Platonicam trinitatem, concludere debemus, quanquam haud ita distincte in hac tabula indicetur, quod in his æterna divinitas consistat, quæ quantum ad se ipsam semper eadem est sive ulla creatura existat sive non :"-- Wherefore seeing there is this evident agreement between this first triad of the Sephiroth, and both the Christian and Platonic Trinity, we conclude, although it is not so distinctly pointed out in this table (figure,) that in them, viz. the three first of the Sephiroth, the eternal Divinity consists, which, with respect to itself is eternally the same, whether any creature exist or not.' Here we get a threefold view of the doctrine of the Trinity, exhibiting the belief of it by the compilers of the Cabbala, by the early Christians, and by the Platonists. Thus among the Jews, in the earliest times, the doctrine was known, believed, and taught, by every one of their learned men. This could be fully proved. Among the early Christians, the doctrine was known, believed, and taught, both according to the tenets of the Jewish church concerning it, and according to the language of the Old and New Testament; and, as we have seen, it was known, believed, and taught by the philosophers and priests of the Pagan world. How, then, can the opposers of the doctrine presume to affirm, that it was only introduced into the Christian church by the agitation of the Arian controversy? Nay, from what has been advanced, the doctrine has been known, believed, and taught in the church in every period of the world. Were it necessary farther to confirm the foregoing statement of Knorr, we might adduce the authority of his cotemporary and correspondent, Dr. Henry More of Cambridge, considered the most learned man of his day, in his Catechismus Cabbalisticus, a work both accurate and profound, who establishes the doctrine of the Trinity with the most clear and certain evidence, upon the principles of the Cabbala, so that all the Jewish Rabbis, in every age, who have either studied or understood their own Cabbala, have believed the doctrine of the Trinity. And nothing but the most perverse obstinacy or ignorance of those very writings, which they receive as the ground of their faith, prevents the Jews from acknowledging the doctrine of the Trinity, taught by the early fathers of their church, both inspired and uninspired. A catalogue of the Rabbis, and quotations from their own writings, in full proof of the foregoing position, might be here adduced. The author would adduce both the Rabbis, and their writings alluded to, were it not that a work expressly on this subject has been in the press long before the present Essay; and as the author wishes to encourage every honest effort to promote the doctrine, he thinks it but fair to leave this topic to the pen of the Rev. Mr. Oxley, the author of that work. We might here adduce large quotations from the writings of Philo the Jew in support of the belief of the Jewish Rabbis in the doctrine of the Trinity. But as this is done at length by Dr. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary upon the Bible, in the first chapter of John, we refer the reader to that work. As we find the doctrine so generally known by revelation in every period of the Jewish church, and so firmly established throughout the whole of the heathen world by tradition, it is perfectly natural to think, and quite logical to infer, that the doctrine is fully established in the Christian church, seeing her benefits and privileges were still more extensive, spiritual, and clear, than those of the former dispensation; and still farther, seeing the second person in the Divine Essence, God in our nature, was her founder and head. When the Arian controversy took place, the doctrine had been known, firmly believed, and taught in the church: hence the denial of it by Arius was counted heresy. In the council of Nice, the doctrine was firmly approved, and fully ratified and established as a doctrine to be believed by the faithful. It was a doctrine always preserved by the church of Rome, and by the Waldenses, through all the dark ages. It was a doctrine fully believed and taught by the Reformers from the days of Luther. It was a doctrine held by the church of Geneva, and every Protestant church in the world; and still continues to be both believed and taught by almost every denomination of Christians. After all the foregoing authorities, how any can venture to deny the doctrine, is left to judgment, reason, the common sense of mankind, and the world at large, to determine. NOTES. Note A. THE difficulty of proving the unity of the Divine Essence, arises from ignorance of, or inattention to, the natural perfections of that Essence. By contemplating only the moral perfections of that Essence, the unity does not so clearly and convincingly appear; for the natural perfections are the sure guide to the unity, and the moral perfections are the sure guide to the personality and trinity of the Divine Essence. Now, by proving the existence of the Divine Essence from the nature of duration and space, the absolute unity, simplicity, and indivisibility of that Essence, clearly appear, and may be easily demonstrated, if denied. For the Essence must necessarily partake of the properties and qualities of its own necessary perfections and as duration and space are both necessary perfections of the Divine Essence, and both simple, uniform, and indivisible, therefore that Essence in which they necessarily inhere, must be naturally simple, uniform, and indivisible. - Again; as life and moral excellence in all uncreated varieties are necessary perfections of the Divine Essence, and both active, energetic, and operative, in personality; therefore, that Essence in which they necessarily inhere, must naturally be active, energetic, and operative, in personality. As existence is positive, and always implies an object or substance created, or necessarily existent, so existence always implies duration therefore, existence and duration always infer one another. Duration exists, and exists eternally; and, as it is a perfection, leads directly to an eternal Substance in which it inheres; so while duration continues, existence continues; and as duration continues eternally, so existence continues eter |