xx. Thus far respecting the KNOWLEDGE of this mystery. An ASSENT to the doctrine, and an ACKNOWLEDGMENT of it, after it has been explained to one from the word of God, are no less necessary. The condition of one who denies and impugns a fundamental truth which he knows, is evidently far worse than that of one who is simply ignorant of it. They who oppose the doctrine of the Trinity, I do not hesitate to declare with confidence, have no part in eternal salvation. The Apostle John expressly warns us, that "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the "Father." Now, that man denies the Son, who denies his Divinity, and who denies the Spirit of the Son, -who is of the same substance with the Son, and, without whom, no man can say that Jesus is Lord.a XXI. When, therefore, men deny, oppose, and blaspheme the doctrine of the Trinity, as the modern Socinians do, we cannot acknowledge them as Christians and Brethren; we cannot offer them any Church communion, nor accept of it, if offered by them. How much soever they may attempt to recommend themselves by a specious appearance of piety, we boldly pronounce them perverters of Christianity, fighters against God, and gross idolaters; with whom we wish to have no fellowship in our Churches, and to whom, according to the injunction of an Apostle, we will not say, "God speed." We applaud the zeal of Christopher Krainscius, who, when Smalcius, a Socinian leader, with his followers, troubled the Orthodox with an unreasonable demand of union, first in the Synod of Lublin, in the year 1612, and afterwards in the Synod P 1 John ii. 23. Θεομαχοι. 41 Cor. xii. 3. of Belzo, honestly replied, Sirs, begone, give us "no trouble; for sooner may heaven enter into an 66 66 agreement with hell, than we, the Evangelical, with you. Let the man who fears God, go out from this "Church;" and instantly he himself went out. When the adversaries complained of Krainscius, as having by this conduct and language pronounced them unworthy of his company, Count Leszczinius rejoined, "I also fear God, and therefore, I will remove;" and no sooner did he utter the word than he went out, mounted his carriage, and departed. Thus the union demanded was refused.* Whoever wishes to see more on this topic, may consult the learned Theses of the venerable Voet, on the necessity and utility of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity." XXII. But what would a naked and merely speculative knowledge and acknowledgment of this mystery avail, unless to these were added the pious DEPENDANCE OF THE SOUL UPON A THREE-ONE GOD? No sooner is the believer divinely instructed in this truth than he delights in it; rejoicing that now he knows and believes those mysteries relating to his God, which transcend all sense, all language, all understanding;which are worthy of his incomprehensible infinitude;— and by which, in fine, he is distinguished from all the idols of the nations, and from those false Gods which every one, by his own perverse conceptions, has formed for himself. "I have found thee," says Faith, "I have "found, and I recognise thee, O my God, the Rock of 66 66 my salvation, of whom the rest of the world are igno rant; and whom the Athenians, the wisest of mortals, * Lætus in Compendio Hist. Univers. cap. xxxv. p. mihi 508. + De necessitate et utilitate Dogmatis de SS. Trinitate. "confessed to be to them UNKNOWN. Thou art He;* "in the most absolute unity Three; in a distinct Trinity, One; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Thou "alone art the true God and eternal life.' 66 XXIII. Nor does faith stop here. But, acknowledging the Father as God, she confidently commits herself to his omnipotent power, his unsearchable wisdom, his unbounded goodness, and the inexhaustible riches of his all-sufficiency. Acknowledging the Son as God, she rests securely on his satisfaction as most ample, and as deriving infinite value from the dignity of his godhead. "Surely shall one say, In JEHOVAH "have I righteousness and strength; even to him shall 66 men come. In JEHOVAH shall all the seed of "Israel be justified, and shall glory." Acknowledging the Holy Ghost as God, she firmly relies on his wise and holy guidance, and reposes an unsuspecting confidence in his testimony as infallible, and infinitely worthy of credit. Knowing, too, that these three are One, faith is not distracted in her operations, but devolves her whole weight on this Tri-une God ;-assured from their unity of will, as well as of essence, that all the three persons harmoniously concur in promoting her salvation. XXIV. Nothing is more false than that calumny of the Remonstrants, by which they deny that the article of the Holy Trinity has any practical use. Every doctrine of "the truth, is according to godliness:" and shall this character not apply to a doctrine so conspicuous, so fundamental? This article is even the source of all genuine faith, of all true religion. He cannot have Christian faith, who doth not believe that a person in the Godhead could have been given, and has been actually given us, to be a successful Mediator with God; but this would have been impossible, if the Godhead had subsisted only in one person. He who does not adore the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as equal in divine majesty, worships not the true God, but a creature of his own imagination. Go now, if you will, and boldly affirm, that this doctrine, which is absolutely essential to Christian faith and piety, is unprofitable in relation to practice. The Remonstrants are guilty of offending and dishonouring God, when, in order to flatter the Socinians, for whom they entertain too great a regard, they describe them as persons, "who so regu"late their lives according to the rule of the Gospel, "that they worship the Father in his Son, and, by de"vout and pious supplications, solicit from both, the 66 grace of the Holy Ghost." What sort of language, alas! shall we now have the unhappiness to hear? Do they regulate their lives according to the rule of the Gospel, who, by denying the satisfaction of Christ, overthrow the Gospel? Do those worship the Father in the Son, who slanderously affirm that the eternal Son of God is a mere man,† and who, whilst they adore him as such, make him an idol? Do those men, by pious supplications, implore the grace of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, who blasphemously allege, that the Spirit is only an attribute of God, or a creature, or at least, a person of some intermediate dignity betwixt God and a creature? How much more justly does Ignatius say,36 "Whosoever declares that God is * Apol. fol. 53. † Ψιλὸς ἄνθρωπος. "one only, in such a sense as to rob Christ of Divinity, " is a devil, and an enemy of all righteousness."* XXV. Let us now point out the more special uses of this article. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is profitable, in the first place, for INSTRUCTION, and that in a two-fold respect. 1st, Our understanding is informed in what manner it ought to be exercised in its meditations concerning God. Not confining its views merely to his One essence with its attributes, it must ascend to the Wonderful Trinity. Rightly to know God, is, unquestionably, an important part of piety; " and a more excellent object of contemplation cannot be presented to the mind, than this tremendous mystery, the intuitive and perfect knowledge of which, will complete its felicity in the light of glory. 2dly, From this incomprehensible mystery, which surpasses all sense and reason, we learn that we must renounce our own wisdom in divine matters, and reduce every thought into captivity to the obedience of faith. No one is prepared to form right views of this mystery, who has not risen above the low sphere of the senses and human reasonings, and soared to the sublimer region of faith; where, relying solely on God's own testimony respecting himself, he believes what he is able neither to see with his eyes, nor comprehend with his mind,-stopping at that precise point, beyond which divine revelation doth not conduct him. "You hear," says Gregory Nazianzen, " of the generation of the Son; be not inquisitive with respect to its mode. You hear that the Spirit pro"ceeds from the Father; beware of curiously inquiring into the manner of this procession." † 66 66 |