The herald., 1894-06-04
A DISCUSSION OF THE TRINITY
Rev. Thomson of Unity Church
Tells Something About 1t.
Farewell Sermon Of Rev. Burt
Estes Howard.
A Large Audience Listened to the Row.
DIR. O. q. Mclean mt simpson
TabsrnAcie-Points of the
Various Discoursea.

OF the
Various Discourses.
Unity and Trinity was the topic which
the pastor. J. L. Thomson, selected for
his sermon yesterday morning, and he
took for his text There is None Other
God but One--Corinthians ga.
The speaker discussed the being and
existence OF God. the personality and
character OF God. and showed that the
doctrine OF the unity OF God lie Christian
and scriptural, and so plain that no one
could dispute it. He showed also, that
it was the first of all the command
ments that Christ taught, that it was
fundamental and essential TO religion.
He said that the doctrinesof the trinity
is neither Christian nor scriptural, bat
Greek speculation that had bcen sug-
geeted by the Hindoo trimurti. Ii the
doctrine be essential to Christianity, why
did not thesfoander of Christianity make
1t as plain az He has made the doctrine
OF the unity?
He never mentioned it. Then how
could q person pray to three gods, and
give each one equal honor or worship?
Christ's simple way of praying to one
God is natural. reasonable and COM
Portable. Christ lived as q Unitarian,
taught as y Unitarian, and died az q
Unitarian. giving His divine spirit into
the hands OF the one God. and praying
to the ono God for forgiveness for his ex-
ecutioners. The Greeks had .
trinity Of Jupiter, Neptune and
Pluto. The Hindoos had Brah-
ma, Vishnu, silva. The great Egyp-
tian trinity WAS Osiris, Isis and Horus.
Wodin, Thor and Bladder were the per-
sons in the Scandinavian trinity. Plato's
was thought, matter, universe. God,
idea and matter formed the trinity of
Pythagoras, and Philo Jud@us made his
out OF light, wisdom and word. The
world in the time of Christ was full Of
trinities or triads; and the early mis-
sionaries came into contact with people
trained under the influences of the Greek
philosophy and the Greek mythology,
and when these people embraced the
gospel their old beliefs and speculations
shaped and colored their views OF Chris
'tisnity, and after the second century
Greek speculations dominated the
churches; and in 1926, at the Council of
Nice, Greek Tritheism overcame Chris
tian Monotheism. Even Cardinal New
man, one of the finest scholars and
thinkers and poets that England has
produced, declared in his book on The
Development of Christian Doctrines that
no mention is made of the Catholic
doctrine of the Trinity in the early ages
OF Christianity. The church formulated
the dogma, and Proteatantism has in
herited it from the ancient church. We
tnd the deity referred to in the fret
chapters OF Genesis in the plural num-
Dor. Whether there were o million or
q thousand, or four, there is no way OF
discerning, and these passages cannot
be utilized as proofs OF the Greek Trinity
which we have inherited from the past.
y i'm -a- .i.@ 49, ofDi0 o~rcruiiy i0sr
Shat the absolute God manifests Himself
In three outhows from His being-in
creation, in life and in providence. We
cannot call these outfiows, or manifesto
tions, persons; we may call them per-
sonifications. We can study them in a
rose. ina bird and in man. Each man
has in himself evidence OF these three
streams from God in HE body, in his
life and in the providence of his life.
This threelold expression OF Deity and
his unity, supplement one another. In
our studies OF these three forces we
are led up to the divine unity.
There is a very practical illustration of
this trinity in Christ's prayer that His
disciples might be one in God and in
Him, and He and God were one. We
are one with God when we work with
Him, follow Him, obey Him, trust Him.
In human beings, In limited ways, there
are germs OF power to be like God in the
sense that they can create pictures,
houses, etc., feel the eternal life in
themselves and train vegetables and
children in certain directions. We are
brothers of ssraphim, cheru bin, arch
angels; and who knows what these
mighty beings are doing in the vast
fields of the universe? Let us remem-