natural substances, for at every step he would encounter affinities of attraction, which no mortal can explain. From all the admirable devices, which human ingenuity has contrived for the assistance of human labour, he should likewise shrink. The ordinary inventions of mechanics he must shun, because he knows nothing of that gravity, which is the actuating principle, and is baffled in the very elements of that geometry, by which the action of engines is reduced to rules: and since he cannot render any satisfactory account of the expansive force of steam, he should therefore escape also from the difficulty of the steam-engine. The stupendous system of the material heavens should for the same reason engage no share of his attention; he knows not the nature of the force, which controls its movements, and in reasoning about them he should avoid the difficulty of using an instrument so embarrassing as geometry. He cannot consistently use food for the support of his corporeal frame, or medicine for the relief of its ailments, because, ignorant as he is of the principle of vitality, he finds it impossible perfectly to understand, how food furnishes his sustenance, or medicine mitigates his sufferings. If respiration were an act requiring volition, he should refrain from it, for it involves difficulties, from which he is in consistency bound to escape; but as this action is performed independently of volition, it may be permitted to him, until the frame shall perish, in the suspension of every one, in which volition is concerned. In that short interval he should not turn his mind inward upon itself, for there he must be embarrassed by all the difficulties of metaphysics; and the only occupation, which appears to be reconcilable to his principle, is that of computing the number of surrounding objects, or of the pulsations of his own ebbing existence, for computation is the single science free from difficulty. Since then it is manifestly impossible to act consistently on this plan of escaping from difficulty, let us be contented to avail ourselves of all the means of information, to whatever extent they may enable us to proceed. Let us prosecute scientific enquiry so far as we can discover a sure track of knowledge, though it may be bordered, and even in some degree actually embarrassed by difficulties, which we are unable to remove; and let us with thankfulness accept from God those communications relative to our spiritual interests, which human reason must be unable to anticipate for itself, anxious only to ascertain what is their real import, and not at all considering what interpretation would bring them down most nearly to the level of the deductions of our own faculties. Man will in this manner receive all the improvement, of which he is 216 Observations on the Athanasian Creed. capable. He will acquire for himself all the knowledge, which his faculties are naturally fitted to procure, and he will add to this all the information, which revelation alone can bestow, submitting in his own enquiries to difficulties, which he cannot overcome, and receiving implicitly every well authenticated testimony of God, which should appear to be not repugnant to that of his own senses and understanding, employed about objects so bounded, as to be perfectly comprehended within their cognisance. * This limitation, of which the reasonableness is manifest, excludes the comparison, which infidels and unitarians are fond of instituting between the doctrine of the trinity and that of transubstantiation. The former relates to the unseen nature of the infinite God; the latter to an object of very moderate magnitude, and subject to the examination of our senses. APPENDIX. Observations on the state of the presbyterian church of Ireland. THE publication, which gave occasion to this treatise, having grown out of a dissension of religion, which has long prevailed in the presbyterian church of this country, it may not be improper to subjoin some observations on the constitution of that church, addressed particularly to the attention of its own members. At a time when, even in the legislature of the empire, a union of the protestant established church of Ireland with the church of Rome has been seriously suggested, it appears to be seasonable for every protestant, of whatever description, to consider seriously with himself, whether another union of churches less dissimilar might not more reasonably be proposed. The observations, which are here offered, are prompted by this spirit of union, and therefore, it is trusted, can scarcely by any misconception give occasion to an unfriendly feeling. * The presbyterians of Ireland are fortunately placed in circumstances not adverse to forming a connection with the established church. Though the presbyterians of England had separated from the established church of that country in the year 1566, yet in the settlement of the northern province of Ireland, begun in the year 1609, or forty-three years after that separation, their * Neal's Hist. of the Puritans, vol. 1. p. 205. Bath 1793. clergy were received into the parochial preferments, which they continued to hold until the year 1657, when they were driven from them by the lord lieutenant Henry Cromwell, for refusing to swear allegiance to his brother the protector. After the restoration the policy of assimilating the established church of Ireland to that of England prevailed; and as, by a new and more comprehensive act of uniformity the presbyterian ministers, who had in the civil war taken possession of the parochial benefices of England, were compelled to retire, so in Ireland it was determined, that the ministers ejected by Henry Cromwell should not be reinstated. In this country however a kinder consideration of their loss was entertained, and ‡ an annual sum of five hundred pounds was allowed for their support, which annuity, denominated a regium donum, was after the Revolution augmented to twelve hundred pounds, and at present, for the province of Ulster alone, exceeds fifteen thousand, with an indefinite power of increase, as new congregations should be formed. Though the presbyterian ministers of the other provinces had never been admitted to the benefices of the establishment, yet in the reign of Anne they also received an annuity of eight hundred pounds, which has since been augmented in the same manner as that of the northern ministers. The presbyterian ministers of Ireland had been thus originally nurtured within the establishment, long after a decisive separation had occurred in England; from this situation they were driven, not by the regular government of the country, but by a temporary usurpation, to which they nobly refused to submit; and, though it was afterwards deemed prudent to maintain their exclusion, for the purpose of assimilating the ecclesiastical * Hist. of Dissenters by Bogue and Bennett, vol. 2. p. 411. + Ibid. p. 416, Ibid. p. 417-419. |