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    admire most , the Lord of glory habited in flesh , heaven in a manner descended to associate with earth , the first of all beings allied to nothingness ; or

    nothingness elevated to a participation of the Infinite Majesty , earth , flesh and blood , ascending to the eternal throne , to reign there above angels , a handful of dust becoming an object of the veneration of all creatures . "—Claude's Essay , 1 . 307 ,

    308 . Saurin uses similar expressions : cc Above all , " says he , enter into his sanctuary , fix your meditation on the incarnate word , comprehend , if your mind be capable of comprehending , what it is

    for a God to become of no reputation , and to take upon him the form of a servant * Consider the majesty of God , approach his throne , behold his fiery flaming eyes , see the power and majesty which fill his sanctuary , view the armies of heaven ministering to his will , and thus , if

    possible , form some idea of the Supreme Being . Think that this God united himself to mortal flesh , in order to suffer for us whatever the fury of men and the rage of devils could invent . I know not , iny brethren , what impressions these objects make on you : for my part , 1 own ,

    if any thing could render Christianity doubtful or problematical to me , it would be what it tells us on this mystery . I own , I need at least all my faith , and all the authority of Him who speaks in our Scriptures , to persuade me that God would abase himself in this manner . "—

    Claude ' s Essay , II . 435 . As Dr . Watts ' s Hymns arc in the hands of every one , I shall quote only two stanzas , which bear some affinity to the language adopted by Mr . Belsham in representing * the orthodox opinion . I heartily sympathize with Dr . Smith in his concern , ( S . Test .

    I . 4 , note , ) that Dr . Watts should have used such expressions , and I should transcribe them with greater " pain " than I do , were I not conscious of the purity of the motives , and the desire of promoting the cause of Christian charity , by which I am influenced , in bringing them into notice on the present occasion :

    " This infant is the mighty God , Come to be suckled and ador'd /' Hymn xiii . B . i . " Let Jews and Greeks blaspheme aloud , And treat the holy child with scorn ; Our souls adore the eternal God Who condescended to be born . " Hymn exxxvi . B . ii .

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    See also Dr . Watts ' s ** Glory of Christ , as God-man . ** Dis . III . Sect i . and Sect . v . pp . 222 , 223 , 240 . Dr . Waterland affirms , that " the Divine Logos , with the human nature , assumed the ignorance and other infirmities proper to it . "—Sermons , p .

    271 I . shall now make a citation from a celebrated Arian , Dr . Robert Clayton , Bishop of Clogher , wherein he describes the Logos , whom he

    considered as the Creator of the world , not merely as incarcerated" in humanity , but as having the chains of his prison-house entering into his very 6

    soul , so as to constitute it * an hell upon earth . " For these statements , seriously and deliberately advanced , I have never heard of his being charged with , impiety , or excluded the pale of Christianity :

    " And , accordingly , this exalted Spirit was , by the wonderful power of God , as before related , conveyed into the womb of the Virgin Mary , and was made man : that is , was made as much so as his

    mother could make him , without being impregnated by man . And now being deprived of the immediate presence of God the Father , and being shut up in darkness and the shadow of death , he

    was , after nine months , brought forth into life , in the form of a feeble infant , with all the weakness and frailties and infirmities of human nature about him . And as he grew up into life , and his reason improved , this only served to make the terrible change and alteration

    of his condition so much the more perceptible , and the recollection of it so much the more grievous and insufferable . The dreadfulness of which state is hardly conceivable to us , because that we never were sensible of any thing better than our present existence . But for any being which had ever enjoyed the happiness of

    heaven , and had been in possession of glory with the Father , to be deprived thereof , and to be sent to dwell here in this world , encompassed within the narrow limits of this earthly tabernacle , and the heavy organs made of flesh and blood , it must , literally speaking , be to such a being , an hell upon earth . "—Vindication of the Histories of the Old and

    New Testaments , Lett . vii . pp . 132 , 133 , or 482 , 483 ; Lardner ' s Works , XL 82 . I intended to have introduced some extracts from Mr . Simeon ' s writings , but I am content to waive them for the present . If the quotations I have made , not from obscure and inconsi-

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    « 718 Uncharitable Spirit of Dr . J . P . Smith towards Mr . Belsham .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1821, page 718, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2507/page/22/