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    fissions , from a corrupt to a pure form of Christianity , seems to be making progress even in the Church .

    " I am satisfied that an immense majority of 'the laity , especially of the educated part , and I have reason to believe not a few even of the clergy , most heartily regret the admission of any other creed into the Liturgy of our Church than that called the Apostles '—the great antiquity of which is universally acknowledged . " Again ,

    " From man y conversations which have occasionally passed in my hearing , I am persuaded that nine in ten of the educated part of the laity look upon the Athanasian . Creed just as men of education in the Romish religion do upon Transubstantiation—that is , as a gross absurdity . The clergy are not aware how widely this kind of scepticism prevails at the present day . The truth is , that this Athanasian Creed is a canker-worm , gnawing the vitals of Christianity . "

    What a relief of mind must Mr . Shaw have felt in becoming a believer in the scriptural doctrine of one God the Father ! " I would ask any candid man this simple question , Supposing that he had never heard of this doctrine ( the Trinity ) , could he have discovered it in the Bible ? For myself I can confidently say , that I might have devoted my whole life to the study of that blessed book without ever making the discovery . I know not how the minds of other persons may be affected in their reti < rious

    exercises ; but , speaking" from my own experience , I declare , tb ^ t . during several years while I endeavoured to bring my mind into assent with the doctrine confessed in the Athanasian Creed , I felt an inexpressible unhappiness and distraction . All the ingenious arguments I heard or read failed of affording me complete satisfaction , especially when I turned to the Bible . But ? iow , ichen I endeavour to raise my soul to the Father of mercies through the mediation of his beloved Son , I feel a comfort and ease of conscience that

    were strangers to me in the former case . " Though fully convinced of the unscripturalness of the Trinity , the writer has not closed his mind to fresh evidence . < r Having now delivered my sentiments , I avow myself open to conviction , if it can be shewn from the Hol y Scriptures that I have erred ; but I enter my protest against any other kind of authority . " He thus terminates his strictures on the Trinity :

    " I now conclude by quoting a passage from the sermon of that pious prelate , Bishop Taylor—* He who goes about to speak of the mystery of the Trinity , and does it by words and names of man ' s invention ; talking of essences and existences , hypostases and personalities , priority in co-equalities , and unity in pluralities , may amuse himself , and build a tabernacle in his head , and talk something , he knows not what : but the good man who feels the power of the Father , and to whom the Son is become wisdom ,

    sanctification , and redemption , in whose heart the love of the spirit of God is shed abroad ; this man , though he understands nothing of what is unintelligible , yet he alone truly understands the Christian doctrine of the Trinity / Is it possible for the pen or tongue of man to express a more severe censure upon the Athanasian Creed ? To Bishop Taylor ' s Trinity I would subscribe with all my heart ; but I do not scruple to affirm , that the kind of Trinity described in this men-mocking creed is altogether unsupported by the Holy Scriptures . " To the Confessions is appended an Essay on Socinianism . On this we shall content ourselves by remarking , that Mr . Shaw has written without a

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    Confessions of a Member of the Church of England . g

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1831, page 29, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2593/page/29/