Supposed Scripture Proofs of the Trinity.

A WRITER in a late number of the Presbyterian Magazine, speaking of the doctrine of the Trinity, has thus expressed himself; "It is taught by the Saviour and his apostles in the clearest manner, and in the most express terms, that language can supply."

If this position can be maintained, it necessarily follows, that to deny the doctrine of the trinity is to reject some of the clearest and most express declarations of our Lord and his apostles, and that it would require a large portion of charity to exculpate antitrinitarians from the suspicion of wilfully rejecting an undoubted doctrine of holy scripture. Perhaps it is not therefore wonderful, if those who "think thus of the trinity" should be reluctant to acknowledge the deniers of it as christian brethren, and if they should regard their situation as extremely dangerous, since it cannot be a light matter to speak and act in opposition to the clearest evidence, and to refuse to embrace the faith taught in the New Testament "in the most express terms, that language can supply."

Such conduct would manifest great perverseness and deep rooted depravity, with which we should expect to meet only among the dregs and refuse of mankind. It

is inconsistent with every great and noble quality; particularly with integrity and the love of truth. Persons, who should evince such a total destitution of all sound and good principles in matters relating to religion, would justly forfeit every claim to confidence and respect in the common concerns of life. The only plea, that could be urged in their favour, would be, that they laboured under an unhappy defect of comprehension; but to render this plea a valid one, the defect must be so great as to incapacitate them for perceiving what was stated in the clearest manner, and in terms the most direct. Now, I ask, would such persons be fit to manage the most ordinary concerns of life, or be able to take any part in a connected and rational conversation? Yet we do not find, that those who disbelieve the trinity, are either abandoned characters, or in a state approaching to idiotism.

Suspicion therefore arises, that the language quoted in reference to the trinity may be too strong, and that it cannot stand the test of an accurate examination. Every serious believer in the christian religion would readily admit the doctrine of the trinity, or any other doctrine, on being satisfied that it was taught by our Lord and his apostles; and if they have taught the doctrine of the trinity, "in the clearest manner, and in the most express terms that language can supply," nothing can be easier than to produce such passages. Let them be produced, and conviction must inevitably take place in every ingenuous mind; there can be no room for doubt or hesitation. I therefore call on believers in the trinity, and more especially on such as are willing to hazard assertions like the one above quoted, to favour the public with the texts, which teach that doctrine in the most clear and explicit manner.