doctrine of the proper unity of God, and of the subordination of Chrift, and all other beings to him, that the prevalence of so impious a doctrine, as the contrary must be, can be afcribed to nothing but to that myftery of iniquity, which, though it began to work in the times of the apoftles themselves, was not then rifen to so enormous a height as to attack the fupremacy of the one living and true God, and give his peculiar glory to another. This, my brethren, among other fhocking corruptions of genuine christianity, grew up with the fyftem of popery; and to fhew that nothing is impoffible to the superstition and credulity of men, when they are become vain in their imaginations, after exalting a man into a god, a creature into a creator, they made a piece of bread into one alfo, and then bowed down to, and worshipped, the work of their own hands.

But though it seemed fit to the unfearchable wisdom. of God, that all the errors and abuses of popery fhould not be reformed at once; and though this great error was left untouched by the first reformers, bleffed be God the bible is as open to us as it was to them; and by the exertion of the fame judgment and fpirit, we may free chriftianity from the corruptions which they left adhering to it; and then, among other excellencies of our religion, our Lord will be one and his name one. Zech. xiv. 9.

If you ask who, then, is Jefus Chrift, if he be not God; I anfwer, in the words of Peter, addreffed to

the

the Jews, after his refurrection and afcenfion, that Jefus of Nazareth was a man approved of God by miracles and wonders and figns, which God did by him. Acts ii. 22. If you ask what is meant by man, in this place; I anfwer, that man, if the word be used with any kind of propriety, muft mean the fame kind of being with yourselves. I fay, moreover, with the author of the epifle to the Hebrews, that it became him by whom are all things, and for whom are all things, to make this great captain of our falvation in all respects, like unto us his brethren, that he might be made perfect through fufferings, Heb. ii. 10. 17. and that he might have a feeling of all our infirmities, iv. 13. For this reafon it was that our Saviour and deliverer was not made of the nature of an angel, or like any fuper-angelic being, but was of the feed of Abraham. ii. 16. that is (exclufive of the divinity of the Father, which refided in him, and acted by him) a mere man, as other jews, and as we ourselves also are.

Chrift being made by the immediate hand of God, and not born in the ufual course of generation, is no reason for his not being confidered as a man. For then Adam must not have been a man. But in the ideas of Paul, both the first and fecond Adam (as Chrift, on this account, is fometimes called) were equally men: By man came death, by man came also the refurrection of the dead, I Cor. xv. 21. And, certainly, in the resurrection of a man, that is, of a perfon in all refpects like ourselves, we have a more

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lively hope of our own refurrection; that of Chrift being both a proof and a pattern of ours. therefore, more firmly believe, that because he lives, we who are the fame that he was, and who fhall undergo the fame change by death that he did, shall live ajo. John xiv. 19.

'Till this great corruption of christianity be removed, it will be in vain to preach the gofpel to jews, or mahometans, or, indeed, to any people who retain the ufe of the reafon and understanding that God has given them. For how is it poffible that three perfons, Father, Son, and holy ghost, should be separately, each of them, poffeffed of all divine perfections, so as to be true, very, and eternal God, and yet that there fhould be but one God; a truth which is fo clearly and fully revealed, that it is not poffible for men to refuse their affent to it; or elfe it would, no doubt, have been long ago expunged from our creed, as utterly irreconcileable with the more favourite doctrine of a trinity, a term which is not to be found in the fcriptures. Things above our reafon may, for any thing that we know to the contrary, be true; but things exprefsly contrary to our reason, as that three fhould be one, and one three, can never appear to us to be fo.

With the jews, the doctrine of the divine unity is, and indeed justly, confidered as the most fundamental principle of all religion. Hear, O Ifrael, the Lord our God is one Lord, Deut. vi. 4. Mark xii. 29. To

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preach

preach the doctrine of the trinity to the jews, can appear to them in no other light, than an attempt to feduce them into idolatry, a thing which they dare not entertain the moft diftant thought of.

The great creed of the mahometans is, that there is one God, and Mahomet is his prophet. Now that Mahomet is not the prophet of God, it is to be hoped, they may, in time, be made to believe; but we must not expect that they will fo eafily give up their faith in the unity of God. To make the gospel, what it was originally, glad tidings of great joy; and as at last it certainly will be to all the nations of the world, we must free it from this moft abfurd and impious doctrine, and also from many other corruptions which have been introduced into it. It can no otherwife appear worthy of God, and favourable to the virtue and happiness of mankind.

Left fome common objections fhould hinder the reception of the great truth here contended for, I fhall briefly confider and reply to the principal of them. It is often said that Chrift fpeaks of his humanity only, whenever he reprefents himfelf as inferior to the Father, and dependent upon him. But the fcriptures themselves are far from furnishing the leaft hint of any fuch method of interpretation, though, according to the trinitarians, it is abfolutely necessary to the true understanding of them.

Besides, when it is applied to the paffages in quef-. tion, it is far from making them either true in them

felves,

felves, or agreeable to the obvious purport and defign of the places in which they are introduced. I fhall just mention a few. Could our Lord fay with truth, and without an unworthy prevarication, that the Father is the only true God, John xvii. 3. if any other perfon, not implied in the term Father, was as much the true God as himself? Now the term Father being appropriated to what is called the first person in the godhead, cannot comprehend the fon, who is called the fecond. This key, therefore, is of no service in this cafe, and our Lord, by expreffing himfelf as he has done, could not but lead his hearers into what is called a dangerous mistake.

When our Lord faid that his Father was greater than he, did he make any reserve, and fecretly mean, not his whole felf, but only part, and the inferior part of himself, the other part being equal in power and glory with the Father? How mean the prevarication, and how unworthy of our Lord!

When our Lord said that the time of the day of judgment was not known to himself, the fon, but to the Father only, could he mean that his humanity only did not know it, but that his divinity (which is supposed to be intimately united with his humanity) was as well acquainted with it as the Father himself? If the human nature of Chrift had been incapable of having that knowledge communicated to it, the declaration would have been needlefs: but as that was not the cafe, his hearers muft neceffarily understand