Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-06-01
THE GAZETTE: FORT WORTH, TEXAS, MONDAY, JUNE1

walls Of the Paschal turn, the resurrec.
ton and ascension of Jesus Christ,
and the descent Of the Holy Ghost on
the apostles on the day OF Pentecost,
the Rev. Father said, we have now
come to Trinity Sunday, which closes
the Paschal festivals. He then took
for his text Matt. xviii, 10, and In
very clear and able discourse explained
the Christian dogma of the Trinity.
The trinity, he said, was the arst
great mystery Of the Christian religion,
and 1t was also the frat attacked by
heresy. The first great heresy which
disturbed the peace Of the church was
AIisnism. 1t had its origin, like all
subsequent heresies, in disappointed
ambition. He then sketched the life
OF Arius, and gave q brief history of
Alexandra as u Christian center in
the fourth century. railing to be
elected bishop of the great See, Arius
resolved to ruin where he could not
rule. He boldly denied the divinity
of Jesus Christ, and with such success
that writer of that period says that
the Christian world was surprised to
find itself at once half Arian
Arianism was.judged and condemned
and the divinity Of Jesus Christ pro.
claimed in the council OF Nice.
The second heresy was also against
the trinity. Mscedonious denied the
divinity OF the Holy Ghost said that
he was not q person, but the minister
of the gifts of God This heresy was
condemned at the first council OF Con.
stantinople. and the Holy Ghost de-
clared to be God and the third person
of the blessed trinity.
The Rev. Father then quoted several
texts of scripture, proving that the Son
and the Holy Ghost were divine per-
sons equal with the Father. One OF
these texts, Let John, 5th chapter, 7th
verse, he said he regretted to find
omitted In the revised Protestant YER
sion. The omission OF this important
text plainly shows disposition
to minimize Christian truths. He
then answered the objections which
are usually raised against the trinity
rs we'll as against other mysteries OF
religion. He said it was not unreason-
able, but above and beyond reason,
that the creature could not compre-
bend the Creator, the finite, the in.
| finite that not one in ten thousand
understood all that they believed OF
the mysteries of the physical world on
the word of men of science, and that
they should believe the mysteries OF
the spiritual world on the word OF
| God that there are In nature certai 4
similitudes Of the trinity, for instance
water, ice, steam-three things, one
| substance.
The sun, light, heat; in the soul will
memory, understanding. ALI simili'
tudes fall short when we attempt TO
| institute comparison concerning God,
but these serve to show that II is not
| impossible for the divine essence t.
communicate itselfto the three persons
Of the blessed trinity and still main
tain its unity. All the intellects Of
angels and of men combined are not
capable of comprehending Him who
fills all space and is without beginning
of time or ending OF days. We can
only exclaim with st. Paul, o, the
depth of the riches of the wisdom Of
the knowledge of God! How incom
prehensible are His judgments and
how unsearchable His ways!
The doctrine of the trinity Is implic-
lily taught in the Old Testament. The
use OF the plural pronoun in such pas
sages as "Let as make man, " Adam
is become AS one of u.s." "Let as g
down and confound their speech,
plainly indicates q plurality of persons
| in the Godhead. Belief in the trinity
was not taught explicitly to the Jew
because of their proneness to imitat
surrounding nations, among whom
} polytheism prevailed, -.
H. then quoted from job xxXviii'
showing how God administered re
Duke to man for presumptuousl!
daring to weigh and measure God II
the saale OF human understanding
and finally entreated his hearers q
submit their understanding to tn
word of God, telling them that W
now see many things only through
glass, in dark manner, but that whel
our change comes we shall see face {
face: now we know in part, but the
we shall know even as we are known
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