the general drift of the book. The
danger of ecclesiastical censures drew from Dr. Clarke a declaration in
which he promised not to preach any more on such subjects, and also an
explanation which almost amounted to a retractation; this he immediately
followed by a paper delivered to the Bishop of London, half recanting
and half explaining his explanations. These documents appear to have
satisfied nobody except perhaps the bishops. The Lower House resolved
'that the paper subscribed by Dr. Clarke and communicated by the bishops
to the Lower House doth not contain in it any recantation of the
heretical assertions, &c., nor doth give such satisfaction for the great
scandal occasioned by the said books as ought to put a stop to further
examination thereof;' while his outspoken friend, Whiston, wrote to him,
'Your paper has occasioned real grief to myself and others, not because
it is a real retractation, but because it is so very like one, yet is
not, and seems to be penned with a plain intention only to ward off
persecution,' and told him face to face that '_he_ would not have given
the like occasion of offence for all the world.' However, the bishops
were satisfied and the matter proceeded no further.

Subsequently Dr. Clarke was taken to task by his diocesan, the Bishop of
London, for altering the doxology into an accordance with Arianism. He
was neither convinced nor silenced by Waterland; and though his
influence may (as Van Mildert tells us) have perceptibly declined after
the great controversy was closed, he was not left without followers, and
maintained a high reputation which survived him. He was for many years
known among a certain class of admirers as 'the great Dr. Clarke.' Among
those who were at least interested in, if not influenced by the doctor
was Queen Caroline, the clever wife of George II.

Nor was the excitement caused by the speculations of Dr. Clarke on the
doctrine of the Trinity confined to the Church of England alone. It was
the occasion of one of the fiercest disputes that ever arose among
Nonconformists. Exeter was the first scene of the spread of Arianism
among the Dissenters. Two ministers gave great offence to their
congregations by preaching Arianism. The alarm of heresy spread rapidly,
and there was so great an apprehension of its tainting the whole country
that--strange as it may sound to modern ears--the judge at the county
assize made the prevalence of Arianism the chief subject of his