THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. A Treatise, TO WHICH IS PREFIXED A LETTER ON ORTHODOX THE WHOLE BEING A REPLY TO REV. E. H. BICKERSTETH'S BY THOMAS SADLER, PH.D., MINISTER OF ROSSLYN HILL CHAPEL, HAMPSTEAD. "Whilst we are wrangling here in the dark, we are dying, and passing to the LONDON: E. T. WHITFIELD, 178 STRAND, W.C. 1859. 101. c. 157. As to what I have said respecting the position I have taken in reference to the controversies, which are every day waxing fiercer, and distract an age that longs after a new creation, I can only reassert that, if it please God, I hope to abide faithful to these principles to my latest breath! The ground beneath our feet may be shaken, but not the Heavens above. We will adhere to that theologia pectoris, which is likewise the true theology of the spirit. -NEANDER. To Dear Friends TO WHOM IT HAS BEEN HIS PRIVILEGE TO MINISTER IN SACRED THINGS FOR NEARLY THIRTEEN YEARS, AND MOST OF WHOM ARE DESCENDANTS OF THOSE NOBLE PRESBYTERIAN FATHERS, WHO WERE EVER READY TO MAKE PERSONAL SACRIFICES FOR TRUTH, FREEDOM, AND CHARITY; And to those Protestants WHO ARE NOT YET WILLING TO TRUST THE FREE AND EARNEST SOUL TO LEARN THE TRUTH DIRECTLY FROM THE SAVIOUR, BUT WHO, FORSAKING THE GRAND PRINCIPLE OF THE REFORMATION, INSIST UPON ORTHODOX DOCTRINE AS ESSENTIAL TO SAVING FAITH; These Pages, WITH FERVENT PRAYER FOR THE DIVINE BLESSING, ARE DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. Where the cold name of sect, which sometimes throws PREFACE. MANY of the questions discussed in the following pages I could myself have been content to pass over in reverent silence, till that great day, when we shall no longer know only in part but a direct and earnest appeal, from a highly-respected clergyman of the neighbourhood, having rendered a reply necessary, I trust that what I have written will be read, in a candid and not unfriendly spirit, by those who differ from me. The title I have chosen for this Treatise is completely justified by the most ancient form of the Doxology, from which it is taken. My desire has been to state calmly, but honestly and freely, my own religious convictions, and their grounds; and I hope that, in my way of doing this, nothing will be regarded as said in a hostile spirit. Believing, as I do, that all sincere Christians, of whatever denomina |