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of Ditheism . If Christ be the creator of the world , though on \ y in au instrumental sense , such a being' has powers and perfections , whether derived or not , which aie only compatible with Deity : be must still be strictly a God , though an inferior God , and , as such , is entitled to religious hofrom him
ma ^ e . In withholding worship whamade the world , the Arians may justify themselves by the letter of Scripture , but not by the reason of the proceeding . They are Unitarians in letter but not iu spirit ; for though they , formally acknowledge the unity and supremacy of 4 the only wise God , ' they divide his attributes .
" Most Arians conceive that they render the creative instrumentality of their preexisteut Christ more credible , by confining his agency to this world ; but they are in this dilemma : —they who imag-ine that Christ is not only our maker , but the maker of all other beings , constitute a second God of such high prerogatives and
extensive power , as inevitahly to suggest a doubt whether there be any other God , as no other would seem necessary : —and they who limit his operations to this particular system , open the door to Polytheism 5 for if an intermediate ag * ent was necessary for the formation of this globe or system , other similar agents ' must equally have
been necessary for the construction of the rest ; and thus we have a host of secondary creators , who are , in fact , Gods . The former scheme , which supposes that Christ created the uiiiverse , thoug-h it erect a duality of Gods , is preferable to the latter , which , by analogy , multiplies Gods without number . If Christ created this system , he created all ; for the uniformity
discernible 111 all the parts of nature offers a sensible refutation of the strange , capricious notion , that one system of planets and suns was formed by one Creator , and another by another . If Christ created all the worlds , why should the Arian hesitate to acknowledge that Christ is God supremo ?
That no mention should be made of a subordinate Creator throughout the Old Testament , which yet perpetually alludes to the Maker of heaven and earth , and the wonders of liis hand , forms , of itself , the strongest presumption against the truth of the theory ; and when both the Old and New Testament describe the renovated
state of the world under the gospel sera an a new creation , there can be no room for doubt that tUuKe passages which ascribe creation to Christ contaiin : i spiritual sense ,, and hav <> only a 11 emblematic reference to the works of material nature . Low Arian ism i * still more deficient 111 that sort ojf evidence winch is derived from the indirect authority of opinions ; as , indeed , it cannot stand tu antiquity at all .
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and is wholly of modern growth . Thi * modified scheme of Arianism recognizes the spiritual character of the creation or construction of all things ascribed to Christy but interprets literally of a pre-existetit glory those texts which , in language com * aion to Scripture , speak of thing's predestinated as having a previous existence . *
" The Loio Aficns are more properly Unitarians than their elder brethren 1 btft their hypothesis of pre-eocisience appears unnecessary . If God wrought in Christ , it did not require a superior nature or beings exclusive of God , to enable Christ to do what-he did 5 and this applies to-the
original view of the Arian scheme , which seems to substitute super-angelic power for the power of God . A superior nature seems only called far on the supposition < vf a satisfuctional purpose in the death <* f Christ ; and then only on / the supposition that the satisfaction could not be in&de but by a toeing of infinite or superior
nature . u The Arians conceive that the dignity of Christ is lowered by the abandonment of the scheme of pre-existenee . But if we exclude liis agencv in the material creation-, it does not appear why , as a man 4 anointed with the Holy Ghost- and with power ' , *
the dignity x > f Christ is less , than as an incarnate secondary God , or a spirit above archangels . Although a man , he was to us as God ; the organ of his will—the medium of liis wisdom—the mercy-seat of
his redeeming love—theag-ent ^ f his power 5 and , as one * in all respects like his breath re n , ' i tempted , yet without sin , ' his moral dignity is incomparably greater than
as a supra-human being , the meritoriousness of whose sinless obedience is lessened in exact proportion as bis nature is exalted above the level of humanity . "—Pp .
102—105 . The author is very successful in exposing the weakness of the scriptural arguments for Arianism . We insert a specimen of his ** Examination : "—* u Jolin xvii . 5 , 'And now , O Father ! glorify tliou me with thine own self , with the glory which 1 had with lliee before the world was . * Ver 24 , 'That they may be *
hold my glory which thou hast given me ; for thou lovfcclst me before I lie foundation of the world . Ve . r . 22 , * The glory which thou gavest me I have given them : that they may be one , even as wo are one / 'I hue |» asMiges , com parcel , illustrate * each 1 other } a ltd if the dnoti ii » e of pre existencebe matte to nst an them alone , it must assuredly fall " It is j )! : nn , from these three passages , * I . That the discij » les _ were to behold that gf lory which the Father had given to the Son 5 and that it is not said that it was
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VOi . XIV . S X
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Review . —Appeal to Scripture and T ^ raditioiL 56 ; l
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1819, page 501, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1775/page/41/
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