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
Christ. Where by Knowledge I do not understand a meer Notional or Speculative Knowledge For such I presume the Devils may have in as large a proportion as any of us and yet never attain Eternal Life But an Active Practical Knowledge Such a Knowledge as is attended with Faith and with Practice suitable thereunto As in that of Isa. 53.11 By his Knowledge that is by the Knowledge of Him shall my righteous Servant justifie many That is by Faith in him attended with a suitable Practice to it The Object of this Knowledge is declared to be twofold 1. The Knowledge of God and 2. The Knowledge of Christ. To know Thee the onely True God that 's one part And whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ that 's the other And each of these contains several Particulars The former of them contains at least these Three 1. That there is a God 2. That there is but One True God 3. That the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is this Onely True God He is that God besides which God there is no other True God And though Jesus Christ be God also yet not another God but the same True God For He and the Father are One Joh. 10.30 In the latter of them the Knowledge of Christ are Three things also 1. His Divinity 2. His Humanity And 3. His Mediatory Office Which are here briefly insinuated and are elsewhere more fully expressed 1. His Divinity in that he is the Son of the Father who is the Onely True God Not by Creation as Adam and the Angels are called the Sons of God nor by Adoption as are the Righteous who truly believe in Christ But by Generation as the Onely Begotten of the Father Joh. 1.14 and therefore of the same Nature with the Father 2. His Humanity implyed in these words Whom Thou hast sent That is So sent as to be made of a Woman so sent as to be made Flesh. Gal. 4.4 Joh. 1.14 3. His Mediatory Office implyed in the Title Christ added to the Name Jesus And whom Thou hast sent Jesus Christ. He was so sent as to be the Christ the Messias So sent as that the World through him might be Saved So as that whosoever Believes in him should not Perish but have Everlasting Life Joh. 3.16 17. Of all which Points I did then Discourse more largely and therefore do now but name them But I did then further observe from the Order of the Words to obviate a Cavil of the Socinians that the Word Onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here Restrictive not of the Subject Thee but of the Predicate the True God Of which I intend with God's Assistance and your Patience to speak further at this time Objection I. The first and great Objection of the Socinians from this place against the Divinity of Christ and the Doctrine of the Trinity is this If the Father be the onely true God then the Son or Holy-Ghost is not God or not the True God but the Father onely To which I shall give Three things in Answer 1. This Argument is a plain Fallacy which they put upon us by a willful perverting the Order of the Words For it is not said Thee Onely to be the True God as if not the Son also or the Holy-Ghost were the True God but the Father onely But to Know Thee not Thee onely or Onely Thee to be the Onely true God Nor is it so in our Englis◠Translation onely but in the Original Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coming after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth determine the Restrictive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to be applied to the Subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to the Predicate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just as in our English the Article The coming between Thee and Onely doth confine the word Onely not to Thee that went before but to True God which follows To know Thee not onely Thee the onely true God That is to know Thee to be that God beside which God there is no other true God Which we readily Acknowledge and Profess And then the Socinians Argument will appear just in this Form The God of Abraham is the Onely true God And therefore not the God of Isaac nor the God of Jacob. Yes say I the God of Isaac is the same God with the God of Abraham And therefore the True God as he is And the God of Jacob likewise And this one Answer doth fully satisfy the Objection and there needs no more Yet I shall add Two other things though they might here be spared because they may be of use elsewhere 2. I say further If it had been said as it is not Thee Onely yet even this would not exclude any who is the same with Him And therefore not the Son nor the Holy-Ghost since they are One and the same God with Him I and the Father are One Joh. 10.30 These Three are One 1 Joh. 5.7 To which purpose consider we what we have Jer. 16.14 15. and again Jer. 23.7 8. Behold the days come saith the Lord that it shall no more be said The Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel out of the land of Egypt But The Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel from the land of the North or out of the North Country Now we are told by God himself Exod. 20.2 3. I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt Thou shalt have no other God but ME. Shall we therefore argue thus The God who brought Israel out of Egypt is the onely true God and we must have no other God but HIM Therefore not him who brought Israel out of the North-Country Yes say I Him also For the God who brought them out of the North-Country is the same God with him who brought them out of Egypt not another God though designed by another Character and therefore in having Him we have not another God So here To Know thee onely if it had been so said as it is not it had implied no more but thus Not any who is not the same God with Thee To Know Thee Onely and not any other who is not the same God with Thee to be the true God Which therefore would not exclude the Son nor Holy Ghost who are the same God with the Father But of this Answer there is no need in this place because it is not said Thee Onely or onely Thee 3. I say further If it had been said as it is not Thee Onely as the Socinians would have it to be understood I would then say This were an Essential Predication rather than a Personal That is That the Predicate True God is affirmed of him in regard of his Essence rather than of his Personality As belonging to the Essence which is common to the Three Persons not as
peculiar to the Person of the Father Like as if it were said David the King of Israel or David the Father of Solomon is a Reasonable Creature or endued with Reason this being endued with Reason doth not belong to him as King of Israel nor as Father of Solomon but as he is a Man though denominated by these Relations and is equivalent to this The Man who is Father of Solomon and King of Israel is endued with Reason So if it be said that David King of Israel and He onely was Father of Solomon it is not intended that he was so as King of Israel much less in that capacity Onely but rather as the Man who begot him though designed by that Character So here God the Creator is the Onely True God and God the Redeemer likewise Thus saith the Lord thy Redeémer the Holy One of Israel the Lord of Hosts I am the First and I am the Last and beside ME there is no God Isa. 41.14 Isa. 44.6 applyed to Christ Rev. 1.8 17. Rev. 22.13 16. Shall we therefore argue That God the Redeémer is the Onely True God and beside Him there is no God therefore not God the Creator No we must not so argue For it is not as Redeemer or as Creator that he is the Onely True God but as God It may be praedicatio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For he was the Onely True God from all Eternity but it was in Time that he made the World and was the Redeemer of Mankind And this both the Arian and the Socinian must needs acknowledge as to the place before us For when Christ saith To know Thee Father the Onely True God it cannot according to their Principles be said of him as Father of our Lord Jesus Christ but as God For if Christ be onely a Titular God or a Creature-God as they would have it there was a time or moment when he was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore when God was not his Father But he was the Onely True God from all Eternity and therefore must be here so called not as Father of our Lord Jesus Christ but as God Not according to his Personality but according to his Essence which we say is common to the Three Persons Who are the same God though under different Denominations But these two latter Answers though they be True and Solid are not necessary to this place because it is not said Thee Onely Yet I here name them because they may be of use to answer some like Objection raised from some other place The full import of the words is this That the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is that God beside which God there is no other True God Or There is no other True God beside that God which is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this we do fully agree with when we say That the Son and the Holy-Ghost are not another God but the same True God with the Father Objection II. It may perhaps be next Objected That though this place do not Deny the Son and Holy Ghost to be the True God meaning thereby the same God with the Father Yet neither doth it Prove them so to be I answer 'T is true This place alone without the concurrence of others doth not Prove the Trinity And it is much if it should where there are but Two mentioned Nor is it brought by us to that purpose We only Answer the Objections brought against it by others from this place And leave the Proof of it to be fetched from other places in concurrence with this I have observed elsewhere Lett. 3. that if we should read it thus To know Thee to be the Onely True God and him also whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ as implying him also to be the same True God Or thus To know Thee and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ the Only True God The words will well bear it without any force put upon them Nor is this only a new Notion of my own For I since find that S. Austin had said the same long ago in his Epist. 174. speaking to Pascentius an Arian concerning this place De Patre tantummodo vos vultis intelligi quod ait Ut cognoscant Te unum verum Deum quem misisti Jesum Christum Ubi nos subaudimus etiam Jesum Christum verum Deum Ut haec sit sententia Te quem misisti Jesum Christum cognoscant unum verum Deum Ne illa consequatur absurditas ut si propterea non est verus Deus Jesus Christus quia dictum est Patri Te unum verum Deum propterea non sit Dominus Pater quia dictum est de Christo Unus Dominus Where he takes the meaning to be this To know Thee and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ the Onely True God which he backs with this Argument Because if we should here on this account exclude the Son from being the True God we might for the same reason exclude the Father from being the Lord because it is said 1 Cor. 8.6 One Lord Jesus Christ. Yet even this though it might prove it as to the Son it would not hence conclude it as to the Holy-Ghost But the concurrence of other places will prove it more clearly as to both I shall shew it of each As to the Son we have it clearly affirmed by the same S. John who best understood the import of his own words that he is also the True God so that it was not intended here to exclude him 1 Joh. 5.20 We are in him that is True even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the True God And therefore not onely the Father And he had before told us from Christ's own words Joh. 10.30 I and my Father are One. Nor is it here meant of one in Testimony as the Socinians would have it understood elsewhere there being in the Context here no mention of Testimony at all But it must be meant of One God And this is manifest from the Inference which the Jews made from it For they did thereupon take up stones to stone him as for what they call Blasphemy Because thou say they being a Man makest thy self God ver 31 32 33. For which Inference there had been no Pretence if by One they had not understood One God And the High Priest in like manner Matth. 26.63 64 65. I adjure thee saith he by the Living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God To which when Christ had answered Thou hast said dicis quod res est He rent his clothes saying He hath spoken Blasphemy What further need have we of witnesses For to say that he was the Christ the Son of God or as it is in Mark 14.61 The Christ the Son of the Blessed was understood by them to be the same as to call himself Go◠Which had been Blasphemy had it not been True And what
and united by the Heavenly Sacraments can be separated in the Church Where he argues for the Unity of the Church not to be divided by Schism by two Arguments from this place One from the firm Unity of God noted in ver 7. The Father Son and Holy Ghost are One from whom this Church proceeds de divina firmitate venientem The other from their being United by the same Sacraments sacramentis coelestibus cohaerentem which relates to ver 8. The Spirit the Water and the Bloud agree in One. Which double Argument from the two Verses shew that then they were both read And as to the former of them which is that in question He cites it again in his Epistola ad Jubaianum where disputing against Baptâ—sm by Hereticks he thus argues Si baptizari quis apud Haereticos potuit utique remissam peccatorum consequi potuit Si peccatorum remissam consecutus est sanctificaâ—us est templum Dei factus est Quaero Cujus Dei Si Creatoris non potuit qui in eum non credidit Si Christi nec hujus potuit fieri templum qui negat Deum Christum Si Spiritus Sancti cum tres Unum sint quomodo Spiritus Sanctus placatus esse ei potest qui aut Patris aut Fiâ—ii inimicus est That is If by Hereticks one could be baptized then he might obtain remission of sins If he obtain remission of sins then is he sanctified and become the Temple of God I ask then of What God Of the Creator that he cannot be who did not in Him believe Of Christ Neither can he be His Temple who denies Christ to be God Of the Holy Ghost No. Foâ— seeing these Three are One How can the Holy Ghost be at Peace with him who is at Enmity with either the Father or the Son 'T is manifest therefore that These Three are One was thus read in Cyprian's time as being by him twice cited before the Arian Controversie was on foot And before him it is cited by Tertullian in his Book adversus Praxeam cap. 25. Connexus Patris in Filio Filii in Paracleto tres efficit cohaerentes alterum ex altero qui Tres Unum sunt non Unus quomodo dictum est Ego Pater Unum sumus ad Substantiae Unitatem non ad Numeri Singularitatem Where he doth not only cite the place but doth likewise Parallel and Compare These Three are One in this place with I and the Father are One in the other place as being of a like import That is The Connexion of the Father with the Son and of the Son with the Paraclete or Holy Ghost makes these coherent one with the other Which Three are ONE Unum not Unus One Thing not One Person like as it is said I and the Father are One one Thing as to the Unity of Substance though not as to Singularity of Number They are One Being One Substance though otherwise they may be Three 'T is therefore no New Interpolation but was anciently so read by Cyprian and Tertullian the two most ancient of the Latin Fathers long before the Arian Controversie was on foot And hath been urged by others afterward against the Arians Nor is there any prejudice that I know of against its being so read as now we read it save that some of the Fathers it is said have omitted to Urge it against the Arians when there hath been occasion of so doing But this beside that it is onely a Negative Argument and I know not how well grounded might very well happen if it chanced to be wanting in that particular Copy which such Father used For we are not to suppose they had then such plenty of Bibles as are now in our hands but some one Manuscript Copy was to serve many And because that in St. John's Gospel I and the Father are One did fit their purpose as well or rather better than this in his Epistle These Three are One. For the Controversie then on foot was not so much that of the Trinity as that of the Divinity of Christ. To return therefore to the place which is before us From what hath been said it is manifest enough that St. John in calling the Father the Onely True God did not intend to exclude the Son from being the same True God whom himself doth elsewhere call the True God also 1 Joh. 5.20 No more I say than what is said by name of God the Redeemer Isa. 44.6 8. is to be thought exclusive of God the Creator or God the Father 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 is applied to Christ in particular Rev. 22 1â— 16. But is not exclusive of the Father because God the Creator or God the Father is the same God with God the Redeemer and therefore not another God beside him And therefore both of them or rather the same God under both Considerations indifferently called especially in the Old Testament God indefinitely the Lord of Hosts the Holy One of Israel Nor is that which is said of Christ 1 Tim. 6.14 15 16. Our Lord Jesus Christ who Onely hath Immortality intended to exclude the Father as if the Father were not also Immortal or were not what is there said of Christ the blessed and onely Potentate the King of kings and the Lord of lords But only that our Lord Jesus Christ is that God which God is the blessed and onely Potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords and who only hath Immortality And as was before noted by S. Austin The Father is not excluded from being Lord notwithstanding that of 1 Cor. 8.6 To us there is but One God the Father and One Lord Jesus Christ or that of Eph. 4.5 6. One Lord one Faith One Baptism one God and Father of all For the Father and the Son are the same God the same Lord. The same of whom it is said Isa. 45.5 I am the Lord and there is none else there is no God beside me And again ver 6. I am the Lord and there is none else Where note that the Word Father in that phrase God and Father of All is different from the sense of it in the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that relating to the common Nature this to the Person And as in these places what is saâ—d of the Son that he onely hath Immortality that he is the onely Potentate that he is the One Lord that beside him the Redeemer there is no God are not to be understood exclusive of the Father so what is here said of the Father that he is the Onely True God is not to be understood exclusive of the Son who is not another but the same True God I thought here to have inserted as in a proper place a Discourse of some other Points relating to the Trinity which I find it necessary here to omit or to defer
Creature And in imitation of them some others have since so used it But this is a New sense of later Ages since the time of those Fathers nor do the Schoolmen in this sense without a Metaphor apply it to the Sacred Trinity We cannot therefore conclude from hence What was the Fathers sense of it 4. To find out therefore the true sense of tâ—e word Person as applied to the Trinity we are not so much to consider what now-a-days the word doth sometime signifie with us in English nor what sense the Schoolmen have put upon it since the time of those Fathers As what was the true sense of the word Persona at or before their times in approved Latin Authours Which is quite another thing from either of these senses For what in English we sometimes mean by Three Persons taken indifferently for Men Women and Children the Latins would not have called tres Personas but tres Homines Though if considered in such Relations as Father Mother and Child they might so be called tres Personae Nor do I find that in approved Latin Authours the word Persona was wont to be attributed by them as by the Schoolmen it hath since been to Angels nor to their Genii or Heathen Gods But 5. It did signifie the State Quality or Condition of a Man as he stands Related to other Men. And so I find the Latin word Persona Englished in our Dictionaries Suppose as a King a Subject a Father a Son a Neighbour a Publick or Private Person a Person of Honour and the like And so as the Condition varied the Person varied also though the same Man remained As if an ordinary Person be first made a Knight and then a Lord the Person or Condition is varied but he is still the same Man that he was before And he that is this Year a Lord Mayor may be next Year but an Alderman or not so much Hence are those Latin Phrases frequent in approved Authours Personam imponere to put a Man into an Office or confer a Dignity upon him Induere personam to take upon him the Office Sustinere personam to Bear an Office or Execute an Office Deponere personam to Resign the Office or lay it down so Agere personam to Act a Person and many the like So that there is nothing of Contradiction nothing of Inconsistence nothing Absurd or Strange in it for the same Man to sustain divers Persons either successively or at the same Time or divers Persons to meet in the same Man according to the true and proper Notion of the word Person A Man may at the same time sustain the Person of a King and of a Father if invested with Regal and Paternal Authority and these Authorities may be Subordinate one to another and he may accordingly Act sometime as a King and sometime as a Father Thus Tully who well understood the Propriety of Latin words Sustineo Unus tres Personas meam Adversarii Judicis I being One and the same Man sustain Three Persons That of my Own that of my Adversary and that of the Judge And David was at the same time Son of Jesse Father of Solomon and King of Israel And this takes away the very Foundation of their Objection Which proceeds upon this Mistake as if Three Persons in a proper sense must needs imply Three Men. 6. Now if Three Persons in the proper sense of the word Person may be One Man what hinders but that Three Divine Persons in a sense Metaphorical may be One God What hinders but that the same God considered as the Maker and Sovereign of all the World may be God the Creator or God the Father and the same God considered as to his special Care of Mankind as the Ruthour of our Redemption be God the Redeemer or God the Son and the same God as working effectually on the Hearts of his Elect be God the Sanctifier or God the Holy-Ghost And what hinders but that the same God distinguished according to these three Considerations may fitly be said to be Three Persons Or if the word Person do not please Three Somewhats that are but One God And this seems to me a Full and Clear Solution of that Objection which they would have to be thought Insuperable Objection V. It may perhaps be Objected further Why must we needs make use of the word Person and call them Three Persons if Three Somewhats will serve as well I answer First We have no such need of the word Person but that we can spare it Hypostasis will serve our turn as well And if they think the Latin word Persona be not a good Translation of the Greek Hypostasis Let them retain the Greek word We mean the same by both And then perhaps they will find themselves at a loss to fasten some of their Objections upon the word Hypostasis which they would fasten upon Persona 2. But Secondly If the Thing be thus far agreed That these Three Somewhats thus considered may be One God I see not why they should contend with us about the Name Person For this is only to quarrel about a Word or Name when the Notion is agreed 3. If it were admitted which I see no reason for that the word Person doth not fitly express that Notion which it is intended to design the most that can be inferred from it is but That we have not given it so fit a Name And to cavil at that when the Notion intended by it is understood were just as if one should argue There never was such a Man as whom they called Pope Pius because the Man who was so called was not a Pious Man 4. But I see not why the word Person should not be thought a very fit word for this purpose For Two of these Three are represented to us in Scripture under the Names of Father and Son and this Son as Begotten of the Father and therefore these Names are not to be quarrelled with But all this in a Metaphorical sense For no Man can suppose that this Father doth so Beget this Son as these words do properly signifie amongst Men Now the Relations of Father and Son in a proper sense are such as are properly denoted by the word Persona in its proper Acceptation And consequently the Father and Son in a Metaphorical sense may by a Continuation of the same Metaphor be fitly called Persons in that Metaphorical sense And in what sense they be Father and Son in a like sense they be Persons according to the Propriety of the Latin word Persona For such Relatives the Latins called Personas And if the Father and Son may fitly be so called no doubt but the Holy Ghost may be so called also as One Proceeding or Coming forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from them As in Joh. 14.26 The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in My name he will teach you all things And Joh. 15.26 The Comforter whom I will send
of Eternity added to that of Life this everlasting Duration to that unspeakable unimaginable Happiness renders this Eternal Life a perfect Felicity and every way compleat For that Perfection of Degree imported in the word Life can admit of no addition but that of Perfect Conâ—inâ—ance which the word Eternal assures us of Like as on the other hand that perfection of Misery which attends the wicked is capable of no greater Aggravation than that of Perpetuity sealed up in that sad expression of a Living Misery Eternal Death You have them both paralleled in Matth. 25.46 These shall go into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal I have now done with the first part the Happiness here proposed Eternal Life Before I come to the sâ—â—ond The knowledge of God and Christ it will 〈◊〉 requisite to consider a little the conneâ—â—â—â— of these together in the word Is This is 〈◊〉 Eternal Which is capable of a double acâ—â—ptation For it may be understood either as a Formal or as a Causal predication This is life eternal that is Herein consisteth eternal life Or else thus This â—s life eternal that is This is is the way or means to attain eternal Life The former of these is very agreeable to the doctrine of the Schoolmen who generally place the Happiness of Heaven in the Beatifick Vision in the seeing or knowing of God Grounded on such places as that of Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God 1 Cor. 13.9 10 12. We know but in part and we prophesie but in part but when that which is perfect shall come then that which is in part shall be done away We now see through a glass darkely but then face to face Now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known 2 Cor. 3.18 We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory 1 Joh. 3.2 Beloved now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear or when it shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is With others of the like import And certainly that Perfection of Knowledge shall be at least a great part of that Happiness which we expect in Heaven as from these and other the like places is well collected So that it is not improperly said that Eternal Life doth at least in part consist in such a knowledge Nor is it any sufficient Objection hereunto to say That it is not by knowledge only as an Act of the Understanding that we enjoy God wherein our Happiness consists but by an Act of the Will also chusing and closing with and delighting in him For though this be true yet neither is the Knowledge here spoken of a bare Speculative or Notional Knowledge wherein the Understanding is alone concerned But an Active Operative Knowledge such as brings the Will Affections and all the Faculties into a proportionate Conformity thereunto And in such a Knowledge of God in the Understanding attended with such a Conformity in the Will and other Faculties it is not to be denyed that our Happiness doth consist even that of Eternal Life Yet without excluding this sense I take the words here to be rather a Causal Predication assigning the way or Means whereby Eternal Life is attained This is life eternal that is this is the Way to attain Eternal Life To know thee the only true God c. The knowledge of God and Christ being the direct way to attain Eternal Life Parallel to which is that of our Saviour Joh. 12.50 His commandment is life everlasting And very frequent elsewhere are such Metonymies of the Effect for the Cause I am the resurrection and the life saith Christ Joh. 11.25 that is The Authour of it So Luk. 12.15 Man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth that is it doth not depend upon it it is not secured by it or a Christ elsewhere Matth. 4.4 out of Deut. 8.3 Man liveth not by bread alone c. And Moses speaking of their diligent observing the Commands of God Deut. 32.47 This is your life saith he and through this thing you shall prolong your days where the latter Clause is enegetical of the former just in the same form with the words here This is life eternal that is hereby they shall attain eternal Life This therefore being the most plain and simple Interpretation of the Words We are now to enquire particularly what that is that Christ here says to be Eternal Life or rather the Way thereunto That they may know thee the only true God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ. Which contains in brief the Doctrine of the Gospel or Christian Religion Distinguished into two parts The Knowledge of God and The Knowledge of Jesus Christ. Both which are necessary to bring us to Eternal Life I shall speak first to the former of these two the Knowledge of God that is of God the Creatour and Lord of all as contradistinguished to that of Christ the Redeemer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they might know thee the only true God By Thee or the Person here spoken to we are to understand God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ For to him it is manifest that Christ doth here direct his Prayer Yet not so much in his Personal as in his Essential consideration For it is not the Personality but the Essence of the Father that determines him to be the only true God We have therefore in the Object of this Knowledge at least these Three Propositions I. That there is a God II. That there is but One True God III. That God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is this God I. The First of these strikes at Atheism or those that deny a God And that we know thus much is necessary from that of Heb. 11.6 He that cometh unto God must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He must believe That there is a God Nay he must believe also somewhat of What he is Not fansie to himself somewhat under the name of God which indeed is not a God or notions inconsistent with that of a Deity as those Psal. 50.21 Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self or the like For to believe such a false notion of God is not to believe a God but to believe an Idol We are next to know as that there is a God so That there is but One God I mean But One True God For there are indeed as the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 8.4 5 6. Gods many and Lords many that is there are that are called Gods for so he explains himself but to us there is but One God We know saith he that there is no other God
you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father He shall testifie of Me. Where it is manifest that in what sense the Father and Son are to be reputed Persons the Comforter or Holy Ghost is in the same sense so to be reputed So that I think I have clearly Vindicated not only the Notion That these Three Somewhats may be One God But the Name also That these Somewhats may fitly be called Persons Objection VI. I shall name but one Objection more which when I have satisfied I shall conclude for this time That 6 th Objection and 't is but a weak one is this The Trinitarians do not all agree but differ among themselves in expressing their Notions in this Matter Very well And do not the Antitrinitarians differ much more Doth not the Arian and the Socinian differ as much from one another as either of them do from us and declare that they so do And do not the Arians among themselves and the Socinians amongst themselves differ more than do the Trinitarians Certainly they do It must be confessed that different Men as well in the same as in different Ages have very differently expressed themselves according to their different Sentiments of Personality and of the particular Distinctions of the three Persons among themselves But so it is in all the most obvious things in the world As in Time Place Space Motion and the like We are all apt to think that we all know well enough what we mean by those Words till we be asked But if we be put to it to express our selves concerning any of them What it is whether a Thing or Nothing or not a Thing or somewhat of a Thing and what that somewhat is it would be long enough before we should all agree to express our selves just in the same manner and so clearly as that no man who hath a mind to cavil could find occasion so to do I might say the like of Heat and Cold of Light Sight and Colour of Smells and Tâ—sts and the different Sorts of them Can we never be sâ—id to agree in this That the Fire doth Burn and Consume the Wooâ— till we be all agreed what is the Figure of those Fiery Atoms and what their Motion and from what Impulse which enter the Pores of â—he Wood and separate its parts and convert some of them to Smoak some to Flame and â—â—me to Ashes and which to which and in what manner all this is done What a folly then is it to require that in the things of God we should all so agree as to express our thoughts just in the same manner as is not possible to do in the most obvious things we meet with And in such a case as wherein to express our Notions we have no Words but Figurative it is not to be thought strange that one man should make use of one Metaphor and another of another according as their several Fansies serve But thus far I think the Orthodox are all agreed That between these Three which the Scripture calls The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost or the Father the Word and the Spirit there is a Dâ—stinction greater than that of what we call the Divine Attributes but not so as to be Three Gods And this Distinction they have thought fit to denote by the Word Hypostasis or Person They are also all agreed that one of these Persons namely the Son or the Word was Incarnate or Made Flesh and did take to himself our Humane Nature But as to the particular Modes or Manner How either how these two Natures are United or how these three Persons are Distinguished each from other we may be content to be Ignorant farther than God hath been pleased to Reveal to us We know that our Immortal Soul is joined with an Humane Body so as to make One Man without ceasing that to be a Spirit and this to be a Body But 't is hard for us to say How And accordingly we say that the Man Christ Jesus without ceasing to be Man and God manifested in the Flesh without ceasing to be God are One Christ But what kind of Union this is which we call Hypostatical we do not throughly understand We know also that the Father is said to Beget the Son to be Begotten the Holy Ghost to Proceed But neither do we fully understand the import of these Words nor is it needful that we should But so far as was said before we do all agree and we may safely rest there Now to God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost three Persons but One God be Honour and Glory and Praise now and for ever The End of the Second Sermon A Third SERMON Concerning the TRINITY JOH xvij 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this is life eternal that they might know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent I Have in a former Discourse from this Verse entered upon the Doctrine of the Trinity not so much as being contained in it as occasioned by it I have shewed that the word Onely is here restrictive not of the Subject Thee but of the Predicate True God Affirming the Father to be the Onely True God though not the Father Onely Nor is it exclusive of the Son who is also the same True God and is so expresly called by this same Writer 1 Joh. 5.20 where speaking of Jesus Christ he says This is the True God and Eternal Life as if it were spoken with a direct aspect to the words before us Now that Christ is often called God neither the Arians nor the Socinians do deny And it is so frequent and so evident as not to be denyed Not only in the place last cited but in many others Thy throne O God endureth for ever Heb. 1.8 The Word was with God and the Word was God Joh. 1.1 My Lord and my God Joh. 20.28 The Being over all God blessed for ever Amen Or the Supreme Being the ever blessed God Rom. 9.5 And elsewhere Objection VII But to this they Object That though he be sometime called God yet by God is not there meant the Supreme God But either a mere Titular God as the Socinians will have it as one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 8.5 one who is called God but indeed is not but a mere Man however highly dignified Or as the Arians will have it that he is God indeed but not the Supreme God not the same God with the Father but an Inferiour God Deus factus a made-God a Creature-God who was indeed before the World but not from Eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there was a Time a Moment a Quando when he was not when he had not a Being In Answer to both which I shall endeavour to shew by the most signal Characters whereby the Supreme God the Onely true God is set forth to us in Scripture and by which he is therein Distinguished from
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
THREE SERMONS Concerning the Sacred Trinity By JOHN WALLIS D. D. Professor of Geometry in the University of Oxford LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside 1691. TO THE READER THE first of the three Sermons here following is Printed according as it was Preached in Oxford in the Year 1664. accommodated to that time and place but it was for the Substance of it Preached in London Twenty Years before that time Which I mention to shew that the Construction which I give of the Words is not a new forced Notion just now taken up to serve a turn or as somebody is pleased to call it Equally New and Cautious But what I did so long ago take to be a then received Truth And I since find it is at least as old as St. Austin's Epist. 174. The other Two are lately added in pursuance of some other Discourses lately made publick concerning the Sacred Trinity Wherein much of what was said before scatteringly as those who wrote against it gave occasion is now inlarged and put into a little better Order If what I have done may be serviceable to the Truth and to the Church of God I have what I did desire and shall not think the Labour ill bestowed A SERMON Preached to the UNIVERSITY of Oxford Decemb. 27. 1664. JOH xvij 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this is life eternal that they might know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent I Need not apologize for the seasonableness of this Text by telling you that the Subject Matter of it suites well with the great Solemnity which at this time we celebrate and the Pen-man with that of the day Because a Discourse on such a Subject can never be unseasonable to a Christian Auditory Especially to such as whose profession being to seek after Knowledge should not decline that of God and Christ the chief of all Nor will it be any Exception hereunto That it is no news but well known already Not only because That there be many who pretend to know what they do not or do in effect deny and That there be many things which though we know well we have need enough to be minded of But even because I do not find that many persons are wont to be displeased with being often minded of those things wherein they think that either their Interest or Excellency lies more than a good Wit when commended or a fair Lady with being told she is handsome even though sometimes as we are wont to say they know it but too well already And therefore since to know God and Christ is both our Interest and our Commendation it will not I hope seem grievous to any to hear it discoursed of to the end that those who know it not may be incited to learn it and those who know it may take content in it And I shall as little apologize for a plain Discourse on this Subject Since it is both my Profession and Practice to Demonstrate or make things as plain as I can not to perplex or make them intricate which may amuse the Auditors or sometimes please or tickle them but is not wont either to Teach or Perswade like too much of Ornament which doth but disguise the native Beauty or too much Trimming which hides the Cloth The words read are our Saviour's Words addressed to his Father in the behalf of his Disciples And are a part of that Prayer with which he closeth his large Exhortation or Farewel-Sermon to his Disciples the night before he was to suffer of which we have a large rehearsal in the three foregoing Chapters the 14 th 15 th and 16 th which this 17 th closeth with a Prayer He begins his Prayer with a Petition concerning Eternal Life which he was to bestow according to the Power his Father had granted him to as many as He had given him that is to as many as should effectually believe in him To which Petition he subjoins this Exegetical Epiphonema And this is life eternal that they may know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent We may consider the words either according to a Synthetic or an Analytic method as the Schools speak The former of which they commonly follow in Sciences Theoretical the latter in Practical If considered Synthetically they present us with First The Cause or Principle The Knowledge of God and Christ and Secondly The Effect or Consequent resulting from it Eternal Life If Analytically we have in them First A glorious End proposed Eternal Life and Secondly The Means proportionate thereunto The Knowledge of God and Christ. In the former way the Result of them is to this purpose That the excellent Knowledge of God and Christ is attended with this most glorious Consequent Eternal Life In the latter way it amounts to thus much That the way or means to Eternal Life is the Knowledge of God and Christ. Nor is it much material whether of the two ways we take them Synthetically or Analytically whether we take them as a Theorem affirming this Effect of that Cause or as a Problem directing to these Means for such an End Yet I chuse rather to take them in the latter consideration though not exclusive of the former Because this Epiphonema taking its rise from the mention made of Eternal Life in the former verse not from a former mention of the Knowledge of God and Christ it seems to be rather intended as a Direction how to attain Eternal Life than an account of the Effect of such a Knowledge But in doing the one it doth the other also I shall begin first with that which lies first in the order of the word The End proposed or the Effect or Consequent of this Knowledge the Happiness which doth attend it which for its Excellency is called Life and for its Duration Eternal This is life eternal The word Life I take to be here used in a figurative sense and to import Good or Happiness like as its contrary Death especially Death Eternal to import Misery There is indeed at least a threefold Life commonly mentioned and in proportion thereunto a threefold Death Natural Spiritual and Eternal Life Natural which is indeed the proper acceptation of the word Life or the first signification of it is more easily apprehended than expressed It imports that active state or condition which ariseth from the Union of the Soul and Body as well in Man as in other Animals not to mention that of Plants the destruction or want of which upon the Soul's departure we call Death 'T is that according to which in common speech a Man or Beast is said to be alive or dead Now this Life is of all natural Goods looked upon as the chiefest and consequently Death the greatest of natural Evils Because Life is that foundation or first good which makes us capable of what else is so and with our Life we lose all the rest
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
God they did not understand him to speak in such a sense as when themselves were commonly wont so to speak as Joh. 8.41 We are not born of fornication we have one Father even God but in such a sense as they judged Blasphemous and had been so indeed had it not been true who therefore sought the more to kill him Joh. 5.18 because he said That God was his Father making himself Equal with God And the High Priest Matth. 26.65 rent his Cloths saying He speaketh Blasphemy when our Saviour affirmed before him That he was the Christ the Son of God 'T was manifest therefore that he so spake and they so understood him of such a Son-ship as argued a Divinity a being equal with God 2. His Humanity or Incarnation is pointed at in these words whom thou hast sent For by the Fathers sending him or his coming into the World is clearly meant his being Incarnate or made Man As Gal. 4.4 God sent his Son made of a Woman And Joh. 1.14 The Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us 3. His Mediatory Office is implyed as well in the Title Christ added to his Name Jesus as in that of his being sent by God Jesus the Christ or Jesus the Messiah whom thou hast sent For as his Name Jesus doth design the Person so the Title Christ that is Messiah that in Greek answering to this in Hebrew and both signifying the Anointed doth import the Office to which he was designed and for which he was sent For God did not send him to no purpose but sent him for this end for this Work To be the Mediator between God and Man To reconcile us to the Father To make an Atonement or Propitiation for us To take away the sins of the World To obtain Eternal Redemption To procure an Everlasting Inheritance a purchased Possession To make Intercession for us To save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him Or as Joh. 3.16 17. where all the three Particulars are likewise intimated God therefore sent his onely begotten Son into the World that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have Everlasting Life And now having gone through the whole Text we might if time would suffer look back upon it to take a new Survey thereof and collect from thence some of those particular deductions which might concern our practice For certainly the Knowledge which Christ here declares necessary to Eternal Life and the means conducing thereunto is not a bare Notional knowledge or a pure speculative Belief such as the Devils may have as well as we but an operative Knowledge a practical Faith a Faith fruitful in good Works without which those speculative notions will never bring us to Heaven And therefore without ingaging in the nice Disputes of Justification by Faith alone or Works concurring thereunto this is on all hands agreed without dispute That Faith without good Works will never justify us Whatever their influence be in Justification their Presence at least is necessary Without Doing we cannot in God's account be reputed either to Believe or Know. Those that obey him not are reckoned in God's account amongst those that Know not God at least amongst those who profess they know God but do in their works deny him Who shall be so far by such a Knowledge from obtaining Eternal Life that Christ shall come in flaming fire to take vengeance on them and to punish them with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his Power In particular If we know God to be the onely True God Then must we Love him Fear him Worship him and Obey him Nor doth the knowledge of Christ as Mediator abate any thing of this Duty For though he came to take away the Curse of the Law by being made a Curse for us yet not our Obligation thereunto He came not to destroy the Law or make it less obligatory to duty but to fulfill it I may add That those who will not acknowledge themselves under the Obligation of it have reason to fear they be yet under the Curse of it Again If we know Christ whom he hath sent It will be our duty then to Believe in him For 't is to those onely that Christ doth give eternal life And so to Believe in him as to Obey him For to those who obey not the Gospel of his Son it is that Christ shall render vengeance in flaming fire Furthermore If in this Christ we hope to have Eternal Life how should this excite our Rejoicing and Thankfulness for so great Salvation Not by Rioting and Drunkenness by Revelling and Debauchery which is the Abuse not the Celebration of this Solemnity in memory of Christ's Incarnation But by a pious Remembrance and Commemoration of that Redemption obtained for us such as may be to the Honour not the Reproach of him that came to Redeem us from our vain Conversation That denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live Godly Righteously and Soberly in this present World Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Glory for evermore The End of the First Sermon A Second SERMON Concerning the TRINITY TO THE UNIVERSITY of Oxford April 26. 1691. JOH xvij 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this is life eternal that they might know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent IT is now a great many years since in this Place if not to this Auditory I did discourse of these Words I shall repeat very little of that Discourse But think fit to add somewhat to what was then said Our Saviour in the three Chapters next foregoing the 14 th 15 th and 16 th Chapters of S. John's Gospel had made a large Discourse to his Disciples after his Institution of the Lord's Supper the night before he was to Die which in this 17 th Chapter he closeth with a Prayer to his Father in their behalf Wherein having made mention of Eternal Life ver 2. which he was to give to as many as the Father had given him that is to as many as should â—ffectually Believe in him he subjoins this Eâ—â—phonema And This is Life Eternal That they might know Thee the only True God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ. In which words we have Two things proposed to us The Christian's Happiness And The Mâ—ans wâ—ereby it is to be attained I. The Câ—ristian's Happiness is called Life as to its Excâ—â—â—ency and Eternal as to its Duration Wâ—ich is Begun here in the Kingdom of Graâ—â— and is to be Perfected and for ever Conâ—inued in that of Glory II. The Means to attain it is the Knowledge of God and
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
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
Indefinitly without specification of this or that Person is elsewhere applied to one or other of the Persons in particular as that of the Creation is here to Christ the Redeemer as being the same God who is the Creator also And that of Redemption to God the Creator who is the Redeemer also Isai. 43.1 Thus saith the LORD Jehovah that Created thee Fear not for I have Redeemed thee So that God the Creator and God the Redeemer are the same God CHARACTER II. The next Character I shall insist upon is that whereby God denotes himself to Moses Exod. 3.13 14 15. I Am that I AM and I AM hath sent me unto you When God was sending Moses to the Children of Israel in order to their deliverance out of Egypt Moses puts this Question When I come to the Children of Israel and shall say them The God of your Fathers hath sent me unto you and they shall say What is his Name What shall I say to them 'T is certainly therefore the True God that is here spoken of Let us see what is the Character that this God gives of himself And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I AM And he said Thus shalt thou say to the Children of Israel I AM hath sent me unto you This therefore is a proper Character of the True God I am that I am Ehjeh asher Ehjeh or I am who AM or I am He who AM so the vulgar Latin Ego sum QVI SVM and QUI EST He that IS hath sent me As if what God says of himself in the first Person I that AM were proper for Moses to say of him in the third person He that IS And so the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am He that AM or He that IS and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that IS hath sent me Where simply TO BE is made a Distinctive Character of God as he whose Essence is To be and it is Impossible for him Not to Be. Who IS of Himself or rather Himself IS without deriving ought from any other and from whom all other Beings have their Being Who giveth to all life and breath and all things In whom we live and move and have our Being Act. 17.27 28. Who hath first given to him that is None hath He receives nothing aliunde from ought else but of him and through him and to him are all things Rom. 11.35 36. who is therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same notion the Heathens also had of the Supreme God Hence Aristotle calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Being of Beings and Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the self Being who himself IS and gives Being to all else And being thus self-existent he must be also a Necessary Being Ens Necessarium and Eternal for if ever he had not been it were impossible he should ever Be for how could Nothing make it self to be and likewise Infinite as the Source of all Being All which the Heathen acknowledged as consonant to Natural Light as well as We. Now this same Character I Am or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the word whereby the Greek Septuagint doth here render the Hebrew word Ehjeh which we translate I AM that is I who AM or He who IS we find signally applied to Christ Rom. 9.5 He that IS For what there we render Who IS in the Greek is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that IS or the Being With this addition over all the Being over all or the Supreme Being with this further Character God Blessed for ever or the ever blessed God Amen Where it is not amiss to note that the Blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was an usual Title whereby they were wont to design the True God And accordingly that question which Caiaphas the High Priest puts to our Saviour Mat. 26.63 I adjure thee by the Living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God is in Mark 19.53 Art thou the Christ the Son of the Blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where no man doubts but that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meant the Supreme God And when Christ is here called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Supreme Being the ever-Blessed God with the Solemn note of Asseveration Amen It is certainly too August a Title for any less than the Supreme God the Only God The same Character we have of him again Rev. 1.8 where we have not only the Title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importing his Being but the additional intimation of his Eternity through all the variety of continued Duration past present and to come Where we are to observe that at ver 4. we have this Character of God â—ndefinitely without restriction to this or that Person in the Deity as appears by its being contradistinct to Christ personally considered ver 5. Grace be unto you and peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from him which Is and which Was and which is to come and from Jesus Christ c. Where it is manifest from the unusual construction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that the Title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is and was and shall be is taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Grammarians speak as one undeclined-Substantive joined with the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being all together one joint title of God Indefinitely taken because of that contradistinction which follows And from Jesus Christ and with particular respect as the Margin of our Bible directs to that of Exod. 3.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or He who AM and can relate to none but the Supreme God Now what is thus said of this God indefinitely at ver 4. is again repeated of Christ in particular at ver 8. with a further addition of Omnipotence I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the Ending the First and the Last saith the Lord which Is and which Was and which is to Come the Almighty So that he is here design'd not only by his Absolute Being but by his Eternity also through all variety of continued duration past present and future who Is and Was and shall Be who was the First before whom nothing was and the Last after whom nothing shall be and by his Omnipotence the Almighty The same title of Alpha and Omega the First and the Last is given him in divers other places as at ver 11 and 17. of the same Chapter I am Alpha and Omega the First and the Last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen And Rev. 2.8 The first and the last which was dead and is alive And again Rev. 21.6 and Rev. 22.13 All relating to Isai. 41.4 Isai. 44.6 Isai. 48.12 where the like had before been said as a Character no doubt of the True God And Isai. 43.10 Before me there was no God formed neither shall there be after me And what can this be other
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
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
mind to be captious may cavil at these places as the Sadduces of old did at those passages in the Old Testament tending to prove a Resurrection And not those only but even some of our own who would have us think that the Fathers before Christ had only Promises of Temporal blessings not of Heavenly and Eternal Though St. Paul tells us when of the hope and resurrection of the dead he was called in question that he did so worship the God of his Fathers believing all things which were written in the Law and the Prophets and had hope towards God which they also allowed that there should be a Resurrection of the dead both of the Just and Vnjust and that it was a promise made of God to their Fathers to which their twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night hoped to come which were no other things than what Moses and the Prophets had said should come to pass and which to King Agrippa who if not a Jew was at least well acquainted with their Doctrines should not seem strange Act. 23.6 Act. 24.14 15. Act. 26.2 3 6 7 8 22. And Heb. 11.13 that all these died in faith not having received the promises that is they died in the belief of better things than what they had yet received But saw them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them and confessed they were but strangers and Pilgrims upon Earth And our Saviour proves it out of the Old Testament Mat. 22.32 by such an Argument as if one of us should have urged it would perhaps have been ridiculed I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob Now God is not the God of the dead but of the living And the Apostle pursues the same Argument Heb. 11.9 10 14 15 16. They sojourned in the Land of promise as in a strange Land dwelling in Tabernacles movable from place to place for they looked for a City which hath foundations a fixed City not flitting as were those Tabernacles whose builder and maker of God Declaring plainly that they did seek a Country Not such as that from whence they came but a better Country that is a Heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City where he directly argues that God's Promise to be their God was a Promise of Heaven And no doubt but the Prophets and Men of God had taught them all along to put a Spiritual Sense upon those seemingly Temporal Promises though the Sadduces would not believe it but cavilled at it in so much that not only the Pharisees and Doctors of the Law but even the Women embraced it even before Christ's Resurrection I know saith Martha of her dead Brother Lazarus that he shall Rise again in the Resurrection at the last day Joh. 11.24 And of such Spiritual Senses we have copious Instances in the Epistle to the Hebrews and elsewhere frequently And as they did without any reluctances readily embrace the Doctrine of the Resurrection when more clearly declared by the Apostles as a thing not wholly new to them so neither do we find in them any Reluctance to that of the Trinity for which in likelihood they had in like manner been before prepared but readily closed with the Form of Baptism in the Name not Names of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 And that Solemn Benediction 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen Where we have all the Three Persons reckoned together as they are also in that celebrated place 1 Joh. 5.7 The Father the Word and the Holy Ghost these Three are One. And as they had been before by Christ himself Joh. 14.26 The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in My Name He shall teach you all things And Joh. 15.26 The Comforter whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of truth which Proceedeth from the Father He shall testify of Me. And to name no more places Mat. 3.16 17. Jesus when he was baptized went straitway out of the Water And lo the heavâ—ns were opened unto him and he John the Baptist saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon Him And lo a voice from heaven saying This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased 4. There is yet another Consideration which doth confirm this opinion that the Doctrine of the Trinity was not unknown to the Jewish Church before Christ From the footsteps thereof yet extant in Heathen Writers 'T is well known to those conversant in such Studies that much of the Heathen Learning their Philosophy Theology and Mythology was borrowed from the Jews though much Disguised and sometimes Ridiculed by them Which things though they be Fabulous as disguised in a Romantick dress yet they are good Evidence that there was a Truth in History which gave occasion to those Fables None doubts but Ovid's Fable of the Chaos of which all things were made took its rise from Moses's History of the Creation And Deucalion's Flood from that of Noah and the Titan's fighting against the Gods from the Builders of Babel's Tower And that of Two-faced Janus from Noah's looking backward forward to the World before and since the Flood And many the like of which we may see in Natalis Comes in Bochartus and others And of which we have a large Collection in Theophilus Gale's Court of the Gentiles And in Dr. Duport's Gnomologia Homerica wherein is a Collection of Homer's Sayings which look like Allusions to like Passages in Sacred Scripture and seem to be borrowed most of them from those Books of it which were written before Homer's time who yet is one of the most Ancient and most Famed of Heathen Writers Plato hath borrowed so much of his Philosophy History and Theology from the Jewish learning as that he hath obtained the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moses disguised in a Greek dress And may seem because the name of Jews was odious to cite them rather by the names of certain Barbarians Syrians Phoenicians Egyptians c. From that Title of God in Exodus I AM 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or from the Equivalent names of Jah and Jehovah he borrows his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Being or that which Is the very Being the true Being which are the Titles he gives to the Supreme God For his Immortality of the Soul he reckons the best Argument to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Divine Revelation which he had by Tradition from certain Ancients who lived as he speaks nearer to the Gods as if he had borrowed even this Phrase from Deut. 4.7 What nation is so great who hath God so Nigh unto them And much more as hath been noted by others And I am so far from thinking as the Socinians would have us