Post 4 of 4 in the series “The Three Heavenly Witnesses: Edmund Calamy on 1 John 5:7.” This post contains the complete modernized reading text of the corresponding sermon.
The fourth sermon deliberately changes mode. Its title says that it expounds 1 John 5:7 on the supposition that the reading is genuine; it is an exposition, not a fourth installment of the external-evidence argument.
Calamy considers the act of bearing witness, the identity of the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, the threefold form of their testimony, its heavenly character, and the sense in which the three are one. The result is a theological and pastoral conclusion to the historical defense.
Editorial note. This is a historical working reading edition. Calamy's manuscript identifications, datings, and patristic citations reflect the resources of his period and should be checked against modern catalogues and critical editions before scholarly use.
Sermon Text
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
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Having offered what I take to be sufficient to prove this text genuine and authentic, in opposition to those who would willingly have it expunged from the Bible, I now proceed to the true and proper sense, intention, and interpretation of the words, that we may be better able to understand and improve them. And here I propose:
I. To consider what the witnessing, or bearing record, here mentioned intimates and carries in it.
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II. To inquire who the witnesses are who are declared to bear record.
III. To show what we are pointed to by being told that these witnesses are three.
IV. To consider what it is that these witnesses do jointly or severally.
V. To inquire what we are to understand by their being said to be witnesses, or to bear record in heaven.
VI. To show how, and in what sense, these three are one.
By the time we have gone through these heads, I hope we shall find no difficulty remaining as to the true sense of these words.
I begin by considering what the witnessing, or bearing record, here mentioned intimates and carries in it. Ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες: For there are three witnesses, or testifiers. When a cause is pending in any court, and proof is to be given in order to clear it, witnesses are produced; and if they are credible and liable to no just objection, the cause is determined according to the evidence they give, unless those to whom it belongs to determine the matter are partial and biased. Now St. John, aiming to establish and settle those to whom he wrote this first epistle, represents the cause before them as very weighty—a cause of such consequence that it highly concerned them to weigh all the matter.
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mination. It was really no less a -Matter than whether Christianity was a Troth or a Forgery: And he intimates to them, that they had very good Evidence to assist them in determining. There were Two Setts of Mtneffes, the One above, and the Other blow and both of them unexceptionable. The One was of 'Persons, and the Other of Things, which by a Figure are represented as witnesses. And he calls upon them to consider well and weigh their Evidence, as they would not be justly chargeable with a gross Mistake in the Determination of the Cause, which might be fatal to them. The Witnessing then, or bearing Record, here mentioned, is the giving Evidence in this great Cause, in order to the full Satisfaction of all concerned in it: And the Evidence misrepresented to be as full, and clear, and incontestable, as could reasonably be desired, even in as weighty a Cause as could fall under Con sideration. Let us then, i a Consider who these PFitneJJes are that are declared to bear Record, or give their Testimony. These are no less Persons than the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; Persons with whom none that had the least Knowledge of Christianity, coxAdi^ be unacquainted. The mentioning them as witnesses, is apt to strike us at the first Hearing: For these are the very Persons in whose Name we were baptized, and to whom we have been most solemnly devoted. There is this only Difference to be observed, That the second Witness mentioned, has another Name here given him, from that which He has in the prep scribed Form of Baptism. There He is called the Son, but here the IVtri; a Name or Title} which
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ocular Pleasure in giving to Christ Jesus. v He begins with it in the very first Verse of his Gospel,- where lie declares, That In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with GOD, and the Word was GOD. And he re peats it again, Verse 14, ot" the same Chap ter, saying, Tbc Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us. He also enters upon this Epistle with it, saying, We declare unto you that which was from the Beginning, which we hart heard, which we hstve Seen with our Eyes, which of the Word of Life. And he mentions it again in his apocalypse, where he says, He was clothed with a Gesture did in Bloody, and his Name is called the Word of GOD; That is, of GOD the Father. So that we cannot be at a Loss, who it is the Apostle here means by these cond Witness, whom he calls the Word, any more than by the first, whom he calls the Father. And then.as for the third Witness, the Holy Ghofiy, He would not be mentioned sepa-r lately from the other Two, if He was not distinct from Both: And He is so represented, both in the Account we have given us in the Gospel History of our Saviours Bap tim, and in that Order also that is given ii« about our Baptism. Les us then go on and consider, 3. What we are pointed to by their beting declared to be Three in Number. We may observe, the Apostle does not only name but count the Witnesses. There are Three, says he, that bear Record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. We are thereby pointed to their certain Distinction from each other, how strait and close soever the Unity fr Agreement may be that there is between fT' I There;
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given, which is such as is fiitficient to carry the Cause depending. It is not Three Names that bear Record, but Three dijlintt Persons, acting different Ways, and in different Capacities. 'It is hereby also intimated. That the Evidence given in order to the carrying the great Cause depending, is very full. For it was a standing Maxim among Gods ancient People the Jews, That in the Month of Two or Three Witnesses every Word was to be established, and every Cause determined, as our Lord himself also observed. Now, says the Apo stole, in this Case, there are Three Witnesses bearing Testimony, and no One of Them is liable to any just Objection: And therefore the Cause must be carried, and Christianity, the Truth of which is so well attested, must necessarily have a firm Foundation. But that we may be yet the more clear in this, let us go on, and 4. Consider what it is these Witnesses are represented as attesting, both jointly and separately. It is no other than this, That the Lord Jesus is the Son of GOD, the very Messiah that was promised, and that had been so long expected,- and that He is not only a GOD by Office, but by Nature; as truly GOD as his Father, as He is often represented by this Apostle as well as the rest: and that therefore nothing in the World could be more reasonable, than Faith and Hope in Him. This is plain from the Context, That whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of GOD: And that, Whosoever is bom csGod, overcometb the Vet. 4, 5. World. And then it is declared, that this Faith is.a believing that Jesus is the Son of GOD: That He is lb indeed and in Truth, and in the highest and the noblest Sense. This being
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cessarily to be cleared, in order to the justifyng our Dependence upon Him, and our Expectations from Him, the Apostle sets himself to give full Proof of it, and declares, that Jesus did not only positively affirm, that He was the Son of GOD, and One with his Father, but that He came with with sufficient Witnesses of it, viz,. The Water, the Bloody, and the Spirit, which fully cleared this Truth to all that would consider and weigh their TestimonyWhere by Water, (which is what we com only make use of in Cleansing from bodily Defilements,) we may understand the Tnritj of Christ's Dollrine and Life, which was very conspicuous, and was a great Argue ment of his Divinity and the Baptism which was brought in by John, and continued by our Saviour as a Profession of, and Obhfation to, a peculiar Purity, becoming the Followers of much a Leader, and the Expectants of an Happiness that was to lie in the Perfection of Holiness. And by the Blood we may understand the Suffering and Death ot our Lord Jesus, whole Blood was shed upon the Croft in an ignominious Manner, when He offered up himself a Sacrifice, to make Atonement for the Sins of Mankind,- which was a great Evidence that he was in Truth the Son of GOD, as he pretended. For had he not been so, it is inconceivable he would have lost his Life in defence of it. And by the Spirit we may understand, the many Miracles, Won hers and Signs which Jesus wrought, toge the with his wonderful Resurrection to Life again, after he was Crucified, Dead and Bu died which fully proved him to be in reality ibe Son of GOD; It not being possible that if He
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Miracles as we have ah Account; of, or be fb highly and gjocidufly advanced^ after' such vs ignominious Treatment as he met with. It was notorious. that there were sadi.JVhneJJ'es as these that prov'dour Saviours 1 Divinity ± andthe proving that: these were so, is passed by as. needless And then the Apostle pro needs in the Words of the Text, to add three farther Witnesses in the Case, in order to the more abundant.Confirmation and intimates that the Father, the, Word, and the Holy Ghost, both together, and asunder, IVttnejJed the very same Tiling. >;: i '.
The: Father testify>d of Jesus, and by His Voice from Heaven' declared! him to be His Sen, and that ac three several Times.
- Upon his, b? ing Baptized oi; John at Jor dan, when the Heavens were offend over his Head, and there came ft Voice from thence saying, l6 This is my beloved So»i in whom I am well plea- ' fed. And,. a AiT his Transfiguration, when He being overstadoiv by a -bright Cloud from above, there c? me a Voice which, said, This is my.beloved Son, in, whom, I am well pleased: hear ye him. And 5. the.', >' ■■.».•.
- Third time was: after his raising of Lazy- ■ rty frprct the Dead, when many flocked out of Jerusalem to meet and applaud him ia whole Company he leeras. to have been, when he sent up that Request to Heaven, Father glorify j thy Name j And there came a Voice from Heaven, ^ saying, I have both it, and will glorify it \ again. For he was then shortly to receive Glory at the Right Hand of GOD, to which he was to be advanced,. So that we must either disbelieve the Eternal GOD, or else must believe in Jesus, and receive and own him
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n'Sne Sense. The Word also testified of Jesus that was born of the Virgin Mary, and acted the part of the Saviour of the World, and the promised Messiah. Nor is there any inconsistency in the Words being a Witness in the Case. For why might not Christ as GOD bear Witness to himself as Incarnate? That Word then who was by this Apostle declared in the Entrance on his Gospel to have been a Divine Being, which had a Subsistence in the Beginning of all Things, or before that anything was this Word bore Record or Witness, that Jesus was the Son of GOD, by his Personal appearing after his going to Heaven, and ascending to the Throne ot his Glory there; i and that upon these several Occasions. 1. At the Martyrdom of St. Stephen, when ne shewed himself in sensible Majesty, standing at the Right Hand of GOD, in the spleen dour of the Divine Glory.
- At St. Paul's Conversion, when he appeared to him as he was upon the Road to Damascus, and shewed himself to him in his i 4 c Glory, and told him plainly, that he was that very Jesus whom he was pursuing as a Blasphemer, for affirming himself to be that which he now law him to be with his own Eyes. And 3. To the Apostle John, the Writer of this Epistle, who being banistVd to the Isle of Patmot for the Testimony of Jesus Christ, fell in to a Rapture on the Lord's-Day, and heard one speak behind him with a Voice as loud as Revel, i. a Trumpet, saying, / am before and after ell •,0» »>■ things; that is, GOD blessed for ever. The Apostle upon this Occasion describes him particularly, and intimates to us, that the light was
Original p. 545
it, but when he saw him, he fell at his Feet as dead. And he afterwards relates a variety of Visions which he had of his peculiar Glory, ver. A8 these are irrefragable Proofs that the Word. gave, of the Divinity of our Jesus.
And the Holy Ghost agrees perfectly in the same thing, declaring Jesus to be the Son of GOD. This he attested. •?
- By his descending upon Him immediately after his Baptism, and in an illustrious Manner remaining on him, as St. John gives us an Account.:'.
- By his coming down on the Apostles, Ten Days after our Saviour lett this Earth, publicly declaring to all that were present, and to all to whom a well attested Report of his Descent should come, that he really was. the Son of GOD, exalted to sit on the Right Hand of the Majesty on High. And she Apostles being filled with the Light, and warmed with the Heat, of the Divine Fire in which He came down upon them, boldly published from that Day forward in Jude, and all the World over, That Jesus was the Christ, the Son of GOD, GOD Blessed for ever. And therefore is it that St. Paul so freely declares, that GOD manifest in fc6c, x Flesh, was justifsd in the Spirit. And 16.
- By his descending on other Persons afterwards, tho not in that visible Form as1 on the Day of Pentecost. In so much, that •whensoever the Apostles laid their Hands upon any Persons that believed in Jesus, and were baptized, the Holy Ghost fell upon them, and they Acts viii. spake with Tongues, and Prophesied. Which was I5»,7« a plain and irrefragable Proof of the Greatness, and Power, and Benignity of the Blew sed Jesus, and indeed of his Divinity, with N n " out
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Manner have been subservient to him. Thus though the Father, tie. Word, and tie Holy Ghost bearwitnessdistinctly,: it is yet plain that they all agree in this, That JESS is the Son of GOD which also is the Thing at tested by the other Three Witnesses, the Wattj the Bloody, and tf>e Spirit: All agree in unanimously, plainly, and clearly pronouncing him such a Divine Person, that if we don't T hear Him, submit to, amfyobey Him, and depend upon. Him, we are; -altogether inexcusable i we can give no Account of our Conduct; – 5 we shall be justly chargeable, as Shutting out -Light, and.'Defusing to be hitisfied or convinced> though all proper Methods a! re taken with us to give us right Notions, that we may act agreeably. And now, c. Let us consider what the Apostle means, when he says of the Father, •tht Word, and tie Holy Ghost, that they bear Rtcordy, ot art Witnelresj, hi Heaven. This is jpbiniy added by Way of Distinction from xhc other Three jfltnejj'es that are in Earth. The meaning is not, that „ they hear Record to the Angels and blessed Spirits'tlrat are Above: But all that is intended to be thereby. intimated, ■ asito these drilWitnestes, is,; that /they speak from Above;' while it is from below that the others speak. These two Sorts oiwitnejjcs are in very distant Places, and give their Testimony from two several Regions; the one from Above, the other, here beneath. When Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,.are laid to bear Record cord in Heaven, the meaning is that there they are while they do bear Record and give forth their Testimony: Whereas the other Three ttftneffis are unearth, and give their Testimony there only. The Words might be rendered thus fibre
Original p. 547
kre three in Heaven that bear Record: And this SocMhs agrees to in his Comment onthisText. 'It is from Heaven that these Three Ufcnejfei give their Testimony, and therefore it is the more to be regarded. They whitest while they are in Heaven, and notwithstanding that they are so much above us, and so far di start from us. Arid the more we consider their Excellence, and Dignity, and Eminence above as, the more Reason shall we see to admit»e a it, that they will so much concern themselves about us, as to act the Part of witnesses, in order to our full Satisfaction; in a Matter that is evidently of the last Im portance to u, s: And the more inexcusable shall we be^ if we do not acquiesce in, and improve their Testimony. ' – 6. The last Thing which I ossered here to consider, is, How and in what serrfe these three' are said to be One, which is the most important Inquiry of all, and the most em barrassed, and that about which Commentators have been the most divided. Often has the Doctrine of the, trinity been infers5d from the remarkable difference there is between those words by which the Apostle here expresses the Unity of the first Three Witnesses, and those words whereby he ex-* presses the Unity of the last Three. Of the first Three he says, that they are One; And of the -last Three, that they agree in One. Nor as far as I can perceive can any satisfactory account be given, why the Apo stole should not use the same Form of Speech of the first Three Witnesses, as he does of the Three last, if the "Three Witnesses in Heaven were no otherwise One, than the Three witnesses on Earth are The Three Heavenly Witnesses are one Thing, whish cannot be a said
Original p. 548
they are different Things. The Three Heavenly Witnesses are one in Essence, and have all the same Essential Perfections belonging to them: Whereas the Three Witnesses on Earth, though of a different Nature, concur in their Testimony; and that is the utmost that can be said of them. And if the Three Witnesses in Heaven are one in their Essence, then are there Three distinil Persons whose Essence is one and the same: For else there would not be Three Witnesses in Heaven, but Only One, which would cross the design of the Apo stole, whose aim it was to chew that our Faith doth not rely upon a single Testimony. When St. John here speaks, of the Spirit, the Water and the Bloody, which are the Three Witnesses on Earth, the expression -he uses, and these Three agree in One, cannot pos silly be so construed: as to intimate an Unity os Nature; they only signify an Unity of Testimony, which is very consistent with a difference in their Nature. And therefore we may very well conclude that the Apo stole would not have made such a difference in his way of speaking of the Earthly and Heavenly IVitnejJesy, had he not designed there by to. intimate, that the Unity of the lat ter does not lie barely in their Testimony, but also in their Nature and Essence.
Against this it has been oft objected, That in one Copy instead of these Three art One, the Words are these, These Three agree in One; those Words which with us belong to the 8th Verse, and the Three Witnesses on Earth, being transferred to the 7th Verse, and the Three Witnesses in Heaven. But this admits of an easy Answer: though it is thus in the Complutenfan Copy, yet it must be owned
Original p. 549
from most other Copies *.' And this is therefore the less to be regarded, because those words, and these Three agree in One, which in other Copies belong to the 8th Verse, are there wholly wanting, there being no more therein that Verse than this, and there are Three that hear Witness on Earth, the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood.
Father Simon tells us i, That he can't Imagine what Advantage it can be to the AntitrinitarianSj, that this Text be left out, since the mosh knowing Interpreters of the New Testament not explain it of the Trinity. Which is a with a supposition to inforce it, that deserves (as far as I can judge) but little regard. That that Supposition has but a poor Foundation, we shall see presently. And as for the Suggestion in order to the sup which it is proposed, viz,. That it would be little to the Advantage of the Antitrlnltarlans for this Text to be left out, it from one that appears upon all Oc to have been so much inclined to be their Friend, that scarce any that know the Man can allow him to have been a proper Judge However, that our thoughts may take the Compass, and we may see the whole Matter the more clearly and distinctly, in this last Clause of my Text, And three are one, I shall take in both an of Testimony, and an Unity of Nature too S upon sedately weighing the whole matter, I must confess, I can see no reason, why N n 3 we ». » — ■ » i *
See Franc. Turrctini Dec. Difput. Misc. Dish. tsibus Test. Ctlest. p. 107. taft Crit. duTexte du N. T. p. 214.
Original p. 550
to exclude the other. u Then, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost are one in their Testimony. They all unanimously agree and join in attesting this, that Jests is the Son of GOD, and to be Re specter, Loved, Honoured, and Adored as much. There is not the least difference between them, or doubtfulness in their Testimony in this respect. This is what the Father bore witness to, as well as the Word and H»! y Ghost: And to this did the Word also bear ivitmfs as well as the Father and the Holy Ghost: Nor was the Holy Ghost less ready or forward to bear witness to this, than either the Father; or the Word. In this, all that have written upon this Text agree, Socinus himself not excepted. But then the Question is, whether this be all that is here intended? This is what some have yielded. Nay we have had some that have gone so fair that way, that they h^ve imagined that these Words, and these three art o»«, were added by the Ariansf, to show that the Unity of the Persons of the Trsvitj, was not an Unity of Essence, but of Consent. This was the mind of the Learned Grotius, though Ik therein stands pretty much alone, and has but few Followers, I know none but Father Simon that abetts that Fancy of his: And He speaking of a Noble MSS. of the Latin} Bible in the Hands of tile Dominicans of saris, takes notice that these words, and'these three tire one, are there marked, as not truly belonging to the Text of St John; for which he gives this Reason,. That 'it was the.Opinion. of * – Youve!. Obfc'rvar. fur k Tejcte & Ut versions dui. p. 140.
Original p. 551
Words were not to be read, because they favoured the Avian Heresy. However, nothing can be plainer, than that in the Case of the Three JVitncJJes in Heaven, there is an Unity of Consent. They agree most harmoniously; and there is nothing like clashing ia. their Test. many, either in this Case or any other,.But then, ■. 1 • •!'. — I -O ■ 1. TBE, J? other, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,.«are One in their Nature also, as well as in their Testimony; and herein they differ from the other Three Witnesses, the Spirit, the Water, ani the Blood. They in some Sense are One $ for they look the same Way, point to one and the same Thing, and attest one and the same Truth: But when we have said all we can of them, they are. not so One, as the Father, the Wordy, and the. Holy Ghost are. These are so One, that all the Three have but one and the lame Substance. though they testify distinctly, yet they are One, not only inConJent and Will put in EjJ'ence too, in the very same Sense as eur Lord laid, I and my Father are One. 'It is train, Believers also are said to be One. Our Lord Jesus says, I tray for them, that they all lb n may be One, as Thou, Father, art in me, and in Thee, that they also may be One in Us. But all Unity is not of the lame Sort and Kind: Nor does the Greek Particle jutfl»V which we translate as-, always signify an Equality; it sometimes denotes any Sort of Analogy or Likeness; and it is so to be understood in the Places cited in the Margin f. Believers are not represented as properly one with GOD. It is laid, they are One Spirit: Not refer Cor. \ i, N n 4 ing i7 t t * 11 •"t 1 Pet, j,??. Match. v. 48.
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spiritual Union. To be one Spirit in their Case, is the same with being one in Spirit: It being one and the same Spirit that worketh in the Head and in the Members. So that when it is here declared, of the Father, the Word, and the Holy Gbojt, that these Three are One, we have an express Testimony given us of the Triune Deity. The Three Testifiers from Heaven not only agree in Attesting the same Truth, but in One Divine Nature.
But it is pleaded by some, That this Clause, are One, which belongs to the Three Hea-« evenly Witnesses, ought to be interpreted by the other Phrase Verse 8th, Agree in One, which is spoken of the Witnesses in Earth. But to that, Dr. Hammond has in my Apprehend son given a sufficient Answer. For (lays he) the Parallel here held between those in Heaven, and those on Earth, being only in RespeS of' theTefiimonlesy, and of the Number of the Testifiers, there is no Necessity that the Apostle or we should extend it to all other Circumstances: Or if there 'were, it would be as reasonable to interpret the latter Ex-' frejjion by the former, they agree in One, by they are One, (which were absurd, and is not imagine) as the former by the latter. There is not indeed any Reason for either of them. But on the other Side, having to the men lion of the Three Witnesses in Heaven, anan-nex'd out of the Christian Doctrine, that these Three are One, it was reasonable when he came to the other Three/ 6f whom that could not be affirmed, to say as much of them to the same Purpose, as the Matter would: bear, that is, that they agree in One, and acc., Testifiers of the same Thing, though they arc not of one and the same Nature. And since these Tire are On?, their Testimony mult necessarily agree;
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will not prove the Unity of the Testifies, There are Two Things which I desire may be here observed.
- That when Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are mentioned as Witnesses, the Unity of their Essence much fortifies the Unity of their Test mony. And this I think may be sufficient in answer to such as inquire, To what Purpose it could be, for the Apostle to lay anything of an Unity ofEst'ence, when he was aiming ac ftrengthning a Truth, by proving the Test mony by which it was evidenced, to be infallible. It from hence appears there was very good Reason for his taking this Method, supposing that to have been lus Aim. For he could not give a better Confirmation of their entire agreeing in their Testimony, than by af firming they were One in Essence. Having but one Essence, their Testimony could not be oppo site: Nay, it could not be different. I think also I may venture to go yet farther, and say That the Unity of their Testimony in this Case, supposes the Unity of their Nature and Essence. And therefore our Divines that explain this of a Consent, are not to be understood as excluding, but rather as supposing their Unity of Nature. For whoever is hot truly GOD, he being mutable, and fallible, and capable of failing, his Testimony cannot be said to be Divine, or one with Gods. And then^. z. It is farther also observable, That as many of the Ancients as have cited this Text, have been for understanding this Clause of an Unity of Essence and Nature. The Greek Author who in the Thor Vlth Century composed the Dialogue under the feigned Names of Athanafim and Arias, (who is by the Learned generally supposed to be Maximus,) cites ►*•{»'"" thelq
Original p. 554
that the Father,. Son, and Holy. Ghost, are bur Oaa only, and the same GOD.' And among the Latins, Fulgentius, who. was an African Bishop, and all those bishops who in the Time of jL Humierlck to, the Number of Three or four hundred, drew up a Confession of Faith in the Name, of all the Churches of Africa, do. also explain the same Clause, These Three art One, ot an Unity, of Essence, and not barely of an Unity of Testimony. 'And Two or three hun died Years before-that, Ssc. Cyprian and Tertullian explain it the lame Way. And it was the same also, with those, that came after them, that took any Notice at all of this Text,, 3 down to the Time of the RefqxAfAT.I0_NU >.'.'.1''. i. j And though since then, Calvin and Be.a, and Bullingir, and some others after them, have explained these Words as meant of an Unity of Consents rather than of Essence, yet have the Generality of our Commentators run the other Way. Dlodatiy, who was as Judy pious a Commentator as most we have had among the Protestants, was for understanding these Words of an Unity of Esj'euce, as well as an Unity of Consent or Testimony. And Jujlimanin, who is as much to be value as any I know. among the Papists that have written on the Epistles, goes the same Way: And Zancby, and> most' – that have handled this Argument since, are of the same Mind. Socinus indeed and Efifcofim argue against it very strenuously; but when they have done their utmost, I can't find they offer anything that is solid, against the Apostles here hinting a peculiar Oneness, in. the peculiar Witnesses chat he mentions in this special Case, in which there was so much
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Authority, [as it I thought the discovered Sense of those that have gone before us, as to the true Meaning of such a Clause of Sri pure as this, ought to have any Force upon us, if upon considering and coma ring, as far as we can judge, we find Rea-» son to be of a different Opinion: But that you may see, that the taking the Essential Unity? of the Three Persons in the Godhead to be here referred to, is a Notion that is far from being singular or new.
Our.late Inquirer, or Determiner rather, says *, That he is fully satisfy d, that if theji Words are genuine, they are asfavourable to those called Arians, as to any. And Sandius said much the same before him. But our Dr. Smith said very well, That this is much the same, as for a Man to pretend, that thg Aristotelian Notion 9f the Eternity of the World, might he defended from the first Words of the Book of Genesis f. But I should hardly think that they that really imagined this Text favoured the Arians, should, while they themselves are pretty warmly inclined to favour those Senti cents, reckon it worth their while to spend so much Heat and Zeal in Opposition to this Text, as has been done both by San dies and our Inquirer, were they in Earnest in this Suggestion. How can these Words be favourable to the Arians, when they plainly and positively declare, that the Fatsr, the Word, and the Holy Ghost are really Three, and yet but One? Is that reconcilable with the Arid Scheme? If, it be, the 1: \ -.
Learned t— 1 'J"–! *" Emlpis Tracts, fag. 474. j Vindic. 1 John v. 7. f£, 150,
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Scheme unto this Day. It is here intiThat they are not so Three, bat chat still are One: Nor so One, as to hinder them from being Three. Will any Arson this? If he will, Ill thank him; And not think him to differ so much in Notions, from the Scriptural Account of Doctrine of the Trinity, as I have done hitherto But the same Author adds, That the «*• an Unity of Essence as meant when said, that these Three are One, would the Three Witnesses to dwindle again htt» and so lose much of the Argument from Three. But the Argument is sufficiently sexy the Plurality of Persons expressed, while the Unity that is added, guards agairrst a Plurality of Gods. A Plurality of Test monies given by one and the same Person, does not its true make a Plurality of Witnesses? But it is here declared, and is therefore to be believ'dj, that the Vritnejfes are Three, and the distinct Way and Manner of their testifying argues them to be Three, though the Thing attested by all of them is the same, and all the Three are but 0«GOD And upon the Whole, I think I may very safely say, 1. That we may in this noted Text see, there is a Trinity in the Deity, which may be safely acknowledged by us, whoever set themselves to oppose it. Wd have a great many Texts that discover this Trinity to us of which no Sense can be made, unless that Doctrine be owned as apart of the Christian Scheme: And We have
Original p. 557
good Reason to reckon this of that Number. We had as good, once for all, shut this Text out of our Bibles, as pretend to it keep there, and refuse to own that Doctrine: And I am afraid it is an Incline lion to the one, that makes some Persons so eager for the other. Here are Three distinct witnesses mentioned and referred to; i And why should we be either afraid or ashamed to own them? Should one and the same Man come into Court, and give Evidence in three different Capacities, it would Hill all be but one Witness: But here there are Three Witnesses. It was a common Saying among Christians in old Times, Go to Jordan, and you'll see a Trinity: referring to the Voice of the Father from Heaven, and the visible Descent of the Holy Spirit upon our Blessed Saviour, who was with Solemnity own for the Son of GOD, at the Time when He was.baptized. This was reckoned a Proof of that Nature, that there could be no resisting or standing out against it. So may I say to all that desire Satisfaction in this Matter, Look to this Text, and you may see a Trinity. You may see here, not a bare Trinity of Names or Relations, but of Persons Testifying'. And they are distinguiflied by their Names in Opposition to the Soclnlans, who not being content, with the Arian of Old, to deny the Sow and Holy Spirits being Consubstantial with the Father, are for quite shutting out the Distinction of Persons, and joining together the Error both of Sabellius and Arius, to the overthrowing the whole Mystery.
Original p. 558
take it to be from hence very evident, that the Father, Son, and isasy Goof?, are Ib 7ftrre, as yet to be One: One in all Essential Perfections, and ail their ex ternal Operations. Their Unity is as peck liar as their Excellence. Let us therefore form Notions of them so Distinct as not to con found them; and yet let us hold them to be so United, as not to be capable of acting sea lately out of themselves.
Since the Father, the Word and the Hoy Ghost jointly concur in attesting the Deity of Our Blessed Saviour,- which is the Matter that:» is represented as here depending, let us be encouraged the more firmly to adhere to that Doctrine. Let us conclude it necessary tor us to believe, k, or else we may be assured these Three. would net have born Witness to it as they have done. Let nothing therefore draw us off from ad miring and railed Thoughts of our Blessed Saviours -Divinity, on which we depend both for.Our Safety and Our Comfort. And 4. Since the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghosts are WHntj]es in order to our Confirm nation, let us readily believe the Truth of whatever; they 'Testify, provided we have but good Reason to believe that they have 7: stifyd it, though it seem ever so much to thwart our natural Sentiments or our Incline tons. This is a thing that highly becomes such closely dependent, and such dark and dimlighted Creatures as we are and it is what we cannot have any occasion to be afliamed of. Where Father, Word, and Holy Sprit have gone
Original p. 559
Let us readily follow what has gone before. What light the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are pleased to give us, let us thankfully receive and carefully improve; and from them jointly let us take our measures. Then, if Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can help us to happiness, we need not be apprehensive that we shall miss it, either in the life that now is or in that which is to come.
FINIS.
Greek and Latin Notes
Original pp. 72, 551 — Greek
καθώς
Translation: as; just as.
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