Reformed Covenanter
Cancelled Commissioner
... Ob. 2. That which is one in number, cannot without contradiction be said to be three in persons: but God is one in number, (Deut. 6.4.) ergo.
Ans. That unity doth signify God’s simple essence, not the manner by which that simple essence subsisteth. Therefore God absolutely according to his essence is one, because he is indivisible: and only in respect of inward relation, I mean 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 divers beings, and consequently three divers persons.
Ans. The being of the Father doth not signify that essence by which he is absolutely God, but by which he is Father, that is, in that he otherwise subsisteth then doth the Son: therefore the being of the Father is one thing, and the being of the Son is another, and yet both of them have the same essence.
Ob. 4. If there be three Persons truly distinguished, and one only essence, then is there a quaternity in God.
Ans. Not so: for the essence differeth from Person only in reason: but the Persons differ each from other both in reason and in being. ...
For more, see Guillaume Bucanus: Answering objections to the Trinity.
Ans. That unity doth signify God’s simple essence, not the manner by which that simple essence subsisteth. Therefore God absolutely according to his essence is one, because he is indivisible: and only in respect of inward relation, I mean 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 divers beings, and consequently three divers persons.
Ans. The being of the Father doth not signify that essence by which he is absolutely God, but by which he is Father, that is, in that he otherwise subsisteth then doth the Son: therefore the being of the Father is one thing, and the being of the Son is another, and yet both of them have the same essence.
Ob. 4. If there be three Persons truly distinguished, and one only essence, then is there a quaternity in God.
Ans. Not so: for the essence differeth from Person only in reason: but the Persons differ each from other both in reason and in being. ...
For more, see Guillaume Bucanus: Answering objections to the Trinity.
