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with the four Gospels." Persevering zealously to inculcate his pernicious opinions, he was at length deprived of his professorship, and formally expelled from the University; having also voluntarily resigned the preferment which he held by virtue of a subscription to those Articles of Faith, which he now unequivocally condemned. Having adapted the Book of Common Prayer to his own views, he opened a meetinghouse, where he used the Liturgy thus remodelled; and his writings were now deemed so dangerous, as to elicit the attention of the Convocation, by whom he was prosecuted for heresy, though the proceedings were afterwards stayed by an act of grace. Not content with one set of opinions, he gradually inclined to Anabaptism; and, reaching at length the highest point of heretical perfection, he enlarged the number of the canonical books in the New Testament from twenty-seven to fifty-six; maintained that Providence was already beginning to set up the Millennium; and preferred before the standard of Christianity, which is fixed by the " strange and weak reasonings " of St. Paul, that which "had been long before settled upon surer foundations and fuller instructions, as they stand in the only authentic system of Christianity, the APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS. ""* Surely this must be the infatuation of a disordered mind; and indeed Bishop Hare, as cited by himself, observes, that those "who speak most favourably of him, look upon him as crazed, and little better than a madman."†

In the mean time, a new and important turn had been given to the controversy by the publication, in 1712, of Dr. Clarke's Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity. The reputation which this author had already acquired, both as a divine and a philosopher, as well as the professed object of his work, naturally ensured to it a considerable share of attention. But although his design was to establish the doctrine of the Trinity upon a critical examination of all the texts of the New Testament relating to the subject, yet an assumption, at the outset, with respect to the formularies of the Church of England, that any person might agree to them, provided he could "in any sense at all reconcile them with Scripture ;" and a denial of the authority of the primitive Fathers, not only as expositors of the sacred writers, but as being frequently inconsistent with themselves in regard to the doctrines which they professed; plainly indicated the tendency of his opinions to be irreconcileable with the faith of the primitive Church, and of that whereof he was a minister. Being called upon to answer to the Convocation for the manifest heterodoxy set forth in his book, he averted their threatened censure by an unequivocal declaration of his belief in the Eternity of the Son of God; expressing at the same time his sorrow that "what he sincerely intended for the honour and glory of God, should have given any offence to the synod." In making this declaration some even of his Arian friends accused him of dissembling; while his prevaricating reservation respecting “ a sort of eternity," and the metaphysical possibility of “ any creature whatsoever being coeternal with its creator," is well worthy of the character of the Arians of former times. This disavowal of intended Arianism, however, did not produce the effect of convincing the clergy in general of the correctness of

* Whiston's Memoirs, written by himself, p. 639.

+ Ibid., p. 118.

his persuasions. In one of the numerous publications to which his Scripture Doctrine gave rise, the author (Dr. Gastrell, afterwards Bishop of Chester) remarks, that "in Dr. Clarke's fifty-five propositions, there is but one single expression (viz. Proposition 29) which any of those who now profess themselves Arians would refuse to subscribe to."

At length, in 1719, the learned Waterland stepped forward as the champion of orthodoxy, in his admirable work entitled a Vindication of Christ's Divinity in which he shews that the Arian notion of a subordinate Deity is altogether untenable; that the Son, being therefore very God, must be one with the Father, or there would otherwise be more Gods than one; and that, although the Son is, in some sense, unquestionably subordinate to the Father, there is no text in Scripture which disproves either their coeternity or consubstantiality. His Lady Moyer's Lectures, published in the following year, were also devoted to the same subject, and may be regarded as a clear and comprehensive refutation of the Arian scheme. Dr. Whitby, the celebrated commentator, now appeared on the side of Dr. Clarke, to whom Waterland replied; and shortly afterwards published a tract in confutation of those who were disposed to justify the subscription of Arians to the Articles of the Church. In defence of this duplicity, it was urged that our formularies may be reconciled with the sense which the Arians would put upon them; against which Dr. Waterland maintained that the only sense in which they could be honestly subscribed was that in which they were known to have been compiled not to mention that they contain many expressions which are wholly inconsistent with the Arian scheme. The controversy still continued, and called forth from Dr. Waterland a Second, and a Farther Vindication; which were followed, in 1734, by a work of inestimable value, and which ought to have set the discussion at rest for ever; viz. The Importance of the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity asserted. Though directed against some pamphlets which had recently appeared, it is equally applicable at all times; and contains, with the author's Critical History of the Athanasian Creed, a summary reply to almost every objection which has been urged against this fundamental doctrine of the Church of Christ.

Since the days of Warburton, who may be regarded as the Theologus facile princeps in the debate, the Trinitarian controversy has assumed a character which will bring it more immediately under consideration in treating of Socinianism. Suffice it, in the interim, to remark, that not only is the doctrine of the Church of England identified with the uniform and unvaried faith of Christians, from the days of the Apostles to the present time, built upon the records of Holy Writ, and attested by the writings of the fathers; but the Arian opposers of it are guilty of an idolatry of the grossest sort:-an idolatry, not merely involving, like that of the Papists, the worship of saints and angels, in subordination to God, but the worship of the creature together with the Creator. Later Arians, indeed, seem to have abandoned the worship of Christ, regarding him as "a creature of God, and no more an object of worship than any other creature whatever." All the more eminent Arians, however, and among them Whiston, Clarke, Emlyn, Benson, and Pierce, were worshippers of Christ; thus depriving God of half his sovereignty. Even the Jews themselves acknowledge that the gospel

pourtrays the Redeemer under the appellation and with the attributes of God. In the Rabbinical fiction entitled, Tholedoth Jesu, they state our Saviour and his disciples to have taught that he was God, born of a Virgin who had conceived by the Holy Ghost; and R. Tanchuma maintains that Jesus Christ, who claimed to be God, was a mere man. From these Judaising dogmas, proceeded the Ebionitic and Cerinthian heresies, and thence eventually arose the bold and blasphemous abuses of Arius and his followers. In the miraculous nature of his birth; in the repeated attestations of God himself; in his miracles, his precepts, and his doctrines; in his triumph over death, and in his glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven; the Divinity of the Son manifests itself even amidst the mysteries in which the Triune God is confessedly veiled. No wonder, then, that, as Arianism begins with blasphemy, it often ends in infidelity. Chubb was first an Arian, then a Socinian, and finally a Deist; Morgan advanced more rapidly to the latter extreme; and Whiston went so far as to charge the Holy Scriptures with weakness and absurdity. Dr. Clarke is said to have repented, near the close of his life, of what he had done; but this is scarcely reconcilable with the fact, attested by his son, that a little before his death he revised his Scripture Doctrine, designedly for a third edition. As a security against such a crisis, the Gospel is open before us—the Gospel of Him who is over all, God blessed for ever (Rom. ix. 5.); the Lord of lords and King of kings (Rev. xvii. 14.; xix. 16.); whom all the angels of God worship (Heb. i. 6.); and whom all men should honour, even as they honour the Father (John v. 23.)

For a further insight into the history and opinions of modern Arians, the following works may be consulted :-Price's Sermons; Letters of Price and Priestley; Ben Mordecai's Letters; Carpenter's Lectures; Waterland's Works, Vol. I.-V.; Whitaker's Origin of Arianism; Jortin's Progress of Arianism in England; &c. &c. &c.

AN ORIGINAL LETTER OF H. LORD CLARENDON.

(Harleian MSS. 3512. p. 73.)

A Lre to Dr. Tenison from Swallofield-Aprill the 9th 1689, by the R. Honble Henry EARL OF CLARENDON, concerning the Bill for Union among Protestants.

SR

I GIVE you many thanks for yours of the 5th instant, I should have bin very happy, if you could have afforded me your Company here for two or three days, where you should have bin very welcome; it would have bin a very charitable visite to one soe perfectly retired, as I have bin this moneth past, not only without all maner of Company, but even almost without the entertainment of any of the Pamphlets w ch daily come out. I have read the Letter to a Member of Parliament, w you sent me, in favour of the Bill for uniting Protestants; I shall not

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presume to say much upon it, knowing well how incompetent I am to meddle with a subject of that nature, further than by my prayers for a perfect union among Protestants; However to you, who know soe many of my weaknesses, I will take the liberty to make two or three observations upon reading this Letter; w th submission still to your

excellent Judgement.

The first thing I observe, is, That much wayt is layd upon the Condescentions w ch have bin already promised; Promises (as the Ire says) are sacred things; and, no doubte, they will be performed to the full, by those who made them: I suppose, by Promises, is meant what the seven eminent Bpps sayd in their Petition to King James in May last; the words are as I remember, (for I have not the Petition now by me) to this effect;

"That they were willing to come to such a temper, with reference to "Protestant Dissenters, as should be consiedred and settled in Parliament "and Convocation."

It cannot be denyed that the nine and thirty Articles, and our Liturgie, were first considered and framed in Convocation, (the Representative of our Nationall Church), and afterwards ratifyed in Parliament. And to shew what deference Parliaments have had to the Convocation, it may not be amisse to observe; That the Liturgie, as amended in Convocation, Anno 1662, was read over entirely in both Houses of Parliament, without making soe much as one alteration in it: and therefore certainly, whatever alterations are thought fitt to be made in things already settled, they would be better recd, and more esteem'd, even in Parliament, if they were first contrived, and throughly deliberated upon in Convocation; the Members whereof (I hope I may say without offence) are more proper Judges of things of this nature, then the Members of either House of Parliament can be thought to be. In the Preface to the Comon Prayer it is sayd;

"That in the Reigns of severall Princes of blessed Memory since the "Reformation, the Church, upon just and weighty considerations, her "thereunto moving, hath yielded to make such Alterations in some particulars, as, in their respective times, were thought convenient."

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Upon w ch I cannot but be of opinion, w th submission to better judgements, that this busines should first begin in Convocation; the Parliament (without whose conjunction and allowance nothing can be binding) will afterwards be the Judges, and retain, or reject and alter what they thinke fitt: In the mean time I hope the Promises mention'd in the lre, will not be strain'd further than their nature and sense will bear.

That a review of our Constitution may be now much better made, then it could have bin formerly, or that this is a proper time for it; is not so cleer to my Judgement, as it seems to be to the Author of the lre; but I will say no more upon that point at present, because it will not be long before I shall have the good fortune to see you. The Letter says;

"I am well assured, both by Conversation, and by lres lately sent "from Holland, Geneva, Switzerland and other places; that they look upon the Church of England, at this time, as the Center of Protes"tant Unity; and esteem the Conditions proposed in this Bill (wch have

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"bin comunicated to them) as termes full of Christian moderation, and "fitt for the uniting of Protestants."

Of this Bill in debate, I can say nothing, having never seen it; but it were worth knowing how the Churches above-mentioned came to be acquainted with the conditions proposed in it; and how they have signifyed their approbation of them; Whether the Ires from the severall places mention'd, are from private men only, or by Authority of their Synods or Consistorys; by w ch it would appear what assurance those Churches give of coming into this Union; for as that would be one very important reason to promote the Bill; soe if I were to give my vote in it, I should desire to be well satisfyed in that particular, as well as in some others, wch I doe not name, because I shall have nothing to doe in it. It is alleged in the lre ;

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"Soe far as we may learn the genius of men from their writings, "Abpp Usher, Bpp Sanderson, and Dr. Hamond, &c. had they bin now alive, would, with all zeale, have promoted this Bill of Union." How farr those excellent men would have promoted any Bill, now in agitation, is hard to say; I will not pretend to have read ye writings of those learned men soe carefully as I ought to have done; but some of them I have perused, and if I am not very much mistaken, both the Arch Bpp, and Dr. Hamond, in severall of their pieces, seem to have no great opinion of those who then seperated from our Church. I have upon a late occasion perused most of Bpp Sanderson's Tracts, from whence I have rec'd great satisfaction, with reference to some scruples; He lived some time, tho' not long enough for the good of the Church, after the Restoration; and by many things wch he writt, I thinke he had no very good opinion of the then Dissenters, who, in truth had too great a share in those disorders w ch occasion'd (for a time) the destruction both of Church and State; as appears in his Case of the Engagement, written in the year 1650, wherein he sayes, (speaking of the Presbiterians,):

"Most of whom, truly for my own part, when we speake of Learning "and Conscience, I hold to be very little considerable."

What his thoughts of them were afterwards, since the Restoration, I thinke is cleer by the Preface to the Comon Prayer, wch was written by that great and pious man Bpp Sanderson, and soe farr approv'd, by the Convocation then sitting, as to be made theirs: Every line in that Preface, in my poor opinion, deserves great consideration; I shall take the liberty to repeat here only one clause of it;

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"And therefore of the sundry alterations proposed to us, We have rejected all such, as were either of dangerous consequence, (as secretly striking out some establish'd Doctrine, or laudable practise of the "Church of England, or indeed of the whole Catholick Church of "Christ,) or else of noe consequence at all; but utterly frivolous and 66 vague."

What those alterations were, w' ch were then proposed, and rejected, you may well know, and I believe it will not be for the credite of the Dissenters to have some of them remembred.

I beseech you now, S', is it not most convenient, that what was settled, upon soe great deliberation, not above six and twenty years since, upon many conferences with, and Hearings of, all the principall

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