Christ is the way to life eternal,
that obedience would be due to his divine claims: but knowing this, it
should be steadfast as our faith, cheerful as our hope, and boundless as
our love. Such was the obedience, such were the reverence and love of
the holy Apostles; and we desire to participate in them as fully as we
join, with heart and mind, in all that they have said concerning him.
They bow before his celestial authority,--so do we. They venerate his
perfect holiness,--so do we. They bless his love, testified in his
sufferings, sealed by his death, and glorified by his resurrection,--so
do we. They strove to be obedient in all things,--and we acknowledge the
obligation incumbent on us to be so likewise; and that we may be so, we
diligently inquire what were the doctrines which he confirmed and
revealed.

The great fundamental doctrine of the strict Unity of Jehovah was
abundantly confirmed by the Gospel. It had been long held in its purity
by the Jews, and was apprehended by a few, a very few, enlightened
heathens. It is called an essential doctrine of Christianity,--not
because it was originated by Christianity, but because it was thus first
introduced to the world at large, and because no other doctrine could
stand without it. It has accordingly been acknowledged in words by all
who have taken on themselves the name of Christ, while in its substance
it has been held pure by very few, we apprehend, since the apostolic
age. By the Unity of God we understand not a unity of substance
connected with a variety of persons, or a unity of persons accompanied
with a division of attributes; but a concentration of the attributes of
Deity in one eternal, indivisible substance. This, our fundamental
religious belief, is derived both from reason and from Scripture, and is
confirmed equally by both.

If we examine our own minds, we find that our first notions of a God are
low and earthly. We conceive of Him as of an earthly parent, watching
over our sleep with bodily eyes, furnishing our food with a bodily hand,
and following us from place to place with a material presence. As
infancy passes away, our conceptions become less gross. We think of Him
as omnipresent and invisible; but, deriving our notions from our
experience, we conceive of him as subject to emotions and passions. We
believe in the real existence--if not of his smiles and frowns--of his
joy, sorrow and anger, pleasure and pain. We can then imagine his
knowing and