THE RICHES OF DIVINE GRACE

UNFOLDED

DIALOGUE V.

A Discourse on the Holy Trinity, as made known by the Doctrine of Christ's Person,
to such as are born again of God.

AFTER an interruption of conversation, owing to want of convenient season for the continuation of it, these two friends, Junior and Senior, met again, to entertain each other, by renewing their mutual intercourse; and having saluted, expressing their pleasure in being once more together, the conversation began. Senior. My good friend, I hope you have been reflecting seriously and judiciously on the subjects of our past conversation. It would be vastly pleasing to me, to be of the least advantage in assisting your mind in thinking rightly on such important subjects as we have been discoursing on. Not that I would by any means insinuate you are beholden to me for any light I can communicate. I am willing, if you please, to enter on some spiritual conversation. If you, are so disposed, speak your mind, and fix your subject.

Junior. Sir, I most certainly have attended closely to what you have delivered in the former Conferences I have had with you. I must confess my being profited by them; yet I would not wish to have the same subjects resumed. Not that they are not momentous. No: They most certainly are. None more so; yet I want to proceed, and get on to such as may still increase my mind with light and grace. It was the Apostle's prayer for some real saints, that they might be filled with the knowledge of the Lord's will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

Senior. You say right. I also will shew you my opinion. I conceive there can be no spiritual growth, but as the soul increases in spiritual knowledge. The subjects we have treated of, were Sin: a most awful and tremendous evil; you and I are the subjects of it. We then discoursed on Regeneration: you and I are the subjects of it. We are born of God: we are in the kingdom of God's dear Son. We need not, therefore, go over this ground again. We then proceeded to that most blessed and comfortable subject, Salvation. This is a finished work. It is wholly and altogether without us. There can be no change in it. Christ is our salvation.  We are saved in him with an everlasting salvation. From this we proceeded to speak concerning the Knowledge of this Salvation: how it is received into the regenerate mind; that, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, we are made the partakers of it in a way of believing. I should wish to know what effect our last conversation had on you.

Junior. Why, truly, Sir, I cannot but acknowledge it has produced very singular and blessed effects, in my mind. Heretofore all my thoughts were swallowed up about inherent grace. I expected to be saved on account of it. What I called faith, was built altogether on myself, and what I found and experienced in myself. I really had no distinct, clear, and scriptural perceptions of the salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ. In pondering over what you delivered concerning it, and the way in which it is received, I see myself to have been hitherto very very dark, in my knowledge and view of these important subjects. From your last discourse, I have, by close attention to the same, learned that Christ is the immediate object of my faith: not my graces, frames, feelings, or experiences. That his salvation is the proper subject for my , mind to be exercised on: not what I am in myself, That his word is the foundation of my faith: not any thing wrought in me.  I perceive, impressions of any sort, are not believing. I clearly see that it is what God the Father hath revealed of Christ, and what the Holy Spirit bears witness of him in the scriptures of truth, are of more importance, and of greater consequence to me, than what I am in myself, or feel of myself. I must confess I never thought concerning the record which God had given of his Son in the everlasting gospel; yet, now my eyes are opened, I read, He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself. he that believeth not God, hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son, hath life: and he that hath. not the Son of God, hath not life. I John, v.10, 11, 12. It seems to cast light on the whole of your last conversation with me. I am, in my own views, " though I had never heard of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of faith in him. You speak of taking in the knowledge of Christ, under the operation of the Holy Ghost upon the renewed mind, and of a discovery of this, by the acts and outgoings of the mind, under the influences of the same Holy Spirit: now, of this, I had not the least idea.

Senior. If you have received any spiritual advantage, I very sincerely do rejoice at the same. I most assuredly am willing to impart any spiritual gift in my power. The Apostle, writing to the saints at Rome says, I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be comforted together with you, by the mutual faith both of you and me. Rom. I:11,12. You and myself being present, we cannot long to see each other; but we may, even whilst present, long to edify each other. Do you of yourself speak out, and say what the subject of our present discourse shall be.

Junior. If you please, I would request a discourse concerning the Trinity.

Senior. What, my good Sir, do you mean? You cannot expect me to speak on that sublime subject, most surely, as in itself considered. You do not expect me to speak of the nature of God, the persons in God, the essential perfections of the infinite and self-existing Essence; as in its absolute nature and necessity, infinity and blessedness. Give me leave to say, the Godhead, with its personalities, blessedness, and glory, is incomprehensible. The Father. the Son, and the Spirit, exist and co-exist in an incomprehensible manner. The Unity of, the Divine Essence, and the Trinity of Persons, are subjects which cannot be comprehended. We must go to the Bible for any proper ideas of the same. We have there the doctrine of it, not explained, but positively set forth, stated, and declared. If you enquire concerning this, I am at your service, to declare and set it before you.

Junior. I thought, to know the doctrine of the Three in Jehovah, was the same with knowing the Three in Jehovah; but I observe you make a difference, otherwise you would not have expressed yourself as you have done. I plainly perceive you want me to consider, that Jehovah is essentially and incomprehensibly, and by necessity of nature, what he is; that the Three in Jehovah are essentially Jehovah; that their existence in Jehovah is as essential as Godhead is; that they are incomprehensible as to their existence, and mode of existence: so that the Three in Jehovah are as incomprehensible, as the nature in which they exist. Is not this what you mean to suggest to me?

Senior. Yes; and also, that all thoughts of God-head, and the Three in Godhead, out of Christ, and without the consideration of him as God-man, lead but to the contemplation of absolute Deity, and leave us without viewing this glorious subject, as revealed in the glorious gospel of the blessed God.

Junior. My good Sir, from what you have said, I seem to think you make a distinction between the sacred Trinity in Unity, and the doctrine concerning them.

Senior. I do; and will give you clearly my conceptions of the same. I cannot, I dare not, say what Jehovah in his Persons, Life, Blessedness, Glory, and Immortality is. He was, and is, and is to come. Abstracted from all worlds, beings, and things, he is of himself, and from himself alone. He dwelleth in that light which no mortal eye can approach unto; whom no Man hath, seen, or can see; to whom be honor and power everlasting, Amen. Now the doctrine of the Trinity is a revelation which God hath given us concerning his Nature, Persons, and Perfections in Christ. whilst it is universal with all Christians to say, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is a mystery, yet I do not think this to be true and right. No. The doctrine is not a mystery; but what is contained in it, is absolutely so: yet we are called only to believe the doctrine, not to comprehend the same. The truth of the doctrine is realized in every article of faith, in every doctrine, and truth throughout the gospel of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Nay, the very system of Nature has evident proofs, and bears testimony, that the Three in Jehovah were concerned in their formation. Yet it is to us of the greatest importance, to know them in their covenant transactions, and how they stand related to us in Christ Jesus. The Scriptures are very clear and copious on these subjects; and, I conceive, this is what you are so desirous to be instructed in.

Junior. , I would state the subject I wish to receive your instructions in, thus How the Holy Trinity are made known by the doctrine of Christ’s Person, to such is are born again of God?

Senior. Such as are born again of God, have the following indubitable evidence of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in their own souls. When they were first convinced of sin, it was very evident to them, that they had sinned against an infinite Majesty that there was an infinity of evil in Sin that it required an infinite satisfaction that He who had made satisfaction for the same, must be an infinite Person and, that he also, who was pleased to make known this satisfaction, must be equal in power and Majesty with him who finished transgression, made an end of sin, made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness. Thus the ground work is laid in the renewed mind, concerning the knowledge of the Holy Trinity; which is afterwards improved by the divine teachings of the Holy Ghost from the scriptures of truth.

Junior. I have sometimes conceived it must be so; and that every truth is, as it were, implanted in the mind in regeneration, and that it is afterwards variously drawn out, opened, and discovered. For in conversing with you, I have frequently perceived, whilst the truths you have delivered and opened to me, have far exceeded any knowledge or conception I ever before had of them; yet I have found an inward delight in them, and perceived a glory, sublimity, excellency, and majesty in them. It has, therefore, been sometimes in my thoughts, whether I wanted any thing more than the opening the mysteries of the gospel more clearly and freely to my mind.

Senior. You have, in what you have said, expressed very proper conceptions on the subject. Peter says of believers in the righteousness of God our Saviour Jesus Christ, that on such is bestowed all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us unto glory and virtue. This was all bestowed in our new-birth. In it our spiritual faculty consists. This is capacitated to receive all revealed truths concerning Christ, and the Father's love in Him, through the divine light and operation of the Holy Ghost on it. , I have really found it to be so in my own experience.

Junior. How is it then, if it be so of a truth, many of such as we look upon as born from above, so often say, this truth is not fit for such and such to hear. It ought not to be by any means proposed to them it is too far beyond them they cannot apprehend it. If the spiritual mind is a capacity suited to all revealed truth, and all truth suited to it, how is there any propriety in speaking so and so as I have related?

Senior. It is a truth, that some glorious mysteries of grace, may be more suited to the spiritual mind at one time than at another. You have discovered this to be your own case, as you have requested leaving past subjects, and proceeding to speak of such as are more deep and out of sight. Yet it should not be said at any time, there any truths in the gospel we have no concern with, neither that they are beyond us, because hereby the mind is taken off from considering the importance of eternal verities. The Apostle tells us, we have received the spirit of God, that we may know the things which are freely given to us of God. It is as he opens them to our minds, that we are spiritually quickened by them. It is as he seals them in our hearts, that we experience the divine good and reality of them. Therefore as they are the bread of life, and the daily bread of it, and we cannot be nourished up into everlasting life, but by the wholesome words, or life giving, and life maintaining words of our Lord , Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which is according to godliness; it should never be, that any of God's beloved ones should speak slightingly of the truths of any of them, of the least or greatest of them, in any way of diminution, they being all worthy of God.

Junior. I, confess I have been often grieved, at what seems to be so, in many of the godly. But our Lord said to Peter, when he asked an impertinent question concerning John, what is that to thee? follow thou me: so I would drop all other subjects, and in treat you to set before me that which I have requested you to converse with me upon.

Senior. You desire to be informed, how the Three in Jehovah are made known, by the doctrine of Christ's Person, to such as are regenerated. I will endeavour to answer you to the best of my power, and give you all the scriptural evidence of this I may be assisted with. I would have you to observe, it is a great subject, a spiritual subject, an important one, an experimental one. It is not a mere speculative point., No. Indeed, indeed it is not You must, therefore, carefully attend to every part and branch of conversation on the same: without it, even should the Lord enlarge my mind, and open my mouth to speak ever so clearly and freely, it will be lost on you.

Junior. You may depend on it, I have some inward sense of the greatness of the subject, and an inward relish and spiritual appetite to feed on it, or I had not proposed this to be the point now to be opened.

Senior. Sir, we must here be confined and circumscribed on all sides by the written word. No abstract views and thoughts of Deity must be admitted. We must be contented here to be guided by the infallible word and Spirit. What think you of this?

Junior. I am willing, most readily, to submit to these two guides, God's word, and Spirit. My good Sir, you have prepared me for all this, by what you before spoke on this subject, and which, I hope, never to forget. That it is not what the Father, the Word, and the Spirit are in the Essence, as the Incomprehensible Three in the Incomprehensible Jehovah; but what they to us in Christ, and what they have revealed of are their natural love to us in Christ. My enquiry is simply this, How they are made known, by the doctrine of Christ’s Person, to such of us as are born of God?

Senior. This is a very interesting subject indeed. May the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, be with me of a truth, whilst I aim to give you satisfaction in this great point.

Junior. The Lord hath blessed your past discourses to me. I have received into my mind what you have delivered; I cannot, therefore, doubt of receiving further instruction from you. I conceive it is your delight to dwell deeply and intensely on the deep things of God; and, I doubt not, but the Lord will be with you, and give us both his blessing and his Spirit.

Senior. May it be so, for his name and for his truth's sake, Amen. Whilst I by no means question it, yet I would neither be presumptuous nor careless. I should look on it as bold and awfully wrong, to enter on this subject, as if I conceived myself inherently sufficient for it. I should consider it very shocking carelessness, to engage on such sublime points as these, without confessing that all my sufficiency is of God. May the Lord the Holy Ghost bestow on me afresh his divine unction, so as to enable me to speak rightly and acceptably on what you have proposed. From your words in the proposal, How the Three in Jehovah are made known by the doctrine to such as are regenerated? you are not asking what the Three in Jehovah are, as considered in their infinite Essence, and personal distinction in the Self-existing Essence; but what they are as revealed in Christ, and according to the doctrine concerning them in the written word; and how the Three in Jehovah, in connection. and agreement with this are made known by the doctrine of Christ's Person, to the minds of such as are born of God: this is the full substance of your enquiry, is it not?

Junior. It is the whole of it. May the Lord him self direct you in what you are about to express on the same. May he open my ear and heart to receive it; whilst it pleases him to make your tongue like choice silver, to convey the same to me .

Senior. In the doctrine of the ever-blessed Trinity, as revealed in the Bible, we have the whole which concerns us respecting them set forth, and fully and openly declared. In the Person of Christ, God-Man, who is the glory of scripture, we have it realized. In every ordinance and act of divine worship, we have an acknowledgment made of it. All saints, in earth and heaven, give blessing, honor, glory, and power, to the Father, to the Son, and to the Spirit, to him that liveth for ever and ever; saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. The Divine Persons have manifested themselves in the distinct acts of their wills towards us; in their eternal purposes, and vast designs in Christ respecting us; in the salvation planned by them in Christ before all time wrought out for us in the fullness of time, and set before us in the everlasting gospel: the truths of which are immutable and everlasting: the glory of which reflects the knowledge of the Divine Coequal, Coessential, and Coeternal Three on us: so as that we thereby know them, believe on them, rest in them for everlasting life, and center in them for eternal glory. The Apostle says, God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath, shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. The term Person, made use of by Divines, when treating on the doctrine of the Trinity, is not to be understood in any gross sense; it is found in scriptures as you may see from the passage just quoted: and Christ is a Person in, the Godhead distinct from the Father and the Spirit. It is used to express the real distinct subsistence’s in the Essence, who are relatively, not essential distinct. That which gives them personal and distinct subsistence in the Incomprehensible Godhead, is as eternal, and as truly by necessity of nature, as the Godhead in which this personal distinction is. Now this is most fully Opened to us, it is reflected on us, and shines forth to our view, so as for us to have a scriptural and intuitive view, and spiritual apprehension of it, in the Person of God-Man.

Junior. There is a glory, majesty, and sublimity in the subject. It fills the mind with solemnity indeed, to contemplate the same. I understand. what you have suggested: it is the everlasting love of the Father, the salvation of the Son, and the revelation of the same to our minds, by the grace and power of the Holy Ghost, which give divine proof and evidence to us, that there are Three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. I John, 5:7. Not one in person, but three in personal distinction; yet one in nature, life, blessedness, and glory.

Senior. You rightly conceive, and most clearly express yourself. It is the distinct acts of the Three in Jehovah, manifested in grace, in creation, in salvation, in providence, in glory, that give full proof of their existence. The everlasting love of the Father to his own elect in Christ; the love of Christ to them, with what he hath done for them, as their Head and Saviour; the work and office of the Holy Ghost within them an upon them, in conforming them unto Christ, and making them his epistles, seen and known of all men to be so: we are led to see our obligations to the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity for. Now it would be pleasing for you to say, very freely and fully, what your own apprehension of these important truths is, as thereby I may be assisted to encourage and strengthen you.

Junior. I do not presume to cast light on the subject, yet, what I conceive of the same, from the light I have received in reading the scriptures, is this that the knowledge of the covenant acts and transactions of the Three in Jehovah, as stated and recorded in the inspired volume, is the most clear and easiest way of receiving the doctrine of the blessed Trinity into the mind; so as to be led to worship, love, adore, and praise Jehovah in all his persons, for what they are to us as the Lord our God, and for their covenant settlements on our behalf, and for their distinct offices in the whole economy of their grace unto us.

Senior. I most sincerely approve of what you declare on the subject before us. It is hereby we are actually led to a real knowledge of, a real acquaintance with, and a real love to, each of the persons in the Godhead. As we know the Father in his love to us in Christ, we love him for the same; as we know the person and salvation of Christ, we love him who loved us, and gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour; as we know the Holy Ghost, and his love to us, his office on our behalf, how he dwells in us, how he makes Christ precious to us, how he sheds abroad the Father's love in our hearts, and carries on communion between the Father and the Son in our minds, hearts, understandings, will, and affections. I consider all the Lord's people have communion with the Three in Jehovah in this way, beyond what they commonly conceive; and that their inward conceptions of the Trinity in Unity, are beyond what they can possibly express; yet not withstanding all this, they are frequently perplexed in giving any clear statement of the same.

Junior. My dear Sir, do you think the gospel can be properly preached, without giving a clear and scriptural account of the engagements of the eternal Trinity in the everlasting covenant?

Senior. I do not; because the proper statement of the will of each of the Divine Persons in this compact, is the very gospel itself. In the true and scriptural account hereof, each and all of the Divine Persons, have their proper glory for the expressions of their mutual love to the elect, who are saved herein and hereby, with an everlasting salvation. The Father's love, the Son's salvation, and the Spirit’s testimony concerning the same, are the subject, and the whole substance, of the gospel of the grace of God.

Junior. Does not a proper understanding of this lead, under divine influence, into real, distinct, and particular communion with each of the Three in Jehovah in their covenant acts? and, if so, is not the want of a clear statement of this, and a neglect of it in the public ministry, very detrimental to spirituality,  to spiritual growth and fruitfulness, in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?

Senior. This cannot be denied. The Apostle says to the saints at Colosse, I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea., and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Chap. 2:1,2,3.

Junior. Pray, Sir, is not the whole Trinity in the Person of Christ?

Senior. I am not fond of saying or speaking thus. The doctrine of the Trinity is in the doctrine of Christ; nor can the doctrine of Christ be maintained without it, because it is founded on it; I rather conceive, the other is not a safe way of speaking, as it seems to swallow up the Persons of the Father and the Spirit, in the Person of Christ, which cannot be right: yet Christ, God-Man, is the image of the Invisible God. He is God manifest in the flesh. In him all the Three in Jehovah are made known, and manifested to their uttermost discovery. The whole of Godhead, with all the persons and perfections in Godhead, is made known in Christ. He is one with a Person in the Essence: he is the Fellow, of the Lord of Hosts. In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead. He was set up from everlasting, by the will, council, and covenant, of each of the Divine Persons. In him the self-existence of the self-existing Nature is manifested to the uttermost display. of it so far as is consistent with the glory of God, and so far as will suit the intellectual minds of elect saints and angels. In the Person of Christ, all the Divine Three are manifested: so that when Christ was openly declared at his baptism, heaven was opened a voice from the excellent glory was heard, pronouncing with an audible voice, This is My beloved Son, in whom l am well pleased. The Holy Ghost descended in a visible symbol on Christ; and the Baptist saw it, and knew thereby that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God. Here the whole Three Persons were most clearly manifested. The Father spake; the Son in our nature was he to whom, and of whom, he spake; and the Holy Ghost descended on him, and anointed him, and sealed him up as the Christ of God; and it is in Christ God shines upon his elect angels and saints in heaven, and reflects on them the full blaze of his deity, personalities, and perfections. It is in God-Man, the brightness of glory, they enjoy God in all his persons and love, and live for ever. Christ is the medium, the mirror, in which they see God., worship him in the acknowledgment of his persons, as Father, Son, and Sprit, and live for ever; and it is in the true intuitive knowledge of the person of Christ, God-Man," that the true knowledge of the Father and the Spirit is reflected on the church of the living God in this our world. Hereby we receive the true knowledge of the incomprehensible Three in the glorious Jehovah, into our minds. Our Lord, in his incarnate state, said, I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because' thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father; and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Which, when, and to whom he does, it is by the Spirit; and it is in the person and salvation of Christ, and by the revelation of him in the hearts of his regenerate and believing people, that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is made known, and most clearly manifested to such as are born again of God. I hope you are satisfied with what hath been delivered on this very deep and sublime subject.

Junior. I have attended closely to what you have delivered. I cannot conceive it can be in any other way, than according to your statement, that this most truly great and important verity can be received in the mind, believed in the heart, and so enjoyed, as to draw out all the faculties of the soul to worship the Trinity in Unity, as the Lord God of saints; as the God of all grace; as our God, Father, Saviour, Comforter, and Sanctifier. I wish you would give me a few scriptures, in which the worship of the Trinity is set forth.

Senior. I will. The blessing pronounced by the Lords command, under the Old Testament, was as follows,The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Num. 6:24,25,26. This was pronounced in the name of all the Three Persons. It is equal with the Apostle's benediction, which runs thus: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. 2 Cor.13:14. The same Apostle says to the saints at Ephesus, For through him (Christ) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Ephes. 2:18. Here are Christ, the Father, and the Spirit, worshipped by prayer. In his third chapter, we have in his apostolic, prayer, all the three persons mentioned, with their particular interest in the saints, and the whole concluded with this doxology "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power which worketh in us, unto hint be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end Amen". In the following words, which is a prayer, you have each of tile Divine Persons mentioned: And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. 2 Thess. 3:5. In the ordinance of baptism, faith in each of the sacred Three, is expressed and exercised, according to the words of institution. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Matt. 28:19. The following words, with which I will end, contain a prayer to the Holy Trinity. Grace be unto you, and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first-begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Rev. I:4,5,6. I hope these are sufficient to answer the end.

Junior. Indeed, Sir, they are; yet, I recollect the seraphim, in Isaiah, worship the sacred Trinity, saying Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts. Daniel styles the Three in Jehovah, the Holy Ones; and the prophet John speaks of the worship of them thus: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. But I know it is your time to retire, I most sincerely thank you for your conversation, and hope to be admitted to enjoy another spiritual interview with you when it maybe convenient. Mercy and peace be with you. Amen.

Senior. May your Lord and mine say amen to it also, Adieu.