dence that it is contained in the Bible? And have we sufficient evidence that the Bible is the word of God? If we have, no option is left to us; we must receive it, and rest satisfied that the Almighty may have reasons for requiring our assent to a doctrine, the precise tendency of which we do not understand. However, the whole objection is founded in mistake: for it will not be denied, that the knowledge of the existence of a God is of practical importance. But it is important, only because it informs us of the relation which subsists between us and our Creator, and of the duties, on our part, which result from that relation. If, then, the doctrine of the Trinity discloses any new relations between us and God, and thereby imposes on us new obligations; it must be allowed to be of practical importance, in proportion as those relations are close, and those obligations are imperative. Now, this doctrine does exhibit God to us under two new characters, that of our Redeemer, and that of our Sanctifier; relations closer and more endearing than that of Creator. And are no duties imposed on us by these relations? Are we under no obligations to that gracious Being, who, when we lay in darkness and the shadow of death, had compassion on us, though we were his enemies?

Who left the peace and glory of his Father's house, to be made in the likeness of sinful and sorrowing man, that he might redeem us from sin and misery, and exalt us to everlasting life? Are we under no obligations to that blessed Spirit, who renovates our sinful natures, and illuminates our darkened understandings; who strengthens us when weak, supports us in temptation, comforts us in all our distresses; and, amidst the trials and discouragements of this uncertain life, cheers us with the blessed hope of immortality, and fills us with joy unspeakable and full of glory?

The truth is, my brethren, that the doctrine of the Trinity, and the duties to which we are engaged by the knowledge of it, contain the sum and substance of revealed religion: and its importance will be appreciated, precisely in proportion as we are concerned about the answer to the momentous question, "What must I do to be saved ?" 66 Through Christ we have access by one Spirit unto the Father." No one less than an Almighty Being, no one less than the man that was God's Fellow, could offer an all-sufficient sacrifice for sin, and reconcile a rebellious world to its offended Maker. And nothing less than that Almighty Power, which, in the beginning, moved upon the face of the waters, and, out of the mass

without form and void, educed that beauteous fabric, which caused all the sons of God to shout for joy, and which God himself pronounced to be very good: nothing less, I say, than that same Almighty Power, can introduce harmony and order into the moral chaos of our sinful nature, repress the turbulence of unruly passions, implant heavenly affections in the place of worldly and carnal lusts, and breathe into those who are dead in trespasses and sins, the principle of a new and spiritual life. The Deist, then, may boast of his natural religion—he may walk in the light of his fire, and the sparks which he has kindled : the Socinian may vaunt his own sufficiency, and spurn, as foolishness, the doctrine of an incarnate God; but let us, who have received grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity," pray that we may ever be "kept stedfast in this faith;" remembering always that man can perform no acceptable service, unless sanctified by the Spirit of Holiness; and that he cannot walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life, unless his path be illuminated, and his steps be guided, by the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.

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SERMON VIII.

Acts xvii. 32.

AND WHEN THEY HEARD OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, SOME MOCKED: AND OTHERS SAID, WE WILL HEAR THEE AGAIN OF THIS MATTER."

To a person in any measure acquainted with the records of ancient nations, there are perhaps few places of God's gracious word, at first view, more interesting, my brethren, than that portion, from which I have this day selected a subject for your contemplation. To the scholar-to the student of history-to the lover of genius-to the admirer of the glories of ages which have long gone by-how every recollection that is dearest-every object most precious to our first feelings of the grand and the beautiful-every vision of the past most affecting to the imagination, are awakened into life, and press upon the mind with overwhelming power, at the name of Athens.

Athens! the very sound is associated in our ear and thoughts with a race of heroes, of