fimilar to that of Dr. Priefly Is not this Jefus the Son of Jofeph.whofe Father and Mother we know? How is it that he (a mere man) faith I CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN? Jefus, therefore, answered, (it would be well if the abettors of the Socinian doctrine would weigh the anfwer) Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come unto me except the Father who fent me draw him, and I will raife him up at the laft day.-Verily, verily, I fay • unto you, He that believeth on me, hath everdafting life: I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.-Ver. 50. This is the bread that CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN that a man may eat thereof, and NOP DIE. I (a mere man, born of Jofeph and Mary) an the LIVING BREAD WHICH CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN: if a man eat of this bread, he thall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the • world.'-The whole of this difcourfe is abfurd and impious, on the Socinian principles.

6

Again, ver. 53, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whofo eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I (a mere • man) will raife him up, at the last day. For my flefh (mere man, though I be) is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me (a mere man !) and I (a mere man!) DWELL IN 6 HIM.-This is the bread that CAME DOWN FROM 6 HEAVEN. Not as your Fathers did eat Manna, and are dead. He that eateth of this bread fhall live for ever. Certainly, if our Lord be no more than a man, he must have intended to miflead his hearers. He adds, Doth this offend you? "What, and if ye fhall fee the Son of man afcend up • where he wAS BEFORE.' Now, if he be a mere man, who had no existence til) born in Bethlehem,

he

he afferts a falfhood here. He never had been in heaven before. As alfo, Chap. viii. If ye I had known me (a mere man) ye would have Ye are from beneath, known my Father alfo.

I am FROM ABOVE: ye are of this world; Í AM NOT OF THIS WORLD!' Are these the words of the faithful and true witnefs? Are they the words of foberness and truth? Are these that follow: If God were your Father, you would love me, for I PROCEEDED FORTH AND CAME FROM GOD? -Your Father Abraham rejoiced to fee my day, and •he faw it and was glad.", Then said the Jews ' unto him, Thou art not yet 50 years old, and haft thou feen Abraham. Jefus faid unto them, VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU, BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS, I AM.' How diftant from common fenfe, as well as piety, is language like this, proceeding from the mouth of a mere man ?

Chap, xth, furnishes us with many examples of a fimilar kind. .' I (a mere man?) am the door of of the sheep by me, if any man enter in, he 'fhall be faved, and fhall go in and out, and shall find pafture.-I (the fame mere man) am come, that they might HAVE LIFE, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the GOOD SHEPHERD; the good Shepherd giveth his life for the Sheep. (I fay again, though a mere man) ver. As am the GOOD SHEPHERD, AND KNOW 14. MY SHEEP, AND AM KNOWN OF MINE. 'the Father knoweth me, (a mere man!) so I (a mere • man!) know the Father, and I lay down my life for the Sheep. And other theep have I, which

་

་

I

are not of this fold, them alfo, I (a mere man) must bring in, and they fhall hear my voice, the voice of a mere man, and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd. Therefore, doth my Father love me, because I LAY DOWN MY LIFE, TAKE IT AGAIN: 'No THAT I (a mere man) MAY

•No man taketh it from me, but I (a mere man): " LAY IT DOWN OF MYSELF: I (a mere man) HAVỀ POWER TO LAY IT DOWN, AND I HAVE POWER

་

me is

ONE.'

TO TAKE IT AGAIN. This commandment have 'I received of my Father.-ver. 27. My fheep, hear my voice, and I (a mere man) KNOW THEM, and they follow me, and (though a mere man) I GIVE UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE, and they •fhall never perifh, neither hall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father that gave them greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I AND MY FATHER (that is, if we believe Dr. Prieftley, a mere man, and the eternal God) ARE Well might the Jews accufe him of blafphemy. Surely, if he be a mere man, he cannot be acquitted of that dreadful crime. For he fpeaks as though the almighty power of the Father wore his own, to be ufed by him, at his pleasure, for the protection of his fheep. Again, verfe 37, If I (a r're man?, do not the works of my Father, believe me not: but, if I do: though ye believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me," and I in him.'

6

And, methinks, his words to Martha, found very aukwardly, if confidered as proceeding from the lips of a mere man, • I (a mere man) am the

6

RESURRECTION and the LIFE: he that believeth in me, though he die, yet fhall he live. Divers paffages, alfo, in the two next chapters, if underftood, as spoken by a mere man, seem equally ridiculous, as Chap. xii. 26, It a man ferve me, (a mere man!) let him follow me.-Yet a little while, (ver. 35.) is the light (viz. a mere man !) with you-while you have the light, believe in the light-ver. 45. He that feeth me, feeth' him that fent me.' That is, on the Doctor's

U

principles, He that feeth a mere man, feeth the eternal God! I (a mere man !) am come a light into the word, that whosoever believeth on me, 'fhould not abide in darkness. Chap. xiii. 3, Jefus (that is a mere man) knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he (though a mere man, who had no exift. ence till born in Bethlehem) was come from God, and went to God,' &c.

.ver.

But more especially the difcourfes recorded in the three following Chapters are worthy of our attention in this view. According to the Socinian doctrine, the Lord Jefus addreffes his difciples, in the following, and fuch like language, juft before his departure from them. • Let not your heart be troubled: Ye believe in God, (the fupreme Being) believe also in me (a mere man !} 6, I (a mere man) am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father alfo: (that is, if ye had known a mere man, ye would have known the fupreme and everlasting God!) and from henceforth, ye know him, and have seen him.-Philip faith unto him, Lord fhew us the Father, and it fufficeth us. Jefus faith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet haft thou not known me (a mere man!) Philip? He that hath feen me (that hath feen mere man!) hath feen the Father! Believeft • thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. ver. 15, If ye love me, keep my com⚫mandments, (the commandments of a mere man!)

a

I will not leave you comfortless, I (a mere man will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world feeth me no more, but ye fee me, because I (a mere man) live, ye fhall live also !

He that loveth me, fhall be loved of my Father: and I (a mere man) will love him, and will manifeft myself to him. If a man love

me, he will keep my words, (the words of a mere man!) and my Father will love him, and we, (that is both the omniprefent God, and I, a mere man) N. B. will COME UNTO HIM, AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM!Will Dr. Priestley inform us how a mere man can come to, and make his abode with thousands and myriads at the fame time? ver. 28, If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said I go to the Father, for my Father is greater than 1,' that is, on the Socinian hypothefis, the Eternal God, is greater than a mere man! A wonderful discovery truly! He proceeds, Chap. xv, I (a mere man) am the true vine (into which all believers, all the world over, of every nation and age, are ingrafted) my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in 6 me, that bearesh not fruit, he taketh away

6

Abide in me (that is, abide in a mere man) and I (the fame mere man) in you. As the ⚫ branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, (from which it derives its very being, and to which it is wholly indebted for all its life, growth, and fruitfulness) no more can ye, except ye abide in me (a mere man whofe offspring ye are, and on whom ye are dependant, not only for grace, but for life and breath, and all things! Col. i. 16, 17,) He that abideth in me (a mere man) and I (the fame mere man) in him, the fame bringeth forth much fruit, 'for without me, (that is without a mere man!) ye can do nothing. Strange doctrine, indeed! What! can we do nothing with the help of God, without the help of this mere man? If any man, proceeds he, abide not in me, (the famejmere man, even though he may fuppofe that he abides in the Father) he is caft forth as a branch, and is withered. If ye abide in me (a mère man!) and words (the words of a mere man!) abide in

my