And yet this is all the foundation of any pretence of contradiction in the Notion of the Bleffed Trinity, that Men will needs understand the Terms of Person, and of Father, Son, and Spirit, when they are applied to God, as they do, when we fpeak of Men, and from thence they conclude, that Three Perfons in the Divine Nature must be Three Gods, as Three Perfons amongst Men are. Three Men; and that the Father must be Superiour and Elder than the Son, as it is in Humane Generations. But this is all Mistake; Adam is ftiled the Son of God in a sense of the word peculiar to himself, Luke iii. 38. God is in one sense the Father of all Mankind, and in another fense he is the Father of the Regenerate only; and when in either fense we call him our Father, we take not the Word Father in the fame fenfe that we take it in, when we apply it to Men; and when we fay he is the Father of his only begotten Son, this is another fenfe of the word Father, very different from all the former. The Relation between the Father and Son is not the fame in the Nature of God, that it is amongst Men, nor are the Divine Perfons fuch as the Perfons of Men are; but these are the fitteft, and the moft proper and fignificant Terms, to exprefs the Nature of God to us, that Humane Language and Humane Understandings are capable of. We must acknowledge that there is a vaft difproportion

and

and impropriety in thefe expreffions, and that they give us but a very imperfect conception of the Divine Nature, but it is the most perfect that we are able to have of it, or that it is neceffary for us to have of it in this Mortal ftate; and if we will but allow for the incompetency of our own Faculties to have Words and Notions adequate to the Divine Nature, and will remember that God is God, and that we are but Men, there will appear to be no contradiction in the Notion of the Trinity.

The Divine Nature is fuch, that it has Three diftinct Principles of Operation and Subfiftency, which are fo defcribed and represented in the Scriptures by Perfonal Acts and Properties, that we know them to be as really distinct as Humane Persons are, which yet being but One God, cannot in this reIpect be like Humane Perfons. And whoever will oppose this Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, must prove that the Three Perfons of the Trinity cannot be as really diftinct, as the Perfons of Three Men are, tho' they are not fuch Perfons, as the Perfons of Men. And to prove this, he muft understand the Nature of God, as well as he understands the Nature of Man; for otherwise he can never be able to prove that Three Divine Persons may not be One God, tho' Three Humane Perfons cannot be One Man. That they are distinct Perfons is revealed, and that these Ee 2 Three

1

Three diftinct Perfons are but one God is revealed, but wherein the Distinction and the Unity of thefe Three Perfons confifts is not revealed, nor is it poffible for us to understand it, at leaft without a Revelation. The Distinction of the Perfons of Men is founded in a separate and divided Subfiftence, but this cannot be the foundation of the Distinction of the Divine Persons, because Separation and Divifion cannot belong to an Infinite Nature. There is then no Repugnancy in faying that there are Three Subfiftencies, or Three diftin&t Principles of Perfonal Acts and Properties in one undivided Infinite Nature, or that the Perfons in the Trinity act as diftinctly and perfonally, as Perfons do amongst Men, but are united in one Infinite Nature, which is uncapable of existing in separate Subfiftencies, tho' not of acting and fubfifting in Three diftinct Perfons, or as diftinctly from each other, as the Perfons among Men do act and fubfist.

The Summ is, that in the most perfect Unity of the Divine Nature, do fubfift the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghoft, between whom is a real Diftinction, which tho' not the fame, yet is equivalent to the Diftinction of Perfons among Men. That there is this Unity and this Distinction, we learn from the Scriptures, but what kind of Diftinction this is, or how far it is to be reconciled with our Notion of Persons amongst

Men,

Men, and after what manner it is confiftent with the Unity of the Godhead, the Scriptures have not told us, and it is impoffible for us to determine.

II. Other things are, and must be believed by us, which are as little understood as this Doctrine. Our Knowledge at the best, conEcerning Finite Things is very imperfect, which is fo generally acknowledged by all Men of Wisdom and Experience, that it is esteemed a great point of Wisdom for a Man to be truly fenfible of his own ignorance; and it is the Character, which Solomon himfelf giveth of the Fool, that he rageth and is confident, Prov. xiv. 16. But when we confider things Infinite, we are much more at a lofs. That there must of neceffity be fomething Eternal, must be acknowledged by all, who understand what is meant by the word even those that are fo foolish, as to say in their hearts there is no God, yet must believe fomething else to be Eternal; they must beIlieve that there always was fomething, because if ever there had been nothing, there never could have been any thing. For how could any thing have been produced by Nothing? Out of Nothing it might, but then there must have been fomething to produce it. We can be certain therefore of Nothing, if we are not fure of this, that there is fomething Eternal; the Atheist himself cannot deny it, unless he be fo ftupid as not to know Ee 3 what

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what it means. And yet what apparent contradictions may he fancy to himself in the Notion of Eternity? For what is Eternal can never be capable of either a fhorter or a longer Duration than it always had; fo that Millions of Ages hence it will not have continued longer, than it had done as many Million of Ages paft. And how strange and contradictory doth this feem to be, that not only Three Ages and one Age fhould be the fame, but that there fhould be no difference between one Hour or Moment, and never fo many Ages in respect of Eternity. And there is no avoiding this difficulty, if a Man be of any Religion, or no Religion, let him but apprehend what is meant by Eternity, and he must own both that there is fuch a thing, and that he is utterly unable to explain it. Here then is an unafwerable Difficulty in a thing which all the World muft believe, if they have it but fo proposed to them, as to be made understand what it is. And there is no difficulty imaginable in the Doctrine of the Bleffed Trinity, which can be pretended to be greater,than that which is infeparable from this Notion, which all muft of neceffity hold.

And if we do but obferve it in Finite things, which are ufual and familiar to us, and the Objects of our Senfes every day, we Believe what we very little understand, or are capable of understanding. Our Know

ledge