rt J the Faithful] without Intermilon."* He farther adds, " To fay that Chriltians are of later and potterior Ex- iftence than yews and Pagans, is an Herefy ; for, Pays he, from Adam even to Mofes, for the Space of 37oo Years, (nearly fo according to the 7ewifh Chronology but, according to Dr. Blair, who follows Abp. Ufher, it was about 24.33 Years] all the Jun, worthipping GOD and GOD, LORD and LORD; (which,with'Tertullian,t he confiders as two diftinft Perfons) and alto the HOLY SPIRIT, truly declared the Trinity. "$ Nor have thefe Authors proceeded rathly in this Opinion, without Rea - fon or without Scripture (fufficient Arguments from both being every where urged in their Writings) : For, as there is but one Ifrael, confining of thofe only who are Ifraelites indeed; fo there is but one Faitb and one LORD, by whomMen can bejuftified. Thefirft of the Redeemed was faved in the fame Spirit of Faith, in which the lath of that happy Number !hall be an Inheritor of Glory. Ì'ertallian faid juttly, with regard to Religion, Id verius, quadprias ; id prius, quod ab Initio : " The more anti- " ent, the more true ; and what was from the Begin- " ning, muff be the more antient." The Plan of Re- demption is uniform, confiftent, and eternal; neither fubje& to the Folly, nor dependent upon the Caprice, ofhuman Nature; but ordered in all things by the Wif- dom of GOD, andfure in all Things by the Power of GOD, Thus even the Revelation of Chriflianity, is in- deed nearly, if not quite, as old as the Creation. * The Platonifis (lays the learned T'heoph. Gale) fpeak much of " a trinity. Whatever they meant by it, it Teems moll certain to " ° me, that this'I'radition was originally no other than force corrupt " broken Derivation from the Scripture-relation of GOD: Which " indeed Plato more than hints, in Paying, 'That they received itfrom the ANTIENTS, who were better and nearer the Gods than they " themfelves. Who thefe llntients were, who lived fo near the Gods, " if not the Patriarchs and flntient feove, 1 cannot conceive." Cóttrt of the Gent. Vol. t. 1. i. p. 10. -f Ts NT. de 'Trinitate. $ LABtcNE Bibl. Patr. Tom. iv. in tit. Philaltr. SeealtoEUSEE. de Dem. Evang. 1. s. c. 5. and Hitt. Eccles. 1. t. C. 4.. SANDFOND e defienf<Chrfti. 1. t. §17 apedGs 'E. V. `á. 1. á i, P. 153. Ut,
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