The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-07-09

By Him. Howbeit there 10 not in ev-
cry man that knowledge."-I Corinthi-
ans viii, 6, Z.
For long centuries Gods people have
been confessing a Divine trinity, taught
by the creeds. which was incompre
hensible; and meantime they have
been neglecting the trinity taught by
the Bible which is more reasonable
II the trinity Of the creeds was ques-
toned, holy hands were lifted in hor-
ror, and the questioner was told that
the subject was mystery, which he
coQld not possibly understand. but to
doubt 1t would mean his damnation!
Therefore be must profess to believe
what he did not understand, and there
fore could not believe.
The mysterious proposition was
sometimes put In one form and some
times In another Some stated 1t to
be Is one. But others stated it
differently, < Is one. No wonder
II some Of the more intelligent speci-
mems Of our race declared themselves
incapable of understanding such mathe-
mates, and too honest to confess and
Drofess what they could not believe.
Many Of these honest souls have. been
forced by their candor to remain out
side the various denominations of
Christendom-
Under such pressure It should not
surprise US that there has sprung up
an equally unscriptural theory, styled
UniVersalism, desiring to worship God,
yet too honest and conscientious to
make false pretensions of faith. These
have been driven to an antagonism of
the popular theory of the trinity to
the extent of ignoring the Divinity of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teach
ings Of the Bible to this effect. In
word, the great Adversary, during the
Dark Ages, succeeded In swinging the
pendulum first to one extreme and
then to the opposite extreme, while
the very Truth. which the Bible pre-
sents. lies midway between them. AS
Bible students. let US seek to know
the mind of the Lord on this subject,
as well as on other subjects, assured
that the Wisdom which comes from
above is alone capable of giving us
proper instruction and guidance. and
OF solving our man-made mysteries.
Consider Now Our Text.
Note the simplicity of the Bible
statements-our text being an exam
pie. Not once from Genesis to Reve-
lation does the word trinity occur. Not
once Is there any hint of such a trinity
AZ the creeds describe-except In the
one text John v, (which all schol- |
ars, including trinitarians, agree Is |
spurious-not found in Greek manu-
scripts Of an earlier date than the |
seventh century-evidentiy 'tdoctored'
| by some trinitarian Doctor of Divinity
to meet his long-felt want Our Re
vised English Version omits the In
terpolated parts Of this text intro
dueed about the seventh century to |
support the trinitarian theory-al- |
though the revisers all profess to be |
trlnitarians. When ones attention is
called to this spurious passage, the |
bungling character of the addition to |
the Apostles words Is quickly discern |
ed. st. John Is thereby made to say
that the Father, the Son and the Holy |
Spirit are going about heaven testify |
ing to the angels that Jesus Is the Son |
Of God Even a child's mind can dis |
Germ the absurdity Of this statement |
for surely the angels knew that Jesus |
was the Son of God before He came |
into the world and during His earthly /
ministry and since. without any neces-
sity for testimony to this effect from
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
The Testimony Of the Bible.
The Bible sets forth that Jehovah is
the Almighty God, and that our Lord
Jesus Is His Son, His offspring, glori-
ously exalted to the Fathers right
hand of power, dominion and glory
as bis Chief Representative and
Agent in all matters. The Father and
the Son, although different persons, are
one In the sense in which our Lord
Jesus stated-cne in mind, In purpose,
in plan, in action, in everything except
in person. How clearly the Master
stated this to us, and how strangely
we overlooked the force Of His words
when He prayed for the Church that
we might all be zone, even as Thou,
Father, and | are onew The oneness
Of the Church is certainly not a one
ness Of person, but oneness Of faith,
hope, harmony, fellowship. even as is
the oneness of the Father and the Son
Read over the Masters words at yo1r
convenience at home. They are found
In the 17th chapter Of st. Johns Cos
pei.
As for the Holy Spirit, the spirit OF
Truth, the spirit Of God, the sptrit OF
Christ, the spirit Of holiness. the spirit
Of q sound mind--lt Ia the antitheeis,
or opposite OF a spirit OF error, spirit
OF vaciliation, the spirit of Satan, or
opposition to God, q spirit Of IN
righteousness, or unholiness These
are not different spirit beings, but
smanations from spirit beings As the
spirit OF Satan n spirit OF evil, or an
evil influence. mind or disposition. . pow
er emanating from Satan, - confrayswise,
the spirit Of God In spirit Of holiness.
righteousness. truth, the smAnAtion and
display Of the Divine win, purpose ersr-
~ and power. And this Holy Spirit pro 7
Oeeds from God the Father. H.
And our Lord Jesus Ch<iet bs1nS IN the
fullest harmony with the Father. His
Spirit Is the SEINE spirit Of holiness and
truth. And all Of Gods consscratsd PEG
pie. to the extent that they have the mind
Of Christ. the Spirit Of Chrts&, have the
Holy Spirit, and shed forth this holy In
auence upon all with whom they come IN
contact
Thus we see that there II . trinity of
tho Scriptures very different from the
trinity Of the creeds--a beautiful trinity.
Before we proceed to demonstrate the
Bible trinity and to give % array OF
Scripture texts proving Il, lot us glance
backward and note well the conditions
and circumstances which gave rise to the
erroneous theory OF the trinity set forth
In our creeds, namely. az stated by some,
that there are three Gods in one person
God the Father. God the Son. God the
Holy Spirit Or. as stated By some other
persons. There 10 one God in three per- !
sons, or . trinity OF Gods with one aim {
and object
The Origin Of the Error.
II will not be disputed that for more
than four thousand years there was no
suggestion OF D trinity IL Gods, nor OF
more than one God, amongnt the Israel
ties The heather nations recognized gods
y-polytheism-and at least one OF ,
these as having trinity. But Gods peo- ,
pie were warned against all these being .
instructed in these words. Hear. o Is
rael, the Lord our God is one Lord-Je-
hovAh- Thou shalt have no other gods ,
mighty ones. ruiersl before me-" (Deu-
tsronomy vi ~ It should be noted that !
our Bible recognizes earthly gods or ruiz !
ers, but none Of these were ever to rank 7
with the great Eternal One. whose Word !
and authority must stand supreme with 4
those who would be His people. Indeed. 4
the word e5oAtn, as used in the Bible. and I
translated gods, signifies merely Rj0AttI I