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Untitled Article
into a personal debate , but sent them a written answer to their comifiimiea * tion . This produced a controversy between the parties , a great part of which was afterwards published by the Unitarians , and entitled , "A Review of the Middleton Uaitarian
Controversy . " This review occasioned a pamphlet from an anonymous writer , who is believed to be the Calvinist minister who succeeded the
gentleman by whom the Unitarians were first attacked . To this pamphlet the Rev . J . R . Beard , Secretary to the Missionary Society , replied In two letters addressed to the Reviewer of the Unitarian Review . Publications
of this nature , although they may not appear of much importance to persons ut a distance , are nevertheless , from the circumstances which give rise to them , calculated to make a deep impression upon those jyhom they peculiarly interest . The
pamphlet before us contains ^ in a small compass , a masterly exposition of those scripture passages in which peculiar titles and attributes are ascribed to our Saviour , and which are by many supposed to prove his deity ; and will therefore , we hbpe , obtain an extensive circulation .
After the Calvinistic reviewer had informed his readers tfrat 'Trinity in Unity " could not be fathomed by the plummet of human reason , " he contends that the doctrine must
nevertheless be received , because " distinct personality , individual agency , and divine attributes , are equally and clearly ascribed to the Father , to the Son , and to the Holy Gliost . " Upon this Mr . Beard observes , that the
reviewer must either abandon this principle of interpretation or admit into his creed a quaternity instead of a trinity in unity , since the deity of Moses may be proved by the same mode of argumentation . A number
of passages are then adduced to prove that " distinct personality , individual agency and divine attributes / ' are ascribed to Moses . After trying- in various ways the reviewer ' principle of interpretation , and shewing its absurdity , Mr . Beard adds , < c I call upon you , therefore , to inter-
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pret the conflicting passages which you imagine exist in the Scriptures , not by a principle which ijnvolves a contradiction at every step of fts application—a principle not only at variance with our usual habits of interpretation — with the dictates of reason , but unmentioned ,
unssttnctioned in the Scripture ; not by this , but by a principle authorized by God , in unison with reason , and efficient not only to solve every difficulty , but to shed a holy , uniform and heaven-descending light oi ) the page of holy writ . O ! when will Christians prefer what God has revealed to what man has denned ?"
Having combated many of the reviewer ' s arguments , Mr . Beard then proceeds to shew that the titles and attributes ascribed to the Messiah are invariably spoken of as being
conferred upon huh by another , and therefore , instead of their proving" his deity , they clearly indicate his subordination to that great Being by whom they were bestowed .
In the concluding part of the pamphlet , vindicating the Unitarians from the charge of making Christ into a mere peccable creature , Mr . Beard remarks , that 6 C The Unitarians believe that * he was without sin , tteither was guile found in
bis mouth ; ' and I cannot but rejoice that in contemplating the perfections of his character , I am not distracted by the metaphysical reveries in which you are involved by the hypothesis of Trinity in Unity and God-man . I see in the Lord Jesus all that is calculated to warm and
purify the bosom—alt that has an immediate practical efficacy upon my heart , and leave to Trinitarians , though not without regret , the cold and dreary speculations respecting his nature . The region of abstraction may be yours ; the
genial climate of vital ., practical godliness , regarding rather the teachings and the lo ^ e and the perfections of my Saviour , than his nature and essence — shall be mine . You may make subtle distinctions and divide the Lord Jesus
kito parts , and the Supreme into three * persons , ' or ' modea of operation / or ' somewhats ; ' I arii content with the scriptural creed , with all its delightful consequences— ' There is one God , and one Mediator between G 6 d and nretfi , the man Christ Jesus . ' " E .
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Review . —Beard ' s Vindication of the Middleton Unitarians . 623
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1826, page 623, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2553/page/51/
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