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not according to our works , but according to his own purpose and grace which was given in us in Christ , before the world began . " The apostle does not say that God had saved them and called them
in his purpose ; but according to his own purpose , and that grace was given to them , not in the purpose of God , but in Christ , before the world began . Ephes . i . 4 . 4 / According as he hath chosen us , " in his purpose , but unfortunately for Mr . Belbham ' s system , the passage expressly
says / " in Christ before the foundation of the world . " Now this is all very natural upon the supposition of the pre-existence of Jesus Christ , but appears to have no meaning without it . The promise of eternal life , is the
promise that God promised , ( not in purpose , for a promise in purpose has no meaning , but ) in Christ before the world began and in that promise eternal life was given to mankind in Jesus Christ .
Where there is a grant there must be a grantee , A grant may be made and an inheritance given to the future unborn posterity of a person , but such a grant necessarily supposes the existence of the person in and through whom
it is made . These passages then instead of furnishing any argument against the pre-existence of Jesus Christ , by . strong implication at least establish it . Ileb . x .
34 . c ' Knowing in yourselves that ye / tr / ve in heaven a better and enduring substance . " Here again it is not said that they had this in the purpose of God , but in heaven ; they had it , i . c , they had a . Vighj to-it , by the promise of Got ] , and it was reserved for them in heaven . A gilt by promise is
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a real gift , ( sec Gal . iii . 18 # ) whereas a gift in purpose is no gift at all . The last passage referred to , is Rom . viii . ^ 9 , 30 . It might be sufficient to say that
there is not a word in this passage about the purpose of God : in the preceding verse , the apostle says * Cf > all things work together for good to them that love God , to them who are the called , ( not in
but ) according to his purpose *" It would be strange then to suppose that in the very next words
he uses the term called , &c . in a
very different sense , without giving any intimation that he does so , especially as the words are an inference drawn from the preceeding vexse . The reasoning of the apostle in these verses makes it
necessary I conceive , to understand him as speaking of the calling , justification and glorification of the persons referred to , as real and not in the purpose of God . The mistaken idea that the word
glonfied refers to the future glorification of believers , and that the apostle , by ihe word predestinated , means a predestination to that glory from the beginning , is what I apprehend has led to a
false interpretation of the passage . Mr . Belsham ' s interpretation , would naturally lead us into the very depths of Calvinism , For , if the divine fore-knowledge has made a discrimination of certain
individuals trom eternity , ( and the phrase , L < m id horn he c ( id foreknow , " is the very language of discrimination ; had Mr . Jielsliam
sufficiently attended to this circumstance , I am persuaded he would have discovered a mean in *
in the apostle ' s words very different from that which he lias put upon them ) ; if I say the divine
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Mr . IMar-son ^ s Defence of the Pre-existen ce of Ch rist . Let . IV . 657
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4 .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1808, page 657, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2399/page/21/
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