the eternal power and might, proceeding from the Father and the Son. Nevertheless God is not by this distinction divided into three, since the holy scriptures teach us, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost have each His personality, distinguished by their properties; but in such wise that these three persons are but one only God. Hence then, it is evident that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father, and likewise the Holy Ghost is neither the Father nor the Son. Nevertheless these persons thus distinguished are not divided, nor intermixed: for the Father hath not assumed the flesh, nor hath the Holy Ghost, but the Son only. The Father hath never been without His Son, or without His Holy Ghost. For they are all three co-eternal and co-essential. There is neither first nor last: for they are all three one, in truth, in power, in goodness, and in mercy.
IX. The truth of the foregoing article of the trinity of persons in one God.
All this we know, as well from the testimonies of holy writ, as from their operations, and chiefly by those we feel in ourselves. The testimonies of the holy scriptures, that teach us to believe this holy trinity, are written in many places of the old testament, which are not so necessary to enumerate, as to choose them out with discretion and judgment. In Genesis, chap. i. 26, 27, God saith: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, &c. So God created man in his own image, male and female created he them. And Gen. iii. 22. Behold, the man has become as one of us. From this saying, let us make man in our image, it appears that there are more persons than one in the Godhead: and when He saith God created, signifies the unity. It is true he doth not say how many persons there are, but that, which appears to us somewhat obscure in the old testament is very plain in the new.
For when our Lord was baptised in Jordan, the voice of the Father was heard, saying, this is My beloved Son: The Son was seen in the water, and the Holy Ghost appeared in the shape of a dove. This form is also instituted by Christ in the baptism of all believers. Baptise all nations, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. In the Gospel of Luke, the angel Gabriel thus addressed Mary, the mother of our Lord: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God: likewise, the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you. And there are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. In all which places we are fully taught that there are three persons in one only divine essence. And although this
