whole Scripture as not grant unto him a preexistence in a divine nature antecedent to his Incarnation they framed a new Deity which God should make before the world in all things like to himself but not the same with him in Essence and substance but to be so like him that by the writings of some of them ye can scarce know one from the other and that this was the Son of God also who was afterwards Incarnate Others in the mean time had more monstrous imaginations some that he was an Angel some that he was the Sun some that he was the Soul of the World some the light within men Departing from their proper rest so have they hovered about and so have they continued to do until this day In the same manner it is come to pass with them who have denyed the Deity of the Holy Ghost They could never find where to stand or abide but one hath cryed up one thing another another At first they observed that such things were every where ascribed unto him in the Scripture as uncontroulably evidenced him to be an intelligent voluntary Agent This they found so plain and evident that they could not deny but that he was a person or an intelligent subsistence Wherefore seeing they were resolved not to assent unto the Revelation of his being God they made him a created spirit chief and above all others But still whatever else he were he was only a Creature And this course some of late also have steered The Socinians on the other hand observing that such things are assigned and ascribed unto him as that if they acknowledge him to be a person or a substance they must upon necessity admit him to be God though they seemed not at first at all agreed what to think or say concerning him positively yet they all coneurred peremptorily in denying his personality Hereon some of them said he was the Gospel which others of them have confuted some that he was Christ. Neither could they agree whether there was one Holy Ghost or more whether the spirit of God and the Good spirit of God and the holy spirit be the same or no. In general now they conclude that he is vis Dei or virtus Dei or efficacia Dei no substance but a quality that may be considered either as being in God and then they say it is the spirit of God or as sanctifying and conforming men unto God and then they say it is the Holy Ghost Whether these things do answer the Revelation made in the Scripture concerning the Eternal Spirit of God will be immediately manifested Our Quakers who have for a long season hovered up and down like a swarm of flies with a confused noise and humming begin now to settle in the opinions lately by them declared for But what their thoughts will fall into be concerning the Holy Ghost when they shall be contented to speak Intelligibly and according to the usage of other men or the pattern of Scripture the great rule of speaking or treating about spiritual things I know not and am uncertain whether they do so themselves or no. Whether he may be the light within them or an infallible afflatus is uncertain In the mean time what is revealed unto us in the Scripture to be believed concerning the Holy Ghost his Deity and personality may be seen in the ensuing testimonies The summ of this Revelation is that the Holy Spirit is an eternally divine existing substance the Author of Divine operations and the Object of Divine and Religious Worship that is over all God Blessed for ever as the ensuing testimonies evince Gen 1. 2. The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters Psalm 33. 6. By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the Spirit of his mouth Job 26. 13. By his Spirit he hath garnished the Heavens Job 33. 4. The Spirit of God hath made me Psalm 104. 30. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are Created Mat. 28. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Acts 1. 16. That Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake Acts 5. 3. Peter said to Ananias why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye to the Holy Ghost Vers. 4. Thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God Acts 28. 25 26. Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the Prophet unto our Fathers saying go unto this people and say 1 Cor. 3. 16. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 12. 11. All these worketh that one and self-same spirit dividing to every man as he will 2. 6. And there are deversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all 2 Cor. 13. 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Acts 20. 28. Take heed to the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers Matth. 12. 31. All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men Psal. 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit John 14. 26. But the Comforteâ— which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things Luke 12. 12. The Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say Acts 13. 3. And 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 Vers. 4. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed into c. 2 Pet. 1. 21. For the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of men but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost It is evident upon the first consideration that there is not any thing which we believe concerning the Holy Ghost but that it is plainly revealed and declared in these testimonies He is directly affirmed to be and is called God Acts 5. 3 4. Which the Socinians will not say is by vertue of an Exaltation unto an Office or Authority as they say of the Son That he is an intelligent voluntary Divine Agent he knoweth he worketh as he will which things if in their frequent repetition they are not sufficient to evince an intelligent Agent a personal subsistence that hath Being Life and Will we must confess that the Scripture was written on purpose to lead us into mistakes and misapprehensions of what we are under penalty of eternal ruine rightly to apprehend and believe It declareth also that he is the Author and Worker of all sorts of Divine Operations requiring Immensity Omnipotency Omnisciency and all other Divine Excellencies unto their working and effecting Moreover it is revealed that he is peculiarly to be believed
said to do in the foregoing testimonies I say therefore unto this part of our Cause as unto the other that unless we will cast off all Reverence of God and in a king of Atheism which as I suppose the prevailing wickedness of this Age hath not yet arrived unto say that the Scriptures were written on purpose to deceive us and to lead us into mistakes about and misapprehensions of what it proposeth unto us we must acknowledge the Holy Ghost to be a substance a person God yet distinct from the Father and the Son For to tell us that he will come unto us that he will be our Comforter that he will teach us lead us guide us that he spake of old in and by the Prophets that they were moved by him acted by him that he searcheth the deep things of God works as he will that he appointeth to himself Ministers in the Church In a word to declare in places innumerable what he hath done what he doth what he will do what he sayes and speaks how he acts and proceeds what his will is and to warn us that we grieve him not sin not against him with things innumerable of the like nature and all this while to oblige us to believe that he is not a person an helper a comforter a searcher a willer but a quality in some especial operations of God or his power and vertue in them were to distract men not to instruct them and leave them no certain conclusion but this that there is nothing certain in the whole Book of God And of no other tendency are these and the like imaginations of our Adversaries in this matter But let us briefly consider what is objected in general unto the truth we have confirmed First They say the Holy Spirit is said to be given to be sent to be bestowed on men and to be promised unto them and therefore it cannot be that he should be God for how can any of these things be spoken of God I answer As these Expressions do not prove him to be God nor did ever any produce them to that purpose yet they undeniably prove him to be a person or an intellingent voluntary Agent concerning whom they are spoken and affirmed For how can the power of God or a quality as they speak be said to be sent to be given to be bestowed on men so that these very Expressions are destructive to their imaginations Secondly He who is God equal in nature and being with the Father may be promised sent and given with respect unto the holy dispensation and condescension wherein he hath undertaken the Office of being our Comforter and Sanctifier Thirdly The communications distributions impartings divisions of the spirit which they mention as they respect the Object of them Or those on whom they were or are bestowed denote only works gifts operations and effects of the spirit the rule whereof is expressed 1 Cor. 12. 7. He workeeth them in whom he will and as he will And whether these and the like exceptions taken from Actings and operations which are plainly interpreted and explained in sundry places of Scripture and evidently enough in the particular places where they are used are sufficient to impeach the truth of the Revelation before declared all who have a due reverence of God his word and truths will easily understand and discern These things being declared in the Scripture concerning the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost it is moreover Revealed and these three are one that is one God joyntly to be worshipped feared adored believed in and obeyed in order unto eternal life For although this doth absolutely and necessarily follow from what is declared and hath been spoken concerning the one God or onenesâ— of the Derty yet for the confirmation of our faith and that we may not by the distinct consideration of the three be taken off from the one it is particularly declared that these three are one that one the one and same God But whereas as was said before this can no otherwise be the testimonies given thereunto are not so frequently multiplyed as they are unto those other heads of this truth which through the craft of Satan and the pride of men might be more lyable to exceptions But yet they are clear full and distinctly sufficient for faith to acquiesce in immediately without any other expositions interpretations or arguments beyond our understanding of the naked importance of the words Such are they of the Father the Son John 10. 30. I and my Father are one Father Son and Spirit Joh. 5. 7. three that bare witness in Heaven Father Son and Spirit and these three are one Mat. 28. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Spirit For if those into whose name we are Baptized be not one in nature we are by our Baptism engaged into the Service and Worship of more Gods than one For as being Baptized or sacredly initiated into or in the name of any one doth Sacramentally bind us unto a holy and Religious obedience unto him and in all things to the avowing of him as the God whose we are and whom we serve as here we are in the Name of the Father Son and Spirit so if they are not one God the Blasphemous consequence before mentioned must unavoidably be admitted which it also doth upon the Socinian principle who whilest of all others they seem to contend most for one God are indeed direct polutheists by owning others with Religious respect due to God alone which are not so Once more it is revealed also that these three are distinct among themselves by certain peculiar Relative properties if I may yet use these terms So that they are distinct living divine intelligent voluntary principles of operation or working and that in and by internal acts one towards another and in acts that outwardly respect the Creation and the several parts of it Now this distinction originally lyeth in this that the Father begetteth the Son and the Son is begotten of the Father and the Holy Spirit proceedeth from both of them The manner of these things so far as they may be expressed unto our Edification shall afterwards be spoken to At present it sufficeth for the satisfaction and confirmation of our faith that the distinctions named are clearly revealed in the Scripture and are proposed to be its proper object in this matter Psalm 2. 7. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Matth. 16. 16. Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Joh. 1. 14. We saw his Glory the glory of the only begotten of the Father Ver. 18. No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath revealed him John 5. 26. For as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself 1 Joh. 5. 20. The Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding Joh. 14. 26.
things consist 1 Tim. 3. 16. Without Controversie great is the Mysterie of godliness God was manifested in the flesh Tit. 2. 13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us Hebrewes the first throughout Chap. 3. 4. For every house is builded by some man but he that built all things is God 1 Pet. 1. 11. Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie Chap. 3. 18 19. But Christ also hath once suffered for sinners being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the Spirit by which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah 1 John 3. 16. Hereby we perceive the Love of God because he laid down his life for us Chap. 5. 20. And we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ this is the true God and Eternal life Rev. 1. 8. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty Ver. 11. I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last and what thou seest write in a Book and I turned to see the voice that spake with me and being turned I saw seven Golden Candlesticks and in the midst of the seven Candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man Ver. 17. And when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead and he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me fear not I am the First and the Last Chap. 2. 23. I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts and will give unto every one of you according to your works These are some of the places wherein the truth under consideration is revealed and declared some of the Divine Testimonies whereby it is confirmed and established which I have not at present enquired after but suddenly repeated as they came to mind Many more of the like nuture and importance may be added unto them and shall be so as occasion doth require Let now any one who owns the Scripture to be the Word of God to contain an infallible Revelation of the things proposed in it to be believed and who hath any conscience exercised towards God for the receiving and submitting unto what he declares and reveals take a view of these Testimonies and consider whether they do not sufficiently propose this Object of our faith Shall a few poor trifling Sophisms whose terms are scarcely understood by the most that amongst us make use of them according as they have found them framed by others be thought meet to be set up in opposition unto these multiplyed Testimonies of the Holy Ghost and to cast the Truth confirmed by them down from its credit and reputation in the consciences of men For my part I do not see in any thing but that the Testimonies given to the Godhead of Christ the Eternal Son of God are every way as clear and unquestionable as those are which testifie to the Being of God or that there is any God at all Were men acquainted with the Scriptures as they ought to be and as the most considering the means and advantages they have had might have been did they ponder and believe on what they 〈◊〉 or had any tenderness in their consciences as to that Reverence Obedience and Subjection of soul which God requires unto his Word it were utterly impossible that their faith in this matter should ever in the least be shaken by a few lewd Sophisms or loud clamours of men destitute of the truth and of the Spirit of it That we may now improve these Testimonies unto the end under design as the nature of this brief discourse will bear I shall first remove the general Answers which the Socinians give unto them and then manifest farther how incontrolable they are by giving an instance in the frivolous exceptions of the same Persons to One of them in particular And we are ready God assisting to maintain that there is not any one of them which doth not give a sufficient ground for faith to rest on in this matter concerning the Deity of Christ and that against all the Socinians in the world They say therefore commonly that we prove not by these testimonies what is by them denyed For they acknowledge Christ to be God and that because he is exalted unto that Glory and Authority that all creatures are put into subjection unto him and all both men and Angels are commanded to worship and adore him So that he is God by Office though he be not God by nature He is God but he is not the most high God And this last expression they have almost continually in their mouths He is not the most high God And commonly with great contempt and scorn they are ready to reproach them who have solidly confirmed the Doctrine of the Deity of Christ as ignorant of the state of controversie in that they have not proved him to be the most high God in subordination unto whom they acknowledge Christ to be God and that he ought to be worshipped with Divine and Religious worship But there cannot be any thing more empty and vain than these pretences And besides they accumulate in them their former Errors with the addition of new ones For First The name of the most high God is first ascribed unto God in Gen. 49. 18 19 22. denoting his Soveraignty and Dominion Now as other Attributes of God it is not distinctive of the subject but only desscriptive of it So are all other Excellencies of the nature of God It doth not intimate that there are other Gods only he is the most high or one over them all but only that the true God is most high that is indued with Soveraign Power Dominion and Authority over all To say then that Christ indeed is God but not the most high God is all one as to say he is God but not the most holy God or not the true God And so they have brought their Christ into the number of false Gods whilst they deny the true Christ who in his divine nature is over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9. 5. A phrase of speech perfectly expressing this Attribute of the most high God Secondly This Answer is suited only unto those testimonies which express the name of God with a correâ—ponding Power and Authority unto that name For in reference unto these alone can it be pleaded with any pretence of reason that he is a God by Office though that also be done very Futilously and impertinently But most of the Testimonies producâ—d speak directly unto his divine Excelâ—encies and properties which belong unto his nature necessarily and absolutely That he is Eternal Omnipotent Immense Omniscient Infinitely wise and that he is and worketh and produceth Effects suitable unto all these properties and such
in and may peculiarly be sinned against the great Author of all Grace in Believers and order in the Church This is the summ of what we believe of what is revealed in the Scripture concerning the Holy Ghost As in the consideration of the preceding head we vindicated one Testimony in particular from the exceptions of the adversaries of the truth so on this we may briefly summ up the evidence that is given us in the testimonies before produced that the Reader may the more easily understand their intendment and what in particular they bear witnesse unto The summ is that the Holy Ghost is a divine distinct person and neither meerly the power or vertue of God nor any created Spirit whatever This plainly appears from what is revealed concerning him For he who is placed in the same series or order with other divine persons without the least note of difference or distinction from them as to an Interest in personality who hath the names proper to a divine person only and is frequently and directly called by them who also hath personal properties and is the voluntary Author of personal divine Operations and the proper Objâ—ct of Divine Worship he is a distinct divine person And if these things be not a sufficient evidence and demonstration of a divine intelligent substance I shall as was said before despair to understand any thing that is expressed and declared by words But now thus it is with the Holy Ghost according to the Revelation made concerning him in the Scripture For First He is placed in the same rank and order without any note of difference or distinction as to a distinct interest in the Divine Nature that is as we shall see personality with other Divine persons Matth. 28. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost 1 John 5. 7. There be three that bear witness in Heaven the Father the Son and the Spirit and these three are one 1 Cor. 12. 3 4 5 6. No man can say the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all Neither doth a denyal of his divine being and distinct existence leave any tolerable sense unto these Expressions For read the words of the first place from the mind of the Socinians and see what is it can be gathered from them Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the vertue or efficacy of the Father Can any thing be more absonant from Faith and Reason than this absurd expression And yet is it the direct sense if it be any that these men put upon the words To joyn a quality with acknowledged persons and that in such things and cases as wherein they are proposed under a personal consideration is a strange kind of Mysterie And the like may be manifested concerning the other places Secondly He also hath the Names proper to a divine person only For he is expresly called God Acts 5. He who is termed the Holy Ghost ver 3. And the Spirit of the Lord verse 9. Is called also God ver 4. Now this is the name of a divine Person on one Account or other The Socinians would not allow Christ to be called God were he not a divine person though not by nature yet by â—ffice and authority And I suppose they will not find out an office for the Holy Ghost whereunto he might be exalted on the account whereof he might become God seeing this would acknowledge him to be a person which they deny So he is called the Comforter John 16. 7. A personal Appellation this is also and because he is the Comforter of all Gods people it can be the name of none but a divine person In the 〈…〉 it is frequently 〈…〉 come that he shall and will do such and such things all of them declaring him to be a person Thirdly He hath personal properties assigned unto him as a Will 1 Cor. 12. 11. He divideth to every man severally as he will and understanding 1 Cor. 2. 10. The Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God As also all the actings that are ascribed unto him are all of them such as undeniably affirm personal properties in their principle and Agent For Fourthly He is the voluntary Author of Divine operations He of old cherished the creation Gen. 1. 3. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters He formed and garnished the Heavens He inspired acted and spake in and by the Prophets Acts 28. 25 26. Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the Prophet unto our Fathers 2 Pet. 1. 21. The Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost He regenerateth enlightneth sanctifieth comforteth instructeth leadeth guideth all the Disciples of Christ as the Scriptures every where testifie Now all these are personal Operations and cannot with any pretence of sobriety or consistency with Reason be constantly and uniformly assigned unto a quality or vertue He is as the Father and Son God with the properties of Omniscience and Omnipotency of Life Understanding and Will and by these properties works acts and produceth effects according to Wisdom Choice and Power Fifthly The same regard is had to him in Faith Worship and Obedience as unto the other persons of the Father and Son For our being baptized into his name is our solemn engagement to believe in him to yield obedience to him and to worship him as it puts the same obligation upon us to the Father and the Son So also in reference unto the Worship of the Church He commands that the Ministers of it be separated unto himself Acts 13. 2. The Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them Ver. 4. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed which is comprehensive of all the religious Worship of the Church And on the same account is he sinned against as Acts 5. 3 4 9. For there is the same Reason of Sin and Obedience Against whom a man may sin formally and ultimately him he is bound to obey worship and believe in And this can be no quality but God himself For what may be the sense of this expression Thou hast lyed to the efficacy of God in his operations Or how can we be formally obliged unto obedience to a quality There must then an antecedent Obligation unto Faith Trust and Religious Obedience be supposed as the ground of rendring a person capable of being guilty of sin towards wards any For sin is but a â—ailure in Faith Obedience or Worship These therefore are due unto the Holy Ghost or a man could not sin against him so signally and fatally as some are
into a Man so that he who was God ceased so to be and was turned or changed into flesh that is a Man besides that this is utterly impossible it is not affirmed For the Word continued the Word still although he was made flesh or made of a Woman as it is elsewhere expressed or made of the seed of David or took our flesh or nature to be his own Himself continuing God as he was became Man also which before he was not The Word was made flesh this is that which we believe and assert in this matter See John 3. 13. and ver 31. John 6. 62. Chap. 16. 28. All which places assert the Person of Christ to have descended from Heaven in the Assumption of Humane nature and ascended into Heaven therein being assumed and to have been in Heaven as to his Divine nature when he was in the Earth in the flesh that he had assumed Acts 20. 28. Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood The Person spoken of is said to be God absolutely the Church of God And this God is said to have blood of his own the blood of Jesus Christ being the blood of him that was God though not the blood of him as God For God is a Spirit And this undeniably testifies to the unity of his Person as God and Man Rom. 1. 3 4. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Hâ—liness by the Resurrection from the Dead Rom. 9. 5. Whose are the Fathers and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Amen This is all we desire that we may believe without disturbance from the clamours of these Men. Namely that the same Christ as concerning the flesh came of the Fathers of David and in himself is over all God blessed for ever This the Scripture asserts plainly and why we should not believe it firmly let these Men give a reason when they are able Gal. 6. 4. God sent forth his Son made of a Woman He was his Son and was made of a woman according as he expresses it Heb. 10. 5. A body hast thou prepared Me as also Rom. 8. 3. Phil. 2. 5 6 7. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of Mâ—n It is the same Christ that is spoken of And it is here affirmed of him that he was in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God But is this all is this Jesus Christ God only Doth he subsist only in the form or nature of God No saith the Apostle he took upon him the form of a Servant was made in the likeness of Men and was found in fashion as a Man that his being truly a Man is expressed in these words our Adversaries deny not and we therefore believe that the same Jesus Christ is God also because that is no less plainly expressed 1 Tim. 3. 16. And without controversie great is the mysterie of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels It is a Mysterie indeed under which name it is despised now and reproached nor are we allowed so to call it but are reflected on as flying to mysteries for our defence But we must take leave to speak in this matter according to his directions without whom we cannot speak at all A Mysterie it is and that a great mysterie and that confessedly so by all that do believe And this is that God was manifested in the flesh That it is the Lord Christ who is spoken of every one of the ensuing expressions do evince Justified in the Spirit seen of Angels Preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory And this also is the substance of what we believe in this matter Namely That Christ is God manifest in the flesh which we acknowledge own and believe to be true but a great mysterie yet no less great and Sacred a truth notwithstanding Heb. 2. 14. For as much then as the Children were partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same ver 16. For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham And this plainly affirms his pre-existence unto that Assumption of our nature and the unity of his Person in it being so assumed 1 John 3. 16. Hereby perceive we the Love of God because he laid down his life for us He who was God laid down for a season and parted with that life which was his own in that nature of ours which he had assumed And that taking of our nature is called his coming in the flesh which who so denyes is not of God but is the Spirit of Anti-Christ 1 John 4. 3. These are some of the places wherein the Person of Christ is revealed unto our Faith that we may believe on the Son of God and have Eternal Life The Method formerly proposed would require that I should take off the general Objections of the Adversaries against this Divine Revelation as also vindicate some peculiar Testimonies from their exceptions But because a particular opposition unto this Truth hath not as yet publickly and directly been maintained and managed by any that I know of among our selves though the denyal of it be expresly included in what they do affirm I shall leave the further confirmation thereof unto some other occasion if it be offered and it be judged necessary And this is that which the Faith of Believers rests in as that which is plainly revealed unto them namely that Jesus Christ is God and Man in one Person and that all his actings in their behalf are the actings of him who is God and Man and that this Son of God God and Man is to be believed in by them and obeyed that they have Eternal Life What is farther added unto these express testimonies and the full Revelation of the Truth contained in them in this matter in way of explication educed from them and suitable unto them to the edification of the Church or information of the minds of Believers in the right apprehension of this great Mysterie of God manifested in the flesh may be reduced to these heads 1. That the Person of the Son of God did in his assuming humane nature to be his own not take an individual Person of any one into a near conjunction with himself but preventing the personal subsistence of humane nature in that flesh which he assumed he gave it its subsistence in his own Person whence it hath its individuation and distinction from all other persons whatever This is
suppose that this is the first time that this Doctrine fell under this imputation nor could it possibly be lyable unto this charge from any who did either understand it or the grounds on which it is commonly opposed For there is no end of the Life or death of Christ which the Socinians themselves admit of but it is also allowed and asserted in the Doctrine now called in Question Do they say that he taught the Truth or revealed the whole mind and will of God concerning his Worship and our obedience We say the same Dâ— they say that by his death he hare testimony unto and confirmed the truth which he had taught it is also owned by us Do they say that in what he did and suâ—fered he set us an Example that we should labour after conformity unto it is what we acknowledge and teach Only we say that all these things belong principally to his Prophetical Office But we moreover affirm and believe that as a Priest or in the discharge of his Sacerdotal Office he did in his death and sufferings offer himself a Sacrifice to God to make Attonement for our sins which they deny and that he dyed for us or in our stead that we might go free without the faith and acknowledgement whereof no part of the Gospel can be rightly understood All the ends then which they themselves assign of the Life and death of Christ are by us granted and the principal one which gives life and efficacy to the rest is by them denyed Neither 2. doth it fall under any possible imagination that the praise due unto God should be Ecclipsed hereby The Love and Kindness of God towards us is in the Scripture fixed principally and fundamentally on his sending of his only begotten Son to dye for us And certainly the greater the work was that he had to do the greater ought our acknowledgement of his Love and kindness to be but it is said 5. That it represents the Son more kind and compassionate than the Father whereas if both be the same God then either the Father is as loving as the Son or the Son as angry as the Father Answ. 1. The Scripture referreth the Love of the Father unto two heads 1. The sending of his Son to dye for us John 3. 16. Rom. 5. 8. 1 John 4. 8. 2. In choosing sinners unto a participation of the fruits of his love Ephes. 1. 3 4 5 6. The Love of the Son is fixed signally on his actual giving himself to dye for us Gal. 2. 20. Ephes. 5. 25. Rev. 1. 5. What ballances these Persons have got to weigh these Loves in and to conclude which is the greatest or most weighty I know not 2. Although only the actual discharge of his Office be directly assigned to the Love of Christ yet his condâ—scention in taking our nature upon him expressed by his mind Ephes 6. 7. and the readiness of his Will Psalm 40. 8. doth eminently comprise Love in it also Thirdly The Love of the Father in sending of the Son was an act of his will which being a natural and essential property of God it was so far the act of the Son also as he is partaker of the same nature though eminently and in respect of order it was peculiarly the act of the Father 4. The anger of â—od against sin is an effect of his essential Righteousness and Holiness which belong to him as God which yet hinders not but that both Father and Son and Spirit acted Love towards sinners They say again 6. It robs God of the gift of his Son for our redemption which the Scriptures attribute to the unmerited Love he had for the World in affirming the Son purchased that redemption from the Father by the gift of himself to God as our compleat satisfaction Answ. 1. It were endless to consider the improper and absurd expressions which are made use of in these exceptions as here the last words have no tolerable sence in them according to any principles whatever 2. If the Son 's purchasing Redemption for us procuring obtaining it do rob God of the gift of his Son for our redemption the Holy Ghost must answer for it For having obtained for us or procured or purchased eternal redemption is the word used by himself Heb. 9. 14. And to deny that he hath laid down his Life a ransome for us and to have bought us with a price is openly to deny the Gospel 2. In a word the great gift of God consisted in giving his Son to obtain Redemption for us 3. Herein he offered himself unto God and gave himself for us and if these Persons are offended herewithal what are we that we should withstand God They say 7. Since Christ could not pay what was not his own it follows that in the payment of his own the case still remains equally grievous Since the debt is not hereby absolved or forgiven but transferred only and by consequence we are no better provided for salvation than before owing that now to the Son which was once owing to the Father Answ. The looseness and dubiousness of the expressions here used makes an appearance that there is something in them when indeed there is not There is an Allusion in them to a debt and a payment which is the most improper expression that is used in this matter and the interpretation thereof is to be regulated by other proper expressions of the same thing But to keep to the Allusion 1. Christ paid his own but not for himself Dan. 9. 26. 2. Paying it for us the debt is discharged and our actual discharge is to be given out according to the wayes and means and upon the conditions appointed and constituted by the Father and Son 3. When a debt is so transferred as that one is accepted in the room and obliged to payment in the stead of another and that payment is made and accepted accordingly all Law and Reason require that the original Debtor be discharged 4. What on this account we owe to the Son is praise thankfulness and obedience and not the debt which he took upon himself and discharged for us when we were non-solvent by his love So that this matter is plain enough and not to be involved by such cloudy expressions and incoherent discourse following the Metaphor of a debt For if God be considered as the Creditor we all as Debtors and being insolvent Christ undertook out of his Love to pay the debt for us and did so accordingly which was accepted with God it follows that we are to be discharged upon Gods terms and under a new obligation unto his Love who hath made this satisfaction for us which we shall eternally acknowledge It is said 8. It no way renders Men beholding or in the least obliged to God since by their Doctrine he would not have abated us nor did he Christ the least farthing so that the acknowledgements are peculiarly the Sons which destroyes the whole current of
from the first foundation of the Church sundry Persons by the instigation of Satan attempted the disturbance and ruine of it by the very same errours and Heresies about the Trinity the Person of Christ and his Offices the person of the Holy Ghost and his Grace wherewith its first trouble and ruine was endeavoured And hereof we have of late an instance given among our selves and that so notoriously known through a mixture of imprudence and impudence in the managers of it that a very brief reflection upon it will suffice unto our present design It was alwaies supposed and known to some that there are sundry Persons in this Nation who having been themselves seduced into Socinianism did make it their business under various pretences to draw others into a compliance with them in the same way and perswasion Neither hath this for sundry years been so secretly carryed but that the design of it hath variously discovered it self by overt acts of Conferences disputations and publishing of Books which last way of late hath been sedulously pursued Unto these three is now a visible Accession made by that sort of People whom Men will call Quakers from their deportment at the first erection of their way long since deserted by them until by some new Revolutions of Opinions they cast themselves under a more proper denomination That there is a conjunction issued between both these sorts of Men in an Opposition to the holy Trinity with the Person and Grace of Christ the Pamphlets of late published by the one and the other do sufficiently evince For however they may seem in sundry things as yet to look divers waies yet like Sampson's Foxes they are knit together by the tayle of consent in these fire-brand Opinions and joyntly endeavour to consume the standing Corn of the Church of God And their joynt management of their business of late hath been as though it were their design to give as great a vogue and report to their Opinions as by any waies they are able Hence besides their attempts to be proclaiming their Opinions under various pretences in all Assemblies whereunto they may intrude themselves as they know without trouble they are exceedingly sedulous in scattering and giving away yea imposing gratis and as to some ingratiis their small books which they publish upon all sorts of persons promiscuously as they have advantage so to do By this means their Opinions being of late become the talk and discourse of the common sort of Christians and the Exercise of many amongst whom are not a few that on sundry accounts which I shall not mention may possibly be exposed unto disadvantage and prejudice thereby it hath been thought meet by some that the Sacred Truths which these men oppose should be plainly and briefly asserted and confirmed from the Scripture that those of the meanest sort of Professors who aâ—e Sincere and upright exercising themselves to keep a good conscience in matters of faith and obedience to God may have somewhat in a readiness both to guide them in their further enquiry into the Truth as also to confirm their Faith in what they have already received when at any time it is shaken or opposed by the cunning sleights of men that lye in wait to deceive And this comprizeth the design of the ensuing discourse It may possibly be judged needless by some as it was in its first proposal by him by whom it is wriâ—â—â—â— and that because this matter at present is by an especial providence cast on other hands who both have and doubtless as occasion shall require will well acquit themselves in the defence of the Truths opposed Not to give any other account of the Reasons of this small undertaking it may suffice that in publico discrimine omnis homo miles est Every mans concernment lying in a common danger it is free for every one to manage it as he thinks best and is able so it be without prejudice to the whole or the particular concerns of others If a City be on fire whose bucket that brings water to quench it ought to be refused The attempt to cast fire into the City of God by the Opinions mentioned is open and plain and a timely stop being to be put unto it the more hands are orderly employed in its quenching the more speedy and secure is the effect like to be Now because the Assertors of the Opinions mentioned do seem to set out themselves to be some great Ones above the ordinary rate of men as having found out and being able publickly to maintain such things as never would have entred into the minds of others to have thought on or conceived and also that they seem with many to be thought worthy of their consideration because they now are new and such as they have not been acquainted withall I shall in this Prefatory entrance briefly manifest that those who have amongst us undertaken the management of these Opinions have brought nothing new unto them but either a little contemptible Sophistry and caption of words on the one hand or futulous affected unintelligible expressions on the other the Opinions themselves being no other but such as the Church of God having been opposed by and troubled with from the beginning hath prevailed against and triumphed over in all generations And were it not that Confidence is the only relief which engaged impotency adheres unto and expects supplies from I should greatly admire that those amongst us who have undertaken an inforcement of these old exploded errours whose weakness doth so openly discover and proclaim it self in all their endeavours should judge themselves competent to give a new spirit of life to the dead carkass of these rotten Heresies which the faith of the Saints in all Ages hath triumphed over and which Truth and Learning have under the care and watchfulness of Christ so often baffled out of the world The Jews in the time of our Saviours converse on the earth being fallen greatly from the Faith and Worship of their forefathers and ready to sink into their last and utmost Apostacy from God seem amongst many other truths to have much lost that of the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity and of the Person of the Messiah It was indeed suited in the dispensation of God unto the work that the Lord Jesus had to fulfill in the world that before his Passion and Resurrection the knowledge of his Divine Nature as unto his individual person should be concealed from the most of men For this cause although he was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God yet he made himself of no reputation by taking on him the form of a servant and made in the likeness of men that being found in the fashion of a man he might be obedient unto death Phil. 2. 7 8 9. whereby his Divine Glory was veiled for a season until he was declared to be the Son of God with power according unto the Spirit of
Holiness by the resurrection from the dead Rom. 1. 4. And then was glorified with that glory which he had with the Father before the world was John 17. 3. And as this dispensation was needful unto the accomplishment of the whole work which as our Mâ—diator he had undertaken so in particular he who was in himself the Lord of Hosts a Sanctuary to them that feared him became hereby a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the Houses of Israel for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem Isa. 8. 13 14. See Luke 2. 34. Rom. 9. 33. 1 Pet. 2. 8. Isa. 28. 26. But yet notwithstanding as occasions required suitably unto his own holy ends and designs he forbare not to give plain and open testimony to his own Divine Nature and eternal pre-existence unto his Incarnation And this was it which of all other things most provoked the carnal Jews with whom he had to do For having as was said lost the Doctrine of the Trinity and Person of the Messiah in a great measure when ever he asserted his Deity they were immediately enraged and endeavoured to destroy him So was it plainly John 8. 56 57 58 59. Saith he Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad then said the Jews unto him thou art nâ—t yet fifty years old and hast thou seen Abraham Jesus said unto them verily I say unto you before Abraham was I am then took they up stones to cast at him So also John 10. 30 31 32 33. I and my Father are one then the Jews took up stones again to stone him Jesus answered them many good works have I shewed you from my Father for which of those works do you stone me The Jews answered him saying for a good work we stone thee not but for blasphemy and because that thou being a Man makest thy self God They understood well enough the meaning of those words I and my Father are one namely that they were a plain Assertion of his being God This caused their rage And this the Jews all abide by to this day namely that he declared himself to be God and therefore they slew him Whereas therefore the first discovery of a plurality of Persons in the Divine Essence consists in the Revelation of the Divine Nature and personality of the Son this being opposed persecuted and blasphemed by these Jews they may be justly looked upon and esteemed as the first Assertors of that misbelief which now some seek again so earnestly to promote The Jews persecuted the Lord Christ because he being a Man declared himself also to be God and others are ready to revile and reproach them who believe and teach what he declared After the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord Jesus all things being filled with tokens evidences and effects of his Divine Nature and Power Rom. 1. 4. The Church that began to be gathered in his name and according to his Doctrine being by his especial institution to be initiated into the express profession of the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity as being to be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost which confession comprizeth the whole of the truth contended for and by the indispensible placing of it at the first entrance into all obedience unto him is made the doctrinal foundation of the Church it continued for a season in the quiet and undisturbed possession of this Sacred Treasure The first who gave disquietment unto the Disciples of Christ by perverting the Doctrine of the Trinity was Simon Magus with his followers an account of whose monstrous figments and unintelligible imaginations with their coincidence with what some men dream in these latter daies shall elsewhere be given Nor shall I need here to mention the Colluvies of Gnosticks Valentinians Marcionites and Manichees the foundation of all whose abominations lay in their mis-apprehensions of the being of God their unbelief of the Trinity and Person of Christ as do those of some others also In especial there was one Cerinthus who was more active than others in his opposition to the Doctrine of the person of Christ and therein of the Holy Trinity To put a stop unto his Abominations all Authors agree that John writing his Gospel prefixed unto it that plain declaration of the eternal Deity of Christ which it is prefaced withall And the story is well attested by Irenaeus Eusebius and others from Polycarpus who was his Disciple that this Cerinthus coming into the place where the Apostle was he left it adding as a reason of his departure lest the building through the just judgement of God should fall upon them And it was of the Holy Wise Providence of God to suffer some impious Persons to oppose this Doctrine before the death of that Apostle that he might by infallible Inspiration farther reveal manifest and declare it to the establishment of the Church in future Ages For what can farther be desired to satisfie the minds of men who in any sense own the Lord Jesus Christ and the Scriptures than that this Controversie about the Trinity and Person of Christ for they stand and fall together should be so eminently and expresly determined as it were immediately from Heaven But he with whom we have to deal in this matter neither ever did nor ever will nor can acquiesce or rest in the divine determination of any thing which he hath stirred up strife and controversie about For as Cerinthus and the Ebionites persisted in the Heresie of the Jews who would have slain our Saviour for bearing witness to his own Deity notwithstanding the evidence of that testimony and the right apprehension which the Jews had of his mind therein so he excited others to engage and persist in their Opposition to the truth notwithstanding this second particular determination of it from Heaven for their confutation or confusion For after the more weak and confused oppositions made unto it by Theodotus Coriarius Artemon and some others at length a stout Champion appears visibly and expresly engaged against these fundamentals of our faith This was Paulus Sa nosatenus Bishop of the Church of Antioch about the year 272. A man of most intolerable pride passion and folly the greatest that hath left a name upon Ecclesiastical Records This man openly and avowedly denyed the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ in an especial manner For although he endeavoured for a while to cloud his impious sentiments in ambiguous expressions as others also have done Euseb. lib. 7. cap. 27. yet being pressed by the Professors of the truth and supposing his party was somewhat confirmed he plainly defended his Heresie and was cast out of the Church wherein he presided Some sixty years after Photinus Bishop of Syrmium with a pretence of more sobriety in life and conversation undertook the management of the same design with the same success What ensued afterwards among the Churches