founded, it will not follow that Jesus is not the Messiah, the Messiah whom you expect; as it may be even under him, in some sense or other, that you shall enjoy your future happiness. But with respect to all these things, you should, with diligence, and without prejudice, study the Scriptures, and judge for yourselves; balancing one difficulty with another, and adopting that scheme which, on the whole, shall appear to be attended with the fewest difficulties. In the interpretation of prophecies we cannot expect to meet with

none.

If after this you be convinced, (as I am confident that, if you examine without prejudice, you will be,) that Jesus wrought real miracles, and that, after dying, he rose from the dead, whatever else he be, he cannot be a person who is not entitled to your regard; and your conduct with respect to him cannot be a matter of indifference in the sight of God. If God, the God of your fathers, really sent him, he will expect that, as his messenger, you pay due attention to him. To reject him, will be to reject him that sent him. And if this be the case, can you wonder that he has rejected you? But return unto him, and he will return unto you. Mal. iii. 7. I have made this second address to you, not because I thought Mr. Levi's arguments formidable. Of this I think you must now be sensible yourselves; but rather to shew the importance of a defence of your principles, better considered, and better conducted, than his has been; and it is my earnest wish that the ablest men you have may give their most serious attention to it. To you no subject whatever can be half so interesting; and, be assured, I do not address you as a disputant, desirous of triumphing in any advantage I may have in the argument, but from the truest respect to your nation, as most highly distinguished by the great Father of all the families of the earth, (to which, as a Christian, I think myself, and all mankind, under infinite obligations,) and from the most earnest wish to promote your welfare, here and hereafter.

I have given much attention to your history, and especially your controversies with Christians in all ages, and I do not wonder that they have issued in confirming your prejudices against Christianity. In all of them the Christians have insisted upon topics with respect to which it was impossible that you should come to an agreement, especially the divinity of Christ, and the doctrine of the Trinity, that "absurd and corrupt tenet," as Mr. Levi properly calls it. You justly think yourselves excused from giving the least atten

tion to any arguments that may be alleged in support of it; since it is an attempt to draw you to the worship of another God besides that of your fathers.

It must more particularly excite your indignation, to be told that your ancestors themselves held the doctrine of the Trinity, and that they expected the second person of it in your Messiah, than which you know that nothing can be more contrary to truth or probability. *

But as your own writers have never failed to reproach Christians with this doctrine, as not taught even in the New Testament, and you find that many Christians reject it with as much indignation as yourselves, you ought to consider this great stumbling block as removed, and therefore that the religion of Christ may come from God. Examine, then, with impartiality the evidences of his divine mission, and compare them with those of Moses and your other prophets.

And here the question is not which miracles were the more splendid, or which we may imagine to have been more proper, and, as Mr. Levi says, more rational, but only which are the best attested. Of the other we cannot pretend to be competent judges. Every miracle, or real change in the established course of nature, is equally a proof of the interposition of the Author of nature, and may serve as an evidence of a divine mission; the changing of a rod into a serpent, as much as the passage of your fathers through the Red Sca, or the wonderful appearances at Mount Sinai. I therefore earnestly intreat, that this, and this only (or at least chiefly), may be the subject of our discussion.

To my endeavours by writing, I shall not fail to add my most earnest prayers to your God and my God, that great Being in whose hands are the hearts of all men, and who, by means ordinary or extraordinary, as seems best to his infinite wisdom, turns them (Prov. xxi. 1) as the rivers of water, which way soever he pleases, to remove your prejudices, and every obstacle that for the present prevents your reception of a truth in which you are most nearly interested, and according to his faithful promises, restore you to his favour, never to lose it any more.

I once more subscribe myself, with the greatest respect and affection,

Your brother in the sole worship

Of the one only true God,
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY.

Birmingham, July 1, 1787.

* See Vol. V. p. 19, XVII. pp. 70, 519.

275

ADDRESS TO THE JEWS,

PREFIXED TO THE DISCOURSE ON THE RESURRECTION
OF JESUS. *

[1791.]

Worshippers of the One True God,

UNDER this noble appellation, unhappily not as yet applicable to the great body of Christians, it is with peculiar satisfaction that I address you; having in this respect the honour to rank with you. But do not be offended that the generality of Christians should have been drawn aside into idolatry, worshipping a creature instead of the Creator, when your own ancestors, notwithstanding the manifest tokens of divine power accompanying them, and though he stood in a peculiar relation to them, and shewed them distinguished favour, were for many ages drawn aside in a similar manner, worshipping the sun, the moon, and the host of heaven, instead of the great Being who made them, Time and discipline brought you to a just sense of your duty, and things are evidently taking the same course with Christians.

The time is happily come when the eyes of great numbers are opened to see their errors; and being enlightened themselves, they are zealous to give their light to their brethren.

We are now well satisfied that Jesus Christ, though a true prophet of God, is no more an object of divine worship than Moses, or any other prophet. He was himself, as one of your nation, a humble worshipper of the God of your fathers, and he instructed his followers to worship no other than him. These Christians are called Unitarians, in opposition

An amicable conference with some Jews who heard this Discourse [in Essex Chapel, see p. 276.] was the occasion of this Address to them. A freer intercourse with Jews and Christians would have a good effect on both. (P.) This Discourse now occupies pp. 325-348, Vol. XV. For the Preface, on its first publication, after having been preached in the Assembly-Room, at Buxton, in 1790 see Appendix, No. ÏX.

to the Trinitarians, who pay divine honours to two other persons besides the one God and Father of all; and you cannot have been so inattentive to the present state of things among Christians, as not to perceive that the Unitarian docThe belief of the trine is very rapidly gaining ground. divine unity, and also that of the proper humanity of Christ, are not now the private opinions of a few persons only, which some time ago they were almost afraid to avow, but they are publicly professed by great numbers, the most respectable for their ability, their learning, and their piety, among Christians. They are also not confined to one nation, but are to be found in almost every part of the Christian world. Nor are you to judge of the number of Unitarians from those who openly profess themselves to be so. They now abound in all churches professedly Trinitarian, though, from timidity, or some other motive, which I do not undertake to defend, they do not make a public avowal of their sentiments. By this means, however, things are ripening apace for a general declaration in favour of Unitarianism, whenever circumstances shall be favourable to it.

I was much surprised, but far from being displeased, at one instance of your extreme scrupulosity on this subject. Many of you, when you heard me deliver the following discourse in Essex Chapel, were, I find, much offended at my calling Christ Lord, thinking it to be an appellation too nearly approaching to those which in the Scriptures are appropriated to God. We cannot well be too cautious how we ascribe to any creature, though the most distinguished prophet, those titles which are more usually given to the Supreme Being. But be assured that I had no such meaning, or intention; nor would any Englishman so understand me. By the term Lord we simply mean master, which all Christians acknowledge Christ to be, since God has appointed him to be our teacher and instructor, and we therefore call ourselves by his name. Be assured also, that I would never make use of the term again, if I thought that, after reflecting on the subject, it would give you the least offence.

Agreeing with you in this fundamental principle of all religion, particularly entrusted, as it were, to the guardianship of your nation, when you were set apart from the rest of the world, you will naturally look upon us with less aversion than you have hitherto justly done upon Christians in general; and I hope you will be induced to give a more patient and candid attention to what we have to propose in favour

of the divine mission of Christ, and compare our arguments with those which you are able to produce in proof of the divine mission of Moses, and that of your other prophets.

I have already addressed you twice at large upon this important subject; and writing, as you are satisfied, from a principle of the purest good-will to your nation, I am happy to find, that my Letters have not displeased you. † Happy indeed, should I think myself to be, in any measure, the instrument in the hand of Divine Providence of opening the eyes of any of you to your true interest, and thereby of restoring you to the favour of God, and to that future glorious state which is destined for you. This great event, however, God will bring about in his own time, in his own way, and by whatever instruments he pleases. And I hope the time is approaching, when, as the prophet Zechariah (chap. xii. 10) has foretold, he will pour upon you the spirit of grace and of supplication, and when you shall look upon him whom you have pierced, and shall mourn for him as for an only son, as sensible of the wickedness of your ancestors in rejecting and crucifying Jesus, avowing yourselves his disciples.

Having before requested your attention to the evidences of Christianity in general, let me now solicit it to that of the resurrection of Jesus in particular, as the most important fact in the Gospel history. Examine the evidence which I here lay before you, as you would that of any other historical facts, such as those which prove the divine mission of Moses, and consider whether it be not equally clear and satisfactory. And if Jesus, after declaring that he came from God, and after resting the proof of his divine mission, in a more especial manner, on his own resurrection from the dead, did actually rise from the dead, to the complete satisfaction of a sufficient number of the most competent witnesses, you must acknowledge that he was no impostor, and that whatever he declared as from God may be depended upon, as much as that whieh Moses delivered in his name.

Supra pp. 227-274.

+ Mr. David Levi mentions “the consternation into which the greatest part of his nation were thrown, on the appearance of his Reply" to Dr. Priestley's "first letters. See supra, p. 251, Note +. These alarms are described as subsiding when the Jews observed that "Christians of all denominations" appeared to approve "of the attempt," and to "wish for a thorough discussion of the subject.' Letters to Dr. Priestley, Pt. ii. 1789, pp. 3, 5.

Dr. Priestley's Letters gave occasion to Mr. Bicheno's "Friendly Address to the Jews;" a "Letter to the Jews:-by a Layman ;" and Mr. Swain's "Examination of the Objections of Mr. David Levi, to the Mission, Conduct and Doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ." See New Ann. Reg. VIII. pp. 220, 221.

Vol. XV. pp. [929-841].