and the Holy Spirit, shewing both the power. of their unity, and the distinction of their order, should be called perverse atheists? We are not atheists, who reckon as God, the Maker of the universe; and his Word, who proceedeth from him."*

As these professedly wrote apologies for the whole body of Christians, it was incumbent on them to give a true statement of the general belief. They were poor apologists, if they misrepresented the doctrines of the Church; and they exposed themselves to lasting infamy. The point which they labored to prove was, that Jesus, whom the Churches worshipped, was the eternal Word, equal with the Father.

Celsus, an infidel philosopher, produced the same common objection against the Christian worship. He says, the Christians worshipped Jesus, whom he impiously calls "a mere upstart. Origin wrote against him about the year of our Lord 230. He grants, that Christians worshipped Jesus, whom he calls the propitiation for our sins; but denies that they worshipped a man, or one of the ministers of God. After declaring our Savior's unity of essence with the Father, he adds, "Therefore we worship one God, the Father and the Son."

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The testimony of heathen writers goes to prove, that the primitive Christians were Tri

Jam. Vin. Vol. II. p 453.

nitarians. The observation in the letters of Pliny to the Emperor Trajan, respecting the Christian worship, is well known. Pliny requests the Emperor to direct him how to proceed with the Christians, when their enemiesshould accuse them. He says, "They," that is, the enemies of the Christians, "affirmed, that this was the amount of their crime, or error, that they were wont to assemble, on a certain day, before it was light; and to sing an alternate hymn to Christ, as God." Was this then the crime of the Christians, in the estima-tion of their enemies, that they worshipped Christ, as God? How easily might they have avoided trouble, by obviating the charge, if it were false?

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Hierocles, another heathen, in an abridge-ment of the life of Apollonius Tyanæus, compares the gravity of the heathen, with the levity of the Christians. "We do not," says he, "account the person," that is, Apollonius, "who has performed such actions, a God; but a man favored by the gods: but they, because of a few miracles, proclaim Jesus to be a God."

Lucian testifies to the general belief of Christians in the divinity of Christ.

Other heathen writers might be named, who understood of the Christians that they believed in the Deity of Christ. This was one of the charges which their enemies repeatedly laid against them; and the truth of this pre

tended accusation was admitted by those who wrote apologies, though they did not admit it in the sense of their enemies, which was, that they worshipped a crucified man.

Irenæus wrote about the year of our Lord 180. He exhibited a creed which embraced the general belief of Christians in that age.* He says, "The Church, which is dispersed through the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the Apostles, and their immediate successors, the belief in one God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of the Heaven, the earth, and the sea, and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, made flesh for our salvation; and in the Holy Ghost, who, by the Prophets, revealed the dispensation, and the coming of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ, his birth by a virgin, his passion, his resurrection, his ascension into Heaven in the flesh, and his advent from Heaven in the glory of his Father, to the gathering together of all things, and the raising up of the flesh of all mankind. That to Christ Jesus our Lord, and God and Savior and King, according to the good pleasure of the invisible Father, every knee shall bow, of things in Heaven, of things on earth, and of things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess; and in all things he will execute righteous judgment: both the evil spirits, and the angels who sinned and became apostates, and the impious, the unjust, the breakers of the law, and the blasphemers among men, he will send into ever

*Dr. Gregory's Christian Church, Vol I. page 83, 84.

lasting fire but to the just and holy, and to those who keep his commandments, and remain in his love, whether from the beginning or whether they have repented of their sins, he will give life and glory forever." In this we have the testimony of one of the most respectable primitive writers, that the Church throughout the world, received from the Apos tles, the doctrine of three Persons in the Godhead, of a future judgment, and state of rewards and punishments, the necessity of repentance; and that life and glory are the gift: of Christ...

As it respects the doctrine of the primitive Christians, the testimony of Du Pin may be admitted with safety. He had studied the writings of the fathers with critical attention; and it is presumed his integrity, as a historian, entitles him to confidence. In his summary of the doctrines of the Church, during the three first centuries, he says, "They acknowledgeda Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, the eternity of the Word, and the Holy Ghost. They maintained, that the Word was, from all eternity, in God, as a Person distinct from the Father; that he made himself man, to save the world which was lost by the sin of the first man." He further adds, "all the fathers, of whom we have spoken, make profession of this. faith; and assure us, that this is the doctrine. which all the Churches in the world have received from the Apostles; and that it was, necessary to believe it, in order to become.. a Christian."

Although, in these detached quotations, the reader will not find a connected system of doc trine; yet he will discern something, in each of the writers named, which necessarily belongs to a scheme of Grace; and in the whole, viewed collectively, he will see the substance of that system of doctrine which is called Calvin-ism. There is evidence, as conclusive as the case will admit, that the primitive Christians were Trinitarians. They believed in the ruin of all mankind, by the sin of the first man ; and that the Son of God became incarnate, to deliver sinners from the deplorable effects of the fall. It appears equally evident, that the necessity of divine influence, to renew holiness in men, was an article of their belief. A natural reason may be given, why those writers, who lived nearest to the times of the Apos tles, did not investigate and insist on particu lar doctrines with as great earnestness as some who lived later. Though there were some who dissented from the general belief, yet the opposition was not so great as to excite controversy, or any considerable agitation in the public mind. A strong opposition excites controversy. It will, of course, lead to a more critical investigation of doctrines. Men are led to embody opinions, when they feel the pressure of opposition; and to shew the dependence of one doctrine on another. The loose and unconnected manner in which the primitive Christians delivered their sentiments, affords a natural proof that they wrote at a time when there was no effectual opposition to the doctrines which had been generally receive