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tbat they were wanting in the Ebionite copies of that gospel . And that the Ebionites constituted a very large proportion , if i * at the whole body , of the early Hebrew Christians : who , whatever
might be their opinion of other books . in the New Testament , received the gospel of Maitliew as genuine , and could have had no objection to the account of the miraculous conception of Jesus , had it been fontnd in their
authentic copies . Aiso , as this narrative contains the account of many extraordinary transactions of great publicity , winch occurred in Judea at that time , it is absolutely impossible that these Hebrew Christians should have been igno *
rant of them , or have denied facts which redounded so much to the credit of their master and his re * ligion . This narrative therefore could not have been written by Matthew in that gospel which he coin posed tor the instruction of the Hebrew converts .
Will you then believe these miserable £ b > oni < tes ,. whom Si . Epipbanius denounces as heretics ?—~ Butj what does this holy man object to them f Hear the Quarterly Reviewer , p . 323 . 4 < They maintained the r * ure humanity of Christ . They atfkroed him to be
born of Joseph and Mary . '— - Gox > d . This then .-appears to have been very ancient doctrine * The fcbionites , as all allow , were contemporary with the apostles . We do not think much the worse of
them for this belief , whatever fcpiphanius or the Reviewer may do . Further , " They joined the ceremonial law with the gospel /' So did the Hebrew converts in the apostolic age : so did the # po £ tiej » themselves , not excepting
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St . Paul . Yet no one condemned them for it . Every one was left at liberty to enjoy his own opinion , arid to regulate his own practice % they were only forbidden Ho xm pose the mosaic ritual upon gen ~ tile Christians .- *—Again . TJb . ese Ebionites received none of the four gospels ^ excepting that of St » Matthew / ' r l hey would then be particularly careful to keep this gospel pure . and uacorrupt . — "' They rejected all St . PauT « epistles , and disallowed his divine mission . '' In this they erred ; but how this invalidates their evidence
in the case of Matthew ' s gospej I do not perceive . u But what is most important to be observed /* says this candid Reviewer ^ ** they are distinctly mentioned as no . Lorious for corrupting the scripture& to their prejudices , for mutjJatin g ^ ami altering , without « cr ^ uple , ^ and the like . And who is it that brings this charge against tb « e Ebionites ? The fyriit&dox ^ their professed a ad merciless ^ nenai e ** I , for one , am a little suspicious of the accounts which orthodox bishops and orthodox reviewers give of the characters ^ and of the works , of those whom they are pleased to brand with the title of heretics . Who can doubt thai :
the Ebionites , in their writings , recriminated upon the orthodox , "and retorted the charge of interpolation with as much vehemence ^ and full as much reason , as theif adversaries alledged that of mutilation against them . Is it such miserable reasoning as this of the Quarterly Reviewer , that is to de ~ cide the judgment of calm enquirers in an enlightened and inquisitive age ? This writer is weak enough to add > " Why agree with the Ebi *
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The Qi&rfzxJg Review and the Improved Version * 4 % h
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1809, page 421, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1739/page/7/
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