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subject of the sixth and seventh letters , and the truth of the fact is shewn to be necessary to account for the story , as detailed in the scriptures : this argument pre-supposes the authenticity of the gospels and Acts of the
Apostles and can be no otherwise convincing to an unbeliever than as it proves the consistency of the recorded sentiments and conduct of the Apostles , in other words , the internal evidence of the truth of the tale . In the eighth letter ( which is erroneously numbered VII- ) the author handles
the old argument for the truth of Christianity , from its early , rapid and wide spread , through the instrumentality of teaching and in opposition to prejudice , power and learning , this spread being both acknowledged by
the enemies of Christianity and unquestionably predicted by its great Founder ; but though the argument he not new , the mode by which it is conducted is by no means commonplace .
Upon the whole , we do , in the most unqualified manner , pronounce this the best defence of Christianity , in so small a compass , with which we are acquainted . We might object to some of Christophilus ' s phrases and to one or two of his notions , but
every author is entitled to his own manner of thiaking , and , as far as it is decorous , of speaking *; and we are too much pleased with the publication to set about making exceptions
to its general excellence . The sale of it will we trust encourage the author to publish a new edition , to the appearance of which it would be grratitying to us to have been in any degree instrumental . '
There are soaie errata which , in a ° ew edition , cannot escape the author ' s correction .
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dissents however from his master ' s opinion " of the sacrifice of Christ , ' * and in a manly but courteous manner explains in these Letters the reasons
of his dissent , which he hopes ( p . 2 } will serve as an apology for his relinquishiuent of a doctrine in the belief of which he was educated and of which it was the object of Dr . Smith ' s instructions to make him an useful
defender . How far Mr . Fox ' s honest compliments may please such of the Calvinistic Independents as wish to see Horaerton . Academy distinguished for othodoxy " above all Greek , above all Roman fanie , " it is not important to ascertain 5 but we must acknowledge that we are a little curious to learn what effect Mr , Fox ' s
Letters have produced upon the mind of Dr . Smith himself , whether his objections appear to the worthy preacher to be idle and nugatory , or whether they may not have led him to make some further modification , in that perpetually modified system ,
Cal-. The Letters are seven in number . Letter I . is « On Sacrifices in general /* Against Dr . Smith's hypothesis , that the ancient sacrifices were designed representations of the death of Christ , Mr . Fox arguea that being vegetable
as well as animal , it obviously was not the general principle on which they were founded > that their origin is unrecorded , and consequently their design is ihcapable of direct proof ; that the patriarchs , who offered them acceptably , do not appear to have been conscious of any such reference :
that it is unsupported by the L ^ vitical institutions ; that no mention of it occurs in the pious meditations of holy men of those ages ; and that when they are represented as comparatively worthless , it is uniformly in reference , not to a future and greater sacrifice , but to rtioral obedience *
Letter II . is " On the application of Sacrificial Language to the Death of Christ . ' This language is less common than 13 generally imagined , fetid much less thaii it must have bten if the Calvinistic ? doctrine of the sacrifice of Christ had been the doctrine of the fcacred writers . Sacrificial
terms are plainly used in a figurative sense in the New Testament , and are applied to 3 . variety of subjects . In both Testaments , the strongest terms and phrases which are supposed to
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Review *<~ -Fox ' s ^ Letters on ike Sacrifice xrf Christ . 517
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Art . IV . —Letters to the Rev . John Pye Smithy I > . Z > . on the Sacrifice * f Christ : occasioned by his Sermon , preached March 11 , 18 J 3 , before the Patrons and Students of the Protestant Dissenting Academy * t Homerton . By W . J- Fotf . 8 vo . PP . 64 . Johnson and Co . 2 s * 6 d .
1813 . ] VTR- FOX was a pupil of Dr . * j JL Smith ' s at Homerton , and io wse Letters bears ample and honour-? ° fe tegtftnotiy to his tutor ' s candour , Jud gment and learning . The scholar
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1815, page 517, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1763/page/53/
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