another, if there had not been fome good reason in the nature of things (though it be unknown to us,. and may be undiscoverable by us) why the world hould have been made and governed by a derived being, and not by the fupreme being himself. And this reason, whatever it was, muft, as far as we can judge, have operated during the time that Christ was upon the earth, as well as before.

If Christ was degraded to the state of a mere man during his humiliation on earth, reason will afk,. why might not a mere man have been fufficient ; fince, notwithstanding his original powers, nothing was, in fact, done by him, more than any other man, aided and affifted by God as he was,. might have been equal to ?

If we confider the object of Chrift's miffion, and the beings whom it refpected, viz. the race of man, we cannot but think that there must have: been a greater propriety, and use, in the appointment of a mere man to that office. What occafion was there for any being fuperior to man for the purpofe of communicating the will of God to man ?: And as an example of a refurrection to an immortal life (to enforce which was the great object of his miffion) the death and refurrection of one who was properly and fimply a man was certainly far better adapted to give men fatisfaction concerning their own future refurrection, than the seeming death (for it could be nothing more) of fuch a being

as

as the maker of the world, and the refurrection of a body to which he had been united. For, as he was a being of fo much higher rank, it might be faid, that the laws of his nature might be very dif ferent from those of ours; and therefore he might have privileges to which we could not pretend, and to which we ought not to afpire.

If the world was created and governed by a derived being, this being, on whom we immediately depended, would be that to whom all men would naturally look. He would neceffarily become the object of their prayers, in confequence of which the fupreme being would be overlooked, and become a mere cypher in the universe.

As modern philofophy fuppofes that there are innumerable worlds inhabited by rational and imper. fect beings (for all creatures muft be finite and im perfect) befides this of ours, it cannot be fuppofed but that many of them must have ftood in as much need of the interpofition of the maker of the universe as we have done. And can we fuppofe either that this should be the only spot in the universe fo highly diftinguished, or that the maker of it should undergo as many degradations as this scheme may require?

The doctrine of Chrift's pre-existence goes upon the idea of the poffibility, at least, of the pre-exiftence of other men, and fuppofes an immaterial foul in man, altogether independent of the body; fo

that

that it must have been capable of thinking, and acting before his birth, as well as it will be after his But thefe are fuppofitions which no ap

death.

pearance in nature favours.

The arian hypothesis, therefore, though it implies no proper contradiction, is, on feveral accounts, highly improbable a priori, and therefore ought not to be admitted without very clear and ftrong evidence.

III. ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE TRINITARIAN AND THE ARIAN HYPOTHESES FROM THE SCRIPTURES.

I SHALL now fhew, in as concife a manner as I can, that the doctrine of the trinity, and also the arian hypothefis, have as little countenance from the fcriptures as they have from reafon. The fcriptures teach us that there is but one God, who is himfelf the maker and the governor of all things; that this one God is the fole object of worship, and that he fent Jesus Christ to instruct mankind, empowered him to work miracles, raised him from the dead, and gave him all the power that he ever was, or is now poffeffed of.

1. The fcriptures contain the clearest and most express declarations, that there is but one God, without ever mentioning any exception in favour of a trinity, or guarding us against being led into any mistake by fuch general and unlimited expreffions.

preffions.

Ex. xx. 3. Thou shalt have no other God before me. Deut. vi. 4. Hear, O Ifrael, the Lord our God is one Lord. Mark xii. 29. The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Ifrael, the Lord our God is one Lord. I Cor. viii. 6. To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord, are all things, and we in him. Lord, one faith, one baptifm, of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 1 Tim. ii. 5- For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Jefus Christ, by whom Eph. iv. 5, 6. One one God and -Father

On the other hand, not only does the word trinity never occur in the fcriptures, but it is no where faid that there are three perfons in this one God: nor is the doctrine explicitly laid down in any other direct propofition whatever. Christ indeed fays, John x. 30. I and my Father are one; but he fufficiently explains himself, by praying that his disciples might be one with him in the fame fenfe in which he was one with the Father. John xvii. 21, 22. That they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; and the glory which shou gavest to me, I have given them, that they may be

one, even as we are one.

2. This one God is faid to have created all things; and no intimation is given of his having employed any inferior agent or inftrument in the work of creation. Gen. i. I. In the beginning God created

the

the heaven and the earth-ver. 3. God faid, let there be light and there was light, &c. Pf. xxxiii. 6. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth—ver. 9. He fpake, and it was done; he commanded, and it ftood faft. If. xliv. 24. Thus faith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things, that ftretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.

3. This one God is called the Father. i. e. the author of all beings; and he is called God and Father with respect to Chrift, as well as all other perfons. John vi. 27. Labour not for the meat which perifheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the son of man shall give unto you; for him bath God the Father fealed. John xvii. 3. That they might know thee, the only true God, and Jefus Christ whom thou haft fent. John xx. 17. Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God, and your God. Eph. i. 17. That the God of our Lord Jefus Chrift, the father of glory, may give unto your the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Col. i. 3. We give thanks to God, and the Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift.

4. Chrift is faid exprefsly to be inferior to the Father, all his power is faid to have been given him by the Father, and he could do nothing with

out