Burnet on Article I: Of Faith in the Holy Trinity

THE Natural Order of Things required, That the First of all Articles in Religion should be concerning the Being and Attributes of God: For all other Doctrines arise out of this. But the Title appropriates this to the Holy Trinity; because that is the only part of the Article which peculiarly belongs to the Christian Religion; since the rest is Founded on the Principles of Natural Religion.

There are Six Heads to be Treated of, in order to the full opening of all that is contained in this Article.

• 1. That there is a God.
• 2. That there is but One God.
• 3. Negatively, That this God hath neither Body, Parts, nor Passions.
• 4. Positively, That he is of Infinite Power, Wisdom, and Goodness.
• 5. That he at first Created, and does still Preserve all things, not only what is Material and Visible, but also what is Spiritual and Invisible.
• 6. The Trinity is here Asserted.

These being all Points of the highest consequence, it is very necessary to state them as clearly, and to prove them as fully as may be.

The First is, That there is a God. This is a Proposition which in all Ages has been so universally received and believed, some very few Instances being only assigned of such as either have denied or doubted of it, that the very consent of so many Ages and Nations, of such different Tempers and Languages, so vastly remote from one another, has been long esteemed a good Argument, to prove that either there is somewhat in the Nature of Man, that by a secret sort of Instinct does dictate this to him; or that all Mankind has descended from one common Stock; and that this belief has passed down from the first Man to all his Posterity. If the more Polite Nations had only received this, some might suggest, that wise men had introduced it as a mean to govern human Society, and to keep it in order: Or if only the more barbarous had received this, it might be thought to be the effe[?]t of their Fear, and their Ignorance; but since all Sorts, as well as all Ages of men, have received it, this alone goes a great way to assure us of the Being of a God.

To this Two things are Objected, 1st. That some Nations, such as S[?]ldania, Formosa, and some in America, have been discovered in these last Ages that seem to acknowledge no Deity. But to this, Two things are to be opposed: 1st. That those who first discovered these Countries, and have given that account of them, did not know them enough, nor understand their Language so perfectly as was necessary to enable them to comprehend all their Opinions: And this is the more probable, because others that have writ after them, assure us, that they are not without all sense of Religion, which the first discoveries had too hastily affirmed: Some prints of Religion begin to be observed among those of Soldania, though it is certainly one of the most degenerated of all Nations. But a 2d Answer to this, is, That those Nations of whom these Reports are given out, are so extremely sunk from all that is wise or regular, great and good in human Nature, so rude and untractable, and so incapable of Arts and Discipline, that if the Reports concerning them are to be believed, and if that weakens the Argument from the common consent of Mankind of the one hand, it strengthens it on another, while it appears that Human Nature, when it wants this Impression, it wants with it all that is great or orderly in it; and shews a brutality almost as low and base as is that of Beasts. Some men are born without some of their Senses, and others without the use of Reason and Memory: And yet those exceptions do not prove that the imperfections of such persons are not irregularities against the common course of Things: The monstrousness as well as the miseries of persons so unhappily born, tend to recommend more effectually the perfection of human Nature. So if these Nations which are supposed to be without the belief of a God, are such a low and degenerated piece of human Nature, that some have doubted whether they are a perfect Race of Men, or not; this does not derogate from, but rather confirms the force of this Argument, from the general consent of all Nations.

A Second Exception to this Argument is, That men have not agreed in the same Notions concerning the Deity: Some believing Two Gods, a Good and Bad, that are in a perpetual contest together: Others holding a vast number of Gods, either all equal or subaltern to one another: And some believing God to be a corporeal Being, and that the Sun, Moon, and Stars, and a great many other Beings are Gods: Since then, though all may acknowledge a Deity in general, they are yet subdivided into so many different conceits about it, no Argument can be drawn from this supposed Consent, which is not so great in reality, as it seems to be. But in Answer to this we must observe, That the constant sense of Mankind agreeing in this, That there is a Superior Being that governs the World, shews that this fixed Persuasion has a deep Root: Though the weakness of several Nations being practised upon by designing men, they have in many things corrupted this Notion of God. That might have arisen from the Tradition of some true Doctrines vitiated in the conveyance. Spirits made by God to govern the World by the Order, and under the Direction of the Supreme Mind, might easily come to be lookt on as subordinate Deities: Some evil and lapsed Spirits might in a course of some Ages pass for evil Gods. The Apparitions of the Deity under some Figures might make these Figures to be adored: And God being considered as the Supreme Light, this might lead men to Worship the Sun as his chief Vehicle: And so by degrees he might pass for the Supreme God. Thus it is easy to trace up these mistakes to what may justly be supposed to be their first Source and Rise. But still the Foundation of them all, was a firm belief of a Superior Nature that govern’d the World. Mankind agreeing in that, an occasion was given thereby to bad and designing men to graft upon it such other Tenets as might feed Superstition and Idolatry, and furnish the Managers of those Impostures with advantages to raise their own Authority. But how various soever the several Ages and Nations of the World may have been as to their more special Opinions and Rites; yet the General Idea of a God remain’d still unalter’d, even amidst all the changes that have happened in the particular Forms and Doctrines of Religion.

Another Argument for the Being of God, is taken from the Visible World, in which there is a vast variety of Beings curiously framed, and that seem designed for great and noble ends. In these we see clear Characters of God’s Eternal Power, and Wisdom. And that is thus to be made out. It is certain, that nothing could give Being to it self; so the things which we see, either had their Being from all Eternity, or were made in time: And either they were from all Eternity in the same State, and under the same Revolutions of the Heavens, as they are at present, or they fell into the Order and Method in which they do now rowl, by some happy chance; out of which all the Beauty and Usefulness of the Creation did arise. But if all these suppositions are manifestly false, then it will remain, That if things neither were from all Eternity as they now are, nor fell into their present State by chance, then there is a Superior Essence, that gave them Being, and that moulded them as we see they now are. The First Branch of this, That they were not as now they are from all Eternity, is to be proved by two sorts of Arguments; the one Intrinsical, by demonstrating this to be impossible; the other Moral, by shewing that it is not at all credible. As to the first, it is to be considered, that a successive duration made up of Parts, which is called Time, and is measured by a successive Rotation of the Heavens, cannot possibly be Eternal. For if there were Eternal Revolutions of Saturn in his course of Thirty Years, and Eternal Revolutions of Days as well as Years, of Minutes as well as Hours, then the one must be as infinite as the other; so that the one must be equal to the other, both being infinite; and yet the latter are some Millions of times more than the other; which is impossible. Further; Of ev’ry past duration, as this is true, That once it was present; so this is true, That once it was to come; This being a necessary affection of every thing that exists in time: If then all past durations were all once future, or to be, then we cannot conceive such a Succession of Durations Eternal, since once every one of them was to come. Nor can all this, or any part of it, be turned against us, who believe that some Beings are immortal, and shall never cease to be; for all those future durations have never actually been, but are still produced of new, and so continued in being. This Argument may seem to be too subtile, and it will require some attention of mind to observe and discover the force of it; but after we have turned it over and over again, it will be found to be a true demonstration. The chief Objection that lies against it, is, That in the Opinion of those who deny that there are any indivi[?] ble points of Matter, and that believe that Matter is infinitely divisible, it is not absurd to say, That one Infinite is more than another: For the smallest crumb of Matter is Infinite, as well as the whole Globe of the Earth: And therefore the Revolutions of Saturn may be infinite as well as the Revolutions of Days, though the one be vastly more numerous than the other. But there is this difference betwixt the Succession of Time, and the Composition of Matter; That those who deny Indivisibles, say, That no one Point can be assigned: For if Points could be assigned or number’d, it is certain that they could not be Infinite: For an infinite Number seems to be a contradiction; but if the Series of Mankind were Infinite, since this is visibly divided into single Individuals, as the Units in that Series, then here arises an Infinite Number composed of Units or Individuals, that can be assigned. The same is to be said of Minutes, Hours, Days, and Years: Nor can it be said with equal reason, that every portion of Time is divisible to Infinity, as well as every parcel of Matter. It seems evident, that there is a present time; and that past, present and to come, cannot be said to be true of any thing all at once: Therefore the Objection against the assigning points in Matter, does not overthrow the truth of this Argument. But if it is thought that this is rather a slight of Metaphisicks that intangles one, than a plain and full conviction; Let us turn next to such Reasonings as are more obvious, and that are more easily apprehended.

The other Moral Arguments are more sensible as well as they are of a more complicated Nature; and proceed thus. The History of all Nations, of all Governments, Arts, Sciences, and even instituted Religions; the peopling of Nations, the progress of Commerce and of Colonies, are plain Indications of the Novelty of the World: No sort of Trace remaining by which we can believe it to be Ancienter than the Books of Moses represent it to be: For though some Nations, such as the Egyptians and the Chineses have boasted of a much greater Antiquity; yet it is plain, we hear of no series of History for all those Ages; so that what they had relating to them, if it is not wholly a Fiction, might have been only in Astronomical Tables, which may be easily run backwards as well as forward. The very few Eclipses which Ptolomy could hear of, is a remarkable instance of the Novelty of History; since the observing such an extraordinary Accident in the Heavens, in so pure an Air, where the Sun was not only observed, but adored, must have been one of the first effe[?]ts of Learning or Industry. All these Characters of the Novelty of the World have been so well considered by Lucretius, and other Atheists, that they gave up the Point, and thought it evident that this present frame of Things had certainly a beginning.

The Solution that those men who found themselves driven from this of the World’s being Eternal, have given to this difficulty, by saying that all things have run by chance into the Combinations and Channels in which we see Nature run, is so absurd, that it looks like men who are resolved to believe any thing, how absurd soever, rather than to acknowledge Religion. For what a strange conceit is it, to think that Chance could settle on such a regular and useful frame of things, and continue so fixed and stable in it; and that Chance could do so much at once, and should do nothing ever since? The Constancy of the Celestial Motions; the Obliquity of the Zodiack, by which different Seasons are assigned to different Climates; the Divisions of this Globe into Sea and Land, to Hills and Vales; the Productions of the Earth, whether latent, such as Mines, Minerals, and other Fossils; or visible, such as Grass, Grain, Herbs, Flowers, Shrubs, and Trees; the small beginnings, and the curious Compositions of them: The Variety and curious Structure of Insects; the disposition of the Bodies of perfecter Animals; and above all, the Fabrick of the Body of Man, especially the curious Discoveries that Anatomy and Microscopes have given us; the strange beginning and progress of those; the Wonders that occur in every Organ of Sense, and the amazing Structure and Use of the Brain, are all such things, so Artificial, and yet so regular, and so exactly shap’d and fitted for their several Uses, that he who can believe all this to be Chance, seems to have brought his mind to digest any Absurdity.

That all Men should resemble one another in the main things, and yet that every Man should have a peculiar Look, Voice, and way of Writing, is necessary to maintain Order and Distinction in Society: By these we know men if we either see them, hear them speak in the dark, or receive any Writing from them at a distance; without these, the whole Commerce of Life would be one continued course of Mistake and Confusion. This, I say, is such an Indication of Wisdom, that it looks like a Violence to Nature to think it can be otherwise.

The only Col[?]ur that has supported this monstrous Conceit, That things arise out of Chance, is, That it has long passed current in the World, That great Varieties of Insects do arise out of corrupted Matter. They argue, That if the Sun’s shining on a Dunghil can give Life to such Swarms of curious Creatures, it is but a little more extraordinary to think that Animals and Men might have been formed out of well-disposed Matter, under a peculiar Aspect of the Heavens. But the exa[?]ter Observations that have been made in this Age by the help of Glasses, have put an end to this Answer, which is the best that Lucretius and other Atheists found to rest in. It is now fully made out, That the Production of all Insects whatsoever, is in the way of Generation: H[?]at and Corruption do only hatch those Eggs, that Insects leave to a prodigious quantity every where. So that this, which is the only specious thing in the whole Plea for Atheism, is now given up by the Universal Consent of all the Enquirers into Nature.

And now to bring the force of this long Argument to a head: If this World was neither from all Eternity in the state in which it is at present, nor could fall into it by Chance or Accident, then it must follow, That it was put into the state in which we now see it, by a Being of vast Power and Wisdom. This is the great and solid Argument on which Religion rests; and it receives a vast accession of strength from this, That we plainly see Matter has not Motion in or of it self: Every part of it is at quiet till it is put in motion, that is not natural to it, for many Parts of Matter fall into a state of rest and quiet; so that Motion must be put in them by some Impulse or other. Matter, after it has pass’d through the highest Refinings and Rectifyings possible, becomes only more capable of Motion than it was before, but still it is a Passive Principle, and must be put in Motion by some other Being. This has appeared so necessary even to those who have tried their utmost Force to make God as little needful as is possible in the Structure of the Universe, that they have yet been forced to own, That there must have been once a vast Motion given to Matter by the Supreme Mind.

A Third Argument for the Being of a God, is, That upon some great Occasions, and before a vast Number of Witnesses, some Persons have wrought Miracles: That is, they have put Nature out of its Course, by some Words or Signs, that of themselves could not produce those extraordinary Effects: And therefore such Persons were assisted by a Power superior to the Course of Nature; and by consequence there is such a Being, and That is God. To this the Atheists do First say, That we do not know the secret Virtues that are in Nature; The Loadstone and Opium produce wonderful Effects; therefore unless we knew the whole Extent of Nature, we cannot define what is Supernatural and Miraculous, and what is not so. But though we cannot tell how far Nature may go, yet of some things we may without hesitation say they are beyond Natural Powers. Such were the Wonders that Moses wrought in Egypt and in the Wilderness, by the speaking a few Words, or the stretching out of a Rod. We are sure these could not by any Natural Efficiency produce those Wonders. And the like is to be said of the Miracles of Christ, particularly of his raising the Dead to life again, and of his own Resurrection. These we are sure did not arise out of Natural Causes. The next thing Atheists say to this, is to dispute the Truth of the Facts: But of that I shall treat in another place, when the Authority of Revealed Religion comes to be proved from those Facts. All that is necessary to be added here, is, That if Facts that are plainly Supernatural, are proved to have been really done, then here is another clear and full Argument, to prove a Being superior to Nature, that can dispose of it at pleasure: And that Being must either be God, or some other Invisible Being, that has a Strength superior to the setled Course of Nature. And if Invisible Beings, superior to Nature, whether good or bad, are once acknowledged, a great Step is made to the Proof of the Supreme Being.

There is another famed Argument taken from the Idea of God; which is laid thus: That because one frames a Notion of Infinite Perfection, therefore there must be such a Being, from whom that Notion is conveyed to us. This Argument is also managed by other Methods, to give us a Demonstration of the Being of a God. I am unwilling to say any thing to derogate from any Argument that is brought to prove this Conclusion; but when he who insists on this, lays all other Arguments aside, or at least slights them as not strong enough to prove the Point, this naturally gives Jealousy, when all those Reasons that had for so many Ages been considered as solid Proofs, are neglected, as if this only could amount to a Demonstration. But besides, this is an Argument that cannot be offered by any to another Person, for his Conviction; since if he denies that he has any such Idea, he is without the reach of the Argument. And if a man will say that any such Idea which he may raise in himself, is only an Aggregate that he makes of all those Perfections, of which he can form a Thought, which he lays together, separating from them every Imperfection that he observes to be often mixed with some of those Perfections: If, I say, a Man will affirm this, I do not see that the Inference from any such Thought that he has formed within himself, can have any great force to persuade him that there is any such Being. Upon the whole, it seems to be fully proved, That there is a Being that is Superior to Matter, and that gave both Being and Order to it, and to all other things. This may serve to prove the Being of a God: It is fit in the next place to consider with all humble Modesty, what Thoughts we can or ought to have of the Deity.

That Supreme Being must have its Essence of it self necessarily and Eternally; for it is impossible that any thing can give it self Being; so it must be Eternal. And though Eternity in a Succession of Determinate Durations was proved to be impossible, yet it is certain that something must be Eternal; either Matter, or a Being superior to it that has not a Duration defined by Succession, but is a simple Essence, and Eternally was, is, and shall be the same. There is nothing contradictory to it self in this Notion: It is indeed above our Capacity to form a clear Thought of it; but it is plain it must be so, and that this is only a defect in our Nature and Capacity, that we cannot distinctly apprehend that which is so far above us. Such a Being must have also necessary Existence in its Notion; for whatsoever is infinitely perfect, must necessarily exist; since we plainly perceive, that necessary Existence is a Perfection, and that contingent Existence is an Imperfection, which supposes a Being that is produced by another, and that depends upon it: And as this Superior Being did exist from all Eternity, so it is impossible it should cease to be; since nothing that once has actually a Being, can ever cease to be, but by an Act of a Superior Being annihilating it. But there being nothing superior to the Deity, it is impossible that it should ever cease to be: What was self-existent from all Eternity, must also be so to all Eternity; and it is as impossible that a simple Essence can annihilate it self, as that it can make it self.

So much concerning the First and Capital Article of all Religion, The Existence and Being of a God; which ought not to be proved by any Authorities from Scripture, unless from the Recitals that are given in it concerning Miracles, as was already hinted at. But as to the Authority of such Passages in Scripture, which affirm, That there is a God; it is to be considered, that before we can be bound to submit to them, we must believe Three Propositions antecedent to that. 1. That there is a God. 2. That all his Words are true. 3. That these are his Words. What therefore must be believed before we acknowledge the Scriptures, cannot be proved out of them. It is then a strange Assertion, to say, That the Being of a God cannot be proved by the Light of Nature, but must be proved by the Scriptures; since our being assured, That there is a God, is the First Principle upon which the Authority of the Scriptures depends.

The Second Proposition in the Article is, That there is but one God. As to this, the common Argument by which it is proved, is the order of the World; from whence it is inferred, That there cannot be more Gods than one, since where there are more than one, there must happen diversity and confusion. This is by some thought to be no good reason; for if there are more Gods, that is, more Beings infinitely perfect, they will always think the same thing, and be knit together with an intire love. It is true, in things of a Moral Nature this must so happen: For Beings infinitely perfect must ever agree: But in Physical things, capable of no Morality, as in creating the World sooner or later, and the different Systems of Beings, with a thousand other things that have no Moral Goodness in them, different Beings infinitely perfect might have different Thoughts. So this Argument seems still of great force to prove the Unity of the Deity. The other Argument from Reason to prove the Unity of God, is from the Notion of a Being infinitely perfect. For a Superiority over all other Beings comes so naturally into the Idea of infinite Perfection, that we cannot separate it from it. A Being therefore, that has not all other Beings inferior and subordinate to it, cannot be infinitely perfect; whence it is evident, That there is but one God. But besides all this, the Unity of God seems to be so frequently and so plainly asserted in the Scripture, that we see it was the chief Design of the whole Old Testament, both of Moses and the Prophets to establish it, in opposition to the false opinions of the Heathen, concerning a diversity of Gods. This is often repeated in the most solemn Words, as Hear O Israel, ¹ the Lord our God is one God. It is the First of the Ten Commandments, Thou shalt have no other Gods but me. And all things in Heaven and Earth are often said to be made by this one God. Negative words are also often used,² There is none other God but one: besides me there is none else, and I know no other; the going after other Gods is reckon’d the highest, and the most unpardonable act of Idolatry. The New Testament goes on in the same strain. Christ speaks of the only true God, and that he alone ought to be worshipped and served;³ all the Apostles do frequently affirm the same thing: They make the believing of one God in opposition to the many Gods of the Heathens, the chief Article of the Christian Religion; and they lay down this as the chief ground of our Obligation to mutual Love and Union among our selves,⁴ That there is one God, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. Now since we are sure that there is but one Messias and one Doctrine delivered by him, it will clearly follow, that there must be but one God.

So the Unity of the Divine Essence is clearly proved both from the Order and Government of the World, from the Idea of Infinite Perfection, and from those express Declarations that are made concerning it in the Scriptures; which last is a full proof to all such as own and submit to them.

The Third Head in this Article, is that which is negatively expressed, That God is without Body, Parts, or Passions. In general, all these are so plainly contrary to the Ideas of Infinite Perfection, and they appear so evidently to be Imperfections, that this part of the Article will need little Explanation. We do plainly perceive that our Bodies are clogs to our Minds: And all the use that even the purest sort of Body in an Estate conceived to be glorified, can be of to a Mind, is to be an Instrument of local Motion, or to be a repository of Ideas for Memory and Imagination: But God, who is every where, and is one pure and simple Act, can have no such use for a Body. A Mind dwelling in a Body, is in many respects superior to it; yet in some respects is under it. We who feel how an Act of our Mind can so direct the Motions of our Body, that a thought sets our Limbs and Joints a-going, can from thence conceive, how that the whole extent of Matter, should receive such Motions as the Acts of the Supreme Mind give it: But yet not as a Body united to it, or that the Deity either needs such a Body, or can receive any trouble from it. Thus far the apprehension of the thing is very plainly made out to us. Our thoughts put some parts of our Body in a present Motion, when the Organization is regular, and all the parts are exact; and when there is no Obstruction in those Vessels or Passages through which that heat, and those Spirits do pass that cause the motion. We do in this perceive, that a thought does command matter; but our Minds are limited to our Bodies, and these do not obey them, but as they are in an exact disposition and a fitness to be so moved. Now these are plain Imperfections; but removing them from God, we can from hence apprehend that all the Matter in the Universe may be so intirely subject to the Divine Mind, that it shall move and be whatsoever, and wheresoever he will have it to be. This is that which all men do agree in.

But many of the Philosophers thought that Matter, though it was moved and moulded by God, at his pleasure, yet was not made by him, but was self-existent, and was a Passive Principle, but coexistent to the Deity, which they thought was the Active Principle: From whence some have thought, that the belief of two Gods, one good and another bad, did spring: Though others imagine that the belief of a bad God did arise from the corruption of that Tradition concerning fallen Angels, as was before suggested. The Philosophers could not apprehend that things could be made out of nothing, and therefore they believed that Matter was co-eternal with God. But it is as hard to apprehend how a Mind by its Thought should give Motion to Matter, as how it should give it Being. A Being not made by God, is not so easily conceivable to be under the acts of his Mind, as that which is made by him. This conceit plainly destroys infinite Perfection, which cannot be in God, if all Beings are not from him, and under his Authority; besides that successive duration has been already proved inconsistent with Eternity. This Opinion of the World’s being a Body to God, as the Mind that dwells in it, and actuates it, is the foundation of Atheism: For if it be once thought that God can do nothing without such a Body; then, as this destroys the Idea of Infinite Perfection, so it makes way to this conceit, That since Matter is Visible, and God Invisible, there is no other God, but the vast extent of the Universe: It is true God has often shewed himself in visible Appearances; but that was only his putting a special quantity of Matter into such Motions, as should give a great and astonishing Idea of his Nature, from that Appearance: Which was both the effect of his Power, and the symbol of his Presence. And thus what glorious Representations soever were made either on Mount Sinai, or in the Pillar of the Cloud, and Cloud of Glory, those were no Indications of God’s having a Body; but were only Manifestations, suited to beget such thoughts in the Minds of Men, that dwelt in Bodies, as might lay the Principles and Foundations of Religion deep in them: The Language of the Scriptures speaks to the Capacities of men, and even of rude men in dark times, in which most of the Scriptures were writ: But though God is spoke of as having a face, eyes, ears, a smelling, hands and feet, and as coming down to view Things on Earth, all this is expressed after the manner of men, and is to be understood in a way suitable to a pure Spirit. For the great care that was used even under the most imperfect State of Revelation, to keep men from framing any Image or Similitude of the Deity, shewed that it was far from the meaning of those expressions, that God had an Organized Body. These do therefore signify only the several Varieties of Providence. When God was pleased with a Nation, his face was said to shine upon it; for so a man looks towards those whom he loves. The particular care he takes of them, and the answering their Prayers, is expressed by Figures borrowed from Eyes and Ears: The peculiar Dispensations of Rewards and Punishments are expressed by his hands; and the exactness of his Justice and Wisdom, is expressed by coming down to view the State of human Affairs. Thus it is clear that God has no Body: Nor has he Parts, for we can apprehend no Parts but of a Body: So since it is certain that God has no Body, he can have no Parts: Something like Parts does indeed belong to Spirits, which are their Thoughts distinct from their Being, and they have a Succession of them, and do oft change them. But Infinite Perfection excludes this from the Idea of God; successive Thoughts as well as successive Duration, seem inconsistent both with Eternity, and with Infinite Perfection. Therefore the Essence of God is one perfect Thought, in which he both views and wills all Things: And though his Transient Acts that pass out of the Divine Essence, such as Creation, Providence, and Miracles, are done in a Succession of time; yet his Immanent Acts, his Knowledge and his Decrees are one with his Essence. Distinct Thoughts are plainly an Imperfection, and argue a Progress in Knowledge, and a Deliberation in Council, which carry Defect and Infirmity in them. To conceive how this is in God, is far above our Capacity: Who though we feel our imperfection in successive Acts; yet cannot apprehend how all things can be both seen and determined by one single Thought. But the Divine Essence being so infinitely above us, it is no wonder if we can frame no distinct Act concerning its Knowledge or Will.

There is indeed a vast difficulty that arises here; for those Acts of God are supposed free; so that they might have been otherwise than we see they are: And then it is not easy to imagine how they should be one with the Divine Essence; to which necessary Existence does certainly belong. It cannot be said that those acts are necessary, and could not be otherwise: For since all God’s Transient Acts are the certain Effects of his Immanent ones, if the Immanent ones are necessary, then the Transient must be so likewise, and so every thing must be necessary: A Chain of necessary Fa[?]e must run through the whole Order of Things: And God himself then is no free Being, but acts by a necessity of Nature. This some have thought was no Absurdity: God is necessarily just, true, and good, not by any extrinsick Necessity, for that would import an outward limitation, which destroys the Idea of God; but by an Intrinsick Necessity that arises from his own Infinite Perfection; some have from hence thought that since God acts by Infinite Wisdom and Goodness, things could not have been otherwise than they are: For what is infinitely wise or good cannot be altered, or made either better or worse. But this seems on the other hand very hard to conceive: For it would follow from thence that God could neither have made the World sooner nor later, nor any other way than as now it is: Nor could he have done any one thing otherwise than as it is done. This seems to establish Fate, and to destroy Industry, and all Prayers and Endeavours. Thus there are such great difficulties on all hands in this matter, That it is much the wisest and safest course to adore what is above our Apprehensions, rather than to enquire too curiously, or determine too boldly in it. It is certain that God Acts both freely and perfectly: Nor is he a Being subject to change, or to new acts; but he is what he is, both Infinite and Incomprehensible: We can neither apprehend how he made, nor how he executes his Decrees. So we must leave this difficulty, without pretending that we can explain it, or answer the Objections that arise against all the several ways by which Divines have endeavoured to resolve it.

The Third thing under the Head I now consider, is, God’s being without Passions. That will be soon explained. Passion is an Agitation that supposes a Succession of Thoughts, together with a Trouble for what is past, and a fear of missing what is aimed at. It arises out of a Heat of Mind, and produces a Vehemence of Action: Now all these are such manifest imperfections, that it does plainly appear they cannot consist with Infinite Perfection. Yet after all this, there are several Passions, such as Anger, Fury, Iealousy, and Revenge, Bowels of Mercy, Compassion and Pity, Ioy and Sorrow, that are ascribed to God in the common Forms of Spe[?]ch, that occur often in Scripture, as was form[?]rly observed, with relation to those Figures that are taken from the Parts of a Human Body. Passion produces a Vehemence of A[?]tion; So when ther[?] is in the Providences of God such a Vehemence as according to the manner of men would import a Passion, then that Passion is ascribed to God: When he punishes men for Sin, he is said to be Angry: when he does that by severe and redoubled Strokes, he is said to be full of Fury and Revenge: When he punishes for Idolatry, or any dishonour done himself, he is said to be Iealous: When he changes the Course of his Proceedings, he is said to Repent: When his Dispensations of Providence are very gentle, and his Judgments come slowly from him, he is said to have Bowels. And thus all the Varieties of Providence come to be expressed by all that Variety of Passions, which among men might give oceasion to such a Variety of Proceeding.

The Fourth Head in this Article is concerning the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness, of God, that he is Infinite in them. If he can give Being to things that are not, and can also give all the possibilities of Motion, Size and Shape, to Beings that do exist, here is Power without bounds. A Power of Creating must be Infinite; since nothing can resist it. If some things are in their own nature impossible, that does not arise from the want of Power in God, which extends to every thing that is possible: But that which is supposed to be impossible of its own nature, cannot actually be: Otherwise a thing might both be and not be; and it is pe[?]ceptible to every man that this is impossible. It is not want of Power in God that he cannot lye nor sin: It is the Infinite Purity of the Divine Nature that makes this impossible, by reason of his Infinite Perfection. Nor is it a want of Power in God, That the Truth of Propositions concerning things that are past, as that Yesterday once was, is unalterable. Among Impossibilities, one is, To take from any Being that which is essential to it. God can annihilate every Being at his Pleasure; for as he gave Being with a Thought, so he can destroy it with another: And this does fully assert the Infinite Power of God. But if he has made Beings with such peculiar Essences, as that Matter must be extended and impenetrable, and that it is capable of peculiar Surfaces and other Modes, which are only its different Sizes and Shapes, then Matter cannot be and yet not be extended; nor can these Modes subsist, if the Matter of which they are the Modes, is withdrawn. The Infinite Power of God is fully believed by those who acknowledge both his Power of Creating and Annihilating; together with a Power of disposing of the whole Creation, according to the possibilities of every Part or Individual of it; though they cannot conceive a possibility of separating the essential Properties of any Being from it s[?]lf; that is to say, That it may both be, and not be, at the same time; since an essential Property is that which cannot be without that Substance to which it belongs.

The Wisdom of God consists first in his seeing all the possibilities of things, and then in his knowing all things that either are, or ever were or shall be: The former is called the knowledge of simple Intelligence or Apprehension; the other is called the knowledge of Vision. The one arises from the Perfection of the Divine Essence, by which he apprehends whatever is possible; the other arises from his own Decrees, in which the whole Order of things is fixed. But besides these two Ideas that w[?] can frame of the Knowledge of God, some have imagined a third Knowledge; which because it is of a middle Order b[?]twixt Intelligence and Vision, th[?]y have called a middle Knowledge; which is the knowing certainly how, according to all the possibilities of Circumstances in which Free Agents might be put, they should chuse and act. Some have thought that this was a vain and needless Conceit; and that it is impossible that such Knowledge should be certain, or more than conjectural; and since Conjecture implies Doubt, it is an Imp[?]rfect Act, and so does not become a Being of Infinite Perf[?]ction. But others have thought, that the Infinite Perfection of the Divine Mind must go so far as to foresee certainly what Free Creatures are to do; since upon this Foresight only they imagine that the Justice or Goodness of God in his Providence can be made out or defended. It seemed fit to mention this upon the present occasion; but it will be then proper to enquire more carefully about it, when the Article of Predestination is explained.

It is necessary to state the Idea of the Goodness of God most carefully; for we naturally enough frame great and just Ideas of Power and Wisdom, but we easily fall into false Conceits of Goodness. This is that of all the Divine Perfections in which we are the most concerned, and so we ought to be the most careful to frame true Ideas of it: It is also that, of all God’s Attributes, of which the Scriptures speak most copiously. Infinite Goodness is a Tendency to communicate the Divine Perfections to all created Beings, according to their several Capacities. God is Original Goodness, all perfect and happy in himself, acting and seeing every thing in a perfect Light; and he having made Rational Beings capable of some degrees of his Light, Purity, and Perfection, the first and primary Act of Goodness is to propose to them such Means as may raise them to these, to furnish them with them, to move them oft to them, to accept and to assist their sincere Endeavours after them. A second Act of Goodness, which is but in order to the first, is to pity those Miseries into which men fall as long as there is any Principle or Possibility left in them of their becoming good; to pardon all such sins as men have committed, who turn to the purposes of becoming seriously good, and to pass by all the fralities and errors of those who are truly and upon the main good, though Surprize and strong Temptations prove often too hard for them. These two give us as full an Idea as we can have, of perfect Goodness; whose first Aim must be the making us good, and like to that Original Goodness; Pity and Pardon coming in but in a subsidiary way, to carry on the main design of making men truly good. Therefore the chief Act and Design of Goodness, is the making us truly good; and when any person falls below that possibility, he is no more the Object of Pity or Pardon, because he is no more capable of becoming good. Pardon is offered on design to make us really good; so it is not to be sought for, nor rested in, but in order to a further End, which is the reforming our Natures, and the making us Partakers of the Divine Nature. We are not therefore to frame Ideas of a feeble Goodness in God, that yields to importunate Cries, or that melts at a vast degree of Misery. Tenderness in Human Nature is a great Ornament and Perfection, necessary to dispose us to much Benignity and Mercy: But in the common Administration of Justice, this Tenderness must be restrained; otherwise it would slacken the Rigor of Punishment too much, which might dissolve the Order and Peace of Human Societies. But since we cannot see into the truth of mens hearts, a charitable Disposition and a compassionate Temper are necessary, to make men sociable and kind, gentle and human. God, who sees our hearts, and is ever assisting all our Endeavours to become truly good, needs not this Tenderness, nor is he indeed capable of it; for after all its Beauty with relation to the State wherein we are now put, yet in it self it implies Imperfection. Nor can the Miseries and Howlings of wicked Beings, after all the Seeds and Possibilities of Goodness are utterly extinguished in them, give any Pity to the Divine Being: These are no longer the Objects of the Primary Act of his Goodness, and therefore they cannot come under its Secondary Acts. It is of such great Consequence to settle this Notion right in our minds, that it well deserves to be so copiously opened; since we now see in what respects God’s Goodness is without bounds, and Infinite; that is, it reaches to all men, after all Sins whatsoever, as long as they are capable of becoming good. It is not a Limitation of the Divine Goodness to say, that some Men and some States are beyond it; no more than it is a Limitation of his Power, to say that He cannot sin, or cannot do Impossibilities: For a Goodness towards Persons not capable of becoming good, is a Goodness that does not agree with the Infinite Purity and Holiness of God. It is such a Goodness, that if it were proposed to the World, it would encourage men to live in Sin, and to think that a sew Acts of Homage offered to God, perhaps in our last Extremities, could so far please him, as to bribe and corrupt him.

This is that which makes Idolatry so great a Sin, so often forbid by God, and so severely punished, not only as it is injurious to the Majesty of God, but because it corrupts the Ideas or Notions of God. Those Ideas rightly formed, are the Basis upon which all Religion is built. The Seeds and Principles of a new and a Godlike nature spring up in us, as we form our selves upon the true Ideas or Notions of God. Therefore when God is proposed to be adored by us under a Visible Shape or Image, all the Acts of Religion offered to it are only so many pieces of Pageantry, and end in the flatterings and the magnifyings of it, with much Pomp, Cruelty, or Lasciviousness, according to the different Genius of several Nations. So the forming a false Notion of the Goodness of God, as a Tenderness that is to be overcome with Importunities and Howlings, and other Submissions, and not to be gained only by becoming like him, is a Capital and Fundamental Error in Religion.

The next Branch of this Article is, God’s creating and preserving of all things; and that both Material Substances, which are Visible, and Immaterial and Spiritual Substances, which are Invisible. God’s creating all things, has been already made out: If Matter could neither be Eternal, nor give it self a Being, then it must have its Being from God. Creating does naturally import Infinite Power; for that Power is clearly without bounds, that can make things out of nothing: A bounded Power, which can only shape and mould Matter, must suppose it to have a Being, before it can work upon it. We cannot indeed form a distinct Thought of Creation, for we cannot apprehend what nothing is. The nearest approach we can bring our selves to a true Idea of this, is the considering our own Thoughts; especially our Ideas of Mathematical Proportions, and the other Affections of Bodies: Those Ideas are the Modes of a Spiritual Substance; and there is no likeness nor resemblance between them, and the Modes of Material Substances, which are only the occasions of our having those Ideas, and not in any wise the Matter out of which they are formed. Here seems to be a sort of Beings brought out of nothing; but after all, this is vastly below Creation, and is only a faint resemblance of it.

With the Power of Creating we must also join that of Annihilating, which is equal to it, and must necessarily be supposed to be in God, because we plainly perceive it to be a Perfection. The recalling into Nothing, a Being brought out of Nothing, is a necessary consequence of Infinite Power, when it thinks fit so to exert it self. There is a common Notion in the World; That things would fall back into Nothing of themselves, if they were not preserved by the same Infinite Power that made them: But without question it is an Act of the same Infinite Power to reduce a Being to Nothing, that it is to bring a Being out of Nothing: So whatever has once a Being, must of its Nature continue still to be, without any new Causality or Influence. This must be acknowledged, unless it can be said, That a Tendency to Annihilation is the Consequent of a Created Being: But as this would make the Preservation of the World to be a continued Violence to a Natural Tendency that is in all things; so there is no more reason to imagine that Beings have a Tendency to Annihilation, than that Nothing had a Tendency to Creation. It is absurd to think that any thing can have a Tendency to that which is essentially opposite to it self, and is destructive of it.

The Preservation of things, is the keeping the Frame of Nature and the Order of the Universe in such a state as is suitable to the Purposes of the Supreme Mind. It is true, Natural Agents must ever keep the Course in which they are once put; and the great Heavenly Orbs, as well as all smaller Motions, must ever have rowled on in one constant Channel, when they were once put into it; so in this respect it may seem that Conservation by a special Act is not necessary. But we perceive a Freedom in our own Natures, and a Power that our Minds have, not only to move our own Bodies, but by them, and by the help of such Engines as we can invent, we make a vast change in this Earth from what it would be, if it were left unwrought. In a course of some Ages, the whole World, by the Natural Progress of things, would be a Forest: Both Earth and Air are very much different from what they would be, if Men were not Free Agents, and did not cultivate the Earth, and thereby purify the Air. The working of Mines, Minerals, and other Fossils, makes also a great change in its Bowels; it gives Vent to some Damps which might much affect the Air, and it frees the Earth from Earthquakes. Thus the Industry of Man has in many respects changed both Earth and Air very sensibly from what it would have been, if the World had not those Inhabitants in it. Nor do we know what Natural Force other Spirits inhabiting in or about it, or at least using subtiller Bodies, may have, or in what Influences or Operations they may exert that Force on Material Substances. Upon all these accounts it is, that the World could not be preserved in a constant and regular state, if the Supreme Mind had not a direction both of mens Wills and Actions, and of the Course of Nature: For unless it is thought that Man is really no Free Agent, but a[?]ts in a Chain as certainly as other Natural Agents do, it must be acknowledged, that by the Interposition of mens Minds, together with their Power over Matter, the Course of the first Motion that was given to the Universe, is so changed, that if there is not a constant Providence, the Frame of Nature must go out of the Channel into which God did at first put it. The Order of Things on this Earth, takes a great Turn from the Wind, both as to the Fruitfulness of the Earth, and to the Operations on the Sea, and has likewise a great Influence on the Purity of the Air, and by consequence on mens good or ill Health; and the Wind, or the Agitation of the Air, turns so often and so quick, that it seems to be the great Instrument of Providence, upon which an unconceivable variety of things does naturally depend. I do not deny, but that it may be said, that all those Changes in the Air arise from Certain and Mechanical, though to us unknown Causes; which may be supported from this, That between the Tropicks, where the Influence of the Heavenly Bodies is stronger, the Wind and Weather are more Regular; though even that admits of great Exceptions: Yet it has been the common Sense of Mankind, That besides the Natural Causes of the Alterations in the Air, they are under a particular Influence and Direction of Providence: And it is in it self highly probable, to say no more of it. This may either be managed immediately by the Acts of the Divine Mind, to which Nature readily obeys, or by some subaltern Mind or Angel, which may have as Natural an Efficiency over an Extent of Matter proportioned to its Capacity, as a Man has over his own Body, and over that compass of Matter that is within his reach. Which way soever God governs the World, and what Influence soever he has over Mens Minds, we are sure that the governing and preserving his own Workmanship is so plainly a Perfection, that it must belong to a Being infinitely perfect: And there is such a Chain in things, those of the greatest consequence arising often from small and inconsiderable ones, that we cannot imagine a Providence, unless we believe every thing to be within its Care and View.

The only difficulty that has been made in apprehending this, has arisen from the Narrowness of Mens Minds, who have measured God rather by their own Measure and Capacity, than by that of Infinite Perfection, which as soon as it is considered, will put an end to all further doubtings about it. When we perceive that a vast Number of Objects enter in at our Eye by a very small Passage, and yet are so little jumbled in that Crowd, that they open themselves regularly, though there is no great space for that neither; and that they give us a distinct apprehension of many Objects that lye before us, some even at a vast distance from us, both of their Nature, Colour, and Size; and by a secret Geometry, from the Angles that they make in our Eye, we judge of the distance of all Objects both from us, and from one another. If to this we add the vast Number of Figures that we receive and retain long, and with great order in our Brains, which we easily fetch up either in our Thoughts or in our Discourses; we shall find it less difficult to apprehend how an Infinite Mind should have the Universal View of all things ever present before it. It is true, we do not so easily conceive how Free Minds are under this Providence, as how Natural Agents should always move at its direction. But we perceive that one Mind can work upon another: A man raises a sound of Words, which carry such signs of his inward Thoughts, that by this Motion in the Air another Man’s Ear is so struck upon, that thereby an impression is made upon his Brain, by which he not only conceives what the other Man’s Thought was, but is very powerfully inclined to consent to it, and to concur with it. All this is a great way about, and could not be easily apprehended by us, if we had not a clear and constant Perception of it. Now since all this is brought about by a Motion upon our Brains, according to the force with which we are more or less affected, it is very reasonable for us to apprehend that the Supreme Mind can, besides many other ways to us less known, put such Motions in our Brain, as may give us all such Thoughts as it intends to impress upon us, in as strong and effectual a manner, as may fully answer all its purposes.

The great Objection that lies against the Power and the Goodness of Providence, from all that Evil that is in the World, which God is either not willing, or not able to hinder, will be more properly considered in another place; at present it is enough in general to observe, That God’s Providence must carry on every thing according to its Nature; and since he has made some Free Beings capable of Thought, and of Good and Evil, we must believe, That as the Course of Nature is not oft put out of its Channel, unless when some extraordinary thing is to be done, in order to some great End; so in the Government of free Agents, they must be generally left to their liberty, and not put too oft off of their Biass: This is a hint to resolve that difficulty by, concerning all the Moral Evil which is, generally speaking, the occasion of most of the Physical Evil that is in the World. A Providence thus setled, that extends it self to all things both natural and free, is necessary to preserve Religion, to engage us to Prayers, Praises, and to a dependence on it, and a submission to it. Some have thought it was necessary to carry this further, and so they make God to be the first and immediate cause of every Action or Motion. This some Modern Writers have taken from the Schools, and have drest it in new Phrases of General Laws, Particular Wills, and Occasional Causes; and so they express or explain God’s producing every Motion that is in Matter, and his raising every Sensation, and by the same parity of Reason, every Cogitation in Minds: This they think arises out of the Idea of Infinite Perfection, and fully answers these words of the Scriptures, That in God we live, move, and have our being. To others all this seems first unnecessary; for if God has made Matter capable of Motion, and capable of receiving it from the Stroke or Impulse that another piece of Matter gives it, This comes as truly from God, as if he did immediately give every Motion by an act of his own Will. It seems more suitable to the Beauty of his Workmanship, to think that he has so framed things that they hold on in that course in which he has put them, than to make him perpetually produce every new Motion. And the bringing God immediately into every thing, may by an Odd Reverse of Effects, make the World think that every thing is done as much without him, as others are apt to imagine that every thing is done by him. And though it is true that we cannot distinctly apprehend how a Motion in our Brain should raise such a Thought as Answers to it in our Minds; yet it seems more reasonable to think that God has put us under such an Order of Being from which that does naturally follow, than that he himself should interpose in every Thought. The difficulty of apprehending how a thing is done, can be no prejudice to the belief of it, when we have the Infinite Power of God in our Thoughts, who may be as easily conceived to have once for all put us in a method of receiving such Sensations, by a general Law or Course of Nature, as to give us new ones at every Minute. But the greatest difficulty against this is, That it makes God the first Physical cause of all the Evil that is in the World: Which as it is contrary to his Nature, so it absolutely destroys all Liberty, and this puts an end to all the distinctions between Good and Evil, and consequently to all Religion. And as for those large Expressions that are brought from Scripture, every word in Scripture is not to be stretched to the utmost Physical sense to which it can be carried: It is enough if a sense is given to it, that agrees to the Scope of it: Which is fully Answered by acknowledging, That the Power and Providence of God is over all things, and that it directs every thing to Wise and Good Ends, from which nothing is hid, by which nothing is forgot, and to which nothing can resist. This Scheme of Providence fully agrees with the Notion of a Being Infinitely perfect, and with all that the Scriptures affirm concerning it; and it lays down a firm Foundation for all the Acts and Exercises of Religion.

As to the Power and Providence of God with relation to Invisible Beings, we plainly perceive that there is in us a Principle capable of Thought and Liberty, of which, by all that appears to us, Matter is not at all capable; After its utmost Refinings by Fires and Furnaces, it is still passive, and has no Self-Motion, much less Thought in it. Thought seems plainly to arise from a single Principle, that has no Parts, and is quite another thing than the Motion of one subtle piece of Matter upon another can be supposed to be. If Thought is only Motion, then no part of us thinks, but as it is in Motion: So that only the moving Particles, or rather their Surfaces, that strike upon one another, do think: But such a Motion must end quickly, in the Dissipation and Evaporation of the whole thinking-Substance; nor can any of the quiescent Parts have any Perception of such Thoughts, or any Reflection upon them. And to say that Matter may have other Affections unknown to us besides Motion, by which it may think, is to affirm a thing without any sort of Reason: It is rather a flying from an Argument, than an Answering it: No man has any reason to affirm this, nor can he have any. And besides, all our Cogitations of Immaterial Things, Proportions, and Numbers, do plainly show that we have a Being in us distinct from Matter, that rises above it, and commands it: We perceive we have a freedom of Moving and Acting at pleasure. All these Things give us a clear Perception of a Being that is in us distinct from Matter, of which we are not able to form a compleat Idea: We having only four Perceptions of its Nature and Operations. 1. That it thinks. 2. That it has an inward Power of Choice. 3. That by its Will it can move and command the Body. And 4. That it is in a close and intire Union with it, That it has a dependance on it, as to many of its Acts, as well as an Authority over it in many other Things. Such a Being that has no Parts must be immortal in its Nature, for every single Being is immortal. It is only the Union of Parts that is capable of being dissolved; that which has no parts, is indissoluble. To this Two Objections are made: One is, That Beasts seem to have both Thought and Freedom, though in a lower Order; if then Matter can be capable of this in any Degree, how low soever, a higher Rectification of Matter may be capable of a higher Degree of it. It is therefore certain, That either Beasts have no Thought or Liberty at all, and are only pieces of finely Organised Matter, capable of many subtile Motions, that come to them from Objects without them, but that they have no Sensation nor Thought at all about them; or, since how prettily soever some may have dressed up this Notion, it is that which Human Nature cannot receive or bear; there being such evident Indications of even high degrees of Reason among the Beasts; it is more reasonable to imagine, That there may be Spirits of a lower order in Beasts, that have in them a capacity of Thinking and Chusing; but that so intirely under the Impressions of Matter, that they are not capable of that largeness either of Thought or Liberty, that is necessary to make them capable of Good or Evil, of Rewards and Punishments: And that therefore they may be perpetually rouling about from one Body to another. Another Objection to the belief of an Immaterial Substance in us, is, That we feel it depends so intirely on the Fabrick and State of the Brain, that a Disorder, a Vapour, or Humour in it, defaces all our Thoughts, our Memory, and Imagination; and since we find that which we call Mind, sinks so low upon a disorder of the Body, it may be reasonable to believe, That it Evaporates, and is quite Dissipated upon the Dissolution of our Bodies: So that the Soul is nothing but the livelier Parts of the Blood, called the Animal Spirits. In Answer to this, we know that those Animal Spirits are of such an Evanid and Subtile Nature, that they are in a perpetual Waste, new ones always succeeding as the former go off; but we perceive at the same time that our Soul is a Stable and Permanent Being, by the steddiness of its Acts and Thoughts: We being for many Years plainly the same Beings, and therefore our Souls cannot be such a Loose and Evaporating Substance, as those Spirits are. The Spirits are indeed the inward Organs of the Mind, for Memory, Speech, and bodily Motion; and as these flatten or are wasted, the Mind is less able to Act: As when the Eye or any other Organ of Sense is weakned, the Sensations grow feeble on that side: And as a Man is less able to work when all those Instruments he makes use of are blunted; so the Mind may sink upon a decay or disorder in those Spirits, and yet be of a Nature wholly different from them. How a Mind should work on Matter, cannot, I confess, be clearly comprehended. It cannot be denied by any that is not a direct Atheist, That the Thoughts of the Supreme Mind give Impressions and Motions to Matter. So our Thoughts may give a Motion, or the Determination of Motion to Matter, and yet rise from Substances wholly different from it. Nor is it unconceivable, That the Supreme Mind should have put our Minds likewise under such a Subordination to some material Motions, that out of them peculiar Thoughts should arise in us. And though this Union is that which we cannot distinctly conceive; yet there is no difficulty in it, equal to that of our imagining that Matter can think or move it self. We perceive that we our selves, and the rest of Mankind have thinking Principles within us; so from thence it is easy enough to us to apprehend, That there may be other thinking Beings, which either have no Bodies at all, but act purely as Intellectual Substances; or if they have Bodies, that they are so subtilised as to be capable of a vast quickness of Motion, such in proportion as we perceive to be in our Animal Spirits, which in the Minute that our minds command them, are raising Motions in the remotest parts of our Bodies. Such Bodies may also be so thin as to be invisible to us; and as among Men some are Good and some Bad, and of the Bad some seem to be determinedly, and as to all appearance, incurably Bad: so there may have been a Time and State of Liberty, in which those Spirits were left to their choice, whether they would continue in their Innocency, or fall from it; and such as continued, might be for ever fixed in that State, or Exalted to higher Degrees in it: And such as fell from it might fall irrecoverably into a state of utter Apostacy from God, and of Rebellion against him. There is nothing in this Theory that is incredible: Therefore if the Scriptures have told us any thing concerning it, we have no reason to be prejudiced against them upon that account: Besides that, there are innumerable Histories in many several Countries and Ages of the World, of extraordinary Apparitions, and other unaccountable Performances that could only have been done by Invisible Powers. Many of those are so well attested, that it argues a strange pitch of Obstinacy, to refuse to believe a Matter of Fact when it is well vouched, and when there is nothing in reason to oppose it, but an unwillingness to believe Invisible Beings. It is true, this is an Argument in which a fabulous Humour will go far, and in which some are so credulous as to swallow down every thing: Therefore all wise men ought to suspend their belief, and not to go too fast; but when things are so undeniably attested, that there is no reason to question the exactness or the credit of the Witnesses, it argues a Mind unreasonably prepossessed to reject all such Evidence.

All those Invisible Beings were created by God, and are not to be considered as Emanations or Rays of his Essence, which was a gross Conceit of such Philosophers as fancied that the Deity had Parts. They are Beings Created by him, and are capable of passing through various Scenes, in Bodies more or less refined: In this Life the State of our Minds receives vast Alterations from the State of our Bodies, which ripen gradually: And after they are come to their full growth, they cannot hold in that condition long, but sink down much faster than they grew up; some Humours or Diseases discomposing the Brain, which is the Seat of the Mind so entirely, that it cannot serve it, at least so far as to Reflex Acts. So in the next State it is possible that we may at first be in a less perfect condition by reason of this, that we may have a less perfect Body, to which we may be united between our Death, and the General Resurrection; and there may be a time in which we may receive a vast Addition and Exaltation in that State, by the raising up of our former Bodies, and the reuniting us to them, which may give us a greater compass, and a higher Elevation.

These things are only proposed as Suppositions, that have no Absurdity in them: So that if they should happen to be the Parts of a Revealed Religion, there is no reason to doubt of it, or to reject it on such an Account.

The Last Branch of this Article is, The Assertion of that great Doctrine of the Christian Religion concerning the Trinity, or Three Persons in one Divine Essence. It is a vain attempt to go about to prove this by Reason: For it must be confessed, That we should have had no cause to have thought of any such thing, if the Scriptures had not Revealed it to us. There are indeed Prints of a very Ancient Tradition in the World, of Three in the Deity; called the Word, or the Wisdom, and the Spirit, or the Love, besides the Fountain of both these, God: This was believed by those from whom the most Ancient Philosophers had their Doctrines. The Author of the Book of Wisdom, Philo, and the Chaldee Paraphrasts, have many things that shew that they had received those Traditions from the former Ages; but it is not so easy to determine what gave the first rise of them.

It has been much argued, whether this was Revealed in the Old Testament or not; some from the Plural Termination of Elohim, which is joined to Singular Verbs, and from that of the Lord Raining Fire from the Lord upon Sodom (Iehovah from Iehovah); from the Description of the Wisdom of God in the 8th of the Proverbs, as a person with God from all Eternity; and from the mention that is often made of the Spirit, as well as the Word of God that came to the Prophets; they have, I say, from all these places, and some others, concluded, that this is contained in the Old Testament. Others have doubted of this, and have said, that the Name Elohim, though of a Plural Termination, being often joined to a Singular Verb, makes it reasonable to think it was a Singular: which by somewhat peculiar to that Language, might be of a Plural Termination. Nor have they thought, That since Angels carry the Name of God, when they went on special Deputations from him, the Angels being called Iehovah, could be very confidently urged: That Sublime Description of the Wisdom of God in the Proverbs, seems not to them to be a full proof in this Matter: For the Wisdom there mentioned seems to be the Wisdom of Creation and Providence, which is not personal, but belongs to the Essence: Nor do they think that those places in the Old Testament, in which mention is made of the Word, or of the Spirit ofGod, can settle this Point; for these may only signify God’s Revealing himself to his Prophets. Therefore whatever secret Tradition the Iews might have had among them concerning this, from whom perhaps the Greeks might have also had it; yet many do not pretend to prove this from passages in the Old Testament alone: Though the Expositions given to some of them in the New Testament prove to us who acknowledge it, what was the true meaning of those Passages; yet take the Old Testament in it self without the New, and it must be confessed, That it will not be easy to prove this Article from it.

But there are very full and clear proofs of it in the New Testament; And they had need be both full and clear before a Doctrine of this Nature can be pretended to be proved by them. In order to the making this Mystery to be more distinctly Intelligible, different Methods have been taken. By one Substance many do understand a Numerical or Individual Unity of Substance; and by Three Persons they understand Three distinct Subsistences in that Essence. It is not pretended by these, that we can give a distinct Idea of Person or Subsistence, only they hold it imports a real diversity in one from another, and even such a diversity from the Substance of the Deity it self, that some things belong to the Person, that do not belong to the Substance: For the Substance neither begets, nor is begotten; neither breathes, nor proceeds. If this carries in it somewhat that is not agreeable to our Notions, nor like any thing that we can apprehend; to this it is said, That if God has Revealed that in the Scripture which is thus expressed, we are bound to believe it, though we can frame no clear apprehension about it. God’s Eternity, his being all one single Act, his Creating and Preserving all things, and his being every where, are things that are absolute riddles to us: We cannot bring our Minds to conceive them, and yet we must believe that they are so; because we see much greater Absurdities must follow upon our conceiving that they should be otherwise. So if God has declared this inexplicable thing concerning himself to us, we are bound to believe it, though we cannot have any clear Idea how it truly is. For there appear as strange and unanswerable difficulties in many other things, which yet we know to be true; so if we are once well assured, that God has Revealed this Doctrine to us, we must silence all Objections against it, and believe it: Reckoning that our not understanding it, as it is in it self, makes the difficulties seem to be much greater than otherwise they would appear to be if we had light enough about it, or were capable of forming a more perfect Idea of it while we are in this depressed State.

Others give another view of this Matter, that is not indeed so hard to be apprehended: But that has an Objection against it, that seems as great a prejudice against it, as the difficulty of apprehending the other way is against that: It is this; They do hold, That there are Three Minds: That the first of these Three, who is from that called the Father, did from all Eternity by an Emanation of Essence beget the Son, and by another Emanation that was from Eternity likewise, and was as Essential to him as the former, both the first and the second, did jointly breathe forth the Spirit; and that these are Three distinct Minds, every one being God, as much as the other: Only the Father is the Fountain, and is only self-originated. All this is in a good degree Intelligible, but it seems hard to reconcile it both with the Idea of Unity, which seems to belong to a Being of Infinite Perfection; and with the many express Declarations that are made in the Scriptures concerning the Unity of God. Instead of going farther into Explanations of that which is certainly very far beyond all our apprehensions, and that ought therefore to be let alone; I shall now consider what Declarations are made in the Scriptures concerning this Point.

The First and the Chief is in that Charge and Commission which our Saviour gave to his Apostles, to go and make Disciples to him among all Nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. ⁵ By Name is meant either an Authority derived to them, in the virtue of which all Nations were to be Baptized: Or that the Persons so Baptized are Dedicated to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Either of these Senses, as it proves them all to be Persons; so it sets them in an equality, in a thing that can only belong to the Divine Nature. Baptism is the receiving Men from a State of Sin and Wrath, into a State of Favour, and into the Rights of the Sons of God, and the Hopes of Eternal Happiness, and a calling them by the Name of God. These are things that can only be offered and assured to Men in the Name of the Great and Eternal God; and therefore since without any Distinction or Note of Inequality, they are all Three set together as Persons in whose Name this is to be done, they must be all Three the True God; otherwise it looks like a just Prejudice against our Saviour, and his whole Gospel, That by his express Direction the first entrance to it, which gives the Visible and Foederal Right to those great Blessings that are offered by it, or their Initiation into it, should be in the Name of Two Created Beings (if the one can be called properly so much as a Being, according to their Hypothesis) and that even in an equality with the Supream and Increated Being. The plainness of this Charge, and the great occasion upon which it was given, makes this an Argument of such Force and Evidence, that it may justly determine the whole Matter.

A Second Argument is taken from this, That we find St. Paul begins or ends most of his Epistles with a Salutation in the Form of a Wish,⁶ which is indeed a Prayer or a Benediction in the Name of those who are so Invocated; in which he wishes the Churches Grace, Mercy, and Peace, from God the Father, and the Lord Iesus Christ; which is an Invocation of Christ in conjunction with the Father, for the greatest Blessings of Favour and Mercy: That is a strange Strain, if he was only a Creature; which yet is delivered without any mitigation or softning in the most remarkable parts of his Epistles. This is carried further in the Conclusion of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians; The Grace of the Lord Iesus Christ, the Love of God, ⁷ and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you. It is true, this is expressed as a Wi[?]h, and not in the nature of a Prayer, as the common Salutations are: But here Three great Blessings are wished to them as from Three Fountains, which imports that they are Three different Persons, and yet equal: For though in order the Father is first, and is generally put first; yet here Christ is first named, which seems to be a strange reversing of things, if they are not equal as to their Essence or Substance. It is true, the Second is not named here, The Father, as elsewhere, but only God; yet since he is mentioned as distinct from Christ and the Holy Ghost, it must be understood of the Father; for when the Father is named with Christ, sometimes he is called God simply, and sometimes God the Father.

This Argument from the Threefold Salutation, appears yet stronger, in the Words in which St. Iohn addresses himself to the Seven Churches in the beginning of the Revelations: ⁸ Grace and Peace from him which is, which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his Throne; and from Iesus Christ. By the Seven Spirits must be meant one or more Persons, since he wishes or declares Grace and Peace from them: Now either this must be meant of Angels, or of the Holy Ghost. There are no where Prayers made, or Blessings given, in the Name of Angels: This were indeed a worshipping them; against which there are express Authorities not only in the other Books of the New Testament, but in this Book in particular. Nor can it be imagined that Angels could have been named before Iesus Christ: So then it remains, that Seven being a Number that imports both Variety and Perfection, and that was the Sacred Number among the Iews, this is a Mystical Expression; which is no extraordinary thing in a Book that is all over mysterious: And it imports one Person from whom all that variety of Gifts, Administrations, and Operations that were then in the Church, did flow: And this is the Holy Ghost: But as to his being put in order before Christ, as upon the supposition of an Equality, the going out of the common order is no great matter; so since there was to come after this a full Period that concerned Christ, it might be a natural way of Writing, to name him last. Against all this it is objected, That the Designation that is given to the first of these in a Circumlocution that imports Eternity, shews that the Great God, and not the Person of the Father, is to be meant: But then how could St. Iohn, writing to the Churches, wish them Grace and Peace from the other Two? A few Verses after this, the same Description of Eternal Duration is given to Christ, and is a strong Proof of his Eternity, and by consequence of his Divinity: So what is brought so soon after as a Character of the Eternity of the Son, may be also here used to denote the Eternal Father. These are the Chief Places in which the Trinity is mentioned all together.

I do not insist on that contested Passage of St. Iohn’s Epistle: There are great doubtings made about it:⁹ The main ground of doubting being the Silence of the Fathers, who never made use of it in the Disputes with the Arians and Macedonians. There are very considerable things urged on the other hand, to support the Authority of that Passage; yet I think it is safer to build upon sure and undisputable grounds; So I leave it to be maintained by others who are more fully persuaded of its being Authentical. There is no need of it. This matter is capable of a very full Proof, whether that Passage is believed to be a part of the Canon, or not.

It is no small Confirmation of the Truth of this Doctrine, that we are certain it was universally received over the whole Christian Church long before there was either a Christian Prince to support it by his Authority, or a Council to establish it by Consent: And indeed the Council of Nice did nothing but declare what was the Faith of the Christian Church, with the addition only of the Word Consubstantial: For if all the other Words of the Creed settled at Nice are acknowledged to be true, that of the Three Persons being of one Substance will follow from thence by a just consequence. We know both by what Tertullian and Novatian writ, what was the Faith both of the Roman and the African Churches. From Irenaeus we gather the Faith both of the Gallican and the Asiatick Churches. And the whole proceedings in the Case of Samosatenus, that was the solemnest business that past while the Church was under Oppression and Persecution, give us the most convincing Proof possible, not only of the Faith of the Eastern Churches at that time, but of their Zeal likewise in watching against every Breach that was made in so Sacred a part of their Trust and Depositum.

These things have been fully opened and enlarged on by others, to whom the Reader is referred: I shall only desire him to make this Reflection on the state of Christianity at that time: The Disputes that were then to be managed with the Heathens, against the Deifying or Worshipping of Men, and those extravagant Fables concerning the Genealogies of their Heroes and Gods, must have obliged the Christians rather to have silenced and supprest the Doctrine of the Trinity, than to have owned and published it: So that nothing but their being assured that it was a Necessary and Fundamental Article of their Faith, could have led them to own it in so publick a manner; since the Advantages that the Heathen would have taken from it, must be too visible not to be soon observed. The Heathens retorted upon them their Doctrine of a Man’s being a God, and of God’s having a Son: And every one who engaged in this Controversy, framed such Answers to these Objections, as he thought he could best maintain: This, as it gave the Rise to the Errors which some brought into the Church, so it furnishes us with a Copious Proof of the common Sense of the Christians of those Ages, who all agreed in general to the Doctrine, though they had many different, and some very Erroneous ways of explaining it among them.

I now come to the special Proofs concerning each of the Three Persons: But there being other Articles relating to the Son and the Holy Ghost, the Proofs of these Two will belong more properly to the Explanation of those Articles: Therefore all that belongs to this Article is to prove that the Father is truly God; but that needs not be much insisted on, for there is no dispute about it: None deny that he is God; many think that he is so truly God, that there is no other that can be called God besides him, unless it be in a larger sense of the word: And therefore I will here conclude all that seems necessary to be said on this first Article; on which if I have dwelt the longer, it was because the stating the Idea of God right, being the Fundamental Article of all Religion, and the Key into every part of it, this was to be done with all the Fulness and Clearness possible.

In a word, to recapitulate a little what has been said; The liveliest way of framing an Idea of God, is to consider our own Souls, which are said to be made after the Image of God. An attentive Reflection on what we perceive in our selves, will carry us further than any other thing whatsoever, to form just and true Thoughts of God. We perceive what Thought is, but with that we do also perceive the advantage of such an easy Thought as arises out of a Sensation, such as Seeing or Hearing, which gives us no trouble; we think without any trouble of many of the Objects that we see all at once, or so near all at once, that the progression from one Object to another is scarce perceptible; but the labour of Study, and of pursuing Consequences wearies us; though the Pleasure or the Vanity of having found them out, compensates for the Pain they gave us, and sets men on to new Enquiries. We perceive in our selves a love of Truth, and a vexation when we see we are in Error, or are in the dark; and we feel that we act the most perfectly, when we act upon the clearest Views of Truth, and in the strictest pursuance of it; and the more present and regular, the more calm and steady that our Thoughts of all things are, that lye in our compass to know, present, past, or to come, we do plainly perceive that we do thereby become perfecter and happier Beings. Now out of all this we can easily rise up in our Thoughts to an Idea of a Mind that sees all things by a clear and full Intuition, without the possibility of being mistaken; and that ever acts in that Light, upon the surest Prospect, and with the perfectest Reason; and that does therefore always rejoice in every thing it does, and has a constant Perception of all Truth ever present to it. This Idea does so genuinely arise from what we perceive both of the Perfections and the Imperfections of our own Minds, that a very little Reflection will help us to form it to a very high degree.

The Perception also that we have of Goodness, of a desire to make others good, and of the pleasure of effecting it; of the joy of making any one wiser or better, of making any one’s Life easy, and of raising his Mind higher, will also help us in the forming of our Ideas of God. But in this we meet with much difficulty and disappointment. So this leads us to apprehend how diffusive of it self Infinite Goodness must needs be; and what is the Eternal Joy that Infinite Love has, in bringing so many to that exalted state of endless Happiness. We do also feel a Power issuing from us by a Thought, that sets our Bodies in motion: The Varieties in our Thoughts create a vast Variety in the state of our Bodies; but with this, as that Power is limited to our own Bodies, so it is often check’d by Disorders in them, and the Soul suffers a great deal from those painful Sensations that its Union with the Body subjects it to. From hence we can easily apprehend how the Supreme Mind can by a Thought set Matter into what Motions it will, all Matter being constantly subject to such Impressions as the Acts of the Divine Mind give it. This Absolute Dominion over all Matter makes it to move, and shapes it according to the Acts of that Mind; and Matter has no Power by any Irregularity it falls into, to resist those Impressions which do immediately command and govern it, nor can it throw any uneasy Sensations into that Perfect Being.

This conduces also to give us a distinct Idea of Miracles. All Matter is uniform; and it is only the variety of its Motions and Texture, that makes all the variety that is in the World. Now as the Acts of the Eternal Mind gave Matter its first Motion, and put it into that Course that we do now call the Course of Nature; so another Act of the same Mind can either suspend, stop, or change that Course at pleasure, as he who throws a Bowl may stop it in its Course, or throw it back if he will; this being only the altering that Impulse which himself gave: So if one Act of the Infinite Mind puts things in a regular Course, another Act interposed may change that at pleasure. And thus with Relation to God, Miracles are no more difficult than any other Act of Providence: They are only more amazing to us, because they are less ordinary, and go out of the Common and Regular Course of Things. By all this it appears how far the Observation of what we perceive concerning our selves, may carry us to form livelier and clearer Thoughts of God.

So much may suffice upon the First Article.

Footnotes

1. 6. Deut 4.
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2. 44. Isa. 6, 8.
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3. 17. Joh 3 4. Mat. 10. 1 Cor. 8.5, 6.
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4. 4. Eph. 4.5, 6.
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5. Mat. 28.19. ↩

6. Rom. 1.7. Rom. 16.20, 24. 1 Cor. 16.23. 1 Cor. 1.3. 2 Cor. 1.3. Gal. 1.3. Gal 6.18. Eph. 1.2. Eph. 6.23. Phil. 1.2. Phil. 4.23. Col. 1.2. 1 Thes. 1.1. 1 Thes 5.28. 2 Thes. 1.2. 2 Thes. 3 18. 1 Tim. 1.2. 2 Tim. 1.2. Tit. 1.4. Philem. 3.25. 2 John 1.3. ↩

7. 2 Cor. 13.14. ↩

8. Rev. 1.4, 5. ↩

9. 1 Joh. 5.7. ↩