apprehended something of this sort; because he has corrected the apostle, and transposed the order of the persons in 2 Cor. xii. 14. without the least apology, or giving his reader any warning of it. LV. p. 377.

XVIII.

1 John v. 7. There are THREE that bear record in heaven, the FATHER, the WORD and the HOLY GHOST.

There has been much disputing about the authenticity of this text. I firmly believe it to be genuine for the following reasons: 1 St. Jerom,a who had a better opportunity of examining the true merits of the cause than we can possibly have at this distance of time, tells us plainly, that he found out how it had been adulterated, mistranslated, and omitted on purpose to elude the truth. 2. The divines of Lovain having compared many Latin copies, found this text wanting but in five of them; and R. Stephens found it retained in nine of sixteen ancient manuscripts which he used. 3. It is certainly quoted twice by St. Cyprian,b who wrote before the council of Nice: and also by Tertullian; as

a Præf. ad Canon. Epist.

b De Unit. Eccl. 109. Epist. LXXIIL

the reader is left to judge after he has read the passage in the margin.a Dr. Clarke, therefore, is not to be believed when he tells us, it was never cited by any of the Latins before St. Jerom."b 4. The sense is not perfect without it; there being a contrast of three witnesses in heaven to three upon earth; the Father, the word, and the Holy Ghost, whose testimony is called the witness of God; and the Spirit, the water, and the blood, which being administered by the church upon earth, is called the witness of men. He that desires to see this text farther vindicated from the malice of Faustus Socinus, may consult Pool's Synopsis, and Dr. Hammond; and I wish he would also read what has lately been published upon it by my good and learned friend Dr. Delany, in his volume of Sermons, p. 69, &c.

But even allowing it to be spurious, it contains nothing but what is abundantly asserted elsewhere; and that both with regard to the trinity in general, and this their divine testimony in particular. For that there are three divine persons who bear record to the mission of Christ, is evident from the following scriptures :

a Connexus patris in filio, & silii in paracleto, tres effi. = rit cohærentes, alterum ex altero; qui tres unum sunt, &c. adv. Prax.

b See the text in his 2d edition.

John viii. 17, 18. The testimony of two,

men is true.

I am ONE that bear witness of MYSELF.

The FATHER that sent me beareth witness of me.

1 John v. 6. It is the SPIRIT that beareth witness. And Christ has also mentioned, upon another occasion, a plurality of witnesses in heaven-WE speak (says he) that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not OUR witness !a which can be no other than the witness of the trinity; because it is added-no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that cume down from heaven; therefore no man could join with Christ in revealing the things of heaven to us.

XIX.

Isa. vi. 3. And one cried unto another and said, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD OF HOSTS. See also Rev. iv. 8.

"They are not content (sa s Origen) to say it once or twice, but take the perfect number of the trinity, thereby to declare the manifold holiness of God; which is a repeat

a John, iii. 11.

ed intercommunion of a threefold holiness; the holiness of the Father, the holiness of the only begotten Son, and of the Holy Ghost."a And that the Seraphim did really celebrate all the three persons of the Godhead upon this occasion, is no conjecture; but a point capable of the clearest demonstration.

The prophet tells us, ver. 1. he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne; and at ver. 5. that his eyes had seen the king, the Lord of Hosts. Now if there be any phrase in the bible to distinguish the true God, it is this of the Lord of Hosts. I never saw it disputed by any Arian writer. The author of an Essay on spirit confesses it ;b and Dr Clark supposes the name Lord of Sabbaoth (Jam. v. 4.) proper to the Father only. So that in this Lord of Hosts, sitting upon his throne, there was the presence of God the Father.

That there was also the presence of God the Son, appears from John xii. 41. These things said Esaias, when he saw his (Christ's) glory and spake of him.†

a Non eis sufficet semel clamare sanctus, neque bis; sed perfectum numerum Trinitatis assumunt, ut multitudinem sanctitatis Dei manifestent; quæ est trinæ sanctitatis repetita communitas; sanctitas patris, sanctitas unigeniti filii, & spiritus sancti. Orig. Hom, in loc.

b P 65.

It is written at ver. 3-Holy, holy, holy, Hosts, the whole earth is full of HIS GLORY. has affirmed to be the glory of Christ;

is the Lord of This St. John but it was the

And that there was the presence of God the Holy Ghost, is determined by Acts xxviii. 25. Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, &c. then follow the words which the prophet affirms to have been spoken by the Lord of hosts.

The text of John xii. 41. which being compared with this of Isaiah, proves the second person of the trinity to be the Lord of hosts, is evaded by Dr. Clarke in the following manner: "The glory which Isaias saw, Isa. vi. 1. is plainly the glory of God the father; whence the followers of Sabellius conclude, because St. John here calls it the glory of Christ, that therefore the Father and the Son

glory of the Lord of Hosts: therefore, Christ is the Lord of Hosts. And if the parallel passage of Rev. iv. 8. be compared with this, it will appear (as it hath already chap. I. Art. XXIII) that he is the God Almighty spoken of in that book. The Greek version of the LXX hath it thus:

αγιο, άγια αγία, Κυρία, σαββαωθ. In Rev. iv. 8. it is, ay, ay, ayı&, Kupi&• OεG“ ο παντοκρατωρ Whence it evidently appears, that Κυρια • Oε • waνroxparag is equivalent in the language of heaven to Jehovah Sabaoth: therefore, as Christ is the Lord of Hosts of the Old Testament, he is thereby proved ipso facto to be the God Almighty of the New. Which shews the weakness of those frequent remarks Dr. Clarke has bestowed upon the word wavroxparag as the great term of distinction between the person of Christ, and that of God the Father,