The Doctrine of the Trinity

1907

At Grace Episcopal Church yesterday afternoon Rev. Bowers, the rector, preached on "The Doctrine of the Trinity," taking his text from Revelation of St. John 4:6 — "And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within; and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come."

"In the word of God," said Rev. Bowers, "two comings of Christ are recognized; his first coming when he came in deep humility, and his second and last coming, when he will come again to this earth in divine majesty. But also as Christ shall come, the Holy Ghost shall come; as Christ came to testify of God, the Holy Ghost shall come to testify of Christ. But God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, though different, are the same.

"The mystery of the Trinity is so far above and beyond man's understanding that for him to attempt to comprehend it is preposterous. But as is the case with reference to numerous other things, both physical and spiritual, because with his limited intelligence he is unable to understand its origin, such is no reason for refusing belief in its existence. From the physical world I shall draw a comparison. God is the true, the eternal light of the world, of the universe. Everything is born of God. A single ray of pure white light in the physical world furnishes some idea of what God is in the spiritual world, but of course only in a very limited scale. This ray of white light may be separated into its three component colors, each of which possesses its own peculiar properties. God, though like the ray of white light a unity, is at the same time a Trinity, consisting of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Faith demands of us that we worship God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. There is no doctrine in the Bible more plainly presented than that of the Trinity. Proofs of its truth are to be found in almost every chapter. Take, for example, the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis: 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The Hebrew word for 'created' in this verse is of the plural number and agrees with Jesus Christ sitting upon his heavenly throne, and that he heard the angelic host crying, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come!" This church demands belief in the doctrine of the Trinity as a condition of membership. Those joining are baptized into the church in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. When I dismiss you this afternoon I will dismiss you in the name of the Trinity.

"The Holy Ghost dwells not only in the church, in the town, but in our hearts, our souls; not only in this world, but in the world to come.

"The church and the Bible require us to believe facts; they do not require us to understand the origin of all facts. We do not know the ultimate origin of light, of the world; but we believe in the existence of light and the world. We do not know the origin of the Trinity, but, as Christians, believe in its existence."

—Galveston Daily News, Galveston, TX, June 3, 1907, p. 10.