UNITARIAN. This term, in its strict sad literal interpretation, denotes simply a believer in one God ; and, when thus understood, is a generic term, applicable to all Christians, for they all profess to receive the unity of the divine nature; and not only so, but to Jews and Mohammedans also, and even to those unbelievers commonly called Deists, who, on the grounds supplied by natural reason alone, admit the existence, providence, and moral government of one Supreme' Being. But it is more commonly understood as opposed to Trinitarian, and is accordingly the received denomination of those Christians who acknowledge one God in one person, as distinguished from those who conceive of him in three persons. characters, or relations, each of which they regard as the proper object of a distinct and separate religious worship. The Unitarian Christian believes the Father to be the only true God, and Jesus his messenger to be the Christ. (John xvii. 3.) This is the leading fundamental principle, which constitutes the true and complete definition of the term; under which are consequently included all those who, receiving the divine authority or commission of Jesus Christ, believe him to be a dependent creature, deriving his existence from the Father, and therefore as the fit object of all the veneration, submission, and obedience which can be offered to a crea ture, but not of religious worship properly so called. Agreeing in this great and leading principle, Unitarians differ in their opinions as to the origin, nature, and dignity of the author of their religion. Some believe him to have been a celestial spirit of great power and dignity, existing before all worlds, and employed by the Father as his instru ment or agent in the creation of the universe, or at least of this portion of it in which we dwell. These are usually called, and call themselves, Arians; though differing in various particulars from the distinguishing tenets of that celebrated beresiarch. Of this class was the late Dr. Price, and many of the principal English Unitarians in the earlier part of the last century. Others believe Jesus to have had no existence
previous to his birth, and to have been simply " a man, approved of (10(1 by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him." (Acts ii. 22.) These are not unfrequently styled Socinians : but they themselves, almost universally, reject this appellation ; both because it is usually given as a term of reproach (though in fact there is no more reason why it should be so considered than Lutheran, Calvinist, or Arminian), and also because Socinus held certain opinions which they disapprove, particularly the duty of praying to Christ, contrary, as many of them think, to his own express injunction. (John xvi. 23.) Unitarians believe that in Christ dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead, inasmuch as the spirit was not given by measure unto him, and as he was invested with full power to make known to the children of men the will and intentions of God concerning them ; and they require no other evidence than his authority for receiving all which he delivered as coming from God. On this authority they believe that there will be a resurrection from the dead, both of the just and of the unjust, when all shall be rewarded according to their works, and when Christ himself shall come in the glory of his Father to judge the living and the dead. They believe that' the truth of this declaration was ascer tained and exemplified by his own resurrection from the grave. They believe that he was sent to include both Jew and Gentile in the terms of a new and better covenant : and to admit the whole race of mankind to a participation in the privileges of the family of God. For this reason it is that the death of Christ is described by himself as the blood of the new covenant, shed for many for the remission of sine; and hence Unitarians receive him not as God himself, but as the image of God (2 Cor. iv. 4), and a ray of his Father's glory—as the one Mediator between Ood and man.