eternal God, and yet that there should be but one God; a truth which is so clearly and fully revealed, that it is not possible for men to refuse their assent to it; or else it would, no doubt, have been long ago expunged from our creed, as utterly irreconcileable with the more favourite doctrine of a Trinity, a term which is not to be found in the Scriptures. Things above our reason may, for anything that we know to the contrary, be true; but things expressly contrary to our reason, as that three should be one, and one three, can never appear to us to be so.

With the Jews, the doctrine of the Divine Unity is, and indeed justly, considered as the most fundamental principle of all religion. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord," Deut. vi. 4. Mark xii. 29. To preach the doctrine of the Trinity to the Jews, can appear to them in no other light than an attempt to seduce them into idolatry, a thing which they dare not entertain the most distant thought of.

The great creed of the Mahometans is, that there is one God, and Mahomet is his prophet. Now that Mahomet is not the prophet of God, it is to be hoped, they may in time be made to believe; but we must not expect that they will so easily give up their faith in the unity of God. To make the Gospel what it was originally, glad tidings of great joy, and as at last it certainly will be to all the nations

of the world, we must free it from this most absurd and impious doctrine, and also from many other corruptions which have been introduced into it. It can no otherwise appear worthy of God, and favourable to the virtue and happiness of mankind.

Lest some common objections should hinder the reception of the great truth here contended for, I shall briefly consider and reply to the principal of them. It is often said that Christ speaks of his humanity only, whenever he represents himself as inferior to the Father, and dependent upon him. But the Scriptures themselves are far from furnishing the least hint of any such method of interpretation, though, according to the Trinitarians, it is absolutely necessary to the true understanding of them.

Besides, when it is applied to the passages in question, it is far from making them either true in themselves, or agreeable to the obvious purport and design of the places in which they are introduced. I shall just mention a few. Could our Lord say with truth, and without an unworthy prevarication, that "the Father is the only true God," John xvii. 3. if any other person, not implied in the term Father, was as much the true God as himself? Now the term Father being appropriated to what is called the first person in the Godhead, cannot comprehend the Son, who is called the second. This key,

therefore,

therefore, is of no service in this case; and our Lord, by expressing himself as he has done, could not but lead his hearers into what is called a dangerous mistake.

When our Lord said that his Father was greater than he, did he make any reserve, and secretly mean, not his whole self, but only part, and the inferior part of himself, the other part being equal in power and glory with the Father? How mean the prevarication, and how unworthy of our Lord!

When our Lord said that "the time of the day of judgement was not known to himself, the Son, but to the Father only," could he mean that his humanity only did not know it, but that his divinity (which is supposed to be intimately united with his humanity) was as well acquainted with it as the Father himself? If the human nature of Christ had been incapable of having that knowledge communicated to it, the declaration would have been needless; but as that was not the case, his hearers must necessarily understand him as speaking of himself in his highest capacity; as he certainly must do, if at all, when he speaks of himself, as the Son, corresponding to the Father.

If Christ had not satisfied the Jews that he did not mean to make himself equal with God, would they not have produced it against him at his trial, when he was condemned as a blasphemer because he confessed that he was the Christ only? And yet

no Jew expected anything more than a man for their Messiah, and our Saviour nowhere intimates that they were mistaken in that expectation. It is plain that Martha considered our Lord as a different person from God, and dependent upon God, when she said to him, John xi. 22. "I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.”

VI. OF ATONEMENT FOR SIN BY THE DEATH OF CHRIST.

You have been taught by divines, that if Christ be not God, he could not have made an infinite satisfaction for the sins of mankind. But, my brethren, where do you learn that the pardon of sin, in a finite creature, requires an infinite satisfaction; or, indeed, any satisfaction at all, besides repentance and reformation on the part of a sinner? We read in the Scriptures that we are "justified freely by the grace of God," Rom. iii. 34. But what free grace, or mercy, does there appear to have been in God, if Christ gave a full price for our justification, and bore the infinite weight of divine wrath on our account?. We are commanded to "forgive others, as we ourselves hope to be forgiven," Matt. vii. 14. and to be "merciful, as our Father, who is in heaven, is merciful." But surely we are not thereby authorized to insist upon any atonement, or satisfaction, before we give up our

resentment

ther.

resentment towards an offending and penitent broIndeed, how could it deserve the name of forgiveness if we did? If he only repent, we are commanded to forgive him, Luke xvii. 4.

You read in the Scriptures that Christ died a "sacrifice for our sins," Heb. ix. 26. So he did, and a sacrifice it was of "a sweet-smelling savour to God." To die, as Christ did, in the glorious cause of truth and virtue; to die, as he did, in order to show us an example of patiently suffering death for our religion, and the good of mankind, and in a firm hope of a resurrection to a future and eternal life; to die, as he did, in express attestation of his own divine mission, by his manifest resurrection from the dead, and as the fullest proof of that doctrine, by means of which sinners are continually reconciled unto God, was a noble sacrifice indeed. We also are commanded to "yield our bodies living sacrifices," Rom. xii. 1. and we are required to offer the "sacrifice of praise continually," Hebrews xiii. 15. But it is plain that all these are only figurative expressions, and used by way of comparison. Neither our bodies nor our prayers can be considered as real sacrifices; nor are we, therefore, obliged to suppose that Christ was a real sacrifice. And though we, like him, should be called actually to "lay down our lives for our brethren," 1 John iii. 16. which, in imitation of him, we are enjoined to be ready to do, we

should