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suppose it any diminution of his character , that he should not have a knowledge of the human frame and its diseases , superior to the men of his own country and
r " Certainly , this would rid us of much perplexity in interpret , ing his very particular language , concerning the power of evil spirits over the human body which is such as if he imagined that there
was something real in it ; and would free his unspotted name from every charge of dissembling the truth , of saying one thing , and believing another , and of countenancing riotkms which he knew to be without foundation / ' Then
with a modesty , becoming one , who determined to continue his inquiries as long as he could , and never wished his mere ipse dixit to be regarded as a decisive proof of the truth of what he advanced , yet without betraying a suspicion that he had been led to an
erroneous conclusion respecting the subject before us , he closes with this candid advice . — i ( but of this matter everyone will judge for him , self . ' v . i . p . 49 % 500 .
4 . As my scheme supposes Jesus to have held notions concerning the devil and daemons similar to those of his countrymen in his days , I may be asked to account
for his having been permitted to hold them , if they were erroneous , as several very pious and learned writers have undertaken to prove them to be , both from reason and
scripture . I beg leave to submit the Following observations to the considera * tion of every calm and impartial reader , who might feel himself disposed to put such a question to me , —1 . By whatever means
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our Lord conceived the devil to tempt him , the gospel narratives clearly represent Christ to have known him . —2 . If Christ knew who his tempter was , he did or did not think him possessed of the
power he claimed . —3 , If he did not think him possessed of such power , one of the proposals made to him could not be a temptation , contrary to the assertion of scrip ., ture . —4 . If he did think him possessed of such power , how came he to think so ? Was it in conse .
quence of the davil being repn . saited to him in visioti by God as possessing it , according to Mr . H . Farmer f Or was it in consequence of his having formed and
entertained such an idea before ?—5 . If it were in consequence of the devil being represented as having such power , when all the while he had it not , was not Jesus led into an
error by the author of such representation ? But , if so , have we any proof , that he was afterwards brought out of it a § ain ? Is there not rather evidence , arising from language used by him on several important occasions , that be was
not t If the error vverejirst produced , and no means afterwards employed , by the author of the representation , I must Own a very disagreeable impression would be left upon my mind , were I con . vinced that , such was the fact .
But if the error ( supposing it to be one ) were occasioned by notions early imbibed from education , from intercourse with persons ; among whom they generally prevailed , there might be no more reason why it should be corrected by supernatural means , than why an error respecting a subject oi purely human science should be so corrected , untess to correct \ t
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46 * 4 On the Temptation of Christ . — Letter V .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1811, page 464, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2419/page/16/
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