These things, perhaps, are not quite so familiar and plain to the more simple and the generality among us, and may seem more proper for subjects of discussion in the schools. But since we see that Satan draws up that Leviathan-tail of his, and is attempting to spit forth at once this terrible venom, that he might in these "last days" stir up all the whole sink of heresies together: since the world is filled with light-minded and curiousspirited characters, whose itching ears are delighted with novelty, and who are soon tired of hearing sound doctrine and since, on that account, the mouth of Satan stands open ready to vomit forth all kinds of maddened deliriums among sound doctrine :-it is therefore useful and necessary, that there should be some, either of the commonalty or of the learned, and especially of the pastors and teachers of the churches and of the youth in the schools, who should expressly devote themselves to speaking on, and teaching rightly, properly, according to the scriptures, and in the common language, these grand articles; the true knowledge of which ought most necessarily to be possessed by all the church.

And if there be any one who is not able to apprehend these abstruser things, as they may appear, let such an one, together with the children and others who are training up under the catechism of the Christian doctrine, hold fast by a simple faith, and follow, those things which he has learnt in our Creed of the articles of faith; and let him assist others by his godly prayers; praying against Satan, against all the furies stirred up by him, and against all the deliriums of the Jews and Mahometans, that he fall not into temptation.

AND now, since we are thus entered upon this discussion, let us, with a design to assist those to whom our labours will be acceptable, and to confirm and testify our own faith by this our confession, collect a few more authorities, both examples and figures, which tend to declare this same article.-which teaches, that, in the Godhead, the divine Essence is neither to

be divided nor sundered, nor the Persons to be confounded.

In that glorious, and perhaps the greatest, manifestation that was made from above, the baptism of Christ at the river Jordan, it is written, "The heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him; and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased," Luke iii. 21, 22.

Here, it is evident, that this dove, or this" bodily shape" of a dove, (as Luke expresses it, that thou mayest not dream, that this was a visionary vanity, or a phantom, or a trick,) was a creature; made, not by the Holy Ghost only, (who nevertheless distinctly discovers himself therein,) but by God the Father and the Son also; as it has been already observed, The works of the Trinity that are wrought out of the Godhead are indivisible. For whatsoever is made, is, of necessity made equally by the Father, by the Son, and by the Holy Ghost, as One God. And yet, this dove is called the Holy Ghost only: or (to use the words of Luke) it was the Holy Ghost only that descended from heaven "in a bodily shape like a dove." For the sincerity of the Christian faith, by no means suffers it to be said, concerning that shape of the dove descending, ‘Behold, This is God the Father:' or, This is the eternal Son of God.' But we must of necessity here say, 'Here you see the Holy Ghost descending: though it is nevertheless true, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are the One same eternal God. So that you may rightly say, when you behold the dove descending, This is the One eternal God, and there is none other god besides him.' Yet again, you cannot rightly say, 'This is the eternal Father,' or, This is the eternal Son ofGod.' You can only say, by way of distinguishing the Person,This is God the Holy Spirit;' or, This is the Person of the Holy Ghost.'

And so also, the voice that was heard from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son," &c. is a creature made, not of the Father only, but of the Son and of the

Holy Ghost. According to that rule-'The works of the Trinity are indivisible :' that is, all things that are created, out of the Godhead, are created equally by all the Three Persons, as by One same God; and those Three Persons, with respect to those creatures, are the One same eternal God. And so again, all the things that are created, are, with respect to the Persons in the Godhead, one work, and not a three-fold or three-part work. And yet, the voice that was heard to speak from heaven concerning Christ, is, and is said to be, the voice of the Father only. Nor would it be orthodox or consistent with Christianity to say concerning this voice, 'This is the Son of God speaking,' or 'This is the Person of the Holy Ghost speaking. But we must of necessity say,This is the voice of the Father.' Although both the Holy Ghost and the Son, are, with the Father, the One same eternal God. So that it may be rightly said, concerning this voice that speaks, 'This is the true God, nor is there any god besides him.' And yet again, it cannot be rightly said, 'This is the eternal Son of God,' or 'This is the Holy Ghost.' But we must say this only, God the Father speaks this voice, or, is in this voice.'

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In the same manner, must we also think and speak of the human nature of Christ standing in the river Jordan. That is, that it was a creature, made equally by God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Nor does faith permit it to be said without injury, that either the Father alone, or the Son alone, or the Holy Ghost alone, was the maker of this work; that is, of the human nature in Christ. For it is the indivisible work of the Trinity; and each and every Person, as One God, were the maker of this one work: as the angel Gabriel saith to the Virgin, Luke i. 35, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee." Not only shall the Holy Ghost (saith he) be with thee, coming upon thee from above, but the Highest himself; that is, God the eternal Father shall overshadow thee by his power or divine strength; that is by his Son or Logos. And

therefore, that which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of the Most High. Thus, therefore, the whole Godhead is the Maker or Creator, and made that one same work, that is, the human nature. And yet, it was the Person of the Son, or of the Logos, only, that was united to it: it was not the Person of the Father that assumed it, nor the Person of the Holy Ghost.

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And therefore, it cannot be rightly said of this Man, Jesus of Nazareth, This is God the Father,' nor, 'This is God the Holy Ghost.' But it must of necessity be said, This is the LOGOS, the Son of God.' Although it is true, that the Father, the Logos, and the Holy Spirit, are the One same God. So that, it may be rightly and truly affirmed of this same Man, that he is God, and that there is none other god besides him. And yet it cannot rightly be said, 'This is God the Father, or the Holy Ghost.' But it must of necessity be said, 'This is the LOGOs the Son of God: as Paul speaks, Col. ii. 9, " In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." And yet, nothing is hereby taken or diminished from the divinity of the Father, or of the Holy Ghost but each of them are, together with the Son of God and the same Man Christ, One eternal God!

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From these things I think it may be clearly understood, how it is, that the Three Persons in the eternal Godhead, and distinctly in the Godhead, are believed in, and are not compelled to be confounded into one Person and yet, that you are not forced to divide the Unity of the divine Essence, or to make three gods: but that, when you look out of the Godhead unto the creatures, you may confess, that there is but One Maker or Creator: and that he is so smiply, and only One, that even these creatures, in which each one of the Three Persons distinctly and separately manifests himself, (as we have shewn in the baptism of Christ,) are the work of the One same eternal God!

And, in order that the more simple may by some means or other be brought to think on these mysteries

represented before them as it were in a picture, some writers, and particularly Bonaventura, make use of quite a plain similitude.-That it is like unto three virgins, two of which among them clothe the other one with a new garment: yet so, that all the three put their hands to the same garment at the same time, and the third, together with the other two, puts the garment on herself. Here the three virgins together clothe the one with the garment: yet so, that one only, and not the other two, is clothed in that garment.

According to this similitude, it is also to be understood here, that the Three Persons in the Godhead, the One God, Creator, and Maker, were the One Author of the one and same work; that is, of the human nature of Christ; and united it with the Son of God, the LoGoS, in the same Person. Yet so, that the Son, the LOGOS only, and not the Father nor the Holy Ghost, assumed that nature. And in the same manner also are we to understand it concerning the "dove," in the "shape of which the Holy Ghost revealed himself at the baptism of Christ.-And in the same way also we are to understand it concerning the "rushing mighty wind" and the "tongues of fire," under which the same Spirit revealed himself visibly on the day of Pentecost. And also in all other testimonies and manifestations that are ascribed to the Holy Ghost, which he is said, in the church or in the scriptures by the prophets, to have wrought.

BUT here it will, not perhaps improperly, be asked by some, why it is commonly said in the Confession or Creed of Faith, or rather, why the scriptures teach us to say, 'I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,' and why the Son is not properly called the Maker ? ' And again, I believe in Jesus Christ, who was conceived of the Holy Ghost,' (not of God the Father?) And again, why it is said in the Nicene Creed, ‘I believe in the Holy Ghost (not in the Father or the Son) who spake by the prophets?' Here certainly distinct