On "the modern reasoning Orthodox.” those contained in the "Apology" and in the passage from the " Reply" quoted in your last Number, (p. 183,) and I should be glad to learn, Sir, what stronger evidence can be given of reverence for living or departed genius and moral excellence? I yield not to Homo, or to any man, in admiration or affectionate remembrance of the splendid character and exalted virtues of Dr. Priestley, and no difference in our religious creeds can lessen my reverence for the transcendant abili ties, fervent piety and exemplary and useful life of Mr. Hall. SIR, T. M. March 21, 1822. lately inserted in your Repository, [p. both absurd and mischievous: for every thing that is extravagant in religion, and urged with a grave face, must be of mischievous tendency. It is in this view, as I conceive, that Mr. Belsham has considered the subject; and, indeed, it is only on the supposition, that these writers thought no reader of common sense would take them literally, that we can possibly vindicate their integrity. But, without entering into the main question, which is continually before you; my chief design at present is to request your insertion of a few passages from some eminent orthodox divines, respecting the human nature of our Lord, which, in addition to the quotation by Dr. Smith, will serve to shew, that, in their serious moments and when not disposed to play the orator, they could speak very rationally upon this important subject. "Nothing is absolutely perfect but God; in comparison of whom, the highest and most exalted of all creatures is and will be eternally imperfect and de (221 fective. The heavens are not clean in his sight, and he chargeth even his angels with folly.' Even the Man Christ Jesus shall for ever fall short of the perfection of the Divine Nature to which he is united, and, in this sense, will be imperfect for ever."-Watts's Death and Heaven, 1722. "Even the human nature of Christ cannot comprehend God; for Christ's human nature, being but a creature, therefore his human understanding, though enlarged beyond that of any mere creature, yet, absolutely considered, is but of a finite capacity, and so bears no proportion to the infinite majesty of God. Though his human nature, being straitly united to the Divine Nature in his person, doth behold the essence of God, yet it cannot comprehend it: Vidit Deum, óλor aλλ' ovn óλws.' Christ, as man, sees "Some have fancied that Christ was pleased to take something from every sin, from Adam's state of innocence; condition of man; taking immunity from punishment and misery from the state of Adam fallen; the fulness of grace from the state of renovation; and perfect contemplation of the Divinity and beatific joys, from the state of comprehension and the blessedness of heaven; meaning that the humanity of our Lord did, in the sharpest extremities of his passion, behold the face of God, and communicate in glory. But I consider, that, although the two natures of Christ were knit by a the natures still retain their incommunica mysterious union into one person; yet, ble properties. And, therefore, though the human nature was united to the Divine, it does not infer, that it must in all instances partake of the Divine felicities, which in God are essential; to man communicated without necessity, and by an arbitrary dispensation. Add to this, that many excellencies and virtues were consist with the state of glorified and in the soul of Christ, which could not beatified persons: such as poverty of spirit, hope, &c., which suppose a state of pilgrimage; that is, a condition imperfect, and in order to something better. Thus, his present life was a state of merit and work, and, as a reward of it, he was crowned with glory and immortality; he was made Lord of all creatures, the first-fruits of the resurrection, and the prince and head of the universal church; and because this was his recompence, and the fruits of his humility and obedience, it is certain it was not a necessary consequence, and a natural efflux of the personal union. This, I have said, that we may not in our esteem lessen the suffering of our Lord, by thinking he had the supports of actual glory in the midst of his sufferings. For there is no one minute or ray of this, but its fruition must outweigh the greatest calamities and the spirit of pain from all the infelicities in the world and it was not possible that the soul of Jesus should at once be ravished with glory, and abated with pains grievous and afflictive. On the other hand, some say that the soul of Jesus on the cross suffered the pains of hell, and all the torments of the damned; and that without such sufferings he could not pay the price which God's wrath should demand of us. But the same argument which reproves the one, doth also reprehend the other. For the hope that was the support of Jesus, as it confesses an imperfection not consistent with the state of glory, so it excludes the despair of torment proper to accursed souls. Our Lord suffered the whole condition of humanity, sin only excepted, and freed us from hell, with suffering those sad pains: and merited heaven for his own humanity as the head, and all faithful people as the members of his mystical body; and, therefore, his life here was only a state of pilgrimage, not at all trimmed with beatific glories. Much less was he ever in the state of hell, or upon the cross felt the torment and formal misery of damned spirits; because it is impossible that Christ should despair, and without despair it is impossible there should be a hell."-Bishop Taylor's Life of Christ. and decisive terms in the room of those which are obscure and equivocal? The " Trinity," and the " divinity of Christ," are of this latter class. When it is said a man rejects the doctrine of the Trinity, an ignorant, but wellmeaning Churchman, immediately concludes, that he rejects the Christian religion altogether; but when you explain, that he only does not hold the Athanasian doctrine, the other replies-No more do I, for I never could understand it! It was said in public company, that a worthy Alderman, lately deceased, "neither believed in God nor devil :" but all the argument produced on the occasion was, that he attended at a chapel not a hundred miles from Temple Bar; and, probably, with such profound disciples, the whole congregation and its worthy pastor were included in the same predicament. The Trinity of Dr. Clarke, Whichcote, Salter, Courayer and others, is "that doctrine which was revealed by God the Father, preached by his Son Jesus Christ, and confirmed by the gifts of the Holy Spirit; and the divinity of Christ, as implying his divine mission, and all that the New Testament hath clearly and unequivocally declared concerning him, is the belief of all Christians. Even Archbishop Tillotson, though perhaps more orthodox on this point than these great men, heartily wished "a riddance" of the Athanasian Creed; and it is eminently disgraceful, in the present state of religious knowledge, that the damnatory clauses, at least, of this Creed, should be suffered in a Protestant Church to remain on the rubrick, for "the curse causeless shall not come." J. L. SIR, From these and similar passages which might be produced, it should seem that "The Man Christ Jesus" of these writers, is the same individual being that is received and acknowledged by their opponents; even a prophet, mighty in word and deed before God and all the people;" and they are well calculated to bring serious persons of different sentiments Chichester, nearer together; and, perhaps, to inquire, what they are disputing about. Tink, patronize Bible SocieFebruary 4, 1822. And let none of your eagle-eyed corUNITARIANS, as a body, do not, respondents think that I am an advocate for Latitudinarianism in the concerns of religion, or an amalgamation of opinions utterly discordant: I only say, with Dr. Whichcote, that " religious disputes would much sooner come to an end, if none but wise and good men had the management of them." By the way, would it not tend much to the promotion of amicable controversy, if we were to substitute plain ties; and it may be presumed, from the extract from the Report of the Parent Institution, given in your last Repository, [pp. 30, 31,] that it is at length determined that their co-operation in circulating the Scriptures is not agreeable to their orthodox brethren : if not, it was surely ill-judged to introduce into that report a tenet which really, it might be imagined, every reasonable man would scout, as being a foul libel on the benevolent Objections to Bible-Society Meetings. Creator. Some Unitarians, however, are members of these societies, and they may chance to take the Repository, and be able, through its pages, to inform me, how they can acquit themselves of duplicity, while they circulate the common version of the Scriptures, for pretending that they circulate the Scriptures without note or comment. I think no book can be more fit for circulation than the Scriptures; and, at a meeting of an auxiliary Bible Society, not long since held in Sussex, on hearing one of the orthodox orators expatiate on the necessity of all men having the words of eternal life in their hands, that they may not be seduced by false commentaries, but may be ever able to see the innate depravity of our nature, in the language of the prophet himself, that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," I was almost going to enrol my name among the other members, for I felt anxious to have some hand in circulating the antidote to this tenet, in the words of him who was greater than previous prophets, who regarded with kindness little children, because of such (notwithstanding, of course, their wicked hearts) was the kingdom of heaven. Unfortunately for my incipient resolution, the next orator largely expatiated on the excellence of the institution, in uniting in its support all parties, by circulating the Scriptures without note or comment. I instantly felt paralized, as to any exertion in behalf of the Society, from what appeared to me to be duplicity in the reverend pleader, and I believe my nerves or senses have not recovered from the shock they then received, for I still feel a sort of horror at the ignorance or want of principle of the man who would send our received version of the Scriptures among the Kamschatcans, as the genuine, revealed word of God, without note or comment. To send, under such a title, Scriptures containing, as does the commonly received version, the famous text of the Heavenly Witnesses, appears to me to be unpardonable; for, notwithstand ing Bishop Burgess has volunteered his services in defence of an old friend, there is little reason to believe that he will be able to tear from the front of that friend the word "impostor," 223 which Porson and his learned associates have indelibly affixed there. If this text be not genuine, it is in effect a note and comment to all intents and purposes; nay, it is infinitely worse, because it does not appear with the modesty of a note or comment, but as a legitimate member of the sacred volume. But, surely, not to insist on doubtful passages, the "heads of chapters" act in some cases as notes and comments: they do not belong to the revealed word of God: where can be the honesty of circulating them as such? We are decidedly led by the summary prefixed to the first chapter of the Gospel by John, to consider Jesus as a Divine Being, but whether the chapter teaches this doctrine or not, remains as yet quite undecided among the learned. I cannot say I have seen any observations leading me to think that by the term logos or word, the personal nature of our Lord was intended. It probably does refer to that growing revelation, or gospel, of which he was the conveyer from the bosom of his Father to mankind. When the apostle talks of the word or logos of God, not being bound; when he commends the converts to the word or logos of his grace, he can hardly be considered as in the least having in his mind the personal nature of Jesus; nor do I perceive that there is any solid ground for imagining it as being referred to in the first chapter of the Gospel. Be this as it may, the summary of contents takes upon itself to solve this difficulty, and to dispel this doubt. Hence it has all the tendency of a note and comment, the professed object of which is to render more intelligible, than it otherwise is, the text; though it sometimes happens, as may, perhaps, be the case with the summary above referred to, that it darkens counsel with words without knowledge. If, Sir, any of your intelligent correspondents can convince me that my feelings as above stated are erroneous, I shall be very thankful; and as I see this week, by the Hampshire Telegraph, a Ladies' Bible Society has been established lately at Newport in the Isle of Wight, which some Unitarians, if I mistake not, patronize, and where their ears heard from a Mr. Dudley, from the Parent Society, the old story of "no note and comment," I am not without hope that I may receive this benefit. I must, however, just hint, that should I be thus enlightened, I do not promise to become a very ample contributor to the funds of these institutions, for though I think no book so important for circulation as the Bible, I am not quite satisfied, that the union of Conformists and Nonconformists, for even this glorious object, is desirable. I have heard, at the meetings which I have attended, a great deal said on the glorious spectacle there exhibited, of zealous Christians forgetting their points of difference, to co-operate for this grand object; but I think I see no particular affection engendered in the bosom of the High-Church Priest toward his Dissenting neighbour, by their annually speechifying in succession on the subject of the Bible; while there is great danger of the descendants of the venerable Puritans becoming insensible to the value of those principles for which their ancestors braved tribulation and death, if through the means of these occasional meetings, they become familiar with the smiles and favours of nobility. I acknowledge myself at times doubtful of the correctness of my conclusions, relative to the disingenuousness of the members of our Bible Societies, from the circumstance that among the supporters of them, are members of the Society of Friends, who we know are so scrupulous of appearing to approach to falsehood, that they will not call the months by the names usually allotted to them, but persist in terming them the first, second or third month, &c. It is indeed true, that the Friends, though an excellent body of people in many respects, are not remarkable for the extent of their religious inquiries, nor for depth of general knowledge; but I presume they must be aware that the summary prefixed to the chapters of our version, nay, even the division of chapters itself, were not in those Scriptures from which ours were rendered into English. This knowledge is not, however, always found where it might be fairly expected; for I remember hearing a young minister, when discoursing on the excellence of charity, remark, among other things, that the apostle felt its worth so much, that, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, he not only thought it right to devote one chapter to the enumeration of its qualities, but absolutely began a second with this interesting subject. It is really, Mr. Editor, hardly possible to conceive to what pitch of intellectual glory and enjoyment the poor South-Sea Islanders may attain, when taught by Missionaries deeply read, as was the above minister, with our Scriptures, as now circulated with out note and comment, in their hands. SIR, NON CON. April 10, 1822. Register for February 2nd last, LATELY observed in Mr. Cobbett's that among his reasons which he assigns, in his Letter to Mr. Carlile, for a "dislike to republican government," he alleges the following recent instance of persecution : "In the year 1819, a man was tried in New Jersey, under the act of King William III., for impugning the Holy Trinity, found guilty, and punished by imprisonment in the common gaol.” I quote this passage with the hope that one of your transatlantic correspondents, if not a correspondent on this side the water, may furnish you with some particulars respecting this modern enforcement of a barbarous statute which disgraced a regal, and very ill becomes a republican, government. It is indeed a statute on a subject so remote from the fair objects of national convention, as to be only worthy of a government in which "priests are instructed to teach speculative despotism, and graft on religious affeetions, systems of civil tyranny." Such, according to Catharine Macaulay, was the government of Charles I., before his royal propensities were effectually controlled by the Long Parliament. GAMALIEL. Sylva Biographica. O. 226. ISAAC AMBROSE, a mi- cashire, became a Batler* of BrazenNose College, in 1621, aged 17, took "A scholar that battles or scores for dict in the University." Dict. AngloBrit. 1715, in voco. Sylva Biographica. one degree in Arts, holy orders, had some little cure in his own country conferred on him, and afterwards relief from William Earl of Bedford,** who caused him also, if I mistake not, to be put into the list of his Majesty's preachers appointed for the county of Lancaster. Afterwards, upon the change of times, he sided with the Presbyterians, then dominant, took the covenant, + became a preacher of the gospel at "Created Marquis of Tavistock and Duke of Bedford in 1694." He was the father of William Lord Russel, whom that royal profligate Charles II. sacrificed in 1683 to his brother's malignity. To the Earl of Bedford is attributed the following severe but well-merited reproof: when James II. applied to him in 1688 for his assistance, the Earl excused himself, uow an old man, but added, that he had once a son who might have served the King in his extremity. +"The Solemn League and Covenant" in 1643. See Oldmixon's Stuarts (1740) 238, 239; Parl. Hist. XII. 402, 403. Whitelocke gives the following account : "Sept. 25, 1643. Both Houses, with the Assembly of Divines and Scots Commissioners, met in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, where Mr. White, one of the Assembly, prayed an hour to prepare them for taking the Covenant, then Mr. Nye, in the pulpit, made some observations touching the Covenant, shewing the warrant of it from Scripture, the examples of it since the creation, and the benefit to the Church. "Mr. Henderson, one of the Scots Commissioners, concluded in a declaration of what the Scots had done, and the good they had received by such covenants, and then he shewed the prevalency of ill counsels about the King, the resolutions of the states of Scotland to assist the Parliament of England. "Then Mr. Nye, in the pulpit, read the Covenant, and all present held up their hands, in testimony of their assent to it; and afterwards, in the several houses, subscribed their names in a parchment roll, where the Covenant was written: the Divines of the Assembly and the Scots Commissioners likewise subscribed the Covenant, and then Dr. Gonge, in the pulpit, prayed for a blessing upon it. 225 Garstang, and afterwards at Preston in Amounderness, in his own country a zealous man for carrying on the beloved cause, and active against the orthodox clergy, when he was appointed an assistant to the commissioners for the ejecting of such whom they then (1654, 2 Oliver Protector) called scandalous and ignorant ministers and schoolmasters. He hath written: Prima, media et ultima; or the first, middle and last Things; wherein is set forth, 1. The Doctrine of Regeneration, or the New Birth. 2. The Practice of Sanctification, in the Means, Duties, Ordinances, both private and public, for continuance and increase of a godly Life. † 3. Certain Medita Whence he was ejected in 1662, though it appears he had no insurmountable objection to the Liturgy. "A little after the King's restoration," says Calamy, "there was a meeting of above twenty ministers at Bolton, to consult what course to take. Mr. Ambrose and Mr. Cole, of Preston, declared before them all, that they could read the Common Prayer, and should do it, the state of their places requiring it, in which otherwise their service was necessarily at present at an end."-Account, (1713,) p. 409. This is probably the book mentioned in the following interesting narrative by Mr. Benjamin Bennet : "A number of young men in the town of Newcastle (about thirty) met together once a week for mutual assistance and improvement in religion; for which purpose they spent some time in prayer and conference, having subscribed a paper containing rules for the better ordering such a society, and the work to be done in it; taken out of a book of Mr. Isaac Ambrose's. One of the society, upon what inducement he best knows, turns informer; and having a copy of this dangerous paper, with the names of the subscribers, makes a discovery, and the whole matter was laid before Judge Jefferies at the assizes. "The offenders (some of whom are found in Court, and others of them brought in by the sheriff) are presented before his Lordship's tribunal: such as know his Lordship's character will easily imagine (and some well remember it) with how much indignation and contempt he would look down upon these young men. One of them, Mr. Thomas Verner, who had but a mean aspect at best, (and the work he was taken from 2 G "The House ordered the Covenant to be taken the next Lord's-day, by all persons in their respective parishes, and the ministers to exhort them to it."-Mem. (1682) p. 70. VOL. XVII. |