Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

his Son, to be the propitiation for our fins,' that is, (fays the Doctor) to die a martyr to confirm his doctrine! Beloved, if God fo loved us,' (and fent a mere man among us, to teach us his will!)

we ought, alfo, to love one another!-We have • feen, and do testify, that the Father fent the Son, (I mean, that the Eternal God sent a mere man!) to be the Saviour of the world!' one mere man, to fave the whole human race!

The doctrine of the next Chapter is yet more irrational, if more can be. Thus, ver. 5, Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jefus, (a mere man!) is, (by adop tion) the Son of God?-This is he, (the mere • man) that came by water and blood; even Jefus, not by water only (in which he was baptifed; an emblem of his own purity, and our regeneration,) but by water and blood,' (atoning blood, the blood of one mere man, fhed for the fins of millions!) and, it is the Spirit that beareth wit nefs, because the Spirit is truth. For, there are THREE that bear record in heaven, the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY GHOST, (that is, on the Socinian principles, the felf-exiftent Jehovah, a mere man, and the power of God!) And, thefe three are one! (the Eternal God, his power, and a mere man, are one!) This is the record, that 'God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son, (is in a mere man!) He that hath the Son, (that hath this mere man, dwelling in him fee 2 Cor. xiii. 5.) hath life, and he that ⚫ hath not the Son God, (that hath not this mere man dwelling in him!) hath not life.-Ver. 20. We know that the Son of God is come (that is, that a mere man hath been raised up to inftru&t us) and (though a mere man!) hath given us an understanding to know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, in, or by his Son Jefus Chrift (a mere man.) He, (the

S 2

mere

mere man, I speak of) is the TRUE GOD, and ETERNAL LIFE! (But, though I give these high "titles to a mere man, yet, let me add,) Little Children, keep yourselves from idols!'A neceffary caution indeed! but very abfurd in this connexion.

The 2d Epiftle he infcribes to the elect Lady, (or, as fome rather think it fhould be rendered to to the elect Kuria, making Kuria a proper namic) and, like St. Paul, he prays for grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and the Lord Jefus Chrift; that is, on the Unitarian hypothefis, from the fupreme God, and a mere man! Many 'Deceivers, (fays he, ver. 7,) are entered into the world, who confefs not that Jefus Chrift is come in the flesh;' I fpeak of that mere man, born in Bethlehem, who, having no pre-existence, muft come in the flesh, or not at all: This is a de· ceiver, and Antichrift.- -Whofoever tranf 'greffeth, and abideth not in the doctrine of 'Chrift, (the doctrine of a mere man!) hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, hath both the Father and the Son, (both the eternal God, and a mere man!) If there come any 6 unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive ' him not into your houfe, neither bid him, God fpeed. For, he that biddeth him, God fpeed, is a partaker of his evil deeds!' How far this caution concerns the abettors of the doctrine of Chrift's mere humanity, the reader muft judge.

[ocr errors]

The fhort Epistle of Jude is of a piece with the Epifties of the other Apoftles. It is also written without common fenfe, as certainly as without infpiration, on the fuppofition that he believed Jelus Chrift to be a mere man. Jude, the Servant of Jefus Chrift, (that is the Servant of a mere man) To them that are fanctified by God the Father, and preferved in (the fame mere man) Jefus

Christ,

[ocr errors]

،

Christ, and called Beloved, when I gave all dili 6 gence to write unto you, of the common falvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the faints. For there are certain men crept in . unawares, denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jefus Chrift, (that is, denying the infinite Jehovah, and a more man!)verfe 14. Enoch, allo, the feventh from Adam, prophefied of thefe, faying, Behold the Lord, (that is a mere man!) cometh with ten thousand of his faints, to execute judgment upon all. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the Apoftles of our Lord Jefus Chrift, 6 (viz. the Apoftles of a mere man !)—Ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your molt holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghoft, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jefus Chrift, (the mercy of a mere man!) unto eternal life. Praying, Rev. Sir, that this mercy of our Lord Jefus Chrift, which St. Jude mentions may be extended to Dr. Priestley alfo, although he takes fuch pains to perfuade himself and others, that it is but the mercy of a mere man; and that whatever ftrange and unfcriptural fpeculations, he may amufe himfelf and others withal, he may not live and die without this experimental and practical acquaintance with the Trinity, spoken of in thele words;

[blocks in formation]

REV. SIR,

LETTER X.

N the foregoing Letters I have reviewed all the Epiftles of the New Teftament, and have felected most of the Texts, in which the Lord Jefus is fpoken of, and, methinks, every reasonable man must allow that they are all abfurd, and the greatest part of them even profane, on fuppo fition that he is a mere man. The fame observa tion may be extended to the other books of the New Teftament. They alfo contain fundry paffages, which, to say the least, are very ridiculous, and manifeft either, that the Authors of them were not Unitarians, in the Socinian sense of the word, or that they were wanting in common fenfe. In many of these paffages our Lord Jefus Chrift himfelf fpeaks, either while on earth, or after his afcenfion into heaven. So that, if Dr. Priestley's doctrine be true, the Lord Jefus Chrift himielf (I fpeak it with reverence) was as much wanting, in common fenfe, as any of his Apostles, and his doctrine, like their's, is abfurd and impious. Permit me, Rev. Sir, before I conclude, to give you, in one or two Letters more, a few inftances of the truth and propriety of this remark. But, as I have already enlarged fo much, they fhall be very few, in comparison of what might be produced, and fhall be chiefly taken from the Gospel of St. John, and the Revelation of Jefus Chrift, communicated to him. In the latter Book, we meet with the following paffages, among others.

John, to the feven churches which are in Afta. -Grace be unto you, and peace from him who 'is, and who was, and who is to come, (viz. from

'the

،

the eternal God) and from the feven Spirits which are before his throne, (viz. the Holy Ghoft, 'whofe operations are manifold) and from Jelus 'Chrift (a mere man !) who is the faithful witnefs, the first-begotten from the dead, and the prince ' of the kings of the earth :-Unto him, (the mere man!) that hath loved us, and washed us from our fins in his own blood, and made us kings ' and priests unto God and his Father, to him, (mere man, as he is!) be glory and dominion for ' ever and ever! Amen! Behold, he (a mere man!) cometh with clouds, and every eye fhall fee him, and they also that pierced him, and all kin" dreds of the earth fhall wail because of him! even fo, Amen!-ver. 9. 1, John, who alfo am -6 your brother and companion in tribulation, and. in the kingdom and patience of Jefus, (the kingdom and patience of a mere man!) was in the Ifle of Patmos for the word of God, and for the teftimony of Jefus Chrift (the teftimony of a mere man!) I was in the fpirit on the Lord's day (the day of the fame mere man!) and heard " behind me a great voice as of a Trumpet, faying, I (a mere man) am Alpha and Omega, the first and the laft! -and, I turned to fee the voice that fpake with me, and being turned, I faw feven golden Candlefticks, and in the midft of the feven golden Candlesticks, one like the Son of Man: -his head and his hair were white, like wool, as white as fnow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brafs, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voic as the found of many waters: And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a fharp two-edged fword, and his countenance was as the fun fhineth in his strength. And when I faw him, (though he be a mere man!) I fell at his feet, as dead and he

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

laid

« AnteriorContinuar »