or whatever else you please. To say that by three somewhats is meant only one and the same divine being, under three different relations and modes of existence, is to destroy the real existence of the Son and Spirit, and is contrary to many plain passages of Scripture, where distinct personal properties are ascribed to each of them*. But if these

three somewhats are three beings of themselves, as they must be if they are not three properties, modes or relations, they must of necessity be three distinct Gods; to assert which, is to subvert the grand foundation of revealed religion, namely, that there is but one God+.

To this it may be said, that the doctrine of the Trinity is an unintelligible, incomprehensible mystery, and that therefore it may be true though we cannot see how it can be. Be it so, yet we see from hence how it is possible for an honest man to think the proposition false and absurd; and, since all those Scriptures which are urged as proofs of it are capable of another and different interpretation, how such a one may be induced by this reasoning, be it either just or sophistical, to embrace the con

* Matt. xxviii. 19. John vii. 16, 17, 18; viii. 29; xii. 49, 50. Luke i. 35, &c.

+ Whoever would see more upon this head, may consult the Nature and Consequences of Enthusiasm considered; which is a pamphlet that I dare say will be ever unanswered; and I take this opportunity of publicly thanking its honest and ingenious author for the eminent service he has done to Christianity and the Protestant cause.

trary opinions consistently with the strictest principles of sincerity.

2. Supposing the Trinitarian doctrine to be clearly revealed, it is no fundamental unless it be made an express term of happiness in the New Testament. But now this is not the case; if it were, it might be easily proved to be so by producing the passage or passages where it is expressly said that whoever believes that the Father, Son, and Spirit is the one only living and true God, shall be saved; and whoever believes not this, shall be damned; or somewhat to the same effect as full and express as this is. It is so far from it, that the contrary is plainly demonstrable from the holy Scriptures. For the evangelist Luke, in the preface to his Gospel, plainly intimates that it contains all the necessary parts of the Christain faith. "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed amongst us, &c., it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mayest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed *.” And St. Paul seems to mean this when he says, "God will judge the se- crets of men according to my Gospel +." For the Gospel of St. Luke was written by the direction

Ch. i. 2, 3, 4.

+ Rom. ii. 16.

and under the influence of this Apostle. And Eusebius mentions a tradition which they had, that St. Paul always spoke of it in this manner whenever he referred to it *. If so, in those words he makes it the rule of judgement, and consequently supposes it to be a perfect rule. If, then, in this Gospel all things necessary to be believed are comprehended, no point of doctrine, a belief of which is not here made a condition of future happiness, ought to be urged by Christians as indispensably necessary in succeeding ages upon each other. But now this proposition, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are the one God, is not only not declared herein to be a necessary article of Christian faith, but here is scarce anything said about the deity of the Son and Spirit; nor are here by far such high and exalted things spoken of them as in other parts of the Christian revelation.

Further, all the faith which Christ and his Apostles made necessary to salvation, when they preached to the Jews, who believed the God and Father of our Lord Jesus to be the only true God, which was also made necessary when they preached to the Gentilest, was the believing him to be the Son of God, the promised Messiah come in the flesh, the Saviour and King of the world; and consequently, -none besides this faith is necessary and indispensable. "Jesus said unto her," (to Martha,) "I am the resurrection and the life, &c. ; whoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die : believest thou this?

Ecclesiastical History, lib. 3. chap. 4. ↑ John xvii. 3.

She saith unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world *." And we are told, That the great end of the miracles which our blessed Saviour wrought, was to convince the world that he was the Son of God, as a sure way to eternal life +. Again, "whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in Godt.” What can be more plain than this?

We may likewise observe, that the preaching of the Apostles, of which we have an account in the Acts, was designed to convince men of this one thing, that Jesus was the Messiah. This was the sum of St. Peter's first sermon, by which he converted near three thousand. "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ §." His sermon to the Jews in the third chapter was to the same purpose. And we are told at once what was the continual subject of their preaching; "And daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ."

But here perhaps it will be objected, that though the Trinitarian notion be not made in direct terms absolutely necessary to salvation, in the sacred writings, yet it is thus necessary by consequence, because the contrary is a consequential denying what + John xx. 30, 31. § Acts ii. 36.

John xi. 25, 26, 27.

1 John iv. 15.

||ch. v. 42.

the Scripture makes necessary to salvation. To which I answer, that a consequential denial of it is no denial of it all, unless a person see, and take the consequence. But how is it a consequential denial of what the Scripture makes necessary? Why thus. Upon the Unitarian principles Christ could not be the Redeemer and Saviour of the world, or a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of men, which is the foundation of the Christian covenant, and consequently must be necessary to be believed. For, sin being of infinite malignity, because committed against a being of infinite and unlimited perfections, and God's justice obliging him to demand a strict equivalent, satisfaction could never be made by any beneath the supreme God himself. To which I answer, that the main foundations of this objection are false, which entirely destroys the force of it, namely, that every sin is of infinite malignity, and that God's justice obliged him to demand a strict equivalent; for if all sins are infinite, all sins are equal, unless we suppose one infinite to be greater than another; and if they are all of equal malignity, then to sin with the utmost eagerness and delight, against the strongest convictions, the highest degrees of light and knowledge, and the most forcible motives and obligations to obedience, are no aggravations of a crime, nor do they increase its guilt. Nor can we, upon this supposition, ever account for the different degrees of misery and torment in hell. Because every sin being infinitely evil, and consequently deserving misery infinite in duration,