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AN

ELUCIDATION

OF THE

UNITY OF GOD,

DEDUCED FROM

SCRIPTURE AND REASON.

ADDRESSED то

CHRISTIANS OF ALL DENOMINATIONS.

The Lord Reigneth; let the Earth rejoice: let the multitude of Isles be glad thereof.-Psalm xcvii, 1.

Look unto me, and be ye saved all the ends of the Earth: for I am God; and there is none else. -Isaiah xlv, 22.

IT has been long a most affecting consideration, with all those who are seriously and Religiously disposed, that Mankind, and even the several sects of Christians, should still be so greatly divided in those Principles which regard the Proper Object of Adoration, and the most acceptable and orthodox mode of discharging

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the sacred Duty of Divine Worship. The Mind of Man is distracted by the various Opinions that have prevailed, and do yet prevail; and intimidated by the positive manner in which some of them have been insisted on, according to the several Ideas, and imaginary Interests of different Writers. This disunion, in the very groundwork of our faith, has done unspeakable injury to our holy Religion.

A standing cause of those Divisions which may appear to be grounded on Essentials, and therefore deserve attention, seems to be this; that many of the present Doctrines of the several Christian Churches, are derived, like the Traditionary tenets of the Scribes and Pharisees, not from the steady Light of Revelation, but from the irregular and fanciful glimmerings of Antiquity; not from Reason, but from Precedent.

The long controverted Creed ascribed to Athanasius, which asserts a Trinity in Unity, has been, in a great measure, we apprehend, the occasion (however unintended) of pernicious dissensions amongst Christians; and, indeed, any attempt to destroy the strict Unity of the Deity, must ever involve us in confusion, and shake the peace of Mankind.

It is designed, therefore, in the following pages, to manifest the truth and consistency of the Bible on an Article of infinite concern; -to recover the Harmony, on a Principle of heavenly origin, which has been disturbed here below, chiefly by an unhappy experiment, in an early period, to accomodate the simplicity of the sacred Doctrines to the abstruse Speculations of an ancient Philosophy. We shall endeavour to pursue the most easy and direct methods, as the most conducive to the end proposed. The fairest prospect of increasing that Faith which overcometh the World, is, in our efforts to remove, and not to establish, the Difficulties which appear to have been obtruded upon the Gospel: And it is a great happiness that our Creator has not left men under the necessity of employing any very deep or subtile arguments in support of a subject, on which to be in darkness is to be completely miserable. The virtuous mind, fearful of error, and anxious to be firmly grounded in Truths the most valuable, is too often precluded from every hope of satisfaction, by a dejecting and final appeal to Mystery; a Resource which has been the gloomy and uniform support of the revolting doctrine of Transubstantiation, and which (as it is still managed) seems to be calculated for

those only, who are willing to lay Reason and Religion asleep together *.

The Rational Powers were certainly given to Man, not to mislead him, but to direct his Judgment, and regulate his Ideas in the most interesting researches. Without the use of those Powers, it would be impossible to distinguish true from false Religion; and, indeed, it is very difficult to conceive how any Religion can take firm hold of a sound Mind, without an union with its Reason. It is in vain, therefore, to depreciate this Heavenly gift. When we are taught that we are bound" to believe faith

*For the true meaning of the Word, Mystery, in the New Testament; See Mr. Christie's Discourses on the Divine Unity; 2d. ed. p. 57, 258, 259. The Mysteries, which Men have so much insisted on, appear chiefly to be of human Invention.-See Rom. xvi, 25, 26; Col. i, 26, 27. God was pleased to give us a Revelation, not a Mystery: The Terms are as directly opposed as those of Light and Darkness. The Mysteries mentioned in Scripture, do not relatę to the Nature of God, but generally to the nature and time of his Dispensations: And as to These, what appeared once (i. e. before the coming of Christ) Mysterious, or Difficult to be understood (as the calling of the Gentiles to equal Privileges with the Jews, Eph. iii, 2-6), the Apostle tells us, is now Revealed, or made Manifest; viz. by the Gospel. -See Bishop Chandler's Defence of Christianity, p. 280 -282.

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