Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

joint active principle, may express the same will, or signify the same command, to a third; and that without the smallest superiority, inferiority, or inequality, amongst the divine persons: for the divine will is exactly according to the Divine Nature. And it is only upon this principle, that we can understand how it was possible for creation to have been effected, or how it still continues to be preserved by the Divine Being. And upon this principle we account for the particular display of the divine goodness, power, and wisdom, manifested in creation and providence; and upon the same principle, we see the divine glory manifested in the still greater work of redemption, and that in perfect consistency with the mysterious order of the distinct persons in the Divine Essence.

The first signifying, or, according to the order of subsistence, expressing, the divine will, according to its own nature, in all the extent of the divine perfections, natural and moral: the second, effecting or fulfilling that will, according to the very same extent: the third, approving or ratifying the same expression of the divine will, with all the divine energetic influence, to the immeasurable and uncreated extent of the whole mind of Deity. Thus in every work of the Divine Being, when traced to the Divine Essence, this doctrine harmonizes with the divine perfections, whether we contemplate the glorious works

of creation and providence, or interestingly investigate the far more glorious work of redemp tion.

According to this doctrine, providence continues its exercise, if we dare say so, in perfect consistency with all the necessary perfections of the Divine Being; for every work and every act that we can rationally investigate, in creation, providence, and redemption, are all conducted upon this principle.

12. Following up every work and every act to the Divine Being, in the Divine Essence, by fair investigation, we discover a perfection, corresponding to the social powers of the human soul, by which the divine will may be expressed, by one person to another, in the Divine Essence ; and also by which, a divine person, necessarily equal in all divine perfections, may receive such an expression, and may farther sustain and discharge an office inferior to the other; and by which, a third person, in the Divine Essence, every way necessarily equal to each and to both the other two, in all divine perfections, natural and moral, may undertake and sustain an inferior office.

And while in such a view as this, the plan and economy of redemption are perfectly obvious, yet is the Divine Essence no way robbed of its necessary and essential glory; nor are the divine perfections, natural and moral, in the smallest

degree, eclipsed. But, on the contrary, the Divine Being is every way exalted, magnified, and glorified; and all the divine works shine forth, both as worthy of the Divine Being, and consistent with, though far above, the comprehension of reason, to fathom the whole.-Hence, according to all the rules of reasoning and argument, by the peculiar law of the Divine Nature, laid down as the foundation of every proposition, the Divine Essence and perfections must subsist in three, and can subsist in neither more nor less than three, distinct persons. This is demonstrated by the divine efficiency, intelligence, goodness, love, and the perfection or power of expressing the divine will, or signifying a divine command, according to all the qualities of its own nature, entirely independent of all created beings.*

*See Note L on the preceding Proposition.

P 3

PROPOSITION XII.

PROVING THE SAME DOCTRINE FROM THE POWER WHICH THE HUMAN SOUL HAS TO MAKE A PROMISE.

[This power is both moral and social, and infers more moral beings existing together than one-There must be a perfection corresponding to this, inhering in the Divine Essence-If not, the Divine Being cannot make a promise, according to its own nature, in all the extent of the Divine Essence, and therefore must be imperfect-The modes of personality in the Divine Escence must be three-Distinction and union of personality are all the radical mode of perfection-The work of providence could not be carried on, were there not three distinct persons in the Divine Essence-Neither could the work of redemption.]

1. PURSUING the same subject, upon the principle of the social powers of the human soul, a fair chain of reasoning and argument will prove, with equal force of demonstration, that there must be a Trinity of persons in the Divine Essence. By the social powers bestowed upon the human soul, it is capable of making a promise ; and this it could not do, without both moral and social powers.

It is equally evident that the soul could not do this, unless there were some other rational, intelligent, and social being or beings, within the

sphere of this associating principle; because, were there but one rational and intelligent being in the universe, although it were endowed with social powers, yet it could never call them into action, as has been already clearly proved; and as it could never exercise its social powers, so it could never make a promise.

But as things are now constituted in the moral world, by the Divine Being, it is undeniably evident, that the human soul has a power of making a promise, according to the qualities of its own nature; and this power is, necessarily and essentially, social; and the exercise of this power constantly infers, and goes upon the principle, that some other rational and social being or beings exist, capable of receiving that promise, according to its own nature. Thus, both the power of making, and the power of receiving, a promise, infer the sociability both of the agent and object engaged in that promise. Hence it is perfectly evident, from the nature of things as they now are, that it is absolutely necessary and essential. to the perfection of the human soul, that it should constitutionally possess an inherent power of making a promise; and it is equally necessary, that there should be more intelligent and social created beings, similarly constituted in their rational powers and faculties than one.

2. Now, if the social power by which the human soul can make a promise, be necessary

« ZurückWeiter »