the declared will of the Legiflator; which they will not allow to be binding upon us, unless the thing commanded has an apparent moral fitness, as well as a pofitive Sanction, to enforce it: thus abfolutely destroying the authority of God, as Governor of the world, and making him only the means of informing us of our duty, but not the fountain from whence our obligation to obedience arifes. Nay, the very ideas of jurifdiction, of power and authority must be loft; because, if a command carries no obligation, till the thing commanded appears fit and reafon able, it is no command at all; and a subject has as much authority over his fovereign, as the fovereign has over the fubject, because he may be able to tell what is fit and expedient to be done; which is all that the most abfolute Being can do, unless he has authority to prescribe rules of behaviour, without fhewing the fitness of thofe Rules. This is a fcheme fo deftructive, that it greatly affects even morality itself, which they are labouring to establish as the only principle of Religion; for, there are but few people who heve ability, leifure, and inclination to deduce every moral action from the eternal and immutable reafon of things; and yet it is demonftration, that, if the apparent fitness of any action be the fole obligation to the performance of it, no man can be obliged to do any thing, till the particular expediency and moral fitness of that action fhall appear diftinctly to him. It seems, at least, incumbent upon thefe gentlemen to clear their fcheme from thefe heavy charges, or publickly to give it up. Our Author concludes his difcourfe with a differtation concerning the diftinction between the pofitive duties, and the moral duties; fhewing, that the former have a real

A 4

good

goodness in them, as well as the latter, because they have a real fitness in them to answer certain good ends, tho' the reafons upon which they are founded be not eternal and immutable; yet, that our obligation to the obfervance of them arifes from the pofitive command of God in his revealed Will, because we have no other way, but from his exprefs Declaration, of knowing it to be the will of God, that we should obferve them, or that the obfervance of them is fit and expedient.

It was the defign of the former difcourfe to confider the nature of Speculative doctrines, and to fhew that the belief of fuch doctrines may be required of us by God; in this our Author enquires into the nature of the Trinitarian dotrine, whether it be fo purely fpeculative as fome have reprefented it. For, fhould it be allowed that fpeculative doctrines are not capable of being made terms of falvation, yet, unless the doctrine of the Trinity be a point of mere fpeculation, the belief of it may, notwithstanding, be required of us.

Our Author therefore juftly obferves, that it might be thought fufficient, in answer to the question concerning the Innocency of Error in fpeculative points, to deny that the Trinity is fuch a doctrine, because the labour of the proof lies upon them. However, he goes on to fhew that 'tis a matter of practice, as well as fpeculation; a point which greatly affects the Chriftian Difpenfation, and confequently our Salvation.

That Chriftian Worship is a matter of practice will hardly be denied by thefe fpeculative Writers; and that it is connected infeparably with the doctrine of the Trinity, may very easily be

proved.

proved. It is an allowed principle, that God is to be worshipped; from whence it must neceffarily follow, that if there be three co-equal distinct Perfons in the Godhead, and it be fufficiently made known to us that there are, they have each of them an equal claim to worship from us; and if it be not revealed to us, that the Son and Holy Ghoft are truly and properly God, the one God with the Father, it is Idolatry to worfhip them. Indeed, fome of late have pretended that the Worship of the Son and Holy Ghoft is lawful, but not neceffary; the abfurdity of which notion is fhewn in the following words of our Author: "The Heathens were directed, "either by the light of Nature, or by Tradi

tion, to pay divine worship; and, tho' they “ were many times mistaken in the proper objet "of their worship, and paid it where it was "not due, yet they always confidered it as a

ແ

“

matter of Duty, a Tribute due to their God, ແ or Gods, and not as a civil compliment, that might be omitted without any injury or offence. "The Jewish Law did not make any altera"tion in refpect to the general duty, but only "inftructed the people in the right manner of "performing it, and directed them to the pro

..

per object of their worship. The world before "paid divine worship; and whether they paid "it to one or to more Beings, they paid it al

ways as a debt due to them. The Law of "Mofes inftructed the Jews to whom this debt "of Homage was due, and after what manner "it was to be paid; not to many, but to cne "God, the Lord of Heaven and Earth. They ແ were abfolutely commanded to worship the true "God, and as abfolutely forbidden to worship any other Being; becaufe divine worship is

66

"God's

"God's rightful claim, arifing from the rela❝tion, we ftand in towards him; and there"fore, if we neglect to give him That homage "to which he has a natural Right; or if we CC give his Right to another, to whom it is not "due, we injure him, and are guilty of a breach "of duty.

"The Chriftian Revelation makes still farther "difcoveries concerning the object of worship. "The Jews were inftructed, that one God on"ly was the true God, to whom alone they "were to direct their worship: the Gospel con"firms That inftruction, and informs us, that "the three Perfons in the facred and ever-blef"fed Trinity are the one true God. The Jews "worshipped one God, and Chriftians worship "three Perfons in one Godhead. Thou shalt wor

Ship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou "ferve. This is the plain Law of both Covenants; but our Lord God is Father, Son, "and Holy Ghoft, three distinct perfons united

r

in one undivided nature. Thus every difpen"fation confidered divine worship as an indispenઃઃ fible duty, and only directed mankind to pay "it to a proper object; not leaving them at liCC berty either to give, or with-hold it at plea

fure. That the true God has a Right to be "worshipped; that it is our duty to give unto "him That Right; and that we injure and of

fend him by giving to any other Being what "he claims as due only to himself; these are

truths, one would think, too obvious to be "difputed. If the Son and Holy Ghost, with "the Father, be the true God, whom ChriftiСС ans are to worship, then they have a Right to ઃઃ our worship; if they be not the true God, "then they have no Right: again, if they have

66 a Right

66 a Right to our worship, we ought in point of "duty to give it; if they have not a Right,

ແ

we ought not to give it them, becaufe we "thereby injure the true God, who is justly en"titled to our worship, and has declared, that "he will not give his glory to another. Upon "This ftate of the cafe, the Arians must either "give up the lawfulness of worshipping the Son "and Holy Ghoft, as Dr. Clarke has lately done, or allow the neceffity of doing

< it.

From hence alfo I might fhew the "abfurdity of their diftinction between Subor"dinate and Ultimate worship, because the ob"ject of Chriftian worship being only the one "true God, the fame kind, and degree of divine "worship muct be due to each person in the "Godhead. An unity of nature in the object "must have an unity of worship; and if there "be not an unity of nature in the three perfons; "if either Son, or Holy Ghoft, be not, with the "Father, the one true God, they ought not to "be worshipped at all, because all divine wor"hip is appropriated to the one true God. 56 at prefent I am only to prove in general, that "worship is due to the Son and Holy Ghoft, "which is the neceffary confequence of their "conceffions concerning the lawfulness of wor"fhipping them.

But

"From what has been offered I think it appears undeniably true, that the doctrine of "the Trinity is not a matter of mere fpeculation, "because it has a neceffary connection with "Chriftian worship; that it is not a point of an "indifferent nature, but of great moment and im

portance to the honour of God, and the fal"vation of Chriftians. For, however difficult "it may be thought to ftate the notion of effen "tial or fundamental doctrines, fo as to deter