SER. VII. dored. He expreffly faith, If there arife among you a Prophet or a Dreamer of Dreams, and give thee a Sign-or Wonder, and the Sign or Wonder come to pass, whereof be spake unto Thee, faying, LET US GO AFTER OTHER GODS, which thou haft not known AND SERVE THEM; Thou shalt not hearken, &c. Deut. xiii. 1, 2, 3.

I fhall beg leave to propofe fome Queries to those who are of a different Way of Thinking, which are as follow:

Whether in those Points, which have an immediate Connexion with Practice, and which relate to the great and fundamental Article of the Object of Worship, the Christian Religion, being intended for the Ufe of Mankind in general, muft not be fuited to that common Sense and Reason, which Mankind in general have, as diftinct from fuperior, exalted and refined Senfe, the distinguishing Perfection of a few only?

A

Whether, fuppofing Arianifm to be true,
common Senfe, as diftinct from metaphyfical
Subtleties, would enable the Generality of
Mankind to diftinguish between a Perfon,
fuch as our Saviour is, by whom all
Things were created, and who upholdeth all
Things by the Word of his Power; and a
Perfon

4

Person who is properly and effentially God? SER. VII. Whether it would enable them to point out any Difference between a Perfon, by whom all Things, to which he must be prefent, confift, as they are faid to do by our bleffed Saviour; and a Perfon ftrictly Omniprefent? Whether they would not be apt to imagine, that he, whom St. Paul ftiles over All, God blessed for ever, is the fupreme God?

Whether, fuppofing, according to the Arian Hypothefis, two adorable Gods, one of which must infinitely tranfcend the other; the Bulk of Mankind could with a metaphyfical Accuracy adjust their Homage to the Dignity of each Being, to whom it was paid, never offering fovereign and abfolute Adoration, where relative was only due; but lowering and heightening their Intentions, in an exact Proportion, fo as never to exceed, nor to fall fhort in their religious Addreffes?

Whether that Sense of numberless Paffages in Scripture relating to the Trinity, which occurs firft to a Man of natural Sagacity and Honesty, who reads the Bible without any View to confirm a darling Hypothefis, is not generally the true one?

Whereas

بنت

SER. VII. Whereas the Interpretation, which depends upon refined Subtleties, artificial Turns of Wit and Criticism, and furprising laboured Gloffes, is greatly to be fufpected.

Whether a Polytheist might not explain away all the fcriptural Proofs for the Unitỳ of the divine Nature by the fame Subterfuges and evafive Arts, which an Antitrinitarian makes Ufe of to elude the Arguments from Scripture to prove a Trinity of Perfons?

Whether thofe Texts, which feem to imply the Son to be inferior to the Father, may not be reconciled with thofe, which afcribe to him all the effential Attributes of God, by understanding them either of his human Nature, as diftinct from the divine, or of the minifterial Office, which he undertook in the Oeconomy of the Redemption, or of fuch a Subordination only, viz. that of a Son to a Father, a mere Relation of Order, which is not inconfiftent with a ftrict Equality of Nature?

Whether the exclufive Term of the only true God, when applied to the Father, need be fo rigorously interpreted, as to exclude not only Creatures and other Gods,

Which are separate from him; but even the SER. VII. Son and Holy Ghost, who are fo1united, Jus to be One, and înfeparably included with him? But if it muft be thus rigorously interpreted, whether it will not follow from •Ifarab and St. Paul compared together, that the Son likewife is the only God Look unto me and be ye faved, all the Ends of the Earth For Tam God, and there is none else: I have sworn by myself, the Word is gone out of my Mouth in Righteth oufness, and fhall not return, that unto me every Knee shall bow, every Tongue shall Swear Ifaiah xlv. 22, 23. Compare the New Teftament. We shall all stand before the Judgment-Seat of Chrift. For it is written, As I live, faith the Lord, every Knee fhall bow to me, and every Tongue hall confels to God,

toomans xiv. 10, T1. And

again, At the Name of Jefus every Knee fhall bow, of Things in Heaven, and Things in Earth, and Things under the Earth, Phil. i. d. The Application of the Text in Ifaiah to Chrift is manifeft from these two Paffages: It is as manifeft that the Perfon fpoken of in Ifaiah is the only God, 'I am God, and there is none elle Therefore Scripture treating of the Unity of God VOL. II. places

Ff

SER. VII. places it in another Perfon, befides the Father.

D

Whether common Chriftians, without understanding technical Terms, fuch as Mode, Perfon, Subftance, numerical, and Specifical, may not understand, that Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, though really diftinct from one another, may be fo far one, as to have an infeparable Union of Prefence, Will, and all Perfections; fo far one, that they can no more exift or act afunder, than they can not exist at all?

Whether fuch a Faith, which requires no great Abstraction of Thought, may not anfwer feveral beneficial Ends; and in cline them, from the Fulness of an evergrateful Heart, to pay the Tribute of undiffembled Love and Adoration to the Father, whofe unfathomable Wisdom laid and concerted the ftupendous Plan of our Redemption, to the Son, whofe unbounded Love undertook the Execution of it, and to the Holy Spirit, whofe never-failing Grace enables them to fulfil the Conditions of it?

Whether common Chriftians may not have correcter Notions of the three divine Perfons by refting in the general Truth of