fied: "I know my sheep, and am known of mine." John, X. "And let him that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."-The same attribute is also, in effect, ascribed to him, chap. iv. 1; but on the Socinian hypo thesis it must be interpreted as follows: "I charge thee before God," that infinite and eternal Being who filleth heaven and earth, and therefore has his eye upon us both, "and the Lord Jesus Christ," that mere man, who, being now in heaven, and immensely removed from our world, is an utter stranger to us, and perfectly unacquainted with our behaviour, but "who will," however, "judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. Watch in all things;" for "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand: I have fought the good fight; and there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,” I mean a mere man, "will give me at that day; and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing," namely, the appearing of the same mere man. Verses 5-8. 66 At my first answer no man stood with me: but the Lord," how strange soever it may appear, since he is a mere man, "stood with me, and strengthened me; And and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. the Lord," the same mere man, "shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom," mere man though he be, “be glory for ever and ever." This mere man, "the Lord Jesus Christ, be with thy spirit." Verses 16—18, 22. The epistle to Titus being very similar to the two epistles to Timothy, I shall pass it over, referring only to one passage, which, according to Dr. Priestley's plan of doctrine, must be understood thus: "Looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of" a mere man, who, however, is "our great God and Saviour,” т8 μeyaλe Oes xas Σωτηρος ημων, "Jesus Christ; who," mere man as he is, 66 gave himself for us, that he," a mere man, by his laying down a temporal life, "might redeem us," many myriads as we are, “from all iniquity, and purify to himself,” that is, says Dr. Priestley, to a mere man, a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things" are of deep import 66 ance; therefore "speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee" for terming a mere man the "great God our Saviour." The epistle to Philemon affords several instances of the same kind with those quoted above. "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ," that is, a prisoner for his attachment to a mere man; "grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ," that is, from the eternal God and a mere man. "I thank my God, hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward" that mere man, "the Lord Jesus; that the communication of thy faith may become effectual," or that thy faith may be effectually communicated to others, "by the acknowledging," that is, by their acknowledging, "of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus," that same mere man. "Wherefore, though I might be bold in" this mere man, "Christ, to enjoin thee that which is convenient, yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of" a mere man, the man "Jesus Christ. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, a brother beloved, especially to me, and how much more to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord? Yea, brother, let me have joy in thee, in" this mere man, whom I term, "the Lord refresh my bowels in him. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in" this same mere man, "Christ Jesus, saluteth thee. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," that is, the grace of a mere man, be with your spirit. Amen." Philemon 1, 3, 4-6, 8—11, 16, 20, 23, 25. 66 May these blessed words, so often repeated, be at length so considered by Dr. Priestley and other Socinians, that they too may see their need of divine grace, and begin to apply to Christ for it, though at present they may judge it would be idolatry so to do. Surely, rev. sir, if the sundry passages produced in this letter were attended to, they must convince all candid and unprejudiced persons that, whethef St. Paul was right or wrong in his views of the Messiah, he certainly had a much higher idea of him than that of a mere man. To appeal to the Lord Jesus as omnipresent, and give Timothy repeated charges as in his sight, as well as in the sight of "God the Father;" to represent him as "abolishing death, and bringing life and immortality to light by the gospel," and as being "able to keep what we commit unto him safe unto that day;" to exhort Timothy to he strong" in his grace," to "endure hardness as a good soldier" of his, and make it his chief care to please him in all things, as the Captain of his salvation who had called him; to represent "salvation," in all its branches, and "eternal glory,” as being "in him,” and to be attained only by those who "die with him" that they "may live with him," and "suffer with him" that they "may reign with him;" to view him as unchangeable and omniscient; as one that abideth faithful "and cannot deny himself; as the Lord who "knoweth them that are his;" and as the "righteous Judge” who, at the day of his final and glorious coming, will give the crown of righteousness to all that love his appearing; to speak of this Jesus as "standing by him, strengthening and delivering him," when all men forsook him; and to express an entire confidence in him for deliverance from every evil work, and preservation to his heavenly kingdom; and lastly, to pray that he would "be with Timothy" also, and to ascribe "glory to him for ever and ever;"-surely these particulars demonstrate that St. Paul was as far from believing the doctrine of Christ's mere humanity, as he was from being guilty of gross idolatry himself, or from persuading others to the commission of that dreadful crime. I am, rev. sir, LETTER VII. REV. SIR, THOUGH it be not certain that St. Paul wrote the epistle to the Hebrews, yet, you know, it was the most prevailing opinion of the ancients, as it is still of the moderns, that he was the author of that invaluable work. I shall therefore take this for granted. But on the supposition that he was an unitarian, in Dr. Priestley's sense of the word, he seems to have paid still less regard to common sense, to say nothing of piety or sound reasoning, in this, than in any of his other epistles. We need not read far to find instances of the truth of this observation. We meet with them in the very beginning of the epistle. According to the Socinian doctrine he must be interpreted to mean as follows: "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets," that is, by mere men, "hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son," another mere man, "whom," however, "he hath appointed heir of all things," namely, of all his works, of all creatures, visible and invisible; "by whom also he made the worlds," though this his Son had no existence till the worlds had been made at least four thousand years; "who," mere man as he was, yet, "being the effulgence of his," the Father's, "glory, and the express image," or exact delineation, "of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power," even the things that had been created and upheld some thousands of years before he, a mere man, existed; "when he had by himself," namely, by laying down his mere temporal life, "purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;" being though a mere man, ignorant in many things, weak, and peccable, so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he," the Father, "at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be unto me a Son? And again, when he bringeth his first-begotten into the world," not that he had any prior existence, “he saith, Let all the angels of God" be guilty of idolatry, and worship him," a mere man. "Of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son," a mere man, "he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And, Thou Lord," a mere man, born in the days 66 of Augustus, "in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and," though weak and helpless, "the heavens are the work of thine hands: they shall perish, but thou remainest; yea, they all shall wax old as a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but thou," though no more than a man, "art the same, and thy years fail not. And to which of the angels said he at any time," as he hath said to this mere man, "Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?" Heb. i. 1—13. Such, if we believe Dr. Priestley, is the doctrine of the apostle in the very beginning of this epistle,—an epistle written manifestly with a design either to bring over the Jews, those great advocates for the unity of God, and the purity of divine worship, to the Christian religion, or to preserve those that were brought over. Even here, and to this people, averse above all others from the very appearance of idolatry, does he hold forth, according to the doctor, a mere creature, yea, a mere man, as the object of religious worship even to angels; nay, and-what is, if not more impious, yet more absurd and ridiculous-proclaims this mere creature, this mere man, to be the Maker, Upholder, and Lord of the universe. Surely a man must do greater violence to his understanding to entertain error, than to admit the truth. But to proceed. The apostle goes on in exactly the same strain of irrational argument, as distant from common sense as from piety: "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at first began to be spoken by" a mere man, whom I term "the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by those" other mere men "that heard him?" Again: 66 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak," as he hath to that mere man whom we call "the Son." "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels," not that he ever was |