our text. 7. My last references shall be to the first epistle of John; and this will conduct us to the point from which we started, namely John first speaks of Christ as the word of life that was from the beginning; then as the life that was manifested; and then as “that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. And truly," he adds, "our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." In the 2nd chapter John introduces the Spirit, under his title of the unction, or the anointing. "Ye have an unction from the holy one, and ye know all things." By the holy one, he means Christ, who was anointed with the grace of the Spirit without measure, that he might communicate of his fulness in measure to his members. Ye have an unction, from the holy one; and through the teaching of that unction, ye know all things. "Who is a liar (adds John), but he that denieth that Jesus (the Saviour), is the Christ," or anointed? "He is Anti-christ, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; but he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father also." Hence you see the the character of Antichrist. It agrees with Mahomet, and with all his proselytes of every name and nation. For unity of person excludes the person of the Son, and whilst the Pope is Paul's man of sin and son of perdition, it is plain that all the species of uni tarian infidelity go to make up the "many Antichrists," of whom John declares that they are already in the world. "Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. These things have I written unto you, concerning them which seduce you. But the anointing, which ye have received of him, abideth in you; and ye need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, even so as He hath taught you, ye shall abide in him," namely, in Christ. This will ever hold good; if you are merely self-taught, or taught by some other man, Satan, or some human agent, may unteach you again. But. if you receive an unction from the Holy One, and the anointing himself become your instructer, you are then taught of God,* according to God's promise in the covenant; and no one can then finally deceive you. "Little children! (says John), it is the last time. And as ye have heard, that anti-christ shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. have an * Isaiah, liv. 13. John, vi. 43-45. But ye Heb. viii. 8-12, unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." 66 In his 3d chap. John exclaims, " Behold' what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!" Then he adds, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the Devil." But in what light does he view the Son? Hereby perceive we the love of God (says John), because He laid down his life for us.". This is no other sentiment than that of Paul in the 20th of the Acts at the 28th verse; or of the same writer in the 2d of Philippians at the 6th and two following verses; which passages have been already quoted. But that in the 3d chap. of the 2d of Timothy is to the same purport; Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh." Now having spoken thus of the Father and the Son, the apostle concludes his third chapter with saying, "Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit whom he hath given us." 66 In the 4th chap. John observes, “ye are of God, little children! and have overcome them; because greater is he, that is in you, than he that is in the world." Now he that is in the world, is Satan the evil spirit; whilst he who is in the saints is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth. Hence John further remarks, "Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." He then proceeds "We to speak of the Father and the Son. have seen and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the saviour of the world." 66 Thus then, whether we investigate the old testament or the new, we are led to the same conclusion. And after the above traces of the current doctrine of John, in particular, in his gospel and in his epistle, we cannot wonder at his language in our text and its context; and with this I will close up my discourse. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who beareth witness because the Spirit is truth. For there are three who bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.' Wishing to avoid every thing that might divert the mind, in the course of the sermon, from the doctrine of the text, I determined to reserve any remarks upon its authenticity for a note. 1. This verse has made a part of the canon of the new testament, by the undisputed consent of the whole western church, for more than ten centuries previous to the publication of Erasmus's first edition of his Greek Testament; that is, from the council of Carthage in the year 484, to the year 1516, when Erasmus omitted it. At this council were present more than 400 Bishops. An appeal was made by them to the verse, in their profession of faith; and no exception was made to the pus sage by the Arian Bishops who were present; nor by any other Arian, or other dissenter from the orthodox faith, before the 16th century. 2. This verse has always existed in the Latin version, which is more ancient than the oldest Greek manuscript extant. This version has been in use in the Western Church from the end of the first century, and was made from the original Greek epis. tle of John. 3. The verse is quoted by Tertullian, the first of the Latin fathers, before the age of any manuscript whatever that has descended to us. He was converted about the year 185; and lived until about 220,"The washing away of offences (he says), is an acquisition made by faith, sealed and witnessed by the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit." Again, "I testify that the Father and Son and Spirit are undivided one from another. Two indeed we define the Father and Son, and, with the Holy Ghost, three. Two Gods however, and two Lords, we have never named, not as if the Father were not God, and the Son God, and the Holy Ghost God, and each of them God. But I everywhere hold one substance in three cohering together." In reference to Genesis i. 26, and iii. 22, he asks, "Did he speak to angels, as the Jews interpret, because they do not acknowledge the Son, or did God speak plurally to himself, because he was FatherSon-Spirit? Yea, for this reason." Then, in more direct allusion to our text, he observes, "Where there is a second, there are two; and where a third is, there there are three. But the Spirit is a third from God and the Son." And "What is the office of the gospel, what the substance of the new testament, which establishes the law and prophets, if not that from thence, these three, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, are to be be lieved to be one?" These quotations from Tertullian are equally demonstrative in favour of our text, and of the doctrine of the trinity in unity. 4. But our text is likewise quoted by Cyprian, chosen Bishop of Carthage about the year 248. "He cannot be made the temple of God (says Cyprian), who has not believed in him; neither can he be made the Temple of Christ, who denies that Christ is God; and inasmuch as these three are one, how can the Holy Ghost be in amity with him, who is the enemy of either the Father or the Son?" Again "The Lord says, I and the Father are one; and again, concerning the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, it is written, and these three are one." He also remarks that, "Christ himself commands the nations to be baptized in the full and united trinity." 5. We have equally incontestible evidence, with respect to the eastern or Greek churches, of the prevailing doctrine in the first ages, being that of our text. In the year 276 the eastern Bishops met at Antioch, and condemned the anti-trinitarian tenets of Paul of Samosata. And about the year 325, Arius, a presbyter of the Greek church, was condemned by the famous council of Nice, for denying the doctrine of the trinity in unity. In truth, our doxology, in general use, seems to have originated in the Greek church. Basil has preserved the following, as from Dionysius, Bp. of Alexandria, A. D. 247-" To God the Father, and to the Son our Lord Jesus Christ, together with the Holy Ghost be glory and power for ever and ever, Amen." 6. Jerome, who made his version of the new testament about the year 384. observes in reference to our text, "In that place we read of the unity of the trinity, the testimony of the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, by which the catholic faith is con firmed, and the one substance of the divinity of Father, Son, and Spirit is proved." This verse, however, ought to be defended, not because the doctrine of the trinity depends upon it, for we have traced it all through the bible, and have shown that Tertullian saw this doctrine, as clearly in Genesis i. 26, and iii. 22, as he did in 1 John v. 7-but it should be defended, because the rescuing of any part of scripture from the imputations of |