allow they are all absurd, and the greatest part of them even profane, on supposition that he is a mere man. The same observation may be extended to the other books of the New Testament. They also contain sundry passages which, to say the least, are very ridiculous; and manifest, either that the authors of them were not Unitarians, in the Socinian sense of the word, or that they were wanting in common sense. In many of these passages, our Lord Jesus Christ himself speaks, either while on earth, or after his ascension into heaven. So that, if Dr. Priestley's doctrine be true, it appears that the Lord Jesus Christ himself (I speak it with reverence) was as much wanting in common sense, as any of his apostles; and his doctrine, like theirs, is absurd and impious. Permit me, reverend sir, before I conclude, to give you, in one or two letters more, a few instances of the truth and propriety of this remark. But as I have already enlarged so much, they shall be very few in compa rison with what might be produced; and shall be chiefly taken from the Gospel of St. John, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ, communicated to him. In the latter book, we meet with the following passages among

others: "John, to the seven Churches which are in Asia. Grace be unto you, and peace, from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, [viz. from the eternal God,] and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne, [viz. the Holy Ghost, whose operations are manifold] and from Jesus Christ, [a mere man!] who is the faithful Witness, 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 sins 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 shall see him, and they also that pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him! even so! Amen! Verse 9: I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, aħnd in the kingdom and patience of Jesus, [the kingdom and patience of a mere man!] was in the isle of Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, [the testimony of a mere man!] I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, [the day of the same mere man!] and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying, I [a mere man!] am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last! And I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks one like the Son of man; his head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters: and he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shining in his strength. And when I saw him, [though he be a mere man!] I fell at his feet as dead: and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I [a mere man!] am the First and the Last! I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen! and have the keys of death and of hell!" I do not wonder that Dr. Priestley doubts the authenticity of the Apocalypse.

Proceed we to chap. v, 5: "One of the elders said unto me, Weep

And

not, behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, [who, however, is but a mere man, and did not exist till many hundred years after David's death!] hath prevailed to open the book and loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven eyes and seven horns, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth: [for though a mere man, to him belong the seven Spirits of God!] and he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. when he had taken the book, the four living creatures, and the four-andtwenty elders fell down before the Lamb, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood, [the blood of a mere man!] out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests. And I heard the voice of many angels, round about the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying, with a loud voice, Worthy is [the mere man!] the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing: and every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I, saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, [viz. to the eternal God,] and to the Lamb, [a mere man!] for ever and ever! And the four living creatures said, Amen! And the four-andtwenty elders fell down, and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever!" What will the disciples of Socinus say to this? Surely, if Christ be a mere man, idolatry is committed, even in heaven!

And as the Father and the Son are associated in claiming and receiv ing Divine worship from the saints, whether men or angels, so also in taking vengeance on sinners. Thus, chap. vi, 16: "They said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; [that is, the wrath of a mere man!] for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?" who shall be able to bear the wrath of a mere man?

Equally remarkable is the following passage:-" After this, I beheld, (chap. vii, 9,) and lo a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, [viz. of Jehovah,] and before the Lamb, [that is, before a mere man,] clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb," a mere man! Here again, according to Dr. Priestley, a mere man is worshipped, and salvation is ascribed to him, as well as to the infinite Jehovah! And, verse 13, the saints that have come out of great tribulation are said to have washed their robes, and made them white in his blood! "Therefore, (it is added,) are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat for the Lamb, [a mere man, says the doctor!] who is in the midst

:

of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them to fountains of living water; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." So that, if the doctor be right, a mere man, in conjunction with the supreme God, is the author of their everlasting felicity. And, chap. xi, 15, the kingdoms of this world are represented as "become his kingdoms," and he is said to reign for ever and ever, being, chap. xvii, 14, “Lord of lords, and King of kings!"

Chapter xix, 11, we meet with a description of this reigning King; a description which but ill agrees with the character of a mere man. "His name (we are assured) is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes are as a flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns; and he hath a name written, that no man knoweth but himself. And he is clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called the Word of God! And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God. And he hath on his vesture, and on his thigh, a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords."

In the twentieth chapter is displayed "a great white throne, and he [a mere man, shall we say?] that sits on it; from whose face the earth and the heaven flee away, and there is found no place for them: and the dead, small and great, stand before God, [Dr. Priestley says, before a mere man!] and the books are opened, and the dead are judged out of those things which are written in the books, according to their works." Here the mere man appears to be the universal Judge, and they that stand before him are said to stand before God! And in the next chapter, the same person is represented as the bridegroom of the Church, which has its Maker, that is, on the Socinian hypothesis, a mere man, for its husband! "And he carried me away in the Spirit, to a great high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty, and [a mere man!] the Lamb, are the temple of it; and the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God [the infinite Jehovah] did lighten it; and the Lamb [a mere man!] is the light thereof." As if one were to say, The sun and a candle are the light of the world!" And the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it," viz. in the light issuing from Jehovah, and a mere man! "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, but they who are written in the Lamb's book of life," that is, the book of life of a mere man!

And as Jehovah and a mere man are the joint sources of light, so of life and consolation also. For, chap. xxii, 1: "He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb, [that is, the throne of Jehovah, and a mere man !] And, ver. 3: There shall be no more curse: but the throne of God [the Supreme Being] and of the Lamb [a mere man !] shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [that is, the grace of a mere man] be with you all! Amen."

Such is the doctrine of St. John in the Apocalypse; a doctrine which,

on the Socinian principles, can never be reconciled with common sense. As little will any one be able to reconcile therewith the doctrine concerning Christ, taught in his Gospel. This book, according to Jerome, (lib. de Scriptoribus Eccles.,) was written after the epistles, and the Apocalypse, at the request of the bishops of Asia, "against Cerinthus, and other heretics, and chiefly against the then spreading doctrine of the Ebionites, who asserted that Christ had no existence before Mary: for which reason (he tells us) he was constrained to speak plainly of his Divine generation." That this account is true, we have every reason to believe, not only from the known veracity of Jerome, but also from the nature of the testimony, borne throughout this Gospel concerning Christ; a testimony which, if supposed to be meant of a mere man, is certainly, to say the least, not intelligible. The following quotations make this manifest :-"In the beginning was the Word, [viz. a mere man!] and the Word [this mere man!] was with God, and the Word [the same mere man] was God. All things were made by him, [even the whole creation, though it had been made at least four thousand years before he existed!] and without him [the same mere man] was not any thing made that was made. In him [viz. in this mere man!] was life, and the life was the light of men; and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. John [a mere man] was not that light, but came to bear witness of that light: that [mere man, Christ] was the true light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world!" A strange assertion truly! "He [this mere man] was in the world, and the world was made by him, [was made by a mere man!] and the world knew him not. He came to his own, and his own received him not: but as many as received him, to them gave he [mere man as he was!] power to become the sons of God; even to them that believe in his name. And the Word [a mere man!] was made flesh, [I wish Dr. Priestley would tell us what he was before he was made flesh,] and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, [that is, the glory of a mere man!] full of grace and truth: [a mere man full of grace and truth!] and of his fulness [the fulness of a mere man !] have all we received grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, [a mere man,] but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," a mere man also!

I need proceed no farther with the testimony of St. John. This remarkable passage, placed in the front of his Gospel, like the preamble to an act of parliament, manifestly shows the design of the whole book, and is a key to all those discourses of our Lord, and of John the Baptist, recorded by this apostle, in which Jesus is represented as the Son, "and the only begotten Son of God," and is declared to have pre-existed, and to have come down from heaven. It proves, to a demonstration, that St. John considered Christ as being the Son of God, in a sense in which no other being, man or angel, is his son; and that he looked upon him as pre-existing, not as a creature, but as the creating Logos or Word of the Father, who, in union with the Father, is the Creator and Lord of all creatures, visible and invisible. And as he produces the testimony of John the Baptist, and of Christ, in confirmation of his own testimony, it cannot be doubted but he understood them in the same light; and methinks in the same light every one must understand them who believes

them to have been possessed of common sense, and impartially considers their testimony. Only let the following passages be attended to without prejudice, and while the absurdity of applying them to a mere man is noticed, let it be observed also how clearly they describe, and how exactly they characterize that proper and only begotten Son of the Father, who is his Wisdom and Word incarnate, and the Creator and Lord of men and angels.

John bare witness of him, and cried: "This [mere man, shall we say?] was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me; for he [though a mere man, and born after me] was before me!" This is the record of John: "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, [that is, the way of a mere man!] as said the Prophet Esaias: I baptize you with water; but there standeth one [mere man] among you, whom ye know not: he it is who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoes' latchet I am not worthy to unloose. The next day John seeth Jesus coming, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, [that is, behold a mere man!] who taketh away the sins of the world. [For, though a mere man, he taketh away, or makes atonement for the sins of all men!] This is he of whom

I said, After me cometh a man who is preferred before me, for [though a mere man!] he was before me. And I knew him not; but that he [a mere man] should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And I knew him not; but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he [viz. the mere man!] that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record, that this is the Son of God," that is, says Dr. Priestley, a mere man!

Again, chap. iii, 28: "I am not the Christ, but I am sent before him. He [the mere man] that hath the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom that standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly, because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy, therefore, is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He [the mere man !] that cometh from above, [though a mere man,] is above all. He that is of the earth, is earthly, and speaketh of the earth. He [the same mere man] that cometh from heaven is above all." Will Dr. Priestley tell us how it could be said Christ came from heaven, any more than John the Baptist, on his principles? "The Father (addeth he) loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hands. He that believeth on the Son [that is, on a mere man!] hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son [viz. this mere man] shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.

The other evangelists agree with St. John, respecting the testimony of the Baptist. Thus, Matt. iii, 11: "I indeed baptize you with water, unto repentance; but he [a mere man, as say the disciples of Socinus] that cometh after me, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he [though a mere man!] shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Such is the testimony, which, according to the evangelists, John the Baptist bore of Christ: a testimony which they must have judged to bo VOL. III.

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