fore. This doctrine of a refurrection was laughed at by the conceited Athenians, and will always be the fubject of ridicule to perfons of a fimilar turn of mind: but it is abundantly confirmed to us by the well⚫ attested refurrection of Jefus Christ, and and the promises of the gofpel, established, on all the miraculous events by which the promulgation of chriftianity was attend-. • ed (x).'

Give me leave to recommend to your perufal the xiith fection of this work of Dr. Priestley's, from which the above citation is made, as affording you fuch juft, fublime, and affecting conceptions of the deity, as are rarely to be found.

In bringing thefe charges against Dr. Priestley, and his opinions, which we have been examining, and putting every thing in the most invidious light, Dr. Horne has not confidered, how open he is to a retort of the like kind, were any difpofed to make it. Suppose

(x) Difquifitions relating to matter and fpirit, p. 102.

Suppofe now other perfons fhould begin, as he has fet the example, p. 16, 17, &c.

Marvellous and moft degrading, Sir, to us appears your doctrine concerning the ever-bleffed, omnipotent, all-perfect creator; and most painful to reflect upon :

That HE, the eternal, who was before all things, was born in time, of a jewish virgin, 1787 years fince, after having lain nine months in the ftate of an embrio in the womb of his mother:

That HE, the fource of all wifdom and power, from being a puling, fenfeless babe, acquired ftrength and knowlege, by de

grees:

That after having ferved an apprenticefhip to his father, Jofeph, at the trade of a carpenter, HE who giveth all things to all, worked at that trade himfelf, for a livelihood:

That HE, who filleth the univerfe with his prefence, lay concealed for twenty fix years at least, in an obfcure town in Judea, and was confidered all the time by all that knew him, as nothing more than a fellow-mortal:

That

That HE, whom the apoftle juftly ftiles, o panapos, the happy, 1 Tim. vi. 15. a being of the most perfect happiness, was fubject to hunger and thirft, and pain and fuffering was abused, infulted, and fpit upon;

And HE, the living God, at laft put to death by his own creatures.

The rest of the incredible story (y), the enemies of the gospel will dilate upon with pleasure.

(y) Voltaire has done it, in his Epître á Uranie, which begins,

Long tems vil œuvrier, le rabot à la main, &c. &c.

But perhaps it is no where more fully feen, what advantage is given to the adverfaries of the gofpel, by maintaining the doctrine of the trinity, and Jefus to be the supreme God, than in a jewish tract intitled Nizzachon vetus, pubfifhed in 1680, and written, as the editor with great probability points out, in the 12th century. In this there are many mistakes concerning our chriftian fcriptures, and much unworthy abuse and groundless calumny; but such arguments are urged against the gospel, on the fuppofition of Chrift being the most high God, as cannot be confuted. A believer of a trinity in unity would not find it easy to make a satisfactory reply to the following paffage, which 【 give in the latin tranflation; particularly to the jew's inquiry, who was all the time in heaven, and who it was that governed the world, when God was three days dead in the fepulcre. Amplius quæram aliquid ex te, mi chriftiane :

SECTION XIV.

Of Dr. Horne's wrong interpretation of feveral palages of fcripture.

From the fame concern for you, with which I believe Dr. Horne to have been influenced in his endeavours to divert you from the perufal of Dr. Priestley's writings, I am folicitous to point out to you fome mistakes of his own: in the which if you follow

Agedum refponde mihi. Tu affirmas filium natum effe ex vifceribus Mariæ; dic dum igitur num pater et filius im mundus, juxta cum filio, an vero folus filius in ventre delituerit? Si dicas folum ibi fuifle fiiium, quæfo annon ipfa fe mutuo deftruunt verba tua? cum contendas divinitatis perfonas nulla unquam ratione a fe invicem poffe divelli.. Quod fi dicas tres in utero extitiffe, atque ibi fuiffe nutritos; neceffe eft concedas, quod etiam tres cum hominibus verfati fint, ac tres fuerint fufpenfi. tempore in cœlis erat? quoniam divifionem nullam admittunt. Quis item per id triduum quo fepulti erant, orbem gubernabat, cum nemo ex iis aut in coelo, aut in terris degeret.'

Quis vero toto illo

Nizzachon vetus, p. 152.

follow him, he

you

may mislead moft capitally, especially with regard to the Being you are to worship.

My remarks will be confined to fome of the proofs which he alleges, in two of the difcourfes of his first volume, in fupport of the doctrine of the trinity, and the divinity of Chrift; and to the extraordinary manner, in which, in another work, he interprets the fcriptures, and exemplifies his full belief of Jefus being the moft high God, by addreffing prayer to him.

upon

In his firft difcourfe, vol. i. p. 9, 10, &c. the text, Gen. i. 26, God faid, let us make man in OUR own image, &c. taking in alfo, Gen. xi. 7. he remarks; Thefe

plural forms, thus ufed by the deity, de'mand our attention. Three folutions of the question have been offered.'

He then rejects the folution given by the jews, that God fpeaks to his angels; because, as he imagines, it would fuppofe, that the angels were coadjutors with him in the creation. This however the language by U

no