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them well mftbentfca&ed , w ^ e shall have obtained &n important point , and can set up that Gospel a& a standard by which to $ ry the other three .
Upon the very entry into the investigation we are struck with various ciroumeftaoces inducing us to give a preference to the Gospel of Luke ; it feas all t ? be uaattfks of genuine history ; we have the name of the author , the
friend to whom it was addressed , and for ^ tfhose use it was wt ^ tten ; it has Ifoe date when the transactions took place ; the names of the Ro-i&an officers Chen governing in Judea ; and the name of the Jewish high-priest at the time of the crucifixion . These are
marks of an authentic history not to be found in the other Gospels . We find Luke on the commonly received evidence has had a preference . OhiU
ingworth , ( Chap . iv . Art . ni . ) speaking € > f > Luke * s Gospel , amongst many other articles in its favour , says , " But that St . Luke has written such a perfect
Gospel , in my judgment , ought to be no manner of question ; " and again , " that all the things sieceesary to salvation are certainly contained in his writings alone" But besides these there is
another testimony in favour of the authenticity and genuineness of Luke ' s writings , which for many years past has been most satisfactory to my mind . I allude to that excellent work the Horce Paulina ; of Paley .
The genuine Epistles of Paul are generally received as authentic , and there is reason to believe they have been as little interpolated or altered as any books of the New Testament . The reason is obvious , for most of
them being addressed to the different churches which Paul had planted , they were most probably kept as public documents by the churches , and therefore not so easily played tricks with ( as if they had been addressed to private individuals ) by the £ t ready
fingered Scribes" of the second century , whose interpolations and alterations few of the Christian writings exta / nt at that time escaped . Now Paley , by the finest piece of criticism that perhaps was ever written , has shewn by a mass of undesigned coincidences foetween the letters of Fafcil and the Acts
of the Apostles , Chat 4 he Acts must be in the main a tnae history . If this be allowed , and I think it cannot be
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fairly denied , the Gosped of Luke must be true ml&o , for it is the first part © f the same history . Here then we have obtained a most
important fact , because we have a well-established standard by which to try the other three Gospels . $ . for as we find in Luke a plain * well-digested account of all the important fa . nt . st » . *» count ot ali the important facts
we want of the life , ministry , ileath and resurrection of our Lord , if the other *? hree Gospels do not contain the same facts , doctrines and nraterial circumstances , they ought to be disregarded and expunged from tfee sacred volume . But before we proceed thus far , we
should be cautious that our standard itself be pure and correct , free from any alterations or interpolations . Considering the unavoidable errors that would creep into the text in multiplying copies , it is not to be expected that we should find any one book free from minor errors : in Luke there are
a few gross interpolations , which are easily detected . On the fabrication of the two first chapters see a mo ^ fc satisfactory account in the Improve ^ Ve rsion of the New Testament ( in loc . ) and Evanson ' s Dissonance . The pretended miracle of the Gadarene
demoniac and the herd of swine , is inconsistent with the character of Jesus , and too absurd in itself not to be immediately rejected ; the transfiguration is of very doubtful character , and the temptation of Jesus by the devil worse than doubtful . But with some other minor
errors , no way essential to the history , by expunging those interpolations it will then be found a plain , rational and consistent relation of the facts of the life , ministry , death and resurrection of our Lord . In Luke ' s history , thus purified , we have every thing we can
wi 6 h , and nothing contrary to our best < coneepfcioji 6 of the Divine character . It is an important point thws to have obtained , on rational evidence , a p ure standard , by which to examine the other books of the New Testament . But in this brief effort to shew the
cause from whence the corruptions ot Christianity have arisen and been continued ,, it would be much too large aa undertaking to bring all the books to this test . I shall -therefore 4 w > lj > ®* example , exwinine the Gospels of M attfe&w and John with each oflher arm with our standard , to shew thaft ™* ey
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S 26 Jtltempt fe xKstinguiali between €£ emti < &e tt&d Spmrimts Ghris $ i < mitgL .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1820, page 526, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2492/page/26/
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