TWO LETTERS Concerning the HOLY TRINITY Reconciling together in some measure the Semi-Arian and the Trinitarian Systems concerning Christ's Divinity and Inquiring Whether the Term Persons speaking of God shou'd be Impos'd in Acts of Church-Communion To be offered to the Consideration of the Learned in order to their giving their Opinion and Reasons concerning the things herein mentioned The First LETTER being a Preparatory of the Matter more fully treated of in the Second *** I Consume my Spirits daily in studying more and more the Doctrine of the Trinity and cannot cease that Study for fear I should be wanting to my Duty on the one Hand or the other But after all I can find no Rest but in the seeming Generality of the Expressions of Scripture I believe there may be more implied in those Expressions or they may import otherwise then all Men are aware of But then the Scripture being so Mysterious and Obscure about this Point doth it not seem to be to the intent to try the best Industry and Search of every one in particular and our Moderation in so intricate and difficult a Matter and so to lead and oblige us to bear with one another in different Sentiments herein uniting in the Scripture-Generality no Man being to judge for another The Ancients so far as I can perceive seem very much Divided and Uncertain in their Judgment about this Obscure Subject By the Expressions of the Primitive Doctors that began to Platonize among Christians it seems that they inclined most to Semi-Arianism as I also in some measure do mollifying the Arian System as I think is the true Import of it rationally understood I seek only Counsel and Instruction and desire to be truly Humble and Moderate as I ought to be and pray God I may actually discharge my whole Duty I believe that the Godhead is as intimately United with Christ as possible and that not only the Divine Power continually assists him so that he disposes of it as a Man disposes of his Arms or Hands which is merely by Desiring or Willing but also that the Divine Wisdom constantly illuminates and conducts his Soul as our Soul doth our Body insomuch that he is thereby enabled to represent God at the Head of the Universe And I do not see what more than this can be understood by the Union of the Divine with Christ's Human Nature Wherefore by this Consideration the Semi-Arian and Trinitarian Systems seem herein to be nearly reconciled together By the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit I understand the Divine and Sanctifying Inspiration and the Miraculous or Wonder-working Divine Power communicated in some measure to some Men according to the good Pleasure of God together with the concurring Ministry of some Angel as seems to be inferr'd from several Places of Scripture particularly Luk. 1 35. 1 Tim. 5 21. Hebr. 1 7 compared with Acts 2 3 4. Hebr. 1 14 compared with John 16 13. Acts 8 26 29 39. I believe then that there is in God the Divine Mind the Divine Wisdom and the Divine Power Mr. Calvin asserted that it was sufficient to acknowledge these Divine Properties and that it was not necessary to insist on the term Persons Instit Cap. 6. Sect. 25. p. 179. Genev. 1550. St. Austin owns it to be very improper De Trin. L. 5 C. 9. St. Jerom declared he cou'd not use it Epist ad Papam Damas. I am of the same Opinion I have prepared a Second Letter humbly to represent my Reasons for it If I mistake in my Sentiment I hope I am but of those Weak in the Faith who may be received and whom God will receive I conclude most humbly beseeching you to compassionate me and to grant me your Prayers being c. The Second Letter *** THIS Controversy seems exceeding intricate and difficult after the maturest and carefullest Consideration of it But then seeing the Scripture expresses it self so obscurely and in so general terms concerning that Subject it seems that as was intimated in the former Letter it is to the intent to try our Moderation as well as every ones best Industry in particular and that we should not be too Decisive and Imposing and should not condemn but should bear with one another herein and should unite and agree in the seeming Generality of the Expressions of Scripture considering that sincere Persons may mistake about so obscure a Point and considering that a hearty Love of God and of Christ cannot but be acceptable to them that the main things are secured when the Expressions of Scripture are adhered to in this Matter that it will in all probability suffice to have a fuller Knowledge of it after this Life that in the mean time we are not to judge for one another and that after all there is not probably so much Difference as has been imagined between the contending Parties There would have been no Disunion if Christians had seriously made those reflections and had contented themselves with this scriptural and general Profession that the Word is God that the Holy Spirit or Inspiration and Power of God is God that these three the Father the Word and the Spirit are one and that there is but one God There may undoubtedly as I said be more implied in these Expressions or they may import otherwise than some Men or all Men are aware of Howbeit the Scripture being thus general seems to require indispensibly no more than this general Acknowledgement And therefore Protestants particularly owning that they are not to judge for one another can justly require no more for Terms of Union And then all Christians that are sincere cannot but be safe for sincerely believing the Scripture as Mr. Chillingworth somewhere observes they believe implicitely even those very Truths and Senses which perhaps they are somewhat short in For my part God is Witness I consider this Subject to the best of my Power and act and proceed sincerely herein howsoever I may sometimes differ from former Sentiments and be sometimes perplexed in my Thoughts But after the fullest consideration it seems to me it is not impossible that the Arian or Socinian Systems be true and yet not impossible but that that System also be true which by the Word and Holy Spirit understands God himself or the Acts and Properties of the Father tho' indeed it seems very improper to say God the Wisdom and God the Power Incontestably there is in God as was said a Divine Mind a Divine Wisdom and a Divine Will or Power Nevertheless even tho' by the Word in the beginning of St. John's Gospel should be understood the Divine Reason or Wisdom produced forth or shewn in the Old and New Creation there said therefore by a Figure to be Incarnate that is most intimately to dwell with and assist the Human Spirit of that Man who is the chiefest of God's Messengers it hinders not but that at the same time by the Word may be meant the Soul of the Messiah which for the
Persons implies three Gods for every All-Perfect Person subsisting of its self must have in it self whatsoever is necessary to the constituting of a true intire and distinct God The asserting therefore three distinct Divine Persons is to assert so many Gods And so it is very important for the Honour of Christianity and all the Concerns of Religion to be freed from that Scholastick term which sets up Polytheism disguises the most excellent Revelation destroys the Purity and Simplicity of the Gospel and appears contradictory and impossible If the Son were a Divine Person as the Father this Contradiction would follow that the Divine Essence were both Begotten and Vnbegotten for each Person is said to be the same Essence together with a peculiar Relation A Relation alone is not said to be a Person but a Relation with the Essence Therefore the Essence with a peculiar Relation must be Vnbegotten and the same Essence with another Relation must be Begotten The Scripture says Mark 13 32 the Son knew not something that God knew the Fulness of the Godhead imparting its influences to him at one time more than at another as the Soul doth to the Body insomuch that Christ grew in Knowledge and not communicating it's Nature to the Human Spirit in which it dwells so as to make it cease to be a Creature or a Finite Being Now not only there are not two Sons in Christ but it is not rational nor the Stile of any Language to deny simply or in general terms of a Being what is true of any Part of him Therefore denying that the Son knew what God knew it appears that by the Son the Scripture doth not understand the Divine Nature but the Human tho' by a Figure possibly by the Son we may mean that Influence of the Divine Wisdom and Power which is communicated to and dwells in the Son the Man Christ This Argument is illustrated in the 1st Book of Crell's Treatise Touching one God the Father Sect. 2 Chap. 9. It is said that the Father only knew of that Day Matth. 24 36. Therefore the Father only is the God who thus dwells by his Wisdom in the Soul of Jesus so as to be intimately united therewith as was said This is confirm'd by Crell's observations in the first Chapter of his aforesaid Book on John 17 3. And in many other Places the Scripture is express that the Father is the only Person who is God in the true or proper Sense of that word 1 Cor. 8 6. Ephes 4 6. c. Thus and it seems thus only the Divine Unity is preserved and establish'd And if so the Scholastick Terms should not be imposed There is a small Octavo on that Subject intituled Apologia pro Irenico Magno which I wish were considered and answered if answerable the said Octavo and its Arguments being proposed as intended to know the Reasons of others on this Subject By the Holy Spirit it seems the Scripture understands the Divine Inspiration or Miraculous Power as was intimated in the First Letter commonly joined with or annexed to and communicated by the Elect Angels 1 Tim. 5 21 particularly the Seven Archangels Revel 1 4 the First whereof undoubtedly is the Chief of the Angels not personally united with the Divine Power or God for he doth not represent God at the Head of the Universe but as an inferiour Officer acting in concurrence with the Divine Power This as was shewn seems to be deducible from several Texts of Scripture And so the Holy Spirit is both the Divine Power and the Angels whom God employs God is pleased to work with them and to have them work with him Therefore God employing them in his Works and particularly in the Service of the Church they are subject to it's Head the Governour of the World for whom all the Parts of the Universe and all Things whether in Heaven or Earth were created to the Glory of God being disposed of by our Lord Jesus Christ in the best Order which is most agreeable to God God speaks by his Word or Word-bearer the First-born who is as it were the Mouth of God or his Speaker and the Angels obey and the Divine Power co-operates and concurs with them God in the beginning shewed the Son what was to be done And the Son shewed it to the Chief of the Angels when they were created and with the concurrence of the Word appointed to their several Stations God did work before the Son And the Son did work like him being enabled by the Father taught by the Divine Wisdom and seconded by the Angels when created but assisted by infinite Power But the Work is ascribed to the Soveraign and the First Actor under him as the taking of a Town is ascribed to the General and to the Prince by whose Authority he acts This System seems to account for those Places of Scripture which import that Christ created or disposed all things together with God that the Son can do nothing of himself but that what he sees the Father do he doth the like the Son seeing thereby what he is to desire of the Divine Power as Grotius notes on John 5 19 20 21. and that Christ is the Word of God and that he is a God that the Angels are Ministring Spirits c. Till his Incarnation the Word or aforesaid Word-bearer was as a Son in his Minority in his Father's House Then a Son little differs from the Servants tho' he is the Heir he is then under probation for the Inheritance In his Pilgrimage on Earth he was in a State of greater Humiliation At his Ascension and Exaltation he was then properly and most eminently associated to the Empire of the Universe This is properly God the Son or the Man Christ Jesus exalted and in his Human Nature made the King of Kings under God in which sense in the Scripture-stile he may be said to have created or disposed and modelled all things in Heaven and Earth as Grotius shews in his Annotations on Col. 1 16 and he may as such a Man much more be said to be God than the Bread of the Eucharist is said to be his Body These things not only appear in a great measure conceivable and intelligible rational and free from intolerable difficulties and in short accountable and maintainable but they seem perfectly agreeable to the Holy Scripture The Primitive Antiquity as I said seems very much divided and uncertain about this most obscure Subject concerning which it was not impossible to mistake considering the great Generality and the mysterious and obscure Manner in which it pleas'd the Holy Inspiration of God to dictate it to the Sacred Writers and considering the Philosophy that than prevailed Howbeit even by the Notions of Irenaeus Justin Martyr Origen and all the Doctors that began so early in some measure to platonize it seems that they were then properly Semi-Arians and therefore rather Vnitarians than otherwise And so the Error of either side
reasons usually alledged for that part of the Arian Sentiment it is credible was the first Creature and which was God insomuch as this Spirit not only was the First-born and Heir of all the Creation and was designed the Chief of all Creatures but also was so filled with the Divine Wisdom and assisted with the Divine Power that the Godhead was from the beginning as intimately united with this Holy Soul as possible which it was not with any other in which Sense among others as upon the account of his being the Creature the most like to God as also by reason of his singular partaking of the Divine Soveraignty and Authority this Word or Word bearer may be called God's only Son And as I take it there can be meant no more by the Hypostatick Union Now seeing the Arians hold that Christ was Instrumental in Creating or Ordering of the World and the Socinians say he is Deus factus insomuch that as both Parties own he can act in all things as God govern the World raise the Dead judge all Men and do whatsoever the Father can do they must necessarily be understood to suppose such a Communication as I have specified of the Divine Nature to the Spirit of Christ whereby the Fullness of the Godhead so dwells in and conducts and assists him and acts by him that what God doth is reckoned to be done by Christ being done by the Divine Vertue both dwelling in him and disposed of by him according to his Desire What Christ doth in the discharge of his Office may be imputed to God assisting him and dwelling in him In like manner what is most properly the Work of God may be ascribed to Christ procuring it to be done by his Application to the Godhead dwelling in him Considering then as exactly as I can what can be meant by the Hypostatical Union of the Divine with Christ's Human Nature tho' the term Hypostatick Union be not scriptural nor strictly proper it seems not impossible in a sufficient measure to come to a right understanding in that Matter seeing all Parties acknowledge and the Scripture teaches the Fulness of the Godhead dwells in the Man Christ Jesus so that he is assisted and conducted thereby as the Human Body is by the Human Soul and by that means Christ is in God and God in Christ who sees Christ sees God all that is God's is Christ's and he can do all that God doth and God is in him to receive our Homages thro his Mediation and when in that manner Christ is worshipped God who is thus intimately united to him is worshipped Christ incontestably being to be adored or reverenced according to his most high Station and Dignity to the Glory of the Father being enabled to be a fit Object of our Service or of our Submission as well as Veneration by the Divine Wisdom and Power inhabiting in him and by the Supream Authority and Honour which it has pleas'd God to communicate to him and invest him with appointing him to represent God and making him most intimately partaker of the Divine Nature so that in adoring Christ there is no Idolatry as in the Invocation of Saints who have received from God neither that Dignity nor Power that Christ has God having put his Name most eminently in him Yet the Nature of the Thing as well as the Practice of Scripture shews it is necessary we then should direct our Prayers and Worship ultimately to God in Christ when properly Religious Prayers and Divine Worship Thus Christ is the Man Jesus anointed with the Spirit or Inspiration and Power of God assisted and conducted by the Divine Wisdom and intimately united to the God-head and therefore in that sence he is truly said to be God which as far as I can understand as I said is all that can be meant by the Hypostatick Union and so at the bottom there need be no Difference about that Point but all Parties in this manner may agree about it tho' properly the Title Son or the Name Jesus Christ denotes the Man in whom the Godhead dwells and with whom the Godhead is as much united as possible as is observed by Grotius in his Annotations on Matth. 1 16 and Col. 1 16 tho the Man properly be not the Godhead it self no more than the Body is the Soul and tho this Man be properly God or a God in an inferiour sense in as much as as he represents God so he is the Soveraign of the Universe under God John 10 35 so that properly the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the only true God 1 Cor. 8 6. John 17 3. Ephes 4 6 and it is He who by his Divine Wisdom is said to dwell in our Saviour John 14 10. which In-dwelling therefore of the Godhead in the Man Jesus Christ I take to be what may be meant by the term the Hypostatick Union But after all the consideration I am capable of I cannot find that the term that there are three Persons in God can be in any measure justifiable For there is no reason why the Divine Wisdom and Power should be looked upon as distinct Persons from the Father the Father as we have seen being said to dwell thereby in Christ any more than there is that a Man's Reason and Will or that his right Hand and left Hand should be said to be distinct Persons from him A Person is something intelligent subsisting of it self But whatsoever is in God whether Wisdom or Power cannot subsist from or without the Divine Mind All things in God avowedly are inseparable from one another and therefore it must be owned no one of them distinctly can subsist of it self it being absolutely necessary for all of them to subsist together and in particular the Divine Power and Wisdom necessarily subsisting in the Divine Mind They are as in an Human Spirit Properties and Acts or Powers of the Mind and not Persons tho' Personal Acts may be ascribed to them by a Figure common in all Languages and particularly in the Stile of Scripture Prov. 20.1 Prov. 30 16. John 3 8. Prov. 9.1 Ps 119 24 A Single Personal Pronoun is always used in Scripture in speaking of God And therefore God is to be held one Person and not three Persons The Apostle St. Paul says that what may be known of God is discernible by the Light of Nature Rom. 1 19. But certainly the Light of Nature teaches not that God is three Persons but one who is All-wise and Powerfull A Divine Person must comprise all Divine Perfections For it must be All-Perfect otherwise it were not God so as to include as it is said each Person doth the whole Divine Nature and Essence For God is All-Perfect Now one such Person must be All-Sufficient Consequently others cannot be Necessary There cannot therefore be any other or any more than one Person in God For all that is in God is Necessary Moreover to suppose three All-Sufficient or All-Perfect