but One. And this indeed depends upon the former For he that doth according to a true notion of God know That there is a God must needs know also that there is but One. For the true notion of God including Infinite Absolute Perfect c. must needs also include Unity for it is inconsistent that there should be many such So that in a manner Polytheism includes Atheism He that believes many Gods doth in effect not believe any that is not any such Being as of which it is impossible there should be more than One. We are Thirdly to know that This God is that onely True God I say This God whom we have variously designed in Scripture by several Characters The God that made Heaven and Earth The living God The God of Israel The God whose name is Jehovah And as here and elsewhere frequently in the New Testament the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By which and other the like Characters he is distinguished from all false Gods from all pretended Deities This God we are to know to be the onely True God But when I say That the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is this onely True God I add That this appertains not so much to his Personality as to his Essence For though the three Persons in the Sacred Trinity be distinguished each from other by their Personalities the Father is not the Son nor the Son the Father c. yet they all communicate in the common Essence whereby the Son as well as the Father and the Holy Ghost as either is this Onely True God The Person of the Father is indeed True God but not according to his Personality but according to his Essence And the Person of the Son is God also and the True God yet not another but the same True God And the Holy Ghost likewise According to that of Joh. 10.30 I and my Father are One That is One mod though not One Person And 1 Joh. 5.7 There are Three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One. Three and yet One. Three Persons yet but One God They are all this One this Onely True God beside whom there is no God I know there are some who would be glad to take advantage of this place to the Derogation of the Divinity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost As if it were here affirmed That the Father onely were True God and therefore not the Son nor the Holy Ghost But the Cavil is obvious and the Answer easie It is not said that the Father Onely is True God but that the Father is the onely True God he is that God beside whom there is no other True God which may well enough be said though the Son also as indeed he is be that same True God and the Holy Ghost likewise Indeed should we say That the Son were also True God and another God the Father could not then be said to be the Onely True God since that there would be another True God beside this And the like of the Holy Ghost But to say that the Son is the Same True God is well consistent with it For though another Person than the Father be True God yet because not Another God this One God remains still the Onely True God And the original words are to this purpose very clear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coming before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not after it doth determine it to be a restriction of the Praedicate not of the Subject 'T is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not Thee onely to be the True God but as we truly render it Thee to be the onely True God That is To know Thee to be that God beside which God there is no other True God though another beside Thee be likewise this onely True God viz. the same God with Thee though not the same Person It excludes only a Plurality of Gods not a Plurality of Persons in the same God-head 'T is true indeed That this Divinity is not in this place so directly Affirmed either of the Son or the Holy Ghost But neither is it Denyed And therefore it is to receive its decision from other places where it is affirmed clearly And thus much concerning the first branch of this Knowledge the Knowledge of God To know Thee the only True God There is another piece of Knowledge necessary to the attainment of Eternal Life the Knowledge of Christ. For so it follows And Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent 'T is true that had we continued in that Estate wherein Man was at first Created there had been no necessity of this second branch of Knowledge For had there been no Sin there had been no need of a Saviour and consequently not of this knowledge of Jesus Christ. A knowledge of God the onely True God with an Obedience conformable thereunto had then been enough to make us Happy But Man by his Fall having contracted an Estate of Misery there is now no Restitution to our lost Happiness but by a Redemption and there is no Redemption but by Jesus Christ. For as there is but One God so but One Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 Neither is there any other name given to men whereby we must be saved but that of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom they Crucified and God raised from the dead Act. 4.10 12. There is no Salvation in any other It is necessary therefore to the attainment of Eternal Life that we know Him in this Capacity What we are to know concerning him though we cannot expect in so few words to have clearly set down without a Comment from other places to give light to them Yet at least three things seem in these words to be pointed at His Divinity His Incarnation and His Mediatory Office 1. His Divinity in that he is the Son of God For he calls him Father whom he says we must know to be the onely True God Indeed were he onely the Son of God in such a sense as Adam is so called Luke 3.38 or the Angels thought to be Job 1.6 that is by Creation for as Saints are so called Rom. 8. and elsewhere that is by Adoption it would not iner a Divinity But to be as Christ is the Son of God by Eternal Generation argues a Communication in the same Nature As the Apostle infers Heb. 1.5 For to which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee This onely begotten of the Father must needs be also of the same nature with the Father and therefore God as he is And this Argument however now perhaps there are who endeavour to elude it the Jews his Enemies thought to be conclusive For when they observed him to call God his Father or pretend himself to be the Son of God especially the Christ the Son of
all false Gods or other pretended Gods that Christ is the True God the Supreme God the same God with the Father and not another God CHARACTER I. The first Character which we meet with of this God is that of Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth Which I think no man doubts but to be meant of the True God the Supreme God And by virtue of this he claims the Sovereignty thereof The Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof Psal. 24.1 Jehovah the Lord of all the Earth Josh. 3.11 13. The God of the Heaven and the God of the Earth Gen. 24.3 The Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Footstool Isa. 66.1 Behold the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens is the Lord's the Earth also and all that is therein Deut. 10.14 The same Character is applied to God very often Isa. 42.5 8. Thus saith God the Lord Jehovah he that created the Heavens and stretched them out he that spread forth the Earth and that which cometh out of it he that giveth breath unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein I am the Lord Jehovah that is my name and my Glory will I not give unto another And Isa. 48.13 Mine hand hath laid the foundation of the Earth and my right hand hath spanned or spread out the Heavens So Psal. 8.3 When I consider the Heavens the work of Thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained Psal. 146.6 Which made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that therein is And many other places not only in the Old Testament but in the New Testament likewise as Acts 14.15 That ye should turn from these vanities unto the Living God who made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all things that are therein And Acts 17.24 God that made the World and all things therein So Revel 4.11 Thou hast created all things Chap. 14.7 Him that made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and the Fountains of Water And it is the distinctive Character whereby he doth distinguish himself from all other pretended Gods Jer. 10. Where he who at ver 10. is called The Lord the true God the living God an everlasting King at who 's wrath the Earth shall tremble and the Nations shall not abide his indignation doth at ver 11. give this defiance to all other Gods Thus shall ye say to them The Gods which have not made the Heavens and the Earth they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens Now this Character we find ascribed to Christ. Not only where it is spoken as of God indefinitely but to be understood of Christ as are some of the places already mentioned But even where it is particularly applied to him I shall begin with that of Joh. 1.1 2. where we have a large Discourse of him In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God Where by the Word is meant Christ as is evident from the further descriptions of him in the following verses 'T is he of whom John the Baptist came to bear witness ver 7 8. He who came into the World but the World knew him not ver 10. Who came to his own but his own received him not but to as many as received him he gave power to become the Sons of God ver 11.12 Who was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father ver 14. He of whom John bare witness and cryed saying This is he of whom I spake He that cometh after me is preferred â—efore 〈◊〉 â—or he was before me not as to his Humane Naâ—ure foâ— so John the Baptist was older than he by six months Luk. 1.26 and of his fulness saith St. John we have all received grace for grace For the Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ ver 15 16 17. 'T was Jesus Christ therefore that is here called the Word Now of this same Word it is said The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made which was made ver 2 3. He was in the World and the World was made by him ver 10. Consonant to that of Heb. 11.3 The Worlds we refrmed by the Word of God and 2 Pet. 3.5 By the Word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth standing in the Water and out of the Water And by the same Word the heavens and earth are kept in store or preserved ver 7. And to the same purpose Col. 1.16 17. By him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth And he is before all things and by him all things consist And Heb. 1.2 By whom also he made the Worlds In Psal. 102. we have a long Prayer to the Supreme God doubtless which bears this title A Prayer of the Afflicted when he is overwhelmed and poureth out his complaint before the Lord the Lord Jehovah It begins thus Hear my Prayer O Lord Jehovah and let my cry come unto thee And at the same rate he proceeds addressing himself to the same God all along And at ver 24 25 26 27. he speaks thus O my God thy years are throughout all Generations Thou of old hast laid the Foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of thy hands who is the same God therefore of whom Moses had before said In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth Gen. 1.1 They shall perish as the Psalmist proceeds but thou shalt endure Yea all of them shall wax old as a Garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy years shall have no end And doubtless the Psalmist when he made this long Prayer thought not of addressing himself to any other than the Supreme God Not to a God who had not then a Being nor was to have till a Thousand Years after as the Socinians would have us think of Christ. He prays to God as his Redeemer that is to Christ. And that Christ is that God to whom he did thus address we are expresly told Heb. 1.8 10 11 12. But unto the Son he saith Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of thine hands They shall perish but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a Garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail All which is plainly cited from that Psalm Christ therefore is that God to whom that Prayer was made the same Supreme God who created the Heaven and the Earth even Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 And it is very frequent in Scripture that what in one place is spoken of God
is said of Christ Joh. 10.30 I and the Father are One is said of all Three by the same St. John â— Joh. 5.7 The Father the Word and the Holy Ghost thâ—se Three are One. Objection III. It is Objected that these words last cited are said to have been wanting in some Translations or some ancient Copies Answ. Be it so And so are some whole Epistles wanting in some Translations And considerable parts of some other Chapters But we are not therefore to cast them away as not Genuine The II d. and III d. Epistles of St. John and that of Jude are said to have been wanting in the Syriack and Arabick Translations And the Story of the Woman taken in Adultery Joh. 8. wanting in the Gothick Gospels And part of the last Chapter of St. Mark 's Gospel is said to be wanting in some Books And the Doxology in the close of the Lord's Prayer And the like in divers others But we must not thence conclude them not to be Genuine and put them out of our Bibles because they have chanced to be omitted in some Books And it is so far from being strange that such Omissions should sometimes happen that it is very strange if there were not a great Providence of God to preserve the Scriptures pure and entire that there should be no more such mistakes than what are found For before the convenience of Printing was found out when Copies were to be singly transcribed one from another and even those but in a few hands 'T was very possible and hardly avoidable even for a diligent Transcriber sometime to skip a line Especially which is the case here when some of the same words do again recur after a line or two Men are very subject both in Writing and Printing as those well know who are versed in either to leap from one word to the same recurring soon after Nor is such Omission when it happens readily discerned if as here the sense be not manifestly disturbed by it Now when such variety of Copies happens that words be found in some which are wanting in others this must either happen by a Casual mis-take without any design of Fraud or by a willful Falsification as to serve a particular turn which I take to be the case of the Papists Indices Expurgatorii And as to the words in question If the difference of Copies happened at first by a Casual mistake as I am apt to think 't is very easy for a Transcriber unawares to leave out a Line which was in his Copy especially where such omission doth not manifestly disturb the sense but not to put in a line which was not there And in such case the Fuller Copy is likelyest to be True and the Omission to be a Fault Which happening as it seems it did some hundreds of years ago in some one Copy it might easily pass unobserved into many others transcribed thence and so to others derived from those Transcripts But an Insertion of what was not in their Copy must needs be willful and not casual On the other side If this variety of Copies were at first from a willful Falsification It is much more likely to be a willful Omission of the Arians in some of their Copies which might be done silently and unobserved than by a willful Insertion of the Orthodox For the Insertion of such a clause if wholly New and which had never before been Heard of would have been presently detected by the Arians as soon as ever it should be urged against them Nor was any advantage to be made of it by the Orthodox since the Divinity of Christ which was the Point then in question might be as strongly urged from that in St. John's Gospel I and the Father are One as from this in his Epistle These Three are One. And therefore it is not likely that the Orthodox should willfully make any such Falsification from whence they could promise themselves no advantage Nor do I find it was ever charged upon them by the ancient Arians in those days though Athanasius and others urged it against them And in very ancient Copies in which it had been left out it is found supplied in the Margin as having been faultily omitted And it is the more likely to be Genuine because in this clause The Father the Word and the Holy-Ghost the second Person is called sunpliciter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word which is St. John's Language both here and in his Gospel Joh. 1. And is I think peculiar to him and not so used by any other of the Holy Writers of the New Testament I do not deny but that this second Person may be called the Word of God in Heb. 11.3 By Faith we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God And 2 Pet. 3.5 7. By the Word of God were the Heavens of old and the Earth c. and by the same Word they are kept in store As he is by the same St. John Rev. 19.13 His name is called the Word of God But to call him the Word absolutely without other addition I think is peculiar to St. John And therefore much more likely in this place to have proceeded from the same Pen and not to have been inserted by an Interpolater some hundreds of years after And that clause These Three are One in the Epistle agreeing so well with I and the Father are one in the Gospel is a further confirmation of their being both from the same Pen. Add to this That the Antithesis which we find in the 7 th and 8 th Verses is so very Natural that it is a great Presumption to be Genuine There are Three that bear record in Heaven The Father the Word and the Holy-Ghost and these Three are One And there are Three that bear witness in Earth The Spirit and the Water and the Blood and these Three agree in One. Which as it stands is very Natural but the latter clause would seem lame without the former and the words in Earth wholly redundant in the latter if not by Antithesis to answer to the words in Heaven in the former Verse And that it was anciently so read appears from St. Cyprian by whom it is twice cited in his Book De Unitate Ecclesiae and in his Epistle ad Jubaianum before the Arian Controversy was on foot In the former place arguing for the Church's Unity not to be broken by Schisms he speaks thus Dicit Dominus Ego Pater unum sumus Et iterum de Patre Filio Spiritu Sancto scriptum est Et hi tres unum sunt Et quisquam credit hanc Unitatem de divina firmitate venientem sacramentis coelestibus cohaerentem scindi in Ecclesia posse That is Our Lord saith I and the Father are One And again of the Father Son and Holy Ghost It is Written These Three are One. And who can believe that this Unity of the Church proceeding from this Firm Union in God
than the Infinite the Eternal the Almighty God The same yesterday and to day and for ever as he is called Heb. 13.8 The Blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who only hath Immortality c. as he is described 1 Tim. 6.14 15 16. And again The King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 17.14 and Rev. 19.16 The Great God and our Saviour Tit. 2.13 Where our Saviour is so contra-distinguished not as another from the Great God but as another Title of that same Person He that is our God and Saviour or God our Saviour as it is Tit. 3.4 like as God and the Father Ephes. 5.2 and again Col. 3.17 Giving thanks to God and the Father For 't is manifest that here Tit. 2.13 it is spoken of Christs coming to judgment which is here called the Glorious appearance of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ that is the glorious appearance of Jesus Christ who is the Great God and our Saviour The title that Jeremy gives to God Jer. 32.18 The great and mighty God the Lord of Hosts is his name Christ therefore our Saviour is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Great God And the Doxology there added Rev. 1.6 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen is equivalent to that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 9.5 God blessed for ever And the like 1 Tim. 6.16 To whom be Honour and Power everlasting Amen And much more that of Rev. 5.12 13 14. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing As High a Doxology as that in the close of the Lords-prayer To which we have the Acclamation of every Creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the Sea and all that are therein saying Blessing Honour Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever And the four Beasts said Amen And the four and twenty Elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever Too great things to be said of a mere Creature or a Titular God but very agreeable to Christ being as he is the same God with the Father the only True God I might here add a like Remark on that of Isai. 48.12 Hearken O Israel I am HE I am the First I am also the Last And in like manner Isai. 41.4 Isai. 43.10 13 25. Deut. 32.39 I even I am HE Hu and there is no other God with me or beside me And to the same purpose elsewhere Ani Hu I am HE so we render it I am HE What HE 'T is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is the HE Absolutely taken and Emphatically applied to God Which I take to be of like import with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I AM I that Am or That which IS The Greek Septuagint in the places cited renders Ani Hu by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the vulgar Latin indifferently by Ego Sum Ego Ipse Ego Sum Ipse Ego Ipse Sum That is I am He or I AM. And Christ of himself Joh. 8.58 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Before Abraham was I AM. And I the rather take it so to signify in the places cited because I there find it attended exegetically with an Intimation of his Eternity He Is He is the First and he is the Last Before him none Was and after him none shall Be He Is and ever Was and ever shall Be. CHARACTER III. The next Character that I shall insist upon is that of the two Proper Names of God Jah and Jehovah which I take to be Proper to God and Incommunicable to any other I put them both together because they be both of the same import and indeed of the same with Ehjeh I AM before-mentioned The chief difference is that Ehjeh I AM retains the form of the Verb but Jah and Jehovah are Nouns verbal from Hajah or Havah which signifie to Be All denoting Gods absolute Being And All peculiar to the Supreme God and no where applied in Scripture that I know of to any other I know the Socinians would perswade us that Jehovah is sometime given to an Angel which we do not deny but we say that Angel is not a Created Angel but the Angel of the Covenant who is God himselâ— The name Jah comes often in the Old Testament but not so often as Jehovah Particularly in Psal. 68.5 Sing unto God sing praises to his Name extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his Name JAH So we find it in our Bibles and it agrees with the Original But in our Psalters by a continued mistake instead of Jah or Ya is printed Yea. But this name is no where I think retained in the Greek Septuagint the Septuagint renders it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor in the New Testament which frequently follows the Septuagints form of Speech unless in the Solemn Form of praise Hallelu-Jah which the Greek puts into one word Alleluia that is Praise Jah or as it is usually rendred Praise ye the Lord. Which is jointly applied to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb Rev. 19.1 3 4 6. whom I take to be there meant by the Lord our God ver 1. and the Lord God Omnipotent ver 6. and the Great God ver 17. For the Supper of the Great God ver 17. is the same with the Supper of the Lamb ver 7 9. The name Jehovah is in the Old Testament much more frequent especially in the Original Hebrew But in our Translation is frequently rendered by the LORD as in all those places if the Printers have been careful where LORD is printed in Capital Letters The name Jehovah is at Exod. 3.14 â—5 made equivalent to Ehjeh I AM. For what is said at ver 14. Thus shalt thou say unto the Children of Israel I AM hath sent me unto you is thus repeated at ver 15. Thus shalt thou say unto the Children of Israel JEHOVAH the God of your Fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob hath sent me unto you with this Addition This is my name for ever and this is my memorial unto all generations And Psal. 81.18 That men may know that thou whose Name alone is JEHOVAH art the most High over all the earth In which place the restrictive word Alone cannot be understood to affect the word Name as if it were thus to be construed cujus nomen est Jehovah solum Whose name is Only Jehovah For God we know had other Names whereby he is often called But to the word Whose cujus solius nomen est Jehovah To whom Alone or to whom Only the name Jehovah doth belong So Isai. 45.5 I am JEHOVAH and none else there is no God beside me And Deut. 5.35 39. JEHOVAH he is God and there is none else beside him JEHOVAH he is God in heaven
above and upon earth beneath there is none else And Isai. 42.8 I am JEHOVAH that is my name and my Glory will I not give unto another And Deut. 6.4 Hear O Israel the LORD thy God is one LORD or JEHOVAH thy God is one JEHOVAH there is no other Jehovah but he And Deut. 28.58 That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name THE LORD THY GOD or JEHOVAH thy God And to the same purpose Deut. 32.39 1 Sam. 12.2 and in many other places I will not despute whether this name JEHOVAH were never made known till God did thus declare it to Moses at Exod. 3.15 It might seem so to be by that of Exod. 6.3 I appeared unto Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob by the name of God Almighty but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them 'T is true that God is often so called in the Book of Genesis But that Book was written by Moses after the time that Moses speaks of in Exodus And Moses might so call him by a name known at the time when he wrote though it had not been known at the time whereof he wrote As when Abraham is said to go forth from Vr of the Chaldees or of Chasdim Gen. 11.31 though Chesed the Son of Nahor from whom in likelihood the Chaldees were called Chasdim was not born till afterwards as appears Gen. 22.22 So Exod. 12.40 where the Children of Israel are said to have sojourned four hundred and thirty years it must be reckoned backward as far as Abraham's coming forth from Vr of the Chaldees at which time they could not be called the Children of Israel for Israel was not then born but it was that people who were afterwards called the Children of Israel And many such Prolepses or anticipations of Names there are in all Historians But whether it be upon this account or some other that he is said by his Name JEHOVAH not to have been known to them is not material to our present business 'T is enough that Jehovah is now known to be the signal Name of the True God and I think no where given to any other Now that our Saviour Christ is called Jehovah is not to be denied And it is for this reason that the Socinians would have us think that this Name is not peculiar to God In Jer. 23.5 6. he is called Jehovah Tzidkenu the LORD our Righteousness Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David a Righteous Branch and a King shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice on the Earth In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell in safety which is agreed by Jews and Christians to be understood of the Messias And this is the name whereby he shall be called JEHOVAH Tzidkenu the LORD our Righteousnâ—â—s JEHOVAH our Righteousness And to the same purpose Jer. 33.15 16. In Psal. 102. which is called A prayer of the afflicted when he poureth out his complaint before the LORD Jehovah It begins thus Hear my prayer O LORD Jehovah and let my cry come unto thee And he to whom this prayer is made is eight or nine times called the LORD Jehovah Now he to whom this prayer is made we are told Hebr. 1.8 10 11 12. is our Lord Christ Vnto the Son he saith Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the works of thy hands They shall perish but thou remainest They all shall wax old as a garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail All which is cited out of that Prayer made to the Lord Jehovah So I the LORD Jehovah the first and the last Isai. 41.4 Thus saith the LORD Jehovah before me there was no God neither shall there be after me Isai. 43.10 Thus saith the LORD Jehovah the King of Israel and his Redeemer Jehovah the LORD of Hosts I am the first and I am the last and beside Me there is no God Isai. 44.6 which are the Characters applied to Christ Rev. 1.8 9. 2.8 21.6 22.13 as was shewed before 'T is true that in the Greek Septuagint of the Old Testament the name Jehovah is no where retained but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I think every where put for it Whether because of a Jewish Superstition no where to pronounce that Name or because it could not conveniently be expressed in Greek Letters I will not determine And for that reason because the Septuagints did not use it it is not used in the New Testament which doth mostly comply with the Language of the Septuagints as being the Greek Translation then in use And therefore we are not to look for the Name Jehovah there applied to Christ. But divers places are in the New Testament applied to Christ wherein the name Jehovah was used in the Old Testament And the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord by which both the Septuagints and the New Testament do constantly render the Hebrew Name Jehovah is so frequently applied to Christ in the New Testament as that throughout the New Testament it is almost his constant Character the Lord the Lord Jesus Christ c. One Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 8.6 Our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory Jam. 2.1 My Lord and my God Joh. 20.28 No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 And elsewhere so often that none can be ignorant of it CHARACTER IV. The last Character which I shall insist upon of the True God the Only God is that of the Lord God of Israel Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart c. Deut. 6.4 And the Lord thy God is almost the constant Language of Moses to the Children of Israel And it is the Character which God directs him to use Thus shalt thou say unto the Children of Israel The Lord God of your Fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob hath sent me this is my name for ever and this is my memorial unto all Generations Exod. 3.15 and the Lord God of the Hebrews ver 18. And elsewhere very often throughout the Bible And doubtless he that was the Lord God of Israel is the true God the only God 'T is He who tells us I am the Lord thy God Thou shalt have no other God but Me Exod. 20.3 And Besides Me there is no other God Isai. 44.6 and so often elsewhere that it is needless to name the places And this Character as well as the rest is expresly given to Christ also Luk. 1.16 17. where we are expresly told of John the Baptist that many of the Children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord Their God to the Lord God of Israel for he shall go before Him in the spirit and power
days and three nights in the Whale's belly when brought as an Argument to prove our Saviour ought so long to lie in the Grave But St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 15.3 4. that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he rose again the Third day according to the Scriptures And Christ in like manner Luk. 24.46 Yet I know not any thing more clear to that purpose in the Scriptures of the Old Testament than either this of Jonah's being so long in the Whale's belly to which Christ himself alludes Mat. 12.40 or that of Hos. 6.2 After two days he will revive us and the third day he will raise us up Which seems not to be more express for the Resurrection of Christ on the Third day than this of Jonah But such covert Intimations there are in the Old Testament of things afterward more clearly discovered in the New Nor was this unknown to the ancient Jewish Doctors as appears by what Ainsworth in his Notes on Gen. 1. cites from thence out of R. Simeon Ben Jochai in Zoar Come see the Mystery of the word Elohim there are three Degrees and every Degree by it self Distinct and yet notwithstanding they are all one and joined together in One and are not divided one from another only there he calls Degrees what we now call Persons So that it was not unknown to the Jews of old whatever the present Jews think of it 3. What these Three are the Father the Word and the Spirit seems to be likewise intimated in the Story of the Creation Gen. 1. where they seem to be distinctly named In the beginning Elohim God created the Heaven and the Earth ver 1. where no man doubts but God the Father is implied though perhaps not He only And ver 2. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters Where Ainsworth tells us from the ancient Rabbines whom he cites they call him The Spirit of Mercies from before the Lord The Spirit of Wisdom called the Spirit of the Living God And The Spirit of the Messias Of the same Spirit we have elsewhere mention My Spirit shall not always strive with Man Gen. 6.3 Take not thine Holy Spirit from me Psal. 51.11 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me Isai. 61.1 They vexed his Holy Spirit Isai. 63.10 and elsewhere And if it be said that by the Spirit of God is meant God himself we say so too for we do acknowledge that the Holy Ghost is God himself And of the Word there is a like intimation ver 3. God Said or spake the Word Let there be Light and there was Light And in like manner ver 6 9 11.14 20. God Said Let there be a Firmament c. So Psal. 33.6 7. By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made c. He Spake and it was done He Commanded and it stood fast And Psal. 148.5 He Spake the Word and they were made He commanded and they were created Consonant to that of Heb. 11.3 By faith we understand that the Worlds were made by the Word of God And 1 Pet. 3.5 7. By the Word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth c. And by the same Word they are kept in store or preserved In which places by the Word so often mentioned and with such Emphasis put upon it seems to be meant that Word mentioned Joh. 1.1 3 10. In the beginning was the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things were made by Him The World was made by Him just as in Heb. 11.3 the Worlds were made by the Word of God Nor was this notion of the Word Personally taken unknown to the Jewish Doctors For what we have Psal. 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord Dixit Jehova Domino meo the Chaldee Paraphrase renders by Dixit Jehova Bemeimreh in Verbo suo meaning by His Word the Messias and of whom our Saviour himself expounds it Mat. 22.44 And it is frequent in that Paraphrase by the Word to design the Messias as S. Joh. doth Joh. 1.1 In the beginning was the Word And I put the more weight upon this because as here Gen. 1.2 3. so we have in several other places the Word and Spirit mentioned as concerned in the Creation Psal. 33.6 By the Word of the LORD Jehovah were the Heavens made and all the Hosts of them by the Spirit or breath of his mouth Berwach Where we have Jehovah his Word and Spirit Job 26.12 13. He divideth the Sea by his Power and by his Wisdom or Vnderstanding he smiteth through the proud By his Spirit he garnisheth the Heavens his Hand hath formed the crooked Serpent Where we have the Power of God the Wisdom of God and the Spirit of God And Job 33.4 â—he Spirit of God hath made me and the Breath of tâ—e Lord hath given me Life So Psal. 104.24 30. O LORD Jehovah how wonderful are thy Works in VVisdom thou hast made them all Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are created and thou renewest the face of the Earth And it is not amiss here to take notice that as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as well ratio as oratio so Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is called the Word of God and the Wisdom of God And as in Joh. 1.1 3 10. it is said of the Word that in the beginning was the Word all things were made by Him and the World was made by him And Heb. 11.3 The Worlds were framed by the Word of God So the same is said of Wisdom Prov. 3.19 The LORD by VVisdom hath formed the Earth by Vnderstanding hath he established the Heavens And Prov. 8.22 c. The LORD possessed me Wisdom in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning ere ever the Earth was When he prepared the Heavens I was there When he established the Clouds above When he strengthened the Fountains of the deep When he appointed the Foundations of the Earth then was I by him c. And accordingly 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 And 1 Pet. 1.5 Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation which doubtless is not without the operation of the Holy Ghost working and preserving faith in us Suitably hereunto God's Power and Wisdom are oft conjoyned He is Wise in Heart and Mighty in Strength Job 9.4 c. He is excellent in Power and in Judgment Job 37.13 But without laying too great a stress on every particular there seems a foundation clear enough to consider the Word of God and the Spirit of God as clearly distinguishable even in the great Work of Creation and that the holy Writers even in the Old Testament have considered them as distinct and that even the Jewish Writers have owned them as such I know very well that those who have a
Hence that in Job 2.4 Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life And that of Solomon A living Dog is better than a dead Lion Eccles. 9.4 For when Life is gone there succeeds an incapacity not only of Doing but also of Enjoying Good From this consideration it is that the other significations of the word have their Original For Life being looked upon as the greatest natural Good and Death as the greatest natural Evil The one by a Synechdoche speciei is frequently used both in sacred and profane Authours to signify Good indefinitely especially the greatest Good and the other in like manner to signifie Evil especially the greatest Evil. The one is put for Happiness and the other for Misery And then again by a Synechdoche generis this general notion of Good or Evil Happiness or Misery implied in the words Life and Death becomes applicable to this or that particular Good and Evil as occasion serves Suppose the Spiritual Life of Grace or Death in Sin And the Eternal Life of Glory in Heaven or the Eternal Death of Torment in Hell Thus Deut. 30.19 I have set before you saith Moses to Israel life and death blessing and cursing where Life and Death are made equivalent to Blessing and Cursing therefore chuse life saith he that thou and thy seed may Live that is that you may be Happy So at ver 15. of the same Chapter I have set before you saith he life and good death and evil Where Life and Good are put exegetical each of other and so Death and Evil. And in the same sense it is the Poet tells us Non est Vivere sed Valere vita Thus God to Adam in Paradise for 't is no new Trope nor of yesterday In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death that is thou shalt become miserable For we know that Adam did not the same day die a natural Death but some hundreds of years after but he did that day begin to be in a state of Misery whereof his natural Death was but a part So Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death where the comprehension of all the Evils or Misery which sin deserves or God inflicteth for it is called Death like as on the contrary all the Happiness which the Saints enjoy is on the same account called Life The gift of God is eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So here By Life we understand Happiness contrary to which is the Death of Misery and then by a Metalepsis or double Trope that Happiness in special which the Saints enjoy in Glory though not exclusive of what they have before and that Misery which in Hell attends the wicked 'T is true indeed that the condition of the Saints in Glory after the Resurrection may even in a proper sense be called Life because of that Union which shall then be of Soul and Body and the exercise of at least the most noble faculties of Life Yet do not I take that to be the true import of the Word here For though it be true that the Saints in Glory have not only an Union of Soul and Body but likewise a knowledge or sense of that estate wherein they are which may import not only a Life but even a Rational Life yet as true it is that the Damned in Hell have so too for their Souls and Bodies shall not be less United nor shall they be Insensible of their Woful condition yet is not that estate of theirs called a Life though naturally it be so and it is their misery that it is so but Eternal Death because a Life of Wo and Misery not of Bliss and Happiness A Living Misery being in this sense the truest Death Secondly As it is called Life for its Excellency so for its Duration it is called Eternal It is very usual in Scripture in the use of Allegories or Figurative expressions to add some kind of Epithet to distinguish the word so used from the same in its native signification And when the word is used so as to express figuratively somewhat more excellent than it self the Epithet hath somewhat of additional exellency in it Thus Christ is said to be the Spiritual rock 1 Cor. 10.4 the Living Bread or Manna that came down from Heaven Joh. 6.50 to distinguish the words so metaphorically used from the Rock and Manna literally spoken of in the story of their travails in the Wilderness And the Church of Christ as Living stones become a Spiritual house and a Holy priesthood to offer up Spiritual sacrifices to God 1 Pet. 2.5 Where the Epithets serve both for distinction from the material Stones and Temple the Levitical Priesthood and corporeal Sacrifices and for the commendation or preheminence of those before these So the new heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem Rev. 21.1 2. Jerusalem that is above Gal. 4.26 And Matth. 26.29 I will drink no more saith Christ of the fruit of the vine till I drink it New with you in my Father's kingdom Not that Christ did intend anew to drink of such wine in his Father's Kingdom but of a New wine another sort of wine than that commonly so callâ—d to wit those spiritual Joys in his Father's Kingdom which should more refresh their Hearts and Souls than this wine did their Bodies So I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman Joh. 15.1 I am the good shepherd Joh. 10.11 Not that Christ was more truly a Vine in propriety of speech than that which we so call or indeed a Shepherd who took the care of Sheep But that there was in Christ somewhat of another kind much more eminent than that of the Vine which did yet in some measure resemble it and a much greater Care but of another nature of those he calls his Flock than a Shepherd hath of his Sheep So here This is life eternal Not a natural Life such as is commonly meant by the word Life a life of the Body which after a short time is to be exchanged for Death but a Life a Happiness of another nature a far more excellent Good than what we call Life which doth but very imperfectly express it An Eternal Life And this Eternity as it serves in general to distinguish this word Life from the ordinary acceptation and doth import for the kind of it somewhat much more excellent So it doth particularly point out that Everlasting Duration of this so great a Happiness 'T is that which though indeed it have a Beginning shall never have an End And upon this account it is that it is so often called Eternal Life and Life Everlasting that it were endless to enumerate the places where it is so called An eternal inheritance A house eternal in the heavens An inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which fadeth not away A kingdom which cannot be moved An eternal weight of glory When our mortal shall have put on immortality And this consideration
it to some other occasion that I be not prevented by the time in what I have to say further That there is a God the Creator a God the Redeemer and a God the Sanctifier and that these are the same God I think cannot reasonably be Denied I shall shew it of each As to God the Creator we are told Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth And to the same purpose in many other places And I think there is none doubts but that this Creator is the True God the Supreme God And in Jer. 10.11 God doth by this Character distinguish himself from all other pretended Gods The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens As to God the Redeemer I know that my Redeemer liveth saith Job Ch. 19.25 By which Redeemer doubtless he meant the Living God a God who did then Live a God who was then in Being and not as the Socinians would have us think who was not to Be till Two Thousand years after And Isa. 44.6 Thus saith the Lord the Redeemer the Lord of Hosts I am the first and I am the last and beside Me there is no God Which Redeemeâ— must needs be the same God with God the Creator the Lord of Hosts As to God the Sanctifier Purge me with hyssop saith David and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than snow Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Psal. 51.7 10. Which certainly are works of Sanctification and the God to whom David prayed is doubtless the Living God a God then in Being And when God promiseth â—o Israel I will give them a hearâ— to kâ—ow me and they shall return unto me with their whole heart Jer. 24.7 I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Jer. 32.39 40. I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them I will take away the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh Ezek. 11.19 and 36.26 I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts Jer. 31.33 The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that thou mayst live Deut. 30.6 All these are sanctifying works and that God who doth them is God the Sanctifier And it is the same God who doth thus Sanctifie that is the Creator and the Redeemer Now this God the Creator God the Redeemer and God the Sanctifier I take to be the same with what we otherwise call God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost And our Church doth so expound it in her Catechism First I learn to believe in God the Father who hath Made me and all the World Secondly In God the Son who hath Redeemed me and all Mankind Thirdly In God the Holy Ghost who Sanctifieth me and all the Elect people of God And it is no more absurd or inconsistent to say that God the Father God the Son and God the Holy-Ghost are the same God than to say that God the Creator God the Redeemer and God the Sanctifier are the same God As they stand related to us they are called God the Creator God the Redeemer and God the Sanctifier As to the different Oeconomy amongst themselves one is called the Father who is said to Beget another the Son who is said to be Begotten a third the Holy-Ghost who is said to Proceed or Come forth But are all the same God Objection IV. But then here I meet with another Objection on which the Socinians lay great weight If God the Creator God the Redeemer and God the Sanctifier or God the Father God the Son and God the Holy-Ghost be the same God they cannot then be Three Persons And if they be Three Persons they must be Three Gods For like as Three Persons amongst Men doth signifie Three Men so Three Persons who are God must be Three Gods Contrary to the First Commandment which allows us to have but One God To which I answer First This is only to cavil at a Word when they have nothing of moment against the Thing So that if inâ—â—ead of saying â—hese Three Persons are One God we say These Three are One God or give them another Name instead of Persons or say these Three Somewhats without giving them a Name this Objection is at an end 2. I say further 'T is very true that in our English Tongue by another Person we sometimes understand another Man because that other Person is very often another Man also But it is not always so nor is that the proper Signification of the Word but an Abusive sense put upon it And the reason of using the word Person in this abusive or improper sense is for want of an English word to answer the Latin word Homo or the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which might indifferently relate to both Sexes For the word Man doth properly relate to the Male and Woman to the Female And if the word Man be sometimes so used as to imply the Woman also it is by a Synecdoche putting the Name of One Sex to signifie Both. And 't is for want of such a Word which might indifferently relate to both Sexes that we sometime make use of Person in a borrowed sense rather than to use a Circumlocution of Man and Woman by naming both Sexes And if we should use such Circumlocution of Man and Woman yet even this would not reach the whole Species For we do not use to call them Man and Woman till they be of a considerable Age before which time they are called Children and therefore to comprehend the whole Species we say Man Woman and Child We do indeed sometimes to that purpose make use of the word Mankind adding the word kind to that of Man to Ampliate the Signification of it But this relates only to Genus Humanum in a Collective sense not to Homines taken Distributively For we do not say a Mankind two Mankinds c as we say Homo Homines We are fain therefore for want of a proper English word to make use of Person in a borrowed sense to answer the Latin Homo But the Ancient Fathers who first applied the word Persona to the Sacred Trinity did not speak English And therefore we cannot from the present use of the word Person in our Language conclude in what sense they used the word Persona 3. Again the Schoolmen in later Ages have yet put another sense on the word Persona peculiar to themselves extending it indifferently to Men and Angels for want of a proper word of that Extent so as to signifie with them what they call Suppositum Rationale or what we call a Reasonable
of Elias Now we all know whose fore-runner John Baptist was and before whom he was to go in the Power and Spirit of Elias And he before whom he was thus to go is the Lord God of Israel and therefore not only a Titular God or a Creature God but the True God the Supreme God the same God with that God who is the Lord God of Israel whom no man doubts to be the True God the Supreme God the Only God I might add many other Characters given to Christ proving him to be the True God as that Rev. 2.13 I am he which searcheth the Reins and Hearts and I will give unto every one according to his Works and to the same purpose Rev. 22.12 and elsewhere which God the True God claims as his peculiar Prerogative Jer. 17.9 10. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Who can know it I the LORD search the Heart I try the Reins to give to every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings And to the same purpose Jer. 11.20 Jer. 20.12 1 Chron. 28.9 Psal. 7.9 Psal. 139.1 and in many other places And that likewise of Isai 9.6 His Name shall be called Wonderful Councellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace c. with many other Characters of like nature which can never agree to any but the True God But it is not my business in this short Discourse to say All that might be said but what may be sufficient He therefore that is as hath been shewed God the True God the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Eternal God the First and the Last before whom nothing was and after whom nothing shall be that Was and Is and shall Be the same yesterday and to day and for ever the Almighty by whom the World was made by whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made that was made who laid the foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of his hands who when the Heavens and the Earth shall fail his years endure for ever who searcheth the heart and the reins to give to every one according to his works who is Jehovah the Lord God of Israel the Supreme being which is over all God blessed for ever who is the Blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who only hath immortality to whom be Honour and Power Everlasting Amen That God I say of whom all these great things are said is certainly not a mere Titular God who is called God but is not a Creature God or only a dignified Man For if these be not Characters of the True God by what Characters shall the True God be described I know the Socinians have imployed their Wits to find out some tricks to evade or elude some of these plain places which I shall not trouble my self or you to repeat or to give an answer to them For they are so weak and so forced that the plain words of Scripture read together with the forced senses they would put upon them are answer enough nor do they need or deserve any further answer OBJECTION VIII The last Objection which I shall now take notice of is this That the Doctrine of the Trinity was not known to the Jewish Church before Christ. To which I answer 1. If it were not made known to them it was not necessary for them to know For matters of pure Revelation are not necessary to be known before they are revealed nor farther than they are revealed But may be so to us to whom they are Revealed The whole Doctrine of our Redemption by Christ was doubtless unknown to Adam before his Fall And had he not fallen it would have been no fault in him not to have known it at all And when after his fall it was first made known to him in that first promise that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 it was yet so dark that he could know very little as to the particulars of it of what is now known to us And as God by parcels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at sundry times and in divers manners declared more of it to Abraham to David and the Prophets so were they obliged to know and believe more of it and when in the last days he had declared the whole of it by his Son Heb. 1.1 2. it is now necessary for us to believe much more of which they might be safely ignorant And of the Trinity likewise if it were not then revealed 2. But Secondly There were many things which though not fully revealed so as to be clearly understood by All were yet so insinuated as to be in good measure understood by some and would more be so when the Veil should be taken off from Moses's face 2 Cor. 3.13 15 16. Thus the Death and Resurrection of Christ were not understood even by his own Disciples till after his Resurrection Yet we must not say that these things were not before intimated in the Scriptures though covertly for when their understandings were opened to understand the Scriptures and what had been written of him in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms they then perceived that it was so written and that it behooved Christ to Suffer and to Rise from the dead the Third day Yet this was therein so covertly contained that they seem no more to have understood it than that of the Trinity And St. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews declares a great deal to have been covered under the Jewish Rites and Ceremonies which certainly most of the Jewish Church did not understand though in good measure it might be understood by some I might say the like of the Resurrection which was but darkly discovered till Immortality was brought to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 We must not yet say it was wholly unknown to the Jewish Church of whom many no doubt did believe it Yet neither can we say it was generally received For we know the Pharisees and the Sadduces were divided upon that point Act. 23.6 7 8. And so little is said of it in the Old Testament that those who had a mind to be captious might have found much more specious pretence of cavilling against it then than our Adversaries now have against the Doctrine of the Trinity 3. I say Thirdly as of the Resurrection there were then divers intimations which are now better understood in a clearer light than at that time they were So I think there were also of the Doctrine of the Trinity I shall instance in some of them 1. That there was in the Unity of the God-head a Plurality of Somewhat which now we call Persons seems fairly to be insinuated even in that of Elohim-bara Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created where Elohim God a Nominative Case Plural is joined with Bara a Verb Singular which is as if we should say in
English We Am or They Doth which would to us sound odly if somewhat of Mystery be not intended in it Nor is it here only but very frequently that God is called Elohim in the Plural Number and much oftner than in the Singular Number Eloah as if though Jehovah be but One yet Elohim may be Three Not Three Gods but Three Somewhats in that One God For though it be Elohim yet it is Bara It is So Three as yet to be One. Nor is it Elohajim in the Dual Number as spoken of Two or a Couple but Elohim in the Plural Number as of more than Two This may perhaps be called a Criticism and it is so But I am loth to say it is purely Casual and not designed For many times little Circumstances and unheeded Expressions as at first they may seem to be may by the Divine Wisdom be fore-designed to some considerable purpose As that of Not a bone of it shall be broken Exod. 12.46 Numb 9.12 Psal. 34.20 And that of they pierced my hands and my feet Psal. 22.16 And they shall look upon him whom they have pierced Zach. 12.10 And that they part my garment among them and on my vesture they cast lots Psal. 22.18 And they gave me gall for my meat and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink Psal. 69.21 Which are most of them but Poetical Expressions and seemingly casual and undesigned as to their Literal Sense but were providentially ordered as being literally to be fulfilled as we find in Joh. 19.23 24 28 29 36 37. and in the places parallel of the other Gospels I might instance in a great many such which at first might seem Casual but were Providentially designed I shall content my self at present with one more which is that of St. Paul which perhaps may be thought to look as like a Criticism as what I mention Gal. 3.16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made He saith not And to Seeds as of many but as of one And to thy Seed which is Christ. Now the promises made to Abraham to which he refers are those Gen. 22.16 17 18. which I think is the only place where in promises made to Abraham such mention is made of his Seed By my self have I sworn saith the Lord For because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy Son thine onely Son That in blessing I will bless thee and multiplying I will multiply thy Seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the sea-shoar and thy Seed shall possess the gate of his enemies and in thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice By Abraham's Seed here is manifestly meant his Children whom God promiseth to multiply And it might seem to be very indifferent whether to say thy Seed or thy Children But St. Paul was so nice a Critick as to take advantage of his saying Seed in the Singular Number and not Seeds or Children in the Plural as thereby signally denoting as principally intended that One Seed which is Christ. Yet are not the rest of the Seed to be quite excluded even in that last Clause of it In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed as appears by Act. 3.25 And ye men of Israel ver 12. are the Children of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our Fathers saying unto Abraham And in thy Seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed Whence 't is evident that seemingly unheeded Criticisms are sometimes Providentially designed And such I take this of Bara Elohim to be And it is taken notice of to this purpose both by Jewish and Christian writers The like Plurality seems plainly intimated in the same Chapter Gen. 1.26 Let VS make man in OVR image and after OVR likeness Yet even this Plurality is no other than what in another consideration is an Vnity for so it follows ver 27. So God created man in HIS own image These Plural Somewhats therefore are but One God And 't is but a childish excuse to say It is the Stile of Princes to speak in the Plural We and Vs instead of I and Me. 'T is indeed a piece of Courtship at this day and perhaps hath been for some Ages But how long hath it been so 'T is not so old as Moses much less so old as the Creation King Pharoah and Senacharib and Ahasuerus were wont to say I Me Mine not We Vs Ours And Nebuchadnezzar even in the Height of his Pride Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babylon that I have built by the might of MY Power and for the honour of MY Majesty Here 's nothing of We and Our This was not Stilus Regius in those days And if we should here expound it by such an equivalence And God said Let Me make man in My image it would scarce sound like good Sense For 't is not usual to speak Imperatively in the First person Singular It seems therefore to imply a Plurality though not a Plurality of Gods The like we have Gen. 3.22 Behold the man is become like One of Vs. Is this also Stilo Regio instead of The man is become like one of Me So Gen. 11.6 7. And the LORD Jehovah said Let VS go down and confound their Language 2. And as these places intimate a Plurality so I know not but that of Gen. 18. may intimate this Plurality to be a Trinity That the appearance there of three Men to Abraham was a Divine Apparition though Abraham did not at first apprehend it so to be is evident For it is expresly said by Moses ver 1. The LORD Jehovah appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre and he lift up his eyes and lo Three Men stood by him So that this appearance of Three Men was an appearance of the Lord Jehovah And though we do not find that Abraham doth any where use the word Jehovah in that discourse but Adonai all along Yet Moses the Relater where himself speaks says every where Jehovah though when he recites Abraham's words it is Adonai But even Adonai is a word Plural as well as Elohim that is my Lords the Singular is Adoni my Lord but seldom said of God Whether it were that the name JEHOVAH were not then known to Abraham according to that of Exod. 6.3 or that Abraham was not at first aware who it was with whom he was then discoursing or for what other reason he did avoid using the name Jehovah I shall not trouble my self curiously to enquire But sure we are that Moses tells us This Apparition of Three Men as at first they seemed to be was an Apparition of the Lord Jehovah We need not doubt therefore but that God appeared there in this Apparition of Three Men which is therefore a fair intimation of a Trinity of Persons It might perhaps be cavill'd at if this were all And so might that of Jonah's being three