"There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost: And these three are one." 1 John 5:7.
1. Whatsoever the generality of people may think, it is certain that
opinion is not religion: No, not right opinion; assent to one, or to ten
thousand truths. There is a wide difference between them: Even right opinion
is as distant from religion as the east is from the west. Persons may be
quite right in their opinions, and yet have no religion at all; and, on
the other hand, persons may be truly religious, who hold many wrong opinions.
Can any one possibly doubt of this, while there are Romanists in the world? For who can deny, not only that many of them formerly have been truly religious,
as Thomas a Kempis, Gregory Lopez, and the Marquis de Renty; but that many
of them, even at this day, are real inward Christians? And yet what a heap
of erroneous opinions do they hold, delivered by tradition from their fathers!
Nay, who can doubt of it while there are Calvinists in the world, -- assertors
of absolute predestination? For who will dare to affirm that none of these
are truly religious men? Not only many of them in the last century were
burning and shining lights, but many of them are now real Christians, loving
God and all mankind. And yet what are all the absurd opinions of all the
Romanists in the world, compared to that one, that the God of love, the
wise, just, merciful Father of the spirits of all flesh, has, from all
eternity, fixed an absolute, unchangeable, irresistible, decree, that part
of all mankind shall be saved, do what they will; and the rest damned,
do what they can!
2. Hence, we cannot but infer, that there are ten thousand mistakes
which may consist with real religion; with regard to which every candid,
considerate man will think and let think. But there are some truths more
important than others. It seems there are some which are of deep importance.
I do not term them fundamental truths; because that is an ambiguous word:
And hence there have been so many warm disputes about the number of fundamentals.
But surely there are some which it nearly concerns us to know, as having
a close connexion with vital religion. And doubtless we may rank among
these that
contained in the words above cited: ~There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: And these three are
one.
3. I do not mean that it is of importance to believe this or that explication
of these words. I know not that any well judging man would attempt to explain
them at all. One of the best tracts which that great man, Dean Swift, ever
wrote, was his Sermon upon the Trinity. Herein he shows, that all who endeavored
to explain it at all, have utterly lost their way; have, above all other
persons hurt the cause which they intended to promote; having only, as
Job speaks, "darkened counsel by words without knowledge." It was in an
evil hour that these explainers began their fruitless work I insist upon
no explication at all; no, not even on the best I ever saw; I mean, that
which is given us in the creed commonly ascribed to Athanasius. I am far
from saying, he who does not assent to this ~shall without doubt perish
everlastingly." For the sake of that and another clause, I, for some time,
scrupled subscribing to that creed; till I considered~ (1.) That these
sentences only relate to wilful, not involuntary, unbelievers; to those
who, having all the means of knowing the truth, nevertheless obstinately
reject it: (2.) that they relate only to the substance of the doctrine
there delivered; not the philosophical illustrations of it.
4. I dare not insist upon any one's using the word Trinity, or Person.
I use them myself without any scruple, because I know of none better: But
if any man has any scruple concerning them, who shall constrain him to
use them? I cannot: Much less would I burn a man alive, and that with moist,
green wood, for saying, ~Though I believe the Father is God, the Son is
God, and the Holy Ghost is God; yet I scruple using the words Trinity and
Persons, because I do not find those terms in the Bible." These are the
words which merciful John Calvin cites as wrote by Servitus in a letter
to himself. I would insist only on the direct words, unexplained, just
as they lie in the text: "There are three that bear record in heaven, the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: And these three are one."
5. "As they lie in the text :" -- but here arises a question: Is that
text genuine? Was it originally written by the Apostle, or inserted in
later ages? Many have doubted of this; and, in particular, the great light
of the Christian church, lately removed to the Church above, Bengelius,
-- the most pious, the most judicious, and the most laborious, of all the
modern Commentators on the New Testament. For some time he stood in doubt
of its authenticity, because it is wanting in many of the ancient copies.
But his doubts were removed by three considerations: (1.) That though it
is wanting in many copies, yet it is found in more; and those copies of
the greatest authority: -- ( 2.) That it is cited by a whole gain of ancient
writers, from the time of St. John to that of Constantine. This argument
is conclusive: For they could not have cited it, had it not been in the
sacred canon: -- (3.) That we can easily account for its being, after that
time, wanting in many copies, when we remember that Constantine's successor
was a zealous Arian, who used every means to promote his bad cause, to
spread Arianism throughout the empire; in particular the erasing this text
out of as many copies as fell into his hands. And he so far prevailed,
that the age in which he lived is commonly styled, _Seculum Aranium_, --
"the Arian age;" there being then only one eminent man who opposed him
at the peril of his life. So that it was a proverb, _Athanasius contra
mundum_: "Athanasius against the world."
6. But it is objected: ~"Whatever becomes of the text, we cannot believe
what we cannot comprehend. When, therefore, you require us to believe mysteries,
we pray you to have us excused."
Here is a two-fold mistake: (1.) We do not require you to believe any
mystery in this; whereas; you suppose the contrary. But, (2.) You do already
believe many things which you cannot comprehend.
7. To begin with the latter: You do already believe many things which
you cannot comprehend. For you believe there is a sun over your head. But
whether he stands still in the midst of his system, or not only revolves
on his own axis, but ~rejoiceth as a giant to run his course; you cannot
comprehend either one or the other: How he moves, or how he rests. By what
power, what natural, mechanical power, is he upheld in the fluid either?
You cannot deny the fact: Yet you cannot account for it, so as you satisfy
any rational inquirer. You may indeed give us the hypothesis of Ptolemy,
Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, and twenty more. I have read them over and over:
I am sick of them; I care not three straws for them all.
Each new solution but once more affords
New change of terms, and scaffolding of words:
In other garb my question I receive,
And take my doubt the very same I gave.
Still I insist, the fact you believe, you cannot deny; but the manner
you cannot comprehend.
8. You believe there is such a thing as light, whether flowing from
the sun, or any other luminous body; but you cannot comprehend either its
nature. or the manner wherein it flows. How does it move from Jupiter to
the earth in eight minutes; two hundred thousand miles in a moment? How
do the rays of the candle, brought into the room, instantly disperse into
every corner? Again: Here are three candles, yet there is but one light.
I explain this, and I will explain the Three-One God.
9. You believe there is such a thing as air. It both covers you as a
garment, and,
Wide interfused,
Embraces round this florid earth.
But can you comprehend how? Can you give me a satisfactory account of
its nature, or the cause of its properties? Think only of one, its elasticity:
Can you account for this? It may be owing to electric fire attached to
each particle of it; it may not; and neither you nor I can tell. But if
we will not breathe it till we can comprehend it, our life is very near
its period.
10. You believe there is such a thing as earth. Here you fix your foot
upon it: You are supported by it. But do you comprehend what it is that
supports the earth? "O, an elephant, says a Malabarian philosopher "and
a bull supports him." But what supports the bull? The Indian and the Briton
are equally at a loss for an answer. We know it is God that "spreadeth
the north over the empty space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. This
is the fact. But how? Who can account for this? Perhaps angelic but not
human creatures.
I know what is plausibly said concerning the powers of projection and
attraction. But spin as fine as we can, matter of fact sweeps away our
cobweb hypothesis. Connect the force of projection and attraction how you
can, they will never produce a circular motion. The moment the projected
steel comes within the attraction of the magnet, it does not form a curve,
but drops down.
11. You believe you have a soul. "Hold there," says the Doctor; [Dr.
Bl__r, in his late tract.] I believe no such thing. "If you have an immaterial
soul so have the brutes too." I will not quarrel with any that think they
have; nay, I wish he could prove it: And surely I would rather allow them
souls, than I would give up my own. In this I cordially concur in the sentiment
of the honest Heathen. _Si erro, libenter erro; et me redargui valde recusem_.
~"If I err, I err willingly; and I vehemently refuse to be convinced of
it." And I trust most of those who do not belie a Trinity are of the same
mind. Permit me then to go on. You believe you have a soul connected with
this house of clay. But can you comprehend how? ~What are the ties that
unite the heavenly flame with the earthly clod? You understand just nothing
of the matter. So it is; but how none can tell.
12. You surely believe you have a body, together with your soul, and
that each is dependent on the other. Run only a thorn into your hand; immediately
pain is felt in your soul. On the other side is shame felt in your soul?
Instantly a blush overspreads your cheek. Does the soul feel fear or violent
anger? Presently the body trembles. These also are facts which you cannot
deny; nor can you account for them.
13. I bring but one instance more: At the command of your soul, your
hand is lifted up. But who is able to account for this? For the connexion
between the act of the mind, and the outward actions? Nay, who can account
for _muscular motion_ at all; in any instance of it whatever? When one
of the most ingenious Physicians in England had finished his lecture upon
that head, he added, ~Now, gentlemen, I have told you all the discoveries
of our enlightened age; and now, if you understand one jot of the matter,
you understand more than I do." The short of the matter is this: Those
who will not believe anything but what they can comprehend, must not believe
that there is a sun in the firmament; that there is light shining around
them; that there is air, though it encompasses them on every side; that
there is any earth, though they stand upon it. They must not believe they
have a soul; no, nor that they have a body.
14. But, secondly, as strange as it may seem. in requiring you to believe,
"there arc three that bear record in heaven the Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost: And these three are one;" you are not required to believe any
mystery. Nay, that, great and good man, Dr. Peter Browne, sometime Bishop
of Cork, has proved at large that the Bible does not require you to believe
any mystery at all. Thee Bible barely requires you to believe such facts;
not the manner of them. Now the mystery does not lie in the fact, but altogether
in the manner.
For instance: ~God said, let there be light: And there was light." I
believe it: I believe the plain fact: There is no mystery at all in this.
The mystery lies in the manner of it. But of this I believe nothing at
all; nor does God require it of me.
Again: "The Word was made flesh." I Believe this fact also. There is
no mystery in it; but as to the manner how he was made flesh, wherein the
mystery lies, I know nothing about it; I believe nothing about it: It is
no more the object of my faith, than it is of my understanding.
15. To apply this to the case before us: ~There are three that bear
record in heaven: And these three are One.~ I believe this fact also, (if
I may use the expression,) that God is Three and One. But the manner how
I do not comprehend and I do not believe it. Now in this, in the manner,
lies the mystery; and so it may; I have no concern with it: It is no object
of my faith: I believe just so much as God has revealed, and no more. But
this, the manner, he has not revealed; therefore, I believe nothing about
it. But would it not be absurd in me to deny the fact, because I do not
understand the manner? That is, to reject what God has revealed, because
I do not comprehend what he has not revealed.
16. This is a point much to be observed. There are many things "which
eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart
of man to conceive. Part of these God Hath "revealed to us by his Spirit~:"
-- "Revealed;" that is, unveiled, uncovered: That part he requires us to
believe. Part of them he has not revealed: That we need not, and indeed
cannot, believe: It is far above, out of our sight.
Now, where is the wisdom of rejecting what is revealed, because we do
not understand what is not revealed? of denying the fact which God has
unveiled, because we cannot see the manner, which is veiled still?
17. Especially when we consider that what God has been pleased to reveal
upon his head, is far from being a point of indifference, is a truth of
the last importance. It enters into the very heart of Christianity: It
lies at the heart of all vital religion.
Unless these Three are One, how can "all men honour the Son, even as
they honour the Father?" "I know not what to do," says Socinus in a letter
to his friend, with my untoward followers: They will not worship Jesus
Christ. I tell them it is written, `Let all the angels of God worship him.'
They answer, However that be, if he is not God, we dare not worship him.
For `it is written, Thou shalt worship the lord thy God, and him only shalt
thou serve.'"
But the thing, which I here particularly mean is this: The knowledge
of the Three-One God is interwoven with all true Christian faith; with
all vital religion.
I do not say that every real Christian can say with the Marquis de Renty,
"I bear about with me continually an experimental verity, and a plenitude
of the presence of the ever-blessed Trinity. "I apprehend this is not the
experience of babes," but, rather, "fathers in Christ."
But I know not how any one can be a Christian believer till he "hath,"
as St. John speaks, "the witness in himself;" till "the Spirit of God witnesses
with his spirit, that he is a child of God;" that is, in effect, till God
the holy Ghost witnesses that God the Father has accepted him through the
merits of God the Son: And, having this witness, he honours the Son, and
the blessed Spirit, "even as he honours the Father."
18. Not that every Christian believer adverts to this; perhaps, at first,
not one in twenty: But if you ask any of them a few questions, you will
easily find it is implied in what he believes. Therefore, I do not see
how it is possible for any to have vital religion who denies that these
Three are one. And all my hope for them is, not that they will he saved
during their unbelief, (unless on the footing of honest Heathens, upon
the plea of invincible ignorance,) but that God, before they go hence,
"will bring them to the knowledge of the truth."
[Edited by David R. Leonard (student at Northwest Nazarene
College) with corrections by George Lyons of Northwest Nazarene College
(Nampa, Idaho) for the Wesley Center for Applied Theology.]
