the Godhead could have been given, and has been actually given us, to be a successful Mediator with God; but this would have been impossible, if the Godhead had subsisted only in one person. He who does not adore the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as equal in divine majesty, worships not the true God, but a creature of his own imagination. Go now, if you will, and • boldly affirm, that this doctrine, which is absolutely essential to Christian faith and piety, is unprofitable in relation to practice. The Remonstrants are guilty of offending and dishonouring God, when, in order to flatter the Socinians, for whom they entertain too great a regard, they describe them as persons, "who so regu"late their lives according to the rule of the Gospel, "that they worship the Father in his Son, and, by de"vout and pious supplications, solicit from both, the grace of the Holy Ghost."* What sort of language, alas! shall we now have the unhappiness to hear? Do they regulate their lives according to the rule of the Gospel, who, by denying the satisfaction of Christ, overthrow the Gospel? Do those worship the Father in the Son, who slanderously affirm that the eternal Son of God is a mere man,† and who, whilst they adore him as such, make him an idol? Do those men, by pious supplications, implore the grace of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, who blasphemously allege, that the Spirit is only an attribute of God, or a creature, or at least, a person of some intermediate dignity betwixt God and a creature? How much more justly does Ignatius say,36 "Whosoever declares that God is * Apol. fol. 53. + Ψιλὸς ἄνθρωπος. "one only, in such a sense as to rob Christ of Divinity, " is a devil, and an enemy of all righteousness."* xxv. Let us now point out the more special uses of this article. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is profitable, in the first place, for INSTRUCTION, and that in a two-fold respect. 1st, Our understanding is informed in what manner it ought to be exercised in its meditations concerning God. Not confining its views merely to his One essence with its attributes, it must ascend to the Wonderful Trinity. Rightly to know God, is, unquestionably, an important part of piety; u and a more excellent object of contemplation cannot be presented to the mind, than this tremendous mystery, the intuitive and perfect knowledge of which, will complete its felicity in the light of glory. 2dly, From this incomprehensible mystery, which surpasses all sense and reason, we learn that we must renounce our own wisdom in divine matters, and reduce every thought into captivity to the obedience of faith. No one is prepared to form right views of this mystery, who has not risen above the low sphere of the senses and human reasonings, and soared to the sublimer region of faith; where, relying solely on God's own testimony respecting himself, he believes what he is able neither to see with his eyes, nor comprehend with his mind,-stopping at that precise point, beyond which divine revelation doth not conduct him. "You hear,” says Gregory Nazianzen, of the generation of the Son; be not inquisitive with respect to its mode. You hear that the Spirit proceeds from the Father; beware of curiously inquiring into the manner of this procession." + 66 Epist. ad Antioch. VOL. I. u Jer. ix. 24. + Orat. xxix. 7. 66 XXVI. Secondly, This doctrine is conducive to CONSOLATION. 1st, O how delightful is it to behold in the very intimate union, or rather unity, of the Three Divine persons, a pattern and representation of our own union with Christ, and, through Christ, with God! This astonishing idea is suggested by our Lord's prayer, -“That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in "me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in ❝ them, and thou in me." 2dly, O how pleasant is it to believe that the Father, who has adopted me for a son, is God; who, being himself Lord of all, is able to make me an heir of all things;-to reflect that the Son, to whom my soul is betrothed, is, equally with the Father, God, and the King of glory;-to know that the Holy Spirit, by whom I am sealed unto the day of complete salvation, is, in like manner, God, and, consequently, truth itself!* 3dly, O how delightful is it for me, when meditating on the mystery of the Sacred Trinity, to behold in the face of the eternal Father, the kindness of his unbounded love towards me;—in the face of the co-eternal Son, the endearing familiarity of the purest brotherly love;t-and in the light of the Holy Spirit, the bonds of my union with God! XXVI. In the third place, it is useful for ADMONITION.37 It serves to admonish us, 1st, That we Christians, who ought to " be followers of God, as dear chil"dren," should live together in perfect harmony, being" of one accord, of one mind;"x" endeavouring to * Αυτοαλήθεια. ▾ John xvii. 21, 22, 23. x Phil. ii. 2. 57 See NOTE XXXVII. W w Ephes. v. '1. وادو "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." y 2dly, That we should reverence the divine majesty of our Father;-that we should, with alacrity, throw open the doors of our hearts to the Son, the king of glory ;that we should not "grieve," nor" vex," nor" quench," the Holy Spirit, who is a person of the same divine dignity with the Father, and the Son; but consecrate our whole selves to him as temples sacred to his honour, solicitously avoiding all approaches to that sin against Him, which shall never be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in the world to come.d I conclude with the words of Synesius, in his third Hymn.* "I praise thee as One; I praise thee as Three. "While Three, thou art One; while One, thou art Three." DISSERTATION VII. ON FAITH IN GOD the fathER. 1. It is an approved and well-known observation of Divines, that the term FATHER, when applied to God, is sometimes taken essentially,* and sometimes personally. Taken essentially, it is common to the whole undivided Trinity. In this view, it is employed chiefly with reference to the creatures; for that on account of which God is denominated the Father of mankind and of other creatures, is not peculiar to any one Person, but pertains equally to each. He is called "the Fa"ther of all," because he created all," and " the Father "of Spirits," because "he formeth the spirit of man "within him ;" and, also, because he exercises a watchful providence over mankind, extending his care to every individual. "He hath made of one blood," said the Apostle Paul to the Athenians, "all the nations "of men. He is not far from every one of us; for " in him we live, and move, and have our being; as cer"tain also of your own poets have said, For we are also * Ουσιωδῶς. a Mal. ii. 10. + Υποστατικως. b Heb. xii. 9. Zech. xii. 1. comp. Jer. xxxviii. 16. |