UNITARIANS. 
lutarians, or believers in the simple humanity 
of Christ. For an account of the first of 
these two classes, see the article Arians. 
The summary of doctrines held by modem 
Unitarians is as follows ; The capital arti- 
cle in the religious system of this denomina- 
tion is, that Christ was a mere man. But 
they consider him as the great instrument 
in the hands of God of reversing all the ef- 
fects of the fall ; as the object of all the 
prophecies from Moses to his own time; as 
the great bond of union to virtuous and 
good men, tVho, as Christians, make one 
body in a peculiar sense ; as having com- 
munications with God, and speaking and 
acting from God in such a manner as no 
other man ever did, and therefore, hav- 
ingthe form of God, and being the Son 
of God in a manner peculiar to himself; 
as the mean of spreading divine and sav- 
ing knowledge to all the world of man- 
kind ; as, under God, the head of all 
things to his church ; and as the Lord of 
life, having power and authority from God 
to raise the dead, and judge the world at 
the last day. They suppose that the great 
object of the whole scheme of revelation 
was to teach men how to live here so as to 
be happy hereafter ; and that the particular 
doctrines they taught, as having a connec- 
tion with this great object, are those of the 
unity of God, his universal presence and in- 
spection, his placability to repenting sin- 
ners, and the certainty of a life of retribu- 
tion after death. They suppose, that to be 
a Christian implies nothing more than the 
belief that Christ and his apostles, as well as 
all preceding prophets, were commissioned 
by God to teach what they declare they re- 
ceived from him ; the most important article 
of which is the doctrine of a resurrection to 
immortal life. 
This denomination of Christians argue 
against the divinity and pre-existence of 
Christ in the following manner : the scrip- 
tures contain the clearest and most exprses 
declarations that there is but one God, 
without ever mentioning any exception in 
favour of a Trinity, or guarding us against 
being led into any mistake by such general 
and unlimited expressions. E?;od. xx. 3 : 
“ Thou shalt have no other God but me.” 
Deut. vi. 4. Mark xii. 20. 1 Cor. viii. 6. 
Ephes. iv. .5. It is the uniform language of 
the sacred books of the Old Testament, 
that one God, without any assistant either 
equal or subordinate to himself, made the 
world and all things in it, and that this one 
God continues to direct all the affairs of 
men. The first book of Moses begins 
with reciting all the visible parts of the 
universe as the work and appointment of 
God. In the ancient prophetic accounts, 
which preceded the birth of Christ, he is 
spoken of as a man, as a human creature 
highly favoured of God, and gifted with ex- 
traordinary powers from him, and nothing 
more. He was foretold, Gen. xxii. 8, to be 
of “ the seed of Abraham.” Dent, xviii. 
“ A prophet like unto Moses.” Psal. cxxvii. 
11 : “Of the family of David,” &c. As a 
man, as a prophet, though of the highest or- 
der, the Jews constantly and uniformly 
looked for their Messiah. Christ never 
claimed any honour nor respect on his own 
account, nor as due to himself as a person 
only inferior to the most high God ; but 
such as belonged only to a prophet, an ex- 
traordinary messenger of God, to listen to 
the message and truths which he delivered 
from him. He in the most decisive terms 
declares the Lord God to be one person ; 
and simply, exclusive of all others, to be the 
sole object of worship. He always prayed 
to the one God as his God and Father. He 
always spoke of himself as receiving his 
doctrine and power from him, and again 
and again disclaimed having any power of 
his own. John v. 19 : “ Then answered 
Jesus, and said unto them, verily, verily, I 
say unto you, the Son can do nothing of 
himself.” John xiv. 10 : “ The words 
which I speak unto you, I speak not of my- 
self ; but the Father that dwelleth in me, 
he doeth the works.” He directed men 
to worship the Father ; and never let fall 
the least intimation that himself or any 
other person whomsoever was the object of 
worship. (See Luke xi. 1, 2. Matt. iv. 10.) 
He says in John xvi. 23, “ And in that day 
ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Fa- 
ther in my name, he wdll give it you.” 
Christ, they say, cannot be that God to 
whom prayer is to be offered, because he is 
the high priest of that God to make interces- 
sion for us. (Acts vii. 25.) And if Christ be 
not tlie object of prayer, he cannot be 
either God or the maker and governor of 
the world under God. The apostles, to th^ 
latest period of their writings, speak the 
same language, representing the Father as 
the only true God, and Christ as a man, the 
servant of God, who raised him from the 
dead, and gave him all the power of which 
he is possessed, as ai reward for his obedi- 
ence. In Acts ii. 22, the apostle Pete^ 
calls Christ “ a man approved of God,” 
