general principles, and leading doctrines of the. chriftian religion.-Were I called upon to fubfcribe to creeds framed and impofed by other' men, I hope I should be one of the last to comply with a requeft, fo unfavorable to the natural and religious rights and liberties of mankind, and as it seems to me, fo gross and bold an invafion upon the fupreme and fole authority of Chrift in his church.-But while I am only requested to exprefs my own fentiments, in those words which my own ideas fuggeft, and allowed to make the Scriptures my only guide, free from a flavish fubjection to commonly received opinions and established systems, I fhall very readily and chearfully give you the fatisfaction you require. Only let me befpeak the favorable indulgence and candor of my auditors to the freedom I myself may use, and which I will ever allow to all my fellow-chriftians, not taking offence at their minute and circumftantial differences, defirous of holding the unity of the faith, in the bond of love.

When I furvey the frame of nature, and reflect on the many ftriking evidences of defign and intelligence in the conftitution of the visible world, I am neceffarily convinced of the exiftence of one firft caufe of all things, poffeffed of infinite power, of confummate wisdom, and boundless goodness.-But tho' the fyftem of nature affordeth to the mind unenlightened by revelation, many noble atteftations to the exiftence and perfections of the Deity, yet I believe it has pleafed God more clearly to reveal

his

his nature, character, and defigns in the writings of the Old and New Testaments. And thefe I receive as the genuine oracles of God, "which came not by the will of man, "but were given by the infpiration of God *;" and from the difcoveries therein contained, I learn that there is but one living and true God, fupreme in the perfection of his nature, and in his dominion and power. That he is a self-exiftent, neceffary, independent, eternal, and unchangeable Being, whofe knowledge as the omniprefent Spirit extends to all beings, in whofe fight all things are naked and open, and from whom the thoughts of the heart cannot be concealed; who is unfpotted in the rectitude of his nature, and to whofe infinite benevolence and goodness, all other beings owe their exiftence.—But tho' I believe the unity of the Deity to be a fundamental principle of the chriftian religion, I mean not to deny to either of the facred Three into whofe names we are baptized, and to whom the titles and perfections of Deity are afcribed, that honor which is due; but I receive the teftimony of the facred Scriptures on this fublime and infcrutable article of our religion, believing it upon their authority to be perfectly confiftent with the unity of the God

head.

I believe that he who built all things is God," who is the Creator of "all things visible and "invifible."All things were created by him, and for him-that at his almighty word, obe2 Pet. i. 21, 2 Tim. iii. 16.

4

dient

dient nature arose into existence, and the whole creation is maintained in being by his conftant unremitted presence, energy, and providence.

I believe that he diftinguish'd the human race, from all other Beings which he formed to inhabit this globe, by creating man in the glorious fimilitude and likeness of himselfThat he endowed him with noble intellectual and moral powers, and thereby made him capable of the contemplation, fervice, and enjoyment of himself. Yet man continued not long in this ftate of innocence and perfection; but by a wilful breach of that positive command, which was given as a teft of his obedience, he forfeited the dignity, felicity, and immortality of his original ftate, and introduced evil and death into the world; for " by one man, fin "entered into the world, and death by fin; "and fo death paffed upon all men, for that "all have finned *."-In confequence of this tranfgreffion, our first parents were degraded from their original dignity, banished from their delightful abode in Paradife, and the feeds of corruption fpringing up, and diffeminating their baleful influence in a numerous train of difeafes, they first fell the victims of death; and all their pofterity have been fubjected to the fame effects, from that connection which God had eftablished between Adam and his defcendants; and they are all in a state of moral depravity and corruption.

* Rom. v. 12,

In

In the difconfolate fituation in which our fallen first parents were, after they had been prevailed upon by the temptation of Satan to fin against God, it pleased the gracious Governor of the world, to adminifter relief to them by the diftant profpect of a deliverer, who fhould accomplish the benevolent and merciful fcheme of falvation, which he who forefaw the short duration of the first created pair, in their primitive state of innocence and happiness, had of his own free and fovereign good-will planned for our recovery. And as the effects of the first apoftafy grew more and more prevalent by length of time, the promise opened more clearly upon the world, dawning in all the different antecedent difpenfations, 'till it obtained its full and glorious accomplishment by the incarnation and advent of Jefus Chrift," the fecond "Adam, who took not on him the nature of

angels, but the feed of Abraham, and be"came partaker of flesh and blood," that he might deliver those who were "chosen of God "in Chrift Jefus, before the foundation of the "world," from eternal death and condemnation.

I believe in the teftimonies which God gave to this his only begotten Son when he brought him into the world; and that after he had paffed through the ftages of infancy and childhood, he took on him the character of a public teacher, and made pretenfions to be, what he proved himself to be, the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world.-That he confirmed

the

the truth and divinity of his miffion and character by innumerable miracles, by the peculiarly glorious and falutary difcoveries of his gofpel, and by the unfullied purity of his life and doctrine. That he was treated with the greatest indignity and contempt when living, and spending his whole life in the most benevolent and inceffant labours for the good of mankind; and at laft, after having been unjustly accused and condemned, was in confequence of the rage and malice of a corrupted race of bigotted, fuperftitious, and haughty ecclefiaftics. of the Jewish nation, crucified without the gates of Jerufalem; where he fulfilled (without the knowledge or defign of the wicked and cruel authors and inftruments of his crucifixion) "the determinate counfel and fore-knowledge "of God * ;" and thus by a moft amazing inftance of divine benevolence and love, by his own blood, made expiation for our fins.-For I do not, I cannot, Sir, from the facred hiftory, of the event itself, and the many references to it in Scripture upon all occafions, and the great ftrefs laid upon it in the article of our acceptance with God, confider the death of Chrift merely as that of a martyr, in giving an additional atteftation to the truth of his doctrine; but I do moft firmly, and with the most joyful fatisfaction and pleating hope thence derived, believe that when he thus fealed his doctrine by his blood, and gave a perfect example of refignation and fubmiffion to the will of God, he alfo "gave his life as a ranfom for many"—that " the * Acts ii. 23.

te

"Lord