[Footnote 17: This strong expression might be justified by
the language of St. Paul, (1 Tim. iii. 16;) but we are
deceived by our modern Bibles. The word which was altered
to God at Constantinople in the beginning of the vith
century: the true reading, which is visible in the Latin and
Syriac versions, still exists in the reasoning of the Greek,
as well as of the Latin fathers; and this fraud, with that
of the three witnesses of St. John, is admirably detected by
Sir Isaac Newton. (See his two letters translated by M. de
Missy, in the Journal Britannique, tom. xv. p. 148 - 190,
351 - 390.) I have weighed the arguments, and may yield to
the authority of the first of philosophers, who was deeply
skilled in critical and theological studies. .]