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preacher has drawn , and of the whole argument of the discourse before us . We object to , however , and totally deny the second premise in thissyllologism , and maintain that * in the strict sense of the expression prayer * as the word is used in the first premise , the Lord Jesus Christ is never made the
object of prayer and religions worship in the sacred Scriptures . The preacher ' s conclusion , therefore , though accompanied with all the pride of logical subtilty , and guarded round with a pompous reference % o the authority of Griesbach , where Griesbach has
nothing in the world to do , we hesitate not to say , is a mere dead letter , containing not even a vestige of scriptural truth , and perfectly incapable of defending or promoting the interests of sacred literature . That God is one ,
or 9 in equivalent words , that there is but one object of religious worship , is the plain and certain dictate of the natural creation . We refer for a detail of the interesting evidence on this head to Clark's Demonstration .
Paley ' s Natural Theology , and the early part of Yates ' s Vindication . It is in the highest degree satisfactory to the seeker after moral and religious truth , that the voice of nature so
completely harmonizes with the authoritative and often-repeated language of the Jewish Scriptures : "I am God , and there is i \ one else /* " I am God , and there is none like me . " Hear , O Israel , Jehovah is our God , Jehotf
vah alone : and that of the decalogue , " Thou shalt have no other Gods before ( or besides ) n ? e . " Now one of the most proper methods of using the Bible , which , as containing the mind and will of God , must be
consonant with the unequivocal dictates of nature , arises from our conviction , that one part does not contradict another part y and that if in the Old Testament one object only of religious worship is proposed , with the severest penalties , denounced in case of wilful disobedience , the scheme of the Go » -
pel , as unfolded in the New Testament , can never imply the belief and worship of three separate persons , such as are undeniably to be met with in the Athanasian liturgies . Again , if according to the general tenor of the Bible , to the very spirit and texture of the Bible Theology , God be an immortal and invisible Spirit , no pas-
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sages of that same Bible , if it have any claim to a consistent record , can describe the same God as visible by our mortal eyes , and himself participating in the agonies of death !— -Our
pages have often contained the proofs from New-Testament Scripture , for the position that the Father is the only true God , and the only proper object of religious worship ;* and we can at
present do no more than state the divisions under which they may be conveniently reduced . K The practice of our Saviour in the whole course of his ministry . £ . The commands
aud directions which he gave to his disciples . And 3 . The practice * of the apostles and first Christians * so far as we can learn this from the Book of Acts and the Epistles . Under each
of these heads we can produce the most striking and incontrovertible evidence , that in the prituitive age , the age of the apostles , the Lord Jesus Christ was not accounted the true
God , much less the only true God , and the object of religious worship . He who said , * Now ye seek to kill me , a man , who hath told you the truth which 1 have heard from God ;" he who said , " Why calJest rhou me
good ? There is none good but one , that is God j" he who invariably directed his disciples to the benevolent Parent of the universe , by the name of Father 9 and who , after Ins resurrection , commanded Mary Magdalene to go to his brethren , and say to them ,
** I ascend to my Father , and your Father , to my God , and your God ; ** he , surel y * would have startled at the presumption and folly of his remote disciples in elevating him to an equality with the God that made him . And again , those very apostles who had eaten and drunk with Jesus of
Nazareth , who had talked with him familiarly as a friend , who were indebted to him , indeed , for an abundance of knowledge , which he professed to have received from God , and
who revered hifri as a prophet of the Most High , could not , without surrendering every prejudice as Jews ,, and every conception as men * h ave come to regard this same Jesus as the King Eternal , Immortal and Invisible .
? We recommend the perusal of u ^ Carpenter ' s judicious pamphlet on this subject .
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506 Reviews—Hodgson on Siephtn's Prayer .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1819, page 506, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1775/page/46/
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