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    ligent and sincere inquirers being well known to us * we were anxious to satisfy ourselves respecting a laboured attack upon it coming from an individual who stands so high both as to character and attainments as Dr . Smith : and having long since fully satisfied ourselves , we think it seasonable at this time , when our venerated friend has been taken from among us ,

    and his work , in consequence of the very small number of copies remaining , may perhaps for the present have its circulation somewhat restrained , to call the attention of our readers to the true state of the controversy , and assist them in judging how far Dr . Smith has succeeded in invalidating Mr . Belsham ' s arguments , or in otherwise defending the prevailing doctrine respecting the person of our Lord .

    Dr . Smith ' s work is divided into four books , of which the first is occupied with preliminary considerations ; the second is " On the Information to be obtained concerning the Person of the Messiah from the Prophetic Descriptions of the Old Testament ; " the third , " On the Information to be obtained concerning the Person of the Christ from the Narratives of the Evangelical History , and from our Lord ' s own Assertions and Intimations ; " and the fourth , " On the Doctrine taught by the Apostles in their Inspired Ministry concerning the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ . " This distribution

    of the subject may probably be the most natural and useful for the impartial student , who , as he meets with each passage which may have a possible bearing on the point he is investigating , will refer to lexicographers , scholiasts , and commentators , without distinction of party or opinion , and having obtained all the aids he can , will form his own independent judgment . But

    where the object proposed is to set before our readers the results of our where the object proposed is to set before our readers the results of our inquiries , and to compare " these results with those obtained by others , we cannot help thinking that such an arrangement as Mr . Belsham ' s ( who collects and examines in order the texts which have been adduced in support of each point of disputed doctrine ) is more clear and satisfactory , as well as more favourable to conciseness . We do not think it the best method for the

    instruction of students , yet we were hardly prepared for the following remarks from any one possessing the least share of judgment or candour : " The selection and arrangement of texts was certainly , so far as it went , a suitable means ; provided a due regard were had to the studying of each in its proper place and connexion . But to throw down before a company of inexperienced youths a regular set of rival and discordant expositions , * in general without any additional , or at least doctrinal , comment of the

    comp iler ' s own / appears to me to have been a method not well calculated to lead into the path of convincing evidence and well-ascertained truth . It might excite party feeling" , wordy disputation , unholy levity , and rash decision : but ao far as either from the theory of the case or from experience I am able to form a judgment , I could not expect a better result , except in rare instances indeed . "—Scripture Testimony , Vol . I . Chap . vi . p . 160 , second edition .

    On what grounds is it here insinuated that , under Mr . Belsham ' s guidance , a due regard was not had to the connexion of texts , in defiance of his own rule on the subject : " In order to judge of the true sense of a disputed text , it is necessary to consider the connexion in which it stands" ? ( Calm Inquiry , Introd . p . 3 , 2 d ed . ) So long as important passages of Scripture are differentl y understood b y men of learning , who are able each to give some plausible reasons in favour of his own interpretation , what can the honest and impartial instructor do but lay before his pupils , or , in Dr . S . ' s phraseology , * ' throw down before a company of inexperienced youths , ' . '

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    2 Dr . •/ . P . Smith * i Scripture Testimony to the Messiah .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1831, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2593/page/2/