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Now* 1 am not ignorant of tke pi<mA accommodaboo, to an igiiDiafit and scitfuial age, out of whidi Iheao types and aymboU of spirilual thing* mroie, in order to retain some koovrled^ of the myBteriai of Divine truth in the apprehension of the people ; nor of the plausible coiiBtmcLion which can bo put upon them by ingenioDA nvcn in these tirQe«, and the tolerant eye with which they are regarded by thoHe vho !«l}ouEd know better. Which pre- texts of necessity, and plausibilities of expediency, do only make me the more desirous to shew nnta your good underatanclinjf, that while this culture aod honour of the aense remaineth in the sane- tuar)-, it lA impossible to think that you can have any thing but Menjsuality out of it; and that il im utterly vaiu to think, by laws or by education, or by any tliiu j^ else, to make that people mor^r pro*' vident, refinod, or spiritual, who are accustomeii' in their religion to have the scnflc takcu into con- cert witii the spirit, yea, preferred before it, as. the vehicle through which idone the ^pirii is ity act. Bui it may be said, is it not the same in your Protestant conitnunions, and indeed alto* getiier necCMary^ that every communication to thtf] spirit should pass through tlie vestibule of thi aenae, to which the word of God, and preachers of tt, must addresA thenvselves, ihi\>ij|^i which »!one one spirit U able to bi commuoicationwith anothert Certainly it is tme, that the Father of Spirits hath oddref^sed hi children through the medium of the sense, writ- ing to tlicm in his word, and speaking to them bis ministring wrrauta, and efltabliidiing, by out ward sacrankents, and an ordaiued prit^-stho^Ml, VIL] JHKLAVn'* Evil. COMDITIOK. 1209 und olber outward mean», a risible church; and I am fir from denying that there i&rc great aud continual occasions to idolatry- ajnong oursGlvea« and stumbling blocks in the way of tma spiritual religion, which alone kccpcth the s^n&c under due controuL The word of (Jod, which Ls a Divine attempt to awaken the spirit through the natural und^r^tandin^; and feelinf^, by preaching to the natural man the be^t and eure^t knovvUdge of the past, the highest and most sublime forma of thought, the moBt refined ncntimcinu, and iho mo«l pure and holy frelinj^ oflhe mmI , this very word IS continually used by Satao tu entrap men into aelf-idolatry of their natural understanding - which apprchendGlhf and their natural heart which acktiowlcd^eth, thc^e revelations ; and ho to beget Unitarianitm on the one hand* or Senmncntaliam on