therefore she is not the holy Catholick for as you said before to give the denomination of holy Catholick to any Church it is requisite she should believe the whole Christian Faith as it was once delivered to the Saints without any addition to or diminution from the holy Scriptures Answ Though that word Trinity be not found in the holy Scriptures yet the thing signified thereby is found therein as it appears by the words of Matthew Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father ther and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And more evidently by those of the first of St. John There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one That Consequence therefore is not good which saith that the Church of England is not the holy Catholick because it believes in the Trinity that word not being express'd in the holy Scripture for provided the thing signified be found there in equivalent terms or may be deduced from thence by clear and necessary Consequences 't is sufficient and matters not if the word it self be not expressed But as I have just now made it appear by the Texts of Saints Matthew and John the Trinity is there very clearly expressed therefore c. But you may further urge that by the word Trinity we mean three eternal and infinite Persons really distinct one from another subsisting in one Nature numerically but this is contrary to Reason and is not found in the holy Scripture nor can be deduc'd from it by clear and necessary Consequences therefore it may be rightly inferr'd that the Church of England is not the holy Catholick Church it believing a point of Faith which is neither found distinctly nor in equivalent terms in the holy Scripture Probatur minor First That the Trinity is contrary to humane Reason which is proved thus For as it is contrary to humane Reason that Peter Paul and John who are three distinct Persons have but one Nature Numerically seeing that every Person hath its Nature different from th' other if not in Specie at least Numericè and it cannot be otherwise so it is centrary to Reason that the Father Son and Holy Ghost should be three really distinct Persons and notwithstanding have but one nature Numericè which can't be since from three Persons do naturally follow three substances or natures which is proved thus Person in God is either a being or nothing we can't say that it is nothing because the three divine Persons should then be nothing at all therefore it must be a Being If Being either it is real or mental we can't call it mental because sublato Intellectu the Persons should be no more therefore it remains that it is a real Being if real either it is a Substance or an Accident there being no Medium between Substance and Accident We can't say that it is an Accident because we do not admit any in the Godhead for the great Absurdities which follow from thence therefore it must be a Substance and if a Substance since there are three really distinct Persons it follows that there are also three really distinct Substances which is contrary to Reason Secondly That the Trinity is neither found distinctly nor in equivalent Terms in the holy Scripture is easily proved The former is without any contradiction for if ye read over the holy Scripture ye shall no where find the word Trinity And the latter is proved thus If the Trinity be there in equivalent terms it is either in this Text Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost or else in this There are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one For though in the one and th' other mention be made of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and consequently of three Persons because the Father is a Person the Son a Person and the holy Ghost a Person yet we cannot infer that these three Persons have but one nature or substance Numericè for although some infer it from that word in the Name which is in the singular number yet that is not convincing since I may say such a thing is commanded in the Name of the King and his Chancelor and yet though that word be in the singular Number we can't infer that the King and his Chancelor have but one nature Numericè Neither can the Trinity be inferred from these words of St. John and these three are one because by that Unity we may very well understand a Unity of Will Agreement and Spirit and not of Nature or Substance so that when 't is said there are three that bear Record the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one It is the same thing as to say these three are one in Will do agree one with another what one Will 's the other willeth also And this is confirmed by the words of St. John wherein Jesus Christ prayeth his Father that we may be one as he is one with his Father that is that we may do what he will have us to do as he doth what his Father will have him to do Every body may see clearly that we are not nor can be one in nature Numericè with Jesus Christ it being contrary to Reason therefore we cannot infer by a clear and necessary Consequence that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost have but one nature or substance Numerice therefore the Trinity is neither found in the holy Scriptures distinctly nor can be deduced from them by evident and necessary Consequences First I answer thus I must confess with all learned men that the Mystery of the Trinity is above humane Reason that it can't be comprehended in this World by any Creature whatsoever We may sooner reckon the Sands of the Sea the Leaves of Trees than understand that glorious Mystery for how can we apprehend one and the same thing to be one and yet many How can we apprehend that one and the same Essence may be begotten and yet unbegotten that one and the same thing was from all Eternity and yet was truly and properly begotten This is above humane Reason Therefore the Angel in a form of a little Boy that brought a Spoonful of Water from the Sea and poured it in a little hole did answer Austin who was meditating upon the Mystery of the Trinity he asking him what was his intention that his design was to put all the Water of the Sea in that little hole But Austin replying that that was impossible the Sea being so vast and the hole so little the Child answered that he should do that sooner than he could comprehend the Mystery of the most holy Trinity Deum esse Trinitatem credimus potius quà m videmus That is we rather believe than see that God
is Trinity And Thomas Aquinas saith impossibile est per rationem naturalem ad cognitionem Trinitatis divinarum Personarum pervenire quia homo per rationem naturalem in cognitionem dei pervenire non potest nisi ex Creaturis Creature autem ducunt in Dei cognitionem sicut effectus in causam Hoc igitur solum ratione naturali de Deo cognosci potest quod competere ei necesse est secundum quod est omnium entium principium Virtus autem Creativa Dei communis est toti Trinitati unde pertinet ad unitatem essentiae non ad distinctionem Personarum per rationem igitur naturalem cognosci possunt de Deo ea quae pertinent ad unitatem essentiae non autem ea quae pertinent ad distinctionem personarum That is It is impossible by natural Reason to come to the knowledg of the Trinity of divine Persons because by natural Reason we cannot come to the knowledg of God but by Creatures which lead us to the knowledg of God as effects to the Cause Therefore by natural Reason that only may be known of God which by necessity belongs to him as he is the principle of all things But the Power of creating in God is common to the whole Trinity therefore it belongs to the unity of Essence and not to the distinction of Persons We may then by reason know the things belonging to the unity of the Essence of God but not the things belonging to the distinction of Persons Secondly I answer That though it be contrary to Reason that Peter Paul and John who are three distinct Persons have but one nature Numericè nevertheless it doth not imply that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost who are three really distinct Persons have but one nature or substance Numericè For it is otherwise in divine than humane Persons And although Person in God be a real being and consequently being really taken a Substance yet it doth not follow because there are three really distinct Persons that there are three Substances really distinct one from another For God being an intellectual Being he knows himself to be infinitely Perfect and knowing himself to be so he loves himself The term of his Intellect is called the Son as we call the Holy Ghost the term of his love but it is not so with the term of the Intellectand Love of God as with the term of the Intellect and Love of men because this is an Accident that a Substance I say a Substance because no Accidents can be found in God as it is the consent of all Writers therefore since the term of the Intellect of God and the term of his Love is a Substance and since one is call'd the Son and the other the Holy Ghost it follows since three Substances cannot be in God because it would import three Gods which is contrary to the nature of God to Reason and to the Holy Scriptures that they have but one and the same Substance as it is taught both in the Symboles of Nice and Athanasius Thirdly I answer That though the Trinity be not found distinctly in the holy Scripture yet it may be inferred from thence by clear and necessary Consequences And though the two Texts of St. Matthew and John before mentioned be not sufficient to convince the Reader since they may be explained as they are in the Objection nevertheless the essential Attributes of God as his Eternity Immensity Omnipotency Creation Conservation of the World Sanctification of Souls Resurrection of the Bodies Prayer and Worship being equally attributed to the three Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost as it may be seen in several places of the holy Scriptures and I will shew in the sequel of my Discourse it follows by an evident and necessary Consequence that they are God and therefore that they have but one substance or Nature Numericè which is called Trinity Obj. The Church of England believes that the Son is Consubstantial with the Father but the word Consubstantial is not found in the holy Scriptures therefore the Church of England believes an Article of Faith which is not in the word of God therefore she is not the holy Catholick Church Answer Though that word Consubstantial be not read in the holy Scriptures yet the thing signified and meant by that word is found therein For when we say and believe that the Son is Consubstantial with the Father we mean that he hath one and the same Substance with his Father which is inferred from the holy Scripture by clear and necessary Consequences for these words of St. Jahn I and my Father are one do signifie nothing less than the Son hath an unity of Substance with his Father for if had only an unity of Will of Mind and Agreement as the Arians and several other Persons in France England Holland c. do believe at this time he should not be called in the holy Scriptures the only begotten Son of God the true God eternal Life and God blessed over all for ever He should not be called the brightness of the glory of his Father and the express Image of his Person and we should not read of him that he being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God he should not be called Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending which is which was and which is to come the Almighty Or that In him are hid all the Treasures of wisdom and knowledg and that In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily We should not read that By him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth vistble and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers and that All things were created by him and for him and that he is before all things and by him all things consist and that He upholds all things by the word of his Power and as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickens them even so the Son quickens whom he will Neither should we read that He knows the hearts of all men and that All men honour the Son even as they honour the Father and that All the Angels of God worship him and that Four and twenty Elders fall down before him and worship him and cast their Crowns before the Throne saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast Created all things and for pleasure they are and were Created Now since by these Texts of the holy Scriptures ye see that the Name of the true God which cannot be proper to a Creature is not only ascribed to the Son but also all the essential properties of God are attributed unto him it follows by a clear and necessary Consequence that he is Consubstantial with the Father or that he hath with him one and the same Substance Numericè You may further urge
Comparison between that Infinite Eternal and Independent Being and what is Finite Temporal and Dependent He therefore who did truly think himself equal with God as being in the form of God must be conceived to subsist in that one infinite eternal and independent Nature of God And therefore as here Christ was really and essentially man of the same Nature with us in whose similitude he was made so certainly was he also really and essentially God of the same Nature and Being with him in whose form he did subsist This truth is confirmed by these words of the 1st of John We know that the Son of man is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ this is the true God and Eternal Life And by these of St. Paul to the Romans Out of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever From whence we may infer that he who was truly subsisting in the form of God and equal with him before he was in the Nature of man and who is called God and the true God the Almighty and that in all those ways by which the supreme Deity is expressed hath an eternal and indivisible Essence and Nature with God But Christ was so and is so called therefore c. Moreover is it not written in your Law saith Christ Ye are Gods Are not these the very words of the eighty second Psalm If God himself so spake or the Psalmist from him if this be the Language of the Scripture if Kings and Magistrates and they be called Gods unto whom the Word of God came may we not say with greater Reason of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the World and in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily that he is God We grant That the Father is the true God we grant that God only is to be worshipped and served Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Therefore we must grant that the Son also is the true God since we are commanded to worship him and the same honour is given to him as to the Father which is seen by these words Let all the Angels of God worship him and by these of John Who hath committed all Judgment unto the Son that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father If then we be obliged to worship the God of Israel only if we be also commanded to give the same worship to the Son which we give to the Father or to the God of Israel it is necessary that we should believe that the Son is the God of Israel and consequently truly and properly God Which is seen clearly by these words of Austin upon those of St. John All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made Neque enim dicit omnia nisi quae facta sunt id est omnem Creaturam Vnde liquido patet ipsum factum non esse per quem facta sunt omnia si factus non est Creatura non est si autem Creatura non est ejusdem cum Patre substantiae est Omnis enim substantia quae Deus non est Creatura est quae Creatura non est Deus est Et si non est Filius ejusdem substantiae cujus est Pater ergo fact a substantia est si facta substantia est non omnia per ipsum facta sunt at omnia per ipsum fact a sunt unius igitur ejusdemque cum Patre substantiae est ideo non tantum Deus sed verus Deus That is For he doth not say all things but the things which are made to wit all Creatures From whence it appears clearly that he by whom all things were made was not made And if he was not made he is not a Creature if he be not a Creature he is of the same substance with the Father for every substance which is not God is a Creature and that which is not a Creature is God And if the Son be not of the same Substance with the Father then he is a Substance made if a Substance made all things were not made by him but all things were made by him therefore he is of the same Substance with the Father and consequently he is not only God but true God Which is confirmed by these words wherein he is said to exist before all things for if he was not true God he should be a Creature if a Creature we could not say that he is before all things because he who should have created him should have his Existence before him for every Creature supposes a Being antecedent from whom it hath received its Existence Since therefore he is said to be before all things it is because he is the true God for none but the true God can be said properly to be before all things every Creature having its Being of him and he neither hath nor can have his Existence from any thing whatsoever having it of himself from all Eternity Object The Church of England believes as an Article of Faith that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son and though they can make it appear that he proceeds from the Father from the words of St. John 15. 26. yet they cannot prove that he proceeds from the Son I answer as before to wit that these words the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son are not found distinctly in the holy Scripture but yet are inferr'd from it by clear and necessary Consequences So these words of Jesus Christ All things that the Father hath are mine and those of the 17. Chapter All mine are thine and thine are mine prove this evidently for if it be true as it is granted by all Divines viz. That all things that the Father hath the Son hath likewise the Relation of Paternity only excepted the Father producing the Holy Ghost it follows that the Son doth produce him also and consequently that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son as he proceeds from the Father This is manifested by these words of St. John It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart part I will send him unto you And by that of the 15. When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father For if ye suppose what ye do already believe and as I will make appear in the sequel of my Discourse viz. That the Holy Ghost is God as it is declared by the words of the 5th of the Acts To lie to the Holy Ghost is to lie unto God and as it appears by the essential Attributes of the Godhead ascribed unto him as the Sanctification of Souls and Omniscience For
they are to be reproved and admonished and after the second Admonition rejected not cast into Prison or spoiled of their Goods and the like if men be in an Error the Bishops and Ministers ought rather to convince them by the truth and stop their mouths by sound Doctrine than to stir the King and his Council to make Laws to imprison them and take their Estates from them c. as it is now practised in France against the poor Protestants But to make them suffer meerly for Religions sake I think it is not lawful it being contrary to the Law of Nature and Christ's Doctrine as it is proved by these words of the most worthy and learned Dr. Tillotson in his most excellent Sermon preached before the honourable House of Commons and printed by their Order Jesus Christ saith he going to worship at Hierusalem because the Samaritans who were of another Religion would not receive him in his Journey two of his Disciples James and John presently take fire and out of a well-meaning Zeal for their Master and of the true God and of of Hierusalem the true place of worship they are immediately for dispatching out of the way these Enemies of God and Christ and the true Religion And to this end they desire our Saviour to give them Power to call for fire from Heaven to consume them as Elias had done in a like ease But Jesus Christ seeing them in this heat notwithstanding all the Reasons they pretended for their passion and for all they sheltered themselves under the great example of Elias doth very calmly but severely reprove this temper of theirs saying Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of for the Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them Ye own your selves to be my Disciples but do you consider what spirit now acts and governs you Not that surely which my Doctrine designs to mould and fashion you into which is not a furious and persecuting and destructive spirit but mild and gentle and saving tender of the lives and interest of men even of those who are our greatest Enemies You ought to consider that you are not now under the rough and sowr dispensation of the Law but the calm and peaceable institution of the Gospel to which the spirit of Elias though he was a very good man in his time would be altogether insuitable God permitted it then under the imperfect way of Religion but now under the Gospel it would be intolerable No difference of Religion no pretence of Zeal for God and Christ can warrant and justifie this passionate and fierce this vindictive and exterminating spirit This persecuting killing and destroying one another about Religion is contrary to Christs Doctrine for He is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them He came not to kill and destroy but for the healing of the Nations for the Salvation and Redemption of mankind not only from the wrath to come but from a great part of the evils and miseries of this life This spirit of persecution which our Saviour here reproves in his Disciples is directly opposite to the main and fundamental Precepts of the Gospel which command us to love one another and to love all men even our very Enemies and are so far from permitting us to persecute those who hate us that they forbid us to hate those who persecute us They require us to be merciful as our Father which is in Heaven is merciful to be kind and tender-hearted forbearing one another if any man have a quarrel against any even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us and to put on as the Elect of God bowels of mercy meekness and long suffering and to follow peace with all men and to shew all meekness to all men To all which Precepts nothing can be more opposite than inhumane Cruelties and Persecutions Christs great business was to be beneficial to others to seek and to save that which was lost He went about doing good to the Bodies and to the Souls of men He could if he had pleased by his miraculous Power have confounded his Enemies and have thundred out death and destruction against all Hereticks and Schismaticks but intending that his Religion should be propagated in humane ways and that men should be drawn to the Profession of it by the bonds of Love and by the gentle and peaceable methods of Reason and Perswasion he gave no Example of a furious Zeal and religious Rage against those who despised his Doctrine When he went about making Proselytes he offered violence to no man only said If any man will be my Disciple if any man will come after me And when his Disciples were leaving him he doth not as the Church of Rome set up an Inquisition to torture and punish them for their defection from the Faith only says Will ye also go away And in Imitation of this blessed Pattern the Christian Church continued to speak and act for several Ages And this was the Language of the holy Fathers Lex nova non se vindicat ultore gladio The Christian Law doth not avenge it self by the Sword This was then the Style of Councils Nemini ad credendum vim inferre To offer Violence to no man to compel him to Faith and Gregory saith Nova in audita praedicatio quae verberibus exigit fidem And indeed if Hereticks and Schismaticks from the holy Catholick Church were to be persecuted the Samaritans who were both Hereticks and Schismaticks and had affronted our Saviour himself in his own Person the honour of God and of that Religion which he had set up in the World ought certainly to be punished so that if ever it were warrantable to put on this fierce and furious Zeal here was a case that seemed to require it but even in these Circumstances Jesus Christ thinks fit to rebuke and discountenance this spirit Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of And he gives such a Reason as ought in all differences of Religion how wide soever they be to deter men from this temper For saith he The Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them that is this spirit is utterly inconsistent with the great design of Christian Religion and the end of Christs coming into the World What then hath the Church of Rome or any other whatsoever to plead for her Persecution to men for the cause of Religion which James and John might not much better have pleaded for themselves in their Case against the Samaritans Does she practise these severities out of a Zeal for truth and for the honour of God and Christ and the true Religion Upon these very accounts it was that James and John would have called for fire from Heaven to have destroyed the Samaritans Is the Church of Rome or any other whatsoever perswaded that those whom she persecutes are Hereticks and Schismaticks and that no Punishment can