the Glory and Majesty of the Son and Holy Spirit is equal to the Glory and Majesty of the Father or the Son and Holy Spirit are equally Glorious and Majestical with God the Father Therefore I ask Whether the Glory and Majesty with which the Son and Spirit are Glorious and Majestical be the same in Number that is the very same with which the Father is Glorious and Majestical or only the same for Kind and Degree If it be not the same in Number then the Godhead of the Father and of the Son is not as this Creed teaches all One and they are not one and the same God for two Infinite and Distinct Glories and Majesties make two Gods and three make three Gods as every one sees and to say true the Trinitarians themselves confess It remains therefore that they say the Glory and Majesty of the Son and Spirit is the same in Number and not for Kind and Degree only with that of the Father but then it follows that the Glory and Majesty of these Persons is neither Equal nor Coeternal Not Equal for 't is the same which Equals never are nor Coeternal for this also plainly intimates that they are Distinct for how Coeternal if not Distinct Do we say a thing is Coeternal or Contemporary with it self Therefore this Article also doth impugn and destroy it self Besides if the Glory and Majesty of the Three Persons be numerically the same then so are all their other Attributes from whence it follows that there is not any real Difference between the Three Persons and they are only three several Names of God which is the Heresie of the Sabellians In the next place this Creed teaches that The Father is Incomprehensible Uncreate Eternal Almighty the Son is Incomprehensible Uncreate Eternal Almighty the Holy Spirit is Incomprehensible Uncreate Eternal Almighty Also that each of these Persons by himself is God and Lord so that the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God yet there are not Three Gods or Lords nor Three Incomprehensibles nor Three All mighties nor Three Eternals or Uncreated Now if in imitation of this a Man should have a mind to say The Father is a Person the Son is a Person and the Holy Ghost is a Person yet not three Persons but one Person I would know why this were not as good Grammar and Arithmetick as when Athanasius says the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God yet not three Gods but one God or when He says the Father Uncreated the Son Uncreated and the Holy Ghost Uncreated yet not three vncreated but one Uncreated and so of the reft Doth not a Man contradict himself when the Term or Terms in his Negation are the same with those in his Affirmation If not then it may be true that the Father is a Person the Son is a Person the Holy Ghost is a Person yet there are not Three Persons but One Person For all the fault here is only this that in the last Clause the term Person is denied to belong to more than One when in the first it had been Affirmed of no fewer than Three For the same Reason it must be a Contradiction to say The Father is God the Son is God and the H. Ghost is God yet there are not three Gods but one God For the Term God is at last denied to belong to more than One though in the first Clause it was affirmed of Three Will they say that in these words there are not three Gods but one God the Term God is not Denied to belong to more than One or is not appropriated to One If so then there are not three Persons but one Person and again There are not three Men but one Man Then I say these Propositions do not Deny the Terms Person and Men to belong to more than One or appropriate them to One only which yet every Body confesses they do But here is a Numerical or Arithmetical as well as Grammatical Contradiction For in saying God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost yet not Three Gods but One God A Man first distinctly numbers Three Gods and then in summing them up bruitishly says not Three Gods but One God To these things it will perhaps be answered that when we say God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost or thus The Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God the Term God is used Essentially and therefore comprehends the whole Three Persons so that there is neither a Grammatical nor Arithmetical Contradiction But this Remedy is worse if possible than the Disease for it owns that there are Three Personal Gods though there is but one Essential God and that otherways the Propositions of which we are speaking would imply all the aforesaid Contradictions This Remedy I say is worse than the Disease for 1. Three Personal Gods and one Essential God make Four Gods if the Essential God be not the same with the Personal Gods and though He is the same with them yet since they are not the same with one another but distinct it follows that there are Three Gods that is Three Personal Gods 2. It introduces two sorts of True Gods Three Personal and one Essential But the Christian Religion knows and owns but one True and most High God of any sort And I would know of the Trinitarians whether they dare say in express words There are two sorts of True Gods For like as we are compelled by the Christian Verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be Lord and God c. By the Christian Verity I suppose is meant the Sacred Books which contain the Christian Religion that is the Books of the Old and New Testament But do these Books and do's this Verity compel us to the acknowledgment of three Persons each of which is by Himself Supream God and Lord and yet all of them together but one God Doth I say the Holy Scripture compel us to this contradictory Acknowledgment Is there any Text alledged from Scripture which all the Unitarians and some or other of the most Learned Trinitarians do not easily interpret in such sense that the Unity of God is preserved and no more than one Person even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ acknowledged to be God See the History of the Vnitarians But if there is no Text of Scripture but what is in the Opinion of some or other of their own Learned Men fairly capable of a sense contrary to the Faith deliver'd in this Creed then we are not compelled to acknowledg this Faith And the truth is the Contest between the Unitarians and Trinitarians is not as is commonly thought a Clash of Reason with Scripture but it layeth here Whether when the Holy Scriptures may be understood as teaching only one God or but One who is God which agrees with the rest of Scripture and with Natural
the Union is between two finite things but in the pretended Personal Vnion of God to Man and Man to God the Union is between Finite and Infinite which on the Principles of the Trinitarians is impossible For we must either suppose that Finite and Infinite are Commensurate that is equal which every one knows is false or that the Finite is united but to some part of the Infinite and is disjoyned from the rest which all Trinitarians deny and abhor You will say If they admit neither of these how do they shew the Possibility of the Incarnation or Union of God to Man They tell you God indeed is Infinite and every reasonable Soul and Body even that of Christ is Finite yet the whole God and whole Man are united because As the whole Eternity of God doth coexist to a moment of Time so the whole Immensity of God is in every Mathematical Point of Space The very Truth is they cannot otherways defend the Incarnation or Personal Vnion of an infinite God to a finite Man but withal it must be owned that then the Doctrins of the Trinity and Incarnation do infer imply and suppose all the Contradictions that Mr. Johnson has objected to the Doctrin of Transubstantiation in that little Golden Tract so deservedly esteemed by All. His whole Book and all his Demonstrations are founded on these two Suppositions that a longer time doth not all of it coexist to a shorter nor is a greater Extension constipated or contained in a less much less in a Mathematical Point Therefore all his Books and all that he hath so well said and argued in the Preface concerning the Authority and Judicature of Reason in Matters of Religion equally and effectually destroys the Ductrins of the Trinity and Transubstantiation If the Reader would have an excellent Book let him procure that But Oh! were the Press as free for the Unitarians as 't is for other Protestants how easily would they make it appear that the Follies and Contradictions so justly charged on the Transubstantiation are neither for Number Consequence nor Clearness any way comparable to those implied in the Athanasian Creed and that the Trinity hath the same and no other Foundation with the Transubstantiation so that we must of necessity admit both or neither If the Church is to interpret Scripture for us we must admit both but if Reason we can admit neither and this I think the Trinitarians will not deny But secondly In the pretended Incarnation or Union of God with Man the Union cannot be Personal as 't is between the Soul and Body it cannot I mean be such an Union as to make but one Person The Union of the Soul and Body may be properly Personal that is may constitute or make one Person because 't is not the Union of two Persons but only of one Person the Soul to a thing otherways without Life Reason Memory or Free-will The Body is but as it were the Garment of the Soul and is wholly acted by it and depending on it But in the pretended Union of God with a Man there are two distinct and very different Lives Memories Reasons and Free-Wills which utterly destroys a Personal Union for that supposes but one Life one Reason one Memory one Free-Will for if these things which constitute a Person are sound more than once there is no longer one Person but two and consequently no Personal Union in the sense of which we are speaking This is the Catholick Faith which except a Man believe faithfully he cannot be saved By believing Athanasius doth not mean bare believing but he includeth also therein Profession for He saith a little before The right Faith is that we Believe and Confess c. So that a Man cannot be saved unless he Believes and Professes as this Creed directs him First for Believing What if a Man cannot believe it Are we obliged under the Penalty of the loss of Salvation to believe it whether we can or no Doth God require of any Man an impossible Condition in order to Salvation Secondly As to professing under pain of Damnation What if it be against a Man's Conscience to profess it The Scripture saith Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin if therefore a Man profess against his Conscience He sins and if notwithstanding this a Man must either Profess or be Damned then God requires some Meâ— to sin in order to their Salvation but this we are sure is false and therefore that the Menace in the Artide is vain And now I appear to all Men that have any freedom of Judgment remaining Whether this Creed is fit to be retained in any Christian much less Protestant and reformed Church Since it subverts the Foundations not only of Christianity but of all Religion that is to say Reason and Revelation there being no Principle in Reason and Scripture more evident than that God is One or that there is one Almighty only-Wise and Good Person or Father of all If we cannot be sure of this then Religion and Christianity are built upon Fancy only and have no solid Foundation This Creed may be profess'd by the Roman Political Church because it gives countenance to their Absurd Transubstantiation and Cunning Traditions added to Scripture as those Doctrins do to the gaining of Veneration and consequently Dominion and Riches to their Clergy But in a eformed Church where the Scripture is held to be a Compleat Rule of Faith and Manners and also to be Clear and Plain in all things necessary to Salvation even to the meanest Understanding that reads it or hears it with Sobriety and Attention such a Confession of Faith is I think intolerable as being utterly inconsistent with those Principles and reducing us back to the Roman Bondage Besides Nothing has been or is more scandalous to Jews and Mahometans than his Creed the chief Article of whose Religion is that there is one only God The evidence of which Principle is such in nature as well as Scripture that it has propagated Mahomatism among greater Numbers than at this day own Christianity for the sake of that one Truth so many Nations have swallowed all the Errors and Follies of the Alchoran or Book of Mahomet as on the other Hand Christianity has been rejected and detested among them on the account of the Christians Three Persons who are severally and each of them God But the Mischiefs of this Creed do not stay here it is levelled not only against the True Faith but is destructive of that Love and Charity Which is the Spirit and Life of Christianity and without which Faith is but a Life-less Body For as if it would effectually inspire all its Believers with a Spirit of Judging Damning and Uncharitableness it pronounces the Sentence of Eternal Damnation in the Beginning Middle and Conclusion upon all that do not both Believe and Profess this Faith and keep it whole and undefiled that is upon the whole Greek Church and other Churches in the East and upon
at least Five Parts of Six of all that profess Christianity in the World whose Understanding cannot possibly reach to the Sense and Coherence which some pretend to find in this Creed Thus the Christian Religion is destroyed in both the Essential Parts of it Faith and Love Hence have proceeded many and endless Controversies bitter Animosities cruel Persecutions Wars among Christians and at length the more Fierce and Violent the more Deceitful and Sophistical Parts have attained their Tyrannical Domination over their Opposers and have Introduced and setled a Christianity shall I call it or a Superstition or a Polity quite contrary to the Doctrin and Practice of our Blessed Lord and of his Apostles An Answer to an Anonimous Pamphleteer c. A Paper fell lately into my hands which upon perusual I found to be and Invective against the Person of St. Athanasius and the Author of it a professed Enemy to those Mysteries contain'd in his Creed which he impugns and fearing left this should prove a stumbling-block to some of the Illiterate Vulgar to see the chief Mysteries of Christianity to be so openly attack'd by one who denies the Trinity the Incarnation of the Divine Word and the Divinity of Christ and yet asserts the Scriptures the Old and New Testament to be the Word of God I resolved to answer the Arguments of this Deift which I here undertake And because this Author hath involved himself in obscurity and confusion I shall endeavour by some previous Observations to clear the way to this Discourse in a Matter so difficult and nice and so remote from Sense by this means not to confound the Reader but to render the Discourse so clear and conspicuous as the Nature of these Sublime Mysteries are capable of where I shall wave those Indignities and Aspersions which this Author casts upon the Person of St. Athanasius leaving this to the Learned Historians and confine my self wholly to the Scope of such Dogmatical Principles as he endeavours to subvert My first Observation is the nature of the Mystery of the Sacred Trinity 1 Observation wherein all Orthodox Christians hold as an Article of Faith one only God and Three Divine Persons viz. the Father Son and Holy Ghost by a real Identity between the Divine Nature and the Personality of these Three Persons so that the Divinity or God-head is singular and indivisible but the Personalities are really distinct from each other and yet really identified with the Divine Essence so that all together make unum summum Ens as the Council of Lateran terms it A second Observation is 2 Observation that there are three manners of speaking in this Sacred Mystery which ought strictly to be observ'd 1. Some expressions are absolute as the God-head the Divine Essence or Divinity with its concomitant Attributes where no mention is made of the Divine Revelations nor of number II. There is another manner of speaking by notional terms as the Divines call them such are the Paternity the Filiation the Passion Spiration all in abstracto which are always to be understood with relation to each other and constitute number III. A third way of speaking is when such words are used as signifie the Divine Nature contracted with the Personalities or notional Predicates as the Father the Son the Holy Ghost where Relations and Number are to be admitted A third Observation is drawn from the two former 3 Observation That all the absolute Perfections which are in the Father are also in the Son and in the Holy Ghost not in equality for where there is equality there is also a relation between the perfections that are equal but the self same numerical and individual perfections which are absolute Predicates of the Divinity are in all and every one of the Persons per communicationem idiomatum The reason is because all the three Personalities are identifi'd with the Divine Nature which is the root of all the absolute Perfections of the Divinity so these absolute Perfections are also really identifi'd with all and every one of the Divine Persons according to that receiv'd Axiom of the Divines Omnia dedit Pater Filio praeter esse Patrem so that the Father gave the Son even the fecundity of active Spiration whatsoever the Greeks in vain object against it as I shall make it more largely appear in a Treatise of the Trinity which I intend shortly to put forth And so I proceed to answer the ill-grounded allegations of this Deist or Atheist against the Orthodox Doctrin of the Church His first attempt is against that saying of Athanasius Neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance for there is one Person of the Father another of the Son another of the Holy Ghost but the God-head of the Father and of the Son and Holy Ghost is all one On these words he thus passeth his Censure Plain as if a man should say Peter James and John being three Persons are one Man and one Man is these three distinct Persons Peter James and John A very Learned Observation he compares three distinct human Persons having three distinct human Natures with the three Divine Persons of the Sacred Trinity where the same individual Divine Nature is in all three this is singular that is numerical this is indivisible that is divisible this can constitute no more Gods but one that must constitute three distinct men The Reason is obvious because the denomination of God being a term absolute is taken from the Divine Nature so that if the Divine Nature be singular the God-head must also be singular As the denomination of Man is taken from the Human Nature so because the Human Nature is multiplied the denomination of Man must also be multiplied How obvious is this to any vulgar Capacity How little Reason had this Author to call this Doctrin of Athanasias and of the Church of God a ridiculous attempt a barbarous indignity a monstrous proposition He might more prudently have wav'd the discovery of his illiterate Genius herein Yet he goes on in the same strain of confounding the absolute Perfections of the Divine Essence with the notional Expressions of the Persons for on these Words of Athanasius Neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance he adds But how can we not confound the Persons that have but one numerical Substance And how can we not but divide the Substance which we find in three distinct divided Persons There is one Person of the Father another of the Son another of the Holy Ghost To which he subjoyns Then the Son is not the Father nor is the Father the Son nor the Holy Ghost either of them 'T is confest What then Why says he If the Father is not the Son and yet is the one true God then the Son is not the one true God because he is not the Father I deny this illation as false and nugatory on this present subject Now to the proof for how can the Son be the