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    ties , by which it was attempted to evade this conclusion . For it is to be observed , that these philosophic teachers maintained both the supremacy of the Father and the deity of Christ , yet denied that there was more than one God . The strict equality of Christ with his God and Father , is

    not I believe to be found in any of the wcitings of the three first centuries . The doctrine of the Athanasian Creed , as it is called , was unknown to the Saint whose name it bears , an irrefragable proof of its being a forgery of a subsequent age . This appears by

    the writings of St . Athanasius , as quoted by Dr . Clarke , in his " Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity . " P . 4 . 2 nd Ed . Let these quotations be compared with the Athanasian Creed , and instead of a similarity , a contrast and contradiction to it will be found .

    Though a belief in the Trinity is often represented by its advocates as essential to salvation , various are the sentiments which the professors themselves of this doctrine , of both ancient and modern times , have entertained concerning it . If it be said of a

    person that he is a Trinitarian , you are still at a loss to determine ( unless he himself explain his own views ) what are his precise ideas respecting his tenet . I am led to these reflections , Sir , by the recent perusal" of a pamphlet ,

    -which I read in the early part of my ministry with much satisfaction , and a sincere wish to imbibe that spirit of candour towards my Christian brethren of every denomination , which it tends to generate . I refefc to " Candid Reflections on the Doctrine of the

    Trinity , " by the late Rev . Benjamin Fawcett , of Kidderminster . In proof of the position above advanced , of the differences respecting the person of Christ , subsisting among reputed Trinitarians themselves , I take the liberty of extracting part of the

    account ; he gives of some of the modern writers on the doctrine , chiefly taken , as the pious and liberal author states , from Dr . Doddridge ' s Lectures . " Dr . Waterland , Dr . A . Taylor , and many other modern Athanasians ,

    carried their notion of the distinct personality and supreme divinity of the Father , Son and Spirit to a very great height , and seemed to have imagined that they sufficiently supported the Unity of the Godhead by asserting ,

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    that the Father , Son and Spirit had each of them the same divine nature , as three or more men have each of them the same human nature . They allowed many things to be inexplicable in their scheme , which they charged to the weakness of our understandings , and not to the doctrine itself .

    " Bishop Pearson , Bishop Bull and Dr . Owen agree in opinion , that though God the Father is the Fountain of Deity , the whole Divine nature is communicated from the Father to the Son ,

    and from both to the Spirit , yet so as that the Father and the Son are not separate , nor separable , from the divinity , but do still exist in it , and are most intimately united to it .

    " Mr . Howe seemed to suppose , that there are three distinct eternal Spirits , or distinct intelligent hypostases , each having his own distinct , singular , intelligent nature , united in such an inexplicable manner , as that ( upon account of their perfect harmony , consent and affection , to which he adds their mutual

    self-consciousness ) they may be called the One God , as properly as the different corporeal , sensitive and intelligent natures may be called one man . * ' Dr . Clarke ' s scheme is , that there

    is one Supreme Being , who is the Father , and two derived , subordinate , and dependent Beings . But he waves calling Christ a creature , as Arius did , and principally on that foundation disclaims the charge of Arianism .

    " Mr . Baxter seems to have thought the Three Divine Persons to be one and the same God , Understanding , Willing and Beloved by himself , or Wisdom , Power and Love , which he

    thinks illustrated by the three essential formalities ( as he calls them ) in the soul of man ; viz . vital , active power , intellect and will ; and in the sun , motion , light and heat .

    " Archbishop Tillotson , Dr . Walhs , and many others thought , the distinction between the Three Persons waa only Modal , coinciding with the leading sentiment of Sabellius . it Tt * nPl-k * -kVM . r » *« PiiwnAf * % - ><» ¦ r > 4-ai nf * rl DrThomas Burnet maintained

    . " . one self-existent and independent , and two dependent Beings , but asserted , that the two latter are so united to and inhabited by the former , that by virtue of such union , divine perfections may be ascribed , and divine worship paid to them .

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    52 £ Mr , Howe on , the Opinions on the Trinity .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1817, page 522, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2468/page/10/