more complex, and you search in vain for uniformity. In the parts, it
must be found, if found at all, in the sameness of the pervading life.
The illustration given by the apostle is that of the human body--a
higher unity, he says, by being composed of many members, than if
every member were but a repetition of a single type. It is conceivable
that God might have moulded such a form for human life; it is
conceivable that every cause, instead of producing in different nerves
a variety of sensations, should have affected every one in a mode
precisely similar; that instead of producing a sensation of sound--a
sensation of colour--a sensation of taste--the outward causes of
nature, be they what they may, should have given but one unvaried
feeling to every sense, and that the whole universe should have been
light or sound.
That would have been unity, if sameness be unity; but, says the
apostle, "if the whole body were seeing, where were the hearing?" That
uniformity would have been irreparable loss--the loss of every part
that was merged into the one. What is the body's unity? Is it not
this? The unity of a living consciousness which marvellously animates
every separate atom of the frame, and reduces each to the performance
of a function fitted to the welfare of the whole--its own, not
another's: so that the inner spirit can say of the remotest, and in
form most unlike, member, "That too, is myself."
3. None but a spiritual unity can preserve the rights both of the
individual and the Church. All other systems of unity, except the
apostolic, either sacrifice the Church to the individual, or the
individual to the Church.
Some have claimed the right of private judgment in such a way that
every individual opinion becomes truth, and every utterance of private
conscience right: thus the Church is sacrificed to the individual; and
the universal conscience, the common faith, becomes as nothing; the
spirits of the prophets are not subject to the prophets. Again, there
are others, who, like the Church of Rome, would surrender the
conscience of each man to the conscience of the Church, and coerce the
particulars of faith into exact coincidence with a formal creed.
Spiritual unity saves the right of both in God's system. The Church
exists for the individual, just as truly as the individual for the
Church. The Church is then most perfect when all its powers converge,
and are concentrated on the formation and protection of individual
character; and the individual is then most complete--that is, most a
Christian--when he has practically learned that his life is not his
own, but owed to others--"that no man liveth to himself, and no man
dieth to himself."
Now, spiritual unity respects the sanctity of the individual
conscience. How reverently the Apostle Paul considered its claims,
and how tenderly! When once it became a matter of conscience, this was
his principle laid down in matters of dispute: "Let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind." The belief of the whole world cannot make
that thing true to me which to me seems false. The conscience of the
whole world cannot make a thing right to me, if I in my heart believe
it wrong. You may coerce the conscience, you may control men's belief,
and you may produce a unity by so doing; but it is the unity of
pebbles on the sea-shore--a lifeless identity of outward form with no
cohesion between the parts--a dead sea-beach on which nothing grows,
and where the very seaweed dies.
Lastly, it respected the sanctity of individual character. Out of
eight hundred millions of the human race, a few features diversify
themselves into so many forms of countenance, that scarcely two could
be mistaken for each other. There are no two leaves on the same tree
alike; nor two sides of the same leaf, unless you cut and kill it
There is a sacredness in individuality of character; each one born
into this world is a fresh new soul intended by his Maker to develope
himself in a new fresh way; we are what we are; we cannot be truly
other than ourselves. We reach perfection not by copying, much less by
aiming at originality; but by consistently and steadily working out
the life which is common to us all, according to the character which
God has given us.
And thus will the Church of God be one at last--will present an unity
like that of heaven. There is one universe in which each separate star
differs from another in glory; one Church in which a single Spirit,
the Life of God, pervades each separate soul; and just in proportion
as that Life becomes exalted does it enable every one to shine forth
in the distinctness of his own separate individuality, like the stars
of heaven.
IV.
_Preached May 26, 1850._
THE TRINITY.
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God
your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."--1 Thess. v. 23.
The knowledge of God is the blessedness of man. To know God, and to be
known by Him--to love God, and to be loved by Him--is the most
precious treasure which this life has to give; properly speaking the
only treasure; properly speaking the only knowledge; for all
knowledge is valuable only so far as it converges towards and ends in
the knowledge of God, and enables us to acquaint ourselves with God,
and be at peace with Him. The doctrine of the Trinity is the sum of
all that knowledge which has as yet been gained by man. I say gained
_as yet_. For we presume not to maintain that in the ages which are to
come hereafter, our knowledge shall not be superseded by a higher
knowledge; we presume not to say that in a state of existence
future--yea even here upon this earth, at that period which is
mysteriously referred to in Scripture as "the coming of the Son of
Man"--there shall not be given to the soul an intellectual conception
of the Almighty, a vision of the Eternal, in comparison with whose
brightness and clearness our present knowledge of the Trinity shall be
as rudimentary and as childlike as the knowledge of the Jew was in
comparison with the knowledge of the Christian.
Now the passage which I have undertaken to expound to-day, is one in
which the doctrine of the Trinity is brought into connection
practically with the doctrine of our Humanity. Before entering into it
brethren, let us lay down these two observations and duties for
ourselves. In the first place, let us examine the doctrine of the
Trinity ever in the spirit of charity.
A clear statement of the deepest doctrine that man can know, and the
intellectual conception of that doctrine, are by no means easy. 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 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 words
"person," "substance," "procession," "generation," to an ordinary
person, mean almost nothing. So this language of the apostle, when
rendered into English, shows no difference whatever between "soul" and
"spirit." We say, for instance, that the soul of a man has departed
from him. We also say that the spirit of a man has departed from him.
There is no distinct difference between the two; but in the original
two very different kinds of thoughts--two very different modes of
conception--are represented by the two English words "soul" and
"spirit."
It is our business, therefore, in the first place, to understand what
is meant by this threefold division. When the apostle speaks of the
body, what he means is the animal life--that which we share in common
with beasts, birds, and reptiles; for our life my Christian
brethren--our sensational existence--differs but little from that of
the lower animals. There is the same external form, the same material
in the blood-vessels, in the nerves, and in the muscular system. Nay,
more than that, our appetites and instincts are alike, our lower
pleasures like their lower pleasures, our lower pain like their lower
pain, our life is supported by the same means, and our animal
functions are almost indistinguishably the same.
But, once more, the apostle speaks of what he calls the "soul." What
the apostle meant by what is translated "soul," is the immortal part
of man--the immaterial as distinguished from the material: those
powers, in fact, which man has by nature--powers natural, which are
yet to survive the grave. There is a distinction made in scripture by
our Lord between these two things. "Fear not," says He, "them who can
kill the body; but rather fear Him who can destroy both body and
soul in hell."
We have again, to observe respecting this, that what the apostle
called the "soul," is not simply distinguishable from the body, but
also from the spirit; and on that distinction I have already touched.
By the soul the apostle means our powers natural--the powers which we
have by nature. Herein is the soul distinguishable from the spirit. In
the Epistle to the Corinthians we read--"But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto
him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things." Observe, there is a
distinction drawn between the natural man and the spiritual. What is
there translated "natural" is derived from precisely the same word as
that which is here translated "soul." So that we may read just as
correctly: "The man under the dominion of the soul receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him;
neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But
he that is spiritual judgeth all things." And again, the apostle, in
the same Epistle to the Corinthians, writes: "That is not first which
is spiritual, but that which is natural:" that is, the endowments of
the soul precede the endowments of the spirit. You have the same truth
in other places. The powers that belong to the Spirit were not the
first developed; but the powers which belong to the soul, that is the
powers of nature. Again in the same chapter, reference is made to the
natural and spiritual body. "There is a natural body and there is a
spiritual body." Literally, there is a body governed by the soul--that
is, powers natural: and there is a body governed by the Spirit--that
is, higher nature.
Let then this be borne in mind, that what the apostle calls "soul" is
the same as that which he calls, in another place, the "natural man."
These powers are divisible into two branches--the intellectual powers
and the moral sense. The intellectual powers man has by nature. Man
need not be regenerated in order to possess the power of reasoning, or
in order to invent. The intellectual powers belong to what the apostle
calls the "soul." The moral sense distinguishes between right and
wrong. The apostle tells us, in the Epistle to the Romans, that the
heathen--manifestly natural men--had the "work of the law written in
their hearts; their conscience also bearing witness."
The third division of which the apostle speaks, he calls the "spirit;"
and by the spirit he means that life in man which, in his natural
state, is in such an embryo condition, that it can scarcely be said to
exist at all--that which is called out into power and vitality by
regeneration--the perfection of the powers of human nature. And you
will observe, that it is not merely the instinctive life, nor the
intellectual life, nor the moral life, but it is principally our
nobler affections--that existence, that state of being, which we call
love. That is the department of human nature which the apostle calls
the spirit; and accordingly, when the Spirit of God was given on the
day of Pentecost, you will, remember that another power of man was
called out, differing from what he had before. That Spirit granted on
the day of Pentecost did subordinate to Himself, and was, intended to
subordinate to Himself, the will, the understanding, and the affection
of man; but you often find these spiritual powers were distinguished
from the natural powers, and existed without them.
So in the highest state of religious life, we are told, men prayed in
the spirit. Till the spirit has subordinated the understanding, the
gift of God is not complete--has not done its work. It is abundantly
evident that a new life was called out. It was not merely the
sharpening of the intellectual powers; it was calling out powers of
aspiration and love to God; those affections which have in them
something boundless, that are not limited to this earth, but seek
their completion in the mind of God Himself.
Now, what we have to say respecting this threefold state of man is, it
is a state of discord. Let us take up a very simple, popular,
every-day illustration. We hear it remarked frequently in conversation
of a man, that if only his will were commensurate with his knowledge,
he would be a great man. His knowledge is great--his powers are almost
unbounded; he has gained knowledge from nearly every department of
science; but somehow or other--you cannot tell why--there is such an
indecision, such a vacillation about the man, that he scarcely knows
what to do, and, perhaps does nothing in this world. You find it
remarked, respecting another class of men, that their will is strong,
almost unbounded in its strength--they have iron wills, yet there is
something so narrow in their conceptions, something so bounded in
their views, so much of stagnation in their thoughts, so much of
prejudice in all their opinions, that their will is prevented from
being directed to anything in a proper manner. Here is the discord in
human nature. There is a distinction between the will and the
understanding. And sometimes a feeble will goes with a strong
understanding, or a powerful will is found in connection with great
feebleness or ignorance of the understanding.
Let us however, go into this more specially. The first cause of
discord in this threefold state of man is the state in which the body
is the ruler; and this, my Christian brethren, you find most visibly
developed in the uneducated and irreligious poor. I say uneducated and
irreligious, because it is by no means education alone which can
subordinate the flesh to the higher man. The religious uneducated poor
man may be master of his lower passions; but in the uneducated and
irreligious poor man, these show themselves in full force; this
discord--this want of unity--appears, as it were, in a magnified form.
There is a strong man--health bursting, as it were, at every pore,
with an athletic body; but coarse, and rude, and intellectually
weak--almost an animal. When you are regarding the upper classes of
society, you see less distinctly the absence of the spirit, unless,
you look with a spiritual eye. The coarseness has passed away--the
rudeness is no longer seen: there is a refinement in the pleasures.
But if you take the life led by the young men of our country--strong,
athletic, healthy men--it is still the life of the flesh: the
unthinking, and the unprincipled life in which there is as yet no
higher life developed. It is a life which, in spite of its refinement,
the Bible condemns as the life of the sensualist.
We pass on now, to another state of discord--a state in which the soul
is ruined. Brethren, this is a natural result--this is what might have
been expected. The natural man gradually subordinates the flesh, the
body, to the soul. It is natural in the development of individuals, it
is natural in the development of society: in the development of
individuals, because that childlike, infantine life which exists at
first, and is almost entirely a life of appetites, gradually subsides.
Higher wants, higher desires, loftier inclinations arise; the passions
of the young man gradually subside, and by degrees the more rational
life comes: the life is changed--the pleasures of the senses are
forsaken for those of the intellect.
It appears natural, again, in the development of society. Civilization
will subordinate the flesh to the soul. In the savage state, you find
the life of the animal. Civilization is teaching a man, on the
principle of this world, to subordinate his appetites; to rule
himself; and there comes a refinement, and a gentleness, and a
polish, and an enjoyment of intellectual pleasures; so that the man is
no longer what the apostle calls a sensual man, but he becomes now
what the apostle calls a natural man. We can see this character
delineated in the Epistle to the Ephesians. "Then we were," says the
apostle, "in our Gentile state, fulfilling the desires of the flesh
and of the mind." Man naturally fulfils not merely the desires of the
flesh, but the desires of the mind. "And were," says the apostle,
"children of wrath."
One of the saddest spectacles is the decay of the natural man before
the work of the Spirit has been accomplished in him. When the savage
dies--when a mere infant dies--when an animal dies--there is nothing
that is appalling or depressing there; but when the high, the
developed intellect--when the cultivated man comes to the last hours
of life, and the memory becomes less powerful, and the judgment fails,
and all that belongs to nature and to earth visibly perishes, and the
higher life has not been yet developed, though it is destined to
survive the grave for ever--even the life of God--there is here ample
cause for grief; and it is no wonder that the man of genius merely
should shed tears at he idea of decaying life.
We pass on to consider the Trinity in unity. All this is contained in
that simple expression, "The God of peace." God is a God of unity. He
makes one where before there were two. He is the God of peace, and
therefore can make peace. Now this peace, according to the Trinitarian
doctrine, consists in a threefold unity. Brethren, as we remarked
respecting this first of all, the distinction in this Trinity is not a
physical distinction, but a metaphysical one. The illustrations which
are often given are illustrations drawn from material sources: if we
take only those, we get into contradiction: for example, when we talk
of personality, our idea is of a being bounded by space; and then to
say in this sense that three persons are one, and one is three, is
simply contradictory and absurd. Remember that the doctrine of the
Trinity is a metaphysical doctrine. It is a trinity--a division in the
mind of God. It is not three materials; it is three persons in a sense
we shall explain by and by.
In the next place I will endeavour to explain the doctrine--not to
prove it, but to show its rationality, and to explain what it is.
The first illustration we endeavour to give in this is taken from the
world of matter. We will take any material substance: we find in that
substance qualities; we will say three qualities--colour, shape, and
size. Colour is not shape, shape is not size, size is not colour. They
are three distinct essences, three distinct qualities, and yet they
all form one unity, one single conception, one idea--the idea for
example, of a tree.
Now we will ascend from that into the immaterial world; and here to be
something more distinct still. Hitherto we have had but three
qualities; we now come to the mind of man, where we find something
more than qualities. We will take three--the will, the affections, and
the thoughts of man. His will is not his affections, neither are his
affections his thoughts; and it would be imperfect and incomplete to
say that these are mere qualities in the man. They are separate
consciousnesses, living consciousnesses--as distinct, and as really
sundered as it is possible for three things to be, yet bound together
by one unity of consciousness. Now we have distincter proof than even
this that these things are three. The anatomist can tell you that the
localities of these powers are different. He can point out the seat of
the nerve of sensation; he can localize the feeling of affection; he
can point to a nerve and say, "There resides the locality of thought."
There are three distinct localities for three distinct qualities,
personalities, consciousnesses; yet all these three are one.
Once more, we will give proof even beyond all that. The act that a man
does is done by one particular part of that man. You may say it was a
work of his genius, or of his fancy; it may have been a manifestation
of his love, or an exhibition of his courage; yet that work was the
work of the whole man: his courage, his intellect, his habits of
perseverance, all helped towards the completion of that single work.
Just in this way certain special works are attributed to certain
personalities of the Deity; the work of Redemption being attributed to
one, the work of Sanctification to another. And yet just as the whole
man was engaged in doing that work, so does the whole Deity perform
that work which is attributed to one essential.