defiance of the frigid tendency of their own system. For if Jesus Christ is originally a being of no higher order than ourselves, but in consequence of the office to which he was promoted, was made Lord and Judge of the rest of his species, and rewarded for a few years of trial with a resurrection to some thousands of years of life and bliss, while the rest of the pious dead are mere non-entities, or at best unconscious dust, it was such an honour and advantage to him that almost any man of aspiring energy would be glad to enjoy the same privilege by which he would attract envy rather than merit gratitude. The language, which the socinians held in this controversy concerning virtue, reminds us only of heathen philosophers: the energy of the human mind, by which alone they suppose it to be produced, proves it to be any thing but that "true holiness" which apostles declare to be the effect of the sanctification of the Spirit; and the merit attached to it, as the price of heaven, proclaims defiance to those who assert that "eternal life is the gift of God, and that it is not of works lest any man should boast." So palpable, indeed, is the discrepancy of the two systems, that the more perspicacious and finished polemics on the socinian side wisely avoid provoking a comparison by a direct quotation from the sacred volume, or by any resemblance of diction; except when the humanity of Christ draws them out to show that they are glad to avail themselves of Scripture when they can, and by which they prove just as much against his Deity, as they would against his priesthood by adducing texts which declare him to be a king. The writers on this side could not agree among themselves what idea should be attached to the Holy

Spirit', or what interpretation should be given to the introduction to the Gospel of John; this, together with their denial of the inspiration of the Scriptures, the divine influences on the human mind, the miraculous conception of Christ, his impeccability, his atonement, his intercession, the existence of a soul in man, and the eternity of future punishment, served as an antidote to the poison of antitrinitarianism, which their talents and boldness would otherwise have more widely diffused. By continual progress in the same road, one rejecting three out of the four Gospels as fabulous; another despising prayer as nugatory; a third branding public worship with the name of hypocrisy; a fourth opposing the morality of the sabbath, and even recommending without a blush the pious pleasures of the play-house on a Sunday; and, at length, a disciple of the same school denying the resurrection and the general judgment, which the others had pronounced the only discoveries of rational Christianity, they have strengthened the antidote, at least as much as the poison; for it is thus rendered manifest, that the new species of Christian philosophy is only infidelity baptized with a Chris

tian name.

b Gilbert Wakefield in his memoirs maintains that the Spirit of God in Scripture means only God himself. Now as he is one of those who believe that the Father alone is God; what ideas are we to attach to the Redeemer's word; "the Comforter who is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father shall send in my name?" Are we to paraphrase it thus? The Holy Spirit who is the Father himself, whom the Father shall send in my name? “ Baptize in the name of the Father, who alone is God, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, who is God himself?

CHAPTER IV.

SEMINARIES FOR THE MINISTRY AMONG THE

DISSENTERS.

SECTION I.

ENUMERATION OF THE DIFFERENT SEMINARIES AND

TUTORS.

SEVERAL of the institutions for the education of dissenting ministers which flourished under the former periods have now ceased to exist, but so many new ones have been formed during the present reign, that this section will unavoidably extend to considerable length.

At

The most ancient, and not the least respectable and useful of the dissenting colleges, is that which is established at Homerton, near London. It was removed from Mile End, in the year 1772. the commencement of the reign of George the third, Drs. Walker, Conder, and Gibbons were the tutors in this institution. John Walker is mentioned with high respect as eminently qualified, by extensive and accurate learning, for his office of classical tutor, which he discharged with diligence till he was removed by death November 19, 1770.

A letter written by the late Rev. J. Thorowgood, of Bocking, to his parents, gives an account of the last moments of this eminent

man.

of a

Dr. John Conder had been fifteen years pastor dissenting congregation at Cambridge, when he was invited to fill the theological chair at this seminary. He was soon after chosen by a church in Moorfields to the pastoral office, which he combined with his academical duties till the year 1781, when he died in the sixty-seventh year of his age. The third professorship, which was filled by Dr. Thomas Gibbons, was that of rhetoric and the belles lettres, for which his biography of Dr. Watts and some other publications would not prove him eminently qualified. He was educated under Dr. Taylor and Mr. Eames, and was forty years pastor of a congregation at Haberdasher's-hall, London. Death having removed him

"Honoured parents,

Homerton, Nov. 19, 1770.

"This afternoon died, after a tedious illness, our dear tutor, Dr. Walker, who as his whole heart was fixed on the students, so fixed as even when he was deprived of his reason all his rambling discourse was of and with them, advising them and praying for them, so he was greatly beloved by them and by all that knew him. With the greatest honour and reputation did he fill up his post and station in life, and did abundant service to the church of God. And in his private life ever preserved a character of integrity, uprightness, and the greatest regard to duty towards God and man unblemished. As a Christian he was not indeed so eminent as some are, for talking of religion, but in real heart-holiness, in internal sanctification, he perhaps went greater lengths than most. His excellencies were not generally known; his friends, his intimates alone knew the (to the world) hidden parts of his character. He died with the strongest expressions of his confidence, whilst reason remained: Jesus has died, has conquered for me, and I know that my Redeemer liveth. It has pleased God now to humble me, but I shall shortly be exalted. I fear not the consequences of death, 'tis only a painful dissolution I fear. O may I be enabled to bear my testimony even in the hour of death, to the truths of the Gospel, to the honour of him who has upheld and preserved me,' &c. &c,

Your dutiful son, J. THOROWGOOD."

in 1785, he was succeeded by Dr. Henry Mayo, a more able man, pastor of a church in Nightingalelane. He filled the rhetorical chair till he died, in 1791, when the office was discontinued. Dr. Daniel Fisher, minister of a congregation at Warminster, who had succeeded to the office of classical tutor was, on Dr. Conder's death, raised to the divinity chair. Extremely unpopular as a preacher, he was invited to no pastoral charge, and on the decline of life he relinquished his academical duties and retired to private life, in which he died, 1708, aged seventy-six. He had been succeeded as classical tutor by Dr. Davies, of Abergavenny, who was elected pastor of the independent congregation in Fetter-lane. Ill health compelled this valuable man to retire to Reading, where he is still exercising the passive graces of a Christian, and occasionally discharging the duties of the ministry. He was followed at Homerton by John Fell, who has been described as "rising by native talents, from an obscure station, to become one of the first scholars of the age. Thaxted, in Essex, was the scene of his pastoral care, when he was invited to become resident tutor, and which, together with the duty of teaching the languages, involved the domestic management of the students. This, which is frequently an invidious office, became peculiarly painful to Mr. Fell, who was so tormented with the insubordination which prevailed, and so affected with his expulsion from the office, that he sunk under it Sept. 6, 1797.

The Rev. John Berry, who had been fourteen years pastor at Romsey, and was then at West Bromwich, was chosen to succeed Mr. Fell; but he resigned the chair in about four years, and retired to Camberwell,