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the meaning of the words will be , ^ Touch me not , for I am not yet instructed in the jnind and will of God . I have not yet searched
into divine truth ; but go and say to my brethren 1 shall be instructed in the mind and will of God I shall search into divine truth . "
But does Mr . Belsham rest the whole proof of the phrase cc As * cend up where he was before " being figurative , qpon the inter ..
pretation those writers have given of a different phrase in chap . iii . 13 . ? No he alleges it must be figurative ^ because as he says * , " The whole of the discourse is
highly figurative . ' His words are , This then appears to me to be the true meaning of our Lord ' s enigmatical discourse ; and in the connexion in which the 62 nd verse is introduced it admits
of a sense perfectly consistent wiih our Lord ' s proper humanity : though when considered as a detached sentence , the . words seem to imply a pre-existent state in heaven . But the whole discourse
is highly Jigurative ; and if any argue from our Lord ' s expressions in it , that he literally descended from heaven , they ought , like the Jews to interpret literally the yre * ccpt to eat his flesh and drink his blood . " That is , \( a discourse
contain any thing in if : that is figurative , we ipqst conclude the whole to be so ; a position whictf if true , would render every discourse and all language mysteri - ous and unintelligible ; for whi > t discourse or what conversation
is therein , which there is not an intermixture of figurative and literal expression ?—But let us examine the fact whether u the
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whole" of this discourse be " highly figurative ? Our Lord says , v . 38 . J came down from heaven , not to 4 o mine own will , but the will of him that sent me /*
Is there any thing - " . enigmatical * ii > this ? Is the whole of it figurative ? Was the mission of Jesus enigmatical ? Did he not literally do the will of his father ? Is there
any thing enigmatical in the phrase il I came down from heaven ? * Why then should that phrase be supposed to be figurative , if what is 'immediately connected with it
be literal ? Mr r Belsham might , to be sure , explain the words , I , that is , my doctrine , came down from heaven , not to do its owi will , but the wijl of him that
sent it . " Or "I am come down from heaven , i . e . Iain invested with a divine commission , " to do mine own will , but the will , of him that sent me . * Is the
phras e , " I will raise him up at the last day , ' * which frequently occurs in this discourse , to bo understood figuratively ? Let the
reader consult the discourse itself , particularly , v . 39 , 40 , 44 , 45 , 46 47 , &c . and draw his own conclusion , respecting the truth of the assertion .
Mr . Delsliain says , that our Lord did not vouchsafe to correct the error of the Jews , " but * proceeds to tell them that hef meaning his doctrine , was the true bread from heaven , v . 35 ; " yet in direct contradiction to his own 1
explanationof the pronoun , he immediately adds , 44 The Jew $ being still at a loss to understand liis meaning , v . 41 . our Lord , without waiting to explain hinu , self , goes on to assure them ih (^ t
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Mr . Marsonis Defence of the Pre ~ cxistenceof Christ . Let . III . 553
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* M . Repos . Vol . ii . p . 547 . + Improved Version .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1808, page 553, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2397/page/29/
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