doctrine of the divinity of Christ with clearness, and also as my object at present is to prove this doctrine to have been taught before the year 63, I have not quoted any thing in this letter but from the writings of the three first Evangelists, and the Epistles of St. Paul, all which are known to have been written before that time.

And I am,

Rev. Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

VERAX,

A CATHOLIC LAYMAN.

POSTSCRIPT.

I reply to your letter, just received, as follows, that it is a rule laid down by St. Paul, that God swears by himself, for this reason, because he can swear by no greater (Heb. vi. 13). But Christ has sworn by himself, Isai. xlv. 23: “I have sworn by myself,—that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." Which words being compared with Rom. xiv. 10, 11, are of Christ: "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ; for it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess unto God." Christ, therefore, has sworn by himself; so that if the Apostle's rule be applied, he must for this reason be God, and there can be no greater.

proved to be the words

LETTER XVII.

TO THE REV. CHARLES LE BLANC.

THE FAITH OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH WAS NOT ALTERED

OR INFLUENCED BY THE DOCTRINES OF PLATO.

REV. SIR,

You remark, that Dr. Priestley, in his second objection or observation, p. 9, says: "The doctrines of Plato appear to have been in the Christian Church as early as the age of Justin Martyr, who wrote about A.d. 140. From that time almost all the learned Christians imbibed them; and the consequence of this was such a rapid departure from the primitive doctrine, that we could not reasonably expect to find it among such Bishops as were assembled at Nice in 325."

I reply to this, Rev. Sir, that Ecclesiastical history informs us that Justin Martyr was a Platonic philosopher before he embraced the Christian faith. But though he and several others of the Fathers who lived after him seem to have been pleased with the doctrines of Plato, because they approached nearer to the revealed truths than those of the other Philosophers, yet they never looked upon the doctrines of Plato as constituting any part of the faith of the Christian Church. Nor does it follow hence, it being only a surmise of Dr. Priestley's, that "the consequence of this was a rapid departure from the primitive doctrines of Christianity."

For the doctrine of Christ's divinity had been taught long before the time of Justin's conversion, long before the year 140, as I shall have occasion to shew hereafter. For the

present, it is sufficient for me to notice, that Dr. Priestley acknowledges, or, more properly speaking, asserts, p. 82, that "Neither Christ himself, nor any of the Apostles before John, taught his pre-existence or divinity with clearness." He also says again, p. 96: "The Christian Fathers all represent him (St. John) as the first who taught with clearness and effect the doctrines of the pre-existence and divinity of Christ." These words of the Doctor imply, that these doctrines were clearly taught when John had published his Gospel, which was about the year 98. The doctrines therefore of Christ's divinity, and of a plurality of persons in God, could not possibly be the effect of any rapid departure from the primitive doctrines of Christianity, in consequence of the introduction of the Platonic Philosophy. For if it were, the effect would have been prior to the existence of its cause; for according to the Doctor himself fixing the period, the Platonic Philosophy did not enter the Church till the time of Justin Martyr, that is, about fortytwo years after St. John had published his gospel.

Give me leave, Rev. Sir, now to retort upon what the Doctor says in his letter to the Candidates for Orders, p. 82, and which you seem to cite with delight: "Great changes in opinion are never brought about suddenly, or without circumstances which prove their reality; and since we cannot find the least trace of any change having been produced in the Christian world by the pretended introduction of the doctrines of Plato into the Church; the notion of such a rapid departure from the primitive doctrine, is an improbable hypothesis, though the best that could be thought of to account for a fact, the reality of which you yourself cannot deny, viz., the existence of the belief of the Divinity of Christ in the Christian Church as early as the publication of St. John's Gospel."

I think, Rev. Sir, this retortion will stand its ground; for as you are the warm advocate of Dr. Priestley's opinions, who asserts that, "Great changes in opinion are never brought about suddenly, or without circumstances which prove their reality," and as I deny that the Church ever changed its Faith from Unitarianism to Trinitarianism, I consequently deny that such a change was brought about suddenly. But as you assert that such a change was brought about, it is incumbent on you to mention the circumstances which prove its reality. What you allege, in lieu of those desired circumstances, is that "the doctrines of Plato appear to have been in the Church, about A.D. 140. From that time almost all the learned Christians imbibed them; and the consequence of this was a rapid departure from the primitive doctrine."-This, Rev. Sir, is a mere supposition of your own, and of Dr. Priestley's, but it is no proof. There is not one circumstance which proves the reality of such a change. And, moreover, how is it possible that the doctrine of the divinity of Christ should have been introduced into the Church, in consequence of the Fathers, the learned Christians, imbibing the doctrines of Plato, when you yourself, and Dr. Priestley, implicitly acknowledge that the doctrine of Christ's divinity was clearly taught when St. John published his Gospel, which was forty-two years before the doctrines of Plato were imbibed by the learned Christians. You may with as much reason maintain, or suppose, that a child was born before his Father.

But the Doctor says, (p. 15,) “By a distinct exhibition of the doctrines of Platonism, by an abundant proof of their having been adopted by the Christian Fathers, and from the near resemblance between them and the doctrine of the Trinity in the first stage of it, I think I have made it most evident, that it had that origin and no other. No child ever proved its own parent more clearly than this does."

If St. John had not written his Gospel forty-two years, and St. Paul his Epistles to the Philippians and the Hebrews seventy-three years before Platonism was imbibed or adopted by the Christian Fathers, this argument might have had at least some appearance of plausibility. But till you shall have given a reasonable account how those books could be published so long a time before the Platonic doctrines were, as you assert, adopted by the Christian Fathers, it cannot be looked upon as an argument of the least weight. And till that time, all that you can say to persuade us, and all that Dr. Priestley has written, that Platonism was the parent of the doctrine of the Trinity, will be of no effect. We know our Parents too well to be deceived by such a piece of sophistry; and are no more inclined to acknowledge a supposititious father whom you would wish to provide for us, though so great a man as Plato, than a man of honour and virtue would be, to acknowlege or adopt an illegitimate child, if some base woman, who was its Mother, should falsely swear him to be the Father of it. We know that the doctrine of the Trinity was clearly taught by Jesus Christ and his Apostles long before the Platonizing Fathers were born.

When you speak of the influence which the doctrines of Plato had on the minds of the learned Christians, you seem either to have forgotten, or not to have regarded the promise made by Jesus Christ to the Apostles and their Successors, when he said to them, John xiv. 16: "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of Truth.' —And xvi. 13: "When he the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all truth."—And xiv. 26: "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto