The characteiisiics by which the persons of the Trin- ity may be distinguished from each other under this view belong to two classes.
(1.) /H/fn((7Z("characteres interni"). These are dis- tinctive signs arising from the internal relation of the three persons in the (iodhead to each other, and indi- cating the mode of the divine existence. The follow- ing distinctions are derived from the names Father, Son, and Spirit, and from some other Bible phraseology: ((;.) The Father f/erierafes the Son, and e7nits the Holy Spirit, general Filiiim, spirat Spvittim Sanctvm ; and possesses, therefore, as his personal attributes, genei-atio activa and fipiratin activn, (b.) The Son is genei-ated h\ the Father — FUii est generari non generare. The Son, therefore, possesses as his personal attributes^/Zo-
tio, genei-atio passira ; and also, as he is supposed to emit the Spirit in conjunction with the Father, spiratio ac- tini. (c.) The Holy S|)irit neither generates nor is gen- erated, but proceeds from the Father and the Son — Spi- rilus Sunctus est, nee generare nee generari, seil prore- dvre. In regard to the Holy Spirit, there was nothing decided, during the first three centuries, bv ecclesiastical authority respecting his nature, the characteristics of liis person, or his relation to the Father and the Son. Nor was anything more definite, with regard to his nat- ure and liis relation to the other persons of the Trinity, than what has already been stated, established by the council at Nice, or even by that at Constantiimple. To believe in the Holy (ihost — to mv Ylarp't Ka'i l'i(p lyvp- TrpoaKvrovfifvov, and tK tov TlaTpbg tKTrofm'o/iei'ov — was all that was required in the symbol there adopted. But there were ma" v, especially in the Latin Church, who maintained tliat the Holy Spirit did not proceed from the Father oidy, but also from the Son. 'J'hey appealed to John xvi, 13, and to the texts where the Holy S]iirit is called the Spirit q/'C/irist, e. g. Rom. viii, 'J. To Ibis doctrine the (Jreeks were, for the most part, opposed, be- cause they did not find that the New Test, ever ex- pressly declared that the Spirit proceeded from the Son. It prevailed, however, more and more in the Latin Church; and when in the 5th and 0th centuries the Arians urged it as an argimient against the e(]ualily of Christ with the Father, that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father only, and not from the Son, the Catho- lic churches began to hold more decidedly that the Holy Spirit proceeded from both, and insert the adjunct Fili- oqiie after Patre in the Symbolum Niceeno-Constuntino- politamtm.
(2.) E:rtei-nal (" cbaracteres extemi"). Tliese are characteristics of the persons of the Trinity arising from the iforks of the Deity relating to objects extrinsic to itself, and called opera externa, sive ad extra. They are twofold: («.) Opera Dei aconomica,i\\QSQ institu- tions which God has founded for the salvation of the human race. The Father sent his Son to redeem men (.John iii, 16. 17), and gives or sends the Holy Spirit (xiv, 2(j). The Aioti is sent from the Father, etc., and sends the Holy Spirit from the Father (xv. 2(j). The Noll/ Spirit formed the human nature of Christ (Luke i, 85) and anointed it (Acts x, 38), i. e. endowed it with gifts; and is sent into the hearts of men, and carries them forward towards moral perfection. (6.) Opera Dei attributira, such divine works as are common to the three persons, but which are frequently ascribed to one of the three. To the Father are ascribed the decree to create the world, the actual creation, and the preserva- tion of it. To the Son, also, the creation, preservation, and government of the world are ascribed ; also the rais- ing of the ilead and judgment. To the Holy Spirit are ascribed the immediate revelation of the divine will to the prophets, the continuation of the great work of sal- vation connnenced by Christ, and the communication and application to men of the means of grace.
4. History of the Doctrine since the Reformation. — Nearly all the writers upon the subject of the Trinity since the Heformation belong to some one of the general classes already mentioned. We present several theo- ries.
(1.) Some have attempted to illustrate and explain this dostrine by philosophy; and not a few liave gone so far as to think they could prove the Trinity a priori, and that reason alone furnishes sufficient arguments for its truth. Others, again, looked to reason for nothing more than an illustration of this factor of the divine ex- istence. In the latter class may be placed Philip l\Ie- lancthon. who. in his Loci Theologici, thus explained the Trinity: "'God from his infinite understanding produces thought, which is the image of himself. To this thought he imparted personal existence, which, bearing the im- press of the Father, is his likeness and resemblance, and hence called by .John Xoyoc. This illustration of the Trinity was received without offence or suspicion, until
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the heresy which lurks beneath it. was iletected and ex- posed bv Flaciiis. The latest attempt to ex|ihiiii the Trinitj' in this manner may be found in the BerUner Monalsschiift, Sept. 1790, § 280, in an article written by Schwab of Stuttgart, who refers to the accidents of space, viz. lentctli, breadth, and thickness, as an illustra- tion of the Trinity. Amoni; those who supposed that the Trinity could be mathematically proved were Bar- tholomew Keckerman, in his Systema Theologicitm ; I'eter Poiret, and Darips, who published an essay In qua IHuralitas Peisomirum in Dei/ate. . . . Melhodo Mathe- maticorum, Demonstratur (LeovardiiB, 1735, 8vo).