SECT. IV.PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE DECLARING GOD TO BE ONE PERSON OR BEING, EXCLUSIVE OF, AND IN OPPOSITION TO HEATHEN DEITIES.

1. Exod. xx. 2, 3. Deut. v. 6, 7: I [am] Jehovah thy God, who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.-See Isa. xliii. 10. 2. Deut. xxxii. 39: See now that I, [even] I, [am] he, and [there is] no god WITH ME: I kill, and I make alive, &c.

...

3. Isa. xliv. 6-8: Thus saith Jehovah, BESIDES ME [there is] no god. ... Is there a god besides me? yea, [there is] no god: I know not [any]-See chap. xlv. 5, 6, 21.

2 Sam. vii. 22, and 1 Chron. xvii. 20.

Deut. iv. 35. 1 Sam. ii. 2.

4. Isa. xlv. 5: I [am] Jehovah, and [there is] NONE ELSE.

See ver. 6, 14, 18, 22; xlvi. 9. Joel ii. 27. Also Deut. iv. 35, 39. 1 Kings viii. 60.

5. Hos. xiii. 4: I [am] Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god BUT ME; for [there is] no saviour besides me.

OBSERVATIONS.

It is exceedingly obvious, we think, that the sentiments contained in the above passages emanated from only one supremely intelligent Mind— that the style is so framed as necessarily to exclude more than one being or person from a participation in the absolute and infinite perfections of Deity. But the Trinitarian replies, that these declarations were made in opposition to the false gods of the heathen. And this we have no hesitation to acknowledge; for, so far as we can learn, neither Jew nor Gentile, at the time these declarations were uttered, knew any thing of the doctrine of the Trinity as now held by the generality of Christians. They had no idea of a God consisting of three persons, each of whom is a God or divine being, but who, at the same time, are not three Godsnot three divine beings. It is reasonable, therefore, to believe, that the declarations of Jehovah, and of his servants the prophets, were not announced with the single aim of evincing God to be one person or being; this truth having been recognised by all who believed in the existence of one Supreme Intelligence. We contend, however, that the language of the Deity, so amply quoted in this and former sections, is that of One Person only; and that the sentiments are equally repugnant to Trinitarianism, as to heathen idolatry. Indeed, we do not conceive, that any language could be invented—that any words could be combined, which would express more concisely, and with greater energy, the Unity of Almighty God, as entertained by the Unitarian Christian. Of this, however, the reader will judge for himself.

SECT. V.-PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE IN WHICH GOD IS REPRESENTED AS SPEAKING OF HIMSELF, AND AS ADDRESSED AND SPOKEN OF, IN LANGUAGE INTIMATING THE STRICTEST UNITY.

(1) God represented as using Verbs and Pronouns in the
Singular Number.

1. Gen. xvii. 1, 2: Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I [am] the Almighty God. Walk before me, and be thou perfect; and I will make my covenant between me and thee, &c.

2. Exod. iii. 14: God said unto Moses, I am that I am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you.

3. Exod. vi. 2, 3: I [am] Jehovah: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by [the name of] God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them.

4. Isa. xxxiii. 10: Now will I rise, saith Jehovah; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.

5. Isa. xlv. 7: I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. I, Jehovah, do all these [things].

6. Jer. xxiii. 23, 24:

God afar off?

[Am] I a God at hand, saith Jehovah, and not a

Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith Jehovah.

7. Matt. iii. 17: And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

(2) God addressed in the Singular Number.

8. 1 Kings viii. 27: Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven, and heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee.

9. 1 Chron. xxix. 10-13: Blessed our father, for ever and ever.

[be] thou, Jehovah God of Israel Thine, O Jehovah, [is] the great

ness and the power; thine [is] the kingdom, O Jehovah,

...

and thou art exalted as head above all, &c.

10. Ps. ix. 2: I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to

thy name, O thou Most High.

11. Ps. xviii. 25: With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright.

12. Ps. cxxxix. 7-14: Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou [art] there; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou [art there]. ... I will praise thee; for I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made. 13. John xvii. 1-26; These words spake Jesus: ... Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh, &c.

C

(3) God spoken of in the Singular Number.

14. Gen. i. 27: God created man in his [own] image: in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

15. Deut. vi. 13: Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

16. Deut. vii. 6: Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people, &c.

17. Jer. x. 10: Jehovah [is] the true God; he [is] the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

18. John iii. 16: God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

19. Heb. xi. 6: He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

20. Rev. xxi. 3: He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God.

OBSERVATIONS.

To these passages might be added such as, in the preceding lists, connect the name of God with verbs and pronouns in the singular number. This catalogue might be increased to an indefinite extent; almost every page of the Sacred Volume being replete with texts of the same kind, and all bearing their testimony to the great truth, that "God is ONE." In opposition, however, to MANY THOUSANDS of this description, and in proof of the Godhead consisting of three persons, the advocates for the doctrine of the Trinity adduce a very few instances (Gen. i. 26; iii. 22; xi. 7. Isa. vi. 8), in which God is represented as speaking in the plural number. These will be afterwards explained, and shown to be in perfect consistency with the general tenor of the Bible. We shall only remark here, that there is not in the Sacred Records, a single example of the Deity being addressed in the plural number.

The doctrine, that God is One-one person-one mind-one intelligent agent, is so clearly revealed in the portions of Scripture which we have cited in these Sections, that it seems impossible for human language to convey this fundamental principle of Unitarianism in characters more resplendent with light. Without the conviction of the extensive influence of early prejudices over the best-regulated understandings, it might well be deemed astonishing that any man could peruse these sublime passages without having a strong persuasion that the notion of a Triune God is the invention of speculative and erring men, unsatisfied with the noble simplicity of the Bible.

SECT. VI. PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE PROVING THAT ONE DIVINE PERSON OR BEING, NAMED JEHOVAH-GOD-THE FATHER OF CHRIST—WAS THE SOLE AGENT IN THE CREATION, AND IS ALONE EMPLOYED IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNIVERSE.

1. Gen. i. throughout: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, &c.-See chap. ii. 1-4; v. 1, 2; vi. 6, 7.

2. Exod. xx. 11: For [in] six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], &c.-See chap. xxxi. 17.

3. Deut. x. 14: Behold, the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, [is] Jehovah's thy God, the earth [also], with all that therein [is]— See Gen. xiv. 19, 22. Exod. ix. 29; xix. 5.

4. 2 Kings xix. 15: And Hezekiah prayed before Jehovah, and said, O Jehovah God of Israel, who dwellest [between] the cherubim, thou art the God, [even] thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. Par. Pas. Isa. xxxvii. 15, 16. -See 1 Chron. xvi. 26. 2 Chron. ii. 12.

5. Neh. ix. 6: Thou, [even] thou, [art] Jehovah alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all [things] that [are] therein, the seas, and all that [is] therein, and thou preservest them all.

...

...

...

6. Job ix. 29: God who removeth the mountains, who shaketh the earth out of her place; ... who commandeth the sun, and sealeth up the stars; who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea; who maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. See chap. xxvi. 7—14; xxxviii. 4—41.

7. Ps. viii. 3-8: When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what [is] man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all [things] under his feet, &c.

8. Ps. xxxiii. 69: By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap; he layeth up the depth in storehouses. ... He spake, and it was [done]; he commanded, and it stood fast.

9. Ps. xc. 2: Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou [art] God-See Ps. xix. 1; xxiv. 1, 2; 1. 10—12; lxxxix. 11; xcv. 5; xcvi. 5; civ.; cxv. 15, 16; cxxi. 2; cxxiv. 8; cxxxiv. 3; cxxxvi. 5-9; cxlvi. 6; cxlvii. 8-18; cxlviii. 3—6.

.

10. Prov. iii. 19: Jehovah by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. See chap. viii. 22-30. 11. Prov. xxii. 2: The rich and poor meet together: Jehovah [is] the Maker of them all. See Job xxxi. 15.

12. Isa. xl. 12-29: Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? [It is] he that sitteth upon

the circle of the earth; ... that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, &c.

13. Isa. xliv. 24: Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and he that formed

thee from the womb, I [am] Jehovah that maketh all [things];

that stretcheth out the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.

14. Isa. xlv. 12-18: I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, [even] my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. ... Thus saith Jehovah, that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth, and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, &c.

15. Isa. xlviii. 13: Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: [when] I call unto them, they stand up together.-See chap. xlii. 5; li. 13. Jer. v. 22. 16. Jer. x. 12, 13: He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion, &c.-Par. Pas. chap. li. 15, 16.

17. Jer. xxvii. 5: I have made the earth, the man and the beast that

[are] upon the ground, by my great power, and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me.-See chap. xxxii. 17. Dan. iv. 17, 25, 32, 34, 35.

18. Amos iv. 13: He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what [is] his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, Jehovah, the God of hosts, [is] his name. See chap. v. 8; ix. 6. 19. Matt. v. 45: Your Father who is in heaven maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

20. Matt. vi. 26-30: Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? ... If God so clothe the grass of the field, &c.-Par. Pas. Luke xii. 24-28. 21. Matt. x. 29-31: Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.-Par. Pas. Luke xii. 6.