14 THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. obvious representation of things in scripture, and that so inoffen- sively to my brethren, who own and believe this doctrine, that I am persuaded there have been but few Trinitarians these hun- dredyears past, who woulddeny any one ofall these propositions. TÑor am I conscious to myselfthat I have ever written any thing inconsistent with them, in any of my discourses on this divine subject. [Here is aproper division of this Sermon into two parts.] The second thing contained in the text is, the important use of this great doctrine of the Trinity, and that ìs, 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 ofworship, or to our general return to God from a state ofsin, 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 theway ofour return to the favour of God, and a state of peace and friendship with him, since we are said to be brought near to God by the bloodof Christ ; verse 13. I suppose,, it cannot be improper to take this verse, in the sameextensive sense*. But, ifthe apostle should mean our access to God, in particular acts of worship, here in my text, yet I am sure, this glorious sentence is justly applicable to the general access of a sinner to God, andhis introduction into a state ofdivine favour : For it must be confessed, that our first general return to God from a stateof sin, and all our gradual advances to greater near- ness, must be stilt expected, and obtained through Christ, and by the Holy Spirit. Here let ùs consider thedifferent stations, or characters, in which the sacred Three are represented in this great and impor- tant concern of our salvation, and at theend of each representa- tion, I shall shew briefly, what our duties are to the sacredThree, in our approaches to God, correspondent to the stations, in which the gospel places them. I. God, the great God, and Father of all, is here repre- sented as sustaining the majesty of godhead, as the sovereign Lord, and governor of his creatures, and my text, compared with the foregoing verses, discovers him to us in these four views : 1. As offendedwith his creature man, on the account of h' I might take notice here, in order to confirmmy extensive senseof the text that theword access in one or more copies, is ,t ov.,, peace e And the infer- ence, which the apostle makes in the next verse, Therefore ye are no morestrangers and foreigners, is very, naturallydrawn from our access to God, as a state of peace with God, but not from a particular act of worship.
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