E multiplication of three Gods, a doctrine which some have even boldly avowed and defended.* "I do not pretend," says Waterland,† "that you Unitarians, are Tritheists, in every sense; but I do affirm that you are Tritheists in the same sense that the Pagans are called Polytheists, and in the Scripture sense of the word God, as explained and contended for by yourselves. One Divine person is, with you, equivalent to one God; and two, to two Gods, and three, to three Gods; the case is plain; the consequences unavoidable. For one supreme and two inferior Gods, is your avowed doctrine, and certainly, the asserting three Gods, whether co-ordinate or otherwise, is Tritheism; against the first commandment, and against the whole tenor of Scripture and the principles of the primitive church. It is, to me, an instance of the ill-effects of vain philosophy, and shows how the "disputer of this world" may get the better of the christian; when men appear so much afraid of an imaginary error that in any sense, even in Deity, there can be one nature and three subsistences in that nature, in metaphysics, and to avoid it, run into a real one, alike condemned by Scripture and antiquity." But this theory of two, or three Gods, one supreme and the others created, is not only as has been seen, absurd. It is plainly idolatrous, since divine worship, according to Scripture, can be given to that one divine nature or Godhead, to which appertains all divine perfections, and not to a factitious, fictitious, and finite being. It might be further shown, that the abandonment of the doctrine of the Trinity, has led to the perversion of every attribute of God, as portrayed in Scripture, and that on this account also, the Trinitarian and the Unitarian systems conduct us to an object of worship essentially different and distinct. As Trinitarians interpret Scripture, God is infinite, while Unitarians say he is finite. Our God is omnipresent, theirs limited and confined to a certain place; our God is immutable, theirs is liable to change. Our God is naturally just, theirs contingently so: Our God is governor of the world, taking care, oversight of, and interest in, human affairs; theirs like the Deity of Epicurus, sits at ease in the enjoyment of his own happiness, leaving the world to the conduct of chance, and men to the guidance of that which is equally uncertain, their *See proof in Edwards, as above. tWorks, vol. i., pp. 238, 241, who also gives and writes against the advocates of this opinion. See Note B, at end of this article. own giddy and unstable passions; neither giving them laws for the regulation of their actions, nor assigning any punishment for the violation of his laws. Our God is omniscient, theirs ignorant of future and contingent events. Our God is without parts or passions, theirs compounded of the one, and liable to the other; even to those which argue the greatest weakness and infirmity, and which some even of the philosophers, thought inconsistent with the bravery and resolution of a wise and virtuous man. It will, therefore, appear, we think, very evident, that the object of their worship and ours is different, and this will as clearly prove that the Religions represented by* the Trinitarian and Unitarian systems are also different. But the doctrine of the Trinity affects also the manner of our worship,-whether it shall be through the intercession and merits of a Mediator, and by the guidance and assistance of a Holy Spirit helping our infirmities, or, directly and in our own name, whether we shall approach God, looking for acceptance through the work and righteousness of a vicarious and Divine Redeemer, and a Divine Sanctifier, or through works of repentance, prayer and praise, which our own hands and hearts have wrought. This doctrine affects therefore, every duty comprised in our obedience to God, and every hope of finding salvation at the hands of a God infinitely holy to condemn sin, infinitely just to punish it, and who will render to every man according to the deeds done in the body, whether they have been good or evil. It comes home therefore, to "the business and bosom" of every man, and affects every inquiry pertaining to his everlasing welfare. The triune God in covenant for man's salvation is the basis and the only foundation laid in Zion for the restoration and re-union of fallen man with his offended God. And it is only through Christ any man can "have access by one Spirit unto the Father." The whole scheme of revelation centers on the interposition of Christ for the salvation of men. The law was but the preparation for the Gospel, "the school-master to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith." The ceremonies and sacrifices of the law were typical of, and superseded by, the sacrifice of Christ, and the more spiritual and exalted system of christian faith and christian perfection. "The spirit *See Edwards on Socinianism, pp. 68, 69. See also, proof to the same effect in Smith's Testimony to the Messiah, vol. i., pp. 140-146, given as Note B. of prophecy was to bear testimony to Jesus." "God," says St. Paul, "who, at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in times past unto the fathers by his prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also, he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." The whole efficacy of redemption is also, ascribed to the eternal existence and intercession of the Redeemer: "Christ. says the Apostle, "is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." And again, "Now once in the end of the world, hath he, (even Christ,) appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." "As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and to them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Nor is this the teaching of the Apostle Paul, only; it is the teaching also, of the Apostles.* Now, it is impossible to believe that this efficacy of redemption, and this universal and exclusive power over the salvation of man, should be ascribed to one who was, as many Unitarians teach, a mere man, who had no existence himself before his human birth, and as all Unitarians must believe, has no agency or influence on his followers, subsequent to the hours of his ascension. Neither is it conceivable that by the whole teaching of Scripture, our acceptance with God and salvation from his wrath and curse should be made to depend upon the agency of a being who was himself, a creature like ourselves. No: is only reconcileable with the idea of Christ being not ONLY MAN, BUT GOD; God manifest in the flesh, who, having formed man after his own image, when that image was defaced by sin, came to restore it; who, having created man for happiness and immortality, when that immortality and happiness were forfeited by disobedience, came to rescue the works of his own hands from hopeless misery and eternal death. This only can render such power, and glory, and dominion, as the Scriptures ascribe to Christ, consistent with the dictates of reason and the feelings of piety. This only can account for that great degree of gratitude and *See Acts iv. 9-12; John iv, 14; Jude, 18-21. exultation, of confidence and obedience, which the Scriptures declare are due to the Redeemer; affections of which it is impossible to conceive any being should be the legitimate object in such a degree and to such an extent, except God himself.§ With what earnestness of affection, and what assurance of his full power to relieve, does Christ encourage the contrite soul; "Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest:" and again, "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost:" And above all, at his last solemn converse with his Apostles, to prepare them for his sufferings, with what confidence does he assure them of their final triumph and their eternal happiness; with what exuberance of affection and mercy does he provide for the salvation of every true believer in every climate and period of the globe?* Thus do we find the Apostles and Evangelists regarding their Lord with gratitude so fervent, submission of the heart so profound, confidence so unbounded, obedience so prompt and universal, as prove they looked up to him as God all-powerful, all-merciful, all-faithful, and all-wise. Can any words express more strongly the Apostle's estimation of the supreme importance of the Redeemer's interposition, his total dependence for salvation upon faith in Christ, and his anxiety that every other human being should look for salvation only to the same source than those contained in the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans? And how triumphantly does he exult in the certain salvation of those who, being sanctified and purfied by such faith, receive all the benefits which result from the redemption Christ has wrought: "What, (he asks,) shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, shall he not with him also, freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." The Apostle's mind, thus filled and exalted, by contemplating the blessings of redemption, and the character of our Redeemer, breaks forth into a strain of gratitude the most John xiv: 1; Matt. xxiii: 9, 10; Matt. xi: 27; Luke xii: 8, 9; Matt. x: 15; Matt. xviii: 6; Matt. xxviii: 18 to 20; Mark xvi: 16; John xi: 25, 26; Luke iv: 18. *John, xiv: 2, 3, also 13, 14; xii: 32; John, xvi: 33; xvii: 20. Philippians, ii: 3 to 11; 2 Corin., viii: 8, 9; Philippians, iii: 7, 8, 9. fervent, and confidence the most joyful and triumphant, that ever glowed within the breast of man.§ With all the Apostles, "Christ is, as it were, all in all." They long to quit the world, and be with Christ. Faith in him is their glory, his example their guide, his word their law, his favour their highest hope, his coming their perpetual theme, his sentence the determination of their eternal destiny. Through him, they look for acceptance of their prayers, justification before God, aid in trials, consolation in sorrow, support in death, acquittal in judgment, and bliss in Heaven, and to him their obedience is most total and unreserved: "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringeth into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."* On a review of all the testimonies of Scripture let me ask, says Dr. Graves, is it conceivable, that the Apostles could have thus associated Christ with God, as united with him in being the object of such gratitude, such faith, such hope, such triumph; as being the agent united with God in this great work of redemption; and yet have believed, that this Christ was a mere man, "who had no existence before his human birth," "no influence after his death;" whose sufferings in the cause of truth, and whose labours in diffusing it, have been equalled by so many other men, even by some of the Apostles themselves? No, certainly; nothing could have existed or justified such feelings, if Christ had not been of Divine dignity; his sufferings unparalleled in their condescension and their efficacy, and, in a word, if he had not been the SON OF GOD, who was united with the Eternal Father, as Creator and Lord of the universe, the sole author and giver of everlasting life. On this supposition, all the Apostle's feelings are natural, just, and rational: on any other, they are visionary and extravagant; nay, even impious and idolatrous. On the Socinian scheme, then, it appears, that the last and most perfect part of Divine revelation,-which, in every other view, refines and exalts our ideas of the Divinity; teaches us to worship him in spirit and in truth; trains men to the most pure and perfect virtue, and at once inculcates and exemplifies the most heartfelt and ennobling piety;-would, notwithstanding, discover an opposite tendency in this leading point, the object Rom. viii: 31 to end, and see also, 2 James, i: 7, 8; 1 Peter, i: 7 to 12; 1 Peter iii: 22; 2 Peter iv: 14; 2 Peter i: 1 to 11; iii: 18; 1 John, v; iii: 1 to 6. *Discourse on the Trinity, from which, we have condensed the previous argument. |