worlds, to bring many sons unto glory by Jesus Christ. This was the design of the purpose, counsel, &c. and the persons who designed this, are the three in Jehovah: for each of them is called Jehovah, and each of them is called Alehim, because each person in Jehovah had a distinct office in the economy of the covenant. The Father undertook to demand full satisfaction for sin; therefore he is called a jealous God and a consuming fire. Christ undertook to pay this satisfaction, and is therefore called God the Saviour, and the Holy Spirit covenanted to apply and to render effectual the benefit of Christ's satisfaction to believers; and therefore his constant name is Spirit, which word signifies the air that we breathe, on which our animal life depends, as our spiritual life does on his inspiration. Now since the divine persons have entered into a covenant, and do sustain those distinct offices in it, and since our salvation depends upon the knowledge of these truths, was it not an act of infinite love and condescension for the divine persons in Jehovah to take the gracious name of Alehim, and to reveal themselves to us, as persons bound by the obligation of an oath to carry the covenant of grace into

execution?

If you ask, what necessity there was for this oath? It was necessary only on our parts, and it was an act of astonishing mercy, and will demand our everlasting tribute of praise, that God would vouchsafe to give convinced sinners such encouragement to hope for mercy, as to bind himself by two immutable things to save them. The apostle, Heb. vi. 16, 17, 18. thus speaks of this wonderful instance of God's love, "An oath for confirmation is among men an end of "all strife; wherein God, willing more abundantly "to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability "of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by "two immutable things, in which it was impossible for "God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set

"before us." In this scripture the apostle describes the counsel, or the covenant of God to have sinners, and this was confirmed by an oath; and the reason of the oath, was for the sake of the heirs of promise, that they might have two immutable things to rest their faith upon, namely, the immutable counsel and the immutable oath of God, and these ought to silence all doubts in the heirs of promise, because it is impossible that either of them should be broken.

These authorities may suffice to determine the meaning of the divine name Alehim. It is expressive of the personality in Jehovah, and denotes what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the three Alehim, have covenanted upon oath to do for the salvation of sinners. Alehim signifies the Trinity in covenant, and particularly expresses the oath, which was the binding act of the covenant, and thereby it denotes the most merciful relation, in which divine love could manifest itself; a relation productive of the richest blessings of time and of eternity. Jehovah is a name of majesty and greatness. Alehim is a name of grace and mercy. Jehovah expresses the self-existence of the Godhead, and the infinite difference between his manner of existing and that of his dependent creatures, and after they had sinned it was to them a name of terror. Whereas Alehim expresses nothing but tender love and abundant mercy to returning sinners: for the covenant was made for such, and it was confirmed by an oath, that they might place their whole trust and confidence on what the Trinity had covenanted to do for them and for their salvation: for the Father, although he be the avenger of sin, yet has been satisfied with the obedience and sufferings of his co-equal and co-eternal Son, and will be satisfied with all those who submit to be saved by his righteousness, and the Holy Spirit will influence them to accept the righteousness of God for their justification, and he will work mightily in them to enable them to bring forth the fruits of righteousness, until he bring them safe to glory.-These

are the mercies promised in the covenant of grace, and expressed by the divine name Alehim. How greatly then should this name encourage convinced sinners to come and ask the covenant mercies? And what strong consolation does it give them, when they flee for refuge to Jesus Christ, and to lay hold of the hope set before them in him?

From what has been said, it appears that the first part of the commandment, relating to God, is the right knowledge of him, and what we are required to believe concerning his essence and personality is described in these words:" Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our Alehim " is one Jehovah." Jehovah the self-existent essence, who is our Alehim, our Trinity, bound by the oath of the covenant to save sinners, these three in covenant, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are not before nor after other, greater or less than another, but they are of one and the same self-existent essence, these three are one Jehovah, the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity are one Jehovah.

you re

This, my brethren, is the doctrine of the text, which the Lord God himself calls upon you to hear-" Hear, "O Israel." And have you heard him? Have ceived his account of the divine essence and personality? If not, why do you reject it? Is not his command a law, and are you not bound to believe what the Lord has revealed concerning himself?

Perhaps you think the revealed account is not established upon sufficient authority. This point does not come under consideration at present.

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We are

only treating of the doctrine, and what can you object against it, as it has been now stated? Why, say some, I still think, after all that you have said, the doctrine is inconsistent for you are forced to maintain that three are one. Nay, we maintain no such contradiction; for the Trinity is not three and one in the same respect, but three in person and one in essence. air which is reduced to atoms in the action of fire,

The

and the light which comes from it, and the gross spirit of the air which feeds the fire, these three conditions of the air are one in essence, and is it any contradiction to say, these three are one? No surely. Just so we speak of the essence as one, and of the persons in it as three.

Supposing this to be a good illustration of the doctrine, yet still we cannot receive it, say some, because it is unintelligible. What is unintelligible? The proposition itself is plain, in the self-existent essence there are three persons. You cannot object to the difficulty of the terms, or of your forming a clear idea of what they convey. But you cannot conceive how there can be three persons in one essence. And is this the cause of your unbelief? If you will not believe the doctrine of the Trinity, until you comprehend the manner of the divine existence, consider how absurdly you act: for do you know how a spirit exists? No. And yet you believe the existence of an immortal spirit within you. Can you comprehend how an infinite Spirit exists? No. You know not how your own spirit exists, and yet, while you are confessedly ignorant of a finite object, you pretend to be so well acquainted with the mode and manner of existence of an infinite Spirit, as to reject what is revealed in scripture concerning it. Whether this be not acting an absurd part, I leave it to yourselves to judge.

But still you cannot think the scripture-doctrine of the Trinity is rational. If you go to try it by reason, you forget that the world by reason knew not God. It did not know him formerly in the learned ages of Greece and Rome. And if then this enlightened age has discovered how Jehovah exists, let our reasoning infidels demonstrate, that he exists in such a manner as absolutely excludes all personality. But this they cannot demonstrate, they know they cannot, and yet they pretend the scripture doctrine of the

Trinity is not rational, although they have no reason against it; no good reason, however, none that they dare publicly own. The cause of their unbelief must be ascribed chiefly to their sins. While they live in wilful sin they cannot know God, because their minds are in total blindness, and will continue so, as long as they continue alienated from the life of God. They must be convinced of sin, and humbled under the sense of it, and sue for mercy, and receive it, and then they will know the blessed Trinity is Jehovah : for no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him by the teaching of his good Spirit. May he, who has the residue of the Spirit, send him to take away ignorance from all unbelievers, hardness of heart and contempt of his word, that they may be converted, and believe to the saving of their souls.

But besides these more open deniers of the doctrine, we have several of our own people, who attend upon the ordinances of the church, and yet are ignorant of this fundamental doctrine. For their sakes we ought to insist upon it, and to explain it as taught in scripture, and in the liturgy of our church, with which the state of the doctrine, as now laid down, is perfectly consistent. The first of the thirtynine articles treats of faith in the Holy Trinity, and says that in the unity of the Godhead there be three persons of one substance, power, and eternity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: and the proper preface in the communion service for Trinity Sunday is more clear and determinate. "It is very meet and "right that we should give thanks to thee, who art one God, one Lord, not one only person, but three 66 persons in one substance, for that which we believe "of the glory of the Father, the same we believe of "the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without ANY "DIFFERENCE or INEQUALITY." These are

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