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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 .

• Citation
  • 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/