Page images
PDF
EPUB

son of Joseph as well as of Mary. With the Socinians, however, they unite in considering the Holy Spirit to signify, in the Bible, either the Father himself, or his power, wisdom, inspiration, gifts, &c.

The Proper Unitarians are sometimes named Socinians, but with the utmost impropriety. Socinus and his Polish brethren, with the old English Unitarians, were professed worshippers of Jesus Christ; but the believers in his simple humanity now earnestly contend that the God and Father of all is the only proper object of religious adoration. To class this sect, therefore, with those who pay divine homage to the Saviour, while they consider him, in respect to nature, as only a human being, seems to indicate either ignorance of the real import of the word Socinian, or a determination to misapply a name, which, however honourable to those whom it originally designated, is well known to be universally disclaimed by the "true worshippers of the Father." Perhaps, however, the misapplication of this term may have arisen, on the part of the orthodox, from a misconception of the word Unitarian, which some of them conceive to denote a believer in one God, and to which they consider that their opponents have no exclusive right; whereas, in fact, this name is applied, by the Antitrinitarians themselves, merely to point out a belief in the doctrine of God's strict personal Unity, in contradistinction to a belief in that of a Trinity of persons subsisting in the one God. But what is particularly worthy of remark-the appellation Unitarian, thus unreasonably denied to the Humanitarians by several supporters of the popular belief, has been often used by others, still more unreasonably, as implying something very horrid and impious. And why? Because the principles of those whom it designates are imperfectly understood; and because it has been associated, by not a few of the dogmatic clergy, with blasphemy, infidelity, and atheism. Hence, many pious, but weak-minded individuals, who wish to be considered orthodox, but who are favourable to the great principle of Christianity-the Supremacy of the Father, shudder almost instinctively when denominated Unitarians. It is pleasing, however, to observe, that this feeling of repugnance to a name seems to be on the decline; and that liberal men of all sects are unwilling to use with opprobrium an appellation which has served to distinguish the theological opinions entertained by some of the best and wisest of our race.

From the preceding remarks, it follows that the designation UNITARIAN is properly used to signify all who maintain God to be one person onlyincluding Arians, Socinians, and Humanitarians; and in this extended sense it will be employed in the following work.

Thus have we given a brief, but, we trust, a correct account of the leading tenets of the Christian world, respecting God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. But that the reader may form a judgment for himself, we subjoin a Table, showing at one view the principal forms of belief which characterize the profession of Christianity.

I-OF GOD.

TRINITARIAN DOCTRINE.

There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.-Westminster Shorter Catechism.

ATHANASIAN.

The Catholic Faith is this: That we wor. ship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. .The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal; and yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God; and yet they are not three Gods, but one God.

....

....

The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not threa Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is afore or after other, none is greater or less than another; but the whole three persons are co-eternal together and co-equal.-Athanasian Creed (so called). Those who hold the Catholic system of the Trinity endeavour to maintain the unity of God. They do not believe in three unoriginated beings, co-ordinate, and independent. But they believe in three persons, from the first of whom the second and third did, from all eternity, derive the nature and perfections of the Godhead; and upon this communication of the substance of the Father to the Son, and the substance of the Father and the Son to the Holy Ghost, they ground that gradual subordination, which, with an entire sameness. of nature, constitute the most perfect consent and co-operation of the three persons.-Hill.

SABELLIAN.

A divine person is only a mode, a respect, or relation of God to his creatures. He beareth to his creatures these three relations, modes, or respects; that he is their Creator, their Redeemer, and their Sanctifier. This is what we mean, and all we mean, when we say God is three persons.-Wallis, as quoted from several authors.

TRITHEISTIC.

It is plain the persons are perfectly distinct, A person is an intelligent being; and to say there are three divine persons, and not three distinct, infinite minds, is both heresy and nonsense.-Sherlock, as in several authors.

UNITARIAN DOCTRINE. Jehovah, our God, is one Jehovah.-Moses and Christ.

To us there is but one Gol, the Father.St. Paul.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.--Apostles' Creed (80 called).

There is one Supreme Cause and Original of things; one simple, uncompounded, undivided, intelligent agent, or person; who is the Author of all being, and the Fountain of all power. The Father alone is, in the highest, strict, and proper sense, absolutely supreme over all.-Samuel Clarke.

...

....

We believe in the doctrine of God's Unity; that there is one being, one mind, one person, one intelligent agent, and one only, to whom underived and infinite perfection and dominion belong.-Channing.

The Unitarian Creed is this: That there is one only living and true God-one in the strict and absolute sense of unity-a spirit, simple, uncompounded, indivisible, without parallel or equal.-Drummond.

We believe that the Supreme Being is one God in one person only; one in substance, one in essence the God and Father of all men; the God and Father of Jesus Christ; the only proper object of religious adoration.-Harris.

The Unitarian Christian, in contradistinction to all the complex systems of human invention, maintains that the all-glorions God of the universe is simply and absolutely one; that there is no God-in the proper sense of the term with him, nor like him, nor equal to him; and consequently that he alone is the true God; that he alone is the great object of all religious adoration.-Gifford.

The Trinitarians universally believe, not only that there is one God, but that God is one; that Jehovah, the Creator of heaven and earth, and all things therein, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is one in substance, indivisible, in being undivided and independ ent, in power unequalled, in glory unrivalled, supremely great and infinitely wise, all holy, all just, and all gracious, "the blessed and only Potentate," "the King eternal, immortal, and invisible,”-in short, "the only true God." This all-perfect Being, the Father of mercies, and of all consolation, whose essential character is Love, they believe to be the SOLE original source of every good and perfect gift; His grace and mercy, the spring from the Gospel; His unerring wisdom, and of all the inestimable blessings we derive constant agency, the cause of all the means by which the gracious scheme of salvation through Christ was executed and permanently diffused. This great and gracious Being they believe to be the only proper object of religions worship; the Being to whom alone are due the supreme gratitude and adoration of the heart and of the life.-Carpenter.

[ocr errors]

II OF CHRIST.

TRINITARIAN DOCTRINE. The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, for ever.-Westminster Shorter Catechism.

The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that two whole and perfect natures-that is to say, the Godhead and manhood-were joined together in one person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very man; who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his Father to us.-Thirty-nine Articles of Religion.

Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching his manhood.-Athanasian Creed.

ANTI-ATHANASIAN.

With all due respect for those who differ from me, the doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Christ is, in my opinion, anti-scriptural and highly dangerous.-Adam Clarke.

INDWELLING SCHEME.

God is so united to the derived nature of Christ, and does so dwell in it, that, by virtue of that union, Christ may be properly called God, and such regards become due to him as are not due to any created nature, be it in itself ever so excellent.-Doddridge.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

III. OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

TRINITARIAN DOCTRINE.

The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory, with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God.-Thirty-nine Ar. ticles of Religion.

The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost, eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son. Westminster Confession of Faith.

ANTI-ATHANASIAN.

While I am thus firmly convinced, that the Scriptures are incapable of any fair and consistent explanation, without the admission of the doctrine of the Trinity, I entertain strong doubts about the correctness of the notion, commonly received, of what is called the eternal procession of the Son from the Father, and of the Spirit from the Father and the Son, in the essence of Deity. This, I have long been disposed to think, is entering into the mode of the Divine subsistence, farther than the Scriptures authorize us to do.-Wardlaw.

UNITARIAN DOCTRINE.

In the New Testament, the prevailing sense of the phrase Spirit, is communication of light and power from on high. Like the Spirit of God, it is sometimes, simply, God himself. It seems, both in the Old and New Testament, to be used very largely to signify any testimony of the favour, friendship, patronage, and presence of God.--Cappe

ARIAN.

The Holy Spirit is not self-existent, but derives his being from the Father (by the Son) as from the Supreme Cause. The Scripture, speaking of the Spirit of God, never mentions any limitation of time when he derived his being from the Father, but supposes him to have existed with the Father from the beginning.-Samuel Clarke.

The Holy Spirit seems to be described by our Lord, as a separate being, distinct from the Father; as a person sent by Christ after his ascension, and not having been with them before; not speaking of himself, but only what he heard, and receiving powers that be longed to Jesus, and were derived through him from the Almighty.-Dr. Bruce.

The impracticability of exhibiting in a Table all the modifications of the doctrine of the Trinity which have obtained among Christian sects, will, we think, be a sufficient apology for not extending its bounds. As Unitarians have, almost universally, no recognised standard of belief except the Bible, their opinions are, in the preceding pages, represented either in the language of individual authors, or in the very words of Scripture. But, as Trinitarians have in general written creeds to which they appeal for the acknowledged tests of their faith, and as the doctrine of the Trinity, and of the two natures of Christ, is respectively declared in no one passage* of the Sacred Volume,—it has been deemed necessary to give their views of these subjects from the formularies of reputed orthodoxy;† although, to exhibit a few of the discrepancies of opinion existing amongst individuals, several quotations are also made from some of those who have been held in the highest esteem.

Having shown the distinguishing tenets of the principal classes of Christians, we shall proceed to lay before the examiner the Scripture testimony to the strict Unity of God-the unrivalled Supremacy of the Father; to the inferiority and unqualified subordination of Jesus Christ; and to the impersonality of the holy spirit, considered as distinct from God, the Father, himself.

*We say, in no one passage, not that we consider these doctrines as fairly deducible from a combination of passages, but because there is not one of all those portions of Scripture generally cited in support of the Trinitarian's belief that would of itself convey to the mind of an unprejudiced reader the notion of a Triune God, or of a God-man. Let the correctness or incorrectness of this sentiment be freely examined, and we have no fear of the result.

+ As it does not come within the plan prescribed for this work to show the unreasonableness or absurdity of the doctrine of the Trinity, the diligent inquirer may be requested merely to peruse with attention the whole of that celebrated formula, commonly attributed to St. Athanasius, and to examine whether the doctrines which it contains, as well as its damnatory clauses, are not at total war with the principles of reason, and the dictates of common sense. Indeed, so palpable and numerous are its absurdities, that were it not acknowledged to contain the belief of the great majority of professing Christians, it might with appearance of justice be considered as the production of an enemy to the opinions which it inculcates. Were it possible to prove, that three persons, each of whom is uncreated, incomprehensible, eternal, and almighty, are only one uucreated, incomprehensible, eternal, and almighty being-that three intelligent agents, each of whom separately is God, are not three Gods, but only one God-that the Godhead of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost is the same, and yet that they are essentially dissimilar; the Son alone being begotten of the Father, and the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son; that is, the Son and the Holy Ghost are coeval with him from whom they derived their existence:-we say, were it possible to prove such monstrous absurdities, there would be no doctrine, however revolting to reason, which might not be entertained by the human mind; and it might be admitted as an established principle, that we ought to believe because it is impossible. Well might Bishop Hurd acknowledge, that the Trinity is a doctrine at which "Reason stands aghast, and Faith herself is half confounded." Well might the excellent Tillotson, notwithstanding the manifold contradictions in his own belief, be shocked at the irreverent and irrational details of the Athanasian Creed, and wish that the Church 66 were well rid" of it.

PART FIRST.

SCRIPTURE EVIDENCE FOR UNITARIANISM.

CHAPTER I.-OF GOD.

SECT. I. PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE DECLARATORY OF THE STRICT, UNDIVIDED UNITY OF GOD.

(1) God styled One.

1. Deut. vi. 4: Hear, O Israel! Jehovah, our God, [is] ONE Jehovah.

[blocks in formation]

2. Job xxxi. 15: Did not He that made me in the womb make him? and

Idid not ONE fashion us in the womb?

Did he not fashion us in one womb?

Hath not hee alone fashioned us in the wombe?

Did not One form us in the womb?

Annon. et confovit nos in utero Unus?

Marg. Trans.
Bible 1614.
Wellbeloved.

Schultens.

3. Zech. xiv. 9: Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be ONE JEHOVAH, and HIS NAME ONE.

4. Mal. ii. 10: Have we not all ONE FATHER? Hath not ONE GOD created us?

5. Matt. xxiii. 9: And call no [man] your father upon the earth; for ONE is your FATHER, who is in heaven.

[ocr errors]

6. Mark x. 18: Jesus said unto him, [There is] none [that is] God.-Parallel Passages: Matt. xix. 17.

No one good but (or, only) the one God

God alone is good

Non est bonus nisi unus Deus-None is good but the one God.
Nemo est perfectus, nisi solus Deus-No one is perfect, except the only God

good but ONE,
Luke xviii. 19.

Hopton Haynes.
Campbell.
Tremellius.

.... Schleusner.

* This version is offered by a few learned Trinitarians, avowed believers in one God. But, whatever may be the object for which it is proposed, such a translation cannot be admitted on the authority of any man. The sentiment which it expresses happily involves its own refutation; and is manifestly opposed to the whole scope and design of revelation, which, in ten thousand places, loudly proclaims the existence of ONLY ONE SUPREME GOD. The plural forms of some of the names of Deity, which occur so frequently in the Hebrew Bible, will be noticed in Chap. I. Sect. II. of the Second Part of this Work,

« PreviousContinue »