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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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nt $ person was the living bread /' Arc then the doctrine and person of Jesus Christ the same thing ?—Mr . Belsham then finds out another meaning of the figurative expression under consideration , not at all consistent with that he had
before given ; his words are * , •* Does this offend you ? What if you should see the son of man ascend up where he was before : q . d . What if I should disclose to tjou truths still more remote from your apprekensiony and more offensive to your prejudices f 1 f He } iad before said that the phrase
signifies , C 4 To be instructed in the mind and will of God , to search into divine truths * These ex * pjanations are very different in their meaning ; both therefore cannot be true ; which of them
then does Mr . Belsham mean to abide by ? " It is too much , ( to use his own language f 5 ) for him to insist upon having both strings to his bow , " It would be natural to ask , what analogy is there between the
supposed figurative language of the fcext , and the explanation given of it by Mr . Belsham ? Can the words , . " Ascend up where he was before , " by any fair con * struction , by any sound criticism be made to mean , " Instructed
• in the mind and will of God , " or * ' tc search into divine truth ? " ' T > o they naturally or necessarijy suggest any such idea ? Is such tjin interpretation of them warranted by any thing contained in the sacred writings ? Certainl y ' not . From whence then could
such an interpretation . have arisen , but from a strong prejudice in favour of a system , to the support p { which it was necessary , first ? M . Repos . Vol . ji , p . 547-
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to suppose the w 6 rds to he figuj rativ 6 , and then to affix a mean , ing to them which should be fa * vourable" to that syst 6 in ? A very able critic , and I believe , equally an opposer of the pre-existence of Jestrs Christ with Mr . Belsham , the Rev . Mr .
Sirhpson , of Bath , gives this passage a very different meaning from that which I have been examining . He supposes an ellipsis at the end of the 62 nd verse , and gives the following rendering of the words t ,
" Doth this offend you ? Nevertheless , when ye shall see the soil of man rise up where he was beforej ye will know that he is the spirit that giveth life . The flesh
profitcth nothing , &c . " And he understands the words , not with Mr . Belsham as meaning an ascension up into heaven in a figurative sense , but literally of a rising up from the dead .
But much as I approve of the translation of Mr . Simpson ii > general , and of the manner in which he has filled up the ellipsis in the end of the 6 $ nd verse , yet 1 think that he has not given the
true rendering of the word ai / otScuvw , which cannot properly be rendered < 6 to rise up / ' and that the phrase here made use of is extremely unnatural as applied to a resurrection from the dead ,
in reference to which the word avctSoLiyw i I believe is never used , and especially as connected with the words , " Where } ie was be * fore / ' The word properly sig
nifios tq ascend , or go up . I his 1 believe will hardly be disputed ? nor will any one of the authorities referred to by Mr . Simpson justify his rendering . f p . 548 . I Eieayt , p . 439-
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554 Mr . Marsom ' s Defence of the Pre-existence of Christ . Let . III .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1808, page 554, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2397/page/30/
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