f 79 ] Though this Introduétion has grown to fo great a Length (which the Subjeft has unavoidably demanded), we muft not wholly omit to mention one fhort Word, concerning the proper Divinity of the third bleffed Perfon in the facred Effence. He is called the THIRD, not becaufe of Inferiority, fence He is coequal and co- eternal with the FATHER and the Sox, or elfe there could be no Trinity in the divine Nature; but becaufe of DiAncïion. The Divinity of the SPIRIT JEHOVAH is no lefs ftrenuoully afferted in the holy Scriptures, than the Divinity of the ever-bleffed Sox, or even of the FATHER Himfelf. There is a Multitude of Texts ira the Old and NewTeftaments, which are commonly un- derftood to mean, either the divine Ejfence in general, or the Divinity of the FATHER in particular, which, in Deed and in Truth, are more peculiarly applicable to the other two Perfons. For Inftance ; it is commonly understood; that it was GOD the FATHER, or JEno_ VAH the Effence, who appeared toAbraham, toMofes, to the Prophets ; when we have the Authority of Chrift himfelf and his Apoftles to pronounce, that it was the fecond Perfon in JEHOVAH alone. It is alfo generally fuppofed, that, when JEHOVAH is mentioned as fpeak- ing in or to the Prophets, it applies to GOD the FA- THER, or the whole Deity ; though we are affured by Infallibility itfelf, that the Holy Men of oldfpake as they were moved by the HOLY GHOST. A very remarkable Proof of this Matter occurs in the fixthChapter oflfaiah. The Prophet there declares, that he faw the LoRD OP HOSTS, and heard HIM, faying, Go, and tell this Peo- ple, &c. Now, the identical Words which the Pro- phet heard fpoken by the LORD of HOSTS, were, by the by isna tsranna, By WISDOM (GOD) created, &c. Ob. Pamfb. L iv. p. 277. Dr. Pococke likewife afferts, that the Rabbins, who wrote be- fore Chrift, always expected, that the 11/lei-jab fhould appear in his own proper Divinity, as the SON of GOD. Thus Nathaniel, when he was convinced that Jefas was the Me /ab, immediately cried out, Thou art the SON of GOD, Thou art the King of Ifrael. Not. it, Maimon, Port. Mas, c. viii, p. 3as.
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