_Trinity_ and _Persons_ in the Godhead; and in what respect the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, are said to be one. It is true, the word _Trinity_
is not to be found in scripture, but what we understand by it is plainly
contained therein; therefore we use the word, as agreeable thereunto:
thus we read of the _three that bear record in heaven_, _viz._ _the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost_, and that _these three are one_, 1
John v. 7. These three here mentioned are Persons, because they are
described by personal characters; and we shall take occasion elsewhere,
when we prove the Deity of the Son and Spirit, to consider their being
one, that is, having the same divine nature, which we shall therefore
wave at present, being only considering the sense of words commonly used
by us in treating of this doctrine. All contending parties, however they
have explained the word _Trinity_, according to their different ways of
thinking, have notwithstanding, in compliance with custom, used the
word, and so far explained it, as that we might understand that they
intend hereby three, who are, in some respect one, though some have not
cared to use the word _Person_; or if they have, it is without the most
known and proper idea contained in it. Thus the Sabellians, whenever
they use the word, intend nothing by it, but three relations, which may
be attributed to the same Person; as when the same Person may be called
a father, a son, and a brother, in different respects; or as when he
that, at one time, sustains the person of a judge, may, at another time,
sustain that of an advocate: this is what some call a Trinity of names;
and they might as well have declined to use the words altogether, as to
explain them in this sense.
Again, the Arians use the word _Person_; but these have run into another
extreme, inasmuch as that, whilst they avoid Sabellianism, they would
lay themselves open to the charge of Tritheism, did they not deny the
proper Deity of the Son and Spirit; for they suppose that every distinct
Person is a distinct being, agreeable to the sense of personality, when
applied to men; but this, as has been before considered, is to be
abstracted from the idea of personality, when applied to the Persons in
the Godhead. These also understand the oneness of these divine Persons,
in a sense agreeable to their own scheme, and different from ours, and
therefore they speak of them as one in will, consent, or design, in
which respect God and the creature may be said to be one: accordingly
Arius, and his adherents, in the council at Nice, refused to allow that
the divine persons were Ὁμοουσιοι consubstantial, and, with a great many
evasions and subterfuges, attempted to conceal their sentiments: all
that they could be brought to own was, that the Son was Ὁμοιος, or
Ὁμοιουσιος, which amounts to no more than this, that whatever likeness
there may be, in some respects, yet he has not the same proper divine
nature with the Father and Holy Ghost.
Which leads us to consider the sense in which it is generally used by
those who defend what we think to be the scripture-doctrine of the
Trinity. There are some, it is true, both among ancient and modern
writers, that attempt to explain what they mean by the word _Person_,
who are so unhappy as to leave the sense thereof more dark than they
found it, when they have given a definition thereof, agreeable to what
is used by metaphysicians and schoolmen, to this effect, that it is a
_suppositum_, endowed with reason; or that it is one entire, individual,
incommunicable, rational subsistence: and when they define Personality,
some tell us, that it is a positive mode of a being terminating and
compleating its substantial nature, and giving incommunicability to it,
which words need to be explained more than the thing defined thereby.
And here I cannot but take notice of that warm debate which there was
between the Greek and Latin church about the words _Hypostasis_ and
_Persona_; the Latin, concluding that the word _Hypostasis_ signified
substance or essence, thought, that to assert that there were three
divine _Hypostases_, was to say that there were three Gods: On the other
hand, the Greek church thought that the word _Person_ did not
sufficiently guard against the Sabellian notion of the same individual
being sustaining three relations; whereupon each part of the church was
ready to brand the other with heresy, till by a free and mutual
conference, in a synod at Alexandria, A. D. 362. they made it appear,
that it was but a mere contention about the grammatical sense of a word;
and then it was allowed, by men of temper on both sides, that either of
the two words might be indifferently used.[86] But what signifies the
use of them, when perplexed with the scholastic explications thereof?
This has given occasion to some, whose sentiments have been very remote
as to the doctrine of the Trinity, to express themselves with some
dislike; on the one hand, the Socinians, and some among the
Remonstrants, who made very great advances toward their scheme, _viz._
Curcellæus, Episcopius, and others,[87] have complained of clouding this
doctrine with hard words; and the complaint is not altogether
groundless, though it may be their design herein was to substitute such
words in the room of them, as would make the remedy worse than the
disease. On the other hand, some, who have embraced the doctrine of the
Trinity, would not have liked its advocates the worse, had they chose to
have defended it in a more plain intelligible manner. Thus Calvin
himself wishes, that some words, which are so warmly opposed and
defended on each side, were altogether laid aside, and buried, provided
that such might be retained as express our faith in the doctrine of the
Father, Son, and Spirit, being the one God, but distinguished by their
personal properties.[88] And this is that plain sense of the word, which
I shall make use of, in what I shall farther attempt to lay down in the
defence thereof. And accordingly,
1. We never call any thing a person that is not endowed with
understanding and will; and therefore the most glorious inanimate
creatures, either in heaven or earth, whatever excellencies they have,
or how useful soever they are to the world, they are not persons. Thus,
when the sun is described as though it were a person, and is compared to
_a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoicing as a strong man
to run a race_, Psal. xix. 5. the words are never understood in any
other but a metaphorical sense; so Behemoth and the Leviathan, mentioned
in Job, being no other than brute creatures, are described with personal
characters, in the same figurative way of speaking; therefore we suppose
a person to have an understanding and will.
2. Whenever _I_, _thou_, or _he_, are applied to such a subject, they
always connote a person; _I_, a person speaking; _thou_, a person spoken
to; and _he_, or _him_, a person spoken of; and when such modes of
speaking are sometimes applied to things that are destitute of reason,
or to any moral virtues or principles of acting, which, from the nature
of the thing, cannot be denominated persons, such expressions are very
easily understood in a figurative sense, which may without any
difficulty be distinguished from the proper one, whereby those who are
so described are denominated persons.
There are some characters which always denote persons, and some works
performed which are properly personal, which can be performed by none
but persons. Thus the character of a father, or a son; so a Creator, a
Redeemer, a benefactor, a Mediator, an advocate, a surety, a judge, a
lord, a law-giver, and many others of the like nature, are all of them
personal characters. So that whoever acts with design, and has such-like
characters attributed to him, according to the proper acceptation of the
word, him we call a person; and these characters we shall endeavour to
apply to the Persons in the Godhead, to prove their distinct
personality.
But since we are at present only considering the acceptation of words,
we shall briefly observe the difference between a divine and a human
person, when some personal properties, characters, or works, are
attributed to each of them. And,
(1.) Human persons are separated one from the other: thus, for instance,
Peter, James, and John, were three persons, but they were separated one
from the other; whereas the Persons in the Godhead, however
distinguished by their characters and properties, are never separated,
as having the same divine essence or nature. As for human persons, one
of them might have had a being and personality, had the other never
existed, because it exists by the will of God; but the divine persons
have a necessary existence and personality, as being, in all respects,
independent, so that as they could not but be God, they could not but be
divine Persons; the personality of the Son and Spirit are equally
independent with that of the Father, and as much independent as their
being and divine perfections.
(2.) Human persons have only the same kind of nature, which is generally
called a common specific nature, but not the same individual nature with
another person; so that though every man has a nature like that of the
rest of mankind, yet the human nature, as attributed to one person, is
not the same individual human nature that is attributed to another, for
then the power and understanding, or the ideas that there are in one
man, would be the same individual power and ideas, that are in another,
which they are not. Whereas, when we speak of the Persons in the
Godhead, as having the divine nature and perfections, we say that this
nature is the same individual nature in all of them, though the persons
are distinct, otherwise the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, could not be
said to be truly and properly God, and to have the same understanding,
will, and other perfections of the divine nature.
(3.) When we speak of human persons, we say, that as many persons as
there are, so many beings there are; every human person has its own
proper being, distinct from all other persons or beings; but we do not
say so with respect to the divine Persons, for the divine Being is but
one, and therefore the Godhead of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is
the very same; which is what we understand when we say, that though
there are three Persons in the Godhead, yet they are the same in
substance, or the one only living and true God.
This leads us to consider in what respect the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, are said to be one; by which we mean, that the Son and Holy Ghost
have all the perfections of the divine nature, in the same sense as the
Father has; to say less than this, is to assert no more than what our
adversaries will allow; for they will not deny them perfections, nor
would they be thought to deny them to have divine perfections; yea, many
of them will not stick to say, that they are truly and properly God; by
which they mean, that whatever deity is attributed to them in scripture,
by the appointment of the Father, that is, whatever divine authority
they have, this properly belongs to them: but, I think, they will none
of them allow that they have the divine nature in the same sense in
which the Father is said to have it. This is what we shall endeavour to
prove; and more need not be said concerning them, in order to establish
that supreme worship which is due to them, as well as the Father; and,
in order hereto, we shall consider the force of those arguments
contained in one of these answers, and, together with them, the sense of
that scripture, John x. 30. in which our Saviour says, _I and my Father
are one_; as also that other scripture, 1 John v. 7. that _the Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost, who bear record in heaven, are one_; the
consideration whereof we shall reserve to a following head.
And inasmuch as they are said to be equal in power and glory, we may
observe, that there are two expressions, which we often use, to set
forth the deity of the Son and Spirit; sometimes we say they are God,
equal with the Father; at other times, that they have the same essential
perfections. To which, it may be, some will reply, that if they are
equal, they cannot be the same; or, on the other hand, if they are the
same, they cannot be equal. For the understanding what we mean by
such-like expressions, let it be observed, that when we consider them as
having the divine essence, or any of the perfections thereof, we do not
chuse to describe them as equal, but the same; we do not say that the
wisdom, power, holiness, &c. of the Son and Spirit are equal to the same
perfections, as ascribed to the Father: but when we speak of them as
distinct Persons, then we consider them as equal: the essential glory of
the Father, Son, and Spirit, is the same; but their personal glory is
equal; and in this sense we would be understood, when we say the Son and
Holy Ghost are each of them God, or divine Persons, equal with the
Father.[89]
III. We shall prove that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are distinct
persons in the Godhead, by applying what has been but now observed, by
which any one may, by our common mode of speaking, be denominated a
person; and to this we shall add something concerning those personal
properties, mentioned in one of the answers we are explaining, with
respect to the eternal generation of the Son, and the procession of the
Holy Ghost. And,
1. To prove the personality of the Son. If this be reckoned needless,
inasmuch as the Arians and Socinians never yet called it in question, we
own that it is not necessary, when we dispute with them, to prove it:
but inasmuch as the Sabellians deny it, as a late writer[90] has done,
who plainly gives in to that scheme, and concludes the Son of God to be
no other than the eternal reason of God; and so he renders that text,
John i. 1. _In the beginning was the word_, that is, _reason, and by
him_, that is, _by it, were all things made_; and when it is objected,
that this mode of speaking signifies nothing more than a quality in God,
the only answer he gives to it, is, that it signifies no more a quality,
than if we should translate it, _The word_, as it is generally done: I
say, if persons, whether they pretend to be Sabellians or no, express
themselves in such a manner, it is certainly necessary for us to prove
the personality of the Son.
It appears, therefore, that the Son is a distinct Person from the
Father,
(1.) Inasmuch as we often read, in scripture, of two divine Persons
speaking to, or of, one another, the distinguishing personal characters,
_I_, _thou_, and _he_, being applied to them: thus it is said, Psal. cx.
1. _The Lord_, that is the Father, _said unto my Lord_, namely the Son,
_sit thou at my right-hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool_:
this may be observed throughout the whole Psalm; thus, ver. 3. _Thy
people shall be willing_; and ver. 6. _He_, meaning the Son, _shall
judge among the heathen_; and ver. 7. _He shall drink of the brook in
the way_; so Psal. xlv. 2. speaking of the Son, _Thou art fairer than
the children of men_; and ver. 6. _Thy throne, O God, is for ever and
ever_. The places of scripture, which have such modes of speaking
concerning the Son, are almost innumerable; and therefore we proceed to
consider,
(2.) Other personal characters given him; thus, when he is called the
Son of God, whatever we are to understand by that relation or character,
of which more under a following head, it certainly denotes him a Person
distinct from the Father; so does his being sent into the world by the
Father, which expression is frequently used in the New Testament; now a
quality, relation or property, cannot be said to be sent as the Son is.
So when he is described as a Redeemer, a Mediator, a Surety, a Creator;
and when he is styled, by the prophet, _the everlasting Father_; and
often described as a prophet, priest, or king; or _Lord of all_, or the
_Prince of peace_, or the _Prince of the kings of the earth_; all these
characters sufficiently prove his personality; and all those works which
he performs, as sustaining these relations or characters, are properly
personal; and some of them are never ascribed to any other person. Thus
the Father, or Holy Ghost, are never said to assume the human nature, or
to become sureties for the salvation of men, or to execute mediatorial
offices, subservient thereunto; from all which it evidently appears,
that the Son is a distinct Person: that he is a divine Person, will be
proved under a following head: we shall therefore proceed,
2. To prove the distinct personality of the Holy Ghost. This is denied,
not only by the Sabellians, but by some of the Socinians; yea, even by
Socinus himself; who describes the Holy Ghost as the power of God,
intending hereby, as his mode of speaking seems to denote, the energy of
the divine nature, or that whereby the Father, who is the only one, to
whom, according to him, the divine nature is attributed, produces those
effects which require infinite power; so that they call the Spirit the
power of God essentially considered; these set aside all those proofs,
that may be produced from scripture, to evince his personality, which
are so plain and evident, that many of them have dissented from Socinus
herein, and owned the Spirit to be a person. Accordingly some of them
have described him as the chief of created spirits, or the head of the
angels, because they deny his divine nature. Thus a bold writer
expresses himself; “I believe that there is one principal minister of
God and Christ, peculiarly sent from heaven, to sanctify the church,
who, by reason of his eminency and intimacy with God, is singled out of
the number of other heavenly ministers, or angels, and comprised in the
holy Trinity, being the third person thereof; and that this minister of
God and Christ is the Holy Spirit.[91]”
Now we shall prove the personality of the Holy Ghost, by considering
some personal characters ascribed to, and works performed by him. Thus
there are several such characters, by which he is denominated a person;
particularly when he is called a Sanctifier, a Reprover, a Witness, a
Comforter, it evidently appears from hence that he is a person: thus
when it is said, in John xvi. 8. that _when he_, to wit, _the Comforter
is come, he will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and
judgment_; and also, that _he will guide you into all truth; he shall
shew you things to come_, &c. And in John xiv. 16, 17. there is the
distinct personality of the three persons, and particularly of the Holy
Ghost, asserted; _I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter, even the Spirit of truth_; and also in ver. 26. _The
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my
name, he shall teach you all things._[92]
It is certain, that to be said to teach, or to instruct, is a personal
character; so it is to speak, or to dictate, to another what he should
say; but this he is said to do, as our Saviour says to his disciples,
_Whatever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye; for it is not
you that speak, but the Holy Ghost_, Mark xiii. 11.
Moreover, to witness, or testify, is a personal character; especially
when the testimony is not merely objective, as when Job calls his
_wrinkles and his leanness a witness_ against him, Job xvi. 8. But when
there is a formal testimony given, he that gives it is, according to our
common way of speaking, generally considered as a person; and thus the
Holy Ghost is described, Acts v. 32. _We are his witnesses of these
things, and so is the Holy Ghost, whom God has given to them that obey
him._ Here the Holy Ghost’s being a witness is as much a personal
character, as their being witnesses; and, Acts xx. 23. it is said, _The
Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, that bonds and afflictions abide
me_.
Again, dwelling is a personal character; no one ever supposes that any
thing that is in a house dwells there, excepting persons; but the Holy
Ghost is said to dwell in believers, John xiv. 17. and alluding hereto,
as also connoting his divine personality, it is said, 1 Cor. vi. 19.
_Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost_; as a house is the
dwelling-place of a person, so a temple is the dwelling-place of a
divine person.
Again, to send any one is a personal character; but this is attributed
to the Holy Ghost, Acts xiii. 4. _The apostles being sent forth by the
Holy Ghost, departed._
Again, acting with a sovereign will and pleasure is what belongs only to
a person; but this is applied to the Holy Ghost, Acts xv. 28. _It seemed
good to the Holy Ghost and to us._
Again, prohibiting, or forbidding, a person to act, is a personal
character; but this is applied to the Holy Ghost, Acts xvi. 6. _The
apostles were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia._
Again, to constitute, or appoint, any one to execute an office is a
personal character; but this the Holy Ghost is said to do, Acts xx. 28.
he is said to have _made them overseers_. There are several other
personal works and characters, which might have been mentioned; but
these are, I humbly conceive, sufficient to prove the thing intended,
that the Holy Ghost is a person. I have no more than mentioned the
scriptures, which contain these personal characters, because I shall
have occasion under a following head, to refer to some of them for the
proof of his deity.[93]
_Object._ It will be objected, by those who are favourers of the
Sabellian scheme, that the characters which we have laid down, to prove
the personality of the Son, and Holy Ghost, are not Sufficient to answer
that end; inasmuch as they are oftentimes applied, in a metaphorical
way, to those things which no one supposes to be persons, and therefore
that they may be taken in this sense, when applied to the Son and
Spirit. To support this objection, they produce several instances out of
the book of Job, and some other parts of scripture, where things are
described with personal characters, which are not really persons. Thus
Job xxxix. 11, 12. speaking concerning the unicorn, it is said; _Wilt
thou trust him? Wilt thou leave thy labour to him? Wilt thou believe
him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?_ So
concerning the horse, it is said, as though he acted with design, as an
intelligent creature, ver. 21. &c. _He goeth on to meet the armed men;
he mocketh at fear; neither believeth he that it is the sound of the
trumpet; he saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha!_ And concerning the eagle,
ver. 28. _She dwelleth in the rock._ And concerning the leviathan, chap.
xli. 3. &c. _Will he make many supplications to thee? Will he speak soft
words unto thee? Will he make a covenant with thee? He esteemeth iron as
straw, and brass as rotten wood. Darts are counted as stubble; he
laugheth at the shaking of the spear._ And ver. 34. _He beholdeth all
high things; he is a king over all the children of pride._ There are
many other personal characters given to brute creatures, which are taken
in a metaphorical sense; and sometimes they are applied to inanimate
creatures. Thus Job xxxviii. 28, &c. _Hath the rain a father? and who
hath begotten the drops of dew? Out of whose womb came the ice? and the
hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? Canst thou bind the sweet
influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring
forth Mazzaroth in his season, or canst thou guide Arcturus with his
sons?_ By which nothing is intended but the signs in the Zodiack, or
some of the constellations, together with the particular stars of which
they consist; yet these are described, as though they were persons. So
ver. 35. _Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto
thee, here we are?_ Again, the powers and faculties of the soul of man
have sometimes personal characters ascribed to them. Thus, conscience is
said _to bear witness_, Rom. ix. 1. And some instances may be brought
from scripture of a person’s speaking to himself; yet this doth not
connote two persons in man, one speaking, and the other spoken to. It is
therefore inferred from hence, that we cannot prove the personality of
the Son and Holy Ghost from those personal characters ascribed to them,
which may be taken in a metaphorical sense, as well as in the instances
but now mentioned.
_Answ._ In answer to this objection, several things may be considered.
1. Though the scripture often uses figurative, and particularly
metaphorical, ways of speaking, yet these may be easily distinguished
from the like phrases used elsewhere, concerning which we have
sufficient ground to conclude that they are to be taken in a proper
sense; therefore, though it is true that there are personal characters
given to things which are not persons, yet we are not to conclude from
hence, that whenever the same modes of speaking are used, and applied to
those who are capable of performing personal actions, that therefore
these must be taken in a metaphorical sense; which is a known exception
from the common idea contained in the same words.