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srit Having proved , that neither our Saviour nor his coiempora- * lies had any idea , i ' rom I he use of the terms , son of God , born of God , only begotten of God ^ that Christ Mas either God or equal to God , I come now to the consideration
of some very important questions . Jst . Whether the cotemporaries of Christ had any idea , that he was God , or equal with God . 2 dly , Whether they accused him of pretending to be God , or equal with God in your sense of the words , namely , a pre-existing being coeval with , and also the first
cause of all tilings . 3 dly , Whether Christ did at any time assert , that he was God , or equal , in your sense of the words . 4 thly , Whether he did not positively declare his inferiority to and dependence on God .
That the cotemporaries of Christ had no such ideas is evident : because his friends never express it , and so far from thinking him to he God , were in doubrs after his death , whether he was the Messiah . That his enemies had no
sitch idea is still clearer , fur » ve cannot suppose them to be so blinded with passion , as to contend against omnipotence . That no such idea could possibly enter into ( he minds of either
party , we have the strongest reason to believe , because they were Jealously attached to a law , which in every page asserts the unity of God , and the impossibility of his shape being seen by man . Whenever any message was conveyed to men frouv the Supreme Being , it
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was either given to them personally by angels , or messengers of God , or in a vision , or in conversation , when the voice of God was heard out of a glorious cloud , but no shape was seen , nor could the mind of man conceive it . With
such ideas of God , was it possible for the Jews , who saw our Saviour , dressed like a common man , and performing similar miracles to those of their ancient prophets , to conceive him to be God . I
do not scruple to say , that it was impossible , and consequently , that there is no one passage in scri ptii-re ^ in which a cotemporary of Jesus asserts , that he was God . That the cotemporaries of Jesus might accuse him of the most flagitious crimes according to their
law is not improbable ; because history assures us , that many of them were filled with an implacable hatred against him . But it is very unlikely , that this charge should be seriously brought against him : because , if proved , it would have answered no other
end , than to confine him as a madman . The unfortunate woman , who claimed a right to the throne of England , would , if shg had been in her senses , properly have been condemned to death ; but no one is so absurd as to think
her a proper object of such a sen - tence in her present situation . So if Jesus had declared himself to be God , it must have been treated by his cotemporaries , as such an
extremity of folly , that , instead of crucifying him , they would have'confined him in some place of security . We- learn however ,
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BETTERS TO 21 IR . ( NOW BISHOP ) BURGESS , OX THE TESTIMONY ; OF THE JEWS TO TI 1 E PERSON OF CHRIST * LETTER VI .
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( 489 )
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vo l- iji . 3 t
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1808, page 489, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2396/page/33/
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