4thly. Justin Martyr declares, that "more than one Divine person are denoted by the phrase, The man is become as one of us; and that one of these is Christ."

5thly. Clemens Alexandrinus says, "The Logos is the universal Architect ;" that is, the Maker of all things. He further says, "The Logos is the Creator of men and of the world." He also speaks of the Logos as the universal Ruler, and Instructer.

III. That Christ was truly God, in the view of the ancient Church, will fully appear from the following testimonies.

1st. Clement of Rome, who was a companion of the Apostles, calls Christ" the sceptre of the greatness of God," and says, "he had it in his power to have come with pomp and magnificence, but would not."

2dly. Polycarp, a disciple of St. John, when at the stake, addressed a prayer to God, which he concluded in this manner: "For all things I praise thee; I bless thee; I glorify thee; together with the eternal and heavenly Jesus Christ; with whom, unto thee, and the Holy Spirit, be glory, both now and for ever, world without end. Amen."

3dly. Justin Martyr declares, that "Christ, the first born Word of God, existed as God; that he is Lord and God, as being the Son of God; and that he was the God of Israel."

He also says, "We adore, and love, the Word of the unbegotten and invisible God." And again, "Him (the Father of righteousness) and that Son who hath proceeded from him, and the Prophetical Spirit, (that is, the Spirit of Inspiration) we worship and adore."

This doctrine, also, Trypho, his Jewish antagonist, admits as the doctrine of the Gentile Christians, generally.

4thly. The Church of Smyrna, in their Epistle to the other Churches concerning the Martyrdom of Polycarp, in which the abovementioned doxology is quoted, says, "We can never forsake Christ, nor worship any other: for we worship Him as being the Son of God."

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5thly. Athenagoras says, "The Nss xa Aoyos, Mind and Word of God, is the Son of God;" and, "We who preach God, preach God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are One."

6thly. Tatian, Bishop of Antioch, who flourished in the year 172, says, "We declare, that God was born in human form."

7thly. Melito, Bishop of Sardis, who flourished in the year 177, says, "We are worshippers of one God, who is before all, and in all, in his Christ, who is truly God the Eternal Word."

8thly. Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, says, "The three days before the creation of the heavenly luminaries, represent the Trinity; God, and his Word, and his Wisdom."

9thly. Clemens Alexandrinus prays to Christ to be propitious, and says, "Son and Father, both One Lord, grant, that we may

praise the Son, and the Father, with the Holy Ghost, all in One; in whom are all things, through whom are all things in One, through whom is Eternity, of whom we are all members, to him, who is in all things good, in all things beautiful, universally wise and just, to whom be glory, both now and for ever. Amen." He also says, "Gather together thy children, to praise in a holy manner, to celebrate without guile, Christ, Eternal Logos, infinite age, Eternal light, fountain of mercy."

10thly. Tertullian says, "The name of Christ is every where believed, and every where worshipped, by all the nations mentioned above. He reigns every where, and is every where adored. He is alike to all a King and to all a Judge, and to all a God and a Lord."

Again; "Behold all nations henceforth emerging from the gulph of error, to the Lord God the Creator, and to God his Christ."

Tertullian also declares, that " Tiberius received accounts from Palestine, of the things, which manifested the truth of Christ's Divinity."

To these Christian testimonies, all of the two first centuries, I shall subjoin a few others, out of multitudes, which belong to a later period.

The testimony of Origen, in his comment on the text, has been already seen. He, also, says, "We (Christians) worship One God, the Father, and the Son."

He further says, "Now, that you may know the Omnipotence of the Father and the Son to be one and the same, as He is one and the same God and Lord with the Father; hear what St. John hath said in the Revelation. These things saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. For who is the Almighty that is to come, but Christ ?"

He, also, mentions the Christians, as saying, "that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are One God; and speaks of this as a difficult, and perplexing doctrine, to such as hear not with faith, or are not Christians."

Again; he says, "When we come to the grace of Baptism, we acknowledge One God only, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."

Origen flourished in the year 230.

Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, who flourished in the year 248, "Christ is our God; that is, not of all, but of the faithful, and believing."

says,

The Council of Antioch, which sat about the year 264, in their Epistle, say, "In the whole Church, he is believed to be God, who emptied himself, indeed, of a state of equality with God; and man, of the seed of David, acording to the flesh."

Eusebius, the celebrated Ecclesiastical historian, who flourished in the year 315, declares, that Pilate, in his letter to Tiberias conVOL. II.

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cerning the miracles of Christ, says, that "he was raised from the dead; and that he was already believed by the body of the People to be God."

This part of the subject I shall conclude with the following heathen testimonies.

Pliny the Younger, in his letter to the Emperor Trajan from the province of Bithynia, whither he went with Proconsular authority, writes, that "certain Christians, whom he had examined, affirmed, that they were wont to meet together on a stated day, before it was light, and sing among themselves, alternately, a hymn to Christ, as to some God." This letter is, with the highest probability, placed in the year 107.

Celsus, an eminent Epicurean Philosopher, and Adversary of the Christians, charges them with worshipping Christ, "who," he says, "has appeared of late ;" and whom he calls, "The Minister of God." Celsus flourished in the year 176.

At the same time flourished Lucian, the celebrated Writer of Dialogues, and a Philosopher of the same sect. In the Philopatris, a dialogue frequently attributed to him, Triphon represents the Christians as "swearing by the Most high God; the Great, Immortal, Celestial Son of the Father; the Spirit, proceeding from the Father; One of three, and three of One."

Hierocles, who flourished about the year 303, a Heathen Philosopher also, says, that "the Christians, on account of a few miracles, proclaim Christ to be God."

On these testimonies I shall only ask a single question. Can any person, who has them before him, doubt, for a moment, that the Christian Church, in its earliest ages, acknowledged, and worshipped, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as the only living and true God?

To the testimony of the Christian Church I shall now add that of the Jewish Church.

Philo, the celebrated Jew of Alexandria, who lived before the birth of our Saviour, calls the Logos the Eternal Logos, or Word; and says, that "he is necessarily eternal, and the image of the invisible God."

Further he says, "He, who is, is on each side attended by his nearest Powers; of which one is Creative, and the other Kingly. The Creative is God, by which he founded and adorned the Universe. The Kingly is Lord. He who is in the middle, being thus attended by both his Powers, exhibits to the discerning mind, the appearance, sometimes of One, and sometimes of Three."

Of the Logos he says, " He, who is the begotten, imitating the ways of his Father, and observing his archetypal patterns, produces forms;" that is, material things. He often calls the Logos, the Divine Logos; and represents him as the Manager, or Ruler of the world. He further says, that " God governs all things according to the strictest justice, having set over them his righteous Lo

gos, his first begotten Son." The duration of created things he ascribes to this cause; that they were framed by Him, who remains; and who is never in any respect changed; the Divine Logos." Finally; he calls the Logos an Angel; the Name of God; a Man; the Beginning; the Eternal Image; the most ancient Angel; the Archangel, of many names; and the High Priest of this world; and says, "His head is anointed with oil."

The Chaldee Paraphrasts, and other Jewish commentators, speak of this subject in a similar manner.

They speak of the Mimra, the Hebrew term, rendered in the Greek Aoyos, and in the English Word, as "the Word from before the Lord," or which is before the Lord; as a Redeemer; as only begotten; as the Creator. They say, "the Word of the Lord said, "Behold Adam, whom I have created, is the only begotten in the world; as I am the only begotten in the highest heavens." They paraphrased the text, Genesis iii. 8, And they heard the voice of the Lord God, walking in the garden, thus: "They heard the Word of the Lord God," &c.

Several Jewish commentators say, that "it was the Voice which was walking."

One of them says, that "Our first parents, before their sin, saw the Glory of God speaking to them; but after their sin, they only heard the Voice walking."

Philo and Jonathan both say, that "it was the Word of God, which appeared unto Hagar."

Jonathan says, "God will receive the prayer of Israel by his Word." Paraphrasing Jer. xxix. 14, he says, "I will be sought by you in my Word."

The Jerusalem Targum, or Paraphrase, says, " Abraham prayed in the name of the Word of the Lord, the God of the world."

Jonathan says also, "God will atone by his Word for his land, and for his people; even a people saved by the Word of the Lord."

Psalm cx. 1. They paraphrase, "The Lord said unto his Word," instead of My Lord, as in the original.

The Jewish commentators say, "there are three Degrees in the Mystery of Aleim, or Elohim; and these degrees they call Persons. They say, "They are all one, and cannot be separated."

Deut. vi. 4. Hear, O Israel! JEHOVAH, our Åleim, is one JEHOVAH, is thus rendered by the Author of the Jewish Book Zohar; "The Lord, and our God, and the Lord, are One." In his comment on this passage the Author says, "the LORD, or Jehovah, is the beginning of all things, and the perfection of all things; and he is called the Father. The other, or our God, is the depth or the fountain of sciences; and is called the Son. The other, or Lord, he is the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from them both, &c. Therefore he says, Hear, O Israel! that is, join together this Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and make him One Essence;

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One Substance; for whatever is in the One is in the other. He hath been the whole; he is the whole; and he will be the whole.” Again; "What is the name of King Messiah? Rabbi Akiba hath As it is declared, Jer. xxiii. 6, And said, JEHOVAH is his name. this is his name, by which they shall call him, Jehovah, our Right

eousness.

These Commentators, also, call him the Branch; the Comforter; Gracious; Luminous; &c.

And again; "The Holy God calls the King Messiah by his name: JEHOVAH is his name: for it is said, Exodus vii. 1, The Lord is a man of war; Jehovah is his name."

To these explicit, and unquestionable testimonies I shall now add a collection of others, of a different nature, but scarcely less decisive.

In the concise history of the Creation Moses says, more than thirty times, Aleim, that is, Gods, created: the noun being plural, and the verb singular, in every instance. These the Jewish Paraphrasts explain by JEHOVAH; his WORD, that is, his Son; and his WISDOM, or Holy Spirit; which they call three Degrees. These three, they assert, are One; and declare them to be One, inseparable JEHOVAH. This doctrine the Jews have exhibited in a variety of methods; clear, convincing, and impressive. These I shall now proceed to exhibit, after having premised a remarkable sentence from Rabbi Judah Hakkadosh, or Judah the Holy, in which the doctrine of the Jewish Church is declared in the most explicit "God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, Three in Unity, One in Trinity." This Rabbi flourished in the second century.

manner.

With this preface I observe,

1st. That the Form of blessing, used by the Jewish Priests, and the mode of administering it, when they blessed the congregation, strongly exhibited the doctrine of the Trinity.

This form of blessing is prescribed in Numbers vi. 24-26, JEHOVAH bless thee, and keep thee. JEHOVAH make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious to thee. JEHOVAH lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

This blessing, according to Rabbi Menachen, was pronounced in a different accent, during the utterance of each part; and, according to an account given by two other Rabbis, with the hand lifted up, and the three first fingers of the hand extended; the little finger being at the same time closed. This, they say, was done to express a Triad, or Trinity, in the Godhead.

2dly. The Jews anciently used a solemn symbol of the Deity, which they called Sephiroth; a word commonly signifying Enume rations, but used by their learned men to denote Splendours. These are sometimes exhibited in the form of a tree. with its branches extended; and sometimes by ten concentric circles: that figure being the symbol of perfection. All these splendours