“ Middleton’s most ambitious work is obsolete from no fault of his, but his controversial 'Writings retain a permanent place in the history of opinion. In his more restricted sphere he may not inappropriately be compared with Lessing. Like Lessing’s, the character of his intellect was captious and iconoclastic, but redeemed from mere negation by a passion for abstract truth, too apt to slumber until called into activity by some merely personal stimulus. ”

“ In combating this belief Middleton indirectly established two propositions of capital importance. He showed that ecclesiastical miracles must be accepted or rejected in the mass; and he distinguished between the authority due to the early fathers testimony to the beliefs and practices of their times, and their very slender credibility as Witnesses to matters of fact. ”

“ In 1723 he was involved in a lawsuit by personalities against Bentley, which had found their way into his otherwise judicious tract on library administration, written on the occasion of his appointment as university librarian. In 1726 he offended the medical profession by a dissertation contending that the healing art among the ancients was only exercised by slaves or freedmen. ”