XV.

Matth. XXVIII. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the FATHER, and of the SON, and of the HOLY GHOST.

XVI.

2 Thes. III. 5. The LORD (the Holy Ghost, see c. II. art. IV. XVIII.) direct your hearts into the love of GOD (the Father) and into the patient waiting for

CHRIST.

XVII.

2 Cor. XIII. 14. The grace of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, and the love of GOD, and the communion of the HOLY

GHOST.

In this and the foregoing article, the order of the persons is different from that of Matth. XXVIII. 19. the Holy Ghost having the first place in the former of them, and Christ in the

latter:

latter: which is a sufficient warrant for that clause in the Creed of St. Athanasius-"In this Trinity, none is afore or after other." And Dr. Clarke, I presume, apprehended something of this sort; because he has corrected the Apostle, and transposed the order of the persons in 2 Cor: XIII. 14. without the least apology, or giving his reader any warning of it. §. LV. p. 377.

1 John V. 7. There are THREE that bear record in heaven, the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY GHOST —

There has been much disputing about the authenticity of this Text. I firmly believe it to be genuine for the following reasons. 1. St. Jerom, who had a better opportunity of examining the true merits of the cause than we can possibly have at this distance of time, tells us plainly, that he found out how it had been adulterated, mistranslated, and omitted on purpose to elude the truth. 2. The Divines of Lovain having compared many Latin co

Præf, ad Canon. Epist,

never.

pies, found this text wanting but in five of them; and R. Stephens found it retained in nine of sixteen ancient manuscripts which he used. 3. It is certainly quoted twice by St. Cyprian, who wrote before the council of Nice: and also by Tertullian; as the reader is left to judge after he has read the Passage in the Margin. Dr. Clarke therefore is not to be believed when he tells us, it was 66 "cited by any of the Latins before St. Jerom"." 4. The Sense is not perfect without it; there being a contrast of three witnesses in heaven, to three upon earth; the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, whose testimony is called the witness of God; and the Spirit, the Water, and the blood, which being administered by the Church upon earth, is called the witness of men. He that desires to see this text farther vindicated from the malice of Faustus Socinus, may consult Pool's Synopsis, and Dr. Hammond. And I wish that he would also read what has lately been published upon it by my good and learned

a De Unit. Eccl. 109. Epist. LXXIII.

b Connexus patris in filio, et filii in paracleto, tres efficit cohærentes, alterum ex altero; qui tres unum sunt, &c. adv. Prax.

See the text in his 2d Edition.

friend Dr. Delany, in his volume of Sermons, p. 69, &c.

But even allowing it to be spurious, it contains nothing but what is abundantly asserted elsewhere; and that both with regard to the Trinity in general, and this their divine Testimony in particular. For that there are three divine persons who bear record to the Mission of Christ, is evident from the following Scrip

tures.

John VIII. 17, 18. The testimony of two men is truc.

I am ONE that bear witness of MYSELF.

The FATHER that sent me beareth witness of

me.

1 John V. 6. It is the SPIRIT that beareth witness. And Christ has also mentioned, upon another occasion, a plurality of witnesses in heaven, WE speak (says he) that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not OUR Witness3! which can be no other than the witness of the Trinity; because it is added-no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven; therefore no man could join with Christ in revealing the things of heaven to us.

XIX.

Isai. VI. 3. And one cried unto another and said, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD OF HOSTS. See also Rev. IV. 8.

66

"They are not content, (says Origen) to

say it once or twice; but take the perfect "number of the Trinity, thereby to declare "the manifold holiness of God; which is "a repeated intercommunion of a threefold

holiness; the holiness of the Father, the "holiness of the only begotten Son, and of "the Holy Ghost"." And that the Seraphim did really celebrate all the three persons of the Godhead upon this occasion, is no conjecture; but a point capable of the clearest demonstration.

The Prophet tells us, v. 1, he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne; and at v. 5, that his eyes had seen the king, the Lord of Hosts.

a Non eis sufficit semel clamare sanctus, neque bis; sed perfectum numerum Trinitatis assumunt, ut multitudinem sanctitatis Dei manifestent; quæ est trinæ sanctitatis repetita communitas; sanctitas patris, sanctitas unigeniti filii, et spiritus sancti. Orig. Hom, in loc.

Now