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THE TRINITY IN UNITY, AND THE MERCIFUL COMMISSION GIVEN TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

ISAIAH lxi. I.

"The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

E might naturally expect that the doctrine. of the Trinity in Unity, if true, would be interwoven, as every other fundamental doctrine of the faith is, with every part of the revelation of God, and would be alluded to sometimes directly and sometimes incidentally. Such is actually the case, as a brief consideration of the Scriptures will sufficiently show. It may be necessary to define, first of all, what is meant by the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity; and I cannot do this perhaps more clearly and concisely than by giving the words of the first Article: "There is but one living and true God; and in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."

Of the unity of the Godhead there is no question. Moses sufficiently established it when he said, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord thy God is one Lord,"-a declaration established beyond all controversy by the first

of the precepts delivered from Mount Sinai, namely, "I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt have none other gods but Me."

The Trinity of Persons in the Unity of this Godhead is the point which some have controverted, and which it behoves the orthodox to establish. That this doctrine is a mystery I freely admit-a mystery in some respects above reason; but not, therefore, contrary to reason. How God is one in substance, but three in subsistence, I cannot explain; neither shall I attempt to do so: but that He is so, Scripture abundantly testifies.

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The Old Testament contains many indirect testimonies to the doctrine under consideration. Even in the first chapter we find the Creator saying, "Let Us make man, in Our image, after Our likeness of expression which implies, if not a Trinity, at least a plurality of Persons or subsistents in the Godhead. Similar expressions are used in the third and eleventh chapters. A similar inference may be gathered from that text by which the unity of the Godhead has already been established, namely, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord thy God is one Lord;" for the word rendered God is a plural noun, used, I conceive, not inadvertently, but designedly, to direct men to the mystery of the Trinity, even while asserting the Unity. I have said, indeed, that the passages already referred to imply a plurality rather than a trinity; but there is evidence, even in the Old Testament, that this plurality is a trinity. Some lay stress on the threefold blessing which the high priest pronounced on God's people Israel (see Numb. vi. 24—26), and on

the seraphim's threefold ascription of holiness, recorded by Isaiah, in chap. vi., as indicative of this. But though it may be admitted that passages of this kind confirm our faith in the doctrine when fully established, yet they are not proofs which we could adduce primarily for the conviction of gainsayers. But when we see even in the Old Testament that the attributes, names, and operations of God are ascribed to three, and only to three, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, then are we satisfied, not only that there is a plurality of subsistents, but that this plurality is a trinity. This may be shown, though at this stage of my discourse I shall not enter upon the proof.

In the New Testament the doctrine under consideration is more plainly enunciated. St. John's declaration, "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one," is a direct proof of it; and though some have disputed the authenticity of the passage, yet I do not myself entertain any doubt of it. Arians might leave out so decisive a text in their copies of the New Testament; but it is very unlikely that orthodox believers would surreptitiously insert it. The command to baptize all converts in the one name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is a proof scarcely less decisive; for it is a dedication of each to the one living and true God— one in substance, but three in subsistence. The same may be said of St. Paul's celebrated benediction, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be

with you all evermore;" for in it the three conjointly are supplicated as the one source of spiritual blessings.

But another grand proof of the doctrine is, that we find in the New, as well as in the Old Testament, distinct testimony to the divinity and personality of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, as well as of the Father. To the Holy Ghost I shall not now refer, as I entered into a full consideration of His divinity and personality in the last discourse, and shall, therefore, regard them as fully established; but of the Son I shall speak; not, indeed, of His personality, for that is fully admitted, but of His divinity.

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That the Son is called Lord and God there can be no question; for not only did Thomas — no credulous witness, it must be admitted, but one requiring an unusual measure of evidence for his conviction-address Him in these striking words,—" My Lord and my God". words which met with no reprobation from Christ, as would undoubtedly have been the case had He counted it any robbery to be thus made equal with God,—but St. John distinctly declares that He was "in the beginning," and was with God," and "was God." Unless, then, there had been an intention to mislead mankind, which none will, I think, ascribe to the writers of the New Testament, we are bound to believe that Jesus both was and is what these apostles represent Him to be—that is, Lord and God.

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The attributes of God are also ascribed to the Son as well as to the Father. God is eternal; and does not Christ say of Himself (Rev. i. 8), “I am Alpha

and Omega, the beginning and the ending," "which is, and which was, and which is to come"? And surely He who has been, and will be through all time-past, present, and to come,-is eternal. God is omnipresent; and can Christ be less than this when He says unto His followers, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world"? for unless He were omnipresent, the fulfilment of such a declaration would be impossible. God is omniscient; and yet Peter did not hesitate to say to Christ, "Lord, Thou knowest all things;" and He who knoweth all things cannot be otherwise than omniscient. God is unchangeable; and does not St. Paul say of Jesus Christ that He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever"?-in other words, that He is immutable. In a similar way it might be shown that every other attribute of God belongs equally to the Lord Jesus Christ.

To Him, likewise, the inspired writers unhesitatingly ascribe the operations of God; who can forgive sins but God only? And yet Jesus did not hesitate to say, "Go in peace; thy sins are forgiven thee." Thus He clearly laid claim to a prerogative which pertains exclusively to God. Who can create in like manner, but God only? And yet St. Paul declares that by the Son God made the worlds (Heb. i. 2), and that it is He likewise who upholdeth all things by the word of His power. To raise the dead is an operation of God. And yet Jesus not only raised up His own body, but says, I will raise up every believer at the last day.

Another branch of proof remains yet to be noticed.

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