scarcely disguised infidelity, and for its marked and frequent commendation of Unitarians and Unitarianism. Let the candid and upright account for this conjunction of characteristics: the fact is unquestionable.

"APELEUTHERUS. A member of the Rev. Thomas Belsham's congregation in Essex Street, has written this book, and he dedicates it to his pastor, with some gentle apologies for dissenting from the dissenting church. It is written with the elegance of a gentleman and the temper of a philosopher; but it aims at proving that the doctrine of a supernatural origin of Christianity is neither consonant with reason nor useful to virtue." Monthly Magazine, July 1820, p. 537.

Note [B] page 681.

IRENEUS professedly establishing the Divinity of Christ, says, "Et iterum ad Romanos scribens, de Israel dicit, 'Quorum patres, et ex quibus Christus secundùm carnem, qui est Deus super omnes, benedictus in secula.' And again writing to the Romans, he saith concerning Israel, Whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all [persons], blessed for ever.'' Ed. Grabe, p. 239. TERTULLIAN. "Apostolum sequar, ut, si pariter nominandi fuerint Pater et Filius, Deum Patrem appellem et Jesum Christum Dominum nominem. Solum autem Christum potero Deum dicere; sicut idem apostolus, Ex quibus Christus, qui est,' inquit, Deus super omnia, benedictus in ævum omne.'

I

will follow the apostle, so that, if I have occasion to mention the Father and the Son together, I will use the appellations, 'God the Father, and Jesus Christ the Lord.' But, when I am speaking of Christ alone, I may call him God; as the same apostle says, 'Of whom is Christ, who is,' saith he, 'God over all things, blessed for ever.' Adv. Praxeam, cap. xiii. Ed. Seml. vol. ii. p. 218. In cap. xv. he cites the passage thus, "Quorum patres, et ex quibus Christus secundùm carnem, qui est per [al. super] omnia, Deus benedictus in ævum." P. 225. CYPRIAN adduces the passage as a testimony to the Deity of Christ: Quorum patres; ex quibus Christus secundùm carnem, qui est super omnia, Deus benedictus in secula." Ed. Fell. p. 27.

It is quoted in the Epistle of the Synod of Antioch to Paul of Samosata. Routh Reliq. Sacr. vol. ii. p. 467.

ATHANASIUS cites the passage many times, and in the most definite manner, according to the usual acceptation.

GREGORY the Nyssene. Ὃς οὐ μόνον Θεὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μέγαν Θεὸν, καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸν, ὀνομάζει τὸν Κύριον "Who [Paul] not only called our Lord God, but the Great God' and God over all.'" He immediately subjoins the three passages, Rom. ix. 5. Tit. ii. 13. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Op. vol. ii. p. 265, ed. Par. 1615.

ων

Chrysostom has been adduced as an evidence against the reading cos. He has a course of Homilies on the whole Epistle; and, though he is in general, and very observably on the context of this passage, extremely diffuse, yet when he arrives at å v Èπì távtwv Oeds, he is suddenly silent upon so striking and important a clause and every word in it, and passes immediately to the next words (evλoynròs &c.) which cannot stand alone, but are unavoidably dependent upon the preceding. Let us also consider, the prodigious number of his Homilies or Sermons (about a thousand) which were published, by being transcribed and circulated, in his lifetime or after his death; that these were taken from his mouth by (öžvypápos) short-hand writers; that, as he died at the early age of 53, after a life of astonishing hardships, labours, and sufferings, it is impossible that he could have written these productions, and improbable that he could even read many of the copies taken by his hearers and, that their diffuse, digressive, and declamatory character of composition affords reason to believe that they were generally extemporary discourses. Putting together these considerations, I would ask, whether it is not, in a very high degree, probable, that a passage has been here lost through the error of copyists. The reader will the better judge of the validity of this conjecture by reading the paragraph as it is now extant.

Ὅταν γὰρ λέγῃ, ὧν ἡ ὑιοθεσία καὶ ἡ δόξα καὶ ἡ νομοθεσία καὶ ἡ λατρεία καὶ αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι, οὐδὲν ἄλλο φησὶν, ἢ ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς μὲν αὐτοὺς ἐβούλετο σωθῆναι, καὶ τοῦτο ἐδήλωσε δι ̓ ὧν ἔμπροσθεν ἐποίησε, καὶ δι ̓ ὧν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐξ ἐκείνων ἐγένετο, καὶ δι ̓ ὧν τοῖς πατράσιν ἐπηγγείλατο. Αυτοὶ δὲ ἐξ οἰκείας ἀγνωμοσύνης ἀπεκρούσαντο τὴν εὐεργεσίαν· διὸ καὶ ἐκεῖνα τίθησιν ἅπερ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δωρεᾶς ἐστιν ἐνδεικτικὰ μόνον, οὐκ ἐκείνων ἐγκώμια. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ υιοθεσία τῆς αὐτοῦ γέγονε χάριτος, καὶ ἡ δόξα καὶ αἱ ἐπαγγελίας

تو

καὶ ὁ νόμος. Απερ ἅπαντα ἐννοήσας, καὶ λογισάμενος πόσην ὁ Θεὸς μετὰ τοῦ Παιδὸς ἐποιήσατο τὴν σπουδὴν σῶσαι αὐτοὺς, ἀνεβόησε μέγα καὶ εἶπεν, ὃς ἐστιν εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν· τὴν ὑπὲρ πάντων εὐχαριστίαν ἀναφέρων αὐτὸς τῷ Μονογενεῖ τοῦ Θεοῦ. "For when he says, 'Of whom is the adoption and the glory and the giving of the law and the instituted worship and the promises,' it is the same thing as if he had said, 'God indeed was willing to save them, and of this he gave full manifestations by the works which he wrought of old, by the Christ's being descended from them, and by the promises which he made to their fathers; but they, from their own ingratitude, rejected his kindness.' Wherefore he [the apostle] brings forward those particulars which were not encomiums upon them, but only declarative of the bounty of God. For the adoption and the glory and the promises and the law,' were the offspring of his grace. Reflecting on all these blessings, and considering what great care God with his Son had exercised for their salvation, he utters this strong exclamation, and says, 'Who is blessed for ever, Amen :' referring his thanksgiving for all these blessings to the Only-Begotten of God." Hom. xvi. in Ep. ad Rom. vol. x. p. 229, ed. Front. Ducæi.

6

The last clause in this paragraph must strike the reader. It carries demonstration that Chrysostom regarded the words which were in concord with the terms of the ascription, but which are wanting in the Homily as it has come to us, as descriptive of the Saviour.

But if any doubt should still remain what was Chrysostom's reading of this text, that doubt will, I trust, be removed by another passage of this father; for the pointing out of which I am indebted to Dr. Wordsworth. He is professedly establishing the Deity of Christ; and, after quoting Matt. i. 23, as a fulfilment of Isaiah vii. 14, also Is. ix. 6, and the apocryphal passage, Baruch iii. 36, 37, (see Vol. I. p. 415, of this work,) he proceeds, Ὁ Παῦλος δὲ, Ἑξ ὧν ὁ Χριστὸς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα, φησὶν, ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν. Πάλιν· Πᾶς πόρνος ἢ πλεονέκτης οὐκ ἔχει κληρονομίαν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ Θεοῦ. Καὶ πάλιν· Κατὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τοῦ μεγαλοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. "And Paul testifies, 'Of whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever, Amen.' Again ; 'No whoremonger or covetous man hath

any inheritance in the kingdom of the Christ and God.' And again; At the appearance of our Great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.'" De Incomprehensibili Dei Naturâ, Hom. v. vol. i. p. 340.

It cannot be surmised that the text has been retouched to be in conformity with a desired reading for the argument of the connexion proves the integrity of the citation, and the free mode in which the other passages are quoted, shews that there has been no retouching.

Addition to the Note † page 602.

Yet the word is found in the Syriac, which Version, however, of this Ep. and 2 Pet. 2 and 3 John, and Rev. is not earlier than the sixth century. A more important authority is a passage in the Synodical Epistle, written A. D. 269, relative to Paul of Samosata; Euseb. Hist. Eccl. vii. 30. There Firmilian is said to have been deceived (ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ καὶ τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ καὶ Κύριον ἀρνουμένου) by him who had denied his own God and Lord." The allusion to Jude 4 is probable; but we cannot say, certain. Dr. Routh regards this passage as affording some support to the common reading; as he does also the phrase of Caius (who flourished at the beginning of the third century,) or some contemporary author, denominating Theodotus (TOY ἀρχηγὸν καὶ πατέρα ταύτης τῆς ἀρνησιθέου ἀποστασίας) « the chieftain and father of this God-denying apostasy." Euseb. v. 28. Routh, Reliq. Sacr. vol. ii. p. 23.

E

REVIEW AND CONCLUSION.

AFTER the separate examination of the numerous particular passages, it remains for us to collect and combine the sum of the TESTIMONY borne by Jesus Christ himself, and by his authorized servants, on the great subject of our inquiry.

These inspired writings have given us the history of a wondrous individual, the descendant of Adam and Abraham and David, the son of Mary; who was born in a manner contrary to the ordinary course of nature, and whose character, conduct, and fortunes, with their effects through all succeeding time, have been the most remarkable that have ever engaged the attention of mankind.

His mind exhibited, beyond all parallel among mortals, the union of meekness and majesty. All his dispositions were the most lovely yet dignified. His whole moral character was the perfection of unalloyed and absolute goodness.*

* Page 333-338. The pages subjoined to this and the following paragraphs, are designed to point out the parts of this Volume in which the particulars alleged are discussed, and, as I conceive, established by evidence: but I have found it impracticable, without making the enumeration still more tedious,