cannot put any other conftruction on this paffage, and Tertullian is far from being fingular in this acknowledgment. It is made, in different modes, by several of the Fathers, even later than the age of Tertullian. That Tertullian confidered the more fimple and unlearned people as those among whom the unitarian doctrine was the most popular, is evident from his faying, that the tares of Praxeas grew up, while many flept in the fimplicity of doctrine *.” That the word idiota in Latin, or ins in Greek, fignifies a man fimply unlearned, and not a fool, would be an affront to the literature of my readers to attempt to prove. Athanafius alfo, like Tertullian, acknowledged that the unitarian doctrine was very prevalent among the lower clafs of people in his time. He calls them the a woo, the many, and describes them as perfons of low understanding. "It grieves," he fays, "those who stand up for the holy faith, *Fruticaverant aven Praxeanæ hic quoque fuperfeminatæ, dormientibus multis in fimplicitate doctrinæ. Ad Praxeam, lib. 1. p. 511. "that "that the multitude, and efpecially perfons "of low understanding, fhould be infected "with those blafphemies. Things that "are fublime and difficult are not to be apprehended, except by faith; and ignorant "people muft fall, if they cannot be per"fuaded to reft in faith, and avoid curious questions *." This being the language of complaint, as well as that of Tertullian, it may be the more depended on for exhibiting a state of things very unfavourable to what was called the orthodoxy of that age. And it was not the doctrine of Arius, but that of Paulus Samofatenfis, that Athanafius is here complaining of. Thefe humble chriftians of Origen, who got no farther than the fhadow of the logos, the fimplices, and idiota of Tertullian, and the perfons of low understanding of Athanafius, were * Λυπει δε και νυν τις ανεχομενες της αγιας πίσεως, ηπερί των αυλων βλασφημιων βλαπίεσα τις πολλές μαλισα τις κλατζωμένες περι την συνεσιν. Τα γαρ μεγαλα καὶ δυσκαλαληπία των πραγμάτων πινει τη προς τον θεον λαμβανεται. Οθεν οι περι την γνωσιν αδυναΐειλες απο πιπίεσιν, ει μη πεισθείέν εμμένειν τη πίσει, και τας περιεργες ζητήσεις De Incarnatione verbi contra Paulum Sa 9. mofatenfem, Opera, vol. 1. p. 591. probably probably the fimplices credentium of Jerom, who, he fays, "did not understand the fcrip"tures as became their majefty." For had thefe fimple chriftians (within the pale of the church) inferred from what John fays of the logos, and from what Chrift fays of himself, that he was, perfonally confidered, equal to the Father, Jerom would hardly have faid, that " they did not understand "the fcriptures according to their "majefty," for he himself would not pretend to a perfect knowledge of the mystery of the trinity. "For thefe fimple christians," he fays, "the earth of the people of God brought forth hay, as for the heretics it brought forth thorns *." For the intelligent, no doubt, it yielded richer fruits. From all these paffages, and others quoted before, I cannot help inferring, that the doctrine of Chrift being any thing more * Quod dicitur fuper terram populi mei, fpinæ et foenum afcendent, referre poteft et ad hæreticos, et ad fimplices quofque credentium, qui non ita fcripturam intelligunt ut illius convenit majeftati. Unde fingula fingulis coaptavimus, ut terra populi dei hæreticis fpinas, imperitis quibufque ecclefiæ fœnum afferat. Jerom in Ifai. xxxii. 20. Opera, vol. 4. p. 118. than a man, the whole doctrine of the eternal logos, who was in God, and who was God, was long confidered as a more abftruse and refined principle, with which there was no occafion to trouble the common people; and that the doctrine of the fimple humanity of Chrift continued to be held by the common people till after the time of Athanafius, or after the council of Nice. And if this was the cafe then, we may fafely conclude, that the unitarians were much more numerous in a more early period, as it is well known that they kept lofing, and not gaining ground, for several centuries. CHAP CHAPTER XIV. An Argument for the Novelty of the Doctrine of the Trinity, from the Manner in which it was taught and received in early Times. THE fubject of this chapter properly belongs to the Twelfth, as it relates to a circumftance from which it may be inferred, that the unitarian doctrine was held by the the majority of christians in the early ages; but I referve it for a distinct confideration in this place, because it requires a more particular difcuffion, and will receive much light from what was advanced both in the Twelfth and Thirteenth chapters. One proof of the antiquity of a doctrine is its being found among the common people, in preference to the learned; the former being the least, and the latter the most apt to innovate; so that from the doctrine of the fimple humanity of Chrift being held by the common people in the time of Tertul |