/-''"' 
 
 i:^ a 5^3 iia. .^^i. i:a. ^2^ 
 
 OF TH?: 
 AT 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 x> o >;■ -A. 1* T O X^ O !!• 
 
 SAMUEL AGNE^V, 
 
 OF PHILA DKLPH I A. PA. 
 
 
STRICTURES 
 
 * ON THE 
 
 REV. N. T. HEINEKENS 
 
 REPLY 
 
 TO 
 
 MR. WILLIAM CARLISLE; 
 
 IN "WHICH IS PROVED, 
 
 THE CLOSE ALLIANCE 
 
 THAT EXISTS BETWEEN 
 
 SOCINIANISM AND DEISM. 
 
 By I. MANN, A. M. 
 
 Semper ego auditor tantum? Nunquamne reponam? Juvenal. 
 
 BRADFORD: 
 
 ^tinteti for tfje ^uti^or; 
 
 AND SOLD BY T. INKERSLEY, BRADFORD ; AND MESSRS. WIGHTMAN 
 AND CRAMP, 24, PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON. 
 
 18^. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It may be necessary to inform the reader^ 
 that some time ag-o, the Rev. N. T. Heineken 
 preached a Sermon in the Unitarian Chapel, 
 Bradford, to prove the non-existence of 
 the Devil. To this Sermon, Mr. W. Car- 
 lisle, a young" man of the neig;hbourhood, 
 published a reply. In a short time after- 
 wards, Mr. H. wrote a reply to Mr. C. and 
 intimated that his opponent was only the 
 Ostensible Author. I supposed, and yet 
 believe, that Mr. Carlisle was the only Au- 
 thor of the production to which his name is 
 attached. I had no intention of interfering in 
 this controversy when Mr. Heineken's pub- 
 lication first made its appearance ; and had 
 he confined his observations to the one point 
 on which his assailant met him, I should 
 most probably have remained a silent spec- 
 tator of the contest. For although I am 
 firmly persuaded of the existence of an Evil 
 Spirit, denominated in the Sacred writings 
 The Devil; yet I did not suppose, that a 
 denial of his existence abstractedly consi- 
 dered, was of so much consequence, as a 
 
IV 
 
 rejection of some other truths of Divine 
 Revelation. Mr. H. however, in supporting 
 his hypothesis, has attempted to overthrow 
 the divine authority of a considerable portion 
 of the Bible. And where he does not, in di- 
 rect terms, deny the Inspiration of that holy 
 book; yet, he impug-ns with such severity 
 some of its most important doctrines, and, 
 in the writer's estimation at least, speaks 
 so decidedly the language of blasphemy 
 against the Redeemer of men, as to demand 
 the most unequivocal, and steadfast oppo- 
 sition. It is no warfare about non-essen- 
 tials ; it is a struggle pro arisetfocis. Shall 
 we maintain a torpid indifference, whilst we 
 witness an attempt to undermine the very 
 foundations of Christianity ? All the hopes 
 which believers in Christ have cherished in 
 every age of the church, are, in the publica- 
 tion under review, wantonly exposed to 
 destruction ! Happily for a fallen world, 
 these hopes cannot be subverted, nor their 
 foundation removed, by the efforts of human 
 depravity, or of Satanic malignity. 
 
 About thirteen years ago, the Author 
 printed a Sermon entitled, " Christian 
 Baptism Considered;" he witnessed an 
 effort of the most violent and virulent kind, 
 made to answer what he had attempted to 
 support, and he witnessed that effort with- 
 out an attempt to counteract it. He consi- 
 dered that a subject, on which the best of 
 men had long entertained a difference of 
 
opinion. But Mr. H. attacks the essentia! 
 principles of Christians of every denomina- 
 tion throughout the g-lobe. Some timid souls, 
 may say, " Let him alone ;" but the watch- 
 men of Zion have to give up their account, 
 not to men, but to God ; and as a matter of 
 conscience, unless some abler hand had un- 
 dertaken this service, 1 could not be silent» 
 The Magna Charta of our liberties, our 
 possessions, and our lives, is considered as of 
 doubtful authority ; and the Author of 
 eternal salvation is reduced to a level with 
 the work of his own hands. Much as the 
 author values the blessing's of time, devoted 
 as is his affection to his family, and willing- 
 as he is to sacrifice all for their welfare ; yet, 
 earthly comforts, friends, and family, are 
 ^f little moment in contrast with the gospel 
 of Christ. Amid cares, anxiety, and distress, 
 family bereavements and personal affliction, 
 that gospel has been the only comfort of his 
 soul for the last five-and-twenty years ; to suf- 
 ferto pass in silence thispublication,heshould 
 regard as allowing hemlock to be mingled 
 with the water of life. The infusion of ma- 
 terials so deleterious, he may not be able to 
 prevent, but he feels it his duty to try. 
 
 The reader will not, it is hoped, be dis- 
 pleased that the body of professors, usually 
 denommated Unitarians, is in this publi- 
 cation called Socinians ^ as not the slightest 
 degree of disrespect is intended by that 
 term. The author would most cheerfuUv 
 
 a2 
 
VI 
 
 distinguish any religious society by the name 
 of their own choosing", provided that appel- 
 lation did not imply an improper conces- 
 sion. In the present instance, he conceives 
 it does so, and on that account alone, 
 declines the use of the term Unitarian. 
 
 Mr. Heineken's work has been treated 
 with great freedom, but it is hoped not im- 
 properly. For the writer, whom I regard 
 as a gentleman, I feel a sincere respect ; but 
 after such a disclosure of his views, as 
 made by himself, the author cannot conceal 
 his surprise, that he should consider himself 
 a Christian minister. A manly avowal of 
 our faith is honourable ; but our faith, and 
 official character, should not be at war. To 
 the work of this writer I have paid but little 
 respect, because I have felt but little, and 
 do conceive that to such respect its claim is 
 very feeble. Nor does Mr. H. ask indul- 
 gence, or fear a scrutiny the most severe ; 
 iPor thus he speaks of his performance. — " I 
 trust that I am not presuming too much, in 
 claiming" the fullest indulsrence of candour 
 towards this part of the work, fthe Sermon 
 prefixed to his remarks on Mr. Carlisle's 
 Essay,) which is now submitted to public 
 investigation. But with regard to all the 
 rest, I have neither the right, nor the incli- 
 nation, to ask more i>han the fair exercise of 
 common justice in deciding on the merits or 
 demerits j and by this decision I am pre- 
 pared to abide." Preface p. 3 — 4. After 
 
Vll 
 
 professions so frank, and so fearless, it would 
 bespeak imbecility of mind to feel any alarm 
 for the nerves of this author. His moral 
 reputation, his benevolence of mind, and 
 urbanity of spirit, are of a very high order 
 indeed. This all who know Mr. H. will 
 conscientiously and willingly avow : and if 
 his publication had stood on as high ground, 
 he might have exulted with unmingled 
 
 joy- 
 
 I have no pledge to give, or to withhold, 
 relative to any reply which may be attempted 
 to this work. If any notice should be taken 
 of it, I shall attend to that notice, or pass 
 it over in silence, as in my own judgment 
 it may deserve. In this I stand independent 
 and alone. To seek the last word in a cvn- 
 troversy is contemptible : but as Mr, H. 
 has avowed his determination to replv, I 
 wait with all deference the moment for a 
 friendly castigation. 
 
 1 may be permitted to remark, that Brad- 
 ford has long been highly favoured with the 
 ministry of the gospel. Of its late revered, 
 and beloved Vicar,* it is scacrely possible to 
 speak in terms too exalted. He adored the 
 Redeemer, trusted in his work, and perfec- 
 tions for his entire salvation : and by a holy 
 life, a most benevolent spirit, unaffected 
 piety, a cordial affection for good men of 
 all denominations of Christians, a profuse 
 
 * The Rev. John Crosse, A. M. who died June 18th, 1816, 
 aged 77. 
 
Vlll 
 
 generosity to the poor, and an unwearied 
 effort to promote the best interests of inen^ 
 he adorned the doctrines of God his Saviour. 
 Of his successor, the present worthy Vicar 
 of this parish,* were this never to reach his 
 eye, or his ear, I could speak with an honest 
 pleasure, and in terms the most honourable. 
 I should notice his dignified and independ- 
 ent conduct as a minister of the gospel of 
 Christ; and his zealous attention to every 
 public institution in this town, religious, or 
 beneficent : but I must not speak. A mul- 
 titude in Bradford, and its vicinity also, will 
 remember with sacred pleasure, the venera- 
 ble and holy names of Crabtree and Hold- 
 ofate: they were burning and shining lio-hts. 
 The author is truly thankful that he knew 
 these men : he is thankful also, that he is 
 intimately acquainted with their successors! 
 Long have the work and perfections of 
 Christ, with all the glorious peculiarities of 
 the holy gospel, been published in the re- 
 spective places of worship, occupied by these 
 holy men. To the perishing and ruined 
 sons of Adam, were the blessings of this 
 gospel exhibited ; by numbers was the truth 
 as it is in Jesus received, and they obtained 
 mercy. And for ages to come may these 
 truths be dwelt upon, with continued, and 
 widely spreading effect! Yes, and they shall 
 be so ; ages in succession shall produce not 
 
 * The Rev. Henry Heap, A. M. Domestic Chaplain to the 
 Rt. Hon. Lord Howard de Walden. 
 
IX 
 
 a few, who in the spirit of the Apostle shall 
 exclaim, " I believed, and therefore have I 
 
 oken; we also believe, and therefore 
 speak." 2 Cor. iv. 13. 
 
 From February the 10th, 1806, to Janu- 
 ary 1810, four years never to be remembered 
 but with gratitude, the Author was blessed 
 with a residence on the south side of this 
 parish. There he found his best friend — 
 there he formed his happiest alliances — there 
 he received the holiest instructions — and 
 there he united with one in presenting* the 
 most fervent and spiritual devotions to the 
 throne of the Redeemer ! The last twelve 
 years of his life have been spent much 
 to his own satisfaction and comfort, 
 on the north side of the same parish, 
 amongst the people of his choice, and 
 his affections. So that now he considers 
 himself as completely naturalized ; and 
 cannot but feel a lively interest in the 
 welfare of his fellow-parishioners. He 
 would say to them, with all the ardour 
 of animated friendship — Hold fast that ye 
 have received, let no man beguile you — 
 Stand fast in the faith as ye have been 
 taught, and give not heed to seducing doc- 
 trines ; but seek to be nourished up with the 
 wholesome words of eternal life! Examine 
 well the word of God. This is the true light 
 which shines in a dark place. Men, bre- 
 thren, and fathers, unto you is the word of this 
 salvation sent. Beware lest any man spoil 
 
you through philosophy and vain deceit — 
 not holding the Head, even Christ Jesus! 
 
 My reader may ask, why I have not at- 
 tempted to prove the existence of the devil? 
 To this enquiry, I reply, that Mr. Carlisle 
 has pledged himself to the public for this 
 service, and I have no wish to intrude into 
 his province. But why criticise Mr. Hei- 
 neken's composition ? Because he criticises 
 the writings of inspiration ; yea, and attempts 
 to correct them too with an unsparing hand. 
 These divine oracles agree not, forsooth, 
 with the Copernican system of Astrono- 
 my ! — And one narrative is declared to be 
 false, absurd, and impossible ! If this Au- 
 thor nibble at the sacred writings, surely 
 his own are fairly open to remark. The 
 cry of learning, criticism, and philosophy, 
 has been so common, that I marvelled greatly 
 at the elegancy of this author's composition. 
 1 found, moreover, that it was fashionable 
 to smile at man's peculiarities; for even 
 Mr. H. noticed with apparent exultation, 
 Mr. Carlisle's **Learned comments — Aristo- 
 telian Syllogisms — and flowery eloquence;" 
 and I determined for once to be in fashion. 
 And, finally, I imagined myself to be almost 
 the only Dissenting minister just at hand, 
 who could do a service of this kind with im- 
 punity. If my honoured brethren, Drs. 
 Steadmanand'l'ownley — or the Rev. Messrs. 
 Taylor or Godwin, had done it, and in cor- 
 recting the obliquities of another, had step^ 
 
XI 
 
 ped awry themselves, they would have been 
 in an awkward predicament: their acknow- 
 iedg"ed classical attainments mig-ht, perad- 
 venture, have been called in question. But 
 1 am too nearly allied to the unphilosopical 
 and illiterate, to be subject to much hazard. 
 As to any honours attached to my own name, 
 know all men by these presents, that they 
 ^N ere graciously given me, and received with 
 becoming, and courteous thankfulness. 
 
 1 now close this preface, the first part of 
 my book, but written the last ; and when I 
 am sufficiently wearied with composing" the 
 work : let this suffice as my apology, for 
 my wanderings in preparing these introduc- 
 tory paragraphs. I can say with an upright 
 heart, in closing the whole, that my design 
 has been to vindicate his name, and main- 
 tain his honour, who is my All in all. To 
 him I commend the whole, with a hum- 
 ble hope that he will smile on motives which 
 are right, however insufficient the etforts 
 they produce. 
 
 I. Mann. 
 
 Shipley, May Isi, 1826. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION I. Page- 
 
 The Pentateuch, \mtten by Moses under Divine Inspi- 
 ration 13 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Reflections on the Person of Christ 40 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 On the Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit 73 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 On the Atonement of Christ, and Unpurchased Mercy 90 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 Original Sin— the Tendency of Sin to self-annihilation.. 118 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 On the Existence of Satan 147 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 Persecution of the Socinians 163 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 Philological Beauties, and Classical Criticisms 175 
 
 CoNCLUSior , 
 
PENTATEUCH, 
 
 'tVRITTEN BY MOSES UNDER DIVINE INSPIRATION. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 X HE authority of this part of the sacred volume, 
 as divinely inspired, has been maintained in all ages, 
 and by all nations where the Bible has been received. 
 It is equally true, however, that there have been 
 individuals who have questioned both the authenti- 
 city, and inspiration of the Pentateuch. Porphyry, 
 a heathen, who died early in the fourth century, 
 impugned these writings, as he did the book of 
 Daniel also, with an intention to support the claims 
 of idolatry. After him appeared Aben Ezra, an 
 infidel Jew, who denied that these books were 
 written by Moses, on account of various passages 
 which related to circumstances, and events, sub- 
 sequent to the times of the Jewish legislator. 
 The writings of this Jew, who flourished in the 
 twelfth century, became afterwards the text-book of 
 Father Simon; who copied his arguments, and la- 
 
16 The P&fitateuch written hy Moses 
 
 regarded as highly dishonourable to the blessed 
 God. How we are to account for his silence on 
 this point, this impugner of divine truth has given 
 us no information. That these books were at this 
 time considered the production of Moses, and were 
 also believed to be written by divin© inspiration, 
 we have the most unquestionable authority. Jose- 
 phus, the Jewish historian, who wrote his history 
 about fifty years after Christ, observes : — " There 
 is nothing in the world that can boast of a higher 
 degree of certainty, than the writings authorized 
 amongst us ; for they are not subject to the least 
 contrariety ; because we only receive and approve 
 of those prophets who wrote them many years ago 
 according to pure truth, by the inspiration of the 
 Spirit of God. We are not therefore allowed to 
 see great numbers of books that contradict one ano- 
 ther." * * * " Five of our booJcs, were written 
 by Moses, that give a faithful relation of all events 
 even to his own death, for about the space of three 
 thousand years, and contain the genealogy of the 
 descendants of Adam."* 
 
 Was it from tenderness to public opinion, or from 
 his early prejudices as a Jew, that our Lord main- 
 tained a silence so entire and unbroken, relative to 
 these pretended spurious productions ? On these 
 principles Mr. H. has apologized for his conduct 
 relative to demoniacal possessions. But it seems 
 
 Josephus against Apion. Book I. Sec. 8. 
 
undei' Divine Inspiration. 1 i 
 
 not a little painful to have to frame any apology 
 for him in whom dwelt " all the treasures of wisdom 
 and knowledge :" nor is it likely that any apologist 
 will have the award of divine approbation for a pre- 
 sumption so daring, for an insinuation so closely 
 allied to open blasphemy. 
 
 We have still in our libraries the Paraphrase of 
 Oiikelos on the five books of Moses. This' learned 
 Rabbi lived a short time before the Christian 
 aera, and wrote his Targum in Chaldee. When 
 he wrote his commentary, if so I may denomi- 
 nate it, he had no hesitation in ascribing these 
 inspired books to Moses. In his age it had ne- 
 ver been a question to whom they should be 
 ascribed ; and had the books been of doubtful 
 authority, he would, to say the least, have been as 
 likely to have known it as Mr. H. On this head, 
 however, he never speaks, but in every part of his 
 Targum treats the Pentateuch as the production of 
 him to whom it is now attributed. 
 
 Nor will it be denied, except by a mere pretend- 
 er to information, that the Septuagint translators 
 regarded these books as inspired oracles. The 
 Septuagint is a translation of the Old Testament 
 from the Hebrew into the Greek language, made 
 by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 27T 
 years before Christ,* and was placed by him 
 in his own library at Alexandria ; by which he gave 
 his utmost sanction to the authenticity'of the books 
 
 * Prideaux's Connexions. Part II. j). 54, o.J. 
 b2 
 
18 The Pentateuch written by Moses 
 
 This valuable version is frequently quoted by the 
 writers of the New Testament, and has in instances 
 not a few, thrown light on perplexed passages of the 
 Hebrew original. But these translators, who, it 
 is commonly believed, were seventy-two learned 
 Jews, have also treated the work disputed by Mr. 
 H. as written by Moses, under divine inspiration. 
 It ought to be remembered here, moreover, that no 
 nation in the world has been more tenacious of pre- 
 serving their sacred writings unadulterated than the 
 Jews. Though the Mishna, which was publish- 
 ed 219 years after Christ ; the Jerusalem Talmud 
 230 years after Christ ; and the Babylonish Tal- 
 mud 270 later still,-f- were considered as oral com- 
 munications from God to Moses on Mount Sinai ; 
 yet these works were never attached to the sacred 
 volume. 
 
 Mr. Heineken likewise informs us, that the Sa- 
 maritan Pentateuch was a copy of the Jerusalem 
 Pentateuch. — "And made soon after the Jewish 
 Captivity — which Jerusalem Pentateuch, was most 
 likely copied by Ezra the scribe from old Jewish 
 records."*"* p. 75. The latter part of this sentence 
 is entirely gratis dictum, as not one solitary proof 
 of its truth can be produced. And admitting the 
 former part of this assertion to be correct, it proves 
 nothing in favour of Mr. H."'s proposition. The 
 Jerusalem Pentateuch must have been the copy of 
 
 * Buxtorf's Synagoga Judaica. p. 59, 61. . 
 
under Divine Lispiration. 19 
 
 those books which were preserved at Jerusalem, up 
 to the period when Ezra was living. At that time 
 Manasseh took his copy, called the Samaritan, and 
 carried it to Samaria ; the same being extant to this 
 day. And it is well known that the Samaritans re- 
 garded the Pentateuch, as the production of Moses, 
 and as written by inspiration. Nay, so high was the 
 estimation in which these books were held, that 
 they alone were considered by them as canonical.* 
 What credit then, can be given to Mr. H.'s asser- 
 tion, that these books were then known to be at 
 least of very doubtful authority, when tliey were al- 
 lowed, and treated as inspired by the Samaritans ; 
 and the Jews who at the same time bore them an 
 inveterate hatred, never even attempted to expose 
 their mistake ? Or, was it probable they could at 
 that time, without solid authority, obtain the 
 high degree of credit which has even till now 
 remained unimpaired ? Admitting that these 
 books were not the productions of Moses, but 
 a compilation by Ezra, from old Jewish records ; 
 Sanballat, Tobiah, and their companions, in- 
 stead of receiving this volume from the Jews as 
 the work of Moses, would have had the fairest 
 opportunity of reproaching Ezra, Nehemiah, and 
 the whole Jewish nation ; the former for their 
 nefarious conduct ; and the latter for their extreme 
 credulity. But this, it is evident, was never done ; 
 
 * Jennings's Jewish Antiq. Vol. 1. p. 458 
 
go The Pentateuch written by Moses 
 
 they rather presumed, that being in possession of a 
 correct copy of the law of Moses, as contained in 
 the Pentateuch, they should be continued under 
 the divine protection, and be entitled to the privi- 
 leges of true Israelites. 
 
 Mr. H. mentions the names of sundry ancient 
 writers — as Hesiod, Sanchoniatho, Manetho, He- 
 rodotus, Berosus, Eratosthenes, Diodorus, and Plu- 
 tarch, as writers who have been adduced as eviden- 
 ces of Moses being tlie author of the Pentateuch ; 
 and adds : — '-' But it does not appear in fact, that 
 any, either of the earlier, or the later of these wri- 
 ters, have made any allusions, either direct or indi- 
 rect, to what is commonly called the Pentateuch of 
 Moses." p. 73. How is this sentence to be under- 
 stood ? Is it the assertion of simple ignorance ? Or 
 is it a failure of memory ? Or is it with a design 
 to practise upon the unwary reader ? I choose to 
 think the first of the three ; it may be the second ; 
 I will not believe it to be the third^ If Mr. Hei- 
 neken will turn to Josephus, he will find along quo- 
 tation from Manetho on this very subject,* and 
 from Berosus, the Chaldean Historian.-)- It is 
 equally clear that the writings of Cheremon and 
 other historians, were in the hands of Josephus, as 
 well as in the hands of Eusebius, the Ecclesiastical 
 
 * Josephus against Apioii. Book I. Sections 14, 15, and 16. 
 f Ut Supra, Sec. 19. And Stillingfleet's Origines SacraB, p. 17. 
 folio Edit. 1702. 
 
under Divine Inspiration. 91 
 
 Historian, three hundred years afterwards; and 
 from the lengthy quotations they have given us, 
 there can be no reasonable doubt, but they were 
 conversant with those divinely inspired records. 
 The reader who wishes to pursue this subject far- 
 ther, will find abundant information relative to San- 
 choniatho, Manetho,and Berosus, with many others, 
 in Stillingfleet's Origines Sacrae ; also in Mons. 
 Du Pin. * It may be due to my reader to remark.^ 
 before I quit this part of my subject, that there is 
 a respectable name on record as denying the genuine- 
 ness and divine inspiration of the Pentateuch : I 
 refer to the learned Mons. Le Clerc. But I must 
 also injustice add, that afterwards he discovered, and 
 recanted his error, and prefixed to his Commentary 
 on the book of Genesis, a Latin dissertation to prove, 
 that the Pentateuch was written by Moses, and 
 that when he wrote it, he was divinely inspired. 
 The writer also hopes this example may operate 
 upon the mind of Mr. H. to induce him to review 
 more candidly his opinion on the subject. 
 
 It is alleged as an objection to the inspiration 
 of the Pentateuch, that the Ptolemaic system of 
 Astronomy is maintained by Moses, which sys- 
 tem is palpably wrong. Even if this should be 
 true, Mr. H. has furnished to this objection a suit- 
 able reply. Speaking of the language of Christ 
 
 * Vide Bibloth. Eccles. Prelim. Dissert. I. with tlie notes 
 appended. 
 
22 The Pentateuch "written by Moses 
 
 and his apostles, he observes, " The gospel history 
 is a plain and simple record, of plain, but most ex- 
 traordinary facts ; which each writer has described 
 in his own peculiar style and manner."' p. 50. 
 Again, " Jesus Christ never pretended to teach 
 men Phili)sophy, nor entered into political ques- 
 tions, or polemical disputations."" p. 51. I forbear 
 to quote the remainder of this paragraph that I 
 may not enlarge this work too much. But it 
 will be perceived that mutatis mutandis, these two 
 quotations will form a sufficient apology for Moses, 
 Joshua, or David, in their speaking of the sun go- 
 ing round the earth, and the earth being stationary. 
 These writers spoke of natural phenomena according 
 to the common apprehensions of men, as it was not 
 their province to impart scientific instruction. I 
 have no inclination to doubt Mr. Heineken"s vera- 
 city, and can give him full credit for possessing 
 a correct knowledge of Philosophy ; yet, should 
 he invite his neighbour to contemplate the Sun 
 as it appears to retire in the evening, he might 
 say to him, that its setting is very beautiful ; and in 
 the morning, he might add, that it arose under a 
 cloud. Yet his Biographer would render himself 
 contemptible, if from such facts he were gravely to 
 inform the world that Mr. H. was a believer in the 
 Ptolemaic system of Astronomy, and consequently 
 no true Philosopher. Nor would he hesitate to say 
 of a fire nearly extinct, that it had no heat in it, 
 though his correct philosophical knowledge would 
 
under Divine Inspiration. 23 
 
 in a moment rem.ind him that heat was a sensation 
 in himself, and c^d not exist in objects inanimate. 
 But who that heard Mr. H. affirm that there was 
 no heat in the fire, merely from that fire being 
 nearly extinct, should go and assert that according 
 to this gentleman'*s views, inanimate existences were 
 the subjects of sensations ? — All have allowed that 
 this answer is sufficient, to meet an objection so 
 trite ; except when that objection has been aimed 
 at the sacred writings ; and then in the eager strug- 
 gle to be rid of that volume of inspiration, however 
 weak the objection has been, it has been assumed as 
 unanswerable. Singularly honourable, however, is 
 the character of these books which furnishes no ob- 
 jections to their authenticity and inspiration, but 
 such as are of a nature the most flimsy and vapid. 
 And how wretchedly feeble and sunk must that re- 
 ligious system be, that would reject as uninspired 
 the only history we have of the first existence of the 
 Universe, merely because the writer was unacquaint- 
 ed (as is imagined) with the Copernican system of 
 astronomy ! 
 
 Mr. H. does not hesitate to admit that the book 
 of Deuteronomy was written by Moses; he also gives 
 it the credit of possessing the same authority with 
 the other historical books of the Old Testament ; 
 but supposes, however, that the most that can be said 
 on this subject is, that inspiration was only partial, 
 that there is no direct and positive proof of the 
 hole being written by inspiration, pp. 23. 80. — 
 
 w 
 
g4 Tlie Pentateuch written by Moses 
 
 " I have no hesitation, then, in again declaring it 
 to be my firm opinion, that the history of the fall, 
 as it is given in the book of Genesis, is fabulous and 
 absurd ; that the presumed very high antiquity of 
 four books of the Pentateuch, viz. Genesis, Exodus, 
 Leviticus, and Numbers, rests on a very doubtful 
 foundation; and that there is no ground whatever, 
 for considering any parts of the Jewish history as dic- 
 tated by divine inspiration r p. 72. This language 
 is only the echo of Dr. Priestley, Mr. Belsham, and 
 a few others ; whose advances towards the regions of 
 infidelity have been bold and daring. All the evi- 
 dence of the Bible being the word of God, so far as 
 its history is concerned, is entirely set aside. Does 
 not Mr. H. know that many, if not the principal 
 parts of the Old Testament history, consist chiefly 
 of prophecies of the rise and fall of nations, some of 
 which extend beyond the present time ? Or does he 
 attach to the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 
 and Hosea,only so much credit, as to consider them 
 the shrewd conjectures of rational men, men of 
 acumen and penetration.? Is he not also aware that in- 
 termingled with the historical parts of the Bible, are 
 the most sublime displays of the divine character, 
 such as the most enlightened heathens by all their 
 researches could never discover, and which at this 
 time are wholly unknown, unless where the Bible 
 has been promulgated and received ? These parts, 
 therefore, could not be mere corruscations of light 
 which flashed on the writer's mind for a moment, 
 
under Divine Inspiration. 25 
 
 and then left him to pursue his tract with as much 
 precision as circumstances would allow. But our 
 business at present, is with the first four books of 
 the Pentateuch. 
 
 It is very observable that our Lord and his Apos- 
 tles quote these books as of inspired authority. I 
 cannot copy every passage in the New Testament 
 cited from tlrem ; but the reader will readily turn to 
 many not adduced in the following list ; and will 
 find many direct allusions to the parts of the Pen- 
 tateuch in question, where there is no quotation for- 
 mally made — I shall only produce the few following 
 passages: — 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 Chap. ii. 24. Compare with Matt. xix. 4, .5. 
 
 Chap. xii. 1 Acts vii. 3. 
 
 Chap. xii. 3. . . Gal. iii. 8. 
 
 Chap. XV. 6 James ii. 23. 
 
 EXODUS. 
 
 Chap. iii. 6. Compare with Matt. xxii. 32. 
 
 Chap, ix. 16 Rom. ix. 17. 
 
 Chap. xiii. 12 Luke ii. 23. 
 
 Chap. xvi. 18 2 Cor. viii. 15. 
 
 LEVITICUS. 
 
 Chap. xi. 44. Compare with 1 Pet. i. 16. 
 
 Chap, xviii. 5 Rom. x. 5. 
 
 Chap. XX. 9 Matt. xv. 4. 
 
 Chap, xxiv 20 Matt. v. 38. 
 
 NUMBERS. 
 Chap. xiv. 29, 30. Compare with Heb. iii. 17, 18. 
 
 Chap. xvii. 10 Heb. ix. 4. 
 
 Chap. XX. 10. . . I Cor. x. 4. 
 
 Chap, xxii! 28, 30S 2 Pet. ii. 16. 
 
26 The Pentateuch written by Moses 
 
 These are a specimen, and but a specimen of 
 quotations from the books, whose inspiration is de- 
 nied by Mr. Heineken. Upon these passages I 
 shall offer a few observations. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that Christ affirmed of 
 one passage he cited, that it was the word of god. 
 Matt. xxii. 31. Should it be replied, that he 
 only spoke according to popular opinion ; then 
 it is evident that popular opinion in those days was 
 directly opposite to the opinion entertained by Mr. 
 H. But what reason can be assigned consistent 
 with our Lord's veracity, for his calling that the 
 word spoken by God, which is by this author con- 
 sidered as of no authority ? Only one ; and that is, 
 that Mr. H. is mistaken; for no one but a Socinian 
 or an unbeliever will suppose that the Redeemer of 
 men was in an error. The apostle Paul also reminds 
 us, that Moses was the author of the book of Levi- 
 ticus; Rom. X. 5. and whose authority we are 
 warranted to rely upon as correct and sufficient. 
 Other instances to be hereafter adduced, and which 
 it is unnecessary here to particularize, will be sub- 
 mitted to the reader's consideration. 
 
 Mr. H. certainly is not wanting in confidence, 
 when he assures us that he has, — " No hesitation in 
 declaring it to be his firm opinion, that the history 
 of the Fall, as it is given in the book of Genesis, 
 is Jabulous and absurd.'''' p. 7S. Had these been the 
 words of David Hume, or Thomas Paine, they 
 would have excited little surprize : but they are the 
 
under Divine Inspiration. 27 
 
 words of one who deems himself a Christian Minis- 
 ter ! Credat Judaus Apella ! — ^The v/ords, fabulous 
 and absurd^ and absurd and fabulous^ are so musi- 
 cal when applied to this portion of the Mosaic his- 
 tory, that changes are rung on them, and they are 
 repeated ad nauseam. See p.p. 7, 23, 24, and 72. 
 Yet it is very unfortunate for the reputation of this 
 Censor of the divine word, that some one or other 
 of its inspired authors, is constantly meeting him 
 with a severe rebuke. Thus, on that part of the 
 history of the fall of man, which to him is the most 
 obnoxious, the Apostle Paul verifies the account 
 given by Moses : — " ButI fear, lest by any means 
 as the serpent beguiled Eve, through his subtility, 
 so your minds should be corrupted from the simpli- 
 city that is in Christ."" 2 Cor. xi. 3. — "And Adam 
 was not deceived ; but the woman being deceived, 
 was in the transgression." 1 Tim. ii. 14. Mr. H. 
 cashiers whole books of the sacred writings at once, 
 otherwise, I could deal with him ; for, if told how 
 directly the apostle condemns his presumption in 
 pronouncing Xki2X fabulous and absurd^ which that 
 apostle quotes as inspired, he will most probably 
 assert, that such epistle stands on a very doubtful 
 foundation, or that the passages are interpolations^ 
 without producing any substantial proof of such an 
 assertion. I may also justly remark, that the pas- 
 sages cited above, are not interpolations, but are 
 admitted by the most learned biblical critics as ge- 
 nuine and authentic : fi'om all which it will clearly 
 
28 The Pentateuch uyr'dten by Moses 
 
 follow, that Mr. H's. censure of this account isabsunl, 
 false, and awfully blasphemous, I shall not be 
 censured for treating this gentleman's language 
 thus harshly, by any one who reflects that he em- 
 ploys similar terms, to exprc-.s his disapprobation of 
 what all those, whom we esteem good and holy men, 
 believe to be the word of the living God. To tear 
 what such persons deem the oracles of heaven, and 
 give them to the winds, as fabulous and absurd, is 
 an insult offered to the Christian world also, in- 
 compatible with the character of a gentleman. 
 
 The means employed by Satan for the seduction 
 of our first parents, furnish a sufficient reason for 
 his being denominated the Old Serpent, and his 
 being compared to a dragon in the New Testament: 
 and it is remarkable, that where this serpent m.ost ef- 
 fectually injects his poison into the human mind, not 
 only is truth in general unperceived, but in the mist 
 which steals over the mind, he completely conceals 
 his own existence : — " The god of this world hath 
 blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest 
 the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the 
 image of God, should shine unto them." 2 Cor. iv. 
 4. It is in this slate of concealment that he has 
 effected the everlasting ruin of thousands, who at 
 the same time have loved the darkness rather than 
 light. A delusion so awful is a matter of lamenta- 
 tion so much the more serious, as it is fraught 
 with consequences affecting our eternal interests. 
 
wider Divine Inspiration. ^9 
 
 The internal evidences of the divine inspiration 
 of tlie first four books of Moses are as clear as 
 any which support the authority of the other parts 
 of the Old Testament. The history of the flood is 
 verified before the eyes of the Geologist in every 
 quarter of the globe. In examining the various 
 strata of the earth, the correctness of the Mosaic 
 account of that event is clear as demonstration. 
 The building of the Tower of Babel — The origin 
 of the various nations of the world, their names, 
 and the countries in which they settled : — The es- 
 tablishment of the Assyrian empire under Nimrod ; 
 — The confusion of languages : The curse attend- 
 ant upon the posterity of Ham ; all furnish colla- 
 teral evidence of the truth of that ancient record. 
 Nor could we, without sucb a document, obtain cor- 
 rect information relative to many of the most im- 
 portant events connected with the creation of man, 
 and the early ages of the world. 
 
 But the prophecies contained in these books, 
 leave the mind of a candid enquirer, free from eve- 
 ry doubt concerning their origin. I have already 
 alluded to the posterity of Ham, and here notice 
 the prophecy of Noah relative to that posterity. 
 No prophecy can be more clear, distinct, and in- 
 controvertible, on the page of the inspired volume. 
 Gen. ix. 24 — 27. He who shall read the history 
 of the Canaanites, of Sidon, of Tyre, of Carthage, 
 and of the Phoenicians in general : — He who shall 
 
 consider the state of Egypt, and of nearly the 
 
 c 2 
 
^ The Pentateuch written hy Moses 
 
 whole African Continent ; and shall recollect, that 
 for many centuries past, from eighty thousand, to 
 one hundred thousand Negroes have been forcibly 
 torn from home, and carried to foreign countries, and 
 sold for slaves; and that at this very day in America, 
 and the different islands of the West Indies, more 
 than eight hundred thousand are placed nearly on 
 the condition of Chattels, to be bought and sold at 
 pleasure, will have little room to doubt whether the 
 prophecy was delivered by inspiration, or is a mere 
 tradition gathered from old Jewish records*. Shall 
 I mention also, the prophecy relative to the poste- 
 rity of Ishmael ? Gen. xvi 11. The descendants 
 of that Son of Abraham were described as a people 
 who should be at war with all their neighbours^ 
 and yet should remain invincible. Mr. H. need 
 not be informed, that Alexander the Great, that 
 Pompey, that ^lius Gallus, in the reign of Au- 
 gustus, that the Roman Emperor, Trajan, that a 
 number of others, the most potent warriors of anci- 
 ent times the world ever knew, frequently attempt- 
 ed to reduce the posterity of Ishmael to subjection, 
 but were never able to accomplish their purpose. 
 It is also notorious, that the predatory excursions of 
 the untutored Arabs, have provoked irritation so 
 far, as to lead to the most formidable combinations 
 against those roving tribes ; but though their hand 
 
 * See " Remarks on Lord Bolingbroke's Letters on the 
 study and use of History :" — Hervey's works. toI. 4. p. 351". 
 five. London 1797. 
 
under Divine Inspiratioji. 31 
 
 has been against every man, and every man's band 
 against them, tliey have still dwelt in the presence 
 of their brethren*. The history of this remarka- 
 ble people is drawn with a degree of accuracy, that 
 defies infidelity itself to offer one correction ; and 
 that history was composed at a period, when it was 
 impossible to form even a conjecture what would 
 be the future character of the nation. 
 
 It would lead me into detail much beyond my 
 present intention, or the necessity of the case, were 
 I to notice the prophecy given to Abraham, of the 
 oppression, deliverance, and final triumph, of his 
 posterity, as related in the fifteenth chapter of Ge- 
 nesis —and the fulfilment of the prophecy as re- 
 corded in Exodus, chapters 1st to the 1 1th. Or 
 of Jacob's prophecy concerning his descendants, in 
 the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis: with many 
 others equally clear and decisive, in support of this 
 and the following books of the Pentateuch. The 
 reader will find a full, clear, and most unanswerable 
 review of the whole, in the work before referred to, 
 by the learned Bishop of Bristol. I need not in- 
 form Mr. H. that the authority of the same books is 
 supported by the miracles their author was called to 
 perform : — by the divine truths which they taught : 
 — by the discoveries they made of the perfections 
 of God : — by the holy laws they contain, sustained 
 
 * See "Newton's Dissertations on the Prophecies. Vol. 1. 
 p. 19—32. 
 
32 The P&ntateuch written by Moses 
 
 by the sanctions of Jehovah ; — by the many types 
 of the coming Messiah they exhibit : — and by their 
 entire harmony with every other part of the sacred 
 volume. I ought not, however, to close these ob- 
 servations, without once more referring to the opi- 
 nion of the Apostle of the Gentiles. The ninth 
 chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, as well as the 
 fourth and fifth chapters of the same Epistle ; the 
 10th chapter of his 1st Epistle to the Corinthians; 
 the 3d chapter of his Epistle to the Galatian 
 churches ; and the whole of his Epistle to the He- 
 brews, proceed in their reasonings and illustrations 
 on the principle of the divine inspiration of the 
 very books in question : and when he had arrived 
 at old age, and within a step of eternity, he held 
 firmly the same opinion : — " All scripture is 
 GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GoD, and IS profitable 
 for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for in- 
 structiati in righteousness ; that the man of God 
 may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good 
 works. 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. But then, who is Paul ? 
 Or who is Apollos ? may Mr. Heineken exclaim ; 
 these Tent-makers, and illiterate itinerants, must 
 give place to the superior wisdom of the nineteenth 
 century. This is an age of science, of criticism, 
 and of blasphemy. This is an age in which a se- 
 lect few have with the utmost assurance, in the 
 mental darkness in which they have enveloped 
 themselves, asserted that there is no proof that the 
 first four books of the Pentateuch were written by 
 Moses ; or, of divine inspiration. 
 
- under Divine Inspiration. 83 
 
 It will not be improper to enquire why Mr. H. 
 should object so strongly to the writings of the 
 Jewish Legislator. The reasons for such a conduct 
 appear very evident. These writings sjjcak a lan- 
 guage too plain and decisive on one or two points 
 which are most ungrateful. The apostacy of man 
 from God, his total depravity ; the existence of the 
 devil ; a multitude of types which teach the neces- 
 sity of a true and proper atonement for sin; and the 
 character of him who should nmke that atonement ; 
 are truths so clearly taught as defy all sophistry to 
 evade them. But they can be got rid of, so far as 
 these books are concerned; but indisposing of them, 
 we must sacrifice much of the inspired volume. 
 The two first chapters of Matthew also speak very 
 explicitly on one or two orthodox points : a clergy- 
 man of the character of my opponent, felt galled, 
 and in avisitation Sermon, denounced these chapters. 
 Dr. Priestley ^Iso, was not a little anxious to be rid 
 of many passages of the New Testament as interpo- 
 lations. If the passages to which these gentlemen 
 objected be the word of God, Socinianism is a 
 vile corruption — is a determined attack on the 
 honour and work of the Son of God. Dr. Priestley 
 did not say that Moses wrote a lame account of the 
 creation, because that account was at variance with 
 this or the other system of philosophy : — No, there 
 were other reasons too obvious to be mistaken; 
 Christianity is provision for the destitute ; the ac- 
 count of the apostacy of man was the preface to the 
 
34 The Pentateuch ivritten by Moses 
 
 full announcement of Christianity. — But Pr. P. 
 Mr. B. and Mr. H. are not destitute, but full, in- 
 creased in goods, and in need of nothing. So were 
 others of whom our Lord speaks in terms suffi- 
 ciently explicit. Rev. iii. 17. 
 
 But will a rejection of such parts of the word of 
 God as will not support our views, answer a valua- 
 ble purpose another day ? A. criminal may deny 
 the counts in his indictment, when evidence the 
 most decisive is against him ; and Mr. H. may as 
 fearlessly assert without proof as follows : " Now, 
 I maintain without fear of contradiction, that there 
 does not appear to be the shadow of a proof, that 
 Moses was the writer of the book of Genesis ; nor 
 of three of the other books of the Pentateuch ; the 
 whole of which has been generally ascribed to him: 
 nor even if it could be demonstrated that he was 
 the writer, would there be any ground for conclud- 
 ing, that he wrote these books by divine inspiration, 
 of zvhich they bear no marks whatever .'" p. 23. 
 If this unfounded assertion be not sufficiently de- 
 cisive to shew the author has proceeded ea^ cathedra, 
 perhaps the next oracle which may be delivered 
 from the same imposing authority may be so. But 
 the reader will consider the evidence before him on 
 the subject ; and if he have the fear of God before 
 his eyes, his concern will not be small, to observe 
 that such great swelling words of vanity are uttered 
 against the sovereign authority of God. Moses 
 was a prophet ; but if he wrote the Pentateuch, yet 
 
under Divine Inspiration. S5 
 
 it is no proof of these books being inspired ; so as- 
 serts Mr. H. Did a prophet then, ever write an 
 uninspired volume which lias reached our day ? 
 These books bear no marks whatever of inspiration. 
 How self-confident is this author ! Some marks of 
 inspiration have been traced : but however plain, 
 they are illegible to a man who voluntarily closes 
 his eyes. The true light did in former times shine 
 in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. 
 My reader will indulge me with his permission 
 to introduce a passage from a Sermon preached by 
 the celebrated Abbe' Torne\ delivered before the 
 French King, in the time of Lent 1764: — '' The 
 Legislator of the Jews was the author of the Pen- 
 tateuch ; an immortal work, wherein he paints the 
 marvels of his reign, with the majestic picture of the 
 government and religion which he established ! 
 Who before our MODERN INFIDELS ever 
 ventured to deny this incontestible fact ? Who- 
 ever sprang a doubt about this among the Hebrews ? 
 What greater reasons have there ever been, to attri- 
 bute to Mahammed, his Alkoran, to Plato, his repub- 
 lic, or to Homer, his sublime Poems ? Rather let us 
 say, what work in any age ever appeared more 
 truly to bear the name of its real author ? It is 
 not an ordinary book, which, like many others, may 
 be easily hazarded under a fictitious name. It is 
 a sacred book, which the Jews have always read 
 with a veneration, that remains after seventeen 
 hundred years of exile, calamities and reproach. 
 
36 The Pentateuch written by Moses 
 
 In this book the Hebrews included all their sci- 
 ence ; it was their civil, political, and sacred code ; 
 their only treasure ; their calendar ; their annals ; 
 the only title of their sovereigns and pontiffs; 
 the alone rule of polity and worship ; by conse- 
 quence, it must be formed with their monarchy, 
 and necessarily have the same epoch as their 
 government and religion : — Moses speaks only 
 truth, though Infidels charge him with imposture. 
 But, great (iod ! What an impostor must he be, 
 who first spoke of the Divinity in a manner so sub- 
 lime, that no one since, during almost four thou- 
 sand years, has been able to surpass him ! What 
 an impostor must he be, whose writings breathe 
 only virtue; whose style equally affecting, simple, and 
 sublime, in spite of the rudeness of those first ages, 
 openly displays an inspiration altogether divine."* 
 
 It was my intention to have made some remarks 
 on the author's treatment of the book of Job ; but 
 his observations appear unworthy of notice, being 
 all composed of unsupported assertions ; which 
 therefore only require a direct denial. The follow- 
 ing is a specimen : " The introduction of Satan 
 (an adversary) and his supposed conference witK 
 the supreme Being, is very clearly the mere fancy 
 of the writer, and the machinery of a rich imagi- 
 
 * Abbe Tome's Sermons preached on the Lent Sundays, 
 1764. Vol. III. Robinson's Claude. Vol. I. p. 139. Also 
 Marsh's Authenticity of the five books of Moses considered. — 
 And Du Pin's Bibloth. Prelim, Dissert. Sec. l.witb Notes. 
 
under Divine Inspiration. 37 
 
 ation, calculated, and probably intended, to give 
 a supernatural character to the poetical representa- 
 tion of simple and natural facts." p. 88 : — " The 
 writer in a very magnificent allegory, represents 
 the supreme Being himself, as personally appearing 
 in a whirlwind, and condescending to reason with 
 Job, who of' course^ bows with humble submission, 
 &c. p. 88. Not to notice particularly, the error 
 committed by him in asserting that Jehovah is xe- 
 T^xesentQ^^i^ personally appearing, which is untrue; 
 nor the bold assertion, that all this is allegory, and 
 the mere machinery of a rich imagination ; it may 
 be asked, if this is the way in which the Bible is to 
 be treated, what part is it that in the issue we are 
 to consider as divine ? Every pretender, every poor 
 witling, will find some difficulty, which his shrivel- 
 led mind cannot comprehend ; and then the old cry 
 will be renewed, " Where mystery begins, there 
 religion ends." The word which has originated our 
 hope, our consolation, and the joy of our souls, in 
 the hands of men of this description, is torn and 
 scattered to the four winds of heaven. 
 
 There is no possibility of reasoning with this 
 author: otherwise I might remind him that the 
 holy man, concerning whom the book in question 
 was written, is referred to in after ages as one 
 whose advances in piety were to the first de- 
 gree of eminence. Ezek. xiv. 14. And in the Epis- 
 tle of James, the narrative of his sufferings and 
 patience are referred to, as furnishing an example 
 
38 The Pentateuch written hy Moses 
 
 to saints of every age, to suffer affliction with pa- 
 tience ; also as exhibiting a line view of the pity 
 of God, and the tender mercy he exercises tow- 
 ards his people in their trials. But not one word 
 is spoken of allegory, and mere machinery. Yet if 
 Mr. H. cannot offer substantial argument to his 
 readers, he can insult them, and where reason fails, 
 abuse is at hand; thus he speaks of the former 
 part of the book in question ; — '' To consider this 
 in any other light than as an allegory, would be to 
 give up all title to common sense." p. 8. Those 
 who differ from Mr. H. on this subject, will not 
 think him destitute of common sense, nor will they 
 consider him as entirely destitute of something of 
 a different description. But by what licence is a 
 professedly Christian minister to take his Bible in 
 liis hand — and exclaim — This is allegory — Mere 
 machinery — Absolutely impossible-False — Absurd 
 —Ridiculous — Scenic representation — According to 
 popular opinion — An interpolation — A corruption 
 of the Greek text, 8ec. &c. merely, and only be- 
 cause certain parts of that volume cannot, by com- 
 pulsion, distortion, garbling, or any other method, 
 be made to support his errors. Of a spirit like that 
 manifested by Mr. H. it cannot be improper to say 
 as one of old did to an adversary — " The Lord re- 
 buke thee!"— 
 
 So far the reader will find, I trust, that the violent 
 attempt which has been made to tear the Magna 
 Charta of all his privileges has proved abortive. 
 
under Divine Inspiration. 39 
 
 The same spirit which now dictates the rejection of 
 the first four books of the Pentateuch, did in ages past 
 attempt the concealment of the whole Bible from the 
 laity: but we know who has said : — " The word of 
 our God shall stand for ever." Isa. xl. 8. It is true, 
 that the sacred word has been assailed by Infidelity 
 in every form, and by all descriptions of men. The 
 Historian, the Philosopher, the Poet, and the pro- 
 fessed Minister in holy things; have all attempted the 
 subversion, in one form or other, of eternal truth. 
 But the glory of revelation has never been eclipsed, 
 not one truth has been erased. This lamp to our feet, 
 this light to our path, this Sun in the firmament, 
 shall shine, and shine with an increasing splendour, 
 till every one walking in its light shall arrive at 
 the regions of everlasting day. 
 
 m 0^- 
 
SECTION II. 
 
 REFLECTIONS ON THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 
 
 X HAT it is of importance to have right views 
 of the person of Christ, will, I apprehend, be con- 
 ceded by all. But if our views be right, they must 
 be scriptural; and if they be scriptural, they will 
 undoubtedly be right. On this subject the disco- 
 veries of philosophers are vain; the subject is wholly 
 a matter of revelation, and human reason has elicited 
 nothing correct concerning a IMediator between God 
 and man. If in perusing the Sacred Oracles we 
 are presented with views of the divine character 
 and existence, surpassing all our conceptions, and 
 overwhelming our minds, this can be an offence only 
 to our pride. We have not comprehended our own 
 existence, after all the learned discussions on the sub- 
 ject, much less can we hope fully to comprehend the 
 Divine nature. What are Mr. Heineken's views of 
 the person of Christ, he has left us at no loss to deter- 
 mine : — Unitarians have ^ according to the represen- 
 tations of scripture considered Jesus Christ as sub- 
 jected to the same infirmities, and liable^ or exposed 
 
Reflections on the Person of Christ. 41 
 
 to the same fraihies and errors with themselves, p. 
 120. It is true, the next words inform us, '' That 
 the principles of his mind were never for a moment 
 overpowered. 'V But if error be the offspring of de- 
 pravity, and if depravity of mind be the source of 
 rebellion and apostacy ; then our Lord might at 
 this hour, have ranked with apostates from God, 
 and have been reaping the reward of his own in- 
 iquity ! But where do the Scriptures represent 
 Jesus as liable to error f No such representation 
 is furnished, except by the language of infidelity. 
 Infirmity may be sinless, but voluntary error is 
 not : — To say that Christ was subject to involuntary 
 error would be gratis dictum ; for proof must be 
 produced. Error, moreover, when defined by some, 
 is a term offered merely as an apology for immo- 
 rality : and the sins of a fallen world, are referred 
 to, as the errors of mistaken men. Mr. H. is called 
 upon to inform us where, in any sense of the term, 
 Jesus Christ is represented in scripture as liable to 
 error. In p. 126, we are informed: — ^^ That the 
 scriptures have left us totally in the dark with regard 
 to the present condition, employment, and attri- 
 butes of Christ, and therefore it is in vain to specu- 
 late upon the subject.''^ This remarkable sentence 
 was written by Mr. Belsham, and is, with another 
 yet more extraordinary, copied and vindicated by 
 Mr, H. in a long note. Peter speaks of Jesus 
 Christ, as " set at the right-hand of God.'' Acts. ii. 
 34. And Stephen reminds us, that he '* saw him 
 
 d2 
 
42 Reflections on the Person of Christ. 
 
 standing on the right-hand of God." Acts vii. 55, 56. 
 A multitude of other passages, equally explicit, 
 might be adduced. Of his attributes also, we have 
 some hiformation : — " And I beheld, and heard the 
 voice of many angels round about the throne, and the 
 living creatures, and the elders, and the number of 
 them was ten thousand times ten thousand and 
 thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice. 
 Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receiv^e power, 
 and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and hon- 
 our, and glory, and blessing. And every crea- 
 ture which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under 
 the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are 
 in them heard I saying, Blessing, and lionour, and 
 glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the 
 throne, and unto the Lamb for ever." Rev. v. 11, 13. 
 After reading the above passage, we surely must know 
 something 0^ the present condition of Christ. We are 
 informed likewise, that he is "Head over all things to 
 his church." — '' That he has a name which is above 
 every name." — And here we are taught, that adora- 
 tion is offered to him in conjunction with the Father. 
 Of his attributes every thing is said in the text in 
 review, which is descriptive of one '' who thought it 
 not robbery to be equal with God ;" — and he who.has 
 presented to him the supreme wen-ship which John 
 informs us was offered to the Lamb, must be the true 
 God and eternal life. To receive worship as the 
 Lamb who had been slain, or merely because he 
 had been slain, would be only to say in other words 
 
Meflectians on the Person of Christ 43 
 
 that martyrdom was the way to attain to divinity. 
 To associate the Lamb with him who sits upon the 
 throne, is to assert the equality of these glorious 
 persons. After such representations of Christ, to 
 inform us that we know nothing of his condition or 
 attributes, is not to offer the reader information, 
 but an insult. We know nothing of'the employment 
 of Christ ; and yet we are told, " That he feeds, 
 and leads to living fountains of water," the inhabit- 
 ants of the heavenly world. Rev. vii. 17. And that 
 " He ever lives to make intercession for us" — And 
 is " Our advocate with the Father." Heb. vii. 25. 
 1 John ii. 1. Surely these are employments of 
 some importance. How Mr. B. or how his Apolo- 
 gist would dare to venture such assertions where 
 the sacred volume was accessible, may justly excite 
 enquiry ; and can only be accounted for on the 
 principle of ignorance of the contents of that vol- 
 ume, or a determination to remain in darkness and 
 unbelief. 
 
 Mr. Belsham is quoted in the same note, p. 126. 
 as observing farther : — But it is impossible that 
 Christians of later times, who have had no per- 
 sonal intercourse with Christ, and who have received 
 no personal henejitsjrom Mm, can love him in the 
 same sense, in which his Apostles and his other com- 
 panions did lir My reader will not be surprised, 
 when I inform him, that this passage confounded 
 me. I was ready to ask, is it the language of a 
 man, or a fiend ! What ! Have we no intercoure 
 
44 Reflections on the Person of Christ. 
 
 with Christ ? He himself says, " Where two or 
 three are gathered together in my name, there am I 
 in the midst of them.'''' Matt, xviii. 20. " Lo / I am 
 with you always., even unto the end of the world." 
 Matt, xxviii. 20. " For through him we both have 
 access by one Spirit unto the Father." Eph. ii, 18. 
 " Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to 
 them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to 
 be saints, with all that in every place, call upon 
 the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and 
 ours." 1 Cor. i. 2. But why should 1 multiply 
 passages to prove that God's people have direct 
 communion with Christ ? Why, especially to Mr. 
 Belsham, and his friend who comes forward to sup- 
 port him ? These are men who wish not for such com- 
 munion, who feel not for him the personal affection 
 which the first Christians did. This no one can dis- 
 pute, who reads the blasphemous paragraph in review. 
 Surely when a man becomes hoary with age, he 
 will be well employed in weeping the tears of humble 
 repentance over this sentence, rather than attenpting 
 with unhallowed daring its defence ! Can we cherish 
 no personal affection for Jesus Christ ? Do we not 
 believe that he has redeemed us unto God by his 
 own blood ? Is he not to us the author of eternal 
 salvation? And have we not pardon and peace 
 through him wJio is our peace ? But Mr. H. will 
 amuse his readers, I suppose, with the word personal. 
 Can we cherish no personal affection then, when 
 we have not seen with our bodily eyes the object of 
 
Reflections on the Person of Christ. 45 
 
 our regard ? If personal affection, be an affection 
 for the person, surely we may. Can the mind have 
 no conception of what is amiable in character, of 
 what is lovely in deportment, of what is benevolent 
 in spirit, of what is compassionate in feeling, or of 
 what demands in us the exercise of holy affections ? 
 How then can we exercise holy love to the Deity ? 
 Is not the name of Washington dear to the lover of 
 civil and religious liberty ? Is not the name of 
 Howard dear to the man of a benevolent heart ? 
 Do we not in reading their memoirs feel an affec- 
 tionate regard to their memories ? Yea, we cherish 
 every affection that is ardent, tender, and kind. 
 Could they visit us, how should we hasten to 
 the door to meet them — how should we watch their 
 movements to anticipate their wishes ! Has no fire 
 flashed in the eye, no warmth been felt in the soul, 
 whilst revolving their names, whilst reviewing their 
 deeds of glory and of mercy ? But in these men our 
 interest is but small : Christ is all, and in all. 
 
 It is more than hinted (note p. 126.) That loving 
 Christ, and keeping his commandments, is the same 
 thing. Obedience may be the offspring of love ; it 
 may also be the effect of a very different principle. 
 Secular motives, pride, self-love, party zeal, hypo- 
 crisy, and avarice, may lead to obedience to some, 
 yea, to all the precepts of Christ ; but such obedi- 
 ence is at an infinite distance from love to Christ. 
 A slave may obey under the influence of terror ; the 
 presence of an enemy may secure apparent obedi- 
 
46 Reflections on the Person of Christ. 
 
 ence to his will : but it is the filial feeling of an 
 affectionate heart which gives a true value to Chris- 
 tian obedience. " If ye love me, keep my command- 
 ments." John xiv. 15. Could the writer of the 
 detestable paragraph under review, feel happy with 
 even a punctilious regard to his will, whilst he 
 knew that the obedience he received, sprang from 
 motives abhorrent to his own mind? But why 
 should Mr. H. suppose that the Christian world, 
 is bound to obey the commands of a mere man, 
 as liable to error as himself; and who has con- 
 ferred on the subjects of his command no personal 
 benefit ? Yes, we are informed, that we have re- 
 ceived no personal benefit from Christ ! ! I had 
 supposed, that even Socinians thought themselves in 
 a very slight degree, indebted to Christ. He left an 
 example of patience, of benevolence, of innocence; 
 his death was an attestation of the truth of his doc- 
 trine ; so far a Socinian would go. But we derive 
 no personal advantage from all this — or from Christ 
 himself! Is this true, Mr. Belsham .? Is it true 
 Mr. H. ? well, but we are not Socinians, and have 
 received personal benefits from Christ. Yes, we 
 have " Redemption through his blood, the forgive- 
 ness of sins" — we have through him, peace with 
 God — we were quickened by him when dead in 
 trespasses and sins — Our minds were enlightened 
 by the glory of God, as it shone in the face of Jesus 
 Christ; yea, and our souls have been filled with 
 joy, from beholding the light of his countenance. — 
 
Reflections on the Person of Christ. 47 
 
 And on these accounts we can say, "Whom having 
 not seen we love, and now, though we see him not, 
 yet believing we rejoice with joy unspeakable and 
 full of glory."" Our hope of acceptance with God — 
 our escape from the curse due to our sins — our 
 rising to the enjoyment of ineffable, and everlasting 
 bliss — all depend on the perfections, and work of 
 the Son of God. Is he not made to us wisdom, 
 righteousness, sanctification, and redemption ? We 
 are passing upwards through this wilderness lean- 
 ing on our beloved, and as we proceed, his name is 
 to us "As ointment poured forth." By him our 
 spiritual foes are rebuked, and vanquished — by him 
 our fears are removed, and our guilt banished — by 
 him our wants are supplied, for " Of his fulness 
 have all we received, and grace for grace ;" and 
 through him all the promises of God are yea, and 
 Amen to the glory of God by us. Have we then 
 received no personal benefits from him ? Shall I 
 add to these blessings the mention of his holy ex- 
 ample ; the doctrines which he taught ; and the 
 heaven which he promised ? Shall 1 mention the 
 ordinances he instituted, and the divine worship 
 which he appointed ; the precepts he gave, and the 
 rewards which he promised to obedience.'^ And 
 have we received no personal benefits from him ? 
 We have heard moreover of the inheritance God 
 has promised ; and we have in anticipation passed 
 over that inheritance — The River of the Water of 
 life — The tree in the midst of the Paradise of God 
 
48 Reflections on the Person of Christ. 
 
 — The Temple of God, in which we shall present 
 our offerings, and express our gratitude — The di- 
 vine throne we shall be permitted to approach — 
 The God we shall call our everlasting portion — 
 And the restoration of our minds to the divine im- 
 age, and to a full capacity for the enjoyment of all this 
 blessedness : — All these things we are looking for, 
 only through Jesus Christ. " Other foundation 
 can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ 
 Jesus'' — for " We believe that we shall be saved 
 through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 I may also justly ask whether a blessing can be 
 relative and not personal ? If it be not a benefit 
 received by myself, it must be a benefit received 
 by another ; and to the recipient it must be a per- 
 sonal blessing. But a benevolent mind will derive 
 advantage even from the favours conferred upon 
 another. The Syrophcenician woman said, "Lord 
 help me," Matt. xv. 25. but it was for her daugh- 
 ter that mercy was implored. A.11 the good the 
 Saviour has imparted, and is bestowing at present, 
 are to a benevolent mind sources of unspeakable joy, 
 and render his own existence more happy by con- 
 templating the felicity of others. If the doctrines 
 taught by the Son of God, and the salvation he 
 has accomplished, have been the means of chasing 
 darkness from the mind ; of raising the soul to 
 God ; of imparting liberty to millions of captives ; 
 of rescuing them from everlasting misery ; and of 
 filling them with ineffable joy : am I to look on all 
 
Reflections on the Person of Christ 49 
 
 tlie felicity exulted in by so many millions, and say 
 with an envious suUenness, — " Thou never gavest 
 me a kid that I might make merry with my friends.'** 
 This may be the philosophy of Socinianism, but 
 it is not the philosophy of reason , it is not the 
 spirit of the gospel of Christ. Personal benefits 
 flow to us every moment from Jesus Christ ; and 
 must do so, unless he in vengeance withdraw his gos- 
 pel from the world, or banish us from his presence 
 for doing despite to the spirit of his grace. 
 
 But it is time to enquire, what are the views giv- 
 en in the sacred volume of the Son of God ? Je- 
 sus Christ is undoubtedly considered as a human 
 being in the records of heaven. He was, sin ex- 
 cepted, made in all things like to his brethren^ 
 His body and soul were like our own. He ate, he 
 drank, and he slept, as did others ; was capable 
 of fatigue from bodily labour, and had human pas- 
 sions also ; he wept, and he rejoiced. And hence, 
 many things are said of his human nature, which 
 cannot be true of his divine. That nature was in* 
 ferior even to the nature of angels ; was subject to 
 divine authority — was dependent upon Deity — 
 was necessarily capable of receiving support — of 
 growing in stature, in wisdom, and in favour both 
 with God and with man. This view of his human- 
 ity at once sets aside all the quotations adduced 
 by Mr. H. to prove the human nature of Christ, 
 and the consequent inferiority of that nature, as 
 this is not at all the point at issue. But it is the 
 
50 Reflections on tJie Person of Christ. 
 
 easy besetting sin of the Socinians, to beg the ques- 
 tion, by proving that the human nature of Christ 
 was not divine, and that therefore, in no respect 
 was he so. This was Dr. Toulmin's principle in 
 writing his pretended reply to Mr. Fuller ; he com- 
 mented on the " Acts of the Apostles,"" found there 
 passages which relate to the humanity of Christ, 
 and from thence leaped at once to the conclusion 
 that he was only human. Thus also Mr. Wright 
 sat down very gravely to write a pamphlet in which 
 it was to be proved, as clear as the day, that Jesus 
 Christ was a man : — And thus their very humble 
 imitator, Mr. H. from p. 102, to p. 110, has collect- 
 ed a number of Scripture quotations to prove that 
 Christ is inferior to the Father. But where is the 
 ingenuousness of this mode of proceeding, where 
 the honesty and integrity of such conduct .^ The 
 question is not, is Jesus Christ a man, and in that 
 nature inferior to the Father ; but, is he a man 
 only, is he merely a human being ? This question 
 I shall attempt to answer as briefly and as explicitly 
 as possible from the sacred writings — 
 
 We are assured that it was Jehovah who was in- 
 sulted by the unbelief of the Israelites. Exod. xiv. 12. 
 and xvii. 2. In the latter passage, the people were said 
 " to tempt Jehovah ;" this is a name applied only 
 to the ever blessed God. But a New Testament 
 writer informs us that this very person was Christ: — 
 ' ' Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also 
 tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.'' 1 Cor. x. 
 
Reflections on the Person of Christ. 5l 
 
 9. See also Num. xxi 5. Q. If the Apostle were 
 not mistaken, Christ existed in the time of Moses; 
 •zvas the Angel ivho had the name of God in Mm ; 
 who gave the people water out of the rock, and bread 
 from heaven ; was the deliverer of Israel, and their 
 guide to Canaan : for it was one and the same per- 
 son who did all these things, and the same person 
 who was tempted by the Jews. Paul informs 
 us, that person was Christ : — Moses says, it was 
 Jehovah. In Psalm Ixviii. 17. 18. the chariots of 
 God are said to be twenty thousand, even thousands 
 of angels ; and then we are informed that Jehovah, 
 of whom the Psalmist is speaking, has " ascended 
 on high." By the Apostle Paul we are taught, that 
 this is a prophecy of the ascension of Christ, and 
 of the gifts he should bestow as the ascended Lord. 
 " But unto every one of us is given grace according 
 the measure of the gift of Christ: wherefore, he saith, 
 when he ascended up on high, he led captivity 
 captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now, that 
 he ascended, what is it but that he also des- 
 cended first into the lower parts of the earth."' 
 Eph. iv. 7. 8. It is worth attention to notice the 
 contrast between the descent, and the ascent of tl5e 
 Son of God — His rising from the dead cannot be 
 all that is intended by his " ascending up on high% 
 — for that ascension was above the heavens — but 
 this stands in direct contrast with his " descending 
 first to the lower parts of the earth"" — which if the 
 contrast be just, must intend his coming down from 
 heaven to our world ; an idea perfectly at issue with 
 
52 Re/lections on the Person of Christ. 
 
 his having no existence prior to his incarnation : 
 but perfectly accordant with his own language; 
 " Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory 
 which I had with thee he/ore the world zvas.^' John 
 xvii. 5. How different the view which the Apostle 
 gives of our obligations toChrist,from those views on 
 which wehave been animadverting! He who arose from 
 the dead was crowned with glory and honour ; he had 
 previously finished his work on the earth ; he went 
 to heaven with the shout of triumph, having spoiled 
 all his enemies ; and from the exalted station he 
 now occupies, pours upon the rebellious the richest 
 blessings of God ! His mediatorial work he had 
 perfected — Sin was. removed — The law was magni- 
 fied — The perfections of God were honoured, and 
 every obstruction in the way of God's approach to the 
 sinner, and of the sinner's approach to God, removed. 
 Then began to flow the torrent of blessings, which 
 could no longer be bounded by» the land of Israel. 
 A torrent which proceeded to nations near, and 
 urged its way to nations more remote ; — a torrent 
 which has flowed, and, as the waters of the sanctuary 
 will continue to flow, till it has visited every land, 
 {ixid communicated the rich gifts of the ascended 
 Saviour to the whole family of man I 
 
 In the forty-fifth Psalm, it is said, '' Thy throne, 
 O God ! is for ever and ever, the sceptre of thy 
 kingdom is a right sceptre:'' — And in speaking of 
 %he dignity of Christ, the apostle Paul assures us, 
 that these words were addressed to the Lord Jesus ; — 
 *• But unto the Son he saith,^ Thy throne, O God I 
 
Rejkctimis on thu Person of Christ. 53 
 
 is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the 
 sceptre of thy kingdom." Heb. i. 8. Of the mean- 
 ing of the terms employed in this passage, there can 
 be no reasonable doubt. I am not aware that their 
 application to Christ has ever been questioned. 
 The person worshipped by David, occupies the 
 eternal throne, and stands at the head of a righ- 
 teous kingdom ; that person he adores as the true 
 God ; and that person Paul declares is Jesus Christ. 
 Yes, the Saviour sits as a king and as a priest on his 
 throne : his power is absolute and uncontrolled : 
 his influence extends to the hearts and consciences 
 of meii : and millions who were dead in trespasses 
 and sins, has he quickened by the exertion of his 
 mighty power. To him in every age of the Chris- 
 tian church, have men come ; to him have they pre- 
 sented the offerings of gratitude and praise ; whilst 
 their conduct has declared their conviction that 
 " This is the true God and eternal life." In Psalm 
 cii. 24. 27, the writer adores his Creator as 
 Eternal and Immutable ; and in Heb. i. 10. 12, 
 this passage is applied to the Son of God, and is 
 a beautiful illustration of that saying " Jesus Christ 
 the same yesterday, to day, and for ever." Heb. xiii. 
 8. That all these passages as they stand in the Old 
 Testament, describe the Creator of all, is clear to 
 demonstration ; and that in the New Testament they 
 are applied to him who is by Mr. H. styled, " The 
 poor and humble man of Nazareth," is equally 
 incontestable. But how, without blasphemy, they 
 
54r Reflections on the Person of Christ. 
 
 could be applied to Jesus Christ, if he were not the 
 true and living God, remains yet to be told. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah has given us one of the most 
 sublime views of Deity, which the mind can contem- 
 plate. Isa. vi. 3-^10. Jehovah appeared in the tem- 
 ple ; the seraphim stood near him, and his train filled 
 that temple ; his name is celebrated as thrice 
 holy, and the whole earth is said to be full of his 
 glory. The Evangelist John informs us, John xii. 
 41. that Christ was the personage so glorious, who 
 in this vision appeared to the Prophet, and that 
 the words of the seraphim, and of the prophet, were 
 only descriptive of the Messiah's glory. But how 
 a mere human being should be so distinguished, or 
 how the world should be full of his glory —or finally, 
 how the seraphim could adore him as God Omnipresent 
 who as yet had no existence, Mr. H. does not inform 
 us. By the same prophet we are told what shall be 
 the name of him we are taught to adore : — " Behold 
 a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call 
 his name Immanuel.'"^ Isa. vii. 14. And Matthew, 
 the Evangelist, assures us, that this prophecy applies 
 only to the Son of Mary, as the Son of the Highest. 
 Matt. i. 23. This truth is farther confirmed by the 
 Apostle in his Epistle to Timothy, in which he as- 
 sures us, " That God was manifested in the flesh." 
 1 Tim. iii. 16. And the same inspired writer also in- 
 forms us, that Christ, " Is over all, God blessed fot 
 evermore." Rom. ix. 5. I am fully aware of the 
 difficulty which Mr. H. suggests relative to the 
 
Reflections on the Person of Christ. 55 
 
 former text, and in another place have paid some 
 attention to that difficulty ; at present, it may suf- 
 fice to remark, that Qsog f GodJ is essentially impor- 
 tant to make the text the language of either correct 
 grammar, or even common sense. To say that the 
 word MvcTT-n^tov f mystery^ should be the nominative 
 to each succeeding member of this sentence, is to 
 make the whole a jargon. A mystery seen of angels, 
 a mystery manifested in the flesh, a mystery received 
 up into glory, is not sober language. To substitute 
 for Seo? ("GodJ the pronoun o? ("whoj would be an 
 equal violation of every law of grammar, as will be 
 noticed in the last chapter of this work. Perhaps 
 Mr. H. is aware, that, according to Dr. Mill, the 
 Colbertine MS. is the only one which has o? (who). 
 As to the correctness of this assertion I can offer no 
 opinion. The Syriac version renders it as does our 
 own. The Cleremont MS. with the vulgate, and 
 some other ancient versions read O (which), and this 
 to my own mind, appears more probably by far the 
 the true reading than o?, as it introduces no discord- 
 ancy into the construction of the text so far as syn- 
 tax is in question ; still the nonsense above alluded 
 to would annoy us. " Which mystery was mani- 
 fest in the flesh Sec." I have been thus explicit that 
 the reader may have the difficulty of the text, be- 
 fore him, and be able to form his own opinion. If 
 the word &eo? (^GodJ be the true reading of the 
 original, the -text will be harmonious in all its parts, 
 and the sense will be complete. As to the wretched 
 alteration of the text, Rom. ix. 5. in the Socinian 
 
56 Reflections on the Person of Christ. 
 
 version of the New Testament, the school-boy who 
 should thus abuse the sacred text, would deserve 
 the ferula for his ignorance. 
 
 We are furnished also with many names and ti. 
 ties by which the true Messiah was known to Old 
 Testament Saints, and by which also he was ho- 
 noured after his appearance in this world. Thus 
 in Isa. ix. p. we read that " His name shall be 
 called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, 
 the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.'"* 
 Names and Titles these, which have never been as- 
 sumed by any creature, but confessedly blasphe- 
 mers. Nor can these names be melted down to take 
 a new impression. He of whom the prophet speaks, 
 is the " Father of Eternity ;" an appellation which 
 will probably remind my reader of another prophecy 
 of the Redeemer equally explicit : — " But thou, 
 Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among 
 the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he 
 come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; 
 
 WHOSE GOINGS FORTH HAVE BEEN FROM OF OLI>^ 
 
 FROM EVERLASTING.'"* Micah V. 2. How thcsG 
 words can be true when applied to one who had no 
 existence prior to his being born of a woman, it is 
 impossible to divine. Can a description like this, 
 and the passage first quoted (Isa. ix. 6.) be applied 
 to any being who is not truly God, without offering 
 to both, manifest violence ? Or, in what qualified 
 sense shall we apply the words, " Mighty God", to 
 any merely human being .? In Isaiah xl. 3. John 
 
Reflections mi the Person of Christ. 57 
 
 the Baptist is the subject of propliecy. He was as 
 harbinger : but to whom ? To him who was the 
 God of the Old Testament saints ; and he whose 
 appearance was to be the unveiling of the glori^ of 
 Jehovah. But we know that he was the fore- 
 runner of Christ. The prophet Malachi speaking of 
 the same event, calls the baptist, Elijah, and as a 
 Messenger he was to prepare the way for Jehovah. 
 Mai. iii. 1. The whole of these predictions are ap- 
 plied to John the Baptist, and Jesus Christ. Matt, 
 iii. 3. But I must hasten onwards. In Isaiah 
 xlv. 23. it is written :— " Unto me every knee shall 
 bow, and every tongue shall swear. Surely shall 
 one say. In Jehovah have I righteousness, 
 AND strength.'"' And in Phil. ii. 10, 11. these 
 words are applied directly to Christ. And in Rom. 
 xiv. 10, 11. the same words are cited as belonging 
 to the same adorable person. In Jeremiah xvii. 10. 
 Jehovah claims it as his own peculiar prerogative 
 to search the heart, and to know what is in man. 
 But in the Evangelists, we are informed more than 
 once, that Jesus Christ, " Knew what was in man""' 
 — And— ^" Perceived their thoughts." Mat. ix. 4. 
 John ii. 24, 25. And in the Book of the Revela- 
 tion, the same illustrious person declares ; — " And 
 all the Churches shall know that I am he which 
 searcheth the reins and hearts." Rev. ii. 23. Mr. 
 Heineken needs not be told that in this place the 
 Omniscience of Deity is claimed by him who 
 came to redeein his people. 1 only adduce one 
 
58 Reflections on the Person of Christ. 
 
 passage more from the Old Testament at present, 
 though many more present themselves to recollec- 
 tion. " Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, 
 against the man that is my Fellow, saith the Lord 
 of Hosts.'' Zech. xiii. 7. Perhaps our Author is 
 aware that the Son of God applies these words to 
 himself Matt. xxvi. 31. He who is styled God's 
 Fellow, must be his consociate; the partner of his 
 throne; the participant of his glory; and this strik- 
 ingly illustrates the language of Paul : — ** Let this 
 mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who 
 being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to 
 be equal with God.'' Phil. ii. 5, 6. To be in the 
 form of a servant, was to be a servant : or to be a 
 human being : — and to be in the form of God, was 
 to be God. Nor did Jesus Christ think it robbery 
 TO BE EQUAL WITH GoD. This is lie who sits as 
 " a Priest upon his throne, and who is one in the 
 Covenant of peace." Zech. vi. 13. and whose name is 
 The Branch, a name repeated afterwards by a la- 
 ter prophet, and explained and applied to Jehovah 
 OQK. Righteousness. Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. If these 
 passages describe not a being truly divine, the Bi- 
 ble surely must speak a language very unintelligi- 
 ble. 
 
 Our Lord claims to himself many of the perfec- 
 tions of Deity. So in his discourse with Nicode- 
 mus, he assures that Jewish Ruler, that he posses- 
 sed UBiauiTY. " No man hath ascended up to 
 heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even 
 
Reflections oil the Person of Christ- 59 
 
 THE Son man who is in heaven." John 
 iii. V6. The Son of man came down from heaven. 
 When ? at what period after his birth of Mary had 
 he first gone to heaven, and then returned ? — ]{ut 
 who IS NOW IN HEAVEN. At that time he was 
 conversing with Nicodemus ; and was also in hea- 
 ven. So he promised his Disciples that whereso- 
 ever they assembled in his name, he would be with 
 them. Mat. xviii. ^0. Nay, that he would " be 
 with them alway, even to the end of the world." 
 Matt, xxviii. 20. Is not this the language of him 
 that fills heaven and earth ? His people are in a 
 thousand places at the same time ; scattered over 
 the face of the globe. But in all places he is with 
 them. By this promise the Redeemer claims to 
 himself the Omnipresence of him who said " In all 
 places where I record my name, I will come unto 
 thee, and I will bless thee.*" Exod, xx. 24 
 
 We learn also from the lips of the same " Teacher 
 sent from God," that he comprehends the know- 
 ledge of God. " No man hnoweth the Son, but the 
 Father; neither hnoweth any man the Father save 
 the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. 
 Matt. xi. 27. Such knowledge was too high for 
 David, Psal. cxxxix, 6, but was fully within the 
 reach of the Son of God. He had been in the bo- 
 som of the Father. Such a person might well in- 
 vite the weary and heavy laden to come to himself 
 for rest : he knew all the movements of the heart, 
 all its cares and sorrows ; its griefs were not hid 
 
60 Reflectioiis wi the Person of Christ. 
 
 from his observation ; and well could he remove all 
 its pains. He had an antidote sovereign and effi- 
 cacious for every pain. Such power, such know- 
 ledge, he must have, unless we should imagine, that 
 he could comprehend Deity, and be ignorant of a 
 creature. 
 
 Again : — The power to forgive sin belongs only 
 to God. Yet Jesus forgave a sinner, who lay dis- 
 eased at his feet. And when accused of blasphe^ 
 my, by those who heard him publish that act of 
 grace ; instead of making an apology for his con- 
 duct, as God''s messenger only, he stood forward 
 in his own defence, and wrought a miracle in sup- 
 port of his authority to forgive sin. Mark ii. 5. 12. 
 The same act of mercy was performed by him in 
 another case. Luke vii. 48. And it is remarkable 
 that in both instances, he aho perceived the thoughts 
 of those who stood around him, and who in their 
 hearts were accusing him of blasphemy. Remark- 
 able also is the coincidence between the work of 
 Christ on earth, and that which he now performs. 
 " Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be 
 a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to 
 Israel, and forgiveness of sins."' Acts v. 31. Fur- 
 ther : He assures us that he is the judge of all. 
 " The Father judgeth no man, but hath commit- 
 ted all judgment unto the Son : that all men 
 should honour the Son, even as they honour the 
 Father.'" John v. 22, 23. It is observable that in 
 this declaration of his dignity, the Son claims the 
 
Reflections cm ilie Person of Christ 61 
 
 same honour as is presented to the Father : and as- 
 sures us, moreover, that it is his Father's intention 
 that he should receive such honour. On the text 
 before me, the reader will not be displeased with 
 the following quotation : — " What finite mind could 
 search into past ages, accurately discerning every 
 deed, word, and thought, since the creation, or re- 
 collect the mighty mass of information furnished by 
 the secret and public actions of the millions, who have 
 lived in the remotest countries in every age of the 
 world, were it communicated to him. What mind 
 short of infinite could even arrange all these ac- 
 tions, discriminate their nicest shades of criminality, 
 and pronounce a sentence in which even man'^s self- 
 love shall not be able to discern any thing unjust 
 throughout eternity ? One failure here, one cir- 
 cumstance overlooked, one feeling over-rated, one 
 action mistaken as to its motive, would at once tar- 
 nish the glory of the divine character and govern- 
 ment, quench the joys of heaven, and fill the 
 universe with mourning throughout eternity."* 
 No truth is more frequently asserted in the New 
 Testament than this, that our Lord is to judge the 
 world. The very secrets of the human heart are 
 all to be examined by him. Rom. ii. 16. 1. Cor. iv. 
 4, 5. It is not unimportant for a man to enquire 
 how he will look that judge in the face whose Deity 
 it has been the labour of his soul to explode. 
 
 * Dr. Marshman on the Deity and Atonenjent of Christ, 
 page. 39. 
 
 F 
 
62 Reflections cm the Person q/ Christ. 
 
 Our Lord refused to worship a creature, because 
 God only could claim the honour of receiving such 
 worship. Matt. iv. 10. Yet he never rebuked any 
 one for presenting that worship to himself. " Then 
 came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help 
 me." Matt. xv. 25. — "Dost thou believe on the 
 Son of God ? He answered, and said, who is he, 
 Lord, that I might believe on him ? And Jesus 
 said unto him, thou hast both seen him, and it is 
 he that talketh with thee. And he said. Lord, I 
 believe. And he worshipped him." John ix. 35, 
 88. When an angel revealed to John the will of 
 his Lord, that Apostle fell down at his feet to wor- 
 ship him, but he was rebuked for the attempt. 
 Peter and Paul, refused with the strongest marks 
 of disapprobation the same homage, from the prin- 
 ciple that worship was to be paid only to the Divine 
 Being. Acts x. 25, 26. Acts xiv. 14, 15. Rev. xix. 
 10. But our Lord never hinted that it was an act 
 of impiety to offer divine homage to himself. On 
 one occasion when the Jews affirmed that he made 
 himself EQUAL with God. John v. 18, ^nd 10, 33— 
 rather than acknowledge that he had conveyed an 
 improper idea, or that they had mistook his mean- 
 ing, he proceeded to support his claim to divinity ; 
 and assured them that before Abraham was, he ex- 
 isted ; and when they attempted to stone him, he 
 withdrew himself privately, and left them with an 
 -unqualified belief that he had claimed the honours 
 
Reflections on the Person of' Christ. 63 
 
 of Deity. And when the Chief Priests supposed 
 that he asserted his own honours as divine, and 
 on that ground accused him of blasphemy, he ne- 
 ver attempted to qualify his expressions, or cor- 
 rect their mistake. Mark xiv. 62, 64. How all this 
 consisted with humility, or a jealous regard for the 
 honour of the true God, we must request Mr. H. 
 to furnish information. 
 
 We are informed that Jesus Christ is the Cre- 
 ator of ALL things. In looking around we are 
 delighted with the most beautiful and richly diver- 
 sified scenery ; with every variety of sublime and 
 pleasing prospects. Objects vast and gloriously 
 sublime constantly invite our attention : the 
 immense ocean ; the boundless sky ; and especi- 
 ally the two great luminaries of heaven : all which 
 proclaim the Omnipotence of their First Cause, 
 Also the sustentation and government of the innu- 
 merable beings who hourly draw upon the resources 
 of their Creator for supplies : the varied and almost 
 infinite stores of provision requisite for their neces- 
 sities, all declare the fulness and benevolence of 
 the Lord of all. Equally discriminating, just, and 
 wise, are all the arrangements by which the Uni- 
 verse, and its various inhabitants are kept in order, 
 and under entire management. Perhaps if the 
 truth could be known, scarcely an individual since 
 time began, has been in reality an Atheist. That 
 God is the mighty Maker, Supporter, and Gover, 
 nor of this creation of wonders, admits not of dis^ 
 
64 Reflections on the Persoii of Christ, 
 
 pute. But the Creation of all things is unequivo- 
 cally ascribed to Christ : — All things were made 
 
 BY HIM, AND WITHOUT HIM WAS NOT ANY THING 
 
 MADE THAT WAS MADE. John i. 3. FoF by hiiu 
 were all things created that are in heaven, and that 
 are in earth, visible, and invisible, whether they 
 be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or pow- 
 ers, ALL THINGS WERE CREATED RY HIM AND EOR 
 HIM ; AND HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS, AND BY 
 HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST. Col. i. 16. 17. Hcb. 1. 
 
 10. What language different to the above should the 
 Apostle and Evangelist have used had they intend- 
 ed to refute modern Socinianism ? Christ is be- 
 fore ALL THINGS CREATED ALL THINGS UP- 
 HOLDS ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER. 
 
 Not only are all things said to be made by Jesus 
 Christ ; but for him also. Which must be under- 
 stood as meaning, that his Sovereign will was the 
 supreme law, and his own glory the end of the 
 creation. The will of God alone, is the supreme 
 law, for that will is necessarily and infinitely cor- 
 rect : and the glory of such a Being is the most 
 important of all objects, necessarily embracing the 
 best interests of the Universe. But in these views 
 all things were created for Christ. 
 
 The support of all things, demands the exercise 
 of Almighty power, divine wisdom, and ben- 
 evolence ; and that support is afforded by the Son 
 of God. My readers perhaps, have anticipated 
 me in remarking the beauty of the word a-vnarm^. 
 
Reflections on the Person of Christ. 65 
 
 tendered " consist" — " standing together." The 
 whole machinery of nature, amazing and complica- 
 ted as it is, proceeds in entire regularity under the 
 direction of the Son of God. This glorious per- 
 son is also said to have existed before all things. 
 Correspondent with this assertion is the language 
 of his own prayer — " That he might have the glory 
 which he had with the Father before the world 
 WAS." John xvii. 5. Also his own declaration af- 
 ter his triumphal ascent to glory, '' I am Alpha 
 AND Omega, the first and the last." Rev. i. 
 10, 11. The reader will be reminded by expres- 
 sions of this description, of one who said, " Thus 
 saith Jehovah, King of Israel, and his Re- 
 deemer, Jehovah of hosts, I am the First, 
 AND I AM the Last, and beside me there is 
 NO God. Isa. xliv. 6. and Isa. xlviii. 12. "Hear- 
 ken unto me, O Jacob, and Israel, my called ; I 
 
 am he: 1 AM the first, I ALSO AM THE 
 
 last. It surely must have been the same person 
 who spoke to Isaiah, and who appeared to the 
 Evangelist in Patmos, otherwise he who address- 
 ed the beloved disciple must have assumed hon- 
 ours peculiar to Deity. I am not much acquainted 
 with the powers and honours conferred on an am- 
 bassador ; but I could not suppose, that however 
 ample those powers and honours, such a person 
 could not say to a foreign Court, I am King George 
 the Fourth, without being recalled at once, to an- 
 swer a charge of high treason. Remarkable is the 
 F 2 
 
66 Reflections on the Person of Christ. 
 
 declaration of the most High God, " I am Jeho- 
 vah ; that is my name : and my glory will I not 
 give to another, neither my praise to graven im- 
 ages." Isa. xlii. 8. But in the book of the Reve- 
 lations, one of the parts of the sacred volume which 
 Mr. H. professes to admire, a speaker steps for- 
 ward who is the true God, or a very awful charac- 
 ter : that speaker is Jesus Christ. Nor does it ap- 
 pear, however solicitous the inspired writers might 
 be to support the claims of the Divine character, 
 how they can be acquitted of the charge of using 
 language, not only unintelligible, but even grossly 
 profane, if the Messiah be only a man like our- 
 selves ; every one must be aware, that the terms Al- 
 pha, and Omega, the First and the Last, describe 
 existence without commencement ; and necessarily 
 underived and independent : coaveying at the same 
 time in the most forcible terms the idea of immu- 
 tability. Were all creatures blotted out of existence, 
 Jesus Christ could not suffer in his essential glories 
 — Before they had that existence, he was the All- 
 sufficient God, and needed not their presence. 
 
 How delightful to remember that he who appear- 
 ed in this world, Emmanuel, God with us, did 
 from eternity exist; that his all-comprehensive 
 mind did from eternity embrace all the information 
 which future ages could furnish, and that his own 
 divine mind was employed in contemplating our re- 
 covery from ruin, our restoration to imperishable 
 felicity. Immediately on the fall of our first pa- 
 
Reflections on the Person of Christ. 67 
 
 rents, the counsels of his heart were revealed, and 
 the Holy Book furnishes a history of the reign of his 
 mercy through all the ages of time, to the consum- 
 mation of all things. 
 
 I forbear to say more on this part of my subject ; 
 but to offer so much to the consideration of the 
 reader in support of the Deity of Christ, was cal- 
 led for by Mr. H.'s reflections on the character of 
 that illustrious personage. This Author gives 
 freedom of expression to the most violent feelings, 
 when he apprehends his own reputation is endan- 
 gered by his opponent ; his language is that of warm 
 irritation, contempt, and indignation. Thus he 
 speaks : — "Ow this point the language of Boanerges 
 is so foul, and his insinuations are so base, that I 
 shall stand upon im hind of ceremony here, but treat 
 both him and his audacious assertions with the con- 
 tempt and indignation which they deserve ! ! Such 
 is the language of this audacious calumniator ! /"" 
 p. 94, 95. If I conjecture aright who Mr. H. 
 means by Boanerges, I can assure him that con- 
 tempt and abuse from such a writer is only like 
 Priam's dart — 
 
 "telumque imbelle sine ictu 
 
 Conjecit." — 
 
 Boanerges has escaped without even a wound. 
 But why, my good Sir, all this pious rage, and glori- 
 ous bluster? A worm has touched a worm, a pot- 
 sherd of the earth has smitten another potsherd of 
 the earth ! In a little time it will be seen that it 
 
68 Reflections on the Persoti of Christ. 
 
 was possible to feel very indignant at a supposed 
 personal affront, and at the same time sit down and 
 coolly disrobe our Creator ! I would by no means 
 offer the slightest apology for rudenesss, and yet. 
 Sir, 1 am surprised at your extreme sensibility when 
 self is concerned ; and equally am I shocked at your 
 entire indifference when speculating on the charac- 
 ter of Jesus Christ ; and even the principles of ac- 
 tion by which you suppose his holy mind was 
 governed, are examined with unholy daring. 
 '^ Jesus Christ was tempted, say you, or tiled by 
 the suggestions of an ambition, which was natural 
 to the human bosom, p. 94. This remark is a re- 
 ference to your Sermon, in which you observe : — 
 " We may clearly infer from the account which is 
 given, that he (Jesus) had retreated to an unin- 
 habited part of the country, where like John the 
 Baptist he subsisted on the xvild fruits of the earthy 
 and passed his time in meditating on his exalted 
 plans, and preparing his mind for the exercise of 
 his future ministry ; that while here the revelations 
 of divine truth were copiously suggested to his own 
 mind, but that these were at the same time accom- 
 panied by the suggestions of an ambition which was 
 natural to the human heart. Under the iiifluence of 
 these, and conscious of the supernatural gifts with 
 which he was endowed, he was tempted to mah'e an 
 ostentatious dispilay of his miraculous powers, and 
 to employ themjor the purposes of self-interest and 
 aggrandizement ; but these suggestions were only 
 
Reflections on the Person of Christ 69 
 
 momentary, and no sooner excited than repelled by 
 the pure principles of his pious mind.'' — * * * 
 " He might have been rewarded with the 
 glory of the kingdoms of this earth, by paying 
 homage to the principles of worldly pride and am- 
 bition ; yet he could not have been the Captain of 
 Salvation, who was to be made perfect through suf- 
 ferings. But although he thus had it in his own 
 power to have become rich, yet for our sakes he be- 
 came poor, that we through his poverty might be 
 rich ; and thus did he deny himself, and become 
 of no reputation, and take upon himself the form of 
 a servant." p. 9. I have great need to crave my 
 reader's indulgence for obtruding upon his notice a 
 paragraph so fraught with impiety. Mr. H. in- 
 forms us that Christ subsisted on the zmld fruits of 
 the earth : A sacred writer says, " And in those 
 days he did eat iiothing. Luke iv. 2. Matthew 
 informs us that he fasted forty days and nights. 
 Matt, iv; 2. But it is very common for this writer 
 to be at issue with the inspired records. We are 
 informed by the Evangelists that Christ was tempts 
 ed of the Devil. Matt. iv. 1. Mark i. IS, Luke 
 iv. % Mr. H. tells us that he was tempted by 
 ambition. Ambition then is the Devil, or this au- 
 thor is again at war with the sacred text. This 
 writer assures us, moreover, that it was refusing the 
 suggestions of ambition which constituted the self- 
 denial which Christ exercised : from which it may 
 seem that it was self-dejnial in the Redeemer not to 
 
70 Reflections on the Person of Christ. 
 
 do what was improper. Moreover, the Messiah 
 was to be the Captain of our Salvation ; but had 
 he chosen to destroy the commission he had received 
 as the SENT of God, and paid homage to the prin- 
 ciples of worldly pride and ambition, he would have 
 gained a world ! Nay, his ambition even tempted 
 Christ to make the very powers which God had 
 imparted subservient, by an ostentatious display of 
 them, to the aggrandizement of his person and the 
 acquisition of wealth ! ! ! 
 
 St. Paul informs us, that by denying himself, 
 our Lord took upon himself the form of a ser- 
 vant; but how should he take upon himself the 
 form of a servant, who from the dawn of his exis- 
 tence was a servant only ? We are informed that 
 our Lord was rich^ and for our sakes became poor : 
 but according to Mr. H. he never was rich, and 
 could c»ily have been made rich by paying homage 
 to the principles of worldly pride and ainbition. 
 Thus a man who never had five pounds since he 
 was born, becomes poor by not defrauding his neigh- 
 bour ; or he becomes poor by refusing to be a para- 
 site ! This may be Socinian logic, but alas ! it is 
 not common sense ! Mr. H. quotes the words of 
 the Apostle Paul as correct ; — He became poor ^ that 
 we through his poverty might be rich. But to be 
 made rich by another, is to receive a personal be- 
 nefit : and we are informed that we receive no per- 
 sonal benefit from Christ, p. 126, Perhaps to 
 enrich Mr. Delsham, or his apologist, Mr. Heine- 
 
Reflections on the Person of Christ. 71 
 
 ken, would not be to confer on either a personal be- 
 nefit. 
 
 Christ was tempted to pay homage to the princi- 
 ples of worldly pride and ambition : — Who tempted 
 him then ? The Devil ? No ; for according to Mr. 
 H. there is no such being. Ambition tempted 
 him to pay homage to ambition. But who is this 
 Ambition that tempts the Son of God to pay hom- 
 age to Ambition ? It must have been his own heart 
 that tempted him. But to pay homage to the prin- 
 ciples of worldly pride and ambition, is the ne plus 
 vltra of depravity. Did a heart whicli was per- 
 fectly free from moral impurity tempt him, who was 
 ** Holy, harmless, and undefiled, and separate from 
 sinners," to pay homage to depravity in the abstract ! 
 Inherent depravity, is with this author an absurd 
 paradox. Then a heart without depravity must 
 tempt to actions of a character the most depraved ! 
 This has all the weight of an Aristotelian Syllogism ! 
 p.57. Christhad it inhis vowERtohaz}ebecome,i^c. 
 but all acts where the will is not concerned are null 
 and void — Moral power is the will engaging in any 
 act ; without the will, our power may be the power 
 of a falling rock, but its exertions incur not blame, 
 merit not applause. If Christ had a moral power 
 to become rich by paying homage to the principles 
 of worldly pride and ambition, then his will was al- 
 ready in the service of depravity. But surely even 
 Mr. H. will not allow this to be true of the Son 
 of God. But here I may add also, that it becomes 
 
72 Reflections on the Person of Christ. 
 
 me to be cautious, for we have yet to learn what he 
 will not allow in favour of Socinianism. 
 
 Such, and so overwhelming are the demonstra- 
 tions of this writer ! Perhaps his propositions in 
 his next productions will be marked according to 
 his own manner, et secundum artem, with the ap- 
 propriate finish Q. E. D. p. 131. Before I close 
 these remarks, I may be permitted to ask Mr. H. 
 one question — a question asked by the Creator of 
 all : " Dost thou well to be angry ?" After the 
 Son of God has been thus mal-treated by this writer, 
 he may surely allow himself to be touched by Mr. 
 Carlisle's bodJcin, without wincing so peevishly !— 
 
 -(^©. 
 
SECTION III. 
 
 ON THE PERSONALITY AND DEITV OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 A Departure from one truth of Divine Revela- 
 tion, very frequently prepares the mind for further 
 advances in error. In no case is this more apparent 
 than in the work before us. The great effort of Mr. 
 H. is directed towards demolition. It is assumed, 
 that there is no Devil ; that Jesus Christ is not 
 God ; that the Holy Ghost means only good dis- 
 positions, or good influences exerted on the mind ; 
 that the historical parts of the Scriptures are not 
 inspired ; that Christ made no atonement for 
 sin ; and that eternal punishment has no existence. 
 Strange, and surpassing strange, that a system so 
 entirely at war with all the peculiar doctrines of the 
 Bible should be called Christianity ! And that the 
 ministers of such a creed should assume the name 
 of Christian ministers ! My present business will be 
 to review, and compare with the sacred Scriptures, 
 M r. Heineken'^s views of the person and character 
 of the Holy Spirit. He writes as follows: — " The 
 word Spieit is, in innumerable instances, used 
 
74 On the rersondlity and Deity 
 
 figuratively, in order to express qualities of the 
 mind, dispositions of the heart, and various ope- 
 rations of Divine power on the human understand- 
 ing. Persons are said to be born of the Spirit. 
 The Spirit is said to be poured out upon them ; and 
 to speak in them." p. 93. " To have the Spirit of 
 truth, is only in other words to be endowed with 
 very elevated degrees of religious knowledge, 
 truth, and holiness ; and to be filled with the Spirit, 
 and to have the Spirit without measure, is to be 
 possessed of piety, devotion, and zeal, in an unli- 
 mited degree.*" p. 59. Of Jesus Christ it is affirmed 
 that, " God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto 
 him." John iii. 84. But if Mr. H. be correct, 
 Jesus Christ was a mere man, his powers were 
 therefore, necessarily limited: how then, had he 
 divine influence in an unlimited degree.^ Can what 
 is finite comprehend what is unlimited ? 1 do not 
 stay to notice the unhappy association of unlimited 
 with the word degree, which signifies something 
 limited, and is certainly at war with the term in 
 conjunction with it. 
 
 That the words Holy Spirit, are put for the 
 powers and gifts of that divine agent, none will 
 deny : but surely no one can justly conclude from 
 hence that such a divine Being has no existence. 
 We read of an ancient patriarch swearing by the 
 fear of his Father Isaac, Gen. xxxi. 6Z, but it 
 would be horrid impiety to infer from that circum- 
 stance, that the term God signifies no more than 
 
of (he Holy Spirit. 75 
 
 a solemn feeling. I am not aware that we should 
 put the adjunct for the subject, if the subject had 
 no existence. A writer, whose works may be known 
 to our author, remarks : — " We denote a collection, 
 or volume of writings, by the name of the Plato, 
 than which nothing is more common ; but who 
 would have thought of doing this, if no such person 
 had ever existed, to whom by this appellation we 
 impute them ? And for what reason can we imagine 
 those miraculous powers with which the Apostles, 
 and others amongst the first proselytes to Christianity 
 were endowed, to have been signified by the terms Ho- 
 ly Spirit, if not in reference to the agency of a Be- 
 ing or Person sodenominated in the communication 
 and bestowment of them ? So that this kind of 
 phraseology, far from militating against the Per- 
 sonality of the Spirit, does indeed affbrd no 
 slight or inconsiderable proof of it.**'* 
 
 In direct proof of the existence of the Holy 
 Spirit, I would ask the reader's candid attention 
 to the following considerations. We are informed 
 that immediately after the baptism of Christ, he saw 
 the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and 
 lighting upon him. Matt, iii, 16. Whatever be 
 meant by the Spirit of God, surely a good dis- 
 position can hardly be intended. Was a disposition 
 wrapped in a bodily appearance, and could that dis- 
 
 * The Economy of the Gospel, Book III. p. 336. Bj t\\9 
 Rev. Mr. Bulkley, 
 
76 On the Personality and Deity 
 
 position exist in a state separate from mind, so as to 
 descend like a dove ? A voice from heaven distinct 
 from Christ, and the Holy Spirit, was heard at the 
 the same time announcing to the world divine 
 delight in the Redeemer of men. What that 
 was which is distinctly called The Spirit of God 
 we have yet to learn, if it were not a sacred person. 
 We are exhorted not to grieve the Holy Spirit :— 
 "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby 
 ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Eph. iv. 
 30. A good disposition, or influence on the mind, 
 can scarcely be said with accuracy, to be grieved ; 
 the person in whom such a disposition resides, or 
 on whom such influence rests, maybe grieved. And 
 surely we are not " sealed to the day of redemption," 
 by a good disposition ! To be grieved must convey 
 an idea of injury intended, or actually received ; 
 with a state of mind capable of appreciating the 
 nature and extent of the injury ; and an ability pro- 
 perly to resent it. So we read of God being grieved, 
 and punishing. Psal. xcv. 10. 11. And Stephen 
 when addressing the Jews, applies the very circum- 
 stances mentioned in this Psalm to the treatment 
 received by the Holy Spirit. " Ye stiiF-necked, 
 and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always 
 resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did, so do 
 ye.'' Acts vii. 51. The God insulted by the Isra- 
 elites in the wilderness is the Holy Spirit : and it 
 is clearly one and the same person meant by David, 
 and by Stephen. Nor have we any idea how if 
 
of the Holy Spirit 77 
 
 a good disposition, or any operation of divine power, 
 could swear that the unbelieving Jews should not 
 enter into his rest. 
 
 So heinous is the offence of grieving the Holy 
 Spirit, that one peculiar sin against him is, in the New 
 Testament, declared unpardonable. *' Wherefore 
 I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy 
 shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy 
 against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto 
 men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the 
 Son of man, it shall be forgiven him. But who- 
 soever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall 
 not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither 
 in the world to come.'' Matt. xii. 31, 32. If this 
 passage mean, by the words Holy Ghost, any single 
 attribute of Deity ; any single disposition, or any 
 divine influence only, the state of mankind is ab^ 
 solutely hopeless. Another world opens upon us 
 invested with a character the most alarming and 
 overwhelming. The whole human race must, iii 
 that case, remain under the frown of God for ever. 
 Who has not spoken a word against divine good- 
 ness.? Many have insulted that goodness, and 
 even denied the very Godhead of him whose incar- 
 nation was the richest display of that goodness f 
 And yet through infinite mercy such have been con- 
 verted from the wickedness of their hearts, and 
 have obtained the forgiveness of sins according to 
 the riches of infinite grace. But he who sins 
 
 against the Holy Ghost, in the sense this text 
 G 2 
 
78 On the Personality and Deity 
 
 intends, is left without mercy. Such is the lan- 
 guage of Christ, and with that language Mr. H. 
 has as much concern as myself One thought is 
 suggested by Christ, which deserves a moment^s re- 
 flection : — " Shall not be forgiven, neither in this 
 world, neither in that which is to come." Then 
 such persons will be for ever miserable in afuturestate, 
 unless a man can be happy in the world to come with- 
 out divine forgiveness. There must be a future 
 state of everlasting punishment, (or this fearful com- 
 mination is without meaning): and the most awful 
 punishmentof that state is awarded to him who shall 
 blaspheme against the Holy Ghost ! — But if Mr. 
 H. is to be credited, we have no endless punishment 
 to fear in another world; for sin cannot merit eternal 
 ruin. Still we cannot but think, and must be 
 allowed to believe, that Jesus Christ is to be trusted 
 in preference to this Author. 
 
 The Holy Spirit is described as the person who 
 imparts comfort and light to the human mind. " I 
 will pray the Father and he shall give you another 
 Comforter, that he may abide with you forever ; 
 even the Spirit of truth. But the Comforter, 
 which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will 
 send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and 
 bring all things unto your remembrance, whatsoever 
 I have said unto you.'''' John xiv. 16, 17, 26, But 
 how a good disposition teaches all things, and 
 brings all things to remembrance, it does not clearly 
 appear. If the works of teaching, reviving 
 
of the Holy Spirit. 79 
 
 past recollections, and imparting divine con- 
 solations to the mind, be not the acts of an in- 
 telligent Agent, it is impossible to describe the 
 operations of such a Being. A teacher, a com- 
 forter, a sanctifier, are not names attributable to a 
 disposition, or hifluence, but to him who is empha- 
 tically denominated the Holy Spirit. It must 
 appear to every unbiassed mind on the first view, 
 that our Lord was not describing a quality, but a 
 person ; and if this obvious meaning be wrong, the 
 text furnishes not one corrective of the error into 
 which the sound of the words, and the apparent 
 sense betrays us. This is so clearly the case in 
 other instances also, that the most strained and far- 
 fetched meanings have been imposed on passages 
 the most simple, merely to bend an unwilling text 
 to support what it was never designed to maintain. 
 There is an entire harmony in the sacred writings. 
 The Apostle Paul gloried in tribulations, and a- 
 midst privations, exulted in hope, because, '*The 
 love of Christ was shed abroad in his heart by the 
 Holy Spirit !" Rom. v. 3, 5. And the same Apos- 
 tle prays that, " The Lord," would direct the 
 hearts of the Thessalonians into the hve of God, 
 and into the patient waiting for Christ." 2 Thess^ 
 iii. 5. It will be observed that in this text we are 
 taught that our comfort arises from the love of God 
 — that the Holy Spirit leads the mind to just ap- 
 prehensions of that love — and that this Holy Spirit 
 is properly the Lord, or a divine person. Nor 
 
80 On the Personality and Deity 
 
 can it be denied that the text expressly mentions 
 Lord — God — and Christ, in a distinct capacity; 
 and in a way that implies the personality of each. 
 And if one of these names means no more than a 
 disposition, or influence, it would be difficult to as- 
 sign any just reason why each of the other names 
 may not mean the same thing. Perhaps the reader 
 will by the text last adduced be reminded of the 
 words of the Messiah when speaking by Isaiah the 
 prophet : — " The Spirit of the Lord God is upon 
 me" Isa. Ixi. 1. Whatever system we may 
 choose to adopt, if we do not reject the Bible it- 
 self, we must acknowledge an appearance, at least, 
 of three persons in this text — Me — the Spieit — 
 THE Lord God. These words it will be remem- 
 bered were cited by Jesus Christ as a prophecy of him- 
 self Luke iv. 18, 91. There is a very serious dif- 
 ficulty in reasoning from texts like these with a 
 person who denies the existence and Deity of thg 
 Holy Spirit. The difficulty is not unlike that which you 
 would feel in reasoning with a person who should 
 look on the sun when shining in all its splendour, 
 and who at the same time should boldly assert, that 
 that luminary never had an existence. 
 
 Farther, we have no knowledge to what extent 
 influence may be exerted over the mind of a human 
 being by a created supernatural agent : but it would 
 truly seem, that to lead the human mind into the 
 full enjoyment of divine love — that mind must have 
 removed from it, in the first instance, its painful ap- 
 
of the Holy Spirit. 81 
 
 prehensions, guilty fears, and awful forebodings of 
 divine displeasure. Divine love must in some way 
 be imparted, so as to leave lively and animated per- 
 ceptions of its nature, extent, and freeness ; and 
 an impression of divine truth be made upon the 
 heart. All this must be God's work ; as he alone 
 can subdue the heart, and lead the mind to himself: 
 but he who does all this is called The Holy Ghost. 
 It is remarkable also that our Lord in speaking 
 of the Holy Spirit uses the pronoun s-Khvog 
 He shall teach you all things : He shall testify of 
 me ; He shall reprove the world of' sit i : He shall 
 lead you into all truth i He shall glorify me: — 
 John xiv. 26.— XV. 26.— xvi. 8, 13, 14- Such 
 language seems to convey the idea of the personality 
 of the Holy Spirit, in a manner sufficiently explicit. 
 We are informe that the conversion of the Hea- 
 then was effected by the power of the same 
 Divine Being. 2Thess. i. 5. The word of God 
 
 came in the power of the Holy Ghost : — he 
 opened the eyes of the blind, he subdued the 
 rebellious will ; he dispelled the darkness which 
 brooded over the soul; he led them by a way 
 which they knew not, implanting faith, and love, 
 and every holy principle, in the heart. Thus the 
 Saviour when addressing Nicodemus reminds him, 
 that if a man be not born of water and of the Spirit, 
 he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 
 iii. 5. And the Apostle Paul assures Titus, that 
 he and others " were saved by the washing of re- 
 
82 On the Personality and Deity 
 
 generation, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.*' 
 Titus iii. 5. It is from this very personage also 
 that the present dispensation is denominated, " The 
 ministration of the Spirit." 9. Cor. iii. 8. So, im- 
 mediately after Christ had ascended on high, the 
 Holy Spirit was poured down in a manner the most 
 miraculous, and for the accomplishment of purposes 
 the most glorious. The dispirited and abashed 
 disciples, who had abandoned their Lord at the 
 very sight of danger, now became intrepid, heroic, 
 and fearless ; they feared neither men nor devils ; 
 they loved not their lives even unto death ; they 
 spake with tongues as the Spirit ^ve them utter- 
 ance ; their sound went through all the earth, 
 and their words to the ends of the world. 
 That moment when this Spirit was poured forth, 
 was also distinguished as the moment of the Savi- 
 our's most exalted triumph over his enemies. The 
 very men who seven weeks before had said "Away 
 with him ! Crucify him ! His blood be upon us 
 and on our children ! !" now became obedient to the 
 faith, and embraced the Son of God ! Surely this 
 was not effected by a Disposition, but by the 
 finger of God. Mr. H. conjectures that the 
 promise of the Holy Spirit, John xiv. 16, 17, 26, 
 had reference to the communications made to 
 John in the Island of Patmos ! p. 59. Now it 
 is most obvious, that if our Lord intended this 
 only, he promised to his disciples what they 
 never received ; for there is reason to believe 
 
of the Holy Spirit 83 
 
 that every one of them save John, had left 
 this world before that revelation was given : yet it 
 is most clear, that he gave the promise to all, 
 whilst, according to this representation, its accom- 
 plishment is confined to one. But the conjecture is 
 a reverie so wild, that if this author ever look it 
 again in the face, he will abandon it as a child of 
 nature. 
 
 We are directed to offer supreme worship to the 
 Holy Spirit. So the risen Saviour unites his own 
 name, and the name of the Holy Spirit, with that 
 of the Father's in the administration of Baptism. 
 What the word name can mean in this connexion, 
 if not by the authority of the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Ghost, it is impossible to apprehend. But 
 if Jesus Christ be a mere creature only ; and if the 
 Holy Spirit mean influence only, or a good dis- 
 position ; how do we hear the Redeemer, say " Go 
 ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them 
 in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost.'' Matt, xxviii. 19. To associate 
 the name of a mere creature, and a non-entity, with 
 the name of the supreme God, in an act of divine 
 worship, would be so far from piety, that it would 
 be its grossest outrage ; so far from the language of 
 authorized truth, that it would be bold presumption, 
 daring blasphemy ! Perhaps Mr. H. may affirm, 
 that to administer the ordinance of Christian bap- 
 tism is not an act of supreme worship ; in that case 
 he would so far clear his ground of difficulties. 
 
84 On the Perscytiality and Deity 
 
 But if it be, then the Holy Spirit and the Son of 
 God are as much worshipped in our attending to 
 this duty, as is the Father. Nor can all the so- 
 phistry in the world get rid of the proof this pas- 
 sage furnishes, that each person in the text is proper- 
 ly and truly divine. — When Peter was addressing 
 himself to Ananias, he informed that unhappy man 
 that he had " lied to the Holy Ghost ;'' — and then 
 adds, " Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto 
 God !" Acts V. 3, 4. But how ! Could he not 
 lie to a good disposition, or to influence ? No, 
 Peter, affirms it was not so ; he lied unto the Holy 
 Ghost — he lied unto God. So we read that the same 
 Holy Spirit had the direction of the apostles and of 
 their labours — " The Holy Ghost said, separate me 
 Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have 
 called them.'" Acts xiii. 2. In consonance with 
 which, when Paul and his fellow labourers would 
 have gone into Bithynia, the Spirit suffered them 
 not. Acts xvi. 7. And in the 10 verse of the 
 same chapter, that same Spirit is called The Lord 
 who called them to preach in Macedonia. Also at 
 Tyre, Paul found disciples who said through the 
 Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem* 
 Acts xxi. 4. And in our acts of solemn worship of 
 prayer and praise we are informed, that by this Holy 
 Spirit we have access through Christ unto the 
 Father : " For through him we both have access 
 by one Spirit unto the Father." Eph. ii. 18. In 
 which passage it is most observable that the Father 
 
 1 
 
of the Holy Spirit 85 
 
 the Spirit, and Christ, are all brought distinctly 
 forward, and all as the one object of worship at the 
 same time. I may add also, that when the Apos- 
 tle prays for the C'orinthian Church, he uses the 
 following remarkable words : — " The grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and 
 the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. 
 Amen." 2 Cor. xiii. 14. But how are we to have com- 
 munion with an abstract quality of the mind ? And 
 how, if the Holy Spirit mean only a quality or in- 
 fluence, is ubiquity ascribed to it ? For saints in 
 every place have an interest in this prayer as a 
 common blessing. Nor is it possible to disprove 
 the Deity of the Son and the Holy Ghost in this 
 text, without disproving at the same time the 
 Godhead of the Father. 
 
 The Sacred Scriptures were given us by the 
 inspiration of the Holy Spirit. " This scripture 
 must needs be fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by 
 the mouth of David spake concerning Judas." 
 Acts i. 16. This Holy Being, whom Mr. H. would 
 resolve into a mere quality, is declared to possess 
 foreknowledge, and to have communicated to David 
 the sin and the ruin of Judas. We are also in- 
 formed, that the prophecy of Israel's infidelity and 
 blindness of mind was imparted to Isaiah by the 
 same Being : —'•' Well spake the Holy Ghostby Esaias 
 theProphe tun to our fathers, saying, Go unto this peo- 
 ple, &c." Acts xxviii. 25, 26. And all Scripture h 
 said to be given hy inspiration of God. 2 Tim. iii. 16. 
 
 H 
 
86 On the Personality and Deity 
 
 Yet we are informed that, " Holy men of God 
 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." S 
 Pet. i. 21. Comparing which passages together, 
 we have the clearest proof that the Holy Spirit is 
 the ever blessed God. It was Jehovah, the Lord 
 God, whom Israel tempted in the wilderness : — 
 in 1 Cor. x. 9, it is said to be Christ : — and in 
 Heb. iii. 7, 9, it is affirmed to be the Holy Spirit : 
 —Which all brought together, and compared with 
 the 95th Psalm, plainly prove that the Father, the 
 Son, and the Holy Spirit, were insulted, tempted > 
 and provoked, by that rebellious people. And we 
 are told moreover, that this divine Spirit is in all 
 space, and fills immensity : — " Whither shall I go 
 from thy Spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy 
 presence.''" Psal. cxxxix. 7. But surely it would 
 be madness to speak of fleeing from the presence 
 of a disposition, or influence, separate from an in- 
 telligent being. The glorious personage concern- 
 ing whom David spoke, was possessed of all under- 
 standing, and knew the heart of the Psalmist — 
 He had formed him in his first conception ; and to 
 him he prayed to " Search him and try him." All 
 which is absurd and monstrous, if Mr. H.'s view 
 of the subject be correct ; for the God he is wor- 
 shipping is the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The Holy Spirit is described in the sacred vo- 
 lume as sent, coming, testifying, receiving, skew- 
 ing, teaching, hearing, and speaking : — all of which 
 must imply personal agency : — He is also des- 
 
of the Holy Spirit. 87 
 
 cribed as being grieved — as worshipped — as filling 
 immensity — as God —as the author of the sacred 
 records — as he who dictates our prayers — and by 
 whose assistance we make knoivn our requests unto 
 God — who imparts to us consolation — and against 
 whom some have so sinned as not to be forgiven 
 in this world nor in the world to come. I have, 
 while perusing the sacred oracles to ascertain the 
 truth on this vital subject, often been tempted 
 to ask, if this Being is not the true God, why do 
 I search the Bible for evidence on any subject 
 whatever? What language can describe aJ in- 
 telligent Agent if this do not ? And if this lan- 
 guage exhibit not the God of the whole earth to 
 view, what terms can describe that Holy Being ? 
 I would also remark, that the reader is not to ima- 
 gine that he has here all the direct proof which 
 the Bible furnishes on this subject. By no means : 
 many passages are necessarily omitted to prevent 
 prolixity. The application of truth to the 
 hearts of men — and their sanctification under 
 its influence depend on the existence of the 
 Holy Spirit, and fully support the doctrine in 
 question. 
 
 It may seem not a little surprising, that whilst the 
 Scriptures, in numberless instances, speakof the dig- 
 nity of Christ as Divine, and of the glory of the 
 Holy Spirit, the most strenuous efforts are made, 
 on the part of Socinians, to dilute these passages, 
 a nd make them, if possible, speak a language less 
 
88 On the Personality and Deity 
 
 honourable, and display a character less illustrious. 
 Whence can this feelino^ orisjinate ? Is it in a more 
 ardent concern than is felt by others for the glory 
 of one only and supreme Deity ? This can 
 scarcely be admitted ; for we believe in the Unity 
 of the Godhead, that there is only one true and 
 living God, as firmly as the Socinians; and if 
 Trinitarians may be judged by their exertions for 
 the salvation of men at home and abroad: — by the 
 sacrifice of property and of life in the cause of 
 Christ : — 1w , :eir reverence for the Holy Book : — 
 c^t5::rected with their other traits of character, they 
 may be supposed, at least, not to be indifFerent to the 
 claims of Deity. Other principles will solve this 
 difficult question. When sin is regarded as a mere 
 frailty, an excusable infirmity, an error of judg- 
 ment, its guilt will not require an atonement ; if 
 the punishment which "sin requires be but temporary, 
 a Divine Saviour is not required ; if there be no 
 Devil, there is no powerful adversaryjto demand the 
 presence of the Captain of salvation lo overcome 
 him; if there be no inherent depravity — we need 
 not sanctifi cation — or regeneration — or illumination 
 of mind — and the Holy Spirit is not necessary. And 
 finally : — if human nature be as dignified as the 
 c.reed of a Socinian implies, a man's own righteous- 
 ness is amply sufficient in which to appear before 
 God, and the pride of such a being could scarcely 
 be supposed to allow him to seek mercy as a ruined, 
 hell-deserving sinner. "The whole need not a 
 
of the Holy Spirit 89 
 
 physician, but they who are sick." In our Lord's 
 day, *' The common people heard him gladly," but 
 the Pharisees needed not his help, and spurned 
 his interference. But what, if this class of men 
 should be deceiving themselves, and be only feeding 
 on ashes, whilst they hold a lie in their right 
 hand ? Surely in such a case they must be down 
 in everlasting sorrow ! 
 
 ►^^ ♦ ^ 
 
 II 2 
 
SECTION IV. 
 
 ON THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST — AND UNPURCHASED MERCY. 
 
 ifJLR. Heineken has said so little on the Atone- 
 ment of Christ, and that little so irrelevant to 
 the subject, that I shall not trespass long on the 
 patience of my reader. It is evident that no sooner 
 does this subject come before him, than he feels as 
 a person smarting under a recent wound. He ob- 
 serves — " On what has been called the doctrine of 
 the Atonement^ Unitarians have been still more 
 shamefully misrepresented and calumniated. They 
 have been called enemies of the Cross of Christ ; 
 deniers of the Lord who bought them ; murderers 
 of their Saviour ; and only pretended Christians. 
 Why ? Because instead of adopting the dogmas 
 of those, who talk of a vicarious offering, or sub- 
 stitutional sacrifice ; an appeasing victim ; a stern, 
 vindictive sovereign ; a reluctant forgiveness ; an 
 imputed righteousness ; and the sprinkling of blood, 
 in order to avert the sword of the destroying Angel ; 
 they choose rather to delight in the enchanting re- 
 presentations, which their Lord, and his Apostles, 
 have given of the divine benevolence, compassion, 
 and love." p. 102. One remark may throw light 
 
On the Atonement of Christ, ^c. 91 
 
 upon another. Mr. H. speaks in p. 96, of Holy 
 Inquisitors ; of these gentry I knew none till I 
 read this passage. Here are charges sufficiently 
 serious for the Holy Office, but the culprit must 
 not see his accusers. Who are they who have 
 thus misrepresented the Unitarians, calumniated 
 them, called them enemies of the Cross of Christ, 
 and denier s of the Lord who bought them ? Surely 
 the counts of this indictment which are so grave? 
 ought to be sustained by proper evidence ; but none 
 is adduced. It is not impossible for a person to com- 
 plain of being calumniated, and in the same sentence 
 to commit the same sin himself This writer complains 
 also of misrepresentation. I feel inclined to offer him 
 some comfort whilst thus lamenting his misfortunes ; 
 he will find that comfort in Luke iv. 23. Who is 
 it that believes in sl stern, vindictive sovereign? Who 
 believes in a reluctaiit forgiveness f If he do not 
 know that Trinitarians detest the ideas these words 
 convey, we can only pity his ignorance of our 
 views. 
 
 Mr. H. may infer from our sentiments what he 
 pleases, but if he chooses to convert his inferences 
 into articles of faith, he has no right to inform 
 the world that we have subscribed these dogmas. 
 We consider the Atonement of Christ as present- 
 ing the most lucid proof of the infinite love, 
 and boundless mercy of God, Nor can we con- 
 ceive of greater love than this, that a man should 
 lay down his life for his enemies. " God com. 
 
92 On the Atonement of Christ, 
 
 mendeth his love towards us, in that while we were 
 yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. v. 8. As 
 fully are we persuaded also, " That God is rich in 
 mercy,'"' — and " ready to pardon." — Ephes. ii. 4. 
 Neh. 9. 17. and to insinuate an idea, contrary to 
 our avowed and well known belief, unsupported by 
 any solid authority, deserves a rebuke more se- 
 vere than I am willing at present to administer. 
 It is not a little curious, that in venting his spleen 
 against what this writer supposes to be our views, 
 he has censured the very words of inspiration : — An 
 imputed righteousness — *' And therefore," says an 
 Apostle, " it was imputed to him for righteousness.''^ 
 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it 
 was imputed to him ; but for us also, to whom it 
 shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised 
 up Jesus our Lord from the dead ; who was de- 
 livered for our offences, and was raised again for our 
 justification." Rom. iv. 22, 25. *' That he might 
 be the father of all them that believe, though they 
 be not circumcised; that righteousness might be 
 imputed unto them also. Rom. iv. 11. So Mr. 
 H. objects to the words sprinkling of blood — but 
 the Apostle observes, " We are come to Jesus the 
 Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of 
 sprinkling.'''' Heb. xii. 24. Another Apostle uses 
 the same language, and the sprinkling of the blood 
 of Jesus Christ. I Pet. i. 2. The monstrous doc- 
 trine of original sin, will make an Unitarian shud- 
 der ; but he is all composure when passing a cen- 
 
and unpurchased Mercy. 93 
 
 sure on. the very words of inspiration ! Such sen- 
 sibility is not a little morbid — such apathy not a 
 very pious feeling. 
 
 The long list of quotations from Scripture which 
 Mr. H. has given, cannot be rationally designed as 
 a refutation of our views of the Atonement. See p. 
 103 to 110. We believe that salvation is wholly 
 by grace ; only, wholly, and entirley, the result of 
 free, sovereign, and unbounded love. To cite pas- 
 sages like these, on the subject of the Atonement, 
 and then to imagine that our arguments in support 
 of it are overthrown, is like what has frequently 
 been done to prove that Jesus Christ is a man. 
 Does Mr. H. suppose that we are to take these pas- 
 sages of Scripture as condemnatory of our belief, 
 which we should cite in its support ? Baron Swe- 
 denborg, or Jacob Behmen, might produce a list 
 of Scripture quotations, and then triumph irl the es- 
 tablishment of their hypothesis ; but such a mode of 
 proceeding could only evince a determination to 
 take that for granted, which they were unable to 
 support. Heresiarchs the most notorious have been 
 able to quote a number of Scripture texts, and by 
 this means have imposed on the simple, by lead- 
 ing them to believe that these texts supported their 
 viev*^s, when their ideas and such texts have been 
 as far distant, as the proof that Pope Innocent the 
 Third is mentioned in the first of Genesis and four- 
 teenth verse. We do not doubt for a moment that 
 WE are reconciled to God ; not that the Divine 
 
94 On the Atonement of Christy 
 
 Being was reconciled to us. We believe that 
 the death of Jesus Christ was not the means of 
 reconciling the Lord of all to his creatures ; 
 but that it was the glorious means of honouring 
 the Law, or of removing the curse of that Law 
 from us, and of bringing us to a state of communion 
 and fellowship with the Father, and with his Son 
 Jesus Christ. And when it is said — " (Christ hath 
 pedeemed us from the curse of the law, being made 
 a curse for us," Gal. iii. 13. we have no doubt 
 that such a redemption includes a deliverance from 
 wicked practices ; but does it include no more ? 
 Was it requisite that he should be made a curse mere- 
 ly to effect our conversion ? Was he made sin for 
 us, who knew no sin, only to work our sanctifi cation ? 
 Surely we are not to be told so, whilst we have our 
 Bibles in our hands. We know that Christ was 
 stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted ; but it was 
 because The Lord laid on him the iniquities of us 
 all ; and he bore our sins in his own body on the tree. 
 These strong representations of the sufferings of 
 Christ, do not convey the image of a stern sover- 
 eign, or a vindictive Deity, but of a law which can- 
 not be broken with impunity, and of a glorious per- 
 sonage, who from the love of his own heart, unasked, 
 and in the exercise of his great mercy, espoused our 
 cause, bore our sins, and carried our sorrows ; by 
 whose stripes we are healed. 
 
 It is too late to inform us that Karaxxacrcrw, the 
 word iQudiere^ Atonement, includes inits meaningalso 
 
and unpurchased Mercy. 95 
 
 reconciliation : we were fully aware of this before we 
 saw Mr. H.'s work. I say includes, for the Greek 
 word certainly means more. The idea of change, 
 aUeration,is also found in the same word, and it gives 
 intimation of a work effected on the heart, as well as a 
 mind reconciled to God. To reconcile, is to remove 
 the cause of a previous quarrel. If a person were to 
 defraud another of a considerable sum of money, and 
 we heard afterwards of an entire reconciliation — and 
 of an Atonement also, we should never doubt but 
 the former was effected by the latter. But if neither 
 were done, would it be fair and candid, if this 
 gentleman punished the delinquent only according 
 to his demerit, to represent him as stern and vin- 
 dictive. A law without sanctions, a law which in- 
 flicts no pains or penalties on the transgressor, is 
 inefficient and worthless : but as the Divine Being 
 has not human passions, so when at any time the 
 word reconciliation is applied to Jehovah, it is in- 
 tended only to convey the idea, that he cannot al- 
 low his glorious law to be broken with impunity, or 
 abandon his rights as Lord and Judge of all : and 
 that forgiveness, and the enjoyment of his mercy, 
 cannot be imparted in a way which would violate his 
 veracity, his purity, and his justice. 
 
 Why a vicarious sacrifice should be so objection- 
 able, unless to the pride of the human heart, it 
 seems impossible to tell. All the sacrifices under 
 the former dispensation were vicarious. No one 
 will suppose that the Goat, the Bullock, or the 
 
96 ' On the Atonement of Christy 
 
 Lamb, were offered on their own account, Surely 
 they were offered for the sins of the people. But 
 had they been exclusively Thank-Offeriiigs, they 
 would have been no less vicarious, as they repre- 
 sented the feelings and language of the heart. 
 They were, undoubtedly, the substitutes of some 
 person or thing. If Jesus Christ were truly and 
 properly innocent, and if he did not die oji his own 
 account^ he must have died^or us, or in our stead ; 
 and thus his death must be truly vicarious. And 
 how he could be " The Surety of a better Cove- 
 nant," and not be a substitute, may deserve some 
 consideration : and if a Substitute, his work must 
 have been done on the behalf of others — his 
 sufferings must be vicaiious — Uuless indeed, a 
 Substitute in labour and in pain, mean only, one 
 who labours and suffers on his own account. Mr. 
 H. supposes, that if the word ixao-/xoj were used 
 to signify a vicarious sacrifice, in order to appease 
 divine anger, or to satisfy divine Justice, it would 
 be a direct contradiction in terms to the Apostle's 
 language, in 1 John, iv. 9, 10. p.ll4 Why so.^ 
 Do we believe then, that the Atonement of Christ, 
 was to appease divine anger ? How often are we 
 to avow that we believe no such thing, but that the 
 sacrifice of Christ originated only in eternal love, 
 and was one of its choicest fruits.? Nor can we con- 
 ceive on what ground it is that our opponents will 
 not understand us. Does the man who suffers, go 
 into banishment, or die by the hand of the execu- 
 
and unpurchased Mercy. 97 
 
 tioner to appease the anger of his sovereign ? The 
 man who would assert this would pronounce a libel. 
 In such a criminal case the King is not even con- 
 sulted, except it may be from the hope of obtaining 
 mercy. The laws of the country are guarded by the 
 penalties and pains which they inflict, and they, not 
 the sovereign, present the sword which punishes 
 the transgressor. The principles of Socinianism set 
 aside the operations of the law, and go to deny 
 every exercise of punitive justice But whilst the 
 law of God, from its own goodness and purity, its 
 own justice and truth, necessarily remains inflexi- 
 ble, he whose name is Immanuel, became a surety 
 for its transgressors — for those who had no love to 
 its holy Author. He sought their recovery who 
 would not, if left to themselves, have ever sought 
 the way to heaven. And had he not changed the 
 hearts of the very beings who have apostatized from 
 him, they would have proceeded to complete their 
 everlasting ruin. He bore their sins in his own 
 body on the tree ; he changed their hearts ; and 
 hence they believe on his name and obtain eter- 
 nal life. 
 
 Is there not a probability that the divine law 
 may be as inflexible in its demands, as the laws of 
 men ? Is there no capital crime that can be com- 
 mitted against the Majesty of heaven ? Is repent^ 
 ance sufficient in all cases to repair the mischief 
 done by the sinner's rebellion.? Or will the addition 
 of a few imperfect works to that repentance, satisfy 
 
98 On the Atonement of Christ, 
 
 the law, and conciliate its glorious Author who has 
 been insulted and blasphemed? If so with the sta- 
 tutes of heaven, we may well demand a revisal of 
 our criminal code. We have, if I mistake not, One 
 Hundred and Seventy-Six different descriptions 
 of crimes, which may be punished with death ; but 
 the divine Being must not deal with his 
 creatures as they deal with each other. What 
 an insult to the God who made us, that our laws 
 may inflict punishment which shall extend to the 
 very dissection of the carcass, or to the gibbeting 
 of the human body, when, by the operation of these 
 laws, life has been extinguished; but the laws of God 
 must demand no capital punishments! How tender 
 Is a rebel in guarding his own rights by the laws he 
 frames, but how lavish of the rights of his Creator ! 
 When was repentance, when were good works ever 
 taken into the account as the ^lightest satisfaction 
 for murder, or other felonious practices ? No, the 
 sinner must die ; but the man who sins with a 
 high hand against God, is invited, on the mere 
 ground of an enchanting benevolence, to trust in 
 this God after all the crimes he has committed, 
 without the slightest reference to satisfaction, or to 
 the dishonour he has done to the holiness, justice, 
 and truth of his Creator, whose laws he has wilfully 
 violated. The reader will, it is hoped, excuse the 
 iteration of these remarks, as ii\\Q obtuseness o^ sixk 
 opponent requires the same incessant repetition as 
 the dulness of a scholar the most unapt to learn. 
 
and unpurchased Mercy. 91> 
 
 In page 101, We are told, " There is one Gwl, 
 and one Mediator between God and men, the man 
 Christ Jesus ; i. e. — One Medium."" A Mediator 
 is a person, "a medium is some thing intervening — 
 any thing used in ratiocination, in order to a con- 
 clusion ; the middle place OT degree:''"' such is Dr. 
 Johnson's account of the term Medium. I have 
 been thus careful in ascertaining the meaning 
 of the word on account of this Author's 
 general correctness. Some have said that Christ was 
 the Mediator ; and that his living, dying, rising, 
 and interceding in heaven, or his work in general, 
 was the medium of our access to God, and through 
 which we receive all spiritual blessings. It is true 
 he is called the way, and the door, but both figvura- 
 tively, as is manifest ; and in this Author's view he 
 may be also a figurative medium ! And if so, he 
 may be a figurative Mediator also ! But waving all 
 minute criticism — How, if the word medium were 
 properly applied, can he be a medium from whom 
 we receive no personal benefits ? — Or how shall a 
 mere man be a medium to ten thousand, yea to mil- 
 lions of beings at the same moment, and ia 
 places the most distant.? But is Christ to be regarded 
 as a mere man ? Yes, says Mr. H. But does Paul 
 speak thus ? Without referring, in this place, to 
 Scripture proof of the Deity of Christ, that we have 
 done in the second section of this work, let us con- 
 sider for a moment his office as a Mediator, and 
 examine how far simple humanity is equal to dis- 
 
1 00 On the Atcynement of Christ, 
 
 charge the duties of that office. Thus speaks one 
 
 of his Apostles na^axAJirov £%OjUEv T^o^ rov TIa-T«fa— 
 
 " We have an advocate with the Father.'" 1 John 
 ii. 1 According to Griesbach the Slav. Edit, reads 
 M£(7iTrv, " Mediator'" — but he retains the eom- 
 mon reading. If na^ax>Lr)Tov, signifies a Com- 
 forter, as it is elsewhere rendered ; yet it will 
 remain a query how a mere human being can com- 
 fort the whole church of God; especially if we 
 must credit Mr. Belsham, " that we cannot tell 
 where he is, and can have no personal intercourse 
 with him. How is such a being to have access 
 to the hearts of all, unless he possess the perfec- 
 tion of Omnipresence, and if so, what becomes of 
 simple humanity.'^ The same difficulty will press 
 if the common translation he considered as more 
 correct Christ is our Advocate, but who will 
 suppose that a being merely human, is equal to ad- 
 vocating the cause of millions at the same moment ; 
 and to the performing of this work throughout all 
 ages ? Or, are we to suppose, that without an in- 
 dividual knowledge of those for whose salvation he 
 pleads, the advocate merely asks the salvation of 
 men in multitudes : or does he defend their suit 
 as individuals, when they plead for mercy : — or does 
 he pass over every suit with neglect .'' Oris the advo- 
 cacy of Jesus Christ, "a mere metaphor, or eastern 
 figure of speech ?'" We are told that ''Jesus appears in 
 the presence of God for us :" — and that " He ever 
 liveth to make intercession for us." Heb. vii, 25, 
 
and unpurchased Mercy. 101 
 
 and ix. 24. Still we are at a loss to ascertain of what 
 advantage it could be to us, that a being on our 
 own level should appear, or how he could interpose 
 between us and the Father to effect a reconciliation. 
 He does this however, in tens of thousands of in- 
 stances ; and if by him only we can have access to 
 the Father, there are at this hour millions scattered 
 on the face of the globe, who are in this way deriv- 
 ing comfort, hope, and strength, and triumphing 
 over all evils by the power of Christ, and through the 
 communications of his grace. Yes, the inhabitant 
 of the polar regions, and the resident of the torrid 
 cone; the christian of Great Britain, and the 
 Christian of Nova Zembla, are alike blessed with a 
 participation in the benefits flowing from the Advo- 
 cacy of the Son of God. 
 
 Of this Advocate we are told that he appears 
 before God with his own blood, that hlood which 
 purges the conscience from dead works to serve the 
 living God. Heb. ix. 14. But how his blood can 
 produce these effects upon the mind, if by faith we 
 contemplate his death as that of a human creature 
 only ; or why he should enter into the holiest of all 
 with his own blood, is not a little perplexing. It 
 may be said, his blood sealed the truth of his mis- 
 sion : well, but surely the truth of his mission 
 needs no confirmation in heaven. Doubts, hesita- 
 tions, and questions, will not prevail in the world 
 of light and glory. We never read of martyrs ap- 
 pearing with their own blood before the throne, but 
 I 3 
 
102 On the Atonement of Christy 
 
 they also sealed their testimony with their blood. 
 Nor is it very easy to evince any very striking 
 superiority in the death of Christ over such mar- 
 tyrs as sealed their testimony with their blood, if 
 his sacrifice were not truly vicarious^ and as truly 
 divine. 
 
 In the prayer offered up by our Lord, prior to 
 what Mr. H. calls his Execution, he intercedes for 
 his disciples, particularizes their situations, and 
 then proceeds to the labours and success of them, 
 and of their followers to the end of time. Is this a 
 specimen of his intercessions in glory, or is the 
 prayer unique ^ and the like never to be presented 
 again .? How then does he intercede for us at all .'* 
 Surely we have not been trifled with so far as to be 
 taught by inspiration itself, ** that he ever liveth 
 to make intercession for us," when he does no such 
 work ! And equally difficult is it to forget the 
 assertion of Mr. B. who informs us that we can 
 receive no personal benefits from Christ : for if he 
 do intercede for us, his intercessions are doubtless 
 successful, and if so, the good we derive from 
 that labour of love is incalculable, is infinite. 
 From Christ himself we are taught^ that he will be 
 with his people always^ even unto the end of the 
 world ; and in the writings of the Apostle Paul we 
 are informed that, he ever liveth to make interces- 
 sion for us ; from both which places compared we 
 infer, and we justly infer, that Christ must be ia 
 kiaven, and on the earth at the same moment. 
 
mid unpurchased Mercy. lOS 
 
 And this is a truth to us of infinite importance. 
 He who is not ashamed to call us brethren has the 
 government of time and eternity ; the keys of death 
 and the unseen world. He is that Days-man, 
 who can lay his hand on both parties and reconcile 
 us to God. Job ix. S3. However important our 
 affairs they cannot fail under his management. 
 Thrones, principalities, powers, all things in hea- 
 ven and on earth, are made subject to him, and he 
 is the Head over all things for his body's sake, 
 which is that Church which he purchased with hie 
 own blood. Our lives, our souls, our all for time, 
 and for eternity, we have committed into his hands, 
 and we know in whom we have believed ; and we 
 must be excused if we declare without hesitation, 
 that did we possess ten thousand souls, we would 
 confide, yes, unhesitatingly confide, all their con- 
 cerns, welfare, and future blessedness, into the hands, 
 and to the. management of him who ever liveth to 
 intercede for us. 
 
 It is from his possessing the perfections of Deity, 
 now that he appears before the throne, that we can 
 understand the Apostle's declaration that the church 
 is, " His body, the fulness of him that filleth all in 
 all." How Christ can fill all, or be to all, in hear- 
 ven and on earth, whatever can be a blessing to 
 them, if he only possess created resources, and 
 be a dependant creature only, we cannot tell. 
 In the verse preceding the one last quoted we are 
 told that, *' He is Head over all things to his body 
 
104 Oil the Atonement of Christy 
 
 the Church ; and that all things are put under his feet." 
 Eph. i. 22, 23. So also lie is the High Priest over 
 the House of God — and the glory of that house 
 depends upon him. From the creation of the 
 world he has been represented as '' The Lamb that 
 was slain.*" And his character as a Priest has been 
 maintained in every age since Adam fell. Nor 
 will he abandon the office he now fills, or relin- 
 quish the work he is now performing, till, in the 
 dispensation of the fulness of times, he shall have 
 gathered together all things in one, even in him- 
 self. Thrice happy will it be for that man, who, 
 knowing the true character of the Divine Media- 
 tor, shall submit himself unto him, look for salvation 
 from him alone, and walk even as his Redeemer 
 walked. But I forbear to go farther into the sub- 
 ject of the Mediator's Character, or of the atonement 
 of Christ as Mr. H. has produced nothing that has 
 even theappearance of argument. I refer the reader 
 who would see my own views on the atonement, to the 
 second Edition of my Essay on that subject, which 
 in a few weeks will be before the public* 
 
 Mr. Heineken is very much delighted witli the 
 idea of unpurchased mercy. So we are informed — 
 " That the grand design of man's salvation origin*^ 
 ated in the unpurchased, unhowided mercy o£ God." 
 p. 104. He farther informs us that — " The whole 
 
 * Published by Messrs. Wightman and Cramp. 24 Patemcu- 
 tor Row, London. 
 
and unpurchased Mercy, 105 
 
 of the four first chapters of this admirable Epistle 
 (to the Ephesians) are decisive on the subject of 
 free^ u?ipurchased, salvation." p. 107. — " The sal- 
 vation of mankind is to be ascribed to the pure, un- 
 purchased, unlimited love of God."" -p. 110. — ''^ Free, 
 unpurchased mercy of God."' p. 137. and from page 
 137 to page 139, we are presented with more than 
 sixty passages of scripture, to prove that the mercy 
 of God IS free and unpurchased. Perliaps some of 
 my readers may be aware that all this ridiculous 
 jingle is a mere repetition of the title of Mr. Jar- 
 dine's work, published about thirty years ago, enti- 
 tled, The unpurchased love of God in the redemp- 
 Hon of the world hy Jesus Christ. But what does 
 all this mean.? We do not believe in purchased 
 mercy. No, we believe, and are assured, that the 
 mercy, grace, and love of God, are from everlasting 
 to everlasting, unchangeable, and entirely free. 
 But however high Mr. H. may carry himself on 
 this subject, there was a time when his friends 
 spoke in a more subdued tone, of unmerited mercy. 
 One of the warmest abettors of Socinianism of the 
 last century wrote as follows. " Repentaiice, and a 
 good life, are of themselves sufficient to recommend 
 us to the divine favoior.^'* " Wheii will Christians 
 permit themselves to believe, that the same conduct 
 ivhich gains them the approbation of good men herCy 
 willsecure the favour of heaven hereafter.''''* M ercy 
 
 * Dr. Priestley's History of the Corruptions of Christianity. 
 Vol I. p. 155. 
 
106 On the Atonement of Christ, 
 
 and forgiveness, divine favour and an entrance into 
 heaven, were not quite as free and unpurchased to 
 Dr. Priestley, and Mrs. Barbauld, as to Mr. Hein- 
 eken, for these veterans in unholy warfare against 
 divine truth, speak of a recommendation to divine 
 favour, and of good conduct securing ike favour of 
 heaven. What these good works were to be, their 
 number, and their degrees of value, are not speci- 
 fied-^Whether they were required to be perfect; 
 or whether they would, on the ground of their 
 sincerity, be acceptable if they were imperfect, 
 we have no information. Another writer of the 
 same class remarks. " All hopes founded upon any 
 thing else than a good moral life, are merely ima- 
 f/inaryJ'''^ Those enchanting views of divine bene- 
 volence, which so much delight Mr. H. are in this 
 last quotation veiled in impenetrable darkness : for 
 the redoubtable Dr. Harwood will allow us to trust 
 in nothing but a good moral life. I would be very 
 far from insinuating that Dr. H. did exercise no 
 confidence in divine benevolence, or that he did not 
 exhort his hearers to do so ; but certainly the quo- 
 tation from his Sermons outrages every idea of con- 
 fidence placed even in divine goodness and mercy, 
 in reference to final salvation. A good moral life 
 and good conduct, ai-e recommendation sufficient 
 to gain the divine favour, and even secure heaven 
 
 * Mrs. Barbauld's Answer to Mr. G. Wakefield. 
 f Dr.Harwood's Sermons, p. 193. 
 
and unpurchased Mercy. 107 
 
 iUelf. Is it not astonishing that men who speak 
 thus vauntingly of the merit of their own works, 
 should speak of unpurchased mercy. The fact is, 
 that the only quarrel against the gospel with these 
 men is, not whether heaven must be free or purcha- 
 sed ; but that the gospel will not allow that they can 
 purchase it themselves: hence the feeling of repug- 
 nancy, pride is wounded — the claims of self- righte- 
 ousness are humbled. 
 
 Whilst Drs. Priestley and Harwood, and Mrs. 
 Barbauld cannot submit to be pensioners on the 
 bounty of Christ, but can go to God for salvation 
 with an abundance of good works, they may make 
 a respectable provision for themselves : but what 
 must become of those who have no recommendation 
 to divine favour ? We do not bear one word of 
 " The million ;" these have but a very small fardel 
 of damaged goods, and must, as a matter of course, 
 have very gloomy prospects. So it is: — Socinianism 
 provides for those who need not a physician, and so 
 did the religion of the Scribes and Pharisees in our 
 Lord''s day; but it leaves those who are sick to per- 
 ish ! — But why does this writer make all this ado 
 about unpurchased mercy, and unpurchased love f 
 Can he be ignorant that the whole body of those he 
 calls Orthodox, or Calvinists, do totally, and en- 
 tirely, disavow the idea that the death of Christ was 
 the causeof divine love to men ? No, I cannot sup- 
 pose that Mr. H. is ignorant on this head ; he must 
 know that we believe divine love to fallen men origi- 
 
108 On the Atonement of Christ, 
 
 naied the scheme of human redemption. We hesitate 
 not to affirm most unequivocally, that thelove of God 
 to a lost and perishing world is sufficient to lead him 
 to save all who shall ever arrive at glory, without the 
 death of Christ, if that could be rendered consist- 
 ent with his regal character. That the grace, 
 compassion, and mercy, of that blessed Being never 
 did, never could need any external excitement, but 
 were from eternity the precursors in every step 
 which the Saviour took for the recovery of those who 
 had ruined themselves. But are holiness, justice, 
 and truth, to be abandoned, and a lawless exercise 
 of mercy to be warranted? In things that are 
 earthly men never reason so absurdly. Was it a 
 want of benevolent feeling, which led our late ex- 
 cellent Monarch to abandon the unhappy Dr. Dodd 
 to his fate, although so many thousands sued for 
 his life ? Is the law of retribution unjust .'' and are 
 those judges governed wholly by mercenary feel- 
 ings, or malignant passions when they amerce 
 one class of offenders, and leave others to the 
 hand of the Executioner ? Surely that man must 
 have a very imperfect idea of rule and government, 
 who should suppose that callousness of heart, and a 
 cruel, tyrannical spirit, originate the awful sanctions 
 of a righteous law. Of one infinitely superior to 
 all created beings it is said — "■ Jehovah is glorious 
 in holiness ; justice and judgment are the ha- 
 bitaiion of his throne. Exod. xv; 11. Psal. Ixxxix, 
 14. 
 
and unpurchased Mercy. 1 09 
 
 But how could any person who knew our creed 
 so well as Mr. H. does, or ought to do, before he 
 so ill treat it, commit a blunder so egregious as 
 this writer does on the point in question ? Do we 
 apply the term purchased to any thing what- 
 ever ? Is it not invariably to persons, and to 
 PERSONS ONLY, that wc think the term purchased 
 has any application ? We are fully aware that some 
 of the best and most honourable men in days past, 
 have spoken of purchased grace, but it is well 
 known that all they intended^by that expression was, 
 that divine grace was imparted to the sinner through 
 the death of Christ as a medium, and that had he 
 not died for sinners, the justice and holiness of the 
 divine law would have forbidden the hope of enjoying 
 mercy. And it is also well known, that however 
 unexceptionable the meaning of those writers, yet 
 the whole body of professing Christians called Cal- 
 vinists, have long considered the expression as un- 
 scriptural, and have generally abandoned its use. 
 But had it been imagined that such men as Owen, 
 Bates, and others, by purchased grace, meant ihat 
 the death of Christ originated divine love and 
 mercy, their works would have been regarded, as 
 offering a most unwarranted and impious attack 
 on the infinite freeness of God's grace, in the sal- 
 vation of those who could bring to that holy Being 
 no recommendation. 
 
 We certainly do believe that all who are saved — 
 " Are not their own, for they are bought with a 
 
110 On the Atonement of Christ, 
 
 price." 1 Cor. vi. 20. And that such — " were 
 redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of 
 a Lamb, without blemish, and without spot."" 1 
 Pet. i. 18, 19. — And that the church of Christ 
 is — " The flock of God which he has purchased 
 with his own blood." Acts xx. 28. Mankind were 
 in bondage to Satan — to sin — and were under the 
 curse of the holy law of the eternal God. Divine 
 love, without any external motive, determined on the 
 rescue of creatures thus ready to perish. A de- 
 liverance from the power of sin, and the dominion 
 of the devil, could be effected only by the changing 
 of the sinner's heart ; that is done in his conver- 
 sion, by the agency of the Holy Spirit. From the 
 curse of the broken law the sinner was redeemed 
 by Christ being made a curse for him, or suifering 
 what that sinner must in his own person have en- 
 dured. All this is common amongst men in cases 
 of injuries received. The man who enters Mr. 
 H.'s habitation by night, robs him of his property, 
 and very seriously endangers his life, must, if he 
 be taken, die for his crime. But then, a sinner has 
 only broken the laws of God ! Well : and may not 
 the laws of heaven exact upon the transgressor as 
 righteously as the laws of mortals ? Forgive this 
 necessary repetition. 
 
 It is a matter of just complaint that this writer 
 should accumulate such an immense number of pas- 
 sages of Scripture, to prove that the human nature 
 of Christ is inferior to the divine nature of the 
 
ami unpurchased Mercy, 111 
 
 Father ; and that the love of God is unpurchased 
 and free. The design in both instances could only 
 be to misrepresent our principles : — if not, their in- 
 troduction is quite superfluous. If this writer meant 
 to convey to his readers the idea, that we did not 
 believe in the inferiority of Christ's human nature 
 to the divine, we can only express our pity, and 
 would beg leave to remind him of a precept, by 
 which, if he govern his future steps, it will neither 
 be to his dishonour nor disadvantage. — " Thou 
 shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.'" 
 We are also assailed with a number of quotations 
 from both the Old and New Testament, to prove 
 that there is but One God. p. p. 98, 102. Does 
 this accuser of his neighbours know any religious 
 sect in this country who do not believe in the 
 Unity and Supremacy of the divine Being "? If 
 so, who are they ? Let it be told in open day ; 
 we ask no favour, we detest concealment. We 
 may so far say with our Lord : " In secret have 
 we said nothing." It is tiresome to have to follow 
 an opponent in the same round for evermore, and 
 to be incessantly replying to objections which have 
 been refuted a hundred times over — which weigh 
 not as much as a feather, and which would cease 
 for evermore to be urged, were not the mind at a loss 
 what to offer as an argument, or capable of amuse- 
 ment by its own frivolities only. — What would Mr, 
 H. think, were I, or any other person, to write on 
 what he is pleased to call Unitarianism, and in 
 
112 On the Atonement of Christy 
 
 such a work to collect a large number of texts to 
 prove, that in deed and of a truth, there is a God ; 
 and that this great Being was the first cause of all 
 things ? He would immediately' inform the world 
 of such baseness, in attempting to hold him up to 
 reproach as an Atheist ; or as one who denies at 
 least the providential government of God. But, per- 
 haps I might, if bent on measures equally as disinge- 
 nuous as this conduct is in the present instance, al- 
 lege, that Mr. H. denies the Divinity of Christ, and 
 that this amounts to a full denial of the existence 
 of Deity. True, he might add, but the Divinity 
 of Christ is regarded by me as no more than a pecu- 
 liarity in your belief, and in my mind does not at 
 all affect the existence of a Divine Being ; for num- 
 bers believed in the Deity who never heard of your 
 peculiarities. All this I admit, and do think that 
 it is a gross sacrifice of integrity, not to act on the 
 same principle, when the peculiarities of any oppo- 
 nent come before us. What he with reiteration 
 solemnly declares he does not believe, it is ca- 
 lumny to charge upon him even by implication. 
 We are not Tritheists, and Mr. H. knows that 
 to assert this, would lay any one open to a charge 
 of direct falsehood. And yet one Socinian on the 
 heels of another is resolved to repeat the tale, and 
 pass it as currency, knowing it at the same time to 
 be forged. 
 
 Dr. Watts has received at the hand of this au- 
 thor a gentle and merciful censure, p. Ill, 112, 
 
and unpurchased Mercy. 115 
 
 for his flaming Orthodoxy in his poetical composi- 
 tions. The compositions censured, were written, 
 it may seem, when the amiable Doctor was in the 
 hey-day of his Orthodoxy. When was it then that the 
 Doctor abandoned his orthodoxy ? I have his works 
 before me, and have perused them with care. I am 
 also aware of the Posthumous publications, by which 
 an attempt was made, in presenting some of them to 
 the public, to impeach that orthodoxy : but he 
 still remains the faithful and devoted champion of 
 the Deity of Christ, and of the atonement for sin by 
 the Redeemer. I am ready to allow, that in an 
 excess of ill-bestowed charity, the Doctor paid more 
 attention to those whose views were opposite to his 
 own, than the merits of the case could for a moment 
 justify ; and the consequences were the rebuke of 
 his false tenderness. He converted not the Arian 
 to the orthodox faith ; but the Arian reproached 
 him with opprobrious praise, as one whom he 
 judged leaning towards his own heterodoxy. I am 
 not disposed, however, to defend all that the Doc- 
 tor has written ; not even all that is quoted by Mr. 
 H. although I felt surprised that the following 
 lines were by this writer put in Italics, as words ob- 
 jectionable, or as a prayer reprehensible — 
 
 " Lord, blast his empire with thy breath, 
 
 " That cursed throne must fall ; 
 " Ye flattering plagues that work my death, 
 
 *' Fly, for I hate you all. — 
 
 If Satan were a merely imaginary being, yet 
 
114 On the Atonement of Christy 
 
 surely the empire of sin is not a merely imaginary 
 empire ; and to pray for its fall is not unworthy 
 the most devoted Christian. But if some other lines 
 quoted must be understood in the sense which Mr. H. 
 supposes, they are certainly exceptionable. But why 
 understand them in this sense at all.? Did the Doctor 
 mean, that God had no love to sinners prior to the 
 death of Christ ? No such thing. His meaning is 
 plain and obvious ; he would be understood as ex- 
 pressing his sense of the heinous nature of sin ; and 
 the impossibility of pardon except by the death 
 of the Redeemer. And so far is this manifestly his 
 meaning, that all and every part of his prose com- 
 positions, where the pardon of sin, or the death of 
 Christ is the subject, fully establish this point. 
 The necessity of an Atonement for the removal of 
 sin, is a principle maintained by millions, and is all 
 the meaning the poet would convey. Every one is 
 aware that a poet is allowed a license which, in 
 graver compositions, could not be permitted ; and 
 that a criticism founded on a poetic flight is uncan- 
 did and ungenerous. This is all the apology requi- 
 site in the present case, even admitting that we were 
 entirely ignorant of the sentiments of the Author. 
 I remember many years ago being in a Socinian 
 Meeting-house, and taking up a Hymn-Book, was 
 surprised to find, that the authorized collection for 
 the place, included the 62nd Hymn, 2nd B. of Dr. 
 Watts, in which were retained the following lines : 
 
 " Worthy th« Lamb, our lips reply, 
 " For he "was slain for cs^ 
 
and unpurchased Mercy, 115 
 
 And— 
 
 Of him that sits upon the thront, 
 And to adore the Lamb. 
 
 Ought I to have inferred from this circumstance, 
 that Mr. Y. and his people, believed in the vicari- 
 ous sacrifice of Christ ? Or that they offered to him 
 supreme worship, merely because a Hymn, intended 
 by the author to convey both these ideas, was found 
 seventeen or eighteen years ago, in a collection used 
 by them in public worship ? Surely not. Nor did 
 I then imagine any thing of the kind. I supposed 
 that when these words were sung, if ever they were 
 sung, the sense was qualified according to the ideas 
 of the worshipper. And if such liberty may be taken 
 in using an author^s words in our own meaning, it 
 cannot be unreasonable to allow that author to ex- 
 press his own meaning by a comparison fairly insti- 
 tuted between a poetic flight, and sober prose I 
 do not think, however, craving Mr. H.'s indulgence, 
 that he either properly understands, or has justly 
 represented, the author's meaning in the Hymn 
 quoted from the Doctor's Lyric Poems The four first 
 stanzas speak only of the demerit of sin, and of its 
 ruinous consequences, where the death of Christ is 
 not the sinner's confidence and hope ; with an in- 
 timation how such a sinner who is too haughty to 
 seek salvation by the blood of the Cross, may justly 
 expect the severest displeasure of God. It is true, 
 this is a doctrine sufficiently offensive to the camftl 
 mind ; yet we are taught by inipiration itself, that 
 
116 On the Atonement of Christy 
 
 it is " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son, that 
 cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John i. 7. And that 
 " We have redemption through his blood, the for- 
 
 / giveness of sins, accoiding to the riches of his 
 grace." Eph. i. 7. Coloss. i. 14. And whatever 
 offence such a sentiment may give us, yet if this be 
 God's way of forgiving sin, and delivering souls, 
 it becomes us very seriously to take heed how we 
 attempt to disannul it. It is possible for a poor 
 puny mortal to fight against God ; but " Woe be 
 to the man that contendeth with his Maker !" — The 
 three last stanzas of the same Hymn, describe the 
 effect of the death of Christ in purifying the soul 
 from all depravity — By putting the adjunct for the 
 subject, the Doctor speaks of the blood of Christ 
 
 ^..•whHenmg every stain ; the meaning of which words 
 cannot be misunderstood, unless from a determination 
 of mind to misconceive, and misrepresent. And 
 when the Doctor adds — Lord, blast his empire with 
 thy breath : it is the empire of Satan, or, if Mr. H. 
 like it better, the dominion of sin, of which he 
 speaks. And what is there in the empire of sin so 
 very glorious, that one should feel alarmed and 
 tremble, at offering a prayer for its entire destruc- 
 tion ? Surely it is not a want of loyalty to the 
 Governor of all things to execrate this evil, and to 
 beseech him who is mighty, to annihilate an evil of 
 a character so infernal ? I have entered more at 
 length into this part of Mr. H.'s critique than I 
 first intended, from the love I must ever feel and 
 
and unpurchased Mejxy. 117 
 
 cherish, in common with thousands, for the memory, 
 and the writings, of this " Sweet Psalmist of 
 Israel." 
 
 The frightful picture drawn at the foot of p. llSf, 
 is the mere caricature of sentiments which have been 
 previously misrepresented ; and may answer the end 
 as a bugbear to affright the ignorant and the simple. 
 Mr. H., hoary as he is in years, has not, I may 
 venture to affirm, met with one sober person who 
 meant more by language such as that whicli he has 
 caricatured, than the sentiment so often iterated ; 
 that had not Christ died, mercy could not have 
 been shewn to the guilty, in harmony with the 
 law, the justice, and the holiness of God : — 
 and that if the sinner do not avail himself of the 
 Obedience, and Death, of the Redeemer, he is 
 ruined for ever. This we have believed, and this 
 we do believe, and therefore speak. Nor do we 
 hesitate to affirm, that all who come in this way to 
 God, will find mercy, and that all who wilfully and 
 perse veringly reject this way of salvation, will di« 
 in their sins ! 
 
SECTION V. 
 
 ORIGINAL SIN — TUB TENDENCY OF SIN TO SBLP-ANNIHILATIOK. 
 
 Very distant as is the doctrine of Original 
 Sin, from the point at which Mr. H. started ; yet 
 as it is a part of orthodox faith, it must recejve the 
 mark of his disapprobation. On this subject he 
 writes as follows : — " Now no one but a believer in 
 the monstrous doctrine of Original sin, could for a 
 moment have maintained such an absurd paradox 
 as that of an Unitarian attributing inherent depra- 
 vity to any one, and more especially to Jesus Christ. 
 The doctrine of original sin is in itself sufficient to 
 make Unitarians shudder, p. 117. It may seem 
 then, that if a man believe in the doctrine of origi- 
 nal sin, he is prepared to believe any paradox, 
 however absurd. We are obliged to this gentleman 
 for the compliment which he pays to our understand- 
 ings ; but we can assure him, by the way, that he 
 has furnished two or three paradoxes too absurd 
 even for orthodox minds. Perhaps my readers were 
 not aware that the nerves of Unitarianism were so 
 weak, and its body so far emaciated by disease, 
 as to shudder at one Calvintsiic dogma. We knew 
 
Original Sin — the Tendency^ c^y*. 119 
 
 the body was feeble, but scarcely imagined its imbe- 
 cility to be so complete. But seeing it is so, it may 
 be devoutly boped, that the whole system of ortho- 
 doxy, will not at any one time be presented to a 
 body whose system is so debilitated, lest strong 
 convulsions, or even death, should be the awful 
 consequence ! An Unitarian would attribute in- 
 herent depravity to no one ! Jeremiah the prophet 
 informs us, that " The hejirt is deceitful above all 
 things, and desperately wicked ;'** — Jer. xvii. 9. and 
 our Lord declares, that " Out of the heart proceed 
 evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, 
 thefts, false-witness and blasphemies/" — Matt. xv. 
 19. Other passages too numerous to mention, might 
 be cited, which speak the same language. From 
 all which, we must conclude, either — I. That the 
 heart is not within a man — Or — II. That deceit, 
 and desperate wickedness, adulteries, thefts &c., 
 are not inherent depravity, or even depravity at all. — 
 Or — III. That Jeremiah, our Lord, and others 
 were not, in Mr. Heineken's sense of the term, 
 Unitarians : — for if these sins are depravity, they 
 were within mankind — and are so yet ; and if so, 
 they must inhere in their subjects. But a person 
 may have all these evils in his heart, and yet be 
 ignorant of their existence within him. How often 
 have the swearer, the drunkard, and the profligate,^ 
 assured us that they have good hearts ! And when, 
 by a course of wickedness such persons have even 
 destroyed their constitutions, and brought them- 
 
120 Original Sin. — the Tendency 
 
 selves prematurely to the grave, how common has it 
 been for the neighbours to pronounce their eulogium, 
 as persons who had failings, but nevertheless had 
 good hearts. All this is very consistent with the 
 state of a dark mind, whose powers of percep- 
 tion and reflection are never turned towards itself. 
 
 But original sin is a monstrous doctrine. And so 
 it is, if not found in the sacred oracles ; but if found 
 in these divine records, so to denominate it, is mon- 
 strous impiety. David, the royal Psalmist, says : — 
 *' Behold, 1 was shapen in iniquity ; and in sin did 
 my mother conceive me."' Psalm li. 5. And in the 
 book of Job, it is enquired, " Who can bring a 
 clean thing out of an unclean ?" to which it is an- 
 swered, " Not one/' Job xiv. 4. Perhaps it may 
 be objected, that in both the above cases, the lan- 
 guage was strong poetic representation, rather than 
 historic truth. Of the former expression it may be 
 remarked, in reply, that it was the language 
 of a creature addressing his (-reator in prayer; 
 and the latter passage is offered as the reason of 
 human frailty and mortality, that man is born a fal- 
 len and depraved being. But the New Testament 
 is equally as explicit on this subject. In Romans 
 V. 12. — 21. the Apostle is giving his whole support 
 to the doctrine that is by this Author styled mon- 
 strous. He proves that death reigned over those 
 who could not have committed actual transgression 
 — that in Adam all have sinned — that all bear his 
 image — and all participate in the miseries which 
 
of Sin to self-annihilation. 121 
 
 the sin of one man introduced. Has it ever been 
 known that the Divine Being inflicted pain on an 
 intelligent being that was not guilty in itself; or 
 that did not labour under a charge of imputed sin ? 
 Yet infants in the first moments of their existence 
 commence a life of afflictions : afflictions not im- 
 posed by men. Calamities of the most distressing 
 kind, such as idiotism, blindness, lameness, and 
 deafness, often attend the very commencement of 
 our being. Nor can the painful manner in which 
 death visits the infant of the tenderest age be ac- 
 counted for on the supposition of innocency. 
 
 Many sins are committed also, for which men 
 can have no example, and which must originate in 
 inherent depravity. Such sins are inventions of 
 the mind, the result of study and premeditation. 
 But it does not appear how a pure mind can origi- 
 nate actions the most impure. And moreover, it 
 is most manifest, that if all mankind come into the 
 world pure and perfect, yet without a single ex- 
 ception, every one proves himself depraved, as soon 
 as reason begins to dawn. Nor would it be pos- 
 sible in any age, or nation, or under any circum- 
 stances, to find one of those pure beings who re- 
 mained spotless. Nor will a person of Mr. H.'s 
 information need to be told, that if the parents be 
 depraved, their children must of necessity bear 
 their own image ; unless indeed impurity can give 
 birth to purity ; or that which is morally vicious 
 originate what is directly opposite to its own nature. 
 
122 Original Sin. — The Tendency/ 
 
 Have we not seen also in children, the very image 
 of their parents, in the same bad dispositions, base 
 passions, unhallowed lusts, and depraved propen- 
 sities in general, which have characterized their pro- 
 genitors ? Not that this has been invariably the 
 case ; but very frequently so. Whilst in other in- 
 stances, the vices of the parent seem to be exchanged 
 for their opposites in the son ; and he who is par- 
 simonious and covetous in a high degree has been 
 succeeded by a profligate rake, who with the utmost 
 prodigality has squandered all the hoardings of the 
 miser ! But who ever looked on the fair and beau- 
 tiful innocent, who came spotless into the world, and 
 who gave indubitable proofs of that purity ! Such 
 a sight would far transcend all that men have been 
 wont to call lovely ; and whether an exotic in our 
 isle, or a domestic, it might justly demand the ad- 
 miration of a world. 
 
 To these reasonings it may be replied, that the 
 whole train of the argument reflects on the gracious 
 character of God. To which I answer, that it is 
 in vain to reason against facts. If these things are 
 so, our objections may prove our weakness and ig- 
 norance ; our presumption, and rebellious dispo- 
 sitions of heart ; but will not at all set aside the 
 truth of the facts themselves. Many are the mys- 
 teries in the government of the world, which 
 demand our faith, but which entirely surpass our 
 reason. But the G6d of the whole earth proceeds 
 in all his movements accordincr to the dictates of in- 
 
of Sin to self -annihilation. 123 
 
 finite wisdom, and could, were it necessary, fully 
 justify all his proceedings. If he choose to leave 
 the family of the first noble traitor to suffer all the 
 painful consequences of his dereliction from duty, 
 and rebellion against his lawful Ruler, his glorious 
 Creator, this is nothing but what has been wit- 
 nessed under the mildest forms of human govern- 
 ment. But were it without a parallel among men, 
 as it certainly is not, yet even in that case, the dif- 
 ference in severity might easily be accounted for, 
 on the principle of his infinite dignity who first 
 received the insult, and the base nature of human 
 revolt, as a violation of every sacred obligation. 
 But were it wholly involved in inexplicable mystery, 
 the difficulty would not be ours to solve : God will 
 prove himself quite equal to his own justification, 
 without busy meddling men attempting to frame 
 his apology. Revelation abounds with difficulties, 
 and so does the volume of nature. Not a page of 
 the latter volume has yet been opened without offer- 
 ing enough to humble the proudest intellect, to 
 abase the haughtiest mind. He who rejects the 
 truths of the Bible, because not within the grasp 
 of his mind, is only hastening to plunge himself 
 into more inextricable difficulties, whilst his con- 
 duct publishes aloud to all the imbecility of his own 
 powers. 
 
 It is also worthy of remark, that the depravity 
 of human nature attaches itself, not exclusively to 
 the body, ov the souU but pervades both. The 
 
1^4 Onginal Sin.— -The Tendency 
 
 errors of the mere animal system, could they be 
 separated from the exercise of the will, the under- 
 standing, and the judgment, would be mere instinct, 
 and form not the subject of praise or blame. While 
 on the other hand, those acts of the mind, when the 
 mind is disordered in its faculties, are rendered 
 neutral from that very disorder, and are not charged 
 with criminality : from which it is most manifest, 
 that if depravity be not inherent, it has no exist- 
 ence. However grieved any one might be that a 
 maniac, or an idiot, should enter his house unob- 
 served, and destroy some portion of his property ; 
 yet he would not prosecute the man, because there was 
 not the regular exercise of mind in the act : and if 
 mankind do not cherish depravity in the heart, they 
 stand before God as innocent. But when a man is 
 tried for murder, or other felonious practices, the 
 first enquiry, if there could be a doubt on the point 
 would be, was this done by accident, or with de- 
 sign ? And the culprit would be treated as guilty 
 or innocent, as that deed appeared to be the result 
 of inherent depravity, or otherwise. How, with 
 these facts before his eyes, any one should attempt 
 to deny that sin is inherent, is to me most marvel- 
 lous — when it is well known that the innocency, or 
 criminality, of every action of man, depends on the 
 state of the heart. But how the whole of human 
 nature shoidd be depraved, in every individual, in 
 every age, and in every nation ; how the whole of 
 that nature, both body and mind, should be ex- 
 
of Sin to self-annihilation, 125 
 
 posed to, and should feel, the most exquisite pains, 
 if not inherently depraved; how infants should from 
 the very womb inherit affliction, agony, and death, 
 if not born in a sinful state ; and finally, how Job, 
 David, Jeremiah, the Apostle Pai\> with other 
 sacred writers, and even Christ himself, should 
 speak of both original sin, and inherent depravity, 
 as awful truths, if they were not so ; remain yet to 
 be developed by the enlightened mind of this en- 
 terprising Author ! 
 
 I despaired, in taking up the work before me, of 
 meeting with much that was not the mere echo of 
 former writers on the Socinian controversy ; but in 
 p. 131, an idea is introduced, which if not perfectly 
 orginal to others, is so to myself The Author 
 thus expresses himself: — " The natural tendency of 
 vice is towards its own extirpation, or destruction, 
 and that of virtue is progressive, from one degree of 
 improvement to another, towards perfection.'' I 
 had thought the cases had been parallel ; that as 
 virtue grew, and increased in strength and beauty, 
 so vice acquired an awful maturity, and an increase 
 which destroyed its subject, rather than itself. 
 The former part of this extraordinary sentence, is 
 designed as an argumentto prove the limited na- 
 ture and duration of punishment : I cannot say of 
 future punishment, for it is not clear that the Au- 
 thor admits any punishment in another state of be- 
 ing. In this view it will presently be noticed. 
 We are not informed whether sin destroys itself in 
 
12(5 Original Sin, — The Tendency 
 
 individual sm^ given time, or in an equal time in all 
 — Or whether it does so in any period prior ^o death : 
 here we are at a loss for information. It would be 
 improper to mention the devil, as Mr. H. does not 
 believe in his existence ; otherwise, some would be 
 ready to suppose on Mr. H.'s principle, that this 
 unholy being must by this time have arrived nearly, 
 if not altogether at perfection; almost six thousand 
 years may have surely sufficed for sin in this being to 
 have wrought its own cure. Perhaps also it is on this 
 ground he denies the existence of the devil, that this 
 once unhappy being has become arenovated creature! 
 But if this be not allowed, and the existence of this 
 being be still denied ; yet that the world has been 
 in a great measure under the influence of depravity 
 for many, very many ages, is awfully manifest. 
 What is the fact, then, among mankind .'' Has sin, 
 when left to itself, wrought its own cure ? That 
 many parts of the world are not as barbarous, and 
 as vicious, as devoted to idolatry, and other vices, 
 as formerly, is an indubitable fact. But has this 
 regeneration of a portion of the human species 
 arisen from sin annihilating itself? Ask the Ro- 
 mans who were not disturbed by revelation, 
 how much their purity increased as their Empire 
 grew hoary ? Mr. H. can at leisure compare the 
 reigns of Nero, of Caligula, of Domitian, and of 
 Dioclesian, with the earlier days of that Empire ; 
 and he can shew, if any one can, how vigorous and 
 strong was vice and depravity when that republic 
 
of Sill to self'amiihilaiioft. 127 
 
 was founded, and for a few centuries after : — But 
 how it sickened, how it languished, till in the hoary 
 age of the empire, its pure and gentle Neros, and Di- 
 oclesians, left sin to perish in self-destruction, and 
 virtue, probity, and honour, to flourish in im- 
 mortal vigour. 
 
 How gloriously the same remarks will apply to the 
 empire of China, or Persia, or Hindostan, or to the 
 inhabitants of New Zealand, and to all the hea- 
 then nations in the world, it needs no one to inform 
 this Author ! But seriously, did not Mr. H. 
 mean to laugh at his readers and burlesque his sub- 
 ject .'' Who, that has any, the slightest acquaint- 
 ance with the history of the worldy has not seen 
 that every nation, where revelation is unknown, 
 has degenerated, has grown in its corruptions, has 
 pushed onwards in criminalities, not till vice has 
 destroyed itself, but till it has destroyed the em- 
 pire. Who could compare the early days of the 
 Roman republic with the latter days of that em- 
 pire, and not feel the difference to be almost incal- 
 culable.^ As in the Pagan, so in the Christian 
 days of that empire. Popery originated in small 
 departures from the truth — it proceeded ; errors 
 increased, till the human understanding was envel- 
 oped in Egyptian darkness ; and as the empire of the 
 Pope advanced to maturity, he who sat in the Pon- 
 tifical chair, could be correctly described only as the 
 Man of Sin, and the system itself grew into a system 
 of iniquity, and all manner of vice. In truth, 
 
12S Original Si7i. —The Tendency 
 
 wherever vice has entered the church, or the state, 
 it has invariably, when left to its own operations, 
 proceeded from strength to strength, till it has com- 
 pletely ruined its subjects, and formed to itself an 
 imperishable dominion. 
 
 Sin is corporeal, or mental. Corporeal : — as 
 sensual gratifications, drunkenness, gluttony, lasci- 
 viousness, and various other vices. These will ne- 
 cessarily weaken with the decay of the body. But 
 do mental sins weaken with the decay of the ani- 
 mal system ? Who that has paid attention to the 
 operations of the human mind, but must have ob- 
 served that pride, covetousness, envy, and peevish- 
 ness, all strengthen with age. Have we never seen the 
 man who was covetous in youth become a confirmed 
 miser, and descend to all the little meannesses in ac- 
 cumulating the smallest sums, when he could not 
 go to greater lengths ; and taking steps which have 
 proclaimed at once his imbecility, and his rooted 
 covetousness of heart ! How often has the man of 
 irascible feelings become peevish beyond sufferance 
 in old age ! And I may ask, are instances of this 
 description insulated and solitary ? Any one who 
 knows mankind can answer the question. How in- 
 deed can sin terminate its own existence ? I do not 
 enquire into the philosophy of this sentence, for it 
 is manifest that Mr. H. views sin not in the ab- 
 stract ; for if so, it is a mere negation of being, and 
 can have no existence to terminate : but the annihi- 
 lation of sin must be immediately succeeded by the 
 
of Sin to self-anmhilation. 129 
 
 implantation of holy principle, unless the soul of 
 man be left in a state of neutrality, alike destitute of 
 evil, and of good. Will sin then, as it terminates 
 itsown being, give birth to opposite principles ? — 
 Or will opj)osite principles by some unknown law of 
 nature rush into the vacuum, as light succeeds to 
 darkness ? Or will an Agent divine impart new 
 dispositions ? All this is new ground over which I 
 have not travelled, a chaotic continent which no 
 eye has explored, unless my opponent may have 
 done so : so that information is truly desirable. 
 
 If any change has taken place amongst mankind, 
 surely a believer in the word of God, could have sup- 
 posed othercausesofthemoral improvement than that 
 assigned by this author. He would, perhaps, have 
 recollected, that the powerful motives whicli the 
 gospel furnishes, in the threatenings of a holy law, 
 and the promises of divine mercy, — in the hopes 
 and terrors of the invisible world, — in the possibility 
 of obtaining the favour of God, and the tremen- 
 dous consequences of Almighty wrath, had, under 
 the influence and direction of an agency unseen, 
 but Omnipotent, led rebellious men from sin 
 to holiness, and translated them from the king- 
 dom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear 
 Son. I am not aware that a scene so interesting, 
 as that of sin destroying itself, has ever been pre- 
 sented to the eye of the careful observer of its reign. 
 One hftB he^rd of persons acquiring a habit of 
 
180 Original Sin, — The Tendency 
 
 swearing, till they know not when they swear — and 
 of drinkers proceeding from little to much, till they 
 have become confirmed sots : but we have not often 
 heard, when religious influence was out of the ques- 
 tion, of these, and other sins, being cured by their 
 own influence exerted upon themselves. We do read 
 of one who said in old times ; — "Can the Ethiopian 
 change his skin, and the leopard his spots? then may 
 they also do good, that are accustomed to do evil."" 
 Jer. xiii. 23. But the views of this speaker, and 
 the sentiments of the Author before us, are often 
 at issue. A writer of days more modern, has also 
 assured us that, — " Evil men, and seducers, shall 
 wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being de- 
 ceived." 2 Tijp. iii. 13. Perhaps also, it will oc- 
 cur to the recollection of my reader, that seven iia- 
 lions are mentioned in the word of God, who cer- 
 tainly proceeded from bad to worse. The sin of the 
 seven nations of Canaan was not full in the days of 
 Abraham, Gen, xv. 16. but in the days of Joshua 
 the iniquities of these nations had arrived at their 
 height, the land vomited them out, and they were 
 abandoned to destruction ! Of the Jews, it was al- 
 so said by him who cannot lie, " Fill ye up then, 
 the measure of your fathers,"" Matt, xxiii. 32. and 
 how they did this we have a very alarming descrip- 
 tion, " Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that 
 they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway ; for 
 the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." 
 1 Thess. ii. 16. Surely the language is most plain. 
 
of Sin to self-anniJiilation. 131 
 
 and the meaning clear beyond the ])ossibility of a 
 doubt, in the passages I have cited. Here appears 
 old age without debility, a maturity without decay. 
 Sin proceeded in its career as a moral pestilence ; 
 it infected the vitals, it spread to the remoter parts 
 of the system, till the whole head became sick, and 
 the whole heart faint. 
 
 It is true we have been informed of nations in 
 whom moral depravity has been said scarcely to ex- 
 ist ; but if Hindostan were mentioned as furnishing 
 such an instance, it has been found on examination 
 that the purity ,jand morality in general of Hindoos, 
 have had existence only in the ignorance or infidelity 
 of their apologists. The Hottentots have been 
 adduced also, as nearly innocent, and they have 
 been introduced also as a nation of Atheists ; and 
 perhaps by Lord Monboddo they would be adjudged 
 as a species of apes, or as the Oran Outang without 
 a tail ! But I forbear. Why the writer, on whose 
 publication we are animadverting, should feel so 
 much at home, when the farthest from the decisions 
 of inspired writers, we cannot divine ; but the 
 paradoxes of this author, and the testimony of 
 divine truth, are widely distant. There is a sort of 
 fatality attends the movementsof Socinianism; it can 
 only move towards the shade ; it can only thrive in 
 proportion as the darkness around it becomes 
 palpable ! 
 
 With an intention to deny the eternity of future 
 punishments, Mr. H. observes ; — " There are innu- 
 
132 Original Sin. — The Tendency 
 
 merable instances where the word Golam, in the 
 Old Testament, which in the septuagint is rendered 
 atwv and »*wutoj and is used to express a limited dura- 
 tion, and applied to persons and things, as well 
 as times." p. 131. While it may be conceded 
 that this observation is nearly true, yet nothing 
 can be more trite, common-place, and miserably 
 lame, than an argument founded upon it, to refute 
 the doctrine of future punishments. I said nearly 
 true, for perhaps some may doubt whether the 
 instances are innumerable in which the word in 
 question applies to persons and things. I have se- 
 rious doubts whether the word in every modification, 
 and in every sense, occur as often as fifty-times in 
 the whole of the Old Testament. Every one is 
 well aware, however, that words are employed figu- 
 ratively, to describe an object, or a feeling, which 
 assimilates itself in the mind, or in fact, with the 
 first acceptation of the words selected. Thus, 
 when a person is very much pinched with hunger, 
 we say that he is starved to death ; and when very 
 much wet with rain, we speak of him asbeingdrowned. 
 Yet no one supposes that these expressions mean any 
 more, than that one person is very hungry, and 
 another exceedingly wet. A Caiachresis, is a figure 
 of speech not unknown to Mr. H. So we call 
 the Alpine snows, everlasting snows^ and every 
 one understands what is meant. 
 
 It is no objection to an argument, provided it be 
 true and solid, that it stands alone, and has been 
 
of Sin to self-annihilation. 133 
 
 often urged. But the argument from the applica- 
 tion of the words a;^wv and at^wvto? eternal and everlast- 
 ing, to objects of limited duration, to prove that the 
 primitive meaning is a limited duration, is neither 
 true, nor solid : yet it has been bandied about by 
 Dr. ('hauncey, Elhanan Winchester, William 
 Vidler, and their admirer, Mr. H. till it is com- 
 pletely thread-bare. It is denied that, in their pro- 
 per acceptation, these words can mean eternal and 
 everlasting, when applied to punishment, from the 
 remarkable circumstance, that sin naturally tends 
 to its own extirpation ; than which no idea can be 
 more distant from the truth. A man who has 
 through life maintained a course of impiety, and 
 who has cherished every principle of depravity in 
 his heart, dies under the influence of these princi- 
 ples. How is such an impenitent to avoid punish- 
 ment ? He carries within himself the sources of sor- 
 row and anguish. If he be supported in conscious 
 existence, that existence must be under the influ- 
 ence of sin, and consequently wretched. Or will the 
 mere act of dying eradicate depravity from the 
 mind ? It would be remarkable, indeed, if the dis- 
 solution of the body should effect more in the reno- 
 vation of men, than all the previous mercies of pro- 
 vidence, the blessings of the gospel, or the terrors -of 
 the law. Some have died in the very act of sinning 
 — as duellists — self-destroyers — some in intoxi- 
 cation ; others in the act of swearing or in a fit of 
 passion. Was the depravity of such persons like 
 
134 Original Sin — the Tendency 
 
 the scale of a fish, all external ? If it were in the 
 mind, it went with them into eternity. But perhaps 
 here may be limited punishment : will that punish- 
 ment operate then, as the purgatorial fire which his 
 holiness at Rome has kindled ? Of this we have 
 no hint in the Bible ; but something which looks 
 with an aspect directly opposite. In one of the few 
 books, admitted by Mr. H. to be inspired, it is 
 said, " He that is unjust, let him be unjust still ; 
 and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still ; and 
 he that is righteous, let him be righteous still ; and 
 he that is holy, let him be holy still." Rev. xxii. 11. 
 From this passage alone, without citing a number 
 of others, it is manifest, that in a future state, the 
 depraved do not undergo a renovation of nature. 
 What, indeed, should induce the change supposed ? 
 Will the gospel be preached to lost souls ? AVill 
 God work the glorious change by the immediate 
 operation of his own power ? Nothing of the kind 
 is hinted in revelation. Is suffering in another 
 state merely corrective and disciplinary ? No 
 mention is made of this : it is rather styled ever- 
 lasting punishment . We know not the demerit of 
 sin ; we are partial judges — we see not the extent of 
 its criminality — we comprehend not the perfections 
 which it insults, the Deity which it contemns. Nor 
 can we, without presumption, affirm, that it may 
 not be necessary in God's government to give to 
 rebellion its just punishment, that they who suffer 
 may be Set forth for an example^ siiffering the 
 vengmnce of eternal fire. Jude vii. 
 
of Sin to self-annihilation. 136 
 
 The meaning of the word at^^v, we can be at 
 no loss to ascertain. This compound term is formed 
 of *a£t — Mv — always — being : and what always 
 being, existing ahvays^ intends, in its proper ap- 
 plication, no one can doubt. When atwv is applied 
 in a secondary^ or figurative sense, it means, ^07- 
 tended duration ox ages ^ — as — the ages of the world 
 — the long continuance of family privileges — or, the 
 establishment of mountains. In a similar use of 
 the word, very tall and aged Cedars are called, 
 " The Cedars of God ;" .^« ^n« Psalm Ixxx. 10. 
 and so Moses from his being more than ordinarily 
 lovely and beautiful, was called " Fair to God." 
 Aa-Tikoq Tw 0£w, Acts vii. 20. But the meaning of 
 such expressions is obvious to a mere babe. Words 
 have a primary, a precise and a definite meaning ; 
 and it is admitted that "Aiwviy 9«y.Rom. xvi. 26, 
 and nvEu/xaroj'atwvi's — Heb. ix. 14, The Everlast- 
 ing God, and the Eternal Spirit, must intend 
 eternal existence; and here the word is used 
 in its first acceptation. So Mat. xxv. 41. The 
 same word describes the duration of future punish- 
 ment, and the perpetuity of future felicity. The 
 eternity of this happiness my opponent will not dis- 
 pute ; unless in the progress of free enquiry, he 
 should happen to doubt the immortality of his own 
 soul. It would not only be unnecessary, but also 
 impertinent, to trouble the reader with a long list of 
 quotations, to prove that the Hebrew word tzaVr, 
 which Mr. H. informs us is Golam, as well as the 
 
1S6 Original Sin. — the Tendency 
 
 Greek term aiVv, do mean duration witJwut end, 
 as the citations would crowd the work, and 
 only two classes of persons have denied this to be 
 the proper meaning ; — those who do not understand 
 either the Hebrew, or the Greek language ; or those 
 who are determined to support an hypothesis at all 
 hazards. If unlimited duration of felicity, or of woe, 
 were to be described, I would ask, what other words 
 could be selected ? Does either of the languages in 
 question, furnish a term more clear, strong, and 
 determinate, in its meaning ? — Perhaps Mr. H. can 
 point out the word more appropriate. To say that 
 such a word may be employed otherwise, is to 
 speak to little purpose ; for so may every word— 
 and every application of a word may be quibbled at 
 by a mere sophister. 
 
 Farther: Any person who attentively examines the 
 sacred records, will find that the happiness of holy 
 men, and the misery of wicked men, are frequently 
 placed in contrast — Nor is any word thrown in to 
 qualify the description of punishment, or the dura- 
 tion of pain. No intimation whatever is given, 
 that either state shall change from bliss to punish- 
 ment, or from punishment to bliss : and, as we have 
 already observed, the strongest terms are selected to 
 describe the endless duration of the joys — and the 
 pains of an eternal world. But Hell, with all its 
 terrors, disappears before Mr. H. His magic wand, 
 can create a limhus patrum, a purgatory, or a para- 
 dise, with equal ease* The Juke zvhich burrieth 
 
of Sin to self- annihilation. 137 
 
 with fire and brimstone — The worm that never dies 
 — The smoke of torments which ascends up for ever 
 and ever — Everlasting fire — Everlastirig punish- 
 ment — Everlasting burnings — Everlasting destruc^ 
 Hon, 4*c. are, it is true, scripture expressions, and 
 the words too, of him that cannot lie ; but when 
 thrown into the crucible of this refiner, they are 
 melted down, and take a perfectly new impression. 
 How far a correct one, he who first spoke these 
 words, and Mr. H., will settle it on another day. 
 If however this writer can succeed in destroying the 
 meaning of the words in review, and can prove to 
 a fallen world, that future, eternal punishment, is a 
 mere fiction of the imagination, he will receive the 
 thanks of all the unholy, abandoned, and profane. 
 How they may greet him in a future state, it is not 
 my province even to conjecture. It is possible to 
 soothe our minds with a delusive hope ; it is possi- 
 ble to trifle even with the truth of God, and the 
 concerns of the soul ; and pass on in this unhal- 
 lowed, ruinous, and soul-destructive path, with 
 comparative quiet and ease of mind ; and under 
 the influence of a vain hope, we may even approach 
 the gate which leads to the residence divine, and 
 say without apprehension of a refusal, Lord ! 
 Lord ! open to us ; but we are told by him who is 
 the Lord of the place, that he will say to some, " I 
 never knew you."" It will be wise not to compose 
 ourselves to sleep, when it is possible that our 
 slumbers may be broken only to endure everlasting 
 anguish ! 
 
138 Original Sin. — The Tendency 
 
 I forbear to enter at length into any critical re- 
 marks on Mr. H.'s translation of n^^ to" etVconov, 
 Matt. XXV. 41. which he renders long enduring 
 Jlre, p. 10 as no one acquainted with Greek can 
 suppose this to be a correct translation ; unless, in- 
 deed, something had appeared in the connexion to 
 dilute and reduce the meaning, or necessarily to 
 require a rendering so far from the primary accept- 
 ation of the words. Let Mr. H. produce a single 
 lexicographer of any respectability for his acquaint- 
 ance with the Greek language, who will assure us 
 the word a'iwvto? does in its first and proper sense 
 mean long enduring, and it shall suffice. If not, 
 either the author is very much in the dark relative 
 to the meaning of the language which he chooses to 
 criticise, or he must from some other cause pervert 
 its meaning. In connexion with the translation we 
 have just quoted, stands a most curious, and if I 
 am not much mistaken, an original account of the 
 day of judgment. Thus speaks Mr. H. "It is 
 evident that the expression (everlasting fire,) refers 
 to the persecuting Jews and Pagans, together with 
 their emissaries, who would, in consequence of their 
 own schemes of pride and ambition, be for a long 
 series of years, involved in the most terrible national 
 calamities; while those whowere led astray by them, 
 would become partakers in their sufferings ; and the 
 separation of true Christians from the corrupters of 
 truth and righteousness, who would thus suffer the 
 consequences of their own violence, appears evickntly 
 to be hat day of judgment whichis here, and in many 
 
• of Sin to self-annihilation. 139 
 
 places spoken of p. 10. This extraordinary, and 
 very perplexed sentence, is most difficult to har- 
 monize in its different members, in any tolerable 
 degree. Is the separation of true Christians from 
 the corrupters of truth, the daij of judgment ? I had 
 used to think that a dai/ was a portion of time, and 
 not the act of a rational being. Is it veri/ evident, 
 that our Lord meant tfiat this said separation by per- 
 secution, was the da?/ of judgment ? Whence does 
 this dashing writer collect such a constellation of 
 evidence ? Certainly not from the chapter on which 
 he is commenting. No, for there a circumstance of 
 the kind is never mentioned. It is true our Lord 
 does in the chapter preceding, foretel the overthrow 
 of the Jewish nation by the Romans — but there the 
 words Mr. H. has cited are not found. Nor am I 
 aware of any allusion to them : and in this chapter 
 where they occur, there is not a reference the most 
 remote to the Roman invasion. And had it been 
 so, it would be difficult to prove that any religious 
 persecution was intended by the Generals who led 
 the invading armies, or by the Chief Magistrate : 
 and equally difficult to ascertain when the separation 
 took place, of which this Author speaks. We 
 read, Matt. xxv. 31, 33, of a separation being 
 made between the sheep and the goats ; but unhap- 
 pily for Mr. H.'s comment, he who made that 
 separation was not a persecutor, but The Son of 
 Man. The Jews supposed that the Messiah was 
 to stand at the head of an army, and lead them to 
 
140 Original Sin. — The Tendency 
 
 conquest, and to glory: that he was to divide them 
 from all other nations, and give them a most tri- 
 umphant ascendancy over all the empires around 
 them. But I was not aware that this author was 
 for encircling the brow of the Son of God with the 
 same martial honours ! Not content with moderate 
 things, Mr. H. refers to "many other places;" 
 but specifies none. Pray, where do we read any 
 thing like the remarkable sentence before me ? Is 
 it in Paul's address to the Athenians, in which he 
 mentions the day of Judgment ? In that address 
 we are reminded that, " God has appointed a day, 
 in the whichhe will judge the world in righteousness." 
 Acts xvii. 31. But surely the Jewish nation is not 
 to be identified with the world ! Or, was it this 
 separation^ of which the same Apostle speaks, when 
 he assured the Corinthian Church, that " We must 
 all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." 
 2 Cor. v. 10. Then, surely, the inhabitants of Corinth 
 had no personal interest in that marvellous affair, 
 for they were Grecians and not Jews. Where,' then, 
 is this extraordinary fact related .'' Hitherto we 
 have not met with a single hint, much less with 
 " many places," which speak of it. But perhaps 
 this Author means that," suffering the consequences 
 of their own violence," is the day of Judgment, 
 spoken of in scripture. Still, siiffering punishment 
 is one thing ; and a day, which is a portion of 
 time, is most distinctly another ; and they cannot 
 be so amalgamated as to become one and the same - 
 
of Sin to self 'annihilation. 141 
 
 thing. In different parts of the sacred volume, the 
 day of Judgment is spoken of, as that period in our 
 existence, when we must appear before God — ap- 
 pear in common with the whole human race — that 
 then the secrets of the humann heart will all be re- 
 vealed — that eternal punishment, or eternal bles- 
 sedness, will be awarded to all, as they are unbe- 
 lievers, or believers in Christ ; and that the whole 
 is to succeed the resurrection of the dead. For a 
 clear view of the whole subject, the reader is refer- 
 red to Matt. XXV. 31, 46. Acts xvii. 31, Rom. 
 ii. 16. 1 Cor. iv. 5. 2 Cor. v. 10. 1 Thess iv. 
 13—18. 
 
 The day of judgment, according to Mr. H 
 either, will never arrive ; or, if such a period ever 
 come, the greater part of the human race will have 
 no concern in it. That day is set apart, only to 
 divide Christians from the corrupters of Christianity: 
 and to punish the latter by wars, and temporary 
 distresses. I would not willingly mistake Mr. H.'s 
 meaning ; but if this be not the meaning, I cen- 
 fess the sentence is beyond my comprehension, 
 nearly as far as it is distant from the language of 
 divine revelation. But it is evident, that up to this 
 hour, by far the majority of the human race never 
 hearh of either Christ or Christianity. So far then 
 the bulk of mankind have neither corrupted, nor 
 reseived Christianity, But we are not informed by 
 the author what is to be done with such persons. 
 Are the poor pagans to be assorted with the qorrup- 
 
142 Original Sin. — The Tendency 
 
 ters of Christianity, or how ? It is also a little 
 perplexing to know what manhind have to do with 
 such a day of judgment; unless, indeed, Mr. H. 
 can prove that such a day is appointed for every 
 succeeding generation, and for all nations of every 
 succeeding age. Bonaparte convulsed Europe, but 
 what cared the niajority of mankind for Bonaparte ; 
 he never interrupted their concerns : if he troubled 
 millions, there were perhaps still left five hundred 
 millions who never heard his name. But if our 
 Lord meant a temporal punishment only ; the hap- 
 piness of which he spoke, might be temporary in 
 its duration also. Perhaps the felicity of good men 
 is to rise no higher than a freedom from war — from 
 persecution — from famine : and all this for a 
 long-enduring period I Amazing, indeed, if the 
 hopes of the martyr, of the afflicted, of the perse- 
 cuted, are to terminate in felicity so low, so base 
 born, and so ready to perish ! But this is as clearly 
 the sense of Matt. xxv. 46, as the former idea 
 given by this writer is of the day of judgment, and 
 the punishment of the wicked. And thus shall 
 we be rid at once of future punishment, and of 
 future ha])piness ; and thus are we raised to the 
 honourable level of the brutes which perish! 
 
 Everlasting fwe refers to the persecuting Jews 
 and Pagans."" Unhappily for the beauty of this 
 application of the words, gunpowder, and fire- 
 arms were unknown in the early days of persecu- 
 tion ; otherwise, by the use of a very harmless 
 
of Sin to self-annihilation 143 
 
 hyperbole, one might have said of these persecut- 
 ing Sons of thunder^ that they kept up an evetlast- 
 mgfire ! But if this be our Lord's meaning, how- 
 vapid, and how worthless, must all this pomp of 
 description seem. — God — Christ — Holy Angels — 
 everlasting fire — everlasting life — goats on the left 
 hand — sheep on the right hand — an eternal king- 
 dom prepared, and bestowed — and everlasting fire 
 prepared for the devil and his angels — and — all this 
 to mean what ? Why, that the Church of Christ 
 should be persecuted for a while ; and that then, 
 the persecutors shall be punished ; that is, a very 
 few of them shall be so ; for all who commenced, 
 and carried on the persecution alluded to, were 
 dead and gone before the punishment was inflict- 
 ed : — and that this punishment when inflicted, was 
 to be a war that should last for a short period, and 
 which, even whilst it raged the most fiercely, would 
 scarcely affect one in fifty thousand of the then ex- 
 isting portion of the human race ! ! Surely we shall 
 soon cease to wonder that Joanna Southcot, and 
 John Wroe, have their admirers and followers, if 
 in the nineteenth century, and with the Bible in 
 our hands, we are to be abused with such absurdity, 
 for divine truth. 
 
 If we have only such a day of judgment as this 
 writer describes, we shall in fact have no day at all. 
 Allfthe notices of such a day, all the descriptions 
 of its terrors and its joys, its rewards and its pun- 
 ishments, its magnificent views of the Deity in all his 
 
144« Original Sin, — The Tendency 
 
 glory — of angels, arch-angels, and the trmup of 
 God, have all evaporated. Our dependance on the 
 language and representations of the sacred oracles 
 is overthrown, and the volume of inspiration must 
 be treated as a composition the most inflated, turgid, 
 and borabastical, of all the productions which have 
 ever invited the attention of men. Instead of being 
 the book which the unlearned may understand, and 
 which the way-faring man, though a fool, cannot err 
 in interpreting, we must all be subject to a very se- 
 vere disciplinary course of instruction, or we must 
 receive a new volume, heaven-inspired, as a comment 
 on the Old, before we can apprehend meaning so 
 recondite as that offered by Mr. H. With such a 
 day of judgment as this gentleman describes, how 
 are the innocent to be vindicated, who shall sus- 
 tain the purity of their motives and character ; both 
 which had been defamed ? Who shall avenge the 
 injuries received by the widow, the fatherless, and 
 the oppressed ? How are the vicious to be singled 
 out, and dealt with according to their crimes ? 
 How are all the righteous to be treated singly, and 
 according to their character ; they, who in many 
 ages have suffered in the cause, and for the truth, 
 of the eternal God ? Or — how is the providence 
 of God to be justified, the honour of his reign in 
 ages long since past, to be asserted '^ Malignant 
 and blasphemous aspersions have frequently been 
 cast upon the government, and upon every per- 
 fection of Deity — and have all the daring rebels in 
 
. of Sin to self-anniu^vuuun. 145 
 
 this unhallowed warfare no judge to meet, no re- 
 hearsal of past deeds to hear. . What ? Have the 
 Judases, the Pilates, and the Julians, of former days 
 no individual account to surrender? Are the 
 Paris massacre, the Irish massacre, the scenes of 
 the Inquisition, and all the deeds of darkness, to 
 remain in everlasting concealment ? Surely there 
 must be a day for the grand assize, when the 
 world shall assemble, and that disordered world be 
 restored to harmony — and its glorious Judge be ac- 
 knowledged as the holy, the righteous, and the 
 true God. In accordance with such an idea, we 
 read of Christ sitting as the Judge on his throne — 
 graves opening — the dead arising — books being op- 
 ened — of the welcome given by Christ to all his 
 followers to enter his eternal kingdom and glory ; 
 and of the outer darkness assigned to all hypocrites 
 and unbelievers. Then sKall the body which had 
 born the image of the earthy, bear the image of the 
 heavenly. Then shall death be swallowed up in 
 victory. Then shall the body of Christ, which is 
 his Church, be completed. Then will he have 
 accomplished all the purposes of God, relative to 
 the restoration of his chosen ; then shall he see the 
 travail of his soul with everlasting complacency. 
 The last enemy shall be crushed, and become his 
 footstool, the last follower be gathered in, and then 
 shall the righteous shine as the sun in the firma- 
 ment, in the kingdom of the Father. And then, 
 God will unveil all the glories of his character, and 
 
146 Original Sin. — The Tendency 6^c. 
 
 bestow, from his infinite fulness, ineffable blessed- 
 ness on all the purchase of the Redeemer"'s blood ; 
 and that, not for a hngenduring period, but 
 through the ages of eternal existence ! 
 
SECTION V. 
 
 ON THE EXI8TENCK OF SATA.N. 
 
 J. O prove the existence of an Evil Spirit, called 
 in the Sacred writings by the names of Satan, 
 the Devil, the Old Serpent, and Abaddon, was the 
 design of Mr. Carlisle : and to prove that no such 
 being does exist, is the intention of Mr. Heineken. 
 With this part of the controversy, I have no wish, 
 at present, to interfere, as Mr. C. appears by his 
 first attempt, to have the subject fully within his own 
 reach ; and has also pledged himself to the public to 
 write another volume on the subject. According 
 to Mr. H. to admit the existence of such an enemy, 
 would go far towards impeaching every perfection 
 of the Deity. All the talent of this writer is brought 
 to bear upon this point ; the belief of the existence 
 of the destroyer of men, is placed before the reader, 
 as fraught with horror, and as calculated only to pro- 
 duce terror. And it must be confessed, that for a 
 Night piece, this Author can use his pencil with 
 effect. His criticisms on the Demoniacal possessions 
 recorded in the New-Testament, discover a degree 
 of ingenuity, which other parts of his work would 
 scarcely allow his readers to give him credit for 
 
148 On the Existence of Satan. 
 
 possessing. From page 37 to 41, however, a smile 
 will be excited, as the eye of the reader passes over 
 their contents, to observe, how the garrulity of the 
 author is presented to him as a substitute for argu- 
 ment ; and the account of lunatics washing their 
 coat sleeves ; proposing to throw a man out of an 
 upper window ; and of drinking Madeira to destroy a 
 mouse's nest in the stomach ; are instances adducpd 
 as demonstrative evidence, that Christ only cured 
 the epilepsy, lunacy &c., when, in the incorrect 
 language of the New Testament it was said, " He 
 cast out devils." A person with an orthodox faith, 
 however, and who has consequently less under- 
 standing than an IJnitanan, would think that the 
 little understanding he had was insulted, rather 
 than appealed to by such small-talk. I shall not 
 make any remarks on the quotations from Dr. 
 Lightfoot, only to notice, that the last paragraph 
 quoted by Mr. Heineken, ends with a parenthesis — 
 p. 44. But in Dr. Lightfoot's works there is a 
 sliort sentence after the parenthesis, which Mr. H. 
 felt it convenient to omit ; the sentence is — And 
 here in truth a Devil was present.^ This was the 
 Doctor's opinion relative to a Demoniac who was 
 brought to Christ. No one acquainted with his 
 writings can for a moment imagine that he denied 
 the existence of the devil : but if any person ignorant 
 of his writings should think that he did, Mr. H. is 
 
 * Lightfoot's Talmudical Exercitations, Works, Vol. I. p. 211 
 
On the Existence of Satan. 149 
 
 willing that he should remain in his error ; other- 
 wise, why omit the latter part of the sentence quoted, 
 which conveys so clearly the opinion of that learned 
 divine on the subject. But supposing the devil 
 has no existence, how is the moral character of God 
 less implicated, than on the supposition of his ac- 
 tual existence ? Two or three remarks on this sub- 
 ject will not be improper. 
 
 The works of the devil are not the effect of divine 
 ordination, much less of divine agency. If that 
 enemy exists, he is a free agent, and if he injures 
 mortals, it is because they choose his service. Here 
 there is no compulsion, all are free, each is a volun- 
 tary agent. Moreover, all the evil, both natural 
 and moral, which does exist, would continue to exist 
 if Satan were annihilated. The mischief is done. 
 The Scriptures declare that the whole race of Adam 
 is depraved, and that the depravity is total. "And 
 God saw that the wickedness of man was great 
 upon the earth, and that every imagination of 
 the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.'''' 
 Gen. vi. 5. Observe, God saw this ; our author 
 did not, — and perhaps what he has not seen he will 
 not believe. " The Lord looked down from heaven 
 upon the children of men to see if there were any 
 that did understand, and seek God. They are aU 
 gone aside, they are altogether become filthy, there 
 is none that doeth good, 710 not one.'''' Psalm, xiv. 
 2, 3. But these were the sayings of old times, and 
 teach an antiquated doctrine; perhaps, also, it was 
 
15Cl On the Existence of Satan, 
 
 the language of hyperbole. Well, but Paul does 
 not allow that human nature has advanced one step 
 in moral improvement, even down to his own time. 
 See the Epistle to the Romans, chapters, 1, 2, 3, 
 passim. And if Mr. H. will look over our ale- 
 houses — our prisons — our transportation lists — the 
 heathen nations — or even examine with care society 
 at home, he will find that vice is not very much 
 debilitated, even in this late age of the world, and 
 in the midst of all our improvements ; and when, ac- 
 cording to his own account, we might have expected, 
 that sin would have nearly arrived at self-annihi- 
 lation. Does the denial of Satan''s existence destroy 
 or even weaken these facts? Or would their 
 existence on that principle lessen their evil, or render 
 their prevalence more consonant with the per- 
 fections of Deity ? This will not be pretended. 
 And still the Governor of the universe could anni- 
 hilate these moral evils as easily as prevent the 
 existence of a devil in his dominions. Why he 
 does not destroy them, is not mine to enquire. 
 They do exist. 
 
 All natural evils exist in such variety, and in 
 forms so awful, as to prove that the misery of sin- 
 ful creatures is consistent with the glorious perfec- 
 tions of the Lord of all. And to what greater ex- 
 tent that misery might prevail without impeaching 
 his divine character, we have no data on which to 
 proceed in forming a conclusion. I do not here 
 ©ntcr into any detailed account of Tornadoes — 
 
On the iLxistence of Satan. 151 
 
 Hurricanes — Earthquakes — Famines— Pestilence- 
 Storms by sea, and upon the land — and eruptions 
 of Volcanoes ; all which are evils of a magnitude 
 the most serious, and if there be no future punish- 
 ment, are much greater afflictions, than any Satan 
 can originate. Nor is the prevalence of evils so 
 great, easy to be reconciled with the benevolence of 
 a gracious God, or his righteous government of in- 
 nocent beings. Do we not witness daily also, the 
 triumphs of poverty, fevers, consumptions, mad- 
 ness, blindness, the loss of limbs, and a series of 
 the most afflictive occurrences of every description 
 which the mind can contemplate ? How, I ask 
 again, is it consistent with the benevolence, good- 
 ness, grace, and love, of the divine Being, to allow 
 the dominion of all this moral and natural wretched- 
 ness, when a single effort, yea, a word from Omni- 
 potence, could in a moment eradicate every moral, 
 and remove every natural evil ? We do not ask 
 that holy Being the reasons of his conduct, and we 
 feel thankful that we have been taught not to dis- 
 pute, but to adore. Another day will remove every 
 difficulty. That One enemy should exist, excites 
 all the apprehensions of this writer; whilst ten 
 thousand others exist without arousing him to the 
 same wakeful concern ! According to the unhal- 
 lowed boldness of p. 112. we might account for the 
 existence of all these evils, by describing our glori- 
 ous Creator as a Savage Deity ! but we are not 
 Socinians, — as believers in an Orthodox Creed, we 
 
152 On the Existence of Satan. 
 
 can account for the recurrence, and predominancy 
 of these evils, on principles in harmony with righ- 
 teousness, benevolence, goodness, and truth. But 
 if we could not in any way account for what is fact, 
 it would be our duty to suspect the imbecility of 
 our own reason, the blindness of our own minds ; 
 and not wantonly to impeach the divine character. 
 Once more : — Sin must be a very horrid evil in 
 the sight of God, otherwise it would not have been 
 personified in the very frightful manner in which 
 it is done. If there be no devil, then the names 
 Abaddon, the Devil, a roaring Lion, Satan, the 
 Old Serpent, and the great red Dragon, must imply 
 something more than the qualified terms, mere hu- 
 man frailty — Error — Weaknes.s — Infirmity — Folly 
 — and Inadvertency. When is sin described by 
 the Socinians, in such language, or in terms 
 equally alarming in their import ? Its ascendancy 
 over the mind is distressing, it is madness ! The 
 poor prodigal is said to have Come to himself, Luke 
 XV. 17. A very clear intimation that his former con- 
 dition was considered as a state of derangement of 
 mind. Views so alarming, and equally humbling, 
 are not punished by the system of my opponent ; 
 and may be treated also as a bugbear for affrighting 
 children, or fools, but they are familiar to the sacred 
 writers — and occur in all their compositions. Nor 
 is the aspect of these ungracious personifications 
 rendered more lovely, or softened to mildness, by a 
 denial of the existence of the devil. And if these 
 
On the Existence of Satan, 153 
 
 representations of sin be not the mere flowers of 
 Rhetoric, the mere turgidity of a sombre eloquence ; 
 the evil of sin is much greater than popular opi- 
 nion allows. Whence, it may be asked, arises the 
 difference between the descriptions of sin given in 
 the Bible, and those views of it furnished by the 
 Socinian system ? 
 
 It is remarkable moreover, that Jehovah ex- 
 presses himself in language of an import the most 
 alarming, in reference to sin. This evil is said, 
 '* To grieve him at his heart."" — " That upon the 
 wicked he will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and 
 an horrible tempest*" — that — " Tribulation and an- 
 guish are upon every soul that doeth- evil" — that — 
 " God is angry with the wicked every day" — and 
 that — " He who made them will have no mercy 
 on them." Under what circumstances a Being so 
 gracious as the blessed God, should use such ex- 
 pressions of indignation, and issue threatenings of 
 a character so awful, it is easy to determine. These 
 thunderings of long continued sound, these light- 
 nings of awfully vivid glare, pass over this world, 
 andj threaten its overthrow and the ruin of souls, 
 because we have sinned ! If the devil have no ex- 
 istence, yet the terrors excited by these denuncia- 
 tions of God are the same, and the feelings of hor- 
 ror are awfully justified by the wreck of souls in 
 eternal perdition. To banish the idea of a devil, 
 may remove a certain description of fear, may lead 
 to extenuate the evil of sin, and may induce a 
 
154 On the Existence of Satan. 
 
 man to think that he can do without an Almighty 
 Saviour; but in God's estimation things may be 
 quite different. 
 
 The tender mercies of God are over all his 
 works : but at times those tender mercies are visibly 
 withdrawn. Can it be, that some alarming catas- 
 trophe has interrupted its course ? Why is it im- 
 peded, why is it withdrawn ? What has given birth 
 to the evil which has caused God himself t6 retire, 
 or if present, only present to punish and over- 
 whelm ; may deserve a very serious investigation. 
 The evils which have prevailed in the world could 
 not be designed as disciplinary to the individuals 
 who sustained them : at least in innumerable instan- 
 ces. No : they felt not, they scarcely saw the 
 evils, till they were overwhelmed by them in irre- 
 trievable ruin. Has the destruction of Catania, 
 Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Porto-bello, been of 
 this nature ? Mr. H. must be familiar with their 
 history. What advantage did the inhabitants de- 
 rive from these awful visitations.? And if they were 
 designed to admonish survivors, did the admonition 
 produce auy important effect ? Let the history of 
 the nations around these scenes of devastation 
 testify. But how, if the inhabitants of these cities, 
 in common with the world, were not awfully de- 
 praved, were they justly doomed to so dire a destruc- 
 tion as an admonition to others.? Must a human body 
 suffer the amputation of its limbs to teach others to 
 watch for the preservation of their own limbs ? — To 
 
On the Existence of Satan. 155 
 
 say that these evils arose from natural causes, is not 
 to remove the difficulty, but to leap over it ; it is a 
 mere evasion. TheGovernor of the Universe created 
 these natural causes ; but we cannot suppose that 
 he would place beings nearly innocent, or only er- 
 ring and frail, in a situation so perilous. No, these 
 miseries are the consequences of apostacy from 
 God. Had such apostacy been unknown, the ac- 
 companying evils had been equally unknown. In 
 the whole of human society, wretchedness is con- 
 tinually appearing in every diversity of form, is 
 continually assuming a varied aspect of horror and 
 ghastly dread. At one time, war, with a million 
 of afflictions and deaths in its train, imposes upon 
 the nations miseries and woes, innumerable and in- 
 describable ; at another period, or in another part 
 of the world, famine, pestilence, and poverty, have 
 their provinces, through which they march in ter-. 
 rible array. These evils are regarded when distant, 
 and but very indistinctly apprehended, as awfully 
 formidable. But the misery which shrinks from 
 observation, the pining sickness, the agonizing dis- 
 tress, which consume the vitals of thousands in 
 private, is most revolting to every feeling of the 
 human heart ! Nor is a gay and dissipated life ex- 
 empted from misery as overwhelming. Have we 
 not known the affluent, the great, the right hon- 
 ourable, and noble, sicken under mortification 
 of mind, disappointment of hope, and the failure 
 of schemes and prospects ; and in order to be rid 
 
156 On the Existence of' Satan. 
 
 of a burden insupportable, have rushed uncalled for 
 into the presence of the Creator ? Throughout the 
 globe, amongst all orders of its various inhabitants, 
 we observe the march of misery and ruin ! Why is 
 all this misery allowed to triumph over persons who 
 are weakf rather than criminal, who are Jrail and 
 erring, rather than wilful apostates, and flagitious 
 traitors, daring rebels against the sovereign autho- 
 rity of the most high God ? — If Satan have no ex- 
 istence, then, if possible, is the guilt of men still 
 heightened ; for their sin must have been self-ori- 
 ginated. Is it no extenuation of crime that the 
 offender was in the first instance seduced ? Some 
 have thought, that as Satan sinned without a temp- 
 ter, so he was left to perish without mercy. Mr. 
 H. places us in a similar situation with that arch- 
 apostate ; we have sinned without a seducer : for 
 however men now tempt each other, the introduction 
 of sin, or rather its generation, must have been in the 
 human bosom. Alone, and unaided, its progress 
 has been rapid ; its rear has been brought up by 
 damnation. And all this by men themselves, 
 and without the aid of a tempter. Does this idea 
 extenuate the guilt, or lessen the misery of the 
 fallen ? 
 
 I am fully aware how easy it is to use great swel- 
 ling words of vanity ; and too frequently it happens, 
 that when any representation is made of the divine 
 character, not exactly in accordance with precon- 
 ceived opinion, to exclaim, " I should consider the 
 
On the Existence of Satan. 157 
 
 heathen god, 'Moloch, or the Hindoo idol, Jugger- 
 naut, pictures of pure benevolence, when compared 
 with such a terrific and savage deity !'"* p. 112. A 
 man who may 'possibly take an erroneous view of 
 the subject he opposes, should be cautious how he 
 allows himself to drag the Deity into every ques- 
 tion of strife. But here we have plain matter of 
 fact, not subjects of airy speculation ; and to des- 
 cribe Mr. H.'s exclamation in his own elegant lan- 
 guage, I should say, it is all splutter and bounce p. 
 20. But in the more grave and sober language of 
 one of ancient times, it might be asked, — '' Nay, 
 but who art thou, O man ! that repliest against 
 God ?''' When a man can deliberately caricature 
 even the Deity himself, to render the system of an 
 opponent detestable, either he has no strength to 
 meet that opponent, or reverence for the Almighty 
 is not the prevailing feeling of his mind. 
 
 The statements which have been made of the 
 extent and prevalence of human woe, are facts in- 
 controvertible, and against the existence of which 
 it is in vain to declaim. How did all these calamities 
 originate ? Who opened this Pandora's box, from 
 which flew all the miseries which have taken up 
 their residence on this globe ? Is moral depravity 
 the source of calamity ^ If so, whence sprang 
 this flagrant evil, this moral pestilence ? Was the 
 creature when recent from the hands of the Creator 
 vicious in his very constitution ? Did hands so 
 holy bring together, and fashion into man, ma- 
 
158 O/* the Existence of Satan. 
 
 terials so alloyed with corruption ; elements so jar- 
 ring and discordant? Surely the work of his 
 hands, will not ask the Creator, " What makest 
 thou? or, his work say, He hath no hands." Isa. xlv. 
 9. Could evils so vast, and so damnatory in their 
 influence, be the accidental produce of human pas- 
 sions when pure, or of natural but pure appetite? 
 Whatever hypothesis is adopted, moral depravity 
 must not be charged on the Lord of all, as neces- 
 sarily arising from the nature of his work. How 
 could he be holy and gracious, who should give ex;- 
 istence to beings, who from a fatal necessity must 
 sin? 
 
 On the principles of divine revelation, the ques- 
 tion, how sin came into this world, is set at rest in 
 a moment. He who was created was constituted a 
 free agent ; perfectly able to maintain the purity 
 and rectitude of his nature, as he came out of the 
 hand of God : and yet free to fall in with tempta- 
 tion, and if he chose, to forsake God. A tempter 
 appeared, he listened to his voice ; and thus invol- 
 ved himself, and all his posterity, in all the mischief 
 which ensued. Like some traitor of noble blood, 
 he conspired against his rightful sovereign ; his 
 person was seized, his whole inheritance was confis- 
 cated ; and himself and his descendants were made 
 to feel as at this day the weight of the ruin which 
 he has drawn upon them. Thus, the Apostle of 
 the Gentiles — " As by one man sin entered into 
 the world, and death by sin'"* " Through 
 
On the Existence of Satan. 159 
 
 the offence of one, many be dead." " For 
 
 the judgment was by one to condemnation." 
 
 " By one man's offence death reigned by one." 
 
 — " By the offence of one judgment came upon all 
 
 men to condemnation." " By one man's 
 
 disobedience many were made sinners." Rom. 5, 
 12, 15, 16, IT, 18, 19. The reader will excuse 
 quoting parts detached, he will see the whole ar- 
 gument in the chapter and verses referred to. So 
 on another occasion the same writer remarks — " For 
 as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made 
 alive." 1 Cor. xv. 22. If by any process of argu- 
 mentation it could be evinced, that a denial of the 
 being of the devil, would lessen the evil which 
 prevails, then it would be of serious importance, 
 to prove that the idea of Satan's existence is a 
 mere chimera. But what avails it, whether the fire- 
 brand, which kindled the flame that has consumed 
 the city, were brought by an enemy, or applied by 
 the hands of those who perished in the conflagra- 
 tion. The mischief is done ; the ruin is complete. 
 Prove that Satan does not exist, and by so 
 doing you merely correct a speculative error • 
 the pestilence is still raging, whoever introduced the 
 contagion. Not a particle of the misery pervading 
 human society is annihilated by this peculiarity in 
 Mr. H.'s system. That misery can be removed, 
 but for its removal Socinianism provides no effect- 
 ual means. An anodyne is administered to the 
 patient excruciated with pain, but he only sleeps 
 
160 On the Existence of Satan. 
 
 for a moment, to awake in everlasting sorrow. He 
 who died to atone for sin, has bruised the head of 
 the old serpent ; he lives to destroy the works 
 of the devil, and he is the author of eternal salvation 
 to all who obey him ; not by amusing us with tales 
 about no devil, but by delivering us from the power 
 of that enemy, the dominion of sin, and the 
 curse of the law. 
 
 It is true, a Socinian Minister may not be 
 aware of the extent of wickedness which prevails 
 and predominates over the human race. He is, per- 
 haps, a man of retired habits, and is often shut up 
 within his own study : his acquaintance may be 
 chiefly among the polite, the learned, and the vir- 
 tuous. His small congregation may be composed 
 chiefly of the gay, the wealthy, and even of 
 the affluent : and the plague of his own heart, may 
 be a subject with which he has no acquaintance. 
 From such a person, society receives credit for a 
 degree of virtue, which, amongst the bulk of man- 
 kind, has no existence. In such a connexion the 
 circumstances of a large portion of his fellow-crea- 
 tures, lost in wretchedness and woe, come not under 
 his notice : he may perhaps even doubt the exist- 
 ence of the depravity and misery which others are 
 compelled to witness. And even the haunts of 
 dissipation, open to the wealthy and profligate rake, 
 are not exposed to his scrutiny : or should he by 
 chance look through the vista, he turns away his 
 eyes with becoming abhorrence, and soon forgets 
 
 ^^^i^ 
 
On the Existence of Satan. 161 
 
 that such retreats are ever visited. Asa minister, 
 his discourses will often turn upon subjects much 
 more speculative, and which belong to the head, 
 rather tlian the heart : a course of Lectures is re- 
 peated every year or two, on no devil — no hell-^no 
 future judgment — no Holy Spirit — no atonement — 
 Christ not God &c. all which attract attention, as 
 would any mere matter of curiosity ; but when gone 
 through, empty pews remain for ordinary services. 
 Farther : whilst moral evil is not considered as cri- 
 minal in every particular, or whilst its enormity 
 is lost sight of behind qualifying representations ; 
 the impressions made upon the mind will be very 
 feeble, nor will its direful consequences produce alarm . 
 Those impressions will not be rendered more power- 
 ful, by erasing from the mind a conviction that sin 
 deserves everlasting banishment from God's pre- 
 sence, and from the glories of the heavenly world. 
 And, finally : — whilst almost every truth peculiar 
 to the gospel of Christ is denied — and a creed pre- 
 sented to the congregation composed very much of 
 negatives — sin will be contemplated as an evil of 
 no great magnitude, nor will its effects on our welfare 
 in a future state be considered as of much importance; 
 and hence an eflbrt very small, will be regarded as 
 sufficient to effect our cure, and complete our salva- 
 tion. The speculations of this system are powerless , 
 they are lifeless. The only productions of this class 
 of men which can long survive themselves, will be 
 of a literary cast ; their theological labours will not 
 
162 On the Existence of Satan. 
 
 generally follow, but often ffo hfore themselves- 
 While one is compiling five ponderous quartos on 
 the evidences of Christianity — another may be writ- 
 ing on Electricity, or Pneumatics : and all the 
 while thousands df souls are plunging into a vortex 
 of temporal misery, and into an abyss of eterna] 
 ruin ! Satan is hiding himself behind his own de - 
 lusions — he is blinding the minds of men lest they 
 should believe — carnal security, imaginary good- 
 ness, pride, and infidelity of heart, have all con- 
 spired to hush into the most fatal repose the alarm- 
 ed conscience ; and in thousands of instances it is to 
 be feared the slumbers will not be broken, till the 
 loud peals of vengeance awaken the mind, and for 
 ever destroy the soul-murdering delusion ! I should 
 exult withpleasure, were it just to believe that the 
 system I oppose promoted not this fatal delusion. 
 That it does, I can have no hesitation in affirming. 
 It places a screen between the eye of the mind and 
 eternal ruin — it infuses a palatable drop into the 
 cup which contains the hemlock that murders the 
 soul ! 
 
SFXTION VI. 
 
 PER8KCUTI0N OF THE SOCINIAN8, 
 
 ItjI ANY have made attempts, when engaged in reli- 
 gious controversy, to excite the compassion of others 
 towards themselves, by holding out to the public 
 that they are persecuted for conscience sake. This 
 complaint has supplied the lack of argument in some 
 instances, and in some cases it may have been true. 
 But where it is true, it is not always wise to tell 
 this unpleasant truth ; for a momentary feeling of 
 compassion is seldom accompanied by any relief; 
 frequently leads in a short time to avoid an object 
 whose complaints are a tax upon our cheerful feel- 
 ings ; and almost invariably lessens our esteem in 
 the same proportion that it distresses our feelings. 
 What Mr. H's. reasons are for calling the atten- 
 tion of the public towards himself, and his brethren, 
 as persecuted by the orthodox, remains yet to be told. 
 I have been his neigbour for a few years, and never 
 heard any attack upon his civil rights; or the 
 rights of his immediate friends. I have also known 
 3 little of the movements of different bodies of 
 
164 PerseaU'ion of the Socinians. 
 
 Christians abroad, yet never heard of any modern 
 attempt to persecute individuals, or bodies of per- 
 sons, in the denomination to which he is attached. 
 It will scarcely be imagined, that the Birmingham 
 riot of 1791 was in Mr. H's. recollection when he 
 wrote the paragraph which I shall presently trans- 
 cribe ; as that was the outrage of a mob, with whom 
 the Sectarians alluded to by this writer, had not the 
 most remote connexion. It seems, however, that he 
 or his brethren have lately suffered persecution, for 
 thus he writes : — " Were they (his opponents) 
 so proud as to think it no honour to knock down a 
 Unitarian? or were they so modest as not to covet 
 such an honour ? If they had been quite sure of 
 their mark, I question whether they would have 
 had many qualms of conscience; for to knock a poor 
 Unitarians on the head, per/as^ aut nefas^ is con- 
 sidered as the very acme of orthodox glory, p. 22. 
 By whom it is considered as the acme of orthodox 
 glory to knock a poor Unitarian in the hesL^.perfa^ 
 or nefas, (right or wrong), Mr. Heineken has 
 given us no information ; he has none to give : so 
 far as the Dissenters are concerned, his imputation 
 of such feelings to a class of men who have never 
 offered him any injury, is either the offspring of 
 malignity, or, to use an elegancy of his own, is all 
 splutter and bounce ! 
 
 Have the neighbours of this Author persecuted 
 him ? If so, it has been done very quietly ; I 
 have not heard that a Minister of any Denomina- 
 
, Persecution of the Socinians. 165 
 
 tion in Bradford, or its Vicinity, have thought tliat 
 even his most important Lectures, have been of suf- 
 ficient consequence to deserve even a single remark. 
 It is true, in days long since gone by, the Parlia- 
 ment of this Kingdom did lay the Socinians under 
 peculiar disabilities : but I have not heard of the 
 Dissenters, or of any individuals amongst them, 
 who promoted the passing of those obnoxious 
 laws ; — or who opposed their repeal. Perhaps this 
 writer can give us information on this subject. I 
 apprehend that at present none is before the public. 
 But though the restrictions to which I have alluded, 
 were originated by those who stood at the Head of 
 our religious National Establishment, yet it may 
 seem that the Church of England has purified itself 
 from its old sins, and has become more liberal in 
 its views and feelings. The Calvinistic Dissenters 
 have now the reproach of a persecuting spirit 
 thrown upon them : they have grown malig- 
 nant, they have commenced persecutors. Thus we 
 read: — ''Upon what ground, I would ask, can 
 such persons attempt to vindicate their own separa- 
 tion from the Church of Rome ; or their dissent 
 from the Established Church of England ? They 
 will probably say, it is because they consider the 
 former as a corrupt and domineering Church ; 
 and because they cannot conscientiously sub- 
 scribe to the thirty-nine articles of the lat- 
 ter ; and yet like Holy Inquisitoes, these very 
 men insist ttpnn a belief m their Jive points 
 
166 Persecution of the Soc'inians. 
 
 of Calvinism as essential to salvation ; 
 DENOUNCE THOSE AS INFIDELS who refuse their 
 assent to these dogmas; exclude them from 
 THE pale of the CHRISTIAN CHURCH; and 
 toithmorethan Athanasian bigotry and presumption, 
 THUNDER OUT THEIR Anathemas, and declare, 
 
 THAT those who ARE NOT OF THE SAME FAITH, 
 SHALL, WITHOUT DOUBT, EVERLASTINGLY PERISH ! 
 
 But they will perhaps say that their dissent is 
 grounded on the broad and firm foundation of the 
 right of private judgment in matters of religion ; 
 and this appears to be the only rational principle 
 upon which these Sectarians, (whose religious 
 opinions are much more Calvinistic ; and whose 
 Christian feelings towards those of other denomin- 
 ations are far, very far less liberal than 
 THOSE OF the ESTABLISHMENT ;) cau with any 
 appearance of consistency attempt to justify their 
 secession ! Yet these zealous champions of reli- 
 gious liberty, make no scruple of refusing to their 
 fellow dissenters, that inalienable right, for 
 which they themselves boast of having so strenu- 
 ously contended ! ! " p. 96. My reader will for- 
 give the trespass upon his patience occasioned by 
 this long quotation ; a tax upon that patience so 
 much the more severe, as it is made up of the 
 most notorious and palpable misrepresentations : an 
 answer to which may be included in one word, 
 Mentiris. Mr, H. is no doubt aware, he at 
 least ought certainly to be so, that the Five points of 
 
Persecution of the Socinia^is. 167 
 
 Calvinism^ as they are called, are these points on 
 which we differ from the Arniinian Methodists — 
 and none other: it remains, then, with him to prove, 
 that at any time, or under any circumstances, the 
 Calvinists pronounced Anathemas, and declared 
 that those would everlastingly perish who dilfered 
 from them only on these points. The Calvinists 
 do not do so : they never did : — they do not think 
 so, — they never did. The Calvinists believe that 
 thousands and tens of thousands of Arminian 
 Methodists are holy men of God : that they 
 possess living faith in Christ Jesus, and are an 
 honour to the Christian name ! To meet with these 
 our fellow-christians on public occasions has afforded 
 us sincere pleasure : and in private, we have been 
 comforted and edified by their animated and scrip- 
 tural experience. If this writer had not shook 
 hands with shame, he could never have written this 
 gross libel. What ! Do we not anticipate a happy 
 meeting with tens of thousands in heaven, who 
 never saw the points denominated Calvinistic, as 
 we do ? Yes, verily ; and we rejoice in the glori- 
 ous prospect of an inseparable union with them in 
 eternal felicity ! 
 
 " These men insist upon a belief in their Jive 
 points of Calvinism as essential to salvation.'''' Mr. 
 H.'s ignorance is his only apology, otherwise he would 
 have known, that in every Calvinistic Society of any 
 considerable extent, there are persons whose views do 
 materially differ upon every one of the five points 
 
168 Persecution of the Socinians. 
 
 in question. Nor am I aware that a Candidate for 
 admission into any such Societies, was ever asked 
 his views on those controverted points, in order to 
 ascertain his Christianity : but simply, if asked at 
 all, to ascertain how far a union of profession and 
 views could be hoped for ; and thus the edification 
 and comfort of the Society be promoted. So far 
 have the Baptists been from regarding these points 
 as essential to salvation, (and our Independent 
 Brethren are as hostile to the idea), that they have 
 never refused to baptize an Arminian Methodist, 
 whose life was consistent with his profession, al- 
 though at the very moment of his baptism, it was 
 known that lie disbelieved toto ccelo the opinions 
 peculiar to Calvinism : and in baptizing such a per- 
 son, they regarded him as a member of Christ, 
 and an heir of the kingdom of heaven. What the 
 Author will think on a reviewal of the unhappy 
 paragraph before me, I know not ; but he who 
 could sit down with Mr. Heineken's means of in- 
 formation before him, and could deliberately write 
 the ninety-sixth page of his book, must have a 
 hard forehead ! 
 
 Mr. H. must have some fact before him, which 
 has excited the uneasy feeling of persecution in- 
 tended^ or commenced. Does he refer to the Man- 
 chester controversy ? " Yes," said a friend of 
 mine, "that was a galling business.'"* Well, be it 
 so : but the comfortable recollection that his meet- 
 ing-house was built, and endowed by Socinians, if 
 
Persecution of the Socinians. 169 
 
 this indeed be the fact, will prevent all personal 
 anxiety. I may be permitted to make one or two 
 remarks on this very unpleasant controversy. If the 
 meeting-houses, endowments, and funds, in the pos- 
 session of the Unitarians be properly andjustly their 
 ozvn^ — then the enquiries and the unkind reflections, 
 if unkind they were, of a few individuals, can only 
 tend ultimately to prove the integrity and upright- 
 ness of that body, and to carry the society to a 
 much higher point of honour in public estimation. 
 The man who has no contraband goods in possession 
 may safely welcom.e the officer of excise to examine 
 his premises : but if it should be otherwise, he may 
 speak of being persecuted when an honest enquiry 
 in instituted. But should it even appear clear to 
 demonstration, that the major part of the Chapels, 
 Endowments, and Funds, now in the hands of the 
 Unitarians, were actually originated by Trinita- 
 rians, and were by them designed for persons of 
 the same faith and order with themselves, yet even 
 in that case I would as an individual say, we would 
 not by any means, were we able, take from you such 
 Chapels, Endowments, and Funds- To God and 
 your own consciences, in that case, I would leave 
 the whole business. A people who love the gospel 
 will always do what they can to provide places of 
 worship, and support the ministry of the word ; and 
 what is lacking. Christian friends around will sup- 
 ply. I would also publicly avow it as my own 
 opinion, for here, I speak only for myself, that 
 
170 Persecutio7i of the Socinians. 
 
 the less the ministers of the gospel have to do 
 with contentions about endowments, chapels, &c. 
 the more it will be to their comfort: and the man who 
 should liberally endow our Chapels, would only 
 furnish an apology for the covetousness of the next 
 age, — or give an unprincipled man an opportunity 
 of holding his place in defiance of his flock. I had 
 rather receive a few pounds annually from a fund 
 which might be withheld from an improper person, 
 than have a chapel liberally endowed. With such 
 views and feelings, I would never lift one hand to 
 deprive any religious body under heaven of one shil- 
 ling in their possession ; for if rightly obtained, they 
 ought to enjoy it ; if unjustly, our necessities are not 
 such as to require us to use compulsion ; and he who 
 presides over his church, will soon bring all these 
 little matters to aproper issue. Nay, 1 would add 
 farther, that if imposing the weight of a straw upon 
 the consciences of the whole body of Socinians, would 
 alter the course, and new-model the concerns of that 
 body, I should shudder at the idea of thus invading 
 the province of the Son of God. But when called to 
 contend pro arts etfocis ; not for the five points of 
 Calvinism ; but for the Divinity of Christ, and his 
 righteousness, and atonement ; the Personality and 
 Deity of the Holy Spirit ; and the Inspiration of 
 the Sacred Records ; I would say, " Let God be 
 true, and every man a liar." Th ese are not matters 
 of pounds, shillings, and pence, but they are in my 
 own view, essential to the existence of a " Good 
 
Persecution of the Socinians. 171 
 
 hope through grace," and the everlasting salvation 
 of the immortal soul ! — There may have been, how- 
 ever, an undue degree of warmth manifested in de- 
 fending even truths as glorious as these: -'for the 
 wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of 
 God." But let Mr. H. and his friends bear in 
 mind, that he whom they regard as " The poor and 
 humble man of Nazareth," we consider as sustain- 
 ing also, an infinitely higher character. If a Soci- 
 nian wound the person of Christ, he regards the 
 wound as inflicted on a mere creature like himself; 
 but to us such an insult is considered as gross im- 
 piety, and outrageous blasphemy ! — I have been 
 led thus far, because Mr. H. seems galled with 
 some idea, most unjustly cherished, of persecution ; 
 and under the anguish which this feeling has occa- 
 sioned, he employs language, which would more 
 than warrant an application of his own terms of Au- 
 dacious Calumniator to himself p. 95. As to the 
 reproachful use of the word Sectarians, when ap- 
 plied by him to the orthodox, it is ridiculous, Mr. 
 H. being to all intents and purposes a Sectarian 
 himself: and his calling his opponents Holy 
 Inquisitors, can only expose the malignity of his 
 own feelings, and is too contemptible to deserve a 
 mention. 
 
 It will be proper before I close this Section to 
 enquire what the word persecute means. And here 
 I may observe, that it cannot mean the detection of 
 eirror, or the holding up of that error as a warning 
 
172 Persecution of the Socinians* 
 
 to others that they be not led astray by the seduc- 
 tions of the wicked : for this was a work in which 
 almost every sacred writer was more or less engaged. 
 Nor is it persecution, to speak with the greatest 
 plainness and decision relative to our views of the 
 future destiny of certain characters and descriptions 
 of persons. Even the meek and gentle Redeemer 
 of men said to one class of his hearers, " Ye ser- 
 pents, ye generation of Vipers ! how can ye escape 
 thedamnation of hell ?" Matt, xxiii. 33. If a manrise 
 up among us who denies every important truth which 
 is peculiar to revelation ; and yet resolves to call 
 himself a Christian, we are to call him a Christian 
 also, or else we are judges of men''s hearts, and per- 
 secutors ! A certain description of candour is by 
 this class of persons extolled to the skies, which 
 candour is only a by-name for indifference to all 
 religious principle. Nor have any class of men 
 been more sarcastic in their observations, or sneered 
 with greater contempt at their opponents, than the 
 writers of the Socinian school have at those they 
 have been pleased to denominate the orthodox. 
 But all this is very remote from persecution. What 
 is persecution.? It is the depriving a man of his 
 civil rights on account of his religious principles. 
 Fines, confiscations, imprisonment, banishment, 
 death ; are all various modes of persecution when 
 inflicted on account of religion. Thus it was per- 
 secution on the part of Faustus Socinus to procure 
 the imprisonment and death of Francis Davides, 
 
Persecution of the Socinians. HS 
 
 the Superintendent of the Socinian Churches in 
 Transylvania, because he would not offer up prayers 
 to Christ, whom both he and Socinus considered as 
 a mere man : and thus it was cruel persecution on 
 the part of Calvin to be in any degree accessary, to 
 the burning of Michael Servetus, a Spanish 
 physician. And at the present day the civil disa- 
 bilities under which Dissenters lie, from the opera- 
 tion of the Corporation and Test Acts, is truly per- 
 secution* 
 
 But who has made any attempt to infringe on the 
 rights and liberties of Mr. Heineken ? No one 
 wishes to deprive him of his meeting-house ; at least 
 I am ignorant of any one who would attempt it. 
 He has full and entire liberty to preach, and even 
 to print the most pernicious errors. Nor does he 
 on these accounts pay more taxes than others, 
 or meet with uncivil treatment. If he will preach 
 and print errors subversive of our hopCj dishonourable 
 to Christ, andruinousto the souls of men, he must ex- 
 pect to encounter opposition. If truth be opposed, he 
 must excuse us if we meet, and withstand him. The 
 surrender of ourselves to Christ was, on our parts, 
 with the whole heart, soul, and mind, and we will 
 speak for Christ so long as we have power to speak ; 
 and we will write for Christ so long as we have 
 power to write. And when we cannot, others will 
 be raised up by that adorable person, who will do 
 so when we are in our graves. Mr. H. must excuse 
 us if we tell him, that we both do, and must love 
 
174 Persecution of the Socinians, 
 
 Jesus Christ ; and whoever shall touch him with 
 unhallowed hands of impiety, we will meet and 
 oppose them, Deo volente, at the risk of our 
 property, our liberty, and our lives. If he so far 
 abuse the word persecution, as to call such opposi- 
 tion to his errors, persecution, we cannot help it ; we 
 have lifted up our hands unto God, and would not 
 go back, no not for ten thousand worlds. Some 
 might even be disposed to think that it would be 
 impossible to persecute certain professors of religion. 
 Where religious principle is regarded as a matter 
 of indifference — where the love of Christ is un- 
 known — and where the faith and hope of salvation 
 by the life and death of Christ are unknown also, 
 a man will not suffer much persecution. 
 
SECTION VII. 
 
 PHILOLOGICAL BEAUTIES, AND CLASSICAL CRITICISMS. 
 
 " Great wits sometimes may gloriously offend, 
 And rise to faults true critics dare not mend ; 
 From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part. 
 And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art." 
 
 This doggrel I borrow. 
 
 C^LASSICAL learning has been deemed so far 
 important, that even its appearance only, has fre- 
 quently had a very imposing effect. The denomina- 
 tion to which Mr. H. is attached, will be allowed to 
 have produced many scholars of a very superior 
 order. Nor is this an unwilling concession ; but 
 made with names in recollection, which, in learning 
 and general science, would have done honour to 
 any literary society in the world. Mr. H. is not 
 unconscious of its importance ; for, in controversy 
 with a man who has not perfected himself in the 
 rudiments of his own language, he assails his oppo- 
 nent with Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, not omitting 
 also, asmallportionof the French. As Mr. H. has 
 been a pupil of that champion of modern Socinian- 
 ism, Mr. Belsham, and as many had affirmed that he 
 
176 Philological BeatUies, 
 
 was also learned in the languages, it was admitted, 
 as a matter of course, that it was even so. The belief 
 of his proficiency in classical attainments was, 
 perhaps, a little strengthened, by observing how 
 learnedly he could laugh at the flowing eloquence, 
 and learned comments, of Mr. Carlisle. See p. p. 
 82 — 90. My own pretensions to such distinctions 
 are very humble ; yet am I not so destitute of learn- 
 ing, as to be unable to appreciate a few of Mr. H's. 
 beauties, especially as they are so properly scattered 
 through his elegant compositions : — these shall be 
 presented to my reader, who, I have no doubt, will 
 be equally delighted with myself, with these cor- 
 ruscations of light and glory ! 
 
 Mr. H. informs us that his opponent commences 
 his work in a peculiarly slap-dash manner ; — and 
 but for some encouragement, he really should have 
 been cowed, p. 19. We are informed that Mr. C. 
 has picked out hits of different creeds, till he has 
 got a good thumping orthodox faith, p. 20. To 
 support this good thumping faith, he has found some 
 good hackers, p. 21. And to intimidate his assail- 
 ants, he fires point hlank shots, which he believes 
 will tell. p. 22. Still he maintains his courage, for 
 he exclaims, / said, I it is all splutter and 
 BOUNCE, p. 20. So in p. 48, we read of a very 
 comical joke, — and in p. 64. Willy nilly ; which 
 words, with all deference to the learned, are, I sup- 
 pose, a new version of the thread-bare Latin volens 
 nolens. But this said willy nilly, stands in a most 
 
and Classical Criticisms. 177 
 
 ungracious connexion : — ^for Mr. Carlisle is deter- 
 mined, willy nilly, to Cram his own language into 
 Mr. Heinekcns mouth, p. 64. That is, to treat 
 an opponent as a farmer's servant would treat young 
 turkeys, liut if Mr. C. be so harsh in his treat- 
 ment of others, he must expect retaliation, -and is 
 himself presently metamorphosed into a bird of 
 prey, whether an Eagle, or a Sparrow-Hawk, my 
 informant is silent : — He pounces upon a passage of 
 Scripture, p. 89. Still all this is no apology for 
 cramming a man''s mouth with language ; which 
 may even compel him to Stutter, especially 
 when he would pronounce Shibboleth, p. 132. 
 And even to flounder in a quagmire of inconsis- 
 tencies and absurdities, p. 64. And what would 
 increase the mischief of the whole, a man with his 
 mouth crammed^ and thus floundering^ would really 
 look like a Simpleton, p. 64, which, according to 
 another elegancy of Mr. H's, is sadly against 
 THE GEAiN, p. 82. But really some persons are 
 born to suffer for Mr. Carlisle ; iachs his doggrel 
 rhyme to his opponents back. p. 94. which, I sup- 
 pose means to stitch (tailor like) patches of rhyme 
 to an upper garment ! 
 
 Original and beautiful as the rest, are the words, 
 harum scarum^ p. 72, the classical origin of which, 
 a man may see without winkings with his eyes wide 
 open. p. 85. I was delighted to observe on the 
 same page, with the last mentioned beauties, that 
 my old acquaintance. Hop — Step — and Jump, 
 
178 Philological Beauties, 
 
 made his appearance : — I read thus, / may, per- 
 haps^ he rather better inclined than I now am, to 
 shut my eyes, and with a hop, a step, and a jump, 
 
 TO TUMBLE IXTO HIS CONCLUSION, p. 85. Still 
 
 this appears rather awkwardly done ; for though not 
 at any time remarkable for agility, I could in my 
 boyish days perform a hop, a step, a jump, without 
 tumbling : — but to tumble into a conclusion ! 
 is not that awful? Is a conclusion a ditch or a 
 stone quarry ? This is a most astounding position, 
 and may well lead a man to gape so wide as to 
 
 SWALLOW A theological BOLUS, OR A THEOLOGI- 
 CAL AVALANCHE ! p. 85. Such a man, however, 
 must be favoured with a throat tolerably elastic ! 
 
 I do not stop here to notice, that the name of the 
 Greek historian is written Diadorus, p. 73. And 
 that we have Shusan, p. 81. but it will be impro- 
 per not to notice that the Samaritan woman is 
 twice called, The Syrophoenician woman, p. p. 41. 
 67. It is proper also to return our best thanks to 
 Mr. H. for informing us why we eat pan-cakes on 
 Shrove Tuesday, viz., that it is a custom derived 
 from our Saxon Ancestors in honour of their 
 GOD TuEsco. p. 35. Not being learned in My- 
 thology myself, I cannot but receive such informa- 
 tion with a due sense of its importance, especially 
 as it corrects former opinion ; for I had thought 
 that the Romans had originated this custom in 
 Western Europe, as history informs us that the 
 feast of the God Pan, called Lupercalia, was estab- 
 
and Classical Criticisms. 179 
 
 lished on Feb. 15, and which was brought from 
 Greece into Italy by Evander the Arcadian ; some 
 centuries before the Saxons were known in Britain. 
 Others assure us, tliat a feast of pancakes was in- 
 stituted in honour of Formax the god, who had 
 presided over ovens, and bread-baking : but which 
 is correct, I know not: — I only know that my 
 learned opponent is original in his information. — 
 But all these discoveries must give place to the 
 beauty and eocquisite delicacy of the following sen- 
 tence; — " I might remind him (Mr. Carlisle) oi his 
 own doggrel rhyme ; and bid him put it very snvgly 
 into his strongest and sq/est pockety for his own 
 PRIVATE USE ! How chastc ! How delicate and 
 smart the strokes of his wit ! Admirably fitted for 
 the tea-table ! But whilst detained in profound ad- 
 miration of this chaste touch of Mr. H's. pencil, I 
 was afraid a connoisseur would think that the paint- 
 er's hand shook : — for poor Carlisle has no doggrel 
 but what he has either begged, borrowed, or perhaps 
 stolen ! 
 
 To the list of beauties which have been contem- 
 plated by the reader with exquisite pleasure, it is 
 proper to inform him, that Mr. Heineken has adorned 
 the third page of his pamphlet with a list of fifteen 
 ERRORS which are not noticed, and for which he has 
 taken credit to himself — And a list the more extraor- 
 dinary, as every sheet passed under his own eye before 
 it was wrought off at the press. — One idea will, per- 
 haps, have been in the reader's possession prior to 
 
180 Philological Beauties ^ 
 
 its being suggested ; viz. — that this writer is very 
 familiar with vulgar and colloquial dialect. This 
 dialect is as amusing to a correct reader, as the 
 sight of a gypsy family dancing around their fire, 
 may be to a respectable traveller ; he may notice 
 their movements, hear their slang, and be diverted 
 with the novelty of the scene ; but he will have no 
 wish to form an alliance with the motley crew. 
 
 We shall now proceed to take a view of Mr. H's, 
 skill in the languages in which the Old and New 
 Testaments were originally written. And here, we 
 shall have the same proofs of a highly correct taste 
 and an extensive acquaintance with the Hebrew and 
 Greek. It may be necessary to inform my reader, 
 that there are two modes of writing and pronouncing 
 the Hebrew language : — one with the Masoretic 
 punctuation, the other without ; and that to write 
 and pronounce with, or without the points, is left 
 to the speaker or writer ad libitum. But by what 
 rule Mr. Heineken is governed in writing Hebrew, 
 I cannot divine : — Thus we have Allieliem ; which 
 with the points would be written Elohim, without 
 them, Aleim ; but surely never Allieliem. So 
 on the same page we have Sheddiem. p. 29. Which 
 with, or without the points would be written She- 
 dim, from the singular Shed. We meet also with 
 the words Shathen ; — Shethen; — Shetheni. 
 p. p. 5 — 91. which are beautiful varieties in the 
 spelling of the same word : but which word, an old 
 rusty Hebrew scholar informs me should be written 
 
and Classical Criticisms. 181 
 
 SoTEN, singular; — Sotenim, plural: — and in Re- 
 gimen, SoTENi : — and in the Greek, Satanas: — 
 English, Satan :— Also the word Golam, p. 131, 
 which with the points should be written Gnolam — 
 without the points, Olam. 
 
 In reading Mr. H's. pamphlet, when I observed 
 these most obvious violations of correct writing, I 
 turned to his lengthy errata, not doubting to find 
 them corrected : but the author had not seen them, 
 nor did believe them inaccuracies even when pointed 
 out to him. A youth in the second month of his 
 Hebrew studies would perceive, that if this writer 
 had ever known any thing of the language, he must 
 have forgotten nearly all he had once known. 
 
 We have also in the Greek language n^o for tt^q: — 
 And tv\oiy(Ttv, for ivoia-sv. Spellings that might 
 well have graced Mr. H's. errata — but which were 
 passed without correction. But Mr. H^s. transla- 
 tions of the sacred text are of a character much 
 more serious than mere literary mistakes. Thus 
 we have the Greek word Muo-rrj^iov f mystery^ ren- 
 dered Wonder i and in harmony with this trans- 
 lation we read, " And without controversy, great 
 IS THE WONDER OF GoDLiNEss, He was mani- 
 fest in the flesh ; justified in the spirit ; seen 
 of angels ; preached unto the Gentiles ; received 
 up UNTO glory" I Tim. iii. 16. It ig added;— 
 '^ Let the passage be read thus, and the Apostle 
 will be perfectly consistent with himself, and 
 with the whole tenor of the gospel revelation.'' p. 123 
 
182 Philological Beauties, 
 
 I do not stop here to notice at length the in- 
 accurate rendering of the preposition £v in, which 
 this writer translates unto ; and which is scarcely 
 compatible with common sense in this connexion : 
 for to speak of receiving any one unto glory, cannot 
 merit the praise of conveying one correct idea. 
 But on this subject I refer the reader to Blackw all's 
 Sacred Classics. Vol. I. p. 150. Also to Dr. 
 Macknight's Preliminary Essays. — Translation of 
 the Apostolic Epistles. Vol. I. Essay IV. p. 112 
 — 114. It is observable that the preposition sv like 
 the Latin preposition in, after a verb of motion, 
 signifies into sometimes, but never unto, so far 
 as my recollection serves me. Nor is it neces- 
 sary to notice the gross blunder in translating oc by 
 the pronoun he, instead of who : perhaps not a lad 
 jn a thousand, who had been in the Greek grammar 
 two months could have committed the blunder. 
 But perhaps Mr. H.'s Grammar, like the " New 
 Version,'' is an original ! But how is this trans- 
 lation to agree with the rules of Syntax ? The 
 word Geo? (God) is by him expunged, and the 
 relative pronoun o? (^who) substituted. A relative 
 always agrees with its antecedent in number, case, 
 and gender : o? is the relative pronoun, Mva-mqiov is 
 its antecedent, and so far as number and case are 
 concerned, all is well : but the relative is of the 
 masculine, and its antecedent is of the neuter gen- 
 der. Will a discordancy like this, irreconcileable 
 to any law of grammar, be admitted into the com- 
 
ajid Classical Criticisms. 188 
 
 positions of the pupil of Gamaliel ? In Mr. H.'s 
 version of the text, the pronoun who has no ante- 
 cedent, or if he find one, it must be the neuter 
 substantive wonder, which would be wonderful 
 indeed ! I may say, then, in the words of this 
 Author, mutatis 7nutandis, " Let the word 6fo? 
 (God) be in the text, and the Apostle will be per- 
 fectly consistent with himself, and with the wholeten- 
 or of the gospel revelation : but let the heterodox in- 
 terpretation be considered as correct, and the Apos- 
 tle's language would be absurd and contradic- 
 tory."' p. 123. I have only one remark more to 
 offer on this rendering : if the received translation 
 of this passage be erroneous, and if oj (who) be 
 the proper word instead of Qjo^- (God) the proof of 
 the Deity of Christ still remains complete and per- 
 fect, from other passages of the sacred Oracles : but 
 if the received Greek text must be altered, and 
 the common translation changed, we may justly 
 demand not to be insulted with nonsense, when we 
 should be met with truth. 
 
 In p. 109, we have another learned criticism on the 
 language of the Apostle, Ai ovKxi rovg aiZvog tTrotWrA'*' 
 Heb. i. 2, which this author remarks, should be 
 rendered by whom he established the times, 
 oa AGES : and, in a note, remarks as follows — " The 
 times or ages of the gospel dispensation. The 
 Lexicons of Schleusner, Trommius, and Hederic, 
 afford authority for such an understanding of the 
 words." I read the translation of the passage, and 
 
\84f Philolo.oical Beauties, 
 
 the note which referred to the authority for its 
 adoption with astonishment. I shall not trouble my 
 reader with the words of Hederic, as he is within 
 the reach of almost any one, only remarking that he 
 does not render the word Troi^w to establish. I re- 
 ferred to Scapula, not a mean authority, but he also 
 is unacquainted with Mr. H 's sense of the word in 
 question. Trommius, to whom the reader is refer- 
 red, did not write a Lexicon to the New Testa- 
 ment, but to the Septuagint Translation of the 
 Old Testament. He gives the Hebrew term, which 
 is used, along with the Greek Translation. Totjo; 
 is used in the extensive sense of the Latin Facere, 
 to make or do. In the Septuagint «ia to create, 
 is commonly rendered by 'rro^iu. See Genesis, Chap, 
 i. passim, "V^'ith this account of the meaning of 
 the word, agree Buxtorf, Scapula, Trommius, and 
 Robertson ; nor in one instance do they give us Mr. 
 H/s rendering. 
 
 Schleusner under the eighth signification of the 
 word TTOiEiJ 'gives creo, I create, and instances Matt. 
 xix. 4. Made them male and female: — Mark x. 
 6. The same words : — Acts iv. 24. Lord, thou art 
 God, which made heaven and earth; — Acts vii. 50. 
 Hath not my hands made all these things? — And 
 then cites the very passage in question. Heb. i. 2. 
 ^iol Kou Tov? uIuvok; E7ro*>icrsv, and renders it— Per queme- 
 
 TIAM UNIVERSUM CREAVIT : By WHOM ALSO He 
 
 CREATED THE UNIVERSE. On the WOrd aiuv, he 
 
 has these words, explanatory of its meaning : — 
 
and Classical Criticisms. 185 
 
 partim toturn sy sterna rerum creattirum, universum ,• 
 partiniy mundus orbis terrarum in N. T. vel.o^ Munq 
 vel in singidari o aiuv dicitur. akuv means — " Some* 
 times the whole system of created things, the 
 universe ; — sometimes the world, this earth in the 
 New Testament : used both in the plural, and 
 in the singular indifferently." — An example of* 
 the former you have Heb. i. ^. And relative to 
 the creation of the universe, the use of the word 
 in the plural in Heb. xi. 3. roy? atwya? " Through 
 faith we understand that the worlds were framed 
 by the word of God/' >c. t. k I have been thus prolix 
 in my quotation, that the reader might be able to 
 form his own opinion — and if he feels any hesita- 
 tion, I would request his examination of the autho- 
 rities in question for himself: — 
 
 Now the reader shall have the different render- 
 ings in opposite colums : — 
 
 Rbv. Mr. Heineken's Schleusner. 
 
 TRANSLATON, Heb i. 2. Bywhom he created the universe. 
 
 By whom he established the 
 
 times yOr ages. 
 
 This gentleman refers to Schleusner as his au- 
 thority. Does this learned Lexicographer then, 
 support his rendering of Heb. i. 2, either of Troisw 
 or aiwv ? Let the reader judge. Was this on Mr. 
 H's part the work of ignorance or design ? Did he 
 not know that the works to which he referred as 
 his authorities, were out of the reach of his readers 
 
 in general ; and did he therefore hope, in practising 
 R 2 
 
186 Philological Beauties, 
 
 upon their ignorance that he would escape detection r 
 Or did he in mind revert back to ages in which a 
 pious Jravd was allowed, and concluded that the end 
 would sanctify the means ? Whatever was his in- 
 tention, his conduct is marvellous ; and if the effect 
 of ignorance, may justly excite our compassion ; or 
 detestation, if the result of design ! 
 
 I would at all times deprecate the severity of 
 criticism, in mere matters of taste, of science, or of 
 literature ; but my reader ought to be informed, 
 that many of the inaccuracies pointed out, were 
 mentioned to the Author in a private conversation; 
 who afterwards observed," that he had examined the 
 places with care, and was very happy to find that Mr. 
 Mann was mistaken." AMiether mistaken or not, 
 readers more competent than either Mr, H. or my- 
 self will decide. At the same time it will be clearly 
 and distinctly understood, that a few literary errors, 
 when merely such, are of very small importance ; but 
 when connected with the truths of revelation, they 
 may vitally affect the best interests of men. The 
 truths of the sacred volume may be garbled ; pas- 
 sages, and even whole paragraphs, which reveal to 
 us the wisdom of God, may be condemned as in- 
 terpolations : —the most incorrect, and so far as 
 both the language, and the analogy of faith, are 
 concerned, the most vicious and pernicious altera- 
 tions may be made in the Hebrew and Greek 
 text of the sacred volume, and in the translation 
 presented to the unlearned reader ; whilst he who 
 
ond Classical Criticisms. IST 
 
 is not able to detect, may become the dupe of a de- 
 ceiver. Language also of a most ensnaring descrip- 
 tion may be employed, in a manner very equivocal 
 and ambiguous ; and even language the most ap- 
 proved, may be spoken with a deceptive mental re- 
 serve, and in a meaning entirely anti-scriptural ; 
 and thus the word of God may be handled deceit- 
 fully. Jesus may be called Our Saviour, when his 
 salvation is spurned, and the claims of self-righteous- 
 ness only supported, and his obedience and atone- 
 ment discarded. His name may be mentioned with 
 veneration, at the very moment when an effort is 
 made to disrobe him, to reduce him to the level of 
 a mere creature; and we maybe assured that he is 
 like ourselves, subjected to error ! A person may ex- 
 claim with indignation against supposed attempts to 
 unfrock', and anathematize themselves, p. 97. When 
 at the same time the Deity of the Son of God is 
 denied, and the very existence of the Holy Spirit 
 treated as the faith of a weak-headed fanatic. But 
 so it was in old time. " This is the stone which 
 the builders rejected :" and to this day it remains, 
 "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence !'' 
 
 I have never turned my attention to the criticisms 
 on the sacred text, offered to public considera- 
 tion by the learned in JVlr. H.'s connexion : but I 
 would hope that they have examined the ground 
 they occupy with more attention, than this Author 
 has paid to the divine word. The criticisms of 
 Whitby, of Doddridge, of Hanner, of Macknight, 
 
188 Philological Beauties^ 
 
 of Campbell, and of many others, have thrown a 
 flood of light on the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. 
 In collating copies of the sacred original, the la- 
 bours of Kennicott, of De Rossi, of Mill, of 
 (•rriesbach, and of Weststein, can never be over- 
 looked by him who has an opportunity to consult 
 them, and is aware of their value. But these 
 writers took the Bible into their hands as the 
 WORD OF God. Yet however venerable their names 
 may be, our appeal is not to them, but to " The 
 Law, and to the Testimony." These eminent men, 
 however, never thought of going to Mr. H.'s length. 
 Griesbach has been sufficiently free in his criticisms, 
 but he contents himself with setting aside a verse 
 occasionally : to reject the first four books of the 
 sacred volume at once ; to deny in direct te rms the 
 inspiration of the Historical books of the Old Tes- 
 tament, was left to men of greater daring. To re- 
 ject almost every truth peculiar to divine revelation 
 such as the Deity and Atonement of Christ ; the 
 Existence of the Holy Spirit ; inherent depravity; 
 the being of the devil ; and the eternity of future 
 punishments ; is not to speak the language of just 
 criticism on the contents of the Bible, but the 
 bolder language of undisguised infidelity. A per- 
 son may hold all the above-mentioned errors, and 
 he may at the same time call himself a Christian 
 Minister ; but it is passing strange that he should 
 assume that appellation ; for he is not a Minister of 
 the Gospel of Christ. Were any other book to be 
 
a?id Classical Criticisms. 189 
 
 treated with the same levity of spirit ; to be wrested 
 from its obvious grammatical meaning in the same 
 way in wliich Mr. Heincken treats the Bible ; all 
 would feel the most entire conviction that the com- 
 mentator did not believe in the text, but trifled 
 with it to serve another purpose than its illus- 
 tration, or its defence. But how any one, bearing 
 the name of Christian Minister, can consistently 
 with common honesty, palm upon the unsuspecting, 
 the criticisms I have just reviewed, is surprising ; 
 and must, and ought for ever to annihilate every 
 idea of classical attainments. A scholar, in reading 
 such spellings of scripture terms — and such pal- 
 pa-jle mistakes in rendering passages of scripture 
 into the English language, would feel himself in- 
 sulted by being asked if the writer were a scholar. 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 1 Cannot, nor ought I to conclude these remarks 
 without observing, that not one word has been 
 written with the slightest feeling of disrespect 
 towards Mr. Heineken. No : I have never met 
 that Gentleman, without receiving from him every 
 degree of civility and polite attention. But I must 
 be allowed to reiterate this truth, that where the 
 essential doctrines of the Gospel are struck at — 
 xvhere the tinsel of human learning is employed to 
 give currency to soul-destroying errors, I would 
 know no man. The system maintained by my 
 opponent is fraught with mischief, and can be 
 productive only of ruin. With feelings of un- 
 affected concern, my heart is pained at every 
 advance made by Socinianism. I regard its influ- 
 ence as the spread of a moral pestilence. Why 
 my fellow-creatures should assiduously attempt to 
 subvert the only foundation of hope, can be 
 accounted for no otherwise, than on the principles 
 of the pride and unbelief of the unregenerate 
 mind. It is a sight the most affecting, to witness 
 a Minister spending the sacred hours of the sabbath, 
 in directing the souls he has taken under his care. 
 
Conclusion. 191 
 
 to place their hopes for eternity on a foundation of 
 sand : to see' the desk occupied fc)r the purpose of 
 subverting all the glorious peculiarities of the gos- 
 pel. To have the divine remedy, which a merciful 
 God has provided for mortals perishing in sin,, 
 in our hands, only to prevent its application, is 
 a sight which might make an angel weep. Minis- 
 ters are to convey the streams of infinite benevolence 
 and goodness to those who are dying of thirst. 
 Multitudes will eagerly drink ; and woe l>e to those 
 Ministers, who by false doctrines attempt to poison 
 the salutary waters of life ! If ' a congregation 
 attendant on such a ministry be in a state awfully 
 dangerous ; how perilous beyond measure must be 
 his state, who is the leader in a course so rapid in 
 its descent to everlasting ruin. If any persons 
 exist who despise the professors of Socinian 
 tenets, with such person the writer would form no 
 alliance. Towards persons thus alienated from the 
 truth, he feels all the compassion, which his appre- 
 hensions of thi'ir imminent danger can inspire. Nor 
 is he aware of one circumstance which could gladden 
 his heart, or fill him with unutterable joy so truly, 
 as to witness the conversion and salvation of this 
 unhappily deluded class of men. 
 
 To Mr. IT. I may be permitted to offer one word 
 at parting. You, Sir, have advocated a cause, in 
 which the most daring sons of infidelity will unite 
 with you. Your Lectures have excited their atten- 
 tion — have received their applause. The only 
 
192 Conclusion. 
 
 censure conveyed by this class of men. arises from 
 your not going quite far enotigh ! An infidel of 
 a most notorious character, remarked in one instance, 
 when leaving your place of worship t — ^' Mr. Hei- 
 neken denies the inspiration of several parts of the 
 Bible, why may not I reject the rest ?" But, Sir, 
 the commendations of men of this cast is reproach 
 — it is infamy. To be the preacher of their esteem, 
 with their present views, is to -sink to the lowest 
 stage of moral degradation. The mind must be 
 awfully debauched with error, before an open and 
 avowed infidel can sit and hear us with a grin of 
 ghastly pleasure. You must be aware also, that the 
 persons who pay the most devoted ' attention to 
 serious piety — who are the most afraid of sin — 
 who are the most solicitous to serve God — to please 
 him, and to spread the knowledge of Christ and 
 his gospel among men, dare not attend your minis- 
 try. ' But the gamester, the infidel, the Sabbath- 
 breaker, come from choice ; and they return, but not 
 to break off their sins by righteousness ; not to read 
 their Bibles with more frequency, seriousness, and 
 prayer ; but to take fresh courage in the warfare 
 against the Lord, and against his Anointed. They 
 are comforted, for they are taught that they have no 
 helltofear. Attempt to prove that futurepunishment 
 is not eternal, and you remove the fears of a guilty 
 conscience. Even the infidel has occasional migiv- 
 ings ; but let the professed minister of the gospel 
 inform him that there is no devil, no future retri- 
 
Conchmon. 193 
 
 bution, and he is placed on a good footing with 
 himself. The transgressor proceeds in his devious 
 course with renewed alacrity, when he understands 
 that hell is a mere fiction. If he be overtaken by 
 justice, it is but the justice of a fellow- worm — at a 
 higher tribunal, he flatters himself he shall pass 
 with almost entire impunity. To attempt to reclaim 
 such a profligate by a cold, unanimated exhibition of 
 the beauty of virtue, and the deformity of vice, is like 
 an attempt to awaken the sound sleeper by admin- 
 istering to him a dose of laudanum. The mate- 
 rials on which we have to work, are not to be reduced 
 to order, and formed into a temple for God, by the 
 stroke of a feather. Had no efforts been made to 
 reclaim the world more efficient than those which 
 Socinianism has employed, the whole world would 
 havebeen quietly asleep in sin, orGodmusthave now 
 visibly wrought miracles of mercy. In a town of 
 perhaps twenty thousand inhabitants, or nearly 
 double the number, if the neighbourhood be includ- 
 ed, I have not heard for the more than twenty 
 years I have known it, of a single sermon being 
 preached in any neighbouring village, or in any 
 private house ; or the slightest attempt at itinerant 
 labours, except the giving away a few paltry tracts, 
 may be so called, by one of your denomination. 
 And to attempt such labours would be perfectly 
 gratuitous ; as Socinianism has no charms for the 
 pious, nor any terrors for the guilty ; it is the opiate 
 of a worn-out professor, who has only the form of 
 godliness. s 
 
194 Conclusion. 
 
 You, Sir, are rapidly advancing in years. Eter- 
 nity is at hand : some of your flock have entered 
 that eternity, and you must soon meet them, and 
 the God who made you. You are their Pastor : 
 whether you have fed them with the bread of life, or 
 served them only with husks, will soon be known. 
 They have obeyed your voice, and walked after 
 your counsels. You assert that Christ is not 
 God — and they believe you : you maintain that 
 his obedience and atonement are not the fouada- 
 tion of hope, — and here they place no dependance. 
 You affirm that the Holy Spirit has no existence, 
 as a divine person ; and they seek not his influ- 
 ences to sanctify their natures, or to regenerate their 
 souls ! You, Sir, are on the margin of eternity, 
 but where is hope.'^ where is the prospect of obtaining 
 mercy ? Is not your eternal all at stake ? Fain would 
 I meet you in a better world, and my spirit would 
 exult with your own in the salvation of God; 
 but Socinianism must be abandoned; it is charged, 
 highly charged only with death. In speaking thus 
 explicitly and candidly, I am only discharging a 
 duty, a duty which I owe bath to God and to you. 
 And I am perfectly disinterested; for were your con- 
 gregation dispersed this day, I should not receive 
 from them one additional attendant upon my ministry. 
 This duty to you, Sir, I never had a previous op- 
 portunity to discharge. I now have; and am thank- 
 ful that I may speak to you on behalf of my Lord, 
 and in compassion to your soul. Flee to the Savi- 
 
Conch mon. ] 95 
 
 our you have dishonoured — trust in that Atone- 
 ment you have denied — and seek that Holy Spirit, 
 to enlighten your mind, and purify your heart, 
 whose very being you have contemned : here is 
 mercy, here is hope; and at present you are invited 
 to come. O, come, and take of the waters of life 
 freely ! 
 
 Were I within the reach of your hearers, I 
 would say — beware of being found amongst those 
 deceived souls, who shall perish with a lie in their 
 right hand ! To embrace the truth, is in close al- 
 liance with your eternal salvation ; to willfully re- 
 ject it, is to seal your own condemnation ! Examine 
 the Bible, my friends, with humble prayer to God, 
 to be guided into all the truth. Peruse that hea- 
 ven-inspired volume with an honest intention to 
 embrace whatever its Divine Author has therein 
 revealed. Believe no man any farther than his 
 doctrine is drawn from this infallible record. Al- 
 low no man to trifle with you in the great concerns 
 of eternity ; here is your all. In a little time what 
 is earthly will disappear as a vapour. The stream 
 that is rapidly bearing you onward, will entomb 
 every temporal mercy. Awful beyond description 
 is the wreck of that man's all, who enters another 
 world destitute of treasures divine ! To enter that 
 world under the influence of destructive errors, is 
 to be lost beyond the hope of recovery. Nothing 
 can be more pernicious than to embrace a false re- 
 ligion. The openly profane, who make no preten- 
 
1 96 Conclushn. 
 
 sions to piety, are vulnerable. They acknowledge 
 that they are in a bad state, and at times appear to 
 feel the truth of the acknowledgment. But a false 
 religion gives hope, removes anxieties, prevents 
 apprehension, and the mind under its influence, is 
 soothed into a torpid state, or is inflated with self- 
 righteous pride. Beware of this evil. — Your par- 
 don, your salvation, are objects about which I am 
 truly solicitous ; and to meet you in the regions of 
 unchangeable felicity, is my earnest desire, and ar- 
 dent prayer. " Wherefore do you spend your 
 money for that which is not bread.? Hear and your 
 souls shall live." To be elated with false hopes, 
 to be deceived in temporal concerns, would grieve 
 and distress you ; but according to the magnitude 
 of the everlasting mercies you lose, and the ever- 
 lasting misery to be endured, such will be the poig- 
 nancy of your pain, on finding that you have only 
 sown to the wind, and are reaping the whirlwind ! 
 The illusions of the mind will be dissipated — the 
 slumbers of a careless soul will soon be broken ; 
 and Oh ! how terrible to awake to everlasting 
 sorrow. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 The Author being in London during the time of working 
 off the last three or four half sheets, has been the occasion of 
 a few slight inaccuracies, which, it is hoped, the reader will 
 pardon. 
 
 I. M. 
 
 Page 164, for ** Unitarians" read "Unitarian.' 
 Page 176, for "properly" read "profusely." 
 Page 179, read " Fornax, the goddess." 
 Page 181, for "£7rot(7£v" read " e7roi»j<7cv." 
 
'' '-'V ;. 7^%' . > 
 
 ini I m"||7||Ti'1' S^^'Mry-Speer Library 
 
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