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25 % On the Testimony of the Jews to t ? ie Person of Christ Let . 4 ,
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We have onl y to examine what tt sense they put on their own words ; and in what they all agree we can have no objection to acquiesce .
It is certain , from the histories of these times , that the Jews \ vcre at the coming of Christ , in expectation of some great person , supposed to be marked out in their ancient prophecies , to deliver Israel from the yoke under
which they groaned , and to render them a groat and flourishing people . It does not appear , that they had any idea , of God coming down from heaven , and fhveUifjg among them , ( a usual fable of the heathens , ) in a human form . We shall understand
easily what ideas they had of this person , by considering the language , previous to his coming and after it , of those who spoke of the Messiah to come , and those who declared or denied Jesus to be that Messiah .
Certain Magi came to Jerusalem , to inquire after him , who was born king of the Jews . Herod not much pleased with this new competitor , and by this term understanding the Christ , who was then so much expected , sent to the priests to learn the place where Christ was to be born .
They answer , that the governor of Israel should be born at Bethlehem . Herod hearing this , sent soldiers to destroy the now-born infant . I do not stop now to enter into the merit ' s of this
history , whether it is to be ranked among the pious legends , of which Christians have , in all ages , been remarkably fond ^ or to be esteemed of equal authority , with the rest of the evangelical writings , Xhe only use I mean to make of
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it is this ; that , if it is a . true history , it shews trs , that the people of Jerusalem expected a king , or governor , and that Herod had no idea of an infant God , or he would not have sent to murder him . If it is a forged history , it is certainly very ancient ; and the writer would naturally adopt the language of the times : and the same conclusion is to be
drawn from it . Zacharias , Simeon , Anna , allude only to a great deliverer , the redeemer of the Jews . And they do
not seem to have had any idea of his being different from his fellow creatures , except in the dignity of his character . That the Jews had no idea of their Messiah differing in nature from other men , is clear from the doubts they entertained respecting John . For when John had performed no miracles to
distinguish himself , and preached only repentance , many thought him the Christ , and a committee of priests and levites was sent to find out his character . John
himself pointed out Jesus to the Jews , as a man among them mightier than himself , who was the lamb of God , the beloved sou of the Father ,
The titles , indiscriminately used by all parties , when speaking of Christ , are these : the Christ -the son of David , the king of the Jews , the king of Israel , the chosen of God , the son of God , the son of the most high God , the son of the Rlessed . There was
no difficulty in our Saviour ' s time , in the meaning of inese terms : the contest was to whom they should be applied : and , as it is evident that no one could understand the former part of these
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1808, page 258, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2392/page/30/
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