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• fewWi history . * The dissonance of the two evangelists , however important it may be , is not a contradiction . Nevertheless , according to Luke , this
discourse of our Saviour does not present some of the difficulties which accompany the relation of it by Matthew . If we suppose , with almost every reader and commentator , that the interment of Jesus Christ is here predicted , two
questions arise . Can it with truth be said that he was three days and three nights in the grave—and what proof have we that by the Heart of the earth the grave is designated ? Mr . Isaac James , of Bristol , published f a tract
iu which the received interpretation ot the verse is combated , and a different sense of it proposed . This author maintains that to speak of our Lord as having been three days and three nights in the tomb , is to give an
erroneous view of the interval between his burial and his resurrection ; and that such a method of expressing the thing , Is alike contrary to the forms of lan ^ guage and to what really took place . He further attempts to shew , that by
the heart of the earth Palestine is designed . Three days and three nights he considers as employed , in the prophetic style , for so many years : and he conceives that our Saviour here
intimates the duration of his ministry in Judaea . I am not prepared , however , to adopt this exposition , ingenious and plausible as it is , until it has been diligently investigated and accurately verified . Let me respectfully submit it to the attention of the readers
of the Monthly Repository . It has sometimes occurred to me , that Matt . xii . 40 should be read parenthetically ; inasmuch as the incident recorded , in ver . 41 seems to be the sign of the prophet Jonah , of which our Lord is speaking . Acts x . 34 , 35 . Then Peter opened ¦*¦ ^ - ^* \> + J jl ^» v / m , * -f % S . . A rti' / f •* ISVXJI V */ U / tVI *
his mouth and said , Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons : but in every nation he that feareth him andworketh righteousness is accepted with him . These declarations of the apostle , respect exclusively the eligibility of Gentiles as well as Jews to the privileges of the gospel :
* Towijson on the four Gospel ? , 2 < J *<\ ., pp . 188 , 18 . 9 . f In 1802 .
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both represent the impartial goodness of the Deity in the Christian dispen - sation . Cornelius " feared God and wrought righteousness ; " in other words , he was a proselyte from Heathen idolatry to Judaism . And had Peter intended
no more than that such proselytes are graciously regarded by the Almighty , he would indeed have affirmed a doctrine perfectly true , yet a doctrine which it was superfluous to repeat , and which had no relevancy to the occasion . His audience , and not least
Cornelius , fully knew it : nor perhaps was there a single Jew who doubted whether such converts as this good centurion shared in the Divine favour . The apostle ' s language has a more comprehensive import . In the 36 th verse , he styles Jesus " Lord of all " p . e . not of believing Jews only ] : in the 43 rd he thus concludes his
discourse : " To him give all the prophets witness , that whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins . " What a contrast this with his sermon to his countrymen on the day of Pentecost ! *
There are persons who think that he states at present merely an abstract proposition , and designs to instruct us " that no mode of faith or religious persuasion whatever will , in case of a virtuous , beneficent practice , be able hereafter to separate us from our Creator ' s love / ' A tenet which I am
not disposed to controvert , provided we understand that men ' s several advantages for gaining a knowledge of truth and duty have been justly improved , but which rests on evidence distinct from the remark of Peter . No
doubt , the apostle assumes the principle that God is the impartial parent of mankind , that he is infinitely wise , just and good . Still , these words contain the application of this principle to a fact in which Christians of Gentile descent are deeply interested .
Another erroneous interpretation of the passage , is that which attempts to prove from it the insignificancy of what are without reason termed speculative principles in religion . Peter is so far from disparaging an enlightened faith in God ' s perfections and government , that this is the very quality * Acts ii . 3 D .
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292 Observations on Passages in the New Testament .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1821, page 292, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2500/page/36/
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