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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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But it may , I concave , be safely affirmed , that neither the ascension , nor the ' probationary solitude in the wilderness , is alluded to in the words of Jesus ; still less can it be admitted that the tame and cold interpretation of general Unitarian expositors , rests „„ jnv nrobable or reasonable founprobable or reasonable
founon any dation—an interpretation which , explaining the question into an allegorical representation of intimate intercourse with God , stands open to the same censure of frigid insignificancy as that offered by your correspondent . It is natural to suppose that this question of Jesus is connected with ,
and dependent on , his preceding discourse . The subject of this discourse is not absolutely his Messiahship , or Ins being really the Christ ; but , relatively , his being the appointed medium through which " life and immortality " were to be ' * brought to light . " An examination of the context will ,
in my judgment , enable us to ascertain the sense of this controverted text with a clearness little short of demonstration Taking up his metaphor from the bread which he had multiplied on the mountain , he asserts of himself , not
merely that he is the " bread of God , " the bearer of spiritual food from heaven , but that he is the " bread which gives life to the world ; " that ' * a man may eat thereof , and not die . " The metaphor is continued and repeated , under various forms , through vers
33 , 35 , 48 , 50 , 51 , 54 , 57 , 58 . Though purposely enveloping his discourse in figure , he allows his general meaning * partly to appear , for the benefit of : those who were willing to understand him , and candidly disposed to accept his claims on sufficient evidence : for
lie accompanies the words , " Whoso eateth my ilesh hath eternal life , " by the illustrative clause , * and / will raise him up at the last day . " The same intimation is thrown out in vers . 3 !> , 40 , 44 . Now , is it not natural to expect that he would have made
some reference to his own personal resurrect ion , which is the pattern and the pledge of the resurrection of the rig hteous to eternal life ? How is it to be accounted for , that , in so accumulative and elaborate a series of statements of a predictive character , all referring to the great fact that he was the " prince , " or leader , " of
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life , " and illustrated by a plain and open declaration that he would raise his followers from the dead , accomp anied , moreover , by an allusion to his crucifixion , 0 tf the bread which I give is my flesh , which I will give for the life of the world , " ) he should forbear a more distinct allusion to the
circumstance of his own resurrection , by which the " giving of his flesh for the life" of mankind might be elucidated , and which he would naturally appeal to as the test and the proof of the truth of his words and mission ?
But this strange omission has not been made ; for , by a natural process of reasoning * , he passes directly from the announcement of a general resurrection to that of his own , which was to precede it and confirm it . He corrects their incredulity , and strengthens
his previous asseverations , by an appeal which they would not at that time understand , any more than they understood his making himself the antitype of Jonah , but which they were to understand afterwards , when the fact had explained the prophecy :
" Doth this offend you ? What if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before V Will ye then doubt that " my flesh is the bread of life , which I will give for the life of the world , " when ye shall see < c the Son of Man himself ascend vp out OF THE GRAVE , AND STAND AGAIN UPON THE EARTH ?" EBION .
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VOL . XVIIK 2 O
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Clapton , Sir , May 9 , 1823 . AM one among several of your I readers who were well acquainted with your valuable correspondent Mr .
Cooper , while he was a student in the UnitarTan Academy , the dissolution of which , from the failure of pecuniary support , is a just opprobrium to that class of Unitarians whose opulence has found a safe harbour , amidst the wrecks suffered by so many of their neighbours . I then had frequent
occasions to observe Mr . C . ' s diligent preparation for a station of public usefulness , and I was well aware of the pure motives with which he accepted the offer of a benevolent West-India proprietor , who , with a compassionate feeling , worthy a pupil and a munificent friend of frahefield , but
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Mr . Rutt on Negro * Slavery . 28 \
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1823, page 281, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1784/page/25/
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