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tendency to reconcile ~ the two accounts of Matthew and John * ~ , , This appears very niuqh to , xiepend upon what the harbinger of Jesus intended when he said that he knew him not till he watf baptized . Here then it is to be
observed , that ; the terms to know or not to know a . person , in Jewish phraseology , were designed to express / not a mere knowledge or ignorance of the person , but the opinion of or testimony given to him . Of this Vou have various
instances in the Old and New Testament . Ps . i . 6 , " The Lord Jcnoweth the wayof the righteous , " plainly means , he approveth of their way ; will bear testimony to
it in judgment ; and is prepared to reward it . When Jesus was on trial for his life , the apostle Peter is fou . nd saying , " I know net the man" By this he could hot mean to assert that he knew
not the person or pretensions of Jesus ; for this knowledge , if he had npt possessed it before , he must have acquired at the trial ; and it was a knowledge which all present possessed . He plainly intended to assert that he had no
connexion with him ; was not of his followers ; that he neither had borne or would bear testimony to his . cause ; and in this denial his guilt consisted . Again , in our
Lord and Master's representation of the last judgment , the judge i * represented as saying to th < S wicked , " Verily I say unto you , I know you not . *'—Know them ^ nd their true character , he
as-3 ttredly must ; on no other ground > could he be - qualified to pass sentience on-them as workers of iniquity . Not to know them , therefare , was not to approve of them ;
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but that he . was under a necessity of condemning them . Again , in l . Thes . , v , 1 % 9 wUen the apostle advises them to know them who laboured among them , this £ annot apply to mere knowld ^ ge ^ for this would have been trifiuig with them ; but that they w ^ e to have them in just estimation , and if necessary , to bear testimony ; to them and to their cause . Thui he immediately addeU what mpr ^ fully explained his meaning , tnkt they were to esteem them very , highly in love for their . work ' s sake . - ' "
When , therefore , the Baptist asserts that he knew him not , may he not be considered as only meaning , that he had not given to Jesus any decisive or public per *
soual testimony ; and thus tlie two evangelists be fourul in agree ^ ment ? Will not thi f also agfee with the first preaching of John ? Thus he only announced that there
was one among them to whom he should bear testimony , as ^ greatly his superior , or as the Messiah ; and with evident propriety did not point him out personally until his baptism , when his publie ministry properly began . . Then it was that he said to two of his
disciples , " behold the Lamb of God $ " when they immediately left the baptist , whose ministrx was then concluding , and , followed Jesus , whose ministry was about to commence .
Hoping that the above , if not satisfactory , may lead to a more abl and full reply , and sincerely wishing every possible success te your useful Itepository , I am ; > Sir , . Yours , < 5 qc . 1 ^ . IK
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Testimony of John Baptist to Jesus . 151
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1808, page 151, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2390/page/31/
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