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Table of the Parts of Scripture occurring in the Prayer Book.

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THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.

P. 9. 1. 7. "Hell," not the place of torment, but that of the departed spirits; and (in this passage,) that portion of it which was allotted to the good: what our Saviour, when upon the cross, called "Paradise :"

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To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Luke xxiii. 42.-1 Bp. Horsley's Sermons, 387 to 398. and Horsley on Hosea, 46. "Hell" is considered as a Saxon word, from " hillan" or "helan" to hide, or from "holl" a cavern, and antiently denoted the unseen place of the dead. Parkh. Hebr. Lexicon, 709. It formerly signified no more than the grave. Kennett's Paroch. Antiq. 51. See Ps. xvi. 11. Ps. lxxxviii. 2. Ps. cxvi. 3.

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P. 12. perish," and 14. 1. 12. p. "cannot be saved." Mr. Wheatley, in his observations on this creed, says, we are "not required, by the words of this creed, "to believe the whole on pain of damna"tion for all that is required of us, as necessary to salvation, is, that before all things we hold the catholic faith: and "the catholic faith, by the 3d and 4th "verses, is explained to be this, that we "worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity "in. Unity; neither confounding the per"sons, nor dividing the substance. This "therefore is declared necessary to be "believed; but all that follows, to the "26th verse, is only brought as proof " and illustration, and therefore requires our assent no more than a sermon does, "which is made to prove or illustrate a "text." He notices also, that it was a primitive custom, after a confession of the orthodox faith, to pass an anathema or curse against all who denied it. The damnatory clauses therefore may be considered as the

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denuntiation of the writer, or as his opinion only; and it does not follow, because the creed is introduced into our liturgy, that our church takes upon itself to pass this denuntiation, or even to intimate its opinion, that the belief of every particular here stated is indispensible. It probably adopted this creed for its general merit in illustrating these doctrines, and to shew how they were understood in early times; and then it could not omit the damnatory clauses, because that would have mutilated the creed.

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P. 12. v. 5. "Person." Let it not be forgotten, that God is "a spirit," (John iv. 24.) in the language of our first article, "without body or parts." Person," therefore, here means 66 being" or "exist"ence;" and when the idea of bodily substance is excluded, the difficulty of comprehending the unity of the three is diminished, if not entirely removed. Unity as to them is merely unanimity, and unanimity is of the essence of their nature. From the perfection of their wisdom, each must know what is best; and, from the perfection of their goodness, each must will it: whatever one therefore wills, each must will; and in every case which admits of deliberation or judgment, they must be unanimous, or one in mind. A passage in Origen, written in the third century, and translated, 2 Hales's Chronology, 815, deserves notice: "We then worship the Father of "the truth, and the Son the truth, being "two things in subsistence, but one in unanimity and concord, and sameness " of the will."

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P. 12. v. 5. "Another." The distinct

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Strahan and Spottiswoode, Printers-Street, London.

existence of the three persons may perhaps be referred to in several passages of the Old Testament; but Is. xlviii. 16. seems particularly to deserve notice: for there the speaker, after assuming to himself some of the plain characteristics of divinity, adds, "And now the Lord God "(Hebr. Adonai Jehovah) and his Spirit " hath sent me." So that the person sent describes himself as God, and he speaks of "the Lord God and his Spirit," as the senders.

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P. 13. v. 25. " afore or after,” i.e. “in point of time," there being no period when all the three did not exist: all being, as the next paragraph explains, "co-eternal together." See 2 Hales's Trinity, 263.

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P. 13. v. 25. "greater or less, &c." not to be distinguished into greater and lesser Gods: Gods of a higher and lower species or nature, which, as we learn from Chrysostom's clear and able discourse upon the Trinity, was one of the antient heresies. "No longer then," says he, "speak "of a great and little God, falling into "Hellenism: for if Christ be a little God, "Paul speaks falsely when he says, 66 6 Looking for the blessed hope of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ: whom therefore Paul "calls great, call not thou small." The original is in these words: "undelı av heye μεγαν και μικρον θεον, εμπεπίων τις Ελληνισμόν. Ει γαρ μικρός θεος ο υιος, ψευδέλαι Παυλος λεγων Προσδεχομενοι την μακαρίαν ελπίδα της δόξης το μεγάλες θες και σωτηρος ημων Ιησε Χρισία. ὃν εν Παυλος καλει μεγαν θεον, συ μη καλει μικρονο Saville's ed. vol. 6. p. 962. Our Saviour so plainly ascribes a superiority to the Father, John x. 29. "My Father is "greater than all:" and John xiv. 28.

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My Father is greater than I." (See also John xx. 17: John v. 19. 30: 1 Cor. xv. 27, 28: and Eph. iv.) that nothing inconsistent with those texts could here have been intended. Dr. Waterland considers the Son as subordinate to the Father, but not inferior or unequal in nature. Waterland's Preface to Lady Moyer's Sermons, xvii. So does Dr. Hales, 2 Hales on Trinity, 264.—And see Pearson, 322. The truth perhaps is, that there is such sameness or equality of nature, with such subordination, as in the case of mortal sons and fathers. But let it not be forgotten, that this is the conjecture of man as to the nature of God, and therefore it behoveth that our words be wary and few.

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P. 13. v. 26. "co-equal." Our Saviour says, John x. 15. "As the Father know"eth me, even so know I the Father:" in John xiv. 9, 10, 11. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father: I am "in the Father, and the Father in me :" in John xvi. 15. "All things that the Fa"ther hath are mine:" and John x. 30. I and my Father are one." According to Philipp. ii. 6. he "thought it not robbery to be equal with God:" and he is called, 2 Cor. iv. 4. "the image of "God;" in Coloss. i. 15. "the image of "the invisible God ;" and Hebr. i. 3. " the brightness of his glory, and the express "image of his person." And the coequality both of Son and Holy Ghost may be inferred from our Saviour's command to his Apostles, Matt. xxviii. 19. to baptise in the name of the Father, the Son, " and Holy Ghost."

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P. 13. v. 31. "before the worlds." This pre-existence of the Son is repeatedly noticed in St. John and in the Epistles. St. John says, John i. 1 to 3. " In "the beginning was the Word: the same was in the beginning with God: all things were made by him, and without "him was not any thing made that was "made:" and in verse 14. he explains that by "the word," he means our Saviour Jesus Christ. In John iii. 18. our Saviour says, "No man hath ascended up to heaven, "but he that came down from heaven, " even the son of man." In John vi. 33. 35. 38. he says, "The bread of life is he "which cometh down from heaven, and

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giveth life unto the world: I am the "bread of life, I came down from heaven." So John vi. 51. "I am the living bread, "which came down from heaven." Again, John vi. 62. "What and if ye shall see the "son of man ascending where he was be

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fore." So John viii. 42. "I proceeded "forth and came from God." And John viii. 58. "Before Abraham was, I am." Again John xvi. 27, 28. he says, "I came forth

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from the Father, and am come into the "world: again, I leave the world, and I go to the Father." In John xvii. 5. he thus addresses the Father, "O Father, 'glorify me with thine own self, with the

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