SLIItI. KLIV.3 AND THE USE OP IT. 257 in it to answer : This has been the hard problem of christianity, in almost all ages, how to reconcile and ad- just this article : This has been the solemn labour ofour several schemes and hypotheses, wherein some of us would be glad to arrive at clearer 'conceptions, by a fur- thcr search of the holy scriptures. But, among the many attempts that have been made to adjust this matter, there is not one which is universally approved. Proposition XVII. Though perháps, wemay not''Find, flor determine clearly and precisely, how far the sacred three are the same as to their oneness of godhead, nor how far they are different, as to their distinct personal characters; yet it is our duty to honour them, according to the revelation which scripture hath made : that is, we must pay all of them divine honours, since they have communion in godhead ; and we must transact our im- portant affairs of salvation with them, according to their distinct offices, as our Father, our Saviour, and oïár Sanc- tifier. Thus I have given a plain scriptural account of the doctrine of the Trinity, without entering into those par- ticular explications, whereby trinitarian writers have unhappily divided themselves into several contending parties. And I have done my endeavour to express what appears to be the first, the most plain, and obvious re- presentation of things in scripture, an that, so inoffen- sively to my brethren, who own and believe this doctrine, that, I am persuaded, there have been but few trinita- rians these hundred years past, who would deny any one of all these propositions. Nor am I conscious to myself, that I have ever written any thing inconsistent' with them, in any of my discourses on this divine subject. [Here is a proper division of this sermon into two parts.1 The second thing contained in the text, is, the im- portant use of this great doctrine of the Trinity, and that is, We have an access to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. I shall not stand here to debate, whether the access, which we have to the Father, in my text, refers to any particular act of worship, or to our general return to' God from a state of sin, guilt, and distance. The text is a divine truth in both these senses: But since it seems to be the chief design of the whole chapter, to shew the VOL. II. S
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