mercy? If our exemption from the punishment of the violated law of our Almighty Sovereign were announced without any vindication of his offended authority, any exhibition of his just displeasure against sin; would the heart of the penitent be assailed by no doubts and fears, when, contemplating the purity and the rigour of the law which he had transgressed, and the holiness and the justice of the Sovereign whom he had offended, he beholds no reparation of this violated law, no vindication of this holiness or justice? Or, would the mercy and the love of God the Father so sensibly affect the heart as when we behold him so loving the world as " to give his only-begotten Son," so delighting in mercy as to lay on him the iniquities of us all, and to bruise him, that by his stripes we might be healed? It is the doctrine that a Divine personage has rendered perfect obedience to the violated law of God, sustained its penalties, and thus vindicated the authority, and established the holiness and the justice of the Ruler of the universe, which exhibits his attributes in perfect harmony, arms with the most powerful force the denunciations and the invitations of his Gospel, and conveys to the penitent the fullest assurance of pardon.

But, in the doctrine of the Trinity, we thus find not only the sure pledge of release from the guilt of sin, but the most effectual provision for our redemption from its dominion.

The offices of enlightening our darkened understandings, of sanctifying our corrupt natures, of aiding us in the discharge of duty, of leading us "in the ways of God's laws and in the works of his commandments," of "putting into our minds good desires, and enabling us to bring the same to good effect;" of carrying us through all difficulties, and strengthening us to overcome all temptations, are operations assigned in Scripture to the Holy Ghost. Now, if the Holy Ghost be not a Divine person, what is the security that all these important offices will be discharged? What pledge have we for our release from the dominion of sin? Can any but Divine power cast light into a darkened understanding, rectify a depraved will, change corrupt affections, break man's bondage to his lust, and conquer the formidable temptations which constantly assail him?

It is in vain to plead as those do who reject the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, that the work of illumination and sanctification is performed by God the Father. He has transferred this work to the Holy Ghost. "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come," said Christ, "he will guide you unto all truth";""He will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." are sanctified," said an inspired Apostle, "by

"Ye

John xvi. 13.

John xvi. 8.

the Spirit of God." "He it is which helpeth our infirmities'." Destroy, then, the Divinity of the agent by whom man is to be enlightened, sanctified, and made victorious over temptation, and you lay prostrate all his hopes of deliverance from the dominion of his sins. For his guide, his sanctifier, his deliverer, is not divine.

No-Christians, you have a better hope. You are called to contemplate that Holy Spirit which is to enlighten, sanctify, and sustain you, as one of the three Persons of the incomprehensible Godhead; and possessing, therefore, the fulness of light, of grace and of power. There is no darkness which your Divine Guide cannot dispel, no corrupt affection which your Divine Sanctifier cannot purify, no mighty temptation which his energy cannot subdue. Implore, then, the Holy Ghost to guide, to sanctify you, to give you victory. Be diligent and faithful, and your bondage to sin shall be broken; your restoration to the Divine image completely effected ; and your triumph over temptation achieved.

III. But there is a third view in which the practical importance of the doctrine of the Trinity may be presented.

Considering ourselves as subject to afflictions

1 Cor. vi. 11.

Rom. viii. 26.

and trials, as severe as they are various and numerous, that doctrine must be of inexpressible value, which affords to us full support and consolation.

This doctrine is the doctrine of the Trinity. For it is this which presents to us, in the person of him who "carried our sorrows "," who is "afflicted in all our afflictions "," and who "is touched with a feeling for our infirmities "," not the most powerful of earthly friends, but the Son of God, to whom "all power is given in heaven and in earth P." It is this doctrine, which, in the Holy Ghost, whom it holds forth as our Comforter, places us under the consoling guidance of one of the Persons of the Godhead. There is a grandeur in these ideas that is calculated in the highest degree to elevate our faith and joy.

Afflicted and tempted Christian! thou hast a friend who is afflicted with thee; who, having been tempted like as thou art, sympathizes with thee in all thy trials. Thou hast a Comforter, whose peculiar office it is to convey consolation and strength to thy sorrowing and fainting spirit. And thy friend and thy comforter are not the most powerful and tender of thy fellow mortals→→→ they are God the Son, God the Holy Ghost. Let not the grandeur of the truth excite thy dis

trust of its reality. The nature of the Godhead, whom thou art called to adore, is veiled in a glory inaccessible by created vision. Thou hast no cause, therefore, to distrust whatever is revealed concerning it. And thy faith, thy hope, and thy gratitude should be roused to the highest exercise by the truths revealed, that in the Holy Ghost thy Comforter, the consolations of the Godhead are laid open to thee; and in the person of Jesus Christ, who was clothed with the same nature under whose sorrows thou art borne down, whose course like thine was watered by tears, and, more than thine, moistened by his blood; who, exalted to the throne of Majesty in the heavens, never for a moment takes his pitying eye from thee nor withdraws his sustaining hand; thou hast God the Son, of Divine power and glory, for thy friend-thy friend, whose truth is pledged, and whose infinite power can execute his promise, that "all things shall work together for thy good "." Believe this, Christian, believe it firmly, and what sorrows can overwhelm thee? What trials can dismay thee? Through the darkest path of suffering, Divine consolations are shed upon thee, and a Divine arm conducts thee. Yet a little while and thy course which is now clouded, shall terminate in light

Rom. viii. 28.