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It is further contended in the " Calm Inquiry , " that " the Ebiohltes and Gnostics agreed in disbelieving the miraculous conception , and that there was nothing in the peculiarities of those sects which should render them averse to that opinion . " Hence the reader is tacitly invited to infer , that the exclusion of the chapters in question , arose solely from a well-informed conviction of their being spurious , and not in any respect because the doctrine contained in them was irreconcileable with the peculiar dogmas of those sects .
But let us see what the fact is . As to the Ebionites—so called , not from the poverty of their worldly circumstances , but from the meanness of their notions respecting Christ , as denying his pre-existence and divinity ; and having received that relative appellation , it may reasonably be inferred , from the contrast between such notions and the more exalted sentiments of the great mass of Christians at that period—it is to be observed , that it is not correct to attribute to the whole body of Ebionites a disbelief of the
miraculous conception , for some % of them were actual believers ; and indeed in a subsequent page of the ' * Calm Inquiry" even , ( pp . 260 , 261 , ) Origen and Eusebius are quoted to that effect : but those Ebionites who denied the miraculous conception , ( and it is to that class only that the remark of Mr . B . can apply , ) maintained that Jesus was the Son of Mary by Joseph in the ordinary course of nature : and , as that was one of their peculiarities , it is
most plain that they could not at the same time admit the opinion that Jesus was miraculously conceived by Mary through the influence of the Holy Spirit . No ! no ! the ancient Ebionites were more consistent ; some of them , indeed , believing Jesus to have been the Son of Joseph and Mary , and others , of Mary only and the Divine Spirit ; but neither of the two sects was so enamoured of absurdity , as at one and the same time to believe him the natural offspring of Joseph and the miraculous production of the Holy Spirit !
Then , as to the Gnostics—of whom the Marcionites amongst a great number of different sects of that name formed one—the doctrine of the latter was , that " Christ first appeared on earth full grown , but was a man in outward form only : " and therefore it is not less clear , that their tenets could not be reconciled with the doctrine of the miraculous conception . Nor was the miraculous conception more admissible by that only other sect of Gnostics spoken of in the " Calm Inquiry , " who allowed Jesus to be a real man , but who denied that he was the Christ , maintaining that Christ
was a celestial iEon who descended into Jesus at his baptism , but quitted him at his crucifixion . We are told too , that " the Ebionites and Gnostics had their origin in the apostolic age , and had probably at that time never heard the report" ( p . 9 ) . The short answer to which would be , " Probably they had heard it . " If
we are to go into probabilities upon such a subject , let us see whether the negative or the affirmative presumption recommends itself the strongest . What caused the negative supposition to float on the writer's fancy we are not apprised : and nothing further need be offered in favour of the affirmative , than to remind the reader that it appears from the earliest authentic accounts of the Ebionites , that one sort of them were actual believers in the
miraculous conception : and surely it is more than probable , that those Ebionites at least must have heard of such a report ! No other than the apostolic age is mentioned by Mr . B ., nor does he tell us when he guesses that the new light first beamed amongst them at a later period : but at all events , it is beyond controversy , that a great number , of Christians ate proved
Untitled Article
258 St . Lutofi : Gospel
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1827, page 258, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1795/page/26/
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