"I always told Socinians that their interpretations of scripture were intolerable, on any sound principles of fair criticism." "I accept the doctrine of the Trinity, not as deduced from human reason, in its grovelling capacity for comprehending spiritual things, but as the clear revelation of Scripture. But perhaps it may be said, The Socinians do not admit this doctrine, as being taught in the Bible. I know enough of their shifts, and quibbles, with their dexterity at explaining away all they dislike; (and that is not a little) but though once beguiled by them, I happily, for my own peace of mind, escaped from their sophistries, and now hesitate not to affirm, that Socinians would lose all character for honesty, if they were to explain their neighbour's will with the same latitude of interpretation which they do the Scriptures."

S. T. Coleridge.

ON THE SIMPLE MANHOOD OF CHRIST, AND HIS HUMILITY.

OUR SAVIOUR thus spake of himself, "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." St. Paul, referring to the Saviour, thus also speaks, "I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ: so that the meekness, and lowliness of Christ must not be doubted by any who acknowledge the Divine authority of the Bible.

Socinians admit and applaud the humility and moral qualities of Christ, whilst they affirm him to have been "A mere man," "The Son of Joseph and Mary:" but in thus regarding him as the "mere Child of Humanity," they inconsistently ascribe that humility to him, which, on their principles, he did not possess; and, as a necessary consequence, inadvertently impeach the moral character of him whom they so warmly extol. Did not

Christ say, in what Trinitarians regard as his state of voluntary abasement, "A greater than Jonas is here." Matt. xii. 41.

66

As

a mere man," was this humility? In the hearing of those who looked back with pride on the wisest, and most illustrious of their Princes, did he not say, "The Queen of the South came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon is here?" Matt. xii. 42. Did he not say, that, "All men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father?" John v. 23. Is this language, so expressive of super-human and mysterious elevation, in any possible sense, accordant with Christ's humility, and simple manhood? What sentiment would have been entertained of Isaiah's humility, had he uttered, "A greater than Samuel is here." "A greater than Solomon is here." "All men should honour me, even as they honour Jehovah."

Considering Christ to be, what the Socinians affirm, "a mere man," his whole deportment was the direct opposite of humility. In every page of the Evangelists, Christ has made declarations

at utter variance with the state both of humility, and simple humanity. How can such expressions as the following comport with humility and pure manhood. "I am the Bread of Life." John vi. 35. "I came down from heaven." John vi. 38. “I go to prepare a place for you." John xiv. 2. "If I depart I will send the Comforter unto you." John xvi. 7. "I appoint unto you a kingdom." Luke xxii. 29. Can a Socinian seriously believe, that any "simple Child of Adam" could ever have come down from heaven; or could send the Holy Ghost; or prepare a place in heaven for his followers; or that he had a spiritual any more than a temporal kingdom to bestow? If he does not believe the Saviour, how can he defend his moral qualities? With the greatest solemnity also Christ declared, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." John xiv. 6. Is this language accordant with the state of mere humanity? The Supreme Being, the Great Father of Men, unapproachable, except through "a Child of the Dust!" Could we have admitted the humility of Abraham, or Moses, or Jeremiah, in arrogating a distinction, so transcendently surpassing the powers of man?

The general phraseology of our Saviour rises into an element above humanity, and which no dispassionate mind could affirm to be congruous with humility, or simple manhood, however privileged even by divine communications. He said, as a plain unimpassioned enunciation, "If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." John xiv. 23. "A mere man thus assuming so intimate a communion with Deity! We will come! and, We will abide! Had Moses addressed such language to the Children of Israel, astonishment would have preceded stoning for blasphemy! "Keep my words, O Israelites! and I, and Jehovah, will come unto you, and make our abode with you!" Moses incurred the displeasure of the Almighty, not by associating himself in profane assimilation with the Supreme, but (in respect to himself and Aaron) by merely using "We," Num. xx. 10. as principals, rather than as subordinates. Such is the difference between a Son and a Servant.

The Redeemer said to his Disciples, without the words exciting in them surprise, "All things that the Father hath are mine." John xvi. 15. "The Spirit of Truth shall glorify me.” John xvi. 14. "Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." John xvi. 23. And, "If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." John xiv. 14. These affirmations

66

all harmonize in their views who admit the mysterious, and indissoluble union which subsisted between the Father and the Son, but to those who so far outrage Scripture, as to affirm Christ to have been "the Son of Joseph and Mary," it must necessarily appear, undisguised and matchless assumption. If the Saviour of the World, notwithstanding all that he said, was, as Socinians affirm, a mere man," instead of manifesting humility, as his distinguishing characteristic, he displayed, in a superlative degree, the crime for which the Apostate Angels fell! On this question, there is no neutral ground. If Jesus Christ was the mere Child of Humanity," like another Ezra, with all his magnificent declarations, his words were not "Spirit ;" they were not "Life!" If he was really "the Son of Joseph and Mary," the World has been cheated! In such an alternative, language never feels such utter prostration, as in its efforts to depict the lofty bearing of our Adorable Lord, in the whole current of his announcements to his deceived and credulous followers! The proudest spirits that ever trod the earth, compared with him, are monuments of condescension. It is perfectly senseless, as well as abject duplicity, in Socinians, to extol the humility, and moral qualities of Christ. If he was, as they declare, “a mere man,' his violated word was as conspicuous as his duplicity, and in being dispossessed of his Divine honours, he abrogates his virtues as Man!

The serious mind must restrain its feelings of revolt, at the application of such language to the Blessed Saviour, and remember that it is hypothetically advanced, to give effect to the argument. The consequences here stated inevitably arise out of the Socinian's creed. It is impossible to conceal, or invalidate this fact. If Jesus Christ was "merely a creature," 66 the ordinary descendant of Adam," as Socinians affirm, in the strictest sense, he was a Deceiver! and his Apostles were unhallowed confederates! He affirmed that of himself, and they affirmed that of him, which was substantially untrue! From these fearful consequences, the Socinian cannot escape! Of what value therefore are his adulatory strains? Socinians are extolling him whose veracity they deny; nor could even an Infidel reject this conclusion, or hesitate in admitting, that, if Christ was a mere man," unconnected with a higher Nature, after all that he affirmed, he was not even negatively good, but was positively bad, and even surpassed, to an unutterable extent, all the arrogant pretenders to distinction which human annals have recorded!

The degree of guilt involved in an action, according to the concurrent feeling of mankind, depends primarily on the pernicious consequences that action entails; and as the eternal interests of man surpass, incomparably, those that are immediate and temporary, so he who by deliberate machinations deceives his fellows on affairs of everlasting moment, exceeds all others in the measure of his delinquency. Let the Socinian tremble,

while he reflects, that this charge, in its fullest extent, must be applied to Jesus Christ, if, in opposition to all his lofty professions, he commenced and terminated his existence like an ordinary mortal!

The confirmed Socinian is not here principally addressed, who has acquired dexterity in eluding the clearest Scriptures, by perverse and tortuous criticisms, and explications; and to whose pre-established system, Inspiration itself must bend; such are not now addressed, but, rather, the hesitating; those whose ears are beginning only to be allured by the Syren song of Scepticism. Such may have read their Bibles with devotional feelings, and, when they found the Saviour praying, that, in the Mansions of the Blessed, his Disciples, those whom the Father had given him, might be with him, where he is, that they might behold his glory, have felt holy aspirations arising in their hearts, to be included in that privileged assembly. But this hope, that, peradventure, had solaced them amid the perplexities of life, has been dimmed, if not extinguished, by the suspicion injected into their minds, by Socinians, that Christ, after all, was, perhaps,

66

a mere man!"

The moment Christ is regarded as "the Son of Joseph and Mary," rather than the "Son of God," the whole complexion of Scripture is changed. The sublimities of hope, that expanded the imagination, and furnished an element in which the warmest affections, and the grandest conceptions might expatiate, become despoiled and frustrated. An obscure feeling pervades the mind that reality is superseded by semblance. The foundations of religion are shaken, and the spirit, like the Dove of old, finds no solidity for the sole of her foot.

What of Christianity can be conceded to such sentiments as the following, from the pen of a Socinian Writer, sanctioned, and circulated, with all their other contaminations, by this whole Body of "Rational Christians.” "It is admitted," you say, that the sufferings of the Human Nature of Christ would be insufficient, and disproportionate; but as the Godhead, or Second Person in the Trinity, was united to the manhood, it gave to his