136 MEMOIR OF DR. HARVEY. 



objection to the Athanasian is the curse. It may be so — the 

 gates of heaven may have this bar — but it is not for mortal man 

 to fix it. I cannot declare that every one who does not " so 

 think " is cursed ; notwithstanding there cannot be a question 

 but that the whole substance of Christianity is contained in the 

 right reception of the doctrine of the Trinity, for the simple 

 reason, that without this doctrine there can he no atonement ; 

 yet there is to my mind something so like narrowing the mercy of 

 the Almighty in that word " so," that I dare not take it into my 

 mouth to pronounce it. Were it the exact language of inspira- 

 tion it would be different, but it is only an inference deduced 

 from Scripture, and it may partake of human weakness and 

 error. Besides, it seems to me a going out of our way to judge 

 " another's servant." Whilst I believe the main proposition of 

 this creed, however, my " objection " to it would not keep me 

 out of the Church, because it is one of her formulae. My 

 opinions as to the evil tendency, yea, and origin of " dissent" 

 are as strong as our worthy friend the Doctor could desire, and 

 yet, strange to say, I cannot see my way clear to forsake the 

 dissenting body among whom I was born. It would be a great 

 saving of trouble if one had happened to be born within the pale 

 of the " Church " (the latter word in Dr. F.'s interpretation), but 

 I still think that our objections to the form of Christianity to 

 which we have been accustomed since childhood, ought to be 

 very definite indeed to warrant us in forsaking the way of our 

 parents. We cannot doubt the genuineness of their religion; 

 the inference is therefore, that though perhaps another way may 

 be better, this is at least good. There are three degrees of 

 comparison, say the grammarians, and while we are within the 

 positive, there is at least safety. A time may come when it 

 will be our duty to join with the " Church ;" but I cannot yet 

 think it is come, although my affections are perhaps more 

 turned towards her than towards any body of dissenters. My 

 reading of George Fox has therefore not deepened me much in 

 Quakerism, and instead of pursuing the subject with Barclay, I 

 have begun at Hooker. I have but just commenced with him ; 

 it is therefore premature to speak ; but the more I consider the 

 subject, the more I regret the loss in the Protestant world of the 

 Catholic idea, that idea of unity, the loss of which has produced 

 the swarm of sects. This loss appears to me to have originated 



