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 Tri-theists, worshipping three Gods; and Sabellians, or
worshippers of one person under three different manifestations. To
know God so that we may be said intellectually, to appreciate Him, is
blessed: to be unable to do so is a misfortune. Be content with your
own blessedness, in comparison with others' misfortunes. Do not give
to that misfortune the additional sting of illiberal and unchristian
vituperation.

The next observation we have to lay down for ourselves is, that we
should examine this doctrine in the spirit of modesty. There are those
who are inclined to sneer at the Trinitarian; those to whom the
doctrine appears merely a contradiction--a puzzle--an entangled,
labyrinthine enigma, in which there is no meaning whatever. But let