the Old Testament Dispensation, Jehovah had been the God, and the King, and the Deliverer of his people; but the endearing appellation "Father," was reserved for the New and better Dispensation; and it is by this name of love, that he is essentially distinguished throughout the whole New Testament; it is by this holy appellation, that Jesus and his Apostles always speak of him. Again, upon this sublime and heavenly doctrine of God's forgiveness of the repentant sinner, is founded the distinguishing principle of Christianity-the forgiveness of injuries. Jesus exhorteth us to "be merciful, as our Father which is in heaven is merciful;" he teacheth us to pray, that our heavenly Father would "forgive us our trespasses, even as we forgive those who trespass against us." He teacheth us in the parable of the prodigal son, in the most glowing terms, the joy with which our God receives the returning and sincere penitent, as soon as the prodigal returned to his father, "saying, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son;" as soon as he showed signs of genuine repentance, the father wanted no intercessor, but "when he was yet a great way off, he ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him," "for this my son was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found," Luke xv. 11-32; see also the parable of the sovereign to whom his servants were indebted, Mat. xviii. 21-35; and of the generous creditor, Luke vii. 41, 42.

And in the Epistles, we find the same beautiful and consolatory and heavenly doctrine. The love of Jehovah, "the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort," is in them dwelt upon again and again, in every form and variety of language. The following are a few of the passages:-"God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ; (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus; for by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast;" Ephes. ii. 4–9. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come

to repentance;" 2 Pet. iii. 9. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness;' 1 John i. 8, 9. "God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."-1 John iv. 8-11. These are but a few of the numberless passages which might be produced from every page of the Scriptures, all proclaiming, in terms the most clear, emphatic, and forcible, that the Lord Jehovah, the Father of the Universe, is eager to receive, and ever ready to pardon, the returning and sincere penitent. And yet, in opposition to all this, men have formed a scheme of what they call redemption, which appears to me to destroy the mercy and the love, to annul the justice and the holiness of Him, the Father of all the families upon the earth; a scheme which appears to me to pull down Jehovah (with awe and reverence be it written) from his throne of righteousness and mercy, in order to exalt thereupon the meek and lowly Jesus, who came but to do his Father's will; a scheme, which, if it could be believed by all the race of man, would throw a gloom over the brightness of creation, as great as if the sun were plucked from the firmament-which would make earth a hell, and heaven itself but the abode of gloomy desolation-which would tempt us to accuse the Judge of all the earth, of doing wrong-and the Father of mercies, of being but a partial and capricious tyrant.

This scheme is, that, in consequence of Adam's eating the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden, he and all mankind, his posterity, are liable and are actually condemned to all the pains of hell for ever; that the whole human race, in consequence of the taint of Adam's disobedience, and independent of any demerit of their own, are consigned, after this short life is over, to irremediable anguish throughout the endless ages of eternity. But then, in order to reconcile this doctrine with the declaration of the Scriptures, that God delighteth in mercy, they say, that the second person of the Trinity, "God the Son," took upon him the human form, and was made man in the per

son of Jesus Christ; that he died upon the cross, and shed his blood to redeem man from this curse, to satisfy the justice of the Father, and enable him, consistently with his holiness and truth, to pardon man and to receive him to the happiness of heaven; he, the holy God, the spotless man, the innocent Jesus, suffered for the guilty: the sins of the human race were laid upon him, and he suffered as their substitute. But even then, he did not die for the whole human race. No; there is but a portion, chosen by God before the foundation of the world, who shall be saved; and these will be saved, not through any merit of their own, but by the merit of the infinite substitute who suffered for them, even Jesus Christ; that "God the Holy Ghost" will operate upon their minds, so as to cause them to have faith in the merit, and to trust in the blood of the sacrifice which was offered for them; that all their good works are of no avail; that human righteousness and charity, are but as "filthy rags" in the sight of the holy and righteous God; that these "elect" ones will be saved by the decree of the Almighty; and that the whole human race besides the ten million times ten millions of beings, with like powers, and reason, and capabilities with themselves-however they may strive to add to their faith virtue, however they may strive to go about doing good, have no power to save themselves, and are born into this world for no other purpose than to show forth God's holiness and power; and after the few short troublous years of this life are over, to be cast down into unutterable anguish and never-dying torment for ever, and ever, and ever! Can this be a revelation from the Father of mercies? Are these the glad tidings of great joy, which He sent Jesus Christ to proclaim? If this were Christianity, better would it be, that man perished like the beast of the field; it would be better, that reason had been denied to himthat God had never breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, than to be born to such a lot as this. Reason revolts at it-all the affections of the human breast rise in rebellion against it; and it seems to me strange and wonderful, how it could ever have been asserted as a Gospel truth-how the idea could ever have suggested itself to the minds of any who had the Scriptures of truth in their hands. The devotee of Juggernaut, throws himself to be crushed beneath the chariot-wheels of his idol god, in order, by so humble an offering, to enter into his paradise;

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but the Christian who could not persuade himself that be was one of the "elect," would, if this were the doctrine of the Scriptures, have no hope; no penance could obtain for him an entrance into heaven-no obedience could remit one moment of his everlasting woe. But, blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that such are not the teachings of his Word. But yet the doctrine has been proclaimed, it has been dilated upon, and reduced to a system; it is still thundered from the pulpit of the Christian sanctuary, it is still taught to the scholars of Christian Sunday-schools. But it is so revolting to the mind, so repugnant to all the best feelings of the human breast, that there are not many (though there are, I fear, a few) who hold it fully, clearly, conscientiously.* The great majority of Christians do hold, that man is born in sin, and shapen in iniquity; that he is by nature incapable of doing a good action; and though many of them hold, that he may, by striving, in some measure fit himself for heaven; yet, they all contend, that the punishment of his sins is remitted only in consequence of the death of Christ; that repentance availeth not, without faith in his blood and atoning sacrifice; that sin being committed against an infinite being, became an infinite evil, and could be remitted only by an infinite sacrifice; but they do hold, that all mankind will be saved, if they have the saving faith in the blood of the infinite sacrifice.

These doctrines we conceive to be inconsistent with nature, and with the attributes of Jehovah; and denying his long-suffering and mercy, and restraining his justice and holiness. We conceive them, moreover, to be contrary to all that the Scriptures teach us concerning these attributes, and the death of Christ. And I shall endeavour, in my following papers, to show the true interpretation of those passages which are supposed to teach the doctrines from which we dissent; and that they contain nothing at all inconsistent with the doctrine of the free and unpurchased mercy-the everlasting love of Jehovah, whose truth endureth throughout all generations.-Taupa.

* I have striven not to misrepresent the doctrines of Calvinism, in the above exposition of them. If I am in error, I shall most gladly be set right. Should it be objected, that my strictures on these doctrines are harsh, or illiberal, or unchristian, I can only say, I do not think so. If the doctrines be as I have represented them, I cannot think that any expression of opinion, however severe, can be harsh or unchristian, so that it be applied to the doctrines only, and not to those who hold them.

"I and my Father are one."

IN collecting evidence in support of the doctrine of the Trinity, its advocates triumphantly adduce John xvii. as decisive in their favour. Yet the oneness of Christ with the Father, which, it is alleged, may be discovered therein, allowing the orthodox interpretation thereof, to be for the moment conceded, cannot prove more than a duality of divine persons; and it gives no support to the hypothesis of the Trinity, if it is not in fact hostile evidence. For if Christ and the Father are one, that is, one God, they are one, to the exclusion of the Holy Ghost, which is thus debarred from participating in the Godhead; and its addition can appear in no other light, than that of an unnecessary adjunct.

Christ affirms, that he and his Father are one. The Father, saith numerous orthodox doxologies, is God, a truth which the Scriptures (if they be important enough to be classed with Prayer Books, Catechisms, and Confessions,) authenticate also; and further declare, that God is a Spirit.-John iv. 24. The same authority records, that Jesus Christ was a man-in his own words (John viii. 40)-in prophecy (Is. liii. 3; and Deut. xviii. 3, compare with Acts iii. 20-26)-and in Apostolic testimony (1 Tim. ii. 5). Is then God a Spirit, and Jesus a man, really one in nature, in physical structure, in corporeity? Do Trinitarians really believe in so palpable an absurdity?

God the Father is a Spirit, whilst Jesus decisively asserts, that he himself is not.-Luke xxiv. 39. "Behold

my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Is, then, the Father and the Son, one in personal identity?

God the Father is the divine nature: Jesus Christ is also said to possess it, in strict union with a human nature, and a perfect human person. Is the human nature of Jesus, and his corporeal person, participated in by the Father? Are they indivisibly united together, forming a corporeal God, for ever? And does the Godhead exist in the form and fashion of a human being?

Such are a few of the invincible difficulties, with which he is beset, who advocates the personal oneness of Christ with the Father; and these difficulties are not in the least diminished by this chapter, which, as before intimated, is