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A67390
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A fourth letter concerning the sacred Trinity in reply to what is entituled An answer to Dr. Wallis's three letters / by John Wallis ...
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Wallis, John, 1616-1703.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing W583; ESTC R34710
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20,498
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40
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doth deservedly lay so great a stress as we heard before What was it made for if not to prevent Polytheism How shall it be done but by denying many Gods If not to deny Personal Gods it is made to no purpose How is it consistent with that First Commandment that solemn and set Precept of the First Commandment that was delivered by God himself written by the Finger of God and never Abrogated to bring in New Persons to Add Persons one or more to this Only God though particularly prohibited and not Break it What! Is the Divinity of Christ implied in the New Testament It is denied in the First Commandment if he be not the same God who is there meant And Pray what Scripture shall we regard in competition with this Commandment With more to the same purpose Whether he will make use of the Popish distinction of Latria and Doulia for his Two Gods not Co-equal I cannot tell But the Commandment says expresly Thou shalt have NO OTHER God but Me Equal or Unequal Nor doth this Error end here as he proceeds For our Adversaries are not always so lucky as to see Consequences For should some Revelation such as he says is not impossible deify more Men than ever the Heathen did here 's no fence left Here 's room enough to thrust in his Jupiter Bacchus Venus c. of which he tells us p. 8. And 't is in vain he tells us in such a case to pretend that the number would be of offence to us For if we consider aright there is no more reason for one number than another And he thinks that if there be more than one it is more honourable they should be Infinites because all between one and infinite is Imperfect With much more of like nature Of all which I know not what better to think than that he had forgot all this when afterwards at p. 17. he will have these two Gods as he calls them to wit the Father and the Word not to be One but Two and Separate Nor will it excuse the matter to say That this Other God is not Co-equal with the Father For at this rate the Polytheism or many Gods of the Heathen would be excused as out of the reach of this Commandment For they did not make All their Gods Co-equal to their great Jupiter nor perhaps any of them Equal to Our God But Jupiter was their God Paramount and the rest were either Middling Gods or Lesser Gods But yet this did not excuse them from Polytheism and Idolatry within the reach of the First Commandment For that Commandment that Unrepealed Law forbids All other Gods whether Equal or Unequal The Leeks and Onions in Egypt which are said to have been there Worshipped as well as the Calves at Dan and Bethel Nor is it less Idolatry nor less within the reach of this Commandment to Worship the god of Ekron because not Co-equal to the God of Israel We therefore chuse to say That Christ is indeed God as he is expresly called Joh. 1. 1. The Word was with God and the Word was God and Hebr. 1. 8. Thy Throne O God endureth for ever And in many other places and not only a Man extraordinarily Assisted by God as this Answerer grants also at p. 14. That he was in the Beginning and in the Beginning was with God Joh. 1. 1 2. and therefore was pre-existent before his Incarnation and did not then Begin to Be. That he was in the Beginning and All things were made by Him and without him was not any thing made that was made that the World was made by Him Joh. 1. 3. 10. and is therefore the same God who in the beginning Created the Heaven and the Earth Gen. 1. 1. That of Him it is said Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of Thy hands Heb. 1. 8 10. cited out of Psal. 102. 25. and is therefore the same God to whom that long Prayer Psal. 102. was made and of whom so many great things are there said and which cannot belong to any but the Supreme God And no doubt but when this was there said by the Psalmist he meant it of that God who in the beginning created the Heaven and the Earth Gen. 1. 1. That he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Being above All things or the Supreme Being God Blessed for ever or the Ever-blessed God Rom. 9. 5. which are Titles too High for any lower than the Supreme God That what is said of God indefinitely as contra-distinguished from Christ in particular Rev. 1. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From him which Is and which Was and which is to Come or which Shall be and from Jesus Christ c. is particularly applied to Jesus Christ as his Character Ver. 8. I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the Ending saith the Lord he that Liveth and was Dead and Liveth for evermore Ver. 16. which Is and Was and is to Come the Almighty That he is the True God 1 Joh. 5. 20. and therefore the same God with the Father who is the Only True God Joh. 17. 3. and no other True God but what he is That He and the Father are one Joh. 10. 30. That the Father and the Word and the Spirit these Three are One 1 Joh. 5. 7. And Christ not another God but the same God manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory 1. Tim. 3. 16. Now I know not well what could be said more at least what more need be said to make the Point clear Or what Character he can reasonably desire more by which to describe the Almighty Supreme God and the same God with the Father He is God the True God the Only true God for there can be but One God that is the Only true God One with the Father One with the Father and Holy-Ghost the Eternal God who Is and Was and Shall be who when the Heavens and the Earth shall wax-â—old as a Garment He is the same and his years shall not fail the Almighty the Mighty God the Eternal Father the God who in the beginning made the World who made All things and without whom not any thing was made that was made who in the beginning laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the works of his hands who is the Son of God the Begotten of the Father the Only-begotten of the Father and therefore of the same Nature with the Father however not the same Person or not under that Consideration Nor can he say This is Impossible a Contradiction or Inconsistent with Reason and that therefore though the Words be Clear and Plain yet we must seek out some Other sence to be Forced upon them For this Point is already Gained and he doth Confess it p. 3. that there is no Contradiction in holding that there may
be Three Persons in God And if there be no Contradiction in it why should we be afraid to say what in Scripture is said so plainly Or why should we set up Two Gods where One will serve and when the Scripture says There is but One He 'll say perhaps God made the World by Christ. And we say so too But not as by a Tool or Instrument as he would have it p. 17. but rather as by his Power or Wisdom But the Power and Wisdom of God are not Things diverse from God himself but Are Himself Much less are they different Gods from God himself And even amongst us the Power and Wisdom of a Man are not Things distinct from the Man in that sense wherein the Words Thing and Mode are contra-distinguished much less are they distinct Men from the Man whose Power and Wisdom they are The Man and his Wisdom the Man and his Power are not distinguished ut res res as the Schools speak but ut res modus And Power and Wisdom in the same Man ut modus modus For though a Man may subsist without Wisdom but God cannot yet Wisdom cannot subsist without somewhat that is Wise nor This Man's Wisdom without the Man and therefore this Wisdom according to the School-distinction must be Modus and not Res. And the like of Power So that if we say that Christ is the Power of God or the Wisdom of God as he is called 1 Cor. 1. 24. and that God by his Power and Wisdom made the World it doth not follow that this Power or Wisdom of God is another God from God himself but God and his Wisdom or God and his Power are God himself Consonant to this it is where it is said Col. 2. 3. In him are hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge And perhaps it is this Divine Wisdom who tells us Prov. 8. 22 23 27. The Lord possessed Me in the Beginning of his ways I was from Everlasting from the beginning When he prepared the Heavens I was there and much more to the same purpose So the Holy Ghost is called the Power of God Luk. 1. 35. The Holy-Ghost shall come upon Thee and the Power of the Highest shall over-shadow Thee Now shall we say Because God is Wise in heart and Mighty in Strength Job 9. 4. or Because by his Wisdom and Power he made the World Therefore his Wisdom and his Power are distinct Gods from himself Or if we should say that God as the Fountain of Being may be called the Father and the same God as the Fountain of Wisdom be called the Son and as the Fountain of Power be called the Holy-Ghost There is nothing of this that is Inconsistent with Reason but very Agreeable with the common Notions of Humane Reasoning and yet all these however under divers Considerations are but One God But here I must caution again for I find people are willing to Mistake or mis-apply what I say That I do not set down this as the Adequate Distinction between the Three Persons for this I do not pretend throughly to Understand but only that it is not Inconsistent with Reason that it May be so And that there is no necessity upon this account to set up Another God Or we may say much to the same purpose that God by his Word and Spirit made the World and yet that his Word and his Spirit are not therefore Distinct Gods from Himself And we have them all mentioned in the story of the Creation God created the Heaven and the Earth Gen. 1. 1. The SPIRIT of God moved upon the face of the waters ver 2. And God SAID or spake the Word Let there be Light c. Ver. 3 6 9 11 14 20 24. And Ver. 26. Let US make Man And Psal. 33. 6 9. By the WORD of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the SPIRIT or BREATH of his Mouth He SPAKE and it was done He Commanded and it stood fast And to the like purpose Psal. 148. 5. Job 26. 13. Yet are they not Three Gods but rather Three somewhats which are but One God I have insisted the longer on this because I do not know but that through the Grace of God such a discourse as this may have a like effect on him or some of his Party as that of Wittichius had on his Friend Sandius And I have Argued it Calmly I have used no scurrillous Language nor given any Reproachful terms I do not oppress him with the Authority of Fathers or Councils but with Scripture only and Plain Reason And it seems to me so clear that if they cannot see it it is from some other reason than from want of Clearness As to what I have said for Explication of the Athanasian Creed though I cannot expect he should approve of that Creed while he retains his Opinion I do not find that he takes any great Exceptions to what I say of it He doth not like the Words Trinity in Unity as Foreign and Unscriptural p. 19. He may if that will please him better put it into plainer English and call it Three in One and then the Words are Scriptural These Three are One. The Possibility of Gods being Incarnate he doth not Deny Only he likes the Arian Incarnation better than Ours He seems well pleased p. 19 20. That I do not possitively Affirm This Creed to be written by Athanasius That I do not Anathematize the Greek Church That I do not Damn all Children Fools Madmen and all before Christ as he tells us some Rigid Irinitarians I know not who have done too often That I own the word Person to be but Metaphorical which at p. 7. he did not like which I will not disoblige him by Unsaying Where it is that I have blamed the Fathers I do not remember For I think the Fathers do concur in this That there is a Distinction between the Three which we call Persons greater than that between the Divine Attributes but not such as to make them Three Gods And that by calling them Persons they mean no more And I say the same I shall conclude with this Observation upon the whole He was at the Beginning of his Discourse a Direct Socinian Dreading the guilt of Idolatry in having more Gods than One as contrary to the First Commandment And therein I agree with him But Denied the Divinity of Christ as the Socinians do And thus he continues till toward the end of p. 10. But then begins silently to tack about and after a while doth with as much earnestness Affirm the Divinity of Christ as he had before Denied it that Christ was God from the Beginning before the World was that he was afterward Incarnate and became Man and as God and Man Redeemed us c. And here he is Orthodox again But then tells us that this God is not the same God or Co-equal with the Father but another God And at length tells us plainly that there are at least Two Gods to wit the Father and the Word for now the Fear of having more Gods than One is over with him and is by this time a perfect Arian And he who from a Socinian is thus turn'd Arian may at the next turn for ought I know turn Orthodox In order to which I would advise him to keep to the sound part of his first Opinion while he was a Socinian namely That we ought to acknowledge and Worship but One God And the sound part of his second Opinion when he was turned Arian namely That Christ the Word was God from the Beginning before the World was that he was afterward Incarnate and so became God and Man that as such he Suffered Died and wrought out our Redemption that the Merits of his Sufferings are founded on his Godhead which otherwise would not have been meritorious if he were only a Man however extraordinarily assisted by God And when he hath so joined these two together as to make them Consistent he will be therein Orthodox And if to these Two he add a Third which he owns also namely that there is no Contradiction in holding there may be Three Persons in God he will then be able to Answer all the Cavils which either the Arian or the Socinian shall bring against it FINIS