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    | o insider fjie expediency of it , gpa fjp ye ^ yjiberal viewswhic n are now f ^ W JaSP ^ rtainej ^ by $ be Lordfjf the Upper npjl ^ t he GenUegleii of tm ^> wef Hopse of Pa || iame * fit , are convincing R rx ^ fs that a very < mfigr . eh ' t manner of tninking prevails in the

    J ^ igher circles upon religious subjects than thaA which induced our wary ancestors to furnish religion with props and shores , which , while they are no support , are an enfeeblement and a disgrace to

    it-The book to which I refer is called " An lllucidation of the Unity of God deduced from Scripture and Reason . " It is dedicated to the Society of Unitarian Christians at Montrose , in North Britain , by James Gifford ; who reaided at Girton , in Cambridgeshire 5

    a « d was , I am informed , a Lieutenant jfJolonel in the Line , and an intimate friend , of Mr . Lindsey . The dedication is dated July 25 , 1787 . It isaccpmpanied by a letter to the Arch' bishop of Canterbury ; and the whole of the performance exhibits a deep research into the sacred volume , and

    serious inquiry into the meaning of its declarations , with an uncommon degree of firmness of manner , yet m ildness of expression , nfortiter in re with a suguviter in mudo , scarcely ever to be found united in a case of such incalculable importance . The work is published for Rowland Hunter , ( late Johnson ) St . Paul's Church Yard .

    i , am desirous of calling the attention of your readers to this very interesting work ; and especially to an illustration of the Divine Unity , which J conceive , to many , will be new .

    After speaking of the grand unity of design which all nature exhibits , and which points our intellectual powers distinctly to a unity of the Divine Nature , he adds ,

    " God has taken care that we should have more reasons than one to believe tjiat all things were formed by one Great Mind , that all are the effects ^ f the same Great Cause ; and I think he has interwoven the truth of his

    Unity in our very nature , if we would attend to its operations . I shall endeavour to give proof of this by a familiar instance j but I beg leave to introduce it rather as an accessory circumstance than as a fundamental

    - ** gu ment . , , \ *• Whenever a multiplicity of objtctft are printed to the mind , we

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    find it iRSkfariftv , irf b f *^ f ^^ i ^^ piate % to ai ? ^ m ^ t ^^^ mm durselvls tb * 6 W ai > d * fe ^ # ftie ft * 8 P A <^ & 1 e < juerice ever u n ¥ v ^ ab ^ Wtftf | the thinking prin ^ ij ^ te te ^ ds ^ ff < * g § gaged . And hence ft K ^ P ^ n !^ the Unity of God forces its ^ ffj ^ p ) us in the act of devotidtit ^ Tt > ffi th indivisibility of thought . * ' "TtH ^ we ' fa ^ lS observe that , when we laid ^ e ^ bui ? selves intently in prayer / , we flftfd % impossible to fix our iriefflfcaWon agsolutely ~ on more than one x % Vfect bf tporship at the same momeif ^ - % $$

    others are neglecte <| in tKe ^ iristah ^ and caiyriot enter the " mind * wilh diif confusing and dissipating the attention . This alone plainly sbetvs , that ' the mental faculties are not £ alc \ ilated

    to attend fixedly 16 more tfi 2 ri * ' object . We may indfee \ l ^ as | ociatfe three or more different tl | irfg ^ or persons in idea , and then c ^ nsfdfer them in one collective vifew , but xMS ? tfoes not destroy their individtuklitif , atod when we would contemplafe * a * rfy * one of these objects with precision we

    must dismiss the coirijtiflration . ' , Of we may " blend three or more distinct things or subjects together" in idea , and then consider them ' iti the ag&r £ - gate as one ; bilf , ^ besides JHiat this

    is the mere work of the im ^ nati | in , it would be held both dissatysfactOTj and dangerous with respect to tfiB Trinity : because we ajre expressl ^ enjoined in , 6 ur present received doc-4- ~ Z ~~~~ ji ^ *» »•_ . . ^ ir "' . ' /» « Ki trines to the distiricfitin of tni

    preserve three persons , and acknowledge them to be , not onJy separate but also equal objects of prayer and tHSnksgivih ^ Notwithstanding this in the splemtt acts of devotion , the mind betrays Im election for the one or the other ; aifa

    this preference , we find , is generanj given to God the father Almifffffl himself , and every other object is , ej ? eluded from the mind at tlie tiflljL For He incessantly rises in the * collected soul , and fills it . Thus the great truth of the unity of the & #$ % seems to have been implanted by hra

    in our nature 5 and the mind of man , with which it is in perfect-oo » co * d , in its most serious and attentive mcrnients , is necessaril y led "to acftncn # ledge it . * In praying to oT-florifjifte : ?«?* jaw : * -4 * . /?

    * Natwithstundi ^^ lhc j ^ jj ^ W isuiQf : jtW Heathen , it is ^ i ^ i ^ fl ^ i | p ffci" ^ ^ W ting's and monuments , that wq ^ onfii /*** Supreme God naturally prevsSlea aKong

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    ? 44 . ^ i ££ G 0 brXs » IllneidaiiQQof the Vnito , o / Godr ^ ^

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1816, page 144, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2450/page/16/