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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32801	The divine trinunity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or, The blessed doctrine of the three coessentiall subsistents in the eternall Godhead without any confusion or division of the distinct subsistences or multiplication of the most single and entire Godhead acknowledged, beleeved, adored by Christians, in opposition to pagans, Jewes, Mahumetans, blasphemous and antichristian hereticks, who say they are Christians, but are not / declared and published for the edification and satisfaction of all such as worship the only true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all three as one and the self same God blessed for ever, by Francis Cheynell ...	Cheynell, Francis, 1608-1665.	1650 (1650)	Wing C3811; ESTC R34820	306,702	530

learned Mr. Mede and divers others conceive the Catholike Church of Christ in the foure quarters of the world professing and embracing the Doctrine of the foure Evangelists these Beasts are full of eyes full of the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ and their spirituall experimentall knowledge moves them to worship Iesus Christ. Mr Mede makes this Interpretation the Key to open very many Types in the book of the Revelation and doubts not but every one who doth seriously perpend the old Castrametation in the wilderness and compare it with the Apocalypticall Types will subscribe to this Interpretation I know divers learned men do conceive that the foure Beasts are foure Angels and some presume to name the Angels but I cannnot embrace their opinion because I find that the Chorus is made up of Angels Beasts and Elders and these three sorts are cleerly distinguished Rev. 5. 1● And I beheld and I heard the voyce of many Angels round about the Throne and the Beasts and the Elders That the Angels do joyn with the Beasts in worship is granted That the Angels do protect these Beasts with eyes in all quarters of the world East West North and South is likewise granted But that the Beasts are Angels that is it which is and must be denyed and therefore I do conceive that Mr. Mede is in the right and the good man was sorry that he had not time to cleere that point at large and therefore I am the more willing to proceed upon this Argument and perform that service to the Church which he would have done with more dexterity Let us then consider 1. That upon Christs mediation his Father gave him the heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession Aske of me and I will give thee the Heathen c. Psal. 2. 8. 2. Let us consider that promise made to the Church the mystical body of Christ Is. 43. Fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name thou art mine I am Iehovah thy God the Holy One of Israel thy Saviour Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee fear not for I am with thee I will bring thy seed from the East and gather thee from the West I will say to the North give up and to the South keep not back bring my sons from farre and my daughters from the ends of the earth even every one that is called by my name This is the substance of the seven first verses of Isa. 43. Behold the Church universall gathered from all parts of the world into one mysticall Body that all may be united unto Christ the Head by faith and to one another by love that so they may all joyne in beleeving adoring and obeying the Lord Jesus his Father and the Holy Spirit 3. Consider how these precious promises are fulfilled by Gospel-dispensations and Christian exercises For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be Iews or Gentiles bond or free and have been all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 13. Christ did grace the solemnity of his triumphant ascension with that choice gift of the ministry for the edifying and perfecting of Saints till we All even all the members of the Church universall come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Sonne of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ Eph. 4. 8 11 13. Christ mysticall is deficient untill the Saints are gathered from all quarters into the unity of Faith and knowledge of the Son of God because this is a fundamentall point for Christ built his Church upon that Fundamental Confession thou art Christ the Son of the living God Mat. 16. 16 18. and other foundation can none lay 1 Cor. 3. 11. And the superstruction must be agreeable to the foundation that we may attain unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ every part making some considerable supply for the increase of the body by growing up in all things into Christ the Head Eph. 4. 13 15 16. Christ is the only Head and Mediatour and therefore Iewes and Gentiles both have accesse through Christ by one Spirit to the Father Eph 2. 18. Here 's an acknowledgement of the blessed Trinunity made by the Catholike Church in Gospel-worship And the Apostle directs his Epistle to the Church of God at Corinth with all that in every place call upon the Name of Christ our Lord both theirs and ours 1 Cor. 1. 2. and concludes his second Epistle with The Grace c. 2 Cor. 13. 14. 4. Compare what hath been spoken with the Song of Angels Presbyters and Saints full of eyes in the book of the Revelation These foure beasts were in the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne Revel 4. 6. The Forme of the Throne is quadrangular and one beast placed in the middle of every one of the foure sides Mr. Mede shewes how these foure Beasts observe what is done by God in the foure quarters of the World and how they speake in order upon the opening of the foure first seales Rev. 6. and the 7 first verses and a voyce proceeds from the midst of the foure Beasts Revel 6. 6. Finally the Virgin-church Revel 14. sings the same song that the foure Beasts did which is called a New Song sung in the praise of the Lambe and his Father And in some copies which are of credit we read that the Virgins had the Lambes Name as well as his Fathers written in their foreheads Revel 14. 1. and they are the first fruits to God and to the Lambe Revel 14. 4. 5. This New Song which is sung to the Lambe and his Father containes in it the Mystery of Gospel-Worship because in it Redemption power riches wisdome strength honour glory and blessing are ascribed unto him who sits upon the Throne and to the Lambe Revel 5. 12 13 14. Worthy is the Lamb that was slaine to receive power c. Rev. 5. 12. they fall downe before the Lamb Rev. 5. 8. and in the 9. ver sing a new Song Thou art worthy c. for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud 6. This pattern of Gospel-worship comes from Heaven the Angels sing this song and the Saints the followers of the Lambe they glorifie the Lambe and his Father on earth as the Angels doe in Heaven according to that request in the Lambes Prayer the Lords Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven let thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven We receive this Directory for Gospel-worship from Christ and his Angels 7. All the Virgin-church all that follow the Lambe whither soever he goes into all or any quarter of the World they and they onely learn this Song 8. These Redeemed Virgins refuse to receive

have been but there is no reall thing in God which might not have beene 2. There can be no reall relation between two extremes one of which two extremes is unchangeable and the other might not have been 3. God was not in any passive Potentiality or Power before he did create the world to receive any reall act because he is really a pure act and it is evident that a new reall relation is a kind of act wherof the pure single perfect and unchangeable essence is uncapable 4. Our weak understanding comparing God with the creatures is apt to frame many denominations which according to the manner of signifying seem to import as if God were in potentiâ ad multa yet if we do consider the thing signified as we ought in a way agreeable to the pure single and infinite Perfection of God we shall find that these are but extrinsecall denominations This point is much beaten upon by the most acute Schoolmen and Writers of Metaphysicks and therefore I need not insist upon it only observe that when I say created persons are distinguished by a heap of Accidents I do not mean that a person is made compleat in his subsistence by any Accident or an heap of Accidents for I have refuted that conceit in this present chapter pag. 73. I hasten to the eighth Difference VIII Humane Persons with whom we are best acquainted may exist in a very different time as well as in different places some lived before some since the flood some before the Incarnation others since the Death and Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour but herein all agree that time is the measure of them all their duration is very imperfect their duration is not always contemporary never Coessentiall But all three uncreated Persons are Coeternal because they are Coessential because they have the same divine eternal Essence Angels are said to have an eternall duration but they are not eternall in the same sense that the Father Son and Holy Ghost are Eternall 1. Because they were created Coloss. 1. 16. and therefore did begin to be they have not as the Schools say an interminable or interminated duration à parte ante 2. If they had been created from eternity yet they could not have beene esteemed Coeternall with their Creatour who did create them out of nothing and did not beget or breath them forth in the unity of his own divine Essence 3. There can be no lesse then an infinite difference between the finite dependent changable defective duration of an Angel and the infinite independent immutable duration of these three uncreated and all creating persons who are one independent unchangeable eternall infinite God the eternity of the three glorious persons is interminable indefectible immutable 4. If Angels had been created from eternity yet they would not have been essentially or intrinsecally eternall because their essence doth not include any repugnancy to an actuall beginning 5. If Angels had been created from eternity yet God might have annihilated them afterwards and then they had actually ceased to be 6. Although they were not actually annihilated yet the very possibility of being annihilated is enough to prove their duration terminable changeable defectible and therefore though they had been created from all eternity they would not have been coeternall with their maker nor would three Angels have been coessentially coeternall with one another 7. If Angels had been created from eternity they would have been eternall not by any intrinsecall or naturall duration as hath been proved and therefore they would have been eternall only by an extrinsecall denomination taken from the Eternity of God 8. Upon consideration of the Premises many Reverend Doctours of the Church conclude that Angels are eternall only à parte post and they are eternal à parte post not by their own nature but by the free favour and appointment of God and therefore there is an infinite difference between the duration of these three uncreated persons and the duration of the most glorious Angels in Heaven Angels are mu●able and God is free Agent both in respect of Creation and in respect of preservation and therfore God and Angels are not Coeternall as the Peripateticks dreamt God did voluntarily engage himself to create and preserve Angels by his own Decree and therefore that subordinate aeternity which they have à parte post is vouchsafed unto them by the free and undeserved favour of God For as Damascen saith well whatsoever had a beginning would soon have an ending if he who gave a beginning to it by his infinite power should think fit to suspend his upholding and preserving influence or put forth his Almighty and irresistible power against it in a destructive way I will not take this faire occasion to speak of the acts or motions of Angels to make this difference seeme greater for that which hath been said is su●●●cient to make it evident that Angels do not coexist with God the Father with the same duration wherewith God the Son and God the Holy Ghost do coexist with him because these three coessentiall persons are Coeternall they are all three one God who is his owne Essence his owne Eternity The Scripture calls the God of Israel the Eternity of Israel 1 Sam. 15. 29. and Aristotle calls him life it selfe the best life an Eternall life that hath neither beginning nor ending nor succession and therefore it is evident that he did not beleeve God to be subject to change or variation God is saith he a self-sufficient and eternall life God is truly self-sufficient because he is alsufficient he is infinite in perfection and therefore infinite in duration his infinite perfection and duration is nothing else but but his infinite Essence and this infinite Essence is the self-same in all three Coessentiall Coeternall and Coequall persons as hath been proved And therefore we have good cause to rejoyce and triumph in this glorious difference between created and uncreated persons Give me leave to sweeten this dispute with some devotion We have an everlasting Father an everlasting Saviour and an everlasting Comforter and we have good cause to lay a charge upon our immortall souls to blesse praise all three Coeternal persons for their eternall love our eternall redemption and salvation Praise the Lord O my soule while I live will I praise the Lord whilst I have any being will I sing praises to my God and put confidence in him for with the Lord there is plenteous and eternall redemption But O put not your trust in Princes nor in those sons of men in whom there is no salvation for their breath goeth forth they returne to their first earth and in that day all their thoughts and counsels perish Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God which made heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is

shew that the Title of Lord so often given to Christ in the New Testament doth answer to the Title of Jehovah in the Old Testament And as some Reverend Divines conceive the Apostles did purposely use the title of Lord that they might not offend the Jewes with the frequent pronouncing of the word Jehovah Thou shalt feare Iehovah thy God Deut. 6. 13. Deut. 10. 20. is rendred by the Apostle Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God Mat. 4. 10. And so Deut. 6. 5. Thou shalt love Iehovah thy God is rendred Matth. 22. 37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God I hope no Saint will presume to arrogate the Title of Iehovah to himself for he whose Name alone is Iehovah is the mighty God the most High over all the earth Jesus Christ is Immanuel God with us Matth. 1. 23. that God who took flesh and blood 1 Tim. 3. 16. and that God who redeemed the Church with his own blood Acts 20. 28. The Ancients insist much upon that proof Iohn 16. 15. All things that the Father hath are mine compared with Iohn 10. 30. I and my Father are one and Iohn 10. 37. If I do not the works of my Father beleeve me not for from hence they do conclude that Christ hath the same divine nature and Godhead with the Father they both have the same divine and essentiall Titles Attributes and perform the same inward operations in reference to all Creatures whatsoever and therefore they did farther inferre that they had reason to use the word Consubstantiall for though the word is not in Scripture yet the sense and meaning of it is Orthodox and Canonicall because evidently deduced from these Texts and some other Scriptures which we have insisted on before I shall adde one Scripture more to make it yet more clear compare Iohn 17. 10. with Iohn 16. 15. All things that the Father hath are mine Iohn 16. 15. Father all mine are thine and thine are mine Iohn 17. 10. that is Whatsoever doth belong to the Father as God doth belong to Christ for we speak not of Personall but Essentiall properties Christ doth lay claim to all that is naturall to all that belongs to the Father as God not to any thing which belongs to him as the Father as the first Person of the blessed Trinity In the 17 of Iohn Christ proves that the Apostles were his Apostles because they were his Fathers Apostles and given by the Father to him ver 9. but he gives a more generall reason for it ver 10. And all mine are thine and thine are mine It is a generall rule expressed in the Neuter gender and therefore cannot be restrained to the Apostles as the Socinians would limit the speech of Christ but it must be taken in its full extent but that I may give full weight and measure pressed down and running over consider that the other text Iohn 16. 15. hath a double note of universality and therefore is very Emphaticall for the proof of the point All things whatsoever thut the Father hath as God are mine But the Father hath an eternall Godhead infinite power and Majesty and therefore saith Christ they are mine Epiphanius disputing against the heresie of Sabellius expounds this Rule thus All that the Father hath is mine the Father is God and I am God the Father is Life and I am Life for whatever the Father hath is mine For the clearer demonstration of this truth let us now descend to particulars 1 The Attributes of God 2 The works of God 3 The worship of God are all ascribed given to Jesus Christ that we may confesse and acknowledge him to be God the true God the mighty God the self same onely God with the Father and the holy Spirit 1 The Attributes of God are ascribed to the Lord Jesus 1 The Eternity of God Iohn 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word was notes some former duration and therefore we conclude that he was before the beginning before any Creation or Creature for it is said that he was God in the beginning and his divine nature whereby he works is Eternall Heb. 9. 14. He is the First and Last Revel 1. 17. hence it is that he is called the First-born of every Creature because he who created all and upholds all hath power to command and dispose of all as the First-born had power to command the family or kingdom Coloss. 1. 15 16 17. Compare Isa. 44. 6. with Revel 22. 13. and Prov. 8. 22 23. and with my margin 2. Jesus Christ is omnipotent Phil. 3. 21. he is called by a Metonymy the Power of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. He is the Almighty Revel 1. 8. He made all things John 1. 3. Coloss. 1. 16 17. Psal. 102. 26. compared with Hebr. 1. 8. 10 John 1. 10. He upholds all things Heb. 1 3. Coloss 1. 17. 3. Jesus Christ is unchangeable Hebr. 1. 12. cited out of Psal. 102. 26 27. 4. Christ is Omniscient John 2. 25. He is the Searcher of hearts Rev. 2. 23. He knows all things Iohn 21. 17. He is the wisedome of the Father 1 Cor. 1. 24. He doth of himselfe know the Father Mat. 11. 27. and doth according to his own Will reveal the secrets of his Fathers bosome and therefore is called The Word all the treasures of wisedome are in him Colos. 2. 3. 5 The Immensity of God belongs to Christ for he is not contained in any Place who was before there was any Place and did create all Places by his own Power Iohn 1. 1 3. whilst he was on earth in respect of his bodily Presence he was in the bosome of the Father which must be understood of his Divine Nature and Person Iohn 1. 18. He did come down from Heaven and yet remained in Heaven Iohn 3. 13. II. Christ doth performe the Works of God such proper and peculiar such divine and supernaturall works as none but God can perform he did raise the dead by his own power at his own pleasure John 5. 21 28 29. John 11. 25. He is called the resurrection and the life because he is the authour of both whatsoever the Father doth the Son doth likewise Ioh. 5. 17 19. He wrought miracles he hath the same Nature and power with the Father and therefore doth the same works He doth regenerate our Souls pardon our sins save our souls he hath appeased the wrath and satisfied the justice of God by his divine Mediation he gives Temporall Spirituall Eternall life 2 Cor. 5. 17. Iohn 6. 38. 40. III. Divine Honour is due to Jesus Christ For 1. All the glorious Angels are commanded to worship him Heb. 1. 6. 2. All true Christians are described by their calling on and believing in the name of Christ Act. 9. 14. Iohn 1. 12. 3. All are obliged to give the same honour to Christ which they

most wonderfull and glorious way Now it is cleare that the Father did not beget himselfe and therefore the Son is another Person truly distinct from the Father and yet equall to the Father because he is begotten in the Unity of the same Godhead and hath life in himselfe John 5. 26. the living Essence of God who is life it selfe being communicated to him by an eternall generation The unbegotten Father is clearly distinguished from the only begotten Son But I dare not say as some do that the Father is Active and the Son Passive in this eternall generation because this generation is eternall For nothing which is eternall can be truly said to be in a Passive Power to any thing much lesse can it be said to be in a Passive Power to be The Son hath life in himselfe is life it self hath life essentially and as he is the same Essence with the Father is of himselfe and hath all that is essentiall from that very Essence but that Essence is communicated to the Son by the Father and therefore the Son is said to receive all from the Father But then we must consider that the Son receives nothing from the Father as from an externall cause but as from an intrinsecall Principle rather the cause for the Son doth not depend upon the Father as an Effect upon its Cause And I call the Father an Intrinsecall Principle of the Sons Subsistence because the Father doth beget the Son of and in himself in the unity of the same Godhead their Divine Nature is one and the same and their Persons are Coequall and Coeternall because they are Coessentiall This is the very Mystery of Mysteries which corrupt and wanton Reason derides but prudent Faith admires and adores The Socinians tell us that they cannot beleeve that the Father did beget a Son of his owne substance because God is eternall and unchangeable the single essence of God is indivisible and being most singularly one is incommunicable part of the Divine Essence could not be communicated say they to the Son because the essence is impartible indivisible and the self same whole Essence cannot be communicated because it is most singularly one and therefore incommunicable Essentia quae est una Numero est incommunicabilis To this grand Objection I shall return a plain Answer out of pure Scripture and deliver it in certain Propositions or Conclusions that the Answer may be more direct cleare and satisfactory Conclusions concerning the eternal generation 1. The Father did beget his Son the Father himself bears witnesse to this truth and his witnesse is full and clear and true Jehovah hath said unto me Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Psal. 2. 7. Nay the Father declares this truth to men and Angels as a Practicall truth that they may direct and regulate their worship according to this Mystery The Apostle proves that Christ is more excellent then Angels because he hath a more excellent Name then they For unto which of the Angels said he at any time thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And again I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Son Hebr. 1. 4 5. Here 's a double proof of the point he hath a more excellent name because he is the Son of God in a peculiar sense and hath the divine nature communicated to him as shall be fully proved ere we conclude this point for the name of Son is not an empty Title he hath the divine nature of his Father in him Now that he is the Son of God is testifyed again and again saith the Apostle verse 5. And he begins the sixth verse thus And again c. You see how he doth inculcate this point how he beates upon it again and againe and the reason is because this truth is Fundamentall both of Faith and Worship as is most evident in the sixth verse of that chapter And again when he brings in the first-begotten into the world he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him Hebr. 1. 6. You see this Mystery of the unbegotten Father and the only begotten Son is held forth to men and Angels in order to worship that their worship may be directed to Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God and to God the Father as the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. God declared this truth after a glorious manner from heaven that it might be more diligently considered And lo a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved Son Matth. 3. 17. when he was bapt●zed and the like we read of when he was transfigured in the presence of the Disciples in the holy Mount And the Apostle doth take notice of these solemne declarations from heaven and layes them down as Fundamentals of the Christian Religion 2 Pet. 1. from the 16. verse to the twentieth All the glorious Miracles wrought by our Saviour Iohn 5. 36 and his resurrection from the Dead bear witnesse to this fundamental truth that Christ is the first begotten and the only begotten Son of the living God be pleased to compare Acts. 13. 32 33. with Romans 1. 4. and it will be evident that he was not made but onely declared to be the Son of God at the time of his Resurrection 2. The Father did beget his Son from all eternity before his works of old I saith the Son who is the wisdome of the Father was set up from everlasting when as the highest part of the dust of the earth was not made when he prepared the heavens I was there c. Prov. 8. from 21 verse to the 31. his goings forth were of old from the dayes of eternity Micah 5. 2. Iohn 1. 1. 2 3. he was with God he was God before the beginning he had glory with his Father before the world was Iohn 17. 5. Relata simul sunt 3. The Father did beget his Son in the unity of the Godhead the Scripture speaks expressely that Christ is the Proper or Naturall Son of God he spared not his own Son or his Proper Sonne Rom. 8. 32. God is the Father of Christ his own Father Iohn 5. 18. the Iewes did well understand the importance and force of that expression for say they in that he said God is his own Father he hath made himself equall with God and therefore that Phrase doth import that he is the Naturall and Coessentiall Son of God else he could not be Coequall with his Father Iohn 5 18. Philip. 2. 6. All those Texts which prove that Christ is God and that there is but one God do prove that Christ is the Naturall and Coessentiall Son of God God hath but one Coessentiall Son to whom he hath given to have life in himself Iohn 5. 26. because the Divine Nature which is life it self is communicated to the Son by this eternall and ineffable generation It is proper to living

his people from their sins The first of these Propositions cannot be refused because it is grounded upon clear Scripture and he who rejects a point of the least concernment which he knowes to be revealed in Scripture doth not indeed and truth beleeve and embrace any truth at all no not truths which are of the highest concernment upon the right ground and true reason namely because God hath revealed them to us in the holy Scriptures of truth A Fundamentall point is of such high concernment that whosoever is ignorant of it is condemned for his meere Negative Infidelity and whosoever doth refuse to beleeve it is condemned for his Positive Infidelity because he rejects a truth delivered upon the Authority of God and a truth so highly credible that it is necessary to be known and beleeved for his own salvation Our Faith Piety Hope Charity Salvation are all grounded upon these necessary and Fundamentall truths Those truths or points of Doctrine are Fundamentall without the plaine and expresse knowledge whereof we can neither savingly beleeve in Christ nor rightly worship God in Christ to the obtaining of eternall life The Grand Mystery of three Divine and Coessential Subsistents in the single Godhead is a Fundamentall point I desire to make this point very plain 1. For the satisfaction of the weak 2. Information of the ignorant 3. Conviction of the obstinate 4. Edification of the meek and humble It is most cleare and evident that it doth highly concerne Christians to acknowledge 1. A Deity against the Atheists 2. The Unity of this Deity against the Pagans 3. A Trinity in this Unity against Turks Jewes Heretiques both Ancient and Modern We must 1. Know 2. Beleeve 3. Acknowledge 4. Worship 5. Obey 6. Trust to and depend upon three Persons and one God Our blessed Lord in that excellent prayer of his which is most largely recorded Iohn 17. saith That this is life eternall to know the Father the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent ver 3. This Text hath been opened and vindicated at large in this Book already from the 44. page to the 54. and therefore I shall make quick work now and desire you but to compare this Text with 1 Iohn 5. 20. We are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternall life both texts tell us that it is eternall life for to beleeve that the Father and the Son are the only true God and therefore this is a fundamentall point And the Scripture speakes expresly that these three the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost are one one God for the witnesse or testimony delivered by these three is the witnesse of God 1 Joh. 5. 7. 9. But it is objected by some that the words These three are one 1 Joh. 5. 7. are not to be found in some ancient Copies and therefore it will not be safe to build a point of such weight and consequence upon such a weake foundation To which we answer It is true that these words are not to be found in the Syriack Edition but they who speake most modestly do acknowledge that the Syriack Edition is not Authentick Learned Heinsius is much offended with that Edition as appeares by his Annotations upon 1 Ioh. 5. 7. And if we consult the Scriptures and compare this Text with the following Verses and with some other places of Scripture which are more plaine and then adde the testimony and Interpretations of the ancient and Reverend Doctors of the Church concerning the words in question we shall be able to passe a right judgement upon the point in hand 1. The equality of the Number of witnesses suites very right three witnesses on earth and three in heaven 2 The opposition between the quality of the witnesses witnesses on earth and witnesses in heaven and yet their sweet harmony and agreement in one testimony all six beare witnesse to one and the same truth 3. The diversity of the very nature of those three who beare witnesse on earth and the unity of their divine nature who bear witnesse in heaven is very considerable and it is excellently expressed in the variation of the Phrase These three are one ver 7. and these three agree in one namely in one testimony ver 8. Though their Nature be different yet their Testimony is the same But it is objected that the Complutensian Bible saith of the heavenly witnesses that these three agree in one ver 7. I humbly offer this satisfaction to pious and learned men That we have good reason to beleeve that there is an imprudent addition in the Complutensian Bible rather then an omission of so many ancient and approved Bibles and therefore it is fit that that addition should be expunged out of that one Copy by the concurrent testimony of so many Copies Moreover it is cleer by the joynt testimony of other Copies that the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are omitted in the 7 ver and the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 belong to the eight verse and therefore there is an inexcusable omission and an imprudent transposition in that corrupt edition But then it is farther objected that these words These three are one are wanting in some other Greek copies for answer I proceed in my observations 4. If we look upon the Scripture account in other places we shall find it exactly agreeable to the account in this place 1 Ioh. 5. 7. In the eighth of Iohn our Saviour pleads that two witnesses in Law were sufficient for the proof of any point Joh. 8. 17. and in the tenth verse saith he I am one and my Father that sent me is another they are two witnesses and yet but one God I and my Father are one Joh. 10. 30. One in power and therefore one in nature He speaks not of the spirit because Christ was not yet glorified nor was the Spirit yet manifested by that eminent and glorious mission and effusion which was to follow after the Ascension of our blessed Lord. But he did foretell that the third witnesse was to be sent from the Father by the Son Joh. 15. 26. But when the comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me I might adde to these testimonies all other places of Scripture wherin all the three witnesses are named together and then produce all the places which have been formerly cited in this booke to prove the coessential Trin-unity of those heavenly witnesses 5. The copulative And in the beginning of the verse 1 Ioh. 5. 8. doth very fitly connect the whole seventh verse with the eighth as they are printed in our ordinary translation 6. Hierome doth assure us that the words in question were expunged by the Arrians because these few words do hold forth an undeniable proofe of the divine and

Saviour saith God is a Spirit and from thence concludes that God is to be worshipped in Spirit and truth but in respect of the Divine Persons also We are to worship God as a Creator as the first of Causes last of Ends best of Beings to whom we owe our Being and our well-being but we must worship God the Father as God and look upon him as the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ and as our Father reconciled to us in Christ this is that worship which becomes the Gospel and therefore we ought to worship God the Father considered after this Evangelicall manner that he may be glorifyed we moved and affected with those endearing expressions O God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ and our Father in him Such expressions as these do beget in us 1. Holy boldnesse mixed with Reverence 2. Christian confidence our Father wil supply the wants of his children out of his rich treasure for he commands Heaven earth 3. Filial Love and cheerefull obedience which are even con-naturall to our new man upon due consideration of this sweet relation between God and us Ier. 3. 19. 4. A thankefull acknowledgement of Gods fatherly bounty even unto admiration Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God 1 Joh. 3. 1. Nay heyres of God Rom. 8. 17. What are we vile wretches wormes and no men yea by reason of our filthinesse Dogs and Devils that we should be adopted into the family of God married to the Sonne of God and made co-heyrs with the Lord of glory When the Spirit of a man is raised by such thankfull acknowledgements unto an Holy admiration then it is brought into a Gospel frame and by such high and sweet thoughts of Gods fatherly love and bounty fitted for filiall and Gospel-worship But it will be said that the whole Trinity is our Father and therefore all three persons are to be worshipped under that fatherly consideration and in that deare Relation To which I answer 1. That when the word Father is attributed unto God essentially though all creatures are excluded yet all the three Divine persons are included because they are co-equal they have one nature will and worship they are one and the same God and they are one Father also in opposition to Images Ier. 2. 27. To Saints Is. 63. 16. Doubtlesse thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not Thou O Lord art our Father our Redeemer thy name is from everlasting And in opposition to all creatures Mat. 23. 9. and in the Lords Prayer Father Son and Holy Ghost are all called upon as our Father 2. The word Father is sometimes taken personally and attributed to a single person of the God-head More frequently and more peculiarly to God the Father who is the first Principle of subsisting life even in respect of his own naturall and Co-essentiall Son as hath been proved at large in this Treatise and is to be reckoned first in order and finally in regard of our Adoption and the mysterious and divine Oeconomy and dispensation vouchsafed for the salvation of man and yet these peculiar notions do not exclude the other persons from being God as hath been proved above in the fourth chapter nor do they exclude them from being our Father in the common notion of Father in opposition to creatures and Idols nay all three persons have a Fatherly care of us and love to us and therefore Christ is called our Father Isa. 9. 6. Heb. 2. 13 14. And it is the proper office of the Holy Ghost to Regenerate us as it is of the Father to Adopt us but then the Father doth Adopt us in Christ who is a Father to us though a Son to God the Father and the holy Spirit is the Spirit of Regeneration and Adoption and therefore all three Co-essentiall persons are our Father 3. We may direct our Prayers to any one person as Steven directed his to the Lord Jesus Act. 7. 59. Lord Iesus receive my Spirit 4. We may direct our Prayers expressely unto two of the divine persons Now God himself and our Father and our Lord Iesus Christ direct our way unto you 1 Thes. 3. 11. 5. We may direct our Prayers unto all three as we do in the administration of Baptisme and in that Fundamentall Benediction 2 Cor. 13 14. 6. When we direct our prayers to one of the divine persons we exclude none because the Persons are in one another the Father is in the Son and they are all three coessentiall coequall They are one God and therefore are to be worshipped with that selfe same religious and divine Worship which is due to their single and undivided Godhead 7. When we direct our prayer to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the terme Father is taken in a peculiar notion not in the common notion and the Apostle directs his prayer after this peculiar manner Eph. 3. 14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named God the Father looks upon us poore wormes as part of his Family nay as his deare children whilest we are here on earth as well as he looks upon his other children the glorious Saints who are made perfect in heaven Oh what a quickning consideration is this to bring us upon our knees at a Throne of grace before Christs Father and our Father that we may have a childs Portion and be prepared for that place which Christ is now preparing for us We are part of the Family numbred amongst those of the best ranke we are children and have the same Father that Christ and the Saints in heaven have Iohn 20. 17. Ephes. 3. 14. and therefore shall come to be Coheires with Christ and them Here is heavenly encouragement unto Gospell-worship and Gospell-conversation It is no wonder then if that Gospell-worship be frequently performed to God under this endearing consideration and in this sweet and comfortable relation The Apostle wishes us grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 1. 7. and in like manner 1 Cor. 1 3. 2 Cor. 1. 2. Observe that solemn forme of thanksgiving Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort 2 Cor. 1. 3. Oh how willingly and cheerefully do we run to the God of all mercies and comfort in a time of temptation and affliction 2 Cor. 1. 4. For the Father discovers his bowels of mercy on purpose to invite us to him The Father himselfe loves you Iohn 16. 27. All spirituall glorious eternall blessings our Election Redemption Salvation are ascribed to this Father of all grace mercy comfort glory

Soule-satiating Communion we must take delight in our converse with God enjoyment of Christ and walking in the Spirit all the day We must enter into the rest of our beloved and take a sweet complacency in the fruition of God in the glimpse of his glory in the taste of his love in the kisses of his mouth in all the testimonies of his favor in all the love-tokens sent us from heaven The joy of the Lord must be our strength and in this strength we must go forth and mortifie our corruptious resist temptations and go about our worldly business all the next week with heavenly minds I cannot stand to speak directly and fully to the particular duties of the Sabbath or extraordinary duties of Evangelical fasting and Christian Feasting for all which there should be a serious preparation in all which there must be a prudent sequestration of our minds and hearts from the world that theremay be an intire consecration of them unto God and a sincere sanctification of all these times to Father Son and holy Ghost as it becomes the Sons of God the Members of Christ and Temples of the holy Ghost We should get oyle into our vessels dress and trim our Lamps that we may meet the Bridegroome of our soules in his appointed walkes in his own Ordinances and exercises I should say something likewise of our Penitentiall meltings before God Thus in briefe then when our conscience hath been wounded by the Spirit of bondage and is renewed by the Spirit of Regeneration it will in due time be pacified by the spirit of Adoption but even then the soule will melt into teares nay then it melts most kindly and laments most affectionately O I have sinned against the tender mercies of the bowels of God I have kicked my Father upon the Bowels I have made a sport and pastime of those sins which let out the heart bloud of my dear Saviour I have grieved vexed and even quenched the holy Spirit my sweetest Comforter I have sinned against all three and so trebled all my sins I feare I have saith the Soule in its agony even done despight to the Spirit of grace and trampled on the bloud of the Son of God but I have learnt to submit and beleeve to rejoyce and tremble to weep and waite for I waite upon a Father upon him whom my soule loves the spirit of faith and love hath taught me to come with a broken heart and a bleeding conscience to a Father to a Saviour to a Comforter I desire to keep the wound open by renewed Confessions and sprinkle the clensing bloud of Christ upon it by a lively faith Oh it is soveraign bloud and must be fiducially sprinkled by a speciall application and it is the spirit which makes this speciall application and administers reviving Cordials to broken hearts and fainting soules in their swowning fits When the most Ingenuous and refined sort of unregenerate men come to see that notwithstanding all their Civility and Formality they are in the gall of bitterness by reason of their impenitence and unbeliefe their opposition to the power of godliness their undervaluing of the mercies of God the love of Christ graces and comforts of the holy Spirit and feele these sins set home upon their hearts and consciences with stinging aggravations they are even fired out of their naturall estate and by the preventing grace of the Spirit made sensible of sin and hungry after grace and mercy The dreadfull impressions of Gods infinite Majesty and damning wrath make all the sensuall impressions of sin to be remembred with proportionable and self-condemning horrour But when the most glorious treasures of Gods sweetest mercies and richest grace folded up in his fatherly bowels are opened to these ingenuous men and the Spirit hath touched their hearts to lament after Christ then this ingenuous soule will cry out Oh what restless agonies what stinging wormes what unquenchable flouds of flaming brimstone how many Hells are there treasured up in one Hell for such a wretch as I am who have undervalued the riches of Gods mercy the love and merits of Christ the graces and comforts of the Spirit heaven and earth may be astonished men and Angels amazed at my prodigious madness in undervaluing Christ and Heaven In the midst of this agony and conflict prudent astonishment and spirituall horrour the holy Spirit urges invincible Arguments which are sweetly compulsive to perswade and constraine the soule to long for Christ. For when the Spirit hath made the threats both of Law and Gospel effectual to humble us he fils the soule with despaire of mercy if it continue in its former estate in the gall of impenitence and bond of unbeliefe but withall it doth assure the soule that there is plenteous redemption and eternall salvation treasured up in Christ for penitent beleevers Then the spirit opens the mystery of free Grace contained in a Covenant sealed with the Oath of God and bloud of Christ he reveales the eternity excellency sweetness freeness fulness infiniteness of Gods mercy and grace Christs love and merits as so many motives and encouragemets unto faith and repentance The Spirit sets a Pardon and a Crown before us acquaints us with the all-sufficient righteousnes and unsearchable riches of Christ and his own free and effectuall grace unspeakable comforts and glorious joyes and then convinces us that we want this grace to sanctifie us this Pardon and righteousnesse to justifie us this Crown and these joyes to enrich and satisfie us And upon this discovery the soule is encouraged to give credit to the holy Ghost to beleeve the love of the Father to depend upon Christs satisfaction and apply his righteousnes to prize the love of the Father the merit of Christ the grace and comforts of the Spirit above a World in a word to sell all for Christ and give up all to Christ resolving to be ruled by himself and his spirit for evermore Now the soule hath a new life put into it it hungers and thirsts for a more intimate Communion with Father Son and holy Ghost and this hungry soule sucks whilest the breast is open till it hath filled it self with substantiall nourishment reviving Cordials This devout soule becomes as Chrysostome styled Saint Paul an insatiable worshipper of Father Son and holy Ghost it desires to grow in grace to presse on towards perfection to have Father Son and holy Ghost to come sup with it dwell in it rule in it that it may be enriched with the unsearchable riches of Christ and filled with all the fulness of God This converted soule doth after these Penitentiall meltings Fiduciall breathings after Christ and obedientall closing with Father Son and holy Ghost differ as much from it self when it was most ingenuous before its conversion as an Angell doth from a Divell For the most ingenuous and refined sort of unregenerate men have nothing in them which is more excellent then