To this I found the whole Gospel of John to bear witness; and with this conviction, the truth and honour of the Athanasian Creed fell to the ground.

One of its main tenets was proved false; and yet it dared to utter anathemas on all who rejected it! I afterwards remembered my old thought, that we must surely understand _our own words_, when we venture to speak at all about divine mysteries.

Having gained boldness to gaze steadily on the topic, I at length saw that the compiler of the Athanasian Creed did _not_ understand his own words.

If any one speaks of _three men_, all that he means is, "three objects of thought, of whom each separately may be called Man." So also, all that could possibly be meant by _three gods_, is, "three objects of thought, of whom each separately may be called God." To avow the last statement, as the Creed does, and yet repudiate Three Gods, is to object to the phrase, yet confess to the only meaning which the phrase can convey.

Thus the Creed really teaches polytheism, but saves orthodoxy by forbidding any one to call it by its true name.