Person of God the Father and the Father indeed is but one Person But here he takes for granted that the Son is the second Person of the Trinity contrary to the Apostle who speaks only of the Person of God not of the Person of God the Father distinct from the Person of God the Son If the Person of whom the Son is here said to be the express Image is only the Person of the Father then the Person of the Father only at sundry Times and in divers Manners spake in times past to the Fathers by the Prophets Ver. 1. for Ver. 2. the Son is called the Image of the same Person who spake to the Fathers at Ver. 1. But the Person of the Father only is not the true God in the Author's Hypothesis therefore he must conclude that the true God spake not to the Fathers which is a plain Contradiction to the Apostle who says that God undoubtedly the true God spake to the Fathers Farther by God who spake to the Fathers we must understand either Father Son and Holy Ghost or the Father only If Father Son and Holy Ghost spake to the Fathers it could not be here said that Christ is the Image of that God's Person for he is Three Persons If the Father only spake to the Fathers then the Father only is the true God for the true God spake to the Fathers also then God is but one Person Which are the things we contend for He goes on As for his Singular Pronouns I Thou c. They prove indeed that there is but one God as we all own not that there are not Three Persons in the Godhead But do not Singular Pronouns denote Singular Persons in all Languages When therefore they are applied to God they show that he is a Singular that is but one Person unless they will say that the Scripture is a particular Language different from all others but this is false for being written to Men the Forms of speaking and the Senses of them are the same as in all other Languages and otherways the Scripture would not be given us to instruct us but to pervert and deceive us 5. The fifth Argument Had the Son or Holy Ghost been God this would not have been omitted in the Apostles Creed He answers Had not the Son been God and also the Holy Ghost they would never have been put into the Apostles Creed no more than the Form of Baptism which is the Original of the Apostles Creed But why not Suppose the Son and Holy Ghost were not God since the Gospel was preached by the One and confirmed by the Other why may not they be put into the Creed as well as the Catholic Church by whom the Gospel is to be believed If our Creed only mentioned God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth it would fit a Jew as well as a Christian therefore a Christian Creed as such must make mention of the Son and of the Holy Ghost thô they are not Gods or God A Christian as such must profess in his Creed that he believes not only in God the Father Almighty but also in his Son Jesus Christ who was sent by him to preach the Gospel and in the Holy Ghost by which it pleased God to confirm the truth of it By such a Belief he is distinguished from a Jew or any other Man He adds That the Primitive Christians did believe the Divinity of the Son and Holy Ghost we are sufficiently assured from all the Antient Records of their Faith but there was no Reason to express this in so short a Creed before the Arian and Socinian Heresies had disturbed the Church 'T is plain our Author has not read the Records of which he speaks And whereas he says there was no reason to express the Doctrine of the Trinity in the Creed 't is very marvellous to me that there should be no reason to express an Article which he and his Party say is necessary to Salvation and that a Man is no Christian that believes it not But he saith it was not necessary in so short a Creed but I say had the Article been necessary or so much as true the Apostles and Primitive Church would have inlarged their Creed to make room for a necessary Article an Article much more necessary than the Holy Catholick Church and other Articles there expressed Besides what Inlargement would it have been what Incumbrance to the Learner's Memory to have added twice this single and short Word God And in God the Son Jesus Christ our Lord c. I believe in God the Holy Ghost c. as Trinitarians express themselves now a days It is plain therefore that the Apostles and Antient Church could have no other Reason why in their Creed they made no mention of the Trinity and the Divinity of the Son and Holy Ghost no other but that they believed it not But why has our Author taken no notice of what the Socinian Historian had objected at pag. 22 23 24. was it too hot or to heavy for him Lastly he says It needed not to be added because the Son of God must be by Nature God and the Spirit of God is as essentially God as the Spirit of a Man is essential to a Man But must he that is the Son of God be also by Nature God St. Luke says of Adam who was the Son of God Luke 1. 38. Was Adam by nature God Are not Angels in Scripture called Sons of God and all good Christians are they not also Sons of God in the Language of Scripture Job 1. 6. and 38. 7. John 1. 12. 1 John 3. 2. For his other saying that the Spirit of God is as essentially God as the Spirit of a Man is essential to a Man If one had leisure there might be Answers enow made to it all that I say is I pray prove it 6. The Historian concludes That The Socinian Faith is an accountable and reasonable Faith but that of the Trinitarians is absurd and contrary both to Reason and to it self and therefore not only false but impossible On the contrary our Author draws up against the Socinian System this Charge 1. It ridicules the Scriptures 2. It ridicules the whole Jewish Occonomy 3. It ridicules the Christian Religion 4. It justifies at least excuses both Pagan and Popish Idolatries If it be so my Masters the Socinians are ill Men indeed but let us do them this Common Right to examine what Proof there is of this Indictment CHAP. VII 1. THE First pretence is That The Socinian Doctrine ridicules the Scripture by putting either a very absurd or a very trifling Sense on it unworthy of the Wisdom of God by whom it was inspired He instances in some Expositions of Scripture which he finds in the brief History of the Vnitarians For Example The Historian in answer to Psal 45. 6 7. which the Apostle at Heb. 1. 8. applies to Christ says In the Hebrew and in the Greek
A DEFENCE OF THE Brief HISTORY OF THE UNITARIANS Against Dr. SHERLOCK'S ANSWER IN HIS VINDICATION OF THE Holy Trinity LONDON Printed in the Year M. DC XCI OBSERVATIONS On Dr. SHERLOCK'S ANSWER TO THE Brief HISTORY OF THE UNITARIANS CHAP. I. Containing some General Observations WHen I see Men arguing against the Trinity methinks I hear a Papist inveighing against Luther or Calvin for questioning the Truth of Transubstantiation Indeed it appears to me very strange that Protestants should stand to the Principles of the Reformation only when they serve their turn and that they should be ready to part with them when they are not otherways able to defend a particular Opinion It cannot be denied that the Christian Church in succeeding Ages fell short of her first Purity in respect of Doctrine as well as Manners Now what other Remedy could be applied to such a Depravation than a sincere and careful Examination of the Points suspected of Falshood according to Reason and Scripture This proved so effectual a Course that Transubstantiation and some other Canonized Opinions were found to be meer Human Inventions and accordingly were rejected as contrary to the two above-mentioned Rules And who can assure us that the Reformation left no Error behind and that the Trinity is such an Opinion as ought neither to be doubted of nor to be reformed Shall we trust Men barely on their Word Or was it impossible that the Trinity should creep into the Church as well as several other false Opinions Our Principles therefore allow us to examine it and to inquire whether it be founded on undeniable Arguments especially being of such a nature that it contradicts Reason and by confession of all Trinitarians is no where set down in Holy Scripture in express Words Why should Men call us Hereticks and Libertines because we inquire after Truth and will have our Faith built upon a solid Foundation Was the Reformation so proper to Luther and Calvin c. that it ought no more to be thought of Or were those Reformers so infallible that they purged the Church from all Errors This I think would be an hard matter to prove Let therefore no Protestant be scandalized if having some Scruples about the Trinity we endeavour to free our selves from them by a sincere inquiry into the Grounds of it I begin with Reason and find that the belief of a Trinity does contradict it as much as Transubstantiation According to Transubstantiation the same Numerical Body may be in a Million of different places at the same time According to the Trinity three Divine Persons that is to say three Intelligent Infinite Beings each of which is God make but one God I cannot believe the First because Reason teaches me that one Numerical Body can occupy or be in but one place at one time I cannot believe the other because Reason tells me that Three are Three and not One and that it implies no less a Contradiction that Three Divine Persons should be but One God than that one Body be a Million Now who should not scruple an Opinion perfectly parallel with Transubstantiation and equally fruitful in Incongruities and Contradictions I come in the second place to examine Whether the Trinity be well grounded in Scripture Indeed Three are there mentioned the Father Son and Holy Ghost but how came Men to fancy that they Three are but One God Who taught 'em so Does the Holy Scripture plainly say that there is but one God yet there are Three Persons Father Son and Holy Spirit in the Godhead One would think indeed that such a Mystery and so necessary in order to Salvation were set down in Scripture in plain or express Words But the Scripture is perfectly silent about it there is not a Word to be found in the Bible of Three Hypostases or Persons in the Godhead The Father is in a thousand places called God distinctly from the Son nay the only true God The Holy Ghost is no where stiled God And the Son is so called in a few places as it were by the way and in such manner as plainly shows that the Title God is bestowed on him upon the same account as upon Moses even because of the Dignity and Power to which he was exalted by the Father's Liberality Indeed it can have no other meaning The Holy Scripture teaches us that there is but one God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ But if so How can the Son be that one God the Father Of this we are sure by the whole tenor of the Gospel that Christ was a Man The Gospel is nothing else but the History of Christ's Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven Who would have thought that a Man should be accounted the Supream God without any such intimation from Scripture nay against the whole current of it We find in the Gospel that there is one God the Father of our Lord Christ one Son of God sent into the World to be the Revealer of his Father's Will and a Mediator between God and Man even Christ and one Holy Ghost who distributes and works all sorts of Miraculous Gifts for the confirmation of the Gospel The Father of Christ is the One true God Christ is only his Minister and Interpreter the Holy Ghost whether it be God's Power or his ministring Angel or Angels the Instrument which he makes use of to work Miracles None certainly but Men blinded or prejudiced could think that God's Minister and Ambassador were God himself and that two so opposite Beings as God and Christ should be one and the same Thing It is just as if one should say there is one King William and one Vice-Roy in Ireland the Lord Sidney and the Vice-Roy is that one King William Indeed this is a Doctrine so unreasonable and contradictions and so opposite to Holy Scripture that I think had there been no such thing as Platonick Philosophy the Trinity should never have been heard of I desire therefore the Trinitarians to abate a little of their Confidence Let them examine with an unprejudiced Mind upon what Foundations they build the belief of a Trinity and they will soon perceive how weak and frail it is Let them at last confess that the Scripture does not threaten eternal Damnation to those who disbelieve a Trinity And then if themselves won't part with their darling Opinion let them abstain from persecuting others Thirdly Trinitarians lay so much stress upon the Tradition of the Church concerning the Trinity that I think it worth while to undeceive them by shewing that there never was so great a Variation in the Church as about this Point I shall divide into three Periods all the Ages of the Church The First reaches to the Council of Nice The Second from the Council of Nice to the Schoolmen And the Third from the Schoolmen to our time And one that is never so little acquainted with the Writings of the Fathers of the three first Centuries cannot deny
1. The Dignity conferred upon Christ ought not to be called the Supream Government of the World as this Author has stiled it For He acts and governs in Subordination to his Father 2. When the Scripture speaks of this Advancement of Christ it extends it especially over Angels and Men. 3. It is no Indignity to Angels as our Author pretends to be ruled and governed by a Man whom God has exalted above them Angels indeed have some natural Prerogatives above Men whereby they are more excellent Creatures than Men but if it pleases God of his free Gift to invest a Man with greater Dignity Power and all other Excellence than any Angel has why can't He be set over them as their Lord and Ruler in Subordination to God There is no Incongruity in it 4. That contrary to the Author's Assertion a meer Creature may be a fit Lieutenant or Representative of God in Personal and Prerogative Acts of Government or Power Thus Saul and David were set over the Israelites to govern and rule over them by God's Appointment in Subordination to him Nay we do commonly say That the King is the Lieutenant and Representative of God 5. God communicated to Christ such Wisdom and Power as is necessary to enable him to exercise the Dignity conferred on him In all this there is not the least Inconsistency But notwithstanding his foregoing Objections he confesses the Difficulty remains P. 161. If He be by Nature the Son of God and Natural Lord of the World how is He said to be exalted by God and to receive a Kingdom from him as the reward of his Righteousness and Sufferings He was before possessed of it ever since the Foundation of the World being natural Lord of all his Creatures He had no need to receive that which was his own or purchase what was his natural Right by such mean and vile Condescension as suffering Death on the Cross Now to reconcile this he makes a long Discourse concerning the Mediatory Kingdom of Christ which saith he hath been bestowed on the second Person of the Trinity and is peculiar to Him and distinguished from the Natural Government of the World which He has in Conjunction with the Father This Chimerical System I may overthrow I think by that single Text of St. Paul already cited There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the MAN Christ Jesus If Christ is a Mediator and has the Mediatory Kingdom as He is the second Person of the Trinity that is as He is God why does the Apostle tell us that He is a Mediator bearly as He is Man At least he should have told us that the Mediator is the God-Man Jesus Christ It is unaccountable that the Apostle who in all his Epistles sets forth the Excellency and Glory of Christ in the most expressive Terms should tell us that the MAN Christ Jesus is the Mediator between God and Men if the Mediatory Kingdom is exercised by the Divine Person or Nature and if not Christ Man but Christ God is the Mediator But let us examine the Grounds our Author goes on He tells us ibid. A Mediatory Kingdom was necessary to reconcile God and Men to restore Man to the Integrity of his Nature and this Power and Dignity God bestowed on his own Son who had the most Right to it and was the best qualified for it being the begotten Word and Wisdom of the Father Now one would expect he should cite some Texts of Scripture to prove this Assertion but he could find no place to rely on But Christ must says he first become Man and perform the whole Will of God and then He shall be exalted Whereupon he makes this Observation pag. 162. All the Power Christ is invested with is as Head of the Church God has put all Things under his Feet and given him to be Head over all Things to the Church which is his Body the Fulness of him that filleth all Things Eph. 1. 22 23. That is saith he God has made him Governour of the World as Head of the Church I observe two Things upon this place 1. That this Text is not well interpreted The first part of it relates to the foregoing Verse and ought to be explained by it God saith the Apostle at Ver. 21. Set Christ at his own Right-Hand in the Heavenly Places far above all Principality and Power and every Name that is named not only in this World but in that which is to come Ver. 23. And hath put all Things under his Feet What Things Those that are before mentioned all the Orders of Angels and all Earthly Powers And then follows And gave him to be Head c. This is the sense not that Christ was made Governour of the whole World as Head of the Church 2. But what if all the Power Christ is invested with is as Head of the Church Will it not follow that all the Power He is invested with is as a Man not as God And this also I prove by Col. 1. 18. And He is the Head of the Body the Church who is the Beginning the First-born from the Dead He who is the First-born from the Dead can be no other but the MAN Jesus Christ but He who is the First-born from the Dead is the Head of the Church as that Text expresly saith therefore the MAN Christ Jesus is the Head of the Church Thus the Apostle very plainly telling us that the Mediator and Head of the Church is the Man Christ Jesus destroys our Author's Notion of Christ's Mediatory Kingdom or that it is grounded on and exercised by his Divine Nature or Person Further if Christ God is the Mediator if the Mediatory Kingdom belongs to and is managed by the second Person of the supposed Trinity I don't see how the Government of Israel can be a Type of this Kingdom as this Author says at p. 162 163. For the King of the Israelites was between God and his People and was really diverse from both but Christ in our Author's Hypothesis is God himself One with the Father and the Holy Ghost so that he must be a Mediator between himself and Men which besides that it is contrary to the Notion of a Mediator does wholly destroy the Parallel He says at pag. 164 165. that We certainly know from the Expositions of Christ and his Apostles that the Prophets spake of Christ under the Names of Lord God and Jehovah But I desire him to reconcile these Texts with his Opinion Heb. 1. 1 2. God who at sundry Times and in divers Manners spake in times past to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these Last Days spoken unto us by his Son Heb. 2. 2 3. For if the Word spoken by Angels was stedfast How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord Gal. 3. 19. The Law was ordained by Angels in the Hand of a Mediator i. e. by the Intervention
and an Holy Spirit different from both Nay we must not think that the very express Words at Mat. 24. 36. the Father only do indeed signify the Father only but the Father the Son and another Person even thô the Son is there expresly said not to know the Day and Hour of Judgment and that the Father only knows it These are some of the Illuminations with which our Author and his Party has blest the World He goes on and says the Dispute must end here whether the Scripture does teach the Divinity of the Son and Holy Ghost for if so when the Father is said to be the only true God and the one God the Son and Holy Spirit are not hereby excluded from the Unity of the same Godhead I answer the Dispute may be soon ended for when the Father is called the one God and the only true God even in those places where the Son is mentioned This alone is a clear Demonstration that the Scripture does not teach the Divinity of the Son and Holy Ghost Were the Son and Holy Ghost God with the Father the Prayer of our Lord at John 17. 1 2 3 c. must have been thus framed This is Life Eternal to know Thee Father and Me and the Holy Ghost to be the only true God And Paul to the Corinthians should have said But to us there is but one God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost But this is the Language of Scripture no where Pag. 186. His other Texts saith our Author prove no more but that the Father of Christ is God not that Christ is not one God with the Father Let us hear the Texts themselves 1 Cor. 15. 24. Then cometh the end when he shall deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father James 3. 9. Therewith bless we God even the Father Rom. 15. 6. That ye may with one Mind and one Mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is an affected blindness and perverseness not to discern and own that in these Texts God even the Father is as much as to say God that is to say the Father No plainer or more express Words could be used by a Socinian or other Vnitarian to declare his Notion of the Unity of God What hope is there of convincing those with whom the Father only shall not signify the Father only And again God that is to say the Father shall be two others besides the Father CHAP. V. THE next Argument If Christ were indeed God as well as Man or as Trinitarians speak God the Son Incarnate it had been altogether superfluous to give the Holy Spirit to his said Human Nature as a Director and Guide for what other help could that Nature need which was one Person with as they speak God the Son and in which God the Son did Personally dwell To this he answers The account of this is plain and short for the whole Trinity is but one Energy and Power and the Divine Persons cannot act separately ad extra what the Father does that the Son does and that the Holy Ghost does by one Individual Act. But the Sanctification of all Creatures and such is the Human Nature of Christ is peculiarly attributed to the Holy Spirit But if the whole Trinity is but one Energy and Power the Sanctification of Christ's Human Nature or of any other Creature can by no means be peculiarly attributed to the Holy Ghost why to the Holy Ghost rather than to the Father or than to the Divine Word or Son dwelling as they say after a peculiar manner in Christ But the matter is plain the Holy Ghost is the Power of God of which Christ stood in need for performing the Will and Works of the Father and which God bestowed on him for that very end but if Christ had been indeed God there had been no need he should receive any such Gift for as God he would have had it in his own Person Our Author adds He might as well have asked why the Sanctification of the Church is ascribed to the Spirit But the Historian had no reason to ask such a Question for no one pretends that the Church is God or is Personally united either to the Father or Son as Trinitarians say the Human Nature of Christ is It is after the same slight and insignificant manner that he answers the next Argument even this The Miracles of Christ are attributed always either to the Father or the Holy Spirit dwelling in him He answers pag. 188. Father Son and Holy Spirit act together I say now supposing this which he says yet if Christ were God why should we never ascribe his Miracles to himself why always to the Father or to the Holy Spirit which is the Power of the Father why has he concealed a matter of so great importance to be known Or why do we seek to make him greater than he ever said he was Besides in the very Texts in which he ascribes the Miracles he did to the Father or the Spirit and Power of the Father dwelling in him I say in those very Texts he denies that he doth them himself which is directly contrary to what our Author affirms that the pretended three Divine Persons have but one Energy and act by one Individual Act. If that were so our Saviour could not have said John 5. 30. I can do nothing of my self John 14. 10. The Father that dwelleth in me he doeth the works Let us hear the account which St. Peter gives Acts 10. 38. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with Power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed with the Devil for God was with him Here St. Peter teaches that Christ wrought all sorts of Miracles not because as Trinitarians say he was God but because God was with him i. e. God helped and assisted him by anointing him with the Holy Ghost and with Power The next Argument is Had our Lord Christ been more than a Man the Prophecies of the Old Testament in which he is promised would not describe him barely as the Seed of the Woman the Seed of Abraham a Prophet like unto Moses the Servant and Missionary of God on whom God's Spirit should rest The Historian by a particular Induction of Texts shews this to be the Character of Christ in the Prophecies of the Old Testament Our Author thinks fit to answer this Objection in another place I come now to his Answers which he makes to the Arguments against the Divinity of the Holy Ghost The First Argument in the History is this The Holy Ghost or Spirit and the Power of God are in Scripture spoken of as one and the same thing Our Author answers at pag. 189. It is as easy to prove that the Father and Son are no Persons as that the Holy Spirit is none But if he can make good this Assertion erit mihi magnus Apollo The Father has in the New Testament
Dead comforts convinces sanctifies and dwells in the Church Thus we do not prove that the Holy Ghost is no Person only because Personal Acts are sometimes Figuratively attributed to that which is no Person as this Author mistakes But having proved by Scripture that the Holy Ghost is no Person we say that Personal Acts are figuratively ascribed to it as they are to Charity Wisdom and other Things both in Scripture and in Prophane Authors and in common familiar Speech 2. The second Argument against the Spirit 's being God is this A manifest Distinction is made as between God and Christ so also between God and the Holy Spirit or Power and Inspiration of God so that 't is impossible the Spirit should be God himself To this our Author answers pag. 191. This Holy Spirit is either a Divine subsisting Person or nothing but a Name If this Spirit were a Divine Virtue or Power as he would have it then it is not distinct from God but is God himself As the Powers and Faculties of the Mind thô they may be distinguished from each other yet they can't be any thing distinct from the Mind but are the Mind it self and therefore if the Spirit as he says be represented in Scripture as so distinct from God that 't is impossible he should be God himself then he must be a distinct Divine Person and not the meer Power of God which is not distinct from God himself To this I answer the Holy Spirit is neither a Divine subsisting Person nor a meer Name In order to the clearing of this I must observe that the Holy Ghost signifies in Scripture sometimes the Power of God sometimes the Effects of that Power or all miraculous extraordinary Gifts In the first sense we read Luke 1. 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee Here it is evident that the Holy Ghost signifies the Power of God whereby he effected the miraculous Conception of our Blessed Saviour In the latter sense we read Gal. 3. 5. He therefore that ministreth to you the Spirit and worketh Miracles among you doth he it by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith Here the Spirit is plainly meant of the miraculous Gifts bestowed upon the first Christians and the meaning of the Apostle's Question is this whether the Galatians had been indued with that Spirit and those extraordinary Gifts by submitting to the Ceremonial Law of Moses or only upon their imbracing the Gospel In the first sense the Holy Ghost is only an Attribute of God and so is not a meer Name nor is it a Divine subsisting Person which to say were ridiculous and contrary to the Notion of an Attribute This Attribute may be distinguish'd from God in such manner as Attributes are wont to be distinguish'd that is God may be said to act by his Power as he is said to act by his Wisdom But he saith If this Spirit were a Divine Vertue or Power then it is not distinct from God but is God himself I answer if this be all our Author contends for that the Holy Spirit or Power of God is God in such sense as other Vertues and Faculties of God may be called God himself the Socinians never denied it and this is all that his Argument proves Secondly He ought to know the Holy Spirit is not distinct from God as one Person from another but is distinguished from God as his Attribute This is easy and plain and agreeable to Reason and Scripture and is a full answer to what he adds in these words A Power which is distinct from God and is not God himself as he says the Holy Spirit is if it has any Personal Acts must be a distinct Person and if these Personal Acts are such as are proper only to God it must be a distinct Divine Person He goes on He says this Spirit is the Inspiration of God be it so This Inspiration then is either within God himself or without him in his Creatures who have this Inspiration If it be within God himself it must be a Person or else it cannot be distinct from God and a Divine Person unless any thing be in God which is not God If this Inspiration be without God in the Creatures who are inspired by him how is it the Spirit of God For the Spirit of God must be in God as the Spirit of a Man is in a Man I answer If every thing that is in God be a Person then there must be as many Persons in the Godhead as there are Attributes or Immanent Acts in God which to say is too sensless and ridiculous to need Confutation God's Inspiration as 't is an Act is in God as 't is an Effect 't is in Creatures and is called the Spirit of God because 't is an Effect of that Spirit Energy or Power which God uses to make his Will known to Men by inward Suggestion or Inspiration He desires to know pag. 192. how the Spirit of God differs from his Gifts and Graces I answer As the cause from its effects so that there are Diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 4. The same Cause produces several effects out of the same Power spring several Gifts 3. The next Argument is The Spirit is obtained of God by our Prayers therefore it self is not God This he pretends to answer by his Old Sophism that One Divine Person may send and give another which has been already confuted He adds The Spirit gives himself and is asked of himself for the Divine Persons in the Trinity do not act separately but as the Father and the Son give the Spirit so the Holy Spirit gives himself in the same Individual Act. But how can this be the same Individual Act The Father and the Son says he send the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost gives himself Can sending another and giving one's self be one and the same Act Farther If the Father Son and Holy Ghost cannot act separately when the Holy Ghost gives himself Father and Son must give themselves too or else it will not be the same Individual Act. But were it so this would not be made peculiar to the Holy Ghost who only is said in Scripture to be given and obtained of God But the thing is plain and easy if by the Spirit we understand God's Power and Inspiration which with their Effects are communicated to those that pray for them CHAP. VI. 4. THE next Argument is against a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead Which saith the Historian is contrary to the whole Scripture For that speaks of God but as one Person and speaks of him and to him by Singular Pronouns such as I Thou Me Him c. He cites also Heb. 1. 2. where Christ is called the express Image of God's Person Our Author returns this Answer It is plain that the Person of whom the Son is called the express Image is the
the Title of God therefore because God is most certainly a Person no Body can doubt that the Father is a Person As for the Son the same Gospel often says he is a Man every Man being a Person the Son being a Man must be also a Person But it is quite otherways with the Holy Ghost for the Scriptures call it the Power of God and Power is a Faculty not a Person Acts 10. 38. God has anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with Power Luke 1. 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee What is more plain than that the Power of the Highest in these Texts is the explication of the Holy Ghost Again Acts 6. 5. They chose Stephen a Man full of Faith and of the Holy Ghost Ver. 8. And Stephen full of Faith and of POWER did great Wonders Here again the Holy Ghost at ver 5. is explained by Power at ver 8. He says further He is the Spirit of God which searcheth the deep things of God and he who knows all things in God must be a knowing Mind In answer to this I must explain the Text to which he alludes 1 Cor. 2. 10 11. and which he cites too pag. 192. Ver. 10. But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searches all things yea the deep things of God The Apostle speaks here of the Doctrines of the Gospel its Precepts and Promises which before were hidden but now are revealed to Men as appears by ver 7 8 9. He meaneth this God has revealed to us Apostles these Doctrines this formerly hidden Wisdom by his Inspiration for this Spirit or Inspiration in us searcheth out i. e. finds or discovers these deep or hidden things of God Deep I say and hidden not to us but to the World and the Princes of the World The Apostle illustrates his Discourse with a Comparison ver 11. What Man knoweth the things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man which is in him Even so the Things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God As if he had said As no Man knows the things that belong to Human Life but by his own Spirit or Mind So no Man knows these things of God but by God's Spirit or Inspiration whereby he is enabled to know them This Interpretation perfectly agrees with what follows at ver 12. Now we have not received the Spirit of the World but the Spirit of God that we might know the things that are freely given us of God This is the true Sense of this place For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate no Man must either be understood exclusively of God or so as to include God also If it includes God too it will follow that the Holy Spirit or Third Person of the Trinity knows the Things of God and that the Father and Son are altogether ignorant of them which Consequence I am sure they will not allow But if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies no Man here as most certainly it does then the Spirit of God is to be understood of the Man who has received that Spirit or Inspiration by assistance whereof he may attain to the knowledge of the most secret Counsels of God as the Apostle explains it in the very next Verse The Author grants that Charity may be said to suffer long and to be kind because a charitable Man does so then the Spirit of God may be said to know the Things of God because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that is Spiritual as St. Paul stiles him Ver. 15. he that has the Spirit of God does so This Vorstius rightly understood in his Notes upon this place By the Spirit of God saith he we must understand that Spirit which is given us of God that is our Selves as Spiritual thus John 3. 6. That which is born of the Spirit saith our Saviour is Spirit This I hope may be enough to clear the sense of this Text. But the Author cannot allow of Power and Inspiration distinct from God and yet not God for what are Faculties in us are Persons in God If this be true then there are more than Three Persons in the Godhead for Power is a Faculty in us and being in God too it must be another Person in him Thus not only Wisdom and Love but Power also are Persons in God Nay there being Three knowing Minds in the Godhead each of which is ` God as the Author tells us it cannot be said that the Father only has Wisdom Love and Power The Son and the Holy Ghost must have them too else they should not be God But if Wisdom Love and Power being Faculties in us ought to be Persons in God then there are Nine Persons at the least in God viz. Wisdom Love and Power in the Father who is an Infinite Mind distinct from the Son and Holy Ghost Wisdom Love and Power in the Son who is an Infinite Mind distinguished from the Father and Holy Ghost Wisdom Love and Power in the Holy Ghost who is an Infinite Mind distinct from the Father and Son Moreover he tells us that the Son is a Person because He is the Father's Reflex knowledge But the Son being an Infinite and most Perfect Mind is undoubtedly able to reflect upon his own Wisdom and Knowledg and thus as well as the Father to beget a Son And this second Son in the Trinity may by the same Means and Reason beget another and so onwards to Infinity Thus according to this Maxim that what are Faculties in us are Persons in God there may be nay there must be an infinite number of Persons in God Apage This is certain says he all Personal Acts belong to a Person and therefore whatever has any Personal Acts we must conclude is a Person unless we know by some other means that it is no Person and then that proves the Expression to be Figurative But we know that the Holy Ghost is no Person and therefore we may affirm that whenever Personal Acts are ascribed to it it is to be figuratively taken That the Holy Ghost is not God we most certainly know because the Scripture plainly tells us there is but one God the Father That the Holy Ghost is not a created Person is made probable by several places of Scripture which teach us that it is God's Power and Inspiration by explaining the Holy Ghost by the Power of God and putting one for the other According to these two Principles which the Scripture affords us viz. That the Father only is God and that the Holy Ghost is God's Power we dare affirm that when Personal Acts are ascribed to it it is a Figurative Expression Thus we can easily conceive that the Holy Ghost may be said to work Miracles pag. 190. to raise the Dead to comfort to convince to sanctify the Church to dwell in the Church because God by his Power works Miracles raises the