ப

to

above the comprehension of our limited faculties; but these are doctrines from which we draw im portant conclusions, calculated to elevate our minds and regulate our conduct. The threefold mode of the Divine subsistence is also incompre hensible; but we have pointed out certain considerations in connexion with this fundamental doctrine, which are of incalculable value in the dispensation of grace. It were presumption affirm, that every thing of practical importance in Christianity is rendered available, altogether apart from the truth of a fact so peculiar and s mysterious. Any such averment would be in contradiction of what is undeniable,-that all who refuse credence in the Trinity, do also reject as unfounded, certain other Scriptural doctrines which are fraught with instruction and consol tion, and which have been exhibited in the pre ceding pages, as being only a new application the same principles which have been acknowledge to be rational by all sound Theists. Such is the coherence of these doctrines, that apart from on of them, the rest cannot be maintained in ther relation and consistency; and hence, the Idenial of the Trinity leads to a rejection of the high advantages on which we have been le

proper

to expatiate.

They who impugn this doctrine, reject, a

2

theological fiction, the radical sinfulness of man. This they do, although it is obvious, as we have proved in the Second Chapter, that the melancholy fact is fully substantiated. Indeed, the admission of this doctrine, we have seen, is only the extension and proper application of a principle, on which all men regulate their moral estimation of one another. The evil of the sin which is attachable to man, is comparatively slight in the opinion of Antitrinitarians; and the remedy which they deem requisite is equally slight. Hence they neither perceive the necessity, nor feel the grace, nor admire the condescension of the manifestation of God in the flesh, as the only means of exhibiting the principles on which the pardon and acceptance of sinners can be safely rested. These principles they reject, although undeniably characteristic of the Divine procedure in the ordinary administration of the world, although agreeable to our constitutional perceptions of moral fitness, and although highly conducive to practical improvement, as we have manifested in the Third Chapter of this Dissertation. Dependence on Him who has said, "Believe in God, believe also in me," they estimate as a barren proposition. This they do, in denial of what we have shown in the Fourth Chapter, to be the grand principle on which they themselves carry on the

moral training of their own children. Of spiritual renovation, or the new birth, they never dream. The necessity of this they question, although it is apparent to the reason of all, and universally acknowledged, that cases of moral obliquity do occur, in which the rectification of the heart, apart from Divine interference, must remain hopeless. Man's renewal into holiness, and advancement in knowledge and righteousness through the work of "The Spirit," is but the extension of a power, which, according to the admission of all, is sometimes exercised by God over the human heart, and yet this doctrine is rejected by the im pugners of the Trinity, as uncalled for, chimeri cal, and unintelligible.

The beautiful character of unity and harmony of design is observable, we have said, in a feature I which is common to all known facts, whether in the moral or spiritual world, that, although they may be inexplicable in themselves, there are al ways connected with them certain particulars which are instructive to those who admit the existence of the facts. The threefold mode of the Divine subsistence is avowedly incomprehensible; but our admission of the fact is connected, in the addispensation of grace, Iwith more numerous & vantages than are connected with the admission of some of those incomprehensible facts, which ar

never questioned as doctrines of natural religion. Again we repeat, that the rejection of the Trinity leads necessarily to the rejection of many truths I which we have proved to be at once reasonable and

1

Scriptural; and this incompatibility of disbelief in the Trinity, with belief of those cognate and most important doctrines, is rendered palpable by the uniformly stinted character of the Unitarian's creed. To us he appears to be most inconsistent in the conclusions to which he comes. What he credits as right conceptions of the procedure of the Deity as the Moral Governor of the world, he denounces foolishness when developed in the scheme of redemption. We write, not in bitterness but in kindness; and fain would we open his eye to what we have manifested in the preceding pages, concerning the doctrine which we have maintained as being in harmony with every recognised principle in the arrangements of Providence. We appeal to the common sense, the common feelings, the common experience of thinking men, in support of the reasonableness of our opinions; for, reasonable that religion must be considered, which not only displays coherence in all its parts, but exhibits an accordance with the Divine administration in all its order, beauty, and beneficent design.

Revelation is the very counterpart of sound

N