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Untitled Article
every Christian is bound to . reject the modern notion of his equality with the Supreme Being . To Christ ' s words you have
made the appeal , and by them I sjtm equally willing with yourself to be tried . And 1 agree further with you , that this appeal has ijumy advantages over the common mode of carrying on the controversy on the nature of Christ . For whilst the advocates of either
opinion are referring at one time to prophecies , liable to be misunderstood ; to inferences from the writings of the apostles , not always prgperly made ; to opinions
of early ages , in which the learned certainly do not agree , the attention of Christians is carried away from the main point , and in the conflict of such ar variety of sentiments they are led to conceive
that the subject is involved in infinite obscurity and perplexity . By confining ourselves to the words of Christ , we have the advantage of the highest authority to which recourse i » ay be made . And this , if any thing could be added to such an advantage , would appear still greater , t > y considering that the opinion deduced from Christ himself , will be a clue to
unravel every difficulty occurring in the apostolical writings . We are sure that -the apostles would not contradict their master ; aiid if in any place there is an apparent contradiction , it must be owing to our ow * n imperfections , mot to theirs ; and we are not to
attempt the . correction of it , by perverting the words of Christ to th 6 sense we have given those of
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his apostles , but shew the consist te-ncy of their Wjords with , £ tios& > of their master . In-short , fey atv appeal to Christ , we placd the suns f
in the centre of the sjtsietn , vQfm whence every apparent ijcregularityj may be solved ; . by references to ; any other testiianony ^ we are liable ^ as the philosophers of old to introduce cycle upoti » cycle andinextri- * cable confusion .
The title of your discourse would have been complete , in . my ; op i- * nion , if it had been simply , The divinity of Christ , proved from
his own declarations / ' but as you have chosen to add , c * attested and interpreted by his living witnesses the Jews , ^ * I aril-by no means unwitting to consider their
attestation and interpretation . At the sanie time , 1 ^ must beg leave to insist again on wfi&t has a ^ eady been advanced * ,, najnejt }^ tixp t the words of Christ are the fundamental points of : our * f&ith ; and when We understand them
thoroughly , it is of no consequence whether they were or were not misinterpreted by the Jews . In the following letters f shall cbnsiiier these two points , and I , request of you to examine them with an attention suitable to the importance of the subjects Wherever the truth lies , let us embrace it ; and be assured that / whether : you are mistaken oh this ^ oi nt or not , I have the greatest rfespefctf for your abilities , kn < i shall be > happy in an opportunity of testifying it . I remain , Sir , &C *
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80 On tTie Testimony of * the Je \ vs to . the Person of , Ckri&t *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1808, page 80, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2389/page/24/
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