concile with the Scriptures, a doctrine, which when brought to that touchftone, appears to be fo abfurd and ridiculous,

I fubfcribe

myfelf,

Yours, &c.

LETTER

REV. SIR,

LETTER III

IN the two former Letters we reviewed a variety of paffages occurring in the Epistle to the Romans, and the two Epiftles to the Corinthians, which, on the fuppofition that the Author of thofe Epifties held the doctrine of Chrift's mere humanity, manifeftly appear to have been written without regard to common fenfe. I proceed now to lay before you a few texts, of a fimiliar nature, from the leffer Epiftles of the fame Apoftle. And feveral, not a little remarkable in this view, occur in the very beginning of the first of these Epiftles. According to Dr. Prieftley's hypothefis, they must be read as follows, Gal. i. 1, Paul, an Apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jefus Chrift, (a mere 6 man!) and God the Father, who railed him from the dead.-Grace to you, and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jefus Chrift; (that is, from the Eternal God and a mere man!) who (though no more than a man,) · gave himlelf for our fins, that he might deliver us, (many myriads as we are!) from this prefent evil world. I marvel that ye are fo foon removed from him that called you into the grace of Chrift, (the grace of a mere man!) unto another Gospel, which is not another, but there be fome that trouble you, and would pervert 'the Gofpel of Chrift, (which you know is the 'Gospel of a mere man!)-Do I now perfuade (or folicit the favour of) man? or do I feek to

pleafe men? For if I yet pleafed men, I fhould not (please or) be the Servant of Chrift (a mere 6 man!)-But I certify you, brethren, that the

6

Gofpel

• man.

Gospel which was preached of me, is not after For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus. • Chrift (a mere man!)'

Now, Sir, is not all this very extraordinary? 'An Apostle not of men, neither by man, but by a mere man !If I pleased, or were the fervant of men, I fhould not be the fervant of a mere man! The Gospel which I preached is. • not after man, but after a mere man! Is it not excellent fenfe, this? worthy of the learning of the difciple of Gamahel, and of the infpiration of the Apostle of God? The Apoftle proceeds, verse 15, When it pleafed God, who feparated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,—to reveal his Son, (that is to reveal a mere man!) in me, that I might preach him, the fame mere man!) among the heathen,' as the grand foundation of their confidence, and hope, Cor. iii. 11, Eph. i. 12, 13, the object of their love, 1 Cor. xvi: and fpring of their obedience, 2 Cor. v. 14, immediately Lconfere red, not with flesh and blood!

I fhall take no notice of what the Apostle has delivered with great clearness in the next Chap. relpecting juftification by faith in this mere man, as the Socinians think him, though absolutely irreconcilable with their doctrine; but what he has occafionally remarked, refpecting the union which he had with Chrift, and which indeed all that are juftified have with him, muft not be paffed over, as being perfectly unintelligible on their hypothefis. Verle 20, We read, I am crucified with Chrift, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Chrift,' (a mere man, fays Dr. Prieftley, liveth in me, and the life I live in the fleth, I live by faith in the Son of God,' that is, by faith in a mere man, who hath loved me and given himfelf for me,' Will Dr. Priefly, inform

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inform us how Chrift, if a mere man could live in the Apoftle? And will he tell us how he could redeem us all, (that believe in him, whether Jews or Gentiles,) from the curfe of the Law,-(fee Chap. iii, and 13,) that the bleffing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jefus Chrift (this mere man!) that we might receive the promife of the Spirit through faith,' viz. faith in the fame mere man! John vii. 37, 38.

Proceed we to the next Chapter, in the beginning of which we meet with another remarkable paffage to the fame purpose. According to the Socinian hypothefis, it must be understood thus. When the fulness of time was come, God fent forth his Son,' that is, caused a mere man to be born, —to redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of fons, and becaufe ye are fons, God hath fent forth the Spirit of his Son,' (viz. the Spirit of a mere man!) into your hearts, crying, Abba Father.' I would enquire here, if Christ be a mere man, who had no prior exiftence, and was not even conceived in any extraordinary way, ift. Why is he emphatically, and by way of eminence, termed God's Son? 2d. Why is he faid to be fent forth? And gd. Why does the Apoftle fpeak of his Spirit being fent into the hearts of the faithful? How can the Spirit of one mere man, be fent into another man's heart ?-The Apostle goes on Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did fervice unto them, who by nature are no Gods, but now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of him,' both ye and we (he might have added) do fervice to one who is a mere man! For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself, but we live and die to him

N

that

that died for us and rofe again! Rom. xiv. 7. and 2 Cor. v. 14.

There are many other paffages in this Epiftle equally abfurd on the Socinian principles. As verfe 14, Ye received me as an Angel of God, ' even as (a mere man!) Jefus Chrift.'-Verse 10, My little children of whom I travail in birth again until Chrift, (a mere man!) be formed in you! • —Chap. v. 1, Stand fat in the liberty where with (a mere man) Chrift hath made us free! Chap. vi. 2, Bear ye one another's burdens, "and fo fulfil the Law of Chrift, (that is, the 'Law of a mere man!)-Verse 14, God forbid that I fhould glory, fave in the crofs of our Lord Jefus Chrift, (the cross of the fame mere man!) by whom, (a mere man, though he be) the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the 'world! For in the (fame mere man) Christ 'Jefus, neither circumcifion availeth any thing, nor uncircumcifion, but a new creature.-From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jefus, (viż. the marks of the fufferings I have endured for • the fake of a mere man!] Brethren, the grace of (this mere man) the Lord Jefus Chrift, be with your Spirit.'

You fee, Rev. Sir, that this Epiftle to the Galatians, befide the many paffages which are fimilar to thofe found in the preceding Epiftles, has feveral of a peculiar nature, in which the Lord Jefus is fet in oppofition to men, and to be made an Apoftle by him, to receive the Gofpel from him, and seeking to please him, are opposed to the being made an Apostle by man, receiving the Gospel from man, and feeking to please man. Now, in these inftances, Dr. Prieflley will find it hard work indeed, to vindicate the common fenfe of the Apoftle, and yet prove that he held the doctrine of Christ's mere humanity.—Examine

we