On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
tnon hypothesis , do equally affect that advanced in the inquiry . " He then proceeds , The reasonings here referred to are levelled against the supposition , so commonly made by the advocates of the literal interpretation , that the devil having assumed a human form r and transported Christ through the &V to the top of the temple—Christ could not but
easily discern , that a compliance with his proposal of throwing himself down thence might issue in his dishonour , and thus destroy the credit of the miracle , by which he was to Aave established
his divine mission ; since the devil , who had in a miraculous manner pl&cdd him there , might do the same thing without receiving an injury , ( p ., 179 ) From what follows , Mr . F . seems to think , that as he had not asserted in the
Inquiry that the representative figure of the apostate angel was a human form his reasoning to . prove that the second temptation was none upon the coranion
hypothesis could not be turned against his , but for no other reason , that I can . pcrcei ve ^ than that Christ might not easily discern , that the devil under a different
form , or under the form in which he was exhibited in the vision , could not have thrown himself down from the temple ( I suppose he meant visibly to the people , ox
else the remark c *> uld be nothing to his purpose ) so as to have de » stroyed the credit of our Lord ' s Jtniracle by performing an equal one himself . But it matters not
under what form the devil was presented to liis imagination , provided it was one which was visible to him , as Mr . F . every where -evidently supposes 3 &ince in that
Untitled Article
• form he must have admitted , that our Lord could not but easily dis ~ c rq , thae , had the devil descended with , or immediately after him , he would have been as visible to tlie people below as he was to himself , and that the consequence would have been the same as it would have been , had the form been human . Thus , whatever might he . the form ,, under which .
tlxe devil was exhibited to the imagination of Christ , as it must have been a visible one , he could not but have conceived at the time , that it was equally visible to others , ( unless he had been
expressly assured to the contrary , ) and so have seen reason fi > r apprehending , that the object of his own descent might . have been frustrated , and . therefore have
felt no more inducement to comply with the proposal in the second temptation on Mr . F ' s . hym pothesis than on the common one—that is , none at all . With reference to the third temptation Mr . F . observes , that the offer of all the kingdoms of the
world to Christ , by the devil in person could be no temptation , since he knew the devil to hv incapable of making the offer good . With reference to the same temptation , and by way of objection to Mr . F ' s . hypothesis , it had been asked , iC What difference with regard to Christ , could it make , whether he had a real sight of the devil , or a visionary 1 epresentation of him when he made this offer ? " p- 181 / To set aside this objection , Mr . F . argues in the following
manner : u those who rely on this objection , seem to me not to attend to the wide difference , which there is between judging
Untitled Article
Ejections to Mr . T&rmer * * Hypothesis . —Letter 12 . 75
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1810, page 75, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2401/page/27/
-