Page images
PDF
EPUB

SERMON I.

ON THE TRINITY.

1 JOHN V. 7.

"There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are One."

WHOEVER seeks to explain a mystery, undertakes a task that involves a contradiction in itself; for, whatever admits of explanation—can be conveyed with clearness to the mind, becomes a part of our actual acquirement, and ceases to be obscure. Unless, therefore, we are vain enough to believe that there is nothing deeper than the mind of man may fathom, nor higher than his intellect may reach; unless, in fact, we believe that a finite mind can penetrate the designs of the

B

Almighty; we are not, necessarily, to reject every doctrine which we cannot understand, provided we have sufficient grounds for believing it; since it may only be beyond our reason, and not at variance with it. More especially, when summoned to contemplate upon the nature and essence of the eternal Being, we must proceed with a caution that will make us dread the presumption of seeking to be wise beyond that which is written; and give up the vain hope of ever understanding the nature of God, while we understand not the nature of our own existence.

An endeavour to comprehend the sacred mystery of the Triune Deity, will at least be fruitless, if it be not impious; it will weary the mind, without informing the judgment; and, perhaps, distract us with doubt, instead of making us wise unto salvation. Such high mysteries as the Trinity in Unity; the substance of one nature in three Persons, or of three Persons in one undivided nature, are to be reckoned in the number of those secret things, which

belong to God alone to understand, and are to be received by us with humility, adoration and faith. But that such has been the faith of Christians from the descent of the Holy Ghost on the first Apostles to the present day; and that the labours of the early Fathers were directed to the establishment of the sacred truth, is familiar to those whose attention, either from duty or inclination, has been directed to the study of theology. It is not to be denied, however, that in the very first ages of the Gospel this corner-stone of Christianity was attacked; and the writings of St. John, the last of the inspired penmen, were directed towards the removal of a heresy which thus early had found admission into the Church.

Leaving, however, the labours of holy, but uninspired, men of old, and not seeking to establish the important doctrine of the Trinity by the aid of their testimony, we will search the records upon which all religious knowledge can alone, with safety, be based, and see what instruction may be drawn from this fountain of truth. But

here I would observe that, in not calling to our aid the labours and the writings of these first defenders of our faith, it is from no want of feeling the high importance and conclusive nature of their testimony, but simply because that, in the brief limits of a discourse, where all the evidence in support of a truth cannot be included, the secondary must ever yield to the primary. Yet, it is no small satisfaction to know that, on this fundamental article of revealed religion, there has ever been an unity of sentiment among those who had heads to understand and hearts to be guided by the Scriptures of Truth; and that, for the first three centuries of the Christian era, none were accused of heresy but those who denied the doctrine of the Trinity.

Omitting also the evidence that may be gleaned from the Scriptures of the Old Testament, I shall endeavour to show that the writings of the New Testament most clearly and explicitly refer to three distinct Persons, under the titles of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost or Spirit; to each

one of whom, individually, is applied the name, the nature, the attributes, and the perfections of God; and that while, separately, each Person, by Himself, is God; the Three, jointly, are but one God. Having done this, let us pause; not vainly seeking to understand a mystery which even the angels themselves desire to look into; but gratefully accepting, as an article of faith, what never can become an article of knowledge.

The first passage I shall quote, to show the distinction of three Persons, is the annunciation that was made by the angel to the Virgin Mary, before the birth of our blessed Saviour. "The angel said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore, also, that Holy Thing that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God." Here is a clear and marked distinction between the Holy Ghost--the Highest, whose power the Holy Ghost is-and the Holy Thing that was to be called the Son of God.

After the birth of this promised child,

« PreviousContinue »