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    guage ; and by way of analogy to creatures he has let us know something what God is . "Among all the creatures that gome within the reach of our common and obvious cognizance , hurnair nature is the most perfect ; and , therefore , it has pleased the great and glorious God , by resemblances drawn from ourselves , to accommodate the

    ctescriptions of himself to our capacities . When he speaks of his own nature in the language of men , he often uses the names of human parts , and members , and faculties , to represent his own properties and actions thereby , that he may bring them within the

    notice of the lowest capacity and the meanest understanding among the children of men . Therefore he speaks of his face , to signify the discovery of himself ; his eyes to describe his knowledge ; his heart to describe his thoughts ; his hand and arm to signify his power and activity ; and his mouth to denote his resolutions or

    revelations . "But since in the composition of human nature there are two distinct parts , a soul and a body , and the soul is much the nobler and more exalted principle , it has also pleased God to Fise above corporeal images , and to describe himself , his attributes ,

    properties , power and operations by way of analogy to a human soul . We know by our own consciousness , or by an inward inspection into ourselves , that our soul or spirit is a being which has understanding , and wil ] , thoughts , inclinations , knowledge , desires and

    various powers to move the body . Therefore our Saviour has told us , God is a spirit , and the brightest and sublimest representations of God in Scripture , are such as bear an analogy and resemblance to the soul of man , or a spiritual , thinking nature . " As the chief faculties of our souls

    are the mind and will , or rather a pow £ r of knowing , and a power of acting , so God seems to have revealed himself to us as endued with two divine faculties , his word or wisdom , and hie spirit or efficient power . It

    is by this word and this spirit , that he is represented in Scripture as managing" the great concerns of the creation , providence , redemption and salvation : and these three , viz ., God the Father , his Word and his Spirit , are held forth

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    to us ih Scripture as one God , even as the soul of man , his mind and his will , are one spiritual being ,- Since reason and Scripture agree to teach us the nature of God , and inform us who and what God is by this analogy , I think in our inquiries on this sacred subject , we ought to follow this analogy so far as reason and Scripture allow us . Now it is evident that a human soul , in its nature , is one

    conscious mind : and it is utterlv inocm _ scious mind ; and it is utterly incon - sistent with the nature of it to have two or three distinct conseious principles , or natures , in it , that is , to include two or three different conscious beings ; and since we are told that God is one , and God is a spirit , it would be something strange if we must believe that God is two or three

    spirits . " — " If there be some distinctions or differences in the Divine nature , greater than that of relations , modes or attributes , and less than that of substances , I know not what name to give it better than that of divine powers . Let us therefore

    suppose the great and blessed God to be one infinite spirit , one conscious being , who possesses real , distinct or different powers , which in sacred language are called the Word and the Spirit . And though this difference or

    distinction be not so great as to allow of different consciousnesses , or to make distinct spirits , yet these two powers may be represented in Scripture in a figurative manner , under distinct personal characters . "

    " May not the human mind and the will be represented in a personal manner , or as distinct personal agents , at least by a figurative way of speaking , though they are but two powers of the same soul ? May I not use such language as this : ' My mind has laboured hard to find out such a

    difficulty ; my will is resolutely bent to pursue such a course' ? And many other common expressions there are of the same nature , wherein the mind and will are still more evidently and plainly represented as persons .

    *• And since human powers are thus represented as persons , why may not the word and the spirit , which are divine powers , be thus represented also ? And why niay not God be represented as a person transacting his own divine affairs witH hiB Word and his Spirit under personal characters ,

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    403 Dr . Watts on the Word and Spirit of God m

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1822, page 408, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2514/page/16/