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form, to take upon himself the "form of man," could not possibly, in any sense of the word, render his essential property inferior to what it was, prior to this act of his condescension.

In whatever way God has been, or may be hereafter pleased to manifest himself to man, in either one, or all of his essential properties, whether the manifestation be made in the Shekinah, or the Angel of the Lord, (as in Exod. iii. 2,) or the Angel of the Presence, (as in Exod. xxxiii. 14, 15,) or the Glory of God, (as in Exod. xxiv. 16, 17,) or the Name, (as in 2 Chron. vi. 20, 21,) or lastly, as the Logos or Word of the Lord, in the Hebrew termed Mimra de Adonia,* in the sanctified person of Jesus Christ, it ought not be doubted; that being manifestations of the Will or Power of Deity, they are necessarily accompanied by that essential property, whose quality, we have seen, is that of "making manifest the Wisdom of God."

In all previous manifestations, the Divine properties of Deity were communicated to the Children of Israel primarily by the Shekinah, or Angel of the Lord; and were invariably accompanied with some Divine evidence that the manifestations were not the act of the Angel, &c. but that of the Power of God, whose manifesting property was in the following instance-in a flame of fire. And, that Moses might not be mistaken, it is said, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush; apprised him of the sanctity of the place, being filled with the Divine Presence, and assures him that it is Himself, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," that thus condescends to speak unto him. (Exod. iii. 2, 6; Deut. iv. 32, 40.) But in the fulness of time, "God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the Fathers, by the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things; by whom also he made the worlds." (Hebr. i. 1, 2.) In the Son, therefore, God hath manifested, not alone one of his essential properties, but "all

See Upham's Letters on the Logos.

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the fulness of the Godhead"-that is to say, his Wisdom, Power and Holiness, in all their fulness, in the person of Jesus Christ, who is the Temple of his Rest, and in which he delights to abide, and will forever abide, worlds without end. Wherefore,

AXIOM VIII. God, though manifest in his essential integrant essences, either by his Wisdom, his Power, or his Holiness, as in willing or devising,* in executing and manifesting, or in sanctifying and perfecting that which his Wisdom had devised, his Power executed, and his Holiness perfected and sanctified. Whether the manifestation be made in the substance of an angel, or in the form of man, as in the person of Jesus Christ, the indwelling invisible essences, or fulness of the Godhead, is still the same very true and only God, and that without the least possible detraction from the essential properties or principles of any, or all his integrant essences.

Remarks.-The Lamb who was slain in the Immense Mind from before the foundation of the world; the Body prepared as the Temple, or sanctum sanctorum, for the indwelling of the Deity in all his essential essences; the Christ, the Messiah, or anointed of God; the Logos, or Word of the Lord, and Jesus the Saviour, the Son of God, are all synonymes of one and the same Being, who at sundry times, and in divers manners-i. e. different names-was thus manifest: and as in the person of Jesus Christ there has been an acknowledged manifestation of the fulness of the Godhead, or of all the essential properties of Deity, of which he has been identified with the Power or manifesting property, he is, therefore, in his essential essence, or spiritual nature, one in substance with the Wisdom and Holiness of the Father, and is thus eternal, uncreate and correlate, as the Power of God from everlasting. (See Axiom III.)

It is now proper that we should bring to the notice of such of our readers, as may not have been previonsly acquainted with the fact, or who have not either leisure or

* Gen. i. 3. Ib. id. 1 to 26. Ib. id. ver. 31; Acts ii. 33, 36

opportunity to consult the various authors on this important subject: some of the numerous passages of the Scriptures, particularly such as are connected with the subject of our present inquiry; and that have been admitted by many learned and pious men of various Christian denominations, to be either false translations, or spurious interpolations, inserted into the English version, from corrupt editions of the Greek and Latin manuscripts, and for purposes favourable to the individual views of the several interpolators.

The first fourteen verses of John's gospel have been considered a forgery or spurious addition to the original text, and the Rev. Abner Kneeland has, in his Greek and English Testament, particularized this and various other interpolations, by printing them in italics; and the Rev. Mr. Upham, in his "Letters on the Locos," also considers these verses as spurious, and has made them the subject of his criticism.

"There are three

The 1 Epistle of John, chap. v. 7. that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." The following authorities are quoted in Tract, No. 16, printed by the American Unitarian Association, as admitting the fact, that the above verse is an interpolation: "Griesbach, Michaeles, Wetstien, Simon, Grotius, Semler, Bishop Lowth, Dr. Middleton, Mr. Wardlaw, Bishop of Lincoln, Mr. Benson, Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Herbert, Marsh, Archbishop Newcome, Dr. Adam Clark, the celebrated Methodist Commentator, and that illustrious scholar, Porson." We have seen numerous other highly respectable testimonies, both ancient and modern, contained in the preface to the "Apocryphal New Testament," who all agree, that the verse in question is an interpolation. Twenty-nine ancient Greek, and twenty Latin authors are quoted, as not having admitted this verse in their writings; and on the authority of Sir Isaac Newton, it is asserted "that the text is not contained in any Greek manuscript, which was written earlier than the fifteenth century."

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"Sir Isaac Newton observes, that what the Latins have done to the foregoing text, the Greeks have done to that of St. Paul; (1 Tim. iii. 16.) for by changing the Greek word which into the abbreviation for God, they now read, "Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh :" whereas, all the churches for the first four or five centuries, and the authors of all the ancient versions, Jerome, as well as the rest, read, "Great is the mystery of godliness, which was manifested in the flesh."+

While we freely admit the highly respectable authority whose names and testimonies have been quoted in proof of the fraudulent insertion of the foregoing texts in the English version of the New Testament, and as freely assent to the fact of their having been thus inserted, we feel ourselves called upon to advance the testimony of authors equally respectable, to show that the essential Divinity of the Son of God was believed in, and asserted, cotemporaneously with his existence on earth; and that the Doctrine of the Trinity was also maintained publicly, as early as the year 168 of the Christian era.‡

1. Mr. Bryant, the celebrated Mythologist, says of Philo Judæus, an Alexandrian Jew, a Platonic philosopher of great repute among his countrymen, and who flourished in the year 40-was cotemporary with the Apostles, and conversed with St. Peter-that the following are the sentiments of Philo Judæus, concerning "the Logos, or Word of the Lord;" that he is the Son of God, of a Divine nature; the second Divinity; the first begotten of God; the image and likeness of God, superior to the Angels, and to all things in the world; the instrument by whom the world was made; the great substitute of God; the light of the world; the intellectual sun. The

* Greek characters omitted for want of type.
+ Preface to the apocryphal new Testament, pp. 10--11.

The author is indebted to the "Evidences of the Divinity of Jesus Christ," an invaluable volume, published by F. Daicho, M. D. Assistant Minister of St. Michaels, Charleston, for the extracts above. This small volume is replete with valuable information, and should be in the Library of all Christians.

Logos can only see God. Has God for his portion, and resides in him; is the most ancient of God's works, and was before all things, is esteemed the same as God: the Logos is eternal, omniscient; sees all things; supports the world; is nearest to God, without any separation, being, as it were, fixed and founded upon the one only true and existing Deity, nothing coming between to disturb that Unity."

2. St. Ignatius, who flourished A. D. 72, says, "There is one physician, both fleshly and spiritual, made and not made; God incarnate; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first passible, then impassible-even Jesus Christ our Lord." In his Epistle to the Magnesians, he says: "There is but one God, who has manifested himself by Jesus Christ, his Son, who is his eternal word." (Wake's Apostolical Fathers, s. 8, p. 208.) Again : "Wherefore, come ye all together, as unto one temple of God; as to one altar; as to one Jesus Christ, who proceeded from one Father, and exists in one, and is returned to one." To the Trallians he writes, "Continue inseparable from Jesus Christ our God." (Apocryphal New Testament.)

3. Clemens Romanus, fellow labourer with St. Paul, writes: "The Sceptre of the Majesty of God our Lord Jesus Christ, came not in the show of pride and arrogance, though he could have done so; but with humility, as the Holy Ghost had before spoken concerning him." Clemens Romanus was consecrated by St. Peter, and was the third Bishop of Rome, after the Apostles, A. D. 91.

4. Barnabas, the fellow labourer with St. Paul. He wrote in the year 71 or 72. His Epistle says of Christ: "The Lord was content to suffer for our souls, although he be Lord of the whole earth, to whom God said, in the beginning of the world, 'Let us make man,' &c. Then he clearly manifested himself to be the Son of God: for had he not come in the flesh, how should men have been able to look upon him that they might be saved?'

5. Hermas, or the Shepherd of St. Hermas, the same to whom St. Paul sends his salutations at Rome,

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