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This Cornerstone Of the first Congregational Church of New York , Dedicated to the worship of the only God , Through the only Mediator ,
Founded upon the great principles of the Reformation—the sufficiency of the Scriptures , the right of private judgment , and liberty of conscience , PVas laid , With earnest prayer for the acceptance and blessing of God , On Saturday , the 29 th of April , 1820 ,
Call no man master on earth ; for one is your Master , even Christ , and all ye are brethren . H . T .
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352 Philo and Josephus proved to be Christian Writers .
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Philo and Josephus proved to be Christum Writers , in reply to Dr . Pye Smith .
DR . SMITH in his elaborate work , entitled " The Scripture Testimony of the Messiah , " has given what he considers a refutation of my Ecclesiastical Researches . This affords me very great pleasure , as I regard it to be the commencement of a discussion
which cannot fail to have much effect in deciding on the nature and truth of the Christian religion . I heartily concur in the high estimation in which this gentleman is held as a scholar and divine ; nor will my respect for his character and attainments at all
diminish , however zealous or successful he may prove in his opposition to my writings . I have full confidence in the cause which I am going to defend ; and it is a satisfaction to me to think , that the arguments of my adversary will not fail through want of ability to secure him victory if contending under the banners of truth . In a series
of letters in the Monthly Repository , I propose to establish the truth of the two following propositions : first , that Philo and Josephus speak of the Christians as Jews , and of Christianity under those names which they were accustomed to use respecting Judaism . Secondly , that the writings of these celebrated men contain new facts
calculated in a powerful manner to establish the divine origin of the gospel , and new views illustrative of its nature as it came from the mouth of Christ and his apostles . In discussing these points , if I do not give a regular review of Dr . Smith ' s work , I hope to consider
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the leading arguments which lie uses in support of his favourite system . Josephus , speaking of the Jews at Antioch , J . W ., B . vii . C . iii . 3 , thus wr ites : " They were ever attracting to their own worship a great multitude
of the Greeks , and these , in a manner , they made apart of themselves / ' Now my position is , that the Jews here noticed were Christian Jews , and their own worship means the worship of the Father as taught by Christ . * My reasons for this interpretation are the
following : —J . The Pharisees are said to have encompassed sea and land to make proselytes ; but this is a figurative expression , which must be limited
to a zeal for making converts of Heathens visiting or residing in Judea , or , what is most probable , to a zeal fo r bringing over the people of the Jews and adherents of the Sadducees to
their own party . It does not appear that the Judaizing zealots ever seat messengers to make proselytes in foreign countries . The very name irpoarY )\ vra , L supposes that those converts
were strangers , who not only received Judaism , but came to Judea to join in the worship of the Jews , There was an end , therefore , put to proselytism of this sort as soon as the national
religion fell with the service of the temple . Proselytism to spiritual Judaism was the reverse of this . Its missionaries were sent to foreign lands , and , instead of inviting foreigners to come to Judea , they carried their
worship , with ail its blessings , to them . The pharisaical teachers , indeed , or their agents , followed the apostles to every place ; but their object was not to make converts , but to prevent such conversion : and their diabolical efforts
in many cases , were too successful , as they did not scruple to brand the preachers of the new faith as heretics , as disturbers of the public peace , as heralds of treason arid rebellion , as enemies of the human race . —2 .
Pharisaical Judaism , so far from attracting , had in it every thing that repelled the Gentiles from embracing it . It vvas the religion of a people proverbially odious and contemptible . It enjoined of
a compliance with rites , like that circumcision , which formed a yoke too heavy for the Jews themselves to bear . Spiritual Judaism offered to the nations by the followers of Christ was divested of these odious and oppressive
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1821, page 352, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2501/page/28/
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