The Jesuit wish'd he had not embark'd so far. He endeavour'd to remove that Obstruction by the common Method of Theologues; but not succeeding, he made use of this Comparison. Suppose, Sir, _said he_, a Tree that bears Fruit incessantly; in such a Tree I find three Things that have a very great Resemblance to the Holy Trinity. I observe the Analogy between the Trunk and the Father, between the Son and the Branches, and between the Holy Spirit and the Fruit. The Trunk is as the Father, because both the Branches and Fruit are produc'd from it; the Branches are as the Son, in that they are produc'd from the Trunk as so many Arms or Conveyance for distributing to Mankind, all that proceeds from the Trunk. And the Fruit is as the Holy Spirit, considering that it comes to us both from the Trunk and the Branches, as so many Assurances or Testimonies of their Goodness. I own, that when Eternity is the Point in Question, the Resemblance ceases, because 'tis not possible to find a Proportion betwixt Finite and Infinite, be the former ever so ancient and extensive. Mean time, 'tis as true on the other hand, that when we examine the Kernels, or the Seeds of the Fruit of this Tree with a good Microscope, we observe not only a Tree already form'd with its Branches, but the Fruit also, tho' a little confus'd; a true Emblem this of the Deity consider'd during and before the Creation of the World, at which Time it appear'd but as one entire Tree without Distinction of Branches and of Fruit. But to come from hence to the Thing I aim at, 'tis evident that whatever Difference you make between the Trunk, Branches, and Fruits of a Tree, there is essentially none at all; they are indeed different Parts, yet all those Parts together constitute but one Whole. It signifies nothing to say that the Trunk is not the Branches, and that the Branches are not the Fruit. I affirm that this Distinction is not real, that is to say, that those Things cannot subsist independently one of the other as when they are united. In order to make a compleat Tree such as we have imagin'd, there must necessarily be a Conjunction of a Trunk, Branches, and Fruit, yet each has its particular Use; the first, as I said before, creates or produces, the second bears, displays, and gives, and the third by its Presence and Operations confirms in the Belief we entertain with Regard to the second and the first. 'Tis one and the same Substance variously represented, one Agent which operates after divers Manners, but in the main is only one, and cannot be consider'd as several without a manifest Contradiction. God is but One in Essence: In the Oeconomy of Salvation he is consider'd as the Author and Father of Mankind: In the Affair of Redemption he is look'd upon as an obedient submissive and humble Son who satisfies the Justice of his Father; and when the Business is the Application and Distribution of his Grace, he is consider'd as the Holy Ghost.