Ambr. de Dignit Hom. c. 2. Faculties of the Soul Vnderstanding Will and Memory St. Ierome tells us that Christ was therefore baptized in Jordan because that Hier. in Mat. c. 16. River represented the Trinity for that it was called Jordan because it issued from two Heads the one called Jor the other Dan All these Threes are severally distinct and yet unseparated in Nature One Sun One Fire One Water One Arm. One Tree One Soul And one Jordan Yet when we say the Three Persons are but of one Essence the Reader is to be informed that we are not so to be understood as if we affirmed that there is no Essential or Quidditative difference between these Three Persons for the Three Divine Persons must needs be distinct and different in some Essential difference otherwise they all must be confessed to be but One Person Therefore something there must be whereby the Father is Father and not Son and so in the other Persons to constitute them Persons distinct each from other For in Logick we learn that even the very Accidents have their respective Essence such as it is to make them what they are so must the several Divine Persons have and to this our Orthodox Divines consent for thus they write Personae habent unum esse absolutum Essentiale Naturale Sed diversum esse Relativum Personale i. e. The Three Persons have but one Essence absolute of their own nature but Diverse Essences Relative and Personal So that these several Essences or Acts and Quiddities are not in the absolute nature or God-head of them but in the Relative Personalities for they are all Absolutely but One God and yet they are distinct and several Persons they are intirely and truly One thing and as truly Three several things Which St. Anselm as it seemeth to me doth very acutely thus determine and express Anselm de incarn c. 3. Tres Res sunt una res viz. Vna res Absoluta Tres res Relativae In uno Communi unum sunt sc Dietate In tribus Proprietatibus Diversae sunt i. e. The Divine Persons are Three things and they are but One Thing viz. They are Three things Relatively but One thing Absolutely for in one common thing they are but One that is one in Essence or God-head but Three in Persons or Proprieties Thus he and much more to this purpose If it be enquired what those Propertics are which are peculiar to each Person and that do distinguish every Person each from other In this we are plentifully resolved by former Writers Richardus de St. Victore thus sets Rich. de St. Vict. de Trinit c. 15. and 25. down their personal Proprieties Pater dat solum Filius accipit dat Spiritus accipit solum i. e. The Father giveth only The Son receiveth and giveth The Spirit receiveth only from both There cannot be another Property or Person which neither giveth nor taketh for if so then we should be driven to confess a Quaternity of Persons instead of a Trinity Nazianzen sets down the Proprieties in these words Ingenitus Genitus Procedens i. e. Naz. Orat. 23. and Orat. 28. Basil Epist 349. Unbegotten Begotten Proceeding And St. Basil thus Paternitas Filiatio Sanctificativa potestas i. e. Fatherhood Sonship Sanctificative power for although the Father and the Son do Sanctifie yet they do it not immediately by themselves but mediately by the Holy Ghost who is the Spirit of Sanctification If therefore each Person have any one thing peculiar and proper to it self and incommunicable to any other of the Divine Persons this Property must needs prove it to be a several and distinct Person And if there be any one Person in the God-head which doth neither give to the Other nor receive from the Other This must needs prove a Person without any communion with the other and so the Vnity would be lost Now that it may by the Scriptures appear that there are several Proprieties in the several Persons and those incommunicable to the other Persons We read that The Son is the Image of the Father but it is never read that the Father is the Image of the Son or Spirit So it is said The Word or Son was made flesh but neither the Father nor the Spirit are ever said to be made flesh So the Son is called The only Begotten so is not the Father or the Spirit therefore the Ancient Writers called the Father Ingenitum Innascibilem Impassibilem i. e. Not Begotten not Born not Passible nor can the Father be said to proceed from the Son or Spirit But these Properties cannot be affirmed of the Son who is Begotten born and suffered nor of the Holy Ghost who proceedeth from the Father and the Son Besides these The Scripture doth cleerly declare the several Personalities in the God-head by our Saviours words Joh. 14 15. I will pray the Father and he shall send another Comforter Here is evidently a distinct Trinity I and He and Another As touching the Vnity of the Three Persons the Arians utterly deny it and therefore they expostulated with the Catholicks because in the asserting thereof they used some words which were not found in holy Scriptures as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Essence and Consubstantiality and they nick-named the Catholicks calling them Homousians because the Nicene Fathers had inserted the word Homousion in their Creed One Pascentius was so offended therewith that simply mistaking it to be the name of a man he required that the Church would anathematize or excommunicate Homousion as b Aug. Epist 174. Austin reports But Athanasius made this answer to the Arians b That they themselves used many more words c Athan. in Decret Nicaen Concil which were not Scriptural As That the Son was not always That the Father was not always a Father That the Son was Factura i. e. a Creature and that he was made of nothing whereupon one Sect of the Arians were called d Soz. lib. 4. c. 28. Exoucontii and that those frequent Arian words Homoiousion and Innascibilis were not found in the Scriptures and that the Catholicks were forced to use new words because the Arians raised new Heresies although among the Catholicks the self same Ancient Doctrine had continued immutable for upon the like occasion even the holy Scripture it self had assumed a new word as we read Act. 11. 26. That whereas before the Church-Members were called Disciples and Brethren now they are by a new name called Christians First at Antioch and this because false Brethren and false Teachers arose teaching Doctrines contrary to the Apostles and yet these Brethren were called Disciples and named themselves from men as John Baptists Disciples did and as those mentioned 1 Cor. 1. 12. said I am of Paul I am of Apollo I of Cephas c. therefore the Church to prevent a Schisme would have all that professed Christ to be called
excepted against by Arius himself And long after that time we finde these words cited by Fulgentius in his Book entituled Objectionum Arianarum discussio near the end pag. 87. of the Basil Edition An. Dom. 1621. Yet Fulgentius lived about 200. years after Arius was dead The rankest Arians at first used in their Doxologies to glorifie all the three Persons by name although with some words differing from the Catholick Custome but in their Baptisms they invoked all the Three Persons alike so as we now do And although Arius had taught his Sectaries to use other words in their Doxologies then the Catholicks used as Glory be to the Father by the Son with the Holy Ghost yet as d Theod. Her Fab. lib. 4. Theodoret very gravely observeth Arius himself durst not ptesume to alter the form of Invocation in Baptisms but baptized as the Catholick Church did In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost yet in after times his Sectaries presumed to change the Baptismal form of words prescribed by Christ as we find in Nicephorus and is by me elsewhere shewed There were some also which said that the God-head was separately and intirely existent alone by it self and not only residing in the Three Persons but was a fourth thing e Aug. Ep. 22 2. Quasi quarta Divinitas i. e. as a fourth Divinity which doth communicate and infuse it self into the Three Persons as St. Austin relates in an Epistle to Consentius so that these men would have the God-head to he thought to be a fourth Person distinct from the other Three so that instead of a Trinity we should beleeve a Quaternity of Divine Persons But this opinion cannot be approved for the God-head in their sence could not so be called a Person because it is as they confess communicable to the other Persons But as our Divines generally agree in this definition or description of a Person f Melancht in loc com Persona est substantia vel subsistentia individua intelligens incommunicabilis If the God-head be a Person then it must be incommunicable And if it be communicable then it cannot be a Person So likewise the Heresie of Nestorius who denied the Personal Vnion of the God-head and Manhood in Christ and thereby divided Christ making two Persons of One did thus bring in a fourth Person So the Heresie of Macedonius who denyed the God-head of the Holy-Ghost instead of a Trinity allowed but a Binity of Persons These Heresies so moved and disturbed the Church Catholick that for the asserting this holy necesary and scriptural Doctrine of Three Persons in one God-head they were forced to use this word Trinity There is yet another Quarrel about the word Person because this word is not found in Scripture to be so used as the Church both present and Primitive have applied it for even those that do confess that there is a Trinity in the God-head yet why this Trinity and these Three should be called three Persons is that that troubleth them Indeed the Scripture often nameth Three the Father Son and Spirit and it saith There are Three but even St. Austin himself often demandeth a Aug. de Trin. lib. 5. c. 9. lib. 8. proaen Tres Quid and Quid Tria For certain then there are Three but what to call them and how to answer when we are asked Three what the Scripture is silent and b Id ibid Magna inopia laborat eloquium humanum i. e. our language wanteth words to express it The same penury of words is noted in the Greek Tongue by Nazianzen who tells us c Naz. Orat. 21. Romana lingua non distinguit hypostasin ab Ousia hinc Personarum vocabulum introductum i. e. Because our Language doth not distinguish subsistence and substance therefore instead of a more proper expression we use the word Person to signifie Subsistence Observe here that Nazianzen calls Greek the Roman Tongue because Greece was then under the Romans and was therefore called Romania and the Inhabitants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the grand City Constantinople standing in Thracia was called new Rome and the Inhabitants of Greece were all subjects and some Citizens of Rome so conversing with the Latines which is the reason that we find so many Latine words even in the Greek Testament and in many other Greek Writers both Heathen and Christian Now because the Scripture saith There are Three and that we dare not say there are Three Gods therefore we call them Three Persons because we find not any fitter word to express that which without words we apprehend and beleeve Neither do we call them Persons as if we would have it thought that the Scriptures did so say but because the Scriptures do not gain-say it but if we should call them Three Gods then the Scripture will contradict us where it saith Hear O Israel Deut. 6. 4. the Lord our God is one Lord we therefore call them Persons that so we may answer in a word when we are asked What Three This is the resolution of St. Austin concerning the word Person used by the Latine or Western Church In like manner the Eastern or Greek-Church called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Persons and so our English Translation rendred those words Heb. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Image of his Person and so doth the Geneva both English and Latine Translation And if we should keep the Original word and instead of Three Persons call them Three Hypostases people would be little or nothing the wiser And Austin tells us that d Aug. de Tri◠l. 7. c. 6. They that call them Three Hypostases may as well call them Tria Prosopa i. e. Three Persons The Eastern Fathers have many words by which they express the Three Persons As e Naz. Orat. 28. 29. Basil Epist 349. and in Asset Nazianzen and Basil calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e. Proprieties Subsistencies and Persons But the Latines generally call them Persons Indeed the Church was even necessitated and forced to call them Persons because of Heresies which used this very word and thereby miscalled the Divine Persons for the Samosatenians said that the Father and the Son were but one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. one Person and so also said the Sabellians that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. One Person and one Subsistence as we find in f Epiph. haer 65. Epiphanius And in g Chrys hom 32. Antioch Chrysostom And h Aug. de Trin. lib. 5. cap. 9. St. Austin himself in one place confesseth that he did not then know the difference between those two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Substance and Subsistence but because he found that the Greek Church called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. One Substance and Three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Father and the Son under the name of Wisdom Prov. 8. 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting I was brought forth just so doth the Psalmist express the Eternal generation of the Son Psalm 1103. Ex utero ante Luciferum genui te so was the old reading of those words in Jerome and Austin Brought forth and from the womb these words signifie that by Wisdom the Son is meant and the mention of the Womb of the Father doth signifie that this Son is of the same substance with the Father as children of the womb are of the same substance with their Parents and Before the morning Star signifieth that the Son was before time or any other Creature And that it may appear that by Wisdom the Son of God is meant the words of the Apostle will declare 1 Cor. 1. 24. where he calleth Christ The wisdom of God And as the Psalmist tells us that God made all things in wisdom So the Gospel tells us who this wisdome is viz. The Son The Word The Father created all things but he created them by the Son which St. John expresseth in these words Joh. 1. 3. All things were made by him that is by the Son or Word and this St. Paul doth clearly apply to Christ Col. 1. 16. For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers so that even the most glorious Arch-Angels and Angels are but the Creatures of this Son of God and this Wisdom of God Finally These men that tell us That God hath not always a Son may as well tell us that God had not always Wisdom But as they dare not deny the Wisdom of God to have been from Eternity so neither can they without very great impudence deny the Word or Son of the Father to have been from everlasting I will conclude this Chapter with the words of St. Basil who thus argued against the Anti-Trinitarians out of the words of St. John k Basil Hom. 16. To him that shall say There was a time when the Son or Word was not you may answer If this speech be true which the Gospel delivereth In the beginning was the Word I pray when was that time when he was not CHAP. IIII. Of the Holy Ghost That he is one of the Three Divine Persons and that he is to be prayed unto which is shewed both both by Warrant of Scripture and by the practice of the Primitive Christians and of the Church of England wherein he is confessed in Creeds and invoked in Baptisms and Doxologies THe Macedonian Hereticks confessed the Divine Personality of the Father and the Son but they denied the Person of the Holy Ghost and there are some among us who although they will not openly deny the Divinity and Person of the Holy Ghost yet they are doubtful and suspensive therein And this because they cannot or will not finde that any Prayers in Scripture are used or directed to the Holy Spirit as they are both to the Father and the Son They finde the Son of God praying to the Father Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit And Forgive them Father they know not what they do They Luk. 23. 46. 34. find also St. Stephen praying to the Son Lord Act. 7. 59. Jesus receive my Spirit For the satisfaction of such as these who are neither maliciously nor obstinately wedded to this error I will endeavour to shew both the Personality of the most Holy Spirit and also that he is to be prayed unto and both these by the evidences and precedents of holy writ and by the practice of our of our owne Church and also of the Primitive Christians First That the Holy Ghost is a Divine and distinct Person in the Trinity as well and as truly as either the Father or the Son We find that the Scriptures record and report many diverse actions and operations of the Holy Ghost which must needs be the performances of a Person for He appeared as a Dove And as fiery Tongues He teacheth He leadeth into all truth He brought into the Apostles memories whatsoever Christ had said He decreed in a Council Acts 15. He forgiveth sins by the Apostles by whom he was received and entertained for that purpose Joh. 20. 22. He is an Advocate or Comforter He distributeth gifts He spake by the Prophets and in the Apostles He calleth and maketh Ministers Act. 13. 2. And Bishops Act. 20. 28. where the very Original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I know not why our Translators rendred Overseers when in other places they Translated the very same word Bishops which is the very Text word without any alteration but only as it is formed to out English Idiom In a word this Holy Spirit is produced by St. John as a witness that Jesus is the Christ 1 John 5. 6. Secondly for Prayer We say that the Scripture doth evidently set down a Warrant and a Precedent of Prayer to the Holy Ghost which you will finde if you observe the words of St. Paul 2 Cor. 13. 13. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you This is a Prayer and here is not only a mention of the Holy Ghost but indeed all these words Grace Love and Communion do relate principally if not only to the Holy Ghost for the Spirit is the Grace and the Love of the Father and the Son and the grace of Jesus and the Love of the Father are conveyed unto us only by the Communion and Inspiration of the Holy Spirit The Spirit is the Conduit of them and the Cement or Ligament by which our conjunction fellowship Union or Communion is wrought and by which we are joyned and united in one Mystical body or corporation with the whole Trinity and this is the meaning of that saying of St. John Baptist concerning the Baptism of Christ He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost for those that are Mat 3. 11. baptized into Christ are by this Spirit united to him in one mystical body and so become One with him and by this Union with Christ they are united with the whole Trinity and therefore there is mention of the Holy Ghost in the formal words of Baptism because our Union is wrought only by this holy Cement of the Spirit for this reason it is that the Apostle prayeth for the Communion of the Holy Ghost Communion signifieth a mutual union of the Spirit with us and of us with the Spirit Communio is as much as Counio or uni◠cum The Scriptures are so plentiful in precedents of Prayers to the Holy Ghost that you may find them at least in thirteen of St. Pauls Epistles and at the beginning of every one of them for thus we read Rom 1. 7. Grace
be with you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ This is a Salutatory Prayer as Expositors new and old generally agree and herein the Holy Ghost is in the first place and chiefly intended for he is that Grace and Peace which proceedeth from the Father and the Son The Holy Ghost is the very goodnesse and sweetnesse of the God-head as we are taught by St. Austin a Aug. de Trin. lib. 6. cap. 10. Spiritus est genitoris Genitique suavitas For without this Grace and Peace by the Communion of the Holy Ghost the Almighty God-head would be uncomfortable yea and terrible unto us If it be demanded why the Holy Ghost is not so particularly and openly mentioned in that Prayer as the other persons are by the words God the Father and the Lord Jesus In this we are resolved by the same Father writing upon these words b Aug. Exposit in Rom. Non adjungit spiritum quia spiritus est donum dei Gratia Pax sunt donum Dei i. e. He doth not expresly mention the Spirit because it is implied for the Spirit is the gift of God and so are Grace and Peace The Spirit and his Graces are not separated but they go together so that by mentioning Grace and Peace from God he must mean the Spirit of Grace and Peace for the Spirit is expresly called The Peace of God Phil. 4. 7. because it is also there said To pass or excell all understanding therefore it must be a Peace infinite and so must be God who excelleth all humane comprehension and that the graces of the Spirit are called the Spirit it self is evident by the words of St. John Rev. 1. 4. who there calleth seven Graces of the same One and Only Spirit because every one may be called Spirit Seven Spirits In a word The Invocation and Prayer to the Holy Ghost is meant in St. Pauls other Epistles where the very same form of words is used viz. Grace be unto you and Peace from God our Father c. which the Reader may at his leisure observe in perusal of all these places besides the formerly alledged viz. 1 Cor. 1. 3. And 2 Cor. 1. 2. Gal. 1. 3. Eph. 1. 2. Phil. 1. 2. Col. 1. 2. And 1 Thes 1. 1. And 2 Thes 1. 3. And 1 Tim. 1. 2. And 2 Tim. 1. 2. Tit. 1. 4. Philem. 3. To all these pâ—ecedents we may farther add the Baptismal form of words to which we are strictly obliged which are thus set down In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost which words many Divines doubt not to call a Prayer and Invocation of the Three Persons although it is more also as Ph. Melancthon and Beza upon those words In the name tells us it is Invocato patre filio Spiritu i. e. That it signifies the Invocation of the Father Son and Spirit and so saith the Interlineal Gloss in Lyranus and many others To these we subjoin the Practice of the Church in glorifying all the Three Divine Persons in her Doxologies which I trust none will deny to be Prayers when we say Glory be to the Father c. which certainly is a Prayer as much and as full as Hallowed be thy name Of these Doxologies St. Basil saith in the behalf of the Church Catholick and against Anti-Triâ—itarians c Basil Epist 387. Nos glorificamus sicut Baptizamur In Nomine Patris Filii Spiritus i. e. We glorifie God in the same form of words that we are baptized withal that is we glorifie all the Three Persons equally and alike And that the same Father esteemeth the Doxology to be a Prayer is clearly declared by him in another place where he thus adviseth d Constitut Ascet In precibus incipe a glorificatione i. e. he would have us always to begin our Prayers with a glorifying of God Another practice and usance of the Church present was grounded upon that place in the Scripture Act. 15. 28. for because at the very first Christian Council the stile of their Decree is thus set down It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us therefore in After-Counsels they began with a Prayer and Invocation of the Holy Ghost particularly saying Veni Creator Spiritus which was also so used with us and at the laying on of hands in conferring Ecclesiastical orders and in many parts of our English Liturgy and particularly in the Letany a Prayer is specially and singly addressed to the Person of the Holy Ghost thus O God the Holy Ghost proceeding c. which Letany I think all sober well advised Christians and uninterested in Schism will acknowledg to be an holy charitable Pathetical and Heavenly Prayer and besides our praying to the Holy Ghost the Church confesseth her faith and beleeving in the Holy Ghost as well as in the Father and the Son in the Symbols Apostolical Niâ—ene and Athanasian which Creeds are acknowledged also by other reformed Churches Moreover although we should pass by and lay aside all that is before alledged and that no more could be said for Prayer to the Holy Ghost but only this that the Apostle tells us of a Temple of the Holy Ghost This may be enough to satisfie the humble Christian for 1 Cor. 6. 19. doubtless that Person to whom a Temple is lawfully piously and Christianly erected the same Person may with the same Piety and Christianity yea and must be prayed unto and Ipse Deus Templum aedificavit Spiritui sancto nam Deus corpora nostra aedificavit Aug. de Symb. To. 9. lib. 1. c. 4. worshipped in that Temple and therefore the Holy Ghost certainly should be worshipped and prayed unto whose Temple all holy people are as we read 1 Cor. 6. 19. Know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which Temple far excelleth all other worldly Temples it being a Temple made by God himself and made of the members of God And if we should build a Temple to Sacrilegi essemus Templum faciendo creaturae Etiam Angclo excellentissimo Aug. Cont. Serm. Arianor To. 6. n 18. any Creature though the most excellent Angel or Arch-Angel it must be confessed to be Idolatry and a sacrilegious robbing God of that glory and houour which is his peculiar and of which he saith Isa 42. 8. My glory will I not give to another In a word The bodies and souls of true Saints are not that Temple of the Holy Ghost which will continue and stand ever when all other mundane Temples although called by the names of Saints will be utterly demolished When King Henry the Eighth had un-Sainted the stubborn Saint Thomas Becket and had demolished his Shrine and Altar and secured all the rich Furniture Jewels Gold and Silver thereunto belonging Some Irish Romanists inquired to what Saints Patronage they might now for security dedicate their Churhces Answer was made that they should chuse St.
Peter and S. Paul but said they What if St. Peter and St. Paul be also un-sainted what must we then do They were told that then they should dedicate their Churches to the Trinity which they did and so they stood at that time quietly e De Schism Angl. p. 92. This Story is reported by Nich. Sanders in his Book De Schismate Anglorum I do therefore here exhort both my self and others also that seeing the old Saints and even the Apostles themselves are not now adays vouchsafed the title of Saints although they cannot be unsainted because that is not in mans power and that the Churches named by their names and also by the Appellation of Ecclesia sanctae individuae Trinitatis do for all this suffer wrack and are bereaved of their rights and riches and left Mat. 24. 15. desolate as if the Abomination or Desolation were come upon us and for as much as we see that none of our outward stony Temples are either Persecution-proof or Reformation-proof Let us in the name of God consecrate and dedicate our own little Chapels our private Tabernacles and Temples of our Bodies and Souls to the everlasting Blessed and glorious Trinity that so they may abide firme for ever for then their riches will continue un-sequestrable there where Theeves cannot break through and steal Mat. 6. 19. By what hath been said I trust it appears That in the God-head there are Three Persons all Coequal Coessential and Coeternal and all to be invoked worshipped and glorifyed for see how the Apostle evidently expresseth this truth 1 Cor. 12. where speaking of the diversities of gifts of the Holy Ghost yet calleth the Author of those graces The same Spirit The same Lord. The same God which St. Ambrose also accordingly 1 Cor. 12r Elegantly expresseth thus f Ambr. de Dignit hom c. 2. Ipse Deus Tria est unumquodque horum Trium Deus est omnia Tria non Dii sed Deus est i. e. God is Three and every one of these Three is God and all these Three are not to be called Gods but God To this I must add one consideration more That the constant faith and confession of this Mysterious Doctrine of the Trinity is of such near concernment that without it all our endeavours will be but fruitless Now since God hath so plentifully revealed it under the Gospel as we also read in Origen upon Job if that Book be his g Orig. in Job lib. 1. p. 420. Quicquid fecerint homines si non in fide Trinitatis fecerint sine Causa agunt a quo enim recipient mercedem i. e. Whatsoever any man shall perform except he do hold the faith of the Trinity his labour is lost for who else will give him any reward Most doleful therefore must be the condition of unbeleevers whose labours though ever so morally specious yet they are but like one that runs swiftly in a wrong way as h Aug. in Psal 31. St. Austin thinketh but yet more deplorable is the state of those who do not only not beleeve or dis-beleeve but moreover slight and also blaspheme the holy Trinity with such foul language that I think unfit to publish and which caused Gregory Naz. to break forth into admiration of the patience of God k Naz. Orat. 13. O Trinitas Longanimis quae eos a quibus proscinderis tam diu toleras i. e. That it was admirable Longanimity in the Holy Trinity to endure such blasphemers so long And this impiety is yet more hainous when it is found to be among those that profess Christianity whereas indeed the denial of the Trinity is most truly by St. Austin accounted Judaism Into which l Aug. de Temp. Serm. 194. dangerous infidelity it is to be feared that more Christians will fall then the great endeavours of these times will convert Jews from it And this because so many Scandals or stumbling-blocks are laid in their way of which I take my self to be obliged to give some intimation to the Reader before I conclude this Treatise CHAP. VIII Scandalous practices against the faith of the Trinity by forbidding the worship of the Lord Jesus By dis-use of the Doxologies and of the Creeds in Baptism And by dissolving Episcopacy which is a disparagement of the Holy Ghost by whom Bishops were ordained Of Presbytery That is no sacerdotal Order but only an Office KIng Solomon adviseth Prov. 22. 28. Not to remove the Land-marks which our Fathers have set yet commonly in all prevailing Schisms or prosperous heresies the first act of Reformation is in removing all or very many of the former usances although they be ever so good useful and laudable St. Basil saith that in the Arian Heretical Schism a Basil de Spiâ— Sanc. ad Amphil c. 30. Omnes patrum termini loco moti sunt magna est inclinatio temporum ad Ecclesiae eversionem caligo ecclesias occupat unicus amicitiae finis est Id. Epist 1. 61. 65. ad gratiam loqui Erroris similitudo est res firma ad Seditionis societatem Quilibet est Theologus Episcopatus ad homines vernas devenit Patrum dogmata Apostolorum traditiones contemnuntur Recentiorum hominum inventa dominantur Pastores abiguntur Lupi in roducuntur Domus Oratioriae deseruntur Qui maxime blasphemant in populi Ediscopatum eliguntur Gravitas sacerdotum periit Christianorum nomine tecti sunt persecutores Nulla est apud judices iniquos cani capitis reverentia Thus he and much more also to the same purpose Concerning the abuses of those Hereticks in abolshing the good old Doctrines and Disciplines of the Church the abusing of the most Reverend Ministers and in bringing into that holy Office unlearned men and any Quicunque vult of the lowest of the people Now although the dangerous heresies of Arians and Socinians have been discountenanced both by the late Parliaments and also by the present Government and some of their writings condemned to the fire which acts are by godly men esteemed very commendable and are very comfortable unto them yet many Land-marks and excellent parcels of our Christian Religion and those things wherein the Church of England did correspond with the Primitive Church are of late in many places removed and disused as if they were either impious or Superstitious or of very little or no concernment although some of them are of very great use and necessary This is that which occasioneth many weak Christians to be scandalized so far as to be suspicious of the truth of the most high and necessary Doctrine of the most holy Trinity as namely First Concerning the God-head of Christ it might stagger the faith of many weaker Christians when they find it was commanded by order of a great and wise Council that No Declarat of the Commons in Parl. Sept. 9. 1641. Phil. 2. 10. man should bow his knee when the Name of Jesus was named
as Christ is 1 2. Chapt. The Difficulties of apprehending the Mystery of the Trinity and other Christian Doctrines Of Philosophers Jews and Christians professing their ignorance in matters of Nature and Religion 8 3. Chapt. More concerning those Difficulties and of our ignorance in Theological Doctrines of the Trinity and Predestination and of the over-great boldness of some in handling those Mysteries 16 4. Chapt. That the Doctrine of the Trinity is obscurely delivered in the Old Testament Why the Septuagint concealed it The resemblance of the Trinity in things Natural and Moral The distinct proprieties of the Three Persons and their Unity Of the use of some Words in Religion which are not found in the Scriptures 25 5. Chapt. More of Words not Scriptural Of the Word Trinity and of the Word Person Why the Trinity is called Three Persons VVhy Baptism is administred in the name of the Trinity 34 6. Chapt. Of the Scriptural VVord Hypostasis The Grammatical and Theological signification thereof VVhy the Three Divine Persons are called Hypostases That the God-head resideth only in these Three Persons and not otherwise The Ubiquity both of the God-head and of these Three Persons 43 7. Chap. Of the Holy Ghost That he is one of the Divine Persons That he is to be prayed unto is shewed by Scripture and by practise of the Church That he is confessed in Creeds and invocated in Baptismes and Doxologies 53 8. Chapt. Of Scandals hindring the faith of the Trinity 1. By forbidding the corporal worship of the Lord Jesus 2. By disuse of the Doxologies and Creeds even in Baptismes 3. By dissolving the Order Episcopal ordained by the Holy Ghost Of Presbytery That it is no Scriptural order of Sacerdocy St Jerom's Epistle to Euagrius explained 63 9. Chapt. More of Scandals 1. By scandalous Ministers 2. By dis-use and abuse of the Lords Prayer Of Christs Earthly Kingdome and his corporal return before his coming to the last Judgment That prosperity in unjust causes is no sign of Gods approbation Of the Regal Stile Gratia Dei Something concerning publick Thanks-givings 78 10. Chapt. Of Millinarians and their imaginary fifth Monarchy That it is an Heresy against the faith of the Trinity Mr Mede's Argument for Christ's Earthly Kingdome is answered That Christs Kingdome shall last after the final Judgement and continue for ever 87 Sect. 2. Of Christ's Kingdom over all the World and every Creature That it ceased not at his death That neither the Roman Consistory nor the Presbyterian Vestry can be called Christs Throne How it is in this World and yet not of this World That the Policy of Christ's Kingdome is altogether unlike and divers from worldly Policy 96 Sect. 3. Of Christ's Kingdome and Acts in Heaven Of his Melchisedechical Priest-hood there The manner of his Intercession Advocateship and Mediatorship for us in Heaven That it is not by Sacrificing or praying for us there What Priestly Act he there performeth 110 Sect. 4. Of Christ's Session at the Right hand of God The difference between the Right hand of God and the Right hand of the Father with the abuses of that Article VVhy Christ withdrew to Heaven Of the re-building of Ierusalem and the Temple Of the Jewish Monarchy and their Pseudo-Messiah or the great Antichrist 122 Sect. 5. The signification of the Jewish feast of Atonement and of the High-priests entring the Sanctum Sanctorum and of the Mercy-seat sprinkling of blood Scape-goat and Jewish Sacrifices why God disliked them The signification of the Altar Of Jewish and Christian Liturgies 135 11. Chapt. More concerning Millinarism The dreadful and bloody Consequences thereof Of new Millinarian Saints and the Meek VVhat Earth or Land is promised to the truely Meek The Title of Saint unduely placed is an abuse of the Holy Ghost The Conclusion 146 The Preface HAving formerly discoursed concerning the absolute Godhead of Jesus Christ and shewed that he is the only and most high God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Divines use to say and the I am i. God absolutely and independently for an Antidote against the late Socinian commentary on the Hebrews It seemeth requisite and seasonable to consider the same Lord Jesus in his Relative Personality as he standeth in relation to the Father and so is the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father In the contemplation whereof I shall be necessitated briefly to discourse the Sacred Doctrine of the whole blessed Trinity and each several Person thereof And because this profound and mysterious Doctrine is far above the reach of our Natural reason and comprehension and therefore to be not only Reverendly but also Warily and Circumspectly handled it being confessed both by Heathen and Christian Writers a Tacitus Sanctius reverentius visum est de actis Deorum credere quam scire and b Cicero De Potestate Deorum timide pauca dicamus i. e. it seemeth more reverend to believe the power of God then to presume to pry into it and to speak sparingly and timerously thereof because as Origen saith c Orig. in Eze. hom 1. De Deo vera dicere periculosum est i. e. It is dangerous to speak of God albeit we speak nothing but the Truth I therefore do here most earnestly implore the assistance of the Father of Lights to illuminate the hearts both of the Writer and Reader that from him we may receive all needful evidence for our apprehension and for our faith in the holy Trinity which now we are to discourse of and to shew that there are Three Persons in the Godhead and that they all are Coëssential Coëqual and Coëternal Errata Page 5. l. 17. r. patre p. 9. l. 9. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 17. l. 19. r. Salvianus p. 21. l. 16. r. ipse p. 23. l. 9. r. Abulenses p. 24. l. 9. r. Idiotae p. 34. l. 10. r. contentiosius p. 41. l. 31. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 44. l. 24. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 60. l. 1. r. are that temple p. 69. l. 21 22. r. signing p. 75. l. 13. r. voted p. 76. l. 7. dele those godly p. 78. l. 10. r. in Marcione p. 109. l. 2. r. ne gentes l. 22. r. spirit p. 110. l. 9. r. whether p. 125. l. 2. r. lord p. 129. l. 15. r. premisses p. 130. l. 24. r. take p. 136. l. 22. r. the feast p. 137. l. 12. r. propitiation p. 147. l. 25. r. men p. 150. l. 5. r. women p. 151. r. them p. 153. l. 2. r. auri l. 12. r. devour l. 17. r. foul toad found p. 158. l. 2. r. Augustine p. 159. l. 4. r. paraechial l. 13. r. metuant l. 25. r. alio fastu In the Margin In the Epistle p. 4. l. 3 4. r. extinguunt In the Book p. 7. l. 1. r. Bas cont Eunom p. 11. l. 7. r. Dion Laer. p. 16. l. 2. r. Rom. 11. 33. p. 17. l. 3. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 21. l. 2.
did not for this reason call him the Son of God And although the Scripture doth call him the finger of God because the Spirit doth shew the secret Counsels of God yet in all this Scripture the Spirit is never called the Son of God or said to be begotten And when the Macedonian Hereticks demanded an example or Instance of One begotten and another not begotten yet both to come from one Gregory Naz. answereth them c Naz. Orat. 37. that Eve and Seth were both of them from Adam Seth was begotten and Eve not begotten When an earthly King sends his Embassador to declare his will or desires to another State will any man say that the Embassador must for this cause be called the Kings Son No surely although he be Legatus a latere or Legatus natus as our Archbish of Cant. was once called and a veridicus and no Mendoza as one pleasantly described an Embassador Vin bonus peregre missus ad mentienduÌ„ pro Repub. yet no Son for this neither are the Apostles to be called sons for this although S. Paul saith They are Embassadors for Christ 2 Cor. 5. 20. There are other precences alleadged by the Commenter in this matter but they are frivolous and light and easily discernable by any intelligent Reader to be but vain and are not worth the while to examine This Doctrine of the Eternal Son of God and so of the Holy Trinity of Persons is of such necessity to be retained and beleeved that without it Christians cannot reasonably fancy to themselves any probable way of Salvation because as I have formerly shewed upon this Doctrine is grounded the everlasting Covenant of grace which is also called the Eternal Gospel by which only we can hope for and claim Salvation by and in Christ wherefore to me it seemeth a wonderful blindness of some in these Times by whom the blessed Trinity is not only unbelieved but withal so fouly blasphemed that it is both unfitting yea and dangerous to report their words and therefore in the same case S. Basil in his Book against the Heretick Eunomius wherein he was forced to declare his blasphemous Errors thus prayed d Baz Cont. Eunol ib. 2. Domine in his quae loquimur propitius nobis sis i. e. That God would be merciful to him for his only rehearsing Eunomius his blasphemies God is patient indeed in suffering such abuses both of his Truth and Person and doth therefore permit them because he can extract some good use from them upon this reason S. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 11. 19. There must be Heresies as if there were some need of them which surely is chiefly this That the rising of Heresies giveth occasion to the Church to set forth and explain the true and holy Doctrine more evidently then otherwise it would be But I proceed CHAP. 2. The difficulty of the Doctrine of the Trinity and other Christian Mysteries that it should not discourage us from bileeving nor provoke us to impatience The most learned Philosophers Jews and Christians professing their ignorances THe Ancient Hereticks rejected the Doctrine of the Trinity because they could not by reasoning comprehend it and many now a days neglect it because it is sublime and hard to be understood But this pretence will not serve their turn the difficulties should not hinder but rather quicken our indeavors to find out what we can nor should they impede our faith from beleeving that which we are sure the Scriptures propound to us although we understand it not S. Ambrose saith very truly a Ambr. de Offic. lib. 1. c. 1. Nemo est qui doceri non egeat dum vivit ie The most wise and learned men may still be learners whilst they live Neither doth God require our comprehension of all Christian Doctrine but our apprehension not our understanding but our beleeving it The Articles of faith are tendred to us under the word Credo i. e. to be beleeved though not understood Christ himself calls our Religion The Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 13. 11. and S. Paul The Mystery of godliness 1 Tim. 3. 16. The word Mystery signifieth a thing secret and hidden of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shut and in another place he calls these Mysteries Riddles 1 Cor. 13. 12. here we see darkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e in a Riddle The Prophet saith Verily thâ—u art a God that hidâ—st Isa 45. 15. Luc. 10. 21. thy self Christ said That the Father had hid those things from the wise which yet he revealed to Babes So Christ was figured by the Ark which stood in a secret place of the Temple and there was also a Veile before it to intimate that Christ was for a time shut up veiled and hidden and indeed Moses Veil signified the same thing as the Apostle saith of the careless Jews 2. Cor. 3. 15. But even unto this day when Moses is read the veile is upon their heart when it shall turn unto the Lord the Veil shall be taken away i. e. When by faith their heart shall embrace Christ this darkness shall be light For the submitting our carnal wisdom and reason to the word of God will bring a greater evidence to our souls then the profoundest disputes can do Upon these words My sheep hear my voyce S. Basil observeth Audiunt non disputant ie they make no disputes but accept it and the old reading of those words Isa 7. 9 as we finde generally in the Fathers was Nisi credideri is non intelligetis i. e. except ye beleeve ye shall not understand So S Peter puts believing before knowing Joh. 6. 69. We beleeve and are sure it is in the Original we beleeve and know for in these Mysteries faith must lead us to knowledge b Aug. in Joh. Tract 29. Noli intelligere ut credas sed crede ut intelligas i. e. say not I will not beleeve until I understand but first beleeve and then understanding will follow Christ saith If you beleeve not that I am he you shall dye in Joh. 8. 28. your sins blessed be God saith the Expositer that he did not say Except ye understand it Austin reporting the great faith of Christians in his time tells us that it was a common saying among them c Aug. de Tem. Serm. 189. Accepto baptismo dicere solemus fidelis factus sum credo quod nescio i. e. When we are baptized we use to say now I am one of the faithful for I beleeve that which I understand not When Abailardus would needs know the reason why the Son of God would redeem and save mankind by his own blood-shedding which he might have done by his word only S. Bernard returned this answer d Bern. Epist 190. Ipsum interroga mihi scire licet quod ita Cur ita non licet i. e. Ask Christ himself for though I know he did so yet why did he so I may not presume to
therefore how it can seem reasonable to any man that understandeth Baptism and especially to our learned Teachers that one should enter a Covenant in Baptism of beleeving when the things to be confessed and beleeved are not at all rehearsed or mentioned And yet more strange it is that although they have changed the old form of singing with the signe of the Cross into singing with the signe of the Covenant yet the words of the Covenant are not at all by them rehearsed Whereas it is evident in Scripture that a confession of faith and so a Covenant of beleeving is required in Baptism for when the Noble Eunuch desired Baptism he was first required to beleeve and thereupon made a confession of his faith thus I beleeve that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Act. 8. 37. so he was baptized As for the reforming of great Fonts into little Basons and the like lesser matters wherein how much the amendment is better then the supposed fault or defect we dispute not but we are heartily sorry that in many Congregations the Incumbents do often refuse to baptize at all except it be the children of the Rich of their own fraternity Fourthly We have also lost the grave and venerable Order Episcopal which may justly seem to argue a dis-belief or a disparagement of the Holy-Ghost of whom it is said Acts 20. 28. Spiritus sanctus posuit Episcopos for if it be indeed beleeved that the holy spirit did plant or place them it must also be believed that some contrary Ghost or anti-Anti-spirit it is that supplanteth them Our Lord Jesus himself now since he sate at the right hand of God in Heaven yet there sitting is called a Bishop 1 Pet. 2. 25. The Shepherd and Bishop of our souls and the chief Shepherd 1 Pet. 5. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the great Shepherd of the sheep Heb. 13. 20. The Appellation of Pastor belonged only to Bishops in the Primitive Church but but now every young Curat though but an intruder will write himself Pastor too arrogantly St. John in his Revelation saw four and Rev. 4. 10. twenty Presbiters so is the original fall down before this great Bishop but our new Revelations have shewen us twenty four Bishops falling before Presbyters I suppose that the greatest adversaries of Episcopacy will not deny the Title of Bishop to be a scriptural word as it is and not an extraordinary or temporary word or appellation as some others are but a positive and fixed name and office and if it be indeed so planted by the Holy Ghost in the holy Scriptures men should be afraid to raze it out if they consider that Moses charged his Israelites neither to add nor diminish ought from the word that he had Deut. 4. 2. taught them and so St. John at the very close of the Gospel hath left a terrible threatning which surely extendeth to all holy writ If any man shall add to it God shall add plagues to him Rev. 22. 18. And if any shall take away from it God shall take away his part out of the book of life The greatest Sticklers and Dogmatical opposers and enemies to Episcopacy for I meddle not with Authoritative power are those men who would have Presbyters to be the Supream Sacerdotal order but I firmly beleeve that in the Scripture the word Presbyter was not intended to signifie any order at all of Sacerdocy but only to signifie a jurisdictive Authority annexed to the two only Orders of Bishop and Minister for Bishops are therefore called Presbyters in the Scripture because of their jurisdiction only Presbyter is an appellation of the Office or work of a Bishop but not of his Order as St. Paul doth evidently distinguish them 1 Tim. 3. 1. If a man desire the Office of a Bishop he desireth a good Work Here is 1. The Office or Work 2. The Order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Afterwards inferior Ministers were called Presbyters and that very early in the Primitive Church And now all Ministers are generally called Presbyters which is improper and abusive except there be first a faculty of some part of the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction annexed to the Minister which jurisdiction in due form should be derived on them by grant of the Superiour Order of the Bishop for although it is very true that in the Primitive Church a new Order was set up and called Presbyters and placed between Bishops and Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet this Order was onely Ecclesiastical but not Scriptural For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Presbyter in Scripture is promiscuously used to signifie both Ecclesiastical and civil Governours because it signifieth only a jurisdictive Authority and not a sacerdotal Order In the new Testament Presbyters of the people Mat. 21. 23. and 26. 47. and 27. 1. are mentioned And Presbyters of the Church Act. 15. 4. 6. and 1 Tim. 5. 17. And Tit. 1. 5. in all which places our English renders the word Elder But Beza varies in in the Translation of it for when it is said of the Laity he renders it Seniores i. e. Elders But when it is said of Ecclesiastical persons there he renders it Presbyteri i. e. Presbyters In the old Testament we find but two Sacerdotal Orders viz. 1. The High-Priest Aaron and his Successors 2. Inferior Priests called the Sons of Aaron So in the new-Testament we finde but two Orders of Sacerdocy viz. * Bishops the inferiour Ministers or Presbyters are both called Sacerdotes by St. Augustin de civ l. 20. c. 10. 1. Bishops 2. Ministers who are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So St. Paul reckons them more then once as Phil. 1. 1. The Bishops and Deacons and so 1 Tim. 3. 2. 8. So St. Jerome in that Epistle to Evagrius which hath been so tugged and stretched to make it speak for the Presbyterian design doth propound this sure rule concerning Ecclesiastical Orders a Hier. Epist 84. To. 2. Sciamus traditiones Apostolicas sumptas de veteri Testamento i. e. What the Apostles have delivered or written concerning Ecclesiastical Orders was by them taken from the patterns of Sacerdotal Orders in the old Testament which certainly is true because the same Immutable God is the Authour of Orders both in the old and new Testament St. Jerome goes on thus b Id. ibid. Quod Aaron filii ejus atque Levitae in Templo fuerunt hoc sibi Episcopi Presbyteri Diaconi vindicent in Ecclesia i. e. That which Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were during the Temple The same may Bishops Presbyters and Deacons claim in the Church But every learned man knoweth that the Levites were not Priests therefore those that St. Jerome calls Presbyters must needs be the same that St. Paul calls Deacons or Ministers Now if Presbyters must be the highest Order in the Church by the same proportion Aarons Sons sholud have been the High-Priests in the Temple but
profaned Psal 89. 38. 39. 40. 42. 43. his Crown by casting it to the ground Thou hast broken down all his hedges and brought his strong holds to ruin Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries Thou hast turned the Edg of his Sword Thou hast made his glorie to cease c. Therefore this prophesied Kingdom can not be meant of the old David or any of his posterity but only of Christ in whom only this Davidical Kingdom still resteth and shall last on earth as long as the Sun endureth Of this Kingdom of Christ as he is the Son of David are those prophecies to be understood Ps 72. He shall come down like rain upon Psal 72. 6. the mowen grass or fleece of wool This is said of the secret birth of Christ of a Virgin without noyse or clamor He shall have dominion unto 8. the ends of the earth So had not any other of Davids posterity All Kings shall fall before 11. him and all Nations shall serve him This is not verified of any King but only Christ Prayer 15. shall be made ever to him or for him by his institution and dayly shall he be praised his name shall endure for ever as long as the Sun and men shall be blessed in him all Nations shall call him blessed any man that is but of meane progress in Religion may easily apprehend that these speeches can fit none other but Christ even Balaam an Heathen and a Magician Num. 24. 2 when the Spirit of God came upon him prophecied of a Star to come out of Jacob and a Scepter 17. out of Israel The Star signifieth the Heavenly or Divine part of Christ which should condescend to take flesh from Jacob. The Scepter signifieth the Kingdom of this Heavenly Star or Son of God so incarnate or as he is the Son of Jacob or Israel and so it must signifie the Kingdom of Christ Neither is the Gospel silent concerning the universal Kingdom of Christ in this world The Angel said He shall reigne over the house of Jacob Lu. 1. 33. for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be Regi Deâ— Mcrituro Naz. Ambr. no end This was said of Jesus as he is the Son of Mary therefore of the Man Christ The Wise men of the East call him King and they offer Gold Frankincense and Myrrhe as to a King and to a God and to a Mortall as the Fathers generally agree The news of this Kingdom came to Rome in the days of Nero and is reported by a Suet. in Vospat c. 4. Ioseph de Bel. Iud. l. 7. Suetonius That by an old Prophecie it was foretold That about those times there should come out of Judaea some who should have dominion over the whole world This by flatterers was applied to Vespasian though he thought it to be meant of another and not of himself and therefore caused inquisition to be made among the Jews for the posterity of David to be put to death so did his Son Domitian and when two of them were brought before him of mean condition he asked them what estates they had they answered they had but b Iugera Euseb Hist l. 3. c. 20. Paul Oros l. 7. c. 7. 39 Acres of Land then he looked on their hands and perceived them to be hard and brawny with labour and so dismissed them as contemptible Herod beleeved the Prophecy of Christs Kingdom but mistook the manner of it and therefore slew the infants to prevent it What else can be the meaning of those sayings in St. Johns Gospel The word was made Ioh. 1. 14. flesh He came into the world and the world was made by him He came unto his own therefore 10. 11. Ioh. 3. 35. the world was his The Father hath given all things into his hand This is said of the Son now incarnate Thou hast given him power over all flesh This was said before his passion and that also Mat. 11. 27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father This power was given to him as man for by his God-head all was his before there is also mention of a Kingly prerogative annexed to his manhood wheÌ„ it is said The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive Mat. 9. 6 sins and this is so high that in the Apocalyps he is called The Prince of the Kings of the earth Rec. 1. 5 so the greatest Potentates on earth are but his subjects Neither did his Kingdom cease whilest he was dead and buried there was no Interstitium no Inter regnum or Interval of his Dominion for neither was the union of the God-head and man hood in him dissolved by death indeed the body and soul were parted each from the other but yet so that they did convene in Vno Tertio for they were both held in the hands of the Father or God head as when one draweth a sword out of the scabbard and holdeth the sword in one hand and the scabbard in the other Christ said at the point of his death Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Lu. 23. 46. therefore neither could his soul be detained in Hell or wheresoever it was as it is said Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hâ—ll nor Act. 2. 24. 27. could the grave retain his body so as to hinder its reuniting with the soul as it is said It was impossible that he should be holden of death we find also both in his life time and in the very lowest degree of his humiliation and death all Creatures acknowledging his Soveraignity He commanded the winds of the air He walked on the Sea the Fishes brought him tribute the Earth did quake The Sun was darkned in Heaven Angels ministred unto him Divels were dispossessed by him Graves gave up their dead bodies and Paradise it self as it seems sent back the souls of sleeping Saints The Kingdom of Christ in this world is acknowledged both by Romanists and also by those Protestants that are of the Presbyterian persuasion although I conceive they both err in the circumstance and manner thereof for the Romanists place the Throne of Christ in their Roman Consistâ—rie and in the Infallible Chayr but that Throne will not agree with the words of the Psalmist because all Kings and Nations have not fain before it and many who heretofore acknowledged it have since utterly rejected it so that the Roman Catholick or universal Throne hath not increased of late nor the universality thereof doth-last as long as the Sun or days of Heaven Neither will the Presbyterian Vestry be suteable with the Universal Throne of Christ although some have said that the Presbytery is his Throne and that it is to be set up by the sword but so is not the Sion of Christ the Prophet reproves the Jews for building up Sion in blood it may be reasonably suspected that all the former Mich. 3. 10. and present indeavours and
Hoc praestat timor Dei ut alios timores contemnamus and St. Ambros speaking of the burning of the Martyr Laurentius saith e Ambr. Serm. 19. n. 41 Maâ—or slamma intrinsecus est The fear of God overcometh all humane fears and the fire of Gods Spirits within us wherewith our hearts burn is more ardent then the flames of Tyrants as cruel Antiochus was told by a Martyr f Ioseph de Macab Ignis tuus frigidus est O Magister crudelitatis i. e. That the Tyrants fire was but cold in respect of this Heavenly flame Thus doth the Scepter and Kingly power of Christ appear most in our weakness and this is the method of his Kingdom in this world But of the carnal domineering insulting ruffling and ranting Kingdom which Millinarians dream of Christ saith My Kingdom is not of this World SECT III. Of Christs Kingdom and Acts in Heaven of his Melchisedechical Priest-hood there The manner of his intercession Advocate-ship and Mediatorship for us in Heaven That it is not by sacrificing or praying for us there What Priestly act he there performeth WE are next to inquire whether Christ since his ascensioÌ„ hath any Kingdom or Dominion in HeaveÌ„ what he hath done there all this while for the English Socinian Commenter on the Hebrews tells us that this Epistle is a The Preface a. 3. the History of Christ in Heaven which is true in part although himself have depraved it but so are also other parcels of Scripture as may thus appear in his ascension he was attended and proclaimed King by Angels as Justin. Origen Jerom. Ambros and Chrysost understand these words Ps 24. 7. Lift up your Psal 24 heads O ye gates or O ye Princes and the King of glory shall come in for although as he is the Son of God or God the Word he was in Heaven before yet his humane nature was not there before his ascension as is well expressed by b Ruf. in Symb. apud Cyp. Ruffinus Ascendit ad Coelos non ubi verbum Deus ante non fuerat sed ubi verbum caro factum ante non sedebat being there he is said to have a Throne and that for ever and Heb. 1. 8. ever Ps 45. 6. a Throne is Kingly but this Throne is also on the right hand of God so it is the highest Throne thence he is said to give gifts unto men Eph. 4. 8. as The Holy Ghost at Pentecost was by him shed Act. 2. 3. So he gave Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers Eph. 4. 11. to those more gifts are added Gifts of healing helps in government diversities of tongues 1 Cor. 12. 28. besides many other sanctifying graces to holy men and women He â—hewed himself to be in Heaven and at the right hand of God to the Protomartyr Act. 7. 56. out of Heaven he spake to Saul and restrained him from persecuting Act. 9. He is called a Priest an High-Priest and a Bishop he maketh intercession for us in Heaven Rom. 8. 34. Heb. 7. 25. He is our Advocate with the Father 1 Joh. 2. 1. And our Mediator 1 Tim. 2. 5. c. What Act of Priest-hood and what kind of intercession Christ performeth for us in Heaven and what is meant by his session at the right hand of God we will inquire anon but first his Kingly authority is to be shewed After the Passion and Resurrection of Christ and before his ascension he said All power is Mat 28. 18. given unto me in Heaven and in Earth These words are weighty The giving is meant only of a gift to his humanity thus That all power in Heaven and Earth which was naturally in the Son or Word before his incarnation is now by the God-head even his own God-head communicated to his humane nature being personally united with his divine nature so that now the Emanuel or Christ or the Word made flesh hath all power in Heaven and Earth the whole power of the God-head is in him There is nothing done by God either in Heaven or Earth but what Jesus Christ doth because there is none other God but that God which he is for he is the one and only God The Father and the Spirit are with him but one God whatsoever the Father doth he doth it by the Son and whatsoever the Son doth he doth it from the Father and by the Spirit and whatsoever the Spirit doth he doth it from the Father and the Son Christ saith The Ioh. 5. 17. Father worketh and I work this because the works of one are the works of both He saith again I can of my self do nothing 30. this he said because the Father and the Son are one therefore the works of the Son are the works of the Father also This is to be understood of the Essential or Absolute works of the God head but not of the Personal or proper works of each several person he saith again The Son can do nothing of himself but what he 19. seeth the Father do This is not so to be understood as if the Father did first perform a work to be as a Sampler or pattern for the Son to work by and then the Son after him should perform such another work but that the very same individual work of the Father is also the work of the Son for example The Father made the world so did the Son make the same world If this work be not the one and self same work of the Father and the Son then as Austin argueth a Aug. in Ioan. tract 20. Da mihi alterum mundum quem fecit Filius you can not shew me two worlds one of the Fathers making and another of the Sons making Indeed before the incarnation of the Son all the power in Heaven and earth was in the pure God-head residing in the Father Word and Spirit But since the Word or Son was incarnate all that power is communicated by the same God-head to the Son incarnate who is thereupon called Christ and Emanuel There is now none other King of glory but that God which is in Christ St. Iude calls him both The only Lord God and our Lord Iesus Christ Iude 4. Ioh. 5. 22. 27. therefore himself saith That the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son that is to Christ and this Son shall therefore in the end in his assumed and visible nature judg the world If it be said that his humane nature is a creature and therefore must always be subject to his God-head we answer that it is true but nevertheless the Emanuel i. e. The Divine and Humane Nature joyntly govern all things for so the body of a King is subject to the soul or will of the King yet the King consisting of a Body and Soul with both ruleth If it be said that the Father and the Holy Spirit do also reign and govern all things as well as the Son though neither the Father
r. Deor. p. 34. l. 8. r. hom 46. 31. p. 46. l. 6. r. Ascet p. 131. l. 1. r. Ioh. p. 147. l. 1. r. 118. p. 149. l. 6. r. haer THE DOCTRINE OF THE Holy Trinity CHAP. I. How Christ is the Son of God peculiarly by Eternal generation and not only by his Miraculous humane Birth How he is the first begoâ—ten and the Only-begotten Son That the Holy Ghost cannot be called a Son nor any Creature so as Christ is Why Heresies are permitted TO this Discourse following I am led by our Commenters inconsiderate if not malicious Exposition of that place Heb. 1. 2. Where it is said He hath spoken to us by â—or in his Son upon which words Heb. 1. 2. he tells us that Christ is therefore called the Son of God Because he was wonderfully born of a Virgin without the co operation of man and only by the miraculous Power of God 2. Because he was appointed to reveal the will of God c. This he learned of the old Arians who did just so expound those words as we find related by a Ath. de Decret Nic. Concil Athanasius Thus he wilfully leaveth out the grand and most principal reason of Christs Son ship and fasteneth on such shifts as are but frivolous in respect of the main and indeed are not proper to Christ but common to divers others For how is the Creation of Adam and Eve less Miraculous and Divine then this that the Commenter affordeth to the Son of God Is it not as wonderful to make a man of earth as of a woman And as much a Divine work to make a woman of a man as Eve was as to make a man of a Virgin And truly as much may be said of Isaac and Jâ—hn Baptist both conceived by Divine Power by such Parents as were naturally disabled from child-bearing both by age and sterility for Sarai was barren Gen. 11. 30. and she was ninety years old before she conceived Gen. 17. 17. So Elizabeth was both barren and stricken in years Luk. 1. 17. that is naturally indisposed for child-bearing so that their child-bearing must be confessed to be miraculous by Divine Power as well as Christs humane generation By this reason the Heathens might have called meer men the Sons of God for they affirmed that the first men did grow out of the earth or that they sprang from Trees and are therefore called by them Autecthones Aborigines indigenae and Terrae-filii as is expressed by the Poet. Juvenal sat 6. sat 13. Qui rupto robore nati Compositique luto nullos habuere parentes And Quondam hoc indigenae vivebant more Pers sat 3. Diodor. Sic. lib. 1. lib. 3. And another alluding to this fiction calls a lazy young Boy Vdum molle lutum Of which Heathenish error we read much in Diodorus who seriously and Historically affirmed the first men to have grown out of the earth and this in Ethiopia And to make this report credible he tells us that some Ethiopians must needs be so bred because they were seated in such a place as was inaccessable by any Forrainer and without any possibility of egress by the Inhabitants by reason of the steep Rocks and Sea wherewith this Land was inclosed when they had not any Boats or Ships for Ingress or Egress Therefore these Heathens upon this conceit might as well boast themselves to be the Sons of God as either Adam or Christ if we will beleeve this Commenter yet they ascribed the Original of men only to nature not to God And indeed our ordinary forming in the Womb and natural Births are as much to be accounted the Work of God and Wonderful as was the forming of Christ or our first Parents and would be so esteemed if it were not so common and ordinary The Psalmist Psal 139. 16. saith I am wonderfully made and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth The like may be said of the whole world which was so wonderfully created by God yet we call not the world the Son of God The Scriptures call Christ Priâ—ogenitum the first begotten Son of God because by his Eternal and Ineffable Generation he was before all the other Sons of God whether men or Angels who are also call'd the Sons of God The same Scriptures call Christ Vnigenitum The Only begotten Son of the Father because none other were so begotten as this Eternal Son of God was being by this Generation of the same Essence Nature Substance and Godhead that the Father is God of God Even as the sons of men are of the same specifical humane Nature and Essence with their Progenitors But men are not so the Sons of God as they are of their natural Parents because they are not of the same Essence and Nature with God for if they were then it must follow that man should be and properly be called God just as a son of man is called man To the second Reason That Christ is the Son of God because he was appointed to râ—veal the wâ—ll of God We say this is a so common to others for so Moses was Appoiâ—ted and did reveal the will of God so did the holy Prophets and after them the holy Apostles did the same And S. Paul who was most signally so appointed from Heaven tells the Asians Acts 20. 27. I have nâ—t shunned to declare unto you all the Councell of God Angels also declared and revealed the will of God and so doth the Holy Ghost as fully as ever the second person did and rather more because the Revelation of the will of God is by Christ himself referred and respited until the Holy Ghost should come and teach it as we read But the Comfoâ—ter Joh. 14. 26. 16. 13. which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send iâ— my name he shall teach you all â—hings and He will guide you idto all truth Yet Angels are not for this cause to be so called the Sons of God and to say that the Holy Ghost is the Son of God the Father or God the Son was long ago adjudged Heresie as we are told by Athanasius a Athan. Epist ad Serapion Hâ—retici aiunt filium spiritumâ—e â—e fratres quod pater est avus spiritus est nâ—pos patris filius fiâ—i quia spiritus a filio est filius a Pater â—e Hereticks say that the Son and the Spirit are brethren and that the Father is the Grand-Father of the Spirit and the Spirit is the Son of the Son and such conceits are by Epiphanius said to be Heresies of the b Ephiph haer 19. haer 53. Osseni and the Sam saei Finally those Anti Trinitarian Hereticks who heretofore taugâ—th the same which this Commenter doth although they would afford no better appellation to the Holy Ghost then to call him Ministâ—um Apostolum and Mâ—ttendarium i. e. a Minister an Embassador and Emissary of God yet they