would be far from proving that Stephen worshipped him as God; for he, with the Apostles, considered Jesus to have received power from God, after his ascension, sufficient to establish his religion, and punish his enemies.

This instance of alleged worship to Christ, brings up a class of texts, which are said to show that the early Christians made a practice of worshipping Christ. As strong a case of it as there is, occurs in a vision of Ananias, at Damascus, at the time of Paul's conversion." Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints in Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon thy name." It is maintained, that this means, "who are worshippers of thee."

This would be an argument of some strength, if the expression, "to call on the name" of any one, were restricted to the meaning of worship. But this is not the case. It has likewise the meaning of professing a religion, of taking a name, &c. To see what is the force of this species of phraseology, I shall bring up several instances in which it occurs. James says, in his speech at the council at Jerusalem : "Simeon hath declared how God, at the first, did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name," to receive and profess the true religion. A few verses onward he says : "That the residue of men might seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called;" that is, who shall call themselves, and be called my people; who shall profess

my religion. This last is a quotation from the Old Testament. There is in it another passage of similar import. "One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel." This, of course, refers to converts to the Jewish faith. They will take upon themselves the name of Jehovah, that is, profess the worship of the true God; and take the name of Jacob, that is, call themselves Israelites. And this throws no little light on the forms of baptism in the New Testament. The Christians, on being converted from Paganism, took upon themselves the name of God, and of Christ, and called themselves Christians.

There is a passage in Paul's second Epistle to Timothy, which bears a strong resemblance to the one we are considering. "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity; not every one who worshippeth Christ, but any one who professes to be a Christian. Another from the Epistle of James sustains the same view. "Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called?" that is, the name of Christians.

Still further, to learn what Ananias means, when he says, "And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon thy name," let us consider, that worshipping Christ, is not the point in question, but it is professing Christianity. It was not their worshipping Christ, that made them obnoxious to Paul and the Jewish Sanhedrim, but their acknowledg

ing him as the Messiah. What the phrase really means, is further indicated by a slight change which the same writer makes in it, when he uses it a little afterward "But all who heard him were amazed, and said, Is not this he that destroyed them that called on this name in Jerusalem ?" Men do not worship names, they are called by them. sense would have been much better expressed by this form of words: "Is not this he, that destroyed them which are called by this name in Jerusalem ?" meaning those who profess this faith.

Is it not evident, that the

I have thus, in this lecture, stated to you the antecedent improbability of the doctrine of the Trinity, and the presumption there is in favor of the divine Unity. I have brought forward some of the strongest passages which are alleged to prove the Deity of Christ, and of course the Trinity; and by analyzing them, attempted to show you, that they do not establish the doctrine, and have, in some cases, a bearing directly the oppoI have examined the proofs that the early Christians were in the habit of worshipping Christ, and found them unsatisfactory. In my judgment, there is nothing, in all the arguments we have examined, to shake the doctrine, that God is One in every sense, one Essence, one Spirit, one Intelligence, one Person, "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." But let every one weigh the evidence for himself.

site way.

LECTURE III.

FIRST CHAPTER OF JOHN.

JOHN, I. 1.

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD.

THE method which I shall adopt, in explaining to you the passage of Scripture selected for this evening, will be this. As it is thought to be one of the main arguments for the Trinity, I shall first give it the Trinitarian exposition, and then state my reasons for not acquiescing in it. Then I shall give what I conceive to be the true meaning, and my reasons for adopting it. The main difference between the Unitarian and Trinitarian exposition of this passage is, that the Trinitarian considers the Word to be a person, the Unitarian a personification, that is, the representation of a thing, as if it possessed personal attributes. In order to be entirely fair, I shall give the paraphrase of Dr. Doddridge, a Trinitarian commentator on the New Testament. the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." In the beginning, before the foundation of the world, or the first production of any created being, a glorious Person existed, who

"In

(on account of the perfections of his nature, and his being in time the medium of divine manifestations to us), may be properly called the Word of God. And the Word was originally with God, the Father of all so that to him the words of Solomon might justly be applied: "He was by him, as one brought up with him, and was daily his delight." Nay, by a generation which none can declare, and a union which none can fully conceive, the Word was himself God; that is, possessed of a nature truly and properly divine.

“The same was in the beginning with God." I repeat it again, that the condescension of his incarnation may be the more attentively considered, this divine. Word was in the beginning with God, and by virtue of his most intimate union with him, was possessed of infinite glory and felicity. "All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made." And when it pleased God to begin the work of creation, all things in the compass of nature were made by him, even by this almighty Word, and without him was not anything made, not so much as one single being, whether among the noblest or the meanest of God's various works.

men."

"In him was life, and the life was the light of That fulness of power, wisdom, and benignity, which was in him, was the fountain of life to the whole creation and it is in particular our concern to remember, that the life which was in him was the light of men, as all the light of reason and revelation was the effect of his energy on the mind.

:

"And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness