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
Hagnelion Jechidatho Ruahh Turak Jehovah Ehhad OR EYE-SALVE Recommended to the World in a Short Essay Occasion'd by the sight of a Discourse set forth Since the Kings Injunctions CALL'D Some CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE TRINITY Ps 8. 2. Out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings hast thou ordain'd strength because of thy Enemies that thou mayst still the Enemy and the avenger LONDON Printed in the Year 1696. The Authour TO His Book on the Holy TRINITY MY 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most sad and lamentable Consideration it is on which I can neither think Speak or write without great Concern and Grief of Heart that the present age being fill'd with Controversie about no less a matter than the Holy Trinity it self the greatest Divines in the Church should be mistaken as they are in the most fundamentall Article of the Christian Faith the Profession and Belief of which is formally and essentially necessary to Baptisme to be Administer'd always in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost by the special Command and Order of Christ himself the great Apostle of our Profession and that the Church should thereby be fill'd with Scandal as it is not only to the Confirming of Deists and Arians in their wickness and Heresy but also to the turning aside of God's People from the right way who seeing their Leaders Contesting so hotly with each other as they do about the very springs of all Divinity and Religion cannot therefore but waver and be brought to doubt of the Verity and Sacro-Sanctitie thereof Surely to be fear'd it is that Christendom is even now call'd to an Account and Recconning for this and I am tempted methinks upon it with Jesus Ananai in Josephus to fill the streets of our Citys with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it For what can be the Consequence and Effect of such great Mistake but that our Blessed Saviour so little Faith being found in the Land should come at last in Judgment against us and that our Jerusalem should be destroy'd Is there any Remedy or Prevention for so great an Evil There is one only that the Mistake be rectify'd Wherefore I tell Thee and Tell it Thou agen to all that read thee that the wrapping up the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity which God hath reveal'd and the Church in her Holy Creeds sufficiently Explain'd in the Clowd of Misteriousness has been the cause of this Evil it being a Papistical Doctrine which serves only as it has been made use of to cover over another Error as bad or worse that of Transsubstantiation Must we look on now and suffer this let those who are so Earnest to bear up the Grandeur of the Church more then Gods Holy Truths making Religion to be a Scala ad Eminentiam instead of a Scala Coeli Consider of it I for my part for the Truth 's sake choose rather to take up the Cross of Christ as a Donative of his who took it up for me first that I might obtain Eternal Life and be Number'd amongst those blessed ones who having their Reward in Heaven shall for ever praise him Go therefore My little Book into the world dreadless fearing neither Kings nor Princes Pope nor Cardinals Arch-Bishops nor Bishops Conclave nor Sanedrim and carry thy Eye-Salve to them all telling them it 's the Counsel of him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords to anoint their Eyes with it that they may See Go and God Bless thee with good Success So prayeth he who beleiveth a Trinity in Vnity and Vnity in Trinity but does not believe that Trinity Is Vnity or that Vnity is Trinity that is Believes three Persons to be one God so is no Tritheita that Three Persons are one Person cannot Believe so is no Sabellian S◠THESE Three are One. OR A Distinction of Persons in the Trinity yet in Vnity cleerly tho' briefly asserted HATH this Church the Church of England at this Day need of Eye-Salve it appears by the many Errors concerning the Trinity which go abroad in Print that it hath yea that it hath need of more Epistles yet from him who walks betwixt the Candle-Sticks and holds the Seven Stars in his right hand Wherefore choosing to be under Hherem rather than Suffer the Truth to fail for Sion's sake I shall not hold my Peace Once have I written and twice will I do it making only this Apology for saying so little on a Subject controverted so much that the less is said of it if it be enough it is so much the better So Aspirante Spiritu Sancto into the Deep I lanch forth craving leave in Order to what I shall say to premise this little That as I do and must grant that there is but One God which we are as sure of as that there is but one Sun to rule the Day and One Moon to give light in the Night So it be granted me likewise that there were two more before the Worlds were made what ever we may take 'em to be WITH THIS ONE GOD. This will be granted me I presume by all because he that denies it owns not Revelation and 't is Confest by the Arrian So that The Questions to be regarded by us are whether he who is said to be begotten the Other who is said to proceed in Scripture from the One God be truly and properly each of 'em Themselves God Further whither these Two are together with him who is call'd in Scripture the Father THE ONE GOD or no What to let go Socinus does the Arrian say to this He Poor Man I call him so because he 's a follower of Ebion denies it utterly yet in my Eye not without reason because of the Scandal that 's given him For he knows as well as any man that to say that Three Distinct Infinites are one Single Infinite as he is told Implies and is false that to say a Mode a property or Faculty can Constitute a Distinct Person as he 's told likewise Obtrudes on him an Impossible Notion He says therefore The Son and the Holy Ghost cannot be God which we are sure is false if the Holy Scriptures be true What next does the Authour of the Considerations mention'd in the Title-Page Say He likewise seeing the same Absurdities as the Arian doth and very well perceiving the Son and Holy Spirit 's Characters in Scripture Concludes because he dares not go against his Creeds and Litany that they are Persons but that they are not so distinct as Three Angels are c. No Saith he it 's an Impossible thing this What lastly say I now truely what he averr's I cannot possibly grant him Here my Author wants Eye-Salve Consequently in Opposition to what he Contends for so Earnestly as if 't were the Faith once deliver'd to the Saints I lay down this for Truth First that the Father Son and Holy Ghost are Persons and that as Distinct as three Angels Persons or as the Persons of Peter James
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
Illustrious Prototype of Heavenly Wights or Angels Is it ask'd why I answer because as the Son is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Only-begotten one to distinguish him from men who are created Sons so is the Holy Ghost call'd with three dictinctive Articles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Spirit The Holy of The God to distinguish him as it seems to me from Created Angels who are call'd by St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only and in their nature are such If so it be not why are they call'd Ruchoth i. e. Spirits as the Holy Ghost is call'd a Spirit Why are they said to be Gibbore coaâ—h great in Power and Strength as He the power of the Highest And why Elohym mighty Powers for so are they call'd too and by this Stratagem I conceive Sc fallacia aequivocationis did Satan deceive Eve telling her that She should be like Elohijm meaning by 't like himself and his forlorn Partners the fall'n Elohijm whereas she thought of none else but Jehovah Elohijm counting that she should be more like her God than she was before so by that means was deceived In short Whatsoever sort or kind of Persons the Son and the Holy Ghost may be thought to be they are God for being in Unity with the Divine Substance by which they have all the Noble and Supereminent Attributes of the Father over and above the Communicable ones which meer men and Angels have and these being as the Taches of the Curtains of the Tabernacle of the most High they are One most High God together with the Father And here now I freely profess that if the Papists could argue for their Hypothesis of Transubstantiation so rationally as I have done for this Mystery of Mysterys I would not seperate for that at least from their Communion But tho' I can easily conceive that the Body of Christ can be present to Beleivers in the Sacrament Mediante Spiritu Sancto that is to say Spiritually just as he is present as Head to his Mistical Body the Church the Holy Ghost dwelling in him and the Members thereof for which I except not so much against the Lutherans who say indeed that the Body is Vbiquitary but say withall 't is Supernaturally or illocally as the Holy Ghost makes it be yet since I cannot conceive how Christ's natural Body should be every where or in all parts and places of the Church and be whole and intire in all such parts and places they of the Roman perswasion must pardon me if I except against Them notwithstanding the pretence of Tradition so much urg'd for it and I cannot sufficiently admire at Mounsier Malebranch for that having laid down his Excellent Rule not to grant a full Assent to any thing whilst Reason Checks yet himself reluctante ratione gives Assent to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation upon such Tradition as is not Ancient much less Apostolical Is he a Protestant in this point if not it must be Interest or Fear that sways him That Christ's Body is present in the Sacrament I sincerely beleive 't is what the Martyrs of our Church before they suffer'd acknowledged freely in their Disputes with Cox Oglethorp c. yea they said Ipsissimum corpus Christi est in Sacrimento Eucharistiae as appears in Dr. Willet's Century's but then they added still that the Modus is Spiritualis and is it not true this it is and we must take heed of saying otherwise tho' the Definitions of the Counsil of Trent for the Capernaitical way are in nowise to be allow'd For if the Church be the Body of Christ because the Holy Ghost is with it and in it why should not the bread together with the wine as the New-Testament Shechinah be the Body One the other the Blood of Christ for the Holy Ghosts being with Him and with the Signs and Symbols at once is the Church the Mystical Living Body of Christ for such reason as Consisting of living Wights living Members why then should not the Sacrament after the like manner be the Mystical Dead Body of Christ as by liveless Elements represented such an Vbiquity of Christ's Body if the Lutherans are for such change of the Elements if the Papist will agree to I am heartily with Them and as the Jews call'd the Paschal Lamb the Body so will I call the bread I eat at the Sacrament the Body too even of Christ for Mystically or Spiritually it is so and without making every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Father 's a Dogma as they of Rome do we may do it well and truly enough And Here I shut up hoping that this Eye-Salve of mine which for truths sake and with perfect Charity I have presum'd to offer to the world will be accepted by it because 't is wholely Compounded of Scripture and Ancient Records going no further then Revelation lead's within which Bounds I 've taken care to keep as my Duty is For secret things belong to the Lord but things Reveal'd only to us and our Children and I humbly acknowledge Let Arians flout at the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they please that the manner of the Son's Generation and of the Holy Ghost's proceeding a Patre Filioque as not reveal'd are above mine and as I beleive all others Comprehension It is as Usual as 't is pious to Conclude Discourses of this kind with Prayer Therefore with hearty good wishes to all whose hands this little somewhat shall fall into I shall do the like adding this short Prayer following and Recommending it to the Devotion of such as are disposed to use it O Almighty God and most merciful Father in Jesus Christ most humbly I beseech thee for thy Mercys sake and for that great lover of Souls sake thy Only Begotten Son in whom thou art well pleased to open the Eyes of all those among us who have imbib'd false Notions of thy most Holy Faith that all Scandals being removed and cast out of the Church and perfect Charity planted in it Heresy and Schism may be put an end to amidst thy People and also that Millions of Thousands according to the Blessing on Rebecca of Jews Turks Heathens Infidels may come into thy Holy Church and being made One Flock together with us Under the One great Shephard of the Sheep may obtain the End of the Hope of all the Faithful even the Salvation of their Souls and at the last Day rise out of the dust to Sing with Angels and Saints everlasting Halleluijahs to Thee O Holy Father with thy Son and the Holy Ghost One God blessed for evermore Amen These Three are One. Father Jehovah Son Jehovah H. Ghost Jehovah Je is the sign of a Proper Name Proper Names are of Persons Hovah is that Necessary Being which is the Father 's Originally the Son and Holy Ghost are God for being Consubstantial or in Unity with the Substance of the Father which substance being but one they are all Three One God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉