standing, robs redemption of all that makes it glorious, lovely, and efficacious, and makes the bible a book of contradictions. Some, indeed, in propounding the doctrine of the Trinity in unity, have erred in an opposite direction, and become tritheists; but, because there is error in each direction, let us not be daunted from an effort to discover the mind of the Spirit, but approach the subject with becoming reverence, in a spirit of free and candid inquiry; that, though knowing we cannot find out the Almighty unto perfection, we may not refuse assent to that which he has declared, and avoid needless and deadly

error.

The doctrine of the Trinity is one in which natural religion can afford us no aid; it is matter of pure revelation. Therefore we must be content to apply for direction to the word and the testimony. It is a mystery of which we can have no adequate notions, though they may be distinct and free from error. "Dangerous it were for the feeble brain of man to wade far into the doings of the Most High; whom although to know be life, and joy to make mention of his name, yet our soundest knowledge is to know that we know him not as indeed he is, neither can know him; and our safest eloquence concerning him is our silence, when we confess, without confession, that his glory is inexplicable, his greatness above our capacity and reach. He is above, and we upon earth; therefore it behoveth our words to be wary and few." In this spirit I will first endeavour to state the doctrine in simple language, unencumbered and unobscured by scholastic technicalities, and then state the arguments by which the doctrine is supported and proved, or rather the manner in which that doctrine is fairly, legitimately, and necessarily deduced from holy scripture.

has done its office when it has brought us into ac| quaintance with the fact; and there the duty of faith begins. If our vanity tempt us to urge our reason beyond the appointed good, and launch into the mystery of the Godhead, we soon find ourselves in a dark and trackless deep, without a star to guide or compass to direct; we are in an element with which we have no means of contending, while we know not with what it can be measured or in what language defined. Reason soon runs riot amid the varied fancies of the imagination, and, having no facts on which to fasten, sinks to the deep mazes of heresy, or exhibits all the painful evidences of the raving maniac, or drivelling insanity. Let us not aim or desire to be wise above that which is written. Let our faith fasten upon that written word; but let not reason make an effort to transgress: hitherto shalt thou come, and no further; and here shall thy pride be stayed.

SABBATH MEDITATIONS.

No. XLVI.

MAY 11.-WHITSUNDAY

Morning Lessons: Deut. xvi.; Acts x. 34-48.
Evening Lessons: Isa. xi.; Acts xix. 11.

"On the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost."-ACTS x. 45.

Meditation." This was the design of the Spirit's Christ his conception might now give Christianity its mission, that the same Holy Ghost who had given confirmation. And this he did by that wonderful and various effusion of his miraculous gifts upon the first messengers and propagators of this divine religion. For, as our Saviour himself said, Unless ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe:' sight was to introduce belief; and, accordingly, the first conquest of conviction was made upon the eye, and from thence passed victorious to the heart. This, therefore, was their rhetoric; this their method of persuasion. Their vinced the soul. They conveyed and enforced all their words were works: they cured the body and con

gift of tongues: these were the speakers, and miracle the interpreter” (South).

"The Spirit directeth and governeth the actions of every believer.... As we live by him (having a new continually led and aided by his conduct and help. spiritual life implanted in us) so we walk by him, are He reclaimeth us from error and sin: he supporteth and strengtheneth us in temptation: he adviseth and admonisheth us, exciteth and encourageth us, to all works of piety and virtue.... It is the Spirit's especial work to disclose God's mind to us; whence he is called the Spirit of truth,' the Spirit of prophecy,' the Spirit of revelation.' All the knowledge we ean pretend to in divine things doth proceed merely from his revelation, doth wholly rely upon his authority" (Barrow).

The doctrine is this: "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one." This is the simple doctrine, which is not beyond the faith of any unpre-exhortations, not by the arts of eloquence, but by the judiced mind. There is no antecedent improbability against it. We know no facts that militate against the doctrine. Our acquaintance with spiritual intelligences is so contracted, that we can form but little opinion how they act, how they are acted upon, how they communicate with each other, how they are constituted. But we have a fact in ourselves, proving the possibility of a Trinity in unity. We are each an illustration of the doctrine, having body, soul, and spirit; though we are unable to say how they are severally linked together, or define the precise limit where the material ends and the spiritual begins. But, because we cannot understand this fact, we do not deny it we can prove it, and assent to it, though unable to say how these things can be. Now when Prayer.--O Lord my God, who by thy dear God, in his word, gives us grounds whence clearly to Son Jesus Christ hast promised thy Holy Spirit gather this doctrine, let us be equally ready to show to all them which with true faith ask him of ourselves reasonable beings, and assent to the doctrine, thee, I beseech thee to give him to me in all the when proved to be in the bible, with meek and humble graces and assistances whereof I so sorely stand in need. This rich gift I implore at thy hands in submission, not doubting it be true because we can- all humility and with all fervency: I pray unto not explain the how. We do not surrender our reathee for it, by reason of my infirmities, my defileson, but honestly confess that, though our reason ments, and my short-comings: I seek it, of a sure conducts us to the conclusion, it leaves us to acknow-knowledge that, without this Spirit of wisdom and ledge the mystery in silence, and to adore. Reason counsel, of might and understanding, I can neither

desire any thing that is good, nor will any thing | There come again the daisies of the spring;
according to thy will, nor do any thing that can There golden harvests annual tribute bring.
be well-pleasing unto thee. Wherefore I pray
thee, O Father, that I may be so purified and born
anew in body, soul, and spirit, that I may be-
come, as it were, a holy temple, fitted and builded
up for thy holy habitation, through the blessed
Spirit.

Come, O Holy Ghost! Come, and of thy grace and mercy condescend to my infirmities, and cleanse me from every pollution. Turn me, O turn me, from every wicked way. Convert me, that I may live no longer unto myself, but unto him who died for me: fashion me, by faith and repentance, that I may be confirmed unto his divine image: O sanctify me wholly, that my vileness may be hidden under the spotless garment of his righteousness. Come, O thou blessed One, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, anoint and fulfil me with the fulness of thy lifegiving grace and energies. Be unto me a Counsellor in all doubts and perplexities; a Comforter, when the fierceness of God's anger visits me; a Buckler, to defend me in every conflict and tribulation; a Teacher, to lighten my darkness and to lead me and keep me in the way of truth and holiness. Be thou unto me a Spirit of submissiveness and conformity to the divine will; a Spirit of comfort and healing in the day of sickness; a Spirit of hope and assurance in the hour of disso. lution. O, may thy quickening grace abide with me always, and enkindle within me stedfastness of love and fear and obedience towards my Lord and my God, and never-failing truth, justice, and charity towards my neighbour. Abandon me not, I earnestly beseech thee, to the frowardness of my own deceitful heart; but be thou unto me a spirit of gentleness, self-denial, teachableness, humility, and saving faith, that with joy I may draw living water out of the wells of salvation.

Finally, O holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth, rich in mercy and plenteous in lovingkindnesses, so lead me and guide me through the whole course of my brief tabernacling here below, that, finishing my days in the life of grace, I may live with thee for ever in the kingdom of glory, through Jesus Christ, my Saviour and Redeemer. Amen (Adapted in part from Dr. Hickes).

Poetry.

THE FIVE EMPIRES.

S. K. C.

(For the Church of England Magazine.)

BY MRS. H. W. RICHTER.

"And of his kingdom there shall be no end."-Ps. lxxvii. 5.
SPIRIT of time! along receding years,
By gliding centuries, thy shade appears;
Giving through murky light, so dim and grey,
A fading halo, as they roll away.
On the dark ruin is thy silent throne,
The broken column, or the ivied stone;
Some arch of triumph, that forgotten lies,
Where earthly fame in whispered murmur dies;
Some tower of strength, that once defiance cast;
Some postern lone, that trembles to the blast;
Some battlemented tower, now only found
In fragments lying by the grassy mound:

Yet not alone the crumbling works of man-
Far greater things than these thy triumphs span:
Beneath thy touch whole empires to decay
And long oblivion slowly pass away;
Their arts, their policy, their sounding fame,
Their victories, all vanished to a name.
Euphrates still glides onward to the sea,
Where Babel's empire never more will be.
Where are the fleets that proudly once did ride
Her giant palaces, and tombs beside?
Where her fair gardens, gleaming to the sun?
Hush'd are her viols, and her mirth is gone,
Her "pleasant palaces" the lion's lair ;
The jackall's cry breaks the dull silence there:
While age on age, above that empire's tomb,
More darkly gathers round the desert's gloom.
And Persia's Cyrus, where his kingdom now?
where is the arm that made the Assyrian bow?
Thine oracles are dumb, thy shrines are laid
For aye to moulder in oblivion's shade.
Go traverse fair Ægea's winding shore,
That once an empire's mighty armies bore.
Immortal Greece! where now thy arts and arms,
Thy groves, thy schools, thy philosophic charms?
August Athené, nurse of every muse!
Time o'er thy glory sheds Lethean dews;
And vain was Solon's wisdom, Homer's song,
And Spartan valour, thy green isles among-
Unknown, unfelt, the heaven-descended ray,
The light reveal'd to this our latter day.
Judea's captive told the conqueror's fate:
The "pleasant land" is left all desolate.
Rome, mighty Rome! thy giant-shadow came,
And dim'd the glory of all other fame-
The power of earth, that Daniel's vision told
Should prostrate nations in submission hold:
Over the subject world thy legions spread,
Yoked to thy car were captive monarchs led.
At length-when war's dread thunder ceased awhile,
And dove-eyed peace was seen through clouds to

smile

In fair Judea's land, in humblest guise,
He came, the Ruler of the earth and skies.
His promised advent angels-heralds told
To shepherds, watching by the moon-lit fold.
Over the seven-hill'd city's lofty pride
Arose a kingdom ever to abide.

No armed hosts proclaimed that empire's dawn:
In calm still beauty rose the glorious morn.
The poor, the humble, own'd the truth divine-
To ransom us from sin, O Lord, was thine.
The seed was sown, the plant was Sharon's rose,
That over contrite hearts its shadow throws,
Through lands benighted spread the living ray,
The kingdom that shall never pass away.
Messiah's empire no decay shall wear,
Increasing still through heaven's "eternal year:"
Lord, o'er the earth thy saving love extend,
The kingdom's glory that shall have no end.

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the city was indebted for partial restoration, had | Mary, it was further disfigured by two belfries no associations connected with the capitol; and, erected by Urban VIII. But it was not hordes when it was necessary to build walls for protec- of barbarians alone which pillaged many of the tion against a new attack, he made no effort to most splendid buildings of Rome: the zeal of guard the ruined fanes of paganism; and the the ecclesiastics urged them to deeds of demolipopulation, withdrawing from the scenes of an- tion. cient glory, began to erect what was virtually a new city. There is little more than identity of name to connect the Rome of the popes with the Rome of the Cæsars: the transition from one to the other was effected by processes of complete destruction and the erection of an entirely new edifice. But papal Rome has clung fondly to one tradition, inherited from its pagan predecessor, a belief in its own immortality and infallibility. Whether this belief be justified by prophecy, as our author asserts, or whether it be as vain as that previous belief which events discredited, we shall not attempt to decide, but shall take leave of these volumes with a hope of meeting the author in other fields of research, where his powers will be less fettered by foregone conclusions*."

Referring to the Colosseum, Dr. Moore ("Travels in Italy") remarks, "What are the slow corrosions of time, in comparison of the rapid destruction from the fury of barbarians, the zeal of bigots, and the avarice of popes and cardinals? 發 The first depredation made on this stupendous building was by the inhabitants of Rome themselves, at that time greater goths than their conqueror. The marble cornices, the friezes, and other ornaments of this building, have been carried away at various times, to adorn palaces; and the stones have been taken to build churches, and sometimes to repair the walls of Rome, the most useless work of all."

"The Pantheon," says professor Spalding*, "according to the inscription on its frieze, was dedicated in the year of the city 727, and was afterwards restored by Hadrian and Septimius Severus. Its consecration, A. D. 608, as a Christian church, under the title Santa Maria Rotunda, has preserved for the admiration of the modern world this most beautiful of heathen fanes. It is situated in the filthy herb-market; the flight of steps which led up to its portico is nearly buried in rubbish; two hideous modern belfries deform its summit; emperors, Saracens, and popes have successively plundered it of its bronzes and marbles; and the floods of the Tiber periodically inundate its floor. But through degradation, nakedness, and disfigurement, its serene beauty shines

"The strife between Christianity and paganism endured for five centuries. During the reign of the Antonines, the Roman world was still exclusively pagan. The traveller who passed through the empire would see nothing but temples to the various deities of the ancient faith. At what time the Christian churches arose as public buildings is not quite certain, but it is generally admitted it was not until towards the reign of Alexander Severus. Christianity was the retired and private worship of multitudes indeed, but still multitudes designated by no peculiar mark or badge, and holding their assemblies in some secluded, or, at all events, undistinguished cham-out undimmed; and its name is still the synonyme ber." (Quarterly Review, No. exiii. pp. 34, 35).

of architectural perfection. The faultless proportions and striking effect of the portico which fronts The Pantheon, though not the largest, is un- the temple, while they cannot be unfelt even by questionably the most perfect of those temples the unprofessional visitant, are most duly valued which bear melancholy record of the idolatry of by the architect; but, in the interior, every mind, ancient Rome. It was dedicated to Jupiter Ul- which possesses the faculties that appreciate art, tor, or to Mars and Venus, or, as the name im- must at the same time be entranced and awed. ports, to all the gods, and is generally supposed to The portico is formed by sixteen Corinthian have been erected by Agrippa, son-in-law of Au- columns of granite, with bases and capitals of gustus. That the portico at least was built by Grecian marble. Eight of these stand in front, him, is evident from the inscription on the frieze: supporting an entablature; above which rises a "M. Agrippa, L. F. Cos. Tertium Fecit." Yet pediment, once adorned with bas-reliefs. Through some have supposed that he merely made that ad- a short vestibule, supported by fluted marble dition to the previously erected Rotunda erected antæ and pilasters, we enter the cell, which conlong before the Augustine age. Hirt, in his sists of a circular drum, containing a dome. On Historico-Architectural Observations on the the marble doorway hang magnificent gates of Pantheon," argues that the whole structure may bronze, which are probably those of an ancient be assumed to have been erected according to one temple. The pavement of the interior is comoriginal plan, because without the portico it posed of porphyry and marble, disposed in large would have been a heavy mass. He rejects the alternate slabs. The drum, or upright wall, conidea of the rotunda being originally merely an tains seven large niches; while small ones occur entrance to public baths. Circular plans were in the intermediate spaces, as well as in the larger unquestionably much employed by the Romans in recesses. Columns of pavonazzetto and giallotheir temples and other buildings; and hence their antico flank the main niches; and, above these, a architecture presents a variety not to be found in beautiful and perfectly preserved cornice runs that of Greece. Despoiled of rich ornaments, round the whole building. Over a second story gilded bronze-work, and statues, of which it was in the drum, formed by an attic sustaining an plundered by Goths and Vandals before the build-upper cornice, rises the beautiful dome, which is ing was consecrated as a Christian church by pope Boniface, A.D. 608, and dedicated to the virgin

*See "Athenæum," No. 821. Review of "Rome as it was ander Paganism, and as it became under the Popes." Madden and Co.

divided internally into square panels, now plastered with stucco, but supposed to have been

"Italy and the Italian Islands; from the earliest ages to the present time." By William Spalding, esq., professor of rhetoric in the university of Edinburgh. 3 vols., 12mo. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 1841.