Ambr. de Dignit Hom. c. 2. Faculties of the Soul Vnderstanding Will and Memory St. Ierome tells us that Christ was therefore baptized in Jordan because that Hier. in Mat. c. 16. River represented the Trinity for that it was called Jordan because it issued from two Heads the one called Jor the other Dan All these Threes are severally distinct and yet unseparated in Nature One Sun One Fire One Water One Arm. One Tree One Soul And one Jordan Yet when we say the Three Persons are but of one Essence the Reader is to be informed that we are not so to be understood as if we affirmed that there is no Essential or Quidditative difference between these Three Persons for the Three Divine Persons must needs be distinct and different in some Essential difference otherwise they all must be confessed to be but One Person Therefore something there must be whereby the Father is Father and not Son and so in the other Persons to constitute them Persons distinct each from other For in Logick we learn that even the very Accidents have their respective Essence such as it is to make them what they are so must the several Divine Persons have and to this our Orthodox Divines consent for thus they write Personae habent unum esse absolutum Essentiale Naturale Sed diversum esse Relativum Personale i. e. The Three Persons have but one Essence absolute of their own nature but Diverse Essences Relative and Personal So that these several Essences or Acts and Quiddities are not in the absolute nature or God-head of them but in the Relative Personalities for they are all Absolutely but One God and yet they are distinct and several Persons they are intirely and truly One thing and as truly Three several things Which St. Anselm as it seemeth to me doth very acutely thus determine and express Anselm de incarn c. 3. Tres Res sunt una res viz. Vna res Absoluta Tres res Relativae In uno Communi unum sunt sc Dietate In tribus Proprietatibus Diversae sunt i. e. The Divine Persons are Three things and they are but One Thing viz. They are Three things Relatively but One thing Absolutely for in one common thing they are but One that is one in Essence or God-head but Three in Persons or Proprieties Thus he and much more to this purpose If it be enquired what those Propertics are which are peculiar to each Person and that do distinguish every Person each from other In this we are plentifully resolved by former Writers Richardus de St. Victore thus sets Rich. de St. Vict. de Trinit c. 15. and 25. down their personal Proprieties Pater dat solum Filius accipit dat Spiritus accipit solum i. e. The Father giveth only The Son receiveth and giveth The Spirit receiveth only from both There cannot be another Property or Person which neither giveth nor taketh for if so then we should be driven to confess a Quaternity of Persons instead of a Trinity Nazianzen sets down the Proprieties in these words Ingenitus Genitus Procedens i. e. Naz. Orat. 23. and Orat. 28. Basil Epist 349. Unbegotten Begotten Proceeding And St. Basil thus Paternitas Filiatio Sanctificativa potestas i. e. Fatherhood Sonship Sanctificative power for although the Father and the Son do Sanctifie yet they do it not immediately by themselves but mediately by the Holy Ghost who is the Spirit of Sanctification If therefore each Person have any one thing peculiar and proper to it self and incommunicable to any other of the Divine Persons this Property must needs prove it to be a several and distinct Person And if there be any one Person in the God-head which doth neither give to the Other nor receive from the Other This must needs prove a Person without any communion with the other and so the Vnity would be lost Now that it may by the Scriptures appear that there are several Proprieties in the several Persons and those incommunicable to the other Persons We read that The Son is the Image of the Father but it is never read that the Father is the Image of the Son or Spirit So it is said The Word or Son was made flesh but neither the Father nor the Spirit are ever said to be made flesh So the Son is called The only Begotten so is not the Father or the Spirit therefore the Ancient Writers called the Father Ingenitum Innascibilem Impassibilem i. e. Not Begotten not Born not Passible nor can the Father be said to proceed from the Son or Spirit But these Properties cannot be affirmed of the Son who is Begotten born and suffered nor of the Holy Ghost who proceedeth from the Father and the Son Besides these The Scripture doth cleerly declare the several Personalities in the God-head by our Saviours words Joh. 14 15. I will pray the Father and he shall send another Comforter Here is evidently a distinct Trinity I and He and Another As touching the Vnity of the Three Persons the Arians utterly deny it and therefore they expostulated with the Catholicks because in the asserting thereof they used some words which were not found in holy Scriptures as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Essence and Consubstantiality and they nick-named the Catholicks calling them Homousians because the Nicene Fathers had inserted the word Homousion in their Creed One Pascentius was so offended therewith that simply mistaking it to be the name of a man he required that the Church would anathematize or excommunicate Homousion as b Aug. Epist 174. Austin reports But Athanasius made this answer to the Arians b That they themselves used many more words c Athan. in Decret Nicaen Concil which were not Scriptural As That the Son was not always That the Father was not always a Father That the Son was Factura i. e. a Creature and that he was made of nothing whereupon one Sect of the Arians were called d Soz. lib. 4. c. 28. Exoucontii and that those frequent Arian words Homoiousion and Innascibilis were not found in the Scriptures and that the Catholicks were forced to use new words because the Arians raised new Heresies although among the Catholicks the self same Ancient Doctrine had continued immutable for upon the like occasion even the holy Scripture it self had assumed a new word as we read Act. 11. 26. That whereas before the Church-Members were called Disciples and Brethren now they are by a new name called Christians First at Antioch and this because false Brethren and false Teachers arose teaching Doctrines contrary to the Apostles and yet these Brethren were called Disciples and named themselves from men as John Baptists Disciples did and as those mentioned 1 Cor. 1. 12. said I am of Paul I am of Apollo I of Cephas c. therefore the Church to prevent a Schisme would have all that professed Christ to be called
by one new name Christians which is thought to be prophesied by Isaiah when he said Isaiah 62. 2. Thou shalt be called by a new name Finally because the Arians used the word Triousion teaching thereby that the Three Persons were of three several Natures and Essences therefore the Catholicks to assert the Vnity of the God-head in all and every Person most significantly used the word Homousion Thus Athanasius e Atha in Disput cum Ario. c. To. 4. Notwithstanding this true and just allegation The Arians perswaded Constantius the then Arian Emperor by Edict to forbid that any new words should be used in matters of faith and this upon a pretence of a Scriptural inhibition because St. Paul thus chargeth Timothy O Timothee depositum Custodi devitans 1 Tim. 6. 20. Hil. advers Const lib. 1. profanans vocum novitates But St. Hilary addressed this answer That St. Paul did indeed command Timothy to avoid novelties yet they were only profane Novelties Now you command us to avoid new words which are holy and tending to Piety which is all one as if you should forbid a new Antidâ—te against a new poison or a new War against new enemies Thus he But there are other new words of as great concernment which some have found fault with without cause as is next to be shewed CHAP. V. Of the word Trinity Why it is used the real Warrant for it in Scripture Why Baptisme is administred in the name of the Trinity And why the Trinity is called three Persons THere are some that cavil even at the word and appellation of the Trinity because they finde not this word literally in the Scriptures who yet cannot deny that the same thing and Doctrine is really found there but both Heathen and Christian Writers reprove such Wranglers as stand upon words when the thing it self is evident a Cic. cont Salust Vbi rerum testimonia adsunt quid opus est verbis And b Aug. Epist 174. dedâ—ct Christ l. 4. c. 11 Quid est contensiosius quam ubi de re constat certare de nomine And Bonorum ingeniorum indoles est in verbis verum amare non verba A good disposition and an humble Christian will embrace an old truth though clothed with a new word The Scriptural evidence for the reality and truth of the thing is cleer For at the Baptism of Christ the Three Persons did distinctly sensibly and separatly shew or declare their presence at one time The Father audibly by a voice The Son and Spirit visibly and therefore c Chrys hom 24. Antioch hom 46. 31. Idem Serm. de Epiph. To. 6. St. Chrysostom calls the Baptism of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Epiphanie or manifestation of Messiah and he also calls that Apparition Theophania i. e. the appearing of God And moreover tells us of this Festival of the Epiphany which even in his days was solemnized by the Church That is was kept for the commemoration not of the Nativity but of the Baptism of Christ and for this reason the Church of England appointed that on the Feast of Epiphany the third Chapter of St. Luke should be read as a Lesson proper for that day wherein the Baptism Luk. 3. 21. of Christ and this Apparition is declared for therefore it was called Epiphany because at this Baptism the Lord Jesus was by the Father and the Holy Ghost openly proclaimed to be That Son of God and that Messiah which had been before promised and Prophesied in whom only God would be well pleased and be at peace with man And surely that Heavenly and Mysterious Apparition of the two other Persons was also for a further reach and purpose namely to declare to the world that this Jesus was that man which was assumed into Personal union with the God-head and that this Emmanuel or God incarnate was hereby declared to be assumed into the number of the Trinity at that time Although in respect of his pure God-head and as he was God the Word he was One of the Persons of the Trinity before and also from Eternity And although this Emanuel or God incarnate was one of the Three Divine Persons at the first instant and moment of his Incarnation yet he was not so declared and manifested to be so until this glorious Apparition For this very cause it may with great reason be thought that in correspondence to this Apparition at his own Baptism when he afterwards prescribed the form and words of Baptism for all Christians He strictly commanded that they should be baptized In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost In the Original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 28. 19. i. e. into the Name which signifieth that they should be baptized into the Trinity For name doth often signifie the very thing it self which is named as Divines call that word by which a thing is call'd Nomen Nominans and they call that thing which is named Nomen Nominatum Baptism is the Sacrament of our entrance and admission into the body of Christ so by those words Christ signified that he would have Christians to be by Baptism offered and tendred for their admission into the fellowship union communion and society or spiritual corporation with the Father Son and Holy Ghost and this himself had declared before when he thus prayed to the Father Joh. 17. 21. for all Beleevers That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee That they also may be One in us And so St. John telleth us 1 Joh. 1. 3. Truly our fellowship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ and because this communion or fellowship is wrought by the holy Spirit being the Cement or Ligament by which we are to be united and joyned to the Trinity therefore St. Paul mentioneth the Communion of the Holy Ghost with Christians 2 Cor. 13. 13. And the fellowship of the Spirit Phil. 2. 1. Another evidence real we have by the words of St. John 1 Joh. 5. 7. There are Three that bear witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these Three are One These words do so cleerly declare both a Trinity in the God-head and an Unity of the Three that it is no marvel that the Arian Faction did raze them out of that Epistle in so much that they were omitted in divers Copies after the days of Arius But we finde them alledged before Arius was known by St. Ciprian in his Tractate De simplicitate Praelatorum pag. 164. in the Basil Edition of Froben And again we finde them cited by Athanasius to Arius himself in his disputation held with the said Arius at the Nicene Council as is set down in his Book entituled Disputatio cont Arium the words are found pag. 717. in the Basil Edition Ex Officina Frobeniana An. Dom. 1556. which Scripture was not then
excepted against by Arius himself And long after that time we finde these words cited by Fulgentius in his Book entituled Objectionum Arianarum discussio near the end pag. 87. of the Basil Edition An. Dom. 1621. Yet Fulgentius lived about 200. years after Arius was dead The rankest Arians at first used in their Doxologies to glorifie all the three Persons by name although with some words differing from the Catholick Custome but in their Baptisms they invoked all the Three Persons alike so as we now do And although Arius had taught his Sectaries to use other words in their Doxologies then the Catholicks used as Glory be to the Father by the Son with the Holy Ghost yet as d Theod. Her Fab. lib. 4. Theodoret very gravely observeth Arius himself durst not ptesume to alter the form of Invocation in Baptisms but baptized as the Catholick Church did In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost yet in after times his Sectaries presumed to change the Baptismal form of words prescribed by Christ as we find in Nicephorus and is by me elsewhere shewed There were some also which said that the God-head was separately and intirely existent alone by it self and not only residing in the Three Persons but was a fourth thing e Aug. Ep. 22 2. Quasi quarta Divinitas i. e. as a fourth Divinity which doth communicate and infuse it self into the Three Persons as St. Austin relates in an Epistle to Consentius so that these men would have the God-head to he thought to be a fourth Person distinct from the other Three so that instead of a Trinity we should beleeve a Quaternity of Divine Persons But this opinion cannot be approved for the God-head in their sence could not so be called a Person because it is as they confess communicable to the other Persons But as our Divines generally agree in this definition or description of a Person f Melancht in loc com Persona est substantia vel subsistentia individua intelligens incommunicabilis If the God-head be a Person then it must be incommunicable And if it be communicable then it cannot be a Person So likewise the Heresie of Nestorius who denied the Personal Vnion of the God-head and Manhood in Christ and thereby divided Christ making two Persons of One did thus bring in a fourth Person So the Heresie of Macedonius who denyed the God-head of the Holy-Ghost instead of a Trinity allowed but a Binity of Persons These Heresies so moved and disturbed the Church Catholick that for the asserting this holy necesary and scriptural Doctrine of Three Persons in one God-head they were forced to use this word Trinity There is yet another Quarrel about the word Person because this word is not found in Scripture to be so used as the Church both present and Primitive have applied it for even those that do confess that there is a Trinity in the God-head yet why this Trinity and these Three should be called three Persons is that that troubleth them Indeed the Scripture often nameth Three the Father Son and Spirit and it saith There are Three but even St. Austin himself often demandeth a Aug. de Trin. lib. 5. c. 9. lib. 8. proaen Tres Quid and Quid Tria For certain then there are Three but what to call them and how to answer when we are asked Three what the Scripture is silent and b Id ibid Magna inopia laborat eloquium humanum i. e. our language wanteth words to express it The same penury of words is noted in the Greek Tongue by Nazianzen who tells us c Naz. Orat. 21. Romana lingua non distinguit hypostasin ab Ousia hinc Personarum vocabulum introductum i. e. Because our Language doth not distinguish subsistence and substance therefore instead of a more proper expression we use the word Person to signifie Subsistence Observe here that Nazianzen calls Greek the Roman Tongue because Greece was then under the Romans and was therefore called Romania and the Inhabitants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the grand City Constantinople standing in Thracia was called new Rome and the Inhabitants of Greece were all subjects and some Citizens of Rome so conversing with the Latines which is the reason that we find so many Latine words even in the Greek Testament and in many other Greek Writers both Heathen and Christian Now because the Scripture saith There are Three and that we dare not say there are Three Gods therefore we call them Three Persons because we find not any fitter word to express that which without words we apprehend and beleeve Neither do we call them Persons as if we would have it thought that the Scriptures did so say but because the Scriptures do not gain-say it but if we should call them Three Gods then the Scripture will contradict us where it saith Hear O Israel Deut. 6. 4. the Lord our God is one Lord we therefore call them Persons that so we may answer in a word when we are asked What Three This is the resolution of St. Austin concerning the word Person used by the Latine or Western Church In like manner the Eastern or Greek-Church called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Persons and so our English Translation rendred those words Heb. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Image of his Person and so doth the Geneva both English and Latine Translation And if we should keep the Original word and instead of Three Persons call them Three Hypostases people would be little or nothing the wiser And Austin tells us that d Aug. de Tri◠l. 7. c. 6. They that call them Three Hypostases may as well call them Tria Prosopa i. e. Three Persons The Eastern Fathers have many words by which they express the Three Persons As e Naz. Orat. 28. 29. Basil Epist 349. and in Asset Nazianzen and Basil calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e. Proprieties Subsistencies and Persons But the Latines generally call them Persons Indeed the Church was even necessitated and forced to call them Persons because of Heresies which used this very word and thereby miscalled the Divine Persons for the Samosatenians said that the Father and the Son were but one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. one Person and so also said the Sabellians that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. One Person and one Subsistence as we find in f Epiph. haer 65. Epiphanius And in g Chrys hom 32. Antioch Chrysostom And h Aug. de Trin. lib. 5. cap. 9. St. Austin himself in one place confesseth that he did not then know the difference between those two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Substance and Subsistence but because he found that the Greek Church called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. One Substance and Three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Father and the Son under the name of Wisdom Prov. 8. 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting I was brought forth just so doth the Psalmist express the Eternal generation of the Son Psalm 1103. Ex utero ante Luciferum genui te so was the old reading of those words in Jerome and Austin Brought forth and from the womb these words signifie that by Wisdom the Son is meant and the mention of the Womb of the Father doth signifie that this Son is of the same substance with the Father as children of the womb are of the same substance with their Parents and Before the morning Star signifieth that the Son was before time or any other Creature And that it may appear that by Wisdom the Son of God is meant the words of the Apostle will declare 1 Cor. 1. 24. where he calleth Christ The wisdom of God And as the Psalmist tells us that God made all things in wisdom So the Gospel tells us who this wisdome is viz. The Son The Word The Father created all things but he created them by the Son which St. John expresseth in these words Joh. 1. 3. All things were made by him that is by the Son or Word and this St. Paul doth clearly apply to Christ Col. 1. 16. For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers so that even the most glorious Arch-Angels and Angels are but the Creatures of this Son of God and this Wisdom of God Finally These men that tell us That God hath not always a Son may as well tell us that God had not always Wisdom But as they dare not deny the Wisdom of God to have been from Eternity so neither can they without very great impudence deny the Word or Son of the Father to have been from everlasting I will conclude this Chapter with the words of St. Basil who thus argued against the Anti-Trinitarians out of the words of St. John k Basil Hom. 16. To him that shall say There was a time when the Son or Word was not you may answer If this speech be true which the Gospel delivereth In the beginning was the Word I pray when was that time when he was not CHAP. IIII. Of the Holy Ghost That he is one of the Three Divine Persons and that he is to be prayed unto which is shewed both both by Warrant of Scripture and by the practice of the Primitive Christians and of the Church of England wherein he is confessed in Creeds and invoked in Baptisms and Doxologies THe Macedonian Hereticks confessed the Divine Personality of the Father and the Son but they denied the Person of the Holy Ghost and there are some among us who although they will not openly deny the Divinity and Person of the Holy Ghost yet they are doubtful and suspensive therein And this because they cannot or will not finde that any Prayers in Scripture are used or directed to the Holy Spirit as they are both to the Father and the Son They finde the Son of God praying to the Father Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit And Forgive them Father they know not what they do They Luk. 23. 46. 34. find also St. Stephen praying to the Son Lord Act. 7. 59. Jesus receive my Spirit For the satisfaction of such as these who are neither maliciously nor obstinately wedded to this error I will endeavour to shew both the Personality of the most Holy Spirit and also that he is to be prayed unto and both these by the evidences and precedents of holy writ and by the practice of our of our owne Church and also of the Primitive Christians First That the Holy Ghost is a Divine and distinct Person in the Trinity as well and as truly as either the Father or the Son We find that the Scriptures record and report many diverse actions and operations of the Holy Ghost which must needs be the performances of a Person for He appeared as a Dove And as fiery Tongues He teacheth He leadeth into all truth He brought into the Apostles memories whatsoever Christ had said He decreed in a Council Acts 15. He forgiveth sins by the Apostles by whom he was received and entertained for that purpose Joh. 20. 22. He is an Advocate or Comforter He distributeth gifts He spake by the Prophets and in the Apostles He calleth and maketh Ministers Act. 13. 2. And Bishops Act. 20. 28. where the very Original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I know not why our Translators rendred Overseers when in other places they Translated the very same word Bishops which is the very Text word without any alteration but only as it is formed to out English Idiom In a word this Holy Spirit is produced by St. John as a witness that Jesus is the Christ 1 John 5. 6. Secondly for Prayer We say that the Scripture doth evidently set down a Warrant and a Precedent of Prayer to the Holy Ghost which you will finde if you observe the words of St. Paul 2 Cor. 13. 13. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you This is a Prayer and here is not only a mention of the Holy Ghost but indeed all these words Grace Love and Communion do relate principally if not only to the Holy Ghost for the Spirit is the Grace and the Love of the Father and the Son and the grace of Jesus and the Love of the Father are conveyed unto us only by the Communion and Inspiration of the Holy Spirit The Spirit is the Conduit of them and the Cement or Ligament by which our conjunction fellowship Union or Communion is wrought and by which we are joyned and united in one Mystical body or corporation with the whole Trinity and this is the meaning of that saying of St. John Baptist concerning the Baptism of Christ He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost for those that are Mat 3. 11. baptized into Christ are by this Spirit united to him in one mystical body and so become One with him and by this Union with Christ they are united with the whole Trinity and therefore there is mention of the Holy Ghost in the formal words of Baptism because our Union is wrought only by this holy Cement of the Spirit for this reason it is that the Apostle prayeth for the Communion of the Holy Ghost Communion signifieth a mutual union of the Spirit with us and of us with the Spirit Communio is as much as Counio or uni◠cum The Scriptures are so plentiful in precedents of Prayers to the Holy Ghost that you may find them at least in thirteen of St. Pauls Epistles and at the beginning of every one of them for thus we read Rom 1. 7. Grace
be with you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ This is a Salutatory Prayer as Expositors new and old generally agree and herein the Holy Ghost is in the first place and chiefly intended for he is that Grace and Peace which proceedeth from the Father and the Son The Holy Ghost is the very goodnesse and sweetnesse of the God-head as we are taught by St. Austin a Aug. de Trin. lib. 6. cap. 10. Spiritus est genitoris Genitique suavitas For without this Grace and Peace by the Communion of the Holy Ghost the Almighty God-head would be uncomfortable yea and terrible unto us If it be demanded why the Holy Ghost is not so particularly and openly mentioned in that Prayer as the other persons are by the words God the Father and the Lord Jesus In this we are resolved by the same Father writing upon these words b Aug. Exposit in Rom. Non adjungit spiritum quia spiritus est donum dei Gratia Pax sunt donum Dei i. e. He doth not expresly mention the Spirit because it is implied for the Spirit is the gift of God and so are Grace and Peace The Spirit and his Graces are not separated but they go together so that by mentioning Grace and Peace from God he must mean the Spirit of Grace and Peace for the Spirit is expresly called The Peace of God Phil. 4. 7. because it is also there said To pass or excell all understanding therefore it must be a Peace infinite and so must be God who excelleth all humane comprehension and that the graces of the Spirit are called the Spirit it self is evident by the words of St. John Rev. 1. 4. who there calleth seven Graces of the same One and Only Spirit because every one may be called Spirit Seven Spirits In a word The Invocation and Prayer to the Holy Ghost is meant in St. Pauls other Epistles where the very same form of words is used viz. Grace be unto you and Peace from God our Father c. which the Reader may at his leisure observe in perusal of all these places besides the formerly alledged viz. 1 Cor. 1. 3. And 2 Cor. 1. 2. Gal. 1. 3. Eph. 1. 2. Phil. 1. 2. Col. 1. 2. And 1 Thes 1. 1. And 2 Thes 1. 3. And 1 Tim. 1. 2. And 2 Tim. 1. 2. Tit. 1. 4. Philem. 3. To all these pâ—ecedents we may farther add the Baptismal form of words to which we are strictly obliged which are thus set down In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost which words many Divines doubt not to call a Prayer and Invocation of the Three Persons although it is more also as Ph. Melancthon and Beza upon those words In the name tells us it is Invocato patre filio Spiritu i. e. That it signifies the Invocation of the Father Son and Spirit and so saith the Interlineal Gloss in Lyranus and many others To these we subjoin the Practice of the Church in glorifying all the Three Divine Persons in her Doxologies which I trust none will deny to be Prayers when we say Glory be to the Father c. which certainly is a Prayer as much and as full as Hallowed be thy name Of these Doxologies St. Basil saith in the behalf of the Church Catholick and against Anti-Triâ—itarians c Basil Epist 387. Nos glorificamus sicut Baptizamur In Nomine Patris Filii Spiritus i. e. We glorifie God in the same form of words that we are baptized withal that is we glorifie all the Three Persons equally and alike And that the same Father esteemeth the Doxology to be a Prayer is clearly declared by him in another place where he thus adviseth d Constitut Ascet In precibus incipe a glorificatione i. e. he would have us always to begin our Prayers with a glorifying of God Another practice and usance of the Church present was grounded upon that place in the Scripture Act. 15. 28. for because at the very first Christian Council the stile of their Decree is thus set down It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us therefore in After-Counsels they began with a Prayer and Invocation of the Holy Ghost particularly saying Veni Creator Spiritus which was also so used with us and at the laying on of hands in conferring Ecclesiastical orders and in many parts of our English Liturgy and particularly in the Letany a Prayer is specially and singly addressed to the Person of the Holy Ghost thus O God the Holy Ghost proceeding c. which Letany I think all sober well advised Christians and uninterested in Schism will acknowledg to be an holy charitable Pathetical and Heavenly Prayer and besides our praying to the Holy Ghost the Church confesseth her faith and beleeving in the Holy Ghost as well as in the Father and the Son in the Symbols Apostolical Niâ—ene and Athanasian which Creeds are acknowledged also by other reformed Churches Moreover although we should pass by and lay aside all that is before alledged and that no more could be said for Prayer to the Holy Ghost but only this that the Apostle tells us of a Temple of the Holy Ghost This may be enough to satisfie the humble Christian for 1 Cor. 6. 19. doubtless that Person to whom a Temple is lawfully piously and Christianly erected the same Person may with the same Piety and Christianity yea and must be prayed unto and Ipse Deus Templum aedificavit Spiritui sancto nam Deus corpora nostra aedificavit Aug. de Symb. To. 9. lib. 1. c. 4. worshipped in that Temple and therefore the Holy Ghost certainly should be worshipped and prayed unto whose Temple all holy people are as we read 1 Cor. 6. 19. Know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which Temple far excelleth all other worldly Temples it being a Temple made by God himself and made of the members of God And if we should build a Temple to Sacrilegi essemus Templum faciendo creaturae Etiam Angclo excellentissimo Aug. Cont. Serm. Arianor To. 6. n 18. any Creature though the most excellent Angel or Arch-Angel it must be confessed to be Idolatry and a sacrilegious robbing God of that glory and houour which is his peculiar and of which he saith Isa 42. 8. My glory will I not give to another In a word The bodies and souls of true Saints are not that Temple of the Holy Ghost which will continue and stand ever when all other mundane Temples although called by the names of Saints will be utterly demolished When King Henry the Eighth had un-Sainted the stubborn Saint Thomas Becket and had demolished his Shrine and Altar and secured all the rich Furniture Jewels Gold and Silver thereunto belonging Some Irish Romanists inquired to what Saints Patronage they might now for security dedicate their Churhces Answer was made that they should chuse St.
Trin-Unus-Deus OR THE TRINITY AND UNITY of GOD. Shewing The Co-eternity Co-essentiality and Co-equality of the Three Divine Persons The Difficulties of this and other Christian Doctrines The Reasons why the Church retaineth the Words Trinity and Person The signification and full importance of the Word Hypostasis or Person The newly raised Scandals hindering the faith of the Trinity The fifth Monarchy or The Millinarian Heresie revived and the dreadful Consequences thereof The new Millinarian-Saints and their designs In Ecclesiâ Rationem praecedit Authoritas Scripturae Audiatur ad quod Possumus Credatur ad quod non possumus Aug. de Moribus Eccles l. 1. c. 25. and in Ps 134. Tempore nec Senior Pater est nec Numine Major Prud. in Apotheos By EDM PORTEP B. D. sometimes Fellow of St Johns Coll. in Cambridg and Prebend of Norwich LONDON Printed for Humphrey Moscley at the Princes Armes in St Pauls Church-yard 1657. To the vertuous and my ever Honoured good Lady The Lady Margaret Parston the Wife of the Right Worshipful Sr William Parston of Oxnet in Norf. Baronet Peace and Truth MADAM SOme Portions of the Doctrines handled in this little book were formerly prepared for and also presented to your Ear therefore I hold my self in good manners obliged to represent the same to your pious Eyes and heart to be reviewed and ruminated Seeing now the Pulpits are secured and Plut. Mora. lib. de Garrulit Ovid. Met. 8. our Tongues silenced by a dumb Spirit So that at most we can be but Pen-preachers and that no longer then the Press will be open to us when that also shall be shut we must content our selves and others with the only refuge of him in the Poet who said At certè caelum patet ibimus illac We may Eliah-like ascend up into Heaven in the Chariot of fervent prayer which no man can hinder and others may use their Eyes instead of their Ears for acquiring and consolidating their Christian faith by perusal of such writings as formerly have been published by our true and learned Divines and thereby perceive the merciful providence of God in preordaining the helps of Books to stand us in stead when Preaching should fail which old Writers called Solacium and Medicamentum animae 1. The Solace and Medicine of our Souls For as a learned man once said a Aug. Ps 121. The Preacher is a Book to them that cannot read So a good Book is a silent Preacher to them that cannot otherwise hear necessary truths There were in old time books called b Liv. Plin. Libri Lintei i. e. linnen books written by men and there have been linnen books written by holy Women but with the pens of Needles such as the Charitable Dorcas wrote Act. 9. 39. for vesting of poor Widows Such kind of writings have been much practised in that worthy and most charitable familie wherein God hath planted you to succeed your pious predecessors in their goodness and charity who have been for many years Nursing Mothers as your worthy consort and his Ancestors have been Nursing Fathers to poor people in many Towns round about them not only by clothing but also by feeding them and providing for them by daily Almes and large Annual Distributions and a Perpetual Hospital and a Free-School and Sermons also to feed their Souls Surely these things are gone up to Heaven for a memorial and have invited the blessings of God to rest on that Familie This is to me a pressing motive to present this Treatise to publick view adorned with your name that so it may be a thankful memorial and acknowledgement of those grand Charities which have issued from your one house to so many places about us of which my self have heretofore divers times been imployed in some part as a dispenser and truly I have often in my thoughts chid my self and others as guilty of ingratitude in that there hath not been a publick acknowledgement thereof before God and man from any of those twelve Towns which have been annually refreshed by the same Charity VVe might justly be accounted worse then Luc. 17. 17. those ten Leapers cured by Christ if one at least should not return thanks But Christian Charity is not retarded by ingratitude it is like God who giveth to the unthankful Never any age produced more unthankful wretches then this wherein it hath been often observed that the same hands which have received relief have been imployed in spoiling and plundering the goods of their relievers Such foul ingratitude spoliations must needs hinder Almes-deeds Eleemosinarios extiagunt Rapteres Aug de Temp Serm. 78. as St Austin observed that it did in his time and so it doth now with many who are thereby disabled and would so with all but that they know for whose sake their Almes are given and that the Poor are but the a Laturarij Chri. ibid lib. Ser. 50. Crickers of Christ for what is committed to them by Charity is caried into an everlasting Barn and although their wickedness may exclude their Persons nevertheless their testimony will be present with God Of such perseverance in Charity we have a memorable example in our Ecclesiastical History of Anastasius b Evag. l. 5. c. 5. Bishop of Antiocb who lived under the Reign of the covetous and griping Emperour Justinus II. Yet this good man was so far from withholding or diminishing his Almes that he increased them least said he Justinus should take all away both from me and from the poor For if men should respite their Almes until the times are quiet and stay for a cessation of Persecutions they must expect till Satan be dead for as long as he liveth c Aug. in Ps 127. As one saith there will be no cessation of oppressions There is a Fable of a King a Ovid. Met. l. 11. VVho turned every thing that he touch't into Gold This fiction was to signify that great Potentates can make all their designs and pretences serve their turns for supply of their Treasuries So we read of another a bountiful Prince b Rex Anius whose Daughters could by their touch turn all things into Corn and Wine and Oil and were therefore called c Dictys Cretens l. 1. Caenotropae This was to signify that Charitable persons in all their indeavours for acquiring Wealth do thereby but labour to enable themselves to do good to others and such if any is a good covetousness So d Cic. Or. pro Rabir. Tullie reports of C. Curius an honest Roman Publican that he acquired wealth not to feed his own covetousness but that thereby he might be enabled to do good to others as another Heathen saith e Sen. in Herc. Oet Hic Solas optat quas donet Opes Our Christian Writers oft put us in mind of Charitable thrift f Fulg. Epist. 2. Proba a noble Lady and Virgin would often fast and also wear course and cheap apparrel that so she
as Christ is 1 2. Chapt. The Difficulties of apprehending the Mystery of the Trinity and other Christian Doctrines Of Philosophers Jews and Christians professing their ignorance in matters of Nature and Religion 8 3. Chapt. More concerning those Difficulties and of our ignorance in Theological Doctrines of the Trinity and Predestination and of the over-great boldness of some in handling those Mysteries 16 4. Chapt. That the Doctrine of the Trinity is obscurely delivered in the Old Testament Why the Septuagint concealed it The resemblance of the Trinity in things Natural and Moral The distinct proprieties of the Three Persons and their Unity Of the use of some Words in Religion which are not found in the Scriptures 25 5. Chapt. More of Words not Scriptural Of the Word Trinity and of the Word Person Why the Trinity is called Three Persons VVhy Baptism is administred in the name of the Trinity 34 6. Chapt. Of the Scriptural VVord Hypostasis The Grammatical and Theological signification thereof VVhy the Three Divine Persons are called Hypostases That the God-head resideth only in these Three Persons and not otherwise The Ubiquity both of the God-head and of these Three Persons 43 7. Chap. Of the Holy Ghost That he is one of the Divine Persons That he is to be prayed unto is shewed by Scripture and by practise of the Church That he is confessed in Creeds and invocated in Baptismes and Doxologies 53 8. Chapt. Of Scandals hindring the faith of the Trinity 1. By forbidding the corporal worship of the Lord Jesus 2. By disuse of the Doxologies and Creeds even in Baptismes 3. By dissolving the Order Episcopal ordained by the Holy Ghost Of Presbytery That it is no Scriptural order of Sacerdocy St Jerom's Epistle to Euagrius explained 63 9. Chapt. More of Scandals 1. By scandalous Ministers 2. By dis-use and abuse of the Lords Prayer Of Christs Earthly Kingdome and his corporal return before his coming to the last Judgment That prosperity in unjust causes is no sign of Gods approbation Of the Regal Stile Gratia Dei Something concerning publick Thanks-givings 78 10. Chapt. Of Millinarians and their imaginary fifth Monarchy That it is an Heresy against the faith of the Trinity Mr Mede's Argument for Christ's Earthly Kingdome is answered That Christs Kingdome shall last after the final Judgement and continue for ever 87 Sect. 2. Of Christ's Kingdom over all the World and every Creature That it ceased not at his death That neither the Roman Consistory nor the Presbyterian Vestry can be called Christs Throne How it is in this World and yet not of this World That the Policy of Christ's Kingdome is altogether unlike and divers from worldly Policy 96 Sect. 3. Of Christ's Kingdome and Acts in Heaven Of his Melchisedechical Priest-hood there The manner of his Intercession Advocateship and Mediatorship for us in Heaven That it is not by Sacrificing or praying for us there What Priestly Act he there performeth 110 Sect. 4. Of Christ's Session at the Right hand of God The difference between the Right hand of God and the Right hand of the Father with the abuses of that Article VVhy Christ withdrew to Heaven Of the re-building of Ierusalem and the Temple Of the Jewish Monarchy and their Pseudo-Messiah or the great Antichrist 122 Sect. 5. The signification of the Jewish feast of Atonement and of the High-priests entring the Sanctum Sanctorum and of the Mercy-seat sprinkling of blood Scape-goat and Jewish Sacrifices why God disliked them The signification of the Altar Of Jewish and Christian Liturgies 135 11. Chapt. More concerning Millinarism The dreadful and bloody Consequences thereof Of new Millinarian Saints and the Meek VVhat Earth or Land is promised to the truely Meek The Title of Saint unduely placed is an abuse of the Holy Ghost The Conclusion 146 The Preface HAving formerly discoursed concerning the absolute Godhead of Jesus Christ and shewed that he is the only and most high God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Divines use to say and the I am i. God absolutely and independently for an Antidote against the late Socinian commentary on the Hebrews It seemeth requisite and seasonable to consider the same Lord Jesus in his Relative Personality as he standeth in relation to the Father and so is the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father In the contemplation whereof I shall be necessitated briefly to discourse the Sacred Doctrine of the whole blessed Trinity and each several Person thereof And because this profound and mysterious Doctrine is far above the reach of our Natural reason and comprehension and therefore to be not only Reverendly but also Warily and Circumspectly handled it being confessed both by Heathen and Christian Writers a Tacitus Sanctius reverentius visum est de actis Deorum credere quam scire and b Cicero De Potestate Deorum timide pauca dicamus i. e. it seemeth more reverend to believe the power of God then to presume to pry into it and to speak sparingly and timerously thereof because as Origen saith c Orig. in Eze. hom 1. De Deo vera dicere periculosum est i. e. It is dangerous to speak of God albeit we speak nothing but the Truth I therefore do here most earnestly implore the assistance of the Father of Lights to illuminate the hearts both of the Writer and Reader that from him we may receive all needful evidence for our apprehension and for our faith in the holy Trinity which now we are to discourse of and to shew that there are Three Persons in the Godhead and that they all are Coëssential Coëqual and Coëternal Errata Page 5. l. 17. r. patre p. 9. l. 9. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 17. l. 19. r. Salvianus p. 21. l. 16. r. ipse p. 23. l. 9. r. Abulenses p. 24. l. 9. r. Idiotae p. 34. l. 10. r. contentiosius p. 41. l. 31. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 44. l. 24. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 60. l. 1. r. are that temple p. 69. l. 21 22. r. signing p. 75. l. 13. r. voted p. 76. l. 7. dele those godly p. 78. l. 10. r. in Marcione p. 109. l. 2. r. ne gentes l. 22. r. spirit p. 110. l. 9. r. whether p. 125. l. 2. r. lord p. 129. l. 15. r. premisses p. 130. l. 24. r. take p. 136. l. 22. r. the feast p. 137. l. 12. r. propitiation p. 147. l. 25. r. men p. 150. l. 5. r. women p. 151. r. them p. 153. l. 2. r. auri l. 12. r. devour l. 17. r. foul toad found p. 158. l. 2. r. Augustine p. 159. l. 4. r. paraechial l. 13. r. metuant l. 25. r. alio fastu In the Margin In the Epistle p. 4. l. 3 4. r. extinguunt In the Book p. 7. l. 1. r. Bas cont Eunom p. 11. l. 7. r. Dion Laer. p. 16. l. 2. r. Rom. 11. 33. p. 17. l. 3. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 21. l. 2.
plura quam scio and Non me pudet ut fatear nescire quae nescio i. e. Those things which we understand not in holy Scripture are far more then what we do understand Neither are we ashamed to acknowledg our ignorance Neither should any Christian be abashed to acknowledg his ignorance in these profound Mysteries lest by falsly boasting of knowledge they may truly discern blindness as some who because they would not be thought to be pur-blind pretend to see what they do not S. Paul saith 1 Cor. 14. 38. If any be ignorant let him be ignorant This he said not to discourage ignorant people from acquiring knowledge but to restrain the ignorant from boasting of more knowledg then they have So Beza very pertinently expoundeth those words Ignarus suam ignorantiam Bâ—za in loc agnoscat nos imperiti locum peritorum occupent i. e. That ignorant and unlearned men should hold and esteem themselves to be so and not usurp the places and Offices of the skilful This is good Counsel for some in these times I wish our gifted-Donatist-Sermon-makers would consider it Now what particular Doctrines the Christian Doctors confessed to be too hard for them and incomprehensible by their learning is next to be shewed CHAP. 3. More concerning our ignorance in Points Theological Of Predestination and of the Trinity The presumption of some men in their over-much boldness in handling those Mysteries SAint Peter tells us that in S. Pauls Epistles some things are hard to be understood 2 Pet. 3. 16. Rom. 11. 16. and so S. Paul himself acknowledged when he cryed O the aepths of the riches and wisedom of God that his judgments are unsearchable and his ways past finding out it is evident also that the Apostles themselves were both ignorant and unbeleeving for a long time concerning the Mystery of the Death and of the Resurrection and of the Kingdom of Christ until the Holy Ghost descended on them at the Feast of Pentecost No marvel then if the greatest Theologs in the world are yet to seek in many matters of our Religion Who knows in what state place or condition souls departed are although some confidently talk of Lymbus and Purgatory who can tell when Christ will return from Heaven unto earth except our new Millenarians will teach us What man living understandeth the Apocalyps Bodinus tells that when Calvin was asked his opinion of it he answered that he knew not what so obscure a Writer meant for though Bod. Method c. 7. it be called a Revelation as having been made known to the holy Writer thereof yet by others it is accounted Obvelatio a veiling of Mysteries Some are confident that there shall be a general conversion of the Jews and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some indeavours are now in hand in order to it because the Apostle saith All Israel shall Rom. 11. 26. be saved yet how many Millions of Jews have departed this life in their infidelity since St. Paul wrot As for the meaning of those words learned Origen thus writeth a Orig. in Ro. lib. 8. cap. 1â— Quis ille Israel sit Deus solus novit unigenitus ejus si qui amici ejus sunt ad quos dicat i. e. None knoweth but God and those to whom he telleth it Concerning the grievous passions of Martyrs and the Pressures of other holy men Salvinus saith b Salv. de â—ub lib. 1. Quare Deus talia patiatur non est humane imb cilitatis cognoscâ—re i. e. Why God permiteth such oppression man cannot finde out How have those words of Christ Joh. 6. and Mat. 26. Except ye eat the flesh of Son of the man c. And Take eat this is my body how have they exercised and posed the Christian world both of reformed and unreformed Catholicks and so have even the words and form of Consecration of the Eucharistical Elements Finally how hath the Doctrine of the Sabbath in the fourth Commandment tortur'd both our own and other Theologues which Epiphanius and Austia expounded so as to be understood of Christ and verily except Christians do so apprehend it we cannot render a sufficient reason of our rejecting the Jewish Sabbath but if therein we understand Christ to be the Sabbath Then we may boldly say with Austin c Aug. cont Adimant c. 3. Sabbatum non est repudiatum a Christianis sed intellectum i. e. That Christians do not reject the Sabbath but do more truly understand it then the Jews do or did which I wonder that our Reforming Teachers do not hint now especially when we are become so strict Sabbatizers on the eighth day Touching the difficulties in the Doctrine of the holy Trinity and of Predestination and other Misteries Let us see what the ancient and most learned Divines thought Austin saith d Aug. confes l. 13. De Tem. Ser. 189. Soliloq c. 31. De verb. Apost Ser. 20. Trinitatem quis non loquitur quis intelligit Angeli in caelo Trinitatem scire non possunt diunt Quis est Rex gloriae And Trinitas tua tibi soli integre nota est quis cognovit te nisi tu te and so he concludeth Tu ratiotinare ego mirer tu disputa Ego credam i. e. Many talk of the Trinity but who understands it The Angels in Heaven do not comprehend it for they said Who is the King of glory The Trinity is known only to God for who hath known him but himself therefore Psal 24. 8 whilst others argue and dispute I will only admire and beleeve Thus he As concerning the Mystery of Gods Predestination and Election Origen inquiring why Jacob was loved and Esau hated before they Ro. 9. 13. were born thus answereth e Orig. in Gen. Homil. 12. Supra linguam nostram est dicere supra auditum vestrum i. e. That it was above his Eloquence to declare and his Auditors knowledg to understand Thus this Learned man acknowledged his insufficiency in these high Mysteries although at another time he tells us f Rapit nos desiderium ad ea quae magis obscura sunt disserenda Orig. in Num. ho. 13. That he had a more earnest desire to study and handle the greater difficulties in Scripture then the easier parts So we finde in Austin and Prosper many such passages whereby they acknowledg their nescience in such high matters As 1. Why an Infant at the very birth of it was found to be possessed with a Devil 2. Why one obtaineth the grace of Christianity and Baptism and another not 3. Why God punisheth one and forbeareth another when both are in the same fault 4. Why God granteth not the grace of Perseverance to some unto whom he hath given the grace of Christian Charity 5. Why he suffereth the children of some holy men to depart out of this life without Baptism or any knowledg of Christianity and yet so disposeth that the children of his very enemies and
of Heathen Idolaters come into the Custody of good Christians and so receive and embrace Christian Religion 6. Why some Infants are saved and others not when neither of them were better qualified in order thereunto one then the other 7. Why he with holdeth some holy Professors from falling away and not others To all these Questions and many such like the only Answers we finde are Inscrutabile est scrutetur qui potest Nemo ex me scire quaerat quod me nescire scio Credamus Deum beneficisse etsi nondum novimus quare fecit Occulta esse causa potest injusta esse non potest i. e. These things are inscrutable finde them out who can Let no man expect to learn that of me which I know my self to be ignorant in But let us beleeve that God doth all things justly although we know not why he doth them The cause may be hidden from us but it cannot be unjust in God Thus Austin and after him Prosper to the same purpose concerning the secret Counsels of God concludeth g Prosp Resp ad Genuenses 8 Nec necessarium est quaerere nec possibile reperire i. e. It is neither necessary to pry into these Mysteries nor possible to finde them out and further adviseth that men should not busie themselves in the Questions of Gods Election and Rejection yeilding these reasons for his advice in an Epistle written to St. Austin h Prosp Epist ad Aug. 1. No man can resolve them 2. There is no danger in omitting them 3. They do not edifie the hearers 4. Because under the title and pretence of Predestination which men cannot apprehend a kind of fatal necessity is brought in abusively So that many imagine that they need not take any care at all in a godly conversation because Gods Election and Rejection must stand This was the reason that in the Reign of King James publique dispute upon those Questions were restrained And my self heard Bishop Montague our late Right Learned Diocesan of Norwich of whom a late Writer saith That Mr. Burton of Kingston he had Learning enough for two Bishops openly in a Synod profess That although he had long studied and read and written much in those questions yet he found them unfadomable and bottomless and therefore advised his Clergy to abstain from medling therein especially in their Parecial Congregations Surely if this Learned Father did not understand them much less can his inferiours as one saith Cicero de Nat. Deur l. 1. Quid est quod Velleius intelligere possit Colta non possit But yet now adays we have many young Mauclerk Levites that take these Questions for their ordinary Theams in popular Auditories and take upon them as St. Jerome complains of such l Hier. To. 9. n. 40. Levita docebat quod pene non didicit And as another tells us of Antonius the Orator who thus bespake his auditory m Cic. de Orat. lib. 2. Docebo vos discipuli quod ipsi non didici i. e. so these men will needs teach that which themselves never learned as if they were informed by some inspiration or newly Juven Sat. 2. returned out of Heaven as one saith Tertius e Coelo cecidit Cato or as the Proverb is in Tertullian De Coelo statim in Synagogam Tert. cont Marc. l. 4. i. e. is dropt out of Heaven into the Pulpit or that some Nuncius syderius or Lucian's Menippus had communicated to them the secrets of Heaven whereas in Doctrines of a far lower form they are found to be unskil'd Such as these fill the brains of people with unedifying Questions and indeed with very dangerous presumptions whereby many have been induced to beleeve that their willfull sinning shall not hurt them or prejudice their salvation because they are Elect And others have despaired and laid violent hands on themselves as if an holy conversation were useless and would do them no good because they imagine that they are not Elected whereas the Election of God is as well to an holy life which is the means as to salvation which is the end But some people love to have it so and will be taught such Doctrines as they desire to hear though without understanding the Preacher must open his mouth a necessity is laid upon him Clodius Pontifex cogebatur Cic. Orat. per domo ad Pontif docere antequam didicisset No matter for any Book-notes nor for any solid grounds of knowledg acquired Dabitur in illa hora is enough with a confident pretence of the spirit and contempt of other Teachers to such we may yeild the Character of the Ancient British and Gallican Priests called Druidae in Lucan Solis nosce Deos Coeli numina vobis Luc. lib. 1. Aut solis nescire datum I do well remember that many years ago I heard Mr. Thomas Cicil of St. Johns in Cambridg my Learned and ever-Honoured Tutor tell of a transmarine Professor of Philosophy who in a publique Lecture much laboured to expound Platos opinion of the soul but his auditory signified by scraping with their feet that they did not understand him so he went over it again and again and then asked them nondum intelligitis but they all unanimously answered non non whereupon the Professor himself ingeniously confessed Prosecto neque ego i. e. That neither his Auditors nor himself understood the Doctrine It is well known that some people who busied their brains only in these deep Questions when they resorted to their Teacher to be resolved in some doubt have by him been discovered to be utterly ignorant in the plainest Articles of Faith as it is reported also of that Learned Spaniard and Voluminous Writer Abutensis that when on his death bed he would have rehearsed the Articles of Faith his head was so full of high speculations that he could not go through with the Creed but caused a stander by to repeat it and he only signified his assent to it Let us therefore be content to know what is revealed and to beleeve what the sure word of God hath laid before us and to leave Gods secrets to himself We are sure that God hath his Elect but yet That only The Lord knoweth 2 Tim. 2. 19. who are his Neither let us covet in vain to know all things in this life but reserve something for our learning in the next life being well assured that when we have used our greatest indeavours the Apostles words will yet be verified that here we know but in part And although we cannot understand the Mysteries 1 Cor. 13. 9. of the Trinity yet that this must not discourage us from beleeving it seeing the word of God saith There are three I know that divers Antitrinitarian Theologues of Transslvania and Polonia have published very subtile disputes against the holy Trinity but I purpose not to trouble the Reader with them because their Arguments are sufficiently answered and the Answers published by
i. e. Three Subsistencies therefore the Latine Church called them Three Persons for they durst not say they were Three Substances left they should be thought to acknowledge Three Gods As touching the Scriptural word Hypostasis Heb. 1. 3. which divers of the Fathers Translated Substances as namely Hilary and Jerome and Austin rendring those words thus Qui cum sit splendor gloriae figura Substantiae ejus i. e. Who being the brightness of his glory and the figure of his substance The later writers did more accurately and critically translate the word Hypostasis by Subsistence and Person so that now the Reader may take notice that when Divines would express the Trinity they call it three Subsistencies or Existencies or Persons but when they would express the God-head Nature or Divinity of the Three Persons then they call it The Essence and Substance of God But of the word Hypostasis which is of very great moment in Order to apprehend the Mystery of the Unity of Essence and Trinity of Persons More in the next Chapter CHAP. VI. Of the word Hypostasis what it signifieth Grammatically That the Three Persons are called Hypostases because the God-Head resideth only in the Three Divine Persons The Ubiquity of all these Persons The Coeternity of the Father and the Son IN the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews we find three words which may afford Heb. 1. 2. us some direction in this mysterious Discourse of the Divine Person of Jesus Christ First He is called The Son of God This word implies also a Father-hood in God and Verse 3. as all natural Sons are of the same nature and Essence with their natural Fathers so must this Son of God be Coessential and Con-Substantial with God the Father Secondly He is called The Brightness of his Glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just as light is of the Sun and this word may teach us the Coeternity of the Person of the Son with the Person of the Father as the light of the Sun is Coetanious with the Sun it self Thirdly He is called the Character or the express Image of his Fathers Person or Hypostasis This word declareth the Sons Coequality with the Father as the Impression fully answereth the Seal in all Dimensions The Reader may here further observe that the Son is not called the Character or Image of the God-head of the Father because he is the same God with the Father but he is called the Character of the Person only of the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for as the Seal and the Impression are two distinct things so are the Persons of the Father and the Son And as the Impression Image or Character represents fully the Sculpture of the Seal So the Son fully represents the Person of the Father therefore the Son saith If ye had known me ye should have known my Father also and Joh. 14. 7. 9. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father Now although the Son be the Image of the Father yet he is not the same Person with the Father which Person is here called the Hypostasis or Subsistence of the Father This word Hypostasis which our English commonly rendreth Person and the Latines sometime Substance and sometimes Subsistence or Existence is originally from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to place or establish and it is compounded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which literally and Grammatically to the Letter signifieth a Sub-station i. e. that whereon or wherein one standeth that which beareth sustaineth or carrieth a Station a Stand a Mansion of abiding a Receptacle and the words Substance Subsistence and Existence are all from the original word Sto i. e. to stand And hence it is that some of the Fathers rendred this word Hypostasis Sub-stans as signifying a Suppositum or Substratum i. e. that which beareth another That Souldier which forsook his Standard or standing was called an Apostate The solemn Assemblies of Ancient Christians for Devotions because they were appointed to be at set times and in appointed places were called Stationes as a In lib. de Coron Militis Rhenanus noteth upon Tertullian Stationes Christianorum sunt Conventus ubi Stantes precarentur So the imperial Stations were places where the Emperour and his Army made a stand and rested after a March and Stativi signifyed places of Lodgings or Inns where Travellers stayed and rested From hence it may with great reason be collected that when the Divine Persons are called Hypostases the Scriptures do hereby intimate that the Three Persons are the Stations Mansions Abidings Rests and Receptacles of the God head wherein the God-head doth for ever stand and wherein only it is sustained and supported For the posture of the God-head is in the Scripture described by the word Stand as Psal 82. 1. God standeth in the Congregation And Amos 9. 1. I saw the Lord standing upon the Altar In Philo the Jew God is called for his Eternal Constancy b Philo. de Confus ling p. 324. Semper Stans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his words are and St. Austin in that pious book of his Confessions calleth God c Aug. conf l. 4. c. 11. Semper stantem i. e. Standing for ever and we are told in Clemens Romanus often that when Simon Magus boasted that himself was God he would be called Stans d Clem. Ro. Recog l. 2. 3. and we are also informed by the other learned Clemens of Alexandria that the Sectaries or Followers of this Simon worshipped him under the name Stans e Clem. Alex. stro lib. 2. Stantem Colebant It must be confessed that our most Holy and True God may justly be called Stans for his eternity immutable Constancie which is and which was which is to come who standeth Rev. 1. 4. for ever when all other false gods either are fallen already or shall fall and if we would know where to find this our God and where he resideth and where to address our selves unto him we must consider him in these Three Heb. 9. 24. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred Presence and Conspectus and Vultus Dei by the English and Latine Transl glorious Persons as in the Stands Stations or Receptacles of the God head as an Heavenly Tri-Parelion or three Golden Lamps wherein the One and Onely Light of the God-head abideth and from whence it shineth nor can we otherwise find our God but by the illumination which proceedeth from One or all these Persons The first Person is called the Father of Lights And No man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any man the Jam. 1. 17. Father save the Son and he to whom the Son Mat. 11. 27. will reveal him And both these Persons reveal unto us by the Holy Ghost He shall teach you Joh. 14. 26. and 16. 13. all things And He will guide you into all truth These are the
therefore how it can seem reasonable to any man that understandeth Baptism and especially to our learned Teachers that one should enter a Covenant in Baptism of beleeving when the things to be confessed and beleeved are not at all rehearsed or mentioned And yet more strange it is that although they have changed the old form of singing with the signe of the Cross into singing with the signe of the Covenant yet the words of the Covenant are not at all by them rehearsed Whereas it is evident in Scripture that a confession of faith and so a Covenant of beleeving is required in Baptism for when the Noble Eunuch desired Baptism he was first required to beleeve and thereupon made a confession of his faith thus I beleeve that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Act. 8. 37. so he was baptized As for the reforming of great Fonts into little Basons and the like lesser matters wherein how much the amendment is better then the supposed fault or defect we dispute not but we are heartily sorry that in many Congregations the Incumbents do often refuse to baptize at all except it be the children of the Rich of their own fraternity Fourthly We have also lost the grave and venerable Order Episcopal which may justly seem to argue a dis-belief or a disparagement of the Holy-Ghost of whom it is said Acts 20. 28. Spiritus sanctus posuit Episcopos for if it be indeed beleeved that the holy spirit did plant or place them it must also be believed that some contrary Ghost or Anti-spirit it is that supplanteth them Our Lord Jesus himself now since he sate at the right hand of God in Heaven yet there sitting is called a Bishop 1 Pet. 2. 25. The Shepherd and Bishop of our souls and the chief Shepherd 1 Pet. 5. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the great Shepherd of the sheep Heb. 13. 20. The Appellation of Pastor belonged only to Bishops in the Primitive Church but but now every young Curat though but an intruder will write himself Pastor too arrogantly St. John in his Revelation saw four and Rev. 4. 10. twenty Presbiters so is the original fall down before this great Bishop but our new Revelations have shewen us twenty four Bishops falling before Presbyters I suppose that the greatest adversaries of Episcopacy will not deny the Title of Bishop to be a scriptural word as it is and not an extraordinary or temporary word or appellation as some others are but a positive and fixed name and office and if it be indeed so planted by the Holy Ghost in the holy Scriptures men should be afraid to raze it out if they consider that Moses charged his Israelites neither to add nor diminish ought from the word that he had Deut. 4. 2. taught them and so St. John at the very close of the Gospel hath left a terrible threatning which surely extendeth to all holy writ If any man shall add to it God shall add plagues to him Rev. 22. 18. And if any shall take away from it God shall take away his part out of the book of life The greatest Sticklers and Dogmatical opposers and enemies to Episcopacy for I meddle not with Authoritative power are those men who would have Presbyters to be the Supream Sacerdotal order but I firmly beleeve that in the Scripture the word Presbyter was not intended to signifie any order at all of Sacerdocy but only to signifie a jurisdictive Authority annexed to the two only Orders of Bishop and Minister for Bishops are therefore called Presbyters in the Scripture because of their jurisdiction only Presbyter is an appellation of the Office or work of a Bishop but not of his Order as St. Paul doth evidently distinguish them 1 Tim. 3. 1. If a man desire the Office of a Bishop he desireth a good Work Here is 1. The Office or Work 2. The Order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Afterwards inferior Ministers were called Presbyters and that very early in the Primitive Church And now all Ministers are generally called Presbyters which is improper and abusive except there be first a faculty of some part of the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction annexed to the Minister which jurisdiction in due form should be derived on them by grant of the Superiour Order of the Bishop for although it is very true that in the Primitive Church a new Order was set up and called Presbyters and placed between Bishops and Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet this Order was onely Ecclesiastical but not Scriptural For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Presbyter in Scripture is promiscuously used to signifie both Ecclesiastical and civil Governours because it signifieth only a jurisdictive Authority and not a sacerdotal Order In the new Testament Presbyters of the people Mat. 21. 23. and 26. 47. and 27. 1. are mentioned And Presbyters of the Church Act. 15. 4. 6. and 1 Tim. 5. 17. And Tit. 1. 5. in all which places our English renders the word Elder But Beza varies in in the Translation of it for when it is said of the Laity he renders it Seniores i. e. Elders But when it is said of Ecclesiastical persons there he renders it Presbyteri i. e. Presbyters In the old Testament we find but two Sacerdotal Orders viz. 1. The High-Priest Aaron and his Successors 2. Inferior Priests called the Sons of Aaron So in the new-Testament we finde but two Orders of Sacerdocy viz. * Bishops the inferiour Ministers or Presbyters are both called Sacerdotes by St. Augustin de civ l. 20. c. 10. 1. Bishops 2. Ministers who are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So St. Paul reckons them more then once as Phil. 1. 1. The Bishops and Deacons and so 1 Tim. 3. 2. 8. So St. Jerome in that Epistle to Evagrius which hath been so tugged and stretched to make it speak for the Presbyterian design doth propound this sure rule concerning Ecclesiastical Orders a Hier. Epist 84. To. 2. Sciamus traditiones Apostolicas sumptas de veteri Testamento i. e. What the Apostles have delivered or written concerning Ecclesiastical Orders was by them taken from the patterns of Sacerdotal Orders in the old Testament which certainly is true because the same Immutable God is the Authour of Orders both in the old and new Testament St. Jerome goes on thus b Id. ibid. Quod Aaron filii ejus atque Levitae in Templo fuerunt hoc sibi Episcopi Presbyteri Diaconi vindicent in Ecclesia i. e. That which Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were during the Temple The same may Bishops Presbyters and Deacons claim in the Church But every learned man knoweth that the Levites were not Priests therefore those that St. Jerome calls Presbyters must needs be the same that St. Paul calls Deacons or Ministers Now if Presbyters must be the highest Order in the Church by the same proportion Aarons Sons sholud have been the High-Priests in the Temple but
shall begin his reign until his apearing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in flaming fire mentioned 2 Thes 1. 8. which assertion I conceive to be exceedingly injurious against the divine and humane Nature of Christ and also contrary to the Holy Scriptures For to deny the Kingdom of the Son or Word considered before or without his incarnation in his pure Divinity is all one as to deny his God-head for who can doubt but that he who is the Creator and the only and eternal God both doth reigne and hath reigned from the beginning of the World and shall reigne until the end thereof and after also to eternity and that he hath and doth govern all things in Heaven and Earth working together with the Father as himself saith The Father Ioh. 5. 17. worketh hitherto and I work and both these work by the Holy Ghost which is the Spirit of both The Kingdom of the God head is by divines thus distinguished 1. The Kingdom of power which even Heathens acknowledged in their supposed God O qui res â—ominumque Deumque Virg. Aen. â— Aeteruis Regis Impâ—riis fulmine terris 2. The Kingdome of grace whereby he reigneth in the hearts of the people inclining them to obedience by the Scepter of his Spirit against their carnal inclinations either lucriferous or voluptuous for this wee dayly pray Thy Kingdom come thy wâ—ll be done as on the contrary Satan or Sin is said to reign in the disobedient drawing them to evil 3. The Kingdom of Glory in Heaven in respect whereof the Son is expresly called The Psal 24. 7. King of Glory This I presume no Christian will deny But our question now is not concerning the Son as he is in his single and pure divinity or as he is God the Word or the Son of God But we must now consider him as he is The Son of Man and since his incarnation as he is Emanuel or the Word made flesh or the Anoynted of God or Christ for the pure God-head can not be anoynted because it is the anoynting neither could the Son of God be called Christ until he was incarnate nor can Christ be said to reign until he was made Christ that is until the Son of God by his humane nativity became the Son of Man For though the Son of God hath been a Son from eternity yet he was not Christ or Anoynted from eternity but his unction and title Christ began then as the Apostle saith Gal. 4. 4. When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman By this double consideration of Jesus wee may perceive the reason why the Scripture distinguisheth between God and Christ as 2 Tim. 4. 1. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and why we so often read The Lord Christ and the Christ or Anoynted of the Lora as Act. 4. 26. Ps 2. 2. The Lord Jesus in respect of his God-head is called Christus Dominus and the same Lord Jesus in consideration of his humane nature assumed is called Christus Domini i. e. he is both the Lord Christ and The Christ or the Anoynted of the Lord. So that we may truly say The Son of Man is the Christ or the Anoynted of himself as he is the Son of God These considerations being premised Our Question of Christs Kingdom is thus to be stated QUESTION Whether our Lord Iesus Christ ever yet had or now hath any Kingdom in and over this World FOr if it may appear that Christ formerly had and still hath a Kingdom here there will be no need of his corporal descending from Heaven in this fag end of the World to take possession of that which he had before and still retaineth Answer The answer to this question is That Christ now reigneth on earth and hath so done ever since he was Christ that is from the time that The word was made flesh that he reigneth in this world though his Kingdom is not of this world because it is not a visible reigning after a worldly way but in a heavenly manner he beareth not the Sword Material but a Spiritual Sword he raiseth not Armies of men but commandeth Legions of Angels his strong hold is Heaven his prison is Hell as 1 Pet. 3. 19. his Jaylors Divels his executioners Plagues Famines Winds Storms Serpents Wild-beasts evil Angels Sicknesses Deaths Temporal and Eternal his Laws are mild written in Milk the easie yoak of the Gospel his tribute and taxes are faithfulness and obedience his Kingdom doth not invade or disturb other worldly Kingdoms but establisheth them for he refused a worldly Kingdom when it was offered and refused to judg or arbitrate in a petty title of inheritance between two brethren much less will he in this world judg the grand titles of Monarchies and great possessions to be taken from the rightfull possessors to the use of Pretended Saints Let us see what the Scriptures say concerning the Kingdom of this Emanuel here on earth Isaiah saith of Christ as of a child born whom Isa 7. 14. he called In manuel which must needs be meant of the Son of God considered as incarnate That the government shall be upon his shoulders of the increase of his government and peace there shall Isa 9. 6. 7. be no end upon the throne of David and upon his Kingdom to order it from henceforth for ever Surely Davids throne must be upon this earth although it signifie the Church whilest it is Militant Consider we next what David himself saith concerning this Son of David in that memorable passage Psal 89 I have sound David my servant Psal 89. 20. 27. 29. 36. I will make hiâ— my first born higher then the Kings of the earth his Seed will I make to endure for ever and his Throne as the dayes of Heaven and as the Sun before me The David here meant must needs be this Son of David that is Christ who is often called David as Jâ—r 30. 9 They shall serve the Lord and David their King whom I will raise up and Ezech. 34. 23. My servant David shall feed them so Hos 3. 5. The children of Israel shall seek the Lord their God and David their King These Prophecies must needs be meant of Christ because the old David was dead before any of those Prophets were born Christ is called David because he was to be the Son of David and so is called by his Fathers name as o her children now are and the prophecies must needs be understood of the Man Christ because by his manhood only he is the Son of David and not otherwise nor can these sayings be verified of any other seed or Son of David Besides These speeches can not be meant of any worldly temporal Kingdom of David for that was taken of Davids posterity long before the birth of Christ and this David himself foresaw and confessed in the same Psalm But thou hast cast off thine Anoynted Thou hasi