we this day celebrate is so plainly and fully revealed in it.

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And it is much to be observed, that as all the three divine persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, thus manifested themselves at the baptism of our Saviour, so he himself requires that all who would be his disciples should be made so by being baptized in the name of all the same persons, saying to his Apostles, "Go ye therefore and teach" or make "all nations" my disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," Matt. xxviii. 19. So that the same divine persons which so manifestly appeared at the baptism of Christ are all to be particularly named at the baptism of every Christian, by Christ's own institution. And no man can be initiated into the Church of Christ, and so made a Christian, any other way but by being so baptized; this being the only way appointed by Christ himself for that purpose, who thereby hath sufficiently declared, that he will own none for his disciples but such as are baptized in the name of all the same persons which appeared in so miraculous a manner when he himself was baptized: and also that our salvation depends upon and must be attributed unto all of them. For seeing he himself hath so ordered it that none can be brought into a state of salvation but by being first baptized in the name of all three, all three must needs be acknowledged to concur in the effecting of it.

And verily that they do so, appears most evidently also from the words of my text. For as all these divine persons manifested themselves in the creation of the

world in general, and at the making of man in particular; as they appeared at the incarnation and baptism of our Redeemer; and as our Redeemer himself requires that all who would partake of that redemption which he hath purchased should be baptized in the name of all three; so the Apostle here, by his direction, writing to such as were so baptized at Corinth, and concluding his epistle to them with an hearty prayer that they might have all things necessary to their salvation, he refers all such things to three heads, and attributes them severally to the three persons in the most holy Trinity, and accordingly prays to each of them, saying, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." So that, did we but understand these words aright, we should thereby know how to exercise our faith in all and each of these divine persons, for what is necessary to our obtaining eternal salvation, according to their several ways of concurring to it.

But for that purpose, before we enter upon the explication of the several parts of the text, it will be necessary to observe some things in general about it. As first, although here be three several persons named, and several properties are severally attributed to them, yet they are not several, but all one and the same individual God. This we are fully assured of by all those reasons, and by all such places of the Holy Scriptures, which demonstrate the unity of the Godhead; as where it is said, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God" (our Elohim in the plural number) " is one Lord, one Jehovah," Deut. vi. 4. This the Son asserts of the

Father and himself, "I and the Father are one," John, x. 30. Not eis but ev eoμev, one Jehovah, one Being. And St. John of all three, "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one," 1 John, v. 7. Where the same word is used again, ev elσi, unum sunt, they are,” in the plural number; but they "are one," in the singular—one Being, 7, one Jehovah, one God.

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Hence, in the next place, whatsoever perfections or properties (except such as are purely personal) are attributed to any of these divine persons, are the same in all, and may equally be attributed to every one, they being all and every one the same God, in whom all perfections concentre, or, rather, who is all perfection itself. And therefore, when we read of the grace of one, the love of another, and the fellowship of the third divine person, it is not to be so understood as if these properties were so peculiar to those persons to which they are here attributed, that they do not belong also to the other; for they are the same in all, and may be equally attributed to one as well as another. And so they are in the Holy Scriptures. Here grace is ascribed to the Son, and love unto the Father; in other places, love is ascribed to the Son, and grace unto the Father. As where St. Paul saith, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Rom. viii. 35. "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge," Ephes. iii. 19. And St. John, "Hereby perceive we the love of God" (the Son), "because he laid down his life for us," 1 John, iii. 16. Here love is plainly attributed to the Son; and so is grace to the Father, where St. Paul saith,

By the grace of God I am what I am," 1 Cor. xv. 10. And "not by fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world," 2 Cor. i. 12. And as we here read of the communion or fellowship of the Holy Ghost, we elsewhere read of the fellowship of the Son. "God is faithful," saith the Apostle, "by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord," 1 Cor. i. 9. And St. John saith, "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ," 1 John, i. 3. Which I therefore observe, lest any should think that we detract any thing from one person by attributing it to another. For whatsoever divine properties are attributed to any one are thereby attributed unto all; they being all one and the same God, in whom all properties also are one and the same property, and therefore cannot be divided, nor belong to one more than to another, as they are in him.

But then we must observe withal, that, notwithstanding this, when the Almighty Being, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, is pleased to operate upon things without him, and so to exert and manifest himself to us, there is something particular attributed to one of these divine persons more than to another. As it is plain that it was not the Father, nor the Holy Ghost, but the Son, which took the nature of man upon him. It was not the Father, nor the Son, but the Holy Ghost, which at the creation of the world "moved upon the face of the waters," which at the incarnation of Christ," overshadowed the blessed Virgin," and which upon the day of Pentecost " came down upon the

Apostles." Thus all along in the Holy Scriptures, the Father is said in a peculiar manner to be our Maker, the Son our Saviour, and the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier. And accordingly, in my text, where the three persons are all mentioned together with respect to us, the Apostle prays for something particular from each of them; for the love of the Father, as he is Maker and Governor of the world; for the grace of the Son, as he is the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind; and for the communion of the Holy Ghost, as he is the Sanctifier and Comforter of all the elect people of God: which will serve us as a key to open the whole mystery contained in these words, as we shall see more presently.

But here is still another thing to be observed in general; which is, that the Son is here placed before the Father, whereas reason may seem to require that the Father should be placed first; as he is by the Son himself, commanding baptism to be administered in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and by his beloved disciple, saying, "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost," Matt. xxviii. 19.; 1 John v. 7. According to which order, the Apostle should have said, "The love of God the Father, and the grace of Jesus Christ;" whereas, he contrariwise puts the Son first, saying, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God:" which being done by the special direction of the Holy Ghost, there was certainly great reason for it; which, that we may rightly understand, we must take notice, that in the places before quoted the divine persons are named in their essential order, that which they