respect to God, he is a subordinate, dependent Being. But though they deem him to be thus subordinate and dependent, yet they do not consider, that this can in the slightest degree affect the value of that revelation, which he came to bring to us.

It is of the utmost consequence to us to know surely, that our blessed Saviour came from God; that he was God's messenger, and that those revelations, which he made to us, concerning the paternal character of God, our future state of existence, and the means of arriving at a never-ending state of felicity, are revelations sent to us by our Heavenly Father, and this we all believe most firmly.

We believe it, not only on account of the voice from Heaven which at the River and on the Mount declared the Lord Jesus to be God's well beloved Son; not only on account of the wondrous works which he wrought, and which no one could have wrought unless God were with him: but on account of that seal, which his Almighty Father stamped on his mission, in that, when laid in the grave, he raised him from the dead. Now this, it is all-important for us to be assured of, and this we all believe as firmly as if a voice from Heaven had spoken audibly to each one of us.

But

if we believe this, it is then surely of no importance to us what rank this Divine Messenger occupies in the dominions of the Almighty, as this can neither add to, nor detract from, the importance of his mission.

Concerning the Holy Spirit, Unitarians believe that it is not a Person distinct from the Father, but his spirit, his power and energy, and that in most places in the New Testament where we meet with this word, we must understand by it those miraculous powers, which were imparted to Christ without measure, and to his disciples and the early Christians, in lesser degrees.

2

LET us now pass to the consideration of what Trinitarians believe with respect to God, and here we shall meet with differences of sentiment really essential. It is true that nearly all (A) Trinitarians profess to believe, that in the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, all of the same substance, equal in Eternity, Power and Glory; each of whom is God, and as such the object of our religious homage; but when we inquire a little more closely, we find that under this phraseology, opinions are held not only extremely discordant, but even totally irreconcilable. It is not our purpose to enter into a detail of all the wire-drawn distinctions which have been attempted on this subject. We believe that the whole body of Trinitarians can be intelligibly divided into two great classes, viz. those who give to the term person its proper, legitimate meaning, and those who do not.

Ac

THE first class, which includes the great body of Trinitarians, and even some men eminent for their learning, use the term person in its commonly received acceptation, and connect with it ideas of distinct consciousness and volition. cording to them, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are three Almighty Divine Minds, as perfectly distinct the one from the other as three different men. This was the opinion held, with respect to this dogma, by Dr. Sherlock; this we believe is the mode in which it is held by the bulk of the unlearned, and when presented thus to the mind, this dogma is sufficiently intelligible. But then

(A) THERE are some Trinitarians who reject the word Person, and who would substitute for it that of three differences, three distinctions, three somethings, or some other term which presents no idea to the mind. If we are not mistaken, these are persons who cannot reconcile their minds to the doctrine of the Trinity in any shape in which it is presented to them, and yet who cling fondly to a name, which they have been taught to venerate.

too, if human language has any meaning, this is perfect Tritheism, or the worship of three Gods, for every distinct Divine Mind, must necessarily be a distinct God, and so too the Trinitarian catechisms and creeds represent them to be, calling them severally, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. There too, different spheres of action are assigned to those three Persons, both as to the government of the universe, and the redemption of man. They are represented as entering into covenants or contracts with each other, as fulfilling the conditions of these contracts, and in every respect, as acting as perfectly independently the one of the other, as three different men. It is true, that Trinitarians generally say, that these three persons constitute only one Being or one God, but this is evidently only a forced attempt to reconcile this dogma with the plain teachings of the Bible, for unless in this case they give to the terms BEING and GOD a collective meaning, such as we do to the terms Congress and Senate, it is clear, that they assert what involves a palpable contradiction, viz. that three Beings are ONE and THREE, 'in the very same sense of those terms.

THE second class of Trinitarians hold, that the term PERSONS, when used of the Deity, is not expressive of personal distinctness, according to its common acceptation, but is merely used to denote an official or modal distinction, expressive of the different relations which the Deity bears towards his Creatures. Thus they say, as the Father he is our Creator, as the Son he is our Redeemer, and as the Holy Ghost he is our Sanctifier. All this, however, is nothing but a palpable darkening of counsel by words, and those who hold this opinion, are clearly Unitarians, with a Trinitari

an name.

WE have thus laid before our readers these two

different expositions of the doctrine of the Trinity. In the first the Trinity is plainly set forth, but the Divine Unity is entirely lost sight of. In the second the Unity is preserved, but the Trinity is abandoned, and reduced to a mere empty name. And now we would ask the reader, and especially the Trinitarian reader to pause; to reflect, whether either of the above expositions of the Trinity be such as his mind can give its assent to, and if not, whether he can devise any other explanation of this doctrine, which does not necessarily fall under one or the other of the above subdivisions.

THERE is a party among the Trinitarians, who declare the doctrine of the Trinity to be a profound inexplicable Mystery;. a thing which the human mind can not comprehend, and concerning which it cannot form any ideas to itself. This party is, we suspect, chiefly composed of persons who having found any scheme of Trinity which they could frame, totally indefensible against the objections which are brought against it, and yet being unwilling to give up a favorite dogma, have taken shelter here as in an impregnable fortress, without perceiving, that in so doing, they destroy this dogma altogether, and reduce it to an empty name. It is impossible, say they triumphantly, to prove the doctrine of the Trinity to be either false or contradictory, because to do so, it would be necessary to understand what is meant by that term; but as this is a dogma which presents no distinct idea to the mind, it is impossible to reason with respect to it, or to disprove it by evidence. This we cheerfully admit, but at the same time it follows, that, if this doctrine cannot be disproved, because it is one that presents no distinct idea to the mind; for the very same reason it cannot be proved to be true; and further, that on this very account it is totally impossible to believe in it.

As this point is important, we beg leave to examine it with care. It will not be pretended that the doctrine of the Trinity is one of those self-evident truths, which require merely to be stated, to be universally admitted. Neither will it be contended, we hope, that this doctrine is any where expressly taught in Scripture. By this we mean, that it is no where stated there that there is a Trinity, or that there are three persons in the Godhead. If the doctrine of the Trinity be therefore taught in the sacred volume, it must be, that we meet there with passages, from which this doctrine can be inferred. But to draw inferences is to reason; and never can we, by reasoning from one known truth, to another which necessarily results from it, arrive at a proposition, concerning which the mind can form no ideas to itself; and hence, inferences drawn from what we find stated in the Scriptures, can never lead to the establishment of a dogma totally incomprehensible.

AGAIN, we are told that because this dogma is totally incomprehensible, that therefore it cannot be proved to be false. But because evidence cannot be applied to it to prove it false, it follows, also, that evidence cannot be applied to it to prove it to be true, and hence, that the doctrine of the Trinity, as stated here, can never be established by evidence drawn from the word of God.

FINALLY, if the doctrine of the Trinity be an incomprehensible Mystery, concerning which the human mind can form no idea to itself, it is imposible to believe in it. A moment's reflection will convince the reader of this impossibility, and in general, of the impossibility of believing any thing further than the mind can form ideas to itself. We repeat to a man the word Abracadabra, and tell him that he must believe in it, and he will answer, that it is. not possible for him to do so, as