If the objection of their being incomprehensible subverts some truths of revealed religion, it also subverts many other acknowledged truths. If, because they are incomprehensible, we become sceptics as to certain doctrines of revelation, consistency demands that we reject many others which reason admits. The mysteriousness which affects the credibility of the former assails also the credibility of the latter. On this subject, the argument is addressed not to him who doubts the sufficiency of the evidence of the divine origin of Christianity, but to him who, admitting the sufficiency of this evidence, doubts or rejects particular doctrines because they are incomprehensible. But on the same principle he would become a sceptic in regard to those truths of nature and religion which he does not hesitate to receive. He explores the recesses of nature; investigates her phenomena; and determines her laws. And does he never meet with any thing that baffles his researches? Has he penetrated the essences of things, and unfolded the reasons of their constitution and their various phenomena? Has he discovered the causes of those properties which give to matter its endless variety and use? "Has he entered into the springs of the sea? Has he walked in the search of the depth? Can he bind

the sweet influences of Pleiades,

or loose the

bands of Orion? Has he perceived the breadth

of the earth? Let him declare if he knoweth it all "?" No! In his enquiries into nature, mystery has met him at every step. He has ascertained only the properties, the external appearances of the objects which surround him. The causes which produce these appearances, and the particular constitution of matter that gives rise to these properties, defy his research. . But he does not doubt (this he would deem the highest folly) what he has ascertained, because he cannot ascertain all. He does not reject what is known, because much remains unknown.

Nor is it in the appearances of nature alone. that we meet with mystery. Do we doubt the existence of the various faculties of the soul, because the mode of their operation, and the principle that connects them in one intellectual and moral agent, are inscrutable? Are we able to comprehend the fundamental truth of religion, the First Cause of all things, himself without cause, infinite in his nature, eternal in his existence, pervading all space! Can we, by searching, find out God? Can we find out the Almighty unto perfection?" In regard to many truths of nature and religion, difficulties do not confound us; mysteries do not induce doubt. Is it not most extraordinary then, that in respect to other truths of religion, men should depart

d Job xxxviii. 16. 31. 18.

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from those principles which, on all other occasions, regulate their belief, and reject doctrines sublime and consolatory in their tendency, because they transcend the comprehension of our finite minds?

IV. For, lastly-Though certain truths of religion be incomprehensible, their practical use and value are not thereby impaired.

Our sole business with the doctrines of revelation is to make them the guide of our principles and the rule of our conduct. Beyond these limits all is conjecture and speculation-speculation often presumptuous, and always fruitless.

A

survey of all the truths of God's word, would prove that the mystery which envelopes them, affects not their practical use and value, and that as far as they are designed to influence our principles and our conduct, they are simple and clear. Take, for instance, the corruption of human nature. The existence of evil in the works of an infinitely powerful, holy, and good Being, is an inscrutable mystery. But satisfaction on this point is not necessary to the discharge of our duty; the mystery in which this truth is involved, does not affect its practical importance. All that is necessary for us to know in regard to this truth for the regulation of our conduct, is clearly revealed. Revelation teaches us, that though man is fallen and corrupt, God has provided a way for his recovery, and that every one

who in an humble sense of his unworthiness, turns to God by sincere repentance, and with faith in the merits of him whom God hath set forth as the Saviour of the world, shall be redeemed from the dominion of evil passions, and restored to virtue and to holiness.

In like manner with regard to the doctrine of the Trinity. The union of three persons in one eternal essence is utterly incomprehensible. But still all that is necessary to our duty in regard to this truth, is clearly revealed, and may be easily understood. The distinction of persons in the Godhead, their respective attributes, their relations to each other and to us, and the offices which they sustain towards us, are all which it is necessary for us to know, for the regulation of our faith and our conduct; and these are plainly revealed. That God the Father is the fountain of the Deity—that God the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, deriving his nature from the Father in an incomprehensible manner→ and that God the Holy Ghost proceedeth from. the Father and the Son, are propositions which we can understand; though we cannot comprehend the mode in which the Son is begotten of the Father, and in which the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son. Mystery, let us not forget, necessarily involves every truth concerning the adorable nature of God. His infinity and his eternity are truths which

the objectors to the doctrine of the Trinity admit. But are they not as inscrutable as the eternal generation of the Son, and procession of the Holy Ghost? Who can conceive of a Being existing every where, without beginning and without end!

The practical nature and efficacy of the Trinity of persons in the Godhead, are plainly set forth. We are taught that God the Father sustains to us the office of Creator and Preserver-that God the Son is our Saviour and Intercessor and that God the Holy Ghost is our Sanctifier and Comforter. We are enjoined to adore the Father, and to supplicate his protection and blessing; to trust in the Son, and to implore his mediation and intercession; and to invoke the sanctifying and consoling influences of the Holy Ghost. We are unable to comprehend the mode by which the power of the Father is exercised in our preservation; by which the mediation of the Son is rendered available to us; and by which the Holy Spirit influences our hearts. The mode of operation of the Divine Mind cannot be comprehended by any creature. But the distinctive offices of the three persons of the Godhead towards us, and our consequent duties, are brought down to the level of our understanding.

Let us not inconsistently reject these consolatory truths, because they are incomprehensible. Would it not be considered as the extreme of folly,