joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the Atonement."
September Sixteenth.
THE DIVINE TRINITY.
"No man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."—Matt. xi. 27.
THE Trinity in the Divine Being may be most properly and fitly illustrated by the nature of man: for as man is in the image of God, we are justified in forming our ideas of the original from the nature of the image. In a man, there are two distinct faculties, which, united together, put forth an operating power. The inner, and more important of these, is the will: and hence, Love, whether it be the love of good, or the love of evil, is the very essence of derived existence. If we take away love, or the will, which is the faculty of love, we must at the same time destroy thought, for thought is the offspring of love. The faculty where thought operates is the understanding; and this faculty depends upon the will, for before the mind can act upon any subject, that subject must have entered into the will, and become an object either of love or aversion—either of desire or of indifference; but when the mind has fixed its affections on any object, that object becomes instantly a subject of thought; and then, only, is that love manifested in outward action.
The will cannot act without the understanding, love which exists only in the will is powerless. Before it can be brought forth into act, it must enter into
