and yet not omnivolent: his knowledge also, how vast and how inconceivable! he knows all things by his esesnce; angels probably by distant acts of his providence, man by creation and revelation, and devils by wrath; it is the exclusive attribute of the Deity to know all things by knowing his own will. We know nothing but just so far as we know his will; we gain knowledge by ascending upwards from effects to causes. God knows every thing in its cause, and he knows all things always, because he always knows his own mind, in which all is comprehended. Eternity, as applied to God, is as immeasurable as are the voids of space: all I can say of it is, that it is the measure or duration of God's Being; what Peter asserted of one day, as it refers to God, may as truly be spoken of one moment. "One day," said he, "with the Lord, is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day," and one moment with the Lord is as all duration of time, and all duration as one moment.

And if you ask me to show cause why I have made this digression respecting God's attributes, and shifted from the main question, the answer is at hand I want to humble proud reason, and to exhibit to your judgment such elevated views of God, that you must clearly see, that what is revealed of Him in his written word and other works, is only just so much as we can bear : higher and clearer views we could not comprehend in our flesh our blessedness consists in the power there is in God, by Christ, to darken his character, and more than a dark and distant view in Christ we could not even behold, and live!

It is of great importance to take all our knowledge of God from his revealed word; for though the impression of the divine image be left upon every reasonable soul, (Gen. i. 26.) and though the print of his footsteps be upon the whole irrational creation, (Rom. i. 20.) yet there is no true knowledge of God, but that which he reveals of himself. Surely God best knows himself, and therefore he can best describe after what mode he subsists, in the unity of the same essence. There are many amongst us, who just do as the Samaritans of old; they think and speak of God as their limited faculties conceive of him. Our Lord, in his conference with the woman of Samaria, in consequence of this, charges the whole nation with worshipping they knew not what: how many professing Christians of our day do the same! They worship a Being, of whose real character they entertain no just and scriptural notions; they call upon God after their own fashion, but they have no particular definition and saving knowledge of him at all. Now, if we would know God, serve him, and worship him aright, we must conceive no otherwise of him in our mind, than he has revealed himself in his word: if we proceed on any other principle, we turn the truth of God into a lie, and set up in Our hearts, instead of ideas of a triune Jehovah, only so many dumb idols.

A sacred Trinity of persons is plainly revealed in Scripture: it would be a waste of time to occupy your mind in quoting passages bearing upon the subject; suffice it to say, that beginningworks, as creation, are ascribed principally to the

Father, though not exclusively: the carrying on of them to perfection, as redemption, &c. to the Son, and the applying of them to the soul, to the Holy Spirit. The manner of working in a triune Jehovah, is answerable to their mode of subsistence in the divine nature. The Father worketh from himself; (Eph. i. 11.) the Son from the Father; (John vi. 38.) the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son; (John xiv. 26.) so that if we lose sight of a Trinity of persons in the great scheme of redemption, the whole of that glorious and blessed work falls to the ground. It is reduced to a chaos of confusion; it is without plan, or purpose, or method, or any system of operation.

It absolutely needs, therefore, a Trinity of persons for the accomplishment of our salvation. The Father commits the work of redemption to the Son: (John xiii. 3.) the Son readily and cheerfully undertakes it; (Heb. x .7.) and so does the Holy Ghost likewise, who delivers by his grace and influence from all the evil of the curse, and makes us meet by regeneration and renewal of life for all the blessing of the promises: hence all the three persons are equally interested in the covenant of mercy, and they all can put in the same claim: "All mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them." (John xvii. 1.)

In this Trinity there is perfect unity; they act conjointly, even from the very beginning of creation to the last line of thought, and in the finishing stroke of salvation. In the work of creation, all three were engaged: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost upheld and sustained the rude lump to be the material of a future world:

in the work of redemption, the Father wills and elects; the Son merits and deserves. The Holy Spirit appropriates and sanctifies: the same great truth is observable in every separate and distinct part of redeeming love: if the Father forgives sin, it is through the blood of Christ, and through the sprinkling of the Spirit; and if he mortifies sin, it is by the power of the death of the Son of God, and by the working of the Spirit; and if he raises us up to newness of life, it is by the power of Christ's resurrection applied by the Spirit, so that both in plan and system, in end and aim, in purpose and execution, the manifestation of grace is answerable to the revelation which we have of a Trinity in Unity, and a Unity in Trinity.

If there be objections raised to either one or the other, on the ground of impossibility, all I can say is, that many things, even in this world, may be readily distinguished from each other, and yet possess oneness in nature and essence : but I would carefully avoid subtle arguments; they tend to no good. To try to be wise above that which is written, is a great evil; it has done the revelation of God no end of mischief. prayer is, that confusion may be written on the face of all such dogmas and systems of man's making, that tend to nothing else than bringing all things into confusion!

My

SECTION XXXVIII.

ON THE SUPPOSED INCOMPLETENESS OF THE
DIVINE RECORD.

It is a sad thing, my dear Sir, when unbelieving doubts and fears occupy the place of simple faith; you do not doubt, I perceive, the inspiration, but only the fulness of the divine record.

The circumstance that appears to stagger you most is, that the Bible is nothing more than a brief memoir; a mere abstract of God's gracious dealings with his church and people; you think that but little is recorded of what was once delivered, and the writings of the prophets, you conceive, are but a mere compendium; and as for the epistles of the Apostles, nothing more has been handed down to us, than a very small portion indeed; hence you are tempted to think, that to view the Bible in any other light than as an incomplete composition, goes no less against its inward sense than its outward evidence; you imagine, that what wise men, as you are pleased to call them, wrote, was only for the time being, and for the profit of the then illiterate age. "Did not Solomon," say you, "speak three thousand proverbs," (1 Kings iv. 32.) and yet, of all these, not a fourth part is to be found in the canon of scripture; and of the same man, are we not told, that he wrote ten thousand and five songs, and yet of that number, how many