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plications of the Doctrine of tire Trinity , &c . In a Letter to H . H . " Biographia Brit , iii . 29- Note II . The Unitarian was soon followed by this foe of the Bishop ' s own house , whom Burnet's biographers have left
unnoticed . He thus expresses his disappointment , adding a charge of variations , which requires for its support a better authority than his own . As to the charge of some particular practice so darkly insinuated , it is sufficient to recollect that the Bishop appears to have set his accuser at defiance .
" When I saw the discourse as it came new dressed from the press , I was quite confouded by a complication of passions and amazements at the changes made in it , especially by the
unfriendly usage of the Fathers , * and gaudy character of the Socinian probity , justice and charity . Being thus disappointed , no wonder if my heart was heated within me . And
hereupon 1 undertook to write to his Lordship my grief at those passages which offended me , and another particular practice of his Lordship not to be mentioned here . This letter his Lordship resented very grievously as too free and daring , and for that cause wrote
to me , that he would admit of no discussion of particulars with a man of my ill temper , who seemed made to exercise the patience of better men . But had I come and modestly proposed my exceptions , he could and
would have given me satisfaction ; but if I would to the press for want of " such private satisfaction , ( as I had forewarned his lordship ) I might take my course , . so that this book comes out , even with his Lordship ' s licence . "
This vindicator finds " two things to urge against my Lord Bishop of Sarum—that he very defectively ( to say no worse ) states" the church ' s " -faith and doctrine , in the' articles of the Trinity , and Incarnation , " and that ' ? he exposes the Fathers . ' My
author goes on to reproach the Bishop because " he foully states the faith of the divinity arid incarnation of Christ , and therein , of the holy . Trinity . *' This charge is brought against the discourse for having described the Trinitarian as one of " three opinions , '' and thus " is an insinuation laid for the communion with Socinians and * Preface to the Clergy .
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Arians , which is a blessed comprehension . " And again , " he calls it an opinion only like that of the Socinian and Arian . " My author , on the contrary , determines that " Catholick Faith , " or , in plain language , his own
opinion , was " the Faith of the Universal Church ( not the opinion of any party ) in the beginning ; and therefore the contrary parties and opinions arising since ( of what cut or size soever ) pertain not to this holy body . " Vindic . pp . 1—5 .
The Bishop in his discourse appears to have encountered difficulties common to all who are not satisfied with the apostolic belief of one God 9 even the Father , and yet would avoid the language of Tritheism , or , if that be any thing less , of Sherlock ' s system
of three infinite minds . Thus the Bishop qualifies his creed by the following declaration : " By Person is not meant such a Being as we commonly understand by that word , a complete intelligent Being , but only that every one of that blessed Three
has a peculiar distinction in himself , by which he is truly different from the other two . " Discourses , p . 31 , in Vindic . p . 3- The Vindicator objects to this statement , and remarks , with a levity scarcely to have been expected , that <* it being only such a diversity that one is not the other , it
will as well agree to two or three tobacco-pipes , for these are truly different from each other / ' Id . p . 16 . Still further to expose the Bishop ' s qualified belief in a Trinity of persons in the Godhead , he supposes him to hold the following dialogue with a gentile candidate for Christian baptism .
" Catechumen . My Lord , I am an heathen philosopher , and willing to be instructed in the principles of the Christian faith I , pray wh ^ t are they ? Bysh . First our received doctrine is , that in the single essence of God there are three . Catech . Three
what , my Lord ? Bish . Three really distinct from one another , more than three names , modes and ceconomies . Catech . My Lord , you tell me what they are not , but I would fain know ,
or have some notion what they are ^ and when you tell me there are three , the rules of logick , grammar and catechism require a substantive to determine the nense ; I pray , my Lord ,
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Hill ' s Vindication of the Fathers , 469
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1817, page 469, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2467/page/21/
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