Orat. to the Convent of Saints of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which however the learned think of it seems to be nothing else but the Translation of Mijmro in the Targum says that in the Mystery of the Trinity there is a Disjunction-Conjunction he means as the following words shew a Disjunction perform'd Intellectually only not Locally or a Disjunction of Two of the Persons abiding in Conjunction with the substance of the First I say abiding in it as Eusebius speaks in which he accords with Synesius without Abscission or without Disruption Many more Testimonies might I produce to like purpose but I forbear because I suppose these are enough Yet forasmuch as many with Erastus and Hobbs have more kindness for the Sacro-Sanctity of human Laws that they have for the Holy Cannons of the Church I shall add one Testimony more out of the Civil Law It is in an Edict of Theodosius the Great call'd Filia ejus Primogenita because set forth the next year after his Baptisme and it is Vt secundum Apostolorum Disciplinam Evangelicamque doctrinam Patris Filij et Spiritus Sancti Vnam Deitatem sub parili Majestate ◠sub pia Trinitate credamus Is not here Paritis an Equal Majesty Is no here Pia a Godly or divine Trinity and is not here Vnica Deitas be One Godhead all the while Let them Judge who cry out so much 't is Law 't is Law which is the worst of the Two in Earnest Outlawry from the Civil Sanction or Excommunication from the Eclesiastical And What now since these Testimonies make out the Mystery so plainly the way that I take can we see any reason why we should check at the Subordination of the Son to the Father and of the Holy Ghost to the Father and Son For my part I see none What tho' the Arian says impudently enough 't is a Derogation to one who is God to be an Underling adding how come the Son and Holy Ghost to be sent to be put in Office to Minister why is One said to be the Son of the Highest the Other to be the Power of the Highest if we anoint our Eyes with Eye-Salve we shan't be long without an Answer to this For that Two of the Persons are Subordinate quà Persons we may acknowledge freely having sufficient warrant for 't from the word of God For why The Son himself says I came into the world not to be Minister'd unto but to Minister and St. Paul speaking of the Gospel calls it the Ministration of the Spirit Besides we find that as the Son Ministers to the Father only because He is of the Father alone so the Holy Ghost is call'd sometimes the Spirit of the Father sometimes the Spirit of the Son because as he Proceeded from both so he Ministers to Both. I say therefore that they are capable of Mission and Commission consequently may be put in Office tho' as in Unity they are really and truely God The reason of this we may Conceive well enough For We are taught by our Saviour himself when we pray to say Our Father which art in Heaven May we say therefore that the Father's Godhead which is the place of the Son and the Holy Ghost is the Place of all Spirits too for my part I dare not do 't least I should seem to Deify the Devils With Aquinas rather Deitas est immobilis say I for where it is now it ever was will be and Is immovably of the Godhead there is no going forth it is Quiescence it is Everlasting Sabbath The Totsaoth or Goings forth are of the Son and Holy Ghost only and they as they may so they have as the Prophet speaks of the Son their Egressions or Out-goings indeed and Blessed be God's holy name we see the Effects of all of their Subordination I mean and comings forth in our Redemption and Sanctification wherein they Minister to the Father for our Salvation Accordingly I shall lay down Two Querae's to be consider'd of Whether the Second Person the Son be not the Illustrious Prototype of the Souls of Men who beget their Like Whether the Third Person the Holy Ghost be not also the Illustrious Prototype of Coelestial Wights or Angels proceeding in their Creation all at once So it seems to be First because there are but two sorts or kinds of Rational Beings to be call'd Persons besides the Trinity Secondly because any kind of Person if it be Con-Substantial or in Unity with the Godhead must needs be God of God To speak of the Son first If it Be not so I ask why is he said to be Begotten why as Adam is he call'd the Son and the Image of God Why as a nurse Child or Foster-Babe is he long before God's Madeworks said to rejoyce and to have his delight in the Sons of Men and when Incarnate why did he call men and women Brothers and Sisters yea since the Father and Holy Ghost could not so be by reason of the Ones Immensity the Other 's Ubiquity why is He only Prophesy'd of to be a man whom a woman or rather a Virgin should Compass and how could he say I came from the Father into the World and now I leave the World and go to the Father And what tho' he be as the Arian says but the Son of the Highest I can tell him that he notwithstanding is most High too yea as High as the Highest for so the Holy Church in her Hymn at the close of the Communion Service Sings Thou only O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high ask we how She says In the Glory of God the Father What is' t I hear O Depth of Wisdom O Abisse of Love tho' faintly yet someway Comprehensible On it because he that is Gods fellow being made man is my fellow also my heart Exults and Rejoyceth in Hope that he 'l be as kind to me as to any Sinner else and keep my wretched Soul from Hell Whether this be true or no it seems to be a suitable sweet ravishing and lovely Contemplation for which if I had Solomon's Wisdom I would Compose another new Song of Songs and as an Higgajan which comes from Hagah mporting meditari and Eloqui both with heart and Voice sing it to my Beloved For what tho' he came forth from the Father into the World so left his Glory behind him for a while and appeared as a meer Man 't was in love to me and such as I. But was the Unity dissolved by it no nor did he thereby cease to be God For the Holy Ghost who is an Vbiquitary Spirit in Heaven and in Earth at once and was Vinculum Nexus Vnitatis as the Fathers tell us came along with him abiding with the Father at the same time It was by the Overshadowings of the Holy Ghost that the Son was conceived and from him afterwards he never departed Now Next to the Holy Ghost himself He also seems to me to be the
and John are Secondly That the Son and Holy Ghost Persons as distinct as I 've Express'd 'em to be are in the Concrete truely and properly God and that each of 'em is Infinite Thirdly Forasmuch as the Godhead in the Abstract is and can be but One That the Son and the Holy Ghost their Personal Distinction notwithstanding are together with the Father ONE and the SAME GOD. Will some say perhaps startling is this the Truth I answer that 't is for certain the Mistery and must be maintain'd if any thing may be done to Convince our Modern Arians who are so rooted and Confirm'd in their Misbeleife that 't is hard to move 'em in regard they are so much poison'd by that Miscreant Bernardin Odhinus the Authour of MO-CHRI MA call'd so amongst his Freinds but set out under the Name of his Labyrinths as also by that Spawn of his lately set out by an Anonym who wrote Notes on the Creed of St. Athanasius which by the way is not as some would have it to be falsly so call'd but truely witness that Arian who wrote that Pestiferous Sheet himself he viz. tells us that the Greeks meaning Arian Bishops no Question said that the Holy Father was drunk when he made his Creed then that he made it is plain Quoting for it Gennadius Bishop of Constantinople in his Catul. Illustr vir per 〈◊〉 Schol. A. which Gennadius lived in the next Century after the Death of Athanasius It will be Objected here must we then Maintain a Substantial Trinity distinct Persons we all Know are distinct Intelligent Substances and may we say they are one Substance agen here 's the Riddle here 's the Knot is it to be unty'd by us Yes say I. For the Nature of Spiritual Substances is such that if they are Intimately in Unity they may truly be said to be Vnius Substantiae and are sure enough Vnum Totum Spirituale If Spirit Soul and Body for being in Unity are one Individual Man why should not the Persons in the Holy Trinity being much less Different from each other as all will acknowledge than Spirit and Body are be One Individual God Surely Dr. Sherlock the Reverend Dean of St. Pauls in that he assert's a Substantial Trinity is in the Right what he is wrong in is this that he asserts the three Persons in the Trinity to be three DISTINCT INFINITES For herein he is false the Difference is so wide that it Constitutes Tritheism For my part I deny Absolutely that they are three DISTINCT Infinites yet that they are each of 'em Infinite I as positively affirm Is it a Contradiction this No such matter St. Athanasius tells us that the Godhead of the three Persons is but One and that the Son and Holy Ghost are Co that is to say WITH GOD Here is Distinction then plainly how can they be With God else but then he tells us also that they are Equal with the Father How I pray may this be he says for having the Father's Glory So also that they are Co-eternal how agen for having he says the Eternal Majesty of the Father Is not this plain surely granting the Unity that the Son is begotten in Unity that the Holy Ghost Proceeded in Unity with the Fathers Glory and Majesty I do not see how it is possible they should not be God Themselves and the Same God seeing that each of 'em is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cleerly for what I pray is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is if we take the word as the Nicene Fathers not as Paulus Saemosatenus understood it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as Another Person having the Unbegotten Substance of the Father Undividely or having the same Substance which the Father hath together with his Own What 's the sequel of all this is it not that they are after the same Manner Co-Infinite too as they are Co-Eternal and Co-Equal surely Yes Therefore say I The Father is Infinite The Son is Infinite And the Holy Ghost is Infinite And yet there are not three Infinites but One Infinite The reason is because they are all three Infinite not by sundry or diverse Infinities peculiar to each Person One but by One and the same Infinity Common to 'em All. The Convocation at Oxford should have taken Notice of This when they Issued out their Decree irrespectively to what is suggested Had they so done they might have Escaped the Censure of those who say they trusted not their own Judgments in the sence of their Creeds but Abetted only the Hypothesis of a Reverend writer whose Learned Book no Man need be at the pains to Answer because he has Answer'd what he himself writ solving the Mistery at last by Modes whereas before he had determin'd it I wonder it was not Spy'd to be altogether unintelligable and past the reach of human Understanding But To come close the Authour of the Considerations are the three Persons so distinct indeed as three Angels or three mens Persons are No saith he take heed of saying it here 's a manifest Implicat so it 's an impossible thing and false Is it so we are undone if it be but praise be to God it is not so I confess it seems a Riddle somewhat difficult but 't is not so difficult for all that but it may be Explicated I shall distinguish therefore between a Person and it 's Shechinah What 's a Person first it is an Intelligent Substance is it not it is so Is every Angel a Person therefore it is surely And is not a Soul tho' distinct from the Body a Person too it is likewise Yea a Soul tho' separate by Death I aver to be a Compleat Person tho' it be not a Compleat Man For Man is a Person in Unity with Earthly Substance he is Maden or Man'e that 's his Root for which he 's call'd Man Shall we call the Soul being separate from the Body but a peice of a Person God forbid What is wanting to make it a Person is it not Substance is it not Intelligent It must be granted this A Person therefore it must needs be or we are to seek for it's Definition yea it is nothing at all What 's a Shechinah next it is that which a Person dwells in is it not it's the very same For it cometh from Shachan the English of which is He Dwelleth and the Constant word it is in Scripture when the Sublime Mysteries of our Faith are spoken of there yea if rightly and well Understood I conceive it would solve all Mysteries clearly For that which I say I shall referr at present only to the Eighth Chapter of the Proverbs of Solomon where Wisdom the same whom St. Paul calls the Wisdom of the Father says thus Ani Chochmah Shachanti Cnormah 't is a Metaphor taken from the Mathematicks the Hebrew Gnormah seeming to answer Norma in the Latine which shews that the Divine Counsel is the Rule of all things made I wisdom
Postcript Containing a few Items not unworthy Observation THE Word Trinitarian is a Nickname given to the Orthodox by the wretch Servetus vid. Sixt. Seneus Lib. 8. p. 789. It seems to come from Trinitare and supposes Three Persons to be One Person Quaere whither Vnitarian be not a word of the same stamp supposing more Persons Indefinitely one Person videtur quod sic Let the Arians consider this The word Existence not suitable or fit to express God by because the Godhead is Necessary Being and causes has None whereas Existentia in Actualitas Essentiae as Essence yet Naked is Potentialitas Essendi Neither in Divinis seems fit to be us'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with St. John is but the Translation of Mijmrô with the Targumists who wrote thus Mijmrô daihovah as much as the Word which is Jehovah for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Syriack and Chaldee both is Qui est but Daihovah in reading they skipt over whither for Reverence or some other reason we can guess only In compliance St. John does the same writing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only the word Jehovah in Greek Letters being not capable of Pronunciation Hammakom with the Jewish Doctors is the Name of the Godhead consider'd abstractly by which is meant THE Place It is Vbi Repletiour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as Trismegist Centrum Vbique sc in se to be Out of which is to be Nullibi In respect of its Excelling or Transcendent Greatness the whole world is but as the drop of a Bucket it Exceeds the powers of Imagination Hashechijnah with the Jewish Doctrine is the Name of the Son of God whose Shechijnah is not single out Twofold 1. The Everlasting substance of the Father in which he is Begotten Then the Temporal or Bodily Substance in which Conceiv'd by the Holy Ghosts Overshadowings Seen this Esai 57. 25. where himself says for 't is he speaks there calling himself the High and lofty One c. I inhabit Marôm vekadosh i. e. Height and Holiness viz. of the Father also êthdachche ushepal Ruahh as made Man The bow'd-down One humble of Spirit Therefore a suitable Mediatour betwixt God and Man to take Care for the Authority of Gods Law 's and to take Care also and to have a Respect to Mans Infirmity Follows an Item to the learn'd so run that ye may be Adepts 1. Cor. 9. 24. And who is He that may be call'd an Adept One that knows Him who to the Confusion of Grammar is a Past and Future as well as a present Is who to the Confusion of Logick is an Ineffable Syllogism without Major and Minor yet has a Medium agreeing to Each who to the Confusion of Metaphysicks is True Personally Good Personally yet remains but One Substantially who to the Confusion of Arithmetick is truly Multiply'd yet is not to be number'd by Any who to the Confusion of Mathematicks is a Triangle the Corners of which like the Ends of the Colures are to be found no-where who to the Glory of Divinity is Intellectually Three Three yet still Himself One and not Many the Father Son and Holy Ghost of whom each is God and all three the same God Agen An Adept is One who Beleives in Him who tho' Begotten is without Beginning is without Beginning yet Begotten and has a Father who tho' he made All things which are Made yet was Made himself of that which he Made first who tho' the very Fountain of life to Men yet for them dy'd once and was Buryed who tho' Always Within and at Home was found without and gon abroad who tho' in his Fathers Bosom as Great as Heaven was in the womb of a woman small as an Embryo who tho' in highest Glory was wrapt up in most profound Humility whose Name is God-Man a Thing heard of but Once will be agen never the Newest thing of All things call'd New since the Birth of light on the first Day of the Creation Agen An Adept is One whose Eye tho' he be on Earth is where the Eyes of Angels are whose Feet have Wings and are washt with Milk and Clean who Begets with his mouth Creates by his Example and his Birth 's are Virgin-Souls being turn'd into the way of life by him and Righteous his life is All Prayse his Death is sweet sleep being to rise agen in the Morn his Dust as the Odours of the precious Oyntment of old with which Kings and Priests were Anointed Here in the Psalmist Hayh who is Crown'd with Ashre's the Man whom this Honourable Name is to be Given to for he is an Adept truly and his Name is written in Liber Tsoar among the Fulgeburt's of the Man dearly Belov'd and shine as the Stars of the Morning shall he in the Future standing stillness ever making Haste for Ever to Be the Adepts only End it's self without Conclusion To The Father of an Infinite Majesty His Honourable true and only Son Also the Holy Ghost the Comforter Three Persons Buy the Truth and sell it not And One Eternal God Be All Honor Glory Le-olam Olmijn Amen