what is sufficient for his calling, and you know no more. Is not this the measure of ignorance? Men are ignorant so far as they fall short of their necessity. A preacher is ignorant as he lacks either experience or information; and the rule applies everywhere. The merchant cannot be said to be nescient who is "well up" in every particular of commerce, though he may know only those. Hence men are mutual helps and mutual benefactors. The partial knowledge in every mind finds a contra-part in each, and these are stimuli to the spread of truth.

some

II. "Do you really think that the railways of England have contributed very much to the present commercial activity?" was asked by one who has many claims to the style of "learned." The question was honest. The interrogator really wanted to know. Of course he was marked as an "ignorant fellow." Had he questioned concerning things belonging to his own vocation, the surprise would have been on the other side. No one can mistake as to the associations ever accompanying the narration of the incident. But is the idea of ignorance here a correct one? Lord Brougham said, “One ought to know something about everything, and everything about something.' Very true! but then the latter " thing" must be that which is useful to one. The questioner in the case above asked cencerning something which had nothing to do with his profession. What was necessary to the pursuit of his vocation was very different from cotton bales, or grain bags, or rapid transit, or short credit. Does not a great deal of the outcry upon ignorance come from this misunderstanding? The merchant is ignorant who knows nothing of Comte or Descartes, the theologian is ignorant who is at a loss as to the state of the share market or the last panic on the bourse. All through the world of society class is laughing at class because of " "its ignorance," or lamenting because of "its depraved condition." Better shake hands and allow the difference. Such difference is an eternal one. It is only the future perfection in its present imperfect embryo. All men are ignorant! True, but then all men are wise,-wise in something or other. All wise men have a right to make the charge of ignorance. Perhaps

that is the reason for the charge being universal. Every expression of surprise is its manifestation-every prejudiced objection is its display; and go where you will you will find these, not always in the mildest form. "Indeed!" and "Bless me!" are very transparent screens before many a dark mind.

Not

III. How annoying it is to have to do with such illiterate people! Well, yes, it is, but then it should furnish its own suggestion promptly to you. Try to improve them. By such means you will rid yourself of the annoyance. only so, you will have the consciousness of doing some good, however small. "You could not think of it!" "Oh dear no! Of course not!" I had forgotten it, it would be beneath you. How strange it is, we don't see the most annoying quality of ignorance -its facility of self-exposure. Very many unfortunately continue in their brutal ignorance, because others in their refined ignorance will not condescend to assist or attempt to elevate them. Perhaps the fashion will change some day before long, and then-But we'll wait till it does. Meanwhile, of what mutual annoyance is this want! The poor are cursing the rich. The rich are despising the poor. If by some means classes could be brought into closer relationship, very much of, nay all, these unpleasantnesses would be cleared away. The kindly purpose and the grateful disposition would be discovered, and each helped to healthier glow. If there is the annoyance because of presumption in the one case, there is the annoyance because of indifference, neglect, or scorn in the other. Neither side can rightly cry "aggrieved" until either side alters its course of action. Look at the Education Bill for instance, framed doubtless in very sincere wish and purpose, itself an evidence of the darkness of its framers as to the feelings or sensitiveness of those for whose benefit it was intended, carrying in its provisions a gross insult-a stinging sarcasm. So it is. It is the same the world over. The plenty in the one case renders blind to the poverty in the other. The poverty of the one makes the plenty of the other to be a curse. Because of this, come the varied tyrannies and rebellions. The ignorant, "I'll make you," provokes the ignorant, "I won't be made."

IV. "I wish I had never read anything but my Bible," said one, "I have read so much of the "ologies" and "isms," that what I thought I knew and believed one day I have doubted and cast from me the next. I would freely change existences if I could with that old woman who knows nothing but the Bible." Perhaps only one from a large number this, and somewhat explanatory of the universal restlessness there is just now. Superficially regarded, a very bad sign; carefully considered, an evidence of healthy desire. Any restless inquiry is a proof of the inquirer being weary of his lack of knowledge. Such weariness is a help to acquisition. "Yes, I know all overfeeding is productive of indigestion. It does often happen so with those who have been starving for a while. They come right in due time." And so with

all the restlessness and perplexity. A little patience and a little further perseverance, and the differences will be fewer and fewer. Very likely some day before long an "evangelical" will be a "rare specimen," only to be met with in a dim corner of some “ theo

THE DOCTRINE

CALVIN is reported to have said that he was willing that the name "Trinity" should be "buried and forgot," if only this could be the accepted faith of all, that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each distinguished by a peculiar property, are one God. As is well known, the term is not in the Bible; nor do

"Deity," "Christianity," "Incarnation," and many other useful and necessary words find a place there. Moreover, and for reasons easily understood, the Scriptures do not anywhere contain a distinct and precise assertion of the doctrine of the Trinity in the shape of a creed, or even attempt, in any case, a formal proof of it. Still it is not difficult to see that the doctrine is in the Bible, and the name is so convenient that it cannot be parted with without some disadvantage. Just as the existence and attributes of Jehovah appear in every document contained in the Bible, though there is not, in any one of them, a logical demonstration of the being of a God, so the facts of the Divine Threeness, and of the Divine

logical museum." These differences will die out. The "ologies" and "isms" will have lost their "aroma"

or their "relish." Instead of "dogma" we shall hear of "the Divine," and instead of "creed" we shall be taught "Christ." Ignorance is narrow, prejudiced, bigoted. Truth is broad, charitable, universal. There may be "a certain amount of rest and ease in ignorance." The acquisition of knowledge "may tend to speculation and unrest." It is better to think and speculate and be wrong, than not to know at all. If the thoughts be pursued in common fairness every way, the thinker will come to the place of rest in the end. These differences are only the considerations and reflectings of the "one universal mind." "The world's mind" is marching on in stately progress to its resting place. Every individual thought is a drop in the great wave which rolls along to the shore of peace. "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Portsea.

R. Y. ROBERTS.

OF THE TRINITY.

Unity (put them together how you will) penetrate the word of God. The Trinity underlies revelation as the foundation of a building the edifice it supports, or as the fact of a governing authority the Charters of the British Constitution. All saving truth is cast in the moulds of the Trinity. Each part of the process of human redemption has all the energies and attributes of Deity concentrated upon it, and, by consequence, all the guarantees of Divinity for its success. Salvation springs from the loving heart of the Almighty Father, is manifested in and by the Almighty Saviour, and carried to its perfection in the complete renewal of our corrupted nature by the Almighty Restorer, the Holy Ghost. The Scriptures teach us to look upward to the One Divine Nature, and to discern existing therein, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, infinitely exalted above us, and yet condescending in pity and love to obtain eternal redemption for us.

Hence the doctrine has uniformly

been accepted by the Church of the Lord Jesus, and is thoroughly woven into her history. Men of great intelligence and transparent honesty have dissented, but the Christian centuries are unquestionably full of the Trinity. Amidst bitter disputes and keen conflicts, much weakness and some wrong, it has ever reasserted itself, at least in its practical form, in the conscience and experience of hosts of sages and saints, and so remained one of the fundamental convictions of the Catholic Church.

Bushnell says, As soon shall we part with the daylight, or the air, as lapse into the cold and feeble monotheism in which some teachers of our time are ready to boast as the gospel of reason and the unity of a personal fatherhood." Robertson declares "the doctrine of the Trinity is the sum of all knowledge which has yet been gained by man;" and Neander writes, "it is the fundamental article of the Christian faith, the essential contents of Christianity summed up in brief." Indeed we can have no higher idea of God, nor one so full of comfort, and sweetness, and power. It represents the richest communication of the Divine to the human, sets forth the Eternal Jehovah, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier of men, in all the vastness of His power and grace, circling round weak and sinful man so that He may save him from his sins and dwell in his heart as in a temple-home.

Some of the Biblical witnesses to this doctrine are of a very strong and direct character. They speak without ambiguity, with an emphatic tone, and both invite and reward examination. They declare at once the unity of God and the deity of the Lord Jesus and of the Holy Spirit. The separate threads of the threefold cord are seen in some passages in perfect independence, in others so firmly woven together that they appear as, and are in fact, one. Doubtless God is our Father. To us there is one God, the Father, from whom all existence proceeds, and we are for Him. But the Word was God, as well as dwelt in the beginning with God. His names and titles are divine. His works and words are those of the Mighty God. His sovereignty has no exception beyond the range of the divine nature, for all things are put under Him. It seems to us the gospels and epistles have been very badly

written if they are not intended to reveal to us the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And could any personality be more definitely pronounced, or any work more absolutely divine, than that of the Holy Ghost in the concluding chapters of the Gospel of John? To this One God every believer pledges his obedience, service, and devotion, when he is baptized according to the Saviour's direction into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and to this selfsame God we are commended in that most solemn and most complete of all Paul's forms of benediction, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all."

But besides this direct and wellknown testimony, there is a large measure of an incidental and indirect character, gathered from the manner in which the doctrine enters into the very structure of Scripture, and lies at the basis of the plan of mercy for fallen man. Mr. Patterson has exhaustively and ably treated this line of proof in the volume before us,* and given to the student of theology one of the most convincing, solid, and practical defences of the doctrine of the Trinity in our language. Briefly stated, his plan is this. The Bible adınits of a triple division. The Old Testament shows us the Father. The gospels contain the story of the manifestation of the Son. The acts and letters of the apostles exhibit the work of the Holy Ghost. But in the older writings anticipations and foreshadowings of the Incarnation and of the effusion of the Spirit appear; in the Evangelists a fuller revelation of the Father and a clearer prediction of the Comforter are given; and in the annals of the Primitive Church the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ and leads men to the Father; and so, while (to quote our author,) "Redemption is the central subject of revelation, yet just as it is unfolded, there is found taken for granted the distinct personality of the three persons of the Godhead, and their concurrent yet distinctive action in the economy of man's salvation."

The amount of this indirect evidence is truly astonishing. The Bible is

*The Doctrine of the Trinity underlying the Revelation of Redemption. By the Rev. G. Patterson. Edinburgh: W. Oliphant & Co.

fully suggest to him whether the tendency of his remarks is not somewhat decided in that direction. To me they seem to strike at the doctrine which up to the present has been the faith of almost the whole church, that the teachings of the apostles, equally with the sayings of Christ in the flesh are of divine authority. This surely cannot be our friend's meaning; and probably in the next number of our Magazine he may explain his views on the subject more fully. Meanwhile may I state briefly the way in which this matter, which I deem a most important one, shapes itself to my own mind?

In the very last discourse addressed by our Lord to the disciples, prior to His crucifixion, He said to them (John xvi. 12), "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. He shall glorify me : for He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." From this passage it is manifest that besides the commandments Jesus had given in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere, besides the truths taught in His parables and discourses recorded in the gospels, there were other commandments and truths the time for which had not yet come, and which were to be made known to the church by His Spirit after His ascension.

Now,

where are we to look for these but in the Apostolic Epistles, and in the utterances of the apostles recorded in the Acts? Furthermore, it appears, from the words of Jesus just cited, that these additional revelations were to be regarded by the church as a manifestation of His will just as truly as the words already uttered by Him. "The Spirit of truth," Christ says, "shall not speak of Himself;" "He shall receive of mine, and shew it unto you."

In accordance with this view we find the apostles, subsequently to the day of Pentecost, speaking and writing under the consciousness that their utterances were the expressions not simply of their own private will, but also of the will of a Divine Spirit. Thus, in their joint letter to the churches recorded in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts, they say (v. 28), "For it seemed good to the Holy

Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden." And particularly does this hold true in the case of the apostle Paul. Thus, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians xiv. 37, he says, "If any man think himself to be a

ledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord." Now, by "the Lord," in the New Testament Scriptures we are almost always to understand "the Lord Christ." Again, in 1 Thess. iv. 2, "For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus." What does this mean but that the precepts delivered by Paul to the Thessalonians were not the apostle's own commands, but Christ's, by whose blessed influence he was moved to deliver them? Christ had promised Paul, at his first calling to be an apostle, that He would reveal His will to him. See for proof Acts xxvi. 16. "But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee." (Compare also Acts xxii. 14.) In accordance with this promise Paul received revelations from time to time the contents of which he communicated in due course unto his brethren. An instance of this we have in 1 Thess. iv. 15-"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (or precede) them which are asleep." Yet another instance the reader may find in Ephes. iii. 2-6, where Paul speaks of the fact that the Gentiles were to be members of the body of Christ on equal terms with the Jews as a secret that had been hidden from the world in former ages, but had been revealed at length to himself and fellow-apostles, not by Christ in the days of His flesh, but by the Spirit.

From the preceding, then, it appears that when we have been taught all that is contained in the sayings of Christ comprised in the four Gospels, there will yet remain for our study other commandments and other truths revealed by Him for which we must look to the Apostolic Epistles. the reader especially bear in mind those words of Paul already quoted in 1 Cor. xiv. 37. So that to speak of the

Let