the Divine Being must necessarily exist in the full and perfect exercise of all its own moral perfections, this can only be upon the principle of communication, so repeatedly proved in the foregoing Propositions; or upon the principle of procession, now the immediate object of notice. And the chief force of the argument rests upon two great outline principles of evidence.—The first is, that as the Divine Being is necessarily existent, and possesses necessarily all moral perfections: And as morality is ever active and operative, in its very nature, in that modification of it bestowed upon the creature, it is surely still more so in its own divine nature in the Creator; and if this be so, which is surely a fair conclusion, if we should suppose the Divine Being for one single moment without the exercise of any one of its moral perfections, suppose wisdom, goodness, veracity, love, or any other moral perfection whatever, then the Divine Being must be supposed that moment to be without that perfection. We shall take wisdom as an example. If we can suppose, for a single moment, the Divine Being without the full and perfect exercise of its own wisdom, that same moment we suppose it to be without wisdom; and if the Divine Being exists for a moment without wisdom, that moment, with reverence, we may say, it is unwise; and if unwise for a moment, it may be so for a minute; and if for a minute, it may be so for an

hour; and if for an hour, it may be so for a day, a week, a month, a year; and if so, for everlasting. And this would strip the Divine Being of wisdom entirely, and rob it of one of its necessary perfections. God, without the full and perfect exercise of wisdom, for a single moment, would be no God at all. The same reasoning. will hold good with regard to the perfection of veracity, goodness, and love, or any other moral perfection we may incline to exemplify.-The second argument upon which we rest the force of our reasoning is, that if it be granted that, in any one instance throughout eternity, past, present, or to come, the Divine Being can exercise any one of its own moral perfections for a single moment, it must for ever be in the full and perfect exercise of that perfection.--Suppose love. The divine love, in its own nature, is eternal, immense, and immutable; and if that which is eternal, immense, and immutable, be ever, in any one instance, for a single moment, exercised according to its own nature, it must be exercised eternally, immensely, and immutably. The Divine Being, therefore, must be in the full and perfect exercise of its own love, eternally, immensely, and immutably. These two arguments chain the subject (if we may so speak) with rivetted bolts. The first proves hat the Divine Being cannot exist a single moment without the full and perfect exercise of each and of all its own moral

perfections. The second proves, that if the Divine Being exist in the full and perfect exercise of each and of all its moral perfections for a single moment, it must exist in the full and perfect exercise of all its moral perfections, eternally, immensely, and immutably. And this can only be, according to the law of the activity, energy, and operation of its own essence, and moral perfections, as naturally and necessarily proceeding from one distinct mode of subsistence to another distinct mode of subsistence; and in one joint active principle, proceeding from these two, equally, to subsist in a third mode, where all divine perfection is consummated. If, therefore, reason can get a hearing, the Divine Being must exist in the full and perfect exercise of each and of all its moral perfections, through every point of eternity and immensity; and this is absolutely necessary to the consummation of the perfection of the Divine Being. For the very existence of each and of all the divine moral perfections, supposes the exercise of each and of all: and the exercise of each and of all, for a single moment, supposes the full and perfect exercise of each and of all, eternally, immensely, and immutably. And the supposition of the full and perfect exercise of each and of all, eternally, immensely, and immutably, supposes the full and perfect procession of the Divine Essence and perfections from one mode of subsistence to another, eter

nally, immensely, and immutably. And the supposition of the procession of the Divine Essence and perfections, from one distinct mode to another, eternally, immensely, and immutably, supposes the procession of the Divine Essence and perfections, in one joint, active principle, from these two distinct modes of subsistence, to a third; and this consummates the procession of the Divine Essence and perfections, and thereby consummates the perfection of the Divine Being. Whatever may be said to the contrary, these arguments will bear their full weight, in a cool and dispassionate investigation of the subject, and satisfactorily prove, that the Divine Being must exist in the full and perfect exercise of each and and of all its own moral perfections, in order to the absolute perfection of its own nature; and that, in order to the absolute perfection of its own nature, it must subsist in three distinct modes or persons, and can subsist in neither more nor less than three.

Another method of arguing the subject, founded up

on the necessity of a final termination of the procession of the Divine Essence and perfections in the third person.

2. It is necessary to ascertain the final termination of procession; and this can only be in the third person. And unless that we can prove

a final termination of it in this third person, we cannot tell to how many persons it may extend, or whether there may be any termination of it, ad infinitum. And we set out upon the principle of the simplicity, unity, and indivisibility of the Divine Essence, and we argue, that the procession of it, with all its perfections and attributes, from the first mode of subsistence, can only constitute another mode of subsistence, every way equal to the first for the whole must be equal to the whole, in whatever mode it may subsist. And considering the whole to proceed from one mode to subsist in another, the procession must be necessary, eternal, immense, and immutable, every way corresponding to the extent of the Divine Essence; for no other kind of procession could possibly exist in the Divine Nature, without composition, division, or multiplication of that which is necessarily simple, and without parts. We argue, therefore, that this procession is not that the Divine Essence may be compounded, divided, or multiplied, but simply that it may subsist after a different manner. And by the procession of the very same essence and perfections, in one active principle, from the first and second, to subsist in a third mode, distinct from the other two, the Divine Essence is neither compounded, divided, nor multiplied, nor changed in any way whatever, for this is absolutely impossible; but only, by the necessary law of the