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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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b avg predicted , 1700 years before , so circumstantially the corruptions wlmh would take place , which the concurring testimony of history confirms , and which we gee completing to this very day ; thereby proving that it must be
from God * tod % part of thai very plan for which in his wisdom he hath provided . And , secondly , that it is a satisfactory proof that the books in which these prophecies are found , must be authentic * And although these cor ruptions may , \ q , Our limited view , appear an imperfection , yet the same testimony of prophecy assures Us , that
they will be done away , that pure Christianity will ultimately prevail , and that all will be finally glorious and happy . Numerous are the prophecies in the Old Testament relating to the mission of Jesus which have been completedbut there is one in particular so striking that I must refer to it . It is well known that the Jews were * most
careful ia the preservation of their Scri p * tures , and that the books of Moses must have been written many ages before the birth of Christ . Now Moses , ia an address to the people , ( Deut . xviii . 15 , ) tells them , " The Lord your God will raise up unto you from your
brethren , a Prophet like unto me ; to him ye shall barken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you / ' Such an impression had this prophecy made upon the Jews , that it appears from their history that there was a general expectation of the coming of this Prophet about the time of the birth of
Jesus ; now from the time of Moses to the ministry of Jesus ,, there , had been no other prophet like unto him ( nor has there been any since that time ) . Moses was the messenger of the Jewish Covenant , Jesus was the
messenger of the Christian ; and so clear and convincing was the application of this prophecy to the perison and character of Jesus , tha * f when Peter was preaching the new religion to the people , vvhen referring to it , and shewing how it was at that time completed
oetore timix eyes , it produefcfl > Mdh conviction ; sin them , " that many that heard him baKered * and the number of the men was about 6000 . " Aot * ir . 4 > Here then is evidence , far exceeding all human , testimony , that Jesus was tlie divinelyrappointed messenger of
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the N&V Covenant , and that that Covenant was from ? God . The better to convince the Sceptic it will be necessary to shew , first , thai the corruptions have been predicted , and then their completion . St . Paul
having informed the Thessalonians , during his ministry amongst them , of the corruptions tlmt would take place in the church , renxinds them of it in his second letter ; stating to them , that these corruptions had began to wo # k e ^ eri at that very time $ that they wofk even at toat very time $ that they
would go on * 'till the' man of sin would be revealed , the son of perdition , and then /* ( says he , ) ** that wicked fpowfcr ] shall be revealed , fcyen hhn > whose coming is after the # brkin | j of Satan , with all power and signs and tying- wonders ; and for this cause God will send them strong delusions that
they will believe ( even ) a lie . " Sect also 1 Tim . iv . 1 ; 2 Tim . in . 1—3 , iv . 3 and 4 . The concurring histories of the church clearly inform us that these corruptions have taken place . They graduallv increased after the They gradually increased after the
apostolic age , till b y the clergy of the orthodox apostate church , such a trade was made of Christianity , that men were brought not only to believe the grossest lies , but to pay for them also : and from about the sixth or seventh
century , to the twelfth or thirteenth , Christianity was almost lost in a sink of the most abominable depravity . But the same testimony distinctly assures us , that it would not be lost , that a few witnesses would be preserved , by whom it Would be raised from its
degraded state , and that " the aera shall arrive , marked in resplendent characters in the decrees of heaven , and to which the golden index of prophecy continually points , jvhen % ne knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the * sea , * and the reign of truth , freedom , virtue and happiness , of truth , freedom , virtue and happiness ,
shall be universal anfi everlasting" . * Prom the thirteenth century light began to dawn upon this darkness ; ancl the Reformation by kfctlter ^ and , above all ; tlte art bf pifol ^ g coming tfo life aid , learning ami kpowleqge incareased with ai ^ I ^ St ^ d > peed , ah <^ iri \ 1 jm' $ & * gifea 8 iv 6 march we see it at the preseni
? Bqlsham ' a jPfeo for the € arto / ie Claims .
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Attempt to distingifah betipzzn Genuine end Spurious Christianity . 4 Sf
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1820, page 451, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2491/page/7/
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