236 Jesus, Prophet ofIslam
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We hear our Saviour continually distinguished from Jesus by this title: 'God sent His Son,' ... 'God anointed Jesus.' Now, how singular and inexplicable is this phra seology, which fills the New Testament, if this title be long equally to Jesus, and if a principal object of this book is to reveal him as God, as partaking equally with the Father in supreme divinityl We challenge our oppo nents to adduce one passage in the NewTestament, where the word God means three persons, where it is not lim ited to one person, and where, unless tumed from its usual sense by the connection, it does not mean the Fa ther, Can stronger proof be given, that the doctrine of three persons in the Godhead is not a fundamental doc trine of Christianity? This doctrine, were it true, must, from its difficulty, singularity, and importance, have been laid down with great clearness, guarded with great care, and stated with all possible precision. But where does this statement appear? From the many passages which treat of God, we ask for one, one only, in which we are told, that He is a three-fold being, Of, that He is three persons, or that He is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. On the contrary, in the New Testament, where, at least, we might expect many express assertions of this nature, God is declared to be One, without the least attempt to prevent the acceptation of the words in their common sense; and He is always spoken of and addressed in the singular number, that is, in language which was universally understood to intend a Single person, and to which no other idea couId have been attached, without an express admonition. So entirely do the Scriptures abstain from stating the Trin ity, that when our opponents would insert it into their creeds and doxologies, they are compelled to leave the Bible, and to invent forms of words altogether unsanct ioned by Scriptural phraseology. That a doctrine so strange, so liable to misapprehension, so fundamental as this is said to be, and requiring such careful exposi tion, should be left so undefined and unprotected, to be made out by inference, and to be hunted through dis tant and detached parts of Scripture, this is a difficulty, which, we think, no ingenuity can exp Iain.