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PART III. anity, and to direct them that were converted in the way of salvation; and after these, the power was delivered again to others by these ordained, and this was done by imposition of hands upon such as were ordained; by which was signified the giving of the Holy Spirit, or Spirit of God, to those whom they ordained ministers of God, to advance his kingdom. So that imposition of hands was nothing else but the seal of their commission to preach Christ, and teach his doctrine; and the giving of the Holy Ghost by that ceremony of imposition of hands, was an imitation of that which Moses did. For Moses used the same ceremony to his minister Joshua, as we read (Deut. xxxiv. 9) And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him. Our Saviour therefore, between his resurrection and ascension, gave his spirit to the apostles; first, by breathing on them, and saying, (John xx. 22) Receive ye the Holy Spirit; and after his ascension (Acts ii. 2, 3) by sending down upon them a mighty wind, and cloven tongues of fire; and not by imposition of hands; as neither did God lay his hands on Moses: and his apostles afterward transmitted the same spirit by imposition of hands, as Moses did to Joshua. So that it is manifest hereby, in whom the power ecclesiastical continually remained, in those first times where there was not any Christian commonwealth; namely, in them that received the same from the apostles, by successive laying on of hands.

Of the Trinity.

Here we have the person of God born now the third time. For as Moses, and the high-priests, were God's representative in the Old Testament;

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and our Saviour himself, as man, during his abode part III. on earth so the Holy Ghost, that is to say the apostles and their successors, in the office of of the Trinity. preaching and teaching, that had received the holy Spirit, have represented him ever since. But a person, as I have shown before, (chap. XIII.) is he that is represented, as often 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 (1 Epist. v. 7) 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 bear witness. St. John therefore tells us (verse 11) 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 prophecied or preached Jesus

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PART III. Christ. And as for the apostles, it was the character of the apostleship, in the twelve first and great Of the Trinity. apostles, to bear witness of his resurrection; as appeareth expressly (Acts i. 21, 22), 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 (1 John v.8) 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 (verse 10) 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 the God who is always one and the same, was the person represented by Moses; the person represented by his Son incarnate;

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and the person represented by the apostles. AS PART III. represented by the apostles, the Holy Spirit, by which they spake, 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 why 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 divers 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 itself, what it was, and over whom.

power

ecclesiastical is

Cardinal Bellarmine, in his third general contro- The power versy, hath handled a great many questions con- but the power cerning the ecclesiastical power of the pope of to teach. 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 thereunto; and by precepts and good counsel, to teach them that

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PART III. 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.

An argu ment thereof,

I have shown already, in the last chapter, that the power of the kingdom of Christ is not of this world: thereChrist himself. fore neither can his ministers, unless they be kings,

From the name ofregeneration.

From the

comparison of

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, (John xx. 21) 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 judgment.

The time between the ascension and the general resurrection, is called, not a reigning, but a regeneration; that is, a preparation of men for the second and glorious coming of Christ, at the day of judgment; as appeareth by the words of our Saviour, (Matth. xix. 28,) You that have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, you shall also sit upon twelve thrones; and of St. Paul (Ephes. vi. 15) Having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

And is compared by our Saviour, to fishing, that it, with fishing, is, to winning men to obedience, not by coercion. leaven, seed. and punishing, but by persuasion: and therefore he said not to his apostles, he would make them so

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