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    s ^ iftq ^ tLan . s it sometimes t ransppsed * sometimes interpolated with words foreign to the original text but favourable to the orthodox sense , and always interlarded with the orthodox interpretation . This

    fact of itself proves , that the text never came from the orthodox party , because they would have so framed it at once as not to stand in need of any artifice to conceal its real meanalso that

    ing . It proves they were all , from Tertullian down to the venerable Bede , fully sensible that the Apostle wrote it against the Gnostics , and consequently against the doctrine which they themselves

    laboured to support . 10 . In the fourth century genuine Christianity was generally extinguished , the far greater number , especially among the learned , professing to believe in the pre-existence of Christ

    and in his divinity , though the sense ia which they considered him as divine was vague and uncertain . The heads of the churches , as they seemed to differ on this question , thought it expedient to ascertain this point by discussing- the text of the three

    Heavenly Witnesses , as they might at length do this without any fear of exposure on the part of those who advocated his simple humanity . Accordingly the Bishop of Alexandria convoked his clergy : before this assembly he put forth this proposition , That there was a monad in the triad .

    The triad meant the three Heavenly Witnesses , the Father , the Word and the Holy Spirit , which it appears from the conference , as related by Socrates , Arius thus properly conmuneruted ; while the monad in the

    tnad signified the Bishop ' s own interpretation of the last clause , " and fhese three are one . " The dispute , 11 is well known , broke out like a lame and soon divided the whole Uristiau world . Constantino , the r ^ ^— —¦ " >—^ ^ m — |— ~* * r v * * m ~ ~ m * ^» ° v ^ ^ n ^^ ^^ ^ ^ g ^^* ^ h ^ r ^ b <^ v ~^ a ^

    " ^ t Christian Emperor , was now oa de throne , and attempted , though ia vai » , to quench the controversy : and j'j a letter to the two disputants , he "wnes them for bringing before the J ) ul ) lie a discussion that ought to huve ) mi Juried in the recesses of their it is

    ^• n bosoms . And here most ( 1 W jl * y of attention that the Emperor ¦\ s the verse , which was the sub-Jm ° f their disagreement , " a cer-

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    tain passage of our law / ' meaoiug the Christian law or the Christian Scriptures . Constantine , however , failed in his benevolent purposes , and the Nicene Creed was the consequence . There is reason to believe that above two thousand ecclesiastics

    were assembled on that occasion , every church of any note , it is probable ,, being there represented by its Bishop or some other delegate- The convocation were divided principally into two parties , the one ranging on the side of Arius , the other on that of

    Alexander . The last clause of the text was the sole subject of dispute ; the high party , who from their ascendancy called themselves orthodox ? , maintaining that it meant unity of essence ; the other , that the unity

    meant was unity of consent . The sentiments of Tertullian were

    considered as the true standard of orthodoxy , and a century and a half before , he interpreted the clause as meaning unius substantive ; and as there was no word in Greek expressive of this idea , the ascendant party coined a new term on the

    occasione o / Aoov ( TiQv , homousium , of the same essence . The Arians were defeated : but the history of this important crisis is scandalously partial and defective , as entirely consisting of ex parte account . 11 . The Arians , though now

    overcome , soon rallied , and fifteen years after ninety-seven Arian Bishops met at Antioch , and drew up a creed in opposition to the ZVicene , which places the controversy between the parties in a clear , unequivocal light . They oppose to the doctrine of the

    homousion the unity of agreement 9 that is , agreement between the three witnesses , and this brings home the dispute to the text of the three Heavenly Witnesses . If any reasonable doubt

    can remain on the question , it must be removed by the state of the dispute between the orthodox and the Arians in the thirteenth century , when the verse was known and not called in question . Thomas Aquinas

    insisted on the orthodox sense of the unity ; Abbot Joachim on the agreement between the Heavenly Witnesses . This dispute was then avowedly grounded on the verse ; the dispute was precisely the . same ia the fourth century \ we conclude , tlw >

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    Thu was W jjeavenlp Witnesses , m Reply to the Stricture * of the Rev . . Evans . 7 &B

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1826, page 755, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2555/page/55/