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The attempt to explain the Doctrine of the Trinity ha 3 of late been pretty generally abandoned by writers calling themselves orthodox , who have comtnonly contented themselves with representing it as 3 sublime and inscrutable mystery which we are bound firmly to believe and humbly to adore without
being able to comprehend . We have here a scheme For bnnging down the arcana of orthodoxy to a level with human reason ; but we are apprehensive that though it is not devoid of ingenuity , nor , in some respects , of originality , it is destined to share the fate of its numerous predecessors . Where its aufhor is sound in the faith , he is as mystical and unintelligible as ever ; where he is rational , he is not orthodox . In fact , the very attempt implies , as he
seems to be conscious , a disposition to inquire and . think for himself , which it is not easy to reconcile with the obligations under which he has placed himself . If Jie durst give it its free course , we suspect it would lead Mm into consequences which , perhaps , he does not at present foresee ; The minister of a Trinitarian church , who has pledged himself to assert arid maintain its leading doctrine in all the forms in which it presents itself in three
contradictory-Creeds , would do well to be cautious how he ventures to speculate upon such : a subject ; and although , for the present , Mr . T . seems to be satisfied "with the result of his speculations , and flatters himself that he has placed this mysterious tenet in a more distinct , intelligible and practical point of light , we much doubt whether many of his brethren will tnank him for his
attempted explanations . , Nay , if he should persevere in exercising iris reason upon these high and knotty points , and should meditate further on the relative bearing of his opinions , and the real tendency of the principles on which his inquiries are conducted , we should not be much surprised to hear that they had finally brought him to conclusions which he could no longer persuade himself were consistent with the articles of his church .
; He sets out with asserting very decidedly the importance of the exercise of free inquiry , and the unreasonableness of supposing that the first reformers were able immediately to emerge from gross ignorance and error into a state pf ^ rfeet "knowledge and pure truth . He conceives himself , therefore , to be fully justified in pursuing the track on which they had entered , and vindicates his consistency in so doing with his character as a minister of the
Church of England , by citing the twentieth article : " The Church hath power to decree rites and -ceremonies , and authority in controversies of faith ; and yet it is not Jawful fbr the Church to ordain any thing which is contrary to God ' s word written ; neither onay it so expound one place oi Scripture that it be repugnant to another . " Certainly it is not easy to reconcile the latter part of this article either with the ibrmer , or with many
pretensions of the Church ; but whatever be its intended meaning , we cannot jbe authorize ^ to interpret it except in co nformity with the unconditional demand of unfeigned assent and consent to all and every of the doctrines contained m her articles and liturgy . Mr . T ., however , seems to think it is enough if he refrains fironi preaching any other doctrine , but *• nothing hinders that he should , through the medium of the press , offer to the public judgment the matured fruits of his own reflections and study of the Scriptures . "—P . 19 .
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s DOCTRINJS OF THE TRINITY . *
? An " Explanatory View of the Doctrine of the Trfoity , as it is delivered in the Scriptures . By the Rev . J . G . Tolley . 8 vo . London : William Kidd . 1829 . .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1829, page 552, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2575/page/32/
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