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    the enjoyment of it , then while he denies himself common necessaries he is not rich , so that in neither case can he be rich and

    poor at the same time . —The rich man by the extent of his benevolence may exhaust his riches and be reduced to poverty , but in that case his riches and poverty are not simultaneous , but

    successive . He may choose to " forego the comforts and elegancies of life , " while he i » rich , " to gratify more extensively the feelings

    of an enlarged and disinterested benevolence , " but he would not therefore be poor , nor could it be truly affirmed of him on that account that he was so . These

    instances therefore utterly fail of affording any illustration of the subject , and are altogether impertinent . Secondly , let us consider the application of these instances to the riches and poverty of Jesus

    Christ * . cc In strict analogy , " says Mr . Belsham , " to these instances , our Lord , who possessed voluntary miraculous powers , by which he could have supplied himself with the greatest ease with all the conveniences and luxuries

    of life , chose to lead a life of indigence , of self-denial and dependence , in oTdcr to fulfil the purposes of his mission . Thus , being rich for our sakts , he lived in poverty . " Mr . Belsham here asserts that

    cc being rich" means to be possessed of miraculous powers ; but the assertion is unsupported by any kind of evidence . Is it not a perversion of the plain meaning of terms to say that riches mean powers ? Powers niay be the

    • Mon # Rep * vo , Li . 589 * .

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    means of acquiring wealth , and this is all the riches which Mr . Belsham seems to suppose Jesus Christ to possess ; jpr he says , « He pos . sessed voluntary miraculous

    powers , by which he could have sup - plied himself with the greatest ease with all the conveniences and luxuries of life , " i . e . he had the means of enriching himself ; but he did not make use of those

    means for that purpose , but 4 c chose , " as he adds , " to lead a life of indigence . " So tbat instead of proving that Jesus Christ

    was rich and poor at the same time , Mr . Belsham ' s reasoning goes to prove , indirect contradiction to the assertion of the apostle , that Jesus Christ never was

    rich . If to be rich is to be possessed of miraculous powers , to be poor must be not to possess ttiem . But as it is impossible to possess and not possess any thing at the same

    time , Jesus Christ could not at the same time , in this sense be botji rich and poor . Mr . Belsham in order to give effect to the assertion , that iC Jesus Christ could have supplied himself with the greatest ease with the

    conveniences and luxuries of life , " alleges thathis miraculous powers were voluntary . What does he mean by cc voluntary miraculous power s ? 79 Jesus Christ says , with

    respect to those powers , that " He could do nothing of himself—that the works which he performed were not his , but his that sent him , —that it was the father who dwelt in him who did those works , •—that he came not to do his own

    will , but the will of him tfrfit sent him . " Can those be the voluntary

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    720 Mr . Marsom ^ s Defence of the Pre-existence of Christ . Let . V .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1808, page 720, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1706/page/28/