Exposition of the Apostles Creed, Part 1 · Sermon 7
That there is three Persons.
1 John 5.7.
For there are three which beare Record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the holy Ghost, and these three are one.
THis day the Church hath honour'd with the name of the holy and blessed Trinity; and as in the honour of the Trinity we observe the day, so we have a sure ground for the doctrine of the Trinity in the Text. The foreign, or maine matter to be debated in this place, is, whether Jesus be that Christ, that Son of God which was to come into the world, the Messiah promised to Jew and Gentile, on whom alone our faith, our hope, our victory, our eternal salvation was to depend. Now for proof of this, the Apostle produceth his witnesses; Three in heaven, three on earth, above in heaven the whole Trinity. The Father, who testified at Jordan in his Baptisme, and on Mount Tabor at his transfiguration by the Bath-Col, Mat. 3.17. Mat. 17.5.or daughter of the voice, as the Jews call it; This is my beloved Son, &c. And the Word, Mat. 26.63. Mat. 3.16. Acts 2.3.who perpetually affirmed, that he was the Son of God. And the Holy Ghost that at his Baptisme descended upon him in the shape of a Dove, and after his ascension, came upon the Apostles in the visible shape of fiery tongues, endowing them with power from above.
Below on earth there is another Trinity. The Spirit, or rather the gifts and graces of his Spirit, shed abroad in the hearts of the faithful,Beza. Aretius, Zanchy. Ar…t. Estius. that shew his power, and declare him to be a King. The water poured upon his head in Baptisme, or the Baptismal water poured upon ours, by which we are regenerate and clensed from the staine of sin. Or else the water of life, and promulgation of the Gospel (the Word of God being often compared to water) which testifie againe, and declare him to be a Prophet. And the blood shed upon the Cross, of which we keep to this day a commemoration in the Sacrament, is a third Witness;Isa. 53.10. and declares that he was our Priest to offer his soul a Sacrifice for us. These three benefits then, the Graces of his Spirit, our Regeneration by the Gospel, our Redemption by his blood, do to us on earth evidently demonstrate that he was that Messiah, a King to govern, a Prophet to enlighten, a Priest to appease God for us.
The three Witnesses on earth I call not forth at this time. The other three only I shall set before you; and I have chosen to do it this day, that we may do the work of the day upon the day, joyntly bless the holy Trinity for the goodness declared toward the children of men;Rev. 4.8, 10. that with the foure and twenty Elders we cast down our Crownes, and fall before him that sits upon the Throne, and cry, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty.
Whatsoever some peevish and perverse spirits have thought, yet the institutions of high and holy dayes are not so unnecessary and superstitious as men suppose. The intention of our Mother the Church in their Ordination being first to instruct her children, next to raise their hearts to a joyful thankfulness. The observation of the day is an easie help to rub up the memory, or to fasten in it, even of the most illiterate man, the great work that God did for him, as upon that day; that he was conceiv'd by the holy Ghost in a Virgin womb, born, dyed, rose, ascended to heaven for him, and being set on the right hand of God, gave gifts to men: Gifts, which are effusions of the whole Trinity. So that a man would think, that those who have cast aside the dayes on which these benefits were remembred, intended that the benefits should be forgotten also, and that men should be to seek for the Articles of their Creed.
But there was yet another purpose in it, it was that we should rejoyce before the Lord, and bless his holy Name, who hath done so great things for sinful man. God would not have his people like beasts, which feed and never look upward, but really affected with what he hath done, and for it to exult and be glad, and for it to express our joy to the eare and eye of others.Psalm 118.24. Dumb and silent remembrances please him not; there is vox Psalterii, the found of the Viol, and all Instruments of David, Amos 5.23.6.5these have been framed by Art; And there is againe vox melodiae, the voice of melody, which in Saint Pauls language, is Psalmes, and Hymns, and spiritual songs:Col. 3.16. These may be expressed by natural Instruments. And with both these the Scripture Festivals were solemnized. Sing you merrily to God our strength, make a cheerful noise to the God of Jacob; there is vox melodiae, Psal. 81.1, 2, 3.the voice natural. Then it follows, Bring hither the Tabret, the merry Harpe, with the Lute, Blow up the Trumpet. There is vox Psalterii, the voice artificial and instrumental.
But these though they have in them foreign,1 Cor. 14.11. the power of the voice working strongly not only upon the senses, but even upon the affections also, yet they have not foreign, the voice of power; upon the understanding they work little, that power being peculiar to the two edged Sword,Heb. 4.12. that pierceth to the dividing asunder of the soule and spirit. This efficacy God hath reserved to his own voice, his own Word: which in his Feasts he would have heard from the mouth of his Ministers, who in these Festivals were not only to utter good and comfortable words, but to bring Goads and Nails. Eccles. 12.11.Nails to fasten the back-sliding and starting Professours that they slip not from the faith: and Goads to excite and provoke the heavy headed, dull and forgetful mindes to praise and thanksgiving.
Though then there appeare not at this our Feast, what Saint John saw in heaven, Harpers harping with their Harps, nor the voice of melody, nor sound of the Viol,Rev. 14.2. and if some may have their will, never shall: yet I shall supply what cannot be had, by a voice taught me from heaven; and I hope it shall be so powerfull, that like a Goad it shall quicken you, and as a Nail it will stick fast in you, that the great mystery of the Trinity be understood, believed, and adored by you.
I pray you therefore to accompany me with your prayers, as well as with your attentions, that I may conceive as I ought, and speak as I ought of so weighty, of so profound a matter. For that observation of Lombard out of Saint Augustine, Lombard. sentent. lib. 1. dest. 2. c. 1. August. de Trin. l. 1. c. 3.is most true; Ʋbi quaeritur unitas Trinitatis, Patris scilicet, filii, & spiritus sancti, nec periculosius alicubi erratur, nec laboriosius aliquid quaeritur, nec fructuosius aliquid invenitur. Which I shall English in the poesie of the best Translatour:
In sacred sheets of either Testament
Du Burtas.'Tis hard to finde an higher Argument;
More deep to sound, more busie to discuss,
More useful known, unknown more dangerous.
If ever I went to fathome the Ocean, 'tis now; if to enter into the third Heaven, it is this day. 'Tis a bold attempt I humbly acknowledge, and if I faile, or express my self too obscurely, impute it to the depth of the mystery, to which the sharpest eye of reason is not able to penetrate; so that had it not been for the help of Revelation, we had been blinde in this point for ever. Let then those bold followers of Servetus and Blandrate, with all Tritheits go and boast of their clear knowledge in this mystery, and that they finde no difficulty at all in it; while we with modesty, feare, and reverence approach so high a secret, and learn of the Seraphims to cover our faces at the presence of so great a glory and Majesty;Isa. 6.2. which is to be adored, not curiously to be searched; to be believ'd, and not irreverently to be enquired into. Omitting therefore all disputes of new and old Heretiques, I will out of the Scriptures open unto you, what in this point you are to believe; to which purpose I have made choice of these words; Which are so full for the proof of the Trinity,Tremel. loc. that some Arrians expunged them out of the Text. Out of which I collect these propositions.
1. That there is but one God.
2. That in the Godhead there be three persons.
1. GOD is One.
That God is but One, we have a full Testimony out of the Law, out of the Prophets, out of the Gospel, out of the Epistles.
First, Thus speaks the Law, Heare, O Israel, the Lord is God, and there is no other besides me, Deut. 5.7.or before me. Which command, as Philo and the Christians that followed, have call'd foreign, de unius imperio, the commandment by which the Empire of one is established, and the multitude of gods are destroyed. And againe, Heare O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And yet againe, See now that I, even I am He, Deut. 6 4. & 32.39.and there is no God with me; which in the Hebrew is thus read, Ego, Ego ipse.
Secondly, Thus speak the Prophets; David in the Psalmes,Psal. 83.18. & 86.10. & 18.31 Isa. 45.5. & 42.8. & 44.6, 8. Thou whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most High over all the earth. Thou art God alone. For who is God save the Lord? or who is a Rock save our God? This supremacy God reserves to himself, I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God besides me. Which the same Prophet Esay had said twice or thrice before, I am the Lord, this is my name; and my glory I will not give to another. I am the first, I am the last, and besides me there is no God. And againe, Is there a God besides me? There is no God, I know not any. Which also Hannah the Mother of Samuel remembred in her Song, 1 Sam. 2.2.
Thirdly, This was also the language of the Pharisee in the Gospel, confessing that it was a great Truth our Saviour spoke, Well Master, Mark 12.32. Rom. 3.30. 1 Cor. 8.4, 6. Gal. 3.20. Ephes. 4.6.thou hast said the truth; for there is one God, and there is none other but he. And Saint Paul speaks the same words to the Romanes, It is one God shall justifie; to the Corinthians, To us there is but one God. To the Galatians, But God is one. To the Ephesians, There is one God and Father of all. And to heap up no more places, in the first Epistle to Timothy thus we reade,1 Tim. 2.5. There is one God, and one Mediatour between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Either then cast off the Old and New Testament, or it must be confess'd that God is but one, Ʋnity being his first Attribute.
An Assertion which the wisest of the Heathens have delivered and proved;Orpheus, Sibyllae, Homer, Pythagoras, Plato. foreign. Seld. de diis Syris proleg. I should but trouble you in producing their Testimonies, they are extant in Justine Martyr. Yet I cannot pass over that the Priests in Egypt, though for their profit they retain'd a multitude of gods in name and shew, yet in the most secret revestres of their Temples, whither the people might not approach, they had a Sphere resembling the world, whose Inscription was Moderatoris Ʋnici, The Symbol of the only Governour. And at Athens though they had their mysteries of Ceres, their feasts of Apollo, Bacchus, &c. yet they had one Altar erected foreign, to the unknown God; Acts 17.23.which Saint Paul proves to be the God of heaven. That great Hermes hath at once spoken for them all, Ʋnum statuimus Deum, unam unitatem, omnium, quae sunt, Alii legunt unitatum. Trismegist. in Paemand. c. 2, 3, &c. Plato Epist. 13. ad Dionys.radicem: Deos non Naturae ordine, sed honoris causâ nomimamus, We judge that there is but one God, one root of all the Unities which are in the world; And Gods indeed we name, not for their being▪ but for their honour. Which Truth was acknowledged also by Plato to Dionysius; Hence, saith he, you shall know whether I write seriously or not; for when I write seriously, ordior epistolam ab uno Deo; cùm secus, à pluribus, I begin my Letter from one God; when otherwise, with many; and therefore he saith not Si diis placuerit, si dii adfuerint, &c. If it please the Gods, if the Gods be present; but often useth these formes of speech, Quod Deo placuerit, Deo juvante, Deus novit, Deus fecit, If it please God, God helping,Just. Martyr. l. citato. God knows, God makes. And him he calls foreign, as in Moses; foreign, The only Being; but the rest, foreign, Those who had no Being truly.
Be it as it is conceived, that he and the rest among the Learned Heathens transcribed this and many other truths from the Books of Moses and the Prophets,Vide Philip. Morn. de ver. Christi Relig. cap. 3. yet this seemeth very consonant to the light of reason; for otherwise with one voice they would not have delivered it. All things in the world must have a beginning and being. Which beginning of being is either from, themselves, or from some other. That from themselves they have it not 'tis certain; why is it else they perish? why do they change? why come they to nothing? could not that Nature, would not that Nature which first gave them being, have also continued them? would not every thing preserve its own state,Dr. Hackwells Apology. lib. 5. Sect. 1. were it in its own proper power? Since Nature inclines not to corruption, but generation, necessary then it is that we confess a Superiour power, that imposed this condition upon all that doth decay in the first Creation; which is that foreign, that Summum E…s, whose priviledge it is to be what he is,Heb. 13.8. whose Name is Jehovah, I am yesterday, to day, the same for ever.
Now this condition he imposed upon the Creatures out of his infinite power. But two infinite powers cannot be conceiv'd at once, since the infinite power of the one will limit and circumscribe the power of the other, for else it cannot be infinite. As therefore it is necessary there be but one infinite power, so it is necessary that there be but one only God, from whose Unity all diversity doth proceed; as from one point all sorts of lines, from one number all equality and inequality of numbers.
'Tis known whose ambition it was to be like the Most High, and yet his pride was not to have absolute,Isa. 14.12, 13, 14. but a proportional power; like he would be only, not above him. The Devil was not so mad or foolish, to desire an impossible thing, he would only be Independent, no Subject, but command in his Kingdome, as God did in his, and enjoy his own as his own, freely, and not precariously as a homager. For which attempt he was justly cast out of heaven,Epipbanius haer. 66. Sect. 14. Socrat. Scol. l. 1. cap. 21. and reserved in chaines of darkness for ever. To erect then more powers than one, is to be of the Devils conspiracy, and to fetch from Hell, that old blasphemy of the Manichees who made two principles, one of good, another of evil; one of light, another of darkness; one of heat, another of cold; one of health, another of sickness.
But take a view of all the creatures of the world, and tell me whether they do not proclaime their Maker to be but One. In the Elements we finde contrary qualities, heat and cold, moysture and siccity; and where there is contrariety, there will be Warre. Were there then one God of the cold, another of the heat; one power to command over moyst, another over dry bodyes, there would be continual factions, perpetual quarrels betwixt the Elements. Whereas it is now One God that keeps them quiet, causeth that one usurp not each others rights and places, and sweetly unites them for the composition of natural bodyes.
What should I say, that all things in Nature, Art, and Policy, tend to unity? In man the branches of many veines are from one Liver, of many nervs from one braine, many arteryes proceed from one heart. And though the body be composed of parts of different qualities, yet it hath but one head for the guidance and direction of all, and one soul to direct and guide that one head. In a Tree there be divers boughs, sprigs, and armes, yet all con-center in the same body, and both meet in one root. To which Porphiry compares his Scale of Universals, in which you ascend from the particulars to the Species, and so upwards till you come to the highest Genus, Ens, in which are united whatsoever you can conceive. So that this diversity is reduced into an unity, till at last you come by degrees to that unity, than which nothing can be more one. For Unum & Ens convertuntur.
'Tis a most true Observation, that Art imitates Nature; and what is it that makes any Art differ from any other but unity? The unity of the object and the end being the essential difference; and yet the learned are not so content; they think it would be an occasion of quarrel, should they thus stand single, without any respect one to another, and therefore they have linked them together by subordination, that one might assist the other in the proof of their principles: Over all which they have set the Metaphysiques as a supervisor to examine, to confirme, to judge what shall be receiv'd for undoubted Truth. Whatsoever then man conceives, finds out, disposes, tends to unity.
I omit here that Grammer first requires Concords, Rhetorick unites disaffected mindes, Arithmetick beginnes with unites, the Mathematicks reduce all Diagrams to a single point, Musick closes every Lesson in a Dia-pason or Cords. For the Politicks are nearer for my purpose, in which I find a Monarchy preferr'd before all other kinde of Governments.
foreign.Hom. II.
Multiplicity of Kings is not good, saith that wisest of the Grecians. Good! nay, stark naught, the occasion of that sedition and quarrel among them, and therefore let there be but one King. foreign.Just. Martyr. foreign. ad Ellen. But Monarchy is safe and inexpugnable. In Israel they had their Senhedrim, yet all was out of square, as appeares in the Theft and Idolatry of Micah, in the Idolatry and Rapine of the Danites, Judges 17.18, 19, 20.in the abominable bestialities of the men of Gibeah, and the civil War of the Benjamites. All which enormities the holy Ghost imputes to the want of a Monarch. There was no King in Israel, therefore every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
'Tis Unity then that holds together the World, Heads all Arts and Sciences, preserves all bodyes, both natural and political, which fall to decay and ruine upon dis-union and separation. Now what can this speculation leade us to, but to set up one Monarch over all, who by his wisdome should direct all, and by his eye and care should provide for all, and by his hand and power govern all? So things of different kindes and qualities might be kept in peace; whereas without that one to set them a Law, they would fight with and destroy one another. It was so in the Chaos, saith the wittyest of Poets,Ovid. & In Chaos antiquum confundimur, we should be turn'd into the old Chaos againe, had not that One God that made all these— Concordi pace ligavit, knit them in peace.
To close up this point, judge in your selves, whether it be fit for man, who will admit but one Pilot in a Ship, one General in an Army, one Admiral in a Navy, one Master in a Family, one Mayor in a City, to suppose the world should have more Lords than One! And if reason hath taught us yet over all to appoint one, let the same reason teach us also, that it is as necessary to allow One God to Rule the whole. Be not more brutish than beasts: The Bees have their King, the Birds their chief, every Herd their Leader. Nay, be not worse than the Devils, for they have their Prince, Beelzebub the Prince of Devils. Luke 11.15.And his Eldest and best beloved Son Anti-Christ, will usurp that forme of Government which is most glorious, most divine, he will admit no competitour,2 Thes. 2.3, 4. will exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, &c. Of these then learn that Monarchy is the best forme of Government. And deny flatly that there is a God, or else acknowledge that he must be the sole Monarch. Think not that he will admit of any competitour, which irrational creatures will not do in their little Common-Wealths, nor the Devil, nor Anti-Christ in their Kingdomes.
Do all Arts and Sciences teach unity of objects, and shall we conceive that Divinity alone should teach multiplicity of Gods? Heathenisme may, but Christianity will not; no, nor yet Judaisme, nor Turcisme. These though differing in other things, yet in this principle they unite, That there is but One Jehovah, God blessed f…r ever more. Amen.
2. That in the Godhead be three Persons.
But it will be said, What, is there but one God? how is that possible, since here we reade of three? Three in heaven. Can one be three, and three one? Yes, it may be, it must be so; even so saith the Spirit, These three are one. Some tell us that they are one consensu, or Testimonio, in consent, in their Testimony; which is true, for all three agree in this, That God sent his Sonne. But this Interpretation is too cold; for so three hundred men may be but one, that is, agree in the same Testimony, and be but one Witness: Which yet by the way proves them to be distinct persons; for such they must be before they can agree: The person alwayes having an existence before he can consent. Which clearly overthrows the end for which this answer was invented, and stops the mouths of those that serve themselves of it. But this shift is not it that can sustaine the weight of these words; for in the Original the predicate is foreign, not foreign. Unum, not Unus. One in essence, not one witness, which must be referr'd to their nature and substance, not to their union in assent, which the following words seem to cleare; for of the three following Witnesses on earth, the phrase is otherwise, they three agree foreign, to one purpose. This then is but an evasion, and if true, did not enervate the force of the Text.
To give you more light in this mystery; a thing is said to be one two manner of wayes;Justine Mart. foreign. either in essence, in person or existence. By essence a thing is meant having being in it self, but common unto others; As the nature of man is to be a reasonable creature, which yet is not so restrain'd to any particular man, but all equally share in it. And thus the Deity or Nature of the Godhead, which yet is not so limited to the Father, but the Son and the holy Ghost equally partake of it. By person is meant a substance having existence in himself, intelligent, incommunicable, no part of another, nor sustained by any other. Thus we say Peter, James, and John are distinct, and intelligent persons; for though they all agree in the Nature of man, yet they have every one a particular existence. For Peter is not James, nor John the same numerically with either. To apply this to my purpose. Thus we believe and teach, that God is one in Nature and Essence of himself, subsisting by himself,Gen. 17.1. 1 Cor. 8.6. Heb. 2.10. Al-sufficient of himself; of whom, through whom, in whom are all things. We nevertheless believe and teach, that this same infinite One is without any confusion distinguished into three Persons. The first called the Father, the second called the Sonne, the third the Holy Ghost: And thus three may be one, and one three. Three one in essence, and one three in existence.
If any one then would conceive aright in his minde the Divine Nature, he must conceive of God or the Godhead absolutely; if any of the Persons, then he must conceive of the same Godhead, with the relation it hath to personal properties. Thus the Godhead consider'd with the property of Fatherhood or begetting, is the person of the Father. The same Godhead considered with the property of being begotten, is the person of the Son. And the same Godhead again consider'd with the property of proceeding, is the person of the Holy Ghost.
Hitherto I have shew'd you how one may be three, and three one. It remains, that out of the Scripture I demonstrate
1. That these three are one in Nature.
2. That these three are Persons, not qualities.
3. That they are three distinct Persons, not One.
1. These three Persons are One in Nature, Coessential, and Consubstantial.
1. Because the name of God agrees to all three. The Father is God, Jer. 23.6. Jehovah our righteousnesse. The Sonne is God. Of the …athers concerning the fl…sh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Rom. 9.5. The Holy Ghost is God. Acts 5.3, 4. Thou hast lyed unto the Holy Ghost, that is, to God.
2. The Divine Attributes are given unto all three, The Father uncreate; for of him, and through him, and to him are all thing…, Rom. 11.36. The Sonne Ʋncreate. All things were mad… by him, and without him was made nothing that was made. John 1.3. The Holy Ghost Ʋncreate. The Spirit of God moved upon the waters. Gen. 1.2. Psal. 104.30. …he Father eternal, 1 Tim. 1.17. Unto the King eternal be honour. The Sonne e…ernal. Before Abraham was, I am. John 8.58. The Holy Ghost eternal. Heb. 9.14. Called the et…rnal Spirit. The Father Almighty, Gen. 17.1. Th… So…ne Almighty; He shall raise our dead bodies by that mighty working, Phil. 3.21.whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself. And the Holy Ghost Almighty. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his Counsellor, hath taught him? Isa. 40.13.
3. The Opera ad extra, or the works which from the Unity iss…e as it were in open sight, are all in common works of the Deity. The first is that wonderful work of the Creation, which is attributed to all three persons. Elohim creav…t. This the Creede attr…butes to the Father.Gen. 1.1. But this also is attributed to the Son Isa. 54.5. Thy Maker is thy husband. The same to t…e Holy …host, Job 33.4. The Spirit of the Lord hath made. The second work is Redemption, is attributed to the Sonne. The third of Sanctificatio…, which is a work of the Holy Ghost, and yet all three are the works of one true God, and of God alone, and therefore there can be but one Go….
Lastly, Baptisme can only be administred in the name of God, as is evident. Belief may not be fixed upon any but God;1 Cor. 1.14, 15 Jer. 17.5. for creatures are no objects of faith; cursed be the man, saith the Prophet, that …rusts in man. Divine glory may be given to none but God; My glory I will not give o another. Blesse we may not in any other name but Gods.Isa. 42.8. Num. 6.24. ad 27. Since then we Baptize in the Name, and beleeve in the Name, and give glory in th… Name, …nd blesse in the Name of all three, all three must in substance be the same God.
2 foreign, or three Persons.
And this self same argument will also prove that they are three persons, and not three qualities in the same G…dhead. For, shall any man blesse, or baptize, or believe in, or give glory to an Attribute? These are acts, and speciall acts of a Divine worship, and therefore may not be given to any but a person really existent in the Divine essence. And of this argument Saint Basil makes this excellent use, Quomodo baptizamur, ita & credimus; & quomodo credimus, ita glorificamus; & quomodo glo ificamus, ita & benedicimus.
1. Then let us go to the Font, and consider how we are baptized. There, there is expresse mention of all three persons. A. B. I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Sonne, and of the Holy Ghost. We mean not I hope to renounce our Baptisme; and if not that, we must beleeve all three persons.
2. And as we are baptized, so we beleeve, and the Canon of our faith is this, I beleeve in God the Father, &c. I beleeve in God the Sonne, &c. I beleeve in the Holy Ghost.
3. Now all believers are bound to give glory to God; and as they believe, so to give glory. This the Catholick Church, and every part of it, hath done, till of late, to all three persons; The Conclusion of their Psalms and Hymns being that Doxology, Dr. Hammond. Vind. of the Liturgy.Glory be to the Father, to the Sonne, and to the Holy Ghost; which, (as there is for it good authority) was composed by the first Nicene Council, and appointed by them to be used in the Church, as a lesser Creede, against the Arrians. As it they had also learned of the Cherubims to sing,Isa. 6.2. Holy, Holy, Holy, out of which Anthem the old Jewes prov'd the Trinity.
4. So it is in our Baptisme, so in our Creed, so in our Thanks, and is so yet in our blessing, and I hope ever shall be so. We end our service with the Blessing of God Almighty, the Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost; and we dismisse you after Sermon with The Grace of o…r Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the holy Spirit: 2 Cor. 13.14.'Tis as if we said, God in nature one, in persons three, blesse you, be with you, remaine with you. These you see are no high speculations, not far fet; You cannot remember your Baptisme, you cannot say your Creede, you can never be bless'd as you desire, nor depart with a blessing from this Congregation as you ought, but still you are put in mind of the three persons. And it must be confessed, that either the Catholick Church hath been very much out in their whole Service, or else the truth of this Article must stand immovable.
2. But I proceed. Actiones sunt suppositorum. Individuals only exist, and are alone active, especially about such works as the Scripture attributes to these three. To create is the work of a person. To take a body, to redeem, to reconcile, to govern, the work of a person. To sanctifie, to be Lord, to speak, to teach, to reprove, to comfort, to be a witnesse, to place Bishops, to make Decrees in Councils, are all personal acts; actions all of a person existent, working, living, endued with understanding and will. But all these are the actions of the blessed Trinity, and therefore it is necessary that there be three Persons.
3. Of the person of the Father, there is no doubt: it is the Personality of the Sonne and the Holy Ghost that is oppos'd. But no man who believes the Scriptures, can call that in question. Not the person of the Sonne, since of him it is written, His going forth hath been of old, from everlasting, or the dayes of eternity. Micah 5.2.And again, Jesus Christ, yesterday, and to day, and the same for ever. Not of the Person of the Holy Ghost, since we read of him, and of his gifts and graces;Heb. 13.8. as two distinct things. There be diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit; and then he and his gifts cannot be one and the same. Farther yet tis evident,1 Cor. 12.4. that he appeared in the forme of a Dove, and of fiery tongues,Matth. 3.16. Acts 1.3. which were substantial appearances, no qualities, and therefore he who was pleased to descend in those formes, must have an existence.
3. These Persons are distinct.
Persons then they must be, and one Person they are not, but three distinct.
1. Distinct in Number. For the Father is the Father, and not the Sonne. The Son is the Son, and not the Father. The Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, and not the Father, nor yet the Son. From which respect, that which we call distinction in the Trinity doth arise, which though it makes not foreign, another thing, yet the person is foreign, another person.
2. And this Number was represented thus distinct to sense at Christs Baptisme. The Father in the voice presented to the eare. The Son in the flood presented to the hand. The Holy Ghost in the Dove presented to the eye.Matth. 3.16.
3. Again, this distinction intimated in Christs promise, I will aske the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter. John 14.16.Where we meet with three distinct Persons. Ego, Ille, Alium. I, the Son praying; He, the Father giving. Another third Person comforting, named here the Paraclete. A plain distinction.
This Trinity in Unity, and Unity in Trinity, the Fathers of the Church have found out many similitudes to illustrate, though it must be acknowledged, that they are no more than Similes, which are foreign, in many things unlike. They have thought upon the soul of man; in which you have three principal parts, the Memory, Understanding, the Will, which all three yet make but one soul.Tertul. cont. Praxeam. Cypr. in Symb. Augustin. Tertul. Cyprian. Lactant. Tertul. Cont. Praxeam. Symb. Nic. Just. Martyr. Cyprian. Of the Emanation or effluence of water, in which you meet with the Springs, the Rill, and the River, three distinct names, and yet the water the same. Of a Tree, in which we finde the Root, the Trunk, and the Boughs, three different parts, but yet the same Tree, the Root depending of none, the Stock of the Root, the Boughs of both. Of Light, which the three hundred and eighteen Fathers of Nice made choise of, to the creation or production rather of which, we know there concurs the Sun, the Beame, and the Shine.
But these Similes were not produced by them fully to unfold this Mystery, but only that it might be someway shewed that it was not altogether absurd, or impossible that there should be one & one three, in different respects. And therfore I presse them no farther.
The Conclusion.
Thus have I with much fear and sobriety opened unto you, what is to be beleev'd in this great Mystery; and if any man shall expect arguments more demonstrative, let him know, that this great Truth admits no other demonstration than we finde in Scripture. Had not God reveal'd it,Just. Mart. foreign. man had been ignorant of it for ever; The sublimity of the Mystery being such, that it far surpasseth the capacity of mans shallow brain. Revealed then it is, and it is far beyond our reach.
1. That our obedience to Gods Word may be the better tryed, our faith the clearer, and our reward the greater. To beleeve only that for which we have evidence of reason, is knowledge, not faith, and comes short of that reward promised by our Saviour, that being made to those who beleeve what they see not. Thomas, because thou hast seene, thou hast beleeved; blessed are they who have not seene, and yet have beleeved.
2. That we might not worship him after our own imaginations,John 20.20.29 feigning to our selves such a God as we pleased. Trinity in Unity must be known of us. Trinity in Ʋnity must be worshipped by us.
3. That we be wise unto sobriety, not suffering our tongues and wits to riot, or our pens to be too lavish in the search and expression of all heavenly Mysteries; For though in these three is nothing against, yet there are many things above the reach of humane reason. How is it likely that the wit of man should ever measure out the immense essense of God, that could never yet dive fully into, and comprehend the nature of the poorest Emmet, a contemptible creature, as being little in body, very base in substance!Basil. epist. 168. See the answer of the Angel to Esdras. Esdras 2.4, 9, 10, 11, 21. & cap. 5.36, 37, 40.
Heus tu, qui intellectu tuo, & ratione metiri audes divina, metire eadem mensura vel formicam. O thou, who with thy vast reason and understanding presumes to measure Divine Mysteries, take the full view if thou canst, with the same measure of the nature even of one poor Pismire, and satisfie these demands. For with such questions, as follow, doth that great Basil convince the prying eyes of meer natural men, who must have a reason of all things, or else receive no satisfaction.
Tell me, saith he, whether it breaths or not, or if that little Corps be upheld with bones? if those smaller joynts be linked together with sinews, or chain'd with strings? and those sinews fortified with muscles? whether doth there run through the back a facile chaine, pliable and flexible to bend, and winde, and turne? where be the vessels in those bones to retaine the whiter marrow? whether hath it a heart the seat of life, or a Liver the shop of blood, or a gall to draine the choler, or a spleen to empty the melancholy, or a bladder to receive the urine? where be the kidneys, the veines, the arteries, the midriff? Tell me how long it lives; after what manner it is produced; whether by generation, or out of putrefaction; and if by generation, how long it continueth in the womb. In a word, say, why all do not creep, but some mount upon the wing, and other foot it below.
In so small a vermine the wisest wit may be put to a Non-plus, and no dissection shall be able to inform what may give content: How shall we their think to satisfie reason in so high a Mystery as is this of the Trinity?Lib. 5. de considerat. Excellently Saint Bernard, Sacramentum Trinitatis Mysterium magnum est, & quidem venerandum, non scrutandum; Scrutari temeritas est, credere pietas est, nosse vita est, & vitae aeterna, The Mystery of the Trinity is a great Mystery, and worthy of veneration, but not to be curiously searched. To search it is rashness;Nazian. foreign. to believe it is piety, to know it life, and that eternal. In this we confess foreign, faith must be above reason; docilitate opus est magis quam acumine; Calv. instit. cap. de fide. Sect. 6.we must be rather docile Scholars, than curious and sharp inquisitours. The foreign, ipse Dixit of our Master must be enough; That direction of Calvin is worth observation, Deum nuquam quaeramus nisi in ejus verbo, aut de ipso cogitemus nisi cum ejus verbo, aut loquamur nisi per ejus verbum, Let us never seek God except in his Word, or think upon him but with his Word, or speak of him but by the light of his Word. This, this alone is the way in this and other Mysteries to be freed from darkness, and kept from errour.
With me admire that secret which you cannot comprehend, believe that which you cannot by reason prove; doubt not of that which God hath revealed; and in all humble reverence, reverent devotion, devout humility adore,Jo. Meurs. foreign. Codinus de orig. Constantinop. Damasc. de Orthod. fide. c. 57. and sing that foreign, of which the words were, foreign, referring the first foreign or holy to God the Father, the second to God the Son, the third to God the holy Ghost. This Hymne was taught by Angels, and commanded by Theodosius the younger to be sung in all Churches of the Empire. Which also the fourth Council at Chalcedon chaunted aloud as appears in the Acts. And let the wise judge, whether this be a time to cast out of the Church such Hymns as these, by which glory is given to God on high, and the Doctrine of the Trinity secured. If any man hath a months minde to revive the condemned blasphemy of accursed Arrius, or with the Macedonian Hereticks to fight against the Deity of the Holy Ghost, let him bring his Spunge, and wipe out of the Liturgy Gloria Patri, filio, & Spiritui Sancto. But if he bear a good will to the blessed Trinity, let him be content to let it stand, since it will prove a great impediment to the growth of these new reviv'd Heresies.
2. And yet farther make this use of this mystery, That since the Trinity agree in so sweet an Unity, Let us also who were baptized in the Name of this Trinity,Ephes. 4.4, 5, 6. endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It were a shame for us, who acknowledge but one Father which is God, one Elder Brother which is Christ, one Comforter, which is the holy Spirit, that are sons of one Mother, which is the Church, and were Baptized into one faith, through Schisme and Heresie to separate from the Catholick Church, and through hatred or private ends and grudges, to raise tumults and seditions in Gods family.
Shall these blessed persons in the Trinity be but one, and shall we mushroms on earth be divided by sides and factions? what is this else but to enervate Christs prayer for us, who earnestly near his parting with the world, thus Petitions his Father in our behalf, Keep through thy Name, good Father, John 17.11.those whom thou hast giv…n me, that they may be one as we are. Unum sicut nos. One as we are; good God, how can that be! Such an unity in essence and substance cannot be expected in or among men: it is only required that we imitate this, not equal it. Many persons on earth cannot have the same Numerical Nature, but yet they may have the same love by which their souls may be, as it were, one. One then we may be, though many, in Love and Charity, as the Trinity is by Nature, which is the thing our Saviour prayes for.
It is worth your consideration, how far God is a lover of Unity. He framed but one world, committed it to the care and Monarchy of one man▪ that in him as one common root all after-births should meet and joyn. In the Inferiour creatures also he observ'd this unity, creating only two (the next number to one) Male and Female of every kinde, which in specie are but one, that from this unity the rest might be encreased and multiplied. Yea, and when he destroyed the world again by water, his care was only for the preservation of as few as might be of every kinde.Gen. 6.19. What should I tell you, that those whom he hath made choice of to save, cannot be out of danger, till they meet in one body which is the Church, according to that of Saint Paul? We many are but one body in Christ. Rom. 12.4, 5.As good children then it behoves us all to follow the steps of our heavenly Father, to preserve unity so near as may be. To love together, and live together,1 John 4.8. John 13.34. Wisd. 1.6. Gal. 5.22. Acts 10.36. Rom. 10.15. Heb. 12.14. Isa. 9.6. Rom. 12.18. Mat. 12.25. since we all serve one God, whose essence is but one, whose Attribute is love, whose command is love, whose Legacy is love, whose Spirit is a loving Spirit. His Doctrine is the Doctrine of peace, his Ministers are the Messengers of peace, his followers are the Children of peace, his Son is the Prince of peace: As much then as in you lies, have peace with all men, but especially with those who are of the houshold of faith.
A house divided against it self cannot stand, or a Kingdome divided against it self cannot continue, no not that of the Devil; which that evil spirit knowing to be a great Truth, labours what he may to divide and distract you: Which endeavour the first and best Christians utterly frustrated by their unanimity. When they pray'd, they pray'd all together; when they heard, they heard all together; when they brake bread, they did it all together;Acts 4.24. Acts 8.6. Acts 2.46. Acts 2.1. At the receiving the holy Ghost, they were all together. All together ever; not one in one place, and one in another, but all foreign, with one minde, in one place; with one mind, in that there is Unanimity; in one place, in that there is Uniformity. And again foreign all about the same business, how they might most set forth foreign the wonderful works of God,Acts 2.11. how they might most advance the Name of Jesus of Nazareth.
This work will never be well done without the assistance of the Spirit; and there is no such barre to his assistance, as is discord and dis-union of mindes. He will no more informe divided hearts, than the natural spirit will dismembred bodies, or scatter'd bones. At Salem is his Tabernacle, Psalm 76.2.and Salem is peace; and is it likely then he should come and dwell there, where there is nothing but Schismes, and jarres, and quarrels?Heb. 10.25. 'Tis then but vanity of them who withdraw themselves, and yet boast of the Spirit, and monopolize the Spirit, and speak presumptuously of the gifts of the Spirit, since they are so rent, so divided, so separated, so torne into so many factions, fractions, divisions, and subdivisions. For whereas there is among you envyings, 1 Cor. 3.3, 4.and strife, and factions, are you not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul, another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Yes, Carnal, so saith Saint Paul. Sensual, having not the Spirit, so saith Saint Jude. Jude Epist. ver. 19.You may vainly boast of, but the Spirit you have not: positively saith the Apostle, You have it not.
Returne, return, O Shulamite, returne, returne, that we may look upon thee: Cant. 6.13.what shall you see in the Shulamite, but as the Company of an Army? Return to thy God which is but one; return to the truth which can be but one; return to thy former feelings of grace which proceeded from one Spirit; return to the unity of the Church, which is the one sole Mother of us all. And what shall you see in this united Church? even such an aweful Majesty and grace, as in a well-marshalled Army, which under one General and one standard, is ready with one minde to fight the enemy. Corners beget Heresies, Heresies Scismes, Scisme hatred, hatred Alienation of mindes, and mindes that are Alienated are not fit to Engage in this Battel.
The complaint is bitter that the Spouse takes up in the Canticles, My mothers Sonnes have fought against me. Cant. 1.6. Bernard in loc.Mark against whom she lifts up her voice. Matris filios solos accusat, quia soli in culpâ, She accuseth only her Mothers Sonnes, because they were only in fault. Her fathers children she complained not of. They that have one Father in heaven, will not fall out with their poor brethren on earth. They were her Mothers Sonnes that did her all the wrong, that were angry with her. They who are born in the same womb, that live in the same house, and eat of the same bread, and drink the same spiritual drink, 1 Cor. 10.3.these are froward children, and grow angry, and in anger arme, and fight, and disturb their Mothers family, and set all in a tumult. Such are all factious Novellists and Heretical Doctors; the one of which do labour corrumpere fidei dogmata, To corrupt the principles of our faith; the other disrumpere charitatis unicula, to untye the bonds of love;Judges 15.3. both like Sampsons Foxes, though severed in the heads, yet meet in the Tailes, with Fire-brands at once to wast peace and piety.
In which if any man hereafter shall take delight, I shall not call him a son of our Father in heaven,Luke 18.19. 1 Cor. 8.4. Ephes. 1.10. who is but one; nor a Brother of Christ, who came into the world to make all things one; nor yet born of the Spirit, whose property it is to make men to be of one minde in a house. For my self I vow to be Filius Pacifici, to be a Childe of the God of peace, praying that those fearful rents which are made in the seamless Coat of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, may be once more rather made up, than by our uncharitable discords and contentions made wider.
For that peace which our Lord and Saviour going from the earth, left as a Legacy to his Church, and deposited in her hands to keep, is it which all Christians ought to seek,John 14.17. Psal. 34.14. Heb. 12.14. to pursue, to preserve. This is it which the Church hath prescribed to pray for in our Liturgy; that we beseech God to inspire the Universal Church with the Spirit of Truth, Unity, and Concord; and to grant that all they who do profess Christs holy Name, may agree in the Truth of his holy Word, and live in unity and godly love.
Now the God of peace that brought againe from the dead our Lord Jesus, Heb. 13.20, 21.that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting Covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his Will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.