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In speaking of the resurrection of Lazarus , he says , " The resurrection of Lazarus affords the only practical confirmation of the resurrection of the dead 3 " and again , " if this fact must be given up , there is an end of the
matter ; " for " if the resurrection of Lazarus fail , that of Jesus will fall with it . " Not admitting this conclusion , I would beg to ask this writer , whether he can seriously believe , that if this Gospel of John had never been written , and consequently the resurrection of Lazarus never heard of ,
( being mentioned by no other writer , ) we have not in the well-attested writings of Luke and Paul the most satisfactory evidence for the fact ? The resurrection of Jesus is the grand foundation of the Christian the
' s hope , rock on which Christianity is founded , and which , in the writings of Luke and Paul , is supported by every species of evidence that can be required or the nature of the case will admit ; how then would the evidence for the
resurrection of Jesus be lost , had such a book as this of John never been heard of ? There is another observation of your correspondent ' s of great importance : he insinuates , that the stress I lay on the important declarations of our Lord , in the terms and conditions of the
New Covenant , is lowering the gospel to the level of Heathen morality . The New Covenant , which offers to us , if we perform our part of the conditions , eternal life , is a subject of 3 uch importance , that all the riche 3 , honours and other pursuits of this life , when put
into competition with it , become evanescent , and are lost in the comparison . Now , as this covenant is so clearly stated Luke x . 25 , without any figure , in the most plain and distinct terms that language could convey , it behoves us well to consider its end and
design . The Jew asked our Saviour this plain question : ** Master , what must I do to inherit . eternal life ?" Now , whether the question was put in sincerity or tempting him , to try if
the doctrines he taught were contrary to the moral law of Moses , and that he might thereby detect him as an impostor , is little to the purpose / The question was as plain as it was important , and to it our Lord returned as plain and distinct a reply : "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with' all
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thy heart , &c , and thy neighbour as thyself ; " adding , " do this and thou shalt lipe , " that is , as the question implied , shalt inherit eternal life . Now our Lord either did or he did not know , what were the conditions
necessary for us to obtain eternal life : if he did not know , he was deceiving the Jew ; if he did know , we may rest confidently assured that he told him all that was necessary . But here it may be asked , Why were not the personal duties enjoined ? To this I
answer , it was not necessary . The personal duties of temperance , and the due regulation of our appetites and passions under the dominion of reason , are recommended and enjoined in
almost eveiy page of Luke's and Paul ' s writings , and fully exemplified in the conduct of our great Master 5 but without this , our Lord , who was inspired and instructed by his heavenly Father in the frame and constitution of the
human mind , knew , that to the heart deeply imbued with the love of God and practically living in habitual devotion to him , as far as is practicable in this imperfect state of his existence , it would be hardly possible to be long or often deficient or negligent in the
observance of the personal duties . If our Lord had never delivered any other precepts besides these two great commandments , do they not contain every thing essential and needful to direct us in the discharge of our duty , to produce in us the greatest degree of peace and consolation under all the trials
of this life , and to prepare us fey the formation of the character of our minds for that eternal happiness included in the promise of the life to come ? For can the wisdom of man add any thing to perfect the human character beyond the practise of habitual devotion , with the performance of the most perfect
system of morals , comprehended in the duty of doing to others as we would they should do unto us ? Lest the opinions I have stated in my former letter should be supposed to be loosely or hastily taken up , it may be proper , in further repelling the insinuations of Cephas , to give some brief account how J was led to
adopt them . It is now more than 25 years since , that , reflecting upon the state of Christianity from the uncertainty of its doctrines , and the disagreement amongst Christians about
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228 On the Spurious Books of the New Testament ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1821, page 228, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2499/page/36/
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