Institutions of Christian religion framed out of Gods word, and the writings of the best diuines, methodically handled by questions and answers, fit for all such as desire to know, or practise the will of God. Written in Latin by William Bucanus Professor of Diuinitie in the Vniuersitie of Lausanna. And published in English by Robert Hill, Bachelor in Diuinitie, and Fellow of Saint Iohns Colledge in Cambridge, for the benefit of our English nation, to which is added in the end the practise of papists against Protestant princes.

Of the Trinitie.

How many Persons be there in that one Essence of God?

THree, and those both in number, and in very deed distingui∣shed, the Father, Sonne, and the holy Ghost: which haue their subsisting in one diuine essence: whereupon it comes to passe, that there be not many Gods, but one God, and the same eternall, infinit, and omnipotent, who is named Iehouah in the Scriptures: and is said to be most simple by reason of essence, and three by reason of Persons.

By what testimonies of Scripture do you proue the Trinitie?

Genes. 1.1. God or Elohim created the heauen and the earth. In which place the verbe being of the singular number doth signifie the most simple essence of God: and the substantiue Elohim being the plurall number, doth note out the three Persons. Also in the cre∣ation of man, God as it were taking counsell with his eternall wis∣dome, that is, the Sonne and the holy Ghost, saith thus: vers. 26. Let vs make man after our image. Where he saith, Let vs make, be∣cause of the number of the persons, and after our image, because of the vnitie of the essence. Gen. 19.24. The Lord rained from the Lord brimstone and fire vpon Sodome and Gomorrha: in which place the person sending the raine, and the person from whome it was sent, (that is the Sonne) is distinguished from the Father.

Haue you any more pregnant proofes out of the new Testament?

1. In the baptisme of Christ, Math. 3.16. and Ioh. 1.32. the voice of the Father is heard from heauen, This is my beloued Sonne: in the same place there stands the Sonne by the riuer Iordan, the holy Ghost descends in the forme of a Doue and sits on Christ.

2. Againe, in the transfiguration, there is the Sonne, and the

voice of God the Father is heard from heauen,* 1.1 and Christ is sha∣dowed with a cloud which doth signifie the holy Ghost. And fur∣ther Mat. 28.19. Baptize all nations in the name of the Father, of the Sonne, and of the holy Ghost: he saith not in names, but in the name, to shew the vnitie of the three Persons.* 1.2 2. Cor. 13.13. The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ, and the loue of God, and the communion of the holy Ghost be with you all.

Seeing the Scripture doth not vse the name of the Trinitie, doth the Church well to reteine the same?

Yea, no doubt: for the thing it selfe is found in the Scriptures two manner of wayes:

• 1. According to the letter.
• 2. According to the sense.

Now sith that the sense of it and the very thing it selfe is found in the Scriptures, the Church hath libertie to vse such words as may familiarly expresse the thing it selfe. Moreouer, we call the three Persons in God, the Trinitie, not because the Scripture cals them so, but because the Scripture saith nothing against it. Yet this word three, whereof this word Trinitie is deriued, is expresly set downe, 1. Ioh. 5.7. There be three that beare witnes, &c. Whence we argue, that as from one comes Vnitie, so from three comes Trinitie.

How doth this word Essence differ from this word Person in God?

Essence is the nature which is not more belonging to one and lesse to another of the three Persons, but common to them all: yea one and the same, and cannot be diuided, and is all in each one of them, not without them, subsisting by it selfe, to wit, the very Dei∣tie it selfe. And therefore the essentiall properties which be in them are one in number and of one nature. Now a Person is the subsisting in the diuine nature or the nature of God, which hauing relation to others, is distinguished by some incommunicable proprietie: for in∣deed the Persons are onely distinguished and not seuered: as three men are indeed sundred, though they be but one in kind. The reason is, because the essence of God is infinite and impartible, and therefore it is all in euery Person, which are not seuered each from other, but only distinguished amongst themselues. But as for the es∣sence of Angels and men, it is finite and partible, so that it is not all in euery singular person, but part in one and part in another.

How manifold is the difference of Persons?

Twofold: inward and outward. The inward difference is that which is caused by the internall proprieties, or the workes from within: concerning which we say,* 1.3 The workes of the Trinitie from within are diuided: that is, the workes which God doth within him∣self without any creature are not common to the three Persons, but are proper to one person alone.

Now the proprietie of the Father is this, that from eternity he was not made nor begotten, but hath begotten his eternall Sonne of the same substance with himselfea 1.4.

The proprietie of the Son is this, that he being neither made nor created, but was from all eternitie begotten of his Father without any motherb 1.5: who is of himselfe as he is God; but of his Father as he is the Sonne. For as light commeth from the Sunne, euen so the Sonne proceedeth from the Father; one distinct from the Father, and therfore the second in order, so farrefoorth as he is begottenc 1.6: one and the selfe same with the Father as he is God. And here let vs cal to mind the saying of Nazianzene: The begetting of God let it be honoured with silence: it is no smal matter for thee to learne that he was begotten.

The proprietie of the holy Ghost is this, that he was neither made nor begotten, but from all eternitie proceedeth from them both inseparablyd 1.7.

But did the Sonne take his Deitie from the Father?

When we speake simply of the Sonne without the Father, we a∣uouch truly and properly that he is of himselfe, and call him God, because of himselfe he hath his being, and all that he hath; and ther∣fore we call him one alone beginning. But when we point at that relation which he hath with his Father, we iustly make the Father the beginning of the Sonne, and say that the Son receiued all from the Father, Ioh. 3.33. For the Essence is one thing, and the* 1.8 manner of subsisting another. Hence it is that the schoolemen say, that the Son is by himselfe not of himselfe. So the essence of the Sonne is without beginning, but the Father is the beginning of his Person. This made Hilarie to say: The gifts of the Father do not infirme but affirme the Diuinitie of the Sonne. And Augustine, Christ in regard of himselfe is called God, and of the Father is called the Sonne.

Ob. The Son and holy Ghost are not without beginning, there∣fore they are not eternall.

Answ. This is not a beginning of time or continuance, but on∣ly of order and ofspring: but the Sabellians here cauill, viz. Christ saith, He that seeth me, seeth the Father: and beleeuest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? Ioh. 14.9.10. therefore the Father and the Sonne are one person. Ans. Indeed he that seeth the Sonne seeth the Father, because the Sonne hath the same essence with the Father, and being manifested in the flesh, hath deliuered to vs the whole will of God, Ioh. 1.18.

Ob. 2. That which is one in number, cannot without contradi∣ction be said to be th••ee in persons: but God is one in number, (Deut. 6.4.) ergo.

Ans. That vnitie doth signifie Gods simple essence, not the ma∣ner by which that simple essence subsisteth. Therefore God abso∣lutely according to his essence is one, because he is indiuisible: and onely in respect of inward relation, I meane the reason of subsisting, is three.

Ob. 3. If there be one being of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the holy Ghost: it followeth, that in God there are three diuers beings, and consequently three diuers persons.

Ans. The being of the Father doth not signifie that essence by which he is absolutely God, but by which he is Father, that is, in that he otherwise subsisteth then doth the Sonne: therefore the be∣ing of the Father is one thing, and the being of the Son is another, and yet both of them haue the same essence.

Ob. 4. If there be three Persons truly distinguished, and one on∣ly essence, then is there a quaternitie in God.

Ans. Not so: for the essence differeth from Person onely in rea∣son: but the Persons differ each from other both in reason and in being.

Ob. 5. The Father begot his Sonne either existing or not exi∣sting, to say either of these is absurd.

Ans. We may well say, that the Father begat his Sonne alreadie existing, because the Father was neuer without the Sonne, euen as the sunne was neuer without his light. Againe, it may be as well said, that he begat him not existing, in that his generation, although

it be eternall, yet in order goeth before existence, as the sunne is before his light.

Is this difference rationall, essentiall, or reall?

It is not essentiall, as in the creatures, where euery one hath his proper essence or being, defined and circumscribed: for the essence of the Father is not one, and the essence of the sonne another, and of the holy Ghost another: but one and the same, which the Father doth wholly communicate to the Sonne; the Father and the Sonne to the holy Ghost. Not onely in reason, because not in notion, or mind, or onely in word is he called Father, Sonne, and holy Ghost: neither respectiuely or by relation: as one man may both be, and be called a father and a sonne. But it is reall, yet altogether incom∣prehensible, because each person hath his own peculiar definition, or his essentiall and incommunicable proprietie, and differs from another not in essence, but in the manner of subsisting.

What is the outward difference?

It is taken from the workes of God that be without, as that the Father sends the Sonne, the Son is sent as the Redeemer: the holy Ghost is the sanctifier. As in the Creed, the Father is distinguished from the Son by the worke of creation: the Sonne by his incarna∣tion, the holy Ghost from them both, by the worke of sanctification and regeneration as where he appeared like a Doue, (Mat. 3.) and in clouen tongues, Act. 2. although all these things be effected by one and the selfe same God. As we vse to say, the workes of the Trini∣tie without are indiuisible: therefore here let vs remember the say∣ing of Gregorie Nazianzene: I cannot imagine one, but presently I am compassed about on euery side with the brightnesse of three: neither can I distinguish three, but foorthwith I am brought againe to one. Further, in the persons of the Deitie there is an order, but there is none inequalitie: there is a distinction, but no diuersitie.

What things be contrarie to this doctrine?

1. The heresie of Sabellius, who taught, there was only one per∣son of the Godhead, but sometimes in one respect, sometimes in another, one while called the Father, another while called the Sonne.

2. Of Samosatenus who taught, that the Sonne did no more

subsist in God, than wisedome, iustice, and goodnesse.

3. Of Arrius, who denyed that the Sonne was begotten of the essence of the Father, that he was coeternall, coequall, and accor∣ding to his person of the same substance with the Father.

4. Of Seruetus, who affirmed that the word Person is no o∣therwise to be taken, then as in Comedies the name of person is v∣sed for the habite and the distinction of the office.

5. Of the Tritheitarites, who do transforme the three persons into three distinct and seuerall essences: they denie the Son of God according to his essence, to be of the same substance with the Fa∣ther, and the Sonne to be God of himselfe.

6. The blindnesse of the Iewes, who do affirme an essence al∣together without distinction. Here must we insert certaine obie∣ctions of one Gentilis an Hereticke burnt at Geneua.

Ob. 1. If there be diuers Iehouahs, there must be diuers essences, but (Gen. 19.24.) the first is true: for Iehouah did raine fire from Ie∣houah: that is, the Sonne from the Father, therefore the Sonne is a distinct essence from the Father.

Ans. It is an Hebrew phrase, signifying that God did miracu∣lously raine fire of himselfe from heauen. Againe, the word Ieho∣uah is taken sometimes personally, it is therefore a distinction in the Persons, not in essence.

Ob. 2. There is one life of the Father, and another of the Son, Ioh. 5.26. therefore another essence.

Ans. First, that place is to be vnderstood of a power commu∣nicated to Christ as he was Mediator. Secondly, although the Son be from the Father in respect of the origination of his person, yet is he of himselfe, if he be absolutely considered, and therefore hath the same life with the Father.

Ob. 3. They who haue distinct operations haue distinct essen∣ces, but the actions of the Trinitie are distinct, ergo.

Ans. The proposition is true, if it be vnderstood of naturall and externall actions: but if of internall and personall actions it is not true: for these do not take away the vnitie of essence, since that the same essence in number is wholly in euery person.

Ob. 4. Each Person hath not one and the same power, for the Father can beget the Sonne, the Son cannot beget, ergo they haue

not the same essence.

Ans. They haue all one naturall power, but not personall, as there is one nature, but not one person.

Ob. 5. The essence of the Father is communicated to the Son by generation, therefore there is one essence in the Father, another in the Sonne, because there is one essence begetting, and another begotten.

Answ. We must distinguish betwixt generation and commu∣nication: for the person begets and is begotten, but the essence nei∣ther begetteth nor is begotten, but communicated.

Ob. 6. If the Father and Sonne haue one essence, it must follow, that the Father was incarnate, which is absurd, ergo.

Ans. The essence of God absolutely considered was not incar∣nate, but the second person: and although the person of the Sonne include the whole essence of God, yet for the proper manner of subsisting, it is distinguished from the person of the Father.

Ob. 7. If the Father and Sonne haue one essence, the Sonne should be Mediator to himselfe.

Ans. The Sonne is properly Mediator betwixt vs and his Fa∣ther, not absolutely betwixt vs and the diuine essence. And the office of Mediator dependeth vpon the most free ordination of God.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Mat. 17.5.
• * 1.2

  1. Ioh. 5.7. Gal. 4.6.
• * 1.3

  Opera Trini∣tatis ad intra sunt diuisa.
• a 1.4

  Psal. 2.7. Heb. 1.3.5. Pro. 88.24.
• b 1.5

  Heb. 7.3. Col. 1.15.
• c 1.6

  Psal. 110.3. Mich. 5.2.
• d 1.7

  Ioh. 14.26. & 15.26. & 16.13.14. Ro. 8.9.
• * 1.8

  Modus 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.