will generally enable us to discover the meaning of the bold metaphors and figurative expressions in which eastern languages abound. Thus our Sáviour declares, "Whosoever liveth and believes in me shall never die." Of the sacramental bread he says, "This is my body," and of the wine, "This is my blood." The apostle John observes respecting Christian converts, "Ye have an anoints ing from the Holy One, and know all things." With these and similar texts we find no difficul ty. The subject on which the declarations are made, and the evident design of those who made them, enable us to give them their proper limit ation, and fully to understand their import.

Before we proceed to the proposed review of particular passages, I will make a few more general observations. In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, there is not a single text, I believe, on which, by itself, a discerning mind would rely as an authority for the Supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ. The only passage produced from the three first gose pels, as direct proof of the doctrine, by a learned professor of our country, in a late defence of the Trinitarian doctrine, is from Matt. xi. 27" All things are delivered to me of my Father; and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." The comment on this text, by this Trinitarian writer, is" If in this passage, the same omniscience be not ascribed to the Son as to the Father, I am unable to make out satisfactorily what the meaning of it is. At the same time I concede, that the knowl

edge here spoken of, may possibly be merely that which is intended to be revealed in the gospel. A text more in point cannot be found in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. If Christ proclaimed himself, "very God," is it possible that three evangelists, two of them the immediate disciples of Jesus, and commissioned to be the apostles of Christianity, in recording the publick instructions of their Master, should not have clearly and repeatedly stated this fundamental truth of revelation? A number of passages are found in John's gospel, which are thought to prove the Supreme Divinity of our Saviour. But if I were to select a book from the New Testament, containing more full proof than any other, that Christ Jesus is not "very God," it would be the gospel of John. The other gospels are destitute of such proof, and the general language of their authors are not, I think, consistent with the truth of the Trinitarian doctrine; but in the gospel of John, Jesus speaks more particularly of himself, and absolutely disclaims the attributes of Deity. : From the desponding language of the apostles, it is evident, that at the crucifixion of Jesus, they did not suppose that he possessed the perfections of Deity. When were their minds opened to the light of this new doctrine? It must have filled them with astonishment. They no where manifest the surprise which they must have felt at its discovery; nor does it any where appear in their preaching. Peter, in his first sermon, thus addressed his countrymen-" Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God, among you, by miracles, and wonders, and signs,

which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know; him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." The apostle adds"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Is the Supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ here published, as we must suppose it would be, by an apostle whose mind had recently been opened to a view of this most wonderful doctrine? It does not appear that Peter, when he delivered this sermon, was a Trinitarian.

St. Paul did not personally attend the ministry of Jesus Christ; nor was he instructed in the Christian system by those, who on earth were conversant with him; but he was taught the truths pertaining to life eternal by a particular revelation. Let us attend to the manner in which he described the being and attributes of God to a Gentile audience. At Athens, which for science and literature was the most celebrated city of the Pagan world, and on an occasion which led him particularly to this subject, he addressed the most enlightened men among this distinguished people. He had before preached Jesus and the resurrection.

The philosophers arraigned him before their highest tribunal, and demanded an explanation of his doctrine. How favourable was the opportunity to unfold to these inquisitive men the complex na

ture of the Deity, and to teach them the three dis tinct persons of the Godhead. What was the address of the Apostle ? "Ye men of Athens, as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription To the unknown God.' Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God, who made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things." St. Paul thus closes his address-"We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent; because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Is there the least notice of a Trinity in this discourse? A single word that has an allusion to the Supreme Divinity of our Saviour?

The Divine Unity was holden as the most sacred truth, by the Jews of the age of our Saviour. The best informed divines, I believe, admit, that the sect of Jewish converts to the Christian faith, denominated Nazarenes, were Unitarians. The Jews having been fully established in the belief of the strict Unity of God, it must have been with difficulty that they were persuaded to adopt the doctrine of three persons in the Godhead; and yet, in the

New Testament, we have no account of any controversy on this subject. Jewish converts were very tenacious of the ceremonial part of their law, and they strove to incorporate it with Christian institutions. Much was written by the apostle to convince them of their errour on this point, particularly in the epistles to the Romans and the Galatians. But no opposition appears to have been made to the new doctrine of three persons and one God; nor do we learn that the unbelieving Jews of that time ever objected to Christianity on this ground. Can this be accounted for, but on the supposition that the apostles never taught the doctrine of the Trinity?

We will now direct our attention to those passages of scripture which are commonly considered as proof of the Supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ. And that my comments on them may have the greater perspicuity, I shall introduce the review in the following manner :

1. To consider those texts in which it is asserted, that Christ is mentioned by the appropriate names of God.

2. Those passages, which are said to ascribe to Christ the honour and worship which are due only to God.

3. Those passages, which are supposed to ascribe to Christ the attributes of Supreme Divinity. The principal texts which speak of Christ, by names appropriated to God, follow. The prophecy of Isaiah is the most remarkable passage that can be found in the Old Testament.-" For unto us a