There  is  also  an  honour  personally  due  to  the  Son,  as
the  Son,  and  to  the  Spirit  as  the  Spirit,  but  our  know-
ledge of  the  personal  distinctions  is  so  obscure,  in
comparison  of  our  apprehension  of  the  general  attri
butes  of  the  godhead,  that  it  should  seem  that  tlw  di-
vinity (the  TO  ^SLO'.)  is  rather  to  be  generally  worshipped
in  the  three  persons  jointly,  and  indifferently,  than  that
any  distinct  honours  are  to  be  offered  to  each  sepa-
rately. Prayer,  however,  for  succour  against  external
persecution,  seems  addressed  with  particular  propriety
to  the  Son."

Now,  Sir,  as  this  is  a  thing  that  relates  to  practice,
I  should  have  imagined  that,  if  each  of  the  three  per-
sons had  been  to  be  addressed  separately,  we  should
have  been  distinctly  informed  concerning  the  circum-
stances in  which  we  were  to  pray  to  one  of  them,  and
not  to  the  others  ;  considering  how  difficult  it  must  be,
from  the  nature  of  the  thing,  for  mere  men  to  di-
stinguish the  separate  rights  of  three  divine  persons.
That  you  yourself  have  made  some  mistake  in  this
business,  will  not,  1  think,  be  difficult  to  show.  In
order  to  this,  let  us  consider  how  your  supposition  or
tkf-.ory^  corresponds  to  ihcfact.  For  if  it  be  not  sup-
ported by  corresponding  facts,  how  ingenious  or  pro-
bable soever  it  may  seem  to  be,  a  priori,  it  must  fall
to  the  ground.  You  will  agree  with  me,  I  imagine,
that  the  apostles  and  primitive  christians  knew  whether
the  Father  or  the  Son  was  the  more  proper  object  of
prayer  in  the  time  of  persecution.    Let  us  see  then  both


294  LETTERS  TO  THE

what  directions  they  gave,  and  also  what  they  them-
selves actually  did  in  this  case.
