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were many of them detected by the purifying test of the Reformation, and have since been done away. Others mingled in the same stream, and came down farther, and are not yet removed.

The Western, or Grecian, Philosophy had been brought to its highest perfection by Plato. This system was greatly superior to the Eastern. It had been the gradual work of some of the wisest men the world has ever seen. Its machinery and its theogony were imaginary and fantastic, but its morals were founded on the basis of reason and human nature. As a theory of morals it was in many respects beautiful; but it was destitute of some essential parts by which its symmetry was disfigured, and it was indeed a theory which could never be made practical, without higher sanctions than the wit of man could discover. It was too abstract and aerial; and although it was seldom the patron of vice, it was in many cases an ineffectual guide to virtue. After many subtle inquiries and fruitless speculations, it had at length been agreed, that virtue was the chief good; and this was a fundamental principle with Plato. To this end he would consider his philosophy directed. But the virtue of the heathen world was not the virtue of christianity. When the chief good was attained, it was but a single step towards the high acquisitions to which the rules of the Gospel are designed to conduct the mind. The nature of God is the foundation of all morals and of all religion. Of this nature Plato was ignorant. He knew nothing of the unity of God, of his perfections, his providence. He could not solve the problem of the existence of good and evil in such unequal distribution; and although he accounted virtue the chief good, he could not tell why evil was so often its inseparable companion. This was beyond the reach of

human wisdom. It was a light hidden in darkness, which could be made manifest only by a revelation from the true God of a future state of just retribution. Plato's moral system was also encumbered by his theogony. He believed in a Supreme Cause, but he had no accurate conceptions of the attributes of this Cause. He peopled the universe with inferior deities, and dreamt about their agency and offices. There was little in their characters or example to attract the respect, or imitation, of the virtuous on earth.

In the primitive age of christianity, Plato's system, imperfect as it originally was, had become corrupted by the innovations of his followers. A new philosophy at length sprung up in Alexandria, which had Platonism for its foundation, but was deformed by an unnatural mixture of the Eastern scheme. This was called the New Platonic, or Eclectic philosophy. In this system, thus combined of the other two, almost all the early errors of christianity took their rise. It retained the moral part of the Eastern, and the theogony of the Westtern, each with certain modifications. Several circumstances concurred to give the errors of this Alexandrian school a currency, and to introduce them into christianity. The men, who embraced them, were among the most learned of the age. Some of them were early converted to the christian faith. But in this conversion they did not lose their attachment to their former studies and opinions. They eagerly caught at every point of resemblance between these and their newly adopted religion. The consequence was, that in a short time many pagan tenets were mixed with the pure doctrines of the Gospel, and under such circumstances as would be most likely to ensure their permanency. "Until the second century," says Less, an orthodox writer, "the Christians

always persisted in the sound exposition of the New Testament. To this period they continued free, if we except the joyless morality of the Essenes, from the dis tractions of pseudo-philosophy; and maintained among themselves genuine apostolical christianity. But scarcely had some of the scholars of the heathen world, for instance Clement of Alexandria, acknowledged christianity, when the pseudo-philosophy of the Easterns and New Platonists broke in like a rapid torrent, and left behind universal desolation. Until this time the doctrines of the christian religion had been preached without exception, and with the greatest publicity to all who would hear them, and, as the founder of christianity expressed himself in his charge to the Apostles, 'from the house tops.' But now, in resemblance of the heathen mysteries, certain ceremonies and doctrines began to be concealed, and thus christianity assumed its mysteries, as well as heathenism. Besides, a variety of heathen ceremonies were adopted in the divine service, and hence christianity became gradually a ceremonial religion." These perversions of the true faith increased for centuries.

The allegorical mode of interpretation, which commenced with the incomparable Origen, opened a door for additional deviations. It virtually took away all rules, and left the religion of the Bible to float at random on the imagination. But we have not time to pursue this branch of the subject. What we have said is enough to show, that nothing could be more natural, than for the early converts to incorporate with the christian faith many of their former heathen notions, and thus to corrupt its purity. The subject has been thoroughly investigated by able hands, and what has been shown to be so extremely probable in itself, has

been proved to be true in point of fact. The progress of many errors was stopped at the Reformation. Others still exist, and these of no little importance, which have been traced with great precision to the causes at which we have hinted. Our only inference is, that christians should study with care the grounds of their faith, and rejecting all systems of human invention in which these errors are found, should seek for truth in the Bible alone. Here, and here only, we have the religion of Jesus and his Apostles, unimpaired by the ravages of time, and unperverted by the vain imaginations and wayward designs of men.

On a Translation of the Scriptures.

UNITARIAN christians are sometimes accused of altering the language of the scriptures, and of supporting their doctrines by forcing a new translation upon those passages, which are alleged against them. To this charge we by no means plead guilty. Our doctrines are upon the face of scripture. The general tenour of the New Testament is one of our main arguments against trinitarians. No one, we believe, could rise from the perusal of the New Testament alone, with the conviction that Jesus of Nazareth was the Almighty. Trinitarians adduce a few detached texts-some of them would indeed be materially different in a more correct translation-but others would still retain all the force, which they can be allowed now to possess.

We are very free to say, that our views of the nature of the sacred writings, and of the use we are to make of them, differ from those of our orthodox breth

We believe as sincerely as they can, that the Bible contains the rule of our faith and practice. But we do not believe that king James's version of the Bible is of divine authority. We are sure, although this version has many excellencies, and does undoubtedly give, on the whole, a fair representation of the original, that it contains many inaccuracies and faults. This has been the opinion of distinguished men of every denomination of christians. It has been proclaimed by the most learned English theologians, both in and out of the establishment. Archbishop Newcome, in a work entitled, An historical view of English biblical Translations, has brought together the opinions of a very large number of men eminent for learning and piety. They agree, that a much more correct representation of the original scriptures might, and ought, to be given to the public.

There are facts relative to the version in common use, which ought to satisfy every mind, that with the best intentions, the translators could not have given so correct a version of the sacred writings, as might be given at the present day. In regard to the New Tes tament particularly, we have now a much more correct text obtained from a most elaborate and faithful collation of a great number of manuscripts not then known, and of much higher authority than those which were compared to form the edition used by James's translators. Beza's edition was the one selected as the standard of our common English version, and that was founded upon the authority of a few manuscripts, of which only two were of great value, and of these he appears to have made but little use. Since that time, more than three hundred manuscripts have been discovered. These have been minutely examined, and from them

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