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' P * S « The vicar of a parish in Wales once told me , that he had for years left off reading the Athanasian Creed , and that not one of the parishioners had complained of the omission , except his clerk Philip , who , when
tipsy , was sure to mention it ! This orthodox son of the church had , it seems , a zeal on the occasion , the ardour of which rose or fell like quicksilver in t he barometer , being the exact measurement of his inebriety . An absurd and uncharitable Creed , always
a burden to the enlightened and virtuous conscience , and sometimes the idol of a besotted profligacy , is most assuredly no recommendation to any religious establishment upon earth . Let the Bench of Bishops remedy the
crying evil , which hath been denounced by a Tjllotson , a Watson and a Jebb , actuated as they were by the hallowed motive of advancing the glory of the one only true and living God , and of subserving the present and eternal welfare of mankind *
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there were many gods , and that those gods often appear among men , as soon as they became convinced of the miracles of Jesus , concluded that he was a God * His enemies the more readily embraced this notion , as it enabled them to account for his miracles without
embracing his gospel . Tiberius , there * fore , as soon as he became assured of the divine works done by our Lord , must have drawn the same conclusion . But how did be become acquainted with those works ? -
It has been answered , " from the acts of Pilate . * ' This governor well knew that his sovereign would soon hear of the works and condemnation of Jesus . In common prudence , 'therefore , he would not ueelect to transmit
an authentic narrative of events , in which the name and power of Caesar were deeply involved : ; - It was , besides , his imperious duty to do this , and at his peril he would not omit it . These acts existed in the archives of
Rome ; and Justin Martyr * addressing the then emperor and senate , confidently appeals to them as existing therein hisda > s . If this answer be not satisfactory , everv doubt must be removed by Joseph us , whose history supplies the astonkhiiig fact , that the
gospel , as the philosophy of Moses and the prophets , was preached iu Rome , made known to all and received by multitudes even before the death of . Tibet-ius But if this emperor proposed the deification of Jesus , he must have been prompted to do so
by some pretended friends of Jesus . And here 1 am led to another passage . In one of the dialogues of Plutarch , it is asserted , that "Thaumas , an Egyptian-pilot , ' lately come from Egypt , brought witlr him a report , heard at the Psilodes , that the great Pan was dead /* " -This report , " adds Plutarch .
•* spread throughout Rome , sq that Tiberius ' sent for ' Thau ma * , and asked of him who this Pan might be : and he made other inquiries respecting him * But the philologers , who were very . ; numerous about the emperor * represented this Pan as the son of Mercury and ; Penelope . ** See Lardner , VII . p .
247-I he Pharisees would willingly believe that Jesus had Beelzebub dwelling in him . The Egyptians might think him to be Osiris ; and this accounts for the extraordinary fact stated
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540 Dr . Jones on the Deification of Jesus Christ At Rome , tfc .
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Dr . Jones on the Deification jj > f Jesus Christ at Rome , and the Conduct of Josephns 9 with regard to the Authors of that Doctrine .
THE following passage is taken from Tertuliian , Apolog . C . vi . see Lardner , VII . p . 243 : "Tiberius , in whose reign the Christian name appeared in the world , having received from Palestine , in Syria , an account of the works which revealed and
verified the divinity of Jesus , proposed him to the senate , with the privilege of his own vote in favour of his deification . The senate , because he had refused that honour , rejected the proposal . Caesar remained of the same opinion , and threatened to punish the accusers of the Christians . " ,
If it were allowed that Tiberius had received from Pilate , in Palestine , an authentic account ^ of Jesus , is it likely that the emperor , who was known to have been indolent , dilatory and indifferent even tottheaffaire of
his own empire , should be hence induced to honour , as a God , one .-whom in the person of his representative he had crucified as a slave and a malefactor . ? If this be very improbable , it follows , that Tertuliian has averted what is not true , or has not asserted the whole truth respecting it . The Heathens , who believed that
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1818, page 540, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2480/page/4/
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