which lie at the root of all opposition to the mysterious doctrine of the Trinity.

The chief of these is an assertion that it involves a manifest contradiction, and, consequently, is a doctrine which no proof can establish. For in saying "the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet they are not three Gods, but one God," they contend, that we first distinctly name three Gods, and then immediately contradict ourselves, by declaring that they are not three Gods, but one God.

Did we indeed say that the three Persons of the Godhead make only one Person, attaching the same idea to the word person in both places, we should be guilty of the absurd contradiction with which we are charged, and might as well maintain that three miles are equal to one mile, or, abstractedly, three to one. But as there is no absurdity in saying that three miles are equal to one league, so neither is there any contradiction in saying that there are three Persons in the Godhead, and yet but one God. Let no one imagine he can perceive in this, or any other union or combination that can be thought of, the most remote analogy to the union of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in the Godhead. Of the nature and manner of this Divine

Union we know, and are capable of knowing, absolutely nothing; and all speculations on the subject have led, and ever must lead, to error and confusion. I have, therefore, chosen the simplest illustration that presented itself; one not likely to lead to any unprofitable subtilties, while it is quite sufficient to shew that the doctrine of three Persons and one God is not of that self-confuting nature which no evidence can establish.

Again, did we say that the Father is a God, the Son a God, and the Holy Ghost a God, making each Person a distinct and separate God, and then declare that they are not three Gods, but one God; we should not only be guilty of that stupid contradiction and arithmetical blunder with which we are charged; but should be guilty of a far more inexcusable error, namely, that of dividing the Divine Essence, which both reason and revelation declare to be indivisible. We, however, commit neither of

these errors; we "neither divide the substance, nor confound the Persons." When we regard the Persons, we declare that they are three, because there are three distinct Persons, to each of whom the Scriptures ascribe Eternity, Omnipotence, Omniscience, and all the other glorious and adorable attributes of Deity. Each of these Persons, there

fore, we are compelled to acknowledge is Godnot a God; for when we contemplate the Substance, that is the Divine Nature, which is thus attributed to each separate Person, our reason confirms, what revelation declares, that it is essentially one and indivisible, being utterly void of every mark that can distinguish one individual from another.

With regard to the Divine Nature, each Person of the blessed Trinity is Eternal; which excludes all distinction of time or age: each of them is Almighty, so that there is no difference in power: each of them is Omniscient; whatever, therefore, is known by the Father is known by the Son, and known by the Holy Ghost: (1) each of them is Omnipresent; and, therefore, wherever the Father is, there is also the Son, and there the Holy Ghost: whatever also is the will of the Father, the same is the will of the Son and the will of the Holy Ghost. In short, to whichsoever of the Divine attributes we look for a distinction between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, we find that the infinite perfection of those attributes excludes all distinction; so that, as touching their Godhead, each of them is in every respect the same as the others, each of them is in every respect

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the same as the whole. In this Trinity none is afore or after other; none is greater or less than another; but the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal.

Thus have we shewn the rottenness of that boasted position of the Socinians, That the doctrine of one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, involves a manifest contradiction. If, however, in some lucid interval, any of them be enabled to perceive its unsoundness, and feel it tottering beneath them; instead of taking alarm at the dismal gulf that yawns below, and fleeing for refuge to the bosom of the Church, they entrench themselves behind another equally fallacious defence of the kingdom of Darkness, exclaiming, That the doctrine is incomprehensible, and that it is impossible to believe what they do not understand.

This might be a valid objection were they required to believe any thing respecting the nature of the Divine union between Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; or the manner in which the incarnate Word could become inferior to the Father, as touching his Manhood, without impairing his equality to the Father, as touching his Godhead. But the doctrine of the Trinity contains no speculations on these or any other points which it declares to be

incomprehensible. It simply asserts the truth of certain facts revealed in Scripture-facts which in no way contradict each other, and which, therefore, no reasonable man, who admits the existence of a Being infinitely superior to himself in power and intelligence, can deny, merely because he is incapable of understanding them.

If that be a sufficient ground for denying a divine truth, we must strip the Deity of all his Attributes; we must deny the eternity, the omnipotence, the omnipresence, the omniscience of God; for they are all equally beyond our apprehension. Take, for example, his omniscience, an attribute which every one who believes that there is a God acknowledges to belong to him. Consider it not only as to its unlimited extent, but also with regard to its prospective and retrospective view; and let any one say whether he can form the most remote conception of the nature of that knowledge, which can comprehend at one glance every object of knowledge in the boundless universe, from the highest to the lowest, past, present, and to come, from the beginning to the end of time. By the infinite perfection of the Divine knowledge, the past, the present, and the future, are brought together and identified with each other, by