Reader
Concerning the Truth of Christian Religion · Philippe de Mornay

Concerning the Truth of Christian Religion, Chapter 6

The vj. Chapter.

That the Philosophie of old tyme consenteth to this doctrine of the Trinitie.

SUrely (as I hauehave sayd afore) this doctrine is not bred of mans braine, though it be paynted there after some sort; but was verely inspyred into our forefathers from aboue, who (as saith Plato Plato in his Philebus.) were better than we, and nerer also vntounto God. And in good sooth we see an infallible argument thereof, in that the elder the world groweth, the more do mens doctrines grow to perfection & knowledge. But contrarywise, the further that this hath gone from the former ages, the more hath it bin found darkened,Plato. lib. 3. of his Commonweale: and lib. 10. & 12. of Lawes. & hath nowhere bin so lightsome as at the welspring thereof; vntill that by the birth of the true daysonne in deede, it receyued greater light than euer it had afore. And therefore when Plato, yea and Aristotle Aristo. lib. 1. of Heauen. & lib. 12. of his Metaphisiks. Plotin often. &c.himselfe speake of the Godhead, of the Creation of the World, and of other like Misteries; they be fayne to alledge the auncient report, and the record of antiquitie descended from hand to hand, as ye surest staffe to stand by in matters that excéede the capacitie of man. Which thing they expresse ordinarily by these spéeches, According to the old Sawe, The Chaldies heard speake of the Trinite. Zoroast…es. Plutarke in his treatise of Isis and Osyris. Plinie and Aristotle beare witnesse that he wrote many bookes.as the auncientest reports goe, As our forefathers and Elde…s say, and such like. Among these men of the auncientest sort, the first that wee méete with is Zoroastres, whom Plutarke reporteth to hauehave liued certeyne thousands of yeres afore ye warres of Troy. Neuerthelesse, by report of the best Authors, he descended of Cham, and was vanquished by Nynus King of the Assyrians. Of him came the Magies, that is to say the Wisemen of Chaldey, and from them sprung vp the like in Persia, who had in their custodie the Registers of the Kings of those daies, & wrate their déeds, and had the ordering of matters perteining to Religion. And now marke what we find in their sayings gathered by men of old time, which are commonly called Logia, that is to say Oracles. The father (sayth Zoroaftres) did perfect all things, and gaue them to a second Mynd whom all mankind taketh for the first. And Pletho Gemistus foreign. Pletho Gemistus.a Platonist sayth, that by this second Mynd, he meaneth a second God which succéedeth the Father, and hath his begetting of the Father; and that men hauehave taken him for the first, because God created the World by him, howbeit that the Father created the myndly shapes, and gaue the gouernment of them to this second Mynd.foreign. Ye see then here is a second person begotten of the Father. Proclus rehearseth the same, saying; This Mynd hauing alone taken the flower of Vnderstāding from the power of the Father, possesseth the vnderstanding and power to deale foorth his Fathers vnderstanding or mynd to all Originalles and all Beginnings of things. Then hath he his being and his vnderstanding from the Father, and all other things hauehave them from him. But the things which are found in his Commentarie vponupon the Parmenides of Plato are wonderfull.

For the better yéelding of the sence whereof,Proclus lib. 2. & 3. vponupon Platoes Parmenides. I will translate it into Prose, notwithstanding yt it be written in verse in the Gréeke. The Mynd of the Father (sayth he) being settled by determinate purpose, did shed foorth shapes of all sorts; which issued all from one selfesame fountayne, because the deuise and end were both of the Father. But yet were they diuided by a Fyre of vnderstanding, and (as it were by destinie) distributed into other vnderstandings. For afore the making of this sundry-shaped world, God had conceyued an incorruptible patterne thereof, as a world subiect only to mynd and vnderstanding: In the mould whereof this present World being stamped, became full of al those shapes, of the which there is but one only gracious Fountaine.

And againe in another place he sayth as followeth.

That is to say, The louelove of God being a fyrie bond, issued first from his vnderstanding, and clothed it selfe with fire to temper the conueyances of the watersprings, by spreading his heate vponupon the same. These are their accustomed obscurities; wherein (notwithstanding) it is clerely enough vttered, that there is a Father, a Sonne, and a LoueLove that linketh them together: and moreouer, that the sayd begotten Mynd or Understanding is he by whom God framed the World, and that from him procéedeth the diuine LoueLove, as I hauehave sayd heretofore. In another place they say that the sayd Fatherly Mynd hath sowed and planted in our Soules, a certeyne resemblance of the sayd begotten vnderstanding, and that our willes be not acceptable vntounto him, vntill wée awake out of forgetfulnesse, and bethinke our selues againe of the ‖foreign.pure fatherly marke which is in vsus. And againe, that the same Understanding, being of*foreign. power to beget or bréede of it selfe, did (by considering) cast a fyrie bond of LoueLove vponupon all things, wherby they be continued for euer. But it is enough for vsus that in the sayings afore alleadged, wee hauehave a briefe Summe of the diuinitie of the Magies, who held thrée beginnings, whom (as wee reade in other places) they called Oromases, Mitris, and Ariminis, [that is to say] God, Mynd, and Soule. And surely wee should wonder at them much more, if we had their whole bookes, as we hauehave but péeces of them remayning. Now, the Magies were first in Chaldye, and we reade in Moyses how highly Balaam was estéemed, in that he was thought able to blesse Nations and Armies. And these Chaldies are the same of whom the Oracle of Apollo answered, That only they and the Hebrewes had wisedome parted betwixt them.

foreign.

All wisedome certesse parted is betweene

The Chaldies and the Hebrewes as is seene.

Mercurius Trismegistus Mercurie. The Egiptians(as we hauehave seene in the third Chapter) acknowledged but only one God, who cannot well bee named but by two names, to wit, Good, and Father. And because the same God is indewed with vnderstanding, sometymes he calleth him foreign, howbeit that most commonly he makes a differece betwéene the Father and the Understanding which he calleth Mynd likewise. Which thing appeareth in this saying of his, I am Poemander, foreign. Of the selfebeing in his Poemander. cap. 2.the Feeder of Men, & the vnderstanding of the Beer which is of himself. But behold here records as cléere as can bée. God (sayth he) who is also Mynd, and Life, and Light, & Male-f…male; begate or bred Logon the Speech or Word, which is another Mynd, and the workmayster of all things; & with that Speech, another which is the fyrie God and the Spirite of the Godhead. foreign, &c.Lo here a Mynd begottē of a Mynd, Understanding of Understanding, and Light of Light; and besides that, moreouer a Spirit. And againe, This Speech that proceedeth from GOD being altogether perfect, and fruitfull, and Workmistresse of all things, lighteth vponupon the water and maketh it fruitfull. It is the same thing that is spoken of in Moyses, where God sayth, And the waters immediatly brought foorth. To be short, vntounto this holy spéech (as he termeth it) he attributeth the begetting, ingendring & spreading foorth of al things from ofspring to ofspring, as is to be seene.foreign. But here is yet more: I thy God (sayth God) am Light and Mynd, of more antiquitie than the nature of moysture that is issued frō the shadow. And this lightsome Speech which proceedeth from the mynd, is the Sonne of God. That which heareth and seeth in thee, is the word of the Lord; and the Mynd is God the Father; Mercury alledged by Cyrillus. lib. 1. against Iulian. & in his Poemander cap. 1. foreign.these differ not one from another; and as for their vnion, it is the vnion of life, &c. And againe: This Speech being the workman of God the Lord of the whole World, hath chiefe power next him, and is vncreated, infinite, proceeding from him, the Commaunder of all things which he made, the perfect & naturall firstborne Sonne of the most perfect. To be short, he calleth him ye myndly spéech, euerlasting, vnchaungeable, vncorruptible, vnincreasing, vndecreasing, alonly like him, and firstbeknowne after God; and moreouer his onelyonly Sonne, his welbeloued Sonne, the Sonne of the most holy, whose name … be named by mouth of man. And is not this as much as to call him Coessentiall, Coeternal, and the Creator of all things?Merc. 1. foreign. Austin in the Prayer of Fiue Heresies. Mercurie in his Esculapius. Chap. 3. & 7. And what more can we say thereof?

Of the third parson he speaketh more dackly. Al kind of things in this World (saith he) are quickened by a Spirit; One Spirit filleth all things; the World nourisheth the bodies, and the Spirit the Soules; and this Spirit as a toole or instrument, is subiect to the will of God. But here is yet somewhat more. All things (saith he) hauehave neede of this Spirit; it beareth them vp, it nourisheth them, it quickeneth them, according to eueryevery of their capacities: it proceedeth from a holy fountaine, and is the mainteyner of all liuing things and of all Spirits. Here yee sée the reason why we call him the holy Ghoste, namely, because he procéedeth from the fountayne which is the very holynesse it selfe. And least we should thinke him to be a Creature,Mercurie in his holy Sermon in his Poemander. cap. 3. There was (saith he) an infinite shadowe in the Deepe, whereon was the water, and a fine vnderstanding Spirit was in that confuzed masse through the power of God. From thēce there florished a certeine holy brightnesse, which out of the Sand and the moyst nature brought foorth the Elements and all things els. Also the Gods themselues which dwell in the Starres, tooke their place by the direction & appoyntment of this Spirit of God. Thus then hee was present at the creation of things; and it is the same spirit whereof it is sayd in the Byble,Gen. 1. That the spirit of the Lord houered vponupon the outside of the déepe. But in some places he matcheth all thrée persons togither. O lyfe (sayth he) saue that life which is in mee. Mercurie in his Poemander. cap. 13.O light and God the Spirit inlighten mee wholy. O worker which bearest thy Spirit about, let thy word gouerne mee. Lord, thou art the only one God. Againe,foreign. Cyrillus against Tulgentius. there was (sayth he) a light of vnderstanding, afore the light of vnderstanding, and there was euer a mind of the lightfull Mind, and besides those, there was not any thing els than the vnion of them by one Spirit vpholding all things: without which there is neither God nor Angel, nor other Substance: For hee is Lord, Father, and God of all, and in him and vnderunder him are al things. And hauing said so (sayth Suydas Suidas in his Mercurie. foreign.) he addeth this praier. I adiure thee ô Heauen the wise woorke of the great God; I adiure thee ô voyce which God vttered first when he founded the world; I adiure thee by the onelyonly begotten Speeche, and by the Father who conteyneth all things, &c. There is no man but he would woonder to sée in this author the very woords of S. Iohn: and yet notwithstanding his bookes were translated by the Platonists long tyme afore the cōming of our Lord Iesus Christ. And it is no maruayle though we find sayings of his in diuers places which are not written in his Poemander, considering that hee wrote sixe and thirtie thousand, fiue hundred, and fiue and twentie Uolumes, that is to say Rolles of Paper, as Iamblichus Iamblichus in his 39. Chap. of Mysteries.reporteth. And it is said that this Trismegistus otherwise called Theut, is the same that taught the AEgiptians to reade, and which inuented them Geometrie and Astronomie, which deuided AEgipt into partes, which left his forewarning against ouerflowings written in two Pillers,Plato in his Phedon and Philebus. Eusebius of Demonstration (which Proclus reporteth to hauehave beene standing still in his tyme;) and to be short, which had bene reputed and honored as a God among them. And it may be, that the treble outcry which the AEgiptians made in calling vppon the first Beginner, whome they tearmed the darkenesse beyond all knowledge, like too the Ensoph of the Hebrewes, Iamblichus Chapt. 1. Produs vponupon Plato. Damascius the Platonist.and the Night of the Orpheus, was still remayning vntounto them, of his diuinitie. Thus hauehave you séene how Zoroastres and Mercurie hauehave aunswered vntounto vsus, the one for the Persians and Chaldeans, and the other for the AEgiptians. For in matters of Wisdome, the wise ought to be beléeued for the whole Nation.

Now let vsus come to the Greekes. The auncient Greekes.Orpheus Orpheus.which is the auncientest of them all, as soone as he beginneth to speake of these misteries, doth first and formost shut all Heathenish folke out of the doores, and then sayth thus:foreign. And agayne. foreign, &c. Let thine eye be vponupon the word of God, and start not away from it, for that is it that made the world, and is immortall, and (according to the old saying) is perfect of it selfe, and the perfecter of all things, and it cannot be seene but with the mynd. And afterward, I adiure thee Ô Heauen (sayth he) the wyse woorke of the great God, I adiure thee thou voyce of the father which he spake first, and so forth. For this (as appeareth afore) was a praier which he had learned of Mercurie; from whom also procéeded the common misterie of the Poets, That Pallas was bred of Iupiters brayne. The same man sayth that the first Moother of things was wisdome, and afterward delightfull louelove.Clemens lib. 5 Strom. Orph. foreign. And in his Argonawte hee calleth this louelove, most auncient, most perfect in it selfe, and the bringer foorth and disposer of all things.

foreign,

foreign.

Wherevpon Pherecydes Pherecydes in Proclus.also sayth, That God intending too make the worlde, chaunged himselfe into louelove. And Iamblichus sayth that Pythagoras had the Philosophie of Orpheus alwayes before his eyes;Orph. in Argonaut. and therefore it is not for vsus to woonder, though he attributed the creation of al things to Wisdome, & (as Proclus reporteth) commended three Gods togither in one, as Plato doth. Howsoeuer the case stand, Aristotle Aristotle in his first booke of Heauen.sayeth, that they fathered all their perfection vponupon thrée. And Parmenides did set downe LoueLove as a first beginner; insomuch that in disputing in Plato, Parmenides in his Cosmogoni… ailedged by Plutarke.he leaueth vsus there an euident marke of the thrée Inbeeings or Persones as Plotine noteth; but we shall see it layd foorth more playnly hereafter by Numenius the Pythagorist. Zeno the father of the Stolks, foreign.acknowledged the word to be God, and also the Spirit of Iupiter. And Alcinous reporteth that Socrates and Plato taught that God is a mynde, and that in the sauie there is a certaine …, which Inshape as in respect of God, is the knowledge which God hath of himselfe; and in respect of the worlde, is the Patterne or Mauld thereof; and in respect of it selfe, is very essence.Plotin. Ennead. 4. lib. 1. Chap. 8. Zeno the stoik Aleinous concerning the Doctrine of Plato. This in fewe words centeyneth much matter, that is to wit, the one essence which God begetteth by the con…idering or knowing of himselfe, according to the patterne whereof he hath buylded the world. But yet Plato himselfe speaketh more playnly in his Epinomis. EueryEvery Starre (sayth he) keepeth his course according to the order which (ho logos) the Word hath set, which word he calleth Most diuine. Plato in his Epinomis.In his booke of Commonweale hee calleth him the begotten Sonne of the Good, most lyke vntounto him … all things,foreign. ye Good (sayth he) being as the … that shineth in the skye; and the begotten Sonne beeing as the power of the Sunne whereby we see [that is to say, as ye light.] Also in his Epistle to Hermius, Erastus, and Coriscus, hee chargeth them with an othe to reade it often,Plato in his sixt booke of Commonweale. and at the least, two of them togither, saying: Call vppon God the Prince of al things, that are and shalbe, and the Lord the Father of that Prince and of that Cause, of whome if wee seeke the knowledge aright, foreign. Plato in his Epistle to Hermias, Erastus, and Coriscus. Plato vntounto Dennis the Tyrant. foreignwe hauehave as much s…ill as can bee giuen to blessed men. Then is there a Lorde and Cause of all things, and moreouer a father of the same Lorde. But anto King Dennis who had asked of him the nature of God, he setteth down al the thrée parsons. The nature of the first (saith he) is to be spoken of in Riddlewise, to the intent that if any mischaunce befall the Letter by Sea or by Land, the reading thereof may be as good as no reading at all. Thus then stands the case. All things are at commaundement of the King of the whole world, and all things are for his sake, and he is the cause of the beautie that is in them; And about the second are the secōd things, and about the third are the third, and so foorth. Now these (as he himselfe sayth) are Riddies to Dennis the Tyrant vntounto whome he wrote, and my e…pounding of them of the three I… béeings or Persones in the Godhead, is by the consent of all the Platonists, who hauehave made long Commentaries vppon those woords, agréeing all in this poynt, that by these three Kings hee meaneth the Good, the vnderstanding, and the Soule of the World. And Origene Origen in his 6. booke against C…lsus.against Celsus alledgeth certayne other places of Plato to the same purpose; the which I leaue, for auoyding of tediousnes. But this doctrine which beeing reuealed from aboue, came from hand to hand vntounto Aristotle, (who liued about thrée hundred yeres afore the comming of Christ (séemeth to hauehave decayed in him; who intending to ouerthrowe al the Philosophers that went afore him, corrupted their doctrine diuers wayes. And therewithall he gaue him self more to the seeking and searching of Naturall things, than to the mynding of the Author of them. Yet notwithstanding,In his first booke of Philosophy. he fathereth the cause of all things vppon a certayne Understanding,Also in his booke of the World. which he calleth Noun, yt is to say Mynde,In his first booke of Heauen. acknowledging the same to bee infinite in God; and also vppon a Frée will whereby he disposeth all things; wherevppon in the last Chapter I coucluded a second and a third persone. Insomuch that in a certayne place he sayeth playnly, that God is to be honored according to the nomber of thrée, and that the same is after a sort the Lawe of Nature.

Now, for asmuch as this doctrine is not bred of mans brayne; if it bee demaunded whence all the Philosophers tooke it; wee shall finde that the Greekes had it from out of AEgipt. Orpheus witnesseth in his Argonawts, that to seeke the Misteries (that is to say the Religion) of the AEgiptians, he went as farre as Memphis, visiting all the Cities vponupon the Riuer Nyle.

Through out the land of AEgipt I hauehave goneOrpheus in h… Argonawts.

To Memphis and the Cities euerychone

That worship Apis or be seated by

The Riuer Nyle whose streame doth swell so hy.

Also Pythagoras visited the AEgiptians, Arabians and Chaldeans, yea, and went into Iewry also, and dwelt a long tyme at Mount Carmel (as Strabo sayth:Cicero. Iamblichus. Porphyrius.) insomuch that the Priestes of that Countrey shewed Strabo still the iourneyes and walkes of him there.Clemens in the first booke of his Stromars. Now, in AEgipt he was the Disciple of one Sonchedie the chiefe Prophet of the AEgiptians, and of one Nazarie an Assyrian (as Alexander reporteth in his booke of Pythagorasis discourses) whom some (miscounting the tyme) thought to bee Ezechiel. And Hermippus Out of Alexander & Hermippus.a Pythagorist writeth that Pythagoras learned many things out of the lawe of Moyses. Also the sayd AEgiptian Priest vpbrayded Solon, that the Greekes were Babes, and knewe nothing of Antiquitie.Plato in his Timaeus. And Solon (as sayth Proclus Proclus vponupon Timaeus.) was Disciple in Says a Citie of AEgipt, to one Patanit, or (as Plutarke Plutarke in his Treatise of Isis and Osyris.sayth) to one Sonchis; in Heliople, to one Oeclapie; and in Sebenitie, to one Etimon. Plato was the Disciple of one Sechnuphis of Heliople in AEgipt; and Eudoxus the Guidian was the Disciple of one Conuphis; all which Maysterteachers issewed out of the Schoole of the great Trismegistus aforenamed.Plato in his Epinomis, Cratylus, and Phil. To be short, Plato confesseth in many places, that knowledge came to the Greekes by those whom they commonly called the barbarus people. As touching Zoroastres and Trismegistus, Iustine & Manethon alledged by Iosephus against Appion.the one was an Hebrewe, and the other, an AEgiptian. And at the same tyme the Hebrewes were conuersant with the AEgiptians, as is to be séene euen in the Heathen Authors. Whereby it appeareth that the originall fountayne of this doctrine was to bee found among them; which is the thing that wee hauehave to proue as now. I meane not to gather hether a great sort of Texts of the Byble, wherein mention is made as well of the second person as of the third, of which sort are these,Psalm. 2. Thou art my Sonne, Prouerb. 8.this day hauehave I begotten thee. Gen. 1.The Lord (sayth Wisedome) possessed me in the beginning of his wayes; afore the depths was I conceyued. &c. Also concerning the holy Ghost,Esay. 53. The Spirit of the Lord walked vponupon the waters. The Spirit of Wisedome is gentle: And it is an ordinary spéech among the Prophetes to say,Esay. 61. The Spirit of the Lord was vponupon me. And in this next saying are two of them together, or rather all three.Psalm. 33. The Heauens were spred out by the word of the Lord, and all the power of them by the Spirit of his mouth. For they be so alledged and expounded in infinite bookes, howbeit that the Iewes at this day do labour as much as they can, to turne them to another sence.

But let vsus sée what their owne Doctors hauehave left vsus in expresse words,The Iewes themselues do proue the Trinitie. (for ye most part) culled by themselues out of writtē bookes, afore that ye cōming of our Lord Iesus Christ had made yt docttrine suspected. In their Zohar which is one of their Bookes of greatest authoritie, Rabbi Simeon, the sonne of Iohai, citeth Rabbi Ibba expoūding this text of Deuteronomie, Hearken ô Israel, The Euerlasting our God is one God. The Hebrewe standeth thus, Iehouah Echad Iehouah Eloh enu. By ye first Iehouah which is ye peculiar name of God not to bée communicated to any other, Rabbi Ibba saith he meaneth the Father the Prince of al. By Eloh enu that is to say our God, he meaneth the Sonne the Fountaine of all knowledge. And by the second Iehouah he meaneth the holy Ghost proceeding from them both, who is the measurer of the voyce. And he calleth him One, because he is vndiuidable; and this Secret (saith he) shall not be reuealed afore the comming of the Messias. The same Rabbi Simeon R. Simeon ben Iohai expounding the 6. of Esay.expoūding these words of Esay, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hostes; sayth, Holy is the Father, Holy is the Sonne, & Holy also is the holy Ghost. In so much that this Author who is so misticall among them, doth in other places call them the Three Mirrours, Lights, and Souerein fathers, which hauehave neither beginning nor end, and are the name and substaunce to the Roote of all Rootes. And Rabbi Ionathas in many Copies of his Chaldey Paraphrase, sayth the same. And therefore no maruell though the Thalmudists of olde tyme commaunded men to say that Uerse twise a day, and that some obserue it still at this day. Upon these words of the 50. Psalme,Psalm. 50. and the Midra…ch vpō the same. El elohim Iehouah dibber, that is to say, The Lord of Lords the Euerlasting hath spoken: The ordinary Commentarie sayth also, that by the sayd repetition the Prophet meaneth the thrée Middoth Properties wherby God created the world. According whereunto Rabbi Moyses Hadarsan R. Moyses Hadarsan vponupon the 42. of Gen. Midrasch Cobeleth chap. 4.sayeth that hee created by his word; And Rabbi Simeon sayeth he created by the breath of his mouth. And this saying of ye Preacher, That a thréefold Corde is not so soone broken, is expounded by the same glose, (I examine not whether filthy or no) that the inisterie of the Trinitie in the one God is not easie to bee expressed. Nowe these thrée Properties, (which the Hebrewes call Panim, the Greekes foreign, and we & the Latins call Persons) are betokened by diuers names among the men of old tyme, but yet they iumpe all in one, according as they vnderstoode them, some more clearely than other some.Rabbi Isha… ben Schola vppon the last verses of the 111. and 112. Psalmes. Some name them the Beginning, the Wisdome, & the Feare of LoueLove of God: and they say that this Wisedome is Meensoph, as the Cabalists tearme it, that is to saye, of the infinite and most inward vnderstanding of God, who beholdeth hymselfe in himself, for so doe they expound it. Which is the selfesame thing that I spake of in the former Chapter, namely that God begetteth his Sonne or Wisdome by his mynding of himselfe. Othersome call him Spirit, Word, and Voyce: as Rabbi Azariell R. Azariel in his Commentarie or treatise of Holinesse.doth in these words following. The Spirit bringeth foorth the Word and the Voyce, but not by opening the Lippes, or by speeche of the tongue, or by breathing after the maner of man; And these three be one Spirit, to wit one God, as we reade (sayeth he) in the booke of the creating of man in these termes: Iepher haije… sirab.One Spirit rightly liuing, blessed bee hee and his name, who liueth for euer and euer, Spirit, Word, and Voyce, that is to say, One holy Ghost and two Spirits of that Spirit. Now this booke of the Creation which he alledgeth, is one Rabbi Abrahams a very auncient Cabalist; Neuerthelesse it is of so great authoritie amōg them, that they father it euen vponupon the Patriarke Abraham himselfe. And that which he sayth agreeth wholy to that which we say; for the mynd conceyueth the inward spéech, and of the mynd and of breath procéedeth the voyce. These three (sayth Rabbi Hamay R. Hamay in his Treatise of Speculation. Hagnij …n.) beeing one, hauehave such a proportionable respect one towards another, as that the one, the Vniter, and the thing Vnited are but one poynt, to wit, the Lord of the whole world. Rabbi Isaac R. Ishaac vponupon the booke of the Creation.vppon the booke of the Creation maketh three nomberings, (which he termeth the Loftie one) in the Ensoph, that is to say, in the Infinite, that is to wit Garlond, Wisdom, and vnderstanding. And to betoken them, Rabby Assee Cether chochnah binah. Rabbi Assee.sayth that the custome was to marke them in all ages after this maner with three Iods Iehouah: which is as much to say as the Beeër, or He that is. To be short, what diuersitie soeuer there is in ye names, they al agree in the thrée Inbéeings or Persons. And it is no maruell though they could not so well expresse them as we can now. Rabbi Ioseph In his booke intytled, Schaguar orah. that is to say, The Gate of Light.the Castilian, hauing learned it out of the auncientest writers, sayeth thus: The light of the Soule of the Messias, is the liuing God; and the liuing God is the fountaine of the liuing waters; and the Soule of the Messias is the Riuer or Streame of lyse. Aud in another place, None but the Messias (sayth he) knoweth God fully, because he is the light of God and the light of the Gentiles, and therefore he knoweth God, and God is knowen by him. Now when as they say that he knoweth GOD fully, they graunt him to be God; for who can comprehend God but GOD himselfe? And it is the selfesame thing which I spake of when I sayd light of light, and when in comparing the Sonne to the Father, I lykened him as a streame to the fountaine, and the Sunne beames to the Sunne. Also we shall see in place conuenient, that by the Soule of the Messias, they meant The Word: and it is a wonderfull thing that all the names of God in Hebrewe (sauing onelyonly the name of his Essence or single béeing) hauehave the plurall termination, notwithstanding that they be ioyned with a verbe of the singular nomber, (whereof the auncient Iewes doe yéeld the same reason that we doe:) and that a great sort of the Texts of the olde Testament which we alledge for the proofe of the Trinitie, are expounded by them in the selfesame sence, howbeit that the Talumdists since the comming of our Lorde Iesus Christ, hauehave taken great payne to wrest them to another meaning.

Rabbi Iudas Nagid whom they commonly called the Sainct and Prophet, speaketh most plainly of all. Wherevpon it is to bée vnderstood,The Epistle of the Secretes of R Nehumia the Sonne of Hacana. that men were forbidden to vtter the vncommunicable name of God, (that is to wit Iehoua,) saue only in the daies of attonementmaking; and in sted thereof they were commaunded to vse the name of Twelue letters, for the other afore mētioned hath but fower. And beeing asked what the name of Twelue letters was, he answered that it was Father, Sonne, and holy Ghost. Also being demaunded what the name of Two and fortie letters was; he answered, The Father is God, the Sonne is God, and the holy Ghost is God, three in one, and one in three. *This is to bee seene euen in Sainct Math. chap. 1. ver. 20. where the Angell sayth to Ioseph, that Mary was with child by the holy Ghost: for otherwise it had bin to no purpose to hauehave spoken of the holy Ghost, of whō they had not heard any speaking afore.Now then, it was a doctrine receiued from hand to hand in the Schooles of the Iewes, as wee see by the long continuance thereof in the succession of their Cabale. And therefore the contention of the Iewes and of the Rabbynes was not (to speake properly) in withstanding the doctrine of the thrée Persons in the Essence of God; but in the applying thereof, namely to the incarnation of the Word, which in their eye was very farre vnbeseeming the Maiestie of God.

Let vsus goe to Philo the Iew who wrate in Greeke, and we shall finde him like in all poynts from leafe to leafe. God (sayth he) is the souereine begetter, and next to him, is the Word of God. Also,The same is also in the Preaching of Iohn the Baptist, Chapter 3. verse 20. He shall baptise ye with the holy Ghost & with Fyre. And in diuers other places. And in very deede the name of the holy Ghost is rife among all the Rabbines. Philo in his Treatise vponupon the sixe Daies. In his treatise, That Dreames are of God. In his booke of the World. In his booke of the remouings of Abraham. There are two Firsts; the one is Gods word, & the other is God who is afore the Word; and the same Word is the beginning and the ende foreign of his good pleasure, intent, or will. And in another place, Like as a Citie (saith he) wherof the platforme is yet but set doune in the mynd of the Builder, hath no place elswhere than in the Builder: So this world had not any being elswhere than in the Word of God which ordeyned all things. For what other place could conteyne the operations of God, yea or euen the simplest of his conceiued patternes? Therefore to speake plainly, The World in vnderstanding, is the Word or Conceyt of God that made it. And this is not the opinion of me onelyonly, but also of Moyses himselfe. And to conclude, he calleth him the Patterne of all Patternes, and the Mould wherein all things were cast. And in an other place, This World (sayth he) is Gods yonger Sonne; but as for the elder Sonne, he cannot bee comprehended but in vnderstanding. For he it is who by prerogatiue of eldership abydeth with the Father. Now, this is word for word the same thing that S. Iohn sayth, And the Word was with God. And againe, The Word is the place, the Temple, and the dwelling house of God, because the Word is the onelyonly thing that can conteyne him. And that is the thing which I sayd, namely, that GOD comprehending himselfe by his vnderstanding, begate the Sonne or the Word equall to himselfe, because he conceyueth not any thing lesse than himselfe. And to shewe the greatnesse of this Word, he could scarce tell what names to giuegive it.Philo in the Allegories of the law, in his Bookes of of Dreames, of Tyllage, of the firy sword, of the Heire of Heauēly thīgs, of the euil that layeth snares for the good, &c. He calleth it the Booke wherein the essences of all things that are in ye whole world are written and printed; the perfect Patterne of the World; the Daysonne, that is to be seene but only of the Mynd; the Prince of the Angelles; the Firstborne of God; the Shepheard of his flocke; the chiefe Hyghpriest of the World; the Manna of mens Soules; the Wisedome of God; the perfect Image of the Hyghest; and the Organe or Iustrument whereby God (being moued thereto of his owne goodnesse) created the World. And to be short, he calleth him the Firstbeginner, Lightfulnesse, or altogether light, God, and the Béeer that is of himself. All these are such things as more cannot be attributed to God himselfe:foreign. and he could not hauehave sayd more expressely, that the Word is Coeternall and Coessentiall with the Father, that is to say, of one selfesame substaunce and of one selfesame euerlastingnesse with the Father. Neuerthelesse, he addeth yet further, That this Worde hath in it the se…des of all things; That he hath distributed to eueryevery of them their seuerall natures; and that he is the inuincible bond of the whole world & of al things therein. So then, he is (if I may so terme him) the materiall, efficient, and formall cause of all things.Philo in his bookes concerning the Heyre of Heauenly things, of the mo…esty of Women, and of the word, &c. And vntounto whom can that bée attributed but vntounto God? Againe, There are (saith he) Two Speeches or words; the one being as an Originall deede, is aboue vsus; and the other being as an Exemplification or Copy therof, is within vsus. And Moyses (sayth he) calleth the same the Image of God; and this other which is our vnderstanding, he calleth a later Copy thereof. And the sayd first Speech (sayeth he in his booke of the World) is the expresse print or stampe of God, foreign, that is to say, as a print printed in Waxe,and euerlasting as God him selfe is. And what more sayth S. Iohn, or the Apostle to the Hebrewes? And in all those places, (which are worthie to be read throughout,) he vseth S. Iohns own terme (namely Logos) to signifie the sayd Spéech, or Word.

Of the holy Ghost hee speaketh more darkly, because the Hebrewes (as we shal see hereafter) amed chiefly at the Word or second Person. But it is enough for vsus to hauehave séene, that this fountayne abode sufficiently cléere among the Hebrewes, till the comming of Christ (for Philo liued vnderunder the Emperours Tiberius and Caligula) though the streames thereof were as good as dryed vp among the Gentiles; verely because the Messias was to bee borne among the Hebrewes, of the beléefe in whom, this doctrine was to be the groundworke. For as soone as Christ was come into the World, it tooke light of him againe, as at the day sunne which inlighteneth not onelyonly the halfe compasse where on he shineth, but also euen a part of that which seeth him not. For this doctrine was not only receyued in the Church, but also imbraced of all the great Philosophers that came after, notwithstanding that in all other things, they were deadly enemies to the Christians.

Numenius, the excellentest of all the Pythagorians, The later Pythagorians & Academiks. Numenius in his booke of the Good. Looke Eusebius and Cyrillus. lib. 8.(of whom Porphyrie reporteth Plotinus to hauehave made so great account, that he wrate a hundred bookes of Commentaries vponupon him) saith these wordes. He that will knowe the first and second GOD, must well distinguish, and aboue all things he must well settle his mynd; and then hauing called vponupon GOD, he may open the treasure of his thoughts. And therfore let vsus begin thus. God (I meane the first who is in himself,) is single, throughout cō pacted, and one in himself, and in no part diuidable. Also the second and third God is one: but yet you must consider, that the First is the father of him that is the worker of all things. [Now ye must vnderstand,The Reader must vnderstand, that by three gods thei meane three Inbeeings, as they thēselues do declare it. that] whereas wee say, the Frst, Second, & Third Person; it is their maner to say, the First, Second, and Third God, which thing you must marke here at once for all the residue following. And whereas he sayth that the first of them is the Father, and that he is single, and that they bee but one; it is not to bee doubted but that he maketh them all one Essence, so as the second holdeth of the first, as the Light holdeth of the Sunne. Againe, The first God (sayth he) is free from all worke, but the second is the maker which commaundeth Heauen: and therfore are there two lyues, the one from the first, and the other from the second; the one occupyed about things subiect to vnderstanding, and the other about things subiect both to vnderstanding & sence. And moreouer, by reason of the mouing which goeth afore in the second, there is also a sending which goeth afore in the first; and so there is a certeyne ioynt-mouing from whence the healthfull order of the World is spred foorth vniuersally. foreign,Now, whereas he speaketh of mouing, it is after the maner of the Platonists, who (metaphorically) doe meane, that to be vnderstood or knowne is to moue, and to vnderstand or knowe is to bee moued, because they wanted words to expresse these déepe matters. And in the same sence doe wee reade in the Scripture, that the Sonne is sent of the Father. And againe, God the worker or maker (sayth he) is the beginner of Begetting; foreign.and God the Good is the beginner of Beeing: and the Second is the liuely exppresser of the First, as Begetting is an Image of Beeing. And in another place he sayth, That this Worker beeing the Sonne, is knowne to all men by reason of the creating of the World; but as for the first Spirite, which is the Father, he is vnknowne vntounto them. And surely (cōsidering their maner of speaking) he could not hauehave sayd more plainly, That the Sonne is the Image of the Father, that he hath his being in him, that he is one with him, & that by him the Father made all things. And it is agréeable to that which Proclus witnesseth of him, who reporteth of this Numenius, that he woorshipped thrée Goddes; of whom he calleth the first the Father, the second the Maker, and the third the Worke procéeding from them both. Wherein wée ought not so much to seeke into the default, as to commend the good that is therein. Besides this, it is good to marke here once for all, that these men which speake vntounto vsus here of thrée Gods, are the same which confessed vntounto vsus hertofore, that there is but only one God. Wherevpon it followeth that those thrée be but thrée Inbeings or Persons,This Plotinus liued vnderunder the Emperour Galien about the yere of on Lord 25 or. Plotin. Enn. 5, lib. 1. in one Essence.

Plotinus, who was very well studyed in the bookes of Numenius, steppeth yet further into the matter. And first of all, he hath made a Booke expressely & purposely of the thrée chiefe Inbeings, whereof I will set downe here a certeyne briefe Summe. There are (sayth he) three chiefe Inbeings, the One or the Good, the Vnderstanding or Witte,Of the three souerein or cheefe persons or Inbeings. and the Soule of the World. And of these three it is not for any man to speake, without praying vntounto God,foreign. To the intent the Reader think not any obscuritie in this or other that follow, he must remember that to the first Inbeeing, (that is to say, Persone) the Philosophers giuegive the names of the One, The Mind, the Good, the Father, and the Begetter: vntounto the second persone, the names of Beeër or he that is, wit or vnderstanding, the Beautifull, and sometimes Speech, word, Reason, wisdom, Sonne, and the begotten: and vntounto the third persone, the names of LoueLove, Will, Power, and the Soule of the World: & sometimes, the second world, &c. & without settling his mynd afore vntounto quietnes. And if it be demaunded how one of them begetteth another; it is to bee considered that wee speake of euerlasting things, and therfore we must not imagine any temporall begetting. For this begetting which wee speake of heere, importeth and betokeneth but onelyonly cause and order. How commeth it to passe (sayth he) that this Vnderstnding is begottē of the One? Surely it obteyneth not his beeing by meanes of any assent, commaundment, or mouing of the One; but it is a light shed foorth euerywhere, streaming from the One as brightnesse from the Sunne, and begotten of the One, howbeit without any mouing of the One. For all things, as in respect of their continuing of their nature, doe necessarily yeeld out of their owne essence and present power, a cetteyne nature that dependeth vponupon them, which is a very Image and countershape of the power from whence it proceedeth. As for example, Fyre yeeldeth heate, & Snowe cold: and Herbes yeeld chiefly sents or sauors. And al things whē they be in their perfection, ingender somewhat. That then which is euerlastingly perfect, doth euerlastingly beget, yea and it begetteth a perfect and euerlasting thing, howbeit that the thing begotten is lesse than the begetter. And what shall wee say then of the most perfect? That nothing proceedeth from him? Nay rather, that the greatest next him proceedeth of him? Now, the greatest and chiefest next vntounto the One, is the Vnderstanding; the which hath neede alonly of the One, but the One hath no neede of it. Needes then must it bee, that that thing which is begotten of that which is better than Vnderstanding, must be the Vnderstanding it selfe. And this Vnderstanding, being the very Word of GOD and the Image of GOD, beholdeth God, and is vnseparably ioyned with God, and cannot be separated from him otherwise than respectiuely, for that the one of them is not the other. Uerely after the same maner that wée affirme the Father to bee one person and the Sonne another, In respect of this Third, thei call the First the Amiable, and in respect of the Second, they call him the Mynd, as shall be seene by examples.and yet neither of them both to be any other essence than the other. But let vsus see how God begetteth this Vnderstanding, this Wit, or this Word. It is (sayth he) by the super abundance of himself. And therfore this begotten Vnderstanding must needes reteyne much of the begetter in him, and hauehave almost like resemblance vntounto him, as the light hath vntounto the Sunne, howbeit so as the begetter is not the very vnderstanding it self:foreign. Another persone and not another thing. that is to say, they must differ respectiuely and not essentially; which expresseth his former spéech where hee sayd foreign after another maner. And how then shall he (sayth he) beget him? Euen by a certeyne turning backe of the begotten to behold the begetter, and this beholding is nothing els but the mynding or vnderstanding, of the good. And like as the One is but One, so the vnderstanding thereof is all things. For by being bred of the First Beginner, it knoweth all things, and bringeth foorth all things that are: namely, all Beautie of shapes, yea and al the Goddes that are to bee discerned by insight of Mynd. These words of his are repeated infinite tymes, and therefore I will forbeare to rehearse them here any more.

As touching the third Inbeing, Plotin Enn. 5. lib. 2. &. lib. 3. Chap. 85. & Ernead. 3. lib. 9. Cap. vlt.whom he calleth the Soule of the World, thus sayth he thereof. Like as the Vnderstanding, is the begotten issew, Word and Image of God or of the one; so is the Soule of the World the issew, Word and Image of the Vnderstanding, and is as a certeyne Reason ingendred of the Vnderstanding,The vnderstanding of the Good. the substance whereof consisteth in contemplation; and the same Reason is as the light of the Vnderstanding and dependeth thereupon. And as there is no meane betweene the One, and the Vnderstanding; so is there no meane betweene the Vnderstanding & this Soule of the World: but the difference is only this, that the one of them is as the very heate which is in fyre it self, & the other is as the heate which Fyre communicateth or imparteth vntounto other things [by heating them with his heate.] And that is the same thing which wee affirme when we say, That the holy Ghost procéedeth from the father by the Sonne, calling him the Gift of God, because that by him (who is his LoueLove) he voutsafeth to impart himselfe to vsus here beneath. But we shal discerne his meaning yet better by the effects which he attributeth vntounto him. This Soule (sayth he) hath breathed life into all liuing things in the Ayre, in the Sea, and on the Land. It ruleth the Sunne, the Starres and the Heauen; It hath quickened the Matter which erst was nothing and vtterly full of darknesse; and all this hath it done by the onelyonly will of it selfe. It is all throughout all, like to the Father, as well in that it is but one, as in that it extendeth it self into all places. And he concludeth thus: And thus farre extendeth the Godhead. In déede he speaketh not so distinctly thereof, as Gregorie Nazianzene; but yet forasmuch as he sayth that they be all thrée eternall, of one selfesame substance, and differing onelyonly in this, that the one of them is not the other, the same may well bee gathered of his sayings. In the residue of his booke he proueth that the same was the opinion of Plato, Parmenides, and Anaxagoras. And because the inward man (as he termeth it,) is the Image of God; he taketh proofe of the thrée Inbeings, from the cōsideration of our Soule, wherein there is a Mynd, a Reason and a Life; which thrée be (notwithstanding) all but one Soule. Neuerthelesse, he expresseth the maner of the sayd begetting in diuers other places. The One (sayth he) begetteth the vnderstanding, of the abundance of himself.Plotinus Enn. 5. lib. 2. & lib. 3 Chap. 5. 6. 7. 12. & lib 4. Chap. 2. And the vnderstāding is the Beeër, yea and the very being of the Beeër (marke those words for all that followeth) and turneth backe againe to him, and is filled with him. And his cōclusion is, that the Mynder, the Mynding and the Mynded, are in the Godhead all one thing; and that this Mynding, which is the first and most excellent act of the Godhead, is essentiall, that is to say, the very substance or béeing of the Godhead, because that all the actions of the Godhead are the very Godhead or God himselfe. Now, by the Mynder, he meaneth the One or the First person; and by the Mynded or Beeër he meaneth the Second; and consequently that they be Coessentiall, [that is to say, both one selfsame thing, which is GOD.] Againe,* There is (fayth he) a dubble kynd of Mynding: For a man myndeth, eyther another, or himselfe. Now, he that myndeth himself, hath not a seuerall beeing from that thing which he myndeth, but being both in one, he beholdeth himself in himself, and so becommeth two parties, which yet notwithstāding be both but one thing still. Now therefore there remayneth no more but to conclude, that the Begetter and the Begotten, Plotin. Enn. 5. lib. 5. Ch. 3. & lib. 6. Ch. 1. & lib. 8. ch. 12. & Enn. 3. lib. 8. cap. 7. 8. 10.the Mynder and the Mynded are both together, and also both one selfsame thing; and that if they bee both one selfesame thing, the one of them is not better than the other. Whervpon it followeth, that whereas he said heretofore that The One is better than the Vnderstanding (which he calleth heere the Mynded,) he ment it but in way of relation, and not in way of béeing. For in another place he sayth againe,‖ He that is the very Liuing himself, is not the Mynded, but we cal him the Mynder. And although they differ one from another, yet notwithstanding it is not possible for them to bee disseuered. OnelyOnly they may be discerned in vnderstanding, the one from the other, because the one of them is not the other; which maner of discerning is no impediment but that they remayne both one thing still. For only God is both the partie that is conceyued in Mynd or Vnderstanding, and also the partie that conceyueth him. Insomuch that when wee say, that the Mynder beholdeth the formes or Patternes of things;Plotin. Enn. 5. lib. 9. Chap. 1. wee meane not that he looketh at them in another, but that he possesseth them in himselfe, by hauing in himself the partie that is mynded. Or rather were it amisse to say, that the same which is mynded is the very Mynder himselfe in his vnitie and settled state; and that the nature of the Mynded which is behild, is an act that isseweth from him that Myndeth, which act consisteth in beholding or mynding him, and in beholding him becometh one selfesame thing with him? Againe he sayth in a… other place; To bee and to vnderstand, are both one thing [in God:] and if any thing proceede therof inwardly, yet is it no whit diminished therby, because the Mynder and the Mynded are both one same thing. For the beholding of ones selfe in his selfe, is nothing but himselfe: But yet must there needes be alwaies both a selfesamenesse and also an othernesse. Now then, let vsus conclude thus; that these two Inbeings or Persons, namely, The Mynded and the Mynder, are both one thing; and therefore that they differ not but only in way of relation: And that forasmuch as there must néedes bee euer both a selfesamenesse and also an othernesse, Plotin. Enn. 6. lib. 7. ch. 39. & lib. 7.(If I may so terme them) the selfesamenesse is in the Essence or beeing,The same in one respect, & another in another respect; or, all one in one respect, & diuers in another respect. because that from God there procéedeth nothing but God; and the othernesse is in the Inbeings or Persons, as in respect that the one is the begetter and the other is the begotten.

Moreouer, this Plotinus calleth the begetter the Father, and the begotten the Sonne, after the same maner that we doe. Certesse (sayth he) the vnderstanding is beautifull, and the most beautifull of all, (and therefore in diuers other places he termeth him the Beautifull, (as he termed the First the Good) and sitteth in cleere light and brightnesse,Plotin. Enn. 5. lib. 5. cap. 12. and conteyneth in him the nature of all things that are. As for this Worlde of ours, although it be beautifull, yet it is scarce an image or shadowe of him; but the world that is aboue, is set in the very light itself, where there is nothing that is voyd of vnderstanding, nor nothing darke, but eueryevery where is led a most blessed lyfe. Now, lyke as he that beholdeth the Skye and the Starres, falleth by and by to seeking the author of this World: So he that considereth aud commendeth the World that is not to be discerned but in vnderstanding, doth lykewise seeke the author thereof, namely who he is that begate that World, and where and how he begate that Sonne, that vnderstanding, that Child so bright and beautifull, euen that Sonne full of the Father. As for the souerein father hee is neither the vnderstanding, nor the Sonne, nor the Child, but a Mynd higher thā Vnderstanding and Child. And next vntounto him is the Vnderstanding or Child, who needeth both vnderstanding and nourishment, and is next to him that hath neede of nothing. And yet for al this,foreign. the Sonne hath the very fulnesse of vnderstanding, because hee hath it immediatly and at the first hand. But as for him that is the higher (that is to wit the Father;) he hath no neede of him: for then should the Sonne be the very good it selfe. So say we also that the Sonne hath all fulnesse, howbeit of the Father, and that the Father hath all fulnesse, but of himselfe: and that the Father is not the Sonne or the Worde, but that the Sonne or the Worde is of the Father. And in another place hee sayth, What shall a man hauehave gayned by seeing or beholding God? That hee shall hauehave seene God begetting a Sonne, and in that Sonne al things, and yet holding him still in him without payne after his conceyuing of him, of whom this World (as beautifull as we see it to be) is but an Image: In which sort a painted Table is after a maner a portreyture of the mynd of him that made it. I sayd moreouer that this Sonne is the Wisedome of the Father; Plotin. Enn. 5. lib. 8. Chap. 5.the like whereof Plotinus also sayth vntounto vsus. All things (sayth he) that are done eyther by Art or by Nature, are done by Wisedome. If they bee done by Arte, from Arte we come to Nature, and of Nature againe we demaund from whence she hath it:foreign. whereby wee finally come to a Mynd, and then are we to seeke whether the Mynd hauehave begotten Wisedome: And if that bee graunted, wee will inquire yet further, whereof? And if they say it begetteth it of it self: That cannot be, vnlesse the Mynd be the very Wisedome it selfe. Wisedome therfore shalbe the Essence, and the very Essence shalbe Wisedome, and the worthinesse of the Essence shalbe Wisedome. And therefore eueryevery Essence that wanteth Wisedome, is in deede an Essence as in respect that Wisedome made it: but forasmuch as it hath no Wisedome in it selfe, it is no true Essence in deede. Now, the ordinary teaching of Plotine is, foreign.to call the Understanding or second Person the very Béeer in déed, or the very true Essence; and the first person a thing higher than Understanding or Essence. Wherevpon it should followe, that with him, Wisedome and true Essence are both one: that is to say, that the second person is Wisedome. To the same purpose also he sayth, Plotin in his booke of Inshapes.that the sayd Mynd possesseth all things in his homebred Wisedome:Enn. 3. lib. 9. Chap. 2. That all shapes are but beames and effects thereof: and that the same is the trueth, yea and King of trueth; which is a name that the Scripture also attributeth to the second person.

As touching the third person, whom he calleth the Soule of the World, Plotin. Enn. 6. lib. 8. 8. Chap. 13. 15. 27.he seemeth in his other bookes to lay vsus a foundation of a better opinion. For, God (saith he) hath wrought, & he wrought not vnwillingly: and therefore there is a will in GOD. Now surely he whose power is answerable to his will, should by and by become the better. God then who is the good it self [than the which nothing can be better,] filleth his owne will to the full, so as he is the thing that he listeth to be, and lifteth to be that which he is, and his will is his very Essence. This will againe, is his act or operatiō, and that act is his very substance. And so God setteth downe himself in this act of Beeing. And this is in a maner all one with the things which I spake in the former Chapter: namely, that God by his will produceth a third person, that is to say, the louelove of himself by delighting in himself. And in another place, This same GOD (sayth he) is both the lonely and louelove: and this LoueLove is the louelove of himselfe: for of himselfe and in himselfe is he altogether beautifull. And whereas he is sayd to be altogether with himselfe; it could not be so, vnlesse that both the thing which is and also the person which is together therewith, were both one selfesame thing.Plotin Enn. 3. lib. 8. Chap. 10. Now, if the together beer, (for I must be fayne to vse that word) & the thing together wherewith he is, be both one; and likewise the desirer and the thing desired be one also; Surely the desire and the Essence must also needes be one selfesame thing. And this desire of the Mynd is the LoueLove it self, whom we call the holy Ghost, which procéedeth by the Will, and so by the foresayd reasons is proued to bee Coessentiall. Plotin. Enn. 3. lib. 9. Chap. 1.And this desire (sayth he in another place) is in the Mynd, which alwaies desireth and alwaies posseth the first. This LoueLove then procéedeth not alonly from the first person, but also from the second, according to his former teaching concerning the Soule of the World, which is, that it procéedeth from the first person by the second. Aud thus hauehave wee the three Persons or Iubeings acknowledged and layd foorth by Plotinus, whom I hauehave alledged somewhat the more at length, because he auowweth it to be a very auncient doctrine, and that he had learned it of his predecessors Numenius, Seuerus, Cronius, Gaius, Atticus, Longinus, and Philarchaeus,Cyril against Iulian lib 8. Porphyrius in the lyfe of Plot…us. and did afterward teach it to his Discipies, (who estéemed him as a God,) as we shall see hereafter in their writings.

IamblichusPlotinus agaīst the Gnostiks. Enn. 2. lib. 9. Chap. 1. Iamblicus of the sect of the Pythagorists, and in his booke of the Mysteries of the Egyptians. Chap. 37. and 39. sayth plainly that God made the World by his diuine Word, but he playeth the Philosopher more profoundly in this behalfe. The first God (sayth he) being afore the Beeër, and alone; is the father of a first God whom he begetteth, and yet neuerthelesse abydeth still in the solenesse of his vnitie: which thing farre exceedeth all abilitie of vnderstanding. This is the Originall patterne of him that is called both Father to him selfe and Sonne to himself, and is the Father of one alone, and God verely good in deede. Now, when he sayth that he is father to himselfe, and father to a second; therein he distinguisheth the persons. And whereas he sayth that notwithstanding this begetting, yet he abydeth one still: he sheweth that there is no separating of the essences. And he speaketh there after the opinion receyued among the Diuines of AEgipt.

But let vsus heare Porphirie,Porphirie in his 4. booke of … Philosophers. (to whom Plotinus committed the ouerlooking of his bookes,) the best learned of all the Philosophers as sayth Saint Austin,Cyrill. against Iulian. lib. 1. and yet neuerthelesse the sworne enemie of Christenfolke. In his Historie of the Philosophers, these are his words: Plato taught (sayth he) that of the Good, (that is to say of the first person) is begotten an vnderstāding, by a maner vnknowne to men;foreign. and that the same vnderstanding is all whole next vntounto himselfe. In this vnderstanding are all things that truely are, and all the Essences of all things that hauehave beeing. It is the first beautifull, and beautifull of it selfe, and hath the grace of beautie of himselfe, and before all worlds proceeded from God as from his cause, selfeborne and father of himself. And this proceeding of his, was not as ye would say by Gods mouing of himselfe to the begetting of him; but by his owne proceeding of himselfe from God, and by his issewing of him selfe. I say by proceeding, howbeit not at any beginning of tyme: (for there was not yet any tyme,) and tyme is nothing in comparison of him; But this Mynd is without time and only euerlasting. Yet notwithstanding, as the first God is alwaies one, and alone although he hauehave made all things, because nothing can match or compare with him: so also is this Vnderstanding or Mynd euerlasting, alone, without tyme, the tyme of things that are in tyme, and yet alwaies abyding in the vnitie of his own substance. Of a trueth he could not hauehave sayd more plainly, that the Sonne is the Sonne eternally, and of the fathers ow…e substance.

Againe, expounding that foresaid so greatly renowmed place of Platoes Episte, Cyrill against Iulian. lib. 1.The Essence of God (sayth he) extendeth euen vntounto three Inbeeings; For there is the highest GOD or the good; and next him, the Second, who is the workmayster of all things; and lastly the third, who is Soule of the World: for the Godhead extendeth euen vntounto the Soule. And that is the thing that Plato mēt in speaking of three Kings: for although all things depend vppon these three: yet is their depending, first vponupon the first God, secondly vponupon the God that isseweth of him, and thirdly vponupon the third that proceedeth from him. Now, in that he raungeth them in order thus one vnderunder another; he seemeth to play the Arrian. And yet is that very much in a Heathen man. But whereas he acknowledgeth one selfsame essence; he sheweth that the diuersitie is only in the functions, and in the order of causes, which is one steppe beyond the Arrians. Also S. Austin saith that he did put the third person as a meane betwene the other two, after which maner we also doe call him the band and vnion of them two, notwithstanding that Plotine doe put him vnderunder the Understanding. But in his booke of the chiefe Fathers or first Authors of things, ProclusPorphyrius in his booke of the chiefe fathers, alledged by Proclus. setteth doune his opinion yet more plainly: saying, that there is an euerlasting or eternall Mynd, and yet notwithstanding, that afore the same there is a Foreëternall or former euerlasting, vntounto whom the euerlasting sticketh, because the Foreeuerlasting is beyond all: and that in the euerlasting beeing, there is a second and a third: and that betwne the Foreeuerlasting and the Euerlasting, Eternitie resteth in the middest. foreignNow, forasmuch … Eternities are alike equall, this forenesse and afternesse which are attributed to the persons, is not in respect of tyme, but (as Plotine sayth) in respect of Nature, and (as ye would say) inconsideration of cause.

Proclus the Disciple of Iamblichus sayeth that the aun…ent Platonists did set downe three Beginners (whome wee call Persons.) Of the which, the first, they called the One, The second (namely the sayd Understanding) they called the one many, and [the third, that is to wit] the Soule [of the world,] they called the One and many. But it is best for vsus to heare what he himself saith. The Essence or vnderstanding (sayeth he) for among the Platonists both are one) is sayd first of all,Proclus in Platoes Diuinitie. to hauehave his being, of the Good, and to be about the same Good, and to be filled with the light of trueth which proceedeth from it, and to be partaker thereof by the vnion which it hath therewith, and is most diuine, because it dependeth originally vponupon the Good. Here ye see now a second persone, Light of Light, hauing his fulnesse from the first, And whereas hee saieth of the first light that it is most diuine; it is because he knoweth not by what words to expresse the prehem…nence of the Father. In another place hee sayeth that this vnderstanding, (that is to say the Soule) is become One with the Good, foreign.that is to say, with the Father. And also that by his inyndly Inworking he is the very eternitie it selfe, sauing that hee dependeth vponupon the Unitie; foreign.and that he is like vntounto the One: and that the Soule or third persone is like to the mynde, from whence it procéedeth. But here is yet a more euident thing. The most part (saith he) doe set downe three Beginnings, the Good, the Vnderstanding or the Beeër, & the Soule. The first principall and vncommunicable, is the One, who is before and beyond all things. Next vntounto him is the one Vnitie, which hath his being about the sayd first substance, and aboundeth by participation of him that is the One first of all. And this Inbeing is more then Substantiall,foreign and the first of all the Inbeeings in the Trinitie that is to be conceyued in vnderstanding. And seeing that these two namely the One and the Vnderstanding bee in the first rancke of the Trinitie, the first as the Begetter, the second as the Begotten, the first as the Perfecter, the secōd as the Perfected: there must needes be a meane power betwixt them, whereby and wherewith the one may yeeld being and perfection to the vnderstāding or Beeër. For this proceeding of the Beeër from the One, and likewise the turning back of the Beeër vntounto the One,foreign. is done by a certeyn power or might, and so there is a Trinitie; which is the full number of things belonging to a Mynd, so as this Trinitie is Vnitie or Onenesse, Power or Might, and Vnderstanding of Mynd.foreign. The One is the Producer or yeelderforth, the Vnderstanding is the thing produced or yeeldedfoorth, and the Power or Might depending vppon the One, is also linked to the Vnderstanding or Beeër And this Trinitie is the Vnitie or Onenesse, the Beeër or Vnderstanding, and the Behauiour of them both, wherby the Vnitie is the Vnitie of the Vnderstanding, and the Vnderstanding is the vnderstanding of the Vnitie or One. Whereby Plato sheweth that the Father is the Father of the Vnderstanding, & the Vnderstanding is the Sonne of the Father, and that the Might or Power is couertly comprised betweene them both. Now soothly, considering that he was a professed enemie to vsus Christians, and therefore eschewed to vse our termes; he could not hauehave spoken better, nor hauehave sayd more plainly that the thrée Inbeings or Persones differ onelyonly by way of relation, so as there is a Father, a Sonne, and a Behauiour of thē both, which we would hauehave called the LoueLove, the Union, or the kindnesse of them, that is to wit the holy Ghost.

Amelius the Disciple of Plotine,Amelius a Platonist. (as Proclus reporteth) maketh also thrée kings or thrée Understandings: namely, the Beeër, the Hauer, and the Seeër: the first, the reall Understanding, the second the Understanding from the first, and the third the Understāding in the second. Whom Theodorus imitating, hath termed them, the substantiall Vnderstanding, the Vnderstandable substance, and the Fountayne of Soules. Neuerthelesse, as great an enemie as Amelius was to the Christians, yet notwithstanding after many florishes and fetches about, in the ende speaking of the second Person he yéeldeth to that which S. Iohn speaketh of him in his Gospell. foreign.Surely (sayth he) this is the Word that was from euerlasting, by whom all things that are, were made, as Heraclitus supposed. And before God (sayth he) it is the very same Word which that barbarus fellow (for so did he terme S. Iohn) auowcheth to hauehave bin with God at the beginning in the ordering and disposing of things when they were confused, and to be God, by whom all things were absolutely made, and in whom they bee liuing and of whom they hauehave their life and beeing; and that the same Word clothing it selfe with Mans flesh,Cyril. against Iulian. lib. 8. Austin in the Citie of God. lib. 10. appeared a Man, and yet left not to shewe the Maiestie of his natu…e. Insomuch that after he had bin put to death, he tooke his Godhead to him againe, and was very GOD as he had bin afore ere he came downe into Bodie, Flesh, and Man. Another Platonist speaking to the same effect, sayd that the … of S. Iohns Gospell was worthie to be graued eueryevery where in letters of Gold. Thus ye see that the Gréeke Philosophie as wel afore as after the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ, agréeth with our Diuinitie.

As touching the Latins, The Latin Philosophers. Chalcidius vppon Platoes Timeus.they fell to Philosophie somewhat late… but yet as little as we hauehave of their doings, they digresse not from the others. Chalcidius who wrate vppon Platoes limaeus, hath these words: The Souereyne and … God, is the Originall of all things; next vntounto whom is his Prouidence as a second God, who giueth the law aswell for the temporall as for the eternall life. And furthermore, there is a third substance as a second Vnderstanding, which is the keeper of the sayd eternall Lawe. The highest God commaundeth, the second ordereth, and the third vttereth or publisheth. Now the Soules doe the Lawe, and the Lawe is the very Destinie it selfe. And a little afore he sayth, that the sayd Prouidence, which he setteth in the second place, is the euerlasting Understanding of God, which is an euerlasting act, and a resembler of his goodnesse, because he is alwaies turned towards him that is the very Good it self. Also Macrobius Macrobius vppon the Dreame of Scipio. God & Mynd begotten of God.sayth, that Platoes opinion concerning the one chief God and the one Understanding bred and borne of him, is no falile at all, but a thing certeyne, howbeit that he could not otherwise expresse it than by examples of the Daysonne and such other things. And surely if we had the bookes of Varro, and other great Clerks, it is possible that we should find much more to this purpose. Thus then ye see how the Platonists are all of one opinion and mynd in the doctrine of the Trinitie, wherein some of them sawe more and some lesse; some affirme the premisses whereof our conclusions ensewe, and othersome conclude the same expressely with vsus.

The Aristotelians hauehave no voyce here, because they stand all in commenting vponupon Aristotle, who gaue himselfe more to the liberall Artes and the searching of Nature, than to looking vp to God the maker of all things. Yet notwithstanding, Auicen Auicen.reiected it not: insomuch that he sayth that the first Mynd yéeldeth foorth a second Mynd, and the second a third; but he waded no déeper into the matter.

Let vsus adde here the confessions of the very Deuilles,The Oracles of Diuelles. Sybill. who eyther by meanes of the reuelations therof which hauehave bin made vntounto vsus, or by reason of their falling frō aboue, hauehave had some knowledge thereof… foreign.Soothly it is alwaies a pleasure to heare them yéeld record to the trueth euen spight of their harts. Wee reade that one Thulis reigned in old tyme in AEgipt, who wexing proude, asked Serapis the chiefe Idoll of the AEgiptians, (adiuring him strongly that he should not deceiue him) who he was that had reigned afors him and who should reigne after him, and also who was mightier or greater than hee. To whom Serapis answered in these fower, Uerses.

First God, and next the Word, and then their Spright;

Which three be one and ioyne in one all three.

Their force is endlesse; get thee hence fraile wight,Suidas in the lyfe of Thulis

The man of life vnknowne excelleth thee.

Also Apollo being demaunded concerning the true Religion, answered in ten Uerses thus.

Vnhappie Priest, demaund not me the last

And meanest Feend, concerning that diuine

Degetter, and the deere and only Sonne

Of that ren…wmed King, nor of his Spirit

Conteyning all things plenteously throughout,

Hilles, Brookes, Sea, Land, Hell, Ayre, and lightsome Fyre.

Now wo is me, for from this house of myne

That Spirit will me driue within a while,

So as this Temple where mens destynies

Are now foretold, shall stand all desolate.

Being asked another tyme (as sayth Porphirius,)Porphirius as he is alledged by S. Austin in his ninth book of the Citie of God. Cha. 23. whether was the better of the Word or the Lawe; he answered likewise in verse, That men ought to beléeue in God the begetter, and in the King that was afore all things, vnderunder whom quaketh both Heauen and Earth, Sea and Hell, yea and the very Gods themselues, whose Lawe is the Father that is honored by the Hebrewes. And these Oracles were wont to be sung in Uerse, to the intent that all men should remember them the better as Plutarch reporteth. Now I hauehave bin the longer in this Chapter, because most men thinke this doctrine so repugnant to mans Reason, that Philosophie could neuer allowe of it; not considering that it is another matter to conceyue a thing, than to prooue or allow it when it is conceyued. And therefore aswell for this Chapter as for that which went afore, let vsus conclude, both by reason added to Gods reuealing, and by the traces thereof in the World, and by the Image thereof shining foorth in our selues, and by the Confession of all the auncient Diuines, and by the very depositious of the Deuilles themselues; that in the onelyonly one Essence or substance of God, there is a Father, a Sonne, and a holy Ghost; the Father euerlastingly begetting the Sonne, and the Spirit euerlastingly procéeding from them both… the Sonne begotten by the Mynd, and the Spirit procéeding by the Will: which is the thing that we had here to declare. And let this handling of that matter concerning Gods essence bee taken as done by way of preuention, howbeit that it depend most properly vppon the reuelation of our Scriptures, which being proued will consequently yéeld proofe to this poynt also. There may bee some perchaunce which will desire yet more apparant proofes: but let them consider that wee speake of things which surmount both the arguments of Logike and also Demonstration. For, inasmuch as Demonstrations are made by the Causes, the Cause of all Causes can hauehave no Demonstration. But if any be so wilful as to stand in their owne opinion against the trueth which all the World prooueth & al Ages acknowledge: let them take the payne to set doune their Reasons in writing; and men shall see how they be but eyther bare Denyalles, or Gesses, or simple distrusts or misbeleefs of the things which they vnderstand not, and that they be vnable to wey against so graue and large Reasons and Recordes, as I hauehave set downe heretofore. And therefore, the glorie thereof be vntounto God.

Amen.