taking part with the followers of Socinus, had adopted a different opinion? In this work, the learned author, after giving us a long quotation from Dr Sherlock, in which we may observe honourable mention of the Holy Ghost's' peculiar office in the œconomy of man's salvation, proceeds to make the following observations, which I will transcribe at full length, as completely pertinent to the discussion in hand.

'I believe I might appeal to the consciences of these gentlemen, whether their gratitude to Christ, for what he has done and suffered for us, be not in ⚫ a manner lost, and swallowed up in their regards to the Father, for commanding and accepting it; and 'whether the notion of the grace of the Holy Spirit 'be not entirely absorbed in the thoughts of the superior assistance of God. The effect is natural, and I judge in this case, by what I should find in my'self. Upon their hypothesis- the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the ' communion of the Holy Ghost,' will amount only to the love of the Father thrice told, which supersedes both the other. And when it is said, that the Father and Son will make their abode with 'us,' and that the Holy Ghost also will abide with us for ever'-the two creatures superadded to the Creator' (in other words, the two subordinates added to the supreme) will appear but as cyphers, 'which add nothing to the sum; while in one we have all, and there is nothing but that one to be

depended

' depended upon. His presence alone will supply every thing, and his lustre will so far eclipse both the other persons, that it will be hard to say, upon the hypothesis I am mentioning, what occasion there would be for them, or what comfort in them. Such is the appearing change made in the very form ⚫ and essence of christianity, by these new doctrines, 'that it seems to lose the very soul and life of it, and by degrees to degenerate into little else but a better kind of Judaism, retaining the name of christianity, but giving up the main things','

These very pointed observations, (how consistent with some parts of Dr Waterland's own creed, concerns not me), I do sincerely adopt; and shall only follow them up, by asking this plain question, Whether a doctrine po-sessing the tendency against which Dr Waterland, in the above passage, is so zealous to guard us, be not a DANGEROUS DOCTRINE? Should this be granted me, it would not be an easy matter, I think, to deny the consequence, that fixing a DIVINE MONARCHY in ONE, and ascribing to the other Two a NECESSARY SUBORDINATION, is a doctrine possessing this tendency, and therefore, by all the rules of logic, is a DANGE

ROUS DOCTRINE.

This is the ground on which, in the preceding letters, I have uniformly proceeded. It was the very stumbling

* See Importance, p. 64.

stumbling block, which, at an early period of my theological studies, overwhelmed me with doubt and difficulty. Having experienced its danger, I became solicitous to guard the theological student against its adoption; and have, in my humble opinion, established a plan fully adequate to the maintenance of the strictest orthodoxy, yet freeing the important doctrine of a Trinity in Unity from every unfavourable consequence, which the insidious critic can deduce from it. I conclude in the words of Dr Waterland: I can see no probable reason, why the honour of creating should be principally a'scribed to the FIRST, and the honour of redemption, เ as considerable as creation, to the SECOND, and the 'honour of illumination, sanctification, and miraculous gifts, to the THIRD, which are as considerable as any thing before: I say, I can see no probable reason for these things, (when the FATHER, as it should seem, might as well have had THE SOLE HONOUR 'OF ALL), but upon the hypothesis which I have 'hinted '.'

6

TO JEHOVAH ALEIM BE EQUAL GLORY.

See Importance, &c. p. 66.

LET

LETTER XXII.

of his creature MAN.

sion which has just

NEXT in order to the nature and essence of the great JEHOVAH, falls to be discussed the nature And here, as in the discusoccupied our thoughts, the christian relies on the account, which revelation gives, and on that alone, for the origin of this material system, and of mankind in general, as descended from that first pair, whom the Creator formed for his own gracious purposes of love and mercy; placing them in a delightful spot, adapted in every way for religious contemplation, upon such terms of duty and dependence, as were suited to the faculties wherewith they were formed, and proper for their happy situation. These terms, revelation proceeds to acquaint us, our first parents transgressed, by yielding to the temptation of an apostate angel, who had rebelled against his Creator. By this transgression, which they might unquestionably have avoided, they deprived themselves of their Maker's love and favour, and instantly incurred the threatened penalty of his justice. This

early

early act of flagrant disobedience, which is commonly called The Fall of Man,' produced a woeful change in his original nature and condition; his nature being thereby infected with guilt and pollution, and his condition altered from happiness and peace, to wrath and misery. And as, according to the christian's belief, all mankind are descended from Adam and Eve, posterior to the period of this lamented change, it must follow of course, that all mankind do partake of that guilt, and are infected with that pollution, which they, our original progenitors, had contracted; insomuch, that it is this hereditary guilt and pollution, to which christian language has affixed the name of ORIGINAL SIN.'

This being the case, by original sin' nothing less can be understood, than some degree of innate depravity, some defect in our nature, even from the womb, which renders us, naturally, disinclined to good, and unworthy of the divine acceptance. Nay, if not removed and taken away, revelation distinctly tells us, that this very defect, or taint, (call it which you will), must deprive us of the happiness which we aspire after; and if, as in the revealed account, there be no medium between happiness and misery, must expose us to misery-in other words, to the punishment due to sin.

It is well known what controversy the doctrine of original sin' has for ages excited in the christian world-how subtilely it was combated by Pe

lagius,