Son is appeased Heb. 3.3 and forgiveth our sins receiveth us into favour and giveth us Eternal Life upon the account of his own satisfaction The Father Son and Holy Ghost do the same by reason of the satisfaction given by the Son In the mean while in relation to the Son who for his own sake receiveth us t is call'd his Will in relation to the Father 't is call'd Mediation or Intercession therein the Will of the Son in order of the Person and Divine Working doth follow the Will of the Father Hence it appeareth how they do ill to confound the Divine Nature of Christ under his Office of Mediator as such according to his Humane Nature he pray'd to the Father and taught us a form of Prayer that we should call upon the Father through the Mediator yet he thereby never intended to exclude or deprive himself of his own Due or Right there is no Contradiction to worship the Father in the Face and thorough the Intercession of the Mediator for we worship the Father not in his Person only but of the whole Nature and Christ in John 5.22 as in the form of Baptism proposeth himself to be worshipped for Adoration is not confined in the Person of the Father only They say If the Father be greater than Christ then he is not God equal with the Father but Christ saith John 14.28 the father is greater than I Therefore is not God equal with the Father in this place Christ speaketh not of his Divine Nature but of his Office the Father doth send and the Son is sent and though he be less as to his Humanity he is equal in relation to his Divinity Wherefore I answer Christ is less than his Father in respect to his Humane Nature which he assumed with the Infirmity thereof Sin excepted for he was hungry weary sorrowful and the like and we read he wept tho' never that he laughed but before that Assumption of the Flesh he had a Being of another Nature which can be no
be true even in natural things how much more in those of a spiritual and divine Nature which to Men's understanding are past finding out wherefore I affirm it to be but reasonable for them in such things to submit Reason to Faith which is a Mystery to our natural Reason 1 Tim. 3.9 so called by S. Paul Holding the mystery of Faith in a pure conscience when he was writing this Faith with its Object was clearly revealed yet still he then calls it a Mystery and I hope no Socinian dares say he knows the Nature of Faith better than that great Apostle did As for Scripture they pretend to own and do quote it so also could the Devil but mis-apply'd it Before him whom he knew to be the Son of God he could say it is written And as in the beginning of the Predication of the Gospel so in the renewing of the Truth of it by Reformation Tares sprung up with the Grain some Men would not order and regulate their Opinions according to Scripture but would bring it to be subservient to their Notions and of it to make a Nose of Wax to serve their turn hence it is that they wrest things that therein are so plain which if we believe Peter 2 Pet. 3.16 must be to their own destruction I know of no wrong the Son of God hath done them that in all their Writings they should so slightly speak of and so much below him Of late one S among others Page 20. saith of the Lord Jesus In that great Instance of Magnanimity he hath outdone all the mentioned Heroes of Greece and Rome he would seem to speak much in his Commendation but latet anguis in herbâ there is a Malice in the bottom to enervate the Truth of our Saviour's Life as if there were in 't some of the Tales and fabulous Accounts which are found in the Lives of the Heroes be mentions They would have him a Man and nothing more though upon all occasions even before that wicked Counsel of the Priests Scribes and Elders Matt. 26.63 64. being by the High Priest adjured in the Name of the Living God to tell whether he was the Son of God He owned himself to be which he would not have done if it had not been true and so had died to maintain a Lye which is the part of an Impostor and this Confession of his being Son of God was the very ground of his Accusation Condemnation and Execution we have a law John 19.7 said they and by our law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God and at the time of his Death all their Revilings and Injuries against him did run upon this Matt. 27.40 43 54. If thou be the Son of God come down from the cross and he said I am the Son of God it had been very strange if he had suffered for saying he was that which he was not in the Sense he spoke it and they took it To deny this is to be worse than the very Heathens the Roman Soldiers for the Centurion and they that were with him having seen the things that were done said Truly this was the Son of God thereby pointing at the Cause of his Death as if they had said He was what he affirmed himself to be and what he dyed for that is Truly the Son of God What S. Paul saith in another Caese about the Resurrection Acts 26.8 Why should it be thought incredible with you that God should raise the dead We may say it in that of the Incarnation of the Son of God for if God attended by two Angels in the shape of Men Gen. 18. more familiarly to dine and converse with Abraham shewed how he could assume the Figure of a Man why might he not in time take upon him our humane Nature The Scripture being so full of Evidences that he could he would and hath done it But what can we say of People who deny it to be day though the Sun shineth never so brightly like the Philosophers Maid who being blind would not own it but said the Room she was in was dark this is the case of those in whom the God of this World hath so blinded the Minds that they cannot and their Hearts that they will not see I wish God may be pleased in this high Concern of his to stir up the Hearts of every one to act in his Station whether Civil or Ecclesiastical They which in this last Capacity are Men of Piety and Learning might out of Presses and Pulpits be very instrumental in asserting the Truth if they were pleased to consult with Scripture preferably before their own Reason for the Word of God being the Spring of right Reason will afford Reasons enough to confute and convince Blasphemy and Heresie Therein lies our strength about these Matters This ought to be the method and manner of those who engage in the Cause Let us all well observe what is said of Apollos who in this same Subject was concerned against an unbelieving and obstinate Nation Acts 18.24 that he was mighty in the Scriptures About these Controversies some thing hath already been attempted by Men otherwise of Learning and good Parts but upon the account of some Principles of theirs little good is herein to be expected from them Arminians I mean whom I look upon as not very sit to write against Socinians no more than Arminus would not write against Socinus though they were contemporary when I am reading Socinian Disputes I often in my way meet with Worstius Episcopius Bertius Curcelaeus and such others who favour them if not in all yet in too many things wherein they go hand in hand and they will mince the matter with them but if after what several Men have written heretofore some other Persons of Learning and sound in the doctrinal part of the XXXIX Articles would now appear as a Reverend and very able Prelate hath in some Points effectually done then it might be hoped through God's Blessing for us to see those impious and Heterodox Opinions justled out of doors to the Honour of God the Peace of his Church and clearing the Land of such a Generation as in some respect may be called worse than the Devils Matt. 8.29 Mar. 1.24 and 5.7 Luke 4.34 41. 8.28 Psal 119.126 who publickly owned the Lord Jesus to be the Son of God of the most high God the holy one of God whom they confessed to have the Power not only to command but also to torment and destroy them whilst these Men deny him truly to be such With David we must say It is time for thee Lord to work for they have made void thy law In the mean time though very sensible of my Weakness and Incapacity I presume to appear in publick trusting in him whose Cause we defend that he will make his Virtue perfect in our Weakness and with the gracious Influence of his holy
which was and which is to come as for Persons though it be not as to the Letter in Scripture yet 't is virtually first in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equivalent to that of †Heb. 1.3 Person then in the very same word but spoken of * 2 Cor. 1.11 Men where it signifies an Individuum or a Person and though just the very word is not used in Scripture 't is not material because in Divinity not the Word but the Thing not the Sound but the Sense are to be minded And though the word Person be deduc'd from Stages and things not serious yet we ought to look to the Use more than to the Eâ—ymology or Derivation and what if it be taken from things created and very unlike to God So we may say Are all Words purified from their original Imperfefection But for the abuse of a Word or a Thing we must not leave the right use of it When Scripture saith there is One God this Oneness can relate to nothing but to the Being Essence or Nature of God for in this respect God is one so we have reason thereby to represent the Unity of the Godhead there is in Scripture mention of God's Godhead * Rom. 1.20 and of his Nature when they which by nature are no gods †Gal. 4.8 are excluded from being Objects of our Worship So when Scripture reveals there is Father Son and Holy Ghost it makes a distinction between them yet calls every one God have we not cause thereupon to call them Three Persons and affirm that in One Essence or Godhead are Three Persons Do not these Words express the thing without doing it any Wrong or Injury for they are neither profane nor unworthy of God if the Words Essence Unity Trinity be not in so many Letters in Scriptures no more is the Word Sacrament yet though the Name be not in the thing is But herein they are more peevish than their Father Socinus who tells Francis David * Vol. I. p. 778. that though the Terms of Essence and Person be not in Scripture if the Sense be 't is no matter and that they who went upon such Grounds exposed their Cause The Method which the Enemies to this Truth ought to take should be this Whether they own according to the Revelation the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be One God Which if they deny we want no Proofs but if they own it then let them proceed to a Debate whether they are One in Nature and Three in Persons or how the Case is to be stated for it is very unreasonable to dispute about Words and Explication of any thing concerning the Relations or Manner till the thing it self be plainly confessed or denied Now by the Grace of God we must proceed and though I love not a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Dispute about Words yet as Words do signifie Things so some are so fundamental to the matter in hand that something I must say about 'em the first is Essence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he which is what * Exod. 3.14 we call Essence or Nature is not an imaginary thing and existing only in the Mind as in an Idea neither is it a thing separated from the Persons but always inherent in them whereby they subsist so that if there were no Individuum of such a Species there also would be no Essence of that Species as in the case of Human Nature which comprehends a rational Soul and an organical Body then Humanity is that whereby every Man is a Man but this Nature doth not subsist without Men but is so inherent in Men that in case there were no Men there could be no human Nature or Humanity Thus in God the Divine Essence is not a thing Existing without Son Father and Holy Ghost as if it was a fourth thing wherein these Three be contained but as we say in Philosophy of the Soul est tota in toto tota in qualibet parte so divine Nature is whole in the Father whole in the Son and whole in the Holy Ghost and that in an infinitely more excellent way than either Nature or the Soul are in us for they are finitely in Men but infinitely in every Person of the Trinity and exactly and perfectly the same for indeed the Essence of God is nothing else but his Nature namely the Deity or the Godhead God is not divided into divers Essences but distinguished into divers Persons God cannot be divided into several Natures or Parts so the Persons which subsist in that One Essence are only distinct and not separate one from another He who saith a Person of the holy Trinity saith One Essence common to Three Persons Hereupon we must know how in the most Holy Trinity something is common to the Three Persons such is the Essence and something incommunicable and proper to every one in their respective relations We ought further to know how the Words Essence Substance and Nature though in some respect they may admit of some difference yet when spoken of the Godhead they are taken for one and the same Whereunto may be added Deity and God's being there is in Schools of Divinity and Philosophy but one Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be to signifie Essence and Substance and therefore let me speak to some by way of warning that they may multiply Substances no more than Essences for 't is but one and the same thing without running into Tritheism or the Blasphemy of Three Gods neither may they entertain the Notions of Three Minds Beings or Spirits for as there is but One divine Nature and Being and but One God so that same God is but One Spirit Wherefore in these times Men should follow the Christian Prudence and Moderation of the Doctors of the Church in former Ages who were very cautious not to rush into new Notions of their own about these Matters or rashly to run into new fangled Opinions or Hypotheses as they call them or Suppositions of their own when it would be much better for them to follow the Theses of the Text among Attributes of what we call Essence Metaphysicians reckon this to be one that it is to be participatively indivisible because 't is equally imparted to those whose Essence it is for if there was any Addition Diminution or Alteration it would not be the same much more and upon a better account doth this hold about that Divine Nature by the Apostle in the very words attributed unto God 2 Pet. 1.4 In the Godhead there is no Division only Distinction the Essence and Persons not really but rationally distinct for the Essence is whole and indivisible in every Person but the Persons be really distinct one from another by means of some incommunicable Attribute for the Father is not the Son nor the Son the Father nor the Holy Ghost either Father or Son The
a gall of bitterness as well as the bond of iniquity with a slight and contempt of his person the Man that Man this Man Man in every case and all this to lose no occasion of robbing him of his Divinity 2 Kings 49.27 and Isai 3.28 this calls to my mind God's words against Sennacherib another great Blasphemer which by the Lord might have been applied to Socinus I know thy abode and thy going out and thy coming in and thy rage against me And let all his Sectators remember what the Apostle saith Jud. 14.15 behold the Lord cometh to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him that is Christ when he cometh to judge the world Another thing here to be taken notice of is this that in verse 5. where the Lord Jehovah is called the Lord of the whole Earth it must be spoken of one and the same person for if they had been two different the copulative particle and had not been omitted after the words Psal 37.5 the hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord there should have been and at the presence of the Lord of the whole Earth the first words of the verse do sufficiently denote the Lord of the whole Earth to be the God of Israel Jehovah named just before at whose presence only and of none else the hills melted like wax hereunto answereth that place psal 11.7 tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob whereby the interpretation of this now in hand is confirmed and the God of Jacob is put instead of the Lord of the whole earth in both which places the repetition of the word Presence is very Emphatical which joyned with what I observed before and with the words the scope and the thing it self do all together fully shew here is but one person spoken of which is confirmed more and more because in what follows the Prophet speaks but of one as in the singular number vers 6.7 8. as thus the Heavens declare his righteousness and the people see his glory and worship him all ye Gods Also because of thy judgments whereby it appears 't is spoken of one and not of two but rather than to yield they will sooner give Christ whom otherwise they would rob of any thing he hath but his humane nature which they cannot do because they must have an Historical Faith or else may be they would and reduce him to nothing I say they chuse rather to give Christ that title and exclude God Jehovah from being the Lord of the whole earth than to own Christ to be Jehovah so what they do is not out of kindness they only give him that which they think the least to rob him of what they account to be the chief though indeed it be the same Again the words of verse 7. do farther confirm this Confounded be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of Idols therefore worship him all ye Gods For who is opposed to graven Images and Idols but he that is by nature the true God And who is religiously to be worshiped but the true God Jehovah And who but he who is the God of Gods is to be adored by all Gods vers 9. This is confirmed out of verse 9. Thou Lord art high above all the earth thou art exalted far above all Gods The first part contained a proper attribute of the true God namely the highest or most high God for saith David Psal 33.18 that men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all the earth Is not this the same as to be Lord over all the earth So that both to be Jehovah and Lord over all the earth are attributed only to one and if he be the only most high upon the earth none but he is Lord over all the earth The latter part of the verse doth afford a reason and a very good one why all Gods and Angels ought to worship him because he is for exalted above all Gods No less than six times he is in this Psalm called Jehovah which cannot well be denied to be the same with God of Israel One thing more I shall say as to this Psalm which with the foregoing and following contain an exhortation to all Creatures with and without life to sing and rejoyce before the Lord and why for he cometh he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth which none that hath any sence can deny to be a Prophesie of Christ's coming to judge the world which he speaks of himself When the Son of man shall come in his glory Matth. 25.31 and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory Then indeed in that divine and glorious State being attended and worshiped by all millions of Angels he shall reign fill with joy the hearts of his people and perform the other things contained in this Psalm He that is to do all this if we believe the Psalmist is the Lord Jehovah and the Lord Jesus Christ if we must give faith to the Apostle Now we must draw nearer to the words of the Apostle who is to be believed as well as the Prophet preferably to Socinians who being not able to deny it own that Angels ought to worship Christ One would think they at last would yield to the Truth and give glory to God Phil. 2.7 8 c. but no such thing for they say they may worship him as a man and not upon the consideration of any divinity in him only upon the account of his Humiliation and Obedience unto Death even the Death of the Cross upon which account he was highly exalted But pray whence doth arise the value and merit of that Humiliation and Obedience but from the divinity of the person which underwent it If he had been a meer man it had been no very great matter no more than what many more could have done A King 's only Son sacrifices himself for the safety of a whole Kingdom some among the ordinary people might have done the like but that which raiseth the merit of the thing is not his being a man for any man else therein is equal with him but 't is the Royal Blood running in the Veins of the young Prince which doth make the act so meritorious and so considerable so if I may continue a lame comparison so defectuous to represent what I have a mind the Blood which our Saviour shed upon the Cross doth not receive its unexpressible value for coming out of the Veins of a Man but because it is the blood of God wherewith he hath purchased his Church Acts 20.28 Neither was the Obedience yielded
by our Saviour belonging only to his Humane Nature which may be due and necessary from one in nature and quality inferiour to another but it was also an undue and meerly voluntary obedience which may be rendred by an Equal and some times by a Superiour as we read when Joshua said Josn 10.12 13. Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moon in the valey of Ajalon so the Sun stood he was obeyed but there is in it more than this the Sun of himself could not stand nor alter or stop his Course a Superiour power to do 't was required and indeed we find that in the beginning of the verse 't is said then spook Joshua unto the Lord in the day when c. Sun stand thou still so let it be spoken with that awful reverence and to an infinite Majesty in some kind we may see how in this case the Superiour was pleased to obey the Inferiour so we may say a sort of obedience may belong to Divine Nature as when God commanded the World should be created and it was performed by his Son of this nature is Christ's obedience as spoken of by the Apostle concerning Christ Phil. 2.6 7 8. who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God he humbled himself This was a voluntary obedience for he was not humbled but humbled himself he was not made but made himself of no reputation thus the obedience is valued according to the dignity of the person which obeyeth To be in the form of God is to be God for forma dat esse rei the form is the nature of the thing and makes it to be what it is But what this man granted before he is now willing to take away when he would have this worship not to be terminated in Christ but from him to pass unto God so this is but a relative worship Thus Papists say they worship images but they are mistaken for though God hath exalted him it doth not follow that Adoration should be only Transitory and not fixed So God hath exalted the Kings of the Earth but the Civil Worship or respect rendered unto the King is rendred unto a Man but not in the capacity of a Man but is terminated in him as he is a King so when Christ Man is adored he is not so under the notion of Man but as he is God of the same nature with the Father and that he is in the Father and the Father in him the Father may well be worshiped in him and he in the Father but making them as they do to be of different natures I see no cause why they may not be worshiped asunder one from another which yet doth but rend and divide the object of our worship with this new as they call it way of worship to adore God in a Man But they must say what they understand by him for both the Prophet and the Apostle make use of the word Is it one or a different person named by them if the same then Christ is the one God if not the same then the Apostle hath not well explained the Prophet If in the Psalm Christ be not spoken of but only the God of Israel of a nature altogether different then in the Epistle the words are made use of to no purpose for therein the design is to prove how Christ must be worshiped by all Angels Now he doth not answer his purpose when to prove one who is not the God Israel ought to be adored he brings a Text which commands the Angels to adore him only who is the God of Israel a great disparagement indeed not only to the Author of the Epistle but to the Spirit of God which directed him he saith in that worship exhibited unto Christ the Lord Jesus represents the person of God the Father how as an Actor upon the Stage doth represent a King After this rate Christ with all the worship given him would be without blasphemy let it be spoken but a Stage God If to reign doth signifie the Kingdom of Christ why shall not also the name Jehovah who reigneth belong to his person If he hath the thing why should he not have the name also Christs Kingdom is therein described Jehovah is the King why should not Christ be Jehovah which if he be it must be properly for Christ nor no one else was ever figuratively called Jehovah and the Kingdom of Christ under the name of God is described then if Christ be not God Jehovah then 't is Jehovah that indeed doth represent Christ so he must be the Type of Christ thus they unavoidably run into absurdities but in very deed Christ doth not act the part of the Father but his own He doth act the part of three persons upon the account of his three several offices of a Prophet of a Priest and of a King he therein exerciseth his own office and not that of the Father he doth what belongeth to him and not to others Joh. 17.10 and as all things the Father hath are his so the Kingdom Throne Scepter Power Majesty Ministry and Subjects are all his if he received the Kingdom from the Father he received it as only begotten Son and Heir of all things not as of anothers but as his own wherefore he doth not reign as a Servant or a Minister of the Farther so then when he reigneth he doth not represent the Father's person but his own not as his Vicar or Lieutenant but as God equal with him The first part of the verse Matth. 1.20 Luke 2.9 13. Matth. 28.2 5. and again when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world sheweth how at his first coming into the world he was worshiped and served by Angels for his Conception Birth and Resurrection were published by Angels and then it demonstrates there are two persons one that bringeth the other that is brought in the one is the Father the other the Son the first commanding the last to be adored for he saith not worship me but him There is an Emphasis in the word first begotten simply spoken to be understood of every Creature Col. 1.15 for 't is very just he should be worshiped by Angels as his Creatures and indeed in Scripture I cannot find any truth more clearly and fully proved than this is he was worshiped not only by Angels but also by Devils Mark 5.6 7. the Legion in the Body of the man possessed But as we proved the Lord Jesus ought to be worshiped by Angels so we now must shew he ought to be by men and the place is this That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father he that honoureth not the Son John 5.23 honoureth not the Father that sent him To understand the place well we must go up higher and take notice how from verse 17. to 23. our Saviour speaks of his equality with the Father as well understood by the
Essentially exclusively not to Son and Holy Ghost but to Idols and Creatures the word Father is here taken for God as 't is when said one God and Father of all and Abba-Father Ephes 4.6 Rom. 8.15 Also the Father of Spirits The words our Father are often taken for our God and Lord In those places the word Father is said relatively not to the Son Heb. 12.9 Matth. 10.21 29. Luke 30.32 John 14.13 Chap. 3.13 but to men whose Father God is The things in the Lord's Prayer asked and prayed for are asked of the Son as well as of the Father as the coming of his Kingdom the forgiveness of our Sins whence saith our Lord Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that I will do And the words which are in Heaven do belong to the Son as to the Father and the Holy Ghost too as appeareth out of Psal 139.7 8. and Matth. 3.16 Nay as we said before the Son is called the everlasting Father And if we consider the Etymology of the word which in the Original signifieth to preserve all things we shall find he is a Father indeed by whom all things are upheld and preserved which the Holy Spirit within us beareth witness unto when our heart laying under the sense of some trouble or mercy doth on a sudden by means of an Ejaculatory Prayer either in thoughts words or both poure it self before him begging for help or giving thanks breaking out upon occasion into these or the like expressions Lord Jesus have pity on me or Lord Jesus make me thankful Thus I through the grace of God have under those several heads brought in proofs for our blessed Lord and Saviour's divinity of many more which Scripture affords I shall take notice but of few wherein he is properly and truly called God which to assert is the main drift of the word as it is the foundation of the whole Gospel for it was absolutely necessary he should be God by nature or else any man might have preached taught prayed given good example and made intercession as well as Christ and if he came into the world and dyed only to teach us good doctrine and give us good example he had done for us no more than the Apostles and Martyrs who taught good doctrine and gave good example so might as well be called our Mediators and Saviours If this had as they say been the whole work of the Mediator our redemption had been no hard matter to be performed But I say that his threefold office of Mediatorship Prophecy Kingship and Priesthood demonstrate him to be true Essential God for none of the three could perfectly have been performed but by a God himself As to the Prophetical to enlighten the understanding and effectually to turn the heart as to the Regal to defend Believers against the Power of Satan and as to the Priestly to obtain forgiveness of Sins favour of God and glory none of these could be obtained but by him who is infinite as in Power so in Nature there is an infinite distance between God who is infinite and every finite Creature no proportion between Infinite and Finite Scripture owneth nothing but God to be higher than Angels now Christ is higher and above all Angels Besides that the necessity of satisfaction to be given to Divine Justice doth argue a necessity for Christ to be God for the satisfaction could not have been adequate as it ought to be except he was God and this divinity in him doth prove the plurality of persons in the God-head which is the whole of the difficulty alledged against the most holy Trinity Certainly the great design of the Apostles and others was to preach Christ to be truely and really God Son of God whereby their Ministry was exalted this was the foundation they were to build upon Acts 8.37 The Eunuch must make this Confession I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God before he could be baptized so did every one else being converted to the Faith this in our Religion is the first thing to be known and preached thus Paul after his Conversion Chap. 9.20 the first thing he did was to preach that Christ is the Son of God for that was the great question the Jews denyed him not to be Man Son of Man but he went about to convince them how also he was God Son of God and he was by Nature God as certainly as by nature he was Man Wherefore he would raise the thoughts of the Corinthians from the consideration of Christ's humanity to that of his Deity when he saith 2 Cor. 5.16 though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more after the flesh but according to the spirit not in the humane but in the divine nature according to which he is called by the glorious names of the holy one Act. 3.14 15. 1 Cor. 2.8 and the just the prince of life and the Lord of glory our Blessed Saviour who when he was in the world had so often declared himself to be the Son of God in a proper sense after his Ascension when he had a full possession of that glory as it were to confirm from Heaven what he had declared upon Earth in the Revelation he made to that disciple of his who doth so eminently bear witness of his divinity 1 Joh. 4.14 15. when he saith we have seen and do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world and whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God and not otherwise I say on that occasion the Lord Jesus from Heaven proclaims himself to be Son of God in the letter to the Angel of the Church in Thiatira with this glorious description Rev. 2.18 compared with chap. 1.14 15. These things saith the Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet like unto fine brass Tho his enemies would not hear him upon earth during the time of his humiliation when through his Passive Obedience he was about performing the first part of his Priestly Office to satisfie divine Justice and make expiation for our sins I think now they should when he speaks from Heaven whence he exercises his Royal Office I know well enough how what I say about his satisfying Divine Justice through his death doth not affect his enemies who deny he hath given satisfaction for us but what can his intercession on in Heaven which is the second part of his Priesthood be grounded upon but his own merits through his Sufferings and Death he thereby hath payed our Debts and by vertue of that payment he asks we should be released but that point I intend not to meddle with in this place In the New Testament the name Saviour is as proper to him as that of Christ as indeed that of Jesus the same with Saviour was given him by the Angel and
by †De Vnit Eccles Cyprian and also by Tertullian Ignatius c. This Text doth so well agree with that of the Evangelist to baptize all Nations in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which it doth allude unto that none may doubt but it was suggested by the same Spirit and the name word particular to St. John doth sufficiently witness how those lines together with the rest came out of his Pen Non unus sed unum saith one of the fore-quoted Fathers Not one Person sed unum c. one Nature not only the unity of Testimony as they are three distinct Witnesses not only the unity of Consent and Will but also of Nature as I and the Father are one Joh 10.30 which the Jews understood very well for thereupon they accused him of Blasphemy and took up Stones to have cast at him the reason they give for 't is this Because thou being a man V. 33. makest thy self God In few words we cannot be baptized in the name of Father Son and Holy Ghost except the names of these three equal in Authority Dignity and Essence be called upon on our behalf and as I observed before 't is unlawful to be baptized in the name of any man The Israelites were baptized by the Worâ—â— or Ministry or as the Syriack hath it in the Hand of Moses but not in his Name Before we leave off these Objections against the most adorable Trinity for the better understanding of the matter I shall speak some few words more for indeed the point is of so high a concernment and affords such a plenty and variety of Discourse that we can never say enough of what is to be known in the case Tho' as we said they be the same in Essence yet they differ first in personal Names as Father Son and Holy Ghost Secondly in their Order Father first as the Spring then Son thirdly Holy Ghost Thirdly In their manner of Operation the Father doth act of himself the Son from the Father and the Holy Ghost from both Gal. 4.4 John 14.26 15.26 so the Son is sent by the Father the Holy Ghost from both Father and Son but we never read the Father was sent So there is a difference in the outward Works for tho' they be common to the three Persons yet Creation is properly attributed to the Father Redemption to the Son and Sanctification to the Holy Ghost Thus these three Persons have every one their personal unity in number they are distinguish'd yet are but one God in number of Essential and natural unity wherefore in God are not three Beings three Infinites or three Things Yet they object the names of Trinity Personality and Essence were not heard of before the Apostles time nor the Doctrin of the Trinity I answer to the first that tho' the Names were not yet the Things were and Words are to signifie Things that there is one God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit as it appears out of the places quoted to prove the Divinity of the Son and Holy Ghost which here I need not to repeat and if the things be true why should Men dispute about words which do not in the least prejudice the Analogy of Faith on the contrary do explain and confirm it As to the Second I say that the Doctrin of the Trinity was mentioned of old as I proved it already out of several places of Scripture the Question is not about the Father but the Son concerning whom is the clear Testimony of Psal 2 whose coming as Jehovah and God of Israel for the Prophet speaks to Israel when he calls him your God was foretold Behold Isa 35 4 5. Mat. 11.4 5. Psal 51.10 11. your God will come with vengeance even God with a recompence he will come and save you which is applied unto Christ Of the Holy Ghost mention is made by David and in other places but that which under the Old Testament was under a Vail is clearly revealed under the New for the Persons are plainly named and their number expressed as in the places already made use of not only in the Baptism of our Saviour but in his Commission given his Apostles to baptize c. which as I shewed is unlawful to be done in any man's name As there is truth in Jesus so this is the truth of his Gospel which also hath in conformity thereunto been the sense of the general Orthodox Councils and of the Doctors of the Primitive Church however this must be said that tho' this Mystery of the holy Trinity be expressed in Scripture yet 't is such a one as exceedeth our understanding and capacity Again they say In most places of Scripture 't is said there is but one God and that this God is the Father of Jesus Christ I answer The Name God when properly spoken and of the true God is taken either essentially for Divine Nature or personalty for some of the Persons when taken in the first sense it doth not exclude but include the Persons only it is set down in opposition to Idols and false Gods which by Nature are not Gods the things absolutely spoken of the Oneness of God do not at all prejudice the Persons which are that onely God hence it is that not only the Father but also Son and Holy Ghost are called God In this Essential sense are taken the places they quote out of the Old and New Testament as for instance Mark 2.7 Luk. 5.21 that of Mark and of Luke which among others they make use of Who can forgive sins but God only The word God belongs to the Essence yet that power doth belong to the Son as to the Father for there Christ assumeth it to himself which same power is also attributed unto the Holy Ghost Receive ye the Holy Ghost John 20.21 22. whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them When the word God is to be understood personally then there is a note of distinction joyned to know what Person is spoken of whether Father Son or Holy Ghost What we say of the word God the same we affirm of the name Father which doth not always signifie the first Person but also the Nature and three Persons Thus when God is said to be Father of all and in the Lord's Prayer we call him Our Father when we cry Abba Father c. in all Texts of that nature Father Son and Holy Ghost are understood As to the Particle besides me sometimes used it excepts nothing within tho' every thing without the Deity or that hath not the Divine Nature But one of the Arguments which most of all they ground themselves upon is this Joh. 17.3 And this is eternal life to know thee the only true God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ They would have Christ to be excluded from being the only true God which they restrain only to the Father but herein they are much