the very term Trias or Trinity; they spoke of the three persons, and declared that they were united in the Divine essence. A multitude of facts might be adduced to show that the doctrine is shadowed forth by all the prominent systems of heathenism.* Even to this day it is shadowed forth by those systems. So that, the reasoning philosophers, and the superstitious idolaters, combined in believing it. We are now led to only one conclusion; the same that we form from the universality of sacrifice, viz: that it was revealed: no wit of man could have invented it; and, if even that were possible, no wit of man could have made it universal. But we have something fuller, more explicit, and more abundantly satisfactory, than all these things, to teach us. I might give you many passages from the Psalms, and from Isaiah, and several other of the inspired writers of the Old Testament.† I might prove to you, that, at the very time the Messiah appeared, the Jews believed in the doctrine of the Trinity. But we have an overwhelming weight of evidence in the New Tes tament, and on that we may cheerfully rest. John the Baptist taught the doctrine, when he said, "God is able of these stones to raise *Those desirous of seeing these facts stated, are referred to Dwight's Theology-Sermons on the Trinity. † See references. up children unto Abraham.-I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."* Here he speaks of "God" the Father, "able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham;" of Christ "mightier than" himself; and of "the Holy Ghost," with which Christ should "baptize." At the baptism of Jesus, the three persons were manifest. The Holy Ghost resting like a dove; the Father speaking from heaven, and saying, "This is my beloved Son;" and the Son himself, attested of the Father, and receiv. ing the Holy Ghost. When Christ commissioned His disciples to baptize, it was "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:" a perfect equality, and a perfect unity. To his disciples Christ promised to send the Comforter from the Father; and He told them, "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." Again, as if, while publishing the distinction of persons, at the same time, declaring the unity of essence, Christ * Matt. iii. 9, 11. † Matt. iii, 16, 17. Mat. xxviii. 19. speaks of "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name:"* The Comforter to be sent equally by Him and by the Father; and the Comforter, not only to come in His name, but to testify of Him. Here is a community of action in the Father and the Son, and a declaration of the office of the Holy Ghost to preach the Son. In another place, Christ said, He and the Father were one, while the constant performance of actions on His part, distinct from those of the Father, declared that they were distinct. They were one in essence, but distinct in person. When Christ separated, or set apart his disciples to their work, He declared, by a significant action, that the third person of the Trinity came from Him, as well as from the Father"He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost."+ After ascending to that glory which He had with the Father before the world was,‡ Jesus said, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."§ We are told, "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, * John, xiv. 26, † John, xx, 22. ‡ John, xvii. 5. § Rev. iii. 21, 22. full of grace and truth;" and " in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."* Here are the three persons. Peter, charging home upon the Jews, the murder of our Lord, says, "This Jesus hath God raised up—therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear." Here, again, are the three persons, and, again, Christ sending forth the Holy Ghost. Peter says, also, " He," Jesus, "which was ordained of God, to be the Judge of quick and dead;"-and, "while he spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on them." Here was God the Father, ordaining Jesus the Judge of quick and dead, and the Holy Ghost conveying home the words of the Gospel. "Thro' Him," Christ, says Paul, “we have access by one Spirit unto the Father." "I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he would grant you,—to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. Be filled with the spirit-giving thanks-unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."T In the Epistle to the Colosians, the same Apostle speaks of "the acknowledgment of * John i. 14, and Col. ii. 9. † Acts, ii. 32, 33. ‡ Acts, x. 42, 44. Ephes. ii, 18. § Ephes. iii. 14, 16. Ephes. v. 18, 20. the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ." Now God himself, and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you."+ In writing to his own nation, Paul speaks of the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God."+ Paul speaks of tempting God; and of tempting Christ; and of tempting the Spirit of the Lord: thus declaring three persons-united in one sense, and distinct in another. The same language does he use concerning power, eternity, &c.: at one time speaking of them as adhering to one; at another, to another, and again to the third of the different persons of the adorable Trinity. And thus is it throughout the Bible. While a distinction of persons is constantly presented to view, a community of names, of actions, and indeed, of every thing which can go to show a perfect unity of essence, is, at the same time, made prominent. Thus "is the Father called God? So is the Son, and so is the Holy Ghost, Is the Father called Lord? So is the Son, and so is the Holy Ghost. Is the Father eternal? So is the Son, and so is the Holy Ghost. Is the Father Almighty? So is the Son, and so is the Holy Ghost. Is the Father omnipresent? So is • Col. ii. 2. † Thes. iii. 11. Heb. ix. 14. |