ration in this matter. Let the direct express revelations of the doctrine be firmed, they will follow of themselves, nor will be excepted against by those who believe and receive it. Let that be rejected, and they will fall of themselves, and never be contended for by those who did make use of them. But of these things we shall treat again afterward.

This therefore is the way, the only way that we rtionally can, and that which in duty we ought to proceed in and by, for the asserting and confirming of the doctrine of the holy Trinity under consideration; namely, that we produce divine revelations or testimonies, wherein faith may safely rest and acquiesce, that God is one; that this one God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; so that the Father is God, so also is the Son, and the Holy Ghost likewise, and as such are to be believed in, obeyed, worshipped, acknowledged as the first cause, and last end of all, our Lord and reward. If this be not admitted, if somewhat of it be not particularly denied, we need not, we have no warrant or ground, to proceed any farther, or at all to discourse about the unity of the divine essence, or the distinction of the persons.

We have not therefore any original contest in this matter with any, but such as deny either God to be one, or the Father to be God, or the Son to be God, or the Holy Ghost so to be. If any deny either of these in particular, we are ready to confirm it by sufficient testimonies of Scripture, or clear and undeniable divine revelation. When this is evinced and vindicated, we shall willingly proceed to manifest that the explications used of this doctrine unto the edification of the church are according to truth; and such as necessarily are required by the nature of the things themselves.' And this gives us the method of the small ensuing discourse, with the reasons of it.

The first thing which we affirm to be delivered unto us by divine revelation, as the object of our faith is, that God is one. I know that this may be uncontrollably evinced by the light of reason itself, unto as good and quiet an assurance as the mind of man is capable of in any of its apprehensions whatever; but I speak of it now, as it is confirmed unto us by divine revelation. How this assertion of one God respects the nature, essence, or divine being of God, shall be declared afterward. At present it is enough

to represent the testimonies that he is one, only one. And because we have no difference with our adversaries distinctly about this matter, I shall only name some few of them. Deut. vi. 4. Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.' A most pregnant testimony; and yet, notwithstanding, as I shall elsewhere manifest, the Trinity itself, in that one divine essence is here asserted. Isa. xliv. 6. 8. Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no God, I know not any ;' in which also we may manifest that a plurality of persons is included and expressed. And although there be no more absolute and sacred truth than this, that God is one; yet it may be evinced, that it is nowhere mentioned in the Scripture, but that either in the words themselves, or the context of the place, a plurality of persons in that one sense is intimated.

Secondly, It is proposed as the object of our faith, that the Father is God. And herein, as is pretended, there is also an agreement between us, and those who oppose the doctrine of the Trinity. But there is a mistake in this matter. Their hypothesis, as they call it, or indeed presumptuous error, casts all the conceptions that are given us concerning God in the Scripture, into disorder and confusion. For the Father, as he whom we worship, is often called so, only with reference unto his Son; as the Son is so, with reference to the Father. He is the only begotten of the Father;' John i. 14. But now, if this Sou had no pre-existence in his divine nature before he was born of the Virgin, there was no God the Father seventeen hundred years ago, because there was no Son. And on this ground did the Marcionites of old, plainly deny the Father, whom under the New Testament we worship, to be the God of the Old Testament, who made the world and was worshipped from the foundation of it. For it seems to follow, that he whom we worship being the Father, and on this supposition that the Son had no pre-existence unto his incarnation, he was not the Father under the Old Testament, he is some other from him that was so revealed. I know the folly of that inference; yet how on this opinion of the sole existence of the Son in time, men can prove the Father to be God, let others determine.

He who abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son; but whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, he hath not God;' 2 John 9. Whoever denies Christ the Son, as the Son, that is, the eternal Son of God, he loses the Father also, and the true God; he hath not God. For that God which is not the Father, and which ever was, and was not the Father, is not the true God. Hence many of the fathers, even of the first writers of the church, were forced unto great pains in the confirmation of this truth, that the Father of Jesus Christ was he who made the world, gave the law, spake by the prophets, and was the author of the Old Testament; and that against men who professed themselves to be Christians. And this brutish apprehension of theirs, arose from no other principle but this, that the Son had only a temporal existence, and was not the eternal Son of God.

But that I may not in this brief discourse digress unto other controversies than what lies directly before us, and seeing the adversaries of the truth we contend for, do, in words at least, grant that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the true God, or the only true God, I shall not farther shew the inconsistency of their hypothesis with this confession; but take it for granted, that to us there is one God the Father;' 1 Cor. viii. 6. see John xvii. 3. So that he who is not the Father, who was not so from eternity, whose paternity is not equally co-existent unto his Deity, is not God unto us.

Thirdly, It is asserted and believed by the church, that Jesus Christ is God; the eternal Son of God; that is, he is proposed, declared, and revealed unto us in the Scripture to be God, that is to be served, worshipped, believed in, obeyed as God, upon the account of his own divine excellencies, And whereas we believe and know that he was man, that he was born, lived, and died as a man, it is declared that he is God also; and that as God, he did preexist in the form of God before his incarnation, which was effected by voluntary actings of his own; which could not be without a pre-existence in another nature. This is proposed unto us to be believed upon divine testimony, and by divine revelation. And the sole inquiry in this matter is, whether this be proposed in the Scripture as an object of faith, and that which is indispensably necessary for us to

believe. Let us then nakedly attend unto what the Scripture asserts in this matter, and that in the order of the books of it in some particular instances which at present occur to mind; as these that follow:

Psalm xlv. 6. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.' Applied unto Christ, Heb. i. 8. 'But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.'

Psalm lxviii. 17, 18. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.' Applied unto the Son, Eph. iv. 8. 'Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.' Psalm cx. 1. my right hand.'

xxii. 44.

The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at
Applied unto Christ by himself, Matt.

Psalm cii. 25-27.

Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.' Declared by the apostle to be meant of the Son, Heb. i. 10.

Prov. viii. 22-31. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth; when he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of

the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable parts of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.

Isa. vi. 1-3. 'I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.' Applied unto the Son, John xii. 41, 42.

Isa. viii. 13, 14. 'Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.' Applied unto the Son, Luke ii. 34. Rom. ix. 33. 1 Pet. ii. 8.

Isa. ix. 6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.'

Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. 'Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch. And this is his name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness.'

Hos. xii. 3-5. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God; yea, he had power over the angel and prevailed: he wept and made supplications unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us; even the Lord God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial.'

Zech. ii. 8, 9. For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled: you: and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me.'

Matt. xvi. 16. 'Thou art Christ the Son of the living God.' Luke i. 35. 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.'

John i. 1-3. In the beginning was the Word, and the