On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
him a favourer of heresy : the Pope , therefore , had no opponent . Having taken all proper precautions , he caused the council to assemble at Chaicedon , and there to decree that what was born of Mary was a mere man . To bring the bishops convened to recognize the doctrine of the two natures cost him more trouble * They refused—his agents insisted : still they
refuseddenouncing the doctrine as a novelty . No resource remained but the civil power : it was called on—the emperor commanded the bishops to sign , and they reluctantly obeyed . Thus did the Church gain the tenet , that in Christ there are two distinct natures united in one person . Those who watch the progress of events tell us that great changes often depend on insignificant things . We have here an instance in point—an instance which we hope
will induce the orthodox to hold their completed orthodoxy with due humility . The neighing of a horse gave an Eastern a kingdom—the stumbling of a horse gave to Christendom a creed . Yes , this sublime finish to the Trinitarian faith depended on the stumbling of a horse ; and never , perhaps ,, would orthodoxy have triumphed , had Theodosius been equestrian enough to keep his seat . As it is , he fell—died ; the Pope rose—dictated ; and the
Christian world rejoices in its great mystery in all the completeness of its full proportions . True it is the people were refractory . At one time the council and the decrees were held up to execration ; at another time they obtained a forced applause ; they were again denounced with curses , and now again were ordered to be received into favour . But the people were taught obedience , and the great work of forming the compound object of a
Christian ' s worship was at length , after many years , various fates , and much toil , some bloodshed , immense persecution , direful wrath , end lasting animosities , brought to a happy conclusion . A conclusion , however , it was ; not quite concluded , and yet such as satisfied the faithful for centuries . In the unfinished state to which we have traced it , the present generally received Trinity remained for nearly three hundred and twenty years . From whom
did the Holy Spirit proceed ? From the Father , say the ancient creeds : from the Son also , said innovators in the eighth century . In the year 767 the question was agitated . The Greek Church opposed the derivation from the Son ; even the Latin Church under Leo III . rejected it . Another century passed , and men were wiser ; and Pope Nicholas I ., in spite of the infallibility of Leo , added to the words , * From the Father , ' and the Son . '
Thus , in the year of our Lord 863 , the present Trinity was completed by Pope Nicholas I . ; and yet , sad to say , completed for only a part of the Christian world . Still the Greek Church kept to its former unbelief ; and , even to the present day , its Trinity is , alas , incomplete , rejecting , as it does , with awful presumption , the derivation of the Spirit from the Son . That knavery , violence , add force , were , the chief means by
Untitled Article
322 Rise and Progress of the Doctrine of the Trinity *
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1832, page 322, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1812/page/34/
-