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Untitled Article
Jude , the three Epistles of John ( the two last " too insignificant" to merit much attention * I 9 - )—fourteen out of the twenty-one — are rejected as spurious . The book of Revelations ( the " unimportant ^ visionary > false Epistles to the Seven Churches of Asiaf / ' excepted ) is admitted as authentic . Three fourths of the New Testament are thus rejected by this best instructor of Christianity . "
My third charge adduced against Mr . Evanson was— " his rejection of some of the clearest evidences of -Christianity—the miracles , the doctrines , the precepts ^ and the promises of our Saviour—and his limiting its evidence not merely to prophecy but to completed prophecy / ' J . S . instead of refuting this charge , enters into a detail of what he supposes Mr . Evanson himself believed on this subject ; but the question is not
concerning the degree of credit Mr . Evanson gave to these evidences ^ but whether he considered them as proofs of a divine revelation . J . S , however , for want of argument , again resorts to personal reflections . He adds— " What Mr . Evanson has said on the nature of evidence is so clear and distinct , that I should have thought no person who has read -the : ? Dissonance could nndesignedly have so greatly misstated itj . ' * iQ
Let us then appeal to the Dissonance , " to which I shall beg leave to add a quotation , on the same subject , from Mr- Evanson's last publication— Second Thoughts on the Trinity . * In the preface to the first-mentioned work , after giving it . as his opinion , that the evidence of a divipe revelation arising from miracles is suspicious , the author adds—* God , by his
prophets , both in the old and new covenant , hath given us another , an infallible criterion by which to distinguish the true from the false religion , and , as-I have shewn in the following pages , refers us solely to the testimony of completed prophecy + which he would not have done , if any other had been necessary , or to be depended on with equal certainty and satisfaction of
mind / " In the index of the work we are referred to a section entitled—* 'The only certain Evidence of the Truth of any divine Revelation , " which contains the following observations : To all future ages [ from the coming of Christ ]
prophecy , the completed prediction of events out of the power of human sagacity to foresee is the only supernatural testimony that can be alleged in proof of any revelation § , Completed prophecy is the only criterion given us by God himself , whereby we can ascertain the truth and divine authority of what is taught
us for a revelation from him || t" These qviotations are sufficient * Dissonance , p . 332 . f Ibid . p . 33 y 933 ^ 4 Monthly Repository for June , p , 363 . § Dissonance , j > , % 1 % %$ i Second Thoughts on the Triuity , p . j 6 .
Untitled Article
652 Remarks an the Writings of Mr . Evanson .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1806, page 652, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1731/page/36/
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