CHAPTER 1 Introduction; With the proof of the unity of the Divine Essence or, that there is but one God THE INTRODUCTION;
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Being the Substance of several Discourses on that important Subject; reduced into the Form of a Treatise. CHAPTER 1 Introduction; With the proof of the unity of the Divine Essence, or, that there is but one God. THE Doctrine of a Trinity of persons in the unity of the divine essence is, without controversy, a great mystery of godliness. The ancient Jews used to call it the sublime mystery,1 and sometimes the mystery of all mysteries2; which if a man did not endeavour to make him feel acquainted with, it would have been better for him if he had never been created: And sometimes they called it the mystery of faith; a phrase which the apostle uses in 1 Timothy 3:9. where he makes it one part of the qualification of a deacon, to” hold the mystery of the faith3 in a pure conscience”. By which, perhaps, agreeable to the use of the phrase among the Jews, he may chiefly design the doctrine of the Trinity. And if this is to be held in a pure conscience by deacons, much more by the ministers of Christ, who are stewards of the mysteries of God, and whole business it is to make known the mystery of the gospel to others. This is a doctrine of pure revelation. That there is a God, and that there is but one God, who is a Being possessed of all divine perfections, may be known by the light of nature: But that there is a Trinity of persons in the Godhead, who are distinct, the not divided from each other, is what natural reason could never have discovered. The books of the Old and New Testament contain the “sure word of prophecy, to which we do well if we ‘‘take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place”. This is and ought to be our guide in all such abstruse and mysterious doctrines; if we leave this, and are led and governed by the false reasonings of our carnal minds, no wonder if we run our selves into mazes, and their find it difficult to get clear. “To the law and to the testimony, if any speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them4”. ( Isaiah 8:20) Since this doctrine is revealed in scripture, it ought to be an article of our faith; though it may 1 hal[ ad azr Zohar. in Genesis fol. I. col. 3. Ed. Sultzbach, fol. 3. Ed. Cremon. 2 yzr lkd azr Zohar in Exodus fol. 66. col. 3. fol. 71. col. 4. Ed. Cremon. 3 ahwwmyhmd azr Ibid. 4 Ifa. viii.20.
