Of the l(,noi!Jiedg of {jod the Father, r~ 5.. In a mutual Communication, and imparting of Secrets, adtfco very ofeach Bo o K !. others mind. ~ 6. In mutual Love and Delight. 7·. In their poffeflion of one common and equal Glory and Bleffednefs. I. As to the firfl:; The Life of the Three Perfons among themfelves. That excellent Man, in his Age, Bi!bop .Vfoer, in a Sermon before King James, ex– prefl: the dependence which the befl: of Saints, the. Apo(\!es~ held upon the fu– pream Life of Chrifl:, confidered as Second Perfon m the Trmtty; /ohn I _. 16• ..And of his F11lnej have all we received, and Grace for Grace. . There IS (Cud he) Plenit11do Fontis, the f11lne[s of the Fo11ntam ; Pfal. 36. 9· Wtth thee u the Foun. t•in of Life, fpoken of God much more ; and there is Plenit11do Vajfs, the jill– vefs of theVeJ!CI; which is but the _Pittance of. the befl: of Satnts~ and that but received, whtch ts Coon dned up, tf notfupp!ted; and they recetve but Grace for Grace, Glory for Glory, all from Chnfl:. We have our Grace and Glory by meafure; but Chrifl: had the Spirit without meafure. Life is an Excellency added to Being : And the Divine Life of God, is a pure Activity and Q£icknels, which never ceafeth nor abateth.: All three Perfons therefore have the Title of Living; Of the Father there ts none that quefl:ions it ; Jefus Chrifl: is the Son of the Living God, ./11•tth. 16. ·16. and that imports he isa Perfon of the l.1me Subfiance and Nature wtth God: And as Man begets his like, fo God begets his like, and he is his only begotten Son. The Spirit i• faid, to the fame purpofe, to be the Spirit of. the Living God, 2 Cor. 3· 3· And as Chrifl: is compared to the Son of a living Father, as being begotten of his Subfl:ance: So the Spirit is compared to the Soul that dwells in a Man, which is his Life. I Cor. 2. I 1. is exprels for it, What Man lznoweth the things of a Man, five the Spirit of Mim which is in him? And the Life of all Three, is God, and the enjoying of the Life of God, and exerctfing all the Acts of Life among themfelves. This is for their Life abfl:racted, fuch as they had in Eternity, when no Crea– ture was. Now to the Point propofed,the Difference and Dependence ofour Union,and the Life thereof. Upon this of the Three Perfons that has been fpecified, take that place in the 6th of John, with the reil that are to follow; when at the third Verfe Chrifl: had declared of all Believers, He that eateth my Flejh, and dri11/i,gth my Blood,hath &erna! Life; and then had explained himfelf,and founded that Communication of Life, verf. 56. upqn o11r Vnio" with himfelf; wherein he fpeaks ofthat fort ofUnion which is between his Divine and Humane Nature, and alfo of our Union with himfelf,as the next words oftheo.Yerfe Chew, He that eateth "'Y Flejb, and drink!th my Blood, DWELLETH IN ME, .AND 1 IN HIM; which Union.of ours with himfelf, the very fimilitude of Eating and Dnnkmg cloth alone tmport, (for what we Eat, or Drmk, becomes one with our Bodies). Yet his adding, Dwel/eth in me, and I in him, dot~ explicitly de– clare tt tn the Letter : Thts done, as tf he could not pals over thts Declaration of our Union, (as neithe~ in ~hat 17tk of Jolm he d<;>th, as [!)ay be obferved) wuhoutfuperaddmg how tt was, that tt was comm:mtcated from that his Supe– nor Umon wtth hts Father; and that from thence lt ts, that Ltfe is firil commu– nicated to himfelf, and alfo from him to us; as it expreOy immediately follows, verf. 57· .As the livi11g Father bath jint me, and I live by the Father; Jo he that et~/ctb me, even be Jballlive by me. Yea, and withal, to give a clear and evident Inllance, that this Union of his with the Father, and ours with him, are of a differing kind, yea, and infinite– ly diffning; Let us but add to this, what himfelf had faid of this communica– tion and defi'cnt of Life front his Father to us, by virtue of his own Union in the former Chapter : John 5· 26. the words are thefe, As the Father bath Life !" bimfdf, Jo he hath .given to the Son to have Life in himfelf: The fenle whereof ts, (as I underlland tt) that hts very Subfillence, as a Son, is from his Father, as be is the only begotten of him. Can this be faid of us, or of o11r having Life, though Spiritual and Heav~nly~ that it is given 111 to have Life in our jilves,IH Chrift hath, or as the Father hath 111 hrmfelf tndependently, and with power to give Life
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