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are only virtues , emanations , or functions of the Deity ; and he also held , that the Father of all things descended into the virgin , became a child , and was born of her ^ as a
son ; and that having accomplished the mastery of our salvation , he diffused himself on the Apostles in tongues of fire , and was then denominated the Holy Ghost * . To me , there appears one grand and fundamental error in both
these statements , as well as in almost every other , upon this important subject . All writers in their descriptions of Deity , attach to him both in thought und expression the idea of personality . Unitarians believe the Godhead to
consist of one person . Trinitarians advocate three . The term person , however , according to all our notions of its meaning , never can be properly applied to the essential
nature and being of God ; because it cannot be used without implying a limited outline , and a confinement to one spot . —A personal Deity cannot be an omnipresent , omniscient Being !
I hold it to be incontrovertible , that a being who is in his very nature underived , infinite , eternal , omnipreseDt , and omniscient , can never be seen , known or understood by any thing but itself ; because
these are terms which represent to us qualities , which can only be conceived of and measured \> y that which is , in itself , infinite , eternal , &c * but every existence , except that of God , is derived , finite and confined , both in mental and cor .
poreal powers ; therefore is it obvious , that whatever belongs to the separate essential nature of
* Encyclopaedia Brit , art . Sabcllians .
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Deity , can never be comprehended by any being but himself ! What then may be known of God ? I reply , tfie ejfects of the operation of the divine attributes and perfections . In creation anil
providence , we cc look through nature up to nature ' s God . " But it has pleased God to enlighten us still farther . By a providential series of cause and effect , he has instructed certain human beings
in different ages of the world , and has endowed them with knowledge and power to instruct others . It cannot be denied , I think , that the Supreme operates upon the human mind , and to a far greater degree on some than on others ; and , wherever , we see the exhibitions of moral goodness , we see something of the great Source from whence that goodness , originally , however remotely , flowed .
Now if we admit that the goodness , wisdom and love of God , are displayed in good men , sometimes in a very high degree , —is there any difficulty in supposing that in Christ this took place completely and entirely ? or , in other words , that the power , wisdom and love of God were manifested in him
without measure ? In this view of the subject , it is evident that I attach no kind of divinity to the mere nature of Jesus Christ , as th $ Swedenborgians seem to do;—neither can I fora moment admit with Sabeltius , ( that the infinite , omnipresent , and eternal Father descended into the
Virgin , and became a child , &c . All that was exhibited of Deity in the person of Jesus Christ , I conceive to have been the actual power , wisdom , and love of God , and these produced in a way by
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Mr . Clarice on his Sketches of Sentiment . 4 % y
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1812, page 427, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1750/page/19/
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