First, I had found that the class of Christians with whom I had been joined had exploded the old Creeds in favour of another of their own, which was never given me upon authority, and yet was constantly slipping out, in the words, Jesus is Jehovah.  It appeared to me certain that this would have been denounced as the Sabellian heresy by Athanasias and his contemporaries.  I did not wish to run down Sabellians, much less to excommunicate them, if they would give me equality; but I felt it intensely unjust when my adherence to the Nicene Creed was my real offence, that I should be treated as setting up some novel wickedness against all Christendom, and slandered by vague imputations which reached far and far beyond my power of answering or explaining.  Mysterious aspersions were made even against my moral[1] character, and were alleged to me as additional reasons for refusing communion with me; and when I demanded a tribunal, and that my accuser would meet me face to face, all inquiry was refused, on the plea that it was needless and undesirable.  I had much reason to believe that a very small number of persons had constituted themselves my judges, and used against me all the airs of the Universal Church; the many lending themselves easily to swell the cry of heresy, when they have little personal acquaintance with the party attacked.  Moreover, when I was being condemned as in error, I in vain asked to be told what was the truth.  “I accept the Scripture:  that is not enough.  I accept the Nicene Creed:  that is not enough.  Give me then your formula:  where, what is it?” But no! those who thought it their duty to condemn me, disclaimed the pretensions of “making a Creed” when I asked for one.  They reprobated my interpretation of Scripture as against that of the whole Church, but would not undertake to expound that of the Church.  I felt convinced, that they could not have agreed themselves as to what was right:  all that they could agree upon was, that I was wrong.  Could I have borne to recriminate, I believed that I could have forced one of them to condemn another; but, oh! was divine truth sent us for discord and for condemnation?  I sickened at the idea of a Church Tribunal, where none has any authority to judge, and yet to my extreme embarrassment I saw that no Church can safely dispense with judicial forms and other worldly apparatus for defending the reputation of individuals.  At least, none of the national and less spiritual institutions would have been so very unequitable towards me.

This idea enlarged itself into another,—­that spirituality is no adequate security for sound moral discernment.  These alienated friends did not know they were acting unjustly, cruelly, crookedly, or they would have hated themselves for it:  they thought they were doing God service.  The fervour of their love towards him was probably greater than mine; yet this did not make them superior to prejudice, or sharpen their logical faculties to see that they