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ligible is the general language of Trinitarians , how difficult to
affix any meaning to it ! A remarkable instance of this obscurity is to be seen in their statement of the doctrine of satisfaction : Dr .
Watts , like many others , brings forward the idea that the Son quenched the flame of divine wrath ; but if we ask , when did he quench it ? we meet with the
most contradictory answers that can possibly be conceived of . One hymn tells us , that it was when Christ came down from heaven :
" But all was mercy , all was mild , And wrath forsook the throne , When Christ on the kind errand came , And brought salvation down . " ( P . 3 * 2- ) Another hymn says , that it was when Christ died on the cross :
" Appeas'd stern justice on the tree , And then arose to God . " ( P . 342 . ) But a third hymn contradicts both these opinions , and shews us that the tlame was not extinguish - ed ( at least not completely ) till Christ ascended !
a Well , the Redeemer ' s gone T ' appear before our God , To sprinkle o ' er the JIaming throne With his atoning blood . " ( P . 341 . ) Now , Mr . Editor * what can we make of all this ? Is it not a most barefaced contradiction ? For if " all was mild , " and " wrath had forsaken t lie throne , "
when Christ descended , how could it be a ** flaming throne" again , when he ascended ? In fact , I consider this contradiction as sufficient to invalidate the whole argument r for were any witness , in giving evidence before a court
concerning any particular transaction , to vary so much in stating the . lt / 7 i 0 of it as to mention three different days , at a considerable
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distance from each other , no person , I believe , would consider his evidence as entitled to the least credit . Again , there is an instance of great obscurity in their description of the three persons . 1 have
been always led to understand , from the general language of Trinitarians , that the Son , independent of the veil of human flesh , is not so terrific a person as the Father ; or , in other words , that the Father is the most tremendous
of all the three persons : but there is one stanza in Dr . Watts ' s Hymns that quite overturns that notion , and shews us that when unqualified by poor humanity , all
the three persons are equally tremendous- ! i . e . one is as full of wrath as the other ! That stanza , though cited already , shall be repeated :
c < Till God in human flesh I see , My thoughts no comfort find ; The holy , just , and sacred TArce Are terror to my mind . "
4 . It is rather curious that Dr . Watts , after exhibiting such absurdities , should presume , in so exulting a manner , to cast reproaches upon , the poor deluded heathens , in such lines as these :
" Let the old heathens tune their songs Of great Diana and of Jove . ** ( P-333- ) When I first road them , I was
naturally led to expect some fine lines on the superiority of Christianity to every other system pt
religion , similar to what the doctor actually has in the 2 19 th Psalm ; hut judge how great was my disappointment when I found
the very next stanza beginning itt this fnanner : < 4 Behold , a God descends and dies ! V *
In truth , I could not repress
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Dr . Watts s Trinitarian Paradoxes . 601
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vol . in . 4 r .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1808, page 601, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2398/page/25/
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