1 John v. 20. "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we might know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."

There is nothing in the Greek corresponding to the word 'even,' which is improperly inserted in the Common Version. The preposition & should be rendered 'through,' as it is in Rom. vi. 23, and in many other passages. The clause thus corrected would read-"we are in him that is true, through his Son Jesus Christ."

"According to the Trinitarian exposition of these words, the true God is the Son of God, and the two persons, who are so clearly distinguished by St. John, are one being." To justify their exposition they maintain that "the pronoun 'this' ought to be referred to the nearest antecedent, which is Jesus Christ"—making Jesus Christ to be the true God. According to this rule of interpretation Jesus Christ may be proved to be a deceiver and an antichrist. For John says, "Many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist." 2 John 7th verse. The pronoun is not always to be referred to the nearest antecedent. Other examples of its referring to the more remote antecedent may be seen in Acts, iv. 11, and vii. 19.

CLASS III.

PASSAGES INTERPOLATED AND CORRUPTED,

Acts vii. 59. "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

There is nothing in the Greek corresponding to the word 'God.'

tion of Christ thus rendered in the Common Version, All things are delivered to me of the Father;' conceiving the dominion over all things not to have been essentially inherent in Christ as properly the Supreme God, but as assigned to him by the Father."

Acts xx. 28. " the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood."

The true reading is, "the church of the Lord, which he has purchased with his own blood." See Griesbach. 1 Tim. iii. 16. "God was manifest in the flesh."

"The word 'God' is not found," says Belsham, “in the earliest and most approved manuscripts, nor in any ancient version of credit; nor is it cited by any early Greek writer, nor by any Latin writer whatever; and, what is decisive in the case, this text was never appealed to in the Arian controversy before the sixth century, when the word 'God' is said to have been introduced into the Greek copies by Macedonius, bishop of Constantinople. The word is, therefore, most certainly spurious.'

Griesbach has corrected this text thus: "He who was manifest in the flesh."

1 John iii. 16. "Hereby we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us."

There is nothing in the Greek corresponding to the words of God.'

1 John v. 7. This celebrated verse has been considered, Section X.

CLASS IV.

PASSAGES QUOTED TO PROVE THAT CHRIST IS EQUAL WITH GOD.

Zech. xiii. 7. "Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of Hosts."

The word "fellow" does not necessarily imply an equal. In Heb. i. 9, Christ is said to be anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, that is, other messengers of *Calm Inquiry, p. 144.

God. If the application of the term to Christ implies that he is equal with God, its application to mere men implies, that they are equal with Christ, and consequently equal with God.

John v. 18. "making himself equal with God." See page 49.

John x. 30. "I and my Father are one." See page 48. John xiv 11. “ Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me."

This passage is explained by verse 20. "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you."

Phil. ii. 6. “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God."

Whatever may be the true import of this passage, no one, I think, will pretend that it is either desirable or necessary for God to have an equal-if by the word "equal" be meant absolute or perfect equality. To say nothing of the discordance of such a doctrine with the Scriptures, which plainly teach that God has no equal, it would evidently imply imperfection in Him who is infinite in every perfection. If any being in the universe were in all respects equal with God, he must necessarily be another God. If Christ were equal with the Triune God, he must, of course, be Triune himself. To assert that Christ, who is but one person, is, in all respects, equal with God who is three persons, would be absurd and false.

A form, as well as an image, is visible. Christ being the image of the invisible God, may be said to be in the form of God: that is, as God; or, in God's stead; or, like God; or, equal with God the terms being properly understood. The Greek word here rendered' equal' properly signifies 'as.' See page 49,

CLASS V.

PASSAGES QUOTED TO PROVE THAT CHRIST IS JEHOVAH.

John xii. 39-41.

Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said, He hath blinded their eyes . . . These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him."

The quotation is from the 6th chapter of Isaiah, where the prophet describes a vision he had of Jehovah upon a throne. Because the glory which Isaiah saw was the glory of Jehovah, it is concluded that Christ is Jehovah. This is the argument of Mr. Robbins and of Trinitarians in general. But this conclusion is not well founded. The glory which Christ displayed, and which the prophet saw, was the glory which the Father gave to his Son. "For he received of God the Father honor and glory," at his baptism, on the mount of transfiguration, in the miraculous. powers with which the Father invested him, and in all his labors and sufferings. The glory in which Christ appears in his most exalted state is the glory of his Father,* that is, of Jehovah. Isaiah saw' that is, foresaw, the glory of Christ; as Abraham 'saw,' that is, 'foresaw,' the day of Christ.† When Isaiah uttered this prophecy, he seems to have been contemplating the glory of God as displayed in the miracles performed by Christ. Hence he gave an affecting account of the obstinate unbelief of the Jews in hardening their hearts, and stopping their ears, and shutting their eyes, against these demonstrations of that Divine authority and power with which Christ was invested. In his prayer for the Apostles, Christ addressed the Father thus: "The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them;" alluding, probably, to the power of performing miracles. Now this glory was as much the glory of the

* Mark viii. 38.

เ

John viii. 56.

Apostles after Christ gave it to them, as it was the glory of Christ after the Father gave it to him. Still it was the glory of Jehovah. Now as we are not to conclude that each of the Apostles is Jehovah because his glory was the glory of Jehovah, so neither are we to conclude that Christ is Jehovah because his glory was the glory of Jehovah.

Isaiah xl. 3, compared with Matt. iii. 3; Mal. iii. 1, compared with Matt. xi. 10; and Mal. iv. 5, 6, compared with Luke i. 16, 17.

These passages have often been quoted to prove that Christ is Jehovah. The argument is this: John went before Jehovah to prepare his way, and make ready a people for him. And John went before Christ, to prepare his way, and make ready a people for him. Hence it is concluded that Christ is Jehovah. The absurdity of this argument will sufficiently appear by the following examples. Christ said to the Apostles, (John xiii. 20,) "He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." Therefore Christ is Jehovah, and he, whom Christ sends, is Jehovah. He who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt, according to Ex. xx. 2, was Jehovah; but he who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt, according to Ex. xxxii. 7, was Moses. Therefore Moses was Jehovah.

A Spirit every where present at the same time cannot literally leave one place and come to another. But in the highly figurative language of Scripture, Jehovah is said to come to a people whenever his authorized messenger appears. See page 122. When Jesus restored a young

man to life, in the city of Nain, "there came fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people." Luke vii. 16. God visited his people, that is, came to them, by sending them "a great prophet." God is said to