And in this Trinity nothing is prior or posterior, nothing is greater or lesser; but the whole three persons are co-eternal to one another, and co-equal;

So that in all things, as has been said above, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshiped.

He, therefore, that will be saved, must thus think of the Trin ity.

If the Reviewer held entire and inviolate the Catholic faith, he would not have written: "The distinction of persons in the Godhead, if there be any truth at all in the orthodox dogma." Why attempt to discuss what he does not believe or know? If the Priest stand not opposite, and raise himself up as a wall for the house of Israel; if he will not speedily repair the broken fences of the vineyard, the bear of the forest will crawl in and trample the growing seed; the pure water will be lost in the muddy pools; the Lord will send forth famine into the land; not famine of bread, nor thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. Amos VIII.

Review, page 17. "The simple fact that men have entertaind the belief that God is in three distinct persons in one substance, of which the first hint is not in nature, is conclusive proof that it has been revealed; for that which in no sense exists, cannot be an object of thought, and de non apparentibus et non existentibus eadem est ratio."

Behold Brownson in his innate heretical features! Since he draws the dogma of the Trinity, not from Moses, Prophets, or Apostles, not from the Nicene or Athanasian Creeds, but from the thoughts of men, he deifies men and their fickle, simple thoughts, and would be a Turk in Constantinople, a Heathen in Carthage, a deist in Berlin, or a Lutheran in London. The Latin phrase: De non apparentibus et non existentibus eadem est ratio, which he adduces in illustration, renders his atheism still more manifest. "Things that appear not, and things that exist not, are of the same nature." Therefore, he is under the terrific

impression that as he sees not the first hint, in nature, of one God in three distinct persons, the Trinity of persons can have no existence at all; and thus he sets aside his only rule-the thoughts of men, and becomes a deist. The old Heathens, too, seeing not in nature the first hint of the Unity or Trinity, turned the Christian religion into mockery, and substituted idolatry; and as no two persons held the same thoughts or notions about the existence of God, no two Heathens worshiped the same idols.They changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do the things that are not convenient. Being filled with all iniquity, malice and avarice; professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Whereas, he perceives not in nature, the first hint of spiritual regeneration, will he discard baptism? As he sees not, by the light of nature, in what part of his body his soul resides, or how his spirit is united to, or rules his flesh, will he deny that he has a soul, and level himself with the brutes ? John XIV. 23. If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him. Rom. V. 5. The charity of God is poured forth into our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us. As he understands not by his senses, nor by the natural law, how the blessed Trinity, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, come and make their abode with the just man, will he ridicule the dogma? John VI. 41. The Jews murmured at him because he said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven. Since he sees not iu nature the first hint of the Real Presence, will he, as the murderers of the Son of God did, murmur at him? John VI. 44. No man can come to me, except the Father who sent me, draw him. And they shall be taught of God. The faith, therefore, comes from God, not from the first,

or any other hint of nature; not from flesh nor blood.

Peter

was taught of God, when he confessed that Christ was the Son of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, be

cause flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but to my Father who is in heaven, Matt. XVI. And St. Paul, 1 Cor. II. 14, saith: The sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the spirit of God, for it is foolishness to him; and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined. The man that draws his religion, not from the Testaments, nor the Church of God, but from the thoughts of men, is not a Catholic, but a heathen. Hence it is most certain, that the personages who took Brownson into their bosoms, and patronize his writings, will not long, if they vomit him not speedily, have any Churches or flocks to take care of.

Review, page 18. "These persons or personalities are the dramatis persona of revelation. The author holds that God cannot reveal to us, in language, anything of which we have not direct and immediate intuition, and that he can reveal himself only in so far as he exhibits himself to our intuitive apprehension. In order to do this, he must make use of such methods of self-exhibition as are adapted to the nature of our understanding. These methods are the personations, as in a drama, of the characters of a father, a son, and a holy spirit, and through these impersonations, by virtue of what we already know of the characters personated as existing in the intelligible order, he extends our knowledge of himself."

Brownson here outdoes himself, abjures all pretensions to the Christian religion; throwing off the mask, he comes forth in his native garb, in that of the hideous atheist; surpassing in blasphemy even Paine, Voltaire, and all other demons under the human shape that tried and persecuted the sons of Eve, since the days of Julian the apostate. Not one of them fell into such insanity as to ridicule the Most High, as to exhibit him going through a theatrical performance, with his dramatis per

sona; machina Dei-"the persons of the drama, the machmery of the God;" adopting, in order to meet the taste and tickle the fancy of the audience, the characters of a father, a son, and of a holy spirit. If that be not a foul travesty of the Unity and Trinity of God, and of the whole Christian religion, I know not what to make of it. In a similar manner were the heathen Gods and Goddesses decked out by Homer and Virgil, in fantastical representations, dancing, fighting battles, contending for golden apples. The characters in the fabulous exhibitions, are called by the critics the persons of the drama, the machinery of the poem. The poet groups them here and there throughout the piece, as sparkling gems, odoriferous flowers, to catch the eyes and hearts of the lovers of fiction. Such burlesque impersonations of their gods and goddesses, had a baneful tendency; it taught mankind to think light of sacred things, gradually corrupted the public mind, and finally sunk the ancient heathens into the lowest pit of idolatry. Has not Brownson's theatrical representations of the most blessed and adorable Trinity the same tendency? Some cause or causes are silently and irresistibly at work, at this time, to infect and destroy the public morals, to demolish the land-marks between right and wrong, justice and injustice, light and darkness. If faith, hope, and charity, continue to wither, for ten years to come, as they have these ten years past, what will people come to? Whether the rapid and spontaneous growth of novels, fables, romances, and theatrical representations of sacred and holy things, be the cause or effect of the alarming infidelity, I shall not say; but this I say that the rulers of society, the guardians of morals, the shepherds of the people, should stand opposite, and raise up a wall for the house of Israel.

Fellow Christians, if you silently take up the yoke, and swallow the pill which Brownson extends to you, the whole Christian religion will soon go overboard. The Unity and Trinity of God, the Incarnation of Christ, our Lord, his miracles, death, and resurrection, will be looked upon as delusions. Were the Apostles sent by Christ Jesus to teach and baptise all nations;

the martyrs who washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb; the Confessors who denied not Christ before men; the Virgins who fled the snares of a corrupt world, who carried their shining lamps to meet the Bride and Bride-groom, were all actuated by blind zeal, and mistaken religion? Were the Jeromes, the Cyrils, Gregories, Augustine, Cyprian, Epiphanius, Basil, and the Ambroses; were Peter, Paul, Linus, Cletus, Clement, Leo, Damasus, who preached and suffered for Christ Jesus, deceivers of mankind? Were the mighty emperors, Constantine, Theodosius, Clovis, Charlemagne, Alfred, Edward, and William, nay, the millions and millions who embraced and cherished, as the apple of their eye, the faith and morality of Christ Jesus, knaves or fools?

Remember that Brownson, in the foregoing quotation, says: "that the author," that is, some Sectarian minister, whom he calls Bushnell, "holds that God must, in order to reveal himself, make use of such methods as are adapted to our understanding; that these methods are the personations, as in a drama, of the characters of a father, a son, and a holy spirit; these persons or personalities are the dramatis personæ of the revelation ;"-and he utters not one word or one tittle in condemnation of the horrible blasphemy; no, but he adopts the whole without exception, for he writes:

Review, page 19. "The Trinity of persons said to be evolved in the process of revelation is not the absolute God, not God as he exists in eternity, conceived as existing in himself prior to all creation, in time or outward expression, but the revealed or manifested God."

Whereas, that sentence is tantamount to this: The Trinity of persons revealed in the Christian religion, is not the absolute God, existing in eternity, self-existing prior to all creation, but the trinity of persons is the revealed or manifested God.Therefore he has two Gods; the one absolute, existing in eternity prior to all creation, the other existing only since the