The Divine Triunity of the Father Son and Holy Spirit, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII.
The Grand Mystery of three Divine and Coessential Subsistents in the single Godhead is not Problematicall, but Fundamentall.
ALL points of Doctrine revealed in Scripture are profitable, and precious truths; and every man is obliged to receive, beleeve and embrace every truth made known to him in, and by the holy Scriptures; Because all truths contained in Scripture are of equall credit in respect of the Authority of the Revealer; but all truths are not of equall necessity, weight and importance in respect of the Nature and Matter of the points revealed. There is a vast difference between the nature, matter, weight and importance of these two Propositions;
1. Paul left his Cloak, Books and Parchments at Troas, 2 Tim. 4. 13.
2. Jesus Christ is God and man, the only Mediatour between God and man, the only and All-sufficient Saviour of 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,Fundamentall points described. 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 1 Joh. 5. 7. opened and vindicated at large.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,The grand exception. 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,The answer. It is true that these words are not to be found in the Syriack Edition,Si Syrum caeteros que sequimur, vel hiatus admittitur, vel foreign qnae imprimis elegans turbatur. Mihi qui talem primò usurparunt in S…cris licentiam foreign videntur. Heinsius, in locum. 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, Bib. edit Complut. foreign v. 7.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 foreign are omitted in the 7 ver. and the words foreign belong to the eight verse, and therefore there is an inexcusable omission, and an imprudent transposition in that*Merces satis fallaces vendit officina Chr. Plantini Antverpiae in editione 1584 excusa & cum Bib. Ar. Mont. vulgat. 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.Joh. 8. 17▪ 18. 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;Joh. 10. 3 I and my Father are one, Joh. 10. 30.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.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 Joh. 5. 8. 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 Coessentiall Trin-unity of these heavenly witnesses. And divers other learned and judicious men conceive that these words were blotted out in the time of Constantius and Valens the Emperours who were sworn enemies of the blessed Trinity, and professed Patrons of Arrianisme.
7. The Hereticks did blot out those words,Vide Ambros. lib. 3. de Spiritu Sancto. cap. 11. Ioh. 4, 24. God is a spirit, as Ambrose assures us: and therefore this practise of expunging such words in the Scripture as did refute their errours was too common amongst the Hereticks of old,Jurati veritatis hostes lucem hanc non tulerunt ideoque eraserunt. Vide Heinsium in 1 Joh. 5. 7. as we might prove by witnesses enough, if that were our businesse.
8. These words, 1 Ioh. 5. 7. are to be found in copies of great antiquity and best credit.
9. This Text is cited by the Ancient Fathers,Athanas. Tom. 1. pag. 91, 92. 93. Cyprian lib. de Unitate Ecclesiae Paxillus de Monomachia. Calovius lib. de Fide Patrum ante Concilium Nicenum. See Mr. Estwicks learned discourse of the Godhead of the holy Ghost. Dr. Alting his Vindication of this Text in his con…utation of the Racovian Catechism. by Athanasius in his dispute with Arrius at the counsell of Nice, and Arrius never denyed it for to be Scripture, which certainly he would have done, if there had been any doubt made of it in the Primitive times.
It is cited by Cyprian also in his book de Vnitate Ecclesiae. Paxillus in his booke de Monomachia proves by an induction of the learned Doctors of the Church both before and since Athanasius, that the Doctrine of the Coessential Trin-Unity of these heavenly witnesses was generally received by all that were esteemed Orthodox and pious in the Church of Christ. Calovius also in his Fides Patrum ante Concilium Nicenum, gives in a Catalogue for the satisfaction of all that desire resolution in this weighty point.
10. These three heavenly witnesses are one in Power, nature and Will; all three bear witnesse to the same truth, and their testimony is divine, 1 Joh. 5. 9. And the truth which they bear witnesse to is a fundamentall truth, a saving truth, that we may beleeve on the Sonne of God and have eternall life. 1 Joh. 5. 11, 12, 13. And if the authority of any one of these three heavenly witnesses be called into question, all may be questioned upon the same grounds, because their testimony is of equall authority; their testimony is personall and divine; and if the testimony and authority of these witnesses were not divine, our faith which is built upon their testimony and authority, would not be a divine Faith. Quale est testimonium, talis est fides. All three heavenly witnesses joyne with one consent and Will in propounding this fundamentall truth, and therefore if we do not beleeve and embrace it, we give the lye to all the three witnesses in heaven, 1 Joh. 5. 10. And if we do beleeve that Jesus is the naturall Son of God, in and by whom all beleevers have eternall life, then we must acknowledge that Jesus Christ is one God with his Father, the true God and eternall life, 1 Joh. 5. 20. Christ is God Attributivè, Joh. 1. 1. Subjectivè, Act 20. 28. 1 Tim. 3. 16. This one proposition, That Iesus Christ is the naturall and proper Son of God, is that Fundamental Confession of Faith upon which the Christian Church is built, Mat. 16. 16, 17, 18. Thou art Christ the Son of the living God: This is the Rock upon which Christ hath so firmly built his Church, that the gates of Hell shal never prevail against it, or this fundamentall truth. We are all built upon Christ, through the Spirit for an habitation of God, Eph. 2. 20, 21, 22. Father, Son, & Holy Ghost; all three joyn in laying this foundation, and all three are one and the self-same great God, who is the only true God blessed for ever, as hath been fully proved already in this book, and therfore I may be the briefer in the discussion of this weighty point.
The Form of Baptism doth contain in it a short Creed, or Rule of Faith, Mat. 28. 19. And when the ancient Fathers speak such high things of the Creed, they understand it of this short Creed which is part of Canonicall Scripture, and not of that form which is commonly callled the Apostles Creed. In like manner when they expound Eph. 4. 5. One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, they say, there is one Faith and one Baptism, because the sum of our Faith is contained in the forme of Baptism.
When Epiphanius hath reckoned up all the Heresies in his Anaceph. he opposes this one Scripture, Mat. 28. 19. to them all, to shew that he looked upon the Doctrine of the Trinity as a Breviary or at least prime fundamentall of the Christian Faith,Irenaeus lib. 1. cap. 2. and Eusebius Pamphilus doth the like.Tertullian de Praescript. c. 14 & 20. I might produce many pertinent places out of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athanasius, Basil, Nazianzene, Augustin & others to make good this useful observation,Athanas. Epist. ad ubique Orthodox & Orat. C. G. Sab & contra …. That the prime Fundamentall of the Christian Faith is contained in the Form of Baptism, and founded on Mat. 28. 19. It were easie to shew upon what occasion other*See Dr. Usher his Sermon … the Vnity of the Faith. Articles were added to the publique confessions of Faith in the most renowned Churches in severall ages.Basilius … Author lib…i de Spiritu Sancto lib. 1. cap. 2. G…eg. Nyssen. de Resur. Orat. 2. Epiphanius Anacephal. Euseb. Pamphilus Epist. ad Palestin. Augustin. contra▪ Donatist, lib. 6. cap. 25, & Sermone in Symbolum. Hanc fidei normam—Christus ascensurus reliquit. Ait enim eunies baptizate &c. Damascen. de fide Orthod. lib. 1. cap. 8. Concil. Ancyran. de Spiritu Sancto. 2. Didymus Alexander. And it is as easie to prove that the Doctrine of the Coessential Trin-unity was for the matter and substance, if not in expresse terms, in terminis terminantibus as we say, constantly maintained
1. In publique Confessions of Faith composed, explained, confirmed by the first Generall Councels, published by the decrees, and edicts of pious Emperours, and ratifyed by their civil sanctions from time to time. I need not instance in the Nicene Creed, or that Creed which was composed by Athanasius who studied this point, defended & suffered for it above forty yeers: The Confession published by the Synod of Constantinople doth not differ in substance from the other Creeds concerning this grand mystery of the blessed Trinity. I am not willing to expatiate upon this Argument, because I should then be engaged to cite very many testimonies of the Ancients, which would swell up my book beyond its due proportion. But if any man desire to read more upon this Argument for his own satisfaction,Vide Parkerum de Desc. ad inferos Dr. Usher his learned Sermon of the Unity of Faith. D. Voet. de Symbolo Apostolico. D. Gomarum de Symbolo, de Trinitate▪ Glassium, Zanchium de Trinitate. and hath not so much time as to peruse the ancient Records, he may read Master Parkers book de Desc. ad inferos, more especially his fourth book; The learned Sermon of Reverend Doctor Vsher, concerning the unity of Faith, who gives a brief aud satisfactory account of the ancient Confessions of Faith with a special reference to Baptism. Doctor Voetius, Gomarus, and the rest who have written de Symbolo Apostolico, or of the mystery of the Trinity. The jugling of the Arrians is so plainly set forth in the most faithfull writers of Ecclesiasticall story, that I need not relate how they made use of their interest at Court, and all their carnal policy in every considerable place to pack Councels, forge or corrupt Creeds, seduce all sorts of men, who were led more by interest then Scripture, and then to evade, or comply with subtile distinctions, mentall reservations, equivocations, and such unworthy shifts for to save themselves from censure in a time of Reformation.
2. The Catechismes of the Ancients hold forth this doctrine; the Catechumeni were trained up in the knowledge of it. Lucian who lived in Trajans time,Lucian. in Philopat. brings in a Christian Catechising the heathens in the Doctrine of the Trinity.
3. The forme of Baptism strictly observed in the Churches notwithstanding the great ignorance and contention in the East, and the grand Apostacy in the West; doth sufficiently prove that this Doctrine of the Trinity had taken deep root in the minds of men, and that they were by the providence and speciall grace of God very diligent and faithfull in communicating of it to their posterity from time to time.
4. The Doxology, or as some call it, the Hymn of glory doth evince the same, and therefore the Arrians endeavoured to make an alteration in the Doxology and instead of saying, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy-Ghost, they said, Glory be to the Father, By the Son, and In the Spirit; from whence we may observe by the way, that if we suffer the Fundamentall Doctrine of our Faith to be corrupted, we shall not be able to preserve the Fundamentals of our worship pure, and uncorrupt.
5. The Form of Apostolicall Benediction which stands upon record, 2 Cor. 13. 14. doth cleerly hold forth the Doctrine of the Trinity to be a Fundamentall both of Faith, and Worship; And all who desire the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ, the love of God, the communion of the Holy-Ghost, for their everlasting comfort & salvation, must beleeve and adore all three as on… God blessed for ever.
6. All who beleeve in God are commanded to beleeve in Christ as God, as one and the same God with the Father. Ye beleeve in God, beleeve also in me, Joh. 14. 1. They are commanded to honour the Son as they honour the Father, Joh. 5 23. And therfore the Doctrine of the divine person of Christ as Coessential with his Father is a Fundamentall both of Faith and worship.
7. The Doctrine of the incarnation of the Word, the naturall and proper Son of God; the Doctrines of Christs satisfaction,Divinitas Christi est ipsum Fundamentale hujus dogmatis; est enim Articulus fidei necessarius necessitate finis respectu communionis internae & invisibilis cum Christo, hoc est cum Dei gratiâ & gloriâ: nec non respectu communionis Ecclesiasticae in visibili caetu. of our Redemption, and justification by Christ as an all-sufficient Saviour, are Fundamentall Doctrines necessary to be known, beleeved and embraced for our eternall Salvation; for we know the blood of a meere man cannot give satisfaction to the justice of God for those grosse affronts, injuries and abuses which have been offered by man to the infinite Majesty of God. The Church of God is purchased with the blood of God, Act. 20. 28. And if Christ hath not redeemed the Church with the blood of God, then the Church is not redeemed; your Faith and our preaching are both vain, because you and we are yet in our sins; for then God hath not received satisfaction for our sins, nor a sufficient ransome for our souls. If the Son of God did not take flesh, then was not God manifested in the flesh; then the whole mystery of godlinesse which should be without controversie great and precious in the eyes of Christians, will be cheap, and vile, and of no account; for the whole mystery of godlinesse, 1 Tim. 3. 16. depends upon the manifestation of God in the flesh; Now the divine person of the Son took flesh; the person of the Father was not incarnate.
8. It is not enough to beleeve that the Son of Mary is risen from the dead; we must beleeve that the Son of God is risen, Rom. 1. 3, 4. It is Iesus our Lord that rose for our justification, Rom. 4. 24, 25. Rom. 10. 9.
9. It is not sufficient to beleeve that there is a man sitting at the right hand of God; we must beleeve that Iehovah sits there, Psal. 110. 1. Mat. 22. 43, 44, 45. And the like must be said of our Advocate, he must be such a one as can plead the worthinesse of his person, the merit of his obedience and sufferings, one who is able to save us to the uttermost, Heb. 7. 25. 1 Ioh. 2. 1. 2 One who can plead with some Authority & Majesty; Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, Ioh. 17. 24. He speaks with Authority, I will: he speaks like a Coessentiall and Coequall person; and it is for the glory of the Father, to beleeve that the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, that the Son is Lord, equal to the Father. Ioh. 14. 10, 11. Phil. 2. 6▪ 11. Many arguments more might be collected from divers places of Scripture cited above in the fourth chapter of this book, and I shall enlarge upon this argument in the ninth Chapter.
10. The Holy Ghost is the same God with the Father and Son, the same object of divine Faith and Evangelical worship, the same Author of the Scriptures, and all-saving Grace, Mat. 28. 19. 1 Cor. 12. 6. 11. 2 Cor. 13. 14. Through the Son and by the spirit, we have accesse to the Father, Eph. 2. 18. All Church administrations are to be performed in the power of the Holy Ghost, and are made acceptable by the merit of the Lord Iesus Christ. If we will heare the Spirit speaking in the Scriptures to the Churches, if we feel the Spirit Sanctifying of our hearts, if we do not desire to undermine the foundation of the Christian Church, and so overthrow the Church of Christ, if we do not renounce our Christian Faith, and our Baptisme the Sacrament thereof, if we do not reject the fundamentall blessing (the best portion of our selves and little ones) the grace of Christ, the love of God and communion of the Spirit, why then, I beseech you, as the Apostle doth, for the Lord Iesus Christs sake and for the love of the Spirit, Rom. 15. 30. and for the glory of God the Father, Phil. 2. 11. that you will beleeve, adore, embrace, love and obey the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as three Divine and Coessentiall Subsistents in the single God-head, as one God blessed for ever, the adaequate object, and Authour of your Faith, hope, love and happinesse.
I do not desire to obtrude any thing upon the acutest disputant as Fundamentall that is curious or unnecessary. Nay there are many things necessary for the maintenance of …his truth, and refutation of contrary errors, when we are to deal with subtile Hereticks, which I do not set before the common people as food fit to nourish them: and for that reason I do desire them,Dogma de Trinitate notat non tam negativam & Elencticam Theologiam quàm Positivam; & Theses Principales non tam modu…, & … ho…um G…amatice, Rhetorice, & Logice dogma illud explicandi quàm ipsam rem explicatam, non tam formam ac modum per Philosophicas & Logicas notiones, distinctiones, & Axiomata dogma hoc contra Pseudo-rationa…os quoscunque tutandi, eorum subtilitates persequendo, & ad absurdum redigendo. D. Voetius de Trinitate, pag. 467. that they will look upon much of my sixth chapter, and of some other chapters in this booke, as …t for the direction of young Scholers in this weighty point; for I find young wits apt to be seduced by Logicall subtilities, or rather fallacies, Metaphysical notions, Poetical raptures, nice distinctions and vaine curiosities, from the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ; and therefore I have taken some pains in divers chapters, but specially in the margine for the direction of hopefull youths, who have been too often entangled and ensnared by Socinian fallacies, and at last tempted into loud and hideous blasphemies. We do therefore lay down these plain truths as necessary to be known and beleeved for the maintaining of saving communion with God.
1. That God is. For he who commeth unto God must beleeve that God is. Heb. 11. 6.
2. That there is but one God. Deut. 6. 4.
3. That the Father Son, and Holy Ghost are this one God▪ because they are all three Coessentiall subsistents in this most single Godhead, 1 Cor. 8. 5. 6. Phi. 2. 6. 1 Io 5. 7 Ioh. 10. 30. Mat. 3. 16, 17. Mat. 28. 19. Act. 5. 4. 1 Cor. 12. 6. 11. 2 Cor. 13. 14. Ioh. 15. …6. Rev. 1. 4. 5.
Reverend Calvin was not so morose and austere in this point as to contend about unnecessary words,Vide Cal. Inst. lib. 1. cap. 13. Sect. 5. & Colonii Anal. Praph. Instit. pa. 36. or curious phrases, so there were such words used as did fitly and fully expresse the whole mistery of Faith in this weighty point, and sufficiently refute the damnable errours of Arrius and Sabellius. If men will but acknowledge
1. That the Father, Son and Spirit are one God and the selfe same God.
2. That the Son, is not the Father, nor the Spirit the Son; but that these three are distinguished by speciall Relations, Incommunicable and unchangeable properties, so that there is a Trinity of Coessentiall Subsistents in the selfe-same Divine Essence, we are all agreed.
Arrius would acknowledge that Christ is God,Vide Apologiam Voidovij & Ostorodi ad decret. in illustr. D. D. Ord. Belg. an. 1598. Non negamus Dei gratiâ veram filij Dei divinitatem, sed falsam imaginariam, & quam nusquam Sacrae Literae, agnoscunt. Smalcius etiam Zelum suum in propugnanda verâ divini…ate Iesu Christi praedicat in libro de divinitate Christi cap. 25. bu… not Consubstantiall, or Coessentiall with his Father, for he did deny Christ to be the same God with his Father. And in like manner the Socinians will say, that they acknowledge and maintaine the true Divinity of the Son and Holy Ghost; but they do deny that the Son and Spirit are one and the same God with the Father; and affirme, that the Reformed Churches who beleeve that all three persons have the selfe same God-head, do ascribe a false and imaginary God-head to the Son and Spirit, which the Holy Scriptures do no where acknowledge or declare. And this is the true reason why the Orthodox Doctors of the Church have been so unanimous, especially of late yeares in maintaining this Proposition,—
Pater, Filius & Spiritus Sanctus sunt foreign. The Father, Son & Holy Spirit are one and the self-same God. On the other side Sabellius acknowledged,Dicit Sabellius patrem, Filium & spi…itum nihil in Deo distinctum sonare. that the Father Son, and Holy Ghost are one God; but if you say that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are three different subsistents, then he cryed out as M. Fry doth, that you acknowledge three Gods; the best way to avoid these (saith judicious Calvin) is to say That there is a Trinity of Persons in one and the same essence of God. Dic tres esse, vociferabitur te nominare tres Deos. Dic in una Dei Essentiâ Personarum Trinitatem: dixeris uno verbo quod Scripturae loquuntur, & inanem loquacitatem compresseris. Cal. inst. l. 1 c. 13 sect. 6. Vide D. vo…t…um de necessitate, & utilitate dogmatis de SS. Trinitate page 467, 468. D. Crocium Synt. nec non Gomarum.For we must needs acknowledge the unity of the Divine nature, because we read that the Father, Son and Spirit are one; and we must acknowledge the Trinity of these Coessentiall Subsistents or persons, because we read that they are three. Now the Trinity and unity make a Coessential Trinunity; & if the unity of the God-head, and Trinity of the Subsistents, or persons be acknowledged, we shall not wrangle about curious phrases, or unnecessary words. The most judicious and moderate men amongst the Orthodox Doctors of the Church agree in this.Learned D. Davenant in his Letter to M. Dury. The learned and Reverend Doctor Davenant in his judicious exhortation to Brotherly Communion betweene the Protestant Churches, teaches us how to distinguish between points that are fundamentall, and Problems or Propositions that are not Fundamentall, and when he comes to reckon up Fundamentals, he instances in the Trinity, and expresses himself after this manner;
That God is one in Essence, three in Persons distinguished betwixt themselves; That the Son is begotten of the Father; That the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son; That these three persons are coeternall and coequall.
All these (saith he) are deservedly determined and ranked amongst the Fundamentall Articles. Now if any should contend that all those things which are disputed of the School-men, of the manner of proceeding and begetting, are also fundamentall, and necessary to be determined on one side, verily he by this his rash judgement, would gaine no favour with Christ.
But it is objected by some, who do acknowledge Christ to be God, that they have no reason to close with us, when we say, That Iesus Christ is Coessentiall with God his eternall Father, because we do impose a new word upon them, and so make a new Fundamentall of our own Inventition; to which I answer:
1. That if we make an old truth plaine by a new word, they ought to forgive us that injury.
2. We explaine our new Terme.
3. We save them the trouble of an artificiall and tedious deduction; for as soon as they do but understand the word, they must necessarily imbrace the sense, and acknowledge that though the word seem new to them, yet the Doctrine is old; for if the persons be of a different Divine Essence, then there would be more Gods then one.
4. We doe hereby secure them against the subtilty of pernicious Hereticks who endeavour to seduce them into damnable Heresies; For if the Father, Son and Spirit have not the same Divine Essence, then either there will be more Gods then one, or else the Son and Spirit are no Gods at all, but such petty inferiour Gods as the Socinians make them.
5. No man that hath a sound braine, and a single eye, can conceive that there are divers Gods in the same Essence, and therefore the expression is necessary and safe. The Father, Son and Spirit are three Coesential subsistents in the same single God-head, they are all three one and the selfe-same God, who is God by nature, the only true God blessed for ever; in this Faith we will live, and in this we will dye, as it becomes Orthodox Christians, who were b…ptized in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.