them It is natural for matter to persevere in the state in which it is till it meet with such an agent If they were in motion this motion must be regulated by Laws or else be casual and fortuitous If by Laws there must be an Intelligent Being to form and impress them upon the several particles and this can be nothing but a God If casual and fortuitous it is not imaginable they having no Commander over them how they should fall into their several ranks and produce as beautiful an order as the most accurate wisdom could have contrived We may with less force to our understandings conceive how millions of blind deaf and dumb men in a vast desert without any General over them may fall into a military Order march in their distinct ranks keep to their proper colours charge their enemies fall back without the least confusion as how an innumerable company of material Particles ranging in an infinite space without any intelligence to regulate their motion should produce all the curious appearances with which the Universe is adorned He must be exalted in his own fancy who can perswade himself how after all the dances which these particles have had from eternity they should at last come to embrace and clasp together some in the shape of Dogs snarling and barking some in the shape of Horses neighing and prancing others in the shape of Men talking and laughing together How is it possible that the rational Soul which has no matter in it should be made by a combination of such material ingredients That faculty which has a perception of the habitudes respects and similitudes betwixt things which make no impression upon matter must necessarily have a spiritual and immaterial constitution If the matter and form of the World did emerg and begin in time they must either of their own accord start out of the Abyss of nothing or else be fetched from thence by the energy of some superiour power The first must not be asserted Nothing can be the cause of it self for then it would be before it was in Being and by consequence be and not be at the same time If the second then that Superior Power must be lodged in some intelligent Being This Being must have an Aseity and be entirely from himself without dependence upon any other and therefore infinite in all perfection there being nothing higher to limit and set bounds unto him And this is that which we mean by a God As from the World in general it appears there is a Deity so likewise from the several parts of which it consists the Heavens the Earth the Body the Soul of Man There is not a Star in the Firmament but it shews forth the glory of this Being When we behold the heavenly Luminaries sailing in the fluid body of the Air we must necessarily conclude that there is a skilful Pilot at the stern If one born and educated within the caverns of the earth should be suddenly set upon the supersicies of it in a clear night to take a prospect he would be inclined to ask the same question which he did who saw the first ship arrive at Colchos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He who can perswade himself that all these glorious Lights came there fortuitously without the contrivance of an intelligent Being may with as much ease believe that passing through a City in a dark night all the Candles which he meets with at every door came there by chance Indeed there are attempts made to salve the Celestial appearances with Matter Figure and Motion We are told that Matter in distinct pieces being moved circularly will by grinding one against the other weare off the angular protuberances and become perfectly circular and that the angulose parts which are broken off will be of two sorts the lesser which are fit for motion the greater and more course which by reason of their unevenness are apt to entangle one within another and not to make their rounds with the same degree of celerity as the lesser do The finer sort is called the first Element The globular pieces the second The course rubbish the third The first is supposed to constitute the Sun and fixed Stars The second with some irregular particles to fill up the triangular spaces betwixt them the Heavens The third the Planets and Comets It being natural to all matter in motion to move in a right line there will be an endeavour in every part of it to recede from the Center and therefore that which is most solid and able to persevere in motion will be at the greatest distance from the middle point Yet all this doth not represent such a composition of the Heavens as to exclude the interposals of an infinite Being The Matter of which they consist the Laws whereby the motion of the matter is regulated have notwithstanding a dependence upon some intelligent Agent Matter cannot be of it self when it is made it has no more motion than what is communicated to it The motion imparted could not produce so beautiful an Order as is visible in the World were it not for some Laws which the Creator has impressed agreeable to his own nature This Hypothesis doth not only suppose a Deity as necessary upon the account of these particulars but likewise in order to the preservation of the several Vortices within their due bounds and limits For it represents the Heavens in a perfect state of War one Vortex discharging its Globuli shooting the thinner irregular Particles out of the Ecclypticks into the Poles and constantly thrusting one against another If this be true it cannot be imagined how the Heavens above five thousand years together should continue with so few alterations as Astronomers have observed in case there be no God to limit every Vortex and hinder the encroachment of the greater upon the less No doubt by this time had not there been a Moderator to keep the ballance equal the greater would have swallowed up the rest and the Star in the middle obtained an universal Monarchy We have the more reason to believe that a divine hand is interested in this affair because when the Vortex we live in has suck'd in any other the Star which belongs to it degenerating into a Comet is always believed to be ominous and prophetical of some great thing which the supreme Being is about to bring to pass As the Heavens so likewise the Earth declares the existence of a Deity When we consider so vast a body encompassed with nothing which is visible but a fluid mass of Air the curiosities of Nature lock'd up in the bowels of it the various sorts of Plants which beautifie the superficies it is natural to conceive that some invisible Power is concerned in these effects Indeed it is said that there are three Principles known by the names of Sal Sulphur and Mercury which are form'd in the interior Region of the Earth The Mercury rarified by motion being impatient of so
a Synecdoche are put for the whole and stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pure and undefiled Religion or Worship Upon this account the giving relief to those who are in distress is represented under the notion of an Oblation Ecclus. c. 35. v. 2. Act. 10.4 He who giveth almes sacrificeth praise Cornelius's Charity like the smoke of the Altar did ascend and come up for a memorial before God S. Paul tells the Corinthians that the things sent by them fâ—â— his support Phil. 4.18 were an odour of a sweet smell 〈◊〉 sacrifice acceptable well pleasing to God 4. Immediate Acts wherein Divine Worship properly consists are such as import an immediate acknowledgment of God and are appropriated to his purpose For unlimited perfection being peculiar to the Supreme Being there must be â—eculiarities in the agnition of it The acknowledgment 〈…〉 analogy to the thing acknowledged therefore the object of the acknowledgment being in communicable the agnition it self ought to be so This appropriation must be not only in respect of degree but the species For infinite worth being not only of a diverse degree but of a different species and kind from that which is finite there must be not only a gradual but a specifical difference betwixt the Worship which is terminated upon both This makes it conspicuous that the same Divine Honour which is one species of Worship cannot with justice be given to God and the Creature 5. These immediate and appropriate acts are either internal or external By internal I mean the elicit acts of the Soul By external the imperate acts of the Body God having a peculiar interest both in the Soul and Body upon the account of his Creation and Redemption of them We lie under an obligation to make our acknowledgments by such acts as flow from both External performances are eminently serviceable to the grand design of Religion The actions of our bodies conduce to the increase of inward devotion When we present them as a living sacrifice to God this oblation has the same effect upon the mind which the fat of the Sacrifice had upon the fire of the Altar it communicates strength to our zeal and a higher degree of ardency to our affections It has an influence upon the engaging of others in a similitude of practice The light of a Religious deportment shining before Men will excite them to pay their tribute of honour to their Father in Heaven Their understanding being illuminated with such divine raies like a burning-glass produceth an inflammation in the will and puts all the faculties of the Soul into a due temper and motion It likewise tends to the advancement of the glory of God We glorifie him when we manifest and fet forth his excellency Corporal Worship which is visible and obvious to sence cannot with justice be denied a share in the promoting this work 6. Internal Acts are either such as have a general aspect upon the excellency of the Divine Nature or else a more special upon some particular Attributes The universal excellency of the Deity is acknowledged when we frame an Idea of his infinite Majesty as exact and agreeable to him as our finite capacity will permit and in a sence of it prostrate our Souls with all humility before him The excellency of particular Attributes is owned by some particular Acts which are sutable to their nature Believing as it imports an assent is an owning of the veracity of God When this Assent is so vigorous and efficacious as to bow the will into a cordial compliance with the import of that truth which is assented to and engage it in a chearful obedience it is a confession of divine dominion and authority fearing if it be mixed with servility is an agnition of punitive justice if sublimated into filial temper of paternal goodness That which Moses calls fear Deut. 6.13 Christ terms adoration Mat. 4.10 The Chaldee word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both to Fear and to Worship The loving of God is an acknowledgment of his Beneficence Trusting in him of his Power and Goodness 7. External Acts are either natural or instituted God is pleased not only that our agnitions of him be made by such acts as we are led unto by natural light but by such as have their foundation in positive institution His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more signally owned by those performances which depend upon his pure pleasure than such as are the dictates of universal reason In the last case we own chiefly the reason of the thing in the first the sovereign will and pleasure of God only 8. Natural are either such as the whole Body is concerned in as an humble flexure of it This accompanied with due circumstances all Nations look upon as an indication of that esteem which we have of the worth of another and therefore amongst the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Worship is denominated from it Or else such as some particular part is more immediately interested in The Tongue is the great instrument in the external service of God Four acts of Natural Worship I will enumerate which are performed by it namely Praying Praising 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euthyph p. 53. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Disser 30. p. 300. Swearing Vowing Praying The Heathens which had only the light of Nature for their conduct accounted vocal Prayer as a principal part of Religion Holiness is defined by Plato to be a Science of Sacrificing and Praying Maximus Tyrius says that the life of Socrates was full of Prayer Simplicius has left a lively expression of his devotion upon record at the end of his Commentaries upon Epictetus Arrian acquaints us with their usual form 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Romans thought this part of Worship to be so acceptable to their Deities that they would deny nothing to those who pray unto them For this reason they use to conceal the name of the Tutelar Genius of the City lest their enemies being acquainted with it Plin. l. 29. c. 2. might draw him from them by their supplications Both Greeks and Romans being strangers to the true God that this honour might not miss of him and be terminated upon some inferiour power it was their custom to direct their Petitions not exclusively to any particular Deity but to leave their Compellations ambiguous sive Deo sive Deae as the Inscriptions at Athens and Rome do testifie Sanctity is stiled by Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an art of merchandising betwixt God and Man the Vessel that sails from Earth to Heaven is Prayer It imports those good things which are expedient for us that which it exports is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Honour and Worship This the Philosopher says is all that God is capable of receiving from us For this reason Prayers are stiled Incense Rev. 5.8 Heb. 5.7 and Christ is said to offer them up They are as proper parts of Worship as Sacrifices and Oblations were under the Law
to sit still on the Seventh day There is as much holiness in this as in offering a brute beast unto God being stamped with a divine Command and the Rest of the Body signifying the Rest of the Soul from sin as the Sacrifice did the holiness of Christ This is the substance of what is asserted by the learned Author of the Epilogue To which I reply 1. It is no good consequence because the Precept extends to Cattle which are in no capacity to do any thing appertaining to the Sabbath but only cease from bodily labour That therefore nothing but bodily rest is enjoyned in it The Decree of the King of Niniveh concerning the Fast did reach to Cattle yet it is not true That nothing was commanded the Inhabitants of the City but what might be performed by Cattle We must take notice That a part only of the Command extends to Cattle It is required of the Masters of them That they shall not be imployed in that usual work they are designed for in the week-time but not that they keep holy the Sabbath-day To assert That Cattle are concerned in the whole Precept because they are in one part is as if we should affirm That Jacob's sons Cattle had all Aegypt for their pasture because they had Goshen which was a part of it As for Strangers they were capable both of resting and sanctifying the Sabbath If we suppose they were tyed only to the Seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah how doth it appear That the Sabbath of the Fourth Command was not contained under one of them It is believed to belong to the Second Mede Diat p. 85. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Munster upon Jos 9.7 useth these words nec poterant Israelitae cum Gibeonitis inire foedus nisi hac conditione ut observarent septem praecepta filiis Noae data hoc est Eliminarent Idololatriam observarent Sabbatum abstinerent ab incestu execrarentur homicidium c. The Israelites could not enter in covenant with the Gibeonites but upon this condition That they would observe the Seven Precepts given to the Sons of Noah that is cast out Idolatry observe the Sabbath abstain from Incest execrate Murther c. Here the observation of the Sabbath is reckoned amongst the Seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah If the Sabbath was none of them yet it must be remembred That the Tye was made not by a divine but a humane appointment Tho' the Precepts materially considered are in the Scripture yet they are not in that form and order in which they are delivered by the Talmudists Nor is there any intimation given that it was the Will of God That Proselytes or Converts from Idols should be obliged to these and no other I doubt not but this was a decree of the Jewish Church and that it might have the greater reverence paid to it the Rabbins generally ascribe it to God If Proselytes or strangers were tied only to these Seven Precepts by the will of Men yet they might be obliged to the observation of others in particular the Sabbath of the Fourth Command by the Will of God A Stranger for the sin of ignorance was bound to offer up a she-goat of the first year Num. 15.27 29. which injunction is no part of the Seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah 2. It is not true That to keep holy the Sabbath signifies no more than sitting still upon the Seventh Day Besides the figurative holiness there is something discernable in a Sacrifice which is not to be found in such a slothful posture The earth being the Lord's and he granting the use of it to Men for a supply of their necessities the giving back some part of it by way of oblation was accounted a piece of Homage and an expression of their agnitions of his Soveraignty over the whole Judith c. 2. v. 7. Herodotus To this end the Persians use to present their Kings with Earth and Water to signifie and acknowledge That they were Lords of Land and Sea Aquinas was so well pleased with this reason 22. Q. 55. art 1. That he asserts sacrificing in general to be of the Law of Nature Tho' the determination of it to this or that species of things be variable and grounded only upon positive institution All this cannot be asserted of sitting still which gives nothing to God but implies the withholding and suppression of those actions whereby the Body is in any capacity to honour him If there had been nothing in Sacrifice but a figurative holiness no account can be given why it should meet with so general and ready entertainment among the Heathens who were strangers to the figure Porphyry De Abstin l. 2. p. 70. who applies himself to condemn the Sacrifice of Beasts yet acknowledgeth the universality of the custom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Inhabitants of Lystra are no sooner possessed with a belief of the divinity of S. Paul and Barnabas but they make an attempt to Sacrifice Oxen to them Act. 14.13 Whereas sitting still could never gain the least approbation among them The Jews who were grown into a very superstitious practice in this particular were rather made the object of their derision They represent them as persons who spent the Seventh part of their time in idleness Tho' I am far from believing That the oblation of material things unto God accompanied with a destruction of them is warranted by the Law of Nature as I have expressed in the first Section Yet it is manifest from what has been spoken That more reason may be alledged in savour of it than for sitting still 3. Sitting still on the Seventh day was never stamped with the authority of Heaven If this was the meaning of the Fourth Precept then God repeated it so soon as it was enacted by him in these particular Laws in which he appointed That upon the Sabbath there should be a holy Convocation and the offering up of Sacrifice The People could not convene nor the Priests Sacrifice without bodily motion When it is said Let no man go out of his place on the Seventh day Exod. 16.29 It must be understood with relation to the gathering of Manna and the doing such unnecessary work as might have been dispatched in the week-time 4. It doth not appear That the Rest of the Body enjoyned in the Fourth Command is designed as a figure to signifie the Rest of the Soul from sin There is no Text of Scripture which imports any such matter And if fancy be permitted to make Types and figures as it pleaseth where there is no direction from Heaven to steer our apprehensions by there will be no end of them a figure being the effect of a positive institution cannot be discovered without the knowledge of the cause of it If the Rest of the Body is a Type of the Rest of the Soul from sin then it signifies Rest from some or from all sins Not from some only The Bible gives no
IMPRIMATUR C. Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. Ã Sacris Julii 13. 1693. A TREATISE relating to the Worship of GOD Divided into SIX SECTIONS CONCERNING I. The Nature of Divine Worship II. The peculiar Object of Worship III. The True Worshippers of God IV. Assistance requisite to Worship V. The Place of Worship VI. The Solemn Time of Worship By John Templer D.D. LONDON Printed by R.N. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1694. TO THE READER THE late Author of This Treatise having sufficiently recommended himself to the World when Living by his indefatigable Labours in his Priestly Function and by the Works he has already Printed there will need the less to be said in behalf of this Posthumous piece For whosoever had the happiness of being acquainted with the Author will presently be apt to think that nothing that is mean or unworthy of the Publick could proceed from a person of that True Worth and accomplish'd Learning one whose excellent knowledge in all Church-Controversies rendered him fit to write of any and the soundness of whose Judgment and the sincerity of whose Life were sufficient demonstrations to all that throughly knew him That he would Write of none but what were most useful to the producing in the Minds of others a true love to Virtue and a firm adherence to Truth And altho' his long continuance in the Countrey and constant residence at his Living where he had not such frequent opportunities of conversing with the Learned in his own Profession may give occasion to some to think that his Parts and Genius must slag proportionably and his Writings be tinctured with the rudeness of a Country Abode and by consequence render him the less able to please and gratifie the humours of this nice and critical Age yet I hope whoever will impartially consider and read over this small Treatise will be abundantly satisfied of the contrary As a proof of which I appeal to the Treatise it self where if the Judgment of Men of known Abilities may be trusted there is solid Learning shewn without any vain Ostentation of it Truth vindicated with a native Simplicity that becomes it and the Religious Duties of Christianity press'd with that Zeal and warmth that so adorned the first Professors of it and rendered the Author whilest living the Joy and Admiration of his whole Flock Nor had the Publication of it been thus long deferred it being composed long before the Author's death but that the native and uncommon kind of Modesty which gave a Lustre to all his Actions would not permit it in his Life time to see the light He tho' fraught with so much admirable Knowledge strength of Parts and solidity of Judgment in the opinion of all others yet always was so diffident of any thing of his own composure that nothing but the strict Command of his Superiours or the passionate importunity of his Friends could force him to appear in Print So great an esteem had he of the censures of other Men and so little and low Thoughts of his own Worth And altho ' this is not altogether so commendable where there is just reason to be satisfied with as well as conscious of a Man 's own true Merit in respect of others many on this account having deprived the World of many advantageous Books yet if it be a fault it is such an one as none but the best of Men have been or can be guilty of and for which likewise their deserts when made known have become the more illustrious Humility and Lowliness of Mind being Virtues of as great Excellency as they are rare and as apt to beget a due esteem of those that are endued with them as Pride and self conceit are to produce hatred and contempt But lest I should hinder the Reader by too long an Epistle from the pleasure and advantage he may reap from the Author himself or seem to allure his favour by a too tedious bespeaking of him I shall wholly submit this Treatise it having no other Patron to his unbyassed Judgment and hope tho' it had not the Author's last hand yet it may meet with so kind a reception as to conduce something to the spiritual welfare and happiness of Mankind And then I am sure it will answer to all the ends and purposes the Pious Author designed it and be so far the more probable to shew who its Composer was in that it will be always imployed in doing good THE CONTENTS SECT I. Concerning the Nature of Divine Worship THE Introduction from the importance of Divine Worship Mens proneness to mistake about it and the Devil's readiness to cherish this proneness pag. 1. The notion of Worship in geneneral p. 5 its Objects and Kinds p. 6. The acts of Divine Worship either mediate p. 7. or immediate p. 10 these either internal p. 11 or external p. 13 And these again either natural as Praying Praising Swearing Vowing ib. or instituted as Preaching Hearing Reading the Scriptures and receiving the Sacraments p. 17. The perpetuity of the Sacraments p. 20. Sacrifice no part of Divine Worship under the Gospel p. 22. SECT II. Concerning the Object of Divine Worship THE Introduction from the great and early mistakes of mankind about it and consequently the great circumspection we should use in our enquiries concerning it p. 29. To this purpose Five Propositions are laid down 1. Proposition There is a God who made the World This proved First from the World in general p. 35. Secondly from the particular parts of it as the Heavens p. 39. the Earth p. 41. the Body 44. the Soul of Man 47. They who say they still want sufficient evidence of this Truth should consider First there is as much evidence for it as for those things we doubt not of 54. Secondly as much as for the clearest axiom in Philosophy nay Thirdly in some respects more 55. And then Lastly the familiar dictates of our Vnderstanding will lead us to the acknowledgment of this truth 57. The Objection that there must be some pre-existent matter to frame the World out of answered ib. 2. Proposition In the Godhead are Three Persons For First when God is spoken of in Scripture sometimes the plural number is used 59. Secondly This Plurality is determined to Three in other places ib. Thirdly These three are not three manifestations only of God 60. Nor Fourthly three names only of the same God under divers inadequate conceptions ib. For Fifthly All things belonging to the nature of a person belong to each of them 61. And then Sixthly Such actions are attributed to each as belong to none but a person 62. The Spirit and Power and the Spirit and the effects or gifts of it are distinguished 64. 3. Proposition These Three Persons are One God For Vnity is essential to the Deity 64. And the Scriptures say they are One 65. as also that they have Vnity of Essence inasmuch as it attributes to each the Name
are led by the context This do in remembrance of me When he pronounces the demonstrative This he points at that which he took and had in his hand and this is called Bread and therefore in the Latin Translation of the Aethiopick Version these words occur Hic panis Corpus meum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must import his dead body as it is in the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hoc cadaver meum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a dead body 1 Sam. 17.46 Isa 14.19 These we have reason to believe were the words of our blessed Lord who at the institution of the Sacrament did undoubtedly use that language which was then familiar to the Jews and that was the Syriack which by reason of its affinity with the Hebrew is sometimes called by the same name Joh. 19.13 17. Act. 21.20 Now it is evident that what Christ gave at his last Supper could not be his dead body in a literal sence and therefore it must be so in a figurative which will amount to this This is a memorial of my Body as crucified for you Christ's body in the Sacrament is not given as living but dead upon our account and his blood not as contained in his veins but shed for our sins We have not only the Words to justifie our interpretation but the scope aimed at by him that spoke them It is agreed on all sides that God did design by them the institution of a Sacrament It is as unanimously asserted that in every Sacrament there must be a visible Sign and a Thing signified There is nothing here to import the outward Sign but the Demonstrative This or the Thing signified but that which is predicated of it my Body Now the sign is never essentially but always figuratively the thing which is signified by it As when we say of the formal sign or picture of Augustus or Tiberius This is Augustus This is Tiberius we do not mean their persons really but representations of them In the other part of the Sacrament it is said This Cup is the New Testament This cannot be true essentially as tho' the Cup was changed into the nature of the New Testament but figuratively only We have just reason to believe the same concerning the Words under debate that the Bread is no otherwise the Body of Christ than the Cup is the New Testament When this manner of Speech is used in relation to other Sacraments as Circumcision and the Passover Circumcision is my Covenant the Lamb is the Lord 's Passover it constantly bears this sence Neither Circumcision or the Lamb were really and essentially the things which are predicated of them but signs and memorials only The admitting a Trope in the Words is not contrary to the design of Christ in his last Will which undoubtedly was to deliver his mind clearly We may speak as plainly when we use a Trope or Figure as when our speech is without it If we walk in a Gallery adorned with Pictures and say this is Julius Caesar this is Constantine the Great we are as well understood as if we had said this is the Picture of such a Person That is not obscure whether figuratively or literally spoken which is expressed according to the manner which is familiar to those to whom the words are directed The known custom at the time when these words This is my Body were used was to speak after the like manner about the Passover into whose place the Sacrament of the Supper came It was the usual language of the Jews to call the Lamb the Body of the Passover The Lamb being a Figure of Christ our Passover and he putting a period to the old Institution and substituting Bread in the room of it to be a memorial and Type of himself under the Gospel he calls it by the same name As the Paschal Lamb had been his Typical Body under the Old Testament So now he declares that the Bread shall be his figurative Body under the New If a Trope makes the Words obscure and unfit to be a branch of the last Will of Jesus Christ then the interpretation of the Church of Rome is condemned by her own acknowledgment For she believes that when it is said This is my Body a living Body is meant and therefore Body by a Synecdoche is put for the Body and Soul The other part of the Sacrament is contained in his last Will as well as this and yet in the words which set it forth there is no less than two Tropes This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood The Cup is put for the Wine contained in it and the New Testament for the Sacrament of the New Covenant As the scope of our Saviour confirms the sence which we have given So likewise do the antecedents and consequences Before these words This is my Body were spoken it is said Jesus took Bread and blessed and brake it c. what can he mean by This but that which he took into his hand and blessed and brake and that is expresly called Bread After Consecration as that which is termed his Blood is stiled the Fruit of the Vine so that which he named his Body is by his Spirit in the holy Apostle said to be Bread As often as ye eat this bread 1 Cor. 11.26 Whosoever shall eat of this bread v. 27. Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of this bread v. 28. If before and after Consecration that which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This doth import is called Bread then no such mutation is made as is contended for and the words must be interpreted in a Sacramental and Figurative Sence We have not only the Antecedents and Consequences to favour our interpretation but likewise the Analogy of Faith This says that Christ as man was made like unto his Brethren Heb. 2.17 This car not be true if he be corporally in the Sacrament The bodies of his Brethren are naturally confined to a certain place But according to this apprehension his Body may be in a thousand places at once even upon all the Altars in the World Wheresoever the Host is consecrated it is wholly in the whole and wholly in every part of it The Analogy of Faith asserts that Christ it gone to heaven in his bodily presence I am no more in the world Jo. 17.11 The interpretation which the Church of Rome gives of the words under debate makes him to be more in the World than when he conversed with his Disciples upon the Earth For then he was but in one place at a time but now according to the Creed of the Romanists he is the same moment in Millions of places The Analogy of Faith assures us that the body or flash of Christ shall see no corruption Act. 2.27 31. But if it be in the Sacrament then it is corporally eaten turned into Chyle and Nutriment and subject to all the corruption
call the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament the Body and Blood of Christ 2. They say that they are not so essentially but figuratively and therefore stile them signs Symbols Figures Antitypes Memorials It is usual to call the sign and the thing signified by the same name 3. They affirm that after Consecration the substance of the Bread and Wine remains and the change made is only in respect of Use Office and Dignity 4. They say That they nourish our flesh and blood and have the same effect that other food has and therefore they use to give the remains of the Euchariscical Bread to boyes and to abstain from the Communion upon Fasting days 5. They assert that wicked men do not eat and drink the Body and Blood of Christ but interpret the eating of his flesh Jo. 6. the receiving of him in a spiritual manner namely by Faith 6. When they deny the Eucharist to be a figure or sign they mean a bare sign The Sacrament is more than so It feals and exhibits It is a means whereby we receive the Body and Blood of Christ not only the benefits of them but Christ himself in a spiritual manner as crucified for us and is a real pledge to assure us thereof Tho' the crucified body of Christ is in Heaven yet that spirit which dwells in it being communicated to a worthy Receiver in the Sacramental action we are made to drink into one Spirit it produceth such a union betwixt us and Christ Jesus as laies a clear foundation of Communion with and participation of him 7. When they say there is a mutation in the nature of the Bread they mean by nature the use and property only as is manifest by their own explications Before Consecration it was appropriated to the nourishment of the body but now by Consecration it is exalted to a higher purpose A new dignity is put upon it It becomes a means whereby a worthy Communicant gains Communion with our blessed Lord. 8. When it 's said That the Senses are deceived and no competent judges of the mutation this may be very true altho' the change be Sacramental only The change is not the proper object of sense but of faith The knowledge of it with its effects is conveyed to us by a Divine Testimony extant in the holy Scriptures 9. When it is affirmed That under the species of Bread is given the Body and under the species of Wine the Blood by Species we must not understand the Accidents without their proper subjects This apprehension never entred into the thoughts of the antient Fathers They were perfect strangers to this kind of Philosophy S. Aust l. 4. cal â—â— Tâ—in Serm. de Temp. 38. S. Ambr. l. 4. de Init. By species they understand the specifical nature of a thing and by the species of Bread and Wine True Bread and True Wine as is manifest to any who consult their discourses 10. Where it is said That the Lord who changed Water into Wine could change in the Eucharist Wine into Blood the intention of Cyril is not to make these two conversions in every thing parallel Jerus as is manifest by the words that follow he presently asserts That the eating of Christ's flesh must be understood spiritually and calls the Table mystical and intellectual And therefore all that his words can import is this He who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 changed Water into Wine by a corporal mutation changed at his mystical Table Wine into Blood not corporally but spiritually and mystically Lastly It must be acknowledged that there are many Hyperbolical expressions in the Fathers Hom 23. in Mat Par. 〈◊〉 as S. Chrysostome and others in relation to the Sacrament The design of them is to secure it from contempt and to elevate and raise the devotion of Communicants They being improper Speeches must not be expounded in such a sence as is inconsistent with what is elsewhere expressed by the same Authors in plain words without any figure They all agree in this in as clear expressions as can be desired That the substance of the Bread and Wine remain in the Eucharist Their Rhetorical flourishes cannot be interpreted to the prejudice of that which is plain and manifest When S. Chrysostome says That Christ mingles himself with us and not by Faith only but indeed makes us to be his Body His meaning is not That there is any corporal mixture or immediate contact betwixt us and his body but that when we receive the figure of his body which is in Heaven the Spirit which dwells in it is communicated to the worthy Receiver and produceth a union betwixt them and therefore what we receive â— 870. he presently calls the Grace of the Spirit Damascen who lived in the eighth Century was one of the first who deserted the Orthodox doctrin of the Fathers He being concerned in the controversie concerning Images and the opposers of them asserting that the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament were the only Image and representation which Christ allowed of himself he was transported with an intemperate zeal and affirmed they were no image or figure at all L. 4. c. sid Oâ—t ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tho' in these words he did not design any real conversion of the Elements but rather a corporal presence or consubstantiation yet he gave occasion to some in the ninth Age to dispute for a substantial mutation Paschasius Ratbertus was the first who writ seriously and copiously about it as Bellarmine asserts His sentiments about this argument were received with a warm opposition Rabanus Maurus Bertram Joannes Scotus Erigena did strongly assert the contrary doctrin In the tenth Age which was a night of ignorance all things fell asleep controversies were laid aside Darkness did reconcile them as the want of light does various colours In the eleventh Age Berengarius was awakened and did with great perspicuity assert the Truth Tho' the violence of his enemies and infirmity of his nature induced him to submit to a recantation The controversie all this while was managed with so much ambiguity that Joannes Duns Scotus asserts That it was not necessary for any to believe a substantial conversion or Transubstantiation till the Lateran Council held under Innocent the Third in the year 1215. and therefore the master of the Sentences who flourished in the Century before about the year 1145. useth these words What kind of conversion it is 〈…〉 illa 〈…〉 whether formal or substantial I am not able to determine The truth is that Transubstantiation was brought forth by Paschasius confirmed by Innocent the Third and at last so firmly married to the See of Rome by the Council of Trent that there was no possibility of a divorce tho' there is just reason to believe that the most Learned of that Community could heartily desire it The issue produced by this unhappy conjunction is the mutilation of the Sacrament the Adoration of the Host the Sacrince of
which our holy Religion requires must be made in Faith Faith must be grounded upon a Divine Testimony There is no Testimony of this nature to assure us that our Prayers made upon the Earth are known to glorified Spirits in Heaven If there be any way whereby they come to be acquainted with them yet God has hid it from us as he did the body of Moses from the Israelites to prevent the occasion of an abuse 2. It is the prerogative of Jesus Christ to be the only Mediator for us in Heaven to whom we are to make our applications He is entered into the Holy of Holiest and there alone offers to God our Incense as the High Priest did here upon the Earth Upon this account it is said There is one God and one Mediator betwixt God and man the man Jesus Christ 1 Tim. 2.5 The Mediator is here represented to be one as the Deity is one As there is but one God so there is but one Mediator for us to address unto in the state of Glory When he was about to leave the World and enter into this Blessed State he gave his Disciples instructions to pray in his name only Joh. 14.13.16.23 He does not mention the name of any of the Saints As he was alone in the Work of his Meritorious Satisfaction So He is alone in the application of it by his Gracious Intercession Therefore the Apostle says Among the Gentiles there be Gods many and Lords many They had their Sovereign Deities and likewise their Baalims or Lords which they accounted as Mediators betwixt them and those Supreme Powers but to us who embrace the Christian Faith There is but one God and one Lord Jesus Christ is the only Mediator for us in Heaven This dignity he has purchased with the inestimable price of his blood He humbled himself and became obedient to the death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him Phil. 2.8 He sits at his right hand appears in his presence for us and lives for ever to make intercession As the price which he gave for this dignity could not be paid by any but himself so the office procured by it must be incommunicable and peculiar to him And therefore for any to set up other Mediators whether of Redemption or Intercession without a command from Heaven is an inexcusable injury to his prerogative The Romanists do not only Invocate Saints that they may make a charitable Interecession for them but that by their Merits they would procure the favours they are Petitioners for This Truth concerning one Mediator is so evident that the primitive Christians were unanimous in the reception of it For three Hundred years no instance can be produced out of any Authentick Record that the Mediation of any in Heaven beside our blessed Lord was made use of Two are chiefly pretended to the contrary and in both the Virgin Mary is concerned In the first She is represented as the Advocate of Eve in the second as invocated by Justina the Martyr Irenaeus mentions the first lib. 5. c. 19. Where he compares the obedience of Eve to the word of the Evil Angel with the obedience of Mary to the word of the Good He asserts that Eve was seduced that she might fall from God Mary obedient that she might be the mother of our Lord. And adds this moreover as a further design of her obedience Vt Virginis Evae virgo Maria steret Advocata All this comes very short of what is designed to be proved by it Advocata here is no more than Consolatrix Because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek in which language it is believed Irenaeus wrote signifies both an Advocate and Comforter therefore advocare in the Latin Version is used for consolari as appears L. 5. c. 15. Ego vos advocabo in Hierusalem advocabimini I will comfort you and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem So that his meaning will amount to no more than this As Eve by being seduced by the Evil Angel fell from God and brought sorrow dishonour and death upon her Sex So the Virgin Mary by being obedient to the word which was spoken by the Good Angel did make a full compensation and restore the Honour that Eve and all her Sex were impaired in This is the Consolation which she is said to receive from the Virgin Mary If this had been considered by Feuardentius he would not have drawn so peremptory a conclusion as he has done Ann. in Iren. Hinc evidentissimum est c. From hence it is most evident That the antient Fathers and Martyrs from the very times of the Apostles did Invocate the Virgin Mary The other instance concerning Justina is in Gregory Nazianzen The story is this S. Cyprian before his conversion was inamoured with the beauty of Justina In order to the obtaining his unchast desires he made use of Magick She having a deep resentment of her danger prayed to the Virgin Mary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To which I answer Pontius the Deacon of S. Cyprian who wrote his Life at large speaks no such matter but on the contrary That Cyprian before his Conversion was studied in all good Arts which tend to the utility of the Age amongst which Infernal Magick can have no place Indeed there was a Book extant in Nazianzen's time stiled Poenitentia Cypriani and now to be seen in the Oxford Edition of Cyprian in which Justina is mentioned but it is accounted a fabulous relation and was condemned under that notion by Gelasius Nazianzen from thence probably did borrow the sum of what he has expressed He using the freedom of an Orator and not the exactness of an Historian might be induced to make use of that which he found made ready to his hand without any strict examination and set it off with some Rhetorical Flourishes amongst which we may reckon the application of the Virgin Justina to the Virgin Mary In this he did accommodate himself to the inclination of the Age in which he lived which by frequent Apostrophe's made to Martyr's by some great Men in their Panegyricks was disposed to think favourably of such Addresses It is usual for Writers when they relate what was done in former Ages to dress it up in language and circumstances suitable to their own times Of this we have an evident instance in Nazianzen himself in his 22. Orat. Where he describes the Martyrdom of the seven Brethren and the deportment of their mother 2 Macc. 7. He says She snatched the drops of blood took the fragments of their members worshipped the remains If we consult the Author of the Maccabees and the History of Josephus where their sufferings are described at large no such thing is recorded It cannot reasonably be believed That a Woman who incouraged her children to die rather than to violate the Law of God should at the same time openly break it by touching the Dead contrary to the Masaical Institution So that the words
discloseth that which before was under a total concealment Therefore God designing Man for Religion has besides what he has discovered in the Law of Nature divers ways and manners revealed himself in all Ages In Paradise by a Voice from Heaven conveyed in a Gale of Wind stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 3. Aquil. Afterward by the Vrim and Thummim contained in the Sacerdotal Pectoral Sometimes by Prophecy by which the Jews understand an influence from Heaven transmitted in a Vision or dream into the Soul of which they make four degrees The first is when the influence is terminated upon the rational faculty only The second when the Imaginative is agitated but the rational part retains the predominancy The third when both are kept in a just poize and equally ballance one another The fourth when the Fancy is uppermost and it becomes difficult for the Intellect to comprehend the import of the representation Sometimes God has revealed himself by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely a celestial influx whereby Men when they were awake and had the ordinary use and vigour of their Senses were inabled to utter words of Wisdom far exceeding their ordinary strain This is that which is attributed by the Hebrews to those who were concerned in the composure of the Hagiographal part of the Old Testament and was certainly conferred upon the holy Men who framed the New What God was pleased to reveal these several ways He by his Providence communicated throughout the World That which He discovered to Adam by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adam communicated to his Sons and Daughters from whom all mankind proceed The thred of their lives was spun out to such a length That Three of them Methusalem Sem and Isaac were in a capacity to carry on the Tradition till a little before Jacob's going down into Aegypt What was discovered by prophecy was committed to a People who had their habitation in the center of the known World From thence this celestial Light was communicated in the Greek Tongue to all parts of the circumference Upon this account we read of devout Men at Jerusalem out of every nation under heaven Act. 2.5 The Queen of Sheba was not the only person which heard of the Wisdom of Solomon What was revealed by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was blessed with an universal communication Rom. 10.18 Coloss 1.6 Insomuch That if any place wants this revelation we are not to accuse the goodness of God but the impiety of Men which provoked him to withdraw so signal a favour 4. Such Conduct will be prejudicial to the Souls of Men in relation to their future state They are in a ready way to fall into the grossest errours Those who have no other Compass to Sail by but the light of their own Intellect whatsoever Topic it is derived from will quickly make shipwreck of Faith and a good Conscience There is no superstition so barbarous but they may be reconciled to the belief of the reasonableness of it and think they are obliged to a conformity unto it It was a real trouble to the Votaries of Moloch to abstain from murdering their children and offering them up to that Idol The Aegyptians had no satisfaction in their own Spirits if they did not make religious addresses to Apes and Crocodiles He who is governed only by his own Reason will be apt to boggle at the peculiar Object of our Worship the most blessed and sacred Trinity This Mystery is too deep for the line of a finite understanding to reach to the bottom of He will be under strong inclinations to raise objections against it and err about that which is necessary to his Salvation And he who is tainted with this distemper and obstinately perseveres in it the Apostle says is subverted and self-condemned if not formally yet virtually according to an equitable interpretation even as those who thrust from them the Word are said to judge themselves unworthy of eternal life Indeed we are told That Speculative Errours about the Mysteries of Religion have no hurt in them and that we may be as safe on the lest as on the right side Because there is no disobedience in them They are unavoidable It is uncharitable to think them damnable A Catalogue of those which are so cannot be made The sault cannot be known by the guilty The probability of Truth on both sides assures us That God will not punish those that err Such errours cannot be displeasing which have their allowance from Conscience the Vice-gerent of God To all which I will reply in order 1. Errour is inclusive of Disobedience We are under an obligation to submit our Intellects to Divine Revelation as well as our Wills and we are commanded not only to endeavour to find out the Truth but actually to find it Try all things hold fast that which is good To try imports the search to hold fast supposeth the finding the promise is made to those which are successful in their inquiry This is Life Eternal to know and not only to endeavour it Is it not an act of disobedience when God has given us the Light of his Word to walk by to make it our free choice to neglect this infallible Guide and prefer the Light of our own private judgment which way soever communicated to us He who refuses the Light of the Sun in the day time for his conduct and travels only in the night by Moon-shine tho' he endeavours to the utmost to find his way by those dim emanations yet in case he lose it the fault is entirely to be resolved into himself who might have enjoyed the benefit of a greater Light which would have effectually secured him against deviation 2. Errours in Religion are not unavoidable God has made a plentiful provision for our direction The Scripture is the Pandect of the Divine Will sufficient to instruct the Man of God he who errs has nothing to charge but his own will in whose power it was to have continued the scrutiny till the object had been disintangled and set free from all real scruples When the object is arrived at such a degree of clarity there is no fear of deception it being not reconcileable with the Divine Veracity that our faculty should be so composed as to be deceived in that case Errour proceeds from our giving our assent too hastily before the proposition be clear to us It being in the power of the Will to suspend the assent till that time we can with justice charge nothing but the Will as the fountain of the aberration 3. It is no uncharitableness to say That errour is damnable Faith and Charity go hand in hand That Proposition which is the object of the first cannot be inconsistent with the second Now it is evident That it is a branch of our Creed that some errours are of this nature Whosoever abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God Jo. 2. ep v. 7. There shall be false
Jesus is said to return in the power of the Spirit Luk. 14. S. Paul prays that the Romans may abound in hope thro' the power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15 14. Mighty signs and wonders are said to be done by the power of the Spirit of God If the Spirit in these places did signifie no more than a divine power the meaning would be that Christ returned the Romans abounded miracles were wrought thro' the power of a Power The Spirit is likewise evidently distinguished from effects or gifts The Apostle saies that There are diversity of gifts but the same Spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 To one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another the word of Knowledge by the same Spirit v. 8. And that all these worketh this one and the same Spirit So that there can be nothing left in these Texts for the Spirit to signifie but a Person He being manifestly distinguished from the Divine Power and the gifts and products of that Power Now I have finished the second Proposition In the Godhead there are Three Persons 3. These Three are One God Unity is essential to the Deity Plurality proceeds from the fecundity and fruitfulness of Causes but God is of himself without dependence upon any Cause If there be more Gods there must be more Infinites in the same kind which implies a contradiction for one infinite Being contains all perfection not only as considered in the general notion but actually and therefore there is none for any other Deity to be invested with and possessed of in the same manner If there be more Gods they must be distinct one from another This distinction must arise from some diversity in Nature to attribute such diversity to the Divine Nature is to make a dishonourable reflection upon the simplicity of it The Father Son and Holy Ghost are this One God 1. The Scripture plainly asserts that they are one 1 John 5.7 Tho' these words are not found in some Copies yet they are extant in more than they are wanting in and in that which is dubious the decision is according to the suffrage of the major part If such an addition has been made to the Text it must be done before or after the two first General Councils If before it was either accidental or intentional Not Accidental thro' the inadvertency of the Scribe For tho' a Scribe may mistake and leave out letters and words yet it cannot be imagined that he should casually without any design add a whole sentence and not presently upon a review which may be justly presumed in a Writing of such importance discover and correct his errour Not Intentional no good reason can be given why any should industriously make such a spurious insertion before the controversie concerning the Deity of Christ and the Holy Ghost did commence Neither was the addition which is pretended made after the two first General Councils Because the words we speak of are found in those Copies which the Fathers who lived before those Councils made use of S. Cyprian asserts de Patre Filio c. Of the Father Son and Holy Ghost it is written and these Three are One. This gives us just reason to believe that the Copies in which these words are wanting fell into the hands of the Arrians and that a rasure was made by them 2. As the words of S. John assure us that The Father the Son and the Spirit are One so we are assured by other texts of Sacred Writ that this Unity is in the Divine Essence They have all one and the same infinite Nature This is evident by the attribution of the Name Properties and peculiar Operations of the most High God to them None doubt of this relation to the Father The matter is likewise clear concerning the Son and the Spirit Christ is called the mighty God Isa 9.6 God blessed for evermore Rom. 9.5 The true God 1 Joh. 5.20 The most high God Psal 58.17 56. The most High which the Israelites tempted and provoked in the wilderness is expresly called Christ 1 Cor. 10.9 The name of God is never attributed in the sacred Oracles with such emphatical Epithets to any finite Being They are intentionally inserted to signifie that Jesus is stiled God not upon the account of his Embassy from his Father or a deification in the state of Glory but his infinite Nature He who is made God and is not so essentially cannot be said to be the true mighty most High God blessed for evermore As the Name of God so the Properties of the Divine Nature are attributed to him Omniscience Joh. 21.17 Immutability Heb. 1.11 Omnipotence Rev. 1.8 Eternity He is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is which was which is to come v. 4. Eternity comprehends all differences of time Was he but a meer Creature such perfections could not reside in him A finite Being under the greatest Elevation has not a capacity large enough to entertain and receive such boundless excellencies The peculiar Operations of God are likewise attributed to him as Creation Joh. 1.2 Coloss 1.16 God is said to create all things by Jesus Christ Eph. 3.9 The Son did concur with the Father and the Spirit in this great Work as a co-ordinate cause The Nature of Creation will not admit the interposals of an instrument There being no matter to prepare a physical instrument has nothing to do in the case And Christ is represented as more than a Moral The infinite power whereby all things are made is often ascribed to him which is never done to a meer moral instrument such as the Apostles were in the production of Miracles Conservation is likewise ascribed to him He is said to uphold all things with the word of his power Heb. 1.3 It was usual for the Jews to express the Deity by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here inserted to assure them that Christ sustains the World and prevents its relapse into its primitive Abyss by virtue of his Deity Lastly He is said to work Miracles He made the blind to see the lame to walk the dead to revive This he did not bring to pass by any mutuatitious power When he healed the multitude it is said Virtue went out of him Luk. 6.19 The power whereby he did it was not adventitious but innate When S. Peter wrought a miracle that Christ by whose power it was effected might not be deprived of the glory of it he names him as the principal cause His name thro' faith in his name hath made this man whole Act. 3.16 As the name properties and operations of the Divine Nature are attributed to the Son of God So likewise to the Holy Ghost The Spirit of the Lord 2 Sam. 23.2 is stiled the God of Israel Ananias who lied unto the Spirit Act. 5.3 is said to lie unto God v. 4. The body which is the Temple of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.19 is stiled
the Temple of God 1 Cor. 3.16 He is Eternal Heb. 9.7 Omniscient 1 Cor. 2.10 Omnipresent Psal 139.7 The whole Creation is represented as the effect of his power The host of Heaven Psal 33.6 Man the principal Work of God upon the Earth Job 33.4 The Fish in the Sea Psal 104.3 are all of his formation Before there was any Wind Immeasusque Deus super aequora vasia meabat which is peculiar to the Firmament a work of the second day the Spirit of the Lord is said to move upon the Waters The Chaos by his incubation was digested into Order and brought to a state of Maturation Certainly God who composed the Scripture and declares in it that he will not give his Glory to another would never have assigned his name nature and peculiar operations to the Spirit had he not been of the same Essence with himself To assert that all this is attributed to the Spirit because God makes use of him as an instrument to effect his Work will not remove the difficulty For there is some work attributed to the Spirit to which no instrument can concur as Creation There are other operations in doing of which God cannot be said to use the Spirit according to the sentiments of the Socinians as to know and search his deep things For the Spirit in their apprehensions signifies a Divine Power and it is very incongruous to say that God knows and searches things by his Power This Truth concerning the Trinity in Unity hath been so fully discovered that all sorts of men have taken notice of it The Mind of the Christians before Constantine may be very well known by Athanasuis Orat. 1.121 Ad Serapio tom 1. p. 366. de Spi. Sanâ—â—o Apol. 2. who wanted no opportunity to be acquainted with their Writings He expresly asserts that there was nothing established by the Nicene Synod but what was agreeable to them S. Basil cites several Authorities of the first Centuries for the same purpose In those Writings which are come to our hands there are many evident expressions of this doctrin Justin Martyr speaking of the Father of righteousness saies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. him and the Son coming from him and the prophetick Spirit we receive and adore Athenagoras in vindication of the Christians whom the Heathens accounted Atheists saies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. who would not admire to hear them called Atheists who own God the Father God the Son God the Holy Ghost Clemens Alexandrinus ends his Paedagogus with very lively expressions of this Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. to the only Father Son c. with the Holy Ghost all in one c. There are Testimonies of the same importance in Tertullian Cyprian Lactantius All these with many others agree that there is but one God and that there are Three which participate of the Deity and that one of them is the fountain of the rest from whence it inevitably follows that they must be personally distinct The fountain and the streams are always different one from the other Indeed there are some things spoken in the explication of this Mystery which are liable to an ambiguous construction as is manifest in the discourse of Justin Martyr with the Jew Tâ—â—â—h and the Treatise of Tertullian against Praxeas This Truth being not then encountred with so direct an opposition as it was in the time of Arrius some degrees of caution in point of expression are wanting and too great a condescension made to the Sentiments of the Philosophers by blending their notions with the ineffable Mystery that it might gain a more ready entertainment among them Such prudential accommodations must not be construed in such a sence as to prejudice the Truth which in other places of the same Authors is clearly acknowledged The clear must not be expounded by that which is obscure but the obscure by that which is clear The Jews have not been without some knowledge of this Mystery Pugio fidei p. 397. Raimundus Martini says that he scarcely ever conferred with any of them who were in any estimation for Wisdom who would not grant that God was Trinus Vnus They have a Tradition that when the Benediction Num. 6.26 was pronounced by the Priest he used when he came to the word Jehova to lift three fingers higher than the rest to denote the Trinity It was their manner to call the Father Son Voisin in Pug. fidei p. 400. and Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Subsistences and to assert the unity of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the infinite God Those words The Lord our God is one God are in Zohar applied to the Trinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is interpreted the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added with a great letter in the Hebrew Text to denote their Unity The Hebrew Scholiast says that the repetition of the name of God three times Psal 50.1 2. is to denote the three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which created the World These are stiled inward persons It is observed that all the names of God have a plural termination Voisin p. 406. p. 400. except Jehova his essential name to import the plurality of Persons and unity of Essence It is a saying among the Cabalists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the Father is God the Son is God the Holy Ghost is God Three in One and One in Three By the Abbreviature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son They say they are put together to express their Unity and that the three Letters do signifie the three Hypostases in one Essence Tho' this Doctrine is very much disguised in the Writings of the Heathens yet there is so much of it left unmask'd as it may be plainly discerned they were not totally strangers to it The chief God among the Persians was stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 threefold with relation to this Sacred Mystery The first Hypostasis they called Oramasâ—les the second Mithras the third Arimanes Plato likewise mentions Three 〈◊〉 5. l. 1. l. 3. c. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These by Plotinus are represented as the three Hypostases which are Principles or first causes in the Universe When Thulis King of Aegypt went to the Oracle of Serapis to inquire Saidas in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who before him could do such exploits as he had done and who would be after him The Answer was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First God after him the Word and then the Spirit concurring with both Bâ—rnier's Mâ—moirs â—â—m 3. p. 130. The Indians own Three in the Deity known by the names of Brahma Bischen and Mehaâ—denâ— Dervis â—rsielebi a Mahometan acknowledged to a Christian who was disputing with him about Religion that at the commencement of all their Negotiations Epito