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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.
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Matt . xxv . 34 , where the kingdom is said to be * prepared for the blessed from the foundation of the world * in John xvii . 24 , where God is said to have loved Christ from the foundation of the world ; in Ephes , i . 4 , where the faithful are said to have been i chosen in him from the
foundation of the world ; ' in 1 Peter i . 30 , where Christ is said to have been ' foreordained from the foundation of the world . But Dr . Gray himself has helped us to the true key to all these passages , by quoting from Rev . xiii , 8 J 4 the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world * This must
have been only in the Divine decree or purpose -y for the Lamb was not actually slain till at least 4035 years after . " The next class of texts is said to contain declarations in favour of the , doctrine of atonement . IfDr Gray takes this word in its original meaning * of at-one-ment , reconciliation of sinful men , who were at enmity with God by wicked works , to a
state of acceptance with him through repentance , faith and better obedience , Mr . M . would have had no other dispute with the Doctor , as to its use , than that , in its modern and more usual signification , it means an equivalent price paid to God to reconcile Him to man ; an idea which , though expressly taught in the Articles of the Church of England , is no where to be found in the New Testament . On the
contrary , the whole gospel scheme is a scheme of mercy , proposed from God by Jesus Christ , < whom God hath set forth ta be a propitiatory / or mercy-seat , to declare unto his people , being penitent , the remission of their sins . And in this sense he was properly said to * save his people from theirsins : ' all such as believe
in him are freed from the effect of them . God having sent him to preach remission upon repentance , such as accepted this condition were saved , taken out of the danger they were in , and put into a safe state ; and , if they lived as they ought for the future , they were to he finally happy . Now Jesus , being the person by whom all
this was to be accomplished , was said to save them from their sins by taking them away j"st as he took ( away ) their infirmities , and bore ( off ) their sicknesses , as Matthew ( viii . 17 ) explains Isaiah Iiii . 4 , by quoting this prophecy in illustration of our Saviour ' s miracles of healing .
Di \ Gray next quotes one of the most figurative passages in a highly figurative and obscure discourse delivered by our ¦ Lor d to a set of persons , who , having- experienced his bounty in having been
miraculously fed , continued to follow him w » th narrow and selfish views , and whom he wishes to draw to the pursuit of that food which perisheth not , or that divine doctrine which Jie came from God to teach . *** a similar manner , in hi « discourse with
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the woman of Samaria , he had called his doctrine water , ( in allusion to the object of her visit to the well ;) and he cautions his disciples to beware of the leaven of-the Pharisees , by which he expressly gives them to understand that he tneaut , not bread , but the doctrine of these unrighteous teachers . In this verse there are two
figures , first bread and then flesh ; the first representing the doctrine which he was sent to preach ;* the second his life , which he was to lay down for the life of the world , in the execution of his divine commission to bring * life and immortality to light . It would carry me beyond the limits of a short paper such as this , to go
through the whole of this very figurative discourse ; but it may be observed that , in explaining- it afterwards to his disciples , he says , ' It is the Spirit that quickeneth , the flesh profiteth nothing * 5 the words that I speak unto you , they are spirit and they are life ; ' i . e . * My meaning has been onl
entirely spiritual , and it is y the spiritual meaning of the figurative expressions which I have employed that can be of any effect to lead you to eternal life . To eat my flesh literally would be of no use to you 5 it is the word that I speak to you > my doctrine , that is the true spirit and meaning of what I have "been describing * . It is this alone on which men can live in
a spiritual and proper sense . ' u With regard to the two texts quoted to prove the distinct personal existence of the Holy Spirit , the present writer has nothing to add to what is already so Well said by Mr , Meadley , concerning the com- * monly supposed form of baptism , ( Matt ,
xxviii . , ) in his Letters , I . p . 10 ; II . p . 31 . With regard to Christ ' s promise of a Comforter , ( John xvij . 26 , ) he would first intreat you to consider carefully the appeal of St . Paul to the Corinthians , ( 1 £ ) pist . ii . 10 , ) ' What man knoweth the things of a man , save the spirit of the man
which is in him , even so knoweth no man the thing's of God , except the Spirit of God ; ' that is , as no man knoweth his thoughts and intentions but the man himsel f , so none knoweth the designs of God but God himself . Under this guidance , he humbly presumes to believe that the Holy Spirit of God is not a distinct being ,
but truly and properly God himself , acting " , in this instance , by the mighty power which fell on the apostles on the day of Pentecost , at the intercession of the Lord Jesus ; and , in short , under whatever character represented , whether as a witness to the Son , as a guide to truth , or a comforter in the day of temptation and trial , is of the essence of God the Father
Almighty . * Whether it be wisdom , knowledge , faith , prophecy , miracles , the gifts of healing , or divers kinds of tongues , it ii the same God which worketh all in all . '
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Proceedings at Sunderland relating to Mr . Meadlerjs Monument . 985
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1819, page 285, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1772/page/5/
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