the solution will readily present itself to an attentive mind.

That difficulties attach to the conclusion which I have drawn, I am far indeed from denying. I have felt them in their full weight, and have not failed frankly to state them in the preceding pages. Το my own apprehension, however, they are inconsiderable in comparison with those which lie on the opposite hypothesis, and infinitely less than would be the rejection of the POSITIVE EVIDENCE.

I cannot conclude without expressing the conviction, that much consideration is due, both of respect and of affectionate concern, to those who hold the sentiments which in these pages have been opposed. To the great talents and labours of many of them, the Christian world is under eminent obligations, for some of the most valuable works on the Evidences of Revealed Religion, and for their services to the cause of religious liberty and the rights of conscience; a cause which ought to be dear to every man, since, unless it prosper, truth can never attain to its legitimate honour, nor exercise its genuine influence in the world. And even their errors are those into which an ardent mind is not unlikely to rush, by the strength of its revulsion from the grasp of usurped and antichristian authority; when that ardent mind, alas! is not tenderly sensible to its own spiritual wants and miseries, feels no need of rich grace, and has never duly sought a righteousness which shall avail before God. Those errors do indeed wear upon their front much that is alluring, to persons who have a high opinion of their own understanding, and strong confidence in their own powers; but who have but a faint

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perception of the evil of sin, and no experience of a broken and contrite heart. Independently of the sources of prejudice to which we are all liable, it is, I fear, in the predispositions of moral infirmity, and the pride of self-righteousness, that their system finds its main advantage. The tendency and general effect of their sentiments are to flatter and to fascinate ; but not to "cast down imaginations (Xoyoμoì, opinions,) and all loftiness that exalteth itself against "the knowledge of God; and to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” On the contrary, those who are educated among them are nursed up in the belief of an intellectual superiority, which habituates them to entertain an unhesitating contempt for the very understandings of the orthodox and the persons who become proselytes are complimented on their superior discernment in seeing out of the gloom of old orthodoxy ; nor less upon their mental valour, in having broken the bonds of authority and the more tender influence of perhaps the most venerated connexions. The highest exercise of candour towards believers in the Deity and sacrifice of Christ, is usually coupled with a half-deriding pity for the weakness of their minds and the strength of their prejudices. Another cir cumstance is productive of a great effect. This is, the novelty and boldness, the learned aspect and the frequent plausibility, of the kind of criticism and interpretation by which Unitarian writers escape from the arguments of the orthodox. There are few temptations more dangerous to the religious principle, than Biblical erudition cultivated too exclusively and without a vigilant guard of devotion and humility.

Unitarian criticisms have, also, very often, the weighty collateral recommendation of neutralizing or annihilating some consideration which might otherwise give serious alarm to the conscience. The most awful and awakening passages of Scripture are pretended to have had all their application to men and circumstances no longer existing; and the heart-melting tenderness of the evangelical promises is often evaporated to a poor and unaffecting residue.

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It is also a fact which deserves the most serious and monitory reflection, that the ignorant statements, the unsound arguments, the loose declamation, the unjust imputations, and even the virulent spirit, which have too often been employed on the side of truth, (thus inflicting deep wounds on that sacred cause, and conferring the most signal advantages on the opposite errors,) have had an extensive effect in urging to the inviting retreats of Unitarianism, those who have not been fortified with accurate knowledge

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How did Christ and his apostles feel the condition of infatuated and impenitent sinners! How did they denounce the condemnation of the unbelieving and ungodly, the terrors of the Lord, the wrath of God revealed from heaven, the fearful looking for of judgment, and the fiery indignation! With what holy earnestness and commiseration, with what tenderness and deep concern did they warn, rebuke, exhort, and entreat men ! How," they cried, "shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation!" But, alas, what a

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contrast do the best and greatest of Unitarians exhibit, if the following passage may be taken as evidence!

"The firm faith that you and I have, that even the wicked, after a state of wholesome discipline, (and that not more severe than will be necessary,) will be raised, in due time, to a state of happiness, greatly diminishes our concern on their account." Dr. Priestley to Mr. Lindsey, in Mr. Belsham's Memoirs of Mr. Lindsey, p. 537.

of doctrines and evidences, or whose evangelical piety has not been strong enough to rise above injustice and unkindness.

It may be asked, whether that can be true, or, if true, whether it can be of any high importance in religion, which requires so much toilsome research and heavy criticism, for its explication and establishment; and whether it can be requisite to the faith and happiness of plain Christians, to believe doctrines thus circumstanced.

We reply, that the necessity of these laborious discussions is put upon us by those who misunderstand, or who oppose, what we deem sacred truth; that the adducing of scripture evidence, and the study of scripture doctrines, are in perfect coincidence with the daily habits of all sincere Christians, even in the lowest ranks of life; that it is but a small part of such persons that have the unhappiness of being plunged into the turbid waters of controversy; that the truths here vindicated lie so plainly and so extensively upon the surface of revelation, as to have produced this remarkable fact, that the .generality of serious Christians, from the very earliest times, (of whose devotional exercises we possess any documents,) have admitted those doctrines as the wellknown truth of heaven, and have infused them into the whole constitution of their secret piety and their practical religion; and finally, that, to a very large extent, and among all ranks and conditions of society, experience has proved that where the holy Scriptures, in any intelligible form, have engaged the serious attention of untutored men, their usual operation has

been to produce the deepest impression of the truth, excellence, and practical efficacy of those very doctrines which Unitarians renounce.

The feeling of deficiency and need, which is the first developement of the religious spirit in the human mind; its unconquerable aspiring after an unknown good, a good invisible, spiritual, eternal, infinite; produce a conviction impossible to be surmounted, that the restoration of our fallen nature to purity and happiness can only be effected by its reunion to God: and another feeling, inseparably consequent, is the sense, the desire, the hope, that this reunion is actually attained by a mysterious condescension of the Deity to bind the nature of man for ever to himself. For proof of the existence of this principle in man, I can only appeal to the consciousness of any person who has endeavoured to think closely, and to urge deeply the efforts of self-inquiry; and who has taken pains to analyze and classify the operations of his own mind. Let us call this principle what we may, a natural tendency, a moral instinct, or a necessary inclination; it constitutes an original fact in the history of our species; it is as surely drawn out, when it meets with the appropriate circumstances, as a seed is made to germinate when it obtains its proper place and temperature and moisture; and it is as impossible to extirpate it as it is to destroy the desire of happiness. When the rational and consciously sinful creature has thus opened its susceptibilities and exerted its longings for the supreme good, it can find no rest till it hears the voice of eternal mercy announcing a REDEEMING GOD, made flesh, and dwelling among us.