"Amongst Unitarians, however, there are considerable shades of difference. Some believe that Jesus Christ was literally the Son of God, as Isaac was the son of Abraham; that he constituted the soul of Christ, and is next to God himself; and thus, from his dignity of character, gave efficacy to his atonement. These are called Arians. Others believe that he was only called the Son of God in a figurative sense, as being the first born of every creature; that he pre-existed in Heaven, in the highest Archangel form, and was united to the body which God had prepared for him, and thus became the Messiah. These are called Pre-existents. Others again believe him to have been really and truly the Son of Joseph, as he is called in John i. 45. "We have found him of whom Moses and the Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph; or, as Peter styles him, a man approved of God, by signs and wonders which God did by him; that upon him was poured out the Spirit of God without measure; that he is anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows; that he is our elder brother. They believe that he is the great prophet of the Most High! greater than Moses, greater than any of the prophets who preceded him, or than John, his forerunner, according to what Moses said, "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things." (Acts iii. 22.) They believe that he comes the Messenger from God, to announce his will to mortals; that he died a martyr to the truth of his religion, and arose from the dead as the proof, the first fruits and earnest of the resurrection of mankind. These are called Humanitarians, because they believe in the simple humanity of Christ."*

does not denote a believer in one God only, but a believer in God in one person only, in opposition to the Trinitarians." We, as Trinitarians, believe in one God in one person only;" that this one person is Jesus Christ, in whom dwelt all the entire fulness of the Invisible Deity from everlasting; that he ever was, and ever will be invisible to man, perhaps even to Angels, except in the person of Jesus Christ, his manifesting property.

* Sermon on the Religious Opinions of the present day, by Thomas Gray, A. M. 2d ed. Boston, 1822. pp. 29, 30.

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We consider the foregoing extracts as fully sufficient to show the grades of difference amongst Unitarians; and shall now proceed to offer a brief outline, or synopsis, of a Theory for explaining our doctrine of the Trinity; accompanied by such arguments and deductions as are clearly authorised by the Scriptures, and are supported by the most rigid rules of genuine philosophy.

SCHEME.

I. Outlines of a Theory, illustrative of the Doctrines of the Holy Undivided Trinity.

AXIOM I. Property, or principle, is essential to Being, who cannot exist without them; whence, Being, whether uncreate or create, consists of, and is constituted by, properties or principles, whose uncreate, and hence, self-subsisting, or create, and hence, dependant existence, determines the nature and order of Being.

DEFINITIONS* AND REMARKS.

1. Principle is the cause, source, or origin of a thing; whence, God is the First Principle.

Remarks.-As God is a Supreme, eternal, uncreate, and self-subsisting Spirit, the properties that are essential to his being, must of necessity be also eternal, uncreate, and co-existent in and with him, as the constituents of an all-perfect Being. The term constituents, applied to Deity, who is self-subsisting, may appear rather presumptuous; but we know of no other term by which to say-if Deity possessed but one deficient property essential to his perfection as God, the conclusion is evident.

Definition 2. "Substance is that thing which we conceive to subsist of itself, independently of any other created being, or any particular mode or accident; and it is the support of qualities, or powers, that are capable of producing simple ideas in us."

Remarks. As God is a Spirit, and hence invisible, his

* The author is indebted for these definitions to Dr. O'Gallagher's "First Principles of Philosophy," Vol. i. pp. 20, 21. The Remarks

are his own.

essential properties must be of the same substance and nature with himself: that is, spiritual, invisible and essential.

Definition 3. "Essence is that which constitutes or determines the nature of a thing, and is absolutely necessary to its being. It is also defined, that, whereby a thing is distinguished from every other thing. Essence also involves in its idea, the cause and source of powers, whence the substance and its essence may be considered as concrete, contextured and co-existing, which concrete substance we call the principal of all its powers: such is light, which the Creator drew into existence by his word of efficacy, to invigorate and warm the primordial matters, and to illuminate the Creation."

:

Remarks.-That the Deity has properties essential to his perfection, and that these properties, though one in his substance, (as Principal of all their powers,) are, notwithstanding, distinct in their influences and operations, as manifested to our senses, we think no sensible person will deny and we have good reasons for inferring, that it was the intention of the Supreme Wisdom, 'that man should from time to time, be more and better acquainted with his glorious nature, as consisting of those essential properties, whose influences alone had been made manifest to man, while he, as the Supreme Principal of all those properties, and their respective powers, remained unseen, but in the stupendous works of his creation.

From the Creation unto the time of Moses, it had been his pleasure to be known only by the names of God, the Lord God, the Almighty, &c. And he says, "I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; but, by my name Jehovah, I was not known unto them." (Exod. vi. 3.)

The term Jehovah, is translated "self-subsisting," "the essence of the substance;" and which, as determining his nature and essential properties, he was now pleased to reveal unto Moses. We shall shortly explain what we conceive to be the essential properties of Deity, and which we believe to have been revealed unto Moses,

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in the characteristic name of Jehovah, as including in it the name "I AM,” (which name the Son of God applied to himself while on earth, as we read, John viii. 58,) as also, the essences of his essential properties, as Father, Son and Holy Ghost, or Jehovah, the Wisdom, Power, and Holiness of the Deity.

Definition 4. "Quality is that affection of a thing which relates to our senses, or that power which occasions a thing to affect our senses, in this, or that manner; whence, quality and faculty of the essence, or power of the subbe looked upon as synonymous: For example, fire has an heating quality, which is a power essential to it."

stance may

Remarks. We have purposely introduced the foregoing definitions from the "First Principles of Philosophy," with the special view of meeting on equal grounds, the scepticism of such of our opponents, who prefer what they term reason, to Divine Revelation, and who refer to the Newtonian system of Philosophy, and the demonstrative principles of Euclid, as standards by which to determine on the reasonableness or unreasonableness, fallacy, or authenticity of the doctrines of the Scriptures. We would also meet, upon similar grounds, and in the spirit of free and generous discussion, those who assert that the mysteries of Religion are contrary to, and irreconcilable with reason and philosophy. For ourselves, we are strenuous advocates for both reason and philosophy; yet, we are free to confess, that, surrounded as we are on every side with mysteries, things obvious to our sight and senses, but surpassing our understanding-conscious of the mysterious union of our nature-we cannot suffer ourselves to reject any doctrine authorised by the Scriptures, though we are not capable of bringing them within the compass of our limited powers of reasoning.

We also frankly confess with our opponents, that our Heavenly Father has communicated to us his Scriptures, with the privilege of exercising our reason and judgment on the various topics of which they treat; that hence it is, that the reasoning powers of man surpasses that of all

the orders of finite being, with which we are acquainted: But we cannot forget, at the same time, that the faculty of reasoning is different in different men: that which appears to be reason in one, to another appears absurd; and we are told by an eminent Apostle, that "there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord, and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal: for to one is given by the Spirit, the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit; to another, Faith by the same Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to another, divers kinds of tongues; to another, the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." (1 Cor. xii. 4, 11.)

This Apostle, who, from the very circumstance of his living in the age of the Apostles; of being conversant with the peculiar language or idiom of the age, and above all, of acknowledged learning and great talent, is certainly good authority; and as he has distinctly enumerated the gifts, administrations and operations of a Spirit, a Lord, and a God, we presume that he had sufficient grounds for this distinction.* But the Son of God, who is still higher authority, commands his disciples to go into all the world, and to preach the gospel to every creature; to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

If there had not been some specific reason for these distinctions, would the Saviour have thus distinguished them? It is said, the Scriptures no where authorize the Doctrine of the Trinity: it has been easier said than proved; and we appeal to our rational opponents themselves, if from the fore-recited passages, there is not the most obvious reference to three distinct manifestations of

*See also his Testimony of Christ's being God. (Acts, xx. 28. Rom. iz. ō. Hebr. i. 8.)