thers, that the opinion of the Ante-Nicene doctors were either thoroughly Arian, or very near being so; unquestionably nearer to the error in which Arius had fallen, than to the fancies of the schoolmen:" And another, that "the great body of primitive Christians, both Jews and Gentiles, for the two first centuries and upwards, were Unitarians and believers in the simple humanity of Jesus Christ." If all this were true, the foundations of that faith which believes Jesus Christ to be God, are shaken even to the ground. We are naturally led to support that faith by reference to Scripture fairly and reasonably interpreted; but we are called upon by our opponents to investigate, and see whether the contemporaries and immediate followers of the Apostles do not support their interpretation of the sacred Scriptures, and condemn ours. We readily fall in with the proposal, because the works of these writers are the grand repositories of Christian antiquity; and they themselves, as preachers of Christian virtue, and as the defenders of true Christian doctrine, are allowed by the Christian world as the best and highest authority to which we can appeal for the testimony we require; and we have shown, and can further 1 Gilbert Clerke, Ante-Nicænesmus, Præf. show, that they mention Christ being born of a Virgin, becoming man, of his creating all things, of his appearing to the Patriarchs,and various other particulars, as undoubted proofs that the writers who used such expressions believed that Jesus Christ was God, or, at least, that they do not agree with modern Unitarians, the Defendants, who deny that any of these expressions can properly be applied to Christ. To get rid of such plain testimony, the writings of the Fathers bearing on all these points are said by them to be either the errors of the writers, or to be the fables and dreams of impostors, who have interpolated the text of these authors to sanction the doctrine of the unscriptural Trinity in Unity. Att. Gen. My Lord, I entirely agree with this witness in thinking that it is lost labour, as far as the Defendants are concerned, to show that the early Christian Fathers, the holy writers of the first three centuries, are directly opposed to their doctrine of the simple humanity of Christ. My object in producing his evidence and that of the former witnesses, is to put the matter clearly before the Jury, that they may have all the assistance they can require for forming an impartial decision on this great and momentous question. Now, my Lord, I shall produce witnesses, with another, but no less important view, to obtain from them not the opinion of ancient writers, but of modern authors, and that also of their own, as to the sense of the Scriptures on points by which the sole humanity, or the divinity of Christ is to be established. Court. I think you are quite right. Whom will you call? Att. Gen. I will call Edward Nares, the author of "Remarks on the Version of the New Testament edited by the Unitarians." Do you, sir, acknowledge yourself the author of the book now mentioned? Witness. I do. Att. Gen. What is the object of your "Reply?" Witness. To prove that the Unitarians generally, and the Defendant Belsham in particular, have perverted the plain and obvious sense of Scripture in reference to every part of it which bears upon or supports the doctrine of the Trinity. Att. Gen. What is it that is affirmed respecting the miraculous conception and birth of Christ? Witness. The Defendant, upon the most unwarrantable plea, declares the greater part of the first, and the whole of the second chapter of St. Matthew, together with the two chapters of St. Luke (with the exception of the five prefatory verses) as all being of such doubtful authority, that they are not to be taken as parts of the Gospel; and, he adds, "that the account of the miraculous conception of Jesus was probably the fiction of some Gentile convert, who hoped, by elevating the dignity of the founder, to abate the popular prejudice against the sect.1 Court. Defendant, you will interpose whenever the witnesses make any statement respecting your writings which you consider misunderstood. Belsham. My Lord, I thank you; I shall not fail to do so. Att. Gen. I now ask you, sir, whether this assertion be true or false, in your opinion; because, if it be true, it will follow that the sense of the Christian Church is mistaken, and the faith of Christians, instead of being founded upon rock, is built upon the mere sand; but, on the other hand, if it be false, I would ask whether, upon your oath, this does not amount to blasphemy? Witness. I declare it, as my own opinion and as the belief of the soundest divines of Christendom, to be false; and the notion of elevating the Saviour of the world to the dignity of the heroes and demigods of heathen mythology to be an unquestionable and disgusting blasphemy; for need any, with the Revelation of St. John in their 1 Improved Version of the New Testament, Notes to Matthew, ch. i. hands, which even such pruning expositors of Scripture as the Defendants, concede to be genuine, need any to have forged such an account of the birth of Christ with materials such as we have in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke? They give him a poor Virgin for his mother, a small village for his birth-place, a stable for his nursery, and a manger for his cradle; and they give him these wretched and lowly investments - for what? “In order,” says the Defendant, "to lessen Jewish prejudices, and to raise him to the rank of a demigod!" Him, who declares himself, in another part of Scripture, to be "the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, unto whom every creature that is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all things in them, ascribe blessing and glory and dominion for ever and ever!" Permit me here to ask, what mythological idol could ever be compared to the Lamb of the Apocalypse, the LORD of LORDS and KING of KINGS? What demigod of Paganism ever made such an appearance as the WORD of GOD in the Revelation of St. John? "I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he who sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and with righteousness he judgeth and maketh war. And his eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written which none knoweth but himself: and he was |