INDEX AND SUMMARY OF CONTENTS. I. PRELIMINARY MATTERS. Wise and good men in all denominations - Pages 1, 2, 3. Unitarians distinguished for their worth, piety, and learning-4, 5, 6, 7. - 8, 9, 10. Belief in the doctrine of the Trinity, or in the metaphysical subtilties of articles Orthodoxy, heresy, &c. the watchwords of party warfare 14, 15, 16, 17. - The teachings of the Saviour distinguished for their simplicity, and devoid of The most important doctrines clearly revealed in Scripture, and admitted by all - The intellectual powers should be employed in matters of religion - 22, 23, 24. Holy Writ sufficient, without the decrees of synods or councils, to be the rule of The authorised verson of the Bible requiring revision and correction—69, 70, 563. -- Canons of criticism and interpretation-74, 75, 76. II. TRINITARIANISM UNREASONABLE AND UNSCRIPTURAL. I. -TRINITARIANISM. Various statements and contradictory definitions of the doctrine of the Trinity The doctrine of a Triune God cannot be discerned from the light of nature―31. - Scholastic terms either unintelligible, and therefore useless or pernicious; or Addresses to the Trinity, barbarous, insipid, and savouring of scholastic theology – 40, 41. The doctrine of the Trinity not revealed before the Christian era, and unknown to the Jews 42-45. The Trinity, and the Deity of Christ, doctrines not revealed before the day of Pentecost; and not expressly mentioned in the Gospels, particularly in those of Matthew, Mark, and Luke - 46, 47. Not dwelt on in the Acts of the Apostles-48. No doctrines not previously taught by Christ inculcated in the Epistles - 49, 50. The Deity of Christ certainly not taught in the Apocalypse so clearly as in St. John's Gospel - 572. The texts in the Gospel of John thought most clearly to establish the Deity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost, otherwise interpreted— 302-15, 325-7, 331, 349, 353-6, 361, 367-8, 372-3, 383-4. The doctrine of a Triune God, or its separate elements, not expressly revealed anywhere in the Scriptures, and cannot be proved from Holy Writ - 51—55. II. -UNITARIANISM. The Unity of God, a fundamental principle of natural and revealed religion 56, 57. Necessary existence, essential to the notion of a God 56, 57, 59. God the Father only, underived; the Son and the Holy Ghost, in their highest nature, derived from, inferior to, and dependent on, the Father - 35, 58-60, 268, 276, 336, 370-1. As Mediator, or as God-man, our Lord the agent and servant of the Father, and inferior to him. All obedience necessarily implies a superior - 61, 62, 369. The Father undoubtedly entitled to religious worship. The Son rarely, the Holy Ghost never, to be addressed in prayer-63. God, without any distinction of persons -or the Father, almost to the entire exclusion of the Son and the Holy Ghost- worshipped by Trinitarian congregationalists-64-67. III. DEFICIENCY OF SCRIPTURE EVIDENCE FOR TRINITARIANISM. I. GOD NOT CONSISTING OF A PLURALITY OR A TRINITY OF PERSONS. Gen. i. 1, et al. The argument for a plurality of persons in the Godhead, drawn from the use of Hebrew nouns having a plural form, in connection with either singular or plural attributives, weak, futile, inconclusive-Pages 43, 80—92, 99, 116-7, 120, 121, 124, 131, 132, 135, 136, 139, 142-3, 146, 147, 148, 149-50, 157, 167, 169, 170, 176, 177, 180, 182-3, 184, 186, 196, 204, 207, 212, 213, 215, 227. Gen. i. 3, comp. ver. 1. 2. God said. Absurdity of Beza's argument for a distinction of persons in the Godhead 96. Gen. i. 26; iii. 22; xi. 7. Isa. vi. 8. The language in which God is represented as using the pronouns we, us, and our, interpreted inerely as an address to angels, or as the style of majesty or dignity 43, 97-101, 103 comp. 102; 107; 186-7 comp. 152. Gen. ii. 4. A trifling argument drawn for the Trinity from the three syllables in the Hebrew word for Jehovah 102. Gen. xviii. 1, to the end. — Jehovah appeared; three men stood, &c. indication of a Trinity - 109-12. Here no Gen. xix. 24; xxxv. 1. Hos. i. 7.- Reduplication of the word God or Jehovah, a Hebraism, referring only to one person 113-5, 123-4, 214-5. Gen. xlviii. 15, 16.— God; the God who fed me; the angel who redeemed me. Interpreted otherwise than of a Triune Deity 125. Numb. vi. 24-26. Deut. vi. 4. Ps. lxvii. 6, 7. Isa. vi. 3. The triplicate use of words applied to God, not indicating a Trinity of persons, but emphasis, intensity, &c. 137, 140, 169, 184-6. Ps. xxxiii. 6. The word of Jehovah, and the spirit or breath of his mouth; expressive of only one God, and his creative agency - 163-4. Ps. xxxvi. 9; li. 10, 11, 12. The persons of the Trinity not found in these texts at the present day 164, 168-9. Isa. xxxiv. 16; xlviii. 16. — My mouth, and his spirit; Jehovah and his spirit hath sent me. Not the Triune God; the words differently read and rendered; interpreted of Jehovah and his prophet Isaiah 197, 200-2. Dan.ix. 17.-0 our God; hear for the Lord's sake, a Hebraism, instead of " for thy sake"-213. Hag. ii. 4, 5. - The word and my spirit. The Trinitarian deduction more acute than sound Matt. iii. 16, 17.—The spirit of God descending; and a voice saying, This is my beloved Son. "The spirit" not the third person of the Trinity, but an emblem of the gifts imparted to Jesus; "the Son," the Messiah, the Sent of God, the Mediator 242-3. Matt. xxviii. 19. — Baptizing into the name of the Father, &c.; interpreted in such a way as not to imply the doctrine of three persons in one God. Illustrations of the formula — 276-81, 391, 432, 439-40. John iv. 23, 24. Worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The interpretation of the Fathers censured 330. 1 Cor. xii. 4-6. The same spirit; the same Lord; the same God, &c. Feeble 442-3. 2 Cor. ii. 17, 18.- The Lord is that spirit. The Trinitarian interpretation dogmatical, and not giving the sense of the apostle — 449. 2 Cor. xiii. 14.- The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, &c.; explained in a Unitarian sense. The evidence of a Triune God here defective-455-6, comp. 415. Eph. iv. 6. One God and Father of all, &c.; interpreted of the absolute Supremacy of the Father. The Trinitarian sense liable to serious objections -469. The oneness of the Father, Word, and Holy Spirit, a unity of agreement, not of essence. The passage, however, not written by St. John or by any other apostle The devout wish of blessings from Him who is, the seven spirits, and Jesus Christ, has no reference to a Triune God, and does not necessarily imply prayer 572-3, comp. 415. II. - CHRIST NOT A PERSON IN THE GODHEAD. 1. Christ not Jehovah. · A man Jehovah. Both the rendering, and the application to Christ, Gen. xvi. 7-13, et al. erroneous - The angel of Jehovah, who is frequently termed God - - Jehovah from, or by Jehovah; a Hebraism for "from" and "by himself" - 113-5, 214-5. 2 Sam. vii. 19 and 1 Chron. xvii. 17. He that ruleth over men, &c.; applied to David, as well as to Christ; but the passage very obscure 150-1. Ps. lxviii. 18, comp. Eph. iv. 8. The passage accommodated to Christ by the apostle — 170, 469. - Jer. xxiii. 6, comp. xxxiii. 16. — The phrase Jehovah our Righteousness, or as Lam. iv. 20. The anointed of Jehovah, applied to Zedekiah. a deceptive translation - 210. - Christ the Lord, Zech. ii. 8, 9, 11. — Jehovah of hosts hath sent me, saith Jehovah; the language of - Luke i. 16, 17.—John shall go before him; the pronoun referring, not to Jehovah, John xii. 41, 42, comp. Isa. vi. 3.— Isaiah saw his glory; interpreted so as not to 2. Christ not God, in the Highest Signification of the Term. Job xix. 25, 26. — My Redeemer and my God; applied, not to Christ, but to the Ps. xlv. 6, 7 and Heb. i. 8, 9. — Thy throne, O God, &c. The word "God" either Ps. xlv. 11. — He is thy lord. Improperly rendered in the Liturgy, "the Lord Isa. vii. 14, and Matt. i. 22, 23. Immanuel, or God with us; indicating the favour - Isa. ix. 6. — The mighty God; mistranslated, and improperly interpreted of the - John i. 1.. The word was God. St. John's Proem difficult to the cautious inter- - John xx. 28. My Lord and my God. Thomas did not entertain the Trinitarian Acts vii. 59. Calling upon God. The last word not genuine - 397-8. Acts xx. 28.—God's own blood, applied, in a popular sense, to the blood of God's Rom. ix. 5.-The original pointed and rendered, so that the words, who is over 424-7. - - Rom. xiv. 10, 11, 12. — We stand before the judgment-seut of Christ, and give an - - 1 Tim. iii. 16. God was manifest in the flesh. God appeared in the character 1 John iii. 2, 5. When he shall appear, &c. Interpreted so as not to imply that 1 John iii. 16. The supplement, of God, very improper - 555. 1 John v. 14, 15.- This is the confidence that we have in him, &c. The pronoun 1 John v. 20.- This is the true God. The application of the pronoun doubtful, - Jude 4. · Denying the only Sovereign God. The word "God" an interpolation. Rev. xx. 12. Before the throne, the true reading-580. |