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hearsay, but examination. But this controversy has had results connected with the word of God, of a highly beneficial nature. It has directed the attention of critics to the constitution of the sacred text, and been the occasion of purifying it from additions and corruptions, made by carelessness, wantonness, or party spirit, in former times. I say nothing about such passages as the initial chapters of Matthew and Luke, which are still under discussion: but there are others which all who understand the subject, now admit to have been no part of the original text. Some of these are very remarkable, as Acts xx. 28, where God, instead of the Lord, has been made to purchase the church with his own blood: 1 Tim. iii. 16, where God is inserted for which, or who, refering to the gospel or to Christ, most probably the former: Rev. i. 11, where "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last," has been put into the mouth of Christ. Dr. Doddridge professes that this, more than any text in the Bible, prevented him from believing Jesus Christ to have been a creature. And 1 John v. 7, 8, where the well-known interpolated words approached nearer to a declaration of the Trinity in Unity than any passage of Scripture. These are generally given up by well-informed Trinitarians. It is a fact, then, that additions were made to the word of God, that these additions are now discovered and exploded, and that this

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has been owing to the revival of Unitarianism, without which nobody would have been interested in their detection. To purify the Scriptures from man's additions, is to deserve well of the Christian world. If a curse is denounced against them who add to, or take from holy writ, surely a blessing rests on those by whom its integrity is restored and vindicated. And observe, these corruptions were introduced during the advance and prevalence of Trinitarianism; they are all in favour of Trinitarianism: and they gave way in the attacks made upon Trinitarianism of the two systems, one mixed its chaff with the wheat, while the other, with the winnowing fan of controversy, has purged the floor. The ark of God, as it sailed down the stream of corrupt ages, was soiled with the slime of superstition, till reviving truth washed off the stains and recovered its original purity. By false translations the unlearned reader was made to believe that that was, which was not, the word of God. Thus, where the apostle enjoins to forgive one another, even as God, by Christ, hath forgiven you, (Ephes. iv. 32,) the common translation has, for Christ's sake, which every one acquainted with the original knows to be an unfaithful rendering. It was an attempt, as revelation passed from the Greek into the English, to slip in by the way the doctrine of Atonement. Many more cases might be adduced, in which

the authorized version, instead of receiving the water of life as into transparent crystal, shewing all its purity and brilliance, has been a foul and stained cup, tinging it with the dark colours of human creeds. Right interpretation is seldom obtained where any party holds unchecked the key, and makes every thing bend to system. Intelligent Trinitarians now would be ashamed of urging for that doctrine many texts which were formerly thought demonstrative. Studies of this kind were once peculiar to the learned, and the many rested on their authority. During the last twenty years, in connexion with the progress of Unitarianism, they have become popular, and a degree of knowledge has been diffused, that elevates a considerable proportion of our societies to the level of the critics of former times. Biblical criticism, the high province of the learned, was but a cloud floating aloft for men to gaze at, and often darkening the light of truth, till, at the electric touch of controversy, the mass dissolved in a descending shower, which has enriched the vale of humble life with fruits of heavenly wisdom. Men have been made more familiar with the Scriptures, and have studied them to greater purpose. They alone have been appealed to. The word of God has been exalted. The text of the Bible has been purified, the translation of the Bible has been corrected, the meaning of the Bible has

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been elucidated, the study of the Bible has This is an important step towards the renovation of Christianity.

been promoted.

Another encouraging symptom, resulting from the Unitarian controversy, is the gradual lowering of the standard of orthodoxy. A comparison of the language of the popular religionists of the present day, with the writings of those who lived a century ago, and with intermediate authors, indicates a very considerable change, and a much greater degree of moderation, and a closer adherence to Scripture. The Trinity is now commonly spoken of in guarded and ambiguous language. All that many will say on the subject, is, that there are three somewhats in the Deity, which, for want of a better term, are called persons. How unlike the bold descriptions of Bull, Waterland and others, of the mutual indwelling, impenetration, emperichoresis of the persons, the dictatorial peculiarity of the Athanasian Creed, or even the language of men so enlightened as Taylor, Barrow, &c.! These and other writers, both in and out of the church, spoke of Christ also, of his miraculous conception and divine sufferings, in terms which to impute now to their successors, would be deemed calumnious. Similar changes have taken place on other subjects. The doctrine of Satisfaction instead of glaring in all the enormity of a bargain between a merciless, vindictive creditor,

and an independent, generous surety, is softened by a surrounding shade of mystery, and thrown into the indefiniteness of moral causation. The horrid decree of Reprobation is now rarely blazoned in flaming characters on the appalled sight. Instead of being resistlessly hurled, the non-elect are suffered of themselves to fall into endless torment. The notion of salvation by faith alone is uniformly or frequently accompanied by assertions of the necessity of good works. Worship is approaching the scriptural standard. Frequent and exclusive prayers to the Holy Ghost begin to be symptoms of high, in distinction from moderate, orthodoxy. Such language as that of Watts, in the following verses, is disused by some congregations, and by many individuals is referred to with pain, shame, or condemnation :

And,

"Rich were the drops of Jesus' blood,
That calmed his frowning face,
That sprinkled o'er the burning throne,
And turn'd the wrath to grace."

"To thee ten thousand thanks we bring,

Great Advocate on high;

And glory to th' Eternal King,

Who lays his fury by."

Had the Church of England and the Calvinistic Dissenters now to frame their creeds

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