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which passage I have referred , the question , proposed to our Saviour , and solved by him , is , " Which is the first and greatest commandment ? " In the passage to which the Reviewer appeals as parallel to it , said decisive againat my representation , die question is , " What shall I do to inherit eternal
life ? " ( Duke x . 25 . ) The Reviewer ' s reply to my statement is indeed a tissue of blunders . He calls the Evangelist L # uke an apostle ; and lays a stress upon the distinction between K scribes" and 4 < lawyers , " because
in Mark a " scribe" ( ypafAfAezreus ) is said to have interrogated our Lord , and in Liuke a " lawyer" QvoyuKoq ) . If he had taken the trouble to read Matt , xxii . 54—38 , which is parallel to the passage in Mark , and to which I have referred as such , he would have found
that the same individual who is called a " scribe" by Mark , is there called a ** lawyer . " Scribe and lawyer were denominations applicable to the same description of persons .
From this specimen , Sir , your readers will be able to judge of the accuracy of the Reviewer ' s statements , and the weight of his arguments through the whole of his article of about 80 pages . With respect to his various objections to my ' * Vindication of
Unitarianism" 1 beg leave to refer again to the " Sequel" to that Vindication , or to request that any one interested in the inquiry would only compare for himself my assertions and arguments in my own book with the representations of them by this sanctimonious critic . JAMES YATES .
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Dr . J . Jones on the Travestie of the Gospel by Lucian . MODERN reader , without much A attention to the circumstances of early times , is not likely to perceive the object which Lucian had in view by travestying the life and character of Jesus under the name of Peregrinus . It will be useful to place his object in a brief and clear light . The miracles of Christ are undoubtedly the main pillars on which our faith in
Christianity ultimately rests : and it is these miracles which Lucian sought to undermine . But he knew that his attempt to set them aside would be vain , unless he could account for one fact universally
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allowed by the foes as well as the friends of the gospel . Our Saviour held himself forth as the messenger of heaven to bring life and immortality to light . In order to shew to the world that this animating doctrine was the effect neither of delusion or imposture , he declared it to be the will of heaven
that he should suffer an ignominious death , and his own settled purpose to submit to that will . In the course of his ministry he foretold his death , described it in all its particularities ; and when the appointee period arrived , he went up to Jerusalem , and submitted to it with the most steady resolution . This conduct of Jesus was too well
known in the age of Lucian to be denied with effect * This writer found himself , therefore , constrained to concede its truth ; and to invent the wildest falsehoods , to account for a conduct which , if allowed to be true , places
the -claims of Jesus , as the author of eternal life , on a solid foundation . The mode of reasoning which he enforces on his readers is this : * ' I grant Jesus died publicly and foretold his death : but this is no more than others
have done . Peregrinus acted precisely a similar part ; and he was actuated solely by vain-glory . And if vanity , the love of fame or infatuation could raise Peregrinus above . the fear of death , the same passions were
sufficient to produce a similar conduct in Jesus . His pretension , therefore , that he submitted to die , to give men the knowledge and certainty of a future state , faila to the ground /'
But it will be asked , whether Lucian has made use of this argument in express terms ? I answer , no : he was too artful to do this , well knowing that his sophistry would be most effectual when he enabled his readers to do it
for themselves . He represents Peregrinus as courting death from an insatiable thirst of glory . At the same breath he introduces the character of Jesus , as if one and the same person
with this impostor . So that an unguarded or prejudiced reader looks on both in the same light , and projiounces on both the same sentence of imposture and infatuation . Of the truth of
this representation the following paragraph is a full proof : " About this time it was that he ( Peregrinus ) learned the wonderful p hilosophy of the Christians , being intimately acquainted with
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206 Dr . J . Jones on the Travestie of the Gospel by Luemn .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1821, page 206, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2499/page/14/
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