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bis knowledge is unlimited : you gain nothing by proving that his power was given trim bjr the Father ; we admit that , but believe too , that his power is underived and independent : you gain nothing by proving that he is the Son of God , and finite ; we admit that , but believe too , that he is God , and infinite . To be sure it is a mystery ; but we must submit our carnal reason to the teachings of scripture . "
Now , how this differs from the reasoning of the Roman Catholic in favour of Transubstantiation , I am unable to perceive . But that reasoning is pronounced sophistical , contradictory , and absurd . It will be acknowledged that it tends to disturb the foundations of our knowledge , and to weaken our confidence in all human opinions . Why , then , will the Trinitarian persist himself in an argument which , in another application , he sees is palpably erroneous ? I am sure that every candid person must confess the inconsistency that I have pointed out , and be slow in condemning his brother for
being unable to believe that the same Being can know all things , and yet know but in part ; has received all his power from another , and yet possesses it independently ; is finite and inferior to God , and infinite and equal to God ; at the same time that the exercise of his own good sense and his knowledge of scriptural interpretation prevent his agreeing with the Catholic , that Christ intended to be literally understood when he said , This is my body , and , This is my blood ; and he refuses to believe that the substance which he sees before him , with all the properties of bread , is actually the flesh of the Son of God .
4 . The two doctrines agree in the support which they have received from men of eminent learning and piety . It is said , that the doctrine of the Trinity has been the undisputed doctrine of the church for ages ; that thousands have been nurtured , under the influence of its belief , in the principles of a deep and fervent piety ; that volumes filled with erudition and
argument have been written in its defence ; and that the spirits of the just have clung to it in the hour of death , with a strong perception of its truth , and confidence in its power . We are directed to the philosophic Leibnitz , the profound Boyle , the devout Doddridge , as witnesses to the truth of the Trinity , and by their testimony many are confirmed in their belief .
But the argument goes too far ; for , if it is good , it proves the mystery of Transubstantiation . If the authority of great names has power to prove that the idea of a Trinity is not inconsistent with the Divine Unity , it can prove , also , that the bread of the eucharist is the body of the Lord , without doing violence to human reason . The same considerations which apply to the Trinitarian doctrine , apply with equal , force to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic . That has found advocates and believers among men of
distinguished talent and learning . That has been the orthodox doctrine for ages . That has shed a light over the dying bed . That can number among its adherents such names as Fenelon , Bossuet , and Pascal , whose example might sanction any doctrine which is capable of support by human authority . But what does it jOTOve ? Nothing . They were men , fallible men ; and on this point , the Protestant acknowledges their mistake . Unitarians
regard in like manner the names which he adduces . They yield them the claim 'of intellect and piety , but believe they were in error : of course , their autbontyhas no weight with them . For if they were influenced by the associations which are suggested by the example of tbe great and good in the history of the church , they must not only believe the doctrine of the Trinity , but the mystery of Transubstantiation . . 5 . Both agree ito having been deemed essential to salvation . On , e of the
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1828, page 814, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2567/page/14/
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