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The two fatal fprings of our evils, are-the error of the mind, and the infirmity of the will. In Him we find the remedy, the light of revelation to difpel our darknefs, and his enlivening grace to purify the heart. You are ready to acknowledge him as the divine and inexhaustible fountain of both, if once fome paffages, which, in your opinion, militate against his Divinity, could be reconciled. An attempt fhall be made in my next letter.

I have the honour, &c.

LETTER

LETTER III.

SIR,

AN incarnate God, whofe bleeding wounds have paid our ransom, is one of thofe mysteries that ftuns and difconcerts human reafon, liable to ftray through the winding paths of roving error, if the clew of faith do not direct our steps and minifter its affiftance. He appeared on earth to cancel our crimes; to nail to the cross the schedule of our condemnation; to lacerate and tear the woful hand-writing that gave us over to rebel-angels; to fnatch finful man from the hands of divine juftice; and to unlock the awful gates of the eternal fanctuary, whither no mortal has accefs, but through the blood of the fpotlefs pontiff. He appeared, in fine, to raise, through his merits, all those who fell by Adam's guilt; to form a faithful and holy people,-a faithful people, "by captivating their under"standing to the yoke of faith,"-and a holy people, whofe converfation, according to St. Paul, ought to be in Heaven; and who are to follow no longer the dictates of the flesh..

Our

Our ignorance of his nature would expofe us to the fatal alternative-either of becoming idolaters in worshipping a man, which is the cafe of all Chriftians, if your opinion be well grounded, -or of refusing God the homage that is due to him, which is your cafe, if you mistake and err. If Chrift be not God, the Chriftians are in the fame case with the idolatrous Tartars, who worship a living man: and if he be God above all, and bleffed for ever, you may as well believe the Alcoran, as believe the fcriptures; and invoke Mahomet, as invoke the son of Mary. He declares," that life eternal confifts in the knowledge of Himfelf, and of the Father "who fent him." In fuch an important article, it is too hazardous to plead ignorance, in hopes of impunity for the fcripture fays, that "there "is a way which man thinks to be the right

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one: and the end thereof are the ways of "death." The Divinity of Chrift, evidenced by the accomplishment of fo many oracles, and fupported by the concurrent teftimonies of all nations and ages, fince his appearance on earth, has so many apologists, that the doctor can easily. meet with fome of them in every library, and, I doubt not, in his own; and that it were pre-. fumption in me to attempt going over the fame ground; efpecially, after what Abadie and Houteville have faid on this important fubject.. Moreover, fir, you acknowledge the authenti

city of the fcriptures, and found your doubts, either on the obscurity of some paffages, or the mifapplication of fome prophecies, or the numberlefs texts, relating to Chrift's humanity. In this walk, 1 take the liberty of attending you, step by step; and shall avoid, as much as pof fible, any long digreffion; left we may ftray too far from the path.

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OBSCURITY.

You affirm, that the first chapter of St. John, in which the Divinity of Chrift is afferted, "In "the beginning was the Word; and the "Word was with God; and the Word was "God;" is intricate and obfcure. It is quite the reverse; and Chrift's Divinity cannot be read in more legible characters. You understand by the Word," the Man Jefus, whom "God raised up in time, and to whom God imparted extraordinary gifts." In understanding by the Word, the Man Jefus, you are in fimilar circumftances with king Agrippa, who said: Paul, Paul, you have made me almost a "Chriftian." You would be entirely a Chriftian, if you added to "the Man Jefus, whom "God raised up in time," the God Jefus, who was begotten from eternity: according to the faying of the pfalmift, "Before the morning"ftar I have begotten thee:"-words which

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Chrift applies to himself. Or you understand by the foregoing words, "In the beginning was "the Word," &c. truth and righteousness, coeternal with the Divinity. Permit me to tell you, that you explain one obfcurity by another; and that, notwithstanding all your fhifts, either the evangelist did not know what he was saying, or you must abfolutely allow an eternal and preexiftent principle, united to human nature, “in "the fulness of time."

To prove what I advanced, I fhall adopt your interpretation, and place Truth in the room of Word.. "In the beginning was the "Truth: and the Truth was with God: and "God was the Truth." Remark, here, that God and the Truth are identified: God was the

Truth. In the fame chapter, it is faid: "The "Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst "us." In adopting your interpretation, it will be-"The Truth was made flesh, and dwelt "amongst us," viz. the fame Truth of which he faid before, that it was God himself, and then the entire fenfe will be-God, the Truth, was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us. Upon the whole, you are to acknowledge an eternal, pre-existent principle, affuming human nature; or to reject this chapter as fuppofititious, which no Arian or Socinian ever did.

You

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