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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.
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Untitled Article
dox ctiurch . But tlii ^ bnfessi ^ ^ required ' of Mm not ii > pilbHc r but before the iniiiated ; and ChrysoBtoui , in Ks Hoiriily m l < bKxk $ 9 i liecliaes insisting on tWs part of the creed , aVotVedly because he * was
addressing the ummtmted * His w <* rds > as translated by Bengclius , are the following : €€ Aperte dicere non audeo , propter eos qui non stint initiati : dicaui autem tecte . J > The persons to be baptized underwent a severe discipline of forty days , before the creed was administered unto them . This is
attested by Jerome to Panirna hias . His words are , Consuetudo apud nos hujusmodi eat , ut his qui baptizandi iunt , per xl dies publice tradamus sanctam et ado rand am Trinitatem . Nor were the catechumens atloWe $ to
be spectators of the ceremony , ^ tit were previously dismissed . Thie priest then gave orders that the daor should be bolted : * * Ostia , Ostia , prudenter obdamus , " Then immediately the Crfeed was read . I will add here the words of Gregory Nazianzen , as translate ^ %
Dr . Burgess : " Above all s&bjfecis there is the greatest danger in treating of the doctrine of the blessed Trinity , teat they who ) have the offite of jwiblic instruction , while they are anxious to avoid the language of Polytheism , should appear to acknowledge only
one petsori , representing > the Father ; the Sdn and the ^ Hdlf Gho $ t t 6 bfe oae aott ^ the ^ an > e person , and their names' emptjr distinctions ; ttr , Oti the contrar ^ so discriminate the three persons as to make them three Gods t
that is ; lest they sfliould beeriirle Utfa tarianr , who maintained * the tmky -6 f God , or P olytheists , believing in three distinct Gods . This passage is very important : but its import cannot be fully cdniprehended without some knowle < j | ge of the controversy vohich then divided the Christian Church .
Sabelliiis , Bishop of Pentapolis , in Libya ; interpreted the text of the thl * ee tje ^ venly witnesses precisely in the S&ntse which the Apostle gave to it ¦ ' ' Fdr this nothing- was necessary tood
but td titideirstand the term Log-as in the ^^^ uddrs by John , namely r the aitliribiite ^ of God ^ personified and invested in the man Jesus , to prove hi ^^ Vine ifihsi <* i fro m the Father ; and ^ ometim 4 s , ixh in the disputed
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hM irtp « j ^ fe £ ^ p ^^ r ^ al ^ l this vietv , the Father , the Logos tfhd tile Holy Spirit , are but thr ^^ iiflfe ^ t names , expressing three different i ^ elotions 'of one and tlie same Bering . Sabellhi 9 , ^ ; then , like P ^ axeas before liiiifi , atid like Mare ^ llas ^ Pa ^ il ,, of ^ imosata , and Photinus who succeeded ,
wfcs SFtrifetly an wnitfyrttow . Now ; reader , mark the injus ? tifee Which the dr * thodox , his mortal enemies , have done to this learned and honest man . While the Logos , as understood by Sabellius , was only a personification , or an lius , was only a personification , or an
ideal beings the Son of God , endned with the Logos , was ^ real being ; but in order to stigmatize him n ^ heretical and absurd , they substituted in his cr ^ ed , which was grounded on $ h& disputed verse , the Son for the Logos ;
and thus they represent him && h& > li # ing the Father ; the So ^ aad the Hdily Ohost to be one and the same person , and their names empty 4 | is tiiMf tioiisi" Nor were the ^ satisfied with imputing this absurdity to hiuRu If the Father and the Son i were the
san > e person , the former must have experienced the sufferings and death which the Son is known to have undergone ; and hence the orthodox called Sabellius and Praxeas Patripussiam , which is an evident calumny . In the time of TertwMia ®* the
majority of Ch * htiians were lielievers in tbk J © i \ wnc' Uriity ^ This very writer oa ^ ls thet n , major pars credentium . The ^ adopti on of theTripity w ^ as onv lined to- the learned only ; and their atteippxs to impose it on the unle ^ ruedf m $ t the most decided opposition . Cjommon sense instructed and eroboU
dened the people to charge their blind guides with idolatry , us making three instead of one God . Duos et tres juih jactitant a nobis prsedicari , se vero uiiius Dei cultores presumuat . TertuU P . 502 . ! ' ¦ ¦ > r My object , in the next place , is' to shew that the famous . Nicene Credd
is founded on the suppression of tfe& controverted text , and enforces the orthodox , interpretation of it , which was originally intended against the Unitarians , in opposition to tli ^ k followers of Ariiis ^«» jaSPltis will appear from the disputes which more imtnediatcly called forth tHeNlcfeflcI ^ rcmd - ^ frOm the Creed : itself ^ , i uhd tinw ?
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ShhBMd m&fasMim' fc : ¦ Wfi
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1826, page 147, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2546/page/19/
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