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voted : and if they would suppose him to fee a god from this miracle , they would , < k fortiori , have had recourse to the same supposition from all his
miracles , and especially from the stupendous miracle of his resurrection . Another example , illustrative of the genius of Paganism , presents itself in the discourse of Paul at Athens . His
hearers immediately concluded that he was " a setter forth of new . gods ;" and the sacred historian subjoins the reason , " Because he preached Jesus and the resurrection . ' * Acts xvii . In
the estimation of a Heathen , superiority to death was the most decisive proof of divinity . ; so that in their opinion , to assert that Jesus survived death , was the same thing as to assert that he was a god . To introduce a
new god at Athen 3 was a capital crime . Three centuries before , Socrates was put to death under that very charge ; and they instantly conducted the apostle to the Areopagus to have him condemned for the same
offence . Paul effectually sets aside the charge , by holding forth Jesus as a man appointed of God to judge the world , and raised from the grave by the power of the Almighty . The notion of one Supreme God , as 4 he Creator and Governor of the universe , was not unknown to the Athenian
philosophers ; but lest the preaching of this Great Being should be made the grounds of a new accusation against the apostle , he , with admira ble wi s dom and presence of mind ,
precludes it by an appeal to their own writers , and especially to an altar erected to the unknown god in that very city . Here , we are presented witn a very remarkable fact , roost
worthy the notice of those who believe that Paul taught the Godhead of our Saviour . The people of Athens , misled b y polytheism , charged thfet apostle with holding forth the divinity of Christ as an object of their
acceptance . And what did this great champion of the religion of Jesus do , in consequence ? Did he meet the charge and avow it ? This he certainly would have done , had it been well-founded , even at the risk of his life . On the
contrary , he cuts up the charge by the root ? as grounded in misconception ; and he was accordingly discharged . Had he attempted to justify that doctrine , he would have been instantly
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condemned . His acquittal is an une quivocal fact that he negatived it , as a mere dictate of Heathenism . The conclusion on which I here in *
sist , is directly asserted by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History , lib . i . 13 * " The divinity of ourXord and Saviour Jesus Christ was celebrated among all nations by means of his
wonderful power ; an immense number , even of foreigners , being attracted to him , in the hope of being healed by him of the various diseases which afflicted them . " Here , it is asserted that all nations celebrated the divinity of Christ , and that the grounds of this celebration were the wonderful
works performed by him . It is clear , therefore , that , according to the surrounding nations who heard the fame of Jesus , he was a supernatural be * ing , because he did things above the course of nature .
A well-known passage of Tertulliaa in his Apology , c « p . 6 , ( see Lardher , Vel . VII . p . 243 , ) draws the same conclusion . " Tiberius , in whose reign tbe Christian name appeared ia the world , having received from Palestine , in Syria , an account of the works which revealed and verified the
divinity of Jesus , proposed him to the Senate , with the privilege of his own vote in favour of his deification . The Senate , because he had himself refused that honour , rejected the proposal ; Caesar remained of the same ^ minion ,,
and threatened to punish the accusers of th 6 Christians . ** Here , again , it is asserted that the works of Je 3 Hs proved his divinity . The conduct of Tiberius , who was a Heathen , in proposing tke deification of Jesus , proves that he drew the same inference . But
it is remarkable that Tertulliaiv , who was a Christian , and who had opportunities to know better , should assert that the miracles of our Lord verified , not indeed his divine mission , but his divine nature . This shews that
Tertullian and Eusebius reasoned exactly as the Heathens did respecting the nature of Christ , and that the real source of their belief . in his divinity was Ueathenisxri .,
Eugsbius apd Orpftius have related this fact neajrjj in the worAs . of Tertulliai ^ . The words of Orpsiug are tlie following : " Tiberius proposed to the Senate that Christ should be made a god , with his own vote in his favour .
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34 Dr . John Jones on the Proposition that tke Divinity qf Christ was
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1823, page 34, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1780/page/34/
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