plurality of persons, are not necessary to absolute perfection; at least, whether according to the best conjectures of human reason about a matter so far

desire, carefully compared the printed copy with the original manuscript in my possession, and corrected it in several places, which I hope will be of some advantage to this edition.

"I am your's, &c.

"Poland Street, May 28, 1752."

GEORGE MACAULEY."

"ADVERTISEMENT.

"The following work was only intended for the private use of the author, as appears from his first meditation, and during his lifetime nobody saw it. After his death, being in the possession of his grand-daughter, a gentleman nearly related to her by marriage read it, and being greatly pleased with it himself, obtained a copy of it, and her permission to publish it, judging that it might be of good use in an age wherein serious things are but too much neglected by all ranks of men. The author himself, who attained to the age of eighty-four years, was a gentleman of good fortune, and of a considerable family, which has been ennobled in several of its branches. He was born in Gloucestershire (though his family was of the shire of Nottingham) in the year 1661; and during the latter end of the reign of King Charles II. was much at court. About the year 1686 he took an opportunity of going abroad with a near relation, who was sent by King James II. ambassador to a foreign court. The ambassador died, and our author, by powers given him to that effect, finished the business of the embassy. He had the offer of being appointed successor to his friend in his public character, but disliking the measures that were then carried on at court, he declined it, and returned to England, where he soon married a lady of rank and fortune, who dying in a few years left behind her an only daughter. After his lady's death he lived for the most part in the country, where he spent many of his latter years in a close retirement, consecrated to religious meditations and exercises. He was a man of good understanding, of an exemplary life, and cheerful conversation."

beyond its reach, it does not seem highly probable that it is so. Infinite perfection undoubtedly belongs to the Deity, but whether that is consistent with unity of person and a solitary existence, is what I would now consider only in a rational manner, without any regard to revelation.

We can attain to the knowledge of most of the attributes of God, even to what is equal to a demonstration, by just deductions and inferences from what we find to be in ourselves. We are sensible of some small degree of power and wisdom in ourselves, from whence we most certainly conclude, that what we find imperfectly in such creatures as we are, must be most perfect in the Deity; and that, by consequence, Almighty power and infinite wisdom are attributes belonging to him. Since we can, by this manner of reasoning, enter so far into the knowledge of the Divine nature as to find out many of its perfections, why may we not, by the same method, discover something of the nature of its felicity? We agree that the felicity of friendship is one of the greatest blessings belonging to human nature; that an intimate affection between two friends with a conformity of temper, thoughts, and inclinations, is a great happiness of human life; and yet we perceive there is an exceeding imperfection in this happiness, from the separation and division of the persons, which necessarily obstructs that entire union and perfect communication of thought and affection which is requisite to a complete felicity. From hence we may reasonably infer, that the felicity of the Deity is rendered infinitely perfect

by a plurality of persons, between whom there is an exact harmony of thoughts, of will, and of affections, who are inseparable and indivisible, from a complete union of nature and essence, in one eternal, infinite, and glorious Being.

As to the number of persons necessary to supreme felicity, there is no foundation for human reason to determine any thing concerning it, and therefore we can come by revelation only to the knowledge of the number. This alone can confirm to us the former conjectures of our reason, by discovering that a Trinity of Persons united in essence, is what composes the felicity and perfection of the Deity. We may, by our reason, farther conceive concerning the eternal generation of the Son, and the eternal procession of the Holy Ghost, that since a Trinity of Persons is the perfection of the Deity, the Father necessarily exists not only eternally, but perpetually imparting his Divine nature to the Son, and that both the Father and the Son eternally and perpetually exist, imparting the Divine nature to the Holy Ghost; so that the Son receives his divine nature by a spiritual generation, or communication, from the Father, as the Holy Ghost receives his divine nature by a spiritual procession, or communication of it, from the Father and the Son. Had the existence of the Son been only from an act of the will of the Father, and the existence of the Holy Ghost only from an act of the will of the Father and the Son, we might have supposed a time before those acts of the will took place, and, by consequence, that the generation of the Son and the procession of the Holy Ghost was in

time. But when we take it for granted that the perfection of the Deity consists in the union of three Persons in one nature or essence, we must conclude that union to be necessary, perpetual, and eternal; as also the generation and procession to have been necessary, perpetual, and eternal. From hence it appears wherein consists the superiority of the Father, which is, in being the fountain and source of the Deity, and in communicating the divine nature to the Son, and jointly with him to the Holy Ghost; as the subordination of the Son consists in his receiving the divine nature from the Father, the subordination of the Holy Ghost in his receiving the divine nature from the Father and the Son. And hereby it is evident that the co-equality of the Son and of the Holy Ghost to the Father, consists in the full and complete participation and reception of the divine nature from him. Upon this foundation, we may securely worship and adore the ever blessed Trinity in unity,-One in perfect consent and harmony-One in perfect complacency and love, as well as in nature and essence, without danger of tritheism and idolatry.

I do not pretend to establish this way of reasoning as a foundation of faith, nor do I fix my faith upon the conclusions I have drawn from reason, (which can amount to no more than a rational probability;) I absolutely believe those conclusions no farther than they are supported and confirmed by Scripture, as understood by the catholic church. I only tried for my own satisfaction how nearly I could reconcile revelation and reason.

The proposition from which all my

other inferences and conclusions seem to me clearly and naturally to flow, is what I should no otherwise regard than as a reasonable conjecture, (which might either be true or false,) were it not warranted from Scripture, which declares the Godhead to exist in three Persons united in one nature or essence; from whence I make no difficulty to conclude, that it is that particular mode of existence which constitutes the perfection and felicity of the Deity: and I think I may without presumption affirm, that in conjunction with infinite wisdom and Almighty power, infinite harmony and love are the felicity of the Deity, and completes its perfection. In calling this a rational essay, all I mean is, to show that the Trinity, as it is revealed in Scripture, is not a notion absurd or contradictory to our reason, which is too frequently objected to it."

It is wisely observed in this invaluable auxiliary to our proposed inquiry on the Trinity, that as to the number of Persons necessary to the supreme felicity, there is no foundation for human reason to determine any thing concerning it, and therefore we can come by revelation only to the knowledge of the number. This alone confirms to us the former conjectures of our reason, by discovering that a Trinity of Persons, united in essence, is what composes the felicity and perfection of the Deity.

We now proceed to our proposed investigation of the sacred Volume, respecting the rank and attributes of the third great Person in the glorious Trinity, therein denominated the Holy Spirit, or

VOL. II.

I