On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
stances of his humiliation , were the consequence of his having divested himself of that form . His
being in the form of a servant , and in the likeness of men , were si * multaneous with the whole of his existence here , and therefore his being in the form of God , must refer to a prior state of existence : agreeably to this , when Jesus
Christ was reinstated in the glory for which he prayed , and which he says , he had with the father before the world was , the apostles speak of him ia that stafte , not as Ziaving been in the form of God , but as being in it then * ,
whereas they never speak of him as being in the form of God , or as being the image of God in the days of his flesh . This observation is a sufficient refutation of Mr . Belsham ' s
assumed meaning of the phrase ^ " In the form of God ; " for though Jesus Christ had been u the messenger of God to man and invested with miraculous powers , " he was not so when the apostles affirm him to be cc the image of the invisible God / ' If to be a messenger of God to man and
invested with miraculous powers , is to be in the form of God , were
not the apostles , as well as Jesus Christ in that form ? But Mr . Belsham adds -f > " Invested with miraculous powers superior to any which had ever been conferred vpon arty other human being S This however is said in direct contradiction to the words
of our Lord when , in addressing his disciples he says J , " Verily , verily , I say" unto you , he that bclieveth on me , the works that jf do , shall he do also ; and greater than these shall he da >; because
Untitled Article
Untitled Article
I go unto the father . " Were they to perform greater works than his , with jyoivers inferior to his ? This would be truly marvellous . ' " He thought it no robbery to be as God , that is , " says Mr .
lielsham || , ** he did not consider himself as acting improperly or unjustly , in exercising these divine powers according to his discretion . " The apostle is
speaking of a farm in which Jesus Christ was ; Mr . Belsham says , that by it he means pwers ; a meaningj which 1 am persuaded , it will baffle all the learning and ingenuity of Mr . Belsham to
prove either from the words of the apostle , or from any other passage of scripture . The apostle speaks of Jesus as having been in a divine form , not of his exercising it . What the exercise of a form means , I acknowledge I am unable to
conceive ; Mr . Belsham says that " bybeing in the form of God , trrj apostle means that he exercised his divine powers according to his discretion . The apostle goes on to say , that Jesus Christ divested himself
ot this form . No such thing , says Mr . Belsham , he retained it , though he did not it is true , make use of it for his own personal advantage . Take it in his own
words § , " He divested himself of these powers , not by actually resigning them / ' ( perhaps he means that he did so in purpose , or that he meant to resign thorn , ) but b of them
" y making no use for his own personal advantage . " Mr . Belsham adds , " The expression is analogous to that , 2 Cor . viii . p . Being rich ^ he led a life of poverty" That is , it is
* 7 , Cor . iv . 4- Col . i . 15 . Heb . i . 3 . f Mon . Rep . Vol . ii . p . 594 . I J ohn xiv . 1 % . || Mon , Rep . Vol . ii . p . 594 . § Ibid .
Untitled Article
7 22 Mr . Marsom ' s Defence of the Pre-exist ence of Christ . Let . V .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1808, page 722, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1706/page/30/
-