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    Sir , Penzance . SCRI PTURE criticism is one of the most valuable departments of your Repository , and one which I doubt not you are desirous to see filled . I

    shall therefore make no apology for sending you a few remarks on the first verses of John ' s Gospel . Nothing now indeed can be expected on a topic so vastly hackneyed as this , but old and obvious reflections are often

    allowed to he by neglected , and need to be brought forth to light and notice almost as much as if they were new discoveries . I am led to this remark by observing that that interpretation of the celebrated passage

    alluded to which was embraced by the fathers of English Unitarianism , Lardncr , Priestley and Lindsey , and which they themselves had derived from an intimate acquaintance with Christian antiquity , has been nearly supplanted , in the works of the more recent

    advocates of the cause , by one which they had deliberately rejected , and which can pretend to no higher antiquity than the d $ ys of Sociuus . For

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    my own part ; I am convinced that this change has been altogether for the worse , and very detrimental to the Unitarian cause y I shall therefore take the liberty of stating some

    objections , insuperable as they appear to rne , to this Socinian explication . So ^ cinus was indeed its author , and claims it as his own ; a circumstance in itself not a little suspicious . Far what likelihood is there that the true

    sense of so notable a passage of Scripture should have occurred to no one till the middle of the sixteenth century ? Whereas the sense approved by Lardner and Priestley was , in the main , coincident with that of the early fathers in general , men who

    used the language of the New Testament as their vernacular tongue . The interpretation of Socinus has however been adopted by the editors of the Improved Version , and has in my humble opinion nearly destroyed the value of that work . The ancient

    Unitarian interpretation has always been treated by the orthodox with respect , as being ingenious and subtle at least if not sound ; but the other I have always observed to be regarded

    by them with unmingled scorn and disgust . When , therefore , a Trinitarian takes up the Improved Version , and turning , as he naturally does , to this place , perceives the rendering alluded to , he closes the book with

    contempt , and thinks he has seen enough to lay the question at rest for ever . But let us now examine the passage ourselves . We have first a gratuitous and unnecessary transposition of the words .

    For , Ex / a-pxy vjv o Xoyo ; , we read " the Word was in the beginning" This inversion of the order gives a strained and inelegant effect to the passage , and what end it answers is best known

    to those that made it ; but let that pass . " And the Word was with God , and the Word was a God . " A God 1 Of course therefore there are more Gods than one , and the God mentioned in the first clause of this verse is a

    different God from that mentioned in the latter clause . An awkward dilemma this for a Unitarian . The repugnance which this rendering at once excites will , I believe , be too great to be increased by argument ; but it will , notwithstanding , be proper to notice whut is alleged ia ita dc-

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    536 On the Proem of John ' s Gospel .

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    my other work stood still , to which , I would wish to give time . I have requested Dr . Jeffries to take yours and Dr . Kippis ' s sentiments on this

    head . Yours , indeed , I hope to have from your own pen . You can also direct me , where I can meet with the clearest and justest account of Sabellianism .

    " But it is time to release you from this long scroll , and these tedious questions . In my situation , there are few with whom I can converse on these points , or from whom I can receive much intelligence . This makes rne more desirous to engage the assistance and benefit of Dr . Calder ' s

    extensive enquiries and communicative temper : and more so , as your friendship here flatters my vanity : my pride is gratified by the connexion . And I hope the indulgence is not so vicious , but vou may contribute to it .

    " I am with great esteem for your character and learning , and with warmest wishes that Divine Providence may assist and succeed all your useful labours , Dear Sir , Your affectionate Friend and Brother , and obliged humble Servant , JOSHUA TOULMIN . "

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1825, page 536, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2540/page/22/