il 202 THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF THH TRINITY. divine worship according to those various offices, he shall not be excluded by me from°the number of the faithful, for any defect in this article of the catholic faith, And if he make this confession honestly in any words of his own chusing, and make it evident to one, that his sense and mean- ing amounts to what I have here expressed, I shall venture to call him my fellow -christian and my brother ; nor shall I dare to condemn him, trough he refuse tp make use of the expressions I have here written, or any Other words that I should close for him. If a man has `f faith and knowledge," though I may fancy him to be rude in knowledge and weak in the faith, yet I am commanded to receive him, and " not to doubtful disputa- tions :" Rpm. xiv. 1. But while I am professing christian charity, I would set a due honour and `defence upon the christian faith ; and amidst all my love to men, I would remember what honours are due to Christ, " my Lord and my God." " Whosoever abided' not in the necessary doctrine of Christ, bath not God, nor is lie to be received into the church," nor the house, as a christian brother, or as a friend; 2 John verse 9. If I read and believe the word of God I must believe there are some such gross errors in doc- trine, that will as effectually exclude from thechurch of Christ and from the kingdomOf heaven, as gross immoralities in prac- tice: There are such things as damnable heresies which will bring upon the professors of them swift destruction; and the apostle assures us that one of these heresies is a " denial of the Lord that bought them-;'.' 2 Pet. ii. 1. CONCLUSION.. Before I put a full end to this little treatise, Iwould ask leave of my readers, and especially those of younger years, to propose to them these two heads of advice relating to the doctrine of the Trinity. The first refers to our enquiry into the doctrine itself. The second to our establishment in the faith of it. The directions I would give concerning our enquiries into this great doctrine are these : I. " Seek for it chiefly in the word of God ;" build your faith entirely upon, this word, and not upon the books of men, There you will be sure to lind no human additions to it, but the pure divine doctrine itself. And whensoever you consult the, writings of men on this subject, dare to admit nothing but what you see evidently proved by the word of God. Judicious col- lections out of the Holy Scripture relating to this article, are of great use, when they are not chosen and culled out, and put together merely to serve and support some particular scheme
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