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apostle waa not previously acquainted with this piece , a copy might have been sent b y those in the church sincerely attached to him and his cause , la the Epistle wh ^ eh in consequence he addressed to tke Philippians , he notices the Ode , and sets aside the infamous doctrine it contains . It was
usual with the apostle to adopt any peculiar words which they might have used , and retort them in a new or modified sense . His object thus was to give a point to what he was saying , and to shew his readers that he was alluding to his opponents , who sought to deceive them . Thus the
impostors said of Christ , that he was " in the resemblance of man , " meaning that he was a mere phantom in a human form . Paul takes up the same phrase , and then sets it aside by adding that he was " found in frame a man / ' meaning , that he proved himself a real man by his trial and crucifixion . He deals in the same manner with the
Ode of Aristotle ; he copies the same words , or words , peculiar as they are , of the same import , and applies them to Christ in a new , beautiful , yet analogous sense , thus intending to contrast him with the personages which are mentioned in it . The poet calls Virtue // . op ^ Tj , a form—an object the most splendid , and to be hunted or
captured , Qripocfjia , KaWig-ov—as conferring the fruits of immortality , Kocpitav adcivarov , Hermias was endowed with this splendid form , but he divested himself of this radiant figure , this effulgence of the sun , oteXiov x riPCjOcrev
avyas , he , it is probable , having honourably fallen in battle . But the Muses rescue him from death , and advance him to immortality in the temple of their father Jupiter . The apoatle has copied this train of ideas ; * nd , peculiar as this train is , he has
preserved it unbroken , and expressed tf m nearly the same language . Jesus was invested with a form splendid as the g un , This splendid form was naturall y a thing % o be gaught at , espe-Cla as it was the emblem of his fflpry and immortality ; yet he did not seize it
as the means of avoiding death . ° » the contrary , he laid it aside , and ^ mntari ly submitted to the ignomi-U * ou 8 death of a slaye He does not ^ ^ wever , remain the victim of his ene-£ ** Ms Almighty Father , as the " ^ d of his obedience , raises him
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from the grave , and exalts him to immortal glory . The impostors classed Jesus with the Heathen gods , and claimed for him the worship which was paid to Hercules and others . The heroes of
Greece were eager for divine honours , and the most exalted philosophers of the Pagan world were not backward to gratify this pernicious vanity . Paul contrasts the conduct of Jesus of Nazareth with the objects of idolatrous superstition , and the direct scope of
his words is to this effect : " Though endowed with power and wisdom from above , though once invested with a form surpassing the sun in brightness , and though announced by a voice from heaven as the beloved Son of God , he
did not profess himself a God , he did not violently arrogate those attributes and worship which belong to Jehovah alone . On the contraiy , he laid aside his supernatural endowments , and surrendered himself to be crucified . " The
Heathen divinities were worshiped , some in the heavens , some on the earth , some in hades . This is implied in the Ode of Aristotle ; and the apostle proceeds to intimate that the gospel , so far from sanctioning the idolatrous practices of the Heathens , was intended to become the
instrument of abolishing all idolatry ; and that the name of Jesus , instead of himself becoming an object of worship , was to be the medium of worshiping the Father alone . "
Therefore God has highly exalted him , and given him a name above every other name , that in the name of Jesus every knee , of those in the heavens , of those on the earth , and of those under the
earth , shall bow—to the glory of God the Father . " The impostors were guilty of the foulest impurities . Paul ( 1 Tim . i . 9 , 10 ) gives a catalogue of their
enormities , and among these he expressly mentions some as being ocpa-evoKonrai . It is a fact which is not known , but which ought to be known , that the very same men who opposed the apostle make a figure in the second Satire
of Juvenal ; and it is remarkable that their pretended veneration for Aristotle , and the atrocities here alluded to , are associated together , as in this Epistle : " Perfectissimus horum eat , si quis Aristotelem similem vel Pittacon emit . Frontis nulla fides : omnis
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I >? . John Jones in ansiaer to £ hr . J . P . Smith . 363
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v ° l ,. kvii . 2 7
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1822, page 353, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2513/page/33/
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