LETTER II.

REV. SIR,-In the last letter we reviewed sundry passages quoted from the Epistle to the Romans, and found, I think, that on the supposition of the author's holding the doctrine of Christ's mere humanity, he paid little regard, I will not say to Divine inspiration, or to conclusive reasoning, but even to common sense, in writing that epistle. I now proceed to the first Epistle to the Corinthians, the very inscription of which, and benediction pronounced immediately after, demonstrate, either that the Socinian doctrine is false, or that St. Paul wrote, to say the least, very absurdly.

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, [that is, an apostle of a mure man!] unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, [viz. sanctified in a mere man!] called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours, [that is, call upon the name of a mere man!] Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ," who, though no more than a man, is able conjointly with the self-existent Jehovah, to confer grace and peace upon all the Churches.

"I thank my God, [proceeds he, verse 4,] always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Christ Jesus, [that is, by a mere man!] that in every thing ye are enriched by him [a mere man though he be!] in all utterance, and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ [this mere man] was confirmed among you, so that ye came behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, [though he be a mere man] shall confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of [the same mere man] our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord," I mean, the fellowship of a mere man! Now what a group of absurdities have we in these few verses! An apostle of a mere man! Sanctified in a mere man! Calling upon the name of a mere man! Deriving grace and peace from a mere man! Enriched by a mere man in all utterance and in all knowledge! Confirmed unto the end by a mere man! Waiting continually for the coming of a mere man! Surely this kind of language savours more of lunacy than of a sound mind, and betrays as great a want of reason or common sense, as of learning or inspiration. And yet one can hardly open any where in this or in the other epistles of this apostle, but, on the supposition of his being a Unitarian in the sense of Dr. Priestley and Socinus, one meets with absurdities equally numerous and glaring. Thus in the verses which immediately follow :

"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [viz. the name of a mere man,] that ye all speak the same thing. Was Paul [a mere man] crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I [a mere man!] baptized in my own name, [the name of a mere man.] For Christ [another mere man!] did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, not with wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ [that is, the cross of a mere man!] should be made of none effect. For the doctrine of the cross is indeed, to them that perish, foolishness; but to us who are saved, it is the power of God, verse 23. We preach Christ [a mere man!] crucified, unto the Jews a

stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them who are called, Christ [the same mere man] the wisdom of God, and the power of God! Of him are ye in Christ Jesus [viz. in a mere man] who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and re. demption." A mere man, the wisdom of God and the power of God: yea, wisdom and righteousness, that is, the source and author of wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption, to all that believe! Strange doctrine this indeed, and very incredible!

Thus again in the next chapter: "I determined not to know any thing among you but Jesus Christ, [that is, I determined not to know any thing but a mere man!] and him crucified. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory," that is, a mere man!

Again, chapter iii, 11: «Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ," a mere man: that is, a mere man is the one foundation of the whole Church, with all its doctrines, privileges, and duties! All believers, in all nations and ages, are built upon a mere man! And, chapter v, this doctrine supposes the apostle to speak as follows: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [that is, in the name of a mere man,] when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, [viz. the power of a mere man,] to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Will Dr. Priestley, or any of the Socinians, tell us how the power of a mere man, confined in the third heaven, could be exerted and felt on earth, and that in thousands and myriads of congregations at the same time? And will they inform us how sinners of every description could be washed, (as the apostle expresses it in the sixth chapter,) sanctified, and justified in the name of this mere man?

Pass we on to the seventh chapter: "Unto the married I command, yet not I [a mere man, as you know I am] but the Lord, [another and a greater mere man!] Let not the wife depart from her husband. But to the rest speak I, [a mere man,] and not the Lord, [particularly the other and greater mere man,] verse 22, He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's [that mere man's] freeman. Like. wise, also, he that is called, being free, is Christ's [the same mere man's] servant. Ye are bought with a price, be not ye the servants of men.' Howbeit, ye may be the servants of Christ, who himself is but a man!

Now how ridiculous is this language! How unworthy of the lips, I will not say of an inspired apostle, enlightened with Divine wisdom, but of any rational creature, however illiterate and uninformed! And yet this and such like language every advocate for the mere humanity of Christ, who acknowledges the authenticity of these epistles, and supposes their author to have been a Unitarian, puts into the mouth of the apostle; nay, and makes him utter it almost with every breath, even as often as he has occasion to speak of his Master, which, it is well known, is very frequently.

The Socinians glory much in the sixth verse of the next chapter, because the apostle there asserts, with great plainness, the unity of God; but even that passage affords a striking instance of the absurd and

ridiculous doctrine I mention. For if he affirm that "to us there is but one God the Father, of whom are all things," a truth we should be sorry to disbelieve or deny, persuaded as we are, that he is what his name imports, the Father of all, even of his beloved Son, his incarnate Word; if, I say, he affirms this, he affirms with equal plainness, that there is "one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things:" and how all things could be by a mere man, who had no existence till they had been made and preserved at least four thousand years, it may perhaps puzzle even Dr. Priestley to show. Nor have we far to read before we find another proof of the absurdity of supposing St. Paul to hold the doctrine of Christ's mere humanity. Verse 12, he says, "When ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak consciences, ye sin against Christ:" that is, according to this hypothesis, "When ye sin against mere men, ye also sin against a mere man!" To this mere man, as the Socinians think him, the apostle declares himself, in the next chapter, to be "under the law," and, chapter x, affirms that the Israelites tempted him in the wilderness, that is, if the Socinians be right, tempted him two thousand years before he existed. And while the ungodly among them thus rebelled and vexed the Holy Spirit of their Lawgiver, and their Judge, the faithful applied to him as their Saviour, and received salvation from him, for "they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ," the Rock of Ages, and the fountain of living waters to his Church, and yet, according to Dr. Priestley, a mere man!

If it seem strange to us that persons of sense and learning should patronize a doctrine which fathers such nonsense upon an inspired apostle, our wonder will in some measure cease, if we pass on to the twelfth chapter of this epistle. There the apostle both gives us the true reason why men embrace the Socinian hypothesis, and furnishes us with a striking example of the absurdity of attempting to reconcile it with his doctrine. "I give you to understand (says he) that no man, speaking by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." They have not received the Holy Ghost; they are not enlightened by that Divine Spir't; he has not taken of the things of Jesus, and shown unto them; has not revealed Christ to them, and therefore they do not, in the true and Scriptural sense, call Jesus Lord, but degrade him into a mere man. The apostle goes on : "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit," from whom they proceed, "and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord," the same mere man, says Socinus, that appoints them all, and there are diversities of operations, but the same God, who worketh all in all." In other words, according to the Socinian doctrine, all the gifts, offices, and effects, produced in the Church of Christ, are from the Holy Ghost, from a mere man, and from the self-existent Jehovah.

Permit me, Rev. sir, to refer you to a few more passages of this epistle, as instances of the absurdity of supposing the apostle to have held Dr. Priestley's sentiments concerning the mere humanity of Christ. Chap. xv, 45, we read: "The first Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam is a quickening Spirit ;" that is, according to the doctor, a mere man is a quickening Spirit! "The first man was from the earth, earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven:" that is, a mere

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man, descended from Joseph and Mary, is the Lord from neaven! protest by your rejoicing, which I also have in Christ Jesus, [a mere man,] I die daily. Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ, [that is, through a mere man!] Therefore be ye steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, [viz. the work of a mere man!] forasmuch as ye know that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord," [the same mere man !] Chap. xvi, 21: "The salutation of me Paul with my own hand. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, [that is, love not a mere man!] let him be anathema [let him be accursed] maranatha; [that is, the Lord, the same mere man, cometh.] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, [viz. the grace of a mere man !] be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus," [the same mere man!]

You see, dear sir, the first Epistle to the Corinthians, when interpreted according to the Socinian doctrine, no more appears to have been written with common sense, than the Epistle to the Romans. Nay, if Jesus Christ be a mere man, some parts of it are impious, as well as absurd. It is inscribed to those that "call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" that is, if Jesus be no more than a man, it is inscribed to idolaters. And both that and many other passages of it manifestly countenance and encourage idolatry. To represent grace and peace as being derived from the Lord Jesus, 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 wisdom and power of God;" "the wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption" of his followers; of being determined to "know nothing but him:" to call him the "Lord of glory," even that Lord "by whom are all things," and represent him as the only "foundation" of "his Church," that is or can be laid; as the "Lord that shall come" and bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart to speak of the power of this person being with them that are gathered together delivering an offender to Satan: to hold him forth as our Passover crucified for us, and "dying for our sins," according to the Scriptures to teach that believers are "washed, justified, and sanctified in his name;" are his members joined to him, in one spirit, and not their own but his, bought with a price: to term him the Lord almost in every breath, and that eminently and absolutely without any, the least, restric tion or limitation; and represent himself and all the apostles, nay, and all Christians and ministers through all the world, as his servants: to speak of his ordaining laws for his Church; and of his followers being "under the law" to him: to talk of "sinning against him, tempting him, and provoking him to jealousy," and to pronounce those accursed that do not love him: surely this is not only absurd, but even pernicious doctrine, if he be no more than a man.

Equally pernicious, as well as absurd, are sundry passages of his second epistle to the same people. He begins it, as he had done the former, by styling himself an "apostle of Jesus Christ," and asking grace and peace of him, as well as of his supreme and everlasting Father! Verse fifth he mentions his consolations as "abounding through him," and chap. ii, 14, speaks of their "triumphing in him," and being

"unto God a sweet savour in him," in them that are saved, and in then that perish. 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 nay, but that all the promises of God in him are "Yea,” and in him "Amen." And chap. iv, 5, he assures us they "preached not themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord:" that is, according to this doc. trine, they preached not mere men, but a mere man! "and themselves the servants of the Churches for Jesus' sake," viz. for the sake of a mere man! And verse 11: "Always delivered unto death for his sake, [viz. for the sake of a mere man !] that the life also of Jesus,” adds he, "might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." The reason of this their entire devotedness to Christ, we learn, chap. v, 14, 15, "The love of Christ constrained them :" that is, according to Dr. Priestley, the love of a mere man!" while they thus judged," thus believed and reflected, "that if one [mere man] died for all, then are all dead: and that he died for all, that they who live should not live henceforth unto themselves, but unto him [the mere man !] that died for them, and rose again." All mankind, therefore, being redeemed by his death, are, according to this doctrine, under an indispensable obligation of living in obedience to the will, and of being devoted to the glory of one mere man! Nay, and the apostles themselves were but ambassadors for Christ, (that is, ambassadors for a mere man,) as though God, adds he, did "beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, [the stead of a mere man!] be ye reconciled to God: for he hath made him [though but one mere man] a sin offering for us, [many millions of mere men,] that we might be the righteousness of God [might be justified and made righteous by God] in him." How all true believers should be justified and made righteous through one mere man, is surely, to say the least, not easy to conceive.

Proceed we to the eighth chapter. "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that, though he was rich, for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich." Will Doctor Priestley, or any Socinian, inform us when and how Christ was rich, on their hypothesis, and when and in what sense he became poor? And will he tell us how, on the supposition of his being a mere man, he can act the part of a spiritual husband, to all the faithful in every nation and age, guiding, protecting, and comforting them, nay, and supplying all their wants? "I have espoused you [many millions as ye are] to one husband, (says the apostle, chap. xi, 2,) that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ." The apostle goes on: "But I fear lest your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preach another Jesus [another mere man] whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another Spirit [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 consideration of those who view Christ as a mere man, and therefore judge that it would be idolatry to worship him. Chap. xii, 7, speaking of his thorn in the flesh, he says: "For this thing I besought the Lord [that is, I besought a mere man! see verse ninth] thrice, that it might depart from me, and he said unto me, My grace [though I am but a mere man!] is sufficient for thee, for my strength [mere man as I am!] is