ploys as the special messengers of his designs"."

10. Unmoved by this or any other contradiction to our faith, we fear not to make our confession in the words of Scripture.. We know that we have an "adversary, the

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Devil, who, as a roaring lion, walketh "about, seeking whom he may devourt.' We know that "the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment, and the right"eous into life eternal"." We know that

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holy men of God spake as they were "moved by the Holy Ghost*;" that all Scripture is of Divine inspiration, and that Saint Paul was scrupulous in distinguishing what he wrote with the Lord, from that which he wrote without the Lord. We know that "in Adam all sin

S

Carpenter, p. 204. 257. So the Editors of the Improved Version commenting on Hebrews ii. 5. admit "the ambiguity of the word angel, ch. i. 7." and speak of "angels considered as beings of an order superior to "mankind."

t1 Peter v. 8. Ephes. vi. 11. 16.

εις κολασιν ΑΙΩΝΙΟΝ, εις ζωην ΑΙΩΝΙΟΝ.

u Matt. xxv. 46,

* 2 Pet. i. 21.

y 2 Tim. iii. 16. z 1 Cor. vii. 6. 10. 12. 25. 40.

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"ned," that all died, and were constituted sinners a; that all have "come short of the glory of God";" and that all the world is " 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

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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. ' Rom. ix. 5.

n Matt. xxviii. 19.

k Acts x. 36.

m John iii. 16. 17. 1 John iv. 9. 10.

"of God, and of the Father, and of Christ """

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...

. through whom we have access by one Spirit unto the Father P." 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

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gainst the knowledge of God, and" for bringing into captivity every thought to "the obedience of Christ "."

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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 believing 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

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T

• Coloss. ii. 2.

Carpenter, p. 99.

P Ephes. ii. 18. 9.2 Cor. x. 5.

s Ibid. p. 123.

G

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piatory sacrifice for human guilt, as ap"peasing 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

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personal existence of the Holy Spirit, as "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 “no

a

•

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

y Improved Version. z Belsham, ubi supra.

Test

"pr

T

acc

and

On

Let

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mysteries ":" although it is acknowledg ed, 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 understanding." 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 under"standing," they would regard it as “a ca"lumny more absurd and more injurious "than any which the malignity and inge"nuity of" their "bitterest adversaries "have ever yet invented."

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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. e Estlin, p. 37. Belsham's Lett. to the Bp. of London, p. 83.