glory that should follow." (1 Pet. i, 10, 11.) (3.) The Holy Spirit. "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Pet. i, 21.)

"The very God of peace (2.) The Son. "Where

7. Sanctification. (1.) The Father. sanctify you wholly." (1 Thess. v, 23.) fore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered." (Heb. xiii, 12.) (3.) The Spirit. Through sanctification of the Spirit." (1 Pet. i, 2.)

Indeed, we are told that all divine operations are attributable to the same Trinity. "There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all." (1 Cor. xii, 6.) If any doctrine is plainly taught in the Bible, it is the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

But, you say, I can not comprehend this doctrine; I can not understand how three persons can make one God. Well, you are not required to understand it. You have nothing to do with the mode of it. You are required to believe only the fact itself-three persons, one God; distinct, but not separate; three persons in manifestation, but one in agreement. Thus exclaimed Daniel Webster: "I believe that God exists in three persons. This I learn from revelation alone. Nor is it any objection to this belief that I can not comprehend how one can be three, or three one." This doctrine exactly meets the requirements of the human heart. "It suits the actual states of most worshipers to turn in different moods to each of the three in one, and, according to its joy or need, to praise and entreat each with the whole heart-the Father as Creator and Providence, the Son as Redeemer and embodied Friend, the Spirit as the Dispenser of a diffused and sanctifying influence which permeates and comforts the sensitive soul." Charles Kingsley, poet and philanthropist, and chaplain to the British queen, had in his life-time given close and searching attention to this subject. He said to a friend: "My heart demands the Trinity as well as my reason. The whole spiritual nature of man cries out for it." While he was dying his daughter heard him exclaim, "How beautiful God is!" He doubtless saw more clearly what he had seen before-the united work of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to make him blessed.

It is indeed a blessed truth. How strong it makes the Gospel! Spurgeon says: "Give me a Gospel with the Trinity, and the might of hell can not prevail against it; no man can any more overthrow it than a bubble can split a rock, or a feather break in halves a mountain.

Get the thought of the three persons, and you have the marrow of all divinity. Only know the Father and Son and Holy Ghost to be one, and all things are clear; it is the golden key to the word of God." So it is. Without it the Bible is an enigma, and its requirements are absurd. Without this, how can any man honor the Son even as he honors the Father? Without this, how can the Spirit of God witness with man's spirit that he is a child of God? Surely, with Horace Bushnell, we can wish the reader nothing more beatific in this life than to have found and fully brought into feeling the practical significance of this eternal act or fact of God, which we call the Christian Trinity."

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

By the attributes of God we understand those several parts or perfections of his character which he has attributed to himself, and which in the very nature of things belong to the Infinite Being. Theologians divide those attributes into two classes, natural and moral.

The natural attributes are those qualities or perfections of the Divine nature which inhere in himself, being entirely independent of any volition of the infinite will. The moral attributes involve the idea of moral action, and render the Divine character adorable and lovely.

NATURAL ATTRIBUTES.

The Scriptures teach us that there is one God, the creator of all things, and that in nature he is a Spirit. (See John iv, 24; and 2 Cor. iii, 17.) They further declare that, as all things were made by him, so he is before all things, the pre-existent, self-existent, independent Being, the "I Am;" eternal and unchangeable. This is the doctrine of God's

ETERNITY." Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." (Psa. xc, 2.) "I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." (Psa. cii, 24-27.)

There is nothing with which we can compare the eternity of God. Not only does it involve the idea of infinite duration, but of change

less stability. He lives by virtue of his nature, and is essentially unchangeable. He is "the fountain of life," subject to no decay or diminution. His being is absolutely perfect and blessed, ever wasaye, and ever shall be. "I might compare the eternity of God," says Rev. Chas. F. Thwing, "to the eternity of the sun; for, above the mutations of time and the revolution of human affairs, it shines as of old; but I know the sun was placed in his zenith by the arm of God, and that the same arm can dash it into dark nothingness. I might compare it to the eternity of the ocean, for the ocean touches every shore, and reigns supreme, careless of the flight of time; I know that it was formed by God, that he moved upon the face of the waters, and that its waters shall melt with a fervent heat. I might compare the eternity of God to the solid earth, for it seems as lasting as time; but I know that the day cometh when the earth shall be rolled through space a black ball of ice. I might compare the eternity of God to the universe of existence-how large, how magnificent beyond all thought!-but I know that the hand of God made every adjustment in this heavenly mechanism, and that he guides every movement. The eternity of God! Thou, O God, wast; thou, O God, art; and

thou, O God, shalt be. No time when thou wast not; no time when thou shalt not be. O God, thou art the eternal One."

UNITY. The unity of God is set forth in such passages as the fol lowing: "Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is none else beside him." "O Lord, there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears." "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he; before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me." "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord." "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." 'But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." (Deut. iv, 39; 1 Chron. xvii, 20; Isa. xliii, 10; Mark xii, 29; John xvii, 3; 1 Cor. viii, 6.)

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SELF-EXISTENCE.-When Paul stood on Mars' Hill, teaching the Athenians, he declared unto them, "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshiped with men's

hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." (Acts xvii, 24, 25.) This is a complete declaration of the self-existence of God. When the apostle wrote his Epistle to the Romans he reiterated the same truth: "For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory forever." (Rom. xi, 34-36.)

SPIRITUALITY.-The spirituality of God was taught by our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who said: "God is a Spirit: and they that wor ship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John iv, 24.)

IMMUTABILITY.- "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed, and I can not reverse it." (Num. xxiii, 19, 20.) "But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him." (Job xxiii, 13, 14.) "For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." (Mal. iii, 6.) "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James i, 17.) OMNIPOTENCE.-God has power to do any thing which is not repugnant to his nature, or in itself absurd. He can not lie," for this would be self-contradictory; he is the very essence of truth. He can not make two parallel lines meet, for this would annihilate the changeless order of things which he has established; but he can create a universe, and establish the numberless principles of nature and grace which we perceive to exist around us. He is "the almighty God." (Gen. xvii, 1.) In him "is everlasting strength." (Isaiah xxvi, 4.) He "made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground." (Jer. xxvii, 5.) "He made the stars also." (Gen. i, 16.) "He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." (Dan. iv, 35.) "He has the keys of hell and of death." (Rev. i, 8.) "There is nothing too hard for him." (Jer. xxxii, 17.) "The things which men are possible with God." (Luke xviii, 27.) Scripture to the beautiful comparisons and striking illustrations of the omnipotence of God. Creation out of nothing is attributed to him, not as the crowning act of greatness, the extreme limit of omnific

are impossible with There is no end in

power, but as the natural and easy outflow of his strength. "He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." Some descriptions of his power are terrible. "The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his reproof; he divideth the sea by his power." "He removeth the mountains, and they know it not; he overturneth them in his anger; he shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble; he commandeth the sun and it riseth not, and sealeth up the stars." His power and majesty are as great to-day as ever, and will ultimately be displayed in the eyes of all mankind. The closing scenes of this world will present an exhibition as resplendent and awful as that of the opening. The dead of all ages shall rise from their graves at his voice; and the sea shall give up the dead which are in it. Before his face heaven and earth flee away, the stars fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven are shaken. The dead, small and great, stand before God, and in perfect order and passive submission receive their eternal rewards.

Such sublime presentations of the omnipotence of God should inspire us with reverence and trust. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. It is not possible for us to be in a position where he can not assist us. He has servants everywhere, and if those of earth are not adequate he can summon them from the skies.

OMNIPRESENCE. Man can not hide from the presence of his "Whither shall I flee from thy presence?"

No wing of the

Maker. morning can bear us beyond the sweep of his vision. No depth of the sea, or pall of the night, or precinct of hell, can cover us from his gaze. Unto him night shineth as the day, and the blackness of darkness as the blaze of light. When we were formed in secret our substance was not hidden from him, and when our members perish, the atoms of our dust shall not escape the penetration of his eye. In his book all our members are written. When as yet there were none of them, they had form and shape in the divine plan.

"There is an unseen Power around,

Existing in the silent air;

Where treadeth man-where space is found—
Unheard, unknown, that Power is there.

And not when bright and busy day

Is round us with its crowds and cares;

And not when night, with solemn sway,

Bids our hushed souls breathe forth in prayers;

Not when on sickness' weary couch

He writhes with pain's deep long-drawn groan;