destroy, as they conceive, their freedom of thought; and they cannot bear this: they feel, in the native vanity of their minds, a higher pleasure in moving at large on the sea of sceptical speculation, troubled as it is, and strewn with wrecks, than in the peaceful security of the harbor of faith."+

We now prepare to bring to the notice of our readers the Articles of our Christian Faith. We think it scarce necessary to premise, that they have now, for the first time, been selected and embodied in their present form, from the works of the several authors quoted in this Essay; and that as Protestants, we have preferred as a precedent, the articles of the Protestant Épiscopal Churches of America: But while we acknowledge the arrangement to be perfectly new, in its present form; we rigidly adhere to our claims to antiquity, having shewn in the first section, that the substance of all the articles have been promulgated and believed in, by every faithful Universalist from Adam to Moses-and from him to this age; and we aver, that it will be more and more believed in, even to the “ age of ages.'

ARTICLES OF FAITH,

Of the Evangelist, or Primitive, Apostolic and Catholic Church of TRINITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS, in the City of Charleston, with copious Remarks and Illustrations.

ART. I. Of God.-We believe in one supreme eternal, uncreate, self-subsisting and invisible Spirit, or Being, one only true and living God, who, in and by, the union of his essential essences, whose qualities, are Wisdom, Power, and Holiness, in one undivided whole, is that complete, full, perfect, holy Being: First Principle; the cause, source or origin of all things; and who hath revealed himself and his glorious properties in the

Ib. id. pp. 56, 57.

Scriptures of his Truth, as the Lord God Almighty! that there is "no God else beside him, a just God and a Saviour:" and that "the Lord our God is one Lord."

ART. II. Of the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit.We believe, the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! to be the only begotten Son of God! a manifestation of the Wisdom, Power and Holiness of the Supreme, in a sanctified body of flesh! begotten not according to ordinary, but by a spiritual generation, as predetermined in the Immense Mind from everlasting.

That the Godhead dwelling in all its fulness, in the person of Jesus Christ, is expressive of the union of the integrant essences of the Deity; so that as Jesus is the manifest Saviour, the Godhead being invisible; God in Christ, is still the Lord God Almighty! and there is no God else beside him, a Just God, (in his invisible essences) and a Saviour, (in his manifested properties) in his Son. In Christ therefore who is the Lord, and the Godhead in him, we understand, "the Lord our God is one Lord!"

We believe in the Holy Ghost, as the third integrant essence or essential property of the Deity or Godhead, as the Spirit of Holiness, existing in, and one with the Father, dwelling in all their fulness in the person of the Son, is thus manifest in the flesh, a Trinity in Unity, the one only true and living God! the Creator, Saviour and Sanctifier, or Jehovah! in whose self-subsistence existed from everlasting in one infinitely great and undivided union; as the essential properties of his being, illimitable Wisdom, Power and Holiness; and to whom with the Father and the Son, be glory in the highest-Amen.

ART. III. Of the Immutability of God.-We believe in the immutability, and unalterable character of God! that he is all wise, all powerful, all holy! Perfect in all his essential properties, and boundless in all his natural properties; that he can suffer no loss, nor have any augmentation, to his illimitable nature and perfections; wherefore "He is the same yesterday, to-day, and forevermore," and that "He changeth not." Wherefore,

whatsoever he willed at the creation, is his will now, and will not alter, for God will accomplish all his will.

ART. IV. Of the finite nature of sin.—We believe man to be a finite being; and according to every law of nature, which assigns to every order of being, properties and capacities suited to their finite nature; it is hence impossible, according to those laws, for a finite being to perform an infinite act. The essential properties of man are of a limited nature; they are bounded by laws, which he cannot transcend. The exercise of all his properties being limited by those laws, his actions are consequently limited. Sin is therefore of a finite nature. And as nothing but Deity can perform an infinite act, it is contrary to reason, to admit the idea of the infinite nature of sin in man.

ART. V. Of Atonement.*—Atonement is the act of making satisfaction for wrongs, or injuries done; and involves in its nature the expiation of offences by offering an equivalent-the restitution, or restoration, to a state prior to that which has rendered an atonement necessary. The reconciliation of the offender, to a state of acceptance with Justice and Truth, and the making satisfaction to a dissatisfied being.

That man became a dissatisfied being, in consequence of transgressing the command of his Creator, is too true to admit of denial; and that a consciousness of moral guilt induced a perverted judgment is also true. Hence, Adam attempted to hide from his Maker and his friend, because he now thought God was his enemy. It is evident, that the spiritual death which he experienced, on the day of his transgression, left Adam a carnal mind, which is enmity against God! and this is the evil which his transgression has entailed upon all his posterity. And that man may be reconciled, restored to the image and love of God, help was given unto one that was both able and willing thus to save the creatures of his love.

*We are indebted to the Rev. Hosea Ballou, for the valuable hints which have led to the adoption of this Article. See his masterly work on the Atonement. Portsmouth, N. H. Edition 1812.

The spiritual Adam, in whose image man was made fulfilled the whole law, both spritual and moral. In the Divine economy, the all-atoning Lamb was slain from before the foundation of the world. And the actual personal sacrifice of Christ, is the consequence, and not the cause of God's love to us. Of this we have abundant testimony in the Scriptures. (Consult Isaiah liii. 5, 6. Daniel ix. 24. John iii. 16, 17. 1 John 4, 9, 19. Romans iv. 25-v. 8. John xv. 13. Acts ii. 23, and various parallel passages,) all which go clearly to prove that God has not estranged himself from man; but that it is man who has estranged himself from God; and as an unchangeable being, God has never loved his creatures less since the fall, than before it; nor is he unreconciled toward them; "for if he was unreconciled who could reconcile an unchangeable Being ?"

It is man then, and man only, that is in an unreconciled state toward God; and man being a changeable being, it is possible for him to be reconciled to God, and thus says the Apostle: "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ; as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled unto God." (2 Cor. v. 20.) "That the Scriptures abundantly prove, that all men are sinners, and in an unreconciled state, considered under the law, or in the earthly nature, will not be disputed by any. Then it is certainly man that needs reconciliation;" and that it is "man that receives the atonement, was evidently the opinion of St. Paul, see Romans v. 11, "and not only so, but we also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." In the marginal reading it is translated, "the reconciliation;" which we understand as a synonyme of conversion, and of being renewed in the Spirit.

Of the ability of Christ for reconciling us, and all things unto God, it is unnecessary for us to write; the Scriptures are full of proofs of that nature, and he can never fail of accomplishing all his will in us and by us, so long as it is written, that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself; not imputing their trespasses unto them."

"Without atonement God's glorious design in the everlasting welfare of his offspring, man, could never be effected; the ordination of an infinitely merciful God could not be carried into effect. The Almighty must not be deprived of the means of accomplishing his gracious designs. We read of his covenant with day and night, which cannot be broken, but it would be broken at once, should the causes cease that produce these changes. So of the covenant of eternal mercy, the testament of eternal life, it must be put in force by the death of the testator, and its life and immortal glory be brought to light through his resurrection." (See Ballou on Atonement.)

ART. VI. Of the one Oblation of Christ, finished upon the Cross. We believe, with our Protestant Episcopal brethren, "that the offering of Christ once made, is that complete and perfect propitiation and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual, whereby he obtained pardon and the redemption of all mankind." (See thirty-first Article of the Protestant Episcopal Churches of America, ed. 1817. And also the twentieth Article of the Methodist Episcopal Church, ed. 1817.)

We do not believe that it was the humanity alone, or the man Christ Jesus, that suffered death on the Cross but that it was truly the Son of God, in that sanctified nature which had been prepared for him for the purpose, that he might suffer, and by the grace of God, taste death for every man.

ART. VII. Of the descent of Christ into Hades, (in the English version translated Hell.)-We believe that Christ was "put to death in the flesh, being quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah," &c,. (1 Pet. iii. 18, 19.) We consider the object of our dear Redeemer, in preaching to the spirits of the dead, in their prison, or Hades, was to offer them salvation on his own gospel terms, in order that they might be placed upon an equal footing with the living. And that this is no visionary idea the Apostle continues in the same epistle, (iv. 5, 6,)