Sermon on Trinity-Sunday, June the 7th, 1696; pag. 18.1 Again: The One God (fanh he) is Spoken of God the Father in Scripture, as I have frown you; and as a great Many, and particularly Bishop Pearfon upon the Creed obferves; that "the Name of God taken "abfolutely, is often in Scripture fpoken of the Fa"ther, and is in many places to be taken particularly "of the Father; and from hence (fays be) he is "ftiled One God, the True God,the Only True God: "And This (be fays further) is a moft neceffary "Truth to be acknowledged, for the avoiding mul"tiplication and Plurality of Gods:" He laying the Unity mainly here, as I have done. So that though the Son is God, and the Holy Ghoft is God, which they are not often called in Scripture; (which rather referves and gives the Name of GOD abfolutely and peculiarly to the Father; as, GOD loved the World, GOD fent his Son, and the like) yet Neither of them are meant by That One God, which the Scripture speaks of, when it Speaks peculiarly of the Father. Word God,-- generally (if not always) in Scripture, taken abfolutely and Spoken fo of One God, is meant of God the Father. Which may give us fuch an Account of the Trinity and of the Unity, as may take off all the charge of a Contradiction. Since they are not One and Three; nor is each of them God, and All of them God or One God; in the fame refpect, fenfe and meaning of the Words; but in different.The Father is the Only Self-exiftent unoriginated Being, the Caufe and Root of the other Two, as the Antients often call him; and fo is The most abfolutely Perfect Being, and God in the higheft Senfe: And the Scriptures, Creeds, and Chriftian Offices, call him fo abfolutely and by way of Eminence and Frerogative. The Son is produced of the Father, and fo is not 'Autóde☺, or God in S 3 The That That Senfe as the Father who is from None; but is God, of God &c. Ibid. Again: He is not indeed God the Father, or God from None, AUTO: (In That Senfe, we believe in One God, the Father Almighty; and to Us there is but↑ One God,the Father,as the Apostle fpeaks, 1 Cor. 8,6; * And Chrift is the Son of this God the Father, who had bis Being and Nature from him:) But he is God of God, &c. Serm. on Sept. 21, 1696; pag. 87. - Again: The Father (faith he) is the Only Self-exi ftent, unoriginated Being; and fo, in the words of a Right Reverend and Excellent Perfon, God in the " highett Senfe. The Word Deus, [God,] as it figni-"' fies a Self-exiftent, unoriginated Being, is pradicated Only of God the Father; and not, fecundum eari- ' dem rationem upon the fame Account,] of the other two divine Perfons, Neither of which are Self-exiftent. and unoriginated,nor God in the highest Senfe of Autode:... But He [viz. the Father]- is called⋅ eminently and abfolutely, and by way of Excellence and Prerogative, The One God, and, in the Words forequoted, God in the highest Senfe. Letter from Dr. P. to the Rishop of R. in Vindication of his Sermon on Trinity-Sunday, pag. 15, 16, 17. t And again; This is the Explication of the Antients, which they bold; with this more plain fcriptural Account of the Trinity, that needs no explication: One God the Father, with an only-begotten Son, &c. Poft-fcript, pag. 26. ; Laftly, the Learned Author of the Hiftory of the Apoftles Creed: This Claufe (faith he) of Ohe God, was inferted in the Creed,] to require our Belief, That there is but One Infinite, Supreme, Beginningless, and Eternal God; and that This One God, and none Other, was the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of all other Beings wharfoever, Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. So that this Expression of One God, is to be understood either abfolutely, without regard to any other Article in the Creed, and to it denotes our Faith, that there is but one Eternal, Independent, Self-exiftent God: or relatively, as it hath reference to what immediately follows; and fo it fignifies, that One and the fame God, and not a different or diverfe Being from him, is The Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. S X. Whenever the Word, God, is mentioned in Scripture, with any High Epithet, Title, or Attribute annex'd to it; it generally (if not always) means the Perfon of the Father. See the Texts, No 337- -441. Wherein He is ftiled; The Lord of Heaven and Earth, N° 337, 365. er. The Living God, N° 339, 341, 354, 361, 379, 378, 379, 385, 390, 391, 394, 397, 400, 401, 403, 406, 422. The Good God, No 340. The Power, N° 34 The most High God, No 343, 350, 360, 364, 398. The Bleffed, No 344. The Higheft, No 345, 346, 348, 349. The Mighty One, N° 347:198 Who is above All, No 382 Whom no man bath feen or can fee, No 351, 352,. 353, 393, 409. $ 4 The The True and Only True God, No 355, 385, 410. The God of Abraham, Ifaac and Facob, N° 356. That made Heaven and Earth, &c. N° 357, 361, 365, 425, 428. The God of our Fathers, No 356, 358, 366. Which fearcheth the Hearts, N° 362, 386, 369*. Which raifeth the dead and quickneth all things, No 368, 377, 392. Who raifed up Jefus our Lord from the dead, N° 369, 858, 859, 864, 866, 867, 870, 873, 875, 876, 877, 878, 879, 881, 882, 885, 887, 889, 893, 899, 901, 904, 908, 912, 913, 923, 924, 939, 942, 972, 974, 975. The Lord of Hofts, No 371, 405. Of whom, and through whom, and to whom are all things, No 372. The God of Peace, N° 373, 374, 381, 383, 387, 404. The Everlasting God, No 375. The Only Wife God, N° 376, 389, 412. The Lord God Almighty, N° 380, 414, 416, 427, 429, 432, 434, 435, 436, 440. Which worketh all things after the Counsel of bis own Will, N° 382. The Invisible God, No 384, 389, 402. The King eternal, immortal, &c. No 389. The Bleed and Only Potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who only bath immortality, dwelling in the Light which no Man can approach unto, &c. No 393. The Great God, N° 395, 437. The Majesty on high, and in the Heavens, No 396, 399. The The Excellent Glory, No The Holy One, No 408. 407. The Only Supreme Governor, N. 411. He which is, and which was, and which is to come, N° 413, 414, 416, 427, 431. Which fitteth on the Throne, No 415, 417, 418, 421, 423, 424, 435, 439. Which liveth for ever and ever, N° 417, 419, 425, 430. Who created all things, and for whose pleasure they Are, and were created, N° 417. Supreme, Holy and True, Ño 420. The God of Heaven, No 426, 433. Who Only is the Holy One, No 429, 431. From whofe Face, the Earth and the Heaven fled away, N° 438. The Lord God of the Holy Prophets, N° 441. S XI. The Scripture, when it mentions GOD, abfolutely and by way of Eminence, always means the Perfon of the Father. This is the Language, not only of Scripture, but alfo of all Antiquity. Thus |