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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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$ 84 Mr . Carpenter ' s Henmrks off Mr . t > etahams Strictures .. Let : III ,
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4 Pid the fn aker of all things visible < tnd invisible , that he refers to the 'Bpirityal creation , when he speaks of him hs the head of the church . Sly friend has , I think , -laid far too much stress on the silence of the three first evangelists , respecting the pre-existence or' Christ . ^ Negative arguments may be allowed in some cases to have considerable weight , but not when
they arc opposed by those which are of a positive kind . Whether these apostles were , fully acquainted with this doctrine , and if they were , why they did not declare their belief in it , may furnish matter for curious speculation , but ^ cannot weigh against the positive ? testimony of two other apostles ^ ¦ one of whom wrote avowedly to supply what they bad omiTted . JEusebius says that John in his -gospel begins with the divinity of -Christ , which bad been reserved Jby the Holy G ^ i ost for him as
the more excellent person . And Theodore says that when the other . gospels we ' re brought to John , he ^ expressed his approbation ofthem , Jbut said it was lit that the things * nlso concerning the divinity of Christ , should be recorded , and < he was induced to begin iin-medirfttely with the doctrine of Christ ^ ideity . But I am inclined to thiri-k that the three first evangelists were not altogether ignorant of the exalted nature of Christ , particular Jy from a passage in Mark xiii .
33 , where our Lord says , of that day and that hour knoxoeth no wan . no , nor the angels which jare in > heav # ny neither the Son , > hut the Father . This seems strongly to intimate , that Christ is superior to men and angels , , tmt inferior to the Father . I Jchow that the Athanasians en-
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deavour to reconcile this passage to then * system , by saying that though thrift did not know this in his human , yet lie did in his divine nature . But he declares that the Father alone knew it . In what manner Jhe Unitarians attempt to reconcile it to their ^ system I do not know . If those passages of scripture which my learned friend has represented as interpolations at mis-translations were reall y so * which I think is far from being
clear , there are still a sufficient number remaining to establish the doctrine in question . H ? e speaks of our Lord ' s figurative and enig -matical discourse in John iv . But he renders it much more eni gmatical ' ' than is necessary / by what appears to me a very strange interpretation of these words ? Docs this offend yoti ^ what if you should see the Son of man ascend up where he was before ? q * d . What if I should disclose to you troths -still more remote from your apprehension and more offensive
» a . to your prejudices . Independently of particular passages of scripture , which appear -to reveal this'doctriqc , there are two arguments of considerable weight , viz . that love to Christ is enforced . as an essential part of the Christian religion , and that he is appointed to be the judge of the world . I do not find that
Mr . B- has made any observation on the first of these , but to the second he has given the same answer which Dr . Priestley did , when I discoursed with him on the subject . He supposed that the judgment of the world by Christ was 4 o be understood in a fi gurative sense , and in favour of this opinion alkdged those passages .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1808, page 324, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2393/page/32/
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