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the twelve Apoftles and St. Paul, And He who peculiarly imparts gifts, whether of utterance, of tongues, or of healing, is the fame divine fpirit whofe unity is opposed to the diverfity of his operations.

If you deny that GOD, who hath fet fome in the Church to be Apoftles, is peculiarly Jefus Chrift, the fame Lord who prefides over the differences of adminiftratinns; and if you will fill affert that the Apofties never give to our Saviour any higher title than that of a man approved of God, I once more prove the contrary, by reminding you, that St. Paul calls the Church fome times the Church of GoD and fome times the Church of CHRIST; and that, fpeaking to the clergy of Ephefus he exhorts them to feed the Church of GoD, which HE (God) hath purchased with his own blood. A&t. xx. 28. Now, Sir, GOD who hath thus purchased the Church is peculiarly God the Son, our Lord Jefus Chrift, who in the unity of the Father and of the Spirit, is the fame one God, whom bible-chriftians worship in Trinity, because OF Him, and THROUGH Him, and To Him are all things: To whom be glory for ever, Amen. Rom. xi. 36.

If you afk, how can St. Paul affert the Divinity of Chrift, when he writes to the Corinthians that Chrift is the image of God? Is there no difference between God and his image? Will you worship God's image as if it were God himlelf? I reply, that there is an imperfect image, which expreffes only a part of the external form of its original, and a perfect image which expreffes its whole nature, in a perfectly adequate and living manner. Thus fome four footed beafts bear a resemblance to men in fome things; but a Son who looks, thinks, fpeaks, and acts like his Father is a perfect image. Adam was an image of God in the first fenfe, and our

Lord

Lord in the fecond fenfe. That Chrift is this living and perfect image of the Father, I prove, (1) By his own words, He that hath feen Me, hath feen the Father, and (2) By thefe words of the Apostle, which follow the text, on which the objection refts; God [the Spirit, by the light of the gofpel, and by the light of faith) hath fhined in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God [the Father] fhining in the face of Jefus Chrift, who is the brightnefs of his Father's glory, and the exprefs Image of his Perfon: 2 Cor. iv. 6. and Heb. i. 3. And our Lord's being fuch an Image of God, does not any more cut him off from divinity, than a human fon's being the exprefs image of his Father deprives him of the human nature. Therefore, this objection alfo affords us a new proof of our Lord's divinity.

LETTERS

L

ETTER S

TO THE

REV. MR. WESLEY,

O N THE

Want of Common Senfe in the New Teftament Writers,

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LETTER S

ΤΟ ΤΗΣ

REV. MR. WESLEY*,

REV. SIR,

TH

LETTER I.

HE Rev. Mr. Fletcher, whofe unfinished Letters, at your defire, are laid before the public in the preceeding pages in a very imperfect tate, has juft obferved to Dr. Priestley, that if he will not allow St. Paul wrote by infpiration, he ought at leaft to allow he wrote with common fenfe. And moft profeffors of Chriftianity will fuppofe, that if Mr. Fletcher had extended the obfervation fo as to include the other facred writers, his demand would not have been unreasonable. They will be of opinion that the Doctor ought

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to

Though the aged and truly Reverend Minifter of Chrift, to whom thefe Letters are addreffed is now no more, yet as they were written and prefented to him many months before his death, it is judged beft to give them to the public in their original form.

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