engaged in promulgating the law. They say; ‘The two first precepts
were spoken by the Supreme Spirit, but he spoke all the rest by his
Glory, who is called _El Shaddai_, known to the fathers; by whom the
prophets foretold future events; who is called _Jah_: in whom the Name
of God is; the Beloved of God who dwelt in the temple; and the Mouth
of the LORD; and the Face of the LORD; and the Rock; and that Goodness
which Moses saw, when he could not see God.’ Elsewhere they call him
‘the _Schechinah_, by whom we draw near to God, and present our
supplications to him; who is that Angel in whom the name of God is,
who is himself called God and JEHOVAH.’ The change of person, in the
promulgation of the law, asserted by these writers, is evidently a
mere fancy. But their language deserves attention; as it shews how
fully they were convinced of the doctrine of a plurality in unity,
when they introduced it in this manner.
“It has been universally admitted by the friends of revelation, that
the great end which God hath in view in the work of _Redemption_ is
the display of his own adorable perfections. But there is doubtless
another, although less attended to, nowise incompatible with this,
nay, itself an eminent branch of the supreme end. This is the
manifestation of the mystery of the Trinity, and of the mode of
subsistence peculiar to each person in the divine essence. This must
undoubtedly be viewed as included in the one great design of the
all-wise God in our redemption; and it is evident that he hath still
kept it in eye, in the revelation given to the Church, and especially
in the history of that work, as it is recorded in the gospels. We may
trace the doctrine of a Trinity in the accounts given of the old
creation; but it appears with far superior evidence in the history of
the new. This corresponds to the superior greatness of the work, and
to the brighter and more extensive display of divine perfection.
“Such was the state of the Church, as to admit of a more full
manifestation of this mystery. It was more obscurely revealed to the
patriarchs, and under the Mosaic economy. This was analogous to the
general character of the revelation then made; as well as to the state
of the Church, yet in her infancy, and exposed to constant temptations
to polytheism, from the situation of all the surrounding nations. But
‘when the fulness of the time was come,’ that the gospel should be
preached to every creature, and the kingdom of Satan fall as lightning
from heaven, in the overthrow of heathen darkness; there were no such
impediments to the more clear revelation of this mysterious doctrine.
The rest of the divine conduct indeed rendered this necessary. God had
now ‘sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to
redeem them that were under the law.’ The ends of this mission could
not be accomplished, without a full revelation of the character of
this illustrious Messenger. He could not otherwise receive that homage
from the Church, which he merited as her Redeemer, and which was
necessary, in order to her salvation. Now, his character, as
essentially the Son of God, and at the same time a divine Messenger,
could not be properly unfolded, without a declaration both of the
paternity of the First Person, and of that wonderful dispensation,
according to which the Second, although equal in power and glory,
voluntarily ‘emptied himself.’ Nor could the unity of the work of
redemption, as pervading all the dispensations given to the Church,
and the beautiful harmony of the law and the gospel, be otherwise
displayed. Without a full revelation of this mystery, how could it
have been known that he, who appeared in the end of ages as sent of
God, was the very same person who had formerly led the Church, as the
Angel of his face; that He, who now brought spiritual redemption to
his folk, was no other than that Angel-Redeemer, who had already so
frequently delivered them from temporal calamities?
“If this mystery be unknown or disbelieved, there can be no faith in
Christ as the Mediator between God and men. For he who believes not
that the Son is in the Father, and the Father in the Son, as to
identity of essence, while at the same time there is a distinction of
persons, denies the voluntary subjection of the Son to the Father in
the eternal covenant, and thus the whole foundation of his merit and
of our salvation. In relation to the work of our redemption, and in
the history given of it, are revealed various internal actings of the
divine persons towards each other, as well as those of an external
nature. The Father appoints, gives, sends, prepares a human nature for
his Son; the Son undertakes, gives himself, comes, assumes this
nature.
“From the history given of the conception of Christ, we find that
three divine persons were engaged in the creation of this ‘new thing
in the earth.’ The Father appears in the character of ‘the Highest;’
the Third Person, as ‘the Holy Ghost,’ and ‘the Power of the Highest;’
and the Second, as ‘the Son of God.’ When this wonderful Person, the
incarnate Word, was to be manifested to Israel at his baptism, each
divine Person concurred in the work. The Father testified his presence
and approbation by a voice from the excellent glory, announcing Jesus
as his beloved Son; and the Holy Ghost descended like a dove, and
rested on him. The history of his death, viewed in its connexion,
affords a proof of a similar kind. As ‘it pleased JEHOVAH,’ in the
person of the Father, sustaining the character of Judge, to bruise the
Son as our Surety; and as he, having power over his own life,
commended his spirit into the hands of his Father, thus presenting
unto him a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour; he did so ‘through
the Eternal Spirit.’ The same thing appears from the resurrection of
Jesus. He was ‘powerfully declared to be the Son of God in his
resurrection from the dead;’ for he had ‘power to take again’ that
which no one could take from him. This work is frequently ascribed to
God, where the term evidently denotes the First Person. ‘God hath
raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou
art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.’ As he was ‘put to death in
the flesh, he was quickened by the Spirit,’ by that Spirit of
holiness, ‘by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in
prison.’ Nor is this less evident from the account given of the
effusion of the Spirit. This is undoubtedly a divine work; and it is
described as belonging to each adorable Person. Jesus had foretold
that the Comforter should come, that himself should send him, and that
he should at the same time be sent by the Father. Accordingly, from
the account given of this wonderful event by the apostle Peter, which
is left on record for the instruction of the Church, we find that each
divine Person was engaged in accomplishing it: ‘Jesus, having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, hath shed forth this
which ye now see and hear.’
“It is undeniable, that one special end, which Christ had in view in
his miraculous works, was to confirm his doctrine with respect to his
equality with the Father. When he gave thanks at the tomb of Lazarus,
before raising him from the dead, it was because of the people who
stood by, that they might believe that the Father had sent him; and
sent him as a Messenger invested with divine power, because
essentially possessing divine perfection. For he had previously said
to his disciples: ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory
of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby;’ and taught
Martha, that if she ‘would believe, she would see the glory of God,’
in seeing the manifestation of that power which essentially belonged
to himself, as ‘the Resurrection and the Life.’ When he cured the man
sick of the palsy, it was in order to prove that he had ‘power on
earth to forgive sin;’ while he admitted the principle held by the
scribes, that no one could forgive sins but God only. On different
occasions he refers to his miraculous works, as irrefragable evidences
of his having the same essence with the Father; and of the mutual
inexistence, as some have expressed it, of the Father in the Son, and
of the Son in the Father, in respect of this essential unity, while
there is at the same time a real distinction of persons. When his
enemies accused him of blasphemy, because he said, ‘I am the Son of
God,’ ‘making himself God;’ he replied, ‘If I do not the works of my
Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe
the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and
I in him.’ To Philip, when desiring to see the Father, he said,
‘Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else
believe me for the very work’s sake.’ The Evangelist John, when
referring to the signs recorded in the preceding history, subjoins
this declaration; ‘These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus
is the Son of God.’ That he appropriates this character to Jesus, as
expressive of supreme deity, is evident from the uniform tenor of the
gospel which bears his name.
“The doctrine of the Trinity is peculiarly elucidated by the history
of redemption; as it does not merely exhibit all the adorable Persons
as engaged in this work, but ascribes a peculiar operation to each
Person. The contrivance of our redemption is ascribed to the Father;
the purchase of it to the Son; and the effectual application of this
purchased redemption to the Holy Spirit. The Father sends his Son as
our Surety; the Son cheerfully comes in this character; and the Holy
Spirit is sent by both. The purpose of election is more immediately
ascribed to the Father; the objects of his love are all chosen in
Christ; and they, who were thus chosen from eternity, are in time
chosen out of the world, and separated for himself, by the renewing
and sanctifying work of the Spirit.
“Nor is this all. The peculiar operation of each Person, in the work
of our salvation, is perfectly analagous to the order of subsistence
in the Holy Trinity; and thus beautifully illustrates the mutual
relations of the divine Persons. All the external works of God,
indeed, are common to each Person; as the divine nature is the same
indivisible principle of operation. Yet these works are distinctly
ascribed to the three Persons, because each Person operates according
to the order of subsistence. In the old creation, the Father called
all things into being by his co-essential Word, communicating life
immediately by the Spirit, as exercising a generating power on the
unformed mass. When God created man, the First Person formed him by
the Second, as his essential Image, giving him life, both natural and
moral, by the Third, as ‘the Spirit of life.’ Yet this implies no
inferiority, or mere instrumentality, in any of the adorable Persons;
but only the most perfect order and harmony. The case is the same in
the new creation. It seems most consistent with divine wisdom, that he
who is first in the order of subsistence should rather _send_ than be
_sent_; that the Son, who is ‘the image of the invisible God,’ should
procure the restoration of that blessed image lost by sin; and that
he, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, should be sent by both,
to quicken those who are spiritually dead. This distinct operation
indeed, as it corresponds with the order of subsistence, beautifully
harmonizes with the distinguishing character belonging to each Person.
He, who is essentially the Father, assumes the character of paternity,
in a federal respect, towards those who are orphans and aliens. The
only begotten Son of God is sent forth, made under the law, that they
may ‘receive the adoption of sons,’ and appears as ‘the first-born
among many brethren.’ The adorable Spirit, ‘the breath of JEHOVAH,’
breathes on the slain, that they may live; giving them a new heart and
a right spirit. He, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, unites
the sinner to both.
“Is it ‘life eternal to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
he hath sent?’ Hath no one the Father, who ‘denieth the Son?’ Can no
one honour the Father, ‘who honoureth not the Son?’ Is it the Spirit
alone who quickeneth, and who teacheth us to ‘know the things that are
freely given us of God?’ Can no man ‘say that Jesus is the Lord, but
by the Holy Ghost?’ Is it through Christ that ‘we have access by one
Spirit unto the Father?’ Let us bless God for the revelation of the
mystery of a Trinity in unity; and especially because he hath revealed
it so clearly in the history of our redemption, in relation to that
work in which a peculiar operation belongs to each adorable Person, in
which the love of a three-one God is so wonderfully displayed, in
which we discern so blessed a harmony, not only of divine perfections,
but of divine Persons! In all our worship, let us view God according
to this revelation, ascribing glory to him ‘who is, and who was, and
who is to come, and to the Seven Spirits which are before his throne,
and to Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the
first-begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the
earth.’ Let us earnestly desire communion with this three-one God;
with the Father, in his love as the spring of our salvation; with the
Son, in all that grace which he hath purchased by his blood; and with
the Holy Ghost, in the whole extent of his efficacious operation. In
order to this, let us press after union with Christ, that in him we
may be united to the Father by that one Spirit who proceeds from both,
and who is conferred by both as the Spirit of adoption. Let us
cultivate love to the brethren, as members of the same mystical body,
desiring to be ‘one heart and one soul;’ that although many, we may be
one, and thus be assimilated, in our weak measure, to the blessed
Trinity in respect of unity; as Jesus prays in behalf of his
Church;—‘That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I
in thee; that they also may be one in us.—I in them, and thou in me,
that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.’”
JAMIESON.
Footnote 90:
_See Le Clerc’s Supplement to Dr. Hammond on the New Testament,
preface to John i._
Footnote 91:
_See Biddle’s Confession of Faith, touching the holy Trinity, Article
VI._
Footnote 92:
_Some have thought, that_ εκεινος _being of the masculine gender,
because it refers immediately to_ πνευμα, _which is of the neuter,
implies, that the Spirit is taken personally, which is the reason of
this grammatical construction; but if it be said that the reason why
it is masculine is, because it agrees with_ παρακλητος, _it,
notwithstanding, proves the Personality of the Holy Ghost, since a
Comforter is a personal character. The same thing is observed in the
grammatical construction of that scripture, Eph. i. 13, 14. speaking
concerning the Holy Spirit of promise_, το πνευμα της επαγγελιας; _it
is said_, ὁς εστιν αρῥαβων, _which denotes the personal character of
the Spirit, otherwise it would have been_ ὁ εστιν αρῥαβων, _unless you
suppose_ ὁς _agrees with_ αρῥαβων, _which seems to be a more strained
sense of the grammatical construction than the other, which proves his
personality._
Footnote 93:
“THAT the Holy Scriptures make mention of _Three_ by way of great
_eminence_ and _distinction_ may appear from many passages, out of
which I shall only produce some. At the Prediction of the blessed
Virgin’s conception, which was to be without the concurrence of a man,
the divine message is delivered in these words: _The Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee;
Therefore, also that Holy Thing, that shall be born of thee, shall be
called the Son of God_. Here are plainly distinguished from each
other, the _Holy Ghost_, or _Power_ overshadowing; the _Highest_,
whose Power that Spirit is; and the _Holy Thing_, or _Person_, who is
_called the Son of God_, because born of a mother, impregnated by that
Divine Power. At our Blessed Lord’s Baptism, _the Spirit of God_, we
read, _descended like a dove and rested upon him, and a voice from
Heaven_ declared him to _be the Son of God_: Nothing can be plainer
than three _Personalities_ in this transaction; the _Father_ speaking
from Heaven, the _Son_ coming out of _Jordan_, and the _Spirit_
descending from above. In the Promise, which our blessed Saviour makes
his disciples, to comfort their hearts against what was coming upon
them, _I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of
Truth_; and _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_, there are manifestly Acts, and
Persons, and capacities, different. The _Father_, from whom the Spirit
_proceeds_, whom the Son _prays_, and by whom, at the Son’s Request,
the _Comforter was given_: The _Son, praying_ the Father; _sending_
the Comforter from the Father, and _testified_ of by the _Spirit_ so
sent: And the _Spirit, given_ by the Father, _sent_ by the Son,
_testifying_ of the Son, and, upon the Son’s Departure, _abiding_ for
ever with the Disciples.
“The great Apostle of the Gentiles, to enforce the Doctrine of the
resurrection, tells the _Romans, that if the Spirit of him, who raised
Jesus from the dead, dwelt in them, he that raised Christ from the
dead would also quicken their mortal bodies by his Spirit, that
dwelled in them_; where he evidently refers to _Jesus_, the Son of
God; raised from the Dead; to the _Spirit_ of God, by which he was
raised; and to _him_ that raised _Jesus_, and at the last great day
shall raise all others, in whom his Spirit dwells. The same apostle,
to satisfy the _Corinthians_ of the benefits of their _conversion_,
after having enumerated several ranks of sinners, _and_ such _were
some of you_, says he, _but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but
ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the
Spirit of our God_, _i. e._ God the Father. It cannot be denied that
_Sanctification_ and _Justification_ are the gifts of God alone; for
none can absolve us from the Guilt and pollution of sin, but he only:
But then the Apostle tells the _Corinthians_, that this benefit they
received not only from God the _Father_, but from the _Lord Jesus_
likewise, and from the Holy Spirit: Analogous to which is that other
Passage in the same epistle; _There are diversities of gifts, but the
same Spirit_, (there is the _third_ Person in the Trinity) _there are
differences of Administration, but the same Lord_, (there is the
_second_ Person) _and there are diversities of operations, but it is
the same God_, (or _first_ person in the _Trinity_) _that worketh all
in all_. Once more, the same Apostle, in his prayer for the
_Thessalonians_, directs his devotion to the ever blessed Trinity:
_Now God himself, even our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct
our way unto you, and the Lord_, (_i. e._ the Holy Ghost) _make you to
increase and abound in love one towards another_: For that by the
_Lord_ we are here to understand the Holy Ghost, I think is very plain
from the next verse; ‘_to the end, that he may establish your hearts
unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints_;’ since he is the
_Sanctifier_, and to _establish our hearts in holiness_ is his proper
work and office: And if so, then is there a plain _enumeration_ of the
three Persons of the _Trinity_ in this passage.
“The great Apostle of the _Jews_ begins his first Epistle _general_ to
his _dispersed_ Brethren with a declaration of the same article, when
he calls them _elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
through Sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus_; for there we may observe, that the three
_Persons_ are not only expressly _named_, but their distinct
_employments_, with reference to man’s salvation, are particularly
_specified_, while the Father is said to _elect_, the Spirit to
_sanctify_, and the holy Jesus to _shed his blood_. The beloved
Apostle _St. John_, in his _Salutation_ to the Churches, _Grace, and
Peace from him, which is, and which was, and which is to come, and
from the seven spirits which are before his Throne, and from Jesus
Christ_ has given us a distinct enumeration of the three Persons in
the Deity, if we will but admit, (as most interpreters have done) that
by the _Seven Spirits_, which was a _sacred_ number among the _Jews_,
that _one_ Person (_viz._ the Holy Ghost) is to be understood, from
whom all that variety of gifts and operations, which were then
conspicuous in the Christian Church, did proceed. But however this be,
’tis certain, that the passage in his Epistle of the _Three which bear
record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost_, are as
full and plain a _Testimony_ and declaration of this _Mystery_, as can
be cited in words; and though some have endeavoured to invalidate the
authority of this passage, as not extant in some ancient copies, and
seldom appealed to by the first defenders of the catholick faith
against the _Arians_ and _Macedonians_, yet the contrary to this is
most evident. _Tertullian_, _St. Cyprian_, and _Fulgentius_ quote it
in their writings: _Athanasius_ made use of it in the council of
_Nice_ against _Arius_; and the reason why it was left out in some
ancient copies _Socrates_ acquaints us with in his _Ecclesiastical_
history, when he tells us, ‘That the _Christian_ Church had all along
complained, that the Epistle of _St. John_ had been corrupted by the
first adversaries of the doctrine of Christ’s divinity.’ ’Twas by
their artifice therefore that it was omitted; for several learned
pens, both of our own and other churches, have made it very manifest,
that it was[94] _originally_ in the text, and that the most and
ancientest _copies_ always had it.
“But we need not be so tenacious of one _text_, when, besides these
already mentioned, and many more that might be produced upon a farther
enquiry, the very form of our _admission_ into the Christian covenant
is _in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost_;
the form of our _prayers_ is thus directed, that _through the Son we
have an access by one Spirit to the Father_; and the form of our
_dismission_ from them is, every day, with this _benediction_, _The
grace of the Lord Jesus, and the love of God, and the fellowship of
the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore_; as if the Wisdom of God had
intended to inculcate this notion of the _Trinity_, and, in every act
of our religious worship, to remind us of the manner of his
_subsistence_.
“Thus it appears that there are _Three_, very often occurring in
scripture, under the different appellations of _Father_, _Son_, and
_Holy Ghost_: and that these three are not _one_ and the _same Being_,
under _different respects_ and considerations, but _three_ real and
distinct _persons_, with a _peculiar_ manner of _subsisting_, is plain
from the very names of _Father_, _Son_, and _Holy Ghost_, if we
understand them in a proper and natural sense; because these are
opposite _relations_, which can never meet in the same _subject_: for
a _Father_ cannot be Father to himself, but to his _Son_; nor can a
_Son_ be Son to himself, but to his _Father_; nor can the Holy Ghost
_proceed_ from himself, or (in this sense) be his own _Spirit_, but
the Spirit of the Father, and Son, from whom he proceeds: and
therefore the Father is not the Son, nor the Holy Spirit; nor the Son
the Father, or Holy Spirit; nor the Holy Spirit either Father or Son.
The only question is, whether these _names_, when spoken of the
Trinity have a _proper_ and _natural_, or only an _allusive_ and
_metaphorical_ signification.