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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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God of Bethel . ' In Gen . xxxiii . 20 , it is related that Jacob erected an altar , and called the name of it El-elohe-l 3 rael , that is , ' God * the God of Israel / " This , and the previous enumerations which I have furnished , of names given to different persons , calling them Jehovah , and God , and seemingly ascribing
to them his divine attributes , many of them as high and lofty as any ever ima * gined to have been'g iven jto our Saviour , -will , I presume , be deemed ample to convince us , that no such names , no not all of them together , if all had been conferred upon him , would have been sufficient to prove him to have been really Jehovah . "—Pp . 144—146 .
His ^ correspondent having adduced the baptismal commission in proof of the doctrine of the Trinity , the Barrister states his reasons for suspecting the genuineness of the passage : < In reply to this , I shall first inquire , whether you are quite certain , that the
words in the 19 th verse of the xxviiitf // . chapter of St . Matthew , * baptizing them into the name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Spirit , " are genuine . I admit that if they have been interpolated , the interpolation must have taken place previous to the existence of any of
our present manuscripts . But as the earliest of these does not go back further than the fourth century , and some interpolations , and numerous various readings , have taken place since , we are by no means at liberty to declare positively ,
that during the three first centuries there were none at all , and in particular that this passage was not one , especially if we have strong evidence , intrinsic or extrinsic , to favour the opinion that it was . Now , in the first place , upon a strict examination of the context it will be
found , that if the words in question be omitted , it will not disturb the context at all , which will read as easily and smoothly , if not more so , than when they are present : for the words , ( vers . 19 and 20 , ) « Go ye , therefore , and teach all nations , teaching them td observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you , ' where the words * teaching * and € teaching * coming so near to each other would have an unpleasant effect , on leaving out the intermediate words , being the words in question , are not so in the Greek ; but the expression is varied , as
tf %° prevent the ill effect which would have arisen from the almost immediate repetition of the same word . In that language } t is Jle ^ vfleyre ^ ovy xfo&JtyTsutrier * wqwcm vet ; e $ vq , . . h ^ aqn ^ rsq cuuvws wigsw % mm <* o ' en * «> we * A < tywjv V / AMT HOt * | 8 $ V > f < Vft > /* €# VUttV HfM TtCQtTOV
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tok yy > saa& tax ; nq $ trvvreXeiaq jw ou 0 V 6 $ Go forth , ( or having gone forth , ) therefore , I instruct ( or make disciples of ) * H nations teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I haVe commanded you ; andlo , 1 am with Voii always to the
end of the age / To my ears the pas * , sage , thus divested of the words in question , runs more smoothly than it does with them . There is no want o £ a conjunction between ' instruct * and ' teach ** iner . ' ' the one berner in the imnerative mood ingthe one being in the imperative mood
, and the other in the participle present , as there seems to be between * baptizing * and c teaching , ' both of which are participles present . Laying no stress , however , upon this , such omissions not being unusual , and my design in noticing the construction of the passage being only to she ^ r
that it will read at least as well , without the words alluded to as with them , —* I proceed to the extrinsic evidence against them , which appears to me to be very strong . In the first place , if our Lord had , at the time in question , ( after his resurrection and just before his ascension , ) commanded his apostles to baptize
all nations into the name of the Father , of the Son , and of the Holy Spirit ; such a command , being one of the last he ever delivered to them , would , having been enjoined upon them at such a time and in so solemn a manner , have made the deepest impression upon their minds ; and a regular and constant compliance with it would have been considered by
them—as it is by the Trinitarians at present—to have been of the greatest importance . It must necessarily have been regarded as a most solemn law , binding them to the strictest performance , and requiring to fee carefully enjoined upon every Christian , by all who called themselves teachers of Christianity . But what is the fact ? Three out of the four
historians who have written the life of our Lord , —one of whom professes to give an account of all that he did and taught , —take no notice of it at all , but pass it over in absolute silence . In addition to their histories , we have numerous epistles explaining and enforcing the principles
and practice of Christianity , written by five of our Lord's own apostles , not oue of whom mentions , or even alludes to , this commandment or this form of baptism ; as if they had never heard either of the one or the other . But what is still more extraordinary , and wholly
Unaccountable , ( except upon the supposition that these words are a subsequent interpolation , ) these wniex&f ~* &ndt jwtr-Ocularly St ., Luke , i who h&a given us & narrative of the transactions oJ the apoaties for a period- of thirty years ^ fter our hoxftb aecen ^ n ^^ often jifesb toefe of Christian baptism , not only without
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Review . — -A Barrister ' * Letters in Defence of Onitarianism . 423
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1820, page 423, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2490/page/43/
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