number and validity of the early martyrdoms; namely, a confcioufnefs that they afforded an argument against him. "Mr. Gibbon (fays the "Doctor) appears to have been fufficiently "fenfible of the value of fuch a teftimony to "the truth of the gospel hiftory, as is furnish"ed by the early martyrdoms, and, therefore, "he takes great pains to diminish their num"ber; and, when the facts cannot be denied, he "endeavours to exhibit them in the most unfa "vourable light. Judge, brethren, whether this picture does not bear too near a resemblance to the conduct of Dr. Priestley, and other focinian writers, refpecting the holy fcriptures. I have heard of perfons, who when engaging in a law-fuit, and fearing left certain individuals fhould appear in evidence against them, have fo contrived matters as to fue the witnesses; and fo, by making them parties in the conteft, have difqualified them for bearing teftimony. And what elfe is the conduct of Dr. Priestley, with refpect to thofe paffages in the new teftament which fpeak of Chrift as GOD? We read there, that The word, who was made flesh, and dwelt among us, WAS GOD. Thomas exclaimed, My Lord, and my GOD-Of whom as concerning the flesh, Chrift came, who is over all, GOD bleed for *Letters to a Phil. Unb. Pt. II. p. 217. A a ever-Unto the Son he faith, thy throne, O GOD, 4 is for ever and ever-Feed the Church of GOD which he hath purchafed with his own bloodHereby perceive we the love of Gon, because he laid down his life for us.* But Dr. Priestley afferts, that "in no fenfe whatever, not even "in the lowest of all, is Chrift fo much as "called God in all the new teftament." The method taken by this writer to enable him to hazzard fuch an affertion, without being fubject to the charge of downright falfehood, could be no other than that of laying a kind of arrest upon the foregoing paffages, with others, as being either interpolations, or mistranflations, or fomething that shall answer the fame end; and by thefe means impofing filence upon them, as to the fubject in difpute. To be fure, we may go on, killing one fcripture teftimony, and ftoning another, till at length it will become an eafy thing to affert, that there is not an inftance in all the new teftament, in which our opinions are confronted. But to what does it all amount? When we are told, that "Chrift " is never fo much as called God in all the new teftament;" the question is, Whether we are to understand it of the new teftament as it was left by the facred writers; or, as corrected, * John i. 1, 14. XX. 28. Rom. ix. 5 Heb. i. S. Acts xx. amended, curtailed, and interpreted, by a fet of controvertifts, with a view to make it accord with a favourite fyftem? I am, &c. LETTER XIII. ON THE TENDENCY OF THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS, TO PROMOTE HAPPINESS, OR CHEERFULNESS OF MIND. Christian Brethren, NOTHING OTHING is more common with our opponents, than to reprefent the Calviniftic fyftem as gloomy; as leading to melancholy and mifery. Our ideas of God, of fin, and of future punishment, they fay, must neceffarily deprefs our minds. Dr. Priestley, as we have seen already, reckons unitarians " more cheerful" than trinitarians. Nor is this all. It has even been afferted, that the tendency of our principles is to promote "moral turpitude, melan"choly, and defpair; and that the fuicide prac"tifed among the middling, and lower ranks, "is frequently to be traced to this doctrine."* This is certainly carrying matters to a great height. It might be worth while, however, for those who advance fuch things as thefe, to make good what they affirm, if they be able. * See Crit. Rev. for Sept. 1787, on Memoirs of Gabriel D'Anville, Till that be done, candour itfelf muft confider thefe bold affertions as the mere effufions of malignity and flander. It is fome confolation, however, that what is objected to us by focinians, is objected to religion itself by unbelievers. Lord Shaftesbury obferves, There is a melancholy which accompanies all enthufiafm;" which, from his pen, is only another name for chriftianity. To the fame purpofe Mr. Hume afferts, "There is a gloom and melancholy remarkable in all devout people." If thefe writers had formed a comparifon between deifts and atheifts on the one fide, and devout chriftians on the other, they would have faid of the former, as Dr. Prieftley fays of unitarians, "They are more cheerful, and more happy." It is granted, that the fyftem we adopt, has nothing in it adapted to promote the happiness of those who perfift in enmity againft God, and in a rejection of our Lord Jefus Chrift, as the only way of falvation. of falvation. While men are at war with God, we do not know of any evangelical promise that is calculated to make them happy. This, perhaps, with fome may be a confiderable ground of objection to our views of things; but then, fuch objection muft equally stand again ft the fcriptures themfelves; fince their language to ungodly men is, Be afflicted, nad mourn, and weep. All the prophets, and minifters of the word were, in effect, commanded to say to the wicked, IT SHALL BE ILL WITH HIM. This, with us, is one confiderable objection against the doctrine of the final falvation of all men; a doctrine much circulated of late, and generally embraced by focinian writers. Suppofing it were a truth, it must be of fuch a kind as is adapted to comfort mankind in fin. It is good news: but it is to the impenitent and unbelieving, even those who live and die fuch; which is a characteristic fo fingular, that I queftion whether any thing can be found in the bible to refemble it. If our views of things be but adapted to encourage finners to return to God by Jefus Chrift; if they afford ftrong confolation to thofe who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope fet before them; and if fobriety, righteoufnefs, and godlinefs, here meet with the most powerful motives; this is all that the fcriptures themselves propofe. Our fyftem, it is granted, is not adapted to promote that kind of cheerfulness and happiness to which men in general are greatly addicted; namely, that which confifts in felf-deceit, and levity of fpirit. There is a kind of cheerfulness like that of a tradefman, who avoids looking into his accounts left they fhould disturb his |