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    To the Editor of the Monthly Repository .

    sir , London , Oct . 20 , 1808 . I proceed now , in support of the doctrine of the pre-existence of Jefcus Christ , and in my remarks on what Mr . Belsham has

    advanced in support of the contrary opinion , to take notice of 2 Cor . viii . p . For * ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christy that though he was richy yet for your sakes he became poor , that ye through his poverty might be rich .

    This passage if correctly translated , will I apprehend , be admitted to affirm as a fact , known to the Corinthians at the time this Epistle was written , that Jesus

    Christ had been rich , but was divested of those riches ^ and became poor , that through his

    poverty they might be made rich ; and it is argued that , as no such change of circumstances appears to have taken place in him while he was here upon earth , the words must refer to a former state of

    existence , and consequently are a proof of such a prior state . But in answer to this , Mr . Belsham confidently affirms * , that 4 € The public version docs not give a correct translation of the apostle ' s words . " He then proceeds further to affirm 4 , " That the

    words of the apostle express two states , not successive , but simultaneous , not that Christ was Jirst rich cind afterwards became poor but that his riches were contemporary with his poverty . A more extraordinary position than

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    this scarcely ever came from the pen of an intelligent writer , involving in it a natural absurdity and an absolute contradiction

    i . e . that Jesus Christ was at the same time , in two states so directly opposite each other , that the existence of the one must necessarily exclude that of the other ; that he was rich and not rich , the same time !

    In support of the above , Mr . Belsham appeals to the meaning of the original words , " TlXovo-iog a / v , E 7 fl < juKev < rs , literally , " he says " being rich he led a life of poverty . " Could the English reader

    possibly imagiiie , and will he not feel the utmost surprise to find , that the sentence , " He led a life of poverty " is here affirmed to be a literal translation of a single Greek verb ? Yet this is the facf .

    There is nothing in the original to answer to the words he lived a life of And as to the word poverty we may ask , Can an English noun be a correct translation of a Greek verb ? If it can , there is tin end

    to the analogy of languages , and it will be impossible to give the meaning of one language in another . There is nut then any thing in the original to warrant any one word in this literal translation *

    except the pronoun . Nor is the rendering of " The Improved Version of the New Testament / ' less foreign to the meaning of the original : While he was rich 9 he lived in poverty . In a m te On the verb ( probably

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    ( 718 )

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    MR . MARSOM S DEFENCE OF THE PRE-EXISTENCF OF CHRIST , IN REPIY TO MR , BELSHAM . LETTER V .

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    * Mow Rep . vohii . p . $ % <} . f Ibid .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1808, page 718, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1706/page/26/