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fore that the foundation m> } beeii the same , namely , the exiliietfefe and notoriety <» f the controverted ? tieXtm In this memorable dispute ^ which decided the fa $ e of Ckristiatilifv for fifteen hundred years , three thirt y of considerable moment are implied .
First , the Nicene Creed proceeded on the grounds of the Diseipiina Arcdni , by which the verse was withdrawn from the knowledge of the public at large , and thus it recognised the real existence of the secret doctrine : for both the Orthodox and the Arians
disputed the meaning of the verse without ever noticing the verse itself In a direct manner . Secondly , the object of Gonstantine in drawing up that creed and sending it as a standard of faith to the several churches , was to put an end to all the disputes and animosities which the various
Interpretation of the text had hitherto called forth . Thirdly , though the learned controverted the sense of the text , not one of the contending parties called its authenticity in
question . This was an important circumstance . The persons assembled were heads of the churches , and had in their possession all the original MSS . which had descended to them
from the days of the apostles , probably with the very autograph of the Apostle John in the number ; yet all these men acquiesced in the genuineness of the text without suspecting that it was possible to doubt it . 12 . About the middle of the fifth
century Jerome , under the patronage of Pope DamasuSy undertook to give a correct edition of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures . Theodosius was a violent persecutor of the Arians , and his elevation to the throne raised
the orthodox cause above all fear of opposition . This circumstance rendered Jerome free to restore the text to the knowledge and use of the public , and to dissolve for ever the
Disci plina Arcani of the Latin , and the xpw / noy SoyfAct , of the It reek Church . To this the seven canonical epistles he prefixed a short prologue or preface , in which are implied two circumatances of hi ^ h moment , namely , that the text of the three Heavenly Witnesses was excluded from the
editions m common use , and that he restored it on the faith of the Greek inacu scripts *
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13 . * F } ie secret < % fi ¥ i' pHi \ e fy& flttf tf ' dferijfifftfed * - by * JeWftife' ^ WferVOjif trlve was thtib reinS 3 ^< ( T for / c oVi ^ li ^ or patfti&lly quoHr % ? tjte Verfe .- Kfe eordingly , the eeeFefclafetic ^ l ' > rft ^ who succeeded jWbtonffe ; siieri a ^ p ^ gentkrs , Eildierifos , Cassi 6 iff 6 tirs irift Vigiltiis Th& ] feen 3 is ; cte it &t ftiU tengftliy though 1 nbt witftdtit tfei tafti artifices accompanying it to disguise
its troe sighineatio ^ . 14 . Hannetid , King of the Vandal , a furious persecutor of tlie Trtfiiferi ans , summorted the bfthodox bislfops , at a started tirfle , to appear at Catthage to dilute With tW ^^ Arian doctors itv hia c ^ fPt . TPIiis Stfrninftrii tVfe
sent , not only to the prottecfe ^ Africa , but also fo E ^ fpt , Greets '^ tid the isles of the Meditierratiean ; ^ tjd they assembled t& t \ iB nmbxxhtiit Jbur hundred . Here they riiatfe their defence , and , behold ! they produce m it the text of the three Heavenly Witnesses , as it had , but a few yeafs before , heen restored by Jerome , and
as we now have it in the-Vulgate and in the Original . This was in the year 480 . Did these four hundred bishops conspire to forge the verse on this occasion ? The supposition is extravagant folly . Suppose that four hundred men , who at least professed
integrity and truth , who had hitherto been unknown to each other , who had a character to maintain as tfeachers of Christianity , wer& all capable of conspiring" in a gross act of fraud ;
yet they knew that they had to produce it before learned adv&sarks who would be sure to detect it , and before a powerful prince , who , on detection , would not fail to punish them , one and all , with imprisonment , with death , or with exile , or at ' all events brand them with infamy . The
forgery was morally impossible . These are the propositions which Mr . W . Evans pronounces too subtle to be believed ; and by one grand coup de main he seta them aside by the following summary of Pors < m against the verse : " In short , if this verse be really genuine , notwithstanding its absence from all the Greek
JVISS ., notwithstanding its absence from all the versions except the vu ! - p-ate ; notwithstanding the deep and dead silence of all the Greek wnW down to the-thirteenth , and most oi the Latin down to the middle ot tne
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f 56 Concise View of the Evidence / of the Text of the Three
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1826, page 756, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2555/page/56/
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