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THE

BRITISH CRITIC,

Quarterly Theological Review,

AND

ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.

OCTOBER, 1832.

ART. I.-The Apostolicity of Trinitarianism. By the Rev. G. S. Faber, B. D. 2 vols. 8vo. London. Rivingtons. THERE is something very distressing in all controversy relative to the most awful mysteries of the Christian faith. It is distressing, first, because it brings close to our thoughts the portentous fact, that mankind have been for ages in a state of conflict-frequently of very bitter conflict-relative to matters that pertain unto their eternal peace. It is, further, distressing, because it is very apt to bring out into action all the most violent polemical propensities of our nature; as we find abundantly intimated in our proverbial use of the words Odium Theologicum, whenever we wish to express the utmost intensity of uncharitable feeling. It is, if possible, still more distressing, because it compels us to bandy about the most awful themes and phrases-to treat the things which angels humbly desire to look into, like so many critical and historical problems-and, almost, to sit down to the examination of the great mysteries of Godliness, just as if they were a sort of puzzle, tossed into the world to exercise the perverse ingenuity of man. And yet, afflicting and dangerous as it is, the temptation must be encountered. It must needs be that heresies arise among us, so that they which are approved may be made manifest. What, therefore, remains for us but to convert this formidable necessity into an occasion of good: to consider religious controversy, not as a luxury and a privilege, but as a very great positive evil; from which, however, under the guidance of God's Holy Spirit, much benefit may, eventually, be extracted, on behalf of the Church which he hath purchased by the precious blood of his Son?

These considerations, we are quite confident, are habitually present to the mind of Mr. Faber. He has here produced two NO. XXIV.-OCT. 1832.

volumes of controversy, on the whole, as fair and temperate as we recollect to have met with. We are, further, of opinion that, for the more immediate purposes for which it was composed, his work is triumphant and irresistible. The Humanitarian heresy had been broken to pieces like unto a potter's vessel beneath the blows of former assailants. All that was left was, to burn it with fire, and to stamp it, and to grind it very small, even till it should be as small as dust, and to scatter the dust thereof to the four winds of heaven. This Mr. Faber has performed, as it appears to us, not altogether without some little complacent consciousness of the havoc which he was making, but, nevertheless, in a tone of becoming moderation and courtesy.

Before we proceed to our analysis of Mr. Faber's argument, it will be expedient to look back, for a moment, on what has been achieved by those, who have trodden this great wine-press before him; and, moreover, by way of preparation for that review, it may be advisable to offer some considerations on the general principle which must guide us in our attempts to terminate all religious controversies-all controversies, at least, which are immediately connected with conflicting interpretations of the Bible.

In one thing, then, all parties are sure to agree; that is, all parties who profess to receive the sacred Scriptures as the sole depository of revealed truth. They will all allow that the authority of the Scriptures is final, and that no appeal must be made to any other authority. And nothing, of course, could be more simple and direct than this mode of decision, if it were found that the faculties of men were so constituted, or their passions so regulated, as, ultimately, to receive the same impression from the responses of that supreme oracle, upon a careful comparison of them with each other. It is manifest that, if this were the case, there would either have been no controversies at all, or, that they would have been extinguished as fast as they arose.

Unhappily, however, the human race, in its present condition, is apparently not gifted with the capacity to derive the same uniform instruction from the divine communications. They have eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts to understand; but, nevertheless, such is the vast divergency into which they are constantly betrayed in the exercise of their faculties, that one would sometimes imagine that there was no sort of general similarity in their constitution, but that every individual, or at least every class or sect, were furnished with a set of mental organs, respectively peculiar to themselves. Under these circumstances, it would be quite in vain to content ourselves with an appeal to Scripture. It would be an utterly hopeless thing for two men to say to each other—Let us seek for concord solely in the language

of the Bible, and let us cast all human explanations or conjectures to the winds. They would, probably, soon discover that, in spite of all their attention, and all their sagacity, and all their candour, the language of Scripture would, somehow or other, speak very differently to each of them, and, in some instances, would only confirm them in their original disagreement. And at length they would be brought to listen, with reluctant patience, to the exclamation of Tertullian (produced by Mr. Faber)"What do you think to gain by all this, my most accomplished Scripturists? What one of you denies, is affirmed by his antagonist; and, again, the assertions of one are met by a flat denial from the other. You will, in truth, but lose your voices in the loudness of debate. And what can you hope to gain, but a vast secretion of bile, from listening to each other's perversions ?"

In short, to think of assuaging theological contest, merely by throwing down the Bible between the conflicting ranks, would be a proceeding about as hopeful, as to toss a copy of the Scriptures into the ocean, with a view to still the raging of its waters. If every volume of human exposition or controversy were, at this moment, swept away from the earth, and blotted from the memory of man, the only effect would be, that the business of disputation would have to begin again; and to begin, too, under circumstances still more desperate than before. And yet, in spite of these very obvious considerations, we perpetually hear contending parties disclaiming every guide but the written word of God. And by no party is the protest against all sublunary teaching more loudly echoed, than by that, which proclaims the doctrine of our Lord's Divinity, to be a most abominable corruption of the truth. We are told by Mr. Lindsey, for instance, that "the authorities of men are nothing; that it is Holy Scripture aloneor Holy Scripture unadulterated by any human interpretationwhich must finally decide the point at issue, between the Trinitarian and Antitrinitarian." And Mr. Haynes, as we are informed by the same writer, was quite persuaded, that "the word of God alone is to settle the matter; and that no regard is to be paid to any human scheme or explanation of that word." All which, (when the noise of these sonorous phrases has died away), will be found to amount to nothing more than this-that the Humanitarians are firmly determined to adhere to the Bible (we do not quite know whether we are to add the whole Bible)—and nothing but the Bible, and to throw away all human interpretation of the Bible-their own interpretation always excepted. And, by virtue of this laudable resolution, they, some of them, profess to have arrived at "a full persuasion of the truth of their sentiments concerning God and Jesus Christ;" to be relieved

"from all doubts, scruples, or secret misgivings respecting the possibility of their being mistaken;" in a word, to have attained the confidence which is only to be felt in resting on "a foundation most certain and infallible.'

This is the way in which many an honest divine has deceived himself into a belief that, himself and his followers excepted, the world is given over to a strong delusion. It is all, he says, because men will not appeal to Scripture, and to Scripture only! All this while, the worthy man seems utterly to forget that his own appeal is only one among a vast multitude of similar appeals; and, when he talks of referring all controverted matters to the decision of the Bible, he means, though he may not be aware of it, just nothing more or less than referring them to his own exposition of the Bible. And, because he disregards all other appeals, and rejects all other expositions, but his own, he fancies that he alone gives due honour to the majesty of God's word. The fact, however, is, that the most laborious and anxious investigator of controversies, and creeds, and interpretations, is quite as true to the majesty of God's word as the most sweeping denouncer of all human schemes. Nay, he is, generally speaking, much more true to it. He knows, (at least, if he is a Protestant professor of Christianity,) that the authority of the Bible is sole and supreme. But then, he also thinks it expedient to ask himself the exact meaning of that proposition; and he has no difficulty in perceiving it to be just this, that the Bible is the only book of which it is necessary to find out the meaning, in order to be in possession of the method of our acceptance with God; and that when we are clearly in possession of that method, there is no other authority which can absolve us from the obligation to embrace it. He would be very glad, perhaps, if the meaning could be found out without toil, and if all mankind could agree about it. But mankind do not agree about it; and it cannoț always be found out without toil. He, therefore, humbly prepares himself for the labour of discovering the sense of Scripture; and, by so doing, he contributes most effectually towards the mitigation of controversy and discord.

But then comes the question-by what process is the meaning of Scripture to be ascertained and established in cases where men have widely differed in their exposition of Scripture? To iterate that this must be done by appealing to the Bible is, of course, to say that a litigated matter is to be decided without judge, or jury, or witness. Each party, it is true, may wrap himself in a persuasion that the truth and the justice are with him.

*See Faber, Introd.

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