A69028:779
The rule of faith, or, An exposition of the Apostles Creed so handled as…
The rule of faith, or, An exposition of the Apostles Creed so handled as it affordeth both milk for babes, and strong meat for such as are at full age / by ... Nicholas Bifield ; ... now published ... by his son, Adoniram Bifield.The rule of faith, or, An exposition of the Apostles Creed so handled as it affordeth both milke for babes, and strong meat for such as are at full age / by ... Nicholas Bifield ; ... now published ... by his sonne, Adoniram Bifield.
London: printed by G.M. for Philemon Stephens and Christopher Meredith, 1626
THE CREED. › Article 1 › I Believe in God.THE CREEDE. › Article 1 › I Beleeue in God.
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.
In Christ now, there is another and another thing, for his divine Nature is one thing, and his humane Nature is another thing, and yet there is not alius, that is another Person. But it is otherwise in the Trinity. The being of the Father is the being of the Son, and the being of the holy Ghost, but to be the Father, is not to be the Son, or the holy Ghost.
In Christ now, there is another and another thing, for his diuine Nature is one thing, and his humane Nature is another thing, and yet there is not alius, that is another Person. But it is otherwise in the Trinity. The being of the Father is the being of the Sonne, and the being of the holy Ghost, but to be the Father, is not to be the Sonne, or the holy Ghost.
Thus the Persons differ from the Essence: They differ one from another four ways. In order, in personal proprieties, in number, and in operation.
Thus the Persons differ from the Essence: They differ one from another foure waies. In order, in personall proprieties, in number, and in operation.
First, in order they differ: for the Father is the first Person, the Son the Second, and the holy Ghost the Third: This Priority must not not be mistaken; for one Person is not before another in time or in dignity but only in Nature, or in order of Nature, so as one Person depends upon another: As the Sun is before the beams of the Sun, not in time, but in order of Nature, because the beams are from the Sun: so in the Trinity, the Son and holy Ghost are after the Father, not in time, but because they receive the original of their Persons from the Father, Relatives are together in time: only note that Nature here signifies the manner of subsisting, not of essence; for in respect of Essence there is no priority in the Trinity.