A Body of Practical Divinity, Sermon 16
The TRINITY
Quest. VI. HOw many Persons are there in the Godhead? Resp. Three Persons, yet but one God, 1 John 5.7. There are three that bear Record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.
God is but One, yet there are three distinct Persons subsisting in one God-head. This is a sacred Mystery, which the Light within could never have discovered. As the two Natures in Christ, yet but one Person, is a wonder, so three Persons, yet but one God-head. I am in a great deep, the Father God, the Son God, the Holy Ghost God, yet not three Gods, but one God. The three Persons in the blessed Trinity are distinguished, but not divided; three Subsistances, but one Essence. This is a Divine Riddle, where one makes three, and three make but one. Our narrow Thoughts can no more comprehend the Trinity in Unity, then a little Nutshel will hold all the Water in the Sea. Let me shadow it out by this similitude: In the Body of the Sun, there is the Substance of the Sun, the Beams, and the Heat; the Beams are begotten of the Sun, the Heat proceeds both from the Sun and the Beams; but these three, though different, are not divided; they all three make but one Sun. So in the blessed Trinity, the Son is begotten of the Father, the Holy Ghost proceeds from both, yet though they are three distinct Persons, yet but one God. First let me speak of the Unity in Trinity, then of the Trinity in Unity.
1. Of the Unity in Trinity. The Unity of the Persons in the Godhead consists in two things.
1. The identity of Essence. In the Trinity there is an Oneness of Essence: the three Persons are of the same Divine Nature and Substance: so that in Deo non est magis & minus, there are no degrees in the Godhead; one Person is not God more then another.
2. The Unity of the Persons in the Godhead, consists in the mutual in-being of them, or their being in one another. The three Persons are so united, that one Person is in another, and with another, Iohn 17.21. Thou Father art in me, and I in thee.
2. Let me speak of the Trinity in Unity. 1. The first Person in the Trinity is God the Father. H… is call'd the first Person in respect of Order not Dignity; for God the Father hath no essential Perfection which the other Persons have not. He is not more wise, more holy, more powerful then the other Persons are; a Priority, not Superiority.
2. The second Person in the Trinity is Iesus Christ, who is begotten of the Father before all Time, Prov. 8.23, 24, 25. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought fortth: when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were set led: before the hills, was I brought forth. Which Scripture declares the Eternal Generation of the the Son of God. This second Person in the Trinity, who is Jehovah, is become our Jesus. The Scripture calls him the Branch of David, Jer. 23.5. and I may call him the Flower of the Virgin, having assum'd our Nature. By him all that believe are justified, Acts 13.39.
3. The third Person in the Trinity is the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. His work it is to illuminate the Mind, and inkindle sacred Motions. The Essence of the Spirit is in Heaven, and every where, but the Influence of it is in the Hearts of Believers. This is that blessed Spirit who gives us the holy Unction, 1 Iohn 2.20. Though Christ merits Grace for us, it is the Holy Ghost works it in us. Though Christ makes the Purchase, it is the Holy Ghost makes the Assurance, and Seals us up to the Day of Redemption. Thus I have spoken of all the three Persons.—The Trinity of Persons may be proved out of Matth. 3.16. Iesus when he was baptized went up straitway out of the water, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove, and lighting upon him, and lo a voice from Heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son. Here are three Names given to the three Persons. He who spake with a Voice from Heaven was God the Father; He who was baptized in Iordan, was God the Son; He who descended in the likeness of a Dove, was God the Holy Ghost. Thus I have shewn you the Unity of Essence, and the Trinity of Persons.
Use 1. It confutes the Jews and the Turks, who believe only the first Person in the Godhead: this cuts assunder the Sinews of our Comfort. Take away the distinction of the Persons in the Trinity, and you overthrow Man's Redemption: for, God the Father being offended with Man for sin, how shall he be pacified without a Mediator. This Mediator is Christ, he makes our Peace! and Christ having died, and shed his Blood, how shall this Blood be applied, but by the Holy Ghost? Therefore if there be not three Persons in the Godhead, Man's Salvation cannot be wrought out. If there be no second Person in the Trinity, then there is no Redeemer. If no third Person, then there is no Comforter. And so the Plank is taken away by which we should get to Heaven.
2. It confutes the execrable Opinion of the Socinians, who deny the Divinity of the Lord Jesus; they make him only to be a Creature of an higher Rank. As the Papists blot out the Second Commandment, so the Socinians would the Second Person in the Trinity. If to oppose Christ's Members be such a sin, what is it to oppose Christ himself? 1. Jesus Christ is coequal with God the Father, Phil. 2.6. He thought it no robbery to be equal with God. 2. He is coeternal with God the Father, Prov. 8.23. I was from the beginning; for else there was a time when God was without a Son, and so he should be no Father: nay, else there was a time when God was without his glory, for Christ is the brightness of his Fathers glory, Hebr. 1.3. 3. He is coessential with God the Father. The Godhead subsists in Christ, Col. 2.9. In whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 'Tis said, not only Christ was with God before the beginning, but he was God, John 1.1. and 1 Tim. 3.16. God manifest in the flesh. The Title of Lord so often given to Christ in the New Testament, doth answer to the Title of Jehovah in the Old Testament, Deut. 6.5. Matth. 22.37. so that Christ hath a Coeternity and Consubstantiality with his Father, Iohn 10.30. I and my Father are One. It were a Blasphemy for any Angel to speak thus! Yet further to prove Christ's Godhead, consider 1. the glorious incommunicable Attributes belonging to God the Father, are ascribed to Christ. 1. Is God the Father Omnipotent, so is Jesus Christ. He is foreign, the Almighty, Rev. 1.8. he Creates, Col. 1.16. 2. Is God the Father infinitely Immense, filling all places, Ier. 23.24. so is Jesus Christ. While Christ was on the Earth by his bodily presence, he was at the same time in the bosom of his Father, Iohn 3.13. in regard of his Divine presence. 2. The same Iura Regalia, or Prerogatives Royal which belong to God the Father, belong also to Christ. (1.) Doth God the Father seal Pardons, this is a Flower of Christ's Crown, Matth. 9.2. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Nor doth Christ only remit sin organicè, as Ministers do, by virtue of a Power delegated to them from God; but Christ doth it by his own Power and Authority. (2.) Is God the Father the adequate Object of Faith, is he to be believed in, so is the Son, Iohn 14.1. (3.) Doth Adoration belong to God the Father, so it doth to the Son, Hebr. 1.6. Let all the Angels of God worship him. How Sacrilegious therefore is the Socinian, who would rob Christ of the best Flower of his Crown, his Godhead; they that deny Christ to be God, must greatly wrest, or else deny the Scripture to be the Word of God.
3. It confutes the Arrians, who deny the Holy Ghost to be God. The Eternal Godhead subsists in the Holy Ghost, Iohn 16.13. He shall guide you into all Truth. Christ speaks not there of an Attribute, but a Person. And that the Godhead subsists in the Person of the Holy Ghost, appears thus: The Spirit, who gives diversity of Gifts, is said to be the same Lord, and the same God, 1 Cor. 12.5, 6. The black and unpardonable sin is said, in a special manner, to be committed against the Godhead, subsisting in the Holy Ghost, Matth. 12.32. The mighty power of God is made manifest by the Holy Ghost. He changeth the Hearts of Men. The Devil would have Christ prove himself to be God, by turning Stones into Bread; but thus the Holy Ghost shews his Godhead, by turning Stones into Flesh, Ezek. 36.26. I will take away the stony heart, and give you an heart of flesh. Yet further, the power and Godhead of the Holy Ghost appeared in the effecting the glorious Conception of our Lord Jesus Christ; the very Shadow of the Holy Ghost made a Virgin conceive, Luke 1.35. The Holy Ghost works Miracles, which transcend the sphere of Nature; as raising the Dead, Rom. 8.11. to him belongs foreign, Divine Worship; our Souls and Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. 6.19. in which Temples he is to be worshipped, vers. 20. We are baptized in the Name of the Holy Ghost, therefore either we must believe his Godhead, or renounce our Baptism in his Name. Methinks it were enough for such Men, as have not so much as heard whether there be an Holy Ghost, or no, Acts 19.2. to deny his Deity; but that any who go for Christians, should deny this Article of their Creed, seems to me very strange. They who would wittingly and willingly blot out the third Person, shall have their Names blotted out of the Book of Life.
Use 2. of Exhortation. 1. Believe this Doctrine, the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of Essence. The Trinity is purely an Object of Faith: The Plumb-line of Reason is too short to fathom this Mystery, but where Reason cannot wade, there Faith must swim. There are some Truths in Religion may be demonstrated by Reason, as that there is a God; but the Trinity of Persons in Unity of Essence is wholly Supernatural, and must be believed by Faith. This Sacred Doctrine, though it be not against Reason, yet it is above Reason. Those illuminated Philosophers that could find out the Causes of things, and discourse of the Magnitude and Influence of the Stars, the Nature of Minerals, could never by their deepest Search find out the Mystery of the Trinity. This is of Divine Revelation, and must be adored with humble believing: we can be no good Christians, without the firm belief of the Trinity. How can we pray to God the Father, but in the Name of Christ, and through the help of the Spirit. Believe the glorious Trinity. How are the Quakers to be abhorr'd, who go under the Name of Christians, yet undervalue and renounce Jesus Christ. I have read of some of the Quakers, who speak thus; We deny the Person of him whom you call Christ, and affirm, That they who expect to be saved by that Christ without, will be damned in that Faith. Could the Devil himself speak worse Blasphemy? they would pull up all Religion by the Roots, and take away that Corner-stone, on which the Hope of our Salvation is built.
2. If there be one God subsisting in three Persons, then let us give 1. Equal Reverence to all the Persons in the Trinity. There is not more or less in the Trinity, the Father is not more God then the Son and Holy Ghost. There is an Order in the Godhead, but no Degrees; one Person hath not a Majority or Supereminency above another, therefore we must give equal Worship to all the Persons, Iohn 5.23. That all Men should honour the Son as they honour the Father. Adore Unity in Trinity.
2. Obey all the Persons in the blessed Trinity, for all of them are God. 1. Obey God the Father. His words, either preceptive or minatory, must be observed. Christ himself, as Man, obeyed God the Father, Iohn 4.34. much more then must we, Deut. 27.10.
2. Obey God the Son, Psalm 2.12. Kiss the Son lest he be angry. Kiss him with a kiss of Obedience. Christ's Commands are not grievous, 1 Iohn 5.3. Nothing he commands but is for our interest and benefit: O then kiss the Son! Why do the Elders throw down their Crowns at the feet of Christ, and fall down before the Lamb, Rev. 4.10, 11. but to testifie their Subjection, and to profess their Readiness to serve and obey him.
3. Obey God the Holy Ghost: our Souls are breath'd into us by the glorious Spirit, Iob 33.4. The Spirit of God hath made me. Our Souls are adorned by the blessed Spirit. Every Grace is a Divine Sparkle lighted in the Soul by the Holy Ghost. Nay more, the Spirit of God sanctified Christ's Humane Nature, he united it with the Divine, and fitted the Man Christ to be our Mediator. Well then doth this third Person in the Trinity, the Holy Ghost, deserve to be obeyed; he is God, and this Tribute of Homage and Obedience is to be paid him by us.