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Untitled Article
general resemblance between two cases , but omits a more important feature of difference between them , proves nothing , and less than nothing . But perhaps the Trinitarian may now say that Christ is expressly called God in the New Testament , and that here the controversy , as it respects the
divinity of our Lord , must end . Admitting the fact , I should rather say , that here the controversy must begin ; and the question to be considered would be , in what sense this appellation might be given to Christ in consistency with the declaration of an apostle , a declaration confirmed by the tenor of the Christian Scriptures from beginning to end , that " to us there is one God , the Fatber , and one Lord , Jesus Christ . "
To these remarks , written , as I have stated above , some years ago , I will add one general argument from Scripture against the doctrine which has been here considered : and the argument is this , that the language of the New Testament ( to say nothing of the Old ) is manifestly framed not on Trinitarian but on Unitarian principles . I do not here mean to take into account the passages in which the simple humanity of Christ seems to be positively affirmed , nor those in which our Lord asserts the limitation of his power and knowledge , which at once negative the notion of his Divinity , but shall confine myself to the use of the term God in the Christian Scriptures .
According to the doctrine of the Trinity , at least according to that view of it which has been the subject of consideration , there are three persons in the Godhead , in other words , God subsists in three persons , called the Father , Son , and Holy Ghost . Neither of these persons then , singly considered , is truly and properly God , and the term God , in its genuine and full signification , ought to mean a Being in whom these three persons are united . But though the term God occurs ( as has been said ) thirteen hundred times in the New Testament , is there the slightest evidence that it is used in a
single instance to denote a Trinity in Unity ? Is there not , on the other hand , the most full and satisfactory proof that in the Christian Scriptures the term is employed to convey the notion of one person alone ? When God is said to have given his only-begotten Son , that whosoever believeth on him might not perish but have everlasting life , what is intended by the term God ? Surely not the Father , Son , and Holy Ghost , but the Father , as distinguished from the Son . When it is said , that there is one mediator between God and men , the man Christ Jesus , the meaning cannot be , that the man Christ Jesus is a mediator between man and the Father , Son , and
Holy Ghost , but between man and the Father only . It being then certain , even from the evidence now produced , that the term God is applied to that one person whom we denominate the Father , it is reasonable to conclude that whenever the simple term God is used , the Father alone is intended . And in this sense , I doubt not , it is generally used even by Trinitarians themselves .
But let it now be allowed that the term God may be applied with equal propriety to each of the three persons of the Trinity ; how , then , comes it to pass that we should nowhere read in the Scriptures of God the Son , and of God the Holy Ghost ? That this is the true language of Trinitarianism , Trinitarians themselves have unwittingly afforded us abundant proof . But if
one main object of the Christian revelation was to disclose the doctrine of the Trinity , is it not beyond expression strange , that while in the Christian records there is repeated mention of God the Father , not a word should be said of God the Son , and of God the Holy Ghost , and that we should nowhere read of three persons in one God ? Is it not altogether inexplicable
Untitled Article
Remarks on the TrinHarian Controversy . 306
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1829, page 305, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2572/page/9/
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