Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	faith_n	ground_n	pillar_n	2,365	5	9.9071	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30563	An account of the Blessed Trinity argued from the nature and perfection of the Supream Spirit, coincident with the Scripture doctrine, in all the articles of the Catholick Creeds; together with its 1 mystical 2 fœderal 3 practical uses in the Christian religion, by William Burrough rector of Chynes in Bucks.	Burrough, William, b. 1639 or 40.	1694 (1694)	Wing B6058B; ESTC R214160	72,062	76

God in the three subsistences of the Divine Nature upon our Saviours Incarnation is become Mystical 11. Now it is this Mystical Trinity that the Gospel teaches Indeed whilst the Scriptures deliver the Doctrine of the Mystical Trinity they do as I have said insinuate the state of the natural Trinity but so they instruct us in almost all things in Nature whilst they teach us their relation to the Mystical and Sacerdotal state of the Divine Kingdom On the other hand we see the knowledge of the Natural Trinity which we learn from the perfections of the Divine Nature does so lead us to the Faith of the Mystical as to leave that Christian Mystery to be wholly of supernatural Revelation For the Mystery I say the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity rests wholly upon the ground and pillar of Truth which is confessed to be the great Mystery of Godliness God manifest in the flesh so that our Faith of this Mystery it is plain stands not in the Wisdom or Reasonings of Men but in the veracity of Gods word This is sufficient to justifie the distinction which I make betwixt the Mystical and Natural Trinity for this is but analogous with the reason of that difference which is betwixt Christian and Natural Vertue for though the Natural form of vertue may be understood by Natural Light yet the Christian form cannot which includes all the Vertuousness of the Natural and somewhat more which is likewise praise-worthy CAP. XI Of Christs Humanity 1. WE must confess if Christs humanity had been wholly Created anew by its being conceived one with the word it would then have been nothing of kin either with Man or with any other thing in the World Whereas we are assured he that is the word came into that World which had been made by him John 1.10 1 Joh. 4.17 and we are in this World even as he was in this World his Humane Nature was not therefore strictly Created but made of some substance preexistent in the World 2. Neither was his Manhood made out of any thing that is not of humane race for then he had had no more cognation with that Mankind that is in the World then with any other parts of this mundane System but we are taught Heb. 2.14 that because the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself took part of the same he has therefore a prime relation to us and as such Heb 3.11 he is not ashamed to call us his Brethren 3. If Christs Humane Nature then be made out of that one blood whereof are all the Nations of men he is the Son of man and is made so of God by Nature and therefore the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Heb. 10.5 as the Author of Nature produced this Manhood 4. But tho it be God that does produce this Human Nature yet if he do it by the sole powers of Natural Ordination according to the Laws establish'd before in the World for the Production of Mankind he will not thereby carry off any corrupt or inordinate sensuality which passes according to course in the natural constitution of things and tho we should suppose that the Personality of this individual Manhood is not subsistent because of the personal Union with the Divine Logos yet that of it self changes not this Human Nature in its dispositions and therefore this Nature would indeed be like ours in its Causes and Constitution but it would be too like us because it would not be undefiled Whereas we know this Nature was Holy and Harmless and Undefiled Heb. 7.26 1 Pet. 1.19 that it might be offered without spot to God as a Lamb without blemish and without spot It was not therefore solely produced by the powers of Nature 5. If the Manhood wherewith God is one be produced by the Powers of Nature so far as they will reach with rectitude and by Divine Power superadded to supply what is defective then this Manhood hath all that is really and essentially natural to us and so is related naturally to us and the supernatural Divine Operation takes away all the depravation of Nature Whereby it comes to pass that though he was in all things to be like unto us that he might have the feeling of our Infirmities and Temptations Heb. 2.17 Heb. 4.15 Heb. 7.27 28. yet he had no sin at all for our High-Priest can have no Infirmities or Sins of his own to offer for according to the fundamental constitution of the Divine Kingdom though Moses his Law allowed sinful Men to be Priests and to offer first for themselves and then for the People 6. Wherefore God in framing the humanity of Christ did continue the powers of Nature to work by their own stated Rules and without exalting them by a supernatural efficiency added thereto did produce an effect in the world which is beyond the force of Natural Powers Now all such effects as are produced by the force of Natural Powers and Divine energy added thereto are ever in Scripture peculiarly attributed to the Holy Ghost Gen. 1.4 Thus when the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters or liquid such effects followed as the powers of water are naturally uncapable of producing So both Jesus his and his Disciples miraculous operations upon the powers of Nature and all supernatural Graces are peculiarly ascribed to the Holy Ghost for all these diversities of Operations worketh one and the same Holy Spirit by the personal disposition of his own Will 1 Cor. 12.4 11. 7. This Manhood become one with the Son of God is peculiarly therefore the work of the Holy Ghost and because it was effected by the Holy Ghost coming upon a Woman and the power of the Most High overshadowing her and so was born of her Luk. 1.35 Mat. 1.20 therefore this is a Child conceived by the Holy Ghost and has that Woman for its Mother 8. It is also the Child of Adam Luk. 3.38 Gen. 3.20 Mat. 1. and of Eve the Mother of all Living and of Noah And if God had said that it should be by the descent of any particular Line as of Abraham Isaac Jacob Judah Jesse David it will be the Child of these Progenitours and such Predictions and Promises are Divine Characteristicks of the individual Person of Gods Son become Man both to the Ages preceding and following his Birth 9. The depravation of our Nature being removed not by the natural efficacy but supernatural efficiency of the Holy Ghost there will be no more reason to assert this Woman to have been her self born without all inordinate sensuality because she was the Mother of this Child than to affirm the same of all his Pro-parents in the direct Line up to Adam 10. But whether she is to be called the Mother of God is a question of names and strife of words for as much as there is a sense wherein she is and another wherein she is not therefore

and Earth But whether they hold these Doctrines with an equal or different concern yet it seems plain enough they hold both the one and the other in Subordination to their Grand Principle That the reason of things is the Rule of interpreting Scripture So that all the concern they express for either being their supposed consonancy with reason if it may appear as I hope it will by the reason of the thing that the Deity is the Supream Spirit Aliusque idem nascitur Hor. Carm. 2 and that the reason of the Supream Spirit speaks it to be of such absolute perfections that it Conceives or Begets it self in a second Personal Subsistence as real as the first Then have they in this Doctrine as well as the other parties what they sought for in vain in their own way and find the reason for their Faith which there they missed Wherefore all the Theoretical interests of the several Contenders being thus fully and entirely secured remove the Spirit of opposition which all disclaim and we have an unity in these points without any use of a Syncritism which is but a Politick Engine to tye mens Tongues together when their Hearts are removed as far as before from one another Whose use is to work like death which so far as it takes away the power of doing evil mortifies likewise the power of doing good I would I loved moderation and gentleness better than I do but I would still retain my present sentiments so far as rather to be angred than killed Concord in these things is most desirable but if that cannot be had men ought to contend so much as is needful to preserve the Faith but no more and not stifle their Religion for fear there should be quarrels about it 2. But though all the Conscientious interests for which any are concerned as seekers of Truth be here provided for yet possibly some Pious Persons may fear that such an attempt as this suits not with some other things for which we ought to have a Religious regard Such are the incomprehensibleness of God the Modest and Humble Opinion of our own Vnderstandings the Mysticalness of the Christian Religion and the Practice of the Antient Fathers which all by inquiring into this Mystery by the Light of Nature seem to be treated with too much neglect Though much might be said to satisfie these indefinite fears yet my leisure permits me to say but little which yet I hope may be enough 3. For the Infinity or Incomprehensibleness of the Deity that signifies not that we can know nothing of him by the Light of Nature for then we were not to say he Subsists in an Incomprehensible Being but that if he be he is in utter darkness But it signifies that whatever Men or Angels can know of him though they knew it in fallibly yet no one knows all or the all of any Divine Perfection or hath an adequate Conception of any thing that is in the Divine Nature But we may for all this know many things of him and that certainly Though we can say he is a Good and not a Bad Being and he is Wise and not Foolish and so far determine of the condition of the Divine Being yet this argues not that God is ever the more comprehensible by us in that sense wherein incomprehensibleness is a Divine Perfection and to be revered by us We can discover that God has an Eternal Subsistence if the Subsistence of the Deity be one Personal Subsistence this one Personal Subsistence is as Incomprehensible as three Personal Subsistences are unless we comprehend not the difference betwixt an Vnite and the Number three which we are sure we do And if we can discover from the Divine Perfections that the Deity Subsists in three Persons not in one only we may be said to know something more of God but nothing with a comprehensive knowledge And therefore the more we know of the Divine Nature the more distinctly we perceive that God is incomprehensible Let us then use the same measures here that we are certain be right in like cases When we say that God knows and withal that knowledge in God is not the same that knowledge is in created minds yet we do not therefore say that Gods knowledge is no knowledge or less really knowledge but infinitely more really knowledge or has infinitely more the true nature of knowledge in it than we can conceive by the knowledge in the Creatures Thus we think of his Goodness Existence Power and the rest of the Divine attributes Proportionably we are to affirm of the Incomprehensibleness of the Trinity When we say the Deity is one in all and every one of the three Persons Incomprehensibly We mean not thereby that it is not one or less one but infinitely more one than we can conceive by any Vnity in a Creature And when we say the Subsistences of the Divine Nature are incomprehensibly three we mean not that they are not really three or less distinctly three but infinitely more than we can conceive by any diversity in the Creatures Tho' as the Unity of the Deity is not a Vnity of the same kind so neither is the diversity of the Persons a diversity of the same kind with that of the Creatures nor from the same reason nor manifest by the same evidence Thus the Infinity of God makes not our knowledge of God no knowledge nor deceives us in what we know of him but convinces us that we know but in part The Incomprehensibleness of God then hinders not our knowledge of the Trinity no more than it hinders the knowledge of his Wisdom Power Goodness which are all incomprehensible as well as the Trinity and yet are known by the things that are made 4. Modesty and Humility teach us not to think our Intellectual Capacities less than they are 't is enough in all reason to think them so very little as they are Scepticisme is neither Modesty therefore nor Humility but an affected Wildness that violates all the measures of these and all other vertues which require not a a man to deny his own perceptions and doubt everlastingly but only that he vouch not such perceptions more clear and certain than really they are If then by a wary process of thoughts we may perceive that the most absolute perfection of a Spirit argues three distinct Subsistences of whatsoever is in the Nature of that Spirit we may then without breach of modesty believe that the most rational conception of the Supream Spirit is the Being of one God and three Persons And if we have any suspicion remaining about the due conduct of our thoughts yet we must still confess that the best reason we have persuades and prompts to this conception For since we evidently perceive that the Deity cannot Subsist in three distinct real Subsistences unless it be of most absolute perfections and on the contrary we cannot conceive how such a most absolutely perfect Being can

delivers her Faith is justified by these the sole Authentick Judges of such Controversies and for the truth of the thing refers her self to the Authority of God in Nature and Scripture 3. Now though this be abundantly sufficient for this verbal Controversie yet we may observe that in accord with this sense of the word Person the Scripture it self teaches us in many cases to distinguish betwixt a Man and his Person as when it says both that God accepts no Man's Person yet that in every Nation he accepts the Man that feareth God and worketh Righteousness Whereby we learn that God accepts the righteous man yet accepts not the righteous man's person I observe then every Spiritual Nature is voluntary and no Nature whatsoever is capable of any Personal Subsistence at all that is not voluntary which being premised it is easie to observe that according to the Classical and Scriptural use a Person does not precisely signifie the Being of a voluntary Nature but a voluntary Nature subsisting with a Reciprocal Aspect upon somewhat as it were mutually fancying one another in which Reciprocal Aspect the voluntary Being is considered directly in no other than its voluntary Capacity Thus it is in all persons made by Prosopopaeia in all Mimical Histrionical Hypocritical and all other persons whose Personality is fictitious so it is in all real persons both necessary and arbitrary in Civil Political persons in Bodies Politick that is one person consisting of many Men in Moral and Natural persons Now the Three Persons of the Trinity are plainly of this last sort being persons from the nature of the thing in it self For the Divine Nature being spiritual that is a voluntary Being and subsisting as has been shewed in three real distinct subsistences it has in every one of these three subsistences a distinct reciprocal aspect upon it self in its other two real subsistences and therefore the Deity subsisting in any one of these real subsistences is a real Person and consequently the Deity is in himself three several distinct Persons in the propriety of the word Person Nor would it be otherwise were the account to be given not in the antient Native but in the present English use of the word Person wherein the reciprocal aspect always implyed in Personality is that of a thing upon it self as when we say every Mans Person is himself For according to this acception of the word if we should say the Father is himself the Son is himself and the Holy Ghost is himself then every ones self here is the Person of him whose self it is Therefore the same difference that is betwixt the Father himself and the Son himself and the Holy Ghost himself the same there is betwixt the three Persons but the Father is not the Son but as has been shewed is really distinct therefore the Person of the Father which is himself is not the Person of the Son C. 5.9 10. consequently here are two really distinct Persons and the Holy Ghost by the like reason is the third 4. And the Course which the Latine Church took to establish the Ecclesiastical use of the word when it began to be questioned does very little if at all differ from this account Hypostasis englished Person Heb. 1. is of Divine Authority and Persona did intend the very same thing in the Latine Church For Hypostasis signifies the subsistence of a Nature or Being in its Station or State and since it is plainly apply'd Heb. 1. to a Voluntary Nature whose State is Personal the Divine Authority of the Greek warrants the use of the Latine as an Original does a Translation done with due allowance of Idioms This appears by the method used afterward on this occasion For to express the real subsistence of the Being in its state the Latine Schools used the term suppositum which hath in its make a manifest reference to the Family of the Greek Hypostasis And because this was the Hypostasis of a Spiritual Nature which is always Personal to answer that voluntariness of the suppositum they added rationale and so defined a Person suppositum rationale which as they understood rational was very allowable For the Schools intended their Definition of Person should reach not only Minds Incorporate but likewise Mind Coelestial And they likewise generally Taught that Angels had their knowledge not by ratiocination collecting from what they know already the perception of what they know not but by intuition therefore they here took rationale not in the imperfect sense for the faculty of reasoning but for the conscious perception of the formal reasons which are the very Nature or Essence of things And in this sense not only Angels are rational but likewise God himself is most eminently rational accordingly Cicero attributes to the Divine Nature Summa Ratio According to this intention the Schools definition of a Person agrees to every Being that is a Person and to none else Howbeit I have thought the Personal Capacity of any Being consists in its voluntariness more immediately than its rationality because the chief if not only consideration of a Person respects decent undecent praise dispraise right wrong merit demerit misery happiness now all these have their proximate aspect on the Will and not the Reason I confess when any of these are concerned in a Persons actions consideration uses to be had whether the actions were done wittingly or not but this is not enquired after for it self or directly but only as a sign of their being done willingly For should a Man contrary to all reason give away his Estate from his own most intirely Beloved Son to his greatest Enemy in the World the Right in Nature will pass by his meer Will though he declares that wittingly and without any reason and contrary to all reason but his own Will he so disposed of it I have therefore given the account of personality not from the rationality but voluntariness of the Suppositum though I know no inconvenience in the School Definition but that we cannot so expediently argue upon it and for my dissent in such a formality I presume that is enough In short the first Consideration does vindicate the Churches Right to the use of the Word the second proves that she used her Right well and the third that it is not now in the Power of the Church honestly to disuse it as being agreeable in its proper significancy to the reason of the thing and from all we learn that in the three distinct real Subsistences there are three distinct real Personalities I shall therefore conclude here the Natural Evidence whereby I suppose it is sufficiently manifest that the Churches acknowledgment of three Persons and one God is so far from being Contradictious to reason that the denial of it is repugnant to the condition and reason of the Divine Nature 5. And though by this means the Adversaries Artillery is turned upon themselves yet it is done with no hostile