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That if I would give bail, and be bound to appear at the next affizes, he would defer my trial 'till then. But I told him, I would not give bail, neither fhould any man be bound for me; that if the prince of Wales himself would, he fhould not; for, faid I, I have an innocent breaft, and I have injured no man; and therefore I defire no other favour, but that I may have liberty to plead to the indictment myself.

Upon which he said, very courteously, You may. The judge having given me liberty of pleading to the indictment, I began my speeeh with the facred firft commandment of God, viz. Thou shalt have no other gods but Me. I infifted upon the word Me being a fingular; and that it was plain and certain, that God fpake of himself, as one fingle perfon or being, and not three diftinct perfons. And that it was manifeft, that all the church of God, which then heard those words, understood it in the fame plain obvious fenfe as I do; as is moft evident from the words of the prophet Mofes who faid to Ifrael thus; Unto thee it was fhewed, that thou mighteft know, that the Lord he is God, there is none else besides him; out of heaven he made thee hear his voice, &c. I told them, that from the words he, and him, and his, it was certain God was but one fingle perfon, one fingle he, or him, or his. I told them that all the patriarchs from the beginning of the world did always address themfelves to God, as one fingle

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being. O thou Moft High God, poffeffor of heaven and earth; and Abraham said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up my hand unto the Lord, the Most High God, the poffeffor of heaven and earth, &c. They knew nothing of a trinity, nor of God's being a plurality of perfons; that monftrous doctrine was not then born, nor of two thousand years after, 'till the apoftacy and popery began to put up its filthy

head.

Then I told them, that all the prophets witnessed to the truth of the fame pure uncorrupted unitarian doctrine of one God, and no other but he : Have we not all one Father, hath not one God created us? Then I told them the words of God to Abraham, I am God Almighty, walk before me, and be thou perfect; and by the prophet Isaiah, To whom will ye liken' me, or shall I be equal, faith the holy One, not the holy Three. I told them that the words Me and One did utterly exclude any other perfon's being God, but that One fingle Me; and that God himself often teftifies the fame truth, by faying, Is there any God befides Me? And then tells us plainly, There is no God, I know not any: I am the Lord, and there is none elfe; there is no God befides me. Ifaiah

xlv. 5.

Now, faid I, let God be true, but every man a liar, that is, every man that contradicteth him; for he is the God of truth; he says, I lift up my hand to heaven, I fay, I live for ever.

After

After I had pleaded many texts in the Old Teftament, I began to enter the New; and told them, that our Lord Jefus Chrift, the prophet, like unto Mofes, held forth the same doctrine that Mofes had done; for when a certain ruler came to ask him which was the firft and great commandment, (or how he expounded it,) he told him the fame words that Mofes had faid. Hear, O Ifrael, the Lord thy God is one Lord, not three, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, &c. And the fcribe faid, Thou haft anfwered right, for there is but one God, and there is no other but he, &c. Then I mentioned the words of Chrift in the xviith of John and ver. 3. as very remarkable, and worthy of all their observation: This is life eternal to know thee the only true God, and Jefus Christ whom thou haft fent. And then I turned my face directly towards the priests (my profecutors, who all stood on the right fide of the judge) Now, said I, fince the lips of the bleffed Jefus, which always fpake the truth, fay his Father is the only true God; who is he, and who are they that dare set up another, in contradiction to my bleffed Lord, who fays, his Father is the only true God?

And I stopped here, to fee if any of them would anfwer; but the power of God came over them, fo that all their mouths were shut up, and not one of them fpake a word. So that I turned about over my left shoulder, and warned the people, in the fear of

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God, not to take their religious fentiments from men, but from God: not from the pope, but from Christ; not from prelates nor priests, but from the prophets and apoftles.

And then I turned towards the judge, and told him, that I was the more convinced of the truth of what I had faid from the words of my bleffed Lord; who faid, Call no man Father here upon earth; for one is your Father, even God. And call no man Mafter, for one is your Mafter, even Chrift. From hence, faid I, I deduce this natural inference, that in all things that are of a spiritual nature, we ought to take our religion from God and his prophets, from Chrift and his ápoftles. It will be too long to mention all the texts and proofs that I made use of; I will only add one or two, as that of Paul, 1 Cor. viii. 4, 5, 6. where the apoftle tells us, There is no other God but one; for though there be that are called gods (as there be gods many, and lords many) both in heaven and earth; but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things; so that I told them, here was a plain demonstration; for he says, there is but one God: and he tells us who that one God is, that is, the Father. And therefore no other perfon could be God but the Father only; and what I had wrote in my book was the plain truth, and founded on God's own words, Thou shalt have no other Gods but me.

In fhort, I could plainly perceive there was a general convincement through the court. The judge and justices of the peace did not like the profecution; but faw plainly, that out of envy the priests had done it. I then began to fet before them the odious nature of that hell-born principle of perfecution, and that it was hatched in hell; that it never came from Jefus Chrift; and that he and his followers were often perfecuted themselves, but they never perfecuted any; that we had now a very flagrant inftance of it by the papifts at Thorn ; where they firft took away the fchools where our brethren the proteftants educated their children; then they took away the places of their religious worship; then they put them in prifons; then confifcated their eftates, and, laft of all, took away their lives.

Now we can cry out loud enough against this, and fhew the inhumanity, cruelty, and barbarity of it; but, faid I, if we, who call ourselves proteftants, fhall be found acting in the fame fpirit, against others, the crime will be greater in us than in them; because we have attained to greater degrees of light than they.

However, I told them, that I had put my houfe in order, and made up my accounts with all men as near as I could; and that as I owed no man here any thing, fo I would not pay a penny towards this profecution: and that I was fure of it,

that

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