three really distinct II. If the Case really be that God does indeed subsist in Three Persons then he can no more subsist in one only than he can cease to Subsist at all For then the Condition of the Divine Nature is such that it comports not with it to Subsist in fewer than three real Subsistences but if on the contrary it really doth Subsist in one only then the Nature is such as admits no more This therefore is a natural Question and touches the Reason of the Divine Nature III. But which of these two is really the Case cannot be concluded from our absolute certainty of the single Subsistence of every and all other things for they bring all dependent Substences and â—od Self Originte The Trine-subsistence which is repugnant and contradictious to the Nature of such dependent Beings may be the only way of Subsistence competible to a self original Being Now all the Arguments of the Opposers of the Trinity do plainly rest upon a supposed Parity or Identity of reason in this Case for they turning off their Eye from the Reason of the very thing it self which they were reasoning about and looking round the World to pick up reasons as they could spy them lying scatter'd up and down elsewhere imagin'd those reasons which they were certain suited exactly with the Subsistence of all other things could not but be fit measures of their Judgment about the Subsistence of the Deity in this Inquiry Now this way of Arguing being manifestly Fallacious they are plainly unreasonable in charging the Church's Faith with contradictions and absurdities IV. Since the single Subsistence of all dependant Substences is no valu'd Argument of the single Subsistence of the independant Being the onely Question in reason that remains is whether we knowing many things of God are thereby able to discover from the Conditions and Perfections of the Divine Nature it self that it subsists in three Persons or on the other hand in one only For if we can do neither of these we cannot at all use reason in this Question for then all reasonings about it are Sophistical But we must quit all pretence to reason from the Nature of things and follow wholly the reason of speech in the Scripture V. But whatever can be thus discover'd this is certain that the reason of the Divine Nature it self does not shew that one of the three Divine Persons if three there be is become Man in the Person of Jesus Christ tâ—erefore the Christian Tradition as such is a mystery and is wholly of Scripture Revelation which according to the Reason of Speech even by the Confession of the Adversaries does deliver the Doctrine of the Catholick Faith The Proceedings therefore which Christians have ever used in its defence have been exactly conform to the Quality of this Question for they never pretended to build their Belief of this Mystery upon the Reason of the Divine Nature or any other but on the Testimony of the Divine Word VI. As the Christian Faith of this Mystery is not built upon Natural Reason so it also appears that it cannot be impugned from any Reasons unless they be such as are deducible from the peculiar Conditions and Perfections of the Deity it self Now all these I shall endeavour to shew are so far from opposing the Christian Mystery that they Argue that the God-head according to the Reason of that Blessed Nature does Subsist in three Natural Persons so far therefore as Reason hath any Vote it gives it for the Church's Faith VII This would not have been needful to us Christians but that the importunity of the Anti-Trinitarians without Reason's suffrage will not be satisfied with the fulness of Scripture Evidence nor yield our Saviour his due Honour For though by Christ's appointment they are Devoted to the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost yet after this Vow they will make Inquiry as if they were still in a state of deliberation and were to consult ex integro whether they should stand to their Vow or not It being certainly much better joyfully to bear than resistively to cast off a Yoak of Christ's Imposing I confess I know no better Service could be done to these Men than to bring them back into the Bond of their Violated Covenant But I shall not undertake such an Office because I fore-see that I cannot on this Subject speak to them for the just Honour of our Blessed Lord and Master but they will take it for an Obloquy cast upon them For if I say and mean as I say that all Men are to honour the Son John 5. even as they honour the Father they presently feel I am rubbing on their sore place and I know the Opinion of a Party is a sore which brooks well enough to be clawed but will not indure to be rubbed VIII To spare them therefore and comply somewhat with my own Genius which little likes to deal with the extream touchiness of a darling Doctrine I shall apply my Self to this Work directly as a Service of Christ and his Church from whom I hope for better acceptance leaving them to their beloved liberty of taking what they like for their own use Being nevertheless perswaded that if whilst they refuse to captivate their understandings to the Obebedience of the Faith they have not at the same time enslaved them to the Tenents of Arius Socinus and such other confident but unwary Reâ—sâ—â—ers they will find whilst I laboured to serve the Interâ—â—s of the Heâ—venly Kingdom I have done and that not unawares what may be useful and even satisfactory to the more moderâ—te amongst them IX That I may make then this Discourse the more Serviceable I shall first shew that the reason of â—â—e Divine Nature it self doth sufficienâ—â—y 〈◊〉 the Being of one Gâ—d and three Persons Secondly That the Holy Scripture does Tâ—ach the very same Doctrine with the Nature of the thing Thirdly Because we Believe from the Gospel Institution that Jesus Christ is one of the Three Persons I shall give an Account how Congruous that Revelation is to what we infer from the Reason of the Divine Nature Lastly since Christ does enter our belief of the Trinity into the Stipulation made in our Covenant of Life and Peace with God I shall explain that its Faederal use and if upon the whole we find that the Reasons of the thing in its self and in its accord with the Scripture and in what befel it by Christ's Incarnation and in its Baptismal use do all concur to assure us of the Truth of the Blessed Trinity I hope it will no longer remain amongst us in the state of a Question but all sober men will agree in the Faith and Worship of one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity X. I am sensible that by my having ventured to blame other mens Reasonings I have imposed a Law upon my self which I shall think in the Rational Inquiry we sufficiently comply with if we transgress not
it hath a Substantial Subsistence that Nature is very properly begotten in such a Subsistence by that Conception 4. Wherefore since it hath appeared by the Natural Reason of the Supream Being that the first Person is the Deity in its Parental Subsistence and the second in the Filial Chap. 5.14 And the Scripture teaches the first Person is the Father and the second the Son we are hereby assured that the Scriptural and the Natural Account of the Trinity are the same in the general only Nature teaches the bare thing as in it self and the Scripture in its Religious state Having said this to justifie the main of the process I shall now proceed to Evince that the particular Characters of the three Persons are the very same in Scripture with those I have delivered from the Light of Nature But I must first advise the Reader that I am not now so much to prove the Trinity from Scripture which has been done abundantly by many others but to compare the Natural Doctrine with the Scripture and shew their accord in all the branches of each which I shall do a briefly as I can 5. Reason taught us that the Divine mind in its first Subsistence does Subsist Conceiving the Divine Nature Chap 4.10 Cap. 5.10 this is confirmed by the Holy Oracles of the Father to the Son Thou art my Son this Day have I begotten thee We learn from the Divine Nature that the first Person is really distinct from the second Chap. 5.9 10 and we learn from the Scripture also that besides the Son that bears witness of himself there is another even the Father that bears witness of him and these are the two distinct witnesses But yet the reason of the thing assures us that it is one and the same Divine Nature that Subsists in these two distinct and real Subsistences Chap. 5.12 And accordingly Divine Revelation teaches us I and my Father are one ◠one nature or one thing 6. Natural Light instructs us that the second Subsistence of the God head is a Substantial Subsistence Chap. 5.9 10. The Holy Scriptures conformably affirms That in him dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily that is Substantially The Son himself is Naturally God even God by himself and that by Nature Chap. 5.11 13. The Scripture attests the same styling him God even God blessed over all and warns us of the future appearance of the great God even our Saviour Jesus Christ That the Deity in its second Substantial Subsistence is the Son and that not by Adoptive Reputation but Real Generation appeared from the nature of the thing Chap. 5.14 and this is confirmed by the Testimony of Gods word which says This day have I begotten thee That the Son conceives his own Divine Nature is a Natural Document and likewise that this is neither more nor less than his own Essential Subsistence Chap. 5.15 Both these the Sacred Dialect teaches declaring that he Lives in him is Life And as the Father hath Life in himself so hath he given the Son to have Life in himself The Son begotten of the Father is one and Eternally the same as reason teaches Chap. 5.16 and the Religious institution stiles him therefore the only begotten of the Father The Son Conceives the Divine Nature but with a Conception that do's not Procreate another Subsistence of the Deity as was shewed Cap. 5.15 And accordingly as the Scripture teaches that there is but one which is therefore the only begotten of the Father so it teaches there is but one the same that is the only begoten Son of God confirming the Natural Doctrine that there is but one only Substantial Subsistence of the Divine Nature by any Conception of it whatsoever But yet nevertheless the Fathers Conception and the Sons Conception are equally creative of all other things as is taught Chap. 5.17 which the Scripture witnesses For the Father worketh hitherto and I work and whatsoever the Father doth the same the Son doth also All things are of the Father and by the Son all things were made that were made and without him was not any thing made that was made He laid the Foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of his hands and in him all things consist Thus we see in all points the Principles of Natural Truth and Instituted Religion do harmoniously accord But let us with the like brevity touch the other Scriptural Characters of the Son and observe how exactly they are conform to the natural condition of his Person for since the Essence of any Being as conceived is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Word of God The Word therefore the Deity subsisting in Conception is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and consequently this second Subsistence of the Divine Nature both according to the reason of its Nature and of the Religious Style will either be turned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Emphatically the WORD or else Explicitely the WORD OF GOD because Reason teaches that this is the Divine Nature in a Substantial Subsistence Cap. 5.10 This will be properly signified by affirming the Word it self to be God and that in it is Life all which St. John distinctly takes notice of 1 John 1.23 Telling us likewise Explicitly Rev. 19.15 That THE WORD OF GOD is his Name or the Character given him from the condition of his Person 2. TRUTH The reality of the Divine Nature Subsisting in the second Person consists in the Essential truth of the Divine minds Conception as was shewed Cap. 5.10 This person is therefore with peculiar respect to this condition of his Being to be called the TURTH as we read he is I am the TRVTH THY Word is TRUTH And St. John inculcates this so vehemently that it 's manifest he puts a special remark upon it that we might not omit to take particular notice of it 1 Joh. 5.20 We know that the Son of God is come and hath given unto us an understanding that we might know him that is TRUE and we are in him that is TRUE even in his Son Jesus Christ he is the TRUE GOD and Eternal Life 3. For the like cause this person will be styled the Light as he oft is that is the intellectual Light of a Conscious Life seeing his Subsistence is in the perspicacious Conception of the Divine Mind as the Nature of the thing teaches Cap. 5.10 4. And because what is perfectly conceived is thereby thoroughly understood and it is an infinite wisdom to understand all the perfections of the Divine Nature and their true excellencies for God is all in all Therefore this Wisdom conceiving is the personal Wisdom of the Father but then this Wisdom Subsisting Substantially by being conceived is the Son or it is Sapientia nata as St. Austine speaks distinguishingly after an Elaborate disquisition of this matter And as I have shewed the Reason if the Supream Spirit does teach this Cap. 5.10 11 12 13 14. so it is
Voluntary and in this way enough may be said with sufficient Evidence 2. The Agency of Intellectual Life is thinking now every one knows that he hath that thing in his mind which he is thinking of The thing therefore that is the Thought does thereby some way subsist in the Mind I know Men in their different moods are wont to make this Subsistence which things have in their Minds some times more and some times less than indeed it is For when they observe what is most certainly true that all their concerns in the World all their injoyment of their Riches all their Pain and Pleasure all their Misery and Felicity in Life are supported wholly by the strength of this very Subsistence which things have in their own minds they are apt to over-value it and to think this Subsistence must needs be very substantial that can sustain such a mighty weight as they believe those things to have On the other hand when their Eye is turned from their own interest and they compare this Subsistence with that which things have in the World they frequently too much deprecate and extenuate it but however they think of it this is certain that this Subsist Sence which things have in our Minds is not just nothing at all for were it so the Sun would be no more in my Mind when I am thinking of it than when I am not and when I think of the Sun and not of a Mountain I shall yet have a Mountain as much in my Mind as I have the Sun for if this Subsistence which we are now considering be none at all there could be no difference for nothing differs not from nothing But why should I Argue this when every Man hath the most certain of all demonstrations to prove it even his own inward Sense and Conscience so that if he contradicts it his Heart will give his Tongue the Lye Yet I must add as the Man is even so is his Strength the greater sufficiency any Mind hath the more compleat is this Subsistence of things by their being conceived in it and be the rate of it higher or lower it is all the Subsistence which the Mind can give to things and whatsoever it is it owes its being wholly to the Intellectual Energy of the Mind The Soul therefore by its Essential Perspicacity discerns this Existence of things and its opposite Non-existence so intimately that it admits of no doubt for whether or no the Sun be in the Heavens I cannot doubt whether it be in my Mind or not whilst I am thinking of it and therefore I can certainly know always whether things have this Subsistence or not 3. We are not to think that a matter so naturally and necessarily known to us all is to be taught us in the Scriptures unless upon the by where they are teaching us other more proper Documents and so we meet with it frequently as a thing supposed to be known already For example St. Paul tells us he hath the Philippians in his Heart therefore they had this Subsistence in his Mind and the Corinthians were in his Heart The Deciples reason many things in their Hearts Things come into the Mind of him that thinks evil Thoughts Serving Wood and Stone like Heathens came into the Jews Minds They set up Idols in their Hearts building God a Temple was in David's Mind and Heart Jerusalem comes into good Mens Minds I know the things says God that come into their Hearts detaining part of the money and denying it was the thing that Ananias and Saphira conceived in their Hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is no other Subsistence but this we speak of that St. Paul's boasting had it is this very substance or Subsistence which Faith gives to things hoped for And it is the same Subsistence the begininng of which we are to hold fast to the end This likewise yields the whole suppositum to all things merely supposed but this is over much proving were it not that importunate opposition may make something of importunity decent in the defence 4. Wherefore since the Divine Nature is intellectual Life Chap. 4.2 and the Natural Agency of such Life is thinking therefore in the Nature of the thing it is certain that God hath Thoughts Nehe. 5.19 Jer. 29.11 Psal 92.5 to which evidence of Reason the Scripture gives its attestation Think of me O my God for good I know the Thoughts that I have towards you Thoughts of Peace and not of Evil. Many are thy Thoughts to us ward c. 5. Because the Natural Agency of an Intellectual Life Chap. 4.2 gives a Subsistence to things in the Mind by conceiving them in the Thoughts Therefore according to the Reason of the Divine Nature the things thought of by God have by his thinking of them a Subsistence in the Divine Mind nad this their subsistence is proportionable to the sufficiency of the Divine Intellect accordingly the Scripture Teaches us that things are in God's Mind by his thinking of them Job 10.23 These things says Job has God laid up in his Mind 1 Sam. 2.35 Jer. 23.20 That which the Faithful Priest succeeding Eli's House did do was all according to what was in God's Mind and the Lord performeth the Thoughts of his Heart in a grievous Whirl-wind sent down upon the Wicked c. 6. But of the Subsistence which things have that is not by our conceiving them in our Minds we are to observe 1st That when we have no ascertaining Evidence that such or such a thing Subsists in the World yet the Essential Agency of Conscious Life perceiving the absolute immediate opposition betwixt Existence and Non-Existence assures us that one of these two is really the Case for though my sight may not certainly discern there are spots in the Face of the Sun yet without the help of my Eyes my Mind assures me there either are such spots or there are not And 2d When we have sufficient Notice of the Subsistence of such things in the World yet is it the Minds same radical Perception betwixt Existence and Non-existence which is its assurance that so they do indeed Subsist For example Cogito ergo sum hath been thought a first Principle in Physiological Inquiries and of prime evidence in it self But were it not for this prime intellectal Agency of the Mind discerning the difference betwixt Existence and Non-existence it would be perfectly indifferent to the Mind to conclude cogito ergo non sum or cogito ergo sum and this being so in every instance it is plain all our knowledge which we have of the Subsistence of things in the World depends on the force of this radical Energy of the Soul Now these two viz The opposition betwixt Existence and Non-Existence and the Subsistence of things in our Thoughts are so infallibly evident to us that the most extravagant imaginations of Phyrrhonisme it self could never touch or in the least affect them So
that in despite of all the Wickedness and Folly that can enter into Mortals God will have this Testimony for himself inviolably Sacred and fixed in their Hearts by the help whereof they may when they like to think soberly come to the knowledge of the Truth 7. When we perceive that things Subsist in the World we do not only perceive that such their subsistence does differ from Non-existence but likewise from that Subsistence which they have by being conceived in our Mind For we are assured that they Subsist in the World when they are not in our Thoughts as well as when they are and we can think of things that Subsist not at all in the World as well as of those that do Since then these two Subsistences do thus differ we may term the Subsistence which things have in the World their real Subsistence and that which they have in our Mind their notional Subsistence which is not therefore really no Subsistence of the thing at all but is not that real Subsistence whereby the thing is what it is in the World Our Conception therefore of things Subsistent in the World gives them another distinct Subsistence such as it is in our Minds But we must observe farther that because in this case it is the very thing and its Subsistence in the World that the Mind conceives therefore that thing and its Subsistence which is real in the World do both notionally subsist in one Conception I say the thing and its real Subsistence in the World do both subsist notionally in our Mind Here then are two distinct Subsistences of the same thing which do differ not only in number but in their condition or kind Hence it follows 8. Because matter and its qualities hath no power to conceive its own Subsistence therefore it can have in it self only one of these Subsistences which is the real When I actually conceive in my Mind the visible World or any part of it I perceive that it hath a Subsistence in Nature which is its real Subsistence and a second in the conception of my Mind which is its notional Subsistence so that the visible World and every piece of it hath only one real Subsistence but then the World and its real subsistence hath as many notitional subsistences as there are Souls actually thinking of it 9. When my Mind does actually form a Conception of its own being then does my Mind actually subsist in its self in two distinct subsistences the one real and the other notional but when my Mind does not actually conceive its own being as we know the Mind does not when it is wholly taken up with the Thoughts of other things it has for that time one one subsistence in it self the really but not the notional 10. Supposing then a Mind that without any diversion does always actually conceive its own real subsistence it is evident that such a Mind hath perpetually two subsistences in it self the first in order is its real subsistence and the second that in the Conception Now since we suppose the Supream Spirit is such a Mind as is not ignorant of its own real subsistence and hath no dorment Powers that it should ever be diverted from the actual conception of it self therefore this Mind subsists perpetually in two different subsistences God therefore the Supream Spirit does in himself subsist in no less than two distinct subsistences whereof the one is a real subsistence But whether the second be a real and substantial subsistence of the God-head or only notional I confess cannot be inferred barely from God's being of a mental Nature but on the contrary if he be a Mind of the very best of that sort of Minds whereof our Souls are or of any other besides the most High or if the Supereminency of the Supream Mind above all others be only its uninterrupted actual conception of its own being and of all others which it knows it might be demonstrated that there is but one real subsistence of the Deity We must therefore inquire wherein is the Supereminence of this most high Being that we may examine whether there be in it discernably such peculiar Characters as yield us a sufficient Evidence that it has naturally more real subsistences than one for if there be not the nature of the Deity will not evince this point of the Churches Faith But the Church is left wholly to its own proper province and to prove it by Scripture and that proof however will retain its own full strength tho' this natural Evidence should not be super-added CHAP. V. Of the Trinity 1. VVE have seen that no one can rationally deny that the Divine Nature being mental does subsist at least in two distinct subsistences the first whereof is real and for the condition of the second we are to consider the peculiar Characters of the Supream Spirit which we know to be such attributes as these An independent self-subsistence being as some call it self Originate self Sufficiency even All-sufficiency Omnipotence Omniscience Ubiquity Immutability Unity Eternity most perfect Truth Goodness Blessedness Holyness c. These may be proved both from the reason of the thing and Revelation to be perfections of the Divine Nature but I need not undertake here what hath been done by many others and is universally acknowledged 2. This being the condition of God the Supream Mind we are fully assured by the Omniscience c. of this Divine Mind 1st That whatever God does not conceive that really is nothing and we are no less assured by the absolute perfection of the Divine Truth c. 2d That whatever God does conceive not to be that hath no Being and is nothing And 3d. On the other hand whatever God does positively conceive to be that really is or doth subsist And 4th The independent All-sufficiency of God c. Assures us that without the concurrence or assistence of any other thing whatever this Divine Mind can positively conceive a thing to be And from hence we can Argue as from certain Principles 3. That since God can positively conceive a thing to be without the Presence or Antecedent Being of any other thing besides himself he can when there was nothing else besides himself conceive a World to be and if he does so then according to the reason of the Mental Divine Nature chap. 4. the World hath a subsistence in the Divine Mind by such a positive conception of it And because God never positively conceives a thing to be but it doth really subsist in it self therefore the World having a positive subsistence in the Divine Conception hath a real subsistence in it self 4. Now since the real subsistence of the World in it self was made and yet not made with hands but by the Agency of an Almighty Mind we must observe that this Almighty Mind causeth all things which it does cause in a way whereby the mental Agency does effect Now the mental Agency being conceptive and every positive Conception
substantially distinct the one from the other 11. By this account it likewise is plain that the conception whereby the Divine Nature subsists in its second subsistence is not a conception creative of the Divine Nature for a creative conception gives being to a substance that otherwise hath no real subsistence but the substance which hath its subsistence by this conception 〈◊〉 â— 6 hath otherwise a real subsistence I say therefore this conception is not creative but yet it is procreative or generative by which I mean it is such a conception whereby a substantial nature hath a second real subsistence which hath otherwise than by conception another real subsistence And this procreative or generative conception infinitely differs from the creative for the creative is indifferent because God may be Cap. 5.7 and yet may or may not create a World but this procreative conception of the Divine Mind is essential to its nature and therefore the second real subsistence which is by this procreative or generative conception is natural to the Being of the Deity as well as the first 12. The Divine Mind in its first subsistence does conceive the Divine Nature If this Divine Nature so conceived Cap. 4.10 be not the same the very same with the Divine Mind that doth conceive it then there is some defect in the truth of the Divine Conception God conceiving not his own very Nature but some other Nature instead of his own which is contradictious to the Attribute of the Divine Truth We have therefore the assurance of God's Essential Truth that it is the same the very same Divine Mind the very same Divine Nature subsisting in the first of these two real Subsistences not conceived and in the second conceived Therefore there is really and truly only one and the very same God subsisting in these two real Subsistences which are really distinct Subsistences 13. If the Divine Nature really subsisting be not God indeed then to be God and not to be God is all one which is a contradiction but if the Divine Nature really subsisting be God indeed then the Divine Nature really subsisting in the first real subsistence is God indeed and the Divine Nature really subsisting in the second real subsistence is God indeed so that each of the two is God indeed as well as both is God indeed 14. Now since the Divine Mind in its first subsistence does conceive the Divine Nature Câ—p. 4.10 Cap. 5.10 and that nature hath by such conception a second distinct subsistence therefore the first with respect to the second subsistence of the Divine Nature is the Parental subsistence of the Divine Nature and the second with respect to the first is the filial subsistence of the Divine Nature 15. It hath been shewed before that it is of the Essence of a mental nature to conceive wherefore since God in the filial subsistence Cap. 4. â— Cap. 5.14 is the divine mind substantially subsisting he does in this second subsistence conceive the divine nature But then the conception whereby the divine mind in its second subsistence does conceive the divine nature is not procreative I use the Latine Conceptus becâ—â—â—e one English word is too much debased in common use And the reason of this is heedfully to be observed for the very form of this second subsistence is Divinus Conceptus and therefore the divine mind in this subsistence conceiving imports no more than this its own formal subsistence of the divine nature and consequently by it there is no other real subsistence of the Deity but precisely its own for when a thought thinks a life lives a Conceptus conceives it is no more than barely a thought is or subsists a life is or a Conceptus is so that when the Divine Conceptus conceives its own nature this is neither more nor less than the Divine Conceptus does actually exist in its own Essential Subsistences therefore this Conception which the Divine Mind in this its second Subsistence hath of its own nature inferring no other Subsistence of the Deity but only its own is not a Procreative Conception 16. The Conception which the Divine Mind in its first Subsistence does conceive Cap. 4.10 Cap. 5.10 is procreative of another Subsistence of the Deity but then this Procreative Conception is one and eternally the same Now because the Conception which the Divine Mind in its second Subsistence hath Cap. 5.15 is not procreative therefore according to the reason of the Divine Nature the Deity hath no more than one and the same Subsistence by being conceived There is then but one Filial Subsistence of the Divine Nature and that is eternally the same 17. But yet the Divine Mind in its second Subsistence does conceive with a Conception creative of other things for though in this its second Subsistence its conceiving its own Being is precisely its own second Subsistence yet it is plain conceiving a World is not so Now because whatever is positively conceived by the Divine Mind hath a real Subsistence by its being so conceived Cap. 5.4 therefore the Divine Mind in its second Subsistence whenever it conceives any other Nature besides its own does conceive with a creative Conception which gives a substantial Subsistence to that other Nature conceived Therefore the Divine Mind in its first Subsistence only does by conception procreate another Subsistence of the Divine Nature but both in its first and second Subsistence it doth create the World Thus doth the condition of the Divine Nature discover that God the Creator doth subsist in no less than two real substantially distinct Subsistences For if we will not affirm God to be a Dependent Being or assert other things to be independent if we will not reduce him to the measures of a Creature nor deny him in truth to be the Creator we cannot deny but at least there are two real distinct Subsistences of the Deity but whether the Most High Being discovers it self to have a third comes now to be considered 18. In order to which we must remember that every Mind that is Spirit animus hath resentments Cap. 2.9 whereby it is pleased or displeased liketh or disliketh Cap. 3.12 and that no Mind could frame the World but a Mind indued with Spirit The Divine Mind as has been shewed is a Spirit Cap. 3.14 which is also certain from the Attributes of the Deity for if the Divine Mind was without resentments it would have no concern for its own or any other Being It would not indeed like evil but neither would it like good it would not be miserable but neither would it be blessed it would not be unholy but neither would it be holy as being a Nature wholly uncapable of such perfections But it is sure and confessed by all that goodness blessedness and holiness are essential to the Divine Nature which therefore has resentments and likes or dislikes is pleased or displeased Now these being in God
the resentments of a conscious life they are therefore voluntary Cap. 2.9 and consequently God wills or nills as he likes or dislikes These things being acknowledged and certain 19. I observe the natural good of every thing in its self is the preservation or improvement of its Being and that is naturally good to other things which contributes naturally to this good of them All benevolence therefore that is to say all willing of good does will the being or improvement of the thing to which it is benevolent Now it being infallibly certain that God does not dislike his own Divine Being for it is the very Spirit of the Devil to dislike his own Being and the Divine Being too and it also being certain that he is not indifferent towards it for that is repugnant to the Spirit of his Mind Cap. 2.9 therefore he does like the Being of his own Divine Nature and because he wills as he likes therefore he does certainly will the Being or Improvement of his own Divine Nature but because the Being of the Divine Nature is the Most High Being and it is contradictious to the whole Nature of all Beings Cap. 3. â— to be higher than the highest Being actually is it is therefore a contradiction for any Volition that wills Being to will the Improvement of the highest Being consequently that Divine Volition which wills the Being of his own Divine Nature is a complacential benevolence whereby precisely the Being of the Divine Nature it self is willed 20. Every Volition which really wills the Being of any thing if it be an absolute Volition without Reserve it does so will the Being of that thing that the thing does really subsist by being so willed if in case it be in the power of that will but if the thing willed does not subsist thereby then it is from some defect in the power of that will from whence such a Volition becomes a vain and empty wish But God's Volition of the Being of the Divine Nature is an almighty unreserved all-sufficient willing of it therefore through no defect of power is the Divine Volition a vain or empty wish and consequently the Being of the Divine Nature is and does subsist for Being so willed with such an almighty Volition for it is a contradiction for that not to be which is willed unreservedly by an omnipotent Mind even because it is willed and since it is the real Subsistence of the Divine Nature that is willed Cap. 5.19 therefore the Divine Nature has really such a Subsistence by being so willed even because it is so willed 21. Now because this Divine Volition doth statedly exert it self this Subsistence of the Divine Nature doth proceed statedly from such stated willing the Being of the Divine Nature therefore in this Subsistence is by procession 22. And as I remarked concerning the second Subsistence so I may proportionably of this Subsistence Cap. â— 1â— for it never proceeds forward to another Subsistence of the Divine Nature by Volition because all Subsistence of the Divine Nature by Volition is no other than this very Subsistence of the Deity 23. But though the Deity in this Subsistence never proceeds forward to another Subsistence by willing the Being of the Divine Nature yet that hinders not but the Divine Nature in this Subsistence may efficaciously will the Subsistence of that which is not the Divine Nature such is the World and consequently the Divine Nature in this Subsistence of it is no less creative of other things than in its two forementioned Subsistences 24. I say the other two for the first real Subsistence of the Divine Nature being its Subsistence in vital Agency conceiving and the second being its Subsistence by being conceived they are really two distinct Subsistences and this real Subsistence by procession being neither of them it is therefore really distinct 25. No Nature is willed but a Nature conceived in the Mind therefore the real Subsistence of the Divine Nature by conception according to the reason of the thing is in order before its Subsistence by Volition and because the Subsistence by conception is in order posterior to the real Subsistence of the Divine Mind conceiving the Divine Nature therefore the Divine Mind conceiving that is the Deity in its Parental Subsistence is the first in order and the Divine Mind conceived that is the Deity in its Filial Subsistence is the second and this its Subsistence by being willed is in order the third which because it is by Volition Cap. 2 â— is therefore the Deity in its Spiritual Subsistence 26. Yet it is no other Nature which really subsists in this third Subsistence but the same which subsists in the other two for as I shewed it is the same C p 5.19 the very same Divine Nature whose Subsistence is willed therefore only one and the same God substantially subsists in all these three distinct real Subsistences 27. If the Divine Nature really subsiâ—â—ing be not God then there is no God but if the Divine Nature really subsisting be God then the Divine Nature really subsisting in this third real Subsistence is God so every one of these Three is intirely the one God as well as all the Three intirely is the one God 28. To conclude therefore having learned from the things that are made and the Creation of the World that God is and is the Most High Being the Supream Spirit we are in consequence to acknowledge from the perfections of the Supream Spirit that he subsists in three really distinct substantial Subsistences But this consequence we shall not perceive unless our understandings have first cleared themselves from false apprehensions of the Spiritual Nature for if we only build upon our childish fancies and conceit a Spirit to be an extended substance but much purer than the thinnest Air or subtilest Aether and thinking it not yet rair enough refine it higher into a meer imaginary space or finding all places full of bodies that we may find room for it to exist in affix to it penetrability or some such arbitrary notion we shall as certainly conclude according to this process of Thoughts that the Supream Spirit hath but one real Subsistence as we are sure that matter hath no more But if laying aside such incoherent notions we ground our Thoughts of a Spirit upon what Nature it self God's Grace assisting does plainly teach us all we shall then be fully convinced that there is a Being which does conceive a difference betwixt Existence and Non-existence betwixt something and nothing which being so conceiving is a Mind or Spirit and that this Mind forming Conceptions of its own Being or of other things does thereby give them such a Subsistence in it self as is answerable to its conceptive Abilities of which also Nature gives us an absolute Assurance This will lead us directly to conclude that the Supream Spirit does indeed subsist in three really distinct Subsistence according to the reason of its most
blessed Perfections For God subsists in vital Agency conceiving his own Nature as God is really true he does also really subsist by being so conceived God absolutely wills the Being of his own Nature and as God is really holy he does also really subsist by being so willed He that denies this denies in Reason the Being of the Supream Spirit he that confesses it confesses Three real Subsistences of the Most High Being God says of himself I am that I am and conformably we may say he is Existence in a Subsistence and he is no less so in real Truth and he is no less so in real Holiness And when we have said this we may perceive we have said at once that he is the Supream Spirit and that he subsists in a Trinity of real Subsistences if we do but observe that there is no Truth but what subsists in a Mind the Truth of a notion in a notional Subsistence and the Truth of a thing in a real Subsistence and that there is no Holiness but what subsists in a Will If therefore we do not disbelieve God's real Truth and Holiness traducing thereby his great and terrible Name Jehovah we are in reason to confess the ever Blessed Trinity CHAP. VI. The Natural and Moral Consequenâ—â— 1. BEfore we proceed to the Scripture Evidence we may observe First some Natural Secondly some Moral Consequents reserving the Practical to the close of all In deducing the preceeding account of the Trinity I oft used the terms because and consequently which are to be understood as causal or consequential in arguing not in the reason of the Existence For we having in our Mind a prior Evidence of one Divine Perfection or Subsistence do thereby discern that this perfection or subsistence is of such a Condition that it does not subsist without another but in the Divine Nature or its Subsistences There is no Cause or Consequent there being nothing in God before or after either in causation or in time But we perceive the Divine Mind doth not substantially subsist conceiving the Divine Nature if the Divine Nature doth not also substantially subsist in conceptu And the Divine Nature being spiritual doth not in its two first subsistences will its own real subsistence if it does not also really and substantially subsist being willed by an Almighty volition By this whole process therefore we are to understand that the Divine Nature is such that according to its condition it does subsist in Trinity but the cause of its doing so is not assigned only the cause of our apprehending it From hence we see that the three real subsistences being natural in the Deity since the Deity is Eternal the Nature and all its three real subsistences are therefore coeternal As we would say whether matter be Temporary or Eternal its subsistence and its three dimensions are all Contemporary or Coeternal 2. By the like reason we see there are no more than three distinct real subsistences of the Deity For since the supream life light and benevolence or the supream life mind and will do compleat or are the intire spiritual nature there are neither fewer nor more subsistences than agree to the reason of such a nature And as that has appeared to be no less than three so we find no more belong to such a being About thirty years ago came forth a Pamphlet of the Origenian Doctrine which as I remember was to this effect The super-abundant fulness of Being in the Deity did represent it self in a second subsistence which though somewhat rebated in its perfections was yet nevertheless really Divine and so proceeded to a third which was inferiour to the second but yet truly Divine likewise and then the Divine faecundity being so far exhausted that there could be no more Beings truly Divine what was made afterwards was Created Celestial Spirits and the Souls of the World and then Matter a substance wholly passive and then what was not wholly substance such as material forms which some account evanid substances others moods and accidents of matter and so being quite effected it ceased But this should not have been given us as the Origenian nor yet as the Genuine Platonick Doctrine of the Trinity if we may believe the Factors of that Philosophy for that they say was nearer the truth if not the very truth whence soever its Heathen Author came by it But whether Plato receiv'd it from the Jews who in his time and before had their Synagogues for Worship in Greece or from others that learned it from them or from some Ancient Tradition or from the reason of the thing which I have shewed to be practicable we are no ways concerned to know But it is true this Scheme was consonant to the opinion of the later Platonists and from some such invented model of old the Arrian Heresie seems to have had its rise some few Texts of Scripture being pressed by force to serve the Hypothesis For this whole draught is meer presumption and arbitrary fiction which though it be laden with a thousand absurdities yet has no ground to support it but the pretty fancy of a gradation whereby they would avoid what they account the too great distance betwixt the Divine Nature and the Created But since God is infinitely Blessed over all there will be an infinite distance betwixt the perfections of his Nature and those of all Natures not infinite So that this is a Fabrick erected without any Foundation and would not answer the use it was designed for though it had been never so well supported Such finenesses may indeed serve to entertain the leisure of a Reader but every considerative Man frames the Counsels of his Life upon the solid Evidence of Nature and not on the concinnity of a pickquaint Wit And to speak a sad truth the licentiousness of Hypothesis-Makers hath done unspeakable mischief to the present Age that is of it self but too much addicted to the gaity of Romantick Conceits But for what concerns the Divine Being in this devised Scheme we may observe that it is plainly frivolous for should the reason why the prime spiritual Nature does subsist in no more than three representations be as he says it is because the faecundity of the Divine Being was exhausted so far that it could yield no more afterward with the like reason we are to affirm that God made Matter which is the prime Corporeal Nature to subsist only in three dimensions for this very Reason even because there was not stuff enough in it to replenish four dimensions or more But as we see well enough that the too great consumption of matter is not the reason why it subsists only in three dimensions but because the Corporeal Nature is perfectly compleat in these three and an extended substance is uncapable of more In like manner we learn that the Deity exists in no more than three subsistences not for lack of any suffiâ—iency for then he is not the Supream Being but because
confirmed in the Scripture where we read of a Wisdom Subsisting with God which was brought forth conceiv'd or begotten from Everlasting brought forth before the Depths the Hills or ever the Earth was and such the Second Person of the Deity in Reason is for ever for in him are hid all the treasures of Wisdom 5. This Second Person being Divinus Conceptus Chap. 10.15 is not the Image of the Divine Nature for he is the very Divine Nature Subsisting really in this Personal Subsistence and in him the first Subsistence does really Subsist but in the Reverse or Antitype as it were this Nature dictates Chap. 4.7 Chap. 6.8 Therefore though the Son be not the express Image of the Divine Nature yet he is according to the Reason of the thing and of the Holy Language as we find Heb. 1.3 the express Image of God the Father which being so critically expressed by that Divine and Accurate Author do's manifestly point out to us the very Account which from Nature I have offered of the Subsistence of the Second Person For indeed all these Scriptural Characters are so agreeable to the reason of the thing that they leave us no rational doubt in this matter 7. The third Subsistence of the Deity is by volition and volition is the agency of the Spirit of the Divine Mind this was proved by Reason ch 5.20 ch 6.11 and this is attested by the Scriptures as often as they style the Third Person the Spirit of God or emphatically the Spirit which is so frequently that I need not hint the places This Person proceeds and is not begotten as appears by the reason of the Divine Nature cap. 5.21 accordingly the Scripture no where says the Spirit is begotten but that it proceeds from the Father and is the Spirit of the Son and sent by the Son The Nature of the Deity taught there is one and but one substantial subsistence of the Godhead by procession ch 5.22 the Divine Oracles confirm this for there is one Body and one Spirit even one and the self same Spirit This Spirit creates according to the condition of its subsistence in Nature cap. 5.23 which we also learn Psal 33 6. where all the Host of Heaven and Earth are Created by this Divine Breath This Person is a real distinct subsistence by it self of the Divine Nature cap. 5.24 and the Scripture teaches he is not the Father being sent by the Father nor the Son being sent by the Son And whilst this Spirit like a Dove did alight upon Jesus at his Baptism the Father at the same time by an audible voice from Heaven did own him for his well-beloved Son and the Son declares that the Spirit is another from himself and as Nature ch 5.25 so the Scripture teaches he is the third in order by the Ordinance of Baptism in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost We learn from Nature that the Spirit is God ch 5.27 which is averr'd by the Scripture teaching us that lying to the Holy Ghost is lying to God and ascribing such perfections to this same Spirit as are incommunicable to any other Nature But let us proceed to the other Scriptural properties of this Spirit which we may observe to have a singular Congruousness with the natural Condition of this third Divine Person For since the third Person subsists by the Almighty Volition of the Divine Spirit c. 5.20 According to the Reason of the thing and of the Sacred Language it will exegetically be called the Power of the Most High and the Finger of God as it is Luke 1.35 c. 11.20 and because it subsists in the Divine Benevolence ch 5.19 with some peculiar attribution will this be styled the Good Spirit as Nehemiah 9.20 Thou gavest them thy Good Spirit Psal 143.10 Thy Spirit is Good and this Spirit of the Lord accordingly is directly opposed to the Evil Spirit and the prime Communication of this Spirit will be Love to all the World of Spirits because Moral Truth consists in the constancy of the Will c. 5.21 therefore this is the Spirit of Truth in the Moral sense as the Scripture often teaches which is an eminent vertue in a Witness or a Friend But above all we are to mark that according to the Nature and Reason of the thing this Person subsists in the Eternal Unchanged Holiness of the Divine good-will ch 6.5 because the Most Famous Character which the Scripture gives of this Person is that of the Holy Ghost So punctually doth the Testimony of the Scripture agree with the Doctrine of Nature 8. From the Natural Condition of the Three Persons the Consequents were that they are Coeternal Three in Number Coequal each intirely God inseparable self-subsistent and mutually inexistent and one Principle only In confirmation of all this the Scripture teaches the Father is God from Everlasting to Everlasting that the Son is set up from Everlasting whose goings forth are from Everlasting that he indures and his years have no end that the Spirit is the Eternal Spirit It likewise teaches us there are three but no more and in the same order as Nature doth the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And again the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost one of these Three accounts it no Robbery to be equal with another asserting all to be his which the other hath that he was with the other and in the beginning with the other that he is not alone but the other is with him yea one mutually inexistent in the other I in thee and thou in me and as the one hath life in himself so the other hath life in himself 9. Nature Scripture then we have seen do both teach each of these three Persons is God and yet notwithstanding Nature assures us that there is not therefore three but only one God as is taught ch 5.26 and the Scripture every where confirms this Natural Dictate assuring us that there is but one God Thou shalt have no other Gods but me I am and there is no God besides me There is but one Uncreated Self-sufficient Almighty Eternal Incomprehensible One Supream in Glorious Majesty according to the Evidence given by Reason ch 6.9 Now though the Scripture as has been shew'd does attribute the perfections of the Divine Nature to every one of these Persons as well as reason did yet no where doth it speak of more Eternals more Almighties more All-sufficients then one only And there being in Nature but one energy upon the Creatures abroad ch 6.10 the Scripture concurs herewith teaching there is but one Creatour one Saviour one Sanctifier one King one Law-giver one Judge one Lord one Adorable Being or Object of Religious Worship and one Majesty According to the voice of Nature Truth and Moral goodness have a substantial subsistence in God ch 6.11 12. this is asserted by the Scripture as often as it says God is Light or God is Love That the Spirit of God is free
Nature tells us ch 6.14 and the Scripture affirms it Psal 51.12 Establish me with thy free Spirit which Spirit is the Fountain of all liberty Natural and Moral for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty When the Scripture teaches that God swears by his own Life we are sure he therein doth no more than what he had a right to do and therefore he has his life in the disposal of his own will which he gages as he pleases and so all things stand in the infinite holiness of the most absolute free-will of God both by Natural and Supernatural Evidence 10. Lastly Nature teaches these three real distinct Subsistences are really Personal ch 7. and the Scripture owns it for Christ acknowledges the Holy Ghost hath Personal Rights but that he should not speak of himself but should take of that which was the Sons and shew it to the Disciples and presently thereupon informs us of the distinct Personal Rights of the Father and the Son all things that the Father hath are mine says the Son where we see though they all have right to the same things yet each hath his own distinct right here asserted according to that all thine are mine and mine are thine and therefore each of the three is a Person When St. Paul teaches that the Spirit does act dispose of and bestow things by the disposition of his own will this is what nothing but a Person can do nor can any other Person do so justly but the Owner or Lord of the things so disposed or bestowed I have thought for a Heathen Hierocles guess'd ingenuously that God did Create all the material substance of which the World was made or else he could not justly have framed the World because he would have medled with what was none of his own 11. Thus Nature by the reason of things and Scripture by the reason of speech do both teach the same Trinity in all Points the one by natural the other by instituted significancy Gods Works and Gods Word conspiring to assure us there is one God and three Persons For the Coincidence of the Rational and Scriptural account in all particulars I take to be the proper evidence of this truth because had the account been given upon an Hypothesis the coincidence of it with the Scripture had been only a proof of the good contrivance of its Maker but being all deduced from the very first Principles of Sense and Reason the Coincidence proves the truth of the thing it self and demonstrates there is no contrivance in it for where Nature leads there if no room left for invention but things must be taken as they are found in themselves The Arians begged a Days or a Minutes time for the making of their second and third God in this was a blunder in the device it self for a God cannot be made in less time than a Triangular Circle But I am not exposing their pretence in point of ingenuity but observing that when they say there are such made Gods without the evidence of Nature or Scripture this is Hypothesis and Fiction and therefore it will then be time enough to write serious Confutations of such imaginary Beings when it is become fashionable gravely to prove at large that Romances are not Histories 12. To the Divine Revelation of this Doctrine I might subjoyn the Authority of the Catholick Church whose Faith is delivered in our common Creeds and evince that these are perfectly conform to the Doctrine of the preceding Discourse but these being so well known I shall seem in the judgment of the intelligent Reader to write the same things over again out of meer formality Yet because the Adversaries do boast of their late attempts against the Athanasian Creed with such an insolence of glorying it is not amiss to remark particularly that there is no expression in all that Creed about the matter of the Trinity but what hath been above distinctly accounted for from Reason and Scripture what there concerns Christs Incarnation I shall consider afterwards I might also observe that the common Institusion of the Christian Schools giving an account of the Second Person from the Divine Wisdom and of the third from the Divine Love or Benevolence cannot be understood to differ from the main reason of what has here been taught So that besides the Divine Evidence Natural and Supernatural we have all that can be accounted Ecclesiastical Authority to confirm us in this Belief And as the Creeds and their Expositors so the form of Baptism in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost which is the very Text that all the Creeds themselves were purely designed to expound and is of Divine Appointment and irrefragable Authority does as a foederal Rite give further confirmation of the Truth of this Doctrine But being to give an account of the Mystery of the Trinity what concerns the nature of the Trinity in that Stipulation shall be there considered with its Covenant-use in the Christian State CHAP. IX The Adversaries Interpretations of the Scriptures IN the mean time having before shewed how the Unitarians have dealt with the Evidence of Reason I must here observe how they use that of Authority For having resolved all the General Councils and the Christian Doctors and Schools into the number of Adversaries they disclaim all Ecclesiastical Authority and assume to themselves the right of being their own Judges which Office so assumed in consequence they are to execute without a deference to the Judgment of the main body of Christians and if they be haughty with defiance to it Their demur to the Authority of the Christian Church being somewhat extraneous to the Merits of this Cause I need not examine Though Protestants indeed allow it not to be a proper jurisdiction yet all sober Christians must confess that it hath an argumentative force next to that which is Divine But since these Men had rather want so great a confirmation of their Faith then not to please themselves even to themselves be it the Rights of God and of his Church cannot be vacated by such Judges as Create their own Office 2. Though these men do not formally disown the Divine Authority of the Bible yet they treat all the Scripture proofs of the Trinity with great contempt and that they might seen to do so with less absurdity they take no notice of the great accession which that sacred Evidence acquires by the concurrence of so many circumstances in such a great number of Testimonies and variety of Expressions which adds a mighty force to what they would have if they were only to be considered asunder as we experience in all sorts of Evidence which is given us of the Existence of things And yet even against the single Texts they have nothing to alledge but some Evasions which are manifestly so far fetched that if charity did not bid us hope better they would tempt us to suspect instead of a serious Paraphrase
they designed to entertain us with a sort of Traversty transprosed the Text and their sense being confronted appear to speak of things so vastly distant Ex. Gr. St. John agreeably to other Scriptures and in exact accord with the reason of the Divine Nature as before explained John 1.2 tells us In the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the word was God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made The Gloss of those who pretend to the most rational interpretation of the Scripture in plain sense is to this purpose In the beginning That is as they expound Not in the beginning but in the days of Augustus Caesar Was the word That is not the word but a meer man whose name was Jesus and and not the word And the word was with God That is not in Heaven where God is but in Galilee in a retired privacy as if one should say God knows where And the wo d was God That is not God but one by false reputation so styled All things That is not all things but somethings Were made by him That is not made by him but disposed into another order by him And without him was not any thing made that was made that is every Substantial thing that was made was made without him but some respects of some things were not without him disposed otherwise than they had been before Thus they Surely this is to read us a Riddle or give us an Account of some Parabolical Projection and not to give us the exposition of a Doctrinal instruction for here every word shifts its signification to comport with a secret contrivance which the speaker had projected in his thoughts not to inform but to amuse the Hearers But after the adversaries have with such force and artifice set this Scene all the expression following for Ten or Twelve Verâ—â—s together lie so crosly that though they torture their wits they cannot wrest them to any tollerable compliance with their design and their Comments upon other Texts are much what of the like consistency But when the word as hath been proved does so properly signifie the Subsistence of the Deity in the Divine Conception and all the subsequent assertions about it in this Chapter are as Natural as could be chosen on a subject of so august solemnity it would tempt a friendly Monitor to ask these men what they see in such a ramble of fanciful extravagance that can please them better than the plain obvious and native sense of this portion of holy Scripture That a force is used upon the expression is as manifest as can be to every one that understands the Language but it appears not what could constrain these men to use it besides some reasonings about the thing in their own minds and then it is their own preconceived opinion and nothing else that necessitates them thus to dstort the Scriptures For I have shewed what is here said is most consonant to the Nature and reason of the thing in its self and to many express assertions in other Texts All their reasonings which have appeared against the Scripture language on this Head have no other foundation but a presumption that because they see all Created Beings must needs Subsist in one Subsistence alone therefore the Divine Nature cannot Subsist in any more Whereas it is manifest upon more wary thoughts that though all dependent Substances seeing there is but one Divine Energy Ad Extra can have but one and that a dependent Subsistence yet a Substance yielding to its self it s own Subsistence will yield it self so many distinct real Subsistences as the condition of that blessed Nature doth require and whether that be one or more cannot be concluded from the manner of the Subsistence of other things in the World without interpreting the Parable wherein the World do's present to us the Divine Nature how that is to be done I have briefly hinted above The face of the World which we behold bears in it the Prints of the makers hand by which we reasoning right from our outward and inward sensations may understand what a Being the Deity is but then we must remember in all our reckonings to allow for all Parabolical Projections in the delineation as not only we but the Antitrinitarians themselves do in all other questions of the Divine Nature but this they not allowing or not heeding in the question of the Trinity are in consequence forced to make all the Scriptures Parabolical which teach the several branches of the Doctrine of the Trinity as it is in Truth and this is the cause of their rending and tearing the words and the sense asunder The case of Christians in this point stands thus if we be not Naturalists skilful enough to resolve the Projection then however God has given us the Scripture as an intelligible declaration of what God would have us to believe concerning his own Divine Being Now nothing can be more absurd than to pretend to understand a Persons meaning by his sayings and yet at the same time to destroy the very reason of that speech making it insignificant of that which the expressions signifie to all that understand the Language But if we can interpret the Parable of Nature aright then we see the words of Truth in the Scripture interpret themselves for we see the Language of Scripture understood according to the Reason of Speech speaks the same that the Nature of the thing doth when we have made such an allowance for the different realities as Reason teaches us there is betwixt a Dependent and self Originate Substance CHAP. X. Of the Mystical Trinity 1. THings secret and abstruse which lie out of the way of common understanding are according to their subject matter usually termed Mysteries of Art or Nature of Trade or State of Iniquity or Religion These last being stiled by Christ the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 13.11 they are therefore such things as belong to the invisible State of Gods Kingdom Yet it is neither the abstruseness of the things nor their Religiousness nor yet their invisible state in the intellectual World that compleats the form of their Christian Mysteriousness For St. Paul teaching that God manifest in the Flesh is the Ground and Pillar of Truth and the confessedly great Mystery of Godliness we thereby learn that it is the relation to or dependence upon the words being made Flesh which now constitutes a Religious Mystery in the Christian State Accordingly Lactantius frequently denies that the Heathens understood the Mystery of the World though they knew the Natural Condition and Frame of the World I suppose no less than Christians I would further observe that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are mostly applied to such things as are appropriate to the use of propitiating and conciliating the favour of the Deity and so the Mysticalness of Religious things will properly
God in the three subsistences of the Divine Nature upon our Saviours Incarnation is become Mystical 11. Now it is this Mystical Trinity that the Gospel teaches Indeed whilst the Scriptures deliver the Doctrine of the Mystical Trinity they do as I have said insinuate the state of the natural Trinity but so they instruct us in almost all things in Nature whilst they teach us their relation to the Mystical and Sacerdotal state of the Divine Kingdom On the other hand we see the knowledge of the Natural Trinity which we learn from the perfections of the Divine Nature does so lead us to the Faith of the Mystical as to leave that Christian Mystery to be wholly of supernatural Revelation For the Mystery I say the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity rests wholly upon the ground and pillar of Truth which is confessed to be the great Mystery of Godliness God manifest in the flesh so that our Faith of this Mystery it is plain stands not in the Wisdom or Reasonings of Men but in the veracity of Gods word This is sufficient to justifie the distinction which I make betwixt the Mystical and Natural Trinity for this is but analogous with the reason of that difference which is betwixt Christian and Natural Vertue for though the Natural form of vertue may be understood by Natural Light yet the Christian form cannot which includes all the Vertuousness of the Natural and somewhat more which is likewise praise-worthy CAP. XI Of Christs Humanity 1. WE must confess if Christs humanity had been wholly Created anew by its being conceived one with the word it would then have been nothing of kin either with Man or with any other thing in the World Whereas we are assured he that is the word came into that World which had been made by him John 1.10 1 Joh. 4.17 and we are in this World even as he was in this World his Humane Nature was not therefore strictly Created but made of some substance preexistent in the World 2. Neither was his Manhood made out of any thing that is not of humane race for then he had had no more cognation with that Mankind that is in the World then with any other parts of this mundane System but we are taught Heb. 2.14 that because the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself took part of the same he has therefore a prime relation to us and as such Heb 3.11 he is not ashamed to call us his Brethren 3. If Christs Humane Nature then be made out of that one blood whereof are all the Nations of men he is the Son of man and is made so of God by Nature and therefore the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Heb. 10.5 as the Author of Nature produced this Manhood 4. But tho it be God that does produce this Human Nature yet if he do it by the sole powers of Natural Ordination according to the Laws establish'd before in the World for the Production of Mankind he will not thereby carry off any corrupt or inordinate sensuality which passes according to course in the natural constitution of things and tho we should suppose that the Personality of this individual Manhood is not subsistent because of the personal Union with the Divine Logos yet that of it self changes not this Human Nature in its dispositions and therefore this Nature would indeed be like ours in its Causes and Constitution but it would be too like us because it would not be undefiled Whereas we know this Nature was Holy and Harmless and Undefiled Heb. 7.26 1 Pet. 1.19 that it might be offered without spot to God as a Lamb without blemish and without spot It was not therefore solely produced by the powers of Nature 5. If the Manhood wherewith God is one be produced by the Powers of Nature so far as they will reach with rectitude and by Divine Power superadded to supply what is defective then this Manhood hath all that is really and essentially natural to us and so is related naturally to us and the supernatural Divine Operation takes away all the depravation of Nature Whereby it comes to pass that though he was in all things to be like unto us that he might have the feeling of our Infirmities and Temptations Heb. 2.17 Heb. 4.15 Heb. 7.27 28. yet he had no sin at all for our High-Priest can have no Infirmities or Sins of his own to offer for according to the fundamental constitution of the Divine Kingdom though Moses his Law allowed sinful Men to be Priests and to offer first for themselves and then for the People 6. Wherefore God in framing the humanity of Christ did continue the powers of Nature to work by their own stated Rules and without exalting them by a supernatural efficiency added thereto did produce an effect in the world which is beyond the force of Natural Powers Now all such effects as are produced by the force of Natural Powers and Divine energy added thereto are ever in Scripture peculiarly attributed to the Holy Ghost Gen. 1.4 Thus when the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters or liquid such effects followed as the powers of water are naturally uncapable of producing So both Jesus his and his Disciples miraculous operations upon the powers of Nature and all supernatural Graces are peculiarly ascribed to the Holy Ghost for all these diversities of Operations worketh one and the same Holy Spirit by the personal disposition of his own Will 1 Cor. 12.4 11. 7. This Manhood become one with the Son of God is peculiarly therefore the work of the Holy Ghost and because it was effected by the Holy Ghost coming upon a Woman and the power of the Most High overshadowing her and so was born of her Luk. 1.35 Mat. 1.20 therefore this is a Child conceived by the Holy Ghost and has that Woman for its Mother 8. It is also the Child of Adam Luk. 3.38 Gen. 3.20 Mat. 1. and of Eve the Mother of all Living and of Noah And if God had said that it should be by the descent of any particular Line as of Abraham Isaac Jacob Judah Jesse David it will be the Child of these Progenitours and such Predictions and Promises are Divine Characteristicks of the individual Person of Gods Son become Man both to the Ages preceding and following his Birth 9. The depravation of our Nature being removed not by the natural efficacy but supernatural efficiency of the Holy Ghost there will be no more reason to assert this Woman to have been her self born without all inordinate sensuality because she was the Mother of this Child than to affirm the same of all his Pro-parents in the direct Line up to Adam 10. But whether she is to be called the Mother of God is a question of names and strife of words for as much as there is a sense wherein she is and another wherein she is not therefore
he is nevertheless God for his being Man For it is plain such a one cannot deny the Divine Being of the Son but he must deny the Being of God the Father or deny any perfection to be in the Son but he must deny the same of the Father Therefore according to the reason of the Mystical Divine Kingdom and the Testimony of our Saviour This equal honouring of God the Father and the Son is the Moral and Religious form of all Christian Worship and Service Which proves that though the Doctrine of the Christian Trinity be speculative in the disquisition of it as even Justice and Temperance are yet it is such a speculation that without the attainment of that Faith in our Minds we can perform no Religious Duty truly Christian a Christian Life it self being nothing else but the Praxis upon the belief of the Kingdom of God as governed in the hand of Christ by the Mystical Trinity We are then to receive the institutions of Christ not as the Ordinances of a Moses a Mediatory Angel or a Vicegerent but as the Orders of a Lord in his own House Heb. 3.2 3 4. which is the whole Family of Heaven and Earth 5. Having pointed out the practical use of this Doctrine in general I need not descend to the particulars It s other uses are first the Political for the re-establishing the state of the Divine Kingdom by reconciling all things in Heaven and Earth so that the part that had made a revolt might upon satisfaction given be re-instated with the peace of God into the Blessed Society and all things in Heaven and Earth become one And 2dly the Spiritual for redintegration by physical or if you please supernatural efficiency quickning all things with such Divine Life as is requisite to the happiness of the Subjects of Gods Kingdom that are in his favour But I desire to be excused from medling with these because the Antitrinitarians generally now denying the Sacrifice of Christs death whereon the political force does depend and scarcely confessing the Resurrection of the Body which is the most conspicuous effect of the reâ—integrating vertue of the Divine Life in Christ I intend not to enter into any Dispute upâ—â— these Points yet if I might not displease them I would as a Frienâ— remind them that as I hope it does now competently appear 〈◊〉 their opposition against the Trinity is grounded upon a Metaphysâ—â— presumption of theirs wherein they take it for â—â—anted that thâ—â—â—pream Spirit must needs subsist only in one real Subsistence fo◠〈◊〉 Reason because it is impossible for Matter or any Created Spiriâ—â— have any more which now is found to be no reason at all 〈◊〉 doubt not but upon due examination they will find that their deâ—â— of Christ's Satisfaction is built upâ—â— a false System in Morality 〈◊〉 Politicks and their scruple about 〈◊〉 Resurrection upon an arbiâ—â—â—â—â— and insufficient Hypothesis in Physicks 6. But whatever they do since we have found that the Reason 〈◊〉 Nature of the Thing and the Testimony of the Scripture the Myâ—â—â—ry in the Incarnation of the Son of God God manifest in the Flâ—â—â— and the Obligation of our Vow in Baptism do all concur to conâ—â—â— us in the belief of the Blessed Trinity let us who have attaineâ— the acknowledgment of the Truth as it is in Jesus be sure to hold 〈◊〉 Mystery of the Faith in a pure Conscience and then we shall both â—â—ceive the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the Love of God and Communion of the Holy Ghost and likewise give Glory to God Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost Three Persons God Holy Blessed and Eternal For his is the Kingdom Power and the Glory for Ever and Ever Amen FINIS