Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A67408
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A seventh letter, concerning the sacred Trinity occasioned by a second letter from W.J. / by John Wallis ...
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Wallis, John, 1616-1703.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing W604; ESTC R18000
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12,865
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24
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time in telling you what the Author means by mutual Consciousness nor how he applies it to the present case You know them both sufficiently But methinks this Vnitive Principle is defectively expressed by the word Consciousness For bare Consciousness without Consent is no more than bare Omnisciency As God is Conscious of all our Thoughts good or bad and of all the Devils thoughts without Vnion as without Consent If a good and bad Angel were made mutually Conscious of one anothers mind they would not thereupon become One being still of different Wills and Inclinations It may be the Author will say Consciousness involves Consent as he says Knowledge involves Power or is the same with it But besides that I cannot well reconcile the Author to himself in this point See P. 9. l. 3 4. compared with p. 72. I have given you Instances in a former Letter to the contrary To which you may add if you please this further consideration If Knowledge be the same thing with Power then actual Conception is the same thing with actual Execution And if so then You and I may sit quietly in our studies and with our Thought and Pen build Palaces and take Towns and Cities For we know the Methods of both and can distinctly conceive them and delineate them And as these are not the same thing in us so neither can we conceive them in all respects the same in God For from all Eternity God had a clear Idea of the frame of the World and of the manner of producing it therefore if Gods Conception or Knowledge had been the same with his Power the World had been produced from Eternity But to proceed Let us give this Principle its full strength Consciousness and Consent they would not together make a perfect Vnity of Operations in the Deity much less of Substance We noted before that Vnity and Vnion are different things And this is more apparent now when Three Spirits are to be united into One. For how that can be done without some sort of Composition is an unconceivable Mystery You may indeed conceive these Three Spirits singly and separately as simple Beings But if you conceive these three simple Beings united into One without Annihilation of any one that One must be a Compound Being according to our Conceptions Then as to Vnity of Operations Besides the Energies peculiar to the Father and the Son this Author allows p. 67. that every one of these three Minds notwithstanding their Vnion hath some Distinct Consciousness not common to the other Two therefore the Godhead which consists of these Three Minds cannot be One as a single Mind is One where there is an intire Community and Sameness of Consciousness in all Operations In my opinion if this Hypothesis were prest to speak out the plain language of it would be this There are Three Divine Substances three Holy Spirits infinitely Perfect and in truth and reality three Gods But for some Reasons not fit to be called so These three Beings by Similitude of Nature mutual Consciousness Consent Cooperation are under the greatest Vnion possible and in that state of Vnion do constitute the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Intire All comprehensive Godhead This I confess books something like a conceivable thing But the Christian Trinity does not use to be represented thus For this amounts to no more than a kind of Hypostatical Vnion of Three Divine Spirits Sir I will trouble you no further upon the first general Head The Distinction of the Persons I proceed now to consider the Equality of the Persons Which I will dispatch in a few Words The first Argument against their Equality may be this pag. 99. l. 29. c. The Father is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-existen◠self-originated whereas the other Two are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 existent and originated from another Now this cannot but make according to our Faculties not only some Difference but also some Inequality For 't is a fundamental Perfection to be self-originated and what is not so is not Equal to that which is so You will say possibly Though the Son and Holy-Ghost are produced of the Father yet 't is not in such a way as Creatures are produced That is by a voluntary External Act but This by an Internal Necessary and Emanative Act. We will allow your Distinction and admit that the Son and Holy-Ghost have a different Origin from that of common Creatures But this does not remove the Difficulty It shews indeed a great Difference and Inequality betwixt any of the Divine Persons and bare Creatures But it does not shew any Equality amongst the Divine Persons themselves 'T is true the Dependance which a Creature hath upon the Creator for its Being is of another kind and degree from that of the Son or Holy-Ghost But however they are Derivative Beings in some way or other and dependent upon the Father And we cannot but conceive some Inequality betwixt an Original and a Derivative a Dependent and Independent Being Secondly That Act whereby the Son is Generated by the Father is some Energy and Perfection Nay 't is an Energy of the Highest Perfection Because the Result of it is the most Perfect Being that can any way be produced or the Noblest and Greatest Product in Things Creation or that Energy that produceth a Creature hath not a Term or Effect so Noble or so Great as that Energy whereby the Son is generated And consequently it is not so great a Perfection to Create a World as to Generate the Divine Logos This being so there is you see not only Self-Origination in the Father which is not in the Son but also an Active Perfection of the highest Degree possible in the One which is not in the other And therefore we cannot in either respect conceive these two Beings equal Besides if you make them all three Equal and all Infinite they will be Co-ordinate I mean internally as to perfection of Nature For External Subordination as to Oeconomy signifies nothing in this case And are no more One than three Individuals of the same Species are One that is than Peter James and John are or may be One. And this I think was the Doctrine of the Tritheites or very near it Lastly You may please to reflect upon the various Sentiments and Expressions of the Ancients concerning the Dignity and Preheminence of the Fathers which you know are noted by Petavius de Trin. lib. 2. c. 2. l. 8. c. 9. § 15. and consider their Consistency or Inconsistency with perfect Equality Sir As I do not write this with any Disrespect to that Treatise which contains many Excellent things so neither to represent absolute Truth or Vntruth But the Difficulty of our conceiving things of an Infinite Nature From which Consideration I would willingly infer Two Conclusions First That we ought to keep close to Scripture in these Mysterious Doctrines Secondly That we should not impose Consequences humanely made with the same