194 THE CIHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF THE TIIINITY. considered 'absolutely in itself, we may pay the same worship to Father, Son and Spirit, or to the godhead subsisting in three persons. But secondly, II. If we consider the three persons of the Trinity in their distinct personal properties and characters, it is utterly inconsist- ent with the whole current of scripture to pay the same forni of address and adoration to each of the sacred three. As for in- stance, We adore the Father as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the first person in the sacred order of the Tri- nity : we bless him for sending his own Son into our nature, and for appointing hint to be our high - priest, our sacrifice, and our great Reconciler ; we give him thanks for the gift of his Holy Spirit, given first to Jesus Christ our Lord, and by him to us. But we cannot offer the same forms of expression, nor indeed the saine acts of inward worship to the personsof the Son or the Holy Spirit. In like manner we give praise and thanks to the Son ; that hecondescended to be made " partaker of our flesh and blood ;" that he 00 bore our sins in his body on the tree ;" that lie was " slain, and washed us in his blood, and redeemed us to God, and made us kings and priests to God and his Father ;" we bless him, because he intercedes for us at the throne in heaven : and that he, by his Father's appointment and deputation, governs and disposes of all things for the good of his church here on earth. Now these doxologies or thanksgivings cannot be ad- dressed to the person of the Spirit, nor to God the Father. And I think it is in this sense, we may best understand these words in John v. 22, 23. " The Father judgeth no man, but bath committed all judgment to the Son, that all men might ho- nour the Son, as they honour the Father." That is, since the Father, who is represented as the original Governor and Judge of mankind, bath vested the Son as Mediator with this authority of government and judgment, therefore those divine honours that belong to the Father, considered as Governor and Judge, may be properly paid to the Son ; and this without the least in- fringement of the rights of godhead, since the Son is also true God, or bath communion in the divine nature: For though I do not think it is the direct design of that place to express the divinity of the Son, yet I think that such a command would not have been given if the Sonhad not been true God. Yet let it be noted here, that we cannot address Jesus Christ the -Son, considered personally, in all respects with the same honours as we address the Father ; because we cannot say to Christ, " Lord, thou art the God and Father of Christ ; thou art the original Judge of all, and thou hast given all judgment into the hands of thy Son." These sort of addresses belong
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=