having a near relation to the other two; and, from his office, has the name of Holy Ghost, as being the sanctifier of men.

4th. At an immense remove from these we find a fourth class of incorporeal substances, called angels by us, but by the heathens, demons, genii, &c, concerning which we read of various denominations, numbers and subordi nations; which latter is called the hierarchy of angels, and is usually reckoned threefold, viz. The first hierarchy contains the three most honorary orders, called seraphims, cherubims, and thrones; the second hierarchy consists of three intermediate orders, called dominions, virtues, and powers; the third hierarchy contains the three lowest orders, called principalities, archangels, and angels."MARTIN'S Philology, article Metaphysics, p. 180.

This scheme is formed on the philosophical principle of the graduated scale of intelligences, and of entities in general; which maintains that there is no chasm or break from God, the Fountain of being, to the lowest inorganized particle of matter, or atom: and that all proceed from the indivisible particle of inert matter, through different forms of organized being, up to animal life; and through different degrees of animal life up to intellectual; and through various degrees of intellectual life up to God. Matter being more perfect as it approaches to, or arises from inertness, to organization; organization being more or less perfect as it approaches to, or recedes from vitality; vitality, being more or less perfect as it approaches to, or recedes from intellectual existence; and intellectual existence, being more or less perfect, as it approaches to, or recedes from the ENS ENTIUM, or GOD. This scheme also supposes, that all orders of created beings are connected by certain links which partake of the nature of the beings in the ascending and descending scale:e. g. ANIMALS and VEGETABLES are linked together by the polype, or plant animal; FOWLS and REPTILES, by the bat; FISHES and BEASTS, by the hippopotamus; QUADRUPEDS and

MAN, by the ouran-outang; and MAN and ANGELS, by men of extraordinary powers, such as Plato among the ancients, and Sir Isaac Newton among the moderns.

This graduated scale of entities is highly illustrative of the manifold wisdom of God; and to it I have no objection, provided the holy and adorable TRINITY be left out of the question. From the lowest particle of matter, up to God, the scale may be accurate enough: but when it attempts to graduate the Sacred Persons in the Holy Trinity, saying, as in the preceding extract, that the Son of God is next in dignity to God; that "the Holy Ghost is the third degree in spiritual essences, having a near relation to the other two;" we are not only to receive such assertions with caution, but to reject them in toto, as being utterly repugnant to divine revelation, in which the preceding system says they are taught.

Revelation most certainly teaches us that there are Persons in the Holy Trinity, Matt. iii, 16, 17; but it no where teaches us that there is any inequality among those Persons: for, "In this Trinity none is AFORE or after other; none is GREATER or LESS than another: for, although there be one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost, yet the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is ALL ONE; the glory EQUAL, the majesty co-ETERNAL; for, the whole Three Persons are có-ETERNAL together, and co-EQUAL." Thus far the Athanasian creed is consistent with itself and with the Sacred Oracles; and is in point blank opposed to the Arian system, already produced; and to all refinements on that system of origination, begetting, proceeding, &c: though, in other places, in contradiction to the above, it countenances those spurious doctrines.* But I have intimated above that this doctrine is intend

* This creed, far from being a work of Athanasius, to whom it does not appear to have been attributed before the seventh century, is probably not the work of any Greek Father. All the ancient copies of it are in Latin; and the Greek copies are evidently translated from them, and are of no

ed to oppose all sacrificial merit in the passion and death of Christ, while it allows Him a moral merit, in consequence of which God gives the covenant of salvation to the Gentiles; and pardons, sanctifies, and saves, all who believe the Christian revelation, and lead a holy life. This is specious, but radically unsolid. Its imposing aspect has deceived many, as it seems to magnify the Lord Jesus, while it strips Him of every kind of merit, but that which He has as a righteous and holy man. This is by no means the view which the Sacred Scriptures give us of the merit of Christ, in His passion and death and appears to me both defective and dangerous.

This scheme has got its best support, and highest colouring, from Dr. J. Taylor, whom I have often quoted in another place, with deserved approbation and delight; but whom I must refer to here with widely opposite feelings. From his Introduction to the Apostolic Writings, I collect the following extracts; which contain, at least, the fair outlines of his scheme.

'God," says he, "grounded the extraordinary favours enjoyed by the Israelites, on Abraham's faith and obedience; and selected them out of respect to the piety and virtue of their ancestors."-Page 4.

"Jesus Christ, having assumed a human body, exhibited a pattern of the most perfect obedience, even unto death; in firm adherence to the truth He taught: and, in consequence of this, He is a pattern of reward, by being raised from the dead; and having a commission to raise all mankind: and to put all into the possession of eternal life who shall, in the last day, be found virtuous and holy."-lb. p. 25.

The BLOOD of Christ is the perfect OBEDIENCE and GOODNESS of Christ: nor is the blood of Christ to be con

antiquity. The Benedictines have proved that it is not the work of Athanasius; and think it was written in France. They have entered it at the end of their edition, among the spuria. When, where, or by whom it was written, no man knows.

sidered only in relation to our Lord's death and sufferings; as if mere death or suffering were, in itself, of such a nature as to be pleasing or acceptable to God. But His blood implies a CHARACTER; and it is His blood, as He is a Lamb without spot and blemish, 1 Pet. i, 19; that is, as He is perfectly holy, which is of so great value in the sight of God. His blood is the same as his offering himself without spot to God," Heb. x, 14.-lb. p. 44.

"What Christ did was neither to incline God to be gracious, nor to disengage Him from any counter obligations, arising from law or justice, or what the sinner's case might deserve; but what Christ did and suffered was a proper and wise EXPEDIENT, a Fit Ground and METHOD of granting mercy to the world."-Ib. p. 47.

"When I say, Christ's love and obedience is a just foundation of the Divine grace, I know not how to explain myself better than by the following instance :-there have been masters willing, now and then, to grant a relaxation from study, or even to remit deserved punishment, in case any one boy, in behalf of the whole school, or of the offender, would compose and present a distich, or copy of Latin verses: and one may say that the kind verse maker purchased the favour in both cases; or that his learning, ingenuity, industry, goodness, and compliance, with the governor's will and pleasure, was a just ground or foundation of the pardon and refreshment; or a proper reason of granting them."-Ib. p. 49, note.

"Agreeably to this scheme Abraham is proposed as a bright example of obedience and reward; and his obedience is given as the reason of conferring blessings upon his posterity and particularly of having the Messiah, the Redeemer, and greatest blessings of mankind, descend from him."-Ib. p. 50.

From all this most exceptionable, most meagre, and inefficient scheme of salvation, we gather that, as God called Abraham from his Gentilism, revealed to him the knowledge of His name and nature, and made him emi

nent for piety and probity, that He might constitute him the head of a numerous posterity, whom He could bless, protect, and save, in the most extraordinary manner, on account of the rewardable righteousness and merit of their progenitor: so, He has sent Jesus Christ to enlighten and instruct the whole world, Jews and Gentiles; a Person, who in every respect did the will of God, and was obedient to the Divine will, even unto death; and who, therefore, like "the kind verse maker," in the preceding illustrative instance, (which appears to have been made for the purpose,) may be said to have purchased the favour of God for the offending world; so that His supereminent goodness and compliance with the will of the Supreme Governor, is a just ground and foundation of pardon and salvation to the world, and a proper reason for granting them!

This is a sort of rewardable moral merit, in reference to the world, just similar to that of Abraham, in behalf of the Jewish people; from which every idea of sacrificial merit and atonement is excluded. On this ground the martyred Isaiah, and the massacred Baptist, might have afforded to the benevolence of God a sufficient ground and proper reason for the remission of the sins of men: for, as the life of one man is as much, personally considered, as the life of another; and obedience unto death, as much marked the conduct of the evangelical prophet of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, and the holy Baptist, as that of our blessed Lord, if divested of His Godhead and Eternity, as this scheme supposes; might not they, or any of them, have been as complete a ground why God should forgive the sins of the world, as the obedient, life and death of Christ? Again, if Abraham's merit could extend to the whole Jewish race, why not to the Gentiles, in whose behalf chiefly the covenant was made? for it was made with him, while yet uncircumcised; and the pledge on God's part was, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. Now, if this will hold good