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present usage , refers rather to the style than to the contents of a book . The word clearness or plainness would better hare expressed tht sense of the Catechists . The following passage is excellent : " By what means may the more obscure passages of Scripture be understood ?
f By carefully ascertaining , in the first instance , the scope , and other circumstances , of those passages , in the way which ought to be pursued in the interpretation of the language of all other written compositions . Secondly , by an attentive comparison of them with similar phrases and . sentences of less ambiguous
meaning . Thirdly , by submitting our interpretation of the more obscure passages to the test of the doctrines which are most clearly inculcated in the Scriptures , as to certain first principles ; and admitting nothing that disagrees with these . And lastly , by rejecting eVery interpretation which is repugnant to right reason , or involves a contradiction . "P . 18 .
In answer to the question , S . iv . Ch . i ., " Was , then , the Lord Jesus a mere or common man ? ' the compilers state the proper Socinian doctrine with regard to Chri 3 t , as follows : " By no means : because , first , though
by nature he was a man , he was nevertheless , at the same time , and even from his earliest origin , the only-begotten Son of God . For , being conceived of the Holy Spirit , and born of a virgin , without the intervention of any human being , he had properly no father besides God : though considered in another light , simply according to the flesh , without respect to the Holy Spirit , of which he was
conceived , and with which he was anointed , he had David for his father , and was therefore his son . Concerning his supernatural conception , the angel thus speaks to Mary , Luke i . ' 35 : < The Holy Ghos ^ shall come upon thee , and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of
God . * Secondly , because , as Christ testifies of himself , he was sanctified and sent into the world by the Father ; that is , being in a most remarkable manner separated tfrom all other m $ p 9 and , besides being distinguished by the perfect holiness
of his life , endued with divine wisdom and { jpwer , was sent by the ^ Father , with fliiprenite authority , on an embassy to mankind . Thirdly ^ because , as the Apostle Paul testifies , both in the Acts of the Apostles , and in his Epistle to the Ro-
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mans , he w £ s raised from the dead by God , and thus as it were begotten a second time ;—r-particularly as by this event he became like . God , immortal . Fourthly , because by his dominion and supreme authority over all things , he is made to resemble , or , indeed , to equal God : on which account , < a king anointed €
by God / and Son of God / are used in several passages of Scripture as phrases of the same import . And the sacred author of the Epistle to the Hebrews ( chap . i . ver . 5 ) shews from the words of the Psalmist , ( Psalm it 79 ) : ' Thou art my Son , this day i ha ^ % egotten thee , ' that Christ was glorified by God , in order that he might be made a * Priest , that is , the chief director of our religion and
salvation , —in which pmce are comprised his supreme authority and dominion . He was , however , not merely the only-begotten Son of God , but also a God , on account of the divine power and authority which he displayed even while he was yet mortal : much more may he be so denominated now that he has received
all power in heaven and earth , and that all things , God himaelf alone excepted , have been put under his feet . "—Pp . 52—55 . On that part of this answer which relates to the sonship of Christ , the Translator has this judicious note :
" The title Son of God is understood by most English Unitarians of the present day to denote generally , any person who is the object of the Divine favour , and distinguished by peculiar religious blessings or privileges ; and is thought to have been emphatically applied to Jesus on account of the office he sustained as
the Messiah , or Christ . It is not considered as implying any superiority of nature ; or as necessarily supposing , agreeably to the opinion maintained in the above answer , that he was supernaturally conceived , or that he was invested after his resurrection with universal
authority and dominion . Unitarians do not regard the doctrine of the miraculous conception as at all militating against their opinion of the proper humanity of Jesus : for the case might be deemed analogous to that of Adam , whom no one ever thought to be . more than man becausfc , he was formed out of the ordinary course of generation . j Thfo doCtnae , however , tfrojigh , fovpa ^^ fceld * y ^ 7 £ ' Lardner , and sora ( e pt ^ t /^ m ^ V ' a n rians , seems ; » ow to fee rej ^ ted » y \*» the public advocates ty'j ^ ' * & **>* unsupported by adequate s 0 riiturpl * W < " rity . It is taught fn » o ;* # W Vott ^ f the received copies of the New Tejtament , besides the Introductory chapters
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170 Review *—Dr . 7 \ Rees s Racovtan Catechism .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1820, page 170, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2486/page/42/
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