A44670:164
A calm and sober enquiry concerning the possibility of a Trinity in the Godhead…
A calm and sober enquiry concerning the possibility of a Trinity in the Godhead in a letter to a person of worth : occasioned by the lately published considerations on the explications of the doctrine of the Trinity by Dr. Wallis, Dr. Sherlock, Dr. S--th, Dr. Cudworth, &c. ...
London: printed by J. Astwood for Tho. Parkhurst, 1694
Postscript › LETTERS TO Dr. WALLIS, Sent in 1691. › Letter 1: LETTER I.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
It may here be urged, how can we conceive this Natural Union (as I have adventured to Phrase it) of the three Persons, supposing them distinct things, substances, or Spirits? Is such an Union conceivable, as shall make them be but one God, and not be such, as shall make them cease to be three distinct things, substances, or Spirits? We find indeed the mentioned unions of Soul and Body in our selves, and of the two Natures in Christ consistent enough with manifest ⟨p. 122⟩distinction; but then the things united are in themselves of most different Natures. But if things of so congenerous a Nature be united, will not their distinction be lost in their union?
It may here be urged, how can we conceive this Natural Union (as I have adventur'd to Phrase it) of the three Persons, supposing them distinct things, substances, or Spirits? Is such an Union conceivable, as shall make them be but one God, and not be such, as shall make them cease to be three distinct things, substances, or Spirits? We find indeed the mentioned unions of Soul and Body in our selves, and of the two Natures in Christ consistent enough with manifest ⟨p. 122⟩distinction; but then the things united are in themselves of most different Natures. But if things of so congenerous a Nature be united, will not their distinction be lost in their union?
I answer, 1. That a Spirit and a Spirit are numerically as distinct, as a Body and a Spirit. And, 2. That we may certainly conceive it as possible to God to have united two or three created Spirits, and by as strict union as is between our Souls and Bodies, without confounding them; and I reckon the union between our Souls and Bodies much more wonderful than that would have been. Why then is an unmade, uncreated union of three Spirits less conceivable as that which is to be presupposed to their mutual consciousness?