in the Trinity. This founds very harshly at first hearing, and yet if we confider it, we must confefs it to be true, unless we will fay, that there is a greater and lefs in God, or that the Three Perfons in the Trinity make One God, as three parts make a whole, each of which parts must be less than the whole; and yet I cannot fee any poffible way to understand this matter, but only this: That the whole Trinity by a mutual consciousness is in each person, and therefore no Person is less than the whole Trinity.

And this is the only poffible way of understanding a sh hep 286 the different Modi fubfiftendi, of which the Schools fpeak: That the Three Divine Perfons have One numerical Effence, and are One God, but are diftinguished from each other by a diftinct manner of Subfiftence proper to each Perfon: It is plain, the Schoolmen were no Sabellians; they did not think the Three Divine Perfons, to be only Three Names of the fame infinite Being; but acknowledged each Perfon to be really diftinct from one another, and each of them to have the fame numerical Effence, and to be truly and

properly God, and not to be Three Modes of the An. gh hop 287. fame infinite God, which is little better than Three' Names of One God.

And what are thefe Modi fubfiftendi, by which the Divine Perfons are diftinguished from each other? Now they are no other, than the proper and diftinguishing Characters of each Perfon; that the Father is of himlelf, or without any caufe; that the Son is begotten of the Father, that the Holy Ghoft proceeds from Father and Son: Which proves that by these Modi fubfiftendi, they did not mean (as fome mistake

r

them that the Three Divine Perfons are Three Aw Rp 270 Modes of the Deity, or only modally distinguished,

M 2

for

for there are no Modes, no more than there are Qualities and Accidents, in the Deity, much lefs can a Mode be a God: To be fure, all Men must grant, that the Father is not a Mode of the Deity, but effentially God, and yet he has his Modus fubfiftendi, as well as the Son, and the Holy Ghoft; and no Man can think, that the Father begat only a Modus, and called it his Son, whereas a Son fignifies a real Perfon of the fame Nature, but distinct from his Father.

All then that can poffibly be meant by these Modes of Subfiftence is this, that the fame numerical Effence is whole and entire in each Divine Perfon, but in a different manner; the Son and Holy Ghoft are in the Father, as the One is begotten, the other proceeds from him, and yet both remain in him by an intimate consciousnefs; and thus you have often heard, all Three Perfons are in each other, and therefore are numerically One; the Father has the Son and Holy Ghoft in himself as the Fountain of the Deity, the Son begotten of the Father, the Holy Ghoft Proceeding from Father and Son. That is, there are Three infinite Minds, which are diftinguished from. each other by the relations of Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, the Father begets, the Son is begotten, the Holy Ghost proceeds, which are their different Modes of fubfifting; but each of thefe infinite Minds has the other Two in himself, by an intimate and mutual consciousness, and that makes all Three Perfons numerically One Divine Effence, or One God; for when the whole Trinity is in each diftinct Perfon, each Perfon is the fame One numerical God, and all of them but One God: If the Father, for instance, have his own perfonal Wifdom, and by an internal

con-

consciousness, all the Wisdom of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft; and the Son have his own perfonal Wildom, and by the fame consciousness, all the Wifdom of the Father, and the Holy Ghost; and in like manner, the Holy Ghost have his own perfonal Wifdom, and all the Wisdom of Father, and Son; this infinite Wisdom which is in Father, Son, and Holy Ash top 339 Ghost, is identically the fame: for from which Perfon foever you begin to reckon this Union, it is the fame Father, Son, and Holy Ghost still, which are thus intimately united into One ; and therefore it is the fame numerical and identical Wisdom, which is in each of them, and the fame in all.

To add no more: This Notion gives a plain ac- An-jah p 18. count too of that Maxim of the Schools, That all the Operations of the Trinity, ad extra, are common to all Three Perfons; for it cannot poffibly be otherwise, when they are thus intimately united by a mutual consciousness; for they can no more act, than they can fubfift separately; when the Wisdom, Goodness, Justice, Power of the whole Trinity is entire in each Person, and the fame in all, every Perfon of the Trinity must be equally concerned, faving the Natural Order, and Subordination of Perfons, in all the external Effects and Operations of the Divine Wisdom, Justice, Goodness, and Power.

Thus I have endeavoured to explain this Great and An 8. hp 1.9. Venerable Mystery of a Trinity in Unity; and this I may fay, that I have given not only a very poffible and a very intelligible Notion of it, but fuch alfo as is very agreeable to the phrafe and expreffions of Scripture, fuch as preferves the Majefty of the Article, and folves all the Difficulties of it; there may be a

greats

great deal more in this Myftery, than we can fathom, but thus much we can understand of it, and that is enough to reconcile us to this belief, and to fhame and filence the profane Scoffers at a Trinity in Unity; as I have in part fhewn already, and will do now more fully, by proceeding to answer those many Absurdities and Contradictions charged on it by the Brief Notes: To proceed then where I left off.

There is One Perfon of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost.

Then the Son is not the Father, nor is the Father the Son, nor the Holy Ghost either of them.

:

I grant it Their Perfons are distinct, and therefore are not each other, but they are all effentially united by a mutual confcioufnefs, whereby they are mutually in each other, and can be no more feparated from each other, than every Man's own mind can be divided from itself.

But if the Father is not the Son, and yet is by con feffion of all the One true God, then the Son is not the One true God, because he is not the Father: The reaSon is felf-evident, for how can the Son be the One true God, if he be not He, who is the One true God. After the fame manner it may be proved, that (on the Athanafian Principles) neither the Father, nor Holy Spirit, are, or can be God, or the One true God; for neither of them is the Son, who is the One true God, according to Athanafius, and all Trinitarians; for they all fay, The Father is the One true God, the Son is the

Опе

One true God, and the Holy Ghost the One true God; which is a threefold contradiction, because there is but One true God, and One of the fe Perfons is not the other. But if it be a Contradiction it is certainly falfe, for every Contradiction, being made up of Inconfiftancies, deftroys itself, and is its own Confutation.

This is meer trick and fallacy, or mifrepresentati- Answer. on. To have made his Argument conclude, he fhould have faid: The Father is not the Son, and yet the Person of the Father confidered not only as diftinguished, but as divided and separated from the Perfon of the Son, is the One true God, and then the Son is not the One true God, because he is not the Father And then indeed his reafon had been self-evident, that the Perfon of the Son, as feparated from the Perfon of the Father, is not the One true God, because the Perfon of the Son is not the Perfon of the Father, who is the One true God: But neither Athanafius, nor any of the Trinitarians ever said this, That the Perfon of the Father, as feparated from the Perfons of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft, is the One true God; or that the Perfon of the Son as feparated from the Persons of the Father, and of the Holy Ghost is the One true God; or that the Perfon of the Holy Ghost as separated from the Perfons of the Father,and of the Son, is the One true God; for we conftantly affirm,that Father, Son,and Holy Ghoft, by an intimate and infeperable Union to each other, are but One true God; but as their Perfons can never be feparated, fo they must never be confidered in a separate state, and if we will imagine fuch an impoffible abfurdity as this, neither of them are the One true God; for whoever separates them, deftroys the Deity, and leaves neither Father, Son, nor Holy Ghost. And