who is "the only Saviour." Isaiah xliii. 11, and "the only wise God." Jude 25.

26. The illustrator thinks it has been " fully demonstrated that in the original of 1 Timothy iii. 16. the text was not, God was manifest in the flesh,' but who was manifest in the flesh;" page 38. Allowing this to have been the case, the sense of the text remains precisely the same; for the relative who must refer to God, as this is the only antecedent in the passage to which it can refer. The Apostle having concluded, in the thirteenth verse, his directions to Timothy concerning the choice of bishops and deacons, adds the reason why he gave him such particular instructions. These things write I unto thee, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth :" and then concludes the passage with a summary description of the economy of our redemption: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."

But our Author does not rest his objec

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tions entirely upon this full demonstration, for he adds, Besides, it is even literally true, that God was manifest in the flesh of Christ, the wisdom and power of God being conspicuous in him." If God was no otherwise in Christ than by a communication of wisdom and power to him, these words might have been said of Moses, or Elijah, Paul, or Peter, as well as of Christ; and the manifestation of God in the flesh here spoken of, instead of being a great mystery, as the Apostle affirms, was no mystery at all. Besides, this interpretation of the first clause will by no means suit the subsequent clauses of the sentence; for upon this construction we must suppose the Apostle to say, that wisdom and power were justified in the spirit, seen of angels, believed on in the world, and received up into glory, which are not applicable to a quality, but a person: on the contrary, if we suppose these things to be spoken of Christ as a mere man, we must imagine the Apostle to tell us, that a man was manifest in the flesh, a piece of information which no one can think an inspired writer capable of giving. In short, whether the passage be translated as our Author says it ought to be, or not, we can never make sense of it without allowing the doctrine of Christ's divinity.

27. In the "Illustration" of Romans ix. 5. "Whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever," it is said, page 32, "This may with equal propriety and truth be rendered, God who is over all be blessed for ever,' the former sentence ending with the word came." The Author thinks himself justified in making this alteration, as “no ancient manuscripts are pointed," and as "it is usual with the Apostle Paul to break out into a form of thanksgiving to God, after mentioning any remarkable instance of his goodness." The reader will observe, that what is here alleged does not prove it necessary to alter our translation, but, at most, only affords an apology for making such an alteration: the text, as it stands in our Bible, is allowed to be exactly conformable to the original; and the context, instead of affording any reason for the alteration, strongly enforces the contrary. The Apostle, here enumerating the privileges of the Jews, concludes the list with this, that Christ, as concerning the flesh, was descended from them. Now, on the supposition that Christ was but a mere man, the expression "as concerning the flesh" has no meaning at all; and we must believe the Apostle to be here talking nonsense before we can admit

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such a supposition to be true. If any man, being asked from what family the King of England was descended, should answer,

that he was, as concerning the flesh, of the House of Hanover;" would not such an one be justly thought to utter words which conveyed no idea to the inquirer? And to alter the last clause of the sentence as our illustrator has done, is to make the Apostle's language equally improper; for there remains after such an alteration no antithesis in the passage to give the phrase, "as concerning the flesh," any proper meaning: whereas there is the greatest propriety in the expression, as the text stands in our Bible: Christ," as concerning the flesh," that is, with respect to his human nature, is of the seed of Abraham ; but with respect to his divine nature, he is "God over all blessed for ever."

28. "It is with little appearance of reason," says the illustrator, page 23, "that Christ is argued to be very and eternal God, because he is styled the Son of God,' for all christians have the same appellation." If no intimation were given us, that this title belongs to Christ in a higher sense than it does to all christians, certainly nothing could be argued from it to prove any superiority of nature in

Christ; but we have abundant intimation in Scripture that this title belongs to him in a sense peculiar to himself. The Jews were well accustomed to the title sons of God, for it is a common appellation of the saints in the Old Testament; and therefore when they accused our Lord of blasphemy for saying "that God was his Father," they understood him in such a sense as could belong to no mere man whatever: and it is very plain that our Lord never undeceived them, if they mistook his meaning in such expressions. Our Author says, in his "Triumph of Truth," page 19, "If Christ had not satisfied the Jews that he did not mean to make himself equal with God, would they not have produced it against him at his trial, when he was condemned as a blasphemer, because he confessed he was the Christ only." That the Jews did produce this as an accusation against him is evident from the answer which they gave to Pilate, when he would have released our blessed Saviour, as finding no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God." John xix. 7. What the Jews here meant by the term "Son of God," may be learnt from their own declarations recorded in the

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