Single texts abused by Arians, cleared up by a comparison with other texts Divinity of Christ proved, by another se- The divinity of the Holy Ghost demonstra- ted by a comparison of different texts Objections answered by the scripture PAGE. CHAP. III. God is distinguished in the Old Testament, by a great variety of plural names and The divine plurality is a trinity of persons The controverted text of 1 John v. 7. cited by the Latins before the council of Nice - An instance of Dr. Clarke's distress and sophistry, in evading the terms Lord of hosts, as applied to Christ by St. John PAGE. II. They tell them their common sense is a sufficient guide without the clergy V. They forge a contradiction, and put it VI. Fallible Arians rail at the orthodox for being fallible men: yet these fal- lible men do not deliver their own doctrines, but such as they receive They alter the scripture to keep this accu- X A sophistical objection to the Litany, by the author of The Confessional XI. The Arians plead seriously for the re- moval of the orthodox faith, because it is offensive to Jews and Turks XII. They encourage the people with the men A warning to the people not to be cheated once more into their own ruin; from 182 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION MY bookseller having solicited me to republish this little treatise, I have corrected the typographical errors of the last edition, and enlarged some passages of the work itself. The attempt of a late bishop of Clogher to propagate Arianism in the church of Ireland, induced me to keep the doctrine of the trinity in my thoughts for some years; and I had a particular attention to it, as often as the scriptures either of the Old or New Testament, were before me. This little book was the fruit of my study; of which I have seen some good effects already, and ought not to despair of seeing more before I die. Many other observations have occurred to me since the first publication, which I should willingly have added. But some readers might have been discouraged, if I had presented them with a book of too large a size: and the merits of the cause lie in a small compass. The republication of this work, though merely aceidental, is not unseasonable at this time, when we are taught from the press,* (and the author seems to be very much in earnest) that the only sure way of reducing Christianity to its primitive purity, is to abolish all creeds and articles. But the great rock of offence, with this writer, is the trinity; to get rid of which, he would at once dissolve our whole ecclesiastical constitution and form of worship. This wild project furnishes a melancholy confirmation of the censure passed on us by some learned Pro In a new work, entitled The Confessional. * testants abroad; who have reflected upon England as a country productive of literary monsters; where some old heresy is frequently rising up, as old comets have been supposed to do, with new and portentous appearances. And the reader whose sight can pen etrate through the vehement accusations of Popery, bigotry, persecution, imposition, and other fiery vapours with which this author hath surrounded his performance, will discover little, if any thing, more than Arianism at the centre. The scripture is the only rule that can enable us to judge, whether that or the Catholic doctrine of the trinity is more agreeable to truth: therefore I have confined myself to this unexceptionable kind of evidence for the proof of the latter, and have made the scripture its own interpreter. But our adversaries, though they allow the sufficiency of the scripture, and unjustly pretend to distinguish themselves from us by insisting upon it, do nevertheless make such frequent use of a lower sort of evidence to bias common readers, and shew the expediency of what they are pleased to call reformation; that I have thought proper to exibit a specimen of their method of proceeding in that respect, by adding to this edition A Letter to the Common People, in answer to some popular arguments against the trinity. These arguments are extracted chiefly from a small book, entitled, An Appeal to the Common Sense of all Christian people; a thing very highly commended by the author of the Confessional.+ But in this author's estimation, every writer that op Carpzov. Pref. in Pseudo Critic: Whistonii. + "Which book," (says he)" has passed through two editions without any sort of reply that I have heard of. This looks as if able ters were not willing to meddle with the subject, or that willing wriwriters were not able to manage it," p. 320. The Rev. Mr. Landon published an answer to this book in 1764, printed for Whiston and White: and he has mentioned another himself in a note. But had the case really been as he hath reported in his text, it will by no means follow, that a book is therefore unanswerable, because it hath received BO answer. If this be good logic, I could present him with a conclusion or two, which he would not very well like |