Unitarian. Tell me what it is, and I will see if I can believe it. What is the Trinity?
Trin. God exists as one being, but three persons.
Unit. What do you mean by “person”? Do you mean a person like Peter, James, or John?
Trin. No; we use “person” from the poverty of language. We do not mean that.
Unit. What, then, do you mean by it?
Trin. It is a mystery. We cannot understand it precisely.
Unit. I have no objection to the doctrine being mysterious; I believe a great many things which are mysterious; but I don't want the language to be mysterious. You might as well use a Greek, or a Hebrew, or a Chinese word, and ask me to believe that there are three hypostases or three prosopa in Deity, if you do not tell me what you mean by the word “person.”
Trin. It is a great mystery. It is a matter of faith, not of reasoning. You must believe it, and not speculate about it.
Unit. Believe it? Believe what? I am waiting for you to tell me what I am to believe. I am ready to exercise my faith; but you are tasking, not my faith, but my knowledge of language. I suppose that you do not wish me to believe words, but thoughts. I wish to look through the word, and see what thought lies behind it.
Now, it seems to us that this is a very fair demand of the Unitarian. To ask us to believe a proposition, any important term of which is unintelligible, is precisely equivalent to asking us to believe no proposition at all. Let us listen to Paul: “Even things without life, giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For, if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.... For, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian; and he that speaketh, a barbarian unto me.”