the works, of the One Eternal God. This is the mystery; and the only solution of it that I can see is the doctrine of the creed which we have just confessed-" that there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one the glory equal, the Majesty coeternal."

But I must now proceed to that other branch of this subject, which I said at the outset I should mainly consider, as it seems to demand particular attention at a time when a systematic attack has been made on the mysteries of our faith, as mysteries, as being inconceivable, and so, in the eyes of those who attack them, incredible. And there is somehow or other a notion abroad that the doctrine of the Trinity is more inconceivable, and consequently makes a greater demand on our faith, and is more opposed to our reason, than any other. Now I want to show you the folly of this; and I think a few simple considerations will serve to make it plain.

We all acknowledge that the doctrine of the Trinity is a great mystery-but how, in what way, is it great as a mystery? When we speak of a "great mystery," we may speak of a mystery which is great because it is very inconceivable, very incomprehensible, very unlikely, very contrary to all our ideas of the fitness of things-or we may speak of a mystery which

is great because it has to do with a very great Being in a sphere very far above us.

Now, the mysteriousness and inconceivableness (call it difficulty if you like) of the doctrine of the Trinity consists in this, that it has to do with God-the greatest of all beingsa Being so great that, compared with Him, all else is as nothing.

That God is three in Person, whilst He is one in Godhead, is, to my mind, not by any means the greatest mystery, nor the most difficult thing respecting Himself that He has. made known to us; at least, if it is the most mysterious, it is only because it is the highest and best thing respecting Himself that He has revealed to us.

Let us take three other things respecting God, which all must acknowledge who believe in God at all, and see whether they are not just as inconceivable, just as much out of the range of our faculties, just as confounding, as the great truth we are now considering.

Let us take the omnipresence of God, and the eternity of God, and His creating power. And first, God's omnipresence.

All who believe in God at all must believe in His omnipresence-that He is everywhere, watching and upholding in existence everything, noting and judging every action. Unless God is this, and does all this, He would not be God.

Now, there are eight hundred millions of people living in this world Only conceive a Being by the side of each one among these myriads, keeping each one of them, alive from moment to moment, watching over him from without, and reading all his thoughts, pleased or displeased with each one according to his particular state of mind and heart, keeping, too, an exact record of all that each one has done or said, and the motives he had for doing or saying it, and doing all this with respect to a present providential plan that embraces every event, and a future judgment that will take account of the whole life of each one. And all this we practically believe and acknowledge every time that we consciously and sincerely put up any one prayer, for the putting up of any one single real prayer from our hearts implies that we believe that God hears us, knows our particular case, and distinguishes us among the multitudes who in every corner of the world are similarly looking to Him. Why, my brethren, we feel that if all our energies were taxed to the uttermost we could not really watch over and take account of the words and actions of any one of our fellow-mortals in this perfect way. And yet here is a Being, the very first idea of Whom is, that He is taking notice in this perfect way of all that goes on in the world, and in every soul in the world. But this is but a small part. The telescope

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reveals to us that there are worlds upon worlds larger than ours, some of them, it may be, teeming with life adapted to their condition... Well, God is in all these, be their distance from us ever so great, just as much as He is in our world. God is with them, or they would not keep their places and observe their stated revolutions, for it is folly to suppose that any law would of itself bind brute matter. You who have do with laws know well that it is not enough to make a law unless the sovereign be virtually present to make men observe the law; how much more must this be true of senseless matter!

You will not,

But neither is this all. of course, if you are at all a thinking person, imagine that we are to judge of God's omnipresence as if it were a mere matter of size or largeness-as if God were more in a large place than He is in a small one-as if there were more of Him in this church, because its dimensions are great, and less of Him in the sister church of Chilton, which is not a tenth of the size.

No, wherever God is, there He is wholly and perfectly. He is altogether in every place by His individual presence just as much as we are altogether in any one spot in which we may happen to be. He is Himself personally about, around, and in, everything that He has made.

are in

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Now, all this is, if we apprehend it, quite as much above us as the doctrine of the Trinity, because it is quite as contrary to our confined and limited nature. It is in direct opposition to one of the first principles of our existence, for the first principle of our existence is that we space, and so we must be at one time in one particular spot and in no other. We cannot possibly be personally and individually in more places than one; and yet here is the Being of beings, the One with whom we have most of all to do, who is at one and the same moment personally and entirely everywhere and in every place. Now, I say, this is far more confounding to me than the doctrine of the Trinity. When I say confounding to me," I mean that it makes me, when I think of it, shrink far more into myself, and feel far more my utter nothingness. There is nothing in my own being that corresponds with it, that answers to it. I am, by my very nature, so confined to one place at a time, that I cannot approach to a conception of the way in which God is wholly in every place at the same time. And yet, this is the very first truth that I know and realize respecting God. It is the very first truth respecting Him that I have to do with, for unless He is omnipresent how can He hear me when I pray? How can He be my Judge? How can He judge me and all my fellows righteously, unless He knows