discussion, it has not been sufficiently remembered, that the testimony of Scripture is the great point to be attended to. For no one will deny that in a Protestant church, if any doctrinal statement should appear to be of doubtful meaning, it is to be construed not in the manner that is most opposed to the Scriptures, but in the way which is most agreeable to their general scope and tenor. Any attempt, therefore, to set aside the plain evidence of holy Scripture, on this question, is not to be admitted for a moment. There is no one tenet of our church which might not be fatally misrepresented if the language of our formularies may be first separated from Scripture, and then interpreted after a popish, rather than a Protestant model.

II. The Holy Trinity.

On the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the Dean indulged me with a long conversation, which was begun in the year 1813, and, being then interrupted, was resumed at the close of the year 1817. I will endeavour to give the substance of it.

"I have thought again and again," said Dr. Milner, "for hours at a time, on the objections raised by those who call themselves rational Christians against the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and I am convinced there is nothing solid in what they say. They use a multitude of words, and bring forth what they call arguments, but these have no weight. If we once admit the inspiration of the holy Scriptures, that is sufficient; nothing more can be said. All we contend for is, for the natural, and logical, and necessary interpretation of the language of Scripture. We have no thing to do with the declarations of Scripture, but to submit to them as coming from Almighty God. Now with respect to this doctrine, we never assert that the sacred Persons of the Holy Trinity are three and one in the same sense, but that they are represented to us

in Scripture as three in one sense, and as one in another. And nothing more clearly shews that we are right in our general notions of this doctrine, than that the simple language of the Bible serves to express what we mean, whilst this language does not suit, and therefore is not ordinarily employed by, our opponents. We want, and in common cases (in our sermons and practical writings for instance) we use, no other terms than the very terms of holy Scripture. If we add any other terms, it is in our formularies of faith, to guard against the perversion of Scripture by our adversaries; but when we speak naturally and unaffectedly in the instruction of our people, our ideas flow spontaneously in the very words of the Bible. Whereas, read the writings-the most practical writings, where men speak most honestly their meaning-of those who deny the Holy Trinity, and nothing can be so unlike the language of Scripture; you find nothing of the terms and statements of the Bible. Now this test to a plain man is decisive.

"The Socinians talk a great deal about Unity, as if nothing could be so clear as the idea of it, when applied to the Deity; and as if, when they had shewn that we speak of three characters, or persons, in the Supreme Being, we were convicted of a plain contradiction. Whereas the truth is, the idea of Unity or Oneness has almost always an obscurity in it. And if it is so as to human affairs, how much more may this be expected when we speak of Almighty God? We talk of Unity, but what do we mean? Even the clods of the valley are only kept together by Divine power. We get at simple ideas by abstracting from complex ones: as for the causes of things, we know nothing of them in any case; and he is said to know most of a thing, as of gold, who knows most of its properties. Now so long as an idea is complex, and you

can separate it into its constituent parts, you may talk sensibly and intelligibly upon it: but when you come to a simple uncompounded idea, the mind is stopped, and you immediately find the difficulty of conceiving of oneness. Take a case. There is a sense in which the whole human race is ONE in Adam, as the federal head of creation, owing to an original constitution of Almighty God. Pursue this thought. In what does this oneness consist? There may be some of the matter of Adam's body in each of our bodies even now. Is this a part of the ground of union? The diffusion of Adam's body, by such a supposition, is nothing like so great as the diffusion of the particles of light from a single candle burning on the top of St. Paul's cathedral. A first grain of wheat diffuses itself through every grain, in every future harvest. What an inconceivably minute division of matter is this! We must not, however, apply these remarks too strictly, in what we say of the Deity. But it is enough to repel the objections of our op ponents, and to satisfy us that there may be a thousand ways, utterly inconceivable by man, in which the Unity of the Divine Being may consist with a Trinity of Persons; and that therefore we have nothing to do with answering such objections, if we are only convinced that the same objections lie against the very language of holy Scripture. It is enough to silence all such cavils, to say that the idea of Oneness has an obscurity in it to our understandings in the most ordinary cases, and that therefore it is no fair objection to the doctrine of the Trinity, that there is an obscurity in it, when applied to the supreme and incomprehensible God. In short, all that is advanced by the Socinians, on this point, seems to me absurd. We hold the Unity of the Deity as strongly as they do; and what we believe, respecting the plurality of persons, is not so held as to be inconsistent with this. We be

lieve the facts, on the authority of Scripture: we do not pretend to understand the manner of their existence, or to explain the difficulties attending their admission.

"Nor is there any real weight in the objection raised against the terms, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as applied to the sacred persons of the Godhead. We do not assert that these terms are used in the same way as in ordinary cases; we assert only that the Supreme Being is thus represented to us in holy Scripture, and that therefore this is perhaps the only, and certainly the most proper, way, by which human beings could come nearest to the truth, as to the Divine Nature. To call one Divine Person Father, and the other Son, we may therefore be assured, comes nearer to the truth and real nature of the existence of God, than any other way in which it could be presented to man's understanding. This then is enough; for we know nothing of these high matters, except what God reveals to us. All ideas of Polytheism must, however, be carefully and religiously excluded from our minds, as well as all the low, and earthly, and contracted notions which we have of the relation of Father and Son. But there are many points of relation between Father and Son, besides the more common and gross views of it; as agreement in disposition, in peculiarity of mind, in the most minute lineaments of form, in taste, and in a variety of other things, constituting a sort of connexion which unites them, though it be inexplicable in its cause. Whether any thoughts of this kind may assist us, when applied with reverence to the supreme and eternal God, I will not say. Possibly the Son is called the only. begotten Son of the Father, from a

similarity and peculiarity which make these terms the most proper, as indicating the nearest approach we are capable of making to the reality of the case. But it is not necessary to form such an hypothesis:

it is enough that Scripture employs these terms for us to believe that they are the best in which the matter could be described. There are many properties of Father and Son which may exist in an incomprehensibly glorious way in the Supreme Being, though we cannot exactly conceive of them. Possibly we may go so far as to say, that every thing essential in them may be similar and alike, whilst there are yet some unessential differences. The sacred Persons in the Deity possibly agree in a way something like the agreements between Father and Son, and differ in a way something like the differences of Father and Son. Possibly they may be One in somewhat of the way in which Father and Son agree; and Three in somewhat of the way in which they differ. All these things, however, must be taken in a transcendent sense. We must keep clear of dividing the substance of the one blessed God, as well as of confounding the three Divine Persons of the Deity. Remarks of the same kind might be made on the term Holy Ghost. We might observe here also, that the term gives us the nearest idea to the real truth of the case, of which we are capable. But I ab. stain. All I have said only goes thus far, to silence an objector; just as what I said before about our ideas of Unity. Such remarks as these are good against arguments pretended to be derived from a contradiction in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. There is in this doctrine nothing of contradiction: the whole matter is above our reason. And when men would confuse the minds of the half-learned with what they call clear ideas about Oneness, and with charges of contradiction, it is well to shew them what an irrational course they are pursuing.

Further, we must always remember, that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is inseparably connected with that of Redemption,

which demands correspondent acts of affection, faith, trust, fear, gratitude, worship, obedience, towards the several persons of the Godhead. The acts and habits of mind required toward Jesus Christ, and towards the Holy Spirit, are essential to every step of the Christian life. The doctrine, therefore, is intimately mingled up with the whole Bible. If any one should begin with the separate texts of Scripture, and exercise those tempers of mind towards the Son and the Spirit, which each passage demands, he would adopt substantially the doctrine of the Trinity; whilst, on the other hand, if any one should first be instructed catechetically in the doctrine, he would, in like manner, be prepared for the correspondent affections and duties as he found them afterwards declared in the Bible; a circumstance which seems to confirm, beyond all doubt, this great verity of our faith. Nothing, therefore, can be more dangerous to our salvation, nor more presumptuous and rebellious against Almighty God, than to take the course which the Socinians do, and deny the doctrine itself. For what follows next? They deny the doctrines of original sin, the atonement, the influences of the Holy Ghost, justification by faith, regeneration, the existence of evil spirits, &c.; that is, they deny all those doctrines which are intimately linked with, and dependent upon, the doctrine of the Trinity; and thus, in fact, CONFIRM to every humble Christian, the truth of that doctrine, by shewing that those others, which are so indubitably revealed in Scripture, are, even in the judgment of our opponents, so inseparably connected with it, that they must stand or fall together. All this mischief springs from a wrong state of mind. It is infidelity-a disbelief of the Bible-an admission of Christianity generally, and then a denial of all those things in which Christianity consists."

Such were some of the observa

tions of this great divine, on a subject of such fundamental moment. They are calculated to strengthen the minds of those who may have been harassed with objections on this question; as they shew one of the first men of his age, in reach of understanding and acuteness of intellect, bowing with humble submission to the explicit language of Divine Revelation. The comfort they afforded me at the time has induced me to give the best account I could of the Dean's conversation; though, after all, it affords a very inadequate view of the light which he threw on the subject. III. The General Confession of our Church.

The following is the substance of the Dean's remarks on the subject of the General Confession.

"I have long considered the short and admirable confession at the opening of the church service, as an epitome of the Gospel. Observe the order of the several clauses, and how much they comprehend.

"We begin by confessing to our Almighty and most merciful Father, that we have erred and strayed from his ways like lost sheep. Now a lost sheep is the most helpless creature in the world. Other animals will,, somehow or other, find their way again. A dog a horse, a bird, or even a cow, will regain its home; but a sheep, when lost, has no idea of making out its way, and it must certainly perish: unless some one seek it out, it is lost indeed. This is the first step in the Confession.

"But it may be asked, how it has happened that we, the creatures of the blessed God, should be in this deplorable situation. We were created holy and happy beings; we were made in the image of our Maker. The cause is this, We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.' This was the origin of our misery.

"But lest we should excuse

ourselves for having done so, or think there is little harm in it, another clause succeeds: We have offended against thy holy laws; we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.' Here the guilt is charged upon ourselves, we acknowledge that we ourselves have been to blame. We are taught, as it were, to say, Thou, O blessed Lord, wert not the author of our lost condition. The laws Thou gavest us were holy, and thy commandments just and good; but we have offended against thy holy laws; we have not done what we ought to have done. The fault is entirely our own.'

"And mark what follows, in order to prevent our fancying, that, notwithstanding this evil conduct of ours, there may be some good in us, that the disease may not be fatal, that it may not be a total corruption. There is NO health in us.' The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint,' as the prophet Isaiah speaks. We are altogether corrupt; we are unsound at the core; and from such a creature no good can proceed.

"What then is to be done? We are cut off from every hope in ourselves. Whither can we turn? Is there any one who will seek and save that which is lost? Our appeal, in these desperate circumstances, is simply to the mercy of God: 'But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.' Here is our only bope. We pray for mercy; but we pray for it in a particular manner, as appears from the following words, Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults;'

not those who think they have no faults, but those who are sensible of them. The mercy of God has respect to the character, the state of mind, of the party who seeks it. It is not indiscriminate mercy, but is exercised in a manner agreeable to the Divine holiness. I often think what a special mercy it is

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that the case of David has been recorded. It shews us, that the most wicked man may be forgiven; but then it also shews us what a repentance is requisite to that forgiveness. I suppose never was there keener anguish of soul, more bitter sufferings on account of sin, more restless compunction than David's. See the depth of his sorrow in Psalms vi., xxii., xxx., xxxi., xxxviii., xxxix., li., Ixix., Ixxvii., lxxxviii., cii. Some of these may indeed have had prophetic reference to Him whose sorrow was not like any man's sorrow; but they still expressed David's feelings in the first instance. These his mournings of spirit seem to have been handed down to us by the providence of God, to af. ford to all succeeding generations an affecting example of the genuine penitence of a grievous sinner; and to prevent any who so repent from despairing of mercy. They who mourn like David, shall like David be forgiven. Of him, as of St. Paul, it may be said, That for this cause he obtained mercy, that he might be a pattern to them who should hereafter believe.' Peace, indeed, none can give to a burdened conscience, but Almighty God. He alone can communicate a sense of pardon. We may encourage a person, and believe he is forgiven, and assure him that he is intitled to comfort; and yet it may be all in vain. Our Lord says, My peace I give unto you.' He must speak peace to the heart, or the penitent sinner will have no consolation. If, however, any person can from the heart follow David in his strains of penitence, he shall at last also join him in his songs of praise. "The Confession proceeds: 'Restore thou them that are penitent;' not only have mercy, and spare, and pardon, but restore. This is as much as to say, Bring me back, blessed Lord, to the holy and happy state in which I was created, and renew thine image in my soul.

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Not only wipe away my heavy debt, but restore me to thy favour and love, and prevent, by the implantation of a new principle, my falling into sin again.'

"And what is our plea for asking this twofold blessing of forgiveness and sanctification? Not on account of any amendment of our lives (though at the same time we must amend them), nor for any good works of ours, but, according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus, our Lord.' It is only for the sake of what Christ has done and suffered for sinners that we implore these blessings. This is all our plea.

"We see, lastly, in the Confession, what is to be the result of this mercy and grace of God: ' And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life;'-that is, Grant that our lives may testify our gratitude;-and this not for our own honour or credit, but to the glory of thy holy Name.'

"Here we should inquire what are the fruits of a godly, righteous, and sober life. Certainly the exemplary fulfilment of every relative duty is included, whether that of a father, a child, a husband, or a master; and the business of our several stations must be faithfully and diligently performed. But even the teachers of philosophy among the heathens demanded something of this: they treated of the Offices of life. Christianity produces all this, but it also requires and produces much higher fruit-fruit indeed whose richest clusters are often veiled from human sight, and are seen by none but God. The tears of repentance, the breathings of devout gratitude and love to the Saviour, and the inward contest which is maintained by every Christian mind (the new principle struggling against the old); these are things of which the world sees little, but they constitute the interior of religion; and,