Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

CONCLUSION.

LET us now take a review of what has been collected in these papers, and sum up the evidence in its own natural terms.

It has appeared from the first Chapter, that Christ Jesus, whose Divinity is daily blasphemed amongst us because it is not proved in the Scripture, is the Lord of Hosts2; the first and the last, than whom there is no greater, and beside whom there is no Godd: that he is the Saviour of the world, the Lord and God of the holy Prophets and Apostles, the most high God", the searcher of all hearts1, comprehended and made known to us under the name of that God to whom the world was reconciled. Who though he was the Word of God, that came forth from the Father into the world: yet he was God', and of the same divine natureTM with him that sent him. Though he was perfect man, of the seed of Abraham, born of his mother, and in all things made like to his brethren; yet the fulness of the Godhead dwelt

[blocks in formation]

in him bodily. Though he suffered, died, was pierced upon the Cross, and redeemed us by his blood; yet that blood was the blood of God"; and upon his Cross Jehovah was pierced.

That the objections urged against all these positive proofs, proceed wholly upon false principles; being drawn, partly from natural religion and Philosophy, which never was nor ever will be subject to the law of God; and is not intended so to be by those who set it up and dispute for it. Partly from the œconomical offices and humiliation of Christ in the flesh; in which it is nevertheless affirmed, that God himself was made manifest'. And lastly, from the unity of God so often asserted and insisted upon in the Scripture; not in opposition to the Godhead of Christ, but to the Idols then worshipped all over the heathen world. Hence it is, that God is called the true God; for they were false ones: one God; for they were many: the living God; for they were vanities without life. Yet in the place of these idols, who are to supply the contrast, they have substituted the

b

с

a XVIII. XLVII. XLIX. XLIV. XXVI. XXXIX. f

• XXV.

I Tim. III. 16. : XXIV.

i

XXXIII. XXII. 1 John V. 21. 1. Cor. VIII. 5, 6. * Acts XIV. 15.

[blocks in formation]

person of their blessed Redeemer, the true God', the everlasting Father, the Lord of Glory, who is able to subdue all things to himself, and of whose kingdom there shall be no end.

From the second Chapter it has appeared, that the Holy Ghost is our spiritual Father, by whose divine power we are begotten to a new life; and to whom we daily pray that he would not lead us into temptation. That he is the Lord', even the Lord of hosts, the ruler of the Christian œconomy, calling men to that honour in his church, which God only can bestow upon them. That he is incomprehensibly united with God, and sensible of the omnipotent will in himself; even as the human Spirit is united to man, and understandeth its own thoughts. That his power is the immediate power of God himself; his inspiration, is the inspiration of God'; his presence, the presence of God. That he is God", even the highest; for the man Christ Jesus, who is the Son of God and the Son of the highest, was so called BECAUSE he was begotten of the Holy Ghost.

[blocks in formation]

That the objections usually brought to disguise and destroy this evidence, are taken from the unity, the attributes and will of God, and the ministration of the Spirit in the economy of grace; all of them falsely interpreted. For as to the unity of God, it is not an unity of person. As to the supreme attribute of goodness, it is also possessed by the Spirit. As to the Will of God, according to which the gifts and graces of the Spirit are distributed, it is opposed to the will of man, not to that of the Spirit; which is said to blow where it listeth, and to divide or distribute unto every man his gifts, not as man the receiver, but as he himself willeth".

It has appeared from the third Chapter, that God is signified to us throughout the Old Testament by a name that is plural, and proved to be such from many particular instances; yet generally so restrained and qualified, as to destroy the suspicion of a plurality of Gods. That to this common name of God, many other plural names and expressions are added; and that an interchanging of the plural and singular is frequently observed,

с

L XXV.

a XXIII. XXIV.

V. VI. VII. VIII.

• IX. X.

Chap. III. Art. I.

which neither grammar nor reason can account for upon any principle, but that of a real divine plurality. That the persons of God are three in number, precisely distinguished on some occasions by the personal names of the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit, and also by different offices. That the same term is not always peculiar and proper to the same person; because the words God, Lord, Jehovah, and Father, are sometimes applied to one person, sometimes to another; while at other times they are not personal, but general names of the divine nature. That in the Lord of Hosts, sitting upon his throne, and speaking of himself in the plural to the Prophet Isaiah, there was not one person only but three; The Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost, all expressed under one name in the Old Testament, but personally distinguished to us by three different ones in the New, where this matter is referred to.

In the fourth and last Chapter, the pas sages of the Scripture, have been laid together, and made to unite their beams in one common center, the Unity of the Trinity.

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »