or in the words of the Lord Jesus himself?

We are

told that without a plurality in the Godhead "the divine mind would have stood before the creation in an immense solitariness through the receding cycles of a past eternity." Eternity! and what is eternity? If it be time without beginning and without end we can but imperfectly conceive it. If it be altogether different from time, something into which we shall enter, when with us time shall be no longer, we cannot conceive it at all. Shall we take the former hypothesis, and so far set it before us as to picture to ourselves, as best we may, the Deity in dreary solitude before any other being existed? Still, there never was a moment when the Almighty love could not express itself by the production of those who might be loved and who would love in return-angels and blessed spirits, according to His good pleasure. If we can imagine any appreciable time to exist before the love of God began to express itself in the creation of the universe and in breathing forth His Spirit into various orders of intelligence, may we not believe that time to have been spent in a loving meditation of His plan? Should it be urged that divine plans are mature at once, and do not require a process of thought to perfect them, then why should God have waited before His love began to manifest itself in His works, unless it were His will to dwell awhile alone? To me, however, these speculations appear quite unfit for mortals; nor would I have entered on them had I not been led; and now gladly do I turn back to the blessed truth and the precious practical lesson of St. John, "God is love," therefore

with much love devoted their high powers to scriptural investigation. There also are some of the most able defenders of Divine Revelation against the attacks of the unbeliever. There too, strange to say, are several who were once looked to as champions of Trinitarianism, such as Whitby, who published his maturer opinions under the title, Last Thoughts ; Watts, who speaks with regret of things written "in the days of younger assurance;" and Robert Robinson of Cambridge. Mental comprehension and penetration, learning and devout fervor, are in that company; and there are the saintly Channing and the single-minded Priestley. A band of martyrs is not wanting, who, in sterner days than ours, testified their sincerity by their blood. Nor can I forget sweet departed spirits whom I myself have known, and who, almost before they left this world, put on the bright garments of their transfiguration. And I could name men still living, of noble intellect, and high culture, and devoted hearts, who are willing to spend and be spent in Christ's service. Such are a few of those belonging to the raft which is described as so dangerous. But we are not afraid. On the contrary, if we were in no boat or raft at all, but only had faith enough to walk forth alone upon the waters, we have confidence that he, in whom we believe, would come forth to meet us. He is no mere pilot of a sect, but everywhere is ready to help and guide all who call upon his name.

among those who are accounted orthodox, first taught me to agree with their opponents, so often as those opponents agreed with the Scriptures."-Milton on the Trinity, p. 11.

For myself I should feel it to be wrong to say we know we have theological truth; for, first, religious knowledge is inexhaustible, and, secondly, the sources from which we drink are open to all. But we have an assurance to rest on, which is more important than any confidence in our own opinions, viz., that Christ's knowledge is certain, and that we have only to give ourselves up to him in a devout and teachable. spirit and we cannot be far wrong. Surely there has never been a more disastrous error among really earnest believers than that of identifying the saving faith, not with what we learn from our Lord himself, but with some human version of his teachings. Hence it is that Christendom is many and not one, and has been so often ravaged and weakened by internecine war. Hence the tortures, the imprisonment, the bloodshed to which the Roman Catholic church has resorted; and even among Protestants, well-disposed men have thought they did God service by undoing one another's work. Hence the slow progress Christianity has made in grappling with the sorrows and sins of humanity. And hence the significant question brought before the Berlin Evangelical Conference in 1857; "To what is the observer impelled on perceiving that in spite of the return of theology to the standard of church profession, so little spiritual life manifests itself in the population?"

Mr. Bickersteth says the fact of Unitarian opinions being "shifting," shews the necessity of a creed. But, let it be remembered, there are in the Christianity of every age two elements, one of which is permanent, and the other changing. The perma

K

nent we think we shall not lose if we keep to the New Testament. We cannot drift far away if our anchor be fast in that. As to the transient element,

we have no wish that it should be retained after it has finished its work and is dead. We do not desire to stereotype mere temporary phases of belief. Steudel has finely said, and Neander quotes the statement with strong approbation, "Exactly this is the preeminence of the one truth, that it maintains its triumphant worth under all changes of form." It is our glory that our fathers have handed down to us the heavenly treasure without insisting on our keeping it always in the same earthen vessels. It is our glory that our children are to be left perfectly free to learn individually of God and of Christ in the New Testament and in their own souls. But supposing we desired to perpetuate a certain set of opinions, would a creed very materially help us? My own belief is that, at this very moment, there is greater diversity in the Church of England than in what is called the Unitarian body. On the one hand there are in that church men, between whom and the Roman Catholic the difference is but the shadow of a shade; and on the other hand there are men who are regarded as far gone towards German rationalism. Within the last few years, what severer controversies has she had with any other denomination, than some which have been carried on by her own members one against another? How often is the complaint heard that in this or that church "the gospel is not preached!" But let Mr. Robertson be heard on this subject. "We are puzzled and perplexed by words;

we fight respecting words. Quarrels are nearly always verbal quarrels. Words lose their meaning in the course of time; nay, the very words of the Athanasian Creed, which we read to-day, mean not in this age the same thing which they meant in ages past. Therefore it is possible that men, externally Trinitarians, may differ from each other, though using the same words, as greatly as a Unitarian differs from a Trinitarian. There may be found in the same church, and in the same congregation, men holding all possible shades of opinion, though agreeing externally and in words. I speak within the limit of my own experience when I say that persons have been known and heard to express the language of bitter condemnation respecting Unitarianism, who, when examined and calmly required to draw out verbally the meaning of their own conceptions, have been proved to be holding all the time unconsciously the very doctrine of Sabellianism. And this doctrine is condemned by the Church as distinctly as that of Unitarianism. Therefore let us learn from all this a large and catholic charity. There are in almost every congregation, themselves not knowing it, Trinitarians who are practically Tritheists, worshipping three Gods; and Sabellians, or worshippers of one person under three different manifestations."+

Lest we should rely too much on the hope that our involuntary errors will be weighed in a "balance of compassion," Mr. Bickersteth reminds us of the

* Let the Trinitarian, who understands the Athanasian Creed according to the plain sense of the words, reflect on this admission. ↑ Sermon on the Trinity, vol. iii.