The incompatibility of the doctrine of the Trinity with that of the Divine Unity : A sermon preached on Sunday, May 1st, 1814, in Union Chapel, Glasgow, before the second annual meeting of the General Association of the Unitarians of Scotland / by T. Southwood Smith.

  • Thomas Southwood Smith
Date:
1814
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The incompatibility of the doctrine of the Trinity with that of the Divine Unity : A sermon preached on Sunday, May 1st, 1814, in Union Chapel, Glasgow, before the second annual meeting of the General Association of the Unitarians of Scotland / by T. Southwood Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and the king. If this principle be just, because the Lord and the king are associated in the same sen¬ tence, the Lord and the king must be equal! In 1 Tim. v. 21. it is said, I charge thee before God, and the Lord, Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things. Had the term Lloly Ghost been used instead of that of elect angels, what a triumphant proof would this have been deemed that there are three persons in the Deity, and that all the three are equal! But every person perceives that the mere circumstance of the elect angels being coupled together in the same sentence with the name of Jesus Christ, can be no proof of their equality with him; and how, then, can the mere junction of the name of the Son and Holy Ghost, with that of the Father, prove that they are equal to him? 4. Upon the celebrated text in 1 John v. 7. Lor there are three that bear record, in heaven, the Lather, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one, I shall offer no comment, since the evidence of its spuriousness is irresistible, and since every person, whose knowledge qualifies him to engage in the controversy, now passes it by in silence. * Such, then, are all the texts which appear to favour the doctrine of the Trinity. Other passages, indeed, are brought forward to prove separately the Deity of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit; but these are all upon which its judicious advocates insist as relating to the Trinity. These alone con¬ tain all the positive and direct evidence in favour of it, which is to be adduced; these alone are deemed sufficient to outweigh the testimony of all * The evidence of its spuriousness, as well as the feeble argu¬ ments by which its genuineness is attempted to be supported, are fully stated in Belsham’s Calm Inquiry into the Scripture Doctrine concerning the Person of Christ, p. 2,36, &c.—a work which must not only be read, but studied by every person who wishes thoroughly to understand the interesting subject of which it treats.
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