days and three nights in the Whale's belly when brought as an Argument to prove our Saviour ought so long to lie in the Grave But St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 15.3 4. that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he rose again the Third day according to the Scriptures And Christ in like manner Luk. 24.46 Yet I know not any thing more clear to that purpose in the Scriptures of the Old Testament than either this of Jonah's being so long in the Whale's belly to which Christ himself alludes Mat. 12.40 or that of Hos. 6.2 After two days he will revive us and the third day he will raise us up Which seems not to be more express for the Resurrection of Christ on the Third day than this of Jonah But such covert Intimations there are in the Old Testament of things afterward more clearly discovered in the New Nor was this unknown to the ancient Jewish Doctors as appears by what Ainsworth in his Notes on Gen. 1. cites from thence out of R. Simeon Ben Jochai in Zoar Come see the Mystery of the word Elohim there are three Degrees and every Degree by it self Distinct and yet notwithstanding they are all one and joined together in One and are not divided one from another only there he calls Degrees what we now call Persons So that it was not unknown to the Jews of old whatever the present Jews think of it 3. What these Three are the Father the Word and the Spirit seems to be likewise intimated in the Story of the Creation Gen. 1. where they seem to be distinctly named In the beginning Elohim God created the Heaven and the Earth ver 1. where no man doubts but God the Father is implied though perhaps not He only And ver 2. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters Where Ainsworth tells us from the ancient Rabbines whom he cites they call him The Spirit of Mercies from before the Lord The Spirit of Wisdom called the Spirit of the Living God And The Spirit of the Messias Of the same Spirit we have elsewhere mention My Spirit shall not always strive with Man Gen. 6.3 Take not thine Holy Spirit from me Psal. 51.11 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me Isai. 61.1 They vexed his Holy Spirit Isai. 63.10 and elsewhere And if it be said that by the Spirit of God is meant God himself we say so too for we do acknowledge that the Holy Ghost is God himself And of the Word there is a like intimation ver 3. God Said or spake the Word Let there be Light and there was Light And in like manner ver 6 9 11.14 20. God Said Let there be a Firmament c. So Psal. 33.6 7. By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made c. He Spake and it was done He Commanded and it stood fast And Psal. 148.5 He Spake the Word and they were made He commanded and they were created Consonant to that of Heb. 11.3 By faith we understand that the Worlds were made by the Word of God And 1 Pet. 3.5 7. By the Word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth c. And by the same Word they are kept in store or preserved In which places by the Word so often mentioned and with such Emphasis put upon it seems to be meant that Word mentioned Joh. 1.1 3 10. In the beginning was the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things were made by Him The World was made by Him just as in Heb. 11.3 the Worlds were made by the Word of God Nor was this notion of the Word Personally taken unknown to the Jewish Doctors For what we have Psal. 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord Dixit Jehova Domino meo the Chaldee Paraphrase renders by Dixit Jehova Bemeimreh in Verbo suo meaning by His Word the Messias and of whom our Saviour himself expounds it Mat. 22.44 And it is frequent in that Paraphrase by the Word to design the Messias as S. Joh. doth Joh. 1.1 In the beginning was the Word And I put the more weight upon this because as here Gen. 1.2 3. so we have in several other places the Word and Spirit mentioned as concerned in the Creation Psal. 33.6 By the Word of the LORD Jehovah were the Heavens made and all the Hosts of them by the Spirit or breath of his mouth Berwach Where we have Jehovah his Word and Spirit Job 26.12 13. He divideth the Sea by his Power and by his Wisdom or Vnderstanding he smiteth through the proud By his Spirit he garnisheth the Heavens his Hand hath formed the crooked Serpent Where we have the Power of God the Wisdom of God and the Spirit of God And Job 33.4 â—he Spirit of God hath made me and the Breath of tâ—e Lord hath given me Life So Psal. 104.24 30. O LORD Jehovah how wonderful are thy Works in VVisdom thou hast made them all Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are created and thou renewest the face of the Earth And it is not amiss here to take notice that as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as well ratio as oratio so Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is called the Word of God and the Wisdom of God And as in Joh. 1.1 3 10. it is said of the Word that in the beginning was the Word all things were made by Him and the World was made by him And Heb. 11.3 The Worlds were framed by the Word of God So the same is said of Wisdom Prov. 3.19 The LORD by VVisdom hath formed the Earth by Vnderstanding hath he established the Heavens And Prov. 8.22 c. The LORD possessed me Wisdom in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning ere ever the Earth was When he prepared the Heavens I was there When he established the Clouds above When he strengthened the Fountains of the deep When he appointed the Foundations of the Earth then was I by him c. And accordingly the Holy Ghost is called the Power of God Luk. 1.35 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee And 1 Pet. 1.5 Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation which doubtless is not without the operation of the Holy Ghost working and preserving faith in us Suitably hereunto God's Power and Wisdom are oft conjoyned He is Wise in Heart and Mighty in Strength Job 9.4 c. He is excellent in Power and in Judgment Job 37.13 But without laying too great a stress on every particular there seems a foundation clear enough to consider the Word of God and the Spirit of God as clearly distinguishable even in the great Work of Creation and that the holy Writers even in the Old Testament have considered them as distinct and that even the Jewish Writers have owned them as such I know very well that those who have a
of Elias Now we all know whose fore-runner John Baptist was and before whom he was to go in the Power and Spirit of Elias And he before whom he was thus to go is the Lord God of Israel and therefore not only a Titular God or a Creature God but the True God the Supreme God the same God with that God who is the Lord God of Israel whom no man doubts to be the True God the Supreme God the Only God I might add many other Characters given to Christ proving him to be the True God as that Rev. 2.13 I am he which searcheth the Reins and Hearts and I will give unto every one according to his Works and to the same purpose Rev. 22.12 and elsewhere which God the True God claims as his peculiar Prerogative Jer. 17.9 10. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Who can know it I the LORD search the Heart I try the Reins to give to every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings And to the same purpose Jer. 11.20 Jer. 20.12 1 Chron. 28.9 Psal. 7.9 Psal. 139.1 and in many other places And that likewise of Isai 9.6 His Name shall be called Wonderful Councellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace c. with many other Characters of like nature which can never agree to any but the True God But it is not my business in this short Discourse to say All that might be said but what may be sufficient He therefore that is as hath been shewed God the True God the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Eternal God the First and the Last before whom nothing was and after whom nothing shall be that Was and Is and shall Be the same yesterday and to day and for ever the Almighty by whom the World was made by whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made that was made who laid the foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of his hands who when the Heavens and the Earth shall fail his years endure for ever who searcheth the heart and the reins to give to every one according to his works who is Jehovah the Lord God of Israel the Supreme being which is over all God blessed for ever who is the Blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who only hath immortality to whom be Honour and Power Everlasting Amen That God I say of whom all these great things are said is certainly not a mere Titular God who is called God but is not a Creature God or only a dignified Man For if these be not Characters of the True God by what Characters shall the True God be described I know the Socinians have imployed their Wits to find out some tricks to evade or elude some of these plain places which I shall not trouble my self or you to repeat or to give an answer to them For they are so weak and so forced that the plain words of Scripture read together with the forced senses they would put upon them are answer enough nor do they need or deserve any further answer OBJECTION VIII The last Objection which I shall now take notice of is this That the Doctrine of the Trinity was not known to the Jewish Church before Christ. To which I answer 1. If it were not made known to them it was not necessary for them to know For matters of pure Revelation are not necessary to be known before they are revealed nor farther than they are revealed But may be so to us to whom they are Revealed The whole Doctrine of our Redemption by Christ was doubtless unknown to Adam before his Fall And had he not fallen it would have been no fault in him not to have known it at all And when after his fall it was first made known to him in that first promise that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 it was yet so dark that he could know very little as to the particulars of it of what is now known to us And as God by parcels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at sundry times and in divers manners declared more of it to Abraham to David and the Prophets so were they obliged to know and believe more of it and when in the last days he had declared the whole of it by his Son Heb. 1.1 2. it is now necessary for us to believe much more of which they might be safely ignorant And of the Trinity likewise if it were not then revealed 2. But Secondly There were many things which though not fully revealed so as to be clearly understood by All were yet so insinuated as to be in good measure understood by some and would more be so when the Veil should be taken off from Moses's face 2 Cor. 3.13 15 16. Thus the Death and Resurrection of Christ were not understood even by his own Disciples till after his Resurrection Yet we must not say that these things were not before intimated in the Scriptures though covertly for when their understandings were opened to understand the Scriptures and what had been written of him in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms they then perceived that it was so written and that it behooved Christ to Suffer and to Rise from the dead the Third day Yet this was therein so covertly contained that they seem no more to have understood it than that of the Trinity And St. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews declares a great deal to have been covered under the Jewish Rites and Ceremonies which certainly most of the Jewish Church did not understand though in good measure it might be understood by some I might say the like of the Resurrection which was but darkly discovered till Immortality was brought to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 We must not yet say it was wholly unknown to the Jewish Church of whom many no doubt did believe it Yet neither can we say it was generally received For we know the Pharisees and the Sadduces were divided upon that point Act. 23.6 7 8. And so little is said of it in the Old Testament that those who had a mind to be captious might have found much more specious pretence of cavilling against it then than our Adversaries now have against the Doctrine of the Trinity 3. I say Thirdly as of the Resurrection there were then divers intimations which are now better understood in a clearer light than at that time they were So I think there were also of the Doctrine of the Trinity I shall instance in some of them 1. That there was in the Unity of the God-head a Plurality of Somewhat which now we call Persons seems fairly to be insinuated even in that of Elohim-bara Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created where Elohim God a Nominative Case Plural is joined with Bara a Verb Singular which is as if we should say in
above and upon earth beneath there is none else And Isai. 42.8 I am JEHOVAH that is my name and my Glory will I not give unto another And Deut. 6.4 Hear O Israel the LORD thy God is one LORD or JEHOVAH thy God is one JEHOVAH there is no other Jehovah but he And Deut. 28.58 That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name THE LORD THY GOD or JEHOVAH thy God And to the same purpose Deut. 32.39 1 Sam. 12.2 and in many other places I will not despute whether this name JEHOVAH were never made known till God did thus declare it to Moses at Exod. 3.15 It might seem so to be by that of Exod. 6.3 I appeared unto Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob by the name of God Almighty but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them 'T is true that God is often so called in the Book of Genesis But that Book was written by Moses after the time that Moses speaks of in Exodus And Moses might so call him by a name known at the time when he wrote though it had not been known at the time whereof he wrote As when Abraham is said to go forth from Vr of the Chaldees or of Chasdim Gen. 11.31 though Chesed the Son of Nahor from whom in likelihood the Chaldees were called Chasdim was not born till afterwards as appears Gen. 22.22 So Exod. 12.40 where the Children of Israel are said to have sojourned four hundred and thirty years it must be reckoned backward as far as Abraham's coming forth from Vr of the Chaldees at which time they could not be called the Children of Israel for Israel was not then born but it was that people who were afterwards called the Children of Israel And many such Prolepses or anticipations of Names there are in all Historians But whether it be upon this account or some other that he is said by his Name JEHOVAH not to have been known to them is not material to our present business 'T is enough that Jehovah is now known to be the signal Name of the True God and I think no where given to any other Now that our Saviour Christ is called Jehovah is not to be denied And it is for this reason that the Socinians would have us think that this Name is not peculiar to God In Jer. 23.5 6. he is called Jehovah Tzidkenu the LORD our Righteousness Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David a Righteous Branch and a King shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice on the Earth In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell in safety which is agreed by Jews and Christians to be understood of the Messias And this is the name whereby he shall be called JEHOVAH Tzidkenu the LORD our Righteousnâ—â—s JEHOVAH our Righteousness And to the same purpose Jer. 33.15 16. In Psal. 102. which is called A prayer of the afflicted when he poureth out his complaint before the LORD Jehovah It begins thus Hear my prayer O LORD Jehovah and let my cry come unto thee And he to whom this prayer is made is eight or nine times called the LORD Jehovah Now he to whom this prayer is made we are told Hebr. 1.8 10 11 12. is our Lord Christ Vnto the Son he saith Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the works of thy hands They shall perish but thou remainest They all shall wax old as a garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail All which is cited out of that Prayer made to the Lord Jehovah So I the LORD Jehovah the first and the last Isai. 41.4 Thus saith the LORD Jehovah before me there was no God neither shall there be after me Isai. 43.10 Thus saith the LORD Jehovah the King of Israel and his Redeemer Jehovah the LORD of Hosts I am the first and I am the last and beside Me there is no God Isai. 44.6 which are the Characters applied to Christ Rev. 1.8 9. 2.8 21.6 22.13 as was shewed before 'T is true that in the Greek Septuagint of the Old Testament the name Jehovah is no where retained but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I think every where put for it Whether because of a Jewish Superstition no where to pronounce that Name or because it could not conveniently be expressed in Greek Letters I will not determine And for that reason because the Septuagints did not use it it is not used in the New Testament which doth mostly comply with the Language of the Septuagints as being the Greek Translation then in use And therefore we are not to look for the Name Jehovah there applied to Christ. But divers places are in the New Testament applied to Christ wherein the name Jehovah was used in the Old Testament And the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord by which both the Septuagints and the New Testament do constantly render the Hebrew Name Jehovah is so frequently applied to Christ in the New Testament as that throughout the New Testament it is almost his constant Character the Lord the Lord Jesus Christ c. One Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 8.6 Our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory Jam. 2.1 My Lord and my God Joh. 20.28 No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 And elsewhere so often that none can be ignorant of it CHARACTER IV. The last Character which I shall insist upon of the True God the Only God is that of the Lord God of Israel Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart c. Deut. 6.4 And the Lord thy God is almost the constant Language of Moses to the Children of Israel And it is the Character which God directs him to use Thus shalt thou say unto the Children of Israel The Lord God of your Fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob hath sent me this is my name for ever and this is my memorial unto all Generations Exod. 3.15 and the Lord God of the Hebrews ver 18. And elsewhere very often throughout the Bible And doubtless he that was the Lord God of Israel is the true God the only God 'T is He who tells us I am the Lord thy God Thou shalt have no other God but Me Exod. 20.3 And Besides Me there is no other God Isai. 44.6 and so often elsewhere that it is needless to name the places And this Character as well as the rest is expresly given to Christ also Luk. 1.16 17. where we are expresly told of John the Baptist that many of the Children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord Their God to the Lord God of Israel for he shall go before Him in the spirit and power