faith, which should not be deviated from: if any man teach otherwise, and confent not to wholesom words, even the words of our Lord Jefus Chrift, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; he is proud, knowing nothing2: and again, fays the apostle, though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gofpel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, and he adds, than that ye have received, let him be accurfed; and this is the rv, or form of doctrine', which is delivered to the faints, or into which they are delivered, as into a form or mold, and become evangelized by it; and according to this they are to form their judgment of preachers, and fhape their conduct and behaviour towardsthem; for if they bring not the doctrine of Chrift with them, they are not to receive them, nor bid them God Speed: if minifters, when they have formed and digested from the fcriptures a scheme and fyftem of gofpel-truths, would' be careful to say nothing contradictory to it; there would not be that want of confiftency fo juftly complained of, in the prefent miniftry in common, nor that confufion in the minds of hearers. I have hitherto dealt chiefly in generals, I fhall now defcend to the particulars of this form of found words or doctrines, which you, my Brother,, fhould hold: faft; and fhall begin, First, With the doctrine of the Trinity of perfons in one God; which is the foundation of revelation, and of the economy of man's falvation; it is what enters into every truth of the gospel, and without which no truth can be truly understood, nor rightly explained: it confifts of various branches; as that there is but one God, and that there are three distinct perfons in the Godhead, Fa ther, Son and holy Spirit, and that these are equally and truly God. There is but one God; this is the voice both of reason and revelation; it is the doctrine of the Old and of the New Teftament; it is the doctrine of Mofes and the prophets; bear O`Ifrael, the Lord our God is one. Lord" and it is the doctrine of Chrift and his apostles; of Chrift, who calls the above words, the first of all' the commandments; and of the apostles, who declare, there is one God and one Mediator; to believe and profess this truth is right and well, thou believeft that there is one God, thou doft well all profeffing chriftianity are Unitarians in a fenfe, but not in the fame fenfe; fome are Unitarians in oppofition to a trinity of perfons in one God; others are Unitarians in perfect confiftence with that doctrine. Thofe of the former fort ftand ranked in: very bad company; for a Deift who rejects divine revelation in general, is an Unitarian; a Jew that rejectss the writings of the New Teftament, and Jefus of Nazareth being the Meffiah,. is an Unitarian; a Mahometan is an Unitarian, who believes in one God, and in his prophet Mahomet; a Sabellian is an Unitarian, who denies a diftinction of perfons in the Godhead; a Socinian is an Unitarian, who afferts that Chrift did not exist before he was born of the virgin, and that he is God, not by nature, but by office; an Arian may be faid, in a sense, to be an Unitarian, because he holds one fupreme God; though rather he may be reckoned a Tritheist, fince along with the one fupreme God, he holds two fubordinate ones. Thofe only are Unitarians in a true and found fenfe, who hold a trinity of diftinct perfons in one God. This is the doctrine of divine Revelation, the doctrine of the Old and of the New Testament, the doctrine of that famous text before mentioned, bear O Ifrael, the Lord our God is one Lord; the word for our God is plural, the word used is Elohim, a word of the plural number, and expressive of a plurality of perfons; and the fenfe of the words is, and it is the fenfe of the ancient Jews", our God, Elobenu, the three divine perfons are one Jehovah, one Lord; and with this perfectly agrees what the apostle John says, there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one', are one God. The authenticity of this paffage has been difputed, but not difproved; the knowledge and ufe of it may be traced up to the times of Tertullian, who lived within a hundred years or thereabouts of the writing of the autograph itself by the apostle John; but could it be difproved, the doctrine is to be defended without it, as it was by the antient chriftians against the Arians: the proof of it is abundant; not to take notice of any other but the baptifm of Christ, and the form of the administration of baptifm prefcribed by him; at the baptifm of Christ, all the three divine perfons appeared; there was the Son of God clothed in human nature, fubmitting in that nature to the ordinance of baptifm, being baptized of John in Jordan's river; and there was the Father, who by a voice from heaven declared, faying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; and there was the Spirit of God, who defcended upon him as a dove; this was reckoned fo clear a proof of a trinity of perfons, that the ancients used to fay, "Go to Jordan, and there learn the "doctrine of the trinity" and the form of the adminiftration of baptifm prefcribed by our Lord, which was to baptize in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost'; is fuch a teftimony of a trinity of perfons in unity, that the whole herd of Antitrinitarians, of whatsoever name, are not able to destroy; a proof this of the divinity of each perfon, fince baptifm administered in their, name, is a folemn act of religious worship, and which otherwife would be idolatry; and of the equality of each perfon, fince it is ordered to be administered equally in the name of the one, as in the name of the other; not in the name of one fupreme God, and in the name of two inferior ones; and of the diftinction Zohar in Gen. fol. 1. 3. 1 1 John v. 7. and in Exod. fol. 18. 3. 4. and in Numb. fol. 67. 3. tion of these by the relative properties in the divine nature, paternity, filiation and spiration; and of their unity as the one God, fince the order is to adminifter baptifm not in the names, but in the name of Father, Son and Spirit. And now it is to be believed and to be held fast, that these are equally and truly God: of the Father there is no difpute; and of the deity of the Son there need be no question, fince of the Son of God it is exprefsly faid, this is the true God and eternal life; and again, unto the Son, he faith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever"; the divine names he bears, and the divine nature and perfections, and the fulness of them he is poffeffed of; the divine works which are attributed to him, and the divine worship paid him, are full proofs of his true and proper deity: and that the holy Spirit is truly and properly God, is manifest in that, lying to him is called lying to God: the name Jehovah is given him which belongs only to the most High; he is defcribed as a perfon, having understanding and will, and to whom perfonal actions are ascribed, and as a divine perfon, poffeffed of eternity, immenfity, omniprefence, omniscience, &c. and the doctrine of the deity of these perfons fhould be held faft, fince this has an influence on the works afcribed to them, and without which they could not have been performed by them: and along with this is to be taken the doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son of God, and which, with the reft, my Brother, you are to hold faft; fince this is the hinge on which the doctrine of the trinity depends, without this it cannot be fupported; take away this, and it falls to the ground; this the Antitrinitarians of every name are sensible of, and therefore bend all their force and fpite against it, and is a reafon why it should be held fast by us: that Chrift is the Son of God, is attested by the divine perfons themselves; and has been acknowledged by angels and men, good and bad, but the thing is, in what fense he is fo: not in any of the Socinian fenfes; I fay, not in any of them, because they are many, which shows the wretched puzzle and uncertainty they are at about it; for there can be but one true fenfe in which Chrift is the Son of God: he is not called the Son of God, because of fome likeness in him to God, as they fometimes fay; nor because of the affection of God to him, as at other times; nor is he fo by adoption; nor on account of his miraculous incarnation; nor of his refurrection from the dead; nor of his mediatorial office: but fince he is faid to be the begotten Son of God, and to be the only begotten of the Father, and the Father is faid to be his own Father, his proper Father, and so not in an improper, figurative and metaphorical fenfe,. he appears to be the Son of God by the generation of him, who faid, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee: how and in what manner the Son is be-gotten. gotten of the Father, I do not pretend to explain, nor ought any; but I firmly believe he is, and that for this very good reafon, because the fcripture afferes it; we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father'; we know but little of our own nature, and still less of the nature of God, and should be content with the account which he himself has given of it, who best understands it. For what is his name? that is, his nature, and what is his Son's name, if thou canst tell? I have faid, that "the doctrine of a trinity of persons in the "unity of the divine effence, depends upon the article of the son's generation, " and therefore if this cannot be maintained, the other muft fall of course;" and for my own part, could I be prevailed upon to part with this article of faith, I would at once give up the doctrine of the trinity, as quite indefenfible; and indeed it would be the height of folly to talk of a distinction of perfons in the Deity, when the foundation of fuch diftinction is removed; for we pretend to no other diftinction in it, but what arifes from the internal relative properties in God, as paternity, filiation and fpiration, the ground of which is, the eternal generation of the Son.; for without that there can be neither Father, nor Son, nor Spirit. The works of God done by him, such as thofe of creation, redemption and grace, and offices bore, ferve to illuftrate the diftinction made, but could never make any: the works of God are ad extra, and are common to the three perfons, and therefore do not distinguish them; for though fome works are more peculiarly.attributed to one than to another, each has a concern in them all: befides they come too late, they are wrought in time, whereas the nature of God, be it what it may, is eternal; and if there is any diftinction in it, it must be natural, original and eternal; and indeed the Father was never without the Son, nor the Son without the Father, but was the eternal Son of the eternal Father; and neither of them without their breath or fpirit, the Spirit which proceedeth from the Father, and is the Spirit of the Son: befides, as what God is, and he is what he always was, he is, and was fo neceffarily; and if there is any distinction in his nature, it is of neceffity, and not of will; whereas the works of God are arbitrary things, which might or might not have been, according to the will and pleasure of the divine Being; but God would have been what he is, and if there is any distinction in him, it must have been, if these had P John i. 14. Prov. xxx. 4. never • Of fuch abfurdity and inconfiflence the late Dr Ridgley was guilty; exploding the doctrine of the generation of the Son of God, and adopting the Socinian notion of Sonfhip by office; and yet at the fame time declaring for a distinction of three divine perfons in the Godhead. A ftrange paradox this! and it is a difgrace to that body of men of whose denomination the Doctor was, that none of his brethren attempted to refute him, though they in general difliked his opinion and diffented from him; perhaps they thought the contradiction was so glaring, that his own notions confuted themfelves; this is the best apology I can make for them. never had been; if there never had been an angel created, nor a man redeemed, nor a finner fanctified, nor any office fuftained by Chrift as mediator, which is arbitrary alfo. This then being the cafe, if the article of the Son's generation cannot be maintained, as then there can be no diftinction of perfons, we muft unavoidably fink into the Sabellian folly; therefore, my Brother, hold fast this part and branch of the form of found words. Secondly, Another part of this form of found words to be held faft, is the doctrine of the everlasting love of the three perfons to the elect; the love of the Father in chufing them in Chrift, providing a Saviour for them, and fending him in the fulness of time to work out their falvation; the love of the Son in becoming a furety for them, in the affumption of their nature, and in fuffering and dying in their room and ftead, to obtain their eternal redemption; and the love of the Spirit in applying grace unto them, implanting it in them, in being their Comforter, the Spirit of adoption to them, and the earnest of their inheritance, and the fealer of them up unto the day of redemption: this love is to be held, and held faft, as being fovereign and free; not arifing from any cause or causes in men, from any motives and conditions in them; not from their loveliness, being defiled and lothefom as others, and by nature children of wrath; nor from their love to God, fince he loved them firft, and when they did not love him; nor from their obedience and good works, fince while they were foolish and difobedient, the love and kindness of God the Saviour towards man appeared; but from the will and pleasure of God, who loved them because he would love them. And this doctrine of the love of God is to be held, and held faft, as being special and difcriminating; not as a love of all, but of fome only; for though the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord, and all the inhabitants of it partake thereof, and share the bounties of his providence; his tender mercies are over all his works, and he caufes his fun to fhine, and rain to defcend on the just and unjust; yet he has a peculiar people whom he has chosen for himself, and to whom he bears a peculiar love; hence David defired', that he would remember him with the favour he bore to his own people. This should be held, and held faft, as being what commenced from everlasting, and continues to everlasting; it was taken up in the heart of God before the world was, and he refts and abides in his love, and nothing is able to feparate from it: it is as immutable and invariable as himfelf; as he is the Lord that changes not fuch is his love, yea, he himself is love, God is love; the flates and conditions of men are various, but the love of God is the fame in all; he may change his difpenfations, but he never changes his love; when he hides his face, he ftill loves; and when he chides, chaftifes and corrects, he does not utterly take away VOL. II. I nor |