other) who are reprefented to be three in fome Refpects, are but one in others? And that this was actually the Sense in which Mofes intended these Things should be taken, appears from the remaining Part of that Relation, Gen. i. 26. where the Deity is introduced as faying, let US make Man; an Expreffion that is made use of in the following Part of the fame Hiftory; for Chap. iii. 22. it is recorded, that the Lord God faid, behold, Man is become as one of US; and again, xi. 6, 7, 8. and the Lord or Jehovah faid, go to, let US go down, &c. notwithstanding all which, the fame Mofes declares expreffly the Unity of the Godhead, when he tells the Ifraelites in a very folemn Manner, the Lord our God, is One Lord, Deut. vi. 4. and the Words of the Second Commandment alfo are, as fpoken by Jehovah himself, thou fhalt have no other GODS before ME, Exod. xx. 2. From whence we learn plainly, that though two Jehovahs are fpoken of in the Paffage, of which I have been treating, or rather, that tho' three diftinct Perfons are ftyled Jehovah, `yet it plainly appears from Mofes himself, fuppofing him to be confiftent, that there are not three Jehovahs, but one Jehovah. These Thefe Remarks plainly account for the mention that is made of there being two Jehovahs in other Paffages of the Old Teftament; in like manner as we find in the New, that the Father and the Son are often mentioned as diftinct Perfons, tho' the fame Attributes are afcribed to each of them apart, as are not communicable to any but the Deity only; and accordingly they are declared to be oné alfo, John x. 30. and thefe Circumftances, of which I have been fpeaking, relate not only to the Father and the Son, but to the Holy Ghoft alfo, as is but too well known to need enlarging upon here. So that the Doctrine of the Trinity in Unity is fo far from having been a novel Opinion, invented by the Chriftian Church, that it was the fundamental Article of Faith, revealed as early as the Creation of the World, and handed down as fuch from one to another, through the different Ages and Conftitutions of the Church; and confequently, it is fo far from being a Doctrine of little Importance, and unnecessary to Salvation, that it is the effential Part of Religion, and the great Criterion of the true Church of God; because as all Men commit Sin, and it is not confiftent with 4 the the Justice of an infinite God to pardon their Offences without an adequate. Atonement made for them; fo no Atonement can be adequate, but what is in its Nature infinite, as well as perfect. Having hinted above, that the Word Elohim is fometimes applied to Man, as well as God, I fhall here give an Instance thereof as follows, in order the better to illustrate my Subject. Now, as that Word originally fignifies fome certain Perfons vef ted with Authority, as I have already obferved; so it is very fitly applied to God as being the Fountain of all Power, and to fovereign Princes, as being appointed by him over their refpective Communities for their good, as is fset forth, Rom. xiii. 1, &c. and it is accordingly made ufe of in both thefe Senfes in the lxxxii Pfalm, where it is faid, Verse 1. God, or Elohim, standeth in the Congregation of Princes; he is a Judge among Gods, or Elohim. Here it will be found, if due Attention be but given to the whole Contents of this Pfalm, that the Princes there fpoken of belong to one and the fame civil Government, ftyled in this Paffage the Earth, Verfes 5, 8. at a time when they would have been affembled together together in Court, in order to discharge the Functions of their Office, upon fome Occafions relating to the State. Hence it is that they are ftyled the Foundations of the Earth, Verse 5. and the Pillars of it, Pfalm Ixxy. 3. and are pointed out, Verse 7. as having fome Princes of an inferior Rank in Subordination to them; and hence it is also, that they are called upon, Verses 2, 3, 4, 5. to alter their Conduct, and do their Duty by a faithful Difcharge of the Office to which they had been appointed; blamed, Verfe 5. for having been fo infatuated as to deviate from it; and told, Verses 6, 7. that notwithstanding the fuperior Rank which they bore in the State, they will not escape the common Ruin which they would bring upon their Conftitution, by the Neglect of it. This Event, it is plainly faid, will happen, Verfe 8. at a Time previous to the Introduction of the Kingdom of God into the World * ; and if it be true what the Author of a late Work, ftyled the Scheme of divine Providence, feems fairly to have made out from the fecond and feventh Chapters of Daniel, the German Empire * The present Bishop of Clogher fays, in a late Treatise, that these happy Times will take place about 250 Years hence. Empire having an Emperor and nine Electors at its Head at once, must be pointed out in this Pfalm; and these ten Princes just-mentioned, must be the Elohim there spoken of. Accordingly, as that Author hath observed, that Government is one of the Conftitutions of the Roman Empire; the Roman Empire is actually styled the World or Earth in Scripture; and the Emperor and Electors are ftyled the Pillars thereof in the Golden Bull. The Jews, as I have had an Opportunity of knowing from the Converfation of one of their most learned Rabbins, cannot but acknowledge that the Word Elohim is of the plural Number, as I have afferted it to be; but then, as fuch an Acknowledgment must neceffarily oblige them to admit of a Trinity in Unity in refpect of the Deity alfo, they pretend that they do not know what to make of it upon the whole; because they say that it is applied in two Paffages of the Old Teftament in the fingular Number, and evade the admitting any fuch Conclufions above-mentioned to be drawn from thence upon that Account; but having confidered Luke ii. 1. and Acts xi. 28. |