'To search is rashness, to believe is piety': William Nicholson, the Catechism, and Trinitarian minimalism
What dost thou chiefly learn in these Articles of thy Belief?
Answer. First, I learn to believe in God the Father, who hath made me, and all the world; Secondly, in God the Son, who hath redeemed me, and all mankind; Thirdly, in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me, and all the elect people of God.
This summary of the Apostles' Creed is a sufficient statement of Trinitarian faith. This is a sufficient account of the Articles of Belief, what is necessary for salvation. Notice what is missing from this summary. There is a complete absence of doctrinal Trinitarian terminology. Such terminology is not required for saving faith.
In his 1655 An Exposition of the Catechism of the Church of England, William Nicholson - appointed Bishop of Gloucester in 1661 - gave expression to a significant conviction of Trinitarian minimalism. The Holy Trinity is to be adored rather than be a cause of theological speculations:
In a word, this is a mystery revealed by God, therefore to be believed by us, and not curiously searched, to be adored, rather than to be explored. To search is rashness; to believe, is piety; to know, is life. An object for our faith, not for our reason, the reason of our belief in this being God's revelation. So that he that will be curious and inquisitive about it, must remember what is written, [Proverbs 25:27] "It is not good to eat much honey; for men to search their own glory, is not glory."
This should not surprise us. Nicholson was an associate of Jeremy Taylor and a patron of George Bull, both significant voices for Trinitarian minimalism.
Nicholson does take care to ensure that the summary provided by the Catechism is not misunderstood in a non- or anti-Trinitarian fashion: "Three Persons there are in the Holy Trinity, and these have their distinct actions, which yet are so terminated in each one, that the other are not excluded, but rather included". The chief concern of the Catechism, however, is to affirm the divinity of the Three Persons of the Trinity:
They are distinguished by their manner of working outwardly; for,
1. The Father creates.
2. The Son redeems.
3. The Holy Ghost illuminates and sanctifies.
These things all the Persons work equally and inseparably in respect of the cause and effect for what one doth, all do. Yet in congruity we attribute a distinct act in respect of the order and object.
It is our Baptism in the Name of the Triune God that Nicholson highlights as giving expression to the "whole Creed", to the working of the Holy Trinity in the life of the baptised:
For the comfort and assurance of those who are baptized, that the whole Trinity do ratify and confirm what is promised and sealed in Baptism, to wit, remission of sin, and acceptance to favour.
This lays an obligation upon the baptized person, and that divers ways. To acknowledge these three Persons, and consequently his whole Creed; to believe in God the Father that made him, God the Son that redeemed him, and God the Holy Ghost that sanctifieth him and all the elect people of God.
Holy Baptism and Apostles' Creed: here we have what is sufficient for Trinitarian faith, as summarised in the Catechism. No curious searching beyond this is either required or edifying. We are to confess this faith in the Holy Trinity - the Father who creates, the Son who redeems, the Holy Ghost who sanctifies - and adore. This is indicative of the strength of Trinitarian minimalism. There is no need to attempt to bring people to know and understand the doctrinal terminology. A proclamation of and faith in the Three Persons of the Godhead, revealed in the work of creation, redemption, and sanctification, is sufficient for our salvation.
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