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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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srtfiil proposition fee Apostle reduces fche evidences for the : divine mission of 5 esus t 6 three heads— -the testimony ® f the Father at his baptism ^ the testimony of the Logos , dwelling in him during" his rninisfcry , and the testimony < of the Holf Spirit which descended
on his apostles after his ascension * These three testimonies are one ^ because they are found , upon examination , to attest one aind the same things namely , that Jesus is the Christ or the Son of GocL This simple proposition is the substance of Christianity and a summary of its evidences : and
it is hardly possible that , if Christianity be true , a verse asserting its foundations , and no more , should prove a forgery * Hence we may conclude with certainty , that a verse which , if justly interpreted , enforces the simple humanity of Christ , cannot have been the fabrication of men who
taught his divinity . It is not then a forgery of the Greek and Latin Fathers , all of whom believed in that doctrine ., 2 . The doctrine of the divinity of Jesus was introduced into the
Christian Church early in tlie second century , and taught with caution , and that only to tlie initiated . This rendered it necessary to withdraw from the copies of the New Testament , in general use , the verse which asserts his mere humanity . The introduction
of this anti-apostolic doctrine with its consequences , and the exclusion of the disputed text , constituted the disciplina arcani adopted in the second century and afterwards * To tlie existence of this disciplina arcani 3 Bemgelius and other learned Trinitarians
hear testimony : and the reserve \ Vith which the early fathers avowed and ^ ught the Trinity is gathered from the confession of Chrysostom , Jerome and others , and is broadly stated by Casaubon . This disciplina arcani then proves two things ; first , that the authors of it knew the verse to be
genuine ; secondly , that so far from having * forged the verse , they knew that it was hostile to tlie system which they sought to establish . 3 . The text became a subject of
toatroversy in the second century between the U hi tartans and the ortbo-< tox- Prteeas eonnumerated tlie Father , the Word and the Holy Spirit , * w * maintained them to be **» , taking
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these names as expressive of the satne Being iti tfyree different relations * F&r this he was branded by his adversary Tertullian as a Patfipassian . The text , therefore , of the three Heavenly Witnesses was not only known t 6 those disputants , but the very foundation of the dispute between them .,
4 . In the early part of the fourth century the controversy about the import of the verse became more direct and general * The Bishop of Al « exandria , before his clergy , eonnitmerated the Father , the Wofd and tlite Holy Spirit , and asserted the unity of this Triad . This was the text of tlie
three Heavenly Witnesses with'fife orthodox interpretation of the last clause * Constantine , on hearing <> f the dispute , calls it * a certain passage in our law ¦; " censures the disputants for making it public ; reminds them of the danger attending the pub * lication , and intimates that the verse * rather than be discussed before tlie
people , should be buried in oblivion His efforts to extinguish the flames off controversy proving unsuccessful , he assembles the Council of Nice with the view < of substituting a
common creed in the room of the verse % and thus , by its exclusion , of securing the peace and unity of Christen * . dom . The text of the three Heavenly Witnesses was * therefore , the sole cause of the famous Nicene Creed *
Though only three hundred and twenty bishops subscribed it , there is reason to believe , that above two thou ~ sand had * asserobled on that occasion . They were divided into two parties ^ Orthodox and Arian : the former prevailed , having invented the term hd- * moUsion to express the unity intended in the last clause The exterruinatiofa
of the apostolic text was thus deter ~ mined by the majority : and Constantine , to effect Ms purpose of preventing any further contention , caused copies of the NeW Testament ; to bt supplied , Avhere they were -wanted " for the public use ^ doubtless \ Vithotit the
^ erse . 5 . The Arian party * however , were ? ery powerful , and a few yeara-offer * , assembling at Antioeh , they formed a counter-creed in which they insisted on tlie unity asserted 'in the teaft /' as meaning unity of cohsent or of testimony , tlms nisikintf it clear as the light ' ofdaVi tiratthecontroversy which < Irefi
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1826, page 319, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2549/page/3/
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