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    ifeat however new , or even impjobable , at fir si sight , many of th p results may have ap ] 3 feared 5 and llttlef attention as some of them iJl&y Wtherto have excited , even f

    ftf&ong thq most enlightened and liberal , partly from the retired life of the writer , who mixed little with the world , and whose talents aqd character could not therefore be duly appreciated , that they were always the result of the most

    diligent and careful examination , juhJ that of a pious , calm , unprejudiced mind , whose sole aim was to elicit truth , and not to throw out at random any crude and unknow

    dyj ^ stpd opinion * I indeed t ^ t there are characte rs of the v § ry first order for talents , for moral excellence , and for every Christian virtue , who regard it as their duty to publish immediately , unmindful of consequences ,

    whatever may at any tirne occur to their mindsas ^ subject of useful inquiry , and that such was the late very eminent P < r . Priestley . The great object was in both the same , although the mode of pursuing it

    diflaerecj so widely ; which of the two methods will eventually be most effectual in overcoming the reign of prejudice and long established error , let otJbsre judge ; both no doubt will have their di& ~

    tinguished use in the counsels and final results of that infinite wisdom , which , in one immense purvey , sees the end from the beginning , and which , for reasons to us inscrutable , has permitted the corruption of divine truth , and suffered darkness for a season to

    overshadow the nations . But to return from this digres - sion * On a second and ] a&t , and perhaps & more careful examine * . lion tfwugb be always retained

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    his conviction of the authenticity of this * cba ^ ess , Mr , Cappe changed his opinion respecting the doctrine . He thought that taking into our accouht , ^ and

    allowing their due weight , to the peculiar ideas , customs and phraseology of the Jews , the narrative would allow of being so explained , as to admit of a solution in which nothing miraculous appeared , except tbe meai > s em #

    ployed to calm the mind of Joseph , ; to remove the suspicions of hi « supposed wife's fidelity , and to assure him that the child about to be born was his own $ onf Upon what principles he was led to this conclusion , as they are

    grounded upon a critical investi - gation pf the original terms employed by the historian , I do not feel myself competent fully to explain ; yet it may not be pselesg or unacceptable to transcribe his

    remarks ypon the scripture meaping of tbe term " Holy S ^^ rit /' the misunderstanding of which , in Mr . Cappe r s apprehension ^ , has beten the principal foundation of the opinion usually maintained respecting this passage *

    " The terms Holy Spirit , and other similar terms * are pfteii used in scripture to signif y ^ 4 < 1 . Something mote tfean conamon , even though it be not supernatural , e . g . Gen . xii . 38 » Exod . xxxn 3 . xxxv . 31 - & £ .

    Numbers x . % vii . 18 . 1 Sam . x , 6 m compare with it verse 7 at the end ; x . 10 . xi . 6 , xix . 20 , % & . 1 ChroDr xii . 18 * Dan . iv . 8 , 18 * v , 11—14 ^ vi . 3 . per haps al ^ o Judges iii , 10 . vi . 34 . xiii . 35 . xiv ^ perhaps « , lso Micab iii , 8 . Six this use of the term | here h

    # Qtbin # fpreign tp tji ^ g ^ niu ^ of th . e Hebrew iai ^ U ^ ge , &k wWpfc f ^ V ^ 1 - * - ¦

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    38 Jkfr . Cappe on the Miraculous Birth of Chris t *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1813, page 38, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2424/page/38/