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all. And yet, there” For there is no dif Therefore, whichever think on, you at the One true God, or the

Creator or Author, and Father of is but One God and Father of all. ference or distinction of essence. of the Three Persons you name or same time name and think on the whole Godhead: for each Person is the One same eternal, and in all respects true, God. And there is no danger of falling into error or offence here: for Jesus Christ the Son of God is not a God, or Creator, or, Father of all creatures, different from God the Father and from the Holy Ghost, although he is another Person. And you may rightly say the same also, concerning' the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Hence, it is not only an error and false, but also an impossibility and a nothing at all, if thou address the' Person of God the Father as 'Our Father,' alone, and separately from, the other Two Persons, and do not embrace in thy address at the same time, and conjointly with the Father, the Persons of the Son and of the Holy Ghost also. For by so doing, thou thinkest upon the true divine essence, or the very Godhead, separately and dividedly, and excludest from it God the Son and the Holy Ghost; which is altogether to be rejected as departing from the faith.

But it is another thing to speak of the personal Fatherhood, (if I may use the term,) of God the Father, which is his personal property, and wherein he is distinctively called God the Father. For in this respect he is, and is called, the only Father of this only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, begotten before all worlds. But he is not in such a respect my father and thine, and the father of all others; nor am I, nor thou, nor any others, in such a respect, his children. For there is but One only Son begotten of the Father before all worlds: and that is he of whom it is said Psalm ii. 7, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." And yet, this same Son, according to his human nature and its age, that is, which was about thirty years old when he was baptised, and then became forty, and then fifty years old, and which has now existed more than one thousand five hun

dred years since the time when he first assumed that nature, this same Son, I say, who was born at a certain time of the Virgin, may be called the Son of the whole Godhead, or of the Three Persons who are the same One God.

And, as the works of the Trinity, from without, are indivisible, so also the knowledge and worship of the Trinity are indivisible: and whatever God does with respect to the creatures, the same do all the Three Persons do and act together without difference; because, they are the One same eternal God. And, on the other hand, what we or any creature do towards any one of the Persons in the Godhead, by believing, by supplicating, or by any kind of spiritual worship, the same we do also toward the One God, or the whole Godhead, and toward all the Three Persons without difference, Because, with respect to us, or toward us, there is but One, undivided, eternal God: and yet, there are in that same One Godhead, Three Persons distinct from each other.

Concerning this worship, Christ himself speaks thus, John xiv. "He that hath seen me, Philip, hath seen the Father. Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me?" And also John v. 23, "That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." Again, John x. 30, "I and my Father are one:" that is, (as we should say in our mode of expression,) of one and the same eternal nature or essence, that is, One God, One Lord, only to be worshipped. And it was for these very words that the Jews, when they heard them, judged Christ worthy of being stoned to death as an awful blasphemer. And again, when he said, John v. 7, "My Father worketh hitherto and I work," the Jews (as John says) "sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.".

But I shall now come to a conclusion upon this part of our subject. I designed to write but a short treatise; and I know not how it is that I have gone out into argu

ments and discussions of such a length. But however, if any one desires to arrive at the true doctrine, and a solid knowledge of these things, let him diligently and attentively read and ponder the Gospel written by John, in which the whole of this doctrine is copiously set forth.

So far, then, (to return now to the point from which we have thus digressed,) have we listened to John as the interpreter of Moses; or rather, have heard Moses himself testify that he fully, and in all respects, agrees with John. That is, that in the beginning, or before any thing was made, was the LoGoS or Word, by whom all things were made or brought forth into being; that this LOGOS is not and cannot be a thing created or made; and that this same Logos is another thing, or rather another Person, from him whose Word or Logos -he is. For since the Logos is not by nature created, but all things were created by him; it must of necessity follow, that this LoGoS is the true God himself, the creator of all things; because, it is evident that there can be nothing out of, and apart from all creatures, but God himself the Creator. And yet, as it has been observed, this LoGoS the God and creator by whom all things were made, is a Person distinct from the Person that speaks, or of whom he is the Logos.

Moses therefore is unto us a sure and faithful witness; and therefore he confesses, that he subscribes also unto Christ, or is a Christian! For he confesses and teaches that same thing which we and the church of Christ teach: namely, that God the Locos by whom all things were created, was with God from all eternity: as John also testifies.

AND now, let us hear for a short time our other messenger, Paul the Apostle; that he may also call Moses forth, and place him before us. Paul, then, in his epistle to the Colossians, chap. i. 15, manifestly speaking of Christ, saith,

"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible

and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all· things consist."

It is evident that these words cannot be understood concerning the human nature of Christ; for it is certain that he had not the human nature "before all things were made,” because it is not above one thousand five hundred and forty years ago that he began to be Man.And indeed, this is a glorious and memorable testimony of Paul, that Christ is truly the eternal God, the Creator of the whole nature of things; and that, from the beginning: unto this day, and from henceforth even for ever, all things exist, consist, subsist and are preserved by him; even those things which are the highest and in the highest degree, either in heaven or in earth, angels or spiritual creatures, and in a word, "all things, visible and invisible." In which words, the apostle beautifully agrees with the expressions of John, and declares precisely the same things as he declares, that, "all things were made by him," and that "without him was not any thing made that was made." When therefore Moses hears these words, as he had just before by his confession approved the words of John, and declared that he held them as the sound truth; so, as soon as he hears these words of Paul also, he immediately subscribes to them, and thus gives his vote as if declaring it in person-Thou sayest rightly, Paul. For concerning this which thou art now setting forth, I wished to leave my testimony, which I also publicly recorded in my writings long ago;—that the whole nature of the things. that are created, was created by the LOGOs, or the Word of him that spoke,' Gen. i.

Moreover, when the same Paul saith, 1 Cor. x. 4, "They all drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ;" we must from this. necessarily gather, that, if Christ then existed, in that very time of the history which is written by Moses, and if he followed the children of Israel while wandering forty years in the desert, and they all drew their spiritual

drink from him and were baptised of him with a spiritual baptism, that is, believed in Christ who should come in the flesh with the same faith as we believe in him as now manifested; then, this Christ is truly and naturally the eternal God. For faith in God, can neither centre in the angels nor in any created thing; because, such things cannot be meat and drink unto us; nor can any thing be so, but the eternal God only.

And again the apostle says in the same place immediately after, ver. 9, Let us not tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. What then is this that I hear? Moses certainly saith that this Person whom the children of Israel tempted was the Lord (JEHOVAH) himself: that is, the One true eternal God: as he saith, Exod. xvii. 2, "Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?" And Numb. xiv. 24, "They have tempted me now these ten times." when Moses writes that he whom the people of Israel tempted was the Lord himself (JEHOVAH) how can the same be Christ (you will say) whom Paul represents as having been tempted by that people? Yet it must of necessity be that both of them speak rightly and truly, and that the one agrees with the other; for the Holy Ghost no where contradicts himself.

Here,

Here then it is established by a certain and incontrovertible conclusion; that this Lord who brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, led them through the Red Sea, and conducted them through the desert, going before them in a cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night; who fed them with manna from heaven, and wrought all those miracles which are recorded by Moses; and who gave to them the promise of the land of Canaan, and appointed for them their political economy, their kingdom, and their priesthood;-it is established, I say, by a certain and incontrovertible conclusion, that this Lord is truly none other than our Lord Jesus of Nazareth, who was born of the Virgin Mary; whom we Christians call and confess to be our Lord and God, and whom the Jews, (who nevertheless glory in their origin because of the Messiah,) once condemned and

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