work. The Son and the Holy Ghost created the world by the same power, and by the same act, with the Father. The manner of those works which respect our redemption, is, nevertheless, somewhat different. As a participation of the human nature was requisite to the performance of these, and as the Son alone assumed this nature into personal union with himself, these works, being the works of the God-man, are peculiar to the Son. Yet it is admitted that in so far as the Godhead was concerned, they are the works of the whole Trinity; and, accordingly, they are, in this view, attributed to the Father and the Holy Spirit equally with the Son. To the Father: "Believest thou not that I am "in the Father, and the Father in me? The words "that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the "Father that dwelleth in me, he doth the works.”— To the Holy Spirit: "I cast out devils by the Spirit "of God." The incarnation itself, and similar acts, though peculiar to the Son in respect that they terminate upon him only, are nevertheless, in regard to the agency by which they are effected, the works of the whole Trinity.c III. But this distinction of the Divine works, has a respect, 1st, To the order of the Persons, which ought to be observed in their operation, as well as their subsistence. Thus, because the Father is the First person of the Godhead, and creation is the first external work of the Deity, as it is the beginning of all those things that are without God,* it is justly ascribed, by special economy, to the Father, who, on this account, is called "Lord of heaven and earth." Yet the Yet the agency of the Son, and the Holy Ghost, is not excluded from this work. 2dly, It is necessary, also, to attend to the terminating of an act upon some certain Person. For this reason, redemption is attributed to the Second person, for whom alone the human nature was prepared, in and by which the Godhead performed many acts relating to our salvation. The Father, however, is said to have "reconciled the world to himself,"h and to have "made peace by the blood of the cross of Christ :"i and we" are washed, sanctified, and justified, by the Spirit "of our God."; Paul, in like manner, says of the living God, essentially considered, that he is "the Saviour " of all men, especially of them that believe."k 3dly, Some add that the distinction of the Divine works has a respect to the proximate and immediate principle of operation, and that, in this view, our sanctification should be ascribed to the Holy Ghost. We may be permitted, however, to call in question the solidity of this sentiment; for one Divine person doth not act by another, as an intermediate cause; and, as the power of all the persons is one and the same, each of them accomplishes an effect by the same immediate operation. A holy God, essentially considered, is the sanctifier of Israel.m The Father and the Son perform this work not less immediately than the Spirit; for the power and the operation of all the three are the same. If, indeed, the order of operation amongst the persons be considered, the Father acts by the Son and the Holy Ghost. But, in this sense, all the works of God ought e Heb. i. 10. i Col. i. 20. f Gen. i. 2. 2 Thess. ii. 13. m Ezek. xx. 12. to be characterised as the immediate works of the Holy Ghost. This, however, is foreign to the purpose; for the Father acts no less immediately by the Son, than the Son himself acts; and the Father and the Son act no less immediately by the Holy Spirit, than the Holy Spirit himself acts. It is only where there is a diversity of essences and of operations, that the distinction betwixt a remote and a proximate, or betwixt a mediate and an immediate cause, can have any place.* Why, then, is sanctification so uniformly ascribed to the third person? No reason occurs to me, at present, more satisfactory than the following. The sanctification of a sinner is the consequence of the grace and the merits of Christ:30 in the order of subsistence and operation amongst the three Divine persons, the Holy Spirit follows. the Son, and hence he is called "the Spirit of the Son :"n it appears, therefore, that the application of the merits of the Son, cannot be more properly attributed to any of the persons, than to him who is next the Son, who is sent by him, and who applies those blessings only, which belong to the Son, and which he receives from him." IV. It is of importance to examine this mystery more distinctly. I shall not now explain the terms made use of by the Church on this subject, which Gomar, according to his usual manner,† has treated accurately, and John Gerhard more copiously.‡ Nor shall I scholastically define what is intended by essence, existence, suppositum, and person. Such definitions may be *Vid. Forbes. Instruct. Histor. Theol. lib. i. cap. 10. learned from those systems which are in every one's hand. I shall only state, with great simplicity, and in a manner adapted to the weakest capacities, what we ought to know and believe respecting this tremendous mystery. The true God, who is the Creator of heaven and earth, and the salvation of his chosen people, is one only, according to the most absolute unity. But, in perfect consistency with this unity, there are three Hypostases, or Persons distinct from one another; each of whom is the only true God, and who have the same common form, † nature, or essence:§ for, "according "to the holy Fathers, essence, and nature, and form are synonymous terms." These three are the FATHER, the WORD or SON, and the HOLY GHOST; who are not three Gods, nor merely three names, or attributes, or powers of God; but three distinct Persons in one individual Godhead. It is sufficient for salvation to know what has just been stated, though one remain ignorant of the subtle refinements of the schools, which are often bold, and really presumptuous and unadvised. v. This doctrine belongs to the number of those mysteries of our religion, which man, particularly in his corrupt state, cannot learn from nature alone, and of which Justin Martyr beautifully says: "They surpass "all the understanding, all the language, in short, all "the comprehension of a created nature. If, therefore, "amidst your inquiries into them, any doubt arise in your mind, avail yourself of that which affords a ready "solution of your doubts respecting the subject of in 66 66 quiry, to wit, faith."* Christ himself says in reference to this mystery, "No man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save "the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal “him.” It is, therefore, only by the revelation of the Son, that the relation which exists between him and the Father is known. On this account, we cannot subscribe to the opinion of such of our theologians as have endeavoured to prove, to confirm, and by tedious similitudes to illustrate this mystery, by arguments derived from nature; which, after others, Bisterfeld has acutely and copiously attempted, in the Synopsis prefixed to his learned work against Crellius. It is much safer to keep within the bounds of Scripture alone, lest we involve ourselves in unnecessary difficulties. The testimonies produced from Orpheus, Zoroaster, Trismegistus, the Sibyls, and similar writers, are not genuine; and the clearer they are, they are the more to be suspected. It seems contrary to the sacred oracles, as Casaubon well argues,† to imagine, that mysteries so profound were more clearly propounded to the Heathen, than to that people whom God Almighty was pleased to favour as peculiarly his own, and to instruct, by his own immediate voice, and by that of his faithful servants. The passages produced from Plato and his disciples, whilst they tally with this doctrine in words, differ from it in sense, and may be considered as borrowed either from the sacred writings which were then extant, or from * Conful. Græcar. Quæst. p. 304. + Exercit. i. ad Apparatum Annalium, Num. xviii. p. 53. See, in particular, Amyrault's Dissert. de Myster. Trinit. p. 112, 117, et seq. 9 Mat. xi. 27. |