6 the LORD FROM HEAVEN! I proteft by your rejoicing, which I also have in Chrift Jefus (a mere man) I die daily.-Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jefus, "Chrift, (that is through a mere man!) There. fore be ye ftedfaft, and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, (viz. the work of a mere man!) for as much as ye know that your labour fhall not be in vain in the Lord, (the fame mere man!)-Chap. xvi. 21, ́ The falutation of me Paul with my own hand. If any man love not the Lord Jefus Christ (that is, love not a mere man!) let him be anathema, (let him be accurfed) Maranatha (that is, the Lord, the fame mere man cometh.) The grace of our Lord Jefus Christ; (viz. the grace of a mere man!) be with you. My love be with 'you all in Chrift Jefus' (the fame mere man!) You fee, Dear Sir, the 1ft. Epistle to the Cor. when interpreted according to the Socinian doc trine, no more appears to have been written with common fenfe, than the Epiftle to the Romans. Nay, if Jefus Chrift be a mere man, fone parts of it are impious, as well as abfurd. It is infcribed: to thofe tha call on the name of our Lord Jefus Chrift, that is, if Jefus Chrift be no more than a man, it is infcribed to Idolaters. And both that and many other paffages of it manifeftly countenance and encourage Idolatry. To talk of grace and peace being derived from the Lord Jefus, as well as from God the Father, and to ask grace of him for the Churches :-To speak of being enriched by him in all utterance, and in all knowledge; of being confirmed by him to the end, and called into his fellowship; of preaching him, the wifdom and power of God,-made of God unto us wif dom and righteousness, fanétification and redemp M 3 tion: tion of being determined to know nothing but "him :-To call him the LORD OF GLORY, even that Lord BY WHOM ARE ALL THINGS, and reprefent him as the only foundation that is or can be laid as the Lord that fhall come and bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifeft the counfels of the heart:-To fpeak of the power of this perfon being with them that are gathered together, delivering an offender to Satan:-To hold him forth as our Paffover cruci'fied for us, and dying for our fins, according to the Scriptures: To fpeak of our being washed, juftified and fanctified in his name of our being his members joined to him, in one spirit, and rot our own but his, bought with a price: To term him THE LORD almost in every breath, and that eminently and abfolutely without any, the leaft, reftriction or limitation; and represent himself and all the Apoftles, nay and all Chriftians and Minifters all the world over, as his fervants : To fpeak of his ordaining laws for his church, and of his followers being under the law to him To talk of finning against him, tempting him, and provoking him to jealoufy, and to pronounce thofe accurfed that do not love him:-Surely this is not only abfurd, but even pernicious doctrine, if he be no more than a man. Equally pernicious as well as abfurd, are fundry paffages of his fecond Epiftle to the fame people. He begins it, as he had done the former, by ftyling himself an Apoftle of Jefus Chrift, that is, according to the Socinian doctrine, an Apostle of a mere man, and verfe 2d. he afks grace and peace of him, though a mere man, as well as of the fnpreme and everlafting Father!-Verfe 5th. he mentions their confolations as abounding through him, and Chap. ii, 14, Speaks of their triumphing in him, and being - unto i unto God a fweet favour in him, in them that are faved, and in them that perifh.Chap. i. 19. He calls him that Son of God whom he, Sylvanus and Timotheus had preached, and declares that he was not yea and này, but that all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen. And Chap. iv. 5, he fays, We preach not ourselves, but Chrift Jefus the Lord,that is, according to this doctrine, we preach not mere men, but we preach a mere man! and ourselves your fervants for Jefus's fake, (viz. for the fake of a mere man!) for God who commanded light to 'fhine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face, or perfon, of Jefus Chrift, (that is, the face or perfon of a mere man!) Verse 11, We who live are always de livered unto death for Jefus fake, (viz. for the fake of a mere man!) that the life alfo of Jefus 6 might be made manifeft in our mortal flesh.Chap. v. 6, While we are at home in the body, we are abfent from the Lord (that is absent from a mere man! Phil. i. 21.)-We are willing to be abfent from the body, and prefent with the Lord (the fame mere man!) We labour, whether prefent or abfent, to be accepted of • him, (viz. of Chrift the mere man! as the next words fhew) for we must all appear before the judgment feat of Chrift,-(the judgment feat of a mere man!) that every one may receive according to the deeds done in the body. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord (the terror of a mere man!) we perfuade men.-For the love of Chrift (the love of a mere man!) • constraineth us, while we thus judge, that if one (mere man!) died for all, then are alldead, and that he died for all, that they who live 6 live, fhould not henceforth live unto themfelves, but unto him (the mere man!) that died for them, and rofe again. All mankind, therefore, being redeemed by his death, are, it feems, under an indifpenfable obligation of living in obedience to the will, and of being devoted to the glory of this one mere man! Nay, and the Apoftles themselves are but Ambaffadors for Chrift, (that is, Ambaffadors for a mere man.— as though God, adds he, did befeech you by us, 'we pray you in Chrift's ftead, (the stead of a mere man!) be ye reconciled to God. For he hath 'made him (though but one mere man!) a fin-offering for us (many millions of inere men!) that we 'might be the righteoufnefs of God (might be jufti'fied and made righteous by God) in him.' How all true believers fhould be juftified and made righteous through one mere man, is furely, to fay the leaft, not eafy to conceive. us Proceed we to the 8th Chapter, Ye know the 'the grace of our Lord Jesus Chrift, how that though he was rich, for our fakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be 'made rich.' Will Doctor Prieftely inform when and how Chrift was rich, on his hypothefis, and when, and in what fenfe he became poor? And will he tell us how, on the fuppofition of his being a mere man, he can act the part of a fpiritual hufband, to all the faithful in every nation and age, guiding, protecting, and comforting them, nay, and fupplying all their wants? I have efpoused you (many millions as ye are) to one hufband (fays the Apostle, Chap. xi. 2,) that I may prefent you a chafte virgin to Chrift:'-The Apostle goes on. But I fear left 'your minds fhould be corrupted from the fimplicity that is in Chrift.-For if he that cometh ' preach preach another Jefus (another mere man!) whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another fpirit (from that mere man) which ye have not received, ye might well bear with him.' : Above all I would recommend the paragraph that follows, to the confideration of those who view Chrift as a mere man, and therefore judge it would be idolatry, to worship him. Chap. xii. 7, Speaking of his thorn in the flesh, he fays, For this thing I befought the Lord (that is I befought a mere man! fee verse 9th.) thrice "that it might depart from me, and he said unto me, 'My grace (though I am but a mere man !) is fufficient for thee, for my strength (mere man as I am!) is made perfect (is perfectly difplayed) in weaknefs! Moft gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Chrift (the power of a mere man!) may reft upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, &c. for Chrift's fake (that is, for the fake of a mere man!) for when I am weak, then (through the help of this mere man !) I am trong!' This furely is ridiculous in the extreme! And the 3, 5, and 13 verfes of Chapter xii. are little better. Ye feek a proof of Chrift (a mere man!) speaking in me.-5. Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith-Know ye not, that Christ (a mere man!) is in you, except ye be repro'bates Verse 13, The grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift, (that is, the grace of a mere man!) and the love of God, (the fupreme Being!) and the fellowship of the Holy Ghoft, (that is the fellowship of a power or property of God!) be with you all! Āmen !' Leaving you to wonder, Rev. Sir, how any man of fenfe can patronize and attempt to re .concile |