ce themselves on the astonished
mind, as one and the same being, [53] who, in the economy of grace, as
well as in that of nature, may manifest himself under different forms,
and be considered under different aspects. By this hypothesis, a real
substantial trinity is refined into a trinity of names, and abstract
modifications, that subsist only in the mind which conceives them.
The Logos is no longer a person, but an attribute; and it is only in a
figurative sense that the epithet of Son can be applied to the eternal
reason, which was with God from the beginning, and by which, not by
whom, all things were made. The incarnation of the Logos is reduced to
a mere inspiration of the Divine Wisdom, which filled the soul, and
directed all the actions, of the man Jesus. Thus, after revolving around
the theological circle, we are surprised to find that the Sabellian
ends where the Ebionite had begun; and that the incomprehensible mystery
which excites our adoration, eludes our inquiry. [54]

[Footnote 47: Quid credidit? Certe, aut tria nomina audiens tres Deos
esse credidit, et idololatra effectus est; aut in tribus vocabulis
trinominem credens Deum, in Sabellii haeresim incurrit; aut edoctus ab
Arianis unum esse verum Deum Patrem, filium et spiritum sanctum credidit
creaturas. Aut extra haec quid credere potuerit nescio. Hieronym adv.
Luciferianos. Jerom reserves for the last the orthodox system, which is
more complicated and difficult.]

[Footnote 48: As the doctrine of absolute creation from nothing was
gradually introduced among the Christians, (Beausobre, tom. ii. p. 165-
215,) the dignity of the workman very naturally rose with that of the
work.]

[Footnote 49: The metaphysics of Dr. Clarke (Scripture Trinity, p.
276-280) could digest an eternal generation from an infinite cause.]

[Footnote 50: This profane and absurd simile is employed by several of
the primitive fathers, particularly by Athenagoras, in his Apology to
the emperor Marcus and his son; and it is alleged, without censure, by
Bull himself. See Defens. Fid. Nicen. sect. iii. c. 5, No. 4.]

[Footnote 51: See Cudworth's Intellectual System, p. 559, 579. This
dangerous hypothesis was countenanced by the two Gregories, of Nyssa and
Nazianzen, by Cyril of Alexandria, John of Damascus, &c. See Cudworth,
p. 603. Le Clerc, Bibliotheque Universelle, tom xviii. p. 97-105.]

[Footnote 52: Augustin seems to envy the freedom of the Philosophers.
Liberis verbis loquun