On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
supply him with pregnant instances . That he interpreted scripture according to his own imagination is no great wonder , since he professes to have received divine illumination to enable him to understand its meaning . Nor is his assertion on this head of a doubtful character . His claim he advances repeatedly ; and , in reference to the pre-existence of Christ , in a manner the most
distinct . On this subject , he asserts that the sources of his knowledge are two-fold—the scriptures , the power to interpret which , God , he affirms , had given him ; and a revelation from the Son himself . Jesus must certainly have been best informed as to his own nature , and had we not a few scruples of doubt on this alleged revelation , we should be of course obliged to believe the Saviour ' s account of himself . We hardly think it , howeve r ^
likely that Jesus should keep the fact of his deity concealed for one hundred and fifty years , and , passing by all his apostles , communicate it to a dreamer , and to so amphibious a Christian as was Justin , * the martyr and philosopher . ' Is the deponent then to be impeached of falsehood ? He was a visionary , and was probably self-deceived . Whether an impostor or a dreamer , he
can possess small authority with men of sound understanding * And this was the man who introduced the doctrine of the preexistence of Christ I He it is who gave rise to arguments which now obtain currency because they have long been appealed to * and influence people ' s judgment because their minds have been trained under their influence . Thus fools invent and wise men
follow . Let the reader reflect on the account we have given of Justin , by no means , we assure him , exaggerated ,, and then determine what ought to be the authority of such a man , and of what worth his principles or his reasonings are , so far as they are his . Let him also say , if it is strange that so great a visionary and mystic should have raised Christ to the dubious honours of
divinity , if it would not be stranger still if , in regard to the person of the Saviour , he had not corrupted Christianity as it passed through his head and his pen . Leaving the reader , however , to his own reflections , we think it of consequence to lay before him the following passage from Le Clerc , a most learned man and a most competent judge .
* When Justin said that the logos was called by Philo ' * another God , " he presumed to speak himself in the same manner respecting the divine nature of Christ , and to apply to the logos whatever he found in the Old Testament unbecoming the supreme Creator . His ignorance of the Hebrew language gave occasion for his
failing but too often in this matter . Hence we may understand how wisely Christ acted in choosing fishermen , and not philosophers , for his apostles , lest they should foolishly mingle their inventions with his doctrines—since , in a short time after his death , philosophers , whilst they thought they were illustrating his teachings , * dded many empty conjectures and doctrines opposed to revealed
Untitled Article
Rise and Progress of the Doctrine of the Trinity . USB
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1832, page 263, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1810/page/47/
-