To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 5 January 1816 Boston House Ealing 5 January 1816
I plainly perceive that you are not to be converted, even by the eloquence of Massillon, to the Athanasian Creed—But when you recommend to me Carlostad and Scheffmacher; and Priestly, and Waterland, and Clark, and Beausobre—Mercy! Mercy! what can a blind man do to be saved by unitarianism; if he must read all this to understand his Bible? I went last Christmas day to Ealing church, and heard the Revd Colston Carr, the Vicar, declare and pronounce, among other things, that whosoever doth not keep the Catholic Faith whole and undefiled: without doubt he shall perish everlastingly; And the Catholic Faith is THIS—That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity &c—in short, the Creed of St Athanasius: which as you know, the 8th Article of the English Church says, may be proved, by certain warrants of the Holy Scripture—Now I have had many doubts about the Athanasian Creed; but if I read much more controversy about it, I shall finish by faithfully believing it—Mr Channing says he does not believe, because he cannot kcomprehend it—Does he comprehend, how the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, infinite, eternal Spirit, can be the Father, of a mortal Man, conceived, and born of a Virgin? Does he comprehend his own meaning when he speaks of God as the Father, and of Christ as the Son? Does he comprehend the possibility according to human reason, of one page in the Bible from the first verse of Genesis to the last verse of the Apocalypse? If he does, I give him joy of his discovery, and wish he would impart it to his fellow-Christians—If the Bible is a Moral Tale, there is no need of believing in the Trinity—But if it is the Rule of Faith?—
I hope you will not think me in danger of perishing everlastingly, for believing too much; and when you know all, with your aversion to thinking of the Jesuits, you may think I have made a lucky escape, if I do not believe in trasubstantiation—
Founders Online: To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 5 January 1816
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