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on his ministry , and produced authentic attestations of his di- > vine mission by many undeniable facts , he did not desire that his disciples should anjr longer depend upon his testimony , but wished them to receive fuller satisfaction from Jesus himself ;
well knowing , that the perfection of faith depends on the conviction of the understanding , which must always be in proportion to the clearness and ^ strength of rational evidence presented to it .
On the other hand , Jesus , having heard the question which John ' s messengers proposed in their Master ' s name , did not expressly , and in so many words reply , Yes , I am the Christ , or the Person who was to come : that would onlv have been
putting the subject on the credibility of his own testimony , and adding his authority to that of John : but he refers them to the evidence of their own senses , and to the impartial reflections of their understandings upon the facts which they had seen and heard . The evangelist Luke informs us ( viii . 21 . ) , that " in
that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues , and of evil spirits , and to many that were blind he gave sight /* He desires themy therefore , to go and report these facts to John , and hear his reasonings and conclusions upon them as if he had said , I desire not to forestal any man ' judgment
by my declarations , or subject his faith to my testimony . I present my evidences in facts before their senses , and leave it to them to conclude from thence what I am , and what regards are due to me , according as their understandings shall enable ^ and their hearts dispose them * Judge now for yourselves , from what you have seen and heard /*
It will surely be allowed that this was a very fair and candid mode of dealing , on the part both of the Baptist and of Jesus ; of the former , that he produced the best evidence for the truth of his doctrine which it was in his power to give ; but when stronger and more authentic evidence appeared , he no longer insisted on what he had himself offered , but referred his disciples for
fuller satisfaction to him who vpas able to give them more incontestable proofs : of the latter , that he did not , under the countenance of that veneration and authority which his miraculous works might have procured hinsi over the minds of spectators , assert expressly his own divine mission and authority , and
challenge absolute submission from mankind ; thereby precluding freedom of inquiry and judgment concerning that mission and authority , but contented himself with producing the evidences thereof , in facts open to the examination of the senses of all men , and not only left it to the free and impartial reflections «> f their own consciences to decide the question ,, but by this
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On the Interview of Jesus with John ' s Disciples . 539
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S . -Z . 2
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1806, page 539, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1729/page/35/
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