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SERMON IV.

The Trinity in Unity.

1 JOHN V. 7.

There are three that bear Record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghoft: And these three are

one.

T

HESE Words have been very SERM. much canvased by Interpreters; IV. fome have acknowledged them

to be genuine, whilst others have rejected them as fpurious, and inferted by fome other Hand, than that of the Penman of the facred Text: True it is, that they were omitted in fome Copies, but this happened by the Overfight and Carelefnefs of fome Tranfcribers; for it is evident, that the most antient Copies have them. That this is Fact, and that the Words are a true and genuine Part of the Holy Scripture, hath been fully proved by feveral able Hands; and therefore I F 4 fhall

SERM. fhall not spend my prefent Time in reIV. peating what hath been faid on this Head,

but, taking them for genuine, as being agreeable to the Analogy of Faith, and confirmed by other Texts of unquestionable Authority, I fhall endeavour to give fuch an Account of the Truths they contain as may serve to establish this Article of our Creed concerning the Trinity in Unity, to fence it against the Objections of prophane and atheistical Men, and to confirm the true Sons of the Church in their most holy Faith.

I Do not intend to foar up into any curious Speculations, or to dive into the unfathomable Depth of this Mystery, or to folve the nice and no lefs impertinent Questions spun from School-learning: But to fhew you in plain and intelligent Terms what is to be known concerning this Myftery, and to lay down fuch Confiderations as may be ferviceable to extricate the Mind of every honeft and fincere Chriftian, from thofe Difficulties he may poffibly labour under, as to the Doctrine of The Trinity in Unity.

AND, that what I have to fay, on this Subject, may be more intelligible, I shall profecute my Difcourfe in the following Method:

I. I SHALL

SERM.

I, I SHALL fhew that the Doctrine of the IV. Trinity in Unity could never have been difcovered by the Light of Reason, nor can it be comprehended by it.

II. THAT this Doctrine is plainly revealed to us in the Holy Scripture.

III. THAT this is a fundamental Doctrine, and abfolutely neceffary to be believed. IV. I SHALL Confider the Reafons, why learned Men err fo much in their Difquifitions concerning it.

V. I SHALL lay down fome Rules, by the Use of which we may proceed most fafely in the Contemplation of it.

VI. and Laftly, I SHAL. make fome plain Inferences from the foregoing Difcourfe.

I. I AM to fhew that the Doctrine of the Trinity in Unity could never have been discovered by human Reason, nor can it be comprehended by it.

THE Plumb-line of human Reason is too short, to fathom the unfearchable Abyss of the Divine Nature. We We may, indeed, by the Difquifitions of Reafon fpell out this Truth from the Book of Nature, that there is a God, and that this first and most perfect Being must be the Source

and

SERM. and Fountain of all thofe Perfections, IV. which are derived down to his Creatures;

but, what those effential Properties, which conftitute the Divine Nature, are, we can by no other Means learn with Certainty, than by Revelation. For these Perfections, confidered as they are in God, are infinite, and must needs tranfcend our finite Capacities. Nay, it is highly probable, there are many Perfections in the Divine Nature, which we are wholly ignorant of; and, therefore, it may well be made a Question, which of the two implies the greatest Abfurdity, That there fhould be no God at all, or, That there fhould be fuch a fupreme Being, as might be comprehended by his Creatures? Unity is a Perfection which, natural Reason, as well as Revelation, informs us, belongs to the Deity; but that there are three Persons in the Godhead, and that these three Perfons are but one God, could never have entered into the Mind of Man, if it had not been revealed from above.

FOR it is a different Thing to find out a Truth by the Dint of Reason, and to give probable Arguments for the Eftablishing of it, when it is difcovered to the latter has been attempted both by antient and modern Reafoners about

us;

this Article of the Trinity in Unity; the SERM, former could never have been effected, IV. but by the Revelation of God's Holy Spirit. For it is highly foolish and abfurd for us to fancy, that our Thoughts are like God's Thoughts, and our Understandings commenfurate to an infinite Mind. Alas! we are Mafters of very little true and folid Knowledge; we behold only the Shell and Outfide of Things in this Life, and that through a Glafs darkly: And, if we are fo ignorant of thofe Things we daily converfe with, it is no Wonder, that the Being of an infinite God fhould exceed the Compafs of our weak Understandings. Our Reason, like a good Telescope, may ferve to affift us in the Contemplation of thofe Truths which are near us; but God dwells in Light inacceffible, and is too far removed from our Sphere, and too bright to be comprehended, by the glimmering Light of human Reafon. And, therefore, the Way to obtain any true and folid Knowledge, concerning this myfterious Article of our Faith, is to have Recourfe to the Holy Scriptures, and there we shall find,

II. Secondly, THAT this Truth of the Trinity in Unity is plainly and clearly revealed to us. We do not, indeed, find

it