SECTION XIV.

THE PRINCIPAL WITNESS ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.


The author of "Supernatural Religion" asserts:--

"The Fourth Gospel proclaims the doctrine of an hypostatic Trinity
in a more advanced form than any other writing of the New
Testament." [85:1]

This is hardly true if we consider what is meant by the proclamation of
the doctrine of a Trinity.

Such a doctrine can be set forth by inference, or it can be distinctly
and broadly stated, as it is, for instance, in the First Article of the
Church of England, or in the Creed of St. Athanasius.

The doctrine of the Trinity is set forth by implication in every place
in Scripture where the attributes or works of God are ascribed to two
other Persons besides The Father. But it is still more directly set
forth in those places where the Three Persons are mentioned together
as acting conjointly in some Divine Work, or receiving conjointly
some divine honour. In this sense the most explicit declarations of
the doctrine of the Trinity are the Baptismal formula at the end of
St. Matthew's Gospel, and the "grace," as it is called, at the end of