These principles are even more decisively and emphatically stated in that part of the ritual of the Churches of Rome and England, called the Creed of St. Athanasius, where we are taught, that the Son, who possesses an equal glory, a co-eternal majesty with the Father, who is uncreated, incomprehensible, eternal, and Almighty, suffered for our salvation, descended into Hell, rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven! The same Creed teaches, that, notwithstanding, there is but One eternal, One uncreated, One incomprehensible, One Almighty, One God! The consequence is evident:-The Almighty Spirit of nature, the Creator and Supporter of the universe, and of all which it contains, the extent of whose power we cannot comprehend, descended upon this earth for the salvation of the human race, who are as grasshoppers before him, yea, less than the small dust of the balance! To accomplish this, it was necessary for him to be born, to grow in stature, to be tempted, tried, pass through scenes of tribulation and anguish, and finally cease to exist! Is not such a representation obviously inconsistent? Who that thinks at all, is not conscious of its impossibility? But supposing it possible, is it not highly improbable, that He, who by his power sustains myriads of inhabited worlds, and myriads upon myriads of intelligent creatures, should select this atom, this fraction of creation, here to expire for the salvation of beings, probably of the lowest order of intellectual existence? Does not the manifest incongruity of the system, induce a belief, that it is notcannot be true; that it derogates from the dignity of the Almighty, is in direct contradiction to his attributes, is totally uncalled for by circumstances or situation, and is, consequently, inconclusive, irrational, and unscriptural? There cannot be more than ONE Eternal, Self-existent, Omnipotent, Supreme. The supposition of more than One, involves the destruction of those attributes which can only exist connected with ubiquity. There can be only One Almighty God. Different, far different are the dogmas of reputed Orthodoxy, as advanced by her champions, and sung by her poets; as the following verses, the production of an Oxford Professor, will bear melancholy witness. Let our readers recollect, that they are addressed to that Being whom Mr. Millman worships as his God: THEY bound thy temples with the twisted thorn, The blood from all thy flesh with scourges torn, Was the unapproached light, The sandal of whose foot, the rapid hurricane! Low bow'd thy head convuls'd, and droop'd in death; Slow struggled from thy breast the parting breath, That head whose veilless blaze Fill'd Angels with amaze, When at that voice sprang forth the rolling suns on high! And thou wert laid within the narrow tomb, Thy clay-cold limbs with shrouding grave-clothes bound; Nor the immeasurable plain Of vast infinity enclose or circle round! What follows, but that HE whom no man hath seen, or can see, appeared on earth-the immutable God became an infant at the breast-the Almighty Ruler of all, was cradled in a manger-He who provideth for every living thing its sustenance, was assailed with hunger and thirstthe Creator and Preserver of the world had not where to lay his head that He was teazed by the malicious plottings, and grieved at the malevolent revilings of intriguing priests and rulers-that in the garden of Gethsamane, He was in such anguish and distress, as to sweat as it were bloodthat the Supreme Being was strengthened and supported by an Angel-that He underwent a mock trial, was scourged by a licentious soldiery, amidst bitter taunts and insulting contumely that He bore an instrument of execution to a place of public obloquy, to be crucified amongst the outcasts from society-that he was nailed by mortal hands to the Cross, and upon which the eternal Jehovah, whose throne is heaven, and the earth his foot-stool, He who looketh to the ends of the world, and seeth under the whole heaven, "the Sovereign Ruler of the world, its Almighty Protector, its Omniscient and Omnipresent Governor, its Eternal, Immutable, and All-sufficient Creator," the great I AM the Self-existent God, expired in agony!! Such, if words have any meaning, such is the conclusion which indubitably follows from the common doctrines of the Trinity, and vicarious sacrifice. As here stated, it is unvarnished, not obscured by mystical glosses nor perverted by sophistical ingenuity. Thus plainly expressed, it might be asked, Can any man adopt this conclusion as his faith It his sincere and practical belief? Can any deliberately receive and avow it, without reservation or evasion? might be supposed, that to entertain such ideas of the very and eternal God, as to imagine he was born, suffered, and expired, could not be held even for a moment. But it must not be forgotten, that the Established Churches of Christendom, peremptorily teach this opinion, if their Creeds, Formularies, and Confessions, have any meaning. The Church of England especially, thus invokes the King of kings, the ever-blessed Jehovah, nay, the whole and undivided Trinity: "By the mystery of thy holy incarnation, by thy holy nativity and circumcision, by thy baptism, fasting, and temptation, by thine agony and bloody sweat, by thy cross and passion, by thy precious death and burial, by thy glorious resurrection and ascension, good Lord deliver us."- Vide Litany. This adjuration, be it ever remembered, is not addressed to a fractional part of Deity, the manhood of the God. That much lauded master-key, which so facilely passes all the intricate locks of Platonic Theology, here loses its potency, for the prayer is addressed to the "Holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, THREE persons and ONE God." Either the language just quoted, is used of God, or it is not. If it is, that Being who alone possesseth immortality, is said to have expired in torments on the accursed tree! If it be only addressed to man, then Christ is not God, and the doctrine of the Trinity crumbles into dust. The man who embraces opinions consonant with the Holy Scriptures, looks up to God as an uncontrolled, but all-controlling mind-the Creator. He regards, not as mysteries, but contradictions, the conclusions, that "HE who is at all times present in every part of the universe, was circumscribed by a human body," and wrapped in swaddling clothes a puling helpless infant-that "He who alone hath immortality, was raised from the dead by the Spirit-He who dwelleth in light inaccessible, whom no man can see, and live, was yet seen, and reviled, and buffeted, and scourged by men." "He who is the blessed God, was received up into glory!"*-that He who created millions and millions of worlds, all peopled with different ranks and orders of existence, should appear in a human form upon this earth, and here expire in agony, in order * Unitarianism the doctrine of the Gospel, by Lant Carpenter, LL. D. to accomplish the salvation of man, a part of whom only, are, after all this infinity of sacrifice, accepted and saved! Such a man, too, concludes, that if the Deity had really expired on the cross, instead merely of the sun being darkened, the vail of the Temple rent, the earth quaking, and the graves opening-instead of this, if the sun had been instantaneously extinguished, and the earth had crumbled to powder, and the stars neglecting their orbits, had spread a general conflagration-if disorder and confusion had overwhelmed the universe, and thick darkness overspread the face of nature, and chaos, destruction, ruin, been everywhere enthroned, it would not have been inconsistent with the expiring moments of a God. Nay, if such an event had taken place, the annihilation of all existence, would immediately and necessarily have ensued. Viewing this earth as a part only of creation, the prac tical Christian considers the works of God, to consist of countless numbers of suns, attended by an infinity of worlds, keeping their allotted courses with harmonious regularity, and peopled with intelligent beings, formed for endless progression, felicity, and perfection. He believes, that the Almighty Architect raised up in this world, a chosen prophet, Jesus Christ the righteous, to reveal his will, his unbounded beneficence and mercy, the future life allotted to man, and his situation there, governed by his conduct in this. He receives Jesus as his Saviour, the Saviour of this world, who, by submitting to death, even the death of the cross, was enabled to demonstrate the truth of his mission, brought life and immortality to light, and thus tasted death for every man. Thus does the Christian receive his Saviour as a blessed gift, from a heavenly Father, and through that Saviour, by whom he is made a partaker in the blessings of Gospel truth, he acknowledges with joy and gratitude, that Father to be the blessed and only Potentate, who alone possesseth immortality, whom no man can approach unto, hath seen, or can see, and to Him only does he ascribe glory, honour, and everlasting power. S. On the Language of Scripture. (Continued from page 67.) JOHN xx. 28, And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord, and my God. This passage is called, by Trini tarians, an irrefragable argument of the deity of our blessed Lord. A high Arian naturally appeals to it in support of his system. Could he establish the truth of his doctrines on other passages of Scripture, the exclamation of Thomas might, without any violence to the language of Revelation, be adduced in confirmation. But, it certainly gives no countenance to the doctrine of the Trinity, and is irrelevantly urged in support of this most mysterious and astounding creed. The high Arian may fix upon it, and cling to it, if he can show that his interpretation harmonizes with other passages of Scripture. This we deny. In our opinion, the voice of Revelation cries out against the common explanation. We believe, that Christ and his Apostles partook of the same spirit, and teach the same doctrines. All apparent discrepancies, with respect to doctrine, may be reconciled by a candid, liberal, and rational mode of interpretation. We know, that, in many passages, Jesus Christ is mentioned as a man, made, in all respects, like unto his brethren; we know, that he partook of the natural infirmities of human nature-that he suffered exhaustion of spirits, weariness of body, hunger and thirstthat he was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief— that his mind was influenced with the various affections of human nature-that he wept, groaned in spirit—that he rejoiced, was moved with indignation, was in an agony -that he was tempted like as we are that he prayed, and died, and was raised from the dead by the power of God. The Scriptures contain many declarations respecting the humanity of Jesus Christ, his natural inability, ignorance, and weakness. The Baptist declares, "After me cometh a man who is preferred before me," John i. 30. Jesus says of himself, "Ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God," John viii. 40. "The Son can do nothing of himself." "I can of mine own self do nothing." 66 My doctrine is not mine." "My Father is greater than I." came I of myself, but he sent me." "I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." These passages, and many more of the same kind might be adduced, concur with the general tenor of, Scripture, in proving to our satisfaction, that Christ is not God. Believing that the Sacred Records are uniformly consistent, we adopt the plan of explaining dark passages by the light of the general tenor of Revelation. Difficult texts, "Neither |