from f^e feifirarg of (profe66or ^amuef (Qliffer in (glemori? of 3ubgc ^amuef (ttXiffer QSrecftinr%e (j^reeenfeb 6|? ^amuef (ttliffer QSrecftinribge £ong to f 3e feifirari? of (prtnccfon ^^eofogicaf ^eminarj # / THE ORIGIN OF <^a^J^t A R I A N I S M DISCLOSED. By JOHN WHI'TAKER, B. D. RECTOR OF RUAN LANYHORNE, CORNWALL. LONDON: PRINTED FOR JOHN STOCKDALE, PICCADILLY, I79I. -V/c '-* ^ ^ t^t^/'^^ t J TO THE RIGHT REVEREND SJMUEL LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVID'S, Mv Lord, I puhlickly requeft you to accept a copy of the prefent work, in order to lliow youF Lordfhip and the world, my flrong fenfe of the fervice which you have done to the caufe of Chrifti- anity, by your late writings againfl a well-known Heretick. Your writings will continue to be fer- viceable to the caufe, as long as the memory of that Heretick continues in the church. The bane and the antidote will go on, in an ufeful union together. With abilities muchJefs vigorous, and with learn- ing much more contracted, I have here engaged in aflertion of the fame caufe. But I have adted dif- ferently from your Lordlhip. I have entered di- A 2 re6Uy .^ IV DEDICATION. redly into the heart of the controverfy. This you declined to do, becaufe the arguments on both fides had been repeatedly canvafled, you thought, and nothing new could be advanced upon the lubjedt. I flatter myfelf, that I have advanced fomething new and jufl upon it 5 and have introduced a train of hiftorical argumentation, which is at once novel in its direction, comprehenfive in its fcope, and decifive in its eincacy. I fliall think myfeif fingularly fortunate, if it fhould appear to others as it does to me. I Ihall be particularly pleafed, if it meets with your LordIhip*s approbation. And, in hopes it will, I fubfcribe myfeif with great refpedl for your talents, your fpint, and your applicadon of both. My Lord, Your moft obedient Son and Servant, Jprittjy 1791. E.. L. Parfonnge. J. WHITAKER. THE ORIGIN OF ARIANISM DISCLOSED. CHAPTER THE FIRST. Nations aflume different characters at differ- ent times. Some fecular or fpiritual caufes inter- pofe, to change the general tone of thinking. Thefe are apparent as they arife, to the philofophical fur- veyor of man. And they foon become vifible in their effedls, to every eye. In this kingdom, and at this period, we may mark a rifing averfion to theological controverfy. We fee it ftealing upon the minds of fcholars, and giving a tinfture to their fentiments. It is only beginning at prefent. It carries, therefore, a faint and dubi- ous appearance with it. But it is beginning. And the operations of it, if not checked, will fpeedily Ihow themfelves in a frigid apathy of moderation, concernino- all the fundamental articles of our religion. This new and degenerate fort of ftoicifm maybe attributed perhaps by fome, to the furfeit which the nation has taken of fuch controverfy j from the long g and 1 THE ORIGIN OF and fliarp difputes, that have been maintained among lis for more than a century paft. The human mind is very apt, in its weaknefs, to be influenced by ac- cidents, to catch the colour of the objedls pafTing be fide it, and to refledl them back in its practice. But this is evidently not the caufe, of that averfion to theological controverfy; which is beginning to Ihooc up in the nation, at prelent. T"he difputes about ci-jil points during the lame period of time, Jiavc been as fharp and as long, as concerning ar- ticles of theology. Liberty, in particular, has been even more earneftly contended for, by the three or four lad generations of Britons ^ than any one doc- trine in the creed of Chriftianity. Yet we can dif- cern no averfion to fuch difputes, ftarting up in the mind of the nation, and preparing to betray the caufe which lias been fo firmly fupported. We fee indeed the very reverfe. The flame of liberty, which has burned fo fiercely in the bofom of this kingdom, flill keeps up its ardours there; while the warmth for the leading dodlrines of religion, is gradually cooling in the heart. And this fbriking contrail in the t^vo parts of the national chara(51:er, ferves ftrongly to fliow us the real reafon for the latter. Religion is lofing its weight, in the fcale of the public opinions. A rectitude of fentiment in religion, therefore, is no longer confidered of fo much importance, as it was. Where the fubflance is finking, in its efficacy upon die hearts the inci- ^ dents ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 3 dents muft neccfiarily fall off, in their confeqiience with the mind. And political obje6i:s ftill appear momentous in the eyes of our people, ftill agitate their underftandings, and inflame their fpirits ; be- caufe temporal interefts ftill retain their original hold, upon their affedions. While there is any life of religion, actuating the great body of this ifland; there muft and will be controverfies in theology. While the grand code of Chriftianity exercifes the attention, and faftens upon the paffions, of our people j there will be weaknefs of intelled: to be fet right, and perverfenefs of con- dudl to be correded, by the clergy. Thefe are to ftand around the altars of the Gofpel, to keep up the fire of religion there in all its power, and to maintain it in all its purity. Nor will they be found unfaithflil to their charge, while there is any ipring of theological a6tivity, in the clerical mindj and while there are any energies of religious zeal, in the clerical heart. When they come to nod befide the altar; to flumber over the dying flame i or to look on with a ftupid unconcern, while wretched men are heaping falfe and unhallowed fuel upon it; then ir- religion has finiftied its courfe among us. A Ipiritual froft has fpread its influence, through the body. It has benumbed the extremities. It is come to the heart. And, like a poor man ftretched out upon the fnows of the Alps, the nation will then be angry at thofe, who difturb its reft in order to fave it; will B 2 then j^ THE ORIGIN or then beg to be allowed a little longer repofe, upon its bed of* ice; and feel a kind of pleafing fere- nity, gliding gradually through all its veins, flop- ping up one by one all the avenues of life, and haft- cning on to quench the laft fpark of vitality, by fccmingly lulling it into a gende fleep. To this ftate, thank God, the clergy are not re- duced at prcfent. I truft, they never will be. They will always, I truft, be a national miniftry adlive of intellect, and vigorous in religion. In fpite of the firen fong of moderation, I hope, we Ihall ever be alive to the fpirit of our inftitution, and ever bending forward to " the prize of our high " calling in Chrift Jefus." And we fliall thus con- tinue to be, what our anceftors have always been, the moft learned and the moft zealous of Chriftian Divines, the honour of our kingdom, the glory of the reformation, and the admiration of all Chriften- dom. In this found and folid view of theological contro- verfics, the firft obje6t of all controverfy is the doc- trine of the Trinity. This concerns the very foun- dation-ftone of our religion. This affedls " the very " pillar and ground of the truth\" If this dodlrine be fai/e, then nine tenths of the Chriftians through every age and in every country, have been guilty of idolatry ; of an idolatry indeed, not fo grofs as that of the Heathens, becaufe not the worfhip o( devils * I Tim. iii. 15. in ARIANISM DISCLOSED. J m the place of God"; yet of an idolatry more grofs than that of the Papifts at prefent, becaufe not merely the worlliip o( faints and of angels^ in Juhor- dination to Godj but the worfhip of a creature along with the Creator, placing him equally with God upon the throne of the univerfe, giving God a partner in his empire, and fo depfing God from half his fove- reignty. And, if the dodlrine be true^ then the oppofers of it, the Arians of antient and modern days, are bold and blafphemous abufers of the faith; are, like the giants of old, brandifhing their arms dire6lly againil heaven; and are vainly endeavouring to tear down our bleffed Redeemer, from the throne of the Godhead there. That this dodlrine is true, I am fully convinced. I read it recorded in the pages of Scripture. I fee it attefted by the writings of the fathers. And I find it difplayed, in the generally uniform and unva- rying faith of the church of Chrift, from the days of the apollles to the prefent period. All thefe rays of hght, in my opinion, unite to form fuch an orb of luflre in favour of the dodlrine; as fhines out with a fun-like blaze of evidence, upon the world. To add to this evidence, may feem equally fu- perfluous and rafh. It may feem to be holding up a taper to the fun. Yet, when the fun retires, we light our tapers. We confider them as fo many ra- diations, derived from the great body of light that *» 2 Cor. X. 20. " I % that the things, which the Gentiles fa- *' crifice, they facriiice to ^^x;;/;, and not ^o God," See^lfoDeut. xxxiL 17. B 3 is 6 THE ORIGIN OF is abfent. While therefore that orb is withdrawn for a wliile, we may ufefuUy, I truil, contemplate a derived ray. This is one, I think, which has never been fufficiently obferved. I hope to recom- mend it to the public notice. And I wifh to con- fider the doctrine of the Trinity, in a light equally new and ftrikingj for the ftronger confirmation of our mutual faith. — 11. — A candid and thinking mind muft be ftartled at fiiH, on refleding that the Jews oppofe themfelves to the dodrine of the Trinity. This is certainly very ftartling, when we confider the providential charader, if I may fo exprefs myfelf, which God has damped upon the Jews in all the earlier ages. They were then the grand inflruments of God, for the operations of his providence upon the world, They were, particularly, his great lamp of light to their human brothers; to fliew forth the central unity of his nature, in their own belief; and to op- pofe the folly of diat polytheifm, which was in theirs. But it is ftill more ftartling, when we ftill further refledli that the Jews were thus the church of God upon earth, and the depofitaries of the true faith; and tliat, \{ they had not the dodrine of the Trinity, the Patriarchs had it not. Then the church, from Adam to our Saviour, muft have had a belief in the nature of the Redeemer; very different from that, which has been profcfled by the church, from our Saviour ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 7 Saviour to the prefent moment. And the Sun of Faithj in the efTential and capital point of all, muft have been continually under an eclipfe ; only one half of it ever communicating light, and the other being perpetually covered with a thick darknefs. But the fadl is jufl the reverfe. The Jews pro- fefled the fame faith in this point, that we do. They derived it at firil, from their anceftors the Patriarchs. They retained it through all the ages of their hiftory. And they have only loft it now, as they have loft their title to the favour of God, and as they have loft other articles in the creed of their father?. That they do now {ti themfelves in dire6l oppo- fition to the dodlrine of the Trinity, is very clear. They have always acknowledged the Redeemer of the Chriftians, to be difplayed in the authoritative writings of Chriftianity, under the appellation and with the attributes of God% They thus confefs, what c In that wretched fi(5lion of Jewifh malignity, which is entitled Tholedoth Jefu, or the Generations of Jeius, a kind cf anti gofpel, publilhied by Huldrik; they Hate omv Sa-Tnour and his difdphs to have taught., that he was God, born of a •■virgin, who had conceived liimhy the Holy Ghojl (Mod. Un. Hift. xiii. 513. cftavo).— In Tanchuma, a famous book among the Jews, is a pailage to this efteft ; " that Jefus Chrift, whom they call wicked Balaam, taught *' that he nvas God: and R, Tanchuma argues, that he was a mere *' man". ( Allix's Judgment of the Jewilh Church againft the Uni- tarians, p. 430, written in vindication of fomething laid by Dr. Bull; a work of very extenfive erudition in the antient and modern theo- logy of the Jews, very judicious, and very convincing; formed in part upon the fame plan with the prefent work, but executed even in B 4. that S THE ORIGIN or wliat all the laws of conflruftion, all the prmclples of evidence, and all the pofTibilities of language, have been fuppofed by us Chriftians to proclaim, as the fuggeltion o(our Scriptures. And they put our Arians to the blufh, for prefuming to deny it in contradi6tion to all. This they have always con- fidcred too, as the predominant opinion of Chriftians in all ages. They thus add one atteftation more, to the many which we have already j for the fixed and eftabliflied creed of Chriftianity, from the beginning. They oppofc the dodrine of the Trinity, as the pri- mogenial principle of our religion. And they therefore confider themfelves, to be the witnefles of God againft it; witnefles with their fathers, againft the ftill remaining, diough differently dire(5led^ ido- latry of the Gentiles'', But that part after a very different manner). " The learned Jews know ** well, that that prayer, which in the Chriftian countries is called ** the prayer againft the Sadducees, and in other countries the prayer *' againft the heretics and apoftates, was truly and originally written *' againft the ChriJIians, for being teachers of a Trinity and ofChrifi^s *' Divinity'" (Ibid. p. 43 1 ). «* Mod. Un. Hift. xiii. 4.54, and Phenix ii. 406. In the former, xiii. 430, it is faid, that at the grand council of Jews afl'embled at Ageda in Hungary 1650, on fome Chriftian clergymen announcing to them Jefus Chrift, as their Medlah j they cried out, *' NoChrift, ** no God-man r' But tliis is a miftake. The clergymen were pa- pifts, and announced the Firgin Mary as an objeft of worfliip, ** They afilrmcd — the invocation of faints, praying to the Virgin ** Mary, and her commanding in heaven over her Son." Then the Jews cried out, '* No Chrift, no H.votnan-GodV So fays the very narrative, wiiich the Univerfal Iliftorians citej Phenix i, 552. And this ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 9 But that this was not the original faith of their nation^ may be fatisfactorily fhowrii in oppofition equally to the prefent opinions of moft Chriftians, and to the hereditary prejudices of all the Jews. We can fhow it from thofe antient writings of the Jews, which now conflitute the Evangelical Hillory of the New Teftament. We can fhow it from other writings of theirs3 that are wholly or nearly coeval, and even prior, in antiquity. And we can point out with a general exadtnefs, when the Jews firfl: abandoned this faith of their fathers, and went over to their prefent opinions. In this mode of confiderlng the Gofpels indeed, we appeal not to them as treafures of theology brought from heaven, or even as hiftories of the Jews divinely fuggefted. We appeal to them merely as common hiftories. And confidering them even in this degraded Hght, ftripped of their infaUibihty, and reduced to a level with compofidons merely human; they prove decifively, that the Jews ex- pedled their MelTiah to be a God, to be the Soi^ of God, and to be co-equal with God the Fa- ther. In this mode alfo of appealing to the Gofpels, we may fee other difputes that have agitated the church, determined at once by authority i and the truths of this narrative, though branded as *' fabulous" by a cotemporary Jew in Phenix ii. 401, carries all the marks of authenticity with itj and is very curious, theology lO THE ORIGIN OF theology fettled, by the fure attellation of hlftory. I Ihall accordingly notice one, in order to throw a fuller light upon the prefent fubjed. We all know the controverfy ^hat Warburton excited a few years ago, concerning no futurity being held out in the Jewifli law. This fmgularly able man, who without the cuftomary aids of an academic educa- tion, and merely by the inherent vigour of his hea- ven-born genius, raifed himfelf from the delk of an attorney, to the rank of a manly critic upon Shake- fpeare, to the honour of an eminent fcholar in ge- neral literature, and to the dignity of a deep, faga- cious, and judicious divine; with all that bold felf- confidence of fpirit, which is the very fpring of fuch an intelle6l, and is heightened by its own exertions, afTerted the dodirine of a future ftate to form no part of the law. This was certainly a very bold pofition, even for the adventurous foul of paradox to main- tain i when " the law was our fchool-mafter, to " bring us to Chrift ." Yet the law carried an ap- pearance with it, very analogous to this pofition; exhibiting no promife of future reward, and prefent- ing no threat of future punilhment, upon x\vd face of ^ Gal.iii. 24. When our Saviour in John v. 39. fays, " Search ** the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye h?i\t eternal life (' he means only the promife of a happy eternity, through a Redeemer, This the words immediately following fliow, *' and they are they ** which tellify of me." But the words additionally prove, that the Jews thought they hvid *' eternal life" in the Scriptures. it. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. II It. And yet St. Paul fays of himfelf and his cotem- poraries : " fo worlhip I the God of my fathers^ he- *^ lieving all things that are written in the Law and the *' Prophets; and have hope towards God, which they ^^ them/elves alfo allow ^ that there Jhall he a rejurrec- " tion^ both of the juft and the unjuft^" Here then we have a hvely hope of futurity, profefled by the nation i while the national theology appears not to brighten, with a fingle ray of it. The truth is, that the national theology did hold out this, though the law does not infift upon it. The law was calculated only to hedge the Jews round from the nations of the world, to keep up a purity of pra6lice and wor- fliip, and to maintain an unbroken faith concerning the coming Redeemer. But then it did not ex- tinguifh the grand principle of all religion before, the firm expe6lation, and the powerful dread, of an awful fcene of retribution after death. This appears even before the floods to have adluated the fouls of the religious J from the ftriking prophecy of Enoch, concerning the coming of God with his angels, to judge the world in form, and to affign its inhabitants their deferved rewards and punilhments -. Indeed it is the life and foul of all religion ^ that, without which the Chriftian, the Jewifh, and the Heathen, the Patriarchal, and the Ante-diluvian, muit equally have been each of them a mere corpfe. The Jewilh ^ Ads xxiv. 14-15. % Jude 14 — 15. aflually 12 THE ORIGIN OF adually appears to have received the fame vital encro-y of belief into it, as had animated the Ante- dikivian and Patriarchal before. This was ftill the nucleus inclofed within, which fhowed it was in- clofed, by the influence of its moral magnetifm upon the Jews. This was ftill the central fire of the whole globe, which lent a warmth of fpirit to all its operations, and imparted a vigour of vegetation to all its produdlions. And we fee this internal power dlfclofing itfelf perpetually, in the dramatic hiftory of the Gofpels. At one time a Jew afks our Savi^ our, ^^ are there few that 2StJaved\' and at another, his difciples cry out with amazement, ^' who then *' can be/^ir^"." They thus mark the full con- vidlion of their minds, concerning the future falva- tion or future damnation, of every individual of the human race. The very fimplicity of the language, ihows it the more fully. But they are not ac- quainted merely with the general dodrine. They know fome grand circumftances of it. They know o( 2i judgment that is to be pafTed by God, antecedent to either punifhment or reward i and " every idle " word that men fhall fpeak," fays our Saviour in a diredl reference to this idea, " they fhall give ac- " count thereof in the day of judgment \'' They know alfo of a rejurre^ion to it, and of a heaven and ^ hell confequent upon it. The Sadducees were k Luke xiii. 24 j and Mat. xix, 15. i Mat. xii. 36. diftinguilhed ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I J dlftinguiflied fro7n the reft of the nation, by " faying *^ there is no refurredbioni" but our Saviour " put " the Sadducees to filencei" even " certain of the " fcribes anfwering faid, Mafter, thou haft well *^ faidj*' and " the multitude were aftonifhed" with admiration and delight, '^ at his dodrine^/* Accordingly we find in the further progrefs of the gofpel, that St. Paul at one time aiTerts the whole body of his countrymen in general, to have '* hoped" and expected a " refurre6lion j" and, at another, engaged the prejudices of the generality in his fa- vour, though he was an avowed Chriftian, by de- claring himfelf " a Pharifee" and " the ion of a " Pharifee," and " of the hope and reiurre6lion of " the dead" to be then '' called in queftion^" When our Saviour alfo tells them, " that, in the " end of this world, the Son of Man fliall fend *' forth his angels, and they fhall gather out of his " kingdom all things that offend, and them which " do iniquity, and fhall caft them into a furnace of " firci" and that then " fhall the righteous fhine " forth as the fun, in the kingdom of their Father:" he plainly fpeaks in general, to their previous con- ceptions concerning allj he therefore afks the peo- ple, " Have ye underftood all thefe things i" and they correfpondently " fay unto him. Yea, Lord ""." ^ Mat. xxii. 23, 35 j Markxii. 28 ; and Lukexx. 39. •1 A6ts xxiii. 6. » Mat. xili. 40—43, and 51. Thefe 14 THE ORIGIN OF Thefe and a thoufand pafTages befide, that occur in the narration of the Gofpels, fhow evidently when- ever they are hiftorkally confidered, the abiding fenfe of the Jews concerning a grand hereafter; and in- deed reprefent the Jews to us, as equally convinced of this important truth, with us Chriftians ourfelves. And all the preachings of our Saviour to them, all die hopes that he holds up, and all the terrors that he difplays, are wholly founded on this known and certain convidtion in them. — III. — When we can duis fit down to the Scriptures, taking off our minds (as it were) from the familiarity of the language and ideas, and reading them merely as a new and unknown book; we equally fee our Saviour, in his condu6i: before the Jews, and in his addreffes to them, affuming all the port of a God. To prove this, I fhall not dwell on his repeated predictions of little and contingent events, con- tingent upon the precarious fancy of a moment in the mind, and yet drawn out into a train by his pro- phecy and in Lheir accomplifhment ; thus giving precifion to uncertainty, counting beforehand (as it were) the fluctuations of the waves in a ilorm, and tracing the future combinations of the clouds with an unerring pencil. Thefe may be confidered as tranfmitted powers of divinity, as effential in fome degree to the very gift of prophecy, and as exer- cifed ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I5 cifed in part by all the prophets. I ihall reft upon points more difcriminative of his chara6ber. Let us firft look at the air and fnanner, in which he executes his greater adls of miraculous might. He Ipeaks to the leper, " I will, be thou clean "." He fays to the man with the withered hand, " Stretch ^' forth thine hand'\" He tells the blind man, ^' Receive thy fight p." He fays to him who had now been crippled in his limbs, for eight and thirty years J " Take up thy bed, and walk^," He calls to Lazarus, lying in the vault of rock before him, and fwathed round with fepulchral linen ^ " Lazarus, *^ come forth ^." And he finally takes upon him, to " rebuke" the moft unruly elements of nature, the winds and the waves ^; and to addrefs thefc words to the fea, then wildly agitated with a ftorm, " Peace, be ftill." Thefe are all imperial ads of authority. They are all executed too, with an im- perial tone of authority. They are obvioufly in their manner, the operations of inherent and elTential Deity. The pointed brevity of the fentences, is the genuine fubhmity of power i the eafy language of a mind, repofing upon its own dignity, and familiar with exertions of Divinity. This dignity of Divinity we accordingly fee our Saviour, exprefsly afTuming to himfelf at times. He ■ Mat. viii. 3. o Mat. x'li. 13. p Luke xviii. 43. q John V. 5, and 8, ' Johnxi. 43, s ^at. viii. 25—26. ^ Mark iv. 39. generally l6 THE ORIGIN OF generally defcribes himfelf indeed, by a title derWtd from his humanity; and calls himfelf the Son of Man. But then this is the human appellation of iht Meffiahy and is ufed as fuch by Daniel. " I ^^ faw in the night-vifions," fays this prophet, who was allowed to look farther into the myftery of our Saviour's awful vifit to earth, than any of the other prophets except Ifaiah; " and behold one, like the *^ Son of Many came with the clouds of heaven, and ^' came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought •^ him near before him: and there was given him *^ dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all *^ people, nations, and languages, fhould ferve him; " liis dominion is an everlafling dominion, which " fliall not pafs away; and his kingdom, that which *^' fhall not be deflroyed''.'* In fo magnificent a manner, is the MelTiah defcribed by Daniel; even when he is fpoken of only, as " the Son of Man." The humanity is deeply inchafed, as it were, in the Divinity. Our Saviour is accordingly reprefented in the Revelations of St. John, as " one like unto ^' the Son of Man\'' as declaring himfelf exprefsly, to be " he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am " alive for evermore ;" and yet as equally faying, " I am Alpha and Omega, the Firft and the Laft^.'* And the Jews appear to have underflood our Sa- viour clearly, when he denominated himfelf " the » Daniel vii, 13—14, x Rev. i. 13, 18, and ai- '' Son ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I7 '^ Son of Mani" and, even amid all the grandeur which he threw around himfelf under that denomi- nation, to have feen he was adopting the appellation and afTuming the grandeur,^ the auguft Perfonage in Daniel's prophecy, as their MefTiah now adually come upon earth '■', But he frequently defcribes himfelf too, as the Son of God. Nor is it eafy to determine, whether he takes moft ftate and con- fequence to himfelf, under tba/^ appellation or under this. Only he takes very much, under Both. And, as the numerous inftances of this arife before us, we need not be inquifitive under which he takes them. Humanity is annexed by him to the Son of God, and divinity is attached by him to the Son of Man; becaufe both were to unite in the Mefliah, and both a6lually united in our Saviour. He afiferts, that be alone knows the Father; and that mankind have no other knowledg-e of the Fa- ther, than what they derive fromi bhn ^. He pre- fumes to pronounce the forgiveness of sins, when we are fure from every principle of rehgion, that " no one can forgive fins but God alone;" and y There is only one time, in which they pretend not to under- ftand the title. But this very pretence confirms my obfervaticn. *' The people anfwered him, We have he^rd out of the law, that *' Chrift abideth for ever; and how fayeft thou, The Son of Man " mull be lift up? Who is this Son of Man?" (John xii, 34). And the queftion is merely a captious one, tending to infmuate he could not be the MefTiah or Son of Man, becaufe he fpoke fo differ- ently fn.m Daniel concerning his continuance. 2 Mat. xi. zj, C to Xi THE ORICm OF to fhow by the appeal of a miracle to their l^nies, that he had fuch power '\ He goes on in the fame ftrain of authority, to proclaim himfelf " greater " than Jonas," " greater than Solomon," " greater *' than the Temple," and even " the Lord of the ^' Sabbath ^\" He avers himfelf alfo, to be the Lord of David; to have exillied before Abraham; to be thefower of the good feed, in x\\q field of the zvorld; to be ever prefent to the prayers, of only two or three of his difciples aflembled togedier in prayer; and to be a co-worker with God, in the exercife of divine powers His power he aflerts to be derived from God the Father, but to be aBually commenfurate with his; faying *' the Son can do nothing of himfelf, <^ but what he feeth the Father do;" and affirming, " what things foever he (the Father) doeth, thefe alfo " doeth the Son likewife'K'' He fpeaks of himfelf thus, in one place; " I will fend unto you prophets " and wife men and fcribes, and fome of them ye '' fliall kill and crucify." and in another a6lually quotes himfelf after this remarkable but un-obferved manner; " Therefore faid alfo the wifdom of Gody I *' will fend unto them prophets and apoilles, and " fome of them ye Hiall flay and perfecute''." He thus exalts himfelf into the dignity, of being what a Mat. ix. 2; and Luke v. 21. ^ Mat. xH. 41, 42, 6, and 8. c Mat. xxii. 43—45 ; John vlii. 58 j Mat. xiii. 37 j Mat. xviii. 39 — r.o, and Johu V. 17. '' John v. 19. « Mat. xxiii. 34; and Luke xi. 49- we ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I9 we fhall find him familiarly denominated by others hereafter, no lefs than the very wisdom of God. He declares himfelf too to be in the Father^ and the Father to be in him ^i and himfelf to be confe- quently, and even in his own language, one with THE Father s. He defcribes himfelf to have come down frcm heaven, and yet to be ftill in heaven ^^; fo vindicating the omnipresence of God to himfelf. He affirms he has all power committed to him, in heaven and in earth ' ; fo attributing to himfelf the OMNIPOTENCE oi God. In confequence of the whole, he orders the admilFion of difciples into his religion, to be in his as well as in the Father*s name'^; and by the order enfures the adoration of his Chriftians, equally to himfelf as to the Father. And at laft he promifes his Chriftians, his continual -prote^lion to the end of the world ' \ taking into his own hands, the supremacy of God over his church, and the providence of God over his creatures. In this manner do even the meeknefs and mo- defly of the man Chrift Jefus, inveft him with all the enfigns of the Godhead. But he does fo ftill more explicitly, in a fmgle, though peculiarly awful, exertion of divine power. He informs us, that the grand exercife of God's fovereignty over man, at the confummation of his human world ; and in the alTignment of his human probationers, to their de- ^ John X. 38. g John x. 30. h John iii. 13. i Mat. xxviii. ^8. k ^at. xxviii. 19, ^ Mat xxviii. 20. C 2 ferved 20 fHE ORIGIN OF fervcd places of exiftence for eternity; Is all commit- ted to him. This, he adds, is done exprefsly by God the Father, in order to throw a difcinguijQied lufter of glory around our Saviour's headj and to exhibit him before the eyes of all mankind, as a joint fharer, and an equal partaker, of all their reve- rence for God "\ He accordingly afllires us, that, at the laft day, all who lie in their graves fhall Jiear his voice, and at his call come forth to judg- ment '' ; that he fliall fend his angels, to colie6t all offenders out of his kingdom ''; that he fhall alfo fend his angels, to o^ather his ele6t from the four winds, and from one end of heaven to another i' ; that he fhall him/elf come in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory '', with his own glory, v/ith the glory of his Father, and Vv^ith the glory of ^// his holy angels '•, that he fhall then fit upon the throne of his glory ', and all nations fhall be aflem- bled before him ^ ; that he \n\\ then deliver to every man, according to his works ^' ; that he will confefs, and he will deny, tliofe who confefied and denied him by their condudt in life"-'; that even his twelve (ipoftles fliall fit upon twelve fubordinate thrones of judgment with him, judging the twelve tribes of their countrymen >'; and that he will finally fend away ^ John V. 22 — 23. n John v. 25, 28, '29. o Mat. xlii. 41. P Mat. xxlv. 31. q Mat. xxlv. 30. «■ Mat. XXV. 31 } xvi. 27; and Luke ix. 26. « Mat. xix. 28, and xxv. 31. t Mat. xxv. 32. " Mat. xvi. 27. ^ Mat. x. 32—33. x Mat. xix. 28. the ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 21 the wicked into eternal punifhment, and he will lead off the good into eternal happinefs ^. — IV. — Dreft up in thefe appropriated robes of God's ftate, wearing God's crown, and wielding God's fcepteri does our Saviour repeatedly exhibit himfelf to our mind's eye. Nor could a particle of thefe high alTumptions, have been borne by the Jews, have been received by the apoftles, and have been uttered by our Saviour ; if they had not expedled their Mefliah to come forward to them, and if he had not therefore reprefented himfelf to them, wich all thefe circumflances and qualities of divine fove- reignty. This alone can account for our Saviour's condu6b, in claiming fuch grand prerogatives of power, and claiming them in fo eafy and familiar a manner. This alone, too, can account for the be- haviour of the apoftles, in receiving them without amazement. They confidered them as elTcntial parts of that venerable chara6ler, v/hich they attri- buted to our Saviour. And this alone can addi- tionally account, for the demeanour of the Jev/s under them-^ hearing them without fhowing any indignation at the general po'fitions, even while they fhowed much at the particular application of them tp himfelf They acknowledged them to be the 2 Mat. XXV. 465 41, and 34. C 3 authoritative ^2 THE ORIGIN OF authoritative marks of the great MefTiahj but thought it blafphemy in him to challenge them, becaufe they owned him not for the Mefliah. Yet we need not reft the point, merely upon this ftrong bafis of evidence. We fee it pofitively fet- tled by the very hiftory. There the Jews appear expelling their Mefliah, to be the Son of God, and, as Juchy to be equal with God, an assessor with God upon his throne of Heaven, and the grand Judge of all the univerfe. « Thou art," fays Peter to him, "-' Chrift, the ** Son of the living God;" and our Saviour adds in reply, " BlefTed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flefh " and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my " Father which is in heaven \" " I believe," fays Martha to him, " that diou art the Chrift, the Son *' of God, which fhould come into the world ^." Nathaniel addreftes him in the fame ftrain of com- pliment, when he breaks out into that fudden burft of convidioni *< Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, *' thou art the King of Israel ^" All the dif- ciples, on his fuccefsful rebuke of the winds and waves, came to him worftiipping and crying out; " Of " a truth thou art the Son of God''." Thomas alfo, on a fimilar flafli of conviction darting rapidly acrofs his mind, exclaims in a fimilar but fuperiour ftyle, *' My Lord and my God%" And as Zccharias, » Mat. xvi. 1 6, 17. ^ John xl. 27. ' John i. 45. ^ Mat. xlv. 33. « John xx. 28. I prophefying ARIANISM PISCLOSED. 23 prophefylng that John the Baptift iliould be the harbinger of our Saviour, fays, " Thou, child, fhalt " be called the prophet of the Highest, for thou ^^ fhalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare *^ his ways;" fo Elizabeth, the miraculous mother of the Baptift, fays to the virgin mother of our Sa- viour, " Whence is this to me, that the mother of ^' MY Lord fhould come to me*^?'* The Jew^ therefore expected their Son of God, who was com-. ing into the world; to be their King, their Lon^, their Higbeft, and their God, The apoftles accordingly attribute to him, without hefitation, the very omniscience of God. " Lord, " thou knoweft all things, thou know eft that I " love thee;" is Peter*s unequivocal declaration to our Saviour, ftating at once the caufe and the efFe6t, and urging from his univerfal to his particular knowledge s. All his difciplcs too, on his fpeaking to fome fecret converfation among themfelves, and fo Ihowing them " he knew they were defirous to *' aflc him;" broke out in an equal declaration to him, ^^ Now are we fure that thou knoweft all *^ things, and needeft not that any man should '^ ASK THEE; by this we ipelie-ve, that thou camest " FORTH FROM GoD ^." And " many," adds St. John, " believed in his name, when they faw the *^ miracles which he did] but Jefus did not commit f Luke i. 76, and 43. t John xxi, 17, ^ John xvi. 30, C 4. ^' himfelf 24 THE ORIGIN OF " himfelf unto them, becaufe he knew all men, " and needed not that any should testify of " man, for he knew what was in man \'* The Baptifl: alfo tells the Jev/s concerning him, that '' one mightier than himfelf was coming after " him," the very "-^ latchet of whoje jhoes\ityN2^ViOt " worthy to ftoop down and nnloofe^\" He adds too concerning him : " He that cometh from above " is ABOVE all i he that is of the earthy, is earthly, " and fpeaketh of the earth; he that cometh from " heaven^ is above all '." He alfo fubjoins, that this wonderful perfonage is to be the mighty Judge of the world. He does not do this indeed, by aflert- ing his judicial authority in a dire6l and pofitive manner, as if he was opening a new truth to their underftandings \ but as fpeaking upon a point, that was well known to their minds, and familiar to their ipirits; therefore Aiding over the foM^ and refliing only on the circiimfiances. His " fan is in his hand,'' he fays; " and he will throughly purge his floor, " and will gather his wheat into his garner, and " will burn up the chaffs with unquenchable fire"'." But this judicial authority of the Son of God, is infifled upon ftiil more in thefe firft annals of Chrif- tianity. " Art tiiou," fays the high-priefl to our Saviour, " the Chrift, the Son of the BlefTed? And " Jefus faid, I am; mdyt fliall fee the Son of Man J John ii. 23 — 25. k Mark i. 7. ) John iii. 31. f" Mat. iii. 12. " SITTING ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 1^ %s SITTING ON THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and " COMING IN THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN "." The high-prieft aflced our Saviour, with all the reigning ideas of the Jews at the time; and our Saviour fpoke to thofe ideas, in his reply. The Jews, therefore^ were in full aflurance at the moment; that their Meffiah, '' the Son of the Blefied," was to " fit " on the right hand of Power," as a colleague with God in the fupremacy of the univerfe, and as an ASSOCIATE with God in the throne of heaven. This is St. Mark's account. But let us fee St. Luke's. " They carried him," fays the latter, '•^ to the judgment- feat, faying. Art thou the Chrijir' " Hereafter," fays our Saviour in reply, " fliall " the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the '^ Power of God. Then faid they all. Art thou " then the Son of God? And he faid unto them. Ye " SAY THAT I AM "." This fhows US vcry clearly concerning that Being, who is here denominated with fuch a ready tranfition from title to title, " the " Chrifl," " the Son of Man," and " the Son of ^'^ God :" that to fit on the right hand of God die Father, was fo much the exclufive and chara6lerif- tick privilege of the Meffiah, in their opinion and in his; as, to claim the privilege was to ailume the charader, in theirs; and to affume the charader was ^o claim the privilege, in his. And, from both thefe " Mark xiv. 6j— 6z. o Luke xxii. 67, 69, 70. paffages 5$ THE ORIGIN Of paflages united, the Jews appear plainly at the time, to have expefted in their Mefliah an awflil and re- vered Being, who was to be the Son of Man and th? Son of God united in one ; who fhould at the laft day, as both, COME visibly from the right hand of God the Father, and visibly descend through the opened clouds to judge the world. Yet they went even farther, in their opinions. We have already feen our Saviour, receiving with- out reprehenfion the appellation of God, and the attributes of omniscience, from fome of the Jews. We Ihall now fee all the Jews acknov/ledging, that their Mefliah, as the Son of God, was to be God, and fo to be equal with God. " Your father Abraham," fays our Saviour to the Jews, " rejoiced to fee my day; and he faw it, " and was glad," Our Saviour thus propofes him- felf to his countrymen, as their MefTiah; that grand object of hope and defire to their fathers, and parti- cularly to this firfl father of the faithful, Abraham. But his countrymen, not acknov/Iedging his claim to the character of Meffiah, and therefore not allow- ing his fupernatural priority of exifcence to Abra- ham; chofe to confider his v/ords, in a fignification merely human. " Then faid the Jev/s unto him^ " Thou art not yet fifty years old, and haft thou " feen Abraham r" But what does our Saviour reply, to this lov/ and grofs comment upon his intimation r Does he retract it, by warping his Ian- ARIANISM DISCLOSED. ^7 guage to their poor perverfenefs, and fo waving his pretenfions to the afllimed dignity? No! To have fo adted, would have been derogatory to his dig- nity, and injurious to their interefts. He adually repeats his claim to the character. He adiually in- forces his pretenfions, to a fupernatural priority of exiflence. He even heightens both. He mounts up far beyond Abraham. He afcends beyond all the orders of creation. And he places himfelf with God, at the head of the univerfe. He thus arro- gates to himfelf all that high pitch of dignity, which the Jews expedted their Mefliah to alTume. This he does too in the moil energetick manner, that his fimplicity of language, fo natural to inherent greatnefs, would polfibly admit. He alfo introduces what he fays, with much folemnity in the form, and with more in the repetition. '* Verily, verily, I fay ^^ unto you," he cries, " Before Abraham was, '^ I AM." He fays not of himfelfj as he fays of Abraham, " Before he was, I was." This indeed would have been fufficient, to affirm his exiflence previous to Abraham. Buc it would not have been fufficient, to declare what he now meant to affert, his full claim to the majefly of the MefTiah. He there- fore drops all forms of language, that could be ac- commodated to the mere creatures of God. He arrefls one, that was appropriate to the Godhead itfelf '*^ Before Abraham wasy' or flill more pro- perly, ^^ Before Abraham was made," he fays; « I AM." 28 THE ORIGIN OF " I AM i\" He thus gives himfelf the fignature of un-created and continual exiflence, in diredl oppofi- tion to contingent and created. He fays of himfelf. That an eternal now for ever lafts with him. He attaches to himfelf that very ilamp o{ eternity y which God appropriates to his Godhead in the Old Teilamentj and from which an apoftle afterwards defcribes " Jefus Chrifl" exprefsly, to be " the fame yeflerday, and to-day, and for ever ^." Nor did the Jews pretend to mif-underftand him now. They could not. They heard him diredtly and decifively vindicating, the nobleft rights of their MefTiah, and the highefl honours of their God, to himfelf. They confidered him, as a mere pretender to thofe. They therefore looked upon him, as a blafphemous arrogator of theje. " Then took they " up ftones, to call at him'* as a blafphemer ^5 as what indeed he was in his pretenfions to be God, if P npiv AQfaaix, TENESQAI, syco uyA. The Ethiopick verfion accordingly renders the words, ** priufquam Abraham nafcerctury *' fuiego;" and the Perfian, *' nondum Abraham /^\" Angels and devils ,thus Ipeak, becaufe they were fpeaking to Jews; becaufe tbofe were fpeaking to men, who expedted the Son of God to appear immediately among them, who knew he was to be " the Lord their God," and who there- fore knew, that, when he came, he would be " Em- *^ manuei" or ^' God among men;" and becaufe Sbe/e were addrefling themfelves to that very Being, replies, that then " Satan cafts out Satan/' See alfo Luke x. 17— 185 where the apoftles rejoicing declare, *' even the devils (daemons) " are fubjeft unto us j"" and our Saviour fays ** unto them, I beheld ** Satan as lightening fall from heaven." So very falfe in itfelf, and direftly contradi6led by the very words of our Saviour, Is that hy- pothefis of Dr. Campbell's in his new tranflation of the Gofpels j t^'hich alTerts thefe poflefTions of the New Teftament to be nowhere attributed to the devil, and which avers the dominion or authority 6f the devil to be nowhere afcribed to the daemons ! Beelzebub is cxprefsly called the prince of the daemons, the daemons are exprefsly denominated Satan with him, and thefe are only inferior devils fub- ordinate to the great one. And though the word da:7nons (as Dr. Campbell urges) might critically be more exaft in a tranflation j yet the word dcjils better accords, with the ufages of our language and the courfe of our ideas. Exailnefs therefore has been properly facri- ficed to utility. r Luke i. 35, 32 ; Mat. i. 23 j and Luke i. i6— i7i now J2 THE ORIGIN OF now adlually come, under his all-comprehending title of " the Son of God." Thus does the whole hiftory of the Jews, in the days of our Saviour ; and thus do all the agents in It, our Saviour himfelf, his apoflles, and the whole nation of the Jews, men, devils, and angels -, all unite to blazon forth the faith of the Jews cotem- porary with our Saviour, as a faith of Divinity in their MelTiah. The Jews, whatever they may now fay or think, were originally as much believers in the Divinity of their Chrift, as we are in that of our Jefus; and never revolted from this faith, which they had received from their fore-fathers the Patriarchs, till they revolted from their Chrift and our Jefus in one, till they rejedled the King of Ifrael, and till they crucified the God of the Patriarchs upon Mount Calvary. CHAPTER ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 33 CHAPTER THE SECOND. — I.— Having now eftablilhed the belief of the Jews in this article, let me endeavour to afcertain ; when they relinquiflied it, and adopted their prefent opi- nion. This it may be difficult to do, hiftory taking little notice of variations of fentiment in theology, and fuch a variation as that being fure to be flowly and filently efFeded. Yet we ca7t afcertain the point. We can fliov/ the Jews, as I fhall Ihow them in this and the following chapter, ilill retain- ing their antient creed for fome time after our Sa- viour. We can alfo prove them, as in the fucceed- ing chapter I fliall; at a particular period after- wards, ceafing to retain it any longer. And we can thus circumfcribe that point of dme, which was the grand pivot of the Jewilh faith; and which is figna- lized to the world, by fuch an extraordinary move- ment upon it. We have feveral wridngs of Jews, within a cen- tury after our Saviour's death. At die head of thefe, are the works of Philo Jud/eus. This author, as we are informed by that early and valu- able hiftorian of Chriftianity, Eufebius, " flourilhed " in the reign of the emperor Caligula; being a D " nian 34 THE ORIGIN OF " man of great eminence with the generality, not " merely of our Chrillian brethren, but alfo of fuch " as have been bred in Gentile literature: in his " defcent he was a Hebrew, and yielded to none " of thofe at Alexandria, who were diftinguillied " for their confequence : what and how great ad- " varices he made, in the knowledge of the divine " and Jezvijh religion ; is evident to all from his " writings: and, in the philofophick and liberal " parts of Gentile literature, I need not fay hov/ ** great he was ; for ftudying with peculiar zeal the " difcipline of Plato and Pythagoras, he is reported " by hiftory to have furpalTed all his cotempora- *^ ries -y Philo's acquaintance with the do5lrines of the Heathens, was known only by hijlorical report to Eufebius; while the writings of Philo difplayed his knowledge, in the religion of the Jews. Philo was alfo fent at the head of a Jewilh legation, from Alexandria to Rome; in the time of Caligula^. But he was fent on a fecond, in the fucceeding days ^ Eufebius (Reading's edit. vol. i.) Hift. 11.4, p. 51. Kola ^1 Thlov, Caligula, (p^^Mv eyi/w^t^Elo, ttXeioIok atiip H fxovov ruv "nyt^dicuVi tt,70\x y.ui Tuv aTTo nrr^q e^wOev ocixuixtiav Traiosta? E7rKr7ii/.olccloq' to f/.si> av yevoq aviKCcdiv Etcato? rv' ruv 0 iii AXi^xvoceiuq ev tbXbi oioc(pavuVf 7.\yjj'j iK7c.yr,vr/.rai TTovov, EPrii TTucn ^r,>^oq' kca irt^i to. (piXocro(pac ^f xa* sX£v6cpia T*5? s^^cjotv 9rai^ei5t$ ojc? n; r,v, ahv asi ^eyetv* ole hcci //.a^tcrja vwv Kulx Yi7\d\u\ioc y.ui livdayofuv t^ri?\ajKaig uyuyrtV, ^iBV^ynBiv cCTvavlccq raq vmJkT savlov ISTOPEITAI. ^ See his work Be Legatione ad Caium, p. 992, in Phllonis Ju- di'Si omnia quie extant opera. Paiis, 1640, of ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 3 J of Claudius ^ He was therefore a cotemporary with the apoflles. And the writings of fuch a man as this, mud be a full evidence of the opinions of the Jews, at the moment. He was a Hellenift Jew of Alexandria, confider- able in his family and fortune ^ -, and, what was much more to his honour, aduated with a lively ipirit of religioufnefs. He fpent a long life, in writ- ing a variety of treatifes upon points of the national theology, and giving them afterwards to the world. So early as the reign of Claudius, and during the lifetime of the author, his works v/ere in the poiTef- fion of the puWick, and even tepofited in the libra- ries at Rome ^ They have been fince publifhed in the modern way, from the prefs : and with two fragments of works that have perilhed, three cor- refpondent palTages from other authors, and that almoft neceflary adjund to every Greek work at prefent, a Latin tranflation; form a folio of twelve hundred pages ^. And Eufebius, in his curious col- ledion of opinions which he calls an Evangelical Preparation, has preferved feveral other pafTages, that ought to have been added as fragments to the reft s. In all thefe writings, Philo has fhown a <= Eufebius ii. 4. p. 5r. and ii. 17. p. ^s. "^ Eufebius before, and Jofephus's teftimony prefixed with it to Philo's works. « Eufebius ii. 17. p, 72. f In the Paris edition. 8 P. 190, 195, 198, 209, 213, and 225—235. Paris, 1544. Stephens, D 2 pleafing. ^G THE ORIGIN OF pleafing, and yet puzzling, difquifitlvenefs of genitis,- His mind, all the while, is bufily operating upon itfelfl And, like the filk-worm, he is fpinning a multiplicity of fine threads out of his own bowels,, and is continually burying himfelf in his own web of filk. In thefe exertions of his fancy at the expence of his judgment, which were occafioned probably by his making them in the early and lively period of his life^^; Philo throws out a number of declara- tions, that fhow his own and the Jewifh belief in a fecondary fort of God, a God fubordinate in origin to the Father of all, yet mod intimately united with him, and fharing his moft unqueftionable ho- nours. Philo thus coincides diredly, with all that we have fcen pointed out to us already, by the evangelical hiflory of our religion. Only there is a firiking difference, in the condu6l of the evangelical hiftorians and of him. They are continually hifto- rians ; hiflorians indeed of the moft fimple and un- afFe<5led kind, that ever came forward for the in- ilrudlion of man ; and hiflorians therefore, calculated peculiarly to be the annalifls of Flim, who was Sim- plicity itfclf, who was Greatnefs without the flightefl tin6lure of affc6lation, Majefty without arrogation, and Deity without affumption. But Philo is hifto- rical only in two of his pieces, the behaviour o£ ^ See a note ch. iil. feft. z. Flaccus, ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 37 Flaccus, and the embalTy to Caligula* In his other pieces, however they may be hiflorical in their na- ture ^ he inftantly deferts the path of hiftory, and ranges freely through the wilds of imagination. And, in all his pieces, he is continually affecting a ilrain of critical fubtlety, that difgufts us with its injudicioufnefs, while it flrikes us with its ingeniouf- Jiefs i and creates an equal fenfation of wonder and of condemnation, in our minds. He is a perpetual allegoriil". Every incident in the hiflory, every name in the narrative, and almoft every word in either, that he has occafion to cite from the Old Teftament; grows up in his warm and forming hand, into an allegory. " Being copious in lan- " guage," fays Eufebius of him very juflly, " and *^ taking a large compafs in his fentiments, and " mounting to a high and extraordinary pitch in his *^ fpeculations on the word of God ; he hath made " a variegated and multifarious expofition, of Holy " Writ'." " There are," adds Photius ftill more juflly of him, " many and various compofitions of " his, containing eflays on morals and comments on " the Old Teftamentj mioftly forced out of the let- ^^ ter, into an allegory: from which, I think, even - every allegorical difcourfe upon Scripture, now * Eccl. Hill. ii. 1 8. p. 70. •ttoXv^ yi /xev ru "Koyu, xon TrXulvg .ficcK; yEyEvn[MV0(;) TToiKiXriv y.ui TroXvl^oitov i:uy ibbojv T^oyuv TiiTfoir^on rr,v v(pYiyiria-iv . D 3 "in 3S THE ORIGIN OF ** in the church, took occafion to break in ^." Photlus thus confiders him as the father of that mode of allegorizing Scripture, which, in the hands of a fuperiour intelligence like an apoftle, may be- come an ufeful fpecies of expofition at times, juft as lions and tigers have been made to draw the car of a triumpher j but was proving itfelf vain and foolilli in other hands, fo early as the days of Pho- tius i and, in our own country, has fhown itfelf as dangerous as it is vifionary, extending its operations over the Nev/ Teftament equally with the Old, and going on to catch the- re6tified fpirit of both in its alembick, till the veiy letter began to evaporate away. Philo has not purfued his allegorical pro- penfities, to fo extravagant a length as this. But he has purfued them very far. He has fpread a cloud of allegory, over the popular belief of his country- men and cotemporaries at Jerufalem, in the pofitive divinity of the Son of God; which prevents us from beholding it in fo ftrong and full a blaze of light, as we fee playing upon it before in the biographers of our Saviour. Yet we flill fee it. No cloud could intercept this bright effulgence, entirely from our view. It breaks through every impediment in its way. It travels down, like the light of a diflant k Photlus prefixed to Phllo : (pi^trai h avia 'rraXKa, xon Troty.Aot eriylscyjjLula, vidiy.aq Xoyaq TTc^ityovla. y.xi rr,<^ 'jrcihciiOLt; VTTOixvioy'C^ar, rot irXti^a TTfoi; u>.7^Y,yo^iav re yfociAij.ulo; ty.oia^ofj^^icc' e| tf, o»|W.a!, y.ai Traq 0 aAAy/yofuos 755? y^aCpr.i; ev T'/i inKTv^aio, ^oyo<; icj'^bv ac^r,v uaDVinvui. ftar, ARIANISM DISCLOSED. J9 flar, to our eyes. And it thus raakes us to fee the more, the vigour and vividnefs of the orb from which all proceeds ', — 11.— In this humour of allegorizing, rnilo ufes not the name for his derivative Being in the Godhead, which we fee the other Jews of the time ufmg in the Gofpels. He fpeaks not of him, by his natural appellation of the Son of God. No ! He takes up another title for him, which indeed w^as known equally to other Jews, or Philo could not pofTibly have adopted it ; which v/as known equally to the Gentiles, as I Ihall fhow hereafter j but which was known only to the fcholars of either. He calls him " the Logos of God." This is a nam.e, that can be borrowed, together with the idea annexed to it, only from the Jews, or from the common anceftors of them and of the Gentiles i that anfv/ers exadiy to the Bahar of Jehovah in the Hebrew Scriptures, and to the Memra of Jehovah in the Chaldee para- phrafts upon them^ and fignifies merely " the Word 1 " The Jews themfelves, finding every thing in Philo fo agree- *' able to the notions, that their anceftors had in his age ; do own *' them (his writings) to be the writings of a Jew, and of Fhilo in « particular: as we fee in ManalTeh Ben Ifrael, who in many places <' alledges his authority; and (in Exod. p. 137) ihews, that his *' opinions do generally agree with thofe of their moft ancient au- <* thors" (AUix's Judgment, p. 78). D 4 "of 40 THE ORIGIN OF " of God "\" This name has been fmce introduced into our religion, by one of the infpired teachers of it. And notwithftanding the dudility of the Greek language in this inftance, which would allow it to be rendered either the PFord or the Reajon of God; yet the EngTiih Bible, with a ftrid adherence to ^ That the Memra of Jehovah (a Chaldaick word which fu- pededed the Dabar of David in Pfalm xxxiii. 6, and of fome Jews fince our Saviour, AlHx's Judgment, p. 344 and 366) means this very Logos ; is too evident to leave any poflibility of doubting it. In Levic. xxvi. 9, ♦' /will be your God," is in Jonathan's para- phrafe, " My Woniih^W. h^xxnto yo\i God the Kedee?ner;''" and ibid, ver. II, " My Soul" is in Onkelos's paraphrafe " My Word, fliall " not abhor you."" " To the Word are attributed the great things " predicted of the Mejfiahy \\. ix. 7 j Jeho-vah himfelf is expounded " by the Lord's ChriJI, If. xxviii. 5 } this If^ord of tlie Lord is called *' the Redeemer, Jer. xlii. 55 and his Redemption is called E'verlaji- *^ ingy If. xlv. 1 7 } and the creation of the ivorld is imputed to hi?ny ** Jer. xxviii. 5." See Kidder's Demonftration of the Meffiah, part iii. p. 107 — 108. edit. 2, and preface to this part p. xi, for thefe and other inftances : only in iii. 108 he writes by a miftake, ** the Lord faid by,"" inftead of *' the Lord faid /o," " his Word.'* *' Wherever the words Jeho'vah and Elohim are read in the Hebrew, ** there Onkelos commonly renders it in his Chaldee paraphrafe, *' the Word of the Lord. The Targums commonly defcribe the ** fame perfon under the title of Shekinah, — And — we fee — the moft *' famous writers of the fynagogue, — looking upon the Memra and ** the Shekinah, as thg fame. So doth R. Mofes Maimonides, R. ^* Menachem de Rakanaty, and Ramban, and R. Bachaye" (Allix, p. 150). And, what adds very ftrongly to this argument, the Arians are noav come to own its truth. See Eflay on Spirit, p. 49 — 50. edit. 2d, 1752 J and what is only a large expanfion of it in the Ariantfm, without any reply to the decifive anfwers given it, the Apology of Ben Mordecai by H. Taylor, A. M. vol. i. p. 340-^ ^45. edit. 2d. 1784. propriety^ ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 4^ propriety, and in full conformity to the antient Chriftians and antient Jews, has rejeded die acci- dental fignificanon, and embraced only the imme- diate and the genuine. Yet, even now, the name is confined in its ufe to the more improved intellects among us. And it mull therefore htve peculiarly been in the days of Philo, the philofophkd denomi- nation of Him, who was popularly called the Son of God. The ufe of the name of Logos or Word, by Philo and by St. John in concurrence; fufficiently marks the knowledge of the name, among the Jews. But the total filence concerning it, by the Jewifh writers of the three firft Gofpels ; the equal filence of the introduced Jews concerning it, in all the four; and the acknowledged ufe of it through all the Jewilh re- cords of our religion, merely by St. John himfelf"; prove it to have been familiar to a few only. It is in- deed too myfterious in its allufion, and too reducible into metaphor in its import, to have ever been the common and ordinary appellation, for the Son of God. Originating from the Jpiritual principle of connexion, betwixt the firft and the fecond Being in the Godhead; marking this, by 2. Jpiritual idea of connection; and confidering it to be as clofe and as neceffary, as the Word is to the energetick Mind of God, which cannot bury its intellectual energies in n See hereafter for two inllances of its ufe by others, that are not acknowledged, filenccj 42 THE ORIGIN OF filence, but mufl put them forth in fpeech; it is too Jpiritual in itfelfi to be addrelTed to the faith of the multitude. If with fo full a reference to our hodily ideas, and fo pofitive 2^ filiation of the Second Being to the Firft, we have feen the groflhefs of Arian criticifm, endeavouring to refolve the do6trine into the mere dufl of a figure ; how much more ready would it have been to do fo, if we had only fuch a Jpiritual denomination as this, for the fecond ? This would certainly have been confidered by it, as too unfubftantial for diftindt perfonality, and therefore too evanefcent for equal divinity. St. John indeed adopted this philofophical title, for the denomination of the Son of God ; only in one folemn and prefatory paflage of his Gofpel, in two flight and incidental paflages of his Epifbles ", and in one of his Book of Revelations. Even there, the ufe of the popular inftead of the philofophical name, in the three Gofpels antecedent to his; pre- cluded all probability of mifconflrudlion. Yet, not content with this, he formed an additional barrier. At tlie fame inilant in which he fpeaks of the Logos, he aflerts him to be diflin6l from God the Father, and yet to be equally God with him. " In the be- • There is only one acknowledged, that of i John v. 7. But this is evidently another ; *' that which was from the beginning, ** which we have heard, which we \\-3i\tfcen nvith our eyeS) which we ** have looked upon, and our hands ba-ve handled, of the Word *«^ of life" (i Johni. i), « ginning," ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 43 ^^ ginning," he fays, " was the Word ; and the *^ Word was with God; and the Word was *^ God." Having thus fecured the two grand points relating to the Logos, he can have nothing more to fay upon the fubjed ; than to repeat what he has flated, for imprefling the deeper convi6lion. He accordingly repeats it. His perfonality he im- prefles again, thus ; ^^ the same was in the begin- *' ning with God." His divinity alfo he again in- culcates, thus: " ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM, *^ and WITHOUT him was not any thing made " that was made." Here the very repetition itfelf, of enforcing his claim to divinity, by afcribing the creation to him; is plainly an union of two claufes, each announcing him as the Creator of the univerfe, and one doubling over the other. And the uncreated nature of his own exiflence, is the more ftrongly enforced upon the mind; by being contrafted with the created nature, of all other ex- igences. Thefe were made, but he himfelf wasj made by Him, who was with God and was God i'. Nor would all this precaution fuffice, in the opinion of St. John. He mufl place ftill flronger fences, againil the dangerous fpirit of errour. He therefore goes on to fay, in confirmation of his perfonality and divinity, and in application of all to our Sa- P O Xoyo; HN 7rpo$ rov Secv, aai Sso? HN o Myoc ; and 'yra^Ia ^t" ccvla EIENETO, Kui x^pj avla EIENETO ah tv o TEIONEN. viour: 44 THE ORIGIN OF viour: ^' He was in the world, and the world " WAS MADE BY HIM, and the world knew him notj *' He came unto his own [proper domains], and " his own [proper domesticks] received him " not "J." And he clofes all, with judicioufly draw- ing the feveral parts of his alTertions before, into one flill point -, and with additionally explaining his philofophical term, by a diredl reference of it to that popular one, which he ufes ever afterwards: " and the Word was made flefh, and dwelt among *' us; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the *' ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FaTHER, fllll of graCe " and truth ^" Yet, when fuch guards were requifite, what in- duced St. John to ufe this philofophical title at all? The reafon was afifuredly this. The tide was in high repute, and in famihar ufe, among the refined fpi- ^ So Ta i^nx in Luke xvi. 32, xix. 27, and Afts xxi. 6, fignlfy the proper home. E^ TA lAIA ryAOe, xa; OI lAIOI nvlov a vu^bT^ccQov, ' Yet Arius, with all that unfeelingnefs of aflurance, which was firft introduced into the herefy, I believe, by this Patriarch of itj and is carefully preferved by his heretical pofterity, at prefentj took advantage of the term, to deny the theology. " Vv^ell faid John," he cries, " In the beginning was the Word, that is the fpeech of God-, *' for he faid not. In the beginning was the Son, but the pronounced " nvord of God :^^ xa^w? u'rriv 0 luccwv^c^, Ev app/>j r,v 0 T^oyoqj raT t/lt to fXfjLOt, ra fiaa* « yao tiTnvy Ev a^X''' *'" ° ^^°^f a?vA' 0 T^ayoq 0 7rpo(pop»xo^ T« fiea (Anaftafius's Hodegus 330, Fabricius's Index to it in Bib. Grae. ix. 315). Perhaps a ftronger iiiftance of Arian audacity, can- not be produced j of audacity in alferting, to the very face and front of evidence. rits ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 45 rits of the age ; and his Gofpel was peculiarly cal- culated, for the fervice oijuch. The almofl: perpe- tual recurrence of the appellation in Philo's works, fhows evidently the ufe and the repute in which it was, among the more fpiritualized of the Jews, St. John therefore adopted it himfelf, for the more eafy accefs to their convi6lion. It was alfo conge- nial probably of itfelf, to the fpiritualized flate of St. John's mind. He, who has dwelt fo much more than the other Evangelifls, upon the do5irines of our Saviour; and who has drawn out fo many of them, in all their fpiritual refinement of ideas; would naturally prefer the fpiritual term of relationfhip for God the Son and God the Father, before the hodlly\ whenever the intelle6i; was raifed enough to receive it, and whenever the ufe of it was fjfficiently guarded from danger. Thefe were two reafons, 1 fuppofe, that induced St. John to ufe it 2. few times. And thefe were equally (I fuppofe) the reafons, that induced him, with all his guards, to ufe it only a few. Nor let us be told in the raflmefs of Arian ab- furdity, that we mifunderfland St. John in this inter- pretation of his words. \i reafon is capable of ex- plaining words, and if St. John was capable of con- veying his meaning in words to the ear of reafon; then we may boldly appeal to the common fenfe of mankind, and infift upon the truth of our interpre- tation. Common fenfe indeed hath already deter- mined ^^ THE ORIGIN- or mined the pointy in an impartial perfon. In art enemy, in a Heathen. I allude to that extraordi- nary approbation, which was given by a Heathen of the third century to this paflage of St. John. *^ Of modern philofophers," fays Eufebius, " Ame- " lius is an eminent one; being himfelf, if ever " there was one, a zealot for the philofophy of " Plato ; and he called the Divine of the Hebrews *^ a Barbarian^ as if he would not condefcend to '^ make mention of the Evangeliil John by name ^" Such is Eufebius's account of our referee. But what are the terms of his award ? They are thefe. " And *' fuch indeed was the Logos," he fays, " by whom, *' a perpetual Exiftence, the things created were ** created, as alfo Heraclitus has faid ; and who by *' Jupiter, the Barbarian fays, being conftituted in ** the rank and dignity of a Principle, is with God " and is God, by whom all things abfolutely were *^ created; in whom the created living thing, and *' life, and exiftence, had a birth, and fell into a *' body, and putting on flefh appeared a man; *' and, after jfhowing the greatnefs of his nature, and *' being wholly diifolved, is again deified and is *' God, fuch as he was before he was brought down " into the body and the flefh and a man. Thefe * Eufebius's Prep. Evang. 317. Tuv viuv (ptXoaoipuv ^iu(puvy>q ye- yovuq AjM^^to?, TV?? nXccluvoq xat aJIo?, m xa» rn; ocT'^oq, ^r^Xul-nq (pi}\oao- ^iCi(;y irT^riv aXka, Bu^Qct^ov oyo^Maocq rov E^pcuuiv BEoXoyov, « xat /xvj £7r' " things. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 47 *^ things, if tranflated out of the Barbarian' s> theo- *^ logy, not as Ihaded over there, but on the con- *^ trary as placed in full view, would be plain ^." In this very fingular and very valuable comment, upon St. John's Gofpel in general, and upon his preface in particular; we may fee, through the harlh and obfcure language of the whole, fome circum- fiances of great moment. The bold air of arrogance in the blinded Heathen over the illuminated Divine, mufl flrike at once upon every eye. But the Logos appears from him, to have been known to the -philojo- phers of antiquity later than the Gofpel; and known too, as a perpetual Exiflence, and the Maker of the t Eufebius 317 — 318. Kat tj/Ioc ct^a, nv 0 "Koyoq, kol^'' ov, a« ovJo, Ta yivoyLiva, lyivzlo, wg av koh 0 HpaxX«]o? tx^iuaen' xat, vri At', ov o BapCapo? a|»o» iv rr, mq Ap%v9? (not, as the words are exhibited by Stephens here, Ta|« Kcc^ alalia, which form an oppofition of lan^ guage and a contradiftion of fentiment, that deftroys tlie confift- ence of the whole, but as Vigerus reads the words ** ex manufcripto, *' cui fimiles Theodoretus et Cyrillus," Ta|e» xat a|ta) KaOeo-lor- nolx (a defigned interpretation of ihe words ev ap%>? riv 0 Xoyoq in St. John, as fignifying. In the Principle or Caufe of all things, was the Logos ; juft as Methodius explains the *) Ap%>5 here, to be " the Fa- " ther and Maker of all things," Bull, p. 147) vfog ^sov moti^ xai Geov «vai' ^t' » Traj/G' aw^w? yByevvjo-^ctf sv w to ytvo[/,evov ^m y.a,i ^(oviv Koci ov ^^(pviLivony KXi Et? Tot (TuiJ.otla (for which crajixot is ufed be- low) Tri'Trlsn', xai crufKoc ev^va-UjjLevov, (potvlu^ta-^cn av^^wnov' (xela, xat m rrivmocilcc ^nKvveiv t*j? (pvasuq to fji^syuXetov, a^tXei kcci ccvuXv^Bvlecj Tra- ^iv airo^Biicr^cHy v.ai Gsov «vai, oio<; r,v rr^o m «? to cu^j^cx, koci rnv o-ctfKX xai Tov av^DUitov Kotlcc^'^'^voci' rocvT ay. e? £7r£0-y.KX,(rixBvuqj a>X uvltK^vg •n^n yvfAvvi rri xBCpaXri, iAtla7n(pfa,a-iJi.ivcx, iK t*)? BapCapy Gao^oytas, ^vtXx 3 world. 4$ THE ORIGIN OF world. St. John alfo is witnefTcd by a Headicn, and by one who put him down for a Barbarian, to have reprefented the Logos as the Maker of all THINGS, as WITH GoD, and as God ; as one like- wife, " in whom the created hving Thing," or the human foul of our Saviour, " and" even " Life and " Exiitence" themfelves, thofe primogenial prin- ciples of Deity, " had a hirthy and fell into a body., *' and pitting on fleJJo appeared a many' who was therefore man and God in one ; who accordingly *' fhowed the greatnefs of his nature" by his mi- racles, was " wholly diflblved," and then " was " again deified and is God," even " such as he *' was, before he was brought down into the body and ** theflefij and a man.'' And St. John is attefted to have declared this, " not even as jhaded overy but '^ on the contrary as placed in full view." We have thus a teftimony to the plain meaning of St. John, and to the evident Godhead of his Logos, a Godhead equally before and after his death ; moft unqueftion- able in its nature, very early in its age, and pecu- liarly forcible in its import. St. John, we fee, is referred to in a language, that fhows him to have been well known to the Grecian cotemporaries of Amelius, as a writer, as a foreigner, and as a marked aflertor of Divinity for his Logos ". — IIL — « We have alfo another atteflation from a Heathen and from an enemy, even from one who is generally the bittereft of all enemies, ail ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 49 — III.— - The condu6l of Philo on this point, was at once fimilar to St. John's, and different from it. He chofe an apoftate from Chriftlanity ; to the divinity of our Saviour being pofitively alTerted by St. John. In Cyrill, viii. p. 262. Spanheim, Julian is introduced citing three pafiages out of Deuteronomy for the unity of the Godhead, and contrafting them with the w^ords of St. John above : ^oe.^v^HiJLivo<; luxwrrj Xsyoi^a, Ev ap%vj vv 0 T^oyoq k-I. A. '* How " then," he remarks, <' do thefe palTages agree with thofe of Mofes ?'-' vug av oy.oXoyn ravlcc tok Mcocr^u^. He next goes on to Ifaias's pre- diaion, " A virgin fhall conceive, &c." " He fays not," adds Ju- lian, *' God fhall be born of the virgin," ijLr?ii fieoy (pY,atv sy. t>;$ 7ra^~ 6syy rBx^Yia-ecr^ea : " yet ye ceafe not calling Mary the mother of *' God," ^£o%iiov h vy^Biq H ita,vza-^& Maptav y.a.\iiv\iz' ** and this is faid ** by John, All things were made by him," &c. aAAa to Asyo^sj/oy VKo lojociva, Ucnila. 01' uvla lyivtlo y..1. A. In Cyrill alfo, x. p. 327, the fame Emperor is introduced writing thus : " this Jefus then nei- ** ther Paul dared to call God," rov yav l-zjo-ev yla ITayAo? sloXy.v.cjsv eiTceiv Geoi/ [though in p. 262 above he evidently refers to an exprefiloii of St. Paul's, and blames it as implying Divinity for Jeftis, afking triumphantly if Ifaiah " calls him v>'ho v.as to be born of the Virgin, *' the only-begotten Son of God," an expreffion of St. John's, *' and *' the Jirji-born of e'very creature^'' an exprefiion of St. PauPsj >j y^-n ^CL(ji rov ly. T'/iq TTacGsva yinusixzvov viov 6as Movoycv/i y.a.: TlccSio^toy.ov 'jtaavif; y\\.Gzu(\ J " nor Matthew nor Luke nor Mark," Jig MarOaios- t/Js Aaxa? i/JH MaoKo? : *' but the good John,." aAA' 0 ^p^Kxlog \u:tt,nY,cy *' perceiving novv' a large multitude In many of the Grecian and Ita- *' lian cities, feized with this difeafe" of Chriftlanity, afc-Gojotsfo? r^-n ^oAy TrAjjfioi; bx7\ukq<; ev TrcT^Xcn; Ti/'v EAA/y^t^^v y.ai 'flxXicSli^uv TroAswi/, V7ra jo(,-S\ri<; rv)q voa-H j ** and hearing alfo, I think, of the [literary] monu- ** ments of Peter and Paul, which were kept fecret indeed, but hear- *' Ingof them as kept with care," azauv h, oiyaij y.cci rx ynyala-nslfn y.c/A riauAa, A«Sp ,v,2v, olv.h-jv h BifaTrBVOfAtiiyc, [fo inconfiftent is Julian here v.ith what he fsys immediately before and after, and fo confift- E ent JO THE ORIGIN OF chofc the philofophical term for the Logos, becaufc it was philofophical. He chofe it alfo, becaufe it indicated cnt with what he inthiiates in p. 262 before] j " was the firfl who *' dared to call him" God, '7rpa.^o^ flo7\iy.Y)a£v uTrnv. In Facundus too iv. 2. p. 59. Paris. 1679, we have a letter of the fame emperor and apoftate, pi'eferved in a wretched tranflatlon into Latin j and addrelT- ed to the fame Photinus the herefiarch, whom he mentions in p. 262, as underflanding St. John of fomebody different from the Son of Mary. •' You indeed, O Photinus," he fays to him in the letter, *' feem likely for and very near to falvation, who do right in not plac- *' ing him within the womb, whom you believed to be God ;" " tu *' quidem, O Photlne, verifnnilis vlderis et proximus falvare [per- *' haps falvari], bene faciens nequaquam in utero inducere quern *' credidifti Deum." In this, no doubt, he particularly oppofes St. John by the mention of Photinus, as he has done before. He then fpeaks of one Diodorus, as *' Nazaraei magus," and " acutus — fo- ** phlfta religionis agreftis," as *' the wife man of the Nazarene,'* and ** the acute fophift of a ruftick religion." He calls his Saviour *' that new God of his, the Galilean, whom he fabuloufly preaches *' to be Eternal;" " ilium novum ejus Deum, Galilseum, quern *' JEt iLRKVM fabulofe prssdicat." And this man, he tells us, had derived " his fi61:itious Deity," *' confiilse a Diodoro Deita- " Tis," from St. John he particularly means, but from the Afnjlles in general ht fays\ thus again coniradifling his grand pofition, that St. John was the firft who dared to call our Saviour God, and again referring the afcribed Godhead of our Saviour, to St. John and ether Apojlles in conjun£lion. Diodcrus, he fays, *' armed his hateful ** tongue againll the celeftial gods, being very ignorant of the myfte- «' ries of the pagans, and having wretchedly imbibed, as they report, *' all the err our of his degenerate and unjalful theologues the Fi/her- *' mev\'' *' odibilem adarmavit linguam adverfus cceleftes Deos, uf- *' que adeo ignorans paganorum myfteria, omnemque miferabiliter ■*' imbibens, ut aiunt, degenerum et imi>erltorum ejus theologorum ** Pifcatorum errorem." We fee apoftates thus uniting with here- ^icks, againft the do6trine of St. John j but, in the \tvy a(51: of fo doing, ARIANISM DISCLOSED. fl indicated a fplritual relationfhip in the divine nature, by a reference to fpirit. And he chofe it too, be- caufe it gave fuch fcope to the natural ingenioufnels of Ills temper, and enabled him to wander fo much over the fields of figure. " The animal Hfe then,'' fays Philo, " Is fhared ^^ even by the irrationals," roc ooXoya; " and the ra- *^ tional,'* rn; ^E XoyiKYi;, " is not fhared but caufed *^ by God, the fountain of — the Logos ^." Here he Ipeaks of the Logos, as the perfonified, not per- fonal, Reafon of God j alluding to the fecondary fig- nification of the word Logos; taking in alfo the title which we fhali fee his Logos adtually to bear, that of the Wifdom of God ; and from both com- pounding a kind of middle idea, that efteems a PFord to be the external image of Reafon, and confiders Reafcn as the internal PFord of the Mind, Thus does he in the prefent pafTage, and in a variety of others, doing, flying off from the hereticks, and ackno^vledglng the plain import of that very language, which the hereticks would wire-draw into their own abfurdities. A Julian joins hand In hand with an Amelius, to fhow againit a Photinus and the whole fraternity of mo- dern Photinlans, that we underftand St. John jull as they under- itood him. And Indeed this preface of St. John's has proved fiich a powerful and irrefiftible weapon In the hands of orthodoxy, that fome antlent and modern Photinlans have been obliged to take refuse from It, in that laft effort of defpair, that fullen and involuntary con- felfion of indefenfible abfurdlty j a denial of the authenticity of the whole. '^ P. 170. mq fA.iv av ^cJliy.vi<; y^iizyji y.ot.\ roc ocXoyoc, rriq h Xoy.y.xq a E 2 enfhrine 52 THE ORIGIN OF enflirlne his Logos behind fuch a veil of fancy and allegory; that we can fcarcely difcern his perfon in^ tlie fandtuary. In other pafTages, however, he draws afide the veil, and fhows him to us in his full pro- portions. He refers us to the bodily term of relationfliip,- between thefe two Beings in the Godhead. This afcertains the perfonality at once ; and therefore lays a foundation, for the fuperftru6ture of divinity. He who is difl:in6l from God, may be a God himfelf. He may be, as St. John pofitively dates him to be, '' God with God." " If yet indeed," fliys Philo, " no one chances to be fuiliciently worthy, of being ^' called the Son of God; endeavour to be orna- " mented, like his ^r/^-/^^^o//." "There *' are (it feems) two temples of God," he adds; ^' one indeed this world, in which his firft-hegotten " the Divine Logos is alfo High-pricft ; and the " other the rational foul, &c ^." " This world," he tells us, " is the younger Son of God, as being a '' fenfible obje6i;; for he mentioned not the Son that " is older than this, and he is an intelleftual Be- **^ ing; and /:? firft -begotten \ and ^^ who indeed on being generated, in imitation of " his Father's ways, and looking upon his arche- " typal patterns, molded forms ^'." And, to cite no more paffages, God is faid to have given an autho- rity peculiarly high, to " his right Logos his jirft- *^ begotten Son '^.^ Nor let my reader ftartle, at any exprefiions feemingly foreign and flrange, in thefe extra(Sts from Philo. Such muil be continually expeded, in the exuberance of his allegorical refinements. ^ P. 298. O |W£!/ ycco y.ody.oq rslo? vt'J\s^.o<; viog Osa, als a,ia^T,roq o.'^- Tov ya^ ircta-QvlsDov Ti/la a^ivoi wtts, vo'/^Io; ^^ sxeivoq' '^peacftwi/ a' cc^iCiJC-a^, ^ P. 329. Taloi' ^'.cv ytzD TTDBO-'ZvlxiQv viov 0 Tuv ovlcJv ccvileiKz Trarvif, ov slsnu^i TT^cSioyovov uvcy.ao-B' xa; o yzvvri^&iq /Asylot, iJ.iy.iif/,ivo<; raq ra 'Jrot- l^oq o^ec, TTcoq <7rapa,oHyiJ.cclci. a^'^elvTrcc ly.eiva C?v£7rwy, By.op^a eior.. Sq Methodius fpeaks of the Son cf God, as a Second Perfon " orna- " meriting the things already made, w imitation of the Fir ft j and this *' is the Son, the all-powerful and flrong hand of the Father-.''' xa- IccKOO'ixiia'av y.on TroiziXAHcTav, ncda, yAi^.'/iaiv TY,t; TrcoiEca?, ra. v.ot} yeyovola,* £rt ^e 0 vioq, 0 irocvloQVvcifjiOq y,xi Xfoclocio, ^sip ra Ylc^cl^oq (Bull, p. 14.8). And Gregory Nazianzen adds, that " the Father indeed forms the *' ftamps of the things themfelves," rcov avlijv Trpoiyfjicclcjv raq Tvjrat; (v7'f)u.onvi\an fjAv Ucclr.^ } " but the Logos finiihes them, not fervilely, " not ignorantly, but with knowledge and with dignity, and (to " fpeakmore properly) like the Father," ettjIsAw os 0 ?,oyoc, ahXiKcoc, jiT af/,a,^u(;, a/h7\ t'rncflniJLOviy.uq re y.cci d'eo-TToIiKW^, Y.a,i (ot>£«ol£rov eiTrft!/)' '}ra}^iy.u<; (Ibid. Grabe's Opera BullI). *^ P. 195. TOV opGov avis "hoyov 'K^uioyovov ftoy, E 3 But 54 THE ORIGIN OF But his general fentiments, are plainly thofe of his church at the moment. His manner of pro- pofing them, fhows this. He confiders the exift- ence of a Son of God, for inftance, as a certain and acknowledged truth. He therefore does not any where ajfert his exiftence. And I have found it im- polTible to produce any pafTages from him, that barely affirmed the fa6t. He confiders this Son of God, to be confefTedly fuperiour to all created things, to have formed them originally, to be the manager of diem now, and to be intimately prefent with God. He has therefore mentioned his exift- ence, only as incidental to his power. And I have been compelled to anticipate my future remarks, by producing pafTages that note him, as the High-prieft of the temple of the world to God the Father, as One abiding with God himfelf, and as One who created from the archetypes of God; while I meant merely to afcertain his being. I fliall now go on, however, to fnow him in a ftill ftronger irradiadon of Philo's light, as the Maker and Manager of the creation, the dignified Reprefentative of God to his creatures, and " very God of very God ''." d We read in the Targum of Jerufalem, Gen. iii. 22, " The " Word of Jehovah faid, Here Adam, whom / created, is the only- ** begotten Son in the ^worU, as / am the only-begotten Sen in the high " Heanjcn"" (Allix's Judgment, p. 268). Hence in Luke iii. 38, we have *' Adam, which was tkc Son of God."' — IV.— ARIANISM DISCLOSED. ^5 IV.-. That the Logos was the a6tmg exiftence in the original creation of all things, is afErmed in a variety of places by Philo. I fhall produce feveral of them, that one ray may lend a brightnefs to another, and all may unite to dilTipate the mifl of metaphor upon them. " God as God forefeeing, that a fair imitation " could never be made without a fair pattern -, and " that none of the fenfible objeds could be without " defe6b, unlefs it was molded to an archetypal and ^^ intelledual ideaj when he willed to fabricate this " vifible world, previoufly configurated out of him- " felf the intelledlual worlds that, by ufing an un- '^ bodied and mofl godlike pattern, he might work *^ off the bodily world, the younger an image of " the elder, to contain as many forts of fenfible ob- " je6ts in it, as there were to be intelledual in the ^^ other: but the world compofed from ideas, it is " not lawful to fay or to underftand as in any " place — : the world framed from ideas can have '^ no other place, than the Divine Logos who fet *^ thefe things in orders for what other place could " there be for his powers, which fhould be fufficient ^^ to receive and take in, I fay not all, but any *^ fimple one of them ? And he is the power which " alfo made the world, having the True Good for E 4 '' his ^G THE ORIGIN OF " his fountain ^" " That invifible and intelledtual *' Being, the Divine Logos and the Logos of God, '^ he [Mofes] calls the image of God; and the " image of this image that intelleftual light, which *' was made the image of the Divine Logos, who *^ [in Genefis] has explained the generation of it: *^ and /V is a fuper-coeleftial flar, the fountain of the *^ fenfible ftars^ which not improperly one may call *' Univerfal Light, from which the fun, and the *^ moon, and the other v/andering and unwandering *^ ftars draw, according to the power of each, their *^ proper fplendours of that pure and unmixed light, «' which is darkened over when it begins to turn in ^^ the transformation^ from intelledual to fenfible ^.'* God * p. 3—4.. Ilpo^aCwy yap 0 ^soc ccle Osof, clt ixif^.viy.a, y.Dc\ov ay. ocv Trole yvj^.ilo y.ocXii ci^cc 'Tracaoeiyi/^coioq, i^h rt ruv aia^niuv avvTTCx,iliov, 0 jw-vj Trpj &:,c'/i\v7rov y.oci )/ov}\r,v ihccv a7r«^oyic;-0'/;, QbXt^^hi; rov opvjloi/ TiP.ovi yoj-jxav ^'oy-m^yvjaai, TTfOB^tlvTrB rov vor^cv' iva. yQUixtvoc oca-utj.aAa xai Gbo^^bctIccIij/ •Traca^eiyixali, rov a-UfjLulmov aTr^pyaarHat, Trpo-btlspa vBcSlepov'aTreiy.onijij.x, rocratjia, -TTEfiB^ovla cucr^riict yevr,y ocraTTEp sv ly.nvco voioia.' rov os zy. ruv ihuv cvvialuia, Koafxov, sv tottw nvi Asysty ri VTsrovoe-iv, a Os/^tloi''- ■■ ' a^ 0 ly. ra)v tOBOJv H.oo'iJ.og aJKT^ov uv £%ot rovrov, vi rov veiov "hoyov rov rccua, oiayocr[A.'yt- ciiiltc' iTcei nq uv ei»j rcjv owuixtuv avis roiroq al^poj, oq yBvoil"" av iy-ccvoq, a ?.£yci} ircKjccqy (x'h'Ka, [xiav ayfcchv '/jvlivav, ^B^cca^oci re y.ca ^cocrtuui. ^y- vccfxiq ^s yea v^ y.oa-jAOTTOi'nlr.ir!, '?r'/;yriv zyHaa, ro "TTfoq oKri^eiuv aycc^ov. ^ P. 6. rov h aoralov y.oci vo'r%v, £'«ov >i,oyov y.ai Gstf XoiyoV) Ciy.ovoc Ae- yn 02B* y.a.1 ru,'S\r,q eiy.ova, ro vo-^ov ^uq Byetvo, 0 Ge^a Xcya ysyovsv Ciy.uvj rn CiB^lx'^vBvaccvloq rv,v yBVctj^v uvra. y.ai saliv vTrBcaoccvioq ualrjc, Trrtyn ruv u^c^'^uv ruv ctc^Bfuv' %y ay. cctto ay.oira yuXBcenv av nq Travccvyetav, a(p r,q 0 yjT^toq y.ui v) a-B?^r,v'/} xa» o( aAAoi TrAatrjJs? re xa» cc7i->\a.veiq, acvovlui ycc^* §aov iKxalu ovvx(/.iqt rcc Tr^iTiovlu, (ptyyv^ rvq aciJAyiiq koh Kct^ctDaq Byeivv;^ ccvyYiq; ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 57 God " was willing, that the Firft Man fhould ap- " pear with beauty of the higheft degree," in his body: " and that he was fuperexcellent in his foul, *^ is evident; for it feems he ufed no other pattern of *^ things in creadon, for the formadon of it, except *^ only (as I have faid) his own Logos: — but it is « necefTary, that the imitation of an all-beaudful « pattern, fhould be all-beaudful; and the Logos ^« of God is fuperiour even to beauty itfelf, what- " ever beauty there is in nature ; and is not orna- « mented with beauty, but (if we may fpeak the « truth) is himfelf the moft becoming ornament of *^ beauty s." " Every man is related to the Divine « Logos, in his underftanding; being made the ex- " prefs image of the blelTed Nature, or a particle <' of it, or a radiation from it \'' " This created « world is one, a^ the fabricator is one, who afli- ^^ milated the work to himfelf in his unity, and ufed fjMccQoXnv. This paffage has been mifunderftood, by fome of our writers in defence of the Trinity; and the Logos has been confounded with his creature. See Bull, p. 14. g p. 31 — 32. BaT^oixBvoq aq in yLa>.iTcc y.ccXXirov oipQvjyat rov TTfurov evDpwTToi/' olt h Kcci nr-nv -^v^r.v scfiTog v^v, (pccvs^ov' ahvi yap ilefu) ^ap«- ^eiyfjuoili rm sv ysvea-ei, Trpo? T*jv KOtloio-KiV/iv ccvln;, toms 'X^^r,acca^uh (Aovai ^"i oj? EiTror, Toj zavls Xoya. uvccyKn h itccy/MXH wafa^eiyjixalo? Tray- 9i'jr^vy DCTTDB'Trerocloq tyMva. '^ P. 33. Uuq oiv^^co'n-oc, v.aXoc \kiv rr.v havoiccv, uy.nulxi 6«w ^oyw, T«j fjLCcy.otfixq (pvasuq ixfAxy^ov) n «^o;r7rafir/A«, n uTronycca-i^oi, ysyovuq. « aU 5S THE ORIGIN OF " all his efience in the creation of the whole •." Then Ipeaking of the river which went out of Eden to water Paradife, he fays : " Generous virtue takes *' its beginning from Eden^ the Wifdom of God; *' flie joys and rejoices and delights, exulting in her " only father, an^ glorying in her God — : the river '^ is this generous goodnefs; it proceeds out of the " Wifdom of Gdd, and this is the Logos of God; *^ for this generous virtue was made according to *^ him '^.'' " Befeleel then is interpreted God in a *^ fhadow: but the fliadow of God is his Logos,. *' whom he ufed as his inftrument in making the '' world V " By his Logos, God wrought out " the univerfe '"'." In one place he fpeaks of " a *^ double Logos, one indeed an archetype above us, *' and the other an imitation which abides among * p. 39. Ek Er'i' 0 yivrilot; y.ocrao(; ralo?, etteiS')! kui «? 0 ^Y,[/,i8pyo^, i^Ofjioiuaocq ocvlco y.ccla, ty,v ixovuaiv to apyoi', 0 ttocctv) nccli^fricroilo tv) aaiac uq rviv ra oXa yivzcnv. ^ P. 52. XuiJiQcx-in jxBV sv raq c-0%ccc^ '0 yevtx*? a^tlri wjro rrt(; Ehixy tn<; t:ii deh croipKx.<;' % ycnoei v.ui yocvvvlon y.ai Tfv(p«, etti ixovu ru Tralp* icv]r,<; ayaXXoixtvyif y.on crsij.vvvoij.ivr) Oew. 'TTolcciJ.oq *) ysviKYi eriv ayae.- ^olriq' at% ty.vo^ivt\a,i iy. rr? Ta fisy aotpiocq' y) ^e zfiv 0 GeK 7^oyo(;' y.aloc yap Tiflov 'TTBTToii^ai V) yivf/.TO apilv}* I render yivmri ac{l'/i and ysviy.Yi ayccGa- Iriqy not (as it has been always rendered) general^ but, as propriety requires, and as p. 93 and 1103 in ycvviy.cS^.otloi; demand, generous vir- tue and generous goodnefs. It thus carries the fame import, as it haa the fame origin, with yewccioq and ycvvuiiSluloq. ^ P. 78 — 79. "EpixnviVilai sv B£3-£X£»jA; iv ay.nx, 0 Geo?, a-tcix fisa os • Xayoq aiAa ern*) w vaQaTTEp o^yccvu; Trpo^p^^py/cr «/>(,£ i/o? sy.o(7[jt.o'7rom. "^ P. 131. Tw alia Xoyu kch to ttuv if/u^o^ivoi<7£ yaf, ^Tiaiv, 0 ^go^ rov avBfU'B^ovj hk emova, ccKKa, y.ai'' eiy.ovci* o P. 936. Ta a-cSlr.foq nai iXsu Getf, ru ytvet ruv uv^wrcm t^cucilov ita.- fxcr-)(piA.tvii f^tyiTTiv ^wjjeaf, rrtv TTfoq rov civla Koyov crvyysv^av, a.

.ac, y.cci ba.\a,r\ccv utth^ov, y.cci, uipoi (^sys^ot;, y.ixi m 'rruvlot; yp^ry ocov o'.vciliT-.Xut F 2 " and '68 THE ORIGIN OF " and powerful, and lliarper dian any two- edged " fword ; piercing even to the dividing afunder of ^^ foul and fpirit, and of the joints and marrow; " and is a discerner of the thoughts and in- " TENTS OF THE HEART ; neither is there anv *^ CREATURE, THAT IS NOT MANIFEST IN HIS SIGHT; " but ALL THINGS ARE NAKED AND OPENED UNTO ^^ THE EYES OF HIM, WITH WHOM WE HAVE TO « do\" Man in misfortunes, as Philo tells us, " throws '^ the whole blame upon what are the caufes of no " evil. Agriculture, Traffic, or the other Employ- " ments, which he thought proper to ufe for the " procurement of money. But thefe, though never " partaking of the organs of fpeech, will by the *' very fadls break out into a voice, more powerful " than that by the tongue. '" Are not we then, *" O calumniator,"' they will fay, "' thofe very '" things on which thou rodefl in lofty pride, as on *" beafts of burden ? Have we, with infolence in '" return, wrought out calamity for thee ? Behold "' him who flood oppofed to thee, the armed ^" Logos of God ; to whom it is given to fix the "*^ bounds of well and ill. Seefl thou not this ? Why therefore dofl thou now blame us; whom (CC ^ Heb. iv. 12 — 13. Zwv yuf 0 T^oyoq ra Osy, x«t ei/spyj??, x.T. >.. So Philo, p. 500, fpeaksof ** God having fharpened his Logos, who *' can cut through all things 5"" 0 Geo? o(,Kovr,(xa,iA.tvoq rov roixio, ruv ffViJt.Ti'ccyluv uvla Aoyop. «^ thou ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 69 *^* thou didil not cenfure before, when thy affairs *" went well ? For we are the fame, being noways *" altered from our own nature, in the fmalleil *^^ point at all. But thou, ufing judgments that are *" unfound, art unreafonably agitated. For if thou *" hadft learned from the beginning, that, even "^ though thou hadft an employment, this is not *" the caufe of thy participating in good or evil ; *" but that He is, who is the rudder-holder and "' governor of the univerfe, the Divine Logos: *" thou hadft more eafily borne what has befallen "^ thee, ceafing to calumniate us, and to afcribe to *" us what we could not do^\"' Here we mount a ftep higher, in the fcale of the Jewifti faidi. We fee the Infpedor of the univerfe, exalted into the Controuler of it. The Logos we behold feated at the helm of the world, and fteering it as he thinks proper. He thus ftands forth the mighty Governor ^ P. 113 — 114. To, ^'' ahyog ailicc xazy ro'jra^airciv ailiccltxi, rriv Teu^yiav, rr,v E/xTropaj/, ra? aXKa-g ^7:ilr,hvatK;f cnq ir^.oq acyvcuri^ov VjqUi ^riff&a.i' ai d£, koci roi (piOvv]\r,^iuv o^ycx.vu)v ai/.otpa^a», rrrj ^i"" avluv rav 7rfccyiji,aluv p/ilacr* (puvr.vy svotpyB^spoiu saccv rr\q ^ix y^^.cjrlr,!;' Acocyi, CO avy.o(pa.v[a,i ay^ Vf/sn; S(7yAv sy.iiica (^XBy8a-&.i)f uiq xa^ac-rrso VTTc^vyioiq 11-^cx.v^ivuv BiriQi.M<^ ntya.(T{xi^O!. croi y.uy.o- 'TTfcx.yiaVf io£ rov aivsalcSloc £^sva,v]icc(;, d£« Xoyov ivu'7t'?\icr(j.ivoVi Trap'' ov ro rs tv Kui. TO f/.Yj crvixQi'^r,y.z TeAEiaj-Gai. ay^ opoci; j T( 8v vvv ccCha, '/ly.ccc, Trpo- lipov, ols svudii a-oi rcc irpay^ccioc, 8^i ixii^.-^ccfxsi/oq' vtfj.iy yup ca ccvlocif f/.r,o£v T»j? ioivluv (pvcrtuq (j.iloi.Qcc.'hiic-a.i to 'Kccpa-rtcx.v r*y,<^>3* cry ^£ yp^lrjciotq ^cui^evoq ey(^ vyieaiv, ccXoyojg atpx^a^sit;. Et yap sf a-px^'^ iu^a^sgy oil ^X arr av sTTil-n^BVxq aya^oov ^usaiccq '/> kocxuv b^iv cctliccj a.7\X^ 0 'rcr^ci- 7\ni^0(; Kcci KvCspviUvq Ta m-aploc, "Koyoq ^noc, paov av B(pspB(; Tft avfj^iriTT- loyluf iravcroL^ivoc, m avKoipaPiBii/ xcn B7riypx(pBn/ rsjj.iv a, />c--9 avvauB^iZ, F 3 of yO THE ORIGIN OF of the creation. Profperity and adverfity are both under the guidance of his hand. He prefcribes them their movements. He affigns them their limits. And to the unfortunate he rifes (as it were) from his throne over the creation, comes forth with his weapons of punilliment, and ftands oppofed as an antagonift to them. '' God," Philo adds in another place, ^^ as a " Shepherd and a King, by right and law leads, as *^ it were a certain flock, the earth, and water, and *' air, and fire, and whatever is planted or lives in " them, fome mortal and fome divine ; and alfo the " nature of heaven, and the periods of the fun and *^ moon, and the harmonious turns and dances of " the other flarsj having fet over the whole his " Firft-begotten Son, the right Logos; who will " accept the charge of this facred herd, as in fome *' meafure the Governor under a Great King^'* Here, as in the creation before, the majefly of Di- vinity in the Father is fecured, by referring the au- thority to him. But then, as before, the dignity of Divinity in the Son is equally fecured, by attri- buting the exercife of this authority to him. The ^ P. 195' Ka^ocTTef yap rtyoe. 'tfoiixvyiv, ynv kui v^aip y.on uspoc kui rrvn, x«i oax IV TfcHoK ^v\a, re ocv aai ^uicc, ra, fxsv Gvvfla roc h fiaia* /]» h ecstva (pvaiVj y.cct >)Xia xai cthMj/o^^ Trtpioue:, y.cci ruv aXKm arscuv rcoTTocq re av xui yocnoLt; tvcccyi.oviiiCi ug Troifxinv ncci Qa(7i?^ev<; o Qeoq ccyei Kccla, onir,v nay vojxov, Trcoryicra/xEvo? rov 00601/ avla "hoyov ircuioyovov Viovj 0? 7'^v eTrtue- T^otav rr,(; t£j?«j raJl^;; uyi^ri<;, oisi ri [Ji.syc6>\ii QaaO\ecai; f7r»r%o?> ^'a- Soiii ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 7 I Son has been previoufly noticed by Phllo, as the only Inipedlor, and the only Controuler^ of the af- fairs of men. And if he is here noticed, for the Governor under the Father i he is noticed to be as much the adual Governor of the univerfe, as he previoufly was to be the acScual Creator of it. " Examine," fays Philo in a juil ftrain of reli- gious thoughtfulnefs, " the changes of whole coun- ^'^ tries and nations, to better and to worfe. Greece " vv^as formerly in the vigor of youth, but the Ma- ^^ cedonians robbed it of its ftrength. Macedonia '^ then flourifhedj but, being broken into parts, " decayed till it utterly withered away. Before " the Macedonians, the Perfians were in profpe- " rity; but one day deftroyed their large and ^^ mighty kingdom. And now the Parthians, who " were then fubjcd to the Perfians, rule over " tbem who a little while ao;o were their governors. " Egypt formerly looked illuilrious and very flate- " lyi but her great happinefs has paiTed away, like " a cloud, ¥/hat are the Ethiopians? What is *^ alfo Carthage and the pov/er of Libya? And *^ what are the kings of Pontus, what is Europe " and Afia, and (to fpeak briefly) ail the globe ? " Is it not agitated up and down, and vibrated " about, as a fliip at fea; and has nov/ profperous, ^^ and now adverfe, gales ? For die Divine Logos, ^' whom the miany of mankind denominate Fortune, " leads the dances in a circle. Then, pafling at F 4 " his 72 THE ORIGIN OF *^ his eafe through cities, and nations, and coun- " tries, he diftributes the pofTelTions of thefe to " thofe, and of all to all; which only vary in the " times themfelves to each : Jo that the whole world " is as one city, which exhibits the beft of all de- " mocratic policies'^." We here fee the Logos again exalted, into that fupremacy of Godhead over the affairs of the world 3 which the ignorance of Heathenifm attributed to fortune ; which the tongues of Chriflians, continuing a language contra- dictory to xh.€\vfentments, ftill attribute to the fame blind deity ; and which Chriflianity attributes, with Philo and his cotemporaries, to the prefiding Son of God. The Logos is thus the Providence of God. The rifes and the falls of cities, kingdoms, and empires; all that has marked the public ^ P. 318. [Elela^e] ra.<; ^ucuv oAwf xat e^vuv "jrpo? ro bv nxi %£tp!' fji.fia,QoXa.^' viii[j.acrB- ttoIs »? E?^Aa?, a,?\Xa, MaKsooveq ccvlrji; rv^v io"Xvv ct^n- ?\ojv ccX7\Qiq y.cci 'TTccav tot. 'TrccvloiJv ettjve/aei, ycovaq ocvlaq jjiovov aXhccr- Icvla, 'jraf BKctroiq' ivoi uq yua. iroTsiq n oiy.ayBvn itAca. rw a^iT'ftv 'Tro^^CUiuv etyy, ^r,y.oy.^u\\ot,v* fortunes ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 73 fortunes of man, with many and awful revolutions, and ......... billowed high With human agitation, the public hiflory of man; refult from the controul- ing fuperintendence, of this God at the pole of the univerfe. He there, with his ftrong hand, turns the globe as he pleafes. Now one fide is upper- moil, and now another; as he fees will be beft, for his general plans of wifdom. And he makes his fun of prolperity, to fhine upon this fide; then to refign it up again, to the darknefs of adverfity; and fo to pafs and illumine another : juft as eafily, juil almoil as regularly, and only not in fo Ihort inter- vals of continuance, as he caufes the returns of day and niglit. And " the whole world," under the ruling power of the Logos, " is as one city, which " exhibits the befl of all democratic pohcies." This dodrine indeed is ftrikingly curious in itfelf^ and highly confirmatory of the imputed divinity of our Saviour. Yet I know not, that it is any where difplayed in Scripture, fo apparendy as it is here. It is intimated, however. He who is reprefented (as we have already feen) to be the prefent Inipec- tor, muil be aifo the prefent Controuler, of the wild and tumultuous tranfadlions of man, on the face of this globe. He alfo, who is defcribed (as we fhall inflantly fee) to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, muil be the raifer of kingdoms from the 74 THE ORIGIN OF the dufl:, and the reducer of them again to the dufl from which they came. And as St. Paul requires Timothy, to keep a command which he had given him, " until the coming of our Lord Jefus Chrift, " which in his time he fhall fhew, who is the blefT- *^ ed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, and " Lord of Lords i" fo the angel faith to St. John in the Revelations, concerning princes oppofed to Chriftianity, " the Lamb fhall overcome them, for " he is Lord of Lords, and King of Kings """ But let us now go from his infpedion and con- troul of nature, to his fupport of it. " The Logos " of He Who Is," as Philo tells us, " being the " bond of all things, both keeps all the parts to- " gether, and conftringes them, and forbids them " to be loofened or disjoined ^" Philo alfo bids us " fay with boldnefs, that there is no matter i'o " hard, as to be able to bear the burden of the *^ world: but the Logos is the very ftrong and very • e I Tim. vi. 14-— 15. and Rev. xvii. 14- See alfo Rev. xix. .' for one who *' is called the ^vordoi God," and *' hath on his vef- *• ture and -on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and ** Lord of Lords" (13 and 16); and Philo, p. 398. for the Logos being the helm of the univerfe. The Jews in their writings ** }naintain, tliat it is the Shekinah or Wifdom [that is, the ** Logos] which rules the nvorU, according to Solomon's words, ; y\ ** Prov. viii. K. Men. fol. 35. col. i" (Allix's Judgniient, | p. 164-). ^ P. '466. O T£ ycio Ttf ovloq 7\oyoq, 6i(7iJ.o<; m ruv 'rrav\m-—i kch av~ viyii ra y.i:rt Truflu, /.cci c(^^yyHf hch y.u7>.Vci uvloc, ^.aAt'scrOat acci oiccf- " firm ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 75 *^ firm fupport of the univerfe. He, reaching *^ from the middle to the ends, and from the fum- " mit to the middle, runs the long unconquered " courfe of nature, conftraining and conftringing. " all the parts together. For the Father, who be- " ^jjiim, made him the unfpeakable bond of all. *^ Well then may not all the land be dilTolved away " into all the water, which its bays have taken in ; " nor may the fire be extinguiflied by the air, nor " again may the air be fet in flame by the fire^ the " Divine Logos placing himfeifi as a vocal boundary " to the un- vocal elements : fo that the v/hole Ihall " harmonize together, as in a mufical fcale ; " which mediates between the threats of the con- *^ trary principles, and by its melodious perfuafive- " nefs conciliates them s." We thus fee the Logos defcribed, with all the energies of the Godhead on his arm. The vafl frame of the univerfe refls and gravitates upon him, as the central pillar of it. The principle of adhefion, which pervades the parts, g Eufebius's Prepar, Evang. p. 190. Asyeloj n/^la 7ra^^Y,^ia,c, olt ahv Tuv ivv7mv y.^cclonov iila<;, uq rov y.oa-y.ov a,^^o(po^nv io-'/ycjM. Aoyoq ^g TO o^vfuicclov y.cci QiQaidjlcclov zczia-ixa ruv o?mv bthi. Tiflo; a,7ro ruv [/.sacdv ETTt rcc Trefola, >jat cctto rcov azfuv E'/rt rcc yLta-a, racing, ooXi^svn rov Cpvaiuq a,'/)ri-iUov dpo/xc;', avvaycov rcc [xs^rj ttccvIcc y.c/A crvc;-(piyyuv. Ac~ij.gv yap (xvlov a^^r%v rn Tra-floq, 0 yivjv^axq sTroiti ira\%^. EiKoiuc av e^s yo itaaa, d'taAuGv^o-El^t Trpij Trcc^og v^ocloq, oTTsp ocvlvig oi y.o?\7rct y.ex.'^'Griy.a.aiv. »3" VTTo ocifoq a-Qza-drjaelcct TTfp, aJ' £ij,7rct,Xiv viro irv^oi; ocym a,va(p?.By^Yicrilui, Ttf oEta Aoya jj.e^o^iov rccrlovlo; ccvlov (pcovr.sVf aloi^BHtiv ccpuvuv. woe ro o>^QVi fcVTTgp iTTt, r'/iq Byyp(zy.y.ii yaaimqi avr/ix'^CYji roig ruv uuvUuv a.'jrBi'huq and *jS THE ORIGIN OF and binds them into a whole, is nothing more than the application of his plaftick hand to them. Or (to borrow an image from Heathenifm, the grandeft which it ever conceived of the Godhead) the whole world hangs in a golden chain before him, the links of it being lapped round the fides of the creation, and tlie ends beins; hooked to the feet of his throne. This evidence of the divinity of our Saviour, is carefully continued in our Scriptures; our Saviour being there declared, to be " upholding all things " by the word of his pov/er," and to be He " by *' whom all things confift^\'* And that this awful truth is only infinuated in our Scripture, and yet is dwelt upon circumftantially in Philo; is a fuller and firmer proof of the convi6lion of the Jews, in the pofitive divinity of their Logos. — VI.— But let us now obferve the high pre-eminence of titles, which the JewiHi theology attributed to its Logos. Thefe of courfe muft be correfpondent, to the exalted honours which it has conferred upon him. The ftream muft receive a tindlure from the fountain. And diefe titles will naturally be accom- modated; as to the creative, the infpeding, the controuling, and the fupporting efficacy of his power; fo likewife to the derivative quality of his *> lieb. i, 3, and CololT. i. 17. divinity. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 77 divinity, and to the official fubordination of his cha- r3,(5tcr. « Endeavour to be adorned/' fays Philo in the fame tenor of exhortation, which calls upon us in the Scriptures to affimilate ourfelves to the Son of God, '' according to his Firft-begotten Logos, « the moft ancient Angel, who exifts as the Arch- « angel of Many Names: for he is denominated the « Prtnciple, and the Name of God, and the Logos: « —if we are not yet worthy to be reckoned fons « of God, ftill we are of his image, the moft holy « Logos; for the moft ancient Logos is the image " of God ^" This elevates our Saviour into a v/on- derful rank in the univerfe, as " the Moft Antient'^ of angels, as " the Archangel of Many Names," as « the'^Principle" of exiftence to the creation, as the « Moft Holy," the " Name" and the " Image" of God. We can hardly mount beyond this. There is fcarcely any difcernible interval, between this and God. But Philo is ftill more explicit. In other places he fpealcs of " the Logos of God," as " above all « the world, and the moft ancient and moft noble « of the things that have been made^;" and ac- i P. 341. Ytt^^u'Cs y^o^i^Ma^a^ ycc% rov 7rpa;'!oyo.ov av% Aoyo., To. ^yycTvo. 'TT^so^vWov, C.5 appcayy^^^o^ '^oXvcowi^.ov v'rrc.fX'^vlx. yccc^ T^^ ^a^h^ vo:^^'(b<7^oc^ ysyc^i^Bv, cc^T^cc to; rr.^—eiy.o^'o^ av%, >.oyH ra *£pc^- ^oJi?. 0£» yct^ eixuv, Aoyo? o 'jrfecrQvlccloq. «tO»1c3C y.oa yevny.ulcclo; rut oja. yiywi. tually ^3 THE ORIGIN or tually dcfcribes the " Logos," as " he who is older " than the things which have received creation V The laiL claufe iliews Philo, Vv^hen he ipeaks before of the Logosj as the fncft ancient of created things; to mean one more ancient than they. Here, there- fore, we not only attend our Saviour up the great fcale of creation to the topmoil round of it ; but aifo pafs with him through the infinite altitude be- yond it, and pufli up to the very height of the Crea- tor, and the very mount of God. But, what is fingular, this mighty Being is exhi- bited to us alfo, in the Chriftian chara6ler of Me- diator for man. " To the Archangel, and moil " ancient Logos, the Father who created the uni- " verfe has given the peculiar grant; that hefhould " ftand as a bounding line, to diftinguiih that " which was made from him who formed it. And *' he is the continual fupplicator for the perifliing " mortal to the Immortal, and the ambafTador of " the Sovereign to the fubjedt. And he exults in « the grant, and glorying explains it, faying, "^ And *" I flood betwixt the Lord and you, neither un- "' begotten as the exifling God, nor made as you, *" but the middle of the extremes, an hoflage to ^ P. 339. O Aoyoj 0 TTfiO-Qvls'ioq to)v yevecriv ei7\ri(po^.cJv. So Origen's account of our Saviour in his reply to Celfus, p. 257, " -Tr^scj^vlcclof *' yxp ccv%v 7ra,'^u'v ruv or-uiki^y'/iuccluv la-acri 01 Saioi Aoyoi j" 19 properly tranflated thus, '* novit enim hunc lacra fcriptura creaturis omni- *< bus vetulliorem" (Bull, p. 173). "' both: ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 79 *^^ both : to him who planted you, to afllire you he *^^ will not ever deftroy or defert your whole race, *" and introduce diforder in the room of order ; *^^ and to you plants, for your happy hope, that ^" the benevolent God will never overlook his ^" own work. For 1 will be the proclaimer of *" peace to the creature, from that God who is '" always the guardian of peace, and knows how '" to take av/ay wars "^."' Flere we have the top- ftone (as it were) laid to the fabrick of the crea- tion, and the Logos ftanding eredt above it. He is difcriminated in the moil exprefs manner from the creatures ; and he appears as a Mediator be- twixt the Father and them. Being neither " unbegot- ^^ ten" as the Father, nor " made" as the creatures, he fhares a kind of middle nature, and is eflentially qualified for the office of Mediator. In this office all his grandeur is foftened and tempered down, by his Hill fuperior amiablenefs. He comes forv/ard, exadlly ^ P. 509. To; ^6 a^ycvyyzk^ y.ai 'rr^tJ^-Jlc^a} Xoycj ^jj^sscv z^xi^flov iOuJKiv 0 rex, oXex, ysvv'n.o'ycj Geiw ra UfifX v(pr,yiiij.£vu}, non ocra, <^pa^o^» ° P" 593 — 594- O *«fo-r ^oyos* toi? ,«.ev uq (SciaiXivc, a, x^-n Trparluv sf u(pe?\siav v(priyiiio'A. P P. 93. Tov ^i ayytAoi', 05 £r» 7\oyoTf uuTrBf loclfov hoc^luv* *^ right ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 8 I *' right Logos as their one Father, admiring the '' well-harmonized and wholly mufical fymphony ** of virtues," as " living a calm and quiet Hfe, ^^ not indeed one idle and inadive, as fome think, ^^ but very manly, and much provoked againft ^' thofe who attempt to break in upon their la- ^ bourse." All ferves to fill up the great oudine of bis character; who, when he was jthe Lord of Nature, condefcended to become the inftru6lor of man, the healer of his maladies, and the fofterer of his virtues. Nor is this all. We have even hints given us, of the incarnation of the Logos. " How is it, good " firs, that ye will not grow weary indeed of war, ^^ and love peace; when ye belong to one and the " fame parent, who is not mortal but immortal, " the man of God, who, being the Logos of the " Eternal, is of necefTity alfo himfelf incorrupdble^ ?'* The Logos is equally called in another pafTage, *^ the man after the image of God'." But perhaps fome one " will fay," Philo adds in another place, S P. 326, Eva trcciifa, rov o^Qov riy.uv\i^ "Koyovt Tviv §vctf[j.Qror y.cci xan Xtav yiKovv^ixevov y.ulot ruv cx'OJHoot.q Xvnv nri^iicHvliov. "■ P. 326. n.uq a:t iy.iKKi\ti — u ysvvcx.ioij iViiKi^o} fjitv ^va^i^aivsiVt £i- fYivviv oz aywn'Oiv, iva, y.cn rov avlov e-Tnysycxf^^Bvoi ircclicxy a Gvrlov a^^' a^ccvcdovy xv^^uirov Gea, 05 ra ccl'oiS ^070? wv, t^ avixyy.ri^ y.ai cx.v%q £f»i> ' P. 341. A0705— 0 x«t' etxova avO^WTre;— TTfccrayo^ef sl-jij. G " why 82 THE ORIGIN OF " why then does he who hath believed any thing, " admit a veftige, or a Ihade, or a moment, of iin- " behef at all? But he feems to me to mean no- ^^ thing elfe, than to prove the created one to be " un-created, and the mortal one immortal, and " the corruptible one incorruptible, and the man " (if it is lawful to fay fo) God : for the faith, which ^' man has got, he fays ought to be fo firm, as to *^ differ in nothing from the faith in a reality, that " is perfe6l and entire in every part^'' And thefe paffages carry fo clear an allufion to that wonderful circumflance, which the Jews of our Saviour^s days (as we have fcen before) fully expedted, and w^hich the Chriflians of our own (as we all know) firmly believe, to be realized in the perfon oUheir MeiTiah and our Chrifl , when only, in all the periods of the human hiflory, the Logos was expedted or is be- lieved to have become, " a man of God," " a jnan *^ after the image of God," a " mortal" in an " im- ^^ mortal," a " corruptible" in an " incorruptible," and '^ man" in " God :" that no doubt can be en- tertained, but they all refer to the grand formation of the Logos, into an Immanuel or God-man". Let * p. 1073. am' iacc(i uv Tt? EtTTofj T» av yi 0 ri TCiiei^ivy.uq t^voj, u cy.iuvy VI upoiv aTTiria? ^b^bIcci roTTu^ccTrav j Ttfl&g ^' ahv ele^ov y.oi jSa- 7\ia'^a,i aoy.Hy vj rov yiioijuvov a'!ro(pcci)inv ayiyvniovy y.oci tov vr/nov auavoilov, y.cci rov (pQaflov aCp^a^oVj y.ca rov uvd^uirov (et ^bixk; wjthv) Obov' rviv ycc^ T55f TTH^* TO 0)1 TYjq CColm y.on TTB^l 1Ta,"\Cl 7rX-/lf8q. « <' That fenfe was fo well known in the fynagogue, that you fee ARIANISM DISCLOSED, 8j Let US now, however, proceed from the defcent of die Logos upon eardi, and return with him to jiis native element of heaven again. There we find him fpoken of by Philo, in thefe exalted terms. " Hefitate not," he cries, " if that which is older *^ than the things exifling be unfpeakabie^ fince ^^ his Logos is not to be Ipoken to us, by his pro- ^^ per namcj and indeed, if that is unfpeakable, it is " alfo incomprehenfible^." Both the members of this fentence are referred to the Logos. That he is ^*^ older than the things exilling," has been his re- peated defcripdon before. Philo therefore declares the Logos to be, ^' unfpeakable" in his name, and ^^ incomprehenfible" in his nature. " The Logos ^^ of him who made the world, is the feal by which *' in Midrafli Tehlllim upon Pfal. xxxlii, that the Sheklnah [or " Wifdom], nvhich ^cvas inhea-vejz, was to lea-ue them [it], and to be ** upon the earth ; and that, although it was not poffible for any mor- *' tal to fee her in this life, in the future age (which is the fecond " coming of the Mefiias) fhe is to be feen by Ifrael, who are then " to live for ever, and to fay as you fee in Ifa. xxy. 9, "* Here is <" your God."' And according to Pf. xlviii. 15, *" He is Goo *'-^ our God j'" as it is obferved by Tanchuma, and many others" (Alhx's Judgment, p. 263 — 264). *' TheMeflias — was to blefs all " nations, — as is acknowledged by the author of the book Chafidira " § 961 ; and that could not be done but by the Shekinah dujellina- *' among them, as the Jews acknowledge it" (p. '2.66). ^' The ^* falvation of Ifrael is to be made by God himfelf j — and — the She- ^' kinah fliall be their Redee?fier. R. Men. fol. 19, col. 4, and fol. ?* 58, col. 4, and fol. 59, col. i" (p. 336). * P. 1046. M-rX HV ^HCTTOOSlj £1 TO TCOV oflu^V 'Cr^BT^vrsPOV UCPYtTO)/' #7roT£ 0 "hoyoq ccvra nv^tu quoiaccti a ^viro^ -/lyAv' y.ai, [j(,iv, n appviro!/, aai G 2 *^ each §4 THE ORIGIN OF " each of the things exifting was figured : accord- " ingly alfo, the things created have from the be- " ginning kept a perfed form, as being the ftamp *^ and image of the perfeft Logos. For the living " thing created, is indeed imperfe6l in quantity; " and its growth in every period of life, is a witnefs " of this: but it is perfedb in quality; for the fame *^ quality continues, as being ftamped by him who *^ continues :, and who is never changed, the Divine ^' Logos y." Philo thus affigns to " the perfedt " Logos" that attribute of the Godhead, which pe- culiarly gives it perfection in the eyes of man; which makes it to be fo refpedlable and dignified as it is, a nature fuflBcient to itfelf, and fteady in its purpofes ; that has, at every moment of its opera- tions, all the pofTible reafons for the a6i; and for the mode before it; and that therefore can admit into it, " no" pofTible " variablenefs, neither fhadow of « turning^" This is ceding a kind of moral eternity to the Logos. But Philo alfo cedes to him a pofitive and phyfical one. We fee Philo indeed declaring be- fore, that the Father, " when he willed to fabricate *" y P. 452. O ^i ra tnoiHvr'^ 'Koy^t olvt^ sriv v> cip^ayij, 'n ruv ovluv xoX»9« TO et^ocf an £Ki/.a,yeiov kcci eiKuv TeXem Xoya* to ysc^ yivoi^ivo* 'C,u}ovy uriKtq (Jitv £r» to; nnoat^' fjLOC^v^t; ^' cci y.oc^'' vt^Mnav ey.oi.rviv 'moc^- aviiiaeiq. TiXe-tov h tco -crotw* /y.Ev« ya^ yi ccvrn 'orotoT/jj) «T£ utfo [Asvofi'^ tiif/.otx,^eia-ay y.a,i (jt,vi^a.iAYi T^i7ro//.Evy, Sjjy >^oy8, '^ James i. 17. " this ARIANISM DISCLOSED. ^5 «^ this vifible world, previouHy configurated out of ^^ " himfelf" the Logos, as a pattern for it\ This I j leems to imply, that the Logos was only juft a little I I prior to the exiftence of the world. But this is ^ 1 1 only ajfeeming implication. The real import is \ ! very different. Philo, like fome Chriftian writers \ \ \ fince who uie the fame language, means only the j deputation of the Son from the Father, for the ere- | ation of the world. This is demonftrably plain, | from his and their language upon other occafions. \ i Him whom they metaphorically notice, as generated ^ from the Father jufl before he created the world; I they adually pronounce to be Eternal ■\ Thus i Philo tells us, that Mofes " called the foul the 1 " image of the Divine and the Invifible ; confider- I " ing it to be the approved image, as being fub- f " ftantiated and moulded by the feal of God, of a See fe6l. iv. before, from Philo, p. 3. b See Bull's Defenfio Fidei Nicaenas, Grabe,p. 118— 119, 170— J7,, ,90—194, and 278—2795 a work, the chief of all Dr. Bull's very capital works in favour of the Trinity, which lies unhappily buried in its manly, generally tranfparent, but occafionally dark, latinity, to the leaders of herefy among us ; which therefore that principal leader. Dr. Prieftley, has in great humility called upon each of his two grand adverfaries, Mr. Badcock and Dr. Horfley, to tranflate for him into Englifli ; and which, in pure charity to his infirmities, I could wifh fomebody to tranflate, that he may at laft have the advantage of furveying fo clear, fo convincing, and {o fpi- rited a compofition, the faithful fummary of ancient orthodoxy, and the invincible bulwark of modern. G 3 " which 86 THE ORIGIN or " which the chara6ler is the eternal Logos ^'' '^ If ^^ we are not yet fit to be thought the fons of *^ God/' adds Philo, " we may be at leail of *' his eternal image, the mofh holy Logos '^." And Philo at lafl attributes to him the very fame eternity, which he alfo attributes to the Father; by Itiling him, " the eternal Logos of the everlajiing God^. Philo accordingly tells us, that " no one ought *^ to fwear by God, becaufe he cannot know the *' nature of God; but it is well, if we are mailers '^ of his namey which was that of the interpreter " Logos-, for this Being to us imperfedt perfons ** would be God, but to the wife and perfed the " Firfi One V " The mofl noble of things is God," he adds ftill more precifely, " and the fecond God is ^ p. 216 — 217. EtTTcV ctvrriv T8 ^nB y.xi aocara eiy.ova.' Somixov dixi '^ P. 341. Et jj.r.TTu VAccvoi S-£S 'cyuiht; vo[A,i^£<7^ui yiyovd^.iv, cuO\a. rot c Eufebius's Prepar. Evang. p. 190. Aoyo?— 0 ai'Jjoj^fa ra aimi^. The ettrnity of the MefTiah was formally announced to the Jews, in this pafTage of Micah v. 2 : *' But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though *' thou be little among the thoufands of Judah, yet out of thee fhall *' HE come forth unto me, that is to be Ruler in Israelj whose *' GOINGS-FORTH HAVE BEEN FROM OF OLD, FROM EVERLAST- ** INC."" See this paflage appropriated to the Meffiah, by Mat. ii. 6. f Philo, p. 99. Ejj'-cIw; ya,^ e^eiq o/xvfcri ^aG' eccvra [ayra]* oJj ye a 'ZTEpi T'/;? (pva-icji; wjth aiccyvuvvA ^vvccroci. cchX'' uyccTtritcv ia,v ra ovofA.u- ay «>; v£<^* Tuv h cr&^wy y.ui 7i>.^uy, 0 ii^^UT<^, <^ the ARIANISM DISCLOSED. ^7 «^' the Logos of Gods." « why," he afks In the fame language, " does he fay this, as o( another Gody «« In the image of God made I the man,'" but not ^' in his own P This was delivered as a very fine '' and wife oracle. For nothing mortal could be " moulded to the image of Him, who is the Mod " High and the Father of all; but oi the Jecond Gody « who is his Logos^\''' Philo thus fpeaks in a ftyle, that may found to fome ears as not theologically jufti but that conveys fufficiently to our minds, his ideas of the Divinity (though fubordinate) of the Son of God. Nor is it in reality very different, from the canonical language of our principal creed ; which equally ftates him, to be " God off God" and " very God off very God." But Philo goes on to repeat the fame truth, in different forms. This is of confiderable moment, to the weaknefs of the human intelled. It adds not to his teftimony, but it convinces us of his meaning. It augments not the force of the truth, but it increafes its im- preffion upon our minds and fpirits. To pure de- fecated intellea, one fmgle affertion would be fuffi- % p. 1 103. To h yiny.^c^'^v ^ 0 ^v^; v.ai ^svn^^ [not ^euTf^^o.] 0 ^sa >.oy^. So Orlgen calls the Son '' the Second God/' rov hvr^o, B,ov (Bull, p. 232). So alfo Julian in Cyrill viii. p. 262. h Eufebius, Prepar. Evang. p. 190. Aia rt, w? 'cre^i eTe§« -^^^'» (pr^^i TO, E. £»x.ovi $£S £7rotr.^c6 rev avfipwTror, «AX' sp^i rri socvTSi ':>7ccyy.cc^u;; «a» crocpo;? ryl^ HE-^.,craa;^>^Tar Br^rov ya^ ahv cc7reiy.oviCT^r,voci -rpo? rov G 4 <=i^^^' SS THE ORIGIN OF cienti but to intelleds like ours, fhackled by paf- fions, and clouded with prejudices, an iteration of the afTertion in other language, but to the fame fignification, is ufeful, is important, is necelTary. That the Logos was eternal^ would be enough to convince us he was God-, but yet to find him called God-i to find him fo called in difi^erent manners and in diftant pafTages, enhances greatly the conviclion. And he, who confiders the nature of man from what he feels in himfelf, will rather multiply his proofs than abridge their number. " Invifible," Philo tells us in another place, " and a fower of feed, '^ and a fabricator and divine, is the Logos, who ^^ will lie up clofe to the Father \" This is placing our Saviour, who is fimilarly avowed in fcripture to be " he that foweth the good feed'' in the world ; exadly as St. John the apoftle places him, " in '' the'' very « bofom of the Father ^S" But Philo tells i Philo, p. 497. Ao^alo?, v.a.\ a-Tre^fxccltKO^, Kca Ti%vwo?, xon Biio<;, sr* ?voyo?, oq cr^ocrvjxovlwj otvuKeta-slxi ru "cral^t. That the Logos is called a-VB^fxctiiy.oq) reminds us of Mat. xiii. 37, 0 a-Trsi^uv to kocMv TrsPixa, trm 0 yjog m otv^^uire. Concerning the laft claufe let me obferve, that the word 'sj^oa-ny.ovl'joqj in its original import, means coming up tOt and fo fignifies as I have here rendered it, clofe to. The word uvx- y.HcT-ilca too, which was peculiarly applied at the time (fee the Greek Gofpels every where) to guefts lying down on a couch at table, re- ftrains 'sr^oa-movru^ to its nati've fenfe. And the paffage immediately cited by the text, coincides with and illuftrates it completely. See alfo Bull, p. 83, 272, and 274, m^oatx^Tocrri, in a paffage that at Jl once gives and receives light, to and from the prefent. '/ ^ John !• i8» O {Aovoyzyxq vioc, 0 uv si? to» koAwov ra -EraTpof. ** This ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 89 tdls US in another place, what indeed cannot give the Logos a higher rank of honour in nature, but what will more pofitively affure him of this. " He « that is above thefe," he informs us, " the divine " Logos, came not into a vifible form; as being to " be compared with none of the fenfible objects, " but being himfelf the image of God, the moft " ancient of the univerfe of intelleduals, the neareft " (there being no boundary of diflindion between " them) to the only one who is fixed without falf- « hood^." In a pafTage more obfcure than this, and very diflant, Philo fpeaks of a Being " mufi- « cal and grammatical, and alfo juft and fober, " wife too and manly, the very one only Moll « High, differing nothing from the archetypal idea, " by whom thefe many and incredible things were " formed^^." The Being fpoken of in the firft part of this latter fentence, and chara6terifed as *^' This is exaaiy what the Jews teach of— the Logos, whom they ) " conceive to have been in the bofom of God, and being fo the Arnon, \ *' the Son, or (as it is) the Omeny the Creator of all things j R. Me- " nach. fol. i. col. 1— a : where he quotes the moft authentick au- ** thors of the fynagogue, who agree exaftly upon that notion" (Al- j lix's Judgment, p. 332). 1 P. 465. O ^' vrrs^avci) rnluv, Xo^^ Sst©-, «? o^arnv bk r^St* i^BXv, etn i^nhn run zcct ona^n<7iv £ix(pB^T,<; uv, a.XK' xvroi; «;ca;i* V7ra^- ywv ^a, Twv vor)ruv WTra^aTTccvruv 0 'nxfeaQvlacT'^, 0 tyyvlxru (lAnoBi^^ ovT(^ |M,e9opta ^(ar'/JiMar^) re (xova 0 Efif a-^/eu^a;? ai^i^jrv/z-Hv©'. "1 P. 1067. Auto ^e ralo to yt.Haiy.ov Koa y^siiMixccTiy.ov, zn ob omotiov y.eci a-u(ppovj (pooviiMOv T£ kch av^pHiof, iv avro (aovov to avwlart;, i/,voev ihetq ucyirvrra hx(pioovy a,(p' a to, 'zjoaXoc. icu\ »/:/,y9«Ta &y.6iva. ^>£7rAamavri7^Yt' joiq h ca-riTrcc/oig oAtO^oi' y.sn (p^ocav aviarov £7rtT W£//7r£t. ' " R. Menachem— and Jiis authors teach conflantly, that 'twas *' the Shskinah [or Logos], which — appeared to Abraha?n, fol. 35. <« col. 2" (Allix, p. 165). *' Now, faith the Jerufalem paraphrafe " on Exod. xii. 4.2, It was the W'ord oi the Lord, that appeared to *' Abraham between the pieces 5 and, according to Onkelos and Jo- *^ pathan. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 95 ^ It is faid, "^ The Lord thy God will inflrua: *" thee, as if a man Ihall inftrud his fon."' Why " then do we yet wonder, that he is affimilated to ^^ angels; when he is affimilated alfo to men, for *^ the fake of affifting them who want: as when he *^ fays, "^ I am the God who appeared to thee in '" the place of God;"' this is to be underilood, *^ that the Unchangeable held in femblance the ^^ place of an angel, for the profit of him who was " not yet able to look upon the true God. For as '^ thofe, who cannot look upon the fun itfelfj view *^ the fun's refle6ted light as the fun, and the *^ changes about the moon as the very moon; fo ^^ alfo rhey confider the image of God, his angel, ^^ the Logos, as himfelf. Obfervefl: thou not that " compleat inftru61;ion, Hagar; that fhe fays to ^^ the angel, "^ Art thou the God who looked *" upon me ?"' For fhe was not fit to look at the ^^ moil ancient caufe; fhe being by defcent from ^^ thofe of Egypt. But now the mind begins to ^^ improve, going in its imagination up to the ^^ Chief of ail pov/ers. Wherefore he himfelf fays, "^ I am the Lord the God, whofe image thou "' [Jacob] halt hitherto contemplated as me, and " nathan, Exod. vi. 8, It was by his Word th3.t God made this co- *' venant with Abraham : — fo the Jerufalem paraphrafe has it" on. Gen. xviii. i, '" The Iford of the Lord appeared to Abraham}"' '' Jonathan alfo— -on Deut. xxxiv. 6, hath thefe words — "* The Lord **' revealed himfelf by the vifion of his JVord to Abraham'" (p. 207 —208.) "^ haft ^6 THE ORIGIN OF "^ haft dedicated a moft holy pillar, having en- '« graven an infcription on it. And the infcription ^'^ fignified, that I have ftood alone, and have fixed '" the nature of all things ; having brought diforder <" and deformity into order and beauty, and having "^ conftituted the whole, that it may be eftablilhed '" firmly by the Powerful One, and my Deputy "' Governor, the Logos 'i.'" I have cited this long and ' p. 600. Aiyelaij UuioEvaii ct Ky^io? 0 ©so?, u^ et riq 'rruihvo'et ai/SpwTTo; rov viv ccvia. Ti Bv eIi Gav/x,a^O|tx£» « ccyyt'hOK;^ o'n'ole y.oci avSpw- Trot? (^iviKCt rviq Tcov ^toixevuv £7rt>t»pia?), aTTEtxa^Eiat' wq te olocv (pvt, 'Eyu mjLi 0 6eo?, 0 o^Sek a-oi m tottw Sea. m r evvoi^bovj cli rov a,yyiKH 'eoirov tiriay^i. (ocra to; ^o^tHty) a fxsluQoc^^uvt Trpoij tvjv t« y.'/iTrcj ^vva.fx,zvn rov aK-fi^Vi 0£oy tosn' a^iKt^OLV. KaOaTTEp yap Tr:v avO>jAiov auyyji' t;? ^Atov, ct ^vj ^vvaixBvoi rov riXiov avlov i^nvy opuaij y.cci raq tZTEp; cr,Xr,VT,v aAXoi- vauq w$ aJlr^v £>cti^y>v* alw? kch mv m ^m ny.ovccy rov ocyyi'hov ctvla, Xo« yof, u; avlov xccla^voaaiv. a^ ooat; r-nv tyy.vytKiov tuonhiccv Ayap, olt rai viyyiKu ^>jcri, £y 0 Seoj 0 tTTi^uv /w-e j « 7«p ^jv 4^a»»j To TT^BaQvloilov thiv cciliov, yevog ecrx ruv ol'K Aiyvm^d^ vvvi h 0 vaq af^Elat CEAltacrfiat, rov inyi^cvuc 'nrctauv rwv ^vvutxeuv (pocyluamixivoq' ^lo xat ccvloq (py^crtVy Byoj gijM,t y.vpioq 0 ^Boqj a T*3» ftKOi-a uq i^i >UTfolifov i^iocaUt Koci ! ^v)ia.[A.i(i m Oaa v) yLiyccM, " This per/on is the great poiver of God. This they would not have " faid, if they had not believed, that, befides the Great God, there *•' was alfo a perfon called ») ^wccfAiq 0£S. — For their calling him the *' Power of God, what that means we cannot better learn than from " Origen; who, fpeaking of Simon, and fuch others as njtjould ??iake *' themfelves like our Lord Jefus Cbrijty faith they called themfelves ** Sons of God^ or the Poijoer of God, which he makes to be two titles " of one andihe fame fignification (Orig. cont. Celfum, lib. i. p. 44); ** and both thefe titles are given to the A070?, by Philo" (AUix's Judgment, p. 133—134-). H 2 '' ther. ^00 THE ORIGIN OF " ther, and the God of Ifaac"." The fame Being continued the Guardian God of the Jewsy ever af- terwards. " In the middle of the flame/* fays Philo concerning the burning bufh of Mofes, " was " a certain very beautiful form, comparable to no- " thing of the vifibles; a mofl god-like image, " lightening out a light more fplendid than fire; " which one might conjedure to be the image of " Him Who Is; but let it be called an angel, be- " caufe he almoft foretold the thinQ-s that were " about to happen, in a plainer manner than he had " done with his voice before, through the mag-- " nificently elaborated fight. — God having fhown " to Mofes this very w^onderfully elaborated pro- ^^ digy," ^Q^. Philo thus makes the Being who appeared to Mofes in the bulh, to be that " Angel" who was " the im^age" of the Father, who was therefore " God" with him, and was denominated Jiis Logos or his Son. This Being appeared as " a *^ certain very beautiful form, comparable to no- " thing of the vifibles, a mofl god-like image, *' lightening out a light more fplendid than fire; <^ which one might conje6lure to be the" very « Gen. xxvlii. 12 — 13. * P. 6 1 2 — 61 3 . Kciiot ^i. uA'TT.v 'TYiV ipT^oya, [xo^^vi Ti? r v 'srs^nixX^erotlri, tccv c^scluv £i/,(pBr'/;q adivi, CEoe-id'ir^iot ccyccXfyM, ^uj<; ot-vyoii^iTiOov ra 'mv- toq uTtOL^fuTU'eia'cCy r,v av Tt; VudoTirriJtv tmovcc is ovloq nvai' xotXna^cii 01 ayyi^^ot;, ou c^itiov Tcc /LtsA^oWa yEvriOso-Qui otriyysX?Mo rpccvolepcn, (puv/}q vi<7V^KX.i ^ioc rr,<; y^iyu7\Hfyri^eiar,(; o\|/£ft;c.— to 7iccx,TiQV rtilo y.ca Tefiafjua* lapy.yMiQ'j &«|a; 0 ^zo^; ru Mujjth x.1. A. " image'^ ARIANISM DISCLOSED. lOI *^ Image" of God the Father himfelf. " But let it " be called an angel," that fhowed " the magni- " ficently elaborated fight." Yet it was " God," who " fhowed this very wonderfully elaborated " prodigy." This God alfo declares exprefsly, in the very hiflory to which Philo is here referring; '^ I am the God of thy father, the God of Abra- " ham, the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob ■." And therefore the God of Mofes's father, the God of Abraham, the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob, in the opinion of Philo and the Jews, was the very Logos himfelf^. But we need not dwell upon particular evidences. We may appeal to comprehenfive teflimonies. " There is a time," as Philo has faid before, " when the Logos enquires of fome as of Adam y ^^ this. Where art thou ? — When however he comes " into the affembly of friends, he begins not to *^ Ipeak, before he calls upon every one of them, y Exodus ill. 6 ; or (as cited in A6ls vii. 32), " the God of thy ^( father^" in the plural. So it is alfo in an ancient author, quoted by Eufebius In Prepar. Evang. p. 190. z When this '* Angel of the Lord," and this "God of Abraham, ** God of Ifaac, and God of Jacob," ordered Mofes at the burning bufh to tell the Ifraelites, " I AM TPIAT I AM," or in fewer words, '" I AM, hath fent me unto you," Exod. iii. 14-, " in the *' Jerufalem Targum — we read, that '" the ^or^ of the Lord faid *" to Mofes, He that f^id to the world. Let it be, and it was, and *«' fhall fay, Let it be, and it fhall be."' Here Mofes aiked God, " and the Word anfwereth his queiliou" (Aliix's Judgment, p. 215)' H 3 " and 102 THE ORIGIN OF " and addrefles them by name — . In this manner ^' is Mojes called upon, at the bufh. For "^ as '" foon as God faw/" fays the hiftory, *" that "^ Mofes approached to behold, God called to him ^" out of the bufh, faying, Mofes, Mofes.'" — " Abraham too, at the holocauft of his beloved and '^ only fon, — is ftopt. For in the beginning fays " the hiilorian, that "^ God tempted Abraham."' — ^^ And there *" called to him the angel of the Lord "^ out of heaven, faying, Abraham, Abraham ^"' The great lav/giver of the Jews, the celebrated founder of their nation, and the venerable progeni- tor of them and of all mankind, all confequently owned the Logos, the Angel of the Lord, for their immediate God. " This Logos did not the fa- *^ thers knov/i not thofe who were in truth fo, but *^ thofe who, gray-headed with age, faid. Give us '*• a leader, and let us return to the fins of Egypt '\" This palTage affirms in fa6l, what it feems to deny in words. The Logos is allowed to have been the ^ P. 594-. Er* o' els y^ci.i 'mw^avilcci rivuv ua-Trep rs A^aixy to, Ha «* '—E'Trn^ccv /L/Hvlot 'VTCog TO ruv ^;Awy £A6>7 avvi^^.iov, a -st^oIe^ov occ^ficni Xsysiv, 59 SKCcrov avluv avccy.cx.Xec-a.if y.ui ovo/xar* CD-foaWTTHt^ . thIov rov rp'TTov. iTn T>j; Qccla Mojavq a.vciy.cx.>.eila.i' a<; yccp bice ((pYiutv) oli 'mpo(Ta,'yei i^nvy tnocXBo-Bv ccvlov o ^bo(; utto Trn^ Qxlsy XByuvy Muvcrv}, Muva-vi" — AQfiau.[jt, ^e, ETTi rrjg ra cayuTrr^n y.on fxovn "Ziratoo; oXoy.ccvluo-BOjq, — BKuXvfiin. ocn^oiA-Bvoq fjisv yccp (P'/iaiVf oil o Geo? ETTEtca^s rov ACpaajW,'— Toi* ^e ey.uXea-BV ccvlov a.y~ ytXoq y.vpia sy. Ta ypava, Xiyuv^ A^paa^j Atpaa//. ^ P. 93. Taloj' rov Xoyov 8y. ri^naccv oi -nralEpE?, «%' ot isrpot; ocXvj^Biccyt aXX'' 01 %pcvw 'SJoXioij oi Asyole?, Aci}ij:.iv ac^'/iyovf KCCi ccTroTpt-^ui/^BV bk; to •37aOo^ Aiyvifla, God ARIANISM DISCLOSED. lOJ God of their fathers. Him all the Ifraelites ac- knowledged for their God, in that march of a whole nation out of Egypt, which has no parallel in all the movements of the human race, for lis own in- trinfick grandeur of adlion, and exclufively of all its accompanying prodigies of power. They all ac- knowledged him, but fome did not know or honour him. Thefe repented of their migration out of Egypt, notwithflanding all the prodigies which they had feeni wanted to throw off the guiding hand of their Logos; and wiihed to return out of the barren wildernefs before them, to the well-provided tables of Egypt. They thus, fays David, " provoked " t\iQ Moji High eft in the wildernefs'.'* And the Logos is accordingly faid by Philo, to be " deno- " minated the Principle, and the Name of God, " and the Logos, and the Man after the image" of God, " AND THE Overseer of Israel '^." « Pfalm Ixxviii. x8. I cite the tranflation in our liturgy, as moil popular. The other verfion fays, " the Moil High." ^ Philo p. 34-1. A^yjiy -/.oci Ovoua. Osa, vcai T^oyog, y.xi o y.atT Biy.oicc ai/0pw7ro?, y.xi Opwv IcpajjA, 'sr^iDa-cc'yopivP.cci. So our Saviour is called the Charioteer of Ifrael, y^Ho^E Ij '^Eraps^0)3? ^t. to eipy)fjt.svov, a>X wn^iQuq e^elaaov Ef h}o tieri bsoi' Xsydoii yctoy "Eyu n(ji.i 0 Geo^ 0 o(p^nq coiy an sv tottco tu b/jlcj, mW" iv roTTcv QsSf u)^ av BisfU. ri av ^fvj ?<.ByEivj 0 iJ,iv uX'Sucf, ^ioq, nq tr*"* oi Q f.v Kixloc^fYia-si yBvofxevoif -zrAEty?. ^lo y.a,i 0 ttcoq Koyoc;, sv tcj tsoc^am, rov fjLsv aAr/Gsja oia ra ccp^pa (jLijxrtvvy.tVf Enruvy Eyu sifjn 0 dsoq' tov h Kccla^^Yia-ii %wp^ apOpy, (paa-y-cuvy O oip^EK; aoi ev totto;, a ra QsHy «Aa' cc'jIq ^ovovj ^iii> K.oc'Kn oi Toy Seov Toy 'mpsc-Q>v\ccioy avla yv\n }^oyoi/, a ^Biaioccii^ovuv fuSB^i rriv ^taiv Tuv ovo^a\mv^ ccKk" bv teAo? njjCoa-TB^Biu.zvD9 ['ay^o<7rB^nijAVO(; ] 'CJCccyi^o^oT^oyYiaei, % See alfo p. 593, where the God, 0 ^Boq, is alfo called the Angel oi the God, juft as in Gen. xxi. 11 — 13 the Angel of God is deno- minated the God. This therefore turns that petty argument of the Arians, directly againft themfelves j which would deny the divinity of the Son of God, becaufe, though he is called God, yet he is not called the God^ as the Father is. Surely that is as fufficient to eftablifh the divinity I06 THE ORIGIN OF mercy-feat, " I would fay are plainly to be under- " flood, the two moll antient and mofl high Powers " of Him Who Is, the Making and the Royal ; " and indeed his Making Power is denominated " Godj according to which he placed, and made, " and difpofed this univerfej but the Royal is called *' Lordy by which he governs the things that are *^ made, and with jullice firmly controuls them ^" We have already feen both thefe Powers, united by Philo in the Logos ^ as the equal Creator and Go- vernor of the world under the Father, and as there- fore the Lord God of the Old Teflament. " Seefl f - divinity of the Sottt as this may be to afcertain the Godhead of the ,o<; rs Gay. And, as any page either in the Old or New Teftament will convince an examiner at a glance, the article is omitted or inferted, and inferted or omitted j from fome principles of compofition, that are indifcernible, and therefore feem arbitrary, to us. See alfo a long and decifive note upon the fubjeft, in Pearfon on the Creed, p. 120 — 121 ; and others ;igain, in p. 124., 130, 132, and 150, of that univerfal fcholar. " P. 668 — 669. Eyu 0 uv gi7roi//,i ovj^airSat ot' vrrovoiuv rccq 'rrcicr^ Qvlaclccq xcci avcSloilu ovo th Ovio? ^vvx.(ji,£k;, tvj ti 'Troir^iy.Yii) kui Bao-tAtKijv. •yo/xa^slai os ri y.iv ttoiioIuvi ^vvocuiq avla 6co:, y.aO' riv eG'/jjts J£«t ETTotvjcre iia.i^ii(jy..oa^viai roos to ttuv' ri h BactAiJcr; Krctof, '/truv ytvo[Mvuu acp^^if y.xi aw ^iy.ri tsfcatw? i'Tny.fxlit, '' thou ARIANISM DISCLOSED. IO7 « thou not,'* adds Philo in the fame fpirit of fub- tlllzing being into power, and dividing the Logos in two"; " that about Him Who Is are the firft « and greateft of Powers, the Beneficent and the ^' Correftive ? And the Beneficent is called God, « becaufe according to it he placed and difpofed the « univerfe; but the other is called Lord, to which " belongs the government of the whole." The Logos confequently, that Creator and Governor of the world, has all the beneficent and corredive Powers of God in his hands. And " of the Powers, « which God has extended to the creation of that '' which was conflituted in beneficence, it is the « cafe of fome to be called according to their ob- « jed; the Royal, the Beneficent. For a king is a " king of fomebody, and a benefador is a bene- « fador of fomebody; he who is governed by the *^ king, and he who is obliged by the benefador, « being totally difi'erent. Related to thefe is alfo « the Making Power, which is called Gci; for, by '' this Power, die Father who generated and framed, «^ placed all things K'' Philo has thus multiplied the i P. 854. H ex opa?> o^' '^^P' '^° ^^ ^' '^P'"''*' ^^^ ixzytroa twv I'wx- y,imii(7^vy n TE EWEpyslK noti xo^a^*^plo?} x*t Trpoo-ayopeuElai 75 f^tv Et;Ep- fioq, KaG' v^v avv57rlat ruv ohm to npolo?. k p. 104.8— 1049. Tm ^£ hva,ij^iuvi a? (itrnv ek yzvzc^E€>?KE >.iyiaUi. uaccni, ^po? T** rrv Bcca^' I08 THE ORIGIN OF the Logos at laft, into three i and made him the Creative, the Beneficent, and the Royal, Powers of God. What then remains behind in the God- head ? Nothing certainly. The whole Godhead is exhaufled (as it were) by Philo, in order to drefs out the Logos of the Jews, in all the moral and phyfical attributes of God. But let us obferve, how Philo fpeaks of thefe Powers in the Godhead, upon another occafion. " I pray then," he introduces a man faying to God, " that I may behold the glory around you ; *^ and I think your glory to be the Powers which " attend you as guards — . And he anfwers and " fays. The Powers which you feek to know, are " wholly invifible and intelle6lual, as I am in- " vifible and intelleftual — . But, though they are ^^ incompr^henfible in their elTence, yet they fhow *' a certain ftamp and image of their operativenefs, '^^ like feals among you — . Such, it is to be un- " derftood, are the Powers which fland about me, *^ inveiling with qualities the things that want qua- *' lities, and the things without form with form, " and yet being no ways lefTened or diminifhed in *^ their eternal nature. And fome of your country- *' men name diem not amifs Ideas, bccaufe they " JioTTomo-i [give the proper forms to] every one of i^ira/ztf, v) y.a^.yw.EPv) Geo?' '6\u, yap TatTJjj T>5? oi'i/uiAiiv^ i^ms roc, -ttuvIcc^ '' the ARIANISM DISCLOSED. IO9 " the things exifling, putting the difordered in " order, and bounding and terminating and figur- " ing the unbounded and unterminated and un- " fio-ured, and on the whole harmonizing the worle " inm the better'." This is plainly meant, only as a diffufive and metaphorical defcription of the Lo- gos. He, as we have feen abundantly before, has " fhown a certain ftamp and image of his operative- « nefs, like a feal among men," in die works of the creation i though at the fame time, as " the " glor)^ around" the Father, in die language of Philo, or, in the fimilar language of Chriilianit>^, as '' the brightnefs of his Father's glor)^" he is " incomprehenfible in his elTence." He has thus <^ invefled with qualities, the things that wanted « qualities" in die chaotic ftatej " and the things « widiout form, with form." Yet he was " no- « ways leffened or diminillied in his eternal nature." And fome of the Jews before Pbilo, who had been re- fining hke him on die fubjed of the Logos, had 1 p. 817. U^iiuj d' tyu, rr,y yav TTep crt Ki/^'J ^lacrxcUi' ^o|a> Je A? £7r.'vl cr^py*^^?--. To*a.1«? tTroXr.TrlEO* x«» ra? .r^p aus o\»a^a.., ^aaTrc^s^ra? «7ro»s»; TTcr.ir- za* 5-.>o?.fc'? TO ;,^«:o» £»? to a,a«yo> y.aCac.(xc6u:ya». called no THE ORIGIN OF called him an Idea\ jufl as Philo himfelf has called him the Intclledual World, and the World com- pofed of Ideas; becaufe ideas in the Greek, in which Philo and they wrote, fignify thoughts as the frcper refemblances of things; and becaufe he " gave " the proper forms, to every one of the things exifl- '^ ing." In this manner does Philo condnue to dwell upon the Logos, as " the Powers'* of the Godhead, and as therefore the fubitance and effence of God the Father. To thefe evidences of the fentiments of Philo and his countrymen, concerning the Godhead of the Logos ; I (hall fubjoin only three more, all tending to the fame point of important intelligence; and even more diftindly fhowing the whole power of the Godhead, feemingly concentrated in the Logos. " In the one truly exifting God, are two very high " and firit Powers, Goodnefs and Authority; and " by Goodnefs indeed was all the univerfe made, *^ but by Authority is the univerfe governed ; and " a third, as a conjoiner of and middle between ^^ both, is the Logos. For by the Logos is God " a Governor and Good""." How ftrongly does Philo dilplay the general opinion of his times, con- ^ p. 112. KaT35 Toy tvcc ovluq oi/la Seov, ^vo rcc<; o!.vcorccru avcn y.oc^ VTfVTse,^ ^vvoc[j.ei<;j aya6oT>;T« •don £|a<7t«v* auv ayaGoT'/jTi jw,£V to Trai* ytytrnv-tvoci* sl^cta cs, m yinri^tnoq ct^'^c-iv' rcrnov h c-vvayuyou ec(/,^oyu ya^ y.on ct^^ovrac y.on ccyaQov encci rov cerning ARIANISM DISCL0ST:D. HI cerning the Divinity of his Logos ! The Logos is <^ the Goodnefs" of the Father, '' by whom," as was faid before, " he was Good," or, as is faid now to the very fame meaning, by whom " was all the « univerfe framed." The Logos too is " the « Power" of the Father, by which '' is the uni- « verfe governed." And the Logos is alfo " the « third, as a conjoiner of and middle between " bothj" becaufe " by the Logos is God a Go- <^ vernor and Good." The Logos therefore is the Authority and the Goodnefs of the Father, and at once the cement and the caufe of both in Him. — In the fame manner does Philo fpeak, of that Be- ing's appearance to Abraham juft before the de- ftrudion of Sodom; whom we know to be charac- terifed in the hiftory, as " the judge of air the " earthy" and who is ftated by Philo himfelf be- fore, to be the Logos. He comes " as God, " attended with his guards of two moil high Pow- « ers. Dignity and Goodnefs; one of whom, he in '' the middle, wrought the appearance of a third " upon the difcerning foul; every of which Powers " is indeed un-meafurable, for un-circumfcribed « alfo are his Powers, and they have meafured the « univerfe ^" And the Logos is dius fpoken of " Gen. xvlii. 2,5. o p. 139. O ^£©- ^opy;popa/>t£vo? viro hnv [^twv] rm avarciTa hvoc' fj.tov, ap%>5? TE av xoci aya^orr,T(B-' ft? wf, 0 /xEcro?, rpiTia? (pocvToca-iuq zvapyu^iTo T'/5 opaT»y.j9 ■\'Vy.ri, uv ey.oiTn p-£jM.eTp»3Tat /sAEf e^Ufjiuq' aTTEpiypa" ^Qi yccc y.»i a» ovrnfACic ccvrHj y.sy.eT^r,y,i h roc nfcc, exprefsly 112 THE ORIGIN OF cxprefsly as God, and (what is more) exadlly as the Father has been before, being equally as he attend- ed by the Goodnefs and Dignity of the Godhead i being un-meafurable in himfelf, being un-circum- fcribed in them, and having meafured the univerfe with diem at the creation. " A man (landing " neareil to the truth might fay. The Father in- *' deed of all is the middle, who in the facred *' fcriptures is called by the proper name of He *^ Who Is ; and on each fide are the neareil and *^ oldeil Powers of Him Who Is^ of which one is " called the Making, and the other the Royal *' Power. And the Making is God, for by this *^ he placed and difpofed the univerfe; and the *^ Royal is the Lord, for it is jufl that he who made *^ (hould govern and command the things made. *' Being attended therefore by thefe Powers, as *^ guards on each fide, and being in the midft of " them; he exhibits to the difcerning intelledl, the *^ appearance fometimes of One, and fometimes of " Three : of One, when the foul is exa6lly purged, " and pafTes over not merely the multitude of *' numbers, but even that neighbour of Unity the " Duality, and is led to the Idea unmixed, and un- " complicated, and of itfelf wanting nothing at all ; *' and of Three, when, not yet initiated in the " great mylleries, it has been introduced into the ^' lefTer orgies only, and is not able to comprehend *' Him Who Is, alone by himfelf, without fome " other ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I IJ ^^ Other one ; but, through the things done, com- " prehends either the Maker or the Governor i\" This pafiage has been particularly adduced, as indicative of the Trinity 'U So it feems to be, at the firft furvey of it. But, by collating it with the palTages antecedent, we fee it relates merely to the Logos. He is here accompanied again by his two Powers, Dignity and Goodnefs, as his guards; which are called here, as they are before, the Royal and the Making Powers. He is thus reprefented again, juft as the Father has been before. And he P P. 367. Tk T'/i; a.'kfi^&iOLc, zyyvTara ifajw.si''^ eiTToi, Tla^r'/i^ wsv riJv cXcov 0 //.S(7©-, eg Ev rcng is^ccii; •ynx(pixiq y.VQiw ovouccri xccXeijatO fif' at el's -zzrai^' ey.cx.Ts^x •m^tjQvTccTM -/.cv, syyvToirai t» Gvr'^ 6vvcii/.Siq' aiv i) ^iv TLoifiriK-i)) 'fi OS Ba,7i?^izv) 'nj^oc-a.yoprjBTOn. y.oci v) p.Ef nojyjTr-ivj ©e^* iravrvi ycco EG»>£e te xoit hscry.oo-f/.7i<7£ to irav' '/i h B«j-tAixr) ¥L.v^i^f 'jB[jAq ya.^ u^)(Hv Koci K^ccretv ro 'UJz7roi'/]r:^ ra yvjoy.i'jH. ^o^^v^o^a^^iv^ ev 0 ij.z- co? vtp^ zy,oc.ri^a,q riov evva-ixscov, 'srcc^^^ei rvj opariy.-ti d'iacvGiXf tote (j.sv Bv(^f TOTE ^£ r^iojv, (pocvraa-ixv ei/©- //ev, oTOiv ay.^uq zara^^s^.a-ix. -^vyrr.^ aui y,Yi fjiOiov ra cc-AyiSjj Ti;v a^:i9|W,a»j', «AAa Kcct rr,v yuravse ixova^^ ovaocc V7n^ctx.a-ccy Tr^oq rnv afJAyvi, noit ccav^'yrXoy.ov, koci ko,^'' avT'.'tV a^Ev^^E'Trs- cl^EO. TO ^ccoccKxvt ihocv sTTSiyriTai' rpaiv cc, orccv f^.'^TTcj rccq fj.zyxXaq teAs;^'- dsia-CA TEAsTct-:, ETt Bv Tcnq ^^cf^(VTi£^Mc o^yia^nTcciy y.xi [/.-^ ^vvrirai To Gv CC'JBV BTBOS Ttl'©- B^ UVTH ^j.OVii y.XTuT^OcQiUVi oXKO, OIX TUV a:0)lXi'.(dV Y) kU^OV q By Dr. Randolph in his anfvver to Effay on Spirit, part ill. p. 29; an author, who is allowed by Arianifm itfelf, to have been *' the *' only able and formidable antagoniil" of the Eflay (Biog. Brit. i'j. 623. Clayton, 1784) ; and of whom I am happy to record, that he was a found fchoiar, a judicious divine, and, what is moft to his praife, a good man. He had particularly that extent of fcholardiip, and that folidity of judgment, wJiich were fure to keep him from the abfurdities of Arianifm, and alfo to make him an. *' able and for- ** midable antagonill" to the Arians. I is 114 THE ORIGIN OF is exprefsly denominated " the Father of all," and *' He Who Isi" appellations, which Philo has hither- to appropriated and confined to God the Father. He is alio faid to have " placed and difpofed the " univerfe/' by his power as " Gods" and to " go- " vern and command the things made," by his power as " Lord." And he is defcribed, as exhi- biting the appearance of One, when he is confidered in and by himfelf j and of Three, when he is viewed relatively to his works, and confidered in his crea- tive and in his governing capacities, as well as in his perfonal. So much does the Logos finally JeeMy in the language of Philo, to be the fame with the Father himfelf, and even to abforb the whole Trinity in his own perfon ! So much does the Lo- gos finally appear, in the Jentiments of Philo, to be the oilenfible, the interpofing, the energetick God of the univerfe ! And fo fully and completely is die Logos here fhown from all, to have been the per- fonal Creator of the world to the Jews, the per- fonal Governor of the world to all mankind, and the a6ling God, the Deputy and the Equal of God the Father, to the Jews and to all mankind through ail ages '1" CHAPTER ' To thefe hifloricul proofs of the pontive Divinity of God the Son, let me luhjoin a note in oppofition to thofe, who fo far unite with the church and with truth, as to allow the Logos to have been the vifible God of the Old Teftament ; and yet fo far recoil from both, as to allert him to have been only an angel by nature, and a God ariAnism disclosed, II J CHAPTER THE THIRD. — L — W E have now feen the opinions of the Jews at Jerufalem in the days of our Saviour, and con- cerning the Divinity of the Son of God ; all re- peatedly God by inveftlture. THis wild whimfy, which was firft fuggefted in our own country (I believe) by Sir Ifaac Newton, in his fiftion of a ^afi Deusy has been fnice moulded into form, by Bifhop Clayton in his Eflay on Spirit, and by Mr. Taylor in his letters from Ben. Mordecai. What I have already faid, fufiiciently precludes the ar- guments of both. But let me now reply to them briefly. The for- mer work indeed has been fome time re/lgned up to the fhades, from which it came. I will not dillurb its repofe. " I war not wdth the *' dead." But, as the latter is yet " moving betwixt earth and hea- *^ ven," it may be ufeful to make a few remarks upon it. A few will be fufficient to give it its death's wound. And, in him, I fliall anfwer the Eflayift and all thefe Semi-arians. *' The word Jehovah," fays Mr. Taylor," is the proper *' nameof the self-existent God, and is appropriated toHlm ** alone" (1.403). *« It appears from the fcriptures, that the ** word Elohim, God, does not include in it always the idea of Su- *' premacy ^nd Self-exijience, ^^ the word Jehovah doesj and ** may therefore be applied to other beings, who are net fupreme nor ** felf-exiftent"' (i. 405). *' The charge of Polythelfm againft the " Chriftians, arifes from not diftinguifhing the different fenfes of " the word ®Eoq, Deus, God, as ufed in the fcriptures j fometimes in '* the fenfe of the word Elohim, in which fenfe there are many gods; " and fometimes in the fenfe of Jehovah, in which there is but ** ONE. But as long as the Chriftians obferve this diftinftion, and ** allow of but One Supreme God, but one Self-exiftent Jehovah ; la *' there llS THE ORIGIN OF peatedly echoed back in the fentiments of the Jews at Alexandria, co-temporary with the apoftles, Philo *' there is not the lead ground for any fuch charge. And all thofe " who argue, from confounduig thefe two fenfes of the word God, *' that there Is but one Elohini, becaufe there is but one Jeho v ah j *« and that Christ cannot be God, Elohim, except he be Jeho- " VAH, the Supreme Self-existent Godj" do argue falfely (i. 407). And " thofe who carefully diftinguifli the two fenfes of the *' word God, as they are ufed in the fcriptures ; and believe that " Christ was in veiled with the name of God, *" becaufe he was fo <" faithful, becaufe he affun^.ed nothing to himfelf, that he might <*' fulfil the commands of him that fent him j"' that he has all his *' titles, viz. Son of God, Lord, Word, Sec. from his being "* be- *" gotten of the Father by his will ;'" and that he is Lord of Hofts, ** KVfiot; ^vva,ij.iu)Vi by the will of the Father that giveth him power; " and that he is conflituted Almighty by the Father and Lord of »' the whole creation : cannot attribute the fame honour to all Be- *' ings, who have the name of God; but believe in one Jehovah^ <' who is Self-existent and Supreme over all, to whom all *< other Beings in the univerfe, though called by the name of God, ** Elohim, even Christ himfelf, are fubjeft" (i. 409). I have produced thefe extrafts at full length, in order to demonftrate from them the grand point aimed at by Mr. Taylor here. God the Fa- ther is here reprefented, as the one only Jehovah; becaufe he is the Supre?ne and the Self-ex'ijlent God. That is his " proper" name. And " to \^\m o.lcne it is appropriated." Nor is this faid only here. It is the fubfiantial principle, the vital fpark, of all Mr. Taylor's Arianifm. And it is that by Vi-hich he diftinguifhes throughout the remainder, the nominal Divinity of his created Logos from the genuine Divinity of his Creator God. Yet is this very principle in abfolute contradiction, to all the pre- ceding parts of his work. The main defign of all before is to flio\\', that the Logos was the 'v'lfihle Jeho'vah of the Old TeJIatneat. Thus in I. 227 we read of *' the frequent appearance of Jehovah, and ** the many converfations v.hich we are told of between God and, " man: that Jehovah walked in the Garden of Eden in the cool "of ARIANISM DISCLOSED, S17 Philo has hiilorically proved, a very ufeful com- mentator upon the Evangelifts, But from thefe v/orks *' of the day, and pafTed judgment on Adam and Eve [Gen. iii.. *' 8, &c.] } and came down to fee the tower which the chil- *' dren of men builded in the days of Peleg [xi. 5] ; and ap- ** peared to Abraham as a man accompanied with two angels, ** in the plains of Mamre (xviii. 1, 2)3 and fpake to Mofes *' out of the bulh [Ex. iii. 2, 4] ; and went before the Ifraelites •'* in a pillar of a cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night ■'•' (xiii. 21) } ««^was afflided in all their affliftions (If. Ixiii. 9) j *' and appeared to Mofes, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the ie- *' venty elders of Ifrael (Ex. xxiv. 10) j and defcended on Mount *^ Sinai, to give the law (xix) j ^;/^ was heard by the children of ** Ifrael to fpeak with a great voice (Deut. v. 22) ; and refided in ** the tabernacle (Ex. xxv. 22) j and promifed that he would return " again, and refide among men in the latter day (Jer. xxxi. 31) j <' ^aW renewed that promiie (Zech. ii. 10, 11) in the days of Darius *' Hyftafpis, about 500 years before the Chrillian asra." " It be- ** comes both Jews and Chriftians," he argues from all, " to confider *' how fuch aftions can pofTibly be performed by Jehovah; for ** they are both agreed, that the hiftory is true, and yet that the *' Supreme Self-existent God of the univerfe hath never *' been feen or heard at any time" (i. 229 — 230). If then '* Je- *' HOVAH fo often appeared to our fathers, and converfed with *'themj and yet — the Supreme God and Father of the univerfe "was never feen by any one, nor his voice heard ; there muft be *' without doubt some other person, befides the Supreme God " and Father of the univerfe, who is called by that name'' who muft therefore have afted before he exifted ; and is fure, if his creatures were annihilated to-morroAV, to be to-morrow annihilated himfelf. We have the Son of God " invefted with the name of God, *' becaufe he was fo faithful, becaufe he aflumed nothing to himfelf, *' that he might fulfil the commands of him thaty^«/ him" (i. 409) j and, confequently, after he had been faithful, after he had aflumed nothing, and after he had been fentj *' the reward of his love to *' man and obedience to God being deferred^ till he Ihould be made ** perfeft— by — greater fufferings, — nvhen—God—fent him into the *' world" (i. 260— 261). Yet the fame Son of God, we find, was many ages before the vifible Jehovah of the Old Teftament ; had. *' power— In a peculiar manner over the Jev^'s, as their God a.nd King" ( 1 . 26 1 ) ; and even then announced himfelf, to be the great " I Am" (i. 245). Thus, he, who had not the very name of God till he was incarnated, yet was the aclual God of the Jews near 1500 years preceding, even bore the high and appropriate name of Jeho-vah then, and even aflumed that ftill higher and more appropriate name of Deityy " I Am." We have alfo a Being, who was the Creature God of the Jews, and the Creature God of the patri- archs J the created Lord of the creation, at prefent ; and the created Creator of it, at firft. And we have finally a Being, who pvirticu- larly delivered the law on Mount Sinai (i. 127) ; who therefore ut- tered this command to the Jews at the time, " I am the Lord *' THY God,— THOU SHALT HAVE NONE OTHER GODS BUT <* Me j" and who thus prefamed, though an angel on)}', to fliut out God ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 121 to be, and yet is afluredly, fo. That apocryphal book, THE Wisdom of Solomon, was profefTedly written in the name of Solomon , but is attributed to Philo by fome of the firft-rate authors in Chrif- tian antiquity, Bafil, Jerome, and Auftin^ The tradition of his writing the work, was accordingly continued through the middle ages K And fo im- prelTed was this upon the general mind, that the work was cited at times by the very appellation of Philo". Yet a learned and thinking divine has ventured, to call this tradition a mere " dream;" and appeals to " mofl certain evidences,'* without any fpecifick reference, for the much higher antiquity of the work\ If the Book of Wifdom be much older than Philo, any pafTages in it ferve llrongly to cor- roborate my general argument, by carrying to a God from his Jewifh part of the creation, to intercept the whole worfhip of the Jews from him, and to confine it all to himfelfj fink- ing them into abfoliite idolaters, and exalting himfelf into a very- Lucifer over them. Never furely does the human mind expofe its own futility and folly fo much, as when it deferts the publick road of theology, and ventures to ftrike out a bye-path for its move- ments; entangling itfelf with briars and thorns, falling at every ftep over flumps of trees, and lofing itfelf at lail in an impracticable wil- dernefs. s See ix. 7 — 8 for the aflumed charafter of Solomon, befides the title; and fee Cofin's Hiftory of the Canon of Scripture (edit. 1683), p. 24 and 196, for thefe authors. t Cofin, p. 170 and 197. u Cofin, p. 163. * Bull, p. 14. His reafon probably for fpeakingfo, was one which, }s anfwered in a note of next fe^ion, ftiii 122 THE ORIGIN OF ftill higher period the Jewifh notions of Divinity in the Mefliah. Thus, in that other piece of Apocry- phal Scripture, which was written no lefs than two hundred and fixty years before our Saviour, the Wifdom of the Son of Sirach; the author repre- fents himfelf, as addrefling a prayer to God in this form. " I called," he fays, ^^ upon the Lord " THE Father of my Lord, that he would not " leave me in the days of my trouble >." The *JeWy we fee, even then prayed in the Chrifimn manners owning a Jecond perfon in the Godhead, and praying to the firll as the father of the fecond 5 acknowledging the firft, under his equally Jewifli and Chriftian appellation, of Lord or the Lord; and acknowledging the fecond, under his appro- priating and Chriftian denomination at prefent, of our Lord^'. In the very fame terms, according to our Saviour's own interpretation of them, and agree- ably to the received conftruftion of them at the time, does David fpeak of the very fame perfons in the Godhead, eight hundred years before the fon of Sirach; when he tells us concerning the MefTiah, that " the Lord fiid to my Lord, Sit thou on my y Chap. li. 10. And in the " prologue'' fays the author: *' in *' the eight and thinieth year coming into Egypt, when Euergetes •* was king, and continuing there fome time, I found a book, " &c." » " R. Azariah do Rubeis in his book Meor Enaiim, ch. 22. *' witnefleth, that Ecclefiafticus is not rejected «ow by the Jews, " but is received among them w;V^ an unanimous con/en f (Allix's Judgment, p. 68). " right- ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 1 23 ^^ right-hand, till I make thine enemies thy foot- ^' flool"." And the mother of the Baptift fuitably ealls the Virgin Mary, ^^ the mother of my Lord''." Yet, what is more wonderful, the very Heathens of Aflyria, near fix hundred years before our Saviour, familiarly knew this fecond perfon in the Godhead, knew him by his very " form'* of Divinity, and knew him too by his very title of " Son of God/' " Lo,'' cries Nebuchadnezzar '^ aftonied, and ^' rifmg up in hafle," after he had thrown the three ') Jews into the furnace of fire -, " I fee four men f " loofe, walking in the midll of the fire, and they \ *^ have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is " LIKE THE Son of God ^" The andent Hea- thens appear to have framed to themfelves, a fttded and precife idea of refemblance for the Son of God. Accordingly the king, flardng up in an agitation of fpirits, and fpeaking haftily the fendments and language of all around him, avers the perfonal ap- pearance which he here faw, to be " like the Son of '^ God" in " form." But the idea was common to them and to the Jews. Hence that very Daniel, who has recorded this averment of the king's, does himfelf defcribe the fame perfonage, as " one /ike " the Son of Man;" the dtles of Son of Man and Son of God (as I have IJiown before, and fhall again ' Mat. xxii. 4-3-44. *> Luke i. 43. « Daniel iii. 25. ihow 124 THE ORIGIN OF Hiow hereafcer) being equally applied to the Mef- fiahi and as having " an everlafting dominion, which ^' Jhdl not fafs away,'* Nor was the idea unknown to the firfl Chriilians, St. John therefore, in his Re- velations, fees " one like unto the Son of Man ;" v/ho fays of himfeif, " 1 am he that liveth and was *^ dead ;" and whofe " countenance was, as the fun " Ihineth in his flrength." Chrifdans, Jews, and Heathens, derived this common idea probably, from the form of his repeated appearances to the Jews, the Patriarchs, and the Ante-diluvians. He always appeared probably v/ith a " countenance," that " was as the fun Ihineth in his ftrength." From the firm and fixed imprefTion, which the fen- fible '^ form" of the Son of God appears to have made, upon the univerfal mind of man ; he certainly exhibited himfeif always to the eye of man, with Jome permanent and illuflrious fignature of identity. What then was it ? Such a countenance as this, it is moft likely to have been. Such a countenance we fee adlualiy appropriated to the MelTiah, at his ap- pearance in the vifions of St. John. And we even fee it appropriated to him again, when he refided upon earth, but while he was " transfigured" before the fame John. Then " the fafhion of his count e~ " nance was altered." Then *^ his face did" once more " fliine as the Jun'' And " all the people, " when they beheld him" on his return from the mount of transfiguration, " were greatly amazed'^ at ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 11^ at the remaining " glory" of his countenance ; as Nebuchadnezzar was " aflonied" at the form of the Son of God, and at the fight of the three men walk- ing with him : " and running to him — faluted him/' jufl as Nebuchadnezzar " came near — and fpake '-K"' But attached to the Book of Proverbs are fome of Solomon's, which " the men of Hezekiah king of '^ Judah copied out," and which run from chapter xxvth to chapter xxixth inclufively. Then come the words of Agur and of Lemuel's mother, in two chapters attached to all. Of what date the latter additions are, it is difficult to fay. But that they are not later than Ezra, is evident from their appearance as a part of the Jewifh canon. In thefe Agur, a name familiar among us from his magnanimous fe- ledtion of the middle Hate of life, but a perfon to- tally unknown in his origin and connexions ; is in- troduced fpeaking in this magnificent language of interrogation, concerning the majefty of God and the pettinefs of man. " Who," he afl^s, '' hath " afcended up into heaven," to gain a proper knowledge of God; " or defcended," to give a proper knowledge of him to man ? " Who hath " gathered the wind in his fifls ? Who hath bound " the waters in a garment? Who hath eflablifhed '' all the ends of the earth ^ ? This is fo fimilar to d Dan. vli. 13— 14> and Rev. i. 13, 16; Luke ix. 29, Mat. xvii. 2, Pvlarkix. 15, and Luke ix. 325 and Dan. iii. 25, e Proverbs xxx. 4. Other 126 THE ORIGIN OF Other pafTages of Scripture, which mark the fuperi- ority of God over man, by the fame dignified appeal to the works of creation; that a critick itiull be cold-blooded indeed, and have loft all cri- tical fenfibility of tafte, who can doubt the purport of the whole for a moment ^. " No man hath *^ afcended up to heaven,'' fays our Saviour with a remarkable conformity to the firft queftion, " but '^ he that came down from heaven, even the Son of *' Man-.'* " Who hath meafured the waters in '' the hollow of his hand," afks God himfelf in Ifaiah j " and meted out heaven with the fpan, and *^ comprehended the duft of the earth in a meafure ; ^' and weighed the mountains in fcales, and the hills *' in a balance^?" The Pfalmift alfo fpeaks of *' the earth, which God hath eftablifhed for ever i" fays he " laid the foundations of the earth, that it *^ never ihould move at any time;" and adds to God himfelf, " Thou coveredft it with the deep as " with a garment '." And God, fpeaking to Job out of the whirlv/ind, afl^s : " Where waft thou, *' when 1 laid the foundations of the earth I De- *' clare, if thou haft undeiftanding. — Or who lliut " up the fea with doors, when it brake forth as if *^ it had iiTued out of the womb" of nature ? f As Patrick has doubted. g John iii. 13. * Ifaiah xl. 12. i Pfalm Ixxvlii. 69 and civ. 5 — 6. The Li- turgical verfion of Ixxvlii. 69, *' the ground which he hath made ** continually," is too eq^uivocal in meaning tp be cited. " When ARtANISM DISCLOSED. 127 *^ When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and *^ thick darknefs a fwaddling-band for it? — De- ^^ clare, if thou knoweft it all '^.'* In thefe pafTagcs there is a vein of majeftick fublimity concerning God, which exceeds the higheil fublimity of Hea- then writings, as much as the upward flight of an eagle is above the afcent of a micre fparrow. The mind of man feems to expand and fwell, beyond all its dimenfions before; with the grandeur of the ideas infufed into it. And thefe paflages unite in refer- ring the correfpondent queflions of the Proverbs, to their only objeft, the Lord of the univerfe, and the Center of all greatnefs. But the queilions go on farther thus, concerning this awful Being: *^ What is HIS name, and what is his Son*s name, ^^ if thou canfl tell?" So, another Scripture afllires US, " Jacob afked him and faid. Tell me I pray " thee thy name ; and he faid. Wherefore is it that *^ thou doft afk after my name ? And he blefled him *^ there -, and Jacob called the name of the place *' Fenie/y for I have feen God face to face, and my " life is preferved V The more antient rabbles of the Jews, and one even more antient than they, Philo, fhow their countrymen to have originally interpreted this very Being, whofe name Jacob afked, to be the Logos himfelf j the very fame, whofe name is here aiked with die name of God the k Job xxxviii, 4, S, i8. 1 Gen. xxxii. 29—30. Father laS THE ORIGIN OF Father by Agur, as being God \\\m^d( hecaufe he is the Son of God "'. And Agur concurs with David, with the Son of Sirach, and with Zecharias, to fhow the belief of the Jews before the birth of our Savi- our, in a Son of God; whofe name was equally unfearchable with that of God the Fadier himfelf^ who was equally with him a Lord to man, and who was peculiarly the Lord of man. Nor were even the Heathens of our weftern Eu- rope, ignorant of him. To prove this, I lliall pro- duce Epicharmus, who lived among the Greeks of Sicily about four centuries and a half before our Saviour ; and who Ipeaks of the Logos exprefsly, as the author of reafon to man, and the additional inti- mator of all the ufeful arts of life to him. If men have powers of reafon, they have too The Heavenly Logos: for life's changeful fcenes Was reafon planted in the frame of men ; The Heavenly Logos waits on all their arts, Himfelf fuggefting what they ought to do : For man invented not a fmgle art, But Vis the God who firft produces it ; And man's own reafon planted was in man, By the great Logos and his hand divine ". Epicharmus o» Ainfworth, p. 121, and Se6l, vilth. of the chapter immediately- preceding. O ^t 7s Ta? T£viaj ccTTXji avviTTeloii Getog T^oyo^f Ov ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I 29 Epicharmus thus makes his God Logos, to be at once the Apollo and the Pallas of Heathen antiquity. And " I have filled Bezaleel," in an exad cor- refpondency fays the fame Logos to Mofes, '^ with " the fpirit of God, in wifdom, and in underfland- " ing, and in knowledge, and in all manner of " workmanfhip; to devife cunning works ; to work ^^ in gold, and in filver, and in brafs, and in cut- ^^ ting of ilones to fet them, and in carving of tim- " ber; to work in all manner of workmanfhip °." And the particular enumeration in the facred writer, wonderfully accords with the general aflertion of the profane i in this new addition of charadler to the Logos, by making him the Infpirer and Patron of all the arts of man. To Epicharmus I fhall add that famous prophetefs of Heathenifm, the Sibyll; not indeed as her verfes are recorded by Ladtantius, who, in the indolence of an eftablifhment now gained for Chriftianity, has certainly miflaken for Sibylline what is merely the Scripture Hiftory in verfci and not even as they are tranfmitted to us, by Theophilus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, and Ou yx^ ai/0pw7ro5 rz'X}'ccv vjp'' 0 ^e 0£o? ravlxv ^spei. O ^£ yz TavGpwTra >.oyoi; TTs^yy.' vttq th Gaia ?.oy». Clemens Alexandrinus, p. ^l(j^J^Q. There is a various reading in the end of the fecond line. I have taken that, v^diich makes the belt fenfe. The paflage is alfo in Eufebius, p. 399. Evang. Prepar. And fee p. 3 53 of Clemens, for Epicharmus being cotemporary with Hiero king of Syracufe. ■ • Exodus xxxi. 3—5. K Juflln, rjO THE ORIGIN OF Jullln, who, writing under the tyranny of Heathen- \{m, and boldly appealing to this evidence againft it, would not fufFer themfelves to be deceived, and would not have been fufFered (if they had) to de- ceive others P; but as they a6lually appear in a Heathen writing, about forty years prior to our Saviour. Virgil, in that very extraordinary pafto- ral, by which he has at once recorded his own abjecb obfequioufnefs of fpirit, and preferved fome amaz- ing prophecies of an Italian concerning our Sa- viour's coming ; has particularly and pointedly marked his Godhead. " A new sort of man,'* he cries, alluding to that myilerious compHcation of natures v/liich forms a God-man, " is now de- ^^ fcending frombigb heaven — 3 he lliall^^rd' in the *' happinefs of die Gods, fliall fee the heroes of the " world advanced among the Gods, and shall be " advanced among them himself ; and he fhall " GOVERN TPIE GLOBE in pCaCC with THE VIRTUES " OF HIS Father: — the time is coming; oh! rife '^ and affert the mighty honours due unto thee, *^ thou BELOVED OFFSPRING OF THE GoDS, thoU " MIGHTY Son OF JovE '^1." Here thofe unequi- vocal r Sec Bull, p. 37S--3S1. •i Jam nova progenies cuelo demittitur alfo; llle Deiim vitani accipiet, Dlvin^ue videbit Pumixtos hcroas, tt iple videbitur illisj. Pacatumque ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I^I vocal fignatures of Divinity, the filial relation of this Being to the Godhead, and the fovereignty ceded to him over the whole world, mark him in- dubitably for a God ; for a fliarer in the nature, and a partaker in the fupremacy, of the Jehovah or Jove of heaven. Nor could a Heathen have fore- told the coming appearance of this God, in the vef- ture of humanity; the heroical condud which he was to exhibit, before his brothers of the body; and the high honours wliicli he was to receive for it, by the exaltation of his allumed nature, to a feat with his original on the throne of the Godlieadj in language more appofite to the hiRory than this, and therefore more exprelTive of the Man-God. And this evidence unites with the fpeech of Nebu- chadnezzar, and with the verfes of Epicharmus, be- fore ; to fhow the Heathens equally infornied with the Jews, in the main elements of the fyfcem of Re- demption; and as a conftituent, an eilential, and a capital point of all, in the con-fubfbantial Divinity of the Great Redeemer. Such would be the evidence for that Divinity, to accompany the Book of Wifdom; if we confidered it to be as old as Solomon, or only as the Son of Sirach. But I confider it to be much later than Pacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbem. Aggredere 6 magnos, aderit jam tempus, honores, Cara Deum foboles, magnum Jovis increraentum. Ecloar. iv*f». K 2 either, ij2 THE ORIGIN OF either, and actually a work of Philo's. Tradition, that ufeful eclio of hiftory, has pronounced it his. Where the original voice cannot be heard, we muft take the reverberation of it. This becomes deci- five, when th€ work fays nodiing to the contrary. But the Wifdom of Solomon fays much, in favour of the tradition. The language is very fimilar to Philo's; flowing, lively, and happy. And the fen- timents are equally fimilar; refined, religious, and dignified. There is alfo the fame fondnefs for mu- fick, the fame fort of obfervations concerning the plagues of Egypt, the fame kind of explanatior^ concerning the high-pricll's drefs, and many other famenefles of thought and fancy *". The work too alludes in one place to the days of the Gofpel, as evidently as the peribnated charadler of Solomon would allow it to do. The righteous man is fliadowed out by the author, with a plain reference to our Saviour himfelf " Let us lie in wait for *' the righteous," fay the wicked; " — he uphraid- *^ eth us with our offending the law, and ohje^eth to ^^ our infamy the tranfgreflions of our education." The righteous man of this work, therefore, is not a man merely righteous in himfelf. He is inti- mated, to be equally a preacher of righteoufnefs to ' Pliilo, p. 62©, 671, 675, and 823, compared with Wifdom xviii. 24, &c. And fee alfo Arnold's ufefiil Comment on the Book of Wifdom, p. ix, xxvii — xxix, 17, 24, 31, 32, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 4S,49> 54, &c. edit. 1744. Others. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. IJJ Others. " He profeffeth to have the knowledge of ** God.'' This carries on the fame intimation, of his being officially hke our Saviour. " He calleth « himfelf the child of God." This marks the preacher, to be ejfentially fimilar to our Saviour. " He pronounceth the end of the jufl to be blefied,*' the official charader being ftill fupported in him ; ^^ and makedi his boaft, that God is bis Father y' the eifential fimilarity being more ftrongly fuggefled ftill. " Let us lee if his words be true, and let " us prove what Ihall happen in the end of him ; " for, if the juft man be the Son of God, he " will help him, and deliver him out of the hand " of his enemies." We have thus the very appel- ladon of our Saviour, his diftinguifhing dtle among the Jews, attributed in a feemingly eafy and inci- dental manner to this juil man. This is fo pointed an indication, as marks the defign at once. But we may additionally obferve, that the very words, here ufed to die juft man, were adually ufed to our Saviour, " He trufted in God," cried the Jewifh wretches at his crucifixion ; " let him deliver him " if he will have him; for he faid, I am the Son " of God'." Nor is the work content, with merely doing this. It touches upon other circum- ftances of our Saviour's fufferings; and then pro- ceeds to thofe of his followers. " Let us examine » Mat. xxvii. 43. K 3 " him," \ 134 ti;e origin of " him/* they flill cry, " with defpitefulnejs and tor- " ture/' alluding to the infults and die fcourging ufed to our Saviour ^; " that we may know his " meeknejs and prove his patience.'' And, as they finally fay, " let us condemn him with a fhameful " death -,'' in allufion to his crucifixion. The work thus draws the profile of our Saviour, in its portrait of a righteous man. But it goes on im- mediately, to fhade out in the fame manner the face of die frrft Chriftians. The ftile therefore is inftantly changed. The one of the preceding paiTages, is m.ultiplied into raayiy. " The fouls of the righte- " ous," fays the author, " are in the hand of God, ^^ and there lliall no torment touch them^ in the *^ fight of the unwife they feemed to die, and their ^^ departure is taken for mifery, and their going ^' from us to be utter deftrudlion \ but they are in '^ peace: for though they be punifhed in the fight " of men, yet is their hope full of immortahty: ^^ and having been a little chaftifed, they fhall be " greatly rewarded j for God proved them, and " found them worthy for himfelf ; as gold in the *^ furnace hath he tried them, and received them ^' as a burnt-offering ; and in the time of their vi^ '^ fitation they Jhall fijine, and run to and fro like ^'^ f parks among the fiuhhle-, they lliall judge the na- '*^ liens :, and have dominion over the people \ and their t Y^fEi v.di ^cccc'.vu vocaui^Av ccviov, explained by A6ls xxii. 29. ct ^' Lord ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 135 « Lord fliall reign for ever^" I have cited the paflage at full length, that my reader may mark the regular harmony of the whole, and the full diapafon at the clofe. The animating promife of our Sa- viour to his difciples, that, at the end of the world, « fhall the righteous fhine forth as the fun in the « kingdom of their Father ^s" is obvioully though faintly refieaed, in this prophecy allufive to the clearing of flubble-land by burning, of their " Ihin- '' ing, and running to and fro, like fparks among « the ftubble." But that they fliall " judge the '' nations, and have dominion over the people," is evidently nothing more than a repetition, of that awful and amazing predidion of our Saviour's; " Ye which have followed me in the regeneration, « when the Son of Man fliall flt on the throne of " his glory, ye alfo fliall fit upon twelve thrones, " judging the twelve tribes of Ifl-ael;" enlarged as it is by St. Paul's quefliion, " Do ye not know that " the faints fliall judge the world ^T And the fecret allufion to this myfl:erious revelation fi'om the lips of our Saviour, and the filent reference to this ex- traordinary belief in the minds of the firfl: Chriilians, unite to give us an incontefl:able evidence ; that the Wifdom of Solomon was written later than the days of our Saviour, and might be written, as hifl;orical report fays it adually v/as, by Philo. The internal '-> Chap. ii. 12, 13, 16—19, i'"i- 1—3. ^ Mat. xill. 43- y Mat. xix. 2S and 1 Cor. vi. 2. K 4 evidence 136 THE ORIGIN OF evidence agrees with the external, to fix it firmly upon him ^ We thus give him the honour of a compofition, which raifes him higher in the eflimation of the world, as a man of elegance and genius ; than all his other works together. But when is this mafter- piece of his firfl cited, and when was it firfl inferted in the Apocrypha ? It appears to be tacitly cited in a paffage of Barnabas's epiflle, in which the appeal is exprefsly to a prophet, and aduaily to Ifaiah; but the quotation is lengthened out, from a coin- cidence in the fentiments and a failure in the me- mory, with the very words of Philo. This marks his book as then inferted in the code of Scripture, though not in the canonical part of it. The words of it thus chimed imperceptibly upon the ears of Barnabas, and were thus mixed infenfibly in the remembrances of Barnabas, with the real words of 2 In XV. 14 the author notices to God, " all the enemies of thy ** people, that hold them'm fubjeftion."" The word in the original 3S iiOi]u^vvxrivcravl2<;, who have nonx) for fome time held\\\^Tcv infubjec- tion. And as this marks a period oi pajjl've fubmifTion to the Hea- thens, which now exifted, and had exilied for fome time ; it points at the power of the Romans over the Jews, and forms an hiftorical teftimony exactly concurrent with all. For the compatibility of Philo's age with all this, fee a note in the next fe^lion. The book is accordingly inferted in the Vulgate, with this title to it j *• Sapientia *• juxta Grascos Salomonis, juxta alios Philonis." See Table of Contents. The *' prologus" alfo fays from St. Jerome, ** Hunc *' Judxi Philonis effe affirmant.*' See p. 427. edit. 1541. And the *' prologus'* equally adds from St. Jerome, that ** in ea CbrijVi <* adventus— et pafTio diiigenter exprimitur." infpiration* ARIANISM DISCLOSED. IJ7 inlpiration. And, as Clemens Romanus refers ex- prefsly to the two companions of this book in the Apocrypha, the books of Judith and Either; fo has he fome coincidences of thought and language, that feem to have been fuggefled in the fame unnoticed manner to his mind. The Book of Wifdom is ac- cordingly cited afterwards in form, by Cyprian, Eufebius, Athanafius, and others; as a fcriptural, but not a canonical, compofition; as one that lay ready to their eye and hand in the volume of in- ipiration, but as not claiming the rank and prero- gative of an infpired book there "*, In this lively and dignified exhortation to religion, Philo, with his ufual vein of allegorical refinement; and with the fame confufion at times, in which he has occafionally fpoken of the Logos before, now fpeaking of the Perfon in the Godhead, then of the Attribute in it, and fometimes of the Quality in his a Ruffel's Patres Apoftol. i. Barnabas, p. i8. Asyn yap o Ufo(pvi- %q ETTt rov la-pari'^, »«; r-n -^v^i) avlaivy oli Bety^suvlat BaXrtV 'movyifav ku^* iccvloVf eiTTovlsqi Avicrctiy.ev rov ^maiov) oil ^va-^^viro^ riixiv t~i. The two firft claufes of this citation, are literally in the Septuagint verfion of Ifaiah iii. 9 j and the two laft are thus, in that of the Book of Wif- dom ii, 12, 'Evs^pevc-Uff.sv ^s rov ^iy.cnovy olt ^vcr^rz/jroq v}[xiv sfi. In Ep. I. p. 205. Clement fays, luM -/i y^ccy-upia, y..l. ^, and a;)^ nrloj* ccv ii.a,i ft rf^iioe, kccIoc -zsrifti/ Eo-9>!p, k. T. A. His feeming citations from the Book of Wifdom, are in p. 17 and 113. And fee Cofm, p. 39, 40, 47, 49, 52, 57, 64, 68, 72, and 32. The method above, of ac- counting for the intermixture of canonical and uncanonical paflages in Barnabas, feems to be the only natural one j and it folves all dif- ficulties arifing from the certain fa(^, ^n an eafy and effeftual manner, creatures 5 IjS THE ORIGIN OF creatures j expatiates repeatedly on a Being, whom he denotes at firft by the name of Wisdom, after- wards by the appellation of Logos or Word, jufl as Philo has done already, and at laft, like him too, by the denomination of God or Lord. In the firlt ten chapters, this venerable perfonage wears the tide of Wifdom; and is only once glanced at through the whole, under that of the Word. Then that appellation is difcontinued, and this is adopted. And both are funk entirely through all the reft of the work, in the denomination of Lord or God. The Wifdom of die firft halfi however, is plainly charaderized with the Logos or Word as a Divine Being, minifterial to God, and yet God himfelf. A variety of adlions is attributed to the- Logos and to him, that mark the Divinity of both precifely. Yet the one is the Wifdom of God, and the other is the Word of the Lord. Both are as apparently the fame perfon in this author, as they are in Philo and the Evangelifts. And both are equally ab- forbed at the clofe, in the engulphing vortex of the Godhead. I begin firft with the Logos or Word, as moft familiar to us at prefent. I'his perfon we have al- ready feen invelied, with all the attributes of the Deity. We equally fee him invefted here. We have particularly beheld him the vifible and a6ling Jehovah of the Jews, in all ages of their hiftory. The prefent writer has accordingly fingled out one point ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I39 point of this hiftory, and referred it diredly to the Word. "When the Jews in the wildernefs mur- mured againft their God, " they murmured," fays the Chaldee paraphrafl, *' againft the Word of " the Lordi" and it was " the Word of the Lord," he adds, who " fent fiery ferpents among the peo- *^ pie" to punifti them. But we are taught the fame principle of hiftorical faith, by an authority ftill higher than he. " Neither tempt ye Christ," advifes St. Paul, " as Jome of them alfo tempted, *^ and were deftroyed of Jerfents'' But, as the Pfalmift leno-thens on the train of information, con- cerning thofe who were bitten and not yet dead; " God fent his Word, and healed them; and they " were faved from their deftrudion." They were faved by that afcertained fymbol of our Saviour, a ferpent of brafs, eredled upon a pillar of wood, and exhibited to the eyes of the wounded. This was a vifible and bodily memorial, of the immediate pre- fence of the Logos with themj and an alTimilated medium, by which his healing powers were con- veyed to them. " Whofoever fhall be bitten by a <^ ferpent," as the Chaldee Paraphraft explains the inftituting command of God, ^^ and iliall look upon " this ; he fhall then live, if his heart Ihall be di- *^ reeled to the name of the Word of the Lord." *^ It happened," as he goes on to explain the ac- tual efficacy of this temporary kind of facrament, ^^ that when a ferpent bit a man, and he fixed his I40 THE ORIGIN OF *^ ^yes on that brazen ferpent, and his heart was ^' intent upon the name of the Word of the Lord; " he Hved." And, in the fame language and with the fame ideas, does the Wifdom of Solomon fpeak of this myfterious fadl. " When — they perifhed " with the flings of crooked ferpents," it tells us in an addrefs to God, " thy wrath endured not for ^^ ever; but they were troubled for a fmall feafon, " that they might be admonifhed, having a fign of ^^ Jalvation, to put them in remembrance of the ^' commandment of thy law: for he, that turned " himfelf toward it, was not faved by the thing that " he faw, but by thee, who art the Saviour of " ALL : — it was neither herb nor mollifying plaifter, " that reftored them to health ; but thy Word, O " Lord, WHICH HEALETH ALL THINGS^'." Wc thus fee the God of the Jews, charaderized for ^' the Saviour of ail ;" as we have feen him cha- radlerized before, for " the Judge of all the " earth :" and fo marked by a double title, to be the God of the Chriflians. We alfo fee God and his Word, fo clofely interwoven (as it were) by identity of elTence together; that the efficacy of this prototype of the crofs, is attributed in one place to God, and in another to the Word of God; and that, as the former is denominated " the Saviour ^' of all,'* the latter is equally denominated He *» Chap. xvi. 5—7 and iz. And fee Arnold, p. no and ni " which ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I4I " which healeth all things." So blended are their tides, fo mixed their powers, that the Logos is God, and God is the Logos ; both Iharers in the Godhead, yet both diftincl, diftindt by difference of perfonality, and diftindt by incidents of origin and office '^ ! In another part of his work, this writer paints the inflidions of God upon rebelling Egypt, in the moft vivid colours that ever fancy lent to hiilory. At the clofe of thefe inflidions, with the full con- fent of canonical Scripture, and in concurrence with the opinions of his countrymen, he ftates the Logos or Word to have been the very perfon, that in one memorable night flew the firfl-born of Egypt with his hand. He therefore introduces him, with a pomp and dignity much fuperior to any of Homer*s Gods, to the execution of this awful vengeance. " While all things were in quiet filence," he fays to God, " and that Night was in the midfl of her " fwifc courfe; thine Almighty Word leaped down *' from heaven out of thy royal throne, as a fierce " man of war, into the midfl of a land of deflruc- *^ tioni and brought thine unfeigned command- *^ ment, as a iharp fwordj and, flanding up, filled *^ all things with death: and it [he] touched the c « The ancient Jews lookt upon the brazen ferpent, as a type ** of the Meffias. So we find by their Targum on Numb. xxi. 8 j "• which expounds this ferpent which Mofes lifted up, by the W^orJ *' of the Lord"' (Allix's judgment, p. 60). *^ heaven 1^2 THE ORIGIN OF « heaven, but it [he] Hood upon die earth.'* Here the imager/ is uncommonly bold and magnificent. It mounts beyond the cold atmofphere of a northern tafle. It has therefore been confidered by many of our modern criticks, as the mere ebullition of ori- ental figurativenefs. But it is plainly meant as a highly poetical delineation, of the God Logos coming forward to crufh the continued refiflance of the Egyptians. The Chaldee Paraphrail accord- ingly interprets the hiJlGry of the tranfadlion, in the fame general way as our author. " In the middle of " the night/* he tells us, " the Word of die Lord " appeared againft the Egyptians ; his right hand " flew the firfl-born of the Egyptians, and his right " hand freed the firft-born of the Ifraelites." This is hiflorically the fame, but not poetically fo. In the Book of Wifdom we fee, we feel, we wonder at, a defcription fo illuftrioufly adapted to the a6t. We behold the Logos " leaping down from heaven" to earth, with eagernefs to quell at once this ftill-riling leviathan of Egypt. We behold him alfo " leap- *^ ing out of the royal throne" of God, into ^^ the " midft of that devoted land;" or rather (as the original fuggefts to us in its plural words) " the royal " thrones" of God, one of the three which Scrip- ture, Judaifm, and Chriflianity agree to place in heaven, for each of the three perfons in the Trinity; and all which united they equally agree to confider, as the one and common dirone of the God- head. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 143 head'^. There his feet " fland upon the earth," and his head " touches the heaven." Thus ftanding in the center of Egypt, and armed with " the fharp " fword of God," he " fills all things with death;" flaying the children on every fide of him, and fpread- ing the dreadful carnage through the whole circuit of Egypt. And in this account we have a fpecimen of Jewifh fublimity, perhaps as much fuperiour to any fublimity of Heathenifm, as the God Logos is to its Gods ; and almqft worthy of Him, who is here exprefsly placed " on the throne" of the Godhead in ^ So Daniel vii. 9, " the thronej were caft [fet] down, and the ** Ancient of Days did fit" upon one of the thrones j *' — his throne ♦f was like^' &c. *' One like the Son of Man— came to the Ancient *' of Days, and they brought him near before him j and there was ** given him" &C. v. 13 — 14.. Wifdom, ty. Gpovav 'Ba.a-i'huuvy Daniel, o^ ^^ovox Mr.a-xv. The Jews *« were divided about the ** thrones fet Dan. vii. 9. For to what purpofe many throntSf if ** there were but one perfon? R. Akiba maintained, that there was ** one for God, and another for David. He ieems by David to have <* underftood the Meflias. But R. Jofe looked upon this as im- <* pious ; and afilrmed that one of thefe thrones was fet for God's *' Juftice, the other for his Mercy," and the third afluredly for himfelf. *' R. Akiba was at laft convinced, and received this ex- •^ plication} which R. Eliezer fon of Azariah hearing, was fo far ** from approving of, that he fent away Akiba with indignation — *' As for R. Eliezer himfelf, he faid that thefe tauo thrones fignified " only, that there was one for God, and a footftool to it" ( Alhx's Judgment, p. 325). " The thrones here mentioned import, firit " of all, the thrones of God and Chrift,— and then thofe of his *« faints," that of the Holy Ghoft undoubtedly (Patrick on the place), heaven. J^4 THE ORIGIN OF heaven, is exprefsly declared to be Almighty t6o> and was the governing God of the univerfe ^. But let us now turn from this philofophical yet familiar appellation of Logos, for the Son of God ; to one, which is at leaft equally philofophical, and more retired from ufe, that of Wisdom. We have feen our Saviour, giving himfelf this appellation * The original runs thus in the main parts : o 'zc-a,no^vvo(.iJ.o<; o-a o^£9c;as yjAolo yA<;, ^i<; svT^yjfuas rse. 'Kavlcc Gavala* xat apava //ev YitPMoj BiQviy.ei d' BTrt 7*5? (chap, xviii. 14.— 16). That he, who deftroyed the firft-born, is reprefented in Scripture to be God, and not an angel j is plain, whatever fome commentators have faid to the contrary, from the very luftory itfelf. *' The Lord faid unto Mofes," we are told in Exodus xi. 1 and 4 : ** Yet / will bring one plague more upon Pha- ** raoh j" and " thus fluth the Lord, About midnight will / go out *' into the midft of Egypt, and all the firft-born in the land of Egypt ** fliall die." In xii. 11— 13 " it is the Lord's ptiflbver," fays God, " for I will pafs through the land of Egypt this night, and will fmite ** all the firft-born, both man and beaft j and againft the Gods of ** Egypt / will execute judgment, I am the Lord: — and when /fee *» the blood, / will pafs over you, — when I fmite the land of Egypt." In xii. " the Lord,"" we are told, '* will pafs through to fmite the ** Egyptians, and--//;£ LordviiW pafs over the door" (la) ; " it is ** the facrifice of the Lord's paffover, 'who paffed over the houfes of •* the children of Ifrael in Egypt, when he fmote the Egyptians" (a7) J and *' the Lord fmote all the firft-born in the land of Egypt"" (29). So truly fcriptural is the Book of Wifdom herej fo much more fo, than fome Chriftian commentators! See Bull, p. 14, and Patrick on Exodus xi. 4. And the Chaldee Paraphrafeon Exodu? xii. 42, is thus in Latin : *' Apparuit Sermo Domini in media nocle ** contra ^-gyptios \ dextra ejus interficiebat primogenitos Egypti- ** orum, et dextra ejus liberabat primogenitos Ifraelitarum" (Ar- nold, p, 130). before. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I45 before. We have feen Philo before continuing it, in his acknowledged works. And he continues it here, in one place. " O God of my fathers," he introduces Solomon faying in prayer, " and Lord *^ of mercy, who hall made all things with thy *^ Word, and ordained man through thy Wis- *^ DOM f." Philo thus fhows us the national and his own belief^ in the perfonal identity of this double-named Being, When God the Father cre- ated " all things" by his Word, he neceffarily *^ ordained man" too by his Word. And the Wisdom which made man, was the very fame with the Word that formed the univerfe. Accordingly Philo places him on the throne of the Godhead in heaven, jufl as he has placed the Logos immediately before. ^^ Give me," adds the praying Solomon, *' Wisdom, that sitteth by thy throne," that is, as I have juft fhown before concerning the Word, who fitteth on her own throne ranging by the fide of thine, and even forming a very part of thine; " O fend her out of thy holy heavens, and from *^ THE THRONE OF THY GLORY." And WC thuS find Wisdom, as we have found the Word, an afleflbr with God the Father on the throne of the heavens, and an afTiflant with God the Father in the creation of the univerfe. This afliftance is again noticed in the prayer of Solomon, and an intima- f Chap. ix. 1—2, L tion 146 THE ORICIN OF tion given of what forms the foundation of it. " From the beginning/' fays the fupplicating king, and refers evidently to the commencement of eternity, becaufe he fpeaks of a period antecedent to times '^ Wisdom was with thee." He " was *^ PRESENT WHEN THOU MADEST THE WORLD." He was aMvely and efficiently prefent. Thou didft " make all things with thy Word," and thou didft " ordain man through thy Wisdom." The Son was both die Wisdom and the Word, to the Fa- ther. He '^ knew," as Solomon proceeds con- cerning Wisdom, " what was acceptable in thy " fight, and right in thy commandments /' he " knoweth thy works ;" he " loioweth and under- " flandeth all things ^" But 5 Chap. ix. 4, 16, 9, and 11. The Romifli church is authorita- tively taught, to confider the Wifdoin of this book as Chr'ijl j by thefe words prefixed to it in the Vulgate, from St. Jerome : " in ea Chrilli «' adventus, qui efi Scipientia Patris, et pafTio, diligenter exprimi- ** tur." " It may not be amifs to obferve upon the Greek reading <* of this paflage, viz. fxiuvy-cc a-ycAV/iq ayiccq, r,v TTfo-i^oii/^occrccq ccii ** ac%r? ; that — ^^tt' o^f^xrtc, feems unneceflaiy after Trpojjiot/xacritr. I «• would therefore carry thefe words forwards to the beginning of ** the next verfe, and read ccii oc^^vit; y.ai fxilx cs >? co'^ia^ (Arnold, p. 4-8). And then the whole will run thus, *' From the beginning •' Wifdom was even with theej" and is furprizingly parallel to St. John's words, Ev app^vj y,v 0 'Kvyoc.y y.on 0 Xoyuq r,v ir^oq rov Qiov. Even th.it palrige concerning IFifJom in Ecclefiafticus xxiv. 3, " I came ** out of the mouth of the Moll High," is thus paraphrafed by the. antient tranflutor of it into Latin : " Ego ex ore altiffimi prodivi, ^^ prlmocenila ante QVinem (rsaturam\ Ego fed in calis ut oriretur *' lumen ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I47 But this extrinfick Wisdom of God the Father/' is alfo defcribed by Philo, juft as he has defcribed. the Logos; as not merely the Creator of the uni-i verfe, but as the adual Pervader of it, the careful \ Infpedtor of its inhabitants, and the exerter of an Omnipotence of power in an Omniprefence of na- ture. " Wisdom," he cries, " —is the worker / " of all things, — having all power, over- ' " seeing all things, and going through all " underftanding, pure, and moil fubtil, spirits ; \ " for Wisdom is more moving than any mo- " TiON, Pne passeth and goeth through all " THINGS by reafon of her purenefs — ; and fhe " CAN DO all THINGS ^'* '' WisDOM," wc are alfo told, ^^ reacheth from one end to an- \ " other mightily, and fweetly doth fhe order all J " things \" This Being therefore is at once the i Providence, i ** lumen indeficlens:" '' Exhac autem paraphrafi auftoris/' fays Bull, p. 203, " cuius verHonem et nos perantiqv.am agnofclmus, et Ro- ** mana^ Ecclefisj Do6lores pro authentica habent, liquet Inter- *' pretem fenlHre, per Sapientiam ibi tntelUgi rov Aoyov Ji've Filiufu ** Deij et rov "koyov idea primogenitum atite o?nnem creaturam did, " quod in pri»cipio, veluti ex ore Dei Patris, prodierit ad cojijlitutl- " onem uni-verfi cum voce illaomnipotenti,/>^iiv -Trvsvixccluvy k. 1. A. i Chap. viii. l. AialetVEt h ocTTo 'm^a]o(; iiq iri^x; sv^urcJ(;, y-CCi ^lo'.y.et ra. m-ccila %p'iri;?. The Arabic verfion fays, " Porrigit autem {eCe " ab extremo tcrrarum orbe ad extremum ufque integre." And L z it. 148 THE ORIGIN OF Providence, the Prefence, and the Power of God the Father. " Love rlghteoufnefs/' fays the author at the beginning, " — think of the Lord — ; for he — " fheweth himfelf unto fuch as do not diltruft him, " for fro ward thoughts feparate from God — ; for " into a malicious foul Wisdom fhall not enter — ; " for Wisdom is a loving fpirity and will not ac- *^ quit a blafphemer of his words ; for God is wit- " nefs of his reins, and a true beholder of his heart, '^ and a bearer of his tongue , for the Spirit of the " Lord filleth the world, and that which " coNTAiNETH," or (as the margin more properly reads) that which upholdeth " all things, hath " kno'ivledge of the voice : therefore he that Jpeaketh " unrighteous things cannot be hid,— and xh^ found '' of his words fhall come unto the Lord." This carries on the fame train of ideas, as the two ex- tradbs immediately preceding. But it enforces them, by a variation of the language and a repetition of the meaning. It gives up to the Wisdom of God, that efTential and incommunicable prerogative of God, with which the very Heathens were fo fully acquainted; of being as Seneca calls him, the " permeator univerfitatis." This appears from St. Bernard paraphrafes it thus : *' a fummo coelo ufque ad inferiores ** partes tenic, a maximo angelo ufque ad minimum vermiculum, *• I'ubftantlali quadam et ubique praefenti fortitudine j quae utique *f univerfa potentiflime movet, ordinat, et adminiftrat fuaviter, i.e. <' line neceiiitate aut diflicultate'' (Arnold, p. 41). the ARIANl'SM DISCLOSED, I49 the remarkable interchange of names, here. W» pafs from the Lord God to Wisdom, from Wisdom to the Spirit of Wisdom and the Spirit of the Lord, and from the Spirit of the Lord to the Lord him- felf. All thefe appellations unite and center in one Being. They are only the diverfified denomina- tions of the Godhead. And we evidently fee in this explaining outfet of the author's work, that his Wisdom is the Word, and the Spirit of his Wis- dom is the Spirit of God; that therefore Wisdom *^ will not acquit a blafphemer of his words y' be- caufe " God — is a hearer of his tongue^'' hecaufe *^ the Spirit of the Lord — hath knowledge of the *' voiced' and hecauje " the found of his words fhall *^ come unto the Lord \' and that, confequently, ^^ the Spirit of the Lord which filleth the world, ** and that which upholdeth all things," is this very Wisdom, and that very Son of God, who, in the fimilar language of St. Paul, is even now " up- ^' holding all things by the word of his power ^^." But ^ Chap. i. 1,2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and g. See alfo Arnold, p. 38. In the original, '7rv1vu.ce. Kfpta 7Tnr7\'/)^u)yii tyjv oiy.sy.svrjv, km to o-vvb^ov rat rrotvla, yvcjcriv s^bi (pujv/i^. " Some manufcripts read 0 a-vnxt^'^i which " probably is the true reading — . Thus the Striae and Arabic ** verfions expound it ; the former rendering, lUe qui tenet omnia, " fcienter habet vocem ipliusj and the latter, Et qui creaturas ** omnes arapleftitur, pollidet notitiam vocis" (Arnold, p. 4). See alfo Heb. i. 3. (pt^m. There is a very fine eulogium upon Wif- dom, and very fimilar to this, in Proverbs viii. 22 — 30. " The <* Lord pofleired me/' fays Wifdom herfeif, ** in the beg'um'ing of L 3 " ** hU iro THE ORIGIN OF But we may obferve the perfonal identity of the Wisdom and the Word with each other, and the ** bis ^vay^ before his qvorks o^ old. I was fetup from everlast- " iNG, from the beghmingf or ever the earth was. When there *' were no depths, I was brought forth j when there were no foun- <' tains abounding with water. Before the mountains were fettled, <' before the hills, was I brought forth : while as yet he had not *' made the earth, nor the fields, nor the higheft part of the dull of *' the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there j when " he fet a compafs upon the face of the depth ; when he eftabliflied " the clouds above; when he ftrengthened the fountains of the *' deep ; w'hen he gave to the fea his decree, that the water fliould *' not pafs his commandment ; when he appointed the foundations ** of the earth. Then I was by him, as one brought up ivith him ; *• and I was dnilj his delight, rejoicing alnjoays before him." Here, fays Dr. Bull in a work additional to his Defence of the Nicene Faith, but loft in the fplendour of that refulgent fun, and yet a ftar of feme brightnefs itfelf ; " the Wifdom of God, which is faid to be «" v/ith God from everlafting, from the beginning, before the earth *'' was,"' and to be "' his continual delight ;"' all the fathers una- *' nimoufy underfiood to be (as indeed the words themiclves literally *' and plainly import) copa, vpsTUJcra, a fubfifling, perfonal Wifdom, *' i. e. the Son of God, who is accordingly by St. Paul exprefsly *' filled, '** the Wifdom of God,'" i Cor. i. ver. 24." (Bull's Ca- tholic Doflrine concerning the B. Trinity, among his Sermons and Difcourfes iii. p. 842--X43). See alfo Allix's Judgment, p. 161. frtr the Jerufilcm Targum. This pafTage indeed was allowed by both the Arians and the orthodox, in the grand conteft between them durino- the fourth an '■■■ fifth centuries ; to refer to the Logos or Son of God. The Arians allowed it, and even urged it; relying only on their ov*'n conftru6tion of that word in the Septuagint, which is anfwered in our verfion by pofrfed, as it means in the original (Randolph, part i. p. 4-5), and which was rendered by them created. And, with a truly Arian pettinefs of foul, they dwelt upon this poor -and (at btft) ambiguous point ; and adverted not to the exiftence of this perfonal Wifdom, fo exoref ]y aiTerted to be *' from everlafting.'* They (kulked from conviction behind a reed, while an oak w^as fall- ing down upon them. fubftantial ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I5I fubftantial identity of Both with God, in other parts of this work. Wisdom is reprefented to have been the Divine Being converfant with man, in all the periods of his calamitous hiflory, from Adam to Mofes ^ ; when we have feen this very Being before, to have been the Word himfelf Wisdom is par- ticularly converfant with Adam, with Abraham, with Lot, and with Jacob "^ ; all of them perfons, with whom Philo has previoufly introduced the Word converfing. Wisdom is alfo defcribed exprefsly, as he who " delivered the righteous « people and blamelefs feed" of the Ili-aelites, *' from the nation" of Egyptians " that opprefTed *^ them";" v/hen the grand ad of this deliverance, the decifive ftroke of vengeance that confummated their deliverance, has been already afcribed in this very work, to the Word himfelf; and when, in other parts, both it and all are equally afcribed to God himfelf As " they" the Egyptians, fays the author to God, in a juft admiration of his affimilating pu- nifhments to tranfgrelTions, " had determined to flay " the babes of the faints ; one child [Mofes] being *^ caft forth, and faved to reprove them, thou " tookefl away the multitude of tbeir children." And it was " thy almighty hand," he fays again, ^^ that made the world of matter without form; — <^ for the whole world before thee is as a little I chap. ix. ^ Chap. x. i^ — 2, 5^-6, and 10. » Chap. X. 15. L 4 *^ grain IJ[2 THE ORIGIN OF '^ grain of the balance^ yea, as a drop of the morn- " ing dew that falleth down upon the earth i" and *^ the ungodly, that denied to know thee, were '^ fcourged by the ftrength of thine arm : with " ftrange rains, hails, and fhowers were they perfe- " cuted, that — themfelves might fee and perceive, '^ that they were peiiecuted with the judgment of '^ GoD'\" Wisdom is equally exhibited to us, as one who " guided them [the Ifraelites] in a mar- " vellous way, and -was unto them for a cover by *^ day, and a light of flars in the night- feafon ; '^ brought them through the Red Sea, and led *' them through much water ; but — drowned their '* enemies r." Yet the pafiages in the Pfalms, of which this is in part a copy, affign the whole of this moft extraordinary and double prodigy, to the Lord God of the Ifraelites. " Marvellous " things did he,'' the Pfalmift cries out, *^ in die *^ fight of our fore-fathers, in die land of Egypt, '^ even in the field of Zoan: he divided tht fea, and *^ let them go through; he made the waters to '^ fland on an heap: in the day-time alfo he led *^ them with a cloud, and all the night through ♦^ with a light of fire :" and " he fpread out a cloud " to be a covering, and fire to give light in the " night-feafon"." And " thou," fays that very author to God, " gaveft them [the Ifraelites] a • Chap, xvlil. 5, xi. 17, 22, and xvi. 16, 18. P Chap. X. 17—19. 1 Pfalmlxxviii. 13— 15, and cv. 38. " burning ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 153 ^' burning pillar of fire, both to be a guide of the " unknown journey, and an harmlefs fun to enter- ^' tain them honourably;— THOU deftroyedft them « [the Egyptians] altogether in a mighty waters" So completely is the Wisdom of Philo here, the Un-created Wisdom of God, die Perfonal Wisdom or Word of the Father, the Son of God, God the Son, and the fuperintending God of man; denominated the Wisdom of the Father, becaufe in him " are hid all the « treafures of wifdom and knowledge ^j" and deno- minated alfo the Word of die Father, becaufe he was to fpeak the didates of that wifdom and know- ledge, to all the creatures of God; the Filial Deity being the Oracle of Paternal Wifdom, to them^ Nor r Chap, xvlii. 3 and 5. See alfo Chap. xix. 6—8, and a^. s Coloff. ii. 3. t So in Proverbs viii. 31, Wifdom reprefents herfelf, in an allu- fion to this prefence of the Logos with the Ifraelites, with the patri- archs, and with all the religious of mankind up to Adam; as '* re- <« joicing in the habitable [inhabited] part of his [the Father's] « earth, and my delights were with the fons of men." Dr. Young accordingly fiys thus, in that poem of his which is often fo brilliant, fo ftrong, and'fo particularly affefting to the younger votaries of re- ligion ; the Night- thoughts : Un-injurd from our praife can he efcape, Who, dif-embofom'd from the Father, bows The Heav'n of Heav'ns, to kifs the diftant earth! Breathes out in agonies a fmlefs foul ! Throws wide the gates celeftial to hxsfoes! 1 heir gratitude for fuch a boundlefs debt, Deputes their fufVing brothers to receive ! And, '1^4 "THE ORIGIN OF . Nor fhall I add any more to what I have faid, except only to prefent my reader with the account here given, of the high dignity of this Wisdom, and of what is the primary caufe of it all, his origination in efTence from the Father. We have feen before from the pencil of Philo, a luxuriant delineation of the beauty and brightnefs of the Word. We have alfo compared it with St. Paul's exhibition of the fame perfonage, under the title of Son of God; who is faid to be " the brightnefs of his glory, and *' the exprefs image of his perfon'\" And Philo has here oblio-ed us with another fl<:etch of this Seeon- o daryGod, that is even more luxuriant in brilliancy of colouring, than the former; yet is more fober, in propriety of ideas ; and feems, in the main points, to be only an expanfion of St. Paul's fentiments. His Wisdom, he fays, " is the worker of all things, — ^' having all power, overfeeing all things, and going *' through all — fpirits; — fhe palTeth and goeth " through all things, by reafon of her purenefs; " for She is the breath of the power of God, And, if deep human guilt in payment fails. As deeper guilt, prohibits our defpair! Enjoins it as our duty, to rejoice! And (to clofe all) omnipotently kind, Takes hjs delights amofig the fons of menl What words are thefe ? — And did they come from Heav'n? And were they fpoke to man? to guilty man? AVhat are all myfleries, to love like this ? ConfAation. " Ileb, i. 3, « and ARIANISM DISCLOSED. l^^ " and A PURE INFLUENCE [rather emanation] flow- " ing from the glory of the Almighty; — She is " THE BRIGHTNESS of the EvERLASTING LiGHT, " the UNSPOTTED MIRROR of the POWER [energy] of God, and the image of his goodness ^." We thus concenter all the principal rays of our argu- ment, in one point ; and leave them united in one effulgence of truth, to blazon forth the derivation of 7 the Word or Wisdom from God, as of a Son fromf a Father ; the co-exiflence of the Son with the Fa- I ther, as a neceiTary and eternal Radiation from the \ Self-exiftent and Eternal Light; the confequent co- eifentiality of the Son and the Father together; and j the final co-ordination of Both, not in origin, not / in office, but in nature, in goodnefs, in power, and in glory. — II.— But let us now turn from Philo to three works, one of which will give us occafion, to notice fome new circumflances concerning him; to mark the pofcerior date of his Wifdom of Solomon, to all his acknowledged works ; and fo to continue his line of evidence, to the clofe of the apoftoiick period. * Chap, vii. 22 — 26. At/^k ya^ sri T'/^ij ra Ssa ^wccixsu^f y.ai ccTrop- ^oioc TYi<; T8 -aravTOJi^aTo^o? ^o^t^j eiXiy.^iv/jq. — ATTOivycca-ucx, yap £j-» (pwT^ ai^i8y y.cci eaoTrr^ov ay.n'Xiaajrov rr,q ra ^ea avs^yr-ia?, >iu,i ny.uv rY}<; uyx&O' TYir^ avra. The original words of St. Paul, are thefe : O? m ocirocv- yaa-yLo, [the very fame word with our author's here, and fignifying a radiation from a mafs oflight\ rv)<; ^o^r,<;, y.cn yu£oi,y.-rT,^ [the very print or imprefilon] tnc, vTrofxsnu^ a.n8, Thefe ir6 THE ORIGIN OF Thefe three immediately fucceed to it and to him. And they lengthen out the chain of eledrick fire, from thofe grand luminaries of Chriftianity, the apoflles, to the middle of die fecond century. I. — The firft of thefe is equally with the Book of Wifdom, a work of a Jewilh author, a little later in time, and juft poilerior to the days of the apoftles. This is what is now denominated, the Second Book of EsDRAS; becaufe it is compofed in the name of Ezra or Efdras, and has been placed with the firft in the Apocrypha of the Old Teflament. The firft was in the Apocrypha, not before the Septua- gint tranilation was made^ for it was not in the ori- ginal tranflation; yet before the tranflation was com- pleted for the ufe of the Hellenift Jews, and is therefore found in that tranflation at prefent y. But the Jecond was inferted in it, like the Book of Wif- dom, by the Chriftians^ and by the Chriftians of the Weft only. The earlieft Chriftians formed an Apocrypha to the New Teftament, as the later Jews had done to the Old. The Chriftians of the Eaft placed Hermes, Barnabas, and thofe other writ- ers of the apoftolick age, which the Romanifts ftill place, in tlie Apocrypha of the New. They even threw the Book of Wifdom in its original Greek, into die Apocrypha of the Old. And the Chrif- tians of the Weft retained all thefe ; even added the writings of Ambrofe, Auftin, and others of the ? Cofin, p, 54, 99, 114, and 142. Weftern ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I57 Weflern Fathers, to the Apocrypha of the New ; and threw the fecond Book of Efdras in its original Latin, into the Apocrypha of the Old ^ That this work was written after the publication of the Golpels, is apparent from feveral palTages in them, pafiages incidental and peculiar, being incor- porated into it ^ That it was written alfo, after the Revelations of St. John were publiflied; is equally- apparent from many images and expreflions, that are borrowed from them^. Yet it is quoted by Tertullian at the beginning of the third century. 2 Cofin, p, 115 — 118, and 159. It now remains In the Vulgate accordingly, with this fenteace prefixed in the Table of Contents, " Libri fequentes mnfunt in canone Hebra;o, ab ecclefia tamen recepti *^ Chriftiana, Tertius at partus Efdras j" the Romanifls reckoning Ezra and Zechariah, as the Firft and Second of Efdras. And, in the preface to it from St. Jerome, we read this warning to the reader j * * Nee APOCRYPHORUM tertH et quart: libri s o m n 1 1 s delefletur, " quia et apud Hebraos Efdrae Neemiaeque fermones in unum volu- " men coartantur; et qua non habentur apud illos^ nee de viginti qua- ** tuor fenlbus [See Cofin, p. 117], sunt procul abjicienda'"' {p. 290). With fuch a bold brand of falfification on her front, does the Church of Rome proceed continually in canonizing thefe apocryphal books ! Her very Bibles, with her own comments inferted in them, condemn her. And this very preface, which fhe has not dared to throw out from them, though fiie has dared to canonize the books mentioned as apocryphal in it j fliows at once what flie formerly thought of the books, leads her people to think fo ftill in direft con- tradiftion to her mandates, and marks her modefly m the midft of her effrontery. a See the margins of the Oxford Bible, for i. 30, 32, 53, &c. t See the margins for ii. 12, 38, 39, ^i, 42, 44, 475 and vi. 17, compared with Rev. i. J5. and I^S THE ORIGIN OF and by Clemens Alexandrinus before the end of the fccond"^. And it confequently appears to have been written, about the commencement of the fe- cond. It was then compofed by a Jewifh Chriftian of the Weft. His frequent references to the New Teftament, prove him to have been a Chriftian. But his Chriftianity is frequently overlaid by his Judaifm. The Judaifm of Philo is very apparent, even in his Book of Wifdom; from his dwelling again and again upon the fufferings of the Egyp- tians, and his magnifying them beyond the canoni- cal ftandard of truth i from his mention of the angel that llew the Ifraelites in the wildernefs, as " afraid" of the prieftly robes of Aaron; and from his notice of the land of Canaan, as " the land which God ef- " teemed above all other," and as therefore fe- le6ted by God to " receive a worthy colony of God's children ^V In the fame, and even a more marked, ftile of Judaifm; does this Efdras recite for true hiftory, with a glancing obfcurity however, that fhows the ftruggles of fliame in him; fome rabbi- nical dreams about Behemoth and Leviathan, as the appointed materials of a feaft for the ele6t, at the Day of Judgment. " Then didft thou ordain," he fays to God concerning the creation, " two liv- *' ing creatures; the one thou calledft Enoch \_mar- c Cofin, p. 37 and 39, and Eufebius' Hift. v. 11, p. 223. , ^ Wifdom, XV. 9, 18, &c, i xvii. 3, 4-, &c.i xviii. 25 ; and xii. 7, ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 159 ^^ giuy Behemoth], and the other Leviathan; — unto '^ Enoch thou gaveft one part — which was dried ^^ up, — that he fhould dwell in the fame part, *^ wherein are a thoufand hills ; but unto Leviathan " thou gaveft — the moift, and hath kept him to be " devoured of whom thou wilt, and when ^'* He ^Ifo aflures us of fomething that is Judaically falfe, concerning thofe ten tribes of the Jews, which have been fo vainly explored by what are fuppofed to be the other twoy in every corner of the globe : and which appear plainly from our fcriptures, from the belief of the Jews cotemporary with them, and from a concurrent intimation in their own fcriptures -, to have been afTociated with the two others, at the reftora- tion of all from the Afiyrian captivity i to have been difperfed with all afterwards, at the Roman deftruc- tion of Jerufalem; and to be apparent, in the apparent mafs of the Jews at prefent ■. Yet thefe, fays this very Judaizing e II. Efdras, vi. 49 — 52 and Mod. Un. Hift. xiii. 174, 475, and 520. ^ St. Paul fpeaks of the tivelve tribes, as all equally apparent and known then, and fo fpeaks to the king, and before a number of the Jewsj ** unto which promife our tnvelve tribes, inftantly ferving '* God day and night, hope to come" (Afts xxvi. 7). St. James alfo addrefles his Epiille exprefsly, '* to the t-ivelve tribes which are " fcattered abroad" (i. i). St. John too, fpeaking of the Jews that were baptized into Chriftianity, fays they were fealed out of '^ all " the tribes of the children of Ifrael" (Rev. vii. 4). And Ezra at the very time, ne^ver confining the refugees to the tnvo tribes, once intimates them very plainly to have been out of all the tnvel^e. '* The children of Ifrael," he fays, « the priells and the Levltes, *•' and l6o THE ORIGIN OF Judalzing Chrlftlan, retired from tlie Aflyrian yoke *^ into a further country, where never mankind " dwelt -r having " entered into Euphrates, by the <^ narrow pafTages of the river;" God having " held " ftill the flood, till they were pafled over;" and they having been " a year and a half" on their long march-. And in a third place he boldly avers, that God created the world for the fake of— the Jews; and adually introduces God faying, " For " their fakes I made the v/orld\'* Such an author therefore is peculiarly competent, towitnefs the ftill-remaining faith of the Jews, in the Divinity of their MefTiah. We have already had Philo as a powerful witnefs, for a period preceding. Yet Eufebius affirms him, from hiftorical tradition, " and the reft of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication " of this houfe of God, with joy ; and offered at the dedication of " this houfe of God, an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four^ ** hundred lambs, and, for a fm-offering for all Ifrael, tnvelve he- <* goats, according to the number of the tribes of Ifrael" (vi, i6 — 17). Philo accordingly fays p. 822, that there are twelve tribes of the Jews, (pv7.a,^ [xbv av Eiri ra aOva? ^uhy.a. And Juftin Martyr, fpeaking to Trypho a Jew, involves all the fwelve tribes in the murder of our Saviour j and fays they Ihall all mourn, y/xwi/ «» ^uh>ioc (pyXaii at his re-appearance to judgment (p. 355. edit. Colonial 16X6). g Chap. xiii. 40. The ten tribes have been therefore fuppofed by fome Chriftians, to be found — in the Tartars (Whifton's Memoirs, 575—598), and ftill more ftrangely perhaps, in the fouth- ern or northern natives oi America (Mod. Un. Hift. xiii. 4.37, 4-47— 448, and 498). i» Chap. vi» 55—56, vii. 11. to ARIANISM DISCLOSED. lOl to have converfed with St. Peter at Rome; St. Je- rome afferts him, equally from the fam^e tradition, to have cultivated the friendfliip of St. Peter there; and Photius, that ufeful gleaner of hints from works that have been fmce loft, and therefore referring, like the others, to the tradition of hiftory for what he fays ; very correfpondently declares him, to have profefled Chriftianity for fome time, and at length through grief and refentment to have recoiled from it '. He v/as one of thofe fpirits of earth probably, who can feriouQy court Truth under the Ihade of academick groves^S but dare not venture to wed her forfooth! v/ithout the confent of the world. He fek the beauty of the Chriftian religion; but then the multitude frowned upon her. He therefore tore himfelf, " through grief and refentment," away i Eufeb'ius, Eccl. H'lft. ii. 17. p. 65. Of y.ai Xoyf^- £%«, jiaraKA^y- ^io'j sm rm Pa)y.v><: «? o//.iAiay eAO^v nsTpw, to;,- £>c«.-e toIe y.v^vrlovrt, Jerome in Cat! Scrip. Ecclef. "Aiunthunc— , cumfecunda vice ve- *^ niffet ad Claudium, in eadem urbe iocutura efle cum apoftolo Fetro, " ejufque habiiiile amicitias." Photius in Bib. Cod. AsyEroc^ d%, avrov oKKo, JpoT£^or< ys, 9-^'^ ^^' K,^a^•o^a P^//.>:v x.aiTa.\^SovT«, HsTpo; to; Kop.?.«.a; -vm ^TToroAc. s.r.x^., y.c^^ (p^^^co; ^.cteU^^. Teftimonies prefixed to Philo^s works. Thefe three authors all refer, not (as they are commonly underllood) to mere tradition for their accounts, but (as the vaiying nature of them lliows, the laft extending much beyond the firft, and yet all concurring in the main point) to what I have called the tradition of hiftory, the general teilimony of pre- ceding v,'riters. See alfo next note but one, for a miftake in all con- cerning the precife reign in which this happened. ^ Inter iylvas acadcmi quaerere verum. M ffom iSl THE ORIGIN OF from her arms; " through refentment/* that he could not keep without openly acknowledging her, and " through grief/' that he durfh not make her fuch an acknowledgment: and fo was compelled by both, llruggling as they were within him, to defert what he loved, and to yield up his afFe6lions to his meannefs. He thus left her to the enjoyment of thofe, who could prefume to a6t for themfelves; who had fenfe enough to prefer God, before the rab- ble of mankind; and who had foul enough to know, a thoufand worlds were well laid out in purchafe of his Heaven. His own Book of Wifdom too fhows him, conformably with all, by his allufions in it to our Saviour, and by his references to the apoilles, to have certainly imbibed Chriilianity once. And, by his choofing to perfonate Solomon there; thence taking occafion to rob the Golpel, in order to drefs out the Law; and fo abflaining fludiouHy in his praifes of Jewifh and other worthies, from any men- tion of that very Saviour, at whom he glances fo ftrongly under the appellation of fbe Son of Gody and of thofe very apoftles, of whom he infinuates fo much praife; he appears to have lupprefTed his ac- knowledgment of Chriftianity, even while he re- vered it, and fo to have returned in appearance only, to his original Judaifm ^ In I Dr. Allix urges, that Phllo had no connexion with St. Peter at Rome i but urges it from two confiderations, which are both errone- ous. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 163 In that fimilarly circumftanced work, the Second Book of Efdras j this reputed Ezra brings in God, as ous. Flrft he alledges, that Philo in p. 883 fpeaks of an hiftorical event, which happened about the year 4.0 before our Saviour, as having happened " not long before" he wrote (Judgment, p. 78). Yet this exprefTion furely is too indefinite and unchronological, to mark any precife period of duration. All fuch notes of time, indeed, are mere- ly relative. And Philo, having recited feveral inftances from ancient hiftory, comes at laft to a recent one. This happened, he fays, a -crpo croAAa, *' not long ago;" as oppofed to the ancient ftories of Euri- pides's Polyxena, the Dardanian women, and the Lacedaemonian boy. Thofe therefore were ancient, when compared in age with thisj and this was recent, when compared in age with thofe. And the Doftor's firft argument is plainly of no avail. Nor is his fecond of more. " Philo," he alledges, " in the hiftory of his legation to Ca- *' ligula fays of himfelf, that he was at that time all grey with age, '* that is, 70 years old according to the Jewifh notion of a man with ** grey hair : — it follows that he was born in the year of Rome 723*" fixty years *' before Chrift preached in Judcca" (p. 80). But this is all a grofs mif-conftru6lion of the v»'ords of Philo. In the be- ginning of his Hiftory of the Legation, he fpeaks thus : " How long *' ftiall v/e, who are old men," nixc-i; 01 ye^ovTiq, " yet be boys; in ** our bodies indeed grey with length of time," %^ova ixrty.ei -z^oAtoj, ** but in our fouls truly infants from our folly" (p. 992)? Philo therefore infmuates himfelf to be a grey-headed old man, not when he nvent on the legation to Caligula, but when he ivrote the account of it. And Dr. Allix's other argument has equally failed him. That account was not written, in the reign of Caligula. This the whole complexion of it, feverely as it expofes the conduct of Cali- gula, Ihows us fufficiently. The exprefs mention of the emperor Claudius, YJKav^iS Ti^ixacviy.n Kccia-ao(^- (p. 102a), hardly ftiows it more. Nor was it written at the fame time with that diftertation on the impiety of Caligula, which he denominated an eulogium on his virtues, and recited before all the fenate of Rome in the reign of Claudius (Eufebius, Eccl. Plift. ii. 18, p. 72). It was much later, and co-ceval probably with that Hiftory of Flaccus's Adminiftration M 2 ia 164 THE ORIGIN OF as prophefying thus concerning our Saviour, "After " thefe years lliali my Son Christ dies" and even fpeaking jn Egypt, v/hich breathes exa«5ily the fame foirit, relates to the fairre fort of incidents in a period of lime juil prior, and yet was certainly written very late. When Fhilo wrote the hiftory of his legation, he Vv-as now become old and grey-headid. When Philo wrote the ac- count of Flaccus, he faid he did it not *' to revive the memory of *' ancient injuries," ey^ vni^ re riAAAIIiN ocirouvTiy.oviveiv a^txrij^a- ■roivy " but to fliovv with admiration the juftice that condu6Vs human *^ affairs" (p. 9 So). And a period of time had intervened between the comraiilion and the defcription of the injuries, fufficient to ren- der tliera ancient^ even in the memory and language of Philo. Philo in faft fpent all the early part of his life, in the philcfophr- cal Itudies of religion, 1 his part he calls ri "z^u-vn r^^w.\,a, or his firft age (p. 776). But he was forced from thefe fludies by violence, he tells us, *' and thrown into that great fea o{ political concerns') on ** which he was then tofled j"* Kcc'Tra,Qu'Ke-:v c/? wsyo. 'msT^uyd^ ruv zv -nro- >.ir£:a C-^ovT^lm, zv 01 (^op£?//.£/^ (ibid.). Thei'e concerns were, what the behaviour of Caligula particularly impofed upon him. ** It is ** worth while," he fays in his Account of the Legation to Caius, ** to record both v/hut we faw and what we heard, when we were ** feut to fight this f^ght of 2l political nature^'' [Kira'i:z\A.-plan3tory of it, as he had done before ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I65 (peaking of him by his perfonal appellation thus, " My Son Jesus fliall be revealed '^" He thus acknowledges the Meffiahj by that exclufive and ap- propriated title of Son of God; which we have icen before, and fhall immediately fee hereafter, to before (p. 776—777). He alfo compofed and recited his ironical eulogium upon Caligula, mentioned above. He wrote other works again, as his Account of Fluccus, and his Hiftory of the Legation, at a much later period ; when the injuries received at Alexandria before, were now grown ancient j and when the author himfelf was now become old and grey-headed. And, as he wrote thefe certainly at a diftance from Alexandria, becaufe of the juft but fevere cen- fures, which he has occafionally given to the Alexandrians in them (p. 97 J, 1009, 1015, &c,) } fo did he probably write them at Romey where his oration againft Caligula was received with admiration, and where all his publications were honoured with a place in their libraries (Eufebius, ii. 18, p. 72). There he was young enough, we fee, to converfe with St. Peter ; even though St. Peter did not come thither, a§ fome have thought, till the ill of Nero, or A. D. 55. philo was then about 45 only. But in faft, I believe, St. Peter did not reach Rome till 63, and was martyred in three or four years af- terwards. And Philo, we know, lived to be more than fixty years of agej even 70, according to the Jewifh notion above ; and flill continued to v.rite and pablifn. In this period of his refidence at Rome, it mull have been that he met with St. Peter there, as Pho- tius, Jerome, and Eufebius unite to affure us he did 5 converfed with him ; and became a Chrillian. But, on the martyrdom of St. Peter probably, and the threatened extermination of the Chriflians by Ne- ro, Fhilo renounced his Chriltianity fo much, as was fufficient to f^ve him from perfecution for it. Yet he retained all his inward re- verence for the Gofpel ; and endeavoured covertly to ferve it, by ■writing his Book of Wifdom. And chronology now unites with hiftory and with this, to give a full certainty to the final Chriilianity of Philo. 4" Chap. vii. 29, 28. M 3 involve l65 THE ORIGIN OF involve in it fuch an amplitude of power, fuch pre- rogatives of glory, and even fuch a communion of Divinity. He accordingly inflalls him, as it were, in that power, that glory, and that Divinity. " I, ^^ Efdras,'' he fays, " faw upon the Mount Sion a *^ great people, whom I could not number ^ and '^ they all praifed the Lord with fongs: fo I afked " the angel, and faid. Sir, what are thefe ? He an- " fwered and faid unto me: Thefe be they that '^ have put off the mortal clothing, and put on the " immortal, and have confejjed the name of God ; *^ now are they crowned, and receive palms. Then " faid I unto the angel: What young perfon is it, *' that crowneth them, and giveth them palms in *^ their hands ? So he anfwered and faid unto me ; *' It is THE Son of God, v/hom they have confeffed *^ in the world. Then began I greatly to commend " them^, that flood Jo fliftly for the name of the " Lord. Then the angel faid unto me^ Go thy " way, and tell my people what manner of things, " and hov/ great wonders of the Lord thy God, " thou haft feen "." Here thofe who confeffed the Son of Gody are faid by the author to have ftood ftifRy for the name o^ the Lord, to have confeffed the name of God^ and for it to have been honoured with crov/ns and palms, by the Lord his God, And the manner y in which the Divinity of the MefTiah is thus indicated, not by pofitive affertion but by obvious n Chap. ii. 4-2— -47. inference. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 167 inference, not avowedly but incidentally ^ is the na- tural refult of a convidion, refting familiarly upon the mind of the writer, neither encountering nor ex- pe6ling to encounter any oppofition, and breaking out in the fulnefs of his own and the general perfua- fion concerning it. The name of the Son of God, as I have for- merly obferved^, appears with its feemingly oppofed title of the Son of Man^ to have been the ordinary appellative among the Jews, for the MelTiah or Sa- viour of their fcriptures. l!his marked the humanity, and that denoted the Divinity; while either com- prehended the other, as a well-known accompani- ment to itfelf The title indeed of the Son of God, does not convey to our ears generally any intimation of Divinity. But it did to the Jews. And all titles muft be taken, in their peculiar and idiomatic mean- ing. From our early acquaintance with clalTical Heathenifm, we confider the appellative too much in the light of a Heathen one; and too much annex the ideas of the fchool, to the term. But we fhould diveft ourfelves of thefe accidental impreflions, en- deavour to catch the true tone of the fcripturc-lan- guage, and dwell on the Judalcal combinations of ideas in it. Then we fee the title of the Son of Gody as an intended defignation of Divinity. We hear our Saviour called the Son of God by others, and hear him addrefled as God. We fee him entided the Son • Chap. I, fea. iii. M 4 of l68 THE ORIGIN OF of Gcd by hlmfclf, and fee him afliiniing all the pre- roo-atives of God. We behold the Jews at large, we behold the apoftles, and we behold our Saviour, habitually comprehending Godhead in the term. There is an affociation of ideas in them all, which regularly and infenfibly comprizes the one in the other. And we find the fa6t particularly difplayed in one pregnant part of the fcripture-hiflory, which exhibits to us Jews and Heathens interchangeably ufing the title, and ufing it in fuch a manner as lends it the full force of Divinity. As our Saviour hung upon the crofs, fays St. Matthew, " they that pafTed by, reviled him, wag- " ging their heads and fiying, Thou that deftroyeil '^ the temple and buildeft it in three days, fave thy- " fclfi if thou be the Son of God, come down ^' from the crofs. Likewife alfo the Chief Priefts " mocking him, wdth the Scribes and Elders, faid, « He faved others, himfelf he cannot fave; if he be ^' THE King of Israel, let him now come down '' from the crofs, and we will believe him. He <• trufted in God ; let Him deliver him now if he " will have him : for he faid, I am the Son of ^' God. The thieves alfo, which were crucified with " him, cafl the fame in his teeth, [one of them fay- " ing, If thou be Christ, fave thyfelf and us; but " the other— faid unto Jefus, Lord, remember me, " when thou comefc into thy kingdom']. [And ilie " foldiers alfo mocked him^ coming to him, and of- " fering ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 169 '' fering him vinegar, and faying. If thou be the « King of the Jews, fave thyfelf ]— Now when the " centurion, and they that were with him watching '' Jefus, faw the earthquake and thofe things that " were done; they feared greatly, faying, [Certainly " diis was a righteous man], Truly this was the Son « OF God p.'' Here we fee the Jews, and the Gen- tile refidents among them, uniting to fpeak in a lan- guage, that fiamps Divinity upon the tide ufed by them both. The Jewifn pafiengers upon the road over the top of Calvary, flood ftill near the crofs of our Saviour, infukingly to nod at him ; to reproach him, with his affumed appellative of the Son of Godi and to challenge him to an exertion of that Divinity which both he and they affixed to it, by coming down from the crofs, and faving himfelf from death. The Elders, the Scribes, and the Chief Priefts, equally infuked him v/ith the fame alTump- tion, and equally challenged him to the fame exer- tion i calling upon him now to Ihow he was truly the King of Israel, or the Lord and Sovereign of their nation in all ages, by putting forth the power of his Divine Royalty, and coming down from the crofs. The ftrong import of the appellation King OF Israel, and the plenitude of Godhead which it intimates, may be fhown by a variety of pafTages in fcripture ; but is fufficiently evident from this, and p Mat. xxvii. 39—44) Luke xxili. 39—40? and 4.2, Mat. xxvji. 54, and Luke xxiii. 36— 37> and 4-7. ^^' two lyo THE ORIGIN OF two very fimilar pafTages, collated together. When Nathaniel and Thomas exprefled their full convic- tion, of our Saviour's being all that he faid he was; Thomas cried out, " My Lord and my God," and Nathaniel, " Rabbi, thou art the Son of Gody thou art THE King of Israel''." One of the thieves alfo did the fame, by combining the characters of Son of God and of King of Ifrael together, in that of Chrillj and the other defired our Saviour to re- member him, when in the ftate to which our Sa- viour was haflening beyond the grave, he whofe '^ kingdom was not of this world ^" fhould take an open poiTeffion again of that his kingdom over IJraeL But let us now come to the Heathen part, of the attendants upon this occafion. The centurion had q John XX. 28 and i. 49. ** The Hoiy One of Ifrael is our King^" fays the the Pfahnift (Ixxxix. 19). " Mine eyes have ittw the Kingi the Lord of Hofts/' adds Ifaiah (vi. 5), and " I am the Crea- " tor of Ifrael, your King^ (xliii. 15). And *' the whole multi- ** tude of the difciples began to rejoice,"" St. Luke tells us con- cerning our Saviour hirafelf, *' and praife God with a loud voice, *' for all the mighty works that they had feen, faying, Blefled be the *' King that cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and *' glory in the higheft" (xix. 37—38). So Pilate afked our Sa- viour, *' Art thou the King of the Je-ivs? And he anfwering faid ** unto him, Thou fayed it.— Pilate aiifwered them, faying. Will " ye that I releafe unto you the King of the JeivsP — Pilate anfwered, *' and faid again unto them, V/hat will ye then that I fliall do unto him, *• whom ye call the King cf the Jenvs? — They began to falute him, " Hail, King of the Je-i,vs. — And the fuperfcription of his accufation " was written over, The King of the Je^jos" (Mark xv. a, 9, 12, 18, and 26). ' John xviil. 36. only ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I7I only a quaternion of foldiers, under him ^ He and they equally infulted our Saviour, with the fame re- ference to his claim of Divinity, and with the fame challenge to his immediate exercife of it. If thou be, they cried, what we have heard with aftonifh- ment, thy friends and thy foes declare thou profeiTeft thyfelf to be, " the King and God of the Jews s" now ftretch forth thy fceptre of Godhead, now fave thyfelf, and prove to thefe murderers, thou art their God and King. In all thefe challenges, our Saviour is called upon equally with God; God to deliver our Saviour, our Saviour to dehver himfelf; and our Saviour is called upon feveral times, while God is called upon once only. And when the dignified mode of our Saviour's deaths and all the prodigies of nature that accompanied it, had wrought an inflant convic- tion on the minds of the centurion and his little par- ty; they cried out exa6tly with the fame current of ideas, but with the current now turned back in its courfe ; that our Saviour had fhown himfelf a man of probity in all which he had faid, and that he now appeared plainly to be what he had faid he was, the « John xlx. 23, " Then the foldiers, when they had crucified " Jefus, took his garments i and made four parts, to e--very foldier a " part," &c. t Mark xv. 39, ** When the centurion, which ftood over againft ** him, faw that he fo cried out and gave up the ghoft, he iaid," &c. Chrift, I-y2 THE ORIGIN OF Chrlll, the Son of God, the King of Ifrael, the King of the Jews, or the Patron God of their nation ". There was thus in the faith of the Jews, a com- mon principle of Divine exigence, a band of Deity, and a link of Divinity; which conneded the Father and the Son together, in a community of powers; and formed them vitally and infeparably into one Godhead. The Son has received an efTence from the Father, by his filial derivation from him; which is fubilantially divine of courfe, hecauje it is the ef- fence of the Father. Every Son ftands in the fame '^ In a fpr-rious Gofpel which is falfely attributed to St. Barna- bas, and which has been furmifed by Mr. White in his Bamptou Leftures, p. 358, edit, ad 5 and by Mr. Sale in his notes upon the Koran, chap. iii. p. 42, to be the forgery of fome heretical Chriftian; this title of Son of God is fully acknowledged to be the fame as Gody In the opinion of the Chrijlians at the tune of the forgery . ** When " God fhall take ine out of the world," fays our Saviour in it, " Satan will again promote this curled fedition, making the wicked ** believe that I am the Son of God. — The prefident, high-prieft, «' and Herod faid, Dillurb not thyfelf, Jefus the faint of God, for in " our time there will be no more fedition 5 for we will write to the *' holy fenate of Rome, that by an imperial decree none may call " thee God" (White, notes, p. xlii— xliii). " lliough I was in- '^ nocent," adds our Saviour, " yet as they called me God and "HIS Son, — he has chofen that I Ihould be mockedA this world"" ** (White, ibid. p. Ixxv— Ixxvi). The Arian Gofpel thus proves the faith of the Chrijlians originally, to liave been what it was among the y^wj at firllj that He who was at once "their Prophet, their Pat- tern, and their Propitiation, was alfo the Son of God, and, as fuch, was God. This it proves in the llrongeft manner, by its very pro- icription of the faith. relation • ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 17J relation to his Father, being a fharer in his nature, and a refie(5lor of his perfon. For this reafon has God feieded thefe very appellations of Father and Son, to lliadow out to us the relation betv/een the Firll and Second Beings in his Godhead. They mark the fubordination, and they afcertain the equa- lity, at a glance. He cannot but be equal, who en- joys the fame nature. He cannot but be fubordinate, , who receives it by communication. Nor could that petty mode of argumentation, which fo often embarralTes and perplexes fome of what we may call, 7/^ Jews of Heathenifm, us Chrif- tian profelytes of the gate^ and which is founded on the fuppofed neceiTity, of the derived Being being pofterior in date, to that from which it is derived ; either perplex the minds, or embarrafs the faith, of the ancient Jews. They faidied their fcriptures more clofely, than we do either theirs or our own. They imbibed the leading principles in tliem, more thoroughly than we do. The fcriptural writers were their orators, their hiftorians, and their philofophers. They w^ere even more. They were all thefe, di- rected by a ray of light, and infpirited with a beam of fire, froln the God of Heaven. The fentiments in them, therefore, vv^ent widi peculiar force to t\iz minds, and hung with peculiar weight upon the fpirits, of the Jews. They faw in human generation, that the father was prior in time to the fon; but were too well tutored in the principles of theology, for the \ abfurdity / 174 THE ORIGIN OF abfurdlty of concluding this muft therefore be the cafe with divine. They faw themfelves affured by the fcripture, that it was not; and, in a manlinefs of good fenfe, bowed down to the paramount authority of revealed trudi. They faw the Son equally deified with the father, in their code of revelation. They faw him adling as the general Jehovah of the world, and the peculiar Jehovah of their nation; proclaim- ing himfelf to be the vifible God of the univerfe, proving himfelf to have all the elements in his hands, and wielding the very thunder and lighten- ing of the Godhead. Their fenfes and their hiftory fhowed him to be God; their fenfes to the prefent generation, and their hiftory to the generations fuc- ceeding. Yet they knew, he was not the Firil Be- ing in their Godhead. They acknowledged him only for the Second. But they flill adored him as God; as the Son of God, and therefore as God. They necefTarily owned him to be Eternal, as God; though they reckoned him only Secondary, as Son. And they refled firmly in this faith, unhurt by that impertinence of philofophy, which is only a fo- lemner fort of folly; which either reduces God into a man, or exalts man into God, and then reafons from its own abfurdity; a madman arguing from affumptions wild and ridiculous, imagining a candle to be the orb of day, or fuppofmg the orb of day to be a candle. Even in fcenes of earth, they might fee fuflicient to illuflrate the mode of divine j^eneration. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I75 generation^ when theology had afcertained the facEt, In all efFefts that are voluntary^ the caufe miifl: be ^ prior to the effedli as the father is to the fon, in hu- man generation. But, in all that are necejjary^ the efFedt muit be co-evalwith the caufej as the ftream ^ is with the fountain, and light with the fun. Had the fun been eternal in its duration, light would > have been co-eternal with it. Was the fountain from everlaiting, the ftream would be equally from everlafting too. And the Son of God, in the faith and confeflion of the Jews, was the Second Jeho- vah, or the Mediate God of theuniverfe; an Eter- nal De-rivation from the Eternal Fountain of Dei- ty, an Everlafting De-radiation from the Everlaft- ing Sun of Divinity, in God the Father. 11. — But let me leave thefe reflections, v/hich the Second Book of Efdras has fuggefted to me; and produce fome pafTages from another work, that will need Uttle enforcement. The former fliows the iuftre of the Jewifti faith, to have ftill continued bright and unfullied in general from the days of our Saviour to the days of this Efdras. We may now appeal for the fadl, to a fecond evidence; which is nearly of the fame nature as the firft, ac- tually co-temporary with it, and much ftronger and richer in itfelf Tiiis is in a work, which is endtled THE Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and which was firft brought into Europe in the thirteenth century. Robert Grofthead^ biihop of Lincoln, iy6 THE ORIGIN OF Lincoln, received information from one of his arch- deacons; diat, while he (die archdeacon) was pro- Jecuting his ftudies at AthenSy he had heard of fome works, from the learned profelTors among the Greeks there; which were unknown to the Latins of the weft. The archdeacon particularly mendon- ed this. The bifhop therefore fent a commiflion into Greece, to procure it. It came. And the bifhop, with the afTiftance of one Nicholas, a Gre- cian^ then clerk to the abbot of St. Alban*s, and redlor of Datchet, tranflated it out of Greek into Latin in 1242. The tranflation was afterwards printed at Taris^ in 1549. But the original was not printed till 1698. And the work is even yet fo little known in general, that this fhort hiftory of it, I believe, is quite requifite to my prefent inten- tion of ufmg it"^'. The author wrote after the deftru6i:ion of Jerufa- lem, and the difperfion of the Jews ; becaufe he once alludes to that double event >'. But he cannot be later than the Jecond century, becaufe he is cited by Origen about the middle of the third \ And the genius of his fentiments, fo coincident with thofe of the fpurious Efdras, fixes him at the beginning of that century. He is clearly, like Efdras, a Jew converted to Chriftianity, ftill retaining all his Jew- ifh nodons under it, and even holding fuch as are X Giabe's Spicilcgium Patrum, i. 144. and 336. y P. 140. 2 P. 131—132. ir-reconcilable ARIANISM DISCLOSED. I?? ir-reconcilable to it\ He is very converfant with fome apocryphal books of the Jews, that have been long fince loft to the general eye of curiofity. From thefe he produces incidents in the lives of the patriarchs, of which we have no notice in the Old Teftament. He peculiarly makes repeated re- ference to the book of Enoch, for a prophecy con^ cerning the Jewifti nation '\ And an author, fo very Judaical, may ufefully fcand as a m.irrour with Efdras; to refled again the continuing opinions of the Jews, at the commencement of the fecond cen- tury, concerning the Godhead of their Meffiah. In the Teftament of Simxon he makes this pa- " triarch to fay, when literally tranQated: " the Lord « Ihall raife up out of Levi one for a High-prieft, « and out of Juda one for a King, who fliall be <' God and Man %" Ln another fays the dying Zebulon: " After thefe things the Lord himself « fliall rife upon you, a light of righteoufnefs ; and « healing and mercy iliall be on his wings: he fliall a p. 153 — 134. bp 344, &c. Grabe has here coUeaed together feveralpaffages of the Book of Enoch, v.'hich lay Icattered in various writers. Thofe books, he fays, fpeaking in the plural number, - integros *' penes Scaligerum extitilTe, in Eleftis Scaligeriams, p. 283, mvoce '« iV«%«r./..««., lego quidem, fed non credo- (p. 345). The church of Ethiopia has been long faid, to be in poiTeffion of the whole j and Mr. Bruce confirms the report. c p. ,57. Av«rr>^H' 7«e xy^-i^ i» ry A£U» a;? o^pxi^^ea, "-«' ^« "^^ N " redeem 1^8 THE ORIGIN OK " redeem all the captives of the fens of men from " Beliar [Belial], and every fpirit of error fhall '' be trampled down; and he Ihall turn all the na- " tions to an emulation of himself, and ye shall " see God in thf figure of Man'^'* In a third Teilament Nephthali declares, that " through Ju- " dah fhall arife falvation to Ifrael, and in him fhall " Jacob be blefTed; for, through his fceptre, Ihall '^ appear God dwelling among men upon " earth, to fave the race of IfraeP/* Alhur prophecies in another, that " the Most High " SHALL VISIT the EARTH, CVCn HE HIMSELF COm- " ing AS A man, eating and drinking with men, *^ and calmly bruifing the head of the ferpent by " water; he fhall fave Ifrael, and all the nations, " a God in the mask of a man V And Ben- jamin, in his Teflament, ufes thefe terms concern- ine: the refurre6tion : " then Ihall we alfo rife, — ^ P. 20 3. McTo, ruvrec ocvuTeXu Vfjuv avroq y.v^i^f (puq ^ntutoiTWYic, xa; luaii; y.a.i ivu'Ti'Kuryyy^a, tir\ ratq 'cale^v^iv avra. avroq Xvr^utrerui ' P. 216. Atct yy-p Ttf laoa uvunXn auTvpnz ru li'V ccvrit) ittj rq? yrjq (pxvEvn. h '< Levit. xxvi. 11 — 12. / ." But he frequently appeals at once, to the very fentiments and prin- ciples of the Jews ^. He even produces fome paf- fages from Philo, fome from Ariftobulus, and fome from Demetrius; all uniting to attefc the primary articles of the Jev/ifh creed. And all is done ex- prefsly, in order to " delineate the mode — among *^ the Hebrews, of that philofophy and religion — , *' which v/e [Gentile Chriflians] have preferred to " all thofe of our own countries ." Eufebius, then, delineates to us the efbabllfhed creed of the Jewifh church, in ail ages from the Patriarchs to the MefTiah inclufively. But this creed prefents us with fuch a train of Chriflian ar- ticles, as fhows us to be Jews while we are Chrif- tians; and to have gone, when we entered die ib- ciety of the church, over from the Gentilifm of our fathers to the Judaifm of the Gofpel. And this is particularly evident, in that which was fure to be y P. 1E6. VsQocciooy ^o^ai, p. i28. E^patoij 'cr£(^tXo^oJr;//£ya, * P. 177, 187, 191, 193, and zzG. ' P. 175. E^pajwy -ZETE^tAcitTrov, xai rvii; KCci"" ocvlaq (piXocro(p;(X,q te xa» iva-iQuct!;^ YiV tuv 'DTOilcicov octtocvIuv 'jrf(p;f,i(y,riy^a[/.sv. Eufeblus ufes the name Hebrews, in preference to that of Jcivs ; becaufe he in- chides the patriarchs from Abraham to Mofes, in his account (P- 179)- the IpO THE ORIGIN OF the moil fixed and liable part in the whole body of religion, the nature of God ^. I. — " Examine ^ Having juft now Tpoken a fecond time againft the Eflay on Spirit, and having attributed it to Bifliop Clayton ; I think it an a6t of jullice to ftate here, what has been lately faid concerning the real author of it. " It is a remarkable faft, and hitherto not known in " the world," fays Dr. Kippis in the Biographia Britannica, iii. 623 — 624. edit. 1784, " that the Eifay on Spirit was not a6i:ually written *' by [Dr. Clayton] the Bifhop of Clogher. The real author of it ** was a young clergyman in our prelate's diocefey who fliewed the ma- *' nufcript to his Lordfhip, and, for reafons which may eafily be ** conceived, exprefied his fear of venturing to print it in his own ** name. The Bilhop, with that romantic generofity which marked ** his charafter, readily took the matter upon himfelf^ and determined ** to fujiain all the obloquy that might arife from the publication* He ** did not indeed abfolutely avow the work, nor could he do it with ** truth : but by letting it pafs from his hands to the prefsy and co'ver- ** ing it nvith the dedication, which was of his otvn ^writing, he ma- ** naged the affair in fuch a manner, that the treatlfe was univerfally «' afcribed to him ; and it was openly confidered as his, in all the- •«' attacks to which it was expofed. Few perfons, excepting Dr. *' Barnard, the prefent Dean of Derry, knew the faft to be other- ** wife } and he hath authorized Dr. Thomas Campbell to affure the puh- ** lie, that the Bijhop of Clogher ivas only the adopted father of the Effay ** on Spirit."" He took up (it feems) this deformed child from the ground. He thought it handfome, in fpite of all its deformities. And he adopted it with all its deformities, for his own. Indeed it was too like himfelf, not to excite in him a kind of parental yearning to- wards it. In this Effay, fays Dr. Kippis himfelf, ** the author hath ** given free fcope to his fpeculations j— we think, at the fame time, ** that he hath indulged too freely to imagination 2ind conje^ure"' (p. 623). In a confejfed work of the Bifhop's afterwards, fays the Doctor again, ** he purfued his fpeculations with as much freedom ** and ardour as ever (p. 627). And, as the Do6tor adds at the clofe of all, ** from the livelinefs of his fancy, he was fometimes ♦* carried. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. igi I. — " Examine alfo concerning the Second Caufe, *^ whom the oracles of the Hebrews teach to be the " Logos '* carried, perhaps too boldly, into the regions of conjefture"'* (p. 6x8). Thefe characters in appearance refute the teftimony. To reconcile them, and Co do what Dr. Kippis ought to have done, we mull fuppofe the young divine to have derived his /peculations frorn. the tongue of the Biftiop, to have formed them into this Eflay after' wards, and then to have prefented them in their new Ihape, *' alter ** et idem,"' to his eye. Thus formed, he naturally adopted the Eflay, and without any exertion of '* romantic generofity" at all. As the real parent, he felt a real yearning for it. And the brat be- came, by a double claim, " the child of his mind." Nor can I ex- prefs my ideas of a hijhop's conduft in this point j a bijhop's proceeding to a ev on; (P'/ja-i, Kan E^i^sfs Kvpoq 'mct^.u y.vpm 'Ert'p jcat 0«oi/, stti rrtv Tuv U(7-.Quy '^o?\iv. iv^cc a-vr/iOat; eTti ruv ^vo rviv ouoiccv rojv tsold Ef^patotj yacajcT/jfWf tvro(»?t7a]o Ccracaoffjiy* a,v\'fi ci sr*? »5 o*a twj/ -cza-ca.cav TOiYBtuJV ccvty.(puvn\o<; ^olc' sii,v\os(; Gso^^oyia. Tyiw oe ko-j Acx,QiOj a,7.Xo; tiTS'j(p'^r,q OjU-« xat QcccrtX'cvg Edcxiaivj crvvoc^ct^'j CvcriVy EiTrev 0 >tv^ioq ra y.v^ico y.y, KaOa £Jt ^£^40,'^ ua' Tov yizv oivcJlaicj Bbov oice. ra "zzrpwia kvci8, tov a nfla ^ivkcov ^((X rr.f; ^eJIspa^ a,7To^r,vccq tjy^oirryo^iuq. Tir; yap aAAw ^^ynq I'TTovoeiVj roc Ocf sat oicc Tr,<; ayav/Js veol7p,og 'uraca^^ccc^aQcci, v ^j.ova ruj 'STcdi a A070; j ov 0 ocilo'; 'CTpo(pY^r,g ev alfpoj? Xevy.oU^oy ^iccacc^pei >.oyov m Ucclcoc, ^r,yniicyQvTCt)v qXuv vlpifOCy.SiOi; ei-jui rov ueo/xoyei^inovy sv ot? (pTjai, Toj XoycJ y.vcm 01 a^uvoi ire^.iuQr,(Tocv . Let us make man after our image and "^ our likenefs.'" To Lhis alfo the Pfalmift al- *^ luded, when, in difcourfing of the Firfl Caule> *^ he fays, "^ He fpake and they v/ere made. He "^ commanded and they were created s'" placing ^^ the order and command of the Firfl; Caufe op- " pofed to the Second, as of the Father to the Son* " Truly it is felf-evident, that he v/ho Ipeaks any " thing ipeaks it to another, and he who com- " mands any thing commands it to another beyond " himfel£ And Mofes exprefsly mentioning both " the two Lords, namely the Father and Son, thus " reports concerning the punilhment againft the " ungodly, "' And die Lord rained fram the Lord> *^'' brimitone and fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah."* " In harmony with which, David fays in his " Pfalms, '" The Lord faid to my Lord, Sit thou "^ on mv right hand-."* In il g This plainly refers the word Af^Yt or Beginning to the Logos j juft as feveral of the Fathers, and of the Rabbins, unite to refer it (Bull, p. 185— 1?!6 and Alii x's Judgment, p. 161 and 164). ^ P. 188 — 190. T« TTa.p' HQcaioiq Aoyja, (/.sla. rriv avap^ov ncii cvyiv •j'r\ syiafj uuiKlov ao-av, koh ittsk^vcx, Troi^v'; nalriKe-^'tuJCy oivlicnv- ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 1 97 In this pafiage we fee the Deity of the Son of God, Hill farther difplayed to us from the archives of the Jewiih faith. " The oracles among the *' Hebrews," we are told, ^^ after the un-caufed " and un-generated perfon of the God of all, — vn'o^aaruvy y.ccy. m TTfioJla ailm yByiv/jiABVYiV, sia-uyacrij AoyoVy aon To'dia.y, Hcci 0£» LvvxyLW avi-/iv Trfocrccyo^BvovlEc'—'Tov rm wrru^ijv ^riyLiapyittov hoyov fiey, riilov ivsv(pr,tx'/i(Ta,(; -rov TfOTrov. — Toy h rov bv^bov ?.oyov, oia(po^uq ^a-ayei' ccvlov d^' «y k:h to; ACpasc/w, Mva-yi te, x«t toij ccKXoiq 0jo^t?.s-t '!S-fc(P'>ucx.ic, (pYjixi e:zv]oVj y.ca ^fY,crf/.oiq rex, iroyo^a. Trat^svcrui ts, y.cci Sscr* Triaui rot, fjAXXoPicCf i^oc^i, oTrmmcc ^eov y.ai y.vpo» u^pdon rs, zxi ei<; >\cyii<; ruv 7rfo(p7p,ctJV £X6ec«i 0 ^cch^u^aq r^Tlslc, otto^* yiy.a. wspi ra ir^oAii aWty d'ljltwy, avloq (pYcnv, Eitts xxi iysvv/i^r,aav, avloq evsl^Xalo KXi ly^c^r.aa.v' ct,fhxfvi; rr,v m irnuiH TTfc? to ^ivlzcav octliovf u.^ ti.vTla.icoi; TTDoq Tiov, aiccla^iv rz nui irccoex.yt'Kiva'iv v(piTocyi,ivoz' Trocfl'/j yocp ^riTra^iv or,AOVf coq True 0 ?:iy:t)v rt, sltpw ?\Byei, y.on 0 iy\B7.hoixBvo;, bIbpoj ttccq fuvlov BfiB>^<.tlcii. Aia^fr,dr,» d ocv 0 'WiU It is alfo applied by Juftin Martyr, p. 358^-^359 and 285. O 4 Other 20O THE ORIGIN OF Other interpretation keeps the whole in a new and more natural allufion, to the primogenial fpeech of God at the creation j confiders the Father as again faying in effect to the Son, " Let us make an uni- " verfe 3" and reprefents the Son, as inilantly cre- ating the univerfe. " He," the Father, " fpake, " and they were made" by the Son; " He," the Father, '' commanded, and they were created" by the Son. The Pfalmifl thus '' places the order " and command of the Firft Caufe, oppofed to the " Second; as of the Father to the Son." For *^ truly it is felf-evident, that he who fpeaks any " thing fpeaks it to another, and he who com- *^ mands any thing commands it to another, beyond *^ himfelf" And, as may be forcibly added in vindication of this Jewifh comment, the God who here " commanded," and who here " fpake," fpake not to matter but to fpirit ; and commanded not Ipirit that had been created itfelf, and therefore could not pofTibly be a Creator ; but fpake to him, by whom " they \yere" to be " made," and com- manded him, by whom " they were" adlually " created'^." Indeed:, "^ *' It is natural for Chriftlans to conceive, that where it is faid <* fo often Gen. i, and God faid, there God fpoke to his Word, by ** which St. John writes that all things were made. — For this we have *' the judgment of the ancient fynagogue, which looked on the Word *' or Aoycq as a true caufe and agent, to whom God fpoke, and who *' by an infinite power wrought the feveral works of the fix days" (Allix's ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 201 Indeed, when we fee fuch a ftriking addrefs as this of God's to fome other Being, directing him to adt immediately in the formation of man, and appearing in the fore-front of the Scriptural pages j when we fee the fame idea of Duality recurring at times in the other pages, and a double Jehovah ex- hibited again and again to our faith ^ and when we find the double Jehovah in one of thefe pages, ac- tually recognized by the Jews of our Saviour's days, and adtually acknowledged by our Saviour himfelf : we mufl expedt there will be many inti- mations of this truth, incidentally thrown out in other places of Scripture j and we may be very fure, that they were generally noticed there by thofe, who were fo much more alTiduous than we are in reading the Scriptures, and fo much more ftudious of Scriptural knowledge, the religious and thinking Jews of former times ^ 3.—-" After (Allix's Judgment, p. 125 — 126). And fo Irenaeus aftually ex- plains this very Pfalm (Adv. Hser. iii. 8) j as do others in Bull, p. 75 and 98. i Some of thefe intimations I will recite : Gen. i. i, '* in thebe- *' gin ..ng God [oyigmal^ the Godi] created the heaven and the ** earth j" Gen. iri. 5, " you (hall be as Godj;" Gen. xx. 13, *' when Cod \_orkinal, the Godjl caufed me to wander from my fa- *' ther's houfe;" Gqix. xxxv. 7, *' Jacob built an aitar, and called *' the place El-Beth-el, becaufe there God [origi»al, the Godj] ap- " peared unto himj" Deut iv. 7, " who hath God {^original, the * Godj] fo nigh unto them ;" Jofliua xxiv. 19, " ye cannot iervQ " the Lordy for he is an holy God \_original, the holy Godj] j" 2 Sam. vJi. 33, " whom God [^original, the Godj] went to redeem for a peo- *' pie 202 THE ORIGIN OF j.^" After this manner does Mofes philofo- " phize, in his prefaces to the Sacred Laws: — that " there *' pie to himfel/y Proverbs xxx. 3, " I neither learned wifdom, nor ** have knovv'iedge of the Holy [^original, of the Holies] j" Eccl. xii. i, *' remember now thy Creator \_original, thy Creatorj] in the days of ^' thy youth j" and Ifiiiah liv. 5, " thy Maker is thy huiband [on- ** ginal, thy Maker/ are thy hufbandj], the Lord of Holls is his *' name." We have three other marks of this plm^ality in the God- head : Gf^. iii, 22, " the Lord God faid, Behold, the man is be- ** come as one of us to know good and evil," explained by i. 26, " let us make man in our image, after our likenefs," and by iii. 5, ** ye fliall be as God/, knowing good and evil j" Gen. xi. 7 — 9, ** the Lord faid. Go to, let us go down and there confound their *' language, — fo the Lord —did there confound their language 5" and Ifaiah vi. 8, " I heard the voice of the Lord faying, Whom (hall / *' fend, and who will go for «//"' We have alfo thefe : Pfalm xlv. 6—7, ** thy throne, O God^ is for ever and ever, — therefore God, ** even thy God, hath anointed thee j" Ifaiah xlviii. 16 — 17, ** come ** ye near unto mey hear ye this, I have notfpoken in fecret from the *' beginning, from the time that it was there am /, and now the Lord " God and /;// Spirit hath fent me. Thus faith the Lord thy Re- « deemer, the Holy One of Ifrael, / am the Lord thy God;"' Jeremiah xxiii. 5—6, *' behold the days corae, faith the Lord, that J will raife •• unto David a righteous branch, — and this is his name .whereby he *' fhall be called, The Lord our Righteoufnefs i" Hofeah i. 6—7, *' Got/ faid, — I will have mercy upon the houfe of Judah, and will *' fave them by the Lord their God ■j"'' and Zechoi-jah ii. 8 — 11, ** thus faith the LordofUnfis^ after the glory hath he fent -me unto the *' nations which fpoiled you, — and ye iliall know that the Lord oj " Hojls hath fent me^ fmg and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo / *♦ come, and / will d^K-ell in the midji of thce^ and thou fhalt know " that the Lordof Hojts hath fent me unto thee." See Allix's Judg- ment, p. 118 — 1 19, &c. &c. *' The Talmudlfts themfelves were fo ** perfuaded of a plurality expreffed in the word Elohifn [the plural *^ of the v^ord £hah]j as to teach in Title Megilla c. i. fol. 11, that *' the ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 203 ** there is an archetype and true image of the God " of all, his Logos i being very Wifiom and very " Life, and Light, and Truth, and whatever Fair " and Good can be imagined : and that there is an " image of this image, the Human Mindj by " which circumftance, man is confelTed to have been " made after the image of God ^ ." The Logos is here defcribed, as from " Mofes " philofophizing" in the preliminary part of the *' the LXX interpretors did purpofely change the notion of plura- *' lity, couched in the Hebrew plural, into a Greek fmgular [Qso? for " 6£oO, as they did alfo on Gen. i. a6 and xi. 7 ; left Ptolomy Phi- *' ladelphus (hould conclude, that the Jews, as well as himfelf, had *' a belief of polytheifm. That was taken notice of by St. Jerome, *' in his preface to the Book De Qusft. Hebr." (AUix, p. 124-). Indeed the do6lrine of a plurality in the Godhead, was fo habitually imprelled upon the minds of the Jews in general ; that in Tobit viii. 6, Tobias citing by memory thefe words in Gen. ii. 18, *' / will *' make him an help meet for him," aftually repeats them thus, *^ O *' God of our fathers, — thou haft faid, — Let us make unto him an *' a-d like unto himfelf '' (Allix, p. loi— 102). And " it is clear *' ho;v fenuble the Jews have been, that there is a notion of plurality ** piaitily imported in the Hebrew text; fmce they h?iV& forbidden *' thtir ccTnmon people the reading of the hiftory of the creation, left, un- *' der.fi^ndinir it literally^ it fnould lead them into herefie"' [that is, into thr belief of the Gofpel and the Trinity]. *' Maimon. Mor. Neboch. "p. II. c. 29" (Allix, p. 132). " R. Eliezer, who lived under <* Tra-an,— obferved that the reading of the Old teflament made the *' Jews turn hereticks, i. e. Chriftians ' (p. 326). ni p. 186. Tavloc Toi 0 Muj-rtq ev 'tt^ooi^iok; run isfuv vofxm ^iKoffo^ei, — Hivai — a.cx^iv'^ov y.ui a^vjS*) T8 Gea rm oXuv emova, rov ocvla Xayov, Av- %a-Q(pnx,v rvyxuvovix xxi Avlc^cor^v, y.ui (pu^ xat A?vv)0«ai', )tat «Tt KaXon ii.al^ eiy.ovot ha ytyovivxi avuiuoXoynlcn, Jewifh 204 "^"^ ORIGIN OF Jewllli law ; to be " an archetype and true image <' of the God of all.'* He is alfo defcribed from the fame philofophy, to be " very Wifdom and '^ very Life ;" to be the great fountain of wifdom to all the intelligent parts of the creation, and the great wellfpring of life to all the animated. He thus becomes " Light and Truth" to the creation, Light to all the Spirits, and Truth to all the Minds, in iti and is alfo " whatever Fair and Good can " be imagined," the author of all mental advances, and the caufe of all fpiritual improvements, that either adually exift at prefent, or can be imagined pofiible to exift hereafter, in the foul of man. And all refults from this one principle, that the foul of man " is an image of this image," the very ftamp of the Logos, and the very part " by which — '^ man is confeffed to have been made, after the " image of God." So clearly is the Divine fulEciency of the Son of God, afiferted in this fliort pafTage ! Nor can we hefitate a moment, concerning the Jewifh belief in all this. We have already feen Philo, fpeaking fo nearly in the very fame language -, that we are apt to think the pafTage at firft, to be only a tranfcript from his writings. It is a tranfcript certainly of his ideas. But then this arifcs, from Eufebius and Philo copying the fame original. Both took the principles of the Jews, as they were profelTed in their belief, and as they w^re deduced from their Scrip-. tures. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 20$ tures. And the fignal coincidence between them in this one extrad, confirms the credit of Eufebius in it and in all. 4._»« The opinions of the Hebrews concerning ^' God, the Firft Caufe of the univerfe." « Thus has Mofes begun his theology : "' In the "^ beginning God created the heaven and the earth.'" " Then he fays, *" God faid, Let there be light, "^ and there was light.'" And again, "^ God faid, <" Let there be a firmament, and it was fo.'" And « again, "^ God faid. Let the earth bring forth "^ grafs--, and it was fo.'" And again, *^^ God "^ faid. Let there be lights in the firmament of the "^ heaven—, and it was fo.'" Such indeed is " the theology received among the Hebrews, which <' teaches all things to have been framed by the fa- « bricating Logos of God. And it afterwards in- " forms us, that the v/hole world was not left thus " defolate by him who framed it, as an orphan left " by a father; but is for ever governed by the Pro- << vidence of God: fo that God is not only the Fa- « bricator and Maker of the whole, but alfo the <^ Preferver, and Governour, and King, and Ruler; « prefiding continually over the fun itfelf, and the " moon, and the flars, and the v/hole heaven and « the world ; with his great Eye and Divine Power " infpeaing all things, and being prefent to all « things heavenly and earthly, and diredting and « governing all things in the world. Concerning " the ^06 THE ORIGIN Of " the framing of the world j concerning the turnsi «' and changes of the whole, the fubftance of the *^ foul, and the fabrication of the ken and unfeen " nature of all rational beings ; and concerning the *' Providence over all; and concerning what are ** yet above thefe, the Firft Caufe of all, and the " theology of the Second; and concerning other *^ things, that are comprehenfible by the underftand- " ing alone; the Hebrews have wound their dif- *^ courfes and their theories, well and accurately " round: — that we may know, the univerfe is not " fpontaneoufly directed, or hath been always ex- ^' ifling at random and by chance, from an irrational " guidance ; but is conduced by that charioteer of " God the Logos, and is governed by the power " of unfpeakable wifdom '•.'* The * p. 186 — 187. "E^naicjv ^o|(3£; 'Tspt Sei?, T8 'jt^uJIh ruv o\m atlm. 12^6 'TTUi; 0 Muo-'k; aTrrflolo TVit; ^toXoyiixqy Ev ap^vj tTToivic-Bv 0 Geo? ro9 a^avov acn 'rY,vyY,v' eila. ^r,a-iv, Ei-ttsv 0 ©hoc, Tevs^vla} (pojq, h.ch sysvElo (^uq. Kat TTcckiVj EiTTEi* 0 ©Eo^'j Tivi^nii^ TsOtuy^o,) H.UI Bysvslo. Kat TTCcXlVf EiTTEV 0 ©£0;, BAar'OO'alw vi yri (3o\a.vY)v ^ocisy — xat syEvelo. Kat av^ir^y EiTrey 0 ©eoc, Tiv/i^-nluja-uv (pu^v.^Bq vj ru rif^cono^i ra epotva—-, mxi zyiytlo. —Toixvlri ixi'j » xa6' Efecaitf? OtoAoyia, Aoyw des dYjiJiUfDyma} roc frana, av- vB-ravcn Truioivaa-cc. ETrejIa ^t? «j^ w^'e EpvjjL/.ov, wj o^(pa.vov vtto '^alooi;, xcclccX^ip^ivloc. rov av^x'Trotvla. xoerixov vtto th av^Yiaocfj.BvB ^ioa.ay.n, aTOC tiq TO ccet VTTO rr,g ra Gsy Trcovoia? otviov oioiKeio-Qcn' wc, fx'/) fjiovov CYifjuHDyov atvai ruv o\uv y.cci 'jroiiolriv rov 0eov, aT^Xcc y.ai aulvipaj xat ^toi>f^r,vj yton tactAEa, y.on Tiyifj-cvoi, vtXiu) avluj aoa ceAj^v'/Jj x-oci a^rpoii^y xat ra avfjt," ira/lt apuvu re xat y.oaixu ^C aiuvog e-n-hrcclavla, yi.iyaJXu re o^6aX/*a> xai iv^tco €V'JOLfxii <7raw' epopuvlx, xai rot? irctav spuviOK; te Ka» ETriyfjot? e7rt7rapov7a, j£at roc TTocvia, tv xocryM ^iolarjavla re xat ^'totxsi/la. P. 307. IlEp* a-vtr- 1u(TBb3q y.ocrij.iiy rot re Trepj T»}$ T« "Travlo; Tpo9r>9? ti x«t aAAoiwcTEW?, •^tj^v)(; re WEpyo-jas, Jiat Koyiy.uv a'UV atlitf, t>5? ts ra ^ivls^a fisoAoytaij, y.at ruv aJXKuv rojv dtavotot Ei^evai, oii re ^r, a.'7r%vlou.a\iTa.i to irccvt l^"^^ ^t?"? y-xi ug Hv^bv af o<.?\oyH (popaq v^if^y.ni' aytlcn o' v^ rjno^c^ 9es Aoyw, y.cii ^vm[jLSt co(pic(,q a^Qr^a << governed" 208 T«E ORIGIN OF ^^ governed** by the Logos who framed it, as " by « the Providence of God." The " God" Logos is " not only the Fabricator and Maker of the ^^ whole, but alfo the Preferver, and Governour, " and King, and Ruler" of it. Thus is the Son of God " prefiding ccntlnually over the fun itfelf, « and the moon, and the ftars, and the whole *^ heaven and the world ; with his great Eye and '^ Divine Power infpeding all things, and being " prefent to all things heavenly and earthly, and *^ di reding and governing all things in the world." And the whole fyilem of " the univerfe, — is con- *^ du6ted by that charioteer of God the Logos -, and *^ is governed by the power of unipeakable Wif- *^ dom," under the guidance of his reining hand. That thefe were the fentiments of the Jews con- cerning him, however grand they appear in them- felves, and however declaratory they are of Divi- nity in him ; we have feen fufficiently before, in confidering the correfpondent extrads from Philo. Philo and Eufebius unite to prove the Jews firmly perfuaded, that the God who called all nature out of the vacuity of chaos at firft, and the God who preferves all nature from relapfmg into its natural ilate of vacuity again, was the Logos of God the Father. Many Jews had written upon the fubjedl of his Divinity, in the days of Philo. Many here appear, to have written upon this article of it. And " the Hebrews," we are exprefsly told, " have " wound ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 2O9 ^^ wound their difcourfes and their theories^ well *^ and accurately round'* upon the point. 5. — We have already feen the atteftation of Eu- febius, that the Jews believed the Logos, who made and who governs the world, to have been the God who interpofed fo remarkably in their national affairs, by appearing to Abraham, to Mofes, and to their other worthies of almofl every age. We have alfo feen Philo, coinciding exadbly with Eufe- bius on the fubjedl. But I iliall now proceed to prove it, by the atteftation of a Heathen ; and fo produce a third evidence, additional to the other two. In that curious compilation of hiftorical com- mentaries, which was once made by a man now al- moft unknown by name, one Alexander, concern- ing the events of the Jev/ifli annals 5 and which, from their multiplicity, gave him the appellation of Polyhiftor in antiquity; this author had collected fome pieces, that were purely and limply hiftorical in themfelves, and others that were of too poetical a nature to be confidered as fuch. His works in- deed have fmce perifhed, and the labour of a life perhaps has been buried in the duft. With him have periflied too all the commentaries, that he had accumulated together ; and nothing remains of the whole, but a few fragments in fome extradts made by Eufebius. On fuch a precarious tenure do authors hold their exiftence, in this world of dillb- P lution i 210 THE ORIGIN OP liition; unlefs there be a ftate of renovation for authors as for men, and the ufeful and virtuous are to be refcued flom the vi')lence of time, and their wncings to come forth again in a form, as immortal as their readers! Yet Alexander Polyhiilor, fays Eufebius, was " a man of great undeiilanding and ^' great learning, very celebrated among thofe Gr^e- *^ cians, who have not made an idle ufe of their ^^ education 5 and he, in his compilation concern- ^^ ing the Jews, gives thefe hiftorical accounts of ^' Abraham." And as the earlieit quoter of him, is an author of the firft century; fo is he himfelf reported to have lived, about two hundred years be- fore our Saviour '\ Polyhiilor firft produces Eu- polemus; a Grascian, who " in his account of the " Jews fays concerning AfTyria, that the city of " Babylon was originally inhabited by thofe who " were Javed out of the flood y that they were giants^ ^^ and built the tower fo much fpoken of in hiftory, *^ and that, the tower falling under the operation " of God, the giants were difperfed over all the " earth:'' a piece of hiftorical information, which explains at once the wild tale of Heathenifm con- cerning the giants fcaling heaven, and refers it to ° p. 244 — 245. O noXv»rw| AX£|av3*^o?, fsjohwaq m KOti faoKvi^a.^^ ar/j^y Toir TE fiYj 'Sjccoe^yov Toy oc'tto 'sroci^e-ixq nu^irov 'mt'iroivtyi.tvoiq EA?n)(7» yvu^iij.u\a\ocy 05 ei/ T17 -zete^i ly^aiwv avvla^et roc Kotloc rov A^aajt* ralov irofBi y.iP'a Asfif rov t^ottov. He is quoted by Clemens Alexandrinus, p 396, a whole century before Eufebius j and by Jofephus a whole century before that, Eufebius, p. 246. its ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 211 Its true place in hiftory i\ Polyhiftor next produces Artapanus, who, ^' in his book concerning the *^ Jews/' fpeaks fimilarly of Abraham " going " againfl the giants-," and fays that " thefe, in- " habiting Babylon, were deflroyed by the Gods *^ for their impiety i" a falfe circumftance, that brings the true hiftory into a nearer aflimilation with the fable 'K And Artapanus and Eupolemus relate many incidents of the Abrahamick hiftory, in the fame manner 5 by interlacing truth with falfe- P P. 245. "EvxaXiyioq h ev Tw ^B^i Is^oiiuv rng Ao-a-v^ixg (pyi?5 Tn Gga tvi^ynocq, ts? Tiyocvloc-q ^ta.a-Troi^'Kvcci kx^^ oKrtt ^ p. 245—246, AplaTTai'Oij ^i (pvjc-iv ev ro^q lydo-tjiotij, — rov A^aa/A etvcc^e^ovloc, en; mq Tiyavlxgt nfi^q h oiKHvluq ev rv) Bcc^vhovia,, ^tcc tuv eta-tQeiccv vtto ruv ^euv ocvai^s^r^vcct. The fame allufion to the giants, was equally kept up among the Jews ; but it referred to an earlier period, even an ante-diluvian one. God *' v/as not pacified," fays the Son of Sirach, " toward the old giants, who fell away in the *' ftrength of their foolifhnefs j neither ipared he the place where ** Lot fojourned," &c. (Ecclus. xvi. 7—8). ** In the old time ** alfo," adds Phllo, " when //;(?/)A'o«^^/ t writer very different from the Jew before, muck older than he, and actually a Heathen ; who wrote a poem upon Jerufalem, and In it fpeaks obfcurely of Abraham offering up his fon '". And Polyhiftor, for a fourth voucher, fets Demetrius before his reader. This Grascian gives an account of Jacob's departure from Ifaac to Laban, of his flay with Laban, of his marriage with the two daughters of Laban, of his children by them, of his return to Ifaac, and of his going down into Egypt ; ending with bis death there, and the genealogy of Mofes from him. All this he does with fo much particu- larity of time, incident, and place -, as fhows him undoubtedly to have had accefs to the writings- of ' P. 246. Ey.Xvov doyzyo-itt^cTi to y-voiav, ug irole Oe^t/xoi; A^cuccix it'^vlon^sq V7,'sflcBov a. f. X» From thefe lines it is evident, that the name of Abraham, which h pronounced fhort by us, is really long in itfelf. See Eufebius, p. 268^ — 269, for this Philo being a Heathen. The words are taken from' Jofephus, and are thefe in his treatife Contra Apionem, p. 1351. Hudfon J 0 ixsvloi ^cchri^Evq A-»][ji.Y^^^oq, kca (piXuJv 0 TT^sa-Qvltpoq, xcci EvTTO- Xiy.oc, a iroXv rr.q a.7.y/jsicx,q h-fiixa^,:>v . Thofe who were not far from the truth, muft have been Heathens j and all three were equally {o, *' Hence Philonem,'' fays Hudfon, ** inter Ethnicos recenfet Jofe- ** phus} quem fi fequamur (inquit Lowthius) concidit illorum fen- " tententia, qui Librum Sapientiac ipfi tanquam Audlori, aut faltera " Interpret!, tribuunt." Thefe authors confound Phllo the Elder with Philo the Younger, the Hiftofian v ith the Divine, and the Heathen with the Jew. Mofes;, ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 213 Mofes, either in their original Hebrew, or in fome tranflation of them \ That he had not infpeded them in the original, the very tranflation of them under Ptolemy Philadelphus, by perfons fent for on pur- pofe from Judaea, and merely to grace the new library at Alexandria with a legible copy of them -, is a fufficient evidence of itfelf That there was no tranflation of them kforey is equally evident from the making of this, and from the total non-appear- ance of any others Demetrius therefore was one of thofe, who v/ith Eupolemus, Artapanus, the elder Philo, and one Theodotus, the writer of an- other hiilorical poem on the Jews, all equally pro- duced by Polyhiftor " ; lived after the Hebrew code was laid open to the Greeks, by the Septuagint verfion. The curiofity of him and of them was very ftrongly excited, by riiofe records of heaven 8 P. 247—249. t A Jew, who lived about a hundred and thirty years after the Septuagint tranflation was made, alledges there was another before (Eufebius, p. 388). But he alledges it, merely to favour an hypo- thefis of his own ; that the coincidence of fentiments concerning God in many Heathens v/ith the Bible, was occafioned by their knowledge of Moles' writings : when it was plainly occaiioned, by the original theology of both being exactly the fame. The Jewifh and the Heathen theologies were two ftreams, flowing from the fame fountain of revelation j only feparating very early, then fadly ftained in one, and remaining pure in the other. And even he does not pretend to adduce any proof, or even to affign any reafon but his own Jjypothefis, for his allegation. » Eufebius, p. 24$. P 3 (as 214 '^^^ ORIGIN OF (as it were) being now unrolled for the firft time, to the eye of Heathenifm; and by the primitive hiflory of man, being now revealed at laft to the nations of the globe. And he was in fad that very Demetrius Phalereus, who gained himfelf fo much honour by his government of Athens ; and who had even the higher honour, of being an inllrument in the hands of Providence, for publilhing the Jewifh Revelation to the kingdoms of the earth. He lived therefore about two hundred and eighty years before our Saviour, about eighty before Polyhiftor, and about fix hundred before Eufebius ^. ^ Eufebius, p. 206, from Anftaeus fpeaks of A>5////fIpto? 0 ^a?\y:ptt/q advifing the tranflation j then gives us a letter from *' Demetrius *' Phalereus," which begins thus, " To the great king from Deme- *' triusj" in p. 24.1 cites Ariftobulus at fecond hand for faying, that there was a tranflation *' before Demetrius -,'''' and in p. 247 produces Polyhiftor as faying, ** Demetrius tells us that Jacob" &c. The fame perfonage is fpoken of by a continuity of reference^ in all thefe places. And in another quotation made by Eufebius, as I have al- ready fhown, Jofephus adds; that *' Demetrius Phalereus^ and Philo ** the Elder, and Eupolemus, were not far from the truth." The hiftorian, the archon, and the advifer, therefore, were one and the fame perfon. Demetrius muft have advifed the nieafure of a tranfla- tion, either inftantly upon the cominencement of the fole fovereignty of Philadelphus, as he continued not a favourite long after j or elfe in the time of Philadelphus's joint fovereignty with his father, by whom the library was founded. See Ant. Univ. Hiil. ix. 370 — 373 and X. 238 — 245. In the latter volume, the writer, who was the late Mr. Pfalmanazar, has made fome objeftion to Ariftaeus's hiflory of this verfion, from Demetrius being faid to advife the meafurej forgetting the interval of favour at the beginning of Philadelphus's reign, and overlooking all the joint fovereignty before. Yet ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 21 5 Yet even he, in reciting the adions of Jacob, catches fo much of the fpirit of the Jews in under- Handing them J that he fpeaks thus of the Be- ing who appeared to Jacob at Peniel, and whom the Scriptures themfelves call a Man from his hu- man appearance, but intimate plainly to be God. *^ As Jacob was coming into Canaan,'' he fays, " an Angel of God wreflled with him ." That the Jews in all ages undcrflood this Being, to be the only human exhibitor of the Godhead in him- felf, the Logos \ we have feen before from Philo and the antient rabbies. But we may fee it again, from an authority much older, as well as much fu~ periori one of the prophets. " Jacob," fays God in Hofea, " — took his brother by the heel in the " womb, and by his ftrength he had power with *^ God ; yea, he had power over the AngeU and " prevailed ; he wept and made fupplication unto " him ; he found him in Bethel, and there he fpake " with us, even the Lord God of Hosts, the " Lord— his Memorial ^" The plural number, in which God here fpeaks of himfelf, is very re- markable, though it has never (I think) been no- y P. 24.7. nopuo/xEyii; o£ a.C[a £;? Xayaay ciyyiy.QV ra Gsa '7Ta.>,'- * Ch. xii. 3—5. I have united the two veifes together, the verb is of the latter being merely fupplemen!-al in our tranflation. And verfe 9th '< I that am the Lord thy God," Ihows God to \)e the fpeaker here, P 4 tic^di ^l6 THE ORIGIN OF ticed ; is exactly in the flyle of other pafTages, that we have feen before; and unites with them, if there is any propriety in God's own language concerning himfelf, to indicate a pofidve plurality in the God- head. Nor can the mode of fpeech which has been fo often adduced, to take off the force of this ar- gument s prove any thing but die folly of its ad- ducers. On this wild plea, God is fuppofed to have ufed the plural flyle in ipeaking of himfelC hecauje it would he the ftyle of majeily three or four thoufand years afterwards^ and in a north-weflern an^.e oi Europe, But, even if this llyle had been as antient as it is modern, and as general as it is con- fined, that a fingle being, a king, fhould fpeak of himifelf as not fingle, as more than one ; is an ab- folute barbarifm in itfelf, however familiar to our ears. And any inference from fuch a fantaflical ab- furdity, to Him who is Propriety itfelf; is a grofs illufion of the underflanding. As God fpeaks of him.felf occafionally in the plural number, though ge- nerally in the fingular; he muit certainly be both plu- ral and fingular, and therefore is plural in his perfon- alities, for he is undoubtedly fingular in his nature, " "When Jacob was come to Luz of Bethel," adds Demetrius in the fame ftrain with Ho- fea, " God faid that he Ihould be called Jacob *' no longer, but Ifrael '." The original hiltory, a Eufebius, p. 248. $;ci5c( tov Osoy, however^ ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 217 liowever, is ftill ftronger. " God faid unto him/* it tells us of Jacob returned to Bethel, " Thy *^ name is Jacob -, thy name fhall not be called any " more Jacob, but Ifrael fhall be thy name 3 and " he called his name Ifrael : and God faid unto " him, I am God Almighty ^." And the pro- phet adds, we fee, that he was the Lord, the Lord God of Hojis, That the fame Being appeared to Jacob, both at Bethel and at Peniel; is evident from the fame appellation of God, being attributed to him at both thefe appearances 3 and from the fame declaration concerning the name of Jacob, being made by him at both. Yet the prophet and the hiftorian unite, to declare him in the moft ex- plicit terms, to be God. And Demetrius, who calls him an Angel in the one place, denominates him God in the other 5 jufl as Hofea lends him the appellation of Angel, and then names him exprefsly the Lord God of Hofts. But Demetrius took the name of Angel, which is not in the Scriptural nar- rative, from the Jews about him ; as they took it from the prophets, and from their own traditions antecedent to the prophets. In confequence of all, the word Angel v/as their cuftomary defignation for the Logos. They ovmed him, as the God of them- felves and of their anceilors 3 but then they very properly difcinguifhed him from God the Father, by ^ Chap. XXXV. lo—ij. calling 21^ THE ORIGIN OF calling him occafionally an Angel Hofea and De- metrius call him an Angel and God, in the fame breath. And he was the Angel-God, the MifTion- ary Jehovah, of their religion. That this is true, is demonilratively evident from what I have faid. But let me prove it additionally from another pro- phet, one who was the laft of the number, and lived about a hundred years only before Demetrius, " Behold, I will fend my meffenger,'* fays the Logos in Malachi concerning John the Baptifl; " and he ihall prepare the way before me ; and the " Lord whom yQ Jeeky fhall fuddenly come to his **' temple y even the Mejfenger'' or Angel " of the *' Covenant, whom ye delight in : behold, he fhall *^ come, faith the Lord of Hosts ^" Here then the Logos calls himfelf at once, the Angel of the Covenant, and the Lord, even the Lord of Hofls; thaty to mark his originate fubordination, and thejey to indicate his intrinfick Deity. The Jews of Demetrius's time, only caught the light of truth from Malachi, from Hofea, and from Mofes. Demetrius only received the light, which ifTued from them. And the vivacity of the gleam refle6led to him, Ihows the brightnefs of the mirrour re- fleding it in them '\ But ^ Chap. ill. I, in the Septuagint verfion o uyyikn^ ryiq ^iaS-^x*}?. •1 ** I can add — their [the Jews] verfion of the 3d of Daniel, ** ver. 25 i Species quartifim'Uis Filio Dei, as faith Aquila a Jew, who « lived ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 219 But Demetrius, like Artapanus and Eupolemus, refers to other and earlier authors for fome of his intelligence. Thus Eupolemus, from fome tefti- mony extraneous to the Septuagint Scriptures, re- lates Mofes to have been " the firft who taught letters " to the Jews ;" when the fa6l is utterly incredible in itfelf, and diredlly confuted by the Chriftian Scrips tures citing an ante-diluvian writing ^. Artapanus alfo, from fome authority that is equally extraneous, and yet, from its chronological accuracy and mi- nute particularity, is alTuredly genuine; defcribes the very ferjon of Mofes, and fays he was " tall, " freih-coloured, grey-headed, long-haired, and " very venerable, being then about eighty-nine " years of age •.'* And Demetrius quotes at large one Ezekiel, who appears from his name to have been a Jew, and who was a compofer of tragedies ; the only play-wright, I think, that we have in all the hiftory of the Jews. But his plays were merely fuch fpiritual dramas, as were formerly common in our own country, and are fo Hill in other regions of Chriftendom. Of fuch, that moft religious of "lived under Hadrian j but the ancient Greeks had tranflated it *^ fimilis Angela Dei, as faith an old Scholion related by Drulius in *' Fragmentis, p. 121 3 j which fliows, that the ancient Hellenift had " tlie fame notion of the Angel of God, as of the Son of God" (Allix's Judgment, p. 1 10). e Eufebius, p. 252, and Jude 14. f Eufebius, p. 255. Tiyavtvon os. (pricri rov McJva-ov fxart^oVi 'rvf^ocy.vj, "ZEroAtoy, H0[jLY2-nv, cc^iu^^ixiuov' ruvlcxr c£ TTpafcn TTspf tl'n •Hx oy^omovliz. 90, 220 THE ORIGIN OF all our old poets, Milton, appears from fome loofc iketches ftill preferved in his own handwriting, to have formed feveral plans. His Paradife Loft, it is well known, was originally modelled for a tra- gedy ; and the addrefs of Satan to the fun, was the opening of it. But Ezekiel had formed, like Shake- ipeare, a train of plays upon a fucceflion of events in the hiftory of his country. It began with the migration of Jacob to Jofeph in Egypt s ; and pur- fued the courfe of fads, till the narrative of a fa- mily fweiled out into the hiftory of a nation. He then wrote one tragedy, upon the departure of the Jews out of Egypt -, and denominated it E^txyccyvi, or the Edudion ^. In this play Ezekiel notices of courfe, that introdudory incident to all the greater events of Mofes's life -, the appearance of the glory in the burning bufli. Philo has already intimated the glory, to be that of the Logos. But Ezekiel exprefles the fentiment in terms. And Demetrius gives a Divinity to this Logos, in fome occafional notices which he has derived from Ezekiel, and at- tached to the margin. " But concerning the burning bufli," fays De- metrius, " and die miflion of Mofes to Pharaoh ; " Ezekiel again introduces by turns, Mofes holding f* a dialogue with God. Mofes fays:" f l&ufebius, p. 255. h Ibid. p. 257. *" Stpp, ARIANISM DISCLOSED. *2.X "' Stop, what is this appearance from the bulh? *" A prodigy beyond the faith of men. «" Sudden the bu(h is flaming with much fire, «'' But green upon it every leaf remains. '« How's this ? rU go, and view with nearer eye *" This prodigy too mighty for belief.'" '' Then Goo addrefles him:'* "' Stop, O moft worthy, nor approach thou near, '« O Mofes, till thy foot-llring thou haft loos'd ; •" For holy is the ground on which thou ftand'ft, <" And from the bufh the Heavenly Logos lliines. **' Be bold, my Son, and liften to my words: *" To fee my face is all impolTible "' For mortal man ; but thou may'ft hear my words. *'' To utter them I'm come, I am the Go r> '" Of thofe thou calPft thy fathers, Abraham, *« Ifaac, and Jacob in fucceffion third. *'' Remembering them, and my donations too, "' I'm here to fave my Hebrew race of men ; «« For I have feen my fervants' grief and toil. *" But go, and in my words announce again, «" Firft to the very Hebrews all at once, *" Then to the king, what is by me enjoined ; '" That out of Egypt thou fiiallft bring my race."' « Then fubjoining fome lines in return, Mofes « himfelf fpeaks:" «" I'm not by nature form'd an orator, *" My tongue is often ftubborn to my will, *" And gives a hefitation to my voice ; «" I cannot therefore fpeak before the king."* *^ Then God anfwers him thus:'* «" Send for thy brother Aaron inftantly, <« Then tell him all which thou haft heard from me ; ♦** AncJ ^22 THE ORIGIN OF *" And he fliall be the fpeaker to the king."* 'f And Ezekiel — introduces God fpeaking thus, " concerning the wonders:" •** For three whole days a darknefs I will give ; *" Locufts I'll fend, which all around fhall eat *" The fruits of man, and e'en the verdant leaf; *" And, added to all this, my hand Ihall flay *" The firfl begotten child of every houfe. *'* But thou {halt tell my people, when at eve <" They facrifice the Pafchal Lamb to God, *" That they fhall touch their outer doors with blood ; *" And /^^ dread Angel, feeing, Ihall pafs by'.'" A play * p. 258—259. ncjjt 5*6 Tr5 iicnoixtvviq Quia, xat t>9? aworoX»!? avla rviq izrpo? (pocpaut ii^oc'Kiv 'mccfua-ciyei ^i' a,«otCaJt;> rov Muav^y ru Osa ^t«^£- yo/xEi'oi'. (pvtai oe 0 Mci^'crvii' £a. T* iJt,oi a-rijAetot ey. ^ccla roh ; Tepartov te, ncti Q^oIqk; WTTirov cv' ^ Avis ^£ ^upov 'Jta.v jw-Effi TO ^T^xtccvqv* EHc* 0 Oeo? cr», 5? ?v£7«. E/iaS? yzvi(T^ce.\, ^occriT^euq evocvhov. Aoc^um iTBfj^-^ov crov nctaiyv^ov roc^v, Q, 'cjavla. Xe^ek Ta| E/xa 'hihiyu.ivcx.' 2?iolo? ^£ O'JO'w T^^K £(p Ji/AE^a? oAa?, Anfi^oit; T£ 'r!r£/A4''^> *' '^^p' '^"^ ja^w/^ola n^uroyova, AE^Etg 3'e ^aw -nrai/lt, TO Tlota-yoc ^vcravloc^ 6fi» T*) 'cr§oo-0£v vvkIi, a\yi.a}i ^uva-cci Qyga?, That this is all quoted from Ezeklel by Demetrius, is evident. In p. 257 Eufebius cites Demetrius j and, at the end of a paflage from Demetrius, enters upon thefe extraas from Ezekiel, as cited by De- metrius 4^4 "^^^ ORIGIN Of at than admired. The introdudlon of an AngeJy and efpecially of the Godman, into a tragedy^ however religious in its defign, and however conformable to Holy Hiftory in fad; would be confidered as licentious profanenefs by many of the ferious, and as fandlified impertinence by all the giddy. We do not love to mingle our religion with our amufements. And we feem defirous to keep the former, fequeflered from all the gaieties of life, and referved for the folemnities of recolledion. There is more or lefs of this Ipirit, in all nations and all ages. But we have carried the humour, much farther than our fathers did. Shakefpeare's mind, however great and exalted in itfelf^ was un- metrius from him. In p. 259, before he has clofed thefe extra6ls, he fays thus: ravloK; aTrccysi [/.slcc rnoc ra, i^iia^v avlu n^^nyLBvoc, Xsyuv' Tocvla, ^£, (p-na-^Vy alo; -acci E^v^xtJ^Ao? zv rj) Y.^ot,yc^yv) T^iyn : ** to thefe he ** [Demetrius] adds, after fome things faid betwixt by himfelf, fay- ** ing, *" Ezekiel fays in his Edu6lion.""' In p. 260 Eufebius fpeaks thus : ttocXiv /xeG"' elspa e7ri7\syei' (pmai ^b kch E^'/j-^ivjAo^ zv rco ofsc- fxacli K'l.X-i " again after Other things he [Demetrius] fubjoins/' *" and Ezekiel alfo fays in his Drama"' Sec. And in p. 262 Eufe- bius once more tells us : ** and again in a fhort time they [the ^* Ifraelites] marched from the Red Sea three days, as Demetrius *' hm/elf tells us." Artapanus, quoted equally from Polyhiilor by Eufebius, " fliys •' the fire was fuddenly kindled out of the earth, and burned though ** there was no wood or any other fuel at the place j that Mofes in '* fear fled j and that the Divine Voice," a term ufcd hereafter by another Heathen for the Divine Word (See eighth part of this Section at the end), '* fpoke to him :" uiCpvi^tcoq (p-^aiv e-k rm yviq -aryp ava " according to the Targums" (p. 215 — 216). Q.3 of ^-^O THE ORIGIN OF of time, gives the ftamp of {lability and the feal of famenefs to the national faith, in this article. But Ezekiel makes the Logos afterwards, to call him who was to flay the firll-born, '^ the dread an- " gel;" as diflindt from, and inferior to, himfelf. He fpeaks of God alfo as diflind from himfelf; when he mentions the Ifraelites, " facrificing the " pafchal lamb to God." Nor does he mean any real diftindtion, by either. He has declared himfeif exprefsly, to be the God of the patriarchs and of the Jews -, the God to whom thoje offered their fa- crifices, and the God to whom thefe were to facri- fice their pafchal lamb. He has likewife declared himfeif to be the very God, whofe hand was to flay all the firft-born. And he now fliows us, as Deme- trius has fliown us before, in the fame reference to the Logos for an angel ; that originate fubordina- tion of the Logos to the Father, which is requifite to accompany his exhibited confubflantiality of Godhead with him. So much were the underftand- ings of the Jews familiarized, to all the parts of this prime fentiment in their creed ; that they were not perplexed with what Englifli readers in general, from their habits of half-thinking about it, are pertly apt to call the niceties of artificial and fcholaftick theology; the Divinity of the Lo- gos, pofltive in itfelf, yet fubordinate to God the Father's, and yet co-efl[ential with his ! Per- plexity of ideas on a fubjed clear though com- plicatedjj ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 23 I plicated, is always the child of iinthinklngnefs, and the parent of prefumption, among mankind. And, in the belief of the Jews, this angel who (lew the firfl-born In Egypt, and that angel who wreftled with Jacob at Peniel, was the Angel of the Cove- nant from God the Father to mankind; even the Logos or Son of the Father, God Almighty, and THE Lord of Hosts; the Jehovah whom Abra- ham adored, whom Ifaac worfhipped, whom Jacob faw, and whom Mofes beheld; the Lord of the temple at Jerufalem, from the time of Solomon to the time of Malachi; and the Sovereign of the imi- verfe, from the days of Mofes, to the days of Ho- fea, to the days of Ezekiel, and to the days of De- metrius P. 6. — Nor is Demetrius the only author, who Is cited by Eufebius in confirmation of his pofition, concerning the Jewifn faith in this point. Having produced fome palTages of fcripture in evidence, he then turns thus to his Heathen reader. " But p " R. Menachem — and his authors — look upon the Shekinah *' [or Logos] as the living God, foL 2, col. i, Xht God oi Jacolr, " R. Men. fol. 38, col. 3, and— that very angel, whom Jaco/? looks *' upon as his Redeemer, his Shepherd, and whom the prophets call *' the A/igel of the Prefence and the An^el of the Covenant, ibid. *' fol. 73, col. I, and fol. 83, col. 4." (Allix's Judgment, p. 166). They fay alfo, that he " ///loie the Egyptians, fol. 56, col. 4" (ibid, ibid.). " All the figns and wonders which the Lord fent him [Mo- *« fes] to do,— according to the Targums,— "' The Wcrd of the <" Lord fent him to do, in Egypt, to Pharaoh and his fervants, and ^" all his land'" (p. 216). 0^4 " that 232 THE ORIGIN OF " that you may not think," he fays, " I am put- *' ting my own conftru6lion upon thefe extracts; I " will prefent to you, as an interpreter of the *' meaning of fcripture, a Hebrew who is accurate " in the domeftick opinions of his country, and " learnt the fentiments from his mailers ; for fuch *^ in your eflimation is Philo^." Eufebius then adduces three paiTages out of Philo. Thefe I have previoufly laid before my reader, in all their force and power. But it is re- quifite to give a little abftrad of them here, in or- der to continue thefe neceflary links in the chain of Eufebius's evidence. The firfl then fays, that when God is mentioned in fcripture to have made man in the image, not of himfelf, but of Godj and fo " another God" feems to be introduced ; there is a reference " to the fe- ^' cond God, who is his Logos'"." The next af- firms God, to " have fet his right Logos and Firfl- '' begotten Son over all things, who will accept *' the charge, as in fome meafure a governor under " a great king ." And the third declares " the ^ P. 150. Ii« h i^Y) c-oQi^ea-dai ixe rccvru i'ouiO-r,c, eptxvivsa. aoi Ttj? sv ra, y.cii 'uja^sc. Ii^uay.u7^wv to coy^jicx. p,£|ua9r)K0T«' £i ^yi aoi Totar©^ 0 f P. 190. n? "CTE^t iTE^-y ^m (pY,', <« and the Angel of the Grand Council:— the Pow- " er of the God of all, which is great without « bounds and beyond exprefTion, taking in all y So Clemens Alexandrinus obferves, that " all the army of an <« gels and of Gods has been fubiecled to the Son of God," raria tcjucoe, vrronraitToci rpana lAyyi'huv te xat ^luv (Stromata, vii, p. S31). « things 2^6 THE ORIGIN OF ^^ things at once; and the Second after the Father, *^ being the equally fabricating and enlightening *« power of the Divine Logos. Wherefore alfo the " Hebrews love to name him, both the true Light " and the Sun of righteoufnefs : there being like- " wife, after the Second perfon, a Third, — the Holy *' Ghoft, which very Being they rank in the firft and " royal dignity and honour of a Principle of the uni- *' verfe; he himfelf being conflituted by the Maker of *' all, a Principle of the things created afterwards, I " mean of the things that were inferior and want *^ aid from him. But this Being, holding the *' third rank, aflifls thofe who are inferior to him *' with his better powers; yet indeed receives not " the powers from any other, than from the God '^ Logos, who is truly higher and better, and whom " we have faid to be the Second to the Moll High " and the ungenerated perfon of God the univerfal *' king: from whom even he himfelf, the God Lo- '' gos, receiving aid and drawing Divinity, as from " a perpetual and over-flowing fountain of Divini- " ty, communicates the fplendours of his domef- *' tick light to all, as well as to the Holy Ghoft *' himfelf, who is nearer to him than all, and very '^ nigh, and to the intelligent and divine powers af- " ter him, abundantly and without envy : and that " the ungenerated Principle of the univerfe, be- ** ing the fountain of all Good, of Divinity, and " Life and Light, and the caufe of every virti,iejj « and ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 237 '* and being the Primary of the Primaries, and the *' Principle of Principles, and rather beyond the " Principle and the Firft, and eveiy imagination ^^ Ipoken or apprehended; communicated to the *^ Firft-begotten alone, all whatever he held in- " volved in his unfpeakable powers, as to Him " who alone was capable of taking in and receiving " that, which is not to be attained or taken in by " others, the abundance of the Father^s goods ; and " affords them in part to thole who are partially *^ worthy, by the miniftery and mediation of the " Second One, as every perfon can attain: of which *^ the perfect and the highly facred things, were " imparted by the Father himfelf to the Third *' One, the Ruler and Governor of them below, ** who through the Son receives the things of the " Father. And from hence all the Divines of the " Hebrews, after the God over all, and after his *^ Firft-begotten Wifdom, deify the Third and " Holy Power, calling him Holy Ghoft; by whom ^^ alfo tliofe were enlightened, who were infpired " by God ^" In 2 p. 191—192. A^ nv a^ rnlO* Xoyicv etvi a» 0 ^loTrpeTrerctroi;, 3*u>a- ue-i $£« ^oytJf'ii y.ixi -sravo-o^w, uxWov h olvtvi Y,o(pioc kuv avrco ^m Aoyw, rxv a^X^iV otvO'TiQe^ Txq ts 'mccvr<^ a-v^oca-iu^y vj ran; a-^v^oi^ y.izi aAo- yoK; ^oi^no\<; \ aXKa, ya,^ rD^ccvra. tsa^" Eio^a4»i/:, ^.ai to, -crecj rnc; ruf cKulV ao^r]<;. cTKiil^wp-eOa at jcat a. -ete^i rr,q tcjv "hoymuv avTOiCiuK;, ruv /x£- Tx rnv ll^uTr.y AfX'/iV} iK^i^a^Kna-i. . . . . MsT« rvv uvx^x'^t Kcm ocysuwiroi ra ^m 'orctfji.'^ua-i^.iui aa-ictit T1J» 2jS THE ORIGIN OF In this illuftrious defcription, of the nature and quality of the Jewifh Godhead; in which there is fome jtat avvsoyov Tn<; t» Tlocrp^ ^aX-nq) 'cs-^oq avrov re oc7reix.QVia-ij.^vvv, akocca"^ sta^eiv aa^xa-i. — 'Tec 'mxvra, p-ac aOpoo;? ocTroXoiQ^a-i^q Tviq aviy.C^^xTH aai aTretpoiJLsyB^iiq ^vvaciAiuq ra ©aa ruv oXuvt ^BVTs^eariq h jMsra rov IlarB^a, *mq ^v}fjLtiipyi)i'/i'; o/^a kcci (pojnr^y.YK; ^vvocfAiuq ra 0£ia Aoya' ^to x.ai (piaq AXvj^ivov xxi Antatoo-yp*;; H^tov, E^patoK ^Jt^oy afTov ovoixa^eiv. Tpirr; -^s r^i) fAETa T'/jv hvre^oiv acjiav— Ka9tra/>(,£v>5?> ra Ayta XlfEy/iAaT©-* o Kott avro IV Tyj -crpwrv) nat ^aavKiy.vt rviq ruv oXojv Ap^nq a^\.a, kccv rtixjj xara- ^Bysaiu' €iq Ap'XJ'^v ruv jM,£Ta rocvTOi yEVYtruvy Xsyu ^b rcov VTroSBQvmorcdVt v.a.v T'fii; ThO.^ uvre ^op^iyia? EjnhoiJt^Bvuv, y.oci a.vr3 "rrpoi; ra rm oXuv irroivi- m yoirccTBrocyiABva. otXKa, tuto /xev, rfurnv ittb-^ov rvv rcc^iv, touj vtto^S' Qriy.oak.ruv tv ccvTU y.peHrlovuv ^vvsciJt^BODf iTTi'/opriyti, a /x'/^v a>^a. y.vA ocvn- >Mf/Joavet fma,^ sTe^a ra r iiToc^a, ©ea Aoya, ra ^e koh avun^u y.xi y.^eir- to'j^, ov ^ri hvTB^svsiv e(pa.[A£» r-n<; civuirxru) xo» ot-yBwrira (pvasa}^ ©sa ra tca/ACaai^Ea^j. 'sjoc.p' a ^n y.on avT'^ nriyppYiyHf/.Bv©^ o ©e®- Aoy^j y.cct uo'TCBp B^ ccBva-H '^jYiyvj'; B^BOTTiTcx. avahXafCiviicrr,!; ccovrofxBv'^f tojj 'srccj'kv o/j{,a xat ^1) Koti avrco ru) Ayitc TLvevu^aTh /xaAAov a-TTavTuv avroj 'mpocTB^H xcii ByyvTaru oiirit rcaq re (/.btcx, raro vospatq y.cci ^Bicaq oi/voiiJLsa-.v u^poax; y.cci ccvB'jri(p^ovuq ruv ra oty.eia (puroq ixcc^ixoc^vyuv [xzrccoidua-i' rriv oi ruv cXuv otyBvnrov [it fhould be, ayi)ivr,rovi as before] Ap^i^vj aya^oov ccTrav ruv ac70iv 'ST'Ky'/tV, S^cOT'/it'^ te y.ai ^ariq oua y.ui (pujr©-, xoct tsaca-r.t; oi^srvii; ccuiov, nctk Tl^arviv yt auccv ruv H^uruv y.cci Apyuv Appj^vjj', {j.oc'Kkov h y.oci Acx'^'i '''-"■^ llpuray y.cci 'maa'/jq ^virvig te y.cn KurocXnTrrviq sTrtyoiaj BTTiKetvu, ra. y.Bv i£a,-^ ^vvaixiv, Ayiov Uvsvu.oe, 'STpoa-eiTrovrer, oiTro^eix- ^vcru/* v(p a Kcci E^uiTi^oiTi ^ioporyu.e;oi. See note to- the extraft in left, ad, before. is ^40 I'HB ORIGIN OF is " the Second after the Father, being the equally '^ fabricating and enlightening power of the Divine ^^ Logos." He was therefore called by the Jews, '^ the true Light, and the Sun of Righteoufnefs." He is in fa6l " the God Logos." He draws " Divinity" from the Father, " as from a perpe- " tual and over-flowing fountain of Divinity." He " is the Firfl-begotten," to whom " alone the Fa- ther " communicated, — all whatever he held in- *^ volved in his unfpeakable powers." And he " alone was capable of taking in and receiving " that, which is not to be attained or taken in by *^ others; the abundance of the Father*s goods." Such a bright blaze of Divinity from the very Sun of Divinity in the Father, is lodged in the bofom of the Logos; the only orb competent to re- ceive it, within all the range and compafs of pofTi- bilities ^ Yet an addition is even made to this. A Third Perfon in the Godhead, is now noticed; and his Di- vinity gives an extraordinary confirmation, to the Divinity of the Son. There is, " after the Second " perfon, a Third; the Holy Ghost." This a ** The Jews commonly call him, — the Second Glory and the ** Crown of the Creation. Rittangelius brings their authorities for *' this, in Seph. Jetzira, p. 4 and 5" (AUix's Judgment, p. 173). *< The Jews believe till this day, that, although the y,oyoq is Jeho'vah, " neverthelefs the Father is the Superior Light j and they call it the *• Great Luminarj, R. Men. fol. 135, col. z" (p. 334)- CC ygjy ARIANISM DISCLOSED. ^y{.l ^^ very Being" the Hebrews " rank, in the firft and ^^ royal dignity and honour of a Principle of the " univerfe; he himfelf being conilituted by the ^^ Maker of all> a Principle of the things created '^^ afterwards." Thus holding " the third rank" in the Deity, he " afiiils thofe who < are inferior to *^ him with his better powers," and fo becomes " the Ruler and Governor of them below" him. Nor are we, independently of Eufebius's very fa- tisfa6lory evidence, without full teflimony from other quarters, of the Jev/ifh belief in the Divinity of the Holy Ghofl. This third fharer in the ef- fence of the Godhead, mufl have been as familiarly known as the Godhead itfelf, to the Jews of Mo- fes's days ; or he would have conveyed no ideas to them, when he wrote for their inflrudlion thefe words: " In the beginning God created the heaven *• and the earth; and the Spirit of God moved " upon the face of the waters." He is accordingly noticed by a Jew, a hundred and fifty years prior to our Saviour; as " the Diviite Spirit, by which *^ Mofes was alfo proclaimed a prophet''." In the book of Judith alfo, which is fuppofed to have been written in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, and was certainly written in Chaldaick for the ex- hortation of the Jews; the hymn of thanks to God runs thus : " Lord, thou art great and glorious, ^ Eufeb'uis, p. 221, To Qnov Ylviv^Xj ■/.a^'' o hxi 'Crp^p'/JT::? avay.^y.r,' R ^^ wonderful 242 THi ORIGIN OF " wonderful in ftrength, and invincible; let srlf " creatures ferve thee ; for thou fpakeft, and they ^' were made, thou didft fend forth thy Spirit, and " it created them ." He is noticed too by Philo> in the Wifdom of Solomon, under his evangelical appellations Philo laying to God in a juil flrain of devotion, " thy counfel who hath known, except '^ thou give wifdom, and fend thy Holy Sprit from *^ above ''." And he is equally noticed under his evangelical appellation, by the Jewilh author of the Second Book of Efdras; who prays God to " fend ** the Holy Ghofi'' into him, that he may write the hiflory of the world from the beginning^. Thefe Jews fpeak of him in all ^e eafy manner, in which we Chriflians fpeak of him at prefent. In the fame manner does John the Baptift alfo mention him, in the Goipel narration of his preachings. He announces to his hearers the fpeedy appearance, of the Grand Reformer, who " fhall baptize them " with the Holy Ghoft and with fire *"." The Holy Ghoft therefore was familiarly and equally known, to the Baptift and to his hearers. But, even when the birth of the Baptiil was promifed to his delpair- ing father, the promifing angel ufes the fame lan^ guage exadlys and tells the Jewifh prieft, that this miraculous fon of old age and barrennefs " fhall be " filled with the Holy Ghoft, even from his mother's c Judith, ch. y.vi. 13—14, Grotius, and Allix, p. 70. * Wifdora, ix. 17. * II. Efdras, xiv. Z2. f Mat. iii. z. "wombV* ARiANiSM bISCLOSED. 243 **■ womb".'* The promife was conveyed in lan- guage, no doubt, well known in its found to the ears of the prieft, and carrying clear and appro- priate ideas to his mind. Even when the fame an- gel appears to that Jewifh heroine in humility and faith, the Virgin Mary; and afTures her ihe was fe- le6ted by God, to be the mother of the Mefliahj in the fame language and with the fame ideas, he ex- plains the miraculous mode by which fhe was to become fo. " 1'he Holy Gboft;' he fays, '' fhall ^^ come upon thee ; and the Power of the Highefl ^' fhall overfliadow thee ^\" Thefe words mull have conveyed the fame meaning to her, which they convey to us. The Holy Ghoft muft have been a perfonal Principle of Power, in the univerfes as much believed and revered by her, as he is by us. And by the inftant tranfition of the angel's ideas and words, from " the Holy Ghofi;" to " the " Power of the Highefl ;" and by his immediate reference of the fame a6t, to both; we fee the Holy Ghoft at once, in her opinions and in his, and in thofe of the whole nation, to be ^^ the" very "Pow- *' er of the Highefl" himfelf. Such cafual flrokes as thefe, when fo large and fo broad, prove authen- tic vouchers for the general faith; and fhov/ the Jews at the time, to have adored God the Holy Ghoft, equally with God the Son, and equally as '^ the Pov/- « er of die Higheft'." But s Luke i. 15. h Luke I. 35. i The Jews ** knew the third perfon'' in the Trinity, " by the R a ** name 244 "THE ORIGIN OF But then this very Being, in the eftimation of the Jews, is inferior to the Son. The powers, which he is declared by Eufebius and the Jews above to poflefs, " he receives/' as Eufebius adds, ^^ not from any other dian from the God Logos, " who is truly higher and better, and whom we '' have faid to be the Second, to the Moft High *' and the ungenerated perfon of God the univerfal " king." It is the Logos too, that " communi- ** cates the fplendours of his domeflick light to — " the Holy Ghoft himfelf, who is nearer to him •*' than all, and very nigh." But it is the Father,, who originally communicates them through the Son. " I'he Father's goods" the Father " af- " fords, — in part to thofe who are partially worthy, *^ l^y the mimjlery and mediation of the Second One^ *' as every perfon can attain ; of which the perfedl *^ and the highly facred things, were imparted by *^ the Father himfelf to the Third One, who *' through the Son receives the things of the Father." So thoroughly and completely God is the Logos, that through him the Sun of the Father's Divinity penetrates, to form another Sun of Divinity in the Godhead, and to confummate the fhining Triad m the reigning Monad of the Deity ! «* name of Binah or Intelligence, becaufe they thought it was ** He that gave men the kno^leJge, of ntjbat God njoas pleafed to re- ** 'veal to them. In particular, they called him the Sanaifier, and ** the Father of faith ; nor is any thing more common among " them, than to give him the name of the Spirit of Holinefsy or the " Holy spirit'' (Allix's Judgment, p. 173). " From ARIANISM DISCLOSED. "245 << From hence," as Eufebius finally tells us, '^ the Hebrews, after the God over all, and after « his Firft-begotten Wifdom, deify the Third and <' Holy Power, calling him Holy Ghoft; by whom <' alfo thofe were enhghtened, who were infpired « by God/* The original Sun of Divinity, and his two fucceffively formed Parbelii, thefe the ne- cefTary and co-eternal effufions of that, and of the fame fplendour and greatnefs with it; all unite to conftitiite that awful fyilem of Intelledual Light, which is at once the caufe, the centre, and the foul of the univerfe; from which all exiftences derive their commencement and receive their continuance, and to which they are like fo many ftars attending upon it: fome of a fuperior luflre, as the angels ; fome of a dimmer brightnefs, as men; and fome of a grolTer beam, as the animate and inanimate ob- jeds around us; but all, like ftars, fmking into a temporary annihilation, when this Triple Sun puts forth its fplendours, and only to be feen when it wraps itfelf in the Ihades of night. And, with fuch lively and glowing colours, has the Divinity of the Son been peculiarly blazoned forth to the world; as the foundation of all rational hope in him, who by the ener- gy of his preachings, the virtue of his life, and the efficacy of his death, was to ranfom us from the captivity of fm and mifery : that Jews and that Chriftians, in aU ages before and fmce his coming for this purpofe, have firmly believed him to be R 3 God, 246 THE ORIGIN OF God, while they expedled him to be man, while they beheld him a man, and even while they acknow- ledged him to have been a man -, contemplating the Deity, in the very clouds and darknefs around him; and viewing that darknefs and thofe clouds, lined with a light of glory within, more than human, more than angelick, and all Divine ^. 8.-T0 k '« As the firft Chriftians make ufe of the word number when ** they fpeak of the Divine Wifdom, acknowledging that it differs ** in number, but not in fubftance, from the Eternal Father (So " Jaltin doth againft Tryphon) ; and do acknowledge fome degrees ** between the three perfons (fo doth TertuUian in fome places) j " and afterwards have made ufe of the word per fin [rather thus : <* and— have made ufe of the word per/on, and afterwards do ac- ** knowledge fom.e degrees between the three perfons] : fo tlie an- *' cient Jews have among them the fame terms, which Ihews they <' had the fame ideas. They fpeak of the Sephiroth, that is of the ** numbers, in the Godhead ; they fpeak of the feveral Madregoth, " which is degrees j they fpeak of Profopin [from the Greek -ro-focra;- *' TTovi fee p. 160], which is perfons'" (Allix's Judgment, p. 163). Of " the third Sephirah, which they call Binah, and which we take ** juftly to be the Holy Ghoil, — they teach that it proceeds //-c?;» " the firfl by the fecond" (p. i65 — 167). <' They attribute equai- ** ly the name of Jeho-vah, to the fecond and the third Sephirab'"' (p. 168). " The author of Zohar cites thefe words of R. Jofe (a ** famous Jew of the fecond century), where examining the text, <* Deut. iv. 7, '" V/ho have their Gods fo near to them,'" *" What"" " faith he," "* may be the meaning of this ? It feems that Mofes *** Ihould have faid, Who have God fo near them. But— there is a «" Superior God, and there is the God ivho nvas the fear of Ifaac, «'< and there is an hferior God: and therefore Mofes faith, Th.e *" Gods fo near. For there are many virtues that come from the *" Only One, and all they are One'"'' (p. 169). And as Methodius ^alls the Son exprefsly, " the all-powerful and flron^- hand of the Fa- *' ther'*. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 247 S. — To thefe evidences, fo powerful and fo ir- refiftible, I lliall add merely the evidence of an early Jew, as it is produced by Eufebiusi in order the more amply to prove, that Eufebius's defcrip- tions of the Jewifh theology are perfectly Jewifli in themfelves. This new witnefs is Ariflobuius, who lived at Alexandria, like Philo ; but lived long be- fore him, being tutor to Ptolemy Philometor, and about a hundred and fifcy years prior to the Chrif- tian sera. He was alfo, what feems very extraordi- nary to our imaginations in a Jew, one of the Peripatetick philofophers of antiquity. And fome fragments of a work of his, that has fmce periflied, are luckily preferved by Eufebius^. In one of thefe, Ariflobuius fpeaks of a ^^ Second ^' Caufe" in the formation of the world, like Philo j but, like him too, fpeaks of it eafily and famiharly, as a Principle known and acknowledged among his countrymen) and, like both Philo and Eufebius, gives it the appellation of " Wifdom..'* Thefe are, fays Eufebius, " Ariilobulus's words concerning " THE Second Cause. "^ And let this be tranf- '^^ ferred alfo to the Wisdom. For all light is *" from it. Wherefore fome alfo [of the Jews] " ther'"' (Bull, p. 148) ; fo do the Jews in their Targums, &c. call Jiim and the Holy Gholt the tnjjo hands of the Father, by which he founded the world, &c. (Allix's Judgment, p. 150 and 162). So 4oes likewife Irenseus call them (iv. 37. p. 330). i Eufebius, 190, zzi, and 241, and II. Maccabees, i. 10. R 4 ''' have 248 THE ORIGIN OF «" have faid, being of the fedl of the Peripateticks 5 *" that this has the office of a lamp, for they who '^^ follow it continually, fhall through all their life '^^ remain without trouble. But one of our proge- *'^ nitorsj Solomon, more plainly and more beauti- "^ fully faid; that it exifted before the heavens and *" the earth ■'\'" In this fhort paffage; we fee the fentiments of Ariftobulus and his countrymen, concerning the Logos; a full century and a half be- fore Philo. They called the Logos " the Wifdom" of God. They confidered him as equally afting with God the Father, in the formation of nature; as being equally a " Caufe" of that formation, with him; and as being a '^ Second Caufe," while he v/as the primary. They alfo revered him, as we ourfelves revere him at prefent, for the great " Fa- " ther of Lights" to men, and for ^*^ the true *' Light, which lighteth every man that cometh in- ^- to the world "." They even looked up to him, like us Chriflians, as the mighty centre of fouls to man; that happy point, to which the good are con- tinually gravitating ; on which, with a vivid feeling of confolation from it, they are leaning fecure; and ^ P. 190 — 19 T. A^trociiXa -ZtTE^i ra uwh [ts A;'JT£^a cami]. MeTOitpo^otro ^' ccv To ccvtq y.oa etti T'/iq So^tag, to yap 'Sjclv (puiq sfH' sf aVTriq. ^10 aoci. nvsq «^r,xacrt ruv SH. rr,<; Ui^iaiUq QVTiq BK TH ^^piTTtZTii, xxraf/ia-ovriyA ot"" o^y th ^ly. crtx.(pes-Bpov ^£ koci -/.xKhiov run nixiri^uv is-^o- yovuv Tt; «7r£, "LoXouuv, U^o a^ava y.ai y'/ig oiVT'/jV VTra-o^&tv. P Ep. of James, i. 17, and John, i. 9. fi'om ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 249 from which, under all the labours of life, and amldft ail the diftradions of the world, they are perpe- tually " finding reft unto their fouls «.'* And they awfully acknowledged him, with all this friendlinefs for man, to be infinitely dignified above him; to have exifced, before the heavens were expanded over his head, and before the earth was fpread un- der his feet; and indeed to have aded, in fpreading and expanding them for him. But Ariflo'gulus proceeds in another fragment, to a more lofty account of the Logos ; though it mull ftill turn upon the fame incidents, in his perfonal and ofiicial nature. The fineft parts of the creation, are formed of fimple elements of matter. The Sun is compounded of the fame ingredients, as a rofe. But the Sun is much more briUiant, though both are beautiful. And Ariftobulus thus unveils his Sun to our eyes. Endeavouring to Ihow, how much " the Greeks «« owed to the philofophy among the Hebrews;" he tells us : " Pythagoras, and Socrates, and Plato, ^' feem to me to hzvt/urveyed all [the law of MoJes\ « with a curious eye, and to have followed him in '^^ faying, that the materials of the univerfe heard *f the voice of God; all accurately believing it to be « made by God, and to be inceffantly bound toge- ff ther by him. And Orpheus alfo, in his poems 0 Mat, xi. 29. ^^ on ^fO THE ORIGIN OF *< on die things faid to him according to the Sacred ;^£ o-e rcc ttdiv E»$ ^£ Xoyov Qetov QXe-^aq, tj/Iw Tr^Qae^csvEy I^vvcov Kca'^tJi? voifov Kvloq' tv d'' iTnQxivt j{ifa'n'iliij yLBvov ^^ ecropa. noo'i/.oio rv7rcSlr,v A^avoclov' 'TtccXaioq h Xoyoq irtoi ra^g (pct^vM, 10. E»? er' ocvlolsX-nqi avln ^' yTro ttccvIcc reXsilca' Ev a' uvloiq a.v\o<; "TTEmvic-a-elon' eh rn; uvlov EKTooaa, -^v^uv Qv/^iavy vu ^' eio-opoccclai. Avloq (^' eI a.'ya9a;» Gi/'/jiot? nocxov Hk. iirili'KKH AvQpbi'jroiq' uvlco ^e %af (? xatt fAwro? oTT'/j^e/, 15. Kat TtoXst^ogy x«t Xoi^ocy »^' oKyza, aa.y.DVO£vlx»: Ovh T»$ £yG' elspos* o-y o£ >c£v p£Oi TravT EcropTjcraif, A»K£v t^*)? avlov wpty o>j woig oaf^' etti yonxv, Tiytvoy sfji^ov, hi^u cot o'ffYiViy.ot, ^£po//«i aJJa SO. Aylov ^' «p^ opow* TTECt y;^p vs^pog Errpixlat AoiTTo;' £f<,oi, racriv ^£ oajia 7rlu;^a» av^puTTOKTiv* Ov yap Tiiv TK *^o' ^vr\\av fj^iprjiruv xpocivovlsi, Et jM,>5 yt^avoyariq tk anroppo:-^ (pvXa avu^ev KaX^cauv' ihi<; yap bvjv ccTOOio '?roo£iYi<; 35. Kat o-!p3ttp^^, Kirr,yJ' ocij.(pi ^^^ovcc uq •yrBpileA^.eii KvuKolBpsi; y' sv laru y.cclx h a-ipelspov y.vu^xy.a,* Tlvevjxalx ^' nviop^j^ -Trspt r* fitpa. yon Trspi ^sv[ji.» Na//,aIof, enCpccrm ob Trvpo; atXctq y^iyBvvHn. Avloq ^'/) fjLsyccv ccv^k; stt' apccvov BTYipixlex,'., 30. ijCpva-tu) sm Bpovco' yatn ^^ vtto ttoc-o-* ^EC/ixev* Kelpoc ^s ^B^ilcpviv ETTi rBpixaia-iv aiy.BxvoiQ 'EiilBla.y.svj opiuv h Tp£/>cH; ^xctk; ev^oOt 6y//.w, Ovh (pipeiv ^vvxiai ypccitpov yi^tvoq. £f i ^£ Trocvlui; Avloq ETTUpxHoq, KOii ETTi p,^9on 9rxiix TeXevlxf 35. Apx'nv x'Sloq s^uv y.xi [ABO-aev vih rsXsvln»» ^9 254 "^"^ ORIGIN Of the old bard, fearching out for his Redeemer amidfl: the clouds of Heathenifm, catching allrong and lively glimpfe AXXue a ^eixilov ^i Xtyav' TcojOtew ^£ ys yvicc' 40. n Tiicvovy crv ^g Tot? vooicrt -TrsXa^EO, y>.U(j(7r,v Many of thefe Hnes are equally cited, by Clemens Alexandrlnus, p. 63 — 64, and 723 — 7245 and by Jullin Martyr, p. 15 — 16, and 104 — 105. But it is apparent from a collation of all, that neither tliey nor Ariftobulus quote the lines, regularly as they flood in the original. They leap over fome, and yet continue the metre. The broken lines are made to unite and knit together, jufl as if they had never been broken. By this kind of critical chirurgery, Ariftobulus has omitted fome which they fupply, and they have dropt others which he furni(hes. And though the weight of my argument muft reft, only on what Ariftobulus has given himfelf j yet the elucida- tion of the fenfe, requires all the fcattered parts to be re- united here. Thus, to overlook little variations that affecSt not the fenfe, the fecond line is entirely omitted by Juftin, in both his citations j and tlie third is connedled thus. What is furprizing, the very fame fuppreffion, and the very fame connexion, are in Clemens, p. 63. At the eighth line, the laft word is ccvuiclix in Juftin and in Clemens j and the firft of the next line, a^ccvcclovf is omitted in Juftin, but preferved by Clemens (p. 63 and 723). Clemens alfo omits all the reft of the ninth line, as Juftin does the whole. The tenth to the thirteenth lines are read tlms, by both Juftin and Clemens j only Clemens in the eleventh reads the verb, as Ariftobulus does : Ej? sr' a.vloytvr,qi evoq eyfovx 'nrctvloc rtlcciilcii^ E» ^' avloiq av\o<; vrgpyt.'yvalat* a^e nq uvlo* "Eiffopoca, Gj-'/flwv, at^o{ h yi 7r«vl«{ ocaJccj. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 255 gllmpfe of him at times, and then lofmg him again in the gathering thicknefs of his atmofphere. We fee him He is the One produced by himfelfy And all creation is the child of one j With that he is encircled j nor can any Of mortal fpirits fee him, 'vohile hiinfelf Sees all. The thirteenth to the fifteenth lines run thus in Juftin and in Clemens, with only (f Jlaysi in the latter (p. 725) for ^towc-t in the former J But he from good educes ill to men, And bloody war, and much -lamented woes. The fourteenth line is entirely dropt. And, in confequence of this, the whole paifage is made to affirm in Juftin and Clemens, what the former part of it denies in Ariftobulus. In the fixteenth line, there is an omifTion of a contrary nature. Ariftobulus leaves out what Juftin retains, but what indeed is not neceftary to the fullnefs, though it is to the clearnefs, of the fentiment : Nor is there other than the Mighty King. The reft of the fixteenth, and all of the leventeenth to the nineteenth lines, is omitted by Juftin. The twenty- firft is alfo omitted by him, and tliefe two are iUbjoined to the twentieth : Ylaa^v yoL^ Gvv^Ioj? ^n^oci nopcci sa-iriv sv o<7croiqt AaQiHsq ^' t^env Ata rov ttocvIuv ^t^iovlcx,. For mortal are the pupils in the eyes Of mortal men, too weak to look on Jove The King of all. At the twenty-third line Clemens remarks, that Orpheus, " having ** pronounced God to be invifible, fays he is to be known only by a *' certain 256 THE ORIGIN OF him very naturally exulting in the view ; calling on his fon Mufeus, to ihare it with him 3 yet confider- ing «' certain perfon, by birth a Chaldaean 5 meaning either Abraham *' or a fon of his" (p. 723). Clemens certainly did not underftand the paiTage. It fpeaks not of the general invifibility, but of the particular appearance, of the Logos. Orpheus too means Abraham only. This is plain from the double defcription of him, as an exile from Chaldasa, and as a proficient in aftroncmy. Eufebius (p. 244 — 246) cites Berofus, who lived near three hundred years before our Saviour, witnefTmg that Abraham w^as *' {killed in the knowledge *« of the heavens," roc, spana eixTrsifoq ; Eupolemus of nearly the fame age, that '* he was even the difcoverer of the Chaldasan allrology,'* rviv ccTfoAoyiav xa; ;!^aX^aix^i/ bv^^v 5 Artapanus of nearly the fame^ that from Chaldaea '* he went forth to Phoenicia, and taught aftrology ** to thePhcenicians,"" tt^uIov /xev e>^^siv bk; ^oin5i»i/, yai t»? (poiviKuq arpo' ^oy^av ot^cc^cn j Eupolemus again, that *' he came and dwelt in *« Phoenicia, and taught the Phoenicians the changes of the fun and ** moon, and all the other things" relating to allronomy, rpoTra? xMa V.0C1 (jtkrmc^ Kcci ra cOO\o(. wavltx,, ^t^x^ocvlu raq (pom-Kxt; j and Nicolaus Damafcenus, who was nearly cotemporary with our Saviour, that <* he taught arithmetick and aftrology to the Egyptians," mv re ccfi^lJir^iyiYjv avloii; p^^apjelat, y.Qn rex. 7rsfi ar^oT^oyiccv TrafocMuai. Thus does the beft of mere men, who ftands fo diftinguifhed in Sacred Hiftory, as one whom God peculiarly honoured with the high title of his friend ; ftand equally recorded in Profane Hiftory, as the in- ventor of aftronomy for the Chaldseans, the firft aftronomers upon earth j and as the teacher of it and of arithmetick to the Egyptians and Phoenicians, the earlieft fcholars and navigators of antiquity. And, as he is equally marked for a great aftronomer here j fo is he here introduced, to be the reprefentative of the nation that defcend- ed from him. Clemens recites the whole paffage concerning Abraham, with Ariftobulus ; but Juftin recites the twenty-ninth line afterwards, in this manner : Ovlo; yap p^«Xx«ov e? a^xvov sfy)f^KllX(f turning ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 25/ mg himfelf in the ad, as prefuming to undraw the curtain of the fanduary, and to difclofe the folemn turning the ample heaven into a brazen one. Jullin alfo gives us the thirty-fecohd and thirty-third lines, in which Clemens agrees with Ariftobulus j after this very different form from both : .... His right hand he has llretch'd On e^very fidey and round him trembling lie The hills, the ri, '^ to the bounds of the ocean." And " the hilla *^ are trembling within to their bafe," as unable to fiiftain the weight of his wrath. Yet he flill confines his perfon to heaven. He thence exerts his arm of energy, and executes all his purpofes upon earth. And he comprehends within himfelfi at once the Beginning, the Middle,, and the End, of every Being in the whole compafs of nature. Such is the aftonifliing delineation of the Grand Saviour of mankind, by the very early pencil of this refpedable Heathen! It is very like the deline- ation of him, givea us by Virgil before. Both are^ no doubt, copies taken from the fame primitive original. This copy by Orpheus, is awfully pleafing and agreeably flriking. The veil of Heathen ig- norance, indeed, has thrown a fbade over fome of the finer features of th^ face- But the figure comes livelily and boldly forward, upon the canvas. We hail with religious rapture the Evangelical Reflorer of man, we gaze with devout fondnefs upon our Patron and our Benefadlor, in this antient. portrait by the hand of Heathenifm. And in reverential filence we contemplate, the dignity of the Godhead on his brow, the lufter of the Godhead in his eye, and the majefly of the Godhead through all the lineaments of his face. Such is the Jove of the Chriftians, as formed by this Phidias of little fame! It ARIANISM DISCLOSED. l'6i It ferves wonderfully with Virgil's^ Epicharmus's, and all the other accounts before; to fhow us what an infight many good men had, in the early ages of Heathenifm, into the great counfels of Heaven for the recovery of man. It particularly fliows us in conjunftion with them, with what a flrong ef- fulion of light they faw the nature of Him, who was' to be the agent in carrying thofe counfels into exe- cution, and in effedling that recovery by therru And it finally unites with all, to fhow us the three grand di vifions of pafl and of prefent mankind. Heathens, Jews, and Chrifliansi all concurring to afcribe the plenitude of derivative Divinity, to their common Logos i and all in concert acknowledging him with pious awe, as their Brother by a material birth, as their Inftru6lw and Exhort er by oiSce, and yet, under the Father, as their Creator originally, their Governor and Preserver at prefent, and their Lord God Omnipotent for ever'. CHAPTER s Juftin Martyr, p. 16, repeats thefe lines additional, from the iarae poet : OvfccvoVf opy.i^a} (Tb, fisa (Xiyac'Xe.f (To(p^y epycv' ATAHN opjci^o; as Ilalpo?, rriv (p^i^ccio irculov, Hfiy.cc Koa-^AOv ocTiruvla £Onq f/i^i^oclo ^aXccn;.. Thee I adjure, O heay'n, the work of Him Who is the wife and mighty God ; thee too. Voice of the Father, I adjure, whom firii He into being fpoke, when all the world By his own counfels he eltablifhed. ,83 We 26a THE ORIGIN OF CHAPTER THE FOURTH, — I: — In this decidve and demonflrative manner, have wc feen die original opinions of the Jews^ all fixedly centered We have feen the Logos called the ^uvn or rolce of God, by Arta- panus before (Part Vth. a note); as he is here called the Av^y) or f^oice of the Father, by Orpheus. Orpheus thus notices the Logos for the firft time, as the Son of God ; by denominating God his Fa- ther. He alfo reprefents him, juft as Philo and the firft Chriftians, do, even thofe who give him a pofitive co-eternity with the Father ; as produced by the Father, nvhen he deputed him to create the world. And Juftin, p. 24, cites thefe wonderful words from Plato, which are in his Book De Legibus, lib. iv. p. 600. (Opera Omnia, Genevas, 1590)} 0 ^juv h ©EOS, ua'n-if 3ta» O IIAAAIOr AOror, Ap^'/)v y.ui TeXsJJj^v xoci Mscroc twv 'rravluv £%&'«'; ** GoD, as alfo THE *' Ancient Logos, has the Beginning and End and Middle of ** all things in himfelf." Juftin ftrangely applies, as the modern tranflators do, " the Antient Logos" or ** Word'' to the law of M9fes. Juft fo have the tranflators and interpreters done, with the fame words in the poem of Orpheus. But the acquaintance of Orpheus or of Plato with the law of Mofes, is an incident not at- tefted by any evidence, in the (lighteft degree hiftorical j and in the real ftate of that law, all locked up as it was from infpeftion of Hea- thens by its Hebrew language, is impofllble to be true in itfelf. The mere reading indeed of the poetical extrafts, fhows the meaning of it beyond adoubc. Nor can even the profaicalt by any laws of con- ftruftion, admit of a different meaning. And Orpheus's applica- tion of the very fame words to his God Logos, and Philo's applica- tion of funilar words to him, ^0705 0 iz^ia^Mo^i or the very Antient Logos ARIANISM DISCLOSED, 0.6^ centered in the belief of a Trinity in the Godhead. But how long they retained thefe opinions, is not fo clear. The lateft authority which Eufebius has adduced, is that of Philo the cotemporary of the Apoftles. So late are we fure that the Jews ilill perfifled, in the fentiments of their Fathers and the Patriarchs. But a revolution of fuch a magnitude as this, a revolution that changed the whole pofition of the globe, as it were, and totally inverted the poles of it; would require a long continuance of time afterwards, to elFed it. It openly began, I fear, immediately after Philo. But it made only a (low and un-alarming progrefs, for a long time af- terwards. This the Book of Baruch, the Second Book of Efdras, and the Teftaments of the twelve Patriarchs, very plainly concur to tell us. The mode, in which thefe three works afTert the Divinity of the Son of God, like that of the Book ofWifdom and all the other works of Philo; incidental in itfelf^ profefling no oppofition to audacious hereticks among their countrymen, and expedling no en- (;Dunter from formidable hereticks among them; Logos (iii. 6) J unite to point out to us at once, what the obvious import of them in Plato would induce us, and what the necelTary principles of conftruftion muft compel us, to confider as their ge- niiine meaning. Thus interpreted, Plato concurs with Orpheus, Virgil, Epicharmus, and all the Jews, in giving a pofitive Divinity to the Logos ; and fo clofes an aflonifhing chain of evidence, for this primitive truth, this great principle of natyr^ as well as of re- pealed religion. S 4 ipeaks 264 THE ORIGIN OF fpeaks fufKciently to the point, and ihows the gc* neral faith to be flill the fame in the time of all. And the Jews continued, like their enemies the Chriftians, to worlliip a God of three perfons in one fubftance ; and the fecond of thefe perfons, as pe^ culiarly the Lord of nature, and the God of their nation : even when they had crucified him in a lui- man form, upon one of their hills near Jerufalem ; when they had repeated their rebellion againft him, by perfecuting his followers on every fide -, and when his religion, in fpite of all their efforts, had taken deep root in their foil, had Ihot out its branches into the nations around, and was preparing to cover the whole world with its fhade. As late then as the beginning of the fecond cen- tury, did the Jews generally continue in the faith of their anceflors and of all mankind, concerning the Deity of the Logos or Son of God. So far did the heaven-defcended Nile flow on, generally pure and limpid in its waters. But it foon contraded an ap- parent foulnefs, from the muddy foil through which it was now running. In half a century, it became difcoloured all over; and has continued fo ever fince. This the dialogue of Justin Martyr with Trypho the Jew, which was written about the year 155 ^ comes in with a melancholy efficacy to fhow us. « See Mod. \Jn. Hill. xiii. 16^. '' The ARIANISM DISCLOSED, 265 ' 'f The prophets/* fays Trypho, " glorified the *^ Creator of all things, God, tytn the Father -, and " proclaimed him that was to come from him, " Chriji his Son'','* The Jews, like our modern Arians, flill acknowledged their MelTiah to be the Son of God y but, like them, in fome equivocal and ir-relative fenfe, that was incompatible with his Scriptural attributes of honour, incompatible with his Scriptural inveftment of Divinity. " As to what *^ you fay," adds Trypho afterwards, *^ that this " Chrift EXISTED AS God from all eternity, *^ and then endured to be born and become man, *^ and yet not man off man; Jeems to me^ — not only *^ 'paradoxical^ hut alfo foolijh^" " I,'' fays Jufbin, ^' repHed to this," that " I know the account feems *^ paradoxical, and principally to the men of your nn~ " tion-y — but I can fhow, that he even pre-existed " THE Son of the Creator of all things, being ^^ God, and was born man through a virgin >." *^ JVe all" as Trypho rejoins, « expe^ Chrift to *^ be born a man off men ; — anfwer me therefore firft, *' how you can Ihow that there is any other Gody " p. 225. Toy Tto^y^fiv Tm o\m Ssov «at TlaliBci £^o|a^ov, y.cci rov 'iraa" ttvla XfiTov yjov aJ]« y.ot]nyysX\ov . * P. 267. To ya,^ hiym aiy vrfovrra^x^^y ^««>' ^^«'y "^fo cctuvwv TbIov Xftrov, itict xcx,i yevvn^r^vcii arfipwTrov yBvoixevov VKo^nvui, y.ai oil an, uv^fUTToq a| otv^^wrrB, » fj^ovov 7rapa^o|ov Jok« /aoj tivocii ctXKa kch [xapov, y P. 267. Ot^' oil 'TTccfu^o^oi; 0 hoyo; ^oksi £»vat, xa» uatXira, to*? cctto Ttf ytvaq vix&iv — . uTToh^i^ui — ^vvufiui, olt xat '7rf>Qv.<)ynia,i «»a». ^ P. 284. Atto twv y^a.(puv ^ucrUf Jit af^xvf wpo iravluvruv x\KriJi.oilcJVf o 0£O5 ytyivvyini Afv«/Atv T*J»a e^ turjla T^oymviVj ^n; x«i Ao|« K-vpm vTra in IIhv[a.oiIo<; m Aym xaXetlat, vols ^b Ttoj, Tr^li ^i l.o(piu, wJIe ^i Ay- yiKo^i Truli 01 ©io?, woIe ^i Kfptoj xat Aoyot;. P. 287. Olt yBv Kuh- fr^QO-xwr^oq £n> «<** ©£&? «at Xptro?, y^ro T« uvla <7roinauvloq ixa^v^sixtvo^. P, 288—289. IvCC HUi ©£0V UVU^ty 'TTDOiX^QvloC, KOtl OiV^CUTTOV SV avGpWTTOJJ ytvofjitvov f yvt>)fi(7'niti aon ttocT^iv ctetvov TTccDocyivvrjO'ViAiyoVf ov ocuv ixsT^ao^ ic W 'S ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 267 *' ing theje things ; and rather fay, that this Jefus *^ was a man off men : for you attempt to demon- *' ftrate a point incredible^ and almofi impqffihky that *^ God endured to be born, and to become man ^,'* *' Since you fay," he fubjoins, " that Chrift was ^^ pre-exiftent as very God, and by the will of ^' God was made flefh, and born man off a virgin ; *' how can ye demonftrate his pre-exiftence ^ V Juflin therefore proceeds to demonftrate it, affert- ing Jofhua to have given only a temporary inherit- ance to the Jews, " as being not Chrift the God, *^ or THE Son of God i" and noticing the Sacra- ment of the Eucharift, as *^ a memorial of the *^ Paffion, which God fufFered in the very God®." And at the clofe Juftin fays thus : " if jy*? had known " thefe things, O Trypho, ye would not have blaf- *' phemed him, who has now been come, been " born, has fufFered, and has afcended into heaven; *^ who fhall alfo appear again, and then ftiall your ** twelve tribes mourn: for if ye had underftood the '' fayings of the prophets, ye had not denied him to « P. 491. Y//-EK> Ta avlec — >.iyov\iqi cci^ncj^on o^e<.i;t*!5 £)t>£X*; arid £^£oc> e*j&t.i/Sitr,. See alio the note for Scaliger. * P. 340. Se6l. ix, Oyco-/)x.oPix Jtat e^ elri Ep(;w ^iiAtvuv ccvlcj.. Se6l. xii. p. 346. O Trig aaiQeta^ [rather Aa-.a.q^ hoacrAa7\i'<;, 0 •jsoclyj^ Tw* X^tn- avuvj 0 ruv yiulbIb^uv iitujy Kuhxt^firic, and p. 350. Se(ft. xiii. Ata to aw* P P. 352. Se6l. xiv. Aiv« <7£, tv7.oyu Q-iy ^o^a^u as, avi ru atuiyiy xcti fTTti^avKf \T,aH X^iff'j ccya.TTvi'icj era ^ocih* f/Ab^ a io>\o7rn7ixevov Bxeivoi/ co^iTfiV avruv 'cr^oc-y.vvojai. So p. 2,75, tov yayav yav lyieivov in as* Qacriv ocv^fuTcov, rov zv rv) Ua.Xcus'iv'n avcca-Ko?.o7ric-Qtvr!x.. See Pearfcn on the Creed, p. 203, for (7y.o\o-i\/. " Thefe unhappy men," fays Lucian, the wretched defpifer of all that was great and lovely in hu- man nature, *' are perfuaded they are wholly immortal, and fliall live *■* for ever 5 wherefore they even contemn death, and many voluntarily ** offer themfelves to die. Afcer their Firil Lawgiver pei-fnaded " them, to be all brothers to one another ; then they at once re- ** volted, denied the gods of the Greeks, and now adore,*' &c. IltTreiy.cca-i ya^ ocvraq oj y.ccy.oaoi.i^ov8vTeCf ro f/.iv oXov a^avccroi toi^-^aiy x.oci ^ici}a-£a-(}a.i rov uh ^^avov' tsix^ q kxi y.ix,ra.^covea-i re ^avctrHy y.cti ■v£a$ /Af^, K. T. A. T 4 falfely j SSo THE ORIGIN OF falfely; and then holds up the whole fyflem of Hea- then mythology, to the ridicule which it fo naturally provoked from its intrinfick abfurdities '^ '^ I will " teach thee," he adds, " what is the univerfe, and *^ who is he that was before all things, and what is *^ the frame of the univerfe. For I myfelf was *' once in your unhappy fituation, when the Gali- " LEAN met with me. This bald-headed and hook^ " nojed man, having mounted through the air to " the third heaven, and having learned there things " of the faired kind ; has renewed us by water, has '^ guided our feet into the fteps of the Blefied, and '^ has ranfomed us from the regions of the ir-reli- *' gious. And I will make you, if you will lifren " to mx, a man in reality'"." " There was," he fubjoins concerning the chaos of *^ the univerfe, " He who was Light Incorruptible, *^ Invifible, Incomprehenfible, which difTolved the " darknefs, and chaced this deformity away, a word *^ only being fpoken by him', as the Stammerer hath *^ recorded. He compared the earth upon the waters, « he ^ p. 4.60. Phllopatns. T&;j/ rpi^ y.a,Ta,ca.riO)/ sxeiwv o-o^iriiv, p. 461, vvi TG'j Aia rov aiGt^io, and 461 — 468. * P. 468 — 4^9' Eyw ya^ crs di^a^oj ri To way, y.a.i tk 0 'Sr^cortv 'mocv- rsi>v, y.ii.i Ti TO cri'Tv.ij.a. ry -sratr*^. xai ya^ 'U7^uy,v ;ia.yco racvTcc E'^aa-^ov uTTi^ av, TiviKCi. 6b /xoi ra?viAat©- svbtv^^bv. uiia,(pa,Xccvriccgi ETrip^t;/!^, £<; TfJTov Ufavuv ai^rjQctqrna-uqy k«» tec, )ia.X>3/>ta{ bcUTTOVt The ARIANISM DISCLOSED, ^Bl «f he ftretched forth the heaven, he configurated the <^ fixed ftars, he commanded the courfe of thofe « whom The perfonalities here concerning our Saviour, are very remark- able But both thefe ftrong marks of fnnilarity, the hooked nofe and the 'baldnefs, are wholly difcarded by our painters. Yet the autlio- rity of fo early a writer as Lucian, is fufficient to aflign them both to our Saviour. We have even the latter confirmed, in a fignal and unnoticed paffage of ecclefiaftical hiftory. Near the end of the fifth century, a painter of Conftantinople (fays Theodorus) " prelumed « to draw our Saviour in the charafter of Jupiter," r« av t«|« A^^^ 1 ^ - T ;Vp a fecond Phidias, no doubt, Jie drew him from the original of Jupiter in Homer : H, >£a; Kvavsr.criv ett' o(pfV<7t vivai K^sciwi^* K^ocroi; a7r' cx,^ocvo(,roio, Jove fpoke, and nodded with his dark-blue brows : And on the head of the immortal king Loofe flowed his treiTes fcented with ambrofia. The dark brows and the flowing treffes were given to our Saviour j and our Jupiter was decorated with the two great eniigns of Ho. mer's But, what ftrongly fliows the averfion of the age to fuch a portrait, the painter is faid to have been puniflied by a miracle, for lus raihnefs. And, as the hiftorian remarks very appofitely to Lucian^s m- timation, '' a different figure for our Saviour, one with curled and thin '< hair is more true 5'' to a^^o .r^: enumerat autores Ver- « rius, quibus credere fit neceife, Jo^is ipfius fimulachri faciem die- *« bus feftis minio illini folitam, triumph antumque corpora-, fic Camil^ <' lum triumphaje, hac rcligione etiam mmc addi in unguenta coena= «' triumphaUs, et a cenforibus in primis >-x;^;« mmtandurn locari: « cujus rei quidem caufam miror 5 quanquam et hodie id expeti « conftat ^thiopum populis, totofque eo tingi procerus, huncque tbt ** deorum fimulachrh colorem #" (xxxiii. 7). We thus fee the praftice of painting the face, beginning with the human perfon, thea communicated to the Divine ftatue, once retained by both at Rome, and, as late as the days of Pliny, retained by both in Ethiopia. But we may come ftiU nearer to the point. In Judaea, in Greece, and at Rome, the women 5 and in Media, fometimes in Parthia, the very men • aaually coloured over their eye-bro^vs with a wafh of antimo- ny that gave them a black appearance (Xenophon's Kr^^a n«;.^««, p 'x 5, Hutchinfon, edit. 3d ; and Ainfwortli under Suhium). Even now, as appears from Mr. Bruce's Travels, the Ethiopians at times blacken their l\ps with antimony 5 and, as equally appears from Mr. Franklms 2^^ THE ORIGIN OF " books, and will repay to all in the day which he 'f himfeif has appointed^." Thus does Lucian re- prefcnt the fyftem of Chrillianity in that early day of it, to have confidered, " Him who is Light In- ^^ corruptible, Invifible, Incomprehenfible j" Him, who at the creation " diflblved the darknefs, and *^ chaced the deformity away, a word only being " fpoken by him, as [Mofes] the Stammerer hath " recorded i" Him, who then " compa6led the " earth upon the waters," who " flretched forth " the heaven," who " configurated the fixed ilars," and who " commanded the courfe of thofe whom '^ the Heathen worfhipped as Gods/' Him, who afterwards " beautified the earth with flowers," then " produced man out of non-entity into being, " and is" now " in heaven beholding the juft and *^ unjuft, and writing their deeds in books ;" Him therefore, who was fo confeiTedly God in the opi- nion of the Chriflians at that time, and who is fo Franklin's Travels into Perfia, the Perfian v/omen rub their eye- hroavj and eye-lids with the black powder of antimony, which they call Surma, and from which the native lullre of their eyes acquires an additional brilliancy. *" P. 469 — 470. Hi/ Qu(; ccp^iTov, aofxrov, a.y.xra,voY)roVf 0 "kvei ro c-KOToqy y.xi 7r,v a,y.o(7ij.iccv Tccvrr,v ct.'TrrtXccs-Zy 'Aoyu} fj.ovu} ^jjOevTi fTr' ocvrHf tL-q 0 tipoe.ovy?^U(70-oq uriiy^a-^ccTo' yr,v iTTrt'^iv ep^ vdacrtv, Hfocvov rccvvaev, (crtoaq tfA,of^coa-(v ccir'Accvaiqt opo/xov curu^aio, a; cv asQr) S-jy?. y^v ^s roiq avGio-n/ iy.aXXuTriaev, aybfUTfov iz fjLVi ovtojv etq to eivui 'vrodiv eig ayo'oujv, 'nro^i croi 'sroXt^f vi^e tox»;£?j X^'KS'og ya^ ccv ^Vic airo yi ra o-^v^/^car©^ ; p. 480. td-w? roc, rr,(; cetoAew?, xai roc m y.oa-ixn' 'A> ^^ iyuj ^ciipuj-i yi. 'njccvnqy kch eTi yB p(^ccfYiaovrcci' oi oe avivivaav rcng o(^ft\rJ:/, a^ aruj avfOKet yap *j rcc rfotroTTE^cx, v>r\ovoc rav tvav- rict^v y'c\>r,<7ovra,^' and p. 482. r,7\iHq haoc acnroi dta/>t£j'»/AEv, v.ai ett; 'Ztra.'.- iv^ie; Vfxvcf^kccq fTra^puTn-avrej, ove-i^'jjrlouBv rcc roiavrx. So Julian the .ipoftatc fpeaks of Diodorus the Chriftian, as having ** a face *< dreadfully pale," " faciem pallore confeftam" (Facundus, iv. 2, p. 59;. Lucian fliows, that the Heathens fancied this palenefs iji the Chrlftians, t>ecaufe of their falling. i P. 484. 'Eoca-ov T8Ta.:, r-nv iv^r,v ctTTo -crarfo; oco^at/^svoq} koh rr,i> feen ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 193 Teen the chanted fervices of the Chriftians, to form the principal part, and fo to give the general deno- mination, of their nodlurnal devotions. Pliny alfo informs the emperor, that the Chriftians met " be- " fore day, 2ind fmg a hymn alternately to Chrift as " God '^." But thefe fongs of the church always terminated, with a " Song of many names." They terminated with that Ihort hymn of glorification, which v/e ftill ling to the whole trinity. We termi- nate every pfalm fo. So have all the weftern churches done, except the Roman; from and before the beginning of the fifth century. But the eaftern and the Roman " added the Song of many namee,'* only " at the clofe" of all '\ The Chriftians thus appear ™ Epift. X. 97. *' Ante lucem convenire, carmenque Chrlflo, «* Xjuafi Deo, dicere fecum in'vicem"— There is a Greek hymn to Chrift i^ Clemens Alexandrinus, p. 3 i-a j v/hich has been conjec- tured by Bull, p. 169, to be either one of tlie very hymns here al. luded to by Pliny, or one compofed in imitation of them. But the reading of it is fufiicient in my opinion, to {how it is not tlie former. It is too wild, too figurative, and too abftrafted, ever to have been ufed in any popular affembly. Nor does it divide itfelf into alter- nate parts. But it addrelles our Saviour, as " King of Saints, the " All -conquering Logos of the Mod High Father, Ruler of Wif- " dora, — Heavenly Way, Everlafting Logos, Infinite Duration, " Eternal Light," &c. And it is introduced thus: '' As we are *^ now in the church , let as fing praifes to the Lord" (p. 311). " CafTian, lib. ii. cap. 8. " Illud etiam quod in hac provincia 'f [Gallia] vidimus, ut, uno cantante, in claufula pfalmi omnes aC- '* tantes concinant cum clamore, Gloria Patri, ct FHio, et Spiritui ^\ San6lo 3 nufquam -per omnevi orjente??} audiyimus, fed cum omnium U 3 *' filentiq. ^94 "^"^ ORIGIN OF appear in the time of Lucian, to have fpent a por- tion of the night in publick devotions to God^, to have made alternate pfalmody the main fubftance of them, to have begun with a fet prayer to God the Father, and to have ended their pfalmody, as we end every pfalm, and as we conclude our whole fervice, with an addrefs to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghofl, all fpecifically named together. And this tellimony exadly coincides with a Chriilian and comprehenfive one, about the condufion of the fecond century; one Caius, a prefoyter of Rome, faying expiefsiy, that " the holy pfalms and fongs " of the brethren, v^Yiichfrom the beginning have been " written by the faithful, are hymns deifying " Christ the Word of God "." We ** filentio, ab eo qui cantat finite pfalmo, orationem fuccedere, banc *' \tio glorijjcationem Trinitatis tantummodo folere anUpho?:a terini- *' nari [antlphonam terminare]." Bingham's Orig. Eccl. Book xiii, chap. X. kSt. 14. See alfo xiv. i, 8. • Eufebius, Eccl. Hift. v. a8. "^aA/zoi ^i oco; [it fhould be oaioi.'] xui udui u^t\(puvi e6'7rac^-/i<; [o-tt' af%v3?] yfa.(piKrce>i, rov '/.oyov ra •&£» rov X^irov t'^v«(7i ^toXoyovvnq. Irenacus adv. Hssr. i. 5, p. i6, a'/o (hows us, that at this very ti?/}e the Chriftians ufed the whole doxo- logy, jLilt as we now ule it ; he referring to the very clofe of it, .ey.ov Tuv lloc^Qvutuv y.cci Po}[xa,iuv (p. 381)* He theii fpeaks of ■'' the king *'■ of the PerfianSj" tuv Yli^auv ^ccai': icc, as oppofed to " our general" ■y^lA^iTt^o)/ a.n-(ovToc (p. 375 — 380). He afterwards calls this king of the Perfians -exprefsly, Vologejus (380, 386, &c.). Ke notes " the *' ruin brought upon Nijlbisy becaufe it would not take part with ■*• the Romans,'" aov Ntat^jjyctj Xoi/jlov, tou; ^^'/j ret Pwy^cnuv uiPhty^noiCi £7rY,yccye (ip. 381). He hints at Ofroes fwimming acrofs the Tigris, and h-Jing himfelf in a cave (p. 386 — 387). He alfo fpeaks of a ^reat battle at Europus (p. 388 and 396), a town in Mefopotamia (p. 392), and of an afiault made upon £de/J'a (p. 389)5 and obferves jn general " of the things nonv done by the Romans in Armenia, •*' and Mefopot-amia, and Media,"' ruv £v A^fxtvio. kch Msa-oTroraiy.ia- y.oti su Mi^ta. Pw/Aatot? vvv 'uTfa-x.^Burco)! (p. 401). And finally he no- tices Prifcus Se-veriatius or Se'verinus (p. 343 and 344), Saturnmus, Fro/ito, and Titia/xus (p. 388), as all engaged in the warj when they jwere adlually the generals of the Romans in it. See Anc. Un, Hill. XV. ?.i3- 214, from Dio and others. Only the account in p. 214, which " Lucian is not afliamed to tell us ;" is merely an ac- <:ount, that is exprefsly ridiculed by him for its moniJ:rous abfurdity (p. 388). Nor is the note in p. i 38 lefs faife, which attributes this .dialogue to Trajan's victories and the year 115. He who mentions fadts that happened in 165, could hardly have hinted at a fa6t as very recent, which happened half a century before. The fame events are undoubtedly alluded to, in both thefe tr:^6ls. And the Chrhlian in Philopatris adds, with an immediate reference to Chrift, upon thefe great events: ^' I, O Critias, leave thefe things to our *' children, to fee Babylon deftroyed, Egypt enfiaved, the children " of the Perfians fpending their days in flavery, the excurfions of U 4 ** the Q.g6 THE ORIGIN OF and the ridiculers of its dodlrines, united with evan-r geliils, apoilles, and martyrs; all proving beyond a pofTibility <^' the Scythians reftralned, I wifli I could fay precluded ; and we, *' having found him 'who -/^f..'' he adds (ii. p. 698). So loth to allow, what he could not oppofe 1 P The reader, who would wilh to fee the evidences for this point, carried on to a lliU later period ; may confult the work that firft gave me the hint of what I have faid upon it. the only work mdeed that has drawn the evidences in a regular train together 5 Bmgham's Orig. Eccl. Book xiii. chap. ^. And after fuch a long and fplendid train of witneffes, as I have here produced, we muft fay of any ,nan, who (hould dare to deny the worfhip of our Saviour m the firit and fecond century, that ignorance may affirm in the very face of fafts, without any infringement upon its 'veracity ; and that imfu- dence may affert to the very teedi of hiftory, without any impeach- ment of its knon.vledge* able n^g THE ORIGIN OF able to obtain themfelves q. " Ye not only did not «* repent," fays Juftin Martyr to them, " when ye 'f learned that he was rifen from the dead -, but ye *^ appointed chojen men, and fent them out into all the *^ worldy to fay that a certain atheiftical and lawlefs '^ herefy had been begun by one Jefus a Galilean ; " whom when we had crucified, his difciples Hole him " by night out of i^t tomb, in which he had been laid " when taken down from the crofs'i and are de- " ceiving men, by faying he is rifen from the dead <' and gone back into heaven j perverfeiy averting " him to have taught fuch things, as ye, in oppofi- " tion to diofe who confefs him to be Chrift, and " their Teacher, and the Son of God, fay to be in '* the opinion of all mankind, atheiflical, lawlefs, *^ and unholy. Additionally to this, and fince your *' city has been taken and your land dejolated, ye repent " 7wty but even prefume to curje him and all that *^ believe on him." They adlually prefumed to frame q The Jew at prefent '* reads how his anceftors faw him [Jefus] *' adored by the Chriftians, in the JirJI century; and he proves it — " from the Talmud^ wherein are dlvfrs relations of R. Eliezer, the '* great friend of R. /•.kiba, who lived in the e?idoi the firji century ** and the beginning of the fecond century, concerning the Gofpels, •* and the publick nxjorjlnp rendered to Jefus Chrill by the Chriftians'* (Allix's Judgment, p. 432). ' riovv much does this confirm the narration in Mat. xxviii. 13' ' Jullin, p. 335. Oy //.oioj' tf jW,£Tivo>;a'aT£, /xaQoi'TE; avTov avar.ati'Te^ ARIANISM DISCLOSED. H^^ fJ-ame a formal prayer againfl the Chriftians, in which, as Epiphanius informs us, " at their rifmg in *^ the morning, and at mid-day, and about the even- ** ing, thrice in the day when they fay their prayers *' in the fynagogues, they imprecate wrath againfl '' them, and anathematize them ; calling upon God to *^ curfe the Nazarenes -." And a prayer remains to this day in the liturgy for the fervice of the fynagogue, imploring the vengeance of God upon the Chrif- tians; not indeed under the appellation of Nazarenes, which we know to have been their marked and in- vidious name among the Jews "3 but with the fofter and yet cooeval title, of Hereticks and of Apof- tates \ " Let there be no hope to fbem,'' they pray, VYiv £7r£//,4/aT£} v.v\^V(Tt70vrciq on cx,iPi<7i<; Tit; a^toq y.oa avouoq sy/iyspron ccTTo Iyictu rm©^ TuXiXcx,ni -crAava' ov rocv^ucrccvrcov tj/awv, ot fxocf^'/irai ccvrs TCKf^oLVTtt; ccvTov cCTto TH y,V7i[xa.T^ vvKT©^) ottoGei/ xarenQv u(pBXu}9eii; ciTFo re s-ccv^ey fBjT^ayutTi raq av^^uireqy Asyoj/Ts? ^yrjyE^Gos; avrov sx. vsK^iJVj y.oci eiq e^ccvov ccveT^viXv^evai, xocreiTTovrig ^io'io'oi.^ivoci y.ai rocvra, CLTTi^, KXTce, ruv oy.oXoyHvTUv X^irov xat Aiao<.a'y.cx,?\ov Kca Yiov ©=» eivcti, 'ujcavri yevet avQfanruv u^ta, y.u.i ocvoixoc y.ai ocvoo-ioc, "hzyiti. IT('&f TtfTOK? >i^' aXyirr? vyi^uv rr,q 'aroXsw?, xoci rvii; yr,q E^i9jat.'&«c-'>^^, » jt/,£- Tocvoc-iTi, xK>\ct %a,i xccraoa,aOa.i uvr^^ y.ui ruv ^irevovrajv a; uvtov 'Wccv- rUV, roXfJ-CCTB. t Epiphanius, i. 124. AvirccjAevoi ea-wQhv [swOhv], yui iMcr^crifx^ai;, xa.1 lus^i rriv eo-'iri^av,r^'ig t>j? yjaf^a? on tvyijxq t'7:in7\iia-iv sv Tai<; twj/ Ly- yccyuyuiqy eTTx^oJvTai afTotj, }iai ava^£i/.an^iiah (paca-xovret; on BTriy.uroC' cxaat 0 ^iog t»; 'Ncc^co^amg, " A6ls xxiv. 5. St. Paul is called " a ringleader of the fe6t of tlie *' Nazarenes.'''' X A6i:s xxiv. 14. *' This I confefs unto thee," fays St. Paul, *' that after the way ivbich they call herefy, fo worfliip I the God of ** my JOO THE ORIGIN OF pray, " who apoftatife from the true religion ; and *^ let Hereticks, how many foever they he^ all perifh <« as in a moment: and let the Kingdom of Pride/' not the Roman empire furely, as the words are in- terpreted, but uniformly with the words before, and with the frequent words of John the Baptift, of our Saviour, and of his evangelifls and apoftles, the Kingdom of God under Chriftianity, then exulting in its numbers, and elevating itfelf oyer Judaifm, " be *^ fpeedily rooted out, and broken in our days; " blefTed art thou, O Lord our God, who deflroy- *^ eft the wicked and bringeft down the proud 'K This fpirit of rage againft the Chriftians, ap- pears to have been inflamed by an incident, which fhould have extinguifhed it} that aftonifhing erup- <* my fathers}'' A<5ls xxi. 28. " This is the man," St. Paul, «' that •* teacheth all men every where againjl — the law j" and Bingham's Orig. Eccl. Book xiii. chap. v. k6i. 4. y Prideaux's Conne6lions, ii. 128 (Edinburgh, 1779, edit. I4.th), for the prayer itfelf and a note upon it. " This prayer — was added " by Rabbi Gamaliel, or, as others fay, by Rabbi Samuel the Little, ** who was one of his fcholars" (ibid.) : " Gamaliel, a man, accord- *•' ing to them," the Jews, " of unfufferable pride: — in his days *' fiouriflied Samuel the Lefs, who compofed a prayer full of the ** bittereft curfes againft Hereticks, by which he means the Chrif- •' tians, and avhich is J}ill in ufe to this day : Gamaliel was no lefs an *^ enemy to them." And as " thefe, — the Rabbles tell us, preceded *• the defiruaion of the tcyitpW" (Mod. Un. Hift. xiii. 142—143) j ib would the faft (if true) furnilh us with a new argument, for " the ** kingdom of pride" meaning not the Romans, but the Chriftians. See next note, tion AR^ANISM DISCLOSED. 30I tlon of vengeance from God, the de{lru6lion of their capital, the difperfion of their nation, and the defolation of their country. With this they pro- ceeded to the lafl limit of fury, againft the triumph- ing Chriilians ; to fbrfwear all their old faith con- cerning the MefTiah, to pretend they expedled now a mere man in him, and fo to oppofe him the more to the MefTiah and God of the Chriftians. And this poifon of perverted faith, dubioufly infinuated at firft, and boldly diffufed afterwards, would be quickened in its progrefs, by the exultation of the Chriftians over their ftate of punifhment at prefent, and by the exalperated fpirit of the Jews, under a keen feeling of both^ and by the middle of the fecond century, we fee, had fpread its morbid in- fluence through the whole body of the Jews ^ III.— Nor * There are four prayers for the grand fervice of the Jewlfh Temple, and eighteen for the {lighter fervice of the Jewifli Syna- gogue, which are alTerted by antient Jews, and believed by modern Chriftians, to have been certainly ufed by the Jews in the days of our Saviour (Bingham, xiii. v. 4. and Prideaux, ii. 126 — 130). But both Chriftians and Jews are miftaken, in the early date of thefe prayers. This the prayers themfelves ftiovv. In one of the four for the Temple, God is defired to ** refiore the fernjice to the oracle of " his houfe ;" and in another, to ** bring back their captivity to the *^ courts oi bis holinefs'" (Bingham, p. 124 — 125). In thofe for the Synagogue, God is equally deured to '* reftore them their Judges as " at the firft, and their Counfellors as at the beginning j" to '* rejlore "his nvorjhip to the inner part Q>i his houfe \" to" ^a/A/ Jerufalem " with a building to laft for ever, and to do this fpeedily, even in <* their days j" to " con-vocate them together by the found of the great *' trumpet. 30^ THE ORIGIN OF — III. — 'Nor do we know this extraordinary fad, merely from the pointed contrafc which we find in the fecond «' trumpet, to the enjoyment of t -leir libertj, and lift up his enfign to *^ call together all of the capti^iiyy from the four quarters of the earthy *' Into their onvn land" (Bingham, p. 127—128 and Prideaux, p. 128 — 129). Th2fe prayers ivcre apparently written at a period, when the fervice of God w: s ro longer kept up in the Temple, when the daily f-'xiiiice h id ceafed when Jerufalem was deftroyed, when the Jews were reduced into :aptiv:ty, and when they were carried ciptive out of their own land, to the four quarters of the earth* Thefe palTiigcs ii ieed may be fuppofed, as they are by Dr. Prideaux (p. 126), tc be interpolations of the original prayers. But no inter- polations are to be admitted, on a fuppofition. The pafTages ftand llrikingly difcriminati^'-e, en th i face of the prayers \ and mull fb Hand, till they are fro-ved 1"^ have been interpolated They are, no doubt, authcntick parts oft le original prayers. They con(eruently prove the prayers, lo be '■ Hierior to the deftrdftion of Jerufalem. And accordingly there is 1 ; ich ndtice of the Son or Word of God, in any of them; as v. fj feci- e Sonof Sirach, in Philo, in Efdras, in the teftaments of the tweh . Patriarchs, in the Book of Baruch, and even in the Chaldee Parapii -ills above. A fiirewd and fenfible Jew, ..owever, in an addrefs to the ufurp- Ing rebels of our country during u^56, has taken fbme pains to vin- dicate the liturgy 0/ his countiymt -i, from this charge of imprecation againft Chriflir.ns. This Divine, Phyfician, and Rabbi acknow- ledges, " there i - in tV - daily prayers a c Ttain chapter," Hft as it Is recited above. But tl , he {zy^^ ** fpe..*:s nothing of Chriftians *' originally, but o^ the ;^ws who fell in t!.-»fe times," tiie days of Ezra, *' to the Sadducees i \ Epicureans, ana ♦•o the Gentiles, as ** Mofes of Egypt faith — j for by Apoftates and Hereticks are not *' to be underflood, all men th ♦: are of a diverfe religion, or Hea- *' thens, or Gentiles, but thofe renegade Jews, who did abrogate •' the ARIANISM DISCLOSED* 3OJ fecond century, to wliat we obferve in the firil and in the days of our Saviour. We adually fee feme particular '* the whole law of Mofes, or any articles received thence." I have already lliown the prayers, to be later than the difiblution of the Jewiili polity by the Remans, and yet to be as early as Epiphanius and Juftin. Then the Jews could not but confider the Chriftians, as primarily " renegade Jews," and as therefore *' abrogating the whole *' law of Mofes." But, as Manaffeh Ben Ifrael adds, *' neither the ** kingdoms nor kings that are Chriftians, or Hagarenes [meaning *' Mahometans], or followers of other feels, are curfed here, but " namely the kingdom of pride : certain it is, that in that time ** (wherein our wife men added to the daily prayers the forefaid ** chapter) there was no kingdom of Chriftians." That the prayer 'Was put into the Liturgy in the days of Ezra, I have fliown before to be falfe. That there was then no Chriftianity, is therefore im- pertinent to be urged. And that there was then no kingdom of Chriftians, is worfe than impertinent. *' What therefore that •* kingdom of pride was, fliould any man ailc ; who can plainly fhow •* it? ^0 much as nx:e can conjeBiire hy it, it is the kingdom of the " Romans, which then fiourifhed, which did rule over all nations *^ tyrannically and proudly, efpecially ever the Je^vjs.'" Here the Rabbi brings down the date of the prayers unthinkingly, from the days of Ezra to the sera of commencing Chriftianity. And the context, as I have obferved above, plainly refers the Kingdom of Pride to the hereticks and apoftates before. Confiftency of ideas is the grand clue to all meanings. The Jews accordingly " repeated ** the fame words of the prayer," when the Roman empire was na longer a kingdom of pride, when Chriftianity alone could poffibly be meant, and, as Manalfeh pretends forfooth, " only of an antient ** cuftora." The cbjeft in faft remained, when the R.omans were gone. The Jews therefore continued their prayer, to the Istft century. ** And m^v truly in all their books printed a^aiuy the forefaid words '* are wanting, left they fliould ncvj be uniuftly objecled againft the •* Jews : and fo for Apoftates and Hereticks, they fay Secret Ac- " cufers or Betrayers of the Jews j and for the Kingdom of Pride, " they fubftitute all Zedinh that is, proud Men." See Phenix, ii. 407 ^04 "T^E ORIGIN OF particular tnov^ments, in the opinions of the Jevsrs about the MefTiah ; that are nearly alHed to this, and throw a flrong kind of collateral light uport it. That famous pafTage in IfaiaH, " Behold, a vir- ^' gin fhall conceive ;" we know to be now inter- preted by the Jews, in their eagernefs to wrefl fuch a weapon of offence out of the hands of affailing Chrillians, " Behold, a yoimg woman fhall con- *' ceive." But this interpretation is not the manu- fadure of the modern Jews. It was fabricated many centuries ago. It is even as old, as the begin- ning of the fecond century. And it is actually no^ ticed by Juftin Martyr in his Dialogue, as then in circulation among the Jews ^ This is evidently a part of that grand fyflem of alterations, which the Jev/s were now introducing into their creed, con- cerning the MefTiah. They now difcharged, what they had always maintained before ; and what their anceftors had therefore afferted, in the Septuagint tranflation of this very paflage ; the miraculous derivation of their MefTiah, from a virgin mo- ther ^. In the fame fpirit, but with a Hill bolder hand, they have, fays Juftin, '^ compleatly cut out of the 407 — 408 and 416. They continued their prayers againft Chriftians, till Chriltian ftates began to take offence at the prayers ; and then for fear altered, what the original caufe had induced them to continue, by ftill continuing itfelf. See alfo Allix's Judgment, p. 431. * P. 297. » H -crapOai/o; iv yufPi ?^ri-^erai . *^ Septuagint,'' ARIANISM DISCLOSED. _ 3^S ^^ Septuaglnt," and confequently out of the Hebrew original too, " many pafTages, in which this crucified *' perfonage v/as exprefsly announced as God and as « Man, and was exprefsly predided to be crucified « and put to deaths" In confirmation of this charge, Juilin aliedges fome fpecific proofs. Thefe words, he fays, were originally in the Book of Ezra: " and Ezra faid unto the people. This pafT- " over is our Saviour and our Refuge: and if ye <' will confider, and it ihall enter into your heart, <' that we are going to humble bim in a figure, and '' that after this we may hope in bim -, this place « (faith the Lord of Hofts) floall not be made de- ^'folate for ever: but if ye will not beUeve.in bim, <^ or hearken to bis preachings ye pall he a laugb- " ing-ftock to the nations ^." Thefe alfo, he notes, have been cut out from the words of Jeremiah: « I am ^i ^ lamh carried to he Jacrijiced', over me c p. 297. noA^a? rpa?'^? thX.o. ^EpeAo. «7ro Ta;v sfv^yr^a^. T.;. ytytv,u.v.m VTTO -ru^v '^a^oc liroUy.ai^ ysyBr,[^Bmv 'uy^'coQv^m, s| a;y d p. 297—298. Kai «9r£v E^^.«? r^ Aa^;* Talo to nacr^^ 0 ctJItj^ ^ey £,r' a.TC, a fx. s^r.p.c.e'/, 0 totto? uvro, «? Tov «7ra.Ta x^o^o:', ^^7" 0 p.«ro, a.r.,' a.^^Qs s^.^-s^f^- -^ ^Q^- '^^^^^ P^^^^e, %s Juihn, was among ruv tl',yr.<7zm i. Juftin cites thefe words as once in the mnttY-Jlfth pfalin, t8 £V£i/>;Kor« -ETE/^^ly j but means our nmQty-Jixtb. " The ninth and tenth pfalras," f-^.ys an author, " which a.refe'veral m the Hebrew and Chaldee and Syriack, ** are united and conjoined in the tranflation, at leaft the copies " which we now have, of the Ixxii ; and fo in the Latin and Arabick «' and ^thioplck, which follow the cxxii [Ixxii]. And fo from «' that tenth pfalm forward, the numbers dlirer, the eleventh in the ** Hebrew being but the tenth in the Greek, &c. ; and fo in the reft, " to pfalm clvii [cxlvii], which being by the LXXII divided into ** two, their cxlvi and cxlvii, — by this means the number of cl is " compleated by the LXXII and thofe that follow them, as alfo by *' the Syriack j who, though they join not the tenth to the ninth *' pfalm, yet unite cxiv and cxv, and fo would come fhort of the <* number alfo, if they did not with the LXXII divide the cxlvii" (Hammond on the Pfalms, p. 3. edit. 1659). ^ Creed, p. zoi. edit, 12th. X 2 moil: JOS^ TH£ ORIGIN- or mofl entirely to the Jews \ fcarcely any even of the principal Chrillians, being yet acquainted with the language itfelf. This is apparent from the very cafe before us at prefent, and from the reference of Juiiin for the excifions to the Septuagint only. This trandation of the Scriptures into Greek, would alfo be limited to a few of thefe Chnftia7ts, The New Teftament alone vv^as the general obje6l of re- gard among them. So it adually is at prefent;, we fee, from the poverty of numbers of Chriftians; at a time, when the rich are equally Chrillians with the poor, when the charity of thcfe is peculiarly ex- erted in donations of Bibles to theje^ and when Bibles are multiplied at an expence infinitely lefs than they were then. So therefore, and in a much more ex- r.enfive degree, mufc it have been ; when the mul- titude of believers, as of mankind, was principally of the poor, when the rich were ftill Heathens, and wYitn copies of the Scriptures were very dear. To know the true ilate of the Chriflians formerly in this point, is not to guefs at it from merely ideal piduress but to look out into life before us, to mark hiilorically the difference of circumftances,, and then to modify our ideas from both. Nor is there more weight, in what Pearfon has additionally urged ; that this claufe is not to be found, " in any tranflation extant, — or — in the Ca- " tena Graecorum Patrum." Hammond fays more circumftantially, that *^ the copies which have come " down ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 309 " down to US have it not, nor the vulgar Latin, '' nor yet the Arabick, nor ^thiopick, which all *^ follow the LXXIIj nor the verfion of St. Je- *^ rome, much lefs the Chaldee or Syriack V But both Hammond and Pearfon here do, what men of learning are apt to do ; make merely a parade of erudidon -, and throw the dull of literature in our face, to blind the eyes of our difcernment. To fiy that the tranflations and the Catena have not the claufe, is to fay nothing to the purpofe ; unlefs they are proved to have been prior, to the period of the aliedged excifions. If pofterior^ they prove only what our own tranflation proves, the non-appear- ance of the claufe upon their refpeclive originals. Such a non-appearance there would certainly be, upon moil of the antient copies, and all perhaps or the antient tranHations ; from an excifion fo early and fo general, as this is attefted to have been. What may therefore be the effe5i of the excifion, can never be ufed to difprove the reality of it. Moll of the tranflations and copies are certainly fofterior to this. And none of them can be fijown to be prior. Nor let us ftartie at the crucifixion of the MefTiah, being fo plainly pointed out in the original pfalm. This was written by David ^^i and is acknowledged by both Jews and Chriftians, actually to refer to tlie ' P. 482. ^ Chron. xvi. 23, &c. X 3 Meffiah. ^lO THE ORIGIN OF MefTiah l This very David, we know, " in *' fpirit" calleth that MefTiah '^ Lord," who was to be " his Son'^'i" thus acknowledging his Di- vinity. David alfo hints at the crucifixion; when in the very charadler of the MefTiah he fays, " they *' pierced my hands and my feet "." And if the Jews have a5lually altered the words of the original, in this pafTage; and have even attempted to alter them, in that correfpondent palTage of Zacharias, which is repeated and applied by St. John ", " they " fhall look on me whom they have pierced p 3" as Hammond and Pearfon unite to prove they have done, though in an age much later than the bold excifions of Juflin^j thofe a6ls look with a full af- pe6t back upon thefe, and ferve at once to illuflrate and confirm them''. Even " the Maforah in fe- " veral places confefTeth," as Pearfon himfelf informs us, " that eighteen places in the Scriptures have been *^ altered by the Scribes .'' This charge of Juflin's againfl the Jews, there- fore, ftands unfliaken in its authority. It refls firmly upon its own Juhftratum of evidence. He ' Hammond, p. 481 — 482. ™ Mat. xxii. 43 — 45. n Pfalm xxii. 16, Mat. xxvii. 46, John xix. 24, and Rev. i. 7. ° John xix. 37. P Zacharias xii. jo. q Ibid. Ibid. "^ The very turn of the pfalm marks the coherence of J uftin'5 patTage with the whole. ** God reigneth from the tree;' uito t» ^vAa } and therefore " all the trees of the wood," <7rai/1a ra ^v\u, r^ ^^t'//.tf, are faid ay/V/6 peculiar propriety to '* rejoice before the *' Lord.'' 9 Creed, ibid. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. ^Il has alTerted it, who from his earlinefs had the power of knowing it. He has aflerted it, whofe judgment could not be deceived in fuch a fubftantial fad, and whofe veracity is beyond all exception. Irenasus accordingly, as Pearfon himfelf has noted in an- other place, though Irenseus wrote about twenty years only after the martyrdom of Juflin, and yet refers to Juilin occafionally ; has no lefs than three times adduced thtfecond paflage of Jeremiah above : attributing it once to Ifaiah, then to Jeremiah, and finally to a prophet without a name; and every time appeahng to it without hefitation, as a paflage either yet remaining, or certainly known to have lately re- mained, upon the volume of infpiration ^ Only forty or fifty years afterward, and exa6lly in the fame fpirit, has Tertullian referred to the pafTage above in the Pfalms, equally without hefitation, and equally without vouching what muft have been his and Irenseus's au- thority for the texts, the teflimopy of Juflin ". About a century afterwards, Eufebius more comprehenfively and more accurately notes, as one of the memor- able truths in the writings of Juftin ; that this author <' ipentions fome exprefs paffages of the prophets, t Irenaeus Adv. Hcer, m. 23, '* Efalas ait," iv. 39, " HIeremias '* ait,"" V. 34, ** Propheta ait," and Pearfon, p. 242. For Irenaeus fpeaking of Juftin, fee Adv. Ha?r. i. 31, &c. " ** Age nunc, fi legifti penes Prophetam in Pfalmis, Deus reg- ** navit a llgno" (Adv. Jud. x. Op. 196. Rigalt). " Age nunc fi *' legifti penes David, Dominus regnavit a ligno'' (Adv. Marc. iii. 39. p. 4.08). X 4 '' which 312 THE ORIGIN OF *^ which he fays the Jews had cut out of the Scrip- *' ture^." Thofe who lived nearefl to the time of Juftin, and knew him beil, relied implicitly, we fee, upon the evidence of Juftin for thefe excifions. And the acknowledged condudt of the Jews in later ages, lends a decifive energy to all. This charge, however, feems to have ftartled our modern criticks by its boldnefs. But our modern criticks are feme of them, men much better calculated to raife doubts and to infufe fears ; than to catch the ftrong points of an argument, to hold them firmly, and to wield them with efficacy againft an adverfary. Others of them are much better pioneers, than fol- diers; fitter to undermine a fortrefs, than to affaulc it. And others again, in the fafliionable prfidiouj- nefs of Chriftian writers at prefenty are more inclined to fpread alarms, and propagate timidity, in the army of believers ; than to lead them on like red- crofs knights, againft the hoft of the Paynims. They have thus been deterred from repeating it, and even precluded from attending to the plenitude of evidence for it. The crime alledged is indeed, as Juftin very candidly pronounces it, an ad feem- ingly incredible in itfelf ; being more horribly fla- gitious, than the formation of the golden calf by thei-r fathers, dian the oblation of their children to devils, or the murder of the prophets themfelves >'. X Eufebius Kift. iv. 18, p. 180. P^^lav oe rivm TT^op'iiiyMv [^vvi[xonvei, r Juftin, p. 299. Yet ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 313 Yet the deed is too plain from the evidence. And the excifion of thefe pafiages by the Jews, in the infinitely greater rarity of copies then than now 5 and in the'equal difruption of the Jewifh nation then, into infinite atoms of parties 3 is too poffible not to be confidered as pradicable, is too hiftorically at- teiled not to be believed as certain, and has been aftually detefted in the principle and in the opera- tion, upon other pafiages of Scripture, and in later periods of time. But we have more fafts flill, in the hifcory of the Jews fince our Saviour; that Ihow the fame fpirit predominating in their hearts, which impelled them to rejed the faith, and to garble the Scriptures, of their fathers. One is the fad, that we all know and all acknowledge. We all know of the exclufion of Daniel, for his chronological prophecy of our Savi- our^s fufi'erings, out of that very lift of prophets, in which Jofephus exprefsly places him; and in which one infinitely greater than Jofephus, alfo concurs to place him K And we all acknowledge their reduc- tion of him, from this honourable pre-eminence of « jofephus Ant. Jud. x. 7. P- 465. calls him " one of the << greateft prophets/' sn ^vn rc^v ,.,Br.r^^—7r^o(pr%vi fays *' the Jews «' were convinced from his writings, that he converfed with God," ^.^.ra.x«^a. ^^ ur^la^., o\ Aan.Xo, .-.u.Aa. re. Qs. 5 and declares, that *< from the completion of his prophecies, he bore a charafter of ve- « racity, and alfo a reputation of Divinity, among the multitude,'* " «cro h rl TaAa; av^ojv, aT^rMuc Tr^r^v, >ca^ Uocv o.us GgioT^lo,', ttu^cc roi<: .v^oK aTTofageaS^.. For our Saviour, fee Mat. xxiv. 15. ^ V charader. 314 'J'HE ORIGIN OF charafler, into that loweft clafs of fcripture-writers, which they merely call the Hagiography. Another fad: is the wild and audacious calumny^ which we equally I fjiiv isXeifuv oawv ik^utbi, 'cjei^yaoc xtf? aMor^ta^ m "hoysj OTt rqiarof 9i(7i X^JfKSH'Ok* Kai vvv xai etj avram nvxr,, aTior^BTrofj.BvUi ^la rcc Tot- ccvra, y.ccv ek; aoiyuviocr «7r^a^£p«v "Koyuv riKEiv 'W^oc, Xptr'am?- This {lander is alio noticed by Juftin Martyr, Tertullian, and Minucius Felix, in Reeves's Apologies, i. 52, 157., 177, and ii. 6r. edit. 2d. trodudioni ARIANISM DISCLOSED. ^IJ trodu6llon of their written Cabbalah; in order to elude the pofitive declarations of God about their MefTiah, by fome infolently alledged traditions of men ^. It was, I may venture to fay, only an in- ferior fpirit of impiety to this, which earlier in the fame century, and before the days of Juftin Martyr, induced them to recoil from that very line of faith, in which the author of Baruch, the framer of the Patriarchal Teflaments, the writer of the fecond Book of Efdras, and Philo Jud2eus, were walking after the middle of the firfl century; and in which all the Jews were walking, during and before the days of our Saviour. Yet, as Juftin declares thole excifions of the Scripture, to have been made by the teachers and leaders of the Jews'^j fo he notices one of them, that relating to the former of the two paflages in Jeremiah, to have been made ^ This Cabbalah or tradition is comprized in the Talmud, and confifts of two parts, the Mijhna and the Gemarrahy '' to ^hicb they *« give by far the preference^ with refpe^l to the ^written books ; '* whence that faying of theirs. The Mikdajh, or Old Teftament, is ** like nvater, the Mijhna like njoiney and the Gemarrahy more flain " and perfeBy like hippocras, or the richeft of wines" (Ant. Un. Hift. iii. 5). The Mijhna was written by Judah Hakkadofh. << The ** moil probable opinion is, that he finifhed it about the year of Chriji «• 180" (Mod. Un. Hift. xiii. 158). And the Gemarrah is a com- ment upon this, written by R. Jochanan " the great difciple of " Judah Hakkadojh;" about 225 (ibid. 170—171). Thefe two works form the Jerufalem Talmud. Another Gemarrahy being equally a comment on the MiJJmay and written by Afe a difciple of Jochanany forms the 5rtZ»^/(?«i/J Talmud (ibid, i-ji^i-ji), « P, 197 and 299. only ^tS THE ORIGIN OF only ^^ a little time before ^." This occafioned the pafTage even then, to be " ftill remaining in fome « copies ufed by the JewilH fynagogues^i" and has fince caufed it to be recovered, into our own copies at prefent. And the v/hole combines together with an amazing force of evidence, to fhow the new be- lief of the Jews in the mere humanity of their Mef- fiah, to have been taken up by them, and incor- porated into their creed, in the beginning of the SECOND century. Thus taken and thus incorporated as the belief was, they foon carried their zeal againfl the Divi- nity of their own MefTiah, now adored among the Chriftians ; into a favage intemperance of blaf- phemy. In the very commencement of the next century, one of them had the effrontery to parade tlirough the ftreets of Carthage, then abounding with Chridians; and to exhibit the pi6ture of a being half beafl and half man, wearing a long robe, but hoofed in two of his feet, having afs's ears, and carrying a book in his hand -, with this infcription to the whole, the a/mine God of the Chriftians \ And fuch ^ p. 29??. n^o o^tya X^^^^' * P. 298. Eti env iyiypciyt,[i.ivn tv naiv ctyny^afpoiq rojv tv HvvxyU" f TertuUian, a Roman of Carthagey in his Apol. adverfus Gentcs, xvi. p. 16, fays thus: *' Nova jam Z)/?ziV(9/?r; in ifta prox- <* ime civitate editio publicata eft ; ex quo quidem [quidam] fruf- *« trandis beftiis mercenarius noxius pi(Sura]n propofuit, cum ejuf- <' modi ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 317 fuch an extraordinary outrage as this, at once marks that audacioufnefs of violence in the Jews againft the Chriftians, which had originally prompted them to throw off their old faith, ar.d adopt a new one ; and dilplays to our very fenfes, as it were, the fixed belief of the Chriftians in our Saviour's Di- vinity, and the a6lual adoration of our Saviour by -them ^. IV.— In ** modi infcriptlone, Dsus Chr'iftlanorum Onochoetes. Is erat aiiribus ** afininis, altero pede ungulatus, librum gefcans, et togatus." Ri- galt fuppofes *' Judasura Nebulonem Grfecae conipofitionis voea- ** bulum perperam extuiiffe," in Onochoetes ; " eum intelligi vellet " onocoiten, ovoy-oCiriv."^ And " noxiura dicit mercenarium, qui *' toties beftias fruflravci at, elufis ac declinatis agilitate fua feraruni ** dentibus j quafi non bona fide verfatus, eum ad eas fefe locaiTet." That the fraudulent combatant of beails was a JeiVi is inferred from the tranfition of this too lively and rapid writer. Thefe words im- mediately precede the po-flage : " (i die folis Isctitise indulgemus, alia ** longe ratione quam reiigione folis ; fecundo loco ab eis fumus, ** qui diem Saturni otto et -viSlui decernunt, exorhitantes et ipji ab " Judaico morCi quern ignorant: fed nova jam Dei noftri" &c. s Yet fome learned individuals among the Jews in feveral ages fince, invited by the ftrong light of their original faith, have broken away from the covert of darknefs, in v.'hich the nation has wrapped itfelf up J and have aflerted explicitly the Godhead of their Meiliah. Sec inftances of this in notes before; in Pearfon on the Creed, p. 148} in Ant. Un. Hift. iii. 11--13, where I confider the book of Zohar as pofterior to the Miflma and Gemarrah, as it aflually quotes aa author of the fecond century (Allix's Judgment, p. 169); and ia the Difcufiion of the Socinian Controverfy, by that cleareft and mofl convincing of all human reafoners, Charles Lefiey, MA. among his theological works, i. 24-5 and 250. But to thefe I wifh to add three inftances, that are much lefs known, two of them very diftinct ia tim>e, and all fmgularly expreflive. *' Midras Tillim fuper *' Pfalm 3i8 THE ORIGIN 0? IV.— In this manner began to appear that novel faith of the Jews, which we now find to be fo firmly eflablifhed among them, and fo boldly daring to claim the authority of their primogenial principles. But error, once fet in motion, is feldom at reft. It always finds many too weak to difcern, and too in- dolent to examine, the difference between truth and ** Pfalm X. V. a/' quoted by Grabe in Spicilegium^ i. 363, and re- ferring to the Rabbi, whom I have noted before to have drawn up the Gemarrah in A. D. zzf ; " Tribus amiis et dimidio fuit Divi- " NIT AS — in Monte Olivarum ftans, et vociferans" &c. See alfo AUix's Judgment, p. 290, and Lefley, i. p. 68. " In Berefchith " Rabba five Commentario— R. Mofes Hadarfan fuper Genef. xliv. <* 18," which was written about A. D. 1070 (Mod. Un. Hift. xiii. 456), is this queftion and this anfwer, fays Grabe, i. 362 and 364, about rejoicing and exulting in God. *' Quando hoc fiet ? Quando " afcendent captivi ex inferno, et DEiTAS~in capite eorum." See alfo Pearfon on the Creed, p. zjo. Thefe words fufficiently afcer- tain their own meaning, to a Chriftian ear. And that this is alfo their Jewifh meaning, is plain from thefe words preceding : " Quando *< nos gaudebimus? Quando Ilabunt pedes Divinitatis in Monte « Olivarum" (i. 365). See alfo Pearfon, ibid. <' We fee in the moft antient books of the Jews, as in the books " called Rabboth, Mechifta, and in their old Midrafhim, almoft all ** compofed before the 7th century ; and in the Talmud of Babylon ; «* the fame ideas and the fame do^riney which we meet in the Apo- " cryphal books and in Philo's writings. And thofe ideas have been •' conftantly followed, by the mojl confiderable part of the Jews j thofe *' very men, who have their name [of traditionifts, fee p. 158] from *« their conftant fticking to the old tradition of their forefathers" ( AU lix's Judgment, p. 98). falfehood. ARIANISM DISCLOSED, 3I9 falfchood. Some are even vain enough to take up falfehood in preference to truth, by way of decora- tion and diftmclion; as favages carry fcalps, for horrible ornament of their perfons. And the monfter, thus generated among the Jews, was afterwards tranfmitted by them to the Maho- metans. I.— In all the national hiftory of man, there is no perfon who Hands fo ftrikingly prominent upon the page, as the great and venerable Abraham. He is at this moment, as it was predidted almoft four thoujand years ago he fhould be, the common « father of many nations ^." As the founder of the JewS:, he appears with a luiler of radiance, which is derived from the very glory of that Godhead, which owned him for its friend, and ufed his children for the fpecial minifters of its providence. As the progenitor of the Arabs, he wears an addi- tional crown of glory; fainter indeed in its radiance, but yet bright and luftrous. Thefe two nations appear to their brothers of the globe, marked with a itrange Angularity of adventures, and fealed on their foreheads (as it were) with that lively figna- ture of God, the (lamp of prophecy. That the fon of Abraham by Hagar, fhould be " a wild man;'' that '' his hand fhould be againft every man,'* and that " every man's hand Ihould be againft him i" b Gen. xvii. 5. but 2^0 THE ORIGIN OV but tliat he fhould flill '^ dwell in the prelence o( all " his brethren ' i" was a prophecy feemingly per-*, fonal in itfelf, but eventually iliown to be nationaL It has proved as truly prophetical concerning his diilant defcendants, through a long courfe of ages ; as the parallel prediction concerning him, that, " becaufe he was the feed" of Abraham, he iliould become ^^ a nation," " a great nation," and one formed like the Jews into twelve principalities or tribes, proved in his immediate offspring ^. And the empire of prophecy over man, is fignally dif- played at once, in the perpetuity of the Jews, and in the invincibility of the Arabs. The elder and legitimate branch of the Abrahamick line, has been kept totally diftind from the mafs of mankind, in fpite of every moral and political principle, that was bufily operating to confound them. The AfTyrians, the Grecians, and the Romans, fuccefiively con- quered them by their arms, but could never incor- porate them with their people. They v/ere tranf- planted by violence, and difperfed by accidents, into various regions of the earth ; yet they mingled not with their human brothers, in any. A fupernatural principle of cohefion between themfelves, and a di- vine fpirit of reluftance to an union with others, flill kept them diftind and feparate. No power of earth could make this flubborn element, to amalga^ mate with the reft. And accordingly the three e^- *Gen. xvi. 12. ^ Gon, xvii, 20, xxi, 13, and xxv. 12—16. pires ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 3^^ plres rofe and fell one after the other, while the Jews alone continued, ncje have all vanilhed from the globe, like the gigantick fhadows that fome- times attend upon the fun, and fweep acrofs our fields ; while thefe have remained like the fun itfelf, fometimes clouded and fometimes fetting, but ftill burfting out from their clouds, flill rifing fom their fettings"^ and fhining out in full lufler again. Even now when the Jews are in a ftate of civil diflblution, and their body politick has been for feventeen hun- dred years reduced to its conftituent particles i they ftill exift as numerous and as remarkable as ever. And a fecret fpark of immortality, is aftive and vigorous within them, lives in their very allies, and animates the flying duft of their urn. Nor are the Arabs very much inferior to the Jews, in this pro- vidential view of hiftory. That moral hoftility to mankind, which the feparation of the Jews per- verfely excited in the latter, became a political hofcihty in their coufms the Ifhmaelites. The de- fcendants have equally with their anceftor been « wild men," whofe '' hand was againft every « manj" and therefore " every man's hand was « againft them.'' They have continued to pro- voke the world, by the pra^ice of praedatory expe- ditions into it. Yet they have always been faved from the avenging arm of the world. The tb-ee empires attempted in their turns to reduce them ; to tame thefe fevage fons of the defert, to bring Y them J 12 TPIE ORIGIN OF thcni Within the pale of civility, and fo to fupprefi this bold warfare of ages upon man. But their ef- forts were all baffled. The broad hand of the Afly- rian could not lay them in the dufb. The heavy foot of the Grecian could not cruih them there. The formidable javelin of Rome was launched in vain, to bear them down. And even the fcymitar of the Turks has in vain been jQiarpened, to cut them in pieces. They ilill " dwell in the prefence " of all their brethren." Their " hand" is ftill *^ againil every man." " Every man's hand" is fliil " againft them." They remain the lords and fovereigns of their original wilds, and the uncon- troled plunderers of the reft of mankind. And the great current of human actions in the Arabs, in the Jev/s, and in all the numerous nations connected with either i has nov/, for four thoufand years, v/ound its waters freely, yet in the very courfe and channel, which had been marked for it by the fin- ger of God before '. I'hefe invincible warriors, tliough defcended fl'om Abraham the father of aftronomy to the world, ' This extraordinary part of the human hiftory, the a£lual in- vincii)ility of the Arabs in every age, has been very properly laid open in Ant. Un. Hill. xx. 157. Mr. Gibbon however has denied the fa6V, and yet— acknowledged it. This has been fliown by an author, in the Endijh Rt^ieiv of Mr. Gibbon's three laft volumes, December 17S8 ; for all wlrofe remarks upon Mr. Gibbon, in the months immediately preceding and fubfe(;uent, I acknowledge my- felf refponfjble to the publick, foon ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 323 foon loft all the fpirit of fcience in their original founder, and funk into the lowed favagenefs of ig- norance. They had forgotten thofe very firft ele- ments of all hterature, the arts of reading and writ- ing-. Even in their principal and central town oi Mecca, not a man could either write or read at the beginning of the 7th century; except one, who had turned Jew and then become Chriilian, and fo had learned to write Arabick with the Hebrew letters. And the inhabitants in general were diftinguifhed from thofe of Medina, a town half filled with Jews and half with Chriflians 3 by the appellation cf the illiterate, in oppofidon to the people of the hook. Such a lieceflary connexion has the Revelation of God, with the improvement of Reafon in man "^ ! By the fame fcale of degradation, they equally v/ent down- wards into polytheifm. Though they were the ^ Prideaiix's Life of Mahomet, p. 36—37. edit 1697. That Mahomet could really write, has been lately furmifed (after /v^oflieim's Eccl. Hill. ii. 6. Maclaine. 2d. edit.) by a gentleman in the firft rank of knowledge concerning him 5 from two fa>3:s, one aiferted by Al Bokhari, and another affirmed by all authors ; that being Ma- homers miraculoufly writing at the treaty v/ith the Meccans, in the 6th year of the Hegira, or A. D. 627; and this, Mahomet's calling for ink and paper in his laft illnefs, in order to write a new Koran for his followers (White's Leftures, p. 205* and notes, p. xxxvi— xxxvii) . But, as the laft fad is attributed by all his biographers to the influence of a delirium, fo the former is denied by all but Al Bokhari ; they afferting Ali to have been the writer at the command of Mahomet (Mod. Un. Kift. i. 143). Ali muft have learned to write, fiuce the Chriftian had, y -2 children ^24. '^HE ORIGIN Of children of that refpe6lable man, whom God had fct up as his glorious antagonift to the rifing idola- try of the world ; though the ennobling fad Ihould have gone with an awful and falutary influence for acres, through the courfes of his defcendants ; and though it did adtually go with fuch an influence througli the Jews, and the main line of the Abra- hamick family was,, equally with Abraham, the champions of God againil idolatry: yet the colla- teral line revolted from the family and from God^,^ and became grofs polytheiils. Their country was alfa the fcene of almofl all the Mofaick prodigies. They faw with their ov/n eyes that loofe block of red granite, which is traditionally denominated the Rock of Mofes to this dayj with its twelve fiflures for fountains, apparently fupernatural in them* felves ; and with its channel for the water, difco- loured by the long running, and even incrufled with the earthy particles, of it ", Mofes flruck the marble with his rods a miraculous fpring burfl out from the folid veins ; and a miraculous ftream con- tinued to flow from it, to attend the movements of the Jews, and to water fuccefTively dieir fbitions ^. The ■ Journal from Grand Cairo to Mount Slnai, publiihed by Dr. eia}tou, Bifiiop of Clogher, 2d edition 1753, p. 35—37, and the notes. o I Cor. X. 4. The Koran aftually mentions this rock thus : »< We [God J ("aid [to Mofes], Strike the rock with thy rod j and ^' there gufacd tiiereout tvjelve fountains according to the number of *Ube ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 325 The tradition of all mufb have been peculiarly powerful, at the very fpot. And, in every age, the hiftory muft have been fubftantiated by the ob- je6i:s prefent, into fomething like a6lual vifiom Their plains alfo were covered evQry morning for forty years together, with the miraculous dew of Manna; the food of angels regularly adminillered to man; and the bread of heaven fupplied to a whole nation on earth. Even one of their moun- tains had been witnefs to luch difplays of the God- head, as the world had never {ccn before, and has never {cgii fince ; the v/hole hill flaming with the ^lory, and fhaking (as it were) under the feet, of the defcending God. Yet they became idolaters. And they became fo humble and abject in their idolatry, as to deify even Iflimael and Abraham, and even to worihip a quadrangular fcone i'. f* th£ tribes', and all men knew their refpe6live drinking-place'' (ch. s. ■p. 8). ** The commentators fay," Mr. Sale informs us concerning the rock, " this was a ilone v/hich Moles brought from Mount ** Sinai" (ibid.). They alfo *• defcribe it to be a fquarc piece of ** 'white marble [re^, in Journal above], fliaped like a man's head" (ibid.). In p. 134.. chap. 7. -are the very fame words of the text repeated, and this additional note : " according to a certain .tra- ** dition, — the water iifued thence by three orilices on each of the ** four fides of the ftone, making twelve hi all j and that it ran in fo ^' many rivulets, to the quarter of each tribe in the camp." See Sale's Trandation of the Koran from the on gin aj Arabick, 1734. P Prideaux, p. 123, Sale's Preliminary Difcourfe to his Koran, jp. ic, 2j, and Bibliotheca Biblica, Oxford, 1720, vol. i. p. 613. Y 3 In 326 THE ORIGIN OF In this defedion from the family- faith, however, the Arabs ftill retained a full convi6lion on their minds, of their relation to the Jews. This appears fufficiendy, from their deification of Abraham and Ifhmael. Even at prefent, and within the inclofure of their grand temple at Mecca, they fhow a v>^hite flone which they call the fepulcher of Ifhmael, whom they believe to have lived and died there ; another ftone, on which they beheve Abraham to have flood when he built the temple ; and a well, which they pretend to be the very fountain, that was miraculoufly opened in the wiidernefs for Flagar ^. " Verily," fays the Koran itfelf, '' die frjl houfe appointed " unto men to worlhip in, was that which is in *^ Becca [Mecca, differently pronounced] — : there- *' in are manifefl figns, tbe place where Abraham '^ Jlocdy' ^C. And as they actually form the ge- nealogies of their principal families, in a dire6l courfe of defcent, though with much ignorance of the principles and fa6ts of chronology, from Ifhmael and from Abraham ; fo they have or had a building clofe to their temple at Mecca^ denominated ex- prefbiy the Cupola of Jiidaa \ In this hereditary predominance of family-fpirit, they equally adopted »S^Vf'-;, ..faints. r™» contain the aas of St. George and of .t. Neot (From feme account of the churct and <^lndo^s of St. Neots ,n Corn- ZalU Lcn, trintaby H. and E. ledger. Ua.e.fo.d. Souti^.arU "S6i anddraLup for private infpeaion only, by - -g en,ou ^d Judicious clergyman in the neighbourhood). Accordu,g oh. reprefentationthen, the windows are not charged ^f^'^^f Jewilh traditions at all. And the exprefs reference o" a Corn Ih .. book, now in the Publick Library at Oxford," and fo fpec.fically pointed out as " Archiv. B. 3.- there, for thefe " particular tra- ..ditions" being " exaftly delivered- in it , f°™^ - -« . merely calculated todeceive. On examinatm of the Couulh Book ^^O THE ORIGIN OP eafl of the county. In the v/ell we have an evw clence flill more remarkable. V/e have a town de- nominated the reference to it is found to be a moft unaccountable miftake. <* Archiv. B. 31" is indeed a Cornilh work, yet is only an Ordlnale or Scriptural interlude, which exhibits the creation of the world, and the hiftory of it to the deluge j and was written by *' William <* Jordan" of Helfton, fo late as <' the xii of Auguft A. D. 161 1." To this facred Drama of Cornwall, which was written in order to be afted in one of thofe amphitheaters, that ftill remain under the name of Rounds 5 are many notes and directions, in the prevalence of a new and encroaching language at the time, fet down in Englifi. Thus does it begin : *' The creation of the world, the firft daie of pbye j Ego fum Alpha -^ r The Father muft be "The Father et Omega. / PurwyzJ in a cloude, and when "in Heaven. Heb. aliathe na i me eo. 1 he Ipeaketh of Heaven, dov/ethva. J L let theys open." How this was to be done with the poor machinery of a Cornilh liound, I do not underftand. Perhaps it would puzzle our London theaters, in all their amplitude of expedients, to do it. It was done however, we may be very fure, with no great dexterity of manner. But there are fome notes relating to the death of Adam, that are particularly worthy our notice. *' Death" appears to Adam, " fmyt- *' ith hem with hes fpear, and he falleth upon a bed ;" he makes a fpeech, *' Devylls" come, but back " they go to Hell with great **noyesj" then " an Angell conveyeth Adams foole to lymbo,'* and " lett Adam be buried in a fayre tombe with fome churche fongs *' at his buryallf next <' an Angell goeth to the tree of lyfe, and *' breaketh an apple, and taketh iii coores," pips or feeds, " and ** giveth yf- to Seythj" afterwards '* Seyth goes to his father with the *' coores and giveth yt- hem," and, adds a note, " the 3 kernells put *' in his mouthe and noltrells." All this prefents us with fome idea, of thofe extraordinary Dramas of our Britifh ancellors, which the Cornifli called Guary-meers or Great Plays, and Guare-mirkl or Miracle Plays. But all Ihows much more the wildnefs of Bifliop Gibfon's ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 331 nominated expre% from the Jews, Marazion and Market-jew -, Marghas-Jewe being in its char- ter Gibfon's reference to this work, for any account of the whidows at St. Neot's and of *' particular traditions of the Jews" delineated on them. This work is merely a play, founded on realities and em- bellifhed with fiaions. And the Biihop mull have been ilrangely impofed upon, in his reference. Yet he is perfeftly right in his affertjon, and perfe(5lly juft in his language, concerning the ^juindonvs themfelves. On a clofer infpec- tion of thefe by the judicious and ingenious gentleman above, there appear in the eafttni window of the ibuth ayle, which is the molt perfea cf any in its prefervation, and the moll rich in its colouring; three lights pointed at the top, ornamented with tracery, and con- taining each tnree ranges, with five hiilories in each range. In the firft hiftory is God reprelerited, planning the work of the creation, juft going to give our world its magnitude and its form-, and, what ?s fingularly curious, furnilhed exaftly as Milton defcribes him, with a pair of compaJJ'es, In his hand He took THE GOLDEN COMPASSES, prepared In God's eternal Itore, to circumicribe This univerie and ail created things : One foot he centered, and the other turn'd Round through the vail profundity obfcure. And faid. Thus far extend, thus far, thy bounds, This be thy juft circumference, O World. But whence did Milton derive an idea, fo judicious in itfelf, and fo poetically appo'ate for bodying forth the operations of a fpiritual Being upon the univerfe of matter ? " The thought of the golden " compaffes," fays Addifon, " is conceived altogether in Homer's «' fpirit ;'' and " the golden compafles" themfelves " appear a very ^* natural inftrument, in the hand of him whom Plato fomewhere « calls the Divine Geometrician." Yet Milton drew not the ima- gination, from either Plato, Homer, or himfelf. He adopted it from Solomon, who fays exprefsly of God and the chaos at the crea- tion, «^1 THE ORIGIN OF ter of the 37th of Elizabeth defcribed, as a trading town of great note before it was taken and deftroyed by tlon, ** He fet a compafs upon the face of the depilr (Prov. viii. 27), And the coincidence of the Cornifli window with Milton, that de- lineating in general what this defcribes in particular j ferves happily to confirm the derivation of the idea, from one common fourceof intelligence to the painter and the poet, the fountain of Jewilh tra- ditions. Then come twelve hiilories purely Scriptural. But th® thirteenth has this infcription, " Hie Lamech fagittat Cayn 5" aAid the fourteenth this, *' Hie Seth ponit tria ova fub lingua Adse." Both thefe, confequently, are painted from the ftores of Jewifli tra- dition. The tradition concerning Lamech's killing Cain, as I find from the private information of a Jew, is ftill believed among the Jews J and is traceable in Ant. Un. Hift. i. 159, up to St. Jerome for Lamech's killing him with -^Jione^ and up to Rahbi Gedaliah for his killing him (as here) with an arron-v. But of Seth and the eggs I can find no trace. Only there is a flory in Ant. Un. Hift. i. 167, very fimilar to this j which has been fathered upon fome Jenvs, by Cornelius a Lapide citing Pinedo, and which is aftually repeated with fome little variation, in the Cornifli Interlude above j ti;at Seth, at the command of an Angel, put into Adam's mouth when he was dead, a feed of the Tree of Kno'ujledge, or (as the Interlude more properly fays) fome feeds of the Tree of Life. But, what comes clofer to the painting, I find it is a cuftom ftill among the Jews, for the neareft relation to the deceafed, as Seth was to Adam, to live upon eggs for the thirty days of mourning ; for the deceafed himfelf to have one ggg, one flice of bread, and a bafon of water, placed Hear him and upon one fide of his head, in the room where he is laid out during the ftiort time previous to the funeral ; and for all per- fons, perhaps derivatively from thefe cuftoms, perhaps (as the Jews themfelves think) from fome original combination of ideas, to con- fider eggs as a/2 emblem of mortality. And, juft fo, does Seth in the window put three eggs, into the mouth and under the tongue of the deceafed Adam j as the fame perfon in the Interlude, with a more •ievated pitch of thought, puts three feeds of the Tree of Life, one into ARIANISM DISi^LOSED. 23S hy the traitors of Edward the 6 th ; Markefton or Markafioriy as denominated in the Endowment of ikit Vicarage of St. Hilary, A. D. 1261, and in the Bifhop's approbation of it, A. D. 13 13, being evi- dently Marghas-Sion ; and both appellations being apparently derived to the Cornifh, from the rela- tion of its inhabitants to the Sion of Jerufaiem, and from the Jews who had eilablillied a Marghas^ Mar- hasy or Market, in it. There is accordingly a tra- dition in the town, that there was a market of the' Jews formerly there, and that it was held on the weilern flrand of the fea. Under fuch a fettlement into the mouth, and one into each noflril, as an equal emblem of 2««- mortality. Thus are there ftill " in the windows" of St. Neot's church, what- ever Mr. Gough has finally iaid to the contrary, in his late edition of Camden's Britannia j and precifely, as Biiliop Gibfon had written before j " fe'veral pi6lures relating to foms particular traditions *' among the Jews." Mr. Gough was mifled by the pamphlet above, to which he was a fubfcriber. The windows aftually con- tain traditional and Jeivijh hiftories, as well as Scriptural. Even the Bifhop's reference to the Cornifh Interlude, as explanatory of the Je^MiJl) traditions in the windows, is fo far jull ; that the windows and the Interlude run parallel each with the other, In general defign and in particular execution ; in the general derivation of the hiftory from Scripture, and in the particular intermixture of jewifii tradi- tions with it. They are even ^uery Jimilart in one of the tradi- tions. And {o the painting and the play unite together at lafl, to ihow the intimate acquaintance of the Cornilh, with the popular traditions of the Jews concerning their Scriptural narratives ; and to prove the readinefs which the Cornifh had imbibed from the Jews, for mingling theie traditions with the narratives themfelves, infert- ing them equally in the biography of the Patriarchs, and placing them ift the fame rank of reality with the very incidents of Scripture. of Jji^ THE ORIGIN OF of Jev/s In Cornwall; when they had raifed them-^ felv^es a humble Sion, on the brink of the Weflern Ocean; and when the natives had become fo far connedted with them, as to liften to their traditions, to record them in writings, to exhibit them in paint^ ingSj and even to mix them with the fa6ls of Scrip- ture itfelf J we cannot wonder at this Jewifh appel- lation o^ Saracens from the Jews, which had gone on like a fubterraneous current for ages, breaking out fo flrongly as it does in Britain. That the Jews were once the monopolifts of the tin of Cornwall, there is the ftrongeft tradition in the weft of the county. When the prefent tinners alfo difcover the remains of an old fmelting-place for tin, they always denominate it a Jews Hoiije. Old blocks of tin, too, are occafionally found of a pecuUar configuration; and are conftantly called Jews Pieces. And the ftream-works of tin, that have been form.erly deferted by the labourers, are now ftiled in Englifh Jews Works, and were ufed to be ftiled in Cornilh " Attal Sarasin,'' or " the " leavings of the Saracens >'." The Jews there- fore denominated themfelves, and were denomi- nated by the Britons of Cornwall, Saracens, as y From the information of my very obliging acquaintance Mr. Hitchings, Vicar of St. Hilary, near Marazion, and compofer of the Nautical Almanack for the Board of Longitude j Borlafe's Na- tural Hiiloiy, p. 163 — 164 and 190 j Camden, c. 4. Gibfon, Sec. All this proves the Jews to have been the managers of the mines, not merely (as is faid by Borlafe and others) for the reign of John, but for a verj' long period, the ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 23i the genuine progeny of Sarah. The fame name, no doubt^ carried die fame reference with it, as borne by the genuine, and as ufurped by the fpuri- ous, offspring of Abraham. And all die violent difhortions of it, to which literature has had re- courfe, are here fuperfeded by an explanation, which is fo obvious, that it has long occurred i fo ealy, that it needs no recommendation ; and yet for thefe very reafons reje6ted by thofe, who love to bewilder themfelves in the mazes of literature. Among thefe Saracens of Arabia, under this gene^ ral darknefs of ignorance, and amidll this national night of polytheifm, did that grand impoftor arife, who has made the name of Mahomet to be nearly confonant to that of Antichrist, in the ears of every true Chriftian ; and v/ho has become the fa- ther of a new and numerous race o{ Arians, in the earth. His Scripture is one grand fyflem of Ari- anifm. And like a favage Prince of antient Ger- many, that was proudly fetting his naked foot in a dream, upon the collared neck of a Rom.an Em- peror ; this Illiterate Barbarian fteps in fancy upon the back of our Saviour, and vaults into our Savi- our's throne in imagination. 2. — The genius of the man is ilamped in a bold relief, upon the face of his religion. With a mind naturally vigorous in itfelf j and impelled into a full exertion of all its vigour, by the ilrongeft fpurs v/hich Jj5 THE ORIGIN Of which can harrow up the fides of human adlivity ; he came forward upon the ftage of Arabia, to gra- tify his avarice for fame, and to indulge his ambi- tion for power. He became the ignorant apofde of an ignorant nation. And he betrayed his igno- rance in a form, fo veiy palpable and grofs, upon his very Koran ; as feems to be intended for the mint- mark of God himfelf, in order to fhow the faifity of his infpiration to every eye* Even beneath his pretended infpirations, he was ftill fo ailonifhingly ignorant -, as not to know the dif- ference between Mary the mother of our Lord, and— Miriam the fifter of Aaron. In the third chapter of his Koran, he fpeaks of the Virgin Mary as the daughter of Amran, The title prefixed to the chapter, is Surato'l Amran^ or the chapter of Amran ^ " God," fays the chapter, " hath furely *' chofen Adam, and Noah, and the family of Abra- " ham, and the family of Amran^ above the reft of *^ the world—: remember when the wife of Amran " faid, — Lord, verily I have brought forth a fe- " male — , I have called her Mary — j and Zacharias *' took care of the child — : and— the angels faid, *' O Mar}\ verily God fendeth thee good tidings, " that thou (halt bear the Word proceeding from " himfelf, his name ihall be Chrift Jefus, the Son * Prideaux's Letter to the Deifti, bound up with his Life of Mahcmet, p. 83, of ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 337 ^f ot Mary \" Here Mary, the mother of our Sa- viour, is explicitly declared to be the daughter of Amran. She is thus confounded v/ith Miriam, the fifter of Mofes and the real daughter of Amran. This appeared fo evident to Andrew Du Ryer, that iFrench tranflator of the Koran, from whom we formerly borrowed our only copy of it in Englifh ; that he prefumed to corred the text in order to conceal the blunder, and filently fubflituted Joachim for Jmran through the whole chapter. This was knavifh, but it was prudent. Nor had the Englilh reader any information of the fraud put upon him, till Dr. Prideaux expofed it properly to the nation^. And the late Mr. Sale, our Englilh tranQator of the Koran from the Arabic!:, who inherited the very fpirit of the French one, did all that could be done after fuch a detedion, and . attempted to di- vert what could be no longer concealed. This, he fays, is " fuch an intolerable anachronifm, if it were a Sale's Koran, p. 3^, 39, 4°- ^"^7 ^ ^^""^ ^^^^"S^^ ^''' ^'^^"^^ into Amran, as it ought to be. What prevented it from bcn.g fo in his tranflation, is pretty obvious ; ^^.ih^ Ibrahim of the original is every where Abraham in the verfion. But he chofe to depart from himfelf and from propriety here, in order to difguife the name of Amran the better; and yet to preferve fome appearances of fair- nefs, by faying once in a note, as he fays in p. 38, " Imran or << Amran." b Prideaux, p. 83. So alfo in Sale's Koran, ch. Ixv. p. 458, God fpeaks of " Mary the daughter of Amran, who preferved her « challity, and into whofe womb we breathed of our fpirit" &c. 2 " certain/' ^jS The ORicm or " certain/' as " is fufficlent of it/elf to deflroy tht: "pretended authority of this book^." And fomc Mahometan commentators on the Koran;, as we find from him, have accordingly endeavoured to hide the fhame of their prophet, behind a fcreen of their own ere6lion. Amran^ they pretend, is the Maho- met a7i name for the Joachim of the Chrillians'^, and the real father of the Virgin Mary; and is only by a cafual coincidence, the fame with that of the father of Mr- « P. 38. There v/as in Mr, Sale a Grange confufectners of under- ftanding, which will account for his attachment to Mahometanifm. Of this I fnall give one inftraice here. ** The hour of judgment ap- *' proacheth," (iiys the Koran, ch. liv. p. 428, " and the moon " hath been fplit in funder." " Some imagine," as Mr. Sale re- marks, " the words refer to a famous miracle fuppofed to have been *' performed by Moham.med ; for it is faid that — the m.oon appeared ** cloven in two — . Others think the prefer tenfe is here ufed in the •' prophetic ftile, for the future; and that the paflage fhould be *« rendered. The moon Jhall be fplit in funder; for this, they fay, •' is to happen at the refurre6lion. The former opinion is fup- ** ported by reading, according to fome copies, wakad infhakka 'lica- *' maro, i. e. fnice the moon hath already been fplit in funder; the *' fplitting of the moon being reckoned by fome, to be one of the pre- *' vious figns of the laft dayj" which is evidently in favour of the LATTER opinion. Mr. Sale has thtis produced an argument in fa- vour of the moon ha:. 4. p. 75 h and Mayy, in St. Ambrofe and others (Pear- ion on the Creed, p. 169). haftily^ ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 343 haflily, to the tottering edifice of Gothick abfurditys endeavoured to rear their equally Gothick but- treffeS;, in order to fupport it 3 and laboured to prop up a fabrick of falfehoods, by an acceflion of fictions. But their props have only ferved, to fhow the tottering flate of the edifice the more. And this broad brand of impofture, is only made by the attempts for preventing its application; to be more dccifively applied, and more deeply indented, upon the clumfy forehead of Mahometanilrn. Mahomet, the prophet of God, and the fuperior of our Savi- our, appears before all the world ; annihilating no lefs than fifteen hundred years, in the fathomlefs abyfs of his own ignorance. But this is not the only inflance of the kind, in the felf-convidled Mahomet. Impofture may pre- tend to infpiration, but only real infpiration can il- luminate ignorance. It was only the fpirit of God, that brooded upon the dark face of the chaos. And we have another blunder of chronology, in Ma- homet's Koran ; that has never been noticed like the former, and yet is more glaring (I think) than it God is faid " to fhow" fomething to '^ Pha- ^^ raoh, and Haman, and their forces;" to pro- nounce " Pharaohy and Haman^ and their forces,— " finners ;" and to make Pharaoh thus addrefs Ha- wan, " Wherefore do thou, O Haman, burn me clay ^^ into bricks, and build me a high tower, that I may ^* ajcend to the God of Mo/es, for I verily believe hirn Z 4 " tQ J44 '^^^ ORIGIN OF " to be a llar'^\" This is plainly an aftonlfhlng jumble o( three points of hifloiy into one. The mi- nifler of Ahafuerus at the captivity, is made by a vault of dexterity over a line of nearly nine centuries, mlniiler to Pharaoh at the Exodus ; and both he and Pharaoh are engaged in doing, what was done near feventeen centuries before the captivity, — in building the Tower of Babel. And the Maho- metan commentators, v/ith an unhappinefs very fniiilar to what we have ^ttn before, and proving them to be only lefs ignorant than their mailer -, fay '^ that Haman, having prepared hrkks and ether ma- " terialSi employed no lefs than ffty thoiijand meUy *^ befide labourers, in the building j which they *^ carried to Jo immenje a height^ that the workmen ^^ could no longer ft and upon it > that Pharaoh" could though the workmen could not, and, " afcending ^'^ this tower, threw a javelin towards heaven'^ from it, though the workmen could not Hand upon it, *' which fell back again" upon the tower (I fuppofe) '^ flained with blood : whereupon he impioufly ^^ boafted, that he had killed the God of Mofes ; *^ but at funfet God fent the angel Gabriel, who with *^ one flroke of his wing dcrnolijhed the 'Tower-, a *^ part whereof, falling on the king's army, deftroyed ^^ a million cf men'\'' This wild and legendary tale ^ Ch. xxviii. p. 320. Seealfocli. xl. p. 385. n Ibid. p. 321. See alfo in p. 131 a note of Mr, Sale's own, re- ferring to all this as true. of ARIANISM DISCLOSED* 34^ of the Koran, let us compare with the intimations in fome antient authors ; and we fhall then fee it re- ferring direaiy to the Tower of Babel A very an- tient hiftorian ofAfTyria, Abydenus, fays concern- ino- the latter -, that " the men ereded a fortrefs of «' towers Jit to qfcend to the Jun, and were now near ^^ heaven -r and that "^ the windsy aflifting the Gods, *^ threw down the ftrvMure on their heads ,'' This is exadly fmiilar to the Koran, in thofe four grand particulars s the height of the tower, the defign of ereding it, the overthrow of it by God, and the fall of it on the heads of the builders. An hiflorical Sibyl of fome andquity too, fpeaks exadly in the fame manner concerning the fame towers faying ^' they builded a very lofty tower, as going to mount ^^ up into Heaven by it 3" and adding that " the Gods ^^ fent winds y and overturned the tower r." And Eupolemus fubjoins, that " the tower" of Babel f /^// down under the operation of God '^.'^ Thefe evidences are fufficient to fhow the famenefs. But let us come nearer to the native country, of this Bible of the Saracens 5 and we Ihall fee the famenefs 0 Prepar. Evang. p. 243. llv^ycov rv^crw ^^Xi^aroy a«^«v, iva yjv ^coQv>.cov sriv' rih T£ uaaov eivcci m a^otva' tcan raj aviy.ii<;, 0£o;at BcJ- P Ibid. p. 244. Vlvpyov uzo^oixviorccv rivBt; v^-/iXolaiov, u<; s'Jn rov TOV 'TTvpyov. 1 Ibid. p. 245. JJoT^iv 'Bcx^Qv'Kuvoc ir^uiov [/.sv xJic^rrjai — , oi>iooojw,£j» h rev iro^'dy.zvov itvcyov' ^gaavlc^ h Tala v7:o ta<; m Gsa svs^yeiotq, :<» 1, >\* _ .,, ftiU ^^6 THE ORIGIN OF Hill plainer. An author of tbeir own informs us, that " Nimrod built this tower, that he might ajcend *' to Heaven to fee Abraham's God^ wlio had delivered ** him from the fiery furnace, into which that tyrant ^' had caft him : they worked at this building three *' years -, and, when Nimrod had got on the top ofit^ *' he wondered to fee the Heaven as far from him " as before ; but his aftonifliment increafed, when *' this tower, and another which he had built for " the fame purpofe, were fucceffively overthrown,'* Even the very commentators on the Koran in another place, fpeak of " the tov/er which Nimrod — built **^ in Babel, and carried to an immenje height (five ^^ thoufand cubits, fay fome), fooliHily purpofing *' thereby to ajcend to Heaven^ and wage war with the *^ inhabitants of that place \ but God fruflrated his at- *' tempt, utterly overthrowing the tower by a violent ^' wind and earthquake '." Here we have almoil all ' Ant. Un. Kift. i. 278, and Sale's Koran, p. 216, note. See alfo Koran, p. 269, for Nimrod and Abraham. So Abulfuragiiis fays, that the tower of Nimrod was *' o^vertbroivn by tempefluous winds'" (Ant. Un. Hift. i. 483). Thefe evidences for the o^verthronv of the Tower of Babel, are the moie remarkable ; as the only authentic hiilory of the ereftion, lliys merely the men *' left off to build the *' city" {Ge.'Ci. xi. 8) } and afcribes the defeat of their pro;e6t, not to any overthrow of the tower, but to a very different cauie, a mi-^ raculous confufion of their language. Yet even TertuUian in the well, has the fame account in a paffage, that alfo marks the Divinity of our Saviour : ** Filius itaque eff qui ab initio judicavit, turrim «* fuperbiffimam elldens, linguafque difpertiens'' (Adv. Praxeam, c. xvi. p. 50^). And this ferves to fhow the derivation of the c;r, cumftance ii;i all, from /r^r//7ie««/hiltory. the ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 34*7 ihe omitted flrokes of fimilarity in the preceding in- timations, fupplied at once by the liand o^ Arabians themfelves. And the tower of the Koran appears indubitably at the clofe, to be the very Tower of Babel itfelf, beheld through the difguifing mirrour of popular rornances and Mahometan fi6i:ions united; and built in the peculiar and double blunder of Mahometan ignorance, by the command of Mofes's Pharaoh, and under the direction of Ahafuerus's Haman. I dwell the longer upon thefe proofs of Maho- met's ignorance, becaufe they carry fuch an energy of dete61:ion with them; have been endeavoured to be difingenuoufly foftened away by Mr. Sale, in one of the inftances ; and have not been noticed, by the elegant, the refined, and the judicious Mr. White, in either. Mr. White Rations himfelf in a higher element of the Mahometan region, and takes a more comprehenfive, and a kind of bird's-eye, view of the Mahometan fyftem beneath him. I come down to the fyftem itfelf, range over it with a human eye, and i'^t my foot upon fome mountainous deformides in it. In this mode of a6ling, let me add one ob- fervation more, upon the general tenour of the Koran. There is a ftrange variety oi contradi^iions in it. The whole forms merely a chaos of contend- ing elements. Of this I fhall notice one inllance, becaufe I know not that it has been noticed before, and becaufe it is a very fignal one. " Believe in *'God;* ^^3 THE ORIGIN OF " God/' fays Mahomet, " and his apoflle the illi^ *' terate prophet, — and follow him that ye may be ** rightly dire^ed; of the people of Mcfes there is a ^^ party, ^\\q direct others with truth'' HerQ fome of the Jews are declared, to be friends and fa- vourers of Mahometanifm. But he, who may as juftly be called " the contradictory prophet" as the illiterate one, in another place fuperfedes his owri allertion thus. " O true believers," fays Mahomet again, " take not the Jews or Chrijlians for your *^ friends ; they are friends the one to the other j but *^ whofo among you taketh them for his friends, he ** is furely one of them \ verily God diredteth not un- ^^ jufi people:' '' Thou flialt furely find,'* adds Ma- homet in the very fame chapter, " the moft violent *^ of ail men in enmity againil the true believers, to "be the Jews and the " Idolaters 3 and thou Ihak *^ furely find thofe among them, to be the moil in- " clinable to entertain friendfoip for the true be- " lie vers, who fay v/e are Chriftians : this cometh to *^ pqfsy hecaufe there are priefls and monks among *^ them, and becaufe they are not elated with pride :^ *^ Flow are they infatuated ?" exclaims Mahomet in a fubfequent chapter againfl the Chrijlians ; " they '^ take their priefls and their w.onks, for their lords he- ^^ fides God', — verily many of the priefts and monks *^ devour the fubflance of men in vanity, and cb-^ ^'flru5i the way of God." And, as Mahomet fimi- larly fiys in a fifth palTage, " O ye v/ho have re- *^ ceived ARIANISM DISCLOSED. ^49 " ceived the Scripture, come to a juil determina- *^ tion between us and you, that we worjhip not any *"^ except God, and that the one cfus take not the other ^^ for lords hefide Gcd ." Thus tliofe Jews, fome of whom were embracing Mahometanifm, and in- ducing others to embrace it> are all of them the *^ moil violent of — men in enmity" againfl it. Thus alfo thofe Chriilians, who are profcribed as equally enemies to Mahometanifm with the Jews, in one palTage i are noticed as peculiar fiiends to in, in an- other. Thofe priefls and mxOnks too, who are faid to make them friends, are declared to prevent them from being fo. And thofe, who are humbly lead- ing them to own the unity of God with MahomxCt, are proudly fetting themfelves up for lords together with God j and are proudly attrading the worfhip of the Chriilians, to themfelves conjoindy vs^ith God. Perhaps confufion itfelf can hardly furnilli out in all its wide wildernefs, a contradidbion more m_aily and fubflantial than this. Many m^ore of the fame na- ture might be fpecified. But I need not dwell upon any more, becaufe they are acknowledged in gene- ral by the Mahometans themfelves. Too plain to be denied, and too grofs to be refined avv^ay, they Hand equally with the chronological blunders before, as an illumination on the face of the Falfe Prophet, s Sale's Koran, ch. vii. p. 134, ch. v. p. 89 and 93, ch. ix. p. 153, and ch. iii. p. 44- apparent 2^0 THE ORIGIN OF apparent to every eye '. The Mahometans, howevef, have very naturally done all that could be done, to obfcure and hide the prefent illumination. They have had recourfe, to the only expedient left them for the purpofe. They fuppofe a principle of abrogation, to be at work in the Koran itfelf, to be exercifmg its hoftility againft parts, and fo to be virtually diflblving the authority of the zvbole. And the only check which they have upon fuch a prin- ciple, and the only barrier which they raife to its ravages, is a chronological one. The earlier palTages are abrogated by the later. " For they fay,'' as Mr. Sale himfclf informs us, " that God in the " Koran commanded Jeveral things, which were " for good reafons afterwards revoked and abro- " gated"." One of thefc inftances ought to be particularly recited, in order to let the chara6ter of this extra- ordinary man, in its true light. He had exprefsty forbidden fornication, by the mouth of God. " The whore and the whoremonger," God fays, " fhall ye fcourge with an hundred ftripes -, and let ^' not compalTion towards them prevent you from " executing the judgment of God, if ye believe in » The mark by which Mahomet was known, fay the Mahometans, <« was the prophetkk light which Ihone on his face^' (Prideaux P-9)- " Siile's Difcourfc, p. 6S. '' God ARIANISM msCLO'SED. J^J ^^ God and the lafl day^.'* But an unlucky acci- dent interpofed afterwards, to annul the pofitive command, and to indulge the prophet in a breach of the prohibition. A handfome girl raifed a flame in the heart of the libidinous Mahomet, that dif- folved at once the divinity of his revelations, and unlaced the reputation of the prophet. He com- mitted the prohibited a6t with her. He thus fell, as many have fallen before him. But his fall was diftin- guifhed, by a pre-eminence of iniquity above them all. One of his wives heard of it, and very properly re- proached him with it. He was now, by his own revelation, to be ^^ fcourged with a hundred flripes^'* and his followers were to " let no compafTion pre- " vent them from executing this judgment of God, ^^ if they believed in God and the laft day J' But, in hopes of ftifling the difcoveiy made of his fhame by her, he folemnly promifed her with an oathy to have no future GommAinicationwith the woman. She however expofing the funken prophet to fome of his other wives, he found himfelf lb openly detected, that he became moft profligately refolute. Awed by no principles of religion v/ithin, and controuled by no fears of Ihame without, he threw off all referves of modefty, broke through all reftraints of his oath, and abandoned himfelf to an open diflfolutenefs with her, for a v/hole month. By this time the lecher * Sale's Koran, chap. xxiv. p. tZj. was jr2 THE OHIGIN OF was gratified, and the prophet had power to a6l. He faw the deed which he had done, to be exprelT- Ij contradi6tory to the prohibition of God, and to bear upon it the fuperadded pollution of perjury it-^ felf. He began probably to tremble for the con- fequences. How then did he attempt to prevent them ? He left not the lafcivioufnefs to plead its excufe in his weaknefs, by adverting only to the perjury. This prefTed, no doubt, v/ith peculiar force upon his charader. But the other preiTed alfo. Under the load of guilt from both, any but an impoftor of the firfl magnitude for confidence and courage, mufl have funk difcredited for even But his confidence rofe with his guilt, and his cou- rage mounted diredtly into audacity. And he in- troduced God in a new chapter of the Koran, //- cenfing him to commit fornication with Mary, and^ what is fciil more, authorizing him to violate liis oath ^'. " O prophet," now cries his varying God, *^ why holdeji thou that to he prohibited which Gcd " hath ALLOWED THEE," though God had a6lually prohibited it before, " Jeeking to pleafe thy wives ; " fince God is inclined to forgive and be merciful V^ Thefe laft words imply it flill to be prohibited, though he has juft faid that God hath allowed it to him. " God hath allowed you the dijfohition of your " caths J and God is your mailer, and he is know- r Mod. Un. Hill. i. 159—160, ic mg ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 353 *^ ing and wife^.'* Thus does the God of Maho- met, with fome confufion of ideas and fome contra- didorinefs of expreflions, abrogate his own recent prohlbidon of fornication, and cancel his own eter- nal interdid againft perjury. The abrogation, in the terms of it, is confined to Mahomet. But, as it is not exprefsly reflrained to him ; and as no rea- fon is aiTigned for the abrogation to himj which does not equally extend to all j the abrogation in its con^ fequence becomes univerfal, and a general fornication is permitted by the God of Mahomet ; by that very God too, who had been faithful enough to himfelf and to holinefs, to forbid it a litde before, but who recolledled himfelf afterward, then untied all the bands of human purity, and fo left the exorbitance of human lull to rove at full liberty over the world. Such a Cyprian Deity, has the hand of Mahomet ^tt up in heaven ! But that hand has done fcill worfe, in the prefent palTage. His God has " allowed " you the dilTolution of your oaths." The very terms here are general. An univerfal perjury is fanclioncd by the Koran. And the Jupiter of the Mahometans exprefsly " allows" them, to violate every oath, and to range from perjury to perjury, without check and without limit. Mahomet has thus done the word that a fiend from hell could do, to break down all the fences of modefly, to tear up » Sale's Koran, cb. Ixvi. p. 455, A a ' all j^4 "T"^ ORIGIN OF all the barriers of fociety, and to turn out the wild beafl man, loofe upon the common of nature \ So * Prideaux in p. 147, has, by fome ftrange miftake, added to the pafTage in Koran, chap. Ixvi. this claufe, "God hath granted " unto you to lie with your maid -ferv ants." Thefe words, fays Sale, *' are not to be found here or elfewhere in the Koran, and *' contain an allowance of nvhat is exprefsly forbidden t herein } — ** chap. xxiv. p. 287" (p. 456). The words are certainly not in our copies at prefent. But the " allowance of what is exprefsly for- *' bidden'' before, is juft the fame without them as with them. ** Why holdeft thou that to be prohibited," fays God here concern- ing what he had there prohibited himfelf, and what he nonv fay» •* God hath allowed thee ?" The preceding prohibition, therefore, is annulled at prefent. Nor is it annulled to Mahomet alone. The prohibition was general, the annulling is not exprefsly particular. The annulling indeed feems as general, as the prohibition. And ■what is now allowed to Mahomet, was certainly prohibited to him before. There is no exception to Mahomet in the prohibition. Nor does what Mr. Sale fays in p. 456, avail a ftraw. Prideaux ** proceeds to tell us," he fays, " that in this chapter Mohammed ** brings in God allowing him and all his modems, to lie with their " maids when they will, notwithftanding their wives 5 whereas the *' words relate to the prophet only, who nvanted not any ne-iu per^ *' fnijjion for that purpofe, becaufe it nvas a pri-vilege already granted *' him (chap, xxxii. p. 348—349), though to none elfe." But, to the honour of Mahomet be it fpoken, he had no fuch privilege of fornication. He had only the privilege of— marrying as many wivei as he pleafed. *' O prophet," fays God in the pages referred to, " we have allowed thee thy ^^vi-ves unto whom thou haft given their «' dower, and alfo tht JIaves which thy right hand poffefleth, of the *' booty which God hath granted thee; and the daughters of thy ** uncle, and the daughters of thy aunts, — who have fled with thee *• from Mecca, and any other believing woman, if fhe give herfelf " unto the prophet; in cafe the prophet defireth to take her to nvife. *' This is a peculiar privilege granted unto thee, above the reft of *• tkft ARtANISM DISCLOSED. 355 So plainly was Mahomet himfelf the firft, that introduced this principle of abrogation into the Ko- ran ! But his commentators have digefted it into a kind of plan or fyftem; a plan of diforder, and a fyftem of confufion. '' Paflages abrogated," they fay, " are diflinguilhed into three kinds i the firft, *' the true believers" (p. 348—349)- Accordingly Mr. Sale him- felf remarks upon this palfage ; that *' no moflem can legally marry '* above four ^■i--ues, whether free- women or flaves ; whereas Mo- «' hammed is, by the preceding pafil^ge, left at liberty to take ai *' many [wit/f/] as he pleafts, though with fome rellriaions'* (p. 349). And " it is related of 0mm Hani, the daughter of Abu ** Taleb," he fays in another note, " that (he fhould fay, The apof- «' tie of God courted me for his w//>, but I excufed myfeif to him, «' and he accepted of my excufe : afterwards this verfe v/as revealed; •« but he was not thereby allowed to marry me, becaufe I fled not «' with him" (p. 348). So inconfiftent is Mr. Sale with himfelf, as in p. 456 to plead that part of the Koran for a fan6lioned pre- emine ce in fornication to Mahomet, which in p 348— 349> ^-"^ ^^ the place, he had fhown to be mefely an extended rig'^t of polygamy to him. In difcourfe, p. 137, inconfiftent with himfelf in both thefe paflages, he makes it to extend to polygamy and to fornication. The fafts alfo, which I have related in the text, and which are equally related by Mr. Sale in p. 456—457, of Mahomet's fecretly committing fornication with Mary, of his being difcovtred by one of his wives j of his being reproached by herj of his promifmg with an oath, never to do fo again (fee alfo p. 413) ; of her communi- cating the fecret, to fome of his other wiv'es ; of his pl-inging defpe- rately, when thus deteiled, into. an open courfe of fornication 5 and of his having final refort to a new revelation, in vindication of his impurity, and in abfolution of his perjury : all ftiow him to have been prohibited from fornication before. And, as the fuhflance of what Prideaux has afferted, though not the /om of it, flands fully juftified j fo the Mahometan doftrine of abrogation, is ftrikingly ex- pofed by all, A a 2 " where j^6 THE ORIGIN or " where the letter and the fenfe are i^otb abrogated 5: " the fecond, v/here the letter only is abrogated, but " the fdufe remains J and the third, where the/eii/e is ^^ abrogated, but the letter remains." What infinite uncertainty fuch. a triple feries of abrogations, mult nccefTarily make in any code of revelation j is ob- vious to every inteiled:. No revelation could fub- fifl with them. As foon might the globe of the earth, according to the Mahometan mythology, be placed upon the body of an oxe, which is placed upon a white ftone, which is placed upon — nothing. Yet let us notice an inftance of each of the three. Mahomet, according to tradition, gave his fecretary " a verfe" to be fet down in the Koran. The fe- cretary iht it down.. But, looking in the Koran next morning, he found the verfe had vanilhed from the page, and the place of it was all a blank. He applied to Mahomet with the wonderful intel- ligence. And MahomiCt " allured him, the verfe " was revoked the fame night." The God of Ma- homet, it feems, had flept after his firfl revelation of iti and was now fober enough, to fee the impro- priety of what he had done the night before. There was alfo, it is faid, this precept originally in the Koran : " if a man and woman of reputation com- " mir adultery, yc Hiall ftone them both^ it is a. *^ punilliment ordained by God, for God is mighty * and wife." This injundion, fo proper in itfelfi, wa&s AR'IANISM DISCLOSED. 357 was extant in the Koran while Mahomet was aHve; according to the tradition of Omar, who was after- wards Khaliff. He had feen it there. But, after the death of Mahomet, it was not to be found. How was this ? When Mahomet had been guilty of adultery with Mary, it feems, he had fecretly erafed the puniihment of itoning out of his Bible, •as the pirate did the command againft flealing, m tendernefs to himfelf ; and fo left his followers to continue the pradlice, even when the injunction was privately withdrawn. And " of the lad kind,** adds Mr. Sale, '^ are obferved Jeveral verfes in ^\fixty-three different chapters, to the number of *^ two hundred and twenty -jive^\^' Yet the very man who introduced the doflrine of abrogation, in order to obviate the abfurdity of his ov/n contradic- tions; with a contradidirorinefs accumulated upon the head of all, and with an effrontery completely Mahometan, denies x!^a^ exifbence of all contradic- tions in his Koran ; and even challenges the autho- rity of infpiration for it, on this very account. " Do ^' they not/' fays this boldeil of all bold falfifiers, *^ attentively confider the Koran ? If it had been *^ from any befides God, they would certainly have *' found therein many contradidions ." He was fpeaking to the blind i and therefore had the hardi- b Sale's Dircourfe, p. 64.-65 ; and fee p. 135, for the Honing. « Sale's Koran, chap. iv. p. 71. A a 3 nefs 35? THE ORIGIN OF nefs to deny the exiftence of a Sun, that was ftiining out at noon-day upon him. Of thofe contradidions however, that yet remain upon the page of aflerted infpiration, becaufe the infpirer forgot to expunge, when he refolved to re- voke them^ who fhall afcertain what is revoked, and what is not ? Who fhall fay what is pofterior, and what is prior ? The orddr cf pfiticn will not de- termine this, A part of the ninety-fixth chapter is generally believed, to have been the firft revealed ;. while fome fay, the firft was the beginning of the Jeventy -fourth: and the ninth is equally agreed, to have been the chapter that was laft revealed i though, fome think the ninth a part of the eighth, which was revealed many years before. " The firft five ^^ verjes of this chapter,*' fays Mr. Sale more cir- cumftantially concerning the ninety-fixth^ " are ge- " nerally allowed to be the firft pailage of the Ko^ " ran, which was revealed s though feme give this ^^ honour to xkitfeventy -fourth chapter, and others to " the firft ^ the next (they fay) being the fixty^ *^ eighth ." " \tfeemsy* Mr. Sale alfo informs us, ^^ that the verfe or fajfage^ wherein fuch word oc- *^ curs" as now gives title to the chapter, ^^ was " in point of time revealed and committed to writ- " ing, before the other verfes of the fame chapter. < Mod. Un. Hift. i, 3^, and Sale's Kloran, p. 14-8— 149> i39» 471, and 456. *^ whicl^ ARIANISM DISCLOSED. ^59 " which precede it in order i and the title being given " to the chapter before it was completed^ or the " P^Jf^^^^ reduced to their prejent order, the verfe, " from which fuch title was taken, did not always " happen to begin the chapter^." This is an amazing circumftance, in the Mahometan do6lrine of abrogations. Not only the chapters are out of all hiflorical order, but even the very verfes of thofe chapters are fo. How then Ihall chronology come in to fay, which palTage Jfhall iland and which fhall fall ? Chronology has no power over fuch a fcene of confufion. Her fiat can never be heard by this wild wafte of chaos. She has no ground to iland upon herfelf, and none even to fix her golden com- pares upon. And the war of elements mufl con- tinue to be waged for ever. "We may fee this ex- emplified in a particular cafe. " It lliall not be " lawful for thee,'* fays God to Mahomet, " to " take other women to wife hereafter," befides the nine which he now had, and which he was a]lo\yed in a paflTage immediately preceding to have. But. fome Mahometan commentators, as Mr. Sale tells us, " are of opinion, that this verfe is ahro^ated^ by *^ the two preceding verfes or one of themi and was '^ revealed before them, though it be read after '^ them '," The principle of abrogation therefore, which is to reconcile all the jarring parts of the Ko- « Sale's Difcourfe, p. 57. f Scile's Koran^ p. 349. A a 4 ran. ^So THE ORIGIN OF ran, by removing the hiflorically prior, and fo leav- ing die hiftorically pofterior at peaces is ahjolutely impoffible to he reduced intopraBicey in general. When there is no determined priority of time, for the in- jundion; there cannot be any pofTible pofteriority, for the abrogation. The injundlion may be the ab- rogation, and the abrogation may be the injundion. And the contradidlions Hand in full force with the blunders, to prove the Koran not an em.anadon from the wifdom of God, and not even an effufion from the wifdom of man ; but a compofition tinftured flrongiy with the folly of human ignorance, and im- pregnated fharply with the ferment of human iniquity ! I have dwelt the longer upon thefe points of Mahometanifm, in order to introduce with greater propriety fome remarks upon the Arianifm of it, and to counrera6l the late efforts of Mr. Gibbon in its favour. He has endeavoured to tear away the rags from the malkin of Mahometanifm, and to drefs it up in a holiday fuit of his own. But he has made hiinfeif the very Mahomet of hiflory, by the at- tempt : an impoftcr in fads, a fatjr in lechery ; wounding himfclf feverely, widi the very point of hii own contradi5licns\ and yet daggering eagerly forward, to put himfeif at the head of the enemies of Chrifi. Nor let the reader be furprifed, at my fpeaking fo flrongiy againft a man, whom I was once ARIANISM DISCLOSED. ~ 361 once proud to call my friend. I honour his Iplen- did abilities ; but I muil for ever proteft, againft his anti-chriftian application of them. And I wilh to bear my teflimony upon every occafion, againft that muddy inundation of folly and of falfhood; which the unhappy dexterity of his hand, has let loofe upon the Chriflian world. Never perhaps was literature more the impudent pander of fen- fuality, and never was reafon perhaps more the fal- fifying flave of unbelief, than in his well-known hiilory. 3. - In this flate of Mahomet and his religion,- the Chriflian Sun of Futurity broke in upon the Saracens of Arabia. It broke in indeed dreadfully difcoloured by the medium, through which it pafTed to them. He exhibited thofe coming ages of ex- iflence to man, that awfully commence when hfe is terminated ; and that naturally engage the deepefl attentions of our honefl felfifhnefs, from the unde- fined duration of themj in an imagery, that was all corporeal, all fenfual, and highly inflammatory to the combuftible pafTions, of his own and the Arabian temper. He himfelf was a very prodigy of lullful- nefs. This it is difficult to fhow, without ofiending my own and my readers' delicacy. But it is requifite to hurt a little the fenfibilities of delicacy, in order to maintain the precifion of hiftory. Hie luflfulnefs of Mahomet has always been confidered, and very juflly^ as the marking feature of his hiflorical face. He ^52 THE ORIGIN OF He was, in truth, a very Demi-god in obfcenity. This Pan of Arabia, man, goat, and god in one, is reported by evidence that cannot be refifted in general, to have had the common fenfuality o{ forty men, all united and combined in his own perfon. And what I add with pain, however necefTary it may be to the completenefs of my defcription, be- caufe I confider it as too pointed in itfelf; this Priapus of Mecca is equally reported by equally competent teflimony, founded alTuredly on the re- lations of his own vaunting fenfuality, to have once ufed all his eleven wives fucceflively, within the compafs of a fingle hour s. Both thefe reprefenta- tions indeed, however attefted by hiftory, muft feem to our minds abfolutely impolTible in fadl. But- great allowance ought certainly to be made, for the fuperior vivacity of corporeal fenfations, in an Ara- bian compared with a Briton. What is impofTible with us, I believe, is quite poflible with them. ^* The ardour," fays even an Italian hiilorian con- s Prideaux, p. 149, from " Fortalitium Fidei, lib. iv. confid. 2/* the work of a Francifcan friar in 1459, " Guadagnol. trait, z, " cap. 7, feft. i." publifhed by another in 1631, " Richardi Con- *' futatio, c. 8," a book of great weight, written from a perfonal converfation with the Saracens about 1210, and " Difputatio Chrif-' " tiani, c. 6,"*' written by one who was an officer in the very court of SI Saracenick monarch before, and probably long before, i^o} for the firft point: and *' Johannes Andreas e libro AJfajnaiU cap. 7,'* the compofition of a Mahometan doftor, who was converted in 1487* and " Guadagnol. traft. 2, cap. 7, fe»5t. i. ex eodem libro,'*'' a Sara-> reuick \^oik, of which nothing more is now known than from the i^uotations of thefe two authors j for the fecond. cerning ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 2^3 ccrning the Saracens, " with which both fexes " among them rufh diflfolutely into lull, is incre- " dible in itfelf /* The aVerments of hiflory, therefore, may perhaps be true to their full extent. Even if we bring them much nearer to the line of our own feelings, by confidering them as heigh- tened confiderably from the vauntings of a fenfuality> that was proud of its animal prowefs, and pleafed to enhance it by falfhoodsj yet in general they ferve very ftrongly to fhow us that vaft enormity of luft, which, in the opinion not merely of Arabians but of Europeans, in the apprehenfion of Mahometans as well as Chriflians, a6luated the body of this pre- tended prophet J and made him 2i leader in luftfulnefs among the luftful Saracens, the very king of/afyrs. The luftfulnefs of him and of his countrymen, how- ever, was not, as it has been ftated to be, the refult of their climated They muft then have fhared it with all their confining neighbours. And their own excefs of venery could not have been, either parti- cular in them or incredible to others. It was the confequence of long habits of indulgence. Arabia thus became the Cyprus of the continent, and from the fame principle of idolatry. The Arabians and the Cypriots united, in that laft extreme furely of J» A. Marcellinus, xiv. 4, p. 14. Valefius. " Incredibile elt, ** quo ardore apud eos in veneiem uterque fc4vitur fexus." 1 Prideaux, p. 149. reafon ^^4 ''^* ORIGIN Of reafon fubjeded to fenfe, the adoration of an ac« knowlcdged whore. In Sanaa, the metropolis of Yaman or Arabia Felix, was a temple ere6i:ed profelledly to the ho- nour of the planet Venus, under the title of Al Zo- hara-y which was reckoned fo facred, that death was prophedcally denounced againil the man, who fhould deflroy it -S Allat was the idol of another tribe, and feems to have been a real Venus ; the deity being a female one ; the name moft probably fignifying the Goddefs; and the women of the town where it was worfhipped, begging of Mahomet it might not be deflroyed at all, then intreating to have the deilrudion deferred for three years, foli- cidng next for a refpite only of one months and at lafl lamenting paiTionately their lofs in its fate . Al Uzzah or the Mighty was the idol of two tribes and a half, a female certainly, and a real Venus proba- bly: being the rival of the grand idol at Mecca; and attended by a female prieft, who, at the demoli- tion of her temple, ran out of it with her hair diflie- velied, and v/ith her hands upon her head, as a fuitor fuppiicating for its prefervation "". Manah or the Bountiful, was another Venus, I fuppofe^ being the female idol of two tribes, and (according to fome) ^ Sale's Difcourfe, p. jy. See alfo John of Damafcus, and St, Jerome, in Reland. de Reb. Mali. chap. v. for the Arabians worfhip- ping the ftar Lucifer or Venus, to the days of Heraclius. * gaje's difpourfe, p. 18. m Sale's Pifcourfe, p. 18 and 136. of ARIANISM DISCftOSED. 2^ i cf three others, even of the one which worfhipped Aliat; and being in itfelf only a large Jlon&'\ Thefe were aE three reckoned moft high and beauteous damfjls, as well as obje6ls of adoration "■. But ow two mountains adjoining to Mecca, were alfo two idol-, one male, the other female ; who are faid by the Arabians themfelves, to have been natives, that committed whoredom together in the temple of Mecca^. that were therefore converted into ftone^ and after- wards wcrjhipped by the Meccans J\ Indeed ^' feve^ ^' raV of the Arabian idols, as Mr. Sale informs us^^ " were no mors than large rude ft ones "^.^^ And I therefore confider the Mack ftone at Mecca, as ano- ther idol of Venus among the ancient Meccans j- they who profeiTedly worfhipped a whore in ilone,. they who worfhipped profeiTedly the planetary and probably the real Venus, and moil probably in a large flone too, very probably worlhipping the real' Venus in this. Tliis is Jet in fdver, and fixed at the fouth-eaftern ande of the temple without, about feven fpans fl'om the ground. There it is exceed- ingly refpetled by the Mahometans. It marks the* angle, from which the pilgrims begin their procef- fions of {tYtn circuits round the temple; and is kifled by all the pilgrims at eveiy circuit with great: devotion, either immxediately v/ith the lips them- n Difcourfe, p. 18 and 136. *» Koran, chap. xxii. 279. P Difcourfe, p. 20. ^;" and the particular remunerations, which hereferved for thofe who died in battle, by ranking them as the mart^TS of Mahometanifm, and refting them " in the crops « of green birds, which eat of the fruits and drmk <' ofthe rivers of paradifey;" gave a violent and mi- litary impulfe to both. But this alone could not be fufiicient, for a rational creature. Mahomet there- fore tempered all, with the enthufiafm of religion. Like Prometheus, he ftole a fire from heaven, to operate as the foul of his new man. With an ufe- flil judicioufnefs, he enjoined prayer to his dif- ciples, as the pillar of religion and the key of pa- radife ^ And, with an abfurdity equally ufeful, he fixed all the incidents in their lives, under the bond- age of an ir-refiftible decree fiom God '. Beneath the influence of a religion, that was equally X Mod. Un. Hift. i. p. 39»- ' bale's Difcourfe, p. 77- .Ibid. p. .07. 'Ibid. p. 103. B b 4 devout. ^y6 THE ORIGIN OF devout, fenfitlve, and warlike; they flarted up at once a race of fanatick foldiers, bold in the confidence of predeflination and prayer, fearlefs of death in the field, and even ambitious of falling in fight. Under the guidance of their grand " prophet of war,", and with his fuccefTors, their prieflly princes, directing them ; they burfb in upon the Roman empire, dif- membered it of nearly all its provinces, conquered Perfia, and fubdued Indoftan. They thus reduced almofl all Afia, under the obedience of Mecca; transferred the feat of fovereignty, firfl to Damafcus and then to Bagdad ; fo revived fuccefTively a kind of Syrian and AfTyrian empire in the v/orld, but ex- tended it weflerly to the farthefl bounds of Africa, and thence carried it northerly into Spain, France, Sicily, and Italy. At lafl they had the diftinguifhed honour, of finally fub verting that wonderful work of ages, that feemingly eternal fabrick of folidity, the Roman empire; and of fweeping it away from the face of the earth, for ever. And they fixed the crefcent in the room of the crofs,upon the impe- rial cliurch of Conftantinople. But, what was more extraordinary flill, they profelyted as they conquered, and even as they were conquered. They drew in the Perfians, the Indians, the Tartars, and the Turks, to^v/ilh for the paradife that was " under the ^' fhadow of fwords;" the meaner of them, to figh for the embraces of their black-eyed maids of pa- radife 5 ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 377 radifej and the more generous, even to contend for ^^ a reft in the crops of their green birds" of para- dife. This globule of foul water, as it rolled along, licked up the duft of the ground, fometimes an end of ftraw, fometimes a grain of fand, and fometimes a particle of metal; attached them all to its mafsi and {o formed itfelf into a ball of magnitude, from the congregated dirt of the earth. And the Saracens eftablifhed Mahomet anifm, and with it eftabiifhed Arianifm, over a full quarter of the globe. 4. — ^ Arianifm is too plainly apparent upon the Koran. " Say not there be three Gods," fays Ma- homet, ^ Before I enter on the new part of my argument, let me make one remark here. Mahomet has thruft himfelf, as I have faid be- fore, into the throne of our Saviour. This relates merely to the pro- phetlck chara6ter. Mahomet has fet himfelf, as a teacher to man- kind, higher than our Saviour. But, in dignity of nature, he fets himfelf lower ; whatever has been confidently faid, and haftily be- lieved, to the contrary. " The true or orthodox mollems,'' fays an author in Mod. Un. Hift. i. 70, ** confider our Saviour as « nv^/^r^*, *' and Mohammed at the fame time 3.%fcarce inferior to God himfelf j'* certainly not as God, certainly inferior therefore, and certainly a crea- ture. Mahomet in the opinion of his followers, fays the fame author in another place, *' was the iirft of the prophets in the order of creation^ ** though the lafl: in the order of mifTion ; Adani^ and all other crea- *^ tures, halving been created by him''" (i. 255). This is carrying the dignity of Mahomet, very far indeed. But the words mean not all, that they feem to import by their found. They make not Mahomet more than human. He is only " the frjf of the prophets in the order ** of creation." And, if he was a creator, he was only of '* Adam, <* and all other'* human *' cr-eatures," all the creatures that were jpofterior to Adam. ** He furpaifed all the reji of mankind in fenfe «' and ^y^ THE ORIGIN OF hornet, " — there is but one God '^.*' So exaftly did Mahomet talk, as our modern Arians do ; mif- taking the very principles of the Chriftian theology; and making the three Perfons in one Godhead, as adlually believed by the Chriflians, into three Per- fons and three Godheads, as pretendedly believed by them 1 " They are certainly infidels," he adds, '' who fay, God is the third of three^ for there is no " God befides one God^.'* Mahomet thus ad- *' and underftanding, and particularly In every branch of divine ** knowledge j" wliile " his breaft vs^as miraculoufly opened by angels/' and " angels ftieltered him with their wings from the heat of the fun'" (i. £55 — 256). *' God has commanded the world to obey him j'* '* he will be the firft of the fons of Adam that Ihall rife from the '' dead, and advance to the place of judgment on his beaft Al Borak, «' efcorted by 70,000 angels" (i. 259) ; ** he will be called by his *^ own proper name, to the place of judgment}" " will carry in his <« hand the ftandard of glory, under which Adam and all his follow- «« ers will range themfelves ;" " will be the great pontiff of the faith- «' ful, their orator and condu6lor j" and, in fhort, he is and will be «* the prince and lord of all the children of Adam," and '* more no- *« ble in the fight of God, than any of his other creatures," meaning only his hiunan creatures (i. 258, 259). All fhows Mahomet to be raifed indeed by the folly of Mahometanifm, into a feat of high ho- nour. But then the honour is not angelick. It is merely human. He only ftands in their belief, the human lord and the human crea- tor of the race of man, created firft himfelf, and then empowered to create his brethren. And he fays exprefsly himfelf, ** I fay not unta *' you, The treafures of God are in my power 5 neither do I fay^ I *' know the fecrets of God ; neither do I fay unto you. Verily I am an " angel: I follow onfy that which is renjealed unto me. Say, fhall the '< blind and the feeing be held equal ?" (ch. vi. p. 103). " Verily, " I am only a man like you" (chap, xli, p. 389). *: Sale's Koran, chap. iv. p. 8i. ^ Chap. v. p. 92. vances^ ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 3^73 nances, in his Arian mif-reprefentations of the faith of Chrift. He has already exhibited our Divine Perfons in the Godhead, as fo many diftind Gods in our belief. He now exhibits them, as in our be- lief two creatures united with God; thus contra- di6ting diredtly his previous reprefentation of them. But he does even more than this, in his account of us. He makes our Deity to confiil of two crea- tures conjoined with God, and — -God only ranking as " the third of the three.'* And he thus places, for us, the two creatures prior in the order of por- tion, and God himfelf pofterior to them,. " They *^ are furely infidels," he farther tells us, " who fay, « Verily God is Chrifl the Son of Mary^" This is another mif-reprefentation of the catholick doc- trine, in Mahomet. But it is an Arian one. We fay not that God is Chrift, but that Chrift is God. We own a Divine Perfon in the Godhead, as much fuperior to Chrift in origin, as a father is to his fon. And we only fay, that Chrift fliares the nature of the Godhead with this Being, as a fon fliares the nature of his father. Yet the meaning of Mahomet is very plain, in all this. He means, like Trypho the Jew, to deny and to oppofe the Divinity of our Saviour, as aflerted by the Chriftians around him. He thus ftands forth an incontrovertible evidence himfelf, of the a6lual belief in the Trinity, and of the aftual adoration of our Saviour, by the Chriftians « Chap. V. p. 85, of jSO THE ORIGIN OF of the feventh century. He is an equal witnefs alfo> to his own falfifying wilfulnefs, or his own mif-ap- prehending ignorance, in all. And he fhows the one or the other ftiil more, afterwards. By an ab- furdity all his own, he makes the Chriflian Trinity to confift of God the Father, God the Son, and — the Virgin Mary. " God fliall fay unto Jefus at '' the laft day," he aflures us, " O Jefus, Son of " Mary, hail thou faid unto men. Take me and my " mother for two Gods, befide God'V By an ab- furdity equally all his own, he maintains that " the " Jews fay, Ezra is the fon of God, and the Chrif-^ " Hans fay, Chrift is the Son of God : this is their *^ faying in their mouths ; they imitate the faying of '* thofe, who were unbelievers m former times ?.'* He thus fhows us his full convitlion, of a belief ~ in the Trinity being a leading principle of Chriflian faith, in former times as well as in the prefent. And he alfo furnifhes us with an opportunity, of fhowing our candour even to a Mahomet i of vindicating him from the charge of falfhood, and of attributing all to his folly; that folly, which made him to contra- difl himfelf fo pointedly, and occafioned him to blunder fo egregioufly, in fom^e grand circum- ftances before. " God," he adds in a jufler fpirit to die Chriflians, and in a fairer oppofirion to Chrif- tianity, " is but one God ; far be it from him, that f Chap. V. p. 9S. % Cliap. ix. p. 152—153. '' he ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 385 ^^ he lliculd have a Son ^\" He here confiders the Son of God, in the beHef of the Chriftians then and formerly^ Tisfucb to be God. We have accordingly a Ipurious Gofpel, which carries the name of St. Bar- nabas as the author, yet is afcribed by fome to an heretical Chriftian, but is plainly one regular and confident fabrication of Mahometan impofcure being made aflliredly jufl after the Koran, and in order to corroborate it, by one who had more knowledge in the records of Chriilianity, than Ma- homet; in which the Chriilian cotemporaries of the forgery are equally attefted, to call our Saviour ex- prefsly Son of God and God, or God and his Son '\ But ^ Ciiap. iv. p. 81. i This Golpel I have cited before in iii. a, i, a note, as mak- ing the Chriftians to call our Saviour the Son of God and God, and as attributed by Mr. Sale and Mr. White to fome heretical Chriftian. But it is, I am perfuaded, purely a Mahometan forgery. The original is found only in Arabicki and only among the Maho- metans (Sale's Diicourfe, p. 74). This difcinguiilies it decifively from a fpurious work of a ftnilar nature, the Revelation of St. Peters which the Mahometans have equally in Arabick, but which was not un- known in the original to the primitive Chriftians (Mod. Un. Hift. i. 337). From that Arabick original of St. Barnabas, the Morifcoes of Africa have a Spantjh tranflation (Difccurfe, p. 74.) j one undoubtedly made for their ufe, when they exercifed their Maho- metanifm in Spain. From the Spaniili do we derive the only tranlla- tion, which we have in Englifh (White, p.xlii). Merely eight chapters of the Englifh have been publifned. But from them we fee enough to fhow, that the piece is the forgery of a Mahometan Jeiv. The Englifh tranflation being literal from the Spanifh (\Vhite, p. xli), the name of Jofeph of Arimathea is twice dilfigur'sd in this manner, «' Jofeph ^^± THE ORIGIN OF But Mahomet afllgns a reafon, for God not having a Son i which is worthy of the materiaHzed intelledt of a Mahomet. " Ile^ — bafh taken no wifcy' he fays, " nor hath he begotten any ifTue ^^." Or, as he exprefles himfelf more pointedly in another place, ** Jcfephi^iarimathea/' (p. Ixxi. andlxxvi). The ^^ ^lu alfo is dete6led jn the following fentence : '* the difciples, who did not fear God ** with truth, nvent by night, ^ndfole the body of" the fuppofed Jefus, *' and hid it j fpreading a report that he had rifen agairi" (White, p. Ixxii). And \hQ Mahometan is apparent in all the ftronger features of it ; in all thofe particularly, which have compelled even fuch as think it the fabrication of a Chrillian heretick, to pronounce it interpolated by a Mahometan (Sale's Difcourfe, p. 74, Koran^ p. 42— 43> ^nd White, p. 3 58) ; and efpeclally in thofe references to Mahomet as a future prophet, which are the grand obje6l of the •svhole, and form fo ufeful a foundation for the Koran (Sale's Dif- courfe, p. 74 — 75, and White's notes, p. Ixxvi. xliii. and xliii — xlv). The whole was evidently forged for the introduftion of thefe, and moft probably by the Jew hereafter mentioned. The Mahometans, according to M. D'Herbelot, have equally a fpurious copy of the Pfahns } and even, according to another author of credit, a fpurious copy alfo of the Pentateuch (Mod. Un. Hift. i. 330) j both equally in Arabick with this of the Gofpels, and equally with it, I fuppofe,, formed by the fame Jew for a fupport of the Koran. And as inter- polations alledged without evidence, prove nothing but the wifhes of the alledger 5 fo arc thofe very interpolations generally, for that very reafon, the prominent and marking element of the whole. See alfo a note hereafter, v. 3 j where the reader will find an intimation in the Koran, expanded into a regular hijlory by the Gofpel of St. Bar- nabas. Yet in either light, confidercd as the fabrication of fome he- retical Chrifiian, or as the pollerior forgery of a Mahometan.^ it proves the point for which I adduce it here, and have adduced it in iii. 2> i, a notej and attefts the Chriftians cotemporary with the forgery, to have called our Saviour the Son ofCod^nd Cod, ^ Chap. Ixxii. p. 468. " how ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 383 ^* how fliould he have [{Tue^Jince he hath no confort'?'' And he thus prefents his Arianifm, with its naked front of afTurance, and in its full drefs of llupidity, before us. Yet in other places he fpeaks of our Saviour^ in a manner very different : " O Mary," God is intro- duced faying to the BlefTed Virgin, " verily God ^^ fendeth thee good tidings, that thou flialt bear " the Word proceeding from him/elf''^ F' He thus feems to give a confubftantiality of divine nature to our Saviour, as the Logos or Word of the Father, He alfo fays of John the Baptift, that he " fhali *^ bear witnefs to the Word which cometh from '' God\" " Verily Chrift Jefus the Son of Mary," he adds, " is the Apoftle of God, and his Word, ^*^ which he conveyed into Mary^ and ^ Spirit proceed- *^ ing from him ''." And there is a peculiarity in the language of Mahomet concerning God, that is very remarkable in itfelf, yet has never been no- ticed, and dire6lly coincides with all this. He re- peatedly ufes the fcriptural phrafe oi plurality ^ in the fpeeches of God concerning himfelf Of this I will give one ftriking inftance. " When thy Lord," the Koran tells us, " faid unto the angels, / am going ^^ to place a fubftitute on earth, — God anfwered, " Verily / know that which ye know not, — declare 1 Chap. vi. p. 109. » Chap. iii. p. 40. ■ Chap. iii. p. 4.0. • Chap. iv. p. 80— 8r. «^ unto J84 "^"^ ORIGIN OF ^^ unto me the names. — God faid, Did / not tell <^ you that / know. — And when we faid unto the " angels, Worfhip Adam, — and we faid, O Adam, — neither exchange my " figns, and fear ?ne. — Remember my favour, — and ^^ that / have preferred you [Jews] above all " nations. — Remember, v/hen we delivered you " from the people of Pharaoh, — when we divided " the fea for you, — when we treated with Mofes *' forty nights, — we forgave you ; — we gave Mofes *^ the Book of the Law, — we caufed clouds to over- " fhadow you : — they injured not tis. — JVe faid— ^^ we will pardon, — we fent down, and — we faid '\'' This pafTage will fland as a fufficient fpecimen, of the general ftyle of the Koran in this point. The tranfition from the fingular number to the plural, the return from the plural back to the fingular, the recurrence again from the fingular to the plural, and even the immediate interchange of both at times; are very extraordinary. The God of Mahomet thus P Chap. ii. p. 4—8, fpeaks ARiANISM DISCLOSED. 385 fpeaks of himfelf as a plurality, exa6lly as the God of the fcriptures does. Even he who is merely one perfon in one nature, fpeaks of himfelf as a plurality much oftenevy than He who is three in one. So plainly was the Koran a fyftem of orthodoxy once, though it is now of herefy ! Both fyilems are appa- rent there at prefent; this prominent and triumph- ant, that latent and overwhelmed by the other. And Mahomet in another place decifively degrades the Word of God, from all that participation of Divinity, which he has given to him before; by ab- ruptly cutting him off from all filial relation to God, in thefe words : " this was Jefus the Son of Mary, ^^ the Word of Truth, concerning whom they [the *^ Jews] doubt ; it is not meet for God, that Ke ^^ fhould have any Son, God forbid^'.'* Mahomet indeed makes the Logos or our Savi- our, and the Holy Ghoft, to be a couple of Angels; the Logos to be Michael, the friend and protedior of the Jews; and the Holy Ghoft to be Gabriel, whom he conftitutes fuperior to Michael or the Logos ^ ^^ We^'' fays God, '^ formerly delivered *' the law unto Mofes, and caufed apoilles to fuc- " ceed him, and gave evident miracles to Jefus the " Son of Mary, and ftrengdiened him with the ^"^ Holy Spirit \'' " But we muft not imagine,'* t Chap, xix. p. 251. «■ See Sale's Difcourfe, p. 2* » Koran, chap, ii, p. 12. C c Mr. ^86 THE ORIGIN or jM[r. Sale remarks, that " Mohammed here means the <^ Holy Ghofty in the Chriflian acceptation : the " commentators fay, this fpirit was the angel Ga- " briel, who fandified Jefus, and conitantly at- " tended on him ^" And " the commentators " fay/' as Mr. Sale informs us, " that the Jews- *^ afked, Wliat angel it was that brought the divine " revelations to Mohammed; and being told it was *' Gabriel, they replied that he was their enemy, " and the meffengcr of wrath and puniiliment ; but " if it had been Michael^ they would have believed " on him, becaufe that angel v/as their friend, and " the mejfenger cf peace and plenty ^'\''- — But " when the " Son of Mary was propofcd for an example," adds- God to Mahomet, '^ behold, thy people cried out " through excefs of joy thereat, and they faid. Are " our Gods better, or he ?" This evidently alludes ta the recent introdu6lion of Chriftianity into fome parts of Arabia, and the preference which fome of the Ara- bians were giving to our Saviour as a God, before their own Gods. ^' This pafTage," Mr. Sale ob- ferves, " is generally fuppofed to have been revealed, " on occafion of an objedion made by one Ebn ai " Zabari, to thofe words in the twenty-firfl chapter^ " by which all in general who were worlliipped as "Deities befides God, are doomed to Hell: " whereupon the infidels" or Heathen Arabs " cried « Koran, ch. ii. p. 12, M Koran, p. 13. « out'' ARIANISM DtSCLOSED. 387 *' out'' by the mouth of Ebn al Zabarl, " We are '^ contented that our Gods fhould be with Jesus, *^ for HE ALSO IS WORSHIPPED AS GoD." But, aS Mahomet's God proceeds, " Jefus is no other than ^' afervant, whom we favoured with the giftof pro- '^ phecy; and we appointed him for an example "unto the children of I frael ; if we pleafed, verily *^ we could from your/elves produce Angels, to fuc- " ceed you in the earth ^." As far as we can fee into the meaning of Mahomet, through that in- diftin6lnefs of expreffion, which is perhaps the natural concomitant of impofiure concerning hea- venly obje6ls, as having no heavenly arche- types before its fuggeftors; and which certainly fpreads a thick cloud over the Koran, to every reader of it j Mahomet evidently makes him an y^n^ gely born indeed of woman, but yet an Angel, whom the Chriilians were adoring as a God, and whom fome of the Arabs had been lately going to receive as a God, together with his religion. Ac- cordingly Mahomet, in his famous journey to Hea- ven, meets with our Saviour there, and recommends himjelf to our Saviour's prayers ; though he makes Adam, Noah, Abraham, Mofcs, and the Eaptift, all fucceflively recommend themfelves to the prayers of Mahomet y. So much fuperior does Mahomet confider our Saviour, to himfelf and to all mankind! X Koran, ch. xliii. p. 399. y Pfideaux, p. 62, and Mod. Un. Hift. i. p. 70. C C 2 So ^88 THE ORIGIN' O^ So llkewlfe he fays of our Saviour, that " his nam-^ " ihall be Chrift Jefus the Son of Mary, honour- " able in this world and the world to come, and " ONE of THOSE. WHO APPROACH NEAR TO THE " PRESENCE OF GoD ^/' And he adds in another place, what fu-fficiently explains this chara6leriftick defcription -, that " Chrift doth not proudly difdain '^ to be a fervant unto God, neither [do] the An- *^ GELS who approach near to his preJence^J^ Ma- homet thus makes our Saviour, to be equally an Angel with the Floly Ghoft. Mahomet accord- ingly thought him to be the Angel Michael, the only Angel befides Gabriel, that is noticed with particular refpe6t by the Koran. He is noticed equally with Gabriel by it, and noticed as equal- ly with Gabriel an Angel and an Apoflle from God. " Whofoever," let me repeat after Mahomet, '' is an enemy to God,- or his Angels^ or his Apoftlesy'' the fpeaker flill keeping himfelf among the inha* bitants of Heaven, as appears from what immedi- ately follows; " or to Gabriel,'" as one of the Apodles and Angels, " or Michael,* as another of them ; the author fpecifying thefe, as the only twa of the Angels, that had been fent as Apoftles upon earth, this as Chrift to preach to the world, and that as the Holy Spirit to ftrengthen him, and to in- fpire Mahomet -, " verily God is an enemy to the » Koran, ch. iii. p. 40. » Ibid. ch. iv. p. 81. " unbelievers,** ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 389 ^ unbelievers,'' and will afTert the honour of the two Angels delegated by him '. Mahomet thus began a courfe of Arianifm, which has fince continued in the Chriflian world ; and the ignorance of Arabia has been ftrangeiy tranfplanted, to take root in the enhghtened foil of the Britifh iflands. This very folly, of making Gabriel the Holy Gholl, and Michael the Logos; which we fhould naturally have thought, to be the exclufive property of Mahomet; has been recently revived, by what happily appears a monfler of abfurdity to thefe later ages, an Arian Bilhop of the church. BiQiop Clayton revived it, in his EiTay on Spirit ', He re- vived it, perhaps without knowing the original au- thor, and perhaps by a6lually adopting it from the Koran and its commentators. So clofely allied is Arianifm to Mahometanifm, that it is either fight- ing againft the Gofpel, with weapons of its own all truly Mahometan, when it thinks nothing of its dif- graceful connexion with the Koran i or elfe is wield- b Koran, ch. ii. p. 1 3. So the Son of God is faid by Juftin Mar- tyr, to be called *' Angel and Apoj^ie'' (p. 9^) i ^s Chriil is called <' the JpoJIIe and Highprleft of our profefTion," in Hebrews iii. i j and is again called in the Koran itfelf, " the Jpojik of God, and his Word" (fee p. 383). c P. 75. '* As it appcv^rs, that the archangel Michael is that per- *' fon, who is called the Second Effence by the Je^js; fo upon en- *< quiry we (hall find, that the Angel Gabriel has a very good title, <' towards being confidcred as that Ibini EJfcnce or Eein^, to which <♦ the Jews paid divine honours." C c 3 ing << 590 THE ORIGIN or ing weapons in a caufe truly Mahometan, that are borrowed from its confederates of the Koran, and furniihed from the magazines of Mahometanifm ! But whence did Mahomet derive his Arianifm ? The Chriflians about him, as we have already feen, acknowledged the Divinity of their Founder, and are reproached by him for it. He could not deduce it, like a modern Arian, from his own perverfion of the Scriptures. He could neither read nor write. And he could have the herefy only from the Jews, thofe original fathers of it. So ignorant himfelf, as to have been the firfl man in fuch a ftate of ignorance, who pretended to in- troduce a new religion into the v/orld j and yet fo artful and fo attentive, as merely by his own ma- nagement to fucceed amazingly i he muil have had the fagacity to chufe proper perfons, for his inftru- ments in the work of impofition. The frfi and foremoft of thefe was a foreign Jew 3 a man fo well inilrudled in all the learning of the Jews, that he had commenced Rabbi among them '^ " We alfo " know that they fay," God fpeaks of Mahomet, " Verily, a certain man teacheth him to compofe " the Koran: the tongue of the perfon unto whom " they incline, is a foreign tongue i but this, wherein ^^ the Koran is wiitten, is the perfpicuous Arabic ^' tongue ." The fa6l therefore was known and d Prideaux, p. 4.1—4.4, c Koran, ch. xvi. p. 223. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 39I urged, in the very days of Mahomet. Nor could he alledge any thing in bar of the accufation, we fee, but what was compleatly irrelative and imper- tinent ; that the foreigner could not fugged to him thtfentiments of the Koran, becaufe he could not — write the language of it. Who this foreigner was, we are authentically informed by an author, who, being a Dominican Friar of the name of Richard, had the good fenfe and the vigour in 1 210 to travel to Bagdad, for the fole purpofe of ftudying Maho- metanifm in its own records, in order to refute it. Such a fpirit was fare to be eminently ufeful. lie accordingly publlfhed on his return, a learned and judicious refutation of the Saracenick law. Even learned and judicious it is, as it appears only in a tranQation of it into Greek, and a re-tranllation of it into Latin ; the original itfelf being loft. In this work he tells us, that " Mahomet, being an illiterate <' perfon, had for his helper in the forging of his " impofture, among others, one Abdia Ben Sa^ <« LON, a Jew ; whofe name Mahomet afterwards " changed, to make it correfpond with the Arabick « dialed, 'into Abdollah Ebn Salem' r The Friar alfo informs us in another part of his work, that this Abdiah or Abdollah was the very perfon, who was pointed at in the above-cited paiTage of the Koran ■^^ We have alfo a fecond author, Johannes Andreas, f Prideaux's Life, p. 4^, and Letter, p. 178-179. 2" Life, p. A^- C C 4 ^vi^o 2gi THE ORIGIN OF who was originally a Do6lor of the Mahometan law in Spain, but was converted to Chriftianity in 1487, and wrote a work in confufion of the Mahometan Sed:. He and the Friar, from their fuperior ac- quaintance with the fubjed, are the befl authorities which the Weft furnifhes, for any account of Ma- hometanifm. He afibres us from authentick tefti- monies of thofe Arabian works, with which he was intimately acquainted j that Abdollah Ebn Salem, or (as he mifcalls him) Abdala Celen, " was for " ten years together fbe per/on, by wbofe hand all the " pretended revelations of the impoftor were firji " written ^.'^ And we have in Arabick a work, that has been tranflated into Latin; and is denomi- nated " a Dialogue of Mahomet with Abdollah Eba *^ Salem,'' as Mahomet's chief helper in forging the impoflure '. In forming this connexion, no doubt, Mahomet was determined as far as his policy per- niitted him a choice, by the principles of confangui-^ nity. Equally pretending with the Jew to be a Son of Sarah, and being equally with him a derivative from Abraham 3 nature drew the cords of conjunc-- tion very clofe. The union appears to have been very ftrong, from its duration. It lafted no lefs than ten years together. In this period, all the confti- tuent parts of the monfter muft have been put to- gjether, and the blood and fpirits infufed into it. f Life, p. 45. and Let. p. 177. i Life, p. 43. and Let. p. 162. Accordingly ARIANISM DISCLOSED. ^93 Accordingly the Koran fpeaks exprefsly and vaunt- ingly, of " a witnefs of the children of Ifrael, bear- " ing witnefs to its confonancy with the law, and ^^ believing therein." The Jew outlived his Pro- phet many years ; and had what the world will call perhaps, the rare felicity of feeing his and Mahomet's Koran before his death, carried triumphantly on the point of the Saracen lances, over a full eighth of the globe ^, And from him it comes, that we even fee the general complexion of Judaifm, plainly ap- parent in the features of the Koran. We thus find the Mahometans, like the Jews, reducing Daniel to the lowed degree in the fcaie of infpiration ' ; feeding the BcHevers at the Day of Judgment, upon the oxe Balam and the fifli Nun, as the Jews do upon Behemoth and Leviathan ^^- ; like them, aflerting the incorruptibility of the rump- bone '- ', and agreeing with them in their opinions, concerning alms ", falling i", prohibited meats ', ufu- ryS marriage, and divorces. This glaring coin- it Koran, ch. xlvi. p. 406, and Mod. Un. Hill:, ii. 62. Ma- homet died in A. D. 632 (Mod. Un. Hill. i. 227), and Abdia thirty-two or thirty-three years after him. Several of Mahomet's companions outlived Abdia (ii. 64, 69, 70, &:c). i Mod. Un. Hill. i. 331. ^ Ibid. 345 and 347. n Ibid. 333—334. ° Ibid. 354. P Ibid. 355. q Ibid. 361—362. r Ibid. 368. s Ibid. 367 — 368 and 370. See alfo Sale's Difcourfe, p. 72, 73, 77? 79> 85, 87, 88, 89, 93, 95, 98, 100— loi, 104, 106, 109, no, ai3, 114, 126, 127, iz8, 133, 135, 136, 137, 140, 141, &c. cidcnce 2Q^ THE ORIGIN OF cidence of opinions, on fentiments not familiar t6 mankind in general, but of an extraordinary and devious nature in themfelves ; proves them to have been tranfmitted, from the one people to the other. And hiftory now comes in to fhow, by wliom they were tranfmitted. From the fame fon of Abraham did Mahomet equally receive, all thofe rites and cuf- toms of the Jews, which he has interwoven v/ith his own impoilure ; and thofe wild and fintailical ac- counts, which he has given us of Heaven, of Angels, of Genii, and of Hell : many of them drawn from the recefics of rabbinical erudition, and all uniting to form a confiderable part of his Koran ^ From him alfo he adopted the cuilom, which he enjoined to his followers a^ firft^ and which he continued to enjoin them for Jeveral months \ of praying, like the Jews, with their faces towards Jerusalem, in ho- nour of the once-exifting Temple there: even though his own countrymen were aftually praying at the time, with their faces tov/ards their own ex- iding Temple at Mecca". Strong indeed and violent muft have been the influence from with- out, upon his mind ; that could thus counterad all the warm partialities of prejudice, and overbear all the energetick powers of policy, in his ever- working mind. But he proceeded even to a greater * Prideaux's Life, p. 42. ^ Ibid. p. 92 — 94., and Koran, ch. ii. p. 17, and ch. iii. p. 47. length. ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 395 length, in oppofition to both. In the very language of the Jews, and in dire6l contradidlion to all the paffions of his countrymen ; he gave Jerusalem, and not Mecca, the title of the Holy City, and the City of the Prophets. He once intended alfo, to have made Jerusalem the grand center of his religion, by conftituting it the chief place of worfhip for his followers, and by ordering all their pilgrimages to it; when Mecca was the center to his countrymen, al- ready ^. He a6lually defcribes himfelf in the Koran, and is defcribed by what is of equal authority with the Koran, the Sonna or Traditions concerning it; in that maddeil of all mad fables, his night-journey from Mecca, to have been firft carried miraculoufly to Jerusalem i and to have there met all the Saints and Prophets of the Jews, particularly Abraham, Mofes, and our Saviour. He met them, he pre- tended, at the gate of the modern building, which he ignorantly miftook for the antient temple, becaufe it was popularly called, as it ftill is, the Temple of So- lomon; but which only flood on the fite of the Temple, and was in reality a Chriftian church at the moment. He went with them, he faid, into the principal oratory in it ; the modern church alfuredly, like the neighbouring and probably coeval church of the Holy Sepulcher, having oratories or fide-chapels within it; having them in the grand colonades of X Prideaux; p. 93. See alfo Koran, ch.xxi. p. 270. Corinthian 3^6 TH£ ORIGIN OP Corinthian architedlure, that encircle the body of the church i and having the principal one, in the ample Ipace which has an extraordinary portal to it, at one of the angles : while the antient temple had none at ail>'. And therey he affirmed, he united in prayer with them ; and thence afcended by a ladder of light, to Heaven^. All fhows the lively and vivid colouring, which the continued influence of this Jew preceptor for a courfe of ten years, threw over the impofture of Ma- homet. It made Mahometanifm a kind of wild and Jewifh herefy in our religion, rather than a diflind religion itfelf And it threw over all, no doubt, that wretched hue of Jewifh Unitarianijm^ as this herefy is ridiculoufly denominated at times ; which has covered over the doflrine, that Mahomet was taught originally by the Chriflians, the perfonal plu- rality in the eflential unity of God, the exiflence of our Saviour as the Word of God, and the procef- fion of our Saviour as the Word from God himfelf. This was taught him principally, we may be fure, by that Nefborian Monk of Syria ; who is known to the Weft by the name of Sergius, and to the Eafl y There were In the antient temple, chambers for bed-rooms, but no ficle-chapels. See a plan and delcription in Ant. Un. Hid. iv. p. 193 and 203 — 204. And fee Pococke's Travels, ii. p. 14 and 16, plan and defcription, for what is now called Solomon's Temple, and for the clmrch of the Sepulcher. z Prideaux, p. 54—55, Koran, ch, xvii. p. 237, and Mod. Un. Hift. i. 67—68 and 78. by ARIANISM DISCLOSED. :i,Qn fey the appellation of Boheira ; who is aflferted by the Chriftians, to have been very afliftant to him in the formation of his Koran; and is allowed by fome of the Mahometans themfelves, to have inftruded him in the tenets of the Gofpel. This man, being expelled from his monaftery, and excomxmunicated from the church of Chrifl, for fome great crime ; fled to Mecca at the very outjet of Mahomet as a prophet, and was entertained by the Impoftor in his own houfe. There he inflruaed the Arabian in that grand principle of the Gofpel^ which Mahomet acknowledges without the llighteft exception, to be the faith of ^// the Chriftians about him; the doctrine of the Trinity. Mahomet therefore knew of no Arians, among the followers of Jefus. He knew of none but worlhippers of their Mafter, who confi- dered our Saviour as a companion to God, and who cjfociated our Saviour with God. The Monk thought exactly, as the whole church about Ma- homet thought; and from him and them did the Im- poftor come to fpeak of God and of our Saviour, in the Chriftian language which he has ufed. And the Koran thus bears witnefs, to the relations of hiftory. The influence of the Jew was now anticipated by the intereft of the Chriftian, in the mind of Mahomet. The balanceof Mahometanifm was inclining ftrongly, in favour of truth and the Trinity. On fuch a nice point was fufpended, the religious fate of millions of men through a long train of ages! At laft the Jew came. ^o5 THE ORIGIN Of came, and the fcale funk in favour of Arianlfm. Mahomet quarrelled with the Monk and with Or- thodoxy. Being as fanguinary as he was fagacious, and as favage as he v/as fenfual, he put the Monk to death. He fet himfelf in a ftate of profcfied and pointed hoilility, to the whole body of the Clirifliansi as acknowledgers of our Saviour's Divinity, and as worfhippers of a Trinity in the Godhead. And he has connected Arianifm with Mahometanifm, by a band of ileel for ever". In this manner has the Ipirit of Arian Herefy*, fuccefTively marked the two grand fyftems of Juda- ifm and the Koran, throughout their whole fubftance. It began with the Jews, and was taken up by the Mahometans. It was the fpurious child of Judaifm^ and became the adopted brat of Mahometaniim. And it now remains an evidence of Jewifh pei^verfenefs, a proof of Mahometan ftupidity ; a defedion from » Koran, ch. xvl. p. 224. a note, Mod. Un. Hift. i. 25 and 318 — 319, and better than either, Prideaux, p. 44. — 47 and- 15, from Richard, Szc. See a miftake therefore in St. John of Daraafcus, who makes Mahomet to have converfed with Arian Chriftians (Mod. Un. Hill, i, p. 319), in oppofition to the plain evidence of the Koran it- felf. See alfo Koran, ch. iii. p. 44, ch. iv. p. 67 and 75, ch. v. p. 9^, ch. vi. p. 100, ch. ix. p. 153, ch. xvii. p. 237, and ch. xxii. p. 276, &c. for what are in Mahomefs language called Companions to God, and for thofe who in the fame language Affociate beings with God. And in Oifcourfe, p. 64, Mr. Sale allows, concerning the aOiftance lent to Mahomet in compofing the Koran 5 that " Dr. " Prideaux has given t.be moj} probable account of this matter, though ** chiefly from Chriltian writers.'* the ARIANISM DISCLOSED. ^qA tlic Law, a rebellion againft the Gofpel -, and only then in its proper and natural place, when it is united with the glaring contradi6lions, with the wild blunders, v/ith the naked fenfualities, and with the licenfed perjuries, of the Koran '\ CHAPTER ^ Mr. Lefley publiflied an addrefs from the Socinians of England, to the Mahometan embaffador of Morocco in the reio-n of Charles the fecond; *' a rarity," he %s, *' which I take to be fo, becaufe " of the difiicultj' I had to obtain it j" and " a copy of which I have *' from unqueftionable hands." In this they declare themfelves, ta be '' of that feS: of ChriRians, that are called Unitarians 5 who firft *' of all do both in our own names, and in that of a multitude of our ** perfuafion, heartily falute and congratulate your excellency and *« all that are with you, as ^votaries and fe/lozv-^or/hippers of that ** fole fupreme Deity of the Almighty Father and Creator." *' We — ,'' they add, " with our Unitarian Brethren were in all ages *' exercifed, to defend with our pens the faith of one Supreme God «' (without perfonalities or pluralities) j as he hath ra'ifed your Ma- " hornet to do the fame ivith the fivorJ, as a fcourge on thofe idoUzlu^ *' ChriftiansJ" And " of late years in Europe," they fub;oin, «' Hood up the pious and noble perfonage FauJIus Socinus, and his *' Polonian aJJ'ociation of learned perfonages, that writ many volumes *' againft that a.nd other fprung-up errors among Chriftians" (Theol. Works, i. 205, 217, 207 — 210, and 217). Such a dete6lion as this publication made, of a confederacy avowed between the Socinians and the Mahometans; naturally raifed fome emotions of fhame, on the cheek of Socinianifm in this ifland. The authenticity of the addrefs was denied. The whole was fiiid to be an iifvention of Mr. Lefiey. But to any one who knew the cbarafter of Leiley, a man in the firft rank of honour for probity and for judgment j nothing was requifite in addition to his teftimony. Yet a large addition has been happily made by Biihop Horfley. The original letter is in the library at Lambeth, with this atteftation to it and to three other papers. ** Thefe," it fays, " are the original papers, which a cabal of Soc'u ** nians 400 ^KE cJRicm di* CHAPTER THE FIFTH. — I.— Ariantsm thus appears to be the revolting per- verfenefs of Judaifm, in its origin. It firfl made its entry into the worlds from that accurfed fpirit of op- pofition to Heaven, for which the Jews foon ex- " nians In London offered to prefent to the embaffadour of the king "• of Fez and Morocco, when he was taking leave of England. *' Auguft 1 622. The faid embaffadour refufed to receive them, after " having underftood that they concerned religion. The agent of the *• Socinians was Monfieur Verze *. Sir Charles Cottrell, Kn. *' Mr. of the Cerem. then pra^fent, defired he might have them; *' which was graunted : and he brought and gave them to me *' Thomas Tenlfon, then Vicar of St. Martin's in the Fields, Middl." (Tracts in controverfy, &c. p. 272 — 2,73). The difgraceful fa6t, therefore, is too plain. But, however the Socinians may confider Mahomet, as " the fcourge of God upon the idolizing Chriftlans"" who worfhip Chriftj yet Mahomet would difown them for his dlf- ciples, even in the article of the Trinity. He who, with BIfhop Clayton, confidered our Saviour and the Holy Ghoft to be the Angels Michael and Gabriel j v/ould equally with the Bifliop have difclaimed the Socinlan impiety, of making our Saviour a mere man, and of re- ducing the Holy Ghoft into a mere quality. The truth is, that even Ma- homet himfelf, weak and wicked as he was, never ventured out into the high blafphemies of Socinianifm. He was merely an Arian. And the Arians alone can claim him for their confederate. Go no'-cv, thoit Arian, and Jhake hands vj'ilh thy brother of the Koran. * Two were inUnd;d, See p. ac9, «' two fingle philofophers," and p. 211, " us two." changed ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 4OI changed fituations with the Gentiles s for which they were caft off by God, as the Gentiles had been be- fore; have continued cafl off, for nearly the fame period of time that the Gentiles were; and will con- tinue, we know, till they return to their firfl: faith, return to Meffiah their Prince, and proflrate them- felves in an agony of repentance, before their cruci- fied Lord and God. Many of the Jews however, from the natural im- pulfe of their original principles, leaned flrongly to Chriffianity at firft. Many ftepped boldly forward, to profefs it. But fome of thefe came to it, as we have feen in the authors of the Patriarchal Tefla- ments, of the fecond Book of Efdras, and of the Book of Wifdom; with rabbinical extravagances of fentiment. And others came with a portion of that Arianifm, which had been long creeping into the minds, of individuals, and v/as openly profeffed at lafl: by the whole nation. That this had been creep- ing into their minds before, is clear from a remark- able incident in the life of our Saviour, which has been litde underftood hitherto. The exiftence of fuch a fe6l as the Sadducees among the Jews, is a wretchedly illuilrious proof of the perverfenefs of the human paffions, and of the inefiicacy of the human reafon to refill it. The Sadducees were confined entirely to the wealthy \ » Jofephus Ant. Jud. xili. x. 6. p. 588. Tc-jv y,Bv Xo'Joajtxiav m; Dd They 4.02 THE ORIGIN Or They relillied the pleafures and the grandeur oflifcr their hearts became centered in them^ and they wilhed for nothing beyond them. Such was the mean and groveUng temper of their fouls! But, though they did not wifh for any Heaven beyond the verge of this hfe, yet they dreaded a Hell. Hope may be eafily fubdued in the bofom, by an acquired and cherillied ignobility of fpirit. But fear cannot. A heavier weight mufl be laid upon it, to keep down its natural elafticity, and prevent it from fpringing back in the face of the fmner. Reafoo muil be made an accomplice with pafiion, in the work. Principles of unbelief muil be admitted. And the whole man mufl be bent backward, into in- fidelity. So were the Sadducees bent. They learned to fay, " that there is no refurre6lion, neither An- gel, nor Spirit ^\" They particularly denied what they particularly feared. They " annihilated the <' foul with the body^" They denied " the con- " tinuance of the foul" after the death of the body, <* and the punifhments and rewards of futurity ^." They thus funk into that horrible infidelity, to which the corrupted heart of man naturally gravitates, and towards v/hich it is perpetually drawing down the reludlant intelled. But fuch a fyftem as this will b A'Sts xx'iii. 8. <^ Jofephus Ant. Jud. xviii. i. 4« p. 793« ^i os //,ov^ X'^ Koih" E^pia? XsyoiJiBvu) xi^-'y-^voh ru:v UiTrav a-fA.iy^ov sTrotavTo >.oyov. Kxt TO fXBV -LxQUrovj y.cci, Tr,v Ia^ai;r/,v aAAviv uyuyv^vy oiAOiuq sy.eivo^q irotci- * Grabe's Spicilegium i. 21— 35* ,. , accordingly j^l^ THE ORIGIN OF accordingly informs us, that " it was the Gofpel of " St. Matthew, or (as they called it) the Hebrew *^ Gofpel, not compleat at ally but interpolated and *' mutilated'''' Nor let one of my readers, in the mad humour predominant among fome at prefent, of exalting Hereticks into Apoftles ; fufpedl this Gofpel, becaufe it was written in Hebrew, to be that very original, which St. Matthew is by a ftrange tradition aiferted to have written in Hebrew, and which fomebody we know not whom tranflated into die prefent Greek f. With what an unfriendly af- ped fuch a notion mud look, upon the authenticity of the prefent code of Revelation \ is obvious in it- felf But the notion is ungrounded and falfe. Many arguments have been adduced, that fufficiently iliow e Epiphanius H^r. xxx. 13. p. 137. Ep t« ym 'jraf ccvroic, tvuy f The Nazarenes, Epiphanius fays, have " the Gofpel according «« to Matthew compleat in Hebrew," sx^cn ^b to hccto. McctQxiov ev- ayysT^iov TrMffsarov E^f «'",-»• *' For this is evidently preferved yet *' with them, as it was written originally in Hebrew charaflers," 9rap' cWTo;? yct^ a-a,(pco(; raro, ku^ok; tf uf^'^g £yf.cx..oyov ovrcc xan ero^piocvy o/AoAo^aws^, rj) rut Trpo- Ticcjv rrtcii.Tci'KQvro S'vaa-i'ceia.' yt.a'Kifa, ore xai rw o-«'/A»T*t>!v wsp Toy have ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 421 have been received and felt by both the dlvifions of his followers, by one of them with an abfurdity fimply Arian, and by the other with an extravagance fermented into Socinianifm. When that race of Jewilh infidels arofe, which are denominated Sadducees; their thoughts mufl have been fome time working in their minds, before they could have fettled down into thofe lees and dregs of all rational fentiment, a denial of the im- mortality of the foul, and a confequent difbelief of future rewards and punifhments. They mufl have gone in a regular procefs, to this dreadflil extremity. They firfl perhaps queflioned the nature of that im- mortality, then found themfelves unable to fix it upon any fpiritual principle, reforted therefore to a material one for the purpofe, and at laft refolved the whole into nothing. Some fuch movements mufl have been made by their difquifitive intellects, to bring them dov/n into a pofitive denial of its im- mortality. In the fame mode of retrograde pro- grefTion, mufl they equally have defcended in their opinions, concerning the nature of their Meffiah. The fentiments of fome in the days of our Saviour, and of all in the time of Trypho, feem to have been, that he was to be a mere man, a mere Son of David. But they could never have come from that belief, which was fo prevalent among the people in our Saviour's time, and which mufl therefore have been E e 3 originally 422 THE ORIGIN OF originally their own^ at one leap to this. The body can never bear to pals^ from the torrid zone at once into the frigid. !N or is the temperament of the mind at all different. The Jews therefore could never have reduced our Saviour in one acl: of their minds, from God the Son of God into a mere Son of David. Some intermediate operation muit hav$ taken place. The mind muil have refled, in its defcent with die MelTiah from the throne of the Godhead, upon fome middle point of exiftence; before it could have reached that lowed round of the ladder, a fcate of abfolute humanity. Arianifm muft thus have preceded Socinianifm, in this grand revolution of the Jewifli creed. Arianifm and not Socinianifm, therefore, was probably the opinion of thofe, who had received a taint of Sadducean 'nfide- lity in the days of our Saviour. Even when Socinianifm feems to have been predominant among the Jews at the time of Trypho, in the expedation of a mere man; in all probability they were only Arians. They probably confidered our Saviour to be a mere man, with an angel attached to him. "When fome have continued in the faith of their fa- thers, and through all ages have acknowledged the Deity of their Mefliah; others, no doubt, have only reduced their God into an Angel, and have abhorred the idea of levelling him with man, as much as our Arian^ abhor Socinianifm at prefent. Ana ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 4-3 And I fhall foon Ihow this to have been adually the cafe. With Arianifm, Ebion came into the church. He denied our Saviour to " have pre-existed as' « God the Word and Wisdom." He afferted him to have been " born of a Virgin and the Holy " Ghoft:' He thus coincided, with what his bro- ther Jew taught Mahomet afterwards. But he co- incided ftiU more. He beUeved, Uke Mahomet, our Saviour to have been an AngeU and yet, Hke him, propounded his beheffo faintly, that we know it by inference and dedudion only. " Hebion," fays TertuUian, '' made our Saviour a man, yet « one who is plainly fomewhat more glorious than « the prophets, fo that an Angel may he Jmd to « have been in him'\'' And he therefore " efcaped « the extravagant abfurdity of thofe" among his fol- lowers, who afterwards aflumed his name, and yet, in oppofition to the genuine difciples of Ebion, « confidered Chrift as a mere man, begotten by the ^' union of Mary and her hufband ^." Ebion u TertuUian de Came Chrlftl xiii. p. 3-9. " Conftirult Jedi.n *' plane prophetis aliquo gloriofiorem, ut ita in illo Angelas fuilfe f <* dicatur." X - Remember in the Book of the Koran the ftory of Mary ; " when Ihe retired from her family to a place towards the eaft, and «' took a veil to conceal herfelf from them ; and nve fent our Spirit " Gabriel unto her, and he appeared mito her in the fliape of a per- ^' fea man. She faid, I fly for refuge unto the merciful God, that >' he may defend me from thee; if thou feareft him, thou wilt not ^ £64 *' approach 4^4 '^"^ ORIGIN OF Ebion was thus the perfon, who brought Arian- ifm into the bofom of Chriftianity. He is accord- ingly aflerted in exprefs terms by Theodoret, to have " led the phalanx" of the Chriftian Arians. Even the herefy of Arlus himfelf is faid by Alex- ander his Bifhop, to be " the dodtrine oi Ebion y of " Artemas, and of Paulus Samofatenfis, now lately " making a new infurredlion againil the religion of " the church." " We anathematize," cries Da- mafus, Bilhop of Rome, a litde later than Alex- ander, " Phodnus, who, renewing the herefy of " Ebion :,'' the Socinian part that was taken up by fome of his followers,^" confefles our Lord Jefus *^ Chrifl to be only from Mary y." And as it is of thofe " approach me. He anfwered, Verily I am the meflenger of thy ** Lord, and am fent to gi^je thee a holy Son," as the Holy Ghofl of the Koran. *' She faid, How fliall I have a Son, feeing a man *' hath not touched me^ and I am no harlot ? Gabriel replied, So fhall ** it be J thy Lord faith. This is eafy with ?ne \ and we- will perform ** it, that H^je may ordain him for a fign unto men, and a mercy from ** us ; for it is a thing which is decreed. Wherefore flie conceived ** him." Koran, ch. 19. p. 250. See alfo ch. ai. p. 272. The Mahometan commentators fay, that " Gabriel," as the Holy Ghoft, ** blew — , and his breath — caufed the conception." A note, p. 250. This pafTage, however, is another evidence that tlie Koran was taking an orthodox dire6lion from the hand of Sergius, before the warping hand of Arianifm was applied to it by Salon. y ** Hserefis — eadem Ignatii asvo extitit ab Ebione profe6la, et ** ab ipfius difcipulis, et Nazarjeis, atque Cerintho defenfa, a Theo- *' doto et Artemone poftea refufcitata : Taul^j? ^e t>j? (pcchocyyoi; w^iv ** 'E.Qimt — ut loquitur Theodoretus" (Pearfon's Vindicise Epiil.Ignat. in Cotelerius^s P^tres Apoftolici, Le Clerc's edition, vol. ii. part 3. p. 350)5 ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 425 thofe worjer Ebionites, that Juftin fpeaks in his dia- logue with Jews^ when he fays, " there are fome, O " Friends, oi your nation, who confejs him to be " Chrifty but argue him to be a man off men ^ ;" fo do the Apoflolical Conftitutions, pretending to be of the age of the Apoftles, but refuting their pre- tenfions by miftaking the later Ebionites for the elder, in their enumeration of herefies among the Jews particularize by name " the Ebionites ^ who have *^ jiift now appeared among us, who v/ill have the *^ Son of God to be a mere man, generating him of ^^ the pleafure of marriage, and of the union be- " tween Jofeph and Mary ^" All Ihows Ebion in the opinion of the ages neareft to him, to have been the firil upon the file of Arian hereticks among us. Such was the Jewilh father of Arianifm, in the church of Chriftianity ; a man contemned by the great body of Chrillians, for the poverty of his un- p. 350) :— H iioi,y)(p<; tiTccvoi.Ta.a-(X t>9 ExxX'/ia-tafixyj zvcnQna. oi^oca-KCchicct cccriui; (Hift. Theodoreti, i. 4. Reading, iii. 15): — and scjct^tyLotri" Cpi^iv (puTHvoV) 0; ffiv T8 Ebtwi/o? on^iG-iv atvay.ociini^ajV) rev Kvciov y^jluv l-naav X^trov (jl^vov ty. rr? Mapa? w/xo^oysi (v. xi. 209). * Juftin, p. 267. Eio-t Ttyg?, u (piXoi, HMETEPOT [it fliould be, as is evinced by Bifhop Bull, p. 346 — 347, and as the very form of the fentence ftiows, TMETEPOY] ysva^, cy^o^^oyairiq ocvlov Xptroi/ «kz», av^^uirov h sf av^pcoTruv aTToOtxivousvoi. See Bull, p. 347 — 348, for re- ftraining thefe words to the Ebionites. * Apoft. Conftit. vi. 6. in Cotelerius^s Patres Apoft. i. 333. o« s'P ritxuv vvv (poivevTBq'E^iuvaioif rov viov re Qea -vJ/iXov uv^ouTtov eivai ^aXo- tA.ivoh eI vioovvji; av^po? K«t cryayrAojcJjj luurifp y.xi Mccnccq otvroy yiv derftandingi ^^S THE ORIGIN OF dcrflandlng ; a man meriting contempt, from every thinking perfon in our religion ; who reje6ted nearly all the EpiilleSj who nearly reje6ted all the Gofpels toO:, and then, very naturally, rejecled alfo the God- head of his Saviour ^. III. Concerning J> Epiphanius informs us upon the credit of good information, ft)? V, £^Gaa■a etq nuaq yvuaic, w£pH%« j that this hcrefy began juft after the deftru6lion of Jerufalem, yiyovs. h a^%09 rars [jiETsc rviv rm Ib^oo-o- T^vfj^uv ahacTiv. For, as he adds, *' all the [Jewilh] Chriftians [of "•' Judaea] dwelt principally in a town called Pella," Kar' ex^yo nonfs KoP.uiKr^a-av ro irXzov ej/ IIeAXt} riv. Tro'Kii. This he fays, " gave Ebion an *' opportunity of fpreading his error" among them j yzyonv va rnrs ^^(poccriq TO) eQiuvi (p. 126). And thus Ebion, a Jewifli Chriftian, ftrft brought in Arianifm among the Chriftians, and made his firit profelytes to Arianifm among the Jewifii Chriftians. The Arians therefore began in the church of God at the fame time, becaufe in the fame town, and under the fame affemblage of Jewifti Chriftians at it ; with that other fe6l of Jewifh hereticks in infant Chriftianity, which has long fmce vaniftied into air, the Nazarenes : vi u^yrn yzyovs fjisra. Tviv uTTo roov Ib^octo?\.vij.cov /w-erarais-tyj 'itccvrav rm (xocQtitciiv ruiv tv XlB'Khvt uKVjy.oTuv (p. 123). But the Nazarenes were as different in reality, as they were in name, from the Ebionltes. They were no Brians. They retained that Trinity of their Jewifh anceftors, which the Gofpel had adopted, and which the Ebionites with the cotem- porary Jews had reje6led. Epiphanius owns, that he does not knoiju they were Arians, 8-a. ot^a ei^reiv (p. 123). The prefumptlon there- fore is, and equally in criticifm as in charity, that they were not. Had they been Arians, this peculiar ftigma of herefy would peculiarly have been remembered in the church j and they, who agreed with the Ebionltes in attachment to the Jewifli obfervances, would have had no mark of difcrimination from them. But, amidft the little that we knoiv of this tranfient herefy, we know enough to fay pofit tjvely they were not Arians. Like the original Jews, they acknow- ledged a SoK in the Godhead j and, like ourfelves, confeffed our Sa = yiour> ARIANISM DISCLOSED, 427 — III.— Concerning the afTociate of this grand parent of error among Chriftians, we find that Cerinthus was viour to be the Sm of God. " They preach up one God, and, as a, ** Son of him, Jefus Chriftj"" ivoi, h Osov v-a.-iayytTO^iiaii y.on rov ram •mai^sc l-riaav XpiTov (p. 122). They thus, according to the ideas of the time, as we have (sew before, and according to all the proprieties of commonfenfe, as we have repeatedly hinted 5 owned a Second Being in the Godhead, who ftood in 2i filial relation to the Firfi", and fo fnared in his fubftance. They were therefore not Arians, like the earlier Ebionites, with refpeft to our Saviour. Nor were they, like the later Ebionites, in refpefi: to the Holy Ghofl. Epiphanius could not tell, whether they aflinned our Saviour " to be generated off *' Mary by the Holy Ghoft," ^ioc Ilvsvfjia,ro<; Ayts ytysw/ia^on sk Men* pia,^ fp. 123). But we can. They adlually acknowledged him, to be the offspring of the Holy Ghofl:. This is plain from St. Jerome, and from a paffage cited by him out of the very Gofpel of the Naza- renes. " In Evangelio quoque Hehrxorum quod le^hant Nazarai, *' Salvator introducitur loquens, Modo me arripult Mater mea, *'Spiritus Sanctus." And the Holy Ghoft appears demon- ftrably to have been confidered by the Nazarenes, as the Superna- tural Parent of our Saviour's humanity. Eut whence comes this extraordinary change of the gender here ? It Ihows its origin by its extraordinarinefs, and the origin of the whole doctrine with it. It was derived with the Divinity of the Holy Ghofl, from the antient and orthodox Jews. Thole Jews, " when they fpeak of the third ** Sephirah, which they call Binahj and which we take juflly to be " the Holy Ghoft,— teach that it procetds from the Firjl by the Second: *^ it is — the do6trine of the Zohar and of the book Habbahir, related *' by R. Menachem, fol. i. col. 3. The very book of Zohar faith, " that the word Jehovah expreifes both the Wifdom [or Logos] an4 t^ the Binahy and calls them father and Mo/^^^r, R. Men. fol. 3. *' col, 4^8 THE ORIGIN OF was a Jew, like Ebion; as he aflerted, fays St. Auftin, " the pradice of circumcifion, and of the *^ equally ceremonial precepts in the Law, to be a " fart of our duty ^" In this he compieatly fym- " col. 3, and fol. lo. col 4.— They call her [the Holy Ghoft] upon ** that account t\it Mother of IfraeUnd her [Urael's] Tutor, R. Men. *« fol. 6a. col. 3, fol. 64. col. 4. That idea of the Holy Ghoft as a "^ Mother i which R. Menachem hath fol. 114. col. a, is fo antient *' among the Jews j that St. Jerome witneffes that it was the name, *' which the Nazarenes gave to the Holy Ghoft, Hieronym. in Ezek. " xvi. in Ifa. viii. and in Mat. xiii.—On Ezek. xvi,--after noting ** that the word /?«^ who was at once his leader and his colleague, Ebion. He equally fymbolized with him too, in general abfurdity, and in pardcular principles concerning Chrift. " He taught the world to be made, fays Irenseus,"^ " not by the Prime God, but by a certain Virtue, ! " very feparate and diftind from that Power which / « is over the univerfe, and ignorant of that God j *^ which is over all. He made our Saviour not to j « be born of a Virgin, for that feemed impoffible *' to him; but to have been the Son of Jofeph and " Mary, in the fame manner as all other men are " born. He made Chrift to have defcended upon *^ him after baptifm., in the figure of a dove, from *^ that Pov/er which is over all. He ftated our. " Saviour to have then preached the unknown Fa- " ther, and performed miracles. But Chriil in the *^ end, he faid, flew ofi from Jeiiis, and Jefus fuf- '\ " fered and rofe again; while Chrift himfelf re- « mained impanible, as being fpirituaH.'' Ce- ti ** Non a Primo Deo failum efle miindum docuit, fed a Virtutc-' ** quadam, va!de feperata et dillaate ab ea Principalitate quae eft *« fuper omnia, et ignorante eura qui eft fuper omnia Deum. Jefum «* autem fubjecit, non ex virgine natum (impofiibile enim hoc ei •* v'fum eft) ; fuiffe autem eum Jofeph et Marias iiliiim, fmuliter ut «« reliqiii omnes homines — : et poft baptifmum defcendifTe in eum, <« ab ea Principalitate quze eft fuper omnia, Chriftum figura co- *« lumbse 5 et tunc annunciafle incognitum Patrera, et virtutes per- " feciffe i in fine autem revolaiTe iterum Cliriftum de Jefu, et Jefum ** palTum eiTe et refurrexiffs j Chriftum autem impaflibilem perfe- •< verafte, exifterrtem fpinUilem.'' Irenseus, i. 35. p. 102. rinthus ^^O THE ORIGlKr OF rintlius thus taught the univerfe to be made by fomebody we know not whom, a principle totally different from God, and even ignorant of him. Inta fuch a flrange fhape is the creating Logos of the Father here transformed, by the Circean wand of folly ! Cerinthus alfo would not allow our Saviour, to be born of a Virgin j though the Mahometans acknowledge he was, at prefent. But Salon, the Jew preceptor o( Mahomet, had not drunk fo deeply of Sadducean unbelief, as Cerinthus. The latter had imbibed from his brethren, all that bold fpirit of didating to God, what he ought to reveal; which impelled them to interpret the Virgin of Ifaiah^ with a full contradi6tion to the interpretation of their fathers, into a mere Young Woman. Reafon was now perching upon the throne of Revelation. And what feemed impoflible to man, was voted to be adually impoffible with God, and was immediately erazed from the Bible. The owl, which has op- ticks competent only to the view of the moon, was thus pretending to judge of the fplendor of the fun from it^. The blind bird was even prefuming to foar with the eagle; to face the near and noonday- fun, like it, with an unflirinking eye ; and even to cenfure the ftrong beam of the eagle's eye, for weaknefs. Cerinthus confidered our Saviour to be no more e This allufion I borrow from the Jews themlelves, in Allix's Judgment, p. 176. than ARIANISM DISCLOJJED. 43 1 thm a mere man, the real Son of Jofeph and Mary, and produced in the common mode of generation. He thus fliot far beyond the Maho- metans. But he came back to their ground again. He made his Chrift, as Mahomet makes his Gabriel, to ftand for the Holy Ghoil. He therefore caufes his Chrill to " defcend upon" our Saviour " after baptifm, in the figure of a « dovci" and to come '' from that Power which " is over all.'' Ebion in effed did the fame with both. We have already feen from Tertullian, that Ebion confidered our Saviour as " one who is " plainly fomewhat more glorious than the pro- " phets, fo that an angel may be faid to have been " in him." " Some of the Ebionites," adds Epi- phanius, '' fay even Adam to be the Chrift, being " the firil who was formed and breathed into by <' the breath of God : others of them fay he is from '' above, and was created before all things, hing a Sp- *' rity and being above angels, and being Lord of all ; « and is called Chrift :— and again, when they will, " they fay. No; but the Spirit, which is Chrijh came « upon him, and clothed him who was called JeJiisK"" Ebion and Cerinthus thus acknowledge die perlbnal f Epiphanius, p. 127. Tus,- yot,g e| 7.v^t>:v nxi A^aix rovX^urov ^vct 5ri/oicc-;. a^?^o^ ^£ bv oivroir, T^tyacnu aiu^sv [xbv cvra, 'ujco zjavTuv h y.xitx- hnccy rsynvi/.a, ovrx, zon vin^ ayyeAy? ci-Ta, 'v:xvtccv rs y.v^nvovra, y,sn Xph-ov Uy-cc^oti — -ST«^^y ^£ ote /SaAoiTai "hiya^iv, a^*' ^^^^ "^ ^*-^'''' exiftence ^^2 THE ORIGIN OF cxiflence of the Holy Ghoft, as an angel. Under the prefent power of this angel, our Saviour comes forth in Cerinthus's account, exadly as he does in ours, preaching the unknown Father to the world at large, and performing a great variety of miracles. But 'i Chrift in the end," fays Cerinthus, " flew *^ off from Jefus ; and Jefus fufFered and rofe *^ again, v/hile Chrift himfelf remained impaffible, *^ as being fpiritual.'' The Holy Ghoft of Cerin- thus thus leaves our Saviour. The gift of miracles is withdrawn from him. He finks into a mere man again. He fuffers as a man j while the Holy Ghoft, who is neceffarily *' fpiritual'* as an angel, and ne- cefTarily *^ impafiible" as a fpirit, ftiares not at all in his fufFerings. And Cerinthus provides againft his Angel, the Holy Ghoft, partaking in the fufi^er- ings of our Saviour, almoft as the Mahometans do againft their Angel the MefTiahj be, by withdrawing the auxiliary angel from him, when the fufFerings begin ; and fhey^ by equally withdrawing the angel our Saviour himfelf, and fubftituting another in his likenefs to fuffer for hims. Cerinthus s Koran, chap. iii. *' The Jews devlfed a ftratagem againft *** Him ; but God devifed a ftratagem againft them, and ** God is the beft devifer of ftratagems."" ** This ftratagem of *' God's," fays Mr. Sale, " was the taking of Jefus up into heaven, *' and ftamping his likenefs on another perfon, who was apprehended ** and crucified in his ftead. For it is the conftant do6trine of the *' Mohammedans, that it was not Jefus himfelf who underwent that ** ignominous death, but fomebodj elfe in his ftiape and refemblance'* (p. r-). ARIANI5M DISCLOSED. 433 Cerinthus then ftands upon the fame level with the Mahometans, in fome articles; and even finks beneath them, in others. Yet he finks not to Soci- nianifm, on the grand point. He ftopt at Arian- ifm. And he went dreadfully low, in going down to this. Indeed, as Tertullian adds, " he made '' Chrift a man only, the fon of Jofeph, and with- « out Divinity." Yet the oppofition is here kept up, v/e fee, not between the Human and the Angelical natures, but between the Divine and the (p. 42). " They have faid/' the Korar* tells us of the Jews In ano- ther place, *' Verily we have ilain Chriit Jefiis 5— yet they flew him '' not, neither crucified hizu, but he was repreiented by one in his ** iikenefs :— they did not really kill him ; but God took him up « unto him felf" (chap. iv. p. 79)- Accordingly the Mahometan Gofpel of St. Barnabas, makes four angels to come from God to our Saviour, who " came in all hafte, and bare him out of the window '' which looks towards the fouth," in " the houfe where the difciples «* flept ;^' and '' placed him in the third heaven :'' while '' Jucfas the *^ traitor entered before the reft into the place from which Jefus had '' juft been taken up," was there changed by God " into the fame *^ figure and fpeech v/ith Jefas," and was feized and crucified for him (White's Notes, p. Ixix— Ixx). Yet the Koran here conif-adias itfelf, as in chap. iii. p. 43, it tells us, " God faid, O Jefus, verily I *« will caufe thee to die, and I will take thee up unto me;" which the commentators try to reconcile, by fuppofmg he is to die at the end of the world, by fuppofmg death here means either its Iikenefs lleep or fpiritual mortification, or by fuppofmg he a6lually died, was revived, and then was taken up (fee Mr. Sale's note here). They thus prove the conti-adi<51ion, by attempting to folve it ; and make it the more glaring, by the fooliflmefs of their attempts. The heretical opinion alfo was, that Simon of Cyrene, not Judas, fuffered inltead of oiw Saviour (Peai'fon on the Creed, p. 184 and 202). F f "^ HuiTxan. 4J4 "^^^ ORIGIN 07 Human. Cerindius did not allow our Saviour to be, what the univerfal church afierted he waS;, a God-Man. This is " an opinion/' as TertuUian remarks in another place, ^^ which will coincide " with Ebion's, who made Jefus a mere man, only " a Defcendant from David, and not alfo the Son " OF God'\" Here the fame oppofition is flill kept up. The Divinity of our Saviour was torne away from his humanity, by the violent hands of Ebion and of Cerinthus. But then Cerinthus and Ebion did equally agree in another point. They left not die human nature to iland by itfelf. They added another nature to it. And Cerinthus, like Ebion, believed our Saviour to be an Jngel-man. We find accordingly from TertuUian himfelf, that he " believed the God of the Jews to have been,, " not the Lord, but an Angel;" and even affirmed " the world to have been created, not by God, but ^ *• Cerinthus hseretlcus — Chrlftum ex femine Jofeph natum '* proponit, hominem ilium tantummodo fine Divinitate contendens" (De Praefcript, Hsereticor. Ixviii. p. 221)} ** poterit haec opinio *' Hebioni convenire, qui nudum hominem, ettantum ex femine Da- " vid, id ell, non et Dei Filium, conftituit Jefum" (De Carne Chrif- ti, xiv. p. 319). The latter paliage indeed, as the whole of this addition to Tertullian's work, is wanting in fome manufcripts j and is preceded by that Funs of the ancients, " contra hasreticos explicit.'''' The work ended there originally. But TertuUian hinifeif made the- addition. He promifes it at the end of the other : *' nunc quidem ** generaliter aftum ell a nobis adverlas haerefes omnes : — de reliquo ** etiam Jpecialiter quibufdam refpondebimus." And the flyle, the manner, and the matter, are all apparently TertuUian's, ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 435 ^ by Angels V' His " Virtue" therefore; by which, as we have feen before, and " not by the ^^ Prime God," a phrafe evidently borrowed from the Trinity of the Chriflians about him, totally in- congruous v/ith his fyftem, and yet from its fami- liarity Aiding infenfibly into his language, he fup- pofes the world to be made; v/as an Angel, " very *^ feparate and diftin6l from that Power w^hich is " over the univerfe," that is, not he who is faid to be of the fame fubftance with God, and to be his Logos ; and even ^^ ignorant of that God which is *^ over all." He thus reduced the Logos of the Old Teftament, into a mere Angel; depriving him of the honour of creating the world, and the dignity of being the God of the Jews; and madly commu- nicating it ail to an Angel. We have feen him be- fore from Iren^us, like the Mahometans, making our Saviour equally an Angel; like them, fuper- adding the Angel to the mere man, and fo forming Chrift Jefus from both. And Tertullian himfelf confiders him, as believing our Saviour to have had an Angel within him ^, Cerinthus therefore flands diftinguifhed * Tertullian, p. 2%i. '' Ipfam qucque legem ab angelis datam per- " hibens, Judseorum Deum, non Dominum, fed Angeium, pro- ** mens ; — Hebion — Ccrintho non in oinni parte confentiens, quod " a Deo dicat mundum, non ab angelis, faftum/' k Tertullian, p. 319, fpeaking of fome hereticks, who held this opinion of our Saviour being an Angel and a Man in one, fays thus: *' Quanto ergo, dum hominem gellat, minor angelis fa6lus eft, tan to aj^£l: Ffa SP '« non, Z^^S THE ORIGIN OF diflinguiilied now in the melancholy annals of herefyv as tlie fecond tranfplanter of the bitter root of Arian- ifm, out of the blailed wildernefs of the Jews, into the garden of Chrift's church. He and Ebion ferve to fhow us, however, that the very Jews whom our Saviour interrogated, and even thofe who were cotemporaries with Juflin and Trypho, both of whom profefTed to e>ipe6l a mere fon of David in their Melliah; were no more Soci- nians in reality than thefe, and were only Arians like them, by expefting an angel to be fuperinduced (as it v/ere) over the man in Him, and by confidering Him as compounded of both. The Jewifh Arian- ifm of the Koran, which is exadlly this, ftrongly in- timates the point. The agreement of Ebion with the Koran, appears to confirm it. And the agree- ment of Cerinthus with both, appears to give a cer- tainty to all. With fuch an ufefal light, do thefe two nebulous liars in the dark firmament of herefy, diis Caflor and this Pollux of Arianifm, dimly fhine out to us. Iren^us accordingly infinuates the Jews in his time, jufl like biHiop Clayton, to have re- duced the Son and the Spirit of God into a couple of Angels. " In this," he fays, " the Jews have ** non, dum angelum geftat. Potent lijcc opinio Hebloni conve- " nire." P. z%i. *' Hebion fuit Cerintho non in omni parte con- *' fentiens, quod a Deo dlcat mundum, non ab angelis fafliim.'* Cerinthus therefore and Kebion agreed in the other points j efpe- cially in this, of our Saviour's having an angel witliin him. *ur Sa\ " gone ARIANISM DISCLOSIED. 437 ** gone off from God, by not receiving the Word '\ ^^ of God, but thinking they are able to know God | *' by himfelfj^^ithout the Word, that is, without the / ^* Son 5 being ignorant of Him who fpoke in a hu- " man form to Abraham, and Aaron, and Mofes : " — for all nature was formed from the beginning \ '* by the Son, who is the Word of God ; the Fa- ^^ ther havino; no need o\an?els for creatins: man, — " and again having no need q{ their miniilery, when *^ he fabricated the world : — for to him do miniiler " in all things his Offspring and his Image, that is, ^^ the SojL.and Holy S^ym^.WoRD jjid_WisDOM, / ^^ whom all the angels are JuhjeSi to and ferve\'^ Nor is the prefent faidi of the Jews, different from ail. In their grand council at Ageda, A. D. 1650, " they did agree in this ; that he [their Meffiah] " fnould be born of a Virgin, according to the " prediction of the prophets." They alfo thought ^^ Eliah was he, if he were come, becaufe he [Eli- " ah] came with great power, which he declared * Adv. H^er. iv. 17, p. 303. *^ Propter hoc Judael excelTerunt a ** Deo, Verbum Dei non recipientes, fed putantes per feipfum Pa- " trem fine Verbo, id eft fine Filio, poiTe cognofcere Deum 5 nefci- *' entes eum qui in figura loqautus eft hiimana ad Abraham et Aa- *' ron et—Moufem :— hnec enim Filius, qui eft Verbum Dei, ab " initio praeftruebar, non indigente Patre an||lls, uti—formaret *' hominem,~neque runus indigente minifterio [angeloruni] ad fw- <' bricationem eorum qu.T fada flmt :— miniftrat enim ei ad omnia ••' fua Progenies et Figuratio fua, id eft, Filius et Spiritus Sanftus, " Verbum et Sapientiaj quibus ferviunt et Jg^ai funt omnes an- <'geli.- ^^ Ffj ^m « by 43S THE ORIGIN OF " by flaying the priefls of Baal; and, for the fulfil- ^^ ing of fcripture, he was opprelTed by Ahab and *^ Jezebel i yet they efieemed hhn to be more ^' THAN A MORTAL MAN, becaufe he fo flrangely af- " cended up into heaven ■'^." Accordingly many of the Jews, in order to account for their MeiTiah's delay of coming among them, are driven to the na- tural fubterfuge of fuppofmg, in a Mahometan wild- nefs of fancy 3 that he is ftill " detained in para- " dise" or heaven, kept from appearing by God, and " bound with" a chain of " woman's hair "." And all the Jews expect their Mefliah at prefent, to be an Angel-man. So plainly does the heretical faith of the Jev/s, appear to have been only the faith of Ari- anifm, not of Socinianifm; from the days of our Sa- viour, to thofe of Ebion and Cerinthus, to thofe of Irenasus and Mahomet, and to the prefent time ! Againft the latter of thofe wretched Jews ; both, too contemptible for refutation from their folly, if they had not become too dangerous for negle6t fl'om their audacity; and this:, the only one alive probably at the time'', fo particularly obnoxious to a furviving apoille, that he inflantly rufhed out of a bathing-houfe, when he law " that ene- " my of the trutli," Cerinthus, within it: did * ^ Phenix, i. 550. n Mod. Un. Hill. xiii. p. 519, from David Kimclii, &c. ® It apnears from Eplphanius, p. 423, that Ebion preached his lierefy, equally withjjB||thus, in the place of St. John's refidence. ^IP this ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 439 this very apoftle, then the aged and venerable St. John, pecuHarly write his Gofpel. « John the dif- " ciple of our Lord," as Irenaeus tells us, « was " willing by the publication of his Gofpel, to take " away the error which Cerinthus had diffeminated •" among men P." ^^^ P Iren^us ad.. H^r. iii. xi. p. ^^S, " H.nc fidem annunci.ns - Joannes Domini difcipulus, volens per Evangelii annunciafonem « auferreeum, qui a Cerintho infeminatuserathomin.bus, erroren., &c. Yet to the amazement of .ny reader let me reeord, tnat, ,n the exorbitance of heretical wildnefs, " the author of a late book .nt.tled "Confiderations maintains, that the Gofpels have been corrupted "by the orthodox party, and fufpeas ttat of St. John to be //« -LrktfC.rinth.r (Allix's Judgment, Preface, p. x.v) And thus the inftnity of fome ancient bedlamites, who loved not the ..o- .os of St. John, who therefore rejeaed the writings of the apoftle and fo .ained the appellation of Alogi from the Chriftians m their fober fenfes (Epiphanius, p. m) i aftonilhingly appeared agam, among fome moon-ftruck hereticks in England. Epiphanius had applied the fail concerning the bathmg-houle to Ebion (p. 148-149)- Such colleagues in herefy were he ^and Cerinthus! But Irenxus, on the pofitive authority of lome then anve, who had received the anecdote from Polycarp ; applies it directly to Cerinthus, and fixes Ephefus as thefceneof it: EI2IN 0. ««..or.5 „„« rnoX...»S.r«l, or. I.=».; 0 th .v,-.« ^A..,, - r. Ef ,.. ^.f^vie,, ^.:^.u ... .J- -- K,e.,e»«. .|«A«- « M-«« <-- ^-«/'"»^. „^A- a^e...-., -'^''"" ""■""'?' "^°' ""'' ^T „ .r, «^«e««. .xep« (A:^sv rco 'sri'j.-^ccvn oovrov. Ei ay oi £v 'Uja,>M\o\,q 'Cjpayjtx.aat? cti'arpatpavTE?, «? /iaiyoTr/Ta i.'K'TTi^^ 73X60:/, //r/^tsTi o-o-CoaTi^ojiTa?, uXhoi, ;iaTfi4 x.y^tax'-^v ^iw'/jy ^(y»T£? Ji. r. A. (RufTel, ii. 129 — 130). See Cote- lerius's and Smith's notes here, Pearfon's Vindicise in Cotelerius, Vol, II, partii, p. 350, and Bull, p. 156 — 166. ^^ THERa 448 ' THE 6RIGIN 01? " THER, and SoNj and Spirit, believed to be *^ THREE Persons, do not constitute one *^ God'' ?" In thefe exprefiive terms, does Tertul- iian at once lliow the Chriflian belief of his cotem- poraries, in the dodlrine of the Trinity; and mark with difdain the Judaical leaven of Arianifm, as oppofed to it. Novatian alfo, who lived juft im- mediately after Tertullian, and whofe work upon die Trinity is fubjoined to the works of Tertullian 5 fays our Saviour " fhowed himfelf to be God, by *' coming from thence whence man cannot come," heaven. " But indeed," he adds concerning the Arians, " the Jews, ignorant and un-apprized of this *^ his defcent, have left those hereticks their *' heirs ^." So fignificantly does he note, in con- firmation of the general belief in the Godhead of our Saviour, the oppofite dodrine to have been tranfmitted as an inheritance of folly, from the ig- norant Jews to the heretical Chriftians ! About the clofe of this period, that first of Gentile Arians, « Tertullian adv. Praxeam, c. xxx. p. 518. " Judaicae fidei ifla '' res, fic imum Deum credere, ut Filium adnumerare ei nolis, et poft *« Filium Spiritum. Quid enim erit inter nos et illos, nifi difFeren- *' tia ilia ? Quod opus Evangelii ? Qnas eft fubftantia Novi Tefta- " menti, ftatuens legem et prophetas ufque ad Johannem j fi non " exinde Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus, tres crediti, unum Deum " fiftunt ?" ^ *' Venlendo autem inde unde homo venire non poteft, Deum «* fe oftendit veniirej fed enim hujus ipfms defcenfionis ignari et im- *' periti Juda:i, hseredes fibi hiereticos iftos reddiderunt" (Tertul- lian, p. 7aj, DeTrin. lib, c, xxiii}, Theodotus ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 449 Theodotus the tanner of Byzantium, is declared by Epiphanius to be refuted, '' together with the un- " BELIEVING and God-denying Jews j" in our Saviour's intimation, that he himfelf exifted before Abraham was made^. Alexander alfo, the bifhop of Alexandria, in his long and fpirited memorial againll the rifmg herefy of Arius and his aiTociatesj fays that, " condemning all the apollolick godly " do6lrine, with the manner of the Jews they " have been forging weapons in their worklhop, to " fight againft Chrift; denying the Divinity of " our Saviour, and reducing him to an equality " with all creatures ^" And " we," fays Atha- nafius, " are feparate from thofe who Judaize," the real Jews, " and thofe who corrupt Chriflianity *^ with Judaism," the Jev/ilh Arians, " who, de- " nying the God oif God, talk like the Jews con- *^ cerning one God; not therefore afierting him to *^ be the only God, becaufe He only is the Unbe- •^ gotten, and He only the Fountain of the Deity; '^^ but as one barren and unfruitful, without a Son, y Epiphanius, p. 467. "EXsy^uv UtoJoroi' [who Is called In Eufeb. V. xxviii. p. 252, a^^yiyov xoii 'ZJucrs^aly y.cn Ttfj ocTTtT^q y.ai i7ra^vr,c-i-' fistfij la^aty^. 2 Theodorlt. Hift. i. 4., Reading, iii. 10. Oj 'vycca-Y,q rviq uTroroXiy.r.q iVO'iQiiq ^o|^? KoorviyofiivrEq, ln^aiy.u 'Sjfoa^^iJ.O'^ri ^^iTOfxot^ov c-vvsKporr,' foi'j £^ycx.r'^^iov, rviv ^zot^tx th Huirriof^ '/iy.uv apvsy.svoh y.cn ro-.q cracjy G 2 f< without ^c-0 'THE ORIGIN OF <' without a living Word and a true Wisdom ^'"^ Arianifm and orthodoxy we fee conllantly ranged each againfl the other, exadly as Judaifm and Chrifiianity ; the original Judaifm of the Arians,, being perpetually exhibited to the Chriftians, in the continuing and univerfal Arianifm of the Jews be- fore their eyes '\ Thus a Athanafius, Oratio contra Gregcdes Sabellii, i. pv 651, Paris, 2627. Xa;pi(^0|W,£9c4 h y.on rm ia^on^ovrajv, ncn rov XoificcvKTixov sv Isdaia- (iiJ '^a,^uica- ccy.a^TTOv Cc^VT^ Aoys y.cci To^trir «.Ay;Oiv'/;?. b Athanafius accordingly adds, that " the Judai^ing Arians of " this time feem to me, to be in thefame fituation withC^7i<2/)/'fij and the *' Pharifees of that time," A^hccvoi h vw lovd^ui^ovrsq rocvrov [aoi coKHtTb 'mccyy^&iv tcj Kaia,^a y.a\. roig totb OJa^icratoK (Syn. Nic. i. p. 250). " This," he fubjoins in another place, " is that undifguifed opinion. *' of Caiaphas and the man of Samofata, which the church banifhed," Ti/ro ra l^0L'ici(pa, y.ai m Sa/xoca-rscJ? arsx^ct; ert to (p^onviixa, ottb^ yi fjt.zv ty.vM^iot, il'Jlc'J\iv (ibid. p. 273). And, as he finally fays to the Arians, " Eehold, we indeed demonftrate this our opinion to have " been tranfmitted from fathers to fathers j" loa -ny^eit; /xei/ ly. tnccn^av aq rxiartpaq ^KxJtiQr/y.svai ttjv ro^ccvrrjv Cia,vonx.v (X.7rohiyvvo[y.sv' ** but ye, '' O recent Jea.vs arai difaples of Caiaphas, what fathers have ye to *' Ihow for your affcrtions?'' vy^ii; ^z, w vic. Jy^aiot y.cc^ ra Ka'iatpot aa^'fiTi'A-, nvccq a^oc ruv f.iy.ccruv vixm £%ETe hi^at 'CraTE^a? j " yet not *' one of thofe prudent and wife men can ye m-ention," aAA' a^svx ruv (pe^o'Au.cov y.cn (rcQuJv av eittoits* " for all perfons are averfe to *' you, except the devil ordy," ctrai/rs? ya^ vy.ccq aTrorfs^ovrat, -JzrArjv //.cjara oty,CoAy, <^and he only was the father of fuch an apoftafy *' to you," [xcvo; yu^ VfjAv axo;" Tv?? roiocvTriq aTTorocaiocq 'zrroiTTj^ yiyovBv (ibid. p. 277). The zeal of this worthy man, this glo- rious champion of orthodoxy, and this " vir prope divinus," ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 45 * Tlius begun and thus fupported, the belief of the Trinity pafled over into this iOand, with the general fyitem of the Gofpel. We know not much indeed of our church, at that period. But we know enough, to fee this fad very clearly. And from one of the two Bridfh hiftories that we have of the times, and from the only one that touches upon theology at all; we learn not only the original faith of the ifland in the Divinity of our Saviour, but alfo the firft introdudion of Arianifm into it. The truth is thus ihown in a ftronger luiler of light, by its oppofition to the darknefs of error. " This " pleafing agreement of Chrift the head and of the « members," fays Gildas, " continued here ; till « THE Arian Perfidy, like a fierce ferpent, vo- *^ midng forth its tranjmarine poifons upon us, de- " ftru6lively caufed brethren who were united to- « gether, to be feparated^." In that great earth- as Bull calls him (p. 291 ), is here remarkable. To modern ears he mull found as blunt in his manner, as he is right in his matter. And, on an cccafion fo grand as this, zeal mull often fpeak what charity would fain withhold. Charity indeed, looking upon things with the common eye of vifion, would withhold every thing that is grating and fevere to the moment. But Charity, farniihed with a telefcope by Faith, and ranging forward in vifion to the. Great Future, fees things in a new Hate, and finds herfelf to be Zeal in re- ality. c Hill. c. ix. p. 12. Gale's Scriptores, vol. i. " Manfit~hs:c J^nv £K ivvoiocv. 12 ccvoa-m rt'fpa y-on a//.6rp8 ^^aviotq (Theodorit's Eccl. Hift. i. 4. p. 17. Reading, 3d volume). The good bifliop, in his zeal, has overlooked the earlier hiftory of the church in general, and the Ebionite and Cerinthian Arlanifm of the Apoftolick church in particular. He was not ignorant of them, becaufe in p. 15 he ac- tually refers to them. But, in his zeal, he momentarily fpeaks more than he means. And what he fpeaks, even in the loweft line to which we can reduce it, {hows us very plainly the univerfal fenti- ments of the church in his time, to have been for the Divinity of the Son of God ; and Arianifm to have been long buried in the grave of its own infamy, when it was recalled from death by the aft of Arias, took its new appellation from his, and fo has tranfmitted his name with all its infamy^ through the fucceeding ages of the cjiurch. G g 3 be ^^4 THE ORIGIN OF be fure, that the do6lrine of the Trinity is fo re- peatedly and fo llrenuoufly vindicated as it iS;, in the canons of our Saxon fathers. Thofe of the Norman are ftrikingly diflinguiihed from them ; the dodrine being there enforced, only juft enough to ihow the abiding behef of the nation, and with a frequency fo much lefs, as proves the difputes concerning it to have been much rarer. And, in both the Nor- man and the Saxon periods of our church, the Arians were fo infignificant in themfelves ; as to be only like the duft of a library upon the literature of it, repeatedly fvvept av/ay v/ith an eafy hand, and fometimes lying fequeftered perhaps in a dark cor- ner of the room. In this Hate of the national theology, the Re- formadon happily took place among us. No cor- ruptions however having been made in this point, by that grand author of all corruptions in the middle ages, the church of Rome ; there was no fcope for a reformation in it. Our Reformers accordingly took up the do6lrine of the Trinity, as they found it ; as the faith of the univerfal church in all ages, and as die faith of the church of England from the beo-innirtg. Nor did even thofe unreafonable fe- ceders from our reformed church, who thought we did not carry our reformations far enough ^ ever pitch upon this do6trine, as an obje6l of their ani- madverfions. No ! They were as zealous for the doftrine, as ourfelves. And they and we went on hand ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 455 feand in hand, concurring cordially in the aiTertion of this Prime Principle, receiving and refle6ting mutually the fire of zeal for it. But after a fleep of many ages, the evil genius of Arianifm ftarted occafionally from his Humbers, in the courfe of the laft century; and fuddenly came forth all awake among us, at the com.mencement of the prefent. From that period to this he has gone on, taking his rounds thi ough the liland ; feducing tlie ignoranl", the unwary, and the fantaddcal; and making peculiar havock, among the Difienters from .our church. Thefe unhappy brethren, as they have dropt their original enthufiafm, feem to have loft their only guard of ordiodoxy with it. And in the new light, which is now breaking in upon their opened eyes, by a very extraordinary fatality they fee not the folly of their diffenfion, to terminate it; or even the abfurdity of their extemporaneous pray- ers, to correa it; but fee forfooth! the weaknefs 'of die church of Chrill in all ages, embrace the tenets of a Cerinthus, and rejea: the dodrines of a St. John. Y/e have alfo too much reafcn, to lament the growth of Arianifm in the very pale of die churcli itfelf Tv/o of our church, two even of our Clerical Order, have pardcularly dillinguiihed themfelves in G g 4- propagating 45^ THE ORIGIN OF propagating this herefy among us. Thefe are Dr, Clarke and Mr. Whiston; men eminent for their learning, exemplary in their lives, and as much an honour to Arianifm as Arianifm is a difgrace to them. And to thefe we may principally attribute that fpirit and vigour, with which a do6lrine fo re-- probated by an apoille, fo profcribed by the Fa- thers, and fo crufhed in our own illand for ages, is novj appearing among us. The character of Dr. Clarke, has lent confider- able encouragement to it. The good-fenfe, the judicioufnefs, and the precifion of fuch a fcholar, might well do fo. Thefe flill throw a ftrong and bright ray of intelledh, over the gloom of this Jev/ifh herefy. But one thing is little known, which turns all thefe qualities of his underftanding, againft the very herefy which they have fupported. Near the CLOSE OF LIFE, HE GREATLY REPENTED OF WHAT HE HAD DONE. Nor let any one think^ that I fpeak this upon in- competent authority. I fpeak it upon the beft. I fpeak it upon that of a man, who in early life had been even an infidel himfelf, was converted by the celebrated Fenelon, and reports only what he re- ceived from Dr. Clarke's own lips. In a letter, which the celebrated Chevalier De Ramfay wrote to the younger Racine in April 1742, about twelve or thirteen years only after the death of Dr. Clarke j ^nd which has been publifned by the younger, in the ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 457 the works of the elder; he has thefe remarkable words, as tranflated literally from the French, " Sir Ifaac Newton/' he fays, " who was a great " geometrician and no metaphyfician, was per- " fuaded of the truth of Chriilianityi but was *^ willing to refine upon the antient errors of the Eajlj, " and revived Arianifm hy the inftrumentality of his " famous difciple and interpreter [in natural philofo- '^ phy]j Dr. Clarke i who owned to me fome time *^ before his death, after feveral conferences that I " had held with him, how much he repented he " HAD PUBLISHED HIS WORK [his Scripture doc- *' trine of the Trinity, publiihed in 17 12, and re- " publifhed in 17 19]. It is about a dozen years ^^ fince, that at London I was witnejs to the laft Jen- *^ timents of this modeft and virtuous doclor." And as Mr. Ramfay here opens to us the private hifiory of Sir Ifaac Newton a Uttle, for the Grand Re- viver among us of that antient error of the EafV, Arianifm ; fo does he difclofe one of the awful fe- crets of the grave, concerning the lafl and conclud- ing fentiments of his initrument, Dr. Clarke ^ This e Oeuvres de Mr. L. Racine, Hi. 199 — 200. fexieme edilion. Amfterdam. 1750. *' M. le Chevalier Newton, grand geometre et " nullement metaphyficien, etoit perfuade de ia verite de la religion, *' mais il voulut rafiner fur d' anciennes erreurs orientales, et re- *' nouvella T Arianifme par 1^ organe de fon fameux difciple et in- * though fo near it, as to witnefs to Mr. Ramfay what they muft witnels to every man, who knows the laws of hifcorical cre- dibility, " the laft fentiments" of the Do(5lor. At the clofe of thefe, the Dodlor avowed to Mr. Ram- fay wliat he was too timid to avow to his fon, to a Hoadly, or to an Emlyn -, and what he even took ^ Mary Queen oi'' Scots Vindicated, iii. p. 441—450. edit. 2d. pains ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 46J. pains to conceal from them. In a feeming continu- ance of opinions, and in an a6lual perfeverance of condudl ; " how much he repented he had pubhfhed *^ his work." The behaviour of Buchanan, fo pa- rallel to the dodtor's, ferves at once to afcertain and illuHrate \t; only not running parallel, I fear, in the concluding repentance of the death- bed, and ^o leaving us with a hope lefs lively than we would wifli to have, for the dodor. And all fhows the reafoti of thofe notions, which have been floating in air fo long, concerning fome final change of fentiments m this Ebion of Britain; draws them down from their airy fituation, to earth 3 and fubfcantiates them for ever. Having however noticed the diffimuktion in Dr^ Clarke's character, let me here corroborate the charge by reference to another fad. The fhuffling of die Arians in the fourth century, when they firfl rofe into confequence, has been pointed out by the evidence of hiftory. Athanafius remarks exprefsly the '^ cunning," the " difhoneft pradices," and / the " artifices of impiety," with which they aded / towards the church. In the dextferity of didimula- \ tion, they leaped over every bar, which the church. ' fet up againft their herefy. They accepted any formulary of faitli, that was propofed to them; but fraudulently accepted it in a fenfe, which annihilated its import and ufe. '' Being queflloned," fays Dr. Bull, " whether they acknowledged the Son to be " generated / 4^4 '^^^ ORIGIN OF " generated from the Father himfelf ^ they afTentecJ, " underfcanding forfooth the Son to he/o from God, " as all creatures are from God, that is, have their " beginning of exiflence from him. When the *^ Catholicks enquired of them, whether they con- " felled the Son of God to be Godj they inftantly " anfwered. Yes. They even made an addidon, " and declared the Son of God to be very God. But " in what fenfe ? Forfooth he is very Gody who was *' verily made God. Finally, when they were cen- " fured by the Catholicks for affirming the Son of " God to be a creature, they denied the charge *' with fome indignation j in this fenfe forfooth ^^ which they refer ved to themfelves, that the Son *^ of God is not a creature as other creatures are^ '' which were formed mediately by God through *^ the Logos, and not immediately as the Logos " himfelf ." Such was the duplicity of the AriarB then I ^ P. 33. " Addit AthanafTus — Arianorum pene incredibilem, ** et bonis omnibus plane deteftandam, TJiv Travypyta!/, five (lit alibi *' loquitur idem Athanafius) rr,v KccKH^ynxv y.ut rr,v rri<; aa-iQuaq y.ay.o- " r^x^tuv. — Rogati, an agnofcerent Filium ex ipfo Patre genitum " effe } annuebant, intelligentes nimirum Filium ita ex Deo effe, ** quomodo omnes creaturgt- ex Deo funt, hoc eft, ab ipfo exiftendi *' initium habent. An Deum faterentur Dei Filium, Cum ab ipfis ** Catholici fcifcitarentur i illico refpondebant, Omnino. Quin et ** Filium Dei u?.-/i^ivov Gsof, 'verum Deum, ultra praedicabant. Quo ** demum fenfu ? Scilicet yao^aei/o? ocM^ivoq, uX^divoq Ertv, i. e. rerus " eji Deusy qui -vere fa6lus eft Deus. Denique cum a Catholicis de " eo arguerentur, qubd Filium Dei creaturam dicerent, accufati- ARtANISM DISCLOSED. 465 then! And Dr. Clarke was an Arian in this re- lpe6l, as well as in others. Being called upon by the Convocation in 17 14, to anfwer for the Arian- ifm of his late pubhcation, " the Scripture Do6lrine " of the Trinity;" he fhowed himfelf as dexterous a difTembler, as any of the Arians of antiquity. He prefented a paper on July the 2d. to the Upper Houfe^ in which he formally and folemnly, under his own hand, declared " his opinion" to be -, " that *^ the Son of God was eternally begotten, by the " ETERNAL incomprehenfiblc power and will of the " Father ; and that the Holy Spirit was likewife " ETERNALLY derived from the Father, hy and *^ through the Son^ according to the eternal in- *^ comprehenfible power and will of the Father "^." He thus alTerted the Divinity of the Son and Holy Ghoft, in the cleareft and moft conclufive manner ; by affirming the co-eternity of the Son with the Father, and the co-eternity of the Holy Gholl with both. There cannot poffibly, in all the com- pafs of theology, be found any flronger and pre- cifer fymbol of Divinity 5 than a continuity of ex-, ** onem non fine indignatione allqua refpiiebant ; hoc nimirum ** fenfu fibi ipfis refervato, creaturarn non efle Dei Filium ficut ** caeterae creaturae, quae mediate a Deo ^ta ts Aoyy, non immediate " ficut ipfe A070?, conditas fuerunt. — Vide omnino, quae hac de re ** fcripfit Athanafms in Epiftola ad Africanos epifcopos, recitata a *« Theodorito Eccl. Hift. lib. i. c. 8." « Biographia Brjtannica, iii. p. 602. H h iftence<, 466 THE ORIGIN or iilence, running parallel with the exlflence of God the Father himfelf, and extending backwards with it up to the commencing point, of a never- com- mencing eternity. It is peculiarly levelled too in the Son of God, againfl the grand axiom of Arian- ifm, which was formed by Arius, and became the tejfera of his party; that " there was a time in which ^' the Son was not'\" Accordingly, as we are told by the very friends of Dr. Clarke, " Bilhop Smal- ^^ ridge, whofe opinion was chiefly regarded" in the Upper Houfe, " had dropped fome words before- " hand intimating; that, "' as to other of Dodor *" Clarke's metaphyfical notions about the Trinity, *" he did not think it neceflary to proceed to their *" condemnation, provided he would but declare he "^ believed the Eternity of the Son of God ^"^ And Dr. Clarke even added to his declaration of belief in this Eternity, that he was " forry, — *' what he fincerely intended for the honour and " glory of God 3 and fo to explain this great *^ myftery, as to avoid the hereftes in both extremes ; " ihould have given any offence to this Synod p.** But Dr. Clarke confirmed what he had declared con- cerning this Eternity, in a paper which he called an explanatiofiy and which he prefented to the Upper Houfe three days afterwards. On July 5th he de- » Hv TTOTE oT£ nx. vjv (Theodoiit 1. 4 and 8. p. ii and 29). « Biog. Brit. p. 602. P Ibid, ibid, Hvered ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 467 livered a declaration, and equally under his own hand, " that, whereas the paper laid before their " Lordihips the Friday before, was through bafle *^ and want of time not drawn up with fiifficient ex- *' a^fnefsy' &c. " he thought hxmMUndifpenfahly ob- *' liged in conjcience to acquaint their Lordlliips, that " he did not mean thereby to retraEi any thing he had *^ written, but to declare that the opinion Jet forth at ^^ large in his Scripture Do£frine" &c. " is, that the ^^ Son was eternally begotten by the eternal in- " comprehenfible power and will," &c '^, Thus did he, when he was in no " hafte," when he had had full " time,'' and when therefore he muft have drawn up his paper " with fufficient exa6tnefs,'* re- peat his former alTertion in K\s former terms , and not only affirm his belief to be at prefent, but to have previoujly been, and to have been a^iually Jet forth by his late publication, a belief in the Eternity of the Son of God. He confequently pledged him^felf to the convocation, to the church, and to the woi"ld, if he had any credit among men, and any hope in God ; to be, and to have been, a firm believer in the co-eternity of the Son with the Father. And though he did not in either of thefe papers, as the Lower Houfe juftly obferved, make " any recanta- " tion of the heretical alTertions and ofFenfive paf- ^^ fages" in his work -, and indeed could not formally 1 Biog. Brit. p. 6oz, H h 2 da 4^8 THE ORIGIN or do {o, as he declared he meani to fet forth the Eter-^ NiTY of the Son by them, and by this " to avoid " the herefies in both extremes," thofe of Arianifm and of Sabelhanifm ; yet he vitally and fubflantially did it, by folemnly declaring his 7neaning to be juft the reverfe of what it was, by difclaiming his Ari- anifm in the moft pointed manner, and by confefTing his belief for the prefent and for the paft, in the po- fidve Eternity of the Son of God. This was *' fuch fatisfaclion for the great fcandal occafioned *' thereby,'* to fpeak the language of the Lower Houfe ; as this Houfe Ihould have accepted, but would not. The Upper, however, more juilly con- ceived the fatisfadlion already given, in a total dif- avowal of all intended Arianifm, and in a folemn ac- knowledgment of a grand principle diametrically oppofite to Arianifm ; to be fuch, " as ought to ** put a flop to any farther examination and cen- " fure'* of the work '". And in this way did Dr. Clarke efcape from the hands of the Convocation, by an adl of knavery that muft for ever ftain his me- mory, by a violent infringement upon all honefty and honour, by a written, a repeated, a grand falfchood. Accordingly fome even of his Arian friends blamed him, for his difhoneft condu6t ; and called his declaration of prefent and previous belief, in the Eternity of the Son and Spirit, " a new declara- ' Biog. Brit. p. 6oi, " tion ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 469 ^ tion of his belief, of a sort of Eternity ^** The Arians in general^ I believe, have applauded his prudence; fo have made his diflionefty their own; and have fhown themfelves as ready to palter with mankind as he was, in all the original ingenuity of Arian impofition K He himfelf had once the con- vi6lion and the fhame of falfehood, fo ftrong upon himi as to denominate the delivery of his declara- tion, " a foolifh thing/* Yet he confummated the whole fyftem of prevarication, by " conftantly and ^^ vigoroufly maintaining" a " metaphyfick opinion'* of " his own ;" that " any creature whatfoever might ^^ poffibly have been co-eternal with its Creator "^'.'^ He thus took " occafion," as his very friend and hiftorian thinks ^, from this mere pjfibility in his own opinion, to affert an a^fual and exiftmg Eternity in the Son; in the moil formal and folemn manner to afifert that Eternity in the Son, which, in the language of all mankind, peculiarly difcriminated the Son from a creature, merely becaufe he thought it poffihle a creature might be eternal; and fo to ground a fofitive aflertion, to the deception of all the world, on a referved furmife of his own, and a merely metaphyseal poffihility. And he finally fhowed himfelf willing, to throw all the elements of commonfenfe into diforder, and to reduce the whole « Biog. Brit. p. 602. ^ So does Machine in Mofheim, v. ipi. edit. ad. " Biog. Brit. p. 602. x ibid. ibid. H h 3 world 470 THE ORIGIN OF world of intelled into a chaos, in his fuppofed pof- fibillty of a creature being co-eternal with his Creator ^ that he might plunge into the deep from detedioni and efcape with his Arianifm in the confulion y. From all this dilTimulation and difhonefty while he lived, and from all that privately acknowledged, but publickly difclaimed, repentance before he died; two remarkable incidents in the hiflory of the Doc- tor, which are fimilar in themfelves, and lend a lufler to each others Arianifm, I think, has derived a greater portion of fpirit -, and the cold flatue has been animated, with more of Promethean fire^ from Mr. Whifton than from him. By no means equal to the Do6lor in folidity of underflanding, he was fuperior in dignity of foul. The Dodlor refufed to take any more preferment, becaufe he would no longer fubfcribe what he did not beheve. But Mr. Whifton did more. He refigned up all which he held, becaufe he held it by fubfcribing that doc- y Such condu6l was never exceeded even among the Arlans, un- lefs it was by Arius himfelf. Arius fubfcribed before the Emperor, to his belief in the confuhjiantiality of the Son with the Father j juft as Dr. Clarke did to his belief, in the co- eternity of the Son. Arius vvas then/zvor« by the Emperor, to the fmcerity of his belief in what he had fubfcribed. And Arius was reported in the days of Socrates, to have falved his oath in fome meafure as Dr. Clarke falved his at- teftation ; the modern Arius, by a referved fuppofition of what is impoflible in itfelf j and the antient, by a fubfcribed confeffion of Arianifm, which he had previoufly placed under his arm, and to which he fecretly refeired his oath. See Socrates's Eccl, Hill. i. 38. p. 74. in Reading vol. ad. trine ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 47 ^ trine as true, which he now confidered as falle. This was honourable and exalted condud. This carried the fpirit of a confefTor in it. And Arian- ifm, we may obferve, can then only become for- midable in our church; when it has a fpring of elafticity within it, fufficient to produce fuch con- felTors, as we have feen Jome in our own days, and as our fathers faw one for the firft time in Mr, Vv^hif- ton. With the obvious prevalence of felfafnnefs in the human bofom, the multitude very naturally fuf- ped it, to be the predominating principle of the human condud. With the acutenefs, that this ac- tive fpirit gives to the moft fluggifh intelled, the generality have difcernment enough to fee, when all is facrificed to probity. And, from that very acute- nefs and this very felfifhnefs together, they cannot but admire, what they confider as fo very fingular ; and cannot but reverence, what they fee raifed fo greatly above the ordinary level of life. With this grand advantage on his fide, Mf. Whifton came forward to promote Arianifm. He continued his efforts and he kept up his zeal, through the period of a long life. Nor does he ap- pear to have faltered at ali in Ills fentiments, at the folemn appeal of ficlincf:; or of death to his foul. His Ipirit was too bontil \\vA too hciid-ong, for fuch v/ork. But let us marl: tlie progrefs of his Arian life, to fhow the gi-:^diiiu i:vh .-i-ces of hersiy, in tins weak and worthy man. Aiul iii\Q memoirs of his H h 4 iifcj 472 TH5 ORIGIN OF life, as written by hhnfelfy will prove the moft powerful antidote that we can apply, to the venom of his Arian opinions, In June 1708 he firft began to be heard of, in that grand center of all national intelligence, Lon- don i as a reputed Arian ^ In the Auguft follow- ing, he offered a fmall Eflay on the Apoftolical Con- flitutions, to the licencer of the prefs at Cambridge; and was refufed the licenced In 1709 he adlually publilKed a Sermon, againft the eternity of Hell- torments^. So varioufly was the fpirit of error already at work, in his mind! In 17 10 he boldly aflerted the Apoftolical Conftitutions, to be '^ oi equal authority " with the four Gofpels themfelves 5" and a traft included in them, and called the Do6trine of the Apoftles, to be " the moft facred of the Canonical *' Books ''." So rapidly was he running his career ofwildnefs! But, in 17 12, he publifhed in favour of the Anabaptifts -, the next year, printed a Book of Common Prayer, that had been reformed the backward way into Anabaptifm and Arianifm j and, two years afterward, fet up a meeting-houfe for the ufe of it : having ftrangely drawn up his liturgy, before he had provided his church ^. All this was furely fufficient for one heretick. But the ftone of Sifyphus could never ftand ftill. In 1723 he pub- « Memoirs, p. 139. a jbid. ibid. ^ P. 144.— 145. * P. 179- ^ P. 37Z and 639. f P, Z04, »24, and 236. lilhcd ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 473 lifhed a dilTertatlon, to prove the Canticles not a ca- nonical Book of Scripture ^ in 1727 another, to prove the Apocryphal Book of Baruch, to which I have referred fo much before, canonical ? , in the fame year another, to prove the Epiftle of Baruch to the nine tribes and a half, equally canonical '^ j in the fame year another, to prove the fecond Book of Efdras, to which I have equally referred before, equally canonical ' ; in the fame year another, to prove Eighteen Pfalms of a fecond Solomon, equally canonical ^ ; in the fame year another, to prove the Book of Enoch equally canonical^; in the fame year another, to prove thofe Teftaments of the twelve Patriarchs, of which I have made fo much ufe before, equally canonical "^ ; and another in the very fame year, to prove an Epiftle of the Corinthi- ans to St. Paul, with St. Paul's Anfv/er to it, equally canonical '\ With fo much labour of fpirit, and fo much debility of mind, was this refpedable heretick rolling the ftone up the hill. f p. 309. s p. 329. h Ibid. ibid. i P. 195, 196, and 329. Mr. Whifton, in p. 196, calls it *' th« *< fecond, or rather the fourth, Book of Efdras." So, in the 6th of the 39 articles, the firft and fecond Books of Efdras are called the third and fourth. And " tertius Efdrae Latinorum, eft primus *' Grsecis" (Cofin, p. 114-). Ezra and Nehemiah, as I have ob- ferved in a note iii. 2 before, are in this mode of enumeration rec- koned for the firft and fecond of Efdrxs. k P. 329. 1 P. 330. "> Ibid. ?• P. 330—331 and 386—387, With 474 *^^^ ORIGIN OF With many a weary flep and many a groan, Up the high hill he heaves the huge round ftone ; The huge round ftone, refulting with a bound, Thunders impetuous down, and fmokes along the ground* Again the reftlefs orb his toil renews, Duft mounts in clouds, and fweat defcends in dews. In 1745, he publifhed his " Primitive New '^ Teflament in Englilh, in four parts j" and added a page at the end, " exhibiting the titles of the rejl " of the Books of the New Teilament, not yet '^ known by the body of Chriftians." Among theje were Ipecified, hefides the works above recited, " the *' Epiflles of Timothy to Biognetusy and the Homily y* the " two Epiflles of Clement to the Corinthians," *^ Jofephus's Homily concerning Hades," the " Epiflles of Barnabas, Ignatius, and Polycarp," the " Shepherd of Hernias,'' and what I have cited with applaufe before, " the Martyrdom of Polycarp ^." He thus, according to his own enu- meration, enlarged the number of the canonical books in the New Teflament, from twenty-feven to — fifty-fix 1^. And he feems to me from all, with every degree of candor that can be fhown him, to have done as fome Eaflern Saints are faid to do j to have run round in a circle, till he found his brains begin to whirl , and then to have miflaken the gid- dinefs, for infpiration. • P. 386—387. p P. 399. I take ARIANISM DISCLOSED, 4*75 I take no pleafure in expofing the ftrange excen- tricities, of this very amiable and very learned man. My good-nature recoils at it. But it becomes re- quifite, for the fake of the truth. In a ftate of pro- bation like the prefent, the milder virtues mufl often be facrificed to the flerner, and man give way to God. I therefore proceed to obferve additionally, that in 1749, ht gradually reached the highefc point o( heretical perfediion. He gravely aflerted firft, that ^^ neither a Bifhop, " a Prefbyter, nor a Deacon, ought to be more " than — once married;" that " Primitive Chrifd- " anity alfo forbad, either Bifhops, Preil^yters, or **" Deacons, to marry at all after their ordination \^ and that, " in the days of the Apoflles, a fourth " marriage was entirely reje£fedy even in the laity 'K" He alfo ventured upon the bold prefumption, of afcertaining the very year " according to the Scrip- ^^ ture prophecies," for certain events of the highelt confequence to the world -, and, fuch was the inge- nuous fimplicity of the man, was confident enough to name a year at no great difiance "". *^ Mr. Whif- q P. 467 and 468. See alfo p. 540. r P. 608. He once (in 1712) afled a more cunning part, re- ferred a -pafi event to the Revelations, faw there the victory which Prince Eugene had already got over the Turks, and prefented a dif- fertation to Prince Eugene himfelf upon the fubjea: j who is fald with great propriety to have replied, that he was not aware before, he had the honour to be known to St. John. But at other times his views were as here fiated, all prophetick. " ton/' 4^6 THE ORIGIN OF " ton," he fays himfelf, " from the fame pi^^. ARIANISM DISCL0:";ED, 4QJ ifm, focn finking into Socinians, in denying the generation of our Saviour, from a Virgin and the Holy Ghofc; and fo forming that divifion of Ebion- ites, which is noticed at firfl as the principal by Eu- febiiis, and is even coniidered as the whole by Epiphanius. Cerinthus too, that other father of Arianifm in the church, at once improved the Arian folly of Ebion and of himfelf, into the congenial abfurdity of Socinianifm, in this point; raifing him- felf into the difgraceful pre-eminence, of being the fecond founder of Arianifn and the firil founder of Socinianifm, among Chriftians ; and exhibiting So- cinianifm in its juil relation to us, as the natural child of Arianifm at its outfet. But Socinianifm was very modeft yet. It only Hiov/ed itfelf at prefent, in denying the fupernatural and divine origin of our Saviour's humanity. \i had not yet dared to fink him into a mere m.an. It allowed him to be an angel and a man united. The fubilance of the piece was Arian, but the fringe was Socinian. Nor did the fubilance becomx Socinian, till many centuries afterwards. Full-grov/n Socinianifm, that ugliefh monfter which is polTible to be formed, by the ipe- culative impiety of a Chriftiani made not its fright- ful appearance in the world, till the latter end of the 1 6th century. Arianifm was the highefl effort of rebelling abfurdity, before. But Socinianifm has now reared its front among us^ as Sadduceifm lliowed ^.g4 Tf^S ORIGIN OF fnowecl itfelf among the Jews, to mark the laji apes of declenfion m the church of God. And the " Arian opinions'* in our own country, fays an au- thor who is a profelTed Arian, and who, as fuch, has a peculiar claim to our confidence on this point;—" are at prefent upon the decline, many " Unitarian Chriilians tending fast to the doc- " TRINE OF SociNus'." So i'dx did Mr. Chilling- worth unite v/ith modern and with antient Arians, in his movements of defedion from Chriftianity ! He moved like them, through Arianifm into Soci- nianifm. In deferting the plain language of fcrip- ture, and reducing our Saviour from his fcriptural elevation of Divinity; the foot of human confidence can with difficulty Hop, before it comes down to the com.mon level of human nature. It firft begun, as we have juft feen, with reje6ting the Godhead of our Saviour; becaufe (we may be fure) it could not conceive the pofTibility, of more than one Perfon in one Deity. It thus flationed our Saviour at the foot of that throne, on which he had fat with the Deity before. So far it is only Arianifm. But then what Ihall it do, with the miraculous concep- tion of our Saviour as a man ? It cannot allow the Holy Ghofl to be any Perfon in the Deity, for the fame reafon that it could not allow our Saviour be- fore. It therefore tore off this other article from f Pr. Kippis in New Biographia Britannica, iii. p. dzz, its ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 49J its creed, denied the miraculous conception, and entered upon the very borders of Socinianifm. Our Saviour thus becomes a mere man in his birth, and continues fo to his baptifin ; till the angel is fuper- induced upon the man, and Jefus is joined by Chrift. This Chriil however departs from Jeliis, when he begins to fulFer. Our Saviour then finks into a mere man again. And he ends juil as he began. The Arians therefore allowed him a fupernatural ^nature, for the fhort interval merely of three years. To take it away for thofe three years ; to make our Saviour the fame at his fufrerings as he was before them, the fam.e for the firft thirty years as he was for the laft three, and as he apparently was for all ; %o fupprefs a fuperindudion, v/hich is not avowed- by . fcripture, and to preclude a dedudtion, w^hich is not even hinted at in fcripture i Vv^as not to do mxuch after what had been done before, and was v/hat ^^ Fauftus Socinus, and his Polonian afibciation," united to do. In this eafy and imperceptible man- ner, may the bad colour of Arianifm fade away into the worfe of Socinianifm. By thefe infenfible de- grees, does human nature degradingly fuller itfelf to be drawn, from the heights of orthodoxy to the deep and dark vale of Socinianifm ! If the exprefs declarations of fcripture could flop it, they had pre- vented it from commencing its dowmvard courfe ; and averted Arianifm would have fayed it, from the precipitation 496 THE ORIGIN OF precipitation of Socinianifm. Our own Arians, wc fee, :xYt falling endlong into Socinians ^\ Even that original and mildefl tribe of them, who allow our Saviour to have been the vifible Jehovah of the Old Tcftament, and elevate him into an a6lual God by inveftiture -, have almofl ail funk away from thefe principles, w^ith which they began in Sir Ifaac New- ton, and have fettled at prefent into a denial of his virtual, as well as of his abfolute. Divinity. And even thofe who remain of them, carry a ftrong taint of Socinianifm in their very eiTencej all of them except Biihop Clayton, I apprehend, annihilating the Holy Ghoft, by reducing him into a mere imperfon- ality. Arianifm is thus thac fhallow temple of he- refy, which only ferves to form the portal to Soci- nianifm ''. Even a .... . fell endlong into fwine. Pope. * Genuine and original Arianifm aflerted the Holy Ghoft, to be a creature as well as the Son j but a creature made by the Son, as the Son made the angels ^ and an Angel miniilering to the Son. The Arians, fiys Epipkiaius, " ccnfefs the angeis to have been *' made by the oon , and even care to fay blafphemouily of the veiy ** Spirit, that he was created by the Son:" o;M,&Aoyafrt t«$ ttyyEAa? vita m Yi8 yeyoycvcuy y.Ui y%Q y.cci iirspi t8 n.veviAxro(; ^Xoe.j(pr,y.ii(7iv, y-oa roXp.feJcrt ?,Byeiv xEKTicrSai vn-o ra Y»8* " As even Arius determined concern- *' ing the Son," fays Photius, " fo he determined alfo concerning *' the Ever-holy Spirit 5 and reduced the lordly and fupreme Sove- " reignty of God, into two fervants and minifters:" uq y.cA A^e*^ HCtTct ra Tkoy, aru kx\, uvroq nara -ZDrafayta 'VJOcoxra.rloiMiMoq Ylvivy.cc- T<^> «5 oaAa? u7r>j^=Tfi; t'Av ^ia-7for\,y.Yrj nui v7rB^K$ijxtiY,y ocvm avvz- Torls Kv^ionrcx,, And St. Bafil calls the Arians, thofe ** who rank <' the ARIANISM DISCLOSED. 497 Even at Socinianifm did Mr. Chiilingworth fcop in all probability, only becaufe his life was fuddenly terminated by accident. Had it been continued to its natural length, he would have gone probably to the very point at the bottom, to which Mr. Whifton fhows us two of his ov/n acquaintance adually going. We have already feen Mr. Chillingvv^orth ^^ by degrees grov/n confident of nothing, and a ^^ scEPTicK at kafi in the greatest mysteries of *^ FAITH.'* All Arianifm originates from Infidelity. The Jewifh, as v/e have already feen, refulted from their Sadduceifm. The fame fpirit, v/hich makes a man queftion the language of his God, rejedl its obvious meaning, and wrefi: it into one, that com- mon fenfe proclaims could never be intended, by fuch language from fuch a Being ; in a fingle effort more tortures the language into Socinianifm, and in another reje6ts the revelation that needed all this. Infidelity thus eafily becomes, at once the womb and the grave of Arianifm. " From duft thou art," is written by the hand of God upon the brow of Arianiiin, " and unto duft thou fhalt return." There are only three ftages of declenfion, from Chrifhian- ity into Deifm. Mr. Whiflon fhowed himifelf very ready for the fecond, when, with all the anticipated. " the Spirit with the fervjngfplrits that are fent out to miniferf ot nHviJ.x7iLv7^. See Pe.^rfon, p. 315—316 and 31S. K k biafphemj ^cS THE ORIGIN OF blafphemy of the moil favage Socinian, he daredf t ' laft but one, for ocv^fUTresov, read ocv^fuvMv* ^53> — — laft but one, for AJJo?, read Avloq. 284, ■ ■' 7. for rcivvffsv) read eloivvcrev. 291, — -— — — 4. for oivxTTo^sloq, read avvvoMoq, 2,^6, — — 18. for And though that, read That. ■■ ■- — . ■■ .1 11 23. for it ; yft, r/>/i/i it- Vet. 305, ' ■ — — laft but two, for rov Trep, readrov yTrsp. 314, ■ ■ 5. for oQivvvisati read c^Qivvvea-i, 368, — > i./or expeft. And fuch, readtx^tdi. Such 381, line 7. y&r impoftiire being, r^^z^ impofture j being, «}.a9, line 5. for made, fays, r^«^ made," fays. speedily will be puhlijhed^ IN ONE VOLUME OCTAVO, THE PRIVATE LIFE p ? MARY CiJJJiliN OF SCOTS. By JOHN WHITAKER, B.D. EECTOR OF RUAN LANYHORNE, CORNWALL,