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"WHO IS HE, THAT OVERCOMETH THE WORLD; BUT HE, 66 THAT BELIEVETH, THAT JE "SUS IS THE SONOFGOD, that "Son spoken of in the Psalms, "where he saith, Thou art my "Son, this day have I begotten "thee. THIS IS HE, THAT, af "ter the Jews had long ex66 pected him, CAME, first in a "mortal body BY Baptism of "WATER, AND then in an im. "mortal one by shedding his "BLOOD; being the Son of "God, as well by his resur"rection from the dead; "(Acts xiii. 33.) as by his supernatural birth of the "Virgin, (Luke i. 35) AND

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IT IS THE SPIRIT also, THAT, 66 together with the Water "and Blood BEARETH WIT66 NESS of the truth of his com"ing; BECAUSE THE SPIRIT "IS TRUTH; and so a fit and "unexceptionable witness

"For THERE ARE THREE, 66 THAT BEAR RECORD of his 66 coming; THE SPIRIT which "he promised to send; and "which was since shed forth 66 upon us in the form of clo"ven tongues, and in various 66 gifts; THE Baptism of WA"TER, wherein God testified, "This is my beloved Son; AND "THE shedding of his BLOOD, "accompanied with his resur66 rection, whereby he became "the most faithful martyr, or "witness of this truth. AND 86 THESE THREE, the Spirit, the "Baptism, and Passion of

Christ, AGREE IN witnessing "ONE, and the same thing; "(namely, that the Son of God "is come) and, therefore, "their evidence is strong: "For the law requires, but two consenting witnesses, and here we have Three: "AND IF WE RECEIVE THE WIT66 NESS OF MEN, THE threefold

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"WITNESS OF GOD, which he "bare of his Soa, by declar"ing at his baptism; This is my beloved Son; by raising "him from the dead, and by "pouring out his Spirit on us; "IS GREATER ; and therefore "ought to be more readily re"ceived."

Thus is the sense plain and natural, and the argument full and strong: but, if you insert the testimony of" the "Three in Heaven", you interrupt and spoil it. For the whole design of the Apostle being here to prove to men by witnesses the truth of Christ's coming, I would ask how the testimony of "the 'Three in Heaven" makes to this purpose.

If their testimony be not given to men, how does it prove to them the truth of Christ's coming? If it be, how is the testimony in Heaven distinguished from that on Earth? It is the same Spirit, which witnesses in Heaand in Earth. If in both cases, it witnesses to us men; wherein lies the difference between its witnessing in Heaven, and its witnessing in Earth? If, in the first case, it does not witness to men, to whom doth it witness? And to

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what purpose? And how does its witnessing make to the design of St. JOHN's discourse? Let them make good sense of it, who are able. For my part I can make none.

If it be said, that we are not to determine, what is scrip- · ture, and what not by our private judgment, I confess it in places not controverted; but in disputable places, I love to take up with what I can best understand. It is the temper of the hot and superstitious

part of mankind, in matters of
religion,ever to be fond of mys-
teries, and for that reason, to
like best, what they under-
stand the least.
Such men

may use the Apostle St John,
as they please: but I have
that honour for him, as to
believe, that he wrote good
sense; and therefore take that
seuse to be His, which is the
best.-Sir Isaac Newton.

The Mystery of Godliness. 1 Tim. iii. 16

To read soc makes the sense, obscure and difficult. For how could it properly be said" that God was justified by the Spirit"? But to read ¿, aud interpret it of Christ, as the ancient Christians did; without restraining it to his divinity, makes the sense very easy. For the promised and long expected Messias, the hope of Israel, is to us, "the great Mystery of Godliness." And this mystery was at length manifested to the Jews from the time of his Baptism, and justified to be the person, whom they expected.-Sir Isaac Neu ton,

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

ENGLAND

British and Foreign Bible So. ciety.

The Nineteenth Anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society was held on Wednesday, May 7th 1823, at the Freemason's Hall, London. The total net receipts have been £97,062 11 9, and the total net payments £77,076 0 10. The society is under engagements, to the amount of £66,025 9 4.

UNITED STATES. American Bible Society. The seventh Anniversary of the American Bible Society was held on Thursday May 8th 1823 at the City Hotel, New York. The income of the Society for the year has been 45,131 Dollars, and the expenditure 47,360. The nuaber of Bibles issued within the year was 28,448, and the number of Testaments 26,537, making with those issued in former years, 248,623 copics of the Scriptures.

TO SUBSCRIBERS,

The Editor of the UNITARIAN REPOSITORY is happy to acknowledge the encouragement which this little work has received from the friends of genuine Christianity in Calcutta during the three months of its existence. The commencement of it was an experiment, and the result has been even more satisfactory than had been anticipated. Grateful for the patronage with which it has been honoured, the Editor has determined to continue the publication, and by encreasing the number of pages, and, as far as lies in his power, the usefulness and interest of their contents, to endeavour to render it worthy of the public support. He therefore begs to announce that each Number, commencing with that for January, 1824, will contain not less than sixteen pages, and that they will be still farther encreased, without any encrease of price, according as the press of matter may require, and the number of subscribers will permit.

Calcutta:- Printed by P. CRICHTON, a the Mirror Press, No 76, Doomtollah Street, to whom those who may be desirous of receiving the Unitarian Repository are requested_to_forward

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Jeremy Taylor, D. D. Bishop of Down and Connor. JEREMY TAYLOR was born at Cambridge, about the commencement of the seventeenth century. His father was a barber, but gave his son a good education. In 1631, he took his degree of Bachelor, at Caius College, and was ordained at twenty-one. Removing to London, he became a popular preacher, whilst Archbishop Laud preferred him to a Fellowship of All-Souls' College, Oxford. In 1638, he was promoted to the Rectory of Uppingham, in Rutlandshire. He was made Chaplain to the King; but the civil wars induced him to retire into Wales, where he kept a school to support himself and family. Here he published his famous Liberty of Prophesying, in behalf of the excluded Church of England; his Great Exemplar, illustrating the nature of a good life; his Holy Living, and also his Holy Dying, which are the most popular of all his works. Residing at Golden Grove, near Carmarthen, he printed a volume entitled, The Guide of Infant Devotion, or the Golden Grove, a manual of Daily Prayers, fitted to the days of the week. He published many other pieces in the Principality, all displaying great talent and piety. In 1657, he quitted Wales, and soon went to Ireland, where he wrote his celebrated Ductor Dubitantium, or Rule of Conscience, as well as various other tracts. As a reward for his loyalty, he, at the restoration

was raised to the See of Down and Connor; and afterwards to the See of Dromore, which he held till his death, which was occasioned by a fever. He died at Lisburn, 1667, and lies interred in the Cathedral of Dromore. He was a man of distinguished genius, uncommon humility, and fervent piety. Some of his works have been lately reprinted; his Beauties are selected, for he is with many a favourite even to the present day. His style is rich and glowing. Dr. Young, in his Night Thoughts, seems to have taken some of his best ideas from his works.-Evans's Sequel to the Sketch.

Dr. HEBER, the present Bishop of Calcutta, has, we understand, republished the works, and prefixed to them a much admired memoir of the life, of Jeremy Taylor. We cannot conceive a better model for an Orthodox Bishop of the Church of England than that which his character and writings afford, distinguished as he was, not more for his attachment to the Episcopal Church, of which he was a shining ornament, than to the great principles of Religious Liberty which he advocated with eloquence and strength of reasoning during the brief triumph of Presbyterianism and Independency in England, and which he firmly and consistently maintained when Episcopalianism resumed its ancient sway.-ED.

ESSAYS, EXTRACTS, &c.

Piety and Charity.

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MEN are now-a-days, and indeed always have been, since the expiration of the first blessed ages of Christianity, so in love with their own fancies and opinions, as to think faith, and all Christendom, is concerned in their support and maintenance; and whoever is not so fond, and does not dandle them, like themselves, it grows up to a quarrel; which, because it is in Divinity, is made a quarrel in religion, and God is entitled to it; and then, if you are once thought an enemy to God, it is our duty to persecute you even to death; we do God good service in it! When, if we should examine the matter rightly, the question either is not revealed, or not so clearly, but that wise and honest men may be of different minds, or else it is not of the foundation of faith, but a remote superstructure, or else of mere speculation; or, perhaps, when all comes to all, it is a false opinion, or a matter of human interest, that we have so zealously contended for; for to one of these heads most of the disputes of Christendom may be reduced; so that I believe the present factions (for the most) are from the same cause which St. Paul observed in the Corinthian schism, when there are divisions among you, are ye not carnal? It is not the differing opinions that is the cause of the present ruptures, but want of charity; it is not the variety of understandings, but the disunion of wills and affections; it is not the several principles, but the several ends that cause our miseries; our opinions commence, and are upheld, according as our turns

are served, and our interests are preserved; and there is no cure for us but piety and charity. A holy life will make our belief holy, if we consult not humanity, and its imperfections, in the choice of our religion; but search for truth without designs, save only of acquiring heaven, and then be as careful to preserve charity as we were to get a point of faith; I am much persuaded we shall find out more truths by this means; or however (which is the main of all) we shall be secured, though we miss them, and then are well enough.-Bishop Taylor.

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Remarks on a New Argument for

the Deity of Christ.

Of

Orthodox Divines do not appear to be very well satisfied with the old arguments in favour of their doctrines, if we may judge, at least, by their anxiety to bring forward new ones. this, the late excellent Granville Sharp furnished a notable example by his supposed discoveries respecting the uses of the Greek article; and in the last number of the Asiatic Observer, a quarterly publication supported, we understand, by the joint contributions of the Trinitarian Missionaries in Calcutta, an anonymous writer has furnished us with another. He does not, indeed, claim this new argument as an original invention of his own, but professes to be indebted for it to a German Divine, Dr. G. C. Storr, who published the second edition of the Essay in which it is contained in 1810, and until whose time, we are left to conclude, the whole Christian world remained ignorant of its value. It has, therefore, none of the venerableness of antiquity to deter us from

freely examining the grounds upon which it rests.

That we may not be suspected of misrepresenting our opponent's reasoning, if reasoning it can be called, we shall quote his own language. "It is well known" he says, "that in Hebrew and Arabic the pronoun 'he,' is often used so as to designate 'God.' See Deuteronomy xxxii. 39; Isaiah xli. 4. xliii. 10, 13; xlviii. 12. Now 88' in Deu

teronomy xxxii. 39, and Isaiah | xliii. 10, is rendered by the Seventy thus: 'oriɛyw ε. If, therefore, St. John wished to express

כי אני הוא in Greek the Hebrew

he could not use any words which would so well convey to the minds of those to whom this translation of the Old Testament was familiar, the import of this Hebrew phrase than the words OTLEYWεμ; and as this explanation of the words in question admirably suits the context, as I shall now proceed to prove, we have the strongest reason to believe, that it is the true one." The amount of the argument, then, is this:that in Hebrew and Arabic the pronoun often designates God; that a phrase applied in certain passages of the Old Testament to Jehovah, is in two of these passages translated by the Seventy 'οτι εγω ειμι ; and that therefore the Apostle John when he applied this Greek phrase to Jesus in viii. 24, 28; xiii. 19, understood it in the same sense in which the above Hebrew phrase is used in the passages of the Old Testament already referred to, and meant to represent Jesus as directly affirming that he was God. Let us examine the different steps of this process.

1. It is stated, that the above

mentioned pronoun in Arabic, "is often used so as to designate 'God.'" Of course, in every language any pronoun will always signate God, when God is its antecedent, or the noun for which it stands; just as it will always designate man in similiar circumstances. In this there is nothing but what "is well known,” but it happens to be directly opposed to the conclusion which it is advanced to support. Nor will it be of any use to amend the expression by saying, that this pro

noun "is often used" substantively "so as to designate 'God.' It must be shown that when, if ever, so used, it is the second nominative of the substantive verb understood, and that it always designates God, and never any inferior being. But where is the proof or authority for this? There is not even a single example adduced to show that it designates God in any connection, or under any circumstances whatever.

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We hope to be pardoned if we attempt to supply the deficiencies of our orthodox antagonist by referring to one or two supposed examples of the usage for which he contends. Thus Glass (Philologia Sacra, Lib. I. Tract. II. Canon X.) says "apud Arabes solennis formula est, non Deus nisi Ille, et in precibus ad Deum, O Ille;" and he refers to Vriemoet's "Dicta Classica Vet. Test. P. I. pag. 119 sq." Having never seen the last mentioned work we know not what it contains; and as Glass does not inform his readers what is the particular Arabic word which he has translated Ille in the prayers to which he refers, that example must go for nothing. There remains therefore only the formula, part of which he has attempted

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