Here we have the person of God born now the third time.For Moses and the high priests were God's representative in the Old Testament;and our Saviour himself,as man,during his abode on earth:so the Holy Ghost,that is to say,the Apostles and their successors,in the office of preaching and teaching,that had received the Holy Spirit,have represented him ever since.But a person (as I have shown before,Chapter thirteen)is he that is represented,as of as he is represented;and therefore God,who has been represented (that is,personated)thrice,may properly enough be said to be three persons;though neither the word Person nor Trinity be ascribed to him in the Bible.St.John indeed saith,"There be three that bear witness in heaven,the Father,the Word,and the Holy Spirit;and these three are one":but this disagreeth not,but accordeth fitly with three persons in the proper signification of persons;which is that which is represented by another.For so God the Father,as represented by Moses,is one person;and as represented by His Son,another person;and as represented by the Apostles,and by the doctors that taught by authority from them derived,is a third person;and yet every person here is the person of one and the same God.But a man may here ask what it was whereof these three bore witness.St.John therefore tells us that they bear witness that "God hath given us eternal life in His Son."Again,if it should be asked wherein that testimony appeareth,the answer is easy;for He hath testified the same by the miracles He wrought,first by Moses;secondly,by His Son himself;and lastly by His Apostles that had received the Holy Spirit;all which in their times represented the person of God,and either prophesied or preached Jesus Christ.And as for the Apostles,it was the character of the apostleship,in the twelve first and great Apostles,to bear witness of his resurrection,as appeareth expressly where St.Peter,when a new Apostle was to be chosen in the place of Judas Iscariot,useth these words,"Of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst us,beginning at the baptism of John,unto that same day that he was taken up from us,must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection":which words interpret the "bearing of witness"mentioned by St.John.There is in the same place mentioned another Trinity of witnesses in earth.For he saith,"there are three that bear witness in earth;the Spirit,and the water,and the blood;and these three agree in one":that is to say,the graces of God's Spirit,and the two sacraments,baptism and the Lord's Supper,which all agree in one testimony to assure the consciences of believers of eternal life;of which testimony he saith,"He that believeth on the Son of Man hath the witness in himself."In this Trinity on earth,the unity is not of the thing;for the spirit,the water,and the blood are not the same substance,though they give the same testimony:but in the Trinity of heaven,the persons are the persons of one and the same God,though represented in three different times and occasions.To conclude,the doctrine of the Trinity,as far as can be gathered directly from the Scripture,is in substance this:that God,who is always one and the same,was the person represented by Moses;the person represented by his Son incarnate;and the person represented by the Apostles.As represented by the Apostles,the Holy Spirit by which they spoke is God;as represented by His Son,that was God and man,the Son is that God;as represented by Moses and the high priests,the Father,that is to say,the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,is that God:from whence we may gather the reason those names Father,Son,and Holy Spirit,in the signification of the godhead,are never used in the Old Testament:for they are persons,that is,they have their names from representing;which could not be till diverse men had represented God's person in ruling or in directing under Him.
Thus we see how the power ecclesiastical was left by our Saviour to the Apostles;and how they were (to the end they might the better exercise that power)endued with the Holy Spirit,which is therefore called sometimes in the New Testament paracletus,which signifieth an assister,or one called to for help,though it be commonly translated a comforter.Let us now consider the power itself,what it was,and over whom.
Cardinal Bellarmine,in his third general controversy,hath handled a great many questions concerning the ecclesiastical power of the Pope of Rome,and begins with this,whether it ought to be monarchical,aristocratical,or democratical.All which sorts of power are sovereign and coercive.If now it should appear that there is no coercive power left them by our Saviour,but only a power to proclaim the kingdom of Christ,and to persuade men to submit themselves there unto;and,by precepts and good counsel,to teach them that have submitted what they are to do,that they may be received into the kingdom of God when it comes;and that the Apostles,and other ministers of the Gospel,are our schoolmasters,and not our commanders,and their precepts not laws,but wholesome counsels;then were all that dispute in vain.
I have shown already,in the last chapter,that the kingdom of Christ is not of this world:therefore neither can his ministers,unless they be kings,require obedience in his name.For if the Supreme King have not his regal power in this world;by what authority can obedience be required to his officers?"As my Father sent me,"so saith our Saviour,"I send you."But our Saviour was sent to persuade the Jews to return to,and to invite the Gentiles to receive,the kingdom of his Father,and not to reign in majesty,no not as his Father's lieutenant till the day of judgement.
