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    366 Review .- —Unitarian Controversy in Scotland .

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    i I mean , " replies Mr . Wardlaw , " that the universe is subject to one simple and undivided mind , one all-wise Designer , who is uncreated , unchangeable and everlasting * , sufficient without the aid of any counsellor , assistant or associated God , for the production of every effect , which is

    exhibited throng-bout endless time and infinite space . " || u What do you mean by the term Person or Subsistence ?" ( Mr Wardlaw . ) " By a Person , I mean that which possesses personal properties' ^* " Of course ; that is no more than saying , that a Person is a Person . But what are ' Personal properties' ?" ( Mr . Wardlaw . ) u Personal properties

    are the properties which constitute personality . Now that ivhich can contrive , which can design , is a Person . There capacities constitute personality . " -f u What do you mean when you say that ike Holy Spirit is a Person ? ( Mr . Wardlaw . ) " I mean that he is not a mere attribute or power , or influence , but AN INTELLIGENT AGENT . " t

    " When you afiiim , that in the Unity of the Godhead there nre three Persons , do you mean , that in the Unity of the Godhead there are three Intelligent Agents /" ( Mr . Wardlaw . ) Ci I employ terson and intelligent agent as synonymous expressions . " § u You have now explained sufficiently 1

    the meaningof the proposition , which you wish me to believe . My answer is , that I could not believe it , even thong-Ji I found it clearly stated in the Scriptures ; because its intrinsic absurdity would be stronger evidence against it than any evidence in its favour , which could possibly be exhibited . 'If

    | 4 " I allow , " replies Mr . Wardlaw , again changing ins ground , " that a doctrine clearly self-contradictory , could not be proved evert by the testimony of the Scriptures But tlie doctrine which I have stated , cannot possibly be proved to be self-contradictory , because it is a subject ,

    on which wo arc left in total ignorance , and , unless we have some notion of the thinjr itself , on what principle can we possibly make out the contrariety ? " ^| Li Presuming- to urge this discussion a little farther , I observe , you just now explained yourself as meaning- by the i Unity of the Godhead , that the order of events

    || Vind . of Unit . p . 51 , compared with Unit . Jjicap . of Vind . pp . < J 2 . SOI , 302 . * Discourses , p . 2 S 1 . -f- Discourses , p . 282 . J Discourses , p . 286 . § lb . || Vind . of Unit . pp . 39 , 40 . 128 , 129 . ^ f Discourses , p . 23 .

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    in the universe is entirely directed hy the will and ag-ency of one simple and undivided mind . " I did . ' " Bat you asserted that there have existed from all eternity in the Unity of the Godhead three Persons ; a # d you have

    explained yourself as meaning- by a Person an Intelligent Agent . Your doctrine appears , therefore , to imply that three distinct Intelligent Agents * form one simple and undivided mind , which is a direct contradiction . ' " I have explicitly declared , " answers Mr . Wardlaw , " that when I used the term ' Personfannd others employed in the proposition , 1 would not be understood as

    pretending * to rmy precise and definite conception of tlie nature of . that distinction in Deity , which these terms import . Was it an unreasonable expectation , that you should carry this declaration along- with you through the remainder of the discussion , and that , when those terms were used ag-ain , they should be used with the

    qualification previously affixed to them ? A generous disputant would certainly have felt himself bound to proceed on this reasonable principle . " * u You said , that when you asseried the Unity of God , you meant that all things are made by the power of one Designer . But you also asserted , that in the Unity of God there arc three Persons , and that by a

    Person you mean that which can contrive or design . Does not your doctrine then imply , that three Designers are one Designer ? 17 " J employed the term c Person * in compliance with established usage , and because I do not know that another could be devised more appropriate . But of its precise import , as applied to a distinction

    in the Divine Kssence , 1 have professed my own incompetency and my conviction of the incompetency of others , to form any clear conception . Justice and generosity alik <* required , that you should have taken along' with you the qualifying * explanation which I gave in the outset , and which I certainly intended should accompany , to the close of our discussion , iny use of the

    terms distinct , subsistences , per sen , and personality , in their application to Deity . " f " Such appears to me to be tlie exact stale of the controversy , as it has been carried on between Mr . Wardlaw and myself , respecting" the nature of the doctrine of the 7 > inity , and the evidence requisite to prove it . "— ' Sequel to Vind . of Unit . pp . 57—63 . In this controversy there is some approximation to the spirit in which

    * Unit . Jucap . of Vind p . 65 . ¦ f Unit . Incap . of Viud . pp . 67 , o * 8 .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1817, page 366, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2465/page/46/