ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hast given unto us Thy servants grace by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the unity; we beseech Thee, that Thou wouldst keep us steadfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities, who livest and reignest one God, world without end. Amen.

The Church having presented to us the entire economy of our redemption, now closes the season by this festival dedicated especially to the Holy Trinity.

On a subject so confessedly difficult as the present, remark can scarcely be too concise or too modest. No greater presumption can exist than that of being wise above that which is written. We know no more of God than He has condescended to reveal to us in His holy word, nor can the strongest powers of the human understanding pass the limits prescribed to it by the Almighty, and discover more of that mysterious nature of the Deity than he has thought proper to make known to us. Enough for us, that what God has declared of himself is true. Our duty, therefore,

is to receive with humility and gratitude on His word alone, that degree of knowledge to which, by our own unassisted reason we could never have attained, though in some respects, far from being fully comprehended by our finite and imperfect understanding.

Let not this, however, stagger any one; for there is nothing unreasonable nor even extraordinary in placing belief in that of which we have no means of personally ascertaining the truth. We receive the testimony of men in many points where the character or knowledge of the persons giving it, is unimpeachable ; and surely the testimony that God vouchsafes of Himself, is not less worthy of belief, nor the confidence which is reasonable in a lower sense, unreasonable in a greater. The Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity, three persons in one God, has been the belief of the Church from the very earliest ages; and forms the fundamental doctrine of Christianity, on which the whole fabric of faith is built and supported. Nor is the holy mystery shown to us in isolated parts of Scripture only; it is propounded to us throughout the sacred volume, beginning with the first chapter of Genesis, (which has been accordingly selected for the first Proper Morning Lesson) and ending with the last of Revelations.

In the Collect for the day, which breathes the true spirit of humility, we return thanks to God for the grace that enables us to receive the truth; at the same time, aware that the sin of pride might lead us to rely upon our own understanding, we earnestly pray to be kept steadfast in the faith, and to be de

fended from the assaults of the Evil One, which might cause us to err. The Epistle elevates our minds to a contemplation of the awful worship of the One Almighty God in heaven, thrice holy; and arrests our wonder and reverence. The Gospel, which relates the conversation that took place between our Saviour and Nicodemus, conveys in our Lord's own words, the mysterious truth, and offers to the devout and humble mind ample scope for serious and most satisfactory meditation.

The Proper Lessons are all calculated to strengthen and confirm our belief in the holy doctrine before us. In the divine consultation, as it were, regarding the formation of man, contained in the first Morning Lesson, the plurality of the Godhead is intimated; and in the mysterious and awful visitors of Abraham at Mamre, recorded in the first Lesson for the Evening, we recognize the same, for as God the Father has never been seen at any time; it follows that he whom Abraham addressed as Jehovah could be no other than God the Son, whose day the Patriarch might then behold and rejoice. The second Lesson for the Morning especially, in the baptism of our Lord, sets before our senses, in a manner, the sacred truth ;-the voice of the Father was heard, the Spirit was seen to descend, while Christ Himself was in the water. In the name therefore of the Holy Trinity, by our Saviour's express command, we are baptized, and dedicated to the service of each, separately and conjointly to our life's end.