virtue, and the greatest freedom, which the Savior of the world brought down from heaven to earth to blefs the race of mortals, the priests converted into an engine of temporal power and facerdotal dominion, and to confirm the people in their miserable slavery, banished the truths of chriftianity, and set up their own judgment and sense of scripture in the place of them. Natural and immutable reason, that plane and obvious principle, whereby to judge of religion, and of the grounds upon which men claim the favor of God, as his true worshippers, was now dismiffed, and for the glory of God, and the falvation of fouls, mystery is introduced.

The fathers come on with their volumes of inventions, and to post-worship, and demonolatry, add the horrible creed of Athanafius. In vain does the Chrift of God affirm, --all power in heaven and earth is given to me. Thou haft given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. The Father hath committed all judgment to the fon. And when the devil tempted him to throw himself down from the pinacle, that he (Jesus) must not tempt the Lord his God: -When the devil tempted him to worship him, that be (Fefus) must worship the Lord bis God, and, as it is written, ferve him only: All this goes for nothing, and a thousand other facred

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feriptures. The fathers are to determine, and Jefus must be the fame God with him, of whom he requests to be glorifyed: He has the fame numerical effence ; all the fame perfections. This the fathers have the piety to affert; and the bleed Waterland, the bleed Trapp, have done their best in defence of them, against the mind of fefus. May the good Lord forgive them, as I hope they knew not what they did; and, for the fame reafon, have mercy on the fouls of Webster and Delany; the foul of Bate, the reverend Deptford Bully; and the foul of Joseph Edwards, vice-prefident of Edmund Hall; the foul of Brooks of St. John's college, Cam-bridge; and the foul of Ophiomaches; the foul of Hodges, provost of Oriel-college; the writing fouls against the bishop of Clogher; and, have mercy on all their fouls, who are ftill miferably laboring to empoifon our holy religion with the tritheifm they draw from councils and fathers, and preach and write to graft their Spurious fyftem upon the genuine ftock of the gospel. Unhappy minifters! You ought to be the public guardians of the purity of our most holy faith. You ought to be the dreffers of the Lord's vineyard. You ought to cleanse and weed it: but you cherish that dreadful weed, the impious Athanafius fowed in it. A doctrine that is antichristian, and the most palpable absurdity,

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you have the front to make the test of a true catholic, This is fuch amazing procedure, that I cannot help wondering with great ad

miration.

But in vain, O reverend men, are your wretched labors. Though you perplex our faith, and adulterat our worship, yet, the foundation of fefus Christ ftandeth fure. Your complex mysterious articles are against the honor and intereft of christianity, and at laft must fail. That religion which bears the evident marks and fignatures of reason, wif dom and moral fitnefs, is the religion that will in the end prevale. The Spirit of God is ftronger than orthodoxy, and will fupport that doctrine he infpired the great apostle to preach. In his good time he will renovat the conftitution of his church, according to the principles on which it was first founded, and the whole world will confefs what St. Paul declared to the Athenians; to wit, "That there is one God, maker and Lord of all things,that he is not a local Being, nor delighted with external worship;

that we are all his offspring, depend upon, live in him, and from him receive the daily bleffings of his goodness; that in

compaffion to the ignorance of men, he gave them a particular revelation, and defigned by the gospel to bring them to repentance, improve the moral perfections, and promote

the

the focial happynefs of mankind; that he hath appointed a time of universal judgment; and the man Chrift Jefus to be the judge, who will judge all mankind with perfect equity; that Chrift was flain, facrificed his life in the cause of truth, and thereby exhibited the nobleft enfample of virtue, obedience and goodness; that he arose from the dead, and his refurrection is the evidence of his divine commiffion, and authority being given to him; that his worthynefs procured from God the keys of grace and power, to restore life to the numberless dead, and through his confummat virtue, we shall be redeemed unto God, and live for ever in the heavenly world; if we attend to the rules of truth and wifdom, and in imitation of Jefus, fo far as we are able, be willing to facrifice our very lives and fouls to the will of our creator, and the happyness of his creation.

This was the religion of the great apoftle, as we read it in the facred writings; and tho it is not at this day the religion of our orthodox ecclefiaftics, yet it will be the religion of the whole world, when the doctrines and diftinctions, the mysterys and practices of our doctors, are funk in the black abyss of non-exiftence.

In the mean time, till those glorious days do come, when the purity of religion, and

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the univerfal peace, freedom, and virtue of the chriftian world will be restored, it is the duty of every one, whofe breaft is filled with a true christian spirit, to profecute this great end, to the utmost of his power, and do his best for the intereft of true religion. My mite is therefore contributed, and the best I have is offered to the reduction of religion to its genuine purity and excellency; to oppose, fo far as I am able, thofe fchemes which bear the fignature of superstition and enthusiasm, or of knavery and impofture; and fhew at large what those conditions are which entitle mankind to the great gofpel-promife of a refurrection to eternal life. By fcripture I fhall prove, that chriftianity is what I have defcribed it to be in the recited fummary from the apostle,

To conclude my preface: Let fcripture be the rule of Judgment, if we have a mind to be good chriftians. If we have a mind to be fools and madmen, let us take the invented Syftem of the orthodox doctors. Bleed be the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, who according to bis abundant mercy, bath begotten us again to a lively hope.

As to the natural curiofitys of Lewis, they of Lewis. are too many for my journal, but a few particulars I took notice of. Ofervaul, (in the tion of O. center of which Mr. Bannerman lives) was fervaul. once a foreft, tho now but copied with un

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