Affection, because there can be no other Union between Chriftians, and yet Chrift prays, That they may be One, as He and his Father are One: Since this phrafe, As thou Father art in me, and I in thee does evidently fignifie a great deal more, than fuch a Moral Union of Will and Affections, why fhould they not as well conclude, that Chrift prays for fuch an effential Oneness between Chriftians, as there is between him and his Father, as that the Father and the Son are One in no higher and more perfect sense, than what is applicable to the Unity of Chriftians with each other? There may be fuch a likeness, and resemblance between natural and moral Unions, between the Acts and Perfections of Nature, and the Vertues of the Will and Choice, as may be a just foundation for a comparison ;. but he is a very abfurd Reafoner, who from fuch a comparison will concludé, they are the fame. We are required to love our Neighbour as our felves; but will any Man hence conclude, that the love of our felves, and the love of our Neighbour, are of the fame kind Which is manifeftly falfe: Self-love being a natural and neceffary Paffion; the love of our Neighbour a Chriftian Vertue; the first the effect of Nature, the second of Grace; but the effects, fo like· each other, that they may well be compared, and the natural principle, which acts. most equally and neceffarily and perfectly,may be made the Rule and Measure of Brotherly Love: Thus this effential Unity between the Father and the Son, produces the most perfect harmony and Union of Will and Affections, and therefore is the most perfect Pattern of that Moral Union, which ought to be among Chriftians. För For we may obferve, that this Oneness between the Father and the Son, is not the only natural and effential Unity, which is made the Pattern of Unity among Chriftians; the unity of the natural Body, and the vital fympathy and fellow-feeling, which all the Members of the fame natural Body have for each other, is propofed as a Pattern alfo of that mutual love and affection between Christians, 1 Cor. 12. 12-27. And yet no Man will be fo abfurd as to fay: That either Chriftians are as naturally and vitally united to each other, as the Members of a natural Body are; or that the Members of the natural Body are united only by mutual love and affection, as Chriftians are. This is fufficient to fhew, how Father and Son are One, by a mutual confcioufnefs, whereby they are as intimate to each other, as every Man is to himself, who knows all that is in himself, and feels all the motions and workings of his own mind; and we need not doubt, but the Holy Spirit is in the fame manner One with Father and Son: But I must not expect, that the Adverfaries I have to deal with, will grant any thing, which is not proved, and therefore I fhall not ftand to their Courtefie, but briefly prove this alfo. St. Paul tells us, I Cor. 2. 10. That the Spirit fearcheth all things, yea the deep things of God: So that the Holy Spirit knows all that is in God, even his moft deep and fecret Counfels, which is an argument, that he is very intimate with him; but this is not all, it is the manner of knowing, which muft prove this Confcioufnefs, of which I fpeak; and that the Apostle adds in the next Verfe, that the Spirit of God knows all that is in God, juft as the Spirit of a Man Man knows all that is in Man; that is, not by external revelation or communication of this knowledge, but by Self-consciousness, by an internal Senfation, which is owing to an effential Unity v. 11. For what man knoweth the things of a man, fave the spirit of a man which is in him; even fo the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. So that the Spirit of God is as much within God, and as intimate to him, as the Spirit of Man is in Man; that is, by an effential Onenefs, and Self-consciousness. And as the Spirit knoweth the deep things of God, fo God who fearcheth the hearts, knoweth the mind of the Spirit too, 8 Rom. 27. So that the Father and the Holy Ghoft are mutually conscious to each other, as a Man and his own Spirit are; and then we need not doubt, but the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of the Son, as well as of the Father, is as intimate to the Son alfo And therefore Chrift tells us of the Spirit: He fhall glorifie me, for he shall receive of mine, and fhall fhew it unto you, all things that the Father hath are mine, therefore faid I, he fall take of mine, and fhall fhew it unto you, 16 John 14, 15. So that the Holy Spirit receives the things of Chrift; But how does he receive them? Juft as Chrift receives them of the Father; the fame things, and the fame way; not by an external communication, but by an effential Oneness and Consciousness of all that is in the Father, and in the Son. This feems to me to be the true Scripture-account of the numerical Unity of the Divine Effence, and to 4. 38. h. p. 17 make a Trinity in Unity as intelligible as the Notion of One God is; but because all that I have to fay, turns upon this, I fhall more particular explain this Notion: 1. By fhewing that this contains the true K Ortho Trick p.38 T. An. gh hep 117 Anse he p. 141. Orthodox Faith of the Holy Trinity. 2. That it gives a plain and intelligible Solution of all the Difficulties and feeming Contradictions in the Doctrine of the Trinity. I. This contains the true Orthodox Faith of the Holy Trinity, or a Trinity in Unity; for fo the Athanafian Creed teaches us, To worship One God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Perfons, nor dividing the Subftance, for there is One Perfon of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost, but the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all One, the Glory equal, the Majefty co-eternal. There are two things then, which an Orthodox Christian must take care of, neither to confound the Perfons, nor to divide the Substance; that is, to ac-knowledge Three diftinct Perfons, and yet but One God; and nothing can be more apparent than both thefe, in that account which I have given of the Ever Bleffed Trinity. 1. It is plain the Perfons are perfectly distinct, for 29.31they are Three diftinct and infinite Minds, and therefore Three diftinct Perfons; for a Perfon is an intelligent Being, and to fay, they are Three Divine Perfons, and not Three diftinct infinite Minds, is both Trichip.50.96.225. Herefie and Nonfenfe: The Scripture, I'm fure, reprefents Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, as Three intelligent Beings, not as Three Powers or Faculties of the fame Being, which is down-right Sabellianifm; for Faculties are not Perfons, no more than Memory, Will, and Understanding, are Three Perfons in One Man: When we prove the Holy Ghost to be a Perfon, against the Socinians, who make him only a Di vine Power, we prove, that all the Properties of a Perfon belong to him, fuch as Understanding, Will, Affections, and Actions; which fhews, what our Notion of a Person is, fuch a Being as has Understanding, and Will, and Power of Action, and it would be very strange, that we should own Three Persons, cach of which Perfons is truly and properly God, and not own Three infinite Minds; as if any thing could be a God, but an infinite Mind. And the diftinction between these Three Infinite Minds is plain according to this Notion; for they are diftinguifhed, juft as Three finite, and created Minds are, by Self-consciousness: They are united indeed into One (as I have already difcourfed) by a mutual Consciousness to each other, which no crea- Tith p 29. ted Spirits have, which are confcious only to the actings of their own Minds, not to each others, and therefore these Three Divine Perfons are not separate Minds, as created Spirits are, but only diftinct: each Divine Perfon has a Self-confcioufnefs of its own, and knows and feels itself (if I may fo fpeak) as diftinct from the other Divine Perfons; the Father has a Self-consciousness of his own, whereby he knows and feels himself to be the Father, and not the Son, nor the Holy Ghoft; and the Son in like manner feels himself to be the Son, and not the Father, nor the Holy Ghoft; and the Holy Ghost feels himself to be the Holy Ghost, and not the Father, nor the Son; as James feels himself to be James, and not Peter, nor John; which proves them to be diftinct Perfons: Which is a very plain account, how thefe Three Divine Perfons are diftinct, that there is One Father, not Three Fathers, One Son, not Three Sons, One Holy Ghost, not Three Holy Ghofts. Here is no confounding of Perfons. 2. Nor K 2 |