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UNITARIANISM DEFENDED: A SERIES OF LECTURES
UNITARIANISM DEFENDED: A SERIES OF LECTURES
Would to Heaven that Christians had their own ‘vail’ of orthodox words taken away from their minds; that, limiting Orthodoxy to the acceptance of the Christ as the Spirit (‘the Lord is that Spirit,’ says St. Paul), i.e. , the meaning, the end of all revelation, they would not allow a new letter , consisting of abstract doctrines, to involve their minds in a ‘vail’ which obstructs the view of the Gospel, even more than the old letter, which kept the Jews in “bondage.”— Heresy and Orthodoxy by Rev
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GENERAL PREFACE.
GENERAL PREFACE.
In this Preface, and in all the other contents of this volume, we have occupied the position of an assailed party, lending our best consideration to whatever a leagued body of resolute and unsparing adversaries could say against us. We have stood upon the defensive, not lamenting that such an occasion had occurred of exposing our views of Christianity to so severe a scrutiny, and of displaying to the world whether our position was tenable. We did not provoke this Controversy. It was of our oppon
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To all who call themselves Unitarians in the townand neighbourhood of Liverpool.
To all who call themselves Unitarians in the townand neighbourhood of Liverpool.
“And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus , both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.”—Acts xxviii. 23. Men and Brethren,—I am aware that the term “Religious Controversy,” is a phrase peculiarly revolting to many minds; that it presents to them nothing in its aspect but that which has been sarcastically called the “ Acetum Theologicu
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To the Rev. Fielding Ould, and the other Clergymen about to lecture on the Unitarian Controversy in Christ Church.
To the Rev. Fielding Ould, and the other Clergymen about to lecture on the Unitarian Controversy in Christ Church.
Reverend Sirs,—A paper has been put into our hands, and an advertisement has appeared in the public journals, containing a “Syllabus of a Course of Lectures on the Controversy between the Protestant Churches and the (so called) Unitarians,” &c. As individual inquirers after truth, and disciples of Jesus, we deliberately hold the characteristic doctrines of Unitarian Christianity; and, as ministers among a class of Protestants, who, binding themselves and their pastors by no human creed o
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To the Reverend James Martineau, J. H. Thom, and Henry Giles.
To the Reverend James Martineau, J. H. Thom, and Henry Giles.
Gentlemen,—As Christian courtesy seems to require a reply to your address, published in the Albion of this day, I hasten to furnish it, though unwilling, for many reasons, to enter into a newspaper discussion with you on the important subjects which just now engage our attention. I shall, therefore, (without intending any disrespect,) pass by unnoticed your critical remarks on certain portions of my recently published invitation to the members of your body to attend and give a patient hearing to
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To the Rev. James Martineau, J. H. Thom, and Henry Giles.
To the Rev. James Martineau, J. H. Thom, and Henry Giles.
Gentlemen,--I owe it to you and to myself to state, that no offence was intended, either by me, or, as I conscientiously believe, by my clerical brethren, in the title of the subject to which my name stands affixed in the Syllabus of the Lectures on the Unitarian Controversy. I am also bound to acknowledge, that your letter, on the subject of the lecture, is written in a style of calmness and courtesy, of which, I trust, you will have no reason to complain of the absence in the statements which
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To the Reverend Fielding Ould.
To the Reverend Fielding Ould.
Rev. Sir,—We beg to offer you our thanks for your prompt and distinct reply, in the Liverpool Courier of yesterday, to the proposals submitted to you in our letter of Monday. We are as little anxious as yourself for the prolongation of this preliminary newspaper correspondence; and however much we may regret the negative character of your answers to our questions, we should have reserved all comment upon them for notice elsewhere, if you did not appear to us to have left still open to considerat
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To the Trinitarians of this Town and Neighbourhood who may feelinterested in the approaching Unitarian Controversy.
To the Trinitarians of this Town and Neighbourhood who may feelinterested in the approaching Unitarian Controversy.
Christian Brethren,—A letter of public invitation has been addressed to the Unitarians of this town and neighbourhood, by the Rev. Fielding Ould, on behalf of himself and twelve other gentlemen associated with him, urging us, with the earnestness of Christian anxiety, to bend our minds to their expositions of our errors and our dangers. We naturally interpreted this to be an invitation to discuss the most momentous questions as equal with equal. We thought, indeed, that we saw an assumption of s
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TRINITARIAN LECTURE,
TRINITARIAN LECTURE,
1839.—February 6. 1. Introductory. The practical importance of the Controversy with Unitarians. February 13. 2. The Integrity of the Canon of Holy Scripture maintained against Unitarian Objections. February 20. 3. The Unitarian Interpretation of the New Testament based upon defective Scholarship, or on dishonest or uncandid Criticism. February 27. 4. The proper Humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. March 6. 5. The proper Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ proved from Prophecies, Types, and Jewish Ordin
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UNITARIAN LECTURE,
UNITARIAN LECTURE,
1839.—February 12. 1. The practical importance of the Unitarian Controversy. February 19. 2. The Bible; what it is, and what it is not. February 26. 3. Christianity not the property of Critics and Scholars, but the gift of God to all men. March 5. 4. “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” March 12. 5. The proposition ‘That Christ is God,’ proved to be false from the Jewish and the Christian Scriptures. March 19. 6. The scheme of Vicarious Redemption incon
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To the (so-called) Unitarians of Liverpool.
To the (so-called) Unitarians of Liverpool.
Men and Brethren,—Before the commencement of the lectures, on which I have taken the liberty of inviting your attendance, I am anxious respectfully to address to you a few observations in reference to the letters which have appeared in the public journals under the signature of your ministers. It would appear that these gentlemen have been desirous to produce upon the public mind an unfavourable impression, à priori , of my reverend brethren, and of myself in particular, because of our having de
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To the Rev. J. Martineau, J. H. Thom, and Henry Giles.
To the Rev. J. Martineau, J. H. Thom, and Henry Giles.
Gentlemen,—Having hitherto corresponded with you on my own individual responsibility, I have to request that you will consider me as alone answerable for what has hitherto appeared under my signature. I had this morning, for the first time, the opportunity of personal conference with my reverend brethren collectively at the expected meeting which took place at my house. I have now to address you upon the result. All that we had originally contemplated was, the delivery of a course of lectures up
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To the Reverend Fielding Ould.
To the Reverend Fielding Ould.
Reverend Sir,—It would have been gratifying to us to receive from you an answer to our offer of a discussion, through the press, before being called upon to consider a proposal, altogether new, for a platform controversy. You give us an invitation to talk , and call this an acceptance of our offer to write . The two proposals are so distinct, that it is not easy to see how the one could be transformed into the other; nor is the mistake explained on turning to the words of our invitation, appeale
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To the Revs. J. Martineau, J. H. Thom, and H. Giles.
To the Revs. J. Martineau, J. H. Thom, and H. Giles.
Gentlemen,—I think it due to the cause of truth, as well as to the interest awakened in the public mind by this controversy, to address to you a few observations on your last letter, as published in the Mercury of Friday. Though still strongly of opinion that the columns of a newspaper present a most undesirable medium of communication upon subjects such as those we are now engaged in discussing, I am unwilling in the absence of any other accessible instrumentality, to lose the opportunity it af
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To the Revs. J. Martineau, J. H. Thom, and H. Giles.
To the Revs. J. Martineau, J. H. Thom, and H. Giles.
Gentlemen,—You state, in your letter of the 7th ult., that “your proposal of discussion through the press, though made for the third time, has as yet received no answer.” It was thought by ourselves and our clerical brethren, that as our lectures were to be printed and published, every facility was afforded you of replying to them through the same channel, and that thus the whole subject would be fairly brought before the public. In addition to this, we have offered to meet you in oral discussio
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To the Rev. Fielding Ould.
To the Rev. Fielding Ould.
Rev. Sir,—The tone of your last letter makes us rejoice that, by the acceptance on your parts of discussion through the press, this correspondence may now be brought to a close. Let us, Rev. Sir, place before you your own language, and ask, in solemn sadness, are the feelings it betrays worthy of the occasion, or deserved by us, or edifying to the public mind? These are your words:—“I cannot but hope that a secret consciousness of the weakness of your cause has prompted your determination, and a
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To the Revs. Thomas Byrth, Fielding Ould, and Hugh M‘Neile.
To the Revs. Thomas Byrth, Fielding Ould, and Hugh M‘Neile.
Gentlemen,—Your willingness to discuss the Unitarian and Trinitarian controversy in the most satisfactory mode, has given us sincere pleasure; and if we have seemed to press this matter upon your acceptance, we assure you it was with the single desire that the statements of both views, in their most accurate and perfect forms, might be presented to the same minds through an unbiassing medium; an object which could be obtained neither by the unequal distribution of separate lectures, nor by means
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To the Revs. J. Martineau, J. H. Thom, and H. Giles.
To the Revs. J. Martineau, J. H. Thom, and H. Giles.
Gentlemen,—I cannot permit our correspondence to terminate without a few remarks on your letter, as published in the Mercury of Friday last. 1. I regret that the “tone” of my last address should have given you any offence, while I am wholly unconscious of any intention unnecessarily to wound the feelings of those who, I am free to admit, have hitherto written at least courteously, if not very candidly, upon the subjects which have been recently submitted to the attention of the public. Allow me
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To the Rev. Fielding Ould.
To the Rev. Fielding Ould.
Reverend Sir,—You proposed (in your letter of the 5th February) a certain series of subjects as proper topics for the discussion between us, and submitted the list to our notice for acceptance or rejection. From this enumeration we struck out two particulars, viz. , the authenticity of certain parts of the New Testament writings, on the ground that we did not deny your postulates under that head; and the translation of certain other parts of the Scriptures, on the grounds that, with yourself, we
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To the Revs. J. Martineau, J. H. Thom, and H. Giles.
To the Revs. J. Martineau, J. H. Thom, and H. Giles.
Gentlemen,—Before we proceed with our proposed discussion, it is necessary to determine, with a little more of accuracy than has been hitherto stated, what our controversy is to be about. We thought that you, in common with Unitarians generally, acknowledged the Scriptures of the New Testament, as contained in what is commonly called “The Unitarian or Improved Version,” to be inspired of God, and consequently of infallible truth. This however you, as individuals, have disclaimed; and, therefore,
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To the Revs. H. M‘Neile, F. Ould, and T. Byrth.
To the Revs. H. M‘Neile, F. Ould, and T. Byrth.
Gentlemen,—You ask us, Is our discussion to be, 1. “Upon the meaning of a mutually-acknowledged standard of TRUTH ?” Or, 2. “Upon the question, Is there any such standard? And if so, what is it?” We answer, distinctly, that our controversy is upon the meaning, ascertained by INTERPRETATION , of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. Should any questions of criticism arise respecting what is the text to be interpreted, these must, of course, be argued separately, upon purely critical grounds. We concei
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To the Revs. J. Martineau, J. H. Thom, and H. Giles.
To the Revs. J. Martineau, J. H. Thom, and H. Giles.
Gentlemen,—In our last letter we gave up the “Improved Version,” so far as you, as individuals , are concerned, because, as individuals , you disclaimed it. We are surprised, therefore, that you should revert to it, and the more so, because you have now ventured to say, not only that you disclaim it, but also, in the face of known facts, that it is not “the Unitarian version,” nor is it “commonly so called.” When you disclaimed it for yourselves , we did not demur. But when you go on to disclaim
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To the Revs. H. M‘Neile, F. Ould, and T. Byrth.
To the Revs. H. M‘Neile, F. Ould, and T. Byrth.
Gentlemen,—We regret the misstatement of your question, which appeared at the commencement of our letter of the 13th instant. We regret still more that it did not occur to you to attribute it to its real cause,—the carelessness of a printer or transcriber. In the autograph manuscript which remains in our hands, your question is correctly stated thus—“Is our discussion to be upon a mutually-acknowledged standard of truth ?” How the word “truth” became changed into “scripture,” we cannot tell; and
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THE PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE UNITARIAN CONTROVERSY.
THE PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE UNITARIAN CONTROVERSY.
An attempt has been made, in a preface to the Lecture to which the following pages are a reply, to break the force, by anticipation, of the statements they contain. The Answerer, however, evidently did not hear the statements; and the preface proceeds upon some rumour of what was said. If Clergymen are conscientiously prevented from going to hear Unitarians, they ought also to be conscientiously prevented from answering what they did not hear. I am represented as saying that Trinitarians do not
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APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
“The free and unprejudiced mind dwells with delight on the image of the universal church or convocation of Christ, as it would naturally have grown ‘into the fulness of the body’ of its glorious founder * * * * “And what (let me earnestly and solemnly ask) has hitherto turned this view into a mocking dream,—a dream that deludes by images which are the very reverse of the sad realities which surround us? Orthodoxy ;—the notion that the eternal happiness or misery of individuals is intimately conn
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THE BIBLE: WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT.
THE BIBLE: WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT.
“ AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US, (AND WE BEHELD HIS GLORY, THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER,) FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH. ”— John i. 14. The Bible is the great autobiography of human nature, from its infancy to its perfection. Whatever man has seen and felt and done on the theatre of this earth, is expressed therein with the simplicity and vividness of personal consciousness. The first wondering impressions of the new-created being, just dropt upon a scene quite str
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NOTES.
NOTES.
Great allowance must perhaps be made for the clergymen who persist, after repeated expostulation, in their assumption that the Improved Version is an authoritative exposition of Unitarian theology. The convenience of limiting their studies, for the most part, to a single work, and the inconvenience of dispensing with the previous labours of Dr. Nares, and Archbishop Magee, whose hostile criticisms furnish the orthodox divine with invaluable prolegomena to the book, ought to diminish our surprise
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APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
“Hanc ob causam Judæi universum tempus in duas magnas periodos dispescere consueverunt, alteram Messiæ adventum antecedentem (αιων οὑτος vel ὁ νυν αιων), alteram consequentem (αιων μελλων vel ερχομενος vel εκεινος). Postremam illius (αιωνος τουτου) partem, ævo Messiano annexam, nominarunt ὑστερους καιρους, καιρον εσχατον, εσχατα των χρονων, εσχατας ἡμερας, exitumque ejus τα τελη των αιωνων vel συντελειαν του αιωνος.”— Bertholdt. Christologia Judæorum Jesu Apostolorumque ætate. pp. 38, 39. “On th
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APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
I think it right to state here that one or two passages are printed in the lecture, which, as time was failing, I passed over in the delivery. They affect in nowise the general import or argument. I thought it possible that one sentence in reference to Mr. Jones’s lecture would require to be expunged; but having now read the lecture in print, I see the sentence may stand. Mr. Jones defined with clearness and accuracy his belief in Christ’s humanity—that Christ was really a man, “that he had a co
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
The length of the following Discourse rendered it necessary to omit large portions of it in the delivery; the remainder has undergone no alteration in preparing the Lecture for the press. It is one of the duties of the controversialist to drop each subject of debate so soon as everything materially affecting it has been advanced; and to seize the time for silence, as promptly as the time for speech. This consideration would have led me to abstain from any further remarks respecting the Improved
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NOTES.
NOTES.
In order to break the force of all reasonings respecting the inherent incredibility of the Trinitarian doctrine, the principle has been frequently advanced, that a statement which would be contradictory, if made respecting an object within reach of our knowledge, cannot be affirmed to be so, if applied to an object beyond our knowledge; since in the one case we have , in the other we have not , some experience to guide our judgment, and serve as a criterion of truth. Thus, it is said, to affirm
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
It will be apparent, from the unusual length of the following discourse, that its limits have been much extended since its delivery. The additional portions furnish, in detail, the interpretation which appears to me to reach the true meaning of the New Testament language, respecting the death of Christ. Few passages, I believe, relating to this subject, will be found unnoticed: and it is probable that, in the desire to avoid omission, I have been guilty of some prolixity and repetition. The frie
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NOTES.
NOTES.
It is not easy to determine, with any precision, what is Mr. M‘Neile’s estimate of the capabilities and defects of natural religion. It is subjected to a vague and indistinct disparagement throughout his lecture; the impression is left, that the character of God cannot be vindicated by appeal to his works; but I do not perceive that the lecturer commits himself to any logical proposition on the subject. One of his coadjutors, [398] however, has supplied this deficiency; and taking, as an antagon
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
The Rev. D. James commences the Preface to his Lecture with these words: “Modern Unitarianism is a compound of Infidelity and Heresy.” It would be very easy for me to say what modern Trinitarianism is, and to attach to it two epithets which Mr. James would relish no more than I do Infidelity and Heresy. It is evident, however, that this calling of names proves nothing but the unfitness of the mind which so indulges its temper and feeling to be engaged in intellectual and argumentative controvers
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The Apostles’ Creed.
The Apostles’ Creed.
I believe in God (or, as the earlier notices of this Creed have it, “in one God,” also, “ one only God the Father Almighty”) the Father Almighty , Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried: he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God , the Father Almighty : from
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Justin Martyr, A.D. 140.
Justin Martyr, A.D. 140.
“I will endeavour to show that he who appeared to Abraham, Jacob, and Moses, and who is called God, is different from the God that made all things,— numerically different, though not in will ; for I say that he never did any thing but what that God who made all things , and above whom there is no god, willed that he should do and say.” [475]...
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Irenæus, A.D. 178.
Irenæus, A.D. 178.
“We hold the Rule of Truth, that there is one God Almighty , who created all things by his Logos.” ... “This is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and of Him it is that Paul declared, There is one God , even the Father , who is above all, and through all, and in us all.” [476]...
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Clemens Alexandrinus, A.D. 194.
Clemens Alexandrinus, A.D. 194.
“There is one unbegotten almighty Father , and one first begotten, by whom all things were, and without whom nothing was made. For one is truly God, who made the beginning of all things, meaning his first-begotten son.” [477]...
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Tertullian, A.D. 200.
Tertullian, A.D. 200.
“I do not speak of Gods and Lords; but I follow the Apostle; so that if the Father and the Son are to be named together, I call the Father God, and Jesus Christ Lord: though I can call Christ God when speaking of himself alone.” And he goes on to explain this by declaring, that a ray of the sun may, with sufficient propriety, be called the sun. [478]...
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Origen, A.D. 230.
Origen, A.D. 230.
“We may by this means solve the doubts which terrify many men, who pretend to great piety, and who are afraid of making two Gods, and, through this, fall into vain and impious opinions; denying that the nature of the Son is different from that of the Father, and who acknowledge that he is God in name only; or denying the divinity of the Son, and then maintaining that his nature and essence is different from that of the Father. For we must tell them that he who is God of himself , is The God, as
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Novatian, A.D. 251.
Novatian, A.D. 251.
“He, although he was in the form of God, did not think of the robbery of being equal with God. For though he knew that he was God, from God the Father, he never likened or compared himself with God the Father, remembering that he was from the Father, and that he had what he had because the Father had given it to him.” [480]...
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Lactantius, A.D. 310.
Lactantius, A.D. 310.
“He showed his fidelity to God, in that he taught that there is one God , and that he alone ought to be worshipped. Nor did he ever say that he himself was God. For he would not have preserved his fidelity if, being sent to take away a number of gods, and to assert one God , he had introduced another besides that one. Wherefore, because he was so faithful, because he arrogated nothing to himself, that he might fulfil the commands of Him who sent him, he received the dignity of perpetual priest,
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Athanasius, A.D. 325.
Athanasius, A.D. 325.
“For there is one God, and there is not another besides Him. When it is said that the Father is the only God, that he is one God, ‘I am the First ,’ and ‘I am the Last ,’ it is well said. This is not said, however, to take away from the Son; for he also is in THE ONE, FIRST , and ONLY ONE , as being the only Logos , Wisdom, and Effulgence of him who is THE ONE , and THE ALONE , and the Supreme .” [482] “And Athanasius himself, who is commonly accounted the very Rule of Orthodoxality in this poin
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The Nicene Creed, A.D. 325.
The Nicene Creed, A.D. 325.
“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten and only begotten of the Father; that is of the substance of the Father, God of (out of) God, Light of (from) Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, by whom all things were made both in heaven and in earth: who for us men, and for our salvation, descended and was incarnate, and was made man, suffered, and rose aga
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The Athanasian Creed. (A.D. 500-800.)
The Athanasian Creed. (A.D. 500-800.)
Whosoever will be saved: before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholick Faith. Which Faith, except every one do keep whole and undefiled: without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholick Faith is this: that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son: and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Gh
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NOTES.
NOTES.
Having in the Appendix of my former lecture stated from sources of authority the doctrines of Calvinism on the nature of man, I here enumerate some of the principal texts on which those doctrines are said to be founded. The question, it is to be kept in mind, is not whether man is or is not capable of great depravity, whether sin of various degrees and extent has not existed in all ages, and does not exist at present in all places. That sin has entered into the world is a fact undisputed, no mat
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
In preparing this Lecture for the press, after an examination in its printed form of that to which it is a Reply, I do not find that the Trinitarian argument has been strengthened by additional evidence, or by a more logical statement, so as to require any modification of my impressions of its weight and character. Mr. Bates has in his Appendix drawn out some of his scriptural evidence, and I can only require any one to examine it, in order not only to estimate its cogency in reference to this p
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NOTES.
NOTES.
The prominent place which the doctrine of two principles occupies in the later theology of the Persians has procured for that people the reputation of being the first to apprehend it; and for Zoroaster the credit of assigning to it its due importance in the religious reformation which he accomplished. So much doubt, however, exists, respecting the age in which Zoroaster lived, the nature and extent of the change which he introduced, and even on the question whether he really taught the dualistic
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NOTE.
NOTE.
In an essay on “the one great end of the life and death of Christ,” Dr. Priestley makes the following observations on the words (occurring in 1 Cor. v. 7,) “ Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us :” “This allusion to the paschal lamb makes it also probable, that the death of Christ is called a sacrifice only by way of figure, because these two (viz., sacrifice and the paschal lamb) are quite different and inconsistent ideas. The paschal lamb is never so much as termed a sacrifice in the Old
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