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advocates have always endeavoured to prove the impossibility-of the witnesses being deceived , or desiring , or venturing to deceive j and they are the specific facts in regard to which the writer before us now endeavours to prove , that the portion of delusion and of fraud which he alleges to have been mixed up in their characters , evinced itself . On this precise question , then , the writers on botJi
sides have long ago joined issue . The present writer is at liberty to tread the ground again ; but he is mistaken in supposing that he has put the question in a new light ; he has only confused it . By attributing a mixture of character and motive to the Gospel historians , he has , in general terms , endeavoured to leave an impression that everything miraculous may have originated in delusion or fraud , and that the competency and honesty of the witnesses can be trusted only in matters of little or no
importance . . . : Firstly , then , as to the mixture of delusion with knowledge of fact in the authors who were eye-witnesses of the events . We have a series of chapters on the ' Unsettled and excitable state of the Jews / the « State of religion and morality , ' and the * State of the people and circumstances of the times , ' which are said to have * prepared the way for a reformation . ' The representation given in these chapters is substantially correct , as far as relates to the historic circumstances in the midst of which bur Lord ' s
ministry arose . How far those circumstances might have forwarded or impeded the recognition of our Saviour ' s claims , if they had had only a human origin , how far the nature of his claims was such as to recommend them to the peculiar national excitement , without the accompaniment of miraculous proofs , we shall inquire presently . The author himself does not seem quite in one mind on the subject , as , on p . xv ., he Varns us not to
receive any false impression' from the terms ' New Religion * * JVew Sect , ' as applied to the first preaching of the Gospel , telling us € that this was not the relation in which Jesus stood to the people he addressed himself to , at the outset of his ministry ; ' while , ori the nineteenth page , he says , * Men were expecting a change on the subject of religion , and were prepared for it ; they looked intently
for a leader , whose coming was foretold by their ancient prophets , who was himself inspired , and commissioned to reveal the things of God . ' So the expectation of change was in favour of the views of an enthusiastic and good young zealot ; while , however ^ he carefully abstained from professing himself the leader of a * new sect , ' lest his cause should be prejudiced 1 I cannot undertake to reconcile the author with himself here .
The next section is entitled ' John the Baptist and Jesus , — their devotional enthusiasm—censors of the people , and annunciators of the coming of the expected heavenl y kingdom—effect on the Jews . ' As far as John is concerned , with whose ministry the question of miracles has no connexion / 1 would only demur to
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Orthodoxy and Unbelief . frgf
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1832, page 781, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1824/page/61/
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