2"tB THE DOCTRINE. OF THE TRINITY, [SERM.XLIV. Note, The Son of .God is sometimes called the Word ofGod, and God is said to act by his word, as well as by his Son, in several places of scripture*. These are the blessed Three, who, by the christian Church, for many ages, have been called the holy Tri-. nity. The clear and distinct revelation of them, and their various offices to us in the gospel, is the chiefglory of the christian religion, and therefore we are initiated or admitted into the professionof this religion, bybeing baptized into the name of the sacred Three, " the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." Having surveyed the scriptural representations of God the. Father, in the foregoing propositions, let us now consider what is the first, the most plain and obvious manner, wherein the scripture represents to us the Son of God, and the Spirit of God, and by degrees, rise up to the several and more complete descriptions of them in the bible. Proposition VI. The Son of God is spoken of gene- rally, in the Neu! Testament, as a very glorious Person, an immortal spiritual Being, who was some way begotten of the Father, that is, derived from God the Father, or bath some special relation to him, as an " only begotten Son,"John i. 18. as the "first begottenofGod," Heb. i. 6. as " the first-born of every creature," Col. i. 15. who was with God, and had glory with the Father be- fore the world was," John i. 1. xvii. 5. " By whom God made the worlds, and created all things, visible and, invisible," Col. i. 16. Heb. i. 2, 3. " Who came forth from the Father, and came into this world," John xvi. 28. who took "flesh and blood" upon him seventeen hundredyears ago, Heb. ii. 14. and thus became a com- plete man : Hewas " made ofawoman ; Gal. iv. 4. was «born of the virgin Mary," in an extraordinary manner, without an earthly Father; Lake i. 35. and was for this reason also called the Son of God. He lived above I do not, here assert any thing, or make any enquiries, whether, or how far the idea of the Word of God, may differ from the idea of the Son of God, because this has been controverted among orthodox writers. It is very plain and certain, that both these names belong to Jesus Christ, the second person in the sacredTrinity ; and this is sufficient for my pre- sent purpose, since I design to avoid all particular controversies about anodes of explication in this place.
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