REFLECTIONS.

2.5

REFLECTIONS

UPON THE THEORIES OF

GOD IN CHRIST

VICARIOUS ATONEMENT.

BOSTON:
J. E. TILTON & COMPANY.
1866.

Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the
mighty man glory in his might ; let not the rich man glory in
his riches : but let him. that glorieth, glory in this, that he un-
derstandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which ex
ercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the
earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. — Jer. ix.
33, 24.
Brethren, be not children in understanding ; howbelt, in
malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. — 1 Cor.
xiv. SO.
IJead, not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and
take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh
and consider. — Bacon.

REFLECTIONS.

Trinitarians seem to say, that not to believe that Christ is
God is, in fact, to deny the Saviour ; for they say, that, if you
do not in that way acknowledge him, you deny his supreme
authority, his sovereign rights, and refuse to be saved by his
atonement in dying as God-man to satisfy his own law as God :
for, to use the words of a trinitarian divine of good standing,
" The atonement has no meaning, it is nothing to the sinner,
if Christ is not God ; " " if he lacks one iota of the Infinite,
his atonement cannot avail ; " and certainly, if we deny Christ,
he will also " deny us before his Father which is in heaven."
But to adopt that theory is as much as to say, that, unless a
man is able, from the operations of his mind, conscience, and
judgment, to arrive at a belief that the Son of God, Jesus
Christ the Saviour, is, in the words of the Thirty-nine Articles
of the Episcopal Church, " the very and eternal God," and ac
cording to the Westminster Catechism, " continues to be God
and man," his soul will be found at the day of judgment upon
the left hand of the Saviour, among those to whom he will say,
': Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels."
That theory will require us to believe that Christ was and is
in himself, both God and man, Father and Son, infinite and finite,
immortal and mortal ; and that these two natures, so opposed,
are indissolubly intermixed in one person, Christ, and are thus
made wholly, as the Westminster Catechism has it, " the same
in substance, equal in power and glory ; " or, as the Thirty-
nine Articles have it, " very God and very man," " of one sub
stance, never to be divided," and not so at different times, but
always. That theory requires us to conceive of Christ as man pray
ing to himself as God, and as Son receiving from himself as
Father whatever in answer to his own request as Son he as
Father should deem fit and proper to grant ; and to believe

4
this, and that Christ is " very and eternal God," notwithstand
ing that we hear him say to the Father, " Not my will, but
thine, be done."
God is unchangeable, and Christ, as " very and eternal God,"
would be as truly God when in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
when a babe in the manger, when subject unto his parents,
when washing the disciples' feet, and when dying upon the
cross, as at any other time ; and in noue of these situations can
we imagine " the Mighty God and Omnipotent " ever to have
been. I understand the Trinitarian scheme to be this : —
There is one God only, who is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ;
and these three are one ;
That the Father is God,
That the Son is God,
That the Holy Ghost is God ;
and each equal with the other, each separate and independ
ent of the other, and yet but one only ; thus being God in
three distinct parts, each part equal to each of the others and
to the whole, which is an absurdity.
We read that the Father sent the Son, and sent the Holy
Spirit, but never the reverse : the Son says only, " I will pray
the Father, and He will send the Holy Spirit ; " and " I will
send the Spirit from the Father."
The theory that Christ is " the very and eternal God,"
" very God and very man," " of one substance, never to be di
vided," is stated in the strongest terms. It will not admit
of the idea that Christ is a duplex being, composed in part of
God and in part of humanity, together making a whole, as it
allows of no division of substance, and that which is God is not
human, and that which is man is not God ; but the theory
claims that he is God and man at the same time, " of one sub
stance, never to be divided ; " and as God is eternal, and
Christ of one substance only, he must therefore be all God and
all man, " of one substance " always. Nor does it allow that he
is, at pleasure, sometimes God, and sometimes man. The theo
ry, therefore, seems to me to be contradictory, untrue, unne
cessary, and absurd.
It requires us to conceive of Christ pleading his sufferings

as Son to himself as Father, and as Father to have begotten
himself as Son a different being from himself as Father, yet at
the same time himself; and it compels us (if he is to be
thought both God and man) to believe him crucified and dead
upon the cross at the same time that he is living and ruling in
majesty as God " eternal in the heavens." Unless it can be
shown that God and Christ are at the same time both united
and separate, divided and not divided, the theory seems to me
absurd. Vicarious atonement, in the Trinitarian theory, seems to re
quire us to believe that Christ our Saviour as man suffered to
satisfy his own decree, law, or sentence asi God, and to have
precluded himself as Father from pardoning and forgiving re
pentant sinners as a free gift, that is, without any satisfaction,
atonement, or compensation ; and as requiring from sinners, by
themselves or some substitute for them, a full penalty for vio
lated law ; and, because earth had not value enough to pay
that penalty, that his own life as Christ (although as " very and
eternal God " he could not die) was offered up to satisfy it;
and that his death was accepted by himself as Father, in full
and perfect satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. And
yet, however great the value of that satisfaction, it is partial
only, and for those only who shall conscientiously adopt this
belief, and not for those who do not adopt it, even if they re
pent of their sinfulness, love their God and their Saviour, and
strive to live a life in accordance with the gospel, for the rea
son that their minds and consciences do not agree with the
theories of the " Trinity " and "vicarious atonement," and de
pend on that form or theory of atonement alone for sal
vation. Trinitarianism seems to claim, that one cannot be saved if
one does not believe that Christ was and is God himself, the
Almighty, " very and eternal God," as well as man ; and that
by dying upon the cross he paid a penalty which not his, but
all other souls had incurred by the sin of Adam, and by their
own sins ; and that Christ by that death satisfied God's justice
and law in such a manner that no punishment can be laid on
those who truly and faithfully believe and trust in such vica
rious or substituted atonement; thus, of course (as there is

no middle state), condemning those who differ from this view
to the sufferings of the lost hereafter. But if Christ, by his
death, made a full satisfaction for violated law, or ransomed a
race who are all sinners from a penalty to be enforced by that
law, then the law is satisfied, and has no more claim ; and it
seems clear, that where the law is satisfied, or the debt is paid,
the occasion for pardon is past, and there is no longer an op
portunity to exercise the grace of that kingly and fatherly
attribute and power.
Who can give a rational, intelligent, and true explanation of
all these matters ? Truth is better than Trinitarianism, or
Unitarianism, or any other " ism." Lord Bacon said of men
in his times, " They learn nothing at the Universities but to
believe." " The studies of men in such places," he says, " are
confined and pinned down to certain authors, from which, if a
man happen to differ, he is presently represented as a disturber
and an innovator;" and the same is true in these times, to
some extent, as to religious beliefs.
Laying aside/then, for a time, the theories of ecclesiastical
bodies of past times, and of others of our fellow mortals
who were or are, like us, fallible beings, and at least liable
to error, and perhaps no wiser than ourselves, let us endeavor
to find from Scripture alone what is intended for our belief, and
to select fairly and systematically therefrom, and from Christ's
own words, texts showing principles which govern the sub
ject, and see to what conclusions we shall be led.
First, let me remark, that it is within the scope of God's
power, according to our belief of his greatness, to form spirits
and spiritual things as well as men and material things, and to
give both spirits and men free will and freedom to act inde
pendently of himself; and we may also consider that all things,
material and immaterial, are but parts of his great self in
some way not understood by us. " As certain also of your
own poets have said, ' For we are also his offspring.' " And
it is a question relating to this subject, or of this character,
that causes so much dissension in the theological world;
namely, whether the " Only Begotten " was created by God a
being superior to all other creations, and only in the manner
above stated a part of himself: or whether he is the "very

and eternal God," the " Great Uncreate " himself. I think it
is really unnecessary for us to know which is the fact, unless
so required by the gospel ; but systems of theology may de
mand of us to adopt one or the other as a theory of belief, and
I suppose that the peculiar doctrines of Trinitarianism depend
entirely upon adopting the latter view ; that is, that Christ
was and is the " very and eternal God" (39 Articles) as well
as man. But can any man assert this ; for Christ says, " No
man knoweth who the Son is but the Father." Truly we
should render to Christ all honor as to God ; for the gospel re
quires all men " to honor the Son even as they honor the
Father," and predicts that he shall be called by the name of
(not asserts that he is) "Mighty God," " Everlasting Father,"
&c. And he has been and is now so called; for God dwelt in
him, and the Holy Spirit abode upon him; and by thus exalt
ing him in name, weak human nature is aided to receive the
great and eternal truths which alone are the Eternal Word, and
which Christ first taught mankind, and established among us
by his death, and so became the author of salvation to all who
believe and trust in him and them. In accordance with this
are our Saviour's words, " For the Father hath committed all
judgment unto the Son, that all " men should honor the Son
even as they honor the Father." '' He that honoreth not the
Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent him." " He
that heareth my words, -and believeth on Him that sent me,
hath everlasting life."
To my mind, the sacred records are consistent with them
selves, and with reason and common sense, even if they do not
maintain the Trinitarian scheme. The psalmist says, " He that
hath clean hands and a pure heart shall receive the blessing
from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salva
tion ; " and this without a belief in any particular theory of
theology being insisted on.
The Scriptures speak of Christ as " the seed of Eve," a
" prophet like unto Moses," a " high priest after the order of
Melchisedec," a child subject unto his parents until grown to
man's estate, and with his growth in wisdom and stature to
have increased in favor with God and man ; that on him the
Holy Spirit descended, and upon him it abode, the Father

dwelling in him and doing the works ; that he did nothing of
himself, not even his own will, but that of his Father only ;
and that in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead ; that he
should be called by the name of the Mighty God, his Father's
name ; and that to him the Father committed all judgment, that
all men should honor him as they honor the Father.
They set forth his life, character, and example, as teaching
us how to live and how to die; that he directed us to look up
to God as a Father ; and that he testified of repentance, and for
giveness of sins, and of the resurrection and future life ; and
that he suffered for our sakes, and was by the Jews crucified,
and died commending his spirit to the Father; that he rose
from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of God, ever liv
ing to make intercession for us ; and that he will come again
to judge the quick and the dead at the last day; and, at the
end, he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father ;
and then shall the Son himself be again subject unto Him that
put all things under him, that God may be all-in-all.
We find, that, in the beginning (Gen. iii. 15), God said to Eve
that "her seed " should bruise the serpent's head ; and " her
seed " is understood to mean the Saviour. In Heb. ii.
14, 15, Christ is said to have been of flesh and blood, that he
might destroy " the devil." The Rev. Dr. Scott says of this
passage in Genesis, " Christ himself is the seed of the woman."
Is her seed " very God ? " Is the seed of the woman that
eternal Jehovah, whose throne is in heaven, who is Lord of all
power and might, who is " from everlasting to everlasting "
the Almighty ?
Moses said (Deut. xviii. 15), " The Lord thy God will raise up
unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,
like unto me (Moses) ; unto him shall ye hearken." And (in
Acts iii. 22) the Saviour is declared to be this prophet. Was
this prophet " very God" ?
Jeremiah (xxxi. 22) also says, as is understood of the
Saviour's birth, " the Lord hath created a new thing in the
earth ; a woman " shall compass a man." Did a woman com
pass God?
Isaiah (vii. 14 - 16) says, " Therefore the Lord himself
shall give you a sign : Behold ! a virgin shall conceive and

9
bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and
honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and
choose the good ; for, before the child shall know to refuse the
evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be
forsaken of both her kings." What being is this that shall
not know "to refuse the evil, and to choose the good?" Is it
" very God ? " Can God, in any form, ever be ignorant of any
thing? And yet it is Immanuel who " shall not know."
Mary conceived by the power of the Highest, and brought
forth her first-born son, who was wrapt in swaddling clothes,
laid in a manger, subject unto bis parents, Joseph and Mary,
probably performed menial services to them, a carpenter's son ;
and this cannot be supposed possible of the " very and eternal
God." He commenced his ministry, it is said, at about thirty
years of age, being baptized by John ; whereupon " the Holy
Spirit descended from heaven like a dove, and lighted upon
him, and it abode wpon him." John says (i. 33), " He that
sent me to baptize wit!) water, the same said unto me, On
whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on
him, the same is he which baptizeth with t\\e Holy Ghost."
John vi. 27. " Him hath God the Father sealed."
Isaiah (ix. 6, 7) says in his prophecy, " For unto us a child
is born, unto us a Son is given ; and the government shall be
upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the
Prince of Peace : " which prophecy has come to pass, and is
fulfilling; and he has been and is so called, " that all men may
honor the Son even as they honor the Father ; " and " of the
increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,
upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it
and to establish it with judgment and with justice from hence
forth even forever." But it is " the zeal of the Lord of Hosts
that shall perform this ; " and our Saviour said, as it were sub
missively in response, "Lo ! I come to do thy will, 0 God ! "
" I delight to do thy will, 0 God ! " "Thy law is written in my
heart." " Thy will, not mine, be done."
" To do his heavenly Father's will
k Was his employment and delight ;
Humility and holy zeal
Shone in his life divinely bright." — Epis. Col., Hy. 1 78.

10
Isaiah also says (xi. 1-5), " And there shall come a rod
out of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, — the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and
might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, —
and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the
Lord ; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, nor
reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness
shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek
of the earth ; and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,
and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." Of whom saith the
prophet that " the fear of the Lord shall rest upon him ? " Of
the " very and eternal God ? " or of him who said, " thy will,
not mine, be done ; " who was " crucified through weakness, yet
liveth by the power of God ? "
Luke (ii. 52) says, " Jesus increased in wisdom and stature,
and in favor with God and man." This conflicts with both
the Episcopalian article, that Christ is " very and eternal God,"
and the Westminster Catechism, which declares that he " con
tinues to be God and man ; " for how can Christ, if very God,
be said to grow in favor with himself, or how could " very and
eternal God " increase in wisdom ? God is the same yester
day, to-day, and forever. Put your trust in the gospel, and
not in catechisms, or " articles of faith."
Matthew (xii. 17, 18) says, that Jesus came to fulfil the
work of Esaias the prophet : " Behold my servant whom I
have chosen ; my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased ;
I will put my Spirit upon him, " &c. Now, with whom is God
to be well pleased ? With himself ? Upon whom is he to put
his spirit? Surely not upon himself, the Eternal, the same
. everywhere and always, but upon his servant, his beloved ;
in fact, upon the blessed Saviour.
We can readily believe "that Holy Thing" that should be
born of Mary should be called by God, " my servant whom I
have chosen," " my beloved in whom my soul delighteth,"
" my beloved Son ; " and also that the Holy Spirit might de
scend upon him in such a manner that God would be " in
Christ reconciling the world unto himself," dwelling in him in
all fulness, and through him exercising his mighty power.
We can readily understand that Christ could at the same time

11
be in the bosom of the Father, that is, in all his counsels and
in all his love ; for John (1 John iv. 16) says, " God is love, and
he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him ; " and
thus we may fully comprehend and believe his sayings, that
" the Father dwelleth in me, and I in him ; " " the Father that
dwelleth in me, He doeth the work ; " "I am not alone, because
the Father is with me." This suggests a mode in which God
would " dwell among us," " not in temples made with hands,"
but in a manner conceivable by our minds, and entitled to our
belief; and it appears to me the only way in which we can
realize him as " in very deed dwelling among men," and the only
way, although indirectly (if indeed the mighty God did so
permit), of subjecting himself in any way to all the indignities
heaped upon our blessed Saviour by men. This describes a
connection between the Father and the Son so as to call them
one, without requiring a belief that two different, distinct, op
posite, and in some points antagonistical, natures and exist
ences, — one the Creator, the other the created ; one infinite,
the other finite, mortal upon the cross, — are yet one and the
same " substance, power, and eternity."
In John v. 19, Christ says himself, "The Son can do nothing
of himself, but what he seeth the Father do ; " and in v. 30,
he says, " I can of mine own self do nothing : as I hear, 1 judge ;
and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will,
but the will of the Father which hath sent me."
Also, John vii. 28, "I am not come of myself, but He that
sent me is true ; " and, 29, " I am from him, and He hath sent
me ; " and, viii. 40, " but now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath
told you the truth, which I have heard of God; " and, vi. 38,
" I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the
will of Him that sent me."
How can these be explained on the theory that Christ is
" very and eternal God," and " continues to be God and man,"
when we here find Christ distinctly declaring the separate
wills of God and Christ, and that his service was one of obedi
ence to his Father's will?
And, further, he says, " My Father which gave them me is
greater than I," John xiv. 28 ; and " The word which ye
hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me," John xiv.
24 ; " My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me," John

12
viii. 16; "I have given them the words which Thou gavest
me," John xvii. 8.
Are not these sayings of Christ very positive and explicit
declarations as to his nature, and relation to God ?
The apostle Paul (2 Cor. v. 19) says, " God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their tres
passes unto them ;" and he further says to what extent God
was in Christ (Col. i. 19) ; namely, " For it pleased the Father
that in him should all fulness dwell ; and (in ii. 9), " For in
him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead."
Lest it may be urged that Christ's reply to Philip's request,
" Shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us," sustains the Trinita
rian view, let us consider it a little. The reply was, " Have
I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known
me, Philip. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." A
fair and attentive examination of this passage, will, I think,
show the contrary, and that it is not to be understood liter
ally. God himself said to Moses (Ex. xxxiii. 20), " There
shall no man see me, and live." From the Saviour's birth to
the time when the reply was made to Philip, thousands and
tens of thousands had seen the Saviour with their bodily eyes
quite as clearly and truly as Philip ; and, if he intended that
Philip should understand those words literally, then those
thousands had also seen the Father: and yet the Saviour, while
standing in their very presence, said (John v. 37), " Ye have
neither heard his (i.e. the Father's) voice at any time, nor
seen his shape; and (in 1 John iv. 12, written after this event)
John says, " No man hath seen God at any time ; and (in John
vi. 46) Christ himself said to his disciples, " Not that any
man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God," and (John
i. 18), " No man hath seen God at any time : the only-begotten
Son who is in the bosom of the Father " (i.e. who knows his
mind, his love, his purposes), "he hath declared him," which
shows that Christ meant only, that if Philip had really known
Christ, he would have perceived the spirit, had comprehended
the character, had seen the " personal embodiment," so to
speak, of the will, purposes, and character, the spiritual image
of the Father, and not his personalitj*.
The " Thirty-nine Articles " of the Episcopal Church assert
that Christ " is the very and eternal God," " of one substance,

13
power, and eternity " " with the Father," " never to be di
vided," "very God and very man;" not two entities united,
one mortal, the other immortal, like body and soul; but God
and Christ, one deity, the other man ; each the whole, so that
we are not in doubt as to what they declare and maintain, but
we may, with due reverence and propriety, ask, —
Can that God " whom no eye hath seen, or can see and
live ; " " who meted out the heavens , as a span," with all the
countless millions of worlds studding the vast expanse above
and around us ; who is from everlasting; whose existence is
without beginning or end, — can He have caused himself, by
the ordinary process of gestation, to be born of a woman, to be
a mere helpless infant, a nurseling at the breast, dependent
upon tender woman for his daily food and hourly wants ?
Can it be to Him, the Almighty God who "fainteth not,
neither is weary," and not to a brother, " Jesus, the An
ointed," "who was made a little lower than the angels for
the suffering of death ; " can it be to the " God of all the
earth," who cannot suffer, or become an object of pity or sym
pathy, — that our sympathies for suffering are due ; and not to a
" man-child," the " Son of Mary," a promised seed, whose suf
ferings and self-devotion for us it is so precious to us to con
template, and whose distresses were so real and agonizing
that he " sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down
upon the ground " ?
Can the Almighty Father have allowed himself, in any form
whatever, — did " very and eternal God " in any way allow
himself, — to be spit upon and scourged and reviled and insult
ed, and in the most revolting manner crucified ?
Was it not indeed Jesus, the promised man-child, the Son of
Mary, in whom the Father dwelt, on whom the Holy Spirit
descended and abode ; was it not he who suffered for us and
died upon the cross, calling in distress and agony of soul and
body upon another and distinct being, his heavenly Father,
and saying, "My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken
me;" "Father into thy hands I commend my spirit;" and
who, after his resurrection, said to his disciples (John xx : 17)
" I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and
to your God "? It is impossible to believe that these words,
so distinct and absolute, were spoken by one who is himself

14
the " very and eternal God," or who " continues to be God."
" Handle me and see," says Christ, " that it is I myself; for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." The apos
tle Paul says to the Corinthians, " Ye are Christ's, and Christ
is God's ! " 1st Cor. iii. 23.
Let us examine a passage frequently quoted as sustaining
the Trinitarian theory, viz., Heb. i. 8, 9 : "And unto the
Son he saith, Thy throne, 0 God ! is for ever and ever ; a
sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom ; thou
hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity ; therefore God,
even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above thy fellows." But does it sustain it ? Does it not
rather maintain the opposite ? Christ, if God, hath no fellow
or equal. Or, if a personality or separate existence of the
Holy Spirit and the deity of Christ is admitted, then God and
the Holy Spirit would be the only " fellows " of Christ, and
how could Christ be auointed above them, that is, above God.
The text declares God to be greater than Christ when it says
of God to Christ,. " God, even thy God, hath anointed thee."
Upon the theory of " God in Christ," no such contradictions
are presented.
in John x. 35, when the Jews accused Christ of blasphemy
because he called God his Father, thus — as they thought, but
not truly — " making himself God," he replied, not that he was
God, nor that he wished them to believe so, but as follows,
" If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came,
and the Scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the
Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blas-
phemest, because I said, " I am the Son of God ; " by which I
understand him to have said, " Although I might call myself
God, even as they were called gods unto whom the word of
God came, yet I have not done so, but have called myself the
Son of God."
The following shows who were some of those called gods,
and unto whom the word of God came.
Ex. iv. 16, God said to Moses, " Aaron shall be to thee
instead of a mouth ; and thou shalt be to him instead of a
god." Ex. vii. 1, And the Lord said to Moses, " See ! I have made
thee a god to Pharaoh."

15
Ex. xxii. 28, Thou shalt not revile the gods (i.e. the
magistrates), nor curse the ruler of thy people.
Ps. lxxxii. 1, God judgeth among the gods.
Ps. lxxxii. 6, I said, " ye are gods, and all of you are chil
dren of the Most High."
All showing a proper use of the word God in an exalted
sense, as applied to others than God, and in a sense not im
plying a supreme being.
In John viii. 17, 18, the Saviour distinctly states his con
nection with the Father, and that we are not to consider him
as " the very and eternal God ; " for he says, " The testimony
of two men is true : I am one that bear witness of myself, and
the Father that sent me beareth witness of me, &c ; " and,
in the sixteenth verse, he says also, " I am not alone, but I and
the Father that sent me ; " and, in the forty-second verse, he
says, " Neither came I of myself, but He sent me." In the
twenty-eighth verse he said, ',' When ye have lifted up the Son
of mar> ye shall know that I am he, and that I do nothing of
myself, but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these
things ; " and (29), " He that sent me is with me."
In John xii. 44, he says, " He that believeth on me, be-
lieveth not on me, but on Him that sent me."
In Mark ix. 37, " Whosoever shall receive me, receiveth
not me, but Him that sent me."
In John viii. 29, he says, " The Father hath not left me
alone, for I do always those things that please Him."
John xiv. 10, " The words that I speak unto you, I speak
_not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth
the works."
John viii. 26, " I speak to the world those things which
I have heard of him."
John xii. 50, " Whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the
Father said unto me, so I speak."
John xiv. 28, " If ye loved me, ye would rejoice because
I said, I go unto the Father ; for my Father is greater than I."
Is not this testimony, which is from the lips of the Saviour
himself, sufficient to prove that " God was in Christ," and not
that Christ is " very and eternal God " ? This is the Saviour's
testimony. Why not believe him ?
In John xvii. 21, he gives us the idea of the connection

16
between God and himself, the " oneness with the Father," the
" dwelling in Him," the " I and my Father are one," when he
prays " that they (i.e. the disciples and brethren) all may be
one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may
be one in us; " and in verse 22, 23, he says, " The glory which
thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even
as ive are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be
made perfect in one."
Our Saviour seems to me to have been very clear and ex
plicit in relation to this much-contested doctrine of the Trin
ity. In Mark xiii. 32, he says, " But of that day and that
hour, knoweth no man, not the angels which are in heaven,
neither the Son, but the Father ; " and, xx. 23, " To sit on my
right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be
given to those for whom it is prepared of my Father." Could
the Son, if " very and eternal God," of "one substance, power,
and eternity," not know the day and hour ? not have power
to say who " shall sit on his right hand and on his left" ? Is
any theory possible by which Christ, if iudeed the very and
eternal God, can be supposed not to have known it, and not to
know all things ? Could his functions and powers, if God,
ever be suspended? If suspended, he would not be God. If
Christ is " very and eternal God," he was God in all fulness
when he spake those words, and is and mast be so always ;
without beginning or end ; all and ever knowing and un
changeable ; as much so (as before remarked) when a babe in
the manger, when washing the disciples' feet, when in the
garden of Gethsemane, when on the cross, when in the grave,
as when in heaven. " God is not a man that he should lie,"
or his faculties become dormant or suspended. Can it be
possible that " the very and eternal God," who would not
allow Moses even to see his face, took a towel, and girded him
self, and washed the disciples' feet ? or that he was " spit upon
and scourged by the Jews ? " or did " the servants strike him
with the palms of their hands ? " " Take ye, therefore, good
heed unto yourselves ; for ye saw no manner of similitude in
the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the
midst of the fire," Dent. iv. 15 ; " Ye saw no manner of
similitude, only ye heard a voice," Deut. iv. 12.

17
In further explanation of Christ's character and mission, he
says (in John iv. 23, 24), " God is a spirit, and they that wor
ship him must worship him in spirit and in truth ; " " for the
Father seeketh such to worship him." And, in vi. 63, he says,
" it is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing ; "
" the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they
are life ; " and, further, " The word that I have spoken, the
same shall judge him at the last day," showing that a follow
ing of the teachings of Christ, which are the eternal Word,
is the salvation of mankind ; and that, unless a man is thus
born of the Spirit, and becomes imbued with a hearty love
for God's laws, and follows Christ's teachings faithfully, he
cannot enter the kingdom of God, which is happiness here
and hereafter : for Christ says, in reference to this subject,
"The kingdom of God is within you ; " and John says, " God
is love ; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and
God in him."
How highly figurative Christ's language frequently is may
be seen from his preceding remark, one of the most figurative
of figurative sentences : " He that believeth on me, as the
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water " (John vii. 38). And so (in vi. 33) he showed how his
words are to receive a spiritual interpretation, and how salva
tion is to be reached by a spiritual life, when he says, "It is
the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing; the
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life." Peter (in Acts ii. 22) calls our Saviour, " Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God," and says (in ver. 23), " Him ye have
taken, and by wicked hands crucified and slain." Again (in
v. 30), " The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye " (that
is, the Jews, not God, nor the law) " slew and hanged on a
tree ; " and (ver. 31), " Him hath God exalted to be a prince
and a Saviour, for to give" — what? vicarious atonement?
that is not what he says, but " repentance to Israel, and for
giveness of sins." The Jews slew him ; God exalted him.
In Heb. ii. 10, Paul says, " For it became Him for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation "perfect

If

p.

through sufferings ; " and in v. 8, 9, he says, '•' For, though h
were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he
suffered ; and, being made perfect, he became the author of sal
vation unto all," — who ? that believe in Trinitarianism and vica
rious atonement ? No ! but " to all that obey him." Now is it
possible that " the very and eternal God," as the Articles of
the Episcopal Church declare Christ to "be, could have learned
obedience by the things which he suffered.
Is it at all conceivable that the mighty God, the everlasting
Father, the "very and eternal God," fountain of light and life,
and source of all power, whom no man can see and live, and
who cannot suffer, could by any means have acted a part, so
to speak, and in appearance only, — as God cannot suffer, — to
have suffered pain, distress, and woe, as our Saviour really
suffered in the garden of Gethsemane, when he exclaimed,
" My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death," and as
he voluntarily suffered upon the cross ; or to have addressed
himself as God, as Christ in his expiring agonies did say to
God, " Father ! into thy hands I commend my spirit " ? Whom
did Jesus thus address? Himself, as " very and eternal God,"
"of one substance," never to be divided? or another being, his
Father, who is, as he himself says, " greater than he " ?
It is not to be believed that this scene was other than one
of real suffering : there was real agony of both body and soul,
such as the " very and eternal God " could not suffer ; and
there would be something at which an honest mind must re
volt, in supposing that any good being, and especially our
Father in heaven, or the Saviour, our great exemplar, could
have suffered as Christ suffered, and have said those words
which challenge the love and admiration of the world and all
angelic beings, unless they were real and true sufferings by a
being who could feel and suffer them, and unless there was,
apart from the Saviour's self, a being other than he, a separate,
distinct, superior, loving, and great Being, to whom he could
really address himself, and say, " 0 my Father ! if this cup
may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be
dpne " (Matt. xxvi. 42); "Father! all things are possible
unto thee; take away this cup from me; nevertheless, not
what I will, but what thou' wilt; " " Father, forgive them ; "

19
" My God ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken me ? " " Father !
to thee I commend my spirit; " — indeed, to that Being only
whom no eye hath seen or can see, " whose face no man shall
see and live," save only the only-begotten Son who hath de
clared him; to one, indeed, who could for his own wise pur
poses leave his Son for a time while on earth, during his
temptation, his agony in the garden, at his crucifixion, and at
other times, but on whom the Son could still repose and say,
" Not my will, but thine, be done," and this even while saying,
" My God ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken me ? "
" He for the joy before him set,
And moved by pitying love,
Endured the cross, despised the shame,
And now he reigns above." — Epis. Col., Hy., 212.
It is not necessary to consider, that, when the Father with
drew his presence from the Son, he withdrew all the miracu
lous and special powers with which he had honored him.
Christ himself, only after his death and resurrection, says, that
all power was given unto him. He had many divine powers
while on earth ; but, if he had all, why should he say, " Thinkest
thou that I cannot pray to my Father, and He will present
ly give me more than twelve legions of angels?" ".I will
pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter."
"The Son can do nothing of himself; but what he seeth the
Father do, these also doeth the Son likewise." " i" do
nothing of myself ; but, as the Father hath taught me, I speak
these things." " Of that day and that hour knoweth no man ;
no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but
the Father."
After his resurrection, he is very explicit as to his own rela
tionship to God, in saying (John xx. 17), " I ascend to my Father
and to your Father, and to my God and to your God." Then
is the time when he says to his disciples, " All power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matt, xxviii. 18). And, as
he before said, the time will come when " the Son of man shall
come in the glory of his Father, with his angels ; and then
shall he reward every man according to his works."
Peter says (Acts ii. 32), "This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we are witnesses ; " " therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the

20
promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye
now see and hear; " and (in ver. 36), " God hath made this
same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."
If Christ is " very and eternal God," is it not absurd to say,
"He hath received of the Father the promise of the Holy
Ghost " ?
Paul says (1 Cor. xv. 24, 25), " Then cometh the end, when
he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority
and power (for he must reign till he hath put all enemies un
der his feet) ;" and (ver. 28) "Then shall the Son himself be
subject unto Him that put all things under him, that God may
be all in all." If Christ be " very and eternal God," how is it
that he is to deliver up the kingdom over which he shall have
reigned to God, and be again subject unto Him who did
put all things under him, that God may be all in all ? If
Christ is subject unto God, that God may be all in all, how
can Christ continue to be God?
God was in Christ " reconciling the world unto himself, not
imputing their trespasses unto them." He was in Christ to
reconcile the world to himself, not himself unto the world ;
not to appease his own anger ; not to provide a victim to sat
isfy his or any other violated law ; not to satisfy or pay or
nullify or cancel his or any other irrevocable sentence ; not
to satisfy it by the death of an innocent and guiltless being in
the stead of guilty ones who had incurred just punishment.
Christ, the guiltless, in saving us guilty souls from eternal
punishment and woe, voluntarily suffered crucifixion at the
hands of the wicked Jews. Peter says, in speaking to the
Jews (Acts v. 30), " Whom ye slew, and hanged on a tree ; " and
David (Ps. xl. 6) says, " Sacrifice and offering thou didst not
desire ; mine ears hast thou opened ; " " burnt offering and sin
offering hast thou not required."
No law, founded on justice and principle, will punish inno
cence in the stead of guilt ; for that would be violating one
great law to satisfy another. It would be inconsistent with
God's just laws in any way to afflict innocence by a punish
ment; and God does not want blood, death, punishment ; he
wants love, obedience, repentance, and a godly, self-denying,
self-sacrificing life. It is man only who delights in and clings

21
to those unlovely and unchristian desires. On loving God and
our neighbor, " hang all the law and the prophets." Christ
says (Matt. xii. 7), " But if ye had known what this meaneth,
I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have con
demned the guiltless." " God, having raised up his son Jesus,
sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from
his iniquities."
Punishment of the innocent as a substitute for the guilty
seldom, if ever, brings about a reconciliation of love in the
hearts of either punisher or punished, although compelling
love for an innocent victim. It is only through love, and
things which make for peace, that a reconciliation of love is ob
tained ; thus producing in the wrong doer sorrow for wrong
done, repentance, love to God and man, with newness and pu
rity of heart and life. Christ came down from heaven to
reconcile man to God ; and, by dying in our behalf, to reconcile
us to God, not God to man, for God is ever " waiting to be
gracious." He set us a perfect example, not only of wisdom,
truth, and justice, but of love, mercy, pity, self-denial, and
suffering even unto death; so that, to save us from sin and
eternal death, he stopped not short of suffering even the sharp
est and most humiliating insults, and the death upon the cross ;
and the cruel and wicked Jews — not God to satisfy his law,
but the wicked and hard-hearted Jews — took his innocent life
away while he was laboring and suffering for their and our
sakes and the salvation of all men. He voluntarily cast
his life into the breach ; and, in thus dying, sacrificed himself
for us, " that he might bring us sinners near to God ; " and
God sent him to do this, to make this voluntary offering, that,
by his life, example, character, sufferings, and death, we might
be reconciled to God ; for Christ died for us, and God " made
the Captain of our salvation perfect through sufferings."
How can we think that these last words could properly be
used in reference to the " very and eternal God," which the
Thirtv-nine Articles of the Episcopal Church declare Christ to
be and require us to believe as a cardinal article of faith ; for
God, who is in all things perfect, would not require to be
made perfect " through suffering." " The Saviour, though he
were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he

22
suffered; and, being made perfect, he became the author of
eternal salvation unto all them that believe " (Heb. v. 8, 9).
Let us call to mind what the apostle further says, " For if,
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
death of his Son, how much more, being reconciled, we shall
be saved by his life" (Rom. v. 10). His death, then, should
bring about our reconciliation to God ; his life, character, teach
ings, example, and sufferings. should save us from sin and eter
nal death. " Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avail-
eth any thing, but faith which worketh by love " (Gal. v. 6),
"but keeping the commandments of God" (1 Cor. vii. 19),
but "a new creature " (Gal. vi. 15), made so through repent
ance and the Holy Spirit in our hearts, faith towards God and
our Lord Jesus Christ.
If Christ, by suffering for us, paid a penalty due to law, and
thus satisfied God's law, how does he still act as mediator ? for,
if the penalty is paid, then no mediator is any longer re
quired ; for law has been satisfied, and it is we only who
require any further attention, and so only in order that we
may be made more comformable to the love of God, and rec
onciled to him. There would be no longer need of a medi
ator, because the claim of law will have been settled and
discharged ; and, " where remission of sin is, there is no more
offering for sin." " Wherefore in all things it behoved him to
be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful
High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people ; for in that he himself hath suffered,
being tempted, he is able to succor them are tempted." Surely
this last describes a being in whom God might dwell, but can
not be applied to the " very and eternal God."
Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, says (2 Cor. xiii. 14.),
" For though he (Christ) was crucified through weakness,
yet he liveth by the power of God." Think what an absur
dity it is to say that Christ, if " very and eternal God," " of
one substance, power and eternity," was crucified through
weakness. Paul declares that Christ liveth by the power of
God, and not that he is " very and eternal God."
Christ says he is not the person of God, or individuality: —
" The testimony of two men is true. T am one that

23
bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me
beareth witness of me."
" I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me."
" The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works."
" I ascend to my Father and to your Father, and to my
God and to your God."
Nor the Spirit of God : —
" And Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending like a
dove, and lighting upon him."
" Into thy hands I commend my spirit." " If I, by
the Spirit of God, cast out devils."
Nor the will of God : —
" I seek not to do mine own will, but the will of the
Father which hath sent me."
" Lo ! I come to do thy will, 0 God ! Thy will, not
mine, be done,"
" I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will,
but the will of him that sent me."
" Not what I will, but what thou wilt."
Nor the doctrine of God : —
" My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me."
" If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doc-.
trine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."
Nor the word of God (actually), but the " voice of the
words " (Deut. iv. 12.) : ¦ — ¦
" The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's."
" I have given them the words which thou gavest me."
"The words which I speak unto you, 1 speak not of
myself, but the Father which dwelleth in me he doeth the
works." " He gave me a commandment what I should say, and
what I should speak."
If, therefore, he is neither the person or individuality,
spirit, will, doctrine, nor word (actually) of God, how can he
be " the very and eternal God."
The word which he gave us from the Father, while the
Father dwelt in him, is the word of the Father in him, and
so the " Word made flesh " dwelling among us.
It is that word which saves us ;

24
It enlightens our path,
It guides our steps,
It purifies our hearts,
It controls our wills,
It directs our way,
It consoles our spirits,
It sustains us in trial,
It supports us in death,
It fits us for heaven.
It is the mind and will of the Father by which all things
were made and are sustained ; and it will judge us at the last
day, and sound to us the awful word " Depart," or welcome us
to the eternal joys of the everlasting kingdom.
If it pleased the Father to save us from sin by the life and
death of his Son, shall we quarrel among ourselves as to the
way and manner by which it is to be accomplished? Suffi
cient for us to follow, as far as we can, the example of Christ,
and govern ourselves by his teachings, as it is by the word
which he spake that we shall be judged at the last day
(John xii. 48). We do not believe in the Saviour, unless we
believe in his saying while sitting upon the Mount of Olives, —
the mount of reconciliation and peace. This shows us that
his mission was a practical one ; that it was not merely to
make men pray, go to church, assist at church ceremonies, or
even partake of the sacraments, useful and beneficial as they
are, but to prepare them in their hearts, to the greatest ex
tent of which their weak and sinful natures are capable, to
love God and to serve him, to deny themselves for others, to
love and benefit their fellows, and to purify their own thoughts
and hearts, so that they may be fitted to meet him at the
judgment day, and that he may then say to them, as while
on the mount he said he would say to those on his right hand, —
" Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre
pared for you from the foundation of the world ; for I was an
hungered, and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave
me drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, and
ye clothed me ; I was sick, and ye visited me ; I was in pris
on, and ye came unto me."
" Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me " (Matt. xxv. 34-40).