schemes of Socinianism and Mahometanism into one consistent aggregate. If, on the other hand, Jesus Christ be God incarnate, then " every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God; and every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is not come in the flesh, is not of God:" "whosoever denieth the Son, hath not the Father," while he " that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also:" " he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath which are to be found in the writings that go under his name. This work they declare themselves willing to undertake, for the vindication of Mahomet's glory. They intimate that the corrections which they would propose would render the Koran more consistent; not with itself only, but with the Gospel of Christ, of which they say Mahomet pretended to be but a preacher. They tell the Ambassador, that the Unitarian Christians form a great and considerable people. To give weight to the assertion, they enumerate the heresiarchs of all ages who have opposed the Trinity, from Paulus Samosatenis, down to Faustus Socinus, and the leaders of the Polonian fraternity. They celebrate the modern tribes of Arians, as asserters of the proper unity of God; and they close the honourable list with the Mahometans themselves. All these, they say, maintain the faith of one God: and "why should we forget to add you, Mahometans, who also consent with us in the belief of one only Supreme Deity?" Such is the substance of a letter which they presented to the Ambassador with some Latin manuscripts respecting the differences between Christianity and the Mahometan religion, and containing an ample detail of the Unitarian tenets. They apply to the Mussulman, as to a person of known discernment in spiritual and sublime matters: and they entreat him to communicate the import of their manuscripts to the consideration of the fittest persons among his countrymen. This singular epistle may be seen entire in Leslie's Socinian Controversy discussed. Dr. Horsley, in whose controversial writings with Dr. Priestley this is inserted (Letter 16, page 307, ed. 3), by way of stamping its authenticity, has added a note, in which he says, that in consequence of Dr. Priestley's questioning the veracity of it, he examined the Archbishop's library at Lambeth, from whence the copy was originally taken, where he found it in a thin folio, under the mark 673, among the Codices MSS. Tenisoniani; and entered in the catalogue, under the article Socinians, by the title of Systema Theologiæ Socinianæ. On the preceding leaf are these remarks:-" These are the original papers which a cabal of Socinians in London offered to present to the Ambassador of the King of Fez and Morocco, when he was taking leave of England, August 1682.-The said Ambassador refused to not life" they are as opposite in their nature as the dead and the living, and it is as impossible for them to unite cordially together in religious worship. The one party contends, and contends naturally, that by worshiping a creature he should dishonour God, to whom alone worship is due: the other affirms as naturally, and (as I trust you will now allow) more consistently with the uniform tenour of the Gospel, that, by withholding worship from the Saviour, he should deny his Divine perfections, dishonour and degrade Him, and thus lose his title to eternal glory. The character the Redeemer now sustains renders this a matter of infinite moment. Jesus has "ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of his Father," "far above all principalities and powers." Here he was our prophet and teacher, and died as our atoning sacrifice; there he is incessantly pleading for his people; nay, there he both intercedes as our High Priest, and sits and reigns as King; reigns with inexpressible dignity and glory, rich in power and grandeur, rich in compassion and tenderness, rich in adorable perfecreceive them, after having understood that they concerned religion. -The agent of the Socinians was Monsieur Virzè.-Sir Charles Cottrell, Knt. Master of the Ceremonies, then present, desired he might have them, which was granted; and he brought them, and gave them to me, Thomas Tenison, then Vicar of St. Martin's in the Fields, Middlesex." Dr. Horsley adds, by way of farther confirmation, "I do most solemnly aver, that I have this day (Jan. 15, 1789), compared the letter to Ameth Ben Ameth, as published by Dr. Leslie, in his Socinian Controversy discussed, with the MS. in the Archbishop's library, and find that the printed copy, with the exception of some trivial typographical errors, which in no way affect the sense, and are such as any reader will discover and correct for himself, is exactly conformable to the MS., without the omission or addition of a single word." 671 John, iv. 2, 3 ; ii. 23; v. 12. In the first of these passages, the phrase in the flesh either clearly indicates a possibility or capability of other ways of coming, or it is nugatory. If it be not merely expletive, which is not easily to be admitted, it is, therefore, decisively in favour of the orthodox doctrine respecting the person of Christ. The Socinian interpretation of the passage is refuted by Bishop Horsley, Letters, p. 120, and by Abbadie, sect. iii. cap. 2, 10. tions, as the SON OF GOD, the SAVIOUR to the uttermost, the PRINCE OF LIFE. He governs all things in heaven and on earth, that he may defend his Church, adorn her with his Spirit, and procure and accomplish her eternal salvation. But "from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:" "for the Father judgeth no man; but hath given all judgment to his Son, that all may honour the Son AS they honour the Father 88. May the contemplation of this great event stimulate us, my friend, sedulously to seek, and heartily to embrace, the truth. For, "behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him "9" Then will they "say to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, even from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand 99?" while the meek and humble and upright followers of Jesus, rejoicing that at length "they are indeed becoming like him, for they see him as he is, will exclaim in grateful triumph, “Lo, this is OUR GOD; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is THE LORD, we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation 91 !" LETTER XVI. On the Nature of Conversion, and its Necessity. THE subject which I have selected for discussion in the present letter is one of the highest moment, and yet, unfortunately, is one, respecting which the greatest and most lamentable mistakes have prevailed. Some have imagined that religious conversion, or regeneration, is effected by baptism; so that whoever is baptized is, of necessity, regenerated. This, however, is neither consistent with Scripture nor with fact, except in those 88 John, v. 22, 23. 89 Rev. i. 7. 91 1 John, iii. 2. Is. xxv. 9. True very rare instances in which the " baptism with water," and that "with the Holy Spirit," occur at the same moment. Gibbon and Hume were baptized in their infancy, but lived and died infidels: Simon Magus was baptized, but certainly not regenerated, for he was subsequently declared by an apostle to be "in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity:" and you and I have known some who, though they were baptized when adults, on a profession of faith, afterwards relapsed into an open denial of the truth, and a daily neglect of the duties, of Christianity: from which it is evident, that baptism and regeneration are not necessarily connected. Others have considered repentance to be regeneration; but neither is this correct. repentance often terminates in regeneration, and, indeed, is commonly connected with it; but it is not the thing itself. Others, again, regard reformation and regeneration as synonymous; but this notion is as incorrect as either of the former. Regeneration may accompany baptism, repentance, or reformation; but it is more than either of them. Saul became "another man," without becoming a new man: Ahab "humbled himself," yet became not truly humble: many repent of some great iniquity, but relapse again into evil courses and some reform their conduct, because the state of their health, or perhaps the monitions of conscience, lead them so to reform; though they still remain ignorant of the one thing needful," and have hearts as unimpressed as the "unwedgeable and gnarled oak." To guard you against these and other erroneous views of conversion, to which your attention may sometimes be called, I shall endeavour to describe it concisely as it is portrayed in Scripture, our only unerring guide with respect to this and every other Christian doctrine. And here you cannot fail to remark, for it must be evident to every impartial reader of the word of God, that the mutation, which we are now to contemplate, can neither be slight, nor transient, nor, in general, 66 a slow. In the principal texts, where it is delineated, it seems either named or characterised in reference to one or other of two modes or circumstances of change, both of which are important and usually rapid, compared with the corresponding duration of existence: these are conversion and regeneration; the one indicating frequently a turning from one thing towards another, and in theology, according to Dr. Johnson's definition, change from a state of reprobation to a state of grace;" and the other, a new creation, or a new birth; or, according to the same lexicographer, "birth by grace to a Christian life." The selection and classification of a very few texts will show that the two general terms I have just mentioned are not artificially forced into the technology of theologians, but are those which most naturally convey the idea of the change they are chosen to describe. The prophet Jeremiah had manifestly something more in view than a mere nominal passage from one religion to another, when he fancied Ephraim, after bemoaning himself, to pray-" Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God '." And again, in his faithful exhortation to the Jews-"Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings." More expressive still is the language of Joel-" Rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful3." The language of our Lord to his disciples was, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath passed from death unto life"." The apostles speak of this change as equally momentous: their divine Master taught them to preach to the Gentiles, that they might "turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto 2 Jer. xxv. 5. 1 Jer. xxxi. 18. See also Lam. v. 21. John, v. 24. |