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the shadow of support . The marked Unitarian character of the historical books of the New Testament had long ago forced itself into notice ; and the various shifts and evasions resorted to by the advocates of the opposite doctrine had distinctly shewn that in the Gospels and the Acts they felt themselves upon hostile ground . Retreating from the light of our Lord ' s preaching and that of his apostles , they sought shelter in the obscurity and
intricacies of epistles , those of Paul especially , which , from the very species of composition to which they belong , the circumstances in which they originated , the allusions with which they abound , and the peculiar character of the writer , must needs afford them an ample covert , and ene from which it would not be easy to dislodge them . It was fitting that the mysteries of modern orthodoxy should pretend to derive their brightest proof from those productions which were comparatively dark to contemporaries , and even to
a brother apostle . The eye which cannot , or will not , behold objects"in the sunshine , may well rejoice when clouds interpose or mists arise , and hail their gloom as the best medium for distinct vision . But it was also fitting that this resource should be cut off ; that as far as is possible in this distant age , the obscurities of these epistles should be dispelled , and their difficulties explained ; that the gospels and the epistles should be harmonized , not by the mystification of the former , but by the exposition of the latter ; that
the consistency should be evinced between the general principles which Paul has distinctly and solemnly affirmed , and the phraseology which in argument he has occasionally employed ; that his meaning should be traced throughout bis writings , and shewn never to require , though it may sometimes be capable of , a Trinitarian interpretation . This great and good work Mr . Belsham has accomplished . He has put Umtarianism in possession of the only part of Scripture , with the exception of here and there a
detached passage , which could be considered as debateable ground . In his translation words may be exchanged for other words more apt and expressive ; in his commentary phrases more perspicuous and explanatory may be substituted for his phrases ; herogan useful addition may be made , and there his work may be improved bwyi omission ; but what thus remains to be done is trivial compared with what is done , and done for ever . The proof is before the world , and in time the world will heed it , that
Unitarianism makes no partial appeal to Scripture , but is the doctrine of the Old Testament and of the New ; of Moses and of Christ ; of the Evangelists and of the Apostles ; of Peter and of Paul ; of the historical and of the argumentative books ; of the earliest and of the latest ; of the sermons which were preached and of the epistles which were written ; of the plainest and simplest passages , and of those which are most fraught with difficulty and most liable to perversion . A reproach is wiped away from our opinions which , although it was never deserved , had never before received so ample a confutation . [ To be continued . ]
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88- On the Character and Writings of the Rev . T . Belsham :
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1830, page 88, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2581/page/16/
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