a human trinity, do not in the smallest degree derogate from the unity of man's nature, perception, and life; so neither do the three essentials, which constitute the divine trinity, in the smallest degree violate the divine unity, but on the contrary they rather exalt, illustrate, and confirm it. To assert, as some do, that the Father is one person, the Son another, and the Holy Spirit a third, each one distinct from the other, each one by himself a complete God and Lord, though to one are ascribed properties which are denied to the others, and all three co-eval with each other, that is to say, all three co-existent with each other from eternity, is such a manifest and yet contradictory avowal of a Trinity of Gods, that no after-palliation, no lip-confession of there being still only One God, can ever be admitted as any apology for the insult offered both to the Sacred Scriptures and to sound reason. The most that can be allowed to the professors of such a faith is, that the three Gods, whom they affect to acknowledge, may occasionally be unanimous. And yet it appears, that they have not always been so, since the one has required an atonement for sin on his part, which the two others did not think necessary on their's. But, not to dwell on the absurdities of a doctrine, which has completely overturned the church, and introduced a species of refined heathenism in the place of the true christian religion, it is sufficient to observe, that in the apostolic age no such faith was known, and that for hundreds of years christians were satisfied with acknowledging and worshipping Jesus Christ as the true God; the doctrine of a trinity of persons not having been invented for so long a time after the first publication of christianity.
This deplorable state of the christian church is clearly predicted by our Lord in the 24th chapter of Matthew's Gospel; and it's dangerous principles, now so universally prevalent, are called by him the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place, or church. But at the same time a promise is made, that, on the consummation or end of this church, a new one shall be raised up, which will both in doctrine and in life acknowledge only One God, in One Divine Person, in whom nevertheless is a Divine Trinity, as already explained; the Father or Divine Essence being the soul, the Son or Divine Humanity being the body, and the Holy Spirit being the proceeding influence or operation, all belonging to one and the same God, who is no other than our ever-adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
To confirm this doctrine in all it's fulness, would be to transcribe a great part of the Sacred Scriptures. But as without such authority it may possibly still be a matter of doubt with some readers, let the following passages be consulted, and the truth will be manifest.
That our Lord Jesus Christ is the Father, is proved from Isa. ix. 6. John x. 30. Chap. xii. 45. Chap. xiv. 7, 9. Chap. xvi. 15. Chap. xvii. 10. Apoc. i. 8, 11, 17. Chap. xxii. 13. Besides a multitude of other passages, which declare that the Redeemer and Saviour of the world is no other than the great Jehovah.
That he is the Son, is universally acknowledged: nevertheless see Matt. i. 23. Chap. iii. 17. Luke i. 31, 32, 35. John i. 18; &c. &c. &c.
And that he is the Holy Spirit, is proved from John vii. 39. Chap. xiv. 18. Chap. xvi. 14. Chap. xx. 22. Apoc. ii. 7, 11, 17, 29. Chap. xv. 4.
From all these passages, and numberless others, compared together, it is most manifest, that there is only One God in One Person, in whom is the Divine Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is that One God.
The Lord,
XII The Lord.
WE have already treated of the being and unity of God, who, as the unsearchable fountain of all life, is called Jehovah, or I Am, in the Sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament. We have likewise seen, that the same Divine Being is not only the Creator of all worlds, but that in due time he became also the Redeemer and Saviour of mankind, by descending upon this earth, assuming our nature, and therein and thereby delivering his creatures from the overwhelming power of evil. It is further observable, that in the Scriptures of the New Testament he is no where distinguished by his name Jehovah, as he had been in times antecedent to the incarnation: which is a circumstance that doubtless must have for it's foundation or cause (independent of it's reference to Jewish prejudices) some new condition of the divine existence, or some new relation opened between the Creator and the creature, by the assumption of Humanity.
While men were in the habit of receiving communications from heaven through the medium of prophets, no apparent violence was offered to their reason, nor were they placed in any danger of profanation, by being informed in plain terms, that the revelations so given were dictated by the great Jehovah himself. But when he actually made his appearance in the world in the form of a Man, inasmuch as he was regarded by the people in no other character than that of a mere human being like themselves, had he openly and constantly announced himself as Jehovah, as that very God of their fathers, who in ancient times had commissioned Moses and others to make known his will to them, it would have been impossible for them to have received him in such a high character, impossible to have acknowledged him as the Creator and Preserver of the universe. On the contrary, they would have treated him with still greater contempt, than they generally did; they would have disdained his conversation; and with one consent would have pronounced, what only some amongst them ventured to assert, that "he had a devil, and was mad."
It was therefore a dictate of divine mercy and love, on the part of Jehovah when in the flesh, not only towards the Jewish people, but towards all others, who, by reason of his appearing in the form of a Man, too hastily conclude that he was in reality no more, that, instead of the name Jehovah, he took that of Lord, and instead of Father, that of Son. For this reason, and because it was not lawful for the Jews to pronounce the word Jehovah, whenever any passage of the Old Testament, containing the name, is referred to in the New, instead of Jehovah, the term Lord is substituted; evidently implying, that the latter is tantamount to the former, yet with this additional signification, that the title of Lord is used to denote Jehovah in the Humanity, or God Incarnate.
But another reason may also be stated, why the name Jehovah is no where used in the Gospels, and even why the appellation Lord, it's direct substitute, does not always distinguish Jesus, he being frequently called Master and Christ, as well as Lord. During his abode in the world, or before his glorification, though he was indeed Jehovah in the Humanity, yet he was not in all respects Jehovah as to the Humanity: for in the first state he was still subject to the infirmities derived from the mother; but in the last he was wholly exempt from every thing of the kind. Again, in the first state he more particularly sustained the character of divine truth; and on this account he is often called Christ and Master, these expressions having more immediate reference to divine truth, than to divine good. But on his becoming one with the Father, even as to the Humanity, that is, on his entering upon the entire character of divine good, which is superior to that of divine truth, (John xiv. 28.) as was the case fully after his resurrection, the title of Lord is then more uniformly ascribed to him by his disciples, and most emphatically by Thomas, who in the ardour of his faith exclaims, "My Lord and my God!" John xx. 28.
In confirmation of the sentiments above expressed first, in respect to the danger of profanation, which many would have incurred, had the Lord spoken to the multitude otherwise than in parabolical or allegorical language, we read, that Jesus said to his disciples, "Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but to others in parables, that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand," Luke viii. 10. Again, "Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they who see not, might see; and that they who see, might be made blind, John ix. 39. And even to his disciples, who could not as yet comprehend
