CHAPTER II

OF TRITHEISM.

TRITHEISM, or the doctrine of the trinity, the be-lief of the existence of three Gods, or of three persons, forming (in some manner incomprehensible to us) one God, is a doctrine which was adopted by the Grecian philosophers, Plato and Pythagorus, from whom it has been transmitted to the christians. The Persians and the Indians have likewise each a trinity, in their religion, but they differ essentially from the one of which I am speaking, and probably arose from different origins.*

The three Gods, whose existence Plato appears to have adopted in his philosophy, were, The God of the Theists, or the creator of the universe; the God of the Pantheist, or the soul of the universe, and the God Reason. This doctrine is so deeply mixed with

*The Persians, from whom the world has derived the doc. trine of the two powers, considered the Northern constellations as the powers of Good, and the Southern as the powers of Evil, The former they supposed to be governed by the God of Good, and the latter by the God of Evil. Hence the Sun, the third God in their trinity, Mithra, became a mediator between these powers, because it passed every six months from one to the other, as does Mithra, according to their traditions.

The trinity of the Indians is composed of the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer. No being, analagous to the last, is found in the trinity of the christians.

The first the Father, the second the Holy Ghost, the third the Son of the Christians.

In Greek logos or nous. The o logos, in the first chapter o John, should be translated, reason, instead of the word.

tradition, and has suffered so many changes from them, that in the trinity of the christians, it bears little resemblance to what it originally was, yet we may trace with accuracy, in its present form, the causes to which it owes its existence, and some of the changes which it has undergone.

The two Gods of the Theists and the Pantheists, 'may be considered as rulers of the universe, and therefore may easily be confounded with the law of nature. One of these is, in fact, no more than that law changed into a mind; while the other controuls it, and sustains its existence. It is not strange, therefore, that things which ought, in truth, to be attributed to the law of nature, should be attributed to either of these Gods.

Men, at the beginning of their existence, are ignorant of the laws of nature, or the principles by which the earth is governed. This ignorance would be destructive to those who possessed it, should it continue complete, for any considerable time, if they were not guided by men of greater knowledge. That man would soon come to an unfortunate end, who should not know that he could not without injury, hold his hand in the fire, walk upon the water, or leap from a precipice. A nation which did not possess a large portion of land, in proportion to the number of its inhabitants, would soon be ruined, if the principles of agriculture were unknown to its people. Nor would a knowledge of these Jaws and principles preserve us, if no regard was paid them in our conduct. It may therefore be asserted with truth, that ignorance, or disobedience of the law of nature, leads to destruction.

But as the laws of nature are the same as the laws of God, in the systems of the Theists and Pantheists, and as these philosophers would attribute, as I have before observed, whatever might of truth be asserted of the laws of nature, to their Gods, or to the laws of those

Gods, this destruction would be said to arise from the ignorance of God, of his character or of his law, or from the neglect of that law. Thus, if a man should suffer any important evil, from his ignorance, or imprudence, it was said that he was punished for his ignorance of God, or for disobedience to his commands. As the evil, which he suffered, was produced by the operation of the laws which he had violated, it would be added, that God had inflicted the punishment upon him, for his ignorance of the divine nature. Those men, who by their knowledge, by the discovery of new laws, or by the invention of arts, should confer benefits on mankind, would for the same reason be called the favorites of the Deity. They would be denominated the prophets of future events, because they would in some cases, be able to foretell these, through their knowledge of nature, and the promulgators or revealers of the laws and commands of God, because they made known to man, those laws of matter and mind, by which the earth and its inhabitants are governed, and which were all that was intended, by the laws and commands of the Deity, in those times.

But what, or who is it, that delivers us from the ignorance of the laws of nature, or of the commands of God? Reason, which enables us to learn the principles of nature, by which the world is governed, the order of the succession of events, and in what manner their existence may be caused or prevented. Reason, which is one of the Gods of the trinity, which may be styled the son of God, because created by him in the mind of man, at the beginning of the world, and yet be said to have existed as long as God himself, because it ever must have formed a part and attribute of his mind; which may be considered as one person with God, because it is of necessity a part of his mind and nature, and yet to be a being separate from him, because it exists in the mind of man. Reason, which may be said to partake of two natures, human

and divine, because it exists both in man and in God. This is the true saviour of mankind, because it delivers them from destruction, which, were they destitute of reason, their ignorance must produce. It is the revealer of the will of God, because it teaches men the law of nature, by which God governs the universe,

Here we may discover the origin of many of the tenets of our sacred religion. The original sin, which is born with man, which is so destructive to his happiness, which God punishes so severely, though it is involuntary in his creatures, is no more than ignorance. Christ, who delivers us from this sin, and reveals to us the will of God, by taking upon himself the nature of man, is no other than reason, which by entering into the mind of man, as it eternally existed in that of God, saves us from our ignorance, and its effects, the punishment which God, or nature, inflicts on those who know him not; which teaches us the principles by which the universe is governed, the true laws of God, and the conduct which will lead to happiness.Those who despise our religion, as hostile to reason and common sense, will withdraw their objections when they learn that reason, though much adulterated by tradition, and false speculation, is in fact, one of the sacred trinity which we adore.