Father, Son, and Holy Spirit #248030

Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Matt. Xxviii. 19. IT is scarcely possible to consider these words as a summing up of Christian faith without some reference to the dogmatic use that has been made of them. At the present time, however, that branch of the subject may be dealt with very briefly, and with no design to revive use less controversies; in order that we may go on to see, if possible, something more in this triune symbol than dogma alone has thus far made of it. All Christendom is perfectly agreed on one doctrine, that of the unity of the Godhead. There are not many gods, or several gods; there is but one true God, maker of heaven and earth. All the creeds of the Church state this with an emphasis that marks their sense of its impor tance. But it has come to be the generally accepted belief of the Church that, in this One, there are three persons, or three eternal distinctions as it is sometimes expressed, and that recognition of these three persons, correspond ing to the terms of the ancient baptismal formula, is essential to any true thought of God.