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    We bad thought the day for talking about the blood of God was passed . It seems not . ' * The manner in which this doctrine of the co-equality or identity ( for it often amounts to the latter ) of the Father and the Son is frequently stated , cannot but be greatly injurious to Christianity . Mr . Jones , in the conclusion of his work , speaking of our Lord , says , * Though he suffered , died , and was pierced upon the cross , and redeemed us by his blood , yet that blood was the blood of God , and upon his cross Jehovah torts pierced . ' Can it be a matter of wonder that we have Deists among us ?"

    At the conclusion of his examination , Mr . Shaw remarks , " I have now . gone through the first head of Mr . Jones ' s work , and truly I have found it a distressing task ; for the manner in which he has made use of the Holy Seriptures , and the method of his reasoning , compelled me to meet him with arguments which seemed as if I were labouring to lower the dignity of our blessed Lord . Far be it from my heart to conceive a thought

    derogatory to the character of that ever-blessed Being , through whose infinite merits , sufferings , and intercession , I entirely look with humble hope for the forgiveness of my sins , and for acceptance at the awful day of account . Yet I dare not confess my assent to the doctrine which pronounces the equality of the Son with the Almighty Father , because our Lord himself , as well as his Apostles , have repeatedly , and in the most clear and express terms , taught a different doctrine . "

    In reference to the third person in the Trinity , Mr . Shaw observes , < c I searched the Scriptures many years for a proof of this ( the Spirit ' s ) personality , and that , too , with an earnest desire to discover it ; but without success . My researches , though aided by orthodox commentators , have led me to believe that the notion is erroneous . " On the baptismal form in Matt , xxviii . 19 , Mr . Shaw says ,

    " This is certainly the strongest , I believe I may say the only genuine , text that can he fairly advanced in defence of the doctrine of a Trinity of persons . If our Lord had added the words , ' Three persons and one God , ' does our Church , I should bow with perfect submission , though in opposition to so many other texts . Long , very long , did this passage dwell with me , though I continually met with passages in the Bible which seemed to be directly

    opposed to the use that is made of it . What can a poor , frail mortal , conscious of his lack of wisdom , do , but carefully to examine the word of God , to compare one part with another , to meditate deeply upon it with an earnest desire to arrive at the truth , and to implore the Father of lights to guide him by his Holy Spirit in the inquiry ? This method I have endeavoured for nrtany years most anxiously and devoutly to pursue : the result has been a clear conviction , that the words in the text were not intended to be an initiation

    into the doctrine of a Trinity of persons in the Godhead " Mr . Shaw is not led to reject the doctrine of the Trinity from the teachings of his reason , but because it wants , to his mind , scriptural evidence . ' I again declare , that if the Athanasitm doctrine were clearly set forth in any part of the Holy Scriptures , I would not allow my reason to have any influence over my faith ; I would receive it as a truth , which it would be presumptuous to investigate too curiously with the limited powers of the human intellect ; but I conceive I have shewn that it is denied in those Scriptures , and therefore I dare not confess it upon human authority . " The change of which Mr . Shaw spoke in the commencement of his Con-

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    $ 8 Confessions of a Member of the Church of England .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1831, page 28, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2593/page/28/