Page:Letters on the Divine Trinity, addressed to Henry Ward Beecher.djvu/19

must depend on this, and must be more or less shaped and colored by it. And probably the state of every Christian worshiper, could this matter be thoroughly inquired into or opened up,—his state, I mean, as to clearness and strength of faith, and depth and tenderness of love,—would be found to depend very much on the doctrine which he holds respecting the Object of his worship. If men believe in a proud, haughty, tyrannical God—in one who acts arbitrarily, or from caprice, and always with an eye to his own glory, as unregenerate men act—their moral and spiritual condition cannot fail to be disastrously affected by such belief. Or if they believe in a selfish, partial and vindictive God, the virus of this false belief will distill in bitter drops upon their hearts. And so, too, if they believe in more Gods than one, I should think they would find themselves often painfully bewildered and strangely confused. I should think the tendency of such belief would be to distract the mind of the worshiper, to create doubt and sad perplexity at times, and in the end to weaken if it did not overthrow his faith. And this appears to be the opinion of men more worthy to be heard on this subject than myself, and whose opportunities of observing the effects of the popular doctrine of a tri-personal God have been more ample than mine. One of your own denomination,—one whom I have no doubt you respect and love,—the talented and excellent Dr. Bushnell, writing of those who hold "this view of metaphysical tri-personality," remarks that, "mournful evidence will be found that a confused and painfully bewildered state is often pro-