sufferings, such a weight and dignity, that full satisfaction was rendered to justice." The Socinian thus replies. "Before this piece of sagacious reasoning can avail you any thing, it must be scripturally proved that the Lord Jesus was that compound of personality, that double-natured Being, that heterogeneous complexity of infinite and finite, of knowing and not knowing, of weakness and power, of authority derived and underived, of praying and not wanting, of suffering and not feeling, dying and not dying, &c." And thus the solemn truths of the Bible, are brought again, as it were, into the Temple of Dagon, to make sport and banter for the Modern Philistines! It may truly be affirmed that every page of the Gospels, presents, to the candid mind, unequivocal evidence of Christ's Divine and Super-human character; both in what he affirmed; and in what he did; and in what his Apostles declared. If Socinians choose to argue the question on ground independent of Scripture, they would be understood and cheerfully met; but to profess respect for the Bible, while they resist its clearest averments; to profess allegiance to Christ, whilst they falsify his word, and degrade his person, is an exhibition of irreconcilable inconsistency, as well as of temerity, that, in a sober estimate, amounts to a virtual braving and defiance of that tremendous rejection of his foes, "Depart from me. I never knew you!" Before the subject be further entered upon, it may be remarked, that, ingenious and strenuous efforts have been made, and much strength wasted, in the attempt to explain, the nature of the union subsisting between the Divine Father and Son; but while the fact is admitted, on the authority of Scripture, the modus is, and must be unknown. The nearest approximation which it is possible for a finite comprehension to make to so awful a profound, may be suggested by the faint assistance of analogy. We know that an earthly son is derived from, and partakes of the same nature as his father, and this general idea ought to satisfy the inquirer, who, if he be modest, as well as wise, will remember, that this question, where the Infinite is concerned, exceeds the grasp of man's intellect, and must be left, with other revealed, but unexplained mysteries, to the future expansion of our minds, and the light of eternity. meaning, but adventurous spirits may attempt to penetrate the terra incognita, but their efforts will terminate in discomfiture; and after all their excogitations, on this simple illustration, or one similar to it, the harassed thoughts must ultimately repose. In addition to the examples already adduced, that show an Well.. incompatibility between the things affirmed of Christ, and his "simple manhood," additional citations from Scripture will be given, with brief, and obvious comments, such, as it is conceived, will incontrovertibly establish the Saviour's Divine Character. 1. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matt. vii. 21. 2. No Prophet, no mere man," in a sane state of mind, could possibly utter such language as this, without revolting every sober hearer; but regarding Christ, in his Divine character, as the Son of God, consistency and harmony are restored. "No man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son." Matt. xi. 27. 3. Could an Infidel hear this language, without adopting one of two conclusions; that Christ was either a deceiver, or the Son of God. None know the Son but God! and none know God but the Son! The "Son of Joseph and Mary" assume this lofty port! "A mere man" arrogate a distinction, from which the highest Archangel would shrink, as infinitely surpassing all created power! There is no medium between deception (that is, infidelity) and the super-human character of Christ. "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matt. xviii. 20. 4. The Deity of Christ,_alone, throws light on this declaration of our Lord. Reduce him to the level of humanity, and his words are wild and senseless. "All power is given to me in heaven and earth." Matt. xxviii. 18. These words shed refulgence on numerous Scriptures, which, to a Socinian, are involved in rayless night. Jesus Christ made this declaration to his Disciples, in Galilee, after his resurrection. But how can a Socinian believe that all power in heaven was conceded to "a mere man!" Or how can he force himself into the conviction that the "Son of Joseph and Mary" possessed all power on earth; that "the government," in its amplest sense, was placed " upon his shoulders!" To judge on this point requires no intricate train of consequential reasoning, but is rather a question accessible to the plainest understanding.* *The gloss which Socinians have put on these words of our Lord, marks their desperate resolution to overcome a difficulty on any terms. It seems, 5. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away." Mark xiii. 31. 6. 7. This declaration of Christ is either true or false. If false, a mere "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." John v. 17. The "Son of Joseph and Mary" call God his Father! Did any Prophet, (such as Socinians deem Christ to have been) ever call God his Father? or God ever call a Prophet his Son? For a "frail human being" to adopt the arrogantly profane language, "God works, and I work!" The Creator of the ends of the earth, upholding his vast designs, and the "Son of Joseph and Mary," acknowledging the stupendous works of God, and, in the same breath, subjoining, "And I work!" Surely this was presumption and impiety, in an infinite degree, or Christ was more than a man! "He that heareth my words, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life." John v. 24. These expressions, from the converse of the proposition, clearly infer, that he who does not hear the words of Christ, and believe that the Father sent him, hath not everlasting life. Everlasting life depend on the testimony "Heaven here means the Jewish nation! and Earth denotes the Gentile world, referring to the union, in the gospel dispensation, of Jews and Gentiles!" After men have renounced all the fair and ordinary rules of interpretation, it is but a slender achievement to make the plainest words mean any thing, or nothing. Well might Mr. Belsham caution persons against "The natural signification of words and phrases." A Socinian Writer, referring also to the words of our Lord, descriptive of his pre-existence-"With the glory which I had with thee, before the world was;" "I came down from heaven," &c.-advances the following strange hypothesis, That our Saviour merely meant, the communion which he experienced with God, when in "his mountainous abode in the Desert:" (the hill country of Judea!) 66 one of those very high rocky elevations with which the Desert abounds." So that when he descended to the plain, it meant, coming down from heaven! If Trinitarians had so reasoned, in defending any one of their sentiments, how would it have been met with pity, and contumelious scorn. 8. "A mere man assume which Christ bears of himself! 66 "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." John v. 26. That the Father is the Fountain of Deity, Bull, Pearson, Waterland, and all judicious Trinitarians readily allow ;* from whom the Son of God proceeded, by a mysterious communication of the Divine Essence, as a Stream descends from the Fountain, bearing this analogy, that a stream and fountain are coincident. There could be no stream without a fountain, neither could there be a fountain without a stream. Both are indissolubly associated. But in a Socinian's apprehension, if he follow out his principles, for "a mere man," the being of yesterday, as our opponents affirm, to intimate, in the remotest degree, that, like Deity, he possessed a constitutional and # 66 Bishop Bull, in his defence of the Nicene creed, spends a whole chapter on the Son's subordination; which he maintains to be as much a branch of the true faith, as the doctrine of the Son's eternity or consubstantiality. The same is asserted by Bishop Pearson, in his exposition of the Apostle's creed. The same sentiments also were entertained by Mr. Stephens, as they were by Dr. Waterland. Trinitarians are misrepresented, when charged with asserting such a separation_and independence of the Three Persons in the Trinity, as would amount to Tritheism; and they are equally misrepresented by the insinuations of some in modern times, who set them at a greater distance than the sagest of former Trinitarians allowed. In the correct, and generally accredited doctrine of the Trinity, the Three Persons are one Being, to which the Body, Soul, and Spirit, constituting one man, or, the light, heat, and materiality of the Sun, constituting one Sun, bear a faint analogy; just sufficient to convey a shadowy conception to the mind, which is insusceptible of a full apprehension, from the limited nature of its faculties. These Three Persons are One Being; one by mutual relation, indissoluble connection, and harmonious subordination; so strictly one, that any individual thing in the whole world of matter and of spirit, presents but a faint shadow of their Unity. Each Person (the best word that human language allows) by himself is God, because each possesses fully every attribute of the Divine Nature, but these Persons are all included in the very idea of a God; and for that reason, as well as for the identity of the attributes in each, it were impious and absurd, and utterly false, to say, as the Socinians do, that we make three Gods. The equality of the Three Persons is perfect in all their attributes, as well as in their rank and authority, with respect to all created things, whatever relations or differences may subsist among themselves, suggesting thoughts, "we cannot attain unto them." Differences there must be, lest we confound the Persons, and fall into the Sabellian's errors; but these differences can only consist in the diversity of personal properties, concerning which, we can know nothing but through the medium of inspiration, and whose behests it becomes us to receive with gratitude, and silent adoration." Bishop Horsley. 9. And yet co-eternal life, is monstrous and revolting. "The Bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." John vi. 33. 10. That an Infidel, with his dark perceptions, should reject this declaration of Christ, might reasonably be calculated upon; and yet the same might equally be expected of the Socinian, if he were candid in his avowals. Can a Disciple of Socinus, who opposes the Divinity of Christ, in any subdued sense, believe that the "Son of Joseph and Mary" could give "life to the world;" one who, as he believes, but a few preceding years was a nonentity? The Socinian, if he deals honestly with his own convictions, must know that "a mere man could no more "give life to the world," than he could give life to himself. He does not, he cannot believe the words of Christ. In the most legitimate sense, he is an Infidel, but wanting the integrity to avow his unbelief! "I am the light of the world." John viii. 12. Unless Christ were more than a man, all the recondite C |