lly 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
all such remember, that though the doctrine may appear to them absurd,
because they have not the proper conception of it, some of the
profoundest thinkers, and some of the holiest spirits among mankind,
have believed in this doctrine--have clung to it as a matter of life
or death. Let them be assured of this, that whether the doctrine be
true or false, it is not necessarily a doctrine self-contradictory.
Let them be assured of this, in all modesty, that such men never could
have held it unless there was latent in the doctrine a deep
truth,--perchance the truth of God.

We pass on now to the consideration of this verse under the following
divisions. In the first place, we shall view it as a triad in discord:
"I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved
blameless;" in the second place, as a Trinity in Unity: "the God of
peace sanctify you wholly." We take then first of all for our
consideration the triad in discord: "I pray God your whole body and
soul and spirit be preserved blameless."

The apostle here divides human nature into a three-fold division; and
here we have to observe again the difficulty often experienced in
understanding words. Thus words in the Athanasian creed have become
obsolete, or lost their meaning: so that in the present day the