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body, soul, and divinity, but one and the same person. And 4th. That this person was he whom we Trinitarians call Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Though in reality, if only the first of these things be clearly proved, it will entirely overthrow the Unitarian System, and root up its very foundation.

LETTER III.

TO THE REV. CHARLES. LE BLANC.

THE

DIVINITY OF CHRIST ARGUED MORE FULLY PROM SEVERAL PASSAGES IN THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.

AN Account of John and his Writings - Importance of his Gospel -Conclusive character of his testimony-Declares Jesus Christ was God, the Creator of the Natural World, the Illuminator of the Moral WorldSabellian interpretation-Socinian interpretation-Never heard of for fifteen hundred years after Christ―Dr. Priestly's views, partly Sabellian, and partly Socinian-Arian interpretation-Dr. Clarke's observations-The Catholic interpretation proved to be the only true one-Tillotson's view of the argument-Jesus knew the secrets of all hearts-The Omnipotent Saviour of all that believe.

REV. SIR,

The Writings of John, the beloved disciple of our Lord, come now more fully under consideration. We will, therefore, proceed to those parts where the Apostle delivers his own sentiments concerning the person and character of his Lord and Master. He was the last of all the Apostles,

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and is said to have composed his Gospel and Epistles in his old age, about the year of our Lord ninety, and the book of Revelation five or six years afterwards.

Irenæus and Jerome inform us, that John was requested by the Bishops of Asia to write his Gospel against the rising heresies of Cerinthus and Ebion. And it is remarkable that these two heretics (especially the latter) were in many respects similar to our modern Socinians. They both denied the real and proper Divinity of Christ. They both considered him as a mere man. They were both written against by this Apostle, by Ignatius, by Justin, by Irenæus, by Tertullian, and by several others. Ought not this consideration to have had some weight with Dr. Priestly and his admirers? Irenæus says, "John, the disciple of our Lord, designing to extirpate that error, which had been sown by Cerinthus, and a great while before by the Nicolaitans, who are a branch of that heresy which is falsely called Knowledge, that he might confound them, and persuade them that there is one God who made all things by his word, and that the Creator of the Universe, and the Father of our Lord, were not, as they pretended, distinct beings, wrote his Gospel."-(See Irenæus Adv. Hæreses, L. 3, c. 11; see also L. 1, c. 26; consult likewise Euseb. Ecc. Hist. L. 6, c. 14.)

St. Jerome says, "John wrote his Gospel last of all, at the desire of the Bishops of Asia, against Cerinthus and other heretics, and the heresy of the Ebionites, which began to prevail exceedingly at that time, who asserted that Christ was not before the Virgin Mary, upon which account also he was forced to declare his divine origin."-(Cat. Script. Proœm. in Mat.) The same author, in another place, speaks in the following manner : "John, the Apostle and Evangelist, being in Asia, and the heresies of Cerinthus, Ebion, and others, who denied that Christ

was come in the flesh, and whom he also in his Epistle calls Antichrists, springing up at that very time, he was compelled almost by all the then Bishops of Asia, and at the earnest entreaties of many Churches, to write concerning our Saviour's Divinity more particularly. Whence it is also related in Church history, that being urged by his brethren to write, he promised that he would, provided they would all keep a fast, and implore the assistance of God on his behalf, which being accordingly performed, he was filled with the Holy Ghost, and immediately dictated as from heaven that Prooemium, IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, &c."-(Catal. Script. Eccles. in Johann. Dr. Priestly allows that Ebion was contemporary with John.Letters to Dr. Horsley, p. 18.)

Learned men are not agreed as to the precise year when the several works of this Apostle were composed, nor even which of them was written first. Yet it is generally supposed that the book of Revelations was written first, while he was in the Island of Patmos, in the Egean Sea. This holy man seems to have had a larger share of the Spirit of illumination, and of course, spoke more fully concerning the Divine nature of the Saviour, than any other of the Evangelists. Hence we find, that each of his three larger works opens with a description of the PERSON of Christ. A few general observations upon some parts of these invaluable compositions, may not be inexpedient, and will close our evidence from the Holy Scriptures for the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And as the Gospel is the first in importance, we will commence our observations on the writings of this Apostle with the introduction to that Gospel.

"In the beginning," says this divine author, "was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the WORD WAS GOD. The same was in the beginning with God. All

things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John: the same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him; and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own re

ceived him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the WORD was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory: the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."-(John i. 1, 14. Protestant Bible.)

In what view we are to consider the eloquent historian of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, I undertake not here to determine. Dr. Priestley and others have treated him in the light of an Infidel. Be this as it may, he is clearly of opinion, that John considered the Logos as a divine person. This, indeed, is what every man must suppose, I should think, where there is no preconceived system to support. Mr. Gibbon's words are, "The Christian revelation, which was consummated under the reign of Nerva, disclosed to the world the amazing secret, that the Logos, who was with God, from the beginning, and was God, who had made all things, and for whom all things had been made, was incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth; who had been born of a virgin, and suffered death on the cross. The pre-existence, and divine perfections of

the Logos, or Son of God, are clearly defined in the Gospel of John."-(Vol. 2, p. 240, 241, 4to.)

The same Mr. Gibbon, in his Life, written by himself, says, "that Dr. Priestley's Socinian shield has repeatedly been pierced by the spear of Horsley."

The term WORD, or LoGos, made use of here by the Apostle, was extremely common amongst the ancient Jews; and, among other things, frequently signified the second hypostasis in the divine nature. The book of Wisdom saith, "Thine Almighty word leapt down from heaven out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war, into the midst. of a land of destruction."-(Chap. xviii. 15, 17.) The Chaldee paraphrasts speak of the Logos in like manner with John in this chapter. Thus, Gen. xxxi. 22, "The WORD before the Lord came to Laban." And, Exod. xx. 19, "Let not the Word from before the Lord speak with us, lest we die." Isa. xlv. 12, "I by my Word have made the earth, and created man upon it." And also, Exod. xx. 19, "Let not the Lord speak with us by his Word which is before the Lord."

Philo uses the term Logos in the same sense upon various occasions. Thus: "The Word of God is over the whole world, and more ancient than all creatures.' -(De Leg. Alleg. L. 2, p. 93.)

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Amelius, the Heathen Philosopher, applies this introduction of John's Gospel in like manner to the second hypostasis.

Julian the Apostate, the most inveterate enemy Christianity ever had, makes this remarkable confession: "That Word which he (John) saith was God, he also declares was Jesus Christ, the person acknowledged by the Baptist.” (Jui-apud Cyr. L. 10.)

Mahomet, in the Koran, says, "Eise, or Jesus, is the

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