Selected quad for the lemma: son_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
son_n	ghost_n	person_n	trinity_n	14,824	5	9.9681	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50429	The snare broken, or, The natural and eternal deity of the Son of God, as also of the Holy Ghost, asserted by a person, who having been formerly a a [sic] Socinian, and then an Arrian, came at length, by a free consideration of the Scriptures, to be fully convinc'd of the truth of the Catholick faith concerning the blessed Trinity.	Mayne, Zachary, 1631-1694.	1692 (1692)	Wing M1488; ESTC R19321	12,820	17

THE SNARE BROKEN OR THE NATVRAL and ETERNAL DEITY of the SON of GOD As also Of the HOLY GHOST ASSERTED By a Person who having been formerly a a SOCINIAN and then an ARRIAN came at length by a free Consideration of the SCRIPTURES to be fully convinc'd of the Truth of the Catholick Faith concerning the Blessed TRINITY Nihil tam Certum quam quod ex Dubio Certum Printed in the Year 1692. ADVERTISEMENT THis Treatise was written by the Author yet living about ten or twelve Years since and thus occasion'd to be published The Author being suspected for some former carriages to be a Socinian was questioned by several as being such And a Friend of his intimating so much to him he told his Friend That he could sufficiently disprove that Calumny by a Paper that had lain by him these ten Years which the same Friend desir'd to see and communicated to others for their Satisfaction one of whom that had been greatly prejudic'd against the Author upon sight of it earnestly desir'd of him in a pressing Letter that he would publish it for the common Good To whom he reply'd That if he would Print it the Author would give him the Copy with his Permission to publish it if he thought it might be of any Use To the Publisher of the following Treatise Sir I Truly congratulate that Event of Providence which has brought to your hands such a surprizing Vindication of the Truth in this Age of Infidelity and Apostacy You are oblig'd not to let it ly any longer hid and I think the Author is not to be excus'd by his Modesty for having suppress'd it so long There is a Restitution we all owe to injur'd Truth and I have alway esteem'd it the greatest Indication of a noble Mind not to be afraid or asham'd to declare where I have trod amiss and to warn others from falling into those pits which I had much ado to escape I am not a little sensible of some considerable Advantages that have been given to the Adversaries of the Holy Doctrine maintain'd in the following Treatise by the Unwariness or intemperance of some of its Vindicators who tho' no ordinary Masters of Sense and Learning have either by the impression of Orthodox Education or Heat of Temper or perhaps something else been insensibly prevail'd on to rush into the Battel before they have been fully acquainted with the strength or Measures of the adverse Party I shall always despair of seeing any considerable Conquests made by the depth of Metaphysical Speculations be they in themselves never so true or the toilsom labour of Ecclesiastical History be it never so incorrupted and impartial And I believe hardly any one will expect much good from either of these ways if he but considers the Humours of that Sect of Men we have to deal with what Volzogen has written against the one and Sandius perform'd in the other the small number of those whose Heads are cast into such a Mold as a Modern Metaphysician phrases it as to be able clearly to comprehend the former or who have 〈◊〉 long enough to be sufficient Judges of the latter and the frequent insuccessfulness of such Attempts that have been carried on in both these ways with such an ingenuity solidity and accuracy as is not easily to be found I do not at all doubt but that among the Anti-trinitarians as well Arrians as Socinians there are several who with great sincerity seek after the Truth Neither do I at all wonder that here are such who from the prevalency of Temper or Conversation are so far carried away by the Niceties of some Metaphysical Divines and the Uncertain Relations of some Church Historians as to throw away what they most earnestly search after It will be no easy task to remove these Obstacles by which as I am willing to judge some well-meaning Persons are perverted from the possession of the greatest and most noble Truths but I trust it will be no very hard one to engage such to follow their own Methods and leisurely to examine the Steps which the worthy Author once under the same Infidelity or Scruples with them has taken to find out the True Catholick Faith and to free himself from the Snare into which he was fall'n Erudito ac Pio Lectori S. TE Oro Obtestor Frater Charissime per JESV Nostri Viscera ut Christianismi Professionem per tot hominum Satanicorum dicta Factaque Antichristianissima vacillantem sustentare totis Viribus annitaris Veritatis Salutiferae ex oculis nostris auferendae ingruentibus undique Periculis Mecum semper Ingemiscas Vt usque Illi adhaerere possimus qui dicit Ego sum Via Veritas ac Vita Audiamus Illum etiam dicentem Attollite Jugum meum super vos Discite a Me quia Mitis sum Humilis Corde Ardentissimas Cogitationes Animum meum ingenti pondere quodammodo opprimentes juvat hoc Disticho aliquatenus Explicare Sola potest Submissa DEUM Mens Cernere CHRISTUM Odit Mens HUMILEM quaeque SUPERBA DEUM Opto te bene Valere atque Erudito hujus Tractatus Authori Dulcissimam tibi Veritatem propinanti maximas habere Gratias The Natural and Eternal Deity of the SON of GOD as also of the HOLY GHOST Asserted CHRISTIAN and therefore Courteous Reader I hold my self oblig'd in Conscience to make what amends God shall enable me to the Publick for the wrong that I have done but especially to endeavour to repair the Glory of God my Saviour and God the Holy Ghost as I shall be enabled which I fear I have by my ignorance and Rashness diminisht and for which I humbly implore the pardon and mercy of the Almighty I was formerly of the Socinian Perswasion and declar'd my self so for about two moneths near the Year 1651 by which I know I griev'd many good Persons that knew me and had charitable thoughts of me and I doubt I might make some to question the truth which they had believ'd tho' I hope not many for that I was neither busy in meddling with the Consciences of others neither was I of ability to manage an Argument with any great subtilty But after about two moneths that I had convers'd with the Socinians in London Mr. John Biddle being then alive observing many odd Notions that he had as particularly that of the Anthropomorphites I returned to Oxford and conversed and communicated with the Orthodox ever after Yet I confess I continued to doubt of those matters and was on and off in my thoughts about them for near twenty Years together Dr. Thomas Goodwin who was then President of our Colledge was satisfied that I should receive the Sacrament with him tho' he knew my Doubts because as he observed and it was true that I could never forego the Notion of Christ's Death as a proper Sacrifice whatever the Socinians offer'd to the contrary in their Glosses upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉

But as it is written Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have enter'd into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Well how came they to know this Recluse hidden Mysterious Wisdome which the very Chief of the World Princes and Philosophers did not know neither had enter'd into the Heart of Man to conceive Why Ver. 10. But God hath Revealed them to us by his Spirit Why how did the Spirit know Why the Spirit searcheth all things even the Deep things of God There are none of the Secrets of Eternity but the Spirit knows them intimately How so The Apostle hath not done with it yet but instanceth further and proves by a notable similitude Ver. 11. that the Spirit must needs know all that God knows and therefore I think must needs be God the words are these For what Man knoweth the things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man that is in him Even so the things of God knoweth no Man It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is poorly translated No Man it ought to have been translated as I humbly conceive No one neither Man not Spirit nor any Creature No one but the Spirit of God And if the Spirit of a Man be not Essentially One with a Man what is there One with him And now being but a Similitude it cannot be pressed to a Sameness as Nullum simile est idem Yet I must humbly conceive the simile could not have been made without Blasphemy had not the Spirit been of the Divine Essence For what Proportion can there be betwixt Infinite and Finite so that the Spirit or Holy Ghost should be to God as the Spirit of a Man is to him to know all his secrets to search into them and from his perfect intimate knowledge of all the secrets of God to be able to communicate them to us The Spirit is so one with the Father and the Son as that there is no Mystery hidden or that can be hidden from him Therefore he is God with the Father and the Son and as here it is spoken perhaps chiefly of his Intimacy with the Father who ordinarily sustains the name of God So in Joh. 16.15 16 17. is mention made of his Intimacy with the Son He shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you So here you see is the Counsel of the Trinity No wonder therefore where there is so great an Intimacy and Oneness if they often appear together the Father in a Voice and the Spirit in a Dove upon the Son no wonder if these be the Three that are said to bear Record in Heaven If Baptism be ordained to be celebrated in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and to give the last sweet and blessed Farewel to my proofs if the Apople conclude his Epistle to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 13.14 with this Valediction The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God the Father and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen I have now only this to add touching the Doctrine of the Trinity That tho' I believe this Essential Unity which I have mention'd and I hope prov'd yet that I suppose there is a great Respect to behad to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or difference of these Persons in the Trinity For as I humbly conceive they that are of the Orthodox Opinion as touching the Unity of the Three Persons in the Godhead are in great danger of Non-attendance to this Real Difference that there is between the several Persons and are ready to swallow up all the Difference and Distinction or Distinctness in the Unity and to think the Difference to lye only in a various and different Manifestation of the Being of God Whereas there are so plain different Attributes or Attributions of the Three Persons as if they were Three distinct Beings The Father is manifestly the Fons Trinitatis the Fountain of the Trinity The Son is united to our Nature so as the Father is not and the Spirit is not The Son died in our Nature so did not the Father nor the Spirit The Son was sent by the Father so was not the Father by either the Son or the Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost was sent by the Father in the Name of the Son Joh. 14.26 and sent by the Son himself Joh. 16.7 The Father is the Person on whom our Faith and Hope do ultimately terminate 1 Pet. 1.21 So it doth not on the Son or Holy Ghost The Father in the Work of Redemption sustains the Person of the Parties offended and yet giving his Son in order to the Reconciling the World to himself the Son the Person of Mediator the Spirit applies all that is done by the Father and the Son in Conviction Conversion Quickning Comforting Sealing and Intercession within us Rom. 8.26 27. I could instance in many more Particulars which ought to have a serious consideration especially the great Business of Intercession now in Heaven where the Son Ministers as a Kingly Priest at his Father's Right hand in the true Tabernacle which God hath pitched and not Man Is there not a great distinction here made betwixt the Father and the Son in sustaining two different Persons And what is consequent upon this Observation of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 methinks it should seem highly Rational to every Christian every one that owns the Mystery of the Trinity That as there are Three distinct Persons that All justly claim the Name and Title of God as they have the Essence so that they should All that is Each have their distinct Honour from him according to the several Discoveries that are made of them of their several distinct Habitudes and Relations to us and that it should not seem so absurd a Notion as I find it doth to some that we may have a distinct Communion with the Three Persons of the Trinity For if it be nothing else but to endeavour to Abear our selves with distinct Honourable Thoughts and Apprehensions towards them according to the several Attributions or Parts Assign'd to them and most really Assum'd by them for our Good and to do this with the greatest Reverence and Joy that we can conceive in our Minds what is this less than to have Communion with the Three Persons distinctly yet not exclusively to love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity to believe in him Ye believe in God that is in the Father believe also in me and by him we are to believe in God that is the Father that by him our Faith and Hope may be in God 1 Pet. 1.21 The words at large are these Who by him do believe in God that rais'd him up from the dead and gave him Glory that your Faith and Hope might be in God And as this is proper to be endeavour'd and done by us as one Part of Communion to wit that on our Part so we find Two of the Divine Persons promised to come to us together in case we do the Will of God Joh. 14.21 23. Jesus answer'd and said unto him If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him And do you think the Communion of the Holy Ghost shall be deny'd to that Person where the Father and the Son come and dwell And is not here Communion with the Three Persons and yet I desire all this may be understood modestly and humbly And indeed however it fare with the Notion of these things the Things themselves shall never be understood and experienc'd but by those that are Humble indeed Z.M. A.M. FINIS

shall be scattered This is applyed by our Saviour to himself in the very Evening of his Passion Matth. 26.31 Mark 14.27 Joh. 16.32 And we see it accomplished in these words My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Now by this Suffering Christ satisfied the Law and in that way did as it were Conquer it He PLACE = foot n = * I am apt to think that this Expression of Nailing it to his Cross may be chiefly intended of the Ceremonial Law because that which was Nailed to the Cross was Cancelled whereas that is not true concerning the Moral Law tho' it were left in a sense Dead that is as to the Power of Condemnation against Believers Nailed it to his Cross Col. 2.14 The Law brought Christ Jesus to his Death and Cross more effectually than the Jews and Romans and there our Saviour left the Law for Dead as it is expressed at large in an Elegant Allegory by the Apostle Paul Rom. 7. the first 6. Verses Know ye not Brethren for I speak to them that know the Law how that the Law hath dominion over a Man as long as he liveth For the Woman which hath an Husband is bound by the Law to her Husband so long as he liveth but if the Husband be dead she is free from the Law of her Husband So then if while her Husband liveth she be married to another Man she shall be called an Adulteress But if her Husband be dead she is free from that Law so that she is no Adulteress tho' she be married to another Man Wherefore my Brethren ye also are become Dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to Him that is raised from the Dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God For when we were in the Flesh the motions of Sin which were by the Law did work in our Members to bring forth fruit unto Death But now we are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we were held that is the Law that we should serve in newness of Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter Here you see the Law is Dead by the Body of Christ Crucified and thereby we are free to be married to another even to Him that is raised from the Dead nay who raised himself from the Dead For saith he I have power to lay down my Life and I have power to take it again Joh. 10.18 Now who can this be but God but the Natural Son of God For who could confront the Law of God without doing Affront unto it and leave it for dead by dying and yielding to it and not perish under it Or how could any other Nature give Value to his Suffering to make it a just Price of Redemption of the whole World but the Natural Son of God There are many other things and Expressions which have greatly affected and moved me to my present perswasion as that in Heb. 1.10 11 12. His making and destroying the World Our being commanded to Worship and Trust in Him as God even as we Honour the Father His Saying I and the Father are One His Answering Philip as he did when he desir'd him that he would shew them the Father Joh. 14.8 Jesus saith unto him Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father Which fully accords with that in Heb. 1.2 3. God hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds who being the Brightness of his Glory and the Express Image of his Person A Native and as it were a Domestical Expression of one that is a Son by Nature And then the Intimacies that our Saviour signifies that he had with his Father The Father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things that himself doth and he will shew him greater things then these that ye may marvel For as the Father raiseth up the Dead and quickeneth them even so the Son quickeneth whom he will Joh. 5.20 21. The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do for whatsoever things he doth these also doth the Son likewise Ver. 19. As the Father hath Life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have Life in himself Ver. 26. Which Expression I take to be Incommunicable to any Creature These things may suffice to have been spoken as the Grounds of my Belief concerning the Natural Deity of God the Son I come in the next place to give the Reasons for my Belief That the Holy Ghost is God of the fame Essence with the Father and the Son and not a meer Creature yea a Person and no meer Power And in this I shall be very Brief because the Evidences are not so many tho' they are as Effectual And here first It is plain that the Spirit of God by its Omnipotent Incubation did produce all the Variety of Creatures when it moved upon the face of the Waters Gen. 1.2 Again All Christians acknowledge that the Scriptures were written by Men Divinely Inspir'd they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inspir'd or Spirited and breath'd on by the Spirit of God and who can sanctifie the heart but he that knows the heart and who knows the heart but God The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it ' I the Lord Jer. 17.9 10. Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lye unto the Holy Ghost thou hast not ly'd unto Men but unto God Acts 5.3 4. All the Gifts given to the Church were given by the Spirit of God and that with an Authentick Authority 1 Cor. 12.11 All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every Man severally as He Will. And to demonstrate how the Spirit as a Person and a Divine Spirit assumeth his Authority as God see Acts 13.2 As they ministred to the Lord and fasted the Holy Ghost said Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the Work whereunto I have called them Can this be the Voice and Command of any True Spirit inseriour unto God But to conclude and to give in the last place the greatest Instance that affects me for that is my Design especially to declare with what Scriptures and Mediums I am chiefly induc'd to settle in the Orthodox Perswasion It is that in 1 Cor. 2.6 Howbeit we speak Wisdom among them that are Perfect yet not the Wisdom of this World nor of the Princes of this World that come to nought The Apostles had the Treasury of a Celestial Philosophy committed to them which they published and discoursed and made it their Business so to do It was indeed a Mysterious Wisdom Ver. 7. But we speak the Wisdom of God in a Mystery even the hidden Wisdom which God ordained before the World unto our Glory Ver. 8. Which none of the Princes of this World knew Ver. 9.