is common to the Holy Trinity? To that he answers, The essence is common; the eternity is common; the power, the goodness, the wisdom, the justice is common: for the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, have all things common, or equally, but only their distinct properties. For it is the property of the Father to be unbegotten; of the Son to be begotten; and of the Holy Ghost to proceed.'" Secondly, How many essences dost thou acknowledge in God? Answer. I say there is one essence, one nature, one form, one kind, one glory, one dignity, one dominion.' But, thirdly, How many persons dost thou acknowledge in God? Answer. I acknowledge three persons, three subsistences, three properties, three individuals, three characters.'

And indeed there is scarce any of the fathers, but offer themselves to bear witness to this truth. I shall add only some select places out of Austin, that make for the explication as well as confirmation of it. The Trinity',' saith he, is only one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: not as if the Father was the same person with the Son, or the Holy Ghost with the Father and the Son; seeing there is in the Holy Trinity the Father of the only Son; the Son of the only Father; and the Holy Ghost, the Spirit both of Father and Son: but by reason of one and the same nature, and inseparable life, the Trinity, as far as man by faith can pry into it, is understood to be our one Lord God, or our one Lord God is the Trinity itself; of whom it is said, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." And presently after, And all these are not confusedly one, but distinctly three: but they are so one as to be three, and so three as to be one.' And

Ipsa Trinitas unus Deus solus, Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus: non ut Pater sit ipse qui Filius, vel Spiritus Sanctus ipse sit aut Pater aut Filius, cùm sit in illa Trinitate Pater Filii solius, et Filius Patris solius, Spiritus autein Sanctus et Patris et Filii sit Spiritus: sed propter unam eamdemque naturam atque inseparabilem vitam, ipsa Trinitas, quantum ab homine potest, fide præcedente intelligitur unus Dominus Deus noster, de quo dictum est,' Dominum Deum tuum adorabis, et illi soli servies.'Aug. Epist. ad Maximum, 170. tom. ii. p. 609. B. Ed. Ben. Par. 1688.

m Et hæc omnia nec confusè unum sunt, nec disjunctè tria sunt: sed cùm sint unum, tria sunt, et cùm sint tria, unum sunt.—Ibid. F.

again: This Trinity is of one and the same nature and substance; not less in every one than in all, nor greater in all than in every one: but as much in the Father only, or in the Son only, as in Father and Son together; and as much in the Holy Ghost only, as it is both in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost together.' And elsewhere; Wherefore the true God is a trinity in persons, but one in nature: and by this natural or essential unity the whole Father is in the Son and Holy Ghost; the whole Son in the Father and the Holy Ghost; and the whole Holy Ghost in the Father and Son. None of them is without any of the other; because none of them precedes the other in eternity, exceeds in greatness, or excels in strength.' And lastly, in another place he saith, Plainly therefore, and without

n Hæc Trinitas unius est ejusdemque naturæ atque substantiæ; non minor in singulis quam in omnibus, nec major in omnibus quam in singulis; sed tanta in solo Patre, vel in solo Filio, quanta in Patre simul et Filio; et tanta in solo Spiritu Sancto, quanta simul in Patre et Filio et Spiritu Sancto.-Ibid. E.

• Propterea ipse verus Deus in personis Trinitas est, et in una natura unus est. Per hanc unitatem naturalem totus Pater in Filio et Spiritu Sancto est, et totus Filius in Patre et Spiritu Sancto est, totusque Spiritus Sanctus in Patre et in Filio est. Nullus horum extra quemlibet ipsorum est: quia nemo alium aut præcedit æternitate, aut excedit magnitudine, aut superat potestate.-August. de Regula Fid. seu de Fide ad Petrum, cap. 1. in Append. tom. vi. p. 19. F. Ed. Ben. Par. 1685.

P Planè ergo et absque omni dubitatione credendum est Patrem, et Filiam, et Spiritum Sanctum unum esse Deum omnipotentem, æternum incommutabilem: et singulus horum Deus, et simul omnes unus: et singulus quisque horum plena et perfecta æterna substantia, et simul omnes una substantia: quia quicquid est Pater quo Deus est, quo substantia est, quo æternitas est, hoc Filius, hoc Spiritus Sanctus. Ita etiam quicquid est Filius in eo quod Deus est, quo substantia est, quo æternitas est, hoc Pater, hoc Spiritus Sanctus est. Et quicquid est Spiritus Sanctus in eo quod Deus est, quo substantia est, quo æternitas est, hoc Pater est et Filius. Una ergo in tribus Divinitas, una essentia, una omnipotentia, et quicquid substantialiter potest dici de Deo.-Aug. tom. x. in Append. De Diversis Serm. 30. p. 662. D. Par. 1614.

Vide Canones Apostolorum Comment. Balsamonis. Par. 1620. ibique Concilium Constantinop. 1. can. 5. p. 308. C. Synod. Carthag. can. 2. p. 599. C. Vide etiam Summam Conciliorum per M. L. Bail, Par. 1659. ibique Concilium Toletanum I. in tom. ii. p. 103. Concilium Carthag. II. cap. 1. tom. ii. p. 150. Concil, Tolet. IV. cap. 1. tom. ii. p. 232. Concil. Tolet. VI. cap. 1. tom. ii. p. 242. Concil. Lateran. can. i. tom. ii. p. 249. Concil. Anglic. tom. ii. p. 272. Concil. Arelat. IV. cap. i. tom. ii. p. 295.

all doubt, it is to be believed, that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one Almighty God, eternal, unchangeable: and every one of these is God, and all of them but one God: and every one of them is a full and perfect eternal substance, and all together but one substance for whatsoever the Father is as he is God, as he is substance, as he is eternity, that is the Son, that is the Holy Ghost: and so whatsoever the Son is, as he is God, as he is substance, as he is eternity, that is the Father, that is the Holy Ghost: and whatsoever the Holy Ghost is, in that he is God, in that he is substance, in that he is eternity, that is the Father, that is the Son: and therefore in all three there is but one divinity, one essence, one omnipotence, and what else can be spoken substantially of God? So clear are the fathers also in asserting, that' In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons of one substance, power, and eternity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.'

Thus have I, by the assistance of that all-glorious Deity, One in Three, and Three in One, which I have made bold to discourse of, gone through the first of these Articles; confirming from Scripture, and reason, and fathers, that there is but one living and true God; everlasting; without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in the unity of this Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.'

ARTICLE II.

Of the Word or Son of God, which was made very man.

THE SON, WHICH IS THE WORD OF THE FATHER, BEGOTTEN FROM EVERLASTING OF THE FATHER; THE VERY AND ETERNAL GOD, OF ONE SUBSTANCE WITH THE FATHER, TOOK MAN'S NATURE IN THE WOMB OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN OF HER SUBSTANCE; SO THAT TWO WHOLE AND PERFECT NATURES, THAT IS TO SAY, THE GODHEAD AND THE MANHOOD, WERE JOINED TOGETHER IN ONE PERSON, NEVER TO BE DIVIDED, WHEREOF IS ONE CHRIST, VERY GOD AND VERY MAN; WHO TRULY SUFFERED, WAS CRUCIFIED, DEAD, AND BURIED, TO RECONCILE HIS FATHER UNTO US, AND TO BE A SACRIFICE, NOT ONLY FOR ORIGINAL GUILT, BUT ALSO FOR THE ACTUAL SINS OF MEN.

IN the former Article, we have proved, that there is but one God, and that this one God is three Persons, and every one of these Persons is God, and yet all but one God: in this we have the second Person, there spoken of, to be considered, called the Son; because begotten of the Father, not by spiritual regeneration, as other sons of God are; but by eternal generation, as none but himself is. The Son, "which is the Word of God;" which expression is taken from those words, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," John, i. 1. which place being clearly to be understood of Christ, he is therefore called the Word of God" in Greek, Aóyos, a word, or speech; because, as a man utters his mind by the words of his mouth, so doth God reveal his will, and effect his pleasure, by his Sona: by the word of God were all things

a Est, Verbum ejus ego (Christus) eram, ego sum, per me factus est mundus, in illis operibus; per me regitur mundus in istis operibus.'—Aug.in Joh. 5. tract. 17. Neither is this the doctrine of the New Testament only, but of the Old also, where in the Chaldee Paraphrase (which the Jews had

,אנכי עשיתי ארץ ואדם עליה בראתי commonly read in their synagogues) instead of

,ואנשא עלה ברית

"I made the earth, and created man upon it," is put

I by my word made the earth, and created man upon it.' Isaiah, xlv. 12. So chap. xlviii. 13. and Jer. xxvii. 5. from whence, and the like places, I suppose it was, that Philo Judæus calls λóyov Toữ ☺roũ,' the

at the first made; he said, "Let there be light, and there was light; and God said, Let there be a firmament," &c. "and there was so." Hence the apostle saith, "By the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water," 2 Pet. iii. 5. and "the worlds were framed by the word of God," Heb. xi. 3. and the Psalmist, "by the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth," Psalm xxxiii. 6. All which God is elsewhere said to do by his Son. "All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made, that was made," John, i. 3. " the world was made by him," verse 10. " and by him (speaking of Christ) were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in the earth," &c. " all things were created by him and for him," Col. i. 16. And therefore it is, that the Son of God is called the word of God; as also, because it is by him that he spake unto the fathers, and gave them the promises; and because, as our words are the issues and effigies of our mind, so did Christ come from the Father, and is the express image and lively portraiture of him. And though St. John be the only person that gives him this title in the New Testament, yet he was not the first that gave it him; but is rather thought to have taken it out of the Chaldee Paraphrase of the Old Testament, which, in our Saviour's time, was much in use, where it frequently occurs. word of God, ὄργανον Θεοῦ δι ̓ οὗ (ὁ κόσμος) κατασκεύασται. Phil. de Flammeo Gladio. And elsewhere he saith, Σκιὰ δὲ Θεοῦ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ ἐστιν, ᾧ καθάπερ ὀργάνω προσχρησάμενος ἐκοσμοποίος. - Id. Allegor. 1. ii.

b Where in the Hebrew text there is and on in the Chaldee Paraphrase, for it is often put, ", the word of God, and (which is very observable) most usually where God is taken peculiarly for God the Son,

for by thee will I run through a troop; by כי בכה ארוץ גדוד באלהי אדלג שור as

for by thy word I will multiply tents, and * ובמימרא אלהי אכבש כל כרכין תקיפין

my God will I leap over a wall.' For which the Targ.

by thy word I will subdue all strong towers.' 2 Sam. xxii. 30. So Heb. 10b8a DTNA AN O xa, And God created man in his own image.' Targ.

And the word of God created man in וברא מימרא דיי ית אדם בדמותיה .Hieros

his image.' Gen. i. 27. and so Heh. voice of the Lord.' Targ. Onkelos. " the voice of the word of God,' chap.

x wow, And they heard the

bp wow,' And they heard iii. 8. and more plainly we read in

Israel shall be saved by the Lord ישראל נושע ביהוה תשועת עולמים .the Heb

with everlasting salvation.' Isaiah, xlv. 17. which being clearly spoken of the Son, the Saviour of the world, the Chaldee renders it expressly