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is but one hypostasis, or single individual essence of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; and, consequently, that they were indeed but three names, or notions, or modes, of one and the self-same thing. Whence such absurdities as these would follow, that the Father's begetting the Son was nothing but a name, notion or mode of one Deity begetting another; or else the same Deity, under one notion, begetting itself under another notion. And when, again, the Son, or Word, is said to be incarnate, and to have suffered death for us upon the cross, that it was nothing but a mere logical notion or mode of the Deity, under one particular notion or mode only."

That the doctrine of the Sabellians was exactly the same with that of those who style themselves the Orthodox, asserting that the Father and the Son are numerically one and the same God, is evident from the words of Athanasius* and Epiphanius; † both testifying, that to say the Father and the Son were μovoo01, or Tautouσio, of one and the same substance, was Sabellianism. And surely, of consequence, to contend that this is the doctrine of the Church of England, is to dishonour our church, and, in effect, to charge her with that heresy which was exploded with scorn by the whole church of Christ, from the third to this present century.

In a word, all other notions of the word person, besides the plain and obvious one, signifying a real and intelligent agent, have been already so excellently baffled and learnedly confuted,+ that I own I am not able to resist the shining evidence of truth; nor am I ashamed to confess my former mistakes and errors in these matters, after such strong and irresistible conviction; seeing, humanum est errare, all men are liable to error. And as, upon this principle, I cannot but think it the most gross hypocrisy, after such conviction, to persist in a mistake; so, without question, it is the greatest abuse of humility and free thinking to attribute such open and ingenuous acknowledgments to a wavering judgment or levity of mind.

Neither are there wanting examples of good and great men amongst the ancients to bear me out in this matter. St. Cyprian§ frankly confesses, in his Epistle to Antonianus, that he was formerly in the rigid opinion of Tertullian, that the peace of the church was never to be given to adulterers, to murderers and idolaters; and, having changed his opinion, he apologizes for it by saying, "Mea apud te et persona et causa purganda

* Οὐτὲ γὰρ υἱο πάτερα φρονοῦμεν ὡς οἱ Σαβέλλιοι μονοούσιον. Expos. Fidei, p. 241. † Καὶ οὐ λέγομεν ταυτούσιον, ἵνα μὴ ἡ λέξις παρὰ τίσι λεγομένη Σαβελλίρ anekaσ. Anomeorum Heresis, 76, N. 7.

See Dr. Clarke, Mr. Jackson and others.

$ Epist. 55.

est, ne me aliquis existimet a proposito meo leviter decessisse ; et cum evangelicum vigorem primo et inter initia defenderim, postmodum videar animum meum a disciplina et censura priore flexisse." And this honest procedure, which he practised himself, he also approved in others, saying, "Non quia semel erratum est, ideo semper errandum esse, cum magis sapientibus et Deum timentibus congruat, patefactæ veritati libenter et incunctanter obsequi, quam pertinaciter, atque obstinatè reluctari;"* that a man's having once erred, is not a reason why he should continue to do so; for that it becomes wise men, and such as fear God, to yield freely and readily to truth, whenever made known to them, rather than to persist obstinately in rejecting it.

St. Austin was not more renowned for any of his works, than for his two books of Retractations, in which he confesseth all the errors he had committed in all his other writings.

And this my retractation or change of my opinion, after all my former endeavours to assert and establish a contrary doctrine, deserves the more to be considered, because it proceeds (and indeed can proceed) from me for no other reason but purely from the strong and irresistible convictions which are now upon me, that I was mistaken.

Nothing, I say, but the love of truth can be supposed to extort such a retractation from me, who, having already lived so long beyond the common period of life, can have nothing else to do but to prepare for my great change, and, in order thereunto, to make my peace with God and my own conscience before I die. To this purpose, I solemnly appeal to the Searcher of hearts, and call God to witness, whether I have hastily or rashly departed from the common opinion; or, rather, whether I have not deliberately and calmly weighed the arguments on both sides, drawn from scripture and antiquity.

As I have no views for this world, so it cannot be imagined, that the motives drawn from interest, ambition or secular glory, can have any place with me. Or if I had, neither can it be imagined that I would choose to dissent from the received opinion, the maintainers whereof are they who grasp honours and preferments, and think they have the best title to those advantages.

So that, upon the whole, if I have erred in changing my opinion, I desire it may be observed, that my error hath neither prejudice nor secular views to support it; and that my mistake (if such it will be reputed) hath been all along attended with constant prayers to the throne of grace, and what hath alway

* Epist. 73, edit. Oxon. p. 208.

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appeared to me to be the strongest reason and most undeniable evidence.

And even yet, if any will be so kind as, in the spirit of meekness, to answer the arguments I have produced to justify my change, if it please God to give me the same degree of health and soundness of mind which, by his blessing and goodness I now enjoy, I promise sincerely to consider them, and to act suitably to the strength of the argument: but if any such answer is attempted with angry invectives and haughty sophistry, aiming to be wise above what is written, I must say, μévwμey wσтep èquèv, i. e. I must remain in my present sentiments; having in this short treatise seriously considered all that I had said in my Commentary to the contrary, and fully answered the most considerable places I had then produced for confirmation of the doctrines I there too hastily endeavoured to establish.

I conclude with those words of St. Austin, "Errare possum, hæreticus esse nolo;" that is, I may err, but I will not be an heretic: as yet I must be in St. Paul's sense,* if I would act against the dictates and strong convictions of my conscience; he having expressly said, that a heretic is one who is duтoкaтáкPITOS, condemned in his own conscience for what he doth assert. Now, that the God of truth would give to me and all others a right understanding in all things, is the prayer of,

Your Friend

And humble Servant,

DANIEL WHITBY.

*Titus iii. 10, 11.

A SHORT

ACCOUNT OF DR. WHITBY;

TO WHICH IS ADDED,

A CATALOGUE OF HIS WORKS.

"DANIEL WHITBY was born at Rusden, or Rushden, in Northamptonshire; became a Commoner of Trinity College, in Oxford, in the year 1653; elected Scholar of that house on June 13, 1655, aged seventeen years; and nine years after that (he being then Master of Arts of four years standing) Perpetual Fellow. Afterwards he was made Chaplain to Seth [Ward] Bishop of Salisbury, Prebendary of Yatesbury, in the Cathedral Church there, in October, 1668; and in the latter end of November following, Prebendary of Husborn and Burbach. In the beginning of September, 1672, he was admitted Chantor of the said church, on the death of Mr. John South, and in few days after, he took both the degrees in divinity, being then, or soon after, Rector of St. Edmund's Church, in Salisbury. He was a person very well read in the Fathers, and in polemical divinity, especially as to the main part thereof, which is directed against Papists. He hath been all along so wholly devoted to his severer studies, that he hath scarce ever allowed himself leisure to mind any of those mean and trifling worldly concerns, which administer matter of gain, pleasure, reach, or cunning. Also, he hath not been in the least tainted with those too much, now-a-days, practised arts of fraud, cozenage and deceit."-Thus far Mr. Wood, in his Athene Oxonienses.

He was made Prebendary of Taunton Regis, in the year 1696, and died March 24, 1725-6, aged eighty-eight years. He was very well and at church the day before he died; and returning home, was seized with a fainting, and died the night following. He was in stature short and very thin; he had a tenacious memory even to the last, and always closely applied himself to his studies. Towards the end of his life, his eye-sight failing, he made use of an amanuensis. He was ever strangely ignorant of worldly affairs, even to a degree that is scarce to be conceived. He was easy, affable, pious, devout and charitable. I shall add a Catalogue of his Works in the best manner I can, which will give him his character as a writer, which is the proper light in which he ought to be viewed, and in which he appears to be a very learned and an able man. He wrote,

1. Romish Doctrines not from the Beginning; or, a Reply to what S. C. (Serenus Cressy), a Roman Catholic, hath returned to Dr. Pierce's Sermon, preached before his Majesty at Whitehall, Feb. 1, 1662. 4to. London, 1664.

2. An Answer to Sure Footing, so far as Mr. Whitby is concerned in it. Wherein the Rule and Guide of Faith, the Interest of Reason, and the Authority of the Church in Matters of Faith, are fully handled and vindicated from the Exceptions of Mr. Sargeant and petty Flirts of Fiat Lux. 8vo. Oxon. 1666.

3. An Answer to Five Questions propounded by a Roman Catholic. Printed with an Answer to Sure Footing.

4. ΛΟΓΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΠΙΣΤΕΩΣ. An Endeavour to evince the Certainty of Christian Faith in general, and of the Resurrection of Christ in particular. 8vo. Oxon. 1671.

5. A Discourse concerning the Idolatry of the Church of Rome; wherein that Charge is justified, and the pretended Refutation of Dr. Stillingfleet's Discourse is answered. 8vo. London, 1674.

6. The Absurdity and Idolatry of Host-Worship proved, by shewing how it answers what is said in Scripture, and the Writings of the Fathers, to shew the Folly and Idolatry committed in the Worship of the Heathen Deities. Also a full Answer to all those Pleas by which Papists would wipe off the Charge of Idolatry. And an Appendix against Transubstantiation, with some Reflections on a late Popish Book, called The Guide of Controversies. 8vo. 8vo. London, 1679.

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