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dieted it ? I think not- How then are we to account for the confidence with which our Lord and his apostles appeal to the Jewish Scriptures , as containing the doctrine of a tife to come ? The inspired penmen assuredly foretold the death and resurrection of the
Messiah ; they , therefore , foretold the proof , the pledge of a new life ; and when that proof # as substantiated , that pledge w $ s redeemed , they might be said to have foretold the event itself ,
Accordingly we do not read of a future state being foretold by Moses and the prophets , till their writings were illustrated by the death and resurrection of Jesus , The words of Josephus . are in unison with this notion . When , in his work against
Apion , he writes , that God has , given a mighty proof of a new and better existence , he premises that Moses foretold it : aad when in the disputed paragraph he asserts , that Jesus again appeared the third day alive , he adds , that the divine prophets predicted his
re-appearance . If this reasoning be just , all the objections to the genuineness of this passage fall like a dead weight to the ground . The trumpet of opposition ) which so loudly sounded against it throughout Europe , is at once hushed in eternal silence . The
Hebrew believers , or as they are generally called the Ebionites , rejected the miraculous birth and divinity of Jesus . Josephus , in principle , was one of these Ebionites , and he gives his testimony respecting Christ , in such a manner as to shew , that these doc- >
trines did not originate with him and his apostles . He asserts that he was a man , and hints at the falsehood of his divinity and supernatural birth , by holding forth Jesus -and his immediate followers as men incapable of teaching any doctrine that was not founded in truth . The clause , - 4 * if he
might be called a tnan , " means only that he was an extraordinarv man : and it has been observed , that he uses stronger terms of Moses , whom he represents aa raised above human by his , divine legation * . Had this
paragraph been really a f 6 rgery , the notion that J < su « was a divine being and supernaturaly bora , would have been boldly atid brrpadly atesearted in it ; and it appears truly surprising thaUhe exchiaion of these nations did
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not lead learned men to discover the truth * namely , that the passage was not a forgiery , because it contained sentiments contrary to those who are supposed to have forfgied it . ; The objections which have been made to the genuineness of this
paragraph , I shall state and refute in a future papery in the mean time , I only observe * that the passage being found authentic , is in many respects highly important . It unites the opposite qualities of brevity arid fulness . In a few sentences , 3 osephu » has
brought together the leading articles of feith contained in the four gospels , and asserts , tliem to be true . Jesus was a wise man , and the author of wonderful works . This same Jesus is the Christ * The rulers condemned , and Pilate sacrificed ivtro .
Nevertheless , his followers still adhered to him ; for he appeared to them alive again the third day ; the prophets having foretold this , and a thousand other things respecting him . In the
midst of his sufferings and disgrace , he draws to himself many Jews and many of the Gentiles : to those he taught the truth ; and the men who saw his \ Porks , heard his wotfds , and recorded them in the memoirs of his
public life , were such as took pleasure only in the truth . These great fattfr , thus explicitly attested by the Jewish historian , are the chief points on which the apostles insisted in preaching the gospel ; and they form the peculiar and essential doctrines of Christianity . JOHN JONES .
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Perpetuity of tha Lord's Suppe * . 3 $ ®
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Sir , MayAf ISIS . TH E wish I expressed [ p . 3 tfJt that the observance of the institution appointed to commemorate the death of the founder of our relfc
gion , should foren a continued part of the public service , has been misunderstood . My expression was , ** much do I wish the state of public opinion would allow , " &c . ; meaning , that the observance of the rite should extend sa
very widely , that ik » inconvenience could be felt , if it formed one continued part < rf the public service . This explanation , I trewt , satisfactorily removes * H objections that have bvet urged against my wish . With your permission , I would
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1818, page 359, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2477/page/15/
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