In the declaration, then, of this doctrine unto the edification of the church, there is contained a farther explanation of the things before asserted, as proposed directly and in themselves as the olijcct of our faith, — namely, lioiu God is one, in respect of his nature, substance, essence, Godhead, or divine being; how, being Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, he subsisteth in these three disthict persons or hypos- tases; and what are their mutual res^oects to each other, by which, as their peculiar properties, giving them the manner of their subsis- tence, they are distinguished one from another; with sundry other
TRINITY VINDICATED. 879
things of the Hke necessary consequence luito the revelation men- tioned. And herein, as in the appUcation of all other divine tiuths and mysteries whatever, yea, of all moral coininianded duties, use is to be made of such words and expressions as, it may be, are not literally and formally contained in the Scripture ; but only are, unto our concei^tions and apprehensions, expository of what is so con- tained. And to deny the liberty, yea, the necessity hereof, is to deny all interpretation of the Scripture, — all endeavours to express the sense of the words of it unto the understandings of one another; which is, in a word, to render the Scripture itself altogether useless. For if it be unlawful for me to speak or write what I conceive to be the sense of the words of the Scripture, and the nature of the thing signified and expressed by them, it is unlawful for me, also, to think or conceive in my mind what is the sense of the words or nature of the things ; which to say, is to make brutes of ourselves, and to frustrate the whole design of God in giving unto us the great privi- lege of his Avord.
Wherefore, in the declaration of the doctrine of the Trinity, we may latvfully, nay, we must necessarily, make use of other words, phrases, and expressions, than what are literally and syllabically con- tained in the Scripture, but teach no other things.
Moreover, whatever is so revealed in the Scripture is no less t7'ue and divine as to wdiatever necessarily followeth thereon, than it is as unto that which is principally revealed and directly expressed. For how far soever the lines be drawn and extended, from truth nothing can follow and ensue but what is true also; and that in the sam(? kind of truth with that which it is derived and deduced from. For if the principal assertion be a truth of divine revelation, so is also whatever is included therein, and which may be rightly from thence collected. Hence it follows, that when the Scripture revealeth the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be one God, seeing it necessarily and unavoidably follows thereon that they are one in essence (wherein alone it is possible they can be one), and three in their distinct sub- sistences (wherein alone it is possible they can be three), — this is no less of divine revelation than the first principle from whence these things follow.
These being the respects which the doctrine of the Trinity falls under, the necessary method of faith and reason, in the believing and declaring of it, is plain and evident: —
First. The revelation of it is to be asserted and vindicated, as it is proposed to be believed, for the ends mentioned. Now, this is, as was declared, that there is one God; that tlds God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and so, that the Father is God, so is the Son, so is the Holy Ghost.
TiSO TTIE DOCTRTXE OF THE
This being received and admitted l)y faith, the expUcaUon of it
is,—
Secondly, To bo insisted on, and not taken into consideration
until the others be admitted. And herein lies the preposterous course of those who fallaciously and captiously go about to oppose this sacred truth : — they will always begin their opposition, not unto the revela- tion of it, but unto the explanation of it; which is used only for fartlier edification. Their disputes and cavils shall be against the Trinity, essence, substance, persons, 'personality, respects, j)roperties of the divine persons, with the modes of expressing these things; whilst the plain scriptural revelation of the things themselves from whence they are but explanatory deductions, is not spoken to, nor admitted into confirmation. By this means have they entangled many weak, unstable souls, who, when they have met with things too high, hard, and difiicult for them (which in divine m3\steries they may quickly do), in the explication of this doctrine, have suffered themselves to be taken off from a due consideration of the full and plain revelation of the thing itself in Scripture ; until, their tempta- tions being made strong, and their darkness increased, it was too late for them to return unto it; as bringing along with them the cavils wherewith they were prepossessed, rather than that faith and obedi- ence which is required. But yet all this while these explanations, so excepted against, are indeed not of any original consideration in this matter. Let the direct, express revelations of the doctrine be con- firmed, they will follow of themselves, nor will be excepted against by those who believe and receive it. Let that be rejected, and they will fall of themselves, and never be contended for by those who did make use of them. But of these things we shall treat again afterward.