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% wik > MM ^ fflww ? lw iCtfii ^ i ?!!^ - ?« W Q Ws *«^^ ' lasf ^ i ^^ ^ a chhp . ^^ 0 , df Johns Q ^ P ^ I ^ VhjqK $ & quotes . That ihe first of tltfs alternative is the fact will
appear evident from the follovving reasons . First , Tertullian here specifies tfiree persons , the Father , the Son and the Holy Spirit ; whereas , in the passage of the Gospel , two only are noticed , the Father and the Son ; and if he drew an inference from it , he would
have said , " which two are one . " But he says expressly , " which three are one , " — Qut tres unum sunt . Secondly , this cannot be an inference , as Porson and others maintain , from
the words of the Evangelist ; because it is asserted in independent and positive terms , without doubt or limitation ; and what is more remarkable , Tertullian refers to the Evangelist as
furnishing an illustration , an additional evidence for the truth of his own interpretation , Tn the same manner in which it is said . This very clause , the force of which has been overlooked by the adversaries of the disputed text , demonstrates that the writer is
arguing from some passage independent of that from \ vhich he borrowed his illustration . To draw , an inference from a text , and then refer to-that text to illustrate it and confirm it , is an - tijteurdity ojf which no author in his solid mind would be guilty .
Thirdly , as the claase , " Qui tres unum sunt , " isa quotation from Scripture , it must have been quoted from the Epistle of John : for in no other part of the Christian Scriptures ' exist any words like it , <* r whicji even justify it .
In the fourth place , other writers quote this very clause to prove the unity of the Father , the Son and the Holy Spirit . Thus Origen virtually cites it , in a . Scholium on Psalm cxxii .
Ta oe Tgia , Kvpioe ; o @ £ o ; Y ^ y ^ oSv a ^ r hi yap to iv . sicri , The Lord our God is three-fold ; for they are one . Phcebadius quotes it about the middle of the fourth century . "Our Lord says , f will ask of the Father , and he will enve you another advocate . Thus
the Spirit is different from the Son , is the Son is different fropa , the Father ; yet all three are but one God / ' Now , if nothing more was added , I should have concluded , with full confidence , that this writer alluded ; to , the last clause of the disputed tex , t ; beeauso
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m * m \ x ® e ^ iMM | e ^^ f ^ ^^^^ L gk . fwd sachet ! assertio # ^^ ffl&bnStii he subjoins fc » f r&i& ) it * fof ? m $ fim * fliiit these thr £ e peT&on ^ are oiie *^ Q ^ & ' * Qaia tres linum ' sunti * T * he c ^ i ^ si quia leaves no doubt that the succeeds in ^ word s are not an inference , as is supposed in Tertullian , but a script tural quotation , which carried in it a proof of the assertion preceding it .
Marcus Celedensis , fifteen years later , quotes it . "To us there is one Father , one Son , a true God , and one Holy Spirit , a true God , and these three are one . " Et hi tres unum stint .
Cyprian , who closely succeeded Tertullian , quotes it . " De Patre , etFilio , et Spiritu Sancto Scriptum est : et hi tres unum sunt . " In this paragraph are implied two things , namely ; that the Father , and the Son , and the Holy Spirit are one , and that it is $ &
written of them , or that they are said to be one in the Scriptures . But observe , the clause which says thatthese three bare witness , and suggests the unity meant to be that of testimony , is artfuUy omitted ; an-d Cyprian Jeaves the reader to conclude , as Tertutlian asserts , that the unity intended by the Apostle means that of being or essence ^ '
Fulgentius , an African Bishop towards the close of the fifth century , who was free from the restraints ivhieh pressed on his predecessors , quotes not only this clause * but the whole verse . " Beatus enim Joannes
Tesiatur , Tres , sunt qui testimonium perhibe&t in ccelo , Pater , Verbuni el / Spirit us Sanctus ; et tres unum sunt , " To this he premises an allusion ; to Tertullian . "InPatre ^ rgo et Rlio-et-Spii&u Sancta unitatem 8 wb&tanti ^ accipimus , personas coufu ^ dere ji oia ^ udfemus . ^ Tertulliaa was fchevgceatrJE ^ C tor at the head . of the-Iiatui ChUi-cU
he defuie 3 the unity of the Apostle-Ap be unitntem substantive . This definition Fal lentius notices ; and , wj $ U . tbe submission due from a pupil t ^ o-his njaster , he writes imitatem mhstantiiz aocipvnus . It Is worthy of remark ,
that the term ofAo&aiop , expresses m (} reek what Tertullian meant by uniys substantice in Latin ,, and w ^ s coined by the author of the Nicejo ^ Creed to CQnvey tlie , s ^ ttne signification-i ^ Aod the referquce whic ; h tb , es use vi it . in that creed to , th ^ verse , ia AhQv ^ B ^^
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276 B * n DaM on X'JRM v . 7 l
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1826, page 276, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2548/page/24/
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