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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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Untitled Article
* Jestte , as we have se&nf * thtftfght fit to ? naffer this defleisioii to continue . He tfcere * fotfe offered ii& disappointment to the cherished hopes of the Jewish people , atfd , edhsequeDtty * created no obstruction to the increase of his proselytes , Neither , &fter his death , were those hopes extinguished ; the expectation of the
approaching reign off Christ and his saints on earth , continued for many ages to encourage attd animate his disciples ! ' ( p . 44 . ) The drily colour df an excuse for assertions so contrary to the declarations of the New Testariietit histdry is found in an ' brthodox * authority , quoted , p . 39 , from Dr . Pye Sriiith , —S These erroneous opinions Jesus did not think fit to correct , till after his resurrection and ascension ! ' But if our fetrthof had trusted
more to his tfwn reading of the Scriptures , than to the eorftments of grave divides , ' he might have found good reason to acquit Jesus of duplicity , and to attribute the errdneous notions of his disciples and the people * not to his want df sincerity , but to their pertinacity of prejudice .
But , to say no more oii its consistency with fact , how does this part of our author's theory agree with itself ? Jesus , it is alleged , had ntft In the first itfststnce the conviction tha ; t he was the Messiah ; when he had ( hbw he gained it is fiot said ) , he did not avow it s riot did the people in gettef&f afidfcrst&nd that he claitned the character ; bui still he tdtrk particular pains not to correct the
notion df a worldly kingddm , lest he should prejudice his cmn . clairfl& . lie would uot correct the prevailing notions respecting an office which he wished td be regarded as filling , yet he did not grati fy * in fitct ,- the prejudices ? which he would not cbnfront in word ; arid all the time he carefully avoided claiming the office respecting which he was s 0 desirotts td conciliate popular Opinion" j iior was he , in fact , generally regarded as
claiming it ; nor had he at first s perhaps not at any time , the conviction that he was the person in question ! How such & prticeeditig # as td gain him popularity , I confess I earinot understand * Hovt to apply the philosophy df human actions and motive * to such a sketch of his supposed pretensions , I cannot imagine . The writer ha& at least disprdved his own point , which was , that our Lord ' s * mode of bringing forward his pretensions did
not obstruct his attaching to hitflself personal followers , nor gaining disciples among thg natiori At large . ' ( p . 37 . J He is proved in dflef place to have brought forward no pretensibns at all ; but still , in our author ' s general argument , it is taken for granted that he claimed to be the ? Messiah 5 ttnd the attertipt is itiade to
show that he conciliated instead of opposing the prevailing views * What ! did he , then , really atteffl f > t &h eferthly eovereigiity P Did he put on a cfdWtl When the people would have * mkde him king P Did he head fl rtevolt % « hist the Rdtallh govfefttntent in JudeaP Did he prdttiise , if hi * could ndt ftilfil * the t « fttdr « timi of the king- * aotai tb Israel ? Ha toust hat ** dditfe ttU this , td tohciliate the
Untitled Article
786 Orthodoxy and Unbelief .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1832, page 786, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1824/page/66/
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