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to be nn inte $ p $ h * tipi ? , because * the for ^ mula of Triiiijanan baptism , « in the name of the Father , Son and Holy Ghost / would render such interpolation unnecessary ) and the author of such suppression '
, has been thought to be Eusebius . This is the only . remark upon which we shall have the presumption to offer our observations ; for the perfection of scholarship , apparent in this work , is not to be exceeded . "—P . 149 .
It is allowed then that there have been " some copies of the New Testament" without the text . In the critic ' s state of mind this concession must not be despised . But his own as well as the Bishop of St . Davids ' eagerness to recover the passage ia an answer to his argument against the
interpolation from the needlessness of it . The fact is , as every one acquainted with the controversy knows , that in arguing for the doctrine of the Trinity from scripture , the Three Witnesses Text is always first named , and that Trinitarians are astounded when they liear for the first time that the text is
excepted against as a forgery : it sometimes happens that the person making the exception is charged with little less than blasphemy . The course pursued of late by the advocates of 1 John v . 7 , shews that there is ho price scarcely at which they would not willingly redeem it . Woe to the charaeter even
of the most illustrious of the dead , if it stand in the way of the text , or if its sacrifice will make satisfaction to offended orthodoxy ! Bishop Burgess seems , by the Reviewer's intimation , to charge the " suppression" upon Eusebius . One bishop should be more tender of the reputation of another . Eusebius was so little remote from
even the Bishop of St . Davids' sound faith , that the text could have been no stumbling-block to him . But grant that he wsls not only Arianus but dvianissimus , are not his known and tried virtues to shield him from the
mputation . of a fraudulent mutilation of scripture to serve a party purpose ? The learned Cape was zealous enough * n all conscience , for the " . Catholic faith , " but his fidelity makes his accotint of Eusebius on « continued
eulotfuim . He begins to describe bis character in these words , " De Summa e et longfe diffusissima doetrina / ut pluribus agatn , opus non est , cujus emdito nomini et olim et hddie vene-
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rabtindus assurgit totus , plenk orbb literarius : Pietate » adeo venerabilis , ut > apud plurimas Oceidentis Eccieaiaadn Sanctorum numero habebatur ^ et Sane ti Confesspris , et Epi ^ 6 pi > beat € & r& cordationisy et egregitie vitte becitisdimi Sacerdotzs nomen ineruerit . At proh
dolor I gravatur viri , 6 ptimi m ^ nciria non apud recentiore 3 mod 6 , verum apud veterum pjerosque lisereticse . pravitatis culpa , " &c . And referring , to the charge of his subscribing the Nicene Creed dishonestly , the historian says , in words which apply in more
than their original force , to the new accusers ,, "Adeo ab omni plank Christiana charitate abhorrent , qui emn vafrfc et dolosfe subscripsisse vplunt . " ( Script . Eceles- Hist . Lit . T . 129 , 130 . ) One assertion of Sylvanus Urban ' s admits certainly of no contradiction :
the perfection of scholarship , whether it be exhibited or not in Bish ^ op Burgess ' s tract , cannot be exceeded . In return for this self-evident proposition , we give him another of at least equal value , viz . ; that the perfection of folly and bigotry cannot be exceeded I
. Our urbane censor affords us a notable example of that slashing and desperate criticism , which it will be seen that ljis Eclectic brother considers best suited to the Trinitarian cause : * ' If Unitarianism be well-founded , Christianity must be an imposture /' - —P . 148 .
This Reviewer is eager , to contribute his illustration of the ; Trinity ; if not original , it is yet curious :
* ' The Unitarian hypothesis also presupposes that there is a limitation to the , will of God , an absolute necessity , that he cannot deprive himself of unity of person . in the whole of his nature : yet that remarkable zoophyte the polypus , shews , that divisibility of the Parent Being , even by violence , implies no necessary diminution of properties . "—Id .
The argument supposes that the Deity once possessed " unity of person , " but at some period undefined , willed himself asunder , and became . " three somewhat ^ t" Whether this . was " by violence /* the Reviewer does
not expressly say . It is for hi * n to determine , however , how thrfce polypi are one polypus . But we feel as if there were irreverence in stating the absurdity ^ We quote only another conundrum of Sylvanus Urban ? s , and this We leave without a single remark :
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Uitra- TrmUarkmi ^ m'in Gentlem ^ s Magazine JScleetip fie $ > iew . \ 6 %%
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vol xvr . 4 i
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1821, page 601, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2505/page/33/
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