"ned," that all died, and were constituted sinners; that all have "come short of the

66

is "

glory of God";" and that all the world guilty before God," or liable to his judgments. We know that the Holy Spirit is Lord and God. We know that Jesus Christ is a "propitiation for our sins"; " that "he suffered the just for the unjust, and was crucified for us." We know that he was born" of the seed of David in the flesh; that what was conceived of Mary the Virgin was of the Holy Ghost'; that "he is Lord of all;" and that he " is over all, God blessed for evermore." We know that God loved us, and sent his Son into the world, that the world through him might be saved"; and as men that have been baptized "in the name of the "Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy "Ghost "," we acknowledge "the mystery

14.

a Rom. v. 12. 17. 18. 19.1 Cor. xv. 22. 2 Cor. v. b Rom. iii. 23. c Rom. iii. 19. d 1 Cor. xii. 5. 6. e 1 John ii. 2. iv. 10. f 1 Peter iii. 18. g 1 Cor. v. 7. h Rom. i. 3. i Matt. i. 20. Luke i. 35. k Acts x. 36. m John iii. 16. 17. 1 John iv. 9. 10.

Rom. ix. 5.

n Matt. xxviii, 19.

66

66

66

of God, and of the Father, and of Christ " "... through whom we have access by one Spirit unto the Father"." This is our faith which is established on the authority which the Apostles possessed, for "casting "down imaginations," or reasonings, "and "every high thing that exalteth itself a gainst the knowledge of God, and" for bringing into captivity every thought to “the obedience of Christ ¶."

Very opposite is the Creed of the Unitarian, whose profession is, “ that the God "and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is ❝alone possessed of the essential attributes "of divinity, and that to him alone religious worship is due':" and that Jesus was" truly and properly a man, and as to "nature no more." "The Unitarians be

a

lieving Christ to be a mere human being "...of course deny the commonly received "doctrine of the Atonement, and they con"ceive that the death of Christ is no where represented in the Scriptures as an ex

o Coloss. ii. 2. P Ephes. ii. 18. 92 Cor. x. 5. Carpenter, p. 99. Ibid. p. 123.

s

G

66

piatory sacrifice for human guilt, as appeasing the wrath of God, as a satisfac"tion to Divine justice, or as a vicarious suffering for the transgressions of man"kind." They "do not believe in the personal existence of the Holy Spirit, as

66

a Being distinct from the Supreme ".". "They reject the doctrine of the Trinity, "of the Creation of the universe by Jesus "Christ, of the Incarnation, of the Atone"ment,... and other popular doctrines "connected with these." They renounce "the heart-withering, the gloomy doctrine "of eternal torments:" and while they acknowledge not "the plenary inspiration "of the Scriptures"," they believe "the "Bible only to be the religion of Protest"ants, and resting on this solid principle," they dare not "allow any human autho

rity in matters of religion." In this creed it is contended, that there are

66 no

* Belsham's

t Belsham's Lett. to the Bp. of London, p. 10. Estlin, p. 81. u Belsham, Estlin, ubi supra. Lett. to the Bp. of London, p. 34. Notes on Rev. xiv. 11. xx. 10. * Estlin, p. 37.

y Improved Version. z Belsham, ubi supra.

66

mysteries ":" although it is acknowledged, that there are difficulties which cannot be immediately removed, and in the investigation of this their faith, they " do not "affect to approach the oracles of truth "with any prostration of the understand'ing." If ever they should be charged “with admitting as a revealed truth... a proposition which previously to its recep❝tion required a prostration of the understanding," they would regard it as "a ca"lumny more absurd and more injurious "than any which the malignity and ingenuity of" their "bitterest adversaries "have ever yet inventedd."

66

The challenge of the Unitarian has been accepted; the rules which he has prescribed for the contest have been observed, and all which he asks has been conceded e. Our faith has been delivered in the words of Scripture; his doctrine has been pre

b Belsham's Lett. to the Bp. of London, p. 61. 69. c Belsham's Lett. to the Unitarian Christians of South Wales, p. 22. Carpenter, p. 225. 260. 264. d Belsham's Lett, to the Bp. of London, p. 75. Estlin, p. 37. Belsham's Lett. to the Bp. of London, p. 83.

sented in the terms which have been used by its ablest and most accomplished advocates. The argument has not been disguised by any allusion to the conduct of less cautious or less skilful polemics, nor incumbered by a reference to the vain suspicions of the integrity or conjectural emendations of the Sacred Text; to the unauthorized translation of its words, or the tortuous interpretation of its sense; to the contradiction and disagreement of Unitarian commentators with themselves and with each other; to their confident anticipations of ultimate success; to their insinuations on the probity of their adversaries, and the imputation of interested motives, which induce a tacit acquiescence in error, or prevent a manly investigation of the truth.

These disingenuous arts of controversy need not at this time or in this place to be exposed, where all of critical and theological erudition has been brought to bear in the defence of the truth. The little which has been done upon the present occasion may serve as a specimen of the errors