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    " Being » , he deemed it not a thing to be grasped £ t to be + " ( 2 . ) On the meaning * \< tql &etpy it would ke unreasonable to asl ^ you to reprk > t the reasons and the authorities from Greek writers , especially the Septii a ^

    rint which are addtteeA in the Script . Test . ( II . S 85—402 , 414 , 415 ) to support the interpretation of the phrase which the evidence *> f th $ Gase appears to me to warrant . Those who are sufficiently interested in the question to take the trouble of the examination ,

    will , perhaps , do me the favour to weigh my arguments before they reject my interpretation . ( 3 . ) To Dr . JVs mode of supplying the ellipsis which he supposes the passage to require , I feel no

    objection : nor does it militate against the doctrine of the Deity of Christ , except upon the assumption of what we most earnestly protest against , that , iu holding that doctrine , we suppose that tke death of Jesus was the death of

    Jehovah . That doctrine attributes to the Lord and Redeemer of mankind , not only the Divine Nature with all its essential perfections , but also the human nature with all its proper qualities .

    ( 4 . ) I must likewise protest against Dr . J . ' s seeming to impute to me the opinion " that God has any form , or that form and nature have here the same meaning / ' To which assumption he adds , < c In this confusion ,

    gross and palpable as it is , is founded the interpretation put upon this passap by the orthodox divines . " What I had said concerning the use of f ^ p < fy ^ in this passage was to this purport : that the word " can be understood of the Divine Being only in the way of

    an imperfect analogy . As the visible and tangible figure of a sensible object is , iii ordinary cases , the chief property , and frequently the only one , by which we know the object and distinguish it from others ; so , that part ?* what may be known of God , ( Rom .

    *• * y , ) that which distinguishes him worn all otlier objects of our mental apprehension , may thus , allusively ^ d analogically , be called the form 0 dod . Therefore , dropping the ^ £ ure , the notion is evidently that of Pacific difference , or essential and ai * tin Kuishing- properties . It might , conceive , be uuexceptionablv ex-¦ '

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    pressed by the phrase , « Th 6 eharac ^ teri&tics of God . " ( 5 . ) Of a passage of Josephus , adduced as an instance of this analogical sense of uopcpri , my re&pected friend affirms , " This is said in reference to the Greeks , who represented their

    gods under material images ; and the object of the writer is to set aside that superstitious practice . His words are to thk effect : ' God is not in the least visible in form ; it is , therefore , most absurd to represent him under forms that are visible / "

    The passage in question is a part of a long and interesting recital , in the style of just panegyric , of the religion , laws and manners of the Jews . The paragraph from which a small part only , for the sake of brevity , was cited in the Script . Test ., is as follows : f € God ,

    the all-perfect and blessed , possesses a ^ l things , himself sufficient to himself and to all other beings , the beginning and the midst , and the end of all . He , though displayed by his works and his kindnesses , and more manifest than , any other being whatever , yet , as to his nature [ literally form ! and

    greatness , is the mo&t remote from our view . All material substance , even the most valuable , compared to iris image , is worthless : and all art is incompetent to the conception of au imitation . We can neither conceive , nor is il lawful to imagine , any thing * as a resemblance to him . We see his

    works ; the Kghi , the heaven , the earth , the sun and moon , the waters , the venerations of animals , and the proauctions of vegetation . These hath God made , not with hands , not with labours , not needing any assistants ; but , by the mere act of his will

    determining- these good things , they in ^ stantiy came into existence , good according to his design . Him we alV ought to follow , and serve by the practice of virtue ; for this is the holiest manner of serving God . " The reader will judge , whether it is the more probable that Josephus here

    uses pxp 4 >*} in the sense of those who formed corporal ideas of the Supreme Being , or to denote the characteristic and spiritual properties ( the metaphysical form ) of that Infinite Nature Other and not contemptible evidence for this sense , may be seen in Eisner , ( Obs . in N . T . II . 241 , ) and it b un-

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    On his " Seripfur * T&stbnonff . " 153

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    v <>*< . xvu . * x

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1822, page 153, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2510/page/25/