324               The Deity of Jeſus Chriſt                        Sect. V

monarch ; would certainly be guilty of high treaſon, though
he might have ſaid, once at leaſt, The king is greatar than I.
Again: The Chriſtian religion, according to the Soeinian
hypotheſis, is not diſtinguiſhable from impoſture ; is little bet-
ter than an impious comedy, which is calculated to diſhonour
God and deceive mankind. For, ſhocking to imagine ! Je-
ſus Chriſt appears in the church much like an actor on the
ſtage; who takes the names and titles of a king; who attributes
to himſelf his works, and requires his honours, without be-
ing really what he pretends to be. Yet with this difference, a
player on the ſtage, when acting the part of a ſovereign, does
not pretend that the play is an Important reality : nor that the
factators ſhould pay him the honours of royalty, after the re-
preſentation ; not yet that they ſhould be ſincerely perſuaded
he is a king, while the play continues. But here, according
to the impious genius of the Socinian ſyſtem, we have a kind
of comedy, in which a mere man calls himſelf GOD ; the
Great GOD ; the Mighty GOD ; and the True GOD ;—who
requires Divine honours, and, as God, has received them from
his moſt eminent diſciples, though he depend on God for his
very exiſtence.

That the Chriſtian religion is turned, by the Socinian ſyſt-
em, into an empty appearance and more ſhow, is evident.
For you find in it, a repreſentative God and a metaphorical
ſacrifies; an atonement, that is only ſo in appearance, and an
imaginary hell for the wicked, according to the Socinians, ſhall
be aunihilated.

' But the miracles which Jeſus wrought were true and real;
'  nor ought they to be compared with the repreſentations of
'  the ſtage.' This conſideration detached from other things
is of little weight. For of what worth are miracles perform-
ed by one, who attempted to feat himſelf on the throne of the
Deity ? If Jeſus uſerp the glory of God, neither humility,
nor juſtice, nor zeal for God, nor love to men, can be found
in him. On this ſuppoſition, all his virtues and all his piety
are obſcured and loſt, and in their ſtead we behold, pride and
ambition, injuſtice and ſacrilege, blaſphomy and ſeduction.
For as miracles, accompanied with holineſs, are evidently
wrought by the Spirit of God; ſo thoſe works, however a-
                                                                                     mazing,