tion, whether, according to Dr. C.'s hypothesis, the existence of God the Son be not precariouss.

The fourth chapter relates to quotations from the ancients. The fifth contains a summary view of the judgment of the ancients, upon the question, whether God the Father be naturally ruler and governor over God the Son.

In the Conclusion, the author briefly retraces the progress of the controversy between Mr. Jackson, Dr. Clarke, and himself; again notices his having been at first forced, in a manner, into public controversy; and complains of the unworthy treatment he had experienced. Some animadversions are also made on both these opponents having concealed their names; and they are advised, for their own sakes, as well as for the cause they had undertaken, to withdraw from the

contest.

Here, indeed, on the part of Dr. Waterland, the controversy did terminate. Dr. Clarke made no reply to this Farther Vindication. Mr. Jackson put forth in answer to it, Farther Remarks on Dr. Waterland's Farther Vindication. By Philalethes Cantabrigiensis. 1724. To this feeble pamphlet, Waterland (for the same reasons probably that induced him to pass over the former Remarks in silence) returned no answer.

Notwithstanding these continual calls upon Dr. Waterland for his exertions as a controversialist, he found an interval of leisure, between the publication of his Second Vindication and his Farther Vindication, for a work of a less polemical description; though immediately connected with the doctrines he

8 Sections xiii. xv. xix.

had so ably and successfully defended. This was his Critical History of the Athanasian Creed; the first edition of which was published in the latter end of the year 1723, and a second edition, corrected and improved, in 1728.

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The design of this treatise (as stated by the author in the Introduction) "is, to inquire into the 66 age, author, and value of that celebrated confes"sion, which goes under the name of the Athana"sian Creed." The treatises which had before appeared on this subject, he observes, were "mostly in Latin, and some of them very scarce." He conceived, therefore, that an English treatise, laying before the English reader all that had "hitherto been "usefully observed upon the subject," and not only referring to other authors, but "supplying, as far as “his materials, leisure, and opportunities enabled "him, what they had left undone," might be generally useful; "and the more so at a time when the controversy about the Trinity was spread abroad among all ranks and degrees of men, and the Atha"nasian Creed become the subject of common and "ordinary conversation."

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The method, by which this object is pursued, is clear and simple.

1. First, the opinions of the learned moderns concerning this Creed are briefly stated; beginning with Gerard Vossius, in 1642, and ending with Casimirus Oudinus, in 1722: and an useful table is subjoined, representing, at one view, the different conclusions of these several writers, as to the author of the Creed, the time when it was composed, and the date of its reception in the Church. Of these writers,

(32 in number,) a great majority date its composition from the 5th or 6th century, and its general reception in the Church at a later period; five ascribe it to Athanasius himself; eight reject that opinion, and believe it to have been the production of some Latin author, between the 5th and 8th centuries; eight regard it as the work of Vigilius Tapsensis, in the 5th century; the rest hold different opinions as to the author of the Creed, but with no great variation as to the date. Dr. Clarke considers the author as doubtful, and brings down the date, both of its composition and its reception in the Church, to a much later period than most of the other writers.

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Dr. Waterland next examines the ancient testimonies to this Creed; discarding as "spurious, or "foreign to the point," those which have been pretended from writers of the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries, and beginning with that of the Council of Autun, in 670. From this period, down to the year 1439, he cites a series of authorities, (36 in number,) to shew at what time it was publicly received and used. Sixteen of these authorities are earlier than the year 1000, at which time Dr. Clarke inclined to place its first admission into the Church. A table is subjoined also to this chapter, similar to that of the preceding.

The ancient commentators and paraphrasts of this Creed form the next subject of inquiry; beginning with that of Venantius Fortunatus in the year 570, whom Muratori supposed to have been the author of the Creed, as well as of the comment; an opinion which Waterland rejects. These are valuable additional testimonies as to the early composition

and reception of this summary of the Christian faith.

This is followed by an account of the Latin MSS. of the Creed; the Creed itself being generally supposed to have been originally a Latin composition : and the succeeding chapter is devoted to a consideration of the ancient versions of it, (whether printed or manuscript.) From these it results, that Latin manuscripts, chiefly in the Gallican and Roman Psalters, are extant, from the 6th century to the end of the 14th. The versions, as might be expected, are of more recent date. The earliest written version is the German, of the 9th century. Of the French, there are none extant earlier than the 11th; but there is evidence to prove, that so far back as the 9th century, this Creed was "inter૬૮ preted out of Latin into the vulgar tongue, for the "use of the people, by the Clergy of France, in "their verbal instructions." Anglo-Saxon versions are found of the 10th century. The Greek versions are late, in comparison with the others. It is doubtful whether there were any earlier than the 12th or 13th centuries; but it is pretty evident, that the Creed was not unknown to the Greek Church before that time, since it appears to have been pleaded by the Latins against the Greek Churches, in the disputes about the procession of the Holy Ghost, during the 9th century. There are also Sclavonian, Italian, Spanish, Irish, Welsh, and (according to Fabricius) Hebrew and Arabic versions; but of uncertain date and authority h.

In the first page of Waterland's Hist. of the Athanasian

Pursuing a similar course, in order to ascertain when this Creed was admitted into the Christian Churches, our author inclines to believe, that it was received in France so early as the year 550; in Spain, 630; in Germany and England towards the close of the 8th century; in Italy about 880; in Rome, 930. Among the Greeks, it has been doubted whether it ever obtained admission. But Dr. W. is of opinion that it has been received by them, as well as by the Latins, throughout Europe, though not, perhaps, in Africa or Asia; and probably also, not without some alterations.

These inquiries are preparatory only to the main object of his dissertation, which is to determine, as nearly as possible, the time when, and the place where the Creed was composed, and also the author of it. The decision of these points depends, 1st,

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upon external testimony from ancient citations, "manuscripts, comments, versions, and the like;" 2dly, upon "the internal characters of the Creed." The MSS. now extant carry us up as high as the 7th century; and one comment upon the Creed as far back as the year 570. This affords presumptive evidence for still greater antiquity. From the internal evidence, Dr. W. is confident that

Creed, in the library of Magdalene college, Cambridge (2d edition, 1728) is the following note in Waterland's own handwriting, and probably transcribed from a letter of Bp. Gibson's ; which proves the admission of the Creed into the Church of Sweden::-"A Swedish Minister assures me to-day, that the "Athanasian Creed is read constantly in the public service on Rogation and Trinity Sunday, and that all children are obliged "to get it by heart. Edmund London, Whitehall, Jan. 21st,

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