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A49137 Two discourses concerning the divinity of Our Saviour whereunto are added some articles subscribed by all the French divines in or about London, in opposition to the Socinians / translated out of French. La Mothe, Claude GrostĂȘte, sieur de, 1647-1713. 1693 (1693) Wing L299; ESTC R14659 61,471 74

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of any service against the Divinity of Christ It is clear that these Words contain an opposition the opposite to true is false If the Father be called the only true God in opposition to the Son we easily see what follows It is true that there is an opposition in this place not between the Father and the Son but between the Father and whatsoever is falsly called God in the World And in this sense as it is said of the Father That he is the only true God we may also say of the Son that he is the only true God and so of the Holy Ghost because the Divine Nature which is indivisibly possess'd by these three Persons is indeed the only true God What remains now that can give us the least trouble what can be reasonably alledged against the Divinity of our Lord shall we object that he himself sometimes speaks of it with great reservedness It is very true that our Saviour with a great deal of caution and reservedness declared those Truths that were capable of setting the Jews against him The calling of the Gentiles may be one Instance for all Sometimes he wraps this Doctrine under the Vail of Parables sometimes he makes an Allusion to Histories wherein it seems that Grace was not shut up in the compass of one only People Truth can have no entrance into Souls full of darkness which as the Light of the Day comes after the Night is gone What would this Truth of the Calling of the Gentiles have produc'd if our Lord had preach'd it without any caution It would not have been believed and our Lord would have been put to death before his work had been done I speak as a Man We may say the same thing of our Saviour's Godhead which being such that the Jews could not bear the glory of it he discovers it by little and little to them he tries their hearts after that he had found by the manner of their reception of these Words I and my Father are one that it was not seasonable yet to declare this Doctrine he stops there and leads out the Thoughts of his Auditors to the Magistrates whom the Scripture calls Gods If we mind it our Lord doth not fully justifie thereby what he had said in these words I and my Father are one For never did any of the Magistrates speak at this rate what is more they never made themselves Gods nor equal with God The Scripture indeed calls them Gods but they never said they were equal with God Christ made himself God and for the justification of himself is contented to alledge the Example of the Magistrates The Case is plain our Saviour intends not to retract what he had said his Design only is to moderate the fury of the Jews Neither indeed were they fully satisfied with it they endeavour to lay hold on him but he escaped out of their hands Do we find him in this place saying That he is not God Not in the least he never said any thing that came near it Whereas indeed he ought to have said it positively and often to make his Doctrine of more efficacy to the Jews He very well knew that nothing was so offensive to them as Blasphemy and that he quite lost himself in their esteem by making himself God And yet for all this he always returns to it and frequently offers them the same occasion of offence Pray what may be the meaning of this has he no desire that his Doctrine should be received no body dare say so Why is it then that he so often toucheth the same Mystery It is plain as the Meridian Sun that nothing but the force of Truth engageth him to make himself equal with his heavenly Father He is not willing always to speak openly by a too free and open declaration of himself for in this case he would either have convinced all his Auditors or not If we suppose the first they would never have put him to death which would have been equally contrary to the Prophecies of old and to the Happiness of Mankind which stood in need of his Death If the latter they would have put him to death too soon he did need three or four years time wherein to accomplish his Work These Considerations oblige him to speak sparingly of and in part to conceal the glory of his Divinity On some occasions we find that he wholly restrains himself as in the 10th Chapter of St. John in others again he utters himself with great liberty as in the 5th Chapter of the same Gospel When there is nothing more for him to do but to die he frankly declares himself to be the Son of God I think we may say that he was the first Martyr for his own Divinity for it is upon this Declaration of his that the Jews unanimously cried out He is guilty of Death According to their Judgment he had uttered a horrid Blasphemy and by the Law deserved that Sentence should be pronounced against him How does he justifie himself of this Charge Doth he alledge that of the Magistrates or the Angels on this occasion doth he say That hel 's the Son of God because he was conceived by the Holy Ghost or because he had received the power of doing Miracles and of declaring the Truth Thus understood there was no Blasphemy in the Case and he ought if he had not been God to have set the Jews right by justifying himself in this manner But on the contrary he maintains to the last moments of his Life himself to be the Son of God in a sense which the Jews judged Blasphemy that is to say The Eternal Son of God for otherwise taken it could not be Blasphemy I shall only propound the two other Reflections tho indeed they be no less important than the former My Third Reflection is That the Doctrine I have here asserted and proved is the Doctrine of the Primitive Church This is so incontestably true that Socinus himself owns That from the first beginning of the Church Socin Epist 3. ad Radec Ab ipso ferme nascentis Ecclesiae initio tot Viros non minus Pietate quam Doctrinâ clarissim●● tot Christi Sanctissimos Martyres ad eout nullus sit numerus eum alioqui grovissimum errorem secuto● fursse quod Christus sit unus ille Deus qui omnia creavit aut certe exillius substantia propria genitus there have been a great number of Learned Men Saints and Martyrs who believed that Jesus Christ was that God who created all things or that he was begotten of his own Substance This express Acknowledgment from an Adversary whose great interest it was to rid himself of the weight Antiquity would bear against him may very well pass for a strong Argument on an occasion where it doth not seem so proper to enter upon the Historical proof of it It hath already been shewed that the Primitive Church did believe the Eternal Divinity of our Saviour at
the Divinity of our Lord and all those fogs and dark clouds are dissipated and you will meet throughout the whole New Testament neither contradiction nor Snare nor Blasphemy The Holy Ghost is always firm and unalterable in the execution of his designs he proposeth Jesus as the Object of Human Worship because he is God this solves the Contradictions this turns the pretended Snares into Arguments of Piety this changeth the Blasphemies into just and due applications of the Ancient Prophetical passages Were it not so the Holy Ghost would have taken a quite different method to instruct us it would have been so far from leading us on the brinks of the Precipice it would have kept us at the farthest distance from it in a thousand passages it would have said to us Take heed of taking Jesus Christ to be God But why say they should not the Holy Ghost speak magnificently of that Redeemer to whom we are so vastly obliged and whom Providence hath raised to such an extraordinary degree of Glory For that very reason say I the Holy Ghost ought to speak with more reservedness of the Glory of Christ The greater he is the more danger of his being taken for a God His very greatness makes us stand the more in need of Preservatives The Blessed Virgin is without doubt the most Glorious of all Women What hath the Holy Ghost done to prevent others from adoring her He hath to this end scarcely mentioned her in the Gospel Set but aside the History of the Birth of our Saviour where this glorious Virgin makes a necessary Personage we meet with her no more except it be on some few occasions where commonly she appears with some Circumstance or other proper to check the desire any one might have to worship her In the rest of the Scriptures there is not a word of the Blessed Virgin The Acts of the Apostles except what is said in the Chapter and the Epistles make no mention of her at all The reason of this silence is apparent It was necessary for to draw a Vail as it were over the Blessed Virgin lest the Christians might be tempted to worship her The more glorious she is the more need there is to take care to hide her The case would have been the same with our Divine Redeemer if he had not been God the excess of our Obligations to him and the Glory of his Exaltation oblig'd the Holy Ghost not to speak of him or at least seeing it was not possible to Preach his Doctrine without speaking of his Person to make use of such Expressions as might make it evident that he is not God It was necessary in most express terms and on several occasions to tell men This Jesus whom you worship is not God for all that I say it was of absolute necessity to declare this with the greatest clearness and plainess of Expression imaginable But instead thereof the Holy Ghost proposeth him to us as God without the least Caution or Preservative we believe we have prov'd this to you by most clear and self-evident places of Scripture which tho they were doubtful would for all that be of great force because whosoever acknowledges the Wisdom of the Holy Ghost easily perceives that he would never have deliver'd any thing like it concerning the Godhead of our Saviour if he had not been God indeed The Equivocal Expressions that had a favourable sense and a sense contrary to his Divinity would have been too dangerous in this Case The Wisdom of the Holy Ghost would never have thought fit to have made a Representation so proper to delude us what shall we say then of so many places where without any the least Equivocation we see the Divine Glory of Christ shining forth to us it is not one Text of Scripture fetch'd out of a Corner that we insist upon but there are a thousand such Passages scatter'd up and down the Bible which both in the letter and the sense of them assert the Divinity of our Saviour Neither can any thing be said in this Case but this that the Holy Ghost was willing to deceive us and if he hath deceived us it is an innocent Error and for which we shall not be responsible at the last day Yea the very Enemies of the Godhead of Christ leave Heaven-gate open to those that believe the same It cannot be denied say they but that there may be Salvation for those that worship the Man-god On the one hand it appears that they adore nothing but what is adorable for the very Enemies of Jesus Christ profess to adore him And on the other hand they are sensible that the Doctrine of his Divinity is sufficiently confirmed in Scripture at least to justify the belief of the Orthodox So that upon this account they do not doubt of their Salvation why then should any condemn them If they adore nothing but what is indeed adorable their Error will only be in Speculation If they believe nothing but what the Holy Ghost makes them to believe by his way of speaking concerning Christ conclude we this Reflection The Holy Ghost neither can deceive nor can be deceived it will be our Glory to follow him always for he cannot guide us but in the way of Truth The second Reflection upon the Difficulties that are made about this Mystery we have explained to you There are three sorts of Difficulties raised against this Doctrine of the Eternal Godhead of Jesus Christ Heart-difficulties Wit-difficulties and Scripture-difficulties By Heart-difficulties I understand that repugnance we find in our selves to receive revealed Truths with a ready and teachable frame of Heart this is that Temper the heart of Man hath received from the impressions of Sin whatsoever comes from Heaven is suspected tho indeed there be no other reason to suspect it save only this because it comes from Heaven The Experience of all Ages is but too notorious a proof of this sad Truth The most certain Revelation hath been disputed neither is there any thing so clear in Revelation that hath not been contradicted To prove this I will not expose to your view the profane Persons and Hereticks of the Ages past this scandalous Procession would only serve to afflict you Heaven saith it and this is sufficient for man to contradict it to doubt it to deny it It may be that considering the matter with more attention we shall find that men put themselves in an ill Humour against Revelation because they find in it those Moral Precepts that do not at all comport with the corruption of their heart They criticise the Doctrine that they may have a pretence to shake off the Yoke of its commands they controle the Precept to justify their Libertinism I make no question at all but that a part of those Clouds some Men meet with in the Mystery of the Divinity of Christ do proceed from the Vapours of a corrupt Heart They question the Glory of that God whom they have no
before Men were Poetical Fiction Reason of State Gratitude Flattery or Superstition had no part here From everlasting to everlasting thou art God The Men that were worshipp'd whilst yet alive easily perceiv'd that they were no gods they were very sensible that the Divine Honours rendred unto them were no better than Robbery But saith St. Paul Jesus Christ thought it no Robbery to be equal with God in which words there is a tacite opposition to that Subordination which Paganism had establish'd amongst their gods They said that Jupiter was the Master and Lord Paramount of their gods there being none on equal ground with him St. Paul here insinuates that Jesus Christ is really greater than all the Pagan gods were even in the Conceit of those that were their Worshippers He is equal to God to that Great God who is the Soveraign Master and Lord of the Universe Besides these oppositions which the Apostle had an eye to in the words we are explaining it seems probable that he had a more particular regard to a matter wherein the Philippians were more particularly concern'd They conceiv'd it no small part of their Glory that their Countrey had produc'd Alexander the Great This Conqueror conceiv'd it was both his Glory and Interest to be worshipp'd as a god He would needs be thought the Son of Jupiter and not being content to have pillaged the Earth was desirous to carry his Usurpations to Heaven He knew well enough that the Quality he Arrogated to himself of being the Son of Jupiter was a true piece of Robbery The power of Truth oblig'd this False god to say during the pains he suffer'd by the Wound he had received from an Arrow That they would make him the Son of Jupiter but that he self well enough that he was but a Man The Philippians were fully acquainted with this Story St. Paul knew it and we may aver that he thought of it in presenting to the Philippians a Saviour who was really and truly God the true Son of the true God who being in the Form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God All these oppositions are of great use to illustrate the Literal Sense we have explained It is time now to search into the Doctrine it contains which we shall do by considering it first in a Relative and then in an Absolute Sense In a Relative Sense it will be to purpose to know the Characters first of him who is here spoken of secondly of him who speaks and thirdly of those to whom it is spoken He concerning whom here is spoken was on the one hand the Pattern of an Absolute Humility and on the other a great Zealot for the Glory of God If we have cast our Eyes never so little upon the Gospel we shall find this to be a Truth altogether incontestable Our Lord Jesus himself hath given us a great and signal instance of the Humility which he recommends he washeth his Disciples Feet he suffers Injuries patiently he flees Honours On the other hand How nice and tender do we find him in cases where his Father's Glory was concern'd Doth he perceive that the Laws of God are made to truckle to the Traditions of Men With what force do we see him exaggerate this Affront If he sees Men prophane the House of God by changing it to a Market-place he does not think words sufficient to repress this Insolence he makes a Whip of Cords to lash these Prophane Wretches out of the Temple With this double Character which might be made out by many more passages of Scripture at what a rate think you would our Saviour have delivered himself if ever he had met with one that made himself a god This was a time wherein the Jews were not guilty of gross Idolatry and wherein Jerusalem had banish'd the Idols of other Nations so that our Lord had no occasion to declare against Idols but had he met with any what would not he have said Had he taken notice of any Man that arrogated to himself Divine Honours with what Zeal and Vehemence would he have confounded the Pride of that Usurper We know enough of the Spirit of our Lord on other occasions to justifie what we suppose of him What then ought we to conclude from this that he who was so Humble and so Zealous yet made himself equal with God Nothing can be said here that is consistent with Reason but to confess that he was really that for which he would that Men should take him Had not he been God and consequently equal to God his Father he would have been so far from affecting this Equality that he would have abhorr'd the least tendency that way Instead of speaking Magisterially he would always have exprest himself in the most humble stile imaginable to disabuse the People who by the Fame of his Miracles would have been tempted to take him for a God But we find his Conduct quite opposite to this he doth not think it any Robbery to be equal with God But how can this be if he be not God indeed What is become of his Humility What of his Zeal What of his Sincerity These three Virtues are the Sureties and Pledges for our Faith of the Godhead of Jesus Christ Who is it that writes this 'T is St. Paul that is to say in one word whatsoever can be conceiv'd of Zeal against attributing the Divine Glory to a Creature This Apostle met with several occasions to make himself known under this Character He strongly declares himself against Idolatry in several places In the Acts of the Apostles we find what a Reception he gave to those Divine Honours which the Lycaonians would needs force upon him he rents his Clothes runs in amongst them Crying out and saying Acts 14.15 Sirs why do you these things We are also men of like passions with you and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God In the Seventeenth Chapter of the same Book we find that the Spirit of St. Paul was stirred in him at the sight of the Idols they worshipp'd at Athens Acts 17.16 In the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans we find him thundring against Idolaters saying that they changed the glory of the incorruptible God Rom 1.23 25. into an image made like to corruptible man and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever This is enough to give us a taste of St. Paul's Spirit in this matter and to shew that he had the greatest horror for Idolatry Besides this he made it always his business to humble and abase the Creature that thereby the greater Glory might redound to the Creator and to remove all those things that might in the least serve to colour the Religious Worship of the Creature Yet for all this he speaks always most magnificently of Jesus Christ he makes him equal with the Soveraign God who hath created Heaven and
that it might appear that these Saints were but Men. Elijah stretcheth himself upon the child three several times and cries to the Lord. Elisha not being able to do any thing by the Ministry of his Servant comes himself into the room where the Child was The Prophet lyes upon the Child and puts his Mouth to the Childs Mouth and his Eyes upon the Childs Eyes and his Hands upon the Childs Hands trying to restore Life and Heat to the Child but for all this the desired Effect doth not follow he goes up and comes down and after having several times stretched himself upon the Child at last by the Blessing of God the Child begins to shew some signs of Life Was this the way our Saviour took to raise the Dead Being touched with Compassion for the Widow of Naim whose only Son was carried forth to be buried our Saviour saith to the Dead Mar. 5.41 Young Man arise and that word did the thing without any more ado neither said he more in raising to Life the Daughter of the Ruler of the Synagogue but Damsel arise and Lazarus was raised with this word Lazarus come forth There is no need to insist upon the Resurrections wrought by the Disciples of our Lord for they being performed in his Name were to be attributed only to the Efficacy of his Virtue Besides these particular Resurrections which prove the Omnipotence of our Lord we ought also to consider that he attributes to himself the Resurrection of all Believers All he did here upon Earth was but a Scantling of what he shall do one day by commanding Death to give up her dead after that their dissipated Dust hath been carried by the Wind to the utmost Corners of the Universe He that believes in me saith he hath eternal life and I will raise him at the last day Is this the Stile of a Creature Pursuant to this Promise several times repeated in the Gospel St. Paul saith to the Philippians as if he would prove to them that Christ is equal to God his Father that Jesus Christ shall change our vile Bodies and make them conform also to his glorious Body by that power whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself Phil. 3.21 See here the Omnipotence of our Saviour exprest with the greatest plainness that may be In the second place I asserted that Christ had created the World He hath created all that we see and all that we do not see for he is the Creator both of Angels and Men the Creator of all things without him nothing was made that was made Let us make use of St. Paul's Expressions For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth Col. 1.16 visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him These words are so full and strong and are alone sufficient to prove that our Lord is equal in power with his Father The last Attribute wherewith we evince the equality which St. Paul attributes to our Saviour or rather which our Saviour attributes to himself is that of Mercy We can no sooner have any little knowledge of the Mystery of our Redemption by Jesus Christ but we must acknowledge that our Redeemer is merciful in a manner that doth not belong to any but God Was it not he himself think we to whom Moses said The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious Exod. 33. 34. This great Lawgiver had a desire to see God I beseech thee said Moses shew me thy glory and God's answer was I will make all my goodness pass before thee where by the way we may observe to our great comfort that the Lord intimates to us that his Goodness is his great Glory And afterwards he informs Moses that no Man can look God in the Face Thou shalt see my back parts saith he but my face shall not be seen What may be the meaning of this Expression The Interpreters are generally agreed that this signifies that God cannot be seen but by and in his Works and that the Mysterious Reasons of his Conduct are not discerned Thus far this Explication is plausible enough but yet this is not enough except they comprehend in these his Works the Works of Grace Indeed those are chiefly here intended I will make all my goodness pass before thee Wherein I pray consists all the goodness of God Why it is all concentred in the Mystery of the Death of Christ When Moses had a glimpse of this Infinite Goodness when the Crucified Jesus was pourtray'd before the Eyes of Moses then it was that he cry'd out saying The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth And indeed who would not do as much at the view tho a distant one of the Mercy of the Son of God who being in the Form of God nevertheless emptied himself Christ's Mercy alone is sufficient to demonstrate him to be the true God God only is good in that manner because he who said to our Lord Good master what shall I do to have eternal life did not comprehend this Truth Our Lord saith to him Why callest thou me good There is none good but God thou who dost not know that I am God why dost thou call me good Yet our Lord who very well knew his own Rights gives himself that Title I am the good shepherd saith he in the Tenth Chapter of St. John according to the Principle of our Saviour himself it might have been told him Why dost thou call thy self good there is none good but God but knowing very well what he was he made himself equal with God in goodness The whole Gospel is full of the Traces of that Mercy which our Saviour hath exercised in chief You have already seen this in that he pardons sins not as Ministers do by way of Declaration but as God by an absolute and independent Authority The manner of St. Paul's wishing Grace is also an evident proof of this Truth Grace be unto you and peace from God our father and from the Lord Jesus Christ This is the common Seal of St. Paul's Epistles by which he renders an Authentick Witness to our Saviour's Divinity The Christians who had been Educated in the Jewish Religion and thereby accustomed to hear nothing more frequently spoken of than the Blessing the Peace and the Grace of God could not understand it otherwise An Apostle would have been better advis'd than to wish them Grace proceeding elsewhere than from God This Grace alone is sufficient for us The Scripture never tell us of the Grace of Angels or of Men. Where is there any mention made in form of wishing the Grace of Abraham or that of Moses or St. Peter or St. Paul The Church lives only by the Grace of God insomuch that this Salutation The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you is an
mind to obey I have nothing to say against this first sort of Difficulties neither need I since no body dares put them in form why should I take up time to refute them I shall only say by way of Allusion Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The Difficulties of the second Order are the Difficulties of Wit they attack the Divinity of our Saviour because they do not comprehend it their bounded understanding measures all Truths according to the extent of its own Conceptions and subjects to this Rule things that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor ever came into the heart of Man This Earth-worm will needs measure the Third Heaven what extravagance can be greater He cannot conceive how the Father the Son and Holy Ghost are God without making three Gods of them therefore there is no such thing Would not one think hearing a Man talk at this rate that he had an infinite understanding and that he comprehended all things in the Infinity of his Conception And yet we shall find that this presuming Wit doth not understand any thing perfectly no not so much as the Nature of the most common things He does not understand himself and tho every thing be a Mystery to him yet he cannot away with the Mysteries of Religion Yet this Enemy of the Mysteries of our Religion professeth a Mystery which is at least as inconceivable as any is in our Religion For he will make us believe That a Creature hath been invested with infinite Attributes that a Creature hath been made God in Knowledge Power and Glory Pray tell me what is a Mystery if this be not and an inconceivable one too The Creature turn'd God and the Finite turn'd Infinite the most incredible and contradictory thing in the World Our Mystery indeed asserts That God humbled himself but that this was by uniting himself personally with a Creature which he took to himself amongst Men and yet this very Man that makes so many Difficulties against the Incarnation tells us of a Man that is become God by a strange kind of Metamorphosis Thus they reject the Truth and instead thereof fill their Heads with Chimaera's The triumphant Raillery of the Prophane is That one is one and one is three and then making a show of their being fully persuaded of the Unity of God they suppose the Divinity of our Saviour sufficiently overthrown Who doubts that one is one and that one is not three this is true even in our Divine Arithmetick there are Three Persons three manners of Subsisting the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost We do not say That these Three Persons are but One Person that would be contradictory but we say That these Three Persons are in One Divine Essence Three are not One neither is One Three in the same respect there is a Trinity of Persons but an Unity of Nature But you cannot conceive how Three Persons can possess at the same time the same individual Nature what then I conceive it no more than you do but is it such a strange thing that God should be otherwise than we are otherwise than all the things we see otherwise than all that we can conceive He hath assur'd me That his Nature consists in Three Persons I believe it with Submission This ought to be the Temper and Behaviour of our Understanding in the Difficulties it meets with on this Mystery The Difficulties of the Third Order are the Difficulties of Scripture Men are asham'd to propose their Heart-difficulties for in so doing they would expose their own Corruption and nothing but a Spirit of Libertinism dares openly oppose its own Light to that of Divine Revelation They rather search for a plausible pretence in the Revelation it self several places of Scripture are heap'd to-together to compose a Cloud that may hinder the Glory of the Gospel from shining forth in its full Lustre At first those Texts are hunted for that prove Christ to be Man But pray what is this to the Question These Texts prove that he is Man we say so too yea cursed be he that saith that Jesus Christ is not Man We believe that by one of his Natures he was Man as we are but this does not hinder him from being God by his other Nature Man consists of Body and Soul can we prove from the Functions of his Body that he hath no Soul He Eats he Drinks he Sleeps therefore he hath nothing else but a Body This way of arguing is ridiculous consider this Man well and you 'll soon find by the operations of his Understanding that he hath a Soul as well as a Body This we might prove by the Example of all compounds This is enough we believe that our Lord Jesus is a Person compos'd of two Natures viz. of a Divine and Humane Nature he is Flesh and Blood he hath suffered tasted Death this shews him to be Man He prayed he worshipped he was ignorant of several things this shews he was Man But he formed the World he created the Angels he makes himself equal with his Heavenly Father this proves him to be God We readily admit the Passages of Scripture that rank him amongst Men neither dare we suppress those where he is call'd God To make our Doctrine to agree with the Scripture we must hold him to be God-man Our Adversaries prove from several Texts of Scripture that there is but one God all this is time spent in vain we are all fully persuaded that there is but one God Cursed be he that admits more than one God But say they you teach that the Father is God and that the Son is God we do so and in doing so we follow the Scripture but you don't hear us say That they are Two Gods they are Two Persons in one and the same God but not Two Gods But you say That Jesus Christ is equal with God the Father and Son therefore according to you are two Beings equal in Dignity doth not this imply a plurality of Gods since two equal Gods cannot be the same God This difficulty only proceeds from hence that they pretend to be ignorant of what we say upon the Mystery of the Trinity for supposing that the Father and the Son are only Two Persons or two manners of Subsisting in one and the same Being there is no room left for this Objection The Father and the Son these Two Persons are necessarily equal by such an Equality as does not thwart their Unity because they indivisiby possess the same Nature They insist further that the Father is called the only true God This is life eternal that they know thee the only true God John 17.3 and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent What would they infer from hence What that Jesus Christ is a God but that he is a false God A Christian ear cannot with patience hear such Blasphemy and yet they must come to this before they can make those words to be