Mat. xxviii. 19. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the fon, and of the holy ghoft. This form of baptifm fcems to be intended to remind chriftians of the different parts which God, and Christ, and the holy fpirit, acted in the scheme of man's redemption; God fending his fon on this gracious errand; the fon faithfully performing the work which God gave him to do, and being made head over all things to the church; and the holy fpirit confirming the word of truth by miraculous gifts. But it is quite an arbitrary fuppofition, that, because they are mentioned together upon this occafion, they must be equal in all other respects, partaking of divinity alike, fo as to be equal in power and glory. The apostle Paul fays, 1 Cor. x. 2. that the children of Ifrael were baptized unto Mofes: but he certainly did not mean that Mofes was their God.

Col. iii. 10. And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: where there is neither greek nor jew, circumcifion nor uncircumcifion; Barbarian, Scythian,. bond, nor free, but Chrift is all, and in all, that is, there is no other diftinction to be made now, but only whether a man be a real chriftian.

1 Cor. i. 2. With all that in all places call upon the name of Jefus Chrift, our Lord, both theirs and ours.

That

That adoration, fuch as is due to the one living and true God, was not meant by the apoftle in this place, is evident from the very next words Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jefus Chrift; where Chrift is evidently spoken of as diftinct from God. It is probable, therefore, that the apostle meant nothing more than such as call themselves by the name of Chrift, or who profeffed chriftianity.

Act vii. 59. And they ftoned Stephen, calling upon God, and faying, Lord Jefus, receive my Spirit. The word God is not in the original, as our tranflators have fignified, by their directing it to be printed in the italic character, fo that this text by no means implies that Stephen acknowledged Chrift to be God, but only informs us, that Stephen addressed himself to Chriff, whom he had just seen in person, in a state of great exaltation and glory; as we read, ver. 55, 56. He, being full of the Holy Ghoft, looked Redfofily into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Fejus ftanding on the right-hand of God; and furid, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right-hand of God. This very language clearly implies, that he confidered the fon of man, and God, as diftinct perfons.]

The word, which is here and in 1 Cor. i. 2. ren dered to call upon, is far from being appropriated to invocation, as peculiar to the divine Being. It is the same word that is rendered to appeal to, as when

M 2

Paul

Paul appeals to Cæfar; and is ufed when a person is faid to be called by any particular name; as, Judas, called Ifcariot, &c. There can be no doubt, therefore, but that it has the fame meaning both in 1 Cor. i. 2, and alfo in Acts ix. 21. Is not this he that deftroyed them who called on this name in Jerufalem? that is, all who called themselves chriftians. It is fo ren. dered, James i. 7. Do they not blafpheme the worthy Name by which ye are called? or, as it is more exactly rendered, which is called, or impofed, upon you? that is, by which ye are diftinguished. Had it implied adoration, it would at least have been which is called upon by you.

1 John v. 7. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one. Sir Ifaac Newton, and others, have clearly proved that this verfe was no part of John's original epiftle, but was inferted in later ages. It is not to be found in any ancient manufcript, and has been omitted in many printed copies and tranflations of the new Teftament, at a time when the doctrine which it is fuppofed to contain was in a manner univerfally received. I fay Suppofed to contain, because, in fact it expreffes no more than that these three agree in giving the fame teftimony, which is the only kind of union which the Spirit, the water, and the blood, in the verse following can have.

1 Tim.

1 Tim. iii. 16. And without controverfy, great is. the mystery of godliness: God was manifeft in the. flefb, juftified in the fpirit, feen of angels, preached unto the gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Sir Ifaac Newton has fully demonftrated that, in the original, this text was not God manifest in the flesh, but who was manifest in the flesh, and a very small alteration in the manner of writing greek is fufficient for that purpofe. The oldest manufcript in the world, which I have examined myself, has been manifeftly altered from the one to the other, as appears by the difference in the colour of the ink. Befides, it is even literally true, that God was manifeft in the flesh of Chrift; fince he himself acknowledges, that the very words which he spake were not his own, but the Father's who fent him, and that the Father, who was in him, did the the works. It was therefore with the greatest propriety that our Lord faid, John viii. 19, If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also, the wisdom and power of God being confpicuous in him. They who will have this text to be a proof of the godhead of Chrift, muft fuppofe him to be the Father, or the first perfon in the trinity, and not the Son, or the fecond.

Zach. xiii. 7. Awake, Ofword, against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow, faith the Lord of hofts. So fays our english verfion, but the word in the original fignifies a perfon that is near, or joined

in neighbourhood to another, and, except this fingle text, it is every where rendered neighbour by our tranflators.

.

Philip. ii. 5. &c. Let this mind be in you which was also in Chrift Jefus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation;-Wherefore God alfo hath highly exalted him. That every tongue should confess that Jefus Chrift is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The proper rendering of this text is, Who being in the form of God, did not think that being equal to God, or a state of equality with God, was a thing to be feized (i. e. by him) but made himfelf of no reputation. This makes the whole paffage perfectly juft and coherent, as a recommendation of humility; and alfo hints a fine contraft between the conduct of Chrift, whom St. Paul elsewhere calls the fecond Adam, and the first, who is alfo faid to have been made in the likeness of God, but afpiring to be as God fell, and was punished; whereas Chrift, who had more of the likeness or form of God, on account of his extraordinary powers, not grasping at any thing higher, but humbling himself, was exalted. It is in this fenfe, or a fenfe fimilar to it, in which this very text is quoted by thofe fathers of the chriftian church who wrote before the controverfy about the divinity of Chrift was started. In this manner, even fome who maintain the divinity of Chrift render the words. Thus, Father