======================================================================== THE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY by M.W. Alford ======================================================================== Alford's exposition and defense of the biblical doctrine of the Trinity, examining the scriptural evidence for the co-equal deity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three distinct persons within one Godhead. Chapters: 22 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 00 - THE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY 2. 00.1 - Preface 3. 00.2 - Content 4. 01 - Chapter 1 5. 02 - Chapter 2 6. 03 - Chapter 3 7. 04 - Chapter 4 8. 05 - Chapter 5 9. 06 - Chapter 6 10. 07 - Chapter 7 11. 08 - Chapter 8 12. 09 - Chapter 9 13. 10 - Chapter 10 14. 11 - Chapter 11 15. 12 - Chapter 12 16. 13 - Chapter 13 17. 14 - Chapter 14 18. 15 - Chapter 15 19. 16 - Chapter 16 20. 17 - Chapter 17 21. 18 - Questions on the Character of Christ 22. 19 - Conclusion ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 00 - THE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY ======================================================================== THE MANUAL THE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY, INVESTIGATED AND DEFENDED. BY M. W. ALFORD. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. Paul. DOVER,N. H. PUBLISHED BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE FREEWILL BAPTIST CONNECTION. William Burr, Printer. 1842 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, by WM. BUBH, Agent of "the Trustees of the F. W. B. Connection," in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of New Hampshire, ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: 00.1 - PREFACE ======================================================================== Few subjects have been more fully or ably discussed than the one examined in the following pages. Still the Writer feels warranted in calling the attention , of the public to it again, from various considerations. White truth is forever the same, and immutable, error is Ver assuming hew and specious forms. It therefore becomes necessary, frequently, to trace it in its tergiversations, and expose its insidious devices in order to protect community from imposition. The error we here oppose, is as changeable in its aspect as the chameleon. Arianism, Socinianism, Unitarianism, Rationalism, and Neol-ogy, are the leading titles, under which it has presented itself to the world. But it has not always been honest enough to sail under its own colors; but has frequently Sought to make even the sacred name of Christ sanction its abominations* Under the garb of piety, it has insinuated itself into the church, and led astray some of the sincere followers of the Savior. We would especially beseech such to investigate this subject diligently, and see that the doctrines of men are not received as the teachings of the Holy Spirit. Let such beware how they countenance a doctrine that strikes at the vitals of Christianity, If, as the writer believes, the error in question is one of the most pernicious errors ever devised, then it is the duty of every one to be thoroughly informed respecting it. Having been called to the examination of this subject, both in public and privatfy atid ttt witness the various measures it adopts for its propagation, the author has thought proper to present, briefly, the result of his investigations to the public, in the following pages. And if this little work shall be instrumental of leading any out of error into truth, or of making the truth appear more precious to those who have already embraced it, his object will be accomplished. All he would ask of the reader in relation to this ’production, is, a careful and impartial examination ; _ believing assuredly that truth will ultimately prevail, which is his constant prayer. M.W.A. Byron, N. V. May* 1842. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: 00.2 - CONTENT ======================================================================== CONTENTS, PREFACE, ..... CHAPTER I. Evidences of the real humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. His body was human He had a human soul, CHAPTER II. Evidences that the Lord Jeans possessed a divine nature, and was in that nature as truly God as he was man in his human nature, . ... . . . CHAPTER III. A brief view of the worship which is addressed to our Lord Jesus Christ, and which acknowledges him to be God, . . . . ... . CHAPTER IV. The Omniscience of our Lord Jesus Christ, CHAPTER V. The wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the wisdom of Jehovah ; therefore, in this respect, he is God, CHAPTER VI. The Omnipresence of our Lord Jesus Christ, CHAPTER VII. The Immutability of our Lord Jesus Christ, CHAPTER VIII. The Omnipotence of our Lord Jesus Christ, CHAPTER IX. The equality of our Lord Jesus Christ with God the Father, . CHAPTER X. Jesus Christ, in his divine nature, is God, . CHAPTER -XI. There is a Plurality of Persons in the Godhead, . . . . . . CHAPTER XII. The Number of Persons in the Godhead are Three, CHAPTER XIII. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are one God. ... . . CHAPTER XIV. Consequences of the doctrine which teaches that Jesus Christ is not truly God, and truly man. . , . CHAPTER XV. The Statements and Doctrine of Unitarians, CHAPTER XVI. Plain Logical Deductions from the Statements of modern Unitarians, . CHAPTER XVII. Some of the most Prominent Objections to the doctrine of the Trinity, considered, . . . . QUESTIONS on the character of Christ, .... CONCLUSION, . . . 116 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: 01 - CHAPTER 1 ======================================================================== THE MANUAL. ___________________________ WHILE contemplating the character of the Infinite, Uncreated, Invisible) Immortal, Incomprehensible, BEING; we are at once filled with feelings of deep solemnity and reverential delight. While we view, is awful majesty his jealousy for his own holiness his utter abhorrence of all sin his dreadful wrath, we can but be solemnly impressed.;, -: But while we consider his love in giving his Son the condescension of the Son in suffering, bleeding, groaning- and dying to redeem us from sin; who, can but feel his heart melt with emotions of tenderness and delight? While we reflect on the vast, consequences involved in the subject before us, we trust that the Holy Spirit will grant us aid to arrive at the truth in all our conclusions. ___________________________ CHAPTER I. Evidences of the real humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. His body was human He had a human soul. IT is an evident fact that Christ our blessed Savior must have possessed two natures, or he did not. He was human, that is, he possessed a human body and soul, or he did not. Now, if Unitarianism be correct when it declares that Christ possessed but one nature, then it follows that that nature must have been a created nature in every sense of the term considered, or it was not. I. Christ our Savior possessed inhuman body. 1. This is evident from the following passage. Php 2:7-8.,”But made himself of no reputetion, and took upon him r the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” .From this, it is quite evident that he who was eternally with the Father look the forinof a man. 2. This form or body was one in all respects man.Hebrews 2:14-17. “ For as much then as thechildren are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God.” If he was not possessed of a human, body and soul, he was not in all things like his brethren. He participated in the same nature with the rest of mankind, and in this respect He was as truly human as were the, children who were also partakers of flesh and blood, for he partook, or took, part of the same nature which they inherently possessed.,. He tells his disciples plainly after his resurrection what his body was. Luke 24:39. “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is 1 myself: handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and {tones as ye see me have.” Here then we have his own words for it, that his body was composed of flesh and bones. It seems to be almost trifling to attempt to prove that that flesh and those bones he mentioned were human! But such is the pertinacity with which many cling to errors, that it is almost indispensable to prove, that our Lord possessed human flesh, bloody and bones. [1] [1] We wish the reader to bear in mind, in the outset, that Unitarians maintain the, idea that Christ possessed bat one nature, and that was all divine. This is the, doctrine of that sect, who call themselves,” The Christian Church,” or we will say, it is the doctrine of the leading ministers’ and’ members of that’ sect. Thus one of their writers has it: “But to believe we do incline, That Jesus Christ was all divine.” The reader will see in perusing this work, that we have cited some of their authors to prove this to be their leading sentiment. How completely this idea accords with one John speaks of, when he says;” Many deceivers are entered into, the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an anti-christ.”2 John 1:7. He who believes in’ a Savior that possesses “ Divine flesh” must entertain strange notions of Divinity. The common acceptation of the term divinity, is, “deity, divine nature,” and we cannot possibly conceive that this nature could suffer and die. As we have stated in another place, so we would say here; angelic nature might have suffered, but could not have ’died. But if Christ possessed but one nature, and that was divine, or angelic, or if it was human, how could he say, “ I have power to lay down my life, and- 1 have power to take it again.” If he possessed but one nature, and that was now dead, and incarcerate in the tomb, had it power of itself to rise and burst the bands of death? Suppose an angel could die, and be buried in the grave; has that angel power to take his life again? Assuredly not. Nor has any mere creature that power. 3. He was subject to the same laws that all his brethren were subject to.Luke 8:51. We find him subject to his parents. Galatians 4:4-5. “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” As a human being, it became him to be subject to the laws which recognize government and control human actions. 4. He had the susceptibilities of man. (1.) Tempted by the devil.Matthew 4:1. (2) Fasted arid was hungry.Mark 11:12. “And on the morrow, when they were come from ’Bethany, he was hungry.” (3.) He was thirsty.John 4:7. ’’Jesus saith unto her give me to drink.” John 19:28. “Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, saith I thirst.” (4.) He was fatigued by his labors.John 4:6 “Jesus therefore being weary with his journey sat thus on the well.” (5.) He slept as a man.Matthew 8:24. While the sea was roaring, its waves dashing, and the: tempest howling, he slept. But as soon as he was awakened by his disciples, he rose, and at once, and with the voice of Omnipotence, hushed the headlong waves, and calmed the roaring winds; So there was a great calm. (6.) He grieved, felt, and wept as a man.John 11:35. And was subject to pain and death. His body was not a spiritual body. Spirits cannot die. The spirit-of man is immortal, and only the body is subject to mortality. His body was not of the nature of angels, for angelic nature cannot die. They have fallen and are still in being, wretched being indeed, but death is forever removed from them. But the body of Jesus died. “Well might the sun in darkness hide And shut his glories in, When Christ the mighty Savior died, For man the creature’s sin.”. (7.) The angel, by the appointment of God, gave the most significant title to the Savior before his birth. He was to be called JESUS, because he was to save his people from their sins. But he was also to be called IM-MANU-EL, God with us. Of this being; it was said by Isaiah, that “ Butter and honey he should eat,” intimating that he should receive the same kind of nutriment that other men, or human beings, partook of, that he should be one WITH US, and at the same time GOD. Of him it is said, “He was made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,” and the first promise that alludes to him as the Savior, speaks of him as “ The seed of the woman.” Genesis 3:15. He was God, made known, or manifested, in the flesh. From his name, Immanuel, from the fact that he was the seed of the woman, of the seed of Abraham,” what other rational conclusion can be drawn, than that he possessed the nature of human beings.’’ In this nature, God -was manifested to us, and this we term the incarnation of the Deity. How Divinity was united with humanity we do not pretend to know} but we do know that the Bible teaches this doctrine, and on the veracity and validity of inspiration we most heartily believe it. [1] Some have supposed his body was not human, because it is said that “ God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” But observe, “ in the likeness of sinful flesh.” His nature was perfectly pure, but it had the likeness of ours, which is wholly corrupt. He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. Now the man who reads the evidences of the human nature of our Savior, which are so abundant in the volume of Life, and yet cannot see that the doctrine we are here advocating is [1]The union of matter and mind in man is usually believed, but the manner of that union we cannot define. We know this connection exists, and if we acknowledge it to be incomprehensible, yet it is indisputably true. Nothing can be known of mind as a separate entity, and the body without the mind is perfectly insensible, yet the only medium through which the operations of the mind are known to us is the body. We ask the man who rejects the idea that Christ possessed human and divine natures united, because be cannot completely comprehend it, if he is not bound by the same principle to reject the union of matter and mind in man? Certainly so. But this is rejecting his senses and consciousness! and denying what he knows to be true. scriptural, must dwell in rare darkness. What proof could be possibly sufficient to establish this point, if it is yet unproved? Though Unitarians may reject or ridicule the idea of an incarnation of the Divine Being, yet we can ’scarcely see how inspiration can make the proof more pointed, or more conclusive. But where arid what is the evidence that Christ possessed but one nature? This is asserted over and over and again by Unitarians, but where is the proof? It is objected by Unitarians, that “the Bible does no where assert that Christ possesses two natures.” The Bible no where asserts that one and one are two, yet we believe it. But the Bible asserts that Christ is Got?, and that he is man, and we know, the nature of God is one nature, and the nature of man is another nature, and we call these, two natures; and as we find them both manifest in one person, as plainly as that the sun illuminates and warms the earth, we do believe that person has these two natures. The reader will-see that the’ above objection is a mere- prevarication. Another objection is this. “Did a very man come down from heaven? Surely not. Then Christ was not a very man.” “I am sure no one will say Abraham’s seed came down from heaven.” [1] The writer here is either at war with himself, or with inspiration, and we should think with both, for certainly this objection cannot touch Trinitarianism. We do not say that the human body pf the Savior came [1] Elder O. Barr’s “ Truth Triumphant,” page 33. down from heaven, but we believe it was he who said, “ A body hast thou prepared me,” that came down from heaven. In this he seems to be at variance with himself. But When tie asserts that Christ was not of the seed of Abraham, he is at war with inspiration. “ Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David t according to the flesh.” Horn. 1:8. “ Remember that Jesus Christ, of the ’seed of” David, was raised from the dead, according to my Gospel.” 2 Timothy 2:8. “ He took oh him the seed of Abraham.” Hebrews 2:16.. So we see that the writer was not opposing Trinitarian is my but Unitarianism, or the Bible, or both. For the Bible asserts that he was of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh) and that in some sense, he came down from heaven. His humanity only died. And while-this August Person suffered, nature seemed to be convulsed to its centre, light left the livid sun audited up to the throne of “God.; The mountains and valleys shook; the adamantine rocks clave in sunder, as Jesus bowed his majestic head and ’commended his soul to God his Father. “But soon he’ll break death’s envious chain, And in full glory shine, O Lamb of God was ever pain Was ever love like thine?” (8.) He is called the Son of Man. Son of David y and it is said he sprang from the tribe, of Judah, He is called a little child (paidioh). eight times in the second chapter of the gospel by. St. Matthew. (9.) As he was equal with God in his divine nature, so he makes himself equal with man in his human nature, and consequently declares his inferiority to him.John 14:28. “ If you loved me, ye would rejoice because I said I go to my Father; for my Father is greater than I.” On the hypothesis that Jesus Christ possessed but one nature, it is impossible to reconcile this passage with those where he says, “‘T and; my Father are one.” “He that hath seen me, hath; seen the father.” John 14:9. Again he says, Revelation 20:10. – “l am the ROOT and OFFSPRING of David.” This declaration is unequivocal, He is, according to his own words, not only the author of the very existence of David, but he is truly his descendant. Now, if he possessed but one nature, as Unitarians so confidently assert, how could this be true? Or, to use the blessed Savior’s own words to the Pharisees,” who denied that he possessed the, nature of God and man* and- often accused him of being but a man and yet making himself God:” If David then called him Lord, how is he his son?” Matthew 22:45.: They could not answer him a word. Nor can Unitarians of these days, who affirm that he possesses but one nature, make any better answer than the Pharisees did. So we are brought fairly to the Conclusion, that as Christ was David’s offspring and David’s ion, he possessed his nature; that is, human nature. And, as he was, the Lord and Root of David, he possessed divine nature also. We also conclude, that no solution of these passages can be made, that has any claim to propriety, or merits any degree of regard from intelligent Christians, and careful readers: of the sacred volume, in accordance with the doctrine of any sect of Unitarians on earth. As far as our knowledge extends, it is a fundamental principle with them that Jesus Christ possessed hut one nature. If, therefore, that one nature was “ all divine,” how could he be the Son and offspring of David, according to the flesh? And if that one nature was all human, how could he be his Lord, and the author of his existence, or, as he styles himself, “the Root of David?” But with these remarks concerning the humanity of the body of our Savior we shall leave the candid inquirer after truth to make up his mind on this point. We hope this one thought may revolve in the mind of the reader, that is, ‘The body of our Savior must have been human, or it was not, and if it was not human, it must have been angelic or divine, and consequently he was not the person of whom Isaiah spake when he said, “He was a MAN of sorrow and acquainted with grief,” nor was the apostle correct who testified, “He was made like unto his brethren in all things,” and that the Israelites were the people “whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over ALL, God blessed forever. Amen.” II. Christ possessed a human soul. 1. It is as evident, as the Scriptures of divine truth can make any thing evident, that Jesus Christ created all things which are in heaven, and on earth, whether visible, or invisible, and that without him was nothing made that was made. The blessed Volume also asserts that Jesus Christ is before all things, and by him all things consist. Let these passages be kept in view constantly, while we proceed to prove, that he had a human soul. This will enable the reader to see whether the proof is sufficient to sustain the proposition. 2. It is a peculiar characteristic of the human soul, or mind, that it constantly expands while it is cultivated. Let is also be remembered, that the angels are created intellectual beings. Now we are expressly informed, Luke 2:52, That “Jesus increased in wisdom,” as well as in stature. “Nuera kai osta eisi aloga.” Nerves and bones are without wisdom, or reason. His body could not have increased in wisdom, but it did increase in stature. “The body without the soul is dead.” Thus it was with the body of the Lord Jesus, when he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Luke 23:46. Where is the individual, who would be guilty of the hardihood to assert that that intellect, which created the tallest angel that dazzles before the throne of God, should in the space of a few transient days here on earth be said to “increase in wisdom?” Can it be said that that mind which planned the path of Herschel, that spread the belts across the disk of Jupiter, that set the might rings around the planet Saturn, that taught the Comets their elliptic orbits, increased in wisdom in a few revolving days? Certainly we think no believer in revelation would assert this! It is not proved by indubitable Scripture testimony, That JESUS CHRIST created all these planets, and reared the mighty fabric of the universe? It is so. Then was that mind that increased in wisdom, the identical mind that at the first drafted the plan of the universe? Most certainly not. Then as candid and rational men we must come to the conclusion that our Lord Jesus possessed a human mind, and that he was in all respects truly man in regard to his body and mind. 3. It is evident that our Savior possessed a human soul, from the fact that he was tempted in all points like as we are. We are aware that satan tempts the Christian, by throwing his vile insinuations into the mind. If he possessed no human soul, and all the soul he had was his divine nature, then he could not have been tempted, “for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” In order that he could be our example, and fulfill the law for us, and in so doing make it honorable, he must have inherited the capacity of being tempted, and of course he possessed a human mind, endowed with all the faculties that the mind of our first parents possessed in their primitive state. There could have been no propriety in his suffering temptation, as our example, if by his nature, (being destitute of a human soul, ) he was infinitely above the power of temptation. Now this must have been the case, if he had no soul, except the indwelling of the Godhead, for, as we said before, “God cannot be tempted.” 4. Jesus Christ testified that he had a soul. At one time he: was heard to say, “ My soul (psuche) is exceedingly sorrowful.” Mark 14:34. Again “ my soul (psuche) is troubled, and what shall I say.’? John 12:27. But ^perhaps a Unitarian friend! may object, “that this soul Jesus spake of was not human, or like, the souls of the rest of mankind, but it was that derived intelligence, whom God authorized and delegated to create the universe, and that it was angelic or super angelic.” But it should be understood that the angels are spoken of &s spirits, and not as souls. Says ail apostle, speaking of angels, “ Are not they all ministering spirits?” (pneumata.) Here they are called spirits. Hebrews 1:14, also Hebrews 1:7. We frankly acknowledge that the human soul is sometimes termed (pne’uma) or the spirit of man. But we have no recollection of angels being described as souls, or of their being known by the appellation, PSUCHE. David, while personating the Savior, says, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hades” nor suffer thy- holy one, (that is, his body,)to see corruption.” Psalms 16:10. Here we have his soul and body brought to ^view very clearly again. But certainly Christians will not dispute what the Lord Jesus said with his expiring breath, “ Father,” said he, “ into thy hands I, commit my spirit.” Gr “ Pater eis cheiras sou parathesomai to pneuma mou.” Even with his latest breath, he wishes to commend his soul into the hands of God h^s Father, thus following the example of many of the illustrious dead who had left the world, saying, “ In marnu tuas Domine commendo 2 spiritum meum.” Thus he lived as a man and died as a man, commending his soul to God... Finally: There is the same evidence that Jesus our Savior possessed a human body, that there is that Peter, John or Paul did; and there is equal evidence that he possessed a human sour that there is that he possessed a human body. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: 02 - CHAPTER 2 ======================================================================== CHAPTER II. Evidences that the Lord Jesus possessed divine nature, and was in that nature as’ truly God as he was man in his human nature. UNITARIANS often object to this idea, because they conclude it is mysterious. But we care not whether the idea is said to be mysterious or not mysterious, so we can make bur ideas intelligible. This is the mystery an apostle speaks of, when he tells us, H God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up, into glory.” 1 Timothy 3:16. But will, not^ Unitarians believe any thing that appears mysterious? The eternity of God, his underived existence, is in reality mysterious, that is, it is something we cannot comprehend. The view of the universe created and sustained by him is incomprehensible, yet we generally believe it. - We might see a ’chainlet down from a height, and understand that the lowest link hung on the one above it, and so it might continue to do to almost an infinite extent, but after all to suppose the highest link in the vast chain, hung upon and sustained itself would seem mysterious. Thus it is with the existence of God. Gravitation also is something that people ’generally suppose ’has a real existence: We see its effect. The planetary worlds seem to feel its influence at a great distance from the centre of the solar system. Herschel, at the distance of one thousand eight hundred millions of miles, obeys its invincible mandate. A man cannot comprehend himself, nor even a hair that grows from his -head. Then certainly it discovers gross folly to undertake to comprehend the incomprehensible Jehovah, and it discovers gross infidelity for a man to say he will believe nothing but what he clearly’ comprehends. There are things of which we may have very distinct idea’s* which in themselves are utterly ^indefinable. Gravitation cannot be defined, that is, a man cannot tell what it is, but he may form some idea what it is not. When we say the underived existence of God forms a proposition, which in its nature cannot be defined, we would not wish to be understood that the proposition itself is one that cannot be made intelligible. These remarks we have made, in order to show the inconsistency of Unitarians, in repudiating the doctrine of the humanity and divinity of our Savior, on the ground that it is mysterious. 1. The existence of Jesus Christ is coetaneous with eternity itself, or with the existence of Jehovah. David seems to speak of his existence in this sense when he says, “BEFORE the mountains were brought forth, or even thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from EVERLASTING to EVERLASTING thou art GOD.” Psalms 90:2. He thought the Creator existed from eternity to eternity, as far as thought can extend backward, nay, farther, or farther than it can reach into futurity. This is the highest and clearest description of the eternity of God to which words in human language can possibly reach. But it undoubtedly will be objected by Unitarians, that “this language does not refer to Jesus Christ at all.” Well, it does refer to the Creator who formed the earth and the world, and it Only remains to prove who was the Creator, in order to settle this question. It must, we think, be admitted, that the Creator was from eternity to eternity, according to the words of the text. Then we have found one being that has eternally existed. But a question of some importance on this point is, Who was the Creator? We answer, God was the Creator of all things., This we trust we shall be able to prove. We find that the Almighty has said, “I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.” Isaiah 44:24. Again. “For thus saith the, Lord, that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it; I am the Lord, and there is none else.” Isaiah 45:18. It is certainly clear that he who formed the earth possessed underived existence, because he is said to be “ from everlasting to everlasting.” This perhaps a Unitarian would admit. But we ask again, Who was the Creator? We answer again: It was that person in the trinity whom we call. Jesus Christ. This we also can readily prove. “For by him were all things created, that are in the heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Colossians 1:16-17. “And thou, Lord;. in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands.” Hebrews 1:10. “ All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:3. These last three texts are all spoken in reference to the Lord Jesus, as the reader may see by consulting his Bible. If, then, we have succeeded in proving that the Creator of all things had an existence from eternity to eternity, we have proved also that Jesus Christ has the same underived existence in respect to his divine-nature, and consequently our first proposition is sustained. But it is objected, “ that Jesus Christ is not in any sense self-existent, because he made the world, and so on, by delegated power.” Now this objection defeats itself, from these considerations. (1.) Creative power is an inherent attribute of the self-existent and eternal God, and he cannot delegate his attributes. (2.) If Jesus Christ did it for him, and he was not truly God himself, then it follows that Jesus Christ created himself, “ for he created all things that are created,” and there can be but one uncreated being in the universe. - (3.) It contradicts the Bible, for that (as we have shown from Isaiah) proves that the Cmrfor did it by- himself ALONE. If Jesus Christ created these things, and he was not truly God, then- Jehovah did it not, as he says he did. Hear him again, “ I am the LORD that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth BY MYSELF.” If the works of creation and the language which the inspired writers use in respect to Christ, do not prove his self-existence, we can certainly have no proof of any self-existent being in the universe. We have now proved that Jehovah created all things, and the Lord Jesus created all things, and it follows that they are one in nature, that is, that Jesus Christ in his divine nature is God, or there are two Almighty, Self-existent Creators! which is an absurdity. - 2. God by the mouth of thy prophet speaks of the Messiah as possessing uncreated existence. “ But thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old; even from EVERLASTING.” Micah 5:2. This corresponds precisely with what the Lord Jesus says of himself “ 1 am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of death and hell.” Revelation 1:17-18 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the ALMIGHTY. Revelation 1:8. Here is testimony that Jesus Christ is (in some sense at least,) the FIRST and the LAST; that is, he is the fountain of all created existence* and in him is the final consummation of time and things. Jehovah applies to himself the titles of “first and last y “and says beside him ’?’. there is no God.” Isaiah 44:6. If, then, the terms first and last, when applied, to Jehovah, prove his uncreated existence and eternity, what do the same terms prove when Jesus Christ applies them to himself and teaches us that He is the First and the Last? God also testifieth as we have just seen, that Christ is one “ whose goings forth, have been from of old, even from everlasting.” Now, shall we believe that his “goings forth have been from ever lasting,” from the countless dates of eternity y or shall we not? It is either as God has said, or it is not so. How then must it appear, to see a man, & finite man, rise up I and say, “Jesus Christ is not unoriginated,” that is, “ he is not from eternity in his existence?” But, alas! how this sounds when it comes from a Christian, and a professed minister of Jesus Christ!! Is it possible that believers jn the truths of revelation shall use the same language in relation to the character of Christ that infidels do? and- both agree that there was never any incarnation of the Divine Being? From the foregoing remarks and quotations from the holy book of God, it is evidently proved that Jesus Christ in his divine nature is uncreated, and if uncreated his existence is eternal, and if his existence is eternal he is God. Then to his name be ascribed Glory, Power and Dominion forever and ever. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: 03 - CHAPTER 3 ======================================================================== CHAPTER III. A brief view of the worship which is addressed to our Lord Jesus Christ, and which acknowledges him to be God. “THOU whose all providential eye surveys, Whose hand directs, whose Spirit fills and warms Creation, and holds empire far beyond! Eternity’s Inhabitant august! ’ Of two eternities amazing Lord!, One, past ere man’s or angels had -began! Aid, while I rescue from the foe’s assault” ’~ The holy’, worship of thine only Son, Who from Eternity was God with thee! Aid thou my pen while I shall now describe, “ A theme forever, and for all, of weight, Of moment infinite! but relished most, By those who love thee most, who most adore.” If the Bible proves that Jesus Christ is worshiped on earth and in heaven as God, certainly this must end all dispute as it relates to the Godhead of the adorable Savior. We are expressly forbidden by the Almighty Jehovah, to fall down and worship any thing in heaven or in earth, or in the waters under the earth, save himself alone. This idea is as clearly set forth on the pages of inspiration, as it is that there is any God at all. And, it is as clearly shown by the same book that Jesus Christ is worshiped as God, as it is that Jehovah is thus worshiped. The man who reads the volume of divine truth and does not see this must shut his eyes: ... “And bold with joy,. Forth from his dark and lonely hiding place. Portentous sight! Owlet infidelity! Sailing oh obscene wings athwart the noon, Drops his blue-fringed lids, and holds them close, And hooting at the glorious sun in heaven, Cries out, “’Where is it?” 1. Jesus Christ is worshiped jointly with the Father and the Holy Spirit by his people both in heaven and on earth. In proof of this we will consider the numerous benedictions of an apostle on the Christian churches; “ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3: 2 Corinthians 1:2. Galatians 1:3. Ephesians 1:2, and Ephesians 6:23. Php 3:1-21. Colossians 1:2:1 Thessalonians 1:1-10. 2 Thessalonians 1:2. Here the same blessing from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is conferred by an inspired man no less than eleven times. The Father and Son are associated- together without any disparity in their characters, or claims to supreme divine worship! “ Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing, them in (eis) the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Matthew 28:18. It is admitted on all hands that baptism is an act of religious worship, and taking the common English version as it stands we have it “ In the name,” that if, by the authority of the sacred three. But as Unitarians believe the Holy Ghost to be only “ an energy* influence, or power, x>f The Father, it follows, if they are correct, that baptism is performed by the authority of Jehovah and a created being and an influence! This would be mere tautology. When the person is baptized in the name of the Father, certainly that includes all his attributes, then why baptize in the name of one of these attributes again? But who will ’deny that Jesus Christ is worshiped in this act even as the Father is worshiped? Every person who reads the original of this passage, knows that the literal translation is, “ Go ye, therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them into (eis) the name, 3 ’ &c. Eis to onoma literally means, as we have stated already, into the name. With this translation of the preposition ew Unitarianism necessarily sinks one step lower. The candidate is baptized into the recognition of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as his God. A late writer on Unitarianism* has tried to free his system from the burden this passage throws upon it; but every scholar who reads his work will see that he tried in vain, But Christ has settled this point when he says, that “ All men should honor the Son, even, as they honor the Father.” John 5:23. If the Father be honored as Creator, then the Son is to be honored in the same manner. If the Father be honored as Almighty, Preserver, or as the God of boundless perfections and glory; the Son claims the same honor. Again, we read “ Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Timothy 1:2. Titus 1:4. * John 3:1-36. Revelation 1:4-5. “Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Php 2:11. ’ Our Lord Jesus Christ, and God, one will pretend that God ever delegated his attributes,) that it belonged to our Savior, that he possessed it, we shall prove Unitarianism to be false in another fundamental point. Omniscience is that- attribute of God, by which he knows the thoughts, and even the imaginations of the thoughts of all hearts. He sees the end from the beginning, and truly knows all the intermediate circumstances. Now, if we can prove that this power was possessed by our Lord, we shall prove him, in his divine nature, to be God, or we must acknowledge that there are two beings possessing this attribute, which can be possessed by Jehovah alone; this again would be an absurdity. But we will bring forward the testimony of our Lord himself on this point. “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father.” John 10:15 If this asserts the omniscience of the Father, which none, we think, will deny; it also proves the omniscience of the Son. What man would dare face his Maker with a blasphemy like this, and say’, “ I know all about him who made me, as well as he knows me?” What angel would dare lift up his head before the throne, and say, “ I know Him that sits on that throne as he knows me?” Angels would tremble to hear such blasphemy avowed by any created being! Indeed, it would be the height of blasphemy, for any created being, in heaven, or on earth, or in hell, to make such a statement as this! This testimony of Jesus Christ must make the council of anti-christ tremble. Remember that the Son states, that he knows the Father, in the same sense that the Father knows him. This includes the heighths and depths of omniscience! Even the mind of God was known by him; his plans, his designs, were all known; the stupendous scheme of salvation was concerted by the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, before alt worlds. But mark their love for man. “Eternal love- Harp lift up thy voice on high Eternal Love Eternal sovereign love and sovereign grace, Wisdom, and power, and mercy infinite! The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God, Devised the wondrous plan devised, achieved; And in achieving, made the marvel more.” But to the testimony again. “ Jesus knowing their thoughts.” Matthew 12:25. “ He knew what was in man, and- needed not that any should testify of man.” John 2:24. “Therefore, judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God.” 1 Corinthians 4:5. “Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen.” Acts 1:24. “Lord, (said Peter,) thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.” John 21:1-25; John 17:1-26. “I am he that searcheth the reins and the heart.” Revelation 2:23. We might multiply scripture testimony on this subject; but in the mouth of two or three witnesses, the truth will be established. If these ’texts do not prove that out Lord Jesus was omniscient, there can be no proof brought from the sacred volume to sustain the idea that Jehovah is omniscient. We have then the same testimony of the omniscience of Christ that we have of his existence, for we have proved it by his own testimony and the testimony of his apostles. If we repose confidence in their testimony of ’the existence of such a person as Christ, why not place the same confidence in their testimony concerning his character. He so perfectly understood all the secret windings of the human soul, that he needed not that any should instruct him. Infidels generally acknowledge the existence of such a person as Jesus Christ; but his character they doubt. There Is, in fact, no person that knows that there is no- God, yet many doubt it. Neither is there any one that knows that Jesus Christ was not omniscient, yet some doubt it. This is all they can do, unless they are possessed with the attribute of omniscience themselves. Very many may be found, who have commenced doubting one truth of revelation after another, because it could not be completely comprehended by their feeble minds, until they have landed themselves on the dangerous shores of infidelity. The very moment that one truth which Is plainly taught in the Bible, is rejected, the way to infidelity is paved. To that individual “The gate of hell stands open night and day, Smooth the descent, and easy is the way!” It seems to us to be marvellous credulity, for a man to believe that a creature, a finite being, created at first and still sustains the universe. And it is equally marvellous incredulity, to disbelieve in the omniscience of the Creator and Governor of the universe. A man that can believe that a creature made all things all intelligence^ in heaven and in earth ^-and yet that that creature did not possess the power of knowing all things of himself; that is, inherently, need never charge his fellow men with believing i{ mysteries,” while his own theory contains the mystery, that a, creature created himself!! There is but one uncreated being; and Jesus Christ created all created beings: therefore, if he is a created being, he must have created himself; and if he is uncreated, he must be that one uncreated being, and consequently God. Now this proposition can be, and is, as clearly demonstrated, as that “two straight lines cannot enclose a space,” Indeed, it is an axiom, and needs no demonstration; for it is self-evident the moment it is mentioned. To say that a creature was uncreated is folly. And to say that an uncreated being is a creature, is consummate folly. Now Jesus Christ is either a creature wholly, or in part, or he is not. If he is uncreated in part, he is so far God. If he is a creature entire, he was self-created entire, or he did not MAKE all-things, as the Bible expressly declares; and this last ground makes us infidels. And is it the case that the Almighty Creator was not omniscient? If he was not, there is no being that is; and consequently there -is no God ’no all-wise God, in the universe! No such God as the Bible describes, and the fool had it right, when he said in his heart, “ There is no God.” If there is no such God as the Bible describes, it js probable there is none at all. While we follow out the logical result of the doctrine that makes the Creator himself, a creature, how it chills the. flames o.f devotion and piety; and how soul-abhorrent it is to the devoted follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. But to impress this thought on the mind of the reader, we will give it the form of a syllogism. Jesus Christ created every creature in the universe. Jesus Christ himself was a creature. Therefore, Jesus Christ created himself. There is no such thing as evading this, and this, with all its absurdity, is Unitarianism” naked, plain, unvarnished Unitarianism. But we will try the propositions of Trinitarians, by the same sollogistic method of reasoning. That being that is self-existent is God,. Jesus Christ is self-existent. Ergo:- Jesus Christ is God. The Lord Jesus Christ is either created or he is not; and here is the unequivocal, logical result of both propositions. Which do you choose? If the Lord Jesus is a finite being, if ’he is not omniscient, paradventure while his children pray, his mind is occupied with some other business, and he will not know that they are calling upon him, and especially if he is finite, and occupies but one place at the same time, he is not able to meet with all that meet in. his name, and for his worship, and consequently cannot fulfill his precious promise. In this case, it would be totally unsafe to commit the keeping of our departing spirits into his hands, as did the holy Stephen. But with his own declarations before us, we will run all the risk there is in believing in his omnipresence, and omniscience. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: 05 - CHAPTER 5 ======================================================================== CHAPTER V. The wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the wisdom of Jehovah: therefore, in this respect, he is God.:’’’ CHRIST truly possessed all the deep treasures of uncreated wisdom, even the wisdom -Of Jehovah, and this again, thus far, constitutes his perfect divinity. We wish it still borne in mind that Christ had, as we have clearly proved by God’s holy word, the nature that other men have, that is, human nature. This point, we conclude, has been fully sustained. And as it respects his divine nature, we have already proved, that the existence of Christ teas underived, that he is worshiped as God, in heaven and on earth, and that he was possessed of the attribute of omniscience in its full extent. The object of the present chapter is to show that his wisdom was not the wisdom of a created mind, but it was that wisdom which flows alone from the unfailing fountain of his Godhead, and is boundless as the realm of infinite extent over which the Almighty sways his sceptre. In proof, then, of the present position, we appeal to the veracity of the holy volume, which says, “ To the only wise God our Savior, be glory, and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” Jude 1:25. Here Jesus Christ is addressed as the only wise QOD OUR SAVIOR, and the highest tribute of praise ascribed to his venerable name. Again, he is said to be “ Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:24. And an apostle informs us that “ in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Mark: ALL the TREASURES of wisdom and knowledge are hid in. him. Is there any wisdom which he has not? Here, then, he is plainly described as possessing infinite and unbounded wisdom, which can belong only to that Being whom we call God. His boundless wisdom is most clearly seen in. the works of his hands. For, “Who turns his eye on nature’s midnight face, But must inquire ’ What hand behind the scene, What arm Almighty put these -wheeling globes In motion, and wound up. the vast machine? Who rounded in his hand, these spacious orbs? Who rolled them flaming through the dark profound, Numerous as the glittering gems of morning dew, Or sparks, from populous cities in a blaze, And set the bosom of old night on Are? Peopled the deserts, and made horror smile?’“ If, then, his works do not prove his uncreated wisdom and design, we can have no idea that any being in the universe possesses these qualifications. St. Paul unhesitatingly affirms that “in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Theotelos somatikos) Colossians 2:9. He does not say, “ the God” dwelleth in him, but the Godhead (theotetos.). This original word signifies “ State of being, or divine nature, the infinite attributes essential to such a nature.” Bodily, (somatikos,) signifies truly, or really, in opposition to a typical, or figurative residence. Then we understand that God dwelt in the person of Jesus Christ essentially, substantially, and personally, as the human soul dwells in, and vivifies the body.- This explains what he said to Philip. “ He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father;” and “Jam in the Father, and the Father in me.? ’ Then, if the Bible can be relied upon as testimony, we think this point, also, sustained. If the\Bible is not to be taken as decisive evidence, we must change our position, and, instead of proving the holy doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ from that, we must turn and strike against gross infidelity and prove, the Bible to be the truth of God. But admitting the blessed Bible to be true, as we trust all who profess the Christian religion-will do, we may safely proceed to show the contaminating error of denying the divinity and humanity of the Son of God. Were it not for this blessed mirror, that reflects upon us the purity of the upper world, we should know but little of the mode of the supreme existence. Without this lamp to illumine our benighted world, we might wander as fugitives, in darkness, through the scenes of this transient world, and sink at last, in tempests and in storms, beneath the sable waves of an eternal night, when none should weep our fall, and none record our name. But, thanks be to Heaven, for the inexpressible gift of the holy volume. Then why not believe ’its most positive declarations? If Jesus Christ is the wisdom and power of God, he is so inherently, or this wisdom and power is delegated to him. Shall we suppose that God delegated his own wisdom and power? Candor will reply no; and yet we may as well expect that he delegated all his wisdom, as that he delegated creative power. But see what had God left to himself after delegating his power and wisdom? if -Jesus Christ was not God, as Unitarians assert, but only “a god” in the subordinate sense that Moses was called god, then the result is, that the Father was inactive or inert, while Christ has been creating the worlds, and that the Father had neither wisdom nor power, because Christ had all wisdom, and all power, in heaven and in earth! Now the fact is that Jesus Christ, the wisdom and power of God, was o,ne with God from eternity, as says the word of inspiration. “ I was. set up from everlasting, from the beginning or ever the earth was. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth. When he prepared the heavens, I was there; when he set a compass upon the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep; when he gave to the sea his decree, that the water should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then 1 was by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.” Proverbs 8:23-30. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: 06 - CHAPTER 6 ======================================================================== Chapter VI. The Omnipresence of our Lord Jesus Christ, THERE arey we think, very few who profess to believe the record God has given of his Son, who would avow the doctrine that the Almighty was confined to any particular location. Very few Christians would fall in -with the idea that Jehovah could be in only one place at a time. There is but one omnipresent being of which we can possibly form any conception whatever* That being that can be present in all parts of the world and in the celestial regions at the same time, must be omnipresent. If that being is not omnipresent, we have no proof of any omnipresent being. But that there is such a being, no believer in God will deny, or seriously doubt. If, then } we can prove that Jesus Christ is omnipresent, that is, that he can be in more places than one at the same time, we shall prove him to be God, in his divine nature. We will appeal to his own words on this point. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20. “ Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” Matthew 28:1-20; Matthew 20:1-34. ee And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven.” John 3:13., 1. Wherever his children meet for worship, there says the Savior, AM t. While his saints are assembled, they do not have to wait for him to come, but he is already there. Ten thousand congregations meet on every holy Sabbath in his name, and a find his promise verified. The old, grey-headed. veteran of the cross, while in the sanctuary of God, feels his heart warmed with the presence of his Savior* and “with his countenance brightening up with rapture, exclaims, “ I know my Redeemer lives, I feel him in my soul, the hope of glory.” Says the young convert, while tears gather in his eyes, *5 I know in whom I have believed; I feel he is with me now.” If, indeed, the blessed Jesus was not omnipresent, what a death-blow would it strike at the root. of Christian enjoyment. The Christian says from the centre of his soul: “ Blest Jesus, what delicious fare, How sweet thine entertainments are, Never did angels taste above, Redeeming grace and dying love.” Take Jesus out of the assembly, and all is gone; and while he is present, if a prison, or a pit, is the home of the Christian, he feels that he has the best of company. The martyr has found him to be present to help him in the curling flames, while the hosts of heaven -meekly bow before him and cast their crowns at his feet. Christian reader, do you not feel and know him to be with you while you meet for his worship? Would not the chill of death freeze your devotions, if you thought that Jesus was not present with all his children? and with you? 2. Wherever his people may be, his promise -can cheer them. “Lo I am with you.”^ While the missionary is crossing the trackless deep, Jesus is with him, ’and at the same time he feels that he is with his brethren and sisters whom he has left, and upon whose faces he has gazed for the last time until he meets them “ where no farewell tear is shed.” The minister of Jesus, while he faces the storms of opposition and of hell, confides in his omnipresent Savior. If this were, not so, how sad must be his soul, while called to leave his father, mother, brothers, and sisters, and no Jesus to go with him. How this idea must paralyze his zeal for God. But to know he has his Jesus within, reigning in his soul, and fighting his battles for him, nerves his heart with holy ardor for the arduous task. Every Christian in the dying hour, wants a present Savior, and may have even him who died and lives forever more, “All hail! triumphant Lord, Eternal be thy reign, Behold the nations wait, - To wear thy gentle chain. When earth and time are known no more,’ . - Thy throne shall stand forever sure.” 3. What he said to Nicodemus proves beyond the shade of a doubt that he was omnipresent. While he is now speaking to him, and conversing with him, he says he is even in heaven. No one will pretend that he was trying to deceive Nicodemus, yet if he was not omnipresent, he was practicing a most infamous deception upon him declared the ubiquity of his nature in positive terms. Who, we would ask, but “he who fills heaven and earth,” could, in truth, make such a declaration as our Savior ’here made? Now the question is, shall we believe what Jesus Christ said, or shall we not? If we do credit his assertion, can we believe him to be a mere creature? After all he has said on this subject, Unitarians maintain that he is not an omnipresent being, but a finite creature, and the Holy Spirit only an energy, attribute, or power of Jehovah. Let the candid reader now say, if we have not proved the omnipresence of the Lord Jesus Christ? According to his own words, can he not be present on earth and in heaven at the same time? Truth will answer he can. If he is omnipresent, Unitarianism is found to be erroneous in a most fundamental point. We have on no point yet exhausted the Bible testimonies, nor do we wish to, for it would be quoting almost the entire Bible. The doctrine of the divinity of Christ, and of the trinity in unity of the Godhead, runs through the whole blessed volume. If two or three positive declarations of God’s word, will not prove a proposition, which is in accordance with the general tenor of the Bible, to be the truth, we must despair of proving any thing by the Bible. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: 07 - CHAPTER 7 ======================================================================== CHAPTER VII. The Immutability of our Lord Jesus Christ. NOTWITHSTANDING all ’that may have been said by Unitarians in opposition to the doctrine of the immutability of Jesus Christ, yet we think this hypothesis is easily sustained by the word of inspiration. Men are subject to changes, as says one of old, “Thou changest his countenance and sendest him away.” Angels are likewise changeable, and are charged with folly. But there is one being who changes not, and t with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.” James 1:17. It must be evident to any candid mind that that Being who eternally was and is the same must be uncreated. Then, if we prove Jesus Christ to have been in any sense immutable, thus far we ^h all prove him to be God. We will therefore hear the words of the Almighty himself as testimony on this controverted point. “ And of the angels he saith, who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire, but unto the Son he saith, “Thy throne, GOD, is forever and ever, a sceptre of righteousness is -the sceptre of thy kingdom.” Hebrews 1:7-8. Here we have the word of Jehovah to prove his throne of power to be (aiona tou aipnos,) eternal, and eternally the same. “ Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, to-day and forever,” (aionos.) Hebrews 13:8. Here then is a sure foundation for the saints of God to build their hopes of eternal felicity upon. The things of this life are fluctuating, but the Creator, and Redeemer, and the Savior of the world changes not. He is the same. The terms “yesterday, to-day, and forever,’? fully express his eternity. The same language is applied to Jehovah; and the same sense is conveyed when God said to Moses, “ I am that I AM.” Exodus 3:14. Now this august title is often applied to Jesus Christ, to denote his eternal existence; that is, eternity of duration is said to belong to him. Then, if the Bible proves the immutability of Jehovah, it does also that of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he spread out the! mighty curtain, of the skies, and yet “His throne eternal ages stood, Ere seas or hills were made; He is the’ ever-living God, Were all the nations dead.” How exceedingly vain would it be. to apply to any creature in the universe the titles applied to Jesus Christ. To which of the angels could Jehovah say, “ Thy throne O GOD, is forever and ever?” He could say this to none of the angels, because they are creatures; that is, they are created beings. The Son is either a creature or he is not, and If he is uncreated, he is self-existent; If he is self existent, he is eternal; And if he is eternal, he must be God; Therefore, if Jesus Christ is uncreated, fie must’ be God. Then, upon his Almighty, immutable arm we may rest secure; but if he is not immutable, he may fail us in the time of our greatest heed. “ And if the foundation be destroyed, what _ shall the righteous do?” But, notwithstanding all the attacks that have been made upon his precious character, by hell, anti-christ, and the devil, he still is to the Christian his only refuge, his hiding-place, and his everlasting reward beyond the grave. His language is, while he reflects on him who bore his sorrows on the tree, “Jesus is all to my soul.” Yet “Some take him a creature to be, A man or an angel at most, Sure these have not feelings like me, Nor know themselves wretched and lost. So guilty, so helpless am I, I could not confide in his word, Nor on his protection-rely, Unless I could call him MY LORD. If asked what of Jesus I think, Though still my best thoughts are but poor, I say he ’s my meat and my drink, My life, and my strength, and my store; My shepherd, my husband, my friend, My Savior from sin and from thrall; My hope from beginning to end, My portion, my LORD, and my all.” It is evident that Jesus Christ could not have been immutable, and the same from eternity to eternity, if he was ever created. The Word, or Wisdom, (Logos,) that John speaks of as being in the beginning with God, and as being God, must have been a substance or an attribute. If in his pre-existent state, he was an attribute of Jehovah, and was a created being as Unitarians would have him, then it follows, unavoidably, that God created his attributes! And if he is a substance created by the Father, how could he be God? “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. If the first time in this text y John uses the word-God (Theos,) to signify Jehovah, what does it mean in the second Use he makes of it? “The Word was God,” Is it possible that there is an infinite difference in the sense of this very word^ used as it is, twice in the same sentence? There is an infinite difference between God and any of his creatures. So we come to the conclusion, irresistibly, that as Jehovah is immutable or unchangeable, so is the Son also in his divine nature. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: 08 - CHAPTER 8 ======================================================================== CHAPTER VIII. The Omnipotence of our Lord Jesus Christ, FEW, we think, in the Christian world would aver that almighty, unlimited power, could be possessed by any being in the universe, but God alone. If there can be more than one omnipotent being, there can be more than one self-existent and eternal being. But the Scriptures assure us that there is only One living and true God. Then, again, if we prove Jesus Christ to have possessed omnipotent power, or that he is almighty, we shall, by so doing, show clearly the fallacy of that doctrine which makes him a creature. It is denied by Unitarians that Jesus Christ Is ever called Almighty in the Bible, We will see. But, in the first place, we wish to remark, that no creature is omnipotent. In Isaiah 9:6, we read that “ he shall be called the mighty GOD,” and not a mighty god! “ I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the ALMIGHTY. Revelation 1:8. Again, “ Thus saith the Lord, the king of Israel and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts. 1 am the first and I am the last) and beside me there is no God.” Isaiah 44:6. “These things saith the first, and the last, (which was dead and is alive.”) Revelation 2:8. The terms first and last signify one whose existence never began and will never cease. No angel can, in truth, say, that he is the first cause, and in himself is the consummation of all things. No creature is the first and the last, and he who says, HE is himself the. first and last^ testifies also, that he is THE ALMIGHTY. Our argument, then, from these declarations may be seen in the following syllogysm. The first and the last is ALMIGHTY. JESUS CHRIST is the first and the last, Therefore, Jesus Christ is ALMIGHTY. But it may be said, that “ there are two persons who declare themselves to be first and last.” If that is admitted, these two persons must be one in essence or in nature, or we have two Almighty Beings, which makes two Gods; and the FIRST and the LAST expressly says, that there is no God beside himself. How much better it would be for Unitarians to confess what Christ himself says, that He and his Father are one, than to be driven to the unavoidable extremity of admitting two beings to be God, or two Gods. There are either two Almighty Gods, or Jesus Christ, in his divine nature, is one with the Father, or He and Ate Father are one. “ And they cease not day nor night, saying; Holy,! Holy! Holy! Lord, God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” Revelation 4:8. Verse 11. “For thou hast created all things.” Here: The Creator of all things, is the Lord God Almighty. Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things: Therefore, Jesus Christ is the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. Admitting he has but one nature, this could not be true; that is, it could not be true of his human nature. Says an apostle, “ Ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” Colossians 2:10. If Jesus Christ is the head of ALL principality and POWER, he possesses all power, Here he is represented as not only standing at the head of all power, but of all principality. This conveys the same idea, as that “by him all things consist.” Colossians 1:17. A few brief remarks may show the evidence of the omnipotence of our blessed Lord. 1. Creation is the work, of Omnipotence alone. Creation signifies -the production of being, where no being existed prior to such creation’. The source of all created existence is the self-moving energy of an unoriginated, infinite, unlimited, and eternal cause; and” that cause was evidently Jesus Christ in his divine nature. 2. The Creator is necessarily the first cause; arid in respect to all his works he must have exercised his own creative energy, not through a Creature, for no creature ^existed. As he was the only being that then existed, he must have made all things for himself, and by himself; and this the Bible most unequivocally affirms of our Lord Jesus Christ. 3. The works of creation could not have been performed, officially, or by delegated power, because creative power is the sole attribute of Omnipotence. If all things were created by delegated power, there must have been one who delegated that power, and another who received it; and this proves there were two beings in existence before the creation of any, and of course they were self-existent, and consequently two, self-existent-, Gods. Again, He that received the power delegated, could not have had it before, consequently he was not God; and he who delegated it must have ceased to possess it, consequently he ceased to be God. This scheme. of Unitarians, then, must amount to this. The infinite, eternal God, ceases to be God; and a finite being a creature immediately becomes such. Again, if Jesus Christ created the worlds by delegated power, he did not make them for himself, but for him who delegated and employed him. This contradicts plain declarations of Scripture, which say, that “ Ml things were made BY Him and FOR Him.”,. 4. “ Before the mountains were brought forth,” there must have been an infinite duration, in which there was no creature in existence, and it is evident that all the existence there could have been was underderived and unoriginated, consequently the omnipotent Creator was all the existence there was possibly in the universe. Now, we are expressly told that Jesus Christ “ is before all things;*’ therefore the apostle considered him God. There is, then, the same evidence that Jesus Christ is omnipotent, that there is that he is the Creator of all things; and there is the same evidence of his omnipotence, that there is of any Creator, or any God. Christians may confide in this Almighty Deliverer and Redeemer, who has conquered death, sin, hell and the devil, and has the keys of death and hell; and in to Whose hands is placed all power in heaven and earth. He can open and no man shuts y and He can shut and none opens. While we’ are considering the character of God our Savior, it would be well to mark his condescension for us, -” For though he was rich, he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.’’ It Would have been condescension in an angel; but while we reflect that it was the Christ, Creator of all things, that suffered while inhabiting a body like ours, we may sink at his feet in humble contrition. The blessed Savior died for us* “Who nought deserved, who nought deserved but death, Saving the vilest! Saving me! O love Divine. O Savior God! O Lamb once slain! At thought of thee, thy love, thy flowing blood, All thoughts decay, all things remembered, fade; All hopes return; all actions done by men Or angels, disappear, absorbed and lost.” The texts we have cited prove the omnipotence of the Lord Jesus Christ, as clearly as words can express it, for his own mouth declares that he ia the Almighty. (1.) He is called the mighty God, and the mighty God is the Almighty. (2.) The Almighty distinguishes himself from all his creatures by the appellations FIRST and LAST) which was and which is. (3.) Jesus says He is the first and the last. (4.) These terms convey the same sense when applied to the Lord Jesus, that they do when applied to Jehovah... (5.) Jesus Christ, in. his divine nature, is the Almighty God, or there are two Almighty Gods, “which is absurd. Can a creature be proved to be the Almighty God? Certainly not. But we trust the candid reader will very readily see that Jesus Christ is called Almighty. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: 09 - CHAPTER 9 ======================================================================== CHAPTER IX. The equality of our Lord Jesus Christ with God the Father. WE do not pretend that the humanity of our blessed Lord was equal with God -the Father, in power and eternity. Trinitarians do not say that the human nature of Christ was “ the very and eternal (God,” nor that there are three Gods, though frequently accused of such sentiments by their opposers. When we speak of Jesus- Christ as being God, we speak of him in his divine nature. And when we speak of him as man, we speak of him in his humanity. Now this manner of speaking is in common use. Says David:? “Why art thou cast down, O my soul.” Here he seems to address his spirit, Again he says, “ My flesh and my heart faileth,” so we see him mentally speaking of his body, and yet none supposes David was inconsistent in his expression, and in fact this is the every day expression of almost all persons. But if the Bible speaks of Christ as equal with God, he is so, or the Bible is not true. “ Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be EQUAL WITH GOD.” Php 2:15. No man nor angel can be said to be equal with God. But our Lord thought it not robbery (arpagmon) to be so. The original word (arpagmon,) which is translated “ robbery,” signifies seizing by fame. If he had no* been equal with God, it would have been “seizing by force” for him to have claimed equality, but there was no robbery in his claiming that which belonged to him. But the reader will indulge us in making a few remarks on these words. 1. Jesus Christ was eternally in the bosom of the Father y and of the same dazzling glory with hinu 2. He clothed his brightness in a human body. While he was transfigured on the mount before three of his disciples, he displayed some of his former glory, that glory he had with the Father before the world was. 3. We see that if he had not been equal with God, his pretensions to equality must have been not only robbery but blasphemy. 4. If he possessed but one nature* and that was derived, or created nature, he could not in any sense have been “equal with God,” for the highest grade of creatures falls infinitely short of equality with God. 5. To be equal with God, is to be God, or there are two Gods, which none will allow. 6. In order for Christ to have been equal with God, he must have possessed equal power, and equal eternity of existence, for how, (with any respect to truth), could the pen of inspiration call a creature, whose very existence was given to him by his Creator) equal with him? Yet, notwithstanding his glory with his Father before time began, qr creature was formed, he “Is led by choice to take his gloomy walk, Beneath Death’s dreary, silent Cyprus shade, Unpierced by vanity’s fantastic ray, To read his monuments, to weigh his dust, Visit his vaults and dwell among the tombs.” Again: Jehovah says that He is his equal. “Awake, O, sword, against, my shepherd, and the man that is my fellow, (equal,) saith the. Lord.” Zech. 18:7. “Therefore the Jews sought the more to Mil him, because he had not only broken the Sabbath, -but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. “ Then answered Jesus, and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do, for what thing soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son- likewise.. ’.. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.” John 5:18-21. The Jews understood our Savior right, when they said he made himself equal with God; for he conveyed the obvious idea that they, (that is, the Father and Son,) possess the same nature. The Jews accused him of two crimes; one was breaking the Sabbath, the other was making him the equal of God. We learn from what our Lord said at this time, that 1. God does no works but what Christ also does. 2. The Son can do nothing but what he sees the Father do, consequently if the Son has sinned, the Father also has sinned. If the Son has broken the Sabbath, the Father has broken it also. 3. That such was the union of nature and design between them, that one did nothing without the other, and what either did was equally the work of both. The text in Zechariah, which we have just cited, proves this equality beyond the possibility of confutation. “ The man that is my fellow,” (Heb. Ve-al geber amiti.) The hero that is with me. Here inspiration acknowledges the equality between the Father and Son. Again. Jesus says, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” John 14:9. These words our Lord addressed to Philip, when he wished Christ to show them the Father. He seemed to possess the same feeling that Moses did when he said, “ I beseech thee show me thy glory.” Exodus 33:18. He was not with the three apostles to whom the transfiguration was exhibited, and therefore was in some degree, at least, excusable for making this request. What angel could in truth say to Philip, “’If you have seen me, you have seen God?” Was Jesus trying to deceive Philip and the rest of the disciples? Certainly not. How could they understand him to be a creature when he said this? He also told them that he was in the Father and the Father in him, and the very works that he did, the Father that dwelt in him really performed. “ I and my FATHER are ONE.” John 10:30. Could any created being truly say, “I and God Almighty are One?” Certainly no one would answer this affirmatively. Well, Jesus did say this, and we must acknowledge him to have been correct. With these unequivocal declarations of inspiration before us, how can we deny that the Lord Jesus, in his divine nature, was equal with the Father? And if he possessed but one nature, and that derived, must we not unavoidably suspect his veracity! “ Let God be true and every man a liar.” Paul. How supremely irreverent it would be for us to call in question the veracity of him whose garments, are Unsullied) whose throne is unspotted, whose messengers are the holy angels, whose palace is the heavens, and who hurls the thunderbolts of God, and guides the lightnings in their vivid march. With what trembling awe should we receive all his precious instructions, and humbly sit at his feet, and devoutly implore the guidance of his Spirit. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: 10 - CHAPTER 10 ======================================================================== CHAPTER X. Jesus Christ, in his, divine nature, is God. As we have before stated, so we say again: if Jesus Christ possessed but one nature, that must have been derived or underived, created or uncreated. If he possessed but one nature, and that was created, it would be blasphemy to call him God, in the sense that we call Jehovah God. We have already, in Chapter 3, as we humbly conceive, proved that Jesus Christ is an object of divine worship, and this is now urged as an evidence of his supreme divinity. Indeed, it seems almost unaccountable, that any one who has read the second commandment, can bow down and worship a being whom at the same time he acknowledges to be a creature! This would be idolatry. But we see that the worship of Christ is placed in direct opposition to the worship of idols. 1 Corinthians 8:4-6. It is evident that the same things which in the Old Testament are ascribed to Jehovah, are, in the New Testament, ascribed to bur Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We add only a few. Isaiah 6:5-10. “Then said I wo is me! for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD OF HOSTS. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from off the altar, and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo! This hath touched thy lips,and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying unto me, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send me. And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, and perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed.” John 12:37-41. “But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him, that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake:-- Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias when he saw his glory and spake of him.” Psalms 78:56 “Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not His testimonies.” 1 Corinthians 10:9 “Neither let us tempt CHRIST, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.” We see, from these passages, that the Preserver, Director, and Controller of all things, to whom the Old Testament writers ascribe the name GOD, is called Christ in the New Testament. But as further proof of the supreme divinity of our Savior, we will transcribe the testimony of John, “In the beginning-was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.’ 1 John 1:13. Verse 10. “And the world was made by him.” It is evident that before there was any creation, all was eternity. When creation was not begun, ell that then existed was certainly self existent. Self-existence implies eternal existence. John speaks in the manner in which Moses spake when he said, “In the beginning God created.” “In the beginning,” (En arche,) seems to carry our minds -back as. far a our finite capacities can extend, and at that time (if we may thus speak,) this “ Word,” (Logo,) existed. Was he an attribute of God? Was he only the reason of God? or was he truly God, as John testifies. This Logos was either .a real existence or he was not. If it is said that this “ Word” was only the wisdom of God, or an attribute of Jehovah, how can it be said that one of the attributes of God “became flesh, and dwelt among men?” And why is not some of the other attributes of God personified? Admitting the Logos to have been an attribute of God, there could certainly be no reason for saying that he was with God,” for the attributes of all beings are with them. There never, perhaps, was any one, who held that the “power” of” God was not with him. But mark John does not only say that the “ Logos” was with God, but that he was God. But, to use the words of another, in part, it is difficult for us to divine how he could say, that any attribute, (power or wisdom,) was God, understanding the word! “God?’ in any sense whatever. If it means supreme God, then it reduces itself to this; either that one attribute is the supreme God, or there as many Gods as attributes. If it mean an inferior God, then the wisdom of God, being an inferior God, implies that the other attributes are superior Gods; or else that his Wisdom holds the place of quasi God,* while his other attributes occupy a lower place. Again: if it is said that the Logos or. Wisdom does not signify an attribute of God, but his essence, how could it be called “Theos,” for the divine essence is called, Theiotes. Theos, (God,) implies an agent or person, and not the essence of a person. Now, is an express revelation necessary to teach us that the attributes of God are with God? or what can be thought of the assertion, that the wisdom or power of God is God himself. But “ the Logos was with God” all agree with God the Father. Was not, then, the Logos, who was with God, diverse from that God with whom he was, at least in some sense? It was the same being who became incarnate, and was in some respect diverse from the Father, and therefore not to be confounded with him, consequently he was not an essence, nor yet an attribute of God. “And the Logos was God.” ’ If, as Some aver, the Logos is the wisdom of God, and not in anywise distinct from the Father, it involves the depths of mystecism to say that he was God, What would be thought, should a man gravely assert that the wisdom of a man was the man himself? John plainly informs us that while the Logos was God, (Theos,) at the same time there was* a sense in which he was wit h God. In order, then, that the words. of John can have any possible meaning, a distinction in the Godhead, must, we think, unavoidably be admitted; that is, that the Father in all respects, is not the same as the Son. But what could be the object of John in asserting that the Logos was with God? We answer, =to indicate conjunction, familiarity, and society. Thus far, we see that the evidence of the supreme divinity of our Lord is conclusive. Christ is called the Lord of Hosts. “ Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence,” &c; Isaiah 8:13-14. This prophecy was fulfilled and applied by the spirit of inspiration to 1 Christ our Savior. 1 Peter 2:4. It is altogether unnecessary to swell the number of quotations; for, if the texts brought are relevant to the subject of discussion, they are enough to sustain the proposition, that Christ in his divine nature is the supreme God. _ We wijl only add a few more. “ To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.” Jude 1:21 verse.,” Of whom, as concerning the flesh } Christ came, who is over ALL, God blessed forever.” Romans 9:5. “As concerning the flesh,” to kata sarkdi This has respect to his human nature, as may be readily proved by consulting corresponding passages. “Romans 1:3. “ Who is over all, God blessed forever Amen.” Ho on epi pant on Theos eulogetos eistous aionas. Amen. This is properly translated, “Who is supreme God blessed forever.” Nor is there different sense conveyed when we say, “supreme God,” and when we read more literally, “ over ALL God.” Is there any God infinitely above him who is styled, epi pant on Theos? Certainly this phrase means nothing but supreme God. It is clear from this text that Christ, in some sense, descended from the Father,.(that is, in respect to his human nature,) and that at the same time he was in some sense, (that is, in his divine nature,) over all God, or supreme God. “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.” This the apostle affirms was said to the SON. “But unto the Son he saith.” Hebrews 1:8 “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” 1 John 5:20. There can be no doubt that John refers to Christ when he says, “This is the true God and eternal life.” He frequently applies the appellation, LIFE, and ETERNAL LIFE, to Christ. “In him, (Christ,) was LIFE, the LIFE was the light of men giving LIFE to the world.” “ For the Life was manifested and w have seen it, and bear witness, and show “unto you that ETERNAL LIFE, which was with the Father; and was manifested unto us;” 1 John 1:2; John nowhere calls the Father the life,! ETERNAL life, and so we must conclude that he calls Jesus Christ the “ True God,” and indeed why should he not, when he had previously said “ the Word was GOD.” But, without multiplying proof on this point, we refer this proposition to the candid reader; and inquire: Is not Jesus Christ called God in the New Testament, in such a sense, that there can be no doubt that the supreme God is certainly intended? If Jesus Christ is what HE and the holy apostles say he is, he should be revered as such. It is not safe to trifle with his holy character, of try to drag him down among created beings and things. We shaft “ See the Eternal Judge descending,” and hear his awful voice, and stand before his dread tribunal. God grant that we may be prepared for that solemn scene. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: 11 - CHAPTER 11 ======================================================================== CHAPTER XI. There is a Plurality of Persons in the Godhead. WE use the Words “per sons ’in the Godhead,’ only to, convey an idea directly opposite, to the doctrine which asserts that the Son is a being, created or produced by the Father, infinitely distinct (being only a creature,) and that the; Holy Spirit in only an emanation, attribute, or power, of the Father, and in no sense distinct from him. We do not use the term “persons,” when applied to God to denote separate and distinct existence in the being of God, but we apply it to the term Godhead in order to convey the idea that the essence of God is known to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that the Son is not a creature, but truly God, and the Holy Spirit is not a “ power,” or “ energy,” of the Father, but that he, also, is truly God. It if evident that a distinction in the Godhead exists, but it is equally evident that we cannot define that distinction by the term persons, so as to convey the idea we intend, without giving the sense in which we use the term. ^By person, then, we mean “that which can design.” It is not denied by Unitarians, that in this,-or any sense of this term, the Son is a person. This is admitted on all hands, then it only remains for us to prove that the Holy Spirit is a. person, and not an attribute of another person. The reader will bear in mind, that this proposition viz. That the Spirit is an agent, a designer, and not la power, or an attribute of the Father, is” the fulcrum on which the Whole matter now rests, and on which it turns. Why, then, do we conclude that the Holy Spirit is a person, and not a power of another person? 1. “The Scriptures, ascribe to the Holy Ghost the ACTS and attributes of an intelligent being. He is said to guide, (John 16:13,) to know, (1 Corinthians 2:11,) to move, (Genesis 1:2,) to give information, (Acts 10:19,) to command, (Acts 13:2,) to forbid, (Acts 16:1-40) to send forth, (Acts 18:4,) to reprove, (John 16:8,) and to be sinned against, (Mat. 12:82.) 2. The attributes of God are applied to the Holy Ghost; such as eternity, (Hebrews 9:14,) omnipresence, (Psalms 139:7,) omniscience, (1 Corinthians 2:10-11) goodness and truth, (Nehemiah 9:20. John 14:17.) 3. The works of God are ascribed to the Holy Ghost. Creation, (Job 26:13,) inspiration, (2 Peter 1:21,) giving of life and sanctification, (.1 Peter 3:18. 1 Corinthians 6:11.) NOW, reader, can you think that the Holy Spirit is a mere attribute or power, or emanation of the Father? Will you not say he is - an agent, a designer 1 } If so, this is all we wished to prove, for Unitarians do not contend that the Holy Ghost was ever created. It has been, and can be, as readily proved that the Holy Spirit designs, as that there is a Holy Spirit at all. Now, what folly it would be to assert that there is design, and yet no ’designer or that HE who designs is no agent no intelligent teing, and nq; person. “This, with- all its absurdity, is the inevitable and unavoidable result of denying the personality ^of the Holy Ghost. How our soul recoils at the ^thought of stripping.the Holy Spirit of design, and intention, and personality. Love to the Holy Comforter would prompt, us to say: “Hail God the FATHER, heavenly light; Hail CHRIST the SON, my soul’s delight; Hail HOLY GHOST, come dwell with me, Through time and in eternity.” There is abundant evidence of a distinction in the Godhead, and we ask, if Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, do not constitute this divine essence, denominated “Godhead” What does constitute it? But if the Holy Ghost is only an attribute, how with any degree of propriety could he be said to be sinned against? “Were the Holy Ghost only an attribute of God, this Unpardonable, sin could not be committed against him. For, though man can sin against an individual, he cannot sin against one of his attributes, abstractly considered.” (Treatise, p. 49.) This distinction in the Godhead, which we wish to make, by use of the term “person*” then, is one that never leads us as Trinitarians to the acknowledgement of more than one God. It is admitted, and positively declared, in the creeds of Trinitarians, that there is, numerically but ONE God, Why, then, should our Unitarian friends endeavor to force upon our meaning of the term, the -’unwarranted idea that we do mean by “ person” when applied to the divine Being, to convey the idea of more Gods than one? We repel the assertion. Again. The plurality of persons or hypostases in the Godhead is proved by the use that the pen of inspiration has made of the supreme name the noun and pronoun. Genesis 1:26. cc Let us ’make man.” Genesis 3:22. “The man has become like one of MS.” This the “Lord God” says, “ And the Lord God said, “Behold the man is become a*s ONE OP US.” How could this expression of Jehovah have been made, if there is no distinction in the Godhead? Genesis 11:7. “Let US go down, and there confound their language?” Isaiah 6:8. “ Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for US.” Indeed in the very first verse of the Hebrew Bible this plurality in the Godhead is, brought to view. Yes, in the first mention that is made of the Supreme Being. “ The original word Elohim, God, is certainly the plural from el, and has long been supposed by the most eminently learned and pious men, to imply a plurality of persons in the divine nature. As this plurality appears in so many parts of the sacred writings, to be confined to three persons, hence the doctrine of the TRINITY, which has formed a part of the creed of all those who hare been deemed sound in the faith from the earliest ages of Christianity. Nor are the Christians singular in receiving this doctrine, and in deriving it from the first words of Divine Revelation. An eminent Jewish rabbin, Simeon ben Joachi, in his comment on the sixth section of Leviticus, has these remarkable words: “Come and see the mystery of the word Elohim: there are three degrees and each degree by itself alone, and yet notwithstanding they are all one and joined together in one, and are not divided from each other.” He must be strangely prejudiced indeed who cannot see that the doctrine of a Trinity, and of a Trinity in Unity, is clearly expressed in the above words.” [1] The phrase “Bara Elohim,” “ the God’s created,” occurs more than thirty times in the short history of the creation. The phrase JEHOVAH ELOHIM, the Lord Gods,” occurs at least one hundred and thirty times in the law of Moses. [2] “ Go ye,” says the blessed Jesus, “ teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” Matthew 28:19. It may be well to remark again, that it is a more literal translation, to read, instead of baptizing them “ in the name,” “ info the name,” as the preposition (eis) into is used in the original and not the preposition (en) in. This does, we think, not mean, “ by the authority” but into a recognition of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as the Supreme God. [3] This it appears was the acknowledgment of those who were baptized. [1] See Clarke on Genesis 1:1. [2] See Tomlin’s Theology and Hebrew Bible. [3] See Chap. iii. of this work. Be this, however, as it may, there was evidently a distinction made between the Father and the Son in this commission, and also between them both and the Holy Ghost. Unitarians will admit the distinction between the Father and Son, but not between the Father and the Holy Ghost. But admitting, as Unitarians say, that the Holy Spirit is only a “power,” or “attribute,” of the Father, and that the Son is” a creature “ neither self-existent nor eternal,” and we must read the commission, “ Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,” (mark,) “ baptizing them in the name of the Supreme God, and in. the name of a finite creature, and in the name of a power or attribute of the Supreme God. And this last name would be mere tautology, for when an individual is baptized in the name of the Father, this embraces all his attributes, and then to call the name of one of these attributes over the candidate would be only tautology. But to pretend that the Son and Holy Spirit should be associated with the Supreme God in this solemn act, while there did exist such an infinite disparity, one being only a creature, the 1 other an attribute of the Father who had just been named, discovers almost impervious darkness of mind, or a determined obstinacy and self-will. Says the word of inspiration, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13:14. Will it here be denied that the Father is a person? “Will it be contended that the Son is not a person not an agent? No, we presume not by any one. But was. the Holy Ghost a person, or an agent? This then, is the question we wish to settle, and we think it will soon be settled in the mind of every candid reader, that there is the same evidence of the personality of the Holy Spirit, that there is of the Son, or the Father. Did Paul invoke the blessing of the Supreme God; and of a creature and of an attribute of _the Supreme God, to rest upon these saints? When Christ was baptized in the Jordan. the Father, speaking from heaven, and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, and lighting upon him, was there no proof of the personality of the Holy Spirit? And when the body’s of our Savior is divinely said to have been conceived by the Holy Ghost, is there no evidence that the Holy Spirit was & person, an agent? We most solemnly conceive, that the reason that some see no, evidence of the personality of the Holy Ghost, is because they will not see it. If then the personality of the Holy Spirit is sustained, the Unitarian notion that HE is only a.” power” falls, and all the appendages of this notion must fall with it. We will soon conclude this chapter, after most devoutly saying with Dr. Watts “Come Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, With all thy quick’ning powers, Come shed abroad a Savior’s love, And that shall kindle ours.” Again, in proof of the personality of the Holy Spirit, we will only remark, that the Holy Spirit is represented as having a mind. “ And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the SPIRIT, because HE maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:27. Here we have it expressly declared, that he that searches the hearts knows what is the MIND OF THE SPIRIT. Here is an active, efficient agent brought to view, possessed of a mind and called the Spirit. This proves his personality beyond a doubt, if we doubt not the personality of the Father. It also shows a distinction between the Holy Spirit and the Father, and this we terra personality, because we can find no word that will better convey the idea we wish to convey, than the word “ person.” We do not pretend to be competent to fathom the manner of this distinction in the Godhead, any more than we do to comprehend the uncreated existence of Jehovah, yet we admit it as a fact firmly based bu the authority of Divine Revelation. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: 12 - CHAPTER 12 ======================================================================== CHAPTER XII. The Number of Persons in the Godhead are Three. IN proof of this position, we shall show that the same attributes and works are applied to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that these attributes and works are those which belong to God alone. 1. Eternity. Father. “The eternal God is thy refuge.” Deuteronomy 33:27. Isaiah 40:28. Son. “ Before all things.” “ The beginning and the end.” Colossians 1:17. Revelation 1:8.. Spirit. “ Through the eternal Spirit.” Hebrews 9:14. 2. Omnipresence. Father. “Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:24. Son. “ The Son of Man which is in heaven.” John 3:13. Spirit. “ Whither shall I fly from thy Spirit.” Psalms 139:7. 3. Infinite knowledge. Father. “ Thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men.” 1 Kings 8:8-9. Son. “ He knew all men... what was in man.” “Thou Lord which knowest the hearts.” John 2:24. Acts 1:24. Spirit. The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 1 Corinthians 2:10. 4. Almighty power. Father. “ Power belongeth unto God.” “ Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.” Psalms 62:11. Matthew 6:13. Son. Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” “ All power in heaven and earth is given into my hands.” 1 Cor.l:24. Matthew 28:18. Spirit. “ Abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Romans 15:13. “By the poweif of the Spirit of God.” Verse 19. 5. Creation. Father. “Hast thou not heard, hast thou hot known that the everlasting God, the Lord[1], the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary.” Isaiah 40:28. Son. “ By him were all things created which are in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible.” Colossians 1:16. Spirit. “ The Spirit of God hath made me.” Job 33:4. 6. Each of these persons inhabits the same temple. Father. “Ye are the temple of the living God. God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them.” 2 Corinthians 6:16. Son. “ That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith: Christ is in you except you be reprobates.” Ephesians 3:17. 2 Corinthians 13:5. Spirit. “Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.” 1 Corinthians 6:19, and 1 Corinthians 13:13. 7. Each person possesses, and gives life. [2] Father. [1] Here the Creator seems to be spoken of in the person of the Father. [2] No being possesses life Inherently, and of himself, but God. “ The Lord thy God, he is thy life.” Deuteronomy 30:20. Son. “He that hath the Song of Solomon 5:1-16 hath life. In him was life;” “This is the true God and eternal life.” John 5:12, John 1:8; 1 John 5:20.’ Spirit. “The Spirit is life.” Romans 8:10. 8. Each is said to raise the dead.Father. “God quickeneth the dead.” Romans 4:17...- Son. “The Son quickeneth whom HE will.’,’ John 5:21. “I have power to lay down my life and to take it again.” John 10:18. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John 2:19. “ He raised Lazarus,’ a daughter, and a widow’s son.” Spirit. “It is the Spirit that quickeneth.” John 6:68. “ Jesus Christ quickened by the Spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18. We may add, that from the Old Testament we have abundant proof of a plurality of person* in the Godhead, and in the New Testament, we find the number limited to three. This is evident from the doxologies to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and as we have already seen from the baptismal formula. We would ask, in view of the attributes and works, which are ascribed by the word of inspiration to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, if there is not a distinction in the Godhead?, We are aware that this distinction is clearly sustained, and that it is not a distinction of the attributes of one person, but that each of these distinctions has attributes which constitute them persons, agents, or designers. This being settled, we find the distinction is limited to three persons denominated in Scripture,. FATHER, SON and HOLY GHOST. The attributes ascribed to these persons, are the attributes of God and none else. The attribute y eternity of existence, none save God can possess. Omnipresence cannot be the attribute of any creature, or thing. The power to impart life and resuscitate the dead,’ belongs inherently, as we have proved to each of the persons, and consequently they are all agents and, designers. We do not enter into proof of these last statements, for it is self-evident that such attributes as Eternity and Omnipresence belong to God alone, and that these powers and attributes must constitute the possessor an intelligent agent, and consequently a person. How devoutly, then y should we regard the name of the “ Sacred Three,?’ who co-operate in the scheme of man’s salvation, in such perfect oneness. “To God the Father’s throne, Perpetual honors raise, Glory to God the Son, To God the Spirit praise. With all bur powers, Eternal King, Thy name we sing,. While faith adores.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: 13 - CHAPTER 13 ======================================================================== CHAPTER XIII. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are one God. TRINITARIANS are often accused of holding sentiments, which involve the idea of “three self-existent and eternal Gods.” This assertion is not fairly made, because we do not, in the- distinction we make in the, Godhead, by the term “persons” wish to convey, nor do we convey, the idea of three distinct Gods, and it is certainly unfair and illiberal to force a meaning upon our language, in respect to this subject, while we positively assert that such is not the sense in which we use the term. In the sense in which we use the term persons, no idea of a plurality of Gods is involved. While we assert the trinity of persons in the Godhead, we also believe in the unify of God. In all the confessions of faith among Trinitarians on this point, there is but one idea, and that is “ there is but one God.” We have now before us the testimony of eleven or twelve Trinitarian creeds on this point, and their united declaration is, “There is but one God.” But in what does this oneness of God consist? We say it consists of three distinctions in the Godhead, known to us. by the appellations, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and in order to distinguish them from mere attributes as one person or agent, we use the term “ person,” and apply that term to each of them. We ask any candid man if this is an acknowledgment of three Gods. The word trinity, in itself, conveys the idea we wish to convey. It will be remembered that this word is composed of the two Latin numerals, tres and unus. Tres signifies three, and unus one, and it is saying three in one. “How can three be one, and one three?” “In no way we necessarily and cheerfully -reply.”. “ How then is the doctrine of Trinity in 1 Unity to be vindicated?” In a manner that is not at all embarrassed by these questions. “ We do not maintain that the Godhead is three in the same respects that it is one, but the reverse.” Our Lord Jesus Christ is God, as we view the subject, only in connection with the Father, and Holy Spirit, and so we believe in respect tp the -Father and the Holy Spirit. The three distinctions in the Godhead, termed by us persons, are one in essence, and eternity^ and but one God. But to the law and the testimony. “Now there are divers gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are differences of administrations but the same Lord, and there are diversities of operations but the same God worketh ALL in all.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-6. “I and my Father are one.” John 14:8. “He that hath seen me bath seen the Father.” John 14:9. “For there are three that bare record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are ONE.” 1 John 5:7. In the first text we have just quoted^ we find that gifts are attributed to the Spirit, Administrations to the Lord Jesus Christ, and Operations to God the Father, and yet it is said that the “ same God worketh all in all.” It will still be borne in mind that Unitarians agree that the Father and Holy Ghost are one, and Jesus says: “I and my FATHER are ONE. We think we need not multiply proofs that the essence of God, or the Godhead, is known to us in three distinctions, denominated in the Holy Wordy Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that “ these three are one.” ’And how ’ “ “To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, One God whom we adore, Be glory, as it was, ia now, And shall be evermore.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: 14 - CHAPTER 14 ======================================================================== CHAPTER XIV. Consequences of the doctrine which teaches that Jesus Christ is not truly God, and truly man. WHILE we state the logical result of the Unitarian in system, we hope that our deductions may be fairly made. We aim to have them just, and we trust he reader will be convinced that this is our intention. But how dark is the picture before us! 1. If Jesus Christ is not truly God, he was not the promised Messiah. The promised Messiah was one “whose goings forth were from old, even from everlasting.” Micah 5:2. “His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6. If He was not God, in his Divine nature, how could his “ goings forth” have been from everlasting? and how could he have been the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father?[1] He [1]The reader is referred to a note on the words, “ Everlasting Father” in chapter xvii. of this work. We hope Trinitarians will be careful never to confound the personality of the Father with that of [he Son. Great injury is done to the cause of truth by taking this course. Some of the hymns of Trinitarians are to be repudiated on this ground. We will mention one or two. “Well might the sun in darkness hide, And shut his glory in, When God the mighty Maker died, For man the creature’s sin.” Christ, in his divine nature, created the worlds, but in his human nature he Buffered, to atone for our Bins, The essence of God can neither bleed nor die, It would be better to sing, “ When Christ the mighty Savior died.” We will copy another verse of the same kind. “O love divine, what hast thou done, The immortal God has died for me, The Father’s co-eternal Son Bore all my sins upon the tree; The immortal God for me hath died, My Lord, my Love, is crucified.” Now, the sentiment of this verse is not only incorrect, but it is absurd.. Immortal, means undying; and to say immortal life ceased that that which could not die, did die, la absurd. The dullest intellect can see this. could not have been thus described. Then the prophecies respecting him are not fulfilled, and consequently he is not the promised Messiah. 2. The Mosaic dispensation is not abrogated, but is iii full force and virtue. “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Genesis 49:10. 3. The Jews were not to blame for putting him to death for blasphemy. “ Art thou the Christ? Tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe, and if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the POWER of God. Then said they all, Art thou the Son of God? And he said unto them, ye say that I am. And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth.” Luke 22:67-71. For this they crucified him. “ Because he being man rnaketh himself God,” for he said “ I am the Son of God.” If he was in no sense God, then his execution, was just and according to their law, for he made himself God, which would have been blasphemy. ’ 4. No atonement for sin is made. If he was a creature, he could only, do his own duty, and consequently could have done nothing to set to our account, nor restore that which he took not away. 5. Christ was a vile deceiver and impostor. He told Philip that he that had seen him^ had seen his Father also. He also stated to Nicodemus that while he talked with him, he was at that moment “in heaven.” 6. The New Testament is a cunningly devised fable. If Jesus Christ was “ all divine,” he had no blood to shed, nor could divinity die and rise from the grave. So our faith in Jesus Christ is vain, and the holy apostles are false witnesses, for they testified he rose from the dead. 7. The Christian religion is a deception, for God was not manifested in the flesh, in the person of the blessed Savior. ’ 8. The most pious Christians on earth are gross idolaters. They have always “called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and worshiped him, as the Supreme Deity. 9. All who worship Jesus Christ as God, will unavoidably be lost, for we are commanded to worship none but God. 10. The true Messiah is yet to come. 11. Judaism is true. 12. Deism is correct. 13. Mohammedanism is preferable to Christianity. Mohammed charged the Christians with idolatry because they worshiped Jesus Christ, which he considered the unpardonable sin. Says he, “Surely God will not pardon the giving him an equal. Verily God will not pardon the giving him a companion, but he will pardon any crime besides that.” Kor. Vol. ii. p. 104. Again he says, “When ye encounter unbelievers, strike off their heads... kill idolaters wherever you find them.” Voltaire, Mohammed, and all the infidel world, have tried to destroy the worship, rendered to Jesus Christ. Voltaire’s most blasphemous watchword was, “ecrasez l’ infame;” that is, “crush the wretch,” meaning Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ is not God, his worship is idolatry, and the Koran is true instead of the Bible. Mohammedans, Atheists, and Deists, all ridicule the doctrine of the Trinity, and are all in sentiment Unitarians. We grant that a person may be a Unitarian and not be a Deist, but he cannot be a Deist unless he is a Unitarian. And we heartily believe that there are some misguided Christians that embrace this deadly doctrine, but we can see no middle ground between- Trinitarianism and naked Deism. “ We now ask the reader:. Are not the above inferences purely logical? If they are, the doctrine of Unitarianism is death to Christianity. Dark indeed is the system, and its tendency is to sap the very foundation of every true believer’s hopes of Walking the paradise of God. It is a blow at the root of all revealed religion. 14;. The tendency of Unitarianism is, to the disbelief of the sacred word of God. In proof on this point we will copy a report of a sermon, delivered in Boston at the recent ordination of the Rev. Charles C. Shackford, by the Rev. Theodore Parker of Spring Street, Roxbury. It was reported by J. II. Fairchild, pastor of Philips church, Thos. Driver, pastor of South Bap. church, and Z. B. C. Dunham, pastor of 5th M. E. church, Boston, May 28, 1841. We copy, the caption prefixed by the editor of the Morning Star. “UNITARIANISM. Christians will read the following with feelings of regret and pain. It shows the downward tendency of Unitarianism, and the importance of maintaining sound doctrine and wholesome discipline.” SERMON. Text Heaven and earth shall past away, but my words shall not pass away. “It has been assumed that every word of the Scriptures was inspired, with all their vulgarities, absurdities, and impieties* Men have appealed Jo the Old Testament, as authority, and condemned some of the most pious and devoted, as infidels, because they could not believe all’ which is written in it as inspired, where there is much, never, perhaps, designed to be taken as truth. Thus questions have been settled by the authority of the Old Testament. It has been assumed that the Old Testament, in all its parts was inspired, and men have been stigmatized as heretics and infidels, who would not give up their reason and humanity to the belief of the story of Abraham and his son, as of divine origin, a story which is revolting to justice and humanity. The same has been assumed of the New Testament, the obvious contradictions and absurdities of- which are everywhere, apparent; and which contains stories the most incredible arid sometimes shocking to decency. And yet this book is declared to be the word of God and given by divine inspiration! What apostle ever pretended that this book was divinely inspired? Did Jesus Christ ever assume that he spoke by divine inspiration? The great body of Christian professors make their doctrines rest on the authority of Jesus Christ, and not on pure Christianity. Real Christianity life was out of the church, and in the world, for the first four centuries. Doctrines have nothing to do with a man’s Christianity. ’ Christianity would have lost nothing by the perishing of the Old Testament or the New. And if different individuals should arrive at different results, and even opposite results, still, this will not affect their Christianity, or authorize the withholding of Christian fellowship. Christianity is true, but all systems of Christians are, false.. Because some pious Christians have cut off the end of John’s gospel, and the beginning of Matthew’s, they have been branded as infidels. Christianity does not rest on the opinions of a few pious fishermen, or on the New Testament. Christianity was the same nineteen centuries before Christ, as nineteen centuries after Christ. The Bible is not our master or despot. We may take the Prophets as our teachers, but we must not bow down to their idol notions. The Bible does not tell us that God exhausted his capabilities in creating Jesus Christ. We may yet expect men, as gifted and elevated, or, even mote so, as Christianity is hereafter unfolded. ’ We are not saved by Christ who lived nineteen centuries ago, but by the Christ that we find in our own hearts. If it could be proved that Christ never lived, or that he was an impostor, still Christianity would not be affected by it! So. if the apostles had never lived, or were impostors, Christianity would still be the same. It was, taught by nature. Christianity has no creed, or, if it has a creed y it is a creed of only one- article^ viz. that there is a God. Christianity must be tried by the oracle in the human heart. We want no one to stand between Us and God, If we would have the full benefits of a spiritual Christianity, we must worship the Father as Jesus did, with no intervening mediator and then we shall be like Christ.” Here we have Infidelity—daring, bloated, unvarnished Infidelity, preached at an ordination, by a professed minister of the gospel, under the curtains and coverings of Unitarianism. Such men in the sacred desk! Wolves in sheep’s clothing!! Now we ask the candid reader, Does not trinitarianism tend to the disbelief of God*s holy word? and were we incorrect when we stated that there was no middle ground in our view, between Trinitarianism and Deism? Satan, the old red dragon, when the church was in its infancy, clad himself in his crimson garb; and dyed it deeper still in the Martyr’s blood. But when the church became more numerous, he laid aside his blood-stained dress, and clothed himself in white, or.” transformed himself into an angel of light,” and we need not marvel that his ministers should do the same. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: 15 - CHAPTER 15 ======================================================================== CHAPTER XV; The Statements and Doctrine of Unitarians. THERE are a number of classes or societies, who agree in the Unitarian doctrine, while they disagree in many other matters of faith. Some of these societies take the name Unitarian, or Congregational Unitarian. Others call themselves Christians, and we are informed by a very respectable member of the Universalist society, that they also are Unitarians. It is a very difficult matter to state what Unitarians believe respecting Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, for they do not seem to agree among themselves, yet it is easy to see what they do not believe. The Unitarians have formerly existed under the names of Arians, Sabellians and Socinians. The Aryans were the followers of Arius, who was a presbyter of the church of Alexandria about the year 315. “Arius maintained that the Son of God was totally and essentially distinct from the Father; that he was the first and noblest of those beings whom God had created the instrument by whose subordinate operations he formed the universe. He also held that the Son was inferior to the Father, both in nature and dignity, that the Holy Ghost was not God, but created by the power of the Son.” His views respecting the Son seem to harmonize perfectly with the views of modern Unitarians, but they, perhaps, differ in respect to the nature of the Holy Spirit. The Sabellians were “the followers of Sabellias, a philosopher of Egypt, who flourished in the third century. The Sabellians held that there was but one person in the” Godhead that the Word and Holy Spirit are only virtues, emanations or functions of the deity; that the Father of all things was born of the Virgin, that he diffused himself on the apostles in tongues of fire, and was then denominated the Holy Ghost.” That there is but one person in the Godhead, is the belief of modern Unitarians. So here they agree with the ancient Sabellians. Also, do they seem to agree that the Holy Ghost is only an emanation of the Father, but further they seem not to agree.. The Socinians were so called from Faustus Socinus, who died in Poland in 1604. They maintain “ that Jesus Christ was a mere man, who had no existence before he was conceived by the Virgin Mary, that the Holy Ghost is no distinct person, but that the Father is truly and properly God.” With this, modern Socinians, or Unitarians, will not fully agree. They agree, or seem to agree, that only the Father is properly God, and that the Holy Ghost is in no sense a person, or distinct from the Father. They seem to disagree in this, that Jesus Christ did exist before his nativity f but yet they deny that his existence was eternal, and unequivocally affirm that “ Jesus Christ is not eternal,”’- We will now attend more particularly to the statements of modern Unitarians. Says a modern Unitarian,[1] while speaking of what Christ is not: “ He is not unoriginated, he is not self-existent, not immortal, not unchangeable, not omniscient, not all-wise, not all-good, not all powerful, he is not omnipresent.” We now have it fairly stated what Christ is not, and these statements leave us to infer after all, what he really is, in view of Unitarians. Says the same writer, “Christ possesses but one nature.” “The two nature doctrine,” he says, “is essentially incredible, a palpable contradiction.” ”The doctrine of the two natures, implicates the moral character of the Holy Jesus.”[2] Again he says, “Christ testifies that he is not God;” “Jesus denies being God denies calling himself God, and repels the accusation of blasphemy, even on the supposition he had called himself God.” [3] Again, “The Father is the only true God.” “Trinitarians professedly worship two other objects beside the Father.”, “I see not how they can claim the character of * True worshipers.’ “[4] [1]The Unitarian just named, is Mr. Morgridge. The above is found in his “ True Believers’ Defence,” page 50. Mr.Morgridg is a minister of the Christian denomination. He seems to have possessed a peculiar faculty for disposing of those texts which deal death to his system, for when there was no other way for him to clear his system from collision with the positive declarations of Jehovah, he pronounced them “spurious,” with all the boldness of a Bolinbroke. [2]See Morgridge’s “ True Believers’ Defence,” page 70. [3]See page 44 of the above-named work. [4]See page 40. Query. Does he not mean to convey the idea From the above, it is clear what modern Unitarians think Christ is no?, but it is not stated what he is. Says another Unitarian writer, while trying to prove that Christ was not omniscient: “Of that day and hour knoweth no man.” “This,” says he, “would embrace his human nature, if he had one; and then what? Why, he now rises to angels, no, not the angels, and from an angel he rises higher still, arid says, neither the Son. This certainly embraces his highest nature, above angels, and yet the Son in his highest nature, -did not know when the day of judgment would be.”[1] Says another, “ The power or wisdom of God was made flesh, a little above our flesh, a little above human flesh.” “ The flesh came down from that Jesus Christ is not an object of religions worship? and If those who worship him are not true worshipers, are they not idolaters? [1]The writer of this extract is Elder Oliver Barr, a minister of the Christian denomination,’ formerly of Sinclearsville, N. York. The pamphlet from which we copy is entitled, “ Truth Triumphant,’’ 1 p. 14. It seems that with all his sagacity he did not discover that he flatly contradicted the Bible. “ But we see Jesus, -who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.” -Hebrews 2:9. Now, if he possessed but one nature, it must have been that nature which St. Paul meant, when he said, he was made a little lower than the angels. Elder Burr thinks that the Lord. Jesus rises from angels to himself, but on the hypothesis that he possesses only one nature, he falls down from angels to himself, or the text we have quoted is false. But there is one way to avoid any collision with inspiration. Just get Mr. Morgridge to pronounce it “ spurious.’“ heaven and became poor.” ’ That which died on the cross, human or divine, call it which you please, is worshiped in heaven.” -’“ We worship two beings, the Father and the Son,” “ The Holy Ghost is not a person at all, but in a power of the Father and a good power.” [1] We might multiply statements to show where these negative assertions place the blessed Savior, but the foregoing we think may suffice. From these statements, we wish to draw our conclusions in accordance with their nature and designs; and in this way we hope to ascertain the certainty or fallacy of the doctrine. We shall therefore devote the subsequent chapter to plain, logical deductions from the testimony and statements of modern Unitarians respecting their own views of the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. [1] These are the statements of Elder Badger of the Christian denomination, made at Parma, N. York, in his discussion with the writer. Mr. Badger was formerly editor of the “ Palladium.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: 16 - CHAPTER 16 ======================================================================== CHAPTER XVI. Plain Logical Deductions from the Statements of modern Unitarians. -!N the following conclusions and deductions, we shall endeavor to draw such inferences as the sense most obviously dictates. We have no design to make deductions foreign from the design of the authors we have cited, knowing if we do we shall be contending with a “ man of straw.’* 1. Says one of the authors quoted, “ Jesus Christ is not unoriginated.” From this we conclude he must have had an origin, and there must have been a time when his origin took place, consequently there was a time when he was not originated, and of course when he did not exist. The Bible gives us the origin of his body, that is, his human nature; and if that was all the nature he possessed, he did not exist before the worlds were made. 2. “ Not self- existent.” If he is not self-existent, his existence must have been caused by some being, and that being gave him existence, consequently he is not the Creator, but is in every sense a creature, and if so, is unworthy of acts of religious worship. 3. “Not immortal.” The being who is not immortal must be mortal. This is as evident as the axiom that L “ whatever is, is.” That being that is mortal is subject to death. Then the deduction is, Jesus Christ our Savior may die! Man has one immortal nature, and if Jesus Christ possesses but one nature, and that is mortal, he is far below man. 4. “Not invisible.” Trinitarians do not pretend that the body of our Savior is invisible, but He says, “ Where two or three are assembled in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Certainly his body is not in the midst of every little group of saints, and it is equally certain, that his children know his presence to be invisible. Jesus Christ “ was God, manifested in the flesh,” and we cannot divine how a visible being can fill heaven and earth with his presence at the same time. John 3:13. 5. “Not unchangeable.” We “understand that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. Hebrews 13:8. (See chapter vii. page 24.) 6. “Not omniscient.” If this is correct, he has to learn things beyond the reach of his senses, by means of foreign instruction. This is making him like one of us. who only know what we are told, or what we learn from books. This would render him very incompetent to judge the world, or say “depart from me, ye workers of iniquity,” for his lack of omniscient knowledge, might lead him to err in judgment. And in fact, it would disqualify him for knowing the desires and prayers of his dear children here in the world. 7. “Not all-wise.” Then he may be deceived, and led astray. If he is not all-wise, he must be ignorant, at least in some degree. Jude calls him, “ The only Wise God, our SAVIOR.” 8. “Not all good!” How shocking is that sentiment. What blasphemy and irreverence of his sacred character! If this sentiment be correct, there must be faulty or wickedness attached to him. 9. “Not all-powerful.” There are, then, many things beyond his-power. He says he is the first and the last, the ALMIGHTY. He is said to be the “wisdom of God, and the power of God.” If this is true, his power may fail in the accomplishment of his designs, if. he has wisdom to design. 10. “ Not omnipresent.” If our Lord >Jesus Christ is not omnipresent, he is totally unable to fulfill his engagement to be with his disciples always even unto the end of the world. He could not be a much better Savior than Baal, when his prophets prophesied, and cried, “ O Baal, hear us.” We now see by these negative attributes, where Unitarians place Jesus Christ. Where is the man of whom the same might not be said, that here is said of the adorable Savior? A being who had his origin lately,[1] whose existence depends on another, who is mortal, changeable and in some respect not good, the Savior of this ruined world! Who could trust such a being with an immortal soul, in a day of trial and danger? Who could call on his name for help, in a dying hour, and say, “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit?” Who could trust the inter- [1] There is an infinite remove, in duration of existence, between the origin of any being that has had an origin, and the self-existent and Eternal God. ests of an undying soul to one who had, perhaps, only wisdom sufficient to manage his own concerns? It is the obvious deduction from each, and all the foregoing statements, that Jesus Christ is viewed by modern Unitarians as a mere, creature, in all respects a finite being, the production of creative power that his worshipers are not true worshipers that his worship is idolatry that he is incompetent to be_ our Mediator and unworthy of our worship or our praise; and when compared to the Eternal Being, he appears as a mere ephemera. The very moment he is robbed of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, he is reduced to a creature. What reasoning this. May God deliver his children from this snare, this stratagem of Satan. Soon the writers of the above statements will know whether Jesus Christ is omniscient or not whether he is possessed of the wisdom of the immutable God, or not, and whether he is all good or otherwise. The coming day will reveal the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: 17 - CHAPTER 17 ======================================================================== CHAPTER XVII. Some of the most Prominent Objections to the doctrine of the Trinity, considered. 1. Says Mr. Morgridge, “ The doctrine of the Trinity is to be rejected’, because the belief of it is impossible.” If this objection is correct, if it can be shown to be impossible for a man to believe the doctrine of the Trinity, in the sense and light in which Trinitarians hold it, then the consequences are these: First, Unitarians are under no obligation to believe it. Second* it is not true. Third, Trinitarians. do not believe it. Fourth, those who pretend to believe it, are all false witnesses, and liars. Fifth) Trinitarians are all hypocrites, or they would abandon it. Sixth, no man on earth does, or ever did, believe it. But where is this impossibility? It might be impossible for us to believe as Unitarians represent the doctrine of the Trinity. But as we hold it, there is no difficulty in believing it. Jesus Christ says, “ I and my Father are one.” “ He that hath seen me, hath seen. the Father.” Unitarians admit the Father and Holy Ghost to be one, and all they lack is to believe what Christ says, and then the matter is at rest. So the item that they esteem impossible to believe, lies between them and the Savior, and he says, “ except ye believe that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” 2. Says the same writer, “There is no passage of Scripture, that asserts that God is three.” We think there are a number. Not that say, however, that there are three Gods, but that bring to view in the character of God three distinctions, which we denominate persons. ’*’ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, (one,) the love of God, (two,) and the communion of the Holy Ghost, (three,) be with you.” “ In the name of the Father, (one,) and of the Son, (two,) and of the Holy Ghost,” (three?) “ Come ye near, I have not spoken in secret from the beginning, from the time that it was, there am I, (one,), and now the Lord God, (too,) and his Spirit, (three,) hath sent me.” Isaiah 48:16. 3. “ Trinitarians,” says Mr. Morgridge, “professedly worship two other objects beside the Father.” He thinks the Son is not to be worshiped as God. “ Ye cannot serve (Gr. Douleuein) God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24. “ Ye serve (Gr.-etouleuete,) the Lord Christ” Col. 8:24. Here the same word denoting service is applied to God and to Christ. Christ informed satan that it was written that God alone should be served, and his followers served the LORD Christ. They were either idolaters, or they considered Christ Lord of all. Again. “Thou shall worship (proskuneseis) the Lord thy God.” “ And they worshiped him,” (Christ) proskunesantes, &c. Luke 24:5-6. Here the same word, and one that conveys the idea of the same kind of worship, is applied to the Father, and also to the Son. Now are we to be considered idolaters because we also worship the LORD CHRIST? Where Christ speaks of the true worshipers,” he says they shall worship (Gr. prpskunesousi,”) the Father In Spirit. It was the manner of the worship he here speaks of. It was to be spiritual worship. He did not teach, that true worshipers should not worship the Son too in Spirit, but he taught men to “ Honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” 4. “Jesus denies being God, he denies calling himself God, and repels the accusation of blasphemy, even on the supposition he had called himself God.” [1] The same author on this point goes on to state, that Jesus did convince the Jews that they were wrong in charging him with blasphemy, and thus satisfied their minds. Now these statements are utterly incorrect. He did not deny making himself God. The Jews did not ask him if he was God, but they asked him if he was the Christ. John 10:24. He calls himself the Son of God, and testifies that he and his Father are one. We repeat it. He did not deny making himself God, after he was accused by the Jews, but repeated his former statement. John 10:88. The writer then states that the Jews were satisfied that he did not intend to be understood, as making himself God. They were not satisfied, and as they went to take him, he made his escape. John 10:1-42. It waa for this very sentiment, that he was condemned at the [1] See True Believer’s Defence, page 44. judgment seat of Caiaphas. Here he -was accused of professing to be the Christ, and Caiaphas said to him, “ I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the -Christ, the Son of God.” Then, under the solemnities of an oath, Jesus answers him affirmatively, and says, “ thou hast said.” “ Nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Matthew 26:63-64. Does this look as though he “repelled the accusation?”[1] Not at all; for on this acknowledgement he was condemned. We have already stated in chapter ix. that the Jews understood, the Savior, correctly. This is evident from the fact that they considered him guilty of blasphemy. Had they understood him, (as Unitarians do,) as only professing unity of sentiment and design, with the Father, they would not have accused him of blasphemy, for Moses, Elijah, and David, professed as much as that. He did not say he and his Father “ were one in the business of watching the sheep,” as Mr. Morgridge says he intended. But he professed an unity of nature with his Father. [1] When we read. these statements of Mr. Morgridge, a professed minister of Christ, we were shocked. When he states that “ Christ satisfied the Jews that He did not pretend to make himself God,” we could but suspect not only the piety, but the veracity of the man. The reader will find these quotations oil page 44, and the following pages, of his work. Now we ask; Did Jesus Christ decline the appellation, GOD? Did he deny being GOD?, Not at all. But when one of his disciples looks on him, and says to him, “My Lord and my GOD,?’ he seemed to incur the approbation of the blessed Savior. - “ Never did he satisfy the Jews that he did not intend to be understood as making himself equal with God. 5. It is stated by Mr. Morgridge and Mr. Barr, as well as other Unitarian writers, that our Lord Jesus is not omniscient, because there was one thing that he said he did not know. Mr. Barr thinks it was the “ day of judgment.” The, text they use to show him not omniscient is as follows. “ But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son but the Father.” Mark 13:82. Another evangelist has it thus. “ But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” Mat. 34:36. The expressions contained in these texts we acknowledge to be of the same, or nearly the same, import. In Matthew, however, the “ Son” is omitted. We will now endeavor to come at the sense of the text quoted from Mark.. Says the Savior to the Pharisees, “ Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.” John 8:15. Again he says, “ The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” John 5:22. In the first of these texts, he was asked to pass his judgment upon a certain woman. He informed them that that was not ’his present business. Not that he had no power to judge, for long before this he had told them that “all judgment was committed to the Son;” but he wished to inform them that in his present employment he could not judge in that matter. One thing is clear, he had the power or ability of knowing that day he spoke of, or he had not. The “day and hour,” the Savior spoke of, was not the “day of judgment j” but he spoke of the desolation of the Holy City. [1] All the preceding and attending circumstances he described, and the result of the day. He told his disciples, that of the temple, there should not “ be left one stone upon another that should not be thrown down.” He also knew that “ her enemies would cast a trench” around the city. Daniel fixed the year of the destruction of Jerusalem more than five hun- [1]1. It is evident that Christ was here speaking of his coming again to visit Jerusalem, not in mercy as at present, but in dreadful vengeance. 2. The text says: “ But of that day and that hour.” It only remains to show what day and. hour he refers to. He says, verse 33, “ Take ye heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is, for the Son of man is as a man taking a’ far journey,” &c. Verse 27, he says “Watch ye, therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh.” It will not be doubted, that when he speaks of the coming of the master of the house, he means his own coming, and he declares, verse 26, that they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds, and, verse 30, he says, “This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be done.” But it does not affect our argument in favor of our Lord’s omniscience, to admit that he here had some reference to the final coming of the Son of man at the last day. hundred years before this. “Seventy weeks are determined upon. thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression and make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and. to anoint the MOST HOLY.” Daniel 9:24. It is evident Daniel was informed when it was. Who. gave him this information? We answer, “ The spirit of Christ.” “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify.”, 1 Peter 1:10, 11. Now with these facts before us shall we conclude that Christ had not the power of knowing when that day should arrive? “Knoweth no man,” &c. The word, oiden is the 2d per of eido, “to know,” and is variously rendered. “To know” is its obvious meaning. But the next question is, in what sense the Savior used it? “ If this passage signifies that the knowledge of Christ was limited, it plainly contradicts those already quoted, which prove he is omniscient. But considering the word know to have the same meaning here that it has in 1 Corinthians 2:2. “ For I determine not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified,” it involves no obscurity, for it there has the causative sense. “I determine not to cause to know, or make known.”* If Jesus by his spirit gave Daniel information when this should take place five hundred and seventy years before this, is it not strange that he had not the power of knowing it, when the event was “nigh, even at the doors?” We think the undoubted sense in which the Savior used the word “ to know,” was as above stated, for says one, “ Hast thou not heard, hast thou not known, that the everlasting God the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.” Isaiah 40:28. 6. Mr. Morgridge devotes one chapter of his work to a search for the “supposed second person of the Trinity,” and says, “ God the Son does not exist,” “ there is nothing for him: to do,” and tells us that “God the Son,” is the creature of human creeds.” He bases his argument mainly on the following passage of holy writ. “ Then Cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power; for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, All things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted that did put all things under him. And when all things shall be sub- * See the Faith of the F. Baptists, page 44, 45, and the remarks there made on Mark 13:32. dued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject to him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” 1 Corinthians 15:24-28. “ Here,” says Mr. Morgridge, “We see the same dependent Son, giving up the kingdom to the Father.” We will make a few brief remarks on this passage. First. The kingdom the Son is to give up. The “end” the apostle spoke of was the end of the present world, the grand close of human affairs. Christ during this period acts as our Mediator and Intercessor, but at the end of the world this office must cease, there being no more need of a Mediator. It is, then, the Mediatorial kingdom that is given up. Second. To whom the kingdom, or reign, is given. It is evident that the reign is given up to the Father. But is it to be supposed that the Father was inert, and had nothing to do with the reign all this time, and now the Son is to be inactive? Certainly not. Man’s probation being closed, the distinction in the persons of the Holy Trinity, in atoning for, sanctifying, and pardoning men, and preparing them for heaven, now ceases. The divine nature of the Savior being superior to his human nature, is now the all-controlling, all-absorbing Deity, and now. “The God shines gracious through the man, And sheds sweet glories on them all.” Third. Who is all in all. The apostle informs us that “ God shall be all in all.” In Colossians 3:11, he speaks of Christ as being “ all in ail,” but it was on a different occasion from the one under consideration. But mark, he does not say that the Father shall be all in all, but GOD shall be all in all. The distinction in the divine essence as now recognized by us will cease, and. GOD be ALL in ALL. We have abundant evidence that this is the sense of the text, for God says of the Son, “ Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.’* And the Revelator tells Us he saw the “ Lamb in the midst of the throne.” Let men make light of the existence of “ God the Son,” because that nowhere in the scriptures this precise form of expression is used, yet they will find him without much search in a coming day! Jehovah calls ’him God. “Thy throne, O GOD.” ’Jesus says he that “ the SON makes free is free indeed,” and therefore we have no scruples in giving him the appellation “ God the Son.” And now “ to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion, and power, both now and ever.” Amen.. 7. It is again stated by the last mentioned author, that though Christ is called God, it is in a subordinate sense, and therefore it does not prove him to be the “ Supreme God.” We have yet to learn that the Christian religion admits of different grades of Gods, Gods superior and inferior. We unhesitatingly state that the term “god,” is no where in the Bible applied to men or angels, unless it is used in the plural number, or preceded by the article a, or otherwise qualified by the sense, so that it cannot be understood to mean the Supreme Being. [1] But where it is applied to Christ, this distinction ceases to be made. Says one, “Christ is Hot what the Bible calls him. He is called a Rock, a Lion, a Lamb.” It should be borne in mind that these titles denote different characters under which he is revealed to us. When spoken of as a sacrifice for our sins, he is denominated a lamb. When his power and ability “to take the book, and unloose the seals, is spoken of, he is compared to a Lion, and his immutability is spoken of under the figure of a Rock. But is he inferior to the objects that figuratively represent him? What is he when he is represented by the terms, “ Mighty God,” “ Everlasting Father,”[2] “ True God, and Eternal Life,” “ Great [1] Mr. Morgridge says,; “ Moses is called Jehovah, their God.”Deuteronomy 11:13-15, and that “Jonathan calla David, O Lord God of Israel.” 1 Sam.’ 20:12. See Morgridge’s work, page 122 and 125. What man, and especially what Christian, can but blush at such statements as these! The reader may consult the sacred text, Henry’s, Clarke’s, or any other Commentary on earth, to see how untrue these statements are. The fact is, truth is not now, nor ever will be, indebted to falsehood for its support. But how fruitless must be such attempts to destroy the doctrine of the Supreme Divinity of our blessed Lord. That cause that truth will not sustain, is a bad cause, and should be forthwith abandoned. [2] The term, “Everlasting Father,” in this passage, we think, does not refer to the first person in the Trinity, but to Christ as the Author, Creator, Governor, and Protector of the Universe, or the Father of all created things, and of the Gospel dispensation. Trinitarians should be careful not to confound the idea of these two persons. Let the distinction always be maintained. God,” “ Only Wise God,” The first and the last, the Almighty?” If he bears, in the sacred Word, such appellations as these, and yet they do not prove bis Supreme Divinity, there can be certainly no proof from the word of inspiration, that any Infinite Supreme Being exists in the universe. We would ask, if these titles would prove the Father to be the self-existent God? /and if so, what do they prove in relation to our Lord Jesus Christ? But the time of vain speculations on the character of Christ will close ere long; that day when God the Son shall take the throne of judgment and call all human beings before his face. Our eyes will see him clad in robes of judgment. We shall see those flaming eyes and burning feet. Our ears will hear his pleasing voice, bid us welcome to the mansions of unsullied bliss, prepared eternal in the heavens; or we shall tremble at that voice which says, “ depart.” Our hearts will flutter in our bosoms, filled with joy; or sink within us, convulsed with awful terror. Then will shine forth the attributes of him who was dead, and is alive, and has the keys of death and hell. Forbid it, blessed Jesus, that we should be deceived! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: 18 - QUESTIONS ON THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST ======================================================================== QUESTIONS ON THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. We will subjoin the following, and give the answers as far as we can, in accordance with the views of modern Unitarians. Those we do not answer, we shall leave for any Unitarian to answer, who is better skilled in the mysticisms of that doctrine than we are at present. But until these questions are answered in agreement with the views of Unitarians, we shall consider them unanswerable. QUESTIONS. 1. Did Christ exist before his nativity? A. Yes. - ’ 2. Is his existence eternal? A. No. 3. Is Christ all divine? A. Yes. 4. Can Divinity die? A. 5. Was there ever any incarnation of the divine Being? A. No. 6. How was God manifested in the flesh? A. 7. Is the Son an object of religious worship? A. Yes. 8. Is any creature an object of religious worship? A. 9. Did the body of Christ exist previous to his conception and birth? A. 10. Was that body human, angelic, or divine in its nature 1 } A. Divine. 11. Can Divinity bleed? A. 12. Had the actual Creator any partner in creating the universe? A. No* 13. Who was the Creator? A. Christ. 14. Did the body of Christ possess a human soul? A. No. 15. Was it the body or mind of Christ that created the universe? A. 16. Is the Holy Ghost an active agent, a person? A. No. - 17. How then was the Holy Ghost, the Father of Jesus Christ?_ A. 18. Was the Creator of the universe a separate and distinct being, from him who died on the cross? A. 19. Was the Creator himself uncreated? A. Yes, he was. 20. Was Jesus Christ self-existent? A. No. 21. Did Jesus increase in wisdom? A. Yes. 22. Did the Creator increase in wisdom? A. 23. Did Jesus Christ possess two natures? A. No. 24. In what sense was Jesus before Abraham? A. 25. Is there any created being who was from everlasting to everlasting? A. 26. Is any created being the living God? A. No. 27. Why is Christ so called? Acts 14:1-28; Acts 15:1-41. A. 28. Is the Eternal God a spirit? A. Yes. 29. la a spirit ft mind, an agent, a person? A. Yes. ’ 30. Is the Holy Ghost a person? A. 31. Is the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God, one, and only one, Spirit? A. 32. How is God said to be a Spirit? A. 33. Does Christ possess human nature? A. No. 34. Why is he called “ Jesus Christ of the seed of David?” A. 35. Was the God of Elijah, Jeremiah, and Daniel, the Eternal God? A. Yes. 36. Why does Jesus call himself, “ The Lord God of the Holy Prophets?” Rev. 22:616. A. 37. Was the Logos, (Johnl:!,) a real existence? A. 38. Was he a substance, or was he an attribute of God? A. An attribute. 39. Was the world created by delegated power? A. Yes. 40. Can God delegate his attributes? A. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: 19 - CONCLUSION ======================================================================== CONCLUSION. It is with feelings of devout regard and veneration for the Supreme Being, that we have approached the subject we have been contemplating in the preceding pages. We make no pretensions to any ability to comprehend the uncreated existence of the Infinite and Holy ONE. All such pretensions, we esteem folly and blasphemy. It may not be improper to say, that some who are Trinitarians, nominally, carry their views so far as to give up the doctrine entirely, and take the ground they most strenuously oppose; and, in fact, are in sentiment Unitarians. The moment we deny the distinction between the Father and the Son, and assert that they in all respects are the same being, that moment we are on Unitarian-ground, with this difference, that they hold thus of ’the Father. It matters not whether we consider the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, the only proper Deity. If we lose sight of the distinctions of persons in the Trinity, we take the side of Unitarianism, or Socinianism, which differs somewhat from the views of modern Unitarians, as we have already shown. If we declare the Son to be God, to the exclusion of the personality of the Father and Spirit, not acknowledging them at the same time to be God equally with the Son, we overreach the doctrine of the Trinity, and become supporters of the doctrine we oppose. We are represented as holding that “ the very and Eternal Father died on the cross,” and then we are tauntingly asked, “ Who supported the universe while God was dead?” We deny holding any such doctrine. We constantly make the distinction between the persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We do not believe that the Eternal God died, but we do believe the human body of the Lord Jesus died, and this is one reason why we believe in the humanity of Christ, for we cannot believe that Divinity could bleed and die. We confidently believe our Lord and Savior, in his divine nature, to be God with the Father and Holy Ghost, and therefore we make no distinction in the worship we render him or them. We do not bow our knees a little way to Christ, and then bow them down to the Father,- but we bring them down, right down, at the name of Jesus Christ. And we do hope, when this mortal life shall close, to bow with all them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and offer unceasing and undivided praise to GOD, the FATHER, GOD, the SON, and GOD, the HOLYx SPIRIT, in a world that shall never end. ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/alford-m-w-the-scriptural-doctrine-of-the-trinity/ ========================================================================