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poses the faith of the church of England, is ipso facto invincible and consequently, this retailer of Dr. Clarke's opinions, whoever he is, must come in for his share of merit and applause; which I by no means envy him.

So far as the scripture itself hath been thought to furnish any objections to the received doctrine, I judged it the fairer and the surer way, to answer them as they were offered by Dr. Clarke himself; and have therefore no apology to make for neglecting some of his disciples, who have not made any improvement on his arguments; as I do not find that this gentleman hath : the second edition of whose Appeal was published in 1754, since which there have been two editions of the Catholic doctrine in England, and one or more in Ireland.

By all the observations I have been able to make, the greater number of those who disbelieve the trinity upon principle (for many do it implicitly, and are credulous in their unbelief) do not profess to take their notions of God from the Bible, but affect to distinguish themselves from the common herd by drawing them from the fountains of reason and philosophy. We cannot be persuaded, that the trinity is denied by reasoners of this complexion, because the scripture hath not revealed it: but do rather suspect, that some philosophers dissent from this point of Christian doctrine, because they are not humble enough to take the scripture as a test of their religious opinions. In which case, the whole labor of collecting of texts, and framing of comments, and fishing for various readings, is an after-thought. It is submitted to rather for apology than for proof: to reconcile readers of the scripture to that doctrine, which they would be more jealous of receiving if they knew it to have been originally borrowed from another quarter. He that would deceive a Christian, can seldom do his work effectually without a Bible in his hand: a consideration, which may help us to a sight of the consequences, if persons were per

i

mitted to teach in our churches without any previous inquiry concerning their religious sentiments, and so allowed to take the same liberty, either through mistake or ill design, as was taken by the arch deceiver in the wilderness,* who never meant to use the scripture for edification, but only for destruction; not to apply it as an instrument of good, but to turn it, as far as he was able, into an instrument of evil. The Bible was given us for the preservation of the kingdom of Christ upon earth; as the book of statutes in this kingdom is intended to secure the authority of the government, together with the life, peace, and property of every individual; and we want no prophet to foreshew us the consequences, if all the malcontents in the nation were allowed to be public interpreters of the laws.

These considerations I leave the judicious to apply as they find occasion. I use them chiefly as hints, for the benefit both of such as may be in danger of wresting the scriptures to their own destruction, and of such philosophers as those alluded to by St. Paul,f who through the profession of fancied wisdom fell into real folly, and purchased a reputed knowledge of things natural and metaphysical, at the lamentable expence of losing the knowledge of God.

PLUCKLEY, Jan. 1, 1767,

Matt. iv. 6,

Rom. i. 22. 1 Cor. i. 21.

TO THE READER.

THE Christian religion is best known and distinguished by the God proposed in it, as the object of our faith and obedience: and as there is no true religion, but the religion of Christians, so is there no true God, but the God of Christians.

Before the coming of Christ, and the fulfilling of the law, God was known by the name of Jehovah, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. The Israelites, who were the seed of Abraham, and drew their whole religion from a divine revelation, had the knowledge of the true God; and the people of every other nation, who were aliens from the commonwealth of 1srael, and strangers from the covenants of promise, were also without God in the world. Though they talked much of God, and wrote much of him, and offered him many sacrifices, yet they knew him not: the being they served, was not God, but another in the place of him, falsely called by his name. And though some modern Christians have forgot there was any difference, yet the very heathens themselves, upon some occasions, were ready enough to allow it. Naaman the Syrian, when he was cured of his leprosy by the prophet Elisha, made a public confession of it-Be

a Ephesians ii. 12.
B

hold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.b The same is, affirmed by the inspired psalmist-All the Gods of the heathens are idols;c and God himself declares them all to have been vanities.d

The case is now with the Christians under the gospel, as it anciently was with the Jews under the law: they believe in the only true God; while the unchristian part of mankind, who are by far the majority, either know him not, or wilfully deny him; as Pharaoh did the God of the Hebrews when he was told of him. And we are now got to such a pitch of indevotion and ignorance, that among those who profess and call themselves Christians, there are too many who are almost come to be heathens without knowing it. For there is a fashionable notion propagated by most of our moral writers, and readily subscribed to by those who say their prayers but seldom, and can never find time to read their Bible, that all who worship any God, worship the same God; as if we worshipped the three letters of the word God, instead of the being meant and understood by it. The universal prayer of Mr. Alexander Pope was composed upon this plan 3 wherein the supreme being is addressed as a common father of all, under the names, Jehovah, Jove, and Lord. And this humour of confounding things, which ought to be distinguished at the peril of our souls, and of comprehending believers and idolators under one and the same religion, is called a catholic spirit, that shews the very exaltation of Christian charity. But God, it is to be feared, will require an account of it under b 2 Kings v. 15. e Psalm xevi. 5. d Jeremiah xiv. 22.

another name; and though the poet could see no difference, but has mistaken Jove or Jupiter for the same father of all with the Lord Jehovah; yet the apostle has instructed us better; who, when the pricst of Jupiter came to offer sacrifice, exhorted him very passionately to turn from those vanities unto the living God; well knowing that he whom the priest adored under the name of Jupiter, was not the living God, but a creature, a nothing, a vanity. Yet the catholic spirit of a moralist can discern no difference; and while it pretends some zeal for a sort of universal religion, common to believers and infidels, betrays a sad indif‐. ference for the Christian religion in particular. This error is so monstrous in a land enlightened by the gospel, and yet so very common amongst us at present, that I may be pardoned for speaking of it in the manner it deserves. And let me beseech every serious person, who is willing to have his prayers heard, to consider this matter a little better, and use a more correct form; for God, who is jealous of his honor, and has no communion with idols, will certainly reject the petition that sets him upon a level with Baal and Jupiter.

The true God is he that was in Christ reconciling the world to himself; there is none other but he; and if this great characteristic be denied, or any other assumed in its stead, a man is left without God; after which, he may call himself a Deist, if he will; but his God is a mere idol of the imagination, and has no corresponding reality in the whole universe of beings.

e Acts xiv. 15.