No. 1.

JOHN xiv. 9, 10.

"He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
"I am in the Father and the Father in me."

(PATROPASSIANS.-PRAXEAS.-NOETUS.-SABELLIUS.)

Praxeas, in the second century, by way of opposing the errors of those who contended, that there exists more than one principle, or who denied the Divinity of Christ, said that Jesus Christ was not to be distinguished from the Father, since, in this case, he conceived we must either acknowledge two principles, or deny that Christ was God. Upon the above-mentioned passages of St. John, and also x. 30, "I and my Father are one," he founded his opinion, that it was the Father himself who was incarnate, and who suffered for us. Hence his followers were termed Patropassians, and also Monarchians.

Noetus and Sabellius adopted these sentiments. Sabellius allowed no distinction between the persons of the Trinity, but that which is attributable to the different operations of one and the same thing.

When he contemplated God, forming his decrees and determining to call men to salvation, he called him Father; when the same God became incarnate, he denominated him the Son; and again, when he viewed God infusing his Spirit into the souls of sinners, he denominated him the Holy Ghost.

According to this hypothesis, he made no distinctions between the divine personages. The titles of Son and Holy Spirit, he considered as mere denominations derived from different acts of the Almighty, designed to effect the salvation of men.

As the idea of the Sabellians, with regard to the Trinity, has, by some, been called a Modal Trinity, they have likewise been called Modalists.

Some affirm, that the sects founded by Noetus and Sabellius, differed in several important articles. Noetus is said to have asserted, that the Father had united himself with the man Christ, and was born and crucified with him, while Sabellius maintained, that the word and the Holy Spirit were only emanations from the Deity, &c.

See Tertulliani lib. contra Praxeam. c. ii. Epiph. Hæres. 57. Aug. Hæres. 41. Wormius Hist. Sabelliana.

As the doctrine of Sabellius had its rise and chiefly prevailed in Ptolemais, or Barce, one of the five cities of Pentapolis, a province of Upper Egypt, it was called Damnabilis Pentapolitana Doctrina.

Euseb. Hist. 1. vii. c. 6.

Dr. Cudworth observes, "the doctrine of Sabellianism is no other than this, that there was but one hypostasis or single individual essence, of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and consequently, that they were indeed but three several names, or notions, or modes, of one and the self-same thing."

No. 2.

See Cudworth's Intellectual System.

(MACARIUS.)

In the ninth century, Macarius, a native of Ireland, propagated that opinion which was afterwards adopted and professed by Averroes, viz. that one individual intelligence, one soul, performed the spiritual and rational functions in all the human

race.

Mabillon Præf. ad Sac. part 2.

JOHN xiv. 12, 13.

"He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do."

(ROMAN CATHOLICS.)

Mr. Butler remarks," It is known, that Roman Catholics, relying with entire confidence on the promises of Christ, believe, that the power of working miracles was given by Christ to his Church; and that it never has been, and never will be, withdrawn from her.

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Through the prophet Joel ii. 29, 30, God announced to the Jews, that in the last days he would pour out his spirit on all flesh,' that their sons and their daughters should prophecy, that their young men should see visions, and their old men dream dreams.'

"When St. Peter cited this prophecy to the Jews, assembled at the feast of Pentecost, he declared to them, that the promise contained in it was made to them, to their children, and to all that were afar off, whom the Lord God should call.' Acts ii. 39. Christ, in his last Sermon, after exhorting St. Philip to believe in him as God, equal to his Father; and after appealing to his works as the testimony given by his Father to this truth, expressed himself in the following solemn terms: Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, these shall he do, and greater works than these he shall also do.' When, just before his ascension into heaven, Christ took his last leave of his Apostles, and gave them his last blessing, he mentioned to them the signs which should follow those who believed. In my name,' he said, 'they

shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents; and, if they eat any thing deadly, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall be cured.' Here Roman Catholics confidently ask; Did not Christ promise by these words, that miracles should be wrought in his Church? That they should be wrought without limitation of time? That some of these should be greater than his own?", Butler's Book of the Roman Catholic Church.

JOHN xiv. 16.
(UNITARIANISM.)

"I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate." Wakefield and Unitarian Version.

JOHN xiv. 16.

"That he may abide with you for ever.”
(ROMAN CATHOLICS.)

"Hence it is evident, that this spirit of truth was not only promised to the persons of the apostles, but also to their successors through all generations."

Note to the Roman Catholic Version.

JOHN xiv. 26.

"Teach you all things."

(ROMAN CATHOLICS.)

"Note that the Holy Ghost is here promised to the apostles and their successors, particularly, in

order to teach them all truth, and to preserve them from error."

Note to the Roman Catholic Version.

JOHN xiv. 28.

No. 1.

"My Father is greater than I."

(ORIGEN.)

Origen maintained, that in the Trinity, the Father is greater than the Son, and the Son than the Holy Ghost.

Maclaine's Note.

Origen held, that the Son is in God, that which reason is in man; and that the Holy Ghost is nothing more than the divine energy, or active force.

Arius, a Presbyter of the Church of Alexandria, who lived in the fourth century, by way of opposing Sabellius, ran into the contrary extreme, and maintained that the Son was totally and essentially distinct from the Father; that he was the first and noblest of those beings, whom God the Father had created out of nothing, the instrument by whose subordinate operation the Almighty Father formed the universe, and therefore inferior to the Father, both in nature and in dignity.

Mosheim.

For that description of Arianism which is most recent, See the correspondence between. Dr. Price and Dr. Priestley; Dr. Price's Sermons; Ben Mordecai's Letters, which are the grand text book of modern Arians; and Mr. Benjamin Carpenter's Lectures on the Works of Creation, and the Doctrines of Revelation, 2 vols. 8vo.