are recorded; when, after commissioning his disciples to go and carry the gospel to all nations, he adds ; 66 teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you."

If then, to apply this to our present case, I want to be resolved on this great point, who is the God I am to worship, and to whom I am to offer my prayers; I am to examine what account the evangelists and apostles give of the matter, and the directions of their great master concerning it. Do they tell us that Jesus at any time gave orders for any new God to be worshipped, himself, or the Holy Ghost, different from what the Jews had been accustomed to worship' before? No such thing can be found, nor is even pretended; but inferences have been made, and conclusions drawn, from certain words uttered by Christ, or by his apostles concerning him, that he was God, and to be worshipped; and so concerning the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit being equally God, and to be worshipped. As if so momentous a point, which regards the very Being we are to worship, and the introduction of two new Gods, additional to Jehovah, the Supreme Father, were a matter to be left to doubtful and precarious inferences, and not made the subject of an express and positive command, which could not be misunderstood by the meanest capacity; and which the directions of Christ here authorize us to expect.

To apply this in another case,

The early fathers, or first Christian writers, are supposed by some to have taught that Jesus was God,

and to be worshipped; or, that they spoke of him in such terms as implied his deity and worship.

If we grant this, which however may be justly questioned, and is denied, with respect to the very earliest of these fathers; are we to go to them to learn who Christ was; to men, who notoriously from the very first corrupted the gospel with heathen mixtures? No: our Saviour here tells us, that we are to be governed only by what he himself taught, and commanded. And his apostles mention no such command being delivered by their master, of considering him as God, and worshipping him; but the contrary.

To give one more instance of the usefulness of our divine master's directions in this respect. Great stress is laid upon the examination of some Christians before Pliny the younger, the heathen governor of Bithynia, who made confession before him; "that they were fa) wont to meet together before day, and sing hymns to Christ, as to a god."

This might mean only the singing hymns in honour of Christ, which Pliny might take, according to his heathen notions, to be the considering of him as a god, like the human gods that he himself worshipped.

But understand it as you will; can this be an authority for worshipping Christ as God, when the

(a) quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire, carmenque Christo quasi deo dicere secum invicem.

Plin. Ep. p. 724.

apostles

apostles of Christ are not only silent about any such command being given by him; but teach, that the Father only is God, and to be worshipped?

I must beg your indulgence in suggesting another thought, which occurs to me on this matter, proceeds Photinus, as it may well put us all upon better considering the grounds of our devotional practice, than we are wont to do.

Should our Lord, at the last day, enter into any remonstrance with those who deified and worshipped him in their life-time, it might perhaps be in some such form as this: "Mistaken men, how came ye to take me to be God, and to worship and pray to me? Had this been right in any manner whatsoever, assuredly I should have told it you directly, and not have left a

ng of such infinite consequence in the least uncertainty. My apostles, who were best acquainted with me, and with what I taught, have never recorded that I declared myself God; but that I always spoke of myself as a creature of God, his beloved child and servant.

"What if I said, in one place, that all men should honour me as they honoured the Father? I in the very same breath spoke of myself as sent by him, and therefore could claim no other honour but the respect and obedience due to a messenger of God.

"If I said; all power is given unto me in heaven and earth? By saying it was given, I shewed from whom I was to receive it, and upon whom I was to depend for it; and therefore was far from being God on that account.

"If my apostle Paul, citing the scriptures as speaking of me, introduced these words; Let all the angels of God worship him? He, or the prophet who first used the words, could intend only such worship as was due to one so highly favoured of God."

VOLUSIAN.-Here Volusian interrupted Photinus, apparently much agitated, having been extremely attentive, but never spoken during this day's conference: It is enough, cries he to Photinus, you need not go any farther. The evidence afforded by the holy Jesus himself is so strong, the arguments so convincing, that men have only to open their eyes to see the deplorable state of the whole Christian world, at this period of the world, in worshipping him, the creature equally with the Creator, who is God alone blessed for ever. I am, however, highly obliged to Synesius, whether he intended it in kindness to me, or for his own satisfaction, for producing the most powerful arguments the case would allow, to reconcile persons to remain members of the established church, whatever be their objections to its doctrines and worship. For the frank and good-tempered enquiry and discussion, to which his arguments have given rise, hath convinced me, if I was not sufficiently convinced before, that I can no longer, with a quiet mind, continue to frequent the worship of the church of England, to which I have hitherto all my life belonged. I cannot say, or seem to say, one thing with my mouth, to the all-seeing God, respecting himself, whilst my heart and better know

ledge

ledge mean another. I cannot invoke God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, as each of them Gods, while I believe them no Gods at all, but the Father to be the only true God, in the express language and declaration of Jesus himself. But I am at a loss what to do and if the public worship of Almighty God be a duty, of which I have no doubt, what methods to take, or where to turn myself.

The hour, however, reminds me of releasing my friends from a conversation, which, though kindly intended towards me, must be anxious and troublesome to them. But I hope, that by their assistance, for one day more, the dark clouds that hang over my mind will disperse, and day-light ard peace appear.

POSTSCRIPT

Giving an account of the causes of the great corruption of the Gospel, in making Christ the Supreme God, and the reason of its long continu

ance.

I AM glad that you are pleased with the character which I gave, in answer to your enquiry, of Photinus, Bishop of Sirmium, in the fourth century; and with the short account that came along with it, of Unitarian Christians, before and after his time.