SERMON VIII.

Trinity Sunday.

EPHES. ii. 18.

"Through Christ we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father."

THERE

HERE is no goodness nor happiness but with God. When first we ceased to be good and to be happy, it was by a departure from Him who was the author of our being; and if we have now been restored to goodness and to happiness, it can only be by having been brought back to God. But this has been done for us by Christ and by the gift of the Holy Ghost; wherefore it is said that "through Him both" Jews and Gentiles "have access by one Spirit unto the Father."

In this text we have distinct mention of three Persons to whom in various other places of Scripture the divine attributes are severally given; and yet it is with special care asserted everywhere that the Godhead is but one. If there be a holy mystery in this doctrine past our comprehension, it is by no means contrary to reason either in respect of that which we do understand or in respect of that which we do not: for that the being of God indeed and the extent of His power should be utterly beyond the limits of the created

understanding, is no more than one might and ought to conclude from reason; for God is the maker of all things, and it seems utterly impossible that the thing made should be able to compass and comprehend the mind and power of its maker, whose purposes in the making it is rather the creature's business to fulfil. In the case, however, of ourselves with God, the doctrine of a Trinity in Unity, three Persons in one God, though it be a great and holy mystery beyond our comprehension in the nature of the thing, yet so far as we are concerned with it, it is not so great a mystery as some would make it; neither, as the same persons would infer, is it an unprofitable doctrine or unnecessary for us to be acquainted with in our present state.

We pretend not to search into the things of the Almighty further than they have been revealed to us; but, so far as that hath been done, we cannot consider them obscure and contradictory, but rather, so far as the weakness of our minds is able to receive them, we must allow them to be full of light and agreeable to reason. We consider the doctrine of a Trinity in Unity, three Persons and one God, as highly agreeable to the human understanding; elucidating and rendering intelligible many important points upon which we are accustomed anxiously to dwell, and dwell otherwise in darkness; far from containing contradiction; and profitable also, so profitable for us now to be acquainted with, that without it we should not have strength or confidence to do the work which it is yet necessary

for us to do in Christ that we may be saved, nor should we have much intelligible hope in the end.

Sinners as we are, we dare not approach the throne of God. With our dark and narrow understandings, far be it from us to attempt the utmost limits of the eternal mind! Only in that in which He hath revealed Himself to us, being upon holy ground, we put off as it were the shoes from our feet, and stand with awe before Him, and receive with humble submission the things He hath delivered. For God hath declared unto us His Name; He hath taught us the nature and attributes of His being, though that being itself be far above our comprehension. This, therefore, we understand of God; that He is the maker of all things, and therefore the master, ruler, and governor of the world; that He is the author of life to all things that live; that He is Himself the fountain of all goodness and the dispenser of it to His creatures; that the existence of all other things is only by His will and according to His gift; and if there be any excellence at all in them, it is that by which they resemble Him, whom indeed we have learned to know as having alone any real being or existence within Himself, and that whatsoever is excellent, fair, admirable, and lovely, that being is. But the Almighty is not only all-glorious and self-existent,-He is God, even our God, the author of goodness to us, and one that taketh delight in the happiness of His creatures. Happiness, in its perfection, is the sole property of God, being but the fruition of goodness and virtue. Desiring our happiness, in

order to communicate it, He communicates virtue, and His sole labour is to make us good that we may be happy. Being created for this end, that we should resemble Him, though we departed from Him by disobedience, and by foul rebellion against His righteous law became no objects deserving of His favour, He took compassion on our low estate, and, as His mercies are infinite, passed

the very sentence upon us in mercy, and gave us

not up to the dreadful state of an utter and irremediable separation from Himself.

Foreseeing our fall, He had before ordained a sacrifice; foreseeing our departure, He had before provided the means of our recovery. And to this end have all the dispensations of His providence ever since conduced; and to enlighten, encourage, strengthen, and enable us in this present time, have all His revelations from that period been given. He hath instructed us, therefore, in the nature of His own being, and shewn us that it is to God we must return, that it is through God we are allowed to return, and by God enabled. He hath revealed to us the doctrine of the Trinity therefore, teaching that while God is but one, there are three Persons who are God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, who, while they are three several Persons, are one in their being, attributes, and glory.

From our Creator we fell away it is to the Father, therefore, that we must return, in order that we may do His will, and so doing, may be accounted His children, and receive the inheritance of the sons of God, at such time hereafter as

His wisdom has appointed, living in peace and resting in hope now. Having of ourselves departed from Him, the way and means of a return were not in our power; but then did His most unmerited goodness give us both the way and the means by which again we have access to Him, that is, the power of approaching Him; and since we had once departed from Him, the way and means of returning to Him. He gave us, I say, both the way and the means: now the Son is the way; and the Holy Spirit is the means: He gave His Son to suffer death in our stead, and He gave us the Spirit that we might believe in the Son, that we might repent and sin no more. "Through Christ we both have access," both Jews and Gentiles, "by one Spirit unto the Father."

In opposition to those who in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ see only the character of a perfect man, which it were praiseworthy indeed to endeavour, but impossible for us to imitate, (though if He were indeed but a mere man, I should deny the impossibility,) we shall on the present occasion, without entering into the dispute, content ourselves with asserting the interest we Christians have in Jesus the Son of God. This we are taught to consider as the only way by which we may return to Him who is the author of our being, the fountain of happiness, and the sole dispenser of good, by which we may return to Him whom we had left, and be forgiven and admitted to a participation of the glory and happiness which flows from His perfections for ever.