living body, the natural faculties in the mind, and the spiritual principle in the immortal spirit.

Now Truth added to Truth, spiritually and substantially, is like particle added to living particle in a seed, or fibre to organized fibre in a living body :-It is a true vital union. It does not mean the mechanical introduction of one element of knowledge to another, whether Divine or natural: this may be done, though not mechanically, by outward labour; as, it is possible for memory to lay up such a store in the mind. But it means, when applied to the spiritual faculties, a Divine communication of truth from the Spirit of Truth to the humble and obedient mind; constituting a perfect union between the recipient and that portion of Divine wisdom which is received.

I have been struck with the testimony of Milton as to the effect of loading the mind outwardly with knowledge, though it is not applied spiritually. But there is much wisdom in the remark, and I think it may be applied instructively in the present argument: who reads

Incessantly, and to his reading brings not

A Spirit and Judgment equal or superior,

(And what he brings, what need he elsewhere seek?)

Uncertain and unsettled still remains ;

Deep versed in books, and shallow in himself,

Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys

And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge,

As children gathering pebbles on the shore.*

Paradise Regained.

This interesting passage is associated in the mind of a late Au

SECT. VI.

Of Christ.

Proposition V.

This Divine Spirit is the Spirit of Christ himself, in all ages the same; and its manifestations are true revelations from above, perceived not by Sense nor by Reason, but by the inward eye of Faith.

The latter part of this Proposition has been already under our notice: the former part, therefore, comes now more immediately to be considered. The truth contained in it, is, indeed, of the last importance; and the proof of it is the sum and substance at which I have all along aimed in this argument. This proof I shall attempt by Scripture.

In the commencement of this volume, I have spoken largely of the Divine Power, operating in the mas

thor, with a saying of Sir Isaac Newton, which he is reported to have uttered a little before he died; and which shows his modest opinion of himself and his discoveries in Natural Philosophy.

"I dont know what I may seem to the world, but, as to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of Truth lay all undiscovered before me."

See Spence's Anecdotes, by S. W. Singer, page 54.

terial universe, as the hidden spring of the wonderful works carried on in the vast scheme, in blind obedience to the Great First Cause; and throughout the kingdoms of animated nature, as the fountain of that unconscious intelligence, if I may be allowed such an expression, which is displayed, with more or less wisdom and design, in every tribe and family of the brute

creation.

I have latterly taken occasion to speak of the Holy Spirit under different appellations, as the medium by which Divine Intelligence is not only conveyed to the soul of man, but produces in his life and conduct, when properly submitted to, the fruits of undefiled Religion.

I have now to say a few words on the name and spirit of Christ, or the Divine Word, as the same in power and heavenly nature with the eternal wisdom of God, and with the influence of the Holy Spirit of Grace and Truth.

In endeavouring to elucidate this point, I shall observe the following order.

First, I shall produce the evidence from Scripture, which seems fully to establish the identity of operation in question:

Secondly, I shall consider what evidence the Scripture contains of the existence of Christ's Spirit in godly men, before his personal appearance amongst the Jews, and outward manifestation to the world:- and thirdly, I shall subjoin a very

few testimonies from Christian writers to the same

purpose.

I. With reference to the first object, I have collected a number of Scripture texts, which are disposed in a kind of tabular order. In presenting a subject of so sacred a character in such a form, I feel some apology to be necessary, lest it should appear that I was disposed to treat it in a way that bore any resemblance to that in which the common subjects of natural research are used to be illustrated. I am, on the contrary, persuaded, that the sublime truths of Revealed Religion, and especially those, which regard the nature and operation of the Godhead-that mysterious Power which is incomprehensible, because infinite in every perfection of which man sees and knows but a little part-cannot be brought under our notice and handled like the common topics of human inquiry, without weakening in some degree that holy reverence in which these sublime truths ought invariably to be held.

From this synoptical view, I presume to think, that the harmony, union, and identity of operation, in all the Divine works, of the Almighty Father, the Anointed Messiah, his eternal Word, and the Holy Spirit, will be strikingly manifested. And I am the more reconciled to the form; because it embraces nothing of my own, and presents the simple unencumbered truth in Scripture language. Indeed, I believe, there are many Scripture truths,-and this is one of the

most sublime that can be contemplated by men or Angels in their nature so refined, elevated, and incomprehensible, that an attempt to clothe them in any other language than Scripture authorizes, will rather serve to show the weakness and presumption of man than to unfold the least of the hidden mysteries of Divine Truth. And while I have been engaged in preparing this table, I have been forcibly struck with the idea that the serious contemplation of such a view must have a powerful tendency to check those disputes which have so much disturbed and alienated from each other the minds of Christians who profess to take Scripture for their Guide in matters of speculative Faith and Doctrine. For, if Scripture be received as authority, as it unquestionably ought to be, there can scarcely be any ground for difference of opinion on this important subject; so far as it can be brought within the comprehension of the human mind; i. e. circumscribing opinion within those limits, which can never be safely transgressed.

Scripture bears the clearest and most unanswerable testimony to ONE ONLY TRUE GOD, doing all things by his own eternal Power, Wisdom, and Word, CHRIST JESUS, the Rock of Ages, through the immediate influence and agency of the HOLY SPIRIT. There can be no sliding from this foundation, without setting up the deductions of human wisdom, limited, superficial, dark, and doubtful as it is, above the Divine revelations given to Patriarchs, Prophets,