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Mr . Belsham s Reply to the Rev . H . Horstey . — -Letter V . Essex House , July 3 , 1813 , . Sir , The edifying particulars of the orthodox Hebrew church at ^ Elia ,
which the bibhop says that he did copy , and the prebendary says that he did not copy , or at least that it was without his knowledge if the bishop did copy it , from that " very common book" of Mosheim ' s , the J-Jistx > ry of the
Affairs of the Christians antece - dent to the Reign of Constantine , not being very satisfactorily tsta . blished by the authorities to which ]\ Iosheim re / ers , it became necessary to look out for other proof . The learned prelate , therefore , professedly to avoid the
imputation of " relating upon Mosheim s autboiity what Mosheim related upon none /' began himself in good earnest to dig into the mine of Christian antiquity ; and passing slightly over the testimony of Kpiphanius as what he well knew would not bcar ^ trict examination ,
and waving the testimony of Oroaius , as . coming too late to be of much consideration , and not altogether suiting his purpose , he fixes upon a passage in Jerome , a learned and celebrated
ecclesiastical writer at the end of the fourth century , which he gravely produces as his palmary argument to establish the circumstances alleged by Mosheim and himself , concerning the origin of Ibis farfamed orthodox Hebrew
metropolitan church . „? ' St . Jerome , " « says the bishop ^ Remarks , Part ii . sect . 8 . ) " in his Commentary upon Isaiah , Telates two different expositions of the prophecy concerning Zabulon and Naphthal ) , delivered in the
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beginning of the ninth chapter ; of which expositions he ascribes the one to the Hebrews believing in Christ , the other to the Nazarenes . The character given of these Hebrews , that they believed in Christ , without any thing to distinguish their belief from the common belief of the church , without an 3 * note of error or imperfection , is a plain character of
complete orthodoxy ; for it was neither the disposition of St . Jerome , nor the fashion of his age to miss any opportunity of proclaiming the vices of those who were deemed heretics . " To a plain reader not familiar with logical subtilties , nor deeply reaxl in ecclesiastical lore , it would not be ve ^ y easy to trace out the history of the church at -flilia from these few words of Jerome , but the bishop , who was a master of the dialectic art , and by no , means deficient in the useful talent of
helping out a broken story , has cleared up the account to the entire satisfaction of all who are willing to yield implicit credit to episcopal authority . And as . his
argument lies in narrow compass , and is worthy of being repprticd as a curious specimen of what learning and logic united are able to accomplish , the several steps of his demonstration shall be set
down in hisowri words , ( s ^ e Tracts , p . 405 ) . He begins with a few necessary postulates , 44 1 take for granted these things /' 1 . " A church of Hebrew Christians adhering to the , observance of the Mosia > c . law , subsisted for
a time at Jerusalem , and fpr some time at Pella , from the beginning of Christianity until the final dispersion of the Jews by Adriau /*
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450 Mr . Belsham s Reply to the Rev . H . Horslcy * V
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1813, page 450, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2430/page/26/
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