C. Human Testimony. Essential goodness. Athenag. Legat. pro Christ. xxiv. 302. Communicative goodness. Just. Mart. de Res. viii. p. 593; Clem. Alex. Strom. i. 17, 86, tom. II. p. 60, ed. Klotz; Athenag. Legat. pro Christ. 26. See also Just. Mart. Quæst. et Resp. ad Gr. Augsburg Confession, Art. 1.; 2 Helvetic, Art. II; PROP. VII. The one Living, True and Everlasting GOD is the Maker and Preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. 1. HE is the Maker of all things. A. The Testimony of Reason. Successive duration is not eternal. Matter is not capable of producing motion. If the creature gave being to itself, then is it both cause and effect, and exists and does not exist at one and the same time. Invention of arts. Novelty of the world is shewn by its histories. B. Divine Testimony. a. Old Testament. Gen. i. 1. "In the beginning GOD created the See also Gen. i. 27, 31; Exod xx. 7-11, xxi. 17; b. New Testament. Heb. i. 10. "Thou, LORD, in the beginning See also John i. 3; Acts xiv. 13; Rom. iv. 17; C. Human Testimony. a. Heathens. Sir G. Wilkinson shews that the notions of the b. Christians. Irenæus against Heresies, b. i. c. 10. "God hath See also Tertull. Apol. adv. Gent. c. xvii.; Just. c. Creeds. The Apostles', Nicene. d. Confessions. 2 Helvetic, cc. 6, 7; Basil. Art. 1, 2; Gallican, Art. 2, 7, 8; Belgic, Art. II. v. XII. XIII.; Scotland, Art. 1, 2. 2. HE is the Preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. A. The Testimony of Reason. As GOD made all things out of nothing, so the act of His power is necessary that all things fall not back into nothing. B. Divine Testimony. a. Old Testament. Neh. ix. 6. "THOU, even THOU, art LORD alone; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, and Thou preservest them all." See also Gen. viii. 22, The Seasons. Ps. xxxvi. 6, Man and beast. Job vii. 20, xxviii. 4, 6. Ps. xxii. 9, 10; xciv. 3, 7, 9; civ. 27, 28; cxiii. 4-6; cxxxvi. 25; cxxxix. 3, 4; cxlviii. 8. Prov. xxi. 1; Isa. xlix. 15; Jer. x. 23; Dan. iv. 35. C b. New Testament. Acts xvii. 28. "In Him we live and move and have our being as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring." See also Matt. vi. 26, x. 29, 30; John v. 17; Rom. xi. 36; Col. i. 17; 1 Tim. iv. 10; Heb. i. 3, 13. Use of the doctrine of Providence, Acts xxiii. 11, compared with Acts xxvii. 22, 34, and v. 31 ; James iv. 13, 15. C. Human Testimony. a. Fathers. Athenag. de Res. Mort. 18; Clem. Alex. Strom. i. p. 347; Arnob. cont. Gent. i. (2 init.); Athan. Orat. cont. Gent. 42, vol. 1. p. 41; August. de Agon. Christ. c. viii. Expos. exlviii.; In Expos. Fid. init. Theodor. de Provid. Serm. I. vol. IV. p. 323; Chrysost. in Joh. Hom. 38, vol. I. p. 708, 20; Cyril. in Hos. vol. I. pp. 64, 65; Ecum. in Act. XVII. vol. 1. p. 138. b. Confessions. 2 Helvetic, c. vi.; Basil. Art. 1. §§ 2, 3; Gallican, Art. II. vII. VIII.; Belgic, Art. II. XII. XIII. PROP. VIII. In the Unity of this GODHEAD there be Three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity, the FATHER, the SON, and the HOLY GHOST. 1. The use of Reason.* A. Instead of urging arguments from human reason in support of the doctrine of the Trinity, the believer esteems it sufficient if he can meet an objection, too often made, that it is contrary to reason. Now all our ideas are from sensation and reflection, and human reason can only sit in judgment upon such propositions as the mind arrives at by the use of these natural See Butler's Analogy, Part II. c. iii. faculties. It is undeniable but that there are many things, of which by the natural use of our faculties we can have no knowledge, and therefore reason has nothing to do with them. We do not, and cannot, by our senses take cognizance of the natures of spiritual beings, and therefore we are not able to argue on the principles of human reason against such doctrines as the Trinity, Incarnation, &c., which are wholly and altogether beyond the reach of our faculties of sensation and reflection. "As a blind man has no idea of colours, so we have no idea of the modes by which the All-wise GOD exercises His universal perception and intelligence: we have ideas of His attributes; but we are absolutely ignorant what is the intimate essence of anything; by no exercise of either sensation or reflection can we know intimate essences; much less can we have any idea of the intimate essence of GOD." (Sir ISAAC NEWTON's Scholium Generale, at the end of his Principia.) We believe the fact of the union of the Three Persons in the Divine Essence, but we do not presume to require an explanation of the mode: human language could not express it, neither could the human intellect comprehend it. B. Theologians have suggested as illustrations,' but not as arguments, the following natural Trinities. Sun, beams, heat.' Well-head, fountain, stream. Body, soul, spirit." Root, shrub, fruit.* C. Relics of primitive Tradition. The Trimurti of the Indians, namely Bramah, Vishnu, and Shiva. * See the Bishop of Lincoln's Remarks on Tertullian, p. 534. Irenæus blames those who use illustrations of the above kind, Adv. Hæres. lib. ii. c. xiii. 1 See Athan. Quæst. al. tom. 11. p. 336; Just. Mart. Dial. c. Tryph. c. cxxviii. also c. lvi.; Tertull. Adv. Prax. c. viii.; Apol. c. xxi.; Lactant. Inst. IV. c. xxix. Ruffin. In Expos. Symb. p. 18; Tertull. Adv. Prax. c. viii. Origen, In Ps. cxxii. Tertull. Adv. Prax. c. viii. The Egyptian Triad-Kneph, Neith, and Ptha. Isis, The Scandinavian Triad-Odin, Braga, and Freia. 2. Divine Testimony. Preliminary remark. The Old Testament was the guide of man's infancy. Its teaching was, therefore, obscure and imperfect. Still it contains the germs of Christian truths, and we find abundant intimations and suggestions, which become altogether inexplicable as soon as we lose sight of the doctrine of the Trinity. The proofs are indirect which we adduce from the A. Old Testament. a. Certain peculiarities in the original language of the Old Testament, which imply the existence of a plurality of Persons in the GODHEAD. (1) The occurrence of the plural noun (Eloheem) as the name of GOD. Gen. i. 1. "In the beginning GOD created (Eloheem, Gods, bara, sing. verb, created) the heavens and the earth." a. This plural appellative is ordinarily used with singular verbs, pronouns, and adjectives. Sing. verb, Gen. i. 1. Eloheem (GODS) created, creavit DII. See Spence's Polymetes, pp. 272, 284; Potter's Antiquities, vol. 1. p. 358. The singular noun Eloah, is only used in poetry and the later Hebrew: twice in the Hymn of Moses, several times in the Prophets, forty times in the book of Job, and in the other books sixteen times. The plural Eloheem, occurs more than two thousand five hundred times. |