dictate from him, who is the subject of thought, when the very proposition is named, that there is and can be, only one God, the Creator and Preserver of the Universe? On this part of the subject, the Lecturer was successful."

and

2d, We mutually agree that this Great Being is not divided into three persons. And he well observed, "that these latter (Trinitarian Dissenters) had separated from the established church, more on account of some non-essential point of discipline, than from any conviction of the fundamental errors, that vitiate all her forms and all her ceremonies, and which, like a deadly plague let loose in the church, characterize the whole system as a medley of tritheistical and consequently of idolatrous worship.”

gross

Speaking of the Athanasian Creed, Mr. Hindmarsh adds, "Sooner or later it must die either a violent or a natural death. Candour and humanity pray, that it may be the latter rather than the former. the mean time let it rest, until the age arrive, which is fast approaching, when in obedience to the voice of reason and

In

revelation united, its sound shall cease to be any longer heard." (Mr. Hindmarsh, p. 12 and 13.)

You will here notice the honourable post assigned to reason.

Now, if to the term person, when applied to the Deity, be annexed the same idea, as when it is applied to man, I contend that the doctrine of three perons, or of a Trinity of persons, in the Unity of the Godhead, has no ground whatsoever to stand upon in the sacred scriptures, at the same time that it is utterly repugnant to the common sense and reason of mankind, and besides has a dangerous tendency to introduce into the minds of men, a dreadful confusion and perplexity of idea, respecting the proper object of their worship and adoration." (Mr. Clowes, p. 60.)

Thus far we are agreed; and you will observe that Mr. Clowes, as well as Swedenborg and Mr. Hindmarsh, appeals to reason and common sense.

3d, We agree that the Holy Spirit is not a person, but means only, the influence, energy, or operation of the Deity; or the effects of that energy.

“And again, that which in man is called his proceeding operation, giving him an influence, and, as it were, a presence, with others out of himself, is in God called the Holy Spirit, in like manner producing or effecting an heavenly influence upon, and a divine omnipresence with, all such as are truly receptive of life from him." (Mr. Hindmarsh, p. 26.)

"And the Holy Ghost, his divine energy or operation, agreeably to what I have more fully proved in a Sermon lately published." (Mr. Clowes, p. 62.)

4th, We agree that Jesus Christ was at first a mere man.

"For it is granted, that Jesus Christ was a man, and such a man too as the Unitarians describe, in regard to weakness, suffering, and dependence on Divine aid." (Mr. Clowes, p. 56.)

5th, We agree that no satisfaction was made to the justice of God, by the death of an infinite Being to appease his wrath.

"For the same reason I cannot conceive the atonement or satisfaction to consist in what is commonly called the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus Christ, or his

shedding his blood to satisfy and appease the Divine wrath or justice; but I rather conceive it to consist in his having done all that was necessary, and even all that was possible to be done, in order to effect the reconciliation between God and man." (Mr. Clowes, p. 63.)

Agreed. But does it not strike you, as it does me, that throughout this paragraph, God and Jesus Christ are represented as two distinct beings?

In these five points, the New Jerusalem church and the Unitarian church coincide. None of these five points are admitted by Trinitarians. Christian brethren! is not this a bond of union which should exclude all rancour and malice, and evil speaking, and enclose us in one circle of friendship and of love?

II. I come now, in conformity with the proposed arrangement, to consider the points on which we differ. I shall not dwell long upon these differences, as the principal passages upon which you found your peculiar opinions, from the Old Testament, will come under review, as most of those from the New are considered in

some part of these Lectures, and as the questions and observations which close this Supplement will have a reference to these points of difference.

1st, You profess a belief in a certain species of Trinity, which I think you call a Trinity of Essentials.

Mr. Clowes states this Trinity to consist in “the Father being his hidden unmanifested essence, the Son his visible or manifested existence, and the Holy Ghost his divine energy or operation." P. 62.

Mr. Hindmarsh enlarges more copiously upon the subject.

"Every individual man consist of three distinct essentials, which altogether constitute a perfect unity of person, and without any one of which man could not be truly said to be a living man. These essentials are no other than his invisible soul, his visible body, and his proceeding spirit of life and operation; and although these three may be distinctly conceived or considered by the understanding, yet they cannot actually be separated the one from the other, without the consequence of death. Under this general idea of a Tri