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Untitled Article
forget doctrines by which they were perpetually influenced , or precepts by which they were continually reguiatjng their conduct ?
Such a supposition is surely as Unreasonable as any one of the « c six important points of doctrine" objected to by '" a churchman . " But its unreasonableness
may perhaps , in his estimation , be no argument against its truth * Though Unitarians reject the idea of plenary inspiration , it seems no way inconsistent with the tenor of their creed to
admit the doctrine of a divine influence on the minds of the primitive believers so far as might be necessary to qualify them for the employment to which they were called . They acknowledge the
faunder of their religion to have been perpetually under such an influence during the course of his ministry ; why then might it not Ijc extended in an inferior degree to his immediate followers , when
their labours and sufferings were to be similar to his , and their re * Iigion was still in its infancy ? Besides , did he not assure them that after they were deprived of
his society , " when the comfoiter v ; as come , whom the Father would send in his name , he should teach them all things ftfid . bring all things to their remembrance
whatsoever he had said unto them *?" Conceding then , that none of the discourses of Christ were committed to writing for a considerable time alter they were
delivered by him , might they not be recollected and reported with sufficient u precision and accuracy' * by men in such circum-£ tauces , with such advantages , I . . r-? John * i v . % 6 » |
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and so zealously bent on executing their commission ? But it is extremely probable either that the discourses of Jesus or at least the substance of them
were committed to writing , at a very early period . We are informed by Luke that Cc many had taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which were most surely believed
among them-fV Still it , might be asked at what time and by whom , were these discourses penned ? Here we presume our opponents will triumph . But though we know neither whan nor by
whom they were recorded , it must * we think , indisputably have been either by enthusiasts who were themselves deluded , or by ini - postors who were interested in deceiving others ; or it must be
admitted that what they wrote was true , at least if what has just been urged in favour of their competency for that otesign bo just . If the writings bo consistent with enthusiasm , folly or de ^
rangement , to that let their ori - gin be ascribed . If the professors of Christianity , either at its com * mencement , or at any subsequent period when these books could possibly have been composed , were in circumstances which rendered
it in the least degree probable that they wished to impose upon others , let the books be considered as ^ the offspring of fraud . But
if neither of these suppositions be ad missible then , though we may not be in possession of all the information respecting the histo - rians of these transactions that we
might desire , surely we have abundant reason to believe in the Luke I * x »
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Mn Allchhts Answer to tht Churchman * 423
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1808, page 423, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2395/page/23/
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